Nov 19

Today’s News 19th November 2024

  • Mad At The Election? Blame Obama
    Mad At The Election? Blame Obama

    Authored by Josiah Lippincott via American Greatness,

    Liberals who are in the throes of capitulation and despair after Donald Trump’s crushing electoral and popular vote win can lay blame for their disastrous loss at the feet of one man: Barack Hussein Obama.

    Obama built the Trump wave. His failure to live up to the promises of his populist 2008 run has cursed the Democratic Party, probably for a generation. The Washington DC establishment in just two short months is going to get “scholonged” by an angry and vengeful Trump, ready to rain executive hellfire on the bureaucrats and institutions that have spent the last nine years fighting him tooth and nail.

    All of this could have been prevented. In 2008, Obama swept into power with a crushing electoral college and popular vote majority. He won Iowa, Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina. He even won Indiana. Democrats swept into power in Congress with a 74-seat lead in the House, nearly 59% of seats, and were gifted with a magical 60-seat filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate.

    This was a generational victory, a sign that voters were fed up with politics as usual and the failures of the GOP and the Washington and Wall Street establishment as such. This victory wasn’t just about electing the first Black president, though that was important: The policies and platform at stake appealed deeply to voters.

    It is worth remembering what exactly those policies were.

    Obama promised to end the war in Iraq, end the Afghanistan war with honor, help the economy by reducing health care costs (prioritizing “Main Street” over Wall Street), and bring about a new era of racial harmony. Moreover, Obama explicitly eschewed radical leftist politics. He explicitly defended traditional marriage. In his DNC nomination speech, he condemned employers who “undercut American wages by hiring illegal workers.”

    Obama ran a campaign on bringing “change” to DC. He made much of his status as a newcomer who lacked the “typical pedigree” of a candidate for the nation’s highest office.

    Put another way, Obama won a decisive victory in 2008 by campaigning as a Washington outsider bent on ending foreign wars, boosting the economy by helping ordinary people, and being a moderate on social issues like abortion and gay marriage. Does this message sound familiar? It should.

    In broad measure, it is the same formula that brought Donald Trump to power in 2016 and has given him, like Obama, unified control over the executive and legislative branches after a crushing electoral and popular vote win.

    Obama’s hubris is the reason the Democratic Party stands here today—powerless in the face of “Orange Hitler.”

    Obama did not close Guantanamo Bay, he ended the Iraq War only to get sucked back in, killed Osama Bin Laden but kept troops in Afghanistan, started wars in Libya and Syria, and, most damningly, inflamed racial tensions when he had a chance to calm them.

    Far from being a moderate on social issues, Obama was the president whose picks for the Supreme Court rammed gay marriage down Americans throats after it had suffered numerous state-level electoral setbacks, including in California of all places in the very election that brought Obama to power!

    Obama’s pledge to reduce health care costs in 2008 did not come with an individual mandate to purchase health insurance. The final bill that snaked its way through Congress and was signed into law did contain such a penalty. Instead of lowering health care costs, Americans watched as their premiums went up.

    Instead of fewer foreign wars, we got more. Instead of declaring victory after the death of the mastermind behind 9/11, we got eight more years of war. On every front, Obama didn’t just fail to follow through on his mandate, he actively worked for the opposite outcome.

    Obama lacked the strength of character and will to follow through on his promises and to deliver the shake-up in Washington that he promised. He was more concerned with hanging out with celebrities and being cool than facing down his own Party’s bosses to deliver on the promises he made to the American people. Nancy Pelosi, 16 years later, still remains one of the most powerful figures in the Party.

    Americans sent a refined, urbane, grassroots college professor to do their bidding in DC. When he failed, they decided to send their message in a language that no one could misunderstand. They sent Trump.

    Trump is everything Obama is not: loud, dominating, and brash. There is none of Obama’s snark in his demeanor. And, unlike Obama, Trump has proven durable and faithful. Unlike Obama, Trump has built on his popular vote total with each successive election.

    Nothing can stop him: not the GOP leadership class (compare Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi’s careers), not the bureaucracy, not the media, not even an assassin’s bullet. Trump is the avenging angel of American populist rage. The post-1945 world order—especially after the fall of the Soviet Union—was supposed to deliver peace and prosperity on an untold scale.

    Instead, we’ve gotten more war, more debt, and more of our economy shipped overseas. Americans, even those who are successful, live in a world increasingly pockmarked by obesity, homelessness, crazed radicalism, and a flood of foreigners looking for a hand-out.

    This was not what we were promised! Looking back on the last two decades of war in the Middle East, what can anyone say we won in these places? Peace? Stability? The region is as broken and violent as ever. The 9/11 hijackers all came in legally. No one has ever solved that problem or even acknowledged that it existed.

    Moreover, the wars never end. Trump is the only president in my lifetime not to get us engaged in any new conflicts, but even he wasn’t able to bring the troops home from Afghanistan in his first term. Biden did, but then immediately hauled the nation back into war in Europe.

    We are never allowed to be neutral, never allowed to focus on ourselves, never allowed to rest. Millions of migrants invade our southern border and flood our communities with drugs that kill more than a hundred thousand Americans yearly and not one politician in DC blinks. They care infinitely more about Ukraine’s border than our own. Americans are fed up with this attitude.

    Obama’s failures on race were the most striking feature of his presidency and have done the most lasting damage. Race relations have hit an all-time low. Obama could have put a lot of the turmoil to rest, using his position as the first Black president as a way to shore up confidence in our institutions. He could have brought the Civil Rights movement to an end, insisting that our work now was not to gain equality but to preserve the hard and painful work we’d already accomplished. But no. Instead we got George Floyd and the 2020 Summer of Love, in which a dozen major American cities burned because a career criminal died in police custody from an overdose.

    And every year, some new cause gets added to the pantheon of aggrieved minorities demanding social justice. First, it was gay marriage; now it is transgenderism. God only knows what will come next. Furries? Polycules? Worse? With each new wave of leftist radicalism has come vicious shrieking from activists aimed at ordinary Americans. The latest cause—the post-COVID explosion of transgenderism—has touched ordinary Americans’ lives in a way that even homosexuality did not.

    The LGBT wave has finally hit upon children and teens with its full force. The loss of community and the social upheaval of the COVID period has resulted in a generation of youth particularly susceptible to the promises of transgender identity.

    Speaking of COVID, the American medical establishment worked for two whole years to end normal life, destroy free association, and impose draconian measures on the population.

    Once the COVID paranoia died down, the regime immediately turned to trying to put the opposition leader into prison for made-up crimes. That all-out media and legal blitz ended with two attempted assassination attempts, one that nearly blew the president’s head off on live television.

    The supposedly “apolitical” military, medical, media and legal establishments have shorn themselves of any pretense of neutrality. They have thrown their lot in with the Democratic Party and its most radical wing.

    None of this had to happen.

    Obama had a golden chance in 2008 to lock in Democratic rule for a generation. All he had to do was follow through. He had to keep his word and he needed to stand up to his own party when they sought to drag him back into their moribund consensus. But Obama chose wealth and respectability over doing the right thing.

    He chose to divide the country further instead of rallying it around a new multi-racial coalition dedicated to peace abroad and prosperity at home. Trump has inherited that mantle. Here, in his second term, Trump finally has the full, unquestionable mandate that once rested on Obama’s shoulders.

    If he succeeds, the GOP can expect decades of political and cultural dominance. The Trump era will last far beyond Trump’s actual death. There is reason to hope, as well. Trump’s first term and his years in the wilderness have armed him with a better knowledge of DC and a clearer understanding of the qualities and allies he needs to advance his goals.

    His slate of cabinet picks is hated by the DC chatterati. This bodes well. Clean house. Go to war. Trump has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

    All he needs to do is deliver. He needs to give the voters what he promised them: mass deportations, increased election security, and no new wars. Do those things on Day 1 and the Republicans have 2026 sewn up. Get us out of Ukraine and deliver real economic growth and JD Vance is a lock for 2028. It really is that simple.

