- Escobar: Eurasian Heartland Rises To Challenge The West
Escobar: Eurasian Heartland Rises To Challenge The West
President Xi Jinping telling President Putin at the end of their summit last March in Moscow that we’re now facing “great changes not seen in a century” directly applies to the new spirit reigning across the Heartland.
Cue to the China-Central Asia summit last week in Xian, the former imperial capital, where Xi solidified the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from Western China in Xinjiang to its western neighbors and then all the way to Iran, Turkiye and Eastern Europe.
Xi in Xian particularly stressed the complementing aspects between BRI and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), once again showing that all five Central Asian “stans”, acting together, should counter-act the proverbial external interference via “terrorism, separatism and extremism”.
The message was stark: these hybrid war strategies are all integrated with the attempt by the Hegemon to continue fostering serial color revolutions. The purveyors of the “rules-based international order”, Xi implied, will go no holds barred to prevent ongoing Heartland integration.
The usual suspects in fact are already spinning that Central Asia is falling into a potential trap, fully captured by Beijing. Yet this is something Kazakhstan’s “multi-vector diplomacy”, coined way back in the Nazarbayev years, would never allow.
What Beijing is developing, instead, is an integrated approach via a C+C5 secretariat with no less than 19 separate channels of communication.
The heart of the matter is to turbo-charge Heartland connectivity via the BRI’s Middle Corridor.
And that, crucially, includes technology transfer. As it stands, there are dozens of industrial transfer programs with Kazakhstan, a dozen in Uzbekistan, and several in discussion with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. These are extolled by Beijing as part of “harmonious Silk Roads”.
Xi himself, as a post-modern pilgrim, detailed the connectivity in his keynote speech in Xian: “The China-Kyrgystan-Uzbekistan highway that runs across the Tian shan Mountains, the China-Tajikistan expressway that defies the Pamir Plateau, and the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline and the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline that traverse the vast desert – they are the present-day Silk Road.”
The Revival of the Heartland “Belt”
Xi’s China is once again mirroring lessons from History. What’s happening now brings us back to the first half of the first millennium B.C., when the Persian Achaemenid empire established itself as the largest to date, stretching from India in the east and Central Asia in the northeast to Greece in the west and Egypt in the southwest.
For the first time in history, territories that spanned Asia, Africa and Europe were brought together; and that led to a boom in trade, culture and ethnic interactions (what BRI defines today as “people to people exchanges”).
That’s how we had the Hellenistic world first getting in touch with India and Central Asia – as they set up the first Greek settlements in Bactria (in today’s Afghanistan).
By the end of the first millennium B.C. all the way to the first millennium A.D. an immense area from the Pacific to the Atlantic – encompassing the Han Chinese empire, the Kushan kingdom, the Parthians and the Roman empire, among others – formed “a continuous belt of civilizations, states and cultures”, as Prof. Edvard Rtveladze of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan defined it.
This, in a nutshell, is at heart of the Chinese concept of “belt” and “road”: the “belt” refers to the Heartland, the “road” refers to the Maritime Silk Road.
So slightly less than 2,000 years ago, that was the first time in human history that the borders of several states and kingdoms were immediately adjacent to each other along no less than 11,400 km, from east to west. No wonder the fabled Ancient Silk Road – actually a maze of roads -, the first transcontinental thoroughfare, emerged at the time.
That was a direct consequence of a series of political, economic and cultural whirlwinds involving the peoples of Eurasia. History, in the high acceleration 21st century, is now retracing these steps.
Geography, after all, is destiny. Central Asia was traversed by countless migrations of Near Eastern, Indo-European, Indo-Iranian and Turkic peoples; was the focus of serious intercultural interaction (Iranian, Indian, Turkic, Chinese, Hellenistic cultures); and criss-crossed virtually all major religions (Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Christianity, Islam).
The Organization of Turkic States, led by Turkiye, is even engaged in rebuilding the Turkic identity overtones of the Heartland – a vector that will be developing in parallel to the influence of China and Russia.
That Greater Eurasia Partnership
Russia is evolving its own path. A key debate was held аt a recent Valdai Club session on the Greater Eurasian Partnership when it comes to the interaction between Russia and the Heartland and neighbors China, India and Iran.
Moscow regards the concept of a Greater Eurasian Partnership as the key framework for achieving much desired “political cohesion” in the post-Soviet space – under the imperative of indivisibility of regional security.
This means, once again, maximum attention towards serial attempts of provoking color revolutions across the Heartland.
As much as in Beijing, there are no illusions in Moscow that the collective West will take no prisoners in regimenting Central Asia to the Russophobic drive. For over a year now Washington for all practical purposes already addresses the Heartland in terms of threats of secondary sanctions and crude ultimatums.
So Central Asia matters only in terms of the evolving hybrid war – and otherwise – against the Russia-China strategic partnership. No fabulous trade and connectivity prospects under the New Silk Roads; no Greater Eurasia Partnership; no security arrangements under the CSTO; no mechanism of economic cooperation like the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).
Either you’re a “partner” in the sanctions dementia and/or a secondary front in the war against Russia, or there will be a price to pay.
The “price”, set by the proverbial Straussian neocon psychos currently in charge of US foreign policy, is always the same: proxy war via terror, to be provided by ISIS-Khorasan*, whose black cells are ready to be awakened in selected backwoods of Afghanistan and the Ferghana valley.
Moscow is very much aware of the high stakes. For instance, for a year and a half virtually every month a Russian delegation arrives in Tajikistan to implement, in practice, the “pivot to the East”, developing projects in agriculture, health care, education, science and tourism.
Central Asia should have a leading role in BRICS+ expansion – something supported by both BRICS leaders Russia and China. The idea of a BRICS + Central Asia is being seriously floated from Tashkent to Almaty.
That would imply establishing a strategic continuum from Russia and China to Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Africa and Latin America – spanning the logistics of connectivity trade, energy, manufacture production, investment, technological breakthroughs and cultural interaction.
Beijing and Moscow, each in their own way, and with their own formulations, are already setting the framework for this ambitious geoeconomic project to be viable: the Heartland back in action as a protagonist in the forefront of History, just like those kingdoms, merchants and pilgrims of nearly 2,000 years ago.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 05/29/2023 – 00:00 - China Shadow Banking Defaults Surge
China Shadow Banking Defaults Surge
By Charlie Zhu, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and analyst
Three things we learned last week:
1. A town builder’s last-minute bond repayment reignited fears over a potential default by such issuers. Investors are watching out for the first missed payment by a local government financing vehicle, something regional authorities are trying hard to avoid. The possibility has recently increased, as a weakening fiscal situation means authorities are less able to provide support.
Research from GF Securities Co. shows there were 73 cases of shadow-banking defaults in the first four months, already a full-year record since data became available in 2018.
“Missing payments in shadow banking are a signal that debt risks in a certain region have become more prominent,” GF analysts led by Liu Yu wrote in a report.
Yields on Kunming Dianchi Investment Co.’s note due in December surged to over 20% last week, as two holders said they didn’t receive payments until after business hours for a note due this month. Premiums of three-year AA rated LGFV bonds widened to the most since March, and investors cited local-debt worries as one of the reasons behind a decline in Chinese stocks.
China’s LGFVs had 13.5 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) of bonds in total outstanding as of end-2022, or almost half of the nation’s non-financial corporate notes, data from Moody’s Investors Service show.
Steps by authorities “to lower LGFV debt risks will not fully resolve long-term issues,” and their refinancing ability depends on investors’ confidence in government support, especially in weaker provinces, Moody’s analysts led by Ivan Chung wrote in a report.
2. With the financial strength of both town builders and their sponsors deteriorating, investors became more pessimistic about China’s demand for raw materials. Copper dived below $8,000 a ton while iron ore breached $100, unwinding gains since Beijing ended its Covid Zero policies late last year.
At the London Metal Exchange’s annual Asian event in Hong Kong, participants reported lackluster activity and said that any market optimism from the National People’s Congress in March had evaporated.
The selloff in Chinese stocks also extended, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index erasing all of its gains for the year. Now, even bulls are rethinking their calls, with Citigroup Inc.’s global allocation team cutting its overweight rating on China to neutral.
3. Luckily, positive developments on China-US bilateral relations helped to alleviate some of the pessimism. Soon after President Joe Biden said he expected ties with China to improve “very shortly” after a spat over an alleged spy balloon earlier this year, top commerce officials from the two countries agreed to strengthen communications. The meeting served as a sign that Beijing and Washington are trying to prevent their relations from worsening further.
It remains to be seen though if China’s decision to bar Micron Technology Inc. from supplying critical infrastructure leads to another round of tension. Some analysts see this as an opening shot by Beijing to retaliate, while US lawmakers want to react with putting more Chinese firms on a blacklist.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 23:30 - 'The Official Truth': The End Of Free Speech That Will End America
‘The Official Truth’: The End Of Free Speech That Will End America
Authored by J.B.Shurk via The Gatestone Institute,
If legacy news corporations fail to report that large majorities of the American public now view their journalistic product as straight-up propaganda, does that make it any less true?
According to a survey by Rasmussen Reports, 59% of likely voters in the United States view the corporate news media as “truly the enemy of the people.” This is a majority view, held regardless of race: “58% of whites, 51% of black voters, and 68% of other minorities” — all agree that the mainstream media has become their “enemy.”
This scorching indictment of the Fourth Estate piggybacks similar polling from Harvard-Harris showing that Americans hold almost diametrically opposing viewpoints from those that news corporations predominantly broadcast as the official “truth.”
Drawing attention to the divergence between the public’s perceived reality and the news media’s prevailing “narratives,” independent journalist Glenn Greenwald dissected the Harvard-Harris poll to highlight just how differently some of the most important issues of the last few years have been understood. While corporate news fixated on purported Trump-Russia collusion since 2016, majorities of Americans now see this story “as a hoax and a fraud.”
While the news media hid behind the Intelligence Community’s claims that Hunter Biden’s potentially incriminating laptop (allegedly containing evidence of his family’s influence-peddling) was a product of “Russian disinformation” and consequently enforced an information blackout on the explosive story during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, strong majorities of Americans currently believe the laptop’s contents are “real.” In other words, Americans have correctly concluded that journalists and spies advanced a “fraud” on voters as part of an effort to censor a damaging story and “help Biden win.” Nevertheless, The New York Times and The Washington Post have yet to return the Pulitzer Prizes they received for reporting totally discredited “fake news.”
