Today’s News 19th September 2022

• Is The European Union About To Rupture?
  Is The European Union About To Rupture?

  Authored by Tuomas Malinen via The Epoch Times,

  The possible, even likely, collapse of the European economy would inflict some heavy costs to present European institutions. In this entry, Dr. Peter Nyberg and I detail why we believe we are likely to see some rupturing of the European Union (EU) as originally conceived.

  

  This may occur in two ways: Either the European Union disintegrates completely, or it mutates into something unrecognizable to its original purpose. This comment concentrates on some of the factors causing disintegration.

  The functioning of the EU has, until recently, been built on two political pillars that now appear to be crumbling. Primarily, German growth has made possible the joint financing (through low-cost debt, the EU budget, and the central banks’ clearing system) of unsuccessful economies without the EU forcing them to commit to politically unacceptable reforms. Beneficent global developments have made possible the concentration on economic integration while going slow on the much more contentious integration of cultural, social, and foreign policies.

  The deterioration of the global economy, together with EU policies, now threaten industry and living standards in EU member states, reduce the scope of joint economic support, and force member states to rapidly evaluate their readiness for possibly radical reductions in their political self-determination. This is most evident in Italy.

  The yields of Italian sovereign debt have reached levels that can be considered unsustainable, given the country’s high indebtedness and low rate of economic growth. For example, the yield of the Italian 10-year bond breached the 4 percent line late this past week. The maturity structure of Italian debt is also rather unfavorable. At the end of June, for example, Italy had issued only 52 percent of its needs for external financing in 2022. In addition, 35 percent of her outstanding debt will come due already in 2024. Half of her total debt will come due within five years.

  Without active country-specific support from the European Central Bank (ECB), which the newly introduced Transmission Protection Instrument is designed to facilitate, Italian debt is unsustainable at current yields. Disagreements among member states on the wisdom of filling the ECB with Italian bonds is bound to weaken the glue keeping the EU together as before.

  The energy crisis is also sowing seeds of serious inner conflict. The politics in the EU are becoming less forgiving as difficulties mount.

  Contentious Issues Piling Up

  Both Hungary and the Czech Republic have objected to the plans for a price cap of Russian gas, which now looks unlikely to be enforced. The European Commission is also planning to cut funding for the Hungarian government of Victor Orban due to “rule-of-law concerns.” This is unlikely to increase the incentives of Hungary to stay in the union. More generally, as funding is made conditional on countries meeting the test of adhering to “European values,” one can expect the list of such essentially political requirements to grow as economic conditions worsen and demands for uniform policies grow.

  For example, Poland is fed up with constant extra demands from the EU, like the demand to walk back from the changes Polish government was planning to the judicial system, considering the distribution of funds from the Recovery Fund to its government. Krzysztof Sobolewski, the governing party’s secretary-general, has warned that without a clear change in the actions of Brussels, “We will have no choice but to pull out all the cannons in our arsenal and open fire.” Since a number of contentious decisions still require unanimity, such a threat might be unwise to take lightly.

  Fault lines are also emerging regarding the Russia sanctions.

  Moderation in this respect, as ultimately needed by Germany and especially Italy, is not readily accepted (and may even attract internal sanctions). Russia naturally uses existing differences to reduce the cohesion of the EU. Reports state that Russia is preparing a first shipment from its new liquefied natural gas plant to Greece. Hungary, as an outlier, is buying additional gas from Russia in accordance with their new agreement. It will be interesting to see what Germany may choose to do if the impact of energy scarcity on its economy and population is as large as some reports suggest.

  Besides financially, Italy is also between a “rock and a hard place” on gas issues. While she has been able to cut Russian gas imports from around 40 percent to 15–20 percent, it’s becoming practically impossible to cut them much further. There are serious bottlenecks dictating how much gas can be transferred from south to north Italy. Essentially, only a sufficient Russian gas supply can keep the lights on in the north of Italy, which is also the industrial hub of the country.

  Practically, this means that President Vladimir Putin has the ability to push Italy into a deep recession and create yet another economic basket case in the EU. This time Germany may not be able to guarantee the financing needed for saving Italian companies and the nation’s banks. If so, yet another debt crisis may well come ablaze in the eurozone. The question is, will the new government of Italy just sit and wait for this, or will it perhaps insist that the EU or itself negotiate a deal with Russia?

  So, how will the EU respond to these threats?

  We are assuming that European Commission is at some point encouraged to propose a Recovery Fund 2.0, which would need to be considerably larger than the previous one (of around €800 billion). The fund would provide financing for countries to cope with rising energy prices as well as to help the bond markets of Italy, and others, retain market confidence. The ECB may even be forced to restart quantitative easing while it raises rates. Indeed, this may already be happening, as the balance sheet of the ECB has grown by some €13 billion since mid-August.

  The commission is likely to try to gather more power for itself through essentially un-constitutional demands, like the preposterous “mandatory demand cut” for electricity consumption. The commission has no right, legally or otherwise, to prescribe such an action from member states, though reducing demand by itself is a sensible policy at this point and could be the subject of a commission suggestion.

  The question remains, will all the member states “play ball” in this and coming issues? We are not so sure.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 09/19/2022 – 02:00

• Are You Ready For Societal Winter?
  Are You Ready For Societal Winter?

  Authored by James Wesley Rawles via SurvivalBlog.com,

  Many of you reading this are ready for winter, both literally and figuratively. Your firewood is stacked and your kindling is split. Your barn is stacked full of hay. Your larder is crammed full of food. Your fuel tanks are topped off. And your home armory is “dialed-in”, with its walls comfortably stacked with ammo cans.  But some of you reading this are not nearly so well prepared. Whether by lack of resolve or lack of resources, you aren’t ready for the manifold challenges of the 21st Century.

  

  Winter is coming. The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts that the winter of 2022-2023 will be harsh, for most of the country. And in Western Europe, the winter will surely be an uncomfortable one, since the Russians have embargoed natural gas.

  Far worse than the predicted La Niña winter in North America, we are also entering what I term a Societal Winter: An era of rancorous discontent between political factions here in the United States that is replete with iciness, and dismissiveness, by The Powers That Be. With divisive “Woke” rhetoric and plenty of finger-pointing, people are feeling a lot less “United” these days. From my vantage point here in the rural Northern Rockies, it appeared that immediately after Joe Biden and his activist cabinet took office in D.C., the Mainstream Media (MSM) cranked the Acrimony knob all the way up to “11.”  (For those not familiar, the 11 is a reference to the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.)

  All signs now point to the advent of a deep and long Societal Winter.

  Here are some key indicators of an incipient Societal Winter:

  • The “us versus them” chatter in social media has become more extreme and pronounced.

  • The homes of Supreme Court justices have been picketed and blasted by vile shouts and taunts on bullhorns.

  • Ex-Presidents now frequently criticize the sitting President and other former Presidents. (That was heretofore considered a no-no.)

  • There is seemingly no more middle ground in American politics. The “debate” and “conversation” have been turned into one-sided lectures by the left.

  • The divide between Red States and Blue States has deepened, prompting many conservatives to “vote with their feet.” The American Redoubt movement is just one manifestation of this.

  • The stage-managed and quite partisan congressional hearings on the unarmed January 6th “insurrection”.

  • The FBI and DOJ have been used as weapons against political opponents of Biden & Company. The experiences of Roger Stone and Mike Lindell are indicative.

  • The ATF has begun to issue edicts on gun parts that go far beyond their legislated mandate. (They should take note of the recent West Virginia v. EPA decision — Federal agencies enforce laws. They are not supposed to create laws.) The ATF edicts have turned parts that they had previously approved into felonies. In just the past three years, the ATF has issued controversial rulings on bumpstocks, solvent traps, forced reset triggers, auto key cards, arm braces, and 80% complete receivers that are sold along with drilling fixtures and parts sets.

  • The IRS plans to add 87,000 new employees, and many people fear that they will be targeting conservative small business owners with audits.

  • Politically-motivated “swatting” is on the rise.

  • The homosexual rights movement has been co-opted by militant trans-sexual crusaders. They’ve also infiltrated public schools and now seem to be proud of grooming children.

  • Mask mandates and vaccine mandates have been politicized and used as weapons to purge conservatives from the military.

  • A $500 billion student loan forgiveness scheme that is just a thinly-veiled gambit to buy votes.

  • The Governor of New York recently taunted conservatives, and suggested that they leave the state.

  • Search engine and social media searches are manipulated, via algorithms.

  • Conservatives have been systematically de-platformed, de-funded, de-banked, and de-ranked from search engine results. On this, I’m not spouting hyperbole. I’m writing this from personal experience. In late 2021, my own bank account that I’d held for nearly 20 years with never a bounced check was canceled on short notice, with no reason given. And, because of the way that search engine results are algorithmically ranked, I’ve lost 30% of my blog’s readership over the past 10 years. Just do a web search on the word “preparedness”, and scroll through the results. You will see that 95% of the results in the first 10 pages point to government web pages. In contrast, do a web search on the more precise phrase “n”, and see what results. So… The truth is out there, but the tech titans are doing their best to conceal it.

  • Mainstream journalists have dropped any pretense of objective reporting.

  • Joe Biden recently has given speeches where he castigated conservatives, terming us “a threat to democracy” and “semi-fascists.”  Using labels like that puts targets on our backs. In effect, he declared about half of the population enemies of the state.

  • Politically-motivated prosecutions of former Trump White House staff members.

  • American society’s long-standing tacit agreement to show restraint at public meetings seems to have been dropped. In response, governments have clamped down on dissenters.

  • Vocal dissent has now expanded to local school board meetings and library board meetings.

  • Character assassination of those with dissenting voices is now carried out on a grand scale, via skewed polls, social media bot influence, “reports” from pressure groups like the SPLC, slanted news reporting, and the overt manipulation of Wikipedia.

  • A cozy relationship has developed between government officials — who are constitutionally barred from censorship — and the tech titans who operate social media platforms – who feel that they can censor their users.  Some of the tech moguls have admitted that they engaged in censorship and swayed elections “in partnership” with the government. And we’ve all read that the Federal government had plans to create an Orwellian Disinformation Bureau.

  • Gun violence restraining orders (GVROs) / extreme risk protective orders (ERPOs) — a.k.a. “Red Flag” laws have been used to exercise ill will, often regarding grudges and even political differences, by the police or within families. This seems to have already increased, in the city and county of San Francisco. In the past year, San Francisco judges have issued more Red Flag court orders than in the rest of the state, combined.

  • The overturn of the Roe v. Wade decision infuriated many liberals, to the point of some of them demanding defiance of the court order and that the court be expanded, to create a majority of liberal justices.

  So, where does all of this lead us? I believe that it will lead to a winter of discontent, possibly lasting for many years, and perhaps with polarization worsening to the point of Balkanization of the 50 States and even civil war.

  WE’LL ALL FEEL THE COLD

  Even if you live in the hinterboonies, don’t expect to be immune from the effects of the nascent Societal Winter. I predict that a lot of these effects will come “top-down”, by orders issued by the Federal government, over the course of several successive Democrat or RINO administrations. Just like the Europeans now facing a government-mandated chilly winter in under-heated homes this winter, we can expect to feel the cold gaze of both liberal elitists and The Woke, in the years to come.

  I can foresee that their wrath will be felt in many ways. For example: Higher income taxes, higher fuel taxes, a Federal “per-mile” tax on private highway travel, draconian new gun laws, politically-targeted IRS tax audits, the “dumping” of busloads (or Amtrak trainloads) of illegal aliens in rural towns, Federally-imposed leftist school curricula, umpteen new un-funded Federal mandates on the states, the forced phase-out of internal combustion engine light cars and trucks, the imposition of a Social Credit Score system, manipulated interest rates that will devastate the national economy, the “apportionment” of power grid resources–favoring Blue cities and states, continued government over-spending that is wrecking the purchasing power of the Dollar, Federal over-ride of state fish and game laws, increasingly stringent EPA and OSHA regulations, and a military draft that may include both our sons and our daughters.

  If socialists, Marxists, Maoists, fascists, or other collectivists eventually consolidate power, then they will surely make attempts at overtly controlling businesses that go far beyond the already repugnant taxes and minimum wages. How? They could legislate hiring metrics that will arbitrarily dictate the percentage of minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts, mentally ill, simple-minded, and sexual deviants. Or the percentage of members of various religions. Or the percentage of members of various political parties. This forced hiring would be mandated regardless of the qualifications or the merits of applicants. In California, they already attempted to mandate the racial composition of corporate boards. (That was found unconstitutional by the courts, a few months ago.) There could also be attempts to limit farmers and ranchers in the production of livestock. By the way, this was just recently announced in The Netherlands. That triggered massive protests that were clearly downplayed by the American mainstream media. Just imagine a law dictating that 50% of firefighters, or military members, or professional athletes be women, or that 10% of new hires be people that are physically or mentally handicapped? Perhaps Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional Harrison Bergeron wasn’t so fictional, after all.

  Collectivists might also take advantage of times of emergency — whether real or fabricated — to simply seize packaged foodstuffs, livestock, farm produce, and/or fish catches.  Dictatorial collectivists never learn from history.  The term “seizing power” might take on a new meaning, in this era of grid-tied photovoltaic power systems and net metering.  (“It is all for the public good, comrade.”)

  And what if any of the 50 States start making secession noises?  I’m sure that the Federal authorities will find ways to severely penalize and downright punish any such states, economically.

  Some of the measures that I’ve outlined might seem outrageous or downright inconceivable. Take a minute to read this recent news article: RAF ‘pauses job offers for white men’ to meet ‘impossible’ diversity targets.

  INCREMENTAL TYRANNY

  Just consider how socialists operate: by incrementalism. Here is their time-proven game plan in a nutshell: “Good ideas” morph into “suggestions”, then “guidelines”, then “targets”, and finally into “mandates” with penalties for noncompliance. The busybodies and do-gooders have already instituted a myriad of laws and taxes, and yet surprisingly there hasn’t been a revolt. They won’t stop adding more laws, new taxes, increased monitoring/surveillance, higher fines/penalties, more licenses, more permit inspections, additional fees, and new reparations to the point that they dictate just about every aspect of our lives. It is as if they want to turn America into an enormous Homeowner’s Association (HOA). It is all about control and power — and they want every bit of it.

  We are facing a very cold Societal Winter, indeed. Nothing cuts to the bone quite like the icy gaze of someone in a position of authority–especially when they are backed by the might of law enforcement and the armed forces.

  In closing, I’d like to remind my readers that the Greek general and politician Pericles once famously wrote: “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 23:30

• High School Defends Trans Teacher Who Wore Massive Fake Breasts To Class
  High School Defends Trans Teacher Who Wore Massive Fake Breasts To Class

  No, this is not Babylon Bee or The Onion!

  A Canadian high school teacher has sparked controversy after pictures emerged of her wearing large breast prosthetics while teaching students.

  Kayla Lemieux, a Manufacturing Technology teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School in Ontario, who began transitioning from being male to a female a year ago, has gone viral online after students took photos and videos of the teacher, seemingly without her knowledge.

  

  As Anna Slatz reports at reduxx.info, the teacher is seen wearing an extremely prominent prosthetic bust, one which clearly outlines the nipples through his tight shirt. He is also donning a bright blonde wig and short-shorts.

  

  In response, the high school defended their employee, writing to parents and explaining why they support Ms Lemieux’s gender expression, Reduxx reports.

  In a statement to parents, the school said:

  “As a school within the Halton District School Board (HDSB), Oakville Trafalgar High School recognizes the rights of students, staff, parents/guardians and community members to equitable treatment without discrimination based upon gender identity and gender expression.

  We strive to promote a positive learning environment in schools consistent with the values of the HDSB and to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all students, staff and the community, regardless of race, age, ability, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, cultural observance, socioeconomic circumstances or body type/size.”

  HDSB Chair Margo Shuttleworth told the Toronto Sun that “This teacher (who teaches shop) is an extremely effective teacher,” adding that “all the kids really love being in the class.”

  Some students have recorded images of the trans teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School in Ontario, Canada and put them on social media: pic.twitter.com/QzsFtqauZq

  — Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) September 17, 2022

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

  The school is said to be expecting protests when it opens on Monday since the photos went viral.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 23:00

• Martha's Vineyard Is Just The Start: Ron DeSantis Has Big Plans On Immigration
  Martha’s Vineyard Is Just The Start: Ron DeSantis Has Big Plans On Immigration

  Authored by W.James Antle III via 19fortyfive.com,

  Ron DeSantis’ Immigration Moves Not Limited to Martha’s Vineyard: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been trying to establish himself as a conservative leader on a number of issues. The latest is immigration.

  

  Like other Republican governors, DeSantis is trying to contrast himself with the policies of President Joe Biden. Before inflation, there was no greater flashpoint than immigration. 

  DeSantis wants faraway affluent liberal communities to get a small sense of what the Biden-era migrant surge is doing to border communities. The residents of Martha’s Vineyard are not amused. 

  But there is more to DeSantis’ immigration insurgency than dropping undocumented migrants off in blue cities (something the Biden administration itself might be contemplating).

  The Florida governor is vying for leadership of the populist and nationalist right, ascendant factions of the conservative movement and Republican Party, as surely as he is seeking reelection in November. This would position DeSantis well to compete for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

  Speaking to the third U.S.-based National Conservatism Conference in Miami, DeSantis spoke differently about immigration than previous Republicans favored by movement conservative leaders and big-money GOP donors. He argued America’s capacity for mass immigration has its limits.

  “We’ve had periods where we had high immigration levels that we have had success, we’ve also had periods where we have great success with immigration levels being very low, such as … [in] the decades after World War II,” Ron DeSantis told the conservative gathering in his keynote address, referencing the period before the 1965 Immigration Act.

  “So the issue is, how does immigration serve the people of the United States and the national interest?” he continued.

  “We’re not globalists who believe that foreigners have a right to come into our country whenever they want to.”

  This is a much less romantic way of talking about immigration than past Republican leaders like former President George W. Bush. It is also a more systematic approach than former President Donald Trump, whose own immigration policies represented a profound break with Bush’s.

  But even with advisers like Stephen Miller and his erstwhile boss, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump couldn’t always articulate an alternative vision that could compete with the Republican establishment view on these matters.

  DeSantis wraps his populist critique of the Robert Bartley/Wall Street Journal editorial page’s free-market defense of more or less open borders in his broader rejection of corporatism and woke capitalism.

  “The United States is a nation that has an economy, not the other way around,” DeSantis said, again at the natcon conference.

  “Our economy should be geared towards helping our own people.”

  What does that mean?

  “I’m not a central planner. I don’t want to be doing that,” he began.

  “But corporatism is not the same as free enterprise. Too many Republicans have viewed limited government to basically mean whatever is best for corporate America is how we want to do the economy. And my view is, obviously free enterprise is the best economic system.”

  That doesn’t mean that what’s good for General Electric or General Motors is necessarily good for America, at least not in 2022.

  “But that is a means to an end,” Ron DeSantis said of the free market.

  “It’s a means to having a good fulfilling life and a prosperous society. It’s not an end in and of itself, and we need to make sure that we have that firmly in mind.”

  It’s not hard to see how such a vision can spiral out of control, as libertarians will be quick to remind conservatives. But it’s also not the first time conservatives have spoken this way. Pat Buchanan’s criticism of corporations whose “highest loyalty is to the bottom line on a balance sheet,” Russell Kirk’s disquisitions on the anti-conservative nature of particularly acquisitive capitalism, the work of Robert Nisbet.

  Republican congressmen and even the occasional senator. Big-state governors who might be running for president have not.

  The closest precedent is former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s 2015 embrace of immigration restraint when he was viewed as a top-tier candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. He was criticized by a lot of the same types of conservatives now wary of DeSantis.

  Soon enough, Trump was able to take away the immigration issue — and the top spot in polls of Republican voters — away from Walker. The nomination followed. 

  Ron DeSantis hopes the similarities in the story end there.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 22:30

• "Crisis Of Crimes": New Orleans Becomes Murder Capital Of America
  “Crisis Of Crimes”: New Orleans Becomes Murder Capital Of America

  Progressives in top city leadership positions have helped transform New Orleans into the murder capital of America. 

  WSJ reported the Louisiana city on the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of Mexico, recorded the highest homicide rate of any major city so far this year, with 41 homicides per 100,000 residents. 

  Metropolitan Crime Commission Inc., a nonprofit that works on crime-reducing strategies in the city, said the homicide rate is up 141% compared with the same period in 2019. It pointed out carjackings are up 210%, shootings 100%, and armed robberies up 25%.

  

  “The homicide rate is on pace to surpass last year’s rate, which was the worst since Hurricane Katrina in 2005,” WSJ noted. 

  The city’s alarming spike in the homicide rate comes at the same time as “progressive prosecutor” Jason Williams became the district attorney of the metro area in early 2021. He promised a “more selective” approach to prosecutions that goes “beyond punishment.”

  “Being more selective about prosecutions will allow us to focus on the crimes that matter most to all of us,” Williams said last year, adding, “We’ve got to go beyond punishment and invest in our community.”

  Metropolitan Crime Commission recently said Williams’ criminal justice reforms have resulted in a “drastic decline in accountability for violent felony offenders.”

  Residents told WSJ an “overwhelmed” police department is a significant factor in the rise in violent crime. 

  Ronal Serpas, the city’s police superintendent from 2010-14, said the city has about 50% to 60% of officers needed for adequate patrols. 

  “We’re in a crisis of crime and a crisis of confidence in this city,” Serpas said.

  Democratic Mayor LaToya Cantrell warned last month Mardi Gras festivities early next year could be canceled because of the police shortage. Local news Times-Picayune said the police department budgets for 1,500 offices, but its force just fell below 1,000 — the lowest level in decades. 

  “If we don’t have adequate police, it could mean that there will be no Mardi Gras. That’s a fact,” Cantrell said at a community meeting last month. 

  Violent crime has surged in many liberal-controlled cities, as some believe this is due to failed criminal justice reform policies.

  Democrat’s inability to address the crime wave is a failure in policy — and their lack of accountability will come in the form of no confidence by taxpayers. 

  Remember in June when a George Soros-backed progressive district attorney in San Francisco was booted out of office? 

  “Action must be taken NOW if there is ever a chance to save the city and bring the reputation of being a city where tourists can come to party and celebrate and not become victims,” nonprofit New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation, which raises funds to aid police in the city, warned. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 22:00

• "Kidnapping Is A Thing": MSNBC Continues False Claim That DeSantis Is Kidnapping Migrants
  “Kidnapping Is A Thing”: MSNBC Continues False Claim That DeSantis Is Kidnapping Migrants

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  I have been writing about the claim of Hillary Clinton and others that the transportation of migrants to places like Martha’s Vineyard is “literally human trafficking” and other crimes. Despite the utter lack of legal basis for these allegations, major media has continued to air such claims.

  This weekend, MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross and MSNBC regular (and past writer for Above the Law and the Nation) repeated the false claim that the trips constitute kidnapping.Mystal responded to Cross’ claim that the trip constitute “kidnapping” with a diatribe against “Republican fascists.”

  

  He then added

  “What I believe is happening here is kidnapping…kidnapping is a thing. Kidnapping by trick is a thing. Telling people that you are going to take them one place and sending them someplace else is a form of kidnapping.”

  Indeed, kidnapping “is a thing,” just not this thing.

  As noted in a column this weekend, this claim was also made by Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

  It is legally absurd.

  Kidnapping requires that the culprit “unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person.” There is nothing unlawful in conveying individuals who are lawfully in the country pending their immigration hearings; the trips are voluntary, and most migrants appear eager to accept free passage to cities like New York or Chicago.

  Mystal also analogized the migrants to teenagers:

  “Imagine Ron DeSantis goes up to a group of white teenagers, offers them some candy and says, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take you to Disney World if you get in my van.’ And then Ron DeSantis drives them to Bush Gardens.” 

  Such analogies are insulting to adults who elect to accept free transport to cities like Chicago or New York. These are vulnerable individuals but these trips are only being offered to adults to decide if they want to take advantage of the free transportation.

  It is reminiscent of the recently deleted tweet by NBC analogizing migrants to “trash.” The trash analogy seems far worse but the suggestion that these migrants are like minors or teens being lured by candy is pretty insulting. These are adults who are clearly in desperate situations but they are not like children or teenagers unable to decide whether to remain near the border or accept a flight to another city.  Would Mystal make the same claim of being “lured” to the country to cross illegally? While there have been alleged misrepresentations, those allegations have not been proven and there has not been evidence of any systemic misrepresentations. Thus far, these transfers appear consensual, including signed or express acceptance of the free transportation. There are rationale reasons why migrants would prefer to go to cities like New York rather than remain along the border given the huge influx of migrations.

  Mystal has previously caused uproars for controversial claims from accusing a senator of wanting to murder Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to his continued attacks on a high school student even after he was cleared of a false race-based story. He has called the Constitution “trash” and previously stated that white, non-college-educated voters supported Republicans because they care about “using their guns on Black people and getting away with it.” He has also lashed out at “white society” and explained how he strived to maintain a “whiteness free” life in the pandemic. He also called all Republicans “white supremacists.”

  However, it is the misrepresentation of the criminal law that is most concerning.  There are good-faith reasons to oppose these trips as a political stunt. That does not make them federal crimes.  The effort to bend and twist the criminal code for such political purposes is a dangerous trend. You can denounce these transfers without trying to criminalize such policies.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 21:30

• Coast Guard Seizes Half-Billion Worth Of Narcotics In Caribbean
  Coast Guard Seizes Half-Billion Worth Of Narcotics In Caribbean

  The US Coast Guard seized 28,500 pounds of cocaine and marijuana after intercepting a drug smuggling boat in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

  

  Approximately 24,700 pounds of cocaine and 3,892 pounds of Marijuana, worth an estimated $475 million, was offloaded on Thursday at Base Miami Beach, Florida, according to a news release. The Coast Guard’s Legare crew executed the seizure along with Coast Guard Cutter James, the US Navy’s USS Billings, and His Netherlands Majesty’s Ship HNLMS Groningen.

  

  The Legare is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter that typically conducts search & rescue, law enforcement and homeland security operations. Stationed in Portsmouth, VA, the vessel patrols a territory including the coastline from Maine to Florida, the Caribbean, the Eastern Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.

  

  “Through the coordinated efforts of the Legare, the LEDETs, HNLMS Groningen, CGC James, and the USS Billings crews, we significantly contributed to the counter-drug mission and the dismantling of transnational criminal organizations. The drugs seized through this coordinated effort will result in significantly fewer drug-related overdoses,” said Legare commanding officer Jeremy M. Greenwood.

  

  The operation comes as Florida reports over 8,000 overdose deaths in 2021, including 2,000 involving the use of cocaine. Nationwide, over 932,000 people have died of drug overdoses since 1999, according to the CDC.

  “Biden’s border crisis has caused a massive infusion of drugs coming into our state,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in an Aug. 3 statement. “This year we increased the penalties for individuals trafficking drugs in our state, and now we are giving Floridians the tools they need to break the substance abuse cycle.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 21:00

• Organized Retail Crime Reaching "Crisis Scale"
  Organized Retail Crime Reaching “Crisis Scale”

  Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The massive wave of retail thefts in the United States over the past two years have become a major challenge for both the retail industry and law enforcement.

  

  Weakened law enforcement policies and lesser penalties for these criminal bandit gangs have hit a critical juncture, as crime in the United States has hit proportions not seen in three decades.

  The number of increasingly professional organized retail crime (ORC) rings and their frequent attacks have reached crisis scale, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) in a Sept. 14 report.

  These crimes have hurt thousands of businesses and have contributed to higher prices for consumers and loss of key retailers in many communities, as countless stores have closed to due to lack of security.

  “The factors contributing to retail shrink have multiplied in recent years, and organized retail crime is a burgeoning threat within the retail industry,” said Mark Meadows, NRF vice president for research development and industry analysis.

  “These highly sophisticated criminal rings jeopardize employee and customer safety and disrupt store operations. Retailers are bolstering security efforts to counteract these increasingly dangerous and aggressive criminal activities.”

  A Spike in Organized Thievery

  According to the 2022 National Retail Security Survey, issued by NRF, the total loss of stolen goods hit $94.5 billion by the end of 2021, up from losses of $90.8 billion in 2020.

  The NRF found that the average shrink rate in losses for 2021 was 1.44 percent, a slight decline from the previous two years, but comparable to the five-year average of 1.5 percent.

  Acts of fraud are being reported across all venues, ranging from brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce, and omni-channel platforms since 2020.

  A sudden increase store violence is another growing area of concern, such as random attacks on store personnel, robberies, and ORC gangs.

  The majority of surveyed retailers reported a 89.3 percent increase in violence and a 73.2 percent uptick in shoplifting.

  The reported incidents of both ORC and employee theft rose 71.4 percent, much of it involving organized crime or for the gangs’ own benefit.

  The NRF said that respondents reported that ORC robberies have risen 26.5 percent since the onset of the pandemic.

  The most targeted store items fall under the acronym CRAVED: concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable,  and disposable.

  Items under CRAVED include apparel, health and beauty, electronics/appliances, accessories, food and beverage, footwear, home furnishings and housewares, home improvement, eyewear, office supplies, infant care, and toys.

  In search of solutions, retailers are boosting spending on theft-prevention measures.

  The NRF survey showed that 60.3 percent of retailers are increasing their security budgets.

  At least 52.4 percent are increasing their investments in technology, such as radio frequency identification tags and readers, computerized security scanners, and license plate-recognition devices.

  “We are seeing more and more, particularly, organized retail crime,” said Corrie Barry, Best Buy’s CEO, in late 2021 to the NY Post.

  “You can see that pressure in our financials. And more importantly, frankly, you can see that pressure with our associates. It’s traumatizing,” she said.

  Radical Crime Policies and Recidivism

  Wealthy liberal enclaves throughout the country with district attorneys thought of as “soft on crime” appear to be the regions most affected by the crime wave and which has only grown worse since the pandemic.

  The top five metropolitan areas affected by store bandit gangs in the past year were the Californian cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland; New York; Houston, Texas; and Miami, Florida.

  Retailers across the country are calling for stronger legislation, especially at the federal and state level, along with better enforcement of existing laws to quell increasing acts of violence and theft, which are hurting their survival.

  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce demanded earlier this year that Congress take action to address the rise of ORC crimes, calling them a “national emergency.”

  “Retail theft is becoming a national crisis, hurting businesses in every state and the communities they serve,” said Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chief policy officer, in a letter to Congress in March.

  “We call on policymakers to tackle this problem head-on before it gets further out of control. No store should have to close because of theft.”

  Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva blamed radical Democrats and prosecutors, saying that they “live in this ‘woke palace’ where they’re not affected by the policies, but the average person IS impacted by them.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 20:30

• Surprise! Chinese Junk Bonds Yield Less Than US Treasuries
  Surprise! Chinese Junk Bonds Yield Less Than US Treasuries

  Authored by Ye Xie, Bloomberg Markets reporter,

  Three things we learned last week:

  1. The policy divergence between the world’s two largest economies has been so extreme that it has yielded another market milestone.

  As China keeps borrowing costs exceptionally low, yields on onshore junk bonds dropped below those of US Treasuries for the first time since 2007.

  

  Five-year, AA-rated corporate bonds, the Chinese equivalent of non-investment grade debt, yielded 3.61% on Thursday, compared with 3.67% for five-year US Treasuries. In other words, Chinese investors can earn higher yields in the world’s financial safe-haven without taking credit risk or worrying about yuan depreciation. Granted, given the tight capital controls, this is easier said than done. Still, the policy divergence explains why the yuan would be under pressure.

  2. Speaking of which, the yuan broke 7 per dollar for the first time in more than two years, but without much fanfare. It helps that the PBOC has been setting the fixing strong to slow the slide.

  More importantly, the FX settlement data show there’s net foreign-currency inflows, reflecting a still-large trade surplus and the dearth of outbound tourism spending.

  

  That’s quite different from the 2015 devaluation when capital left the country en mass. The yuan decline is likely to be more of a slow-burning move than a sudden collapse.

  3. Friday’s economic data showed some signs of stabilization. But without improvements in the housing market and a change in the Covid policy, it’s difficult to see any meaningful rebound.

  Economists at UBS are among the latest to cut their GDP forecasts below 3%, predicting a growth rate of 2.7%.

  

  As the research firm China Bull puts it: “Unless the coming economic recovery can broaden out and restore household and business confidence, the rebound will soon run out of steam.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 20:00

• FBI Makes 6,000 Arrests, Seizes Firearms In Summer-Long Operation
  FBI Makes 6,000 Arrests, Seizes Firearms In Summer-Long Operation

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  FBI agents arrested about 6,000 alleged violent criminals across the United States over the past four months and have seized more than 2,700 firearms and large quantities of fentanyl, the bureau announced Tuesday.

  “Violent crime is on the minds of a lot of Americans right now and top of mind for police chiefs and sheriffs, who constantly tell me that the rising rate of gun and gang violence is one of their most important and difficult challenges,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a video message about the operation.

  

  The FBI, which has faced increasing criticism about its targeting of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, said that its agents and local law enforcement officials arrested nearly 6,000 alleged violent criminals and gang members. It also seized more than 2,700 firearms connected to criminal conduct.

  Those operations were carried out in California, Texas, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico.

  “The Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Gangs arrested 28 members and associates of the South Los Angeles-based Eastside Playboys street gang for alleged federal racketeering, firearms, and narcotics charges,” the FBI said in providing an example. “The task force seized approximately 47 firearms, almost 200 kilograms of methamphetamine, 27 kilograms of cocaine, more than 13 kilograms of fentanyl, and more than seven kilograms of heroin.”

  The agency also said its gang task force executed 16 federal search warrants targeting prison and street gangs around Albuquerque, New Mexico. They “seized more than one million fentanyl pills, 142 pounds of methamphetamine, 37 firearms, nine ballistic vests, two hand grenades, and $1.8 million in cash,” the bureau said.

  Rise in Crime

  It comes as the average murder rate across the United States hit 6.9 murders per 100,000 people in 2021, or the highest figure it’s been in more than 20 years. Drug overdose deaths, at the same time, have spiked to more than 107,000 nationwide in 2021, setting an all-time record, according to federal data.

  Some critics, meanwhile, have said that Democrat-sponsored policies targeting bail reform have allowed repeat offenders back on the streets.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 19:30

• Biden Warns Putin "Don't Change The Face Of War" With Nuclear Or Chemical Weapons In Ukraine
  Biden Warns Putin “Don’t Change The Face Of War” With Nuclear Or Chemical Weapons In Ukraine

  In a Sunday “60 Minutes” interview to air in full Sunday night, President Joe Biden issued a warning for Russian President Vladimir Putin to not “change the face of war” by employing either tactical nuclear or chemical weapons against Ukraine.

  “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II,” Biden said while speaking to CBS interviewer Scott Pelley. Biden was responding to a question from Pelley on what the US president’s message would be if he learned that Putin was contemplating use of weapons of mass destruction.

  Biden stopped short of saying expressly that the US would jump into the conflict more directly against Russian forces, but he stipulated “it’ll be consequential” and that the end result would be: “They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been.”

  

  Without detailing a hypothetical American response, Biden explained that US action would depend on “the extent of what they do.”

  While there have been no indicators that the Kremlin has plans for such a dramatic and deadly escalation, also given that Moscow still hasn’t technically declared formal war or national mobilization, the opening two months of the war saw widespread reports that Putin put the nation’s nuclear forces on “high alert”. 

  There have also been prior allegations issued by Ukrainian forces of Russian chemical weapons usage – but none of these earlier accusations was ever sustained or backed by evidence, or rose to the level of Ukraine’s allies backing the charge.

  Ukrainian officials have also more recently said that Russia is now using and still occupying Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant for the sake of “nuclear blackmail” and to unleash “nuclear terror”. At the start of August, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world is “one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation” given the grinding Ukraine war, now seven months in.

  He noted at the time that “We have been extraordinarily lucky so far” – and called for a broader stand-down of all nuclear-armed powers’ arsenals: 

  Secretary General Guterres said the “luck” the world had enjoyed so far in avoiding a nuclear catastrophe may not last – and urged the world to renew a push towards eliminating all such weapons.

  “Luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict,” he said.

  The Russian side has voiced its own concern for the potential of nuclear escalation, but as part of comments directed at the West. Beginning in April, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov vowed that Russia would avoid using nuclear weapons at all costs – in response to headlines alleging Russian nuclear preparedness related to the Ukraine crisis. But Lavrov at the time also cited the danger of underestimating how rapidly things could spiral in Ukraine:

  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West on Monday not to underestimate the elevated risks of nuclear conflict over Ukraine and said he viewed NATO as being “in essence” engaged in a proxy war with Russia by supplying Kyiv with weaponry.

  “I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 19:00

• Here's What We Know About The Special Master Named To Review Seized Mar-a-Lago Documents
  Here’s What We Know About The Special Master Named To Review Seized Mar-a-Lago Documents

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie will serve as the independent arbiter to review documents that were taken from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, according to a federal judge’s order on Thursday.

  

  Dearie, 79, was the only candidate for the special master role that both Trump’s team and the Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed on. In a separate order, Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the DOJ to stop its review of the materials that were taken from Trump’s Florida residence last month, while the DOJ has indicated it will appeal.

  With the order, Dearie will “review all of the materials seized” during the FBI raid and will have to verify documents in a property inventory to reflect the “property seized.” The judge also is tasked with carrying out a “privilege review” of the items that were taken and has to inform the court if there are “privilege disputes between the parties.”

  Dearie was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 for New York. He retired in 2011 and is now a senior judge in the district.

  Dearie was the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He became the chief judge of the Eastern District from 2007 to 2011, and he remains an active judge on senior status.

  Notably, he served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court for several years. He was one of several judges who approved warrants for the FBI’s surveillance targeting former Trump aide Carter Page in 2016 as part of the bureau’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which triggered Trump’s allegations of malfeasance against the federal law enforcement agency.

  Federal investigators ultimately determined that an FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, altered an email to support the surveillance application. After pleading guilty, Clinesmith received a sentence of 12 months probation; he was ultimately spared prison time.

  A separate judge released more portions of the affidavit used to secure the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, showing that some of the documents seized at Trump’s home were labeled “FISA,” indicating they relate to information that was derived from foreign sources. It’s not clear if those documents pertained to the Page investigation, though Trump and a former top aide of his, Kash Patel, have indicated that he declassified records relating to Crossfire Hurricane.

  Praise

  After the special master ruling Thursday, Dearie was praised by lawyers who had argued cases in front of him.

  The judge is “one of the few judges who both sides want to appear in front of. He is held in the highest regard by attorneys. He’s someone who actually listens to the lawyers and considers what they have to say before he makes a decision,” Lindsay Gerdes, a former Brooklyn federal prosecutor, told Politico.

  “He works incredibly well with parties, but doesn’t tolerate nonsense,” Richard Garbarini of Garbarini Fitzgerald P.C. told the news outlet. “He will not allow parties, or attorneys, to play games, or play fast-and-loose with the rules.”

  Read more here…

  And more from someone who worked with Dearie:

  Yes, Dearie was appointed by Reagan. But he’s no partisan. Yes, he was the former US Attorney (top federal prosecutor) in New York. But as this public defender can tell you, he was uniquely protective of defendant rights. Every one got a fair shake. He was *careful. To a fault.

  — Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) September 16, 2022

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  Again, if the Special Master process does move forward, whenever the recommendations are forwarded to the presiding judge by Judge Dearie, it’ll be the right recommendation. If he rules against Trump. Or in favor of Trump. Or a little of both. It won’t be political.

  — Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) September 16, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 18:30

• Senate Bill On Taiwan Will "Make War Much More Likely"
  Senate Bill On Taiwan Will “Make War Much More Likely”

  Authored by Brett Wilkins via Common Dreams,

  A U.S. Senate committee last week approved a bill to dramatically boost American military support for Taiwan, a move that prompted warnings from both China and anti-war voices in the United States that such a policy increases the likelihood of armed conflict.

  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-5 in favor of the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, which according to its text “promotes the security of Taiwan, ensures regional stability, and deters People’s Republic of China (PRC) aggression against Taiwan. It also threatens severe sanctions against the PRC for hostile action against Taiwan.”

  

  The bill comes during a period of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing and follows U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘s (D-Calif.) provacative trip to Taiwan last month, a visit the Chinese government answered by suspending climate and military cooperation with the United States and forging closer ties with Russia.

  Dave DeCamp, news editor at Antiwar.com, tweeted that if passed, the bill “will be the most radical change in U.S. policy toward Taiwan since the 1970s and will make war much more likely.”

  China vigorously protested the proposed legislation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a Wednesday press conference in Beijing that “if the bill continues to be deliberated, pushed forward, or even signed into law, it will greatly shake the political foundation of China-U.S. relations and cause extremely serious consequences to… peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

  Meanwhile, observers asserted that China may ramp up military measures in response to the bill. In addition to authorizing $4.5 billion in military assistance, $2 billion in loan guarantees, and boosting “war reserve stockpile” funding for Taiwan by hundreds of millions of dollars, the bill also grants Taiwan many of the benefits of being a “major non-NATO ally” without officially designating it as such.

  Furthermore, it establishes a “robust sanctions regime to deter PRC aggression” against the island that most of the world—including the United States—recognizes as part of “one China.” Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who introduced the bill with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said that the proposed legislation “makes clear the United States does not seek war or increased tensions with Beijing.”

  “Just the opposite,” he claimed. “We are carefully and strategically lowering the existential threats facing Taiwan by raising the cost of taking the island by force so that it becomes too high a risk and unachievable.”

  The Taiwan Policy Act has passed a vote in the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Its sponsors say it could transform U.S. policy toward Taiwan, but critics say it could stoke already tense relations between Beijing and Washington. pic.twitter.com/GUZgABNSnM

  — TaiwanPlus (@taiwanplusnews) September 15, 2022

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  While acknowledging that “we’re doing something highly provocative and bellicose,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) nevertheless voted in favor of the bill. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) voted against the bill, explaining in a statement that while he supports “strengthening Taiwan’s ability to defend itself,” he has “serious concerns about provisions that, in my view, upend strategic ambiguity, undermine the U.S. One China policy, and threaten to destabilize the region.”

  “We have a moral responsibility to both stand up to authoritarianism and military aggression, as well as to do everything we can to avoid a situation that could draw two nuclear-armed countries into a conflict. Diplomacy must remain central to our Taiwan policy,” added Markey, who was criticized by the peace group CodePink for taking part in last month’s congressional visit to Taiwan.

  Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) also voted against the measure.

  “Biden administration officials have said the bill risks upending the US’s carefully calibrated ‘one China’ policy, under which the US has for more than 40 years built ties with Beijing by avoiding formally stating its position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.” https://t.co/c8rGTk9F3R https://t.co/Muzf0x0KDi

  — Quincy Institute (@QuincyInst) September 14, 2022

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  It is unclear whether U.S. President Joe Biden would sign the bill if it is passed by Congress. While the White House says it supports parts of the measure, Biden administration officials told Bloomberg that the bill “risks upending the U.S.’ carefully calibrated One China policy, under which the U.S. has for more than 40 years built ties with Beijing by avoiding formally stating its position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 17:30

• Man Scraps Modified Diesel Truck After Gov't Determines It's Illegal Through Facebook Marketplace Listing
  Man Scraps Modified Diesel Truck After Gov’t Determines It’s Illegal Through Facebook Marketplace Listing

  A New Jersey man listed his modified 2008 Dodge Ram 2500 on Facebook Marketplace. Shortly after the listing, he received a letter from the state government to restore the exhaust to factory stock or face fines (or worse, have the truck crushed), reported The Drive. 

  Over the summer, Mike Sebold listed the truck on Facebook Marketplace. He included information in the listing that the Ram 2500 had been “deleted,” a common reference by diesel truck lovers who have their emission control devices removed to increase horsepower and torque. However, such a conversion leads to more environmentally unfriendly emissions and results in the truck not being suitable for roadways due to the state’s strict emission rules. 

  

  Weeks after the listing went live, New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) notified Sebold that his truck was flagged and the exhaust would need to be restored to the factory setting to meet the state’s emissions compliance. He said parts and labor to get the truck back to compliance would be more than $10,000. 

  “Just a heads up for anyone listing diesel trucks on Facebook don’t put all the details and don’t trust the people asking questions about your truck. Just found out a few minutes ago that if I don’t spend about $10,000 to set a truck back to stock I’ll be going to jail in 60 days 👍🏻. A truck I did not delete I bought it that way. What a free country we live in 😂. Also just found out it’s illegal to sell the truck too. So it’s literally thousands of dollars or jail 👍🏻,” Sebold posted on Jul. 25. 

  Sebold said he de-registered the truck though it wasn’t enough to satisfy the DEP, who gave him a Sept. 25 deadline to fix the truck or destroy it. 

  “After exhausting seemingly every option to save his pickup without spending thousands on repairs, he elected to comply. At the time of publishing, the truck is set to be crushed Friday, Sept. 16,” The Drive said. 

  According to DEP, “Mr. Sebold has informed the Department that he intends to bring his truck to a scrap yard on Sept. 16 and have it destroyed, although the Department has explained to Mr. Sebold on multiple occasions that the Department would extend the 60-day deadline cited in compliance requirements to give him time to make the necessary repairs to the truck and return it to full New Jersey emissions compliance… Mr. Sebold has made the decision to scrap his truck, despite DEP offering him other options.”

  Sebold told The Drive that DEP never visited or inspected the truck in person. He believes DEP decided to flag the truck based on the Facebook Marketplace listing. An overreaching state government agency has weaponized a social media platform to combat tighter and tighter environmental restrictions on gas/diesel-powered vehicles.  

  Before the crushing, Sebold appears to have parted out the truck. He called DEP “scumbags.” 

  The surveillance state is watching… 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 17:00

• Taibbi: The Justice Department Was Dangerous Before Trump. It's Out Of Control Now
  Taibbi: The Justice Department Was Dangerous Before Trump. It’s Out Of Control Now

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  On Monday, August 8, Justice Department officials spent nine hours raiding the Mar-a-Lago home of Donald Trump, carrying out 12 boxes of material. When criticism ensued, FBI spokespeople in wounded tones insisted the press eschew the harsh term “raid,” and use “execution of a search warrant” instead.

  “Agents don’t like the word ‘raid,’ they don’t like it,” complained former assistant FBI counterintelligence director turned MSNBC analyst Frank Figliuzzi. He added with unintentional irony: “It sounds like it’s some sort of extrajudicial, non-legal thing.”

  

  But it was a raid, as the surprisingly enormous number of people who’ve been on the business end of such actions since 9/11 will report. The state more and more now avails itself of a procedural trick that would have horrified everyone from Jefferson to to Potter Stewart to Thurgood Marshall. Investigating, say, one lawyer, prosecutors raid a whole firm, taking everything — emails, client files, cell phones and personal computers — then have a supposedly separate group of lawyers, called a “taint” or “filter” team, examine it all. In this way they learn the private details of hundreds or even thousands of clients in a shot, all people unrelated to the supposed case at hand.

  But, they say, don’t worry, we’re not using any of those secrets, you can trust us. After all, we’re United States Attorneys. (And their paralegals. And legal assistants. And, perhaps, a few IRS or DEA or FBI agents, whose only job is to make cases against the types of people in those files. But still, don’t worry). Just because the whole concept of attorney-client privilege, as well as the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments — guaranteeing rights to free speech, against unreasonable searches, and to due process and legal counsel, respectively — were created to bar exactly this kind of behavior, they insist the state would never abuse this authority.

  Taint team targets are unpopular. They’re accused drug dealers, terrorists, corporate tax cheats, money launderers, Medicare fraudsters, and, importantly of late, their lawyers. You can add Trump administration officials to the list now. In cases involving such people government prosecutors have begun making an extraordinary claim. As a citizen cries foul when the state peeks at attorney communications, the Justice Department increasingly argues that affording certain people rights harms the secret objectives of the secret state.

  The Trump case is almost incidental to this wider story of extralegal short-cuts, intimidation, improper searches, and especially, a constant, intensifying effort at discrediting the adversarial system in favor of an executive-branch-only vision of the law, in which your right to stand before a judge or jury would be replaced by secret bureaucratic decisions. “Trump has become the way they sell this,” says one defense attorney. “But it’s not about Trump. If you focus on Trump, you’ll miss how serious this is. And it started a long time ago.” When? “Go back to 9/11,” he says. “You’ll see.”

  What follows is a brief history of the cases leading to the controversial decisions in Donald J. Trump v. United States of America, as told by some of the key figures in those episodes. TV experts have told you Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to appoint a Special Master in Trump’s case is an “atrocious,” “shady as fuck,” “utterly lawless” ruling by a “stupid” and “profoundly partisan” jurist, placing Trump “above the law.” Have you noticed these analyses almost always come from ex-prosecutors, that you’ve been trained to not even blink at headlines like, Ex-CIA officer calls judge’s ruling in Trump case “silly,” and that defense attorneys on television are rarer than pearls?

  There’s a reason for that:

  Subscribers can click here to read more…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 16:30

• Puerto Rico Suffers Islandwide Blackout, Internet Connectivity Crashes As Hurricane Nears
  Puerto Rico Suffers Islandwide Blackout, Internet Connectivity Crashes As Hurricane Nears

  Tropical Storm Fiona intensified into a Category 1 hurricane Sunday as it moved south of Puerto Rico, bringing heavy rains and high winds to some parts of the island.

  Incredible imagery of Hurricane Fiona and the lightning within.

  A storm that is absolutely slamming Puerto Rico with winds and torrential rains.

  A difficult evening ahead. pic.twitter.com/3zcn32YCXa

  — Dakota Smith (@weatherdak) September 18, 2022

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  Hurricane Fiona is the season’s sixth named storm and third hurricane. The storm moves west-northwest at 8 mph with maximum sustained winds of 85mph. As of 1400 ET, the National Hurricane Center said Fiona’s center was 25 miles south of Ponce, a city with more than 100,000 people on the island’s southern coast.

  

  As Fiona approached the island, PowerOutage.US reported an islandwide power blackout:

  “Puerto Rico is 100% without power due to a transmission grid failure from Hurricane Fiona.” 

  This means nearly 1.5 million people tracked by PowerOutage have experienced power disruptions. Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, confirmed in a tweet the storm knocked out the island’s entire electric system. 

  

  Fiona’s path includes several large fossil fuel power plants. There’s no official confirmation on what power plants were disrupted or if downed transmission lines were the source of the outages. 

  

  Social media users tweeted videos of heavy flooding and damaging winds already battering the island. 

  Les inondations à Puerto rico #fiona #puertorico pic.twitter.com/2whBIeZ9A5

  — Gérald DELISCAR-JOURDAN (@GDELISCAR) September 18, 2022

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  Just west of Ponce, #PuertoRico in #Hurricane #Fiona – @NWSSanJuan @LiveStormsMedia @NHC_Atlantic pic.twitter.com/b8PRxJ2UXw

  — Brett Adair (@AlaStormTracker) September 18, 2022

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  … and internet connectivity crashed with power blackouts across the island.  

  ⚠️ Update: Internet connectivity across #PuertoRico is currently registering at 47% of ordinary levels amid reports of a widespread power blackout as Hurricane #Fiona moves in; meanwhile Luma Energy reports 51% of customers are now without electricity ⚡ pic.twitter.com/vmragZBliv

  — NetBlocks (@netblocks) September 18, 2022

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  Hurricane models show Fiona’s future path could be out into the Atlantic by mid-next week. Models have yet to indicate US landfall, though nothing is locked in as far as the future path. 

  

  A hurricane warning is in effect for the U.S. territory. President Biden approved Puerto Rico’s emergency declaration earlier today.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 16:00

• "This New Period Is Very Different, And Far Worse In Many Ways Than The 1970s"
  “This New Period Is Very Different, And Far Worse In Many Ways Than The 1970s”

  By Eric Peters, CIO of One River asset management

  “The question I get most is whether this is like the 1970s,” said Lindsay Politi, our inflation portfolio manager. We were discussing the phase of quantum change that has arrived and will unfold in the coming decade(s). “I’ve been batting around an answer to this. The short answer is only in the most superficial ways and the longer answer is a book,” she said. I naturally prefer well written books to short answers. But when writing, I keep word count tight as a core discipline. So this short note captures key highlights from our discussions this week.

  “Except for the fact that inflation is high and increasing, and other than the similarities that come from that, this new period is very different, far worse in many ways than the 1970s,” said Lindsay. “The broadest point is that the world is moving from an industrial revolution economy to an information revolution economy.” We’ll discuss that later. “But there are massive additional factors underlying this transition,” she said. “Specifically, there are four lesser points that are part of this industrial/information transition. But ‘lesser’ somehow seems wrong given their impact.”

  1. Lesser Points I: “Climate change is happening,” said Lindsay, explaining the first of four lesser points impacting the great transition. “Rivers that defined national economies for centuries are drying up, our best farmlands are becoming infertile, and devastating weather events are now seen as normal.” Investors try to ignore this because it’s hard to analyze. “There are no good analogs, this is a once-in-human-history event. The extent of the impact is hard to process but this much is now obvious: we face a reliably predictable series of unpriced inflationary shocks.”

  2. Lesser Points II: “No previous inflationary period was preceded by $30trln of quantitative easing,” said Lindsay, identifying the second lesser point. “14yrs of QE, by design, manipulated market pricing of inflation risk, flattening yield curves, lowering yields, forcing them negative.” These rates were embedded in all global financial asset prices. “Markets and central banks weren’t just surprised by inflation, they were surprised at a moment when they were, by design, more vulnerable to that surprise than at any point in recorded financial history.”

  3. Lesser Points III: “The 2nd most common question I get is whether an aging population means we’ll have deflation like Japan,” said Lindsay, flagging the 3rd lesser point. “Like the 1970s, it’s risky to take one discrete example and use it as a template for anything at all similar. In a broader context, increasing populations are a consequence of industrialization.” Global population was roughly unchanged from 10,000 BCE until around 1750 AD when it slowly then rapidly started to increase. “Now the global population appears to be stabilizing again. In an industrial capitalist world view this is negative because success is selling more and more widgets to more and more people, and flat or declining populations makes this harder. Maybe this isn’t a negative but another, arguably positive, symptom of a much bigger transition.”

  4. Lesser Points IV: “Investors make geopolitical assumptions based on fairly recent history,” explained Lindsay. “A common one is that the US hegemony gives way to Chinese hegemony. Perhaps. But just like the industrial age led a broad transition from monarchy to democracy, could we be on the cusp of an entirely different type of government?” What does citizenship or nationality mean when people can live and work anywhere? “Is it more likely the renminbi replaces the dollar as the reserve currency or that we use a nationless means of exchange like cryptocurrency? Certainly, we see some nations and groups trying – often violently – to hold onto power but this seems more like last gasp attempts to turn the tide than real shows of strength.”

  (In)stability:

  “There’s an assumption that this transition will be disinflationary, but I really don’t think that’s right,” said Lindsay. “Most big transitions are inflationary with a lot of volatility and relative instability. In general, predictability, stability, peace, cooperation, etc. are disinflationary for goods prices and inflationary for asset prices. Instability, less confidence about the future, more combative markets/governments all add extra costs that translate into higher goods prices and lower asset prices,” she said. “Not all transitions are inflationary but transitions that will require a significant rerating of existing capital because of its obsolescence, transitions that create scarcity, transitions that shift power dynamics; those tend to be inflationary.”

  Anecdote:

  “The problems we’re facing, to the extent they’re actually problems, are because the industrial age is ending,” said Lindsay Politi, our inflation portfolio manager, brilliant. “Check out this chart,” she said, early morning, awaiting CPI, standing desks, our screens aglow, pointing to an S-curve that tracked World GDP per capita from 1mm years ago to present. “Brad DeLong, one of my favorite economic historians, published this chart and what you see is that growth basically flatlined through human history until the industrial revolution. Then went parabolic. Now it’s leveling out again,” she said, tracing that S-curve with her finger on the monitor.

  “Economic philosophers who lived in that inflection period didn’t really know what to make of it.” Malthus observed that throughout the course of human history bouts of economic growth ended in collapse, not understanding the profound change industrial productivity created. Marx understood some failings of capitalism – the drive towards excess and resulting gluts that we now call recessions, and the tendency for labor to be undervalued relative to capital. He also couldn’t have understood how dramatically standards of livings would rise for all people. “

  Just like Malthus and Marx were struggling to understand the dramatic economic changes they were confronting, we’re also struggling to come to terms with the transition from the industrialized age to the information age,” said Lindsay. “In the context of this S-curve, the folly of quantitative easing becomes clearer.” Central bankers were trying in vain to escape the reality of the flattening inflection in this growth curve. “Capitalism broadly is poorly suited for an information economy. Capitalism is about maximizing the production of widgets and it is very good at that.”

  Over the course of a few generations, we have gone from people living in extreme scarcity to the point where industries now create storage spaces for the many things we own and buy.” This need for constant manufacturing of new things is literally killing us via climate change. “In the information age, ideas are not widgets. It’s not quantity that matters but quality. And almost everything we know about what creates quality ideas is the opposite of what drives people to create more widgets,” said Lindsay, and I considered my long walks in nature, hours of contemplation, triangulating information, free association, hunting for questions, ideas, answers, away from screens, the factory floor, soul destroying production lines.

  “The system will necessarily change. I have lots of ideas about where we might be going but I think the main idea is that looking to the past for an understanding of the future will be as fruitless today as it was for Marx and Malthus,” she said. “And along with that, expecting there to be limits on things like inflation or price movements because they existed in the past will also prove to be very wrong.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 15:30

• Brazil's Coffee Bean Supply To Hit Record-Low As Global Scarcity Worsens
  Brazil’s Coffee Bean Supply To Hit Record-Low As Global Scarcity Worsens

  How much are consumers willing to pay for a cup of coffee? 

  That’s a great question, considering the world’s top arabica producer, Brazil, is headed for record low inventory, highlights tighter global supplies plus robust demand should continue boosting prices. 

  Bloomberg quoted Silas Brasileiro, president of the National Coffee Council, who said inventories in the South American country could decline to just 7 million bags (each weighing 60 kilograms) by the end of 1Q23. Brazil usually has 9-12 million bags in inventory.

  Readers have been well informed regarding the global supply deficit of arabica coffee beans, which has materialized over the last few years. Recall “Arabica Stockpiles Experience Largest Plunge Since ’98 Amid Severe Shortage” and “Arabica Coffee Set For Largest Annual Increase Since 1994” because multiple years of a weather phenomenon known as La Nina have produced adverse weather conditions in the country’s top growing regions.

  Stockpiles “are so low that even if we have a good crop next year, Brazil may just barely have enough to serve demand,” said Nelson Carvalhaes, a board member of exporters group Cecafe.

  

  Tight global supplies have doubled arabica coffee futures in New York since 2020. Prices have traded in a lateral pattern for most of 2022 between $2-$2.5 per pound. 

  Guilherme Morya, Rabobank’s senior economic analyst, said prices would continue increasing on Brazilian supply woes. 

  

  In late 2021, restaurant chain Caribou Coffee Co. began panic hoarding coffee beans because the supply outlook was souring. 

  “We continue to increase safety stock on key items,” CEO John Butcher told Bloomberg about one year ago. 

  In Colombia, the world’s second top arabica coffee producer, crops are drowned in too much rain due to persisting La-Nina-related conditions. Yields are expected to decline in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, while Vietnam, the largest robusta supplier, will also see stockpiles tumble because of poor harvest. 

  Analyst Natalia Gandolphi from hEDGEpoint outlined this will be the second year of declining global stockpiles with increasing demand. 

  Given the worsening global supply situation, there’s no immediate relief as higher demand indicates arabica prices should move higher. Consumers will find robusta a cheaper alternative to arabica, but even then, all bean quality might move higher. 

  Good luck to the central banks, who believe they can solve food inflation and overall inflation by crushing demand through higher interest rates. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 15:00

• California Governor Signs 'Most Aggressive' Package Of Green Laws
  California Governor Signs ‘Most Aggressive’ Package Of Green Laws

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced a sweeping package of what he called the country’s “most aggressive” climate measures to “accelerate the state’s transition” to non-conventional energy sources.

  

  The package includes 40 bills that appear to provide new green rules on laws related to things ranging from large-scale industry to the family home and private and public transportation.

  The Democratic governor’s office said in a statement the package of climate change-focused measures aims to cut pollution and target “big polluters.”

  It comes as America’s most populous state has struggled to provide stable electricity for residents amid a heat wave, which saw the state asking residents to use less power and suggest the best times to use air conditioners or charge electric cars.

  “This month has been a wake-up call for all of us that later is too late to act on climate change. California isn’t waiting any more,” Newsom said in a statement. “Together with the Legislature, California is taking the most aggressive action on climate our nation has ever seen.”

  “We’re cleaning the air we breathe, holding the big polluters accountable, and ushering in a new era for clean energy,” he continued. “That’s climate action done the California Way—and we’re not only doubling down, we’re just getting started.”

  In July, Newsom called for “bold actions” to combat climate change. He declared his climate-focused vision for California involves a push to achieve 90 percent “clean energy” by 2035, “carbon neutrality” by 2045, “setback measures” to target oil drilling, carbon capture programs, and to “advance nature-based solutions” to remove carbon from “natural and working lands.”

  40 Green Bills

  Newsom’s office said his sweeping package of measures will create four million new jobs over the next 20 years, cut air pollution by 60 percent, and reduce state oil consumption by 91 percent.

  How this would be achieved was not explained in the governor’s news release.

  The package of measures, the governor’s office said, will save the state $23 billion by avoiding damage from pollution. It further aims to cut fossil fuel use in buildings and transportation by 92 percent and refinery pollution by 94 percent.

  The governor named a list of the 40 new green bills, which touch on things from the broad scope of the climate to more everyday matters such as community air quality, electricity supply, vehicle permits, and gas pricing.

  Some of the bills, which were all named in the governor’s news release, include:

  • AB 1279: “The California Climate Crisis Act”
  • AB 1389: “Clean Transportation Program: project funding preferences”
  • AB 1749: “Community emissions reduction programs: toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants”
  • AB 1857: “Solid waste”
  • AB 1909: “Vehicles: bicycle omnibus bill”
  • AB 2075: “Energy: electric vehicle charging standards”
  • AB 2622: “Sales and use taxes: exemptions: California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project: transit buses”
  • AB 2836: “Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program: vehicle registration fees: California tire fee”
  • SB 529: “Electricity: electrical transmission facilities”
  • SB 1063: “Energy: appliance standards and cost-effective measures”
  • SB 1205: “Water rights: appropriation”
  • SB 1230: “Zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicle incentive programs: requirements”
  • SB 1322: “Energy: petroleum pricing”
  • SB 1382: “Air pollution: Clean Cars 4 All Program: Sales and Use Tax Law: zero emissions vehicle exemption”

  How the package of new green laws and regulations might impact, for example, standards required for cars to be permitted on Californian roads…

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 09/18/2022 – 14:30

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