- Mapping The World's Top Countries For Military Spending
Mapping The World’s Top Countries For Military Spending
By practically any measure, the world today is more peaceful and less war-torn on a global scale, relative to the past.
For instance, declarations of war between nations and soldier casualties have both dropped drastically since the 20th century. Yet, as Visual Capitalist’s Aran Ali notes, military spending has not followed this trend.
The Top 10 Military Spenders
According to SIPRI, global military spend reached almost $2 trillion in 2020. The top 10 countries represent roughly 75% of this figure, and have increased their spending by $51 billion since the year prior.
Here’s how the worlds top 10 military spenders compare to each other:
The U.S. isn’t labeled as a global superpower for nothing. The country is by far the largest military spender, and its $778 billion budget trumps the remainder of the list’s collective $703.6 billion. On its own, the U.S. represents just under 40% of global military spending.
This year, Saudi Arabia has lost out on a top five seat to the UK, after a 7.1% decline in spending compared to a 21.5% increase for the UK.
Military Spend as a Percentage of GDP
Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP can be used to compare military spending relative to the size of a country’s economy.
When looking at things this way, many of the top spenders above do not appear. This may be an indication of their economic prowess or a demonstration that the money might be used for other vital areas such as education, healthcare, or infrastructure.
It’s pretty rare for countries to reach double digits for military spending as a percentage of GDP. In this case, Oman is an outlier, as the Middle Eastern country’s spending relative to GDP grew from 8.8% last year, to 11% in 2020.
Many of the countries with the highest military spending to GDP are located in the Middle East—a reflection of the escalating conflicts that have persisted in the region for well over two decades.
It’s worth noting that some data for the Middle Eastern region are estimates, due to the aforementioned regional instability.
More Spending to Come?
Global military spending figures are at a 32-year high, despite the pandemic’s effect on shrinking economic output.
Although a major war hasn’t occurred in some time, it’s not to say the geopolitical mood hasn’t been tense.
The last 12 months or so have witnessed some nail-biting moments including:
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Border disputes between China and India
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Heightening tensions between China and Taiwan
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Russia’s military presence in eastern Ukraine
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The hacking of SolarWinds, a Texas-based company, by Russia
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The ongoing Yemen crisis
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An Israel-Iran feud
Will 2021 extend the trend of peace, or will rising military spending mean even higher tensions?
Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/20/2021 – 02:45 -
- 71% Of French Say "We're Full": No More Immigration
71% Of French Say “We’re Full”: No More Immigration
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
A new poll has found that 71 per cent of French people think the country has had enough immigration and that it can’t take any more.
The 2021 Fraternity Barometer, a joint effort by the polling firm Ifop and le Labo de la Fraternité, found that almost three quarters of respondents desired to see no more immigration, while a clear majority of 64 per cent said France should no longer accept refugees because of the threat of terrorism.
France has suffered numerous terror attacks carried out by jihadists who were let into the country as “refugees,” including the majority of the Paris massacre terrorists.
As we previously highlighted, even so-called “moderate” Michel Barnier, who was the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is calling for a 3-5 year total ban on all immigration into the EU.
Perhaps reflecting the doublethink that still plagues people’s views on migration, although 74 per cent acknowledged that “diversity” creates problems and conflicts in society, 85 per cent of respondents still said it was a “good thing.”
However, the poll results will make satisfying reading for populist National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen, who is likely to once again face off against Emmanuel Macron in next year’s presidential election.
A recent poll found that 60 per cent of military and police officers would vote for Le Pen over Macron in a hypothetical second round run off.
The survey results arrive amidst a national controversy in France prompted by two letters written by both retired and active duty military servicemembers.
They warned that the country was headed towards “civil war” unless President Macron dealt with the “disintegration” of France being caused by Islamists and the “anti-racism” movement.
“If a civil war breaks out, the military will maintain order on its soil because it will be asked to do so,” stated the second letter.
A third letter written by 93 former police officers also warned that the country is on the brink of widespread social disorder.
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Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/20/2021 – 02:00 - How COVID Put An End To Your Right To Due Process
How COVID Put An End To Your Right To Due Process
Authored by Daren Wiseley via The Mises Institute,
Over a year ago, the covid panic shook the world. We were told it would only be “15 days to flatten the curve” as businesses were locked down, “nonessential” employees were forced out of work (I’ve written about the myth of the nonessential employee here), masks were mandated, and individuals were not allowed to gather in groups or attend religious services.
In typical fashion, a government-mandated “temporary” usurpation of liberty turned into an indefinite infringement, as shown by the fact that we’re still under covid orders four hundred days later. Regardless of the length of time, the question remains that few have asked: What authority does the government have to lock us down and force us out of work?
This brings us to the issue of due process, which at minimum requires the right to appear in front of a judge and represent oneself to a jury of his peers before being stripped of essential liberty. Did the thousands of businesses closed and millions put out of work get this opportunity? Of course not. They were unilaterally stripped of their ability to put food on the table and pay their bills without any opportunity to object.
Sick until Proven Healthy
The concept of “quarantine” has been well established in American jurisprudence for well over one hundred years. When an individual is sick, and at risk of infecting others, the individual could be put in quarantine or isolation by a court until they are no longer infectious. Quarantine still requires basic due process. The individual subject to potential quarantine is still entitled to a court proceeding and evidence must be established of the individual’s risk to public health.
The past year has placed the entirety of the United States in de facto quarantine under the perceived threat of spreading covid. While quarantine is for the sick, most of those subject to the long list of restrictions have been healthy. Not a single person affected has had the opportunity to get in court and object. These blanket measures have denied every single citizen the constitutional right to due process they supposedly possess. Deemed sick until proven healthy, unfortunately, no one has had the opportunity to even prove their health. Governments have argued that “stay-at-home” orders are not quarantine as a way to end-run the issue. If that is the case, where do they get their authority? Neither the US Constitution nor that of any of the states provides an exception to due process in the case of a pandemic. Many states have relied on ambiguous statutes meant for use in a foreign invasion to justify these actions, but anyone who looks at the scenario objectively can see that there are no “pandemic exceptions” to due process of law. These powers were made up out of thin air, with absolutely no authority to grant itself this power.
Eviction Moratorium
If the lockdowns weren’t enough, all but seven states issued moratoriums on evictions or foreclosures, allowing tenants to squat on landlord property rent-free until further notice. It gets worse: landlords are still stuck with fulfilling the basic legal duties of landlord-tenant law, such as the warranty of habitability, even though they are receiving nothing in return. A landlord is not receiving rent for someone staying on his property, and is not allowed to evict a squatter from the land, stuck without the ability to use his property.
The landlord’s property is essentially taken as a result of his deprivation, clearly a government “taking.”
