Sep 21

Today’s News 21st September 2022

  • German Domestic Intelligence Is Running 100s Of Fake Right-Wing Extremist Social Media Accounts; Report
    German Domestic Intelligence Is Running 100s Of Fake Right-Wing Extremist Social Media Accounts; Report

    Authored by John Cody via Remix News,

    Hundreds of the radical Nazis and right-wing extremists online are actually German domestic intelligence agents, and many of them may even responsible for “inciting hatred” and even violence. These agents, who once needed to drink and directly socialize with members of the extreme right, are now running right-wing extremist accounts online in Germany.

    Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) argues that these accounts are needed to gather information, but critics say that they may also be promoting and actively encouraging radicalism, according to a report from German newspaper Süddeutshce Zeitung.

    “This is the future of information gathering,” an unnamed head of a relevant state office told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

    According to research by the newspaper, the authority has invested heavily in “virtual agents” since 2019, which it finances with taxpayers’ money. Both the federal office and the federal states employ spies, who besides right-wing extremists, are also tasked with keeping an eye on the left-wing extremists, Islamists, and the “conspiracy-ideological” scene.

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    However, the activities of the BfV running hundreds of right-wing extremist accounts have come to light at the same time that Germany’s left-wing government has labeled right-wing extremism the biggest threat to the country, despite data showing that left-wing extremists and radical Islam pose bigger threats. The country’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, has launched a 10-point plan to fight “right-wing extremism,” and much like the Biden administration in the United States, has turned the domestic security state against political opponents and labeled them terrorism threats and a danger to democracy. In Germany’s case, the opposition conservative Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is actively surveilled in certain federal states, with membership in the party the only prerequisite for agents being able to read emails and listen in on telephone calls of private citizens.

    With the BfV operating hundreds of right-wing extremist accounts, the agency argues that it is about “playing a little right-wing radical yourself” in order to gain the trust of other users. The employees of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are likely to conduct “propaganda” for this and sometimes also commit crimes such as “incitement to hatred.”

    However, what exactly these extremist accounts are posting that involve “incitement to hatred” is unclear, as there is little to no public oversight regarding these activities.

    “In order to be really credible, it is not enough to share or like what others say, you also have to make statements yourself. That means that the agents also bully and agitate,” says the report of an agent who claims to have joined the agency to “do something against right-wing extremists.” This involves actively encouraging people in their worldview, but she says it is her job to “feed” the scene.

    In fact, there are now so many accounts operated by different German authorities that a nationwide agreement has become necessary. Otherwise, these different agents would be targeting each other with surveillance and monitoring.

    Germany’s new government has taken an aggressive stance against anonymity on the web and free speech, and has targeted apps like Telegram, which is one of the few tech companies openly supporting free speech. Under a new regime, the German government is expected to open thousands of hate speech cases against the public every year.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 09/21/2022 – 02:00

  • MSNBC, CNN Guest Roasted After Calling Evangelical Prayer-Hands 'Nazi Salute'
    MSNBC, CNN Guest Roasted After Calling Evangelical Prayer-Hands ‘Nazi Salute’

    A lawyer and recurring guest on MSNBC and CNN has come under fire after claiming in a viral tweet that Doug Mastriano supporters were giving ‘a Nazi salute’ during a Sunday campaign rally in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

    Evangelical leader Lance Wallnau asked the crowd to rise, and asked them “if a proclamation can be a spiritual thing,” before asking them to raise their hands for a prayer rally in support of Mastriano’s run for PA Governor.

    “Can you say what they said at Gettysburg? ‘When you see us lined up as one, sweep down the hill to victory,'” Wallnau prompted the crowd, before beginning the prayer: “Father I pray, that indeed Pennsylvania will be like Little Round Top, and America will have a new birth of liberty.”

    Attorney and frequent MSNBC guest Tristan Snell commented on the clip, which now has 3.6 million views, saying “Yes, this is a Nazi salute, at a Doug Mastriano campaign event in Pennsylvania. In 2022,” adding “Democracy is literally on the ballot in November.”

    Watch the entire clip below:

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsSnell’s ‘hot propaganda’ take was too much even for CNN‘s K-File, who replied “This is just people praying and it doesn’t even resemble a Nazi salute.”

    Others followed suit:

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    And of course, the Lincoln Project went with the ‘Nazi salute’ thing and turned it into an anti-Mastriano ad.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 23:46

  • Alleged Oath Keepers Jan. 6 Radio Traffic Actually "A Recording Of People Watching TV", Former Attorney Says
    Alleged Oath Keepers Jan. 6 Radio Traffic Actually “A Recording Of People Watching TV”, Former Attorney Says

    Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A Twitter post by the U.S. House Jan. 6 Select Committee purporting to contain walkie-talkie traffic between Oath Keepers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 is actually “a recording of people watching TV,” a former Oath Keepers attorney contends.

    Two Oath Keepers inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The first Oath Keepers criminal trial is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2022. (U.S. DOJ/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

    Jonathon Moseley, who formerly represented Oath Keepers defendant Kelly Meggs, said the audio snippets released by the Jan. 6 Committee are part of a nearly 2.5-hour recording.

    The committee’s Twitter post paired the audio clips with an unrelated video of the Oath Keepers to make it appear it was Oath Keepers speaking on radios at the Capitol, he said.

    “I can speak from personal, direct, first-hand knowledge that this is a 2-hour, 20-minute recording of people watching TV,” Moseley told The Epoch Times in a statement on Sept. 18. “This is NOT Oath Keepers at the Capitol.”

    Defense attorneys in several Oath Keepers criminal cases have complained to the courts for months that these kinds of utterances from the Jan. 6 Select Committee will poison the jury pool, making it impossible for defendants to get a fair trial in the heavily Democratic District of Columbia. Numerous Oath Keepers motions for trial delays or changes of venue have been denied.

    The controversial Zello transmissions were under court seal when the Jan. 6 Committee published its Twitter post on Sept. 15.

    The highest profile Oath Keepers case goes to trial on Sept. 27. Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and four other defendants—Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, and Thomas Caldwell—are charged with seditious conspiracy to attack the Capitol and a range of other Jan. 6-related crimes.

    “The J6 Committee is operating as a partisan campaign PAC,” Moseley said. “Its public relations releases are not legislative actions. It is a Democrat campaign PAC for the November 2022 elections.”

    Oath Keepers defendant Jessica Watkins (front left) moves down the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (The Real Story of Jan. 6/Epoch TV)

    The Epoch Times reached out to a spokesman for the Jan. 6 Select Committee for comment, but did not receive a reply.

