Today’s News 22nd November 2023

• A New Era In US-Sino Relations?
  A New Era In US-Sino Relations?

  By Teeuwe Mevissen, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank (pdf version available for pro subs in the usual place)

  Summary

  • US president Biden and president of China Xi Jinping met each other this week, for the first time since November 2022

  • The US-Sino relationship has deteriorated since the Trump administration

  • Areas of tensions between both nations include security, trade investments and territorial issues amongst others

  • While the meeting did deliver some concrete results it is unlikely that we will see a significant improvement of US-Sino relations for the foreseeable future.

  Introduction

  To underscore its uniqueness, we have to go back to November 2022 for the last personal meeting between the leaders of the two most powerful countries at the moment, the US and China. Back then, Biden and Xi met each other on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia. This meeting in Bali was preceded by a significant period of increased tensions between the US and China following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Pelosi’s trip was regarded by China as a provocation and a departure from the one China policy. As such, Pelosi’s visit resulted in the end of direct communication between the military of both countries. A potentially dangerous situation since it could lead to incidents developing into something much worse. This and other challenges that currently define US-Sino relations clearly illustrate a need to create a floor under US-Sino relations. But, before we look at this week’s meeting achievements, let’s first briefly go back to the last official meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in Bali and the topics that were discussed back then.

  Bali 2022

  First, it will not come to anyone’s surprise that Taiwan was one of the more thorny issues that was discussed between both countries during the G20 top in Bali. Xi Jinping called Taiwan the “first red line” that must not be crossed in U.S.-China relations. Biden on his turn, seemingly tried to calm things down, stating that the one China policy – which supports both Beijing’s one China stance as well as Taiwan’s military – was unchanged. This is a policy that has often been described as strategic ambiguity, which emphasizes the mixed signal that this policy sends out. But there was definitely a lot more to discuss. North-Korea, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, investment and trade policies and artificial intelligence (AI) were also discussed amongst many other topics. Since many (if not all) of these issues remain unsolved, they were high on the list of topics that both countries needed to discuss.

  San Francisco 2023

  So, fast forward to 15 November, a scheduled meeting between Biden and Xi took place in San Francisco. Below we provide an overview of the most important topics that were discussed and those that are key in defining the US-Sino relationship. We make a distinction between US’s interests, China’s interests and mutual interests. However it must be said that some interests also overlap. The distinction therefore is not always clear. Security, for instance, is of mutual interest, but within the realm of security both China and the US also have their own specific interests. We will conclude this report with our take on the results of the bilateral meeting between both world leaders and see to what extent progress has been made on these issues and more generally the bilateral relationship between the US and China.

  

  US’s main interests

  Trade and investments

  Starting with the Trump era, the US has sought to establish a more equitable trading and investment relationship with China. For long the US has been having a huge trade deficit with both China as well as the rest of the world. In 2022 the total US trade deficit reached a record high with a reported trade deficit of almost $950 billion. According to the US department of Commerce the trade deficit with China reached a level of $382.9 billion in 2022.

  Moreover, trade in 2022 between the US and China grew for a third year in a row. It is therefore hard to claim that the trade relationship between the US and China has become more balanced, despite tariffs and other measures that have been implemented since 2018 to achieve such. However, just ahead of the meeting between Biden and Xi this week, China did buy an amount worth more than $3 billion of soybeans, which should be regarded as a sign of good will and a desire by China to move to a more equitable trade relationship. However, in the past China has already made promises regarding trade and opening up its economy that still need to be fulfilled. For instance by continuing to subsidize certain strategic sectors in order to undercut Western competitors as seems to be the case in the sector for electric vehicles.

  Furthermore, the US federal government pension fund now excludes investments in Hong Kong in addition to investments in mainland China. Additionally, the US has curbed investments flows to China in some sectors that it identifies as strategic and other sectors deemed critical to US national security. This is yet another sign that the US will continue to ‘de-risk’ its relationship with China and to contain China’s economic and technological rise.

  

  Fentanyl

  Another important issue concerns fentanyl. The synthetic opioid has caused havoc in many US cities and fentanyl addiction is an important death cause for US citizens between the age of 35-45. However, it is expected that China will be moving on this issue to accommodate the US in tackling the current fentanyl crisis. As such and already before the meeting took place, Biden and Xi were expected to announce an agreement which would see a crackdown form Beijing on this specific sector. Needless to say that it is in the interest of the US to reverse the current rise in fentanyl addicts. Aside from a public health perspective this topic also touches social, legal, and labour force related issues.

  Human rights

  The US has often decried China’s stance on human rights, most notably with regard to its practices in the Xinjiang province. The US has sanctioned companies that produce goods with the help of Uyghurs. Moreover, the US will also discuss so-called exit bans. These measures ban non Chinese citizens from leaving the country in case of suspicion of criminal offenses. Moreover the US will seek to solve cases of imprisoned US citizens of which the US claims are wrongfully detained. Finally it is in the interest of the US to project its soft power to the rest of the world in order to become a more appealing strategic partner compared to its rivals.

  China’s interests

  Trade and investments

  China continues to seek to turn the current tide of declining exports and reduced flows of foreign direct investments (FDI). Indeed as recently as November 2023, China reported the first contraction in (net) FDI since data has been published in 1998 with a deficit of 11.8 bn during the third quarter of this year. While the current levels of trade between the US and China are still sizable, the process of de-risking (which includes reindustrialisation) will most likely sooner rather than later result in reduced US imports from China.

  

  Territorial issues

  China has continued to press the US on maintaining its one-China policy and insists that the US does not interfere with its internal affairs. Furthermore, China criticizes the US for its freedom of navigation patrols in the South China sea. Additionally, China decries the US for trying to contain China within the region by setting up alliances with regional players like the Philippines and Australia.

  Technology

  China’s “Made in 2025” state-led industrial policy aims for technological independence and the ability to compete with high tech products on global markets. More specifically they aim for an increase in domestically added content of materials from 40% to 70%. The US has restricted access to certain advanced technologies to China. This also includes US allies that have been pressured by the US to restrict Chinese access to certain technologies. So as long as China is not able to produce its own cutting edge technology, it will remain dependent on what the US is willing to export. As such it is clearly in China’s interest to regain access to some of the most advanced technologies.

  Mutual interests

  Security

  As mentioned above, Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan back in August 2022 led China to cutting direct communication lines between both armies. Moreover, the previous minister of defence of China, general Li Shangfu, was put on the US sanction list for being involved in the purchase of SU-35 combat aircraft and Russian S-400 air defence systems. US secretary of defence Loyd Austin tried to re-establish communication lines with the now missing Li Shangfu but was unsuccessful. While Li Shangfu has been expelled from the state council, his name still can be found on the website of China’s ministry of defence and until now, no new minister of defence has been appointed yet.

  Re-establishing direct communication lines between both militaries remains a goal for the Biden administration and with General Li Shangfu being dismissed, new possibilities arise to re-establish these lines of communication with the clear aim to nip any chance of escalation in the bud. These (almost) incidents have increased since China has become more assertive in the region while the US continues its freedom of navigation patrols in the South China sea.

  But there is much more. The US seeks to convince Beijing once and for all that it should not deliver military equipment to Russia. Also the EU has sent this message to China signalling that it would have a strong negative effect on relations between the West and China. Needless to say that both trade and investments would be affected when China would actively support Russia’s military.

  Finally, the US will seek to pressure China to play a more important role in dealing with the nuclear threat arising from North-Korea. It is however questionable to what extent China has real leverage over North Korea in order to persuade it to change its posture in the region. Moreover it is also questionable whether this would be in the interest of China itself.

  But Xi has also expressed himself clearly when he said that China is not seeking to fight a cold or a hot war with anyone. While it is important to realize that this statement is at odds with China’s territorial claims (even when China’s claim on Taiwan is excluded) it should still be clear that China – like the US – realizes that a hot war between both superpowers would have devastating consequences and would go against the interest of both. Xi Jinping has eluded to this by repeatedly saying that nuclear wars can never be won and therefore should never be fought. But also here we see a contradiction, since China has embarked on a path to expand and modernize its nuclear weapon capabilities.

  China also addressed the ongoing tensions in the South China Sea and claims that the freedom of navigation patrols that the US and allies are performing are a violation of Chinese sovereignty. It will also address US weapon deliveries towards Taiwan and will seek for a US statement which would clearly denounce any attempts from Taiwan to separate itself from mainland China.

  Climate

  The most obvious mutual interest both countries share is climate change. Both countries increasingly deal with extreme weather circumstances, climate warming and pollution. Before the meeting there were already positive signs regarding this topic. This also offers hope for the next UN climate talks which will be held in Dubai this month. The US State Department and China’s Ministry of Ecology even made identical statements regarding mutual cooperation in limiting emissions of nitrous oxide and methane. Both nations will also support global initiatives to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

  AI

  Recent warnings from scientists and companies that are involved in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) have put the issue high on the list of security issues. Moreover, there seems to be common ground to exclude AI command and control (NC2) systems for nuclear weapons. Furthermore China has also signalled that it is interested in joining talks about norms and rules for AI. Finally, the South China morning post reported that Biden and Xi were expected to pledge for a ban on AI in autonomous weapon systems like drones. This amongst others with the aim to prevent the risk of weapon systems ‘going their own way’ and all the potential consequences that could arise from this. Unfortunately, in the case of AI there will always remain an incentive to create a weapon that could tip the balance in a direct conflict with an adversary.

  What to expect after the Biden Xi meeting?

  While expectations before the meeting where modest at best, the meeting still has delivered some results. First, a floor seems to have been established regarding the US-Sino relationship. Both leaders expressed clearly that a conflict between both superpowers should be avoided. However, developments within international relations are not static or linear. As such it is likely that tensions between both powers will continue to be an important feature describing US-Sino relations. Second, both superpowers have committed to step up efforts to reduce global warming and fight climate change. Third, China has pledged to curb exports of precursors for fentanyl. Furthermore Biden announced that experts from both China and the US will meet to discuss and determine: “what’s useful and what’s not useful, but dangerous and what’s acceptable” regarding AI. Xi and Biden also agreed to reopen direct communication between both militaries in order to prevent incidents that could lead to an escalation between both countries. While it is absolutely positive that both the US and China are engaging with each other via the highest diplomatic levels, it is important to realize that the current situation of strategic competition/systemic rivalry that has characterized US-Sino relations since Trump became president in 2016, won’t change. As such the relationship has not materially improved. This might be illustrated best by Bidens remark at the end of the press conference where he mentioned that he still sees Xi Jinping as a dictator. Therefore we can only conclude that there is still a long way to go before we can talk about normalizing relations between China and the US.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 23:45

• "Japs, Jewry And Trannies": Media Matters President's Bigoted Blogs Resurface Amid Spat With Musk
  “Japs, Jewry And Trannies”: Media Matters President’s Bigoted Blogs Resurface Amid Spat With Musk

  On Monday, Elon Musk’s X sued Media Matters, claiming that the David Brock-founded leftist ‘watchdog’ group manipulated the platform to show major ads next to Nazi imagery, causing a flood of advertisers to leave the platform.

