Today’s News 21st April 2023

• Speak Your Truth: Don't Let The Government Criminalize Free Speech
  Speak Your Truth: Don’t Let The Government Criminalize Free Speech

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

  – George Washington

  What the police state wants is a silent, compliant, oblivious citizenry.

  

  What the First Amendment affirms is an engaged citizenry that speaks truth to power using whatever peaceful means are available to us.

  Speaking one’s truth doesn’t have to be the same for each person, and that truth doesn’t have to be palatable or pleasant or even factual.

  We can be loud.

  We can be obnoxious.

  We can be politically incorrect.

  We can be conspiratorial or mean or offensive.

  We can be all these things because the First Amendment takes a broad, classically liberal approach to the free speech rights of the citizenry: in a nutshell, the government may not encroach or limit the citizenry’s right to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and protest.

  This is why the First Amendment is so critical.

  It gives the citizenry the right to speak freely, protest peacefully, expose government wrongdoing, and criticize the government without fear of retaliation, arrest or incarceration.

  Nowhere in the First Amendment does it permit the government to limit speech in order to avoid causing offense, hurting someone’s feelings, safeguarding government secrets, protecting government officials, discouraging bullying, penalizing hateful ideas and actions, eliminating terrorism, combatting prejudice and intolerance, and the like.

  When expressive activity crosses the line into violence, free speech protections end.

  However, barring actual violence or true threats of violence, there is a vast difference between speech that is socially unpopular and speech that is illegal, and it’s an important distinction that depends on our commitment to safeguarding a robust First Amendment.

  Increasingly, however, the courts and the government are doing away with that critical distinction, adopting the mindset that speech is only permissible if it does not offend, irritate, annoy, threaten someone’s peace of mind, or challenge the government’s stranglehold on power.

  Take the case of Counterman v. Colorado which is before the U.S. Supreme Court.

  Under the pretext of clamping down on online stalking, Colorado wants the power to be able to treat expressive activities on social media as threats without having to prove that the messages are both reasonably understood as threatening an illegal act and intended by the speaker as a threat.

  While protecting people from stalking is certainly a valid concern and may be warranted in this particular case, the law does not require speech to be a “true threat” in order to be criminally punished. The Supreme Court has defined a “true threat” as “statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals.”

  Indeed, Colorado’s stalking law is so broad that a person can be charged with stalking for repeatedly contacting, surveilling or communicating with an individual in such a way that a reasonable person would feel serious emotional distress.

  In the absence of any substantive guidelines on what constitutes a true threat on social media, such laws could empower the government to misinterpret any speaker’s intent and meaning in order to criminalize legitimate political speech that is critical of government officials and representatives.

  Case in point: in Oklahoma, a street preacher who expressed his moral outrage over public drag queen performances that occur in front of children and churches that endorse same-sex marriage was given a five-year restraining order and threatened with arrest after citing Bible verses on social media about God’s judgment of sin.

  The Rutherford Institute has taken on the case, warning that the ramifications of it going unchallenged could render anyone who quotes the Bible a criminal if it makes a listener feel unsafe or threatened or judged.

  This is what it means to criminalize free speech: it turns those who exercise their free speech rights into criminals.

  This criminalization of free speech, which is exactly what the government’s prosecution of those who say the “wrong” thing using an electronic medium amounts to, was at the heart of Elonis v. United States, a case that wrestled with where the government can draw the line when it comes to expressive speech that is protected and permissible versus speech that could be interpreted as connoting a criminal intent.

  The case arose after Anthony Elonis, an aspiring rap artist, used personal material from his life as source material and inspiration for rap lyrics which he then shared on Facebook.

  For instance, shortly after Elonis’ wife left him and he was fired from his job, his lyrics included references to killing his ex-wife, shooting a classroom of kindergarten children, and blowing up an FBI agent who had opened an investigation into his postings.

  Despite the fact that Elonis routinely accompanied his Facebook posts with disclaimers that his lyrics were fictitious, and that he was using such writings as an outlet for his frustrations, he was charged with making unlawful threats (although it was never proven that he intended to threaten anyone) and sentenced to 44 months in jail.

  The question the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide in Elonis was whether his activity, in the absence of any overt intention of committing a crime, rose to the level of a “true threat” or whether it was protected First Amendment activity.

  In an 8-1 decision that concerned itself more with “criminal-law principles concerning intent rather than the First Amendment’s protection of free speech,” the Court ruled that prosecutors had not proven that Elonis intended to harm anyone beyond the words he used and context.

  That was back in 2015.

  Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in Elonis, Corporate America has taken the lead in policing expressive activity online, with social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube using their formidable dominance in the field to censor, penalize and regulate speech and behavior online by suspending and/or banning users whose content violated the companies’ so-called community standards for obscenity, violence, hate speech, discrimination, conspiracy theories, etc.

  The fallout is as one would expect.

  The internet has become a forum for the government—and its corporate partners—to monitor, control and punish the populace for speech that may be controversial but is far from criminal.

  Everything is now fair game for censorship if it can be construed as hateful, hurtful, bigoted or offensive provided that it runs counter to the established viewpoint.

  In this way, the most controversial issues of our day—race, religion, sex, sexuality, politics, science, health, government corruption, police brutality, etc.—have become battlegrounds for those who claim to believe in freedom (of religion, speech, assembly, press, redress, privacy, bodily integrity, etc.) but only when it favors the views and positions they support.

  In more and more cases, the government is declaring war on what should be protected political speech whenever it challenges the government’s power, reveals the government’s corruption, exposes the government’s lies, and encourages the citizenry to push back against the government’s many injustices.

  Indeed, there is a long and growing list of the kinds of speech that the government considers dangerous enough to red flag and subject to censorship, surveillance, investigation and prosecution: hate speech, conspiratorial speech, treasonous speech, threatening speech, inflammatory speech, radical speech, anti-government speech, extremist speech, etc.

  In recent years, the government has used the phrase “domestic terrorist” interchangeably with “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist” to describe anyone who might fall somewhere on a very broad spectrum of viewpoints that could be considered “dangerous.”

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, the ramifications are so far-reaching as to render almost every American an extremist in word, deed, thought or by association.

  You see, the government doesn’t care if you or someone you know has a legitimate grievance. It doesn’t care if your criticisms are well-founded. And it certainly doesn’t care if you have a First Amendment right to speak truth to power.

  It just wants you to shut up.

  Yet no matter what one’s political persuasion might be, the right to disagree with and speak out against the government is the quintessential freedom. When exercised regularly and defended vigorously, these First Amendment rights serve as a bulwark against tyranny.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 23:40

• The Timeline Of Cannabis Legislation In The US
  The Timeline Of Cannabis Legislation In The US

  On this 4/20, we take a moment to reflect on the fact that at the federal level, cannabis is still considered an illegal substance.

  However, as Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop notes, individual states do have the right to determine their own laws around cannabis sales and usage.

  This visual from New Frontier Data looks at the status of cannabis in every state and the timeline of when medical and/or recreational use became legal.

  

  Cannabis Through the Years

  In the U.S., the oldest legalese concerning cannabis dates back to the 1600s—the colony of Virginia required every farm to grow and produce hemp. Since then, cannabis use was fairly wide open until the 1930s when the Marihuana Tax Act was enforced, prohibiting marijuana federally but still technically allowing medical use.

  Jumping ahead, the Controlled Substances Act was passed in 1970, classifying cannabis as Schedule I drug—the same category as heroin. This prohibited any use of the substance.

  However, the 1970s also saw a counter movement, wherein many states made the move towards decriminalization. Decriminalization means that although possessing cannabis remained illegal, a person would not be subject to jail time or prosecution for possessing certain amounts.

  By the 1990s, some of the first states passed laws to allow the medical usage of cannabis, and by 2012 two states in the U.S.—Washington and Colorado—legalized the recreational use of cannabis.

  Cannabis Legislation Today and Beyond

  The MORE Act (the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act) was passed in the House early 2022, and if made law, it would decriminalize marijuana federally.

  “This bill decriminalizes marijuana. Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana.”– U.S. CONGRESS

  Cannabis still remains illegal at the federal level, but at the state levels, cannabis is now fully legal (both for medicinal and recreational purposes) in a total of 22 states.

