Today’s News 21st December 2024

• Escobar: Anarchy In The Levant – Your Future Dream Is A Chaos Scheme
  Escobar: Anarchy In The Levant – Your Future Dream Is A Chaos Scheme

  Authored by Pepe Escobar,

  Tehran and Moscow harbor no illusions – and are preparing accordingly. The war on BRICS is just getting started.

  

  Syria as we knew it is being eviscerated in real time – in geographic, cultural, economic and military terms – by an appalling confluence of mercenary Rent-a-Jihadi mobs and psychopathological genocidals praying at the altar of Eretz Israel.

  All of that is fully supported by rabid NATOstan hyenas – masters of narrative control – and fully intertwined with the eradication of Palestine.

  Across the avowedly dejected Global Majority, there’s a feeling that the momentarily exhausted Axis of Resistance will need to go turbo-Sisyphus to rearrange, resupply and recalibrate the defense of Palestine.

  Predictably, there’s not a peep across the NATOstan sphere about Tel Aviv’s feral, indiscriminate bombing and snatching of sovereign Syrian territory. That represents a glaring illustration of the “rules-based international order” in action.

  Collective West Think Tankland is in rapture. Chatham House preaches a Syrian rebuilding in this “watershed moment” led by the U.S., EU, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, capable of “forging a consensus around Syria” that “could serve as the foundation for a new regional order.”

  The rabidly anti-BRICS Center for a New American Security (CNAS) demands “expelling Russia’s military presence” from Syria and “to close the country as an avenue for Iran’s power projection.”

  The Axis of Resistance is being mourned across the spectrum. Not so fast. The deeper meaning of the “ceasefire” between Israel and Hezbollah is that the psycho-pathologicals, for all practical purposes, were defeated, even if they wreaked horrendous havoc on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs.

  Changing the narrative – and the focus – to the Greater Idlibistan offensive allowed an avowedly massive tactical victory not only for Eretz Israel goons but for the assembled NATOstan/Turkiye combo. Yet the real nitty-gritty starts now, even as the partition of Syria is already in effect.

  The Rent-a-Jihadi mob, in theory under the control of the aspiring Caliph of Al-Sham, the Saudi al-Jolani, real name Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sha’a, sooner or later may turn against the Eretz Israel project, considering they entertain cozy relations with Hamas in Gaza.

  At least for the moment, everything is swell for the Oded Yinon and/or Bernard Lewis plan to subdue West Asia via time-tested Divide and Rule. This harks back not only to Sykes-Picot in 1917, but even earlier, to 1906, when British PM Henry Campbell-Bannerman asserted that,

  “There are people [Arabs] who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions.”

  So if these “people” united, they would then “take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world.”

  Ergo, the necessity of “a foreign body” [later constituted as Israel] to be “planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”

  Pirates of the Levant

  The Eretz Israel hallucination does not exactly mingle with Sultan Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman dream, even though they coincide in the broader urge to redraw the map of the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia.

  As for the Exceptionalists, they can barely believe their luck. In a swoop, they just gobbled up the key strategic node of a now buried idea: Arabism, or anti-imperialism in the Levant.

  Ever since Barack Obama, in the early 2010s, declared war on Syria under orders from Tel Aviv, the Empire of Chaos had thrown everything and the kitchen sink at Damascus for at least 13 years: the longest and most expensive regime change campaign in U.S. history, complete with toxic, forced-starvation sanctions – until suddenly the big prize fell on their lap.

  The prize involves – in theory – smashing an ally of three top BRICS, Russia, Iran and China, with the added bonus of turning it into a geoeconomic black hole while doctoring the narrative to sell “the end of the dictator” to the Global Majority as the precondition for the rise of a new Dubai.

  We still don’t know how rump Syria will look like – and even for how long it will be governed by a bunch of neoliberal Salafi-jihadis with trimmed beards and cheap new off-the-rack suits.

  The fact is the Hegemon is already controlling at least a third of Syrian territory for at least a decade – and will continue to steal Syrian oil and wheat with absolute impunity: Pirates of the Levant in full regalia.

  Playing the role of sidekick, the UK’s MI6 will continue to excel in providing P.R. ops, across-the-board lobbying and gun-running opportunities for the gullible motley crew of mercenary Salafi-jihadis.

  When it comes to Tel Aviv, they are destroying Eretz Israel’s largest remaining Arab military opposition; stealing/annexing land non-stop; and dreaming of total domination, aerial and naval, in case Russia loses its bases in Tartus and Hmeimim (that’s a major “if”). Not to mention they somewhat indirectly control the new Caliph, who has meekly asked them to please, don’t conquer too much Syrian land.

  The partition will proceed along three other major vectors.

  1. Hegemon-controlled land and military bases – which might be used to attack Iraq. Forget about a fake sovereign Syria recovering their oil fields.

  2. Turkiye-annexed land which will inevitably lead to the full absorption of Aleppo (already proclaimed by the Sultan on the record).

  3. Damascus run by an ISIS offshoot directly manipulated by Turkish intel.

  All of the above might lead, already in the first quarter of 2025, to a sort of Salafi-Jihadi Zionization arrangement with just one objective: to ease sanctions from the U.S. and the EU.

  As for al-Jolani, real name Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sha’a, for all his woke rebranding, he was Al-Zarkawi’s lieutenant and Emir of Nineveh during the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI, later reconverted as ISIS) rampage in Mesopotamia. There’s no way Baghdad will have political relations with a Salafi-jihadi who’s on Iraq’s most wanted list.

  An additional headache is the EU’s conditions for normalizing Syria, as spelled out by the unelected batshit crazy Estonian responsible for its foreign policy (and representing nearly 500 million European citizens): Brussels will only lift sanctions if there are no Russian bases and “Russian influence” left in the Caliphate of al-Sham.

  Meanwhile, the Empire of Chaos will continue its plunder – in conjunction with Israel. The Syrian oil stolen by the Americans is sold by the Kurds to Israel in Erbil with a huge discount. After all, this oil is “free” – as in stolen. At least 40% of Israel’s oil comes from the Erbil racket.

  And it gets worse.

  Israel has annexed the Al-Wahda dam in the basin of the Yarmouk river, close to the city of Al-Qusayr in the Dara’a governorate, and near the Jordanian border. This dam provides at least 30% of Syria’s water and 40% of Jordan’s water.

  Everything is so predictable: what the NATOstan/Israel combo really wants is an amputated, disaggregated, vulnerable Syria.

  Empire of Chaos goes Full Anarchy

  Yet the whole toxic equation is far from over. Aspiring Caliph Jolani may be tempted to allow Russia to keep its bases – and to transport their weapons systems out of the country intact. He is in close contact with Moscow, and HTS is de facto protecting Russian assets.

  In parallel, Hezbollah signaled it is willing to “cooperate” with HTS, which by the way is also protecting the Iranian embassy in Damascus. ​​

  There is no evidence whatsoever that the Greater Idlibistan invasion was a Trojan Horse agreed on the negotiating table by the – dead – “Astana process” even before the fateful Doha meeting on Saturday, January 7.

  What is certain is that the analysis in Moscow and Beijing privileges the Long Big Picture. The Chinese for now are extremely circumspect on the record about the whole Syrian drama, apart from declaring themselves “ready to play a constructive role”. Beijing and Moscow see Syria as a temporary setback on BRICS inflicted by an Empire on Desperation Row, along with its equally desperate Eretz Israel ally and a Sultan biting more than he can chew.

  The lame duck Biden combo is absolutely clueless on the emergence of a – possible – Israeli-Turkish hegemonic vector in a key node of West Asia. The only thing that matters for Straussian neo-cons and their Tel Aviv psycho-apocalyptic buddies, when it comes to the disintegration of Syria, is the window of opportunity ahead for Israel to attack Iran.

  The Times of Israel is in rapture: while previously the “IAF would not fly directly over Damascus when carrying out strikes on Iran-linked targets in the capital, it now can.”

  The key to unlock the whole riddle may lie, once again, with Jolani. Everything in West Asia is always in perpetual flux. Only a few days after the fall of Damascus, Sultan Erdogan as well as NATO have refused to help Jolani against the Israeli onslaught in Syria.

  Talk about the aspiring Caliphate’s “sovereignty”.

  So where Jolani could turn to in a quest for possible allies? And who can he rely on to impose some order in totally disaggregated Syria – including air power to fight ISIS pockets across the desert?

  Enter Tehran and Moscow. Ergo, the back channels on overdrive. They would not bat an eye when it comes to “cooperating” with the infant Caliphate – as long as their national interests are not threatened.