    The disputed Zello communications used by the Jan. 6 Committee have been part of a month-long fight in U.S. District Court between federal prosecutors, who want to introduce them as evidence, and Oath Keepers defense attorneys, who argued they are inadmissible hearsay.

    District Judge Amit Mehta on Sept. 19 ruled (pdf) that the statements made by the user—alleged to be defendant Watkins—are admissible as they are her first-hand impressions of conditions on the ground. Some of the statements made by other Zello users on the audio chat will be admitted as they provide context to what the user was saying, the judge said.

    Most of the inflammatory statements made by the chat leader “1% Watchdog” will be barred from evidence as being highly prejudicial, Mehta ruled.

    Tying Audio to One Oath Keeper

    Although the recording from the smartphone app Zello was given to Moseley and other defense attorneys in October 2021, it was only in late August 2022 that the U.S. Department of Justice said it would seek to admit parts of the 69-page transcript as evidence against the Oath Keepers, according to court records.

    Prosecutors allege Oath Keepers defendant Watkins spoke on Zello about what was happening in the Capitol, but defense attorneys say there is no evidence that she is the speaker.

    Zello is a phone application that mimics the push-to-talk features of a walkie-talkie, except that it uses cellular networks and internet connectivity to link users. It allows smartphones to operate like the popular Nextel push-to-talk phones developed and popularized in the 1990s. Based in Austin, Texas, Zello Inc. offers a variety of service plans for a monthly fee.

    The full 2 hour 22 minute audio file of the Jan. 6 broadcast on the “Stop the Steal J6” channel on Zello, referenced in the Oath Keepers criminal conspiracy case.

    Prosecutors allege that Watkins is heard on the recordings, although no Zello user account could be directly tied to her name or cell phone. The FBI found no Zello-related audio files on her phone, according to court records. Prosecutors contend Watkins was the user “OhioRegularsActual–Oathkeeper.”

    A recording of the public Zello transmissions was discovered on the audio-sharing website Soundcloud by two journalists in 2021. Zello does not store recordings from chats or channels.

    In a pretrial conference on Sept. 14, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told Mehta a law enforcement officer could testify at trial that the voice heard on parts of the recording belongs to Watkins.

    A Zello channel named “Stop the Steal J6,” created by user “1% Watchdog,” was opened to the public at 1:48 p.m. on Jan. 6, court records state. Zello users had to subscribe to the channel to have access. All subscribers were able to comment on the public channel.

    The conversations included unidentified individuals with account names including “1% Watchdog,” “Gen. Mark Davis CFA” and “iWatch Director Laureen.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 23:25

  • Russian Oil, Coal Exports To China Soar In August
    Russian Oil, Coal Exports To China Soar In August

    China’s imports of crude oil and coal imports from Russia exploded in August, data showed on Tuesday, but despite the jump in supply, Russia handed back its top oil supplier ranking to Saudi Arabia for the first time in four months, even as coal exports hit a record high.

    According to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs, imports of Russian oil, including supplies pumped via the East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline and seaborne shipments from Russia’s European and Far Eastern ports, totalled 8.342 million tonnes, up 28% Y/Y, the equivalent of 1.96 million barrels per day (bpd), and just slightly off May’s record of nearly 2 million bpd. China is Russia’s largest oil buyer, especially now that most of the western world has sanctioned Russian energy.

    China’s purchases of Russian oil have soared in order to reap the benefits of a plunge in European buying and tumbling prices for Russian oil…

    … just when Beijing needs it most as the Ukraine crisis pushes Moscow in search of alternative markets

    Russian imports rose as Chinese independent refiners extended purchases of discounted Russian supplies that elbowed out rival cargoes from West Africa and Brazil.

    But despite the full price, imports from Saudi Arabia rebounded last month to 8.475 million tonnes, or 1.99 million bpd, 5% above the year ago levels, and just inching out Russia for the top spot.  Saudi Arabia also remains the biggest supplier on a year-to-date basis, shipping 58.31 million tonnes of oil from January to August, down 0.3% on the year, versus 55.79 million tonnes from Russia, which was up 7.3% from the year ago period.

    In total, China crude oil imports in August fell 9.4% from a year earlier, as outages at state-run refineries and lower operations at independent plants caused by weak margins capped buying.

    The table below shows imports by country, with volumes in metric tonnes and percentage change calculated by Reuters.

    The strong purchases of Russian oil continued to weigh on competing supplies from Angola and Brazil, which fell in August by 34% and 47% year-on-year, respectively. Customs reported no imports from Venezuela or Iran last month. State oil firms have shunned purchases since late 2019 for fear of falling foul of secondary U.S. sanctions, although many still engage in illicit trade which is not disclosed on the books. One such company is defense-focused China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) which moved 25 million barrels of Venezuelan crude into China since late 2020, which Chinese customs does not report.

    Tuesday’s customs data also showed imports from Malaysia, often used as a transfer point in the past two years for oil originating from Iran, Venezuela and more recently Russia, nearly doubled from a year earlier, to 3.37 million tonnes, or 794,000 bpd.

    China did not import any crude from the United States, data showed.

    But it wasn’t just Russian oil that Beijing was waving in: China’s coal imports from Russia also exploded in August, exceeding last month’s level and hitting the highest in at least five years, as power utilities in the world’s biggest coal consumer sought overseas supplies to meet soaring demand in extreme hot weather.

    Arrivals of Russian coal last month reached 8.54 million tonnes, up from the previous peak of 7.42 million tonnes in July and 57% higher than in the same period last year, Chinese customs data showed on Tuesday. In fact, the monthly figure was the highest on record, since comparable statistics began in 2017.

    Prices for Russian coal have climbed as both China and India stepped up buying, traders said, but were still cheaper than the domestic coal of same quality. Russian thermal coal at 5,500 kcal on delivery basis to China was assessed at about $155 a tonne in late August, up from about $150 a tonne a month earlier.

    As Reuters notes, after a severe drought and heatwave hit western and southern China from late July, coal-fired power plants geared up production to meet the spiking demand for air conditioning and the supply gap from hydropower stations. They also increased purchases of higher quality thermal coal, such as Russian coal, to improve electricity generation efficiency.

    China brought in 15.82 million tonnes of the dirty fuel from its top supplier Indonesia in August, 35% higher from July, data showed. But that was still lower than the 17.3 million tonnes imported in August last year.

