Feb 19

Today’s News 19th February 2024

  • US Officials Concede No Active Surveillance On Long-Term Effects Of COVID-19 Vaccines
    US Officials Concede No Active Surveillance On Long-Term Effects Of COVID-19 Vaccines

    Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    In a Feb. 15 hearing by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, U.S. health officials side-stepped a question when asked whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is actively conducting extended safety surveillance on those who received early COVID-19 vaccines.

    (Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

    Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) asked Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, whether the FDA is conducting active surveillance and if there are any specific health markers they’re studying that may signal trends requiring further inquiry.

    “Every time we go through and do the safety surveillance, we start back, and it goes back to 2020. In some cases where we’re looking for certain things, we might use a different window, but indeed, we have to look from the beginning of the period of surveillance. I can turn it over to Dr. Jernigan because he can speak for CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] in that regard,” Dr. Marks said.

    “So with regard to myocarditis, we certainly have been monitoring the issue with various different data systems. I think the most recent data really demonstrates that you’re about eight times less likely to get myocarditis if you’re vaccinated compared to those that are unvaccinated,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC responded.

    Rep. Malliotakis told Jernigan she wanted to know about “everything,” not just myocarditis.

    Dr. Jerrigan asked her to repeat the question, and she asked again whether the FDA was conducting extended safety surveillance on early recipients of COVID-19 vaccines.

    “Most of the reports that we get of adverse events are in the few weeks following the vaccination,” Jernigan said. In terms of monitoring these over time, Jernigan said the agency has “vaccine effectiveness” systems in place at the CDC.

    Neither Jernigan nor Marks referenced any active surveillance initiatives being undertaken by their agencies to monitor people who received the original COVID-19 vaccines for long-term health effects.

    “There is no system in place for long-term vaccine safety surveillance in this country,” Ms. Liz Willner, founder of OpenVAERS, told The Epoch Times.

    “The FDA and CDC do not actively search for safety signals. They did not find the myocarditis or the thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome that led to the withdrawal of the J&J COVID vaccine—those signals were discovered by the European Medicines Agency. The Vaccine Safety Datalink has never corroborated any vaccine safety signals, including myocarditis, because you cannot find what you are not looking for,” she added.

    According to the CDC, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a passive reporting system co-managed by the FDA and CDC that relies on individuals to send reports of their experiences to the agencies. It is not designed to determine whether a vaccine caused a health condition. The Vaccine Safety Datalink uses electronic health data from participating sites to monitor and assess the safety of vaccines and is not available to the public.

    At one point during the hearing, Dr. Marks was asked whether COVID-19 vaccines have resulted in an increase in cancers and whether “turbo cancers” are real.

    “I’m a hematologist oncologist that’s board certified. I don’t know what a turbo cancer is. It was a term that was used first in a paper in mouse experiments describing an inflammatory response,” Dr. Marks said. “We have not detected any increase in cancers with the COVID-19 vaccines.”

    The inquiry was part of a long line of questioning to examine the government’s post-marketing surveillance of COVID-19 vaccine safety and the process for adjudication claims for compensation.

    FDA Director Dr. Peter Marks said they tried to be prepared for reports that may come into VAERS but received a “tremendous” avalanche of adverse event reports after COVID-19 vaccines were released.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 23:20

  • Mapping The World's Top 50 Science And Technology Hubs
    Mapping The World’s Top 50 Science And Technology Hubs

    In 2023, the world experienced another wave of science and technology (S&T) innovation, from the introduction of the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the U.S. to the stunning growth of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence.

    This map, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, explores the world’s top 50 science and technology hubs leading these innovations based on data from the Global Innovation Index 2023. Hubs were ranked by their combined share of international patent applications and scientific publications.

    East Asia Dominance in S&T

    The world’s five most significant science and technology hubs are in East Asia.

    The top-ranked Tokyo-Yokohama cluster made up just over 10% of all patent applications between 2018-2022.

    Cluster Country/Economy Patent Applications Scientific Publications
    Tokyo-Yokohama 🇯🇵 Japan 127,418 115,020
    Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou 🇨🇳/🇭🇰 China/Hong Kong 113,482 153,180
    Seoul 🇰🇷 South Korea 63,447 133,604
    Beijing 🇨🇳 China 38,067 279,485
    Shanghai-Suzhou 🇨🇳 China 32,924 162,635
    San Jose-San Francisco 🇺🇸 U.S. 47,269 58,575
    Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto 🇯🇵 Japan 38,413 51,948
    Boston-Cambridge 🇺🇸 U.S. 18,184 76,378
    San Diego 🇺🇸 U.S. 23,261 20,928
    New York City 🇺🇸 U.S. 13,838 74,849
    Nanjing 🇨🇳 China 7,143 113,488
    Paris 🇫🇷 France 15,176 61,692
    Wuhan 🇨🇳 China 6,250 89,756
    Hangzhou 🇨🇳 China 10,755 62,924
    Nagoya 🇯🇵 Japan 17,736 16,091
    Los Angeles, 🇺🇸 U.S. 11,556 44,058
    Washington, DC–Baltimore 🇺🇸 U.S. 5,525 76,039
    Daejeon 🇰🇷 South Korea 12,275 25,552
    Xi’an 🇨🇳 China 1,786 86,937
    London 🇬🇧 Great Britain 5,981 59,068
    Seattle 🇺🇸 U.S. 11,472 20,322
    Munich 🇩🇪 Germany 10,248 24,239
    Qingdao 🇨🇳 China 7,286 39,745
    Chengdu 🇨🇳 China 2,046 67,334
    Cologne 🇩🇪 Germany 7,466 34,286
    Amsterdam–Rotterdam 🇳🇱 Netherlands 4,230 52,864
    Taipei–Hsinchu 🇹🇼 Taiwan 3,907 52,752
    Houston 🇺🇸 U.S. 8,475 24,636
    Stuttgart 🇩🇪 Germany 9,342 14,874
    Tel Aviv–Jerusalem 🇮🇱 Israel 7,268 24,219
    Moscow 🇷🇺 Russia 2,036 55,086
    Chicago 🇺🇸 U.S. 5,763 32,343
    Singapore 🇸🇬/🇲🇾 Singapore/Malaysia 4,861 36,803
    Tehran 🇮🇷 Iran 249 63,113
    Philadelphia 🇺🇸 U.S. 5,390 32,309
    Tianjin 🇨🇳 China 1,267 53,680
    Changsha 🇨🇳 China 1,149 52,768
    Stockholm 🇸🇪 Sweden 6,069 19,984
    Minneapolis 🇺🇸 U.S. 6,625 15,375
    Hefei 🇨🇳 China 2,549 38,974
    Eindhoven 🇳🇱 Netherlands 7,982 5,339
    Melbourne 🇦🇺 Australia 2,126 40,056
    Berlin 🇩🇪 Germany 3,624 30,464
    Chongqing 🇨🇳 China 1,651 41,412
    Frankfurt am Main 🇩🇪 Germany 5,410 18,590
    Sydney 🇦🇺 Australia 2,539 33,695
    Raleigh 🇺🇸 U.S. 3,057 30,206
    Madrid 🇪🇸 Spain 1,580 38,849
    Zürich 🇨🇭 Switzerland 3,759 24,437
    Milan 🇮🇹 Italy 2,578 31,077

    The first American cluster on the list, the San Francisco Bay Area, is home to major tech companies such as Adobe, eBay, Google, and PayPal.

