Sep 01

Today’s News 1st September 2023

  • German Museum Denies White People Entry To Colonial Exhibit On Saturdays, Only BIPoC Allowed Inside
    German Museum Denies White People Entry To Colonial Exhibit On Saturdays, Only BIPoC Allowed Inside

    Authored by John Cody via ReMix News,

    A German museum of industrial heritage in Dortmund only allows “Black, Indigenous and People of Color” to enter the museum on Saturdays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for the “That’s Colonial” exhibition, with the prohibition sparking claims of racism.

    The Zollern Colliery museum argues it is a “safer space” intended to protect people of color from “further discrimination.”

    The exclusive access is “an offer for BIPoC and black people to be able to withdraw and exchange ideas openly,” reads the museum’s website. “For BIPoC, such safe spaces are rarely found in everyday life or in museum rooms.”

    The exhibit partly focuses on racial grievances, with the introduction to the exhibition on the website writing: “The morning cup of coffee, a street name or certain prejudices: Colonial history is still present in our everyday lives – even in Westphalia.”

    A small team belonging to Antenne Frei radio station filmed themselves trying to enter the museum, but were blocked because they are White people.

    The employees struggled to explain why their prohibition was not racism when confronted by a host from the radio station.

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    “If there’s a People of Color in there now, and he says I don’t want that White guy in here, then you must go out,” said a male employee. The host then asked, “Because we have the wrong skin color?”

    The employee responded: “I can’t explain that. I can’t explain that.” When he was told that he should know because he works there, he repeated that he could not explain how or why the rule was in place.

    “But that’s racism,” responded the radio host.

    Inside the museum building, the radio host said: “If we turn it around now and say Blacks are not allowed in, can you imagine what an impression that would make? Now, it’s the case that the Whites can’t go in…”

    A female employee responded: “There’s nothing to say.” The host then said, “You don’t want to say anything,” to which she responded, “I don’t want to.”

    He then stated he wanted his entry fee back since he did not find the policy appropriate, and the female employee agreed.

    The Zollern Colliery museum is one of the LWL museums, which are funded by taxpayers. The official website states: “The LWL museums bring together the history of the Westphalia-Lippe region in the areas of industry, handicrafts, technology, art, natural history, archaeology, monastic and everyday culture. They take on current topics and present attractive and lively exhibitions for people of all generations.”

    Similar anti-White policies are spreading throughout the West. For example, a Black artist collective in Switzerland occupied a theater last year and demanded a non-White theater space, arguing that “there is no racism against Whites.” The group managed to collect hundreds of thousands of francs from the Swiss government despite openly discriminating against Whites.

    Many Whites across the West are growing increasingly concerned, and despite claims that racism against Whites does not exist, polling shows that 80 percent of French say that anti-White racism exists.

    In that country, a “Blacks only” Christmas market caused widespread controversy in 2021.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 09/01/2023 – 02:00

  • Escobar: NATOstan Robots Versus The Heavenly Horses Of Multipolarity
    Escobar: NATOstan Robots Versus The Heavenly Horses Of Multipolarity

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    The entire West is waiting at the room at the station with black curtains – and no trains.

    We will all need plenty of time and introspection to analyze the full range of game-changing vectors unleashed by the unveiling of BRICS 11 last week in South Africa.

    Yet time waits for no one. The Empire will (italics mine) strike back in full force; in fact its multi-hydra Hybrid War tentacles are already on display.

    Here and here I have attempted two rough drafts of History on the birth of BRICS 11. Essentially, what the Russia-China strategic partnership is accomplishing, one (giant) step at a time, is also multi-vectorial:

    – expanding BRICS into an alliance to fight against U.S. non-diplomacy.

    – counter-acting the sanctions dementia.

    – promoting alternatives to SWIFT.

    – promoting autonomy, self-reliance and instances of sovereignty.

    – and in the near future, integrating BRICS 11 (and counting) with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to counter imperial military threats, something already alluded to by President Lukashenko, the inventor of the precious neologism “Global Globe”.

    In contrast, the indispensable Michael Hudson has constantly shown how the U.S. and EU’s “strategic error of self-isolation from the rest of the world is so massive, so total, that its effects are the equivalent of a world war.”

    Thus Prof. Hudson’s contention that the proxy war in Ukraine – not only against Russia but also against Europe – “may be thought of as World War III.”

    In several ways, Prof. Hudson details, we are living “an outgrowth of World War II, whose aftermath saw the United States establish international economic and political organization under its own control to operate in its own national self-interest: the International Monetary Fund to impose U.S. financial control and dollarize the world economy; the World Bank to lend governments money to bear the infrastructure costs of creating trade dependency on U.S. food and manufactures; promoting plantation agriculture, U.S./NATO control of oil, mining and natural resources; and United Nations agencies under U.S. control, with veto power in all international organizations that it created or joined.”

    Now it’s another ball game entirely when it comes to Global South, or Global Majority, of “Global Globe” real emancipation. Just take Moscow hosting the Russia-Africa summit in late July, then Beijing, with Xi in person, spending a day last week in Johannesburg with dozens of African leaders, all of them part of the new Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): the G77 (actually 134 nations), presided by a Cuban, President Diaz-Canel.

    That’s the Russia-China Double Helix in effect – offering large swathes of the “Global Globe” security and high-tech infrastructure (Russia) and finance, manufactured exports and road and rail infrastructure (China).

    In this context, a BRICS currency is not necessary. Prof. Hudson crucially quotes President Putin: what’s needed is a “means of settlement” for Central Banks for their balance of payments, to keep in check imbalances in trade and investment. That has nothing to do with a BRICS gold-backed supra-national currency.

    Moreover, there will be no need for a new reserve currency as increasingly more nations will be ditching the U.S. dollar in their settlements.

    Putin has referred to a “temporary” accounting unit – as intra-BRICS 11 trade will be inevitably expanding in their national currencies. All that will develop in the context of an increasingly overwhelming alliance of major oil, gas, minerals, agriculture and commodities producers: a real (italics mine) economy capable of supporting a new global order progressively pushing Western dominance into oblivion.

    Call it the soft way to euthanize Hegemony.

    All aboard the “malign China” narrative

    Now compare all of the above with that piece of Norwegian wood posing as NATO secretary-general telling the CIA mouthpiece paper in Washington, in a unique moment of frankness, that the Ukraine War “didn’t start in 2022. The war started in 2014”.

    So here we have a designated imperial vassal plainly admitting that the whole thing started with Maidan, the U.S.-engineered coup supervised by cookie distributor Vicky “F**k the E” Nuland. This means that NATO’s claim of a Russia “invasion”, referring to the Special Military Operation (SMO) is absolutely bogus from a legal standpoint.

    It’s firmly established that the spin doctors/ paid propagandist “experts” of Atlanticist idiocracy, practicing an unrivalled mix of arrogance/ignorance, believe they can get away with anything when it comes to demonizing Russia. The same applies to their new narrative on “malign China”.

    Chinese scholars which I have the honor to interact with are always delighted to point out that imperial pop narratives and predictive programming are absolutely useless when it comes to confronting Zhong Hua (“The Splendid Central Civilization”).

    That’s because China, as one of them describes it, is endowed with a “clear-minded, purposeful and relentless aristocratic oligarchy at the helm of the Chinese State”, using tools of power that guarantee, among other issues, public safety and hygiene for all; education focused on learning useful information and skills, not indoctrination; a monetary system under control; physical assets and the industrial capacity to make real stuff; first-class diplomatic, supply chain, techno-scientific, economic, cultural, commercial, geostrategic and financial networks; and first-class physical infrastructure.

    And yet, since at least 1990, Western mainstream media is obsessed to dictate that China’s economic collapse, or “hard landing”, is imminent.

    Nonsense. As another Chinese scholar frames it, “China’s strategy has been to let sleeping dogs lie and let lying machines lie. Meanwhile, let China surpass them in their sleep and cause the Empire’s demise.”

    Poisons, viruses, microchips

    And that bring us full circle back to the New Great Game: NATOstan versus the Multipolar World. No matter the evidence provided by graphic reality, NATOstan in advanced seppuku mode – especially the European sector – actually believes it will win the war against Russia-China.

    As for the Global South/Global Majority/”Global Globe”, they are regarded as enemies. So their mostly poor populations should be poisoned with famine, experimental injections, new modified viruses, implanted microchips as in BCI (Brain Computer Interface) and soon NATO As Global Robocop “security” outfits.

    The coming of BRICS 11 is already unleashing a new imperial wave of deadly poisoning, brand new viruses and cyborgs.

    The imperial master issued the order to “save” the Japanese seafood industry – a few scraps as quid pro quod for Tokyo acting as a rabid dog in the imperial Chip War against China, and dutifully pledging alliance at the recent Camp David summit side by side with the South Korean vassals.

    The EU vassals, in synch, lifted Japan food import rules just as Fukushima nuclear wastewater was to be pumped into the ocean. That’s yet another instance of the EU continuing to dig its own grave – as Japan is set to suffer a Typhoon Number Ten type of blowback.

