Jul 23

Today’s News 23rd July 2024

  • True Purpose Of NATO Remains USA Hegemony
    True Purpose Of NATO Remains USA Hegemony

    Authored by Yves Engler via Counterpunch.org,

    NATO’s new focus on China harkens back to the belligerent alliance’s early days.

    At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington, DC, last week China was a big part of the agenda. The NATO summit’s final declaration mentioned the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) 14 times. It noted that “the PRC continues to pose systemic challenges to Euro-Atlantic security” and China’s “stated ambitions and coercive policies continue to challenge our interests, security and values.”

    The leaders of NATO “partner” nations Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia attended the summit. They collectively met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to map out strategy for the Asia Pacific region. NATO announced four new joint projects with countries that are important to Washington’s bid to establish an anti-China military bloc. In response, Beijing accused NATO of “inciting bloc confrontation and hyping up regional tensions”.

    Unsurprisingly, NATO frames its focus on China as defensive. “The PRC has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine”, claimed the summit’s final communique. According to this storyline, Chinese relations with Russia threaten NATO. But this is exaggerated. China has taken a cautious approach to Russia’s war largely complying with (illegal) US sanctions and refusing to sell arms (though its companies sell some dual use products to Russian firms). Conversely, North Korea and Iran are selling Russia arms while NATO countries are donating large amounts of weapons to Ukraine.

    Comparing Chinese ties to India’s highlights NATO’s exaggeration. India is buying more oil and weapons from Russia than China and when NATO began its meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin.

    In 2022, NATO released a strategic concept listing China for the first-time. It labeled Beijing a challenge to the alliance’s “interests, security and values” and at the time Stoltenberg declared, “China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear weapons, bullying its neighbours, threatening Taiwan ….”

    This is all part of the US empire’s bid to contain China’s rise. Washington has become obsessed with an emerging “peer competitor” that may eventually rival its power.

    While it seems strange that an alliance to defend the ‘north Atlantic’ should target a faraway Asian state, NATO is neither defensive nor only about the north Atlantic. The alliance’s recent wars in Afghanistan and Libya demonstrate that it’s a tool to enable US-led global domination.

    That’s been clear for 75 years.

    As part of the Parliamentary debate over NATO’s founding Canada’s external affairs minister Lester Pearson said:

    “There is no better way of ensuring the security of the Pacific Ocean at this particular moment than by working out, between the great democratic powers, a security arrangement the effects of which will be felt all over the world, including the Pacific area.”

    Two years later he said:

    “The defence of the Middle East is vital to the successful defence of Europe and north Atlantic area.”

    In 1953 Pearson went even further:

    “There is now only a relatively small [5000 kilometre] geographical gap between southeast Asia and the area covered by the North Atlantic treaty, which goes to the eastern boundaries of Turkey.”

    Pearson believed that the newly created ‘defensive’ alliance justified sending 27,000 Canadian troops to Korea. In a history of the 1950-53 US-led Korean war David Bercuson writes that Canada’s external minister “agreed with [President] Truman, [Secretary of State] Dean Acheson, and other American leaders that the Korean conflict was NATO’s first true test, even if it was taking place half a world away.”

    The Korean War was partly a reaction to Mao’s 1949 communist/nationalist revolution in China. After US forces approached its border, China intervened. The war left around three million dead.

    In reality, NATO was established to bring a decolonizing world under the US geopolitical umbrella. This remains true 75 years later as the alliance continues to advance US hegemony.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 07/23/2024 – 02:00

  • Engineering A Crisis: How Political Theater Helps Keep The Deep State Stay In Power
    Engineering A Crisis: How Political Theater Helps Keep The Deep State Stay In Power

    Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

    “The two ‘sides’ of mainstream politics are not fighting against one another, they’re only fighting against you. Their only job is to keep you clapping along with the two-handed puppet show as they rob you blind and tighten your chains while your gaze is fixed on the performance.”

    – Caitlin Johnstone

    A failed assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. An incumbent president withdrawing his re-election bid at the 11th hour. A politicized judiciary that fails to hold the powers-that-be accountable to the rule of law. A world at war. A nation in turmoil.

    This is what controlled chaos looks like.

    This year’s election-year referendum on which corporate puppet should occupy the White House has quickly become a lesson in how the Deep State engineers a crisis to keep itself in power.

    Don’t get so caught up in the performance that you lose sight of what’s real.

    This endless series of diversions, distractions and political drama is the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of you while your wallet is being picked clean by ruffians in your midst.

    It’s the Reichstag Fire all over again.

    It was February 1933, a month before national elections in Germany, and the Nazis weren’t expected to win. So they engineered a way to win: they began by infiltrating the police and granting police powers to their allies; then Hitler brought in stormtroopers to act as auxiliary police; by the time an arsonist (who claimed to be working for the Communists in the hopes of starting an armed revolt) set fire to the Reichstag, the German parliamentary building, the people were eager for a return to law and order.

    That was all it took: Hitler used the attempted “coup” as an excuse to declare martial law and seize absolute power in Germany, establishing himself as a dictator with the support of the German people.

    Fast forward to the present day, and what do we have? A discontented citizenry, a disconnected government, and a Deep State that wants to stay in power at all costs.

    So what happens? Trump has a near miss, Biden bows out, and politics becomes exciting to the masses again.

    It works the same in every age.

    This is how the police state will win, no matter which candidate gets elected to the White House.

    You know who will lose? Every last one of us.

    After all, politics today is not about Republicans and Democrats.

    Nor is it about abortion, healthcare, higher taxes, immigration, or any of the other buzzwords that have become campaign slogans for individuals who have mastered the art of telling Americans exactly what they want to hear.

    Politics today is about one thing and one thing only: maintaining the status quo between the Controllers (the politicians, the bureaucrats, and the corporate elite) and the Controlled (the taxpayers).

    Indeed, it really doesn’t matter what you call them—the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex—so long as you understand that no matter which party occupies the White House in 2025, the unelected bureaucracy that actually calls the shots will continue to do so.

    In other words, no matter who wins this next presidential election, you can rest assured that the new boss will be the same as the old boss, and we—the permanent underclass in America—will continue to be forced to march in lockstep with the police state in all matters, public and private.

    Consider the following a much-needed reality check, an antidote if you will, against an overdose of overhyped campaign announcements, lofty electoral promises and meaningless patriotic sentiments that land us right back in the same prison cell.

    Perhaps the most troubling fact of all is this: we have handed over control of our government and our lives to faceless bureaucrats who view us as little more than cattle to be bred, branded, butchered and sold for profit.

    As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if there is to be any hope of restoring our freedoms and reclaiming control over our government, it will rest not with the politicians but with the people themselves.

    One thing is for sure: the reassurance ritual of voting is not going to advance freedom one iota.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 23:40

  • Trump To Play Golf With PGA Pro In Demonstration Of Physical & Mental Health
    Trump To Play Golf With PGA Pro In Demonstration Of Physical & Mental Health

    US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau announced on X that former President Trump will be featured in the next episode of his YouTube golf show, “Break 50.”

    In this episode, DeChambeau and Trump will attempt to complete 18 holes in under 50 shots. This will serve as physical and mental tests for Trump, recorded for the world to see, especially as President Biden’s cognitive decline has forced him out of the presidential race, with Democrats replacing the elderly president with giggly Kamala Harris.

    “To be clear, this is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics. A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge. It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any sitting or former president, and all have an open invitation to join me for a round of Break 50 anytime,” DeChambeau wrote on X. 

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    Golf Digest posted a teaser video of the episode with DeChambeau and Trump standing on a green with an American pin flag in the background. 

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    Meanwhile, the nation is asking this question about Biden. 

    Let’s not forget this nonsense. 

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    One X user said, “If he actually ends up breaking 50 with Trump then Trump is officially the greatest golfer in presidential history.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 23:20

  • Not All Body Fat Is Created Equal
    Not All Body Fat Is Created Equal

    Authored by Zena le Roux via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    US regulators were seen approving the first exchange-traded funds that invest directly in Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, according to the latest filings Monday.
    The latter suggest the Securities and Exchange Commission signed off on spot-Ether ETF applications from 21Shares, Bitwise Asset Management Inc., BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments and VanEck, paving the way for official trading of the products.

