Aug 23

Today’s News 23rd August 2022

  • Zelensky Says Russia's Mass Trial Of Captured Mariupol Fighters Will Make Peace Talks "Impossible"
    Zelensky Says Russia’s Mass Trial Of Captured Mariupol Fighters Will Make Peace Talks “Impossible”

    It’s obvious at this point that Ukraine’s military is seeking to expand strikes inside Russian-controlled Crimea, which this month has become an unprecedented first following a brutal, grinding more than half-year of war. Zelensky has called for its “liberation” – but if this weren’t enough to ensure that the conflict will continue to burn for at least the near to medium-term future (the war is possibly set to endure for years, according to the predictions of some US defense officials), Zelensky’s latest remarks on Monday suggest that any potential ceasefire negotiations aren’t even so much as anywhere on the horizon. 

    Zelensky called the idea of negotiations with Moscow “impossible” if Russia moves forward with plans for a mass trial of captured Mariupol defenders. “If this despicable show trial takes place, if our people are brought into this scenery in violation of all agreements, all international rules, if there is abuse … this will be the line beyond which any negotiations are impossible,” Zelensky said Monday. 

    “Russia will cut itself off from the negotiations,” he stressed. “There will be no more conversations. Our state has said everything.” Russia too has of late been expressing a similar position of being closed to talks, blaming Kiev and its Western backers, and President Putin is expected to dig in his heals further especially after the recent Crimea attacks as well as the car-bombing of Alexander Dugin’s daughter Darya on Saturday night.

    Via Reuters: A bus carrying members of the Ukrainian armed forces, who surrendered to Russian forces at the besieged Azovstal steel mill.

    In the comments he confirmed he is in ongoing conversation with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over what Ukraine is dismissing as a show trial, saying that he expects the UN to issue clear condemnation. 

    “Everyone understands everything,” Zelensky said. “They understand what the occupiers are doing and what it threatens,” he added of international powers. “And they understand that Ukraine will not tolerate this. It will not tolerate tormenting of people about whom only one thing can be said: they are heroes of their homeland, they defended the freedom of their people from invaders on their land.”

    Russian foreign ministry officials have meanwhile complained separately that it’s the UN itself largely to blame for lack of any diplomatic process towards a negotiated settlement to the war:

    Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times that the UN should be playing a bigger role in attempts to end the conflict and accused the US and other Nato countries of pressing Ukraine to walk away from negotiations.

    There would be no direct talks between Putin and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he said. “Now, I do not see any possibility for diplomatic contacts,” Gatilov said. “And the more the conflict goes on, the more difficult it will be to have a diplomatic solution.”

    As for the hundreds of Ukrainian fighters who spent literally months holed up in the cavernous Azovstal steal plant while under siege by numerically superior Russian forces, Kremlin authorities have said they mostly make up the neo-Nazi Azov battalion. Earlier Russian media reports additionally alleged that some foreign fighters may have been in their midst as well. 

    Ukraine officials and pundits are livid over the planned optics of the trial…

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

    Already, some foreign fighters, including UK nationals, were in months past sentenced to death by a local pro-Russian Donetsk court. It’s entirely possible and even likely that the captured Azov members will be issued the same sentence. Without doubt, Moscow will seek to “send a message” with this trial. Russian forces have accused Azov battalion of being genocidal and of committing ‘terrorism’ against civilians. 

    The trial is also sure to capture global headlines and likely elicit UN condemnation, also given that – as The Hill reports – “Ukraine’s military intelligence arm warned on Friday in a Telegram post that Russia has been remodeling the Mariupol Chamber Philharmonic and installing iron cages in the building for a trial on Wednesday, which marks Ukraine’s independence day and six months since the war began.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 02:45

  • World Economic Forum Suggests There Are "Solid, Rational" Reasons To Microchip Kids
    World Economic Forum Suggests There Are “Solid, Rational” Reasons To Microchip Kids

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    Not doing their Bond villain reputation status any favors, the World Economic Forum published an article suggesting it would be a “solid, rational” move for children to be implanted with microchips.

    Yes, really.

    The idea is promoted in a blog post on the Davos elite’s website which discusses the future of augmented reality and an “augmented society.”

    “As scary as chip implants may sound, they form part of a natural evolution that wearables once underwent. Hearing aids or glasses no longer carry a stigma,” the article argues, perhaps forgetting that glasses and hearing aids aren’t embedded inside the body, nor can they be controlled by outside forces.

    “They are accessories and are even considered a fashion item. Likewise, implants will evolve into a commodity,” writes scientist Kathleen Philips, suggesting that mainstream culture and influencers will be tapped to promote implantable chips as a trendy status symbol.

    The article pushes the notion that augmented humans are inevitable and that global elites need to establish a power monopoly over the technology in order to “ethically” regulate it.

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

    The technology is in need of “the right support, vision, and audacity,” which of course will be provided by your technocratic overlords, the same people who are desperately trying to censor the Internet so they can’t be criticized.

    “The augmenting technology will help in all stages of life: children in a learning environment, professionals at work and ambitious senior citizens. There are many possibilities,” writes Philips.

    “Should you implant a tracking chip in your child?” asks the scientist, adding, “There are solid, rational reasons for it, like safety.”

    As we previously highlighted, World Economic Forum chief Klaus Schwab wrote in his book ‘The Great Reset’ that the fourth industrial revolution would “lead to a fusion of our physical, digital and biological identity,” which he clarifies is implantable microchips that can read your thoughts.

    During this year’s Davos meeting of global elitists, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla explained to Schwab how soon there would be “ingestible pills” – a pill with a tiny microchip chip that would send a wireless signal to relevant authorities when the pharmaceutical has been consumed.

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

    “Imagine the compliance,” said Bourla.

    “It wasn’t that long ago that those speculating on a future where this is happening would get dismissed as conspiracy theorists, but now the world elites’ most vocal outlet is predicting that chip implants will eventually become just a commodity,” writes Didi Rankovic.

    As we previously reported, an Australian primary school predicted “microchips in student’s brains” within 10 years before subsequently deleting the newsletter that contained the creepy prophecy.

    *  *  *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 02:00

  • Sanctuary City Mayors Cry 'Uncle', No More Migrants!
    Sanctuary City Mayors Cry ‘Uncle’, No More Migrants!

    Authored by Joe Guzzardi via ProgressivesForImmigrationReform.org,

    Sanctuary cities are once again in the headlines.

    But this time, sanctuary cities, the bane of immigration law enforcement advocates, have a different spin. Since five-time deported illegal immigrant Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate murdered Kate Steinle in July 2015 on Pier 14 in San Francisco, state and city governments have persisted in welcoming illegal aliens and protecting them from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. San Francisco is a sanctuary city in the sanctuary state of California.

    Despite a federal immigration detention request to hold Garcia-Zarate so immigration officials could take him into custody, San Francisco authorities freed the seven-time convicted felon just three months before he killed Steinle. Eventually, Garcia-Zarate was acquitted and sentenced to time served on an illegal firearms possession charge.

    Between January 2014 and September 2015, the Center for Immigration Studies reported that sanctuary jurisdictions rejected 17,000 ICE detainer requests – 17,000 individuals who should have been deported but remained to potentially pose criminal risk to U.S. citizens. Claiming that migrants are fleeing poverty and persecution, local leaders have been willing to spend their constituents’ taxpayer dollars on affirmative benefits for the newly arrived illegal immigrants.

    Suddenly, however, with President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas opening the Southwest border to foreign nationals from 150 countries and clandestinely flying them to faraway cities, attitudes are less welcoming. New York Mayor Eric Adams said that busing migrants from Texas to mid-town Manhattan, as Gov. Gregg Abbott has done, is “cruel.” About 4,000 unlawfully present migrants have entered New York’s shelter facilities since May, an ”unprecedented surge,” said Adams, who has unsuccessfully called on the federal government to intervene.

    Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has made the same complaints as Adams, labeling the migrant flood “critical,” issuing identical rejected pleas for federal intervention. Since April, Gov. Abbott has sent more than 6,800 illegal immigrants to Washington. Bowser has begged for the National Guard to intervene “to help prevent a prolonged humanitarian crisis in our nation’s capital resulting from the daily arrival of migrants in need of assistance.” McAllen, Texas, Mayor Javier Villalobos mocked Adams and Bowser. Villalobos said: “The city of McAllen was able to deal with thousands of immigrants a day; I think they can handle a few hundred.”

    Adams and Bowser should have known that pleading with the feds, especially Mayorkas, would be futile. At the January U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayorkas tried to sell the assembled mayors on his new, mostly gutted ICE. But the attendees wanted to hear about border enforcement, a subject Mayorkas studiously avoided.

    While it may be overly optimistic to hope for a change now that prominent Democratic mayors are experiencing first-hand the fiscal burden and public safety risks that sanctuary policies create, a shift is in the wind.

    The mere existence of sanctuary cities is illegal. Local laws that protect illegal immigrants prevent routine cooperation among municipal, state and federal law enforcement agencies. President Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch realized the importance of keeping law enforcement apprised about any individual’s immigration status. Lynch warned sanctuary cities that they would not receive Justice Department funding in the 2017 fiscal year if they did not comply with 8 USC Section 1373, which prohibits any agency from restraining “in any way” the exchange of information among federal, state and local agencies regarding foreign nationals’ immigration status. Despite saber-rattling from Lynch, and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, funding continued.

    With millions of border crossers already released into the U.S. interior, and millions more anticipated during Biden’s remaining two and a half years in office, sanctuary cities will come under increasing pressure to provide for their unlawfully present alien residents, an untenable situation for the already underfunded, overcrowded municipalities.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 23:40

  • US Border Agents Seize 1.6 Million Fentanyl Pills In Big-Rig, Destined For US Cities
    US Border Agents Seize 1.6 Million Fentanyl Pills In Big-Rig, Destined For US Cities

    Customs and Border Protection agents in Arizona seized a mind-numbing 1.57 million fentanyl pills and 114 pounds of cocaine hidden within secret compartments of a tractor-trailer.

    Port Director Michael W. Humphries tweeted a huge cache of drugs was discovered in an “18-Wheeler trailer floor compartment” on Saturday. The vehicle was attempting to cross into Arizona from Mexico at the Nogales Port of Entry when CBP agents stopped it for inspection. 

    This massive seizure disrupted the flow of dangerous amounts of fentanyl across US cities and likely saved many lives. There was no word if this seizure was a record-breaking bust. Earlier this summer, we noted that “unprecedented levels of fentanyl” are entering the country via the southern border. 

    Last week, Humphries tweeted, “colored fentanyl pills with the appearance of candy” were seized at the port of entry. The candy-like fentanyl pills are very troubling as children could mistake the drugs for candy during Halloween.

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

    In another tweet, he noted that “250,000 fentanyl pills (some of which were different colors, similar to the appearance of candy)” were seized. 

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

    The seizures come as deaths from synthetic opioids are skyrocketing, up more than 56% from 2019 to 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

    “More than 56,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids in 2020,” according to the CDC.

    Besides copious amounts of fentanyl pills being seized at one land port, a tractor-trailer filled with 150 migrants was stopped in Texas. 

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

    The flow of drugs and migrants across the border into the US is a tremendous problem that the Biden administration chooses to ignore.

    Democrat mayors in New York City and Washington, DC have recently awakened to the reality of a border crisis after Texas Governor Greg Abbott shipped a caravan of migrants via busses to their respective metro areas. 

    President Biden’s ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at the border worsens by the week, and no one in his administration has yet to take responsibility for the nightmare it has created. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 23:20

  • FDA Finally Approved An Alzheimer's Drug… But Everything Surrounding It Is Controversial
    FDA Finally Approved An Alzheimer’s Drug… But Everything Surrounding It Is Controversial

    Authored by Kelly Song via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Aduhelm is the brand name under which the Alzheimer’s drug Aducanumab is marketed. It is developed by the U.S. company Biogen. The drug is to be administered as an intra-venous infusion every four weeks.

    A vial and packaging for the drug Aduhelm is shown on June 7, 2021. (Biogen via AP)

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Aducanumab in June 2021, making it the first Alzheimer’s disease medication approved by the FDA since 2003. It is also the first ever approved Alzheimer’s drug targeting the presence of amyloid beta (a type of protein) plaques in the brain.

    However, almost everything about this drug is controversial, from the theory on which the drug is developed, to its clinical trials data, to the FDA approval itself. This article aims to distill the complicated information down to a few points, which might help patients make more informed decisions.

    Key Dates Surrounding the FDA Approval of Aducanumab

    July 2020: Biogen completes submission of aducanumab data (from previously discontinued clinical trials) to FDA.

    November 2020: FDA external advisory committee rejects aducanumab because the data failed to prove the drug’s efficacy in reducing cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

    June 2021: FDA grants accelerated approval for aducanumab for patients of all stages of Alzheimer’s disease, on the condition that Biogen conducts post-approval trials (phase 4 trials) to verify the efficacy of the drug.

    Biogen’s Troubled Clinical Trials

    Biogen started two practically identical phase 3 clinical trials in August 2015 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of different aducanumab doses in patients with early stage Alzheimer’s disease.

    But in March 2019, Biogen terminated the trials after an interim futility analysis, run by an independent data-monitoring committee, predicted that the trials were unlikely to meet their primary outcomes.

    Only seven months later, in a surprise press release, Biogen revoked its earlier decision citing that a new analysis with another three months of data produced positive results. The company stated, “The positive results of this new analysis were driven primarily by greater exposure to high dose aducanumab in the larger dataset as compared to data available at the time of the futility analysis.” In the same press release, Biogen announced its plan to apply for FDA approval, “based on discussions with the FDA, the Company plans to submit a Biologics License Application in early 2020.”

    FDA Granted Approval Despite Experts’ Disapproval

    It is routine operation for FDA to invite subject matter experts, who are “outside the government with minimal conflicts of interest” to form external advisory committees and give non-binding recommendations for FDA’s consideration. In November 2020, the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee voted almost unanimously against the approval of Aducanumab. Out of the 11 members in the committee, 10 voted against the approval and one was uncertain.

    Seven months later in June 2021, FDA granted accelerated approval to aducanumab as a treatment for patients of all stages of Alzheimer’s disease. According to FDA, accelerated approval “allows drugs for serious conditions that filled an unmet medical need to be approved based on a surrogate endpoint.” The “surrogate endpoint” for aducanumab was the reduction in the amyloid-beta plaques.

    Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, Director of FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, wrote in a post-approval statement that the clinical trials data show a reduction in the amyloid-beta plaques, which “is expected to lead to a reduction in the clinical decline of this devastating form of dementia.” Cavazzoni also acknowledged that “the data included in the applicant’s submission were highly complex and left residual uncertainties regarding clinical benefit.”

    In other words, although Biogen’s clinical trials data failed to prove the drug can slow down cognitive decline in patients, it did show the reduction of amyloid-beta plaque. The FDA awarded speedy approval to the drug based on the assumption that reduction of amyloid-beta plaque “is expected to lead to” a slowdown in cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

    Along with the approval, FDA gave Biogen another opportunity to prove the assumption is true via post-approval trials (phase 4 trials), which is due by February 2030. That is to say, Aduhelm will have been on the market for nine years before proof of its efficacy is required. If the drug maker fails to show the clinical benefit nine years after the accelerated approval, FDA might remove the drug from the market.

    One more detail about the FDA approval is that the drug was initially approved to treat patients with all stages of Alzheimer’s disease. One month after the approval, the FDA limited its treatment to patients with early stage Alzheimer’s disease only.

    FDA Advisory Committee Members Resign

    Within the first week of the FDA approval, three members of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee resigned. They were Dr. Aaron Kesselheim at Harvard Medical School, neurologists David Knopman of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Joel Perlmutter of Washington University in St. Louis.

