- Escobar: Baltic/Black Sea Power-Games & Red-Lines Intersect In A "Strange War"
Escobar: Baltic/Black Sea Power-Games & Red-Lines Intersect In A “Strange War”
Authored by Pepe Escobar,
No one ever lost money betting on the batshit crazy “policies” of the ferociously yapping Baltic chihuahuas. Their latest power play of sorts is a drive to turn the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake.
The notion that a bunch of Russophobic sub-entities have what it takes to expel the Russian superpower from the Baltic Sea and pose a threat to St. Petersburg does not even qualify as cartoonish. Yet that is indeed part and parcel of NATO’s re-configured obsessions, as their warmongering “vanguard” has been relocated to a London-Warsaw-Baltic chihuahuas-Ukraine axis.
What kind of black hole rump “Ukraine” will turn out to be after the end of the war – which may not even happen in 2025 – remains to be seen. What’s certain is that in the case of a Ukraine exit – whatever the modalities – enter Romania.
The whole electoral farce in Romania – complete with the demonization of election front-runner Calin Georgescu – revolves around the upgrading of the Mihail Kogalniceanu base, which will become the largest NATO military base in Europe.
So, once again, this is all about the Black Sea. NATO wreaking havoc in the Black Sea carries way more savory prospects than NATO via chihuahuas monopolizing the Baltic Sea.
Ilya Fabrichnikov, a member of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, has published a remarkable essay essentially focusing on the Black Sea (this is a short version on the Kommersant daily).
Fabrichnikov convincingly argues that from an European – UE/NATO – angle, what really mattered in Ukraine was “to move its borders, along with its military, political and economic infrastructure, close to Russia’s, to put under full control the strategic Black Sea trade corridor – which easily stretches further north along the Odessa-Gdansk route – in order to more conveniently and quickly explore the economic spaces of Asia and North Africa, and to begin dictating its terms to Russian supplies of oil, gas and other resources needed by the European economy.”
As this focused power play instrumentalizing Ukraine is unravelling in real time, a replacement is needed – even as warmongering Eurocrats keep peddling their Orwellian “peace is war” dementia non-stop, complete with a non-stop tsunami of sanctions and renewed promises of avalanches of weapons to Kiev.
This is a classic Brussels vassals affair – even as the toxic Medusa von der Lugen as head of the EC and Rutti-Frutti as the new head of NATO were essentially appointed by Washington and London. Collectively, Europe has pumped way more military-political funds into black hole Ukraine than the Americans.
The reason is simple. For Europe there’s no Plan B apart from that mirific “strategic defeat” of Russia.
The EU/NATO Black Sea power play would make it even more imperative for Russia to connect with Transnistria. The only one who can answer whether this is part of the current planning is of course President Putin.
Neo-nazis go pipeline bombing
Russian intel is very much aware that the Europeans have to some extent already carved up their own areas in Ukraine – from ports to mines. Not surprisingly the Brits, via MI6, are ahead of the “continentals”, mostly Germany.
All that intertwines with the extremely murky weapons-for-metals deal clinched by Trump 2.0 with the totally illegitimate sweatshirt actor-turned-gangster in Kiev. The only thing that matters for Trump is to get U.S. money back – whether the total bill is $500 billion or less (actually, much less).
Into this kabuki steps in the real power in Kiev after the proclamation of martial law: the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine. The unelected, actually illegal actor is not taking any major decisions for some time now. These are issued by the former head of the foreign secret service, Oleksandr Lytvynenko.
It was the council that on February 17 ordered the bombing of the crucial pipeline owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) linking Kazakhstan to Novorossiysk, exporting loads of Kazakh and Russian oil.
Crucially, CPC shareholders included Italy’s ENI (2%); the Caspian Pipeline Co., which is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil (7.5%); and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium Co., a subsidiary of Chevron (15%).
Well, that’s not very bright; the “integral nationalists”, code for neo-nazis in Kiev decided to bomb a partially owned American asset. Not only there will be blowback by Trump 2.0; it is already on.
On the equally murky rare earths front, Putin’s recent interview to Channel One seems to have thrown everyone off balance. Russia, he said, has way more rare earths than Ukraine and is “ready to work with our foreign partners, including the U.S.” to develop these deposits. That’s classic Sun Tzu Putin: the Americans won’t have rare earths to exploit in the future rump Ukraine – because they don’t exist. But they can be partners with Russia in Novorossiya.
All of the above of course would presuppose a solid U.S.-Russia negotiation on Ukraine. And yet Team Trump 2.0 still does not seem to grasp the real Russian red lines:
1. No temporary ceasefire “along the front line”.
2. No trading of new territories acquired in the battlefield.
3. No NATO or European “peacekeepers” in the western borders of Russia.
Putin discombobulating Trump
As it stands, Washington and Moscow remain divided by an abyss.
Mr. Disco Inferno simply cannot make serious concessions – or de facto recognize the strategic defeat of the Empire of Chaos. Because that would seal the Definitive End of Unilateral Hegemony.
Putin for his part simply will not give away the hard-won victories on the battlefield. Russian public opinion expects nothing less. After all Russia holds all the cards leading to a possible negotiation.
The EU/NATO will never admit their own, self-inflicted strategic defeat; hence those Baltic/Black Sea dreams, which carry the extra self-inflicted fantasy of disrupting China’s New Silk Roads as much as “isolating” Russia.
Putin is actually performing virtual somersaults to instill some common sense. In his Mr. Disco Inferno he noted how, on U.S.-Russia relations, “this first step should focus on increasing the level of trust between the two countries. This is exactly what we have been doing in Riyadh, and this is what our next high-level contacts will be devoted to. Without this, it is impossible to solve any issue, including one as complex and acute as the Ukrainian crisis.”
Trust is far from being re-established, especially vis a vis a Lavrov-defined “non-agreement capable” Empire of Chaos with its global credibility in tatters. Add to it bombast after bombast manufactured to control the news cycle 24/7: the preferred Trump 2.0 modus operandi. None of it leads to that prime diplomatic mantra: “confidence building”.
And it will get even murkier – and way more dangerous – if Russian public opinion is confronted with the fact that after 11 years fighting a vicious proxy war with the Empire of Chaos, they may become partners in strategic industry sectors that Putin himself defined as essential to Russia’s national security.
Just like that. Or that may be just Putin discombobulating Trump with some unforeseen Sun Tzu gambit.
Earlier this week I had a fabulous off the record conversation with Sergey Glazyev, formerly with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and now leading the consolidation of the Union State (Russia-Belarus). It was up to Mr. Glazyev to come up with the definitive summary of everything unrolling before our eyes: “This is a very strange war”.
* * *
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 23:25 - These Are The World's Best-Selling Whiskies
These Are The World’s Best-Selling Whiskies
When someone says the word whisky (or whiskey in the U.S. or Ireland), it conjures images of rolling Scottish highlands.
Or distilleries with traditions stretching back hundreds of years.
But today, the world’s best-selling whiskies come from an unlikely source: India.
For this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Alan Kennedy partnered with Rare Whisky 101 to explore recent whisky sales and determine what the most popular brand is today.
The Dominance of Indian Whisky
The global alcohol industry is valued at around $1.8 trillion and is forecast to grow with a 9.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2025 and 2030.
The Indian and Chinese markets are largely responsible for this growth. These markets now have incredible demand for luxury and artisanal drinks. So it should be no surprise that eight of the 20 most popular whiskies globally are Indian.
Rank Brand Country Sales (9 L cases, million) 1 McDowell’s Whisky 🇮🇳 India 31.4 2 Royal Stag 🇮🇳 India 27.9 3 Officer’s Choice 🇮🇳 India 23.4 4 Imperial Blue 🇮🇳 India 22.8 5 Johnnie Walker 🏴 Scotland 22.1 6 Jim Beam 🇺🇲 U.S. 17.0 7 Suntroy Kakubin 🇯🇵 Japan 15.8 8 Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey 🇺🇲 U.S. 14.3 9 8PM 🇮🇳 India 12.2 10 Jameson’s 🇮🇪 Ireland 10.2 11 Blender Pride 🇮🇳 India 9.6 12 Royal Challenge 🇮🇳 India 8.6 13 Ballantine’s 🏴 Scotland 8.2 14 Crown Royal 🇨🇦 Canada 7.7 15 Canadian Club 🇨🇦 Canada 6.0 16 Sterling Reserve Premium Whiskies 🇮🇳 India 5.1 17 Chivas Regal 🏴 Scotland 4.6 18 Grant’s 🏴 Scotland 4.4 19 William Lawson’s 🏴 Scotland 3.4 20 Dewar’s 🏴 Scotland 3.3 India’s alcohol market, in particular, is vast and growing much faster than the global average. The Spirits Business estimates that in 2027, it will be seven times larger than in 2019.
What Sets the India’s Market Apart?
India’s alcohol market has grown due to its people’s deep passion for whisky. While the nation imports from many of the usual sources, such as Scotland, the U.S., and Japan. Its local whiskies are so popular that they dominate global sales.
The most popular Indian whisky, McDowells, is also the most popular globally. The brand sold 31.4 million cases in 2023 alone, growing 2.1% year-over-year, nearly double the sales of the most popular American whisky, Jim Beam.
A World of Whisky
Today, the global alcohol market is driven by the massive demand for luxury drinks like whisky in large markets such as India. This demand has led to India’s complete dominance of the global whisky scene, with sales far exceeding those of any other region.
Are you interested in learning more about the diverse world of whisky?
Rare Whisky 101 is one of the world’s most extensive whisky databases, covering everything from indexes comparing regional sales to valuations of the rarest bottles of Scotch.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 23:00 - America's TikTok Ban Is A Threat To Free Speech
America’s TikTok Ban Is A Threat To Free Speech
Authored by Micky Horstman via RealClearPolitics,
TikTok’s servers went dark for 12 hours on Jan. 19, but thanks to an extension from President Donald Trump, TikTok is back on the app stores, and its clock hasn’t run out yet.
The divestment, ban, and then subsequent extension have justifiably sparked criticism, especially among young people. And while half of Americans surveyed in March of 2023 supported a ban, now a majority of Americans disapprove. What accounts for such a swing in public opinion?
For a year, Americans watched lawmakers contradict their own claims that the app is a “national security threat.” Now, they are starting to see the ban for what it really is – an attack on consumer choice and free speech.
