Today’s News 28th October 2023

• Pay No Attention To The Country Behind The Curtain
  Pay No Attention To The Country Behind The Curtain

  Authored by Julie Hartman via The Epoch Times,

  Last week saw a subtle but portentous development. China hosted a global gathering of over 140 countries—70 percent of the world’s nations—in Beijing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Not on the guest list: the United States, most NATO member nations, and other American allies such as Israel, Japan, South Korea, and, of course, Taiwan.

  

  The world continues to focus on, and reel from, events in Israel and Gaza. Thus, many people will ignore or shrug at the news of this convocation. They see no connection between the Beijing meeting and the burgeoning Middle East disaster.

  They should reconsider. With the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), few things happen merely by coincidence. Beijing’s hosting of more than 140 invitees may be related, in timing and perhaps more, to the recent surprise assault on Israel. Many lament Israel’s “intelligence failure” but do not contemplate the more sinister explanation: an intelligence penetration. Are Mossad and Shin Bet somehow immune from harboring a Kim Philby, an Aldrich Ames, or a Robert Hanssen? The New York Times reported on Oct. 13 that Hamas had “extraordinary awareness of Israel’s secrets and weaknesses.” From whom?

  Many point the finger at Iran, which is using Hamas as its catspaw to bait its mortal enemy into warfare. But an event this momentous—one of the world’s most advanced and alert countries caught off-guard, suffering 1,400 fatalities, some multiple of that injured, approximately 155 hostages, and the prospect of an imminent bloodbath in Gaza—is unlikely to be a solo opus by a single Jew-hating country. Especially when we know who this Jew-hating country’s criminal associates are.

  It is possible that Iran, though fully culpable, is a willing participant in a wider, deeper scheme, perhaps conceived, but almost certainly known and approved elsewhere.

  As the Romans asked to identify responsibility for some unexplained event: Cui bono? Translation: Who benefits?

  The answer: China.

  Of course, manufacturing another disaster that the West must manage and respond to is optimal for China, and its agent Russia, especially as the CCP’s irredentist lust for Taiwan and Vladimir Putin’s stalemated war of attrition in Ukraine requires distracting their opponents. But the CCP’s ultimate objective in their likely hand in the Oct. 7 pogrom is to sow division and chaos between Western and non-Western countries, and within those individual national populations, to steer geopolitics toward hegemony by China. Since the 1990s, China, recruiting Russia and Iran as its accomplices, has undertaken a multi-pronged, multi-layered, multi-decade strategy to accomplish this, a central feature of which is to conceal that it is happening at all.

  First, China seeks to co-opt nations by “investing” in their infrastructure and institutions, from building railway lines in Bogota and Tehran to a university in Budapest (or, in the case of the United States, spreading around lucrative “business opportunities” to performing troupes of well-placed politicians). How ironic that almost all these countries had representatives in Beijing to celebrate their neo-colonization by the CCP under the BRI. Uhuru! Not so much.

  Like a lustful bachelor assaying and cultivating prospects, China also grooms a roster of mostly third-world, “non-aligned” countries that are Western-alternative-curious, countries possibly seeking an “arrangement” (with China as the benefactor) in addition to, or instead of, the one they have now with the United States and its allies. Beijing can be very persuasive in these flirtations. “America doesn’t appreciate you. You deserve better. The United States can’t give you what you want anymore,” the CCP softly whispers, promising danger and adventure, not stodgy, unsatisfying predictability.

  Last year, Xi Jinping launched the Global Security Initiative to apply “Chinese solutions and wisdom” to world politics and combat Western “unilateralism, bloc confrontation, and hegemonism.” In a visit with Mr. Putin last March, the Russian president said that China and Russia are driving “changes that haven’t happened in 100 years.” In July, Iran joined Russia and gained full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Chinese-founded political alliance group of non-Western countries. Also in July, President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran vowed to combat “Western hegemonic powers” by reshaping the international system to “remove” the dominance of the dollar. In August, Iran also joined BRICS—an economic, China-led and Russia-membered alliance of non-Western countries with the goal of combating Western spheres of power. BRICS members, which also now include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, comprise over a third of the global GDP.

  China is also stepping into the role, occupied since 1945 by the United States, of broker and mediator of international conflicts and disputes. Earlier this year, China helped negotiate a rapprochement between sworn enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran, which China’s top diplomat Wang Yi lauded as China’s successful “casting off external influences” in the Middle East. So one wonders how the CCP may have reacted when, two weeks before Hamas’s attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, said that it was likely that Israel and Saudi Arabia would enter their own diplomatic agreement in the coming weeks, a development building on the Abraham Accords that Mr. Netanyahu predicted would “change the Middle East forever.” China does not want to see Saudi-Israeli relations become normalized and work together outside of its sphere.

  And now, with China’s economy sputtering as its population ages and declines, the next phase of the strategy of the CCP on its shrinking timetable of global hegemony may be diminishing and dividing its opponents—in particular, NATO, the bedrock institution to secure international order since 1945. China is keenly aware that a potent accelerant to fracture these nations’ populations would be graphic footage of a streamed-online-in-real-time war in Gaza, featuring house-to-house urban warfare on a scale not occurring since Stalingrad, as well as the resultant refugee catastrophe that will likely accompany and follow the war.

  Just 10 days after Israel was attacked, China has now convened more than 140 countries, pointedly not inviting the United States and its closest allies. Those in attendance were feted, flattered, bribed, seduced, and dazzled by a program showcasing China’s ascension and vitality and the West’s decline, division, and irrelevance—a dystopian 2023 World’s Fair portending a grim future of supine servitude, or worse, for those who do not fall into line, especially those not on the guest list.

  Cui bono, indeed.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 23:40

• New Image Reveals B-21 Raider Taxiing Ahead Of Maiden Flight
  New Image Reveals B-21 Raider Taxiing Ahead Of Maiden Flight

  A new image of the pre-production B-21 Raider stealth bomber taxiing at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, was posted on Reddit on Wednesday. This is the first public image showing the next-generation stealth bomber’s rear as it continues moving closer to its maiden flight. 

  

  Defense blog The War Zone confirmed with a USAF spokesperson the photo on Reddit was the B-21 conducting taxi tests at Plant 42.

  “I can confirm the B-21 is conducting ground taxi activities. Rigorous testing is a critical step in the B-21 flight test program,” the spokesperson said, adding, “Extensive testing evaluates systems, components, and functionalities. This testing allows us to mitigate risks, optimize design, and enhance operational effectiveness.”

  Confirmation of the B-21′s taxi tests comes after the USAF revealed new images of the stealth bomber in Sept. 

  

  It was only the second time the service showed off the new bomber after an unveiling event in December 2022 (read: here) and early March (read: here). 

  

  The military blog said, “The Air Force’s goal now is for the Raider to take to the skies before the end of this year.” The service’s plan is to have B-21s operational by the mid-2020s—perfect timing since the risks of World War III are surging. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 23:20

• Fungal Infection In The Brain Produces Effects Similar To Alzheimer's
  Fungal Infection In The Brain Produces Effects Similar To Alzheimer’s

  Authored by Emma Suttie via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine has discovered that when the brain is infected with a common fungus, it changes in ways similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s disease. The new research delves deeper into some of the molecular mechanisms behind that process.

  

  The Study Findings

  Using animal models, the research team discovered how the fungus, called Candida albicans (C. albicans), enters the brain, activates mechanisms for its clearance, and generates amyloid beta (Aβ)-like peptides—toxic protein fragments thought to be central to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

  Previous research has implicated fungi in the development of chronic neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, but their mechanisms are not entirely understood.

  A Microbial Cause of Alzheimer’s?

  A separate review published in the journal NeuroSci in 2022 explored the question of whether dementia has a microbial cause. The report concluded that the reviewed data suggests infectious agents, like fungi, can play a role in the process through which Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia develop.

  “Our lab has years of experience studying fungi, so we embarked on the study of the connection between C. albicans and Alzheimer’s disease in animal models,” said Dr. David Corry, one of the study’s authors and a professor of pathology and immunology and medicine at Baylor College in a news release on Oct. 17. “In 2019, we reported that C. albicans does get into the brain, where it produces changes that are very similar to what is seen in Alzheimer’s disease. The current study extends that work to understand the molecular mechanisms.”