Similarly, majorities of Americans suspect that President Joe Biden has used the powers of his various offices to profit from influence-peddling schemes and that the FBI has intentionally refrained from investigating any possible Biden crimes. Huge majorities of Americans, in fact, seem not at all surprised to learn that the FBI has been caught abusing its own powers to influence elections, and are strongly convinced that “sweeping reform” is needed. Likewise, large majorities of Americans have “serious doubts about Biden’s mental fitness to be president” and suspect that others behind the scenes are “puppeteers” running the nation.
Few, if any, of these poll results have been widely reported. In a seemingly-authoritarian disconnect with the American people, corporate news media continue to ignore the public’s majority opinion and instead “relentlessly advocate” those viewpoints that Americans “reject.” When journalists fail to investigate facts and deliberately distort stories so that they fit snugly within preconceived worldviews, reporters act as propagandists.
Constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley recently asked, “Do we have a de facto state media?” In answering his own question, he notes that the news blackout surrounding congressional investigations into Biden family members who have allegedly received more than ten million dollars in suspicious payments from foreign entities “fits the past standards used to denounce Russian propaganda patterns and practices.” After Republican members of Congress traced funds to nine Biden family members “from corrupt figures in Romania, China, and other countries,” Turley writes, “The New Republic quickly ran a story headlined ‘Republicans Finally Admit They Have No Incriminating Evidence on Joe Biden.'”
Excoriating the news media’s penchant for mindlessly embracing stories that hurt former President Donald Trump while simultaneously ignoring stories that might damage President Biden, Turley concludes:
“Under the current approach to journalism, it is the New York Times that receives a Pulitzer for a now debunked Russian collusion story rather than the New York Post for a now proven Hunter Biden laptop story.”
Americans now evidently view the major sources for their news and information as part of a larger political machine pushing particular points of view, unconstrained by any ethical obligation to report facts objectively or dispassionately seek truth. That Americans now see the news media in their country as serving a similar role as Pravda did for the Soviet Union’s Communist Party is a significant departure from the country’s historic embrace of free speech and traditional fondness for a skeptical, adversarial press.
Rather than taking a step back to consider the implications such a shift in public perception will have for America’s future stability, some officials appear even more committed to expanding government control over what can be said and debated online. After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in the wake of public backlash over First Amendment concerns, halted its efforts to construct an official “disinformation governance board” last year, the question remained whether other government attempts to silence or shape online information would rear their head. The wait for that answer did not take long.
The government apparently took the public’s censorship concerns so seriously that it quietly moved on from the collapse of its plans for a “disinformation governance board” within the DHS and proceeded within the space of a month to create a new “disinformation” office known as the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which now operates from within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Although ostensibly geared toward countering information warfare arising from “foreign” threats, one of its principal objectives is to monitor and control “public opinion and behaviors.”
As independent journalist Matt Taibbi concludes of the government’s resurrected Ministry of Truth:
“It’s the basic rhetorical trick of the censorship age: raise a fuss about a foreign threat, using it as a battering ram to get everyone from Congress to the tech companies to submit to increased regulation and surveillance. Then, slowly, adjust your aim to domestic targets.”
If it were not jarring enough to learn that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has picked up the government’s speech police baton right where the DHS set it down, there is ample evidence to suggest that officials are eager to go much further in the near future. Democrat Senator Michael Bennet has already proposed a bill that would create a Federal Digital Platform Commission with “the authority to promulgate rules, impose civil penalties, hold hearings, conduct investigations, and support research.”
Filled with “disinformation” specialists empowered to create “enforceable behavioral codes” for online communication — and generously paid for by the Biden Administration with taxpayers’ money — the special commission would also “designate ‘systemically important digital platforms’ subject to extra oversight, reporting, and regulation” requirements. Effectively, a small number of unelected commissioners would have de facto power to monitor and police online communication.
Should any particular website or platform run afoul of the government’s First Amendment Star Chamber, it would immediately place itself within the commission’s crosshairs for greater oversight, regulation, and punishment.
Will this new creation become an American KGB, Stasi or CCP — empowered to target half the population for disagreeing with current government policies, promoting “wrongthink,” or merely going to church? Will a small secretive body decide which Americans are actually “domestic terrorists” in the making? US Attorney General Merrick Garland has gone after traditional Catholics who attend Latin mass, but why would government suspicions end with the Latin language? When small commissions exist to decide which Americans are the “enemy,” there is no telling who will be designated as a “threat” and punished next.
It is not difficult to see the dangers that lie ahead. Now that the government has fully inserted itself into the news and information industry, the criminalization of free speech is a very real threat. This has always been a chief complaint against international institutions such as the World Economic Forum that spend a great deal of time, power, and money promoting the thoughts and opinions of an insular cabal of global leaders, while showing negligible respect for the personal rights and liberties of the billions of ordinary citizens they claim to represent.
WEF Chairman Klaus Schwab has gone so far as to hire hundreds of thousands of “information warriors” whose mission is to “control the Internet” by “policing social media,” eliminating dissent, disrupting the public square, and “covertly seed[ing] support” for the WEF’s “Great Reset.” If Schwab’s online army were not execrable enough, advocates for free speech must also gird themselves for the repercussions of Elon Musk’s appointment of Linda Yaccarino, reportedly a “neo-liberal wokeist” with strong WEF affiliations, as the new CEO of Twitter.
Throughout much of the West, unfortunately, free speech has been only weakly protected when those with power find its defense inconvenient or messages a nuisance. It is therefore of little surprise to learn that French authorities are now prosecuting government protesters for “flipping-off” President Emmanuel Macron. It does not seem particularly astonishing that a German man has been sentenced to three years in prison for engaging in “pro-Russian” political speech regarding the war in Ukraine. It also no longer appears shocking to read that UK Technology and Science Secretary Michelle Donelan reportedly seeks to imprison social media executives who fail to censor online speech that the government might subjectively adjudge “harmful.” Sadly, as Ireland continues to find new ways to punish citizens for expressing certain points of view, its movement toward criminalizing not just speech but also “hateful” thoughts should have been predictable.
From an American’s perspective, these overseas encroachments against free speech — especially within the borders of closely-allied lands — have seemed sinister yet entirely foreign. Now, however, what was once observed from some distance has made its way home; it feels as if a faraway communist enemy has finally stormed America’s beaches and come ashore in force.
Not a day seems to go by without some new battlefront opening up in the war on free speech and free thought. The Richard Stengel of the Council on Foreign Relations has been increasingly vocal about the importance of journalists and think tanks to act as “primary provocateurs” and “propagandists” who “have to” manipulate the American population and shape the public’s perception of world events. Senator Rand Paul has alleged that the DHS uses at least 12 separate programs to “track what Americans say online,” as well as to engage in social media censorship.
As part of its efforts to silence dissenting arguments, the Biden administration is pursuing a policy that would make it unlawful to use data and datasets that reflect accurate information yet lead to “discriminatory outcomes” for “protected classes.” In other words, if the data is perceived to be “racist,” it must be expunged. At the same time, the Department of Justice has indicted four radical black leftists for having somehow “weaponized” their free speech rights in support of Russian “disinformation.” So, objective datasets can be deemed “discriminatory” against minorities, while actual discrimination against minorities’ free speech is excused when that speech contradicts official government policy.
Meanwhile, the DHS has been exposed for paying tens of millions of dollars to third-party “anti-terrorism” programs that have not so coincidentally equated Christians, Republicans, and philosophical conservatives to Germany’s Nazi Party. Similarly, California Governor Gavin Newsom has set up a Soviet-style “snitch line” that encourages neighbors to report on each other’s public or private displays of “hate.”
Finally, ABC News proudly admits that it has censored parts of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s interviews because some of his answers include “false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines.” Essentially, the corporate news media have deemed Kennedy’s viewpoints unworthy of being transmitted and heard, even though the 2024 presidential candidate is running a strong second behind Joe Biden in the Democrat primary, with around 20% support from the electorate.
Taken all together, it is clear that not only has the war on free speech come to America, but also that it is clobbering Americans in a relentless campaign of “shock and awe.” And why not? In a litigation battle presently being waged over the federal government’s extensive censorship programs, the Biden administration has defended its inherent authority to control Americans’ thoughts as an instrumental component of “government infrastructure.” What Americans think and believe is openly referred to as part of the nation’s “cognitive infrastructure” — as if the Matrix movies were simply reflecting real life.
Today, America’s mainstream news corporations are already viewed as processing plants that manufacture political propaganda. That is an unbelievably searing indictment of a once-vibrant free press in the United States. It is also, unfortunately, only the first heavy shoe to drop in the war against free speech. Many Chinese-Americans who survived the Cultural Revolution look around the country today and see similarities everywhere. During that totalitarian “reign of terror,” everything a person did was monitored, including what was said while asleep.
In an America now plagued with the stench of official “snitch lines,” censorship of certain presidential candidates, widespread online surveillance, a resurrected “disinformation governance board,” and increasingly frequent criminal prosecutions targeting Americans who exercise their free speech, the question is not whether what we inaudibly think or say in our sleep will someday be used against us, but rather how soon that day will come unless we stop it. After all, with smartphones, smart TVs, “smart” appliances, video-recording doorbells, and the rise of artificial intelligence, somebody, somewhere is always listening.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 23:00 - Race To 100 Million Users. Who Did It The Fastest? And What Does This Mean For Productivity?
Race To 100 Million Users. Who Did It The Fastest? And What Does This Mean For Productivity?
OpenAI’s viral ChatGPT chatbot reached 100 million monthly active users in just two months in January after launching in November, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. For some context, it took TikTok nine months after its launch to reach 100 million users and Instagram 2.5 years.
TS Lombard’s Dario Perkins told clients Thursday there are “large effects, and their macroeconomic impact could show up faster than economists anticipate – especially given the pace of technological adoption we are currently seeing.”
Perkins, who heads the global macro desk at TD, found that the widespread adoption of the viral chatbot might spark faster innovation:
ChatGPT gained 100 million users faster than any other application in history, and these fast adoption rates are not confined to individual users. Major corporations, such as Bain & Company, have entered into deals with OpenAI to use generative AI in their strategy consulting business, while companies like Expedia have integrated ChatGP T through plug-ins.
The more exciting impact on living standards, however, is likely to come from the second of our productivity channels – the pace of technological innovation. Generative AI can significantly expedite the R&D process by automating complex tasks, analysing vast datasets and predicting potential outcomes. It has already been useful in biological research: DeepMind’s AlphaFold predicted the 3-D structure of almost every known protein – a task that had been predicted to take decades of human labour (according to the journal Science, the most important scientific breakthrough of 2021).
