Today’s News 22nd January 2023

• Twitter Files Prove America Headed For "Totalitarian State Territory", Expert Warns
  Twitter Files Prove America Headed For “Totalitarian State Territory”, Expert Warns

  Authored by Katie Spence via The Epoch Times,

  Thanks to the revelations in the Twitter Files, there’s evidence that the FBI and other agencies worked to suppress “lawful speech,” and if this type of action is allowed to continue, the United States is headed for “totalitarian state territory,” Matthew Peterson, the cofounder of New Founding, said in an interview with Epoch Times–NTD collaborative program “Newsmakers.”

  New Founding helps people and organizations position themselves to avoid threats from Big Tech and “woke capital,” and Peterson has two decades of experience in digital media and political consulting.

  When asked what will happen if the country’s current trajectory continues for three to five years, Peterson said, “We’ll be in totalitarian state territory, there’s no question about it.”

  

  FBI Director Christopher Wray (C) on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 15, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

  “I mean, remember, this went so far as the government saying, ‘You need to find evidence that there are Russians influencing the election on Twitter.’ And Twitter saying, ‘No, that’s not happening.’

  “And then [Twitter had] to be quiet about it and not even defend themselves when they knew that there wasn’t Russian interference that they could find,” he added.

  Peterson further explained that the U.S. government drove a narrative that it knew wasn’t true and was the “antithesis” of America’s founding principles.

  “[The government’s actions are] the antithesis of America. The American founding is basically contradicted by what’s happening here, over and over again. And if we don’t do something about that, we will not have free speech in this country,” Peterson warned.

  FBI and Fake News

  Peterson pointed out that one of the biggest revelations in the Twitter Files—a collection of internal emails and communications made public by the company’s CEO, Elon Musk—was that the intelligence community’s influence on Twitter was more significant than anyone imagined.

  “What you first have to realize is that a lot of people from the intelligence community were already embedded in Twitter. So much so that they had their own Slack channel chat for people who are from the FBI,” Peterson said.

  “And so, what you see with the censorship is not just a selective, ‘we don’t like this guy, we don’t like this guy.’ It’s promoting large-scale narratives, both pro and con repeatedly, again and again and again and again.”

  And, Peterson said, the U.S. government didn’t limit itself to shadow-banning and censorship.

  In reply to the question about the Twitter Files revelation, the Department of Defense used a back channel with Twitter to create fake accounts to push a specific narrative in the Arab world. Peterson stated such actions show a direct line between the government and social media.

  “So, what we see is, again, direct channels from the U.S. government—both really creating fake news and deleting anything they don’t like. And people have to realize … what you see is a direct line again,” Peterson said.

  Additionally, Peterson said before the Twitter Files, the U.S. government and Twitter were essentially gaslighting Americans.

  

  Billionaire Tesla chief Elon Musk arrives at the San Francisco headquarters of Twitter on Oct. 26, stating, “let that sink in” as he completes his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. (Twitter account of Elon Musk/AFP via Getty Images)

  “We should make clear that everyone claimed that this wasn’t happening, right? So, the whole world was being gaslit by Twitter and friends saying, ‘Oh, no. We’re not shadow-banning anyone. You know this is all crazy, right-wing talk.’

  “And what the Twitter Files have done is give conclusive, definitive proof of what was actually going on. And what was going on was shocking.

  “I think it was worse than a lot of regular people—and even experts—thought it was. I mean, Big Pharma having a direct line to censor people when it came to their thoughts and opinions about what was going on with the vaccine and COVID? Of course, famously, [there’s] the Hunter Biden laptop controversy in which news organizations were just outright censored, in violation of Twitter’s own rules.

  “And what we see is a direct line between the government and other powerful organizations, and a media outfit, over and over again, censoring people, essentially, at the whim of the powerful.”

  Peterson said such government and complicit media actions aren’t on the decline. Instead, he said, it’s “increasing every day.”

  He said action is necessary to combat that and return America to its guiding principles of free speech and limited government. “What we need to see is increasing resistance with law, and other powerful forces, fighting against this. And that starts with exposing what Elon Musk has already exposed but is now being hidden from the American public in these Twitter files.”

  The Twitter Files

  Since taking over Twitter, Musk has consistently vocalized the need for transparency regarding what happened behind the scenes at the tech company. To that end, he, via a chosen few journalists, has released secret emails and discussions about shadow-banning or removing accounts that didn’t toe the party line.

  In response to the allegations of collusion between the FBI and Twitter, the FBI said in a statement to Fox News, “The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries.

  

  A seal reading “Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation” is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, on Aug. 9, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

  “As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers.”

  The FBI National Press Office responded similarly to The Epoch Times’ request for comment: “The FBI regularly engages with private sector entities to provide information specific to identified foreign malign influence actors’ subversive, undeclared, covert, or criminal activities.

  “It is not based on the content of any particular message or narrative. Private sector entities independently make decisions about what, if any, action they take on their platforms and for their customers after the FBI has notified them.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 23:30

• Which Countries Are The Most Polarized?
  Which Countries Are The Most Polarized?

  How do you measure something that’s made headlines for half a decade but is still difficult to quantify? We’re talking about polarization.

  As Visual Capitalist’s Nick Routley explains below, even within the social sciences, polarization covers everything from racial segregation, to labor skill levels, to class divide, to political ideology.

  How Do You Quantify Polarization?

  Edelman’s data on which countries are the most polarized comes from survey results asking respondents two very simple questions:

  • How divided is their country?

  • How entrenched is the divide?

  The questions help bring to light the social issues a particular country is facing and the lack of consensus on those issues.

  Plotted against each other, a chart emerges. A country in the top–right corner of the chart is “severely polarized.” Countries located closer to the lower–left are considered less polarized.

  

  In the report, Edelman identifies four metrics to watch for and measure which help quantify polarization.

  

   

  Following Edelman’s metrics, countries with economic uncertainty and inequality as well as institutional distrust are more likely to be polarized. Below, we look at key highlights from the chart.

  Severely Polarized Countries

  Despite being one of the largest economies in Latin America, Argentina is the most polarized country surveyed by a large margin. Foreign loan defaults, a high fiscal deficit, and now surging inflation have created a perfect storm in the country.

  43% of the Argentinian respondents said they will be better off in five years, down 17 percentage points from last year.

  Along with fiscal upheaval, Argentinians are also dealing with enduring corruption in the public sector and abrupt policy reversals between governments. Only 20% of those surveyed in Argentina said they trusted the government—the least of all surveyed countries.

  Here are all six of the countries considered to be severely polarized:

  •  Argentina

  •  Colombia

  •  United States

  •  South Africa

  •  Spain

  •  Sweden

  In the U.S., heightened political upheaval between Democrats and Republicans over the last few years has led to strengthening ideological stances and to an abundance of headlines about polarization. Only 42% of respondents in the country trust the government.

  And in South Africa, persistent inequality and falling trust in the African National Congress also check off Edelman’s metrics. It’s also second after Argentina with the least trust in government (22%) per the survey.

  Moderately Polarized Countries

  The biggest cluster of 15 countries are in moderately polarized section of the chart, with all continents represented.

  •  Brazil

  •  South Korea

  •  Mexico

  •  France

  •  United Kingdom

  •  Japan

  •  Netherlands

  •  Italy

  •  Germany

  •  Nigeria

  •  Thailand

  •  Kenya

  •  Canada

  •  Australia

  •  Ireland

  Some are on the cusp of being severely polarized, including economic heavyweights like Japan, the UK, France, and Germany. On the other hand, smaller economies like Thailand, Kenya, and Nigeria, are doing comparatively better on the polarization chart.

  Less Polarized Countries

  Countries with fair economic outlook and high trust in institutions including China, Singapore, and India are in the bottom left sector of the chart.

  •  Indonesia

  •  China

  •  United Arab Emirates

  •  Singapore

  •  Saudi Arabia

  •  Malaysia

  •  India

  It’s interesting to note that of the seven countries in that sector, three are not democracies. That said, there are also more developing countries on this list as well, which could also be a factor.

  Looking Ahead

  Edelman notes that polarization is both “cause and consequence of distrust,” creating a self-fulfilling cycle. Aside from the four metrics stated above, concerns about the erosion of civility and weakening social fabric also lead to polarization.

  

  As global events unfold in 2023—including looming worries of a recession—it will be fascinating to see how countries might switch positions in the year to come.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 23:00

• Record-High 250,000 Migrant Encounters Across US-Mexico Border In December 2022: CBP
  Record-High 250,000 Migrant Encounters Across US-Mexico Border In December 2022: CBP

  Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

  The number of migrant encounters across the U.S. southern border for December 2022 reached a record high, with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reporting a figure of more than a quarter of a million.

  

  That’s a total of 251,487 border enforcement encounters. The figure via CBP data surpasses the previous monthly record of 241,136, which was set in May 2022.

  It marks a seven percent increase from the November 2022 number of encounters, which was 234,896. The latest figure also far surpasses the number of enforcement encounters of the month of December in the prior two years: 179,253 in December 2021, and 73,994 in December 2020.