  The Empire of Chaos will remain unmatched in terms of narrative control, P.R. stunts, monopolizing social media spheres and non-stop psy war. All hybrid fronts. But that’s about it.

  The Empire was miserably defeated in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And continues to be humiliated by the Houthis in the Red Sea. Washington has less than zero advantage over Russia on the military sphere – except on electronic warfare (EW), at least on the West Asian theatre, and ISR (Russia is catching up), which instantly translates into inflicting more and more terror.

  As for Iran, it’s far from weaker now than before the fall of Damascus. That’s imperial narrative spin, inbuilt in the self-pleasing Exceptionalist mechanism. Ayatollah Khamenei, a fine strategist, does not waste his words. Tehran will eventually develop an alternative supply chain to Hezbollah and the West Bank.

  Besides, follow the money. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has already noted that “the new Syrian government will take on all of Syria’s financial obligations to Iran.” That’s a lot of money – that Jolani does not have.

  Michael Hudson is adamant: “Anarchy is what the U.S. plan is.” This being West Asia, where backstabbing is an art, there will be blowback. Tehran and Moscow harbor no illusions – and are preparing accordingly. The war on BRICS is just getting started.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 23:25

• Diddy, Deadpool, & The Donald: 2024 In Google Searches
  Diddy, Deadpool, & The Donald: 2024 In Google Searches

  2024 will be another year not forgotten any time soon. A look at the biggest trending Google searches can serve as a reminder for just some of the events and situations that have shaped our world over the last 12 months.

  The following chart, via Statista’s Anna Fleck, looks at the most-googled terms between January 1 and November 23.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  At the top of the trending news-related searches was the U.S. election.

  With 3.7 billion people having had the opportunity to go to the polls worldwide this year, 2024 has been dubbed a ‘super year’ for elections. In November, the victory of Republican nominee Donald Trump against the Democratic Party’s pick Kamala Harris will have major implications both domestically and abroad, in terms of trade and foreign policy. Other elections this year included BJP leader and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi winning a third term in office, despite losing a parliamentary majority, and the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer ousting the Conservative Party after 14 years in power.

  The second fastest growing news search term was “excessive heat”.

  As of November, 2024 was on track to be the warmest year on record. It was a year when more than 1,300 people died during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia due to heat.

  In the world of music, Sean “Diddy” Combs was the most searched-for artist among the English-speaking world this year.

  Combs has been at the center of sexual assault, rape and sex trafficking lawsuits. The next most searched-for artists were Usher, Linkin Park, Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Timberlake.

  In terms of movies this year, the ones to garner the most search attention included Inside Out 2, an animated Pixar and Disney movie about different emotions personified as well as the Marvel superhero movie Deadpool & Wolverine and Saltburn, a thriller and social commentary on wealth.

  This year, Google also revealed the top earworms around the world. The eclectic mix of “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone, “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” by Creepy Nuts and “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga were the three tunes that were looked up most frequently using the “hum to search” function.

  Finally, the most prolific people searched for this year included both Trump and Harris together with Princess Kate, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and after treatment is now reported to be cancer free.

  

  Sadly, not all of the world’s well-known and popular people made it to the end of 2024. The most high-profile passing, at least in terms of Google Search queries, was that of One Direction singer Liam Payne.

  According to Google Trends’ methodology, the round up of searches in 2024 excludes data from China, Iran and North Korea.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 23:00

• Trump Could Tariff NATO Allies That Do Not Pay Up
  Trump Could Tariff NATO Allies That Do Not Pay Up

  Authored by Anders Corr via The Epoch Times,

  Russia launched almost 300 drones and missiles in a coordinated attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Dec. 13. The attack is an apparent attempt to further terrorize Ukrainians into surrender by destroying their heat and light in the middle of winter.

  The war has dragged on for almost three years now, and Ukrainians are getting tired. Their army is depleted of personnel and weapons. Gallup’s latest surveys indicate that 52 percent of Ukrainians want to end the war, even if that means giving away land to Russia. Only 38 percent now want to keep fighting until victory, down from 73 percent in 2022.

  President-elect Donald Trump is trying to both minimize the risk of escalation and shift more of the war’s burden to European allies that have not paid their fair share of defense expenditures for decades. Such a shift is eminently possible as the United States has so far committed about half of Europe’s $255 billion in aid to Ukraine. After the U.S. election, many European leaders have already doubled their commitments. But they must go much further to fully deter Russia.

  The U.S. national debt is growing at an unsustainable rate, and without new revenues, Washington can no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. Given this unfortunate reality, Trump has led calls for a cease-fire that would likely entail a risk: appeasing Russia with Ukrainian land, which would potentially incentivize Moscow and the regime in China to escalate aggression down the road. If Moscow wins in Ukraine, Beijing could try the same in Taiwan sooner, and the axis of evil wars, including those of Iran and arguably North Korea, might have no end in sight.

  There is a solution: force Europeans to increase their defense spending, including military aid to Ukraine, to at least 3 percent of GDP. Trump is heading in that direction.

  

  At a meeting in Paris on Dec. 7, Trump said he wants to see Ukraine emerge as a strong and well-armed country. He wants European soldiers, rather than Americans, to be present in Ukraine after a cease-fire as peacekeepers and to bear most of the expense of the continued deterrence of Russia. This will free the United States to better deter China’s communist regime.

  Trump wants Europe to help pressure China, including with tariffs, to, in turn, pressure Russia to come to the bargaining table. China has a more powerful economy and conventional military compared to Russia. After North Korea sent troops to fight Ukraine, some, like JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, said that World War III had already started. Others say Russia wants to expand to at least the boundaries of the old Soviet Union. After conquering Ukraine, the Russian army could try to take the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—all of which are now NATO members. Moscow has already stepped up its espionage in these regions and beyond, from Mexico to the Arctic. Some of it targets the United States.

  NATO chief Mark Rutte warned on Dec. 12 that the West is “not ready” for an increasing Russian threat over the next five years, which includes a long-term goal of conflict with the West.

  “It is time to shift to a wartime mindset, and turbocharge our defense production and defense spending,” he said.

  Rutte had praised Trump’s first term for getting NATO countries to increase their defense expenditures.

  Now, Trump is doing it again.

  He has reiterated his intention to withdraw the United States from NATO if other countries do not reach defense spending of at least 2 percent of their GDP.

  He could reasonably increase that demand to 3 percent and add another penalty: tariffs for those that fall below the agreed level.

  These tariffs could focus on luxuries and replaceables so as not to disrupt more important U.S. supply lines.

  European leaders are beginning to take action and will likely fund any U.S. shortfall to keep the Russian army further away from European capitals. Rutte has called for an increase in the defense spending goal among NATO members. Many NATO countries—namely Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Croatia, and Canada—pay less than 2 percent of GDP, while several countries, including the United States, Poland, and the Baltics, spend more than 3 percent.

  The United States spent 41 percent of GDP on defense at the height of World War II and 10 percent during the Cold War. It was a lot of money, but our freedom was worth the expense. For those countries looking to get a free ride, Trump should apply his signature tariffs. He has threatened Canada with tariffs and could do so as a penalty for its low defense spending. That strategy could also be extended to other NATO countries that shirk their commitments.

  Our strong U.S. economy is in part because people around the world see the United States as not only victorious against our most dangerous enemies but also as a nation with a free-market democratic system as something that they trust, want to emulate, and in which they want to invest. After World War II, that impressive soft power made countries agree to choose New York and Washington as the headquarters of the world’s most important international institutions. But costly wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have made most Americans rethink our role as the only “world’s policeman” who makes the world safe for democracy. At the very least, we also want our allies to shoulder their fair share.

  *  *  *

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 22:35

• Rocking Around The Plastic Tree
  Rocking Around The Plastic Tree

  For some families, the search for the right Christmas tree is an annual event.

  

  However, as Statista’s Felix Richter reports, for large shares of Americans and Brits though, this search may have ended a long time ago – the perfect tree already sitting safely in the attic or garage, ready for its glorious but fleeting return to the living room.

  As new survey data from Statista Consumer Insights shows, it’s a different story in Germany.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  There, at the home of the Christmas tree tradition, the practice is still very much alive – 42 percent of adults said they would be putting up a real tree this year, compared to 26 percent in the U.S. and just 20 percent in the United Kingdom.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 22:10

• Never Underestimate The Power Of Unfinished Business
  Never Underestimate The Power Of Unfinished Business

  Authored by Robert Malone via The Brownstone Institute,

  The Fathomless Bottom of the Deep State

  The Senior Executive Service (SES) class of federal employees was created under President Carter through the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The SES was established to “…ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality.”