    Trump has everything he needs. Now all that remains is to act.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 23:25

  • Xi's "Four Red Lines" For China Set To Clash With Trump's 'America First' Trade Measures
    Xi’s “Four Red Lines” For China Set To Clash With Trump’s ‘America First’ Trade Measures

    President-elect Trump is set to steamroll Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s ‘red lines’ communicated to President Biden this weekend, likely to be on display from day one after he enters the Oval Office for the second time on Jan. 20. This is especially given his campaign promises impose a blanket 60% tariff on Chinese goods, touted as key to a package of “America First” trade measures.

    Xi conveyed that he’s willing and ready to work with the incoming Trump administration, during the meeting with Biden that took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru. 

    Xi told Biden: “The United States has recently concluded its elections. China’s goal of a stable, healthy, and sustainable China–U.S. relationship remains unchanged.” But the optics at the Peru summit strongly suggest lame-duck Biden had long already taken a backseat in terms of assertiveness over US-China relations…

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    “China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation, and manage differences, so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi additionally conveyed to Biden. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in follow-up emphasized of the “candid” and “constructive” talks–sure to be the last held face to face of the Biden presidency, that Biden “has worked hard to responsibly manage the competition” with China over four years to prevent things from spiraling into conflict.

    The some two-hour weekend meeting included what’s being described as an olive branch from Xi, but more importantly a series of ‘red lines’ if Washington wishes to avoid a “new Cold War”.

    “A new Cold War should not be fought and cannot be won. Containing China is unwise, unacceptable and bound to fail,” Xi told the American president.

    President Xi broadly laid out four red lines as follows:

    “The Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, China’s path and system, and China’s development right are four red lines for China,” Xi was quoted as saying.

    “They must not be challenged. These are the most important guardrails and safety nets for China-US relations.”

    It as especially on the Taiwan question that Xi spoke with firmness, and specifics, at one point mentioning Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te by name (a rarity). He reiterated that Beijing views Taiwan as an integral part of the country and thus that Mr. Lai based on his articulated policies is a “separatist”. Xi further warned that the US “should not get involved in bilateral disputes over the relevant islands” in the South China Sea.

    Xi said of his four red lines and the future of relations with the US, “Words must be trustworthy and actions must be fruitful. A person cannot stand without credibility. China always follows through on its words, but if the US side always says one thing and does another, it is very detrimental to America’s image and damages mutual trust.”

    China’s President Xi Jinping, left, speaks with Peru’s President Dina Boluarte, right, amid other APEC leaders, via AP.

    Again, these are the four red lines, which the Chinese leader urged Washington to avoid crossing, no matter the administration: 

    1) Supporting Taiwan independence.

    2) Interfering in China’s democracy and human rights

    3) Stifling China’s development path, e.g. by sanctions and trade restrictions.

    4) Restricting China’s rights to advancement and development.

    Below are more translated details of Xi’s words, with some commentary by regional watcher and analyst Arnaud Bertrand.

    * * *

    According to the Chinese readout (https://guancha.cn/internation/2024_11_17_755645.shtml…) here’s what he told Biden were the 7 “lessons of the past 4 years that need to be remembered”:

    1) “There must be correct strategic understanding. The ‘Thucydides Trap’ is not historical destiny, a ‘new Cold War’ cannot and should not be fought, containment of China is unwise, undesirable, and will not succeed.”

    2) “Words must be trustworthy and actions must be fruitful. A person cannot stand without credibility. China always follows through on its words, but if the U.S. side always says one thing and does another, it is very detrimental to America’s image and damages mutual trust.”

    3) “Treat each other as equals. In exchanges between two major countries like China and the United States, neither side can reshape the other according to their own wishes, nor can they suppress the other based on so-called ‘position of strength,’ let alone deprive the other of legitimate development rights to maintain their own leading position.”

    4) “Red lines and bottom lines cannot be challenged. As two major countries, China and the United States inevitably have some contradictions and differences, but they cannot harm each other’s core interests, let alone engage in conflict and confrontation. The One China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués are the political foundation of bilateral relations and must be strictly observed. Taiwan issue, democracy and human rights, development path, and development rights are China’s four red lines, which cannot be challenged. [Note: Bold text in the original] These are the most important guardrails and safety nets for China-US relations.”

    5) “There should be more dialogue and cooperation. Under current circumstances, the common interests between China and the United States have not decreased but increased. Whether in areas of economy and trade, agriculture, drug control, law enforcement, public health, or in facing global challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence, as well as international hotspot issues, China-US cooperation is needed. Both sides should extend the list of cooperation, make the cooperation cake bigger, and achieve win-win cooperation.”

    6) “Respond to people’s expectations. The development of China-US relations should always focus on the wellbeing of both peoples and gather the strength of both peoples. Both sides should build bridges for personnel exchanges and cultural communication, and also remove interference and obstacles, not artificially create a ‘chilling effect.'”

    7) “Demonstrate great power responsibility. China and the United States should always consider the future and destiny of humanity, take responsibility for world peace, provide public goods for the world, and play a positive role in world unity, including engaging in positive interaction, avoiding mutual consumption, and not coercing other countries to take sides.”

    Funnily, all this is summarized in the official US readout (https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-meeting-with-president-xi-jinping-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-3/…) with this short sentence: “The two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship over the past four years”. Talk about an understatement  The language compared to the readout of the last Xi-Biden meeting in San Francisco one year ago is noticeably more forthright, especially on the U.S.’s lack of trustworthiness (“if the U.S. side always says one thing and does another…”). Looks like he’s getting very frustrated with U.S. duplicity.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 23:00

  • China Fumes As US, Philippines Sign New Intelligence-Sharing & Defense Deal
    China Fumes As US, Philippines Sign New Intelligence-Sharing & Defense Deal

    The Pentagon has made deeper, permanent inroads into southeast Asia, on Monday announcing a major new deal inked by the US and Philippine defense chiefs to share classified military information and technology.

    US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro kicked off Austin’s visit to Manila this week with the signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement. Monday’s events also included a closed-door meeting between the Pentagon chief and President Ferdinand Marcos.

    The deal has been described as allowing the Philippines access to “higher capabilities and big-ticket items” from the US and “open opportunities to pursue similar agreements with like-minded nations,” according to Philippine Assistant Defense Secretary Arsenio Andolong.

    Via AFP

    Beijing is sure to also take note of the newly opened combined command and coordination center inside the Philippine military’s headquarters in the capital. Teodoro and Austin formally inaugurated it on Monday.

    “This center will enable real-time information sharing for a common operating picture. It will help boost interoperability for many, many years to come,” Austin said at the ceremony. “It will be a place where our forces can work side by side to respond to regional challenges,” he added.

    Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner hailed the establishment of the joint command center, saying it will “enhance our ability to collaborate during crises, fostering an environment where our strengths combine to safeguard peace and security in our region.”

    As expected, China blasted the development, with its foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian responding by warning any military agreement or security arrangement must not target “any third party or harm a third party’s interests – let alone undermine regional peace, exacerbate regional tensions.”

    Of course, the US and the Philippines are already defense treaty partners, which has long injected extra tensions as rival patrols in regional waters come up against each other:

    China has brushed aside an international ruling that its claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis, and has deployed navy and coast guard vessels that Manila says harass its vessels and stop them accessing some reefs and islands in the waters.

    This has led to violent confrontations that have resulted in injuries to Filipino personnel and damage to their vessels in the past 18 months.

    That has sparked concern the United States could be drawn into an armed conflict due to its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines.

    This new military intelligence and defense tech sharing agreement, along with the inaugurated command center, further solidifies Washington’s presence in the region.

    Dramatic scenes like the below have been on the increase of late:

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    On the other side of the globe, China seems bent on teaching the US a lesson, in expanding its own intelligence and military presence in places like Cuba, not far off America’s coast. Beijing without doubt sees its inroads into Latin America as a necessary response to America’s expanding Pacific presence. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 22:10

  • Kremlin Says Biden "Adding Fuel To The Fire" By Approving Missile Strikes In Russia
    Kremlin Says Biden “Adding Fuel To The Fire” By Approving Missile Strikes In Russia

    By Chris Summers of Epoch Times

    The Kremlin has accused President Joe Biden of, “adding fuel to the fire” after it was reported he had given his approval to Ukraine using U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov is reported by the BBC to have said on Monday that the Biden administration was “continuing to stoke tension around this conflict.”