Originally, government leaders rejected TikTok’s kill switch and security proposal in 2022. Instead, they claimed the app was such a threat to national security that divestment was the only option. The government presented these concerns to the court which allowed them to override arguments about users’ free speech rights.
If TikTok was such a large threat to national security that it couldn’t continue to operate, then politicians should’ve suspended their accounts after the ban, instead of choosing to campaign on them. And the Trump administration shouldn’t have offered an extension if the product hasn’t changed – especially since Trump originally called for the ban.
Before the divestment vote, lawmakers were given an exclusive report that detailed TikTok’s alleged security concerns – members of Congress said it highlighted problems that existed across all social media platforms, none exclusive to TikTok. Without knowing the extent of those concerns, the public remains at risk. Why allow the data of 170 million Americans to be stolen, tracked, or whatever they believe the crisis is, for an extra year? If the problem is that serious, why haven’t they released that information?
Lawmakers’ concerns about foreign ownership were never really convincing when they singled out one Chinese owned company and not others. What about Temu and Shein? Both are Chinese-owned sites that have similar amounts of American users and data risks, plus well-documented labor violations, and you don’t see Congress talking about forcing them to divest.
What about the anonymous forum 4chan? It has murky foreign ownership and is often linked to mass shooters. Why isn’t Congress interested in regulating that?
Even American-owned X and Meta have their own documented abuses – from allowing Russian assets to buy political ads to unnaturally promoting right-wing content in feeds.
Americans aren’t buying the “national security concerns” anymore. We watched nearly the rest of the world carry on with an app said to be too dangerous for us, and as soon as it started polling poorly, we immediately had our access restored. And taking into account recent revelations from The Hill about the real motivations for ban, the pushback is warranted.
New reporting suggests that TikTok’s ban was actually expedited as a means of hiding coverage of the war in Gaza, not mounting concerns over Chinese ownership.
If true, the remaining “national security argument” unravels.
It’s time we acknowledge what this ban actually is: a muzzle. A government ban on TikTok is an attack on free speech. On this, Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who could not be further apart on the political spectrum, agreed. The American people agree. The U.S. government cannot be allowed to control the opinions that its citizens express online – even if those opinions criticize an ally.
Of course we wouldn’t want Russian newscasts broadcasting actively on U.S. airwaves or the Chinese printing and distributing newspapers on our soil. But social media is different by design. It’s user-generated content; it’s not owned by the government and shouldn’t be classified as legacy media. Both the government and news media have the option to participate in “the new town square,” but it doesn’t exist for them – it exists for the people.
To a majority of Americans, it has become clear that the TikTok ban violates the First Amendment rights of the over 170 million Americans who use the platform and, furthermore, it jeopardizes the livelihoods of thousands of U.S. residents, content creators, and businesses who rely on the app for revenue. The result of the court’s decision was unfair market manipulation – stifling the choices and financial opportunities of Americans – that will only serve TikTok’s competitors. These are hard-working Americans whose freedom of speech and right to earn a living are being steamrolled by the government.
It’s time lawmakers officially reconsider whether this violation of rights is truly warranted. If it is, the American people deserve to know all the reasons why.
Micky Horstman is the communications associate for the Illinois Policy Institute and a social mobility fellow for Young Voices.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 22:35 - Number Of Coups Up But Still Below Historical Highs
Number Of Coups Up But Still Below Historical Highs
The number of coups, coup attemps and conspiracies to overthrow a government rose substantially around the world since 2021. This is according to data collected by the University of Illinois Cline Center Coup d’État Project. The researchers found between 14 and 16 such events each year recently, up from mostly single-digit results in the 2000s and 2010s. The number of successful coups also rose, hitting seven in 2021 and five in 2024, up from a maximum of four in the previous decades.
However, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, the numbers, however, do not surpass earlier counts from the 1960s or 1970s, when an average of 20 coups and attempts per year were the norm, including up to 18 successful ones annually.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Coups, attempted coups and conspiracies took part on all continents in 2024, the data shows, and included widely reported government overthrows in Bangladesh, Syria and Haiti. The numbers also include more technical coups that did not cause as much media attention, for example in semi-constitutional monarchies where monarchs and elected officials share power. In May, the emir of Kuwait dissolved the country’s parliament just one month after elections and suspended certain constitutional provisions for four years.
In the three years prior, successful coups in Africa drove up the count, specifically in Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Sudan and Tunisia. Successful coups also took place in Sri Lanka and Kazakstan in 2022 (the latter classified as an autocoup) as well as Afghanistan and Myanmar in 2021. Attempted coups and conspiracies also repeatedly touched Europe and other developed countries, including last year’s attempt in South Korea (as well as conspiracies in Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine in 2024 and in Moldova in 2023). The events of January 6, 2021, in Washington D.C. are also listed in the database as an attempted coup and the Reichbürger movement arrests in Germany in 2022 as a conspiracy.
Since the end of the Second World War, there have been more than 450 successful coups worldwide. In the 1960s, there were 103 while between 1970 and 1979, there were 95. Previous to 2021, this had dropped considerably to an average of just 22 successful coups per decade since the turn of the millennia. If extrapolated, the current tally would be the equivalent of 38 coups in the current decade – almost double the previous decades’ count.
The question is – after today’s chaos, will we see another one in Ukraine anytime soon?
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 22:10 - Oregon Resumes Automatic Voter Registrations After Errors Registered Noncitizens
Oregon Resumes Automatic Voter Registrations After Errors Registered Noncitizens
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) resumed automatic voter registrations on Feb. 27, saying it had strengthened the system to prevent the registration of noncitizens.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek in October 2024 ordered a pause of the process after an audit discovered some individuals were automatically registered to vote despite not providing proof of U.S. citizenship. Officials later disclosed they’d identified additional individuals, taking the total to about 1,600.
The DMV said it has strengthened its system to minimize the risk of more noncitizens and others who have not provided proof of citizenship being registered. This includes hiring a voter registration integrity analyst and modifying the internal interface, which the agency says will reduce the likelihood of DMV staff selecting the wrong option.
Since the pause was imposed, the DMV has sampled new records and manually compared them with information collected from customers. The DMV said that no new mistaken registrations have been found so far.
“We believe these enhanced processes and permanent system changes, along with DMV’s observations and measurements regarding their effectiveness, provide adequate confidence that data integrity … is sufficient to reinstitute the process,” Deloitte, which the governor hired to review the system, said in a report.
“As a partner to Oregon’s Secretary of State, Oregon DMV is proud of the role it plays in helping U.S. citizens engage in our elections,” Oregon DMV Administrator Amy Joyce said in a statement. “We will continue our work to ensure the Oregon Motor Voter process is more secure and reliable than ever.”
The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office is also trying to prevent noncitizen voter registration.
The office said it has added more steps, including a daily confirmation step.
“The new protections we are adding today will help us catch and fix government data entry errors faster. These are first steps, focused on getting the fundamentals right. I will continue to dig into the system and take action whenever I can to strengthen our voter rolls and prevent future mistakes. Our highest priority is – and must always be – protecting the integrity of Oregonians’ fair, secure, and accessible elections,” Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said in a statement.
Automatic voter registration, with an opt-out, is required by state law for all Oregon residents aged 16 and older. The DMV collects the residents’ information and sends it to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.
Officials say the system erroneously registered 1,619 people, some of whom were noncitizens, even though the people never proved citizenship.
“Since the error was discovered, many have confirmed their citizenship,” the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office says on its website.
Seventeen of the people voted in an election. The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office is still actively investigating six of the cases. It referred three others to the Oregon Department of Justice and closed the rest.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 21:45 - Visualizing The Average American Work Week Over The Past 20 Years
Visualizing The Average American Work Week Over The Past 20 Years
Average weekly working hours typically see a decline during recessions, as employers seek to cut payroll costs during these periods by reducing hours.
However, in recent years, weekly hours have seen a consistent decline despite the U.S. being outside of a recession.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu, visualizes the average weekly hours worked by all private employees in the U.S.
The data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) via the Federal Reserve and is updated as of Feb. 7, 2025.
Average weekly hours represent the total hours worked by employees for which pay was received, accounting for factors like unpaid absenteeism, turnover, and part-time work, and may differ from scheduled hours.
Average Weekly Hours Worked Are On the Decline
Below, we show the average weekly hours worked for all U.S. private employees from 2006 to early 2025.
Date Average weekly hours worked for all U.S. private employees 2006-03-01 34.2 2006-09-01 34.4 2007-03-01 34.4 2007-09-01 34.4 2008-03-01 34.4 2008-09-01 34.2 2009-03-01 33.8 2009-09-01 33.9 2010-03-01 34 2010-09-01 34.3 2011-03-01 34.3 2011-09-01 34.4 2012-03-01 34.5 2012-09-01 34.4 2013-03-01 34.5 2013-09-01 34.4 2014-03-01 34.5 2014-09-01 34.5 2015-03-01 34.5 2015-09-01 34.5 2016-03-01 34.4 2016-09-01 34.4 2017-03-01 34.3 2017-09-01 34.4 2018-03-01 34.5 2018-09-01 34.4 2019-03-01 34.5 2019-09-01 34.4 2020-03-01 34.1 2020-09-01 34.7 2021-03-01 34.9 2021-09-01 34.8 2022-03-01 34.6 2022-09-01 34.5 2023-03-01 34.4 2023-09-01 34.4 2024-03-01 34.4 2024-09-01 34.2 2025-01-01 34.1 The average number of weekly hours worked in the U.S. in 2025 has dropped to levels seen during the 2020 pandemic, signaling potential weakness in labor demand.
This decline follows a steady decrease from a peak in 2021.
Sectors Driving the Trend
The BLS attributes this decline to reductions in the retail trade and leisure and hospitality industries, which have faced weaker demand, influenced by shifting consumer behavior post-pandemic, including a decline in in-person shopping and dining.
Despite employment gains since the pandemic low, both these sectors remain below or barely above pre-2020 employment levels, signaling ongoing weakness.
Both these sectors also have trended towards hiring more part-time employees, further contributing to lower weekly hours.
However, the BLS noted that while retail trade and leisure and hospitality saw the greatest recent declines in average weekly hours worked, there has been a broader trend toward slightly reduced average weekly hours across most industries in the United States.
The number of hours worked typically declines during recessions, as seen in both the Great Recession (2008–2009) and the COVID-19 recession (2020). However, the decline during the pandemic was more abrupt and short-lived.
