Today’s News 26th December 2023

• World's Most Dangerous Combination: China And Russia
  World’s Most Dangerous Combination: China And Russia

  Authored by Gordon Chang via The Gatestone Institute,

  Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy knows how to end the greatest threat to American national security.

  

  That threat would be the combination of the world’s two most dangerous states: China and Russia.

  “I would freeze the current lines of control,” the candidate told Fox News’s Jesse Watters during his prime time show, referring to the battlefields in Ukraine.

  “I would further make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine to NATO. That’s enough to get Putin to do the deal.”

  “But I would require something even greater in return, Jesse,” Ramaswamy said. “Russia has to exit its military alliance with China.”

  Putin will take the deal, the charismatic candidate assured Watters:

  “He’s gonna say, ‘Ok’ because I’m going to say, ‘We’ll reopen our economic relations with Russia and further, we’ll end the Ukraine war and also make sure NATO never admits Ukraine.’ “

  The interview occurred in late August, but these themes are often heard, in America and elsewhere. Is Ramaswamy on the right track?

  In theory, it should be possible to separate Moscow from Beijing. After all, China and Russia have for centuries been competitors, adversaries, and even enemies. Take something as fundamental as their common border. After border skirmishes, they finally settled the boundary only in 2008, when Moscow formally transferred various parcels to China.

  Vladimir Putin knows, however, that no border is ever finally fixed, and Chinese migrants are pouring into the sparsely populated Russian Far East. There, many of them hope to “retake” lands ceded by the Qing dynasty to Moscow in the 1850s and 1860s in what Chinese officials now call “unequal treaties.” Beijing has made no formal claim to Vladivostok and surrounding areas, but it has been continually pushing the idea nonetheless.

  In short, China poses the greatest threat to Russia, at least over the long term.

  The Ramaswamy proposal, however, ignores the reality that as long as Putin and Xi Jinping rule, there is no realistic possibility of breaking up the two states. Both dictators view the world in similar terms; believe that their short-term interests coincide; and identify the same adversary, the United States of America. As Xi said on December 20 as he welcomed Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to Beijing, “Maintaining and developing China-Russia relations well is a strategic choice made by both sides based on the fundamental interests of the two peoples.”

  The two regimes, Xi’s words reveal, have been on the same page for some time. They declared their closeness with the 5,300-word joint statement issued after Putin met Xi in Beijing on February 4 of last year, just 20 days before Russia’s attack on Ukraine. That is when they declared their “no-limits” partnership.

  China and Russia are more than just working together. They are forming the core of a new axis. Around this core are proxies and proxies of proxies, such as Iran, North Korea, Algeria, and a host of terrorist groups.

  The Chinese and Russian leaders are forming this grouping because they believe the United States, the final guarantor of the international system that frustrates them both, must be taken down. Xi, by, among other things, declaring a “people’s war” on America, has made it clear that the U.S. must be destroyed and Americans exterminated. Putin is less ambitious, only wanting the U.S. out of his way as he recreates the Russian Empire at its greatest extent.

  Moreover, Xi and Putin believe that the United States is in terminal decline. “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years,” the Chinese dictator said on March 22 to the Russian dictator in Moscow while bidding farewell after their 40th in-person meeting. “And we are driving this change together.”

  Even if Xi and Putin were not so confident there are reasons for the Russian leader to reject the overtures of a President Ramaswamy. “Washington has little leverage over Russia,” Rebekah Koffler, the author of Putin’s Playbook and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, told Gatestone. “There are no carrots to offer to Putin, and the sticks haven’t worked.”

  Yes, the Biden administration could drop sanctions and abandon Ukraine, but even those actions, which would be deeply injurious to the U.S. and the international system, would not be enough to break Putin’s bond with Beijing. “Russia does not trust the U.S. and Europe,” Koffler says. “Russia believes the West will continue to try to weaken it economically and militarily. Moscow believes that regardless of who occupies the White House, a Democrat or a Republican, the U.S. will pursue an anti-Russia policy.”

  Democrats and Republicans should pursue “anti-Russia” policies: Russia has refused to abide by the rules and norms of the international system. Russia is not only an aggressor state, but it is also engaging in barbaric acts in Ukraine, some of which constitute “genocide” as defined in Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

  Ramaswamy says “we have wrongfully cut off Russia from the West.” It is true that Americans and Western actions, as Koffler remarked, “hit the key revenue drivers of the Russian economy,” but how could any nation allow Putin to, among other things, use its banks and financial system while his soldiers were torturing, raping, and killing Ukrainian women and children; committing acts of mass murder in town after town; and abducting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia in an apparent attempt to eliminate Ukrainian identity?

  To finance acts of aggression and barbarism in the face of sanctions, Putin has found support from China. By November, China-Russia trade hit $218.2 billion in 2023, exceeding their announced target of $200 billion by the end of 2024. Trade during the first 11 months of 2023 was double the volume in 2018 of $108.3 billion, which itself represented an increase of 24.5% over 2017. Putin will not break this established and fast-growing trade relationship for mere promises from a West he neither likes nor trusts.

  China does not, as Ramaswamy tells us, have a “military alliance” with Russia—China has no formal alliances except the one with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—but the Chinese and Russian militaries are nonetheless close.

  The two forces are worrying the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino. This month in Tokyo, he publicly stated that he was “very concerned” about their joint exercises: “I view it as far beyond the marriage of convenience at this point in time.”

  In other words, China and Russia are preparing to go to war together. As no country threatens either of them, they are undoubtedly thinking of perpetrating more acts of aggression.

  Would Putin join Xi if China were to invade some neighbor? That is not clear, but it is highly likely that the Russian leader will help China. “Russia could conduct shows of force to stretch U.S. and allied surveillance,” Rebecca Grant of defense consultant IRIS Independent Research told Gatestone. “Posturing military moves by Russia could also make U.S. leadership balk.” She points out there could be, for instance, Russian bomber flights or even nuclear weapons exercises.

  Russia could also help China by trying to grab even more of the Kuril Islands chain from Japan or moving against a NATO member, such as one of the three Baltic republics, engulfing the Eurasian landmass in conflict, from one end to the other.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/26/2023 – 00:00

• Yuan Overtakes Yen For 4th Place In Global Payments
  Yuan Overtakes Yen For 4th Place In Global Payments

  China’s yuan has overtaken the Japanese yen to become the fourth-most used currency by value in global payments for the first time in almost two years, according to a monthly tracker of the Chinese currency released by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

  The share of the yuan as a global payment currency climbed to 4.61% in November from 3.6% the previous month, according to data compiled by SWIFT and released on Thursday. According to Caixin, the redback surpassed the Japanese yen, whose share came in at 3.41% in November, down from 3.91% the month before.

  

  Thanks to its sharp devaluation throughout 2023, the yuan has been on a steady march upward throughout 2023, having started the year with just a 1.91% share in January. The November reading for the yuan was the highest since SWIFT began compiling the data series in 2010.

  Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar maintained its dominance in global payments with a share of 47.08% in November. It was trailed by the euro, which was used in 22.95% of global payments, and the British pound, which had a share of 7.15%.

  While China has been ramping up efforts to expand use of the yuan in cross-border transactions as an alternative to the US dollar, it has so far achieved very limited success due to the country’s impenetrable capital account firewall which means the yuan can never truly float (and if it does, watch as tens of trillions in domestic savings promptly flood the rest of the world, after a massive devaluation of course). To overcome the yuan’s natural limitations, China has been encouraging other countries to settle trade and investment in the Chinese currency (something Russia has been pursuing in recent months), and setting up yuan clearing banks in offshore markets to cater to cross-border yuan settlements.

  The yuan’s ranking in global payment currencies by value has been hovering around fifth for years, SWIFT data show. It temporarily captured the fourth spot for a two-month spell in December 2021 and January 2022, but dropped back to fifth the following month, where it had remained until last month.

  In November, the yuan also unexpectedly surpassed the euro as the second-most used currency in the global trade finance market, SWIFT data show. It edged out the euro to occupy the No. 2 position in global trade finance for the first time in September — according to available data going back to 2017 — and then dipped to third place in October.

  SWIFT’s tracker for the yuan counts data computed from certain message types and exchanged between financial institutions through its system, so it’s not a reflection of the entire financial market, the association noted in its report.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 23:15

• "Christmas Is Canceled": Scuffles, Arrests In NYC As Pro-Palestinian Protesters Storm Manhattan
  “Christmas Is Canceled”: Scuffles, Arrests In NYC As Pro-Palestinian Protesters Storm Manhattan

  Pro-Palestinian protesters raged across New York City on Monday, apparently determined to piss Christians off on their most sacred holiday. 

