Aug 02

Today’s News 2nd August 2024

  • Orbán: The West Sees Immigration As A "Way Of Getting Rid Of The Ethnic Homogeneity That Is The Basis Of The Nation-State"
    Orbán: The West Sees Immigration As A “Way Of Getting Rid Of The Ethnic Homogeneity That Is The Basis Of The Nation-State”

    By Remix News

    In Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at Tusványos in Romania, he focuses on the intractable differences developing between the East and West of Europe, with immigration one of the key divisions. He not only rejects the Western view on immigration, but sees it as an agenda with a very specific ideology behind it, which is designed to erode the nation-state entirely.

    “But Westerners, quite differently, believe that nation-states no longer exist. They therefore deny that there is a common culture and a public morality based on (the nation-state). There is no public morality, if you watched the Olympic opening yesterday, you saw it. So, they also think differently about migration. They believe that migration is not a threat or a problem, but in fact a way of getting rid of the ethnic homogeneity that is the basis of a nation. This is the essence of the progressive liberal international concept. That is why the absurdity does not occur to them, or they do not see it as absurd,” he said.

    He said that this contrast between East and West is playing out through war and the movement of peoples, saying that while hundreds of thousands of Christian people are killing each other in the East, “in the West of Europe, we are letting hundreds of thousands of people into a foreign civilization, which is absurd from our Central European point of view.”

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    This dramatic ideological cleavage is not a “secret,” according to Orbán. He said that the documents and policy papers coming out of the EU shpw that the “clear aim is to transcend the nation.”

    “But the point is that the powers, the sovereignty, should be transferred from the nation-states to Brussels. This is the logic behind all major measures. In their minds, the nation is a historical, or transitional, formation of the 18th and 19th centuries — as it came, so it may go. They are already in a post-national state in the Western half of Europe. It’s not just a politically different situation, but what I’m trying to talk about here is that it’s a new mental space.”

    Orbán says that the Hungarian perspective is different, which is why the government is taking measures now to ensure it has a resilient social structure, and the first step is to combat Hungary’s demographic decline. He noted that progress in this area had been made in the preceding years but acknowledged that there has been a standstill and new measures must be taken.

    “By 2035, Hungary should be demographically self-sustaining. There is no question of a population being replaced by migration. The Western experience is that if there are more guests than owners, the home is no longer a home. This risk should not be taken here.”

    Orbán notes that not everyone in the West is happy about the demographic transformation taking place in their countries, and in many cases, there are strong majorities against continued mass immigration. This, in turn, has led to a sharp increase in repression against dissenting voices and increasingly undemocratic trends in Western countries.

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    And finally, the last element of reality is that this post-national situation that we see in the West has a serious, I would say dramatic, political consequence that is shaking democracy. Societies are increasingly resistant to migration, gender, war and globalism. And this creates the political problem of elites and the people, elitism and populism. This is a dominant phenomenon in Western politics today…This means that the elites condemn the people for drifting to the right. The feelings and ideas of the people are labeled xenophobia, homophobia and nationalism. The people, meanwhile, in response, accuse the elite of not caring about what is important to them, but of sinking into some kind of mindless globalism.

    Consequently, the elites and the people cannot agree with each other on cooperation. I could mention many countries. But if the people and elites cannot agree to cooperate, how can it become a representative democracy? Because here we have an elite that does not want to represent the people, and is proud of not wanting to represent them, and here we have the people who are not represented.”

    Continue reading at rmx.news

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/02/2024 – 02:00

  • The Propaganda Model Has Limits
    The Propaganda Model Has Limits

    Authored by Mattias Desmet via The Brownstone Institute,

    Normally, I let my pen rest during the summer months, but for some things, you set aside your habits. What has been happening in the context of the US presidential elections over the past few weeks is, to say the least, remarkable. We are witnessing a social system that – to use a term from complex dynamic systems theory – is heading toward a catastrophe. And the essence of the tipping point we are approaching is this: the propaganda model is beginning to fail.

    It started a few weeks ago like this: Trump, the presidential candidate who must not win, is up against Biden, the presidential candidate who must win.

    After the first debate, it was immediately clear: Trump will win against Biden. The big problem: Biden and Jill are about the only ones who don’t realize this.

    The media then turned against Biden. That, in itself, is a revolution. They had praised President Biden to the skies for four years, turning a blind eye to the fact that the man either seemed hardly aware of what he was saying or was giving speeches that could only be described as having the characteristics of a fascist’s discourse.

    I’m thinking, among other things, of the 2022 midterm speech in which he, against a bombastic-dramatic backdrop and flanked by two soldiers with machine guns, more or less directly called for violence against the Maga followers. Not to mention the shameless prosecution and imprisonment of political opponents and the intimidation and excommunication of hundreds of journalists (carefully kept out of the media by journalists who sided with the regime).

    Huxley would not be surprised that Biden claims in almost every speech that he had to save democracy, including his most recent speech. I’ve shared the quote of Huxley below before, but it doesn’t hurt to read it a second time:

    By means of ever more effective methods of mind-manipulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms — elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest — will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of non-violent totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial — but democracy and freedom in a strictly Pickwickian sense. Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.

    – Huxley, Brave New World Revisited

    In any case, the media’s love for Biden was suddenly over when it became clear that he could not possibly win the election, even not with a little help from the media. If you want to know how that ‘little help’ worked in 2020, look at one of the most important interviews of the past year, where Mike Benz – former director of the cyber portfolio of the US government – explains to Tucker Carlson in detail how information flows on the internet were manipulated during the 2020 elections (and the Covid crisis). The guy eventually got disgusted with what he was doing and now runs a project striving for online freedom of speech.  I would recommend everyone to spend an hour watching that interview. Such an explanation is what we need: calm, expert, nuanced, and extraordinarily revealing.

    After the first debate, the media realized that even they could not help Biden win the election. They changed their approach. Biden was quickly stripped of his saintly status. The Veil of Appearances was pulled away, and he suddenly stood naked and vulnerable in the eye of the mainstream – a man in the autumn of his life, mentally confused, addicted to power, and arrogant. Some journalists even started attributing traits of the Great Narcissistic Monster Trump to him.

    But even media pressure couldn’t make Biden change his mind. He was so far gone that he did not see the hopelessness of his situation. That did not change when the Democratic elite turned their backs on him. Barack, Hillary, Nancy – it didn’t matter, the presidential candidate who couldn’t win kept stumbling in a lost race.

    Then things took another turn, a turn so predictable that one is astonished that it actually happened. An overaged teenager calmly climbed onto a roof with a sniper rifle, under the watchful eyes of the security services, and nearly shot Trump in the head. The security services, which initially did not respond for minutes when people tried to draw attention to the overaged teenager with an assault rifle, suddenly reacted decisively: they shot the overaged teenager dead seconds after the assassination attempt.

    What happened there? There are many reasons to have reservations about Trump, but one thing we cannot help but say: if Trump becomes president, the war in Ukraine will be over. Anyone who does not attribute any weight to that should subject themselves to a conscience examination. And no, Trump will not have to give half of Europe to Putin for that. My cautious estimate, for what it’s worth: It will suffice for NATO to stop and partially reverse its eastward expansion, for Russia to retain access to the Black Sea via Crimea (something everyone with historical awareness knows that denying would mean the death blow to Russia as a great power and thus a direct declaration of war), and for the population of the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine to choose in a referendum whether to belong to Russia or Ukraine.

    One of the biggest and most dangerous media lies of this time is that Putin started an ‘unprovoked war’ in Ukraine. I recommend a second interview by Tucker Carlson here (undoubtedly one of the most important contemporary journalists, one of the few who still fulfill the original societal function of journalism). The interview with professor and former top diplomat Jeffrey Sachs also has everything a good interview should have: given with great expertise, calm, and nuanced. Anyone who still believes that the war in Ukraine was ‘unprovoked’ after listening to it is kindly invited to explain themselves in the comments section of this article.

    So, I repeat my point: with Trump, the provocation of Russia stops, and the war in Ukraine ends. Presidents who threaten to end wars are sometimes shot at by lone gunmen. And those lone gunmen are, in turn, shot dead. And the archives about that remarkable act of lone gunmen sometimes remain sealed for a remarkably long time, much longer than they usually do.