    Radiation spread across the world through the Pacific will breed endless cancer patients around the world and simultaneously destroy the economy of several small island nations relying heavily on tourism.

    In parallel, Sergey Glazyev, Minister of Macroeconomics at the Eurasian Economic Commission, part of the EAEU, has been among the very few warning about the new trans-humanist frontier: the Nanotechnology Injection craze ahead – something quite well documented in scientific journals.

    Quoting Dr. Steve Hotze, Glazyev in one of his Telegram posts explained what DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been doing, “injecting nanobots in the form of graphene oxide and hydrogel” into the human body, thus creating an interface between nanobots and brain cells. We become “a receptor, receiver and transmitter of signals. The brain will receive signals from the outside, and you can be manipulated remotely.”

    Glazyev also refers to the by now frantic promotion of “Eris”, a new Covid variety, named by the WHO after the Greek goddess of discord and enmity, daughter of the goddess of night, Nykta.

    Those familiar with Greek mythology will know that Eris was quite angry because she was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Her vengeance was to plant at the feast a golden apple from the gardens of Hesperides with the inscription “Most Beautiful”: that was the legendary “apple of discord”, which generated the Mother of All Catfights between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. And that eventually led to no less than the Trojan War.

    In the White Room, with black curtains

    It’s oh so predictable, coming from those “elites” running the show, to name a new virus as a harbinger of war. After all, The Next War is badly needed because Project Ukraine turned out to be a massive strategic failure, with the cosmic humiliation of NATO just around the corner.

    During the Vietnam War – which the empire lost to a peasant guerrilla army – the daily briefing at the command HQ in Saigon was derided by every journalist with an IQ above room temperature as the “Saigon follies”.

    Saigon would never compare with the tsunami of daily follies offered on the proxy war in Ukraine by a tawdry moveable feast at the White House, State Dept., Pentagon, NATO HQ, the Brussels Kafkaesque machine and other Western environs. The difference is that those posing as “journalists” today are cognitively incapable of understanding these are “follies” – and even if they did, they would be prevented from reporting them.

    So that’s where the collective West is at the moment: in a White Room, a simulacrum of Plato’s cave depicted in Cream’s 1968 masterpiece, partly inspired by William Blake, invoking pale “silver horses” and exhausted “yellow tigers”.

    The entire West is waiting at the room at the station with black curtains – and no trains. They will “sleep in this place with the lonely crowd” and “lie in the dark where the shadows run from themselves”.

    Outside in the cold, long distance, under the sunlight, away from the moving shadows, across roads made of silk and iron, the Heavenly Horses (Tianma) of the multipolar world gallop gallantly from network to network, from Belt and Road to Eurasia and Afro-Eurasia Bridge, from intuition to integration, from emancipation to sovereignty.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 09/01/2023 – 00:00

  • Jordan Launches Rare Airstrike On Alleged Syrian Captagon Factory
    Jordan Launches Rare Airstrike On Alleged Syrian Captagon Factory

    Previously we described how what’s been dubbed “poor man’s cocaine” at as little as $3 a pill is threatening to proliferate across the Middle East and into Europe. The synthetic stimulant Captagon has been popular for years in parts of the Middle East and North Africa, and was big during ‘Arab Spring’ protests, but mainstream media of late has blamed the Assad government and allied militias for its now rapid spread.

    Gulf countries and allies have especially stepped up the pressure on Damascus of late, accusing it of being behind state-backed trafficking which also allegedly involves Lebanese Hezbollah. On Thursday, Jordan appears to have taken the most drastic move yet to tap down on the Captagon trade, sending its air force to bomb an alleged drug factory in southern Syria, in a rare cross-border raid.

    Image via Al Monitor

    The large strike was in the village of Um Rumman, and no casualties were reported, with The Associated Press citing anti-Assad opposition activists to say a Captagon production plant was destroyed.

    Syrian state media said that only a farm was blown up, thus denying the allegation it was a drug factory, while others said “the target was also used as a narcotics warehouse where smugglers would prepare and package illegal drugs before smuggling them across the southern border into Jordan.”

    The village near where the strike to place is just near the Jordanian border. Apparently drug smugglers have frequently used the area for their drug trade logistics operations.

    The Jordanians have seen the southern Syrian region of Sweida as a big problem, particularly ever since the Assad government put down the decade-long rebellion which put the country in the grips of war and instability, as the AP details of a prior incident:

    In May, an airstrike over a village in the southern Sweida province killed a well-known Syrian drug kingpin and his family, which activists believe was conducted by the Jordanians. Amman has been concerned by militias’ drug smuggling across the Syrian border into the kingdom, most notably highly addictive Captagon amphetamines, which have turned into an estimated multi-billion-dollar industry in war-torn Syria.

    Saudi Arabia and Gulf nations have reportedly been urging President Assad to stem the flow of Captagon from Syria as part of restored diplomatic ties, also at a moment Damascus has been re-embraced by the Arab League. 

    The drug was produced in the 1960s in the Germany, and in its medical form typically treats ailments like attention deficit disorders and narcolepsy. 

    It is certainly ironic and dubious that the West now widely blames the Assad government for the proliferation of Captagon, given that for much of the last decade it was anti-government insurgents known to be the heaviest users. At one point the pill even became known as “the drug of jihad”.

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    Reuters has previously detailed, “It was discontinued but an illicit version of the drug continued to be produced in eastern Europe and later in the Arab region, becoming prominent in the conflict that erupted in Syria following anti-government protests in 2011.”

    The same report noted its prominence on the anti-Assad or “rebel” side. “The illicit version – also nicknamed ‘the drug of jihad’ or ‘poor man’s cocaine’ – is thought to be made of a mix of fenethylline, caffeine and other fillers. It generates focus and staves off sleep and hunger,” Reuters wrote. But now blame and pressure has been ramped up on the Syrians, as well as ‘pro-Iranian’ groups including Hezbollah.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 23:20

  • Sen. Johnson Claims CDC 'Abused Authority,' Engaged In 'Censorship Campaign' Of COVID-19 Vaccine Posts
    Sen. Johnson Claims CDC ‘Abused Authority,’ Engaged In ‘Censorship Campaign’ Of COVID-19 Vaccine Posts

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

    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of working with Big Tech to censor his social media posts about COVID-19 vaccines.

    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) speaks during an interview for “American Thought Leaders” in Washington on May 15, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    In an Aug. 28 letter to CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen, the Republican lawmaker said he is continuing to review the health agency’s alleged efforts to “coordinate with social media companies to censor COVID-19 vaccine information.”

    Mr. Johnson stated that, based on information he has allegedly received from Elon Musk’s X Corp., along with documents made public through the discovery process of state-led lawsuits against the Biden administration, “it is clear that CDC abused its authority by engaging in a censorship campaign to suppress and discredit certain viewpoints it labeled as ‘misinformation.'”

    The Wisconsin senator, who has been a vocal advocate for people who claim to have been injured by COVID-19 vaccines, went on to cite the censorship of his own Jan. 3, 2022 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he highlighted data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS) database.

    In that post, Mr. Johnson wrote: “Sadly, we passed two milestones on VAERS. Over 1 million advisers events and over 21,000 deaths, 30 percent of those deaths occurred on day 0, 1, or 2 following vaccination.

    “When will federal agencies start being transparent with Americans? Why do they continue to ignore early treatment?” he concluded.

    The post, which included a screenshot of the data from VAERS, was labeled “misleading” in a note explaining that health officials consider COVID-19 vaccines to be “safe for most people.”

    According to Mr. Johnson, who is the ranking member on the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, all replies, shares, or likes of the post were subsequently blocked.

    The lawmaker claims he later questioned officials at Twitter—prior to Mr. Musk’s takeover—as to why his post had been labeled “misleading” but received no response.

    He was later told by the platform’s new leadership that executive branch officials, particularly from the CDC, “communicated with social media companies, including Twitter, about ‘COVID vaccine misinformation.'”

    National Jewish Health registered nurse Emily Cole holds out a dose of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine in Denver, Colorado, on Nov. 3, 2021. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

    Sen. Johnson Demands Answers

    “The information Twitter provided showed a clear and concerted effort by the CDC to censor those who tweeted about VAERS data,” Mr. Johnson wrote.

    Concluding his letter, the senator asked the CDC to hand over documents and information detailing interactions between all its employees and those at X—as well as other social media platforms including Facebook, and YouTube—regarding 10 specific people who expressed skepticism over the vaccines and lockdowns, starting Dec. 1, 2019.

    The 10 individuals include Brianne Dressen, a former preschool teacher in Utah who was left severely injured after participating in AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical in November 2020, renowned Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., critical care physician Pierre Kory, Alabama-based Army surgeon Lt. Col. Theresa Long, Robert Malone, cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, professor of epidemiology Dr. Harvey Risch, and Aaron Siri, an attorney who has led multiple high-profile cases against vaccine manufacturers and federal health agencies since the pandemic began.

    Mr. Johnson also asked that the CDC hand over any communications regarding him.

