Dec 23

Today’s News 23rd December 2024

  • 7 Chinese Nationals Arrested On Guam For Illegal Entry During Key Missile Test
    7 Chinese Nationals Arrested On Guam For Illegal Entry During Key Missile Test

    Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times,

    Seven Chinese nationals were arrested recently for illegally entering Guam around the time of a recent U.S. missile interception test on Dec. 10 and 11, according to Guam authorities.

    The Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency said at least four of the seven were found “in the vicinity of a military installation” and that the investigation is ongoing.

    The Chinese nationals had arrived on a boat from Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, according to authorities.

    Guam is home to several U.S. military installations, including the Andersen Air Force Base, where the U.S. military conducted a live ballistic missile interception test using a new radar on Dec. 10.

    A military aircraft dropped a ballistic missile about 930 miles from Guam, and the interceptor tracked and destroyed it mid-flight at 600 kilometers (373 miles) above sea level before it reached the island.

    The first-ever missile interception test on Guam occurred as part of efforts to strengthen defenses in and engage threats aimed at the island or the broader Indo-Pacific region.

    “This is a tremendous group effort and provides a glimpse of how organizations within the Department of Defense have come together to defend our homeland Guam now and in the future,” stated U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins.

    “Collectively, we will use this to build upon and validate joint tracking architecture and integrated air and missile defense capabilities for Guam.”

    Guam, a Micronesia island, is strategically important for the United States in the Indo-Pacific as the Chinese communist regime aggravates military tensions in the area with U.S. allies while strengthening its own influence over island nations.

    Its strategic location also makes it a potential target for U.S. adversaries, according to the Pentagon. Former congressman Mike Gallagher last year sounded the alarm that Guam is “highly vulnerable” to an attack by the Chinese military because of gaps in missile defense.

    U.S. officials and lawmakers have also raised concern about Chinese espionage on U.S. military bases.

    Recently, a Chinese national was arrested for flying a drone over a military base in California during a Space Force launch.

    In October, five Chinese nationals were charged with covering up their visit to Camp Grayling in Michigan, the largest Army National Guard training facility in the United States, during last summer’s annual Northern Strike training event.

    In July, a Chinese student pleaded guilty to espionage misdemeanors for for using a drone to take photos of naval shipyards in Virginia.

    Lawmakers have urged law enforcement to shore up detection of this type of “non-traditional” intelligence collection, such as the Chinese regime utilizing civilians including tourists and foreign exchange students.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 23:20

  • Cognizant Discrimination Case Highlights Flaws in H-1B Visa System
    Cognizant Discrimination Case Highlights Flaws in H-1B Visa System

    In the evolving landscape of global IT services, the recent class-action lawsuit against Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. stands out as a stark illustration of systemic employment discrimination within major corporations. This case, brought forward by Latreecia Folkes and over 2,000 other plaintiffs, has uncovered deep-rooted biases against non-Indian employees, highlighting troubling practices within the use of the H-1B visa program.

    As Bloomberg notes;

    In October, a jury in a federal class-action lawsuit returned a verdict that found Cognizant intentionally discriminated against more than 2,000 non-Indian employees between 2013 and 2022. The verdict, which echoed a previously undisclosed finding from a 2020 US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation, centered on discrimination claims based on race and national origin. Cognizant, based in Teaneck, New Jersey, was found to have preferred workers from India, most of whom joined the firm’s US workforce of about 32,000 using skilled-worker visas called H-1Bs.

    Cognizant says they’re going to appeal the verdict.

    “Cognizant provides equal employment opportunities for all employees and does not tolerate discrimination in any form,” Spokesman Jeff DeMarrais told Bloomberg, adding that the company had sought fewer new visas over the past several years.

    “Like many consulting firms and other technology companies in the US, Cognizant utilizes the H-1B visa program to fill positions it cannot fill with available US workers,” he continued.

    Early Promises and Professional Setbacks

    Latreecia Folkes began her career at Cognizant with notable success, quickly earning accolades for her contributions to a new project. However, her career trajectory took a sudden downturn when she was asked to train a replacement from India.

    Latreecia Folkes. Photographer: Matt Odom/Bloomberg

    This marked the beginning of a series of professional disappointments characterized by denied opportunities for advancement, a reflection of a broader corporate bias that she attributed to her nationality and race.

    Latreecia Folkes was put on the bench twice during her two years at Cognizant, according to the company’s internal data. She spent less than a month there in late 2016 before finding a position in South Carolina, which required her to fly back and forth from her home in Atlanta. She went on the bench again in March 2017. She said she spent a month trying to get on a new project. After being passed up for multiple positions, she said she was offered one that required her to relocate to Washington, DC. That’s when she filed an internal discrimination complaint, alleging she was being pushed out of the company. -Bloomberg

    Despite Folkes’ competence and early success, she found herself sidelined due to systemic preferences for Indian workers, culminating in her dismissal after filing an internal discrimination complaint.

    “You get on the bench,” she told the outlet. “In that time, they said they would get you a role for you to apply to internally. And I applied like a dog. I applied, I applied, I applied, almost begging.”

    Folkes filed an internal discrimination complaint in 2017. Three days later, she was fired.

    Legal Repercussions and Wider Industry Trends

    The legal scrutiny into Cognizant’s practices intensified when a jury verdict in October, backed by a previously undisclosed 2020 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation, confirmed intentional discrimination within the company.

    This verdict revealed that Cognizant preferred Indian workers, many of whom were employed under H-1B visas, over their American counterparts. This practice was not isolated to Cognizant; it reflects a widespread industry trend where IT outsourcing companies exploit the H-1B visa system to hire a cheaper, more compliant workforce, often at the expense of U.S. workers’ opportunities and wage conditions.

    Meanwhile, a Bloomberg analysis of Cognizant’s internal data found that from 2013 – 2020:

    •     About two-thirds of the firm’s US-based employees were from India.
    •     American workers were twice as likely to have their employment “terminated” – by resignation or dismissal – as were their counterparts on visas.
    •     For Black and Hispanic or Latino workers, the annual rates of such terminations were about three times higher than for Indian nationals.

    Cognizant’s DeMarris said Bloomberg’s analysis of terminations is flawed because it doesn’t include visa workers who left the company’s US operations “by choosing to return to their home country.” – something which the company’s lawyers raised in pretrial motions.

    The judge in the case, however, ruled that Cognizant had refused to provide information about “what really happened” to such employees – i.e. whether their employment ended or not, and prevented the company from presenting the issue to the jury. DeMarrais wouldn’t say either way, however he did admit that 60% of the company’s US workforce is Asian – including Indian workers.

    According to 2023 data the company submitted to the EEOC, however, 70% of Cognizant’s professional and managerial staff reporting to their Texas HQ identified as Asian.

    The H-1B Visa Controversy

    While the H-1B visa program was designed to allow U.S. employers to hire foreign specialists when qualified Americans are unavailable, it has often been leveraged to fill lower-level, less specialized positions at a lower cost.

    Cognizant, along with other outsourcing giants, has faced criticism for this approach, which appears to prioritize cost reduction over the program’s original intent to supplement the American workforce with specialized skills not otherwise available.

    The US Department of Labor classifies Cognizant as an “H-1B-dependent” employer, which means more than 15% of its workers have the visas. Companies with that designation are required to attest that they’re not taking jobs from US workers – but only if they pay their visa workers less than $60,000 a year, a threshold that hasn’t been increased in two decades. Consequently, none of the outsourcing firms that have been deemed “H-1B-dependent” – Wipro Ltd, Infosys Ltd, Tata, Cognizant and HCL Technologies Ltd – is required to make the attestations. -Bloomberg

    Meanwhile, former Cognizant employees say that the company’s use of Indian workers is nothing more than an attempt to reduce labor costs – an assertion DeMarrais refutes.

    That said, the company has seen recent savings from its immigrant workers – whose median pay fell by 20% since 2000.