  Over 246 million Americans have legal access to some form of marijuana products with high THC levels. Looking to the future, many new cannabis markets are expected to open up in the next few years:

  

  The earliest states expected to open up next for recreational cannabis sales are Minnesota and Oklahoma. There is always a lag between legalization and actual sales, wherein local regulatory bodies and governments set standards. States like Kentucky, on the other hand, aren’t likely to even legalize medicinal cannabis until 2028.

  It’s estimated that by 2030, there will be 69 million cannabis consumers in the country, up 33% from 2022.

  Overall, the U.S. cannabis market is likely an important one to watch as legal sales hit $30 billion in 2022. By the end of the decade, that number is expected to be anywhere from $58 billion to as much as $72 billion.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 23:20

• The Discord Leaks: Justification To Quash Encrypted Messaging?
  The Discord Leaks: Justification To Quash Encrypted Messaging?

  Authored by Marie Hawthorne via The Organic Prepper blog,

  On April 13, the FBI took 21-year-old Air National Guardsman Jake Teixiera into custody for posting top secret military documents on a private Discord chat group. A large amount of classified information has been exposed, and people want answers. Why is this young man getting arrested when other people leak to the press all the time? Who gives a 21-year-old top-secret clearance? Are there some other, less-obvious motives at work here?

  

  First, let’s look at the leaks.

  Let’s look first at the leaks themselves. In early March, classified documents started popping up on a public Discord channel. They had originally been posted in a private, invitation-only chat group on Discord with a few dozen members in December 2022 or January 2023. At some point, one of the private group members started posting the classified documents to a public group. And once on the public group, the classified documents rapidly made their way around the internet. (source)

  • This series of leaks provided evidence that American intelligence had been spying on allies in Israel and South Korea. (source)

  • We had also been collecting intelligence on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (source)

  • There was a discussion of Egypt producing weapons for Russia, despite receiving over $1 billion per year from the Americans. (source) Egyptian and American officials both denied this vehemently.

  • Some of the leaked documents included information about a spring offensive in Ukraine. They also indicated that American leaders are not confident in Ukraine’s ability to successfully launch an offensive this spring, due to a lack of trained personnel. (source)

  • Nonetheless, despite a grim outlook for a Ukrainian spring offensive, no one is anticipating peace talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin in 2023. (source) The powers that be are prepared for 2023 to consist of a long, slow grind for Ukrainian and Russian troops.

  • Leaked information also includes the fact that American Special Forces groups have been in Ukraine for some time. (source) contrary to repeated statements about how no American boots were ever going to be on the ground. (source)

  • Information about a spring offensive could, in theory, jeopardize troops on the ground, though the Russians don’t seem to be taking the leaked information particularly seriously. Speculation within the pro-Russian channels seems to be that this is some kind of decoy. (source)

  The rest of the leaked information provides a window into how the government actually works. Spying on allies and a fantastic disregard for taxpayer dollars—it sounds bad, but is it really surprising? And lying about American troops being on the ground? It’s less shocking, and more evidence of things many of us had suspected anyway.

  What will happen to Jake Teixeira?

  Either way, it looks like young Jake Teixeira is headed to jail, probably for at least ten years

  If you grew up in a family full of soldiers and government employees, you might think, “Good, he’s a traitor.” But keep in mind information from the government gets leaked to the press all the time. New York Times reporter David Philipps admitted on Twitter that “The NYT worked feverishly to find the identity of the guy leaking TS docs on Discord. Ironically, if the same guy had leaked to the NYT, we’d be working feverishly to conceal it.”

  Mr. Philipps removed his tweet after a short time, but independent journalist Glenn Greenwald took a screenshot of it and you can still see it on his Twitter feed here.

  Honest, independent journalists are an essential part of what a free country is supposed to represent. In a free nation, the citizens hold the government accountable for their actions; how on earth is that supposed to happen if no one has any idea what the government is actually up to?

  And even fifteen years ago, mainstream sources still seemed to see it this way. Back in 2011, the New York Times published information from Julian Assange’s Wikileaks, which contained information at least as volatile as the recently released information.

  In this case, however, the Washington Post and New York Times actively helped federal law enforcement track down the leaker.  Whistleblower, Inc. immediately distanced itself from Teixeira, saying he doesn’t really count as a whistleblower/

  So, why the about-face? A free press relies upon and has to support its sources of information. How did mainstream American press go from champions of free speech to actively hunting down leakers?

  Let’s just look at the history of leaking over the past fifteen years.

  Did you know that Obama’s administration prosecuted intelligence leaks more aggressively than any other administration in history? As of 2014, his administration had secured 526 months of prison time for various leakers. That compares to a total of 24 months of jail time issued by every other administration since the Revolutionary War. (source) The crackdown on intelligence leaks during his 8 years was completely unprecedented.

  What about Trump’s presidency? Were leakers of sensitive information so relentlessly prosecuted?

  Not if they published anything that made Trump look bad. General Michael Flynn, who was arguably just doing his job when he contacted the Russian government after he was appointed Trump’s national security advisor, had his conversations with the Russian ambassador recorded and then leaked to the press.

  Releasing contents of phone calls between foreign ambassadors and the government is officials is far more damaging than anything released by Teixeira. Just for starters, it shows foreign governments around the world that Americans cannot exercise discretion. In his “System Update #70” on Rumble, Glenn Greenwald did a thorough analysis of why Gen. Flynn’s leaked transcript was so potentially damaging and, under other circumstances, could have led to jail time both for the leaker as well as the journalists publishing that information.

  So, was that leaker mercilessly hunted down and prosecuted? Did any journalists look at jail time?

  No. Mainstream media positively celebrated it; Brian Stelter’s self-congratulatory platitudes about the “free press” are totally nauseating.

  MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough referred to the leaker of Flynn’s conversation as “a patriot.”

  The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos tweeted, “. . .principled public servants who got the story out are hidden heroes.”

  So, is Jake Teixeira being treated as a patriot or a principled public servant? Not quite. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated that “This is information that has no business in the public domain. It is not intended for public consumption, and it should not be out there.” But if this leak of information is so catastrophic, why are those same media outlets that helped find Teixeira reporting the material in the leaks? Given the number of articles generated by the Times, the Post, the BBC, and other major outlets, the leaks obviously contained a great deal of newsworthy information. Does anyone else smell hypocrisy here?

  Who is Jake Teixeira, and how did he get top-secret clearance?

  Maybe more significantly, if this leak of documents was so severe that a young Air National Guardsman is looking at more than a decade of jail time, why are no higher-ups getting prosecuted? Who gives top security clearance to a 21-year-old, anyway?

  I spent time dating a 21-year-old National Guardsman when I was young. This is a demographic putting bags of dog poop on porches and lighting them on fire. Do many of them grow up to be mature, responsible adults? Oh, absolutely. But 21-year-olds are barely adults. Right now, mainstream sites like NPR are focusing on Teixeira’s apparent fondness for racist memes. if someone is not mature enough to understand that online jokes follow you for the rest of your life, why would they be mature enough to handle truly sensitive information?

  And how does this not come up during the clearance process? Okay, so Teixeira had a bad sense of humor; who cleared him? I have heard absolutely nothing about any higher-ups facing consequences over this, and I guess that shouldn’t be surprising.

  How will this affect encrypted messaging? And is that the point?

  This may all be beside the point. Let’s talk about the method of release itself. These leaks have been referred to as the “Discord Leaks.” Discord is a messaging app. It doesn’t use end-to-end encryption, just the standard HTTPS encryption that allows people to communicate privately.

  Federal law enforcement agencies have had private messaging apps in their crosshairs for some time now, as we discussed a few months ago. The EARN IT Act, which is still in the Senate, would essentially ban end-to-end encryption and make private messages easier for law enforcement to access.

  There have been a couple of versions of EARN IT in the works since 2020; they haven’t passed. Too many Americans are still concerned about privacy.

  However, is it possible that someone let these leaks percolate through Discord in hopes of giving the government an ironclad reason to force messaging apps to divulge information about private conversations? Because of national security?

  What do you think is really going on here?

  I don’t know if this is the case; I’m just speculating. But ask yourself what is believable.

  Would access to such supposedly sensitive information be given to a young man with an irresponsible online history? Are more senior personnel capable of taking advantage of this situation to advance an agenda they’ve publicly had for some time now?

  What do you think about all this? Should Teixeira be harshly prosecuted, or should he be protected as a whistle-blower? Is there another agenda at play here?

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 23:00

• ATF Director Unable To Define "Assault Weapon" Despite Biden's Call For Ban
  ATF Director Unable To Define “Assault Weapon” Despite Biden’s Call For Ban

  At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) asked Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Director Steve Dettelbach a simple question: “In 15 seconds, would you define an ‘assault weapon’ for me?”

