Today’s News 1st June 2024

• Get Up, Stand Up, Don't Give Up The Fight: Know Your Rights Or You Will Lose Them
  Get Up, Stand Up, Don't Give Up The Fight: Know Your Rights Or You Will Lose Them

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

  – Thomas Jefferson

  If America’s schools are to impart principles of freedom and democracy to future generations, they must start by respecting the constitutional rights of their students.

  

  Take the case of Lucas Hudson.

  With all the negative press being written about today’s young people, it’s refreshing to meet a young person who not only knows his rights but is prepared to stand up for them. 

  Lucas is a smart kid, a valedictorian of his graduating class at the Collegiate Academy at Armwood High School in Hillsborough County, Fla.

  So, when school officials gave Lucas an ultimatum: either remove most of his speech’s religious references from his graduation speech—in which he thanked the people who helped shape his character, reflected on how quickly time goes by, and urged people to use whatever time they have to love others and serve the God who loves us—or he would not be speaking at all, Lucas refused to forfeit his rights.

  That’s when Lucas’s father turned to The Rutherford Institute for help.

  In coming to Lucas’ defense, attorneys for The Rutherford Institute warned school officials that their attempts to browbeat Lucas into watering down his graduation speech could expose the school to a First Amendment lawsuit.

  Thankfully for Lucas, the school backed down, and he was able to deliver his speech as written.

  It doesn’t always work out so well, unfortunately.

  Over the course of The Rutherford Institute’s 42-year history, we have defended countless young people who found themselves censored, silenced and denied their basic First Amendment rights, especially when they chose to exercise their rights to free speech and religious freedom.

  In case after case, we encounter an appalling level of ignorance on the part of public school officials who mistakenly believe that the law requires anything religious be banned from public schools.

  Here’s where government officials get it wrong: while the government may not establish or compel a particular religion, it also may not silence and suppress religious speech merely because others might take offense.

  People are free to ignore, disagree with, or counter the religious speech of others, but the government cannot censor private religious speech.

  Unfortunately, you can only defend your rights when you know them, and the American people—and those who represent them—are utterly ignorant about their freedoms, history, and how the government is supposed to operate.

  As Morris Berman points out in his book Dark Ages America, “70 percent of American adults cannot name their senators or congressmen; more than half don’t know the actual number of senators, and nearly a quarter cannot name a single right guaranteed by the First Amendment. Sixty-three percent cannot name the three branches of government. Other studies reveal that uninformed or undecided voters often vote for the candidate whose name and packaging (e.g., logo) are the most powerful; color is apparently a major factor in their decision.”

  More than government corruption and ineptitude, police brutality, terrorism, gun violence, drugs, illegal immigration or any other so-called “danger” that threatens our nation, civic illiteracy may be what finally pushes us over the edge.

  As Thomas Jefferson warned, no nation can be both ignorant and free.

  Unfortunately, the American people have existed in a technology-laden, entertainment-fueled, perpetual state of cluelessness for so long that civic illiteracy has become the new normal for the citizenry.

  In fact, most immigrants who aspire to become citizens know more about national civics than native-born Americans. Surveys indicate that half of native-born Americans couldn’t correctly answer 70% of the civics questions on the U.S. Citizenship test.

  Not even the government bureaucrats who are supposed to represent us know much about civics, American history and geography, or the Constitution although they take an oath to uphold, support and defend the Constitution against “enemies foreign and domestic.”

  For instance, a couple attempting to get a marriage license was recently forced to prove to a government official that New Mexico is, in fact, one of the 50 states and not a foreign country.

  You can’t make this stuff up.

  Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. The government’s purpose is to protect, defend and even enhance our freedoms, not violate them.

  It was no idle happenstance that the Constitution opens with these three powerful words: “We the people.”

  Those who founded this country knew quite well that every citizen must remain vigilant or freedom would be lost. As Thomas Paine recognized, “It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”

  You have no rights unless you exercise them.

  Still, you can’t exercise your rights unless you know what those rights are.

  “If Americans do not understand the Constitution and the institutions and processes through which we are governed, we cannot rationally evaluate important legislation and the efforts of our elected officials, nor can we preserve the national unity necessary to meaningfully confront the multiple problems we face today,” warns the Brennan Center in its Civic Literacy Report Card. “Rather, every act of government will be measured only by its individual value or cost, without concern for its larger impact. More and more we will ‘want what we want, and [will be] convinced that the system that is stopping us is wrong, flawed, broken or outmoded.’”

  Education precedes action.

  As the Brennan Center concludes “America, unlike most of the world’s nations, is not a country defined by blood or belief. America is an idea, or a set of ideas, about freedom and opportunity. It is these ideas that bind us together as Americans and have kept us free, strong, and prosperous. But these ideas do not perpetuate themselves. They must be taught and learned anew with each generation.”

  There is a movement underway to require that all public-school students pass the civics portion of the U.S. naturalization test—100 basic facts about U.S. history and civics—before receiving their high-school diploma, and that’s a start.

  Lucas Hudson would have passed such a test with flying colors.

  On graduation day, Lucas stepped up to the podium and delivered his uncensored valedictorian speech as written, without any interference by school censors.

  As Lucas’s father relayed to The Rutherford Institute:

  “In the end, Lucas got to give his entire speech the way he wanted to give it, and everybody was paying attention.  Nobody got hurt.  Nothing bad happened.  It was just a young man using the First Amendment rights to speak his mind regarding his personal beliefs. [Lucas] never thought a few sentences in a speech would create such a controversy in his world, but this speech turned into a defining moment for him.  He will never be the same after this experience, but this permanent change is a good thing.  When it mattered, Lucas stood up for himself, and when those he stood up against tried to push him down, [The Rutherford Institute] came to his aide and backed him up to make it a fair fight. I am comforted to know you are defending the rights of the people.  These fights matter.  Every time you defend the rights of one person, you defend the rights of every person.  You helped my son fight for his rights against the school, and, in doing so, Hillsborough County Public Schools will think twice before infringing on the rights of future students. Your defense of Lucas became an inspiration for the students in his school and sparked a healthy and meaningful debate among the teachers, students, and parents about the value of the First Amendment and the need for limits on government control over our personal beliefs.  You are fighting for good and doing important work.  Don’t ever stop. Thank you, Rutherford Institute, for being there for my son when he needed you most.”

  America needs more freedom fighters like Lucas Hudson and The Rutherford Institute.

  It’s up to us.

  We have the power to make and break the government.

  We the American people—the citizenry—are the arbiters and ultimate guardians of America’s welfare, defense, liberty, laws and prosperity.

  We must act—and act responsibly.

  A healthy, representative government is hard work. It takes a citizenry that is informed about the issues, educated about how the government operates, and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to stay involved.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, it’s our job to keep freedom alive using every nonviolent means available to us.

  As Martin Luther King Jr. recognized in a speech delivered on December 5, 1955, just four days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery city bus: “Democracy transformed from thin paper to thick action is the greatest form of government on earth.”

  Know your rights. Exercise your rights. Defend your rights. If not, you will lose them.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 23:10

• These Are The 10 Most Stolen Vehicles In America
  These Are The 10 Most Stolen Vehicles In America

  Since the onset of the pandemic, the U.S. has experienced a surge in vehicle theft rates. In 2023, more than one million vehicles were reported stolen.

  In this infographic, Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti lists the most stolen vehicles in the U.S. last year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

  

  Kia and Hyundai Top the List

  In 2023, the Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Sonata, and Kia Optima topped the list of the most stolen cars in the U.S., breaking the years-long trend of full-size pickups topping the list. Security vulnerabilities in Asian models and social media trends highlighting how to steal these vehicles are some factors for the change.

  

  Besides Hyundai and Kia models, the list includes full-size pickups and other mid-size cars, such as the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and Ford F-150.

  California accounted for the highest number of vehicle thefts nationwide in 2023, with 208,668 vehicles reported stolen. The District of Columbia had the highest theft rate nationwide, with 1,149.71 thefts per 100,000 people, over three times the national theft rate.

  According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, more than 85% of passenger vehicles reported stolen were subsequently recovered, with 34% recovered within a day.

  If you enjoyed this post, check out Mapped: The Most Dangerous Cities in America. This visualization reveals the most dangerous urban areas in the U.S. in terms of how many violent crimes occur for every 1,000 residents.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 22:35

• Numbers Behind The Narrative: What Climate Science Actually Says
  Numbers Behind The Narrative: What Climate Science Actually Says

  Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times,

  Most people by now are familiar with the narrative that our planet faces a dire crisis due to rising temperatures.

  

  In January 2023, former Vice President Al Gore provided a graphic depiction during a World Economic Forum summit, informing attendees that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are “now trapping as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the Earth.