    Along with Cambridge in the United Kingdom, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most S&T-intensive clusters relative to overall population density.

    For the first time, China topped the list of countries with the highest number of clusters among the top 100, having 24 total. The United States follows, with 21 clusters, then Germany with nine.

    In addition, nearly every Chinese cluster rose in the rankings compared to last year, with only Beijing falling by one place.

    São Paulo (Brazil); Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai (India); Tehran (Islamic Republic of Iran); Istanbul and Ankara (Türkiye); and Moscow (Russian Federation) are the only middle-income economy clusters outside China.

    According to the Global Innovation Index, the U.S. leads in research and development (R&D) expenditure, followed by China, Japan, Germany, and the Republic of Korea.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 22:45

  • Black Activist Lawyer's Idea To Stop Law-Breaking: Just Legalize Crime
    Black Activist Lawyer’s Idea To Stop Law-Breaking: Just Legalize Crime

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

    During a recent appearance on MSNBC, a black activist lawyer suggested that crime in the United States could be completely eliminated if all crime was just legalized.

    Yes, really.

    The comments were made by Ben Crump, who specializes in civil rights cases and was the attorney for the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

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    “We can get rid of all the crime in America overnight, just like that,” Crump told his fellow guests, one of whom was civil rights activist Al Sharpton.

    “And people ask ‘how attorney Crump?’ – change the definition of crime.”

    “Of course!” responded another guest.

    “If you get to define what conduct is gonna be made criminal, you can predict who the criminals are gonna be,” added Crump.

    Another guest responded by saying that suggested all black people were criminals by their nature.

    “They made the laws to criminalize our culture – black culture,” responded Crump.

    Respondents on X asserted that Crump was essentially acknowledging someone he probably didn’t intend to.

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    Meanwhile, Scott Adams was unavailable for comment.

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

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 22:10

  • "Enough Is Enough": 'Squad' Member Tlaib Comes Out Against Biden
    “Enough Is Enough”: ‘Squad’ Member Tlaib Comes Out Against Biden

    Democratic Socialist Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) encouraged Democrats to “vote uncommitted” in the Feb. 27 presidential primary due to the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict in the Gaza strip.

    An “uncommitted” vote is a form of protest designed to send a message.

    “Right now, we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government,” Tlaib said in a video to Michigan residents filmed outside of a civic center in Dearborn. “If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.”

    On Wednesday, Tlaib was the only member of Congress to vote against a resolution condemning Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In her message, she said she wants voters to “support life” and “stand up for every single life killed in Gaza.”

    “It is important, as you all know, to not only march against the genocide, not only make sure that we’re calling our members of Congress and local electeds,” said Tlaib, who in November accused Biden of supporting “genocide” in Gaza.

    “It is also important to create a voting bloc, something that is a bullhorn to say, ‘Enough is enough. We don’t want a country that supports wars and bombs and destruction.’”

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    “I want you to think of all of the amazing young children and the people again, lives were lost in Gaza. This is the way you can raise our voices. Don’t make us even more invisible,” continued Tlaib, a vocal critic of Israel.

    Tlaib marks the highest-profile Democrat so far to get behind the so-called “Listen to Michigan” campaign, which hopes to raise 10,000 “uncommitted” votes for its cause (around the same margin Donald Trump won the swing state in 2016).

    Over the past three and a half months, Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza has strained his relationship with progressives.

    “A lot of people in our base are feeling really hesitant about supporting Joe Biden,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, spokesperson for climate-focused youth group Sunrise Movement, in a statement to the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “Joe Biden needs the young generation in order to win and that is going to require him doing a lot on climate, on Gaza, on immigration, to try and regain trust that’s been broken.“

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 21:35

  • WHCA Vs WHCO: White House Correspondents Blast The White House Over Heavy-Handed Media Memo
    WHCA Vs WHCO: White House Correspondents Blast The White House Over Heavy-Handed Media Memo

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    We have previously discussed the increasingly aggressive role of the White House Counsel’s Office (WHCO) in defending President Joe Biden, including spreading disinformation about various investigations. WHCO spokesman Ian Sams has taken the lead in attacking critics and denying facts related to corruption and other allegations.

    Now, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) is blasting a memo in which the WHCO instructs reporters on how to cover the recent Hur report and allegations of the President’s diminished faculties.

    Sams is not a lawyer. He is a political operative who has worked extensively for Democratic candidates and the Democratic National Committee, including a stint with Hillary Clinton. He was recently accused by the former head of the WHCA (and my former student) Jon Decker of giving false statements concerning the Special Counsel’s report.

    There have been previous controversies over instructions given to the media by the White House. While the media has often been accused of maintaining a largely unified front protecting the President, actual memos directing their responses insulted many in the media. That is just not how this is done. You have to maintain certain proprieties and appearances.

    Indeed, when the President recently snapped at a reporter by saying “that is not the judgment of the press,” it seemed to say the quiet part out loud in the ability of the White House to dictate coverage.

    The most recent controversy came after Sams sent another letter with media instructions. Sams lays out how the report should be spinned in the media, putting in writing what is often conveyed in “background” chats with reporters.

    It proved too much for WHCA president Kelly O’Donnell who called it “misdirected.” She added that “[a]s a non-profit organization that advocates for its members in their efforts to cover the presidency, the WHCA does not, cannot, and will not serve as a repository for the government’s views of what’s in the news.”

    In my testimony at the Biden impeachment hearing, I raised the role of Sams and the White House staff in advocating for the President:

    ”To the extent that the President has used White House staff to maintain false claims or resist disclosures, it can fit into the type of Nixonian abuse of power model.”

    The WHCO has long distinguished between the interests of a president and the presidency. Biden has his own personal counsel to oppose these allegations. That separation has now collapsed under White House Counsel Ed Siskel, who appears to approve of this advocacy role as Sams routinely lashes out at critics and investigators.

    As noted in a recent column, Sams’s work is precariously close to the line drawn in past impeachments. Indeed, he may have already crossed over in the effort to swat back investigations into corruption allegations. Sams’s effort to spin out of these scandals could easily end up spinning the White House into an actual impeachment.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 21:00

  • Chinese Stocks Set To Soar
    Chinese Stocks Set To Soar

    After the 10-day Lunar new Year holiday, Chinese markets are all set to reopen with China with a positive lead from the Hong Kong and ADR rally last week. as UBS notes, a lot of the press reports has been focused on the improvement in consumption in China, despite the ongoing deflation and property crisis concerns, but as always, the big question remains on the sustainability of any rebound. Very upbeat travel-related data news span from rail trips, online hotel bookings, spending on Meituan, Macau visitation data, and tourism spending. State media reported over the weekend that about 474mn domestic tourist trips were made during the 8-day holiday, up 19% from the same period in 2019. Total tourism spending climbed nearly 8% from that year to CNY633 bn, while domestic trips reportedly rose 34% and spending reportedly increased 47% from 2023.

    Not surprisingly, the UBS desk says that it is better buying across the region, with early flows showing a 2:1 buy skew.

