Apr 19

Today’s News 19th April 2024

  • Illegal UK Immigrant Who Protested With Sign Saying "Migrants Are Not Criminals" Pleads Guilty To Rape Of 15-Year-Old Girl
    Illegal UK Immigrant Who Protested With Sign Saying “Migrants Are Not Criminals” Pleads Guilty To Rape Of 15-Year-Old Girl

    Authored by Thomas Brooke via ReMix News,

    A Congolese migrant who had his deportation from the U.K. blocked by an airline’s cabin crew and previously campaigned outside a detention center with a sign that read, “Migrants are not criminals,” has pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl.

    Anicet Mayela entered his guilty plea at Oxford Crown Court last Friday for one count of rape of a former economics student.

    The court heard how there was a high level of “dangerousness” surrounding the attack, which is understood to have taken place between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31 last year.

    The Congolese national had been living in Britain since 2004 when he paid smugglers to help him escape his country of origin where he claimed he was being persecuted.

    Several attempts by the U.K. Home Office to deport him were thwarted by feigned injuries and legal challenges, including an incident back in May 2005 when a planned deportation flight was prevented from taking off by Air France cabin crew who claimed public officials had broken Mayela’s hand after handcuffing him.

    With the aid of left-wing charities, including the Institute of Race Relations, and immigration lawyers, the Congolese national won leave to remain in Britain later that year after successfully arguing a return to his homeland would be a violation of his human rights.

    Mayela used the opportunity to actively campaign against the deportation of illegal migrants, participating in a demonstration near his detention center in Oxford where he spoke to the BBC and hung a sign around his neck that read, “Migrants are not criminals.”

    “I am here to support my friends. I have been inside here, and at Colnbrook,” he told the U.K.’s public broadcaster from outside the detention center.

    On Friday, Mayela was ordered to remain in custody while a pre-sentencing report was prepared.

    He is scheduled to return for sentencing on May 10.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/19/2024 – 02:45

  • BRICS – The Project Of The Century
    BRICS – The Project Of The Century

    Authored by Peter Hanseler via VoiceOfRussia.com,

    The Western media are prioritizing the Ukraine conflict, the green revolution and the woke revolution. In the shadow of this media coverage, BRICS is changing the world.

    We bring you the latest figures and place them in the current geopolitical environment. – An analysis.

     

    Introduction

    One of the main topics of this blog is BRICS. We have written numerous articles, followed and analyzed the development of this organization. Significantly, the first independent post on this blog was dedicated to BRICS on November 18, 2022 “The unstoppable rise of the East“.

    Our last dedicated BRICS-only article from 24 September 2023 “BRICS will change the world – slowly” gave an overview of the development and summarized the results of the BRICS summit in South Africa in August 2023. This article was published by ZeroHedge, the GloomBoomDoom report by Dr. Marc Faber and Weltwoche (print and online).

    From the density of our coverage, it is clear that we ascribe paramount importance to BRICS for the geopolitical and geo-economic development of the world. Based on the facts, we have come to the conclusion that BRICS will change the world more than all other developments of the last 100 years put together. The developments around BRICS have already triggered a tectonic shift in the geopolitical balance of power; the Ukraine conflict and the accelerating crisis in the Middle East are merely pieces of the mosaic by comparison.

    The Western media are setting their priorities differently and focusing on topics that we believe are of lesser importance: Mortal enemy Russia, wokeness and green ideology.

    Reporting on BRICS in the West, if it takes place at all, is limited to portraying BRICS either as an instrument of China to achieve world power – as the Financial Times put it,

    «How the BRICS nations risk becoming satellites of China»

    FINANCIAL TIMES – 26 JULY 2023

    or to trivialize the success of BRICS – according to the NZZ,

    “We explain in the video why this extension only promises limited success.”

    NZZ, 14 DECEMBER 2023

    Preliminary remarks on the figures

    We proceed as we always do and develop a fact-based foundation for a discussion.

    Membership doubled as of January 1

    Since January 1, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia have joined the existing members (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as new members.

    Argentina not participating

    In August 2023, Argentina was invited to become the sixth member. However, the new president of Argentina, Javier Milei, decided not to accept this invitation and to rely on the USA and Donald Trump to rescue his economy.

    It is impossible to judge at this point whether this decision will prove to be the right one. For the second largest country in South America, which was once one of the richest countries in the world, it is to be hoped that Milei can pull the cart out of the deep mire. Milei is fighting against the establishment in Argentina, which has driven the country economically to the wall. These former rulers are serious opponents who are fighting for sinecures that Milei must wrest from them if he wants to save Argentina. We hope that Javier Milei can prevail and wish him every success and good luck. The first signs of success appear to be emerging: The country was able to report a positive budget for the first time last month. It seems to be heading in the right direction.

    Saudi Arabia

    According to Western media reports, Saudi Arabia is not yet fully on board. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor is reported to have told Reuters that “Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the invitation to join BRICS. It is still being considered”.

    Saudi Arabia, or rather the ruling Saud family, has been an ally of the USA since the end of the Second World War, and this relationship has been further strengthened since the agreement of the ” Petrodollar” in 1974.

    Since President Biden has been in power, the relationship with the USA has suffered massively, while at the same time cooperation with China and Russia has strengthened to an unprecedented level.

    The problem that Saudi Arabia now has is the gigantic investments that the state and private individuals have made, particularly in the USA and the UK. Government investments in the USA alone amount to over USD 35 billion and investments in the UK are said to be around USD 75 billion. Due to the geopolitical situation in the world and the West’s aggressive sanctions policy, the concerns of Saudi Arabia that these investments could be confiscated in the event of a BRICS accession are definitely justified. As Saudi Arabia is important to BRICS and China has overtaken the US as Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, we expect Saudi Arabia to join BRICS as soon as China might make commitments to the Saudis in the event of Western expropriation.

    BRICS-10 in numbers

    Map

    Dark green BRICS until August 2023 – light green – the new BRICS members – Source: VoicefromRussia

    Numbers

    In our figures, we compare the BRICS-10 with the G7 and the world as a whole to give you a feel for the ratios. The parameters we use are population, GDP (adjusted for purchasing power), oil production, gas production and gold production.

    We show the gross national product adjusted for purchasing power. If you use the US dollar as a measure of GDP, the economic power of a country is distorted: if you want to measure financial strength realistically, it makes a big difference whether, for example, a Big Mac in US dollars costs twice as much in one place as elsewhere. The so-called Big Mac Index is reason enough to use purchasing power-adjusted figures when comparing GDP figures. The reason why Western media use the unadjusted figures is pure marketing to disguise the devaluation of the US dollar and make it appear stronger than it is.

    Charts

    Graphical representation of the figures – Source: VoicefromRussia.

    Interim result

    All factors show that the BRICS 10 far outstrip the G7 and it seems incomprehensible that the West is simply suppressing this fact. A look beneath the surface reveals facts that reinforce the impression of the bare figures.

    Assessment of these figures

    Oil production

    The following additional facts should be taken into consideration when evaluating the oil production figures:

    Firstly, although the USA is still the largest oil producer in the world, accounting for around 18% of global production, it also consumes the most oil, with a share of over 20%. This means that the USA is currently not even able to cover its own consumption. This fact alone is a compelling reason for the US to pressure Saudi Arabia not to join BRICS.

    Secondly, the major oil-producing members of BRICS have a great deal of influence or even control over OPEC. As BRICS thus also controls OPEC and therefore controls the price and distribution of a large proportion of oil, BRICS can be said to have an (indirect) monopoly position.

    Thirdly, the production costs for US oil are around 2.5 times higher than the production costs for Saudi oil.

    These factors therefore further strengthen the BRICS’ position of power with regard to oil.

    Natural gas

    With regard to natural gas, it should be noted that with Iran’s accession to BRICS, the two largest natural gas producers in the world are joint members of BRICS: Russia and Iran.

    The largest non-BRICS gas producer is Qatar, which is (still) allied with the USA. BRICS is therefore also a real center of power when it comes to natural gas.

    Gold

    With regard to gold, it should be briefly mentioned that China and Russia are number 1 and 2 in global gold production respectively. I mention gold here because there is a good chance that gold will again play an important role in future monetary systems at some point – more on this below.

    Russia holds the BRICS chairmanship in 2024

    Over 220 BRICS conferences will be held in Russia over the course of 2024. The topics are diverse: science, high technology, healthcare, environmental protection, culture, sport, youth exchange and civil society.

    President Putin’s statements at the beginning of the year at the opening event of BRICS 2024 in Moscow were interesting. He mentioned several times the closer cooperation between the members on security issues. It seems that BRICS will therefore not only focus on economic aspects, but also on security-related aspects more and more. The apparent coordination of the BRICS states in connection with the Middle East conflict at the UN in New York clearly indicates close cooperation on non-economic issues.