  “That’s what’s boiling the oceans, creating these atmospheric rivers, and the rain bombs, and sucking the moisture out of the land, and creating the droughts, and melting the ice, and raising the sea level, and causing these waves of climate refugees,” he stated.

  United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed these remarks at the U.N. Environment Assembly in February of this year, warning: “Our planet is on the brink.

  “Ecosystems are collapsing,” he stated. “Our climate is imploding, and humanity is to blame.”

  Despite ubiquitous reports that there is an overwhelming consensus among scientists in support of this narrative, many scientists, like John Clauser, a 2022 Nobel Prize recipient in physics, see it differently.

  Mr. Clauser stated in 2023 that “the popular narrative about climate change reflects a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well-being of billions of people.

  “Misguided climate science has metastasized into massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience,” Mr. Clauser stated. “In my opinion, there is no real climate crisis.”

  How can there be such a vast discrepancy on such an extensively researched topic?

  Having studied the production of climate data for decades, physicist Steven Koonin said he has “watched a growing chasm between what the politicians, the media, and the NGOs were saying, and what the science actually said.”

  “Nobody has an incentive to portray scientific truth and facts,” he told The Epoch Times.

  Mr. Koonin was the undersecretary for science in the U.S. Department of Energy, under President Barack Obama. He is a former physics professor at Caltech and is currently on faculty at New York University.

  He also has expertise in the development of analytical models.

  In 2021, Mr. Koonin published a best-selling book titled “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t and Why It Matters.” The book analyzes where climate data comes from and how it makes its way from dense, thousand-page scientific reports into headline news for public consumption.

  The United Nations’ IPCC

  One of the most often cited sources of climate information is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a collection of scientists and government appointees that, according to its website, is dedicated to “assessing the science on climate change.”

  The United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization established the IPCC in 1988.

  The IPCC is both a scientific and a political body. It doesn’t conduct its own research but rather assembles teams of hundreds of scientists in working groups that collect reports from scientific journals regarding climate change, its effects, and what should be done about it.

  About every seven years, an IPCC Working Group called Working Group I synthesizes the latest reports into Assessment Reports (ARs), often several thousand pages thick, which are then reviewed and edited by government appointees from the 195 member nations.

  In 2023, the IPCC released its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).

  The information on which the ARs is based often has a bias from the start, critics say, because research grants typically fund studies that support the prevailing narrative on climate change, and because scientific journals often avoid publishing studies that suggest climate change is not dire.

  “Any literature that supports alarmism is promoted and any that does not is rejected,” William Happer, professor emeritus in physics at Princeton University, told The Epoch Times.

  According to Mr. Happer, the source of much of today’s climate data comes from “centers whose generous funding would cease if climate hysteria were to abate.”

  In addition, according to Richard Lindzen, emeritus professor of meteorology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who served as one of the scientists on Working Group I in the past, “the IPCC itself is only studying anthropogenic [man-made] climate change.

  “It doesn’t do anything regarding natural climate change,” Mr. Lindzen said, “and that’s a severe technical shortcoming because you can’t do things like attribution unless you know what natural variability is.”

  Despite that, “when you read the [Assessment] Reports, focusing mostly on the science, they’re actually pretty good,” Mr. Koonin said.

  The data presented in the ARs is a relatively sober analysis. However, it provides little support for the narrative of climate catastrophe—at least as far as what has been observed to date.

  Trends in Extreme Weather Events

  Chapter 12 of the AR6 details the IPCC’s assessment of the impact of extreme weather events. The tables provided in this chapter show that extreme weather events that have “already emerged” are limited.

  The report states a “high confidence” of temperature increases in average air and ocean temperatures and incidences of extreme heat in tropical and mid-latitudes.

  It also indicates high confidence in a decrease in arctic sea ice.

  However, it states “low confidence” for any increase in floods, rainstorms, landslides, drought, “fire weather,” cyclones, hurricanes, tornadoes, sand and dust storms, hail, sea level rise, coastal flooding, and erosion.

  It also indicates low confidence regarding a decrease in snow, glaciers, ice sheets, or lake, river, and sea ice, beyond the Arctic region.

  The IPCC’s assessment that such extreme weather events don’t appear to be escalating is supported by the findings of other scientific organizations.

  A 30-year analysis of “tornado trends” by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that “the number of strong and violent tornadoes hasn’t varied much since 1970.

  “While the peak in tornado frequency in the early to middle 1970s included the 1974 Super Outbreak, the year with the most tornadoes during that span was 1973!” the NOAA report states.

  It attributed an increase in tornadoes reported in the 1990s to the newly implemented Doppler weather radars, the development of spotter networks, population shifts, the proliferation of cell phone cameras, and “the growing ‘hobby’ of tornado chasing.”

  Likewise, a 2022 report in Nature, found a “declining tropical cyclone frequency under global warming.

  “On average, the global annual number of TCs [tropical cyclones] has decreased by 13 percent in the 20th century compared with the pre-industrial baseline 1850–1900.” the report stated.

  In addition, the Drought Severity Index published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed no material increase in droughts in the United States between 1895 and 2020.

  From Data to Narratives

  How do such mundane assessments of the impact of climate change evolve into the narrative that “our climate is imploding” and “oceans are boiling”?

  In two ways: first, the public statements from the IPCC and the U.N. often diverge from what their own ARs actually say; and second, the predictions of a dire future are based on models rather than observations.

  Alongside each new AR, the IPCC also writes condensed Summaries for Policymakers (SPMs) to “inform policymakers what scientists know about climate change.”

  The SPMs distill the voluminous ARs down to a short list of bullet points.

  In addition, the IPCC produces Headline Statements and Press Releases to “provide a concise narrative” on climate change.

  “[The AR] gets boiled down to the Summary for Policymakers, and while it’s drafted by scientists—a small number of them—the governments have to approve the SPM line by line,” Mr Koonin said.

  “And so you already have the potential for, let’s say, non-scientific factors entering.”

  “The SPM itself is 20–30 pages, and the media have to cover that,” he said. “And they typically will cherry pick the most extreme parts of it, so that’s how we get the distortions, and then that is exacerbated by the politicians, seeing opportunity in distortion, and the NGOs,”

  Despite observing no increase in the tornadoes, cyclones, droughts, wildfires, or floods that have been attributed to climate change, the IPCC’s 2023 Headline Statement warns: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all [very high confidence].”

  “This problem [climate alarmism] is especially severe in the summaries for policymakers, which are mostly written by government bureaucrats,” Mr. Happer said.

  “Some of the scientific reviews in the voluminous background material are sound and dispassionate,” he said. “But it is not easy for honest scientists to buck the pressures for alarmism from the political leadership.”

  Rise of Computer Models

  Much of the basis for climate catastrophism comes not from observation but from computer models.

  A study of climate models between 1970 and 2020 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that “observed changes in temperature and precipitation have generally been consistent with the changes projected by earlier models.

  “The accurate projections of future climate and hindcasting of past climate makes us confident that models can reliably project changes in the climate,” the USDA report states.

  However, taking a closer look at the climate modeling industry raises questions about how reliable those projections are.

  The IPCC draws up its predictions based on averaged results from dozens of models, which Mr. Koonin says “disagree wildly with one another.”

  In his book, Mr. Koonin notes that the average surface temperatures generated by the models in IPCC reports vary among themselves by around 3 degrees Celsius or three times the amount of warming observed throughout the 20th century.

  The ARs “downplay this embarrassment” by focusing not on the actual temperature predictions, where models diverge, but rather on the predicted change in temperatures, where models are more likely to coincide.

  And then there is the process of “tuning” the models.

  The models typically divide the Earth up into “grid cells,” each a few tens of square miles.

  These grid cells are “tuned” in a process of hard-wiring the results from the cells to manually account for more random elements like cloud formations, storms, or humidity, which the models can’t predict but are material to temperature changes.

  “There are hundreds of such parameters because the climate system is complicated and has many different dimensions,” Mr. Koonin said.

  “And so, as people tune the parameters differently, they get different results.”

  Tuning also helps the models show results closer to observed data, but this highlights another shortcoming of the models—while purporting to predict the future, they often fail to reproduce historical temperatures.

  They also struggle to separate human influence from natural phenomena, all of which elevates the uncertainty of modeled predictions regarding human behavior.

  “If you’re trying—as a politician or NGO or company—to promote a narrative, you don’t want to talk about the uncertainties,” Mr. Koonin said.

  “You just want to say it’s going to be five degrees warmer and the world is going to hell.”

  Living In Denial

  Those who question the narrative of climate catastrophism are often attacked as climate “deniers.”

  “Anyone who willfully denies the impact of climate change is condemning the American people to a very dangerous future,” President Joe Biden stated in November 2023.

  “The impacts we’re seeing are only going to get worse, more frequent, more ferocious, and more costly.”