    Below we dig deeper into the latest market dynamics as summarized by Bloomberg Markets Live reporters George Lei, Henry Ren and Jacob Gu, who lay out the three main things we learned about China last week:

    1. A-shares are likely to start the Year of the Dragon with a bang, extending a rally that began before the Lunar New Year hiatus. That’s after investors piled into US-listed Chinese stocks in the week ended Feb. 16, when onshore markets were closed. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index advanced more than 4% in the period, helping drive month-to-date gains for the gauge to almost 10%. In Europe, stocks of luxury brands with exposure to Chinese demand also gained traction last week. For those who don’t hold direct stakes in Chinese companies, buying options has become an increasingly popular trade.

    Initial government reports pointed to a nationwide resurgence in road, rail and air travel over the week-long holiday, signaling a possible pickup in consumer spending. Beijing’s next steps to support the economy will come into focus when mainland markets reopen on Monday. The first data point to watch will be Tuesday’s decision regarding the five-year loan prime rate, which could be reduced by 10 basis points, according to consensus economist forecast.

    2. Sentiment toward the broader Chinese market appears to be improving after a poor start to 2024. The outlook is becoming “incrementally more positive” and investors should pivot to “risk on” trades on Chinese equities, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a research report on Friday.

    The MSCI China Index is now trading below the bank’s year-end target of 56 under a bearish scenario, which presents buying opportunities, according to strategists including Wendy Liu and Marko Kolanovic. “If overcapacity sectors do see restricted equity issuance, leading players in the renewables and new energy vehicle ecosystem should benefit,” they wrote. Internet names such as Tencent, Alibaba and Meituan that were among the most net sold by active funds before the Lunar New Year may also see a reversal in flows, they added.

    3. While China has been on holiday, global investors have been snapping up cheap options to hedge risks of a bigger-than-expected yuan drop. Societe Generale advised clients on Wednesday to take advantage of “multi-year low” prices and buy three-month USD/CNH risk reversals as protection against a move above 7.25. Yuan’s low volatility is mainly due to PBOC fixing, which hasn’t moved much over the past couple months but could face increasing challenges down the road, according to the French bank.

    With US consumer and producer price gauges last month pointing to inflationary momentum, Citigroup, Societe Generale and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers are all telling investors to brace for the potential of a Fed hike, rather than cuts that have been largely priced in. Depreciation pressure on the Chinese currency looks set to persist.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 20:31

  • "Everything Is Going Wrong For The Deep State" – Martin Armstrong Warns That's What "Makes Them So Dangerous" Now
    “Everything Is Going Wrong For The Deep State” – Martin Armstrong Warns That’s What “Makes Them So Dangerous” Now

    Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

    Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is predicting political turmoil, civilian unrest, war and a big economic downturn in 2024 in a new report called “The Year from Political Hell.” 

    It’s not just a US election year, but it is an election year for more than half of the world.  This is a global phenomenon which no one can be sure of the outcome. 

    Armstrong explains, “This is not just the United States election. This is what you hear on the news locally…”

    ” However, step outside this country, and, for example, Indonesia just voted in a leftist government.  You have the EU going for elections.  You have on May 2nd all the local elections in Britian. You have Russian elections on May 7th.  60% of the world is going to the polls in 2024 to vote for a new government.  You might as well throw them into a tumbler, shake well and see what comes out.  I mean it’s all over the place.”

    On the war front, get ready for more mass killing, and don’t be surprised if it goes nuclear.  Armstrong predicts,

     “There will be nuclear weapons.  The neocons keep telling people on Capitol Hill that Russia would never use a nuke because they know we would use them back. That is nonsense!  If you are about ready to conquer somebody, and this is all they’ve got left, they are pushing the button…

    These people, all they want is war.  They don’t care.  They really do not care.  They don’t care about the economy.  They don’t care about anything.”

    Armstrong says the coming war will make the economy “crash in 2024” as people get scared, spend a lot less and save a lot more.  Armstrong says,

    “What we are looking at is a contraction in spending because of uncertainty. 

    This is what these neocons are creating, and they don’t want to listen to anybody, and it is just their agenda, and they don’t care what happens to the country…

    We are looking for a contraction of 12% to 18%.  GDP is not going to be rising, but you are going to find inflation still rising.”

    Armstrong also says to look for “a rebellion in government debt” as people lose faith in governments around the world.  This rebellion in government issued debt will include US Treasuries, according to Armstrong.  This means interest rates will continue to trend upward and not downward.

    On volatility in the markets, Armstrong predicts, “Look for volatility to start around July, and there may be some false flags too.”

    Armstrong continues to say Trump is still looking like he can “win in a landslide in 2024,” but expect the Deep State to pull every dirty trick in the book to keep him out of office.  Armstrong points out,

    “If Trump gets back in power, they are all fired. . . . They know they are losing power.  Instead of reforming and doing the right thing, they clamp down and they think they can retain power by pressing us even more.  Sorry, but that’s what creates revolution.”

    In closing, Armstrong says, “Pretty much everything is going wrong for the Deep State. . . . confidence in government has collapsed everywhere.”

    This is what makes the Deep State Dems, RINOs and Neocons very dangerous.

    By the way, Armstrong says he would be a buyer of physical gold to hold as a core asset.

    There is much more in the 1-hour and 4-minute interview.

    Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong, who gives a preview of his new report called “The 2024 Outlook: The Year from Political Hell?”  for 2.17.24.

    * * *

    To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here

    There is some free information, analysis and articles on ArmstrongEconomics.com. If you want to buy the new in-depth report called “The 2024 Outlook: The Year from Political Hell?” click here.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 19:50

  • In Trading, "The Narrower Your Focus, The Tighter Your Timing, The More Likely You'll Lose"
    In Trading, “The Narrower Your Focus, The Tighter Your Timing, The More Likely You’ll Lose”

    By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

    Top Down

    Ten percent of endowments are run by top-down macro guys,” said Lone Star, one of the top-performing endowment CIOs. “We hunt for ten-year trends, gale force tailwinds, and position our portfolios around those,” he said. “Getting the macro right allows me to make a lot of mistakes and still win.” The top-down macro approach requires a far smaller investment team than the ‘best-manager’ approach and the ‘best-ideas’ approach of endowment management. “We run our money without any specific targets for an asset class, a region, or anything else. And I can beat the benchmarks by 500-600bps.”

    “I have infinite-life capital, so I don’t need to be right on timing,” said Lone Star. “The narrower your focus, the tighter your timing, the more likely you’ll lose,” he explained. “The broader and longer your view, the more likely you’ll win.” Indeed.

    “And if you believe in the random walk, then a drunk person will not always stumble left. A bearish person will not always make money being max short, and a bullish person won’t get rich by always being leveraged long. So, you lean against extremes, trade around your themes. And compound.”

    “Oil is going to get tight over the coming five years,” said Lone Star. “If you look at the demand curves, the decline curves, we’re missing 3-5mm barrels per day out a few years,” he said. “The kinds of tailwinds I look for are all about supply — you can’t bring enough new supply online in time for rising demand. Right now, investors are unwilling to fund sufficient new oil supply,” he said. “Semiconductors. We’re looking at trough earnings and trough values. Ask yourself, how many semiconductors will the world need in ten years? The answer is a lot.”

    “AI will make the internet’s impact look like child’s play,” said Lone Star. “Who’s going to win?” he asked, rhetorically. “Everyone. That’s who. Maybe it’ll take 5-7 years, but everyone wins here,” he said. “People tell me corporate margins are too high, but I see AI as pushing them up another 2-3 percent. Multiply that by a 20x PE and stocks should be 40-60% higher just on that,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s straight up. We could see wild moves. We will. But it’s why we haven’t had a dollar of uninvested cash in our portfolio for the past year.”