    (Pavel Chagochkin/Shutterstock)

    Fat’s Role in the Body

    According to a 2013 review, fat is not merely a passive store of energy but is, in fact, a highly “sophisticated organ” that regulates metabolic processes and branches of the immune system. Fat tissue is also crucial in regulating many organs and is closely linked with brain function.

    Fat provides numerous benefits, Kristen Smith, a registered dietitian, manager of bariatric surgery at Piedmont Healthcare in Georgia, and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told The Epoch Times. These include supplying energy, supporting cell growth, protecting organs, and aiding in the absorption of essential nutrients.

    Dr. Sulagna Misra, a medical doctor and founder of California-based Misra Wellness, also told The Epoch Times that fat keeps our bodies warm and insulated and serves as a way for the body to store fuel. Additionally, it functions as an endocrine gland with significant activity.

    Fat is composed of adipose cells, which produce hormones like estrogen and leptin, cytokines (proteins involved in cellular communication) such as tumor necrosis factors (TNFs), and pro-inflammatory markers. When present in excess, these adipose cells can lead to metabolic or hormonal dysregulation.

    Subcutaneous Fat

    Subcutaneous fat, located directly beneath the skin, is the most abundant type of fat in the body, according to Ms. Smith. It is also the most metabolically favorable form of fat. Often considered neutral, subcutaneous fat can protect against coronary artery disease and Type 2 diabetes.

    According to an article in the International Journal of Obesity, subcutaneous fat is linked to a protective glucose and lipid profile, reduced metabolic risk, and lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. This type of fat appears more passive than abdominal fat and “exerts its protective properties by long-term fatty acid storage.”

    However, excessive subcutaneous fat, particularly in the upper body, can be harmful. Research has found that upper body subcutaneous fat is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk factors.

    Visceral Fat

    On the other hand, studies suggest that high levels of visceral fat raise one’s risk of developing cardiovascular events. Visceral fat is belly fat that surrounds internal organs and is deeper in the abdominal cavity.

    Visceral fat is more insulin-resistant, sensitive to lipolysis, and metabolically active. It can generate free fatty acids and uptake glucose more than subcutaneous fat. Additionally, it is a more robust predictor of death.

    There are significant differences between fat depots and their associated risks of metabolic disorders. Visceral fat has been shown to generate inflammation and is considered a greater risk for metabolic disorders. Visceral and subcutaneous fat are metabolically distinct tissues.

    The Framingham Heart Study measured the relationship between visceral fat and depressive symptoms in 1,581 women (average age 52 years) and 1,718 men (average age 50 years). The study found a relationship in women but not in men. However, a link between subcutaneous fat and depressive symptoms was not observed, underscoring the differences in metabolic activity within each fat depot.

    There is also a link between stress, cortisol, and abdominal fat deposits. Stress increases exposure to circulating levels of cortisol, leading to an increased appetite and the mobilization of fat from the periphery (outer areas of the body) to the central region. Cortisol is known to redistribute fat from the outer areas of the body to the abdominal area.

    According to a 2011 article in Obesity, various factors could influence the relationship between obesity and depressive symptoms, including inflammation. Visceral fat appears to have “a unique and important contribution” to the inflammatory state, the authors wrote.

    Ms. Smith explained that visceral fat typically increases with age and heightened stress levels. Studies indicate that the distribution of body fat is more important for overall health than the total amount of body fat. An unbalanced diet high in fatty foods and carbohydrates, combined with a sedentary lifestyle, creates conditions that promote the accumulation of visceral fat, she said.

    Liver Fat

    According to Dr. Misra, liver fat consists of fatty tissue stored in the liver, typically as fuel. Liver fat accumulates following excess consumption of sugar and fat (glucose and triglycerides). Diets high in sugar and saturated fat often lead to the accumulation of liver fat. Excessive liver fat can significantly impair liver function. The liver is crucial for metabolism, hormone production, and many other functions, which is why obesity often leads to metabolic and hormonal disorders.

    Regarding the role of diet in liver fat accumulation, total energy intake, rather than fat intake per se, is the key mediator of liver fat content. Hypo-energetic diets (calorie deficit) decrease liver fat regardless of total fat content, while hyper-energetic diets (excess calories) increase liver fat.

    Dietary fat composition could also affect liver fat accumulation, with diets rich in saturated fat increasing liver fat content more than diets with more unsaturated fats.

    Added fructose sources also seem to be of concern when it comes to liver fat. It has been shown that fructose metabolism is faster than glucose and more is converted to liver glycogen. Additionally, ingested carbohydrates are more likely to contribute to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) than dietary fat intake; NAFLD increases the risk of liver damage.

    4 Ways to Reduce Harmful Fat

    “Monitor what you eat, listen to your body, get good quality and quantity sleep, integrate play, eat more vegetables and fiber, choose cleaner and less processed foods, cook at home, and exercise regularly (especially weight training),” advised Dr. Misra. Keep the following four tips in mind:

    1. Avoid processed foods: These include deep-fried or ultra-processed foods, sodas, candy, and commercial baked goods. Foods sweetened with fructose should be avoided or enjoyed only in moderation. Read the labels and avoid ingredients like “partially hydrogenated oils” or “high-fructose corn syrup.” These deplete your body of necessary nutrients and convert to fat quickly.
    2. Try a high-intensity workout: High-intensity, high-volume training encourages visceral fat loss and improves carotid artery health, facilitating blood flow to the brain.
    3. Stay active: Sedentary behaviors, particularly watching TV, have distinct associations with fat depositions.
    4. Eat enough fiber: Increased soluble fiber intake is associated with less visceral fat accumulation—regardless of body mass index (BMI). Increased soluble fiber intake combined with increased physical activity slows the natural progression of visceral fat.

    A New Definition of Obesity

    Authors of a 2006 review in Current Diabetes Reviews called for a new definition of obesity based on the anatomical location of fat rather than its volume, particularly when assessing cardiometabolic risk.

    The review suggested that the term “metabolic obesity,” which refers to visceral fat accumulation in both lean and obese individuals, may better identify those at risk of cardiovascular disease.

    Dr. Misra added that there are diseases or situations in which the BMI may be normal, but the person may have a high amount of visceral fat. “I prefer to address each person individually because ‘normal’ weight is a spectrum, and weight gain is complex,” she concluded.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 23:00

  • "Someone's Going To Die": Windows Keep Randomly Falling Off New Philadelphia High Rise
    “Someone’s Going To Die”: Windows Keep Randomly Falling Off New Philadelphia High Rise

    Windows keep falling off a building in Philadelphia and no one seems to care enough to do anything about it.

    “Someone’s going to die,” a resident told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Past three months I think we’ve had six or seven windows fall. Eventually it’s going to fall on someone.”

    The Riverwalk building, a residence near the Schuylkill River that was built in 2021 by Philadelphia’s largest residential landlord, PMC Property Group, is “shedding its windows”, according to Penn Live, citing the Inquirer. 

    Its located next to a biking and running path that runs along the river, as well as moderate on-street pedestrian foot traffic.

    PMC Property Group has gone litigious, filing two lawsuits in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court against Wisconsin-based Wasau Window and Wall Systems Supply.

    The lawsuits, filed in June and July, claim that the companies supplied windows worth tens of millions of dollars that allegedly “spontaneously” break.

    The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that over 60 windows have “spontaneously” broken across three towers. Residents claim management has done little despite three years of complaints.

    According to Penn Live citing Fox 29, recent months have seen six or seven windows fall, posing a danger. PMC Management stated they are aware of the issues and have taken immediate steps, including filing a lawsuit against Wausau Window.

    PMC is working with Philadelphia’s Departments of Licenses and Inspections, structural engineers, and a glass vendor to replace cracked windows and is installing protective scaffolding at Riverwalk.

    PMC said: “These incidents have led us to file suit against the manufacturer, Wausau Window, to resolve any defects. PMC is also working closely with the city of Philadelphia’s Departments of Licenses and Inspections and structural engineers.”