  Of the 251,487 border enforcement encounters in December 2022, 14 percent of involved individuals who have been stopped by a U.S. border agent in the previous 12 months.

  There were a total of 216,162 unique encounters in December 2022, which is an 11 percent increase in the number of unique enforcement encounters from November 2022. The CBP says the increase is “driven largely by an increased number of individuals fleeing authoritarian regimes in Cuba and Nicaragua.”

  New Border Enforcement Measures

  Despite the record-breaking figure, CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said that it shows the Biden administration’s efforts at the border have been effective.

  “The December update shows our new border enforcement measures are working. Even as overall encounters rose … we continued to see a sharp decline in the number of Venezuelans unlawfully crossing our southwest border, down 82 percent from September 2022,” Miller said in a statement.

  “Early data suggests the expanded measures for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans are having a similar impact, and we look forward to sharing the additional data in the next update.”

  Miller’s remarks refer to the Biden administration’s recent border changes, which include a parole program that was launched in October 2022 targeting Venezuelans. The program allows up to 24,000 Venezuelans to enter the United States under parole authority, which grants them entry and work authorization for a year, but is not a legal status. A Venezuelan national must meet certain criteria to be eligible, including having a sponsor in the United States to provide “financial and other support.”

  Under the parole program, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the border after Oct. 12, 2022, will be returned to Mexico under the Trump-era policy Title 42, which allows for blocking asylum claims and swift expulsion of most unauthorized border crossers under the grounds of keeping contagious diseases out of the United States.

  Until Oct. 12, 2022, Venezuelans weren’t subject to expulsion under Title 42 because neither their home country nor another country was willing to take them. Prior to the new measures, migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico were subject to expulsion from the United States under Title 42.

  Biden Expands Parole Authority

  President Joe Biden in early January then expanded the parole program to nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti, which means they can apply for parole, and if they meet eligibility criteria, they can receive a two-year permit to work in the United States. Now, the nationals from these three countries and Venezuela who unlawfully cross the U.S. southern border are now also subject to expulsion under Title 42, with Mexico agreeing to receive up to 30,000 expelled people a month.

  Miller attributed the rising number of overall enforcement encounters in December 2022 to “smugglers spreading misinformation around the court-ordered lifting of the Title 42 public health order.” The Epoch Times cannot independently verify the assertion. Currently, Title 42 remains in effect for the time being due to a U.S. Supreme Court order in late December 2022.

  Republican lawmakers have accused Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of breaking immigration law in the way the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented the parole authority.

  Prior to it being used for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans, the parole authority was implemented under Biden on a mass scale to alleviate swamped Border Patrol stations amid soaring illegal crossings, and to allow in tens of thousands of Ukrainians.

  ‘Catastrophic Crisis’

  Mark Morgan, former acting CBP commissioner and Heritage visiting fellow, called the situation at the border a “catastrophic crisis” and said the Biden administration has misrepresented the situation there.

  “What’s been happening at the border the last two years continues to be a catastrophic crisis, and the White House, Secretary Mayorkas, and the open-borders advocates on the left continue to lie about it,” he told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

  “Under the last Democratic president, 25,000 encounters was a borderline crisis—for the Biden administration, 10 times that number is simply business as usual.”

  Morgan said the Biden administration’s open-border policies have all “abjectly failed, yet [Mayorkas] continues to absurdly claim the opposite.”

  “No sane person could look at the border and claim we’re on the right course. Any other secretary would have long ago resigned in shame and disgrace, but it’s clear Secretary Mayorkas simply has no shame to begin with. So, Congress must immediately move to impeach him, begin meaningful oversight, and pass legislation to end the crisis and reduce illegal immigration.”

  The House Oversight Committee on Jan. 19 launched a probe into the border crisis by issuing a request for multiple documents from Mayorkas and calling on multiple border chiefs to testify at a hearing to be held in the week of Feb. 6.

  Since Biden took office in 2021 and scaled back or terminated key Trump-era policies, illegal immigration has soared to record levels.

  More than 2.3 million apprehensions were recorded at the U.S.–Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, which ended on Sept. 30, 2022—up about 37 percent from the previous year.

  “Joe Biden is the first president in my lifetime to intentionally un-secure the border. By way of more than 90 executive orders, he undid the successful Trump-era policies that brought illegal immigration to a 40-year low and gave us the most secure border of our lifetimes,” Tom Homan, former acting ICE director and Heritage visiting fellow, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

  “This president and his team were warned what would happen if they got rid of those policies. They did it anyway, and you’re looking at the consequences.

  “More Americans than ever dying from fentanyl flooding across the southwest border. More women and children abused and sexually assaulted on the dangerous journey through Central America and Mexico. More migrants found dead on U.S. soil than ever. Record profits for the cartels as they traffic and smuggle historic numbers of drugs and people across the border.

  “It’s inhumane. It’s a slap in the face to the men and women of the Border Patrol, who are absolutely overwhelmed, as well as to ICE agents who’ve been told they can’t detain or deport most of those who break our laws.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 22:30

• These Are The Oldest People In The World
  These Are The Oldest People In The World

  With the passing of France’s Lucile Randon at the age of 118 this week, Statista’s Martin Armstrong reports that the title of ‘oldest living human’ has been bequeathed to the U.S. born Maria Branyas Morera. At the ripe old age of 115, she sits atop the infographic below, showing the age and birthplace of the oldest living people on Earth.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  All women, the countries of birth most represented here are Japan and the United States; accounting for four and three, respectively.

  All entries have been validated by the Gerontology Research Group.

  Do these ‘supercentenarians’ have any advice for living for so long?

  Emma Morano, born in 1899 and who died in 2017 at the age of 117 was thought to have been the last person alive to have lived in three different centuries.

  The Italian apparently put her long life down to leaving her husband in 1938 and the consumption of two raw eggs and some raw minced meat every day.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 22:00

• School System Failing And Is No Longer There To Educate, Says Teacher
  School System Failing And Is No Longer There To Educate, Says Teacher

  Authored by Jackson Elliott via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  America’s education system has failed, according to a teacher and charter school enthusiast. And now parents search for new schools, surveys show.

  “The goal of the education system today is no longer to educate. It’s to do everything but that,” Dan Fisher told the Epoch Times.

  

  Fisher teaches 10th grade at a high school whose name he declined to publicize. Before that, he taught as a professor. The classrooms he is in today let him see a system in collapse.

  Tenth-graders can’t read, most students don’t want to participate, and teachers care more about woke indoctrination than addressing these issues, Fisher said.

  But kids have plenty of energy to invest in their tech, he added.

  “After school is fascinating,” he said. “They’re not playing. They’re not running. They’re just on their phones,” he said.

  Like several other educational activists, Fisher said COVID-19 pandemic changes revealed the rotting condition of America’s schools.

  “They assumed that schools were the way they were when they went through, and they had no idea how much things have changed, as far as curriculum and other things,” he said.

  High graduation rates are fake, said Fisher. Schools regularly pass students with little regard to whether they meet standards, he added.

  “We’re asked at the 10th-grade level, 11th-grade level, to help teach reading,” he said. “Isn’t that kind of what K-8 is for?”

  In this environment, it’s no wonder that most parents are looking for new schools Fisher said. He’s supported by a new survey by National School Choice Week, a charitable program of the nonprofit National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

  Peeved Parents

  Nearly 54 percent of parents of more than 3,800 surveyed have considered a new school for their children in the past year, the study found.

  The number of dissatisfied parents got higher the younger parents were, researchers found.

  Among parents ages 18–29, about six in 10 considered moving schools in the past year.

  Among parents aged 30 to 44, a little more than half considered moving schools. Among those aged 45 to 60, just under half considered a move. And about four out of 10 parents aged 60 and above considered moving schools.

  The survey noted that African American, Hispanic, and Millennial parents were most likely to consider changing schools. These groups were also most likely to say there weren’t enough choices between schools.

  Caucasian Americans were least likely to consider changing schools and most likely to say school systems provided enough choice, the survey noted.

  Not all parents who considered a new school chose one or remained in the tension of making a choice, the study said. About 16 percent of all parents surveyed chose new schools, 11.3 percent considered doing so but didn’t, and 25.8 percent are considering one.

  Many parents considered multiple options, the survey said. But the most often-cited options were nearby traditional public schools. The second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-most popular options were public schools outside parents’ districts, public charter schools, faith-based schools, homeschooling, and full-time online schooling.

  The least-popular option was “microschooling” or “pod learning,” methods that teach a group of 10 or fewer kids.

  Nearly 65 percent of parents said they wished they had more information on schooling options, the survey said.

  Never Normal

  For the past few years, parents have churned between schools, Shelby Doyle, vice president of public awareness at the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, told The Epoch Times.

  With COVID-19 lockdowns over, this trend has continued.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 21:30

• Where The World Celebrates Chinese New Year
  Where The World Celebrates Chinese New Year

  For around 1.4 billion Chinese, the new year begins on January 22 – unlike in the Gregorian calendar, China calculates its traditional new year’s date according to the lunar cycle. While various Asian nations also celebrate their own Lunar New Year festivals, the Chinese New Year is in fact a public holiday in several nations around the world, not just in the People’s Republic.

