Today’s News 2nd December 2023

• North Korea & Eritrea Dominate The Global Hotspots Of Modern Slavery
  North Korea & Eritrea Dominate The Global Hotspots Of Modern Slavery

  Approximately 10.5 percent of North Korea‘s population, including migrant workers and human trafficking victims, are categorized as modern slaves, according to data by the Walk Free Foundation.

  While this only amounts to roughly five percent of the total of estimated modern slaves worldwide, Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the chart below that only one other country comes close to this population share size.

  With 9.0 percent or an estimated number of 320,000 modern slaves, the African country of Eritrea comes in second on the ranking analyzing data from 2021.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  While the ranking shown in our infographic prioritizes the share of people subjected to forced labor or forced marriages in the respective country’s population, only two of the worst offenders in terms of total number of residents living in slave-like conditions make the cut, North Korea (third in terms of global estimated modern slaves) and Russia (fourth in terms of global estimated modern slaves).

  When looking at the issue from this angle, India and China are home to the most people living in slave-like circumstances, with 11 million and 5.8 million, respectively.

  Overall, 49.6 million are estimated to live in conditions defined as modern slavery, with the majority residing in the Asia-Pacific region.

  The Walk Free Foundation categorizes modern slaves as victims of workplace abuse, debt bondage, forced marriage and sex trafficking, among other factors. Since it’s nearly impossible to get concrete numbers, the non-profit modeled its analysis on data from 68 representative national surveys as well evaluations of individual- and country-level risk factors like armed conflicts, governance issues including labor laws, lack of basic needs, the state of disenfranchised groups like migrants and women as well as general inequality levels in the countries included in its report.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 23:30

• Self-Amplifying RNA Shots Are Coming: The Untold Danger
  Self-Amplifying RNA Shots Are Coming: The Untold Danger

  Authored by Klaus Steger via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  The next generation of RNA-based injections will contain self-amplifying RNA (saRNA). If the term “self-amplifying RNA” sounds frightening, it should. It likely brings to mind images of scientific experiments run amok.

  As discussed in a previous article, “mRNA vaccines” are not made with messenger RNA but with modified RNA (modRNA). These so-called vaccines are actually gene therapy products (GTPs), as modRNA hijacks our cells’ software. We have no possibility at all to gain influence on modRNA (or saRNA) after it has been injected.

  What Distinguishes saRNA From modRNA?

  The term “self-amplifying” is self-explanatory: saRNA replicates itself repeatedly, which is not natural, as natural mRNA is always (without exception) transcribed from DNA (this is called the “central dogma of molecular biology”).

  Compared to modRNA, a small amount of saRNA results in an increased amount of produced antigen; one shot of saRNA-based injection may be enough to generate sufficient antibodies against a virus.

  Both saRNA and modRNA represent the blueprint for a viral protein, which, after entering our cells, will be produced by our cell machinery (i.e., ribosomes).

  Scientists created the genetically modified modRNA sequence by replacing natural uridines with synthetic methyl-pseudouridines to generate a maximum amount of viral antigen. This modification is the basis of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 shots.

  Unlike modRNA, saRNA does not contain methyl-pseudouridines, but uridines. Why? Since saRNA self-replicates and synthetic methyl-pseudouridines are not available in our cells, saRNA must rely on natural uridines that exist in our cells. Our cells will produce foreign proteins using their own cell machinery and their own natural resources—the main reason these cells finally become exhausted.

  However, this causes a significant problem: mRNA is highly unstable and, therefore, has only a short lifespan—too short for our immune system to produce sufficient antibodies. The solution to this problem is the second difference between modRNA and saRNA.

  Unlike modRNA, saRNA contains an additional sequence for the replicase, as destroyed (by RNases) saRNA must be replaced by new saRNA.

  As natural mRNA will never self-replicate, saRNA definitely represents a genetically modified RNA (modRNA).

  Put simply, saRNA is just another type of modRNA.

  Why the Change to saRNA?

  saRNA is the political solution: the same amount (or even more) of antigen in only one shot! The public will likely be told that due to the regular mutations of the virus, yearly adapted boosters will continue to be necessary.

  Numerous preclinical and clinical studies applying saRNA technology have already been undertaken. A 2023 review in the journal Pathogens touts saRNA vaccines as “improved mRNA vaccines.” The journal Vaccines published a summary of five years of saRNA study findings. Once the requisite clinical studies are finished, these new vaccines can be approved for use. It can be expected that this process will be as quick as it was for the COVID-19 vaccines. The approval process will become simpler, as it could be argued that the technique (modRNA in lipid nanoparticles) is already approved and that only the modRNA sequence is different. Hence, these new saRNA vaccines could be injected into an unsuspecting public at any time.