  

  “The end result was a feed precision-designed by Media Matters for a single purpose: to produce side-by-side ad/content placements that it could screenshot in an effort to alienate advertisers,” causing “all but one of the companies featured in the Media Matters piece withdrawing all ads from X, including Apple, Comcast, NBCUniversal, and IBM—some of X’s largest advertisers.”

  The move by Media Matters was a successful attempt to brand Elon Musk and his platform as antisemitic, after Musk took fire for agreeing with a post suggesting that liberal Jews – who “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them,” are now on the receiving end of things.

  Japs, Jewry And Trannies

  What happened next couldn’t have been better scripted in pre-woke Hollywood. It turns out that Media Matters President Angelo Carusone wrote super antisemitic blog posts in the early 2000s, which were uncovered by the Daily Caller‘s Peter Hasson in 2019, and have been making the rounds of late given the Musk controversy.

  

  In one blog post titled “Tranny Paradise,” the future Media Matters president went on a lengthy diatribe against a ‘tranny-loving author.’

  In another post that same month, Carusone suggested in response to a male basketball coach’s alleged sexual and physical abuse of female players; “lighten up Japs.”

  

  In an October 2005 post, Carusone said of his boyfriend, “despite his jewry, you KNOW he’s adorable.”

  

  In another post, he suggested that his Jewish boyfriend only leaned conservative “as a result of his possession of several bags of Jewish gold.”

  

  We know, we know – who cares, right?

  The point is that Carusone is a massive, virtue-signaling hypocrite for suggesting that Musk was antisemitic for agreeing with a defensible observation, while he himself broke several ‘cardinal rules’ of being a liberal wokescold.

  As even the Washington Post noted at the time of the Caller article, “Carusone’s postings are indeed offensive, and if he’s going to serve as president of an organization renowned for unearthing overlooked and objectionable comments from people’s past, he deserves to be called out on his own transgressions.”

  Carusone said in reply, “It’s true: I wrote some gross things on my blog while I was in college. A few posts parodying living my life as if I were a self-loathing, bigoted Limbaugh right-winger.”

  Ah yes, just parody.

  But wait, there’s more!

  Apparently a bunch of Media Matters employees hate Israel. The thing Media Matters is accusing Musk of. And hey, it’s a free country – but the hypocrisy is just too thick to ignore.

  They are pure evil.

  How utterly absurd that this organization got major advertisers to boycott our platform for bogus allegations of antisemitism!

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2023

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  While Media Matters was busy accusing anyone right of Che Guevara of antisemitism, they conveniently overlooked the questionable words of their own employees.

  Eagerly anticipating Media Matters’ report on this glaring issue of racism and bigotry…

  — KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) November 22, 2023

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  Amazing!

  LMAOOOO

  — The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) November 18, 2023

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  https://t.co/nOL8ZHBbpC pic.twitter.com/6fpEYNQO5e

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 21, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 23:25

• "There's No Comparison": Why Classic Car Enthusiasts Won't Touch Modern Cars
  “There’s No Comparison”: Why Classic Car Enthusiasts Won’t Touch Modern Cars

  Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Given the choice between a sporty new Chevy Corvette and his 1963 Dodge 330, Bob Hughes will take the 60-year-old classic any day.

  

  The simplicity of automotive design from yesteryear has its virtues, Mr. Hughes said, relaxing in a lawn chair next to his former “daily driver” at the Thunderfest Car and Bike Show in Casa Grande, Arizona, on Nov. 4.

  “You can change the plugs—you can see the plugs—which is something you can’t do on most new cars,” he said.

  “I built this thing from nothing. It was a $75 body when I bought it.” That was in 1970.

  All around the big parking lot were classic hot rods and muscle cars—tricked-out mechanical masterpieces from when vehicles were easy to work on if you had the tools and the skill.

  It isn’t the same with newer automated vehicles, vintage and classic car enthusiasts say.

  

  “For one thing, the electronics can screw you up,” Mr. Hughes, 76, told The Epoch Times.

  “You mess up the electronics by arcing the battery. I’ll walk before I buy an electric vehicle. And I can’t hardly walk at all.“

  Mr. Hughes of Casa Grande isn’t alone in criticizing the new car technology.

  Mary Jo McDonald, a senior from Glendale, California, held similar views as she sat under an umbrella watching over her husband’s 1959 Pontiac Bonneville convertible with the hood open.

  She said comparing vintage cars and newer models is like comparing cats and dogs.

  “My husband is an electrical engineer. But the new stuff? It’s like Star Wars,” Ms. McDonald said.

  Though her husband, Donald, has tried working on the newer cars, he’s been having trouble “getting all the bells and whistles to work,” she said.

  

  “It’s complicated. You can figure out how the older vehicles come together and come apart. This car, he completely tore down and redid the whole thing.”

  “There’s no comparison,” Ms. McDonald told The Epoch Times. “There are definite advantages to the new technology. But being in my 80s, I would rather have it the old way.”

  According to national insurance company Progressive, the main differences between old and new vehicles are in their design, components, handling, and safety.

  “Modern engines are much smarter, smaller, more powerful, and more efficient than older ones,” Progressive’s website states.

  “Since they lack automated features, classic cars have a more hands-on driving experience, and they can be easier to work on yourself. And while newer cars will depreciate with age, classic car values tend to appreciate due to supply and demand, especially for well-maintained cars.”

  The merger of automation and vehicle technology has taken decades since German carmaker Volkswagen introduced the first vehicle using a transistorized, electronically controlled fuel injection system in 1968, according to Chipsets.com.

  The following year, Ford introduced the company’s first computer-controlled anti-skid braking system. Chrysler vehicles now feature Electronic Engine Control (EEC) technology introduced in 1973.

  

  “Have you noticed a change in the picture you see under the hood of your car?” the Drivin’ & Vibin’ Team wrote in a May 27, 2022, online article.

  “Vehicle repairs are certainly a lot more complicated than they used to be a couple of decades ago, and for a good reason.“

  Compared with vehicles manufactured before 1990, newer cars and trucks have fewer moving parts, and they have onboard computers that control most engine functions, making things more complicated.

  “It takes a lot more schooling to educate a professional mechanic properly,” the Drivin’ & Vibin’ Team wrote. “When designers came up with new car concepts back in the day, they focused more on making the vehicles easy for the typical owner to repair.

  “Engineers designed vehicles to have more open space under the hood, and they had fewer electrical components to manage.”

  Travis Rees-Fleming, 38, of Snowflake, Arizona, said he prefers simpler auto technology to the newer vehicles.

  His 1962 Ford Ranchero was his favorite car.

  

  “I’ve owned more cars than I have fingers,” Mr. Rees-Fleming said. “Other than oil changes, I don’t do any maintenance on the newer cars due to the increased amount of electronics they put into them.”

  He said having in-laws who own an automotive repair shop makes repairs more convenient. But even they’re finding it more challenging to hire technicians with the skill set to fix newer vehicles.

  “On top of that, you have the updated computer programming. You have to lease from the companies to be able to service their vehicles,” Mr. Rees-Fleming told The Epoch Times.

  “It makes them harder to keep on the road if they have electronic issues. It can leave people stranded—dead in the water.“

  “Up here, with the rats, if they chew through even one wire, your vehicle is down. You’ve got to get a tow to a dealership. The local service shops need technicians to work on those cars.”

  Supply chain issues mean repairs take longer to complete. The average turnaround for body shops is 30 days, Mr. Rees-Fleming said.

  He said it can take even longer with electric vehicles using complex lithium-ion batteries because of a lack of infrastructure to support them.

  “We also run into battery shortages, mineral shortages, and charging stations,” he said. “Even with self-driving technology, there will be issues with vehicles not sensing certain roads,” he said.

  Read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 23:05

• Israeli Cabinet Approves Major Hostage Deal, Multi-Day Ceasefire With Hamas
  Israeli Cabinet Approves Major Hostage Deal, Multi-Day Ceasefire With Hamas

  Update(2100ET): In a rare moment of positive news, Netanyahu’s cabinet has approved the hostage release and ceasefire deal which has been long in development in the early hours of Wednesday morning (local). Below are the developing details of the deal (in an official govt. statement), which will see a multi-day ceasefire take effect – the first of the more than one-month long war which has claimed over 13,000 Palestinian lives and over 1,200 Israeli lives:

  “The Israeli government is committed to bringing all the abductees home. Tonight, the government approved the outline for the first stage of achieving this goal, under which at least 50 abductees – women and children – will be released over a span of four days, during which there will be a lull in the fighting,” the statement said.

  “The release of every ten additional abductees will result in an additional day of respite,” it added.

  “The Israeli government, the IDF and the security forces will continue the war to return all the abductees, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that Gaza does not renew any threat to the State of Israel.”

  A prisoner swap is a key feature of the deal. According to Israeli media, “Israel also agreed to release Palestinian women and minors from prison and let them return to their homes, mostly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

  “Israel has avoided offering a specific number, but Hebrew media has placed the figure at 150,” writes Times of Israel. “A Palestinian Authority minister told Al Arabiya on Tuesday that 350 jailed Palestinian minors and 82 jailed Palestinian women would be freed in the swap.”

  

  So clearly the deal has been structured (with Qatari mediation) to be extended based on how the initial phase of the captive/prisoner releases goes.

  * * *

  Update(1417ET): Further details as reported in Israeli media, and as Netanyahu cabinet votes on approving the Qatar-mediated deal:

  • Government meets on proposed deal to release some 50 Israeli hostages over 4 days of ceasefire
  • Deal provides for more releases later
  • Palestinian prisoners to be freed, but not murderers

  However, even if the deal does get approved, and it is expected to, Israel’s military is vowing this won’t hinder its goal of eradicating Hamas.

  IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday, “The goal of returning the hostages is significant. Even if it results in the reduction of some of the other things, we will know how to restore our operational achievements.” He said this means the IDF will still focus on eliminating Hamas.

  

  The White House this week issued rare, albeit somewhat tame, criticism of Israel’s bombing campaign…

  This may be one of the first US criticisms of a mass-casualty strike in Gaza, but it’s still insufficient.

  If a pause in fighting and release of (hopefully many) hostages is coming, @POTUS must use it to insist that Israel not resume bombing that even he called “indiscriminate.” https://t.co/51lCRmiqId

  — Dylan Williams (@dylanotes) November 21, 2023

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  * * *

  For the first time of the Gaza conflict, both Israeli and Hamas sources agree that a major deal for the mass release of hostages is “closer than it has ever been” and is in the “final stages” – according to a US official cited in Reuters Tuesday.

  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has agreed that they are “close to reaching a truce agreement” with Israel, and an official with PM Netanyahu’s office said “An announcement of a deal may be imminent.” CNBC is citing the Israeli prime minister’s office as saying a deal has been reached.

