Mar 01

Today’s News 1st March 2024

  • Obama's CIA Asked Foreign Intel Agencies To Spy On Trump Campaign
    Obama’s CIA Asked Foreign Intel Agencies To Spy On Trump Campaign

    Authored by Robert Chernin via RealClear Wire,

    The revelation that the U.S. intelligence community, under the Obama administration, sought the assistance of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance to surveil Donald Trump’s associates before the 2016 election is a chilling reminder of the lengths to which the Deep State will go to protect its interests and challenge its adversaries. (The Five Eyes countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.) This bombshell, reported by a team of independent journalists, exposes a dark chapter in American political history, where foreign intelligence services were reportedly mobilized against a presidential candidate.

    The alleged operation against Trump and his associates, which predates the official start of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, is a stark example of political weaponization of intelligence. The involvement of foreign allies in surveilling American citizens under the pretext of national security raises serious questions about the integrity of our democratic processes and the autonomy of our nation’s intelligence operations.

    The narrative that has been pushed for years, that the investigation into Trump’s campaign began with an Australian tip about a boastful Trump aide, now appears to be a cover for a more extensive and coordinated effort to undermine Trump. If reports are accurate, British intelligence began targeting Trump on behalf of American intelligence agencies as early as 2015, long before the official narrative claims.

    The implications of this are profound. It suggests an unprecedented level of collusion between U.S. intelligence agencies and their foreign counterparts to influence the outcome of an American presidential election. The use of foreign intelligence to circumvent American laws and surveillance limitations represents a grave threat to our nation’s sovereignty and the principles of democracy.

    The fact that this operation was reportedly initiated at the behest of high-ranking officials within the Obama administration, including CIA Director John Brennan, only adds to the severity of the situation. Brennan’s alleged identification of Trump associates for surveillance by the Five Eyes alliance, and the directive to “bump” or make contact with them, illustrates a deliberate strategy to entangle the Trump campaign in a web of suspicion and intrigue.

    Moreover, the reported involvement of foreign intelligence in crafting the Russia collusion narrative not only delegitimizes the subsequent investigation but also highlights the willingness of certain elements within the U.S. government to exploit international partnerships for domestic political gain. This revelation demands a thorough and transparent examination to ensure that such abuses of power are brought to light and severely punished to discourage them from being repeated.

    As more details emerge, it is imperative that the American public demand accountability from those who orchestrated and executed this operation. The sanctity of our electoral process and the trust in our intelligence agencies are at stake. We must not allow the politicization of intelligence to go unchecked, nor can we tolerate the involvement of foreign powers in our democratic processes.

    Robert Chernin is chairman of the American Center for Education and Knowledge. He is a longtime entrepreneur, business leader, fundraiser, and political confidant, and has consulted on federal and statewide campaigns at the gubernatorial, congressional, senatorial, and presidential levels.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 23:45

  • What Caused China's Quant Quake
    What Caused China’s Quant Quake

    While it has gone largely underreported in western media, in the past week China launched a war against both quant funds and High Frequency Traders, claiming they were responsible for the market crash observed at the start of February. But maybe Beijing does have a point, after all long-term readers will recall that one of our first crusades was against none other than US HFT funds, which first we and then others (Michael Lewis) exposed for manipulating markets.

    So what exactly happened, and what caused China’s quant quake?

    As SocGen strategist Puneet Singh explains, China did indeed go through a quant quake but this hiccup was mostly concentrated in the small- and mid-cap space. Indeed, while the CSI 1000 the CSI 2000 were down ~30% and ~34% respectively, the large cap heavy CSI 300 only lost 7.3%. The chart below left below shows that small- and mid-caps exacerbated price movements in Chinese equities.

    Looking at factor correlations (chart above right) clearly underscores the moves in Reversals and Risk factors (which includes vol and size). SocGen’s charts plot 5d moving average rank correlations between daily factor performance. As Singh explains, “stable correlations are inevitably required for quant strategies to work, but changes like what we saw destabilised quant models, and added to the underperformance.”

    Factor performance for reversals and size in the small-mid and large cap spaces underscored the thesis: we saw small caps severely underperform large caps over the beginning of the year, with the reversal factor getting affected as well.

    Just as was observed in the US during the August 2007 quant quake, moves of the magnitude discussed here inevitably result in spikes in volatility. Instead of using a close-to-close estimator, Socgen uses its preferred proprietary high frequency OHLC estimator (chart below left). This clearly shows how sudden the volatility pickup was in the small- and mid-cap space. This volatility spike becomes even more stark when compared to the large cap benchmarks.

    Rising risks also lead to limits being triggered and risk-based unwinding of positions. In a market which is then working on a fear motive rather than profit, liquidity dries up leading to larger jumps in prices even from small trades. This is what the bank’s proxy illiquidity indicator captures (chart right below). Once again, the spike in illiquidity in the small- and mid-cap space, versus the relative calm in the large cap space potentially added to this quant quake.

    As Singh concludes, even as this illiquidity measure remains elevated in the CSI1000, it appears to have ticked up over the last couple of days in the CSI2000, suggesting lingering risks and perhaps more pain to come.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 23:25

  • "We Can't Wait": Speaker Johnson Demands Action On Border During 'Intense' Meeting
    “We Can’t Wait”: Speaker Johnson Demands Action On Border During ‘Intense’ Meeting

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has described reports that he was confronted by congressional leaders during an “intense” meeting over government funding and aid to Ukraine at the White House on Feb. 27 as “pretty accurate.”

    Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) makes a statement to the press as he hosts Israeli Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana at the U.S. Capitol, on Feb. 6, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    Speaking to Fox News on Feb. 28, Mr. Johnson was asked by anchor Sean Hannity if there was any truth to the reports. The Republican lawmaker explained that he was definitely at odds with congressional leaders over the crisis at the southern border, among other issues, during the meeting.

    “Well, their reports are pretty accurate. They said that I was on an island by myself, and it was me versus everyone else in the room,” Mr. Johnson said.

    “What the liberal media doesn’t understand Sean, is that if you’re here in Washington and you’re described as a leader that’s on an island by themselves, it probably means you’re standing with the American people,” he continued.

    “And that’s what I did yesterday, I reminded the president, and all involved, that the number one issue in America is that open border. The catastrophe that we have, that President Biden himself designed, that he caused and created and I told him, just as I have many times before, he must address it with executive authority. We can’t wait any longer,” Mr. Johnson added.

    Mr. Johnson was joined by congressional leaders including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) during the Feb. 27 meeting with President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House, ahead of a looming government shut down.

    Officials also discussed potential funding for Ukraine during the meeting, with the White House having repeatedly urged Congress in recent weeks to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and around $9.2 billion for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

    While the package was approved by the Senate earlier this month, it has been stalled in the House by Republicans who are at odds over its lack of U.S. border security provisions and the additional funding for Ukraine.

    Lawmakers who attended the White House meeting, including Mr. Jeffries, later described it as “intense” while Mr. Schumer told reporters that he and all other attendees, had repeatedly pressed Mr. Johnson on Ukraine aid.

    “The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered in my many meetings in the Oval Office,” Mr. Schumer told reporters.

    Ultimately, lawmakers were able to strike a deal in principle and avert a partial government shutdown set to take place at the end of this week, although another continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels will need to be passed under the deal announced on Feb. 28.

    Parts of the government would be funded through March 8 while the remaining would be funded through March 22, according to congressional leaders. A final text is widely expected to be available by the weekend.

    Congress Must ‘Break the Cycle’

    Meanwhile, a deal on extra aid to Ukraine and other nations remains at a stalemate.