    Anecdote

    “This is a thinking job,” said Lone Star. “It’s not a doing job,” continued one of America’s best-performing endowment CIOs. “It’s a job for people who pull on strings to see where they lead.” I smiled. “We screen for people with a natural curiosity and an interest in puzzles,” he explained. “Because, this game is a puzzle that’s always changing.” When I started One River in 2013, Lone Star had taken the reins of one of America’s worst performing endowments. He’s been in the Top-5 for the past 1yr, 3yrs, 5yrs running. “I surround myself with a tight group of the top thinkers across a range of disciplines, best in class types, and we hunt for opportunities, themes, and commit capital together, make concentrated bets.” Back in March and April of 2020, when One River’s long vol strategies were surging, he hit the ATM hard, pulling cash from our funds every Friday, redeploying that capital into deeply distressed securities. That’s how you compound at extraordinary rates.

    “I’ve got a few deep distress guys, top-down guys, volatility experts, equity guys, credit, macro thinkers,” he said. “At any given point in time, I have $1mm with probably half my managers, and a couple billion deployed to the others.” As the investment opportunity set shifts, those allocations swing. “A lot of people in my seat have huge teams who scour the world, meeting thousands of managers, and they think that kind of work is how they’ll outperform. No doubt, they can find the best manager in Pakistan,” he said. “In general, those kinds of investors don’t think they can make money in markets, but I do,” said Lone Star. “So I spend my time with a small team, internal and external, thinking, hunting, searching the markets for things to own that other investors don’t yet realize they’ll need to buy.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 19:15

  • San Francisco Appoints First Non-Citizen To Election Commission
    San Francisco Appoints First Non-Citizen To Election Commission

    Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times,

    San Francisco’s Elections Commission has, for what is believed to be a first time in history, appointed a non-U.S. citizen, who isn’t legally allowed to vote, to serve as an official.

    The officer, Kelly Wong, was sworn in on Wednesday, according to local news outlet KQED. It reported that Ms. Wong, an immigrant rights advocate, is a native of Hong Kong who arrived in the United States in 2019 for graduate studies.

    She was sworn in by Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin during a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall after winning unanimous support from the board.

    “This appointment is a milestone for all immigrant and marginalized communities throughout SF,” Ms. Wong said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. “Representation matters: thousands of immigrants living in the city hold stakes in politics and there’s no better way to have us be represented than to serve in leadership positions.”

    “I am deeply committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of immigration status, has a seat at the table in shaping the future of our city.”

    The appointment of a non-citizen to city boards, commissions, and advisory bodies was made possible in a 2020 vote, which saw voters pass the proposal by lawmakers to remove the standing requirement that candidates seeking office hold U.S. citizenship.

    Mr. Peskin at the ceremony on Wednesday applauded Ms. Wong’s activism, saying, “I’m very impressed by her commitment to enfranchising people who rarely vote, to educating people about the voting process, and to bring in noncitizens and get them the tools they need as they become citizens,” he told KQED.

    The former resident of Hong Kong, which now belongs to China and recently saw mass pro-democracy protests over the people’s lack of true electoral representation, said she hopes to improve immigrant and non-English voter engagement in her new home city of San Francisco, which has a ranked-choice voting system. She also told KQED that one of her priorities would be to put resources into better translations of voter materials.

    “I’ve seen how language and cultural barriers prevent immigrants with limited English proficiency from fully exercising their right to vote,” Ms. Wong said.

    Ms. Wong will now join six other members of the civilian-led commission, whose job it is to oversee policy and operations for the city’s Department of Elections.

    As all member roles are unpaid, Ms. Wong said she would also continue her work for progressive advocacy group Chinese for Affirmative Action—a non-government organization founded in 1969 that is focused on protecting the “civil and political rights of Chinese Americans and to advance multiracial democracy in the United States,” the group says on its website.

    She has worked for the group since 2022.

    Chinese for Affirmative Action in 2016 supported other progressive advocacy efforts to further liberalize voting access, lobbying the government to change the law to allow non-citizens to vote on school board elections if their child attends a school in the district. Their efforts succeeded after challenges in the state’s courts.

    Ms. Wong thanked City of San Francisco’s Immigrant Rights Commissioner Sarah Souza—who arrived in the United States as an illegal immigrant child and was the first of her kind in California appointed to the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee—for her successful campaign in 2020 to change the law and allow non-citizens to serve on local commissions and advisory boards.

    “Without Sarah’s advocacy and perseverance, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to represent immigrant voices and contribute to shaping the future of our communities,” Ms. Wong said in her post.

    “To all immigrants in SF: I hope my appointment to the Elections Commission serves as a beacon of hope, showing that change is possible and your voices matter in policymaking. If I can do it, you can too.”

    Vincent Pan, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, also congratulated Ms. Wong.

    He told KQED, “I’m hoping there will be a day where it won’t be as newsworthy that you have someone who’s an immigrant and a noncitizen involved in helping make the city run better, especially in a city where such a large percentage of the community is immigrants.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 18:40

  • Lawless America: Truck Hauling Corvettes Hijacked In 'Grand Theft Auto'-Like Robbery
    Lawless America: Truck Hauling Corvettes Hijacked In ‘Grand Theft Auto’-Like Robbery

    Fox 10 Phoenix reports that a 23-year-old man, freshly out of jail, hijacked a tractor-trailer loaded with exotic sports cars, telling law enforcement after he was caught, he simply needed a ride. 

    According to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department in Phoenix, Arizona, the suspect, Isaiah Walker, “assaulted and robbed” a truck driver at a Willcox Loves Truck Stop. 

    “Walker grabbed the victim and threw him from the cab,” the sheriff’s department wrote on Facebook. 

    The suspect then “entered the vehicle, locked the door, stole the vehicle, and drove it from the parking lot,” the sheriff’s department continued, adding the truck was hauling ten Chevrolet C8 Corvettes with an estimated value above $1.25 million. 

    More from the sheriff’s department, describing the chase like a scene from the violent video game ‘Grand Theft Auto’: 

    A deputy from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department located the stolen vehicle near Fort Grant Road and Browns Market where the officer attempted to stop the vehicle, which failed to yield to the deputy’s emergency lights and sirens. The stolen vehicle began driving recklessly which caused vehicles to leave the roadway. As the stolen vehicle approached North Fort Grant Road and County Line Road, the vehicle turned onto County Line Road and stopped.

    Mr. Walker was taken into custody by the Deputy and a Willcox Police Officer, who provided Mr. Walker with his Miranda Rights and interviewed him on the scene. 

    Following his arrest, Walker explained that his motive for hijacking the truck was not to steal the Corvettes. Instead, he stated he was looking for a way to get home after being released from jail. 

    Mr. Walker admitted to stealing the vehicle and advised that the Corvettes were not the reason and that he needed a truck to get home as he had just been released from prison. Mr. Walker was booked into the Cochise County Jail for multiple felony charges including Robbery, 11 counts of Theft of Means of Transportation, and Felony Theft. -sheriff 

    This nonsense reminds us of the time that radical leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended shoplifters as ‘hungry’ people seeking bread. 

