Aug 29

Today’s News 29th August 2024

  • These Are The Countries With The Highest Wealth Per Person
    These Are The Countries With The Highest Wealth Per Person

    In 2023, global wealth increased by 4.2% as global stock markets rebounded and inflation eased.

    While Europe, the Middle East, and Africa achieved the strongest wealth growth, the U.S. accelerated at roughly half the rate of these regions, at 2.5% annually. From a regional perspective, average wealth in 2023 breaks down as follows:

    • Europe, the Middle East, and Africa: $166,000 per adult

    • Asia Pacific: $156,000 per adult

    • Americas: $146,000 per adult

    This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu, shows the top 10 countries by average and median wealth, based on data from UBS.

    Highest Average Wealth per Person, by Country

    Average wealth is a country’s total wealth divided by the adult population. These figures can be skewed by extremely high or low values, such as wealth held by billionaires.

    Below, we show the countries with the highest average wealth per person in 2023 across a dataset of 56 countries, covering approximately 92.2% of the global population:

    Switzerland ranks first overall, with average wealth per adult increasing from $685,226 in 2022 to $709,612 in 2023.

    As we can see, many of the most affluent nations are small countries with thriving financial sectors, including Luxembourg and Singapore. These countries benefit from significant foreign direct investment and pro-business policies, which help spur economic wealth. In Singapore, capital gains and dividend income are tax-free.

    Highest Median Wealth per Person, by Country

    If we are to look at a more representative measure of wealth distribution, through median wealth, it tells a different story.

    Median wealth is the value that divides a population’s total wealth in half, with half of the population having more and half having less. It represents the “middle of the pack.”

    As the table below shows, median wealth per adult is much lower than average figures across many countries, highlighting wealth gaps across populations. In Switzerland, it is four times smaller, while median wealth is nearly five times lower in the United States:

    By this measure, Luxembourg sits at the top, a country with the highest density of millionaires in the world.

    Roughly 16% of the population are millionaires, compared to the 1.5% average across the 56 countries analyzed. Additionally, there are no billionaires in Luxembourg, standing at a population of just 653,000 people.

    Moreover, Australia and Belgium rise up the ranks, with Belgium seeing a particularly small gap between average and median wealth. Part of this is attributed to high real estate ownership in Belgium, where 10% of the population own more than one home.

    To learn more about this topic from a U.S.-based perspective, check out this graphic on wealth distribution by income group in America.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/29/2024 – 02:45

  • "The Immigration Crisis Is First & Foremost A Crime Crisis" – Police Union Boss Warns Germany No Longer Safe
    “The Immigration Crisis Is First & Foremost A Crime Crisis” – Police Union Boss Warns Germany No Longer Safe

    Via ReMix News,

    In what is increasingly becoming a PR disaster for the far-left German government, the terror knife attack in Solingen, perpetrated by a Syrian national, is highlighting the unavoidable connection between immigration and exploding crime and violence.

    In the wake of the attack, German police union (DPoIG) chairman Manuel Ostermann slammed the status quo, called the immigration problems a crime problem, and said Islam was the greatest threat to the country in terms of security.

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    “Yes, our country has changed. Nothing about it is positive. Germany is no longer a safe country. We have a massive problem with knife crime. The migration crisis is first and foremost a crime crisis. And the greatest danger to life and limb of people living in Germany is clearly posed by Islamists. This reality can no longer be ignored or tabooed. Now is the time to recognize reality and implement clear measures in the constitutional fight against precisely this security policy madness,” Ostermann said in a video statement.

    As the leader of the second-largest police union in Germany, with nearly 100,000 members, his words carry extra weight with the public and police forces who have to deal with Germany’s surging insecurity.

    In an interview, he said that politicians often deliver empty phrases following such attacks, and Solingen was no different. He noted that the Islamist terror attack in Mannheim, which resulted in a police officer’s death showed, there is little concern for what officers have to face.

    “It is incomprehensible that budgetary resources for the police are being cut while the threat level is increasing,” Ostermann told Apollo News.

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    According to Ostermann, asylum policy is failing. The trade unionist said there is a lack of deportation detention centers, bureaucratic insanity, and a lack of action from politicians. The fact that most deportations fail “speaks volumes,” he said.

    Ostermann’s stance is a sharp repudiation of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s claims for years that the far right is the country’s biggest extremism threat, despite ample evidence showing otherwise. Now, with record violent crime levels in Germany, record amounts of foreigners committing crimes, an Islamic extremist knife attacker in Mannheim who killed a police officer earlier this year, and the latest attack in Solingen during the Festival of Diversity that killed three, her claims are looking more and more ludicrous.

    Meanwhile, Social Democrat (SPD) leader Saskia Esken claimed in response to the Solingen massacre that “I don’t think we can learn much from this attack.”

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    Notably, the Syrian national responsible was ordered to be deported in 2022 but went into hiding. After reappearing six months later, he was granted protected status.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/29/2024 – 02:00

  • The Western Way Of War – Owning The Narrative Trumps Reality
    The Western Way Of War – Owning The Narrative Trumps Reality

    Authored by Alastair Crooke,

    War propaganda and feint are as old as the hills. Nothing new. But what is new is that infowar is no longer the adjunct to wider war objectives – but has become an end in and of itself.

    The West has come to view ‘owning’ the winning narrative – and presenting the Other’s as clunky, dissonant, and extremist – as being more important than facing facts-on-the ground. Owning the winning narrative is to win, in this view. Virtual ‘victory’ thus trumps ‘real’ reality.

    So, war becomes rather the setting for imposing ideological alignment across a wide global alliance and enforcing it via compliant media.

    This objective enjoys a higher priority than, say, ensuring a manufacturing capacity sufficient to sustain military objectives. Crafting an imagined ‘reality’ has taken precedence over shaping the ground reality.

    The point here is that this approach – being a function of whole of society alignment (both at home and abroad) – creates entrapments into false realities, false expectations, from which an exit (when such becomes necessary), turns near impossible, precisely because imposed alignment has ossified public sentiment. The possibility for a State to change course as events unfold becomes curtailed or lost, and the accurate reading of facts on the ground veers toward the politically correct and away from reality.

    The cumulative effect of ‘a winning virtual narrative’ holds the risk nonetheless, of sliding incrementally toward inadvertent ‘real war’.

    Take, for example, the NATO-orchestrated and equipped incursion into the symbolically significant Kursk Oblast. In terms of a ‘winning narrative’, its appeal to the West is obvious: Ukraine ‘takes the war to into Russia’.

    Had the Ukrainian forces succeeded in capturing the Kursk Nuclear Power Station, they then would have had a significant bargaining chip, and might well have syphoned away Russian forces from the steadily collapsing Ukrainian ‘Line’ in Donbas.

    And to top it off, (in infowar terms), the western media was prepped and aligned to show President Putin as “frozen” by the surprise incursion, and “wobbling” with anxiety that the Russian public would turn against him in their anger at the humiliation.

    Bill Burns, head of CIA, opined that “Russia would offer no concessions on Ukraine, until Putin’s over-confidence was challenged, and Ukraine could show strength”. Other U.S. officials added that the Kursk incursion – in itself – would not bring Russia to the negotiating table; It would be necessary to build on the Kursk operation with other daring operations (to shake Moscow’s sang froid).

    Of course, the overall aim was to show Russia as fragile and vulnerable, in line with the narrative that, at any moment Russia, could crack apart and scatter to the wind, in fragments. Leaving the West as winner, of course.

    In fact, the Kursk incursion was a huge NATO gamble: It involved mortgaging Ukraine’s military reserves and armour, as chips on the roulette table, as a bet that an ephemeral success in Kursk would upend the strategic balance. The bet was lost, and the chips forfeit.

    Plainly put, this Kursk affair exemplifies the West’s problem with ‘winning narratives’: Their inherent flaw is that they are grounded in emotivism and eschew argumentation. Inevitably, they are simplistic. They are simply intended to fuel a ‘whole of society’ common alignment. Which is to say that across MSM; business, federal agencies, NGOs and the security sector, all should adhere to opposing all ‘extremisms’ threatening ‘our democracy’.