  While BioNTech performed experiments with saRNA (BNT162c2) but finally focused on modRNA (BNT162b2), Arcturus Therapeutics was the first to announce (in 2022) that its COVID-19 saRNA vaccine candidate ARCT-154—now the most advanced saRNA vaccine in trials—meets the primary efficacy endpoint in a phase-3 study.

  In the Arcturus Therapeutics study, participants received two doses, each containing 5 micrograms of saRNA. This is far less than the modRNA concentrations used by Pfizer-BioNTech (30 micrograms/shot) and Moderna (100 micrograms/shot).

  saRNA Injections Will Not Solve the Problems With modRNA Injections

  As we discovered with modRNA, the spike protein is poisonous to our bodies. We know that modRNA results in the production of more spike protein than would be available during a natural infection, and we know that repeated boosters cause immune tolerance.

  Compared to modRNA, a small amount of saRNA results in an increased amount of produced antigen.

  The “dose” of viral antigen that current and future RNA-based vaccines bring about will show large fluctuations from one individual to the next, depending on the cell type producing the desired antigen, genetic predisposition, medical history, and other factors. This fact alone should prohibit the use of RNA-based injections as vaccines for healthy people.

  Another Dubious Step Forward: From Linear to Circular saRNA

  As RNA-degrading enzymes (RNases) are known to act from both ends of linear RNA, scientists tried to prevent these enzymes from doing their natural duty—degrading mRNAs that are no longer needed—and created circular RNA. This resulted in increased stability and translation efficiency, followed by the production of an increased amount of the desired antigen.

  But is this really another step forward? Consider the negative effect of long-lasting antigen presentation. Due to increased antigen levels, one injection of saRNA—whether linear or circular—may cause adverse events comparable with repeated (booster) injections of modRNA.

  Long-Term Presentation of an Antigen Is Known to Cause Immune Tolerance

  After getting vaccinated, our bodies generate antibodies, mostly immunoglobulin G (IgG), including IgG1 and IgG4.

  Vaccinated individuals show an antibody class switch starting with the third COVID-19 injection (the first booster). This is from inflammatory IgG1 antibodies (that fight the spike protein) to non-inflammatory IgG4 antibodies (that tolerate the spike protein). Elevated levels of IgG4 antibodies, in the long run, will exhaust the immune system, causing immune tolerance. This may explain COVID-19 “breakthrough” infections, reduced immune response to other viral and bacterial infections, and reactivation of latent viral infections. It may also cause autoimmune diseases and uncontrolled growth of cancer.

  Notably, long-term IgG4 responses have been significantly associated with RNA-based injections, while individuals with a COVID-19 infection prior to vaccination exhibited no increased IgG4 levels, even when they received a shot after the infection.

  This observation clearly discredits the World Health Organization’s policy that—assuming people have no immunity against novel viruses (completely ignoring the reality of cross-immunity)—people should be vaccinated before they come into contact with the virus.

  RNA-Based Injections Are Recognized as Gene Therapy Products

  Incomprehensibly, RNA-based injections for protecting against infectious diseases were named “vaccines,” which allowed exclusion from the strict regulations for gene therapy products (GTPs). Again, this happened without providing the public with any scientific justification.

  Details on the regulatory issues of RNA-based vaccines are reported in excellent and comprehensive reviews by Guerriaud & Kohli and Helene Banoun.

  In 2014, Uğur Şahin, already CEO of BioNTech, co-wrote an article published in Nature about developing a new class of drugs, “mRNA-based therapeutics.” The authors wrote, “One would expect the classification of an mRNA drug to be a biologic, gene therapy or somatic cell therapy.”

  In 2021, the author of correspondence printed in Genes & Immunity described RNA-based vaccines created by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech as “a breakthrough in the field of gene therapy” and “a great opportunity for the FDA and EMA to revise the drug development pipeline to make it more flexible and less time-consuming.”

  Two disturbing pieces of information have now come to light:

  • The contaminating DNA results from Pfizer-BioNTech’s change in the manufacturing process after finishing the BNT162b2 (Comirnaty) Clinical Trial C4591001. Initially (Process 1), Pfizer-BioNTech modRNA was produced by in-vitro transcription from synthetic DNA and amplified by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). However, to scale up manufacturing (see rapid responses to this BMJ study), modRNA encoding DNA was cloned into bacterial plasmids (Process 2). Put simply, the clinical trial was run on process-1 lots, but the world’s populations received process-2 lots.