In a saner world, this would be regarded as a violation of the property rights ostensibly protected by the Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The basic idea there is that a property owner must be provided “just compensation” when private property is taken by a government agency. This can be violated in at least two ways. First, the landlord has his property taken and given to someone else without ANY compensation as a result of the moratoriums, flying in the face of the idea of “just compensation.” Second, the landlord is denied the right to a hearing to contest the taking, even though this is typically permitted in an eminent domain case. Certainly, the lack of ability to object to the property taken without a hearing is a violation of due process of law. Where does the authority rest to take property with no compensation and deny a hearing on the matter? As previously stated, there is no “pandemic exception”—another example of government granting itself authority out of thin air.
Compounding these issues are violations of the right to a speedy trial (as mentioned in the Sixth Amendment of the Bill of Rights.) Courts around the country closed during the covid lockdowns, and since opening up have been left with an incredibly lengthy backlog. Many are still only doing proceedings via video after reopening. Defendants wait months and months in jail, as Ryan McMaken has written about here. The threat to basic due process rights should be obvious.
With states starting to end their eviction moratoriums, many landlords are still not receiving rent for those on their property. While they should be allowed to evict a delinquent tenant, the court backlog makes this impractical. With court proceedings delayed months due to the shutdowns, landlords are stuck with their property occupied by squatters indefinitely. The legal system prohibits a landlord from exercising the right of eviction on his own, requiring the landlord to do so via the courts. The delay on the landlord’s ability to use his own property until an indefinite court date, on which the court may still rule against him or grant the tenant a stay for more time, is another way landlords are deprived of due process under the covid orders.
Conclusion
The essential liberties Americans are told are protected by the Bill of Rights, such as freedom of assembly and religion, the ability to redress government, the right to a speedy trial, and due process of law, whatever they were prior to, have been routinely ignored in response to covid.
The past year has made it ever more clear that due process and property rights—no matter how explicitly protected in both the federal and in state constitutions—are mere inconveniences to governments imposing their will on residents within their jurisdictions. These arms of the state will always use lawyers and judges to twist the law to achieve the ends they desire, granting the state whatever power is necessary to accomplish a desired goal. This abomination to natural rights shreds apart the fantasy that Americans live under a “limited government” system. Government power is instead limited only by the ambitions of those that occupy it. I’m sure Lysander Spooner would be saying, “I told you so.”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/20/2021 – 00:00 - US Army Reveals Range Of New Hypersonic Weapon
US Army Reveals Range Of New Hypersonic Weapon
The US Army has revealed the official range of its hypersonic boost-glide missile, otherwise known as the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW.
“The Long Range Hypersonic Weapon provides a capability at a distance greater than 2,775 km (1,727 miles),” an Army spokesperson said, according to Breaking Defense. This means the hypersonic missile could be stationed in Guam and surgically bombard the Chinese if they invade Taiwan.
For comparison, the Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile has a distance of approximately 1,118 miles. The LRHW’S 1,727 miles range gives the Army about 600 miles of additional striking distance.
The LRHW missile system consists of a rocket booster with a boost-glide warhead on top. The rocket launches the boost-glide vehicle to the desired altitude, and the vehicle then zooms to its target at hypersonic speed (or above Mach 5).
Hypersonic boost-glide vehicles can outmaneuver some of the world’s most advanced missile defense shields due to their high degree of maneuverability.
The Army keeping the weapon’s range under wraps for so long is unsurprising. If the LRHW were deployed in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, or India, it could easily strike targets on Mainland China.
Meanwhile, China is building a wall of hypersonic missile launchers across from Taiwan. What this suggests is Beijing is accelerating the timeline for a possible invasion of Taiwan.
China and the US, already locked in a great power competition, quickly develop and deploy hypersonic weapons as Thucydides Trap brings these countries closer and closer to conflict.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 23:40 - Blinken Accuses Russia Of Making "Unlawful" Claims In The Arctic
Blinken Accuses Russia Of Making “Unlawful” Claims In The Arctic
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of making “unlawful” claims in the Arctic, a region that the US military is increasingly focused on. Blinken made the comments from Iceland, where he is set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later this week for the first high-level in-person meeting between US and Russian officials of the Biden administration.
“We’ve seen Russia advance unlawful maritime claims, particularly its regulation of foreign vessels transiting the Northern Sea Route, which are inconsistent with international law. And that is something that we have and will respond to,” Blinken said at a joint press conference with Iceland’s foreign minister.
While in Iceland, Blinken will attend meetings of ministers of the Arctic Council, a group of eight Arctic nations, including the US and Russia. While he had harsh words for Moscow, Blinken also recognized the importance of cooperation with Russia in the Arctic and the danger of increased military activity in the region.
“We have concerns about some of the increased military activities in the Arctic that increases the dangers or prospects of accidents, miscalculations, and undermines the shared goal of a peaceful and sustainable future for the region,” he said.
Militarizing the Arctic is a key strategy in Washington’s confrontational approach to Moscow. Each branch of the US military has released strategy papers that call for more focus on the Arctic.
Newspaper @izvestia_ru reported today that Russia is to deploy Su-34 fighter-bombers the in icy Arctic.
The move comes as the US accuses Moscow of ‘provocations’ in the region and warns they may have ramifications for its national security.https://t.co/GDwBokRJZK
— Bryan MacDonald (@27khv) May 19, 2021
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When the US Navy released its Arctic Strategy in January, then-Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite said the US could counter Russia’s claims by sailing warships through waters near Russia’s coast, similar to how the US challenges Beijing in the South China Sea.
Braithwaite said at the time that “near-peer competitors” believe certain bodies of water in the Arctic belong to them. “Well, the international community recognizes that those are international waters we’re gonna operate there,” he said. “That’s the more bold posturing that we feel is our right, and our responsibility, frankly, as the predominant naval force in the world.”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 23:20 - New Cases Of H5N8 Bird Flu Confirmed In Tibet
New Cases Of H5N8 Bird Flu Confirmed In Tibet
As Beijing and the world keep an eye out for any new emerging diseases out of China, the country’s agriculture ministry on Wednesday said it had confirmed an outbreak of H5N8 avian influenza in a flock of wild birds at a wetlands park in the city of Nagqu in Tibet.
The highly infectious disease has been detected among wild birds in two areas of Nagqu, including a national wetland park. So far, 268 wild birds have been infected and killed, according to the ministry. Local authorities have activated an emergency response, sterilized the area and disposed of all dead birds safely, in accordance with protocols, per Reuters.
H5N8 isn’t nearly as harmful to humans as the H1N9, but it is highly lethal to wild birds and poultry posing a serious threat to China’s farmers and meat supplies.
As we reported earlier this year, Russian authorities reported the first human infections of H5N8 back in February, just in time for President Joe Biden to confront his old nemesis.