    Mr. Johnson told Fox News it is essential that Congress “breaks the cycle” in the way Washington works and “reform budgeting and spending” going forward.

    U.S. border patrol agents process people entering the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on March 29, 2023. (Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images)

    The House Speaker also stressed that Republicans will not give up the fight to ensure President Biden secures America’s borders.

    “The president has the executive authority to fix it right now, I told him at the White House yesterday one-on-one and in the group, I told him ‘Mr President, if you just issue an executive order that reinstates the Remain in Mexico [policy] … the agents, your own border patrol agents, told us it would reduce the flow by 70 percent, almost overnight,’” Mr. Johnson said.

    The House Speaker stressed the border crisis is a key issue for lawmakers, citing a rise in violent crime and murders, including the recent killing of university nursing student Laken Riley, allegedly at the hands of illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra.

    “There’s no question about it, this is a very dangerous time … America can’t stand for this any longer,” Mr. Johnson said.

    Jackson Richman contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 23:05

  • Pentagon Chief: If Ukraine Is Defeated, NATO Will Be At War With Russia
    Pentagon Chief: If Ukraine Is Defeated, NATO Will Be At War With Russia

    This is the single most important, dangerous and highly revealing statement from a top defense official in the West in a long time… It also demonstrates the precarious urgency of the moment and the huge stakes going into the November US election. The world truly stands on the precipice of a nuclear nightmare with the following fresh assertion of Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said before Congress on Thursday: 

    “If Ukraine falls, I really believe that NATO will be in a fight with Russia,” Austin stated.

    What’s more is that this came the very day that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned things could easily spiral toward nuclear war in the scenario that NATO sends troops to Ukraine. Watch:

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    According to the fuller context of the Pentagon chief’s statements, he emphasized that more Washington funding is crucial for Ukraine in order to prevent a situation where “one country can redraw its neighbors’ boundaries and illegitimately take over its sovereign territory.”

    “We know that if Putin is successful here, he will not stop. He will continue to take more aggressive actions in the region. And other leaders around the world, other autocrats around the world will look at this and will be encouraged by the fact that this happened and we failed to support a democracy,” he added.

    “If you are a Baltic state, you are really worried about whether you are next. They know Putin. They know what he is capable of. And, frankly, if Ukraine falls, I really believe that NATO will be in a fight with Russia,” Austin said.

    What is even more alarming about this statement is that everyone now knows that Ukraine forces are in retreat at this very moment, especially after the Russian capture of the city of Avdiivka, and surrounding villages.

    Bloomberg on Thursday issued a report predicting total collapse of the Ukrainian front lines by summer, as the headline suggests (Ukraine Sees Risk of Russia Breaking Through Defenses by Summer): “Ukrainian officials are concerned that Russian advances could gain significant momentum by the summer unless their allies can increase the supply of ammunition, according to a person familiar with their analysis,” the report says. According to more from Bloomberg:

    Internal assessments of the situation on the battlefield from Kyiv are growing increasingly bleak as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold off Russian attacks while rationing the number of shells they can fire.

    Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Thursday that mistakes by frontline commanders had compounded the problems facing Ukraine’s defenses around Avdiivka, which was captured by Russian forces this month. Syrskyi said he’d sent in more troops and ammunition to bolster Ukrainian positions.

    US DoD/Flickr

    So the consensus narrative and belated mainstream media admission is that Ukraine’s military is a mere months away from clear defeat, and the top US defense chief just said NATO will go to war with Russia “if Ukraine falls”.

    The conflict has reached a dire and perilously unpredictable moment indeed, and clearly the already slim chances of jump-starting serious peace negotiations to end the war are slipping away fast. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 22:45

  • 'DMV' America: The Regime's Fani Willis Problem, And Ours
    ‘DMV’ America: The Regime’s Fani Willis Problem, And Ours

    Via Revolver News,

    The fantastic fall of Fani Willis is one of the great comedies of recent American politics. It’s the flagrant corruption of Hunter Biden, mixed with the stupidity of Jussie Smollett, the courtroom farce of the George Zimmerman trial, and the sky-high political stakes of a U.S. presidential election. It’s the joyous, healthy humor of seeing a wicked, ridiculous person be exposed and get exactly what she deserves.

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    Right now, it still isn’t certain whether Judge Scott McAfee will actually kick Fani Willis off her own case, but even if he doesn’t, the damage has substantially been done. The tenuous prosecution of President Trump in Georgia has already been badly delayed and discredited, increasing its odds of being tossed by a higher court and the odds of the public simply shrugging its shoulders even if this abortion of a case somehow lurches all the way to a felony conviction. Left-wing anti-Trump zealots are practically begging Fani to step aside of her own volition for the good of the anti-Trump cause.

    But they are unlikely to get what they want, for the same reason that this scandal happened in the first place: America’s regime elevated a clown-show affirmative-action incompetent who only cares about herself, told her that she was a big hero simply for existing, and now we are all reaping the consequences.

    But don’t laugh too hard at the left’s Fani Fiasco. Because lurking beneath the Fulton County farce is a dark look at an institutional decay in American life that has only just begun.

    Compare Fani Willis with, say, another prosecutor, an older one who represents America’s past: Robert Mueller.

    Robert Mueller’s investigation was born of deceit and dark political motivations, as befits a reliable government functionary. Yet for all Mueller’s faults, it was also a smooth and, in the end, relatively professional operation. When Mueller learned about the affair and improper text messages between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, he removed them both from the case, months before the story leaked to the press. While there is much to attack about earlier cases in Mueller’s career (for one, he helped to cover up the Saudi role in 9/11), his own personal life appears extremely boring, with a 50-year marriage to a woman he met in high school.

    Despite being the biggest story in the country with a vast whirlwind of rumors around it, Mueller’s own probe had minimal leaks. Despite enormous celebrity status thanks to a Trump-deranged left (remember these?), Mueller did very little to court publicity. His investigation rarely said anything, only briefly stepping forward to debunk a false anti-Trump report by Buzzfeed News. And, of course, when all was said and done, despite enormous hype and tens of millions of dollars spent, despite the entire American ruling class practically begging him to send the Bad Orange Man to prison, Mueller’s final report found no evidence of “Russian collusion” and brought no criminal charges against President Trump.

    Now, take in all of that and go back to the adventures of Flim-Flam Fani.

    Willis’s illicit relationship could have easily remained hidden, or at least inconsequential, if she had been even slightly less stupid. But she just could not help herself. It wasn’t enough to hire her lover. She had to make him special counsel on by far her most high-profile case, which would attract by a million miles the most press attention and the most expensive, diligent lawyers. It wasn’t enough to carry on a tryst with Willis. She had to go on one lavish vacation after another with him.

    Willis’s excuses for her behavior are the sort that require a lobotomy to accept. Her relationship with Willis was entirely appropriate and aboveboard, yet Willis felt compelled to hide it because, well, *mumble mumble*. Was Willis using her highly-paid lover as a conduit to get those vacations? Not at all. By happenstance, Fani just keeps $15,000 (15 large) in cash in her home at all times for just this sort of thing. And by golly, it turns out Wade liked to do the same thing. How handy!

    The Hill:

    The special prosecutor described Willis as an “independent, proud woman” who insisted on paying her own way and used cash for “safety reasons,” not to obscure the transactions. He also said he did not deposit the cash Willis paid him for their trips together.

    “You don’t have a single, solitary deposit slip to corroborate or support any of your allegations that you were paid by Mrs. Willis in cash, do you?” Shafer attorney Craig Gillen pressed.

    “No sir,” Wade replied, adding he would either “spend it or put it in my pocket or put it in the hotel’s safe.”