  As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz shows in the chart below, Southeast Asia is the region in which most countries give their citizens time off for the beginning of the Chinese New Year. These include Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. In recent years, the Chinese New Year has also been introduced as a special holiday in the Philippines, but according to local media reports as of January 14, there will be no separate days off this year. South Korea and Vietnam also organize celebrations at the beginning of the lunar year, but these differ in part from the customs of the Chinese New Year and are more likely to be shaped by national culture.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  While the majority of the countries and territories that explicitly celebrate the Chinese New Year are in Asia, there are two exceptions.

  In Suriname in South America, the turn of the year in both the Gregorian and the lunar calendar are public holidays. According to the official census, around seven percent of the approximately 618,000 inhabitants are of Chinese descent.

  The island state of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean also celebrates the Chinese New Year, although only about three percent of the approximately 1.3 million inhabitants have Chinese roots. In the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, the island was a popular emigration destination for Chinese from the province of Guangdong, also referred to as Canton at the time.

  Chinese New Year celebrations are spread over the course two weeks and usually triggers an increased volume of travel, one of the largest waves of migration in the world. The festivities also mark the official start of spring, which is why the Lunar New Year is also known as Chūnjié or Spring Festival. According to the official lunar calendar, 2023 is the year of the rabbit, which last happened in 2011.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 21:00

• IRS Reminds Wage Earners To Adjust 2023 Withholding Now Or Face A Surprise Later
  IRS Reminds Wage Earners To Adjust 2023 Withholding Now Or Face A Surprise Later

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

  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued an alert to taxpayers, encouraging them to adjust their 2023 withholding so as to either avoid effectively giving the government an interest-free loan of their money or face the prospect of penalties and interest if too little tax is withheld.

  

  In a news release on Jan. 19, the IRS announced that it has made available an online tool that wage-earning taxpayers can use to determine if they have too much or too little tax withheld from their paychecks.

  Called the Tax Withholding Estimator, it lets taxpayers figure out if they will receive a refund or need to make a payment to the IRS in order to avoid owing taxes and potentially incurring penalties the following year.

  Having too much tax withheld and waiting for a refund at tax time is akin to giving the government an interest-free loan.

  But if a taxpayer does not have enough taxes withheld from their paychecks throughout the year, they may owe a balance when they file their taxes. This means they will have to pay the remaining balance of taxes owed to the IRS when they file their tax return.

  Owing a balance at tax time can be a significant financial burden, especially if the balance is large or if the taxpayer is struggling to make ends meet.

  There are also penalties and interest that may apply when the taxpayer owes a balance when filing their taxes. The IRS charges interest on any unpaid taxes starting from the original due date of the return. Penalties may also be assessed if the taxpayer fails to file their return on time or if they owe taxes and fail to pay them by the deadline.

  Owing a balance can also have negative effects on credit score as it is considered a debt that is unpaid. This can also lead to wage garnishments, liens on property, and even imprisonment if the taxpayer fails to pay their taxes.

  Avoid Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments

  The way taxes are paid in the United States is on a pay-as-you-go basis, which means that taxes are paid as income is earned throughout the year. This is typically done through withholding from paychecks, pension payments, Social Security benefits, and certain other government payments.

  However, for people who have multiple sources of income, such as a second job or income from self-employment, unemployment, annuities, the gig economy, or digital assets, they may be required to make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS. This is to ensure that they are paying enough taxes throughout the year and to avoid owing a balance when they file their taxes.

  By using the Tax Withholding Estimator tool, the IRS says that taxpayers can tailor the amount of income tax they should have withheld from their paychecks, which can also help avoid the need for quarterly estimated tax payments.

  After determining how much tax should be withheld, taxpayers can make the change by submitting a new Form W-4 to employers.

  Other Updates

  The IRS said on Jan. 19 that individuals and businesses affected by the storm in certain counties in Georgia and Alabama now have until May 15, 2023, to file and pay their federal tax returns.

  This relief applies to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and currently includes Butts, Henry, Jasper, Meriwether, Newton, Spalding, and Troup counties in Georgia and Autauga and Dallas counties in Alabama.

  Other areas that FEMA adds later to the disaster area will also qualify for the same relief, with the list of eligible localities available on the IRS’s website: Tax Relief in Disaster Situations.

  Reads more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 20:30

• Six More Classified Documents Discovered At Biden House
  Six More Classified Documents Discovered At Biden House

  The Department of Justice found “six items consisting of documents with classification markings” during a Friday search of President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, according to a Saturday statement by the president’s personal lawyers.

  

  Also found were notes from Biden’s time as a Senator, as well as his tenure as Vice President, according to a statement from Biden attorney Bob Bauer, which strategically leads with ‘we’ve fully cooperated!’

  

  The search lasted from 9:45 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Friday, during which members of Biden’s personal legal tam were present along with members from the Office of the White House counsel, according to the statement.

  The DOJ also took materials “for further review.”

  The new documents mark the latest development in the scandal involving classified documents found at non-authorized locations used by Biden. The first batch of papers was discovered in early November, the day before midterm elections, at the Penn Biden Center.

  More documents marked classified were found at his Wilmington, Delaware home in December – and then earlier this month, an additional batch of papers was found at the home.

  🚨🚨🚨🚨

  – In a 12+ hours search of Biden’s home, the Feds found classified docs including FROM HIS TIME IN SENATE.

  – Docs were found despite the WH saying that they turned over all docs a week ago.

  – No video/photo of Feds/local PD standing around as done to Trump.

  — Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) January 22, 2023

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

  The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Department officials earlier considered having FBI agents monitor a search by Mr. Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, the Journal reported this week. 

  Some law enforcement officials had discussed the possibility of asking Mr. Biden’s team for consent to have the FBI search the property themselves. Officials didn’t immediately take that step in part to preserve their freedom to take a tougher line later, including by executing a search warrant, the Journal reported.

  Instead, the two sides agreed that Mr. Biden’s personal attorneys would inspect the homes, notify the Justice Department as soon as they identified any other potentially classified records, and arrange for law-enforcement authorities to take them.  –Wall Street Journal

  So, Biden’s personal attorneys searched the house themselves, said they turned everything over to the DOJ, and yet more were found? When Trump’s lawyers did that he was raided by the FBI.

  It’s time to start focusing on where Biden did NOT drop confidential documents. https://t.co/vmiVWZjPpF

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 22, 2023

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 19:30

• Judge Grants Restraining Order Against Illinois "Assault Weapon" Ban
  Judge Grants Restraining Order Against Illinois “Assault Weapon” Ban

  Just 10 days after Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines, a state judge has issued a temporary restraining order against it — and said legislators and the governor “egregiously violated” procedural requirements under the Illinois Constitution in their rush to enact the measure. 

  

  For now, the restraining order only provides relief to the 866 individual plaintiffs who joined a particular one of multiple lawsuits challenging the ban, but it signals that those plaintiffs are likely to prevail in their suit.

  It’s also yet another powerful shot across the bow of gun-grabbing politicians, who everywhere find themselves reeling in the face of last year’s pivotal Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle Association, Inc. v Bruen.  

  “Plaintiffs are being immediately and irreparably harmed each day in which their fundamental right to bear arms is being denied,” wrote Judge Joshua Morrison in his 11-page ruling. He rejected the government’s assertion that the law did not impact a fundamental right.

  What’s more, Morrison said “the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success” in their suit against the law, known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act. That likelihood springs largely from the plaintiffs’ assertion that the rushed legislative process was unlawful:

  “This Court finds that the Defendants [Pritzker et al] unequivocally and egregiously violated the Three Readings Rule of the Illinois Constitution in order to circumvent the Constitutional requirements and avoid public discourse.”

  Morrison also said the law isn’t likely to survive scrutiny under principles established by last year’s Supreme Court Bruen decision.

  The law has already been severely undercut by Illinois’ county sheriffs — as nearly every one of them has promised not to enforce it, saying it’s a violation of the Second Amendment. Pritzker called it “political grandstanding at its worst.” 

  The Illinois government passed a law banning “assault weapons”.

  In red are the counties whose Sheriffs have publicly stated they’re refusing to enforce it.

  Hopefully, they’ll start refusing to enforce every other unconstitutional gun control law too. pic.twitter.com/BF6uby3gNK

  — Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) January 19, 2023

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

  The Illinois law made it illegal to sell a list of some 170 specific semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols, with the latter category largely comprising AR-style pistols. Targeted firearms that were owned prior to the ban are grandfathered, but must eventually be registered with the Illinois State Police.

  The new law also outlaws long gun magazines with a capacity greater than 10, and handgun magazines with a capacity greater than 15. Grandfathered magazines needn’t be registered, but if you dare to have possess one outside of private property in Illinois, you’ll face a $1,000 fine. 