    Common sense ‘law and order’ must be reinforced nationwide as disastrous social justice policies have only emboldened criminals. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 18:05

  • Taxing Billionaires Won't Reduce Taxes For The Middle Class
    Taxing Billionaires Won’t Reduce Taxes For The Middle Class

    Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

    In a world of populist policies, the notion of taxing billionaires to alleviate the financial burdens of the middle class stands as a tempting narrative. Advocates tout it as the quintessential solution to income inequality, promising a redistribution of wealth that lifts the masses from their fiscal woes. However, this narrative, so alluring in its simplicity, crumbles upon closer examination, revealing a multitude of complexities and pitfalls that belie its benefits.

    Central to the fallacy of taxing billionaires lies a fundamental misunderstanding of the dynamics of government spending and deficits. Proponents of this approach often overlook the inconvenient truth that as most governments increase spending even when tax receipts rise, deficits soar to unprecedented heights, burdening future generations with a mountain of debt and always increasing taxes for the middle class.

    Taxing the rich is the door that leads to more taxes for all of us. The case of the United States is evident. No tax revenue measure is going to wipe out an annual two trillion dollar deficit. Therefore, the government announces a large tax hike for the wealthy and disguises it with more taxes for everybody and higher inflation, which is a hidden tax.

    The notion that taxing billionaires will miraculously alleviate this fiscal strain is akin to applying plaster to a gaping wound—it does not even provide temporary relief, and it fails to address the underlying malaise.

    A seminal paper by Alesina, Favero, and Giavazzi (2015) delves into the implications of government deficits on economic growth. The authors argue that persistent deficits not only crowd out private investment but also lead to higher interest rates, reduced confidence, and ultimately diminished economic growth. This underscores the importance of fiscal prudence in addressing long-term fiscal challenges and the evidence that tax hikes are not neutral.

    Billionaires mostly hold their wealth in shares of their own companies. This is what is called “paper wealth.” However, they cannot sell those shares and if they lost them, their value would decline immediately.

    The redistribution fallacy comes from three false ideas:

    • The first is the notion that billionaires do not pay taxes to begin with. The top one percent of income earners in the United States earned 22 percent of all income and paid 42 percent of all federal income.

    • The second error is believing that wealth is static—like a pie—and can be redistributed at will. Wealth is either created or destroyed. Confiscating the wealth of billionaires does not make the middle class or the poor richer. We should have learned that lesson from the numerous examples in history, from the French Revolution to the Soviet Union.

    • The third mistake is to believe that the economy is a sum-zero game where the wealth of one person is the loss of another. That is simply false because wealth is not “there.” It must be created through an exercise where all parties win in exchange for cooperation.

    The world must strive to create more wealth, not limit those who generate it.

    Consider the recent clamour for increased government intervention and spending, particularly in the wake of global crises. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments all over the world to enact a flurry of fiscal stimuli, ostensibly intended to soften the blow of the economic fallout. Yet, as the dust settles, we find ourselves grappling not only with the immediate ramifications of increased government spending but also with the long-term consequences of ballooning deficits as well as persistent inflation.

    Who came out as the loser of the redistribution and stimulus frenzy of the past decade? The middle class. It has been destroyed by persistent inflation created by printing money without control, rising debt and deficits and constantly bloating government size in the economy, which in turn creates two taxes for the middle class and the poor: inflation and rising indirect taxes.

    Critics of this approach have long warned of the dangers of irresponsible government spending. Taxing billionaires will not stop this trend of excessive bureaucracy and irresponsible administration of public services; in fact, it may accelerate it, as we have seen in so many countries, and certainly will not reduce the tax wedge on ordinary citizens.

    History is replete with cautionary tales of nations brought to their knees by unchecked fiscal excesses. From hyperinflation to sovereign debt crises, the ramifications of fiscal irresponsibility are manifold and far-reaching. And yet, in the face of mounting pressure to “tax the rich,” policymakers seem intent on repeating the mistakes of the past, heedless of the inevitable consequences.

    But the fallacy of taxing billionaires extends beyond the realm of fiscal policy—it strikes at the very heart of economic prosperity. At its core, capitalism depends on investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation—all of which are at risk from excessive taxation. The narrative that vilifies billionaires as greedy hoarders of wealth overlooks their crucial role in driving economic growth and prosperity.

    By focusing solely on redistributive measures, policymakers risk undermining the very foundations of prosperity upon which our economic system rests.

    Moreover, the notion that taxing billionaires will somehow level the playing field and uplift the middle class is predicated on a flawed understanding of economic reality. In truth, the global mobility of capital renders such measures largely ineffective, as the ultra-wealthy can easily relocate to jurisdictions with more favourable tax regimes. This not only undermines the efficacy of taxing billionaires as a revenue-generating mechanism but also exacerbates the very inequalities it seeks to redress.

    Indeed, the unintended consequences of excessively taxing the rich are manifold and far-reaching. From reduced investment and job creation to economic stagnation and decline, the repercussions of such policies are felt across society. And while the rhetoric of wealth redistribution may sound appealing in theory, the reality is far more sobering—a stagnant economy, diminished opportunities, and a dwindling standard of living for all.

    So, where does this leave us? If taxing billionaires is not the panacea it purports to be, what alternatives exist to address income inequality and alleviate the burdens of the middle class? The answer lies not in punitive taxation but in prudent fiscal policy, targeted policies, and a renewed focus on fostering economic growth and prosperity for all.

    Primarily, we must recognize that fiscal responsibility is not a luxury but a necessity. Governments must exercise restraint in their spending, prioritize efficiency and accountability, and resist the temptation to paper over fiscal deficits with ill-conceived tax hikes and money printing. Only through disciplined fiscal management can we hope to secure a prosperous future for generations to come.

    Second, we must recognize the vital role that entrepreneurship and investment play in driving economic growth and prosperity. Rather than demonizing billionaires as the root of all evil, we should celebrate their contributions to society and create an environment that fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. This means reducing regulatory barriers, incentivizing investment, and empowering individuals to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions.

    Finally, we must understand that opportunities provided to citizens, not the size of the government, are what define true progress. Rather than relying on the state to solve all our problems, we should empower individuals and communities to chart their own course to prosperity. This means investing in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, providing a safety net for those in need, and fostering a culture of self-reliance and personal responsibility.

    In conclusion, the fallacy of taxing billionaires lies not in its intentions but in its execution. While the notion of redistributing wealth may sound appealing in theory, the reality is far more complex. By succumbing to the allure of punitive taxation, we risk stifling economic growth, undermining prosperity, and perpetuating the very inequalities we seek to redress. Only through prudent fiscal management, targeted interventions, and a renewed focus on fostering economic growth can we hope to build a future that is truly prosperous for all.

    Socialism does not redistribute from the rich to the poor, but from the middle class to politicians.

    The fallacy of massively taxing billionaires is another trick to promote socialism, which has never been about the redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, but the redistribution of wealth from the middle class to politicians.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 17:30

  • Here's Where People Are Living Longer
    Here’s Where People Are Living Longer

    With improvements in medical care and living standards in many countries around the world, the 20th century saw a dramatic increase in life expectancy at birth.

    While some of the most significant gains are apparent between 1900 and 1950, apart from the immediate effects of World War II, due to a variety of economic and political developments, even the past 50 years saw a steady uptick in the estimated lifespans of the world’s population. For example, the worldwide average lifespan of a person born in 1971 was 58, while in 2021, this number rose to 71, an increase of roughly 19 percent.

    And, as Statista’s Florian Zandt details below, there are some countries around the world where this jump has been even more pronounced.