  Absent the hyperbole, however, what do the numbers indicate about our future?

  “Modest warming since the 1900s; 1.3 degrees [Celsius] at the global level,” Mr. Koonin said.

  “Despite that, by whatever measure you want to use—lifespan, nutrition, GDP, death rates from extreme events—it’s all going in a positive direction.”

  “Sea level rise is continuing at just about a foot a century,” he said. “But the actual and projected economic impacts of warming are in the noise … even the IPCC says it’s small compared to many other things that determine human wellbeing.”

  A 2022 report by the Heritage Foundation, modeling the costs and benefits to the United States of complying with the Paris Agreement and meeting the Biden administration’s goal of reducing GHG emissions to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, predicts these policies would reduce global temperatures by 0.5 degrees at the end of this century.

  “Even with theoretical efficiency, we find the costs of the policy to be staggering,” the report states.

  “The economy would, in aggregate, lose $7.7 trillion of gross domestic product (GDP) through 2040, which is $87,000 per family of four.”

  If the developing world is deprived of the use of fossil fuels, the impact there could be even more severe.

  “The billions of people who don’t have energy, who don’t have modern conveniences, they will be condemned to perpetual poverty,” Mr. Lindzen said.

  “CO2 has played an important role in increasing agricultural productivity, so we’ll see everyone paying more for food and more people starving.”

  “You are already seeing tragic consequences even in the United States, where a whole generation of kids has been told that they have no future,” he said.

  “They’re not having children themselves, because what’s the point of having children in a world that’s going to self-destruct?”

  The Epoch Times contacted the IPCC for comment but didn’t receive a response.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 22:10

• Russia, Ukraine Swap 150 POWs In First Exchange In Months
  Russia, Ukraine Swap 150 POWs In First Exchange In Months

  Zelensky and his Western backers, especially the US and UK, have long claimed that it’s ‘impossible’ to sit down with Russia at the negotiating table. Zelensky even just six months into the war had vowed not to re-enter negotiations with Moscow until Putin is no longer in power.

  But as if inadvertently illustrating that negotiations are actually very possible and within reach, Ukraine has announced a successful major prisoner swap, which is a first in nearly four months.

  

  The Friday swap involved each side sending back 75 POWs. A representative for the Ukrainian side, Vitalii Matviienko, said that “Ukraine is always ready” in response to the question of why these swaps had stalled in the last months. But ultimately each side has blamed the other for lack of more rapid progress.

  Like with prior swaps, it was reportedly accomplished with the mediation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 150 total from both sides were freed in the rare successful deal.

  According to an Associated Press description of the returned Ukrainians:

  The Ukrainian POWs, including four civilians, were returned on several buses that drove into the northern Sumy region. As they disembarked, they shouted joyfully and called their families to tell them they were home. Some knelt and kissed the ground, while many wrapped themselves in yellow-blue flags.

  They hugged one another, breaking into tears. Many appeared emaciated and poorly dressed.

  Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Treatment of POWs has said that Friday’s swap brings to the total number of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians freed since the war began to 3,210.

  “Throughout all of this time, we have not stopped working for a single day to bring everyone home from Russian captivity,” Ukraine’s President Zelensky stated in the aftermath.  

  His office further described “These are privates, sergeants and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” and posted images of the newly freed Ukrainians on state social media channels.

  Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Friday, each sending back 75 POWs in the first such swap in the past three months, officials said.

  The Ukrainian POWs, including four civilians, were returned on several buses that drove into the northern Sumy region. pic.twitter.com/brdUVNnKcq

  — NoComment (@nocomment) May 31, 2024

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

  But about one-third of the former prisoners weren’t in good shape, as international media reports documented that many were injured and disabled, or else seriously ill. However, many also looked fit and well-groomed despite their lengthy captivity.

  The Russian side has also confirmed in a Kremlin statement: “On May 31, 2024, as a result of the negotiation process, 75 Russian servicemen, who were in mortal danger in captivity, were returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. In return, 75 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian armed forces were handed over.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 21:45

• France Foils Planned Attack On Paris Olympics; Israel's Mossad Warns Of Terrorism Ahead Of Games 
  France Foils Planned Attack On Paris Olympics; Israel's Mossad Warns Of Terrorism Ahead Of Games 

  Radical progressive leaders across the Western world, along with leftist non-governmental organizations, are continuing to facilitate an unprecedented migrant invasion into Europe and the US. This poses a significant national security risk as terror threats surge into summer.

  Jumping across the Alantic to Europe, the French interior minister told AP News that security officers foiled an attack ahead of soccer events during the Paris Olympics.

  Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that the members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the city of Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon. -AP

  The report continued:

  The man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne that will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games. The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events “to die and become a martyr,” the statement also said. -AP 

  Besides the person from Chechnya, Israel’s Mossad was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as also saying there are rising threats of terrorism ahead of the soccer events in France. 

  Iran is increasing its support of terror in Europe through proxy criminal groups in the 60-day lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Mossad revealed on Thursday.

  It highlighted in particular the activities of two criminal groups — FOXTROT and RUMBA — alleging that they were “directly responsible for a violent activity and the promotion of terrorism in Sweden and throughout Europe” and that they receive funds and direction directly from Iran.

  Israel’s spy agency charged that Iran was behind the grenade attack against Israel’s Embassy in Belgium this past weekend and the gunshots near the embassy in Sweden on May 17. –JPost

  In recent days… 

  Pro-Palestinian Group Claims To Cut Fiber Cables At UK Defense Factory Making F-35 Targeting Systems https://t.co/fBkFvd3BBt

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 30, 2024

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

  Let’s not forget in the US, the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has been linked to fueling chaos across colleges and universities. Through public records analysis, we have found links with PFLP to one sanctioned Iranian bank. 

  Absurd: Radical Leftist Rashida Tlaib Speaks At Conference Connected With Terrorist Group https://t.co/kBfUR0Ep3y

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 27, 2024

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  Remember the warning from the UAE Foreign Minister in 2017…

  The West is beyond compromised. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 20:55

• NRA Hails Supreme Court Ruling On Free Speech Violation By NY Officials
  NRA Hails Supreme Court Ruling On Free Speech Violation By NY Officials

  Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The National Rifle Association (NRA) is celebrating a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling that New York State officials violated its First Amendment rights.

  On Thursday, the High Court ruled in National Rifle Association v. Maria T. Vullo that Ms. Vullo and New York State officials used their regulatory authority to coerce insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions into cutting ties with the Second Amendment advocacy group based on the NRA’s political mission.

  Ms. Vullo was the Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) when the NRA claims the coercion took place. The DFS is the New York state regulatory agency overseeing banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

  According to the court’s opinion, state officials are free to express their views. They are not free to punish those who do not share their views.

  “A government official can share her views freely and criticize particular beliefs, and she can do so forcefully in the hopes of persuading others to follow her lead,” Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority opinion on May 30.

  “In doing so, she can rely on the merits and force of her ideas, the strength of her convictions, and her ability to inspire others. What she cannot do, however, is use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression,” she added.

  NRA officials said in a press release that the decision will have far-reaching implications for the First Amendment.

  “This victory is a win for the NRA in the fight to protect freedom,” recently-elected NRA President Bob Barr wrote. “Regulators are now on notice: this is a win for not only the NRA but every organization who might otherwise suffer from an abuse of government power.”

  An NRA lawyer agreed in an email to The Epoch Times.

  “This is a landmark victory for the NRA and all who care about our First Amendment freedom,” William A. Brewer III, who represented the NRA, wrote. “The opinion confirms that New York government officials abused the power of their office to silence a political enemy.”

  Attorneys for Ms. Vullo did not respond by press time to an email seeking comment.

  In court filings, the NRA claimed, Ms. Vullo used public statements, guidance memoranda, “back channel threats,” consent decrees, and multi-million dollar fines to force businesses to drop the NRA as a customer.

  According to the NRA’s petition, in October 2017, DFS, under Ms. Vullo and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s direction began an investigation into the Carry Guard.

  Carry Guard was an insurance plan promoted by the NRA for people who carried firearms for self-protection. The plan covered certain costs if the policyholder was involved in a legal self-defense shooting.

  The DFS investigation focused on insurance broker Lockton Companies, LLC, which administered the program, underwriter Chubb Limited, and the insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London.

  A couple of months after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjorie Stoneman-Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and while the DFS investigation was still underway, Ms. Vullo sent two memoranda titled “Guidance on Risk Management Relating to the NRA and Similar Gun Promotion Organizations.”

  The April 19, 2018, memos were sent to “New York State Chartered or Licensed Financial Institutions” and “All Insurers Doing Business in the State of New York.”