    Additionally, the lawmaker requested all documents pertaining to CDC communications with both private sector companies and federal agencies regarding the censorship of online speech or COVID-19 misinformation policies, and a list of all the social media posts that were flagged by the CDC as “containing misinformation, disinformation, or generally disfavored speech.”

    He gave the CDC until Sept. 11 to hand over the documents.

    The Epoch Times has contacted the CDC for comment.

    Earlier this month, Mr. Johnson raised concerns over the “alarming” decision by a small number of firms, hospitals, and schools to reinstate mask mandates again amid reports of several new COVID-19 variants, including one that the CDC believes could potentially evade vaccines.

    Also this month, the senator urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general to launch an investigation into whether or not government scientists concealed critical information about COVID-19 from the public.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 23:00

  • Indeed Out-Wokes Corporate America With $10,000 Relocation Checks For Trans Employees
    Indeed Out-Wokes Corporate America With $10,000 Relocation Checks For Trans Employees

    Austin-based online job search platform, “Indeed,” aims to ‘out woke’ corporate America by offering transgender employees or those with transgender children a $10,000 relocation payment. Both Bloomberg and Axios confirmed the relocation payment program. 

    Before we discuss relocation payments, it’s important to note that Indeed proudly states on its website that it had the wokest corporate policies in America in 2018. It said its 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, score “received a perfect score of 100 percent.” 

    For some context, CEI is administered by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ political lobbying group in the world. HRC has received millions of dollars in funding from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.

    Indeed’s executives appear to have one objective in mind: rank the highest on the CEI index this year (we all remember earlier this year what happened to Bud Light when they tried that on TikTok). One way execs are attempting to achieve a high score is to offer a relocation program to trans workers, cutting them a $10,000 check to cover ‘travel-related expenses’ out of conservative states (or areas where they don’t feel comfortable) to safer grounds. 

    “While Indeed introduced the program to its employees in July, until now, the company has not discussed it publicly,” Bloomberg said. 

    Indeed provided further details about the program to Axios:

    • It’s for US-based employees and immediate family members who seek gender-affirming care and live in a location where state laws or government-issued directives criminalize or restrict access to such medical care.

    • It also applies to those who live in places that attempt to restrict support for children who are gender non-conforming, transgender or non-binary. 

    • Eligible employees will receive approval to relocate to a state or jurisdiction where they will be able to access the care and support they need, as well as a $10,000 flat-rate benefit to support their relocation expenses.

    None of this comes as a surprise given Indeed’s mission since 2018 has been to ‘out woke’ corporate America in its pursuit of a high CEI score. But why? 

    Some netizens were confused by Indeed’s move considering the Bud Light backlash earlier this year after a white privileged liberal executive believed the brewer was time for a change. However, its customer base thought otherwise, nuking the beer as demand has since crashed. 

    “Kinda weird that companies never did stuff like this for black people or disabled people,” one netizen asked. 

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    Another asked, “Does Indeed offer any relocation money for women who live in particularly misogynistic states? Of course not. “

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    Someone else pointed out:

    We wonder if Indeed will have an increase in the number of trans workers trying to capitalize on the free money. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 22:40

  • "An Unconstitutional Set Of Laws" Costs DC $5.1 Million After 2A Violations
    “An Unconstitutional Set Of Laws” Costs DC $5.1 Million After 2A Violations

    Submitted by Gun Owners of America,

    Concluding a years-long lawsuit, US Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave preliminary approval to a settlement agreement due to Washington DC’s mishandling of six different gun owners, all of whom were arrested between 2012 and 2014 on gun–related charges.

    According to a report from the Washington Post, Lamberth had previously ruled in 2021 that DC arrested, jailed, prosecuted, and seized guns from six people “based on an unconstitutional set of laws” and violated their Second Amendment rights.

    One of the examples cited in that same Washington Post report on the settlement details a Maryland resident who was commuting home from his job in Virginia with a gun locked in a safe in the trunk of his car. He was jailed for two nights on gun charges and lost his job as a result.

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    Washington, DC, will now have to pay out 5.1 million dollars due to the lawsuit. With $300,000 each to the six plaintiffs and $1.9 million in attorney fees, the leftover $1.4 million will be set aside for a large number of people who are estimated to qualify for the class action suit.

    DC’s gun laws have been the subject of multiple high-profile lawsuits. In 2008 the landmark gun rights case District of Colombia v. Heller (a GOA-backed case) affirmed that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, and no government could impose a ban on firearms within the home, as Washington DC had done prior to Dick Heller filing suit.

    Then, in 2014, Palmer v. District of Colombia struck down DC’s ban on carrying handguns in public with a permit.

    Finally, in 2017, Wrenn v. District of Colombia (another GOA case) struck down the district’s “good and substantial reason” clause in its permitting process. Fearing an outcome that could make a concealed carry permit easier to acquire nationwide, DC did not appeal Wrenn to the Supreme Court. Gun rights advocates would have to wait another five years for the landmark decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen to finally abolish anti-gun bans on concealed carry masquerading as “may-issue” permitting regimes.

    So, what was the District of Colombia’s defense during the suit? Apparently, those arrested should have done their research on DC gun laws or attempted to license the firearms before passing through the district. But interestingly, the judge in the suit found that there were no actions that the plaintiffs could have taken during the time period in question that would have allowed them to legally carry a gun for self-defense in the District of Colombia.

    We’re sure that Dick Heller, now Gun Owners of America’s Senior Policy Advisor, couldn’t be more pleased with this ruling.

    *   *   *

    We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 22:20

  • China Cuts FX Reserve Ratio To 4%, Unlocking $19BN, In Most "Visible" Step Yet To Prop Up Slumping Yuan
    China Cuts FX Reserve Ratio To 4%, Unlocking $19BN, In Most “Visible” Step Yet To Prop Up Slumping Yuan

    Following the news two weeks ago that China had suffered the largest FX outflow in a year…

    … when in July, China suffered $25BN in net outflows via onshore outright spot transactions, offset by $14BN inflows via freshly entered and canceled forward transactions and further outflows via the SAFE dataset on “cross-border RMB flows” which amounted to another $16BN in the month, resulting in net total of $26BN in July outflows, the most since Sept 22, Beijing started taking the accelerating collapse in the yuan very seriously.

    So seriously that it not only declared war on yuan bears with the first ever 1000+ pip gap between the yuan fix and estimates, one which has persisted for the past two weeks culminating with a near record gap of 1,092 moments ago…

    … but a few days later, the PBOC orchestrated the biggest offshore liquidity crunch in hopes of sparking a short squeeze, when the Hong Kong’s offshore yuan interbank rate climbed to the highest since 2018, making holding on to a short yuan position extremely painful.

    Neither did much, and the yuan continued to drift not too far from its lowest level on record, just as Citi strategists Philip Yin and Gaurav Garg correctly predicted:

    “A CNH funding squeeze could be a tactical tool and a signaling device, but unlikely the go-to tool in isolation. Overall, the combination of rate cut and other FX tools suggest that fundamental-driven yuan weakness is allowed but the pace is managed.”

    So fast forward just a few more week, when Beijing revealed the latest tool in its devaluation-fighting arsenal (as the Fed is still stuck in “higher for longer” mode courtesy of the “strong” fake data published daily by the Biden admin and revised lower just a month later) when in the most visible step yet to prop up the bleeding yuan, China reduced the amount of foreign currency deposits banks are required to hold as reserves for the first time this year, to 4% from 6%, effective on Sept. 15.

    Cutting FX reserve requirements has been a key part of the China’s playbook to support the yuan over the past two years. It last deployed the tool in September.

    The move – which followed a bolder-than-expected deposit rate cut to alleviate potential CNY pressure – boosts the amount of foreign currency available in the local market, making it relatively more appealing for traders to buy the yuan. According to UBS estimates, a 2% cut in the FX RRR will unlock around $19Bn. The resulting increase in USD supply should cause USDCNH lower and so it did, although it is worth noting that after the previous September RRR cut, CNH strengthened by around 1% initially before weakening by 3% over the subsequent three weeks.

    “Previous experience suggested that the yuan will be supported briefly by similar measures, but it has not been a step to turn around the direction of dollar-yuan in the medium-to-long term,” said Becky Liu, Head of Greater China Macro Strategy at Standard Chartered. “It is a widely expected move.”

    China’s currency slid toward its weakest level since 2007 against the dollar in August, after a surprise interest-rate cut failed to boost investor sentiment damaged by ongoing economic weakness, but certainly weakened the currency further. The currency has fallen around 5% this year amid China’s yawning rate divergence with the US and is among Asia’s worst performers next to the yen and Korean won.

    The offshore yuan rose 0.3% to around 7.255 per dollar after the news.

    The PBOC has ramped up support for the currency via tools such as setting stronger-than-expected daily reference rate, prompting state banks to sell dollars and tightening offshore yuan liquidity to squeeze shorts. The moves are part of a series of stimulus measures, the latest of which was a reduction in down payments for mortgages to help the country’s under-pressure residential property market.