    This aim, of itself, dictates that the narrative be undemanding and relatively uncontentious: ‘Our Democracy, Our Values and Our Consensus’. The Democratic National Convention, for example, embraces ‘Joy’ (repeated endlessly), ‘moving Forward’ and ‘opposing weirdness’ as key statements. They are banal, however, these memes are given their energy and momentum, not by content so much, as by the deliberate Hollywood setting lending them razzamatazz and glamour.

    It is not hard to see how this one-dimensional zeitgeist may have contributed to the U.S. and its allies’ misreading the impact of today’s Kursk ‘daring adventure’ on ordinary Russians.

    ‘Kursk’ has history. In 1943, Germany invaded Russia in Kursk to divert from its own losses, with Germany ultimately defeated at the Battle of Kursk. The return of German military equipment to the environs of Kursk must have left many gaping; the current battlefield around the town of Sudzha is precisely the spot where, in 1943, the Soviet 38th and 40th armies coiled for a counteroffensive against the German 4th Army.

    Over the centuries, Russia has been variously attacked on its vulnerable flank from the West. And more recently by Napoleon and Hitler. Unsurprisingly, Russians are acutely sensitive to this bloody history. Did Bill Burns et al think this through? Did they imagine that NATO invading Russia itself would make Putin feel ‘challenged’, and that with one further shove, he would fold, and agree to a ‘frozen’ outcome in Ukraine – with the latter entering NATO? Maybe they did.

    Ultimately the message that western services sent was that the West (NATO) is coming for Russia. This is the meaning of deliberately choosing Kursk. Reading the runes of Bill Burns message says prepare for war with NATO.

    Just to be clear, this genre of ‘winning narrative’ surrounding Kursk is neither deceit nor feint. The Minsk Accords were examples of deceit, but they were deceits grounded in rational strategy (i.e. they were historically normal). The Minsk deceits were intended to buy the West time to further Ukraine’s militarisation – before attacking the Donbas. The deceit worked, but only at the price of a rupture of trust between Russia and the West. The Minsk deceits however, also accelerated an end to the 200-year era of the westification of Russia.

    Kursk rather, is a different ‘fish’. It is grounded in the notions of western exceptionalism. The West perceives itself as tacking to ‘the right side of History’. ‘Winning narratives’ essentially assert – in secular format – the inevitability of the western eschatological Mission for global redemption and convergence. In this new narrative context, facts-on-the-ground become mere irritants, and not realities that must be taken into account.

    This their Achilles’ Heel.

    The DNC convention in Chicago however, underscored a further concern:

    Just as the hegemonic West arose out of the Cold War era shaped and invigorated through dialectic opposition to communism (in the western mythology), so we see today, a (claimed) totalising ‘extremism’ (whether of MAGA mode; or of the external variety: Iran, Russia, etc.) – posed in Chicago in a similar Hegelian dialectic opposition to the former capitalism versus communism; but in today’s case, it is “extremism” in conflict with “Our Democracy”.

    The DNC Chicago narrative-thesis is itself a tautology of identity differentiation posing as ‘togetherness’ under a diversity banner and in conflict with ‘whiteness’ and ‘extremism’. ‘Extremism’ effectively plainly is being set up as the successor to the former Cold War antithesis – communism.

    The Chicago ‘back-room’ may be imagining that a confrontation with extremism – writ widely – will again, as it did in the post-Cold War era, yield an American rejuvenation. Which is to say that a conflict with Iran, Russia, and China (in a different way) may come onto the agenda. The telltale signs are there (plus the West’s need for a re-set of its economy, which war regularly provides).

    The Kursk ploy no doubt seemed clever and audacious to London and Washington. Yet with what result? It achieved neither objective of taking Kursk NPP, nor of syphoning Russian troops from the Contact Line. The Ukrainian presence in the Kursk Oblast will be eliminated.

    What it did do, however, is put an end to all prospects of an eventual negotiated settlement in Ukraine. Distrust of the U.S. in Russia is now absolute. It has made Moscow more determined to prosecute the special operation to conclusion. German equipment visible in Kursk has raised old ghosts, and consolidated awareness of the hostile western intentions toward Russia.

    ‘Never again’ is the unspoken riposte.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 23:25

  • China Dominates Global Coal Consumption
    China Dominates Global Coal Consumption

    Despite many nations transitioning away from fossil fuels, in 2023, world coal consumption reached a staggering 164 exajoules (EJ) of energy, a record high for any year. 

    For this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Alan Kennedy has partnered with Range ETFs to explore the role coal plays in the global energy mix and determine which regions still consume large quantities of coal. 

    The Role of Coal in Global Energy

    Coal is a significant player in the global energy mix, contributing 26% of the world’s energy in 2023, more than all non-fossil fuel sources combined. The only energy source that contributed more to the global energy mix was oil.

    Here’s how that consumption breaks down by region:

    Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. *Commonwealth of Independent States

    Coal consumption has decreased in many regions. For example, both North America and Europe reduced their energy consumption from coal by 16% in 2023. However, a heavy reliance on coal in the Asia Pacific region has led to global coal consumption remaining essentially the same over the past 10 years.

    In 2023, China increased its coal consumption from 88 EJ to nearly 92 EJ—totalling 56% of global coal consumption. This contributed significantly to Asia Pacific leading the world with a staggering 83% of global coal consumption. 

    The Importance of Coal

    Easy access to existing infrastructure and reasonable prices have not only sustained global coal consumption over the last 10 years, but also paved the way for potential growth. Many developing nations are now expanding their coal consumption, presenting potential opportunities in the coal market.

    For example, as per the Statistical Review of World Energy 2024, between 2022 and 2023, Bangladesh and Colombia saw double-digit percentage increases in year-over-year coal consumption: 41% and 53%, respectively.

    Coal continues to play a critical role in the global energy mix, especially in the developing world, where its affordability makes it the current energy source of choice.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 23:00

  • An Amazonian Superfruit May Reverse Fatty Liver Disease, Study Finds
    An Amazonian Superfruit May Reverse Fatty Liver Disease, Study Finds

    Authored by Cara Michelle Miller via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Camu camu, a small yet powerful berry from the Amazon rainforest, could be useful in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), recent research suggests.

    juerginho/Shutterstock

    “When we compare camu camu versus placebo, [there’s more than] a 15 percent difference in your liver fat in only 12 weeks,” André Marette, a medical professor at Laval University in Quebec and the lead author of the study, told The Epoch Times in an interview.

    Camu camu is a berry native to South America, characterized by a deep red color when ripe and a tart flavor, and is about the size of a grape.

    NAFLD begins with fat buildup in the liver, which can lead to severe liver conditions, such as liver scarring. Without intervention, NAFLD can potentially progress to fatal liver failure. The condition currently affects more than a quarter of adults in the United States.

    The study was published on Aug. 20 in Cell Reports Medicine.

    Camu Camu Reduces Liver Fat

    In a randomized, double-blind trial, Marette and the research team from Laval University studied 30 overweight adults with high blood lipid levels—a marker for NAFLD—who were given either 1.5 grams of camu camu powder or a placebo daily for 12 weeks.

    Participants taking camu camu experienced a nearly 7.5 percent reduction of fat in their livers, as measured by magnetic resonance imaging, while those on the placebo saw a nearly 8.5 percent increase.

    This is more than a 15 percent difference, according to the study’s authors, highlighting camu camu’s potential as a powerful natural remedy for fatty liver disease.

    Known for its high vitamin C levels, camu camu contains a unique mix of beneficial polyphenols, including ellagic acid and castalagin, both of which have anti-inflammatory properties.

    According to the study authors, there is a lack of pharmacological treatments for managing NAFLD which currently primarily relies on lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise, as the condition is closely tied to obesity and diabetes.

    Polyphenols and Gut Health

    The benefits of camu camu are largely attributed to its impact on fat metabolism. The researchers believe that camu camu’s health effects come from its high concentration of polyphenols which assist in breaking down fat in the liver and inhibit the formation of new fat.

    “Our hypothesis was that even a short-term treatment with camu camu would help burn the fat out of the liver,” Marette said.