    The increase of Indonesian coal purchases came as lucrative prices encouraged utilities to place more orders. In August, Indonesian 3,800 kcal thermal coal was about 170 yuan ($24.26) a tonne cheaper than the same quality Chinese coal, and 4,700 kcal coal was 140 yuan lower.

    Power utilities are expected to increase imports in October to replenish stocks ahead of the kick-off of the heating season in most of northern China in mid-November.

    However, as renminbi depreciation continues, imported coal will become more expensive for Chinese buyers and potentially dent demand.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 23:05

  • Lindell To Sue FBI To Return His Phone, Or Have Special Master Appointed
    Lindell To Sue FBI To Return His Phone, Or Have Special Master Appointed

    Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    My Pillow’s CEO Mike Lindell is set to file a lawsuit against the FBI and the U.S. government after federal agents seized his phone last week as part of a federal grand jury investigation run out of Colorado.

    The agents cornered Lindell in three cars on Sept. 13 as he was driving back from a hunting trip in Iowa. In a search warrant they handed him, authorities outlined an expansive list of information they were seeking from Lindell’s phone relating to allegations of fraud during the 2020 presidential election. It also named a number of individuals allegedly implicated in the 2021 breach of election software in Mesa County, Colorado.

    The search warrant cites potential breaches of three U.S. laws relating to identity theft, intentional damage to a protected computer, and conspiracy to comment on such offenses. Some of the information to be seized concerned the alleged tampering of voting machines and the “attempt to impair the integrity or availability” of the voting system.

    Alleged Violation of Rights

    The search and seizure warrant, Lindell and his lawyer Kurt Olsen argue, violated the businessman’s First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, which safeguards free speech, protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures, and shields citizens from criminal prosecution without due process, respectively. It also brought reputational harm and millions of dollars in monetary damage, Lindell told The Epoch Times ahead of the filing.

    The lawsuit, to be filed on Sept. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, will seek the return of the seized phone that Lindell had relied on, in lieu of a laptop, to run his five businesses.

    “That specific device was everything for me,” Lindell told The Epoch Times, describing his phone as a “filing cabinet.” The FBI wouldn’t allow him to back up his phone, he said in a previous interview.

    Lindell is now trying to reconfigure everything as much as he can, the businessman said. “There are so many apps now I don’t have the passwords to, also my hearing aids, everything run off that,” he said, referring to the fact that his hearing aids had previously been connected to his phone.

    The search warrant listed more than 20 types of data to be taken from Lindell’s phone, including the geographical location of Lindell and other named “co-conspirators” in the search warrant since Nov. 1, 2020, records indicating their state of mind regarding the alleged offenses, and the identity of any individuals he communicated with on the matter.

    Lindell’s attorney said the lawsuit will seek to bar the U.S. government from using this information, and failing that, requests the appointment of an independent arbiter known as a special master to review the data for privileged information to be withheld from authorities.

    “In any data that they access, we’re going to suppress the release of any information that they unlawfully obtained, and in the alternative, we’re going to ask for a special master to be appointed to review and segregate the data on his phone from what was required under the warrant,” Olsen told The Epoch Times.

    Monetary Loss

    The consequences of the FBI action were not limited to the loss of access to critical data, Lindell added.

    Four companies who partnered Lindell’s MyStore, an online marketplace featuring American-made products, have backed out of agreements over the federal investigation—either “out of fear” or out of the belief that the businessman has “done something wrong,” Lindell said. A bank last week also informed Lindell that they will stop financing one of MyPillow’s products.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 22:45

  • The US Has A Jails Suicide Crisis On Its Hands
    The US Has A Jails Suicide Crisis On Its Hands

    Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in jails in the United States, with a rate more than three times higher to that of the general public, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

    As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, there is also a disparity between jails and federal or state prisons.

    In the U.S, a jail is where people are held before they are sentenced in court. It is also a place where people are sent after receiving a sentence, usually for lighter crimes. A prison is where people go to carry out longer sentences.

    Infographic: The U.S. Has a Jails Suicide Crisis on Its Hands | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The gap in suicide rates comes down to a number of reasons.

    In a state prison, officials have more detailed information when trying to assess inmates for suicide risks and there is greater focus on educational programmes. By comparison, jails are considered to have worse conditions, uncertainty over pending sentences, and according to reporting in NPR, are more likely to receive first-time offenders who might experience a traumatic “shock of confinement”, as they are suddenly cut off from social support.

    Leah Wang of The Prison Policy Initiative writes that the increase of suicides in jails can also be mapped onto the rising number of women being incarcerated, often in rural, smaller jails. She adds that mental health issues and drug or alcohol disorders are significantly more likely among this group, although often not identified at the time, and that jails’ policies do not reflect the needs of women. Wang writes: “Jails are shameful replacements for key social and medical services, and too often low-level offenses are used to justify locking people up, out of sight, when they simply need help.”

    As Statista’s chart shows, the suicide gap goes back at least two decades – when BJS reports on the topic first began – and is getting worse. And where federal and state prisons have had historically lower suicide rates than jails, their rates have been climbing in recent years too.

    Delays with data reporting mean we do not yet have the numbers on jail and prison suicides from 2020 to 2022. These will likely be impacted by the pandemic, whether through fears of the virus itself, the trauma of losing loved ones and fellow inmates, limited visiting times or with staffing shortages making it hard to monitor inmates.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 22:25

  • "Explosion" Rocks BP Refinery In Ohio
    “Explosion” Rocks BP Refinery In Ohio

    The BP-Husky Toledo refinery in Oregon, Ohio, was rocked by an “explosion” around 1830 local time, according to local news WTOL, citing witnesses. 

    Videos posted on social media show the fire at the BP refinery. 

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    WTOL learned at least two people were severely burned. The cause of the fire remains yet to be determined. 

    Chris Howard was waiting to hear from his father who works at the plant Tuesday night. He received a phone call around 7 p.m. from a friend who works security at the refinery.

    “He said it was like some sort of explosion,” Howard said. “He told me there was just a big rumble at the refinery, lots of fire everywhere. He said it’s the worst he’s seen. Lots of people injured.” — WTOL

    BP’s website explained the refinery “process up to 160,000 barrels of crude oil each day, providing the Midwest with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, propane, asphalt, and other products.” 

    It added: “On a daily basis the refinery can produce 3.8 million gallons of gasoline, 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel and 600,000 gallons of jet fuel.” 

    *Developing… 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 22:03

  • Musk Says Starlink Now "Active" On All Seven Continents
    Musk Says Starlink Now “Active” On All Seven Continents

    Elon Musk said his satellite-internet system Starlink is “active” on all continents. However, the availability map on Starlink’s website says otherwise.