  

  Sources in Reuters indicated the pending deal is to include a multi-day pause in fighting, with a prisoner exchange potentially seeing Hamas release some 50 Israeli civilian hostages. The Israelis, for their part, are expected to free female and minor-ages Palestinians in its custody.

  Since Oct.7, Hamas has demanded the release of several thousand Palestinians who have long been in Israeli custody, some of them without having ever been charged.

  Netanyahu on Tuesday issued his most optimistic statements yet regarding a deal: “We are making progress on the release of the hostages. I hope we will have good news soon,” he told a group of military reservists.

  He’s reportedly holding a series of urgent Cabinet meetings to mull the details of the pending deal…

  Israeli PM Netanyahu’s office has announced they will be holding a series of special Cabinet meetings today following reports that a deal with Hamas was close.

  “An announcement of a deal may be imminent,” a diplomat with knowledge of the talks tells @keirsimmons. pic.twitter.com/VwH8m09aXv

  — MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 21, 2023

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  Details reported by Axios based on diplomatic sources privy to the Qatar-mediated talks have been revealed:

  • In the first phase of the two-phase deal, Hamas is expected to release 50 Israeli women and children held in Gaza, while Israel is expected to release around 150 Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and minors. Some of the Israeli hostages are dual citizens.
  • The release of hostages and prisoners in the first phase of the deal would take place over four days of ceasefire in Gaza, one of the sources told Axios.
  • As part of the deal, Israel would allow around 300 aid trucks per day to enter Gaza from Egypt.

  A potential second phase of the deal could see 50 more released, and the ceasefire would be extended for multiple more days, per Axios:

  • Israel would also release Palestinian prisoners at the same 3:1 ratio to the number of hostages freed.

  While Tuesday has witnessed very optimistic international headlines and reporting, there have been several false starts concerning prior deals that proved premature, as the instance of a Washington Post story correction highlighted Monday.

  Washington Post issues correction after wrongly reporting a U.S.-brokered deal to pause Israel-Hamas conflict https://t.co/Yvuoh3X8vL

  — Fox News (@FoxNews) November 20, 2023

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  developing…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 23:00

• US To Deploy Previously Banned Missiles To Aim Them At China
  US To Deploy Previously Banned Missiles To Aim Them At China

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  The US military will deploy new medium-range missile systems to the Pacific region next year for the purpose of “deterring” China from invading Taiwan, the commander of US Army Pacific Forces said on Saturday.

  According to Defense One, Gen. Charles Flynn said the deployment will include a land-based version of the Tomahawk missile, which was previously banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a treaty with Russia the US withdrew from in 2019.

  

  “We have tested them and we have a battery or two of them today,” Flynn said. “In 2024. We intend to deploy that system in your region. I’m not going to say where and when. But I will just say that we will deploy them.”

  The INF Treaty previously banned the development of land-based missiles with a range between 310 to 3,400 miles. The US’s new land-based batteries that use Tomahawk missiles can hit targets of up to 1,000 miles. The US Marines Corps activated its first Tomahawk battery over the summer at a base in California.

  The US withdrew from the INF over allegations that a new missile Russia was developing violated the treaty, which Moscow denied.

  Russia also accused the US of potentially running afoul of the treaty by installing Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in Romania and Poland. The systems use Mk-41 vertical launchers, which can fit Tomahawk missiles.

  The new battery activated by the Marines uses an Mk-41 launch system cell, demonstrating that the Russian concerns about the Aegis Systems are not unfounded. The US formally exited the INF treaty on August 2, 2019, and began testing INF-range missiles with ground-based Mk-41 launchers just a few weeks later.

  While Flynn would not say where the Tomahawk missiles would be deployed, there are indications they could end up in Japan. The US is also expanding its military presence in the Philippines as part of its buildup against China, which US military officials say is meant to deter war.

  

  But the US buildup, which Beijing views as a containment strategy, has only escalated tensions with China and appears to be making war more likely.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 22:25

• China Picks 50 Developers For $138 Billion Gambit To Stem Real Estate Crisis
  China Picks 50 Developers For $138 Billion Gambit To Stem Real Estate Crisis

  On Sunday we noted that Beijing would be employing several schemes to try and put a floor under its spiraling property crisis – chief among them, providing at least 1 trillion yuan (US$137 billion) in low-cost financing to renovate urban villages and build new, affordable housing (which, according to Bloomberg‘s Ye Xie, George Lei and Henry Ren, might not be enough).

  

  Beijing announced the two-pronged approach over the past few weeks, which have top-level political backing for financing equivalent to approximately 10% of annual new home sales in what Bloomberg described as the “Singapore” model.

  Singapore, while a mecca of private-sector business and financial activity, is renowned for a residential market that’s dominated by public housing. If China’s new plan works, officials might be able to both end a nearly three-year slump in property construction and meet President Xi Jinping’s aims to promote “common prosperity.”

  “The plan is more of a longer-term structural adjustment in the property sector toward a Singaporean model,” said Betty Wang, senior economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Hong Kong. “I don’t think it’s just a short-term effort to boost property investment — instead, it’s about China’s 2035 common prosperity goals.”

  

  50 developers

  Now, Bloomberg reports that Chinese regulators are quickly moving forward with the two projects – and have drafted a list of 50 developers eligible for a range of financing, according to people familiar with the matter. The list comprises both private and state-owned developers, who will vie for support from financial institutions loans, debt, and equity financing.

  The yet-to-be-finalized list would expand on previous rosters created by banks that only focused on some “systemically important” state-backed firms. It underscores Beijing’s growing concerns about the sector following record defaults, a swathe of unfinished apartments and a deep contraction in real estate investment that threatens to derail growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

  Some Chinese builders’ dollar bonds rallied after the report. Vanke’s 3.5% note due 2029 climbed 3.9 cents on the dollar, set for the biggest jump in two weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Longfor’s 3.85% note due 2032 rose 3.2 cents, while Seazen’s 4.8% bond due 2024 climbed 2.2 cents. -Bloomberg

  According to a recent statement from Beijing, China’s largest banks, brokerages and distressed asset managers were told during a Friday gathering to meet all “reasonable” funding needs from property developers, and to “treat private and state-owned developers the same” when it comes to lending. Regulators were also asked at the event to ensure that loan issuance to private builders doesn’t outpace the industry average rate, given that China’s outstanding property loans fell for the first time on an annual bases in Q3.

  

  China has attempted several previous schemes to mitigate its housing crisis, which is putting a serious drag on the economy despite other indicators such as industrial production marking improvement in recent months. The real estate industry, on the other hand, contracted 2.7% in Q3, the largest drop this year.

  “The results so far are disappointing, because these measures mainly focus on boosting demand but overlook the supply side, namely, the financing needs of developers,” according to Macquarie Group Ltd. economists led by Larry Hu wrote in a Nov. 17 note. “A key thing to watch is whether and when policymakers would take bolder actions.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 22:05

• What If the Constitution No Longer Applied? Freedom's Greatest Hour Of Danger Is Now
  What If the Constitution No Longer Applied? Freedom’s Greatest Hour Of Danger Is Now

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “What if the rights and principles guaranteed in the Constitution have been so distorted in the past 200 years as to be unrecognizable by the Founders? What if the government was the reason we don’t have a Constitution anymore? What if freedom’s greatest hour of danger is now?”

  – Andrew P. Napolitano

  We are approaching critical mass, the point at which all hell breaks loose.

  

  The government is pushing us ever closer to a constitutional crisis.

  What makes the outlook so much bleaker is the utter ignorance of the American people – and those who represent them – about their freedoms, history, and how the government is supposed to operate.

  As Morris Berman points out in his book Dark Ages America, “70 percent of American adults cannot name their senators or congressmen; more than half don’t know the actual number of senators, and nearly a quarter cannot name a single right guaranteed by the First Amendment. Sixty-three percent cannot name the three branches of government. Other studies reveal that uninformed or undecided voters often vote for the candidate whose name and packaging (e.g., logo) are the most powerful; color is apparently a major factor in their decision.”

  More than government corruption and ineptitude, police brutality, terrorism, gun violence, drugs, illegal immigration or any other so-called “danger” that threatens our nation, civic illiteracy may be what finally pushes us over the edge.

  As Thomas Jefferson warned, no nation can be both ignorant and free.

  Unfortunately, the American people have existed in a technology-laden, entertainment-fueled, perpetual state of cluelessness for so long that civic illiteracy has become the new normal for the citizenry.

  It’s telling that Americans were more able to identify Michael Jackson as the composer of a number of songs than to know that the Bill of Rights was the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

  In fact, most immigrants who aspire to become citizens know more about national civics than native-born Americans. Surveys indicate that a majority in every state but Vermont would fail a test of U.S. citizenship questions.

  Not even the government bureaucrats who are supposed to represent us know much about civics, American history and geography, or the Constitution although they take an oath to uphold, support and defend the Constitution against “enemies foreign and domestic.”

  For instance, a few year ago, a couple attempting to get a marriage license was forced to prove to a government official that New Mexico is, in fact, one of the 50 states and not a foreign country.

  You can’t make this stuff up.

  Here’s a classic example of how surreal the landscape has become.

  Every year, the White House issues a proclamation affirming the importance of the Bill of Rights.

  These proclamations pay lip service to the government’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and guarding against government abuses of power.

  Don’t believe it for a second.

  The government doesn’t want its abuses checked and its powers restricted.

  For that matter, this is not a government that holds the Constitution in high esteem.

  Indeed, we wouldn’t be in this sorry state if it weren’t for the damage inflicted in recent years on the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights, which historically served as the bulwark from government abuse.

  In the so-called named of national security, the Constitution has been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded to such an extent that what we are left with is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago.

  The Bill of Rights—462 words that represent the most potent and powerful rights ever guaranteed to a group of people officially—became part of the U.S. Constitution on December 15, 1791, because early Americans such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson understood the need to guard against the government’s inclination to abuse its power.

  Yet the reality we must come to terms with is that in the America we live in today, the government does whatever it wants.

  Make no mistake: if our individual freedoms have been restricted, it is only so that the government’s powers could be expanded at our expense.

  The USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, drove a stake through the heart of the Bill of Rights, violating at least six of the ten original amendments—the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments—and possibly the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well. The Patriot Act also redefined terrorism so broadly that many non-terrorist political activities such as protest marches, demonstrations and civil disobedience were considered potential terrorist acts, thereby rendering anyone desiring to engage in protected First Amendment expressive activities as suspects of the surveillance state.

  Since 9/11, we’ve been spied on by surveillance cameras, eavesdropped on by government agents, had our belongings searched, our phones tapped, our mail opened, our email monitored, our opinions questioned, our purchases scrutinized (under the USA Patriot Act, banks are required to analyze your transactions for any patterns that raise suspicion and to see if you are connected to any objectionable people), and our activities watched.