    According to DeMarrais, “Cognizant complies with federal laws regarding pay for visa workers,” adding that the company “disagrees that any financial incentive exists to hire visa workers.”

    Former employees, however, say that the company likes H-1B workers because they’ll take inconvenient or less-favorable assignments, and have a hard time jumping between companies because they must persuade new employers to go through the hassle of transferring their visas.

    In response to the lawsuit, Cognizant has maintained that its hiring practices are justified by a shortage of suitable U.S. tech workers, asserting a commitment to equal employment opportunities. However, this stance has been met with skepticism, especially given the statistical evidence presented in court showing a pattern of employment terminations disproportionately affecting American employees.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 22:45

  • Rich To Abandon Washington State As Governor Pushes For "Wealth Tax"
    Rich To Abandon Washington State As Governor Pushes For “Wealth Tax”

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Washington State’s unofficial state motto has long been “Al-ki” which means either “bye and bye” or “by and by” in Chinook. The former meaning now seems official as Gov. Jay Inslee pushes for a “wealth tax.” Wealthy citizens are already saying bye to the state in anticipation of what one Democratic billionaire recently called a “boneheaded” move.

    The problem is that rich people can move. Unlike fixed assets like a mansion, they can take their wealth and taxes to other states without such laws.

    The post from Senate Democrats supporting Senate Bill 5486 said, “The first $250 million of assessed value is exempted, meaning only the wealthiest people in Washington would pay the tax, including some of the wealthiest individuals in the world.”

    I have previously written against wealth taxes from both constitutional and practical perspectives in the federal system. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has long been a proponent of wealth taxes and the Biden Administration supported the effort.

    The Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania found that Warren’s legislation would raise $2.7 trillion in revenue, but it would also reduce capital by 3.1%, depress average hourly wages by 1.2%, and reduce gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.2% in 2050.

    It is part of an “eat the rich” pitch from liberal politicians and pundits.

    When struggling in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledged a wealth tax, declaring that she was coming after “the diamonds, the yachts, and the Rembrandts too.” Then-New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, another Democratic contender at the time, was barely registering in the polls when he promised that “we will tax the hell out of the wealthy.”

    The federal constitutional problems are not barriers to the states. However, the effort to hammer the wealth has never worked for states or countries. France previously saw a massive exodus after it attempted to clip the most wealthy and had to reverse its policies.

    Putting aside expected legal challenges, Democratic donor Nick Hanauer criticized state Democrats for the push and said he had already spoken to the wealthiest citizens about fleeing the state.

    “Even if it clears the legal, implementation & other challenges, it’s unlikely to raise much [money] given every wealthy person I’ve spoken to in the last few days has said they will leave the state. I believe them. Thoughtful taxes don’t actually drive people away, boneheaded taxes do.”

    That is the problem with eating the rich . . . they have to stay put to be eaten. These wealthy individuals are already willing to pay some of the highest taxes in blue states for income. However, a wealth tax would expose their property to what is likely to become an irresistible target for politicians unwilling to make tough budget choices.

    Of course, Washington could follow California in seeking a retroactive tax. Rather than try to keep the most wealthy citizens, it could seek to make them pay to leave the state like a giant Venus Flytrap.

    We previously discussed the push in California to impose a retroactive tax on the many citizens and companies fleeing that state due to its high taxes and other problems. Warren wants to do the same nationally. So, if businesses are fleeing the country due to these policies, they would have to essentially pay for the freedom in a type of captivity tax.  It is incredibly short-sighted.  They need these businesses and they will not be able to coerce them into staying by trying to make it more expensive to leave.

    The wealth tax campaigns combine fiscal negligence with political opportunism. Rather than imposing budgetary restraints and reducing budgets, Democrats promise to fleece the superrich. This short-term appeal is likely to cost the state dearly as the wealthy leave for less predatorial states.

    You can stay in Washington state and get hit with a wealth tax or you can “bye and bye” and move out of the way. It appears that millionaires are already training with a financial expert in Washington to move out of the way of the wealth tax:

    *  *  *

    Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 22:10

  • Public Schools Using Multimillion Dollar Fees To Stop Parental FOIA Requests
    Public Schools Using Multimillion Dollar Fees To Stop Parental FOIA Requests

    Are you a parent wanting to know what exactly the local school is teaching your child?  Looking for official documentation of those lessons or the policies that motivated them? Better have millions of dollars in the piggy bank because that’s what these taxpayer funded institutions are demanding parents pay for access to public records through FOIA request.  

    The impetus for the sudden interest from parents in school activities is obvious. Attempts by educators to indoctrinate children with covid propaganda, including lessons on “anti-vaxxers” and even giving children vaccines without parental consent led to a wave of parental participation in how their local schools operate.

    Multiple state supreme courts have blocked parental lawsuits and set a precedent giving schools immunity from litigation, specifically concerning health related policies.  The only other option for citizens with children was to force their way into school board meetings and watch every move of the people involved. 

    FOIA requests have become frequent because schools refused to offer lesson transparency.  In other words, school officials and teachers unions assert that they are not required to tell parents what their children are being taught, so the only way to know is to press the issue through access to public records. 

    But getting a FOIA request fulfilled is becoming a nightmare – Schools continue to believe that they do not answer to the public and are using every loophole at their disposal to stop parents from getting the info they need.  One such loophole is the use of fees related to FOIA.  Legally, the fees are not allowed to surpass the actual costs required for employees to gather the requested information.  However, school officials are ignoring this requirement and hyperinflating the fees in order to dissuade parents from continuing FOIA. 

    One such example is the Rochester Community School District in Michigan, which was recently forced to pay nearly $190,000 to parent Elena Dinverno as settlement for allegedly keeping a ‘dossier’ on her after she criticized their virtual learning policy during the covid padnemic.  District officials reportedly contacted Dinverno’s employer and used the dossier to get her fired. 

    When other parents contacted the schools in the area for information, they were stonewalled.  Elizabeth Clair, mother to a seventh grader studying in the same district, decided to file a Freedom of Information Act request in 2022. She wanted to know what the school was doing to ‘stem future retaliation against parents’. 

    The financial analyst had asked to see six months’ worth of emails that had the word ‘anti-retaliation’ in them.   In September 2022, Clair heard back from FOIA Coordinator Matthew McDaniel who told her that she would have to pay over $33 million for an employee, who was being paid $46 an hour, to review 21,514,288 emails.  The district also asked for a good faith deposit of $16,551,616.28 for the process to begin.  

    Similar fees have also been used by schools to prevent parental access to information on woke propaganda lessons, including Critical Race Theory indoctrination, DEI lessons and classes on gender fluid theory.  The primary organizations blocking parental access are national teachers unions.  They are the driving force behind the fast spread of woke indoctrination in the US school system, with a greenlight from the Department of Education, of course.  

    The underlying hypocrisy is that teachers and school districts claim they are doing nothing wrong, yet, if that was the case they would not feel the need to hide their activities behind litigation, intimidation and a corrupt FOIA fee process.  The bottom line is that parents have every right to know what schools are teaching their kids.  Their taxes pay the salaries of those educators.  Schools are not co-parents. 

    A campaign to break up teachers unions is necessary, along with a complete reformation of the American public school system.  School choice legislation (which teachers unions viciously oppose) could also be used to take down schools that have been overrun by progressives, simply by giving parents easier access to alternatives.  In the new Trump era the public education system faces a reckoning that is well deserved. 

    Until that day, parents may need pull their children out of these institutions and home school.  It’s the only way to be sure their kids aren’t being brainwashed.    

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 21:35

  • Here's How Americans Heat Their Homes…
    Here’s How Americans Heat Their Homes…

    Americans heat their homes in several ways, if that is natural gas, oil, propane, electricity, wood, and even geothermal energy, among others. 

    Joshua Stevens, the cartographic editor of Maps.com, published a note highlighting the geographical regions across the Lower 48 that heavily rely on furnaces, boilers, fireplaces, or electric heat pumps. He explained that the choice of heating source primarily depends on the region.