    According to anonymous U.S. officials who spoke to media outlets, Biden has authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by the Pentagon to strike targets in the Russian region of Kursk.

    Peskov told the Tass news agency, “If such a decision has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kyiv regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions, and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict.”

    The Tass news agency, on its Telegram channel, said Peskov had described the idea of missile strikes inside Russia as “dangerous and provocative.”

    Peskov referred journalists to a statement made by Putin in September, in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would change “the very nature of the conflict dramatically.”

    But Peskov said Putin was “open to any communication” but had not yet spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron, who was reported to be planning to call the Russian leader.

    The UK and France have both supplied Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, which could be used to hit targets in Russia, but so far, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Macron have not given permission.

    Starmer said they “need to double down” on support for Ukraine and insisted that the issue was “top” of his agenda at this week’s G20 summit in Brazil.

    Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and recently deployed thousands of North Korean troops to the frontline, fighting alongside Russian forces.

    Ukrainian forces launched a significant cross-border operation into Russia’s region of Kursk earlier this year. Intense fighting is ongoing as Russian forces attempt to reclaim lost territory. Ukraine seized several settlements and is still holding strategic positions.

    In response, Russia has allowed 11,000 North Korean troops, volunteered by Pyongyang, to deploy on the frontline in the Kursk region to aid its fight.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressuring the United States and NATO to allow his forces to use army tactical missile systems they have been supplied with to hit targets deep inside Russia, arguing Moscow has already escalated the conflict with the North Korean deployment.

    On Monday, Zelenskyy said “long-range capabilities” were a vital part of his “victory plan,” which he fleshed out in the Ukrainian Parliament last month.

    “Missiles Will Speak for Themselves”

    “There’s been much said in the media today that we have received approval to take relative actions. But strikes are not carried out with words. These things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves,” Zelenskyy said on Monday.

    Tass also reported that Viktor Bondarev, a senior Russian senator and former Russian air force commander-in-chief, said, “Russia has sufficient advanced capabilities to counter attacks by any weapons, including long-range weapons.”

    Earlier this month, 34 Ukrainian drones attacked targets in Moscow, but the Russian defense ministry claimed the attack had been “thwarted.”

    The defense ministry said the Ukrainians targeted the Kursk, Bryansk, Tula, Oryol, and Kaluga regions.

    The Kremlin’s own Telegram channel has so far not commented on the reports about Biden approving missile strikes.

    On Monday, it published photographs of Putin holding a “working meeting” with the governor of the Zaporozhye (Zaporizhzhia) region in occupied Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky.

    Continue reading at Epoch Times

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 21:45

  • AOC Says Dems Hurt By Yielding To AIPAC's 'Wildly Unpopular' Pro-Israel Agenda
    AOC Says Dems Hurt By Yielding To AIPAC’s ‘Wildly Unpopular’ Pro-Israel Agenda

    Progressive New York Rep. Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez kicked a hornet’s nest on Sunday afternoon when she pointed to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as one of the powerful special interest groups that push a “wildly unpopular agenda” on Democratic politicians to the party’s detriment.   

    AOC’s comment came in a response to a social media post by Jeremy Slevin. “Weird to have a whole discourse about ‘special interest groups’ that completely leaves out corporate and industry lobbies—by far the most influential ‘groups’ in the Democratic Party,” wrote the senior advisor to progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. 

    Implying that Slevin was himself omitting an important special interest group, AOC characterized AIPAC as “a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats,” and said Democrats were “overly influenced” by the big-spending organization.  

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    Having long been an enormously influential lobbying group, AIPAC began pursuing a new avenue of influence in 2022, and started spending money directly on political campaigns, and rapidly became one of the most prolific outside spenders in US politics, targeting members of Congress who dared to push back on unconditional military and financial aid to Israel. 

    The 2024 election saw Democrats lose the White House and the Senate while failing to take over the House of Representatives. While there’s no indication that the issue was decisive, the Biden-Harris administration’s eager provision of weapons and billions of dollars to Israel for the pursuit of its astoundingly destructive war on Gaza doubtlessly dampened Democrats’ enthusiasm and turnout. 

    A September Pew Research poll found that half of Democrats felt Israel’s military operation was “going too far”, while an Economist poll found that just 14% of Democrats held more sympathy for Israelis than Palestinians. With full knowledge of these dynamics, party standard-bearer Harris nonetheless pressed on with full-throated support of Israel, failing to stake out any policy difference with Biden on the Gaza War. 

    AIPAC quickly fired back at AOC’s social media post, sharing screen shots that spotlighted the group’s ousting of progressive Democratic representatives Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. Both were guilty of criticizing Israeli government policies and voicing sympathy for Palestinians — and both were removed by Democratic primary challengers backed by AIPAC to the tune of a combined $14 million. AIPAC’s spending on the Bowman race helped make it the most expensive House primary contest ever.

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    To describe AIPAC’s retort as misleading would be a huge understatement. As it did frequently through the 2024 cycle, the group implied that support of Israel was the key to the success of the candidates it backed. However, that claim is defied by an odd and unsettling aspect of the Israel lobby’s participation in these races: Advertising that pro-Israel groups injected into 2024 campaigns almost never mentioned Israel. Instead, the ads focused on unrelated domestic issues. AIPAC’s dedication to concealing its hand in political campaigns extends to the name of its super PAC, which it vaguely calls the “United Democracy Project.”

    It’s a well-established fact of Western politics that one can talk with relatively impunity about the power wielded by any number of special interest groups — but not the pro-Israel lobby. Predictably, AOC’s post about AIPAC triggered a deluge of responses accusing her of bigotry: 

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    Backers and beneficiaries of AIPAC face no such condemnation for noting the group’s power in US politics. In the wake of this month’s election, the Jerusalem Post lauded AIPAC for “strengthening pro-Israel presence in Congress,” saying the group “aided 318 Zionist candidates to win.”  Wesley Bell, who took out Cori Bush in the primary, thanked AIPAC, saying he was “not getting across the finish line without you.” Watch for him to be a reliable “yes” vote on every pro-Israel piece of legislation that hits the House floor in the upcoming 119th Congress. 

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 21:20

  • Threats Of Violence Against Trump Voters Surge
    Threats Of Violence Against Trump Voters Surge

    Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

    We’ve talked before about the mental health effects suffered by some Harris supporters after mainstream media convinced them that there was no way Trump could win. Now, as the truth settles in that he, in fact, will be the 47th president, threats of violence against Trump voters have absolutely surged.

    It’s getting to the point where I find it difficult to imagine that this violence will carry over into the real world.

    Reddit is a hotbed of extremism.

    I’ve had an anonymous Reddit account for years because it’s nice to chat and see the opinions of others about all manner of things. I have honestly learned a lot from the site. But as it became more and more radical, I stopped posting completely.

    For example, Gateway Pundit reports that a radical man who claims to be employed by the United States Secret Service – yeah, the one who is tasked with the responsibility of Trump’s safety – has been posting disturbing, venomous commentary from his “insider view.”

    Counter-extremism researchers with the Justice Report say they have discovered that a lifelong anarchist, left-wing extremist, and devout follower of Anfifa is working as a Secret Service agent. Moreover, the individual reportedly has made a series of disgusting comments regarding Trump.

    The Gateway Pundit will NOT be naming the alleged Secret Service agent until we confirm the person’s identity.

    The supposed agent has a series of ugly posts under the since-deleted account /u/endon40 on the leftist social media forum Reddit where he calls the American electorate “chodes” and Nazis who voted for a man with “Nazi-a** policies.”

    “These chodes are cowards and won’t win, no matter how long it takes to pry them from power if they manage to cheat their way back to it,” the Anifa sympathizer wrote. “The survival rate of fascist dictatorships trends towards zero.”

    “They voted for a dude who has Nazi-a**policies and who surrounds himself with people who do, including actual neo-Nazis,” he added, “When you’re willing to (vote Trump) and support a guy who has policies mirroring the Third Reich and again, had actual neo nazis around him, you’re a Nazi.

    But that is far from the worst of it.