    “Safety reasons!” It’s the sort of lame lie that belongs alongside “Hunter Biden was a top anti-corruption expert.” Incompetent in a wholly stupid, almost lazy way, she covers her tracks with a tale that isn’t even meant to convince, just to make one sputter at seeing a person possibly get away with the thinnest excuse imaginable. The stupidity of such affirmative action cases so unfathomably defies conventional understanding that it extends beyond the merely ludicrous and would achieve an endearing, childlike quality were it not for the devastating consequences to the country.

    The American regime is groaning both in public and behind closed doors at the trouble Fani Willis has stirred up for them. But just as Fani deserves her ongoing humiliation, so do all of her enablers. They have asked, loudly and proudly, for every part of this.

    After all, Fani Willis is the avatar of DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) America – the combination of racial caste system and kakistocracy that the American regime is determined to erect in what was once the world’s proudest meritocratic society.

    We have extensively chronicled the decay rotting out America as it pays for bad decisions made decades ago. We’ve covered the degradation of America’s power grid, its airports, and even its amusement parks. But just as glaring as any physical decay will be the decay in human capital—the disappearance of talented and morally upright people who are replaced by farcical parasites who bask in how useless and entitled they are.

    Back in the mid-90s, when Willis attended law school, her alma mater at Emory averaged a U.S. News ranking in the mid-20s—in the top quarter but also well outside the Top 14 that has traditionally designated America’s best law schools. And that’s frightful, in fact. We can safely guess that Willis was not an above-average Emory student, or even the median one. All of us know the truth: America has for decades run a pervasive race-based affirmative action racket in which students from preferred races get a huge boost to their college admissions.

    The odds that Willis scored below Emory’s median LSAT—and perhaps well below—are very high. The median black LSAT score is around 142 points, meaning that any score above 160 represents the top three percent of all test-takers. But if Willis was scoring in the top 3 percent, then frankly, she would have been able to punch a ticket to a top law school, like Harvard or Columbia, or, hell, at least Georgetown. Going to Emory, with the massive admissions boost she could count on based on skin color alone, indicates Willis’s LSAT score may have been frightful. There are, no exaggeration, hundreds of thousands of lawyers in America who are smarter and better-qualified to be prosecutors in a major American city.

    But Fani is the one we have.

    And you know what might be the funniest part? Fani is, in many ways, the cream of the crop.

    Say what you will about Fani cavorting with her boyfriend—she does, at least, manage to prosecute some actual criminals. That puts her far ahead of recently-departed St. Louis, Missouri, circuit attorney Kim Gardner. During her six-year run as the top prosecutor in America’s deadliest city, Gardner:

    • Let St. Louis’s murder rate balloon to 87 per 100,000, more than double the rate of Johannesburg and in the top 10 for all of planet Earth.

    • Admitted to paying for her personal apartment using campaign funds.

    • Criminally charged the McCloskeys for brandishing unloaded firearms at a BLM mob, then fundraised off said prosecution in such a glaring manner that a judge kicked her off the case.

    • Falsely accused police of pulling her over for no reason as an intimidation tactic—when, in fact, camera footage showed she was driving without working headlights.

    • Sued her own city under the Ku Klux Klan Act, alleging a vast racist conspiracy against her by the city government and police department.

    • Illegally spent two years secretly pursuing a nursing degree while still serving as a circuit attorney.

    • Repeatedly had to drop criminal charges against alleged murderers because her office just could not stop screwing up.

    In Baltimore, former state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby hoped to use the Freddie Gray case to launch her national fame. Instead, her shoddy, politically motivated prosecution of local police sent the signal that Baltimore was a free-fire zone, and the city soon became one of the most violent in the world. Then, just as things were getting a bit better, Mosby used COVID as an excuse to get even more lenient on crime.

    Mosby herself, meanwhile, became known for firing prosecutors she disliked and then threw in a dose of mortgage fraud for good measure. That should at least be enough to get her disbarred, sparing Marylanders from further Mosby shenanigans, but who knows? Maybe some lefty judge will rule that disbarring criminals is racist!

    Yet even Mosby is a model of public service compared to someone like Dolton, Illinois mayor Tiffany Henyard, who has recently become a minor celebrity for her brazen corruption.

    Tiffany Henyard

    The New York Post:

    Henyard was first elected in 2021 to lead the small town of 20,000 people about 20 miles south of downtown Chicago.

    She has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for a laundry list of antics, including accusations of blowing thousands in public funds on luxury travel and dining, turning local police into both her personal bodyguards and backup dancers for music videos, and hiring DJs for town meetings — all while the village falls $5 million into debt. …

    Dolton Trustee Kiana Belcher said former Dolton Chief of Police Robert Collins admitted the mayor forced him to target people.

    “She’ll have the police follow you and give tickets,” Belcher said. “I went out of town and she had one of the officers … give me tickets … It was a manipulation tactic.”

    When she confronted Collins, Belcher said, the chief didn’t hesitate to blame Henyard.

    “He looked down at me and said, ‘She told me to write them,’” Belcher said.

    Henyard was elected in February 2021, meaning she has now been trashing her city for three whole years. Yet, despite by all accounts being an obvious criminal, she’s still in office and still unindicted. Why would that be?

    Well, because the DA to bring those charges would be Cook County DA Kim Foxx!

    Kim Foxx

    Yes, that Kim Foxx: the one who tried to let Jussie Smollett off the hook, requiring a special prosecutor to swoop in and save the day. When she wasn’t giving favorable treatment to black celebrities, Foxx ordered her minions to avoid cash bail and to only bring felony theft charges against criminals with at least ten prior felony convictions.

    So, why would we expect Kim Foxx to hold a fellow soul sista accountable? For that matter, why would we expect anyone on the left to do it?

    The modern left has almost wholly abandoned traditional religious faith, but it certainly still has its priests and saints. And the narcissistic message, repeated day in and day out, is that black women are America’s sacred beings. Joe Biden ran on a promise to consider black women, and only black women, for his first Supreme Court pick—93% of Americans need not apply. The result was Ketanji Brown Jackson, who can’t say what a woman is but nevertheless thinks the entire planet should hear every inane thought passing through her head.

    As soon as Fani Willis’s own conduct threw the entire lawfare campaign against Donald Trump, years in the making, into doubt, the ethnonarcissist whining came tumbling out immediately: Criticizing a prosecutor for corruptly staffing her loser boyfriend onto a job he wasn’t qualified for was racist!

    It is our job to revere them and to listen to them (just don’t ever touch their hair!).

    We’re not even close to rock bottom, either. Remember, as we speak, Kamala Harris is a heartbeat away from the presidency.

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 22:25

  • US Deploys "Project Maven" In Middle East As AI Warfare Underway
    US Deploys “Project Maven” In Middle East As AI Warfare Underway

    Remember in 2018 when thousands of Google employees protested its Pentagon contract called “Project Maven” that used article intelligence technology to analyze drone surveillance footage?

    Well, six years after Google did not renew its Pentagon contract for AI work to head off an internal rebellion, that very same technology was used by the US military to identify targets across the Middle East in bombing raids by fighter jets earlier this month, according to Schuyler Moore, chief technology officer for US Central Command, which runs US military operations in the Middle East, who spoke with Bloomberg. 

    “We’ve been using computer vision to identify where there might be threats,” Moore said in an interview. 

    Source: Bloomberg

    She continued: “We’ve certainly had more opportunities to target in the last 60 to 90 days,” adding the US is currently looking for “an awful lot” of rocket launchers in the region. 