    Various non-official sources have reported that the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) is moving closer to BRICS and may even merge with it. In addition to China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Iran has also been a member of the SCO since July 2023.

    This is extremely important due to the heightened geopolitical tensions and the two major conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. If these two organizations were to merge, there would be a new counterweight to NATO. NATO is already increasingly being characterized by experts as a mere chattering club, particularly due to its performance in the Ukraine conflict, which was not a success. As a result, NATO has almost lost its threatening potential. If the BRICS-SCO merger becomes a reality, NATO would finally degenerate into an empty shell.

    Formal applications for admission – BRICS+

    Candidates

    Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Thailand, Venezuela, Vietnam and Belarus have formally applied for membership.

    Green: BRICS 10 (light green Saudi Arabia) – Yellow: formal membership applications

    Figures

    Charts

    Assessment

    It should be noted in this list that the formal applicants will probably not all be admitted in 2024. This illustration shows the maximum and the broad formal interest in this organization. The applications for admission from some countries harbor great potential for conflict with the USA.

    In my opinion, the greatest potential for conflict from an American perspective is the possible accession of Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela. Mexico’s membership would be seen by the USA in the same way as the Soviet stationing of nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 – “enemy on the doorstep of the USA”. This is probably also the reason why it was reported on March 3 that Mexico had not submitted a formal application for membership. Fear is breathing down the necks of the Mexicans and the USA is exerting pressure in the background.

    In Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest oil reserves, the US has been trying for years to overthrow President Maduro and install a puppet.
    Last August, it was not enough to gain admission and the USA will do everything in its power to prevent this oil giant from joining. However, the USA has a losing hand with the Venezuelan population, as it is imposing sanctions on the beleaguered country to bring about a collapse and accepting that the Venezuelan people are suffering from hunger.

    The list of formal applications for admission could therefore change considerably between now and October, when the decisions on who will be invited to Kazan are made. What is certain, however, is that the G7 – especially the United States – is devoting huge energies to slowing down the development of BRICS. In my opinion, however, this organization is already too powerful to be weakened by the West.

    BRICS turns its back on the US dollar

    The petrodollar – US dollar as a reserve currency

    The greatest danger of this ever stronger community is to the USA. We have discussed many times that the Petrodollar is the real foundation of American supremacy and not the American armed forces.

    It is of existential importance for the USA that international trade, especially commodity trade, is conducted in US dollars. We explain why.

    The US dollar as a global trading currency means that practically all countries have to hold US dollars in reserve in order to be able to settle their trade invoices. This makes the US dollar a reserve currency.

    However, central banks do not hold the US dollar in cash, but in US government securities in order to earn interest. This makes the world’s central banks the biggest buyers of US government securities, regardless of whether they think they are a good investment. As a result, the US can refinance its debt on terms that are not based on the strength of the US economy, but on these systemic purchases. French President Giscard d’Estaing rightly described the petrodollar in the 1970s as an “exorbitant privilege”, as it leads to the automatic refinancing of the USA.

    Abuse of this exorbitant privilege

    However, the USA has been abusing this privilege for decades. Whenever a country implements something that the US does not like, it is cut off from the US dollar. The US can implement this without any problems, as all US dollar transactions go through the US. The consequences for the country concerned are catastrophic, as it is effectively banned from the commodities trade.

    Theft of Russian central bank reserves

    However, by blocking the foreign currency reserves of the Russian central bank in March 2023, the US has overstepped the mark, because now the entire Global South is afraid to hold US dollars, as they may suffer the same fate. Although every legal expert declares that the freeze was already carried out without an international legal basis, the West is about to go one step further and prepare the confiscation. This is the unequivocal statement made by Janet Yellen on February 27:

    “I also believe it is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine’s continued resistance and long-term reconstruction.”

    JANET YELLEN AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE BEFORE THE G20 ON FEBRUARY 27, 2024

     

    The EU under Ms. von der Leyen and even exponents in Switzerland are preparing to put this planned raid into practice and thus not only continue to block these funds, but to steal them.

    De-dollarization is already here

    Until 2022, Russia conducted 80% of its trade in USD and EUR, 50% in US dollars. Today it is only 13%.

    In the same period, Russia’s trade activity in roubles and yuan rose from 3% to 34% for both currencies.

    These figures are clearly the result of the sanctions against Russia. However, it is a declared goal of all BRICS countries to no longer trade with each other in US dollars, but in the respective local currencies.

    If you look at the current size of BRICS – 36% of global GDP – this will herald a tectonic development away from the US dollar; if you add the formal applicants, this figure rises to 42% of global GDP.

    According to Bloomberg, the use of the US dollar as a reserve currency is collapsing.

    Source: Bloomberg

    Consequences for the US

    De-dollarization poses an existential threat to the USA, as it will result in the loss of buyers of US government bonds and thus the USA’s ability to refinance its highly deficit-ridden national budget. As US government bonds are a product like any other, whose price is determined by supply and demand, a collapse in demand also leads to a collapse in the price of US government bonds. As the interest rate on bonds moves inversely to the price, the interest rate on bonds and therefore inflation will rise.

    Debt in the USA is currently accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Debt currently amounts to over USD 34 trillion. It will soon take just one month to accumulate the next trillion in debt – apocalyptic. When President Reagan was in power, the total US debt amounted to less than one trillion. It therefore took just under 200 years to build up the first trillion in debt; soon this amount of debt will be a reality within a month.

    One of the reasons for this is that the USA will already have to pay one trillion US dollars (1,000,000,000,000) in interest payments on its own debt this year alone. This is more than the USA spends on its entire military expenditure, which is gigantic in itself, as the USA spends more money on its military than the next 13 countries combined.

    Source: Wikipedia

    If the willingness of the countries of the Global South, and in particular the BRICS members, to buy decreases, the USA will sooner or later find itself in an existentially dangerous situation.

    BRICS’ own currency

    Trading currency

    There is a lot of talk about a new currency that would serve as a payment and financing instrument for the BRICS. There were voices – including James Rickards – who were convinced last August that a BRICS single currency would be created as early as 2023. We were skeptical about this timing and took the view that it would take longer, and we were right. However, this does not mean that James Rickards was wrong, he was just a little early.

    We have seen above that the BRICS countries are in fact hardly using the US dollar among themselves any more, instead using their local currencies.

    Use of local currencies

    The consequence of this is that the BRICS members accumulate currencies of their trading partners over the course of a trading year if they sell more goods than they buy. Example: Russia and India use Roubles and Rupees in their trade. Since Russia sells more to India (especially raw materials) than India sells to Russia, the Russians are sitting on large amounts of Rupees at the end of the year. This problem arises regularly throughout the BRICS region among the various members in bilateral trade when deficits or surpluses build up.

    Settlement with gold

    I believe that the bilateral use of national currencies will continue for the time being, but that the first step will be to look for a mechanism to balance these surpluses or deficits at the end of a trading year.

    Gold is an obvious choice here, not gold calculated in US dollars, Rupees or Roubles, but gold in units of weight. The trade differences at the end of a year or month would be settled in gold (kg or tons). Whether in this case the gold is actually physically delivered or merely recorded in a ledger depends on the trust between the parties. I also assume that in such a case, gold warehouses would be opened in various locations in the BRICS region, where the member countries would store their gold and their holdings would be confirmed by a BRICS auditing company.

    A final issue would then be to determine the exchange rate of the local currencies. This seems to be one of the major sticking points so far.

    Indications that the trend is towards gold

    Evidence always comes from the facts. The world produces around 3,000 tons of gold per year.

    According to the World Gold Council, central banks have been net buyers of gold since 2010 and the trend in gold purchases has increased steadily in recent years.

    The Chinese bought the most gold (225 tons).

    Caution is advised with regard to the official reported gold reserves.

    It is very possible – and in my opinion probable – that the gold reserves of China and Russia are much larger than officially reported.

    It is clear that central banks are buying more gold than they have since the 1960s. This is an indication that they are not only arming themselves against inflation, but also for the settlement of commodities.

    It will be interesting to see what exactly will happen this year, but I assume that at the next BRICS summit, which will take place in Kazan in October, announcements will be made that will surprise the West. In addition to new members, I believe that a trade clearing system as described above or even more is within the realm of possibility.

    Future of BRICS – many new members

    Preliminary remarks

    Looking to the future, BRICS has the potential to unite many countries of the Global South and completely eclipse the Collective West.

    We have compiled the data of those countries that are interested in joining. This is for the future, but in times of geopolitical tensions and military conflicts, history teaches us that a lot can happen in a short time, especially after decades, without major changes. For this reason, we are merely providing a framework below and are not making any predictions regarding the timeline, but rather letting the figures speak for themselves and refraining from commenting at this stage.

    Map

    Green: BRICS 10 – Yellow: formal requests for membership – Blue: countries that show interest

    Numbers

    Charts

    Conclusion

    After BRICS became BRICS-10 last August by doubling its membership and thus far outstripping the previous economic colossus G7, the current year is set to continue in giant strides. The gap to the G7 will definitely widen further at the BRICS summit in Kazan. It is still uncertain which of the formal applicants will actually be invited and thus become new members on January 1, 2025.