    Becky Liu, head of China macro strategy at Standard Chartered, said that the PBOC’s latest move to reduce the required reserve ratio for foreign currency deposits will support the yuan (if only briefly): “It reaffirmed PBOC’s decisive stance to stabilize the CNY, and will not be a singular move”, and yes – the market demands much more.

    “This is a very small amount and won’t be sufficient to narrow interest rate differential between CNY and USD by itself” she said adding that previous experience suggested that the CNY will be supported briefly by similar measures, but it has not been a step to turn around the direction of USD/CNY in the medium to long term.

    “USD/CNH upside is now largely capped at 7.33-7.35, and we should expect a period of stabilization of the pair near term”

    “We see this as a bid by authorities to improve FX funding onshore and to further lower the US-CH rate gap,” said Eddie Cheung, Senior emerging market strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “The rate gap has also narrowed since the macro-prudential adjustment coefficient for cross border financing but this is a step further.”

    Alas, as with all the other modest, piecemeal steps implemented by the PBOC in recent weeks, any initial strength in the yuan will quickly fizzle as nothing short of a “whatever it takes” bazooka stimulus will be seen by markets as sufficient to prop up the economy, the currency or local markets.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 22:18

  • Ukraine's Defense Chief Expected To Be Sacked Next Week Amid Corruption Probe
    Ukraine’s Defense Chief Expected To Be Sacked Next Week Amid Corruption Probe

    Significant rumors are once again swirling over the possible imminent sacking of Ukraine’s defense minister, with Bloomberg also reporting.

    Defense chief Oleksiy Reznikov has overseen a series of embarrassing military corruption scandals at a time Kiev is trying to tout its democratic and corruption reform credentials. He could be dismissed from the top post as early as next week, and given a new role as ambassador to the United Kingdom.

    Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov

    But the decision is “not finalized” according to sources speaking to Kyiv Post, which names Rustem Umerov – currently head of the State Property Fund – as a likely candidate to replace Reznikov.

    DM Reznikov has overseen Ukraine’s military and defense strategy since the start of the Feb. 2022 invasion, but the much-hyped counteroffensive launched at the start of the summer has been widely seen as a failure, despite tens of billions of dollars of Western aid and weaponry.

    Reznikov is now front and center in an anti-graft probe, Bloomberg writes, citing local Ukrainian media:

    President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s anti-graft crackdown is fueling speculation that he may dismiss Ukraine’s defense minister following accusations of corruption linked to procuring military supplies.

    The Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper, citing sources it didn’t name, said on Thursday Minister Oleksii Reznikov may be replaced as early as next week. The report followed accusations from anti-corruption activists and media that under his leadership the ministry has purchased food and uniforms at inflated prices. It also coincides with comments from a lawmaker that Reznikov may be shifted to the post of Kyiv’s ambassador to the UK.

    Additionally, parliament’s People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, wrote in a Thursday Telegram post that “…Rustem Umerov will be nominated for the position of Minister of Defense.” 

    Kyiv Post has detailed the latest scandal as follows:

    The latest scandal was exposed by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Nikolov who, citing sources at the State Customs Service of Ukraine, reported that the Ministry of Defense had acquired 233,000 winter jackets for $20 million from a Turkish firm.

    Documentation from customs regarding one shipment unveiled a startling increase in cost for a batch of 4,900 jackets en route from Turkey to Ukraine.

    The price had tripled, soaring from $142,000 to $421,000 (a per-unit rise from $29 to $86). Furthermore, it was revealed that the jackets, despite being marketed as winter wear, turned out to be lightweight.

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    High-ranking military officers and Kiev officials have for months come under scrutiny for driving expensive luxury cars and acquiring expensive villas. 

    The Ministry of Agriculture has also recently been under fore for inflated pasta purchases, which caused a reported loss for state coffers of at least $1.7 million, and triggering suspicions that corrupt officials lined their pockets.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 22:00

  • Trump Says Fear-Mongering About New COVID Variants A 'Lunatic' Ploy To Rig 2024 Election
    Trump Says Fear-Mongering About New COVID Variants A ‘Lunatic’ Ploy To Rig 2024 Election

    Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after being booked at the Fulton County jail on 13 charges related to the 2020 election, in Atlanta, Ga. on Aug. 24, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused “left-wing lunatics” of fear-mongering about new COVID-19 variants in order to justify the reintroduction of their left-wing lockdown and mandate policies, which included the use of drop boxes and mail-in ballots in 2020, in a bid to rig the 2024 election.

    President Trump made the remarks in a video posted on Aug. 30 on Truth Social, saying that his message should serve as a warning to every COVID-19 “tyrant” who not only wants to “take away our freedom” but who would be playing into the hands of those wanting to exploit COVID-19 restrictions to interfere in next year’s election.

    “The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fear-mongering about the new variants that are coming,” President Trump said in the video.

    Recently, there’s been a torrent of media reports about a new COVID-19 variant circulating, while President Joe Biden said last week that all Americans would likely be advised to get another booster.

    In his video message, President Trump said that his political opponents are eager to leverage COVID-19 “hysteria” for political ends.

    “They want to restart the COVID hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal drop boxes, more mail-in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election,” the former president said.

    He charged that “they rigged the 2020 election and now they’re trying to do the same thing all over again by rigging the most important election in the history of our country, the 2024 election, even if it means trying to bring back COVID.”

    President Trump has maintained that he believes he was was robbed of victory in 2020, due in part to last-minute changes to election rules that removed some guardrails for mail-in ballots and, at least in theory, made it easier to cheat.

    While the former president lost nearly all of his election-related lawsuits, many were dismissed not on merit but on technicalities like the doctrine of laches, which basically says that a legal challenge was brought too late and prejudiced the defendant.

    ‘We Will Not Comply’

    A number of conservative commentators have pointed to the sharp rise of COVID-19-related media reporting in recent weeks, while pointing to the threat of renewed restrictions for civil liberties—and the upcoming election.

    Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has claimed there’s a plot to push “COVIDian tyranny” and “lock you down again just in time for the election” and facilitate the launch of a “Marxist-type revolution.”

    Former member of Congress Ron Paul penned an op-ed on LewRockwell.com saying that the threat supposedly posed by the new COVID-19 variant is being amplified across media platforms “just in time for election season.”

    “Why are they coming back around for another round of Covid tyranny?” Mr. Paul wrote. “Fear is a weapon to gain control.”

    “Last time around, they generated fear to radically change how America voted. Suddenly, everyone was mailed ballots. How closely were they checked? No one knew and no one dared ask. The people who did ask about the election are now facing jail terms,” Mr. Paul wrote, presumably referring to some Jan. 6 defendants.

    “They want us to shut up while they do it again. Will we?” Mr. Paul asked.

    In his message, President Trump delivered a forceful response to this question, which has been expressed in one form or another by numerous conservative commentators.

    “Don’t even think about it,” President Trump said, addressing his remarks to “every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom.”

    “Hear these words: We will not comply!” the former president continued. “We will not shut down our schools, we will not accept your lockdowns, we will not abide by your mask mandates, and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.”

    The former president then said that if elected president in 2024, he would use every available authority to push back on mask and vaccine mandates, giving as an example cutting federal funding to any college or airline that imposes such mandates.

    “They will fail because I will not let it happen,” the former president said.

    ‘Likely To Be Recommended’

    President Trump’s remarks comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise across the country, with three new variants of the disease said to be spreading.

    Multiple drug companies, including Pfizer, Novavax, and Moderna, have introduced new vaccines they say will be effective to protect against the COVID-19 variant of interest EG.5, or Eris—although the vaccines do not protect against transmission.

    President Biden told reporters in South Lake Tahoe, California, on Aug. 25 that he had asked for more funding for a new COVID vaccine.

    “I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress, a request for additional funding for a new vaccine—that is necessary, that works,” President Biden said.

    “And tentatively, not decided finally yet, tentatively it is recommended—it is likely to be recommended—that everybody get it, no matter whether they got it before,” he added.

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials recently told reporters that the vaccines are expected to become available to the public in mid-September, though they are still pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    An independent CDC advisory committee is scheduled to meet on Sept. 12 to vote on recommended guidelines for eligibility for the new COVID-19 shots.

    Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 21:40

  • Why You Are Feeling So Much Poorer
    Why You Are Feeling So Much Poorer

    Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times,

    We are living through the largest pillaging of the American middle class in a half-century. It’s not in the headlines. This is extremely strange. In fact, this might be the first and only article you have read about it. This could be for a reason. If people knew what was happening to them, they would begin to feel very restless, even furious. Some people among the ruling class do not want that.

    The Biden administration trumpets its economic achievements. It’s mind-boggling. Call it trolling. Call it gaslighting. Call it whatever you want but you know it is untrue.

    (SERSOLL/Shutterstock)

    Let’s look at the facts.