  We’ve also been subjected to invasive patdowns and whole-body scans of our persons and seizures of our electronic devices in the nation’s airports and at border crossings.

  We can’t even purchase certain cold medicine at the pharmacy anymore without it being reported to the government and our names being placed on a watch list.

  Government surveillance, militarized police, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, eminent domain, overcriminalization, armed surveillance drones, whole body scanners, stop and frisk searches (all sanctioned by Congress, the White House, the courts and the like), etc.: these are merely the weapons of the police state.

  The power of the police state is dependent on a populace that meekly obeys without question.

  Remember: when it comes to the staggering loss of civil liberties, the Constitution hasn’t changed. Rather, it is the American people who have changed.

  Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. The government’s purpose is to protect, defend and even enhance our freedoms, not violate them.

  It was no idle happenstance that the Constitution opens with these three powerful words: “We the people.” Those who founded this country knew quite well that every citizen must remain vigilant or freedom would be lost. As Thomas Paine recognized, “It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”

  You have no rights unless you exercise them.

  Still, you can’t exercise your rights unless you know what those rights are.

  “If Americans do not understand the Constitution and the institutions and processes through which we are governed, we cannot rationally evaluate important legislation and the efforts of our elected officials, nor can we preserve the national unity necessary to meaningfully confront the multiple problems we face today,” warns the Brennan Center in its Civic Literacy Report Card. “Rather, every act of government will be measured only by its individual value or cost, without concern for its larger impact. More and more we will ‘want what we want, and [will be] convinced that the system that is stopping us is wrong, flawed, broken or outmoded.’”

  Education precedes action.

  As the Brennan Center concludes “America, unlike most of the world’s nations, is not a country defined by blood or belief. America is an idea, or a set of ideas, about freedom and opportunity. It is these ideas that bind us together as Americans and have kept us free, strong, and prosperous. But these ideas do not perpetuate themselves. They must be taught and learned anew with each generation.”

  If there is to be any hope for restoring our freedoms and reclaiming our runaway government, we will have to start by breathing life into those three powerful words that set the tone for everything that follows in the Constitution: “we the people.”

  People get the government they deserve.

  It’s up to us.

  We have the power to make and break the government.

  We the American people—the citizenry—are the arbiters and ultimate guardians of America’s welfare, defense, liberty, laws and prosperity.

  It’s time to stop waiting patiently for change to happen.

  We must act—and act responsibly.

  Get outraged, get off your duff and get out of your house, get in the streets, get in people’s faces, get down to your local city council, get over to your local school board, get your thoughts down on paper, get your objections plastered on protest signs, get your neighbors, friends and family to join their voices to yours, get your representatives to pay attention to your grievances, get your kids to know their rights, get your local police to march in lockstep with the Constitution, get your media to act as watchdogs for the people and not lapdogs for the corporate state, get your act together, and get your house in order.

  In other words, get moving. 

  A healthy, representative government is hard work. It takes a citizenry that is informed about the issues, educated about how the government operates, and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to stay involved, whether that means forgoing Monday night football in order to attend a city council meeting or risking arrest by picketing in front of a politician’s office.

  Whatever you do, please don’t hinge your freedoms on politics.

  The Constitution is neutral when it comes to politics. What the Constitution is not neutral about, however, is the government’s duty to safeguard the rights of the citizenry.

  “We the people” also have a duty that goes far beyond the act of voting: as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, it’s our job to keep freedom alive using every nonviolent means available to us.

  Know your rights. Exercise your rights. Defend your rights. If not, you will lose them.

  Freedom’s greatest hour of danger is now.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 21:45

• Fear Of Failure Is Vital To The Success Of A Free Market Economy
  Fear Of Failure Is Vital To The Success Of A Free Market Economy

  Authored by Artis Shepherd via The Mises Institute,

  It has become popular, especially in certain fields and among certain crowds, to glorify failure. So-called entrepreneurs and social influencers often brag about their failures. Multinational corporations publish poems encouraging failure. Vapid mottos rejecting the fear of failure are ubiquitous on motivational posters and T-shirts.

  These efforts are apparently meant to convey an enterprising spirit and a fearlessness about trying new things in an effort to push the boundaries of a particular field.

  While there’s tremendous value in attempting to achieve something worthwhile despite the risk of failure, failure itself is never the goal. And “learning from our failures” is part of the process of success, not an end in itself. Rejecting the fear of failure is not only impossible but harmful to human achievement.

  

  They’re from the Government, and They’re Here to Help

  What lies behind the attempt to bypass fear of failure is the perceived lack of any substantial cost to failure. And this lack is precisely why those who spout these trite mottos continue to fail. Rationalizing backward, it’s only natural for them to glorify the result they achieved.

  The reason for this perception of the low cost of failure is that government involvement in every aspect of life has underscored the idea that someone will always be there to provide a safety net.

  Can’t hold a job? Apply for welfare.

  Gained three hundred pounds or twisted your ankle? Get on disability.

  Your industry is falling behind cheaper and more efficient foreign suppliers? No worries, there are tariffs for that.

  Can’t run a profitable company? Lobby the government for subsidies. Still not profitable? Encourage your colleagues in government to print money and create a financial bubble that allows you to use your inflated stock price to pay expenses. Still not profitable? Sell some of that inflated stock and cash in.

  Picked a worthless field of study in school and nobody wants to hire you? Your student loan debt is cancelled.

  And so on.

  Lest the investment community get left out, this concept has carried over into capital markets as well, beginning with the Greenspan put of (mostly) the 1990s—an easing of monetary conditions anytime the stock market declined more than a trivial amount, most notably after the 1987 crash and the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. Incidentally, this behavior was mimicked by all of Alan Greenspan’s successors and has had implications for asset prices across the board.

  Burn Your Boats

  Hundreds of years BC, the Macedonian army arrived in Persia to conquer their enemies. Questioning the feasibility of conquering the mighty Persians, the less weighty Macedonian army began to doubt their mission. Under the leadership of Alexander the Great, the decision was made to burn their own boats after landing on the Persian shore, leaving no possible escape. Hernan Cortez reportedly made the same maneuver when conquering the Aztecs nearly two thousand years later.

  What these men knew is that a backup option would only diminish their sense of urgency. Cutting all cords and facing the decision to succeed or die instilled that sense of urgency, and glory followed.

  With time, reliance on government, as opposed to a desire for freedom, has become more commonplace in America. If the trend continues, that reliance will be the source of severe disappointment.

  It’s already the source of a gelded populace that no longer values self-reliance and productive ability.

  The state is incapable of helping anyone or anything but itself, and as Canadian American psychotherapist and writer Nathaniel Branden often has said, “No one is coming to save you.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 21:05

• Streaming Accounts For Nearly 40% Of US TV Consumption
  Streaming Accounts For Nearly 40% Of US TV Consumption

  Beginning with the success of Netflix‘s all-you-can stream model, there has been a dramatic shift in TV consumption over the past decade.

  Consumers quickly came to appreciate the flexibility, ease-of-use and affordability of Netflix and other streaming services that inevitably followed, making life increasingly hard for broadcast TV networks, cable TV providers and traditional pay-TV channels such as HBO.

  As more and more media companies jumped on the streaming bandwagon, consumers now have a plethora of choices, no matter if they prefer movies and series (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, etc.), documentaries (Discovery+ and others) or sports (ESPN+, DAZN). With the exception of live sports, which is one of the last strongholds of linear TV, streaming services have taken over a large chunk of TV consumption in the U.S. and around the world.

  

  As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge, a monthly report on TV viewing behavior in the United States, streaming services surpassed cable TV for the first time in July 2022, when it accounted for 34.8 percent of daily TV consumption, versus 34.4 percent for cable and 21.6 percent for broadcast.

  Since then, streaming’s share of TV viewing increased further, peaking at 38.7 percent in July 2023 before declining slightly to 37.5 percent in September.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  The decline wasn’t caused by streaming’s weakness, however, but by the start of the college football and NFL season, which provided a big boost to broadcast viewing, which increased its share from 20 percent in July to 23 percent in September.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 20:45

• America The Obese: How Taxpayers Are Forced To Ruin Their Health
  America The Obese: How Taxpayers Are Forced To Ruin Their Health

  Authored by Stephen Manuszak via The Mises Institute,

  The first piece of legislation passed by the new Congress of the United States of America after the ratification of the Constitution included a tariff on the import of foreign sugar. Although this tariff was passed as a means to raise the funds needed to pay the debts accrued during the Revolutionary War, coincidentally it also provided elaborate protections to the nation’s wealthiest farmers of sugarcane and sugar beets.

  

  The indirect subsidies afforded to the sugar producers by the Tariff Act of 1789 have been reapproved and signed, now via the Farm Bill, every five years by every available president up to and including Donald J. Trump. For more than two hundred years, these sugar producers in America have been able to sell their product at prices higher than what the market would normally allow. Later this year, President Joe Biden will get the opportunity to put his signature on the bill as well.

  In the late 1960s, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan discovered an enzyme that effectively and easily converted cornstarch into fructose. This technology was ultimately sold to American companies, and in 1983, the Food and Drug Administration approved high fructose corn syrup as safe for consumption. In short order, the food industry took advantage of this cheap, new form of sweetener in extraordinary amounts. Supply of this ersatz sugar became abundant. The market, as you would expect, used this opportunity to undercut the historically high prices of sugar generated by the aforementioned tariff.

  Due to this market opportunity, a new agricultural policy was pushed at the highest levels of the federal government. From 1971 to 1976—under the auspices of Richard Nixon—the secretary of agriculture, a loud, boisterous man named Earl Butz, became famous for conjuring up a new “fencerow to fencerow” policy: maximum production for corn and soy, as the demand for these crops were now high. He pushed farmers to take on debt to buy more land and machines to drive production. Henceforth, lavish government subsidies (by way of the same Farm Bill mentioned earlier) were doled out to corn farmers. Production of these crops skyrocketed, and given the increased supply of corn, sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup became cheaper on the open market.

  To fully understand how governmental policies lead to adverse health effects, it is important to understand how the human body metabolizes different types of sugar. The most abundant sugar on earth is glucose, a six-carbon hexagonal sugar, which has been what our bodies have mainly adapted to and utilized for energy production. Fructose, a five-carbon pentagon, is another sugar found in nature, natural to many foods and another source of energy for the body. Similarly, both glucose and fructose are broken down in the body during metabolism by a biochemical pathway called glycolysis.

  However, due to its shape, fructose happens to bypass a key early enzyme in the biochemical pathway that can serve as a check on energy production. Therefore, a fructose molecule entering glycolysis becomes metabolized and stored faster and easier than glucose. Overall, excess fructose ingestion leads to excess fat in the body.