  

  Another Carter-created component of the State, as is the Department of Education. The SES employees were supposed to ensure top performances in all the various agencies. That was the theory, but the reality is something entirely different, as is so often the case with these initiatives such as the “Department of Homeland Security.”

  Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. SES employees are the major link between these appointees and the rest of the Federal workforce. They operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 Federal agencies. They are referred to as members by the Office of Personnel Management and are considered above “employee” designation. They are members of the SES, and don’t you forget that! Today’s SES runs the country.

  The SES even has its own flag (which has been largely removed from the government web pages since I last wrote about the SES in June of 2022). and their own non-profit agency called the Senior Executive Association (SEA), whose stated goal is to protect the rights of SES members – which lists both lobbying Congress and instituting legal action to protect SES member status. This non-profit acts like a union.

  SES members operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 Federal agencies and serve in key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. Thus positioned, the SES bosses enforce political orthodoxy and fidelity to the deep state. They can act in this manner because their employment is virtually guaranteed. An SES employee’s job is so secure that an Agency Head cannot terminate an SES employee unless the Commissioner issues a certificate stating that the termination is in the public interest. Even then, the termination is subject to litigation.

  Barack Obama believed that the SES program should be expanded and, through a 2015 executive order, “Strengthening the Senior Executive Service,” sought to expand and “facilitate career executive continuity between administrations.” But more than that, his executive order implemented:

  “a comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of the recruitment, hiring, retention, and development of their SES cadre.”

  Yep – the federal government has been using DEI-based hiring and promotions for the SES instead of merit, well…ever since Obama’s presidency.

  By May 31, 2016, agencies with 20 or more SES positions were tasked with developing a plan “to increase the number of SES members who are rotating to improve talent development, mission delivery, and collaboration.” 

  Obama’s other objective, other than securing more DEI employees, was to secure more loyal troops for the administration of his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton. Luckily, she then lost to Donald Trump. However, the increased number of SES employees, strengthening their stranglehold on government power and over the presidency, remained. 

  As it turns out, the Justice Department includes those elite, highly paid bosses from the Senior Executive Service. So does the Department of Homeland Security, from which the SES also deploys personnel into the Secret Service. As does just about every agency in the US government. As of 2018, there were almost 8,000 SES employees.

  The other important point about the SES is that the president has no role in choosing them; he can’t reassign them or fire them. The SES comprises the non-transparent group of managers and elites who run the country from within. They are the employees who quietly block, slow-walk, and defer presidential orders. What President Trump and Kash Patel might call the “deep state.” 

  In effect, our democracy has been turned upside down while being captured by bureaucratic and corporate interests that endorse authoritarian policies – hence, we are now living under a system of “inverted totalitarianism.” The United States has been co-opted into a managed democracy, thanks to Carter and Obama. 

  President Trump was stymied in his efforts to reform the government due to the SES cadre, and then he finally hit upon a solution.

  That is an executive order known as “Schedule F,” which he signed in October 2020, just prior to leaving office. Biden canceled the Schedule F executive order on the first day of his presidency. 

  This new employee classification system would have included federal workers in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character,” which are “not normally subject to change as the result of a presidential transition.”

  The “Schedule F” executive order would have allowed agencies to reclassify policy jobs under a new employment schedule and had proposed to give senior managers greater flexibility in hiring candidates and firing employees. Hence, the SES employees would have functionally become “at-will” employees. At-will employment means that an employer can dismiss an employee for any reason, without having to establish “just cause” for termination, as long as the reason is not illegal. At-will employment is the law of the land in all states except Montana.

  President Trump stated that this executive order would be reinstated on day one. 

  But Not so Fast!

  On January 22, 2021, shortly after taking office, President Biden repealed the Schedule F executive order. This action prevented Schedule F from being implemented, as it had not yet taken effect when Trump left office.

  In September 2023, the Biden administration, through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), began working on new regulations to make it difficult to reintroduce Schedule F policies.

  On April 4, 2024, OPM issued a final rule aimed at stopping potential future attempts to implement Schedule F or something similar. This rule ensured that the new civil service job protections couldn’t be removed by reimplementing Schedule F.

  However, all of these political machinations may come to naught.

  Remember the Chevron Deference?

  The Chevron deference was a key principle in U.S. administrative law for nearly 40 years, established by the Supreme Court in 1984 in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. It directed courts to defer to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute that the agency administers.

  This doctrine significantly empowered federal agencies by giving them considerable leeway in interpreting and implementing ambiguous statutory provisions. It essentially allowed the administrative state to create laws without Congressional oversight.

  However, in June 2024, the US Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The Court ruled that the Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority, and courts may not defer to an agency’s interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous. 

  The end of Chevron Deference represents a major shift in administrative law, reducing the power of federal agencies and increasing judicial scrutiny of agency actions. One of the implications of the Chevron deference is the reduced power for federal agencies in interpreting laws. 

  How Does This Affect Schedule F?

  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may need to provide more robust justifications for its new policies regarding Schedule F, as it can no longer rely on the Chevron deference to support its interpretations of federal employment laws.

  The truth is that as soon as President Trump implements Schedule F, the Senior Executives Association may challenge it in court, and the OPM will use its new rules to fight it tooth and nail.

  Due to the Chevron deference, this legal fight may be aborted or short-circuited. Time will tell.

  On the Legislative Side

  In 2023, the House adopted an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill for 2023 that would prevent future administrations from reviving Schedule F or similar measures. However, during the reconciliation process between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the Schedule F ban was omitted from the final compromise version. The final version of the 2023 NDAA that was signed into law did not include the language banning future attempts at creating Schedule F, but Congress may pull those clauses out of the Democrat party’s bag of tricks at any time.

  The easiest way out of this quandary in the long term is for Congress to amend the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to clarify the role of the SES employee and other employees within the federal government. This would be a permanent solution instead of a temporary bandaid.

  Republished from the author’s Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 21:45

• Trump-Era Official Blasts Canada Over Fentanyl Super Labs & Transnational Crime Gangs 
  Trump-Era Official Blasts Canada Over Fentanyl Super Labs & Transnational Crime Gangs 

  President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose a sweeping 25% tariff on all goods and services from Canada, aimed at pressuring the neighbors to the north to curb cross-border fentanyl and human smuggling, has thrown Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government into a state of turmoil. 

  Trade between Canada and the US is the largest of any two nations, with cross-border trade totaling $926 billion in 2023—roughly $2.5 billion daily. This dark tariff reality for Trudeau of not responding adequately to Trump’s border security demand risks pushing Canada into an economic crisis. 

  In response, the Canadian government unveiled a new border security plan on Wednseday, costing about a billion dollars to strengthen border security with the US. 

  “President Trump is securing the border and he hasn’t even taken office yet,” Trump’s transition team wrote in a news release, adding, “Facing an uproar among his own citizens … embattled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just announced a billion-dollar plan for major border security improvements and increased border patrols.” 

  The new border proposal outlines the deployment of drones, helicopters, and other advanced technologies along the 5,525-mile northern border.

  

  Despite Wednesday’s announcement, calls for Trudeau’s resignation continue to mount, while his approval ratings implode. The longer far-left Trudeau remains in power, the more his popularity will erode, with citizens frustrated by his years of incompetence.  

  David Asher, who previously led a Trump-era task force on fentanyl, commented on the border proposal. He appeared on CBC News Network earlier this week to share his insights.

  Asher told the CBC News host that the new border proposal “looks rather unimpressive” and is a “drop in the bucket compared to what we actually need.” 

  Asher then segued the conversation, stating that his “concerns go well beyond the border,” highlighting the expansion of fentanyl superlab production across Canada—much of which is destined for the US.

  “US law enforcement has a lot of sources telling us – that not only the Mexican cartels are setting up operations in Canada – but also Chinese organized crime – and even Iranian organized crime…” 

  He stated that all three organizations were tied into a massive bust in Vancouver of drugs and chemicals equal to more than 95 million pills. 

  

  

  Asher said whoever was running that superlab in Vancouver had their eyes on the US market. 

  “This has gotten to a point, with superlabs and super laundering networks and lack of super cooperation with the US, that these issues have irritated President Trump and others,” Asher concluded. 

  Watch David Asher, fellow at the Hudson Institute, tear a strip off Canada for its fentanyl super lab and organized crime problems.

  Unimpressed with the limp plan on the border – no new dollars this year.