    “Immediately, you can notice distinct regions that are dominated by each fuel source,” Stevens said. 

    He noted, “The Northeast and Alaska are reliant on oil, while much of the Southeast heats their homes with electricity,” adding, “The Midwest is a battleground between propane and natural gas, and pockets of wood-reliant regions are more common toward the west coast.” 

    Here’s more from the note:

    A closer look also reveals how geography is a discipline of scales, and patterns change as you zoom in. At the city scale, a dichotomy emerges between rural areas and more densely populated regions. Regardless of the dominant fuel type of their surroundings, highly populated cities frequently exist as enclaves of natural gas customers.

    Pipeline installation is costly and requires housing to exist to be most efficient. This makes it difficult for natural gas to be the primary fuel type in areas with few, distant houses that are already reliant on other fuels. But when housing is dense—such as in cities or suburbs—numerous homes and buildings can be served by a low number of lines. This economic factor drives much of the prevalence of natural gas use in major cities. Such a divide has caught the attention of political scientists, too: Despite many cities’ reliance on natural gas, those who dwell in urban areas—and who tend to vote differently than their rural counterparts—note a preference for alternative fuel sources.

    Efforts to revamp urban fuel use are underway, but they will not come easily, cheaply, or quickly.

    This map highlights the broad use of fossil fuel heating, even as far-left climate activists push to ban the NatGas heating system. The irony is that even if homes do transition to electric heat, someone has to tell the Greta Thunbergs of the world that NatGas power generators supply a majority of the power on certain grids.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 20:25

  • The Darkest Is Behind Us
    The Darkest Is Behind Us

    By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

    For most of our readers, the days are starting to get longer! The shortest day of the year is behind us! That is unequivocally good news, unless you are a vampire.

    On top of that, there is some hope that the annual shift in Daylight Saving Time (that makes it dark early), will be changed! I think that is good news for many, but it is uncertain to occur.

    Which brings us to the real question, what will D.C. be like in the coming months and what will it do for markets?

    As we advocated for on Friday, I think We Need to Pay Attention to the Budget Debate This Time.

    Stocks (and crypto) rallied strongly from overnight lows as it became apparent that a new path forward was being presented that was likely to pass. I guess that there was “relief” that a shutdown would be averted, but I think what is important (going forward) is how things played out, because that might give us an indication of what can be accomplished in the coming months.

    A simplistic view is:

    1. A very long budget (continuing resolution) was proposed, with very little time to read, let alone debate, the provisions.

    2. Largely through social media, an uproar was created, resulting in a much shorter CR, with far fewer appropriations, being submitted for a vote.

    3. That vote failed and markets sold off overnight.

    4. There was chatter about splitting the CR into 3 things to be voted on separately, but in the end, it looks like only one small CR (in terms of number of pages) was voted on and passed.

    Stocks have not been open since the CR was passed, but Bitcoin has been. Normally I refrain from using Bitcoin as a guide to anything (because it is often illiquid and volatile), but I think it is useful in this case.

    Crypto wasn’t directly affected by the shutdown (it is 24/7, global, etc.), so I think that at least some of the downward price action can be linked to “sudden” concerns about the ability to get pro-crypto policy through (like the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, which I think is crazy, but it could happen given the power and donations of many of the proponents for such a plan). We wrote about that in detail in The Genius of Mariah Carey.

    Now that something has passed, I would have expected crypto to respond more aggressively. It might still do so, but I think that the price movement highlights a couple of concerns about the budget debate that we all need to be thinking about for broader markets.

    • On Twitter, where you can find a lot of detail on “issues” with the original/long CR, it seems that the “algo” isn’t highlighting details on the new/smaller CR. It is easy to find stories about how small the final CR (that got passed) is, but there is very little on the details. And what you can find on the details seems to raise as many questions as answers. Without a doubt, Twitter highlighted issues with the original, in some level of detail, but it now seems to only feed through information about the much smaller document. It seems weird to me, and might be part of why Bitcoin isn’t rallying, because this wasn’t a “clean” win or a strong indication of change in D.C.
    • Every Democrat voted for the plan and it was only Republicans who voted against it. That does seem slightly weird, especially when linked to the point above. If it was a huge “win” and a sign of change, why did the voting turn out like that?

    I think it is great that we got the CR done and averted a government shutdown (though I wasn’t panicked at all by the potential for a short one, which we’ve had before).

    I think that we saw some “changes” in how things will be handled. There was much more use of social media to influence politicians (which I view largely as good, but not without its dangers, as social media tends to be excellent at feeding headlines, but can fail to arouse a lot of attention regarding the details).

    I’m not sure that the success of getting this CR through tells us that the Trump administration will have an easy time getting their entire agenda through, which is largely market friendly, and is a big reason why stocks have done so well!

    Bottom Line

    Be wary on bonds. Nothing from the past few days tells us that there won’t be a lot of spending, just that the direction of the spending will be altered.

    Yes, there is some hope of discipline, but the “swamp” seems well entrenched, so I see consistent upward pressure on bond yields (despite the respite in inflation with Friday’s PCE release).

    Equities, unclear. The seasonals should be supportive, but we have now had multiple 3% moves in a week (the FOMC down day, and the overnight low to high on Friday). That makes for tricky trading, and I think we are unlikely to see broad-based buying until it becomes more clear what policies are likely to be enacted.

    Credit, a touch weaker with equities, but the story for credit remains robust (despite the Fed starting to harp on leverage in their November Minutes). They mentioned leverage by investors, but also in lending, and I assume it will get even more scrutiny in the December minutes and concerns about leverage likely played into their decision to come across as hawkish as they did.

    As painful as it might be, watch Bitcoin as it seems about as close to a “pure” signal as we can get on how much of the Trump/Musk (I had to go there) agenda is going to be achievable!

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 19:50

  • Trump Threatens To Take Back Panama Canal As He Declares "Golden Age Of America Is Upon Us"
    Trump Threatens To Take Back Panama Canal As He Declares “Golden Age Of America Is Upon Us”

    Donald Trump warned that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal that the United States “foolishly” ceded to its Central American ally, contending that shippers are charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

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    “The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US,” Trump wrote. “This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”

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    “The Panama Canal is considered a VITAL National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s Economy and National Security” Trump wrote adding that “if the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.”

    He ended by warning “the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!“

    Panama’s conservative president José Raúl Mulino, who was elected in May on a pro-business platform, roundly rejected the  notion as an affront to his country’s sovereignty.

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    The president-elect’s comment came during his first major rally since winning the White House on Nov. 5. Addressing supporters at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Arizona, Trump pledged that his “dream team Cabinet” would deliver a booming economy, seal U.S. borders and quickly settle wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

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    “I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us,” Trump said. “There’s a spirit that we have now that we didn’t have just a short while ago.”

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    Trump also suggested that the canal was in danger of falling into the wrong hands, saying the canal isn’t China’s to manage. China is its second-biggest customer of the canal after the US.

    In response, Elon Musk, whom liberals now accuse of being Trump’s puppetmaster having seemingly vanquished Putin in this alleged task, responded that “2025 is gonna be so lit“, which it of course will be if Trump pulls a Russia and decides that it is indeed time to annex the Panama canal.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 19:35

  • AI Drone Swarms And Autonomous Vessels: Palantir Co-Founder Warns How Warfare Is About To Change Forever
    AI Drone Swarms And Autonomous Vessels: Palantir Co-Founder Warns How Warfare Is About To Change Forever

    Billionaire venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale is urging for a shift in U.S. military strategy, criticizing the costly, failed attempts to rebuild nations like Afghanistan while championing tech-driven solutions.

    Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir and investor in Anduril Industries, told podcast host Dave Rubin this week that he envisions a future where autonomous weaponized vessels, AI-powered drones, and microwave-based defense systems replace traditional combat, minimizing risk and maximizing efficiency. Lonsdale argued these innovations can protect American interests without spilling the blood of U.S. troops.