    The concluded: “Additionally, we are collaborating with a glass vendor to remove and replace cracked windows. Although the tempered glass windows are designed to crack into small pieces like a car windshield, we are proactively erecting protective ground-level scaffolding at Riverwalk.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 22:40

  • Bird Flu: They Fooled Us Once, Looks Like They'll Try To Fool Us Again…
    Bird Flu: They Fooled Us Once, Looks Like They’ll Try To Fool Us Again…

    Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

    The more we learn about the made-up rules enforced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the more outrageous the entire thing becomes. Anthony Fauci had the utter audacity to sit in Congress and admit they had no data, so they just creatively improvised things like social distancing measures. They fooled a lot of folks once, so shame on them. It looks like they’re about to try and fool us twice with the Bird Flu. If we fall for it again, then shame on us.

    They did everything from withholding effective medications to depriving people of employment to shaming people publicly, discriminating against them, and wishing them dead.

    Then as if 2020 and 2021 weren’t brutal enough, we find out from Congressional investigations and Anthony Fauci’s recent testimony it was all a bunch of baloney to make Big Pharma rich and Big Government powerful. People died who didn’t need to die, the elderly became isolated from their loved ones, medical personnel became burned out and traumatized, and children lost an entire year of educational experiences. Others were vaccinated, some eagerly and some grudgingly, and are suffering longterm disability and even death from the hastily created mRNA vaccine.

    If we don’t take away some lessons from this, we don’t deserve to call ourselves preppers.

    And it looks like we’re about to be tested on what we’ve learned.

    The Bird Flu

    Last week, Dr. Peter McCullough of The Wellness Company released an update on where we stand with the bird flu (H5N1), where this is heading, and what individuals can do to stay safe and informed. 

    First, Dr. McCullough says the mass destruction of livestock to “eradicate” the virus is “futile” and will only work to harm our food supply – not end the spread of bird flu. 

    Second, Dr. McCullough believes it is clear that the rapid spread of bird flu to migratory birds and mammals is the result of gain-of-function research and a lab leak. A set-up that looks eerily to COVID-19. 

    Third, Dr. McCullough rightly points out that the fearmongering around the bird flu promoted by the mainstream media is to facilitate mass vaccination of animals and humans, which will line the pockets of Big Pharma and their NGO backers. 

    The lessons we should have learned

    First, it’s entirely possible that they can and will use this as another two-year power grab. It’s another election year, and it almost feels like deja vu, watching the MSM wax fearful over this virus. But if we are aware, we’re able to mitigate some of the damage.

    Financial problems

    Of course, we can’t do much about the overall damage to the economy. We can only prepare ourselves for it with supplies, savings, and other preps. By this, I mean general prepping and being ready for economic hard times.

    “New” vaccines

    We have seen how badly the last vaccine turned out for many people. Young, otherwise healthy athletes dropping dead on the playing field. People confined to wheelchairs. Others living through a disabling brain fog. Some people got through it fine, while for others it was completely devastating. We’d do well to remember this in case of another speedy-to-market vaccine.

    Inability to get the medication that works

    We learned that when Big Pharma has an agenda, we may lose access to the medications we need. They all but outlawed ivermectin during Covid, and even people who got prescriptions found that pharmacies were unwilling to fill them. The Wellness Company has a Contagion Emergency Kit that contains the necessary prescription meds to treat all types of viral illnesses. It contains Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin (generic Z-Pak™), Oseltamivir (generic Tamiflu™) and Budesonide along with a nebulizer. Interestingly, these were the meds and treatments I was given in Mexico when I got Covid there.

    I have these kits on hand for every member of my family, because I’m not going to risk being at the mercy of Big Pharma in the future.

    Food prices going up

    If you think food prices went crazy last time, just wait until this time around. We’re already seeing livestock being pre-emptively killed, which will make meat and poultry prices skyrocket. But will this work to help “stop the bird flu?”

    Dr. McCullough says no. He believes that the mass destruction of livestock to “eradicate” the virus is “futile” and will only work to harm our food supply – not end the spread of bird flu. 

    This is a place where preppers excel – stocking up on food and developing as much food independence as possible. This book is a physical copy of 12 years worth of OP articles on food storage, production, acquisition, and preservation.

    Mental preparedness

    Perhaps the most important thing in the upcoming bird flu scare is your mental preparedness. If you panic, you tend to lose your reasoning skills. If you can remain calm and centered, then you will get through the times ahead with much more clarity of thought. And that’s absolutely essential when trying to sift through the lies to get to the truth.

    We’ve watched this before.

    I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of these illnesses for some folks. I know that many question whether Covid even exists. I believe it does and I believe that the bird flu does too. I also believe that these things are being tampered with to make them even more deadly. Only if the populace sees dramatic images that fill them with fear will they be easily herded toward even more draconian regulations.

    Don’t let your knowledge of how deceptive they were in the past allow you to become complacent. Don’t immediately brush off all fears to the point that you take no precautions. It’s important to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with first. If another pandemic conveniently comes along, you can bet it will have been made more deadly. It would have to be even scarier than Covid to convince people to go along with this stuff again.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 22:20

  • Mr. Beast's Co-Host Deletes X Posts After Reports Swirl Of Inappropriate Conversations With Minor 
    Mr. Beast’s Co-Host Deletes X Posts After Reports Swirl Of Inappropriate Conversations With Minor 

    Mr. Beast’s YouTube empire is under scrutiny after his friend and collaborator Ava Kris Tyson, formerly known as Chris Tyson, scrubbed at least one of his social media accounts after reports suggesting potential involvement in sexual conversations with a minor. 

    “Mr. Beast Co-Host Trans Kris Tyson outted for sending s*xual messages to 13 year old,” media outlet TheQuartering wrote on X. 

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    X user Clown World wrote that Tyson scrubbed “all X posts following reports of inappropriate conversations with a 13-year-old when he was 20.” 

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    The 28-year-old YouTube star confirmed last year in an interview on content creator Anthony Padilla’s show that hormone replacement therapy “saved my life.” 

    “For so long, every day I would go to bed and I would have vivid dreams that I was a woman. And I would wake up in the morning and it was just like getting ripped out of a reality that I didn’t want to be taken out of,” Tyson said in the interview. 

    While Tyson chooses to act as a woman, another friend of James Donaldson, also known as Mr. Beast, Chandler Hallow, apparently found Jesus. 

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    Certainly, there are a lot of questions here. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 22:00

  • San Diego's 1,000-Bed Shelter Proposal Stirs Concern Over Costs
    San Diego’s 1,000-Bed Shelter Proposal Stirs Concern Over Costs

    Authored by Sophie Li via The Epoch Times,

    San Diego’s mayor announced July 17 a lease deal to convert a commercial building near the city’s airport into a 1,000-bed homeless shelter and resource center, but the city’s budget analyst raised concerns over the cost.

    “For years, past mayors and city councils have only engaged in ad-hoc, piecemeal, temporary approaches to addressing homelessness,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement.

    “With this proposal, we are looking to deliver the change that San Diegans want to see with regard to addressing homelessness on our streets.”

    The 30-year lease, which awaits approval from the city council on July 22, includes a cost of $1.95 per square foot for the property—with annual 3.5 percent rent increases—and an estimated $12.5 million in facility maintenance costs over the term.

    The 64,939-square-foot property at Kettner Boulevard and Vine Street in Middletown spans 1.8 acres over two parcels. It features a two-story building and 134 parking spaces, including rooftop, gated, and surface parking areas.

    While the city’s Office of Independent Budget Analyst acknowledged the project’s potential to help with the city’s homeless situation on a July 15 report, it raises questions about its affordability.

    The decades-long lease will amount to $72 million in rent for the city, which, according to the report, is above market rates of $1.44 to $1.54 per square foot for similar properties.

    Besides the more expensive rates, the report raised concerns over “significant upfront and ongoing costs associated with rent, lease operating, tenant improvement, and program operating costs.”

    Instead, the budget analyst suggested that the city purchasing and renovating the property itself could be a more economical option, potentially saving $15.7 million.

    However, the mayor said that the property is not available for sale and highlighted several benefits of the agreement:

    • Nineteen months of rent would be waived, saving $2.4 million.

    • The property owner would contribute $5 million to the property.

    • The owner would be responsible for mitigation of any potential hazards identified during the renovation process.

    • The city has first right of refusal should the landlord sell the property.