  Critical of disclosure laws and Cameron Ortiz for leaking all of Five… pic.twitter.com/jvaB5vbNNZ

  — cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) December 20, 2024

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

  The question now is, will Canada’s new border proposal be enough to satisfy Trump?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 21:20

• Parents' Rights Group Reveals Dept Of Ed Spent $1 Billion On DEI Since 2021
  Parents’ Rights Group Reveals Dept Of Ed Spent $1 Billion On DEI Since 2021

  Authored by Elad Vaida via Campus Reform,

  A parental rights group published a report showing that the Department of Education has spent enormous sums to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

  Parents Defending Education works to “reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas.”

  It published its report on Dec. 12 demonstrating that, since 2021, the Department of Education has spent $1,002,522,304.81 to promote DEI at “universities, school districts, and nonprofits.”

  That sum includes $489,883,797.81 for “DEI Hiring,” $343,337,286 for “DEI Programming,” and $169,301,221 for “Based Mental health/Social Emotional Learning.” 

  

  Some of the report’s “key findings” include a $1,261,718 to the University of Iowa to “train 40 elementary teachers to ‘enact equity-centered education’ in partner K-12 districts.’”

  The report also highlights a $4 million grant to the Regents of the University of California, U.C. San Diego for a program to “directly engage high school youth from low-income, racial minoritized groups.”

  The federal government routinely pours great sums into promoting DEI in higher education. 

  In October, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed it would hand out more than $7 million to six different universities to “grow initiatives in engineering-related disciplines and fields for learners who have historically been underrepresented and underserved in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”

  NASA’s senior advisor for engagement and equity Shahra Lambert said the grants would help pave “the way for greater diversity in engineering and STEM.”

  The National Institutes of Health also granted more than $19 million to The City University of New York to found a new “Center for Minority Health, Equity and Social Justice.”

  Campus Reform reached out to Parents Defending Education for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 20:55

• Check Your WiFi Router Brand… US Mulls Ban On Chinese-Made TP-Link
  Check Your WiFi Router Brand… US Mulls Ban On Chinese-Made TP-Link

  Chinese TP-Link routers, the best-selling ones on Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, have been intensely scrutinized by US investigators due to links to multiple Chinese cyberattacks. This has prompted US officials to consider a potential ban on these routers, citing national security concerns. 

  Sources familiar with investigations at the Commerce, Defense, and Justice departments told the Wall Street Journal that a nationwide ban on TP-Link routers could come as soon as next year. 

  WSJ noted that the Shenzhen-based router manufacturer accounts for an alarming 65% of the US router market in homes and small businesses, adding, “It is also the top choice on Amazon.com, and powers internet communications for the Defense Department and other federal government agencies.”

  

  Sources told WSJ that some TP-Link routers shipped to the US have security flaws, and the company has resisted cooperating with security researchers to address the identified issues. 

  In October, Microsoft published a report that revealed a Chinese hacking group had access to thousands of compromised TP-Link routers. 

  “CovertNetwork-1658 specifically refers to a collection of egress IPs that may be used by one or more Chinese threat actors and is wholly comprised of compromised devices. Microsoft assesses that a threat actor located in China established and maintains this network. The threat actor exploits a vulnerability in the routers to gain remote code execution capability,” the report explained.

  When Microsoft published the report, TP-Link was already under scrutiny. In August, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party called for an investigation into TP-Link routers. 

  In the letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, the lawmakers wrote, “TP-Link’s unusual degree of vulnerabilities and required compliance with PRC law are in and of themselves disconcerting. When combined with the PRC government’s common use of SOHO [small office/home office] routers like TP-Link to perpetrate extensive cyberattacks in the United States, it becomes significantly alarming.” 

  WSJ reported that Biden-Harris officials are exploring potential action against TP-Link in response to recent cyberattacks connected with China. The likely action could come during Trump’s second term. 

  The potential ban on TP-Link routers could mark the largest removal of Chinese tech from the US market since the Trump admin removed Huawei tech from America’s infrastructure.

  It might be a good time to check what type of router or mesh network you have before Trump takes office next month.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 20:30

• 'Hawk Tuah' Influencer Breaks Silence After Memecoin Rig-Pull Allegations
  ‘Hawk Tuah’ Influencer Breaks Silence After Memecoin Rig-Pull Allegations

  Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com,

  Hailey Welch, the influencer behind the viral ‘Hawk Tuah’ TikTok video, has released a statement after a memecoin bearing her handle pumped and dumped quickly after its December launch.

  

  In a Dec. 20 X post, Welch said she was “fully cooperating” with lawyers who represented investors in the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) token.

  The crypto users filed a lawsuit against the project’s creators and partners – Welch herself was not named as a defendant in the suit – alleging they engaged in the promotion and sale of an unregistered securities offering.

  

  A statement posted to X on Dec. 20. Source: Hailey Welch

  On Dec. 4, the HAWK token launched, rising to a market capitalization of roughly $500 million before quickly dropping by 90%, prompting many users to speculate there had been a rug pull.

  Welch called on anyone affected to contact lawyers, adding she took the situation “extremely seriously.”  

  From TikTok stardom to memecoin promoter?

  Welch, who rose to internet fame after a June clip of her describing a sexual act went viral on TikTok, has parlayed the incident into her Hawk Tuah nickname and brand.

  Her likeness was used on the HAWK token, and she promoted the memecoin on social media.

  According to blockchain data, one wallet sniped HAWK tokens shortly after the project launched, purchasing roughly 18% of the memecoin supply and then selling it for more than $1 million in profit.

  Many of the memecoin’s investors, however, reported massive losses after the price pumped and dumped.

  It’s unclear whether Welch or the project’s founders could face criminal or regulatory lawsuits in the United States as a result of the memecoin launch.

  Under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, the regulator has treated the majority of tokens as securities under its purview. However, the SEC is set to change hands to Republican control beginning in January.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 20:05

• Eggflation: Dozen-Pack At Supermarket Hit Record Highs As Bird Flu Ravages Farms
  Eggflation: Dozen-Pack At Supermarket Hit Record Highs As Bird Flu Ravages Farms

  New retail price data shows supermarket prices of a dozen eggs have soared to record highs. The surge comes amid an ever-expanding bird flu outbreak that has led to the culling of millions of birds, denting the size of the nation’s egg-laying hen population. 

  Bloomberg cited Expana data showing that a dozen eggs in the Midwest cost about $5.67 this week, exceeding the record high of $5.46 set in December 2022. 

  

  Expana’s managing editor for eggs in the Americas, Karyn Rispoli, explained that a “potent combination of avian flu-related production losses and heightened retail demand throughout the holiday baking season” catapulted prices to record highs. 

  She said 17 million egg-laying hens and younger birds known as pullets had been culled since mid-October amid a surge in bird flu cases, adding that was one of the worst stretches in the current bird-flu outbreak since the virus first emerged in the nation’s flock in February 2022. 

  “The virus also jumped to other species including dairy cattle, while a person was hospitalized with a severe case of H5N1 bird flu in Louisiana this week,” Bloomberg noted. 

  Wholesale egg prices via the Urner Barry Egg Index are nearing record highs (again) …. 

  

  Last month, we noted. 

  Egg Prices Surge Again As Grocers Face Shortages Amid Bird Flu Outbreak https://t.co/8oikLTnryy

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 22, 2024

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

  And pointed out in the November CPI print: “A quarter of the November rise in prices for final demand goods is attributable to a 54.6-percent jump in the index for chicken eggs.” 

  This comes as global food inflation has entered a dangerous phase of re-acceleration.

  

  The best way cash-strapped households can hedge over the elevated food inflation storm is to produce their own food. Whether it’s setting up a chicken coop, planting a garden, installing honeybee hives, or creating pastures for a few cows, now is the time to hedge against rising prices. It’s not just about prices – it’s also about health and security. Become ungovernable by taking back the food supply chain from the corrupt food industrial complex that heavily influences federal policy-making.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 19:40

• Yes, Abolish Daylight Saving Time
  Yes, Abolish Daylight Saving Time

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

  For all our lives, we’ve been subjected to forced seasonal time change. Spring forward, fall back. That’s how we learn from childhood how to remember this.

  

  We are also told the reason early on. We are extending daylight hours. But only a moment’s thought reveals this to be untrue. The light you gain from a one-hour change is borrowed from later in the day.

  Government cannot magically make the day longer.

  It’s like the old joke, supposedly from an “old Indian” who points out that you cannot make a blanket longer by cutting off one end and sewing it on the other.