    Moore’s comments provide some of the strongest evidence to date that the US military is using AI targeting systems to identify potential strike areas. She noted that even after Google walked away from the project, experimenting has continued with drone or satellite imagery. 

    Based at Central Command, or Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Moore revealed that US forces in the Middle East have been testing AI targeting systems using a combination of satellites and other data sources and conducted exercises over the past year with the technology. 

    “October 7th, everything changed,” she said, adding, “We immediately shifted into high gear and a much higher operational tempo than we had previously.” She noted the shift from exercises to real-life missions was “a pretty seamless shift” with Project Maven. 

    However, Moore emphasized that Project Maven’s AI capabilities only identify potential targets instead of automatically confirming and killing the target. 

    A separate Bloomberg report noted:

    “A growing number of US military officers predict that AI will transform the way America and its enemies make war, ranking it alongside the radio and machine gun in its potential to revolutionize combat.” 

    Insiders told Bloomberg that Project Maven’s core data-fusion platform is developed by Palantir Technologies, and involves critical contributions from Amazon Web Services, ECS Federal, L3Harris Technologies, Maxar Technologies, Microsoft, and Sierra Nevada.

    According to Colonel Joseph O’Callaghan, the fire support coordinator for the 18th Airborne Corps and its AI targeting efforts leader, Project Maven, “is not Terminator. The machines aren’t making the decisions, they’re not going to arise and take over the world.”

    America’s use of AI in warfare for targeting assistance is no longer theoretical. This could be the beginning innings of Skynet. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 22:05

  • Watch: Mother Pushes 'They/Them' Pronouns On 15-Month-Old Baby At Gay Pride Event
    Watch: Mother Pushes ‘They/Them’ Pronouns On 15-Month-Old Baby At Gay Pride Event

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

    A video posted by the New Yorker which is going viral on X shows a mother asking people to refer to her 15 month old baby as a ‘they/them’.

    Yes, really.

    The baby is wearing a frilly pink, yellow and blue dress as the mother walks it through the pride parade.

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    “How old is she?” asks another person.

    “They are 15 months old,” the mother responds, adding, “We actually use them/them pronouns until they tell us who they are.”

    The mother then explains how, “We are pulling apart this idea of sex which is related to genitals and gender which is related to how you move in the world, so what you wear, how you share your identity with other people, all of those things are related to gender.

    Respondents on X accused the mother of using her baby as a prop for her own demented political ideology.

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    As we previously highlighted, under new rules introduced by the Biden administration, foster parents will be forced to “affirm” the gender identity of children in their care or risk being refused permission to become foster parents in the first place.

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

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 21:45

  • Election Embezzlement: Harris Says Administration To Pay College Students To Register Voters
    Election Embezzlement: Harris Says Administration To Pay College Students To Register Voters

    Like the increasingly brazen thievery in America’s cities, the Democrats’ use of government resources to reinforce their hold on power is becoming more blatant by the day. 

    The latest: On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the federal government will start paying college students to register voters and serve as poll workers. College students and young people in general historically lean heavily Democratic: Biden received 65% of votes cast by 18- to 24-year-olds in the 2020 election, compared to 51% overall. 

    “We have been doing work to promote voter participation for students,” said Harris as she met with activists representing more than 20 voting rights groups. “For example, we have under the Federal Work-Study program now allow students to get paid through Federal Work-Study to register people and to be non-partisan poll workers. As we know, this is important for a number of reasons. One, to engage our young leaders in this process and activate them in terms of their ability to strengthen our communities.”

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    “Curious how they chose college students and not veterans,” said New Hampshire state Rep. Ross Berry. “Almost like this is just a scheme to register Democrats and not actually increase participation of all voters. In most states, the areas they are targeting already have these programs under the National Voter Registration Act, so why the sudden interest in injecting college students? I think we know the answer.”

    Further tipping the self-serving slant of its taxpayer-funded voter-registration machinery, the Biden administration chose the Juneteenth holiday — which commemorates the abolition of slavery — as one of three occasions on which it will have registration blitzes, Axios reports. Biden won the 2020 black vote by a 92% to 8% margin. Another push will come on the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.

    It doesn’t stop there. Harris said the administration has also ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to send voter registration solicitations to Americans who’ve obtained health insurance via the Affordable Care Act marketplace. According to a 2017 Cal-Berkeley study, “Republicans are fully 12 percentage points less likely to purchase marketplace plans than Democrats.”

    Students promoting voter registration at North Carolina historically black colleges and universities in 2022 (via Common Cause)

    Federal employees, whose 2019 party identification skewed Democratic by a 50% to 26% margin, get free time off to vote — even if they choose to do so during early voting. 

    The announcement that taxpayer funds will be used to pay a Democrat-leaning demographic to find new voters to register comes a week after Biden, defying the Supreme Court, cancelled another $1.2 billion in student debt — in a thinly-veiled scheme to use your money to buy votes.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 21:25

  • A Global, Digital Coup d'État
    A Global, Digital Coup d’État

    Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

    There was a time.

    What seemed to be unfolding was a huge intellectual error for the history books.

    A new virus had come along and everyone was freaking out and smashing all normal social functioning.

    The excuse turns out just to be the cover story. Still, it bears examination.

    Even though plenty of outside commentators said the pathogen should be handled in the normal way—with known treatment and calm while those most susceptible stayed cautious until endemicity—some people on the inside fell prey to a great fallacy. They had come to believe computer models over known realities. They thought that you could separate everyone, drive down infections, and then the virus would die out.

    This was never a plausible scenario, as anyone who knew something about the history of pandemics would report. All known experience stood against this cockamamie scheme. The science was very clear and widely available: lockdowns do not work. Physical interventions in general achieve nothing.

    But, hey, they said it was an experiment born of new thinking. They would give it a whirl.

    When it became clear that the lockdowners had gained sway over policy, many of us thought, truly, how long can this really last? A week, maybe two. Then we would be done. But then something strange happened. The money began to flow. And flow. The states thought that was awesome so they kept it up. The money printers got to work. And general chaos broke out: social, cultural, educational, economic, and political.

    It all happened so fast. The months rolled on with no break in the narrative. It became crazy after a time. There were so few critics. We didn’t know it but they were being silenced by a new machinery that had already been constructed for this purpose.

    Among that which was censored was criticism of the inoculation potion that was being rolled out and which would eventually be forced on populations all over the world. They said it was 95 percent effective, but it wasn’t clear what that could mean. No coronavirus had ever been controlled by any vaccination. How could this be true? It wasn’t true. Nor did the shot stop the spread.

    Many people said this at the time. But we couldn’t hear them. Their voices were muffled or silenced. The social media companies had already been taken over by government-connected interests working on behalf of intelligence agencies. We had believed that these tools were designed to increase our connections with others and enable free speech. Now they were being used to broadcast a preset regime narrative.

    Strange industrial shifts took place. Gas cars were deprecated in favor of a new experiment in electric vehicles, thanks to intense consumer demand caused by shortages owing to supply chain breakages. Digital learning platforms got a huge boost because physical classrooms were closed. Online ordering and doorstep delivery became the rage because people were told not to leave their homes and small businesses were forcibly closed.

    The pharma companies were riding high of course, gradually acculturating the population to a subscription model. There were attempts to convert whole countries to a health passport system. New York City tried this, along with actual physical segregation of the entire city, with the vaccinated considered clean while the unvaccinated were not allowed into restaurants, libraries, or theaters. The digital app didn’t work however, so that plan fell apart quickly.

    All of this happened in less than one year. What began as an intellectual error in public health ended up looking like a digital coup d’état.