    What do you spend money on month-to-month? It’s rent or your mortgage, food at home or out, utilities, and gas. Those are the basic categories. The Consumer Price Index includes far more than that, some items you do not purchase and some that are going up far less than others. So let’s look at government numbers on what you actually purchase; that is, the items and services that you consume that dominate part of your income. And let’s stretch that back three years.

    Everything is going up and up and has been for three years. Looking at the items on which you actually spend money, we find increases between 18-plus percent to 22-plus percent. Let’s say we average it all out at 20 percent.

    Now let’s look at real disposable income, which is income left over after expenses adjusted for inflation. That result is an increase of a pathetic 3 percent compared with three years ago. The stimulus payments felt great at the time but those are long gone, essentially a head fake. So your income demands are up 20 percent whereas your leftover cash is barely up at all. That’s essentially a disaster for your standard of living.

    In short, you have been robbed.

    (Data: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), St. Louis Fed; Chart: Jeffrey A. Tucker)

    The causal reasons are many but mainly trace to the 43 percent increase in the money supply in the same period, which ate the value of the dollar with a lag. On top of that, supply chains broke, industry was consolidated, commercial freedom wrecked, and labor markets were forcibly disrupted.

    Now, let’s compare this to what everyone recognizes as the great inflationary disaster of the postwar period, which is 1978 to 1982. These were the times when the Fed and government pillaged the public, drained away the value of savings and capital, and forced a reorganization of family life. At the end of this period, the average American household went from living off of one income—realizing the American dream—to having two incomes in the household. That happened in 1985 when two-income households became the norm.

    At the time, this was called emancipation of women but, looking back, we can see that this was clearly propaganda to cover up an economic disaster. Gender discrimination in the workplace hasn’t really been a major issue for most of the 20th century. Back in the mid-1920s, if you look at unmarried women without children after the age of 18, the employment rate in the city was generally 80 percent. These women left the workforce upon marriage to focus on children and the household whereas the men bore the obligation of providing for the whole.

    That was the way we lived until the great inflation. That’s what changed everything. After that, households had to have two incomes to live well instead of one, meaning that one partner had to go to the office rather than tend to the household or otherwise pursue the good life. That the ruling class was able to fob this off as some kind of new liberty (for women) is a tribute to the power of ideologically driven lies.

    How do our times compare to then? Well, in three years, we’ve seen the value of the dollar fall 20 percent in terms of what you actually spend money on while income has barely gone up at all. During the great disaster of 43 years ago, this exact same phenomenon occurred over two years rather than three like our own times. In other words, the mass thievery in our times is taking place 50 percent slower than it happened last time. But it is happening nonetheless.

    Is it any better if the bus rolls over you slowly or more quickly? It happens either way. That you lose 17 percent of your income in three years or two, what does it really matter? It is only valuable to our ruling-class masters in terms of the extent to which the public complains. A population pillaged slowly—like the frog boiling slowly—is very liable to complain a bit less. Still, the reality is the same.

    The great inflation fundamentally changed life in America. We were never the same, economically or culturally. And that raises the real question: what is the current round of thievery going to do to this generation? I wish I had the answers. I don’t really know but we are seeing population-wide demoralization, ill-health, lack of ambition, substance abuse, and widespread despair. However this ends, it’s not going to be good.

    Can this be turned around? Yes, but it won’t be easy. It will require massive changes in public administration the likes of which we’ve never experienced. No candidate for office at any level is prepared for what is necessary to reduce the debt, contain the Fed, defang the administrative bureaucracy, reduce the tax burden, and make the American dream affordable again. We are nowhere near speaking the truth at this point.

    The emergency, however, is real. A people dealing with growing and relentless improvement, from powers out of their control, can be unpredictable. At a very minimum, it means more crime, more cultural anomie, more distrust, and growing anger. Some leader needs to channel this into a positive and constructive direction else we are doomed to suffer another round that will make the great inflation of the late 1970s look like a mere foreshadowing.

    Jeffrey A. Tucker is the founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, and the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press, as well as 10 books in five languages, most recently “Liberty or Lockdown.” He is also the editor of The Best of Mises. He writes a daily column on economics for The Epoch Times and speaks widely on the topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 21:00

  • Female Rapper's Wardrobe Malfunction At Saudi Concert Triggers Charges Of 'Prostitution, Blasphemy'
    Female Rapper’s Wardrobe Malfunction At Saudi Concert Triggers Charges Of ‘Prostitution, Blasphemy’

    A popular Australian rapper, Iggy Azalea, is being accused by Saudi clerics and authorities of “blasphemy” for a concert she performed last Friday in the capital of Riyadh.

    The occasion was the Gamers8 Esports tournament for which she was invited as a special performer. Controversial songs included Goddess, in which she asked the audience to “bow down to a goddess” – and also there was the moment she exclaimed “Ladies, make some noise, it’s a woman’s world!”

    Getty Images

    Of course, this is ultra-male dominated Saudi society, where women are told by Islamic law they must wear the full Muslim veil and that unmarried women shouldn’t go out without a male family escort—all of his enforced by Sharia law courts and ‘morality police’.

    The whole performance is being accused of being anti-Islamic, especially for lines from her lyrics which seemed directed at Islam or monotheistic religions in general like “…preaching about prophets, it ain’t no one man can stop us, bow down to a goddess.”

    But given these song lyrics, and the full set, was already known in advance – it’s a wonder that Iggy was invited to give a concert in the ultra-conservative kingdom in the first place. 

    At one point, quite ironically, there was even a wardrobe malfunction wherein she exposed more flesh than what the kingdom allows. It was merely her pantleg that ripped, exposing her… (gasp!) leg, up to part of her thigh, during which time a staffer frantically tried to toss her a towel to cover it up.

    Showing a little leg: watch the wardrobe malfunction which temporarily stopped the show…

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    As Middle East Eye points out, both the host country and performer should have understood the “risks” involved in Iggy performing in Riyad: 

    On X, Azalea revealed that despite the fact she changed her outfit, Saudi authorities halted the concert due to her lyrics, which, she said, sent them “over the edge”.

    Social media users were quick to criticise not just the organizers of the concert, but those attending too.

    One user stated “this is kufr [unbelief], blatant shirk [idolatry] being said on stage, and the Muslims were repeating it in the audience”. 

    Users also noted that Azalea and her team should have known the extent and danger of the repercussions of performing in Saudi Arabia.

    Most of the hate directed at the rapper came from conservative Muslims and anonymous Saudi accounts online, which charged her with ‘prostitution’ and ‘blasphemy’. Another post said the following:

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    One wonders what would have happened if her relatively minor clothing mishap had been on the level of Janet Jackson’s during that infamous Super Bowl halftime performance.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 20:40

  • STVR/Airbnb Has Destroyed America's Resort Towns
    STVR/Airbnb Has Destroyed America’s Resort Towns

    Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

    It turns out society isn’t just the sum total of the Fed goosing “maximizing shareholder value.” People actually have to live in the corrupt, bifurcated, distorted ghetto the Fed and “maximizing shareholder value” have created.

    It’s an old story, manifesting now in new ways. The rich, buoyed by inherited wealth and access to credit, find a locale with the qualities they desire, and buy the choicest properties for their own use, and a surrounding band of nearby properties so they won’t be bothered by the bottom 99%.

    This story has a new far more destructive chapter, generated by the boom in STVRs–short-term vacation rentals. The uber-wealthy don’t need more money but they’re trained, like hamsters in a lab, to seek ways to maximize their income and capital gains. STVRs–Airbnb et al.–are highly attractive investments to the wealthy and their money-managers–the hedge funds, private equity managers, family-wealth advisors, et al.

    Residential real estate that can be converted to STVRs is well within reach of the top 10% households, who own between 80% and 90% of all income-producing assets such as housing rentals, stocks, bonds and business equity.

    As the Federal Reserve has distorted credit markets with historically unprecedented low interest rates and “excess liquidity,” the resulting asset bubbles widened the income-wealth gap between the top 10% who already owned most of the assets soaring in value and the bottom 90% who at best owned a family home with a mortgage.

    The top 10% saw super-low mortgage rates and the plump returns on STVRs and rushed to snap up any properties that could be converted from long-term rentals to short-term vacation rentals to get their share of the post-pandemic price-insensitive “revenge spending” we-need-a-vacation bonanza.

    This mass conversion of long-term rentals for workers into vacation rentals has social and economic consequences. It’s bifurcated America’s desirable towns into luxe enclaves for the “haves” and ghettos for the working “have-nots.” It was all fun and games seeking to “maximize shareholder value” and ride the next bubble to ever greater wealth and income, but the consequence is the destruction of the nation’s social and economic fabric.

    I asked longtime correspondent W.S., who has witnessed the transformation in Colorado over the decades, to describe the reality generated by the mass conversion of long-term rentals to STVRs. Here is his account:

    “Airbnb has devastated Colorado’s resort towns.

    It’s always been expensive to live in places that wealthy people decided they wanted to visit regularly.