    In my opinion, however, one thing is already a fact: the hegemony of the USA will come to an end as a result of de-dollarization. The combination of astronomical debts, rampant new borrowing and the fact that more and more countries in the Global South are turning away from the US dollar is accelerating the demise of the hegemon that ascended to the throne in 1945 and is increasingly harming itself through its aggressive geopolitics.

    No world power has ever left voluntarily and peacefully. The aggressive stance of the USA towards Russia and China and its adherence to the alliance with Israel are de facto proof of the aggressive behavior of the sick hegemon.

    This attitude could lead to a war between Russia and NATO in Ukraine, where a local conflict is still taking place, all the more so as the Americans have so far been on the way to inciting France, Great Britain and Germany to wage war against the giant empire.

    In the Middle East, the attitude is downright perverse. In order not to alienate the Jewish lobbies in the USA, which traditionally have a major influence on presidential elections, the USA is supporting a genocide that has been clearly designated as such by the International Court of Justice. In addition to purely electoral considerations in the USA, the USA also supports Israel in order not to lose its last power base in the Middle East. These two ends obviously justify the means – and the means is genocide. The Israeli attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon has already begun and so there is ever less in the way of a burning Middle East.

    Finally, they are also trying to provoke a conflict over Taiwan – a conflict that would be fought between Chinese and would therefore be a civil war. China’s intention to reach a diplomatic agreement with Taiwan in the next 20 to 30 years – that was the plan – is in jeopardy due to Washington’s aggressive stance.

    The behavior of the US is unfortunately typical – the downfall is predetermined, the facts and figures in this article prove it. Whether the smouldering fires already blazing in American society will bring about a change and whether they will be aggressive or more balanced cannot yet be guessed. We will have to wait for the presidential elections in the USA, but a lot can still happen between now and November.

    For a geopolitician, the world could hardly be more exciting – but for humanity, a little less tension and pressure would be a blessing. After all, people under pressure, especially politicians, have a tendency to make big mistakes.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/19/2024 – 02:00

  • N.Y. Gives Trump The Anne Boleyn Treatment
    N.Y. Gives Trump The Anne Boleyn Treatment

    Authored by Richard Porter via RealClear Politics,

    Jury selection is underway now complete in the case of The People of the State of New York vs. Donald J. Trump, which alleges that the defendant lied to his own check register, and lied to the general ledger of his own company, when the invoice given to him by his lawyer was paid and recorded by someone else, and that the misstatement he made to himself in his own records was done “with the intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.”

    It is often noted that this is the first time that a former U.S. president is being tried for a crime, although Ulysses S. Grant may (or may not) have been cited for speeding in his carriage. The federal government chose not to prosecute Bill Clinton, who lied under oath during a sexual harassment lawsuit and then dissembled again about sex before a grand jury. Clinton lost his law license, settled the case on unfavorable terms, and was sanctioned by both federal and Arkansas state courts.

    So, this is a first. And let’s be honest about who is doing what to whom and why.

    The prosecutor elected in New York County of New York state indicted Trump, after Trump announced his 2024 run for president, for allegedly violating New York Penal Laws 175.05 and 175.10 seven years ago.

    That local prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, is a member of the Democratic Party – and the voters who elected Bragg and from whom the jury will be chosen support the Democratic Party. In 2016, the people of New York County voted 87% for Hillary Clinton and 10% for Donald Trump, and in 2020, 87% for Joe Biden and 12% for Donald Trump. In other words, the jury pool is chosen from one of the most partisan jurisdictions in the country – a place where almost all the judges are Democrats as well.

    So the Democratic prosecutor elected in the second most Democratic county in the United States will try the former Republican president and current putative Republican Party presidential nominee before a Democrat-appointed judge and a jury drawn from a pool 87% of whom voted against him (and who are being asked if they watch Fox News or listen to talk radio in the screening process).

    One wonders if the law even matters. But let’s review the two statutes at issue to highlight what the law requires the prosecution to prove. First, the prosecutor must prove that Trump violated the relevant statute, which requires a finding that he falsified business records with intent to defraud – that he “makes or causes a false entry in the business records of an enterprise.”

    By the way, falsifying business records in the second degree is a misdemeanor, not a felony. Moreover, New York’s statute of limitations requires that misdemeanor prosecutions be commenced within two years of the commission of the act, meaning that under the last provision, this case should never have been filed.

    Bragg elevated this misdemeanor into a felony by including New York  Penal Law 175.10 in the indictment – falsifying business records in the first degree. That statute reads this way:

    “A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when he commits the crime of falsifying business records in the second degree, and when his intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”

    There are other obvious difficulties with this case beyond the credibility of the witnesses (a porn star who denied any affair numerous times and a disbarred lawyer convicted of perjury).

    For example, why does the entry in the check register or the general ledger matter at all? When would those entries, as opposed to the allegedly false invoices, be shown to anyone for any nefarious purpose? And were the entries even false? Was there any intent to fool someone to obtain something in making the entries – who was the target of the allegedly false entry in private books and records? If there’s no mark, no victim, then how could there be an “intent to defraud”? Defraud whom? And what is the other crime that the person making the book entry intended to commit or hide? If the other crime is not a New York crime but a federal crime, does every county prosecutor in the United States, including Alvin Bragg, have the jurisdiction to enforce an alleged federal crime indirectly through a state crime?

    We shall see.

    The political nature of this trial is obvious, and unprecedented in the United States. Even with irrefutable DNA evidence that Bill Clinton committed perjury, the special prosecutor declined to press criminal charges against him. In America’s recent past, prosecutors tended to exhibit a modicum of restraint. Those days are apparently gone.

    I reviewed an interesting law review article of political show trials down through history, from the trial of Socrates in Athens to the famous show trials in the 1930s Stalinist Soviet Union, curious to see if I could find historical precedent for this trial.

    The closest precedent is probably Anne Boleyn’s trial for adultery in 1536. It was about sex, the trial was in a hostile jurisdiction controlled by her accuser, and the whole point of the exercise was to lop off the head of someone who stood in the way of the regime’s continuity. But that’s what Democrats have lusted for since Donald Trump first arrived on the scene, isn’t it? They made no secret of it.

    Richard Porter is a lawyer in Chicago and National Committeeman to the RNC from Illinois.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 23:40

  • FBI Repatriates Revolutionary War-Era Firearms At Philadelphia's Museum Of The American Revolution
    FBI Repatriates Revolutionary War-Era Firearms At Philadelphia’s Museum Of The American Revolution

    The FBI announced the return of several Revolutionary War-era firearms during a repatriation ceremony at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution last week, according to CBS.

    These guns, stolen in the 1960s and 1970s from around Valley Forge Park, were recovered following a lengthy investigation involving the FBI’s Art Crime Team, the Department of Justice, and the Upper Merion Township Police Department. The agency is now seeking public assistance to locate more missing artifacts.

    Special Agent Jake Archer, a member of the FBI’s Art Crime Team said: “We were all committed to seeing justice — not just bringing the objects back home, but seeking a proper prosecution of those who perpetrated these crimes.”

    CBS reported that in 2009, an investigation was triggered when a tipster informed Upper Merion Township police about a gun, suspected of being stolen, seen at a local antique show. Although it turned out not to belong to the Valley Forge collection, this tip led detectives to probe the thefts more deeply.

    They collaborated with the Museum of the American Revolution, which now holds the collections previously managed by the dissolved Valley Forge Historical Society, and obtained a list of missing items.

    As the investigation unfolded, Michael Corbett, Scott Corbett, and Thomas Gavin admitted to stealing items from Valley Forge Park and the Valley Forge Historical Society, according to the FBI. They assisted investigators in locating some of the stolen artifacts.

    The collaborative effort expanded to include the FBI’s Art Crime Team, and together, they pursued leads on the thieves and the artifacts. Currently, the search continues for ten items: four firearms stolen on October 24, 1968, from Valley Forge and six other items taken from different locations.

    The museum is actively working to refine the descriptions of the missing objects to include more distinctive details that may jog public memory, hoping that some artifacts might have been inherited unknowingly by individuals. The FBI and other involved agencies are still seeking public assistance to recover these pieces.

    Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution, concluded: “The fact is, the vast majority of people want to do the right thing.”

    You can see photos and descriptions of the missing items on the FBI website.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 23:10

  • "This Is Too Stupid For It Not To Be The Plan" Holter Hammers Globalist Agenda 'Driving America Into A Brick Wall'
    “This Is Too Stupid For It Not To Be The Plan” Holter Hammers Globalist Agenda ‘Driving America Into A Brick Wall’

    Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

    Back in February, when everyone was predicting a Fed rate cut, precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter said rates would be going up and not down.  Since that call, the 10-Year Treasury is up more than 30 basis points.  It closed today at 4.67%.  Now, Holter is still calling for higher interest rates that will coincide with higher gold and silver prices. 