This, alongside other AI breakthroughs, has led Dr. David Baker from the Institute for Protein Design to estimate that the pace of innovation in his field is now 10 times higher than it was 18 months ago. If we see rapid increases in innovation across other areas, the impact on productivity could be transformative.
He stated AI “has huge potential to boost economy-wide productivity” and cited a recent MIT study that showed a massive improvement in productivity while using ChatGPT. Also, much of the productivity gains were seen between 21 to 40-year-olds.
Perkins mentioned “massive uncertainties about where AI is ultimately headed” from here. And he wasn’t too concerned about layoffs, unlike Goldman, who has warned about 300 million jobs could be displaced by AI in the US and Europe.
And AI is here to stay, unlike Zuck’s overhyped metaverse.
So the bottom line, as Perkins laid out, is that massive and rapid adoption of ChatGPT will “deliver significant productivity improvements” for society. He added, “This is a big deal for a global economy that has been stuck in a long secular productivity funk.” However, he wasn’t too concerned about jobs being displaced, unlike other macro desks.
“The US has had the biggest collapse of durable goods inflation in the near 70-year history of the measure. The plunge of over 20 percentage points is more than twice the previous record” – UBS
ChatGPT will do the same to service (wage) inflation
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 26, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
There is much more in the full TS Lombard report available to pro subs in the usual place.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 22:30 - Comedian Arrested In Beijing As Informants Become Norm Again In China, Eroding Mutual Trust
Comedian Arrested In Beijing As Informants Become Norm Again In China, Eroding Mutual Trust
Authored by Jessica Mao and Olivia Li via The Epoch Times,
Recently, there is a growing trend of people informing on others secretly in Chinese society, with multiple high profile incidents occurring in succession. Current affairs analysts point out that the culture of reporting others to the authorities is a typical product of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ideology, and breeds a lack of trust between people.
On May 13, famous Chinese stand-up comedian Li Haoshi used a Chinese military slogan to commend his adopted stray dogs in two of his performances in Beijing.
The slogan he used, to “have good conduct and capable of winning battles,” was originally Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s words when he set a goal for the People’s Liberation Army.
An audience member reported on him, saying that he had insulted Chinese soldiers.
Beijing then police arrested Li, saying that they had opened an official investigation into his performance. Li and the comedy firm he worked with were suspended from future performances and heavily fined.
On May 19, the Kunlun Institute, a self-proclaimed independent Chinese research institute, republished an old article from 2021 on its official website, criticizing Chinese painter and sculpture artist Yue Minjun for engaging in an “organized and orchestrated campaign of insulting the military and opposing the Chinese Communist Party” with an art museum in Shunde, Guangdong.
In the article, Kunlun’s guest commentator, Yang Zhaoyou, posted several paintings featuring Chinese communist soldiers and others. Each of the characters has an absurdly exaggerated smile, and some of them even had horns on their heads. These characters are based on ordinary soldiers, police officers, communist model soldier Lei Feng, and communist leaders such as Mao Zedong, Stalin, and Karl Marx.
The article said these characters are “not to be insulted” and the author “strongly requests the relevant authorities to investigate this organized insult” to the military and the CCP.
After the article was published, some Chinese social media users also launched attacks against Yue Minjun but others felt that the criticism of Yue was too far-fetched.
In another incident on May 22, a Chinese netizen reported in an online post that a teacher at Lanzhou University, when lecturing in a classroom, publicly discredited the CCP’s propaganda of the Korean War, which the Chinese regime refers to as “The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.”
According to two pictures in the teaching slides, the teacher presented the opposite view of what the CCP depicts as “aiding North Korea and defending our motherland.”
Totalitarian System Controls People’s Minds through Informants
Former Capital Normal University professor Li Yuanhua told The Epoch Times that authoritarian rulers are afraid of public opinion and often get increasingly paranoid about controlling people. Under communism in China, people are not allowed to think and express themselves freely, and rulers control people’s thoughts through informants and mutual supervision.
“When words are crimes, it is actually tantamount to strengthening authoritarianism, and strengthening authoritarianism means that the authoritarians lack the self-confidence to rule, and have to resort to more controls to solidify their power,” Li said.
Li believes that the continued development of this trend will have an erosive effect on people’s minds, and that there will be a lack of genuine trust between people. Even if they have ideas, people are afraid to express them for fear that they will be reported or ratted out by others.
Product of Communist Culture
New Zealand-based political commentator Ye Zhiqiu told The Epoch Times that the practice of informing on others is a typical product of culture under communist rule, which has two distinctive features.
“One is that it does not distinguish between right and wrong, but only emphasizes political stance,” he said. “In other words, those who are reported and denounced are reported not because they have broken the law or violated social morality, but simply because their words and deeds do not conform to the views and stance propagated by the CCP. This phenomenon is also a product of decades of the CCP’s brainwashing education, which has ultimately led to intolerance of dissenting voices.”
“Another significant feature of this phenomenon—the most serious problem—is that it usually occurs among acquaintances. The informants often report on people they know well, which destroys trust,” Ye said, adding that the CCP’s long-term brainwashing education makes people lose their humanity, leaving only the so-called communist party spirit.
He believes that there needs to be a basic trust between people in order for society to operate normally.
“But under communist rule, especially during the Cultural Revolution, even husbands and wives could inform on each other, and children were encouraged to report their parents’ behavior to the authorities. This eventually led to the dire consequence that people in society became enemies of each other and lost trust in each other, which made society very deformed. This is exactly what the CCP wants, because when people guard against or even fight against one another, it is difficult for them to unite and effectively join forces against the CCP,” Ye said.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 22:00 - Pakistan Has The World's Highest Prevalence Of Diabetes (Not USA?)
Pakistan Has The World’s Highest Prevalence Of Diabetes (Not USA?)
Despite advancements in healthcare lengthening life expectancy across the world, there are still many diseases that are hard to beat. One of these growing and costly diseases is diabetes, but each country is being hit differently.
As Visual Capitalist’s Freny Fernandes details below, one of the leading causes of death and disability globally, over half a billion people are living with diabetes today. The World Bank’s IDF Diabetes Atlas reveals that diabetes was responsible for 6.7 million deaths in 2021 alone.
In this graphic, Alberto Rojo Moro uses this World Bank Atlas to map diabetes rates by country, highlighting the countries with the highest rates of the disease.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes (also known as diabetes mellitusis) a long-lasting condition that affects how the body turns food into energy.
Normally, our bodies break down the food we consume into glucose (a sugar) and release it into our blood. When our level of blood sugar rises, insulin produced by our pancreas signals the body to use excess glucose as energy or store it for later consumption.
Diabetes restricts the pancreas from producing this life-saving insulin properly, thus causing high blood sugar levels. These high glucose levels can eventually impact the heart, kidney, and vision. There are two main types of diabetes:
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Type 1 Diabetes: The immune system attacks and destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Causes are believed to be genetic and environmental.
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Type 2 Diabetes: The body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. It is caused by a mix of lifestyle factors (including obesity, physical inactivity, poor diet, and smoking) and genetics.
Type 2 diabetes is by far the most common form of the disease, making up between 90-95% of global cases.
Diabetes Rates by Country
With close to 33 million (31%) of its adult population suffering from diabetes, Pakistan was the country with the highest prevalence of diabetes.