    Camu camu’s effectiveness is enhanced by having a healthy gut microbiome, which consists of beneficial bacteria that help metabolize the polyphenols in camu camu, said Marette.

    “The microbiota metabolizes the large polyphenol molecules that cannot be absorbed by the intestine, transforming them into smaller molecules that the body can assimilate to decrease liver fat,” Marette stated in a press release. Those with a well-balanced microbiome are likely to benefit most from camu camu’s effects, he added.

    Participants in the camu camu group also showed reductions in key liver enzymes that are typically elevated in NAFLD and indicate liver damage. Additionally, their gut microbiomes exhibited beneficial changes, indicating that gut health is linked to metabolic health.

    These improvements occurred without significant changes in body weight or overall body fat, suggesting that camu camu specifically targets liver health rather than general weight loss.

    Findings from previous animal studies suggest that camu camu may also reduce body fat stores and body weight over a longer period of time, the researchers say. 

    To date, there are few studies on risks or concerns associated with consuming camu camu products, with one from 2013 that featured a case study of possible liver injury related to its use. Additionally, because it is high in vitamin C, it may interfere with certain chemotherapy drugs.

    Looking Ahead: Advancing Treatment for All Ages

    The incidence of NAFLD has surged across all age groups from 2017 and 2021, with the most significant increase observed in children under 17.

    According to data from Trilliant Health, NAFLD diagnoses in this age group more than doubled during this period, reflecting a rise in childhood obesity and diabetes.

    Future research aims to enhance the benefits of camu camu by identifying which gut bacteria are essential for metabolizing its polyphenols. Marette told the Epoch Times that not all participants experienced the same level of liver fat reduction, which the researchers attribute to variations in “the participants’ gut microbiota composition.”

    Marette said that the next step will be to pinpoint the key bacteria needed for metabolizing these polyphenols. Researchers will also investigate the metabolic products of camu camu’s polyphenols to understand their role in reducing liver fat. The team is optimistic that camu camu could become a valuable tool for both prevention and treatment.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 22:35

  • Gavin Newsom Considers Plan To Force Public Colleges To Hire Illegal Immigrants
    Gavin Newsom Considers Plan To Force Public Colleges To Hire Illegal Immigrants

    Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times,

    California lawmakers passed a bill Aug. 26 that would prohibit colleges and universities in the state from making hiring decisions based on a students’ immigration status, with the measure now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk awaiting a signature or veto.

    At issue is Assembly Bill 2586, introduced by Assemblymembers David Alvarez (D-San Diego) and Mike Gipson (D-Carson) and better known as the Opportunity for All Act, which instructs the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges to treat federal laws prohibiting hiring undocumented individuals as inapplicable beginning on or before Jan. 6, 2025.

    Alvarez said the bill is needed because such students have “fulfilled their obligations” and are preparing themselves to better serve the state.

    “America has always promised that if you work hard, you will have the opportunity to succeed,” he said in legislative analyses. “This bill will provide them with the opportunity to be employed by their campus to earn the financial means as they work towards completing their degrees.”

    The author said the bill would also bolster California’s position as a leading policymaker that inspires national trends.

    “California has the opportunity to continue to serve as a model for the rest of the nation,” Alvarez said. “Only then can our state truly maintain its status as an economic powerhouse and the place where the nation’s future is invented.”

    The bill passed 63–7 in the Assembly and 31–8 in the Senate, with most Republicans voting against it.

    “This bill flagrantly flouts federal law, and federal law is very clear. You have to be eligible for employment to be hired, you cannot be here unlawfully,” Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Corona) told The Epoch Times.

    “Now California has passed a bill saying we’re going to ignore that … and that is not democracy.”

    One proponent of the bill called its passage a “huge win for undocumented students in California.”

    “Victory,” the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights posted Aug. 26 on X. “Now, [the governor] must sign the bill to secure equal opportunities for all students in [California].”

    Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bill.

    An organization representing students said the approximately 83,000 undocumented students attending California’s institutions of higher learning would greatly benefit from the law.

    “California has been a leader in the nation in providing education to students, with grants, loans, and scholarships available to undocumented students pursuing their higher education dreams,” the California State Student Association said in legislative analyses. “AB 2586 would open doors for students, regardless of immigration status, to continue to pursue their higher education dreams while being eligible for work opportunities on campus.”

    The California Labor Federation said in analyses that current guidelines that outlaw the hiring of undocumented students are rooted in what some believe is an “incorrect interpretation” of the Immigration Reform and Control Act passed in 1986.

    “Legal scholars have identified that the federal prohibition on hiring undocumented people does not apply to state governments when they act as employers, like California’s higher education systems,” the group wrote in legislative analyses. “This means that the [University of California], [California State University], and the [state’s community colleges] can authorize the hiring of all their undocumented students.”

    While no official opposition was received by legislative committees, the University of California wrote a letter outlining concerns that some undocumented students and their families could face criminal prosecution or deportation, employees participating in hiring decisions could be subject to civil or criminal prosecution due to violations of federal law, and the university system could incur civil fines and face criminal penalties or lose access to federal contracts.

    State university systems also noted that billions of dollars in federal funding could be jeopardized for violating federal law.

    Essayli, an attorney with experience as a federal prosecutor, advised schools to discuss the matter with legal counsel before proceeding.

    “I would strongly encourage every … campus to talk to their attorneys before they violate federal law … because it could jeopardize their federal funding, and more importantly, subject them to both civil and criminal prosecution,” Essayli said.

    If signed into law, costs to the state could be in the mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars for universities to update policies, and one-time costs could reach millions of dollars to update procedures across the state’s 72 community college districts, according to the Senate’s Appropriations Committee.

    One lawmaker said the bill would help students manage expenses.

    “Students attending UC campuses, state universities, and community colleges should have equal access to employment and other opportunities just like every other student, regardless of their immigration status,” state Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) said in a February press release issued by Alvarez. “They also need qualitative work experience and to earn an income during their studies, especially as college tuition hikes make it more difficult for our students to attain higher education.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 21:45

  • Zelensky Claims West-Supplied F16s Successfully Shot Down Russian Missiles
    Zelensky Claims West-Supplied F16s Successfully Shot Down Russian Missiles

    This week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that for the first time Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets have been engaged in combat against the Russians, and successfully shot down inbound missiles and drones.

    “We destroyed already some missiles and drones using the F-16,” Zelensky said Tuesday, specifically in comments given in English, before a press briefing – but without providing many details.

    File image: AFP

    The first batch of F-16s donated by European countries, and greenlighted by Washington, only arrived earlier this month; however it’s not known precisely how many are now in Ukraine’s possession or where they are operating from.

    Monday through Tuesday saw one of the largest waves of airstrikes by Russia targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure nationwide. 

    Despite that Ukraine may at this point be operating a dozen US-made F-16s or more, Russia still managed to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses, targeting 15 out of 24 oblasts – and plunging much of the country into darkness.

    But Kiev is claiming that only some 10% of Russian projectiles fired in the Monday large-scale attack hit their targets, out of well over 100 missiles and the same amount of drones fired.

    Previously, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov warned that the Kremlin “will regard the very fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere.”

    Still, Zelensky is already pushing for more jets in order to defend the skies. The Economist has indicated that ten have so far been delivered, out of a pledged total of 79. 

    But Zelensky has stated that his armed forces need at least 128 if they hope to successfully take on the well-armed Russians.

    Photographs at undisclosed locations of F-16s parked in Ukraine have emerged this month…

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    The The Wall Street Journal previously indicated that the Pentagon is outfitting Ukraine’s jets with air-to-ground AGM-88 HARM missiles, bomb sights, diameter bombs, AMRAAM advanced air-to-air missiles, and AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missiles. All sides keep escalating and the weapons pipeline to Kiev shows no signs of slowing.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 21:20

  • Underreported Polling Suggests Trump Is Poised To Win PA
    Underreported Polling Suggests Trump Is Poised To Win PA

    Authored by Athan Koutsiouroumbas via RealClearPennsylvania,

    If past is prologue, Donald Trump will win Pennsylvania.