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    DAVE RUBIN: Do you think technology can solve our [national security] problems? Wars are going to look very, very different from now. Even from what they look like right now.

    JOE LONSDALE: This is a big thing. I think we wasted a ton of money in Afghanistan. I think we had stupid adventures. I was very for our technology helping fight and kill thousands of terrorists. I was very for eliminating the bad guys. I was very against putting trillions of dollars into these areas to try to rebuild a broken civilization, which is not our job to do. We should have been building our civilization. I’m very pro-America, but part of being pro-America is fighting these wars without sacrificing American lives and keeping people very scared of us so that we don’t have to fight, and they do what they’re supposed to do. We have a bunch of companies right now that are kind of replacing the way the primes work. And so, for example, in the water, you want to have thousands or tens of thousands of smart and enabled autonomous weaponized vessels of different sorts that coordinate together. That’s what you want. And then, on the land, you know, we sent 31 tanks to Ukraine, and 20 destroyed.

    For the same cost or even less, you could have sent 10,000 tiny little vehicles that are smart, have weapons on the fight, and are coordinated. There are all these new ways you can use mass production with advanced manufacturing and AI, and you don’t put American lives at risk. You turn the bad guys, and for much cheaper, you can do it.

    Then the other one is really cool, just mentioned, we have the enemy also has, like, you see China where they fly hundreds of thousands of drones. It’s crazy. So we have something called Epirus, which is now deployed. It’s like a force field, but it’s a burst of microwave radiation in a cone. We can turn off hundreds of drones per shot from miles away.

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    DAVE RUBIN: That seems like sort of the next version of the Iron Dome or something in some sense.

    JOE LONSDALE: It’s a little bit like Star Trek. But you need these sorts of things to fight back, rather than waste million-dollar missiles to shoot down one of these drones. And there are so many of them. What you need is electronic warfare. So there are all sorts of new things we’re doing that are really cool and taking the best of Silicon Valley, combining with the best, and by the way, who doesn’t want a really great shield? This is a great thing for civilization that it’s easier to build shields now. So there’s things like this we need to be doing. 

    Meanwhile, as RealClearDefense notes, this is approaching Terminator shit…

    AI’s role in maritime warfare brings additional strategic risks. Autonomous systems and decision-making platforms could alter the nature of naval conflicts, making engagements faster and less predictable. This heightens the risk of escalation in already tense regions, such as the South China Sea. Misidentifications or unintended actions by AI systems could spark conflicts, and the absence of international agreements on the use of AI in military applications increases the potential for miscalculations. For example, an AI-powered naval drone could perceive a civilian or non-threatening vessel as hostile, prompting unnecessary or disproportionate responses. Such incidents could trigger a chain reaction in high-tension regions, potentially drawing major powers into conflict.

    On a broader strategic level, AI is altering the balance of power in maritime security. Nations with advanced AI capabilities have a distinct advantage, as they can integrate sophisticated technologies into their maritime operations, creating a technological gap between themselves and less-developed states. This disparity could lead to a concentration of power among a few dominant nations, undermining collective maritime security efforts. Additionally, adversaries with access to AI capabilities, such as autonomous naval vessels or intelligent cyberattack platforms, could challenge the dominance of traditionally superior navies, leveling the playing field in asymmetric conflicts.

    AI also has strategic implications for economic security. Global supply chains rely heavily on the safe and efficient movement of goods across oceans, and disruptions in maritime security could have severe economic repercussions. AI-powered systems that enhance port operations and maritime logistics can mitigate these risks, but their growing reliance on interconnected digital networks introduces vulnerabilities that adversaries could exploit. A targeted cyberattack on a major port or shipping lane could not only disrupt trade but also destabilize regional economies and create ripple effects in the global market.

    The integration of AI into maritime security raises ethical and legal concerns. Accountability for decisions made by AI systems is a critical issue, particularly in incidents involving autonomous vessels or weaponized platforms. Determining responsibility in the event of an error or failure becomes challenging when human oversight is minimal. Moreover, the unequal access to AI technologies could exacerbate disparities in maritime security, leaving smaller nations at a disadvantage compared to technologically advanced powers. These challenges could undermine trust among allies and weaken collaborative efforts to ensure maritime stability.

    Watch the entire interview below (discussion on combat begins at 35:30):

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 19:15

  • The FBI Deserves Kash Patel
    The FBI Deserves Kash Patel

    Authored by John Kiriakou via ConsortiumNews.com,

    On the surface of things, Kash Patel is the kind of person most of us would want to keep out of government.

    A MAGA true believer, and Donald Trump’s choice to head the F.B.I., he’s the tip of the spear of Trump’s apparent effort to use the courts to go after his perceived enemies in the media and on Capitol Hill. 

    The mainstream Democratic-oriented press is apoplectic about the appointment.  The Christian Science Monitor said it most clearly when it wrote that,

    “Democrats invoke (the notorious late F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover) as they warn about Mr. Patel, suggesting he will target political enemies.  Republicans, though, compare Hoover’s tenure to what they say is a modern ‘deep state” resisting and harassing Mr. Trump.” 

    That’s the bottom line. Democrats compare him to Hoover while Republicans argue that he’s the anti-Hoover.

    I’m here to argue that Kash Patel is exactly what Americans need right now at the F.B.I.  We need somebody with the guts and the political authority to burn the F.B.I. down, at least figuratively.

    First, I’m under no illusions that Kash Patel is a good guy. According to former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, Patel is “salivating” at the opportunity to investigate and, apparently, charge former Rep. Liz Cheney with some sort of crime because of her work on the Jan. 6 Committee. 

    This is not only wrong, it also ignores the fact that Cheney had congressional immunity for her work because she was serving in an official capacity for the committee. Nothing will come of any investigation.  

    The press also has opined that Patel will target police officers who arrested protestors at the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol for investigation.  Again, the police have qualified immunity, and nothing will come of the idea. 

    Police reinforcements guard the Capitol after rioters were pushed out of the building on Jan. 6, 2021. (Tyler Merbler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

    He has also called for the prosecution of a wide range of political figures, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and outgoing F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray.  Again, they have immunity, and nothing will come of Patel’s rhetoric.

    With that said, my view is that it’s the F.B.I. that’s the “bad guy” here.  Here’s just a sampling of F.B.I. crimes over the years; 

    • The F.B.I. over the years has spied on thousands of Americans simply because they have held progressive political views.  Some of these Americans included music star Elvis Presley (a well-known Republican, actually), crooner Frank Sinatra, comedian Groucho Marx, entertainer and former Republican Congressman Sonny Bono, musician Bob Dylan, “King of Pop” Michael Jackson, and even baseball star Mickey Mantle.  Why?  Nobody knows.  

    • A 1985 congressional report found that the F.B.I. had conducted electronic surveillance against more than 7,000 Americans without any legal authority to do so.

    • COINTELPRO, the F.B.I.’s illegal Counterintelligence Program, targeted groups and individuals that the bureau had deemed to be “subversive,” including such “dangerous radicals” as Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and a myriad of anti-Vietnam War groups, black political groups and women’s rights groups.

    Chicago police on Dec. 4, 1969, removing the body of Fred Hampton, national spokesman for the Black Panther Party, from a building on the city’s west side where he was assassinated during a COINTELPRO operation. (Associated Press – Chicago Sun-Times, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

    • In 1964, the F.B.I. wrote an anonymous letter to Martin Luther King, Jr., meant to blackmail him for alleged sexual dalliances and urged him to commit suicide.  

    • In 1965, a white civil rights worker, Viola Liuzzo, was murdered by a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Gary Thomas Rowe.  Rowe also happened to be an F.B.I. informant at the time. So the F.B.I. spread a rumor that Liuzzo was a Communist and heroin addict and that she had abandoned her children to run off with a black man. F.B.I. documents show that J. Edgar Hoover personally briefed this lie to President Lyndon Johnson.  