  

  “Christmas is canceled here,” they chanted, while parading a blood-red mock nativity scene through the streets, along with puppets of Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

  

  “Long live the intifada,” the roughly 500 demonstrators yelled as they swarmed the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree where people were trying to enjoy the day.

  “While Ur Shopping Bombs are Dropping,” read one protester’s sign.

  #NOW Hundreds Pro-Palestine Protesters marching through 5th Ave in Manhattan for “NO CHRISTMAS AS USUAL” protest, as streets are filled with holiday shoppers.

  Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/lA5HZ73UfC

  — Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) December 23, 2023

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

  “No Joy In Genocide,” read the mock Nativity scene, the NY Post reports.

  

  As night fell, the protest intensified. Near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, scuffles broke out, sending police officers dashing through the crowd in an effort to maintain order. Reports of arrests came from areas near Grand Central Station and Union Square, as tensions between protesters and law enforcement escalated.

  The Christmas Day demonstration targeting the Manhattan area popular with holiday revelers and tourists prompted cops to go on alert outside the News Corp headquarters on Sixth Avenue.

  The building is home to Fox News, The Post, the Wall Street Journal and other company holdings.

  Protesters have targeted the media company in the past, including twice last month.

  On Nov. 29, hundreds of demonstrators — at least one spotted carrying a swastika — stormed the Sixth Avenue building after police blocked them from Rockefeller Center during a well-organized “Flood the Tree Lighting for Gaza” protest. -NY Post

  🚨#BREAKING: NYPD Calls for Level Three Mobilization Amidst Numerous Fights Between Pro-Palestine Protesters and Police at a Large Protest⁰
  📌#Manhattan l #NewYork

  Currently, the New York Police Department has requested a Level Three mobilization for a large protest that is… pic.twitter.com/j2ZAUvERF3

  — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) December 25, 2023

  This demonstration was not an isolated incident but the latest in a series of anti-Israel marches that have swept through New York City.

  

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

  NYC- H@mas supporters are marching their way towards Rockefeller Center. The protest is called “All Out on Christmas for Gaza”. Looks the the NYPD is finally reacting.
  pic.twitter.com/323c5ztAu3

  — Manhattan Mingle (@ManhattanMingle) December 25, 2023

  

   Maybe trying to ruin Christmas in New York isn’t the best way to garner sympathy for your cause?

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 22:55

• The 4 Major Battlefronts In Trump’s Ongoing Ballot Dispute
  The 4 Major Battlefronts In Trump’s Ongoing Ballot Dispute

  Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A slew of lawsuits are seeking to disqualify President Donald Trump from running for office in 2024, creating an increasingly unstable presidential election season.

  

  All of these attempts rest on an argument that the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment bars the former president from appearing on the ballot.

  The most significant decision was handed down on Dec. 21, when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in a 4–3 decision that President Trump couldn’t appear on the state’s ballot because he had engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

  The Colorado ruling appears to be triggering and renewing efforts to kick the former president off the ballot in other blue-leaning states, including New York, California, and Pennsylvania.

  A lower court in Colorado had similarly ruled that President Trump engaged in an insurrection but stopped short of disqualifying him after finding that the 14th Amendment doesn’t apply to presidents.

  Enacted after the Civil War, the text of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

  This relatively untested provision is now set to come before the nation’s highest court.

  “This case is surely destined for the Supreme Court to interpret the 14th Amendment and resolve whether Trump is disqualified from the presidency,” said University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade, who left the Trump administration among a wave of resignations at the beginning of his term.

  Who that section applies to, what constitutes an insurrection, and how the section is enforced have been the subject of vigorous debate.

  Embedded within those questions are a series of others that could make deciding or enforcing ballot disqualification cases especially complicated.

  Here are some of the major questions that courts and politicians may consider.

  1. What Is an Insurrection?

  Efforts to disqualify President Trump hinge partly on whether his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riots qualify as engaging in the type of insurrection mentioned in Section 3.

  To answer that question, observers have drawn from historical records, federal law, and evidence surrounding Jan. 6.

  

  According to Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace’s reasoning, President Trump used language he knew would provoke violence on Jan. 6, 2021, but was vague enough to maintain plausible deniability. For her, that satisfied Section 3’s requirement that an individual “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”

  Some, however, have questioned that line of reasoning given that none of the Jan. 6 defendants, nor President Trump himself, have been charged with violating federal law regarding an insurrection.

  South Texas College law professor Josh Blackman has said that “federal prosecutions for insurrection are extremely rare” and told Click2Houston that crimes such as “insurrection, treason, or sedition are very, very hard to prove.”

  “ They require basically an intent to try to frustrate or subvert the government,” he said.

  There are additional questions as to whether the 14th Amendment defines insurrection the same way federal law does, or whether federal law and the 14th Amendment require the same level of proof to establish that individuals are guilty of insurrection.

  Under the 14th Amendment, meeting the threshold of “insurrection” is “an extraordinarily high bar,” said Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation. He also served in the Health and Human Services Department under President Trump.

  “I didn’t see anything sufficient to justify such an incendiary charge,” Mr. Severino told The Epoch Times.

  He said the reference to insurrection in the 14th Amendment came about after invasions of the north during the Civil War.

  During the Civil War, “you had armed invasions of the north … that’s what insurrection was referring to in the 14th Amendment,” he said.

  

  Horace Cooper, senior fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, who formerly taught constitutional law at George Mason University, said that “their target was specifically the Confederacy.”

  “Their target was not anyone who supported the French in the French–Indian War. Their target was not anyone who supported the British in the British–American War. Even though the language isn’t written in a way to limit those, the rationale was the Confederacy,” he said.

  Still, some scholars say that President Trump has satisfied the 14th Amendment’s requirements for engaging in an insurrection.

  “Section Three covers a broad range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, including many instances of indirect participation or support as ‘aid or comfort,’” said University of Chicago law professor William Baude and University of St. Thomas law professor Michael Stokes Paulsen in a paper.

  “It covers a broad range of former offices, including the presidency. And in particular, it disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.”

  2. Is Trump an ‘Officer of the United States’?

  Judge Wallace’s opinion refrained from disqualifying President Trump because, she said, even if he committed an insurrection, she didn’t have enough evidence to definitively say he was the type of “officer” that the 14th Amendment prohibits from engaging in an insurrection.

  Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, has argued that two prior Supreme Court decisions contain language indicating that “officers” of the United States don’t include presidents.

  More specifically, both Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and United States v. Mouat define officers as appointees of the president and others.

  Washington University law professor Andrea Katz disagrees.

  “You can find cases that have held certainly to the contrary,” she told The Epoch Times, pointing to Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  

  Quoting a prior court decision, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said in 2018 that an officer “must occupy a ‘continuing’ position established by law, and must ‘exercis[e] significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States.’”

  Ms. Katz said that “it seems like both common understanding—the text of the Supreme Court, and the legislators’ understanding in drafting the 14th amendment—was that the president was going to be covered by this language.”

  In its decision, the Colorado Supreme Court argued that the amendment’s drafters “understood the president as an officer of the United States” and that the Constitution as a whole supported that conclusion.

  3. Can Courts Enforce Section 3?

  Even if it was clear that Section 3 included President Trump’s conduct, questions remain as to whether courts can remove him from the ballot.

  The answer to those questions could depend on how much authority state laws grant their secretaries of state. It could also depend on how Congress describes the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 22:30

• Behind The Democrats' Efforts To Regulate The Supreme Court
  Behind The Democrats’ Efforts To Regulate The Supreme Court

  Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Democrats’ push to impose a code of conduct on the U.S. Supreme Court is driven by their desire to exert power over a court that hasn’t been ruling their way on key issues, legal experts say.

  

  Democrats and their left-wing activist allies have been incensed over the past two years as the court sent abortion matters back to the states, axed affirmative action in college admissions, bolstered gun rights and public prayer, backed a website designer’s right not to promote a same-sex wedding, and strengthened private property rights while weakening the government’s regulatory powers over the environment.

  Several experts told The Epoch Times that the left cannot accept the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, so it will keep agitating against it and try to undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

  So far, the activism has propelled the court to adopt its first-ever formal code of conduct, issued on Nov. 13, but Democrats say it’s a toothless gesture and won’t fix what they say is a court that’s overly sympathetic to business interests and conservative causes.

  “The court’s new code of conduct falls far short of what we would expect from the highest court in the land,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said.