    “Starlink is now active on all continents, including Antarctica,” Musk tweeted. 

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    But the availability map of the low-latency, high-speed satellite internet service only appears “available” across the Americas, Europe, Australia — Russia, China, and Iran appear to be blocked with no service in the foreseeable future. And not even a sign of progress in Africa (nevertheless Musk’s home country of South Africa). 

    Even though Ukraine is shown on the “waitlist” with service not officially available — there have been countless stories in Western media about how Musk’s space satellites changed the war on the ground against Russia. Maybe there’s more than meets the eye, as coverage is more widespread than reported on the map. 

    This month, more than 2,300 Starlink satellites are in orbit. Another 54 Starlink satellites via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 reusable rocket were launched into space on Sunday night from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

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    Last week, Musk tweeted Starlink “is meant for peaceful use only,” in what appears to be a response to Russia’s complaints about Western countries using “elements of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure in outer space for military purposes” at a recent United Nations meeting. 

    “It seems like our colleagues do not realize that such actions in fact constitute indirect involvement in military conflicts,” Konstantin Vorontsov, the head of the Russian delegation to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs working group, said last week. 

    Meanwhile, Musk has said he would pursue an exception to US sanctions on Iran to supply Starlink access to the country in the Middle East:

    “Internet access is an important tool for protesters and activists in Iran, which blocks many services like YouTube and many foreign media outlets in an effort to impose what the country describes as a halal internet, or one that conforms to its interpretation of Islamic law,” said WSJ. 

    Starlink’s worldwide expansion appears more widespread than what is being shown on the map offered by the company. As for “peaceful use only” applications, that remains to be seen… 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 21:45

  • Pentagon Opens Review Of Its Clandestine Psychological Operations
    Pentagon Opens Review Of Its Clandestine Psychological Operations

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    The Pentagon has ordered a sweeping review of how it conducts clandestine information warfare after social media sites removed fake accounts that were suspected of being linked to the US military, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

    A report published last month by research groups Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory detailed the activity of fake accounts on Facebook and Twitter that were promoting pro-Western narratives in posts targeting audiences overseas. The social media companies removed around 150 accounts over the past few years, with some removed recently as they were promoting anti-Russia narratives about the war in Ukraine.

    Soldiers assigned to the Military Information Support Task Force-Central (MISTF-C) Production Development Detachment at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Image: US Army

    The report did not attribute blame for the accounts, but two unnamed military officials speaking to the Post hinted that US Central Command (CENTCOM) was involved. Separately, the Post said that Facebook removed fictitious personas created by CENTCOM to counter a Chinese claim that Covid-19 originated from the US Army bio lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

    In response to the Graphika and Stanford Internet Observatory report, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, ordered the review, which instructed US military command involved in psychological operations to fill the White House in on their activities by next month. Kahl said he wanted to know what types of operations were being carried out and if they were effective.

    The US military has a long history of psychological operations, but its activities online in that area are shrouded in secrecy. While there are military units that specialize in psyops, such as the US Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group, the Pentagon also employs more covert forces in this area.

    A video published by the US Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group earlier this year:

    Last year, Newsweek reported that over the past decade, the Pentagon had created the world’s largest clandestine force that consists of about 60,000 people, many of whom use fake identities and operate across the world.

    A major part of the Pentagon’s undercover force are people that operate exclusively online. Newsweek described them as “cutting-edge cyber fighters and intelligence collectors who assume false personas online.” These cyber fighters work to gather data, but some also “engage in campaigns to influence and manipulate social media.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 21:25

  • FOMC Preview: If 2023 Dot Comes In Higher Than 4.5%, The Stock Market Will Not Like It
    FOMC Preview: If 2023 Dot Comes In Higher Than 4.5%, The Stock Market Will Not Like It

    There is a longer preview of what the Fed will likely say and do tomorrow, but up front we wanted to recap the main points from Goldman’s call this morning with Josh Schiffrin, the bank’s co-head of US and global rates.

    1. Tomorrow will be brief and to the point: the fed was unhappy with markets reaction to July hike (percived as dovish and potential pivot) … “we are hiking 75bps and are single minded in resolve to bring down inflation”

    2. Dot plot to offer quasi forward guidance, showing restrictive policy until around 2025 (recall in aug fed hammered home the idea that cutting rates in ’23 was the wrong takeaway)

    3. Rhetoric + dots will show us headed for fed funds rate >4% for some time

    Here is flow trader John Flood chimes in that the base case is:

    1. 75bps hike
    2. Hawkish commentary and dots 4.0-4.25% for 2022 and 4.25%-4.5% for 2023.

    Today, the Terminal rate again ticked to 4.5% today. Which is why as Flood warns, “if 2023 dot comes in higher than this 4.5% mark the stock mkt will NOT like it.”

    Of course, the good news is that most of this is already priced in: here is a quick snapshot of what the market has already priced in: 75bps fully, and 18% chance of a 100bps rate hike.

    For those who have been sleeping under a rock this summer, Goldman’s Michael Nocerino recaps the market action over the past month:

    SPX reached a high of 4325 back on August 16th after tapping up against the 200dma only to immediately fade [just as BofA’ Michael Hartnett said at the time would happen]. At that point, markets were running hot rallying over 16% off the July 14 lows to that August 16th technical stall (NYC was also hot with 10 days over 90 degrees in July). Markets have since retraced ~10% from that most recent peak, but overall the summer season has proven to provide solid returns of 6% after starting the year down nearly 23%. Now that we Fall back, one thing that hasn’t cooled is inflation.

    FOMC tomorrow is the focus, but at this point I don’t think anyone is going to be fooled by at least a 75bps hike (market is pricing in only a ~20% chance of a 100bps). Once the capitulation happened into late August, we started to see HF positioning tick higher (See our PB data) with LO’s starting to put some cash back to work. This continue into the CPI print and our flows confirmed the move with LO’s leaning in with a heavy buy skew. Post CPI, everything unraveled as our flows flipped aggressively for sale, with HF positioning back in 2nd percentile and LO’s with record amount of cash on the sidelines.

    That brings us to today where we’ve seen our second day of muted price action with flows neutral as the fact remains that US real rates are now the highest they have been for a decade and US mortgage rates at levels not seen since 2008. So what can we expect and what’s is going to take to get us to a soft-landing and investors back on their feet?