    Real estate speculators figure out where the money is quickly enough, buy up property, subdivide it and sell lots to their friends, who build second homes, like the single family castles in Beaver Creek and Vail. They build condos and duplexes and sell them to less wealthy folks who want to live in these places and to small investors who rent them to the people who do the actual work in these communities; our teachers, police and fire fighters, hotel and restaurant and small business operators and their staff, the ‘essential services’ folks that nobody thinks much about until one day, a pandemic comes along.

    In Colorado, the attraction for the past 50 years has been downhill skiing and while rents always were higher than most places, the folks that moved up to the mountains and worked at the skico and surrounding small businesses generally skied for free – a season pass was a more common benefit than a healthcare plan – and the ‘locals’ lived to ride. Snowboards. Skis. It was a worthwhile trade off.

    That era ended completely with AirBnb.

    Over the past few years virtually all of the ‘locals’ housing in Vail, the duplexes in nearby Eagle Vail, the houses in Edwards – everything in the upper Eagle River Valley where locals lived – has been purchased – often sight unseen – by hedge funds, private capital and wealthy full and part time homeowners. It has all immediately been turned into short term rental properties (STVRs) – Airbnb, VRBO, etc.

    Why rent a two bedroom apartment to a teacher for $1,500 a month when you can Airbnb the same 40 year old unit for $2,500 a week?

    Except now, there are literally no housing units available.

    Ok, a few pop up now and then but for $3,750 to $4,000 a month, since the work at home class has bid up the price of everything in resort towns with fast internet, and all of them have it. Even if they don’t, Starlink is $120 a month for 50-200 MBPS connectivity. (I have it, it’s flawless.)

    Local teachers with masters degrees start at $45,000 a year, fresh out of school.

    A $3,750 per month rental requires about $11,000 to move in, first and last plus the security deposit. The annual rent comes to $45,000. Thats the gross pay for new hires, which we need annually as our experienced educators retire, or sell their homes they bought a few years ago for huge gains and move elsewhere.

    We can’t hire teachers.

    We can’t hire snow plow operators, who are sort of essential in the high country.

    Can’t hire substitute teachers at $100 a day.

    Can’t hire bus drivers.

    Nobody making under $250,000 can buy a house and live here anymore. Wendy’s pays $19 an hour to start – but you can’t work there unless you live with your folks or 4 roommates (maybe).

    It’s so bad in Eagle County that the school district is bringing new teachers, fresh graduates from the Philippines. The district is building 37 apartments for them to live in, dorm style. Teaching has become a job only workers imported from other countries can afford to do here, like picking vegetables.

    Sure, house prices have gone up a lot because of the influx of work at homers. They’ll probably stay, as heat refugees from the southwest begin to migrate to higher altitudes. But the 20-30 year old former rental units the locals started off in? Sorry. They’re Airbnb.

    With no working people to staff the grocery stores, these mountain towns might not be the refuge the heat refugees seek.”

    Thank you, W.S., for this insightful on-the-ground report. 

    Is it really that surprising that those who still have to work for a living resent being crammed into ghettos while America’s elite class enjoys their Fed-bubble generated wealth and soaring income?

    Is it really that surprising that towns swamped with an influx of visitors and wealthy owners are being fouled as their infrastructure is overwhelmed and their natural wealth exploited / stripmined to “maximize shareholder value”?

    The Wealthy Are Not Like You and Me–Our Terminally Stratified Society (8/3/23)

    Development In A Wealthy Montana Boom Town Is Fouling A World-Class Trout River

    There’s Gonna be a War in Montana

    It turns out society isn’t just the sum total of the Fed goosing “maximizing shareholder value.” People actually have to live in the corrupt, bifurcated, distorted ghetto the Fed and “maximizing shareholder value” have created.

    *  *  *

    My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century.  Read the first chapter for free (PDF)

    Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

    Subscribe to my Substack for free

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 20:20

  • Fox "Is Run By Small-Minded, Fearful Women", Trump "Broke A Lot Of People's Brains" – Tucker & Portnoy Talk Politics, PENN, & Pizza-Fights
    Fox “Is Run By Small-Minded, Fearful Women”, Trump “Broke A Lot Of People’s Brains” – Tucker & Portnoy Talk Politics, PENN, & Pizza-Fights

    Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy joined Tucker Carlson for a ‘Tucker On X’ discussion that ranged from “the greatest business deal in history” to the problems businesses have dealing with regulatory bureaucracy (once its clear they don’t like you) to a fight with a pizza store owner to media bias and finally, Tucker reflected on his exit from Fox.

    Having sold Barstool Sports to PENN Entertainment, and pocketing $100 million, Portnoy recently took his company back for the princely sum of $1 and tries to explain what led PENN to make this decision.

    “We underestimated the regulators… how difficult they could make this,” given that they did not like some of the things that Barstool was saying.

    “Everything we did was met with resistance so it made it really hard for this PENN-Barstool relationship to prosper and I think PENN got to the point where they said we are not getting the results we wanted,” he added

    The powerful, appointed (not elected) regulators seemed to have a clear agenda against Barstool, perhaps, Portnoy says, because they did not know who we were.

    “It’s very hard to get truthful information… everything’s so political, everything’s got an agenda.”

    Portnoy, who interviewed President Trump during his term in office, said the liberal media makes him out to be “Hitler,” even more so after he strongly opposed the COVID lockdowns.

    “The rise of Trump has exasperated how people think in this country, He’s broken a lot of people’s brains.”

    “I was very pro-Trump when he started running because I thought he would break the political system,” and that was that, the media proclaimed “you’re pro-Trump, doesn’t matter what you say for the rest of your life.”

    The media “crucified” him, he says, “you went on Tucker, you must be this… you interviewed Trump, you must be this… people don’t listen, they just make snap judgments… it’s a sad state of affairs.”

    Portnoy brings up the issue when Business Insider tried to smear him, “they just made shit up about me, there’s zero truth about anything they said about me.” The reason was simple, he explained, “they were a sinking ship, run by a crook” – referring to Henry Blodgett (“the greatest scumbag of all time”) of dot-com-bubble-analyst-fraud infamy, “and they just needed subscriptions.”

    Portnoy also shared a video of him getting into a fight with a pizza restaurant owner – over a bad review that the Barstool boss gave him (around 31: 30 in the clip)…

    “This is my spot. I hope you enjoy your pizza. But I don’t appreciate what you do to small businesses,” the owner said.

    “Fuck you,” Portnoy responded, raising his middle finger. “Fuck you.

    Then the pair discussed Tucker’s exit from Fox, “I’m not exactly sure what I said that was bad… and one day for whatever reason they’d had enough.”

    Carlson says the Murdochs “were always nice to me… they never got in my way” but noted that he “was not expecting it,” and added that “there were small minds… it’s a company run by fearful women… second-tier people who would hassle my producers.”

    Carlson notes “my view on the war on Ukraine was really hated,” explaining that he was never pro-Russian, but took the view that “this is not our fight, this is not good for us… we should put an end to the war, because people die in war.”

    That was considered “crazy pro-Kremlin propaganda, and they were very very mad about that.”

    Finally, Portnoy brings up Mitch McConnell’s recent ‘glitch’, and asks “how are these people running our country?”

    Watch the full interview below:

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 20:00

  • Sweetened Drinks Are Linked to Chronic Liver Disease And Liver Cancer
    Sweetened Drinks Are Linked to Chronic Liver Disease And Liver Cancer

    Authored by Flora Zhao via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Do you find yourself drinking a sweetened beverage every day? Be cautious, as this habit could increase the risk of chronic liver disease and even liver cancer.

    It is widely known that consuming sweetened drinks can contribute to obesity and insulin resistance. A recent prospective cohort study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has further revealed detrimental health effects linked to sweetened drinks, particularly concerning liver disease. The study showed that individuals who regularly consume sweetened drinks face an astonishing 85 percent higher likelihood of developing liver cancer and a 68 percent higher risk of mortality from chronic liver disease than those who consume fewer sweetened drinks.

    (successo images/Shutterstock)

    Elevated Risks of Liver Cancer and Liver Disease

    This study was led by scientists from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and it drew data from a comprehensive prospective clinical database in the United States: the Women’s Health Initiative. The database has been gathering information from a cohort of over 160,000 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79. The information collection concluded in 2020, spanning a follow-up period of approximately 21 years.

    “Epidemiological studies on dietary factors and liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality are limited,” the researchers emphasized in the report. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality.”

    Participants completed the survey questionnaire detailing their consumption of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks, excluding fruit juices. These individuals were divided into three groups:

    • Women who consumed three servings or less per month.
    • Women who drank one to six servings per week.
    • Women who drank one or more servings per day (with one serving equivalent to 12 ounces or 355 milliliters, roughly the size of a standard beverage can).

    The findings revealed that women who consumed one or more servings of sweetened drinks daily had an 85 percent higher risk of developing liver cancer than those who drank three servings or less per month. Additionally, their mortality rate due to chronic liver disease was 68 percent higher.

    In the study, “chronic liver disease” refers to conditions like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, liver fibrosis, alcoholic liver disease, and chronic hepatitis. During the calculation, potential factors that could influence liver disease, including age, ethnicity, education level, smoking and alcohol consumption habits, and body mass index, were taken into account.