  The judge also said the law’s exemption of certain classes of people wasn’t rational. For example…

  “The Court cannot find it logical that a warden of a prison (included in the exempted persons category) is necessarily better trained or more experienced in the handling of weapons than retired military personnel (no included in the exempted persons category).” 

  This was a state court decision. The law faces another challenge in federal court, where plaintiffs accuse Illinois of outlawing firearms and magazines that are “commonly possessed and used for lawful purposes,” and therefore protected by the Second Amendment. 

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 19:00

• Democrats Propose Constitutional Amendment To Overturn First Amendment Decision
  Democrats Propose Constitutional Amendment To Overturn First Amendment Decision

  Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United v. FEC decision made in 2010.

  

  The court ruled 5–4 that the free speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations and overruled an earlier decision that banned corporations from making “electioneering communications.”

  Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif). said in a press release he and Democrat colleagues introduced the “Democracy For All Amendment” to “overturn legal precedents that have allowed unrestrained campaign spending and dark money to corrupt American democracy.” He has introduced the constitutional amendment every year since 2013, according to the release.

  “The flow of unrestricted corporate and dark money into our elections has dangerously eroded the American people’s faith in our democracy, and in our government’s ability to deliver for them and their families,” Schiff said in a press release. “Citizens United was one of the most egregious enablers of special interest money, but it was only the latest in a long line of Supreme Court cases that opened the floodgates. To truly rein in dark money, we must amend our Constitution.”

  Schiff said the amendment would close “legal loopholes” that he said allows “wealthy megadonors, corporations, and special interest groups” to exploit the political system.

  Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

  Schiff said the move comes before the 13th anniversary of the decision on Jan. 21, which the Associated Press said came from a “bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court.”

  The AP said the decision “vastly increased the power of big business and labor unions to influence government decisions by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress.”

  The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibited corporations and labor unions from using general funds to make election communications or speech that expressly advocated for a candidate in a federal election, including broadcasts, cable or satellite communication that is publicly distributed within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election, according to the FEC.

  

  In January 2008, Citizens United, a non-profit organization, released a film about then-Senator Hillary Clinton, prior to the Democratic Party’s 2008 primary elections.

  The group wanted to pay cable companies to make the film available for free through video-on-demand services. It planned to make the film available within 30 days of the primaries, but feared it would be covered by the Act’s ban, according to the FEC, which could have subjected them to civil and criminal penalties.

  The group sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the FEC arguing the Act was unconstitutional. The District Court denied the preliminary injunction and granted the Commission’s motion for summary judgment.

  The Supreme Court noted jurisdiction and found that they were “required to consider the facial validity” of the Act’s ban in regard to freedom of speech.

  The Court held the Act was a ban on speech and “political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it, whether by design or inadvertence.”

  It held disclaimer and disclosure requirements are “constitutional as applied to both the broadcast of the film and the ads promoting the film itself, since the ads qualify as electioneering communications.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 18:30

• These Will Be The World's Next Megacities
  These Will Be The World’s Next Megacities

  By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities, up from 54 percent in 2020, according to a new report by the Institute for Economics & Peace. This increase is being driven by both population growth and a continued shift towards urbanization, particularly to so called ‘megacities’ – metropolises that have a population of 10 million or more.

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, urbanization takes place because of both push and pull factors. The IEA describes how in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital of Kinshasa, factors pushing people away from rural areas include issues of violence and a general lack of security, the presence of criminal groups, lack of policing, ecological degradation, and the fact there are too many people for the available agricultural land. Meanwhile, a pull factor could be the attraction of an increase in the standard of living.

  There are currently 33 megacities worldwide. Tokyo (37.3 million), Delhi (32.3 million), Shanghai (28.7 million), Dhaka (22.6 million), São Paulo (22.5 million) and Mexico City (22.1 million) take the lead as the most populous of these. By 2050, 14 more cities are set to join their ranks, with a total increased population of some 213 million people. The new order will then become Delhi (49.6 million), Dhaka (34.6 million), Tokyo (32.6 million), Cairo (32.6 million) and Mumbai (32.4 million).

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In addition to a rise in the number of people living in these cities, the countries themselves will also likely see economic growth.

  According to AXA, Manila in the Philippines and Bangalore in India are expected to see close to 150 percent GDP growth by the end of the decade.

  Africa is the only world region expected to still see strong population growth by the end of the century, according to the Pew Research Center, while all other regions’ growth rates will start to tail off. This is reflected in our chart, as it’s notably the African megacities that will see the biggest population rate increases. Meanwhile, only three megacities will see decreases in their population size: the Russian capital of Moscow (-3 percent), and Japan’s Osaka (-12 percent) and Tokyo (-12 percent). Despite Tokyo’s shrinkage, brought on by an aging population and declining birth rate, the capital will still rank as the world’s fourth most populated megacity in 2050.

  The 33 cities that have already hit megacity status are the following: Delhi, Dhaka, Cairo, Tokyo, Mumbai, Shanghai, Kinshasa, Lagos, Karachi, Mexico City, São Paulo, Beijing, Kolkata, New York City, Manila, Lahore, Bangalore, Chongqing, Buenos Aires, Osaka, Hyderabad, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, Jakarta, Shenzhen, Lima, Paris and Moscow.

  It’s important to note here that different sources cite different statistics, and that especially with forecasts, situations can change. For instance, where the United Nations initially predicted that India would overtake China as the biggest country in 2027, it is now expected to take place in April of this year. In terms of megacity status, according to UN data from 2018, several additional cities, including Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Wuhan in China, will make the roundup even by 2035. Read more on the nature of conflicting reports here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 18:00

• Newsom Twosome: Siebel Newsom's Films – Shown In Middle Schools – Feature Porn, Radical Gender Ideologies, And Her Husband Gavin
  Newsom Twosome: Siebel Newsom’s Films – Shown In Middle Schools – Feature Porn, Radical Gender Ideologies, And Her Husband Gavin

  By Adam Andrzejewski of Open the Books Substack

  FLOWCHART: How Jennifer Siebel Newsom used taxpayer dollars to trade with herself, her nonprofit organization, and her for-profit business. The organization refused to disclose how much of their screening revenues came from California public schools.

  

  California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are the dream team. He runs the state and she’s a nonprofit founder, entrepreneur, and filmmaker.

  While her husband attends to state business, Siebel Newsom engages in her passion: advancing “gender justice” through her charitable nonprofit The Representation Project. According to tax documents the organization is “committed to building a thriving and inclusive society through films, education, and social activism.”  

  We previously reported that while the governor engaged in the highly unethical practice of soliciting 1,000 state vendors for $10.6 million in campaign cash, the first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, solicited state vendors and the governor’s campaign donors for large gifts to her charity, The Representation Project.

  However, Newsom’s charity shouldn’t have been soliciting anyone for donations throughout most of 2022.

  Last week, our investigation broke the story that The Representation Project was not in compliance with the California Charitable Solicitation Act. Now, it’s clear that the charity spent last year engaged in big-money fundraising events with corporate executives and philanthropists – while its charitable filings were delinquent with the state.

  Then, the Newsom nonprofit scrambled to submit their proper registration. Working with the California Attorney General, a process that normally takes days or weeks was completed in hours.

  

  So, just what does Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s charity do – with the full support of her husband, the governor, and underwritten by the wealthy California establishment?

  THE FILMS

  Siebel Newsom, through her non-profit The Representation Project, has released four films advocating gender justice. The films are leased for screenings to individuals, corporations, and schools, and come with their own lesson plans. Schools spend between $49-$599 to screen these movies to children.

  Jennifer Siebel Newsom is credited as a writer and director on each of these films. Two of the movies feature Gavin Newsom himself, and many of the lesson plan activities are oriented toward engaging children in social and political activism.

  Because of Gavin Newsom’s role in these films and because licenses are sold to schools which the governor is responsible for funding with tax dollars, auditors at OpenTheBooks.com felt the organization deserved further scrutiny.

  Who’s Watching? 2.6 million students in 5,000 schools

  According to The Representation Project’s Impact Report (2011-2021), the organization’s film curricula are being used in over 5,000 schools in all fifty states. The Representation Project claims over 11,200 copies of the curricula have been distributed, reaching more than 2.6 million students.

  Tax records show that since 2012 the nonprofit has generated $1,483,001 in film screening revenue, although it is unclear how much money came from schools versus other sources. We asked The Representation Project for the number of California schools that purchased a screening license and received no response.  

  Auditors at OpenTheBooks.com watched Newsom’s movies and read the lesson plans. What we found was, at times, shocking: sexually explicit images, political boosterism, and something called “The Genderbread Person.”

  SEXUALLY EXPLICIT IMAGES

  

  Miss Representation’s curriculum links to “age-appropriate” video clips in its K-12 lesson plans and says that the full film is rated PG-14. (Certainly, parents may still object to clips from the “age-appropriate” film like the animated, upside down stripper shown above). 

  The film features strong language and women dressed provocatively:

  • Caroline Heldman, who is now executive director of Newsom’s non-profit, described women’s role in action movies as “the fighting fuck toy.”