  Dettelbach, who is supposed to be an expert in all things firearms and explosives, appeared before the subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. He responded to Ellzey by admitting he could not answer the question because he isn’t a “firearms expert.” 

  “I’ll go shorter than that, because honestly, if Congress wishes to take that up, I think Congress would have to do the work, but we would be there to provide technical assistance. I, unlike you, am not a firearms expert to the same extent as you maybe, but we have people at ATF who can talk about velocity of firearms, what damage different kinds of firearms cause, so that whatever determination you chose to make would be an informed one.” Dettelbach answered.

  Biden says he wants to ban assault weapons, but his own ATF Director Steve Dettelbach can’t even define what they are: “I’m not a firearms expert” pic.twitter.com/v50ElLnBG3

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 18, 2023

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

  Despite years of advocating for assault weapon bans, the head of the ATF has never provided a clear definition of what qualifies as an assault weapon.

  Firearms blog Bearing Arms had this to say about Dettelbach’s response:

  We’re supposed to believe that the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has no earthly idea how to define “assault weapons”, despite the fact that his boss calls for them to be banned on a weekly basis and Democrats in states like Michigan, Colorado, and Washington are currently trying to prohibit their sale or possession? Gimme a break.

  Dettelbach’s response wasn’t ignorant, it was political. The truth is that “assault weapon” has no real definition other than “gun someone wants to ban.” What’s considered an “assault weapon” in New York may not be an “assault weapon” in Ilinois, while California lawmakers have gone back and redefined “assault weapon” on multiple occasions since enacting its first ban back in 1989.

  But Dettelbach can’t go on the record as admitting that, especially with Biden making his own vague and vacuous demands for an “assault weapons” ban any time a shooting generates national headlines (even when the killer used a handgun). Instead he tried to punt the issue back to Congress, but in doing so he implicitly acknowledged what he couldn’t say out loud; an “assault weapon” is whatever anti-gun lawmakers say it is, and whatever convoluted definition they do come up with will most certainly impact millions of law-abiding Americans and some of the most popular and commonly-owned firearms sold today.

  … and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) tweeted:

  “Joe Biden’s ATF Director just testified in a Congressional hearing that he’s not a firearms expert. Wow. Maybe the ATF shouldn’t be regulating your firearms then.”

  Supporters of the Second Amendment can appreciate the ATF head’s honesty, at the very least.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 22:40

• House China Committee To War-Game A Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan
  House China Committee To War-Game A Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  The House’s new panel on China will be war gaming a Chinese invasion of Taiwan to explore ways the US can respond in the latest example of the US government preparing for a future conflict with Beijing.

  Axios reported that on Wednesday evening, members of the China committee, which is led by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), will take the role of US officials in the war game that will be conducted by a Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

  

  CNAS is a hawkish think-tank that receives funding from US arms makers and the Taiwanese government through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s de facto embassy.

  Several members of the Biden administration came from CNAS, including Kurt Campbell, a co-founder of the think tank who now serves as President Biden’s top Asia official on the National Security Council.

  China hawks in Congress argue that the US must continue ramping up support for Taiwan to deter a Chinese invasion.

  “We need to be moving heaven and earth to enhance our deterrence and denial posture so that Xi Jinping concludes that he just can’t do it,” Gallagher told AP.

  But China’s recent rhetoric and actions have demonstrated that more US support for Taiwan puts the island under greater Chinese military pressure.

  Lots of US naval assets near China rn.

  ALL of them (except subs) within range of Chinese DF-21D carrier killer missiles. They’ll be gone in 1st 15 min of war. pic.twitter.com/0Uu3t7Wwat

  — Carl Zha (@CarlZha) April 20, 2023

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  Beijing just concluded massive live-fire drills around Taiwan that were launched in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in California.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 22:20

• US Prepping Military-Led Evacuation Of Embassy Staff From Sudan
  US Prepping Military-Led Evacuation Of Embassy Staff From Sudan

  The recent breakout of civil war for control of the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum led by rival generals has prompted the US government to ready contingency plans to evacuate American embassy personnel who are currently sheltering in place. 

  US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a Thursday statement that it “is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies” – after a midweek ceasefire attempt failed to hold on.

  

  “As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it,” according to Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Phil Ventura.

  Additionally, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed Thursday that the US knows the whereabouts of all diplomats still hunkered-down and that the State Department is trying to get “them all co-located together for their own safety.”

  According to Politico, the Pentagon is moving troops into place ahead of a potential evacuation:

  Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of State, privately told lawmakers Wednesday that troops would be moving to Djibouti, home to Camp Lemmonier, to provide the administration an option to launch an evacuation operation, according to one of the people familiar with the situation. The person, along with others POLITICO spoke to for this story, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive military planning and internal deliberations. Sherman stressed that the mission would whisk only embassy staff to safety and that there won’t be a military-led general evacuation of American citizens, the lawmaker added.

  Streets in the city have been transformed into war zones, and the UN estimates at least 185 people have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded. The fighting broke out Saturday, and the battles pit the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – who’s also known as Hemedti and has served as Burhan’s deputy head of state.

  What began as a peaceful protests and limited clashes over Sudan’s political future is now a war for control of Africa’s third-largest country. There remains significant dangers for Americans and foreign embassy staff, given it was only on Tuesday that US diplomatic convoy came under intense gunfire in the capital.

  The State Department called the attack, which included at least 100 rounds fired on the US embassy convoy according to international reports, a “reckless” and “irresponsible” attack and called on both sides of the raging conflict to uphold the safety and security of American diplomatic personnel. 

  All Americans and embassy staff were then ordered to shelter in place until help arrives, or calm returns. The Biden administration now is preparing for a worst case emergency evacuation scenario, given Sudan’s embattled government is not expected to help.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 22:00

• Tax Armageddon Day Is Coming
  Tax Armageddon Day Is Coming

  Authored by Jerry Rogers via RealClear Wire,

  Benjamin Franklin famously wrote in 1789 that “our new Constitution is now established and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Death and taxes are fated. However, are enormous tax hikes also a fait accompli? Is it a certainty – ‘an accomplished fact’ – that the White House and Congress will repeal tax reforms that worked? Tax breaks that helped small business owners and families.    

  

  For the past several days Americans have been scrambling to make the deadline to complete their 2022 tax returns. Most taxpayers will be relieved once the ordeal is done. However, here’s an unfortunate reality: if Washington fails to act, the federal tax code is headed for major changes in just a couple of years, including massive tax hikes on families and small businesses.

  In December 2017, Congress passed, and Donald Trump signed an historic, comprehensive tax reform package.

  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed taxes for almost all Americans, substantially reduced corporate and small business taxes, and increased the standard deduction for individuals and couples.

  The reforms are set to expire – and certain provisions have already expired – in 2025. Unless the Congress moves to make the 2017 tax reforms permanent, Americans will suffer colossal tax increases crushing small businesses and family budgets. 

  The 2017 tax cuts delivered results for the American people, despite fierce opposition and false predictions of economic ruin. Opposition to the tax cut plan was intense. It was constant and well organized. At the time, many pundits – both on the right and left – predicted that the Republicans in Congress would cower and (former) President Trump would be forced to fold. It didn’t happen.

  The Job Creators Network (JCN) – a nonpartisan group founded by entrepreneurs – stood their post. Building coalitions, offering intellectual ammunition, and countering hysteria with facts, JCN informed the public discourse. In a public debate marked by false narratives and misinformation, JCN did something quaint – it told the truth and made its case based on the facts and evidence.    

  The JCN reminded Congress:

  “Small business is the backbone of the economy with two-thirds of new jobs being created by small businesses. There are 29 million small businesses in America employing 56 million people — that’s 85 million Americans depending on the success of small business.”

  In 2017 in the midst of a political frenzy, the Job Creators Network advanced the economic science. JCN followed the evidence that tax reform would benefit all Americans and stimulate the economy. No easy task – remember the piercing opposition from Congressional Democrats and the media? We were bombarded with the worst demagoguery that Washington had to offer –  that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was designed to help the wealthiest few Americans, while leaving the rest of us stuck with the bill. It turns out – as the JCN argued – tax reform was a boon to the economy and a saving grace for America’s small businesses.