    In his resignation letter, Kesselheim called the FDA move “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history.” Kesselheim also wrote on Tweeter, “Accelerated Approval is not supposed to be the backup that you use when your clinical trial data are not good enough for regular approval.”

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

    Knopman and Perlmutter published a comment in Neurology in July 2021. They wrote, “the clinical benefit amounted to about 3 months’ worth of delay in decline over a year,” referring to the “positive results” in Biogen’s press release in October 2019. They stated, “Combining the results from the 2 trials found no statistically significant clinical benefit for high-dose aducanumab.”

    Side Effects and Safety Issues

    Brain swelling and brain bleeding are known to be possible side effects of Aduhelm. Biogen conducted two phase 3 studies prior to the FDA approval. The phase 3 studies started in August 2015, but Biogen pulled the plug on both studies three and a half years later, in March 2019. The decision was based on a futility analysis conducted by an independent data monitoring committee, which indicated the trials were unlikely to meet their primary endpoint upon completion. That is, the trials were unlikely to prove the drug’s efficacy in slowing cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

    The safety data from the terminated phase 3 trials were published in JAMA Neurology in November 2021.  The study focused on amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), which can cause headache, confusion, dizziness, nausea, brain bleeding, and swelling.

    The data showed that 425 out of 1,029 patients, or 41 percent, who received the high dose of the drug—the dose that the FDA later approved—experienced either brain swelling or bleeding. Furthermore, 64 patients had to stop participating in the trials because of brain swelling or bleeding.

    In September 2021, months after approval, a 75-year-old woman, a clinical trial patient who lived in Canada, experienced brain swelling after receiving infusions of the drug and died a few days later.

    The Amyloid-beta Hypothesis

    The theory behind the Aduhelm and a slew of other experimental medications for Alzheimer’s disease is the hypothesis that the excessive amount of amyloid-beta plaque in the brain impairs the normal communication within the brain and thus causes cognitive decline.

    In fact, the disease is named after the German pathologist Alois Alzheimer, who discovered amyloid-beta plaque in the brain of a patient.

    But this hypothesis has not been proven and is by itself controversial.

    Three-Quarters of FDA Funding Is From Drug Makers

    The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing.

    A two-part investigative report by POGO details the fact that the FDA is in the pocket of the industry it regulates. The report says, “the agency, whose responsibilities include making sure that prescription drugs sold in the United States are safe and effective, receives almost three-quarters of its funding for that work from drug makers.”

    Part II of the report exposes the “voice” of the patients at FDA meetings is often funded by drug companies as well.

    European and Japanese Agencies Reject Aduhelm

    In October 2020, Biogen applied for market permit in Europe. In December 2021, six months after FDA’s accelerated approval of Aduhelm, the European Medicines Agency rejected Biogen’s application to market Aduhelm in Europe.

    The EMA considered “the benefits of Aduhelm did not outweigh its risks.” First, the clinical trial results “were conflicting and did not convincingly show that Aduhelm was effective at treating adults with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.” Additionally, brain scans of some clinical trial patients suggest swelling or bleeding in the brain, which is a significant safety concern.

    In the same month, Japan’s Committee on New Drugs also rejected Biogen’s application and requested more data to prove the drug’s efficacy.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 23:00

  • Just How Cooked Is The Official Jobs Data: PwC Finds More Than Half Of US Companies Are Laying Off Workers
    Just How Cooked Is The Official Jobs Data: PwC Finds More Than Half Of US Companies Are Laying Off Workers

    Nearly three months ago, when tabulating real-time mass layoffs data…

    … Piper Sandler chief economist Nancy Lazar concluded that “post-covid rightsizing means that lots more layoffs are coming” and added that “many companies overhired and overpaid during the Covid crisis.”

    Since then, it’s only gotten worse for those who track corporate layoff announcements, such as the following:

    • #1 Ultratec Inc. says that it will be laying off more than 600 workers.
    • #2 Electric truck maker Rivian will be laying off approximately 840 workers.
    • #3 7-Eleven has announced that it will be eliminating 880 corporate jobs.
    • #4 Shopify is laying off about 1,000 people.
    • #5 Vimeo says that it will be eliminating 6 percent of its current workforce.
    • #6 Redfin will be reducing the size of its workforce by 8 percent.
    • #7 Compass will be reducing the size of its workforce by 10 percent.
    • #8 RE/MAX will be reducing the size of its workforce by 17 percent.
    • #9 Robinhood will be reducing the size of its workforce by 23 percent.
    • #10 It is being reported that Ford “is preparing to cut as many as 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks”.
    • #11 Geico has closed every single one of their offices in the state of California, and that will result in vast numbers of workers losing their jobs.
    • #12 Walmart is eliminating about 200 corporate jobs as it contends with rising costs, bloated inventories and weakening demand for general merchandise.

    … and yet while initial jobless claims have indeed moved notably higher in recent months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stubbornly refuses to report the true state of the US labor market, where despite continued softness in the Household Survey where no new jobs have been added since March, the far more politicized Establishment survey – which, after all, is what the Biden administration points toward as the only silver cloud in an otherwise recessionary and hyperinflating economy – has continued to show remarkable resilience and growth in recent months. So much so, that the differential between the Household and Establishment surveys has grown to a record 1.8 million jobs since March.

    And while one possible explanation for this bizarre divergence is the record surge in multiple jobholders who now hold both a primary and secondary full-time job…

    … even as full and part-time job gains have slumped…

    … the truth is that there is no comprehensive explanation for the variation in data. Which, needless to say, is problematic because the “solid” jobs market is one of the very few things that is preventing the Fed from substantially easing back on its hawkish policies (now that peak inflation has clearly been reached… if only for the time being), and the Fed’s sharply higher rates are already wreaking havoc on the housing market not to mention various stock sectors that have also gotten walloped.

    But what if the BLS data is not merely “off” due to benign factors such as “residual seasonality” or a post-covid hangover? What if it is intentionally manipulated to make Biden’s economy appear stronger than it is for midterm election purposes even if it means distortions across the entire market?

    We bring up all these rhetorical questions because a new survey released by consultancy PwC confirms our previous observations about rampant mass layoffs in the US labor market, and suggests that the true state of the job market is far, far uglier than the alleged 528K job gain reported by the BLS in July would suggest.

    In the PwC survey released last Thursday, which last month polled more than 700 US executives and board members across a range of industries, half of respondents said they’re reducing headcount or plan to, and 52% have implemented hiring freezes. At the same time, more than four in ten are rescinding job offers, and a similar amount are reducing or eliminating the sign-on bonuses that had become common to attract talent in a tight job market.

    At the same time, though, about two-thirds of firms are boosting pay – for those who keep their jobs – or expanding “mental-health benefits”, because we now live in a liberal dystopia where a growing number of workers are batshit insane.

    The findings, as even Bloomberg concludes, illustrate the contradictory nature of today’s labor market, where skilled workers can still largely name their terms amid talent shortages (in high demand sectors like line cooks and bartenders), even as companies look to let people go elsewhere, particularly in hard-hit industries like technology and real estate.

    “Firms are playing offense and defense with their talent strategies,” said Bhushan Sethi, joint global leader of PwC’s people and organization practice, noting that employers have to weigh reputational damage and employee morale when planning layoffs. “People have long memories, and social media plays a much bigger role now.”

    Of course, reputational damage won’t matter if a company is facing bankruptcy damage by having far too many workers and not enough cash flow.

    One big reason for the ongoing crunch in the job market is the treatment of “work from home” – having become a staple during the Scamdemic courtesy of overpaid charlatans such as Anthony Fauci, corporations are increasingly seeking a return to the “old normal” which however is proving to be quite a challenge. As a result, the PwC survey found “contradictions” in companies’ approaches to remote work. While 70% of those surveyed said they’re expanding permanent remote-work options for roles that allow it, 61% said they’re requiring employees to be in the office or job site more often.

    To be sure, some organizations could be doing both of those things at once: Roles that don’t require much in-person collaboration could go remote for good, while other staffers could be required to get back to their desks a few times a week. September is shaping up to be a line in the sand for many companies’ return-to-office plans, even though previous so-called RTO deadlines came and went.