To compare average working hours across the world, check out this graphic that visualizes the average weekly number of hours worked per employee by country.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 21:20 - Dawn Of A New Era
Dawn Of A New Era
Authored by Bruce Abramson via RealClearPolitics,
The world is in flux. Our much-discussed national vibe shift suggests that Americans are beginning to feel the change, but it understates what’s happening by a very large margin. What we’re experiencing is of global significance: the dawn of a new era.
Between 1989 and 1991, the Communist bloc collapsed. The United States stood bestride the world, history’s first truly global hegemon. Perhaps unsurprisingly in retrospect, that dominance wreaked havoc on our national psyche.
The most popular idea of that moment, summarized in Francis Fukuyama’s provocative title, “The End of History,” shaped the reconstruction and expansion of the “liberal international order.”
Fukuyama’s theory stated that history’s most vexing question – how best to organize society – had been answered definitively. The Washington Consensus preached that free markets and free trade would set every society on an inexorable glide path toward civil liberties and self-governance. Liberal Democracy and its faithful companion Free Market Economics were on the march.
Though adoption might be uneven, every nation, every culture, every society, would inevitably find its way into the community of liberal, democratic nations. Sensitive to the possibility that some might resent these Western models, Western leadership embraced self-deracination, severing “liberal democracy” from every cultural root that had contributed to its development. In their zeal to globalize their preferred modes of political and economic organization, they devalued and defamed every cultural, religious, and ethical underpinning that had made those modes possible.
There is, however, nothing new under the sun. Though few (or even any) appreciated it at the time, the end-of-history crowd had merely updated an ancient message: We have won a surprisingly bloodless victory over a fearsome foe. Now all the peoples of the world will see the glory of our gods and bend themselves to our faith.
Three decades later, our efforts to universalize the bounties of liberal democracy have proved as fruitless as all prior efforts to universalize faith, belief, societal organization, and human behavior. We re-learned that there is genuine variability among cultures, priorities, and value systems. We very emphatically do not all want the same things.
Disastrous American misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan made the point clearly: Overthrowing an odious, militarily inferior regime is easy. Restructuring an alien society in your own image is far harder.
Other lessons were subtler. Bill Clinton had led the charge to open trade with China, arguing that prosperity was the key to liberty. The Chinese leadership, however, understood something its Western counterparts had apparently forgotten: A large and growing middle class is the key to regime stability.
Westerners once understood that lesson well. The welfare state was introduced to anchor newly enfranchised peasants to the regime granting them regular benefits – thereby deterring bloody revolution. Socialist opponents screamed – correctly – that the wealthy were merely bribing the poor to keep themselves in power.
China parlayed its wealth to develop a competing model of governance: an authoritarian surveillance state that monitors and enforces strict rules in selected spheres of social behavior while encouraging robust commercial activity.
Meanwhile, sizable majorities of every Western country fell out of love with the program their leadership was peddling. Some ran hard to the left, reviving and inventing revolutionary doctrines that would upend what remained of the West. Others leaned rightward, yearning for a restoration of the cultural and religious norms that had once animated their societies.
Western leadership preferred the forces of “progressive” revolution to those of “reactionary” tradition. The twin shocks of Brexit and Trump pushed them into overdrive. They waged war against their own citizens, declaring any longing for tradition as hateful, dangerous, and insurrectionist.
The matter came to a head in 2020. Klaus Schwab, head of the globalist confab at Davos, put the matter clearly in The Great Reset and The Great Narrative: The variants of the Chinese model that had emerged to shut the world down during COVID exemplified global good governance at its very finest. They needed to become permanent, truly international, and focused on future crises – specifically, the looming climate crisis.
We had come full circle: Only widespread surveillance and enforced social conditioning could ensure the survival of liberal democracy. Echoes of “you will learn to love your neighbor if we have to beat it into you!” resonated loudly.
Our mid-2023 emergence from COVID found the world in a state that many recognized as superficially familiar but somehow, not quite right. Internal governance, individual rights, alliance structures, and the international order were suddenly all up for grabs. An era had ended; a new one was dawning.
When the history of our American hegemonic era is written, it will reflect a toxic combination of unrivaled innovation, prosperity, and technological advancement with a shocking and near total collapse of morality, faith, and community.
The defining question of the present moment is which new directions will define the future. The Chinese model remains immensely popular among the Western elite. Its strongest advocates, no longer sufficiently popular to govern on their own, have allied with the revolutionary left – in Canada, France, the UK, and a growing number of Western countries.
The U.S. has chosen a very different path – at least for the moment. The new Trump administration seeks to restore traditions and norms while disempowering the elite organizations that have supplanted them. A new web of allies with similar preferences – Argentina, Hungary, Israel, the UAE, India, and others – are cheering the move.
The next few years will prove critical. Which direction will define our future? For the sake of our children, we should all hope that the new team arriving in Washington chooses far more wisely than did its recent predecessors. We are indeed living through the dawn of a new era.
Bruce Abramson is the director of New Student & Graduate Admissions at New College of Florida and a fellow of the Coalition for America. His recent books include “The New Civil War” (RealClear Publishing, 2021) on the corruption of higher education and “American Spirit or Great Awokening?” (Academica Press, 2024) on America’s spiritual crisis and the new religion of Wokeism.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 20:55 - San Francisco Mayor Orders City Workers To Report Back To The Office
San Francisco Mayor Orders City Workers To Report Back To The Office
After the left clutched pearls for an entire news cycle over DOGE ordering federal employees to report back to the office, San Francisco is taking a page out of their book.
The City of Oakland, Calif., on March 25, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times On Friday, the Epoch Times reported that SF Mayor Daniel Lurie (D) has ordered city workers back into the office.
“Bringing our workers back to the office will make our services more effective and responsive to our residents,” spokesperson Charles Kretchmer Lutvak told the Times in an email. “That is what San Franciscans expect and what Mayor Lurie will deliver. We look forward to working with our partners across the departments and in labor over the coming weeks to implement the mayor’s plan.”
The move reverses a July 21 decision by former mayor London Breed, who signed an amendment to the city’s Health Care Security Ordinance allowing employees to telecommute during the pandemic. Telecommuting had begun in the city on March 17, 2020, however, with the city’s shelter-in-place order.
As the Times notes further, not all city workers have been working from home since the pandemic, as the Port of San Francisco began welcoming all telecommuting employees back in November 2021, though the County of San Francisco Department of Human Resources (DHR) and SF Port at the time required all city workers to be vaccinated.
During his inaugural speech earlier this month, Lurie did not mention city workers but said he wanted to entice people to return to the downtown area.
“My job is not to demand that the private sector be back in the office every day. My job is to make you want to be downtown again for work—with your friends and with your family,” Lurie said.
“This is truly a new era of cooperation and mutual respect between City Hall, the Board of Supervisors, law enforcement, and the thousands of city employees working on the front lines—without you we cannot carry out this vision for change.”
Telecommuting in both the private and public sectors has been a problem for the economic activity of downtown San Francisco, the city has said. According to city data, nearly 470,000 people commuted into San Francisco every weekday prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns, drumming up significant economic activity for the downtown area.
Work-from-home reduced economic activity, hurting small businesses in the economic core. As recently as Feb. 5, San Francisco lagged behind major cities such as Austin, Los Angeles, New York, and San Jose in office attendance. While 55 percent of New Yorkers work in the office, only 43 percent of workers in San Francisco commute to the office.
Lockdowns resulted in San Francisco office attendance dropping to less than 10 percent of what it had been prior. It began to slowly increase in the summer of 2021 and 2022. The reduction in the city’s in-person overall workforce led to significant economic losses for the city, according to research by WFH Research Group.
Telecommuting had been framed by the city as an opportunity to increase productivity, recruit and retain talent, save employees time due to not having to commute, and decrease the city’s carbon footprint.
A Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco report, however, found little evidence of increased productivity due to telecommuting.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 20:30 - Californians Falling Behind On Bill Payments Amid Soaring Debt Levels
Californians Falling Behind On Bill Payments Amid Soaring Debt Levels
Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,
Californians are falling behind on their bills amid the highest per capita debt levels since 2008, according to debt statistics by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in its most recent Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
In the first quarter of 2024, household debt per capita in California peaked at $86,940 before decreasing slightly in the fourth quarter to $86,130. The average U.S. per capita debt was only $50,540 in the fourth quarter.
Furthermore, a rising number of Californians were falling behind on said debt. New York Fed numbers show that 3.25 percent of Californians fell 30 days late on debt repayment in the fourth quarter—a nine-year high. That’s the highest level since 2016’s first quarter. The U.S. average for this metric was even higher, at 4.14 percent.
Joel Kotkin, executive director at Chapman University Center for Demographics and Policy, said that while households in other states also struggle with bills, California’s debt numbers may be high due to the cost of living.
“The pressures may be greater due to high costs,” he told The Epoch Times.
Bad habits plus a mediocre economy, he said, could mean more Californians will opt to rent instead of buy, or go into further debt to buy a home.
“They won’t be buying houses as much as elsewhere, but if they do, their debts will be enormous,” Kotkin said.
A December 2024 report by Upgraded Points, a financial information website, found that the California metropolitan area with the most severe credit card delinquencies—defined as 90 days or more past due—is the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario region with a 15.2 percent delinquency rate, the eighth worst in the nation. Meanwhile, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area had the lowest in the nation at 6.3 percent.
According to data compiled by personal finance company WalletHub in January, California ranks 11th in overall credit card delinquency with 21.58 percent. Another WalletHub report, released in July 2024, found that the city of Chula Vista in San Diego County leads the nation in the largest increase in credit card delinquencies, nearly 85 percent during the first quarter of 2024.
Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the unemployment rate in California remained relatively steady from July to December 2024, ticking only slightly higher to 5.5 percent. The manufacturing sector, however, saw a 3.4 percent decrease in employment over the same period.
Household debt is not only on the rise in California.
The New York Fed numbers show that nationwide household debt increased by $93 billion to reach $18.04 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2024. Furthermore, mortgage balances nationwide increased by $11 billion in the third quarter to $12.61 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter.
Auto loan, credit card, and home equity lines of credit delinquencies slightly increased in 2024. Auto loans, in particular, saw an $11 billion increase to $1.66 trillion in the fourth quarter. Credit card balances, meanwhile, increased $45 billion in the fourth quarter for a total of $1.21 trillion at the end of last year.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 20:05 - Sheriff Says Gene Hackman And Wife Could Have Been Dead For Weeks Before Discovery
Sheriff Says Gene Hackman And Wife Could Have Been Dead For Weeks Before Discovery
A sheriff in New Mexico said Friday that Oscar-winner Gene Hackman and his wife could have been dead for weeks and noted that pills found at the scene are concerning, while noting there are conflicting reports about the incident.
Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, apparently had been dead as long as several weeks when investigators found their bodies while searching the couple’s Santa Fe home on Wednesday, said Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
“Just based on their bodies and other evidence on the body, it appears several days and possibly up to a couple weeks,” Mendoza told the “Today“ show on Friday morning, when asked about the timing of their deaths.
When asked whether Hackman and his wife died at the same time in their home in Santa Fe or if either passed before the other, the sheriff told the outlet, “I think that’s very difficult to determine. I think it’s going to be pretty close.”
“You know, there’s no indication that anyone was moving about the house or doing anything different, so it’s very difficult to determine if they both passed at the same time or how close they passed together,” Mendonza said.
“We’re trying to put that information together and, obviously, with the assistance of the office of the medical investigator, I think the autopsy report is going to be the key to this investigation.”
The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reports that investigators are also attempting to figure out the last time anyone saw or spoke to them, Mendoza added.
“It’s very difficult to put a timeline together even with the help of the office of the medical investigator,” he said, adding that Hackman and Arakawa, a classical pianist, were “very private individuals and a private family.”
Aside from Hackman and Arakawa, one of their dogs was found dead nearby, according to a search warrant affidavit. A maintenance worker called 911 after spotting the bodies at the couple’s Santa Fe home. He reported the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work, a detective wrote.
In a recording of the 911 call, though, the worker said he could see Arakawa lying on the floor through a window, but he was unable to get inside.
In the interview, Mendoza noted that there are conflicting accounts about the doors, whether they were locked or unlocked, and said an investigation is underway. Several of their doors were unlocked and a back door was open, allowing two of their other dogs to go in and out, he said, while adding he suspects the front door was unlocked and closed.
The affidavit said that their deaths were deemed “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened.”
There was also an opened bottle of prescription medication and pills scattered on a nearby countertop, officials noted.
“Deputies observed a healthy dog running loose on the property, another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak,” the search warrant stated.
A sheriff’s detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning. Neither had obvious signs of blunt force trauma, the warrant added.
On Friday, Mendoza said that the pill bottle is “very important” to investigators.
“That’s obviously very important evidence,” the sheriff said., adding that “we’re looking at that specifically and other medications that were possibly in the residence. So that is something of concern.”
Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later. He’s also appeared in a number of other critically acclaimed films such as “The Conversation,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” and “Hoosiers.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 19:40 - Zelenskyy 'Regrets' What Happened Today: Ukrainian Officials "Desperate" To Get Deal Back On Track After Oval Office Meltdown, Trump Not Interested
Zelenskyy ‘Regrets’ What Happened Today: Ukrainian Officials “Desperate” To Get Deal Back On Track After Oval Office Meltdown, Trump Not Interested
Update (1922ET): The significance of today’s meltdown in the Oval Office between Trump, Vance, and Zelenskyy cannot be overstated.
Essentially here’s what went down:
A deal was done, as far as US officials were concerned, and then Zelenskyy asked for more after engaging in a spat with VP JD Vance. According to CBS News‘ Jennifer Jacobs:
“Trump fully intended to sign the minerals deal today. Two official binders were prepared — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Ukrainian counterpart and the two presidents were going to sit at a conference table in the East Room and then trumpet their success at podiums.”
…
None of this drama [was] premeditated. Trump officials were incredulous that some media outlets suggested it might have been. The greeting with Trump and Zelenskyy was warm, with jokes and a guest book signing in the West Wing lobby. They went straight into the Oval and the vibe was positive. White House wanted this deal done today.
Trump believes that Zelenskyy missed out on a huge opportunity to have the US as a business partner, with US companies helping Ukraine monetize mineral resources such as gas, oil, aluminum, tritrium, gallium and others. Trump viewed it as the 1st step in in a progression towards peace.
Which explains why Secretary of State Marco Rubio looked like this in the middle of the spat:
UKRAINE: Sec Rubio just got rug pulled. Zelensky assured him the mineral deal was locked in, and Rubio confidently told the president it was a done deal, with Zelensky visiting the White House to sign. Instead, Zelensky shifted the goalposts—demanding US ground troops, knowing… pic.twitter.com/bu0rWUWDt8
— @amuse (@amuse) February 28, 2025
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Later, Zelenskyy went on Fox News, where he acknowledged that he ‘regretted’ what went down – but said he doesn’t think he did anything wrong.
“I am not sure we did something bad,” he told Baier, adding “I respect president Trump and the American people, but we have to be very honest and direct to understand each other.”
Bret Baier asks Zelenskyy if he regrets not having his heated argument with President Trump and Vice President Vance behind closed doors.
ZELENSKYY: “Yes, I think it was not good, I think it was not good…” pic.twitter.com/JQGjmAzxIl
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 28, 2025
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According to Jacobs, Trump is “unwilling to talk to Zelenskyy further today.”
Shortly before Zelenskyy appeared on Fox, Trump told the press that Zelenskyy “overplayed his hand.”
TRUMP: “Zelenskyy very much overplayed his hand. We’re looking for peace … He’s dealing with a very weak set of cards.”pic.twitter.com/Dbv2PWWVth
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 28, 2025
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* * *
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* * *
Conservative commentator Richard Hanania lays out what happened this afternoon (emphasis ours):
I watched the entire press conference with Zelensky. There was 40 minutes of discussion up to the argument. Most people saw at most the last ten minutes. The whole video gives the proper context.
When I first watched the argument without the proper context, I thought it was possible that Trump and Vance ambushed Zelensky or were even trying to humiliate him. That’s not what happened.
You had 40 minutes of calm conversation. Vance made a point that didn’t attack Zelensky and wasn’t even addressed to him, and Zelensky clearly started the argument.
In the first 40 minutes, Zelensky kept trying to go beyond what was negotiated in the deal. When Trump was asked a question, it was always “we’ll see.” Zelensky made blanket assertions that there would be no negotiating with Putin, and that Russia would pay for the war. When Trump said that it was a tragedy that people on both sides were dying, Zelensky interjected that the Russians were the invaders.
For his part, Trump made clear that the US would continue delivering military aid. All Zelensky had to do was remain calm for a few more minutes and they would’ve signed a deal.
The argument started when Trump pointed out that it would be hard to make a deal if you talk about Putin the way Zelensky does. Vance interjects to make the reasonable point that Biden called Putin names and that didn’t get us anywhere.
The Zelensky/Trump dynamic was calm and stable. It was when Vance spoke that Zelensky started to interrogate him. Throughout the press conference to that point, everyone was making their arguments directly to the audience. Zelensky decided to challenge Vance and ask him hostile questions. He went back to his point that Putin never sticks to ceasefires, once again implying that negotiations are pointless. Why on earth would you do this? Then came the fight we all saw.
Zelensky was minutes away from being home free, and he would have had the deal and new commitments from the Trump administration. The point Vance made was directed against Biden and the media, taking them to task for speaking in moralistic terms. This offended Zelensky, and that began the argument.
I’ve been a fan of Zelensky up to this point, but this showed so much incompetence, if not emotional instability, that I don’t see how he recovers from this. The relationship with the administration is broken. Ukraine should probably go with new leadership at this point.
One thing I think the Zelensky debacle illustrates is that European leaders have not grasped that America’s elite media institutions have lost all authority to make political consensus.
I fear Zelensky may have believed his own adoring coverage, and misread his moral leverage.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) February 28, 2025
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Imagine being completely dependent on Donald Trump to the point that your life was quite possibly on the line. And then, image your move was to try to alpha him on national television in a language you kind of speak.
— Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith) February 28, 2025
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* * *
Update (1628ET): As expected, today’s Trump-Vance-Zelensky cage match that nuked that Ukraine deal has erupted into an international firestorm.
A few select reactions…
Team World Police:
- Spanish PM Sanchez says “Ukraine, Spain stands with you.”
- French Foreign Minister Barrot says Putin’s Russia is the aggressor, there is one necessity: Europe, now the time for words is over, time for action.
- German Chancellor Scholz says Ukraine can rely on Germany and Europe.
- EU’s von der Leyen says “be strong, be brave, be fearless, you are never alone, Dear President Zelensky”
- Lithuanian President says Ukraine will never be alone.
- Portuguese PM says Ukraine can count on us to support it
- Czech Republic President says “We stand with Ukraine more than ever. Time for Europe to step up its efforts.”
- EU foreign policy chief Kallas says “Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to US, Europeans, to take this challenge.”
- Polish PM Tusk posts on X, “Dear Zelensky, dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone”.
- French President Macron says Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the aggressed people. We were all right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia 3 years ago, and to continue to do so.
- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said “Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work.”
The Atlantic‘s David Frum was mega-triggered, writing: “Trump and Vance have revealed to Americans and to America’s allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine in general and its president in particular. The truth is ugly, but it’s necessary to face it.”
On the other hand:
- Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Medvedev posts on X ‘The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And Trump is right: The Kiev regime is “gambling with WWIII,” adding “For the first time, Trump told the truth to the cocaine clown’s face.”
- Hungarian President Vicktor Orbán thanks Trump for standing ‘for peace.’
But perhaps the biggest indicator that Zelensky is fucked came from deep state tentacle Lindsey Graham, who walked out of the White House and said “I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country.
Graham then slammed Zelensky, saying “The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president was just over the top,” adding “What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful. And I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again.”
Watch (via Collin Rugg):
JUST IN: Senator Lindsey Graham says he doesn’t think the United States can ever do business with Zelensky again, says he has never been more proud of Trump and Vance.
“I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country.”… pic.twitter.com/71jLkvXUMq
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 28, 2025
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Update (1530ET): Moments after Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky left the White House following an explosive argument in front of the press (scroll down), and President Donald Trump shredded any chance of a Ukraine deal to end the war (anytime soon), two things happened.
1) White House staffers literally ate Zelensky’s lunch…
White House staffers reportedly eating the lunch initially prepared for Zelensky after President Trump kicked him out of the White House.
“The lunch he was supposed to have was sitting right out in the hallway… and staffers will now be eating that lunch,” per Fox. pic.twitter.com/ZswM2YmFBf
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 28, 2025
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2) Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated US support for restoring Ukraine’s energy grid, which was funded by a USAID initiative that had invested hundreds of millions of dollars, NBC reports
The State Department this week terminated a U.S. Agency for International Development initiative that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to help restore Ukraine’s energy grid from attacks by the Russian military, according to two USAID officials working on the agency’s Ukraine mission.