  Here’s what we know happened in the five years since the tax reforms took effect. Stephen Moore (an architect of the tax plan) recently wrote in the Washington Examiner:

  “We now have incontrovertible evidence that after five years since they took effect, the Trump tax rate cuts of 2017 raised revenues over this time period. The latest Congressional Budget Office report released earlier [in January] calculated that the federal government collected $4.9 trillion of federal revenue last year. This was up — ready for this? — almost $1.5 trillion since 2017, the year before the tax cuts became law. In other words, revenues were up 40% in five years. The evidence through the first three years of the tax cut finds that the share of taxes paid by the wealthiest 1% rose as well. So much for this being a tax giveaway for the rich.”

  Even with the Covid crisis and the pandemic lockdowns, the American economy experienced a ‘giant Laffer Curve’ effect from the 2017 tax cuts. In other words, Moore explains “we got higher growth and higher tax payments with lower tax rates.” The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act delivered good results for the American people.

  Moore’s work on the tax reform package is why the Job Creators Network awarded him with its Defender of Small Business Award.

  In 2018, JCN president and CEO Alfredo Ortiz called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “One of the greatest legislative achievements of the decade.” He went on to say that “Steve Moore was not only a major mover and shaker that made passage possible, but he was a strong partner alongside the Job Creators Network in ensuring that small businesses were among the beneficiaries of the legislation.”

  What was the economic outlook prior to the 2017 reforms?

  The labor force participation rate was in an alarming downward trend –  that is to say, the unemployed just stopped looking for work. Wage growth was stalled, and productivity growth was stuck at scarcely 1 percent. And new business investments in infrastructure had slowed to a meager 2.5 percent. America had entered  – what the political class told us was – a ‘New Normal’ of measly economic growth and wage stagnation. However, the Job Creators Network argued that easing the tax burden on small businesses (and all Americans) would allow them to expand, hire, and reinvigorate ‘Main Street’.

  What do we know today about the 2017 reforms? Another architect of the plan, Kevin A. Hassett, wrote in 2021 (four years into the tax reforms):

  “Data released over the past four years have met or even exceeded our predictions. In 2019 alone, real median household income in the U.S. rose by $4,400 — a bigger increase in one year than in the entire 16 years through the end of 2016 combined. From December 2017 through the end of 2019, real wages for the bottom 10 percent of the wage distribution rose 8.4 percent, while real wages for the top 10 percent rose 5.2 percent. Real wealth for the bottom 50 percent rose a staggering 28.4 percent, while that of the top 1 percent rose 8.9 percent.”

  Without Congressional action, the tax rates and reform tax structure (for 2026) will revert back to what Americans were subjected to before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took effect.

  Alfredo Ortiz said in a February oped:

  “Fortunately, the facts have finally caught up with the tax cuts’ detractors while supporters have been vindicated. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) proves that, on top of the tax cuts contributing to one of the strongest economies in half a century pre-pandemic, the package didn’t compromise the federal budget.”

  Recently in RealClearPolicy Ortiz wrote, the only way out of our current economic difficulties “is to empower small businesses through pro-growth policies like those in Job Creators Network’s American Small Business Prosperity Plan.” The first plank of the JCN’s plan is to make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent:

  “The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act unleashed a tsunami of small business expansion—leading to one of the strongest economies in half a century. But now, the legislation is set to incrementally expire and effectively hike taxes on America’s small business community. Congress should make small business tax relief permanent.”

  The Job Creators Network was right in 2017. The JCN was the bulwark that forced Congress to stay the course. Even as taxpayers have rushed to submit their returns and beat the IRS’s tax deadline, another deadline looms in our near future.

  Without legislative action, the tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2025 and by 2026 tax rates and tax brackets will be higher for most households and small businesses.

  This year everyone (who pays taxes) knows that Tuesday April 18, 2023 is Tax Day. What we need to know is that December 31, 2025, will be a devastating day for most taxpayers – Tax Armageddon Day.

  As Franklin warned, “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

  However, December 31, 2025 doesn’t have to be a fait accompli, not if Congress acts and the American people go to the polls in 2024 knowing that tax hikes are coming in 2026.

  Massive tax hikes don’t have to be a certainty. You get to decide. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 21:40

• CDC Director Admits Vaccines Do Not Prevent COVID Transmission, Blames "Evolution Of Science"
  CDC Director Admits Vaccines Do Not Prevent COVID Transmission, Blames “Evolution Of Science”

  CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admitted during Congressional inquiry that existing covid mRNA vaccinations do not prevent the transmission of the current virus subvariants.  However, using typical establishment spin, Walensky also suggested that the vaccines did prevent transmission of the original variants despite the fact that there was no concrete data to support this notion.

  CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tells Congress that vaccinated individuals can, in fact, spread COVID, contrary to her earlier statements, attributing this change to “an evolution of science.”pic.twitter.com/5IWYEfJ0lu

  — Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) April 19, 2023

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

  Her explanation for the confusion?  It was “evolution of science” and the virus that changed the conditions, rather than the CDC being wrong (or lying) about the science and the conditions. 

  In the video below, Pfizer executive Janine Small is cornered by a member of the European Parliament and openly admits that the company’s covid vaccines were never tested for blocking transmission.  This was after Pfizer had consistently claimed the vaccine prevented the spread of the virus.  Media damage control argued that even though the mRNA products were not tested for transmission prevention by Pfizer, they are still considered useful for disrupting spread.  Data so far suggests that this was a lie:

  In 2021, data from the Public Health England and the NHS shows that the vaccinated and unvaccinated had almost identical rates of infectiousness. In other words, a vaccinated person was almost as likely to give you covid as an unvaccinated person.

  In the case of the original “wild virus” variant from 2020 to 2021, infections and fatality rates actually plummeted well before the vaccines were widely introduced.  This means that natural immunity was the most likely factor in the slowdown of the spread.  Transmission was stopped by the human immune system, not the vaccines.

  

  During the same congressional hearing, Walensky asserted that the CDC will continue to recommend masks in schools in communities where COVID-19 levels are high, despite the fact that multiple studies show zero positive results for masks in stopping covid.  The CDC continues to ignore these studies in favor of pro-masking policies.

  There is a logic behind the CDC’s otherwise bizarre behavior – They have to persist in dismissing the science because their original policies were not based in science, they were based in ideology and malicious intent.  The purpose of government pandemic mandates was control, not public safety.  Officials saw an opportunity to use covid fear as leverage to steal individual rights while promoting a fake sense of security.  And, the strategy almost worked, too.

  If it had not been for the incredibly low official Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) of the virus (only 0.23%), if covid had been just slightly more deadly and if conservative states did not have the courage to block Joe Biden’s vaccine passport efforts, then America and much of the western world would look very different today.  Just take a look at the draconian laws many Democrats wanted to put in place to punish those who would not submit to the vaccines.  

  

  The ongoing insistence of organizations like the CDC in promoting false covid information is proof that oppressive mandates and lockdowns would still be an issue in 2023 if elements of the public had not stood their ground.  We dodged a bullet, but just barely.     

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 21:20

• US 'National Divorce' Appears To Already Be Happening
  US ‘National Divorce’ Appears To Already Be Happening

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The so-called “national divorce” that was promoted earlier this year by some Republicans appears to be occurring organically, according to a new analysis of U.S. population trends.

  

  Since 2020, some 2.6 million people have moved out of U.S. counties that were won by President Joe Biden and into those that former President Donald Trump prevailed in, the analysis found. It cited recent Census Bureau data.

  “More than 61 percent of the counties that voted for Biden in 2020 lost population, while 65 percent of Trump-supporting counties gained population,” the Issues and Insights analysis said. The data showed that some 2,562,937 people moved from Democrat-leaning counties to Republican-leaning counties since Biden was elected in the divisive November 2020 election.

  The two counties that lost the most population from net internal migration were Los Angeles County and Cook County, Illinois, which both overwhelmingly voted in favor of Biden. Cook, which includes Chicago, was down about 200,718, while Los Angeles lost about 363,000 people since the election.

  California, which has a Democrat governor and legislature, experienced “a massive net outflow” of people—871,127—in the past two years. New Jersey, which has a Democrat-controlled legislature and a Democrat governor, lost 107,000 people in the same time period, although the analysis noted that red counties in the Garden State gained 22,507.

  “While many of the blue counties that lost population were urbanized,” it said, “the exodus was widespread and nationwide, including many far more sparsely populated liberal areas.”

  

  Meanwhile, the largest loss suffered by any red county or equivalent was Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which was down by 18,470, the analysis found.