    One thing is certain: the coming labor shock will have dire and wide-raning consequences on the broader office market: with fewer employees in offices, organizations don’t need as many far-flung locations. As such, more than one in five respondents told PwC that they plan to decrease their investment in real estate, making it the most common area of cutbacks, and yes, fewer employees.

    As for the divergence between the rosy official government labor “data” and the dire jobs picture painted by mass-terminating corporations on the ground, we are confident that the delta between the two data sets will promptly and magically resolve itself… right after the midterm elections.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 22:40

  • Fence Surrounding Biden's Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000; Records Show
    Fence Surrounding Biden’s Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000; Records Show

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

    The price tag of a taxpayer-funded project to build a barrier around President Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house has grown to nearly $500,000, federal spending records suggest.

    In September 2021, the Homeland Security Department paid $456,548 to Delaware-based construction company Turnstone Holdings for the purchase and installation of “security fencing” surrounding the president’s Rehoboth Beach property, according to USAspending.gov, an online database operated by the Treasury Department.

    US President Joe Biden plays with his new dog Commander at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Dec, 28, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

    The database entry shows two additional payments since then. One bill of $6,844 was paid in late November 2021 to cover expenses resulting from extra “gravel pads” and “crane services.” This was followed by another $26,933 bill in June, described as simply “to add funds to current project.”

    The overall cost of the fence now stands at $490,324. Although the project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2021, its “potential end date” has been pushed back to June 6, 2023, marking a delay of more than 18 months.

    The exact reason for the setbacks remains unclear. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Homeland Security Department, listed as the main awarding agency and funding office for the contract, for further information.

    Amid a record influx of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, the costly presidential residence fence has drawn mockery from critics of the president’s border policy.

    “So walls work at Joe Biden’s beach house but not the Southern border?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote on Twitter.

    “You’re building $500,000 fence around your perimeter, and I don’t regret you for that—you’re the president, you deserve the security,” Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, a Republican, said on Sunday in an interview with Fox News. “But you can’t have a fence and the rest of us don’t.”

    “People at the border need a fence,” she added.

    According to data released by the Biden administration, the number of apprehensions at the nation’s southern border is reaching the 2 million benchmark for the first time in history.

    In July, Border Patrol reported 181,552 arrests of individuals who tried to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a 5.6 percent drop from the 192,418 reported in June. With just two months before the fiscal year 2022 wraps up, the agency has already made more than 1.81 million arrests, beating fiscal year 2021’s record of 1.66 million.

    In the border town of Yuma, Arizona, the state is spending $6 million to fill a quarter-mile gap in the border barrier with shipping containers. Those 8,800-pound, 40-by-9-foot containers will be topped with razor wire once tractor-trailers move them into position.

    Tim Roemer, Arizona’s director of Homeland Security, told Phoenix radio station KTAR-FM that his state couldn’t wait any longer.

    “It’s about time they supported our border state, local law enforcement and to do something about the humanitarian crisis,” Tim said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 22:20

  • As Singapore 'Allows' Gay Sex, Here's The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Worldwide
    As Singapore ‘Allows’ Gay Sex, Here’s The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Worldwide

    Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his annual “National Day Rally” speech on Sunday that he would lift a colonial-era ban on sex between men in the city state. As the country has become more accepting of homosexuality, Loong said that overturning the law was the “right thing to do”.

    However, Loong also said his country will amend its constitution to ensure the existing definition of marriage cannot be challenged in court.

    LGBT groups applauded Singapore’s repeal of its colonial-era penal code that criminalizes sex between men, but they expressed concern over the constitutional amendment, arguing that it would help perpetuate discrimination, Reuters reported.

    Despite its economic prowess and increasingly cosmopolitan lifestyles, Singapore has held on to conservative politics and strict penal codes. The country remains among the practitioners of the death penalty, another draconian law that has drawn criticism in the country.

    However, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, while Singaporean laws are changing, homosexuality remains punishable with imprisonment in other Asian nations, namely in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and neighboring Malaysia. In February of 2021, small Himalayan nation Bhutan had been the latest on the continent to abolish a ban on homosexuality .

    Infographic: The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Worldwide | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    According to Equaldex, Africa, the Middle East and Persia meanwhile are the regions where laws against homosexuality are still the most widespread.

    In 2022, homosexuality is still punishable by death in several countries and remains illegal in some form in a total of 69 nations. Especially in Africa, both a tightening and a relaxing of relevant laws are happening side by side. Between 2019 and 2021, Gabon and Botswana legalized homosexuality, while Sudan and Uganda made it punishable by life in prison.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 22:00

  • Millions Of iPhone Users Warned By Federal Agency To Change Settings Immediately
    Millions Of iPhone Users Warned By Federal Agency To Change Settings Immediately

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

    Apple Inc. and a top U.S. cybersecurity agency are urging iPhone, iPad, and Macbook users and administrators to update their iOS software amid recently discovered security vulnerabilities.

    “Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in macOS Monterey, iOS and iPadOS, and Safari. An attacker could exploit one of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a statement on Aug. 18.

    An Israeli woman uses her iPhone in front of the building housing the Israeli NSO group, in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 28, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

    Users and administrators are urged to review Apple’s security updates page and apply the updates—MacOS Monterey 12.5.1, iOS 15.6.1, iPadOS 15.6.1, or Safari 15.6.1—as soon as possible.

    Apple released two security reports about the issue on Wednesday, although they didn’t receive wide attention outside of tech publications.

    Apple’s explanation of the vulnerability means a hacker could get “full admin access” to the device.

    That would allow intruders to impersonate the device’s owner and subsequently run any software in their name, said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, in an interview with The Associated Press.

    Security experts have advised users to update affected devices—the iPhone6S and later models; several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. The flaw also affects some iPod models.

    Commercial spyware companies such as Israel’s NSO Group are known for identifying and taking advantage of such flaws, exploiting them in malware that surreptitiously infects targets’ smartphones, siphons their contents, and surveils the targets in real-time.

    NSO Group has been blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department. Its spyware is known to have been used in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America against journalists, dissidents, and human rights activists.

    “The flaws were found in the kernel, a program at the core of the OS (CVE-2022-32894) and WebKit, the engine that powers the Safari web browser (CVE-2022-32893). Both flaws allow hackers to remotely execute malicious code on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and potentially take over your device,” according to Forbes tech security writer Gordon Kelly.

    How to Update

    To update the software on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to the Settings section. From there, tap General before tapping Software Update.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 21:40

  • China Extends Power Cuts On Menacing Drought As Lithium, Metals, Solar, And Rice At Risk
    China Extends Power Cuts On Menacing Drought As Lithium, Metals, Solar, And Rice At Risk

    Sichuan’s worst drought in over half a century forced the Chinese province to extend power cuts for industrial plants. Power rationings are essential to ease electricity demand due to a menacing heatwave and limited rainfall that is driving down hydropower generation while cooling demand skyrockets — the combination is dangerous in terms of grid stability and is primarily why power cuts were prolonged. 

    Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Lee told clients Sunday that the provinces with 84 million people and a key manufacturing hub for semiconductor and solar panels faced “the hottest temperatures and the worst drought of the past 60 years.” 

    Sichuan heavily relies on hydropower generation for 82% of its power needs. About half of the renewable energy source has been slashed because rainfall along the Yangtze River since July has been 45% below average, the lowest since 1961. Falling hydropower generation comes as electricity demand in the province jumped 65 gigawatts, nearly a quarter higher than last year. 

    Goldman Sachs’ Trina Chen wrote power curtailments pose the most significant risk to rice supplies, followed by aluminum and battery materials. 

    Bloomberg outlines the largest impacts of the heatwave and power rationings on an industrial basis. 

    Lithium & Batteries

    Sichuan produces more than a fifth of China’s lithium, according to BloombergNEF, making it one of the industries most exposed to the province’s power cuts. Top global battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., which has its second-biggest production base in Sichuan, has already halted production there. 