  “Our first question was, how does C. albicans enter the brain? We found that C. albicans produces enzymes called secreted aspartic proteases (Saps) that breakdown the blood-brain barrier, giving the fungus access to the brain where it causes damage,” Yifan Wu, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral scientist in pediatrics said in a press release.

  The researchers’ next goal was to determine how the brain was able to clear the fungal infection. Dr. Corry and his colleagues had done previous research that showed an infection in the brain by C. albicans can be completely healed in ten days in healthy mice. Those findings, published in Nature Communications in January 2019 found that the fungal infection was cleared due to two mechanisms that were triggered by the fungus in specific brain cells called microglia.

  Microglia are a type of glial cell located throughout the brain and spinal cord and represent approximately 10–15 percent of the cells found in the brain. Microglia act as a primary line of immune system defense and scavenge the central nervous system for pathogenic organisms, damaged neurons, and other foreign material so they can be destroyed through a process called phagocytosis.

  In the present study, the researchers demonstrated that Aβ-like peptides can be created by C. albicans. Candida albicans is a common fungus and has been found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease as well as in those with other chronic neurodegenerative disorders.

  What is Candida Albicans

  Candida albicans is a common fungus (in the form of yeast) and is present in the gastrointestinal tract, the mouth, the skin, and the reproductive tract of most humans.

  Humans and C. albicans have a complicated relationship, as most of the time, C. albicans is harmless and is simply a member of a healthy microbiota. However, it is one of the few fungal species that cause disease in humans and is responsible for infections that range from superficial infections of the mucosa and skin, like thrush, diaper rash, and vaginal yeast infections, to more serious infections like invasive candidiasis that can affect the blood, heart, brain, and bones.

  Infections by C. albicans are particularly dangerous for those with compromised immune systems, like those with AIDS, or people undergoing immunosuppressive therapies for cancer and other conditions. This suppression of the body’s defenses is part of the reason why some people acquire C. albicans infections after taking antibiotics, as they decrease the beneficial bacteria in the gut, causing an imbalance and allowing C. albicans to thrive. C. Albicans can survive outside the body and have the ability to colonize every human organ and tissue. According to the Encyclopedia of Microbiology, it is the most common cause of systemic fungal infections.

  More Evidence Linking Fungi to Neurodegenerative Diseases

  In a January review published in Frontiers in Immunology, researchers examined the role of fungus in central nervous system autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders. The review states that recently, increasing evidence has pointed to the role of peripheral fungus in triggering inflammation, immune response, and worsening of a range of non-infectious disorders of the central nervous system (CNS), including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s disease.

  The review concluded that fungus can trigger inflammation via different mechanisms in the progression of CNS non-infectious diseases, suggesting that it is crucial for developing future therapeutic agents and strategies.

  A 2015 study published in Scientific Reports states that several researchers have proposed the possibility that Alzheimer’s disease may have a microbial cause. The researchers found evidence that tissue from the central nervous system (which includes the brain and spinal cord) of patients with Alzheimer’s disease contains fungal cells. These fungal cells were found in different regions of the brain, including the external frontal cortex, cerebellar hemisphere, entorhinal cortex/hippocampus, and choroid plexus. These fungal materials were not present in the control individuals who did not have Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers identified several different species of fungus in their samples.

  Interestingly, the study authors noted that fungal infection was also found in the blood vessels, which could explain the vascular pathology that is often found in Alzheimer’s patients.

  The findings provide intriguing evidence that these fungal infections are present in the central nervous systems of those with Alzheimer’s disease and not in healthy individuals who served as the controls.

  Another Piece of the Puzzle

  Dr. Corry and his colleagues have provided another piece to further understand the role fungus may play in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

  “This work potentially contributes an important new piece of the puzzle regarding the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” Corry said in a press release. “The current explanation for this condition is that it is mostly the result of the accumulation of toxic Aβ-like peptides in the brain that leads to neurodegeneration. The dominant thinking is that these peptides are produced endogenously [internally], our own brain proteases break down the amyloid precursor proteins generating the toxic Ab peptides.”

  However, in their study, the researchers show that these Aβ-like peptides can also be created from another source–candida albicans.

  “These findings in animal models support conducting further studies to evaluate the role of C. albicans in the development of Alzheimer’s disease in people, which can potentially lead to innovative therapeutic strategies.” Dr. Corry said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 23:00

• Watch: Zennials Are Terrified Of Military Draft As War Looms
  Watch: Zennials Are Terrified Of Military Draft As War Looms

  The irony and hypocrisy is dripping across social media as zennials slowly begin to realize that the consequences of their support for establishment elitism might come back to bite them in the ass.  Keep in mind that this is the generation most inclined to vote for Joe Biden and his ilk, and the generation most inclined to rabidly support war against Russia in Ukraine.  These were the same people clamoring for hundreds of billions of dollars in American weapons and funding to be sent to Ukraine to prolong a losing war leading to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian draftees. 

  These were the exact same people that applauded the argument that sacrificing drafted Ukrainian troops in an ideological proxy conflict with Russia was “cheaper” and more efficient than sending American troops to fight.  Now, when they are faced with the possibility of being drafted into a different foreign quagmire, their blood thirst has suddenly abated.

  As we have seen in the past year in the Donbass, wars are won with soldiers, not technology and money.  Without a steady supply of troops any defensive or offensive posture will steadily degrade.  

  This month, Google searches for “Will I get drafted into war…” hit the highest number since the 2007 Iraq war surge; people are getting worried.  If the US is dragged into a multi-front conflict in the Middle East, then a new draft is almost assured.  Military recruitment numbers for the past several years have been dismal, with up to 77% of Gen Z not even meeting preliminary physical and mental qualifications as well as not being able to pass criminal background checks.  In some cases, the DoD has been forced to build pre-boot facilities called “fat camps” just to get recruits physically ready enough to survive normal boot camp. 

  This is setting aside the fact that the majority of modern youth are completely devoid of the mental toughness and discipline required for basic training.  As of 2022 it is estimated that over 42% of Gen Z has been diagnosed with at least one mental illness, but prospects are even dimmer that that.  It is also estimated that another 20% have not sought help for their mental health problems, with 62% of Gen Z taking medications to help with conditions such as “anxiety.”

  Zennials have taken to TikTok and other media sites to proclaim that they are not capable of fighting in a war and will avoid a draft at all costs.  Remember when zennials demanded more gay and trans representation in the military?  Well, now they’ve changed their minds – They are far too gay and weak to go into combat and want 2nd Amendment conservatives to fight instead…

  Gen Z is looking forward to the food and shelter of jail for dodging the WW3 draft, if you can catch him. Also he’s gay.#WW3 #WWIII pic.twitter.com/92g0eJVlMI

  — 🌈 Tess T. Eccles-Brown, PhD (@TTEcclesBrown) October 24, 2023

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  Fantasies of running off to the hills aside (these people would not last one week in the woods or one month in prison), there is an extreme disconnect between the demands Zennials made a couple years ago and the price they are willing to pay for those demands now.

  Remember when these same people threatened conservatives with severe punishment if they refused to comply with covid mandates?  Remember when they said the military could be used to crush conservatives should they fight back and that “AR-15s are useless against F16s?”  Apparently, the military is now incapable of functioning without conservatives and can’t engage in a war unless conservatives lead the way.  It has been said for years that woke people can’t fight, they get others to fight for them.  Now they admit it.  

  Interestingly, this is one area of political discourse where leftists and conservatives, Gen Z and “Boomers,” might actually agree:  Almost no one supports a new draft.  However, there are plenty of people that wouldn’t mind seeing zennials thrown into boot camp for a while just so they can learn a much needed lesson in humility, and perhaps rethink their political positions more clearly.

  Zennials say that the economy is “worse now than it has ever been” and paint themselves as the most suffering generation of all time (whatever happened to the miracle of Bidenomics?).  US education standards have dropped off the map, which is probably why they’ve never heard of the Great Depression or the stagflation crisis of the 1970s.  Conditions during these events were far worse than what we are experiencing today, though, things are likely to decline rapidly in the wake of WWIII.  Maybe one day soon their delusions of martyrdom will become a self fulfilling prophecy.