  “On the other hand, blue counties lost population in states that saw overall gains,” the analysis noted. “For example, Florida had a net gain of 622,476 over the past two years. But counties that backed Biden nevertheless lost 3,374. Georgia had a large gain of 128,089, but blue counties still had a net loss of 28,178. Tennessee saw an increase of 146,403 people, but counties that voted for Biden saw a decline of 37,306.”

  Earlier Calls

  Earlier this year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on social media about the prospects of a “national divorce” occurring within the country, noting that the differences between Republican and Democratic voters are simply too great on a range of issues.

  “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government,” Greene wrote in February during Presidents’ Day. “Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 21:00

• Millennials Are Slowest Generation To Hit 50% Homeownership; Rest Of Generation Fears Forever Renters
  Millennials Are Slowest Generation To Hit 50% Homeownership; Rest Of Generation Fears Forever Renters

  The millennial generation has finally reached a critical milestone of more than half owning their homes, according to a new report by the real estate site Apartment List, citing the latest data from the Census Bureau. Compared with other generations, millennials have reached the 50% mark slower than previous generations. 

  “For a generation whose identity has been shaped by a tumultuous relationship with the housing market, homeownership has been a lofty goal, growing exceedingly expensive and competitive compared to when their parents were coming of age,” Apartment List said. The current millennial homeownership rate is 51.5%, while all other generations are between 69% and 78%. 

  

  At the age of 30, 42% of millennials owned their homes, while Gen X had 48%, baby boomers had 51%, and silents had nearly 60%. This gap persists for even the oldest millennials in their early 40s. 

  

  Apartment List explained some of the reasons why millennial homeownership was suppressed in the last decade. 

  A handful of economic and cultural factors explain these generational gaps. The most significant was the Great Recession, which suppressed homeownership across all generations but was particularly damaging to millennials, whose early career trajectories were shaped by a historically unstable economy. During the economic recovery that followed, many millennials were drawn to centrally-located jobs in cities where starter homes became increasingly scarce and expensive. While many millennials purchased homes during these years, others spent more time living at home or in rentals, delaying major life events like homeownership, marriage, and childbearing when compared to earlier generations.

  During Covid, millennials were panic buying homes with ultra-low mortgage rates. 

  In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drove an even deeper wedge between millennial homeowners and millennial renters. On the one hand, millennials purchased an outsized share of homes during the first two years of the pandemic, when mortgage rates fell below 3 percent. On the other hand, housing inventory dropped to all-time lows and for-sale prices skyrocketed more than 40 percent. For millennial renters who could not afford to buy a home in the earliest stages of the pandemic, homeownership opportunities waned dramatically in the years that followed. Mortgage rates spiked, bringing modest relief to list prices but pushing monthly ownership costs even higher.

  We are surprised millennials have even reached the 50% mark. Perhaps their baby boomer parents have cosigned their mortgages or gifted them down payments as this heavily indebted generation struggles. 

  As for the other half of millennials, an increasing number are giving up on homeownership due to the housing affordability crisis. 

  

  Affordability continues to be the main factor of more and more millennials believing that they will be forever renters. 

  

  Not surprising at all.

  

  Apartment List concludes by saying homeownership challenges might be even worse for the next generation, Z. 

  Currently, ages 25 and younger, the majority of gen Z renters have never known a healthy housing market, and in our renter survey already 20 percent describe themselves as “forever renters.”

  Homeownership will be a Luxury… 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 20:40

• Bringing Dead US Uranium Enrichment Industry Back To Life Will Be 'A Heavy Lift' But Needed: Industry Leader
  Bringing Dead US Uranium Enrichment Industry Back To Life Will Be ‘A Heavy Lift’ But Needed: Industry Leader

  Authored by Jon Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Uranium mining in the United States hasn’t been profitable since the Russians flooded the global market with predatorily priced ore and processed fuel a decade ago.

  

  Long before, the nation’s atrophied uranium enrichment industry, episodically idled by market paralyses and perpetually frozen in costly multi-jurisdictional regulatory entanglements, had ossified into obsolesce.

  In 1980, the United States produced and processed 90 percent of the uranium used by 251 nuclear power plants that generated 11 percent of the country’s electricity.

  In 2021, only 5 percent of the uranium used by the 55 nuclear power plants operating in the United States—which now generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity—was produced domestically.

  After years of Russian market manipulation stymied profitable domestic production, Congress has responded since 2020 with a series of bills that could, if approved, collectively spend up to $5 billion by 2035 in an attempt to seed a domestic commercial uranium market back to life.

  Despite slow-rolling allocations and delays in launching programs, which some attribute to resistance within the Biden administration to nuclear power, mines across five states—mostly in Texas and Wyoming currently permitted to excavate uranium—will soon begin doing so.

  Others elsewhere are also expected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) uranium consortium and subsidized market incubator.

  Texas has the most uranium mining operations, but Wyoming has the most uranium, Wyoming Mining Association Executive (WMA) Director Travis Deti said.

  “For all purposes,” he declared, “the state of Wyoming is the American uranium industry.”

  There are four permitted uranium mines in the Cowboy State and at least three other prospective operations in regulatory review, Deti told The Epoch Times.

  They’re ready to start digging this spring. “We can mine all the uranium we need in the U.S. right here in Wyoming,” he said.

  

  US Enrichment Capacity: One Mine

  But unfortunately, there’s nowhere in the United States for Wyoming mines to send ore for enrichment. Nationwide, only one plant in New Mexico has the capacity to enrich uranium for use in commercial nuclear reactors.

  “Even if we were mining it now, we’re shipping it somewhere else [overseas] to get it enriched and refined,” Deti said. “When it comes to conversion and enrichment, we have no capacity to do that” in the United States.

  Deti told The Epoch Times he has a solution for private industry: build enrichment plants in Wyoming near the mines, where there is a knowledgeable workforce and “friendly” state regulatory policies geared to spearhead the mine-to-market uranium recovery.

  Deti also offers a solution for the Biden administration: to decarbonize energy and ensure a secure domestic energy supply, stop “paying lip service” to nuclear power as pivotal and de-zombify the nation’s uranium production industry by accelerating and streamlining permitting for ore excavation and processing.

  “Right now, Russia has a hold on conversion,” or processing uranium for commercial use, he said. Russia produces more than 50 percent of fuel used for nuclear power across the world and nearly a quarter used in the United States.

  “Getting everybody to recognize the problem” is a significant achievement, Deti said. But he’s concerned addressing the supply-chain gap won’t get the funding and regulatory relief it needs from the Biden administration, despite mounting bipartisan Congressional support for accelerating long-term remedies.

  “I’m skeptical but hopeful,” he said. “We’re starting to turn in the right direction. It is possible that we can do it, but it is a heavy lift.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 20:20

• De-Dollarization: Countries Seeking Alternatives To The US Dollar
  De-Dollarization: Countries Seeking Alternatives To The US Dollar

  The U.S. dollar has dominated global trade and capital flows over many decades.

  However, as Visual Capitalist’s Bruo Venditti details below, many nations are looking for alternatives to the greenback to reduce their dependence on the United States.

  This graphic catalogs the rise of the U.S. dollar as the dominant international reserve currency, and the recent efforts by various nations to de-dollarize and reduce their dependence on the U.S. financial system.

  

  The Dollar Dominance

  The United States became, almost overnight, the leading financial power after World War I. The country entered the war only in 1917 and emerged far stronger than its European counterparts.

  As a result, the dollar began to displace the pound sterling as the international reserve currency and the U.S. also became a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows.

  The dollar then gained a greater role in 1944, when 44 countries signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, creating a collective international currency exchange regime pegged to the U.S. dollar which was, in turn, pegged to the price of gold.

  By the late 1960s, European and Japanese exports became more competitive with U.S. exports. There was a large supply of dollars around the world, making it difficult to back dollars with gold. President Nixon ceased the direct convertibility of U.S. dollars to gold in 1971. This ended both the gold standard and the limit on the amount of currency that could be printed.

  Although it has remained the international reserve currency, the U.S. dollar has increasingly lost its purchasing power since then.

  Russia and China’s Steps Towards De-Dollarization

  Concerned about America’s dominance over the global financial system and the country’s ability to ‘weaponize’ it, other nations have been testing alternatives to reduce the dollar’s hegemony.

  As the United States and other Western nations imposed economic sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and the Chinese government have been teaming up to reduce reliance on the dollar and to establish cooperation between their financial systems.