    Goldman said the power curbs could cost about 5% of China’s monthly output for lithium chemicals, but flagged a potentially bigger impact on lithium hydroxide and so-called “LFP” cathode used in batteries. But it also said EV-related sectors will probably get priority when industries are allowed to ramp up again.

    The Sichuan disruptions add fuel to lithium’s blistering rally in the past year. The price of lithium carbonate reached its highest since April by the end of last week, and isn’t far from a new record.

    Aluminum & Copper

    Power-intensive aluminum smelters are often at high risk when governments want to cut electricity use. Goldman says some 360,00 tons of annualized aluminum capacity has been closed, with a further 300,000 tons at risk — adding up to about 1.5% of China’s capacity. While Sichuan is a notable aluminum producer, it lags far behind top provinces Shandong and Xinjiang. And neighboring Yunnan — a major source of new output — hasn’t been hit by weather disruptions.

    Earlier in August, one of China’s biggest copper producers based in Anhui province cut output as local authorities ordered power curbs.

    Solar Sector

    About 15% of polysilicon used in solar panels comes from Sichuan, and prices for the material were already at a decade-high on strong demand for clean energy. The extension of the electricity curbs will reduce supply and likely offer more support to prices of both polysilicon and lithium, Daiwa Capital Markets wrote in a note.

    Jinko Solar Co., one of the world’s largest solar module manufacturers, said two of its plants in Sichuan have been affected by the power shortage, and said it was unclear when the units could return to full capacity. At least two polysilicon plants — run by GCL Technology Holdings Co. and Tongwei Co. — face production interruptions, the China Silicon Industry Association said last week. 

    Rice

    The six areas suffering drought — Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, Jiangxi and Anhui — accounted for almost half of China’s rice output in 2021, Goldman wrote in a note. China’s agriculture ministry said over the weekend that high temperatures and unusually low rains since July have posed “a severe challenge” to fall grain production.

    The ministry has asked local authorities to strengthen capital and resources investment to combat the drought, and properly allocate drought-resistant equipment and seeds. In Henan province, more than 15 million mu (1 million hectares) of crops have been affected, according to a CCTV report. 

    Diesel

    There’s also a demand boost for some sectors. Diesel purchasing is on the rise in Sichuan as industries seek alternative fuels. Local suppliers of diesel generators have already sold out after electricity rationing spurred some business owners to find alternative power supplies, industry consultant OilChem said in an online note. Some industrial users were loading diesel into barrels from retail stations, and demand has risen by up to 6%, it said.

    The ongoing drought and power curtailments across a large swath of southern China compound economic woes for an economy already decelerating at an alarming pace, forcing the country’s central bank to cut its key interest rates last week. 

    Capital Economics believes more policy support is ahead, yet “it will probably be too late too little to prevent output from stagnating this year.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 21:20

  • LA Public Health Department Faces Backlash After Offering COVID-19 Test To Animals, Including Seals
    LA Public Health Department Faces Backlash After Offering COVID-19 Test To Animals, Including Seals

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

    The Los Angeles Public Health Department is facing growing criticism over its decision to offer free COVID-19 testing for animals, despite there being no positive cases reported among animals in the area.

    LA Public Health announced the initiative on Aug. 20 and said it has received funding from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor COVID-19 in animals in Los Angeles County.

    “This project will help us to learn more about COVID-19 from a One Health perspective, meaning that we can learn more about the significance of COVID-19 in human, animal, and environmental relationships,” the public health body said.

    “Some of the funds will support local testing of animals for SARS-CoV-2. We will partner with and offer free testing to various animal care facilities and agencies throughout LA County. Our goal is to test many different species of animals including wildlife (deer, bats, raccoons), pets (dogs, cats, hamsters, pocket pets), marine mammals (seals), and more,” LA Public Health stated.

    The department noted that pet owners may be eligible to get their furry friends tested if they were exposed to a human or animal with COVID-19 or has symptoms of COVID-19.

    The tests are also eligible for “pocket pets” such as “fancy mice/rats, hamsters, hedgehogs” and more that have contact with people, even if none of those people have tested positive for COVID-19 recently.

    Out of the 177 animals that have been tested in Los Angeles County so far, including dogs, cats, bats, raccoons, skunks, rats, and sea lions, none have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Aug. 18.

    The new program has been heavily criticized on social media, with one Twitter user complaining about taxpayer funds being “frivolously spent,” while another stated that free testing “means your tax dollars.”

    “How many ways can they waste money?” one individual wrote of LA Public Health, while another joked that unicorns would be the next animals to be tested by the health body.

    Elsewhere, another Twitter user who claimed to work in veterinary medicine said she knew “nothing about this [expletive] …animals don’t get Covid-19.”

    According to the CDC, “there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to people,” although there have been a limited number of reports of the virus being spread to people from infected mammalian animals during close contact. The public health agency noted that this is rare, though.

    The agency advised that people with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 should avoid contact with animals, including pets, livestock, and wildlife, pointing to documented cases of animals becoming infected with the virus after contact with people with COVID-19.

    “We don’t yet know all of the animals that can get infected,” the CDC noted.

    “There is a possibility that the virus could infect animals, mutate, and a new strain could spread back to people and then among people (called spillback),” the agency added.

    “More studies and surveillance are needed to track variants and mutations and to understand how SARS-CoV-2 spreads between people and animals.”

    According to a COVID-19 data tracking dashboard for cases in animals set up by the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, there have been 717 “SARS-CoV-2 animal events” around the world since February 2020.

    An “event” is considered by the university and society as “when one single case or several epidemiologically related cases were identified by the presence of viral RNA (proof of infection) and/or antibodies (proof of exposure) in an animal.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 21:00

  • Russia To Raise Dugina Assassination At Emergency UN Meeting On Tuesday
    Russia To Raise Dugina Assassination At Emergency UN Meeting On Tuesday

    Russia plans to raise the assassination of Darya Dugina at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) emergency meeting set for Tuesday. The session is expected to focus on the ongoing crisis and standoff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which has come under fresh shelling that damaged transformers at the site, which Ukraine has blamed on Russia. There’s growing alarm of a ‘Chernobyl-like’ catastrophic event. 

    Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, confirmed that Russia is seeking the UNSC emergency session, but said Russia will also highlight and condemn this latest in a series of “Ukrainian provocations” targeting civilians on Russian territory – after on Monday the FSB (Federal Security Service) claimed to have identified a Ukrainian operative behind the Dugin car bombing.

    “We requested an urgent meeting on Zaporozhye, where Ukrainian provocations do not stop. Of course, we will talk about this episode [the murder of Daria Dugina],” Nebenzia said, as cited in Russian media sources. “This demonstrates the nature of the Ukrainian state, because the connection between their saboteurs and this murder is obvious, which, in fact, has already been disclosed by the FSB.”

    UNSC file image

    Interestingly, US mainstream media pundits are already widely amplifying a theory that says Dugina’s killing was essentially an “inside job”. But it remains that there’s little in the way of hard proof for any of the currently competing claims and counterclaims:

    FRANCE 24’s Russia correspondent Nick Holdsworth examines the FSB’s claim that the attack on Darya Dugina was carried out by a Ukrainian woman identified as Natalia Vovk.

    “The FSB hasn’t presented any physical proof,” of its claims, explains Holdsworth. “This is an unusually quick result.”

    Addressing Russian claims that the Ukrainian secret services were responsible for the car bombing,  Holdsworth says the attack “doesn’t really carry the modus operandi of Ukrainian special services”, noting that the Ukrainians are concentrating on cutting Russian supply lines in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

    As for Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the situation remains highly dangerous. Starting two days ago, President Putin signaled support for a UN-IAEA team to be dispatched to inspect the complex at a moment both warring sides have blamed the other for strikes on the plan.

    Yet, so far no concrete action has been taken, though likely there are ongoing negotiations between Russia and the UN monitoring organization. Some 500 Russian troops have occupied it since March.