  Millennials are also opting out of the WW3 draft and they’re not paying back their student loans#ww3 pic.twitter.com/ycJEjgwmD4

  — 🌈 Tess T. Eccles-Brown, PhD (@TTEcclesBrown) October 24, 2023

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  And of course, as the manure hits the fan they will continue to blame “capitalism” instead of the socialist/globalist ideals they have been supporting for years.  The reason America as a country is no longer worth fighting for is exactly because of the anti-American policies many zennials argue in favor of.  Perhaps with the advent of a renewed draft the younger generations will come to realize the wisdom in treating the government with suspicion and vigilance instead of always blindly defending state authority in the assumption that it will only ever hurt their ideological enemies.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 22:40

• How Mike Johnson Became Speaker 'Through Prayer, Not Politics'
  How Mike Johnson Became Speaker ‘Through Prayer, Not Politics’

  Authored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Eyebrows were raised when newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) in his first address from the chair reminded the assembled Democratic and Republican members of the House of Representatives that the God of the Bible raised up each one of them for a purpose.

  

  “I want to tell all my colleagues here what I told the Republicans in that room last night: I don’t believe there are any coincidences in a matter like this. I believe that scripture, the Bible, is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you. All of us. And I believe that God has allowed and ordained each and every one of us to be here at this specific moment,” the Louisiana Republican said.

  “This is my belief. I believe that each one of us has a huge responsibility today to use the gifts God has given us to serve the extraordinary people of this great nation, and they deserve it.”

  

  Those who know Mr. Johnson, a devout conservative Southern Baptist, however, weren’t surprised by his allusion to verses in the Bible such as Daniel 2:21 that say the Creator raises up and deposes of political leaders: “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”

  A former Louisiana state representative who is now serving in his fourth term in Congress, Mr. Johnson, 51, and his wife, Kelly, have four children. Before his remarkable rise to the speakership, Mr. Johnson had served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), which describes itself as “the intellectual arsenal of conservatism in the House.” In addition, he was elected in January 2021 to a second term as vice-chairman of the House Republican Conference and he was a deputy whip under then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

  Prior to his political career, Mr. Johnson was the first member of his family to graduate from college, with a bachelor’s in business administration from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1995 and a law degree from LSU’s Paul M. Herbert Law Center in 1998. He was elected president of the Christian Legal Society at LSU and subsequently became a successful constitutional law litigator.

  Following the speakership decision, Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO, and chief counsel for the Plano, Texas-based First Liberty Institute (FLI), said of his former FLI litigator, “Mike is a fantastic constitutional attorney and passionate advocate for religious liberty.” Mr. Johnson also spent time as senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which—like FLI—is a public interest law firm devoted to defending First Amendment religious freedoms.

  

  The Man Is ‘Not Bashful’

  Asked by The Epoch Times if he was surprised by Mr. Johnson’s reference to God’s role in raising up political leaders, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins chuckled, saying: “Not at all, that’s Mike. He’s not bashful.”

  The Louisiana Republican’s campaign for the speakership was “through prayer, not politics,” Mr. Perkins said. He has known Mr. Johnson for 25 years as a student, a state legislative colleague, and pro-family, pro-life advocate.

  Something certainly seemed miraculous about Johnson’s sudden and unexpected emergence from the chaos and disruption that gripped the House Republican Conference in the wake of successive failures by Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to secure enough Republican votes to become Speaker.

  Mr. Johnson opposed the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), then lined up as a loyal supporter of Mr. Scalise, Mr. Jordan, and Mr. Emmer. He was mentioned in some news reports as a dark horse contender leading up to the Oct. 23 GOP Conference meeting that featured nine aspirants. Yet it was Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), going into that gathering, who seemed poised to move into a commanding position.

  However, it was Mr. Johnson’s sincerity, as well as his substantive and reasonable responses to the tough questions aimed at all of the contenders by House Republicans, that won them over, according to a knowledgeable congressional source who was present throughout the meeting.

  “He consistently, and comparatively, when a lot of members were asking just an onslaught of questions—wonky, policy questions—gave substantive answers versus the other candidates, who essentially gave answers about their personality or their personal background outside of being legislators,” the source told The Epoch Times.

  “Johnson consistently came back to ‘This is my track record as a legislator; let me point you to my seven-point plan; let me point you to my proposed schedule if I become speaker,’ so that was really strong. And at the end of the day, Johnson really doesn’t have any enemies, and that’s in part due to his character and in part to his shorter time in Congress,” the source continued.

  The source further noted that “probably a third of his answers to the questions involved scripture references.”

  

  But Mr. Johnson is anything but the stereotypical Bible-thumping fundamentalist. When asked what was the key to Mr. Johnson’s win, another senior congressional source who asked not to be named described it in two words: “No enemies.”

  Mr. Perkins agreed: “He’s a brilliant guy, very smart, passionate. You saw classic Mike Johnson on the floor today. It’s principled, but he has relationships on both sides of the aisle that are not policy or politically driven. He cares about people. People have conversations with him, he prays with his colleagues.”

  In addition to his faith, Mr. Johnson is a classic Reagan conservative with a distinctly populist accent. On his official website is listed the congressman’s “Seven Core Principles of Conservatism,” which include individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity.

  

  Of that latter principle, Mr. Johnson explains: “Because all men are created equal and in the image of God, every human life has inestimable dignity and value, and every person should be measured only by the content of their character. A just government protects life, honors marriage and family as the primary institutions of a healthy society, and embraces the vital cultural influences of religion and morality.

  “Public policy should always encourage education and emphasize the virtue of hard work as a pathway out of-poverty, while public assistance programs should be reserved only for those who are truly in need. In America, everyone who plays by the rules should get a fair shot. By preserving these ideals, we will maintain the goodness of America that has been the secret to our greatness.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 22:20

• These Are The Most Popular Halloween Costumes In 2023
  These Are The Most Popular Halloween Costumes In 2023

  Wearing costumes on Halloween goes far beyond trick or treating. Adults, teachers, and even pets get dressed up for the season, showing off at work, parties, charity drives, and of course to join in with candy-collecting kids.

  But with different movies, television shows, albums, and other cultural touchstones changing year-to-year, the most popular Halloween costumes also get switched up regularly.

  With the help of Google Trends data through their Frightgeist series, Visual Capitalist’s Omri Wallach visualized the top 27 most searched Halloween costumes in the United States.

  

  What Are the Most Popular Halloween Costumes This Year?

  As with last year, the impact of popular movies, shows, and games is clearly visible in the top 27 most popular Halloween costumes in the U.S. in 2023:

  Rank (2023)	Costume Name
  1	Barbie
  2	Princess
  3	Spider-Man
  4	Witch
  5	Fairy
  6	Wednesday Addams
  7	Dinosaur
  8	Cowboy
  9	Ninja
  10	Bunny
  11	Rabbit
  12	Pirate
  13	Princess Peach
  14	Clown
  15	Pumpkin
  16	Batman
  17	Mermaid
  18	Cheerleader
  19	Ghost
  20	Bear
  21	Vampire
  22	Taylor Swift
  23	Harley Quinn
  24	Doll
  25	1980s
  26	Cowgirl
  27	Toy Story

  Reigning supreme is toy-turned-movie icon Barbie, after the eponymous movie released this year. The summer blockbuster has so far topped the 2023 box office at $1.44 billion earned globally, and also was responsible for the most popular couple’s costume: Barbie and Ken.

  #3 Spider-Man and #13 Princess Peach also reflect on the cultural power of the box office and video games. Both were in popular movies this year—with the The Super Mario Bros. Movie earning $1.36 billion and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse earning $690 million at the global box office—and both had major game releases in October for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5.

  Netflix also saw cultural “success” in this year’s most popular Halloween costumes, with #6 Wednesday Addams coming from their Addams Family series Wednesday. Though the show released in November of 2022, it quickly became the most watched English-language show on the platform and a perfect fit for Halloween costume ideas.