…
Based on a document obtained by NBC News, the State Department has also ordered the termination of a program focused on “financial sector reform activity.”
“We won’t have the eyes on where this money has gone over the last few years,” one of the officials said.
How much popcorn can one consume on a Friday?
* * *
Update (1420ET): President Trump has effectively shredded any deal with Ukraine for the time being, writing on Truth Social following a testy exchange (see full clips below) with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelsnsky:
“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
Trump also canceled a scheduled press conference with Zelensky that was set for later in the day.
“He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.” –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/jIvkoiVdUb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 28, 2025
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Meanwhile, several GOP lawmakers and members of the Trump administration have voiced their support for Trump and Vance following the exchange.
“America FIRST. Strong, unapologetic leadership on the world stage is BACK!” said Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) on X.
“Amen, Mr. President,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in response to Trump’s statement above.
“Thank you, President Trump, for standing up for the American people and our nation on the global stage,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“It is amazing to have a President and VP who put America First! Thank you President Trump and VP Vance for fighting for our country and our people!” said Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) on X.
Zelensky destroyed himself in the eyes of the American people
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2025
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See the exchanges below…
* * *
Just days after calling him a ‘dictator without elections,’ President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, where the two discussed US efforts to end the war in Ukraine and the related minerals deal — and then got into a giant argument that included VP Vance dropping serious shade to Zelensky’s face (see below)
As for the minerals deal to end the Ukraine war, Trump said there’s a ‘very fair deal’ on the table, which would allow the US to use Ukraine’s rare earths for AI and military applications, adding that once the minerals deal is done, the war will be over, and “Russia won’t want to return.”
Trump said they’ve “made a deal.”
Then Things Got Tense
Trump then slammed Zelensky for ‘gambling with world war three,” adding “You either make a deal or we are out…”
“I gave you the Javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets… You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards — but without us you don’t have any cards.”
.@POTUS: “I gave you the Javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets… You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards — but without us you don’t have any cards.” pic.twitter.com/qbRctLSkA9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 28, 2025
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Vice President JD Vance chimed in, asking “Have you said thank you once? You went to Pennsylvania to campaign on the opposition.”
.@VP: “Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”@POTUS: “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards … You’re… pic.twitter.com/iTYyAmfuCJ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 28, 2025
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.@POTUS: “It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.”@VP: “Accept that there are disagreements, and let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you’re wrong.” pic.twitter.com/WSZWZU4BBY
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 28, 2025
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Zelensky, apparently not a historian, said that Putin ‘began the war’ and ‘has to pay,’ while Trump says he’s “in the middle” regarding the war, adding “I’m for both Ukraine and Russia.” Trump also added that he’s committed to NATO.
.@POTUS: “We’re committed to NATO — but NATO has to step up and the Europeans have to step up more than they have.” pic.twitter.com/IqPLjynef9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 28, 2025
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🚨NEW: Trump has no patience left when he is asked by a reporter “What happens if Putin breaks the ceasefire?”
TRUMP: “What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? They broke it with other Presidents because they didn’t respect them. Putin went through a hell… pic.twitter.com/fj3Yp1zElm
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) February 28, 2025
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Trump also commented several times on Zelensky’s attire…
“All dressed up today” 😂 https://t.co/gEuLhxqvfu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2025
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A moment of levity in the Oval Office: “I do like your clothing, by the way.” pic.twitter.com/6kkqcpzvf2
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 28, 2025
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Wut…
What is Zelensky doing while 47 answers questions? pic.twitter.com/3gxEB5fXRk
— Sandy 〽️ (@RightGlockMom) February 28, 2025
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The day before the meeting, Trump softened his tone on the ‘dictator’ comment, saying that he now has a “lot of respect” for the Ukrainian leader (who’s canceled elections, banned the Orthodox Church, and outlawed non-USAID propaganda media).
Earlier, Zelensky said he met with a bipartisan US Senate delegation, which he described as “an important visit to the United States.”
“We take pride in having strategic partners and friends like the United States. We are grateful for the unwavering bicameral and bipartisan support for Ukraine throughout all three years of Russia’s full-scale aggression,” he said on X.
An important visit to the United States. In Washington, I met with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Senate.
Our discussions focused on the continued military assistance for Ukraine, relevant legislative initiatives, my meeting with President Trump, efforts to achieve a just… pic.twitter.com/KJcosUpygc
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 28, 2025
Developing…
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Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 19:22 - VDH: Who Caused The Counter-Revolution?
VDH: Who Caused The Counter-Revolution?
Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,
At some point, some president was going to have to stop the unsustainable spending and borrowing.
To have any country left, some president would eventually have had to restore a nonexistent border and stop the influx of 3 million illegal aliens a year.
Some commander-in-chief finally would have to try to stop the theater wars abroad.
But any president who dared to do any of that would be damned for curbing the madness that his predecessors fueled.
And so none did—until now.
Not since Franklin Roosevelt’s rapid and mass implementation of the New Deal administrative state have Americans seen such radical changes so quickly as now in Trump’s first month of governance.
Americans are watching a long-awaited counter-revolution to bring the country out of its madness by restoring the common sense of the recent past.
It is easy to run up massive debts and hard to pay them back. Politicians profit by handing out grants and hiring thousands with someone else’s money or creating new programs by growing the debt.
Yet it is unpopular and considered “mean” to spend only what you have and to create a lean, competent workforce.
1776, not 1619, is the foundational date of America.
Biological men should not manipulate their greater size and strength to undermine the hard-won accomplishment of women athletes.
Affordable fossil fuels, when used wisely, are still essential to modern prosperity.
American education must remain empirical and inductive, not regress into indoctrination and deduction. If college campuses no longer abide by the Bill of Rights, then perhaps they should pay taxes on income from their endowments and guarantee their own student loans.
If American citizens are arrested and arraigned for violent assaults, destroying property, and resisting arrest, then surely foreign students who break the laws of their hosts should be held to the same account—and if guilty, go home.
Tribalism and racialism, and government spoils allotted by superficial appearances, are the marks of a pre-civilized society. Such racialism leads only to endless factions and discord.
It is easy to destroy a border, and hard to reconstruct it. And it was not Trump who invited in 12 million unaudited illegal aliens, a half million of them criminals.
Who is the real culprit in the Defense Department—the new secretary with the hard task of restoring the idea among depleted ranks that our race, religion, and gender are incidental, not essential, to defeating the enemy and ensuring our national security?
Is it really wise to divert money from needed combat units and weapons to indoctrinate recruits with social and cultural agendas that do not enhance, but likely undermine, our national defenses?
Who is the real callous actor—Elon Musk, who is trying to prevent the country from insolvency by eliminating fraud and waste, or those who bloated the bureaucracy in the first place with jobs and subsidies for their constituents, friends, clients, and fellow ideologues?
No one likes to fire FBI agents.
That certainly is an unpleasant job for the new FBI Director, Kash Patel.
But again, who are the true culprits who so cavalierly turned a hallowed agenda into a weaponized tool to warp elections, harass political enemies, lie under oath, surveil parents at school board meetings, doctor court documents, and protect insider friends?
Massive borrowing is an opiate addiction that needs shock treatment, not more deficits to break the habit. An unchecked administrative state becomes an organic organism that exists only to grow larger, more powerful, and more resistant to any who seek to curb it.
Yet those who brought the cultural revolution of the last years are now screaming that it is unfair to restore what they undermined. It is as if a patient blames only the tough chemotherapy and not the invasive cancer that it seeks to cure.
Most of the Trump people are not high-fiving firing people. They are not laying off miners or frackers and directing them to go “code” or dismissing half the country as “deplorables.”
The left screams that those who are tasked with balancing a budget and pruning back a strangling bureaucracy are heartless.
No, the pitiless are those who recklessly sought to hire with borrowed money and fire people on the basis of their race, used federal programs to feather their own nests, and harassed and arrested those for their politics.
No SWAT teams are now raiding the homes of ex-presidents.
No one is trying to take a presidential rival off state ballots.
No one is coordinating local, state, and federal prosecutors to indict, harass, and bankrupt an ex-president.
And no president—his dementia sheathed by political insiders and toadish media—is working three days a week, avoiding press conferences, or stonewalling reporters’ questions.
No wonder the current normal seems abnormal to the status quo of the recent past.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 19:15 - AG Pam Bondi Warns 3 States Over Transgender Sports Rules
AG Pam Bondi Warns 3 States Over Transgender Sports Rules
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday warned Minnesota, California, and Maine that they need to comply with federal law to keep “men out of women’s sports,” according to a statement issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice Building in Washington on Feb. 12, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The DOJ said Bondi sent letters to the officials of those three states and said that they may be out of compliance with an order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month that makes it illegal for transgender individuals to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.
“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi said in the statement. “We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s executive order protecting women’s sports.”
Bondi sent letters to California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Ron Nocetti, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Erich Martens, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League. She also sent a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Trump and Mills, a Democrat, were involved in a verbal altercation on Feb. 20 while the president was meeting with governors. The president told Mills that she needed to comply with the executive order or he would withhold education funding to her state.
“We are the federal law,” Trump told her at one point. “You‘d better do it. You’d better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
“See you in court,” Mills said in response, according to a video recording of the exchange between the two.
Trump then told her: “Good, I’ll see you in court.”
In a statement on Feb. 21, Mills said that she and the state of Maine won’t “be intimidated” by Trump’s warning that federal education funding could be withheld.
“If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” she said.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a letter last week that Trump’s order “would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act,” a state law that allows transgender individuals to compete in women’s sports.
“The Executive Order does not have the force of law and therefore does not preempt any aspect of Minnesota law. Complying with the Executive Order and prohibiting students from participation in extracurricular activities consistent with their gender identity would violate” state law, the letter said.
Under the executive order, the Trump administration can deny federal funding to schools that allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. Schools that do not comply with the order would be deemed to be violating Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and educational programs that get federal funds.
“It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” his order said. “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
During his 2024 campaign, Trump often said that he would move to end allowing transgender individuals from competing in women’s sports.
Aside from the order on women’s sports, Trump also signed several orders to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government.