    The X account Reddit_Lies has collected tons of horrifying comments from Reddit that suggest outright violence against Trump supporters. Here’s a collage of concerning posts. (Warning – some of these posts contain threats of graphic violence and foul language.)

    I don’t foresee this calming down.

    The rhetoric is outright insane, as discussed before.

    I don’t know about you, but I’ve been kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop since the election. I was surprised that there was very little civil unrest after Trump was announced the winner.

    But I don’t think we should get too comfortable.

    People like the ones above feel completely justified in assassinating the president, physically harming anyone they assume voted for him, and cutting off loved ones who voted for Trump.

    If you don’t have it already, check out our paperback anthology, How to Survive During Dangerous Times.

    Your situational awareness is invaluable right now. When people are afraid, sometimes they launch an attack offensively. I think it’s only a matter of time before bad things start happening in the real world. What do you think?

    Do you expect an uptick in unwarranted violence? Have you seen or heard of anything happening yet? Do you think that plans are being made?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 20:55

  • Saudi Arabia "Leading A Push Back" On Commitments To Leave Fossil Fuels At COP29
    Saudi Arabia “Leading A Push Back” On Commitments To Leave Fossil Fuels At COP29

    Saudi Arabia is reportedly “leading a push back” on restating climate commitments to transition away from fossil fuels put into place last year, according to Yahoo Finance.

    The Yahoo Finance article says that both European and U.S. negotiators aim to reinforce last year’s commitments to boost energy efficiency and renewable energy, viewing them as crucial to maintaining progress in the global climate fight.

    But Saudi Arabia is reportedly using “a mix of delaying tactics and outright blocking maneuvers” to resist these efforts, the report says. 

    Last year, COP28 marked the first inclusion of a fossil fuel phase-out in its final agreement, with the UAE securing support from Saudi Arabia and other oil producers. Developed and climate-vulnerable nations see any weakening of that language as a significant setback.

    This year’s COP29 negotiations are focused on scaling up climate finance to over $1 trillion annually, pressuring nations like Saudi Arabia to contribute more, while also solidifying commitments made last year to phase down fossil fuels and accelerate renewable energy.

    Disagreements persist over whether countries should act on all the commitments or select priorities, with Saudi Arabia advocating the latter approach. As talks enter a critical phase, ministers must resolve key disputes, reduce dense negotiation texts, and finalize trade-offs behind closed doors.

    And there were signs this might be the case…recall, just days ago we wrote that climate summits were “no longer fit for purpose”. 

    Leading climate experts, including Ban Ki-moon, Mary Robinson, Christiana Figueres, and Johan Rockström, are calling for significant changes to UN climate summits, according to a new report from The Guardian.

    They argue future conferences should only be hosted by nations demonstrating strong climate action and advocate for stricter controls on fossil fuel lobbyists. Over 1,700 industry lobbyists attended Cop29, raising concerns about undue influence.  

    The group has urged the UN to streamline the annual summits, amplify the voices of developing countries, and increase meeting frequency to better address the climate crisis.

    “It is now clear that the Cop is no longer fit for purpose. We need a shift from negotiation to implementation,” they wrote.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 20:30

  • ZH Debate: Blumenthal & Beattie Clash Over Trump Cabinet Appointments
    ZH Debate: Blumenthal & Beattie Clash Over Trump Cabinet Appointments

     Full debate:

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    ***UPDATE: Big Thanks to Adam Taggart for filling in last-minute. We strongly encourage you to subscribe to his YouTube channel for top-teir economic interviews unlike anyone else. ***

    Join us on today at 7pm ET for a live debate with Grayzone editor-in-chief Max Blumenthal and Revolver News founder Darren Beattie, moderated by the Judge Andrew Napolitano. Resolution: The second Trump administration will be America First.

    Premium/Pro users submit questions for the debaters below.

    Regarding Trump’s cabinet, Blumenthal – veteran journalist and infamous DC dissident – is concerned about mounting Israeli influence, which has manifested in hawkish foreign policy picks like Pete Hegseth for SecDef, Marco Rubio for State, and fanatically Zionist ambassadors Stenafik/Huckabee.

    ​While Beattie – known for his dogged reporting into federal involvement on Jan 6 – adovocated for Trump’s appointees to be confirmed by “any means necessary” because they represent a dramatic realignment of Washington’s status quo. And after all, Trump is pissing off the right people…

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    Despite this, Blumenthal is not optimistic that a second Trump admin will be truly sovereign but captured the donor class and foreign interests. More troubling indications are on the horizon with future rumored personnel, such as Sebastian “gay whale” Gorka (as Alex Jones calls him):

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    As the fight to influence the big man intensifies, hear from both sides: Trump’s former speech writer and one of America’s sharpest foreign policy blob critics.

    Our panelists will cover all major cabinet appointees. Including those deemed by warmonger John “we know where your kids live” Bolton to be the “worst nomination for a cabinet position in American history.”:

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    We look forward to hearing criticisms from people who haven’t destroyed entire countries.

    Join us today at 7 PM eastern on the ZeroHedge homepage and X account.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 20:15

  • Meet Adam Smith, The Green Beret Behind North Carolina's 'Redneck Air Force'
    Meet Adam Smith, The Green Beret Behind North Carolina’s ‘Redneck Air Force’

    Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times,

    “They’re probably dead.”

    That was the thought running through Adam Smith’s mind as he raced to find a way to save his 3-year-old daughter and her mother from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene.

    Smith, a former U.S. Army Green Beret, spent 17 years conducting military operations around the globe in defense of his country.

    He never expected to need those skills to save his family.

    “I don’t think anything can prepare you for the thought of losing your child,” Smith told The Epoch Times on Oct. 26, exactly one month after Helene touched down as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida and barreled on toward the unsuspecting mountain communities of western North Carolina.

    “Nobody really, truly understands the devastation that’s happened on the ground until you come and drive and see it,” Smith said.

    “There are towns that are literally gone, swept off the face of the earth.”

    Helene claimed at least 102 lives in the Tar Heel State, including 43 in Buncombe County. In the hard-hit community of Swannanoa, clouds of dust still hover in the air as teams of volunteers work to clear the piles of debris.

    Traveling through town on Highway 70, the wreckage from collapsed homes, businesses, and bridges paints an apocalyptic scene. But spray-painted among the ruins are messages of hope, strength, and endurance that speak to the resilience of the people who call this area home.

    Smith knows something of resilience, having seen it in his daughter, ex-wife, and countless others he has helped through Savage Freedoms Relief Operations, an initiative he launched to assist those affected by Helene. And with the long road to recovery still ahead, that strength will be needed to ensure North Carolina’s hurting communities aren’t forgotten.

    An aerial view of the hurricane-battered community in Swannanoa, N.C., in this undated photo. Courtesy of Adam Smith

    The Catalyst

    At the Harley-Davidson dealership in Swannanoa, helicopters and military vehicles laden with supplies come and go.

    The spot has become an operations center for Smith and his team as they conduct their relief missions.

    The parking lot, once home to an array of motorcycles, is now a base camp lined with the trucks and tents of volunteers from across the country who have settled in for the long haul.

    Smith glanced in the passenger side mirror of the van he and his fiancée, Taylor Knipp, converted into a makeshift home. He joked that he needed a shave, but the laughter soon faded from his eyes as he reflected on one of the most terrifying events of his life.

    “This whole thing just happened organically. I mean, really, it happened from a selfish desire to save my daughter,” Smith said.

    He and Knipp were driving home from Texas late on Sept. 26—the day Hurricane Helene made landfall—when he lost contact with his daughter and her mother. When he still couldn’t reach them the next morning, he began to worry.

    Adam Smith, along with his family and teammates, launched the Savage Freedoms Relief Operations, an initiative to assist those affected by Hurricane Helene. Courtesy of Adam Smith

    “Nothing was going through, and so we made the decision right then that we were just going to hammer down and get back here as fast as we could,” he said.

    When they finally arrived back in town, there was no way to get through. Interstate 40 was still flooded near the eastern Tennessee border, blocking the way up the mountain to where Smith’s daughter and ex-wife lived, just next door to the cabin he and Knipp shared.

    When the water eventually receded, entire sections of the highway were gone, trapping those on the mountain without food, clean water, or other resources.