    • In a 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, F.B.I. agents seeking to serve a warrant on Randy Weaver shot and killed Weaver’s wife, son and dog.  Weaver in turn shot and killed a U.S. Marshal in what a court later deemed to be self-defense. The F.B.I. was forced to pay Weaver a settlement of $3.38 million.  

    After the Ruby Ridge siege, F.B.I. agents escort Randy Weaver down the mountain on Aug. 31, 1992. (Jim Botting, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

    All of this is to say nothing of the F.B.I.’s involvement in the 2016 election with its investigation of Hillary Clinton, in allegedly using electronic surveillance against the 2016 Trump campaign and in infiltrating and disrupting such groups as Occupy Wall Street, racial justice and environmental groups, and pro-Palestine peace groups.

    The bureau also investigated candidate Trump and participated in the Russiagate fiasco in Operation Hurricane Crossfire.

    I’ve had my own negative experience with the F.B.I. In 2009, the bureau secretly opened a criminal case against me in response to my having blown the whistle on the C.I.A.’s torture program. 

    In the end, I was charged with five felonies, including three counts of espionage.  I hadn’t committed espionage, of course, and those charges were dropped, but not until I had declared bankruptcy.  

    To make the case go away, I pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and served 23 months in a federal prison.  I had been facing 45 years.  In the intervening years, three F.B.I. agents have reached out to me to apologize for their role in the case, saying that it was political in nature and that they were ordered to target me. 

    That’s the F.B.I. That’s what it does.

    And that is why we need Kash Patel at the helm of the F.B.I. right now. 

    We need somebody who is willing to tear this organization down to its bare studs.  The F.B.I. is a criminal organization.  It should be dealt with like a criminal organization.  There should be a price to pay for its crimes against the American people.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 18:40

  • DoorDash By Drone: Google's Wing Subsidiary Now Delivers In Dallas-Fort Worth
    DoorDash By Drone: Google’s Wing Subsidiary Now Delivers In Dallas-Fort Worth

    Just what we need at the peak of drone hysteria – more drones in the skies over the U.S.

    But this latest batch will be courtesy of Google’s parent company Alphabet, whose subsidiary Wing will be “expanding its drone delivery service to DoorDash customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex”, according to The Verge.

    Wing’s drones are designed for small parcel delivery, combining vertical takeoff with fixed-wing forward flight for speed and range. Powered by electric batteries, they feature redundant systems like extra propellers for safety.

    And starting last week, DoorDash users in Frisco and Fort Worth can receive drone deliveries from 50 local merchants, with items arriving in as little as 15 minutes, via Wing, the report says.

    The drones fly at speeds up to 65 mph and hover at 150 feet to safely lower orders. Eligible Dallas-Fort Worth addresses can access this option, and locals can check eligibility on Wing’s website.

    The Verge reports that Wing has completed over 400,000 global deliveries since its first U.S. pilot in 2019.

    Previously, it had partnered with DoorDash in Australia and Virginia, the latter focusing on Wendy’s deliveries. In Dallas-Fort Worth, Wing has worked with Walgreens for airdrops, while Walmart runs its own drone program in collaboration with Wing and Zipline.

    Wing launched takeout deliveries in Bonython, Australia, in January 2019. By April 2019, it became the first drone company to earn an FAA Air Operator’s Certificate to operate as an airline in the U.S. In early 2022, it completed over 50,000 deliveries.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 18:05

  • In Latest Threat To German Democracy, Dangerous Fascist Elon Musk Tweets Six Words About AfD
    In Latest Threat To German Democracy, Dangerous Fascist Elon Musk Tweets Six Words About AfD

    Authored by Eugyppius via eugyppius.com,

    German democracy, which has existed undeterred since 1949 but is somehow always shaken to its foundations whenever anybody sings the wrong song or holds a televised debate with the wrong person, is once again on life support.

    Christian Lindner, head of the market-liberal Free Democrats, did much to trigger the present catastrophe on December 1st, when he said that the Free Republic should “dare more Milei and more Musk”. Because there is little distinction between praising Milei and Musk and demanding the return of National Socialism, there ensued a brief period of establishment hyperventilation.

    Less than a week later, CDU chief and probable future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz did his part to denounce Lindner’s political wrongthink in a statement to Deutschlandfunk:

    So neither the Argentinian President nor, how shall I put it, the American entrepreneur Elon Musk – let’s put it plainly – are role models for German politics in my view. I don’t see where we can find similarities in German politics. What Christian Lindner meant will probably remain his secret.

    The next day, Merz repeated the same denunciations, only more harshly, explaining to one of our extremely adult and far-sighted pantsuit talkshow hosts that “To be honest, I was completely appalled that Christian Lindner made that comparison.” Milei, Merz said, is “really trampling on the people there”.

    Yesterday, all of this came to the notice of the (honestly rather tiresome) influencer Naomi Seibt, who posted a video statement to X rehearsing all of this old news to her largely American audience.

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    Elon Musk then brought down the hammer on the German democratic order, retweeting Seibt’s video and remarking that “Only the AfD can save Germany”.

    Today a lot of very important and influential people got out of bed and took to their keyboards to denounce Musk’s election interference. His statement might be illegal, at any rate it is very likely fascist and certainly it is beyond the pale for an American to voice an opinion about German politics. Germans absolutely never, ever, utter the slightest word about American politics and certainly would never advance negative opinions about the American President in the middle of an election campaign. Our Foreign Office would never try to fact-check an American presidential debate! Our journalists would never depict President Donald Trump dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member or offering the Hitler salute or decapitating the Statue of Liberty! That’s just not done!

    Like a great stream of green diarrhoea, the outrage is pouring forth. Matthias Gebauer, who writes for Der Spiegel, observes that “Elon Musk… is openly promoting the AfD” and concludes that “Putin is not the only one who loves this party”. Erik Marquardt, head of the Green faction in the European Parliament, says that “The EU Commission and EU member states should no longer stand by and watch as billionaires misuse media and algorithms to influence elections and strengthen and normalise Right-wing extremists”. This “is an attack on democracy”, and “has nothing to do with freedom of expression”. Dennis Radtke, CDU representative in the European Parliament, concludes that “Musk… is declaring war on democracy” and that “the man is a menace”. We are also under siege via “interference from Putin”; “the erosion of our democracy is being fuelled from both within and without”. Julian Röpcke, who writes for BILD, believes that “This is interference in the German election campaign by a tech billionaire who uses algorithms to decide what gets heard”. If Germany does not “respond with penalties, there will be no help for our eroding democracy”.

    Jonas Koch, at Die Zeit, complains that “the richest man in the world is now campaigning for Right-wing populists in Germany”.

    Tech billionaire Elon Musk has spoken out in favour of the Alternative for Germany party in the German Parliamentary election campaign. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” he wrote on his online service X.

    You can almost see Mr. Koch before you, clasping his pearls. He notes that the Government is doing its best to weather this unprecedented assault on the German republic. He quotes longsuffering Government spokesperson Christian Hoffmann saying that “It’s not the first time that Elon Musk has commented on German politics”. Olaf Scholz, he notes, “has been concerned about… X since Musk assumed control of it”, but he has inexplicably not yet decided to delete Government X accounts.

    Nor is this Musk’s only sin against all that is right, free and good:

    Musk is not only increasingly involved in politics in the U.S., where he is advising U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and is to head a commission to reduce Government spending. He is also exerting influence in the U.K. He recently announced a donation of up to $100 million to the Right-wing populists around Brexit pioneer Nigel Farage.

    As early as the summer, Musk had praised the AfD after the European elections. The party was labelled as Right-wing extremist, “but the political positions of the AfD that I have read about do not sound extremist”, he wrote on X.

    Der Spiegel agrees that this is “Not the first time that this super-rich man has interfered in German politics”.