  • Actress Daphne Zuniga, famous for Melrose Place and film parody Spaceballs, suggested women should “tell those fuckers to get penis implants,” in response to being told to get plastic surgery. 

  • Middle school children are served images of upside-down strippers with little left to the imagination (see above).

  Then, it gets worse.

  Newsom’s film The Mask You Live In features the website addresses of porn sites including Porn Hub, MassiveCams, BDSM.XXX, and Brazzers.com. The pornographic images displayed in the film are tagged with descriptions such as “domination,” “face fuck,” “kinky couples,” and “…dirty brunettes.”

  Newsom included images of naked or mostly naked women being slapped, handcuffed, and brutalized in pornographic videos. The pictures are graphic even when blurred. Screenshots of those scenes can be found HERE (VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED).

  These jarring pictures are displayed with their corresponding porn website addresses – providing a roadmap for future exploration. The film seems to justify their harmful content by saying that “34% of youth online receive UNWANTED PORNOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE.”

  However, 100% of the youth (or anyone else) receive unwanted or unwarranted pornographic exposure by watching Newsom’s movies.

  In 2019, one parent filed a complaint about a screening of The Mask You Live In for his 12-year-old daughter’s class at Creekside Middle School in California. In an interview with The Sacramento Bee the father said,

  “Some of the images when slowed down were not blurred, and even when they are blurred, it is obvious what is going on. It is absolutely profane and disgusting.” 

  An investigation found a substitute teacher accidentally screened the full version of the film rather than an “age-appropriate” version. However, The Representation Project recommends the full version for ages 15+. 

  Siebel Newsom’s idea is to protect children from highly exploitative and disturbing sexual media content seems to involve showing it to them personally.

  BOOSTING GAVIN NEWSOM – THE COMPASSIONATE POLITICIAN

  

  Gavin Newsom himself provides interview commentary for Miss Representation and The Great American Lie. 

  Newsom speaks three times in Miss Representation and is portrayed as a champion of women’s rights—see this example from the middle school curriculum video (18:37):

  “One of the first things I did when I came to San Francisco (as mayor) is I appointed a female police chief and appointed a female fire chief.” 

  Getting paid by schools to portray your politician husband as a standup guy to captive children in the classroom was such a winning idea, Siebel Newsom deployed it again in The Great American Lie.

  Here, Newsom makes five appearances to deliver political talking points, including: 

  At the end of the day a budget is a set of values, budget reflects your values.” 

  “This notion of interdependence—that we’re all in this together, that we all rise and fall together—is absolutely true.” 

  “We’re not bystanders in this world, we have the ability to step up and solve big problems, we have done that in the past, it’s just a question of prioritization, of political will.” 

  Siebel Newsom’s provided companion curriculum require student discussion of Gavin Newsom’s points and are told to vote, and help others vote, for politicians “who show empathy through their support care [sic] policies.”

  

  Activity from The Great American Lie curriculum for high school and college students. Students are asked to watch and discuss a clip of Gavin Newsom.

  

  Call to action from The Great American Lie curriculum for high school and college students. Students are told to vote and help others vote for candidates “who show empathy through their support care [sic] policies” 

  Overview: Jennifer Siebel Newsom makes a movie portraying Gavin Newsom as a politician that supports certain policies, and then in the movie’s curriculum advises students to vote and campaign for politicians that support those policies.  

  Schools, which receive funding from the state, pay The Representation Project to show this movie, and use taxpayer-funded class time to facilitate these lessons.

  In July 2022 Gavin Newsom signed a budget of $128 billion for state schools and community colleges. 

  THE GENDERBREAD PERSON

  

  Multiple lesson plans from The Representation Project promote radical notions of gender and sexuality.

  One such lesson for middle and high schoolers includes the “genderbread person,” who aims to show children how biological sex, “gender expression,” “sexual attraction,” and “gender identity” exist on a spectrum, which can be mixed and matched. 

  While kindergarteners are spared the genderbread person in their curriculum, they are offered similar lessons on “gender identity,” introducing genders other than “boy” and “girl.”

  

  LEFT-WING POLITICAL ACTIVISM – THE “PRIVILEGE WALK”

  Kids forced to watch The Representation Project films in schools aren’t just subjected to gender ideology, sexually explicit images, and Gavin Newsom’s one-liners. They’re being given a left-wing framework through which to see the world, and then prompted to conduct social and political activism.  

  In The Great American Lie curriculum, students are asked to do a “privilege walk,” divulging personal information in order to compare themselves to peers inside and outside the classroom. “Privileges” include being “a cisgendered man,” “white,” “born in the United States,” “straight,” and speaking English as a first language.

  

  Activity from The Great American Lie curriculum for high school and college students. 

  Speakers in The Great American Lie are clear about what “privilege” means—something you hurt other people with, something you should feel bad about, and something you should work to change.  

  Journalist Charles Blow, who is now a New York Times opinion columnist, said during the film:

  “We need to stop being blind to history, stop being blind to systems, understand that there are privileges and there are oppressions in society, and in fact they act like a see-saw. Your privilege is actually built on my oppression.” 

  Lawyer Bryan Stevenson followed up, encouraging viewers to feel “shame and sorrow:”

  “We actually have to engage in truth telling, we’re going to have to express some shame and sorrow about who we are and what we’ve done, we’re going to have to find the will to reconcile ourselves to a different future.” 

  The way to relieve this shame, according to the film, is through social and political activism, as Professor Niobe Way said:

  “If you don’t address the racism, sexism, homophobia, hatred―the hatred―we have in our culture, then you can’t start having a conversation about love, peace and understanding.” 

  Newsome and her non-profit recommends The Great American Lie for ages 11+.

  STUDY: The Student-to-Activist Assembly Line

  Curricula from the three available films advise diverse ways for students to become activists within their families and communities. Suggested activities include promoting The Representation Project social media campaigns, voting for candidates that “support the care economy,” and asking students to “market and host a screening” of The Representation Project films (while paying a screening fee to the organization). 

  (A)

  

  (B) 

  

  (C) 

  

  Calls to action in the curricula from (A) Miss Representation for middle and high schoolers, (B) The Mask You Live In for middle and high schoolers, (C) The Great American Lie for high school and college students  

  Jennifer Siebel Newsom produced, wrote, and directed all these films, but if her enthusiasm for cultivating young activists was not obvious enough, we need only listen to her conclusions. 

  In 2021 high school participants in The Representation Project’s film course joined a moderated panel with Siebel Newsom to discuss The Great American Lie.  

  One student stated: “There’s no age limit for activism… the younger you are the easier it is for you to see these changes that need to be made.” 

  Siebel Newsom replied: “That’s great, thank you.” 

  SUMMARY – FOLLOW THE MONEY 

  The Representation Project not only solicits donors from big-money political supporters of Gavin Newsom, but also receives public tax dollars through schools to create a new generation of supporters and activists in the state’s—and country’s—schoolchildren.

  The Representation Project transforms public school expenditures into activist training expenses, and in the process exposes children to objectionable sexual content.  

  Various funding sources translate directly to financial gain for Jennifer Siebel Newsom. 

  Since The Representation Project’s founding she has collected $1,501,727 in salary. Her current title is Chief Creative Officer, and she also sits on the nonprofit’s board of directors. She is the top paid executive at her non-profit with a $150,000 annual salary between 2013 and 2021.  

  Siebel Newsom also founded a for-profit company, Girls Club Entertainment Inc., which contracts (with Newsom’s nonprofit) for the production costs associated with the movies and owns the license for Miss Representation.   

  According to tax records, the nonprofit (The Representation Project) has paid Girls Club Entertainment (Newsom’s for-profit company) $1,647,376 since 2012.  

  NOTE: We requested comments from Jennifer Siebel Newsom and her nonprofit, The Representation Project multiple times over the last couple of months. We also requested comment from Gov. Newsom. We never received any response.

  ADDITIONAL READING:

  The Representation Project, IRS Informational 990 Returns 2011-2021, hosted by Propublia

  Newsom Twosome: Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Charity Is Out Of Compliance But Solicits Donations From State Vendors & Governor’s Campaign Donors | OpenTheBooks.Substack | January 12, 2023

  California Gov. Gavin Newsom Reaped $10.6 Million In Campaign Cash From 979 State Vendors Who Pocketed $6.2 Billion | OpenTheBooks.Substack.com | August 2022

  Historic Announcement– California’s Books Are Open – 201,000 Vendors Received $87 Billion In State Payments | OpenTheBooks.Substack.com | August 2022

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 17:30

• Ron Klain White House Departure Reported One Day After Scapegoat Found For Slow-Walking Classified Documents
  Ron Klain White House Departure Reported One Day After Scapegoat Found For Slow-Walking Classified Documents

  After working for Joe Biden on and off for more than three decades, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is expected to step down in coming weeks because he’s ‘ready to move on,’ the NY Times reports.

  

  The news of Klain’s departure comes one day after the White House threw senior adviser Anita Dunn under the bus for the decision to ‘keep the public information flow to a trickle’ regarding President Biden’s classified document scandal.

  Classic Anita Dunn.