    With the cell towers down and the power out, Smith had no way of reaching his family. Occasionally, though, messages from his former brother-in-law managed to break through.

    “I’m not really sure how he could get them out, so I just have to assume that it was God’s plan to make certain that we knew what was going on,” Smith said.

    “But the text messages we got from him were, ‘We tried for eight hours, we can’t get in. We haven’t heard from them. We don’t know how they are.’”

    Unable to drive through, Smith was forced to find alternative transportation. He drove to Greenville, South Carolina, to find cell service, and from there he was able to connect with a helicopter pilot who agreed to fly him up the mountain.

    They took off from the field next to the Harley-Davidson—the only place Smith knew of that could accommodate a helicopter.

    “We flew in and landed, and my daughter and her mom came walking around from a hedgerow of trees. And my little girl was wearing a little flower dress, barefoot, running up, and she’s going, ‘Daddy, Daddy, why did you ride in a plane?’” he laughed, eyes welling with tears.

    “Seeing her, that was really the catalyst that set all of this in motion.”

    Disaster Response

    Within days of that first rescue mission, Savage Freedoms Relief Operations was born as an offshoot of Smith’s self-defense training company, Savage Freedoms Defense.

    “We had special operations volunteers and veterans show up that just came out of the woodwork,” Smith said, noting that people driving by would see them and pull into the Harley-Davidson parking lot.

    By Wednesday of the first week, more than 70 volunteers had gathered there to contribute in whatever way they could.

    “There was no ego. There was nobody trying to be in charge. There was no one trying to take credit,” Smith said.

    “And it just grew into that. It just happened naturally.”

    Inside the dealership, Smith’s team built a command center through which they could view requests for assistance and dispatch resources as needed.

    In those first few days after the storm, the group became known locally as the “Redneck Air Force” as they searched for trapped survivors in the mountains. But Smith was quick to point out that there were others helping too, including other humanitarian organizations, first responders, and the National Guard.

    “The National Guard started flying helicopters on Saturday afternoon. We didn’t get direct contact with them, I think, until Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but they were on the ground doing work,” he said.

    Adam Smith transformed the parking lot of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership into a makeshift air base to help distribute supplies after Hurricane Helene struck the Asheville, N.C. area. Courtesy of Adam Smith

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also deployed 1,200 search and rescue personnel, though Smith said he didn’t see any of the agency’s vehicles on the ground “until 10 days or 11 days in.”

    He noted that FEMA did arrive at the Harley-Davidson with a supply drop about two weeks after the storm. But by that point, civilian volunteers had already collected and distributed “hundreds of thousands of supplies.”

    FEMA faced backlash over its response to Hurricane Helene as rumors spread that the agency was hindering civilian rescue and recovery efforts. FEMA denied those claims.

    Smith, however, has his own qualms with the agency.

    “The fact of the matter is that FEMA operates exactly as it’s designed to operate. It’s a slow-moving, bureaucratic, weighty process with too much red tape,” he said.

    That red tape often results in the slow-walking or outright denial of applications for support or assistance, Smith said, describing the agency as ineffective and inefficient.

    With President-elect Donald Trump preparing to take the reins, Smith said he hopes that the new administration will address some of those concerns. He also stressed that the solution should include ensuring that future disasters do not become political pawns.

    “The political infighting has to stop when it comes to how much political capital can we suck out of this disaster,” he said.

    Smith noted that when President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris first visited North Carolina in the days following the storm, the Secret Service’s airspace restrictions brought most civilian rescue and recovery efforts to a halt.

    “We contacted Secret Service … to get discreet squawk codes to continue to fly. Even then, we were shut down for two hours during the eight-hour window,” he said.

    “I don’t know what definitive impact that had on the people of western North Carolina, but I do know the overall impact was felt and there was frustration.”

    Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris walks with members of the U.S. Armed Forces and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (L) after being briefed on recovery operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, at the the Charlotte Air National Guard Base in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 5, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

    A Perspective Shift

    Trump visited Swannanoa weeks later, on Oct. 21, to survey the damage wrought by Helene and hold a press conference.

    During his visit, Trump commended Smith for his “amazing act of citizenship and service” in helping others in need.

    Smith, in turn, thanked the 45th president for delaying his trip so as not to hinder relief efforts. He also handed him a gift: a small wooden cross.

    Reflecting on that moment, Smith said his Christian faith, far from shaken, had been bolstered in the storm’s aftermath.

    “I have seen more profound miracles in the last four weeks than I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” he said.

    He recounted instances where desperately needed medical supplies had arrived within minutes, and others where those experiencing medical emergencies on the mountain were rescued just in time.

    “There have been conversations with people where children were saved after their families had been swept away, and they found these babies either on a rooftop or in a top floor,” he said.

    “And I’ve also had more conversations than I think I’ve ever had before with people showing up and saying, ‘This has changed my life. And I didn’t realize this, but I found God here.’”

    Describing the post-Helene whirlwind as “the most emotional experience” of his life, Smith said the storm’s impacts went deeper than the devastation still visible on every street corner.

    “I think the perspective shift and change for people on the ground here, specifically, has been so profound and so impactful that, obviously, this area will never be the same,” he said.

    “And I also think that this area will have a higher population of those who found God than maybe anywhere else in the country in the next decade.”

    Adam Smith (L), founder of Savage Freedoms, speaks with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during his visit after Hurricane Helene, in Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 21, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

    For Smith, that shift in perspective gave him the resolve to propose to Knipp.

    “I sort of had a moment of self-reflection, and everything that we were doing was dangerous,” he said.

    “There’s so much loss of life, and the fear of losing my daughter and her mom, and I thought, you know, [expletive] it. I’m not going to wait anymore. Time is precious.”

    He caught his entire crew by surprise when he pulled the ring out of his backpack during one of their nightly briefings.

    It wasn’t the dramatic proposal Smith had envisioned, but that fact seemed trivial compared to the crisis their community was facing.

    The Recovery

    Although their rescue operations have long since ceased, Savage Freedoms Relief Operations continues to provide supplies and assistance to those in need.

    The organization is also helping to rebuild residents’ homes, and with the winter months fast approaching, housing is the top priority.

    Smith said he believes there is enough temporary housing available, but the reconstruction phase of the recovery will pose its own challenges.

    “There’s going to be a rezoning of floodways and flood plains after this event, and there’s going to have to be a study done at multiple levels to identify what that rezoning looks like,” he noted.

    “How long is that going to take? … How is that going to affect their ability to rebuild?”

    Construction workers repair a portion of Interstate 40 that was damaged by Hurricane Helene near Asheville, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2024. Samantha Flom/The Epoch Times

    Smith said they could start rebuilding now and “ask for forgiveness, not permission,” but there would likely be legal repercussions, and securing federal funding takes time.

    He suggested that bridging the gap between private sector efforts and public funding could be the quickest solution.

    “If I can take a private donor and funnel their money through a 501(c)(3), so there’s a tax deduction opportunity for them, and then we can … put it straight to the family in need, that’s the way we can bridge this gap,” he said.

    Most of all, however, Smith said it is crucial that the people of western North Carolina are not forgotten as they continue to pick up the pieces.

    “There has to be a maintained awareness for what’s happening here,” Smith said. “We can’t let the message die, and we can’t let the national attention continue to drift somewhere else when the reconstruction, rebuilding effort of western North Carolina is going to take years and billions of dollars.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 20:05

  • Leftists Leave X For Bluesky Only To Overwhelm Site With Mass Censorship Demands
    Leftists Leave X For Bluesky Only To Overwhelm Site With Mass Censorship Demands

    It’s yet another reminder of the dark days of pre-Musk Twitter when social media was completely dominated by blue-check Karens and a vast army of San Francisco-based moderators.  In the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory which was helped in large part by Elon Musk, high profile celebrities along with washed up has-beens are announcing their great exodus from X. 

    Destination?  Bluesky, a social media platform which is trying to recreate the progressive cancel culture hellscape of 2020 Twitter.  It was created by former longtime Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who later left the organization. The company recently reported an increase of 3 million users since October, rising to 15 million total users in November.  Compare this to X with its reported user base of over 600 million and it’s easy to see why the political left was so enraged by the sale of the company to Musk with his abhorrent free speech policies.