    • If the property is sold within five years, the city would receive 14 percent of the net profit.

    • The deal would include an adjacent parcel of land that can serve “multiple uses including for additional shelter and services.”

    Another concern raised by the report is the project’s operating costs, noting that the source of funding is unclear and could place an additional burden on the city.

    San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria speaks at the press conference at H Barracks on June 6, 2024. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

    According to the mayor, the city would need to pay an estimated $26.4 million to operate shelter beds, a commercial kitchen, laundry facilities, dining areas, recreation spaces, and showers. Proposed services at the shelter campus would include job training, meals, housing navigation, and behavioral health support.

    However, the report said only $13.7 million in existing operational funds can be reallocated from other homeless programs if no new funds are approved, leaving the remainder uncertain.

    The report also detailed a monthly cost of $32,000, covering property taxes, maintenance, utilities, and insurance.

    The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 21:40

  • LA Sheriff Investigated, "Urged" AG To Prosecute Reporter Who Leaked List Of Problem Deputies
    LA Sheriff Investigated, “Urged” AG To Prosecute Reporter Who Leaked List Of Problem Deputies

    After the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department leaked a list of problem deputies to Los Angeles Times reporter Maya Lau, it then turned around and investigated her.

    It also “urged the state attorney general to prosecute” her, according to the Los Angeles Times this week. 

    The investigation began in 2017 when then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell’s team sought to identify who leaked a list of roughly 300 names to reporter Lau, the report says.

    The case lost momentum but was revived in 2018 after Alex Villanueva took office, as revealed by a recent 300-page investigative file.

    The department eventually labeled Lau as a criminal suspect for allegedly receiving “stolen property” and identified Diana Teran, its constitutional policing advisor, as the leaker, despite Teran having reported the leak and denying involvement.

    In 2021, the case was sent to Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office declined to prosecute in May, citing “insufficient evidence”, the Times wrote this week. 

    Lau (Photo: LA Times)

    In 2021, Lau said: “I’m glad this investigation is over, and it’s an outrage that the Sheriff’s Department would criminally investigate me as a reporter for doing my job. It’s the kind of action that’s aimed at intimidating journalists from digging into government agencies.”

    “Under the leadership of Sheriff [Robert] Luna, we do not monitor journalists and we respect the freedom of the press,” the department commented this week. 

    David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, explained Lau’s immunity as a journalist: “You’re not authorized to break into a file cabinet to get records. You’re not authorized to hack computers. But receiving information that somebody else obtained unlawfully is not a crime. Publishing that information is protected under the 1st Amendment.”

    The leaked records at the center of the investigation date back to 2014 when Diana Teran, working at the Office of Independent Review, began compiling a Brady List of officers with problematic disciplinary histories.

    Teran relied on information from the district attorney’s office and Sheriff’s Department databases but stopped adding names in late 2014, believing the Sheriff’s Department had started maintaining its own list.

    In 2015, she joined the Sheriff’s Department as a constitutional policing advisor. In 2017, Teran discovered that reporter Maya Lau and others were inquiring about deputies on the Brady List, leading her to suspect her list had been leaked. She tracked down public records requests and identified similarities between her list and the reporters’ list.

    The case made it all the way to Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2021, who declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.

    You can read the LA Times full story here. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 21:20

  • 'Pure Blood': Dating Divide Over Vaccination Status Splits Those Looking For A Partner
    ‘Pure Blood’: Dating Divide Over Vaccination Status Splits Those Looking For A Partner

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

    Courtney Furlong, 36, had always considered modern dating a hit-or-miss prospect, even before COVID-19 vaccines, masks, and lockdowns turned the world upside down.

    Unjected.com founder Shelby Hosana hosts a “pure blood” social mixer for unvaccinated singles in Phoenix on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

    But today, Ms. Furlong said it’s downright “terrible” trying to find a suitable dating partner who isn’t vaccinated.

    Having chosen to avoid taking the COVID-19 shots over concerns about their safety, the Phoenix resident now finds the dating market more restricted and challenging than ever.

    She said that many vaccinated people refuse to date the unvaccinated, and vice versa.

    “I’m at the age now where I want to have children. My situation now is, who should I have a baby with?” Ms. Furlong said, standing at the vegan bar at The Giving Tree in Phoenix, watching 50 other unvaccinated people mix and mingle on a hot Monday evening.

    Who knows? Tonight could be the night she’ll meet her significant other, she said—or at least make new like-minded friends.

    “I’m at a place where I’d like to meet someone and have a child,” Ms. Furlong told The Epoch Times. “A huge factor is: Did you get the vaccine or not?”

    Sponsored by the dating website Unjected.com, the informal gathering of unvaccinated men and women took place on July 15 at The Giving Tree.

    Other social mixers, dubbed “pure blood parties,” are also planned in Canada, New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

    “These unvaccinated mixers are starting to pop up everywhere,” said Shelby Hosana, 28, who launched Unjected.com in the spring of 2021 to bring the unvaccinated singles community together.

    She said a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status is “the biggest ice-breaker and deal-breaker in the modern dating world.”

    And it cuts both ways—vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.

    Many online dating sites, such as Tinder, Match, and Bumble, now include COVID-19 badges, stickers, and filters to help singles better navigate the post-pandemic landscape.

    “It’s the very first question asked in the dating scene for many,” Ms. Hosana told The Epoch Times. “Especially now that we can anticipate all vaccines on the market will be mRNA. It’s quite literally choosing partners who choose zero vaccination.”

    Jill Crosby, owner and founder of Conscious Singles, a dating site “for those who value freedom and sovereignty,” said that unvaccinated singles appear to be more concerned about dating within their group.

    Courtney Furlong, 36, stands at the vegan bar during a social mixer for unvaccinated singles in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

    “Many of our non-vaccinated members will only date other non-vaccinated members,” Ms. Crosby told The Epoch Times.

    However, vaccinated members are usually less likely to care whether a potential partner is vaccinated.

    In early 2022, a sufficient number of unvaccinated members asked to declare their vaccination status to aid them in finding other unvaccinated members.

    Ms. Crosby said Conscious Singles responded by creating unvaccinated and vaccinated badges to post on dating profiles.

    “Since then, we’ve had a close to equal number of members post a nonvaccinated or vaccinated badge on their profile,” she said, “and about the same amount of members [about 30 percent] selected ”prefer not to say.”

    The dating site also provides multiple-choice “Match Questions” in many categories and recently added, “Will you date someone who has been vaccinated?”

    Ms. Hosana said not long ago some dating sites banned profiles that required a person’s vaccination status.

    Moreover, the recent data point to a distinct social divide with online dating following the rollout of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for COVID-19 in early 2021.

    A July 2022 Pew Research Center survey, found that nearly 25 percent thought it “very important” to include one’s COVID-19 vaccination status in a dating profile.

    On the other hand, nearly half (47 percent) said it was “somewhat important” for people to provide their vaccination status, according to the survey.

    The survey showed that roughly 9 percent of U.S. adults had used a dating site or app between 2021 and 2022.

    More telling was the partisan split in survey responses: According to the report, Democrats were “far more likely” than Republicans to say that vaccination status was “important for them to see.”

    In Las Vegas, Ms. Hosana said she was curious to learn about what other people thought about dating and COVID-19 vaccination status.

    So she and her marketing director, Scott Armstrong, conducted a random “man on the street” survey that asked people whether they would date a vaccinated or unvaccinated person.

    Unjected.com marketing director Scott Armstrong checks in guests during a social mixer for unvaccinated singles in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

    “Some [vaccinated] people said they would never date an unvaccinated person—someone as ’stupid’ as an anti-vaxxer,” Ms. Hosana said.

    “It’s going both ways,” she said. “They don’t want to be with us. And we really don’t want to be with them.”

    “To me, it’s like the first question they ask—did you take the COVID shots?” Mr. Armstrong told The Epoch Times about online dating.

    “It’s sad, too,” he said, to think that a man or a woman rejected as a potential dating partner over their vaccination status could have been “the one.”

    “It’s tough [but] this is the world we’re living in now,” he said.

    And, given the number of vaccinated people versus the unvaccinated, singles who have not taken one or more COVID-19 shots appear to be at a disadvantage, Ms. Hosana said.