    Eight years ago this week, Hillary Clinton led in Pennsylvania by more than nine points; four years ago, Joe Biden led by nearly six points. Clinton lost Pennsylvania by less than a point, while Biden won it by more than a point.

    Heading into the Democratic National Convention, the Emerson/RealClearPennsylvania poll showed Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris by a point.

    Averaging together the Pennsylvania polling taken since Harris became the Democratic Party’s nominee, the state’s presidential race is a dead heat.

    Of the fifty-nine public polls released in 2016 tracking the Pennsylvania presidential race, Trump led in only two. In 2020, Trump led in only five of the eighty-four Pennsylvania polls released.

    This cycle, Trump has led in thirteen of the seventeen Pennsylvania polls released. In fact, Trump is leading more polls than the previous two election cycles combined, and we have yet to reach Labor Day, when polling frequency intensifies.

    Considering the previous Pennsylvania election results, today’s polling suggests that Trump is poised to seize the largest margin of victory for a presidential candidate in Pennsylvania since Barack Obama’s eight-point win in 2008.

    It’s unlikely that Trump can duplicate Obama’s margin. Pennsylvania voters are supremely polarized, just like elsewhere in the country. The partisan mobilization of the left and right guarantees a close race. Harris’s candidacy has ignited a previously dormant liberal base, while legal persecution and an assassination attempt on Trump crystallized voting as a cultural imperative on the right.

    Nonetheless, the dramatic polling shift compared with previous presidential election cycles is confounding, as no pivotal factor explains Trump’s persistent overperformance. Rather, it appears to be caused by an accrual of factors.

    One factor may be the reputed “shy Trump voters” who are no longer inhibited from voicing their support. These voters shocked the world in 2016 and defied 2020 polling. They are now out of the Trump closet, loud and proud.

    Another factor may be the strength of regional biases. In northeastern Pennsylvania, Biden wore his “Scranton Joe” moniker proudly, emphasizing his birthplace and hardscrabble roots in the Commonwealth. It helped Biden tap into the region’s swing voters in a way that Clinton could not. Now these voters are trending Republican, and Biden’s absence from the ticket gives license for them to go with the GOP.

    It’s a similar dynamic in northwestern Pennsylvania. Erie County’s working-class voters, who put both Obama and Trump in office, are unlikely to lean toward Harris, who calls San Francisco home. In Butler County, where Trump was shot and a beloved firefighter was murdered in the crossfire, voters will surge for Trump to a historic level.

    In the Philadelphia media market, which includes Delaware, daily political coverage included Biden’s senatorial career for over forty years. Philadelphia and suburban residents learned about Biden’s doings no differently than from their own senators. Biden improved on Clinton’s historic suburban margins; Harris cannot recreate this affinity.

    An African-American turnout surge in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, akin to that which propelled Obama into office, is highly likely. However, the anecdotes of Trump getting a closer look from black males are real. He earned 12% of the black vote in 2020, and it is not unreasonable to expect that he could maintain or improve on that performance, which may negate a Harris-driven turnout surge.

    Driving the wedge with African American males, and with most Pennsylvanians, is the economy. Over 50% of Pennsylvanians rank the economy as the top issue, with Trump carrying a commanding lead over Harris in this regard. Meanwhile, less than 5% of voters rate abortion access as the election’s top issue. Most Pennsylvania political analysts cannot recall a time this century when a single issue so dominated voters’ priorities.

    The unprecedented shift in Pennsylvania’s voter registration is yet another factor. Since 2008, the 1.1 million-voter Democratic registration advantage has whittled down to about 350,000. Prior to the 2024 Pennsylvania primary, all 67 of Pennsylvania’s counties saw net gains of Republican voters. Should the trend continue, Pennsylvania will be majority Republican by 2028.

    Mail-in balloting is relatively new to Pennsylvania. Starting during the 2020 Covid lockdowns, Democratic applicants hold a nearly 3:1 advantage over Republicans. While the margin is daunting, the lack of enthusiasm for Biden’s candidacy may hold relief for Republicans. 

    In the 2020 presidential election, nearly 1.7 million Democrats applied for a mail-in ballot; more than half of applicants applied after the third week of August. In the 2022 midterm, more than 900,000 Democrats applied for a mail-in ballot; about one-third applied after the same week in August. This year, about 650,000 Democrats have applied as of last week. To meet 2020’s tally, the Democrats have a lot of work to do.  Yet all these factors pale beside the stunning polling trend that Trump is experiencing in the Keystone State. The former president’s Pennsylvania polling strength and consistency may be the most underreported trend of the 2024 election cycle.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 20:55

  • Indian Hindus And Muslims See Neighbors Negatively
    Indian Hindus And Muslims See Neighbors Negatively

    Indians tend to perceive their neighbors much more negatively than they are perceived themselves.

    This is according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. Interestingly, Muslim Indians followed these same patterns, only perceiving some neighbors slightly more favorably, including Muslim nations.

    As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, during the survey carried out in early 2024, fewer than half of Indians had good things to say about neighboring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

    Infographic: Indian Hindus and Muslims See Neighbors Negatively | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    While only 11 percent of Hindu Indians viewed Pakistan positively, this was up to 22 percent among Muslim Indians. Muslim-majority nation Bangladesh was a little more popular among the two groups, at 34 percent and 39 percent, respectively, expressing favorability. Sri Lanka scored highest among Hindu Indians – at a still modest 44 percent – while Muslim Indians saw the country less favorably, with just 29 percent expressing this sentiment.

    This is in stark contrast to the opinions about India among Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans. Between 54 percent and 82 percent saw India positively as of the latest survey. Here, differences between Muslims and Hindus were more pronounced, with 54-64 percent of Muslims and 80+ percent of Hindus saying they liked India. More than half of Sri Lankan Muslims said they had a favorable view of Pakistan, while this was echoed among fewer Bangaldeshi Muslims at 39 percent – lower than Pakistan’s perception scores among Hindus from the two above nations.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 20:30

  • Toxic Homes For Sale: How California's Illegal Marijuana Industry Ruins Houses
    Toxic Homes For Sale: How California’s Illegal Marijuana Industry Ruins Houses

    Authored by Beige Luciano-Adams via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    LOS ANGELES—On a recent summer morning, a caravan of unmarked state police vehicles and white hazmat trucks crept past strip malls and wide intersections, making its way toward a pair of modest homes in a remote suburb north of Los Angeles.

    A command came from the officers in the front of the black-and-white: “Seat belts off—in case we start taking fire.”

    San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies raid an illegal cannabis farm in Newberry Springs, Calif., on March 29, 2024. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

    But there was no shootout. Just a tense half hour as a phalanx of two dozen state police—agents from the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC)—kept snipers trained on the house, waiting for the second of two suspects to emerge.

    When she finally did, petite and barefoot in a black dress, the effect was mercifully anticlimactic.

    Illegal cannabis cultivation operations, or “grows,” are a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry in California, dominated by a mix of transnational criminal organizations that authorities believe are symbiotic, if adversarial.

    When agents serve a warrant, they often find human trafficking victims, automatic weapons, booby traps and, increasingly, banned toxic pesticides smuggled from China.

    This particular raid, in Lancaster, netted around 1,020 plants—a modest haul compared with the herculean grows that have become common across California’s booming black market.

    But such mild suburban tableaus belie a sleeping, sinister threat.

    “What we have right now is organized criminal enterprises literally destroying the city building by building as they modify them for illegal cultivation,” Mike Katz, a Lancaster code enforcement officer who heads the city’s cannabis unit, told The Epoch Times.

    “They’re endangering the families who will occupy those buildings in the future, they are lowering the value of neighboring properties and dragging the whole community down,” he said.

    ‘Super Toxic’

    Buildings contaminated by illegal grows are dangerous because the harsh pesticides growers use permeate every surface—ceilings, walls, floors, vents and drywall.

    Toxic black mold blooms in the 75 percent humidity needed to grow marijuana. The massive amounts of water and electricity required to sustain an operation can result in structural damage to vents and sunken floors, overloaded transformers and corroded wiring just itching for a fire.