    Known risk factors for liver cancer include hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) infections, metabolic disorders, excessive alcohol consumption, and foods contaminated with aflatoxins, such as peanuts and corn. “However, approximately 40% of patients with liver cancer do not have these risk factors. … Therefore, it is important to identify dietary risk factors for liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality,” the researchers stated in the report.

    The Impact of Sweetened Drinks on the Liver

    Other studies have also corroborated the damaging effects of sweetened drinks on the liver.

    A prospective European cohort study revealed that individuals who consume over six servings of soft drinks per week face a notably higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (the most common form of liver cancer) by 83 percent compared to those who consume fewer than one serving. The risk increases by 6 percent for each additional serving per week. Another study conducted in the United States indicated that drinking sugar-sweetened soda is associated with an 18 percent increase in the risk of liver cancer.

    Research has also demonstrated a link between sweetened drink consumption and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease onset. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the European Journal of Nutrition revealed that individuals who consumed the highest amounts of sugar-sweetened drinks had a 40 percent increased odds of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease compared to those who consumed the least. Another study in 2022 proposed that individuals who frequently consume sugar-sweetened drinks have 2.53 times increased odds of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease compared to those who rarely drink such beverages.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 19:40

  • Ukraine's FM Tells Critics Of Counteroffensive To "Shut Up" After NYT Piece
    Ukraine’s FM Tells Critics Of Counteroffensive To “Shut Up” After NYT Piece

    In angry words which sound more like something one would hear on an elementary school playground, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday lashed out at critics of Kiev’s failing counteroffensive by telling them to… “shut up”. Here’s Reuters reporting the unusual statement:

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hit out on Thursday at critics of Kyiv’s tactics in its counter-offensive against Russia’s invasion, saying they were spitting in the faces of Ukrainian soldiers and should “shut up”.

    “Criticizing the slow pace of (the) counter-offensive equals … spitting into the face of (the) Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometeter of Ukrainian soil after another,” Kuleba told a press conference at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Toledo, Spain.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Getty Images

    He then sarcastically urged all critics to go to Ukraine themselves and fight if they think they can do it better. Standing alongside Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares at the Thursday presser, he said:

    “I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to liberate one square centimeter by themselves.”

    Ironically he appeared to be responding to his biggest backer – Washington, in a “bite the hand that feeds you” moment.

    Last week, The New York Times published a scathing critique of Ukraine’s battlefield tactics and overall strategy. The report was based on anonymous US officials who complained that Ukraine’s leaders weren’t heeding the Pentagon’s advice.

    “American strategists say Ukraine’s troops are too spread out and need to concentrate along the counteroffensive’s main front in the south,” the Times wrote, in what amounted to an explainer on why the counteroffensive is failing.

    The report also complained that Ukraine (like Russia) fights “under old Soviet Communist war doctrine” in a clear swipe. The theme of the criticism centered on Kiev rejecting Pentagon guidance, hence a stalled and losing counteroffensive:

    But some analysts say the progress may be too little too late. The fighting is taking place on mostly flat, unforgiving terrain, which favors the defenders. The Russians are battling from concealed positions that Ukrainian soldiers often see only when they are feet away. Hours after Ukrainians clear a field of mines, the Russians sometimes fire another rocket that disperses more of them at the same location.

    Under American war doctrine, there is always a main effort to ensure that maximum resources go to a single front, even if supporting forces are fighting in other areas to hedge against failure or spread-out enemy defenses.

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    So clearly, based on this new outburst of Kuleba in telling external critics to “shut-up”, the Ukrainians were outraged upon seeing the Times article which highlighted the complaints of US officials. It also serves as confirmation that indeed the battlefield situation is quite dire for Ukraine.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 19:20

  • Don’t Look Up! 'Orwellian' AI Traffic Cameras Raise Privacy Concerns
    Don’t Look Up! ‘Orwellian’ AI Traffic Cameras Raise Privacy Concerns

    Authored by Matthew Lysiak via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Existing traffic cameras set up across America to find speeding and red light scofflaws are being replaced by smarter, artificial intelligence-fueled versions equipped with upgraded software that for the first time gives the government the ability to monitor behavior inside of private vehicles, raising the alarm of privacy advocates.

    “The public should be rightly concerned,” Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia told The Epoch Times. “Congress has completely abdicated their responsibility to protect people’s privacy.”

    Screens show the feeds from traffic cameras at the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada’s FAST traffic management center, on Dec. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher)

    The Biden administration’s 2022 $2.2 trillion infrastructure legislation has led to a dramatic rise in new traffic cameras after federal guidance issued after the bill became law allowed many states to invest in surveillance equipment. Previously, transportation funds allocated to states were limited to fund infrastructure projects, such as repairing roadways and bridges, with the spending of federal funds for cameras only permitted for school zones. However, the Biden administration authorized states to utilize up to 10 percent of the bill’s $15.6 billion highway safety funds to purchase cameras and other “automated traffic enforcement” tools—and many did just that.

    The most recent data compiled last year by Comparitech, a consumer advocacy group focused on cybersecurity, found that the number of cameras on American streets has exploded, with the average city having around six cameras per 1,000 people while the most-watched city, Atlanta, Georgia, has nearly 50 cameras per 1,000 people. Data revealing the current number of traffic cameras is unavailable, but is expected to be significantly larger.

    The decision to open the infrastructure funding to traffic cameras came as an attempt to decrease traffic-related deaths, according to officials.

    “Almost 95 percent of our Nation’s transportation deaths occur on America’s streets, roads, and highways, and they are on the rise,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the National Roadway Safety Strategy release following passage of the legislation.

    However, many see the increase in surveillance technology as a cash grab for cities trying to make up for post COVID budget shortfalls. In March, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed adding hundreds of new traffic cameras to city streets to compensate for a projected drop in revenue of nearly $400 million. Priya Sarathy Jones, deputy executive director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, told Reuters that cameras monitoring traffic are “one of the easiest things for us to turn to and generate revenue quickly.”

    Further, software upgrades that allow for the ability to analyze the inside of vehicles and the behaviors of the drivers and passengers have raised concerns among privacy advocates of an increasingly intrusive government that would have seemed straight out of a dystopian science fiction novel to past generations.

    In the United Kingdom, authorities have already issued hundreds of fines to drivers after AI traffic cameras were used to detect violations such as not wearing a seatbelt.

    United Kingdom Civil Liberties campaigner Jake Hurfurt, of Big Brother Watch, told the newspaper The Sun, “This kind of intrusive and creepy surveillance which treats every passer-by as a potential suspect is excessive and normalizing. It poses a threat to everyone’s privacy.”

    “People should be free to go about their lives without being analyzed by faceless AI systems.”

    In July, local governments in Australia installed new phone-detection cameras along roads to spot drivers who are texting on their mobile devices.

    In America, cities like Seattle, Tacoma, and San Francisco, and Reno have also adopted AI traffic cameras with the stated goal of improving the flow of traffic. Los Angeles and New York have also discussed utilizing the technology.

    While the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution offers protection against video searches conducted by the police, there are currently no general, legally enforceable rules to limit privacy invasions.

    Mr. Guariglia warns that the ethical lines between the need for public safety and an Orwelian police state can sometimes become blurred with advances in technology.

    “I can definitely see it coming where cameras are doing analytics on passengers inside of a car,” said Mr. Guariglia. “This could make citizens susceptible to police surveillance in giving up the knowledge of where they worship, what lawyer they are going to see, or which reporters they are talking to.”

    In at least one other country, residents have already begun fighting back against the technology.

    After London rolled out an expansion of its Ultra Low Emission Zone program, which uses AI traffic cameras to identify and fine drivers of older vehicles who enter the city, many citizens showed their outrage through acts of vandalism. Police say this month hundreds of intelligent cameras have been damaged, disconnected, or stolen by a vigilante group who call themselves the Blade Runners.

    “The cameras are going to keep coming down,” Nick Arlett, an organizer of the protests, told CBS News. “People are angry.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 19:00

  • Proud Boys Leader Joseph Biggs Sentenced To 17 Years In Prison As 'Terrorist' Over Role In J6
    Proud Boys Leader Joseph Biggs Sentenced To 17 Years In Prison As ‘Terrorist’ Over Role In J6

    A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Proud Boys leader Joseph Randall Biggs to 17 years in prison – more than a lot of murderers receive – after calling the destruction of a fence on US Capitol property during the January 6, 2001 Capitol breach an act of terrorism.

    Proud Boys organizer Joseph Biggs walks from the George C. Young Federal Annex Courthouse in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 20, 2021. (Sam Thomas/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

    The 39-year-old Biggs is the first of the Proud Boys leaders sentenced after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy in May along with five other charges related to the event.

    Which reminds us – instigator Ray Epps, who’s totally not a fed, remains free to this day.

    Biggs was also convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to use force, intimidation, or threats to prevent officers of the United States from discharging their duties, interference with law enforcement during civil disorder, and destruction of government property.