Rank Country % of Diabetic Population Aged 20-79 1 🇵🇰 Pakistan 30.8 2 🇵🇫 French Polynesia 25.2 3 🇰🇼 Kuwait 24.9 4 🇳🇷 Nauru 23.4 5 🇳🇨 New Caledonia 23.4 6 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 23.0 7 🇲🇺 Mauritius 22.6 8 🇰🇮 Kiribati 22.1 9 🇪🇬 Egypt 20.9 10 🇦🇸 American Samoa 20.3 11 🇹🇻 Tuvalu 20.3 12 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 19.8 13 🇶🇦 Qatar 19.5 14 🇬🇺 Guam 19.1 15 🇲🇾 Malaysia 19.0 16 🇸🇩 Sudan 18.9 17 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 18.7 18 🇫🇯 Fiji 17.7 19 🇵🇼 Palau 17.0 20 🇲🇽 Mexico 16.9 21 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 16.7 22 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 16.4 23 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 16.1 24 🇫🇲 Micronesia 15.6 25 🇻🇺 Vanuatu 15.6 26 🇯🇴 Jordan 15.4 27 🇹🇴 Tonga 15.0 28 🇸🇾 Syria 14.9 29 🇧🇿 Belize 14.5 30 🇹🇷 Turkey 14.5 31 🇧🇩 Bangladesh 14.2 32 🇧🇧 Barbados 14.0 33 🇴🇲 Oman 13.8 34 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico 13.3 35 🇬🇹 Guatemala 13.1 36 🇧🇲 Bermuda 13.0 37 🇰🇾 Cayman Islands 13.0 38 🇸🇷 Suriname 12.7 39 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 12.7 40 🇬🇩 Grenada 12.6 41 🇻🇮 United States Virgin Islands 12.4 42 🇹🇿 Tanzania 12.3 43 🇿🇲 Zambia 11.9 44 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 11.7 45 🇰🇲 Comoros 11.7 46 🇨🇼 Curacao 11.7 47 🇩🇲 Dominica 11.7 48 🇬🇾 Guyana 11.7 49 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 11.7 50 🇸🇬 Singapore 11.6 51 🇧🇭 Bahrain 11.3 52 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 11.3 53 🇧🇳 Brunei 11.1 54 🇯🇲 Jamaica 11.1 55 🇦🇫 Afghanistan 10.9 56 🇨🇱 Chile 10.8 57 🇿🇦 South Africa 10.8 58 🇮🇶 Iraq 10.7 59 🇺🇸 United States 10.7 60 🇨🇳 China 10.6 61 🇮🇩 Indonesia 10.6 62 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 10.5 63 🇧🇹 Bhutan 10.4 64 🇪🇸 Spain 10.3 65 🇦🇱 Albania 10.2 66 🇦🇩 Andorra 9.7 67 🇹🇭 Thailand 9.7 68 🇹🇳 Tunisia 9.6 69 🇻🇪 Venezuela 9.6 70 🇳🇮 Nicaragua 9.3 71 🇲🇻 Maldives 9.2 72 🇵🇸 Palestine 9.2 73 🇼🇸 Samoa 9.2 74 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 9.1 75 🇮🇷 Iran 9.1 76 🇲🇪 Montenegro 9.1 77 🇲🇦 Morocco 9.1 78 🇵🇹 Portugal 9.1 79 🇷🇸 Serbia 9.1 80 🇺🇾 Uruguay 9.0 81 🇭🇹 Haiti 8.9 82 🇧🇸 Bahamas 8.8 83 🇧🇷 Brazil 8.8 84 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 8.8 85 🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands 8.7 86 🇱🇾 Libya 8.7 87 🇳🇵 Nepal 8.7 88 🇨🇾 Cyprus 8.6 89 🇰🇵 North Korea 8.6 90 🇹🇱 Timor 8.6 91 🇮🇱 Israel 8.5 92 🇸🇨 Seychelles 8.5 93 🇨🇴 Colombia 8.3 94 🇵🇦 Panama 8.2 95 🇱🇧 Lebanon 8.0 96 🇲🇹 Malta 8.0 97 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 8.0 98 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 7.8 99 🇲🇴 Macao 7.8 100 🇨🇦 Canada 7.7 101 🇨🇺 Cuba 7.6 102 🇵🇾 Paraguay 7.5 103 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 7.4 104 🇩🇯 Djibouti 7.4 105 🇸🇲 San Marino 7.4 106 🇰🇭 Cambodia 7.3 107 🇲🇼 Malawi 7.3 108 🇩🇿 Algeria 7.1 109 🇨🇿 Czechia 7.1 110 🇲🇲 Myanmar 7.1 111 🇵🇭 Philippines 7.1 112 🇭🇺 Hungary 7.0 113 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 7.0 114 🇩🇪 Germany 6.9 115 🇲🇳 Mongolia 6.9 116 🇵🇱 Poland 6.8 117 🇰🇷 South Korea 6.8 118 🇳🇦 Namibia 6.7 119 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 6.7 120 🇯🇵 Japan 6.6 121 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 6.6 122 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 6.6 123 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 6.6 124 🇧🇮 Burundi 6.5 125 🇪🇷 Eritrea 6.5 126 🇪🇪 Estonia 6.5 127 🇷🇴 Romania 6.5 128 🇷🇼 Rwanda 6.5 129 🇸🇴 Somalia 6.5 130 🇸🇸 South Sudan 6.5 131 🇦🇺 Australia 6.4 132 🇬🇷 Greece 6.4 133 🇮🇹 Italy 6.4 134 🇸🇻 El Salvador 6.3 135 🇮🇲 Isle of Man 6.3 136 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 6.3 137 🇱🇦 Laos 6.2 138 🇲🇨 Monaco 6.2 139 🇳🇿 New Zealand 6.2 140 🇫🇮 Finland 6.1 141 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 6.1 142 🇲🇰 North Macedonia 6.1 143 🇻🇳 Vietnam 6.1 144 🇱🇻 Latvia 5.9 145 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 5.9 146 🇨🇫 Central African Republic 5.8 147 🇹🇩 Chad 5.8 148 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Congo 5.8 149 🇱🇹 Lithuania 5.8 150 🇸🇰 Slovakia 5.8 151 🇬🇪 Georgia 5.7 152 🇦🇲 Armenia 5.6 153 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 5.6 154 🇧🇾 Belarus 5.6 155 🇲🇩 Moldova 5.6 156 🇷🇺 Russia 5.6 157 🇺🇦 Ukraine 5.6 158 🇧🇴 Bolivia 5.5 159 🇨🇲 Cameroon 5.5 160 🇨🇬 Congo 5.5 161 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 5.5 162 🇬🇦 Gabon 5.5 163 🇮🇸 Iceland 5.5 164 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe 5.5 165 🇦🇷 Argentina 5.4 166 🇾🇪 Yemen 5.4 167 🇩🇰 Denmark 5.3 168 🇫🇷 France 5.3 169 🇧🇼 Botswana 5.3 170 🇳🇪 Niger 5.2 171 🇭🇳 Honduras 5.1 172 🇪🇹 Ethiopia 5.0 173 🇸🇪 Sweden 5.0 174 🇭🇷 Croatia 4.8 175 🇵🇪 Peru 4.8 176 🇦🇴 Angola 4.6 177 🇦🇹 Austria 4.6 178 🇸🇿 Eswatini 4.6 179 🇱🇸 Lesotho 4.6 180 🇲🇬 Madagascar 4.6 181 🇨🇭 Switzerland 4.6 182 🇺🇬 Uganda 4.6 183 🇳🇱 Netherlands 4.5 184 🇪🇨 Ecuador 4.4 185 🇦🇼 Aruba 4.3 186 🇰🇪 Kenya 4.0 187 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands 3.8 188 🇧🇪 Belgium 3.6 189 🇳🇬 Nigeria 3.6 190 🇳🇴 Norway 3.6 191 🇬🇱 Greenland 3.3 192 🇲🇿 Mozambique 3.3 193 🇸🇳 Senegal 3.1 194 🇮🇪 Ireland 3.0 195 🇬🇭 Ghana 2.6 196 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 2.1 197 🇨🇻 Cape Verde 2.1 198 🇨🇮 Cote d’Ivoire 2.1 199 🇬🇳 Guinea 2.1 200 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 2.1 201 🇱🇷 Liberia 2.1 202 🇲🇱 Mali 2.1 203 🇲🇷 Mauritania 2.1 204 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 2.1 205 🇹🇬 Togo 2.1 206 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 2.1 207 🇬🇲 Gambia 1.9 208 🇧🇯 Benin 1.1 The situation in Pakistan is currently not expected to improve in the near future. By 2045, the country is estimated to have 62 million people suffering from diabetes due to numerous reasons including malnutrition.
This chronic disease has also reached alarming levels in many Oceanic island countries and territories, including French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and American Samoa. Each has a diabetic prevalence above 20%, with reasons ranging from malnutrition to obesity.
Meanwhile, African nations like Benin and The Gambia recorded the lowest prevalence of diabetes in the world. In 2021, African countries had a combined total of 23.6 million adults with diabetes, less than 2% of the continent’s population. However, this number is predicted to double to 55 million by 2045.
Most Diabetic Countries in Absolute Terms
In China, diabetes was prevalent in 10.6% of the nation’s adult population in 2021. While this only puts the country in 60th place in terms of prevalence rate, this is equivalent to roughly 140 million adults with diabetes because of the country’s large population.
Similarly, India’s 9.6% prevalence of diabetes equaled 77 million adults suffering from the disease in the country, more than double the number of Pakistan’s diabetic citizens.
A similar story follows in the Americas, where Mexico has the highest adult prevalence of diabetes at 16.9% or 14.1 million people. Though the U.S. has a lower rate at 10.7%, its higher population gives it an estimated 32.2 million adults with diabetes.
Breaking down diabetes rates by country highlights that this a global health challenge. To address the growing burden of diabetes, we need to focus on prevention, early detection, and management of diabetes.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 21:30 -
- Col. Douglas Macgregor: "Bakhmut Is A Catastrophe [For Ukraine]… F-16s Won't Make A Difference"
Col. Douglas Macgregor: “Bakhmut Is A Catastrophe [For Ukraine]… F-16s Won’t Make A Difference”
Russia turned Bakhmut into the graveyard of Ukrainian military power, Col. Douglas MacGregor (ret.) explains ‘what comes next’ in his latest opinion piece at The American Conservative:
Until the fighting begins, national military strategy developed in peacetime shapes thinking about warfare and its objectives. Then the fighting creates a new logic of its own. Strategy is adjusted. Objectives change. The battle for Bakhmut illustrates this point very well.
When General Sergey Vladimirovich Surovikin, commander of Russian aerospace forces, assumed command of the Russian military in the Ukrainian theater last year, President Vladimir Putin and his senior military advisors concluded that their original assumptions about the war were wrong. Washington had proved incurably hostile to Moscow’s offers to negotiate, and the ground force Moscow had committed to compel Kiev to negotiate had proved too small.
Surovikin was given wide latitude to streamline command relationships and reorganize the theater. Most importantly, Surovikin was also given the freedom of action to implement a defensive strategy that maximized the use of stand-off attack or strike systems while Russian ground forces expanded in size and striking power. The Bakhmut “Meatgrinder” was the result.
When it became clear that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government regarded Bakhmut as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian military power, Surovikin turned Bakhmut into the graveyard of Ukrainian military power. From the fall of 2022 onward, Surovikin exploited Zalenskiy’s obsession with Bakhmut to engage in a bloody tug-of-war for control of the city. As a result, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers died in Bakhmut and many more were wounded.
Surovkin’s performance is reminiscent of another Russian military officer: General Aleksei Antonov. As the first deputy chief of the Soviet general staff, Surovikin was, in Western parlance, the director of strategic planning. When Stalin demanded a new summer offensive in a May 1943 meeting, Antonov, the son and grandson of imperial Russian army officers, argued for a defensive strategy. Antonov insisted that Hitler, if allowed, would inevitably attack the Soviet defenses in the Kursk salient and waste German resources doing so.
Stalin, like Hitler, believed that wars were won with offensive action, not defensive operations.
Stalin was unmoved by Soviet losses. Antonov presented his arguments for the defensive strategy in a climate of fear, knowing that contradicting Stalin could cost him his life. To the surprise of Marshals Aleksandr Vasilevsky and Georgy Zhukov, who were present at the meeting, Stalin relented and approved Antonov’s operational concept. The rest, as historians say, is history.
If President Putin and his senior military leaders wanted outside evidence for Surovikin’s strategic success in Bakhmut, a Western admission appears to provide it: Washington and her European allies seem to think that a frozen conflict—in which fighting pauses but neither side is victorious, nor does either side agree that the war is officially over—could be the most politically palatable long-term outcome for NATO. In other words, Zelensky’s supporters no longer believe in the myth of Ukrainian victory.
The question on everyone’s mind is, what’s next?
In Washington, conventional wisdom dictates that Ukrainian forces launch a counteroffensive to retake Southern Ukraine. Of course, conventional wisdom is frequently high on convention and low on wisdom. On the assumption that Ukraine’s black earth will dry sufficiently to support ground maneuver forces before mid-June, Ukrainian forces will strike Russian defenses on multiple axes and win back control of Southern Ukraine in late May or June. Roughly 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers training in Great Britain, Germany, and other NATO member states are expected to return to Ukraine and provide the foundation for the Ukrainian counterattack force.