  This means that individuals who gave consent to be vaccinated were injected with a substance different from the one approved by regulatory agencies and to which they had consented.

  • Detailed sequence analyses revealed that the plasmid-DNA in the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 shots contain a 72-base pair sequence of the Simian Virus-40 (SV40) promoter, which is well-known to enhance transport of the plasmid DNA into the nucleus.

  It is now irrefutable that the RNA-based COVID-19 injections contain DNA.

  RNA-based technology—especially when applied as vaccines to healthy individuals—is unjustifiable and unethical. Independent from the tragic number of adverse events or excess mortality rates, it is the technique that is the issue, and the same problems will occur in all future RNA-based “vaccines.”

  1. RNA-based “vaccine” technology goes against the central idea of evolution over the past millions of years. While injected modRNA and saRNA produce antigens without stopping, in fact, the short lifespan of natural messenger RNA (mRNA) is a prerequisite for healthy and specific cell functions. (The short lifespan of mRNA allows our cells to adapt as quickly as possible to changing circumstances and avoid the production of unnecessary proteins.)
  2. A premise of RNA-based “vaccine” technology—that all of our body cells have to produce a foreign viral protein—goes against fundamental biological principles, like distinguishing between our own cells and foreign invaders, and will result in our immune system attacking our own cells.
  3. RNA can be reverse-transcribed into DNA even without the presence of (the enzyme) reverse transcriptase (i.e., by LINE1 elements present in our genome/DNA). Contaminating DNA (in RNA-based vaccines) is the rule rather than the exception. As both RNA and DNA can be integrated into the human genome, the so-called “vaccines” based on RNA technology are actually gene therapy products.

  It is in no way justifiable to subject RNA-based GTPs for medical use to strict controls but to exclude RNA-based GTPs, called vaccines, from these regulations even though they are intended for most of the human population. Even in an emergency, no one should be forced to be injected with any substance—least of all by politicians.

  What Did COVID-19 Teach Us About Science, Politics, and Society?

  For many years, scientists dreamed of manipulating human “software”—that is, DNA or RNA. Ethically, manipulating DNA has always been taboo. In retrospect, COVID-19 may represent the dawn of RNA-based “vaccines” and the end of the taboo against manipulating human DNA.

  In a 2023 commentary in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, the authors wrote that from the earliest days of the pandemic, it was obvious that some influential scientists and their political allies demonized dissenting scientific views and evidence offering a second opinion. Despite contradictory evidence, national politicians “assured the public that they were adopting COVID-19 policies by ‘following the science.’” However, scientific consent was achieved only by suppressing scientific debate.

  Remember: When questions are allowed, it is science; when they are not, it is propaganda.

  So-called “experts” selected by politicians told us that we must be vaccinated to be able to fight a new respiratory virus. This contradicts the science of the human immune system. Our immune systems are dynamic and can clear a virus they have never encountered; they can also develop cross-immunity to identify variants even if the virus mutates. However, since RNA-based vaccines will produce a single antigen, our immune system is deprived of the possibility of developing cross-immunity against virus variants. This applies, in particular, to respiratory viruses exhibiting a high mutation rate. In the long run, this will lead to an increase in both the frequency and the severity of infectious diseases. Thus, politicians interested in protecting the population against future infections would be well-advised to offer health programs that strengthen the immune system before seasonal infections.

  Scientists haven’t the faintest idea of how to direct modRNA or saRNA to a specific cell type or how to stop the translation of administered RNA. However, they continue to study how the stability of injected RNA and the amount of generated antigen can be further increased. The current development of RNA-based vaccine technology reminds one of the poem “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote over 200 years ago:

  “The spirits, whom I’ve careless raised, are spellbound to my power not.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 23:00

• Iowa Lottery Mistakenly Posts Wrong Powerball Numbers For 7 Hours
  Iowa Lottery Mistakenly Posts Wrong Powerball Numbers For 7 Hours

  In what can only be described as a nightmare scenario, Powerball losers in the state of Iowa mistakenly thought they were winners for about seven hours this week.

  The anomaly took place after a “human reporting error” caused the wrong numbers to be posted for last Monday’s drawing. The Iowa Lottery’s website posted the wrong numbers at about 12:30am Tuesday.

  No one corrected the error until about 7:15am the next morning, a report from CBS News said.

  

  “We at the Iowa Lottery sincerely apologize for the interruption,” a lottery official commented, according to the New York Times.

  The Times wrote that following the lottery draw, two individuals at different sites input the winning numbers into the state’s lottery system. This system is linked to all lottery terminals and self-service kiosks across the state. However, officials noted that some of the numbers were mistakenly entered.