    The sentence, handed down by US District Judge Timothy Kelly, followed the DOJ’s recommendation to add a terrorism enhancement, which greatly increased his potential prison time. That said, Kelly opted for roughly half the prison time the DOJ had sought.

    “I know that I messed up that day. But I’m not a terrorist. I know I have to be punished, and I understand,” said Biggs in an emotional statement to Kelly.

    According to Kelly, Biggs and the other Proud Boys were part of a “mob that brought an entire government branch to heel” on January 6th.

    More via the Epoch Times,

    In a sentencing memo filed with the court on Aug. 17, defense attorney Norman Pattis anticipated the terrorism-enhanced sentence, although in court he described it as “shocking” and a “grotesque overreach” that is designed to chill dissent.

    ‘Not Terrorists’

    “The defendants are not terrorists,” Mr. Pattis wrote. “Whatever excesses of zeal they demonstrated on January 6, 2021, and no matter how grave the potential interference with the orderly transfer of power due to the events of that day, a decade or more behind bars is an excessive punishment.”

    Addressing Judge Kelly on Aug. 31, Mr. Pattis said: “The conundrum is often speech is used to explain the crime. In this case, the crime was used to explain the speech.”

    Mr. Pattis said Mr. Biggs’s destruction of a $32,000 Capitol fence shouldn’t be considered terrorism because the fence was a “means to an end,” not an attempt to influence the government.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough defended the government’s recommended 33-year prison sentence.

    “It is justified,” Mr. McCullough said. “These are very serious crimes.”

    In its sentencing memorandum for Mr. Biggs, prosecutors called him “a vocal leader and influential proponent of the group’s shift toward political violence.”

    Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean, right, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

    “More than perhaps any other, Biggs appreciated the tactical advantage that his force had that day, and he understood the significance of his actions against his own government,” prosecutors wrote. “Biggs understood that the outnumbered forces attempting to hold the Capitol would be powerless due to his side’s overwhelming numbers.”

    “Biggs’s guidelines range—after the application of the adjustment for Biggs’s crime of terrorism—rightly reflects the seriousness of his assault on our government and Biggs’s leading role in it,” prosecutors wrote. “Biggs’s conduct warrants a sentence of 33 years of incarceration.”

    Prosecutors said Mr. Biggs and his co-defendants felt they were leading a second American revolution.

    “Biggs arrived at the Capitol to lead a revolution against a government that he viewed as illegitimate,” prosecutors wrote. “Like [Enrique] Tarrio and [Ethan] Nordean, Biggs viewed himself and his movement as a second American revolution where he and the other ‘patriots’ would retake the government by force.”

    Prosecutors said Mr. Biggs—perhaps more than any other defendant—”promoted the use of force against the government.”

    “Beginning in the days after the election, Biggs declared that the country could face ‘civil war’ because the ‘left’ was ‘radicalizing people by stealing [the] election,’” prosecutors wrote. “Biggs told his followers that it was ‘time for [expletive] War if they steal this [expletive].’ … Biggs steadily escalated his calls for political violence.”

    Judge Kelly’s sentence continued a trend that started with Oath Keepers defendants by doling out prison terms far short of those sought by the DOJ. In July, federal prosecutors appealed eight sentences given out by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

    Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio had been scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 30, but his sentencing hearing was moved to Sept. 5 when Judge Kelly became ill.

    The sentencing of Proud Boys defendant Ethan Nordean was moved to Sept. 1 in Judge Kelly’s courtroom. Zachary Rehl was set for an Aug. 31 sentencing, and defendant Dominic Pezzola will be sentenced on Sept. 1.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 18:40

  • Why Won't COVID Lockdown Tyrants Admit They Were Wrong?
    Why Won’t COVID Lockdown Tyrants Admit They Were Wrong?

    Authored by Stephen Moore via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    COVID mania just won’t go away. The deadly strains of the virus have been gone for two years now, and yet the recent outbreak of a mild flu-like variant is again stoking panic on the Left.

    People wear masks in Times Square, NYC, on June 8, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

    Nearly 100 universities are requiring masks this fall.

    Lionsgate movie studios in Los Angeles and Atlanta-based Morris Brown College this week stated they are reinstating not just mask mandates but social distancing measures and contact tracing.

    CNN, which led the panic in 2020 and 2021—causing manic school, restaurant, and business shutdowns and vaccine mandates—recently put out a headline on its website that encouraged its readers not to go outside without a mask on. Really? The latest evidence finds this is less dangerous than a normal flu virus and tracking data suggest that the wave has already peaked.

    What’s even more disturbing here is that the leftist medical community and the media aren’t renouncing their calls for mitigation strategies that were catastrophically wrong in the panic era of 2020 and 2021—but instead calling for more of these assaults on freedom in the future.

    It is one thing for well-meaning medical experts to have disagreed about how to best combat a once-in-a-half-century deadly virus. We didn’t know exactly what we were dealing with. But now we know with concrete scientific evidence that most mandates and lockdowns had a small impact on the spread of the virus and on fatalities. It turns out there was almost no difference in death rates in states with strict lockdowns and no lockdowns at all. The same is true of cross-country evidence.

    Healthy children were never at risk from COVID (something we knew early on), so shutting down schools for one or two years was a sop to the teachers unions but a disaster for this generation of kids. Test scores are the worst in 30 years.

    Before the pandemic, only 15 percent of public school students were chronically absent—more than 18 or more days a year.

    Stanford University education professor Thomas Dee’s data shows an estimated 6.5 million additional students are now chronically absent. In Connecticut and Massachusetts, chronic absenteeism remains double its pre-pandemic rate.

    But polls show that Democrats—even those that are highly educated—generally still support the lockdowns that were mandated. These are the same people who lecture about “following the science.” The most comprehensive study by experts at Johns Hopkins University found death rates from lockdowns were reduced by 0.1 percent. But how many people died from the isolation of lockdowns, delayed health screening from cancer, the increase in drug overdoses?

    Biden’s vaccine mandates only made Americans more resistant to get pricked. They backfired.

    Worst of all, Anthony Fauci, who remains a hero of the Left, recently not only refused to admit the errors of his advice but said the “lockdown was absolutely justified.”

    Why does this bizarre rewrite of recent history matter? Because the fearmongering Left can’t wait to install new lockdowns every time we have a new flu virus and health scare. They’ve even started putting out feelers for occasional climate change economic shutdowns.

    Those who love freedom must strenuously resist this coming tyranny.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 18:20

  • Open Border Blowback: Report Warns "Cartel-Run Theft Rings" Supercharge America's Retail Shrink Epidemic
    Open Border Blowback: Report Warns “Cartel-Run Theft Rings” Supercharge America’s Retail Shrink Epidemic

    In a shocking but not surprising twist, a new report reveals a Mexican cartel connection in America’s retail theft epidemic that cost companies like Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Home Depot, and Foot Locker, among others, $100 billion last year. Amid the chatter on earnings calls, the number of times CEOs mentioned “shrink” – the loss of inventory due to circumstances such as retail theft – surged to a record high. Yet again, this is another consequence of failed open border policies pushed by radicals in the Biden administration that flooded the nation with millions of illegal aliens. 

    We’ve all seen the videos posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, of masked criminals raiding retailers. Now, the Washington Examiner explains some of those thieves are tied to Mexican cartels:

    Mexican cartels are behind the spike in organized retail crime and are deeply entrenched in every level of the process, according to the federal government’s chief investigative agency.

    Retailers nationwide sustained nearly $100 billion worth of losses in 2021, the highest year on record, according to the National Retail Federation report published in September 2022. The growing number of cartel-run theft rings around the country drove that figure up from $70 billion in 2019.

    “Organized retail crime exploded over the last few years as criminals exploited the anonymity of third-party online marketplaces to fence billions in stolen products,” RILA Senior Executive Vice President of Public Affairs Michael Hanson said in a statement.

    Cartels appear to have big presence in Democrat-controlled cities. 

    One reason for the explosion is those criminal gang units are emboldened by failed social justice reform pushed by radical leftists in crime-ridden metro areas, such as ones in San Francisco, where shoplifting merchandise valued under $950 is now only a misdemeanor. Cartels recognized this opportunity: 

    These retail crimes are perpetrated by people who work as part of a crime ring run by cartels. In recent years, cartels have gone from illicit drug manufacturing and smuggling, human smuggling and trafficking, and illegal firearm smuggling to commandeering crime in the retail environment.

    Cartels are involved in every level of retail crime, from in-store theft and listing items in online marketplaces to shipping stolen merchandise worldwide and using US financial institutions to hold their profits. –Washington Examiner 

    Texas alleges that Biden’s open borders have flooded the nation with 6 million- more than the total population of Denmark or Finland or Norway Or New Zeland or Costa Rica- since he first took office in early 2021.

    Still to this day, the Biden administration, with no regard for the safety of its own taxpayers, continues to flood the nation with illegals ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle. The latest stunt was welding border gates wide open. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/31/2023 – 18:00

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