One order declares that the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female. The definition will be based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes. The change is being pitched as a way to protect women from what the administration has called gender extremism.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 18:50 - Critics Suspect A Softball Ethics Verdict Is Coming On Hunter Biden's Law License
Critics Suspect A Softball Ethics Verdict Is Coming On Hunter Biden’s Law License
Authored by Paul Sperry via RealClearPolitics,
Although Hunter Biden got away with multiple crimes thanks to his father’s unprecedented pardon, he still faces punishment for his conduct before the District of Columbia Bar. Even presidential clemency cannot shield him from possible suspension of his law license.
But former President Biden’s pardon has muddled – and delayed – the process of deciding Hunter’s professional fate, according to the D.C. attorney who is leading the investigation into his fitness to practice law in the nation’s capital. And legal critics view this as favoritism possibly leading to a resolution short of disbarment.
“This is a very complicated situation because of the pardon,” Hamilton Fox of the bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel said in an interview with RealClearInvestigations. Fox serves as the prosecutor in disciplinary cases for members of the D.C. Bar.
With Biden’s firearms and tax-evasion convictions wiped clean, Fox said, he and his investigators have to “prove” all over again that he violated the law before they can pursue a case against him for possible disbarment.
“Essentially, there is a process that we follow once there is a criminal conviction, but the pardon disrupted that process,” Fox explained. “After the pardon, there is no criminal conviction, but the misconduct that occurred doesn’t go away. So now we are required to start over.”
Added Fox: “Instead of relying on the conviction, we have to follow the normal procedure and prove the misconduct.”
After a jury in Delaware found Biden guilty of three gun-related felonies last June, his license was automatically suspended because any felony is considered a “serious crime” under D.C. Bar rules. But his suspension is temporary pending an investigation to determine if his criminal acts were serious enough to meet the bar’s “moral turpitude”threshold for more severe and lasting punishment, including long-term suspension or even disbarment.
Such misconduct generally requires criminal intent or recklessness. Offenses involving “violence,” such as reckless use of firearms, and “dishonesty,” such as cheating on taxes, fall into this category.
On Dec. 1, two weeks before Biden was scheduled for sentencing in both the gun case and a felony tax conviction in California, his father issued a blanket pardon nullifying his guilt and sparing him expected prison time.
Hunter Biden has been a member of the D.C. Bar since 2007 and has used his license to practice law there for a number of years. Though he now works as an artist, his paintings have lost value since his father opted not to seek a second term.
A Washington watchdog group suspects investigators for the D.C. Bar are not serious about punishing Biden and are dragging their feet in the probe, which is now entering its ninth month.
“While Hunter Biden’s pardon for committing felonies was bad enough, the D.C. Bar’s slow-walking disciplinary action against him based on the pardon is outrageous and inexcusable,” said Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog that previously filed a formal complaint against Biden with the Justice Department alleging he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Kamenar argued there is no reason to re-prove the crimes committed by Biden. “That’s a lame excuse,” he said. He pointed out that Biden originally pleaded guilty to the gun charges, before a judge ripped up a “sweetheart deal” he made with prosecutors and forced a trial which ended in a jury unanimously finding him guilty on all counts. Biden copped a plea to the tax charges as well.
Fox’s own ethics adviser has said a presidential pardon shouldn’t impact bar discipline. “[It] relieves a criminal or criminal defendant of the punishment, but it doesn’t necessarily have any effect on the ethics violation,” said Saul Jay Singer, senior legal ethics counsel to the D.C. Bar.
Records reviewed by RCI reveal that staff errors by lawyers working for Fox have resulted in additional delays. In one misstep, attorneys were supposed to file an updated “status report” on the Biden case on Dec. 21, but did not do so until Jan. 7.
“Disciplinary Counsel’s failure to file this update was inadvertent,” Fox’s staff attorneys explained to the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility, the legal body hearing the Biden case.
The belated status report simply stated, “The investigation remains ongoing,” while adding that “the parties intend to discuss possible dispositions of this matter soon.”
In other words, Kamenar said, Fox plans to enter into settlement talks with Hunter’s lawyers on how to dispose of the charges.
“Considering the slap on the wrist the D.C. Bar gave former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith for his felony criminal conviction for altering a CIA document to obtain a FISA search warrant to spy on a Trump adviser, it’s not surprising that Fox appears to be giving Hunter undeserved leniency,” Kamenar added.
Fox negotiated a light sentence for Clinesmith, a registered Democrat who sent anti-Trump rants to FBI colleagues after the 2016 election and then doctored evidence against Trump aide Carter Page, as RealClearIinvestigations first reported. Even the Democrat-controlled Board on Professional Responsibility noted that the deal was “unusual.” Clinesmith was let off with “time served” after just seven months of suspension. His D.C. Bar status was restored to “active member” in “good standing.” (Clinesmith was legally represented by Eric Yaffe, the former chairman of the Board on Professional Responsibility. Yaffe is a major Democratic donor, records show, who’s supported Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.)
Kamenar questioned the impartiality of Fox, a Democrat who like Hunter is a Yale Law School alumnus. Federal Election Commission records show Fox, a former Watergate prosecutor, has contributed several thousand dollars to Democratic political candidates, including Obama.
While Fox declined to comment on accusations of bias, he addressed concerns about a settlement in lieu of punishment for Biden. “A disposition means we agree upon a sanction and don’t try the case,” Fox said. “But it is different and more complex than a plea bargain in a criminal case.”
Asked if a deal is in the works, Fox said that such matters are “confidential.” Hunter Biden’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
However, Fox suggested his office is using an old case involving Reagan administration official Elliott Abrams as a precedent. In 1992, President Bush pardoned Abrams of perjury charges related to the Iran-Contra scandal. The next year, the D.C. Bar found Abrams committed the crimes and suspended him from practice for one year.
Contrast With Giuliani et al.
Kamenar believes Hunter’s crimes are serious enough for the bar to suspend his license for at least three years. He pointed out that the D.C. Bar’s rules for professional conduct expressly state that criminal conduct such as “willful failure to file an income tax return” reflects “adversely on fitness to practice law.”
In a recent report responding to Biden’s pardons, Special Counsel David Weiss, who prosecuted Hunter, said his tax crimes were serious and egregious, and he should have known better as a trained attorney.
“As a well-educated lawyer, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period,” from 2016 to 2020.
Weiss said Biden’s crimes were not “inconsequential” or “technical” tax code violations, but were part of a deliberate “scheme” to cheat the IRS that can’t be “explained away by his drug use.”
“After becoming sober, he chose to file false returns to evade payment of taxes he owed,” the special prosecutor wrote. “Instead of paying his taxes, he chose to spend the money on [female] escorts, luxury hotels, and exotic cars,” and even wrote off the prostitutes as business expenses on tax returns he eventually filed.
Regarding his illegally obtained gun, Weiss said Biden “carelessly left it unsecured on a property where children lived.” And in an additional “aggravating factor,” he noted, Biden lied on a federal form to obtain the revolver, along with a speed loader and hollow-point bullets.
“As a Yale-educated lawyer, he understood that he was lying on the background check form he filled out and the consequences of doing so,” Weiss said. “But he did it anyway, because he wanted to own a gun, even though he was actively using crack cocaine.”
Asked if he will use Weiss’ report as guidance in his probe of Hunter Biden, Fox replied, “I have it.”
Other critics point out that Fox, in contrast, has thrown the book at embattled Republican members of the bar. He recommended the disbarment of Trump lawyers and advisers Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, and Paul Manafort, for example.
Giuliani’s conduct “calls for only one sanction, and that’s the sanction of disbarment,” Fox said. “What Mr. Giuliani did was use his law license to undermine the legitimacy of a presidential election, to undermine the basic premise of the democratic system that we all live in, that has been in place since the 1800s in this country.”
Fox accused Clark of being “intentionally dishonest” about the 2020 election results. But the board rejected his request for disbarment and has recommended a two-year suspension. His case is still being heard by the court of appeals.
“Mr. Clark is in front of the D.C. Bar’s Board because the head of the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel dislikes the advice he believes Mr. Clark gave to former President Trump,” Clark’s attorney said. “If this power grab by the D.C. Bar is successful, it will transform the head of the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, a local government official, into the most powerful lawyer in the country, granting him a permanent supervisory role and veto over the highest counsels of the federal government.”
Last year, government ethics watchdog Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, filed a complaint against Fox over what he called selective prosecution of Republican members of the bar and favorable treatment for Democratic lawyers.
In the court filing, he wrote: “Once Fox took over as Disciplinary Counsel, ODC has steadily transformed into a highly partisan tool and weapon of the entire District of Columbia attorney discipline apparatus with the apparent goal of removing prominent conservative and Republican activist attorneys from the practice of law in the District of Columbia.”
Added Klayman: “Fox has made it clear that he hates President Trump and those who support him. He has made a point to personally try disciplinary complaints against pro-Trump Republican individuals, despite the fact that the chief disciplinary counsel generally does not perform that function.”
He pointed to a Politico article that reported that the D.C. Court of Appeals “had to step in and stop his attempts to strip away Trump Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark’s constitutional Fifth Amendment rights, and tellingly, Fox responded by saying, ‘I’m not going to push that hearing back unless somebody cuts off one of my arms.’”
This shows his animus towards conservative and Republican activist attorneys who are pro-Trump,” Klayman said.
* * *
Paul Sperry is an investigative reporter for RealClearInvestigations. He is also a longtime media fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Sperry was previously the Washington bureau chief for Investor’s Business Daily, and his work has appeared in the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Houston Chronicle, among other major publications.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 18:25 - How Long Do Muslims Fast For Ramadan Around The World?
How Long Do Muslims Fast For Ramadan Around The World?
This year’s Ramadan is expected to start on the night of Friday, February 28, with the first day of fasting on Saturday, March 1.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, the holy month is based on the Islamic lunar calendar which is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian solar year, and so its start shifts earlier each year. While the number of days of Ramadan are equal for all Muslims observing it around the world, the length of the daily fast is not.
You will find more infographics at Statista
During Ramadan, observers vow to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activities through daylight hours.
This means that those living further north have to fast for much longer than their counterparts living closer to the equator or even to those in the Southern hemisphere, which is currently tilted away from the sun.
The chart above, based on data from website islamicfinder.com, shows that Muslims fasting for Ramadan in Reykjavík, Island, will have to fast for up to 16 hours and 29 minutes, which is the time between sunrise and sunset on March 29, the last and longest day of fasting this year.
Meanwhile Muslims living in Melbourne, Australia, will only need to fast for a maximum of 13 hours and 16 minutes.
With the dates of Ramadan moving, there can be a significant difference in the length of fasting depending on the year.