  The lottery said that the mistaken numbers would triggered payouts between $4 and $200, but didn’t specify how many winners there were. They also said that anyone who cashed their ticket within the 7 hour window will get to keep their money. 

  The total Powerball Jackpot for that Monday was estimated at $355 million.

  The Iowa Lottery worked until 3:30pm on Tuesday to fix the error by correcting its system, the report said. After the numbers were corrected, 3998 people had won prices ranging from $4 to $200. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 22:30

• Campus Dysfunction Easy To Recognize, Difficult To Cure
  Campus Dysfunction Easy To Recognize, Difficult To Cure

  Authored by Peter Berkowitz via RealClear Wire,

  

  Machiavelli observes in “The Prince” that politics presents challenges akin to those physicians sometimes face: “… in the beginning of the illness it is easy to cure and difficult to recognize, but in the progress of time, when it has not been recognized and treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to recognize and difficult to cure.” So too for higher education in America: At this late date, our universities’ dysfunction – and the damage to the nation it has wrought – has become easy to recognize, but curing the dysfunction has become difficult.

  The Hamas jihadists’ Oct. 7 atrocities in southern Israel may have provoked a watershed moment for higher education in America. Student and faculty expressions of solidarity with the mass murderers, university administrators’ initial confusion and missteps, and the eruption of antisemitism on campus compelled many who have long averted their eyes to confront our universities’ role in fanning the flames of division and discord. However, since most university administrators, professors, wealthy donors, left-of-center commentators, and politicians of both parties have allowed the dysfunction to progress for decades without calling higher education to account or warning the public, only dramatic and costly interventions provide hope at this point of remedying the cluster of pathologies ravaging America’s universities.

  Evidence that it is now permissible to speak in polite society about the dire state of our universities comes from the New York Times opinion page. Since Oct. 7, the Times has published several pieces declaring that our universities have gone badly astray and proposing measures to repair them.

  These opinions are welcome, but tardy by several decades. They fail to identify the chief problem. They ignore the principal obstacles to reform. They propose reforms that provide the equivalent of band-aids for gaping wounds and shattered limbs. And they overlook the mainstream media’s complicity in largely ignoring, downplaying, or dismissing repeated warnings extending back a quarter century and more – largely, but not exclusively, from conservatives – that our universities undermine the public interest by attacking free speech, eviscerating due process, and hollowing out and politicizing the curriculum.

  On Oct. 16, in “The Moral Deficiencies of a Liberal Education,” Ezekiel Emanuel proclaimed, “We have failed.” As vice provost for global initiatives and professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, Emanuel sees the failure as personal and professional: The transformation of our universities into boot camps for inculcating progressive opinions about social justice and disdain for other views proceeded under his watch.

  Students blaming Israel for Hamas’ massacres and praising the terrorists “have revealed their moral obliviousness and the deficiency of their educations,” stated Emanuel. “But the deeper problem is not them. It is what they are being taught – or, more specifically, what they are not being taught.” Universities “have failed to give them the ethical foundation and moral compass to recognize the basics of humanity.”

  A bioethicist, Emanuel calls for a two-course ethics requirement, and, more generally, the restoration of a curriculum built around required courses (he doesn’t say which ones). Professors must cease their widespread dereliction of duty, he adds, which consists in refraining from challenging students’ opinions for fear of discomfiting or offending them. The aim is to rebuild undergraduate education “around honing critical thinking skills and moral and logical reasoning so students can emerge as engaged citizens.”

  Emanuel’s measures move in the right direction but are inadequate to the challenge because they overlook how a proper liberal education itself furnishes and refines minds and provides an ethical foundation and moral compass. The center of liberal education in America must consist in the study of the principles of freedom – moral, economic, and political – on which the nation is based and the constitutional structure and virtues of mind and character through which they are institutionalized and preserved. Since those principles and virtues have a history, the broader Western civilization of which they are a part must also be studied. And since Western civilization revolves around the tension between individuality and our shared humanity, liberal education includes study of other civilizations.

  On Nov. 8, in “How Are Students Expected to Live Like this on Campuses?” New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman observed that the numerous instances “of abhorrent speech by students and faculty members, mostly aimed at Israel, Jews and even Jewish students” raised pressing questions of free speech. “How should a university respond,” asked Wegman, “when members of its community express sentiments that are at odds with the values the school is trying to inculcate, not to mention with human decency?” His answer was good insofar as it goes. “Speech should be presumptively allowed, as a basic principle of free inquiry and academic debate,” he asserted, while drawing the line at expression that concretely threatens, harasses, or incites to violence.