  I’ve never met anyone who approves of this massive disruption in our sense of time. Some people prefer Standard Time, while others prefer Daylight Saving Time, depending on their area within a given zone. But regardless, it seems as if everyone agrees that we should stick to one version of time and not change it so brutally in the middle of a year.

  To be sure, all this became mechanically easier once time became digital. We don’t have to have friends, family, neighbors, and the TV yelling at us to turn back the clock or bump it forward. But it seems as if there are always a few clocks around that do not automatically change, such as the kitchen clock with the battery or the oven clock. Then we have to figure out how the stupid thing works and fuss with it, twice per year.

  Every study shows that this disruption is terrible for health, as it disrupts sleep patterns and contributes to mental fatigue and even depression. It is associated with increased hospital admissions and even car crashes. This should not shock us. Our bodies are regulated by patterns of the sun, more so than we know.

  Then there are the missed appointments.

  If everyone hates it so much, why does it persist? It keeps happening simply because it keeps happening. No one knows how to get rid of it. While there is widespread public hatred of the practice, there is no real lobbying force to do anything about it.

  Forced seasonal time disruptions are the paradigmatic case of a system that just keeps going on because no one really knows how to stop it, even though no one really likes it.

  Fortunately, President-elect Donald Trump has an uncanny sense of the public mood. He is the first political figure in my lifetime who has openly blasted Daylight Saving Time and sworn to end it on the federal level. If states want to keep it, fine. My prediction is that it will go away completely. That’s a good thing.

  Oddly, I find myself thrilled by this! It thoroughly confuses children, dogs, and adults, too. The whole crazy business began during World War I as a way to conserve energy and cause the daylight to arrive earlier in the day for purposes of munitions manufacturing. Others say there were some agricultural reasons, too.

  The reason that this all began had plenty to do with a fashionable scientism of the time. Elites had come to enjoy toying with all things under the general belief that mechanized schemes could override nature itself. This affected so much along with the rise of indoor lighting, flight, steel bridges, internal combustion, telegraphic communications, the telephone, and recorded sound. It seemed as if there was nothing that could not be engineered to perfection, even the rotations of the sun.

  Remember that a few decades earlier, there was already a huge controversy over time in the United States. When the railroads came along and gained political power, they pushed hard for unified schedules in zones so that people would not arrive at an earlier time at their destination than when they left.

  It was common before about 1885 that every town kept its own version of local time. How was that determined? Very simply: When the sun is overhead, that is noon. Surrounding areas generally deferred to the time on the city and town clocks. This also fits with the sundial. There were no time zones, but rather just normal time. Everyone knew what it was.

  Once the railroads came along, they lobbied mayors to adopt a more unified system. As a result, many acquiesced, much to the annoyance of many people who simply could not understand how it was that an industrial power could presume the right to define time in its own profitability interests.

  For some years, clocks in the United States commonly displayed the actual time (or local time) plus what they called railroad time.

  The railroads eventually prevailed. The United States was divided into four time zones, regardless of local time. For the first time in the history of the planet, the sundial no longer made any sense. What we called time was completely severed from any measurement of time drawn from natural patterns. We came to be managed by industry rather than reality.

  If you think about the sheer intellectual arrogance of that, it is rather shocking. I like to think that I would have been among the resistors to this ridiculous trick from 150 years ago.

  If you are curious about this, you can look up your actual time in your area right now. You can go to mysolartime.com and see exactly what time it really is right now, no matter what your smartphone says. From where I am typing right now, the actual time is nine minutes later than the clock says.

  I urge you to do this, and think about what this means. If you are really feeling rebellious, you can start adhering to your local time just for the fun of it.

  Up with local time and down with railroad time!

  In any case, there is something wonderful about how everyone seems to be rethinking everything in our times. It seems like we are getting rid of the fluoride in the water after more than half a century of awful medicalization via public water supplies.

  The effort to get rid of Daylight Saving Time is very similar, taking on an annoyance that should have ended long ago, finally through an authoritative voice who can do something about it.

  Yay! I’m thrilled. But if it were up to me, I would go further and directly target the time zones themselves. They are the real source of the problem and the reason why some people favor Daylight Saving Time and others favor Standard Time, depending on which side of the zone you live.

  The truth is that neither is correct. They are both fake versions of actual time. The actual time from the ancient world until relatively recently is a simple matter of the sun. When it is directly overhead, it is the noon hour or high noon. That’s it and nothing more. The rest follows from that.

  Again, we have tools now that can tell you with great precision what time it actually is.

  How to schedule meetings across long distances? The easy way is to use Coordinated Universal Time. It would take a day or two to get used to, but life would become so much easier. Just one time for the world for scheduling all things, and then we have local time, which is the time standard by which we live in the course of our lives. It’s what we should have done to begin with.

  Nonetheless, scrapping time changes is an obvious beginning. The 150-year history of government/industry intervention in time is the classic case of bad policy imposed to fix previous bad policy. It was never a good idea to replace real time with constructed/imposed time. Repealing Daylight Saving is a good start.

  Maybe if all goes well, we won’t be springing forward after all. How merciful that would be!

  *  *  *

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 19:15

• Stoking Fears Of Rape By Coyotes, Texas To Use Mexican Billboards To Scare Migrants Off
  Stoking Fears Of Rape By Coyotes, Texas To Use Mexican Billboards To Scare Migrants Off

  Texas has launched a billboard campaign in four Central American countries that uses pointed language — some of it brutally frank — to scare away would-be illegal immigrants from trying to make the dangerous journey into the United States. 

  “[The billboards] give potential illegal immigrants thinking of leaving their home country — and those already on the way — a realistic picture of what will happen to them on their journey or if they illegally cross into Texas,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at a Thursday press conference. “These billboards tell the horror stories of human trafficking. They implore those people in Central America to consider the violent, horrific realities of what will happen to the women and children they bring with them.”

  

  Budgeted for approximately $100,000, the campaign has already placed 40 billboards in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, along with some along the Mexican frontier. Consistent with Mexico’s role as a conduit that funnels immigrants from all over the world, many of the billboards use languages other than Spanish, including Arabic, Russian and Chinese.   

  With harsh messaging reminiscent of what some countries mandate for cigarette packaging, some of the 14 billboards unveiled on Thursday are viscerally brunt. They stoke fears not only imprisonment or kidnapping, but of wives and daughters being impregnated by rapists. Here’s a sampling:

  • “How much did you pay to have your daughter raped? Many girls are raped by the coyotes you hire.”

  • “Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies. Coyotes lie. Don’t put your family at risk.”

  • “This fourteen-year-old girl was raped by more than 20 men on her way to the border. Protect your family. Change their fate.”

  • “Danger Ahead. If you cross into Texas illegally, you will regret it forever.”

  • “If you thought the journey to the border was harsh, just wait until you see what life in jail is like.”

  

  “There is a largely unspoken sexual assault crisis impacting women and children migrating to the Texas border,” said Rose Luna, CEO of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. “There have been several rape trees and lots of women who have been found beaten and raped in front of our house and left to die.”

  Rape trees are said to be places where coyotes sexually assault migrants, and then adorn the branches with the underwear of their victims. Thursday’s press conference was held next to what was described as a burned-down rape tree at Wall Ranch in Eagle Pass. Some knowledgeable people have expressed skepticism that the rape tree phenomenon is real, including South Texas sheriffs and the US Border Patrol — which is not to say migrants aren’t at high risk of sexual assault. 

  

  Abbott has set out to distinguish himself as an aggressive defender of the Texas border. He’s made headlines by shipping illegal immigrants to northern, Democratic cities. Earlier this year, Abbott announced the construction of a military base along the Rio Grand at the border city of Eagle Pass.  Forward Operating Base. Spanning 80-acres, “Forward Operating Base Eagle” will eventually house upwards of 1,800 Texas National Guard soldiers supporting Operation Lone Star — Texas’ border enforcement crackdown campaign — and will be expandable to house 2,300.  

  

  Abbott’s groundbreaking Texas billboard campaign comes as Donald Trump is poised to return to the presidency, bringing with him a promised border and illegal-immigrant campaign even more aggressive than he pursued in his first term — to include mass deportations and an end to birthright citizenship.  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 18:50

• Interpreting Putin's Remarks On Syria, Israel, And Turkiye
  Interpreting Putin’s Remarks On Syria, Israel, And Turkiye

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

  Putin commented on Syria’s regime change during his annual Q&A session on Thursday. According to him, Russia’s military intervention succeeded in its goal of preventing the creation of an Afghan-like terrorist enclave. The groups that just seized power there, including terrorist-designated and -affiliated ones, have apparently changed their views over the years. That’s why the West wants to establish relations with them. The regime change therefore can’t be seen as a defeat for Russia.