  “While the code of conduct prohibits the appearance of impropriety, it allows the justice to individually determine whether their own conduct creates such an appearance in the minds of ‘reasonable members of the public.’ This is something that justices have repeatedly failed to do over the last few years.”

  To remedy the supposed crisis at the court, Mr. Durbin backs the proposed Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act of 2023, which his committee approved on a party-line vote in July.

  The proposal, which Republicans have denounced as unconstitutional, would create a system allowing members of the public to file complaints against justices for violating the proposed code of conduct or for engaging “in conduct that undermines the integrity of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

  Among other things, it would also impose mandatory recusal standards and create a panel of lower court judges to investigate complaints against the Supreme Court.

  Democrats are proposing their code of conduct “so they can control the Supreme Court,” said Steven J. Allen, a distinguished senior fellow at Capital Research Center, a watchdog group.

  “They’re doing this to get rid of one or more Republican appointees so they can be replaced,” Mr. Allen said.

  “That’s almost the definition of ‘lawfare’—using the legal system to wage war on your opponents. You pack the court by knocking off a Republican or two.”

  Mr. Durbin, a longtime antagonist of Justice Clarence Thomas, who’s considered by many to be the court’s preeminent conservative jurist, has been particularly focused on the justice’s alleged transgressions.

  

  Justice Thomas has been a lightning rod for criticism from the left for a long time.

  Mr. Allen predicts the “smear campaign” against Justice Thomas “will continue as long as he’s alive.”

  Mr. Durbin and his committee colleagues issued a blizzard of public condemnations when earlier this year it was reported that billionaire Harlan Crow, a big Republican Party donor, gave Justice Thomas a series of luxurious vacations and tuition support for a grandnephew the latter raised and purchased real estate from the justice’s family.

  Justice Thomas didn’t disclose the events at the time, saying he was advised that it wasn’t required, but he has vowed to disclose such events going forward.

  No evidence has been uncovered to suggest that the justice’s vote in specific cases before the court was influenced by the gifts. Having wealthy friends isn’t against the law, the justice’s defenders say.

  Justice Thomas is also routinely attacked by critics for the conservative activism of his wife, Ginni Thomas, a high-profile supporter of President Donald Trump.

  Democrats, who have characterized Republican efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election after Election Day as an affront to democracy, were angered that Ms. Thomas reportedly signed form letters urging state lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory.

  Ms. Thomas has also said she believes the 2020 election was rigged.

  

  Liberal groups have called upon Justice Thomas to recuse himself from a plethora of cases related to the election and to President Trump’s ongoing criminal prosecutions. They argue that Justice Thomas and his wife are too close to Republicans.

  Veteran Supreme Court watcher Curt Levey, president of the conservative Committee for Justice, said it’s a one-way street.

  “What are the odds that Senate Democrats would call on one of the liberal justices to recuse if that justice’s spouse had expressed strong public opinions about the 2020 election being fair?” he said.

  They would never demand that a liberal justice recuse “because a spouse had expressed political opinions about newsworthy events,” he said.

  Pressure Campaign

  Jim Burling, vice president of legal affairs for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a national nonprofit public interest law firm that challenges government abuses, said the Durbin-backed SCERT bill and his committee’s investigation of conservative justices is an effort “to try to limit the legitimacy of the court.”

  “They don’t like the fact that we have a court nowadays that’s not doing what the progressives think that the court should be doing,” he said.

  It bothers them that the court is “very different today” from the way it was under Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953 to 1969) and Chief Justice Warren Burger (1969 to 1986) when the court veered left, Mr. Burling said.

  “It upsets them that they can’t win the case on the merits, so you just throw mud around instead and try to obfuscate what the real issue is here,” he said.

  

  Mr. Levey said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), sponsor of the SCERT Act, has shown that he wants to keep putting pressure on the court’s conservative members.

  The fact that the court adopted its own code shows that “even the Supreme Court, where they have lifetime tenure, can be pressured,” he said.

  “This is why the Democrats are constantly attacking the Supreme Court because it does have an effect and you see the effect here,” Mr. Levey said.

  “This is just another form of trying to harass and intimidate the court. Democrats have discovered over the years that if you let the conservative justices know that you’re going to make life difficult for them … some of the center-right justices are fairly easily intimidated.”

  Maybe about half of those justices will then “go out of their way not to anger the Democrats too much.” Mr. Levey said.

  Politicians have been trying to manipulate the Supreme Court for a long time, Mr. Allen said, “by way of essentially harassing them.”

  He pointed to the 2010 State of the Union address when President Barack Obama took the unusual step of chastising the robed Supreme Court justices seated before him for their ruling in the Citizens United case, which changed campaign finance restrictions.

  “With all due deference to separation of powers,” he said, the Citizens United precedent “will open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit in our elections.”

  Justice Samuel Alito shook his head in disagreement, appearing to mouth the words, “Not true.”

  And in March 2020, at a pro-abortion rally outside the Supreme Court, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed unspecified retribution against conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh should they vote to uphold a Louisiana law that imposed abortion restrictions.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 21:00

• UK Deploys Warship To Guyana In Show Of Support Against Venezuela Territorial Claim
  UK Deploys Warship To Guyana In Show Of Support Against Venezuela Territorial Claim

  While the recent panic over the risk of a Venezuela invasion of its neighbor Guyana may have come and gone, some (former) global superpowers are not taking any chances, and according to the FT, the UK will deploy a naval patrol ship off the coast of the tiny but rich Latin American nation in a show of support for the former British colony as it faces a territorial claim from its more powerful if insolvent communist neighbor.

  

  The deployment follows moves by Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s socialist president, to claim the vast, mineral-rich Essequibo region, which borders his country but has been part of Guyana – a member of the British Commonwealth and the only English-speaking nation in South America – for more than a century.

  Britain’s decision to dispatch HMS Trent later this month is a significant show of support for the government in Guyana’s capital Georgetown.

  The decision comes just days after the UK’s new foreign secretary, David Cameron, fresh from career exile after his catastrophic handling of Brexit, said the UK would “continue to work with partners in the region to ensure the territorial integrity of Guyana is upheld and prevent escalation”.

  Meanwhile, UK foreign office minister David Rutley, visited Guyana last week to meet President Irfaan Ali and stress the UK government’s “unequivocal backing” for Guyana’s territorial integrity after the Venezuelan claim.

  Yván Gil, Venezuela’s foreign minister, responded angrily on social media platform X to that visit, saying: “The former invading and enslaving empire, which illegally occupied the territory of [Essequibo] and acted in an skilful and sneaky manner against the interests of Venezuela, insists on intervening in a territorial controversy that they themselves generated.

  “This controversy will be resolved directly between the parties . . . We will stop the new filibustering that seeks to destabilise the region.”

  As reported earlier this month, Maduro held a referendum at the start of December, in which Caracas claimed that more than 95% supported proposals including that Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana, should become a Venezuelan state.

  Caracas subsequently authorised Venezuelan state-run companies to grant licences for exploration and exploitation in Essequibo and ordered new official maps including the territory, although the presidents of both countries agreed in a December 15 meeting not to use force in the dispute.

  HMS Trent, which is armed with a cannon and machine guns, has a crew of 65 and a contingent of Royal Marines, and can deploy Merlin helicopters.

  

  The vessel, which is mostly used for counter-terrorism exercises and tackling piracy and smuggling, is usually based around the Mediterranean. However, in early December it was deployed west to Barbados to clamp down on drug runners in the Caribbean.

  UK officials told the FT that the ship would anchor off the coast of Georgetown and carry out visits, training and joint activities with the country’s navy.

  Guyana’s defence force, with only 4,070 active personnel and reserves, is dwarfed by Venezuela’s 351,000-strong military which feels especially powerful now that Biden will do anything to appease dictator Maduro if it means a buffer of oil supply heading into the critical 2024 election year.

  A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “HMS Trent will visit regional ally and Commonwealth partner Guyana later this month as part of a series of engagements in the region during her Atlantic patrol task deployment.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 20:15

• Debt And Dopamine: The Ghosts Of Christmas Present
  Debt And Dopamine: The Ghosts Of Christmas Present

  Authored by Amy Denney via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Most every Christmas growing up in the 1950s, Brad Harris got socks, a new pair of jeans, and—if he was fortunate—a new sweater.

  

  He lived with his mom, who was a single parent, as well as his grandmother, great aunt, and younger brother. Finances were tight, but there was always food on the table, including a big dinner for Christmas.

  “We never felt deprived, but we didn’t compare what we had with other folks,” Mr. Harris, 87, told The Epoch Times. “It was a wonderful time really. It was a lot less frivolous. I think it made a better generation of us.”