    According to USAFacts, more than 270 million Americans (81 percent of the U.S. population) have received at least one COVID-19 injection; more than 230 million (70 percent) are considered fully vaccinated.

    The website added that of the roughly 1 billion doses distributed since 2020, more than 676 million (68 percent) doses were used nationwide, with almost 64 percent reported as fully vaccinated in Arizona.

    As new strains of the virus develop, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people should receive an updated 2024–25 COVID-19 and flu vaccine for the fall and winter seasons.

    Among unvaccinated singles, the CDC’s advice falls on unwelcome ears.

    Unvaccinated singles Kristen Feuerstein (L) and Melanie Dias attend a social gathering for unvaccinated men and women in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

    “It’s a whole new wild navigation in the world,” Ms. Hosana said.

    “Of course, the desire to match with someone who also is aligned with protecting personal freedoms is paramount. But the need to protect reproductive health and overall health has been the biggest concern since day one,” she said.

    Kristen Feuerstein, 58, and her friend Melanie Dias, 54, are both Phoenix residents who attended the July 15 social mixer hoping to connect with like-minded people.

    As unvaccinated health care workers, both women are divorced, single, and currently dating vaccinated men.

    Ms. Feuerstein said she is trying to make her relationship work despite her concerns about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and alleged spin-off effects, like spike protein “shedding.”

    She said her biggest fear is “investing” in a relationship in which her partner gets sick with the vaccine down the road.

    Overall, her COVID-19 vaccination status has “really niched me down” in terms of charting a dating course, she said.

    “Such trippy days,” Ms. Feuerstein said. “I’ve actually given up [on internet dating]. It’s just made dating really challenging.”

    Ms. Dias said her goal is to seek out other people who are “on the same page” as herself regarding the mRNA vaccines and who “see the world the same as you.”

    “At my age, I don’t want to invest time and energy in somebody who’s going to keel over,” she said jokingly.

    More than 50 unvaccinated singles attended a gathering at The Giving Tree in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024, to listen to health experts discuss ways to detoxify the body.

    The vaccinated man she’s now seeing is someone from her past. During the pandemic, her friend had assured her that he would not be taking the injection.

    “We met up again last year,” Ms. Dias told The Epoch Times. “I assumed he didn’t get it. But he didn’t tell me [he received it] until we were already dating”—just “one” shot, she said, “but it was a tough call.”

    “It was the only way he could fly into Chicago to visit his family. He visits his family every year. What am I going to say to that? Don’t see your aging parents?” Ms. Dias said.

    John Ahlgren, 40, of Phoenix, said his plan at the social mixer was to meet other unvaccinated people and “have a good time.”

    “For dating, I don’t know if [taking the vaccine] is a deal-breaker,” he said, “but when I find someone, I want to spend the rest of my life with them.”

    “It’s just that the culture has changed. COVID certainly had a part to play in it. Social media has changed the landscape too,” Mr. Ahlgren told The Epoch Times.

    Being single, he said he prefers face-to-face “organic engagements” with people and views online dating as a “big waste of time.”

    Would you date a vaccinated person?

    “Not fully vaxxed,” Mr. Ahlgren said. “Once [vaxxed] twice shy, I guess.”

    Mike, 45, of Scottsdale, said he wasn’t expecting to meet the unvaccinated woman of his dreams on July 15, but he was open to the possibility.

    Unvaccinated single Bradley Ahlgren said he hoped to meet like-minded people during a social gathering of the unvaccinated in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

    “That’s what this whole thing is pretty much about,” he said. “It’s about people who don’t want to meet someone vaccinated.”

    Ms. Furlong said the natural choice is to be with someone whose morals and values align with her own.

    “When I told one of my best friends I wasn’t getting [vaccinated]—he’s had five boosters—well, he said if you don’t get your vaccine, you’re never going to meet my parents,” Ms. Furlong said.

    “I feel like I’m the only person out of 20 people in my family who didn’t get injected. My parents said they only did it because they felt pressured.”

    Ms. Dias said she intends to “stay present” in her current relationship, as she is a romantic at heart.

    “They say it’s better to have loved than not at all—and if a person is really kind—you know what I mean,” she said.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 21:00

  • Israel Gives 400,000 Palestinians Minutes To Flee Khan Yunis Before Fresh Blitz
    Israel Gives 400,000 Palestinians Minutes To Flee Khan Yunis Before Fresh Blitz

    Via The Cradle

    The Israeli army ordered the sudden evacuation of over 400,000 Palestinians taking shelter in eastern Khan Yunis Monday, dropping leaflets in the besieged city moments before warplanes began their raids.

    At least 35 deaths, including five children, were reported in the initial aftermath of the attacks. Dozens of injured Palestinians have also been pouring into the barely functional Nasser Medical Complex.

    Source: EFE

    Authorities at Nasser Medical Complex appealed for urgent blood donations, saying it faces a shortage of blood units, “which poses a serious threat to the lives of the sick and injured in light of the ongoing massacres carried out by the occupation forces against the innocent and civilians.”

    The Israeli military said in a statement on Monday morning: “The IDF is about to forcefully operate against the terror organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,”

    Israeli Army Radio reported that Monday’s air raids in Khan Yunis are the most violent since the end of the military operation in the city earlier this year.

    Local reports say many victims are still under the rubble and scattered along the streets, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them due to the violent and continuous shelling.

    The brutal attack on thousands of displaced families comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to the US capital to meet with top authorities before addressing a joint session of congress.

    Chaos as civilians flee the assault at the last minute…

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    Speaking to reporters before his trip, the premier said his visit to Washington would be “an opportunity to discuss with [US President Joe Biden] how to advance in the critical months ahead the goals that are important for both our countries – achieving the release of all our hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the terror axis of Iran, and ensuring that all of Israel’s citizens can return safely to their homes in the north and the south.”

    Netanyahu is on a direct flight to the US capital, deciding to avoid stops in any European nation under fears of being detained in compliance with an expected arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes committed in Gaza.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 20:20

  • Proof Of Life? Biden 'Phones In' During Harris Campaign Event
    Proof Of Life? Biden ‘Phones In’ During Harris Campaign Event

    President Joe Biden has made his first live remarks since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race – phoning in to let staffers know at campaign headquarters that “the mission hasn’t changed at all.”

    “I know yesterday’s news was surprising and it was hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do,” said Biden – and definitely not AI – during the call with no video.

    “The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” Biden continued. “And by the way, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be out there in the campaign with her, with Kamala.”

    “I won’t be on the ticket, but I’m still going to be fully, fully engaged,” the voice which sounds like Biden continued, adding that he would do anything needed to support Harris.

    Proof of Life?

    The call was likely intended to serve as ‘proof of life’ after nobody has seen or heard from the president since he stepped out of the race on Sunday – less than an hour after his campaign manager was on television insisting he was in it to win it – and with no address to the country.

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    Which White House aides learned by reading the news on X.

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

    Pssh… as if they can fake Biden’s voice!

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

    Looks like they made Boebert’s deadline? Except, not in front of a camera.

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    Kamala isn’t helping…

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    Of course, who needs proof of life when Biden just spat fire from the Oval Office?

    No wait, dangit to heck. Who could have known that was fake!?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 20:00

  • A Decade Of Conspiracists?
    A Decade Of Conspiracists?

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

    Who has most peddled conspiracy allegations the last nine years—all of them false and nearly all of them influencing national elections and public policies?

    Once a target is constructed as Hitlerian, almost any means necessary to quash that perceived existential threat become justified. And we have seen a lot of them in the last nine years.

    Russian collusion did not work. Christopher Steele was a fraud. Robert Mueller came up empty.

    The Alfa Bank ping caper was a myth.

    The Russian laptop disinformation was a lie and ruined the reputations of the “51 former intelligence authorities” who sanctioned it.

    The first Trump impeachment was a strictly partisan vote, activated when Trump lost the House and Mueller had come up empty.

    Only ten Republicans impeached Trump a second time; the Senate again acquitted then-private citizen Trump.

    January 6 was a buffoonish riot. In magnitude and lethality, it marked only a fraction of the destruction in lives and property of the green-lit Antifa-BLM-organized 120-day “summer of love” of rioting, violence, and arson of 2020.