  That is precisely what we have seen scaled up from the molecular level all the way to the population level: soaring rates of obesity driven primarily by excessive sugar consumption. Today, Americans consume an average of 130 pounds of added sugar per year, much of that coming by way of fructose. This is a sharp uptick from the 1970s, when average yearly consumption was closer to eighty pounds.

  Likewise, obesity has skyrocketed since the 1970s. The obesity epidemic continues to worsen, quickly approaching a 50 percent prevalence in the country.

  Obesity can increase one’s chances of developing diabetes, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, renal failure, serious infections (e.g., worse covid outcomes), osteoarthritis, stroke, blindness, different forms of cancer, and depression, and the list continues on. Obesity not only shortens life expectancy but also decreases quality of life, especially by putting financial strain on the individual. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the annual medical costs for adults with obesity were $1,861 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight.

  Obesity is also putting financial strain on the society writ large. The CDC reported the annual medical cost of obesity was nearly $173 billion in 2019 dollars; in all likelihood, this is an underestimate. Looking at the US fiscal year budget as a pie chart, one of the largest slices of the budget goes to Medicare and Medicaid. It is no surprise to find the national debt increasing to unfathomable heights.

  Policies put forth by the national government have real-world consequences, sometimes taking decades or even centuries – if you care to draw cause and effect back to the Tariff Act of 1789 – to fully manifest. It is both sad and almost comical to have the American taxpayer subsidizing the sugarcane and sugar beet industries—which puts upward pressure on the price of sugar—to then subsidizing the corn industry in order to undercut these high sugar prices, only later for the taxpayer to be taxed again to fund Medicare and Medicaid in the government’s attempt to curb the health fallout from obesity.

  Many will cheer the president, from both the high-spending Left and profarmer Right, as he places his John Hancock on the Farm Bill that is due for renewal this year. Understand, however, that subsidizing farmers to mass produce corn is one of the largest drivers of health and economic decline in our nation.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 20:25

• Mysterious Military Flights Between Israel, Lebanon Observed: Report
  Mysterious Military Flights Between Israel, Lebanon Observed: Report

  Via The Cradle,

  Mysterious foreign military cargo flights, potentially carrying equipment for use against Hezbollah, continue to land at the Beirut and Hamat airports, Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.

  Between the 14th and 20th of November, nine planes from various NATO countries were recorded landing at Beirut and Hamat airports, including several flying from Tel Aviv, according to IntelSky, a website monitoring aircraft movement in the region.

  Sources speaking with Al-Akhbar said the cargo included devices used for jamming, which raises questions about the reason for their transport to Lebanon and whether they will be used to disrupt the communications network of Hezbollah in the event of an escalation of the fighting with Israel in Lebanon’s south.

  

  Since the October 7 Hamas attack on settlements surrounding Gaza, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 more taken captive, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in deadly tit-for-tat clashes on the Lebanese-Israel border area.

  Hezbollah’s communication network played a key role during the July 2006 war against Israel, which later led to US pressure on the government of then-Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to call for dismantling the resistance group’s communications network in 2008.

  The same sources speaking with Al-Akhbar confirmed that the security authorities at Beirut and Hamat airports do not seriously inspect the cargo of the planes that land, with Hamat Air Base lacking even a scanning device. The final destination of the cargo in Lebanon is also unknown.

  IntelSky reported that the movement of foreign military aircraft is proceeding at a level that Lebanon had not witnessed in years. Between October 8 and November 10, 32 planes landed, nine of which belonged to the US, Dutch, and British Air Forces and landed at the Hamat base, and 23 planes belonging to the US, French, Dutch, Spanish, Canadian, Italian, and Saudi armies landed at the base designated for military and diplomatic aircraft on the west side of Beirut Airport.

  Although Lebanese law prohibits direct flights between Lebanon and Israel, Intelsky monitored three planes landing at Beirut Airport originating in Tel Aviv.

  A British Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas landed in Beirut on 14 November, coming from Tel Aviv. The plane carried out a “touch and go” operation (touching the runway and taking off directly without stopping) at a British military base in Cyprus to technically comply with Lebanese law banning direct flights from Israel.

  After taking off from Beirut, the plane returned to Tel Aviv after carrying out another touch-and-go operation at the British base in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

  On November 16, a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III also flew from Tel Aviv to Beirut. The Intelsky website recorded that the plane allegedly landed in Cyprus as well but disappeared from radars before landing and reappeared after the supposed take-off. The plane was absent from radars over Larnaca for 4 minutes at an altitude of 1,264 meters, suggesting it did not land in Cyprus.

  On November 21, a British Royal Air Force (Airbus A400M Atlas landed in Beirut after making only a camouflaged landing in Akrotiri, at an altitude of only 375 meters above the base, which means that the flight violated Lebanese law and was in effect a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Beirut.

  IDF releases footage of strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in response to the attacks on northern Israel. It says the sites include a command center and other infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/Lar02yl8CN

  — Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 21, 2023

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

  It should be noted that daily flights between the Akrotiri base and Tel Aviv have been recorded since the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7.

  Al-Akhbar notes these flights raise suspicions about whether these trips are part of a broader strategy related to the conflict with Israel and may be intended to enhance the military capabilities of some parties in the region working on behalf of Israel and NATO, or to provide them with logistical support that includes transporting necessary equipment and supplies.

  The Israeli army has not commented on the flight, except for a statement issued on November 10 confirming that “part of the air traffic at the airport is a routine movement to transfer military aid to the Lebanese army.”

  The statement was issued after the Intelsky website monitored the movement of foreign military aircraft at a level that Lebanon had not witnessed in years. Between the 8th of last October and the 10th of this month, 32 planes landed, 9 of which belonged to the American, Dutch, and British Air Forces and landed at the Hamat base, and 23 planes belonging to the American, French, Dutch, Spanish, Canadian, Italian, and Saudi armies landed at the base designated for military and diplomatic aircraft on the west side of Beirut Airport.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 20:05

• Why You Should Read 1984 (Again)
  Why You Should Read 1984 (Again)

  Authored by Nesrine Assani via BitcoinMagazine.com,

  If you care at all about privacy, sovereignty, and freedom, the lessons of George Orwell’s 1984 are more relevant than they ever have been…

  

  Despite being published in 1949 at the tail end of World War II, I think George Orwell’s fictional novel, 1984, is still as relevant today as it was back then.

  The book is set in the fictional state of Oceania, where a dystopian future has taken over the reins of society. The leader of the nation, Big Brother, keeps a constant eye on citizens, making sure that they think, act, and speak precisely how they should further the aims of the rulers.

  Governed by the Party, the people of Oceania have no form of freedom, not in the way they think, the way they speak, or in what they do.

  I believe (and I am not the only one) in the current state of our society, with data collection and the monitoring of all online activities, we’re not too far off from the problems facing those in the work of fiction. However, there may be hope in the power of Bitcoin as a means to create our version of freedom.

  THE POWER OF TOTALITARIANISM

  Totalitarianism is a political regime governed entirely by the state, with no input from citizens other than to be quiet and obey. According to the Party, the governing system in place in the novel, individuals need to be controlled and constantly monitored in order to make sure they are fulfilling their roles at the hands of the Party.

  In other words, every decision, no matter how small or inconsequential, by those in the working class is to be made by what the Party wishes to achieve. In the novel, one of these ideals is to create a world where individualism does not have a role, and anyone who transgresses or disobeys this ideal is subject to elimination – quite literally.

  The main character, Winston Smith, fulfills his duty at the Ministry of Truth by erasing defiant individuals from the history books and rendering them nonexistent in the past, present, and future.

  Another feature of Oceania’s totalitarian government is its omnipresent surveillance of everyone’s lives, through the obtrusive Telescreen, which monitors the every move of individuals, the brains behind the governing system can control and manipulate how citizens are meant to behave.

  I think it’s apparent that this constant monitoring and loss of privacy depicted in the novel resonates with current concerns about data collection by governments and corporations.

  Anything that we do online, whether we give consent or not, is tracked and analyzed under the guise of data collection. Our personal information is also collected for market research and seemingly used to help us by providing more targeted advertising.

  But just how helpful is all of this data collection to the average person? Some might say it is not beneficial, like Edward Snowden, who publicly raised concerns about protecting our privacy.

  INFORMATION MANIPULATION AND DEFORMATION

  In 1984, the Ministry of Truth used information manipulation as a powerful weapon of control. History is rewritten on a daily basis, and propaganda is spewed in a bid to influence the decisions of citizens.

  Smith, as an employee of the Ministry of Truth, is at the forefront of this information deformation at the beginning of the book.

  As the novel progresses, we see the damaging effects of big data manipulation. Not only in his work but also in his personal life, when he questions his life and work seriously.

  Does this manipulation of information remind you of something? It should be because the spread of fake news and disinformation on social media is a cause for significant concern in political, economic, and social spaces.

  Social media platforms, which are accessed by 60.49% of people in the world, are being used to disseminate conspiracy theories and misleading information through the use of various techniques, including deep fakes.

  In turn, this influences public opinion and contributes to the creation of an alternative reality that is often distorted.

  REPRESSION OF DISSIDENT THOUGHT

  Dissident thought is a fundamental feature of the totalitarian regime in Orwell’s 1984. It points to the repression of independent thinking and mindless information consumption without questioning its validity.

  An example of this repression is found in doublethink, a process whereby the Party controls the ideas and thoughts of individuals.

  Doublethink, as portrayed by Orwell, presents two opposing ideas as the truth. For example, the Party’s slogan is War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

  In modern debates about freedom of expression, we see the repression of opposing thought patterns more and more. Hate speech and extremist ideas are disregarded and even censored in some countries.

  This is in direct opposition to what freedom of speech means. See how two different things are being sold as one?

  To avoid this doublethink mentality, we need to preserve freedom of thought and maintain a safe space for ideas to be expressed and debated, regardless of whether they fit in with the narratives of government or not.

  THE POWER OF RESISTANCE

  As Smith goes through his internal struggles around the freedom to think and do as he pleases, we see a more concerted effort from his side to deny the Party what they want: obedience to the rule of law.

  While he never quite gets to reach the freedom that he desires due to the suppression of his rebellion, there is a lesson to be learned from his actions. It demonstrates the power of individual resistance and the knock-on effects it can have on your immediate community.

  In the present day, it’s worth reminding ourselves that every individual has the power to make a difference – in their own lives and the lives of those around them.

  Social movements and widespread protests, which gain even more traction through social media platforms, are examples of how citizens can come together to defend their rights and fight against injustices. As Orwell said: “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

  For Julian Assange and Wikileaks, they realized the power that they had to change the status quo. Furthermore, they recognized the role that independent thinkers have when it comes to funding the distribution of materials that encourage dissident thought.

  It was during this time that the community supporting Assange used Bitcoin to raise the necessary money to keep Wikileaks going, as institution after institution censored Wikileaks and all of those associated with it.

  WHAT ABOUT BITCOIN?

  When I got to the end of 1984, there was a lingering thought that Orwell could not have written this fiction if Bitcoin had been around in the late 1940s.