    Infographic: Where Has Life Expectancy Increased? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    To guarantee better comparability and show a more varied picture, we used World Bank data for these two new years and calculated the three countries per continent with the biggest percentage change in life expectancy.

    Bangladesh ranked first not only in Asia but the whole world. Life expectancy at birth in the Asian nation jumped from 26 in 1971 to 72 in 2021.

    While this number is impressive, it coincides with an external factor decreasing the chance of a long life: the Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971 between Pakistan and Bengali nationalists, whose victory laid the groundwork for the foundation of Bangladesh. The year prior, people in East Pakistan, as it was then called, had a life expectancy of 43, which would mark a 40.6 percent increase compared with 2021.

    Apart from Bangladesh, countries on the African and Asian continent, which in this definition includes the Arab peninsula, Turkey and Russia, exhibited the biggest percentage increases in life expectancy at birth, with the Americas coming in third due to increases in nations like Guatemala, El Salvador and Bolivia.

    While the two biggest post-WW-II superpowers, the United States and Russia, then the USSR, only saw life expectancy increases of seven and two percent, respectively, some countries in post-war Europe also saw double-digit growth in this regard.

    Malta and Luxembourg ranking second and third might be explained by the influx of high-net-worth individuals and their better access to medical care and other amenities. Portugal taking the top spot in Europe with a percentage increase of roughly 18 percent is harder to explain. Experts cite a variety of factors like increased political stability since the ratification of its constitution in 1976, leaving the European Free Trade Association it co-founded in 1960 for the European Economic Community in 1986 together with Spain, and the country’s climate, diet and communal lifestyle contributing to overall better health.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 16:55

  • Leading Scientific Journal Humiliated After Publishing Fake AI-Generated Paper About Rat With Giant Penis
    Leading Scientific Journal Humiliated After Publishing Fake AI-Generated Paper About Rat With Giant Penis

    Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

    A leading scientific journal faces humiliation after it published a completely fake paper, purportedly written by Chinese researchers, which contained AI generated images of a rat with a penis bigger than its own body.

    The Telegraph reports that the journal Frontiers in Cell and Development Biology published a paper that claimed to show the signalling pathway of sperm stem cells, but depicted a rat sitting upright with a massive dick and four giant testicles.

    The illustration was reportedly created by using Midjourney, the AI imaging tool, which added labels to the ridiculous diagram using terms that don’t exist, including “dissilced”, “testtomcels” and “senctolic”.

    Another ludicrous image to the right of the rat displays “sterrn cells” in a Petri dish being spooned out.

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    Subsequent images in the paper also displayed terms and biological systems that simply are not real.

    Remarkably, the paper found its way into the journal, where it was read by scientists who immediately recognised the images and descriptions were not grounded in “any known biology”.

    The journal retracted the paper, issued an apology and announced that it is working to “correct the record”.

    Adrian Liston, professor of pathology at Cambridge University and editor of the journal Immunology & Cell Biology warned of the dangers of AI being used to create scientific diagrams, noting “Generative AI is very good at making things that sound like they come from a human being. It doesn’t check whether those things are correct.”

    “It is like an actor playing a doctor on a TV show – they look like a doctor, they sound like a doctor, they even use words that a doctor would use. But you wouldn’t want to get medical advice from the actor,” he further noted, warning that “The problem for real journals is getting harder, because generative AI makes it easier for cheats.”

    “It used to be really obvious to tell cheat papers at a glance. It is getting harder, and a lot of people in scientific publishing are getting genuinely concerned that we will reach a tipping point where we won’t be able to manually tell whether an article is genuine or a fraud,” Liston further cautioned.

    People have since been creating their own AI rat images, in an attempt to work out what the Chinese ‘researchers’ typed into Midjourney to make the images that got published.

    *  *  *

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 16:20

  • Harvard Professor Says "All Hell Broke Loose" When His Study Revealed No Racial Bias In Police Shootings
    Harvard Professor Says “All Hell Broke Loose” When His Study Revealed No Racial Bias In Police Shootings

    Bari Weiss of The Free Press sat down with Harvard Economics Professor Roland Fryer at the University of Austin last week to discuss what it means to pursue the truth. 

    Fryer, a highly respected economist, told Weiss about the intense blowback that was dealt to him after he published a study in 2016 showing there were “no racial differences in officer involved-shootings.” 

    After the study was published, in a matter of days, the professor said, “All hell broke loose,” and people were “losing their minds when they didn’t like the result.” 

    The study found that police were over two times more likely to use physical force, such as manhandling or beating, against black and hispanic individuals compared to people from other races. On the other hand, the findings also revealed that police were 23.8% less inclined to use firearms against black individuals and 8.5% less inclined to do so against Hispanic individuals, compared to whites. 

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    “I lived under police protection for about 30 to 40 days,” he said, adding, “I had a seven-day-old daughter at the time…I was going to the grocery store to get diapers with an armed guard.”

    Fryer told Weiss the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 is how he initially became interested in the topic. He was shocked by the result because he expected the study to find evidence of bias in police shootings.  

    The biggest conclusion from the study (read: here): “Yet, on the most extreme use of force – officer-involved shootings – we are unable to detect any racial differences in either the raw data or when accounting for controls.” 

    At the time, liberal elites warned Fryer not to publish the study because it would ruin his career. Then he said in 2019, Claudine Gay, who was Harvard’s dean at the time, placed him on a two-year leave for alleged sexual harassment. 

    Considering Gay is no longer president of the woke college following her botched antisemitism response on campus and plagiarism allegations, Fryer told Weiss: 

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    Fryer had the courage to publish the unpopular truth despite liberal elites’ attempts at Harvard and elsewhere to silence the professor in his pursuit of truth because the study didn’t fit the progressive narrative at the time of the Marxist group Black Lives Matter. 

    *   *   * 

    Listen to the full discussion: 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 15:45

  • Assange's Final UK Court 'Moment Of Truth' Arrives As Wife Warns He 'Will Die' If Extradited To US
    Assange’s Final UK Court ‘Moment Of Truth’ Arrives As Wife Warns He ‘Will Die’ If Extradited To US

    Tuesday, February 21 is the big day and ‘moment of truth’ for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his legal team. That is when two high court judges in London will hear arguments on whether Assange can appeal a ruling to extradite him to the United States, where he would most certainly spend the rest of his life in prison, likely in a harsh ‘supermax’ federal facility. The hearing is scheduled through Wednesday.

    Stella Assange, his wife, has warned that if the judges rule against Assange, he could be on a plane to US soil in a matter of days. He would be removed from the high security Belmarsh prison for a trial in the US on espionage-related charges and publishing state secrets, where a 175 year jail sentence would await him.

    Europea Press via Getty Images

    His wife told a Thursday press briefing, “It is the final hearing if it does not go Julian’s way, there is no possibility to appeal to the supreme court or anywhere else in this jurisdiction.”

    She said further that situation is “extremely grave” given his health continues to be “in decline”. She warned: “If he is extradited, he will die.”

    The Guardian has meanwhile commented on US authorities’ attempts to bully journalists who worked with Assange to turn against him:

    At least four well-known journalists have been approached by the Metropolitan police on behalf of the FBI: James Ball, his ex-WikiLeaks colleague, who is now with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism; David Leigh, the former Guardian and Observer journalist; Heather Brooke, a freedom of information campaigner; and Andrew O’Hagan, who had been commissioned to ghost Assange’s autobiography.