General Valery Gerasimov, who now commands the Russian forces in the Ukrainian theater, knows what to expect, and he is undoubtedly preparing for the Ukrainian offensive. The partial mobilization of Russian forces means that Russian ground forces are now much larger than they have been since the mid-1980s.
Given the paucity of ammunition available to adequately supply one operational axis, it seems unlikely that a Ukrainian offensive involving two or more axes could succeed in penetrating Russian defenses. Persistent overhead surveillance makes it nearly impossible for Ukrainian forces to move through the twenty- to twenty-five-kilometer security zone and close with Russian forces before Ukrainian formations take significant losses.
Once Ukraine’s offensive resources are exhausted Russia will likely take the offense. There is no incentive to delay Russian offensive operations. As Ukrainian forces repeatedly demonstrate, paralysis is always temporary. Infrastructure and equipment are repaired. Manpower is conscripted to rebuild destroyed formations. If Russia is to achieve its aim of demilitarizing Ukraine, Gerasimov surely knows he must still close with and complete the destruction of the Ukrainian ground forces that remain.
Why not spare the people of Ukraine further bloodletting and negotiate with Moscow for peace while Ukraine still possesses an army? Unfortunately, to be effective, diplomacy requires mutual respect, and Washington’s effusive hatred for Russia makes diplomacy impossible. That hatred is rivaled only by the arrogance of much of the ruling class, who denigrate Russian military power largely because U.S. forces have been lucky enough to avoid conflict with a major power since the Korean War. More sober-minded leaders in Washington, Paris, Berlin, and other NATO capitols should urge a different course of action.
* * *
Finally, we note that Col. MacGregor sat down with host Charlie Kirk about the grave situation in Ukraine today, as well as an in-depth discussion of current geopolitical picture relating the US and NATO.
“…the truth is Bakhmut was a catastrophe and everyone knows it… people know the Ukrainians can’t win and now we’re acting desperately at every turn – send them F-16s, send them whatever we have; Truth is none of that is going to make any difference… the real risk now is that fools in Washington will talk about direct intervention…”
Click the image below to go to YouTube directly (video not embeddable) for this critically frank interview:
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 21:00 - Top 10 Cheapest Beach Homes In America
Top 10 Cheapest Beach Homes In America
The 30yr fixed mortgage rate is back above 7% for the first time since early March. Housing affordability is the worst in decades. Those still searching for a beach home but don’t want to pay Hamptons or South Florida prices have other options that are still considered “affordable.”
A new report via Realtor.com reveals the top ten most affordable beach towns for homebuyers this summer. To find these affordable homes, Realtor analysts used listing data for every home put on the market in the past year located within a one-mile radius of each beach.”
“We then selected the most affordable beach towns by price per square foot. Only locations with at least 50 properties within a mile of the water in the past year were included,” they said.
Topping the list as the most affordable beach home community in the US is Gulfport, Mississippi, with an average median home price of around $225,000 within 1 mile of the beach. The median price per square footage within 1 mile of the beach was $144.
Second on the list is Newport News, Virginia, with average home prices within 1 mile of a beach around $220,000 and the median price per square foot around $150.
“The city is perched on the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, where the James River meets the Chesapeake Bay near its mouth to the Atlantic Ocean,” Realtor said.
The rest of the list includes:
3. New London, Conn.
4. Grand Isle, La.
5. Corpus Christi, Texas
6. Atlantic City, NJ.
7. Navarre, Fla.
8. North Beach, Md.
9. Crescent City, Calif.
10. Shirley, N.Y.
Most of the affordable beach towns can be found in the South, Mid-Atlantic, or Northeast regions. However, Northern California also has one reasonably priced beach town.
Affordability challenges persist, with the mortgage rates back above 7%.
The beach towns listed above are gems of affordability.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 20:30 - Washington Doctor Facing Probe For Criticizing COVID Policies Wins Emergency Injunction
Washington Doctor Facing Probe For Criticizing COVID Policies Wins Emergency Injunction
Authored by Caden Pearsen via The Epoch Times,
A Washington state appeals court has granted an emergency injunction to a retired doctor facing disciplinary action from the Washington Medical Commission (WMC) over articles he wrote against the official COVID-19 narrative in 2021.
Dr. Richard J. Eggleston, a retired ophthalmologist in Clarkston, Washington, faces disciplinary action over articles published in the Lewiston Tribune he wrote challenged the prevailing information and guidance regarding the pandemic.
During the pandemic, doctors could be accused of spreading misinformation if they provided advice contrary to the official information. This included, for example, advocating or prescribing treatments such as ivermectin or disagreeing with the effectiveness of face masks and vaccines.
The United States officially ended the pandemic emergency on May 11.
The WMC filed charges against Dr. Eggleston, accusing him of unprofessional conduct, including spreading false information and misinformation about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its treatments. They assert that his actions violated state laws related to moral turpitude, misrepresentation, and interference with an investigation.
In response to the charges, Dr. Eggleston has maintained his innocence and has argued that his articles are protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. He sought to have the disciplinary proceedings dismissed on the grounds that the statutes applied by the WMC infringed upon his constitutional rights.
Despite a separate, initial motion to dismiss being previously denied, the recent emergency injunction granted by the appeals court now provides a temporary reprieve for Dr. Eggleston. The injunction halts the disciplinary proceedings while the court further examines the case.
The WMC wants to carry out the fact-finding hearing, they say, to protect public health and fulfill its disciplinary responsibilities for the medical profession “and to resolve issues of fact and credibility that require the expertise of the Commission to resolve,” according to a court filing (pdf).
Court Commissioner Hailey L. Landrus noted in her ruling that while putting a stay on the proceeding would inconvenience the commission—as lawyers for the WMC argued—it doesn’t demonstrate harm to the public.
‘Chilling Effect’ on Free Speech
Dr. Eggleston, on the other hand, argued that he sought to halt the disciplinary proceedings to assert his First Amendment right to free speech.
Landrus favored the retired doctor’s argument, saying public dialogue by professionals receives strong First Amendment protection, and the mere fact of prosecution can have a “chilling effect” on the exercise of these rights for Dr. Eggleston and other medical professionals.
“Dr. Eggleston has a competing interest in enjoining the disciplinary proceedings in order to seek First Amendment protection for his speech, which is the reason for the administrative proceedings in the first place. Denying a stay would, according to Dr. Eggleston, violate his constitutional right to free speech,” Landrus said in her ruling.
“Balancing the parties competing interests and hardships favors Dr. Eggleston,” the court commissioner added.
She found that it would be more efficient to review the trial court’s decision on the injunction instead of proceeding with a lengthy administrative hearing. Granting the injunction could potentially resolve the entire proceedings, saving time and resources, she noted.
The court’s decision to grant the emergency injunction comes as a significant development in Dr. Eggleston’s ongoing legal battle with the WMC.
The granted stay of the proceedings will delay hearings scheduled to commence this week, Wednesday through Friday. This delay provides a short window of opportunity for the WMC to withdraw the charges against Dr. Eggleston. However, if the WMC chooses not to withdraw the charges, the legal process will proceed as planned.
“I’m very happy to see that this part of the legal system understands this First Amendment issue and basic rights to get accurate information from a physician,” Dr. Eggleston told The Defender.
The legal team representing Dr. Eggleston expressed their satisfaction with the court’s ruling to grant the stay of proceedings. Todd Richardson, one of Dr. Eggleston’s lawyers, emphasized the significance of protecting First Amendment rights.
“As Americans, if we don’t conscientiously defend these foundational rights and freedoms, we may soon wake up to realize we have lost them,” he told The Defender.
The Epoch Times contacted WMC for comment.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 20:00 - Lululemon Fires Two Store Employees For Calling Police On Masked Robbers
Lululemon Fires Two Store Employees For Calling Police On Masked Robbers
America’s descent toward lawlessness is most visible at retail stores in progressive metro areas. The latest incident occurred at a Lululemon store in Atlanta. Three masked men pillaged the store while two employees wearing overpriced yoga pants were fired by corporate for calling the police to report the robbery.
Local media outlet WXIA said Jennifer Ferguson, the former assistant manager of the Peachtree Corners Lululemon, and Rachel Rogers, a former employee at the store, encountered the men in “masks and hoodies” who “swiped” as much merchandise as they could before sprinting out the door.
“No, no, no, you can march back out,” Ferguson said in a video that caught the entire robbery. One of the robbers told her, “Chill, b-tch, shut your ass up.”
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New York Post said the thieves had robbed the store several times because Lululemon has a “zero-tolerance policy” on chasing or physically engaging with a robber. Although both employees did not physically try to stop the masked men, they called the police to report the theft.
“We are not supposed to get in the way. You kind of clear path for whatever they’re going to do.
“And then, after it’s over, you scan a QR code. And that’s that. We’ve been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We’re not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it,” Ferguson told WXIA.
In a Facebook post, the assistant manager’s husband, Jason Ferguson, said, “My wife was terminated from her job at Lululemon for ‘breaking employee handbook policy’ of not interfering with a burglary.” He continued:
Lululemon representatives held a zoom call a few days after the incident to learn what Jenn knew about the policy. Then, a few days later, they scheduled a follow-up zoom call where they terminated her citing the company’s “zero-tolerance policy” in these situations. No warning. No coaching. No additional training. Just. Fired. Georgia being an at-will employment state, employers can do that whenever they wish. That is their right. But it doesn’t make it right. Especially in this situation.
Jason Ferguson said the regional manager told his wife and the other former employee that calling the police would “look bad for Lululemon.”
Lululemon appears to have an open-invite policy for thieves, which puts its employees in harm’s way. Not intervening physically is probably smart because who wants to die over expensive yoga pants made in Southeast Asia? However, terminating employees for simply calling the police is upside-down clown world stuff. We hope Lululemon fixes these broken policies and puts more effort towards protecting employees and improving work conditions.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 19:30 - What A Difference A Real DA Makes
What A Difference A Real DA Makes
Authored by Lloyd Billingsley via American Greatness,
Chesa Boudin, named after cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, and son of Weather Underground terrorists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, was elected district attorney of San Francisco in November 2020.
Criminals were happy with the outcome.
“Chesa Boudin threw a monkey wrench into the city’s criminal justice system,” recalls Richie Greenberg, San Francisco resident and business consultant.