  People who are able to exchange money and do transactions without the need for a central bank have no obligation to obey or be totally submissive to whichever Party is controlling the money.

  This results in the government losing much of its power as the need to print or create more money falls away.

  The themes and warnings in Orwell’s 1984 are still relevant today – maybe even more so. From the dangers of totalitarianism and information distortion to the repression of freedom of speech and thought, the novel still has many lessons to teach us in today’s society.

  The government does not want us to know we have a right to fight for financial freedom. The proof of this is in the ongoing social and legal persecution of Assange, Snowden, and Ross Ulbricht, who are all committed to the ideals of freedom in movement and speech.

  Orwell’s novel reminds us of the importance of freedom, privacy, and resistance in the face of oppression. It also helps us to understand the challenges our society faces and how we can work together to co-create a fairer and more enlightened future.

  And maybe, just maybe, Bitcoin can help us to achieve the free and fair world that we all deserve.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 19:45

• In First, US Deployed AC-130 Gunship To Attack Pro-Iran Militants In Iraq
  In First, US Deployed AC-130 Gunship To Attack Pro-Iran Militants In Iraq

  The US deployed an AC-130 gunship over Iraqi territory in response to fresh attacks by Iranian-backed militia fighters who attacked an air base west of Baghdad housing US troops. The incident happened Monday night but was revealed in a Tuesday Pentagon briefing.

  “Ain al-Asad air base was attacked by a close-range ballistic missile that resulted in eight injuries and minor damage to infrastructure, two U.S. officials said,” as cited in international reports. 

  

  Already the Pentagon had said at least 60 personnel had suffered minor injuries or in some cases ‘traumatic brain injury’ in dozens of attacks going back to mid-October. 

  Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed in a Tuesday press briefing, “The United States responded using an AC-130 aircraft already in the air and it hit an Iranian-backed militia vehicle and a number of personnel involved in the attack.”

  She described that the AC-130 was able to track the point of origin for the attack in real-time, resulting in firing back on the militants’ positions.

  Singh said that this is the first publicly revealed US military retaliation on Iraqi soil in response to the recent spate of attacks. She indicated there have been other instances which haven’t been disclosed.

  The Pentagon has responded in three major instances against militant groups in Eastern Syria, after a series of attacks on small US bases there. 

  Currently the US has an estimated 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq. However, there are likely thousands more private military contractors and intelligence and State Dept personnel in both countries as well.

  Breaking details from DOD

  🇺🇸AC-130 Ghostrider gunship engaged Iranian-backed militias who launched close-range ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq:

  – Confirmed: Attack last night using close-range ballistic missiles (for the first time) against U.S. + coalition forces at… pic.twitter.com/pBrVadSbkU

  — Ian Ellis (@ianellisjones) November 21, 2023

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

  Both the Syrian and Iranian governments, as well as Russia, have condemned the US troops presence in Syria as an illegal occupation and resource theft, considering also the US has control of Syria’s oil and gas regions. The US has meanwhile sought to justify it by framing it as a ‘counter ISIS’ mission or else to ‘counter Iranian influence’.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 19:25

• The Great (Freedom) Reset Has Begun
  The Great (Freedom) Reset Has Begun

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

  The global economy, and more importantly, the entire world as we know it, is about to undergo a seismic shift toward freedom. In this article, I wanted to lay out why I believe this to be, how it will happen, and why I think this week may have marked step one of a long journey in the right direction.

  That journey eventually ends in the dethroning of the likes of globalists, with the head of that snake represented by the likes of Klaus Schwab, central banks, and the lobotomized far left maniacs that have lobbied for “Great Reset” that eventually results in the loss of one or more (read: all) of our civil liberties and our current quality of life.

  By now you probably know that Javier Milei, an outspoken and eccentric libertarian, has won Argentina’s presidency after promising to aggressively tackle inflation, shutter the country’s central bank, end woke culture and significantly reduce government.

  Garnering 55.69% of the vote he crushed the center-left candidate Sergio Massa. Milei’s victory signals a bold new direction for South America’s second-largest economy that Milei has called Argentina’s “reconstruction”.

  

  Most important and least mentioned this week is that under the wild exterior, Milei has it where it counts: he has two masters degrees and has “been a professor of macroeconomics, economics of growth, microeconomics, and mathematics for economists” with specializations in economic growth. He has held prominent roles in various financial and government sectors, too. He was the chief economist at Máxima AFJP, a private pension firm, and at Estudio Broda, a financial advisory. He also consulted for the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and was a senior economist at HSBC Argentina.

  In other words, the “bold” financial ideas aren’t just bluster. They just seem like that to the rest of the world because Milei knows the actual solution to his nation’s problem just happens to be starkly different from the path it (and many other nations) have gone down.

  The event was covered heavily in the news because of Milei’s outspoken demeanor and explosive personality, but something far more meaningful is taking place under the surface. In my opinion, Argentina is the first of many dominoes that will fall, leading the world toward a new “Great Reset”—one that prioritizes liberty and freedom instead of big governments and collectivism.

  Some people I have spoken with this week believe that Argentina is too small of a country to make a global difference. They believe that the country’s government will gridlock with Milei in office, and that even if the country finds success from smaller government, pro-liberty policies, and a focus on Austrian economics, it won’t be meaningful enough to move the needle on a global scale.

  While these people are probably right regarding the dollar amount that Argentina contributes to global GDP, they are wrong from a philosophical perspective. Argentina isn’t going to drive global change via monetary brute force. Instead, it’s going to be an ideological example that the rest of the world can watch unfold successfully, in turn becoming a beacon of the prosperous path for the rest of the world to follow.

  ---

  50% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscribe and get 50% off and no price hikes for as long as you wish to be a subscriber.

  ---

  Argentina is in a unique position because it is essentially having a great reset of its own. The country is in the midst of overhauling its entire financial system and adopting the US dollar, and it is considering stripping its government down to the studs. Furthermore, its new president is one of the very few Austrian economists in recent history to take the reins of a major country in the world’s purview.

  In other words, Argentina is literally going to put libertarian principles—small government, sound money, economic fundamentals, and personal freedom—into practice. It’s the world libertarian petri dish for the next few years and the rest of us can, and will, watch very closely. We’re all about to get some real-world, tangible clinical study results about the right versus left debate we’ve been having for decades. If Argentina fails spectacularly, it will be a warning to the rest of the world about these policies. But if Argentina becomes a raging success, it should serve as a lesson on which policies function best in practice.

  All I can say is I hope 2024 voters in the U.S. are watching closely. The Argentina stock market soared on Monday after Milei was elected, already lending optimism to the notion that libertarian principles stoke a vibrant, free market economy.

  

  In the United States, less regulation and less taxation would likely stoke the same type of response. In fact, we saw it with the Trump tax cuts years ago: the market rallied what felt like every single day of the beginning of Trump’s presidency, due to the expectation of the economic benefit of these policies. Now, at a time when most Americans are struggling financially, this lesson needs to be paid attention to more now than ever.

  In short, if you want the stock market to go up, vote for less regulation and less taxation. While the Republican party has played along with the central banks’ charade just as much as the Democrats, it is certainly the better of the two parties when it comes to eliminating red tape and unleashing the nation’s economy.

  The timing of Argentina’s election is tough to ignore. In some respects, it feels like they are just several more years down the road than the US is. If you look at what I believe to be the biggest problems with the United States economy—namely, that it is bloated, spending is beyond repair, and we are abusing our privileges as the world’s reserve currency and overclocking the fiat currency machine —it seems pretty simple to draw a straight line to a financial disaster similar to the inflationary one that Argentina has suffered. Everybody knows what the fixes for the problem are—less spending and conservative monetary and fiscal policy—but nobody has the balls to implement it.

  Argentina is about to give us a lesson on what libertarian courage can do for an economy.

  ---

  And it isn’t just the economy in the United States that feels like it’s on the verge of breaking. Society feels more precarious now than it has ever been. The divide between parties, and the polarization in the United States, feels like it is at all-time highs.

  I had poignant conversation with a gentleman in his 60s at a bar I went to over the weekend. After exchanging pleasantries, our conversation turned to a breezy chat about the state of our nation. The man immediately stopped and looked at me, his tone and demeanor changing starkly just seconds after the topic came up. He looked me in the eye and said that he feels as though, in our lifetime, we are going to see another major terrorist attack on our nation. But, he said, the only difference between such attacks in the past and today is that he was certain there would be an entire faction of Americans that would actually celebrate an attack on their own home country.

  In other words, a large portion of the nation has simply lost its love and its reverence for what the United States stands for.

  And it isn’t just the economy in the United States that feels like it’s on the verge of breaking. Society feels more precarious now than it has ever been— the divide between parties, and the polarization in the United States, feels like it is at all-time highs.

  I had an appointment conversation with a gentleman in his 60s at a bar I went to over the weekend. After exchanging pleasantries, our conversation turned to a breezy chat about the state of our nation. The man stopped and looked at me, his tone changing and demeanor changing starkly just seconds later. He looked me in the eye and said that he feels as though in our lifetime, we are still going to see a major terrorist attack on our nation. He said the only difference between attacks that happened years ago and today is that he was certain there would be an entire faction of Americans that would actually celebrate an attack on their own home country. In other words, a large portion of the nation has simply lost its love, and its reverence for what the United States stands for.

  Sadly, I almost instantly agreed with him. After watching the bizarre left-wing reaction to the October 7 attacks in Israel, I can’t help but believe that he’s right. The left has gone so far left, they don’t even know what they are fighting for anymore.

  

  Like a dog chasing its tail, they have wound themselves up and become so dizzy and drunk on the narcissism of virtue signaling and “social activism”, they have completely lost their compass. All they know is that they will protest the country and capitalism during the day, and then go out and enjoy the spoils of both by night. It is an unrelenting, crystal clear exercise in hypocrisy that we see every day just by turning on social media or the news.

  In any relationship, there has to be a baseline level of respect and courtesy.

  Friendships and intimate relationships are constantly tested but the ones that last survive because they have a baseline level of respect that allows for the space to work through complex problems using critical thinking and dialogue. The far left has lost that baseline of basic respect and gratitude for what the nation has provided them. They are disgusted by the flag, they don’t stand for the national anthem, and they are actively working to unwind the basic functions our founders built the nation on that made it such a success story to begin with.

  

  That type of wanton disrespect elicits a response in kind not just from Republicans, but also from people that are left-leaning centrists.

  Milei got the votes of his country’s centrists running on that basic level of courtesy and respect for moral laws, the laws of his nation, human rights, and freedom. When the center-left pushes against the far left, the result is libertarianism or conservatives getting elected.