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

    The White House in unison with Western allies have since Sunday called on–

    …“the need to avoid military operations near the plant” and the importance of a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “as soon as feasible to ascertain the state of safety systems.”

    We can expect full fireworks of hardline accusations to fly at Tuesday’s UNSC emergency session, also with stepped up Ukrainian attacks on Crimea looming large in the background, as well as the ongoing huge US-supplied arms flow into the conflict. But there are high hopes that sending an IAEA team to Zaporizhzhia could materialize as a result of the UNSC emergency session. 

    Further, a Monday evening report in Reuters cites US intelligence alleging that Russia is preparing major strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure in the “coming days”.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 20:40

  • Only 13% Of Americans Believe Democrats' $369 Billion Will Reduce Inflation: Poll
    Only 13% Of Americans Believe Democrats’ $369 Billion Will Reduce Inflation: Poll

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

    Just a small number of Americans believe that the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will help lower inflation across the country, according to a new poll from The Economist/YouGov.

    The survey was conducted Aug. 13–16, 2022, among 1,500 U.S. citizens age 18 and over and has a margin error of 2.9 percentage points adjusted for weighting 3 percentage points for registered voters.

    The survey asked respondents whether they believe the $369 billion earmarked for climate and energy expenditures in the bill will increase or decrease inflation. Only 13 percent said they believe it will decrease inflation, and 26 percent said they are not sure.

    A total of 38 percent of respondents said they believe it will increase inflation, while 22 percent said they think it will have no impact. In July, the annual inflation rate was at 8.5 percent.

    Among Democrats, 23 percent said they believe it will decrease inflation, with 8 percent of Republicans in agreement.

    Most Republicans, 68 percent, said the bill will increase inflation, along with 40 percent of independents and 17 percent of Democrats.

    President Joe Biden signed the IRA into law on Aug. 16. Effectively a slimmed-down version of Biden’s $2.2 trillion “Build Back Better” bill, Democratic lawmakers claim it will help lower health care and energy costs for millions of Americans.

    Cost of Living Could Get Worse

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the bill will save working families an average of $1,000 a year in lower energy bills, while reducing the government’s budget deficit by $300 billion over the next decade.

    Despite those promises, 41 percent of those polled by The Economist/YouGov said that they believe inflation will be at a higher rate within six months, while 23 percent said they believe inflation will be at the same rate.

    Inflation is now costing U.S. households an extra $717 a month, according to a new analysis from the Joint Economic Committee Republicans.

    A previous poll by The Economist/YouGov found that 95 percent of Americans said they’re being affected by the soaring cost of living, which has led to higher costs for everything from food to gas.

    The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded in early August (pdf) that enacting the IRA would have a “negligible” impact on inflation in 2022, while in 2023, inflation would likely either increase or decrease by just 0.1 percentage points.

    Experts have also warned that the IRA could worsen the situation for Americans, who could end up forking out even more for electricity and gasoline thanks to a number of taxes in the bill that could ultimately be passed on to consumers.

    Fears are also mounting that the bill, which grants nearly $80 billion in funding to the Internal Revenue Service, including $45.6 billion for “enforcement,” may see the agency go after middle-income Americans and small businesses with increased scrutiny and audits. The Democrats have vehemently denied this.

    An analysis by the CBO found that audits of taxpayers making under $400,000 annually will account for about $20 billion in revenue for the IRA, Fox Business reported.

    The Biden administration has declared that the bill, which was not supported by any Republicans in the House or Senate, is a “win for the American people.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 20:20

  • CNN Is Being Gutted Because Leftist Media Is Not As Appealing As They Fantasize
    CNN Is Being Gutted Because Leftist Media Is Not As Appealing As They Fantasize

    One thing about leftist culture that never ceases to amaze is their ability to take a failure and pretend that it was actually a success.  This attitude is perhaps an extension of their penchant for propaganda – They lie so much about everything that they end up falling victim to their own disinformation.  They tell their enemies they are winning even when they are losing, and then they actually start to believe it themselves.  

    It’s a bit like the old rule for drug dealers – Everything falls apart when you start smoking the drugs you sell.  

    For CNN and outlets like them, the problem is that you can’t run from reality forever.  If no one wants to watch your content then you can’t force them to do so.  Leftists wish they could use force, but they can’t, so instead they try to use gaslighting and shame.  This has translated into the typical tactics we see today from the media, which include race baiting and accusations of bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, fascism, etc.  These tactics really took center stage from 2016 onward and they haven’t worked yet, but the political left continues to beat that dead horse in the hopes that it will one day win the Kentucky Derby.

    They NEED regular consumers to watch their content, but they look down their noses at regular consumers and see them as untouchable peasants.  So, they don’t make content for the peasant, they make content for themselves and their friends.  This is not a recipe for a successful media network.

    In a recent article on the CNN issue, Vox (a far-left outlet) remarked on Brian Stelter being fired and his show being shut down even though he still had three more years on a six-figure contract.   David Zaslav, an executive from Discovery,  has taken oversight of Warner Brothers and its properties and has been making extensive cuts to save money and streamline the bloated company.  Vox’s position really illustrates the deeper problem within leftist media:

    “Stelter, who reportedly made close to $1 million a year, was an easy cut: His show, along with his daily media newsletter, was a big deal in media circles…but not a huge draw for normals.”

    By using the term “normals” one might conclude that Vox sees themselves and and other journalists as “extraordinary” when compared to the rest of us.  Or, maybe they are just “abnormal” – It’s hard to say.  The statement is possibly a mistaken admission of how leftist journalists truly view the world, and their view is stunted.  They see their work as vital to the masses because their PEERS and Twitter buddies see it as vital to the masses.  But mainstream journalists are too far detached from the world and reality to make objective judgment calls.  They see themselves as the saviors of humanity, but no one else sees them that way.  

    The audience numbers talk.  The money talks.  It doesn’t matter how important you think you are – You don’t own the audience, the audience owns you.  

    CNN has been a consistent loser in terms of audience numbers and ratings; their ratings have plummeted while their profits continue to slump over the past few years.   The CNN+ project was supposed to draw in millions of viewers but only generated 150,000 subscribers, and of those subscribers only 10,000 were regular watchers. 

    In other words, CNN+ would have been crushed by average YouTuber numbers and their projections for at least 29 million “super fans” were absolutely incompetent.  This is why the project was shut down within weeks by David Zaslav – It was an embarrassment from the start, built on inflated delusions of grandeur.  

    And what is CNN really built on?  What has been the company’s foundation for years?  It’s only product has been anti-conservative agit-prop.  That’s it.  That’s all they have.  This might work financially if the extreme left was as prevalent as they pretend, but if we look at the numbers and the cash flow, they are actually a tiny portion of the population puffed up and screaming as loud as they can to appear big and formidable.  CNN is failing because there is an unsustainable audience for their product.

    Warner Bros. Discovery board member and media mogul John Malone stated in an interview with CNBC that he “would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.”  CNN was always leftist, but it’s true that the social justice cultism was not all that present until the past five years.  The problem is, they see the new cultism as integral to their model and more important than making money or keeping an audience, or even being objective.

    Brian Stelter wrote in his newsletter about Malone’s potential influence and examined it on his show. He said that Malone’s comments had “stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice.” In other words, Stelter believes that CNN’s mission is righteous, therefore their inability to bring in audiences and profits should be ignored.  But what is “indecency” to Brian Stelter?  What is “injustice” to the political left? 

    Is the truth indecent?  Because there have been many times when the leftist media has attacked people for telling the truth (see CNN’s treatment of Joe Rogan’s position on covid).  Do they really want “justice,” or do they want special treatment and extra privileges while pretending to be victims?  Do they want to be treated as successful even when they are failures?  