“Amid a series of high-profile cases, his promise to release repeat criminals and to allow quality of life crimes to go unpunished, San Francisco descended into a scofflaw paradise.”
Greenberg spearheaded a recall effort and in June 2022 voters booted Boudin by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin. Mayor London Breed then appointed University of Chicago law alum Brooke Jenkins, a prosecutor in the city’s homicide division.
Jenkins proceeded to fire 16 Boudin loyalists, part of “important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms.”
In November 2022, Jenkins prevailed over three rivals with approximately 54 percent of the vote. As the victor proclaimed. “I pledge that improving and promoting public safety will be my and our office’s top priority.”
The “scofflaw paradise” recently threw up a challenge.
On April 27, “black trans man” Banko Brown shoplifted items from a downtown Walgreens store. That drew the attention of security guard Michael Earl-Ray Anthony, who struggled with Brown. Anthony contended that Brown threatened to stab him and shot the shoplifter, who later died from the wound. No weapon was found on the decedent.
“Banko’s death is yet another testament to the dire need for increased advocacy for the safety of all trans people in this country, especially Black trans people,” said a statement from Tori Cooper of the Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative.
“His death comes at a time of blatant hateful, xenophobic rhetoric and legislative measures which fuel violence against our community. We can’t continue to stand idle while this unfolds.”
Protesters also called for Anthony to be prosecuted for murder, but San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins took a different approach. “The killing of Mr. Banko Brown on April 27, 2023 was a tragedy and my heart breaks for his friends and family,” Jenkins said in a statement.
After careful review of all of the evidence gathered by the San Francisco Police Department in this case, my office will not be pursuing murder charges, at this time, in connection to the shooting. We reviewed witness statements, statements from the suspect, and video footage of the incident and it does not meet the People’s burden to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that the suspect is guilty of a crime. The evidence clearly shows that the suspect believed he was in mortal danger and acted in self-defense. We cannot bring forward charges when there is credible evidence of reasonable self-defense. Doing so would be unethical and create false hope for a successful prosecution. No matter the case, however, we must follow the law and the evidence, wherever it leads. We never make decisions based on emotions or what may be politically expedient.
For Jenkins, “this wasn’t someone just walking out with an item. This is a shoplifting that became violent because Banko Brown initiated that aggressive contact with the security guard which turned this legally into a robbery.”
The D.A. asked that “even in the midst of very intense heightened emotions that people look at the same evidence that we did, because that is what our decision is based on.”
“We all share that we wish that this never happened,” Jenkins added, “but the facts are what they are and that is what we are limited to.” One fact missing from many reports was that Michael Earl-Ray Anthony is also black and something of a hardship case.
“I’ve really been on my own since I was a young teenager,” Anthony told the D.A.’s office. “Always moving, different places, different houses, different family, friends. My parents never really worked. I was the only one working. My stepdad—he was on drugs.”
Anthony spoke of working as a security guard since he was 18, and for a time as an armored truck driver, delivering bags of up to $600,000 to banks. The guard was distraught at killing someone and told detectives, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Local activists cast him as a murderer.
“If there was a crime that was committed in terms of stealing—that is if—there was a greater crime, which was murder.”
That was Honey Mahogany, the first black trans chair of the local Democratic Party, in a May 17 protest outside the D.A.’s office.
“Banko Brown was not a danger to anyone,” according to Kevin Ortiz of the Latinx Democratic Club.
“Brooke Jenkins needs to do her job—she must be held accountable for the families she’s failed. And that starts with Banko Brown.”
The people of San Francisco might not think so.
California’s 2014 Proposition 47 changed felonies to misdemeanors and essentially legalized theft of property valued at less than $950. Car break-ins and property crime quickly surged, and in parts of the city, contrary to Tony Bennett, the stench of excrement filled the air. The pro-criminal Chesa Boudin made it all worse, and voters turned him out.
Brooke Jenkins, by contrast, has made public safety a top priority. She follows the law and the evidence and does not make decisions on what may be politically expedient. That is good advice for district attorneys in Los Angeles, New York, and across the country.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 19:00 - Children's Hospital 'Health Hero' Award Given To Trans Democrat Pushing Child Sex Changes
Children’s Hospital ‘Health Hero’ Award Given To Trans Democrat Pushing Child Sex Changes
The Children’s Minnesota hospital system awarded state Rep. Leigh Finke an award last week after authoring a bill designed to promote child sex changes, the Daily Caller reports.
Screenshot/YouTube/Leigh Finke Finke, a transgender individual, authored Minnesota’s HF146, the so-called “trans refuge” bill, which would prevent the enforcement of out-of-state laws that would remove a child from parents who cross state lines to administer transgender medical interventions, such as hormones or puberty blockers.
“The law protects access to gender affirming care for Minnesotans and for those traveling to Minnesota from other states,” said Children’s Minnesota in a statement.
The legislation was signed into law on April 27 by Gov. Tim Walz (D).
Finke was also the author of a bill that would strip anti-pedophile language from the state’s existing anti-discrimination law. The law currently excludes sexual attraction to children from its list of legally protected sexual orientations, but Finke’s bill would remove language specifying that exclusion, which activists have argued could lead to pedophilia being interpreted as a protected sexual orientation.
Republican state Rep. Harry Niska later proposed an amendment to the bill that would clarify that pedophilia is not a protected class, which was adopted unanimously. -Daily Caller
We are pleased to announce that Rep. @leighfinke is this year’s recipient of the Children’s Health Hero award. Children’s Minnesota presents the award annually to legislators who champion child health issues at the Minnesota Capitol.https://t.co/lkzQHUjrDq
— Children’s Minnesota (@childrensmn) May 24, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAccording to Children’s Minnesota, it’s “the only health system in the state that cares exclusively for children” via two hospitals and 25 other facilities for primary care.
Meanwhile, similar “trans refuge” legislation has been passed in California, after states like Utah and Florida passed legislation to restrict sex change procedures on children.
“I am extremely honored to be presented the Health Hero Award from Children’s Minnesota. At a time when young children are exploring who they are, and where they fit in society, we need to advocate and fight for their right to discover those identities with dignity and compassion,” said Rep. Finke.
Or maybe wait till they’re 18, when society deems people to be adults capable of making major decisions for themselves?
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 18:30 - Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms Advances In California Senate
Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms Advances In California Senate
Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,
A bill to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms cleared the California Senate May 24, reaching the halfway point in the state’s effort to legalize the drug, despite increasing opposition by law enforcement and many citizens.
Senate Bill 58 was introduced in December by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who said criminalizing drug use and possession does nothing but fill up prisons with people who are addicted.
“We shouldn’t be criminalizing people for personal use of these non-addictive substances,” Wiener said in a May 24 statement.
If passed, the bill would allow the cultivation, transfer, and transportation of fungi or other plant-based materials that can be used as ingredients for the drugs, according to the bill text.
Psilocybin is found in a variety of mushrooms and can be produced synthetically. The bill would only allow plant-based psychedelic drugs for use by people 21 years old and older.
Ingesting the drug can cause sensory perception changes, including auditory and visual hallucinations. The drug’s effects after ingestion can begin within 20 to 90 minutes and can last up to 12 hours in some cases, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Several law enforcement associations, local California governments, and organizations are opposed to legalizing the substance, including the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the City of Beverly Hills, the California State Sheriffs’ Association, California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Concerned Women for America, and many others.
The California District Attorneys Association opposed the measure, expressing concern that legalizing the drugs for recreational use is not grounded in scientific evidence.
“While we are sympathetic to proponents who argue that the veteran population might benefit therapeutically from exploration of these substances, these drugs are Schedule I controlled substances for a reason,” the association said, according to a Senate analysis of the bill. “They have no federally accepted medical use and have a high probability of misuse.”
The California Contract Cities Association was also against legalization and was concerned about public safety risks associated with the cultivation and transportation of the materials.
“This means that more hallucinogenic drugs would be able to move across local jurisdictions in far greater numbers with insufficient oversight or accountability from local agencies,” the cities association wrote in a Senate analysis. “This is very worrisome from the perspective of local decision-making authorities like our member cities.”
Support for the bill includes the Hippie and a Veteran Foundation, Initiate Justice, the Alameda County Democratic Party, the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies, and the California Public Defenders Association. The cities of West Hollywood and Eureka are also in favor of the bill.
Clinical trials are underway to study its use for treating depression and other mental health disorders, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
The association determined in a 2020 study that while research is still preliminary, psychedelics show promise for treating conditions including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder but the drugs were not ready for use as a treatment.
Psychedelic mushrooms are still illegal under U.S. federal law. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated psilocybin, the substance found in psychedelic mushrooms, as a “breakthrough therapy,” speeding up the development and review of the drug to treat serious conditions.
Preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy in clinical studies, according to the FDA.
Local measures to deprioritize the policing or prosecution of conduct related to hallucinogens have passed in Oakland and Santa Cruz. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Denver, and Washington, D.C., have also passed similar measures.
Oregon and Colorado have passed similar measures to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for supervised use.
The legislation is a stripped-down version of a bill proposed by the same senator in 2021. That bill, which would have legalized plant-based and synthetic psychedelics—such as MDMA, LSD, and ketamine—failed to pass.
In Wiener’s San Francisco district, rampant drug use has contributed to runaway homelessness throughout the city. The city passed a motion in 2022 calling for law enforcement to deprioritize investigations and arrests of adults found in possession of psychedelics.
Last month, dozens of residents and advocates protested at San Francisco City Hall against open-air drug markets and unsafe streets. Rally organizer Ricci Wynne told The Epoch Times data showed that the most prominent issues in San Francisco stem from drug use and drug dealing.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 18:00 - Vegas Group Accused Of Cheating Casino Out Of More Than $225,000 Playing Electronic Craps
Vegas Group Accused Of Cheating Casino Out Of More Than $225,000 Playing Electronic Craps
A group that played digital craps in Las Vegas in November and December 2021 is being accused of cheating, allegedly racking up $200,000 in illicit winnings from what CBS/KLAS has called a “dice sliding scheme”.
The group reportedly played at The Cosmopolitan in November and December 2021 and went on a winning streak that cost the casino more than $225,000, the Nevada Gaming Control Board confirmed.
The cheating took place on one of the newer, electronic craps tables, which have a smoother surface than traditional felt craps tables, and sometimes fewer dealers standing by to oversee the action.
According to the NGC, “the cheating involved multiple suspects and occurred on the Azure Roll to Win Electronic Craps table.”