  

  Ms. Vullo wrote, “There is a fair amount of precedent in the business world where firms have implemented measures in areas such as the environment, caring for the sick, and civil rights in fulfilling their corporate social responsibility.”

  She warned of “the social backlash against the National Rifle Association, and similar organizations that promote guns that lead to senseless violence . . .”

  Lawyer Slams State Tactics

  Ms. Vullo pointed out that the companies are in the business of managing risk, “including their own reputational risks. . .”

  Waukesha, Wisconsin-based lawyer and Second Amendment social media influencer Tom Grieve compared New York’s tactics to those used by organized crime in an email to The Epoch Times. He wrote that New York’s case was flawed from the start.

  “I don’t know what is worse: that this issue had to go to the Supreme Court or that this is far from the first or last 2nd Amendment-related case that appears obvious at the outset of this term,” his email reads.

  Mark W. Smith, constitutional attorney and host of the Four Boxes Diner Second Amendment YouTube channel says it’s instructive that the justices considered guidance documents, press releases, and other statements issued by the state and not just direct threats as evidence of coercion.

  “The Court’s 9-0 decision, written by liberal Justice Sotomayor, sends a powerful signal that government officials cannot use threats and inducements based on their regulatory authority to attempt to throttle speech they don’t like,” Mr. Smith wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

  Sam Dorman contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 20:30

• "A Full-Scale War Isn't A Foregone Conclusion", Warns Russian Think Tank Head
  "A Full-Scale War Isn't A Foregone Conclusion", Warns Russian Think Tank Head

  Ahead of the “Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era” conference in Moscow on Thursday, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Director General Ivan Timofeev told Russian state-owned news agency Tass about the increasing likelihood of a full-scale war between Russia and the West. 

  

  “A full-scale war is not is not a foregone conclusion, but unfortunately, its likelihood is growing,” Timofeev said in an interview with Tass. He said, “One option is that there will be a great rise in confrontation between us. At the root of this is the Ukraine issue, as the West continues to provide large-scale military assistance to Kyiv.”

  At a separate meeting on Thursday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told foreign ministers about the need to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to penetrate deep inside Russia.

  Timofeev warned about the rising possibility of a direct conflict with NATO:

  “A number of officials, particularly in France and the United Kingdom, have said that individual military units from NATO countries may be deployed to Ukraine. If they take part in military operations against Russian forces, they will become a legitimate target for our army.

  “Let’s hope this possible escalation involves conventional arms and not nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, NATO is spending ten times as much as Russia – if not more – on defense. It’s certainly a dangerous scenario.”

  The RIAC director general continued: 

  “The NATO leadership has made statements that no troops will be sent to Ukraine, and a number of EU politicians have said that this is counterproductive. That means they aren’t united on the issue.”

  Timofeev added:

  “As for Russia, we must take every possible scenario into account. We have the capacity to deter these threats.

  “However, such a scenario will cause irreparable damage to everyone.” 

  He concluded that the West will likely continue assisting Ukraine through weapons and equipment supplies, indicating these “dividing lines between” Russia and the West “may be there for decades.” 

  Daniel Blake, Asia and emerging market equity strategist at Morgan Stanley wrote in a note to clients in April that the shift towards a multipolar world has been underway for the last five years. With that comes a war cycle, and, as we’ve penned before, a splurge in defense spending is bullish for defense companies. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 20:05

• Reuters Claims Trump Supporters Want 'Riots And Violent Retribution' Following Trump Verdict
  Reuters Claims Trump Supporters Want 'Riots And Violent Retribution' Following Trump Verdict

  Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

  

  Reuters has published an article claiming that Trump supporters have called for “riots and violent retribution” after the GOP nominee was convicted in the New York Trial Thursday.

  Here’s a screenshot of the article (in case they change it):

  

  Reuters says that it has conducted a “review of comments on three Trump-aligned websites: the former president’s own Truth Social platform, Patriots.Win and the Gateway Pundit.”

  The piece continues, “Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.”

  The article then quoted one comment that stated “Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” referring to the judge, and adding “Hopefully he gets met with illegals with a machete.” 

  The piece quotes another comment on Gateway Pundit, that states “Time to start capping some leftys. This cannot be fixed by voting.”

  The article quotes several more comments calling for violence, but admits that some have since been removed.

  Reuters also charges that since the 2020 election Trump “loyalists have responded with a campaign of threats and intimidation targeting judges and court officials.”

  The article also quotes Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has recently published a book on “far right terrorism.”

  Ware charges that Trump has an “ironclad ability to mobilize more extreme supporters to action, both at the ballot box and through violence.”

  “Until and unless he accepts the process, the extremist reaction to his legal troubles will be militant,” Ware added.

  This all comes after Joe Biden labelled violent BLM protests “peaceful” and contrasted them to January 6th protesters “storming” the capitol.

  Biden: “What do you think [Trump] would have done if black Americans had stormed the Capitol? I don’t think he’d be talking about pardons. This is the same guy who wanted to tear gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder.” pic.twitter.com/iEhHfnLF7D

  — Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 29, 2024

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

  Wow.

  They really are going all out on in their attack on Trump and his supporters.

  pic.twitter.com/ToHYae3o1k

  — Skeptical Stoic (@StoicSkeptical) May 29, 2024

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

  “as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder”https://t.co/ndmbya0D9r

  — E 🇺🇸 (@Simply4Truth_) May 29, 2024

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

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 19:40

• White House Lied To Congress About Israel-Gaza, Per Official Resigning In Protest
  White House Lied To Congress About Israel-Gaza, Per Official Resigning In Protest

  A State Department official has resigned in protest, saying the Biden White House lied to Congress on a critical report so American weapons could keep flowing to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for its war in Gaza.    

  That official is Stacy Gilbert, a 20-year State Department employee who was a civil military advisor in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. In February, a national security memo directive tasked the State and Defense departments with writing a report assessing whether Israel was complying with the Geneva Conventions, and whether Israel was thwarting the flow of humanitarian assistance. Working with other experts, Gilbert was tasked with answering the latter question. 

  

  That question had enormous implications: The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits aid to countries that thwart the flow of US humanitarian aid. Gilbert says she and other experts formed a clear consensus that Israel had blocked aid “in many ways,” and that they began crafting a report with that conclusion. 

  However, with the report still in rough draft form, Gilbert said senior officials shut her and other subject matter experts out of the project, and proceeded to rewrite the report over the ensuing days before it was due to be filed with Congress. 

  Gilbert told PBS: 

  “When the report came out on May 10, and I read the conclusion…that Israel was not blocking humanitarian assistance, I decided I would resign, because that was absolutely not the opinion of subject matter experts in the State Department, USAID, the humanitarian community, organizations that are working in Gaza.” 

  The estimated Palestinian death toll in Gaza has crossed 36,000. In the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege” of the 25-mile long strip. “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” he said. “We are fighting human animals and are acting accordingly.”  Earlier this month, the UN World Food Programme said that northern Gaza is in the midst of a “full-blown famine.” 

  Despite receiving tens of billions of dollars in weapons and money for its war, Israel has ignored Washington’s pleas for mercy and thwarted the flow of aid through overland crossings — to the extent that President Biden ordered the construction of a pier off the Gaza coast to do an end-run around the IDF –spending $320 million and critically injuring a service member in the process. Upon completion, the pier promptly fell apart in rough weather and it’s being removed for repair and the price tag gets bigger. 

  Israeli citizens have done their own part to thwart the flow of aid: 

  Israeli settlers continued to attack aid trucks passing through the West Bank, blocking food from reaching Gaza as humanitarian groups warn that civilians are starving.

  Last week, Israeli protestors stomped on boxes of food and torched several trucks. https://t.co/fgmHtGSHuy pic.twitter.com/2h9Ha5mwWX

  — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 28, 2024

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

  In a statement explaining her resignation, Gilbert wrote:

  “There is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid. To deny this is absurd and shameful…Some members of the US government…made a conscious choice to deny the facts on the ground in Gaza in order to continue military support for Israel’s disastrous conduct in this war…

  Another State Department official who’d already resigned in protest of the Biden administration’s management of the Israel-Gaza war used Gilbert’s resignation as an opportunity to renew his own condemnation. “On the day when the White House announced that the latest atrocity in Rafah did not cross its red line, this resignation demonstrates that the Biden Administration will do anything to avoid the truth,” wrote Josh Paul, formerly of the State Department’s Bureau of Political affairs. 

  On March 9, Biden warned Israel against a major attack on the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had fled for safety — explicitly calling it a “red line.” On Sunday, an Israeli strike in Rafah killed at least 45 people, including 12 women and 8 children. Many of the victims were incinerated in tents. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “tragic mistake.” The White House said the strike didn’t cross a red line and wouldn’t effect US policy.   