    Why?  It’s called inflation, and it’s not temporary. 

    Holter explains, “Foreigners are backing away from buying Treasuries…”

    “That is the only thing that has kept the doors open, so to speak, is the fact we are able to borrow an unlimited amount of money because we are the world reserve currency. 

    Foreigners backing away from our debt is going to lead the Federal Reserve to be the buyer of last, and then, only resort.  So, you will have direct monetization between the Fed and the Treasury. 

    What that will cause is a currency that declines in purchasing power.  It will decline in a big way, and it will decline rapidly. 

    So, what I am describing is inflation that turns into hyperinflation.”

    But that is not the end of our problems.  Holter points out, “I do think it is going to get worse, and that means interest rates will go higher, and that will put on much more pressure…”

    ”  We are at 4.65% on the 10-Year Treasury now.  We went from 3.75% to 4.65% (in a short amount of time).  We run through 5% on the 10-year Treasury, and everything blows up. . . . The bottom line here is we are at the end game of a fiat currency.  Young people have never experienced high inflation. . . . Where we are this time around, Paul Volker (Fed Head in 1979) was able to raise rates to 16% or 17% and crush inflation.  He was able to do that because there was not a ton of debt.  The U.S. debt back in 1980 was 35% of GDP.  Now, it is 125% plus debt to GDP.  If you raise rates to 6% to 8%, you will blow up the entire system because much of this debt was put on during the 1% to 3% interest rate time. . . . The inflation is going to push rates higher no matter what the Fed says.”

    Gold is hitting one new record high after another.  It’s not greed, but fear, and Holter says:

    “Big money is buying gold because they are looking for protection.”  

    The other wild card is war, and Holter says, “War is a way to keep the system propped up.”

    In closing, Holter contends, what you are seeing is not a series of mistakes by incompetent people.  Holter says,

    “This is too stupid for it not to be the plan. . . .This is not a Republican or Democrat thing.  We are being steered directly into a brick wall because the globalists can’t take over the world with the US standing. 

    They have to take the US down, and if they take the US down, so will the western financial system fall.  If that happens, the globalists can have their way.”

    Bill also added that according to his former business partner, Jim Sinclair (who died in October of 2023) said at some point gold will start a rally that you never sell. 

    Holter thinks the rally in gold and silver going on now is the rally Sinclair was talking about years ago.

    There is much more in the 46-minute interview.

    Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter for 4.16.24.

    *  *  *

    To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here.

    Bill Holter’s new website is still growing, and it is totally free.  It’s called BillHolter.com.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 22:40

  • Moar Power: White House Considers Invoking "Unprecedented" Climate Emergency
    Moar Power: White House Considers Invoking “Unprecedented” Climate Emergency

    How best to grab power when there’s no convenient emergency to use as excuse? Invent one!

    That’s right: if you had ‘climate emergency’ on your ‘list of disasters to prompt mail-in balloting’ bingo card, you may soon be able to cross that square off. That’s because the Biden administration is reportedly renewing discussions “about potentially declaring a national climate emergency,” according to Bloomberg. 

    Such an “unprecedented” declaration could “unlock federal powers to stifle oil development”, among other things, the report says. 

    Bloomberg reports, according to sources who requested anonymity as a final decision has not been reached, top advisers to President Joe Biden are reconsidering the possibility of declaring the emergency.

    This action could lead to restrictions on crude exports, a suspension of offshore drilling, and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, sources say.

    Within the White House, opinions are split on this issue. Some advisers believe that declaring a climate emergency wouldn’t grant Biden sufficient new powers to enact significant changes. Others, however, contend that it could energize voters who prioritize climate issues.

    “President Biden has treated the climate crisis as an emergency since day one and will continue to build a clean energy future that lowers utility bills, creates good-paying union jobs, makes our economy the envy of the world and prioritizes communities that for too long have been left behind,” said White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez.

    Historically, U.S. presidents, including former President Donald Trump, have declared national emergencies for various reasons. A climate emergency declaration would be unprecedented and likely face legal challenges.

    The Biden administration considered this in 2022 amidst a deadlock on clean-energy legislation, but shelved the idea after the Inflation Reduction Act passed. Last year, President Biden said he had effectively used his authority for climate action by imposing conservation and clean-energy measures, and this year he halted new natural gas export licenses.

    Environmental groups, however, are pushing for more aggressive actions. Emergency declarations could allow the president to halt crude exports, suspend offshore drilling, and restrict oil and gas transportation.

    Youth environmental organizations like the Sunrise Movement, Fridays For Future USA, and the Campus Climate Network are planning Earth Day protests to demand that Biden declare a national climate emergency.

    Aru Shiney-Ajay, the Sunrise Movement’s executive director, said Biden must “use every tool at his disposal to tackle the climate crisis and prepare our communities to weather the storm” of “another summer of floods, fires, hurricanes and extreme heat”. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 22:10

  • Conservatives Call For House Hearing On Google Gemini Ahead Of 2024 Election
    Conservatives Call For House Hearing On Google Gemini Ahead Of 2024 Election

    Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

    Conservative activists have been calling for the House GOP to hold congressional hearings regarding the threat of Google Gemini, Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) program, and its left-wing biases ahead of the 2024 election.

    As reported by Just The News, a letter signed by multiple conservative groups was sent to Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, this week demanding that Congress take action to investigate possible collusion between Big Tech platforms such as Google and the Biden White House.

    “With President Trump the decisive favorite to win in November, it’s clear that Big Tech giants will try to pull the same tricks as last time to throw the election to the Democrats,” the letter reads in part.

    “Unfortunately, as tech giants ramp up their crusade against Trump ahead of the 2024 election, 15 new technologies like generative AI will give them even more powerful tools to boost Democrats’ electoral prospects than four years prior,” the letter continues.

    “[I]t’s more important than ever for Republicans in Congress to scrutinize Google’s monopolistic AI efforts, particularly given the threat it could pose to election integrity in 2024 and beyond.”

    The letter was signed by the leaders of six conservative groups: The New York Young Republican Club, the Bull Moose Project, the American Principles Project, Citizens for Renewing America, American Accountability Foundation Action, and the National Constitutional Law Union.

    Jordan has previously ordered Big Tech companies to hand over documents regarding their communication with the Biden Administration, as well as any influence the White House may have had over Google’s development of Gemini.

    In addition, the Biden Administration has been hit with multiple lawsuits over its efforts to coerce social media companies into censoring conservative viewpoints, particularly regarding the Chinese Coronavirus and widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 21:40

  • Markets Dump Then Rebound As Israel Retaliates To Iran In Oddly Toothless, Performative Response
    Markets Dump Then Rebound As Israel Retaliates To Iran In Oddly Toothless, Performative Response

    SUMMARY: 

    • Iran says its nuclear facilities remain unharmed: Reuters
    • Situation in Iran’s Isfahan is normal, no explosion taken place on ground: PressTV
    • CNN: Two US oficials say Israel indicated they would not attack nuclear targets. US didn’t “green light” this attack.
    • Unconfirmed: IRGC states that Iran will target Israeli nuclear sites with counterattack.
    • Iran Space Agency: “all that happened is a failed and humiliating attempt by Israel aviation” – via Sky News
    • Iranian officials and outlets are claiming that all explosions heard tonight are due to interceptions and that no explosions have occurred “on the ground”
    • Bloomberg: Israeli officials notified the US earlier today they planned to retaliate in the next 24-48 hours.
    • Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA) tells passengers that all flights have been canceled and they should exit the airport.
    • Fox News: Israeli strikes in Iran came from unmanned aircraft
    • US claims IDF attacks in Iran were limited.
    • Three large explosions heard in Isfahan south of Tehran, US officials confirm.
    • The Natanz nuclear facility is located in Isfahan.
    • Unconfirmed simultaneous explosions have also been reported in Syria and Iraq (Baghdad and Babil/Babylon province).
    • Iran has established a no-fly-zone over its western region.
    • Market reaction: initial panic selling, but gradually as it becomes clear that this is just a token “scripted” response to the token “scripted” initial attack by Iran – which achieved absolutely nothing – markets are rebounding.

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    Israel – having once again ignored Biden’s pleadings not to escalate the already tense situation – is retaliating against Iran’s weekend strike, which was itself a retaliation against Israel bombing Iran’s embassy in Syria on April 1.

    Moments ago futures dumped, oil prices spiked, and treasury yields slumped amid social media reports and Reuters headlines that there have been three “huge explosions” near the central Iran cities of Natanz (location of an Iranian nuclear power plant) and Isfahan (location of the Iranian Nuclear Technology Center which is suspected of being the center of Iran’s nuclear weapons program), as well as simultaneous explosions in Iraq and Syria, where the Israel air force appears to be targeting pro-Iranian militias.