    The post facto militarization of Washington into an armed camp, the presence of FBI informants on Capitol grounds, the decision not to beef up security forces, the weird effort to suppress videos of the riot and congressional testimonies and evidence, the promotion and canonization of the reckless officer Byrd who lethally shot an unarmed Ashli Babbitt, and the use of solitary confinement for the arrested, long detentions without trials, and inordinately harsh prison sentences (in comparison to the nearly 14,000 arrested in 2020 who were mostly released) will remain controversial until freedom of information suits release the full story of the day’s events and aftermath.

    Sixteen states, in an unprecedented move, tried in vain to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot. All failed. If they had succeeded, elections as we know them would have ceased to exist.

    Four prosecutorial teams, local, state, and federal, sought to bankrupt, jail, or render Trump inert during the 2023-2024 campaign cycle. All will likely fail—but risk opening a new chapter of tit-for-tat lawfare in lieu of relying on the voters to choose their own president.

    The entire meme of Trump, the fascist who will institute a dictatorship, has likewise boomeranged.

    Democracy is dying in darkness, given the current Democrat insider machinations of removing by diktat President Joe Biden. He won the most delegates in the Democratic “primaries”—but now apparently must be dropped either because he is behind in the polls or mentally unfit to remain a candidate or both. Stealth donors and covert politicos in the shadows—not transparent primaries and elected delegates—run the party that “defends democracy.”

    But note those on the left would allow Biden to remain our president for the next six months in his debilitated state, but not to continue as their (losing) candidate. The quest for progressive power always trumps the collective interest of the nation: he’s not fit for me but fit enough for thee.

    The recent assassination attempts to kill Trump likewise failed. The eerie laxity of the Secret Service and the Biden administration’s long stonewalling to prevent adequate protection for candidates Trump and Robert Kennedy, Jr., will be long examined.

    No one has ever apologized for any of the above, although all were unprecedented efforts to use the courts, the administrative state, and the media to do what they feared the people might not through voting.

    Earlier, a number of celebrities, columnists, and rich elites had suggested that the only way to rid the country of Trump was to kill or injure him. They are now outraged by any suggestion that their assassination porn might have influenced the unhinged to believe they could become heroic by taking out the supposed Trump threat to civilization.

    But note the Trump vitriol has not diminished. And the combination of signaling to the crazies that Trump really is Hitler while the Secret Service has demonstrated it cannot protect the ex-president and leading current presidential candidate from 20-year-old boys with overt drones, range-finders, and AR-15s will only encourage other evil would-be assassins to continue where the Crooks demon left off.

    In this regard, recently, the cover of The New Republic transposed an old German pro-Hitler poster to portray Donald Trump. He stares out with a Hitlerian moustache, amid a supposedly scary black background. Beneath Hitler-Trump, German archaic fraktur fonts blare out in red “American Fascism,” followed by the subtitle “What it would look like”—in turn listing left-wing professors and pundits as the issue’s essayists on Trump the fascist.

    Aside from the reality that the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and Director of National Intelligence were not weaponized during the Trump administration, as they were under both Obama and Biden, why should we take such essayists seriously?

    For example, one contributor, Rosa Brooks, warns us about what Trump might do in a second term to warp democracy.

    But this is the same legal expert who, just 11 days after Trump was inaugurated in 2017, published a Foreign Policy essay titled “3 Ways to Get Rid of President Trump Before 2020.”

    What followed was a manual on the various ways of how to remove the just-inaugurated president—listing three alternatives to the then-distant 2020 election: impeachment and conviction, 25th-Amerndment removal, and, barring all that, a military coup:

    “The fourth possibility is one that until recently, I would have said was unthinkable in the United States of America: a military coup, or at least a refusal by military leaders to obey certain orders.”

    Ironically, Brooks’ paradigms are now more apt for the creepy ways in which the left just deposed President Joe Biden, winner of the Democrat primaries and nearly all the delegates.

    Brooks’ 2017 essay also proved eerily prescient in retrospect, given that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley later chose to violate the chain of command and purportedly ordered theater commanders in the field to report directly to him, despite his strictly advisory role, in times of existential national crises to circumvent the commander-in-chief.

    Milley also stealthily contacted his communist Chinese military counterpart to assure the head of the People’s Liberation Army that he would warn him first should Dr. Milley, on his own, diagnose his own president as unhinged and thus any supposedly dangerously warlike presidential order as invalid. Think of the Milley precedent: are the Joint Chiefs in the future to diagnose the stability of their presidents to adjudicate when they can contact their communist Chinese counterparts to warn them of their own commanders-in-chief?

    Note as well that in August 2020, retired Lieutenant Colonels John Nagl and Paul Yingling co-wrote an op-ed addressed to Milley, warning him that he should use the military to remove Trump, should the military, in its infinite and vast political wisdom, assume that Trump would not accept the verdict of the impending election.

    Moreover, throughout 2020, some imaginative retired generals and admirals, repeatedly and with absolute impunity, clearly violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice by endlessly and publicly smearing their Commander-in-Chief as a liar, similar to Mussolini, Nazi-like, worthy of being removed “the sooner the better,” and employing policies similar to those used at Auschwitz.

    Had any non-commissioned officer leveled the same invective publicly against then President Barack Obama, those same four-stars would likely have recommended his court marshal.

    In sum, never in the history of the republic have the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and Pentagon so vastly exceeded their constitutional and legal parameters or violated the careful guardrails between civilian and military.

    Finally, note that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reacted in outrage over Florida federal Judge Cannon’s dismissal of much of the special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Donald Trump and called for her dismissal from the case:

    This breathtakingly misguided ruling flies in the face of long-accepted practice and repetitive judicial precedence. It is wrong on the law and must be appealed immediately. This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned.

    A federal judge is to be dropped because she disagrees with Chuck Schumer?

    But if Judge Cannon is to be taken off the Trump case and reassigned because Schumer disagrees with her verdict – one which will be reexamined by various appellate judiciaries—what should we think of Schumer’s own record of judicial “activism”?

    After all, in March 2020, at the head of a wild pro-abortion crowd at the doors of the Supreme Court, Senator Schumer all but threatened two Supreme Court justices by name:

    “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

    “Hit you?”

    In what sense, Senator Schumer?

    His threats were later absorbed by the left as criticism against the right-wing drift of the Bush-Trump court.

    And presto, by 2022-2023 mobs were appearing outside the private residences of Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Thomas—with complete impunity.

    Apparently, a vindictive Attorney General, Merrick Garland (a former Supreme Court failed nominee), saw nothing wrong with such intimidation—although it is arguably a felony to parade or picket a Supreme Court Justice’s environs with the intent to influence impending rulings.

    Certainly, the purpose of these pro-abortion protestors picketing justices’ homes was precisely the same as Schumer’s own earlier intimidation—to make the justices, and now their families as well, aware that there would be a “whirlwind” to follow their decisions.

    Donald Trump was impeached for “inciting” a violent protest by instructing his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically” demonstrate at the Capitol, which was followed by a riot. Schumer was praised for threatening justices by name.

    It was perhaps no surprise that in such a climate, Nicholas Roske was later indicted on charges of attempted murder after he was arrested near Justice Kavanaugh’s home—armed and apparently on a mission to assassinate the justice, at least until he had second thoughts.

    For some nine years, we have been bombarded with hysterical warnings that Donald Trump is a Hitlerian figure who is a fascist who would destroy democracy to justify calls for extremist action. Yet in his four years, he certainly did not weaponize the government against his enemies in the same fashion as in past administrations. Lois Lerner, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, John Brennan, James Clapper, and a host of others either lied under oath, feigned amnesia under oath, or took the Fifth Amendment any time scrutiny arose over their politicized and extra-legal behavior.

    Substitute the name Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for Trump during any of the last decade’s rhetorical and administrative venom, and we can only imagine what would have happened to the perpetrators.