News of the latest bird flu threat is arriving just in time. As an Ebola outbreak in West Africa has finally subsided, financial authorities around the world are looking for their next excuse to unleash another flood of stimulus money.
Michael Snyder at the Economic Collapse blog opined back in March that bird flu could be one of seven emerging “plagues” to afflict humanity (along with earthquakes, droughts, volcanic eruptions and swarms of locusts).
#6 H5N8 Bird Flu In Russia
When cases of H5N8 bird flu started to pop up in Russia, many experts started to become extremely concerned that it could start being transmitted from human to human.
Because if it starts spreading widely among humans, the percentage of victims that will die will be far higher than for COVID.
Unfortunately, one of the top experts in Russia says that there is “a fairly high degree of probability” that it is now being passed from one person to another…
A mutating strain of bird flu that has emerged in Russia has “a fairly high degree of probability” of human-to-human transmission, the head of the country’s health watchdog warned in a report.
Anna Popova, who heads Rospotrebnadzor, made the worrying prediction almost a month after scientists detected the first case of H5N8 transmission to humans at a southern Russia poultry farm, the Moscow Times reported.
Russian authorities said that the virus spread from poultry to the humans infected, but in China scientists have insisted there’s no evidence of animal-to-human transmission. Sound familiar?
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 23:00 - Border Officials Seize $685,000 In Counterfeit Currency From China
Border Officials Seize $685,000 In Counterfeit Currency From China
Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Chicago recently stopped several shipments containing counterfeit currencies totaling $685,000 from China, the agency announced on Tuesday.
The shipments arrived at Chicago’s International Mail Facility (IMF) between May 15 and 17, destined for cities in several states including Illinois, Indiana, New York, and Kentucky. The fake currencies came in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills.
One shipment was destined for the Bronx, New York containing 976 $100 bills. Another shipment was headed to Louisville, Kentucky containing 101 $20 bills and 103 $50 bills. All of these shipments were manifested as prop money.
“Our CBP officers are always on the alert watching for any type of prohibited shipments that come through the IMF,” said Shane Campbell, area port director-Chicago, according to a statement.
He added, “By stopping these shipments we are protecting our financial institutions, businesses, and the public.”
China remains the top source of fake goods entering the U.S. market. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CBP made 27,599 seizures in the fiscal year 2019. These goods would have had an estimated retail price of over $1.5 billion if they were genuine.
Among these seizures in 2019, 13,293, or 48 percent, originated from China, followed by Hong Kong with 9,778 seizures, or 35 percent. The top category of seized products was counterfeit watches and jewelry, at 15 percent, followed by apparel and accessories at 14 percent.
The fake money seized by CBP officers in Chicago was hardly an isolated incident.
On April 23, CPB officers in the city announced a recent seizure of 281 shipments containing counterfeit bills and coins at Chicago’s IMF. Ninety-five percent of these shipments originated from China.
281, that is how many parcels CBP officers in Chicago seized that contained counterfeit currency. Some of the bogus money was $100 bills, but the majority was coin currency with a lot of it heading to various cities across the U.S. https://t.co/0vY5uoee8e pic.twitter.com/cKKe2Uo9ct
— CBP Chicago (@CBPChicago) April 23, 2021
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In total, the 281 shipments consisted of 39 fake 50-cent coins, 6,345 fake $1 coins, 283 fake $2.5 coins, and 1,589 fake $100 bills.
“Counterfeiting is a lucrative business which is often used to finance illegal activities such as trafficking in human beings, drugs, and even terrorism,” stated Mike Pfeiffer, assistant area port director-Chicago, in a statement following the seizure of the fake bills and coins.
Just weeks earlier, on April 6, CBP officers in Chicago also announced that they seized more than 100 shipments—nearly all coming from China—containing counterfeit currency totaling more than $1.64 million. The shipments arrived in the United States between Jan. 1 and March 31. The fake currency included U.S. bills, U.S. coins, and euros.
Counterfeit currency has been plentiful during the past 3 months at the International Mail Facility at O’Hare. CBP officers seized 109 packages containing different denominations of paper currency, collectible coins & foreign currency; $1.64M seized.https://t.co/XLoemCXIzH pic.twitter.com/HcNQ5yweJ6
— CBP Chicago (@CBPChicago) April 6, 2021
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For the fiscal year 2020, which spanned from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020, CPB officers in Chicago stated that they seized more than $10.6 million in fake money.
Chicago was not the only area where counterfeit money was being stopped. In June 2020, CPB officers in Milwaukee stopped a shipment from Shanghai to a residence in Milwaukee. Inside the shipment were 3,515 fake $100 bills.
In May 2020, CPB officers at an Express Consignment Operations hub in Cincinnati announced the seizure of a shipment containing 2,523 fake $100 bills. The shipment originated from Shenzhen, a city in southern China, and was headed to Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 22:40 - James Dean's Crashed Porsche 550 Spyder Transaxle Is For Sale
James Dean’s Crashed Porsche 550 Spyder Transaxle Is For Sale
James Dean’s career as an actor and racer was tragically cut short when his Porsche 550 Spyder collided with another car at an intersection in Cholame, California, in 1955.
Dean’s car, which he’d nicknamed the “Little Bastard,” was parted out and transplanted into other Porsches.
Appearing on car auction website “Bring A Trailer,” is probably the “most expensive four-speed transaxle ever sold,” according to car blog Jalopnik. That is because this transaxle belongs to the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder Dean died in.
“The transaxle was reportedly stored for several decades prior to acquisition from Massachusetts by its current owner in 2020. It is now fitted to a steel display stand with axles, axle tubes, drum brake assemblies, and a starter. This 550 Spyder transaxle is offered by the seller on behalf of its current owner in New York with a copy of a letter from Porsche verifying its origin and a documentation file,” the auction website said.
During the summer of 1955, Warner Brothers banned Dean from motorsport activities while filming the epic Western drama film “Giant,” which debuted in 1956. At the end of filming, Dean bought a new 550 Spyder to further his passion for Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) racing.
“The wrecked car was reportedly sold by Dean’s insurance company to another Southern California racer, and the transaxle was later separated from the vehicle before being placed in storage for several decades. The piece was acquired by its current owner in March 2020, and is now installed on a steel display stand that rolls on casters,” the auction listing said.
The seller provides official documentation from the California DMV, Porsche, and public records to authenticate the transaxle.
Paperwork From Porsche
California DMV Documentation
The current bid is $100,000 with eleven days left on the auction. Still, most of the car, including the body, remains missing.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 22:20 - "Governing As Looting" In Washington & Beyond
“Governing As Looting” In Washington & Beyond
Authored by James Bovard via The American Institute for Economic Research,
At what point does a democracy become a kleptocracy? That type of degeneration routinely happens in Third World regimes but the same blight can occur in the United States. Few things epitomize “governing as looting” like the automated traffic ticket cameras that hundreds of local governments have inflicted on drivers across the nation.