  This year also had one celebrity make the top 25, Taylor Swift at #22. The singer-songwriter released two re-recorded albums following an ownership dispute with her former record label, and is currently in the midst of a record-breaking concert tour.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 22:00

• Just The Facts On 'Geofencing'
  Just The Facts On ‘Geofencing’

  Authored by Maggie MacFarland Phillips via RealClear Wire,

  As worshippers gathered at the Calvary Chapel in 2020, they were being watched from above.  

  

  Satellites were locking in on cell phones owned by members of the nondenominational Protestant church in San Jose, Calif. Their location eventually worked its way to a private company, which then sold the information to the government of Santa Clara County. This data, along with observations from enforcement officers on the ground, was used to levy heavy fines against the church for violating COVID-19 restrictions regarding public gatherings.     

  “Every Sunday,” Calvary’s assistant pastor, Carson Atherly, would later testify, the officers “would serve me a notice of violation during or after church service.”

  Calvary is suing the county for its use of location data, a controversial tool increasingly deployed by governments at all levels – notably in relation to the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. While enabling law enforcement to more easily identify potential offenders, the practice, called “geofencing,” has also emerged as a cutting-edge privacy issue, raising constitutional issues involving warrantless searches and, with Calvary Chapel, religious liberty.

  “We are in the space between the emergence of this technological practice and courts having ruled on its constitutionality,” said Alex Marthews, national chair for Restore the 4th, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans’ rights against “unreasonable search and seizure.” 

  “Geofencing” often begins with an innocent click. Smartphone apps ask if they can access location to improve service. When users say they yes, they often don’t realize that the apps that help them drive, cook, or pray are likely reselling their information to far-flung for-profit entities. This and other information detailing people’s behaviors and preferences is valuable for businesses trying to target customers. The global location intelligence market was estimated at $16 billion last year, according to Grand View Research.

  While it is legal for private companies to broker this information, constitutional questions arise when government accesses data from a third party that it would be prohibited from collecting on its own. The lawsuit filed by Calvary Chapel argues that Santa Clara County carried out a warrantless surveillance of the church when it acquired information in 2020 on the church’s foot-traffic patterns for analysis by a research team from Stanford University. Court documents show the researchers acquired the information, which originated with Google Maps, from the location data company SafeGraph, which Calvary is also suing. 

  Geofencing allows users to build a fence around certain areas or points-of-interest such as Calvary Chapel or the area near the Capitol on Jan. 6 and see when people entered that space.

  It is becoming routine for law enforcement agencies to use warrants to require companies like Google to hand over location data that may be connected to criminal activity. Rep. Jim Jordan recently wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland saying, “The use of geofence warrants raises serious Constitutional concerns.” Privacy advocates and a bipartisan group of legislators say that acquisition of such information without a warrant presents a troubling and relatively new constitutional dilemma.

  Data brokers, including SafeGraph, insist that their information is anonymized. But it is precisely the lack of specificity that worries critics. “There’s no particular individual who the government is suspicious of,” Adam Schwartz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told RealClearInvestigations. “It’s a dragnet.”

  Moreover, there is no guarantee that the data collected through geofencing stays anonymous. “It is often very easy to take supposedly de-identified data and re-identify a person,” said Schwartz, “And it’s very, very easy to do that with location data.”

  At Calvary Chapel, for example, in-person surveillance conducted by the county, as well as numerous in-person depositions of Chapel members and employees during the previous legal contretemps between the county and the church that began in 2020, would have provided local officials with detailed knowledge of who was on the premises, and when.

  In any event, critics say, law enforcement’s use of geofencing – even when it is backed by a warrant – violates the Fourth Amendment.

  Geofencing proponents argue that it falls under the “administrative search” exception to the Fourth Amendment, which lets regulatory enforcement personnel conduct warrantless searches when the greater good is at issue (i.e., police sobriety checkpoints, airport TSA scans).

  In their complaint, Calvary Chapel attorneys assert that the county is arguing in effect “that, as long as they call it research, any level of government can target and spy on any individual or group at any time for any duration and, if they so choose, they can wield the collected data against said individuals or groups who oppose their orders.”

  Pushback is mounting against the sharing of location data. In a 2022 letter to Congress, numerous privacy and civil liberties groups petitioned for committee hearings on a bill called the Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act. The bill, which has a companion in the Senate introduced in 2021, would prohibit warrantless government purchases of cell phone location data from third party brokers. It passed unanimously through the House Judiciary Committee, 30-0, this past July, and awaits full review by the House.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 21:40

• US Food Insecurity Crisis Erupts: 17 Million Households Starving, Highest In 11 Years
  US Food Insecurity Crisis Erupts: 17 Million Households Starving, Highest In 11 Years

  President Biden called the latest jobs numbers as “Bidenomics in action.” The elderly president, who sometimes appears to exhibit strong signs of ‘cognitive fog,’ said he “continues to fight to build an economy from the middle out and bottom up.” But working-class Americans know better than to trust the statical magicians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and, in a recent poll, do not trust the government’s rosy economic news.

  The distrust is warranted because not even the United States Department of Agriculture can pretend Bidenomics is working anymore. A new report from the agency shows household food insecurity in 2022 soared to levels not seen since Biden was vice president during the Obama administration. 

  

  USDA found that 87.2% of households were food secure last year. The remaining 12.8% (about 17 million households) were food insecure. This is the highest level of food insecurity in America since 2014. 

  

  “Food-insecure households (those with low and very low food security) had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources,” USDA said. About 5.1% of households (or about 6.8 million) had the most severe level of food security last year. 

  USDA said household food insecurity is due to “a lack of money and other resources limits their ability to acquire adequate food.” 

  We suspect even though the USDA report is a survey from last year. The figures are likely higher in 2023 as persistent inflation crushes low to mid-tier households. Many folks have drained personal savings and racked up insurmountable credit card debt just to make ends meet, such as putting food on the table, paying for gasoline at the pump, and covering shelter costs, whether rent or mortgage expenses. 

  Numerous top Wall Street banks (Mike Wilson: The Consumer Is Falling Off A Cliff) have begun to warn about the consumer falling apart in the era of Bidenomics. The latest sign of trouble came last weekend, when we pointed out that subprime auto loan delinquencies erupted to the highest in decades. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 21:20

• Victor Davis Hanson: Premodern Diversity Vs. Civilizational Unity
  Victor Davis Hanson: Premodern Diversity Vs. Civilizational Unity

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

  Few Romans in the late decades of their 5th-century AD empire celebrated their newfound “diversity” of marauding Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Huns, and Vandals.

  These tribes en masse had crossed the unsecured Rhine and Danube borders to harvest Roman bounty without a care about what had created it.

  Their agendas were focused on destroying the civilization they overran rather than peacefully integrating into and perpetuating the Empire.

  Ironically, Rome’s prior greatness had been due to the extension of citizenship to diverse people throughout Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

  Millions had been assimilated, integrated, and intermarried and often superseded the original Italians of the early Roman Republic. Such fractious diversity had led to unity around the idea of Rome.

  New citizens learned to enjoy the advantages of habeas corpus, sophisticated roads, aqueducts, and public architecture, and the security offered by the legions.

  The unity of these diverse peoples fused into a single culture that empowered Rome. In contrast, the later disunity of hundreds of thousands of tribal people flooding into and dividing Rome doomed it.

  To meet the challenge of a multiracial society, the only viable pathway to a stable civilization of racially and ethnically different people is a single, shared culture.

  Some nations can find collective success as a single homogenous people like Japan or Switzerland.

  Or equally, but with more difficulty, nations can prosper with heterodox peoples—but only if united by a single, inclusive culture as the American melting-pot once attested.

  But a baleful third option—a multicultural society of diverse, unassimilated, and often rival tribes—historically is a prescription for collective suicide.

  

  We are beginning to see just that in America, as it sheds the melting pot, and adopts the salad bowl of unassimilated and warring tribes.

  The U.S. is now seeing a rise in violent racially and religiously motivated hate crimes.

  The border is nonexistent.

  Millions of unlawful immigrants mock their hosts by their brazen illegal entrance.

  They will receive little civic education to become Americans. But they will learn that unassimilated tribalism wins them influence and advantages.

  In contrast, America was once a rare historical example of a multiracial, but single-culture democracy that actually worked.