  Has there ever been a more despicable liar? https://t.co/soCNZvd5xD

  — Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) May 29, 2024

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  Gilbert says her motivation for resigning extends beyond the restriction of humanitarian aid:  

  “Israel’s killing of at least 36,000 Palestinians, deliberate destruction of the majority of buildings, and attacks on every major medical facility, schools, and stores, lives and livelihoods, can’t be ignored…I cannot continue working for a government that denies and enables Israel’s deliberate carnage in Gaza.” 

  Meanwhile, as the resignations keep piling up, US bombs keep dropping on Palestinian militants and innocents alike… 

  Yo! New IDF thirst trap video just dropped and it is 🔥🔥🔥

  Must watch… pic.twitter.com/6C2s1eHLFt

  — Greg J Stoker (@gregjstoker) May 31, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 19:15

• Research Suggests Unusual Form Of Cell Death Causes Severe COVID-19 Lung Damage
  Research Suggests Unusual Form Of Cell Death Causes Severe COVID-19 Lung Damage

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

  

  SARS-CoV-2 infection may cause severe pulmonary conditions such as pneumonia, inflammation, and acute respiratory distress syndrome, but until now, researchers have not understood the driving force behind lung damage caused by COVID-19.

  In a recently published paper in Nature Communications, researchers at Columbia University discovered that a relatively new form of iron-dependent cell death called ferroptosis is the underlying mechanism causing extreme and potentially fatal pulmonary conditions in COVID-19 patients.

  “This finding adds crucial insight to our understanding of how COVID-19 affects the body that will significantly improve our ability to fight life-threatening cases of the disease,” Brent Stockwell, chair of the department of biological sciences at Columbia and co-lead author of the study, said in a news release.

  What Is Ferroptosis?

  Human cells have powerful mechanisms for maintaining survival, but when those mechanisms become impaired, lipid peroxides—generated through normal metabolic activities—can accumulate to toxic levels, damage cell membranes, and kill cells through ferroptosis.

  Ferroptosis was first identified in 2012 by Mr. Stockwell and differs from apoptosis—the most common form of cell death that occurs with aging and in some disease processes. Ferroptosis is an unusual type of cell death linked to altered iron metabolism, glutathione depletion, glutathione peroxidase 4 inactivation, and increased oxidative stress.

  Since proposing the concept, Mr. Stockwell’s lab has demonstrated that ferroptosis can occur in healthy contexts as part of the body’s normal processes. For example, cell death can remove cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, inhibiting the replication and spread of the virus or counteract diseases like cancer, which involves rapid cell growth.

  On the other hand, ferroptosis can be destructive, attacking healthy cells in patients with neurodegenerative diseases or causing severe manifestations of COVID-19 and possibly even long COVID.

  The ability to stop ferroptosis could pave the way for treatments that improve COVID-19 outcomes, the paper’s findings suggest.

  The Study

  Researchers obtained lung tissue samples from the autopsies of patients who died of respiratory failure caused by severe COVID-19, including those with and without acute lung injury (ALI). Samples were also collected from patients who had mild COVID-19 and recovered.

  Control samples were obtained from pre-pandemic healthy patients who showed no signs of SARS-CoV-2 infection or lung damage. Samples from autopsies with ALI and without a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection were also analyzed. Additionally, serum ferritin records were obtained, as serum ferritin is elevated in critically ill COVID-19 patients, correlates with disease severity, and supplies the iron that drives ferroptosis. Ferritin is a protein found inside cells that stores iron and allows the body to use it when needed.

  The researchers analyzed cell death markers on COVID-19 lung tissue samples obtained from the autopsies and found “distinct molecular features of ferroptosis” in severe lung pathologies. Moreover, samples revealed elevated ferroptosis markers, including iron dysregulation, lipid peroxidation, elevated lysophospholipids, and depletion in polyunsaturated fatty acyl tails (PL-PUFAs).

  PUFAs, or polyunsaturated fatty acids, while essential for cell membranes and immune regulation, are highly unstable and inflammatory. Due to their sensitivity to oxygen, PUFAs can be oxidized by free radicals and broken down into toxic derivatives.

  In a secondary analysis, Syrian hamsters were intentionally inoculated with the same strain of SARS-CoV-2 found in patient samples. Researchers analyzed lung samples and found that ferroptosis occurred at an early stage of lung disease and accompanied disease progression.

  To confirm their findings were caused by ferroptosis, the researchers measured cell death markers associated with other forms of cell death. They did not detect an increase in these markers in any lung samples, indicating that ferroptosis was the major cell death mechanism detected in fatal COVID-19 lung samples.

  “Altogether, these data suggest a strong correlation between ferroptosis and COVID-19 lung pathology, and ferroptosis inhibition may serve as adjuvant therapy to reduce lung injury,” the authors wrote.

  A May 2023 paper published in Frontiers supports the paper’s findings. In their review, researchers found that dysregulated cell death from ferroptosis can lead to uncontrolled cellular damage beyond the lungs and plays a role in the multi-organ complications observed in COVID-19 patients with severe disease.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 18:50

• Kim Jong Un Oversees Massive Missile Launch 'Preemptive Attack' Drills
  Kim Jong Un Oversees Massive Missile Launch 'Preemptive Attack' Drills

  A day after sending hundreds of feces and garbage-filled balloons into South Korea over the militarized border, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a new military exercises showcasing the north’s ability to mount “preemptive attacks”. 

  North Korean media released several photos as well as footage of choreographed launches of at least eighteen short-range ballistic missiles from the Sunan area on Friday.

  

  The projectiles reportedly fell into the Sea of Japan after going a distance of over 200 miles. 

  State media said this “salvo of a firepower sub-unit was carried out by operating the integrated fire-control system,” which was described as “a part of the national combined nuclear weapons management system.“

  

  This appears an ongoing response by Pyongyang to the US-South Korea drills that began on May 27, involving over 90 aircraft, among them the advanced F35A stealth fighters.

  Watch the impressive footage released by North Korean state media…

  Kim Jong Un has attended a launch of 18 KN-25 ballistic missiles.

  North Korea has transferred hundreds of these missiles to Russia, which has bombarded Ukrainian cities with them.

  They have a range of 380 km

  🇰🇵🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/vhB3htuNLW

  — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 31, 2024

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  According to an AP description:

  The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that the rocket firing drills were meant to demonstrate North Korea’s resolve not to hesitate in launching a preemptive strike on South Korea if threatened. It cited Kim as saying that the drills “will serve as an occasion in clearly showing what consequences our rivals will face if they provoke us.”

  Photos showed Kim watching from a distance as at least 18 projectiles were launched.

  

  The government of South Korea called on the north to North Korea must stop the “absurd, irrational provocations directed at us” or face unspecified “unbearable” consequences.

  Starting almost a year ago, the US military began parking a nuclear-armed submarine, the USS Kentucky, at a South Korean port, which has outraged Pyongyang.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 18:25

• Trump Verdict Seen As 'Pivotal Moment' For Undecided Voters
  Trump Verdict Seen As 'Pivotal Moment' For Undecided Voters

  Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The outcome of former President Donald Trump’s New York records-falsification trial is most likely to influence undecided voters—a sliver of the electorate that could exert an outsized impact on the Nov. 5 presidential election.

  “This is a pivotal moment in the 2024 race,” American political history professor Jeff Bloodworth told The Epoch Times as jurors began deliberations on May 29.

  Mr. Bloodworth, who teaches at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, said suburban college-educated voters probably would allow the trial’s outcome to influence their votes.

  The former president was convicted of 34 business-records falsification charges; an appeal is almost certain, legal experts said.

  Polls have shown that a conviction was poised to sway some voters away from President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump campaign pollsters predict the effect on votes will be minimal.

  However, it appears that the verdict is having a big immediate effect on fundraising. Several online commenters said they made donations to the former president, but many visitors overwhelmed the website, causing it to crash temporarily and having to be restored several times.

  Yet a small percentage of voters could make the difference between winning and losing the 2024 election. Polling consistently has shown a razor-thin margin separating the two major candidates: President Trump and the incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden.

  Many voters are unwilling to change their declared allegiance to President Trump, President Biden, or a third-party candidate, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Still, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on May 22, about one-fifth of voters say they are open to reconsidering.

  Many of those people are “double-haters,” Mr. Bloodworth’s term for voters who dislike both President Trump and President Biden. These voters care deeply about the outcome of the New York case, and they’re very likely to turn out and cast their ballots, he said.

  He predicted that a guilty verdict against President Trump would drive those people “back into the Biden camp, like they were in 2020.” That election “was decided on the margins,” Mr. Bloodworth said, resulting in President Trump’s ouster. Now in the thick of his third run at the presidency, President Trump still says he believes he was the rightful winner—a claim that mainstream media and many Democrats reject.