    A large number of Americans see this type of framework for media as fraudulent and agenda driven, and so we don’t watch CNN and platforms like them.  In their political zealotry they forgot to take into account the fact that elitism is isolating unless you have force to back it.  The only way most people would watch CNN is if there was a gun pointed at their heads, and even then some people would still refuse.  This is not the trademark of meaningful journalism, it is the trademark of a heavy-handed propaganda machine. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 20:00

  • Maté: In FBI Vs Trump, The People Lose
    Maté: In FBI Vs Trump, The People Lose

    Via Arron Maté’s Substack,

    For my money, the early beneficiary of the FBI’s espionage investigation of Donald Trump is Donald Trump.

    According to the Washington Post, “Trump has told advisers that in the nearly two years since leaving office, no issue had better galvanized Republican voters around him.”

    A Politico poll of Republican voters in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago raid gave Trump a 10-point boost over his closest possible primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump’s ensuing fundraising campaign has done even better, quickly topping $1 million on at least two days, a jump of at least 700%.

    Over the long run, it is difficult to form a conclusive judgment on Trump’s potential culpability in the absence of any confirmed detail about both the contents of the documents that Trump allegedly mishandled, and the evidence to support the Justice Department’s suspicions. But if the last six years of routine Trump standoffs with the national security state are any guide, the walls are nowhere closer to closing in.

    Whatever your views on Trump, it is undeniable that the permanent military-intelligence bureaucracy in Washington does not see him as one of their own, and has gone to extraordinary lengths to target him when it sees fit. It is also undeniable that the national security state’s spats with Trump have distracted the public from vital issues that impact working people’s lives and the future of the planet. This includes, I have long argued, Trump’s most harmful policies as president, which were routinely overshadowed and even exacerbated by his standoffs with the “deep state.”  

    Accordingly, it is reasonable to expect that this latest “scandal” over the potential mishandling of classified documents will continue the trend that has defined the Trump era: an intra-elite, symbiotic feud that simultaneous boosts Trump among his base, and the national security state among his foes.

    Pundits and politicians are resoundingly confident that the FBI must have the goods on Trump to have taken the unprecedented step of searching the former president’s home. This argument can only be made by ignoring that the FBI and other intelligence agencies took far more unprecedented and consequential actions against Trump when he was president, on grounds that were not only baseless, but fraudulent.

    The FBI investigated Trump as a suspected Russian conspirator and asset – and not just once, but twice: first as a presidential candidate, and then months after he took office.

    To undertake this, they relied on the Hillary Clinton-funded Steele dossier’s conspiracy theories as source material; repeatedly lied to a FISA court; and, despite the full knowledge that they had come up empty, prolonged their investigation with media leaks and court filings that falsely suggested that a collusion “smoking gun” was within reach.

    Russiagate apologists like to argue that the FBI’s use of the Steele dossier was an aberration that does not taint the whole enterprise. In fact, there are ample grounds to believe that Steele’s fabrications played an even greater role than the FBI has acknowledged – including, as I have detailed, possibly triggering the Russia investigation to begin with. But even taking the FBI’s official predicate at face value, the probe was baseless from start to finish.

    *  *  *

    Keep reading with a 7-day free trial… Subscribe to Aaron Maté to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 19:40

  • Record Number Of Americans Are "Suffering", Surpassing 2008 Crisis Levels; Gallup Poll Finds
    Record Number Of Americans Are “Suffering”, Surpassing 2008 Crisis Levels; Gallup Poll Finds

    A plethora of data points show the consumer is absolutely miserable: real wages trend lower, cost of living skyrockets, the employment market softens, savings rate collapses, credit cards maxed out, and the US economy falls into the “technical definition” of recession. 

    Capturing the plunge in consumer sentiment (at record lows) is a new Gallup survey that reveals a record number of Americans are “suffering.”

    Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index measures the quality of life of Americans by asking respondents if they’re “thriving,” “struggling,” or “suffering.” The survey is between 0 to 10. Those who check four or below are classified as suffering; seven or higher is thriving. 

    The poll found that 5.6% of Americans rate their lives as “suffering,” the highest since the index’s inception in 2008. 

    The percentage of respondents classified as thriving fell to 51.2% in July from a record high of 59.2% in June 2021. The number of people thriving is at an 18-month low. The lowest reading of respondents thriving was 46.4%, which was only measured twice, the first in November 2008 and the second in the early covid months (April 2020). 

    For the last 16 consecutive months, consumers have been crushed by four-decade high inflation as it eats away wage gains. 

    Elevated suffering rates come as the $6 trillion-plus in covid stimulus funds from 2020 has cycled through the retail chain and out of people’s pockets. It’s gone, and the massive increase in economic activity triggered is also over. The hangover stage of the covid helicopter money period is materializing — the only suffering will only worsen from here until another round of stimmy checks is seen. 

    It’s time to exit the rat-race…

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

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 19:20

  • Inspector General: US Government Left More Than $7 Billion In Military Equipment To The Taliban
    Inspector General: US Government Left More Than $7 Billion In Military Equipment To The Taliban

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Defense Department Inspector General has released its long-awaited report on what the Biden Administration left behind in Afghanistan.

    It is an unbelievable list of equipment left to one of the most violent groups in the world with a history of supporting terrorist organizations. I opposed the long war in Afghanistan, so I was not among those critical of Trump or Biden in pushing to leave the conflict. However, no one has ever explained why the Biden Administration left this equipment in Afghanistan as opposed to removing it or destroying it.

    While the collapse of the Afghan government was rapid in the final days, the government had many months to prepare for the scheduled withdrawal. Yet, it took no steps to remove or destroy this equipment. Instead, it elected to leave this arsenal intact to the Taliban.

    The ground vehicle inventory alone was worth about $4.12 billion.

    In addition, the U.S. military lost $923.3 million worth of military aircraft and $294.6 million in aircraft munitions.

    The Taliban was instantly made one of the best equipped militaries in the world due to this windfall gift by the Biden Administration.

    While the report says that “some” of the aircraft were “demilitarized and rendered inoperable during the evacuation,” most of this equipment was left ready-to-use, including 316,260 small arms, including sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, were left behind, amounting to $511.8 million.

    I do not understand how this clear and unimaginable blunder has gone unaddressed. No one was fired. There is not even any evidence of discipline of any kind. The Biden Administration decided to give the Taliban billions in weapons rather than destroy them. Yet, there seems little more than a shrug and a yawn from Congress and the press.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 19:00

  • "I Always Eat Red Meat. I'm Happy": As Demand For Higher-End Cuts Slides, Beef Prices Are Falling… For Now
    “I Always Eat Red Meat. I’m Happy”: As Demand For Higher-End Cuts Slides, Beef Prices Are Falling… For Now

    While one wouldn’t know it from looking at USDA data for the uncooked beef prices…

    … there are some good news for those seeking to upgrade – however briefly – from horse or cricket in these dystopic days: according to the WSJ, beef is finally getting cheaper, bringing some economic relief to U.S. consumers. Prices of beef, typically among the costliest grocery store purchases, are falling after more than a year of increases as consumer demand softens for some cuts.

    While demand has shrunk due to the recent record surge in prices, supplies are improving due to better staffing at meat plants, and supermarkets are offering more discounts on rib-eye, New York strip and other often-expensive products.

    For months, prices for food and consumer products have been rising across grocery aisles due to higher costs of transportation, ingredients and labor. Some of the biggest increases have been in the meat section, and shoppers have been buying cheaper cuts or switching to less expensive protein like chicken, pork, horse or cricket. But now that beef prices have plateaued, consumers are finding more deals and options, industry executives and analysts told the WSJ.

    Unlike the recent USDA data, retail beef prices fell 0.7% for the four-week period ended Aug. 7, compared with the same period a year ago, according to data from research firm Information Resources Inc. That decline came after beef prices fell 1% during the prior four-week period, which was the first monthly decline since June 2021. U.S. retail beef prices hadn’t fallen for two straight months in over a year and a half, though they remain at historically high levels.

    While the pace of U.S. inflation eased slightly in July from a four-decade high as gasoline costs fell from June levels, grocery prices continued their ascent and were up 1.3% in July compared with June, and the cost of eating out at restaurants also increased. But other prices dropped: prices for rib-eye and beef loin are down nearly 10% for the four weeks ended Aug. 7 compared with a year ago, while brisket decreased about 18%. On the other ends, ground beef prices—among the cheapest beef products and still in high demand—increased about 7% over the period, compared with a roughly 20% increase in January.