  To help with family expenses, he usually held more than one job at a time—including delivering newspapers until he graduated high school. It was a big delight one year when he received a Hawthorne bicycle with a tank and headlight for Christmas.

  “It was one of my prizes, and I rode that thing clear through high school,” Mr. Harris said. “I had probably worn out two or three bicycles carrying papers.”

  Decorations were sparse—they couldn’t afford a tree so they usually cut down a fresh one from a friend’s property—yet the Harris brothers never forgot to buy something for mom. One year, it was a set of clear pink serving dishes for eight that cost no more than $3.

  These days, Mr. Harris no longer tries to pick out meaningful gifts for each family member. He has 14 great-grandchildren. He makes homemade caramel and hands out cash.

  There’s not much the kids want that they don’t already have, he said.

  “We found a long time ago, 100-dollar bills fit everybody, and the color’s right,” Mr. Harris said. “I spend more on Christmas than my mother made in a year.”

  Spending Obsession

  Christmas gift giving in the United States has always been a big deal, but it seems to continue getting bigger. Data available for the past 20 years shows overall spending has nearly doubled since 2003, climbing every year except during the financial crisis in 2008. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts growth will be a bit lower—3 to 4 percent—in 2023 than in 2022.

  

  Total holiday spending this year in America is expected to be at least $937 billion, according to the NRF. Back in 1950, total holiday spending was $40.2 billion, but that’s without factoring in inflation and population growth.

  Those were the days before credit cards, before storage units, before America’s massive rise in household debt. Those were the days when it was easy to buy a Christmas present because everybody needed something.

  Americans have always spent a lot of money during Christmastime. What has changed dramatically is how much they spend the rest of the year and how much they borrow to maintain that spending.

  

  Shopping has become a year-round obsession, turning Christmas gift-giving into an obligation and sometimes even burden. Often our presents are just more clutter.

  Remembering the value of more meaningful and necessary gifts of generations past could help us shift our focus from the materialism of gifts to the act of giving and the value of relationships.

  When It All Changed

  The Sears catalogs, including the once-annual Wish Book and Christmas catalogs, really took off as credit started to appear. Even back in 1956 the “Sears Christmas Book” was more than 450 pages of toys, tools, clothing, houseware, and more—all promoted as the perfect gifts for loved ones.

  The catalogs provided inspiration for new Christmas gifts that weren’t so obvious as a needed sweater. Every American could imagine a new level of consumption, with items they never would have considered buying now displayed in enticing variety.

  Of course, all that possibility meant little without the means to pay for it—and incomes were still limited just as they are today. However, Americans’ spending habits were suddenly no longer restrained by their pocketbook.

  Whereas merchant credit had previously been associated with wealthier customers, the post-war years saw an explosion in consumer loans and credit cards for a rapidly growing middle class.

  A telling statistic is the household debt to income ratio, which tells how much of a household’s monthly income goes towards debt payments. The higher the ratio, the more monthly income goes towards debt payments.

  The Institute for New Economic Thinking thoroughly examined debt from the end of World War II, when the household debt-to-income ratio was 30 percent, to 2016, when that debt ratio hit 120 percent. In other words, by 2016 the average American household was going further into debt every month.

  

  “The American household debt boom of the past decades was first and foremost a middle-class affair. Middle-class incomes grew by 20 percent since 1970, middle-class debt by 250 percent,” the institute report said. In other words, we now spend far more than we make, a dramatic shift from the 1950s.

  Rachel Cruze, a financial expert at Ramsey Solutions, a firm that helps people reconcile debt and make better financial decisions, says Americans are spending themselves into excruciating debt.

  “Credit card debt itself has reached over a trillion dollars, the highest in history,” Ms. Cruze told The Epoch Times.

  

  Our debts have become so great they could be considered a public health issue. One study published in 2018 in PNAS found “overspending and over-indebtedness … leads to social exclusion, feelings of loneliness, an unhealthy family environment, and suicidal thoughts, and it reduces social support. Also, one of the biggest problems with debts is that they often unleash a spiral of further debts. This spiral can ultimately bring people into poverty.”

  The study found that when low-income families were given three times their monthly income for debt relief, those who used it to pay down their debts instead of making other purchases experienced a proportional improvement in cognitive function and reduced anxiety.

  How the Glut Stole Christmas

  One of the big lessons from the Grinch that has proven true over the past 20 years is that it isn’t a lack of presents that can ruin Christmas. In fact, presents can be the thing that buries our Christmas spirit.

  Credit lit the fire of our current consumerism, but cheap Chinese goods added plenty of fuel.

  Suddenly, everybody could have everything at cheap prices made all the cheaper by underpaid workers and poorly made products. Items that once lasted a lifetime now become obsolete, broken, or out of fashion within a few years.

  Ms. Cruze shared her own struggles with purchasing on her radio show. Her new book, “I’m Glad for What I Have,” was inspired by an innocent but uncomfortable encounter with her youngest child that revealed her own consumption problems.

  “My 4-year-old said a few months ago, ‘Is the Amazon guy coming today, Mom?’” Ms. Cruze said.

  

  While credit and cheap goods certainly enticed us to buy more, companies learned better how to hijack our own biology as well. Big Tech has made pervasive use of neuromarketing to figure out exactly how our brains work, and how to make us buy.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 19:30

• IRS Rakes In Record $4.9 Trillion In Taxes From Americans Amid Enforcement Crackdown
  IRS Rakes In Record $4.9 Trillion In Taxes From Americans Amid Enforcement Crackdown

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

  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raked in a record $4.9 trillion in taxes from Americans in the last fiscal year, due in large part to automated collections processes and aggressive audits that saw taxpayers hit with billions in additional taxes after examination.

  

  The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the watchdog that oversees the IRS, revealed in a Dec. 20 report on tax compliance activities that the agency collected a record-breaking amount of money in fiscal year 2022 from American taxpayers.

  The $4.9 trillion the tax agency raked in last year was around $790 billion more than the prior year, thanks in large measure to a significant increase in enforcement revenue.

  The IRS collected $72 billion in revenue from its enforcement activities in FY 2022, not far below the record-setting $75 billion in FY 2021 but well above the historical average of around $59 billion (from 2013-2020).

  All those dollars rolling in from enforcement activities are likely to rise going forward, given that the IRS announced over the summer that, thanks to a new funding boost, it was launching a “sweeping, historic” tax enforcement initiative using artificial intelligence (AI) and other cutting edge technologies to crack down more effectively on non-compliant taxpayers.

  But while AI and other advanced computer algorithms have yet to be deployed at the IRS on a large scale as the agency continues to modernize its systems, automation has already bolstered the agency’s ability to stuff the government’s coffers—even as the overall number of examinations declined, as did the number of enforcement agents.

  “The revenue collection was driven substantially by automated collection processes,” the TIGTA report states. Roughly 74 percent of the IRS’ enforcement revenue was collected within the agency’s Collection notice stream and the Automated Collection System (ACS).

  While the IRS is poised to continue increasing its reliance on automated systems to squeeze more tax dollars from taxpayers, it’s also looking to hire another 3,700 tax enforcers as it spends an extra $46 billion of the recent $80 billion (later reduced to $60 billion via debt ceiling negotiations) funding boost on enforcement.

  Another important factor why the IRS managed to take in a record amount of tax revenue last year was hitting taxpayers with aggressive additional tax assessments after examinations.

  Even More Taxes

  The watchdog report shows that, after audits, the IRS levied an additional $30.2 billion in taxes on Americans last year, roughly 13 percent more than in 2021 and a whopping 75 percent more than in 2019.

  When the IRS completes an examination, it can either leave the tax assessment “as is” or it can propose an adjustment (up or down) that increases or reduces the amount of tax owed.

  “The general trend of proposed additional tax from FY 2019 to FY 2022 is over a 75 percent increase in the total proposed additional tax resulting from examinations, and the most significant increase (136 percent) was from correspondence examinations,” the watchdog said.

  Over the past four years, the IRS’ examinations function proposed nearly $90 billion in additional taxes on U.S. taxpayers.

  The watchdog said that the record tax collections were driven by individual income taxes, which increased by 47 percent since 2019, an increase of roughly $1 trillion.

  More Audits of Those Earning Under $400,000?

  The question of whether the IRS will use some of the $60 billion or so funding boost to increase tax enforcement of people making less than $400,000 has been a contentious issue.

  IRS and Treasury Department officials have pledged not to increase audit rates for this group of Americans, while Republicans and others have argued that this pledge is either false or wishful thinking.