  Since the invasion in 2022, the ruble-yuan trade has increased eighty-fold. Russia and Iran are also working together to launch a cryptocurrency backed by gold, according to Russian news agency Vedmosti.

  In addition, central banks (especially Russia’s and China’s) have bought gold at the fastest pace since 1967 as countries move to diversify their reserves away from the dollar.

  How Other Countries are Reducing Dollar Dependence

  De-dollarization it’s a theme in other parts of the world:

  • In recent months, Brazil and Argentina have discussed the creation of a common currency for the two largest economies in South America.

  • In a conference in Singapore in January, multiple former Southeast Asian officials spoke about de-dollarization efforts underway.

  • The UAE and India are in talks to use rupees to trade non-oil commodities in a shift away from the dollar, according to Reuters.

  • For the first time in 48 years, Saudi Arabia said that the oil-rich nation is open to trading in currencies besides the U.S. dollar.

  Despite these movements, few expect to see the end of the dollar’s global sovereign status anytime soon. Currently, central banks still hold about 60% of their foreign exchange reserves in dollars.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 20:00

• Doug Casey On Rising Crime, Legalized Shoplifting, And Other Disturbing Trends In US Cities
  Doug Casey On Rising Crime, Legalized Shoplifting, And Other Disturbing Trends In US Cities

  Authored by Doug Casey via InternationalMan.com,

  International Man: In parts of California and other states, shoplifting under $950 has been de-facto decriminalized.

  The practical reality is that thieves can now walk into a store and steal whatever they can without fear of police intervening—as long as it’s under $950.

  The trend of de-facto legalization of shoplifting is spreading across the country.

  What is your take?

  

  Doug Casey: The rise in crime in general and the veritable legalization of shoplifting, in particular, are really just symptoms.

  The real problem is that the moral fabric of the US and many other Western countries are torn. There’s not much of a moral compass left. It’s no longer clear to the average American what is right and what is wrong. Right and wrong is now viewed as arbitrary social constructs. Property rights are barely even seen as rights, which is perverse since the very concept of rights is based on property—starting with your own body, which is the most basic form of property.

  This degeneration is understandable in a world where black is white and wrong is right. It’s become unclear in many people’s minds what a man is, what a woman is, and what the difference is. If there’s no recognition of something as basic and obvious as that, the meaning of words, and any logic in thought, becomes meaningless. So, of course, they have trouble understanding concepts like right and wrong. But it goes beyond that.

  For instance, many people think that reparations are due to black people simply because they’re black, and many blacks were slaves over 160 years ago. Incidentally, I don’t capitalize that word, something which has become a widespread affectation. It only serves to draw attention to race, which is part of the problem.

  Let’s pursue the absurd matter of racial reparations for a moment since some miscreants have said all blacks in California are due $5 million. But are reparations due to American blacks, by any stretch of fact or logic? The average income of blacks in the US is many, many times that of blacks who are still in Africa. Should blacks in the US, therefore, pay whites something out of gratitude? The answer, just in case anybody is wondering: Of course not.

  When people think they’re due reparations, the next step is for them to think—or rather feel, since there’s no logical thought involved—that they have a moral right to steal to take the reparations they imagine they’re owed. Does that have any relation to the fact that, although blacks are only 13% of the population, they commit 50% of the crime?

  Anyway, the nonobservance of shoplifting laws is just one more symptom of a corrupt culture and a collapsing civilization.

  International Man: Videos of “smash and grab” robberies—where large groups rush into a large store like Walmart or a very expensive one like Louis Vuitton and grab as much merchandise as they can carry—are circulating online.

  In places like Portland, Walmart has decided to permanently close all of its stores because of the rise in theft.

  For similar reasons, Target has closed stores in downtown Chicago, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC.

  How is rising crime affecting businesses, and what are the implications?

  Doug Casey: From a criminal’s point of view, in the kind of societal environment we’re in right now, flash mobs make a lot of sense.

  If you call together your posse to raid a store, and a hundred people overwhelm it to steal all they can, there’s nothing the employees can do about it. In fact, there’s likely nothing that the police can do about it, if only because it happens so quickly.

  It’s a clever tactic. But this type of thing happens not because they’re poor, black, or there aren’t enough police but because people no longer have a sense of right or wrong. The police are loath to stop them for fear of being called racists.

  Increasingly, business itself makes no sense, with the amount of taxes and regulations an entrepreneur has to deal with added to the lack of defense from common criminals.

  I expect this trend to continue. If it does, not just ghettos but central business districts will be devoid of retail stores. Many large office buildings will be empty. Others will opt to become self-contained fortresses.

  International Man: Many cities which have decided to “defund the police” have seen a surge in violent crime generally and carjackings, armed robbery, and murder.

  What do you make of the trend of rising crime?

  Doug Casey: Once again, it’s an indicator of the general degradation of civilization itself.

  If you’re wondering where the US is going, you can look at Venezuela, where the standard of living has collapsed since being totally taken over by socialist values in the last 20 years. And Argentina, which has been on a shallower glide path for the last 80 years. Latins seem to have learned absolutely nothing, however, since every country in South America, with the exception of Uruguay, is run by a doctrinaire socialist.

  Look at South Africa, which is still the most advanced country on the continent. Americans rarely hear about it, but power is only available half the day. The blacks have practically declared open season on whites in parts of the country. That’s the direction we’re going in the US.

  All over the West, criminals and welfare recipients are rewarded while producers are punished. China has some huge problems, but this is one area where they’re doing much better than the rest of the world.

  Common criminality is not tolerated in China—or anywhere in the Orient. Welfare barely exists. That’s one reason why China has risen relative to the US in recent years. The social and moral underpinnings of China are shockingly better than they are in the “woke” US. In fact, the US seems to be undergoing its own version of the Great Cultural Revolution that nearly destroyed China in the 60’s.

  International Man: Amid rising crime, the police are failing miserably to protect life and property.

  Could the free market provide these services better than the government? How would that work?

  Doug Casey: First of all, it’s essential to turn around the moral climate. That’s possible, but a whole different question.

  From a shorter term practical viewpoint, the police, the courts, and the prisons should all be privatized. Rather than being State employees enforcing arbitrary and often ridiculous laws, the US should revert to its founding principles.

  I’ve explained how this shocking proposal would work in much more detail elsewhere.

  Private police would be compensated based on their effectiveness. More like Mike Hammer or Mannix than the praetorian operative who puts away the tools at the end of a shift. Arbitration agencies whose profitability would depend on the speed, fairness, and low cost of their decisions would be a huge improvement over today’s highly political courts. Sentences would be assessed as dollar amounts to compensate victims, not costly sentences of incarceration. The first order of business should be to make the victim whole, not punish the perpetrator.

  If somebody steals a thousand dollars, the criminal must first pay back the victim—which rarely happens today—plus the costs of his capture and the arbitration costs. This takes the profit out of crime.

  If a person is murdered, a value assigned to his life would be paid to his estate. If the perpetrator is unable or unwilling to pay, his body parts should be sold.

  There’s much more to be said on the subject, examining solutions that haven’t crossed many minds.

  International Man: US cities are degenerating into expensive, unsafe, crime-ridden dumps that rival—or are even worse than—their Third World counterparts.

  Yet, the public continues to elect politicians that enact the policies that create these conditions in the first place.

  What do you make of this trend? Is there any hope? What can the average person do?

  Doug Casey: The real problem started with the government’s involvement in the economy. It started small, then took a quantum leap with the creation of the income tax and the Fed in 1913, which allowed it to finance WW1 starting in 1917. The process is now completely out of control.

  Notwithstanding what I just said about the police, the courts, and the prisons, the only involvement government should have in society is to protect people from force, which means that those things, plus a purely defensive military, are the only things government should be involved in. Perversely, these things are too important for the functioning of a civil society to allow the State a monopoly.

  What the State mostly does today is interfere in the economy and enrich the politically well-connected. It does not reliably protect the average person from crime and violence.

  At the founding of this country, the State represented only a tiny proportion of the economy. Now it’s 50%, and people expect its involvement everywhere. People have come to treat it as a cornucopia, not the dangerous predator it is.

  Welfare is available everywhere, from corporations to individuals. Food, shelter, medical care, education, and even jobs are expected to be the province of the government. These things should have nothing to do with the government.

  All the news that we hear about every day is what the government’s doing. We should be a lot more like Switzerland. Nobody knows, and nobody cares who the president of Switzerland is, which is one reason why Switzerland is a stable and prosperous country, and the US is becoming less that way daily.