  But are university administrators and faculty members disposed to vindicate free speech? Are they competent to draw the necessary lines? Are they prepared to face the mob? Wegman skirts these questions.

  He acknowledges that universities have eroded free speech on campus, not least by instituting speech codes and by affirming campus orthodoxies on controversial political questions. His principal recommendation is mandatory free-speech training for first-year students to build “a culture of basic respect and listening.” But who will educate the educators?

  Having undermined respect for others and the art of listening by presiding over – or silently acquiescing in – the curtailment of dissenting speech for more than a generation, the current crop of administrators and professors seems ill-suited to fashion and implement free-speech training. Moreover, free speech is best learned not by didactic lectures and seminars but by practicing it in the reasoned consideration of competing ideas with those capable of challenging one’s assumptions and arguments. But where are the professors who can lead such conversations? Which faculty members remain capable of understanding their side of the argument because they understand the other side?

  On Nov. 16, in “Universities are Failing at Inclusion,” Times columnist David Brooks also took grim, post-Oct. 7 realities as his point of departure: “Jewish students on America’s campuses have found themselves confronted with those who celebrate a terrorist operation that featured the mass murder and reportedly the rape of fellow Jews.” Brooks blamed higher education for betraying its mission. “Universities are supposed to be centers of inquiry and curiosity – places where people are tolerant of difference and learn about other points of view,” he wrote. “Instead, too many have become brutalizing ideological war zones.”

  “How on earth did this happen?” asked Brooks, who mentioned that he has “been teaching on college campuses off and on for 25 years.” He faulted “a hard-edged ideological framework that has been spreading in high school and college, on social media, in diversity training seminars and in popular culture.” Although he said the framework lacks a name, it reflects a postmodern progressivism. It holds that group identity is more important than shared humanity; the fundamental social and political distinction is between oppressors and oppressed; a person in one group cannot understand a person in another; racism and bigotry are endemic to America; principles of freedom – free speech, due process, meritocracy – are tools of oppression; and affirming these dogmas of postmodern progressivism takes precedence over acquiring knowledge and developing intellectual independence and integrity.

  It is not feasible, Brooks argued, to jettison the deeply entrenched campus diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracies that divide people into racial and ethnic groups, give preferential treatment based on group membership, and exclude dissenting views. Instead, he advocated the teaching of true diversity grounded in the remarkable achievements of American pluralism. To help students understand that they “live in one of the most diverse societies in history” and prepare them to cooperate with others from different backgrounds and with alternative perspectives, courses should “explore diversity, identity and history from a pluralistic framework” and assign “a range of books on the social and moral skills you need to see people across difference.”

  Brooks rightly espouses study of diversity in America and the means of preserving and enriching it, but he makes the same mistake as Emanuel and Wegman. All three suppose that special classes – on moral reasoning, free speech, and diversity – will provide an antidote to our universities’ ills.

  Liberal education is itself the best means available for cultivating toleration and civility, virtues conspicuously lacking on campus but essential to freedom and democracy. The sciences and the social sciences mustn’t be neglected. But serious study of literature, history, and philosophy – at once questioning and rigorous, patient and probing, and determined to understand before criticizing or extolling – provides an incomparable tutorial in the complexities and continuities of morality and politics, the competing conceptions of the good life, and the basic rights and fundamental freedoms that are inseparable from human dignity.

  That campus dysfunction is now easy to recognize but difficult to cure does not revoke the obligation to do what is in our power to repair America’s colleges and universities by providing students with the liberal education they need and deserve.

  Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. From 2019 to 2021, he served as director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. State Department. His writings are posted at PeterBerkowitz.com and he can be followed on Twitter @BerkowitzPeter.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 22:00

• Hate Crime Hoaxer Jussie Smollett Headed Back To Jail After Failed Appeal
  Hate Crime Hoaxer Jussie Smollett Headed Back To Jail After Failed Appeal

  Hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett is headed back to prison after an appeals court on Friday upheld convictions for disorderly conduct after he staged a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019.

  

  Smollett’s legal team challenged the role of the special prosecutor, jury selection, various pieces of evidence, and other aspects of the case – which did not convince the 3-judge appellate panel in Illinois.

  The former “Empire” star was convicted in 2021 on five felony counts of disorderly conduct.

  And while most people who aren’t actors connected to the Obamas would probably end up doing serious time, Smollett will simply have to finish a 150-day stint in jail. Prior to his appeal, he spent just six days.

  Lawyers for Smollett, who is black and gay, have publicly claimed he was the target of a racist justice system and people playing politics.