    Katz, whom the city’s chief of police refers to as the department’s “Swiss Army knife,” has been a firefighter, reserve police officer, and now, an unarmed code enforcement official. He approaches the job with a certain zeal, devouring scientific studies and how-to books on cultivation, and generally making it his mission to stop grow houses from slipping through the cracks.

    Owners can often get away with making cosmetic fixes—“candy coating,” as one inspector puts it—if local governments don’t intervene before they start concealing the damage.

    Police officers arrest people while raiding an illegal cannabis site in Lancaster, Calif., on Aug. 14, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

    Working and middle-class families migrate to bedroom communities like Lancaster, where you can still find a single-family home with a backyard for around $500,000—about half the median price in Los Angeles, according to Redfin. You may find one for even less if a grower has been busted and is offloading at a discount.

    The injustice of it rankles Katz. He imagines families struggling to buy a home, and their toddlers probing surfaces tainted with insecticides—potent carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, nerve agents and others no one even knows how to identify.

    “They are super toxic, but very effective,” he said. “One we just learned of last week has a 14-year half-life. We did a search warrant back in January and didn’t get test results until this week. I’m having to tell all the detectives and everyone involved that we were exposed to these chemicals.”

    Low-cost housing also attracts sophisticated criminal enterprises looking for ways to launder money and turn a profit. Often, illegal growers can do that after just one harvest. Typically, an operation can turn four to six harvests a year.

    Wholesale value for the plants seized in the modest raid we accompanied—they were days away from a second harvest—is more than $540,000.

    To avoid detection and stay a step ahead of authorities, growers are continually adapting.

    “There are probably a lot more growing indoors that we don’t know about,” Jennifer Morris, a code enforcement officer with Riverside County and former head of its cannabis unit, told The Epoch Times. “But they’re pretty good at keeping themselves looking very nondescript.”

    From the outside, the houses look normal, and it typically takes a fire, robbery, or neighbors reporting electrical theft to tip off law or code enforcement, Morris said. Growers also build walls to conceal grow rooms, and sometimes install a resident worker or a dog to give the appearance of normality.

    Because the entire industry is clandestine, no one can accurately estimate the extent of the problem. Many communities might not even be aware it’s happening.

    “I’ve talked to cities where they say, ‘We don’t have a problem,’” said David Welch, an attorney who contracts as a special counsel with cities in Los Angeles County that want “a more aggressive” approach to narcotics enforcement. “Then law enforcement will hit a grow in that city.”

    Police officers wear protective gear while raiding an illegal cannabis site in Lancaster. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

    Where there is one, there are likely more. But perpetrators are opportunistic, itinerant.

    “We have seen the same owners of properties in different counties that have had illegal cultivation on them,” Morris said.

    Wilson Linares, who leads the Department of Cannabis Control’s Los Angeles County law enforcement unit, said it’s hard to pinpoint which players are tied to which territories. “They’re just everywhere. It doesn’t really stay in that area, they just go wherever they can master operations.”

    Growers, he said, “do a good job of layering their operation. I don’t think they even know they’re working for the same organization sometimes.”

    That makes it difficult to go after the few bigger fish, to which, some insiders say, all these operations are ultimately “funneling up.”

    Those caught at the grows are inevitably low-level employees, if not forced labor, and are typically interviewed and released. Illegal cultivation—anything more than six plants per person, whether it’s 10 or 10,000—is a misdemeanor in California.

    “Sometimes our investigations do a good job at digging to make sure we’re eradicating the problem,” Linares said. “But sometimes they cut losses and move on and go somewhere else. We have to follow and chase them. It takes a lot of effort and time to conduct these investigations.”

    Like meth houses of decades past, there are residential grows too damaged to flip.

    But it’s the moderate ones, the ones that are at risk of selling at a discount to families, that keep Katz up at night.

    While they can’t prevent the sale, or in many cases, habitation, building inspectors and code enforcement officers use “red tagging” and other methods to compel compliance—like creating liens to cloud the title, or disconnecting utilities. And in some cases, those costs and headaches transfer to new owners.

    California law gives local government broad authority to abate “public nuisances”—which include dangerous and contaminated buildings, Katz said. But enforcing compliance can often depend on a municipality’s ability to pay for things like civil lawsuits.

    If public safety officials don’t discover a grow before property owners start hiding the damage, it’s often too late.

    “There is no roadmap,” Katz said. “These sociopaths are buying and selling these houses.”

    A police officer confiscates marijuana from an illegal cannabis site in Lancaster, Calif., on Aug. 14, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

    ‘I Didn’t Know Anything’

    There were signs. Two dozen large bags of what Virginia Aceres thought was ordinary grass fertilizer and canisters of chemicals bearing designs of spiders and worms that the previous owner left behind. He offered to pay her $500 to get rid of them.

    In two months, a $10,000 electricity bill.

    Aceres said she moved from Los Angeles to the Antelope Valley because she didn’t want her kids hanging out with people who use drugs. She nabbed a five-bedroom house for $535,000, $15,000 below asking. “It’s super big—we thought, oh wow, this is perfect.”

    But she found out after moving in that it had been used by the previous owners to grow weed.

    “Every afternoon the upstairs smells of marijuana and it gives me a raging headache,” she told The Epoch Times. When a city inspector came by and pointed out a convertor wired to steal electricity and stains on the bathroom ceilings from burned chemicals, she said, “Now I understand.”

    The five bedrooms were originally three, she discovered; the previous owner had added two and it was up to her to register the additions with the city.

    When property owners obtain permits to modify buildings but don’t follow up to call for a final inspection of the work, this can tip off code enforcement and form part of the basis for a warrant. So too can electrical fires or electricity theft.

    But Aceres said she bought her house without any compliance obligations that would arise from a pre-sale code enforcement; inspectors came after she moved in and pointed out the damage.

    The fuses at Aceres’ house are constantly blowing, especially if electronics are running at the same time, and electricians tell her she has to completely redo the wiring.

    “My daughter relies on a machine to help her breathe,” Aceres said, referring to a nebulizer that delivers oxygen and liquid steroids. “We had to buy a generator. She’s 9; she can’t ride a bike, can’t walk more than 20 minutes, can’t run. At night she has panic attacks, she comes to my door in pain, she can’t breathe, so I connect the machine and give her medicine.”

    A neighbor warned her the previous owner had installed multiple, massive air conditioners and there were fires. People cruise by the house. Someone showed up looking to collect on a debt. The IRS, the police and city inspectors have all visited.

    “For all this, I’d like to move—because they’re going to confuse us and they’re going to think that we sell drugs or have something to do with all that. But we haven’t been able to sell the house because of all these problems,” she said. “If a buyer asks questions we’re obligated to tell them the truth.”

    Read the rest here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 20:05

  • Visualizing US Election Contributions By Corporate Employees
    Visualizing US Election Contributions By Corporate Employees

    Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in a tightly matched race, with political donations now leaning in the Democratic party’s favor.

    Since President Joe Biden withdrew his nomination in July, a flood of donations have poured in to support Harris’s bid for the White House. The vice president erased Trump’s fundraising advantage in under a month, with 66% of contributions coming from first-time donors.

    But what can we learn about political donations when looking at it from a corporate angle?

    This graphic shows the top companies by employee election contributions in 2024, based on data from Quiver Quantitative.

    The 10 Highest Corporate Employee Contributions

    Here are the companies with the most political donations among employees so far this year:

    As of August 8, 2024.

    Employees at News Corp, the parent company to Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, have contributed overwhelmingly to the Democratic party, despite it being a conservative-leaning conglomerate.

    Altogether, political donations stand at over $8.3 million, the highest in corporate America. The corporate entity itself has split donations evenly between both parties in recent years, allowing employees to contribute to political associations as they choose.

    Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of private equity giant, Blackstone, is one of Donald Trump’s largest corporate backers. Like their CEO, Blackstone employees are throwing their weight behind the former president, likely due to Trump’s pro-business policies and proposed tax cuts.

    Meanwhile, employees at big tech companies and other large financial firms are donating substantially to 2024 election campaigns. Netflix, Alphabet, and Microsoft employees heavily lean Democratic, while employees at Charles Schwab and First Bank favor Trump. Over the summer, former chief executive of Alphabet, Eric Schmidt, made a six-figure contribution to the Democrat campaign.