    Coups of the past featured rebel armies from the hills storming the cities and joined by the military as they invaded the palace and the leader and his family fled in a carriage or helicopter depending on the epoch.

    This was different. It was organized and planned by intelligence agencies within the structure of the global state, a great reset to reject the forms of the past and replace them all with a new dystopia.

    Initially, the people who said this was a great reset were derided as crazed conspiracy theorists. But then it turned out that the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Klaus Schwab, had written a book by the very title that you could buy from Amazon. It turns out to be H.G. Wells’s “The Open Conspiracy” updated for the 21st-century technology.

    There turns out to be much more than that. There was an angle to all of this that impacts the mechanisms we use for democratic control of societies. Buried in the flurry of bills shoved through in March 2020 was a liberalization of balloting and voting that would never have been tolerated before. In the name of social distancing, mail-in ballots would become the norm, along with the known irregularities they introduce.

    Implausibly, this too was part of the plan.

    Researching and realizing all of this in real time has been a bit much. It has shattered the old ideological paradigms. The old theories no longer explain the world as it is unfolding. It causes all of us to revisit our priors, at least those with minds adaptable enough to pay attention. For vast swaths of the intellectual class, this is not possible.

    Looking back, we should have known something was up at the outset. There were too many anomalies. Were the people in charge really so stupid as to believe that you can make a virus go away by making everyone stay home? It’s absurd. You cannot control the microbial kingdom this way, and surely everyone with a modicum of intelligence knows this.

    Another clue: there never was an exit plan. What exactly was fourteen days of frozen activity going to achieve? What was the benchmark of success? We were never told. Instead, the elites in media and government simply encouraged fear. And then met that fear with ridiculous protocols like dousing ourselves with sanitizer, masking while walking, and presuming every other person is a disease vector.

    This was psychological warfare. To what end and how ambitious are these hidden plans for us?

    Only four years later, we are grasping the fullness of what was going down.

    For those of us schooled in the persistent incompetence of government to get anything right, much less deploy a plan with anything like precision, elaborate conspiracy theories of plots and schemes always seem implausible. We just don’t believe them.

    This is why it took us so long to see the fullness of what was deployed in March 2020, a scheme that combined a plethora of seemingly disparate governmental/industrial ambitions including:

    1) rollout of subscription/platform model of Pharma distribution,

    2) mass censorship,

    3) election management/rigging,

    4) universal basic income,

    5) industrial subsidies to digital platforms,

    6) mass population surveillance,

    7) cartelization of industry,

    8) shift in income distribution and entrenchment of administrative state power,

    9) crushing of ‘populist’ movements worldwide, and

    10) the centralization of power generally speaking.

    To top it off, all these efforts were global in scope. This whole model truly stretches the bounds of plausibility. And yet all the evidence points to exactly the above. It just goes to show that even if you don’t believe in conspiracies, conspiracies believe in you. It was a digital-age coup d’état unlike anything humanity has ever experienced.

    How long will it take us to process this reality? We seem to be only at the early stages of understanding, much less resisting.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 21:05

  • Leaked Military Files Show Russia's Nuclear Strike Threshold Lower Than Previously Known
    Leaked Military Files Show Russia’s Nuclear Strike Threshold Lower Than Previously Known

    This week the Financial Times has published contents of a cache of leaked classified Russian documents said to lay out the country’s doctrine and strategy for tactical nuclear weapons use. Included in the documents is info on the Kremlin’s minimum criteria for using tactical nukes.

    The criteria outlined in the secret files range “from an enemy incursion on Russian territory to more specific triggers, such as the destruction of 20% of Russia’s strategic ballistic missile submarines,” according to FT.

    Images: Getty & Wikimedia 

    The question of the possibility of Russia and NATO stumbling toward nuclear war is without doubt heavy on the minds of many this week, especially after French President Emmanuel Macron’s Monday comments wherein he raised sending Western troops to fight Russia in Ukraine and said of the possibility, “nothing should be ruled out.”

    Putin appeared to respond directly in his Thursday state of the nation televised address, spelling out: “Everything that they are coming up with now, with which they threaten the entire world – all this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization – don’t they understand this, or what?“

    “They must ultimately understand that we also have weapons – and they know about it, just as I now said  – we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” he warned.

    As for tactical nuke usage, Russia’s tactical arsenal has more limited range in comparison to strategic weapons, and thus are designed and intended for the possibility of a ‘nearer’ war in Europe or Asia. 

    But worrisomely, the FT review of the documents (which date from 2008-2014) finds that the Kremlin likely has a threshold “lower than Russia has ever publicly admitted, according to experts who reviewed and verified the documents.” Experts cited in the FT say the contents of the leaks likely remain part of Moscow’s current nuclear doctrine.

    The documents show that Russia has recently rehearsed scenarios involving war with China. Per the leaks and the FT report:

    One exercise outlining a hypothetical attack by China notes that Russia, dubbed the “Northern Federation” for the purpose of the war game, could respond with a tactical nuclear strike in order to stop “the South” from advancing with a second wave of invading forces.

    “The order has been given by the commander-in-chief . . . to use nuclear weapons . . . in the event the enemy deploys second-echelon units and the South threatens to attack further in the direction of the main strike,” the document said.

    And for another scenario involving a hypothetical enemy invasion of Russian territory: 

    A separate training presentation for naval officers, unrelated to the China war games, outlines broader criteria for a potential nuclear strike, including an enemy landing on Russian territory, the defeat of units responsible for securing border areas, or an imminent enemy attack using conventional weapons.

    The slides summarise the threshold as a combination of factors where losses suffered by Russian forces “would irrevocably lead to their failure to stop major enemy aggression”, a “critical situation for the state security of Russia”.

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    Another envisioned situation seems to apply more for something like a Ukraine escalation scenario where there’s runaway escalation. According to the FT’s analysis and citations of the documents:

    Other potential conditions include the destruction of 20 per cent of Russia’s strategic ballistic missile submarines, 30 per cent of its nuclear-powered attack submarines, three or more cruisers, three airfields, or a simultaneous hit on main and reserve coastal command centres.

    Russia’s military is also expected to be able to use tactical nuclear weapons for a broad array of goals, including “containing states from using aggression […] or escalating military conflicts”, “stopping aggression”, preventing Russian forces from losing battles or territory, and making Russia’s navy “more effective”.

    The particular above section has language in it which seems to lay out the most minimal threshold, but which perhaps leaves open the most interpretation for Russian leadership. Publicly at least, Kremlin leadership has said nuclear weapons could only be deployed if Russian territory and population face existential threat.

    Putin in his aforementioned Thursday major address seemed to appeal in his nuclear warning given to NATO to this doctrine of “containing states from using aggression” – given that’s precisely what he’s now accusing the West of in Ukraine.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 20:45

  • Lloyd Austin: Israel Killed "Over 25,000" Women & Children In Gaza
    Lloyd Austin: Israel Killed “Over 25,000” Women & Children In Gaza

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that Israel has killed over 25,000 Palestinian women and children in Gaza since October 7.

    When asked how many women and children have been killed during a House Armed Services Committee, Austin replied, “It’s over 25,000.” The number is higher than the estimate that’s been put out by Gaza’s Health Ministry.

    Getty Images

    The Gaza ministry said on Thursday that over 30,000 have been killed so far and has consistently said about 70% of the casualties are women and children, which puts the women and child death toll around 21,000.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry does not account for the thousands of civilians who are missing and presumed to be dead under the rubble or for Palestinians who may have been buried instead of being sent to a hospital or morgue.

    The breakdown of communications in the Gaza Strip has also impeded the Health Ministry’s ability to keep a count.