  Multigenerational Americans were often energized by keeping up with new hard-working immigrants determined to have a shot at success in a free society long denied them at home.

  Other large nations have tried such a democratic multiracial experiment—most notably Brazil and India. But both are still plagued by tribal feuding and serial violence.

  What once worked for America, but now is forgotten were a few precepts essential for a multiracial constitutional state wedded to generous immigration.

  One, America is enriched at its cultural periphery by the food, fashion, art, music, and literature of immigrants.

  But it would be destroyed if such diversity extended to its core. No one wants Middle-East norms regarding gays or emancipated women.

  No one prefers Mexican jurisprudence to our courts.

  No one here wants the dictatorship of Venezuela or the totalitarianism of communist China.

  Two, people vote with their feet to emigrate to America. They flee their native culture and government to enjoy their antitheses in America.

  But remember—no sane immigrant would flee Mexico, Gaza, or Zimbabwe only to wish to implant in their new homes the very culture and norms that drove them out from their old.

  If they did that to their new home, it would then become as unattractive to them as what they fled.

  Three, tribalism wrecks nations.

  Just compare what happened in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, or Iraq.

  Anytime one ethnic, racial, or religious group refuses to surrender its prime identity in exchange for a shared sense of self, other tribes for their own survival will do the same.

  All then rebrand their superficial appearance as essential not incidental to whom they are.

  And like nuclear proliferation that sees other nations go nuclear once a neighboring power gains the bomb, so too the tribalism of one group inevitably leads only to more tribalism of others. The result is endless Hobbesian strife.

  Four, immigration must be measured, so that newcomers can be manageably assimilated and integrated rather than left to form rival tribal cliques.

  Five, it must be legal.

  Otherwise, the idea of citizenship is reduced to mere residency, while the legal applicant is rendered a fool for his adherence to the law.

  Six, it must be meritocratic, so immigrants come with English and skills and do not burden their hosts.

  And last, it must be diverse. Only that way, can all groups abroad have equal access to the American dream.

  A diversity of immigrants also ensures that no one particular ethnic or political tribe seeks to use immigration to further divide the nation.

  In sum, the old immigration once enriched America, but our new version is destroying it.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 21:00

• The Graphite Grip: How China's Crackdown On Exports Threatens Global EV Battery Supply Chain
  The Graphite Grip: How China’s Crackdown On Exports Threatens Global EV Battery Supply Chain

  China’s retaliatory restriction on graphite exports will have a disproportionate impact on foreign makers of electric vehicle battery components which haven’t shifted to using as much synthetic material as Chinese manufacturers, according to Reuters, citing industry insiders.

  

  As we noted last week, the move by China – the world’s largest producer and supplier of graphite – was clear retaliation against the west for ratcheting up sanctions on chip exports.

  As of December 1, exporters of high-purity, high-hardness, and high-intensity synthetic graphite material, as well as exporters of natural flake graphite and its products, will have to apply for permits to ship those products out of China.

  Some Chinese manufacturers say they expect the rules to have a minimal impact, as most EV batteries they make use a grade of synthetic material which are unaffected by the curbs.

  China dominates the global EV battery supply chain including production of graphite – the single largest component. Graphite companies in the country process both the natural material mined domestically and overseas, as well as synthetic forms.

  Japan, South Korea and the United States are top buyers of both natural and synthetic Chinese graphite, and analysts warned the new measures could slow or reduce graphite supplies needed by companies there to produce anodes – the negative electrodes of EV batteries. -Reuters

  Companies like Qingdao Haida, a significant player in the graphite arena, are already foreseeing logistical challenges, awaiting directives from China’s Ministry of Commerce.

  China’s strategy isn’t unprecedented. The country has previously throttled international shipments by imposing export permits on critical elements like gallium and germanium, impacting global chip manufacturing. Sources insinuate a defense angle to the graphite restriction, given the material’s utility in military applications.

  

  And while Chinese companies with international footprints are displaying minimal concern, foreign manufacturers have lagged in adopting synthetic graphite, largely due to its environmental footprint and cost considerations. This delay makes them susceptible to the recent Chinese constraints, threatening their operational stability.

  An employee at Qingdao Haida, a major Chinese graphite processor, who declined to be named as they was not authorised to speak on behalf of the company, told Reuters that the company’s products include spherical graphite, which is used in lithium ion battery anodes and is covered by the new rules and is exported to South Korea and Japan.

  “We haven’t got any instructions from MOFCOM (China’s Ministry of Commerce) on how to apply for export permits but it will definitely make the exporting process more inconvenient,” the person said.

  Even as foreign firms like Volkswagen-backed battery maker Gotion High Tech and Ningbo Shanshan downplay the impact of the restrictions, given their product specifications and overseas manufacturing plans, the situation for global companies relying on natural graphite is in stark contrast. Companies like Hitachi Chemical and POSCO are potentially in the crosshairs, with key industry players scrambling to assess the full spectrum of implications.

  Interestingly, the unfolding scenario is prompting entities like Tesla supplier Syrah Resources and India’s Epsilon Advanced Materials to recalibrate their strategies, focusing on diversifying supply chains and emphasizing local production of synthetic graphite.

  

  According to EAM CEO Sunit Kapur, “We believe that limiting the amount of graphite exported from China – and likely the price increase for graphite that it will create – exacerbates the challenges (and) exemplifies the need to develop synthetic graphite for the U.S. locally.“

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 20:40

• FDA Should Recall 'Adulterated' Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine: Robert Malone
  FDA Should Recall ‘Adulterated’ Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine: Robert Malone

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is adulterated due to the undisclosed presence of a DNA sequence, experts say.

  

  That should prompt a recall by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine expert whose work has been cited by Pfizer.

  “It absolutely should be recalled,” Dr. Malone told The Epoch Times.

  “Will the FDA do its job?” he added later.

  Pfizer’s vaccine contains a Simian Virus 40 (SV40) DNA sequence, authorities in Canada confirmed to The Epoch Times. Authorities found the sequence after outside researchers, including Kevin McKernan, discovered the sequence in the shot.

  The whole SV40 virus can cause cancer, prompting its removal from polio vaccines in the past. While the primary genetic sequence of the virus associated with cancer is not in Pfizer’s vaccine, there is a portion of the sequence called a promoter-enhancer, which “can get things into the nucleus, so that is a concern,” David Wiseman, a former Johnson & Johnson scientist, told The Epoch Times.

  Due to the presence of the sequence, some experts say, the FDA should find the product adulterated, which is defined under federal law as having a “strength, quality, or purity differing from the official compendium.”

  Congress directed the FDA that if tests are run on a drug suspected of being adulterated and the drug fails to meet the standards in the compendium, and there is a health hazard, to direct the manufacturer to issue a recall, Dr. Malone noted in an essay.

  If the manufacturer then fails to issue a recall, “seizure should be considered,” the law states.

  “The general policy is that if there’s adulteration and reasonable risk of toxicity, there must be immediate action,” Dr. Malone told The Epoch Times. “This is a core mandate to the FDA from Congress to prevent adulteration of drugs, medical devices, and food. And then the next question is, is that adulteration? Is it associated with a reasonable risk of toxicity in humans? And my opinion is, absolutely.”

  Other experts, such as Dr. Janci Lindsay, also say the sequence presence means the vaccine is adulterated.

  The FDA declined to comment.

  Pfizer has not responded to inquiries.

  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said that regulators must provide answers.

  “I have been researching and consulting experts on the issue of DNA contamination in COVID-19 vaccines since it was exposed,” Mr. Johnson told The Epoch Times via email. “The FDA must provide answers to the legitimate questions being raised.”

  If the FDA does not take action, state attorneys general could move to seize the vaccine due to the adulteration, Dr. Malone said.

  The Epoch Times asked several attorneys general if they are considering or would consider such a move, but they did not respond.

  ‘We Do Not Know What Was Disclosed’

  Health Canada said sponsors such as Pfizer are expected to identify biologically functional DNA sequences within a plasmid, such as the SV40 sequence, when submitting applications for clearance.

  Pfizer did provide the full DNA sequence of the plasmid but “did not specifically identify the SV40 sequence,” the health agency said.