  

  Putin then defended his armed forces’ conduct during recent events by claiming that Russia no longer had any ground troops in Syria. Moreover, the estimated 30,000 Syrian and “pro-Iranian units” that were defending Aleppo surrendered the city to just 350 militants, after which they gave up the rest of the country to them too with few exceptions. He also revealed that Russia evacuated 4,000 Iranian fighters to Tehran while other allied units fled to Lebanon (a reference to Hezbollah) and Iraq without a fight.

  As for the future of Russian influence in Syria, Putin claimed that “The overwhelming majority of [the groups that control the situation there] tell us that they would be interested in our military bases remaining”. He then proposed that they could be used to deliver humanitarian aid. The main beneficiary of the latest events is Israel, in his opinion, since they’ve practically demilitarized Syria and expanded their occupation zone in the country. He condemned those moves and hoped that they’d leave someday.

  Putin also took the opportunity to condemn Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine as well as its ongoing military operation in Gaza. These are all consistent Russian positions and nothing new. Observers might have been surprised though that he didn’t also condemn Turkiye. Instead, he explained that “Turkey is doing everything to ensure its security on its southern borders as the situation in Syria develops”, which he said is aimed at returning refugees and “push[ing] back Kurdish formations on the border.”

  In connection with that second imperative, Putin expressed hope that there won’t be an aggravation of the situation like some have reported that Turkiye is planning. He also said that “we need to solve the Kurdish problem. Within the framework of Syria under President Assad, this had to be solved, now we need to solve it with the authorities that control the territory of Syria, and Turkey needs to somehow ensure its security. We understand all this.” This basically amounts to giving Turkiye a free pass in Syria.

  Putin’s apparent double standard towards the similar issues of Turkish and Israeli military involvement in post-Assad Syria can be explained by Russia’s complex interdependence with the former. They’re closely tied together through nuclear energy cooperation, air defense systems (S-400s), natural gas, trade, and Istanbul’s prior role in mediating between Moscow and Kiev. By contrast, although Israel hasn’t armed Ukraine nor sanctioned Russia, there’s much less trade and no military-technical cooperation.

  There are also optics to consider as well. Although Syria is still politically divided and Turkiye does indeed back the UN-designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, there’s no denying that many Syrians support Ankara as do many other Muslims in the region. The same can’t be said for Israel, which is universally reviled in Syria, except among some of the Druze that welcomed the self-professed Jewish State’s forces, and fiercely hated by most Muslims in the region.

  It’s therefore better for Russia’s soft power interests to criticize Israel for occupying part of Syria while remaining silent about Turkiye doing the same thing. Likewise, considering the domestic and regional mood, it also makes sense for Putin to remind everyone about the pro-Iranian units’ cowardice in giving up cities without a fight and then fleeing abroad. After all, “Russia Dodged A Bullet By Wisely Choosing Not To Ally With The Now-Defeated Resistance Axis”, so it has no reason to sugarcoat what they did.

  Altogether, Putin’s remarks on Syria, Israel, and Turkiye show that Russia eschews responsibility for what just happened in Syria, condemns Israel for its ongoing invasion there, and downplays Turkiye’s own. This is a coldly realist and ultra-pragmatic approach to the latest developments that fully aligns with Russia’s national interests as Putin sincerely understands them to be. It also contradicts the expectations that many members of the diverse non-Mainstream Media community had of him condemning Turkiye.

  As can be seen, Putin doesn’t really care that Turkiye is a NATO member nor that it patronizes terrorist-designated HTS since he’s always insisted that the most important factor in their contemporary ties is the excellent working relationship that he has with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Russian leader sang his praises in October 2022 while speaking at the Valdai Club’s annual meeting when he was asked about whether his views on him had changed over the past two years. Here’s what he said:

  “He is a competent and strong leader who is guided above all, and possibly exclusively, by the interests of Turkiye, its people and its economy…President Erdogan never lets anyone get a free ride or acts in the interests of third countries…But there is a desire on both sides to reach agreements, and we usually do it. In this sense, President Erdogan is a consistent and reliable partner. This is probably his most important trait, that he is a reliable partner.”

  Putin wasn’t playing “5D chess to psyche out Turkiye” like some members of the diverse non-Maisntream Media community imagined at the time but was candidly sharing his views about Erdogan. Those who took his words seriously therefore knew better than to expect him to condemn Turkiye for its actions in Syria. Putin’s responsibility is to ensure Russia’s national interests, not conform to his online supporters’ fantasies about him spewing this or that talking point, which requires maximum flexibility.

  “Non-Russian Pro-Russians” and even some Russians might be disappointed with his position towards recent events in Syria, but they should at least understand the reasons behind it. Russia couldn’t stop what just happened, which was the result of the Syrian Arab Army’s and pro-Iranian units’ cowardice in the face of the foreign-backed terrorist-driven blitz, and it won’t go to war with Turkiye over this either. By adapting to this new reality, Putin now has the best possible chance of advancing Russian interests.

  It doesn’t mean that he’ll succeed, but there’s no guarantee of failure as would have been the case had he criticized Turkiye after being unable to stop it and unwilling to go to war with it afterwards. Even if things don’t work out like he envisages, Russia’s mutually beneficial bilateral ties with Turkiye won’t be jeopardized, nor will his country’s soft power be damaged since it’s not opposed to the outcome that the domestic and regional majority support. Putin’s pragmatic hedging therefore preserves Russian interests.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 18:25

• CNN Reveals "Troubling" Poll: American Trust In Vaccines Is Plummeting
  CNN Reveals “Troubling” Poll: American Trust In Vaccines Is Plummeting

  American trust in medical institutions and vaccine technology has been plunging the past several years, and though the media treats this as a “troubling” and dangerous development for our society the shift might represent a positive change.  The activities of Big Pharma have gone largely unchecked and unchallenged for many decades.  The FDA has a revolving door policy, allowing pharmaceutical executives to exit their companies and work at the agency with impunity, then leave again and return to their former jobs.  It’s not hard to understand how this creates a serious conflict of interest at the FDA.

  This problem of corruption was never more clear than it was during the covid pandemic.  Since that event, the US population has been losing faith in the ability of the government to scrutinize pharmaceutical products and protect people from potentially disastrous experimental medications and vaccines.  When the love affair between government and Big Pharma was put on blatant display, the American people rightly began to question everything.

  Recently, CNN unveiled a poll which proves that US faith in vaccines is in steep decline.  

  #6 – CNN shares a devastating poll, revealing that a growing number of parents no longer believe the government’s or media’s lies about vaccines.

  Video: @Inversionism pic.twitter.com/uulexk7Iq2

  — The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) December 19, 2024

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

  The reality is that the vaccines were largely unnecessary.  Infections and fatalities were dropping rapidly well before the first vaccines were introduced to the public, likely because of natural immunity.  Later spikes only prove that the vaccines had minimal effect on the spread of the virus.  

  

  At the height of the pandemic frenzy, the average Infection Fatality Rate of the Covid virus was a tiny 0.23%.  Meaning, 99.8% of the public was under no threat from the illness.  Furthermore those that did become dangerously sick were often elderly people with preexisting conditions.   

  This fact was reinforced by data showing that the vast majority of deaths from covid were among people with at least one comorbidity.  If a person died after years of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, but they also had covid, the default of the medical establishment was to list the death as covid related.  That is to say, deaths from covid and deaths from preexisting conditions were mixed together without regard for how this might affect public statistics.

  It should also be noted that the IFR of covid did not change from pre-vaccination conditions to post-vaccination conditions.  The death rate was the same regardless of vaccination status, though CDC, WHO and Big Pharma analysis often failed to use unvaccinated people as a control group.  This was likely done deliberately to hide the bigger picture from the public.

  

  Instead, the establishment would use stats like CFR (Case Fatality Rate) or “Mortality Odds”, which discount asymptomatic cases and greatly overestimate the true rate of death.  Few establishment media outlets ever mentioned the real Infection Fatality Rate through the entirety of the pandemic.  

  The goal was to pump up the covid death count as high as possible in order to frighten the public into accepting experimental mRNA vaccinations that were rushed into production under FDA emergency approval.  The average vaccine is tested for many years (sometimes a decade or more) in order to meet safety standards.  Covid vaccines were slapped together and shipped out in less than 12 months.  The action was hailed as a “medical miracle”, but the truth is that it was a massive gamble at best, and a draconian con at worst.