  In a statement accompanying the Quinnipiac poll, polling analyst Tim Malloy characterized Kennedy voters as “particularly swayable,” with 52 percent reporting they were likely to change their minds. President Trump’s supporters were  “less-inclined to bail on their candidate,” Mr. Malloy said, with only 8 percent somewhat likely to defect. Almost double that number said they could drop their support of President Biden.

  

  The Quinnipiac poll found that 70 percent of voters were following the New York trial closely, with 46 percent of respondents believing President Trump “did something illegal.”

  About 6 percent of President Trump’s supporters say a conviction would make them less likely to vote for him—a number that “could tip the balance” in a very tight race, Mr. Malloy said.

  Seven States May Matter Most

  But the Trump campaign’s pollsters, Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis, reported that several weekly surveys found the New York trial would have a “negligible” effect on voters in seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

  Their research found that large percentages of Democrats and President Biden’s voters were following reports about the New York trial.

  But voter segments that the Trump campaign is targeting—independents, undecideds, and “persuadables”—were “much less likely” to stay abreast of the trial, “with almost none following it ’very’ closely,” the pollsters said in a May 29 memo that the Trump campaign released.

  “Voters in our key target states have already made up their minds on this trial. Most voters, especially our supporters, believe the case is politically motivated and a conviction would be [the] result of a biased show trial. Biden’s voters will believe President Trump is guilty no matter what,“ the memo said. ”And those in the middle are largely unconcerned, and their votes aren’t going to hinge on the results of the trial.”

  Recent nationwide polling, including Quinnipiac’s, has shown the two candidates in a statistical dead heat. President Trump, however, has pulled ahead of President Biden in battleground states and has been chipping away at the incumbent’s lead in some states considered to be Democrat strongholds.

  Several surveys show minority voters, such as blacks and Hispanics, drifting away from President Biden, whom they blame for inflated prices of groceries, fuel, and other necessities.

  The Trump camp’s pollsters said the seven states they are focused on are most likely to decide the election, “not the national data the media would like us to focus on.”

  They predicted national polls, “especially those conducted by the media,” will probably “show exaggerated shifts.”

  

  Polls Could Be Flawed

  Pollster Rich Baris doubts that polls can accurately gauge how voters will respond to the New York verdict.

  When pollsters ask such a “bias-tainted question,” the results are skewed, Mr. Baris told The Epoch Times. That’s because “voters know the ‘right’ answer they are expected to give, even though they would never vote for Biden, regardless.”

  Pollsters produced inaccurate results in 2020 when they found that President Trump’s impeachments would adversely affect his vote totals, Mr. Baris said.

  “He ended up setting the record for the most votes ever received by an incumbent president,” Mr. Baris said.

  A guilty verdict in any of President Trump’s legal cases may have little effect on voting behavior, Mr. Baris said. A conviction “is already baked into the cake, meaning voters expect it and believe it’s politically motivated,” Mr. Baris said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 18:00

• Houthis Report 16 Dead In Biggest Joint US-UK Airstrikes Since Gaza War Began
  Houthis Report 16 Dead In Biggest Joint US-UK Airstrikes Since Gaza War Began

  Early on Friday Yemen’s Houthis announced what appears to be the biggest mass casualty attack by the Western coalition since Red Sea hostilities began in the wake of Oct.7.

  The joint British-U.S. airstrikes happened Thursday, and killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others, according to Houthis statement. “We confirm this brutal aggression against Yemen as punishment for its position in support of Gaza, in support of Israel to continue its crimes of genocide against the wounded, besieged and steadfast Gaza Strip,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said.

  

  The strikes primarily focused on the port city of Hodeida, and the Houthis say that all killed there were civilians. According to a Yemeni account:

  But the Houthis focused Friday morning on a strike they said struck a building housing Hodeida Radio and civilian homes in the port city on the Red Sea. Their Al Masirah satellite news channel aired images of one bloodied man being carried down stairs and others in the hospital, receiving aid. It said all the dead and nearly all the wounded from the strikes came from there.

  The graphic footage of the attack aftermath can be viewed here.

  While not acknowledging the death toll offered by the Houthis, the Pentagon confirmed that US F/A-18 fighter jets were involved in the operation over Yemen, having taken off from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. 

  Officials said additional warships also participated, which included attacks on “underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities.”

  The UK Defense Ministry also revealed its involvement, with a statement saying Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes on Hodeida and locations south in Ghulayfiqah.

  UK’s military said it targeted “buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for very long-range drones, as well as surface-to-air weapons.”

  “The strikes were taken in self-defense in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced. “There’s an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose.”

  This, for what it is worth, is Grant Shapps’ excuse for the bombing.

  Retaliation for a cargo ship (Rubymar) that was hit more than 2 months ago, and avenging the deaths of Filipino and Vietnamese mariners (which apparently is now the RAF’s remit)https://t.co/cfRm8mr26y

  — Phil Miller (@pmillerinfo) May 31, 2024

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

  But instead of deterring the Houthis, the Shia rebel groups immediately announced a retaliatory operation against the US nuclear-powered carrier from which the US fighters were deployed, as we reported earlier.

  However, the Pentagon denied that the carrier was attacked. Politico’s Lara Seligman quoted an unnamed Department of Defense official who told her the Houthi’s claim about a missile attack on the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea is “false information — there was no hit on the Ike or any attacks in its vicinity.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 17:35

• Dennis Quaid Praises Donald Trump: 'I Think I’m Gonna Vote For Him'
  Dennis Quaid Praises Donald Trump: 'I Think I’m Gonna Vote For Him'

  Authored by Audrey Enjoli via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Actor Dennis Quaid, who stars in the forthcoming biopic “Reagan,” out Aug. 30, has expressed his admiration of former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

  “I think I’m gonna vote for him,” the 70-year-old said during a recent appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored on May 28, adding that a vote for the presumptive GOP nominee “just makes sense.”

  Mr. Quaid explained that he wasn’t initially planning on voting for President Trump. However, he said the politician’s “hush money” trial in Manhattan, which commenced on April 15 and is currently being deliberated on by jurors, ultimately swayed his decision in favor of the business magnate.

  President Trump was indicted in April of last year on 34 counts of allegedly falsifying New York business records. The case, which marks the first-ever criminal trial of a former president in United States history, is just one of a handful of legal battles that President Trump is embroiled in. In total, the 77-year-old faces 88 charges across four criminal cases, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

  “I see a weaponization of our justice system and, uh, a challenge to our constitution,” Mr. Quaid shared. “Trump is the most investigated person, probably in the history of the world, and they haven’t been able to really get him on anything.”

  “What is the crime?” he inquired. “I still can’t figure it out.”

  When asked by the British broadcaster if he likes President Trump on a personal level, “The Right Stuff” star admitted that there were moments during the politician’s previous presidential campaigns that he wasn’t especially fond of.

  “In the last campaign, and in 16 and, you know, and in 20, uh, I found myself going, ‘Oh please don’t do that; please don’t say that.’ You know, it’s like these things have come out of his mouth,” he explained.

  However, Mr. Quaid said he liked “everything” the businessman did throughout his presidency.

  “What he did with [North] Korea with [Kim Jong Un]; the way he defeated ISIS in three weeks. You know, people don’t even remember it happened so, so fast,” he shared. “He stood up for us overseas and … the way he responded to China. He stands up to people, and that’s what makes him a leader.”

  Mr. Quaid continued: “I tell you one true thing about him is that I really feel that he is working for the American people. That’s what he’s all about. And I do believe that to be true and sincere.”

  ‘We All Live in the Same Country’

  Elsewhere in the 45-minute-long conversation, Mr. Quaid gave his thoughts on President Biden, telling Mr. Morgan that he didn’t feel like the president was in control of his administration.

  “I don’t feel he’s at the helm; I don’t feel he’s there,” the actor candidly shared. “I feel that he says things to get votes not that he truly believes in them. And now I’m really going to get some blowback, but that’s the way I feel.”

  Although Mr. Quaid conveyed his praise for President Trump’s achievements, “The Day After Tomorrow” star said he wished Americans weren’t so divided by politics.

  “I hope … we can all learn to have a conversation about, you know, where we are as Americans,” he said. “We all live in the same country, and it doesn’t have to be the end of the world whoever is elected.”

  

  Mr. Morgan agreed, sharing an anecdote about some of the disagreements he and his friends would have while drinking at a local pub when he was younger.

  “We would all have huge arguments after a few pints but the idea we‘d fall out with each other over it never crossed our minds. We would just argue about what was in the news, you know, and then we’d have a few more pints and we go home and we’d shake each other or give each other a hug,” the 59-year-old television personality explained.

  “That ability to respect someone’s opinion—even when you don’t agree with them—just seems to have disappeared from this generation. It’s like you either agree with me or I have to, not just ostracize you, I have to destroy you, you must be canceled.”