    As we can see, software giant Palantir is the most evenly divided, with employees slightly favoring the Republican party. Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale is a major supporter of Donald Trump, contributing to Elon Musk’s America PAC, alongside the Winklevoss twins and other tech titans.

    To learn more about this topic from a corporate perspective, check out this graphic on the companies with the most PAC donations in 2024.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 19:40

  • Shall Not Be Infringed: Massachusetts Supreme Court Strikes Down Switchblade Knife Ban
    Shall Not Be Infringed: Massachusetts Supreme Court Strikes Down Switchblade Knife Ban

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

    The Massachusetts Supreme Court on Aug. 27 struck down the state’s ban on carrying switchblade knives, finding the prohibition violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.

    A switchblade knife in an undated file photograph. Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

    The case was brought by David Canjura, who was arrested in 2020 after a domestic dispute and charged with carrying a dangerous weapon in violation of the switchblade ban following a search by officers.

    Canjura said he knew that carrying the knife violated the law but filed a motion to dismiss the charge, arguing that the ban violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms. A judge denied the motion, leading to an appeal that reached the state’s high court.

    Massachusetts officials did not identify any historical bans on switchblades or their historical analogue, pocketknives, justices said on Tuesday. That means the ban is not allowed under a test outlined in a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

    “The commonwealth does not identify any laws regulating bladed weapons akin to folding pocketknives generally, or switchblades particularly, in place at the time of the founding or ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Serge Georges wrote for the unanimous court. “Accordingly, the commonwealth has not met its burden of demonstrating a historical tradition justifying the regulation of switchblade knives.”

    The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

    The U.S. Supreme Court has also found that the right to bear arms includes items such as stun guns. In one decision, District of Columbia v. Heller, justices said that “arms” refers to “weapons of offense, or armor of defense” and “any thing that a man wears for his defense, or takes into his hands, or useth in wrath to cast at or strike another.”

    The Massachusetts Supreme Court said that the Second Amendment covers knives, citing the historical use of knives for defense throughout U.S. history.

    “In short, folding pocketknives not only fit within contemporaneous dictionary definitions of arms—which would encompass a broader category of knives that today includes switchblades—but they also were commonly possessed by lawabiding citizens for lawful purposes around the time of the founding,” Georges said. “Setting aside any question whether switchblades are in common use today for lawful purposes, we conclude switchblades are ‘arms’ for Second Amendment purposes. Therefore, the carrying of switchblades is presumptively protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment.”

    Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, government officials must, when facing a challenge to a regulation implicating the Second Amendment, provide proof the regulation is consistent with the nation’s history of restrictions.

    Massachusetts officials pointed to three cases from the 1800s that found restrictions on certain types of knives lawful, including a ruling in Tennessee that upheld a prohibition on bowie knives. However, none of those cases involved pocketknives, which the justices said are the closest historical analog to switchblades.

    The Bruen test does contain exceptions for weapons that are not in common use in the modern day or are dangerous and unusual. Switchblades are both, according to Massachusetts lawyers.

    Justices said that based on the fact only seven states ban switchblades, they inferred switchblades are in common use today. There’s also nothing “uniquely dangerous” about the knives, Georges said.

    “The commonwealth has not presented any evidence as to why a spring-operated mechanism that allows users to open switchblades with one hand makes switchblades uniquely dangerous when compared to a broader category of manual folding pocketknives,” he wrote.

    Prosecutors and a lawyer representing Canjura did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 19:15

  • Is Tesla At Risk From Marco Rubio's Push to 'Blacklist' Chinese Battery Firm CATL?
    Is Tesla At Risk From Marco Rubio’s Push to ‘Blacklist’ Chinese Battery Firm CATL?

    US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and US Representative John Moolenaar (R-MI) penned a letter to US Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to “immediately place” Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) on Section 1260H List (blacklist) of the National Defense Authorization Act. 

    The GOP lawmakers wrote in a press release that the Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company has “deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). ” 

    “Reliance on, and use of, CATL batteries threatens US national security as it makes our nation dependent on Communist China for energy infrastructure,” they said, adding the DoD understands “the threat CATL poses to our nation” yet DoD has done nothing to place CATL on the “1260H list, which exposes Chinese entities operating in the US.” 

    A statement from Rubio: 

    “US policymakers have a duty to stand in resolute opposition to any effort by America’s adversaries that threaten our national and economic security. By including CATL on the Section 1260H List, the DoD would not only safeguard America’s military infrastructure from exposure to the PLA, it would also send a powerful signal to US companies who are currently weighing partnerships with CATL.”

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

    A Bloomberg supply chain analysis reveals that CATL’s top customers include Tesla, Stellantis, Geely, Nio, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, and Volvo.

    Digging deeper into CATL’s complex global supply chain, risk management technology firm Sayari Labs shows the Chinese company’s top buyers over the last 12 months. 

    One major red flag is that Tesla received 376 shipments from the Chinese firm over the past 12 months, accounting for approximately 8.63% of all shipments.

    About half of CATL’s shipments over the last 12 months have ended up in the US, and about 27.5% have ended up in Germany. 

    As of July 29, CATL’s US shipments included lithium-ion batteries to several buyers, including Geodis and Mercedes, Benz Vans. 

    As of the latest trade data, CATL’s shipments primarily include storage batteries (54.7%) and primary cells and batteries (41.47%). 

    Let’s take a step back because data from Sayari shows that CATL’s supply chain has several risk factors, including forced labor concerns. 

    The lingering question is whether Rubio’s push to blacklist CATL over its “deep ties to Communist China” will gain traction with the DoD. What will that mean for Tesla’s battery supply chain and its reliance on CATL if DoD blacklists CATL? It should be known that Tesla works with other battery makers, including Panasonic. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 18:50

  • NVDA Dumps After Smashing Q2 Expectations But Guidance Is A "Mixed Bag"
    NVDA Dumps After Smashing Q2 Expectations But Guidance Is A “Mixed Bag”

    For the second year in a row, Nvidia has been the world’s most important company, rising more than 150% YTD to a staggering $3.1 trillion market cap, massively outperforming the Nasdaq, and putting it within spitting distance of becoming the world’s largest company (it is currently #2 behind AAPL).

    And while the stock price gains have largely been driven by regular raises of the company’s forward earnings expectations…

    … the question arises: how much more earnings growth is there? We already laid out Wall Street’s expectations for what to expect earlier, but with with whisper numbers at nosebleed levels relative to already euphoric guidance and estimates, it’s no surprise why the options market is expecting a 10% swing after hours.

    A quick look at the past: the company’s second quarter wasn’t perfect – the company stopped short of completely denying reports that there are problems with its forthcoming Blackwell product lineup. Analyst reports have dismissed any issues as immaterial given the overall level of demand for existing products – the chip line called Hopper – but management will face questions on the topic.

    As a reminder, this is what Nvidia said earlier this month: “As we’ve stated before, Hopper demand is very strong, broad Blackwell sampling has started, and production is on track to ramp in the second half. Beyond that, we don’t comment on rumors.”

    And so, amid skyhigh expectations for the current quarter, even loftier expectations for the company’s guidance with questions about its main product line, here is what NVDA reported moments ago for the second quarter:

    • Q2 Rev. $30.04B, up 122% YoY, beating estimates of $28.86B, and beating not only the upper end of the guidance ($27.44BN-$28.56BN) but also above the JPM whisper number of $29.85BN.
      • Q2 Data Center Revenue $26.3B, beating exp. $25.08B
    • Q2 EPS $0.68, up 152% YoY, beating exp. $0.64
    • Q2 Gross Margin 75.7%, up 4.5% YoY from 71.2, beating exp. 75.5%, but down from 78.9% in Q1. Peak margins?

    The revenue trend, as expected, is impressive especially at the Data Center level where all the growth is.

    And here is a full breakdown of recent results:

    Commenting on the quarter, Robert Schiffman, senior credit analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, said free cash flow generation consistently growing: “That’s going to drive cash balances far in excess of operating needs, which may result in a bit of an anomaly — higher shareholder returns and a better credit profile.” Hence the new buyback authorization.