    It’s also hard to see how Bluesky represents anything other than a sweaty bubble of cope.  

    It didn’t take very long for the new arrivals to saturate the platform with censorship demands, post flagging and general complaints about other users.  Bluesky gave notice recently that in only 24 hours the site was inundated with over 42,000 reports and the censorship requests have expanded to over 3000 flags per hour.  

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    Bluesky was built on an “invite only” system up until February of this year.  The rush of woke actors, journalists and activists to the platform after the election has certainly garnered a lot of media attention for the site.  Progressive celebrities and pundits such as actress Jamie Lee Curtis, “journalist” Don Lemon, “journalist” Joy Reid, writer Stephen King and The Guardian’s official news account, have all decided to switch to Bluesky. 

    Don Lemon accused X of no longer serving the purposes of “transparency and honest debate”, a hilarious notion when one considers the incredible level of censorship enacted under the old regime.  What leftists are actually angry about is the fact that conservatives are suddenly free to contradict progressive claims without fear of account bans, the doxing of their homes and workplaces, and cancel culture in general.

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    Leftists enjoyed a double standard at Twitter that worked aggressively in their favor.  Even if their arguments were devoid of facts and evidence, the Terms of Service system Twitter put in place was specifically hostile to conservative ideals.  Progressive members knew this and exploited it often to silence dissent.  The only thing that might save an account was its size, with the biggest right-leaning users sometimes getting a pass.  

    The exodus merely confirms what most people already knew – The left is afraid of fair discourse on an even playing field.  They refuse open debate unless the game is rigged in their favor.  So far the general response form the majority of X users is “Good riddance to bad rubbish!”  It’s unlikely that this view will change.     

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 19:40

  • "SHALL NOT BE COUNTED": Pennsylvania Supreme Court Orders Rogue Officials To Stop Counting Illegal Ballots
    “SHALL NOT BE COUNTED”: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Orders Rogue Officials To Stop Counting Illegal Ballots

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday ordered all of the state’s county election officials to stop counting mail-in ballots that fail to comply with state law.

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    The order comes after Bucks County Board of Commissioners Chair Robert J. Harvie Jr. (D) and Vice Chair Dianne Ellis-Marseglia (D) defied the top Court’s previous ruling that ballots missing signatures in one of two places, or which are missing a date, cannot be counted.

    State law requires a handwritten date on the outer return envelope of mail-in ballots.

    The ruling and order to stop counting comes as an automatic recount is underway in the race between Republican Senator-elect Dave McCormick and incumbent Senator Bob Casey. The recount – which comes at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1 million, was triggered by a state law that calls for an automatic recount if a candidate’s margin of victory is no more than 0.5% of total votes cast.

    “The Court hereby ASSUMES its King’s Bench authority … only to DIRECT that all Respondents, including the Boards of Elections in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia County, SHALL COMPLY with the prior rulings of this Court in which we have clarified that mail-in and absentee ballots that fail to comply with the requirements of the Pennsylvania Election Code …. SHALL NOT BE COUNTED for purposes of the election held on November 5, 2024,” reads Monday’s ruling.

    Earlier this month, Bucks County, PA. commissioners voted to count ballots lacking proper signatures in violation of the state Supreme Court ruling issued earlier this year, and against the advice of the board’s legal counsel – which advised not to count illegal ballots.

    Now to see if they comply…

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 19:27

  • How Trump Won With Hispanics
    How Trump Won With Hispanics

    Authored by Alfredo Ortiz via RealClearPolitics,

    Democrats and liberal commentators are desperately trying to explain away one of the biggest shocks of the 2024 election: Donald Trump’s 46% share of the Hispanic vote, a modern-day Republican record and remarkable improvement over the 32% he received four years ago. 

    But their explanations demonstrate striking elitism and lack of self-awareness and accountability. For example, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), likely the next Congressional Progressive Caucus chair, chalked up Latino voter erosion to right-wing “misinformation.” Joe Scarborough, co-host of Morning Joe, blamed “misogyny” and racism from Latino men. 

    Several pundits, such as CNN’s Jim Acosta, claimed Hispanics voted against their “self-interest.” And MSNBC’s Joy Reid accused Hispanics of voting against their race: “Y’all voted with … David Duke and against your …wives, sisters, and abuelas.” This kind of race essentialism – believing that Hispanics should vote solely based on their race – is the real racism, not the perceived slights the media obsesses over. 

    Job Creators Network’s Hispanic Vote Coalition, led by Executive Director Mary Thomas, spent the year traveling across the country to engage with Hispanic voters and faith leaders in their own communities to learn about the issues most impacting them and equipping them with the resources to vote their values this election. We found a highly receptive audience eager to engage in political issues and sick of being talked down to and taken for granted by Democrats – and largely ignored by Republicans.

    Our key finding: Hispanics have the same concerns as everyone else. Hispanics are just as concerned about their faith and families, the economy and inflation, crime, and the direction of the country as all Americans. President Trump spoke to these concerns far better than Democrats, and that’s the reason for his historic performance with Hispanics. And, it turns out, with Americans of almost all backgrounds.

    Trump recognized that Hispanics aren’t an identity group that can be pitted against others in tribal political warfare. The Harris campaign ran on this soft bigotry through promises such as forgivable $20,000 loans to Hispanic men, but Trump treated Hispanics as part of his broader coalition of working-class Americans striving for the American Dream. 

    Hispanic voters didn’t need to listen to the political rhetoric. They merely needed to observe and compare their quality of life while Trump and Harris were in office. Real median Hispanic household income grew $6,500 between 2017 and 2019, 10 times faster than between 2021 and 2023 under Biden-Harris.

    Our Hispanic Vote Project found that Latinos are especially concerned about their businesses remaining profitable and their churches remaining solvent. We talked to many part-time pastors who were also small business owners, and many expressed concerns about rising taxes and inflation.

    They feared their congregations would be forced to work more to earn less, significantly impacting their time available for church activities and ability to tithe. The bigger the state, they noted, the smaller the influence of the church in their respective communities.

    Armed with this information, we went into Hispanic communities with Spanish advertisements, media, and materials for trusted leaders to distribute. Instead of merely translating English ads into Spanish, we created unique ads and messaging targeted to effectively reach a Hispanic audience. Our Que Mala Kamala Spanish video went viral. 

    We saw that Hispanics listen to a lot of radio, so we loaded up on relatively inexpensive ads on this underappreciated platform. One that connects Hispanic listeners to their communities – and their heritage. 

    To consolidate and build on these Hispanic gains, conservatives need to continue to genuinely engage with and learn from this constituency between election cycles, not just during them. We need a permanent Hispanic engagement infrastructure to make these voters part of our coalition for the long term. 

    In short, we need to do the opposite of Democrats and liberal pundits. We must listen to and engage with Hispanics in their own communities rather than dismiss this growing community that will decide elections as misinformed, bigoted, and voting against their own self-interest. 

    Alfredo Ortiz is the president and CEO of the Job Creators Network.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 19:15

  • Artifice Of The Deal: Harris' 'Politics Of Joy' Ends In Tears
    Artifice Of The Deal: Harris’ ‘Politics Of Joy’ Ends In Tears

    Authored by Alex Rosado via RealClearPolitics,

    For months, legacy media and Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign fawned over the positivity and change the vice president could offer the presidency. Given her decisive loss to Donald Trump this month, it seems voters were not persuaded by the “politics of joy”– and her base is melting down over it.

    This cycle’s polls testified to voters’ distaste for the incumbent Biden administration. Citizens were, and still are, concerned with the national economy and crime rates, which have worsened their quality of life.

    The Harris campaign tried to distract Americans from that criticism by projecting an upbeat image. Yet, even an army of actors, musicians, and public figures endorsing Harris and trashing then-candidate Donald Trump could not make up for her lack of tangible solutions. Her rallies created an atmosphere of communal excitement for those in attendance, but her policies lacked substance and broad appeal. It took the campaign several weeks to release a detailed policy platform when she first entered the race – most were ripped from Biden’s unpopular tenure that voters disliked, and she would admit this herself.