For example, in 2013, Ramadan took place during the peak of summer for the Northern Hemisphere, with countries such as Norway experiencing sundown for only around three hours at night.
This meant practicing communities faced fasts lasting upwards of 20 hours.
To counterbalance this, Muslims may also observe Ramadan using the timetable of Mecca (13 hours and 35 minutes in 2025) or their nearest Muslim city.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 18:00 - Perspectives From A Senior Staffer And NIH Loyalist: The Dark Side Of NIH Leadership
Perspectives From A Senior Staffer And NIH Loyalist: The Dark Side Of NIH Leadership
Authored by an anonymous NIH official via Paul Thacker’s The DisInformation Chronicle,
As someone who works directly with the NIH Director’s office, I am dismayed by the disingenuous coverage of NIH in places like the New York Times and Science Magazine. Very little of what I read comports with my own experience and I am worried that scientists and the general public are getting a false view of the real problems inside the world’s largest funder of biomedical research.
Every large institution is fraught with palace politics, but today’s NIH is suffering from a deeply entrenched senior leadership in the director’s office that is plagued by enmity, distrust and isolation. The NIH Director works in Building 1 and oversees 27 other Institutes that research various diseases—the one most people have heard of is the National Cancer Institute. But to most of these institute directors, Building1 is a dark hole they both fear and despise. If you’re a running a research lab in Wisconsin this probably doesn’t matter to you; if you’re bed ridden with an undiagnosed, complex neurological disease—a life put on hold—why would you care?
But at every level today NIH’s management is distanced further away from its overall mission to advance science that improves health.
NIH scientists are quite busy with their research and don’t always read news about NIH scandals. I don’t, because I don’t really have time, nor do I care. But turmoil from the recent election has caused me to read about the retirement of Dr. Lawrence Tabak, who served as Principal Deputy Director, the number two position at NIH. I have worked with and observed Dr. Tabak’s ascent to this commanding position at NIH, from which he weaponized systems and processes to harm those who disagreed with his views or decisions.
Yet, I saw none of this in a news account by the New York Times and much of the reporting seemed to describe a different person than the Larry Tabak that I know. According to this New York Times reporter, Tabak’s retirement was “surprising” as he was “long considered a steadying force” and “someone who could work across party lines.”
Tabak’s retirement was not “surprising.” After Trump won office, Tabak told senior NIH officials several times in private meetings that he might be forced to retire or step down. And he was only a “steadying force” if he liked you personally and you didn’t dare to question his decisions or those made by his favored staff.
I find it odd that the New York Times would report that Tabak was “someone who could work across party lines.” Like almost every NIH leader, Tabak is a committed Democrat who can work with Republicans if he holds his nose, but he despised President Trump. Several have heard Tabak say several times that he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as Trump.
Science Magazine quoted former NIH employee Carrie Wolinetz complimenting Dr. Tabak, saying, “There is probably no single person who is as universally highly respected at NIH as Larry Tabak.” On the contrary, he is likely the most feared and disliked individual at the NIH and his departure brings relief to many.
Science Magazine must have been hunting only for compliments, because they also ran a comment posted on Bluesky by Jeremy Berg, former director of NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Berg very accurately describes that it was Tabak’s unfortunate job to deal with all the NIH’s messy and intractable problems. “Larry has shoveled so much $hit over the years that he would have been well qualified to work behind the elephants in an old circus,” Berg said.
But Tabak flung that $hit on many of those around him, often injuring us with the same shovel he threw around to make himself look good to his superiors and university leaders. As for the STAT news headline that Tabak’s retirement “adds to sense of deep uncertainty,” I would say it brings a sense of optimism about the agency’s future.
Like almost every NIH leader, Tabak is a committed Democrat who can work with Republicans if he holds his nose, but he despised President Trump.
I can only guess that NIH leadership and the press office are feeding these stories to reporters, because they do not comport with the experiences of many others including myself. My point is that outsiders are given a warped view of the problems inside the agency, and are not equipped to understand that change is needed.
Tabak’ retirement put him in the news, a position he shied away from for many years. He virtually ran the NIH because Francis Collins, who was director for over a decade, allowed him full rein. Widely regarded as an expert chess player, Tabak ran the place behind the scenes like a mafia Don, rewarding his friends and bullying others who hurt his ego.
When the Senate confirmed Monica Bertagnolli as the new NIH Director in 2023, I wondered if her leadership might fix many of the agency’s problems, but this was not the case. Dr. Bergnatoli lost 36 votes in her confirmation to mostly Republican senators from rural states, and she was hell bent on keeping that job.
She began to court the Senators she lost, and started building a research portfolio focused on a more politically neutral definition for diversity. Instead of using race or color as a means of establishing diversity, she launched new initiatives that called for diversity based on access to rural health care.
But this work meant she did not have the time to focus on running NIH, and because Tabak knew how to get things done, he became her valuable second hand and continued holding on to power. Collins was very crafty in managing NIH politics and let Tabak do his dirty work, as long as he behaved in public, as self-effacing and humble. But Bertagnolli was just clueless, and Tabak surrounded her with people based on loyalty to him, not her mission for public research.
The word diversity is a big buzzword inside the NIH but I don’t really think they care about hiring minorities and women as much as following guidelines, rules and regulations that tout diversity. Minority women and men across the campus are just not promoted. Yes, there have been initiatives, and diversity emails to read, and classes to take, but NIH has long been a male dominated environment.
It’s a Woke culture that isn’t really woke.
There have been attempts to change this with more female leaders in the last 10 years. But NIH is not a merit-based system. It’s a cabal where people appoint their loyalists and contrive to manipulate our public agency to their personal advantage. Not enough women are at the top with clout to give handouts, so it’s a slow, slow transformation.
The NIH is now in the press almost every day for alleged “funding cuts for research” but that’s not really true. The NIH has cut costs that universities can charge for administrative fees, but they have not cut the grant money provided directly to scientists. I can’t explain why this is being twisted in the news, but I’m sure that people in the director’s office are doing this to harm the credibility of the incoming NIH Director.
These are the games that NIH leadership play all the time. They use the media to manipulate coverage and maintain control, often to cover up things they fail to deliver to the public.
Some of this misinformation you are reading about NIH funding cuts is likely also coming from universities who have grown used to fat checks from the NIH, but nobody is really taking money away from them. It’s about being fair with taxpayer money.
Everyone thinks that the most prestigious scientists on planet Earth work at universities like Harvard and Oxford, but within the scientific world many are in awe of the researchers at the NIH. Over 170 NIH scientists or those whose research is supported by NIH have won Nobel Prizes. NIH has its own intramural science program designed to perform cutting edge studies, some of which is almost impossible to do in a university setting. For example, if a child or an adult has a very rare condition that no one can diagnose, NIH can actually do genetic analyses and work backwards to identify the cause of the disease and then design therapies to help these patients.
But over the last decade or so, NIH’s intramural program has ballooned into an unmanageable enterprise, with over 1,2000 principal investigators. And while brilliant work is being done, there’s also complacency, stagnation, and entitlement. Because they are at NIH, federal researchers get a lot of guaranteed money that scientists at universities have to bust for. And there’s not much accountability.
NIH labs and research programs get reviewed by scientists at prestigious research universities to ensure they publish excellent studies. But these university scientists are, at the same time, beholden to the NIH for grants to fund their own studies. This conflict of interest ensures that the reviews are biased to favor NIH labs, because no professor wants to anger the agency that funds his own grants.
For this reason, numerous NIH scientists go unchecked and continue running their research programs for too many years.
Tony Fauci is the most notable example of someone rising through the ranks to become an institute director who was feared for decades because he held the purse strings to billions of dollars in grants as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Anyone inside the NIH who questioned Tony got shafted and targeted by the leadership in the NIH Director’s office.
Throughout the pandemic, America was consumed by debate over whether the pandemic started from a lab accident, and most scientists seem to believe it didn’t. But in his final week, President Biden handed Tony Fauci a preemptive pardon, and the pardon stretched all the way back to 2014. That was the first year Fauci began funding EcoHealth Alliance, which subcontracted with a lab in Wuhan, China for gain-of-function virus research. A few days after President Trump was sworn in, the CIA released a Biden administration assessment that found the coronavirus is “more likely” to have leaked from a Chinese lab than to have come from animals.
When Congress investigated Fauci’s management of the grant to EcoHealth Alliance they found a lack of transparency and a blatant cover-up. These congressional hearings are available online, as are the Committee reports and the NIH documents and emails Congress released. Yet Tabak nor anyone inside the Director’s office ever discussed these matters with the broader NIH community, nor did they inform NIH scientists of what Congress uncovered.
Nobody within NIH leadership was held responsible for what happened with EcoHealth Alliance, nor have they been held liable for other scandals. Congress found that NIH hid their handling of sexual harassment complaints, forcing a Committee to send them legal subpoeanas. NIH also denied performing gain-of-function studies on monkeypox virus, until Congress caught them doing so. Pile on top of this, an NIH Alzheimer’s researcher was caught in fraud, and there has been a complete lack of accountability for an NIH-funded scientist who failed to release a study on puberty blockers, because the results did not align with orthodoxy that puberty blockers benefit transgender children.
In each of these disgraceful incidents, the NIH old guard circled the wagons instead of protecting science, because they are corrupted with power. The proof is in their behavior, and every time Congress confronted them, there was always this stonewalling and masking of accountability
Coverup has been the hallmark of people in the director’s office for over a decade.
Most staff, including myself, are puzzled by the sudden change of attitude towards NIH, both by Congress and the public. How did an institution that was held in such high regard and that was blessed with bipartisan support for so long sink to this level of distrust and suspicion?
If you go to the press, to complain about the NIH you are done for. Remaining anonymous while speaking up for change is now the best option for anyone at NIH wishing for a complete leadership overhaul to bring about a brighter future.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 17:40 - "Linguistic Racism" – Trump To Sign Order Making English The Official Language Of US
“Linguistic Racism” – Trump To Sign Order Making English The Official Language Of US
President Donald Trump is planning an executive order to make English the official language of the United States.
The planned order, obtained and reviewed by The Epoch Times and confirmed by a White House official, is unique to the nation’s 250-year history.
Aaron Gifford reports via The Epoch Times that the new order would rescind a federal mandate by President Bill Clinton that required any agencies receiving federal money to provide language assistance to those who do not speak English.
It would allow agencies to maintain practices of providing documents in services in other languages “but encourages new Americans to adopt a national language that opens doors to greater opportunities.”