    All of them have declined to cooperate with the FBI. In an article for Rolling Stone last year, Ball said that he had first been approached in 2021 and subjected to pressure, including the threat of being prosecuted himself.

    O’Hagan said that although he had his differences with Assange, he would happily go to jail rather than assist the FBI. “I would only add that the attempt to punish Assange for exposing the truth is an attack on journalism itself. I notice that none of those mainstream collaborators who published his material – the New York Times, the Guardian, and Der Spiegel – are being pursued, which demonstrates that a generational bias against internet-based journalism is at the heart of the case … If Julian goes to the US, Britain will have failed to protect one of the first principles of democracy.”

    Editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson has commented on what Assange’s prosecution and possible extradition means for the future of press freedoms.”It cannot be underestimated, the effect that it will have,” he said. “If an Australian citizen publishing in Europe can face prison time in the United States, that means no journalists anywhere are safe in the future.”

    As for Assange’s native Australia, its parliament has just voted to issue formal request that charges against Julian Assange be dropped. The motion adopted by parliament emphasized “the importance of the UK and USA bringing the matter to a close so that Mr. Assange can return home to his family in Australia.”

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    Days ago, Amnesty International also renewed its call to drop the charges against Assange. “The risk to publishers and investigative journalists around the world hangs in the balance. Should Julian Assange be sent to the U.S. and prosecuted there, global media freedoms will be on trial, too,” a statement said.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 14:35

  • Watch: Mobs Of Violent African Migrants Riot, Attack Police In Holland
    Watch: Mobs Of Violent African Migrants Riot, Attack Police In Holland

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    Mass violence broke out in the city of The Hague in The Netherlands Saturday night as hundreds of marauding African migrants attacked police, smashed property and set fires, in scenes that once again highlight the complete failure of multiculturalism.

    Reports suggest that the violence flared up between two rival groups of rival groups during a ‘meeting’ of the Eritrean community in the city where the Dutch parliament is seated.

    Footage appeared to show protesters breaking into the Opera Zalencentrum event venue, with police using tear gas in a desperate effort to disperse them.

    The rioters then began throwing bricks and bottles at police and attacking them with sticks.

    Dutch News reports that four police officers were injured in the riots, and only a handful of arrests were made.

    “Our colleagues were confronted with very serious violence which erupted out of nothing,” local police chief Mariëlle van Vulpen said told broadcaster NOS. “This is unacceptable.”

    Acting justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz said in a statement “Attacking emergency service workers who are simply doing their jobs is totally out of order and there will be consequences.”

    City mayor Jan van Zanen described the rioting as “disgusting and unacceptable”, adding that “We had received several reports about youngsters from the ‘Brigade Nhamedu’ looking for trouble.”

    The same group also started riots in Sweden, Canada and the US, last year. 

    The cause of the Dutch riot is also thought to be EXACTLY the same as a month ago in London. Pro-government Eritreans were holding an event and anti-regime migrants got wind of it.

    This latest round of cultural enrichment comes in the wake of the EU passing a migration pact dubbed “the suicide of Europe” which could lead to the continent being flooded with as many as 75 million new migrants.

    Even pro-EU centrist leaders in Europe are now warning that mass migration is causing the collapse of civilisation there:

    *  *  *

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 14:00

  • Biden Says Ukraine May Lose More Cities After Avdeyevka Due To US Aid Delay
    Biden Says Ukraine May Lose More Cities After Avdeyevka Due To US Aid Delay

    Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu over the weekend confirmed in a statement to President Vladimir Putin that the city of Avdeyevka in eastern Ukraine is now under the military’s full control. We earlier detailed the significance of the ‘major’ victory for Russian forces, and the devastating blow for the Ukrainian side, which is in retreat.

    “Today in the Kremlin, Russian Defense Minister Army General Shoigu reported to the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces that the Center grouping of forces under command of Col. Gen. Andrey Mordvichev has taken under full control the town of Avdeyevka of the Donetsk People’s Republic, which was a massive fortified stronghold of Ukraine’s armed forces,” Russia’s defense ministry said.

    President Biden’s Saturday reaction was interesting yet predictable. He laid blame for the loss squarely on Congressional inaction in holding up the $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine. It suggests this will be the election narrative against Republicans going into November as well.

    Via Associated Press

    Biden said the Ukrainians might lose other cities too, so long as US aid is held up:

    US President Joe Biden has admitted that Ukrainian troops may lose other cities after abandoning Avdeyevka unless the US Congress approves additional aid to Kiev.

    Reporters asked the American leader if he was sure that Ukraine would not lose other cities as well. “I’m not. I’m not. No one can be,” Biden replied. “There is so much at stake,” he added.

    According to the US president, it would be “absurd” and “unethical” to refuse to support Kiev when the Ukrainian military is running out of ammunition. “I’m going to fight to get them the ammunition they need,” he pointed out. Biden also said that he had promised Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to seek additional funding.

    National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson has also acknowledged, “The Ukrainians continue to fight bravely, but they are running low on supplies.”

    But Putin has shown no signs that he plans to slow down the Russian military operation in Ukraine. He said Sunday in a state media interview referencing Kiev’s backers in NATO that “For them, this is about improving their tactical positions. But for us, this is destiny. This is a matter of life and death.”

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    The West ultimately has no more cards to play. As we wrote earlier it is time to stop promoting the fiction that Ukraine has any hope of ejecting Russia from the approximately 20% of the country it has captured — and time to start earnestly pursuing a settlement that restores peace and ends a proxy war that has cost countless lives while only benefitting the military-industrial complex.  

    Meanwhile, Sen J.D. Vance makes a good point, the lame attempt at pushback of the community note notwithstanding…

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 13:25

  • The Great Reset Didn't Work: The Case Of EVs
    The Great Reset Didn’t Work: The Case Of EVs

    Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

    We are living through one of history’s longest and most excruciating versions of “We told you so.” When in March 2020, the world’s government decided to “shut down” the world’s economies and throttle any and all social activity, and deny kids schooling plus cancel worship services and holidays, there was no end to the warnings of the terrible collateral damage, even if most of them were censored. 

    Every bit of the warnings proved true. You see it in every story in the news. It’s behind every headline. It’s in countless family tragedies. It’s in the loss of trust. It’s in the upheaval in industry and demographics. The fingerprints of lockdowns are deeply embedded in every aspect of our lives, in ways obvious and not so much. 

    Actually, the results have been even worse than critics predicted, simply because the chaos lasted such a long time. There are seemingly endless iterations of this theme. Learning losses, infrastructure breakages, rampant criminality, vast debt, inflation, lost work ethic, a growing commercial real estate bust, real income losses, political extremism, labor shortages, substance addiction, and more much besides, all trace to the fateful decision. 

    The headlines on seemingly unrelated matters go back to the same, in circuitous ways.

    A good example is the news of the electric vehicle bust.

    The confusion, disorientation, malinvestment, overproduction, and retrenchment – along with the crazed ambition to force convert a country and world away from oil and gas toward wind and solar – all trace to those fateful days. 

    According to the Wall Street Journal, “As recently as a year ago, automakers were struggling to meet the hot demand for electric vehicles. In a span of months, though, the dynamic flipped, leaving them hitting the brakes on what for many had been an all-out push toward an electric transformation.” 

    Reading the story, it’s clear that the reporter is downplaying the sheer scale of the boom-bust. 

    That’s not to say that Tesla itself is going bust, only that it has a defined market segment. The technology of EVs simply cannot and will not become the major way Americans drive. It might have seemed otherwise for a moment in time but that was due to factors that traced exactly to pent up demand caused by lockdowns and huge errors in supply management due to bad signaling. 

    Looking back, the lockdowns hit in the spring of 2020 and supply chains were entirely frozen by force. This might have been a major problem for car manufacturers that had long relied on just-in-time inventory strategies. However, at the very time, the demand for travel collapsed. Commutes came to an end, and vacations too. At that same time, pre-arranged government subsidies and mandates for EVs flooded the industry, all of which were later ramped up by the Biden administration. 

    As demand picked up, retailers sold their old inventory of cars and looked to manufacturers for more but the chips needed to complete the cars were not available. Many cars were put on hold and lots emptied out. This continued through the following year as used car prices soared and stock was otherwise depleted. 

    By the time matters became desperate in the fall of 2021, manufacturers discerned a heightened demand for EVs and began to retool their factories for more. There was even a time when cars were being shipped without power steering, just to meet the demand. 

    It might have seemed for a time like the crazed period we just lived through was birthing a completely different way of life.  A kind of irrationality, born of shock and awe, swept industry and culture. The EV was central to it.

    This demand seemed to pan out in 2022 as Americans grabbed whatever cars were available, perhaps willing to give the new doohickies a shot. So on it went as more carmakers threw more resources at production, benefitting from massive subsidies and staying in compliance with new mandates for reducing their carbon footprint. 

    There was no particular reason to think anything would go wrong. But then the next year began to reveal uncomfortable truths. Cold weather dramatically cuts the range of the EVs. Charging stations are not as readily available on longer trips, charging takes longer than one expects, and having to plan such matters adds time. In addition, the repair bills can be extremely high if you can find someone to do it. 

    Tesla as a manufacturer had planned out all such contingencies but other carmakers less so. Very quickly the EVs gained a bad reputation on a number of different fronts. 

    “Last summer, dealers began warning of unsold electric vehicles clogging their lots. Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen and others shifted from frenetic spending on EVs to delaying or downsizing some projects,” writes the Journal. “Dealers who had been begging automakers to ship more EVs faster are now turning them down.”

    In short, “the massive miscalculation has left the industry in a bind, facing a potential glut of EVs and half-empty factories while still having to meet stricter environmental regulations globally.”

    Today, lots are selling the cars at a loss just to avoid the costs of keeping them around. 

    Truly, this has been one spectacular boom-bust in a single industry. There seems to be no real end to the bust either. These days it appears that everyone has given up on any chance of actually converting the mass of American cars to become EVs. All recent trends are headed in the other direction. 

    Meanwhile, the EV is deeply loved by many as 1) a second car, 2) for well-to-do suburban commuters, 3) who own homes, 4) can charge overnight, and 5) have a gas car as a backup for cold weather and out-of-town trips. That is to say, the market is becoming exactly what it should be – a street-worthy golf cart with very fancy features – and not some paradigmatic case for the “great reset.” That’s simply not happening, despite all the subsidies and tax breaks. 

    “A confluence of factors had led many auto executives to see the potential for a dramatic societal shift to electric cars,” writes the Journal, including “government regulations, corporate climate goals, the rise of Chinese EV makers, and Tesla’s stock valuation, which, at roughly $600 billion, still towers over the legacy car companies. But the push overlooked an important constituency: the consumer.”

    Indeed, the American economy, much to the chagrin of many, still primarily relies on consumers to make choices in their best interest. When that doesn’t happen, no amount of subsidies can make up the difference. 

    This story is impossible to understand without reference to the crazed illusions caused by lockdowns. Those are what provided the respite of time to allow automakers to retool. Then they boosted demand artificially for transportation after a long period in which inventory had been depleted. 

    Then the whole ridiculous ethos of the “great reset” convinced idiotic corporate executives that nothing would ever be the same. Maybe we would get 15-minute cities powered by sunbeams and breezes after all, along with a social-credit system that would allow the authorities to decommission our ability to drive in an instant. 

    It turns out that the entire bit, including the fake prosperity of the lockdown economy, made possible by money printing and grotesque levels of government spending, was unsustainable. Even sophisticated car companies bought into the nonsense. Now they are paying a very heavy price. The new market depended on a panic of buying that turned out to be temporary. 

    In short, the illusions of these horrible policies have come crashing down. It was born of liberty-wrecking policies under the cover of virus control. Every special interest seized the day, including a new generation of industrialists seeking to displace the old ones by force. 

    More and more, it’s obvious what a disaster this was. And yet no one has apologized. Hardly anyone has admitted error. The big shots who wrecked the world are still in power. 

    The rest of us are left holding the bag, and paying very high repair bills for cars that are non-optimal for driving from one town to another and back again in the cold weather that was supposed to be gone by now had the “climate change” prophets been correct. They turn out to be as correct as those who promised us that we would no longer need “fossil fuels” and that the magic inoculation would protect everyone from a killer virus. 

    What astonishing illusions were born of this nutty and destructive period. At some point, not even corporate CEOs will be tricked by the experts. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 12:50

  • Idaho House Approves Death Penalty For Certain Sex Crimes Against Children
    Idaho House Approves Death Penalty For Certain Sex Crimes Against Children

    Pedophiles in Idaho have more to worry about than getting shanked in prison…

    A new bill which just passed the House by a vote of 51-11 would allow for the death penalty for those found guilty of lewd conduct with children under the age of 12 with aggravating circumstances.

    Idaho Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, left, and Rep. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, talk on the Senate floor of the Idaho Capitol on Jan. 17, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

    According to co-sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug (R-Nampa), the death penalty would be reserved for heinous cases, such as repeat offenders.

    “There is a deep, dark, dark side in our culture. And it’s our job to protect the children. There are times when things are so wicked that retribution is appropriate,” said Skaug, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

    Currently, Idaho only allows for the death penalty in the case of first-degree murder.

    Unconstitutional?

    In 2008, the US Supreme Court blocked the death penalty for a child rapist in Kennedy v. Louisiana, raising concerns that Idaho’s bill – should it become law, would be struck down.

    “Well there’s constitutional and there’s constitutional. Depends on the court of the day,” said Skaug, an attorney, adding “It would be very rare that this case would happen. It’d be very rare that a prosecutor would take this kind of case and ask for the death penalty, but it will happen. And I say to you that when you see that case, you read about it in the newspaper, you’re gonna say, ‘This is the one case that this needs to happen,’”

    The only Republican lawmaker to vote against the bill, Rep. Jack Nelson, said of his decision: “My concern is judicious use of taxpayer money. Florida already passed this. It’s obviously in the courts. I see no reason to spend hard-earned Idaho taxpayer’s dollars on a bill that’s a little bit of time and patience, we’ll know what the outcome is.”

    The ACLU of Idaho called the bill “blatantly and admittedly unconstitutional.”

    “House Bill 515 and any iterations of (it) have already been litigated in our country’s highest court, and found to be unconstitutional. Our lawmakers should exercise a healthy respect for laws, law enforcement, and judicial review. This bill spits on the checks and balances our country was founded on,” said spokesperson Rebecca De León.

    Of course the ACLU is against it.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 02/18/2024 – 12:15

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