Documents on the incident stated: “The cheating method involved dice sliding and sliding occurs when the shooter slides one or both dice across the table in order to prevent the cubes from rolling. The dice will be in the same position as they started, allowing the shooter to control the outcome of the game.”
Investigators also believe cheating may have taken place at Resorts World.
The group “was observed both together on the table and away from it, during and after fraudulent dice sliding activities occurred,” the CBS report says, citing case records. “Before illegally sliding the dice [one person whose name is redacted in court documents] would signal the other by placing single wagers in a circle motion around the main screen [wagers].”
All four people involved now face “cheating-related charges” and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing in early June.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 17:30 - As Interest Rates Rise, The Era Of "Deficits Don't Matter" Is Over
As Interest Rates Rise, The Era Of “Deficits Don’t Matter” Is Over
Authored Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,
Back in 2002, then-Vice President Dick Cheney claimed “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter” and went on to push for tax cuts combined with more federal spending. Indeed, the Bush administration would go on to push immense amounts of new spending, supporting a huge Medicare expansion and blowing hundreds of millions of dollars on costly and pointless occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The national debt grew by 70 percent during Bush’s eight years, but no one in Washington—Republican or Democrat—really cared. After 2003, the economy seemed to be growing and after the 2008 financial crisis hit, all that really mattered was bailing out Wall Street to “save” the global economy.
In fact, for more than thirty years, stern warnings about the federal debt and annual deficits have come from wet-blanket curmudgeons who insisted that running up huge debts would become a problem. They were right, but the time frame has proven to be quite a bit longer than most anticipated. Many significant global political and economic changes intervened to ease the process of incurring an enormous national debt, even as the total debt exploded from $5.6 trillion to $22.5 trillion between 2000 and 2019. These changes included rising global productivity, a new globalized work force, and solid global demand for dollars—which fueled apparently limitless demand for for US government bonds. This ensured the debt remained easy enough to manage. For a time.
Things are changing, however, and in the coming five years we’ll begin to see how a newly accelerating debt, declining demand for dollars, and rising price inflation will finally reveal how and why deficits do matter, after all.
How Much Debt Are We Talking About?
The US’s national debt is now projected to exceed $32 trillion in 2023. That’s up by nearly ten trillion dollars since January of 2020. Nearly eight trillion of that came in 2020 and 2021 alone. Since 2019, the rate at which the US government has taken on new debt has significantly accelerated beyond what was already a shocking rate of deficit spending. Back in 2019, I noted that the Trump administration had added nearly a trillion dollars to the deficit in a single year of what was considered an economic expansion. That was remarkable at the time. Of, cours, what happened under both Trump and Biden during the covid panic made a trillion dollars look like spare change.
Moreover, the debt has reached new post-World-War-II highs in proportion to the overall size of the economy. In 2020, total federal debt as a percentage of national GDP shot up to 120%. This puts the US at previously-unseen peacetime debt levels.
Comparing debt to GDP doesn’t tell us much about the government’s ability to pay and service its debt, however. A more realistic measure is total debt compared to federal revenues. By this measure, we also find debt has accelerated to peacetime highs. Total federal debt is now more than 6 times the size of annual federal receipts.
This Translates Into a Lot of Interest Payments
The problem with a large national debt isn’t that it’s big or difficult to pay off. An enormous debt can be sustained indefinitely by a government so long as it can manage paying the interest on the debt. For most of the past three decades, the US government had it very easy in this respect. It could run up huge annual deficits, incur trillions of dollars in new debt, yet interest payments on that debt remained remarkably stable and did not rise to “out of control” levels.
This was made possible by the fact that interest rates trended downward again and again for most of the past 35 years. If we look at the federal funds rate—which tends to trend with average interest levels paid on federal debt—we can see that debt levels surged at the same time that interest rates were falling. This fall in interest rates prevented interest payments from surging upward as well.
Why this rates fall? During much of the 1990s, the US grew to dominate the global economy in the wake of the end of the Cold War. This drove far greater need for dollars worldwide, and all those dollar holders put many of the dollars into buying US government debt. This pushed down the cost of issuing new federal debt considerably. Even after the rise of the euro after 1999, globalization helped sustain global demand for US debt, as did the eurodollar economy.
After 2008, interest rates on US debt were pushed down even further as the US central bank bought up nearly six trillion dollars worth of US bonds. As this artificial demand for federal bonds rose, the interest rate sank further. So, even as the federal government was adding trillions to the national debt after 2009, interest payments remained manageable.
We can see how from 1998 to 2015, total debt service costs barely budged in spite of an ever growing national debt. This finally began to grow after 2017 with Trump’s growing mega deficits and efforts at the Federal Reserve to finally allow interest rates to increase over fears of price inflation. After 2020, of course, interest payments on the debt then surged above half a trillion dollars, and are projected to increase further:
Interest Payments Will Gradually Consume the Federal Budget
It is here where we begin to see the problem with such huge debt levels. An enormous debt makes total debt payments far more sensitive to movements in interest rates. In 2007, when the national debt was at a “mere” nine trillion dollars, the federal funds rate could rise above five percent without a resulting surge in interest payments. More than a decade later, with debt levels at $30 trillion, a similar increase in the federal funds rates leads to a much larger increased in debt service payments.
In practical terms, this means that a government with enormous debt levels likely cannot sustain any sizable increases in interest. Under these conditions, debt payments will gradually grow larger and larger until they consume much of the nation’s federal spending.
We can see this in even the official federal projects for debt payments moving forward. For example, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the federal government will owe $660 billion in debt service in 2023. But this will increase to $960 billion by 2028, in five years. For comparison, we can note that the OMB also projects the entire defense budget in 2028 will be $966 billion.
The OMB’s projections are rather conservative compared to forecasts in a February report from the Congressional Budget Office. According to the CBO report, interest payments will reach nearly a trillion dollars in 2028 and will continue to climb after that. In a decade, total interest payments will exceed $1.4 trillion and will be the third largest federal “program” behind Social Security and Medicaid. At that time, interest payments will exceed defense spending by $300 billion.
On a per-capita basis, this is not exactly trivial. In 2030, for example, the $1.4 trillion owned in interest payments will work out to approximately $4,000 per American adult of working age (adults between ages 18 and 65).
In other words, within six years, American taxpayers will be forced to pony up more than a trillion dollars every year to just to cover long-past federal spending on various lost wars and failed social programs. Baby Boomers will be mostly dead or in nursing homes, but young workers will be paying for the bill incurred by their elders decades ago.
Keep in mind, however, that this is all a “best case scenario.” CBO and OMB estimates assume there will be no recessions in coming years, and they also assume relatively stable interest rates. The CBO estimates forecast interest on US federal debt will average about 2.7 percent in 2023, but will not increase significantly after that, rising only to 3.2 percent by 2031.
That’s possible, of course, but current trends suggests the CBO is too optimistic. Geopolitical realities point to a relative decline in demand for the dollar—which will also lead to a decline in demand for US bonds. The US insists on isolating itself both politically and economically as it wages sanction wars—or threatens to do so—on many of the world’s key economies. This will all drive up interest rates. As we’ve shown here on mises.org, the dollar is unlikely to disappear as an important global currency, but it is likely to face more competition. That will mean higher interest rates for federal debt as dollar demand wanes.
Another key development here is that the central bank no longer has the freedom to force down interest rates as it did a decade ago. Back then, the Fed could simply buy up new government debt to prop up demand and keep down interest rates. This has required the central bank to engage in large amounts of monetary inflation. For a time, that seemed to work, but then price inflation rose to 40-year highs and has remained stubbornly high. The Fed can no longer simply print up an additional trillion dollars to buy up US government debt—and then just hope no price inflation appears. Rather, because price inflation is so politically unpopular, the Fed has to treat lightly on new monetary expansion. This ties the hands of Fed in how much it can intervene to keep interest rates low.
Thus, the very mild increases in interest rates predicted by the CBO may greatly understate the true risks.
Moreover, this all assumes that endless increases to debt service will be politically tenable ten years from now. Will voters really be convinced that they have to endure increasingly large cuts to popular government programs in order to keep paying money to bondholders forever and ever?
At some point, the voters are likely to say “enough” when it comes to escalating debt payments. And that’s when a country gets either hyperinflation or a sovereign debt crisis. In the meantime, that interest bill is just going to keep getting bigger.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 17:00 - Bud Light Offers $2.99 18-Pack After Sales Tumble Accelerates
Bud Light Offers $2.99 18-Pack After Sales Tumble Accelerates
Bud Light is offering a massive Memorial Day weekend discount: $2.99 for an 18-pack of Bud Light or Budweiser, bringing the price per can down to just pennies. This aggressive pricing strategy is an attempt by the brewer to stimulate demand as an ongoing boycott dents sales for the sixth consecutive week.
Twitter handle Ramp Capital spotted the promotion on Saturday that reads, “Easy To Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend … Get Up To $15 Back Via Rebate On The Purchase Of One (1) Budweiser, Bud Light, Budweiser Select, Or Budweiser Selection 55′ 15-Pack Or Larger.”
Before taxes plus the rebate, an 18-pack of beer costs around 17 cents per can. Ramp Capital said, “17 cents per beer is cheaper than water.”
The rebate follows Anheuser-Busch’s disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney which sparked a boycott by conservatives. Then when Anheuser-Busch pulled support from Mulvaney, it unleashed a boycott among the trans community.
According to Fox News, citing new data from trade publication Beer Business Daily, Bud Light sales volumes for the week ending May 13 plunged 28.4%, following a 27.7% decline the week before.
The boycott hasn’t been limited to just Bud Light. Other Anheuser-Busch products, such as Budweiser Red, recorded a 14.9% decline for that week, and Michelob Ultra fell 6.8%.
On the flip side, Business Daily said beer drinkers gravitated to Bud Light’s competitors, sending sales of Coors Light up 16.9% and Miller Lite up 15.1%.
Beer Business Daily analysts pointed out more discounting is likely throughout the summer as Bud Light and Budweiser sales stumble and wholesalers are left with rising inventories due to lackluster demand.
“This could be a promotional summer the likes we haven’t seen since after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where there was so much beer inventory backed up in the trade that it initiated the price war of all price wars,” Beer Business Daily said.
Since Bud Light’s promotion with Mulvaney on TikTok and the resulting boycott, investors have penalized Anheuser-Busch with a $19 billion wipeout in market cap.