    With all that in mind, here is an official preview of what the Fed will do tomorrow, courtesy of Newsquawk:

    75 OR 100: The FOMC is expected Wednesday to hike the FFR by 75bps to 3.00-3.25%, with risks of a larger 100bps hike after the super-hot August CPI data shattered expectations for any imminent downturn in inflation. While the angst around CPI is deafening, it’s worth highlighting the decline in long-term inflation expectations (via UoM and NY Fed surveys), lower prices paid components in September Philly Fed and Empire State releases, and also the more contained August PPI data (which will keep the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, Core PCE, more anchored) as factors that may temper some of the extreme hawkishness, ergo votes for 100bps.

    MARKET PRICING: Markets took down implied 100bps September pricing to near 15% in wake of the decline in the UoM consumer inflation expectations survey, although crept back up to 20% as of Monday. Money markets have priced in just shy of 150bps of hikes across the September and November meetings, with 190bps priced through December, taking the 2022-end rate into a 4.00-4.25% range up from 3.75-4% before CPI, while 215bps of tightening is currently priced into the terminal rate (March 2023) taking rates towards the top-end of the 4.25-4.5% range up from 3.75-4% pre-CPI. Markets are currently pricing a 2023-end Fed rate at 4%. In its preview, Goldman writes that it expects the FOMC to deliver a third 75bp rate hike on Wednesday, taking the funds rate to 3-3.25%. “The bond market is pricing a roughly three-in-four chance of a 75bp hike and a one-in-four chance of a 100bp hike instead. We expect the pace of tightening to then slow to 50bp in November and December, which would leave the funds rate at 4-4.25% at the end of 2022.”

    A quick caveat from Goldman here: “a third “unusually large” hike would represent a reversal from the plan Chair Powell laid out in his July press conference to slow the pace of rate hikes in order to reduce the risk of overtightening. We see little net surprise in the economic data during the intermeeting period: activity growth has remained soft, and inflation and labor market data came in firmer than expected one month and softer the other.”

    GUIDANCE: The broad-based upside seen in the August CPI (Core +0.6% M/M, +6.3% Y/Y, with services gaining momentum) broke what could have been more evidence toward a series of lower readings, a condition that would have allowed the Fed to start considering a slowdown in the pace of tightening. With the dovish runoff now closed, at least in the near term, the likelihood of the Fed hiking until the economy crashes, a ‘hard landing’, has increased further and markets have shifted to reflect that notion. Aside from risks of 100bps in September, another 75bps in November looks more likely. Fed officials have stressed their data-dependence and have on the whole been coy to tie their hands to guidance on the rate path. We can expect a reiteration in the statement, “the Committee… anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.” Powell will likely be pressed on his preference for the November meeting in the press conference. Absent guidance, the data-dependent stance will instead see greater attention put on the SEPs.

    DOT PLOT: The SEP (‘Dot Plot’) will be updated, since their last iteration in June, to show both a higher year-end and terminal rate with some desks in wake of CPI forecasting new dots that could reach heights of 4% (prev. 3.4% median in June) and 5% (prev. 3.8% in June), respectively, reflective of both the worsening inflation outlook and stubbornly tight labour market. Fed Governor Waller, to wit, “right now there is no tradeoff between the Fed’s employment and inflation objectives, so we will continue to aggressively fight inflation.” However, there is no clear consensus among analysts for the terminal rate, but forecasts are seen more common around 4.25%, with some dovish estimates pencilling in a terminal beneath 4%. A few are also forecasting rate cuts heading into 2024 and 2025.

    Bloomberg compiled the following economist survey between September 9th-14th, meaning not all responses will incorporate the August CPI data, thus, these can be considered somewhat stale, with expectations for the Fed Funds and inflation dots having nudged higher since the data. Note this is also the first SEP release containing 2025 estimates.

    Median dot expectations:

    • FEDERAL FUNDS RATE: exp. at 3.9% in 2022 (prev. 3.4% in Jun), 4.1% in 2023 (prev. 3.8%), 3.6% in 2024 (prev. 3.4%), 2.9% in 2025, 2.5% in longer run (prev. 2.5%)
    • CHANGE IN REAL GDP: exp. at 0.5% in 2022 (prev. 1.7% in Jun), 1.4% in 2023 (prev. 1.7%), 1.7% in 2024 (prev. 1.9%), 1.8% in 2025, 1.8% in longer run (prev. 1.8%)
    • UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: exp. at 3.7% in 2022 (prev. 3.7% in Jun), 4.1% in 2023 (prev. 3.9%), 4.2% in 2024 (prev. 4.1%), 4.1% in 2025, 4% in longer run (prev. 4.0%)
    • PCE INFLATION: exp. at 5.2% in 2022 (prev. 5.2% in Jun), 2.6% in 2023 (prev. 2.6%), 2.2% in 2024 (prev. 2.2%), 2% in 2025, 2% in longer run (prev. 2.0%)
    • CORE PCE INFLATION: exp. at 4.5% in 2022 (prev. 4.3% in Jun), 2.8% in 2023 (prev. 2.7%), 2.3% in 2024 (prev. 2.3%), 2% in 2025

    BALANCE SHEET: Fed officials are also likely to be increasingly cognizant of the restrictive effects of quantitative tightening (QT), both from a monetary perspective and a smooth market functioning view, with liquidity conditions in the Treasury market sitting at uncomfortable levels from a historical standpoint. These concerns have brought uncertainty about whether the Fed will go ahead with previous stated plans to consider MBS sales. Note, the runoff (allowing existing holdings to mature without reinvesting) has now accelerated to an annual pace of USD 1.1tln, while desks see the balance sheet shrinking to USD 8.4tln by year-end and USD 6.6tln in December 2024, based on the current plans.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 21:05

  • Pennsylvania County Sued Over Illegal Ballot Drop Box Usage Captured On Camera
    Pennsylvania County Sued Over Illegal Ballot Drop Box Usage Captured On Camera

    Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A conservative legal group is suing the board of elections in Pennsylvania’s Chester County, citing surveillance camera footage that captured the illegal use of ballot drop boxes.

    Individuals are captured delivering more than two ballots at the drop box at 601 Westtown Road, West Chester, Pennsylvania, in May 2022. (America First Legal)

    The lawsuit was filed Thursday by America First Legal (AFL) on behalf of registered voters in Chester County. The group, founded by longtime Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, said this is meant to ensure that the board adheres to Pennsylvania’s election law regarding ballot drop boxes prior to this November’s election.