  Appellate Judge Freddrenna Lyle said she would have thrown out Smollett’s convictions. Lyle said it was “fundamentally unfair” to appoint a special prosecutor and charge Smollett when he had already performed community service as part of a 2019 deal with Cook County prosecutors to drop the initial charges.

  “It was common sense that Smollett was bargaining for a complete resolution of the matter, not simply a temporary one,” Lyle said. -AP

  Smollet was originally slapped with a 16-count indictment for lying to the police, however the Cook County State Attorney’s office suddenly dropped the charges after  Michelle Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Tina Tchen, pressured Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx, to transfer the case to the FBI. When that wasn’t done, Foxx’s office decided not to pursue the case. 

  And while Smollett had spent just six days in the Cook County jail, he was transferred to the psych ward after jail officials were concerned about self-harm.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 21:30

• Latin America On Edge As Venezuela's Maduro Holds Referendum Whether To Invade Oil-Rich Neighbor Guyana
  Latin America On Edge As Venezuela’s Maduro Holds Referendum Whether To Invade Oil-Rich Neighbor Guyana

  In a move that has prompted many to wonder which is the bigger banana republic, Venezuela or the US, Joe Biden’s new BFF, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro (who has promised to export a few barrels of oil to the US president – now that draining the SPR is no longer an option – to keep gas prices low ahead of the 2024 presidential election in exchange for sanction relaxation and defacto recognition by the White House that Maduro is the dictatorially “democratically” elected president of Venezuela, making a mockery of a decade of Western virtue-signaling sanctions), on Sunday Caracas is set to hold a referendum among Venezuelans on annexing (i.e., invading and taking over) a whopping 160,000 sq km of extremely oil-rich land in neighbouring Guyana.

  

  Why now? Why only now when Caracas has for more than 200 years claimed rights over Essequibo, a vast swath of the territory Guyana? Simple: because as we said several days ago, it was only a few months ago that Maduro realized he has leverage over the US president of the “most powerful nation in the world” and get away with anything… even invading a sovereign nation.

  Biden courts Maduro to get a few hundred thousands barrels of oil so his record low approval doesn’t drop even more, and now an emboldened Maduro is preparing to annex most of the sovereign state of Guayana https://t.co/75USHVR9WT

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 30, 2023

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

  Of course, (oil rich but extraction poor) Venezuela’s heightened interest at this expanse of Amazon jungle springs in part from its resource riches, including offshore oil deposits that have since 2019 made Guyana the world’s fastest-growing economy. Another reason lies closer to home for Venezuela’s strongman leader Nicolás Maduro: elections next year. But at the end of the day, had Biden not signed a smoky back-room deal with Maduro, admitting he needs the dictator’s oil in exchange for what appears to be a diplomatic blank check, none of this would have happened. Instead, we are now facing actual war between two nations which between them have some of the largest oil deposits in the world.

  As the FT notes, the potential for Venezuela, an ally of Russia, to follow the referendum with an incursion into western-leaning Guyana has raised concerns in the region. Brazil this week said it had increased the military presence in its northern areas, which border both countries.

  “On Sunday December 3, we will respond to the provocations of Exxon, the US Southern Command, and the president of Guyana with a people’s vote,” Maduro said during a broadcast of his weekly television program on November 20.

  Guyana correctly fears that the referendum is be a pretext for a land grab, and has appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt the referendum — a move that Caracas has rejected, though its claim to the land is largely internationally unrecognised.

  It isn’t: on Friday, judges at the World Court on Friday ordered Venezuela to refrain from taking any action that would alter the situation on the ground. The court did not expressly forbid Venezuela to hold a planned Dec. 3 referendum over its rights to the region around the Esequibo river, the subject of the long-running border dispute, as Guyana  has requested. However, judges at the International Court of Justice – as the World Court is formally known – made clear that any concrete action to alter the status quo should be stopped.

  “The court observes that the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute is that Guyana administers and exercises control over that area,” presiding judge Joan Donoghue said. “Venezuela must refrain from taking any action which would modify that situation,” she added

  “This is a textbook example of annexation,” Paul Reichler, a US lawyer representing Guyana before the ICJ, said in The Hague last month, claiming that Venezuela was preparing a military build-up in the Essequibo region in case it wished to enforce the outcome of the referendum.

  For its part, Caracas said that its troops were carrying out anti-illegal mining operations near the territory, a sparsely populated region that is home to about 200,000 Guyanese who speak English and indigenous languages, though little Spanish.