    In October, President Biden accused the Palestinians of lying about the death toll when confronted about civilian casualties. “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,” Biden said.

    But a few weeks later, Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, acknowledged Gaza’s Health Ministry has always been reliable and said the true death toll is likely higher than what they’re reporting. Israeli media reports have also said that Israeli military officials believe the Health Ministry’s numbers are close to accurate.

    Austin, a former Raytheon board member, also said the US had provided Israel with 21,000 munitions since October 7 to support the massacre, which does not include the American-provided bombs Israel was already armed with, as it receives $3.8 billion in military aid from the US each year.

    Watch the moment Secretary Austin addressed casualties in Gaza…

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    Despite the massive civilian casualty rate and the International Court of Justice ruling that it’s “plausible” Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, the US continues to provide unconditional military support and political cover.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 20:25

  • "Everything Is Gone": Texas Wildfire Ravages America's Cattle-Mecca
    “Everything Is Gone”: Texas Wildfire Ravages America’s Cattle-Mecca

    A devastating wildfire ravages parts of the Texas Panhandle, home to more than 85% of the state’s cattle herd. This comes when the nation’s cattle herd has collapsed to a seven-decade low, pushing up retail beef prices at the supermarket to record high levels. 

    Texas A&M Forest Service said the wildfire, called Smokehouse Creek fire, has scorched more than 850,000 acres (344,000 hectares) of grasslands as of Wednesday. 

    Source: Bloomberg 

    Reuters spoke with state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who warned the wildfire has likely killed tens of thousands of livestock and destroyed grain in storage bins. 

    “It’s almost like gasoline when it goes up,” Miller said, adding, “We have now lost over a million acres.

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    Miller said the wildfire rages in the Panhandle area, where 85% of the state’s herd is located. It’s important to note that Texas is the top cattle producer in the nation. He said cattle in feedlots and dairies are safe. 

    “Feed supplies are scarce for surviving cattle because the fire destroyed grazing lands and bins holding crops like wheat and corn,” he said.

    Miller continued: “There’s absolutely zero vegetation. The cattle that do survive, they have absolutely nothing to eat.”

    Readers have been well informed about ‘beeflation’ and why it’s happening: 

    The latest data from the US Department of Agriculture’s biannual cattle inventory report earlier this month showed that the US cattle herd (as of Jan. 1) fell 2% from a year ago to 87.2 million cattle. That’s the smallest herd count since 1951. 

    Source: Bloomberg 

    A shrinking herd has pushed US retail beef prices to a record of $5.35 per pound. And prices could go much higher. 

    In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Miller said: “I know ranchers up there — families that have had these ranchers for more than 100 years — everything is gone.” 

    Meanwhile, elites in the WEF cult have been pushing hard to ban cow farts because they allege it’s contributing to climate change. These folks are adamant about resetting the global food supply chain to one that puts working poor folks on a bug-heavy diet. 

    We, the people, will not eat bugs.

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    Now, more than ever, Americans must break out of the food industrial complex and start their own farms or simply buy from local mom-and-pop farms. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 20:05

  • Sen. Cotton Asks Pentagon Why Airman Who Self-Immolated Was Allowed To Serve
    Sen. Cotton Asks Pentagon Why Airman Who Self-Immolated Was Allowed To Serve

    Authored by Aaron Pan via The Epoch Times,

    Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has questioned why the Pentagon allowed an active-duty airman, who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington on Feb. 25, to serve in the U.S. Air Force.

    In a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin dated Feb. 28, Mr. Cotton sought answers from the Department of Defense (DOD) over the incident.

    “You have made it a top priority to address ‘extremism’ amongst our total force, and this act of horrific violence—in support of a terrorist group—raises serious questions about how this individual was allowed to serve on active duty,” Mr. Cotton wrote.

    Aaron Bushnell, 25, a member of the U.S. Air Force, self-immolated in protest against Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip that followed the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.

    Before setting himself on fire, he said he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and would therefore “engage in an extreme act of protest,” repeating the phrase “free Palestine.”

    The man passed away as a result of his severe injuries.

    In a press release, Mr. Cotton said Mr. Bushnell’s actions show that he “obviously harbored extreme, anti-American views.”

    Mr. Cotton asked the DOD to provide information if its anti-extremism training program “addresses support for Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas.” He also wanted to know whether the airman showed any “extremist leanings” or “concerning behavior” before the self-immolation incident and if the DOD took any action to deal with such a concern.

    The senator from Arkansas also wanted to know if the Pentagon found any Islamic terrorist support groups within the department and whether any service members were involved in anti-Israeli protests that violated DOD regulations on restricted political activities.

    Mr. Cotton, a member of the Armed Services Committee, asked if the man had access to classified information that undermined U.S. national security. The senator set a March. 7 deadline for the DOD to answer his questions.

    The Epoch Times has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

    The self-immolation incident comes more than four months into the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, which began in response to the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel by the Hamas terrorist group. The attack killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and security personnel.

    According to the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Bushnell was a cyber defense operations specialist for the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. He had been on active duty since May 2020.

    The Air Force sent condolences to Mr. Bushnell’s family after the incident. “When a tragedy like this occurs, every member of the Air Force feels it. We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Senior Airman Bushnell,” Col. Celina Noyes, commander of the 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing, said in a statement on Monday.

    The incident happened as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks cabinet approval for a military operation in Rafah, in southern Gaza, while a temporary cease-fire deal is being negotiated. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, however, has drawn criticism, including allegations of genocide against Palestinians.

    Israel has adamantly denied the genocide allegations and says it is carrying out operations in accordance with international law.

    It is not the first self-immolation incident related to anti-Israel protests. Last December, a man also set himself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.

    Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at the time that it was “an act of extreme political protest” and did not believe it was connected to terrorism.

    Polls Show Majority of Americans Support Israel

    Israel is a longtime U.S. ally and receives billions of dollars in military support annually from Washington. Since the start of the war, the Biden administration has been actively engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflict from escalating into a wider regional war.

    A January poll by Gallup found that nearly 4 in 10 Americans—38 percent—think that Washington provides Israel with the right amount of support, 36 percent say that U.S. support is too much, and 24 percent say it’s too little. Regarding Palestinians, 31 percent of Americans think that they get the right level of support, and 33 percent say it’s too little.

    According to another Gallup poll in November, 50 percent of Americans approved of Israel’s military operation against Hamas, and 45 percent disapproved. A poll by the Harris Poll and HarrisX in October showed that most Americans were in favor of Israel in the war and opposed the Hamas terrorist group. Eighty-four percent of Americans sided with Israel in the war, while 16 percent sided with Hamas.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 19:45

  • Seismic Shift: Indonesia Floods Market With Cheap Nickel, Sparking Wave Of Unprofitable Mines  
    Seismic Shift: Indonesia Floods Market With Cheap Nickel, Sparking Wave Of Unprofitable Mines  

    The global nickel industry is experiencing a seismic shift as Indonesia emerges as a major low-cost supplier, contributing to a collapse in prices of the metal used in everything from making stainless steel to high-grade batteries. 

    Nickel is trading at just above $17,400 a ton, according to the London Metal Exchange, down from $48,800 a ton in early 2022. 

    Miners are writing down their businesses and closing mines due to a massive drop in income. At least six projects were closed in Australia last year as Indonesia flooded the world with cheap nickel. Bloomberg notes the supply of cheap nickel could mean upwards of at least half the world’s mines could become unprofitable. 

    Christel Bories, the head of Eramet, told the Financial Times that Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves and could soon account for 75% of all high-grade nickel production by the end of the decade. 