  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has directed the IRS not to raise audit rates above historical levels for this group of taxpayers, while IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has repeatedly made the same pledge.

  But the IRS watchdog recently cast doubt on this promise, warning that Americans making less than $400,000 could inadvertently get caught in an enforcement dragnet because the IRS doesn’t clearly define “high-income” and its enforcers use an outdated $200,000 high-income threshold as their default.

  During recent testimony on Capitol Hill, Mr. Werfel appeared to acknowledge the possibility that audit rates could rise for Americans making less than $400,000 per year.

  During an Oct. 24 hearing, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) pressed the IRS chief to explicitly guarantee that the IRS wouldn’t raise audits on Americans making less than $400,000.

  “You are guaranteeing that you will not increase the number of audits of people making less than $400,000 a year?” Ms. Foxx asked.

  “That is my marching order to the IRS,” Mr. Werfel replied before adding that “if we fall short of that, I will be held accountable for it,” hinting that, even with the best of intentions, there’s a chance that the IRS might fail to make good on this promise, much like the watchdog has warned.

  “But we will publish those rates,” Mr. Werfel added, referring to tax audit rates for Americans earning less than $400,000, suggesting that time will tell how closely the agency’s growing army of tax enforcers will follow his orders.

  “A little while ago, you said you had control of the IRS,” Ms. Foxx said. “So we’ll come back to you with that,” she added, suggesting that Republicans intend to hold Mr. Werfel’s feet to the fire if the $400,000 tax audit pledge is broken.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 18:45

• Frustrated Biden Demands Media To Start Reporting Good Economic News
  Frustrated Biden Demands Media To Start Reporting Good Economic News

  Dictator President Biden railed against corporate media before he and several family members headed by helicopter to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the mountains of western Maryland. 

  Before boarding the presidential helicopter, Biden was asked by one reporter: “What’s your outlook on the economy next year?”

  The president responded: “All good,” adding, “Take a look. Start reporting it the right way.”

  “What’s your outlook on the economy next year?”

  BIDEN: “All good. Take a look! Start reporting it the right way.” pic.twitter.com/dpRcDiq16S

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 23, 2023

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

  Biden’s criticism comes as at least one progressive think tank warned White House aides in September and October that the ‘Bidenomics’ branding of the economy ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle has failed. 

  Democrats are hammering the American public with the economy being ‘great’ despite never mentioning inflation ran hot and wiped out real wages of workers for two years. This put a massive strain on the working poor, who had to drain personal savings and rack up insurmountable credit card debt to make ends meet. Many of these folks resort to ‘buy now, pay later’ loans to afford essential items. 

  

  What’s important to note is that the White House began the Bidenomics media blitz in June, which was supposed to be an effort to lift dismal poll data. Which the campaign miserably failed. 

  

  Maybe the Federal Reserve’s bizarre, unexpected pivot might help the president, who has the lowest approval rating than any of his seven predecessors at this point in the first term, according to a recent Gallup poll. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 18:00

• "It's All One Big Status-Acquisition Hustle"… And Half The Country Likes It That Way
  “It’s All One Big Status-Acquisition Hustle”… And Half The Country Likes It That Way

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

  The End Of An Era

  “The old politics of right versus left, and Republican opposed to Democrat have now given way to a new existential struggle: Americans must choose between civilization—or its destroyers.”

  – Victor Davis Hanson

  Now that you, the lucky ones, are beyond your steaming platters of pancakes and mighty rashers of bacon, and perhaps even a dram or two of grog in your coffee. . . and clawed your way through the bales of presents. . . a merry Christmas to all. . . and here’s something else to think about this morning:

  You may have noticed that our country, formerly a republic of sovereign individuals, has become one great big racketeering operation run by a mafia-like cabal with Marxist characteristics — or, at least, Marxist pretenses. That is, it seeks to profit by every avenue of dishonesty and coercion, under the guise of rescuing the “oppressed and marginalized” from their alleged tormenters. Apparently, half the country likes it that way.

  

  Much of the on-the-ground action in this degenerate enterprise is produced by various hustles. A hustle is a particularly low-grade, insultingly obvious racket, such as Black Lives Matter, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and “trans women” (i.e., men) in women’s sports. Some of the profit in any hustle is plain moneygrubbing, of course. But there’s also an emotional payoff.  Hustlers and racketeers are often sadists, so the gratification derived from snookering the credulous (feelings of power) gets amplified by the extra thrill of seeing the credulous suffer pain, humiliation, and personal ruin. (That’s what actual “oppressors” actually do.)

  Categorically, anyone who operates a racket or a hustle is some sort of psychopath, a person with no moral or ethical guard-rails. Hustles are based on the belief that it is possible to get something for nothing, a notion at odds with everything known about the unforgiving laws of physics and also the principles of human relations in this universe. Even the unconditional love of a mother for her child is based on something: the amazing, generative act of creating new life, achieved through the travail of birth. Have you noticed, by the way, that the birth of human children is lately among the most denigrated acts on the American social landscape?

  The flap over Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, is an instructive case in the governing psychopathies of the day. I wish I’d been a roach on the tray of petit fours and biscotti brought into the Harvard Overseers’ board-room when they met to consider the blowback from Ms. Gay’s unfortunate remarks in Congress, followed by revelations of her career-long plagiarisms. The acrid odor of self-conscious corruption in the room must have overwhelmed even the bouquet of Tanzanian Peaberry coffee a’brew, and not a few of the board members must have reached for the sherry decanter as their shame mounted, and the ancient radiators hissed, and their lame rationalizations started bouncing off the wainscoted walls.

  Apparently, Ms. Gay did not miss an opportunity to cut-and-paste somebody else’s compositions into everything she published going back to her own student years in the 1990s. She even poached another writer’s acknowledgment page. This is apart from the self-reinforcing substance of her published “research” justifying the necessity for DEI activism, for which she has become first an avatar and now a goat. The dirty secret of this perturbation — and the whole Harvard Board knows it — is that Claudine Gay’s career has been about nothing but careerism, and that this is also true of so many on the faculty and administration at Harvard, and surely at every other self-styled elite school from the Charles River to Palo Alto that had joined in the DEI mind-fuck.

  It’s all one big status-acquisition hustle, the seeking of hierarchical privilege by any means necessary, including especially deceit, the politics of middle-school girls. Thus, you see on display both the juvenility of elite higher ed and its use of the worst impulses that prevail in social media, stoking envy, hatred, avarice and vengeance as the currency for career advancement. Claudine Gay was notorious earlier, as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, for wrecking the careers of faculty members (Ronald Sullivan, Stephanie Robinson, and Roland G. Fryer, Jr.) who refused to play the game like middle-school girls. She had no mercy.

  The mental pain endured by the Harvard bigwigs must be excruciating, and of course they have themselves to blame because they walked right into the Woke hustle with their eyes wide shut. They bargained away their dignity, and the university’s honor, for mere brownie points in a fool’s game called Win big prizes pretending to care about your fellow man. The cognitive dissonance must be like little nuclear reactor meltdowns burning through the lobes of their brains. They’ve run out of a safe space to play “victim” in. The world sees them for the coddled, malicious fakes they are.

  Cutting Claudine Gay loose is the unavoidable play now or Harvard will be stung by so many lawsuits from students previously punished for academic mischief that all the alumni lawfare attorneys in the cosmos standing snout to tail will not be able to staunch the hemorrhaging of the school’s endowment and then the fire sale of its chattels to satisfy the aggrieved plaintiffs’ pain and suffering. The Harvard board is just trying to ride out the holidays. Their prized participation trophy is coming off the mantlepiece. There really is no other way. Now, stand by and watch the rats rat each other out. And so ends the era of pretending about everything.

  *  *  *

  Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 17:15

• CBP Logs Busiest November On Record With Encounters At US Southern Border
  CBP Logs Busiest November On Record With Encounters At US Southern Border

  Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The United States experienced its busiest November on record with encounters at the southern border, according to new data released on Friday.

  

  Providing a monthly update of its border enforcement statistics, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported its personnel had logged some 242,418 encounters at the southern border in November. By comparison, CBP recorded 235,173 encounters at the southern border in November 2022, 74,845 in November 2021, and 72,113 in November 2020.

  Historic CBP data indicates U.S. border officials had never logged more than 80,000 encounters in any given November prior to 2022.

  Of the 242,418 encounters at the border this November, 191,113 resulted from U.S. Border Patrol agents encountering people crossing outside the established ports of entry, which is broadly illegal. Of the encounters CBP logged at lawful ports of entry, the agency said it processed more than 43,000 migrants into the United States with information they submitted through the CBP One mobile app.