    The media ultimately covered this historical event of the Trump assassination attempt surprisingly lightly. No journalist to be found pointed a finger at Biden because he had more or less literally called to ‘target’ Trump a few months earlier. Let alone the media admitting that they created the unspoken support in the population for this political violence. Neither did I find journalists who were greatly concerned that the overaged teenager was linked to Antifa – nothing wrong with Antifa according to them. I can imagine that the moral appreciation would have been different if an overaged teenager linked to the Maga movement had nearly taken down President Biden.

    Anyway, we are not surprised. That reaction was predictable. We are used to the media. Some journalists even suggested that Trump had been shot with a paintball, others thought the most accurate way to report was that someone ‘wounded Trump on the ear.’

    In any case, after the assassination attempt, the situation became even more dire for the mainstream: the presidential candidate who must not win is now even more popular, and his victory in a race with Biden is almost inevitable.

    Then the next chapter begins. Biden suddenly changes his mind: he has come to his senses and drops out of the race. He announces this – of all things – in a letter with a signature that, even for his shaky condition, looked quite clumsy. Then he stayed out of the public eye for a few days. We are curious about what exactly happened there.

    But the media are compliant again. Biden has now been sanctified again. Just like Kamala Harris, of course. They are already mentioning polls showing she will beat Trump. With a little help from the media, of course. Curious how this will continue, but I would be surprised if the rest of the campaign will be a walk in the park. Trump is not safe after the first attempt, that’s for sure. And to Kamala Harris, I say this: when totalitarian systems go into a chaotic phase, they become monsters that devour their own children.

    It is hard to ignore: the indoctrination and propaganda model is creaking and groaning at all its seams. The Veil of Appearances that is meant to hide all dirty laundry from the public eye is tearing left and right. And that’s why the step toward terror is increasingly being taken. One can see something frightening in it, but it also heralds the beginning of the end of the propaganda model. No one knows exactly how long the endgame will last, but it is certain that the system is in deep crisis. From the fact that the Democrats ran with someone like Biden and then had to force him out in this amateurish and transparent manner, we can only conclude one thing with certainty: the desperation must be enormous.

    What we are witnessing is nothing less than the failure of the greatest propaganda apparatus in history. And at that point, we also see a fact that people absorbed by conspiracy thinking make: they overestimate the perceived enemy not only as too evil but also (much) too powerful. In this way, one can only feel smaller and feel more and more powerlessness, anger, and hate, exactly the sentiments that will prove deadly in the coming years.

    The general reduction of everything that happens to a conspiracy, not seeing a Reality behind the manipulation and illusions created, is itself a symptom of this time. Conspiracies exist. No one needs to convince me of that. And one problem of this time is that most people who identify with the mainstream discourse have a remarkable ability to deny that. And they have an equally great ability to ignore that they themselves eagerly produce conspiracy theories when it comes to Putin or Saddam Hussein or ‘extreme right.’

    Conspiracy theories sometimes correctly relate to facts, and sometimes incorrectly. However, they do not provide a comprehensive explanation for global events. They do not touch the essence of the problem. The essence of the problem lies in rationalism and the associated human arrogance. And this hubris is certainly not the privilege of ‘the elite.’ It is even typical of conspiracy thinking itself, which ultimately attempts to capture the essence of social dynamics through a rationalistic construction. And precisely because of this, conspiracy thinking, just like the dominant discourse, falls prey to Babylonian confusion. Like the dominant discourse, they fail to bring true peace regarding the Real that increasingly imposes itself from behind the Veil of Appearances in this historical era.

    In times when America is dangerously heading towards a civil war, the golden advice is: do not be tempted by the possibility of violence. Stay calm and composed. And continue to speak. Totalitarianism dehumanizes; the only remedy against totalitarianism is to always recognize a human being in the Other. Also in the Totalitarian Other. What is happening is historical. Stand on the right side of history. This is not the side of the Democrats or the side of the Republicans, it is not the side of Trump or the side of Harris; it is the side of humanity, it is the side of those who are not so convinced of their own words that they can no longer find any space for the words of the Other to exist.

    Republished from the author’s Substack

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 23:25

  • Where To Get The Best Return On An MBA Degree, According To A New "ROI Calculator"
    Where To Get The Best Return On An MBA Degree, According To A New “ROI Calculator”

    Bloomberg Businessweek has published an ROI calculator that is supposed to help students assess if pursuing an advanced degree is worth the investment.

    Using data from MBA graduates in the annual Best B-Schools Rankings, it considers factors like loan interest and lost income during enrollment to try and determine whether a degree from a certain institution is worthwhile. 

    Highlighting one example, Bloomberg writes that the median cost of a degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania is $266,000, the highest among 77 US schools in the 2023 rankings.

    Despite this, Wharton ranks eighth in the 10-year post-MBA compensation increase and 19th in signing bonuses. According to Bloomberg estimates, a typical Wharton graduate can expect a 10-year net ROI of about $678,000, with an average annual compounded rate of 9%.

    Stanford Graduate School of Business, however, had the third highest expenses, about $250 less than Wharton. But, it led in the 10-year post-MBA compensation difference, at $295,000 compared to Wharton’s $220,000, despite a 32nd place median signing bonus. This results in an ROI of over $1 million and an annual rate of 11.9%.

    Bloomberg did their own ROI analysis and found the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics offers the best ROI among the schools listed, with an impressive annualized ROI of 23.8%. This is largely due to its relatively low cost of $46,500 and its accelerated 11-month program, which allows students to re-enter the workforce more quickly. Located in Lexington, KY, Gatton provides an exceptional return on investment, making it a standout choice for prospective MBA students looking to maximize their financial outcomes.

    Following closely is Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, with a 22.0% ROI and a cost of $73,300. While more expensive than Gatton, it still offers a substantial return due to its strong post-MBA earning potential. The University of Mississippi also performs well, with a 20.7% ROI and the lowest cost in the list at $39,500. These schools exemplify how selecting a program with a high ROI can significantly impact one’s financial future, offering excellent returns compared to their costs.

    The tool lets users put in their own data (or use median estimates) for any of 77 US schools or the combined median estimates. It provides a 10-year net ROI in dollars and an annualized ROI percentage. You can compare top-ranked schools with more affordable ones like the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College, which has median expenses under $50,000 and the highest annual ROI at nearly 24% due to its shorter 11-month program. 

    While ROI is important, choosing a school or deciding to pursue an MBA also involves other factors like career goals, networking opportunities, location, and personal considerations.

    Gale Nichols, executive director of the MBA program at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business commented: “It’s important for a student to enter any education program with a whole heart, and feeling that this is the right decision for them. They have to be prepared to put in the effort that’s needed to succeed.”

    You can use Bloomberg’s new ROI tool here. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 23:00

  • Senators Introduce Bill To Blacklist Chinese Drones In The US
    Senators Introduce Bill To Blacklist Chinese Drones In The US

    Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Two senators have introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent Chinese drone technologies from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure.

    Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol on July 11, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, introduced the Countering CCP Drones and Supporting Drones for Law Enforcement Act (S.4792), according to a statement. The measure was introduced as an amendment to the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

    The lawmakers explained that Chinese drones pose a risk because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wields considerable influence over Chinese companies.

    “Drones made in communist China pose a significant threat to our freedoms and security and cannot be allowed to continue operating in American skies. Companies based in Communist China are at the will of Xi’s evil regime, meaning one of the United States’ greatest adversaries has total access to every bit of data collected by devices,” Scott said in a statement.

    “It should terrify every single American that the Chinese Communist Party, known for spying, stealing, and espionage, could have access to footage of Americans, their land, their businesses, and their families without their knowledge.”

    The legislation would prohibit Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) Technologies, Autel Robotics, and other CCP-linked drone industry participants from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure by adding them to the Federal Communication Commission’s covered list.

    The legislation would also set up a short-term grant program under the Department of Transportation to allow first respondents to replace existing Chinese drones and purchase U.S.-made alternatives.

    According to the language of the bill, the program would be called the First Responder Secure Drone Program, with an appropriated fund of $15 million for fiscal year 2025.

    Chinese Drones

    DJI and Autel control about 90 percent of the global drone market; the two Chinese firms have commercial relationships with thousands of state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies in the United States, according to Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).

    In June, the two House lawmakers sent a letter asking the Departments of Homeland Security and Energy to declassify threats posed by Chinese drones.

    “Drones have tremendous potential to support agriculture, make our communities safer, and grow our economy. Yet without further intervention, the drone industry could be susceptible to massive intervention from the Communist Party of China, directly threatening our national security and economy,” Warner said in a statement.

    “I’m proud to introduce bipartisan legislation to restore American leadership in the drone industry and ensure that the CCP can’t wreak havoc by spying on Americans or otherwise disrupting key functions of drone technology.”

    To tackle the threats posed by Chinese drones, Scott and Warner introduced the American Security Drone Act of 2023, which President Joe Biden signed into law as part of the fiscal year 2024 NDAA. The law prohibits federal agencies from purchasing and operating drones made by Chinese companies.

    “Now, we must pass the Countering CCP Drones and Supporting Drones for Law Enforcement Act as a necessary next step to eliminate the threats we face from Communist China and further protect the security of the United States and every American family,” Mr. Scott said.

    In January, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a memo on cybersecurity vulnerabilities related to China-manufactured drones. The memo points out that different Chinese laws, including the nation’s National Intelligence Law that took effect in 2017, compel Chinese companies to hand over data collected within China and elsewhere to Beijing’s intelligence agencies.

    Michael Robbins, chief advocacy officer for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, a U.S.-based nonprofit, issued a statement sharing the concerns addressed in the memo.

    “In the interest of national security, organizations collecting sensitive information, including critical infrastructure owners and operators, must shift away from unsecure PRC drones and reliance on foreign supply chains,” he said, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

    In 2022, the Pentagon added DJI to its list of “Chinese military companies” operating directly or indirectly in the United States.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 22:35

  • Wildfire Smoke May Be Linked To Higher Risk Of Dementia, New Study Finds
    Wildfire Smoke May Be Linked To Higher Risk Of Dementia, New Study Finds

    Authored by Summer Lane via The Epoch Times,

    Exposure to wildfire smoke may be linked to a higher risk of being diagnosed with dementia, according to a new study from the Alzheimer’s Association.

    The study was conducted over 10 years and surveyed more than 1.2 million Southern California residents, according to a press release from the association.

    “With the rising global incidence of wildfires, including in California and the western U.S., exposure to this type of air pollution is an increasing threat to brain health,” Alzheimer’s Association Senior Director of Scientific Programs and Research Claire Sexton, said in the statement.

    California has been plagued over the years by wildfires, with the most recent inferno, the Park fire, scorching Northern California in Tehama and Butte counties north of Sacramento, consuming over 600 square miles on July 29.

    Such wildfires expose Californians to a type of air pollution that includes fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, according to the association.

    Their findings indicated that the risk of dementia was higher with exposure to wildfire smoke more than any other type of pollution, such as that from motor vehicles or factories.

    “These findings underscore the importance of enacting policies to prevent wildfires and investigating better methods to address them,” Ms. Sexton said.

    According to the Alzheimer’s association, researchers working on the study noted a 21 percent increase in the odds of a dementia diagnosis over a three-year exposure to PM2.5.

    They analyzed over 1 million health records from Kaiser Permanente’s southern California members who were at least 60 years old between 2009 and 2019, they said.

    Researchers additionally utilized satellite imagery and air quality monitoring data for the study.

    Study author and neurology resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Holly Elser, said in the statement that air pollution produced by wildfires accounts for over 70 percent of PM2.5 exposure in California.

    There are three reasons why the particulates produced by California wildfires are acutely dangerous, she said, including that they are produced at hotter temperatures, are smaller than other similar particles, and have a higher concentration of toxic chemicals.

    To combat the health risks associated with wildfire pollution exposure, the Alzheimer’s association highlighted experts’ advice to update home air filtration systems and to stay inside if possible during smoky days.

    They also recommended wearing an N95 protective mask when outside.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 21:45

  • Crowdstrike Says Delta Rejected "Repeated Efforts To Assist" During IT Meltdown
    Crowdstrike Says Delta Rejected “Repeated Efforts To Assist” During IT Meltdown

    Earlier this week, Delta Air Lines’ CEO criticized cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and software provider Microsoft for triggering the ‘blue screen of death‘ across its network after a defective update. The IT outage, which went global, disrupted thousands of Delta flights and sparked travel chaos across the US for five days last month, resulting in an estimated $500 million loss.  

    “We have expressed our regret and apologies to all our customers for this incident and the disruption that resulted,” CrowdStrike spokesperson Jake Schuster told Bloomberg on Thursday. 

    Schuster said, “While its major competitors rapidly recovered from the incident, Delta rejected our repeated efforts to assist it in a speedy recovery.”

    Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that the outage cost the airline $500 million. He said the carrier would seek damages from the disruptions, adding, “We have no choice.”

    “If you’re going to be having access, priority access to the Delta ecosystem in terms of technology, you’ve got to test the stuff you got. You can’t come into a mission critical 24/7 operation and tell us we have a bug,” Bastian said, referring to CrowdStrike’s defective software update that parazlyed its backend network. 

    Bastian added, “We have to protect our shareholders. We have to protect our customers, our employees, for the damage, not just to the cost of it, but to the brand, the reputational damage and the physical channel.”

    On Monday, CNBC’s Phil Lebeau reported that Delta hired top attorney David Boies to sue CrowdStrike and Microsoft for damages.

    Given Delta’s move to lawyer up, it appears the airline will be filing a lawsuit in the near term. We suspect other companies will, too.

    However, Joseph Gallo, senior vice president at Jefferies, told clients on Wednesday, “We don’t believe CRWD will be held liable” in court by Delta.

    “We expect other companies impacted by the IT outage could potentially follow suit (helps with an image to customers of impacted companies), creating further headline risk in the near-term,” he said. 

    Gallo continued, “We don’t expect CRWD to have to reimburse customers for the outage, but the litigation cost & distraction (CEO appearing before Congress) will certainly weigh.” 

    Shares have nearly been halved since peaking around $400 in mid-July.

    At this stage, and as CNBC’s Jim Cramer would agree, trying to call the bottom in price is akin to catching a falling knife… 

    Cramer strikes CrowdStrike. 

    Gallo is right. In the short term, a wave of lawsuits and hearings on Capitol Hill will weigh on shares. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 21:20

  • Muscle Over Medicine: Why Ozempic Alone Won’t Cut It For Weight Loss
    Muscle Over Medicine: Why Ozempic Alone Won’t Cut It For Weight Loss

    Authored by Sheramy Tsai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Numbers indicate that America has an obesity problem. According to a 2023 JAMA article, “U.S. obesity prevalence has surged over the last decade,” with 22 states reporting adult obesity rates at or above 35 percent.

    Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a physician specializing in muscle-centric medicine, offers a different perspective.

    “We don’t have an obesity epidemic—what we really have is a midlife muscle crisis,” she said in a recent TED Talk.

    This shift highlights a crucial yet often overlooked factor in weight management: muscle mass.

    (The Good Brigade/GettyImages)

    The Ozempic Issue

    The issue of muscle mass versus fat becomes particularly critical as the world turns to a new class of drugs to aid in weight loss.

    Medications such as Ozempic, known for their appetite-suppressing effects, promise significant weight loss and are gaining popularity. According to a May KFF health tracking poll, 12 percent of Americans have used the drug. A 2023 study in The Lancet confirms its efficacy, showing that adults lose about 15 percent of their body weight on average with GLP-1 agonists.

    Dr. Peter Attia, a physician specializing in longevity, wrote on his website, “Not all weight loss is healthy.”

    A 2021 clinical trial in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights a concerning downside: With GLP-1 agonists such as Ozempic, about 40 percent of the weight lost is lean mass, including muscle.

    “GLP-1 agonists have been celebrated for their potency in reducing body mass, but lean mass accounts for an alarming proportion of this weight loss,” Dr. Attia wrote.

    Dr. Attia also said that while GLP-1 agonists such as Ozempic can offer health benefits for obese individuals, they come with risks, especially for those with minimal weight to lose. He added that even obese patients can’t always afford significant lean mass loss, particularly those with sarcopenic obesity—a condition marked by excess fat and low skeletal muscle, common in older adults.

    “Further reductions in lean mass among those with too little to begin with could pose a greater threat to health and longevity than the presence of excess fat,” Dr. Attia warned.

    Lean mass loss is not exclusive to weight loss drugs. When individuals lose weight, they typically shed a combination of fat and fat-free mass, including muscle. Dr. Abud Bakri, an internal medicine doctor, wrote on social media platform X, “ALL caloric restriction causes lean tissue loss, whether that’s through GLP-1, surgery, or aggressive dieting.”

    The amount of muscle lost during a caloric deficit depends on factors such as protein intake, resistance training, hormonal status, sleep quality, and many other variables, Dr. Bakri told The Epoch Times in an email.

    “Muscle loss is the Achilles’s heel of most conventional weight loss efforts, including GLP-1 agonists, that virtually guarantees that weight is regained as fat,” Dr. William Davis, cardiologist and author of the book “Super Gut,” told The Epoch Times.

    “Obesity, at its core, is a disease of the muscle,” Dr. Lyon said in her Ted Talk. “We don’t have a battle of the belly. What we have is a battle of the bicep.”

    3 Ways Muscle Aids Weight Management

    Muscle plays a key role in managing our weight because it enhances our metabolism, using calories more effectively; regulates glucose, so we are less likely to store calories as fat; and balances hormones, to keep us in better overall metabolic health.

    Muscles Enhance Metabolism

    We all know someone who seems to be able to eat anything without gaining weight, often attributed to having a “great metabolism.” But what does that really mean?

    Metabolism encompasses all the biochemical processes that convert food into energy for essential functions such as cell growth, repair, and maintenance. The total energy used for these functions is known as the metabolic rate.

    Lean muscle mass affects the body’s basal metabolic rate (BMR)—the calories burned at rest. Muscle tissue is metabolically active and requires more energy to maintain than fat tissue. Thus, more muscle means more calories burned at rest.

    However, the effects of BMR might not be as significant as believed. A 2019 study in Frontiers in Nutrition found that each kilogram of added muscle raises the BMR by only 13 calories per day. Researchers concluded that this change is “non-significant and non-meaningful,” challenging the belief that muscle hypertrophy—an increase in muscle size and strength—substantially boosts daily energy needs.

    In her book, “Forever Strong,” Dr. Gabrielle Lyon expands on this idea. “You might have heard that muscle plays the biggest role in using calories and elevating our metabolism while we’re at rest. But don’t be fooled,” she wrote.

    While muscle does contribute to calorie burning, Dr. Lyon clarifies that “each pound of muscle burns only about ten calories at rest.”

    “The metabolic power is this: Well-trained muscle tissue is more efficient and effective at utilizing calories,” she said.

    Well-trained muscle refers to muscle tissue that has been conditioned and strengthened through regular exercise. It enhances metabolism by using energy for protein turnover, aiding the body in maintaining homeostasis.

    This insight shifts the focus from the simplistic “calories in versus calories out” model to a more nuanced understanding of how muscle health influences overall energy expenditure and metabolic balance. While muscle itself may not dramatically increase the number of calories burned at rest, well-trained muscles improve the body’s ability to use calories more efficiently, supporting a healthier metabolism and better energy balance.

    Muscles Regulate Glucose

    Muscles are crucial in regulating glucose levels. During exercise, muscles use glucose for energy, lowering blood sugar levels. Excess glucose can convert to fat, leading to weight gain. Thus, muscles help prevent weight gain by effectively regulating glucose, aiding in weight loss. This is especially important for those with insulin resistance or diabetes, as it helps improve glucose control without relying solely on insulin.

    A key benefit of resistance training is the production of myokines, hormones released during muscle contractions. A 2022 study in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences explained that myokines act as chemical signals, promoting glucose uptake in muscle cells and enhancing insulin sensitivity. This helps maintain stable blood sugar levels, reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes, and supports overall metabolic health.

    “Actively working and taxing your muscle tissue will not only help regulate your hormones but will also make you better able to regulate your blood sugar and improve your body composition,” Dr. Lyon wrote in her book.

    Muscles Balance Hormones

    Muscles aren’t just for movement—they also play a significant role in balancing hormones.

    “During the past couple of decades, it has been apparent that skeletal muscle works as an endocrine organ,” a 2020 article in Endocrine Reviews reads.

    Muscles produce and secrete hundreds of hormone-like substances that influence various physiological processes, including hormone regulation. These myokines help regulate the release of hormones such as insulin, aiding in metabolic stability.

    Muscles also produce hormones such as irisin, which converts white fat to brown fat, enhancing energy expenditure.

    “Irisin is secreted from muscles in response to exercise and may mediate some beneficial effects of exercise in humans, such as weight loss,” the “Handbook of Hormones” reads.

    Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is another hormone-like substance released by muscles during exercise. Research in Biological Sciences found that IL-6 boosts fat burning and improves insulin sensitivity, making it easier to lose weight and maintain metabolic health.​

    Muscle As Medicine

    “We need to change the paradigm of medicine and think about muscle as medicine,” Dr. Lyon said in her Ted Talk.

    In her book, she recommends resistance training and a “protein-forward” diet to combat muscle loss. Resistance training promotes muscle growth and maintenance, while protein supplies the building blocks for muscle repair and growth.

    According to board-certified nutrition expert JJ Virgin, maintaining and building muscle benefits those using weight loss medications such as GLP-1 agonists. In a podcast, she said that combining these medications with resistance training and a high-protein diet can mitigate muscle loss, leading to more sustainable and healthier weight loss.

    Dr. Lyon’s advocacy for muscle as medicine urges a rethinking of traditional weight management strategies. Preserving and building muscle supports better health and enhances weight loss interventions. As people turn to weight loss drugs, surgery, and other methods, addressing muscle loss is crucial for maintaining overall health and achieving long-term success.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 20:55

  • Uranium Mining Stocks Sink After World's Largest Producer Boosts Production Guidance
    Uranium Mining Stocks Sink After World’s Largest Producer Boosts Production Guidance

    Uranium mining stocks plunged on Thursday after the world’s largest uranium producer raised its full-year 2024 uranium production guidance.

    Kazakhstan’s state-owned miner Kazatomprom released an update on operations and trading on Thursday, indicating it now expects to produce between 22.5mln and 23.5mln metric tons of uranium this year, while it previously stated the range of 21mln and 22.5mln tons.

    “The Company is increasing its 2024 full-year production guidance on both a 100% and attributable basis as the half-year results show that the production rates with which the mining entities are now progressing will result in higher than initially expected volumes. As was previously disclosed, the Company was able to secure necessary volumes of sulphuric acid required for its 2024 production at minus 20% level relative to Subsoil Use Agreements,” Kazatomprom said. 

    The upward revision comes after a 5% and 6% rise in second-quarter and half-year output, respectively, the miner noted in the update. It added that sales volumes soared 48% in the second quarter, mainly due to the timing of customer-scheduled deliveries.

    Here’s a snapshot of the full-year forecast (courtesy of Bloomberg):

    • Sees uranium production 22,500 to 23,500 tonnes

    • Sees revenue 1.70 trillion tenge to 1.80 trillion tenge

    • Sees capital expenditure 250 billion tenge to 270 billion tenge

    In response to the guidance boost by the world’s largest uranium miner, shares of the Global X Uranium ETF (URA) dropped 7%. The URA’s YTD gains stand around 2%, but it is still up 17% on three-year returns.

    Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mohsen Crofts noted that Kazatomprom’s “new project pipeline is currently constrained by sulfuric-acid shortages and construction delays.” 

    In early February, uranium prices jumped to 16-year highs at $106 a pound on dwindling global supplies and rising demand, as the Biden administration kicked off nuclear revitalization trends in the US. Prices have since fallen to about $84.5 a pound. 

    As a reminder, nuclear power has been a central ZH theme since early December 2020. Read the note titled “Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze.” 

    Coupled with the latest powering up America theme, “The Next AI Trade,” we again reaffirm nuclear power will be critical for supplying clean, on-demand power to AI data centers, etc… 

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    Goldman is still a bull on Cameco Corporation. 

     *  *  *

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 20:30

  • Google Slammed Over "Soul Crushing" AI Olympics Ad
    Google Slammed Over “Soul Crushing” AI Olympics Ad

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    Google has been blasted for a commercial touting its Gemini AI tool, with viewers describing the ad as completely “soul crushing.”

    The minute-long video was aired over coverage of the Olympics and features a young girl who is a big fan of American Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

    The girl’s father is seen in the commercial saying “She might even be the world’s number one Sydney fan.”

    Then comes the kicker.

    The ad shows the girl turning to Google’s Gemini AI to help understand running and hurdling techniques.

    OK, that’s not so inherently bad, but the father might have done his own research and at least put on a show of interacting with his daughter.

    But then it gets worse.

    The father notes that his daughter “wants to show Sydney some love, and I’m pretty good with words, but this has to be just right,” before again turning to the AI, this time to write a letter to the Olympian for the girl.

    The backlash was immediate, even from leftists.

    This commercial showing somebody having a child use AI to write a fan letter to her hero SUCKS. Obviously there are special circumstances and people who need help, but as a general “look how cool, she didn’t even have to write anything herself!” story, it SUCKS. Who wants an AI-written fan letter??

    — Linda Holmes (@lindaholmes.bsky.social) Jul 27, 2024 at 5:48 AM

    Professor Shelly Palmer of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications noted “This is exactly what we do not want anyone to do with AI. Ever.”

    The globalist technocrat mindset is that children shouldn’t have to think for themselves and the human authenticity factor of a child’s imagination wasn’t even a consideration.

    The ad reminded some of Apple’s iPad app from earlier this year, which saw musical instruments, art materials, cameras and basically anything creative being literally crushed in a giant mechanical press and replaced with the tablet.

    They’e seemingly proud to be destroying human imagination, creativity and talent.

    It was so bad, Apple had to apologise and scrap plans to broadcast it.

    Google’s Gemini also has a raft of other problems going on with it.

    *  *  *

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

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 20:05

  • Models Show Growing Threats In Tropics Could Impact West Coast Of Florida 
    Models Show Growing Threats In Tropics Could Impact West Coast Of Florida 

    Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) are tracking a tropical wave that could soon form over the eastern Gulf of Mexico or near the Florida peninsula by late weekend or early next week. New spaghetti models show the storm’s potential landfall impacts are across the west coast of Florida. 

    A Thursday morning advisory note from NHC forecasters indicated that Invest 97L has a 30% chance of developing into a tropical system within the next 48 hours. Over the next seven days, those odds increase to about 70%.

    Matthew Cappucci, a meteorologist for Capital Weather Gang, posted a short video on X explaining how the next tropical system is likely to form in the Gulf of Mexico. He said multiple weather models agree that “Debby is likely to form in the Gulf of Mexico and likely to bring direct impacts.” 

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

    Here’s one of the first spaghetti models for Invest 97L released earlier today that shows potential landfall impacts on the west coast of Florida. 

    “Even though its still disorganized, the thunderstorms are much more numerous and intense today,” meteorologist Jim Cantore wrote on X. 

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

    Keep an eye on Invest 97L’s developments into the weekend. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 19:45

  • Hackers Attack US Blood Bank, More Than 250 Hospitals Asked To Activate Blood Shortage Protocols
    Hackers Attack US Blood Bank, More Than 250 Hospitals Asked To Activate Blood Shortage Protocols

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

    Nonprofit blood bank OneBlood, which serves hundreds of American hospitals based in the Southeast region, has been affected by a ransomware attack that has disrupted its software systems.

    While the organization remains operational and is continuing to collect, test, and distribute blood, it is running at a “significantly reduced capacity” following the ransomware attack, the group said in a July 31 statement. As part of mitigating disruptions, the blood bank has implemented “manual processes and procedures to remain operational,” said Susan Forbes, OneBlood senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations. However, “manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impacts inventory availability,” she said.

    “In an effort to further manage the blood supply, we have asked the more than 250 hospitals we serve to activate their critical blood shortage protocols and to remain in that status for the time being,” she said.

    The firm is analyzing the scope of the event and any impact on data. OneBlood said it currently does not have adequate information as to whether customers’ personal information such as test results, medical history, and blood type have been compromised. No further details about the attack were revealed.

    Blood centers nationwide are sending blood and platelets to OneBlood to help augment supply, the group said. The organization said there was an “urgent need” for O Negative, O Positive, and Platelet donations.

    OneBlood serves 355 hospitals across Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

    “The blood supply cannot be taken for granted. The situation we are dealing with is ongoing. If you are eligible to donate, we urge you to please make an appointment to donate as soon as possible,” Forbes said.

    The ransomware attack on OneBlood is the latest in a series of hacking attempts targeting U.S. health care facilities.

    In February, threat actors targeted health insurance company UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit. The company determined the attack may have compromised certain personal identifiable information and protected health details.

    During a House hearing in May, the company’s CEO said an estimated one-third of Americans could have had their sensitive health information leaked to the dark web. He said the company paid the hackers $22 million in bitcoin as ransom.

    A data breach of health care service provider Kaiser Permanente in April is estimated to have affected roughly 13.4 million individuals.

    Health Care Sector Cyber Risk

    A June report by data security company SecurityScorecard pointed out that 35 percent of third-party data breaches in the United States last year affected health care organizations, “outpacing every other sector.”

    “The supplier ecosystem is a highly desirable target for ransomware groups. Attackers can infiltrate hundreds of organizations through a single vulnerability without being detected,” it said.

    The company scored the U.S. health care industry “B+” for cybersecurity capabilities for the first half of 2024. While ratings were “better than expected,” the firm noted there was still room for improvement.

    Organizations that have a rating of B are 2.9 times more likely to be victims of data breaches than entities with an A rating.

    SecurityScorecard found that app security flaws were one of the biggest vulnerabilities among health care organizations. With the Change Healthcare hack costing some companies $1 million a day, executives are placing more stress on cybersecurity measures, the company noted.

    On June 10, the Biden administration announced that it had implemented measures to bolster the protection of the country’s health care ecosystem.

    The White House convened a meeting of top executives from the health care sectors in May to boost cybersecurity solutions. The same month, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health launched a program that will invest more than $50 million to create tools that can be used by IT teams to better defend hospital networks.

    Cyberattacks against the U.S. health care system jumped by 128 percent between 2022 and 2023, according to the White House. These incidents can be especially disruptive to hospitals in the rural regions that service 60 million Americans.

    “Most rural hospitals are critical access hospitals, meaning they are located more than 35 miles from another hospital, which makes diversions of patients and staffing-intensive manual workarounds in response to attacks more difficult,” The White House said, adding that it has “received commitments from leading U.S. technology providers to provide free and low-cost resources for all 1,800–2,100 rural hospitals across the nation.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 19:25

  • Haniyeh Killed By Bomb Placed In Tehran Guesthouse 2 Months Ago In Astounding Mossad Penetration Of IRGC Security
    Haniyeh Killed By Bomb Placed In Tehran Guesthouse 2 Months Ago In Astounding Mossad Penetration Of IRGC Security

    New details have emerged in the Israeli covert assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was staying in Tehran to attend the country’s presidential inauguration events.

    Iran and Hamas’ backers considered Haniyeh to be essentially akin to a top foreign diplomat or even head of state, and so at times Haniyeh was known to travel openly in places like Qatar, Iran, or other Gulf states. And yet the bombing that took is life is being widely viewed in Iran as an utterly humiliating security failure for the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was hosting the Hamas leader.

    The NY Times is reporting Thursday of events the day prior that he was assassinated by “an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official.”

    Compound where Haniyeh was killed, via NYT

    “The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials,” the report continues. “The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.”

    Likely among the “seven Middle Eastern officials” cited as sources for the report include some Israeli intel officials themselves, given the level of specified details. No doubt they are ‘spiking the football’ and want the Iranians and the world to know the astounding level of success they had in penetrating IRGC security and protocol.

    For an Israeli asset to be able to access an Iranian diplomatic house in Neshat – the upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran where the bombing took place – and then be able to pinpoint down to the moment the target be in a specific room is almost unbelievable and the stuff of a James Bond spy thriller.

    “The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse,” NYT continues, nothing that the blast also took out Haniyeh’s bodyguard but left alive Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who was literally staying in the next room over.

    “The explosion shook the building, shattered some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall, according to the two Iranian officials, members of the Revolutionary Guards briefed on the incident,” the report continues. A widely circulating photograph also appears to confirm this description of events.

    Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers at the funeral for killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, via Zuma Press. A funeral will also be held in Doha, Qatar on Friday.

    The Times mentioned that there are alternative theories, however, such as the possibility of a small missile having struck Haniyeh’s room, which is what Hamas’ initial official statement late in the day Wednesday indicated. Neither Hamas nor the Iranians are likely to confirm these specific aspects of the alleged Mossad intel op, which could go down as the most daring in history.

    Axios has meanwhile issued a follow-up report which has the following additional details via Israeli security sources:

    • They added that the bomb was a high-tech device that used artificial intelligence.
    • It was detonated remotely by Mossad operatives who were on Iranian soil after receiving intelligence that Haniyeh was indeed in the room.
    • The IRGC said it has opened an investigation around the incident.

    The Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was reportedly awakened in the middle of the night by IRGC Generals in order to be notified, after which he called an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council. That’s when, NYT says, he “issued an order to strike Israel in retaliation, according to the three Iranian officials.”

    Has Mossad been able to breach the top echelons of the IRGC? It appears so…

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    It’s anyone’s guess when or how this ‘retaliation’ will come. The April 13th drone and missile attack against Israel was highly telegraphed and limited, by all accounts. Likely Tehran will mount a more severe and less predictable attack this time, which could come at any moment, and probably in nighttime hours for a greater element of surprise.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 19:05

  • Why U.S. Arms Control Efforts Are Failing
    Why U.S. Arms Control Efforts Are Failing

    Authored by Matthew Mai via RealClearWire,

    Prospects for arms control among the world’s nuclear-armed great powers are growing worse by the day. Last week, China announced that it was halting nuclear talks with the United States over the latter’s arms sales to Taiwan. The discussions were unlikely to lead to any substantive results, but it is another sign that U.S. efforts to “compartmentalize” nuclear issues by de-linking it from the geopolitical rivalry driving U.S.-China competition are failing. The same dynamic is at play in U.S.-Russia relations. After renewing the New START treaty in February 2021, Russia suspended its participation last year, citing U.S. support for Ukraine and its aim of inflicting a “strategic defeat of Russia.”

    U.S. arms control policy is not making headway for several reasons. All three countries are executing generational nuclear modernization programs to update their Cold War-era arsenals. China is also disinclined to negotiate limits to its nuclear arsenal before it reaches parity with the United States. But more important is the fundamental difference between the United States, and China and Russia in how they approach arms control policy.

    The United States is attempting to separate nuclear issues from other disputes, the logic being that its great power adversaries still have an overriding interest in upholding strategic stability even when relations are poor. Conversely, U.S. adversaries view nuclear weapons as competitive tools that are integral to geopolitical competition. China and Russia will not make concessions on arms control if U.S. policies and behavior that encroach upon their core interests are not addressed.

    The current trajectory of great power relations is already leading to increased tensions in the nuclear domain. China and Russia both have reasons to use nuclear weapons to attain a risk-taking advantage when faced with a conventionally superior foe. In East Asia, there is a high possibility China would resort to nuclear escalation if a conflict over Taiwan involving the United States broke out. Russia has successfully used its “nuclear shield” to ward off NATO intervention in Ukraine by issuing credible threats to escalate the conflict. In both cases, nuclear escalation risks are tied to geopolitical developments that implicate core Chinese and Russian interests.

    The irony is that China and Russia are employing the same linkage strategy that the Nixon administration successfully used to negotiate the landmark SALT I agreement and ABM Treaty, wind down the Vietnam War, and initiate the Middle East peace process. As Helmut Sonnenfeldt, a senior staff member of the National Security Council, later said of linkage: “Its purpose was to establish a trend toward more normal and restrained political competition. These interconnections [between various political issues] were not capricious or artificial. They were part of the realities of international life from which the Soviet Union no more than the United States could escape.”

    Today, U.S. policymakers have good reasons to seek limits on China and Russia’s nuclear arsenals. Arms control can help stabilize great power relations while avoiding the costs of an unlimited nuclear buildup, an important consideration in a tripolar nuclear system. Less discussed but still significant is how arms control can allow the United States to develop qualitative advantages over its competitors even as it accepts quantitative limits on the size of its arsenal. As Cold War historian John D. Maurer has explained, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty limited U.S. and Soviet deployments of land-based missiles but left the United States free to pursue advances in air and sea-launched weapons where it had a military-technological advantage over the Soviet Union.

    As during the Cold War, arms control policy cannot be separated from the geopolitical tensions shaping U.S.-China and U.S.-Russia relations today. Discussions with China are unlikely to go anywhere for the foreseeable future as Beijing continues to expand its arsenal in a bid to reach parity (or something close to it) with the United States. Yet, if U.S. and Chinese officials find themselves sitting at the negotiating table again, U.S. policymakers should link progress on arms control with Chinese restraint toward Taiwan. Of course, this will also require U.S. reassurances that it does not support Taiwanese independence and, in the words of the 1972 Shanghai Communique, “reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves” through cross-strait dialogue.

    There is greater potential for talks with Russia. Both sides have comparable nuclear arsenals and there is a long history of arms control cooperation with existing mechanisms for verification and compliance. However, as Russian officials have repeatedly stated in recent years, nuclear negotiations must take place alongside a more comprehensive dialogue about the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. This could involve a “grand bargain” where NATO membership for Ukraine is taken off the table in exchange for a cessation of military hostilities. Limits on U.S. forward missile deployments and NATO’s military presence in Eastern Europe could also be considered to incentivize Russian restraint.

    U.S. policy cannot disconnect nuclear issues from the geopolitics that influence international security trends. Those aiming to reduce the risks of nuclear escalation in Europe and East Asia should embrace the strategy of linkage that helped moderate great power competition during the Cold War and avoid catastrophe.

    Matthew C. Mai is a contributing fellow at Defense Priorities.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 18:45

  • Colorado HOA Calls The Police On Children's Lemonade Stand
    Colorado HOA Calls The Police On Children’s Lemonade Stand

    While the southern border remains wide open and crime sweeps through U.S. cities, one Colorado HOA is doing their part to protect the homeland: shutting down a lemonade stand set up by a group of local children. 

    Police in Summit County were called for reports of “children running an illegal lemonade stand on county right of way”, according to Yahoo News.

    The report says that when police arrived, they “found that the children were not blocking the roadway but did ask them to move back from the road a few feet for their safety.”

    Believing the situation was then resolved, the officers proceeded to address other parking issues nearby. However, they had to return when the original complainants began shouting at the children, accusing them of being on private property. 

    As tensions escalated, the officers found out that the children actually lived within the HOA and were entitled to operate their stand on the communal property. This allowed the kids to continue their lemonade business.

    A similar incident occurred in 2018, Yahoo News reported, when three boys ran a stand and planned to donate the proceeds to their church.

    Police said at the time: “We don’t go out of our way to enforce matters of this nature and in this instance, our actions were complaint-driven. When officers receive a complaint, we have an obligation to act.”

    The boys’ mother said at the time: “I was very surprised and shocked that all this was necessary for a child’s lemonade stand.”

    And the next year, Governor Jared Polis took action, signing a law that allowed children to run occasional lemonade stands. 

    Polis wrote on Twitter: “Thrilled to sign the bipartisan Lemonade Stand Bill today that reduces regulations and cuts red tape, making it easier for young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses!”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 18:25

  • Israeli Strike Kills Al Jazeera Journalists Near Slain Hamas Leader's Home In Gaza
    Israeli Strike Kills Al Jazeera Journalists Near Slain Hamas Leader’s Home In Gaza

    Via Middle East Eye

    An Israeli air strike near Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza killed two Al Jazeera journalists who were reporting on the Hamas leader’s assassination in Iran.

    Ismail al-Ghoul, a journalist for Al Jazeera Arabic, and cameraman Rami al-Refee were killed in the strike near the Aidia area west of Gaza City, the Qatar-based broadcaster reported.

    Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul reporting on the scene. Source: AJ

    “It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of our colleague journalist, Ismail Al-Ghoul, who was killed in an Israeli air strike while courageously covering the events in northern Gaza,” Al Jazeera Managing Editor Mohamed Moawad wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

    “Without Ismail, the world would not have seen the devastating images of these massacres,” he wrote, adding that he “relentlessly covered the events and delivered the reality of Gaza to the world through Al Jazeera”.

    “His voice has now been silenced, and there is no longer a need to call out to the world. Ismail fulfilled his mission to his people and his homeland. Shame on those who have failed the civilians, journalists and humanity.”

    According to the network, Ghoul and Refee were wearing blue press vests when they were killed and there were identifying signs on their car when they were attacked.

    There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has previously denied targeting journalists in its 10-month war on Gaza, which has reportedly killed at least 39,445 people, the vast majority of whom were children and women – according to Gaza health sources.

    According to Al Jazeera Arabic, the journalists had last contacted their news desk 15 minutes before the strike. During the call, they had reported a strike on a house near to where they were reporting and were told to leave immediately. They did, and were traveling to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital when they were killed.

    Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran on Wednesday, just hours after he attended the swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

    This was the second high-profile Israeli assassination within hours, following a strike in Beirut that reportedly killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, heightening fears that the region is sliding towards a full-blown war.

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    In a statement the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “dismayed” by the news of Ghoul and Refee’s killings. “Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. “Israel must explain why two more Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in what appears to be a direct strike.”

    According to Palestinian government officials, Israel has killed more than 160 journalists in Gaza since the beginning of the war in October 2023.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 18:05

  • Debate Erupts About Banning G-String Bikinis From Australian Waterparks
    Debate Erupts About Banning G-String Bikinis From Australian Waterparks

    In what can only be described as a pronounced step away from unifying an already divided world, thousands of people in Australia are calling for a ban on G-string bikinis in waterparks around the nation.

    The clothing is being called “offensive” and “too revealing”, according to News.com.au.

    Some people dislike the look so much they have called on local authorities to ban it. And the argument has spawned a Facebook group in Australia called “Should G-string bikinis be banned in water parks?”, the report says. 

    The group was accompanied by the following photo of the woman in the pink bikini:

    News.com.au reports that the poll asked Australians to vote on a G-string ban by giving a thumbs up for “yes” or a laughing face emoji for “no.” Over 7000 people voted, with the majority opposing the ban.

    “What kids have see at the beach and theme parks, at such young ages, these days is ridiculous,” one user wrote.

    Another added: “I’m female and I find it uncomfortable to see to be honest” while a man chimed in stating “It’s extremely inappropriate around little children.”

    “Isn’t it supposed to be nice, to leave something to the imagination? Those bikinis expose way too much of a sexual nature, and are too revealing,” another poll participant commented, the report says. 

    But it wasn’t all anti G-string sentiment, with some clearer minds popping up in the polling. One woman stated: “We are Australia. Wear what you want. Other countries in the world have very strict laws which govern what people (inclusively females) can wear. We are better than that.”

    “If your partner is ogling at the bum – that’s a problem with your partner, not the bum,” another said. 

    Finally, one user summed it up: “Couldn’t care less, we should all just wear whatever we want, and remember how lucky we are to live in a free country.”

    Let freedom ring.

     

     

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 17:45

  • Obama's Fourth Term: Bidenomics & Neofascism On Steroids
    Obama’s Fourth Term: Bidenomics & Neofascism On Steroids

    Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

    Americans have just passed through the most eventful and tumultuous four weeks in memory.

    The only comparisons are 9/11, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Watergate/Vietnam days of the 1970s, the riots and assassinations in the 1960s and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

    First, we had Joe Biden’s face-plant debate performance on June 27 when he looked like a corpse and spoke in a demented way.

    Then came the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania (which killed one and wounded two others).

    This was followed by the Republican National Convention and nomination of J.D. Vance on July 15, the decision of Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race on July 21 and finally the coronation of Queen Kamala Harris in the following days (more on Harris below).

    Any one of these stories would be huge news in any election cycle, but to have five such events in less than four weeks is a lot to process, let alone fully comprehend.

    Far More Questions Than Answers

    We know some of what happened, but much is being covered up by the government. Was Biden set up to fail at the debate as a prelude to Kamala? Was the Secret Service passively involved in the assassination by letting it happen? Did the shooter truly act alone, or did he receive assistance? Was Joe Biden threatened with a coup d’etat in the form of leaks about his health and removal from office under the 25th amendment if he didn’t step aside?

    At this point, we do not have answers to these and many other questions. Still, the questions themselves are important. They’re one way to keep the record open. We should not rest until we have answers.

    Questions are a tool to keep pressure on public officials and not allow them to sweep this all under the rug. The Democrats running the White House and the FBI are screeching about protecting “democracy” and offering “transparency,” yet they are the greatest threats to both.

    Let’s keep the questions alive and not allow the official cover-up to prevail. Perhaps if Trump wins the election, we’ll get to the bottom of some of this in due course.

    Let’s move on to Kamala Harris…

    Queen Kamala

    The canonization of Kamala Harris by mainstream media and the collateral gaslighting of the American people have begun in earnest.

    She was a failed border czar, but now the media pretend that never happened and she was just some kind of goodwill ambassador to Guatemala. Whatever. We don’t need the media to tell us who Kamala is and what she would do.

    We know already.

    She’s an empty pantsuit with a low IQ and a weird ability to give long explanations that make absolutely no sense, punctuated by cackles.

    Can you imagine what serious foreign leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping must think when they hear her speak? They probably can’t believe that such a person could possibly become leader of the most powerful nation in the world.

    Harris is already pandering to the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli base of the Democratic Party.

    Kamala Shuns Netanyahu

    Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, gave an address to a joint meeting of Congress on July 24. His purpose was to explain why Israel went to war with Hamas, how Israel is conducting that war and Israel’s plans for an eventual end to the conflict.

    One would think those facts and forecasts would be well-known to members of Congress, but that gives them too much credit. Members of Congress get their information through a haze of biased and misleading media (like the rest of us) and have to work hard to develop reliable sources and objective assessments to understand what’s going on.

    Many people don’t want to hear the facts, but here they are: The war began in response to the greatest one-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It will continue until the last Hamas terrorist is dead or enough have been killed to render Hamas impotent as a fighting and terrorist force.

    That may take a few more months. Once that mission is completed, Israel will establish some type of interim government in Gaza with only limited autonomy for the people there in order to prevent the reemergence of a new Hamas.

    It’s All About Wokeism

    Israel needs continued support from the U.S., in particular weapons systems including air defense and ammunition and intelligence sharing, in order to defeat Hamas. Addressing Congress, Netanyahu offered a blunt assessment of pro-Hamas demonstrators in the United States, especially on campuses and the streets of major cities.

    He made it clear that these protesters are not humanitarians, but are simply supporters of terrorism, rape and murder. There’s room for disagreement, but it was refreshing to hear a political leader speak in such candid and honest terms.

    Americans are used to the platitudes and cliches of U.S. politicians and rarely get to hear such a clear summary of the situation.

    By the way, it might be a stretch to call the forum a “joint” meeting of Congress. Many Democrats boycotted the session, including VP Kamala Harris, who was to have a prominent role as president of the Senate.

    Her cowardice and that of her colleagues reveal most Democrats for who they really are — supporters of terror and haters of Israel. They see everything through the prism of wokeism, which holds that there’s always an oppressed group and an oppressor who’s stomping on them.

    In their view, Israel is the oppressor and Palestinians are the oppressed. It doesn’t matter what atrocities Hamas or other terrorist organizations commit because the greater injustice is Israeli “oppression,” which is much more imagined than real.

    Obama’s Fourth Term

    Anyway, here’s what you do need to know as investors: A Harris victory means more of the same. It’s been argued, correctly, that Biden’s presidency has really been Obama’s third term. Key Obama personnel have been behind the scenes, calling the shots the entire time.

    Kamala’s an Obama puppet, and even though Biden and Harris can’t stand each other, they both carried the Obama baton. What that means is more government dysfunction. It means more of the Green New Scam, including attacks on big oil and gas and a hold on new leases for drilling on federal lands.

    It means a wider war in Ukraine with a risk of escalation to a nuclear war. It means higher taxes and more regulation. It also means slower economic growth, not by design, but as a result of excessive government debt relative to GDP.

    Furthermore, it means expanded weaponization of the Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Homeland Security. You’ll have continued open borders resulting in lower wages for all Americans and widespread diseases like whooping cough and tuberculosis from the unvaccinated aliens.

    More government censorship will be the norm. This list goes on, but no guesswork is required. This will be Bidenomics and neofascism on steroids.

    If Harris wins, investment winners would be Big Tech, Big Pharma, China and the Green New Scammers. Investment losers would be oil and natural gas, defense and mining.

    If Trump wins, it would be the opposite. Guess which I’m hoping for.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 17:25

  • Apple Pumps And Dumps As iPad Sales Help Topline Beat, But China Revenues Tumble
    Apple Pumps And Dumps As iPad Sales Help Topline Beat, But China Revenues Tumble

    With most of the megatechs having already released earnings – with most disappointing and seeing their shares slide – all eyes were on the last Mag7 to report during the heart of earnings season (there is still Nvidia, but due to a calendar quirk that’s not for a month) which is also the company which recently regained (from Microsoft) the title of the world’s most valuable company: Apple.

    Having failed to enjoy the same AI-driven euphoria as some of its gigacap peers, Apple stock had languished for months and was in fact relegated by Goldman a few months ago to the Meh 3 (AAPL, GOOGL, TSLA) and away from the Fab 4 (META, NVDA, MSFT, AMZN). But then after the company’s developer day, an initial meh reaction ended up being a major tailwind which pushed the company’s stock price to new all time high (according to many analysts, undeservedly so, since its only claim to fame is an upgrade version of Siri on deck, meant to push an iphone replacement cycle), which is why many were wondering if today’s earnings would validate and justify much of the recent euphoria.

    With that in mind, here is what AAPL just reported for the third fiscal quarter ended June 30:

    • EPS $1.40 vs. $1.26, up 11% y/y, beating estimates of $1.35
    • Revenue $85.78 billion, +4.9% y/y, beating estimates of $84.46 billion (Bloomberg Consensus)
      • Products revenue $61.56 billion, +1.6% y/y, beating estimates of $60.63 billion
        • IPhone revenue $39.30 billion, -0.9% y/y, beating estimates of $38.95 billion
        • Mac revenue $7.01 billion, +2.5% y/y, beating estimates of $6.98 billion
        • IPad revenue $7.16 billion, +24% y/y, beating estimates of $6.63 billion
        • Wearables, home and accessories $8.10 billion, -2.3% y/y, beating estimates of $7.79 billion
      • Service revenue $24.21 billion, +14% y/y, beating estimates of $23.96 billion

    The one – very big – fly in the ointment was the usual suspect: China, where revenues unexpectedly tumbled 6.5% yoY:

    • Greater China rev. $14.73 billion, -6.5% y/y, missing estimates of $15.26 billion

    Going down the line:

    • Cost of sales $46.10 billion, +1.6% y/y, higher than estimates of $45.43 billion
    • Total operating expenses $14.33 billion, +6.8% y/y, below the estimate $14.39 billion
    • Gross margin $39.68 billion, +9% y/y, beating the estimate $39.06 billion
    • Cash and cash equivalents $25.57 billion, below estimates of $28.98 billion

    And so on:

    Looking at a breakdown of sales by product category we find that, as expected, iphone sales dropped in a quarter which most knew would be uneventful for the iphone maker, yet at $39.3bn (and down from $39.7bn YoY) they still beat expectations of $39.0billion. The rest of the product suite was solid with Macs surprisingly beating estimates while both iPads and wearables coming stronger than expected. Worth noting that the iPad is a big leap in response to the new iPad Pro and iPad Air. Apple says, as it usually does, that half of iPad buyers in the quarter were new to the product.  In any case the trend is clear: while sales may not be plunging, they have certainly topped out and the only ting that is still rising is Services.

    For those asking, there wasn’t a single mention of the Vision Pro in Apple’s earnings release. Let’s not forget: this $3,500 headset is Apple’s first major new product in nearly a decade, and it has been an epic, overpriced if pretty cool, dud. Additionally, there’s not a ton left in the cupboard in terms of innovation with the company canceling its self-driving car in February. Of course, there is SiriGPT, although we can assure Tim Cook that nobody will upgrade their iPhone just to talk to a woke, censored chatbot.

    What is remarkable about the chart above is that revenue from Apple’s product suite is flat – at best – over the past decade. The only growth is in the company’s services division, which in Q3 beat again, rising to $24.2 billion, up 14% from $21.2 billion, and beating estimates of $24.0 billion.

    Looking at a geographic breakdown we find that while sales improved across almost every region, with the notable exception of China, where sales dropped by 6.5% YoY to $14.7BN, sharply below the estimate of $15.3BN.

    Still, the long run chart shows that revenues across most regions are flat at best, even ignoring the ongoing China weakness which will only get worse if Trump becomes president.

    As Bloomberg notes, “it was a good beat on 3Q iPhone revenues but overall sales for the Greater China region missed estimates by a few hundred million dollars. A lot of folks will try do the math here but ultimately we need to hear from Cook and Maestri on how they feel iPhone did in that market. Other factors at play?”

    Commenting on the quarter, Tim Cook said that “during the quarter, we were excited to announce incredible updates to our software platforms at our Worldwide Developers Conference, including Apple Intelligence, a breakthrough personal intelligence system that puts powerful, private generative AI models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac. We very much look forward to sharing these tools with our users, and we continue to invest significantly in the innovations that will enrich our customers’ lives, while leading with the values that drive our work.”

    CFO Luca Maestri also chimed in:

    Statement from Luca Maestri:

    “During the quarter, our record business performance generated EPS growth of 11 percent and nearly $29 billion in operating cash flow, allowing us to return over $32 billion to shareholders. We are also very pleased that our installed base of active devices reached a new all-time high in all geographic segments, thanks to very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

    While Apple doesn’t give guidance in its earnings announcements anymore, but we should expect some sort of directional color from the CFO on the earnings call itself.

    Commenting on the quarter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had a scathing, and accurate, assessment:

    My big picture takeaway is that, financially, everything is *fine* at Apple. But this is a company that has dramatically lost its pace of innovation and has probably missed on its latest major new product, while canceling future sources of growth like in-house screen technology and cars. I am seeing nothing in the Apple product roadmap in the next 2-3 years that is a game-changer. Anything new and meaningful is not coming until around 2027 in my view.

    If then… The stock, which dumped for much of the session, initially spiked on the company’s top and bottom line beat, but has since retraced all gains and was trading at session lows as attention turns to the surprising China weakness.

     

    The earnings call is starting as we hit save, but the following exchang was notable: a member of the media asked the $6.4 trillion question, whether Apple Intelligence push investors to buy new generation iPhones?

    The answer with CFO Luca Maestri on the call with Bloomberg: “We are very excited with the kinds of features we are offering users: They are very personal, relevant and people will really enjoy them. Apple Intelligence provides yet another reason to upgrade.”

    Yeah, good luck with that.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 17:16

  • Viral Video Reveals 14% Of Illegal Immigrants Admitting They're Registered To Vote
    Viral Video Reveals 14% Of Illegal Immigrants Admitting They’re Registered To Vote

    Undercover footage reported by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project from Muckracker.com reveals that 14% of illegal immigrants in a single apartment complex in Georgia admitted to being registered to vote. The video, taken by journalist Carlos Arellano, has over 21 million views as of this writing.

    If that same 14% is applied state-wide, that suggests that 47,000 of Georgia’s estimated 339,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in a state that Joe Biden ‘won’ by less than 12,000 votes in 2020.

    The Heritage Foundation were unable to find these individuals on GA voter rolls, making it “unclear exactly what information these individuals gave when registering to vote.”

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

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

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

    Extremely disturbing indeed!

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/01/2024 – 17:05

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