  The Biden adviser, who previously advised Harvey Weinstein, wanted to slow roll info about the classified documents. https://t.co/Wyg6cAwCKQ pic.twitter.com/SivIO8MD1z

  — Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) January 21, 2023

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  Is Klain’s departure related to the decision to slow-walk news that classified documents from Biden’s VP days were found in unauthorized locations? We don’t know at this stage, but we assume Klain was apprised of Dunn’s strategy, and perhaps even signed off on it. Now that we’re in the ‘who said what, and when’ phase of a Special Counsel investigation into the matter, nothing is off the table. Maybe he was just tired of performing elder care?

  The departure would also come at a time when the White House faces a widening array of political and legal threats from a newly appointed special counsel investigating the improper handling of classified documents and a flurry of other inquiries by the newly installed Republican majority in the House. The next chief of staff will be charged with managing the defense of Mr. Biden’s White House and any counterattack as the 2024 election approaches. -NY Times

  The Times suggests Klain’s departure could be related to Biden’s anticipated 2024 reelection campaign, and says “advisers predict more moves as some aides shift from the White House to the campaign.”

  So – not rats bailing from a sinking ship.

  The Times notes that Klain has been so influential that Republicans ‘derisively call him a virtual prime minister,’ and Democrats ‘blame him when they are disappointed in a decision.’

  Klain has also presided over ‘a rash of troubles’ that have tanked public support for Biden – including the highest inflation in 40 years, and the creation of a border crisis after shredding much of former President Trump’s border policy.

  On that note, the Times also reports that Biden’s national economic adviser, Brian Dees, is expected to leave later this year.

  As for those classified documents

  

  The Times reported on Friday that White House senior adviser, Anita Dunn – along with her husband, Biden’s personal lawyer Bob Bauer, and White House counsel Stuart F. Delery and Richard Sauber, were part of at “tight circle” involved in discussions on how to deal with the matter.

  NBC News’ Peter Alexander repeatedly presses Karine Jean-Pierre about the White House claiming that Republicans are “faking outrage” over Biden’s classified document scandal.

  “Why shouldn’t Americans be upset about documents found in a garage?” he asks.

  She can’t answer. pic.twitter.com/zTdd3SkkmN

  — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 17, 2023

  More via The Times,

  Details about the documents — where they were found, what they are about, where they came from — remain elusive more than 10 days after their existence was first made public by CBS News.

  The White House has refused to explain why it took nearly six weeks after the initial discovery of documents to search the president’s home in Wilmington, Del., where a second batch was found on Dec. 20. And it has not said why personal lawyers for the president who do not have security clearances were the ones conducting the searches, but people close to the case said that was done with the approval of the Justice Department.

  …

  Once the discovery of the original batch of documents was revealed, Ms. Dunn was adamant that the White House should keep the public information flow to a trickle and focus instead on how different Mr. Biden’s case was from the broader investigation into his predecessor, according to people familiar with the discussions.

  Ms. Dunn also stressed the need to underscore the differences between Mr. Biden’s cooperation with the archives and Justice Department and Mr. Trump’s defiance.

  Impeachment when?

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 17:00

• Biden Vs Trump Document Controversies Indicate Transparency Gap
  Biden Vs Trump Document Controversies Indicate Transparency Gap

  Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The government has been less than transparent with Americans regarding the classified documents scandal of President Joe Biden, and particularly on the background of the classified documents scandal of former President Donald Trump.

  

  While in Trump’s case, the public was treated to frequent updates through leaks to media and official statements, the Biden case had been kept under wraps for more than two months and then disclosed in stages.

  When staff of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) picked up 15 boxes of presidential records from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida residence in mid-January 2022, The Washington Post reported it three weeks later and the NARA confirmed the story that same day, Feb. 7, 2022, adding a 150-word quote from then-Archivist David Ferriero explaining that “the Presidential Records Act is critical to our democracy.”

  About a week later, NARA revealed in response to a congressional inquiry that classified material was found in the boxes and the matter had been communicated to the Department of Justice (DOJ). In April, The Washington Post reported the DOJ was investigating the matter and later that month C-SPAN released an interview with Ferriero during which he confirmed the existence of the investigation.

  In the Biden case, when NARA was alerted on Nov. 2 that classified documents were found in Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center, where he sparsely lectured and gave speeches from 2017 to 2019, there were no leaks forthcoming. In fact, NARA has yet to issue a single press release on the Biden case.

  The story was first leaked to CBS News and reported on Jan. 9 with an on-record confirmation by Richard Sauber, special counsel to Biden.

  The CBS report came a day after Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) pledged in a Mark Levin interview that his oversight committee will question NARA on its handling of the Trump documents case and threatened to withhold the agency’s funding to force compliance with information requests.

  In a Jan. 10 letter to NARA, Comer said its “inconsistent treatment of recovering classified records held by former President Trump and President Biden raises questions about political bias at the agency.”

  NARA responded a week later, saying it “treats all of its communications with the White House, DOJ, and the representatives of the former Presidents (and Vice Presidents) as presumptively confidential” and “for this reason, NARA did not affirmatively discuss or disclose to our oversight committees or to the public our activities concerning the return to our custody of either the Biden Vice Presidential records or the Trump Presidential records, or our referral of both matters to DOJ because we found classified information.”

  The agency started to respond to congressional inquiries on the matters “only when those topics were subsequently reported publicly in the press.”

  “Our actions and responses with respect to both of these matters have been entirely consistent and without any political bias,” it said (pdf).

  The DOJ was alerted by NARA about the Biden documents on Nov. 4, but the FBI didn’t start to look into the matter until Nov. 9, the day after the midterm elections.

  The White House confirmed the initial story the day it was released, but didn’t disclose for another three days that another batch of classified documents were found in Biden’s garage, even though the DOJ was informed by Biden’s lawyers on Dec. 20.

  The government response indicates that Biden’s pre-election promises of a transparent administration have fallen short, according to investigative journalist John Solomon.

  “Was this an act of defiance on his promise of transparency?” he asked, noting that it appears that “the president says he wants to be transparent, but he doesn’t always deliver on the promise when things are unflattering to him or his presidency.”

  Solomon argued that the DOJ should have been more forthcoming about the Biden documents issue, especially since Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee the Trump documents investigation on Nov. 18, when his department was already probing the Biden documents case.

  “They knew when they made that announcement that the current President has similar issues and they chose to keep it from us,” Solomon told The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 16:30

• India Overtakes China As World's Most Populous Nation
  India Overtakes China As World’s Most Populous Nation

  At this point, what we have been speculating about for months looks to be official: India has already passed China as the world’s most populous nation. 

  Citing estimates from the World Population Review, an independent organization focused on census and demographics, India’s population was marked at 1.417 billion as of end 2022. This marks 5 million more than the 1.412 billion people reported by China. according to reporting by Bloomberg and the SCMP. 

  Just hours ago, we noted that the overtaking of China seemed inevitable:

  With China’s population decline official, it is safe to say India is now the most populous country in the world pic.twitter.com/xNxVvsaAjG

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 17, 2023

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  China’s figure marks the first population decline for the country since the 1960s. 

  Half the population is under the age of 30 in India, the report notes, meaning that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will need to keep a sharp focus on job creation in order to harness the country’s labor/production capacity. Modi is due to seek re-election by May 2024, the report notes. 

  Nearly 800 million people “still rely on free food rations from the government”, however. And estimates for where the country’s population is at now range from 1.423 billion to 1.428 billion – a sign that the growth in India is slated to continue. 

  Meanwhile, Bloomberg Economist Eric Zhu has called China’s reduction in population a “growth crushing headwind”. The population in China fell by 850,000 in 2022. 

  Recall, back in October 2022, we noted that India was in the running to overtake China. At the time, using the latest data available from the United Nations, Visual Capitalist’s Nick Routley looked at which countries had the largest share of the planet’s eight billion people.

  

  We wrote then: “Once India becomes the world’s largest country, it will likely remain so for many decades in the future, peaking in the 2060s (unless there are substantial changes in projected growth rates). India’s peak population will stand at around 1.7 billion people.”

  “The world’s population is expected to peak later, around the 2080s. Humanity’s peak population is expected to be about 10.5 billon,” we concluded. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 16:00

• How Can We Restore Freedom And Sound Money In The US & UK? Some Ideas…
  How Can We Restore Freedom And Sound Money In The US & UK? Some Ideas…

  Authored by Patrick Barron via The Mises Institute,

  The purpose of this essay is not to convince the reader of the necessity for change. It is to present some commonsense policy changes to attempt to mitigate the economic harm that has been done to Western economies, especially to the United States and the United Kingdom, since the end of World War II.

  Please watch Godfrey Bloom and Alasdair Macleod’s recent interview with Sonia Poulton.

  The video describes the current financial and reputational weaknesses of the West. For a more in-depth analysis of the financial threat to the West, please read any of Alasdair Macleod’s weekly essays from the past few months.

  In the Poulton interview, Macleod ably describes the financial implications of the West’s deindustrialization policies and currency debasement. Bloom describes the reputational damage stemming from the West’s “sanctions” against Russia plus the consequences of deindustrialization due to the foolish pursuit of a Green New Deal.