  Earlier in the conversation, Mr. Quaid offered his thoughts on the political polarization across the country, sharing his belief that people aren’t as informed about pressing issues as they were 30 to 40 years ago.

  “Our own point of view, our own beliefs, are getting coughed back at us,” he said, referencing the types of information commonly shared by mainstream media and via social media platforms.

  “We really need to … learn to work together and disagree but have a civil conversation about it [because] 30, 40 years ago, we had liberal Republicans, we had conservative Democrats, and there was much more across the aisle,” Mr. Quaid said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 17:10

• Fed F**kery Turns $98BN (NSA) Large Bank Deposit Outflow Into $2BN Inflow
  Fed F**kery Turns $98BN (NSA) Large Bank Deposit Outflow Into $2BN Inflow

  After a small inflow last week, total US bank deposits dropped a modest $4.7BN last week on a seasonally-adjusted basis…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, US total bank deposits tumbled almost $110BN…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  This decline happened as money market funds saw modest inflows, pushing back near record highs…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Exclduing foreign deposits, US domestic deposits fell $2.2BN on a seasonally-adjusted basis (large bank +$2.1BN, small bank -$4.3BN), while on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, domestic deposits puked $121BN (large banks -$98BN, small banks -$23BN)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  On the other side of the ledger, Small banks saw loan volumes shrink by $10.6BN while Large banks saw loan volumes grow by $8.6BN…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Finally, US equity market cap remains dramatically decoupled from its historical tight relationship with US bank reserves at The Fed…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Either way, that won’t end well.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 16:40

• Gloat While You Still Can: "This Is The 'All-In-Lost' Moment"
  Gloat While You Still Can: "This Is The 'All-In-Lost' Moment"

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  “The hour is much later than you think…on multiple fronts: Financial, political, medical and geopolitical.”

  – Edward Dowd

  In the pre-gloat hours before the verdict in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom, Lawfare caporegime Andrew Weissmann (“Mueller’s Pitbull”) confessed Valley Girl style from his MSNBC clubhouse perch, “. . . I mean, I am, like, now I have a man-crush on him, he is such a great judge!” Bromance on, looks like! If the two happen to frequent the same athletic club in downtown Manhattan, Judge Merchan better be careful in the post-workout shower when he  bends over to pick up the soap. The Pitbull cometh!

  

  Credit: Joshua Lisec on “X”

  Of course, the Alvin Bragg victory in the artfully constructed “Stormy Daniels Payoff Case” decided late Thursday calls to question how come the Mueller Special Counsel Probe into 2016 election interference (actually run by Mr. Weissmann, due to Mr. Mueller’s declining cognitive ability) failed to spot the same web of evidence  – hard as they toiled, and they had a good two years and millions of taxpayer dollars to git’er done?

  My guess: too many white lawyers on the Mueller staff. Everybody knows now from watching the latest crop of television commercials that white people are unusually stupid and helpless and cannot cope with common problems without assistance from helpful people of color (POCs). So, God bless Alvin Bragg for finally fixing what Bob Mueller’s fifteen bloodhounds led by a pitbull somehow botched.

  The former president is now convicted on thirty-four counts of book-keeping errors in furtherance of an alleged 2016 federal election violation that the Federal Election Commission declined to charge — that is, paying a porn star to sign a non-disclosure agreement about a sexual liaison — because it is not a crime under federal election law, and about which the head of the FEC, James E. “Trey” Trainor III, was barred by Judge Merchan from testifying on during the course of the trial for reasons yet unknown.

  Of course, that is but one of a great many points of law that will merit appeal in what everybody — even some white people (people of non-color, PONCs) — knows was a case so crookedly contrived that it is fated to get tossed in the higher courts, and probably with harsh remonstrance to the degenerate officers of the court who brought it and adjudicated it. But you will have to wait on that because the mills of the law grind slowly.

  Now, in the radiance of the full Woke gloat, we await Judge Merchan’s sentence, to be announced a mere few days before the Republican Convention in Milwaukee in early July. Jail time at Rikers? Home confinement (with ankle bracelet)? Severe travel restrictions? Reporting to a parole officer? Drug tests? Hey, No one is above the law! It is hard to imagine that the judge will demur from inflicting maximum humiliation on this wanton repeat violator (thirty-four times!) of book-keeping errors. It would tend to interfere with the presidential candidate’s campaign schedule, but so what? Where does it say in the Constitution that an election must be fair?

  Or Judge Merchan could suspend all that pending appeal and just allow Mr. Trump to go about his election business free on bail. But why would he? After all the trouble he went to. And all the glory he’s reaping for it. “Joe Biden’s” party has Mr. Trump exactly where they want him, they think: pinned down like a moth in a shadow-box, inert and pathetic. (But, in reality, more like King Kong, chained in the rank basement below the stage of a Broadway theater before busting loose in midtown and upending subway cars so as to devour the little humans tumbling out like so many tic-tacs.)

  Expect Mr. Trump’s lawyers to file writs to the SCOTUS requesting expedited attention to the denial of due process issues and the election interference question. The situation is comparable to the year 2000 presidential race, where the SCOTUS stepped in on probable cause that the lower court (in Florida that time) had violated the Equal Protection clause of the constitution.

  In the meantime, through the luminescent fog of gloat, perhaps you did not notice that “Joe Biden” took a giant step yesterday toward commencing World War Three. The move was framed as the US gives Ukraine permission to use American missiles to strike deep within Russia. That was a bit disingenuous, you see, because Ukraine’s military lacks the know-how to actually launch the missiles, so American military “advisors” will have to be on hand to do it, meaning US military personnel will commit an act of aggression upon Russia.

  Voila! That world war you’ve all been clamoring for. . .? The perfect climax to “Joe Biden’s” catastrophic, fraudulently-acquired term in office. I scent the acrid, burnt-flesh odor of miscalculation here, as of a bunch of American cities get turned into radioactive bonfires that will blot out that sublime luminosity of gloat.

  Apparently, the “Joe Biden” team has never seen a Clint Eastwood movie — too lowbrow, I’m sure — and they don’t grok the role of the underdog in the American psyche. They have succeeded in making Donald Trump the greatest underdog in US history under the direst circumstances the nation may have ever faced — worse than Valley Forge, Bull Run, or the Ardennes Forest. Sinister forces are driving the country straight into a communo-fascist despotism alien to our nation’s very soul, demonic forces bent on depriving Americans of their rights, their property, and their liberty.

  This is the “all-in-lost” moment in that movie. This is where the hero comes back from the edge of eternal darkness, raging like Kali the Destroyer to smite the cowards arrayed against him, against the country’s honor, against the people. You asked for it. Now you’re going to get it.

  *  *  *

  Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 16:20

• Rate-Cut Hopes Resurrected As 'Hard' Data Slides: Stocks, Gold, Oil, & Crypto Dumped
  Rate-Cut Hopes Resurrected As 'Hard' Data Slides: Stocks, Gold, Oil, & Crypto Dumped

  A weird week of weak ‘hard data, strong ‘soft’ data (macro), weak micro (ugly hints for software and consumer from earnings), and dovish-and-hawkish FedSpeak…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Which prompted a resurgence in rate-cut hopes….

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But today’s Chicago PMI puke dominates any in-line PCE print and dragged stocks lower on the week, led by weakness in Nasdaq as Small Caps were the leat ugly horse in the glue factory. The typical late Friday meltup painted some lipstick on the week’s pig…

  

  For the CTA followers: The S&P tested below its short-term threshold at 5203 and found support (the Medium-term threshold for CTA sellers is consoderiably lower at 5002)…

  On the month, all the majors were green with Nasdaq leading and The Dow lagging…

  

  Energy and Utes outperformed while Tech stocks saw a notable 3% on the week…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  MAG7 stocks ended the week lower overall…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Treasury yields were mixed on the week with 2Y and 5Y ending lower and the longer-end lagging…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Treasury yields were lower across the whole curve for the month with the belly outperforming…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The dollar managed gains on the week, having bounced off the week’s unch line today…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Gold ended lower on the week thanks to a post-PCE puke today…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  For the 13th straight day, Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But the bitcoin price fell on the week, thanks to a big puke today, finding some support at $6,000…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Crude prices slipped lower again today, back into the red on the week…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Finally, one can’t help but feel that Gold’s recent resurgence – while real yields languish continue to drive lower…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  … is the precious metal market anticipating more of the lawfare we saw yesterday as the Biden admin will “do whatever it takes” to not allow Trump to compete…

  

  …as the ass-clownery continue.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 16:00

• Time To Pay Satan: Canadian Asset Manager Blocks Cash Distributions On Private Credit Funds
  Time To Pay Satan: Canadian Asset Manager Blocks Cash Distributions On Private Credit Funds

  Just one day after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said private credit could spark turmoil if when the opaque sector of financial markets weakens, warning that “there could be hell to pay,” and adding that he has “seen a couple of these deals that were rated by a rating agency and, I have to confess, it shocked me what they got rated. So, it reminds me a little bit of mortgages”, Satan has just sent his first invoice to the banking industry.