  After Mr. McKernan and other scientists uncovered the sequence, Health Canada did “confirm the presence of the enhancer,” it added.

  It’s not clear whether the sequence was also not identified for the FDA by Pfizer.

  “We don’t know what was disclosed to the FDA prior to authorization. If it was disclosed, then its presence is not unexpected. If it was not disclosed, I think there is a case that this is adulteration,” Mr. Wiseman said.

  The rules under which the vaccine was initially given emergency use authorization (EUA) may provide a defense for the agency, though.

  “Could FDA argue that because of the EUA, or because they knew about it, or some other reason, no action is required on their part, and there is nothing to see here? They may try to argue that. But the totality is that this is completely wrong,” Mr. Wiseman said.

  Mr. McKernan in June, during an FDA meeting’s public comment, presented his findings and showed that Pfizer did not disclose the sequence to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The FDA does not typically respond during the public comment portion of its meetings, or afterwards to what was presented.

  “The really crushing thing here is Pfizer never disclosed the SV40 information to the EMA. They gave them a plasmid map of what the plasmid consisted of, with all of the features labeled, with the exception of the SV40 site,” Mr. McKernan told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders.” “They did that because they know the SV40 region is a very controversial base in its history in the vaccine field.”

  New Paper

  In a preprint paper published this month, Mr. Wiseman, Mr. McKernan, and other researchers tested 27 vials of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines and found the presence of the SV40 sequence in the Pfizer vials, not the Moderna ones.

  The testing, along with Health Canada’s statement, helps confirm the results of Mr. McKernan’s earlier testing, which identified the presence of the sequence.

  Dr. Phillip Buckhaults, a cancer genomics expert and a professor at the University of South Carolina, also found pieces of plasmid DNA in the vaccine. He told The Epoch Times that “no one knows if this DNA does anything clinically significant, but it is prudent to check vaccinated people for any evidence of genome modification.”

  Dr. Wafik El-Deiry, another cancer expert who serves as director of the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University, has said that the findings should spur more research into the impact of the vaccines on different parts of the body, including in the heart and brain.

  Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 20:20

• Migrant Hot-Potato: NYC Offers Illegals Plane Tickets To Anywhere But The Big Apple
  Migrant Hot-Potato: NYC Offers Illegals Plane Tickets To Anywhere But The Big Apple

  New York City Mayor Eric Adams has finally realized it: If you’re not actively playing the game of Illegal Immigrant Hot Potato, you’re on the losing end of it.

  For months, New York has been on the receiving end of the game, as the Republican governors of Texas and Florida aggressively bus migrants to New York and other big, blue cities. Now, with his city busting at the seams with hordes of varied Third Worlders, Adams has decided he’s all-in, and New York City is now aggressively offering migrants one-way plane tickets to anywhere else in the world but there.

  

  Given the leftist uproar and accusations of racism leveled at Governors Abbott and DeSantis, it’s amusing to watch the mayor’s office try to couch its aggressive migrant-export scheme in delicate terms. “With no sign of a decompression strategy in the near future, we have established a reticketing center for migrants,” said spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak. “Here, the city will redouble efforts to purchase tickets for migrants to help them take the next steps in their journeys.”

  On Thursday, Adams reiterated his previous plea for the federal government to scatter migrants all across the United States — not just in Democrat-run “sanctuary cities” like his, but in small towns too: “When people come across the border, we have 108,000 cities and villages — we should spread them out across the entire country, and not just New York, Chicago, Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston.”

  “Get them out! Get them out!”

  A sea of New Yorkers waving USA flags chant in unison at a protest against Eric Adams plan to resettle migrants in Staten Island.pic.twitter.com/W9tm4JYB37

  — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 15, 2023

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  While he continues to beg for financial and other help from the Biden administration, Adams has recognized that, against a daily cost of $394 per migrant, a one-way plane ticket to anywhere has a huge return on investment. And we don’t use “anywhere” lightly — Politico reports some have been given tickets to places like Morocco and Colombia. 

  If you were planning to see New York City at Christmastime, note that Adams and his team are now thinking of “distributing tents to newly arriving migrants and creating encampments in parks and other outdoor spaces,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. That could include tourist destination Central Park, and Prospect Park too. “When you are out of room, that means you’re out of room,” Adams said Thursday. Some 130,000 migrants have arrived in the city this year, with another 4,000 now arriving weekly.

  Adams’ approach to the immigration crisis isn’t winning fans among the progressive left. “What we’ve witnessed from this administration — even if they’re not directly saying ‘you’ve got to get out of here’ — is that they’ve consistently created hysteria and chaos and confusion and have not used a tone of inclusivity and welcome,” New York city council member Shahana Hanif told Politico. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 20:00

• Qatar Sentences Eight Indians To Death Over Israel Spy Charges
  Qatar Sentences Eight Indians To Death Over Israel Spy Charges

  Via Middle East Eye,

  Qatar sentenced eight former Indian naval officers to death after finding them guilty of spying on the Gulf state’s submarine program for Israel, according to a report by the Financial Times. India condemned the death sentences on Friday and said it will explore all legal avenues to reverse the verdict. 

  Last year, Doha detained the eight men who worked for a private company providing training to Qatar’s armed forces on espionage charges. Neither Qatar nor India have revealed what the men were found guilty of, but a person briefed on the case told the Financial Times the men had been charged with spying for Israel. 

  

  The Hindu newspaper also reported that Doha accused the men of “breaching sensitive secrets” after speaking to their families. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the claims. 

  A spokesperson for the Qatari government said it would not comment on claims the Indian men were handed a death sentence for espionage charges. 

  Death sentences in Qatar are rare, with the last execution in 2020 and the one before that in 2003, according to the source who spoke to the Financial Times. India confirmed that Qatari police had detained the eight men in August last year. 

  In a statement, India’s external affairs ministry said the men worked for a private company called Al-Dahra Global Technologies & Consultancy Services, and that it placed “high importance to this case and has been following it closely”.

  “The ministry will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance and will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities,” the Indian statement said. Al-Dahra, a private firm, provides training and related services to Qatar’s armed forces. Sources told NDTV in India that the men were working on a high-sensitivity project that involved Italian midget submarines with stealth characteristics. 

  Last year, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the men were “ex-servicemen”, with families of the men also confirming to local media that they had also served in the Indian navy. 

  Qatar has no formal relations with Israel but has played a central role in international efforts to free hostages held by Hamas and to de-escalate the current situation in Gaza. 

  Wild timing: “Qatar sentenced eight Indian former naval officers to death on Thursday after finding them guilty of spying on the Gulf state’s submarine programme for Israel.” They had been arrested in August 2022. https://t.co/cmPykEX8z5

  — Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) October 27, 2023

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  Earlier this week, Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, praised Qatar’s efforts to secure the release of hostages and said they were “crucial at this time” in a social media post. “I’m pleased to say that Qatar is becoming an essential party and stakeholder in the facilitation of humanitarian solutions. Qatar’s diplomatic efforts are crucial at this time,” Hanegbi posted on X.

  Qatar is home to hundreds of thousands of Indian workers who comprise much of the Gulf state’s migrant workforce. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 19:40

• Gun Czar Kamala Harris Praises Australian Gun Confiscation
  Gun Czar Kamala Harris Praises Australian Gun Confiscation

  Newly appointed Gun Czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, made a statement at the State Department on Thursday during an event with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, addressing the mass shooting in Maine.

  Her comments were not unexpected, as she praised Australia’s gun confiscation program.

  “As we gather details, we must continue to speak the truth about the moment we are in,” Gun Czar Harris said.

  “In our country today, the leading cause of death of American children is gun violence. Gun violence has terrorized and traumatized so many of our communities in the United States.”

  She continued: “And let us be clear, it does not have to be this way — as our friends in Australia have demonstrated.” 

  .@VP Harris praises Australia’s massive gun confiscation: “Let us be clear, it does not have to be this way, as our friends in Australia have demonstrated.” pic.twitter.com/3oKrlqq619

  — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 26, 2023

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  Gun Czar Harris referred to Australia’s largest mandatory gun buyback program in the late 1990s. 

  A summary on the official website of the Australian Parliament states that, unlike in the US, there is no legal entitlement to gun ownership in Australia. And Australian law requires citizens to prove why they need a gun.  