  The bottom line is that we can expect crime to continue rising. And the State is now more the cause than the cure of the problem.

  *  *  *

  It’s clear there are some ominous social, political, cultural, and economic trends playing out right now. Many of which seem to point to an unfortunate decline of the West. That’s precisely why legendary speculator Doug Casey and his team just released this free report, which shows you exactly what’s happening and what you can do about it. Click here to download it now.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 19:40

• Email Reveals Woke "Day Of Dialogue" At Elite Private School In Baltimore
  Email Reveals Woke “Day Of Dialogue” At Elite Private School In Baltimore

  An elite K-12 private school in Baltimore, Maryland, has adopted a radical “Day of Dialogue” where teachers will devote part of their class “to share a connection between the LGBTQ community and their particular subject,” according to an email sent to parents. 

  Gilman School, an all-boys private school, is ranked among the top 100 K-12 schools in the US and is recognized as one of the leading schools in Maryland. Parents spend more than $35,000 per year to have their children educated were shocked on Wednesday when Armond T. Lawson, head of the middle school, sent this email about the upcoming “Day of Dialogue”: 

  Dear Gilman Middle School Families,

  I am writing to inform you that Friday, April 21, the Middle School will conduct its first Day of Dialogue. Throughout the day, space will be created to learn about LGBTQ connections in our curriculum. Each teacher is prepared to devote 5-10 minutes of class time to share a connection between the LGBTQ community and their particular subject area. Examples include discussions related to the role gender plays in learning a new language, sharing information about the impact of LGBTQ figures in various disciplines, and informing students of some of the societal challenges encountered by LGBTQ people.

  Day of Dialogue in the Middle School was inspired by a similar initiative in the Upper School. Week of Dialogue – conceived of in 2018 at Gilman by two students – was created in response to the Day of Silence, which is a nationally honored day where LGBTQ students and allies take a vow of silence to protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ people in schools. Previous presidents of Gilman’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Grey Johnson ’18 and Ben Levinson ’18 decided that instead of staying silent, Gilman should facilitate an open and educational conversation about LGBTQ topics within our community.

  We know this will be an enriching experience for our students and help to promote an increased understanding of and appreciation for all of the people in our school community and the world around us. Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions.

  

  The woke administration and teachers at Gilman seem oblivious to the fact that the parents ultimately fund their salaries. We obtained the email from one parent who requested anonymity and wanted to sound the alarm on the direction of education. A former student told us, “Why can’t the school just teach critical subjects instead of all this confusing gender nonsense.” 

  Another elite private school in Baltimore called Oldfields School is shutting its doors after 150 years. Even though the school has had financial issues for more than a decade, the school went super woke. 

  

  … and you guessed it. Now broke. 

  

  Nationwide, parents are yanking their kids from left-wing public schools at an increasing rate. At elite private schools, it’s a very dangerous game for administration and teachers to push unpopular, confusing woke curricula to young children because parents can easily cause a run on the school by withdrawing their kids and sparking a cash crunch. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 19:20

• ICE Deputy Director Proposes 'Virtual' Arrests As Immigration Backlog Balloons
  ICE Deputy Director Proposes ‘Virtual’ Arrests As Immigration Backlog Balloons

  Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is considering “virtual” arrests to address a growing backlog of unprocessed illegal immigrants.

  Deputy Director of ICE Tae Johnson told the House Appropriations Committee on April 18 that his agency has been overloaded with work due to the unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants along the U.S. border with Mexico over the past two years.

  One result of this has been that many illegal aliens captured by ICE and Border Patrol have been released into the interior without legal papers ordering them to appear in court.

  It’s standard procedure to issue “Notices to Appear” (NTAs) to illegal aliens being released from flooded ICE detention facilities along the border. NTAs constitute the first step in beginning the legal deportation process.

  But ICE and Border Patrol have been so inundated by illegal aliens that many have been released without being issued an NTA.

  

  Johnson asked Congress to authorize ICE to make “virtual” arrests by issuing NTAs online in order to begin the process of deporting the millions of illegal aliens currently in the country.

  Backlogs Until 2033

  Johnson made the request during an exchange with Ranking Member Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), one of the most conservative Democrats in the House.

  During the exchange, Cuellar expressed “concerns” about the immigration backlog built up in some American cities. In New York City and San Antonio, it is projected to take until 2033 for illegal immigrants to even appear before ICE. After that, it can take another two to three years before they get a day in court.

  “It’s a little concerning that some of them have to wait until 2033 just to appear before you, then they get another 2-3 years before they even go to an immigration judge,” Cuellar said. 

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 19:00

• Illinois Lawmaker Calls Weekend Chaos A 'Mass Protest'
  Illinois Lawmaker Calls Weekend Chaos A ‘Mass Protest’

  After a flash mob of more than 500 youths trashed downtown Chicago last weekend, smashing and setting fire to cars, terrorizing tourists, smashing windows and fighting in a riot that left two teenage boys hospitalized with gunshot wounds (albeit a common occurrence), one Democratic leader is making excuses.

  

  It’s not just Philadelphia.
  This is the scene in Chicago where hundred of teens flooded the downtown Saturday Night smashing car windows, attacking cars and firing shots.
  Biden’s America in Democratic run cities. pic.twitter.com/38AZQNg5sg

  — Dawn Stensland Mendte (@DawnStensland) April 16, 2023

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

  “Since I’m a glutton for punishment and I’m sure I’m gonna get the most unhinged, crime weirdo replies but: I would look at the behavior of young people as a political act and statement,” said state Senator Robert Peters.

  Since I’m a glutton for punishment and I’m sure I’m gonna get the most unhinged, crime weirdo replies but:

  I would look at the behavior of young people as a political act and statement. It’s a mass protest against poverty and segregation.

  Rest in peace to my mentions.

  — Robert Peters (@RobertJPeters) April 16, 2023

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  In total, just 15 people were arrested.

  Others expressed concern, carefully – so as not to offend anyone.

  “We’ve had more than our share of downtown mass arrest incidents going back over a decade. This is not new,” said 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins, PJ Media reports. “What is new is to have it happen three days in a row.”

  “There should be all sorts of contingency plans in place for when these incidents occur,” Hopkins continued. “Instead, we had an absolute meltdown of command and control. Nobody knew who was in charge.”

  According to Hopkins, interim police SUpt. Eric Carter and Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott got into a shouting match Saturday night, and a disagreement ensued between “Chicago police leadership and CTA management about who was in charge.”

  Chicago Sun-Times:

  On Monday afternoon, the police department issued a statement saying more security measures would be in place going forward, such as checking bags at beach entry points. The curfew for Millennium Park will also be in place.

  Police officials are working closely with youth and outreach workers for when the gatherings occur, according to the statement. Parents were encouraged to accompany their kids or have them remain under adult supervision.

  It’s unclear why the police department was caught off guard, as it closely tracks social media for postings about these types of events.

  More via PJ Media’s Rick Moran;

  Maybe because no cop wants to end up in a viral video protecting himself or trying to restore order. The first order of business in any riot today is not to disrupt the destruction of the city. Laying hands on a rioter is a sure path to lawsuits and court appearances.

  In case you were wondering, the kids are planning another outing this coming weekend.

  Some are speculating that since the weather is supposed to be colder weather and potentially rainy, it may not happen or won’t be as severe as before pic.twitter.com/M3IHbjujRY

  — DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) April 18, 2023

  Here is a tweet from an elected Chicago Alderman with the same flyer that was sent to me https://t.co/uOS490x7Oc

  — DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) April 18, 2023

  The kids who are going to show up at these riots know that no one will touch them. No one wants to touch them because no one wants to deal with what they represent: the failure of city leaders to accept the responsibility to maintain a civil society.

  What’s truly amazing is that you could draw a direct line from the 2020 George Floyd protests to last weekend’s mayhem and not deviate an inch. Actions have consequences and inaction also has consequences. These are the consequences of inaction and what’s truly scary is that when authorities try to regain control and establish order, people are going to die.

  That’s the price Chicago is going to pay for stupidity and political gamesmanship.

   

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 18:40

• The Woke Revolution Is Erasing The Past
  The Woke Revolution Is Erasing The Past

  Authored by J. Peder Zane via RealClear Wire,

  Students of English and history are going the way of the dodo bird.