  And our center-left in the United States is already pushing against our far left. Many lifetime Jewish Democrats are rethinking their relationship with the party after many of its members chose to back Palestine and tacitly stick up for Hamas after October 7. Even Senator John Fetterman, who is one of my least favorite politicians and is hardly a centrist in my opinion, has pushed back against his own party for their radical views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson were part of a bipartisan committee that came together in a show of support for Israel. The house officially censured Representative Rashida Tlaib for her remarks about Palestine. And finally, the proof is in the pudding: new polling shows Donald Trump pulling ahead of Joe Biden in the race for office in 2024.

  

  Argentina feels like it is a country that has hit the same inflection points, both socially and economically, that the United States is heading for. Their solution was to elect a man that would, as I mentioned above, “strip the country back down to the studs”. That expression is important because it doesn’t mean demolish the whole house, which is what the far left wants to do. It is instead analogous to stripping down a house to the bare foundation that can still hold it up structurally.

  Our nation’s structure is our constitution, which ensures our freedom and liberty. Libertarians and conservatives are the two parties that generally want to do away with any gratuitous and unnecessary additions to our nation’s founding principles. Ergo, it is easy to make a case for why our nation may elect a conservative president in 2024. If they don’t, it just means our nation hasn’t learned its lesson yet, and it may take four more years and more social and economic austerity to get that point across. But at some point in time, our nation will have a “straw that breaks the camel’s back” moment and we will wind up with a political reset the likes of which Argentina just put into place.

  ---

  If Argentina thrives in coming years, it’ll be easier to make the case that it has arrived at the right decision, the best practices for a nation are the ones that we put into place in 1776 and that mostly everything else has been counterintuitive, inefficient, wasteful, or pointless.

  The important thing is that with the bifurcation of the world and many individual nations at the widest it’s ever been, if Argentina winds up a success, it will serve to be an example for everyone else looking to change the path their respective nation is heading down.

  And in a world that left-wing lunatics would happily turn over to a globalist government, the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the World Economic Forum, Milei’s forthcoming marks as president of Argentina may wind up going down in history as the proverbial silver bullet that frees the world from the tyrannical grasp of collectivism.

  Thank you for reading QTR’s Fringe Finance. This post is public so feel free to share it: Share

  

  QTR’s Disclaimer: I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 19:05

• New York State AG Suing Pepsi For "Excessive Pollution"
  New York State AG Suing Pepsi For “Excessive Pollution”

  Having solved crime, homelessness, high inflation and taxes in the New York City, the state is moving on to the issues that voters really care about. The New York State AG last week announced it was suing Pepsi for “endangering public health with its single-use plastic products” and “excessive pollution”.

  Fox News reported last week that the lawsuit, filed in Erie County and publicly announced last Wednesday, stands as one of the first of its kind in the United States, specifically targeting a significant plastic manufacturer. The litigation aims to compel PepsiCo to contribute to the cleanup of pollution and compensate for the damages incurred, particularly around the Buffalo River.

  Additionally, the lawsuit seeks a court order to restrict the sale of single-use plastics by PepsiCo, unless these products are sold with clear warnings about their potential environmental and health risks. The state hopes that not only will your cigarettes come with warnings about your health and cancer risks, but your bottle of Pepsi sitting at the dinner table will also come with warnings about “environmental” risks. 

  This information was disclosed by the office of State Attorney General Letitia James in a statement released on Wednesday.

  Attorney General Letitia James’ office commented: “No company is too big to ensure that their products do not damage our environment and public health. All New Yorkers have a basic right to clean water, yet PepsiCo’s irresponsible packaging and marketing endanger Buffalo’s water supply, environment, and public health.”

  The statement continued: “Once ingested, microplastics permeate deep into our bodies, blood and organs, and can even be transferred from the placenta into unborn children. Exposure to microplastics and the chemicals they carry can cause a wide range of adverse health effects, from reproductive dysfunction to inflammation of the intestine and neurotoxic effects.” 

  

  “When you spill toxic waste on land or in the water, we have laws that require that the polluter pay for the cleanup. This is no different,” added Judith Enck, the president of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics.

  From 2013 to 2022, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper (BNW) discovered that approximately 78% of the waste they encountered was plastic, with a significant portion identifiable as PepsiCo products, according to a recent statement.

  In 2022 alone, BNW found 1,916 pieces of plastic litter, with 17% purportedly originating from PepsiCo brands. The lawsuit also cites claims by the organization Break Free From Plastic, which names PepsiCo as a leading source of these plastics nationwide from 2018 to 2022.

  Based in Westchester County, New York, PepsiCo produces over 85 beverage and 25 snack food brands, with the majority of these products packaged in single-use plastic, as reported by the office.

  BNW Executive Director Jill Jedlicka commented that Buffalo has “fought for over 50 years to secure hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up toxic pollution, improve habitat and restore communities around the Buffalo River.” 

  She added: “We will not sit idly by as our waterways become polluted again, this time from ever-growing single-use plastic pollution. We applaud [the New York State Attorney General’s Office] for holding producers accountable for this relentless assault on the environment and local waterways.” 

  A Pepsi spokesperson told Fox the company is “serious about plastic reduction and effective recycling” and has been “transparent on [its] journey to reduce use of plastic and accelerate new packaging innovation.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 18:45

• Media Matters And The Fake News Era Go To Court: Taibbi
  Media Matters And The Fake News Era Go To Court: Taibbi

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

  On Tuesday, X/Twitter filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America (MMfA), the media arm of political smear artist David Brock.

  

  Brock made his living in the nineties attacking Democrats, pushing the Paula Jones story and writing The Seduction of Hillary Rodham, until announcing a religious conversion via his 1997 Esquire piece “Confessions of a Right-Wing Hitman” and moving to team blue to head up orgs like Media Matters and Correct the Record. Brock is a unique figure in our history, as perhaps no American has ever turned his face so completely inside out in public.

  I can’t indulge in homilies to Elon Musk’s X as a haven for free speech while he also continues to suppress disfavored accounts (including all Substack contributors), but the X suit at least has a chance of becoming a referendum on serious forms of media manipulation. The X allegations, which obviously need proving out, detail in microcosm a phenomenon that’s been unpleasantly familiar to Americans since about 2016. We’ve grown used to a Twilight Zone existence in which nearly every news story of consequence, from Nord Stream to Bountygate to sonic weapons in Cuba, the Dancing Syringe Panic to “Russia Trying to Help Bernie Sanders” to the pee tape have the feel of invented stories. Later, they’re often proved to be, and worse, we’ve been conditioned to forgive the institutions caught routing such fakes our way, and salute the next narratives sent up the flagpole. The method is never put on trial.

  The X lawsuit against @mmfa should serve as a reminder that founder David Brock is one of the most shameless, venomous liars in recent political history, by his own admission a proud trafficker in disinformation. Why he’s ever been taken seriously is a mystery @ggreenwald pic.twitter.com/bZYOpA1BM6

  — Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) November 21, 2023

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

  In this case, it might be. MMfA is accused of creating a news story, reporting on it, then propagandizing it to willing partners in the mainstream press. Again, the X allegations need to hold up in an adversarial process, but the company claims to have fully captured a dollhouse version of a generation’s larger media frauds, making this a fascinating case to watch. From the suit:

  Media Matters… exclusively followed a small subset of users consisting entirely of accounts in one of two categories: those known to produce extreme, fringe content, and accounts owned by X’s big-name advertisers. The end result was a feed precision-designed by Media Matters for a single purpose: to produce side-by-side ad/content placements that it could screenshot in an effort to alienate advertisers…

  Media Matters therefore resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing its unrepresentative, hand-selected feed … until it finally received pages containing the result it wanted: controversial content next to X’s largest advertisers’ paid posts.

  The described activity allegedly preceded the November 16 Media Matters article, “As Musk endorses antisemitic conspiracy theory, X has been placing ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity next to pro-Nazi content.” The piece, which now brandishes gloating editor’s notes pointing out that Apple and IBM have since paused ads on X, included a key screenshot seemingly designed to freak out advertisers:

  

  This whole thing would be merely a petty spat between political antagonists, except Media Matters has been a major driver of this general type of story, in which an offense is first invented, then made the focus of ginned-up outrage, then massively propagandized via unscrupulous press partners. The technique has been used to suppress interest in damaging revelations but more often to destroy or defame political figures on the right (Donald Trump), left (Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders) and in between (Tulsi Gabbard, for instance).

  As our own Matt Orfalea pointed out yesterday, Media Matters had a key part in one larger known con, being a primary trafficker in stories sourced to Hamilton 68, the phony “dashboard” purporting to track Russian bots created by the Alliance for Securing Democracy and New Knowledge. MMfA also pushed info from the Steele reports, hyped Steele-generated details like the “Michael Cohen in Prague” story, bashed figures who dared question the “collusion” narrative, and even went after reporter Jeff Gerth for writing a Columbia Journalism Review opus about Russiagate reporting snafus via headlines highlighting how much “Trump and right-wing media amplified” the “questionable” CJR story.

  * * *

  The defining paradox of the fake news/“anti-disinformation” era is that the people deemed authorities on what is and is not fake news consistently prove to be, themselves, purveyors of the product. Their episodes have mostly involved media tales too far-reaching to litigate. This case is small and contained enough to fit in an ordinary courtroom. Irrespective of one’s feelings about X/Twitter, this Media Matters suit could be a long-overdue chance to put the venomous and generationally influential David Brock media machine on trial. For once, MMfA does matter.

  Subscribers to Racket News can read the entire post here.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 18:25

• Rival Anthropic Rejects OpenAI Board's Merger Offer, Report Says 
  Rival Anthropic Rejects OpenAI Board’s Merger Offer, Report Says 

  After the unexpected firing of former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday, OpenAI’s board of directors approached Dario Amodei, the co-founder and CEO of rival large-language model developer Anthropic, about a merger of the two companies, according to a report by The Information, which cited a “person with direct knowledge.”

  The person said OpenAI’s board approached Amodei after they fired Altman on Friday. They noted the deal was sweetened to allow Amodei to replace Altman as CEO. 

  The Information reported Amodei declined the offer, adding, “It’s not clear whether the merger proposal led to any serious discussion.” 

  Reuters also reported Amodei declined the offer, citing two people briefed on the matter. 

  OpenAI’s board of directors replaced Altman on Sunday with ex-Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. Then, on Monday, Altman joined a new advanced AI research team at Microsoft, as well as other OpenAI staff, ‘to continue the mission’: 

  the mission continues https://t.co/d1pHiFxcSe

  — Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

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

  Later on Monday, 700 OpenAI employees threatened to resign if the board that ousted Altman did not change. The employees represent about 90% of OpenAI’s workforce, and if a mass exodus occurs, it would cripple the startup. They noted in a letter to the board: 

  Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI. We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees. We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join. We will take this step imminently, unless all current board members resign, and the board appoints two new lead independent directors, such as Bret Taylor and Will Hurd, and reinstates Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.

  As for Altman’s return, the crypto-powered Polymarket betting website shows a 52% chance. 

  

  Only 5% odds Altman will sue OpenAI. 