  What’s clear is the US is not Australia.

  Attacking the Second Amendment while praising a foreign country’s gun confiscation program is an ominous sign. 

  Earlier this year, President Biden said he would ban so-called ‘assault weapons’ and high-capacity magazines “come hell or high water” (thus ensuring that criminals are the only ones who have them).

  The problem with the rogue Biden officials attacking the 2A is that it leaves law-abiding, tax-paying citizens defenseless. At the same time, Democrats at all levels of government push disastrous defunding police policies. 

  In Sept., Democrats in New Mexico tried to enforce an emergency order by the governor to temporarily suspend the right to carry firearms in public in and around Albuquerque while also calling for a special legislative session to address the matter. 

  The objective of the Democrats is to disarm law-abiding citizens. However, it’s widely understood that criminals are unlikely to surrender their firearms.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 19:20

• "There Is No Cure": Long-Forgotten Virus Could Return, US Is Not Prepared
  “There Is No Cure”: Long-Forgotten Virus Could Return, US Is Not Prepared

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

  The mosquito-transmitted illness yellow fever, which caused havoc in the South during the 1800s, may see a resurgence in the United States, according to a new study.

  “Currently, the U.S. population is nearly entirely unvaccinated against yellow fever, and there are no vaccine doses in the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile,” wrote the authors of a recent paper in the New England Journal of Medicine.

  

  They continued to say: “During a sizable epidemic, yellow fever could tear quickly through unimmunized populations across the American South, and it is unlikely that the U.S. government would be prepared to acquire and distribute vaccines in a timely manner, even if there were public demand.”

  The authors said that large populations in southeastern U.S. cities like Galveston, Texas; Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; Tampa, Florida; and Corpus Christi, Texas, could lead to an epidemic of the virus, which is spread via the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

  “During the 1800s, yellow fever caused highly lethal and economically devastating urban epidemics in southern U.S. coastal cities and those on the Mississippi River,” the authors stated. “It was sometimes known as ‘yellow jack,’ from the name of a nautical flag hoisted from ships arriving from the Caribbean that were quarantined because of suspected cases of the disease.”

  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), yellow fever has no cure and those who develop severe disease have a high chance of death. But the CDC stressed that it is a “very rare cause of illness” in the United States and is spread via Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which officials say are found in parts of South America and Africa.

  The virus cannot be spread from person to person. One cannot transmit yellow fever through coughing, and it can only be spread via infected mosquitoes, according to officials.

  The Cleveland Clinic’s website says that a yellow fever-infected person can transmit the virus to a mosquito that bites them, and the mosquito can then transmit it to another person after it bites them. “If you’ve been diagnosed with yellow fever, continue to cover up. You don’t want a mosquito to bite you and then bite someone else,” the website says.

  However, there is no cure. Officials advise that anyone going to tropical areas should receive the yellow fever vaccine.

  “Occasionally, infected travelers have exported cases to countries that are free of yellow fever,” says the World Health Organization on its website. “However, the disease can only spread easily to a new country if there are mosquito species able to transmit it, specific climatic conditions, and the animal reservoir needed to maintain it.”

  Symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, muscle pain, body aches, vomiting, and nausea. Severe forms of the disease can lead to organ failure, hemorrhaging, and jaundice (the yellowing of the eyes and skin).

  Advertisement – Story continues below

  However, many people don’t experience symptoms at all, the WHO says, and most people who do develop symptoms see them disappear in three to four days. But it notes that a “small percentage” of yellow fever cases can enter a “more toxic phase” after 24 hours of recovering from the initial symptoms, with a high fever and multiple organs being impacted.

  “In this phase, people are likely to develop jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes, hence the name yellow fever), dark urine, and abdominal pain with vomiting. Bleeding can occur from the mouth, nose, eyes, or stomach. Half of these patients die within 7 [to] 10 days,” the WHO says

  The virus is also difficult to diagnose in its early stages, the U.N. organization says, because it appears similar to other illnesses.

  “More severe cases can be confused with severe malaria, leptospirosis, viral hepatitis (especially fulminant forms), other hemorrhagic fevers, infection with other flaviviruses (such as dengue hemorrhagic fever) and poisoning,” the WHO website says. “Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in blood and urine can sometimes detect the virus in early stages of the disease. In later stages, testing to identify antibodies is needed.”

  Each year, yellow fever is blamed for the deaths of about 30,000 people around the world, says the Cleveland Clinic’s website. Around 200,000 people annually are infected with the virus, it says. Most of the cases and deaths occur within Africa.

  Yellow fever outbreaks killed thousands of people per year in a number of U.S. cities between 1793 and 1905 AD, according to researchers. Thousands of people died in various outbreaks in northern cities such as Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, it found. However, those outbreaks appeared to occur mainly in the southeastern U.S.

  Experts say that people can protect themselves against mosquitoes in the warmer months by wearing protective clothing and using insect repellent.

  “We believe yellow fever should be prioritized as part of our national pandemic-preparedness efforts, given that the conditions are now in place for yellow jack to return and sicken many people in southern U.S. cities,” the report authors recently wrote.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 19:00

• Broke Millennials Wait For Boomer Parents To Die For Next 'Great Wealth Transfer'
  Broke Millennials Wait For Boomer Parents To Die For Next ‘Great Wealth Transfer’

  Since 1980, US government debt has exploded, soaring from a modest 31% to a staggering 120% of GDP. Meanwhile, 10-year Treasury yields have plummeted from 15% to 4.8%. This resulted in a massive wealth transfer from the public to the private sector, enriching Baby Boomers in the process. 

  

  According to Bank of America Research strategists led by Ohsung Kwon, boomers were in their prime time during this wealth expansion over the last several decades and emerged as the primary beneficiaries. This generation, born between 1946-64, along with “Traditionalists” (or silent generation), hold a whopping two-thirds of total net worth, mostly in financial assets. Kwon said boomers have secured low-rate mortgages while millennials have been left out. 

  

  In contrast, millennials have been the largest generation to incur the most mortgage debt in the housing mania after 2021. These young folks sparked bidding wars nationwide while taking on new mortgage debt with homes at record-high prices. 

  

  Younger generations have ‘gotten the short end of the stick’ regarding homeownership. These kids will have to get used to a life of renting. 

  

  Soaring interest rates and elevated home prices have sparked the worst housing affordability in generations. With that, so goes the ‘American Dream’. 

  

  Interestingly, the analyst noted, “Boomers have yet, if ever, to feel the impact of higher rates, and many wealthy Boomers are actually benefiting,” adding, “Everyone locked in 3% mortgage rates, except Millennials.” 

  

  Internal spending data from the bank shows Boomers and Traditionalists continue to spend while younger generations (who are interest rate sensitive) dial back spending – perhaps due to a depletion of savings. 

  

  Spending data also shows millennials are the only group with exploding credit card delinquencies that have rocketed above pre-Covid levels. Seriously, guys, come on – you know the risks of a recession are mounting… 

  

  When it comes to big-ticket items, millennials are the biggest spenders, but boomers outpace other generations on health care and entertainment spending. 

  

  The financial health of the younger generation is very concerning. These folks need a bailout – but might not receive one from the government – instead, the ‘bank of mom & dad’ in the next great wealth transfer from old to young. 

  The analyst offers good news: the wealth transfer has already begun, “There also appears to be an increase in generational wealth transfer with parents helping their kids buy homes.”

  More in the full note available to pro subs.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 18:40

• The Inflation Reduction Act: A Bidenomics Loser In 2024
  The Inflation Reduction Act: A Bidenomics Loser In 2024

  Authored by Mark Merritt and Jon McHenry via American Greatness,

  If history’s any indicator, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could haunt Democrats in 2024 like the Affordable Care Act did in the 2010 and 2014 elections.

  The most devastating line of those campaigns was: “My opponent voted for Obamacare, which cut $716 billion from Medicare.”

  A new economic analysis reveals that the IRA has the same problem.

  It too was funded at Medicare’s expense.

  Until now this has been obscured by budget gimmicky. Former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakins’ organization, the American Action Forum, uncovers what happened.