    So, can we at last cease the tiresome charge of Trump the fascist since it has not only been proven false but has revealed far more about the authoritarian and conspiratorial nature of the accusers than their target?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 19:40

  • Chaos Ensued The Last Time A US President Bowed Out Only Months Before An Election
    Chaos Ensued The Last Time A US President Bowed Out Only Months Before An Election

    Joe Biden’s sudden (though widely expected) announcement that he would be dropping out of the 2024 election is a rare event, but not without precedent.  Biden is the third president in history to make such a last minute decision and all of them were Democrats. 

    Both Harry Truman and Lyndon B Johnson abandoned their intentions for a second term and both did so because of failing public approval ratings.  Truman lost support in 1952 for a myriad of reasons including the war in North Korea and Johnson became wildly unpopular by 1968 because of the war in Vietnam.  Biden has a similarly dismal public approval rating but he is the first president to drop out as a nominee for a second term due to cognitive decline (i.e. “health reasons”).

    Much like Biden, Lyndon Johnson’s first term was rife with national division, economic decline, the rise of socialist movements, mass protests, inner-city riots and increasing political violence.  He was of course sworn in after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and then continued on to a full term starting in 1965.  Many would later see Kennedy’s death as the first domino in a terrible chain that ultimately ended with the US entering the war in Vietnam. 

    Johnson’s announcement to step down as nominee in 1968 was initially marked as a “moment of calm.”  The general populace and the media treated the decision as a positive, a vehicle for ending national conflict and bringing Americans back together.

    We have seen similar rhetoric in recent days surrounding Biden’s proclamation, with many predicting a trend towards “unity.”  If history is any indication, this optimism is a pipe dream.  

    The Democratic Party was plunged into confusion over their prospective candidates and their chances.  Johnson insisted on controlling party decisions on who would take his place, but there were other candidates that might disrupt Johnson’s plans, including Robert Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy. 

    Though Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris to take his place as the Dem candidate, the official decision is up to DNC delegates, not Biden.  An upset at the convention might sound unlikely, but it is certainly possible if Harris is viewed as too incompetent or unpopular to run against Trump. 

    Only five days after Lyndon Johnson’s speech, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a “lone gunman” in Memphis, TN.  Two months later, Robert Kennedy was shot and killed by a “lone gunman” after a campaign event celebrating his California primary win.

    Trump’s near assassination just before Biden’s announcement to step down may mark a renewed period of political violence on a scale not seen since the 1960s.  Suspicions of conspiracy are only magnified by the similarities to the LBJ era of multiple assassinations.    

    Despite hopes that Johnson’s departure would lead to peaceful conditions his replacement Hubert Humphrey promised to continue Johnson’s policies in lockstep, including the war in Vietnam.  This enraged activists and resulted in riots around the convention in Chicago that summer.  Johnson’s “Great Society” agenda had also left the country with deep racial divisions to be inherited by the next president and Humphrey was certain to expand on that agenda. 

    Richard Nixon and the Republicans were given an assured win.  Humphrey was crushed by Nixon by a comfortable margin in the electoral college with many analysts suggesting Johnson would have done better had he stayed in the race.  Nixon became the first former (non-sitting) vice president to win a presidential election; he was the only person to achieve that until Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. 

    Nixon would enter office with a recession in progress and ultimately an energy crisis and stagflationary crisis hit hard (he didn’t help matters much when he started the process to remove the US dollar from the gold standard in 1971).  There’s an array of economic threats facing the next president in 2025, with the most likely prospect being Trump and conservatives stepping into a financial and geopolitical mine field.  Biden’s announcement likely heralds another tumultuous period in American history.            

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 19:20

  • California To Launch 'Hydrogen Hub' To Expand Zero-Emission Technology
    California To Launch ‘Hydrogen Hub’ To Expand Zero-Emission Technology

    Authored by Summer Lane via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    California will have the nation’s first so-called hydrogen hub—a network that produces hydrogen for various needs including powering vehicles and generating electricity—after federal officials announced July 17 they have signed a $12.6 billion agreement to bring the technology to the state, according to the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    The Green Hydrogen Plant built by Spanish company Iberdrola in Puertollano, Spain, on April 18, 2023. (Valentin Bontemps/AFP via Getty Images)

    The grant stems from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and championed by California state Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat.

    “California is leading the nation with the first hydrogen hub to sign a cooperative agreement, and we will continue to lead by decarbonizing goods movement, the energy sector, and heavy industry,” Mr. Padilla said in a statement July 17.

    According to the governor’s office, the hydrogen hub will facilitate renewable hydrogen production that will cut fossil fuel use throughout California by 2 million metric tons annually.

    It is projected to create up to 220,000 jobs in California and generate $2.95 billion annually from “better health and health cost savings,” per the governor’s office.

    The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and will be carried out by the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems—known as ARCHES—a state initiative working to accelerate hydrogen projects by building necessary infrastructure.

    It’s not clear when the infrastructure for the hub will be complete. ARCHES officials only said that they hope the project helps the state get closer to achieving a carbon-neutral economy by 2045.

    Leaders behind the initiative said they plan to build, as part of the hub, more than 10 sites to produce renewable hydrogen to provide energy for the ports of Long Beach, Oakland, and Los Angeles.

    “The Department of Energy’s announcement to fund ARCHES is a monumental step forward in the state’s efforts to achieve its air quality, climate and energy goals, while improving the health and well-being of Californians and creating new green jobs across the state,” said ARCHES CEO Angelina Galiteva in a statement July 17.

    ARCHES also plans to build more than 60 hydrogen fueling stations for more than 5,000 electric trucks and 1,000 electric buses in cities across California, and to assist the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Northern California Power Agency in transitioning “key power plants” to hydrogen.

    A spokeswoman for ARCHES told The Epoch Times that the hydrogen hub project will encompass the entire state of California.

    In addition to the projects at major state ports, “power plants in Northern California, Southern California, and Lancaster, as well as on the federally recognized reservation of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, will all be part of this initiative,” she said.

    The announcement comes after California was also selected in 2023 as the recipient of a $1.2 billion grant from the Department of Energy to accelerate the development of renewable hydrogen.

    Also, on July 19, the San Francisco Bay Ferry will launch the world’s first-ever hydrogen-powered ferry, the “Sea Change,” for a six-month demonstration period showcasing zero-emission maritime technology.

    In an aerial view, the San Francisco Bay Ferry MV Sea Change, the world’s first zero-emission hydrogen-powered commercial passenger ferry, navigates the San Francisco Bay in San Francisco on July 19, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    The governor’s office highlighted the achievement as an example of California’s leadership in hydrogen-powered transportation innovation in a statement.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 19:00

  • Police Departments Advertise Six Figure Salaries , Better Quality Of Life, To Lure New Recruits
    Police Departments Advertise Six Figure Salaries , Better Quality Of Life, To Lure New Recruits

    Big cities are struggling badly to hire police. And, in the day and age of “all cops are bastards” and “defund the police”, it’s easy to see why: policing has become more of a thankless job than ever. 

    But a new Wall Street Journal report detailed some of the strategies police departments are using to “hustle” for new recruits. 

    In Plano, Texas, they are offering $108,150 a year and putting the salary figure on billboards to attract attention. 

    Officer Andrae Smith, the recruiter at the Plano Police Department told the Journal: “The No. 1 attraction is the pay.”

    “Our goal was to pull at the shirttail of every individual who had interest in being in law enforcement,” he added.

    Officer Karina Hinojosa transferred to Plano from New York City for the lower cost of living and better pay. She commented: “For me, it was quality of life.” 

    To attract candidates, cities have increased perks. For instance, Bellevue Police Department in Washington state now offers take-home cars and allows officers up to three on-duty hours per week for workouts.

    Wendell Shirley, the police chief, told WSJ they had 750 applications last year and hired 33 officers: “For me, it’s really important for you to find the right organization that has the right culture.”

    To attract recruits, some states are easing restrictions. Dallas recently relaxed its tattoo policy, Pennsylvania dropped its college credit requirement for state troopers, and Seattle now accepts applications from DACA recipients, the report says. 

    In 2023, the average annual wage for police officers was $76,550, a 13% increase from 2019, while the average wage for all occupations was $65,470, a 22% increase.

    As the job market cools and violent crime rates fall, more officers were hired in 2023 than in the previous four years, although resignations remain higher than pre-pandemic levels but have decreased since 2022.

    The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming promotes a culture-war incentive, highlighting that “breaking the law is still illegal” in their state.