In 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down St. Louis’s red light camera ticket regime for violating the U.S. Constitution because drivers were forced to prove they were innocent. But elsewhere, mayors and bureaucrats have not permitted constitutional rights to impede their fervent pursuit of revenue.
Some of the most brazen abuses occur in the District of Columbia, which issues almost a million speed camera tickets each year. The American Automobile Association (AAA) denounced one D.C. speed camera near the Maryland border as “an old-fashioned, money-making, motorist rip-off speed trap right out of the ‘Dukes of Hazzard.” A single camera in D.C. generated more than a hundred thousand tickets and $11 million in fines.
The combinations of speed cameras and shameless bureaucrats can cast citizens into a Kafkaesque hell. Last November 2, Doug Nelson, a 73-year-old Postal Service employee and Vietnam veteran, was carjacked as he returned home from a late shift. Nelson quickly surrendered his vehicle to the pistol-wielding assailants. He filed a police report and his car was eventually recovered but the license plates were stolen by the thieves.
In the following weeks, Nelson was stunned to receive thousands of dollars in tickets for speed camera violations spurred by the thieves who stole his car. Nelson and his wife repeatedly notified the D.C. government of the unjust fines but their complaints were ignored. Because of the fines, they were prohibited from getting a new license plate and thus banned from driving their only vehicle. They were told they would have to pay the entire fine – which quickly rose to $5,000 – before they were permitted to formally challenge the penalties.
Nelson’s experience exemplifies how “due process” nowadays means any damn process government does. The District has a Ticket Adjudication Ombudsman to deal with cases of gross injustice. But because Nelson failed to speedily file a “Reconsideration or a Motion to Vacate,” he was prohibited from any relief. A local television station put its “I-Team” on the case but D.C. government officials refused to sit down for a televised interview. But the embarrassing publicity finally spurred the city to finally cancel the fines. As Hannah Cox of the Foundation for Economic Education observed, “The District of Columbia unjustly deprived the Nelsons of the use of their car for far longer than the carjackers did.”
The District is one of the more than 400 municipalities, including most of the nation’s largest cities, that have imposed red light cameras on their streets in recent decades. Red light cameras are notorious for increasing traffic collisions because they spur drivers to seek to stop suddenly to avoid being fined. In 2005, six years after the District of Columbia set up a red light regime that generated more than 500,000 tickets, a Washington Post analysis revealed that “the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled.” The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles analyzed traffic crash data and reported in 2016 that “fatalities from accidents doubled” at intersections with red-light cameras. A Virginia Department of Transportation study concluded that cameras were associated with a 29% “increase in total crashes.” But policies that needlessly kill some citizens are worthwhile if they boost government revenue, at least according to the political morality prevailing in many cities.
Numerous federal studies have shown that the most effective step to reduce collisions at traffic lights is to lengthen the time of the yellow light to allow drivers more time to stop. A Federal Highway Administration report concluded that “a one second increase in yellow time results in 40 percent decrease in severe red light related crashes.” But in 2015, the District shortened the yellow lights at many intersections and the number of red light tickets skyrocketed. Some of the private companies that install and maintain red light cameras have contract provisions prohibiting cities from extending yellow lights because it would hurt their profits.
The vast majority of red light tickets are slapped on drivers who make right turns on red without coming to a dead stop. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that zero fatalities occurred nationwide in 1998 “from an accident resulting from a right hand turn on red when the driver yielded to oncoming traffic.” AAA spokesman John Townsend labeled right-turn-on-red cameras as “the biggest scandal in automated traffic enforcement.”
Despite a blizzard of automated penalties, traffic fatalities sharply increased in D.C. in recent years. So the mayor and City Council last year voted to triple the number of red light cameras and slashed the speed limit on most city streets to 20 miles per hour, creating new Yukon Territories for speed cameras. Mayor Muriel Bowser is a zealous champion of “Vision Zero” policies and she proclaimed a goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2024. That will never happen but her bogus idealism sanctifies tyrannizing drivers regardless.
Foul play is fair play as long as government profits. In 2018, the City Council enacted the Clean Hands Law, which prohibited driver license renewals for anyone with more than $100 in debt to the D.C. government. But local officials are not required to have “Clean Hands.” The D.C. Inspector General found that the automated ticketing system was so out of control that “drivers get speeding tickets for violations they don’t commit and for vehicles they’ve never owned.” The IG slammed the government for issuing tickets “without conclusive identification of the violating vehicle.” City bureaucrats were proud of how the ticketing system was rigged. A senior D.C. government official declared, “You are guilty until you have proven yourself innocent… That has worked well for us.” D.C. police and transportation officials responded with a statement scoffing that complaints “generally come from those relatively few people who feel entitled to speed on District streets or run red lights.” But hundreds of thousands of drivers have been nailed by a regime that is intentionally reckless and unjust.
Mayor Bowser is a proud champion of social justice and last year renamed a street in front of the White House as “Black Lives Matter Plaza” and painted that slogan on the asphalt in giant yellow letters. But Bowser, like other D.C. politicians, ignores how their ticketing racketeering punishes the city’s neediest residents. According to a 2018 report by D.C. Policy Center, a think tank, “Neighborhoods where 80 percent or more of residents are black on average paid $322 per capita in automated traffic tickets compared to just $20 per capita in 80 percent white neighborhoods. Residents in black neighborhoods were 17 times more likely to receive a photo ticket.” But black neighborhoods did not have a higher rate of auto crashes than other neighborhoods.
Unnecessary and unjust tickets disrupt lives and destroy people’s ability to feed their families. A 2019 study by the Federal Reserve concluded that almost half of Americans “could not afford an unexpected expense of $400 or more.” The National Motorist Association warned, “The practical results for many poor people may be a lot like putting them in debtor prisons, unable to legally drive to work.” In 2018, the D.C. government created a “community service option” where low-income traffic violators could pay off tickets by working unpaid for the city at the minimum wage rate. At least the city has not yet created chain gangs sweating to pay their speed cameras debts.
The depredations of automatic ticket enforcement presume that government revenue is a magic wand that solves all problems. But surging revenue has done nothing to prevent the D.C. government from dismally failing its residents. The murder rate is soaring and the schools were dismally failing to educate low-income students even before the pandemic. The city would have collapsed to Baltimorean-levels of debility if not for the endless revenue streams from the federal government and its accompanying graft.
Ticket cameras epitomize how democracy provides no protection against politicians willing to force citizens to pay any price to boost government revenue. The Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law noted last month, “Automated enforcement has also failed at the ballot box; red light and/or speed cameras were voted down in 39 of 43 local elections where the initiative appeared as a referendum.” But local politicians insulate themselves, buying support from other groups and blocking citizens from having a chance to pass judgment on at the polling booths.
Automatic ticket regimes have turbocharged many politicians’ lifestyles. Bribery scandals have enveloped automated ticketing regimes in Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Illinois, and elsewhere. The former top salesman for Redflex, one of the largest providers of red light cameras, testified that his company had “sent gifts and bribes to officials in at least 14 states.” (Redflex denied the allegation.) Last year, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza condemned red light ticket regimes as “a program that’s broken and morally corrupt” and recommended ending them across the state.
Automatic ticketing regimes provide a stark refutation to the illusion that governments automatically serve the people. Especially for policies shrouded in sanctimony, government agencies are almost always more wasteful or oppressive than the media portrays. How much longer will local politicians be permitted to plunder drivers and subvert safety with impunity?
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 22:00 - Third Largest US Chicken Producer Runs Out Of Chicken Wings
Third Largest US Chicken Producer Runs Out Of Chicken Wings
At this point, shortages of everything from microchips to potato chips are forcing American businesses to adjust to higher prices and supply shocks, while consumers are forced to pay higher prices at the store. And while high commodity prices (which have come off their highs in recent days as lumber, oil and iron prices declined) have retreated in recent days, we noted that these shortages are expected to last a long time.
One reason is that high prices are good for producers, and it’s too expensive for many companies to build out new production capacity right now. This dynamic is contributing to a looming chicken wing shortage in the US, which might remind some of the bacon-shortage hysteria that has occasionally gripped the US in the past.
Case in point: Sanderson Farms, the third-largest poultry producer in the US (whose engineering firm likely recommended them to suspend plans for plant expansion because prices on everything from lumber to steel to concrete to plastic to copper to machinery to labor skyrocketed, making building unaffordable) has decided that it will pass on expanding its operation despite surging demand for its product that has put it on the cusp of running out of chicken wings.
“I need a plant to open up next week, but it is not a good time to be building,” said Chief Executive Joe Sanderson, who Bloomberg quoted.
As we have reported, demand for chicken in the US is through the roof. Without expansion, the nation’s third largest poultry plant can’t take any new orders:
“We’re totally sold out and we’ve had people call us to service them and we cannot take on anymore business, and that’s not a good place,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson said construction of the new chicken plant was expected to begin in the first half of the year. He said we’ve been “look very hard” at surging building costs and is mulling over plans to shelve the expansion until raw material costs come down.
Meanwhile, everyone from the White House to the Fed has downplayed blistering inflation in commodities as ‘transitory.’ However, it’s only now where hyperinflating prices are beginning to affect the recovery by pausing commercial construction builds.
We urge readers to read the transcript from Warren Buffet’s address to shareholders earlier this month who warned: “We see very substantial inflation.”
Clearly, the world Buffett lives in is much different than the clueless career economists of the Fed Reserve and White House propagandists who act as everything is just fine.
“The costs are just up, up, up. Steel costs, you know, just every day, they’re going up,” Buffet told shareholders earlier this month.
Of course, producers’ reluctance to expand is a product of the same topsy-turvey markets inspired by the alliance between the Fed and the Treasury, that has stuffed the economy full of cheap money, making it more profitable for workers to stay at home, and more advantageous for producers to simply accept higher prices for their products – until the next plague shuts down the economy again, forcing another round of stimulus.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 21:40 - US Stimulus Has Created A Boom… In China
US Stimulus Has Created A Boom… In China
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Maybe maximizing corporate profits isn’t all that matters. Maybe national security and resilience matter, too, and if they do, then reshoring critical supply chains should be a higher priority than Corporate America’s (mostly tax-free) profits.
As America’s trade deficit explodes higher and the costs of offshoring supply chains mount, the apologists for globalization are out in full force, attempting to shout down reality with their usual specious claims about how amazingly wunnerful globalization has been for America.
Allow me to tote up the real-world cost savings:
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Cost of cheap ill-fitting jeans dropped $10.
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Cost of low-quality TV that will only last a few years dropped $50.
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Cost of healthcare, annual increase: $3,000 per household
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Cost of rent, annual increase: $1,200 per household
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Cost of child care, annual increase: $1,300 per household
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Cost of college tuition and room and board, annual increase: $1,500 per household
So while domestic costs rose $6,000 annually due to predatory cartels, over-regulation, taxes, etc., we saved $60 by offshoring supply chains. Excuse me for being underwhelmed by the wunnerfulness of offshoring jobs and supply chains.
Yes, the benefits of free trade, blah-blah-blah, I get it; but there is no such thing as free trade, there are only versions of managed trade, the vast majority of which are beneficial to corporations and elites on both sides of the trade.
Trade is always about maximizing profits. That’s the only reason to bother with trade, though there are geopolitical considerations as well. The U.S. opened its vast markets to Western Europe and Japan and the Asian Tigers in the Cold War to strengthen their economies, as a means of suppressing the appeal of Communism in their domestic politics.
This mercantilist strategy worked well, ushering in rapid growth in West Germany, Japan and other allied nations, but the problem is those economies never transitioned out of being mercantilist, export-dependent economies. The U.S. has remained the dumping ground for the world’s surplus production since the early 1950s.
While it’s all too easy to blame China for soaring trade deficits, nobody forced Corporate America to transfer supply chains to China; it was all done to maximize profits, because that’s all that matters, right?
If we examine the chart of U.S. corporate profits, we notice they were around $700 billion annually in the high-growth 1990s when America’s trade deficit in goods and services fluctuated between $100 billion and $175 billion annually. Once China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, corporate profits — and trade deficits — skyrocketed.
This is not coincidence. Corporate America reaped trillions in profits by offshoring production and supply chains. Three points need to made here: one is that trade in goods is grossly distorted by outdated rules for calculating imports and exports. Analysts estimate that as little as $10 of the value of every iPhone or iPad actually ends up in the Chinese economy, in the form of income paid directly to Foxconn or other contractors. But the iPhone–assembled in China with parts sourced globally–is counted as a $250 import from China when it arrives at the port of Long Beach, California.
The other is that China paid a steep price for its rapid economic growth as the sweatshop for global corporations. The environmental damage of rapid industrialization has been immense, many workers were cheated by contractors who promised impossibly low prices to Western corporate buyers, and profit margins were razor thin for many suppliers.
The American workforce paid a steep price, as did U.S. national security, as valuable intellectual property was lavished on China in exchange for those all-important quarterly increases in corporate profits.
Corporate America made out like bandits. Everyone else–not so much. Thanks to fancy legalized looting footwork, most American corporation reaping staggering profits from overseas production pay little or no taxes that benefit the American citizenry.
Let’s look at the charts of U.S. imports and exports. If trade deficits had risen along with U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in the 24 years since 1997, it would have risen 2.5-fold, to an annual rate of about $240 billion.
The actual trade deficit is $600 billion higher: $850 billion annually. $600 billion here, $600 billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.
Notice that thanks to trillions in stimulus, imports have soared back up while exports have lagged. That’s what happens when you offshore your critical supply chains.
My insightful blogger colleague Wolf Richter recently posted an illuminating chart of service surpluses and goods deficits: it’s obvious that much of the stimmy spent at WalMart bought stuff from China.
He added these thought-provoking comments in his post Just Keeps Getting Worse: Services Trade Surplus, the American Dream Not-Come-True, Falls to 9-Year Low, Total Trade Deficit Explodes to Worst Ever:
“Note that during the Financial Crisis, the overall trade deficit improved substantially. Consumers cut back buying imported durable goods, while the trade surplus of services declined only briefly.
The opposite happened during the Pandemic where stimulus fired up US consumer demand, boosted foreign manufacturing, but did nothing for US exports.
Every crisis in the US over the past two decades has caused Corporate America to cut costs further by pushing offshoring to the next level. And after each crisis subsides, the trade deficits and US dependence on foreign manufacturing plants (no matter who owns them) are worse than before.
This dependence has become painfully obvious in some of the shortages, including the semiconductor shortage now rippling through the US economy. The US, which for decades had led the world in semiconductor design and manufacturing, now makes only 12% of global semiconductors.”
Maybe maximizing corporate profits isn’t all that matters. Maybe national security and resilience matter, too, and if they do, then reshoring critical supply chains should be a higher priority than Corporate America’s (mostly tax-free) profits.
* * *
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A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF).
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Money and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the first section for free (PDF).
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 21:20 -
- Walgreens Closes 17 San Francisco Stores Due To "Out Of Control" Shoplifting
Walgreens Closes 17 San Francisco Stores Due To “Out Of Control” Shoplifting
The effects of allowing chaos to prevail in Democrat-controlled cities across America might not be evident to liberals and social justice warriors now, but when businesses close up, it’s going to be very transparent then.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Walgreens Pharmacy locations have shuttered their doors in San Francisco during the past five years. At least ten of the stores in the city have closed since 2019.
Like many other retailers, Walgreens is blaming Proposition 47, which lowered penalties for thefts under $950 and sparked dramatic increases in shoplifting across the metro area over the last several years. Prop. 47 is supported by criminal justice reformers and the liberal establishment, who have also managed to defund the local police.
Combining the two has allowed professional shoplifters, homeless, and drug addicts to easily work the system and steal items under the monetary threshold from store to store with limited penalties.
Walgreens San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safaí told the Chronicle that the situation is “out of control,” adding:
“People are scared to go into these stores — seniors, people with disabilities, children. It’s just happening brazenly.”
The cost of business and shoplifting is staggering for Walgreens. Despite closing 17 stores, the company still has 53 open in the metro area but could close more by the end of the year.
Thefts at Walgreens’ in the city are four times the average for other stores across the country. The pharmacy chain spends 35 times more on security guards in the city than elsewhere, said Jason Cunningham, regional vice president for pharmacy and retail operations in California and Hawaii.
To address the widespread shoplifting problem, Safaí held a hearing Thursday, May 13, with other retailers, local police, District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and probation departments. The Chronicle said retailers at the hearing blamed “professional thieves instead of opportunistic shoplifters who may be driven by poverty.”
The penalty for shoplifting is a “nonviolent misdemeanor” that carries a maximum sentence of 6 months. But in most cases, for simple shoplifting, the criminal is released with conditions. Stay under the $950 threshold, and repeat offenders can continue running amuck in shopping districts.
Other retailers are likely to follow Walgreens’ lead and exit the city as it descends into a socio-economic hellhole. San Francisco has likely peaked.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 21:00 - US Blocks Shipment Of Japanese Shirts On Suspicion They Were Made In Xinjiang
US Blocks Shipment Of Japanese Shirts On Suspicion They Were Made In Xinjiang
In the first confirmed case of US retaliation against allegations of Chinese quasi slavery, a shipment of shirts for Japan’s Uniqlo chain was blocked from entering the U.S in January on suspicion they were made with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing protested the block, claiming that all the cotton involved was grown outside of China, but the US denied the protest because there was not sufficient evidence to disprove the claim.
A Customs and Border Protection document dated May 10 shows that the agency confiscated the shirts at the Port of Los Angeles, suspecting they were made by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and follows a US ban in December of all cotton product shipments made by XPCC due to suspicions of forced labor in the region.
In response, Fast Retailing – Japan’s sixth most valuable listed company – on Wednesday called the U.S. customs decision “very regrettable.” In its customs document, Uniqlo said the raw cotton used in the shirts was produced in Australia, the U.S. and Brazil, with no connections to Uyghur labor.
In response, the U.S. agency ignored the protest, and said Uniqlo failed to provide enough evidence that its products were free from forced labor, citing a lack of information on the production process and insufficient production records.
CEO Tadashi Yanai declined to comment on questions regarding cotton in the Xinjiang region during a news conference in April, but the company addressed the matter in an August 2020 statement.
“No Uniqlo product is manufactured in the Xinjiang region,” Fast Retailing said in the statement. “In addition, no Uniqlo production partners subcontract to fabric mills or spinning mills in the region.”
While North American sales make up only small percentage of Fast Retailing’s total, and the blocked shipment is expected to have a minimal impact on the company’s earnings, the Nikkei notes that , “the seizure highlights how allegations of Chinese human rights abuses against the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang have become a risk for Japanese companies.”
And in the context of already snarled supply chains which have sent the prices of countless products soaring, Rabobank’s Michael Every cautions, “think how tricky this will make exporting textiles ahead” if all it takes for a block at the US border is the mere suspicion that it originates in the contentious Chinese region.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 20:39 - Biden Condemns Erdogan's Gaza Tirade As "Anti-Semitic" & "Reprehensible"
Biden Condemns Erdogan’s Gaza Tirade As “Anti-Semitic” & “Reprehensible”
On Monday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a fiery speech to supporters which blasted Biden’s “inaction” over the Gaza crisis, addressing Joe Biden to specifically say the US president has “blood on his hands”. He was further reacting to the recent reports that Biden approved a $735 million dollar weapons sale from the United States to Israel, essentially accusing the US of supporting genocide against the Palestinians. Erdogan had also lashed out at Europe, accusing Austria in particular trying to make Muslims “pay the price of their own genocide against the Jews” – after an Israeli flag was seen flying over a federal building.
In response the State Department has come out swinging, condemning “Erdogan’s recent anti-Semitic comments regarding the Jewish people” which the US finds “reprehensible,” according to State Department spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday.
Some of Erdogan’s rhetoric had included the following: “They are murderers, to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old. They only are satisfied by sucking their blood,” the Turkish president had stated earlier, AFP reported.
Via AFP Price had further characterized Erdogan’s statements as follows: “Anti-Semitic language has no place anywhere,” the US spokesman continued. “The United States is deeply committed to combatting anti-Semitism in all of its forms. We take seriously the violence that often accompanies anti-Semitism and the dangerous lies that undergird it. We must always counter lies with facts and answer crimes of hate with justice.”
To recap, Erdogan had focused much of the rebuke on the US president personally, saying:
“Now, unfortunately, you (Biden) are writing history with your bloody hands with this event (in which) Gaza is being attacked with seriously disproportionate force causing the martyrdom of thousands of people. You have forced us to say this.”
And specifically on the issue of Biden-approved weapons sales to the Jewish state, Erdogan scolded further:
“Today we saw Biden’s signature on weapons sales to Israel,” Erdogan said in reference to US media reports of a new arms shipment approved by the Biden administration.
“Palestinian territories are awash with persecution, suffering and blood, like many other territories that lost the peace with the end of the Ottomans. And you are supporting that,” Erdogan said.
No doubt much of the outrage of Erdogan and his Islamist Justice and Development Party party also stems from the recent formal Biden administration recognition of the Armenian Genocide of last month.
Previously on the campaign trail and since taking office, Biden has further vowed to get tough on Erdogan, while also generally condemning what was widely perceived as Trump and Erdogan’s close relationship, which critics say allowed Turkey to escape well-deserved sanctions and other punitive measures.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 20:20 - State Department Issues Warning After Chinese Skycraper Wobbles Violently In Mysterious Incident
State Department Issues Warning After Chinese Skycraper Wobbles Violently In Mysterious Incident
The US Consulate in Guangzhou has issued a security alert to all US citizens to avoid the SEG tower in Shenzhen after footage of the tower shaking. The tower is located in the Huaqiangbei area of Shenzhen, the fast-growing Chinese tech hub just across the border from Hong Kong.
At 984 feet, the SEG Plaza is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Shenzhen. The tower houses a large electronics market, as well as numerous offices. Several video clips posted to social media showed the building swaying back and forth. One clip purportedly filmed inside the building showed the interior shaking in a dramatic way. The building was evacuated shortly after the shaking started.
SEG Building in Huaqiang Bei #Shenzhen has been evacuated after the building started to shake today. Currently the reason is being investigated after it was confirmed that no #earthquake occured. pic.twitter.com/KwNZ1Ip12d
— Shenzhen Pages (@ShenzhenPages) May 18, 2021
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— Shenzhen Pages (@ShenzhenPages) May 18, 2021
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At one point, the skyscraper’s wobbling caused a near-stampede as people fled the area. Shouts and honking horns could be heard as residents, some periodically turning around to look at the skyscraper, fled. After everyone was evacuated, the building was sealed shut.
— Shenzhen Pages (@ShenzhenPages) May 18, 2021
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— Shenzhen Pages (@ShenzhenPages) May 18, 2021
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According to Bloomberg, tower owner Shenzhen Electronics Group said that tenants felt the building shake at 1231 local time Tuesday and building management immediately organized an evacuation. No signs of cracking on the ground or damaged curtain walls were detected, it said in a statement on its website.
Emergency management officials said in a statement that no earthquake was registered in the city today, and that relevant government agencies were looking into what caused the skyscraper to wobble. Shenzen has seen a boom in skyscraper construction over the last two decades as the number of buildings more than 150 meters tall has exploded to nearly 300. Given the haste to build new office space and housing, the notion that some short-cuts may have been taken seems possible.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 20:09 - Chip Shortage Enters "Danger Zone" As Lead Times Reach New Record
Chip Shortage Enters “Danger Zone” As Lead Times Reach New Record
Semiconductor lead times, the time it takes for a company to order a chip and taking delivery, increased to 17 weeks in April, indicating shortages of these critical components are intensifying, according to Bloomberg.
Companies that use semiconductors in their end products use lead times to gauge the balance between supply and demand. Rising levels suggest customers are racing to secure chips. If leads exponentially jump, as what has been happening since December, some customers will purposely order more chips to avoid future supply shortfalls. Inventory accumulation can also exacerbate chip shortages.
Susquehanna Financial Group reports chip lead times increased to 17 weeks in April, a level that surpasses the all-time high in 2018 and is described as a “danger zone.” The firm began tracking lead times in 2017.
Source: Bloomberg Susquehanna analyst Chris Rolland told clients in a Tuesday note that “all major product categories up considerably,” citing power management and analog chip lead times were up the most. “These were some of the largest increases since we started tracking the data,” he added.
Chip shortages could result in global automakers losing upwards of $110 billion in sales this year. Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and other vehicle makers are idling plants as critical tiny chips cause supply chain bottlenecks.
We obtained satellite imagery showing Ford has parked thousands of trucks with missing chips at a Kentucky Speedway. There’s no timeline when the trucks will return to the Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to have chip components installed.
Besides autos, the chip shortage also affects the farming industry, where farmers cannot source new tractors and machinery. Besides vehicles and equipment, anything from game consoles to refrigerators has also been affected.
“Elevated lead times often compel ‘bad behavior’ at customers, including inventory accumulation, safety stock building and double ordering,” Rolland wrote. “These trends may have spurred a semiconductor industry in the early stages of over-shipment above true customer demand.”
Industry insiders are warning the shortage may last for years.
Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger has been the latest in a chorus of voices to warn about the ongoing semiconductor shortage that will last for a “couple of years.”
Gelsinger said U.S. dominance in the chip industry had dropped so much that only 12% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing is made in the U.S., down from 37% about 25 years ago.
“And anybody who looks at supply chain says, ‘That’s a problem.’ This is a big, critical industry and we want more of it on American soil: the jobs that we want in America, the control of our long-term technology future,” he said.
Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is also warning that the shortage will continue throughout this year and maybe extended into 2022.
Whenever there’s a problem in the economy, the Federal Reserve and big Wall Street banks, and especially the corrupt politicians on Capitol Hill, love the quick-fix solutions of bailouts and helicopter money. This time, however, that solution will not work to solve the shortage.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 19:00 - The Dystopian Future In Which Almost No One Owns A Car
The Dystopian Future In Which Almost No One Owns A Car
Authored by Zachary Yost via The Mises Institute,
By this point readers are more than familiar with the previously unthinkable infringements on our traditional rights and liberties due to “health and safety” lockdowns that the state has inflicted upon us over the last year. While thankfully more and more restrictions are being lifted, it is important not to forget the period of veritable universal house arrest that was enacted in many states, in which even the freedom to go for a drive was denied to us. It unfortunately seems inevitable that we will face such scenarios again when a convenient excuse comes along, though I fear that the next time will be even worse thanks to the advent of self-driving cars.