  

  During just the last decade, their numbers at colleges and universities have dropped by a third – and humanities enrollment is down by 17%, Nathan Heller reports in his recent New Yorker article, “The End of the English Major.”

  Data collected by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators project show that “from 2012 to 2020 the number of graduated humanities majors at Ohio State’s main campus fell by forty-six per cent. Tufts lost nearly fifty per cent of its humanities majors, and Boston University lost forty-two. Notre Dame ended up with half as many as it started with, while SUNY-Albany lost almost three-quarters. Vassar and Bates â?? standard-bearing liberal-arts colleges â?? saw their numbers of humanities majors fall by nearly half.”

  Conservatives who have long lamented the politicization of the humanities, highlighted by the rise of women’s studies, queer studies, ethnic studies as well as the transformation of English and history into tools for the left’s vision of social justice, might be tempted to cheer this development. They might also applaud a main driver Heller and others cite for this trend: the determination of students spooked by the 2008 economic meltdown to choose majors that can help them land decent paying jobs. Reading “Middlemarch” may be uplifting but a marketing degree pays dividends.

  Unfortunately, something nefarious may be going on. It’s hard to believe that schools run by leftwing professors and administrators aggressively intent on telling students what they should think are passively responding to market forces. It is also not farfetched to suspect that they might be allowing the humanities to wither because it is a roadblock to the woke revolution they are advancing.

  English and history have always had an inherent conservative streak: They are, almost by definition, backward-looking disciplines. They have sought to conserve and thereby connect students with what the Victorian writer Matthew Arnold called “the best that has been thought and known.” Studying the history of ancient Greece and Rome and the art of the Renaissance, reading Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Austen, Ellison, and, of course, the Bible, show us how our ancestors’ decisions shaped our world while providing wisdom as we confront the great question: How can I lead a good life?

  At bottom, it is a recognition that history is ever the story, as Faulkner put it, “of the human heart in conflict with itself,” and that as we search for answers to eternal questions we can find solace by turning to the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.

  This mindset is problematic for the woke revolution. It holds that there is no abiding human nature or human condition; people are blank slates upon which society stamps ideas, like pieces of factory tin. It does not see us as biological creatures with innate instincts and concerns but a collection of social constructs that can be changed like hats. Utopia is possible if everyone can be made to wear the correct ideas. This forward-looking ideology has little use for the past; it was no accident that a seminal model for our woke movement, the French Revolution, abolished our Gregorian calendar and imposed its own, declaring September 1792 to be the start of Year One.

  Amnesia is the crucial psychological state for the woke revolution. In order to control thought, language, and reality itself, the left must strip people of the ability to evaluate the future plans it is peddling through reference to past experience. Those who do not remember what happened last week, last year, or a century ago are much easier to manipulate.

  Hence the longstanding effort to delegitimize the past by portraying it as a parade of horribles: History is the story of shocking cruelty; classic books are instruments to oppress marginalized groups.

  If you have never even been exposed to the idea that capitalism is the most liberating force in human history, the prime vehicle through which common people were able to gain wealth and power and replace authoritarian aristocracies with democratic forms of governance, then it is easy to be convinced it is simply a “tool of oppression.”

  If you do not know that the American revolution was fought for human freedom, then you might accept the risible claim of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, that its goal was the preservation of slavery.

  If literature and history are just cautionary tales of humanity’s wretchedness, if they are not sources of truth and beauty, but expressions of power and will, then why bother studying them?

  Let’s not forget that the economic meltdown was not the only thing that happened in 2008, when students started fleeing the humanities. That was also when the woke revolution began emerging as a transformational force through the election of Barack Obama. It was around then that support for humanities from nonprofits and the government started drying up.

  Circling the date 2007 on a piece of paper, James Shapiro, the renowned Shakespeare scholar at Columbia University, told the New Yorker’s Heller it was then that “funding goes down. The financial support for the humanities is gone on a national level, on a state level, at the university level.” A 2022 survey, for example, found that only 7% of Harvard freshmen planned to major in the humanities, down from 20% a decade earlier.

  History does not provide many bright lines. It is far easier to identify correlation than causation in its movements. But as we consider the plummeting interest in the study of English and history, we should note how helpful this is to the forces of the left, who control our college and universities. The less we know about the past, the more they can shape the future.

  J. Peder Zane is a RealClearInvestigations editor and columnist. He previously worked as a book review editor and book columnist for the News & Observer (Raleigh), where his writing won several national honors. Zane has also worked at the New York Times and taught writing at Duke University and Saint Augustine’s University.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 18:20

• 50 Million Americans Under Severe Weather Threat Into Weekend
  50 Million Americans Under Severe Weather Threat Into Weekend

  Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of severe thunderstorms for the next several days. Accuweather forecasters say residents in the central Plains and the Gulf Coast to the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic could experience wicked weather, including heavy rains, high winds, hail, flooding, and even isolated tornados. 

  On Wednesday evening, severe storms erupted across the Plains. Multiple tornados were reported, with the worst damage across the southern part of the Oklahoma City metro area. At least two deaths were confirmed.

  Extreme Meteorologist @ReedTimmerAccu captured intense video of a #tornado moving through Cole, Oklahoma. #OKwx

  Timmer reported at least four homes were damaged. https://t.co/AskARxxrkj pic.twitter.com/6yIdunHC8n

  — AccuWeather (@accuweather) April 20, 2023

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

  Accuweather meteorologists expect severe storms from northeastern Texas to southern Wisconsin today, including in Chicago, St. Louis, and Little Rock, Arkansas metro areas. They noted more intense storms are expected from southern Missouri to central Texas. The timing of thunderstorms will be later this evening. 

  

  Flash flood threats are posted through Friday for eastern Texas and Louisiana to western Kentucky and southern Indiana. 

  

  Another storm emerges Friday and is expected traverse parts of the Gulf Coast to portions of the Appalachians, eastern Great Lakes, and even the Atlantic coast into the weekend. 

  

  “There is some question as to whether the energy and moisture will be released primarily in the form of a period of heavy rain or a round of severe thunderstorms as the system travels northeastward from the Gulf coast this weekend,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said.
  On Saturday, upwards of 30 million people could be at risk of heavy rains and thunderstorms along the Atlantic Seaboard. 

  

  Rain is welcomed for the mid-Alantic area, where a moderate drought has developed. 

  

  … 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 18:00

• "Lawsuit Time": Elon Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft Over 'Illegal Use' Of Twitter Data
  “Lawsuit Time”: Elon Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft Over ‘Illegal Use’ Of Twitter Data

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

  Twitter CEO Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft after accusing the tech giant of illegally using the social media platform’s data for training.

  

  “They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time,” Musk wrote on Twitter on April 19, without providing further details regarding the allegations.

  They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

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  His tweet came shortly after Microsoft announced it is removing Twitter from one of its advertising platforms. According to Microsoft’s official website, starting on April 25, Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter.

  As of April 25, 2023, advertising clients will no longer be able to, “access your Twitter account through our social management tool, create and manage drafts or Tweets, view past Tweets and engagement, schedule Tweets,” the website states.

  The company stopped short of providing further details as to why it has dropped Twitter from its advertising platform but noted that other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will continue to be available to clients.

  However, multiple media publications report that Twitter’s Application Programming Interfaces (API) fees may have been at the center of the decision.

  Changes to API

  Twitter’s API provides third-party companies, developers, and users with programmatic access to Twitter data and features, allowing them to create automatic tweets, search for specific hashtags and receive Twitter engagement data and regulate retweets or responses.

  “At a high level, APIs are the way computer programs ‘talk’ to each other so that they can request and deliver information,” Twitter states. Put simply, API provides solutions to companies or developers, allowing them to respond to customer feedback on Twitter, analyze conversations taking place on the platform and send out updates.

  The software intermediary is also a valuable source for academics, according to Wired, which reports that there have been more than 17,500 academic papers based on the platform’s data since 2020.

  Prior to Musk’s takeover of the company, Twitter had offered the program for free. However, in March, the official Twitter Developer account announced that the free version of the program will now only allow developers to write 1,500 tweets per month and they will no longer be able to access tweets, only create them.

  Instead, a brand new set of API plans for developers was rolled out with greater access to various functions, with the highest tiers costing $210,000 a month, according to Mashable.

  Musk ‘Open to Ideas’ for API

  Responding to Musk’s tweet on Wednesday, journalist Brian Krassenstein asked if the businessman has a “long-term plan” regarding the API.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/20/2023 – 17:40

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