  This essay’s goal is not to convince the reader of the seriousness of the current situation, which Bloom and Macleod do so well, but rather to present policies that must be changed to stop the destruction of the West’s economies and reverse the harm to their reputations. Western nations need to build a reputation for honesty, fair dealing, and adherence to the rule of law in the international arena by embracing free trade and neutrality.

  There is no need to point out that in the US and the UK, none of the policy changes listed below will be enacted by either of the two main political parties in their current state. Either one of the leading parties in each country must change leadership or a third party must emerge. There is precedence in both America and Britain for the emergence of a new party. In the mid-1850s, America’s Whig Party was thrown on the scrap heap of history when it was supplanted by the antislavery Republican Party. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Labour Party supplanted Britain’s Liberal Party. It has happened before, and it can happen again.

  The following “policy imperatives” assume that such internal change has occurred and that the new ruling party must mitigate and eventually reverse the damage done by its predecessors over several years. The task will not be easy, nor will it be painless, but it must be done.

  Policy Imperatives

  1. Drastically cut government spending. The purchasing power of the dollar and the pound is being steadily weakened by the Treasury’s need to borrow more money than taxes and the bond markets will offset. Currently the central banks “buy” the excess debt with money created out of thin air. This leads inevitably to more money chasing fewer goods, which results in higher prices and the boom/bust credit cycle, among other economic damages.

  2. Abolish the so-called Green New Deal, which is based upon the schlock science surrounding “climate change.” The Western economies not only must end the destruction of their industrial economies, but they must revive the entrepreneurial spirit in individuals by eliminating regulations on business activity that does not directly cause real harm to people. For example, the West must stop mandating costly and time-consuming environmental impact studies, which elevate nonhuman life above human life. The US should abolish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the UK should abolish the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Both countries have well-established common-law precedents that protect and compensate workersfor on-the-job injuries.

  3. Reinstitute the gold standard. The dollar and the pound must be seen as proxies for real money; i.e., gold. This means that currency cannot be issued unless the central bank has gold with which to back it. There is a long list of economic benefits to be derived from a stable currency, but perhaps the most important benefit is spending discipline. The government’s myriad spending orgies will face real-time discipline from the taxpayers and the markets.

  4. House the nation’s gold, which is used to back its currency, in a neutral and internationally supervised place—for example, Switzerland—that will redeem the nation’s currency for gold upon demand. The government must not be allowed to suspend currency redemption. Remember, gold is money and all else is credit. If a nation’s credit is in question—i.e., the market fears that there is insufficient gold to redeem all the currency or that the government may suspend redemption—then demand to hold its currency for settlement purposes will drop or even evaporate completely.

  5. Return stolen property to its rightful owners. Theft is a violation of law at every level. The Western powers confiscated Russian property as part of the so-called sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This insult to justice must end. Neither country has declared war on Russia, yet the sanctions are well-known tools of war. Ending sanctions is both a moral and an economic issue. If the world believes that its property can be seized for some act for which a country’s government disapproves, international trade of all varieties will fall drastically for such a country and become difficult to recover. Who in the world can trust such a country again?

  6. Adopt a noninterventionist foreign policy. The world is full of controversies that often lead nations to war. Unless their interests are directly threatened, the US and the UK must not intervene in foreign disputes but remain neutral, even if these disputes lead friendly foreign nations to war. There is no way that the Western powers can honestly adjudicate these never-ending disputes. The West should encourage diplomacy rather than war making. Otherwise, keep out.

  Conclusion

  The Western world has violated international norms of fair dealing to the point that its reputation is nearing long-term destruction. The West’s currencies are poised to fall in value due to unprecedented money printing over several decades. Western governments foolishly believe that there is nothing that the rest of the world can do. They believe that the rest of the world must kowtow to whatever international norms the US and the UK dictate.

  But they are horribly wrong. The rest of the world is moving beyond dollar hegemony and beyond the reach of US and UK sanctions. It is building a new reserve currency for settlement of international trade. The non-Western world is much larger than the West in terms of population and commodities. More importantly, the non-Western world is willing to exploit its commodities for the benefit of its citizens, whereas the West has placed its commodities off limits due to its belief in and commitment to schlock environmental science that posits impending environmental doom.

  The process can be reversed, but such a reversal requires new leadership. Nothing can be done unless new leaders can change policy. The West does not need to “rule the world” in order to be peaceful and prosperous.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 15:30

• Go Woke, Get Broke: Vox Fires 7% Of Staff; Vice's Valuation Plunges
  Go Woke, Get Broke: Vox Fires 7% Of Staff; Vice’s Valuation Plunges

  It’s a terrible time for America’s liberal media – with companies laying off, implementing hiring freezes, and other cost-cutting measures. Some media companies have even collapsed in valuation. Many are blaming increasing macroeconomic uncertainty that has crushed advertising revenues. 

  A wave of recent layoffs has hit media companies, including CNN, Buzzfeed, Paramount Global (the parent to CBS, MTV, VH1), The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, Roku, Morning Brew, Gannett (parent company to USA Today), and many more in the past year. 

  Add Vox Media, which owns brands like The Verge, SB Nation, and New York magazine, to the growing list of media layoffs. 

  Axios obtained an internal memo from CEO Jim Bankoff to staff about reducing headcount by 7%. About 1,900 people work for the company, which equates to about 133 layoffs. 

  Bankoff noted that the headcount reduction would impact teams across revenue, editorial, operations, and core services. 

  “While we are not expecting further layoffs at this time, we will continue to assess our outlook, keep a tight control on expenses and consider implementing other cost savings measures as needed,” he said, adding layoffs were a last resort.

  The move was to address the coming downturn in the economy.  

  Besides layoffs and other cost measures, media company valuations have plunged. 

  For instance, Vice Media is putting itself up for sale (again) at around a billion-dollar valuation, according to CNBC, citing people familiar with the talks.

  Today’s number is far from the $5.7 billion valuation in 2017. 

  CNBC previously reported Vice hired financial advisors to seek a sale.

  One of Vice’s lenders, Fortress Investment Group, is pushing for a sale. 

  Meanwhile, Buzzfeed’s SPAC is only getting worse — with a current market cap of $129 million — down from more than a billion dollars a year ago. 

  

  America’s largest digital media companies are in dire straits. Maybe some of them are in these precarious situations because they embraced liberal ideology and suffered massive viewership losses. We all know CNN is learning that the hard way. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 15:00

• Davos 2023: Whistling Past The Great Reset's Graveyard
  Davos 2023: Whistling Past The Great Reset’s Graveyard

  Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

  In November 2021 I wrote a piece entitled “Have We Finally Reached Peak Davos?” This article was scarily spot on. When you’ve written as much as I have over the past five years, however, it’s easy to look back and point at how prescient you were.

  Even if you’ve gotten a whole lotta stuff wrong, which I have.

  That particular article, though, was nearly point-for-point correct in assessing the state of The Davos Crowd’s Great Reset project.

  I wrote a Twitter thread about this the other day to pound the next few nails in Davos’ coffin before the opening of this year’s convocation of clueless globalists.

  5000 Swiss troops to protect oligarchs at #Davos2023.
  This is what you order up when you’re scared of the people.

  Here’s a reminder that I saw Peak Davos in November 2021. It was over the COVID-9/11 Jab Protests… among other things.https://t.co/43up3tM9EF
  1/

  — Tom Luongo (The Bots Have Returned!) (@TFL1728) January 14, 2023

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

  In this business the goal isn’t to get everything right but to be right more often than you’re wrong while spurring debate and conversation. This is how we crowdsource something close to the truth and/or steelman our own arguments in an endless quest for process improvement.

  I wrote about that process recently and why it’s important to identify those who are still on that journey, those who are starting it, and those who are stuck in the morass of their own preconceptions.

  Embrace and encourage the first two groups and question the ethics of those in the last.

  Because in 2023 the mission is beginning to shift, from trying to forecast what these Cantillionaire midwits will do next to further assisting people in improving their data parsing abilities.

  The more people that parse the Davos bullshit in real time, the less time they spend abreacting to it and using that saved time more productively to thwart Davos‘ plans.

  

  So here we are as Davos 2023 winds down and it’s pretty obvious, watching the proceedings, that their entire edifice built on a crude admixture of psychopathy and hubris is tumbling down.

  And it’s not only because more of us can see them for what they are, cheap communists in expensive suits, but because there are stark divisions forming within their own ranks.

  The problem, however, for most of the committed Davosians is that they still live in the wine-and-cheese-filled amniotic sack of this Swiss Alps version of Oz. They don’t see the gathering storm barreling down the yellow brick road as anything more threatening than a single mosquito is to a cow.

  As anyone who has lived in central Florida or studied its cattle industry knows, a few million mosquitos can exsanguinate a cow in a matter of days.

  So, watching the proceedings at this year’s Davos was fascinating because, for the first time, the sheen was gone. Too many people were seeing the walls of the echo chamber for what they were; old, shabby, and drafty rather than having the veneer of wisdom that comes with age.