    Under Pennsylvania’s election code, mailed and absentee ballots have to be returned either by mail or in person by the person to whom the ballot belongs, meaning one person cannot drop more than one ballot in a drop box.

    During the May primary election, the Chester County Board of Elections placed 13 drop boxes. An instruction attached to each box by the board explicitly said that “you must only return your own ballot,” and that “you are prohibited from delivering or returning anyone else’s ballot, even if that person is your spouse, parent, child, grandparent, other relative, neighbor, or friend.”

    However, only 11 of all 13 boxes were physically watched by a staff member and were only accessible at certain hours of the day, according to the complaint. The other two boxes, which were accessible 24 hours per day, remained unstaffed but monitored with surveillance cameras.

    The surveillance camera footage, obtained through a Right-to-Know request from the board, showed multiple instances of individuals delivering more than two ballots. Together, some 300 individuals had dropped “invalid and void ballots” at that location, according to the AFL.

    An individual is captured on camera delivering more than two ballots at the drop box at 601 Westtown Road, West Chester, Pennsylvania, in May 2022. (America First Legal)

    “This means that at least 300 invalid and void ballots were deposited into just one drop box, which were then canvassed and counted,” the AFL said in the complaint (pdf), adding that although a review of the camera footage of the other drop box is still underway, it is fair to assume that a similar number of “void and invalid ballots” were deposited there.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 20:45

  • 'The Dollar Is Once Again The World's Problem' – Chinese State Media Urges 'De-Dollarization' Amid Fed's "Financial Looting"
    ‘The Dollar Is Once Again The World’s Problem’ – Chinese State Media Urges ‘De-Dollarization’ Amid Fed’s “Financial Looting”

    On the eve of The Fed’s big decision to hike rates 75bps or 100bps in an effort to shock the system and tamp down out of control inflation, no lesser entity than the CCP-backed Global Times penned an editorial attacking US monetary policy, entitled: “The strong dollar should not become a sharp blade to cut the world.”

    The editorial begins by noting that tomorrow’s rate-hike will likely further strengthen the US Dollar, which “for many countries in the world,” China says, “might be the beginning of another nightmare.”

    “A super strong US dollar and the fall of other currencies will, to a certain extent, ease the scorching inflation in the US economy, but the world will have to pay for it.“

    And the dollar’s strength has pushed Asian FX markets down hard to their weakest since 2003…

    The Global Times then exclaims that since the end of World War II, the US has used dollar hegemony to carry out “financial looting” or “export crises” against other countries several times.

    “As a widely popular phrase in the West goes, the US enjoys the exorbitant privileges created by the dollar and the deficit without tears, and used the worthless paper note to plunder the resources and factories of other nations…

    … while the political elites in Washington boast of the “myth of the American system” and take credit for “alleviating the crisis,” thousands of poor families around the world are being trampled by them.“

    And as the yuan tumbles, and Beijing’s attempts (through strong yuan fixes at a minimum) to defy gravity…

    …the editorial points the finger directly:

    ” Today, the dollar is once again the world’s problem. In a sense, it’s hard to believe that the “prosperity” of the US is clean and moral…

    …Washington keeps laying mines but never removes them, which will eventually explode the US itself. The incompetence of US financial policymakers has been exposed by the consecutive interest rate hikes that have contributed to the abnormal appreciation of the US dollar with the purpose of defusing the severe inflation. “

    Now the anxiety and insecurity brought by the US dollar to the world has heralded the beginning of the decline of its hegemony – regarding Washington’s insatiable exploitation, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and other regions have explored the path of “de-dollarization,” leading to the inevitable diversification of the international monetary system…

    “…The instability and fragility of international financial markets have once again become prominent. It is precisely at such times that the international community should be more determined to cooperate and build a reliable, systemic and long-term multilateral international financial system. This cannot wait.“

    Remember, as we have noted previously, nothing lasts forever…

    Read the full Editorial here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 20:25

  • US Ends Reports On Military Costs, Arms Transfers
    US Ends Reports On Military Costs, Arms Transfers

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    The State Department announced in August that it will no longer publish World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (WMEAT) reports, which have been released by the US government since the 1960s.

    The WMEATs detail US global military spending, arms transfers, and related data for each country in the world. The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included an amendment that repealed a 1994 provision requiring the State Department to publish a WMEAT each year.

    US Marine Corp image

    “Section 5114(b)(4) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 repealed the 1994 statutory provision that required the Department of State to publish an edition of WMEAT every year. Consistent with this repeal, the Department of State will cease to produce and publish WMEAT,” the State Department said on its website.

    The State Department said that the report it published in 2021 was the “final edition” of the WMEAT. The 2021 WMEAT covered an 11-year period from 2009 through 2019 and found that the US was by far the world’s largest arms dealer.

    During that period, about “79 percent of world arms trade by value appears to have been supplied by the United States.”

    The discontinuation of the WMEAT reports, which reduces the US government’s transparency, comes as the US is shipping billions of dollars worth of arms into Ukraine with virtually no oversight.

    Since Russia invaded on February 24, the US has pledged $15.1 billion in weapons for Kyiv. 

    The latest $600 million unveiled last week is being pulled from the $40 billion Ukraine aid bill that President Biden signed back in May, but those funds are running out, and the administration has asked Congress for more.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 20:05

  • McDonald's CEO Warns That More Companies Will Leave Crime Ridden Chicago
    McDonald’s CEO Warns That More Companies Will Leave Crime Ridden Chicago

    McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski says exploding crime has made his employees feel unsafe to go to work and has made it impossible to hire new talent for the company’s Chicago offices.  The Illinois city has seen over 494 homicides so far in 2022, which is at least 100 more deaths that it saw in the first 8 months of 2019.  Burglary is up at least 36% and theft overall is up 70% from a year ago.       

    Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is likely a large part of the problem. A notorious proponent of social justice ideology, Lightfoot vowed to crack down on anti-covid lockdown protesters but refused to do the same with BLM looting and rioting.  Under her leadership Chicago has spiraled out of control.  Lightfoot recently lauded a minor drop in homicides this year while ignoring the fact that deaths skyrocketed in 2020 and 2021, making the recent small decline far less meaningful.

    Lightfoot called for defunding Chicago police by $80 million in 2020, only to then beg for federal law enforcement assistance in 2021.  Chicago continues to be known as one of the most violent cities in America. 

    The concerns expressed by McDonald’s leadership parallels similar worries expressed by companies in democrat run cities across the US in terms of economic viability and safety.  Numerous businesses have fled Los Angeles and San Francisco in the past two years, not just because of the draconian California lockdowns and mandates, but also because of rising crime and poverty. 