  

  About 2% odds Altman was fired due to a data leak/privacy issue. 

  

  Altman’s sister? 

  pic.twitter.com/owtKdQVfYY

  — Annie Altman (@phuckfilosophy) May 8, 2023

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

  Let’s not forget Anthropic is FTX-backed. 

  The Effective Altruists staged a coup to kick out Sam Altman of OpenAI to then go try to sell OpenAI to Anthropic AI, an Effective Altruist led company and another company invested in by ANOTHER Sam (Bankman-Fried). We can’t even make this up.

  — Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) November 21, 2023

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

  Why is OpenAI’s board scrambling? 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 18:05

• Courts Pave Way For New York Quarantine Camps: Plaintiffs' Attorney
  Courts Pave Way For New York Quarantine Camps: Plaintiffs’ Attorney

  Authored by Bobbie Anne Flower Cox, who represented the plaintiffs in this case, via the Brownstone Institute,

  I hope you are sitting down when you read this article.

  

  There is absolutely no way I can possibly sugar coat this, so I’ll just be frank… The NYS Supreme Court Appellate Division’s Fourth Judicial Department has issued their ruling in our quarantine lawsuit against Governor Hochul and her Department of Health, and they have ruled against the will of the people!

  If you feel like you just got sucker-punched in the gut, join the club, my friends.

  The court has dismissed our lawsuit, not because we are wrong in our arguments… no, no, indeed we are dead-right. In fact, the court did not even touch the merits of the case. How could they? Instead, the court unbelievably ruled that my plaintiffs somehow do not have standing to sue! If your brain is racing a hundred miles an hour right now trying to figure this out, don’t worry, you are definitely not alone.

  Every single person I have told about this court ruling, from my plaintiffs, to fellow attorneys, to family members, and so on, has been downright flabbergasted. Rightfully so. One of my family members told me I needed to break it down for her, like she was a Kindergartener. I’ll do the same for you now, because this issue is so crucial for you to understand, and then for you to explain to others.

  What the Appellate Division court is saying by reversing the lower court and then dismissing our case for lack of standing is that they believe that Senator George Borrello, Assemblyman Chris Tague, Congressman Mike Lawler, and the citizens’ group Uniting NYS did not have the right to bring this lawsuit last year against the Governor and her DOH for their heinous “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation.

  Why not? Because according to this court, my plaintiffs were not injured by the regulation. Why not? Because the court seems to insinuate that the only person with the right to sue is someone who has been forcibly locked in their home against their will, or ripped from their home, taken from their loved ones, and thrown into a quarantine detention center, facility, institution, camp, etc. (pick your noun, doesn’t matter).

  The court insinuates that apparently only that person would be injured. Not my plaintiffs. The reason their “logic” is flawed is because we sued pursuant to the separation of powers doctrine, arguing that the Governor and her DOH lacked the constitutional authority to make that horrendous regulation in the first place.

  In other words, in short, my legislator-plaintiffs were injured because Hochul and her DOH (Executive Branch) stole the legislators’ power to make law (Legislative Branch) when they created the quarantine reg which was a law (despite the fact that the DOH called it a regulation). The trial court correctly ruled in our favor last summer, and struck the reg down for that exact reason, amongst others.

  If you are still scratching your head wondering how on earth is it possible that the Executive Branch stealing a power from the Legislative Branch does not constitute an injury to the members of the legislature, then join the club! Of note, it was so obvious to the trial court judge last year that my plaintiffs had standing, that he didn’t even discuss it in his decision. You can read that decision here if you’re interested.

  

  Q&A…

  I’m sure you have a thousand questions, so I’ll try to predict and answer some here:

  • Which court issued this decision?
    • It is the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in the Fourth Judicial Department. It is the middle court in the three levels of NYS courts, meaning, we began last year at the trial court level (NYS Supreme Court in Cattaraugas County). We won there. Then the Governor appealed to the next court which is the Appellate Division, and that is who reversed the trial court, and dismissed our lawsuit.
  • Who were the judges?
    • It was a panel of 5 judges that decided the appeal. They are all appointed by a governor. On my panel I had 2 Hochul appointees, 2 Cuomo appointees, and 1 Pataki appointee. You can watch the oral arguments from September here. The Attorney General’s office argued first and starts at 48:00 minute mark. Then I was next, and that starts at 1:02:35 mark.
  • Is there another court above this one that I can appeal to now?
    • Yes. The final and highest court in New York State is the Court of Appeals. It sits in Albany, and is presided over by a panel of 7 judges. They, too, are all appointed by a governor. They do not hear all cases that apply to the court (similar to the US Supreme Court), so I would have to draft a motion to try to convince the high Court to hear our case!
  • Now that this court overturned the lower court’s decision, will Rule 2.13 (the quarantine regulation) be reinstated?
    • Unfortunately, this court has opened the door and paved the way for Hochul and her DOH to reissue this anti-freedom, anti-American regulation. Fire at will, is what the court has proverbially told them. There is nothing stopping the tyranny of the Executive Branch now.
  • Does Rule 2.13 allow Hochul and her DOH to set up actual quarantine camps?
    • The reason the public has dubbed this regulation the “quarantine camp regulation” is because the language in the reg makes it crystal clear that the DOH can pull you from your home (and your life) and, with the force of police, hold you anywhere they deem appropriate, including “other residential or temporary housing”… Remember, the reg says they don’t have to prove you are sick, they can hold you for however long they want, and there is no way for you to get out of lock up or lock down (unless you get a lawyer and sue them)!!! You can read articles I’ve written and interviews I have done about the reg and the lawsuit on my Substack here, or on my website: www.CoxLawyers.com
    • By the way, I fact-checked the Associated Press’ phony “fact check” article they ran shortly after my oral arguments in September, and I determined their article to be FALSE. It’s particularly surprising because that AP reporter contacted us (my plaintiffs and me) for clarification prior to publishing her false article. Clearly she ignored what we said! Anyway, this dystopian regulation absolutely allows Hochul and her DOH to institute quarantine locations, whether you call them facilities, institutions, halls, or camps, it matters not. It’s still unconstitutional!
  • What do my plaintiffs think?
    • Obviously, they are very upset by this decision. An official press release will go out shortly.

  Hope is not Lost!

  There is no denying that I have had to dig very deep these past 48 hours since I received the ruling. My family and close friends who I have shared the horrible news with have all asked me the same question, “What are you going to do now? Stay and fight? Or let it go?”

  This has been a true David v. Goliath battle for the ages, as described in a recent Brownstone Institute article on this epic legal battle, and my family and close friends know the immense sacrifices I’ve endured to bring and fight this case these past almost 2 years now. As you may imagine, I have had to do some significant soul searching the past couple of days. Here is what I have come to…

  I can tell you this with certainty, I will never stop fighting for you, New York! I believe that we can take back this state, and as we do, we will liberate the rest of this country which has fallen into very dark times, as our Constitution, and thus our freedoms, are tossed aside by the ruling class elites without a second thought. And then, once our nation is back to being that shining beacon on a hill, then the rest of the world can follow. New York is the key. And I have hope and faith. I will share it with you now…

  I am going to appeal this case to the Court of Appeals, our highest court in New York. The Court of Appeals is a court of constitutional integrity. The Court will understand the magnitude of this lawsuit and the Appellate Division’s erroneous decision. I believe the high Court will not fall prey to the tyranny and corruption that goes on in the halls of our capitol in Albany.

  The Constitution is on our side. The case law is on our side. Truth is on our side. And most importantly, the will of the people is on our side. Remember Thunderstruck? Remember Reverberating? Remember the hundreds upon hundreds of you who showed up to oral arguments in Rochester back in September? Remember the thousands of you who have come to hear me speak in-person at events across the state, and in states outside our New York borders? Remember the tens of thousands of you who have shown me your support in emails, social media posts, letters, cards, phone messages etc.?

  Indeed, I have faith.

  Republished from the author’s Substack

  Bobbie Anne, a 2023 Brownstone Fellow, is an attorney with 25 years experience in the private sector, who continues to practice law but also lectures in her field of expertise – government over-reach and improper regulation and assessments.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 17:45

• "This Is Going To Expose Everything": Mike Lindell Says Georgia Voting Machine Ruling "Opened The Door That No Man Can Shut"
  “This Is Going To Expose Everything”: Mike Lindell Says Georgia Voting Machine Ruling “Opened The Door That No Man Can Shut”

  MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has vowed to ‘expose everything’ following last week’s massive ruling by an Obama-appointed judge in Georgia, Amy Totenberg, who agreed with Lindell’s legal team that electronic voting machines used by the state of Georgia have substantial flaws.

  

  According to Totenberg, there is sufficient cause to believe that there may be “cybersecurity deficiencies that unconstitutionally burden Plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and capacity to case effective votes that are accurately counted.”

  What’s more, in a footnote within her 135-page ruling, Totenberg said the evidence in the case “does not suggest that the Plaintiffs are conspiracy theorists of any variety.”

  “Indeed, some of the nation’s leading cybersecurity experts and computer scientists have provided testimony and affidavits on behalf of Plaintiffs’ case in the long course of this litigation,” she wrote.

  Historical ruling by Judge! Anyone questioning elections or election machines are not conspiracy theorist!https://t.co/Q58TGWgEwW

  — Mike Lindell (@realMikeLindell) November 16, 2023

  “This is going to expose everything,” Lindell said during a Monday appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, where he ripped off a tinfoil hat.

  Mike Lindell was right about the corrupted voting machines. pic.twitter.com/tH4zavMnIf

  — Freedom 🇺🇸🦅 (@PU28453638) November 21, 2023

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  “The public’s going to demand that this amazing trial is going to go forward,” he added.

  He also appeared on Real America’s Voice with Human Events’ Jack Posobiec to celebrate:

  .@MikeLindell celebrates his recent legal victory with @JackPosobiec after being granted a bench trial for his lawsuit in an effort to replace Georgia’s electronic voting machines with paper ballots.

  Watch @HumanEvents: https://t.co/gufbGC9rsx pic.twitter.com/WE0FVkvpXQ

  — Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) November 21, 2023

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  .@realMikeLindell tells @JackPosobiec: “We’re going to paper ballots, 30 million people did an election with paper ballots and they got done and the results in the same day of the election. What a concept!” pic.twitter.com/BA8bzLIDwp

  — Human Events (@HumanEvents) November 21, 2023

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  Lindell, appearing on the Lindell Report, also discussed the recent election in Argentina.

  “Argentina Bans the Machines and the People Finally Win.” Click here to watch the full episode: https://t.co/iLk7opRdEr pic.twitter.com/H3ZidsyhrS

  — Mike Lindell (@realMikeLindell) November 21, 2023

  Lindell’s trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 9, 2024. 

  BREAKING: MIKE LINDELL VINDICATED IN GEORGIA COURT RULING ON ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES https://t.co/dazdib9VQx

  — Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 21, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 11/21/2023 – 17:25

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