    The Journal writes that since the pandemic, policing has faced difficulties in recruitment and retention, similar to teaching and nursing. Many burned-out employees have resigned or retired, resulting in nearly 19,000 fewer officers in 2023 compared to 2019, a 3% drop according to Labor Department data. 

    Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, notes that officers used to move from smaller cities to larger ones, but now the trend has reversed, especially after the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

    A survey of over 200 police departments shows that small and medium agencies have more officers than before the pandemic, while large agencies have fewer.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 18:40

  • Kamala Harris: The Next Worst Thing
    Kamala Harris: The Next Worst Thing

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    Short of Joe Biden staying in the race while exemplifying the energy and lucidity of an empty bag of Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion potato chips on the floor of a basement frat party, “passing the torch” to Kamala Harris is the best thing Republicans could have wished for — and simply “the next worst thing” for Democrats who, in their hail mary hour, reached into their quiver and pulled out the political equivalent of a Fran Drescher laugh track on repeat.

    The entire party all of a sudden throwing their endorsement behind a woman who polled worse than a quart of cottage cheese that was left to sit in the sun for six months during the 2020 primary exemplifies the point I made a month or two ago when I argued that politicians have a talent for making the worst possible decisions.

    QTR’s Fringe Finance is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    Not only did Tulsi Gabbard publicly humiliate Kamala Harris on the debate stage during the 2020 primaries, but both polling and the results of Harris’ campaign forced us to one conclusion: most Americans find Harris detestable. And, in 2024, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this attitude has changed.

    Democrats’ disingenuous logic continues to whack them in the face when they least expect it like Chevy Chase in the attic, stepping on two-by-fours in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

    I can’t describe the pleasure I get from watching the stupid decisions the Democratic party makes—namely, selecting Kamala Harris based on her gender and race to be Vice President of the f*cking United States —come back to bite them in the ass.

    The fact is that if Harris was not vice president, she would never be next in line to be the Democratic nominee. She was picked to be vice president only because Joe Biden made his selection based on race and gender hustling, completely ignoring the fact that nobody seemed to like Harris and she doesn’t appear to have the brain torque necessary for the job.

    By circumventing an actual legitimate selection process for Vice President, which should always boil down to a meritocracy as one of the most important positions in the world, Democrats planted a political seed in a pile of horse manure that has now blossomed into poisonous, cackling political fungus. And by moving Kamala Harris into position to be the next Presidential nominee, the party is officially taking the first bite of the fungi they began growing on the dung heap four years ago.

    Beyond identity politics coming back to bite Democrats, the Harris pick makes no obvious sense because she is easily tethered and tied to the horrific last four years President Biden had in office. We are voting to “continue to be burdened by what was”, to use the parlance of Kamala’s time.

    Putting aside the fact that the Democratic Party shamelessly lied about Biden’s mental condition literally up until the day they forced him from the nomination, his presidency was littered with endless miscues and palpable lack of leadership. And those four years are always going to be the Biden-Harris administration, not just the Biden administration.

    🔥 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Zero Hedge readers take 50% off a Fringe Finance annual subscription for life by using this link: ZH50

    And so rather than pick somebody new, who doesn’t have a record of taking a blowtorch to civility and law and order in the country over the last four years, the Democrats are actively choosing to retain all of the worst f*ck ups from the last 4 years and try to put the lipstick of a new candidate on them.

    However, nothing in the realm of the political world surprises me anymore. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Hillary Clinton made a run for the position at the upcoming convention — or if the party decided the Presidential candidate by a nationwide non-binary pan-sexual twerking contest, or a round robin “burn the flag” tournament.

    But at least the next time they tell you they’re going to change the world, remind them that their candidate sat idly by in office for the last four years while the nation went to hell. And the next time they remind you that they’re the party of democracy, remind them that they all but forced the voters’ choice for their nominee to step down, all so they could make the brilliant strategic move of replacing him with “the next worst thing”.

    The circus freak show of life continues, like the worst reality TV show we never even sat down to watch. Have a great week.

    QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 18:20

  • Dearborn, Michigan Is "America's Jihad Capital" And Has Descended Into "Civil War"
    Dearborn, Michigan Is “America’s Jihad Capital” And Has Descended Into “Civil War”

    The city of Dearborn, Michigan has been bestowed with the title of “America’s Jihad Capital”, and has fallen into civil war with itself over the war in Gaza, the Daily Mail reported last week. 

    Dearborn, near Detroit, Michigan, hosts the largest Arab American community in the U.S. As the death toll in Gaza rises with no political solution in sight, local sentiment has shifted.

    Residents feel American political leaders are complicit in the ongoing Middle East conflict, diminishing their interest in the upcoming election.

    The Mail interviewed Abu Bilal, owner of Oriental Fashion on Warren Avenue, who questioned the lack of humanity regarding the deaths of 90 Palestinian civilians.

    Another man, at Al-Rehab Barber Shop in Dearborn, expressed apathy toward the upcoming presidential election, saying it wouldn’t make a difference to him.

    His barber, who didn’t vote in 2020, echoed this sentiment. 

    As the Daily Mail notes, the implications for the upcoming election in Michigan could be enormous. 

    Joe Biden won Michigan in 2020 by 154,000 votes, with Dearborn’s turnout 10 percent higher than in 2016.

    However, local enthusiasm has waned, with many Arab American voters protesting Biden’s support for Israel.

    In the Democratic primaries, 6,432 Dearborn voters chose ‘uncommitted.’ Despite a recent campaign rally near Dearborn, Arab Americans are rejecting Biden’s bid for their votes, according to the Daily Mail. 

    Jenin Yaseen, an artist whose family is from a village outside Nablus in the occupied West Bank told the Mail: “The whole community was aware [that the administration had sent campaign officials to meet with the community], and I think it says a lot, that he sees us as no more than votes and that it’s been normalized for our people back home to be killed.”

    She added: “Dearborn is made up of people from Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere that have been directly impacted by American imperialism.”

    In January, Biden’s campaign team visited Dearborn, but Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and two other Arab American state representatives refused to meet them, as the meeting focused on elections rather than the war.

    Hammoud criticized President Biden’s remarks on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, delivered while he was eating ice cream, and later voted ‘uncommitted’ in protest of Biden’s stance.

    In April, Muslim protesters in Dearborn chanted “death to America” and “death to Israel” during a rally supporting Palestinians and opposing Israel.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 18:00

  • China & Philippines Reach Deal On Fiercely Disputed Shoal
    China & Philippines Reach Deal On Fiercely Disputed Shoal

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    The Philippines said on Sunday that it reached a deal with China to reduce tensions around Second Thomas Shoal, a Philippine-occupied reef in the South China Sea that’s also claimed by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

    Manila did not disclose any details about the deal but said it would allow the resupply of the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era ship the Philippines grounded on the reef in 1999 and uses as a base of operations for the area.

    China has been blocking Philippine vessels attempting to resupply the ship, and sometimes the encounters lead to collisions. In some instances, the Chinese Coast Guard fired water cannons at the Philippine boats.

    Via Philippine Coat Guard: A China Coast Guard cutter water-cannons a Philippine patrol boat.

    The incidents risk major escalation since the US is strongly backing the Philippines in the dispute and has repeatedly warned attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea apply to the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty. That means if the Chinese and Philippine boats start shooting at each other, the US could intervene and be in direct conflict with China.

    The encounters in the South China Sea became much more frequent after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. came into office in June 2022. Emboldened by the US, he pushed hard against China’s claims to the waters and broke from the Beijing-friendly policies of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.

    Earlier this year, China released the details of what it said was an unwritten agreement between Manila and Beijing over Second Thomas Shoal and other hotspots in the South China Sea.

    Duterte had acknowledged that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to maintain the “status quo” to avoid war.Part of that status quo was the Philippines not delivering construction materials to the BRP Sierra Madre, only food, water, and other basic supplies.

    The security agreement could already be unraveling amid fresh denunciations by Beijing…

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    China has made that demand in recent negotiations, along with the demand to be able to inspect boats making the deliveries, but a Philippine official told AP that Manila had not conceded to that as part of the new agreement.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 07/22/2024 – 17:40

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