    Most of America saw nothing gleeful about being stuck with the same ineffective policies for another four years, but those supporters who liked her “feel-good” environments were bound emotionally to her campaign.

    Harris’ emotional appeal had a twofold effect: to ostracize dissenters who demanded more policies from their candidate, and to insulate her supporters until they believed that they were in the majority – even as their numbers shrank. This same energy transformed political gatherings into pseudo-festivals more than serious discussions. And, when feelings dominate, the blowback can be more severe. That’s why many religious and pro-life voters were stunned when Harris told two Christians they were “at the wrong rally” in late October. Harris couldn’t emphasize unity at her rallies if she alienated certain groups that didn’t align with her beliefs, and Christians remembered this by voting mostly for Trump in 2024.

    The divide extended behind the scenes, too. Since Biden was ousted from the presidential race in August, there has been a reported feud between his and Harris’ camps. Harris staffers say the White House didn’t sufficiently coordinate Biden’s messaging and schedule to align with the vice president’s campaign interests. Ex-Biden staffers who joined Harris’s campaign have also been branded “disloyal.” The rift was reaffirmed when Harris sidelined Biden, refusing to campaign with him in the campaign’s final stretch.

    The supposed “joy” of Harris’ campaign merely masked the party’s factionalism. Observers and Republicans pounced on this, calling Harris’ nomination a hoax, and Americans started questioning her rise to the top of the ticket. Authentic or not, Harris struggled with justifying why she was the nominee and used happiness to conceal genuine ideological differences within her party.

    The split between Biden and Harris was so apparent that publications wondered if Biden was trying to sabotage Harris’ campaign. The Democrats’ divided house could not stand, and skeptical voters were concerned about the dysfunction. They were proven correct when, in the election aftermath, Harris’ allies and the media blamed Biden for her loss.

    Even as the Obamas, Clintons, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, and Oprah Winfrey stressed that Americans must choose “joy,” their rhetoric told a different story. 

    The Harris campaign painted Trump as a “fascist” and a “dictator,” with Biden jumping in and calling Trump supporters “garbage.” They spent months fearmongering over Project 2025, a political initiative by The Heritage Foundation that Trump repeatedly said he does not endorse. Democrats went as far as to tie Trump to Adolf Hitler, with Walz comparing a Trump rally to a Nazi gathering.

    Their hypocritical, far-from-cheerful rhetoric was a Hail Mary attempt to gain ground in the election. Polls had Kamala trailing Trump nationwide and in swing states because she could not define herself.

    The politics of “joy” could not convince voters that she was in touch with their needs. To close the gap, she instead chose the politics of panic. Neither could deliver her the presidency.

    Even if Trump’s rhetoric made some Democrats feel “concerned, exhausted, angry, insulted, and confused” in his first term, most of the country wanted his aura for a second term. It’s why disaffected Democrats like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard were vital in building coalitions and a diverse policy platform for Trump. Trump could ride around in a garbage truck while still campaigning on no taxes for social security, energy abundance, and ending foreign wars. He balanced proposals with optics, something the Harris campaign couldn’t figure out.

    At its core, politics is about governance and resource allocation; everything else is noise. Harris’ campaign sought to replace policy with good vibes. When that failed, only anger remained. Disillusioned with the results, the Harris camp is now guilting everyone – including a baby hippo overseas – for their mistakes.

    The Harris campaign’s joy, rage, and detachment from voters is no mystery and is why she couldn’t master the art of the deal.

    Alex Rosado is a Research Fellow for Horizon Info Consult, and a Contributor for Young Voices. Follow him on Twitter/X at @Alexprosado.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 18:25

  • Lebanon, Hezbollah Agree To US-Proposed Ceasefire With Israel After Especially Bloody 24 Hours
    Lebanon, Hezbollah Agree To US-Proposed Ceasefire With Israel After Especially Bloody 24 Hours

    It appears Netanyahu’s reported “gift” of a Lebanon ceasefire in the wake of Trump’s election victory is coming to fruition. Reuters and other international outlets are reporting that agreement on a US-proposed ceasefire has been reached.

    “Lebanon and Hezbollah have agreed to a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Israel with some comments on the content, a top Lebanese official told Reuters on Monday, describing the effort as the most serious yet to end to the fighting.”

    Hezbollah militants, via AFP

    A Lebanese source, Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, has said “Lebanon had delivered its written response to the U.S. ambassador in Lebanon on Monday, and White House envoy Amos Hochstein was travelling to Beirut to continue talks,” Reuters writes late in the day Monday.

    Israel has yet to issue official comment, and much remains to be seen on whether it will actually take effect or hold:

    “Lebanon presented its comments on the paper in a positive atmosphere,” Khalil said, declining to give further details. “All the comments that we presented affirm the precise adherence to (U.N.) Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” he said.

    It comes as a bit of a surprise, given how violent the past 24 hours have been on both sides of the border. 

    At least five Lebanese were killed Monday due to an Israeli strike on the Zuqaq al-Blat area, with casualty figures expected to increase amid an emergency response. Over 30 were injured in the attack, others remain missing.

    On the Israeli side of the war-ravaged border area, Israeli sources are saying a number of Hezbollah missiles scored direct hits on civilian areas:

    A woman was killed and at least 17 people were wounded in several rocket barrages fired by Hezbollah on Monday, as the terror group launched more than 100 rockets at northern Israel and one missile at the country’s center throughout the day.

    The woman, identified as Safaa Awad, 41, was killed and dozens of others wounded in the evening by a rocket that hit a three-story building in the northern town of Shfar’am after Hezbollah fired five projectiles at the Galilee.

    Among the wounded victims were a woman aged 41 and a 4-year-old boy in serious condition, Rambam Hospital in Haifa said.

    The medical center said a total of 56 victims were brought for treatment, mostly for acute anxiety. Among the victims were 18 children, the hospital adds.

    There was also a major Hezbollah missile strike on Tel Aviv Monday:

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    Israeli media has also picked up on the breaking report of the ceasefire deal, also emphasizing there’s been no initial comment from the Israeli government:

    Its terms require Hezbollah to have no armed presence in the area between the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Litani River, which runs some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the frontier — clauses the terror group violated from the get-go.

    Khalil claims the success of the initiative now depended on Israel, saying if Israel did not want a solution, “it could make 100 problems.

    Lebanese officials are now saying the ball is in Israel’s court. Currently an Israeli ground offensive is still active, and Beirut has been heavily pummeled by Israel’s aerial offensive, which has also reached into central and northeastern Lebanon of late, especially the Bekaa Valley.

    Like with Ukraine, President-elect Trump is pledging to quickly bring to an end wars which have Washington involvement; however, in a phone call last month he told PM Netanyahu to “do what you have to do” against Hezbollah and Hamas.

    One career US diplomat in the Middle East region was cited in WaPo as saying “Netanyahu has no loyalty to Biden and will be focused entirely on currying favor with Trump.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 18:00

  • A Real Life Example Of How Democrats Claim To Save You Money
    A Real Life Example Of How Democrats Claim To Save You Money

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    This example is about as Orwellian as one can find…

    It involves a proposed $15 vehicle tax for entering New York City.

    Please listen to New York Governor Kathy Hochul explain how she is saving taxpayers 40 percent in her Orwellian Video.

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    Math Lesson from Governor Kathy Hochul

    From day one, I have made affordability for New Yorkers a top priority. I always have and I always will fight to put more money in the pockets of everyday New Yorkers. That’s why, back in June, I stood up on behalf of hard working families and simply said no, no to a new $15 congestion toll that at that particular time was just too much.

    Too many people are worried about high costs, groceries, rent, child care. These are real challenges to our families. …. As governor, it is my job to make decisions that take into account the needs of all working New Yorkers. So, I made the decision to put the congestion pricing on pause while we devise a different path forward.

    I believe no New Yorker should have to pay a penny more than absolutely necessary. … You heard that correctly. It was $15 before and now it is $9. That is a 40 percent reduction. This lower toll will save daily commuters nearly $1,500 annually. And that kind of money makes a big difference for our families

    How to Save Money New York Style

    • Step One: Announce a $3,750 tax on commuters

    • Step Two. Announce a hold on the tax until after the election.

    • Step Three: Reduce the tax to $2,250

    • Step Four: Explain how this was a new path forward

    • Step Five: Proudly brag about saving New Yorkers $1,500

    This is so preposterously stupid that I wonder how many can possibly believe what she is saying.

    But since she seems serious, she should have started at $30 thereby saving New Yorkers an amazing $5,200 per year.

    How do these idiots keep getting elected?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 17:40

  • "Very Intense Storm" May Dump Snow At Higher Elevations Across Northeast
    “Very Intense Storm” May Dump Snow At Higher Elevations Across Northeast

    The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said an upper-level low-pressure system would develop above the Great Lakes and the Northeast at the midpoint of the week. The system could be a major snowmaker for parts of the Ohio Valley to Mid-Alantic to Northeast.

    “This will result in cooler temperatures, a cold rain from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast, and early season accumulating snow for the central Appalachians and the higher terrain of the interior Northeast,” NWS wrote in its latest forecast. 

    Weather forecaster Joe Bastardi posted an image on X of the latest computer model, which forecast heavy snow for high elevations in the Great Lakes and interior Northeast, especially for the central Appalachians. 

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    Here’s what other meteorologists are saying… 

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    Since Sunday, we’ve been tracking this snow threat for the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

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    If models shift, we’ll update. Nothing is concrete at the moment.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 17:20

  • Our Elections Are Not OK
    Our Elections Are Not OK

    Authored by Doug Truax via RealClearPolitics,

    On this very terrain, four years ago, I asserted that we can “never again” allow an election like 2020 to happen. I’m back to say that despite Trump’s near landslide, America’s election system is still broken.

    And the time to fix it is immediately, while President Trump has the wind at his back with a Republican Congress and the public on his side.

    You most clearly see a broken election system when the margins are extremely tight. We saw it in 2020 when approximately 40,000 votes in key states tipped the election, and not so much in 2024. But rest assured, the public still lacks confidence in the integrity of our elections, and rightly so. They are only partially transparent. The tools to cheat are still on the table and able to be used. This is a ticking time bomb that could throw America into chaos in a future close election.

    The main problems are ridiculously extended voting periods, mass absentee ballots, lack of voter ID, flimsy signature verification, unsecured drop boxes, voting machines with opaque software and connectivity to the internet, and sloppy, inaccurate voter rolls. We wouldn’t accept any of these third-world standards in our personal banking or accounting practices – why are we OK applying them to our precious votes?

    Under our Constitution, we entrust election administration to the states. Some, like Florida, run a tight, efficient ship, counting all votes on Election Day in a few hours and posting ballot movement online in real-time. The public trusts those results. Others, like Arizona, have created a bizarre process that takes days to count the ballots. Even if there is no fraud whatsoever, the public is distrustful of such a Byzantine system. It boggles the mind that in 2024, in the United States of America, we are still counting votes days and even weeks after the election in Arizona and several other states.

    The incoming Trump administration must make election integrity a top priority through federal legislation or persuading states to pass reforms. Standards such as voter ID, accurate and transparent voter rolls, and shortened voting periods should be emphasized publicly and perhaps incentivized by the federal government. There are constitutional issues at play here, but there are countervailing constitutional issues when blue states affect federal elections by relaxing their standards to enable cheating.

    We are at a crossroads. More people are using absentee ballots and getting used to them. However, as the Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by Jimmy Carter and James Baker, concluded in 2005, mass absentee ballots invite voter fraud. Many other civilized countries agree – they ban them or sharply limit their use.

    Like with money or other valuables, flawed human beings will steal them if you don’t provide strict guardrails and safeguards. In one-party areas without oversight, partisans will be tempted to break the rules and steal votes if they think they can get away with it.

    Part of the reason there were fewer voting irregularities in 2024 compared to 2020 is that our organization and others dispatched tens of thousands of lawyers and volunteers to keep an eye on things. And, of course, it helped that the margin was “too big to rig” this time.

    Let’s act to close the gaping security holes so we can spend more time debating the issues rather than paying hundreds of lawyers. Our great country deserves a great election system. It is within our power to make it happen in 2025.

    Doug Truax is founder and CEO of Restoration of America, one of the most active and effective political organizations in America. He is a West Point graduate, successful entrepreneur, and former Army Ranger.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 17:00

  • Baltic Undersea Data Cable 'Disruption' May Take Two Weeks To Repair
    Baltic Undersea Data Cable ‘Disruption’ May Take Two Weeks To Repair

    Update (1352ET): 

    Finnish networking company Cinia sheds more color on the mysterious “fault” detected in the Cinia C-Lion1 submarine cable between Finland and Germany:

    A fault has been detected in the Cinia Oy C-Lion1 submarine cable between Finland and Germany and corrective measures have been initiated.

    A fault has been detected in the Cinia Oy C-Lion1 submarine cable between Finland and Germany early after 4 a.m. on Monday 18th November, 2024. Due to the fault, the services provided over the C-Lion1 are down.

    The details of the fault are yet not known and are currently being investigated. Corrective measures have been initiated and the repair vessel is getting ready to go on the site. The exact repair time is not yet known, but typically the repair time for submarine cables is between 5 and 15 days.

    Finland’s international telecommunication connections are routed via multiple routes and the impact of a single cable failure depends on the resilience of the service providers’ connections.

    Some X users have pointed to a crude tanker as a potential suspect in the undersea cable disruption.

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    Finnish networking company Cinia reports that its submarine communications cable, “C-Lion1,” which connects Finland and Germany and provides a direct, high-capacity data link between Northern and Central Europe, has encountered a “fault.”

    “A fault has been detected in the Cinia C-Lion1 submarine cable between Finland and Germany on  18 November, 2024. Due to the fault, the services provided over the C-Lion1 cable are down. The cause of the fault is being investigated. More information of the situation will be updated on Tuesday 19 November, 2024,” Cinia wrote in a statement on its website. 

    C-Lion1 is an undersea fiber cable between Rostock, Germany, and Helsinki, Finland, connecting businesses in central Europe with data centers in northern Europe. It was constructed in early 2016 and has a total capacity of 144 terabits per second, facilitating low latency and secure data transmission. 

    Cinia did not provide further details about the cause of the fault on C-Lion1 or if there were any disruptions in data communications.

    One X user speculated, “Potential cause of C-lion1 cable break The crude oil tanker Magic Lady on its way from St. Petersburg to Dakar, which behaved strangely 2024-11-18 10:23:17 UTC in the Baltic Sea.”

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    A little more than two years ago, in a similar area of the Baltic Sea, Russia’s Nord Stream undersea pipeline feeding Germany NatGas exploded. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that the US ordered the attack on the vital pipeline.

    *Developing… 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 16:52

  • Berkeley Communists Call For "Righteous Anger & Revolutionary Determination" Against MAGA 
    Berkeley Communists Call For “Righteous Anger & Revolutionary Determination” Against MAGA 

    The Revolutionary Communist Party USA, led by Bob Avakian, is outraged that their Marxist-aligned allies within the Democratic Party were defeated in the presidential election by the nation-loving, God-fearing Trump-Vance ticket.

    Now, the communists are calling for “righteous anger and revolutionary determination,” as their efforts to shape policy outcomes and push for a socialist reconstruction in America will be temporarily derailed under Trump’s upcoming second term. 

    X user Andy Ngo shared an image of a flyer stapled to a telephone pole in Berkeley, California, calling for a communist workshop to plan a revolution against “Trump fascism.”

    “Two Countries” Within This Country—And The Whole Damn System’s Got To Go!” the title of the poster reads. It states there will be an in-person meeting to plan for revolution at a Berkeley bookshop on Sunday evening and a Zoom meeting on Tuesday.

    A QR code attached to the flyer led folks back to Bob Avakian’s Substack. He stated the group’s intent: 

    “This is not a time for demoralization and despair—it is a time for righteous anger and revolutionary determination.”  

    Other revolutionary communists promoted the upcoming meeting, indicating an “urgent call” for “revolution against Trump fascism and the whole system.”

    On election night, anarchists, communists, and other socialists in the Antifa group were activated in downtown Seattle, sparking mayhem.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 11/18/2024 – 16:40

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