  Davos had come out from behind the curtain willingly to declare themselves the saviors of humanity through their Fuhrer’s nutty ideas about transhumanism, 15-minute cities, eating bugs, and renting your life from a central authority.

  And it was easy to build a counter-narrative to this insanity that permeated into the zeitgeist by just pointing your finger and laughing at them.

  If you want proof of just how far the Davos idea has traveled in the five years since I first called them “The Davos Crowd” the performance of this tweet of mine from January 3rd should do it.

  My average tweet gets around 5000-8000 impressions, maybe 30-40 retweets, and a couple hundred likes.

  I’m really pants at Twitter.

  

  This thing is literally the first tweet of mine in years to ‘go viral,’ and shows no signs of letting up. I’m not patting myself on the back here, but rather pointing out what something like this represents in my little corner of the internet.

  Hatred of Davos has broken containment.

  The anxiety and fear these men have promulgated is now deeply embedded in people because it feels closer to the truth than what they were previously presented. With a relatively free Twitter these days, the opportunity for more containment breaks like this are rising exponentially.

  And that is a very good thing.

  Davos likes to talk in terms of the inevitability of their forecasted future. But that’s just a front. Psychopaths always double down in the face of adversity.

  But I’ve noted a certain sense of panic and/or desperation from a lot of Davos’ lieutenants, like Blackrock’s Larry Fink complaining about how mean we all are opposing ESG or NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg exhorting everyone that more weapons to fund Ukraine’s war is the path to peace.

  🆕📹”Weapons are the way to peace,”#NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg stresses the importance of stepping up military support for #Ukraine’s 🇺🇦 self-defence at the World Economic Forum #wef23 @wef
  ℹ️: https://t.co/jseAVMa4fR pic.twitter.com/bb9GmUjYjL

  — Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) January 18, 2023

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

  Note the use of “the” versus “a” in that sentence. When someone is telling you there is only one path forward, they are issuing an ultimatum… they are also lying through their teeth.

  One of “the” paths to peace in Ukraine is in negotiating honestly with Russia. Ukrainian President and Schwab disciple Zelenskyy is out there saying nuttier things by the day, like now that he thinks Putin is dead while the US floats the idea of Ukraine retaking Crimea.

  The fact that there has been not even a reasonable offer put on the table to the Russians to this point tells you that this war is policy and not an unfortunate happenstance of Russian belligerence.

  But watch the video carefully and note the desperation on display from Stoltenberg. He knows the war isn’t going well for NATO. He knows that if NATO fails here he and all of this corporatist cronies personally lose their seat at the gravy train.

  He also knows he will be sacrificed on the globalists’ altar if he fails to deliver in Ukraine. He’s Admiral Piett, swallowing nervously, to Soros’ Darth Vader.

  Last year at Davos 2022 it was Soros delivering the rebuttal to Henry Kissinger’s call for negotiations. This Octogenarian clash of ideology and realpolitik was a kind of Rubicon crossing for all things Davos.

  {And I definitely got a lot of things wrong in the article I wrote about that, if you’re keeping score.}

  By ignoring Kissinger’s pragmatism and embracing Soros’ belligerence Davos revealed itself as an out-of-touch echo chamber whose edicts are hurtling the world towards a terrible conflict, making their enemies’ job opposing them that much easier.

  You know Soros has won the argument within Davos because they trotted out ol’ Henry to reverse himself on negotiations and embrace war which has all the earmarks of a classic communist struggle session.

  I guess that’s why Soros announced to the world he didn’t need to go to Davos this year but would be at the Munich Security Conference next month to declare WWIII.

  Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict, regrettably I cannot attend the @WEF Annual Meeting in Davos this year as I have in past years. I plan to deliver a speech in Munich on the eve of the @MunSecConf. Details to come.

  — George Soros (@georgesoros) January 10, 2023

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

  So, where are we now?

  We’re well past the point of Peak Davos that’s for sure. When the guest list for this year was leaked I found it fascinating that many who’ve skipped it in the past would be there – US bank CEOs like JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon. There were just as many who have gone previously to plead for sanity – Putin and Xi Jinping — didn’t even phone it in.

  It has been a fascinating week of announcements and headlines that paint a very ugly picture for Davos’ future. When you take them (and their timing) into full context it should be obvious where this is headed.

  Here’s a partial list of the headlines from this week:

  • Saudis Open to Settling Trade Outside US Dollar

  • New Zealand PM Ardern Announces Resignation

  • Iran Joins Eurasian Economic Union

  • Iran’s Oil Exports Return to Pre-Sanction Levels

  • US Interested in Helping Ukraine Take Back Crimea

  • ECB Head Lagarde Says Inflation is Still Too High

  • Dimon Says Interest Rates Must Go Beyond 5%

  • Biden-Gate Gaining Steam (here and here)

  • Powell Nemesis Brainard Backs “Higher for Long Rate Policy”

  • Al Gore Trotted Out to Scare Us with Climageddon!

  • Morgan Stanley CEO, “Davos is an Echo Chamber”

  But the clincher is this headline from The Guardian.

  

  Most of these would be interesting at any time but that they all occurred while Davos 2023 was happening is mind-boggling. And to think that so many of the attendees there are still walking around as if the future was already written in their favor is equally mind-boggling.

  I’m not about to speculate further about what’s really going on there except to say that if feels like something has fundamentally changed, likely for the better. Is Schwab on his way out after ruling the WEF for 52 years?

  Is my theory that the NY Boys and others have finally had enough of the fart-sniffing eggheads correct and they showed up with a new set of rules to lay down?

  Is that why Bill Gates wasn’t there?

  Is that why the sycophantic Western press are running stories now that would never have seen the light of day if Schwab was still calling the shots?

  Look, I’m not naïve, I know that Davos is a front for a bigger, older and deeper group of power brokers. Real bankers don’t have Wikipedia pages.

  If Larry Fink is a lieutenant then Schwab is just a Colonel and it’s possible he’s being thrown under the bus now to protect the Generals.

  But why do the Generals feel the need to cut bait now? As difficult as it is to believe, they may just be losing.

  Sometimes things aren’t more complicated than they seem.

  They took their shot and missed.

  There will be no panopticon or cyber-pandemic. We’ll still drive normal cars, eat red meat, and live in homes with a modicum of privacy. Whether we avoid WWIII is a different story.

  Maybe the depression we all fear is on the horizon has already been here for fifteen years and this is as bad as it gets. No mushroom clouds, no Grand Army of the Republic. Just a bunch of tired old inbred losers finally running out of runway and crashing into the ditch rather than flying off into the sunset.

  They don’t believe their done yet. It is that gulf between their perception of potency and the reality of their impotence that will determine the rest of this horror show. Soros and his neocon crazies will go to Munich and push for more war.

  They just might get it. Then again they may get everything they wished for… good and hard.

  Davos may be ending in 2023, but the after-effects of their insanity will be with us for years.

  *  *  *

  Join My Patreon if you like whistling

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 14:30

• US Designates Wagner Group "Transnational Criminal Organization" – Cites Ties With North Korea
  US Designates Wagner Group “Transnational Criminal Organization” – Cites Ties With North Korea

  After becoming clear that the private Russian military firm Wager Group – whose founder has direct ties to President Putin – is helping to lead the major offensive in the Soledar and Bakhmut areas in eastern Ukraine, the Biden administration on Friday unveiled new sanctions against the group.

  National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday announced Wagner is now designated a “significant Transnational Criminal Organization” which allows the US to block its access to any US-produced items or technology. It further leaves open the potential for US Commerce to go after its foreign assets as a legally dubbed criminal enterprise. “It will broaden the network of nations and institutions that will be able to stop doing business with Wagner,” Kirby said of the new action at a White House press briefing.

  And in an interesting twist, the White House says it has evidence that Wagner is being directly supplied by North Korea. While the Russia-Pyongyang connection has been raised by the US since the summer, this is the first time the US administration has sought to present anything in the way of evidence. 

  

  Kirby presented to reporters what he said is photographic evidence of rail cars traveling from Russian to North Korea on November 18. He alleged that shipping containers were loaded with weaponry or ammo and were sent back to Russia the next day.

  “We do expect that it will continue to receive North Korean weapon systems,” Kirby asserted. “We obviously condemn North Korea’s actions and we urge North Korea to cease these deliveries to Wagner immediately and we are going further by taking action against Wagner itself.”

  The White House further said it will work with the UN Security Council to enforce violations against Wagner, and further took the information on Pyongyang’s ties to Wagner to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee. Kirby previewed that more sanctions are coming next week.

  Russia and North Korea share a small sliver of border, a little over 10 miles long:

  

  “There are around 50,000 Wagner Group fighters currently deployed to Ukraine, according to Kirby, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts,” CNN reported after the briefing.

  Kirby additionally pointed out that “Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries.” He highlighted Russian defense officials’ expressions of reservations about Wagner’s tactics like recruiting from Russian prisons, and in return promising freedom based on months in action in Ukraine.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/21/2023 – 14:00

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