    While the Q2 earnings were impressive, beating both estimates and the even loftier whisper numbers across the board, there was just a touch of weakness in the company’s guidance: NVDA projected Q3 revenue will be $32.5 million, +/- 2%. While this was above the average estimate was $31.9 billion, it was below JPM’s whisper of $32.95BN and certainly below the most optimistic sellside prediction of $37.9 billion.

    Some other guidance:

    • Gross margins are expected to be 74.4% and 75.0%, respectively, plus or minus 50 basis points. For the full year, gross margins are expected to be in the mid-70% range.
    • Operating expenses are expected to be approximately $4.3 billion and $3.0 billion, respectively. Full-year operating expenses are expected to grow in the mid to upper 40% range.

    Perhaps anticipating the potential market revulsion to the modest guidance disappointment, NVDA tried to appease investors by announcing a massive new $50 billion buyback .

    The company also tried to preempt questions about its reportedly troubled Blackwell chips, saying “samples are shipping to our partners and customers” and says that it expects to ship several billion dollars of Blackwell revenue in Q4 even as it admits in its earnings release that it needs to improve Blackwell production, to wit:

    We shipped customer samples of our Blackwell architecture in the second quarter. We executed a change to the Blackwell GPU mask to improve production yield. Blackwell production ramp is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and continue into fiscal 2026. In the fourth quarter, we expect to ship several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue. Hopper demand is strong, and shipments are expected to increase in the second half of fiscal 2025.

    While initially NVDA shares bounced on the big beat, the since dipped on the disappointing guidance, sliding as much as 6% after hours, and have since whiplashed by the results as the stock is still fighting for direction, swinging between gains and losses as traders digest the earnings. As a reminder, options markets had priced in a swing of 10% after hours, so for now the reaction is positive tame relative to expectations. At last check, the stock was down about 8% erasing much of its rebound and trading near session lows.

    The big question: are the results (still) good enough for Jensen to keep signing tits? The answer – you bet.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 18:37

  • Turley: Zuckerberg's Censorship Admission Is More Contrived Than Contrite
    Turley: Zuckerberg’s Censorship Admission Is More Contrived Than Contrite

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” Those words from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg came this week with an admission in a letter that his company, Facebook, did yield to pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to censor American citizens on a wide array of subjects.

    For those of us who have criticized Facebook for years for its role in the massive censorship system, Zuckerberg’s belated contrition was more insulting than inspiring. It had all of the genuine regret of a stalker found hiding under the bed of a victim.

    Zuckerberg’s sudden regret only came after his company fought for years to conceal the evidence of its work with the government to censor opposing views. Zuckerberg was finally compelled to release the documents by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the House Judiciary Committee.

    Now forced to admit what many of us have long alleged, Zuckerberg is really, really sorry.

    In my book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I discuss Facebook’s record at length as a critical player in the anti-free speech alliance of government, corporate, academic, and media forces.

    In prior testimony before the House Judiciary Committee and other congressional committees, I noted that Zuckerberg continued to refuse to release this information after Elon Musk exposed this system in his release of the “Twitter Files.”

    Zuckerberg stayed silent as Musk was viciously attacked by anti-free speech figures in Congress and the media. He was fully aware of his own company’s similar conduct but stayed silent.

    When the White House and President Joe Biden repeatedly claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, Facebook continued to withhold evidence that they too were pressured to suppress the story before the election.

    When the censorship system was recently put before the Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri and the justices asked about evidence of coordination and pressure from the government. In Murthy, states successfully showed lower courts that there was coercion from the government in securing an injunction. The Biden administration denied such pressure and the Court rejected the standing of plaintiffs, blocked an order to stop the censorship, and sent the case back down to the lower court.

    Zuckerberg still remained silent.

    But Facebook was not silent when it came to censorship, or “content moderation” as the company prefers to call it. While Zuckerberg now expresses “regret” at not speaking out sooner, his company previously sought to sell Americans on censorship.

    In 2021, I wrote about the Facebook commercial campaign in which the company attempted to rally young people to embrace censorship.

    The commercials show people like “Joshan” who says that he “grew up with the internet.” Joshan mocks how much computers have changed and then objects how privacy and censorship has not evolved as much as our technology. As Joshan calls for “the blending of the real world and the internet world,” content moderation is presented as part of this not-so-brave new world.

    Joshan and his equally eager colleagues Chava and Adam were presented by Facebook as the shiny happy faces of young people longing to be content modified.  They were all born in 1996 — the sweet spot for censors who saw young people as allies to reduce free speech.

    For years, young people have been taught that free speech is harmful and triggering. We are raising of a generation of speech-phobics and Zuckerberg and Facebook wanted to tap into that generation to get people to stop fearing the censor and love “content modification.”  It was time, as Joshan and his friends told us, to “change” with our computers.

    Now, Zuckerberg and Meta want people to know that they were “pressured” to censor and really regret their role in silencing opposing voices.

    It is the feigned regret that comes with forced exposure.

    The Facebook files now put the lie to past claims of the Biden administration and many Democrats in Congress. For years, members attacked some of us who testified that we had no evidence of coordination or pressure from the government. At the same time, they opposed any effort to investigate and release such evidence.

    The evidence is now undeniable.

    The Biden administration has long demanded the removal of opposing views on a wide array of subjects and Democrats in Congress pushed Zuckerberg to expand the scope of censorship to include areas like climate change denial.

    Jen Easterly, who heads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is an example of the chilling scope of this effort.  Her agency was created to work on our critical infrastructure but Easterly declared that the mandate would now include policing “our cognitive infrastructure.” That includes combating “malinformation,” or information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

    Consider that for a second: true facts are censorable if the government views them as misleading.

    As I write in my book, President Joe Biden is arguably the most anti-free speech president since John Adams. His administration helped create a censorship system that was described by one federal judge as “Orwellian.” Vice President Kamala Harris has been entirely supportive of that effort.

    In 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the only election where free speech was one of the principal campaign issues. It should be so again. Harris should have to take ownership of the censorship system maintained by the administration.

    In my book, I propose a federal law that would bar the government from using any federal funds to support efforts to censor, blacklist, or suppress individuals or groups. It would take the government out of the censorship business. Harris should be asked if she would oppose such a law and dismantle the current censorship apparatus in the federal government.

    Democracy is not on the ballot in 2024, as many have claimed, but free speech is.

    *  *  *

    Jonathan Turley is a Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 18:25

  • What Sanctions? China Imports Record Amount Of Iranian Oil
    What Sanctions? China Imports Record Amount Of Iranian Oil

    China’s imports of Iranian oil are poised to reach a record 1.75m b/d this month, data from Kpler show.

    That will surpass the previous peak of 1.66m b/d set in October 2023, according to Kpler data that extends back to January 2013, and is almost 50% higher compared with 1.24m b/d last month.

    Shipments into Rizhao and Dalian significantly higher m/m, said Muyu Xu, an analyst with Kpler

    “Chinese teapots see refining margins slightly improving, they now have stronger motivation to ramp up production and therefore need more feedstock,” she said

    Flows into Lanqiao/Rizhao and Dalian almost doubled m/m to 342k b/d and 132k b/d, respectively

    We got an advance look at China’s record appetite for Iranian oil last week when Bloomberg reported that China imported a record volume of crude from Malaysia last month, pointing to a renewed appetite for cheaper Iranian oil as refiners grapple with lower margins due to an economic slowdown.

    The world’s biggest crude importer took 6.21 million tons from Malaysia in July, the equivalent to 1.47 million barrels a day, or almost triple the average daily production from the Southeast Asian nation over the course of 2023.

    Why is this a key leading indicator? Because the seas off Malaysia have long been a hub for transferring crude and oil products from one tanker to another, meant to mask the country of origin, especially from Iran. Officially, China hasn’t purchased Iranian barrels since June 2022, according to government data. Unofficially, it is buying record amounts.

    Oil from Iran – which once upon a time the US pretended to sanction – has become the cheapest option for Chinese buyers, even more than Russia, and more independent refiners are seeking barrels from the OPEC producer to boost their margins, said traders who participate in the market. Iranian Light was last offered at a discount of $6 a barrel to ICE Brent, they added, compared with a discount of less than a $1 for comparable crude from Russia.