    As Kempczinski noted:

    “The truth is, it’s more difficult today for me to convince a promising McDonald’s executive to relocate to Chicago from one of our other offices than it was just a few years ago.”

    The ideological policies of the political left are proving to be completely incompatible with successful business practices.  Over-taxation along with actual support for criminals over law abiding citizens and law enforcement are fueling an unstable environment supported by thin pillars of government assistance and welfare.  One gets the sense that as bad as things are in blue cities, they could get a whole lot worse in the near future should a single “black swan” event take place.

    This is not to say that some cities in red states don’t have their share of crime.  Houston, Texas, for example, also has a problem with higher homicide rates the past couple of years, but keep in mind, Houston is also run by Democrats. 

    In other words, leftists in charge seem to be the common denominator when it comes to US cities facing high crime rates and economic decline.  New Orleans, Louisiana, recently named the murder capital of the US, is ALSO run by Democrats.  It’s an inescapable cause and effect relationship.

    Three booming businesses, Citadel, Caterpillar, and Boeing, have all moved their headquarters out of Chicago as crime soars. Kempczinski encouraged public officials to address the crime or risk more companies leaving. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 19:45

  • Illegal Immigrants Voluntarily Sign Forms That Disclose Destination: Gov. Abbott’s Office
    Illegal Immigrants Voluntarily Sign Forms That Disclose Destination: Gov. Abbott’s Office

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

    Illegal immigrants who are being transported to other parts of the country from Texas voluntarily sign a waiver that discloses their destination, according to a spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott.

    “The migrants on Texas’ buses willingly chose to go to Washington, D.C., New York City, or Chicago, having signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination,” spokesperson Renae Eze told media outlets recently.

    With the U.S. Capitol in the backdrop, a bus from Texas carrying illegal immigrants arrives in Washington on Aug. 2, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

    Meanwhile, the city of El Paso, Texas, reportedly has its own program for busing illegal immigrants. The Democrat-run city is located across the border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

    “The state is not involved in El Paso’s busing,” Eze told Just the News on Sept. 17.

    The comments follow claims by Democratic and White House officials that Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are misleading illegal immigrants and have suggested that the transfer program isn’t voluntary. When Abbott initiated the busing plan earlier this year, he repeatedly said the illegal aliens would go on a voluntary—not mandatory—basis.

    Only the federal government sets immigration policy and is responsible for deportations. Governors don’t have such powers.

    The busing program drew headlines last week when DeSantis flew about 50 illegal aliens to Martha’s Vineyard, a Massachusetts island that’s popular with wealthy Democratic elites, from Florida. On the same day, Abbott bused dozens of individuals picked up at the border to Vice President Kamala Harris’s official residence in Washington.

    In response, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Sept. 16 that the White House is deferring to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on whether legal action is being considered against the Republican governors.

    Hours after sending the illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated the National Guard and promptly sent them to a military base on Cape Cod. It isn’t clear what will happen to the aliens, who are reportedly of Venezuelan origin.

    During a press conference last week, DeSantis said he’s considering flying more illegal migrants to other parts of the country.

    “Obviously, there’s going to be buses like Texas is doing, [and] there may be some more flights,” he announced.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 19:25

  • Why One Trader Expects The Fed To Pause Hikes Amid Growing Evidence Of Slowing Demand
    Why One Trader Expects The Fed To Pause Hikes Amid Growing Evidence Of Slowing Demand

    Ahead of tomorrow’s Fed rate hike, which Jerome Powell now openly prays will push the US economy into a deep recession leaving millions without a job and Democrats furious at the Fed chair (after all they will need a scapegoat when it all goes L-shaped), stocks tumbled as Treasury yields hit multiyear highs, with traders bracing for aa potentially more hawkish Federal Reserve than is currently priced in.

    As Bloomberg’ Vincent Cignarella writes, some swaps traders – very few – are pricing for a 100 basis point rate hike, as some strategists also call for a full 1 point move. Still, the vast majority see 75 basis points as the likely case, especially after the WSJ’s Fed whisperer Nick Timiraos called for 75bps, with only two of the 96 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg currently predicting a full-point increase.

    And yet, as Cignarella writes this morning for the Bloomberg Markets live blog, the shrinking backlog at ports that contributed to supply-chain disruptions and a surge in consumer prices is rapidly slowing. As the Bloomberg trader notes, changes in container flows precede GDP changes, and the current trend is lower (not that one needs another confirmation of this, especially with the Atlanta Fed about to print negative for the 3rd quarter in a row).

    Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero expects the pandemic-era surge in US consumer demand that snarled supply chains to start to cool, with evidence of a deceleration beginning to show in weaker inbound container arrivals.

    Many commodity prices are also falling without prodding from the fed as demand has been slowing. It’s not just gasoline that’s falling. Crude is lower by 25%, natural gas 22%, lumber 66%, copper down 27% and this morning the NAHB index of homebuilder confidence fell to 46 from 90 at the end of 2020. Better supply flows and slower demand sets up just the economic slowdown Powell is trying to create.

    At the same time, prices that are rising — food and rent — are out of the Fed’s control.

    Meanwhile, the only thing rate hikes will accomplish is a recession. They always do. What they will also likely bring is an eventual improvement in risk appetite and the beginning of another bull market. Of course, slower growth and declining demand will bring less inflation.

    All of that, Cignarella writes, “may lead the Fed to pause after Wednesday’s rate hike, opening the way for the start of a risk rally.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 19:05

  • Wisconsin's Use Of Private Vendor To Maintain Voter Roll On The Line After Complaint
    Wisconsin’s Use Of Private Vendor To Maintain Voter Roll On The Line After Complaint

    Authored by Steven Kovac via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A citizen group filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) on Sept. 8, alleging that the commission broke federal law by contracting an out-of-state vendor to maintain the state’s voter rolls.

    Meagan Wolfe, head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, speaks during a virtual press conference on Nov. 4, 2020. (Wisconsin Elections Commission via Reuters)

    In its complaint (pdf), the Wisconsin Voter Alliance is challenging the legality of a state law which permits the elections commission to contract with third parties to maintain the state’s centralized voter roll. The complaint seeks a declaration from the WEC finding that the state statute violates the 2002 federal Help America Vote Act.

    The complaint also asks the commission to declare that database sharing with third parties and the parties’ uses of the database are legally unauthorized under federal law.