Self-driving cars seem like a truly amazing advancement in human technology. As someone who is not particularly fond of driving, I once followed their development with great interest and hopeful anticipation. However, the advent of lockdowns as an acceptable government policy has shown just a taste of the kind of dangers that would come with their widespread adoption. While they would liberate us from many of the dangers of the road and free up time in which to work or enjoy ourselves on a ride, the price of this liberation is actually an unprecedented level of government control.
Some advocates of self-driving cars argue that their adoption would mean that very few people would actually own a vehicle anymore, and that instead everyone would basically Uber everywhere. Oftentimes such predictions are espoused by people who lament how evil American prosperity is and cringe at the thought of our car culture’s carbon footprint.
It is not difficult to see how this could go very wrong. Can you imagine how much worse government lockdowns would have been at their height last year if the state merely needed to apply pressure to Uber-like ride services to cease general operation to stop people from moving? Ride services would almost certainly be forced to require government-issued documents in order to book a ride in such a scenario, leaving the vast majority of the population completely stranded and unable to go anywhere.
Fortunately, there are many reasons to believe that without massive government intervention America is not likely to willingly let go of its deeply ingrained car culture in favor of ubiquitous Ubering.
However, even if people do own their self-driving cars, the danger remains.
Tesla is a case in point. Unlike a “traditional” car that drives off the lot and disappears into the traffic, Tesla cars are perpetually connected to the internet and Tesla itself. As the pioneer in self-driving cars, it seems likely that other manufacturers will also build around Tesla’s concept, which is itself similar to numerous other “smart appliance” trends in everything from house lighting to fridges, ovens, and washing machines. While this connectivity has great uses, such as allowing repairs to be completed remotely, the danger is obvious.
Customers have complained about having features of their Tesla being removed without their notice or authorization, prompting one reporter to remark that “if someone buys a used car with cruise control, there isn’t an expectation that the manufacturer will then arrive and ask to remove it,” yet something similar has already happened. Similarly, Tesla collects vast amounts of data from its cars, which is no doubt useful and needed for continuing to improve the system and work out kinks, but it is dangerously naïve to believe that such data would remain outside the reach of the government if it wanted it.
Finally, the same danger with universal Ubering still remains. Tesla or any self-driving car that would naturally require some level of internet connection can be remotely shut down. As cool as Tesla may seem, the odds are very slim that it would defy a state order to render its fleet inoperable in the name of “public safety” or any other excuse the government may come up with.
Think back to the hysteria of last spring. You are kidding yourself if you believe that people like Governor Whitmer of Michigan wouldn’t have ordered all cars rendered inoperable until “essential workers” were granted permission to drive if such a thing had been within her power.
The picture becomes even more bleak if one thinks of the nefarious uses such control could be used for beyond “public health” lockdowns. What if our current cancel culture craziness were to continue into a death spiral that resulted in something akin to the Chinese social credit system? Such a thing seems unthinkable—“this is America,” after all. But if in 2019 we had been visited by a time traveler who told us that in a year Americans would be forbidden from leaving their homes or going to church and that businesses would be forced to close en masse, we likely would have thought such a person was crazy. Yet here we are.
It is easy to see all the benefits that would come with self-driving cars, but at the end of the day the potential for dramatically increased government control and abuse is horrifying to contemplate.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 18:40 - Nearly 20% Of Seattle Cops Quit Amid National Protests, Budget Cuts
Nearly 20% Of Seattle Cops Quit Amid National Protests, Budget Cuts
Just under 20% of Seattle police have quit the force over the past year and a half, according to CBS News, citing the city’s interim Chief of Police.
The revelation comes after more than a year of violent clashes with anti-police protesters from BLM and Antifa, and a city council which has neutered the Seattle PD’s ability to use crowd control devices that social justice activists say didn’t go far enough.
To review the last 18 months of policing in Seattle:
In short, the situation is abysmal, leading to roughly 260 officers packing it up for good.
“The support that we had in my generation of policing is no longer there,” said Seattle officer Clayton Powell, who is retiring three years before his 30th year on the force. “When you see businesses get destroyed and families lose their livelihood because of that destruction and we can’t do anything about it. We’re not allowed to intercede.”
Last summer’s protests over the killing of George Floyd led to violent clashes with Seattle police. Powell said the stress on officers was compounded by city leaders’ decisions to abandon a police precinct and letting demonstrators, some armed, occupy an entire neighborhood for a whole month. As a result, Powell said he and other officers had rocks, bottles, and in some cases, cinder blocks thrown at them, and they had to “stand there and take it.”
City leaders allowed the police-free zone after protesters were repeatedly hit by tear gas but closed it down after weeks of violence. City Councilwoman Tammy Morales voted for a 13% cut in the police budget in November — and $5 million of funding cuts are still on the table for the police department.
Meanwhile, the money cut from the police budget has yet to be re-allocated. In other words, it was done out of spite to appease the public.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 18:20 - Johns Hopkins Doctor: Closed-Schools Are An "American Disgrace"
Johns Hopkins Doctor: Closed-Schools Are An “American Disgrace”
Authored by Ben Zeisloft via Campus Reform,
A Johns Hopkins University medical professor said that closed schools are an “American disgrace.”
Dr. Marty Makary — a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s prestigious School of Medicine and a Fox News contributor — said during an interview with “Coffee With Closers” ripped public health officials’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the interview, Makary explained his thinking on herd immunity and his correct prediction that the United States would see a slowing of COVID-19 infections by April of 2021.
“What we’re seeing is a divergence in the data right now. You’re going to see two pandemics — one among at-risk people and the other is among young people who are healthy,” he said.
Makary also challenged Dr. Fauci’s representation of herd immunity.
“When people say we need to vaccinate 70-85% of the population in order to reach herd immunity — which is a quote you’ll hear again and again, especially coming from Dr. Fauci — that’s not true,” he remarked.
“Because half the country has natural immunity from prior infection. And some doctors — especially the old school doctors — have dismissed that.”
Makary was particularly critical of medical officials’ decisions to close schools and slammed groupthink in the medical community.
“Why do adults get their bowling alleys and restaurants, but kids are shut out of their livelihoods?” he said.
“It’s an American disgrace. And I think what we’ve lost a little bit in the medical profession is to speak your mind. Too many people are worried about what folks are gonna think of you.”
Noting that self-harm claims among children have risen several hundred percent since the beginning of the pandemic, Makary said that “from a medical standpoint, from a public health standpoint, kids need to be in school.”
Campus Reform recently reported that the editorial team of a student newspaper at Johns Hopkins retracted an article featuring a university study claiming that COVID-19 did not significantly increase the death rate in 2020.
One editor said that the article was being used to spread “dangerous inaccuracies” online.
Campus Reform reached out to Makary for comment; this article will be updated accordingly
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/19/2021 – 18:00
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