    Musk “repeatedly takes potshots at Germany”, he has “insulted” such national saints as “the former Chancellor Angela Merkel”, he has “criticised Chancellor Olaf Scholz”, and most ominously of all he has “even responded to tweets from the far-Right Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke”.

    He responded to Höcke! Imagine that! It is just the height of political depravity, all that responding.

    Now the billionaire and confidant of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tweeted again…

    Tweeted again! The absolute madman! Will he never stop?

    …and made a barely concealed election recommendation for the AfD. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk claimed in a tweet. …

    Under Trump, Musk is set to become co-head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. The goal of the institution: to reduce bureaucracy, eliminate regulations and cut spending. This could result in Musk weakening or even abolishing those rules that personally limit him.

    That’s right, Musk wants to make American Government more efficient so that he can suspend elections and establish himself as American dictator. It takes truly perceptive journalists, like whoever wrote this unsigned Spiegel screed, to see through his clever lies.

    Musk constantly uses X for political influence. He not only interferes in German politics from there, but also tries to exert pressure on U.S. Congressmen. … Since Wednesday, he has fired off various tweets to fuel the U.S. budget dispute. He also recently received representatives of the British far-Right [sic] party Reform U.K. at Trump’s private residence Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

    He is like a little antidemocratic Hitler, is Elon Musk, just tweeting whatever he wants, receiving guests, influencing… things.

    But the gold medal for most outrageous reaction must go to Florian Harms, Editor-in-Chief of t-online. Harms writes for a slightly downmarket publication and so he has to enact more indignation than everybody else.

    “This sentence is an outrage,” Harms declares.

    There’s always a lot going on on the big-shot platform X. Since Ober-Big-Shot Elon Musk bought the social media company and reprogrammed its algorithms to inject poison, most posts there have devolved into unfounded claims, wild insults or outrageous nonsense. You can safely ignore it.

    Unfortunately, what the “Grökraz” himself posts on X cannot be ignored. This Friday, our “greatest Croesus of all time” felt compelled to intervene in the German federal election campaign with a one-liner: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” … That’s his prerogative; after all, anyone can now post nonsense on his platform.

    Harms is clearly highly opposed to platforms where anyone can just post anything. People should only be allowed to post things of which Harms approves. Particularly someone like Musk should not be allowed to just post whatever he wants, because Musk is “a global entrepreneur” and therefore “bears special responsibility”:

    His words carry weight because they influence international politics, stock markets and social moods. More than 208 million people follow Musk on X; he has configured the digital machines so that his posts are displayed more often than others. This gives his radical views a disproportionate amount of attention, which is how he makes politics – without democratic legitimisation.

    Vast swathes of the German corporate sector denounce the AfD all the time without the slightest “democratic legitimisation”, and as far as I know Harms has never complained about that even once. If Musk were attacking AfD, of course, Harms would be totally thrilled with it.

    The so-called Alternative for Germany is a crazy party… [A] growing number of its officials are Right-wing radicals and enemies of democracy. This is well known and can be read in in the various reports by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

    German political discourse is so insane, I always feel slightly ashamed translating this stuff for you. It feels like dishing out embarrassing family secrets.

    Only someone who is either clueless or maliciously intent on spreading misinformation would think that this party alone could contribute something constructive for the good of Germany.

    Unfortunately, based on everything we’ve heard from Elon Musk in recent months, we have to assume the latter. This man wants to undermine constitutional and democratic institutions, abolish the welfare state and create a Darwinian world in which the law of the jungle applies. It’s bad enough that he is now gaining so much influence in the USA. This must not happen in Germany. …

    Democratic politicians should… refute Musk’s claim. And… they should take a particularly critical look at future investments by Musk’s companies in this country. Consumers also bear a responsibility: Anyone who is still considering buying a Tesla must accept the accusation of supporting a destroyer of democracy. [emphasis mine]

    This is all so boundlessly ridiculous, it’s like the entire country is suffering from borderline personality disorder.

    If any of these people sincerely believe that Musk’s tweet will have any influence on the German elections in February, they are clinically insane. The only thing here that might influence something is the unceasing hysteria of German establishment discourse, which seems intent on alienating powerful figures at the centre of empire, all for the indecent and passing thrill of a cheap moral orgasm. Any political order that is truly threatened by a six-word remark from anybody – even should it come from the wealthiest, most antidemocratic, fascistic and powerful man in the world – is not a political order worth having.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 17:44

  • Disney Abandons Transgender Storyline In New Pixar Show
    Disney Abandons Transgender Storyline In New Pixar Show

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    Disney has decided to abandon plans to have a transgender storyline in its upcoming animated series Win or Lose.

    The show, which centres around characters on a co-ed middle school softball team, was originally scheduled to feature a transgender character.

    However, The Hollywood Reporter notes that while the character will remain in the show, all references to its transgender identity have been removed.

    A Disney spokesperson told the outlet “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

    The report notes that the decision was made several months ago, but the company has not provided any further details.

    The decision comes following backlash directed at several recent Disney productions that have pushed similar themes and flopped.

    *  *  *

    Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 17:30

  • Waymo Robotaxi Still Has Some Kinks To Work Out
    Waymo Robotaxi Still Has Some Kinks To Work Out

    Even though Waymo’s robotaxis have surpassed the 25-million-mile mark on public roadways, AI trainers have yet to prepare these vehicles for every possible scenario. The latest incident highlights how humans—in certain situations—remain superior.

    X user Liam McCormick snapped a photo of a Waymo Jaguar I-PACE SUV that ignored traffic cones and work area signs and ended up stuck knee-deep in wet cement.  

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

    “There were ones, but spaced far enough apart that the Waymo was able to drive between them.  New concrete poured in sections, the final section was fresh,” McCormick “aid. 

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    Smart AI robotaxi can’t outsmart wet cement. Is LiDAR to blame?

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 16:55

  • The Dominoes Are Falling Fast Over The Biden Mental-Health Cover-Up
    The Dominoes Are Falling Fast Over The Biden Mental-Health Cover-Up

    Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

    There truly aren’t enough words to describe just how big of a scandal the White House cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental decline really is.

    As I’ve said before, the liberal media doesn’t feel that it has to protect Joe Biden anymore, and there have been a torrent of stories exposing how Biden’s mental decline was handled for four years. The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and even the New York Times have all hit the story.

    The fallout from this could be extensive for the Democratic Party.

    Democratic donor and operative Lindy Li hasn’t held back in her critiques of the party. For weeks, she’s been relentless, taking aim at Kamala Harris for squandering a billion dollars, criticizing her selection of Tim Walz, and calling out her embrace of radical positions. Li has even provided intriguing insider details about how Joe Biden was ultimately ousted, and what Pelosi and Obama really think of Kamala. Now, she’s dishing on Joe Biden’s mental decline.

    “Let’s just be very honest what’s happening here,” Li said during a recent interview on Fox News.

    “The president has not been cognitively fit to assume the duties of the Oval Office for a number of years now. And it breaks my heart because I know President Biden and I love the man, but he is in no shape or form able to carry out the duties that the Commander in Chief requires, and it’s just devastating.”

    Li continued, “And we saw that confirmed by the Wall Street Journal expose yesterday and also many exposes in the New York Times, in the Washington Post, over and over again, how his inner circle is actively covering for him and stepping up to the plate because he simply cannot.”

    As we previously reported, the Wall Street Journal revealed in a lengthy exposé how White House aides were aware of Biden’s diminished mental state and actively covered it up pretty much from day one of his presidency.

    Li herself isn’t blameless either. She told of a fundraiser for Biden on May 1 in Washington, D.C.: “I remember one of my family members, after interacting with President Biden, they said, oh, we’re … effed.” 

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    Former Clinton operative Al Mottur has also expressed regret over aiding a cover-up. 

    “I’m disappointed in the Wall Street Journal story only in the sense that there are people now leaking on the record who may have been the same people telling us everything was fine,” he said.