  Governments around the world exploited pandemic fears and used unprecedented leverage to force the public into taking the jab.  Keep in mind that the Biden Administration almost gained the power to penalize companies employing workers without proof of vaccination (vaccine passports).  That is to say, the government under Biden tried to erase constitutional protections and take people’s jobs away unless they submitted to regular vaccines. It was an epic authoritarian sprint.   

  They were only thwarted because of the Supreme Court and the courage of conservative red states defying the agenda. The covid event has created a culture of distrust when it comes to vaccine science.  Now, the public wants independent investigations and assurances on vaccines to prove safety rather than simply taking the FDA and Big Pharma at their word.  It’s not so much a movement against vaccines – It’s a movement to demand transparency, something which Americans should have had to begin with.              

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 18:00

• Florida Officials Say Federal Government Has "Stonewalled" State Investigation Into Would-Be Trump Assassin
  Florida Officials Say Federal Government Has “Stonewalled” State Investigation Into Would-Be Trump Assassin

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

  Florida’s governor and attorney general on Dec. 18 accused the federal government of blocking a state investigation into Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate then-former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course.

  

  Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody alleged that the Department of Justice informed the state that it had to suspend its investigation into Routh, citing a federal law about prosecuting crimes against significant public figures.

  “It was made known that they intended to shut down our investigation and invoke federal jurisdiction in doing so,” Moody said Dec. 18 at a press conference.

  “We didn’t believe it should be interpreted in the way that they suggested.”

  At the same time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote that the federal government has “stonewalled Florida’s investigation of the Trump assassination attempt at every turn” and that he supports Moody’s attempts to move forward in their case against Routh.

  “The tide will turn on January 20th and we fully expect that the federal roadblocks will be removed,” he wrote on social media, referring to the date that Trump will take office.

  “The would-be assassin needs to face the full force of justice and the people deserve the truth about the defendant’s history, motivations and plan.”

  The Department of Justice did not respond to an Epoch Times request for comment on Dec. 19.

  At the same time, Moody’s office obtained a warrant for Routh’s arrest in mid-September, hours after he was allegedly discovered lying in wait for Trump armed with a rifle in Palm Beach County, Florida. After reportedly being shot at by a Secret Service agent, he fled and was arrested on Interstate 95 in Martin County.

  After his arrest, a car crash occurred that injured a 6-year-old girl traveling with her family, Moody said during a press conference. The crash occurred in connection with the pursuit of Routh along the interstate, according to officials.

  “As a result of that [accident], we felt compelled to seek justice on her behalf and her family that will never be the same as they cope with her injuries,” she said at a press briefing on Dec. 18.

  Moody said the crash occurred after officials shut down traffic on I-95 as they tried to apprehend the suspect. A spokesperson for Moody said prosecutors will file the new charge when Routh is in state custody.

  The multi-vehicle crash happened about 30 minutes after Routh’s arrest on I-95, according to the state’s investigation, but Moody alleged it was a result of his actions as he was attempting to evade capture. The girl suffered serious injuries, Moody’s office stated.

  According to an arrest warrant affidavit for Routh, the accident occurred while authorities were apprehending him, about three or four miles south of where they stopped his vehicle.

  Northbound traffic along the major interstate was halted because of the risk of the traffic stop and because it was not clear whether any weapons or explosives were inside Routh’s car, according to the affidavit. Southbound traffic was also halted as officials attempted to investigate his vehicle.

  On Sept. 15, the Secret Service stated that one of its agents allegedly discovered Routh with his gun barrel sticking through Trump’s course perimeter fence as the then-former president was playing a round of golf. The agent opened fire on Routh, prompting him to flee in his vehicle before sheriff’s officials and other law enforcement arrested him along I-95 later that day.

  Federal prosecutors said that Routh, whose residence is listed in Hawaii, allegedly waited for the president for about 12 hours and that cellphone data revealed he was in the area around Trump’s golf course and Mar-a-Lago for a month before the alleged assassination attempt.

  Later, prosecutors said they discovered Routh had written a note that was left with an acquaintance. The note admitted he wanted to assassinate Trump because of the decision by the first Trump administration to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal that was signed by the Obama administration. Social media accounts associated with Routh also showed he was an avid supporter of Ukraine during the Russia–Ukraine conflict and had attempted to recruit people to fight.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 17:40

• US Reveals It Has More Than Twice As Many Troops In Syria Than Previously Disclosed
  US Reveals It Has More Than Twice As Many Troops In Syria Than Previously Disclosed

  Only now after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad does Washington come clean about the actual number of American troops it has in Syria.

  On Thursday, the Pentagon revealed it has roughly 2,000 troops occupying northeast Syria, home to the country’s vital supply of oil and gas, which is over twice the number it has been officially disclosing for years.

  

  US military spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said this has been the figure for a “while”—apparently long before the dramatic events of this month. Ryder claimed the he had just “learned” the true troop number.

  “As you know, we have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers were higher, and so asked to look into it. I learned today that in fact there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria,” he said.

  He then tried to pass off the discrepancy as merely a distinction between the 900 long term deployments and those forces rotating in on a more temporary basis.

  

  “As I understand it and as it was explained to me, these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer-term deployments,” Ryder said.

  The Pentagon and CENTCOM have also recently been reviving talk of the ‘counter-ISIS’ mission as justification for keeping the US occupation ongoing. This even as NATO member Turkey has been seeking to drive out the Kurdish-led SDF from northern Syria, which the US backs.

  The Biden administration has also this week said it is in direct contact with designated terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which holds Damascus and major cities. 

  Obviously this is some absurd gaslighting of the American public by the Pentagon. The question remains: why reveal it now?

  How does the Pentagon “recently learn” that it has more than double the number of US troops in Syria than it claimed to have a day earlier? pic.twitter.com/fydxpWcNqT

  — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 20, 2024

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  The US is likely to use its possession of the oil and gas fields in Deir Ezzor, which was previously vital to meeting the Syrian population’s domestic consumption needs, as leverage to get HTS leadership to fall in line with Washington’s agenda for the region.

  The US had long occupied the energy fields in the first place in order to tighten the economic blockade noose around Assad’s neck, but ultimately it is the common people who suffer most.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 17:20

• Judge Rejects Federal Government Request, Allows Derek Chauvin To Examine George Floyd's Heart
  Judge Rejects Federal Government Request, Allows Derek Chauvin To Examine George Floyd’s Heart

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  A federal judge has turned down the federal government’s bid to stop Derek Chauvin from examining George Floyd’s heart tissue.

  “The Court is not persuaded by the Government’s arguments, which provide no compelling reason that the Court should change its previous determination,” U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson said in a two-page order filed on Dec. 19.

  The order granting Chauvin’s motion to examine Floyd’s heart tissue will stand, he said.

  

  Magnuson on Dec. 16 ruled that Chauvin can test substances preserved from Floyd’s autopsy, including his blood and heart tissue. Chauvin is attempting to prove the theory that Floyd’s death was not related to the restraint that Chauvin applied to Floyd in Minnesota in May 2020.

  Chauvin, a police officer in Minneapolis at the time, was later charged and convicted of murdering Floyd.

  The present development involves Chauvin’s argument that his former attorney did not adequately represent him.

  An expert named Dr. William Schaetzel had contacted the attorney and offered his opinion that Floyd’s death stemmed from factors other than the restraint, but the attorney did not pass along the opinion, according to Chauvin.

  Schaetzel said the death was caused by a heart attack. Chauvin said the testing could support the opinion.

  “Given the significant nature of the criminal case that Mr. Chauvin was convicted of, and given that the discovery that Mr. Chauvin seeks could support Dr. Schaetzel’s opinion of how Mr. Floyd died, the Court finds that there is good cause to allow Mr. Chauvin to take the discovery that he seeks,” Magnuson said in his Dec. 16 order.

  The U.S. Department of Justice then filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider. Government lawyers said that Chauvin could not show ineffective counsel, in part because another expert had already offered a similar opinion during Chauvin’s trial.

  The lawyers also said that if the judge turned down the Justice Department’s motion, he should enter an amended order granting discovery to the government as well as to Chauvin.

  “The government specifically requests access to expert disclosures for any expert Defendant intends to call at a hearing (including each expert’s qualifications and a full explanation of any opinions and the bases therefore), as well as all lab reports and test results generated by any lab to which Defendant submits requests,” they wrote.

  Magnuson denied that request, although he said he expects the government will be able to access the test results.