Bud Light’s marketing blunder isn’t ending anytime soon. And along the way, other companies like Target and North Face have yet to learn from Bud Light.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 16:30 - "What's More Tragic Is Capitalism": BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros
“What’s More Tragic Is Capitalism”: BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros
Two years ago, I wrote columns about companies pouring money into Black Lives Matter to establish their bona fides as “antiracist” corporations. The money continued to flow despite serious questions raised about BLM’s management and accounting. Democratic prosecutors like New York Attorney General Letitia James showed little interest in these allegations even as James sought to disband the National Rifle Association (NRA) over similar allegations. At the same time, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors cashed in with companies like Warner Bros. eager to give her massive contracts to signal their own reformed status. It now appears that BLM is facing bankruptcy after burning through tens of millions and Warner Bros. cut ties with Cullors after the contract produced no — zero — new programming.
Some states belatedly investigated BLM as founders like Cullors seemed to scatter to the winds.
Gone are tens of millions of dollars, including millions spent on luxury mansions and windfalls for close associates of BLM leaders.
The usual suspects gathered around the activists like former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias, who later removed himself from his “key role” as the scandals grew.
When questions were raised about the lack of accounting and questionable spending, BLM attacked critics as “white supremacists.”
Warner Bros. was one of the companies eager to grab its own piece of Cullors to signal its own anti-racist virtues. It gave Cullors a lucrative contract to guide the company in the creation of both scripted and non-scripted content, focusing on reparations and other forms of social justice. It launched a publicity campaign for everyone to know that it established a “wide-ranging content partnership” with Cullors who would now help guide the massive corporation’s new programming. Calling Cullors “one of the most influential thought leaders in American public life,” Warner Bros. announced that she was going to create a wide array of new programming, including “but not limited to live-action scripted drama and comedy series; longform/event series; unscripted docuseries; animated programming for co-viewing among kids, young adults and families; and original digital content.”
Some are now wondering if Warner Bros. ever intended for this contract to produce anything other than a public relations pitch or whether Cullors took the money and ran without producing even a trailer for an actual product. Indeed, both explanations may be true.
Paying money to Cullors was likely viewed as a type of insurance to protect the company from accusations of racial insensitive. After all, the company was giving creative powers to a person who had no prior experience or demonstrated talent in the area. Yet, Cullors would be developing programming for one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world.
One can hardly blame Cullors despite criticizism by some on the left for going on a buying spree of luxury properties.
After all, Cullors was previously open about her lack of interest in working with “capitalist” elements. Nevertheless, BLM was run like a Trotskyite study group as the media and corporations poured in support and revenue.
It was glaringly ironic to see companies like Warner Bros. falling over each other to grab their own front person as the group continued boycotts of white-owned businesses. Indeed, if you did not want to be on the wrong end of one of those boycotts, you needed to get Cullors on your payroll.
Much has now changed as companies like Bud Light have been rocked by boycotts over what some view as heavy handed virtue signaling campaigns.
It was quite a change for Cullors and her BLM co-founder, who previously proclaimed “[we] are trained Marxists. We are super versed on, sort of, ideological theories.” She denounced capitalism as worse than COVID-19. Yet, companies like Lululemon rushed to find their own “social justice warrior” while selling leggings for $120 apiece.
When some began to raise questions about Cullors buying luxury homes, Facebook and Twitter censored them.
With increasing concerns over the loss of millions, Cullors eventually stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, as others resigned. At the same time, the New York Post was revealing that BLM Global Network transferred $6.3 million to Cullors’ spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2021.
According to The Washington Examiner, BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group paid Cullors $20,000 a month. It also spent nearly $26,000 on meetings at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019. Reform LA Jails, chaired by Cullors, received $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to the consulting firm owned by Cullors and her spouse, according to New York magazine.
Once again, while figures like James have spent huge amounts of money and effort to disband the NRA over such accounting and spending controversies, there has been only limited efforts directed against BLM in New York and most states.
Cullors once declared that “while the COVID-19 illness is tragic, what’s more tragic is capitalism.” These companies seem to be trying to prove her point. Yet, at least for Cullors, Warner Bros. fulfilled its slogan that this is all “The stuff that dreams are made of.”
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 16:00 - Under Pressure From Fat Activists, NYC Bans Weight Discrimination
Under Pressure From Fat Activists, NYC Bans Weight Discrimination
Discriminating against fat people is now illegal in New York City, after Mayor Eric Adams on Friday signed off on a ban that will affect not only employment, but also housing and access to public accommodations — a term that encompasses most businesses.
We’re in safe company using the word “fat,” as champions of the cause refer to themselves as “fat activists.” With the mayor’s signature, two more categories — both weight and height — are added to New York City’s list of protected personal attributes, which already included race, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation.
As Mayor Adams signs the law, self-described (and everyone else-described) fat activist Tigress Osborn consumes more than her share of the backdrop (James Messerschmidt for NY Post) Embracing one of 2023’s innumerable strains of Orwellian brainwashing, Adams declared, “Science has shown that body type is not a connection to if you’re healthy or unhealthy. I think that’s a misnomer that we’re really dispelling.”
Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say obesity is an invitation to a host of maladies, including to high blood pressure Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, many types of cancer, mental illness and difficulty with physical functioning.
“Size discrimination is a social justice issue and a public health threat,” said Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who introduced the measure. “People with different body types are denied access to job opportunities and equal wages — and they have had no legal recourse to contest it,” said Abreu. “Worse yet, millions are taught to hate their bodies.”
A full 69% of American adults are overweight or obese, but our woke overlords would have us believe the real “public health threat” is a nice restaurant that doesn’t want Two-Ton Tessie working the reception desk, or a landlord who’s leary of a 400-pound man breaking a toilet seat or collapsing a porch.
The enticingly-named Tigress Osborn, who chairs the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, said New York’s ban “will ripple across the globe” — perhaps something like what would happen if the hefty Smith College Africana Studies graduate were dropped into a swimming pool.
Councilmember Shaun Abreu said he gained 40 pounds during the pandemic lockdowns and noticed people treated him differently The New York Times reports that witnesses who testified as the measure was under consideration included “a student at New York University said that desks in classrooms were too small for her [and] a soprano at the Metropolitan Opera [who] said she had faced body shaming and pressure to develop an eating disorder.”
Some have dared to speak out against the measure. “This is another mandate where enforcement will be primarily through litigation, which imposes a burden on employers, regulators and the courts,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, speaking in April.
Implicitly putting the weight ordinance in the same category as Brown vs Board of Education, Abrue said, “Today is a monumental advancement for civil rights, size freedom and body positivity and while our laws are only now catching up to our culture, it is a victory that I hope will cause more cities, states and one day the federal government to follow suit.”
Taking effect in six months, the law has an exemption for employers “needing to consider height or weight in employment decisions” — but “only where required by federal, state, or local laws or regulations or where the Commission on Human Rights permits such considerations because height or weight may prevent a person from performing essential requirements of a job.”
We pray there’s a federal exemption for employers of strippers and lap dancers.
Think we’re joking? We remind you that the chair of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is named “Tigress” — and this is her Twitter profile banner photo:
via Tigress @iofthetigress Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 15:30 - DeSantis Says He Would Sign Legislation To Defund "Corrupt" IRS
DeSantis Says He Would Sign Legislation To Defund “Corrupt” IRS
Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called IRS a “corrupt organization” and said he would welcome a bill abolishing the agency if elected president in 2024.
DeSantis made the comments during an interview with conservative radio host Dana Loesch on May 25, a day after the governor announced his White House bid on Twitter.
“If Congress defunded the IRS and sent such a bill like that to your desk, number one, would you sign it?” Loesch asked. “And then what would you replace the system with? Are you for like a fair tax? A flat tax? Where do you stand on that?”
“So, the answer’s yes,” DeSantis said in response. “I think the IRS is a corrupt organization and I think it’s not a friend to the average citizen or taxpayer. And so we need something totally different.”
“I’ve supported all of the single rate proposals, I think they would be a huge improvement over the current system,” the governor added. “And I would be welcoming to take this tax system, chunk it out the window, and do something that’s more favorable to the average folks.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Heritage Foundation’s Leadership Summit in National Harbor, Md., on April 20, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)
DeSantis
The governor has long spoken favorably of a flat tax system. In a Q&A published by Palm Coast Observer in 2012, months before DeSantis won his first term as a House lawmaker from Florida, DeSantis said he believed the federal tax code should be overhauled.
“I think the federal tax code is an affront to a free society in the sense that it’s 70,000 pages,” DeSantis stated.
“I am in favor of a complete overhaul; my principle is that consumed income should be taxed one time at a low, single, flat rate.
He added, “Now whether that’s at the point of after savings and investment income on a flat tax, or on the point of consumption which people talked about a fair tax, I think you need to repeal the 16th Amendment for that because I don’t think you want a sales and an income tax.”
Last year, DeSantis criticized the Biden administration’s nearly $80 billion in funding for the IRS, which Republicans argue would pave the way for the hiring of 87,000 tax agents, as giving a “middle finger to the American public.” The funding to the IRS was part of the Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022.
“I think of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top,” DeSantis said at the time. “I think it was basically just a middle finger to the American public that this is what they think of you.”
He continued, “All these problems we have to deal with, and they think the way is to do 87,000 IRS agents. There’s going to be more people in the IRS than in a lot of these other agencies combined now.”
“They are going to go after independent contractors. They’re going to go after small-business people. They’re going to go after someone that may be driving an Uber or a handyman or all these things,” DeSantis added.
“Why would they do that? Because you’re not going to be able to contend with the audit—so they’re going to crush a lot of people by doing that.”
In January, the House passed the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R.23) on party lines with a 221–210 vote, with the aim to rescind the administration’s new funding for the IRS. The legislation is unlikely to advance in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during an event at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Fla., on April 4, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
2024 Race
The 2024 race for the Republican presidential nomination now includes former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative radio host Larry Elder, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and DeSantis.
Trump currently holds a sizable lead over other GOP presidential hopefuls, according to poll results.
According to a new survey by Echelon Insights that queried 390 likely GOP primary voters between May 22 and May 25, Trump garnered 49 percent support, leading DeSantis by 30 percentage points.
Former Vice President Mike Pence finished third with nine percent support, followed by Ramaswamy (eight percent), Haley (five percent), Scott (2 percent), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (one percent), and Elder (one percent).
In a hypothetical two-way matchup, Trump picked up 59 percent of support, with DeSantis trailing with 34 percent of support.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/28/2023 – 15:00
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