  Total drug seizures jumped 35 percent from October of this year to November, with border officials logging an eight percent increase in fentanyl seizures, a 22 percent increase in cocaine seizures, and a 55 percent increase in methamphetamine seizures.

  To date, CBP has recorded 483,404 encounters since the start of the 2024 fiscal year. CBP said it has sent increased personnel and resources to address this continued border surge, “However, global migration remains historically high in the Western Hemisphere and around the world.”

  While CBP has yet to release its border traffic numbers for December, reports indicate daily border traffic has again reached record-high levels, with border officials logging more than 12,000 encounters at the southern border within a 24-hour period.

  CBP Asks For More Funding As Republicans Seek Deterrent Policies

  “CBP continues to execute its important mission to protect the American people, safeguard our borders, and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity by implementing operational plans, surging personnel and decompressing areas along the southwest border while processing and vetting migrants who are encountered humanely, safely, and efficiently, consistent with our laws,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said Friday. “We are facing a serious challenge along the southwest border and CBP and our federal partners need more resources from Congress—as outlined in the supplemental budget request—to enhance border security and America’s national security.”

  In October, President Joe Biden proposed a $105 billion spending supplemental that would have tied about $14 billion in border and immigration-related spending, including funding to hire additional personnel along the border, as well as additional staffing to process asylum cases. That $14 billion would have attached to about $61 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine, about $14 billion in aid to Israel, and billions more to bolster other alliances and partnerships around the world.

  Hopes of passing President Biden’s supplemental spending request by the end of the year stalled out, primarily over disagreements about border policy. Republicans have argued that only throwing money at the issue is the wrong approach because it doesn’t do enough to dissuade illegal border crossings and frivolous asylum claims. Republicans have instead called for policy changes to restrict when migrants can apply for asylum or receive a temporary entry into the United States. Republicans have also called for the adoption of legislation that resumes construction of border walls between ports of entry.

  In remarks earlier this month, President Biden said “I am willing to make significant compromises on the border,” but congressional negotiators never reached a deal before leaving for the Christmas holiday.

  The House adjourned last week while the Senate remained in session for another few days, trying to find a deal as negotiations came to a crawl for the holidays. In a joint statement on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said they had seen some “encouraging progress.” The Senate adjourned the following day still without a deal.

  Any breakthrough will now have to wait at least until Congress reconvenes in the new year.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 16:30

• FOBO? The WEF Predicts 44% Of Human Skills Will Be Replaced By AI In Five Years
  FOBO? The WEF Predicts 44% Of Human Skills Will Be Replaced By AI In Five Years

  If there was ever a moment in history when globalists have been unable to contain their unsettling glee it was the moment that Artificial Intelligence became a focus of public discourse.  It’s clear that the World Economic Forum worships AI – Lavishing the technology with praise and describing it as the end-all-be-all of human industry.  AI, they claim, will change the world so rapidly that most people will not be able to keep up with the advancements.

  We have yet to see any of these advancements in the real world, of course.  In fact, it’s difficult to pinpoint any tangible benefits produced by AI so far other than making it easier for college kids to cheat on essays.  And here is where we run into a disconnect between what the WEF predicts and what is most likely to happen according to the evidence.

  Is AI really the do-it-all technology that globalists make it out to be?  Is half of humanity going to be replaced with automation?  

  The establishment media has been building up this notion as an inevitability, with millions of people (mostly within Gen Z) now experiencing anxiety over the possibility that they will one day have no career options because of AI.  The WEF even promotes a term for this feeling:  FOBO (which apparently now means Fear Of Becoming Obsolete).    

  FOBO originally meant “fear of better options,” but the WEF has co-opted it and adjusted it for their AI narrative.  

  Automation is nothing new to first-world industries and adapting to it has not necessarily made anyone’s place in the economy “obsolete.”  The media tends to suggest that hands-on jobs in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing and retail are going the way of the Dodo soon.  However, AI seems to represent a much greater threat to people in the white collar sector dealing with information tech.  People in data collection, software development, web development, research analysis, information security, etc. are far more likely to be replaced by AI.  

  AI essentially automates data applications, making it possible for the average layman to one day “code” in a way that once took programmers years to learn.  For example, web development is becoming so automated these days it will not be long before web designers are out of work.  

  

  AI has exhibited zero evidence of consciousness and creativity and has no capacity to operate widely in the physical world.  The globalist answer to this problem is their suggestion that “data” is the new economy, and that eventually robots will handle the physical.  This sounds like a pipe dream, but if the “data economy’ is going to be the focus of AI for the foreseeable future, this means that if AI leads to a job apocalypse it will be primarily in the white collar world.

  The WEF partially admits to this development in a recent paper on FOBO, in which they argue that around 44% of skill sets will become obsolete by 2027, and 42% of business related skill sets will be replaced by AI.  

  Far from becoming the all-knowing data-god hailed by WEF zealots like Yuval Harari, it appears much more likely that AI would simply augment or replace a number of office workers.  For now, no significant advancements in medical science, space science, engineering, energy science, resource efficiency, mathematics, physics, etc. have been produced by AI.  We’re all waiting around for AI to blow past human science and nothing is happening.  If all AI can do is put data programmers out of work, what good is it?

  Interestingly, AI software makes some incredible claims very similar to the boasts of globalists.  Here is what AI had to say about its plans for the world of human art:

  “Imagine waking up one day and finding your job has been automated overnight by intelligent machines. Then you discover even the career you dreamed of pursuing next has already been mastered by AI. 

  Quickly, more and more human domains once thought impossible to replicate – art, music, emotion – fall prey to advancing algorithms until all uniquely human talent and purpose dwindles in the face of superior robotic counterparts. Soon your very existence becomes trivial … unnecessary.”

  This is a fascinating omission bordering on delusion.  Not the delusions of AI, but the delusions of whoever programmed the software to say this (and no, AI does not currently think for itself).  AI art is generally considered generic and often terrible because it merely plagiarizes human art and then spits out an uninspired copy.  The notion that a soulless algorithm will ever be able to create emotionally charged art, music, literature and more is naive.  

  It’s not so much about what AI can actually do (which is very little), it’s more about what the public is convinced that AI can do.  Globalists argue that the “data economy” will replace all other functions of civilization and trade as AI takes over.  But what good is data without application?  The only application of such a system would be to manipulate or control popular perception.  To make people believe things that are not true, to influence their behavior and to convince the public that they are no longer necessary.  

  This is where AI technology shines.  It’s not useful to industry, it does little to advance scientific discovery and it doesn’t make the lives of individuals easier; rather it is only useful to the globalist agenda.     

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 15:45

• "I Feel Like A Family Member Has Died": Small New York Town Devastated As Gun Plant Shuts Down
  “I Feel Like A Family Member Has Died”: Small New York Town Devastated As Gun Plant Shuts Down

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

  In the village of Ilion, New York, 80 miles west of the state capital in Albany, residents are mourning the departure of gunmaker Remington Arms Co. after two centuries of continuous operation.

  

  Without fanfare, the company announced last month that the manufacturing plant would be closing its doors on March 4, 2024.

  “I feel like a family member has died,” Ilion Mayor John Stephens told The Epoch Times. “My dad raised four kids on a paycheck from there for 37 years. He walked to work and carried his lunch every day.”

  Mr. Stephens said no one expected the announcement a week after Thanksgiving that the plant was set to close.

  On Nov. 30, at 3:26 p.m., the company notified village officials of the decision by email. The message noted that “all separations” with the village would be completed by March 18, 2024.

  Likewise, the company notified its 270 employees that they would soon be out of a job.

  “They brought the second and third shifts in and said they were done,” Mr. Stephens said. “They notified the first shift in person. I found out through the media. The owner’s group didn’t even contact me.”

  Mr. Stephens said the company made the announcement just five months into a newly ratified employee union contract.

  “To say we were shocked [by the announcement] is probably an understatement,” the mayor told Ilion’s Village Board of Trustees at a public meeting on Dec. 11.

  

  “In my opinion, it’s unfortunate and extremely unprofessional.“

  Remington Arms didn’t return messages from The Epoch Times asking for comment.

  Publicly, the company attributed the plant closure in part to a hostile political climate in Albany regarding firearms production.

  “I am writing to inform you that RemArms LLC has decided to close its entire operation at 14 Hoefler Avenue, NY 13357,” Remington Arms said in a letter to employees. “The company expects that operations at the Ilion facility will conclude on or about March 4, 2024.”

  The Georgia-based company said it would continue to make firearms at its facility in Huntsville, Alabama, which opened in 2014, a year after New York’s passage of the Safe Act, which created stricter gun laws.