  Meanwhile in pro-Maduro Brazil, local media reported that a senator for the state of Roraima said the defense minister had agreed to his requests for military reinforcements in the municipality of Pacaraima, a strategic location for access to Essequibo. The defence ministry said: “Defence actions have been intensified in the northern border region of the country, promoting a greater military presence.” It wasn’t immediately clear if Brazil’s socialist leader Lula is planning on aiding his comrade Maduro in invading and pillaging Guyana’s oil, but it would be par for the socialist course, especially when the US president is implicitly approving your actions.

  That said, analysts question whether Venezuela will genuinely seek to annex the territory. They argue the referendum exercise is aimed at bolstering Maduro’s domestic support ahead of elections that Venezuela agreed to hold in exchange for relief from debilitating sanctions imposed by the US.

  “Political calculations are driving Maduro to escalate tensions in an attempt to stir up nationalist sentiment, but those same political calculations also limit his military options,” said Theodore Kahn, director for the Andean region at the consultancy Control Risks.

  “An actual invasion would shut the door to further negotiations with the US and force the Biden administration to reimpose oil sector sanctions.”

  Come to think of it, that’s a joke of a deterrent, considering Maduro had no problem living with sanctions for years. If Maduro were to get his grubby hands on some of the most state of the art oil facilities in the world – as a reminder, Guyana is where Exxon has invested billions to extract much of the country’s oil- he would do so in a heartbeat.

  Still, Maduro needs to mobilise party loyalists to defend two decades of socialist rule during which his party and its predecessors have turned Caracas into an international pariah, shattered its state-run oil industry, fueled mass emigration and empowered violent gangs.

  Luis Vicente León, who runs Caracas-based research company Datanálisis, said the government was using the referendum to reduce the perceived impact of a pre-election primary held by the opposition in October despite government disapproval. The primary drew 2.4mn voters to the polls, well above expectations.

  “It’s also a test of the government’s capacity to engage its political machinery and mobilise voters,” León said. “Alongside that, it pressures the opposition to take a position on a sensitive subject and gives [Maduro] a potential excuse to declare a state of emergency and avoid the election altogether.”

  Maduro, in office since his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chávez died of cancer in 2013, has yet to officially announce his candidacy in the upcoming elections. However, he is widely expected to run despite approval ratings of just 20 per cent, according to Datanálisis, amid an economic and humanitarian crisis.

  Hilarious, Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was regarded by the US and its allies as fraudulent, but so much has changed since then, well not that much: just Biden becoming president and folding to Maduro’s demands in exchange for oil. Seeking to entice him into allowing a “free and fair” election this time (please don’t laugh) the US last month relaxed sanctions on oil, gold and secondary financial markets for six months. The move followed a deal between Maduro and a US-backed faction of the opposition to resume political talks.

  Yet hopes of a political opening were tempered when just days later, the government-backed Supreme Justice Tribunal suspended the results of the opposition primary, which was convincingly won by María Corina Machado.

  Machado, a pro-market former lawmaker who once called for external military intervention in Venezuela, is banned from holding office at present, something she claims will not stop her from running.

  While the government and the fractious opposition agree that the Essequibo region is part of Venezuela’s territory, Machado has said the referendum is a “distraction” that must be suspended. She advocates settling the dispute at the ICJ.

  The referendum will put five questions to Venezuela’s public. One seeks approval for granting all residents of the Essequibo region Venezuelan citizenship and creating a new state within Venezuela, while another asks voters if they recognise the jurisdiction of the ICJ to rule on the matter. Both would likely lead to a military invasion.

  In April, the ICJ ruled that it had jurisdiction to decide on the territorial dispute, following a request from Guyana in 2018 to confirm the border that was drawn in arbitration in 1899 between Venezuela and what was then British Guiana, a colony. A final ruling could take years, however.

  “It is not an exaggeration to describe the current threat to Guyana as existential and the need for provisional measures as urgent,” Carl Greenidge, who leads Guyana’s delegation at the ICJ, told judges in The Hague with reference to the referendum.

  A specialised US army delegation visited Guyana this week, and discussed “processes to enhance both countries’ military readiness and capabilities to respond to security threats,” said the US embassy in Georgetown. Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s vice-president, said last week that “all the options available for us to defend our country will be pursued. Every option.”

  Caracas has long held that the Essequibo river to the region’s east is its natural border, as it was during Spanish rule before 1899. But Venezuela’s interest in pressing that claim has fluctuated. In 2004, while seeking international support for his Bolivarian revolution, Chávez said in Guyana that Georgetown had the right to grant concessions in the Essequibo territory.

  But since 2015, when ExxonMobil announced it had found oil beneath the waters off the Essequibo coast in the Stabroek Block, Caracas has adopted a more bellicose tone (well, of course).