“Agencies will have the flexibility to decide how and when to offer services in languages other than English to best service the American people and fulfill their agency mission,” the White House fact sheet of the planned order reads, also noting that English is the most widely used of the 350 different languages spoken across the country.
“Establishing English as the official language promotes unity, establishes efficiency in government operations, and creates a pathway for civic engagement.”
The order, once signed, is contrary to President Joe Biden’s efforts to promote bilingualism and, in some cases, preferred treatment to those still learning English.
Biden’s Department of Education secretary, Miguel Cardona, used his final days in office to push to states and school districts a dual instruction plan by which class time in all subjects would be split between English and a foreign language.
The fact sheet also notes that 180 nations have an official language and that at least 30 U.S. states and five territories have already embraced English as the official language.
“This order celebrates multilingual Americans who have learned English and passed it down while empowering immigrants to achieve the American Dream through a common language,” the fact sheet reads.
Trump is likely to face resistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has pushed for more federally funded translation services to assist illegal immigrants, teacher unions, and various other civil rights organizations that have opposed his platform from day one.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, according to its website, monitors any movement toward making English the nation’s official language and calls any English-only provisions “linguistic racism” reflective of earlier laws that promoted discrimination.
“Laws were enacted to prevent Chinese from testifying in court, Japanese from owning land, German from being learned in schools, and Hispanic children from attending integrated schools,” the website says.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 17:20 - "Bat Lady" Research Team In Wuhan 'Find' COVID-Like Virus That Can Infect Humans
“Bat Lady” Research Team In Wuhan ‘Find’ COVID-Like Virus That Can Infect Humans
Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Chinese researchers, led by a virologist whose work had fueled concerns about a possible COVID-19 lab leak, have discovered a new bat coronavirus that is similar to the one that causes COVID-19, and that is capable of infecting humans.
An aerial view of the P4 laboratory (C) on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on May 27, 2020. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images The virus, called HKU5-CoV-2, can enter human cells through the ACE2 receptor, the same gateway for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that sparked a global pandemic five years ago, according to a study recently published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Cell.
The lead researcher is Shi Zhengli, who, for years, led work on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab that has been under scrutiny amid ongoing questions about the origins of COVID-19.
The researchers collected nearly 1,000 anal swabs from pipistrellus bats across five Chinese provinces and took them to the state-owned Wuhan research institute.
The virus belongs to a distinct lineage of coronaviruses that also include the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus. Lab experiments indicate this virus strain may infect a wide range of mammals. The HKU5-CoV-2 has the potential to jump from one species to another, researchers said, noting the recent detection of viral sequences closely related to HKU5-CoV in farmed minks.
The virus doesn’t enter human cells as readily as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, suggesting the risk of its “emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated,” the paper states. The researchers also identified antibodies and antiviral drugs that target the virus.
Findings about the virus raised concerns from Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist and laboratory director at Rutgers University’s Waksman Institute of Microbiology, who has been critical of the Wuhan Institute’s virus experiments.
“In nature, this virus poses minimal threat to humans,” he told The Epoch Times on Feb. 25.
“However, [with] laboratory enhancement of transmissibility or pathogenicity, this virus could create a highly extremely threatening new bioweapons agent and pandemic pathogen.”
China is currently experiencing a surge of human metapneumovirus cases while the regime continues to resist international probes of the origin of COVID-19.
In January, the CIA became the third U.S. executive agency to back the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have come from a Chinese lab.
Ebright expressed concern that the newly discovered virus is being reported and researched by Shi, given her past line of research that he described as “reckless.”
Pandemic research nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, which has used federal grants to support bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab, received an official funding ban in January from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic said its investigation found the U.S. group had been facilitating lab experiments in Wuhan that enhance coronavirus features, including through gain of function research.
The Chinese foreign ministry, in a Feb. 12 press conference, denied that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has engaged in gain of function studies of coronavirus.
Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Feb. 23, 2017. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images Shi left her former facility and joined Guangzhou National Laboratory as a researcher in May 2024. The lab was set up in 2021 to focus on significant respiratory diseases and their prevention, according to its website.
The virologist has posted hiring notices for postdoctoral researchers to join her team to study emerging infectious diseases, molecular epidemiology, cross-species viral transmission, and molecular mechanisms of pneumonia from respiratory viral infections.
A dozen researchers from the Wuhan Institute, along with six from her current lab, were coauthors of the February research paper.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was aware of the Cell study but “there is no reason to believe it currently poses a concern to public health.”
“The publication referenced demonstrates that the bat virus can use a human protein to enter cells in the laboratory, but they have not detected infections in humans,” Paul Prince, a spokesperson for the center, told The Epoch Times.
He added that the agency will “continue to monitor viral disease activity and provide important updates to the public.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Shi for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 17:00 - 'The Dog Ate My Epstein Files…'
‘The Dog Ate My Epstein Files…’
Authored by James Howard Kunstler,
“It may be time the FBI’s New York field office gets paid a visit in the style it’s very well accustomed to doling out.”
– Mike Benz
Turns out new Attorney General Pam Bondi was a little off the mark earlier this week when she said the Jeffrey Epstein files were sitting on her desk. Actually, it was a six-hundred-pound tar-smeared hairball with a gift tag that read: “To Pamela Jo from her Friends in Blobville, good luck untangling this!” Well, she did tell Fox News host Jesse Waters that the thing sitting on her desk was “disgusting.”
As promised, those Epstein files were released on Thursday — a measly two-hundred pages — to much chagrin and embarrassment for all, since the material turned out to be the same old lists and flight logs that every blogger and his uncle has already put out on the Web for years — say, what . . .?
But then the plot thickened later in the day when AG Bondi said a whistleblower informed her that the New York office of the FBI and their counterparts in the Southern District of NY (Manhattan) DOJ offices were hiding “thousands and thousands” of pages evidence and other stuff (videos? photos?) they had been sitting on for years.
AG Bondi quickly fired off a letter to brand-new FBI Director Kash Patel demanding that the New York FBI office deliver all that stuff to Washington by eight o’clock in the morning today (Friday). If you were Mr. Patel, rather than waiting until morning, wouldn’t you just take a twilight ride up the Jersey Turnpike from Blobville to the Big Apple with an FBI swat team and bust into both the FBI and DOJ offices there. . . and maybe frog-march a few federal employees onto the street like so many grannies caught praying in front of an abortion mill?
Of course, I am writing this a few hours before the Friday morning deadline. So, for now there are only the ancillary considerations in this fast-developing denouement to the longest and slowest-running case of trans-national fuckery in world history. Some little details do stick in one’s craw. For example, Maurene (spelled that way) Comey, daughter of fired FBI director James Comey has been a lead US attorney out of the SDNY in the case against Ghislaine Maxwell and the more recent case against Sean (“Diddy”) Combs — both cases revolving around grand-scale sexual depravity among world-class celebrities. Note, too, that the SDNY was the origin point of more recent janky cases brought against Mr. Trump in the 2024 runup to the election.
And, as independent investigator Mike Benz points out, Bill Barr was USAG in 2019 when Jeffrey Epstein was finally busted, stuffed into the Manhattan federal lockup, and promptly (shall we say, conveniently) turned up dead a few days later (putting aside the known irregularities involving the disposal of his body and the pathology reports about the cause-of-death). Did you notice that no one was ever disciplined for that? Not the two guards on the floor that night who claimed they fell asleep. Not the warden of the jail who failed to check whether the security cameras were working (they weren’t) on his most important prisoner’s cell?
Nor did Bill Barr ever answer for that, or for some other capers — such as sitting on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the fall of 2019 when Adam Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee held preliminary hearings to consider impeaching President Donald Trump over his inquiring phone call to V. Zelenskyy in Ukraine. The laptop, you surely know, was stuffed with deal memos and emails about the Biden family’s ex-officio financial shenanigans in Ukraine that surely would have amounted to exculpatory evidence and was withheld from Mr. Trump’s lawyers through the entire psychodrama of the impeachment and trial in the Senate.
Then there is the peculiar history of Bill Barr’s dad, Donald Barr, present at the founding of the CIA (as an OSS officer in WWII), who groomed young Jeffrey Epstein into a job teaching math New York’s Dalton prep school in 1974 on the basis of fake college credentials (Stanford). Epstein was soon transformed into a Wall Street go-getter and most probably an agent for Mossad, Israeli intel. Epstein’s rise in high finance and international spookery led him to crypto-British media mogul and Mossad agent Robert Maxwell and Maxwell’s sex-crazed daughter Ghislaine. . . and the Epstein underage sex operation proceeded from there.
Coincidentally, Donald Barr’s son, Bill Barr’s rise in Blobville neatly parallel’s Epstein’s rise. Barr signed on with the CIA in 1973, worked as an “analyst,” quit to go to law school in 1977, landed in the Reagan White House, than the Bush One White House where he performed clean-up operations on the lingering Iran-Contra mess, eventually becoming US Attorney General in 1991. Between 1994 and 2019, he racked up a personal fortune in blob-centric law, becoming Attorney General a second time in 2019, under Mr. Trump, whom he sedulously stabbed in the back, butt, and liver during his tenure.
Now, it is well-known that Donald Trump consorted with Jeffrey Epstein at various points in his life. Mr. Trump, in his role as New York real estate mogul, was but another celebrity butterfly in Epstein’s vast collection. He admits flying on the notorious Epstein airplane, though, he has said only to catch a ride somewhere. Mr. Trump later clashed with Epstein, as far, even, as blackballing him from the Mar-a-Lago club. (Epstein’s role as a high-toned pimp was becoming known in the early 2000s, though his legal culpability was neatly minimized by Barack Obama’s DOJ.)
In light of all this, it appears that Mr. Trump has no reservations these days about disclosing whatever lurks in the blob files about these skeezy matters. Of course, it is a little hard to believe that blob agents did not dispose of the evidence well in advance of January 20. Other whistleblowers say that FBI agents have been “working night and day” to destroy files on “stand-alone” FBI servers in the days preceding Kash Patel’s arrival on the premises.
As I wind up today’s post at 8:02 in the morning, something new should have landed on Pam Bondi’s desk in place of that six-hundred-pound hairball. Not a whisper of news yet. No perp-walks out of SDNY or the New York FBI office. And, of course, The New York Times, barely a mention on yesterday’s Epstein doings. There’s a long work-day ahead. Stand by.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/28/2025 – 16:20
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