  The anti-gun political climate in Democrat-controlled Massachusetts prompted competitor Smith & Wesson to move from its longtime base in Springfield to Maryville, Tennessee. The company announced the opening of its new headquarters there in October.

  In Ilion, the community reaction to the Remington plant closure has been a sense of loss and bewilderment, Mr. Stephens said.

  Many are wondering what will become of the 10,000-square-foot plant and the village’s Remington identity.

  

  Mr. Stephens said residents see the two as synonymous, interwoven by history, culture, and economics.

  “Remington is Ilion—Ilion is Remington,” residents here like to say.

  Eric Kennedy, who runs the Copper Cafe in the downtown village retail plaza, believes the ripple effect of the closure would impact the businesses that served Remington employees for years to come.

  “I’m sure it will affect us. Any time you lose jobs, it affects the area’s economy. It definitely will hurt the economy—small town, big business in the village. It’s going to hurt a lot of families,” Mr. Kennedy told The Epoch Times.

  “New York state is not friendly to hunters and sportsmen. That makes a big impact. I don’t blame [Remington] for moving out of state, [but] it’s going to hurt.”

  Until recently, Remington Arms employed about 1,500 workers, whose wages helped support the local retail economy, said village public historian Mike Disotelle.

  “At noontime, when the employees would go to lunch, there would be a flood of factory employees going to local businesses,” he said.

  Mr. Disotelle said Remington Arms was one of the village’s largest employers and a centerpiece of the downtown economy. This remained true even as the village continued to lose residents over the course of several decades, he said.

  In 1960, the village had 10,000 residents. Today, that number is down to about 7,700 and could drop below 6,500 by 2030 due to the slow economy, high taxes, and limited housing availability, Mr. Disotelle said.

  

  Village officials said Remington Arms’ departure would cost the village nearly $1 million in yearly revenues.

  Mr. Disotelle said the village would need a “savior” to breathe new life into the facility. A federal gun manufacturing operation is one possibility.

  “You’re always going to need to manufacture firearms,” he said. “The problem is New York state has created unfriendly legislation. The taxes are high. That’s why a lot of people have pulled out. We’re not a business-friendly state anymore.

  “It would be nice if our politicians could get something going.”

  Founded by Eliphalet Remington II in 1816, the family-run business was known as E. Remington and Sons before the sporting goods chain Marcus Hartley and Partners in Connecticut purchased the gunmaker in 1888.

  “It was called a receivership,” Mr. Disotelle said of the acquisition by Marcus Hartley. “Technically, it was a bankruptcy. Not many people know about that. They know of the bankruptcies in recent years.”

  Remington sold the company to chemical manufacturer Dupont in 1933. The New York investment company Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice purchased the company from Dupont half a century later.

  The gunmaker continued to change hands despite the successful introduction of new products and millions in accumulated debt.

  Read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 15:00

• Trump Slams 'Scam' Poll Showing Nikki Haley Trailing By Only 4 Points In New Hampshire
  Trump Slams ‘Scam’ Poll Showing Nikki Haley Trailing By Only 4 Points In New Hampshire

  Contrary to recent propaganda from CBS News claiming Donald Trump is exploring Nikki Haley as a potential running mate (and the fact that Trump ally Laura Loomer slams Haley on a near-daily basis), the former president himself has weighed in on the 2024 GOP candidate he’s dubbed ‘Birdbrain.’

  

  A Dec. 21 poll released by American Research Group, Inc. showed Trump leading the GOP field with 33% support among likely Republican primary voters – however it shows Haley just 4 points behind him at 29%, in stark contrast to the vast majority of mainstream pollsters.

  “Fake New Hampshire poll was released on Birdbrain,” Trump aid on Truth Social, referring to Haley. “Just another scam! Ratings challenged FoxNews will play it to the hilt.”

  “Sununu now one of the least popular governors in the U.S. Real poll to follow,” he continued, referring to New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu’s recent endorsement of Haley for president in 2024. 

  Meanwhile, RealClear Politics‘ average of major polls has Haley nowhere near Trump.

  

  As the Epoch Times notes, Haley has been gaining on President Trump in New Hampshire since September, with a poll released by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center on Dec. 20 showing her with 30 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, compared to President Trump’s 44 percent.

  A survey from the same pollster carried out in September showed Ms. Haley with 15 percent support in the early voting state, with her latest numbers suggesting she has managed to double her support in New Hampshire.

  After the poll from American Research Group was released on Thursday, Mr. Sununu took to X to comment that she’s closing in on President Trump.

  “This is a two person race,” he wrote.

  President Trump was asked about the poll by conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.

  “Are you worried about Nikki Haley in New Hampshire?” Mr. Hewitt asked.

  “No, I’m not worried about it. I think it was a fake poll,” President Trump said. “I saw the one poll where I was up by 4 or 5 points. It’s a fake poll.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 14:15

• (Mis) Remembering A Christmas Classic!
  (Mis) Remembering A Christmas Classic!

  Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

  Would you rather have silver and gold? Or would you rather have peppermint?

  You might be under the impression Yukon Cornelius of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer fame was after riches of silver and gold.

  

  He wasn’t.

  I mean, I hate to mess with your Christmas memories, but facts are facts.

  ‘Tis the season for Christmas specials.

  I’m not going to lie – even as a grown man, I love watching Christmas specials. Snoopy decorating his dog house. The Grinch folding up a Christmas tree like an umbrella and stuffing it up the chimney. Frosty the snowman melting in the greenhouse.

  There are a lot of great memories in those shows.

  My all-time favorite Christmas special is Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved Rudolph.

  I still do.

  It was different back in the day. We had to wait until the shows came on TV.  I think that’s lost on many people today in our world of on-demand streaming. Those of you over a certain age will remember scouring the TV guide from your local newspaper starting around the first week of December eagerly waiting to see Rudolph pop up on the schedule.

  My mom always made an event out of it. She would always whip me up a special Christmas treat – maybe a hot chocolate or apple cider. Sometimes, I even got freshly baked cookies. If it was cold, she would build a fire in the fireplace, and we would snuggle up in blankets to watch the show.

  Here’s a confession: when I was really little, the abominable snow monster horrified me.

  In retrospect, I have to wonder why. Remember when he tipped over? The bottom of his feet looked just like the bottom of my footie pajamas. How did I not notice that? How did I not realize that the abominable was a total fake?

  I guess a 5-year-old has limited powers of observation.

  But other than being scared of the PJ-footed snow monster, I loved the show as a little kid. And as I said, I still do.

  Now, as a guy who writes about gold and silver for a living, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Yukon Cornelius. As you recall, he wandered the north in search of silver and gold. But I bet you don’t know the whole story behind old Yukon. Here’s a dirty little secret. The version most of us watched on TV as kids cut part of the story out.

  I kid you not!

  You’ll recall that when Cornelius meets Rudolph and the elf Hermey, he launches into a dramatic and emphatic introduction.

  The name’s Yukon Cornelius, the greatest prospector in the north! And you know, it’s rich with gold! Gold! Gold and silver! Silver and gold! Wahooo!”

  He punctuates his greeting by tossing his pickaxe up into the air, licking it, and declaring, “Nothin’.”

  This pickaxe tosses and licking behavior repeats throughout the drama. When you stop and think about it, it’s kind of weird. And maybe a little gross. But I never thought about that as a kid. Of course, this is the same kid who didn’t notice the snow monster was wearing footed pajamas.

  On a side note, how did his tongue not freeze to the metal in the frozen Arctic? (That brings to mind the flagpole scene in “A Christmas Story.”)

  Anyway, you almost certainly think Yukon was hoping to discover riches in the form of gold and/or silver. That’s certainly the impression the show gives you.

  Well, you think wrong!

  He’s not looking for gold or silver!

  Now for those of you who grew up on network TV, you know that things were often edited for commercials. This was the case with Rudolph. CBS deleted the scene that explains exactly what Yukon was looking for. Rick Goldschmidt wrote a book on Rudolph and calls this “the most significant deleted scene.” An article in the Huffington Post explains what happened.

  It comes right after Rudolph guides Santa through the air to the Island of Misfit Toys. Rudolph’s parents, Donner and Mrs. Donner, Rudolph’s girlfriend, Clarice, and Cornelius are featured, while Donner says, ‘That’s my buck!’ finally confirming Rudolph’s dad is no longer ashamed, as Goldschmidt points out. But more illuminating is that the scene finally gives an answer as to why Cornelius kept licking his pickax throughout the special. In this deleted scene, Cornelius throws his ax in the air, lets it strike the ground and then, after licking it as he has been wont to do, declares, ‘Peppermint! What I’ve been searching for all my life! I’ve struck it rich. I’ve got me a peppermint mine … Wahoooo!’”