    “It has really made a big part of the old traditional players structurally non-competitive for the future,” Bories said, adding, “This is part of the industry will either disappear or be subsidized by governments.” 

    She continued: “The uncompetitive mines elsewhere will close. I’m not sure there will be so many governments deciding to subsidize big production with a lot of money just to compete with Indonesia production.”

    Bories’ gloomy prediction for the oversupplied nickel markets is similar to other mining CEOs, like BHP chief executive Mike Henry, who recently warned that its flagship nickel business in Australia could close in the next few months. He said help from the government “may not be enough” to save the company’s nickel operation in the western part of the country. 

    Two weeks ago, BHP wrote down the entire value of its Western Australian nickel mining operation. The firm reported a shocking 86% year-on-year plunge in net income for the second half of 2023. 

    Bloomberg pointed out that Indonesia’s move to flood the world with cheap nickel will keep markets oversupplied through the decade’s end. 

    “There is a serious structural challenge as a result of Indonesian nickel,” said Duncan Wanblad, chief executive officer of Anglo American Plc. The miner was forced to take a $500 million writedown on its nickel business last week. 

    Wanblad added: “They don’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.”

    The imploding nickel market is great news for electric vehicle companies, who were once battered by skyrocketing battery material costs during Covid. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 19:25

  • Biden Blasted After Claiming Crime Rate Has Fallen To 50-Year-Low
    Biden Blasted After Claiming Crime Rate Has Fallen To 50-Year-Low

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    Joe Biden was slammed online after claiming that the crime rate in the US has fallen to the lowest point its been in half a century.

    Biden has claimed that during the Trump Administration, “America saw the largest increase in murders ever recorded,” while “Under the Biden-Harris Administration, there has been a significant decrease in crime — including one of the largest yearly declines in homicides ever.”

    Respondents noted that Biden completely ignored a huge spike in violent crime in large, mostly Democrat run, cities.

    Biden made the comments while touting a fact sheet on what he’s done to “fight crime.”

    Others noted that the drop in overall crime can be attributed to a massive reduction in reporting of crime stats and simply making things that were previously criminal no longer crimes.

    Meanwhile, when you glance at the news…

    More…

    *  *  *

    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
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 19:05

  • Federal Judge Blocks New Texas Law To Arrest Illegal Immigrants
    Federal Judge Blocks New Texas Law To Arrest Illegal Immigrants

    By Jack Phillips of Epoch Times,

    A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a Texas law that grants state police the capacity to arrest people who are suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.–Mexico border.

    The measure, called Senate Bill 4 and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in December, was slated to go into effect on March 5, but U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled that it violated the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy clause that grants the federal government sole authority over immigration matters. The judge also rejected Texas’s arguments that it was being invaded under the Constitution’s Article IV.

    In his order, Judge Ezra, a Reagan appointee, said the law would run afoul federal immigration laws and claimed Texas would then be able to “permanently supersede federal directives” and would “amount to nullification of federal law and authority.” According to the judge, that’s a “notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War.”

    As a result, he argued, the federal government would “suffer grave irreparable harm” because other states would be inspired to pass similar measures. “SB 4 threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice,” he wrote.

    At a Feb. 15 hearing, Judge Ezra expressed skepticism as the state pleaded its case for what is known as Senate Bill 4. He also said he was somewhat sympathetic to the concerns expressed by Mr. Abbott and other state officials about the unprecedented influx of illegal aliens. Judge Ezra then added that he feared the United States could become a confederation of states enforcing their own immigration laws.

    “That is the same thing the Civil War said you can’t do,” he told the attorneys.

    A lawyer for the state of Texas argued in court that due to the deluge of illegal immigrants, enabled by drug cartels and smugglers, it is tantamount to an invasion and that Texas has the right to defend itself under the Constitution.

    But the judge said that while he is “sympathetic” to the state’s concerns, he appeared to be skeptical of the lawyer’s argument. “I haven’t seen, and the state of Texas can’t point me to any type of military invasion in Texas,” Judge Ezra said. “I don’t see evidence that Texas is at war.”

    Mr. Abbott, a Republican, has backed the law, saying that it would compliment his efforts to provide better border security, noting that his state has dealt with a surge of illegal crossings in recent years. Other measures that Mr. Abbott has implemented are a barrier in the Rio Grande, razor wire barriers at certain border crossings, and prohibiting federal agents tasked by the Biden administration with undoing these measures from accessing border areas in Texas.

    Other state Republicans who back the law have said it would not target immigrants already living in the U.S. because of the two-year statute of limitations on the illegal entry charge and would be enforced only along the state’s border with Mexico.

    Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as well as other groups in favor of illegal immigration, have said they oppose the measure. A director at the American Gateways group told the Texas Tribune she believes the law is “based on xenophobia and racism,” while not making “our communities safer,” without elaborating.

    Read the rest at The Epoch Times

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 18:25

  • Hunter Finally Admits Joe Biden Is "The Big Guy"
    Hunter Finally Admits Joe Biden Is “The Big Guy”

    Hunter Biden on Wednesday testified to Congress that his father, Joe, was indeed “the big guy” referenced in an email pertaining to a business deal with a Chinese state-linked energy company that made the Biden family and friends millions of dollars. He denied, however, that Joe Biden ever received a 10% stake as was indicated in the text message.

    “At one point, we asked Hunter about the 10% for the ‘big guy,’” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Breitbart News following the first son’s six-hour, closed-door deposition.

    “We showed him the email … And he said, ‘Oh, that was after my father left office.’” she told the outlet.

    Hunter then tried to downplay the 10% idea:

    What’s wrong with having a pie-in-the-sky idea? When he [Joe Biden] left office in 2017, it thought he was done. I had no idea was gonna run for president. What’s wrong with just some pie?’ … thinking that he [Joe Biden] could be in the business. –Breitbart

    Greene said that Hunter insisted that “there was no percentage for my father in the business,” and that the 20 speakerphone calls Joe Biden joined was considered normal.

    “He was saying it’s totally normal for your parents to call you,” said Greene. “He just totally kept on saying, ‘Oh, this is normal. This is normal.'”

    Greene also confirmed Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-KY) statement that Hunter testified he joined the board of Burisma Holdings to counter Russian aggression. “He said he was picked to serve on Burisma ‘s board to defend democracy and Burisma was stopping Russian aggression,” Greene said.

    Hunter’s stated purpose for joining Burisma’s board is a new claim that indicates bizarre reasoning never before revealed.

    In 2015, Burisma was under suspicion of money laundering and public corruption. Prosecutor Victor Shokin investigated the case before his termination due to pressure from then-Vice President Joe Biden, who threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid from Ukraine if the Ukrainian government did not fire the prosecutor investigating Burisma.

    Joe Biden later bragged about the firing during a 2018 appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations. –Breitbart

    According to Greene, Republicans need to “get ready” for Democrats to fabricate another Russian disinformation hoax related to Hunter and the 2024 election – and that it would likely fit the media’s existing narrative against both Trump and protecting the Biden family.

    “I have a prediction that they’re gonna move it on to members of Congress like me and others, Jim Jordan, Jamie Comer, any of us that got hot and heavy on this Ukraine Burisma stuff, that they’re somehow going to say that Republicans are Russian sympathizers. They’re gonna call me that anyway, because I won’t fund the Ukraine war. They’re probably going to accuse us of being Russian sympathizers and falling for Russian disinformation and its election meddling. And then Democratic members of Congress here already saying they will not certify Trump’s election if he wins.” -MTG

    “It was there’s a really weird theme in there with the whole Russian thing,” said Greene. 