    “The cost of all the stuff is piling up and it’s starting to hit people’s pocketbooks,” said Carey Otwell, director of meat and seafood at Mitchell Grocery Corp. The Alabama-based grocer is selling less premium meat such as grass-fed beef. People continue to buy lower-priced cuts like ground beef, holding up prices for those products. Mitchell’s average cost of a case of beef declined about 13% over the past 12 weeks compared with the same period a year ago.

    Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, the biggest U.S. meat processor by sales, said the company’s own average sales price for beef was 1.2% lower over the three months ended July 2, as customers opted for cheaper cuts. The wholesale price of boxed beef shipped from meatpackers as of Aug. 13 is down about 15% from a year ago, according to the Agriculture Department.

    Howard Radziminsky, a retiree who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he recently bought rib-eye for $5.97 a pound and New York strip steaks for $4.77 a pound. Radziminsky, who follows a protein-heavy diet and eats red meat five to six days a week, said he hadn’t seen rib-eye sell for under $6 a pound in a while.

    “Promotional prices have come back to where they were two years ago,” he said. “I always eat red meat. I’m happy.”

    Since the start of the pandemic, meatpacking companies such as Tyson Foods, JBS USA Holdings, National Beef Packing and Cargill have said they couldn’t process as many cattle as usual because their plants were short-staffed. That constrained supplies, they said, and pushed prices higher while demand stayed hot.

    But in recent days, some of the bottlenecks at processing plants that drove prices up over the past two years have eased, improving the U.S. beef supply, said Katelyn McCullock, senior agricultural economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center.

    “We’re getting healthier from a labor perspective,” said Shane Miller, head of Tyson’s beef and pork unit, adding that higher wages and a variety of new benefits programs have helped staffing. “We’re running more volume to our plants.”

    That said, don’t expect plunging beef prices any time seen: a tight labor market and higher employee turnover and absenteeism rates than before the pandemic at meat plants are expected to keep processing capacity limited in the industry. Boxed beef prices remain roughly 30% above their five-year average, according to the USDA. At the same time, more cattle are being directed to processing plants as ranchers shrink the size of their herds because of persistent drought conditions in parts of the U.S., helping to improve the supply of beef in stores.

    Indeed, prices for some beef cuts may not stay down for long as the cattle supply tightens. U.S. beef production is expected to decline later in 2023, constraining the supply of cattle and ultimately raising the price of beef, according to USDA and agriculture executives.

    Tyson Chief Executive Donnie King said on a call with analysts this month that he expects the company to pay more for cattle going into 2023 and even 2024 as supply tightens.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 18:40

  • A New Epidemic Of Self-Silencing Is Plaguing America
    A New Epidemic Of Self-Silencing Is Plaguing America

    Authored by Rajan Laad via AmericanThinker.com,

    A new study by the Populace organization revealed the obvious: that Americans are “self-silencing” – people saying what they think others want to hear rather than what they truly feel.

    People often reshape their privately held views to conform to what they think their group believes, despite that assessment frequently being inaccurate.

    This causes the illusion of consensus.

    The following are two of the most significant revelations from the study:

    • Four times as many Democrats say Corporate CEOs should take a public stand on social issues (44%) than actually care (11%).

    • On Education, one in three Democrats think parents should have more influence over public school curriculum, however, only one in four dares to say it publicly.

    In the current climate, it is the left that is championing the idea of groupthink which they claim is the only ‘appropriate’ way of thinking.

    Under the guise of being woke, the left is ‘canceling’ dissenters and rendering them outcasts, often by inventing claims of bigotry. Wokeism that claims to emanate from empathy is merely a euphemism for totalitarianism.

    It is hence essential to revisit the principle of free expression which is the core tenet of Democracy.

    This includes the right to opine without repercussions i.e. the right to offend, insult, satirize, and ridicule.  The result is obscene, hateful, abhorrent, and shocking ideas may be expressed.

    But personal taste can never ever be the criteria for the expression of ideas.

    The reason being what is hateful to one may be compelling to another. What is bigoted to one may be a fresh perspective to another. What is obscene to one may be artful to another. What is lewd to one may be hilarious to another. What is blunt and blatant to one may be hard-hitting to another. What is repulsive to one can be riveting to another.  

    A dogmatist to one may be a maverick to another. A rabid right-winger to one is a voice of reason to another. A hateful bigot to one could be a revolutionary to another. A mad man to one could be a genius to another.

    A healthy exchange of ideas and relentless debates, not echo chambers, facilitates personal growth and in turn societal growth. It also causes unity as people begin to empathize with the opposing point of view and indeed the individual.

    Quite often, a solitary contrarian idea that is expressed begins like a flickering flame but ends up illuminating an entire people. If a society sticks to convention, it ceases to grow.

    What is troubling is that this practice of adhering to groupthink and self-silencing is spreading like an epidemic.

    The corporate world, the news media, the entertainment industry, and even educational institutes have all been silenced by the mob.

    Individuals from this mob have been cultivated from a very young age. The indoctrination that begins young is often irreversible. For this mob, being offended or calling others pejorative epithets is the equivalent of being virtuous. Hence, they function like puritans who are perpetually looking for heresy to condemn.

    Social media plays a huge part in the development of groupthink. Quite often PR firms use bots or dummy accounts to push their agenda, which gullible users presume to be the opinion of the majority. Frequently an individual or a firm is targeted for holding the ‘wrong’ ideas.

    The result is that some chose to self-silence.

    Most people want to live a simple life. They do not want to be ostracized or rendered unemployed and unemployable.

    Hence, they nod to the most ridiculous ideas to avoid being called anachronistic or bigoted. 

    Some hope they will be spared by appeasing the mob. They hope that by making slight compromises they can avoid being attacked. But cowardice only emboldens a mob; in time, major compromises are demanded, and soon everything you held dearly has melted into thin air.

    It is also essential to understand no individual, irrespective of how cautiously restrained they are, can always hold the mob-approved thoughts. It is only a matter of time before the mob turns on its appeasers.  It therefore makes sense to challenge the mob when they take their first step.

    The mob often claims to hold the right ideas and that the rest are ignorant or bigoted. If they are indeed on the right side, they should be eager to debate and vanquish their opponents. But they do the exact opposite: instead of engaging, they shut down their opponents. Despite their claims, they live in perpetual fear that fresh ideas may sway their supporters away.

    The mob always claims to be standing against fascism.  Perhaps they fail to see the irony that it was fascists who suppressed opposing views and Nazis that burned books that they considered dissenting.

    What is troubling is that government seems to be adopting these intimidatory tactics.

    Last year the Biden’s FBI said was investigating “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”  

    The goal behind this announcement was to shut down critics of the undesirable occurrences within educational institutes.

    Early this year Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified that the Department of Homeland Security had set up a Disinformation Governance Board to “work and to equip local communities, to identify individuals who could be descending into violence by reason of ideologies, hate, false narratives, or other disinformation and misinformation propagated on social media and other platforms.”  The board has been ‘paused’ now.

    The goal behind this board was to cause self-silencing.

    This revelation that Americans are self-silencing should come as no surprise.

    So, what impact does this self-silencing have on society?

    A deep resentment begins to brew as a result of the repression that is almost like a ticking timebomb that explodes one day.

    It is said that to destroy a society you first begin by killing ideas. An unexpressed idea is an equivalent of killing an idea.

    All the great modern inventions, discoveries, great works of art, and literature exist because someone, somewhere dared to think differently — but most importantly, dared to express this difference of opinion without fear.  If we had all stuck to consensus, we would probably be living in the Stone Age.

    Freedom of expression emanates from freedom of thought. If people are censoring themselves, democratic values are being compromised.

    The time to rise up against this sinister totalitarian cult is now, by being the change you want to see and expressing yourself freely.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 18:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest