Apr 27

Today’s News 27th April 2024

  • Bird-Flu, Censorship, & 100 Day Vaccines: 7 Predictions For "The Next Pandemic"
    Bird-Flu, Censorship, & 100 Day Vaccines: 7 Predictions For “The Next Pandemic”

    Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

    Earlier this month the White House published its new “Pandemic Preparedness” targets.

    They are far from alone in covering this. Back in March, Sky News was asking: “Next pandemic is around the corner,’ expert warns – but would lockdown ever happen again?”

    On April 3rd, the Financial Times asked something similar: “The next pandemic is coming. Will we be ready?”

    Less than an hour ago, the Daily Mail invited us inside “the world’s deadliest cave that could cause the next pandemic”.

    Just two days ago a professional panic spreader wrote for CNN:

    The next pandemic threat demands action now!!!

    OK, I added the exclamation points, but they are very much implied in the original text.

    So, while Iran and Israel rattle their sabres on the front pages, I thought we should take a look at the quieter back pages to see what we can learn, and help us predict how “the next pandemic” will unfold.

    WHAT IS “THE NEXT PANDEMIC”?

    I mean…I feel like that’s fairly self-explanatory.

    Seriously though, it’s the one they’ve been predicting from pretty much the moment Covid started. First it was going to be monkey pox – sorry MPox – but that fizzled.

    Of course by “pandemic”, we really mean “psy-op”, because nothing about the next pandemic will be any more real than the last pandemic. Hell, given the leaps forward in AI technology, it could be considerably less real next time.

    We don’t know any of the details yet, but there’s enough vague coverage to tease out some guesstimates.

    WHAT DISEASE WILL THEY USE?

    Probably the most important question. We already mentioned monkey pox, but that doesn’t look likely anymore.

    Right now they are mostly talking about “disease X” – a term which caused a little panic in certain sections when it first appeared on the scene – but that isn’t some top secret gain of function super disease, it’s literally a place holder name.

    And it’s a placeholder name which does its job, for the time being.

    After all, they don’t really need an actual name yet, any more than they need an actual disease, they just need the idea of a disease to hold over people’s heads while they construct the legislative rules of their health-based tyranny.

    Indeed, the vagueness “Disease X” provides is helpful, as it keeps the legislation vague too.

    That said, they will likely want and/or need to produce an actual disease at some point.

    When that time comes around, it will almost certainly be another respiratory disease, because they are easy to “fake” using pre-existing endemic diseases and their uniform symptoms.

    The prime candidate is bird flu, which has been slow-boiling in the news for two years now and has recently got a big uptick in coverage due to it allegedly passing to people from cows.

    The UN reports “pandemic experts” are “concerned over avian influenza spread to humans”. Just yesterday, Jeremy Farrar of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that “[the] threat Of Bird Flu spreading to Humans is a great concern”

    Prompting gleefully sensationalist headlines like this from the Daily Star:

    New pandemic ‘expected’ as human-to-human bird flu of ‘great concern’ to WHO

    Bird flu is a convenient pick because it enables them to push their health tyranny and their food transition at the same time. They can claim that dairy, beef, chicken and eggs have become “dangerous” as an excuse to ration them or at least force scarcity while they drive the prices up.

    They will then push the idea that veganism and/or lab grown meat “prevents pandemics”. Something they’ve been claiming since at least 2021.

    The Daily Mail reported just a few hours ago:

    H5N1 strain of bird flu is found in MILK for first time in ‘very high concentrations,’ World Health Organization warns

    The downside to bird flu is that it’s hard to work the climate change angle into the narrative, so maybe they’ll go with something else.

    WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?

    Probably not until the winter, I would guess January 2025 at the earliest, for two reasons:

    1. They need it to be flu season so they can co-opt normal seasonal deaths into their “pandemic” narrative.
    2. I think they’ll want to wait until after the “big election year” is over so there are fresh governments in place.

    That second point is not just a hunch, but based on the article from Sky I mentioned above. It asks “would lockdown ever happen again?”, and an “expert” answers [emphasis added]:

    …if another lockdown was needed, the current Tory government would either have to minimise scandals over their own rule-breaking – or change hands completely to keep the public on board. If we had a new government, people would be far more likely to have faith in them because they would be less likely to say, ‘it’s the same bunch as before – why should we do it again?’

    Which I think is correct.

    That would also explain the raft of sudden political resignations – including Covid stars Angela Merkel and Jacinda Ardern – which swept the world in Covid’s wake. They were aware then, and are still aware now, their players were spent and they needed a fresh roster before coming back for the second leg.

    So, elections first – with all the nonsense that entails – then maybe the “next pandemic”.

    HOW WILL IT BE DIFFERENT FROM “COVID”?

    Any future pandemic psy-op will be unlikely to follow the covid pattern beat-for-beat, for one thing the Covid narrative spent itself before achieving everything it was meant to achieve.

    You can bet the farm that, in the four years since, there have been working groups and researchers poring over the pandemic data to figure out what went wrong and how they can fix it next time.

    There seem to be three recurring themes.

    1. Vaccines not lockdowns There will be a focus on securing vaccines rather than lockdowns. Indeed, part of the whole “aw shucks lockdowns were damaging who’d have thunk it” rigmarole is about setting up the dynamic that “next time” we need to do anything we can to avoid lockdowns.

    Lockdowns will become a threat rather than a fact.

    “We HAVE to mandate vaccines, because the economy can’t afford another lockdown.”

    “Take the vaccine, you don’t want to have another lockdown do you?”

    So there will be more testing, more masks and more vaccine mandates…and/or quarantine camps for the unvaccinated. And if they DO have lockdowns, they will be entirely blamed on the “anti-vaxxers”, of course.

    2. Speed speed speed The main failing of the Covid narrative was that it ran out of steam. By the time the vaccines rolled out in early 2021 the pandemic fatigue was already setting in. And by the time the third boosters and fourth waves were in the headlines nobody really cared.

    The propaganda blitzkrieg of early 2020 was arguably the greatest and most wide-reaching misinformation campaign of all time – and it was almost overwhelmingly effective. But it slowed, stalled, stopped and staled.

    Next time, they know now, they need to be faster. Bill Gates said as much at the 2022 Munich Security Conference. They need to get the disease out the deaths up and vaccines in before people even realise what happened.

    Hence the “100 day vaccines” plan. As the ever-reliably-hysterical Devi Shridar writes for the Guardian:

    most governments are working towards the 100-day challenge: that is, how to contain a virus spreading while a scientific response, such as a vaccine, diagnostic or treatment, can be approved, manufactured and delivered to the public.

    The “100 Day Mission” is the brainchild of CEPI, the Gates and WHO-backed NGO. Its main aim is to make it possible to produce new vaccines for previously unknown pathogens in 100 days.

    In the US, the target is 130 days from pathogen discovery to nation-wide vaccine coverage.

    It should go without saying that real, reliable, “safe and effective” vaccines cannot be produced in 100 days. Whatever they make, sell and force you to inject in that time…it won’t be a vaccine

    3. Free Speech is Dangerous. The slow development of the narrative post-2020 may have hindered the health tyranny agenda, but it was the independent media that really hurt it. The impromptu network of dissident experts, independent researchers and social media movements spread “misinformation” faster than the powers-that-be could fact-check it.

    We have seen perpetual messaging about the dangers of “misinformaion and disinformation” since then, including prominently at the most recent DAVOS summit earlier this year, where it was labelled one of the “three greatest dangers” facing the planet.

    Last week, a UK Parliamentary Committee published “recommendations” headlined:

    Government should learn lessons from pandemic to improve communications and counter misinformation

    Only a few days ago, Gordon Brown was quoted in the news “warning” that:

    “fake news’ risks preparations for next pandemic”

    Which heavily implies they will move to counter this “fake news” before the “next pandemic” begins.

    WILDCARD PREDICTION: The multipolar angle. Whatever form the “next pandemic” takes, they will likely avoid the monolithic messaging of 2020, where total global conformity to “the message” was one of the real telltale signs of deception. Next time prepare for countries like India, China and Russia to forge their own pandemic strategy – focusing on some new treatment or technology that the West refuses to endorse.

    There are no sources to back this one, yet. It’s just a gut feeling.

    *

    So what am I officially predicting for the “next pandemic”?

    1. It will won’t be launched until after the major elections this year, because they want new politic faces untarnished by Covid
    2. It will likely be bird flu or some other respiratory disease, launched in the winter to hijack the real flu season again
    3. The chosen disease will fit into one or more pre-existing agenda – either impacting food or originating from some forced “climate change” connection or both
    4. They will move faster, producing “vaccines” in 100 days to stop people getting wise to the deception as they did with Covid
    5. They will try and avoid lockdowns, but use them as a threat to enforce vaccine mandates more rigorously
    6. They will clamp down harder on “mis- and dis-information” before launching the new narrative.
    7. The next pandemic will have a multipolarity angle to establish a fake binary

    That’s how I see it. Feel free to bookmark this post for future reference.

    Even if I’ve guessed the details wrong here, there’s no question they are planning to roll out another pandemic at some point in near future. A covid sequel that learns from past mistakes.

    While, in some ways, it will likely be worse than Covid was – the good news is that this time we can be ready for it.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 23:40

  • It's Entirely Legal To Own "Thermonator" 
    It’s Entirely Legal To Own “Thermonator” 

    For those curious, owning a flamethrower is broadly legal across the United States, with Maryland being the exception, as the state has effectively banned these devices. In California, flamethrowers are legal but require a permit. 

    With the legality all sorted out. What’s been making headlines this week is a Unitree Go2 quadruple robot equipped with a flamethrower. 

    “Thermonator is the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog. This quadruped is coupled with the ARC Flamethrower to deliver on-demand fire anywhere!” Throwflame, the company behind the robot flamethrower, wrote on its website. 

    Called the “Thermonator,” the flamethrowing robot retails for $9,420 and can shoot napalm upwards of 30 feet. 

    Throwflame says Thermonator is mainly used for “wildfire control and prevention,” “agricultural management,” “ecological conservation,” “snow and ice removal,” and “entertainment and SFX.” 

    Over the years, we have covered the proliferation of this technology, from ‘cute’ dancing robo-dogs from (Japanese-owned) Boston Dynamics to the Chinese version of ‘spot’ with a machine gun strapped to its back. 

    Even an armed robo-dog deployed by a drone. 

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    Meanwhile, just days ago, Boston Dynamics unveiled its new humanoid robot that creepily moves like no other robot has moved before. 

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    The militarization of robot dogs is terrifying. We’re surprised these robots have yet to be deployed in Ukraine.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 23:20

  • San Diego Official Says City Is "New Epicenter" Of Border Crisis
    San Diego Official Says City Is “New Epicenter” Of Border Crisis

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

    A San Diego County official has branded the city the “new epicenter” for illegal immigration and claimed that Border Patrol has become “the ‘Uber’ for migrants” entering the county.

    “San Diego is the new epicenter for migrants and illegal immigration,” San Diego District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond posted on the social media platform X on April 25.

    “The surge in illegal crossings has propelled San Diego to the unfortunate position of leading all nine southern border sectors in April, a trend unseen since the 1990s.”

    On Wednesday alone, Border Patrol apprehended 2,000 illegal immigrants within the San Diego sector, according to Mr. Desmond. Among them were 206 Chinese nationals, he said.

    Since Oct. 1st, there have been nearly 215,000 apprehensions representing individuals from 75 different countries in the San Diego sector, Mr. Desmond wrote in the post.

    “Moreover, the closure of the processing center has led to over 30,000 migrant drop-offs in the past two months alone, with projections of more than 1,000 drop-offs expected today,” he continued.

    “This doesn’t account for the frequent occurrences of boats washing ashore, averaging three to four incidents weekly. ”

    Mr. Desmond appeared to be referencing the $6 million Migrant Welcome Center that shut down in San Diego in February due to a lack of funding.

    The District 5 supervisor went on to state that human smugglers have identified California—and in particular the San Diego border sector—as “the path of least resistance” for illegal immigrants.

    “Border Patrol has inadvertently become the ‘Uber’ for migrants entering San Diego County, and the County is the travel agent,” he concluded.

    Illegal immigrants ‘Just Walking Across the Border’

    Speaking to Newsnation later on April 25, Mr. Desmond claimed that people are “just walking across the border” and Border Patrol agents “are not empowered to stop them.”

    “All they’re doing is processing them once they … walk across the border,” he told the publication.

    The Epoch Times has reached out to San Diego Border Patrol for further comment.

    Mr. Desmond’s comments come after he and other San Diego County leaders called on the state and federal governments to bolster security at the border and remove sanctuary city policies amid the ongoing immigration crisis.

    Speaking at a press conference alongside several mayors on April 15 near Carlsbad State Beach, Mr. Desmond said more than 125,000 illegal immigrants have entered since September, of which more than 25,000 had been released onto the streets in the past two months.

    The county official stressed those figures did not include known “gotaways,” those known to have entered the country illegally while evading Border Patrol.

    He further blamed California’s sanctuary city policies for prohibiting law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration Customs and Enforcement to hand over illegal immigrants, even if they are identified as suspects in crimes other than entering the United States illegally.

    California Governor Gavin Newsom, on April 17, 2024. (Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times)

    Newsom Praises Biden’s Border Efforts

    Mr. Desmond criticized the state for providing “free health care to illegal immigrants,” along with “free legal defense to those here illegally seeking asylum … no matter what crime they commit.”

    He and other Republican county officials, including Carlsbad Mayor Keith Blackburn, Vista Mayor John Franklin, and San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, called upon the state of California and the federal government to do more to address the influx of illegal immigrants while calling for harsher penalties on human smugglers.

    “We need to make major changes for the safety of our people, the safety of all of San Diego County,” Mr. Desmond said. “We need the state and federal officials to bring more resources, whether it’s more Coast Guard or National Guard … We’ve got to come together and allow law enforcement to communicate with ICE. We need to be able to deport criminals out of the country.”

    In contrast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has defended the state’s response to the ongoing immigration crisis while praising the Biden administration for providing millions in federal grants to address the issue.

    “Let’s be clear: President Biden is doing all he can to fund border security and humanitarian efforts while Republicans in Congress are choosing border chaos for political gain,” he said in an April 12 statement.

    The Democrat went on to accuse congressional Republicans of trying to “undermine opportunities to advance border security” and modernize the immigration system for political gain.

    “The Newsom Administration is working in partnership with the Biden-Harris Administration and California Congressional leaders, along with state and local officials, to advocate for federal funding for communities as they support the federal government with a safe and orderly process, further enhancing border security,” the governor said.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 23:00

  • Disgruntled School Employee Uses AI To Frame Principal With Racist Rant 
    Disgruntled School Employee Uses AI To Frame Principal With Racist Rant 

    A disgruntled ex-athletics director at a northern Baltimore County Public School used artificial intelligence to impersonate the voice of his boss, the high school’s principal, then posted the racist and antisemitic hate rant on social media to share with the world.

    Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters his investigators worked with FBI agents and experts from the University of California at Berkeley to determine that a recording of Pikesville High School principal Eric Eiswert, circulating on social media since January, was generated with AI tools by Dazhon Darien, the school’s athletic director, to retaliate against the principal for not renewing his work contract and an investigation into the mishandling of school funds.   

    On Thursday, McCullough said his investigation found that “Dazhon Darien, the school’s athletic director, produced the recording to retaliate against Principal Eiswert, who had initiated a probe into the mishandling of school funds.”

    Local media outlet WBFF’s investigative i-Team arm, Project Baltimore, originally obtained the audio recording, which is 41 seconds long, beginning with racially charged language about black students. 

    “I seriously don’t understand why I have to constantly put up with these dumb***** here every day,” the AI impersonated voice of the principle said, adding, 

    “Between these ungrateful black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag or these teachers who don’t get it. How hard is it to get these students to meet their grade level expectations?”

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    On Thursday morning, Darien was arrested 30 miles south at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport on an outstanding warrant. ABC 13 News said he now faces charges that include stalking, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness. He’s being held in custody on a $5,000 bond. 

    The principal was removed from his position as the investigation played out. BCPS officials said he would not return for the remainder of the school year. 

    Eiswert denied responsibility for the audio during the multi-month investigation, telling police Darien was the culprit. 

    According to charging documents, Darien’s attempt to sabotage the principal with AI was motivated by “his contract not being renewed next semester due to frequent work performance challenges” and the unauthorized use of school funds. 

    Just wait until AI is weaponized against a politician or presidential candidate. It’s coming.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 22:40

  • Competition, The American Way
    Competition, The American Way

    Authored by Jack Miller via RealClearEducation,

    Our K-12 educational system is designed to serve much less than 50% of American students.

    For decades the cry has been that “all kids must go to college.” Yet, only a minority do so and fewer graduate.

    Our high schools have been turned into college prep schools. Shop classes have been eliminated, along with other useful courses. Most students who don’t go to college have been deprived of the education they need to be successful. And businesses looking for hungry, well-prepared personnel have been deprived of good candidates.

    A 2022 report from American Compass suggests that “for every young American on the idealized path, there are ten who never enroll in college or else fail to complete a degree.” Various studies show different percentages, but all show that most students don’t complete, or even enter, college. Studies also show that fewer young people are even applying to college.

    This is a real, self-imposed crisis. It also has a major impact on many of those in poorer circumstances or who get bored with college prep courses and drop out of school before graduating.

    Given this well-documented reality, why has our K-12 education system not reformed itself to address this glaring problem?

    Once you understand the problem, it is not difficult to figure out how to fix it. In the K-8 system, every student should be taught the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic, plus some civics and history to start them on the road to being good citizens.

    When students get to high school, they should be offered a two-track program. Keep the college prep program going for those who want to go on to postsecondary education. Also, another track should be introduced for the majority who don’t plan to go to college.

    In addition to the basics such as English, history, civics, and a few others, students should have the option to take various kinds of vocation-based classes that teach the skills that are needed in the job market. We should be preparing all our young people to be good citizens, but also for good-paying jobs that don’t require a college degree.

    Then, we need to strengthen our trade schools, the community college system, and internships, which would further prepare these young people to be successful in their careers. During the four to six years others are spending in college, young adults who take this track would be able to work and earn money instead of accumulating debt. In many cases they could make as much, or even more, than many college graduates.

    The benefits of creating a two-track system would be immense. First, we could expand our labor pool quite a bit. Our country is facing a labor shortage. The birth rate has been down for a number of years, so fewer young people are entering the workforce, and an increasing number of people are retiring. Our immigration policies are not allowing enough skilled labor into the country.

    The answer to these problems is to tap into that large, untrained, unmotivated pool of talent our schools are leaving behind. Doing so would have many benefits, both for the individuals and for the country.

    For the individuals, it would provide them with a good middle-class, or higher, lifestyle. It would give them a sense of pride, of accomplishment. It would keep many of them from committing crimes and staying out of jail, and it would lead to much happier lives.

    For the country, it would provide a large pool of trained workers. It would add to our gross national product. It would reduce the amount of money we spend on law enforcement and incarceration. It would prevent the enormous waste that results from theft and other crimes.

    For a great many jobs, a two-year certificate from a community college or additional trade school training is all that may be needed to get a good start in a career. And, from there, meritocracy determines the rest.

    This project should be taken on by the states. Education is a state responsibility and should not wait for the federal government to shoulder this responsibility. The fastest, most efficient method is for the states to act now.

    Of course, those states that do act would be creating the best-trained workforces and would be growing their economies and attracting businesses. A little competition, the American way, is always a good thing.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 22:20

  • Worst In 70 Years: Biden Approval Rating Absolutely Dismal
    Worst In 70 Years: Biden Approval Rating Absolutely Dismal

    President Joe Biden has the worst job approval rating since Eisenhower during his recently completed 13th quarter in office, according to a new poll by Gallup.

    While Biden clocks in at 38.7%, the previous low was set by George H.W. Bush at 41.8% in 1992. Donald Trump and Barack Obama averaged 46.8% and 45.9% respectively during the same point in their presidencies. Prior to Bush, Jimmy Carter is the only other president with a sub-50% average in his 13th quarter.

    Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush averaged between 51% and 55% approval in their 13th quarters, while Dwight Eisenhower had the highest average for a president during his 13th month at 73.2%.

    What’s more, Biden’s most recent approval rating places him 277 out of 314 presidential quarters in Gallup history dating back to 1945, placing him in the bottom 12% of all presidential quarters. Biden’s score is technically the lowest of his presidency, which has been dragging in the low 40% range since Q4 of his term.

    Put another way:

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    By political affiliation, Gallup’s poll found that 2% of Republicans approve of Biden’s job in office, while independents have him at 33%. The vast majority of Democrats, 83%, think Biden’s doing an awesome job.

    Meanwhile an Axios ‘vibes survey‘ / Harris poll found that most Americans want mass deportations, including 42% of Democrats.

    The poll also found that 30% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans say they’d end birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.

    As Axios notes further:

    Americans are open to former President Trump’s harshest immigration plans, spurred on by a record surge of illegal border crossings and a relentless messaging war waged by Republicans.

    • President Biden is keenly aware the crisis threatens his re-election. He’s sought to flip the script by accusing Trump of sabotaging Congress’ most conservative bipartisan immigration bill in decades.
    • But when it comes to blame, Biden so far has failed to shift the narrative: 32% of respondents say his administration is “most responsible” for the crisis, outranking any other political or structural factor.

    “I was surprised at the public support for large-scale deportations,” said Mark Penn, chairman of The Harris Poll and a former pollster for President Clinton, adding “I think they’re just sending a message to politicians: ‘Get this under control,'” suggesting that this is a clear warning to Biden that “efforts to shift responsibility for the issue to Trump are not going to work.”

    Drilling down, when asked to identify their greatest concern surrounding illegal immigration, Americans most frequently cited:

    1. Increased crime rates, drugs, and violence (21%).
    2. The additional costs to taxpayers (18%).
    3. Risk of terrorism and national security (17%).

    The survey also found that 64% of those polled believe immigrants receive more in welfare and benefits than they pay in taxes, and 54% believe that immigration is linked to spiking US crime rates, which Axios refutes.

    Bottom line: “The tradeoff here in the poll is, people would take expanded legal immigration if they saw there’s a crackdown on the border,” according to Penn.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 22:00

  • California's New Minimum Wage: A Cure That Exacerbates The Sickness
    California’s New Minimum Wage: A Cure That Exacerbates The Sickness

    Via SchiffGold.com,

    The solution to a problem shouldn’t make the problem worse.

    But apparently, California’s policy makers missed that memo.

    On April 1st, the state instituted a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers, the highest in the US. With California’s absurdly high cost of living, the policy appeared to make life more manageable for low-income residents. Unfortunately, as the adage goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” California’s new minimum wage is poised to hurt the same fast-food workers it aims to help.

    The Economic Problem of a Minimum Wage

    The counterproductivity of a minimum wage is demonstrated by a simple analysis of the labor market. Companies “purchase” labor from workers through a wage. The more value a worker adds to a company, the more they will be paid. If employers are allowed to set wages freely, and the labor market is competitive, workers can expect to be paid close to their value added to the company.

    A minimum wage hijacks this process. If a worker is worth $15 an hour to an employer, but a $20 minimum wage is introduced, the company will no longer hire the worker, and both parties are harmed. A $20 wage floor means that workers must at least add that much value to the company. For many laborers, this means saying goodbye to their industry and hello to unemployment.

    The Effects of California’s Minimum Wage

    The ripple effects of California’s $20 minimum wage have proved these dismal predictions all too true. Several chains, including Pizza Hut and Starbucks, have laid off workers in response to the wage increase. Michaela Mendelsohn, the CEO of El Pollo Loco, claimed the company would have to reduce employee hours due to increased labor costs. McDonald’s employees are likewise seeing their hours substantially reduced. In the tight margins of the fast-food industry, where even a small increase in the price of labor can destabilize a production chain, the effects of the wage hike have been exacerbated.

    Fast-food workers are particularly susceptible to layoffs because of the rise of automation within the industry. Automation creates a simple alternative for companies struggling to meet the wage requirement. Many fast-food restaurants have already implemented mobile ordering stations, and if labor costs continue to rise, the incentive to further automate will increase. Restaurants around the world have already introduced machines to replace waiters, cashiers, and cooks.

    A higher wage also increases the risk of hiring new, untested workers. In service industries, such as fast food, it can be difficult to distinguish the productivity of individual workers. It can take a while to find the weak link at the root of a location’s unproductivity, and this delay equals lost revenue. While an untested applicant may potentially boost productivity, a heightened minimum wage increases the risk of giving that worker a chance.

    Proponents of the new minimum wage argue that food chains will absorb the wage increase by raising prices. Some companies, such as Chipotle and Jack in the Box, have already raised their California prices in response to the new policy. However, this is not a concrete solution. Any price increase will necessarily decrease consumer demand, which could harm profits further. A step too far and the workers’ already dire plight will be exacerbated.

    If California’s economic and political conditions continue to worsen, many franchises might simply leave the state. While California has a massive potential market, if labor costs become prohibitively high, chains could simply focus their resources on more economically-friendly states. Leading the way are MOD Pizza and Starbucks, who respectively closed five and seven of their California locations in April.

    The Minimum Wage: A Cure that Exacerbates the Sickness

    The ethos of the minimum wage is to support the poor and lessen wealth inequality. Social class discrepancy is not a trivial issue, as a lack of generational wealth constrains the opportunities of millions of Americans. Children of parents without college degrees are more likely to not obtain a degree themselves, and less educated workers are on average less productive than their educated counterparts. However, the minimum wage increases inequality by cutting off anyone who falls below a mandated productivity threshold. This means removing many of the underprivileged from the workforce altogether, causing families already hampered by societal constraints to see their opportunities shrink even further. It’s like a hospital diverting its care from its sickest patients to pamper the healthy.

    Interventionist policies usually sound good. Politicians love to swoon about how their measures will reduce inequality and to paint opponents as money-grubbers who don’t care about assisting the poor. The cold reality is that when the government institutes a sweeping economic reform, there will always be unintended consequences. In the case of the minimum wage, the “cure” exacerbates the sickness.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 21:40

  • Pentagon Chief Trolls Iran On Effectiveness Of Weapons After Israel Attack
    Pentagon Chief Trolls Iran On Effectiveness Of Weapons After Israel Attack

    US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday weighed in on the April 13 Iranian attack on Israel, which was the Islamic Republic’s first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state.

    It included some 300 drones and missiles launched at Israel – the vast majority of which were intercepted by Israeli anti-air defenses, but also with US and Western help, and the deployment of warplanes which shot inbound drones out of the sky. Austin in a press briefing appeared to mock the Iranian attack as weak and ineffective. This comes following Tehran officials deriding Israel’s apparent ‘limited’ retaliation which came on April 19.

    “They should be questioning the effectiveness of their weapons systems and their planning,” Austin told reporters in reference to the Iranians and their military.

    Via AP

    “Hopefully they don’t walk away from this over-confident that they can do this at will, because I think Israel has demonstrated that it has a significant ability to defend itself,” Austin added.

    While it’s clear that some of Iran’s ballistic missiles did hit a couple of Israeli airbases in the central and south of the country, many more were intercepted or fell harmlessly in the desert.

    A fresh report in Jerusalem Post notes that people are still randomly finding nearly intact missiles in the Negev desert:

    …the missiles launched towards Nevatim and other targets in the Negev fell in the South but far from the targets they were aimed at. When they are lying in the Negev devoid of the warheads, they are just metal scraps, which the IDF slowly collects for research and analysis of the enemy’s capabilities.

    Travelers who were walking in the Arad area of the Judean desert, enjoying the starry night, were surprised to find themselves standing next to a ballistic missile, a remnant of the major attack that Tehran launched against Israel, which included more than 300 suicide drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

    This is not the first missile discovered in the south since the attack. Similar missiles were discovered nearby in the Dead Sea area immediately after.

    Below via Reuters/JPost: A man stands next to the apparent remains of a ballistic missile, as it lies in the desert near the Dead Sea, following a massive missile and drone attack by Iran on Israel, in southern Israel April 21, 2024

    Via Reuters

    Despite Austin’s criticisms and mockery aimed at Tehran, the Biden administration is breathing a sigh of relief that the whole thing ended in a one-off tit-for-tat which subsided after each side got its strikes in, and not runaway escalation leading to major war. Both sides telegraphed their responses and limited them, in order to ensure the likelihood of avoiding a bigger regional war.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 21:20

  • UCLA Students Forced To Take Mandatory 'Fat Positivity' Class
    UCLA Students Forced To Take Mandatory ‘Fat Positivity’ Class

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    UCLA medical school is under fire for forcing students to attend ‘health equity’ classes where ‘fat positivity’ is promoted, and reading material claims that the medical term ‘obesity’ is a slur “used to exact violence on fat people.”

    Yes, really.

    The Washington Free Beacon obtained the  entire syllabus for the mandatory course, titled Structural Racism and Health Equity, which one medical expert who has reviewed it describes as “education designed to ideologically indoctrinate physician-activists.”

    As part of the required course, all first year medical students are made to read an essay by ‘fat liberationist’ Marquisele Mercedes (pictured), who uses made up terms like “fatphobia” to argue that the medical profession is biased against fat people, and that trying to lose weight to be more healthy is a “hopeless endeavor” because it is a disability that cannot be reversed.

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    The essay titled ‘No Health, No Care: The Big Fat Loophole in the Hippocratic Oath,’ claims that weight has become “pathologized and medicalized in racialized terms,” and that fatties are discriminated against by the medical profession, particularly “Black, disabled, trans, poor fat people.”

    Unhinged.

    The syllabus states that the essay provides guidance on “resisting entrenched fat oppression.”

    WFB writer Aaron Sibarium breaks down the syllabus, which is replete with extreme Marxist, gender ideology, and critical race theory positions, in this thread (click through to read):

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    The findings have been slammed by Jeffrey Flier, former dean of Harvard Medical School, who warned that the curriculum “promotes extensive and dangerous misinformation.”

    Flier charges that UCLA “has centered this required course on a socialist/Marxist ideology that is totally inappropriate,” adding that “As a longstanding medical educator, I found this course truly shocking.”

    “This is a profoundly misguided view of obesity, a complex medical disorder with major adverse health consequences for all racial and ethnic groups,” Flier further urged, adding that indoctrinating medical students with such “ignorant” notions constitutes “malpractice.”

    Earlier this month, UCLA’s ‘Structural Racism’ course also mandated first-year medical students to sit through a crackpot lecture by a screaming masked up pro-Hamas activist who told them pray to ‘mama Earth’.

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    The Washington Free Beacon reported that when one student refused to participate, a faculty member “inquired about the student’s identity, implying that discipline could be on the table.”

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    The course also prompted a civil rights complaint back in January after students were separated into race-based discussion groups, with one for white students, another for African Americans, and a third for “Non-Black People of Color.”

    It was only when a Wall Street Journal editorial publicised the complaint, that UCLA moved to cancel the exercise.

    Last month, The Daily Wire also published portions of the course’s openly socialist syllabus, including units on “settler colonialism” where students were made to read an essay titled Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor that describes the “epistemic, ontological, cosmological violence” of “the settler.”

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    This is all just the tip of the iceberg as far as DEI on college campuses goes. Yale, Stanford and Columbia all have similar programs in place, to name just three institutions.

    Imagine the fallout of this when today’s students become part of the fabric of the workforce and government of the country.

    *  *  *

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

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 21:00

  • Drizzle Drizzle? 'Soft Guy Era' Parody Trend Sheds Light On Feminist Hypocrisy
    Drizzle Drizzle? ‘Soft Guy Era’ Parody Trend Sheds Light On Feminist Hypocrisy

    First, the feminists claimed that they “don’t need no man” and promoted a culture of “strong independent women,” the idea being that men were holding women back from their true potential.  The “patriarchy” conspiracy was an all prevailing issue for woke activists for years, and their answer was to attack and sabotage men and masculinity with a terroristic fervor.  Masculinity, they argued, is the root of all historic evils.

    However, as feminists gained the backing of governments and massive corporate financiers the idea of women being “oppressed” in western countries seemed even less probable than it did before.  What rights under the law do men have that women don’t have?  Ask a feminist this question and she’ll have no idea how to answer.  Feminism and woke movements in general rely on the image of being the underdog; a heroic revolutionary effort by people who are fighting to gain a voice.  But woke activists aren’t fighting “the man”, they are “the man.”  You can’t be a revolutionary when you’re the oppressor.

    In response, men started giving feminists exactly what they said they wanted:  Equal treatment.  The old days of chivalry and the expectations for men to support women financially quickly faded, and suddenly feminists discovered that men were no longer spending their cash as freely as they used to.  Everything is half-and-half today, and feminists don’t like that.

    So, hypocritically, the same woke promoters that once pontificated about women being treated equally took to the internet to attack men who embraced the idea.  The “Sprinkle Sprinkle” narrative was born, with feminists demanding that men submit to feminism while also paying for everything a woman desires as if they are walking ATMs.  Those men that don’t are accused of being “broke losers” who don’t deserve companionship.

    Yes, it’s bewildering, but this is the nature of Cultural Marxism – The goal of activists is to break down the target population until they are slaves to collectivist whim.  No matter what you do, no matter how you accommodate them, it’s never good enough because the true purpose is control.  In the case of feminism, being a man is the same as original sin and every man must pay the price for that sin for as long as they live.  Meaning if men want access to women they can’t just treat them equally, they also have to pay.

    This philosophy has led to a flurry of online trends, mainly on websites like TikTok, in which feminists give women relationship advice on how to view men as an easy income source while squeezing them for every available penny.  The term “foodie call” became ubiquitous as social media activists laughed about having various categories of men in their roster, some for sex and some for free food.  This is where the now infamous “Restaurant Refusal List” came from; a list of eateries that feminists say women should never go to on a first date because they are “cheap.”

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    And don’t think for one second that these internet fads have no bearing on the real world, because they absolutely do.  The ignorance of older generations to the online social ecosystem is one of the reasons why the woke movement seemed to strike out of nowhere a decade ago.  Everyone thought it was fringe and funny until it suddenly began dominating every element of the web and pop-culture. 

    The Sprinkle-Sprinkle trend blew up, with scores of women taking to TikTok to complain about how men don’t fulfill their needs monetarily and proudly boasting about the privileges they’re entitled to.  The double standard was now complete.  Women were all victims all the time.  Men were all victimizers all the time.  But women were also “powerful” and independent, yet they required men’s finances to feel respected.  Meaning, under feminism men can truly never win, even if they give in.    

    Thankfully, grassroots counter-movements are learning and adapting to the online environment that woke activists have been thriving in, often with hilarious results.  Instead of “Sprinkle Sprinkle”, now it’s “Drizzle Drizzle” – The “Soft Guy Era” movement parodies feminist talking points, taking those arguments and flipping them around to show how ridiculous these women sound.

    Men demand equal treatment, and feminists better have their cash and credit cards handy or they get no access. Men are now “the prize.”

    Obviously these are all jokes and none of the men are serious, but not surprisingly a lot of feminists are furious anyway.  As the saying goes, the left can’t meme and they’re incapable of laughing at themselves.  

    If you take, for example, common BLM arguments about white people and you flip the script by replacing the word “white” with the word “black”, those same arguments come out sounding incredibly racist.  Activists don’t like it when you use their methods against them.  The guys out there making Drizzle-Drizzle videos are using a similar debate technique, only with feminists.  

    At bottom, feminism is a narcissistic and sociopathic ideology that is destroying western relationships and the nuclear family.  It is at the core of the current downfall of civilization and should not be taken lightly.  That said, sometimes ridicule is the most effective weapon for stopping social saboteurs.  Drizzle Drizzle, kings.   

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 20:40

  • Immunity For Me But Not For Thee
    Immunity For Me But Not For Thee

    Authored by William Woodruff via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Whether Presidential Immunity is a Good Thing or a Bad Thing Shouldn’t Depend Upon Party Affiliation

    “Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office?” That is the question the Supreme Court will answer when it hears oral argument in Trump v. U.S.  on April 25, 2024.

    Legacy media and the ladies of “The View” nearly lost their collective minds when the Court agreed to hear Trump’s appeal of the D.C. Circuit’s decision denying him immunity for his actions surrounding the events of Jan. 6, 2021. However, even Jack Smith, the Special Counsel prosecuting the case, argued that it was of “imperative public importance” that the Court resolve the immunity question before trial.

    But forget about Trump for the moment. The issue is bigger than Trump and his legal woes. As the partisan divide between the left and the right grows larger, there is a real risk that the criminalization of policy differences could raise our current state of “lawfare” to a new level.

    Several retired four-star generals and admirals, as well as former cabinet officials, have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that granting immunity to former presidents for actions within the outer perimeter of their official duties would raise questions about the ability of the United States to peacefully transfer power from one administration to another, and thereby pose a grave risk to national security.

    The retired officials’ brief also argues that granting immunity would undermine civilian control of the military and undermine trust and confidence in the military as an institution.

    The “parade of horribles” in the retired officials’ brief assumes that a future president would instruct subordinate military officers to carry out illegal orders for which they, but not the president, would be criminally liable. The brief also suggests that an unrestrained incumbent would use the military to retain power and, thus, destabilize America’s diplomatic and military standing among nations.

    Of course, none of the hypotheticals feared by the brief writers occurred in the case pending before the Court. Apparently, they are afraid not of Donald Trump but of some unidentified future president.

    To analyze the pros and cons of immunity, however, there is no need to speculate about what some future president might do. We need only look at actual events from our recent history.

    Situation #1

    President Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and Islamic Imam critical of American foreign policy in the Middle East. Before releasing the drones that killed al-Awlaki and two others, the White House sought and received a Memorandum from the Department of Justice providing legal justification for the attack.

    Several questions come to mind.  Should the memo from DoJ authorizing the killing of an American citizen abroad without judicial due process immunize President Obama for violating the federal criminal statute that imposes criminal penalties for the extra territorial killing of an American citizen?

    Could a subsequent President, a member of the opposing political party, direct a new Attorney General to investigate whether the killing of the U.S. citizen by drone attack in Yemen violated federal criminal law? If an indictment is returned against the now former President for that killing, should President Obama be allowed to claim immunity or be forced to stand trial?

    Situation #2

    President Biden revoked many of President Trump’s Executive Orders addressing border security when he took office. He also halted construction of physical barriers intended to secure the southern border and stem the flow of illegal border crossings and the smuggling of dangerous drugs.

    The number of illegal border crossings skyrocketed. Instead of remaining in Mexico until asylum claims were adjudicated, migrants were “paroled” into the interior of the United States and given a court date for their asylum claim years into the future.

    The quantity of illegal drugs, and the deaths of American citizens from accidental drug overdoses smuggled across the southern border, escalated astronomically. Federal law imposes criminal penalties on those who enter the United States illegally. It also punishes conspiracies to violate federal law.

    So, if the White House switches parties when President Biden leaves, should the new president’s Attorney General seek an indictment against Biden for conspiring with the Secretary of Homeland Security to violate U.S. immigration laws by facilitating the illegal entry of millions of migrants into the United States? Or should those policy choices be protected by a cloak of immunity?

    Situation #3

    Eager to deliver on a campaign promise, President Biden announced a policy to “forgive” billions of dollars in student loan debt. The Supreme Court struck down the President’s plan and held that Congress had not authorized the Executive to unilaterally forgive student loan debt.

    Instead of seeking legislative authority, President Biden reworked his plan to rely upon a different statute for authority. Assume the courts dismissed lawsuits challenging Biden’s “Plan B” because the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. “Plan B” went forward and billions of dollars in federal student loans became “grants” instead of loans that had to be repaid.

    The federal Anti-deficiency Act imposes criminal penalties on anyone who authorizes the expenditure of federal funds without a valid congressional appropriation. When President Biden leaves office, can he be indicted and tried because his “Plan B” loan scheme violated federal law?

    Presidential Immunity Analysis

    Each of the foregoing situations illustrates how  a former President could be subject to indictment for actions taken within the outer perimeter of his official duties as President. Never happen, you say? Surely, no one would try to force these facts into violations of existing law. But Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, and Jack Smith have all engaged in creative lawyering to bring novel criminal charges against Trump. Apparently, some see creative lawyering as a feature and not a bug in our legal system.

    While the former Presidents have substantive defenses to the charges and the novel theories advanced in the indictments may be rejected by the courts or nullified by a jury, should the former presidents and the country be put through the spectacle of a criminal trial?

    One of the major attributes of immunity is that it avoids the trial in the first place. Instead of placing one’s fate in the hands of a jury and hoping they will accept one or more defenses or justifications for the alleged violations, immunity prevents the trial at the outset. In other words, if the process is the punishment, immunity avoids the process.

    Presidential immunity for actions within the outer perimeter of official duties allows a president to make difficult policy and operational decisions without concern for his personal liberty once he leaves office. It also eliminates the temptation to exact a tit for tat when the next election goes to the opposition party.

    On the flip side, the existence of presidential immunity may provide unwarranted protection for the actions and decisions of a president who does not really have the best interests of the country at heart. But the Constitution provides two significant checks on that unseemly circumstance: impeachment and the ballot box. Furthermore, the Constitution specifically provides that upon conviction by the Senate in an impeachment trial the person impeached “shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.”

    It is tempting to favor or disfavor presidential immunity in criminal cases depending upon the political or personal like or dislike one may have for the indicted former President. Republicans get immunity but Democrats don’t; or vice versa. But if we are to be a nation of laws every former president should be entitled to presidential immunity for alleged criminal acts committed within the outer perimeter of official duties, or no former President should be so immune.

    The issue before the Supreme Court is one of first impression. While immunity has been litigated in the context of civil claims, no former President has been indicted for criminal acts while in office, until now. In an ideal world, the answer to the question presented in Trump v. United States would remain nothing more than an interesting topic of discussion among law professors.

    But if the last seven or eight years have proved anything it is that we are not living in an ideal world.

    William A. Woodruff is a retired Army lawyer who, as Chief of the Army Litigation Division, was responsible for defending Army policies, programs, and operations in federal courts around the country. He retired from active duty in 1992 and taught law for 25 years at Campbell University School of Law in North Carolina.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 20:20

  • Why You Can't Afford Most Hotels In New York City
    Why You Can’t Afford Most Hotels In New York City

    Authored by Fred Roeder via RealClearMarkets,

    On a Friday night in March 2011, I stayed at an upscale W Hotel on Lexington Avenue in New York City for $124. That hotel later became The Maxwell, but sadly it didn’t survive the pandemic and is now permanently closed. Today the average hotel stay in that same neighborhood costs between $400 and $500 on a Friday night. The surge in hotel prices, particularly for upmarket accommodations, has caught the attention of travelers and investors worldwide. What led to this spike in hotel rates post-pandemic?

    Several factors have been at play for the hospitality industry since COVID entered the rearview, resulting in higher prices for travelers.

    Supply and Competition

    Competition within hospitality plays a crucial role in determining hotel prices. While it might appear that there’s no shortage of lodging options for travelers, the regulatory crackdown on platforms like Airbnb in big cities has redirected travelers back into the arms of traditional hotels, thereby increasing demand. 

    As the Consumer Choice Center has pointed out, 80 percent of properties were already delisted from Airbnb by October 2023 thanks to New York City’s stringent new short-term rental policies. Because of the new restrictions on temporary rentals, which state that only two paying guests at most can stay for up to 30 days under certain conditions (unobstructed access to the whole residence, short-term registration, owner present on site), many families have no choice but to look for a hotel room during their NYC stay. 

    Not to mention the massive buying up of hotel room blocks by the city in order to house newly arrived migrant populations. This warps the market for hotel rooms in profound ways. NYC has at least 140 active contracts with city hotels to fill all their vacant rooms, normally valued around $110 per night, but marked up by 73 percent to $190 for a room. Vacancies mean lower prices, but if surrounding inns are full, hotel prices rise for consumers. 

    This arrangement may not be what hoteliers had in mind for their business, but it has proven highly lucrative for the properties cooperating with the city in these contracts. 

    Closures of smaller hotels along with industry consolidation reduce the number of options for consumers, which empowers larger hotel chains to raise prices. Moreover, high interest rates on financing discourage the construction of new hotels, leading to an even more constrained supply of rooms. All the while, prices creep even higher. 

    Consolidated hotel groups have found innovative ways to manage yields and hence increase revenue. This would explain higher average daily rates despite similar or even lower occupancy rates for NYC hotels pre-pandemic.

    Traveler’s Tastes Change 

    Higher prices are also related to consumer preferences, which have evolved significantly in recent years. The pandemic prompted a shift towards safer and more luxurious options, with travelers prioritizing enhanced safety measures and amenities. This shift, coupled with pent-up demand from periods of lockdown, has resulted in a willingness among travelers to pay a premium for upmarket hotels. 

    Consumers also tend to book closer to their travel dates and are proving reluctant to commit far in advance. A few years of uncertainty around travel has created a more cautious average traveler. On top of that, the normalization of remote work has blurred the lines between business and leisure travel, leading to longer average stays. 

    People are taking personal vacations and then staying there longer while they transition back into work mode.

    Supply Chains and Labor

    Amidst all these trends, operational costs rise with minimum wage hikes, labor shortages, crunched supply chains overseas, and ever-increasing taxes in America’s largest cities. The labor shortfall is not insignificant and leaves hotels struggling to meet the high demand for rooms. The costs are likely being passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. 

    It’s also very possible that hotels are eager to recoup losses incurred during the pandemic period, driving them to maximize revenue through price adjustments as demand rebounds in major travel markets. 

    It’s a perfect storm of industry trends, regulatory pressures on competitors, and consumer behavior driving up the average price of a hotel stay in NYC and other large cities. Is there anything that can be done? 

    Ideally, as prices rise, consumers will see a new wave of entrepreneurial competition offering market solutions and testing out new models for lodging travelers. For the sake of all our wallets, let’s hope that happens sooner rather than later.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 19:40

  • Mainstream Media Misrepresenting Crime Statistics In Order To Protect Biden
    Mainstream Media Misrepresenting Crime Statistics In Order To Protect Biden

    Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

    With the November election less than 7 months away, mainstream media outlets are now choosing to misrepresent the current state of crime in the United States, claiming that crime is declining without providing full context or key details.

    As the Daily Caller reports, there are two ways in which the federal government measures crime in the United States: The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR).

    Whereas the NCVS asks roughly 240,000 Americans whether or not they’ve been a victim of crime in the last year, the UCR focuses on crimes that have been reported to police within the last year and shared with the FBI.

    While more people are reporting to the BJS that they have been the victims of crime, the FBI is reporting fewer crimes through the UCR.

    The UCR claims that violent crime dropped by 2% from 2021 to 2022, while the NCVS shows the exact opposite, reporting that the number of victims of violent crime increased by a staggering 42.4% from 2021 to 2022; this constitutes a rise from 16.5 victims per 1,000 people to 23.5 victims per 1,000.

    Nevertheless, many mainstream media outlets such as CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, Reuters, and The Hill have all turned to the FBI’s data to claim, falsely, that crime is on the decline. All such reports have failed to mention the crucial data from the NCVS.

    Even Joe Biden himself has turned to deliberately misrepresenting the facts by relying solely on the FBI’s data.

    “This week, the FBI released data showing that crime declined across nearly every category in 2023,” said Biden recently.

    “Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which every Republican in Congress voted against, we made the largest-ever federal investment in fighting and preventing crime at any time in our history.”

    This directly contradicts broad public sentiment in the United States, with a Gallup poll in December finding that 77% of Americans believe crime is getting worse.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 19:15

  • Bank Failures Begin Again: Philly's Republic First Seized By FDIC
    Bank Failures Begin Again: Philly’s Republic First Seized By FDIC

    Who could have seen that coming? (here, here, here, and most detailed here)

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    Admittedly, we were a couple of weeks off, but trouble has been brewing in the banking sector and tonight – after the close – we get the first bank failure of the year.

    The FDIC just seized the troubled Philadelphia bank, Republic First Bancorp and and struck an agreement for the lender’s deposits and the majority of its assets to be bought by Fulton Bank.

    Republic Bank had about $6 billion of assets and $4 billion of deposits at the end of January, according to the FDIC (considerably smaller than the $100-200BN assets with SVB and Signature).

    The FDIC estimated the failure will cost the deposit insurance fund $667 million.

    As The Wall Street Journal reports, Republic First had for months struggled to stay afloat.

    Around half of its deposits were uninsured at the end of 2023, according to FDIC data. 

    Its total equity, or assets minus liabilities, was $96 million at the end of 2023, according to FDIC filings.

    That excluded $262 million of unrealized losses on bonds that it labeled “held to maturity,” which means the losses hadn’t counted on its balance sheet.

    Its stock, which was delisted from Nasdaq in August, had been near zero.

    Republic Bank’s 32 branches across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York will reopen as branches of Fulton Bank on Saturday, according to a statement from the FDIC.

    Depositors of Republic Bank will become depositors of Williamsport, Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank, the regulator said.

    You should not be surprised given that rates are higher now than they were at the start of the SVB crisis – which means, unless banks have hedged hard or dumped their bonds at a loss, they are even more underwater…

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    Add to this the fact that last week – seasonally-adjusted for tax-season – US banks saw the largest deposit outflows since 9/11 (yes, that 9/11)…

    …and, as we showed earlier, absent the $126BN outstanding in The Fed’s BTFP bailout fund (which is now terminated and slowly running down as the term loans mature)…

    …the banking crisis is back and now the question is “who’s next?”

     

     

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:45

  • Watch: Trump Challenges Biden To Debate 'Tonight At The Courthouse' In NY
    Watch: Trump Challenges Biden To Debate ‘Tonight At The Courthouse’ In NY

    In a Friday interview with Howard Stern, President Joe Biden said he’d be “happy to debate” Donald Trump, telling Stern: “I am, somewhere, I don’t know when, but I am happy to debate him.”

    Biden’s remarks appeared off the cuff, rather than something his handlers approved, according to the NY Times, citing a top Democratic official familiar with the campaign’s thinking.

    Trump responded on Truth Social, posting: “Crooked Joe Biden just announced that he’s willing to debate! Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”

    Trump suggested next Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening in Michigan, “a State that he is in the process of destroying with his E.V. Mandate.”

    The former President also suggested doing it on Friday – writing “In the alternative, he’s in New York City today, although probably doesn’t know it, and so am I, stuck in one of the many Court cases that he instigated as ELECTION INTERFERENCE AGAINST A POLITICAL OPPONENT – A CONTINUING WITCH HUNT!”

    Trump says the lawsuits are “the only way he thinks he can win.”

    To that end, the former president said “let’s do the Debate at the Courthouse tonight – on National Television, I’ll wait around!”

    Watch:

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:30

  • Biden Holds Off On Sanctioning IDF Unit In Apparent Reversal 
    Biden Holds Off On Sanctioning IDF Unit In Apparent Reversal 

    Via The Cradle

    The government of US President Joe Biden has decided against imposing sanctions on Israeli army units responsible for human rights violations against Palestinians, despite initial plans to do so. 

    ABC News reported on Friday that a government assessment determined that three battalions in the Israeli army committed “gross human rights violations” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank “but will remain eligible for US military aid regardless because of steps Israel says it’s taking to address the problem.” 

    Image source: NY Times

    The assessment, which has not been made public, was outlined in a letter written by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson, which the news network obtained. 

    The rights violations committed by Israeli forces “will not delay the delivery of any US assistance and Israel will be able to receive the full amount appropriated by Congress.” Billions in US aid to Israel was approved by Biden just two days ago after passing in the Senate on Tuesday.

    The violations in question were committed prior to October 7 and took place in the occupied West Bank. They include the execution of Palestinians by Israeli border police, as well as torture and rape during interrogation. 

    None are related to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children. 

    Yet the decision is expected to frustrate many critics of the Biden administration who believe Washington has not done enough to hold Israel accountable for war crimes. Under the US Leahy Law, Washington should withhold military aid to states committing severe human rights abuses. Yet the law allows exceptions if measures are taken to punish those responsible. 

    An informed source told ABC that Israel and the US have a “special agreement” that Washington must consult with Tel Aviv over any decision relating to foreign assistance. The source added that these consultations are ongoing. 

    Blinken’s letter states that four of the Israeli army units have undergone “remediation” steps, meaning that those within the units that are responsible for the crimes have been internally held accountable. 

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 21: “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF, I will fight it with all my strength.”

    According to Hebrew news site Ynet, Israeli pressure on the US helped shape the decision not to impose sanctions on the units. “The reasonable estimate is that we will be able to convince the US not to impose these sanctions,” an Israeli official told the outlet. 

    In addition to Netanyahu, opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid both called on the US not to proceed with the decision. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly promised Blinken that “steps” would be taken. 

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    A special State Department panel proposed months ago to bar certain Israeli police and army units from receiving US funds over human rights abuses. A ProPublica report from last week indicates that Blinken disregarded the panel’s recommendations for action against the units. 

    The Guardian reported in January, citing interviews and State Department documents, that “special mechanisms have been used over the last few years to shield Israel from US human rights laws.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:20

  • UK Navy Reports Two Vessels Attacked In Red Sea, One Damaged 
    UK Navy Reports Two Vessels Attacked In Red Sea, One Damaged 

    Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels may have launched attacks on two vessels transiting southwest of Mukha, a port city on the highly contested southern Red Sea. 

    Bloomberg says the UK Navy has confirmed two attacks on vessels in a series of headlines hitting the Terminal around 1400 ET. 

    • UK NAVY: REPORTS 2 ATTACKS ON VESSEL SW OF AL MUKHA, YEMEN

    There are also reports that one of the vessels is “damaged.” 

    • UK NAVY SAYS ATTACKS RESULTED IN DAMAGE TO VESSEL

    The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations confirmed an incident 14 nautical miles from Mukha earlier. 

    The Houthis, who support the Palestinian terror group Hamas, have been launching drone and missile attacks on Western vessels since November, disrupting a critical maritime chokepoint known as “Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.” 

    About a week ago, 16 maritime industry associations and social partners co-signed an open letter to the United Nations urging increased military patrols on heavily traveled shipping routes. This comes after commandos seized a container ship affiliated with Israel as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz two weeks ago. 

    We have diligently published notes highlighting how maritime chokepoints across the Middle East are under threat, including the Suez Canal, Bab-El Mandeb Strait, and Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of all global trade flows. 

    The Red Sea disruption is far from over. The United States and its allies in the West are losing the battle in defending the world’s major shipping lanes, as Biden’s Operation Prosperity Guardian has been an absolute failure. 

    All of this symbolizes the world fracturing into a multipolar state, one full of chaos. And it will only get worse from here, hence why military spending worldwide is in a massive bull market. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 18:00

  • Emergency-O-Rama…
    Emergency-O-Rama…

    Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

    “We’ll certainly never forget the dark days of June 6… January 6th, excuse me.”

    – President “Joe Biden”

    The plum blossoms are ready to pop here. You can feel your blood rising. The evening sun lingers a little longer every day. Normally you’d celebrate, but not this year of roaring portents and evil juju. History doesn’t stop to catch its breath for a moment. The tiny glowing diode deep in “Joe Biden’s” brain dims a bit more each day (pause) while low men and women in high places trifle with the fate of the nation. Everyone dreads what’s coming.

    Which, judging by events of the week just past, looks like a worse summer of civil chaos than 2020 was.

    Some entity — say, the checkbook of George and Alex Soros, maybe? — has funded the spring mustering of student mobs in support of Hamas seeking to drive wicked Israel into the choppy Mediterranean.

    What you’re seeing, though, is probably not what you think you are seeing in all that. The kids are mere digits in a cultural algorithm playing out as New Age dumbshow.

    I doubt that three-quarters of them actually give a flying fugazy about the Palestinians, and even fewer could find Gaza on a map if you water-boarded them.

    They affect to be intersectional victims of the universal oppressor, but in so far as many of the rioters are girls of the Ivy League, or comparable redoubts of privilege— little blue-eyed, blonde-haired muffins raised on pony club, Hermes, and artisan granola — there must be something else going on.

    That something else is probably sex, which is so problematical now in any traditional frame of a man getting it on with a woman that the American birth-rate is going to zero.

    How does a young woman get it on with so many collegiate men vying for gay brownie points these days, or going for the grand prize in transitioning?

    Why, it’s a non-starter. So, instead, you go slumming among the savages, those hairy, dumb brutes on twerk-alert, dripping testosterone — illegal aliens, student third-worlders, BLM alumni, hardcore hoodlums. They don’t know nuthin ‘bout no pony club, but they will rut like Bilberry rams until the ladies fall away crosseyed. Affecting to be a lesbian only makes the game more piquant. And if you forgot your birth control, for some reason, there’s always the abortionist.

    Any time there are brownie points at stake, you know the game is actually for status, and where status is the game, fashion is the currency.

    Thus, the dress-up in Arab keffiyehs, the charming head-scarf denoting allyship with Hamas. Beats the heck out of those flitty N-95 masks from the 2020 Covid nights of roistering in the Seattle CHOP and trying to burn down the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland.

    Rioting gives young men of the toxic persuasion opportunities to flaunt their moxie in acts of derring-do, brawling with the cops, dancing on top of cars, ripping down chain-link fences, flinging gasoline bombs.

    So much the better for getting the ladies’ attention. Look what I can do! And the keffiyeh accessorizes well with black bloc riot garb. For the muffins, wearing it is great practice for the utopia-to-come when they must don burkas under submission to Sharia. Will Hermes put out a burka?

    So far, the spring rioting has mostly been fun for the rioters. Unlike the J-6-21 “paraders,” locked up in the putrid DC jail for years pending trial, the Hamas frolickers are at near-zilch risk of any serious consequences.

    Few will even be suspended from school.

    They are doing exactly what the schools trained them up for: destroying Western Civ, one acanthus leaf at a time.

    According to the shadowy stage-managers behind “Joe Biden,” this will save our democracy.

    That and stuffing Donald Trump in jail for the rest of his natural life.

    Alas, the lawfare cases cooked up toward that end appear defective to a spectacular degree. It really says something about the true authors of these beauties brought by Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Fani Willis, and Jack Smith. I speak of the behind-the-scene blob lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, Matt Colangelo, and Mary McCord, who wrote the scripts for all four of this year’s big elephant trap cases against the former president. You have to wonder how that bunch made it through their law boards. The current extravaganza in Manhattan that centers on alleged book-keeping errors in furtherance of an unstated federal offense is due to go on a few more weeks. The howling errors of both the prosecution and Judge Juan Merchan are so extravagant that the proceeding looks like it was cribbed from the pages of Lewis Carroll.

    Yet, there is near unanimous sentiment that the Trump-deranged New Yawk jury will convict, no matter how much more idiotic the case turns out to be. By then, we will be verging on summer. The college campuses will be shuttered and the youth-in-revolt action will necessarily move to the regular streets. Whichever way the verdict goes in the Alvin Bragg case, epic looting and rioting will commence.

    Sometime this summer, I predict, the Mar-a-Lago documents case will get tossed on something like malicious prosecution. Jack Smith’s DC case, kneecapped by SCOTUS, won’t start before the November election (or maybe ever) and ditto the Fani Willis fiasco in Atlanta.

    George and Alex Soros will pour millions into box lunches for the kids burning down what’s left of the cities and the demure gals of the Ivy League Left will find plenty of love in the ruins.

    The two major party conventions in July (Republican) and August (Democrat) are sure to out-do the 1968 lollapalooza in Chicago (I was there) in mayhem and property damage. “Joe Biden” – really the blob behind him – will ache to declare a national emergency, perhaps even a second emergency after the recently unveiled “climate emergency” supposedly pending any day.

    The USA will be in an historic horror movie you could call Emergency-O-Rama.

    If you think the financial system, and the US economy that has become the tail on the finance dog, can survive all this, you will be disappointed.

    The army may have to step in and put an end to these shenanigans. Don’t think it can’t happen.

    *  *  *

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

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 17:40

  • US Bank Deposits Suffer Biggest Weekly Decline Since 9/11 As Tax Man Cometh
    US Bank Deposits Suffer Biggest Weekly Decline Since 9/11 As Tax Man Cometh

    It’s that time of year again and US bank deposits sure showed it…

    While money-market funds’ total assets fell over $100BN, on a non-seasonally-adjusted (NSA) basis, total bank deposits crashed by a stunning $258BN as Tax-Day cometh. That is considerably more than the $152BN decline last year but less than the $336BN plunge in 2022…

    Source: Bloomberg

    This makes some sense though as the Treasury Cash Balance rose by around the same amount as taxpayers did their duty and paid their ‘fair share’…

    Source: Bloomberg

    However, on a seasonally-adjusted (SA) basis (i.e. adjusted by the PhDs for the fact that we get large deposit outflows at this time of year to pay taxes), total deposits dropped $133BN – the biggest weekly plunge (SA) since 9/11!

    Source: Bloomberg

    Excluding foreign deposits, domestic bank deposits plunged on both an SA (-$119BN: Large banks -$99BN, Small banks -$21BN) and NSA (-$241BN: Large banks -$188BN, Small banks -$53BN) basis…

    Source: Bloomberg

    For context, that is the largest weekly drop in SA deposits since 9/11 and the largest NSA deposit drop since April 2022 (Tax Day).

    Interestingly, despite the deposit dump, loan volumes increased last week with large banks adding $5.8BN and small banks adding $2.5BN…

    Source: Bloomberg

    All of which pushed the un-bailed-out ‘Small banks’ back into ‘crisis mode’  (red line below constraint absent the $126BN still in the BTFP pot at The Fed which is slowly being unwound)…

    Source: Bloomberg

    And so, with rate-cuts off the table – and tapering QT very much back on – we wonder just how much jockeying between Janet (Yellen) and Jerome (Powell) is going on ahead of next week’s QRA and FOMC news…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 04/26/2024 – 17:20

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