    Importers registered in China’s Shandong province were the biggest buyers of Iranian crude – masking as Malaysian – accounting for over 70% of the volume, according to customs data. Overall, eight Chinese regions including Liaoning and Henan took oil from the Southeast Asian nation, the most since October 2023.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 18:00

  • Biden-Harris Admin Busted Using Secret Rule To 'Trump-Proof' DOJ
    Biden-Harris Admin Busted Using Secret Rule To ‘Trump-Proof’ DOJ

    Authored by Luis Cornelio via HeadlineUSA.com,

    The Biden-Harris administration appears to have intensified its efforts to block a potential return by President Donald Trump to the White House, according to a report from the Daily Caller on Tuesday. 

    The current administration has resorted to using a “Schedule A” hiring rule to staff DOJ offices with individuals who may be shielded from potential termination by a new administration, including that of Trump if he wins the 2024 election.

    Several hundred employees have been hired under this rule, bypassing merit-based qualifications and allowing them to keep their jobs even at the end of the current administration’s term. 

    Put in practice, this means that if Trump is sworn in as president, he could find himself grappling with leftover Biden appointees. This follows several reports suggesting that President Joe Biden is implementing policies designed to undermine Trump if elected. 

    According to documents released by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and first reported by the Caller, the specific offices targeted include the powerful Environmental and Natural Resources (ENRD) and the Antitrust and Immigration Review departments. 

    PPT Director Michael Chamberlain suggested that the use of “Schedule A” could be part of the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to hamstring their successor and block future presidents from reversing their agenda. 

    “Exploiting non-competitive hiring authorities to fill career civil service positions could be just another component of this scheme,” Chamberlain said, as cited by the Caller. “It’s no wonder that the public’s trust in its government has all but disappeared.” 

    Documents obtained by PPT reveal that the DOJ has hired over 100 immigration judges using this rule. These individuals are responsible for determining whether illegal aliens can remain in the U.S. while their cases are pending. 

    “The administration is also using Schedule A to install immigration judges — again, outside of the normal merit-based system — who will rule on cases of those in a position to benefit from the administration’s immigration policies,” PPT stated in a press statement. 

    The use of “Schedule A” has also been extended to ENRD, a DOJ division tasked with enforcing environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

    PPT sounded the alarm that ENRD is a “vital office in advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s energy and climate policies, and the placement of Biden-Harris loyalists is a means to defend those policies even if a future Trump (or other) administration seeks to change them.” 

    The DOJ’s antitrust division has also seen an increase in staff members hired through “Schedule A,” likely compromising the non-partisan nature of the federal department. 

    “Until recently, antitrust enforcement was a relatively technical and non-partisan division. But the Biden-Harris administration’s increasingly aggressive implementation has sparked complaints of politicized enforcement,” PPT warned. 

    Headline USA could not reach a DOJ spokesperson through its media mainline or after-hours hotline at 9:40 p.m. ET. A separate call to the operator’s hotline also prompted an automated message claiming the offices were closed.

    See the appointees’ names here, as detailed in a document released by the Caller and PPT.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 17:40

  • New Funding Round Talks Indicate OpenAI Worth North Of $100 Billion
    New Funding Round Talks Indicate OpenAI Worth North Of $100 Billion

    According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft-backed OpenAI is preparing to raise at least a billion dollars in a new funding round, which would value the artificial intelligence company at just north of $100 billion. 

    Sam Altman’s chatbot startup company, established eight years ago as a competitor to Google’s DeepMind, plans to receive $1 billion from venture capital firm Thrive Capital in a new funding round. This would mark the largest funding round of outside capital since Microsoft plowed $10 billion into the chatbot startup in January 2023. 

    Earlier this year, OpenAI finalized a deal to sell existing shares through a tender offer spearheaded by Thrive. This arrangement allowed employees to sell shares at a valuation of around $80 billion, up from $29 billion one year ago.

    Here’s more from WSJ:

    “For now, though, AI is a speculative business that isn’t generating nearly as much revenue as investors and tech companies are putting into it. Earlier this year, OpenAI’s revenue was $3.4 billion on an annualized basis, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Information earlier reported on OpenAI’s revenue.” 

    WSJ noted:

    “It couldn’t be determined what other investors are participating in the new funding round.” 

    Besides Thrive, past OpenAI deals have included Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and K2 Global. 

    WSJ obtained a document indicating that OpenAI stockholders have been negotiating to sell their shares in recent weeks at a price that would value the company at $103 billion. 

    Microsoft has a 49% share of OpenAI’s profit after plowing $13 billion into the chatbot company since 2019. 

    News of the funding round from WSJ comes about a month after OpenAI revealed it’s testing SearchGPT: a combination of AI tech and real-time search data that allows users to search the internet with ChatGPT. 

    It appears that Altman may have sold off some shares…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 17:20

  • Attorneys General Of 24 States Ask Supreme Court To Block EPA's Methane Reduction Rule
    Attorneys General Of 24 States Ask Supreme Court To Block EPA’s Methane Reduction Rule

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

    Attorneys General in 24 states have asked the Supreme Court to block the federal government’s methane standards for the oil and gas sector, arguing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its authority in issuing the final rule.

    The EPA has said the new standards are part of efforts to sharply reduce emissions of methane and “other harmful air pollution from oil and natural gas operations.”

    Led by the state of Oklahoma, attorneys general from states including Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Virginia filed an emergency appeal to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing the rule that went into effect this year.

    In their Aug. 27 filing, the states argued that while the federal government has the authority to set emissions limits, the rule outlines specific technologies, processes, and methods that the agency believes states must employ to achieve certain emission-reduction targets, among other requirements. The “EPA did not limit itself to its statutory role for existing sources and then leave it to the States to adopt appropriate standards of performance,” they said.

    Furthermore the “rule’s ‘presumptive standards’ are onerous, imposing costs on the oil and gas industries that will—as even EPA admits—inevitably be passed onto consumers across the country,” the states wrote.

    The EPA’s rule gives states, along with tribes that wish to regulate existing sources, two years to develop and submit their plans for reducing methane from existing sources.

    The rule is aimed at reducing “methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from new, modified, and reconstructed sources” and includes emissions guidelines for states to follow as they develop plans to limit methane emissions from existing sources, according to the agency.

    The standards include a two-year phase-in period for eliminating routine flaring of natural gas from new oil wells and a one-year phase-in of zero-emissions standards for new process controllers and pumps outside of Alaska.

    In the filing, the attorneys general said the agency “understood that, for many States, designing such plans from scratch in a two-year period would be impossible, given the sheer number and diversity of wells involved.”

    “States need more than two years to complete this daunting regulatory task, otherwise they risk ’submittal of an inadequately prepared plan that EPA would have to review and reject, leading to unnecessary use of already limited resources.’”

    The attorneys general argued that enforcing the rule would also limit the authority of states to establish their own standards for regulating methane and VOC emissions from existing facilities.

    “That harms the public interest in the cooperative-federalism regime in the Clean Air Act, generally, and Section 111(d), specifically,” the states argued.

    According to the EPA, oil and natural gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane pollution in the United States, and describe methane is a “super pollutant.”

    Reducing methane emissions is a “crucial addition to cutting carbon dioxide in slowing the rate of warming of Earth’s atmosphere,” the agency has said.

    The EPA’s rules will cut methane emissions from oil and gas operations by nearly 80 percent through 2038 and avoid 16 million tons of smog-forming VOC emissions and 590,000 tons of air toxics, according to the agency.

    Additionally, the agency estimates the rules will result in “net climate and ozone health benefits” of $97 to $98 billion dollars from 2024-2038, or the equivalent of $7.3 to $7.6 billion a year, after accounting for the costs of compliance and savings from recovered natural gas.

    An appeals court in Washington in July denied a request by the states to put the new methane regulations on hold while their legal challenge plays out in court, prompting them to ask the nation’s highest court.

    The Epoch Times has contacted an EPA spokesperson for comment.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/28/2024 – 17:00

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