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    The dominoes really are falling quickly. We have the media rushing in with stories they should have reported years ago, and now operatives are piling on. This scandal is likely to have long-term devastating consequences if this keeps up.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 16:20

  • "Prank TikToker" Busted After Filming Himself Spraying Walmart Produce With Poison
    “Prank TikToker” Busted After Filming Himself Spraying Walmart Produce With Poison

    The legacy of prank YouTubers and TikTokers has been an endless plunge into degeneracy for western society; a mindless clamor for online clout, clicks and social media followers that don’t necessarily translate to dollars or success.  The new currency of the digital era is attention and narcissistic affirmation.  The new motto:  “I am viral, therefore I exist”.  

    This has created a culture of clout at any cost and a complete abandonment of basic morality or shame.  The more these content “creators” and “influencers” get away with it, the more they inspire others to mimic their behavior.  At least in the case of 27-year-old Charles Smith, a TikToker going by the name Wolfie Kahletti, the attention he gains will be brief and the time he spends in prison will hopefully be long.

    Smith faces multiple charges after he allegedly filmed himself spraying poisonous bug killer on produce at an Arizona Walmart Supercenter and then posted the video online.  Mesa police said they arrested Smith on Saturday in connection with an incident that happened on Thursday at the Walmart at Stapley Drive and Baseline Road. 

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    According to police, Smith entered the store with plans to film social media pranks, and he grabbed a can of Hot Shot Ultra Bed Bug and Flea Killer without paying for the item.

    Video uploaded to social media, but later deleted, showed Smith spraying the pesticide on various produce items available for purchase, including vegetables, fruit and rotisserie chickens, police said.

    A Walmart spokesperson said workers removed the impacted products and cleaned and sanitized the affected area of the store.

    The cult of social media pranksters has been met mostly with disdain, but the allure of watching people do stupid things on camera cannot be denied.  Much like witnessing a train wreck, it’s hard for some viewers to look away.  Numerous online pranksters have been arrested in the past few years, all of them end up violating the property and privacy of others, or actually threatening innocent lives.

    In some cases, the clout chasers mess with the wrong victims and end up injured or dead.  Last year, prank YouTuber Tanner Cook tried to intimidate a delivery driver at a food court in Dulles Town Center in Virginia for a video, only to be shot when the man pulled a concealed pistol.

    Cook survived the encounter and the driver, Alan Colie, was later acquitted on charges of aggravated malicious wounding in the shooting after pleading not guilty on the grounds of self defense.  No one today cares who Tanner Cook is, they only remember him as the YoutTuber who “F’d around and found out”. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 15:45

  • Berberine: One Of The Most Powerful Tools We Have To Regulate Insulin
    Berberine: One Of The Most Powerful Tools We Have To Regulate Insulin

    Authored by Robert W Malone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    While at the Brownstone Institute retreat near Hartford, Connecticut last year, I heard Dr. Paul Marik speak on repurposed drugs. Of course, this has been one of my passions since the Ebola outbreak of 2014, with the realization that a safe and effective vaccine could not be developed fast enough for any newly emergent highly infectious disease or infectious bio-threat event.

    As Berberine is derived from plants, it is considered a nutraceutical. svf74/Shutterstock

    Unfortunately, there is no interest in using repurposed drugs by our government or pharma for other disease indications such as cancer. This is despite the fact that computerized modeling, which is very sophisticated, suggests that there are many drugs for which the already licensed drug’s safety profile is well known, that would work well for varying types of cancers. Again, no profit motive, no interest. No research dollars or support. A dead end.

    Likewise, in the United States, “nutraceuticals” are largely unregulated, as they exist in the same category as dietary supplements and food additives by the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]. There is no way for a pharma company to make huge amounts of profits from repurposed drugs unless they can figure out a way to patent the product (formulations, co-administration with other agents, etc.). Even then, it can be very difficult and carries a lot of financial risk—in getting it through the patenting process (which is more difficult).

    One of the key examples used during Marik’s lecture at the Brownstone retreat was the compound berberine.

    As berberine is derived from plants, it is considered a nutraceutical. As a consequence, there are few randomized clinical trials and little pharma or government interest in the drug. Probably because there is no profit motive at play here. Hence, most of us have never heard of it.

    One of Marik’s main points was that berberine appears to be one of the most powerful tools we have to regulate insulin and yet because there is no profit in promoting this product, there is almost no publicity or significant research into its clinical benefits.

    Traditional medicines use many plants that are true miracles provided to us by nature. Berberine is found in many plants throughout the world and has been used as an essential medicine globally for more than 3000 years. Traditionally, its uses have varied greatly and include treating infections and sores, and as an antimicrobial for various kinds of gastrointestinal inflammation.

    Enzymes are proteins that function as biological catalysts in the body and act by accelerating chemical reactions. Berberine works by binding to a variety of individual enzymes and altering their efficiency.

    What are the Health Benefits of Berberine?

    (Note—there is no question that more research into this compound is needed. But there is overwhelming evidence that this drug has many health benefits and should not be overlooked when assessing the use of dietary nutraceutical supplements.)

    Atherosclerosis

    “Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arteries, and is the underlying cause of about 50% of all deaths in westernized society”

    “Berberine is an extract of Chinese traditional herbs that is known for its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects in the digestive system. Its underlying anti-CVD (cardiovascular disease) mechanisms are currently attracting interest, and its pharmacological actions, such as antioxidation, regulation of neurotransmitters and enzymes, and cholesterol-lowering effects, have been substantiated. Recent studying found that berberine could inhibit both the proliferation and apoptosis of VSMCs (vascular smooth muscle cells) induced by mechanical stretch stress simultaneously, which suggests that berberine might be an excellent drug to treat atherosclerosis.” Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2021

    Blood Pressure

    Berberine has been shown to help control blood pressure.

    Blood Sugar Control (Insulin Regulation)

    Berberine has been shown to significantly lower glucose levels in diabetic patients.

    One study shows that berberine plus probiotics had the greatest effect on blood sugar levels, although berberine alone also was clinically significant in reducing blood glucose levels, whereas placebo and probiotics-alone control treatments were ineffective in these studies. It was noted that berberine induced more gastrointestinal side effects relative to the control groups.

    Cholesterol

    “Men randomized to berberine had larger reductions in total cholesterol (-0.39 mmol/L, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.70 to -0.08) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-0.07 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.13 to -0.01) after 12 weeks. Considering changes after 8 and 12 weeks together, berberine lowered total cholesterol and possibly low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), and possibly increased testosterone.” Nutrients, 2021.

    Taking berberine supplements regularly appears to lower total cholesterol, “bad” cholesterol, and triglycerides in people with high cholesterol. As it is not a statin and works through other pathways than statin drugs, it may be beneficial for people who wish to lower cholesterol but do not wish to take statins or are resistant to statins.

    (The issue of statins is complex and not as clear-cut as many think. But this essay is not the place for that discussion. I promise though—at some point in time, we will get to that analysis).

    Heart Disease

    People with heart disease often have fatigue and irregular heartbeats. Studies show that taking berberine supplement combined with standard heart disease treatments reduces these symptoms. Berberine reduced the risk of death from heart disease without apparent side effects.

    “One hundred fifty-six patients with CHF and >90 ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) and/or nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) on 24-hour Holter monitoring were randomly divided into 2 groups. All patients were given conventional therapy for CHF, consisting of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, digoxin, diuretics, and nitrates. Patients in the treatment group (n = 79) were also given berberine 1.2 to 2.0 g/day. The remaining 77 patients were given placebo.” …

    “After treatment with berberine, there was a significantly greater increase in LVEF, exercise capacity, improvement of the dyspnea-fatigue index, and a decrease of frequency and complexity of VPCs compared with the control group. There was a significant decrease in mortality in the berberine-treated patients during long-term follow-up … p <0.02).” AM J Cardiology, 2003 Note—this study was conducted in 2003, and yet only crickets have been heard from the American Heart Association concerning the benefits of berberine.