    • IRANIAN MEDIA CONFIRMS AN ISRAELI ATTACK ON IRANIAN TERRITORY

    • IRANIAN STATE MEDIA IS REPORTING THAT TONIGHT’S AIRSTRIKE BY THE ISRAEL AIR FORCE MAY HAVE TARGETED THE 8TH TACTICAL AIRBASE OF THE IRANIAN AIR FORCE, WITHIN ISFAHAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, WHICH CONTAINS MULTIPLE SQUADRONS OF F-14 “TOMCAT” FIGHTER AIRCRAFT.

    • ABC NEWS REPORTS THAT ISRAELI MISSILES HIT A SITE IN IRAN

    • IRAN STATE MEDIA SAYS ‘NO FLY ZONE’ ESTABLISHED OVER WESTERN REGION

    • IRANIAN MEDIA: 3 HUGE EXPLOSIONS WERE HEARD IN ISFAHAN, SOUTH OF TEHRAN

    • JERUSALEM POST: SIMULTANEOUS EXPLOSIONS REPORTED IN IRAN, SYRIA, AND IRAQ ACCORDING TO INITIAL REPORTS

    • IRAN’S FARS NEWS AGENCY SAYS EXPLOSIONS HEARD IN CENTRAL ISFAHAN AIRPORT, REASON UNKNOWN

    • ISRAELI MISSILES HIT IRAN SITE, US OFFICIAL SAYS: ABC

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    Some more reports:

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    Here is Marco Rubio telling us more or less what happened:

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    A video of the explosions in Iran:

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    There have also been reports of drone activity over Iraq:

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    Flights above central Iran are diverting from their designations:

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    … as the airspace over the region is rapidly clearing:

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    Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Israeli airstrikes are targeting a building where a high level meeting was being held among groups supported by Iran and the IRGC:

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    The market reaction has been immediate, with S&P futures dumping initially but then, as speculation grows that this is another measured, scripted response to the measured, scripted initial attack by Iran, the market is starting to normalize fast.

    … with oil initially surging, then dropping.

     

    … and gold also first surged above $2400, only to slide right back…

     

    … with Silver fading all the gains…

    …and Treasuries are aggressively bid but they too are now fading.

    Even as the Bitcoin algos reprice WW3… for the second time in 5 days.

    And as traders brace for the worst, because even if Israel hopes to present a “measured” retaliation now it’s a question of what Iran will do next, it once again appears that this was just the latest episode in the carefully scripted middle-eastern “war” soap opera.

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    More as we get it, until then, fear not: he is watching everything… closely.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 21:25

  • Democrats Believe This Is Their Winning Strategy In 2024 Election
    Democrats Believe This Is Their Winning Strategy In 2024 Election

    Authored by Lawrence Wilson and Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The Florida Supreme Court issued a long-awaited ruling on April 1, upholding a 15-week abortion ban that was signed into law in 2022. The ruling paved the way for a six-week abortion ban to take effect on May 1.

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)

    A second ruling on the same day allowed an initiative to amend the state constitution to guarantee abortion access to be placed before voters. An abortion advocacy group had already secured the required signatures, so a constitutional question on abortion will be on the Florida ballot in November.

    Barely a week later, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions in the state. Three days later, the Biden campaign initiated a seven-figure ad buy in the Grand Canyon State, including a billboard that reads, “Abortion is banned in Arizona thanks to Donald Trump. He won’t stop until it’s banned nationwide. #TrumpsAbortionBan.”

    Democrats are leveraging abortion as a central issue in the 2024 election, and they are waging that campaign through ballot initiatives in key battleground states.

    The theory is simple, according to political analyst Keith Nahigian. “Ballot questions help to get more independent expenditures for ‘get out the vote’ campaigns,” he told The Epoch Times.

    In Arizona, a campaign is underway for a ballot measure amending the state constitution to provide the “fundamental right” to abortion up to the point a baby could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks. It also would allow later abortions to save the mother’s life or to protect her physical or mental health.

    In Nevada, a petition drive is in the works to include an amendment on abortion access. In Colorado and Maryland, voters will decide on abortion-related  amendments in November.

    “The Democrats’ strategy heading into this election cycle was to put these measures on the ballot in every big swing state,” Phoenix-based Republican strategist Marcus Dell’Artino told The Epoch Times.

    Republicans are using the same tactic with election integrity—placing related measures on the ballot in nine states, including in Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin.

    Both sides appear to believe their efforts will aid them in the fall and ballot measures themselves are a successful way to further a cause.

    In the 2022 election, voters in 38 states decided on 140 statewide ballot measures, according to Ballotpedia. Voters approved 69 percent of the measures and rejected 31 percent.

    The movement to amend state constitutions to guarantee abortion access is a calculated strategy by the Democratic Party to rally voters to the November election.

    The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee laid out the strategy in an April 5 memo.

    The committee attributed a ballot measure to add abortion to the state constitution in Ohio for the “historic” turnout during an off-year election in November 2023. Voters in the state passed the measure 57 percent to 43 percent—a margin of 14 percent. President Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points in both 2016 and 2020.

    (L–R) Arizona Supreme Court Justices William G. Montgomery, John R. Lopez IV, Ann A. Scott Timmer, Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel, Clint Bolick, and James Beene listen to oral arguments in Phoenix on April 20, 2021. (Matt York/AP Photo, File)

    “When abortion is on the ballot, voters turn out to defend their rights,” the memo states. “Seven battleground states are on track to have abortion measures on the ballot in 2024 … this further guarantees that reproductive freedom will remain a driving issue for voters this November.”

    Capitalizing on Momentum

    Momentum around the issue of access to abortion has been building since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, the seminal decision that, for decades, limited restrictions states can impose on the procedure.

    Within 18 months of the Dobbs decision, seven states put abortion-related ballot questions before the public. In red and blue states alike, voters came down on the side of access to abortion.

    Voters in Kansas voted to stick with the status quo, which provides the right to abortion in the state constitution, while Kentucky voted to reject an amendment that said there was no constitutional right to an abortion.

    Montana voters rejected a measure that would have declared a child born alive at any stage of pregnancy to be a legal person and required medical care for that child. The measure also included criminal penalties for health care providers who violated the “born alive” portion of the law, by establishing a maximum of a $50,000 fine and/or 20 years in prison.

    Meanwhile, voters in California, Michigan, Vermont, and Ohio amended their state constitutions to include a right to “reproductive freedom,” defined to include abortion and contraception.

    Democrats have hammered the issue for over two years while Republicans have been slow to admit that many of their own voters don’t favor a near-complete abortion ban.

    In Virginia, Democrats took advantage of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s interest in a 15-week abortion ban to campaign on abortion access in 2023. They retook control of the state’s General Assembly, prompting prominent Democrats to make abortion a centerpiece of the 2024 campaign.

    “The prospect of a national abortion ban is real,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in December 2023.

    Ms. Whitmer launched the Fight Like Hell PAC in June 2023 to raise campaign funds for Democratic candidates who are “unapologetic in their fight for working people and their basic freedoms.”

    The Biden campaign released an emotionally charged ad on April 8 featuring a Texas woman who was denied an abortion after being told her baby would not survive birth. Over the woman’s tearful sobs, text appears on the screen:“Donald Trump did this.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 21:00

  • 'China Is Xenophobic & Cheating': Biden Ramps Up Anti-Beijing Rhetoric On Campaign Trail
    ‘China Is Xenophobic & Cheating’: Biden Ramps Up Anti-Beijing Rhetoric On Campaign Trail

    President Biden has ramped up his anti-China rhetoric on the campaign trail ahead of November, looking to grab headlines away from Trump while touring northern industrial states, and he has just called for major increases to some tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products.

    “These are strategic and targeted actions that are going to protect American workers and ensure fair competition,” Biden told a small crowd of members at the United Steelworkers. “Meanwhile, my predecessor and the MAGA Republicans want across-the-board tariffs on all imports, from all countries, that could badly hurt American consumers.”

    Getty Images

    According to more from Biden’s speech via the NY Times, he said he would tell US trade representative Katherine Tai to increase tariffs “to what White House officials said would be 25 percent on certain Chinese products that now face tariffs of 7.5 percent, or none at all, pending the outcome of an administration review of the China tariffs initially imposed under Mr. Trump.”

    But as fully expected, Biden’s words once again inflamed tensions with Beijing, given that in the remarks he slammed China as “xenophobic” while commenting on the Asian powerhouse’s current economic struggles. 

    “They’ve got a population that is more people in retirement than working. They’re not importing anything. They’re xenophobic—nobody else coming in. They’ve got real problems” Biden said further on Wednesday.

    He had also accused China of cheating and policies that do harm against fair competition. The president said according to the White House readout:

    Because Chinese steel companies produce a lot more steel than China needs, it ends up dumping the extra steel into the global markets at unfairly low prices.  And the prices are unfairly low because Chinese steel companies don’t need to worry about making a profit, because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily. 

    They’re not competing. They’re cheating. They’re cheating. And we’ve seen the damage here in America.

    You know, back in the early 2000s, the Chinese steel began floating the mar- — flooding the market wi- — in steel towns all across Pennsylvania and Ohio, who were hit very hard.

    The accusation of xenophobia and cheating marks the most aggressive rebuke of China thus far on the campaign. 

    China’s foreign ministry was quick to respond Thursday by once again highlighting US ‘hypocrisy’ – with spokesman Lin Jian lashing out sarcastically, “China wants to ask the U.S. whether it is referring to China, or the U.S. itself.”

    Biden on his Pennsylvania tour also pledged to continue seeking to deny China advanced technology like computer chips. “They can’t be sent to China because it would undermine our national security,” Biden said. “When I spoke with Xi Jinping he said ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because you’d use it for all the wrong reasons, so you’re not gonna get those advanced computer chips.’“

    US-China relations have someone stabilized of late, also amid the Biden-Xi phone call of two weeks ago. Also, this week Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Chinese counterpart for the first time in two years, as the two sides work to restore regular military-to-military communications.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 20:40

  • Top Military Official Lied About Jan. 6: Whistleblowers
    Top Military Official Lied About Jan. 6: Whistleblowers

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The secretary of the Army on Jan. 6, 2021, lied about multiple details regarding what unfolded as the U.S. Capitol was breached, National Guard whistleblowers said during a congressional hearing on April 17.

    Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy testifies to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill on Dec. 3, 2019. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

    Then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy made multiple false claims, including that he spoke to the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard on two separate occasions after officials requested that the Guard be deployed to the Capitol, the whistleblowers said.

    After Maj. Gen. William Walker conveyed a request from the U.S. Capitol Police for Guard personnel, Mr. McCarthy called Maj. Gen. Walker at 2:14 p.m. and instructed the Guard to stand by, according to a Guard timeline of Jan. 6, 2021. But that call and others that Mr. McCarthy or one of his top advisers were said to have made later authorizing the Guard for mobilization and deployment did not happen, according to the Guard officials.

    “At no time did Gen. Walker take any calls, nor did we ever hear from the secretary on any of the ongoing conference calls or the secure video teleconferencing throughout the day,” Capt. Timothy Nick, who served as Maj. Gen. Walker’s personal assistant on Jan. 6, 2021, said during the hearing. “This I know because I was with the command general the entire time recording the events.”

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    Capt. Nick has not previously discussed publicly what transpired on Jan. 6, 2021, and neither has Brig. Gen. Aaron Dean, who was the National Guard’s adjutant general on the day that the Capitol was breached.

    The Department of Defense (DOD) inspector general report on Jan. 6, 2021, which relied heavily on Mr. McCarthy and other military officials, was rife with “inaccuracies,” Brig. Gen. Dean said. “I believe it is my duty and moral obligation to stand before you today and illuminate the truth,” he told the hearing, which was held by the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight.

    Despite Mr. Walker conveying the request for assistance at about 1:50 p.m., the Guard was not deployed to the Capitol until about 5:10 p.m.

    “This was a dereliction of duty by the secretary of the Army,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), one of the members of the committee, said.

    Mr. McCarthy refused to appear before the panel, Dr. Murphy said.

    Christopher Miller, the acting secretary of defense at the time, authorized Guard deployment at 3:11 p.m., but Mr. McCarthy took the order and decided to draw up a plan before ordering the deployment, according to military timelines and testimony from Mr. McCarthy and others.

    “You never would employ our personnel, whether it’s on an American street or a foreign street, without putting together a [plan],” Mr. McCarthy told the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee.

    Mr. McCarthy could not be reached for comment. The Army declined to comment.

    “We stand by our January 6th Report and have no further comment at this time,” a DOD inspector general spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

    From left to right, Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Brooks, Col. Earl Matthews, Brig. Gen. Aaron Dean, and Capt. Timothy Nick, all of the District of Columbia National Guard, are sworn in during a hearing in Washington on April 17, 2024. (House Administration Committee via The Epoch Times)

    Other Leaders

    The whistleblowers also testified that Army officials Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt and Gen. Charles Flynn, during a 2:30 p.m. conference call on Jan. 6, 2021, expressed concern about the optics of having the Guard at the Capitol.

    “I did hear the word optics. And they did use it. Specifically, Gen. Piatt said ‘optics.’ And his concern was that he did not want soldiers or airmen on Capitol grounds, with the Capitol in the background,” Brig. Gen. Dean said. “They were giving every other reason why we should be around the Capitol, away from the Capitol, and not responding to the Capitol.”

    The officials lacked familiarity with the Guard and the Guard’s capabilities, Brig. Gen. Dean said.

    Lt. Gen. Piatt has been quoted by Maj. Gen. Walker and others as saying during the call: “I don’t like the visual of the National Guard standing a line with the Capitol in the background. I would much rather relieve USCP [U.S. Capitol Police] officers from other posts so they can handle the protestors.”

    Lt. Gen. Piatt has told lawmakers that he did not recall using the words optics, visuals, or image during the call or in any other conversations on Jan. 6, 2021. But he later said, “I may have said that,” citing people who took notes during the call.

    Gen. Flynn told the House Oversight Committee in 2021 that he “never expressed a concern about the visuals, image, or public perception of sending the D.C. National Guard to the U.S. Capitol.”

    Col. Earl Matthews, a lawyer who was with Maj. Gen. Walker on Jan. 6, 2021, and who has challenged the Pentagon Jan. 6 narrative, and District of Columbia National Guard Command Sgt. Michael Brooks, a senior officer with the Guard until he retired in 2022, also testified during the hearing in Washington.

    None of the Guard officials who testified were formally interviewed by the House Jan. 6 committee, which was primarily run by Democrats and disbanded at the end of the previous Congress.

    The officials said the Guard was ready to act and could have made a difference if not for the delay.

    “I know if we were able to deploy immediately when Gen. Walker made the request, the National Guard could have helped end civil disturbance and restore order quickly,” Capt. Nick said.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 20:20

  • Watch: Chasing Trump
    Watch: Chasing Trump

    With an ominous soundtrack throughout, Chasing Trump is the very first documentary produced by American Greatness.

    The documentary does a deep dive into the backgrounds of the four prosecutors handling former President Trump’s various legal cases, making the case that they are all “politically corrupt”, and accusing them of trying to “get Trump” because they fear he will win the November 2024 US presidential elections.

    With the former President facing increasingly restrictive gag orders, Donald Trump Jr said “‘Chasing Trump’ is an important documentary that exposes the leftwing prosecutors weaponizing the government to target my father,” adding that:

    “It’s the first documentary to do a deep dive into the backgrounds of the prosecutors behind the four cases against him and is a must watch for anyone who cares about preserving the rule of law and protecting our constitutional rights.“

    “Four corrupt, politically motivated prosecutors. One target: Donald Trump,” the narrator begins…

    “They say they’re upholding the law. But a close examination reveals politics of the very worst kind meant to influence the 2024 election.”

    Specifically, the mini-documentary makes the case that Trump is being punished for taking on the status quo and reinforces the narrative that he is subject to a witch hunt.

    Curt Mercadenta, managing editor of American Greatness, said it would shock anyone who believed the legal system was free from partisan political considerations.

    “With the 2024 election starting to heat up, it’s imperative that Americans have the opportunity to learn more about the truth behind the prosecutions targeting President Trump, along with the partisan prosecutors behind the cases.”

    Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, which was set up to press for conservative judicial nominees and now campaigns against what it sees as liberal activism in the courts, said:

    “These four prosecutions against President Trump are nothing more than partisan political activism masquerading as the rule of law.”

    “‘Chasing Trump’ exposes the leftwing prosecutors behind these cases as nothing more than puppets for Joe Biden and his political machine.”

    Watch the full documentary free here…

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 20:00

  • Watch: Biden Falsely Claims That WWII Uncle Eaten By Cannibals, Twice
    Watch: Biden Falsely Claims That WWII Uncle Eaten By Cannibals, Twice

    Joe Biden has always been a prolific liar and plagiarist, but on Wednesday he took things to another level.

    While attempting to disparage former President Donald Trump for ‘skipping out’ on a 2018 visit to a military cemetery outside Paris (when in fact the Navy made a ‘bad-weather‘ call), Biden claimed that his uncle, 2nd Lt. Ambrose J. “Bozey” Finnegan Jr., was shot down in World War II and eaten by cannibals.

    “He was a hell of an athlete, they tell me, when he was a kid. He flew those single-engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones, and he got shot down in New Guinea. They never found the body because there used to be, there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea,” Biden said during a Wednesday stop in Pittsburgh – an account which appears in the official transcript of his remarks.

    “They never recovered his body, but the government went back when I went down there and they checked and found some parts of the plane,” Biden continued.

    Except that’s total bullshit of course

    As Jonathan Turley points out, there was a survivor who gave a detailed account of how Finnegan and another man remained in the plane as it sank. What’s more, Bozey’s plane was not shot down – it was a Douglas A-20 Havoc with two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior 9-cylinder radial engines. The plane had mechanical problems when it crashed near New Guinea and simply sank into the ocean.

    “On May 14, 1944, an A-20 havoc (serial number 42-86768), with a crew of three and one passenger, departed Momote Airfield, Los Negros Island, for a courier flight to Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea. For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea. Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft’s nose hit the water hard. Three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash. One crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge. An aerial search the next day found no trace of the missing aircraft or the lost crew members.”

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    What’s more, Biden repeated it more than once! Watch:

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    So for those keeping track:

    – Not shot down

    – Not a single engine plane

    – Not eaten by cannibals

    All of which was has been in the public domain for decades. And not one reporter following him around pushed back on what could have been googled within seconds.

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    And according to AP – Biden was simply “off on details.”

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    Meanwhile, Biden has falsely claimed at least 13 times that his uncle Frank won the Purple Heart, and said that he (Biden) was picked twice to attend the Naval Academy, when no supporting evidence exists.

    In 2021, Biden told Jewish leaders that he remembered “spending time at” and “going to” Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 after 11 people were murdered in a mass shooting – which also never happened. The White House covered by later claiming he was thinking about a 2019 phone call with the synagogue’s rabbi.

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 19:55

  • Biden Wins Endorsement Of Kennedy Family Members
    Biden Wins Endorsement Of Kennedy Family Members

    Authored by Emel Akan and Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    President Joe Biden on April 18 traveled to Philadelphia, the final stop of his three-day tour of the crucial battleground state, where he received the Kennedy family’s endorsement for his reelection campaign.

    President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Penn., on April 18, 2024. (Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

    More than 15 members of the Kennedy family, who had previously criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid for the White House, endorsed President Biden at a campaign event in Philadelphia.

    Speaking at the event, Kerry Kennedy, the sister of RFK Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy’s seventh child, praised President Biden, stating that reelecting him is the best way forward for the country.

    “President has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for. That’s why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden,” Ms. Kennedy said.

    “In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency,” she added.

    Speaking at the event, President Biden thanked the family members for the endorsement.

    Six of RFK Jr.’s siblings stood alongside President Biden on stage at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia.

    “I don’t want to become emotional. What an incredible honor to have the support of the Kennedy family,“ President Biden said. ”Most meaningful introduction I’ve ever gotten in my life.”

    RFK, Jr. entered the presidential race in April last year, challenging President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination.

    After encountering multiple hurdles by the DNC and accusing the organization of “rigging the primary” and not allowing any candidate to compete against President Biden, Mr. Kennedy announced he would run as an independent in October 2023.

    Many believe Mr. Kennedy’s third-party challenge threatens President Biden more than former President Trump.

    In the RealClearPolitics average of polls as of April 17, President Trump leads with 41 percent, followed by President Biden (35.7 percent), and Mr. Kennedy (11.7 percent).

    Multiple times on the campaign trail, Mr. Kennedy has pointed out that he has more than 100 family members and said that many of them are working on his campaign.

    Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, his daughter-in-law, is his campaign manager.

    RFK Jr. responded in a social media post to his family members’ endorsement of President Biden.

    “I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active—it’s a family tradition,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on X on April 18. “We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”

    During a recent interview with CNN, Mr. Kennedy criticized President Biden, saying he is a bigger threat to democracy than President Trump.

    “I can make the argument that President Biden is the much worse threat to democracy, and the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history—the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech, so to censor his opponent,” Mr. Kennedy said.

    In March, the DNC announced the creation of a team to counter third-party and independent presidential candidates.

    It hired Lis Smith, a veteran Democrat strategist who managed Pete Buttigieg’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, to spearhead an aggressive communication plan to combat Mr. Kennedy, independent Cornel West, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

    In October 2023, Mr. Kennedy’s sister, Rory Kennedy, called her brother’s campaign “dangerous” in a post on X.

    “I feel strongly that this is the most important election of our lifetime, and there’s so much at stake. And I do think it’s going to come down to a handful of votes in a handful of states.

    “And I do worry that Bobby just taking some percentage of votes from Biden could shift the election and lead to Trump’s election,” she told CNN in March when asked about her comment.

    Campaign Events in Pennsylvania

    President Biden traveled to Pennsylvania this week for a three-day tour of the battleground state, starting with a campaign event in his hometown of Scranton on April 16.

    In Scranton, the president highlighted a contrast between his economic agenda and that of his 2024 presidential rival and predecessor, former President Trump.

    He also reiterated his push to raise taxes on the rich and big corporations.

    “Folks, where we come from matters. When I look at the economy, I don’t see it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago; I see through the eyes of Scranton,” President Biden said.

    On April 17, President Biden traveled to Pittsburgh, where he announced dramatically higher tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China, a move likely aimed at pleasing blue-collar voters in the battleground state.

    With 19 crucial electoral votes, the state is a key focus for the Biden campaign.

    The campaign says it believes it has a clear advantage in Pennsylvania for the 2024 election, and is making significant investments in key voter groups, including black and Latino communities in the state.

    Last month, for example, the campaign opened 14 offices in a single week, enlisted 1,700 volunteers, and formed key coalitions around the state to reach out to various demographics.

    The campaign has seven offices in Philadelphia to mobilize voters and ensure a high turnout in November.

    “In contrast, the Trump campaign still has no public presence—and across Pennsylvania, local media have reported there are no signs of the Trump campaign.

    “The RNC was even forced to scrap plans to open a minority outreach office in Allentown, Pennsylvania,” the Biden campaign said in a statement.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 19:40

  • America's Confused Commander-In-Chief Warns Israel Against Attacking Israel
    America’s Confused Commander-In-Chief Warns Israel Against Attacking Israel

    While Democratic strategists have long tried to downplay and dismiss President Biden’s obvious age and cognitive issues—which have been on continual display of late—he has just made fresh comments which illustrate the dangers of these persistent issues for the Commander-in-Chief and for the nation at a moment the Middle East stands on the brink of major war.

    The 81-year-old president said in an interview with Nexstar Media’s Reshad Hudson that he is urgently trying to de-escalate tensions centering on Gaza and Iran, following Iran’s Saturday night unprecedented attack on the Jewish state. That’s when he explained that he urged Israel to exercise restraint, and in his words he “made it clear to the Israelis: don’t move on Haifa.” Watch below:

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    He then began immediately mumbling: “It’s Just Not, I Mean, Anyway…” – and trailed off, apparently losing his train of thought before moving on to speak about the Saturday Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack on Israel.

    Biden was apparently intending to refer to Rafah in the comments, which is the Palestinian city in the far southern Gaza Strip, and not the third largest city in Israel. The Netanyahu government has for weeks said it is preparing to move militarily on the refugee-packed enclave. 

    The US is worried that an IDF ground offensive will trigger further regional escalation, including the potential for attacks on American bases from Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

    But the obvious question is: will Israeli leaders really taking Washington’s stance seriously when they hear the American president, or “leader of the free world,” warning Israel not to attack a city in Israel?

    If Biden can’t distinguish Gaza’s Rafah from Israel’s Haifa, then certainly we can expect to see many more of these consequential gaffes if he gets into office another four years.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 19:20

  • Soros Nonprofit Gives 8-Figure Sum To Far-Left Super PAC
    Soros Nonprofit Gives 8-Figure Sum To Far-Left Super PAC

    Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

    One of the many nonprofits run by far-left billionaire George Soros donated tens of millions of dollars to a major super PAC that funds multiple left-wing groups.

    According to Fox News, Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records posted Monday reveal that the Fund for Policy Reform gave $60 million to the Democracy PAC in the first quarter of 2024; the Democracy PAC subsequently sent $21 million to Democratic committees in support of various congressional candidates in both the House and the Senate.

    The $21 million was dispersed among a dozen left-wing groups, with $8 million being split two ways between top outside groups in support of House and Senate Democrats.

    Additionally, $2.5 million was donated to Planned Parenthood, as well as another $2.5 million to BlackPAC, and $1.8 million to American Bridge, a Democratic opposition research firm.

    Other donations included $1 million to the ColorOfChange PAC and $500,000 to Americans for Contraception Victory.

    ColorOfChange is one of the most radical groups when it comes to the far-left “defund the police” agenda.

    “We know that policing doesn’t keep us safe, communities do,” the group said in a petition demanding that supporters harass politicians to get them to support the defunding movement.

    “Policing doesn’t lead to thriving communities, investment does.”

    The massive $60 million dump was the second-largest donation in the 2024 election cycle thus far, only surpassed by the $82.6 million that was donated by a state super PAC to Never Back Down, the super PAC that backed the doomed presidential campaign of Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.).

    The 93-year-old George Soros recently handed full control of his political empire to his son, Alex, and Alex’s subsequent moves have been watched closely.

    The younger Soros shows no signs of slowing down his family’s influence over left-wing politics both in America and globally, continuing to pour millions into far-left causes that undermine the security of the United States of America, including pro-amnesty and pro-open borders groups, as well as backing progressive district attorneys who refuse to enforce basic laws.

    In response, Musk is gathering signatures…

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 19:00

  • Biden Pushing Pipe-Dream Of Israel-Saudi Mega Deal Based On Palestinian State Recognition
    Biden Pushing Pipe-Dream Of Israel-Saudi Mega Deal Based On Palestinian State Recognition

    The Biden administration is keeping its dream of seeing Saudi-Israeli diplomatic normalization achieved (or rather, what is in fact originally Trump’s dream set in motion via the Abraham Accords).

    But Biden is dangling something before Netanyahu that the Israeli leader is unlikely to be very attracted by. “The Biden administration is pushing for a long-shot diplomatic deal in coming months that presses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a new commitment to Palestinian statehood in exchange for diplomatic recognition by Riyadh, U.S. and Saudi officials said,” writes The Wall Street Journal Thursday.

    This is not the first time the plan has been floated or was leaked to the media. Last year, for example, Saudi Arabia asked the US for help with developing a “civilian nuclear program” and for fewer restrictions on arms purchases in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel, as the New York Times previously reported.

    The only thing that has changed is there are even bigger hurdles at this moment of a post-Oct.7 Middle East, including a still impending Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, and the specter of a major Iran-Israel war in the wake of the Saturday Iranian drone and ballistic missile attack on Israel.

    “As inducements to recognize Israel, the White House is offering Riyadh a more formal defense relationship with Washington, assistance in acquiring civil nuclear power and a renewed push for a Palestinian state—a package that U.S. officials say they are in the final stages of negotiating,” continues the WSJ.

    Admin officials speaking to the Journal also claimed that the major weekend attack out of Iran could hasten broader Arab Gulf and Israeli rapprochement:

    U.S. officials say the successful multicountry effort to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones on Saturday should make it clear to Israel that its security against threats from Tehran can be enhanced through closer integration with Saudi Arabia.

    However, as we underscored in featuring this Wednesday analysis: US Push For A ‘Middle East NATO’ Failed To Emerge During Iran Strikes, the reality is that in the end, the oil-rich Gulf states downplayed any involvement and left the heavy lifting of fighting off Iran’s attack to the US and its western allies and Jordan, the resource-poor Hashemite Kingdom dependent on US financial assistance.

    On Friday the UN Security Council is expected to vote on an Algerian-proposed draft resolution to recognize a Palestinian state, which would give the Palestinian representatives full membership status at the United Nations.

    The US position has long been that a Palestinian state must be born out direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, and not accomplished superficially within an external forum like the UN. The US has already said, via a State Department statement, that it will vote down the measure.

    Israel for its part has clearly rejected that it will allow for a Palestinian state so long as Hamas still exists, and PM Netanyahu has even linked the more secular-leaning Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to ‘terrorism’. He has also rejected a prior US call to allow the PA to take over and administer the Gaza Strip. The reality is that the current Gaza war makes the prospect of achieving a Palestinian state more distant than ever.

    And the prospect of Palestinian statehood resulting from some kind of Israel-Saudi normalization agreement – which US media reports previously dubbed the ‘deal of the century’ – also seems a pipe dream at this point.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 18:40

  • World Bank Report Highlights Advantage Of Central Bank Gold Revaluation Accounts
    World Bank Report Highlights Advantage Of Central Bank Gold Revaluation Accounts

    By Jan Nieuwenhuijs of Gainesville Coins

    Recently the World Bank released a handbook for asset managers on why to invest in gold. At Gainesville Coins I have written numerous articles on gold revaluation accounts and how these can be deployed by central banks to absorb losses in case of emergency. The World Bank has taken notice of my research as they allude to this practice in a chapter on reserve accounting and reference to my work.

    The World Bank publication underlines the fact that gold is the only financial asset without counterparty risk, and due to its scarcity relative to fiat currencies its price in the long run always increases. Central banks that own gold for an extended period can reap the benefits of their gold revaluation account without having to sell any gold.

    Introduction

    The Gold Investing Handbook for Asset Managers document published earlier this year by the World Bank Treasury is an interesting read for investors. It covers the gold market structure, optimal portfolio assessments, geopolitical aspects, a trading and liquidity guide, and a discussion on gold accounting, among other subjects.

    The World Bank Treasury is tasked to manage the World Bank’s finances and contribute to the Bank’s twin goals of “ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.” As such it acts as a trusted advisor to its member countries to support financial stability and provide “thought leadership in the broader treasury and financial management arena.” With this mission in mind the Bank’s Treasury writes that:

    Throughout history, gold has played a vital role as a financial asset in the global financial system. … In the modern era, gold continues to play a critical role in the global financial system, serving as a hedge against inflation, a safe haven asset, and a reserve asset for central banks. … The role of gold in the global financial system has evolved over time, with changes in monetary policy, economic conditions, and technological advancements influencing demand and supply dynamics. Despite these changes, gold remains a crucial component of the global financial system and is likely to continue to play an essential role in the future. … The market disruptions brought about by the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the US and China trade war, Brexit, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a prolonged period of negative real interest rates and geopolitical uncertainties caused by financial sanctions imposed on Russia to freeze its foreign reserves, reinforced the strategic importance of gold as a buffer against financial instability.

    Central Bank Gold Revaluation Accounts

    After the central banks of advanced economies such as the Netherlands and Germany stated their gold revaluation accounts (GRAs) guarantee their solvency in 2013, the World Bank now joins the discussion on GRAs. On page 57 of its report there is a summary of my article on how the central bank of Curaçao and Saint Martin utilized its GRA to cover losses in 2021.

    Courtesy of the World Bank. On page 67 of the document a reference is made to my research regarding the central bank of Curaçao and Saint Martin in 2021. The one thing blocking central banks from using their GRAs are their self-imposed rules.

    Simplified, a GRA is an accounting entry on the liability side of a central bank’s balance sheet that records unrealized gains in gold. Because central banks are the root of the modern money tree, they can use these entries to pay for expenses. A GRA, if sufficient, can prevent a central bank from going into negative capital in times of financial stress without having to sell gold (for more details read my article here).

    Stylized balance sheet of central bank X.

    All in all, the World Bank’s reporting of GRAs is bullish for gold as it once again confirms gold’s position front and center in the monetary system. Gold—as per International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank’s sister institute—is the only universally accepted financial asset that is not someone else’s liability. From the IMF (BPM6):

    Financial assets are economic assets that are financial instruments. Financial assets include financial claims and, by convention, monetary gold held in the form of gold bullion … A financial claim is a financial instrument that has a counterpart liability. Gold bullion is not a claim and does not have a corresponding liability. It is treated as a financial asset, however, because of its special role as a means of financial exchange in international payments by monetary authorities and as a reserve asset held by monetary authorities.

    Gold has no counterparty risk and can’t be arbitrarily devalued. Hence, the IMF lists gold at the very top of reserve assets, which makes gold the hardest asset for central banks to own and creates significant unrealized gains over time through the debasement of the currency they issue. And as I have explained previously these unrealized gains can be turned into realized gains to pay for expenses.

    Source: Balance of Payments Manual 6.

    Conclusion

    In the past years more and more central banks from both the global South and North—and international financial institutions like the World Bank—are pitching gold as an imperative asset with multiple functions. Gold is a safe haven asset, inflation hedge, backup currency, its revaluation accounts can be used, etcetera.

    If one looks at the order of the IMF’s list of reserve assets the similarities with Exter’s inverse pyramid is easily seen. Gold truly underpins the global financial system. In my view, though, the value of all financial assets resting on gold has grown too large in the past decades. For stabilizing the pyramid (financial system), the value of the gold needs to increase accordingly.

    But we will explore these imbalances more in depth in my next article.

    Further Reading

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 18:20

  • Russia, Russia, Russia!: Watch As Democrats Go Full Russia-Tard During Hearing Over China's "Political Warfare"
    Russia, Russia, Russia!: Watch As Democrats Go Full Russia-Tard During Hearing Over China’s “Political Warfare”

    While China has spent decades conducting deep espionage throughout US institutions – mostly in the form of plucky PhD candidates handling sensitive projects at American universities, and places like Los Alamos National Laboratory, Congressional Democrats simply can’t shake their fixation with Russia.

    Point in case, during a Wednesday House Oversight hearing on defending America from China’s political warfare, Democrats – who take tons of money from China (and bang their spies on occasion), couldn’t seem to remain on topic.

    Watch:

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    Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-MS) got into it at one point:

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    Quick, send money to Ukraine!

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 04/18/2024 – 18:00

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