    In November, the House Oversight Committee revealed that President Biden received $40,000 in Chinese funds which were “laundered” through his brother, James Biden, in a “complicated financial transaction” marked as a ‘loan,’ which took place just weeks after Hunter Biden threatened the Chinese with his father’s wrath in a July 30, 2017 text message to a CEFC China Energy employee.

    The alleged 2017 transfer from first brother James Biden to the future president involves the same business deal in which Joe Biden was called the “big guy” and penciled in for a 10% cut — and would be the first proven instance of the commander-in-chief getting a piece of his family’s foreign income.

    …

    The money ended up in Joe Biden’s bank account on Sept. 3, 2017, via a check labeled “loan repayment” from his younger brother, who partnered with Hunter in the venture. -NY Post

    “Remember when Joe Biden told the American people that his son didn’t make money in China?” asked Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) in a video posted to X. ““Well, not only did he lie about his son Hunter making money in China, but it also turns out that $40,000 in laundered China money landed in Joe Biden’s bank account in the form of a personal check.”

    This of course came on the heels of another “loan” repayment from James to Joe for $200,000.

    The aristocrats!

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 18:05

  • Gavin Newsom Faces Criticism For Minimum Wage 'Bread' Carveout That Benefited Top Donor
    Gavin Newsom Faces Criticism For Minimum Wage ‘Bread’ Carveout That Benefited Top Donor

    Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,

    California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) is facing greater scrutiny after it was discovered that a minimum wage carveout he is pushing for would benefit one of his top campaign donors.

    According to the Washington Free Beacon, the newly-passed law that will go into effect in April will raise the minimum wage at fast-food chains from $16 to $20 an hour. However, the law includes an exception for restaurants that bake and sell bread; one of the chains that would thus be excluded from the new $20 minimum wage would be Panera Bread, which is owned by Democratic megadonor Greg Flynn.

    Flynn had previously donated $100,000 to oppose the recall election against Newsom in 2021, then donated another $64,800 to support the governor’s re-election campaign in 2022. Flynn has even admitted to knowing Newsom so personally that he can text him directly.

    Newsom claimed that the new law, known as the FAST Act, was negotiated after “countless hours of negotiations with dozens of stakeholders over two years.” Flynn denied having anything to do with the exception for Panera, although other sources have claimed that it was indeed Flynn who pressured Newsom into supporting the carveout.

    The exception drew criticism even from figures who wouldn’t necessarily be political enemies of Newsom. Michelle Korsmo, the head of the National Restaurant Association, said that “everyone’s scratching their heads” in reaction to the exception, adding that “you may be celebrating or you may be lamenting the bakery exemption. But remember, all of that comes through relationships.”

    Newsom’s push for the exception even drew criticism from the original author of the FAST Act, Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Calif.), who said “we don’t know how that came about.”

    Other fast-food chains lashed out at the law itself, regardless of the bizarre exception. A spokesman from McDonald’s said that the new law would cost each of the company’s locations at least $250,000 a year due to the forced pay raise. This reflects the ongoing trend of California passing laws that are increasingly hostile to businesses, thus forcing many companies to relocate to other states to escape such high costs.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 17:45

  • Putin Warns Of Nuclear War If West Sends Troops To Fight In Ukraine
    Putin Warns Of Nuclear War If West Sends Troops To Fight In Ukraine

    Russian President Vladimir Putin used the occasion of his much anticipated annual state of the nation address to directly warn NATO that sending Western troops to fight in Ukraine could result in nuclear war.

    He explained that allegations from Western officials saying Russia intends to attack Europe are “nonsense”—after on Monday French President Emmanuel Macron really escalated the rhetoric by telling a security forum in Paris that sending Western troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out”. 

    Putin’s annual state of the nation address, Reuters

    “Everything that they are coming up with now, with which they threaten the entire world – all this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization – don’t they understand this, or what?” Putin said.

    “They must ultimately understand that we also have weapons – and they know about it, just as I now said  – we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” he warned.

    On the battlefield, the Ukrainians have continued their retreat amid defeat in several villages and towns outside of Avdiivka. As we previously analyzed, it seems the more that evidence of Russia’s ‘winning’ the war becomes obvious, the more desperate the actions and rhetoric out of NATO officials becomes.

    Putin acknowledged that the Russian military is “confidently advancing in a number of operational areas and liberating more and more territories” and currently “firmly holds the initiative” in Ukraine.

    He also warned over Sweden’s recent approved accession into NATO, saying Russia is building up extra forces along its Western border to “neutralize the threats” of ongoing NATO expansion.

    “The West has provoked conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions around the world while consistently propagating falsehoods. Now they have the audacity to say that Russia harbours intentions of attacking Europe. Can you believe it? We all know that their claims are utterly baseless,” Putin said. 

    Putin suggested that years of Western aggression and foreign meddling and disastrous interventions have only served to unite “numerous” countries and a “multi-ethnic people:

    The so-called West, with its colonial practices and penchant for inciting ethnic conflicts around the world, not only seeks to impede our progress but also envisions a Russia that is a dependent, declining, and dying space where they can do as they please. In fact, they want to replicate in Russia what they have done in numerous other countries, including Ukraine: sowing discord in our home and weakening us from within. But they were wrong, which has become abundantly clear now that they ran up against the firm resolve and determination of our multi-ethnic people.

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    According to more from the speech via state media on his comments pertaining to ramped-up NATO involvement in Ukraine:

    At the same time, those same nations are “selecting targets to conduct strikes on our territory,” the Russian head of state claimed, adding that there is now talk of “deploying NATO military contingents to Ukraine.”

    Putin reminded would-be aggressors that all previous attempts to conquer Russia have ended in failure, warning that “now the consequences for potential invaders would be far more tragic.” He pointed out that Russia has a massive nuclear arsenal, which is in a state of “complete readiness for guaranteed deployment.”

    The past two months have seen the Kremlin specifically accuse France of sending its mercenaries to northern cities like Kharkiv, in order to conduct cross-border drone and mortar attacks on Russian territory. Russia’s military says it has successfully targeted places where foreign fighters are staying, but Kiev has of course not confirmed this.

    * * *

    More from Putin’s speech: “Russia ready for dialogue”

    “Russia is ready for dialogue with the United States on issues of strategic stability. However, it is important to clarify that in this case we are dealing with a state whose ruling circles are taking openly hostile actions towards us. So, they seriously intend to discuss strategic security issues with us while simultaneously trying to inflict strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield, as they themselves say…

    …Indeed, just like any other ideology promoting racism, national superiority or exceptionalism, Russophobia is blinding and stupefying. The United States and its satellites have, in fact, dismantled the European security system which has created risks for everyone.

    Clearly, a new equal and indivisible security framework must be created in Eurasia in the foreseeable future. We are ready for a substantive discussion on this subject with all countries and associations that may be interested in it. At the same time, I would like to reiterate (I think this is important for everyone) that no enduring international order is possible without a strong and sovereign Russia.”

    Putin’s response allegations of ‘nukes in space’

    “Here is a good example of their hypocrisy. They have recently made unfounded allegations, in particular, against Russia, regarding plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space. Such fake narratives, and this story is unequivocally false, are designed to involve us in negotiations on their conditions, which will only benefit the United States.

    …At the same time, they have blocked our proposal which has been on the table for over 15 years. I am referring to the agreement on preventing the deployment of weapons in outer space, which we drafted back in 2008. There has been zero reaction to it. It is totally unclear what they are talking about.”

    With the horrifying death toll in Ukraine, it’s past time for the West to push Kiev toward serious peace negotiations, and for a final end to this war, now having entered its third year.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 02/29/2024 – 17:25

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