  

  In short, the IRA’s Medicare prescription drug reforms save the federal government $266 billion, but the savings are used to fund new climate spending, not reduce seniors’ pharmacy costs.

  The analysis concludes that, “the Medicare savings are simply another means of financing the IRA’s $670 billion in clean energy tax credits and other spending on energy and the environment.”

  While the law features some inexpensive new benefits, like a $2,000 cap on pharmacy out-of-pocket costs, these consume just a fraction of the savings from the prescription drug policies.

  If all the savings had been used to improve Medicare, it would mean $40,000 more for each of the program’s 65 million enrollees.  Instead, fewer than 10% of them will see any savings, usually less than $300. Just enough so the law’s backers can say it “reduces drug costs for seniors.”

  The big winners from IRA policies like letting Medicare “negotiate” drug prices will be millions of younger, white-collar professionals who’ll get $7,500 credits for electric vehicles (EVs). For each senior who saves a few dollars at the pharmacy counter, six EV buyers will save thousands at the dealership.

  This creates several problems next year for candidates who backed the law.

  First, cutting Medicare is ballot box poison.

   Eight-in-ten Americans – especially the voter-rich age group of 50-64 – fear for the program’s financial future.

  Democrats got hammered in 2010 and 2014 for voting to use Medicare funds to pay for Obamacare. In 2012, progressives returned the favor with the infamous “throw granny off a cliff” ad campaign attacking GOP Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposals.

  Second, candidates who backed the IRA have nowhere to hide in 2024.

  Senators who voted for it will be on the ballot with President Biden in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Ohio and Arizona. When the issue is raised in one state, candidates in all the others will have to respond, too.

  Third, the law torpedoes the middle-class, “Bidenomics” message.

  It’s tough to talk about growing the economy “from the middle out and the bottom up” when transferring wealth from Medicare seniors to EV buyers, who typically earn $150,000 a year.  That’s twice the nation’s median household income.

  Finally, taking savings from Medicare to fight climate change will make no sense outside the bubbles of climate activism and academia.

  Most voters think rising sea levels pose far less of an “existential threat” than policies that put their health care at risk. Even those who are concerned about the environment see health care as a much higher priority. Furthermore, voters are notoriously stingy when asked to make real trade-offs for the cause.

  This summer, voters in Sonoma, California – one of our wealthiest, bluest counties — rejected a quarter-cent tax hike to reduce local reliance on fossil fuels.

  Imagine how a quarter-trillion-dollar Medicare cut will play next year in Erie and Kenosha.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 18:20

• Watch: Chinese Jet Comes Dangerously Within 10 Feet Of US B-52 Bomber
  Watch: Chinese Jet Comes Dangerously Within 10 Feet Of US B-52 Bomber

  There’s been another military close-call between US and Chinese aerial patrols in skies off China, with the Pentagon blasting the unsafe maneuvering of a Chinese fighter jet. 

  “The Chinese Shenyang J-11 rapidly approached the US B-52 bomber on Tuesday over the South China Sea and came within 10 feet of contact,” a Pentagon official said Thursday of the fresh incident. The Department of Defense subsequently released footage of the extremely close intercept. 

  

  The US statement said the Chinese J-11 harassed the B-52, flying at “uncontrolled excessive speed, flying below, in front of, and within 10 feet of the B-52, putting both aircraft in danger of a collision.”

  The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command went on to say “We are concerned this pilot was unaware of how close he came to causing a collision,” in a press release.

  It’s certainly not the first time this kind of close shadowing maneuver was used by Chinese PLA pilots as part of efforts to thwart what are typically US reconnaissance patrols. But it’s more rare that this would involve a B-52 bomber. No doubt its presence over regional waters made Chinese military leaders nervous.

  And a little over a week ago a very similar hostile encounter occurred involving a Canadian spy plane which was coordinating with US and Western efforts to monitor North Korea’s weapons program. That prior incident also saw a PLA fighter come within mere meters of the Canadian aircraft. 

  Watch footage of the very close intercept released by the Pentagon:

  #USINDOPACOM Statement on #PRC Unprofessional Intercept: “A People’s Republic of China J-11 pilot executed an unsafe intercept of a U.S. Air Force B-52 aircraft which was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea…”

  Read more⬇️https://t.co/UnCmnneAr7 pic.twitter.com/6k79Koah3V

  — U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (@INDOPACOM) October 26, 2023

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

  But like with the other episodes, Beijing has a different reading, charging that this is but the result of Western aggression and hegemony which seeks to provoke incidents by sending military assets thousands of miles away near China’s waters.

  “The U.S. military planes traveled thousands of miles to China’s doorstep to flex muscle,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has said in response. She emphasized, “That is the source of maritime and air security risks, and is not conducive to regional peace and stability.”

  The US issued its usual counter, saying, “The U.S. will continue to fly, sail and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international laws allow.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 18:00

• Health Care Worker Crisis Looms As Burnout And Mental Health Issues Surge, CDC Warns
  Health Care Worker Crisis Looms As Burnout And Mental Health Issues Surge, CDC Warns

  Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Health care workers are experiencing burnout, harassment, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health symptoms at alarming levels, a Vital Signs report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found.

  

  Experts warn this could lead to critical health care staffing shortages, threatening patient care at a time when an aging population needs it most.

  “It’s a looming crisis,” Dr. Timothy Sullivan, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Staten Island University Hospital in New York, told The Epoch Times, urging swift action before the problem becomes a full-blown emergency.

  “Everybody’s saying this is alarming, but what are we doing?” he said.

  Health Care Worker Injuries Surge Over 250 Percent

  The CDC analyzed data from the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Survey, comparing mental health symptoms reported by 1,443 adult workers in 2018 and 1,952 in 2022. The respondents were grouped into three categories: health care workers, other essential workers, and all other workers.

  Health workers experienced a nearly 250 percent increase in work-related injury and illness rates between 2019 and 2020, according to the CDC team led by Dr. L. Casey Chosewood, director of the Office for Total Worker Health at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

  “Many of our nation’s health care systems are at their breaking point,” Dr. Chosewood said at a press conference. “Staffing crises, lack of supportive leadership, long hours of work, excessive demands, and inflexibilities in our nation’s health systems all must be addressed.”

  COVID-19 intensified many health workers’ longstanding challenges, but it also “contributed to new and worsening concerns,” said Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer. These include compassion fatigue, depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and suicidal thoughts.

  Harassment Fuels Health Care Worker Burnout

  The CDC survey found nearly 46 percent of health care workers reported frequent burnout in 2022, up from 32 percent in 2018.

  Harassment in the form of threats, bullying, verbal abuse, and hostile actions from patients or coworkers was a significant contributor, more than doubling since 2018, from 6.4 percent to 13.4 percent in 2022. Those reporting harassment were more likely to have anxiety, depression, and burnout, according to the report.

  About Half of Health Care Workers Look to Quit

  Intentions by health workers to change jobs also increased, with 44 percent in 2022 reporting they were likely or very likely to look for a new job in the next year. The turnover intention in 2018 for health workers was 33 percent.

  The share of workers in the other two survey groups who planned to seek a different job decreased.

  Who’s to Blame?

  Fundamental health care system issues, such as the way the system is organized, both at an institutional level and as a business, are at play, according to Dr. Sullivan. “It has become a very big business,” he noted.

  Reordering priorities is needed to invest in resources that make health care work “more livable” and expand access to care that lessens long-term burdens, he added.

  Rehaul Health Care to Cut Worker Burnout: Expert

  Seeing many die during the pandemic took a toll, but health care workers mainly needed “financial resources to help care for their families,” Dr. Sullivan said. This was particularly true for nurses and other frontline health care workers, he noted. They “needed time off from work and help paying bills, and so on.”

  Dr. Sullivan said that he had been directly involved in efforts to provide “psychological first aid” to assist providers with the traumatic aspects of health care work.

  But real solutions require rethinking how we’ve organized health care, he added. It’s not just raising salaries. More people doing the work to improve access and quality and lower worker stress are needed, according to Dr. Sullivan.

  “Unfortunately, our health care system is heavily, heavily slanted towards richly reimbursing procedures that are high-cost, [and] highly profitable, even for nonprofit hospitals,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 10/27/2023 – 17:40

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