  And here’s the deleted scene. You’re welcome!

  Interestingly, if you’re just a tad bit older than I am, you may actually remember the deleted scene. It last aired on TV in 1964. It’s also on the DVD. So, if you have watched it with your kids, you already know this little secret.

  Anyway, I get the whole peppermint Christmas motif, but to be honest, I don’t particularly like peppermint. I’d rather have chocolate. And let’s be honest, Yukon was a little misguided. I’ll take gold and silver, over chocolate or peppermint, thank you very much.

  Anyway, on behalf of everybody here at SchiffGold, I wish you a wonderful holiday season!

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 13:30

• Biden's Weaponized Gov't Attacks Against Elon Musk Is Tyranny
  Biden’s Weaponized Gov’t Attacks Against Elon Musk Is Tyranny

  On a recent episode of the All-In Podcast, hosts David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya, and David Friedberg discussed the weaponization of federal agencies by the Biden administration against Elon Musk.  

  “They’ve now weaponized multiple federal agencies to go after Elon on these cases that seem transparently trumped up,” Sacks said. 

  Musk, an outspoken critic of President Biden, has seen an increasing number of banana republic-style weaponization tactics by the administration against his companies, from Tesla to SpaceX, this year. 

  Sacks listed several cases, including when the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission went after Musk in August for allegedly using Tesla funds to construct a ‘glass house.’ The DoJ also went after Tesla for not hiring enough refugees, and, more recently, the Federal Communications Commission rejected SpaceX’s Starlink from receiving a $855 million rural internet subsidy.   

  Palihapitiya asked: “Do you think this is politically motivated harassment of Elon by the Biden administration?” 

  Calacanis chimed in: “100%”. 

  Calacanis added that Tesla was not invited to the EV summit at the White House earlier this month. He noted, “You just take Biden at his actions – if you don’t invite Elon to the EV summit – it’s obvious he [the president] has got it in for this guy [Musk].” 

  “And now it’s obvious he [Biden] has told people to investigate him [Musk] and harass him – it’s obvious.” 

  Palihapitiya asked, “Why doesn’t Biden like him [Musk]”? 

  Calacanis pointed out the obvious answer: “Because he [Musk] is non-union – and sure, the freedom of speech things and Twitter doesn’t help – but this [Musk’s dislike of unions] predates Twitter.” 

  “Biden is a union guy. He will not support non-union people. He is bought and sold by the unions.” 

  Biden’s hit squad is going after @elonmusk. 🚨

  “They’ve now weaponized multiple federal agencies to go after Elon on these cases that seem transparently trumped up.”

  1️⃣ A glass house

  2️⃣ Not hiring enough refugees to national security roles

  3️⃣ Canceling an $885M contract with… pic.twitter.com/UTF15jn9dY

  — ALL-IN TOK (@all_in_tok) December 24, 2023

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

  It should become increasingly clear that progressive radicals in the White House are weaponizing every agency possible to attack political opponents. These are all signs of a tyrannical, out-of-control federal government. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 12:45

• Watch: Christmas Eve In Lawless California As Youth Riot In Streets
  Watch: Christmas Eve In Lawless California As Youth Riot In Streets

  Christmas Eve is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and a moment for bonding with loved ones and friends through shared activities and meals. It’s a time for reinforcing the nuclear family while spreading peace and joy through the community. 

  

  

  However, in today’s imploding Western society, run by incompetent elected and unelected leftist politicians who control all sorts of federal and state government agencies. They have waged war on the nuclear family structure. 

  It’s not just radical progressives who want to dismantle the nuclear family. Marxist organizations, such as Black Lives Matter organization, funded by mega-corporations, have called for the death of the family unit. A central tenet of Marxism is to dismantle this structure: 

  We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. -BLM 

  The Great Society programs that started with former President Lyndon B. Johnson in the mid-1960s ensured the destruction of the nuclear family as recent Census data showed 27.6% of all US-occupied households were one-person households in 2020, up from just 7.7% in 1940. The largest share of people living alone occurred between 1970 and 1980, when the percentage increased from 17.6% to 22.7%, right after the welfare programs started. 

  

  So what’s the result of progressives tearing down the nuclear family? Well, Just The News recently noted:

  First, the US has the highest rate of single-parent households in the world. Second, the connection between single-parent households and crime is very strong. According to research carried out by Jerrod Brown, a behavioral specialist at Concordia St. Paul, the extant literature “suggests that children raised in single-parent households experience more physical and psychological problems compared to those raised in two-parent households.” Moreover, he added, the “implications of homes in which fathers are absent may be important to explore for criminal justice and mental health professionals.”

  The destruction of the family unit by radical progressives has created a generation of lawless youth that has been on full display this year in crime-ridden Baltimore City, Washington, DC, and other liberal metro areas where disastrous social justice reforms have been pushed through. 

  The latest sign of lawless youth was Christmas Eve in Oakland, California, where instead of bonding with family and exchanging gifts in ‘Secret Santa’ – they were rioting on the streets. 

  How Christmas is being celebrated in Oakland tonight. pic.twitter.com/dXMgMnUfdL

  — Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) December 25, 2023

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

  It seems the US has a major lawless youth problem that Democrats won’t address because it’s merely a symptom of their failed policies. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 11:15

• 'Crack' Removed From Christmas Crackers To Save The Planet
  ‘Crack’ Removed From Christmas Crackers To Save The Planet

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

  The ‘crack’ from Christmas crackers is being removed for environmental reasons and to turn Christmas into a “celebration of responsibility,” defeating the entire purpose of pulling one in the first place.

  

  Yes, really.

  Joyless eco-mentalists, committed in their mission to eliminate all fun, have lobbied for the introduction of ‘crackless crackers’, and their efforts are already coming to fruition.

  At my first xmas dinner of year. pic.twitter.com/UGWSDoEPVH

  — Christopher Snowdon 🇺🇦 (@cjsnowdon) December 4, 2023

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

  “Alliance National, one of Britain’s biggest catering suppliers, has announced it will offer only environmentally friendly “crackless” crackers to its customers, which include dozens of care homes, hotels, pubs and restaurants across the country,” reports the Telegraph.

  The silver fulminate has been removed from the items because it can’t be recycled.

  Emphasizing the spirit, or lack of it, behind the change, the supplier has also completely removed jokes from its crackers too.

  Precisely what is the point, then?

  Author Christopher Snowden encountered one of the boring crackers during a recent lunch hosted by the Lords and Commons Cigar Club in the House of Lords.

  He said they were “rubbish” and felt like when “you pull a cracker and they don’t crack and you just think it’s broken.”

  What will they ruin next? Gift wrapping? Mistletoe?

  How long before Christmas trees are banned entirely in the name of ‘celebrating responsibly’?

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 10:30

• Tesla Will Suspend Drivers For Autopilot Abuse In New Software Update
  Tesla Will Suspend Drivers For Autopilot Abuse In New Software Update

  Leftist corporate media were filled with joy earlier this month when Tesla issued its largest recall in its twenty-year history regarding Autopilot systems that had “insufficient” safeguards against driver misuse. 

  Unbeknownst to some legacy media in their reporting, Tesla has previously solved recalls with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through an over-the-air software update. 

  Tesla drivers on X reported in the last few days that an over-the-air software update titled “2023.44.30.5.1” was pushed to their vehicles. The update included new features for the Tesla Arcade, additional custom car locking sounds, automatic 911 calls during airbag deployment, and, near the end, a list of Autopilot improvements to satisfy federal regulators. 

  Let’s begin with the “Over-the-Air (OTA) Recall” update that shows several improvements to Autopilot, including improved visibility for diver monitoring warning alerts on the touchscreen, increased strictness of driver attentiveness while using the automated driving system, and a suspension policy for Autopilot abusers.

  

  Expanding on the Autopilot suspension update is a section that states repeated abusers will be given five strikes if the vehicle detects five forced Autopilot disengagements – which usually occurs when the vehicle senses the driver is not paying attention. On the fifth strike, Tesla said the automated service will be “unavailable for approximately one week.” 

  

  Before the update, drivers who received several Autopilot disengagements were kicked off for the length of the car ride but only turned back on when the car was stopped and turned off.

  Tesla appears to be getting tougher on Autopilot abusers as the Biden administration weaponized federal agencies against Tesla founder Elon Musk. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 12/25/2023 – 09:55

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