    Check out Dr. Malone here…

    And snag some Berberine here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 15:10

  • Biden Considers Commuting Sentences Of 40 Men On Federal Death Row
    Biden Considers Commuting Sentences Of 40 Men On Federal Death Row

    Multiple outlets are reporting that President Joe Biden plans to use his clemency powers before leaving office next month, with speculation among opponents of capital punishment that he will act on his pledge to end the federal death penalty.

    Biden is considering commuting the sentences of the 40 men on federal death row, potentially thwarting any efforts by President-elect Trump to resume executions, an exclusive by the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

    Religious and civil-rights groups, bolstered by Pope Francis’s recent prayers for commutation, have urged Biden to act. Commutations would replace death sentences with life without parole.

    Biden, a Catholic, recently spoke with Pope Francis and plans to meet him next month. A decision, possibly by Christmas, may involve either a blanket commutation or retaining death sentences for the most severe cases.

    The Wall Street Journal wrote that Attorney General Merrick Garland has recommended President Biden commute most federal death sentences, with potential exceptions for cases like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Boston Marathon bombing), Robert Bowers (Tree of Life synagogue shooting), and Dylann Roof (Charleston church shooting).

    Those eligible for commutation include individuals convicted of heinous crimes such as child killings, kidnapping-for-ransom murders, and a podiatrist who killed a patient to obstruct justice.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell commented: “It would mean that progressive politics is more important to the president than the lives taken by these murderers.”

    “It would mean that society’s most forceful condemnation of white supremacy and antisemitism must give way to legal mumbo jumbo,” he added, doing his best to stay upright at whatever podium he was speaking from. 

    Four inmates remain on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, but it’s unclear if any potential commutation would include them or affect cases like Luigi Mangione’s pending federal death sentence.

    While Biden campaigned on abolishing the federal death penalty and halted executions during his term, little progress has been made on his promise, with Democratic bills to end capital punishment lacking White House support.

    Yasmin Cader, a deputy legal director at the ACLU, concluded: “We are absolutely engaging in pulling all the levers that we can. It would cement a very powerful moral legacy and fulfill a campaign promise.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 14:35

  • "We Have A Serious, Serious Problem On A Global Scale" – Martin Armstrong Warns Neocons "Scared To Death Of Trump"
    “We Have A Serious, Serious Problem On A Global Scale” – Martin Armstrong Warns Neocons “Scared To Death Of Trump”

    Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

    Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is back with a new round of predictions, and they are not going to make life easy for President Elect Trump. 

    Armstrong says, “Our computer has been projecting that we are going into a depression in some areas and a recession in other areas.”

    ”  A depression most likely in Europe and a recession in the United States up until 2028. . . . At my November conference, everybody was celebrating after Trump won.  I stood up and told my clients, ‘I’m sorry, Trump is not going to have a blissful administration, and he’s not going to prevent the economic decline.’  (Please remember, Armstrong predicted Donald Trump would win in a landslide many months before the November 2024 Election.)

    Armstrong goes on to say, “We have a serious, serious problem on a global scale…”

    “The sovereign debt crisis is really going to start percolating in 2025.  It’s probably going to reach a major crisis by 2026 and 2027.  Why?  They have dictated all these banks and pension funds . . . 70%, generally, must be invested in government bonds. . . . They say it’s ‘safe,’ but it’s the worst debt possible. . . . 

    So, if the government goes into a sovereign default, what happens?  You wipe out the banking system and the pensions.”

    Does Armstrong think the governments around the world are going to go into a sovereign default?  Armstrong says,

    “Oh yeah.  How does a government default?  We are in this Ponzi Scheme.  They have to keep selling new debt to pay off the old debt. . . . When you can’t sell the new debt, that’s when the default happens because you can’t pay off the old debt.”

    What should the average guy do now?  Does Armstrong think people should get to the bank and get cash?  Armstrong says,

    “Yes, cash, physical paper money.  We just had two hurricanes here in Florida.  This idea of Bitcoin and CBDCs are very nice, but what’s the reality?  The internet was down for 10 days.  A credit card did not work.  You wanted something, it was cash only.  It was the same in Canada when they froze all the accounts of the truckers.  They could not even buy food.  Unless you had cash, you were dead in the water.  This is why I am saying to have cash in this point in time.” 

    Armstrong still likes physical gold, too.

    Armstrong says the digital currencies that are getting a lot of attention lately are only a control mechanism.  Armstrong contends digital money will stop bank runs.  Armstrong still thinks the world will be at war by April or May of 2025.  Armstrong says watch Turkey with its huge conventional army.  Armstrong says Jordan and Lebanon may also be taken over, and like Syria, Turkey will be orchestrating this move.  Armstrong says the Middle East is setting up for a major conflict starting in 2025, and there will be destruction.  Armstrong also predicts Europe will be on the losing end of the next world war.

    In closing, Armstrong says:

    “They can’t stop Trump from taking office, but they can delay him with martial law.  Martial law has been enacted 60 times in the United States. . . . The neocons are scared to death of Trump and really want to trap him in war before he takes office.”

    There is much more in the 56-minute interview.

    Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong where he gives his analysis on a major debt crisis coming in 2025 with the defaults and destruction that come with it on 12.21.24.

    *  *  *

    To donate to USAWatchdog.com click here.

    To see the trailer of “The Forecaster” that features Martin Armstrong, click here.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 14:00

  • Is 'Dronegate' A Chinese Psyop?
    Is ‘Dronegate’ A Chinese Psyop?

    Mysterious drone sightings continue over US cities and military bases, with their origins remaining unknown (at least to the public), even as the federal government insists there is no national security threat. 

    We have offered readers multiple theories, from a drone psyop to push through H.R.8610 (Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act of 2024) and nuclear drone “sniffers.” Some lawmakers even pushed the wild idea of an Iranian “mothership” drone carrier off the East Coast. 

    At the beginning of last week, former US Navy Lt. and F/A-18F pilot Ryan Graves appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, dismissing claims that drone sightings in the New Jersey-New York skies were “sniffers” searching for radioactive devices.

    Then President-elect Donald Trump told reporters, ” The government knows what is happening. Look, our military knows where they took off from, and for some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they would be better off commenting on what it is. Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.” 

    Shortly thereafter, we coined the term “Dronegate” to describe the ongoing situation.

    Let’s not forget to end the week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul beefed up the number of New York National Guard members patrolling NYC subway stations, marking the largest military presence in the city’s subway system since the aftermath of 9/11. We asked the question if this was in response to a terror threat, such as mounting risks of pre-trained terrorists, now possibly active in cells nationwide. 

    With many different theories floating around, entrepreneur David Friedberg of the All-In podcast explained this could actually be a psyop by China to crush America’s rising drone economy. 

    Here’s the theory (courtesy of All-In): 

    “Right now, the US has a significant regulatory burden on drone utilization in a commercial setting.”

    “Meanwhile, you’ve got countries like China rocketing ahead. The drone delivery business in China is already $30B per year.”

    “And they’re also launching a pretty significant fleet of what we would call eVTOLs or flying cars.”

    “The expectation is that by 2030, there will be 100K flying cars moving people around in China. And these are huge efficiency gains.”

    “And in the US, the reason that these things haven’t taken off, and the reason we don’t have a large drone industry, which is clearly emerging and is going to be a huge economic driver for China and others around the world, is simply the regulatory restrictions.”

    “If you were going to try and mess with the US’s ability to move forward with the drone economy, you would probably try and wreak some havoc, stoke some fear, and get people to say, ‘Hey, this doesn’t seem cool. What’s going on? I don’t like that there’s all these drones in the sky. I’m freaking out.'”

    “And try and get the regulators to come in and say, ‘Hey, we’re banning drones.'”

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

    Let’s not forget that the Chinese were active with drones over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia last year, as well as their spy balloon that traversed the Lower 48 in 2023. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 12/22/2024 – 13:25

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