  

  After scaring his fellow bankers, perhaps in hopes of sparking another mini bank run and getting the FDIC to gift him with yet another bank, it turns out that perhaps Jamie Dimon was correct that “not all the people doing [private credit] are good,” and earlier today Bloomberg brought us the first notable example of a “bad” doer when it reported that Canadian investment manager Ninepoint Partners is “temporarily” suspending cash distributions in three of its private credit funds, making it the latest, and certainly largest, lender to put a squeeze on investors to cope with a private credit liquidity crunch.

  Unitholders of funds with about C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) of assets won’t be able to receive cash payouts, the Toronto-based Ninepoint confirmed to Bloomberg News, adding that the firm will revisit its decision in the third quarter although with the credit crunch only likely to deteriorate dramatically by then, the only question is how many more funds will Ninepoint be gating.

  “After reviewing our various liquidity options, Ninepoint Partners and our subadvisors have determined that the best path forward to preserve liquidity and balance the long-term goals of these three affected funds is to redirect future distribution into additional units rather than cash distributions starting July 1,” a spokesperson for the firm said in an emailed statement.

  Ninepoint is the latest lender in the $1.7 trillion private credit industry to take urgent measures to preserve cash and pre-empt a flood of redemption requests, by effectively freezing their money. And with consumer credit deteriorating sharply in recent months amid record credit card debt coupled with a record surge in installment loans (most of which can’t even be tracked by credit raters), executives at large banks have been sounding the alarm for weeks, with some worrying that private credit markets may be getting too inflated.

  “We’re all aware of the risks,” Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered Plc, said at an event last month. “Like always, good things go too far and then correct. And the job of us as banks and the job of you as supervisors is to make sure we don’t get carried out when the tide goes away.”

  Of course, it is some banks’ job to make sure you do get carried away, because when you fail, those same banks – like JPMorgan for example – will end up absorbing all your deposits while the taxpayers, thanks to the FDIC, will be stuck with all the private credit that “went too far.”

  The private credit market – a corner of finance dominated by non-bank lenders who originate loans to private businesses – has grown rapidly in recent years, as it is far less regulated and banks are hoping they can offload all exposure before the next crash while pocketing the upside. Although returns on these assets have increasingly outpaced the S&P 500 since the early 2000s, risks in the industry are not well known, the IMF noted in April. Of course, for those who have been around for longer than a few years, will recall that hedge funds issuing 2nd and 3rd liens was also all the rage… right before the financial system collapsed  in 2008.

  So is Ninepoint the proverbial dead canary in the coalmine?

  The Canadian private lender, which oversees about C$7 billion, is among those firms offering “flexible terms” to some borrowers, but with higher risks. It is those risks that have now prompted the firm to freeze cash distributions.  Other firms, such as Oaktree Capital Management, have had to cut management fees on private credit funds, following increases in problem loans and disappointing earnings, Bloomberg reported.

  The largest of Ninepoint’s three funds is Ninepoint-TEC, which reported C$1.2 billion on assets at the end of 2023. It makes asset-backed loans to companies that “may have difficulty obtaining financing from other sources” — and certain borrowers have the option of using a PIK, or pay-in-kind, structure rather than cash interest payments. In other words, it is literally a loan shark that will lend you money – at a much higher rate than otherwise – when nobody else will. So yes, shockingly, things will collapse since the creditors didn’t get funds for a reason.

  The Ninepoint Alternative Income Fund, which is around C$600 million, has the bulk of its loans to middle-market companies in the US and Canada. It normally targets payouts to investors of 10% to 12% of the average net asset value in a calendar year, according to documents on Ninepoint’s website.

  To avoid panic from escalating further, the firm said it is not winding down these funds, according to its statement. “Investors will continue to have access to the ongoing benefits of being invested in private credit as we remain focused on ensuring the sustained performance and stability of our current portfolio.”  

  Private credit is not alone in gating investors: some real estate funds, including the $10 billion Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, have also taken steps to limit the ability of investors to pull cash out.  

  While we find the recent hype over “private credit” extremely overblown, having lived through the 2nd/3rd/4th lien bubble during the peak of the housing bubble, for those readers who are unfamiliar, we will republish an article we wrote back in March using Morgan Stanley data discussing “What’s Behind The Recent Explosion In Private Credit.”

  The evolution of private credit is reshaping the landscape of leveraged finance. Investors of all stripes and around the globe are taking notice. The rapid expansion of the private credit market in the last few years has come against a much different backdrop in public credit markets – a contraction in high yield (HY) bonds and lackluster growth in broadly syndicated loans (BSL). What the emergence of private credit means for public credit markets is a topic of active debate.

  While private credit is an umbrella term encompassing a wide variety of strategies, direct lending is the relevant strategy for an apples-to-apples comparison with the public markets in leveraged finance. In this context, we define private credit as debt extended to corporate borrowers on a bilateral basis or involving a small number of lenders, typically non-banks. Lenders originate and negotiate terms directly with borrowers without the syndication process that is the norm in public markets for both bonds and loans. Typically, private credit loans are not publicly rated, not traded in secondary markets, have stronger lender protections and offer a spread premium to public markets.

  Lenders in the private markets range from funds deploying direct lending strategies to investment vehicles such as business development companies (BDCs) and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) as well as insurers and pension funds, among others. According to PitchBook data, the assets under management (AUM) of global direct lending funds alone have quintupled, surpassing US$550 billion by 2023, up from US$95 billion ten years ago; the total private universe AUM is now $1.5 trillion.

  

  Continue reading here and also the full Morgan Stanley primer on private credit, available to pro subscribers.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 15:40

• 'Time For This War To End': Biden's Gaza Speech Aimed At Israeli Hardliners
  'Time For This War To End': Biden's Gaza Speech Aimed At Israeli Hardliners

  President Joe Biden’s Friday afternoon speech was all about pressuring Israel to end the war. He unveiled and endorsed the terms of an Israeli-led proposal that features a three-part roadmap which would result in release of all the hostages and a cessation of hostilities.

  “After intensive diplomacy carried out by my team, my many conversations with leaders of Israel, Qatar and Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries, Israel has offered a comprehensive new proposal. It’s a road map to an enduring cease-fire and the release of all hostages,” Biden said. 

  

  “This is truly a decisive moment. Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it. Hamas needs to take the deal,” he added, but cautioned Hamas had yet to accept it. Below is an outline of the three phases:

  • phase 1: six-week ceasefire, withdrawal of military, hostages-prisoners swap
  • phase 2: return all hostages
  • phase 3: major reconstruction plan of Gaza

  He pleaded with Israeli leadership and the public to get fully behind the deal, saying “The people of Israel should know, they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security because they’ve devastated Hamas… for the past eight months.” He’s essentially urging Tel Aviv to declare victory and end major operations.

  But that’s when he said something which is sure to prove divisive, especially among Israeli hardliners at a moment Hamas has yet to be eradicated:

  “At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another Oct. 7, which is one of Israel’s main objective of this war and quite frankly a righteous one,” the president said.

  His appeal was for the avoidance of indefinite war, coming at a moment his Gaza policies are deeply unpopular among many Democrats. The intractable conflict and his handling of it has threatened to sink his chances going up against Trump as both campaigns kick into high gear.

  “I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely. Some are even in the government coalition. They’ve made it clear they want to occupy Gaza, they want to keep fighting for years, the hostages are not a priority for them,” he said, mounting an usually strong attack against the most hawkish elements represented by officials like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

  This is no small announcement:
  – Biden first elaborate PUBLIC endorsement of a plan since war began
  – Challenge to Netanyahu by saying no total victory, no open ended op.
  – Includes day-after, brings in Arab states on reconstruction, meets Arab asks of Israeli withdrawal
  – The…

  — Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) May 31, 2024

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

  “I urge Israel to stand behind this deal, despite whatever pressure comes,” he emphasized.

  But it is the IDF military withdrawal part that Israel has been most resistant to. Hamas has long demanded it, but Prime Minister Netanyahu has remained committed to his vow not to leave the Gaza Strip until Hamas and Islamic Jihad are completely eradicated.

  Meanwhile at the close of the Friday afternoon speech…

  “Donald Trump refers to himself as a political prisoner and blames you directly. What’s your response to that, sir?”

  BIDEN (CONFUSED):

  *stops*

  *smirks*

  *shuffles away* pic.twitter.com/0GKm327Qy1

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 31, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/31/2024 – 15:20

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