  “The Court expects the parties to cooperate in the discovery process, allowing the Government reasonable access to any lab reports, test results, and expert disclosures,” he said. “The Court will not issue a separate order to that end.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 17:00

• Et Tu Jagmeet? Trudeau Game Over Looms As Key Ally Vows To Topple Him
  Et Tu Jagmeet? Trudeau Game Over Looms As Key Ally Vows To Topple Him

  In what could be the final act of a political drama swirling around Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh has thundered in with a no-confidence motion that could topple the government, Reuters reports.

  

  “We will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons,” said Singh.

  The motion, set to unfold as the House of Commons returns from winter recess on January 27, has sent shockwaves through Ottawa’s political corridors already rattled by internal Liberal strife and a high-profile cabinet resignation.

  

  Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wants to ‘urgently’ reconvene parliament so that lawmakers can hold a no-confidence vote ahead of schedule.

  The undercurrents of discontent have been bubbling for months, but the situation came to a head when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s stalwart Finance Minister, abruptly vacated her post amid a cloud of controversy. Sources close to the matter cite irreconcilable differences over policy directions and leadership style, with Freeland’s departure exposing cracks in the Liberal foundation.

  [W]hen Trudeau informed Freeland five days later that she would soon be out as finance minister, she was deeply upset. Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor and a darling of global markets, was taking over, Trudeau told her. But he had another important job in mind for her: a cabinet role managing Canada’s suddenly fraught relations with the US and President-elect Donald Trump. It did not, however, come with running a government department.

  …

  Freeland was having none of it. To her, this was a major demotion — one delivered over a Zoom call, no less. She spent the weekend agonizing over how to respond, according to people familiar with the course of events — stewing with the same frustration she had experienced in the summer, when reports emerged that Trudeau was courting Carney as her possible replacement. –Bloomberg

  Meanwhile, Trudeau reshuffled his cabinet on Friday, days after Freeland’s departure. Ontario MP David McGuinty was named Canada’s minister of public safety, while Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has been named the new housing minister.

  Amid this backdrop, Singh’s declaration couldn’t be more dramatically timed to twist the knife. In a scathing open letter, he lambasted Trudeau’s leadership, painting the Liberal government as too entangled in internal conflicts and corporate interests to effectively govern. Sing’s letter sets the stage for a potential early election if the no-confidence vote gathers steam across opposition benches​.

  As Singh points out, the cost of living and housing crises are hitting Canadians hard, and with Trump-era tariffs looming, economic pressures could intensify, making the political stakes even higher.

  Political pundits suggest voter fatigue with the Liberals is palpable. A slew of recent polls underscores a grim forecast for Trudeau’s party, which could face a drubbing at the polls if an election were called today. The political landscape in Canada is crackling with anticipation of a shake-up as the NDP appears to pivot away from its previous support of the minority government, a move that could redraw the lines of allegiance within the House of Commons​.

  As January 27 looms, all eyes will be on Ottawa.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 16:40

• "He Has Good Days & Bad Days": WSJ Exposes Concerted Effort To Conceal Biden's Mental Decline
  “He Has Good Days & Bad Days”: WSJ Exposes Concerted Effort To Conceal Biden’s Mental Decline

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  In an explosive exposé, the Wall Street Journal has revealed how the mental decline of President Joe Biden was pronounced from the start of his term. However, cabinet members and other Democrats lied to the public about his declining levels of acuity and engagement. That effort succeeded largely with the help of an alliance with the media, which showed little interest in whether the President was actually running the government.

  

  After President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the solid wall of media and staff shielding his declining mental state collapsed. Even after Special Counsel Robert Hur declined criminal charges against Biden due to his diminished state, Democratic pundits and the press covered for him, claiming that he was sharp and effective. With the debate, the public was able to see what many in the media and the White House had been hiding for years.

  After interviewing roughly 50 insiders, the Journal found evidence of a knowing effort to hide Biden’s mental state. For many, Biden’s refusal to leave his home for much of the 2020 campaign was evidence of the insecurity of staff about his ability to engage with reporters. It only got worse during the term as staff virtually tackled anyone trying to ask him a question. Biden was routinely shuffled off stage after reading briefly from a teleprompter.

  Behind the scenes, cabinet members reportedly stopped asking for meetings with Biden after staff conveyed that such requests were not welcomed. He held far fewer cabinet meetings and was often considered “down” for any discussions. That included a period during the calamity of the Afghan withdrawal.

  One official is quoted as admitting on one occasion in 2021 that Biden “has good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’re going to address this tomorrow.” That was just after he was elected.

  Yet, Biden was kept within the protective cocoon of media that did not press the issue and was infamous for ignoring scandals while asking Biden about his choice of ice cream on a given day.

  Now, some media outlets are re-positioning on the issue as they prepare to resume hard questioning and investigations in the new Trump Administration . . . after a four-year hiatus.

  Suddenly, everyone is shocked to learn that Biden was mentally diminished and blaming nameless staff for misleading them.

  One exception this week was Chris Cillizza, who served as CNN’s editor-at-large before leaving the network in 2022.

  On YouTube, Cillizza stated, “As a reporter, I have a confession to make” and admitted “I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline.”

  Chris Cillizza apologizes for his coverage of Biden while at CNN: “As a reporter, I have a confession to make: I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline.”@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/9GWSmUhgEA

  — Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) December 19, 2024

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  Now, everyone likes a redemptive sinner and I give Cillizza credit for admitting his own failure to pursue the story despite many critics objecting for years over the lack of such inquiries.

  However, Cillizza only confessed to failing to pursue the story due to a fear of being accused of “age shaming” Biden. The suggestion is that identity politics chilled journalism, not the overwhelming media support for the President and countervailing opposition to Trump.

  The “age shaming” excuse is difficult to square with the failure to pursue an array of other scandals during the term from influence peddling to policy debacles.

  Nevertheless, Cillizza was remarkably frank that he was only able to push on the story after leaving CNN:

  “I didn’t really push on it, if I’m being honest. Now, once I left CNN and once it became a little bit more clear to me about Biden’s age, I think I did write pretty regularly and talk pretty regularly about how I wasn’t sure that this guy was up to it. And then obviously, after the June 27 debate, everybody, including me, was writing and talking about it.”

  Putting Cillizza’s statement aside, there is a notable effort by some in the media to retroactively resume journalism after years of docile coverage on issues such as Biden’s incapacity.

  you didnt simply not push hard enough, you denounced those who did so as partisan liars pic.twitter.com/kqSzH0RHeM

  — Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) December 19, 2024

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  The belated interest in the story reflects not only the limits of modern journalism but the limits of the 25th Amendment. From the outset, there was concern over Biden’s acuity and stamina within the White House. It was hidden from the public. His cabinet members like DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and others quashed claims of any diminishment with first-hand testimonials about how sharp and impressive the President was in meetings. Vice President Kamala Harris echoed those claims.

  The Vice President and the cabinet are essential to the removal process under the 25th Amendment. Section 4 allows the removal of a president. One option is what I have called the “mutiny option.” It requires a vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” and notify Congress that the vice president intends to take over. If Vice President Kamala Harris could get eight Cabinet officers to go along with a letter to Congress, her status as the “Acting President” would likely be short-lived. Joe Biden would only have to declare to Congress that “no inability exists.” Biden would then resume his powers. That would then trigger a congressional fight.

  In reality, the Biden term shows how they can often be part of the cover-up.

  🔥@ScottJenningsKY torches Democrat narrative about Elon running the government and not Trump, while Joe Biden is AWOL:

  “If they’re worried about people who aren’t Donald Trump running the government or having influence, I wonder where they’ve been the last four years…… pic.twitter.com/5iER1hrCKD

  — Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 20, 2024

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  The 25th Amendment also does not define incapacity and having “good days and bad days” is unlikely to suffice. As I previously discussed, the issue of “disability” of a president was briefly raised in the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  It was a delegate from Biden’s home state of Delaware who asked how they would respond to a disability, “and who is to be the judge of it?” John Dickinson’s question was left unanswered in the final version of the Constitution.

  What followed were persistent controversies over succession. This issue came to a head after President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a stroke. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Congress finally addressed the issue in the 25th Amendment. The amendment addresses the orderly succession of power as well as temporary disabilities when presidents must undergo medical treatment or surgeries.

  This process is even more unlikely to occur when the media has formed a protective line around a president.

  The problem was never “age shaming,” it was a shameless effort to shield this president from tough questions and public exposure.

  Too little. Too late. Fuck off.

  — AllHatNoCattle (@expattexan) December 19, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/20/2024 – 16:20

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