    Such a declaration by WEC would force the end of the years-long contractual relationship between the commission and the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

    According to its website, ERIC is a “public charity nonprofit membership organization comprised of 33 states and the District of Columbia.”

    The organization’s mission is “to assist states in improving the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.”

    Under the terms of their contract with ERIC, member states are required to send voter registration information to potentially eligible residents who aren’t registered to vote every two years.

    ERIC identifies the individuals by comparing voter data with motor vehicle licensing information, which the member states, by contract, must provide to it.

    A sign directs voters toward a polling place near the state capitol in Madison, Wis., on Nov. 6, 2018. (Nick Oxford/File Photo/Reuters)

    The complainants argue that federal law requires that only the elections commission and its officials are authorized to maintain and implement the statewide voter registration system database.

    They claim that the Help America Vote Act requires the elections commission to maintain its database without outside assistance from a third party and that the task can’t be delegated to any other entity.

    The complaint asserts that under the federal statute, the election officials of each state are mandated to create and maintain a centralized, interactive, and computerized statewide voter registration list. The law states that the voter list is to be “defined, maintained, and administered at the State level … [and] shall be coordinated with other agency databases within the State.”

    The federal law also states that “the appropriate State or local election official shall perform list maintenance with respect to the computerized list on a regular basis.”

    The statute requires states to “remove the names of ineligible voters from the computerized list in accordance with State law.”

    “The language of the law is plain. It is the responsibility of state elections officials to clean up their own voter rolls,” Erick Kaardal, an attorney representing the alliance, told The Epoch Times.

    The complaint cites the U.S. Code to show that any election official in the state, including local election officials, “may obtain immediate electronic access to the information contained in the computerized list.”

    “The same federal law clearly mandates that the computerized list ‘shall be coordinated with other agency databases within the State,’” Kaardal said. “The operative phrase is ‘within the State.’”

    ERIC is headquartered in Washington. The Epoch Times contacted ERIC for comment.

    WEC officials didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

    Meagan Wolfe, the commission’s administrator, is the most recent past president of ERIC, according to its website.

    “The cleverness of ERIC’s founder, David Becker, has created a mirage in the minds of state election officials around the country that they cannot handle the complex job of cleaning up the voter rolls themselves,” Kaardal told The Epoch Times on Sept. 13. “So, they go to their legislatures and convince them to provide the small appropriation needed to contract with ERIC.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 18:45

  • Russia Opens Military Recruitment Center For Foreigners
    Russia Opens Military Recruitment Center For Foreigners

    From near the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian side has touted its own “foreign legion” – which especially in the opening months attracted thousands of Westerners. Calling itself the “International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine” – potential recruits can even go to an official website and click “join”. 

    President Volodymyr Zelensky a mere two days after the Feb.24 invasion of his country had called on “friends of Ukraine, freedom and democracy” to sign up for the territorial defense forces. According to one study tracking Ukraine forces during the conflict, “Just two weeks after Zelensky asked foreigners to serve in the Ukrainian ‘international legion,’ Ukraine announced that more than 20,000 foreign volunteers from over 52 different countries had arrived.”

    Russian military recruitment signs, via Reuters

    As the study noted further, “Many of the new arrivals were well trained with prior military experience. These included veterans who served in the US Army, US Marine Corps, and British Army.”

    Some pundits have said these mercenaries have remained deeply involved in the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive which began in earnest this month, regaining crucial territory especially in Kharkiv in the east. 

    Interestingly, at a moment international reports are pointing to high casualties as well as possible manpower shortages on the Russian side, the Russian government has opened a military recruitment center focused on foreign citizens. The mayor of Moscow announced the new initiative on Tuesday:

    “The Moscow government will deploy a full-fledged infrastructure in Sakharovo to assist the Russian Defense Ministry in the recruitment of foreign citizens into the military service,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

    Local authorities “will do everything necessary to make the signing of the contracts as convenient as possible” the official statement said.

    This is likely related to a move in the State Duma being reported Tuesday to make preparations for a “national mobilization” – as the Russian military could be poised for a major escalation. This also involved federal measures making it easier for foreigners to sign a one-year contract with the Russian army, based on a program where they receive citizenship in return.

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

    However, the proposal would still have to go through the upper house of parliament and be signed into law by President Putin. All of this points some major changes in the way Russia is executing the invasion, and as Putin is set to give a major address Tuesday night alongside his defense minister.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 18:25

  • 33 GOP Senators Urge Garland To Give Hunter Biden Investigator Special Counsel Powers
    33 GOP Senators Urge Garland To Give Hunter Biden Investigator Special Counsel Powers

    Authored by Cathy He via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    More than 30 Republican senators have requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland give special counsel protections to the federal prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, arguing that such a move would help assure the American people that the probe is free from political influence amid widespread allegations of bias at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

    Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks in Washington on March 22, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    The president’s son has been investigated by the office of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-appointed prosecutor, since at least 2019.

    While prosecutors have not publicly disclosed what is being investigated, documents from the investigation and people who have testified to a grand jury say it includes looking into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings with entities in China and other foreign countries.

    “There is no way of knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations,” the senators wrote in the Sept. 19 letter to Garland.

    The letter, led by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), alleges heightened politicization of the DOJ under Garland.

    Hunter Biden attends a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony honoring 17 recipients, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on July 7, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

    It also references whistleblower information received by Grassley’s office detailing a “widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about” Hunter Biden, including allegations that the FBI “shut down investigative activity and avenues of information relating to potentially criminal information on Hunter Biden before the 2020 presidential election.”

    The senators accused Garland of taking the “inexplicable step of chilling lawful whistleblower activity” by issuing an Aug. 30 memo reminding DOJ employees of a policy prohibiting communications with Congressional members without approval. The memo was issued on the heels of whistleblower approaches to members of Congress.

    When President Joe Biden took office, the administration allowed Weiss to remain on as prosecutor, even as all other Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys were asked to leave, in a move to avoid the appearance of political interference.

    But many Republican lawmakers, including the senators who signed on to the letter, believe this is not enough to ensure the integrity of the investigation

    “Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide U.S. Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel,” the letter stated.

    “This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way to restoring faith in our governmental institutions.”

    The attorney general in an April hearing assured senators that “there will not be interference of any political or improper kind” in the investigation being run out of Deleware.

    Garland, at the time, also declined to comment on repeated questions about a potential special counsel being assigned to the investigation, saying, “The question is an internal DOJ matter,” Garland repeated.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/20/2022 – 18:05

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