  In October this year, the US major — which leads a consortium producing oil in the South American country — made another find in the waters claimed by Venezuela. Drilling bids were awarded to companies including Exxon, French major Total, and local company Sispro. Francisco Monaldi, a Latin America energy expert at Rice University in Houston, said: “So far Exxon’s wells and discoveries are in the area north of Guyana’s undisputed land territory, but the awarded oil blocks do go into the disputed waters.”

  Oil is transforming the Guyanese economy, which grew 62 per cent last year, according to the IMF, and is projected to expand another 37 per cent this year. With around 11bn barrels in reserves and a population of just 800,000, the country has the largest amount of oil per capita in the world.

  Meanwhile, Venezuela has the world’s largest proven reserves, and in its heyday at the turn of the century pumped about 3mn barrels per day, but mismanagement, corruption and sanctions led production to collapse. In September this year, it pumped 735,000 bpd.

  Exxon said that “border issues are for governments and appropriate international organisations to address”.

  Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if Darren Woods is quietly putting together a mercenary army to quietly take out Maduro. It should cost him at most 2-3 days worth of oil extraction revenues.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 21:10

• First Hospital In Nation To Require COVID-19 Vaccines Will End Mandate
  First Hospital In Nation To Require COVID-19 Vaccines Will End Mandate

  Authored by Matthew Lysiak via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Houston Methodist, which made national headlines after becoming the first hospital in the United States to mandate the COVID-19 vaccines, will no longer require its employees to receive the controversial shots after a new law passed by the Texas legislature outlawed the practice of denying vaccine choice to workers in the private sector.

  The hospital announced the change in policy in an internal email to employees, reviewed by The Epoch Times, that employees who choose not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be prohibited from working at the institution, effective Dec. 1.

  “The Texas Legislature passed a law in the special session that prohibits private employers from requiring employees and contractors to get a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment,” the statement read. “We will continue to encourage everyone to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but it will no longer be mandated at Houston Methodist. This means that getting the vaccine, or being approved for an exemption, will no longer be a condition of employment.”

  The statement added that the hospital “has always put the safety of our patients and employees first.”

  Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a practitioner in Texas and founder of Coalition of Health Freedom, told The Epoch Times that the hospital’s decision to play the role of trailblazer in becoming the first to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine was not only poorly conceived, but unleashed a series of negative ripple effects in terms of medical freedom that would quickly spread to other institutions throughout the nation.

  “Houston Methodist and their CEO Dr. Marc Boom coerced nearly 30,000 employees to get an experimental modified mRNA shot with no long-term safety data,” said Dr. Bowden. “Their mandate policy was the first in the country and paved the way for the government and other businesses to impose a highly unethical employment policy on millions of Americans.”

  On June 8, 2021, Houston Methodist became the nation’s first hospital system to require its private health care providers to get the shot. In a letter informing hospital staff of the policy, Houston Methodist Chief Physician Executive Dr. Rob Phillips justified the decision by claiming that forcing employees to take the vaccine was their moral obligation, writing,“It is our duty as health care professionals to do no harm and protect the safety of all of us — our colleagues, our patients and our society.”

  The hospital hadn’t returned a call for comment from The Epoch Times by the time of publication.

  Controversy on Vaccines

  The past two years have seen the COVID-19 vaccines become mired in controversy. The original COVID-19 vaccines were taken by more than 80 percent of Americans after officials pledged that the shots would be effective in both preventing contraction and stopping the spread of the virus. However, once it was revealed that the shots didn’t work as promised, interest in the subsequent booster shots decreased dramatically.

  Vaccines could also be attributed to widespread reports of negative health outcomes believed to have been caused by the shots. COVID-19 vaccines have been named the primary suspect in over 1.5 million adverse event reports, according to the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database. The numbers could be even higher. An FDA-funded study out of Harvard (pdf) found that VAERS cases represent fewer than 1 percent of vaccine adverse events that actually occur.

  In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) V-safe website quietly stopped collecting adverse event reports with no reason or explanation. As of Wednesday morning, the V-safe website states: “Thank you for your participation. Data collection for COVID-19 vaccines concluded on June 30, 2023.”

  Consequently, in the past two years confidence in health officials has dropped 10 points from 44 percent to 34 percent, according to a Gallup tracking poll.

  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that nearly all Americans receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine. About 5 percent of Americans have received one of the new shots, according to the most recent available data.

  The Texas law prohibiting private businesses from imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates was passed by the state legislature before being signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Nov. 10. The state House had approved the bill in a 91–54 vote, while the state Senate passed it 17–11.

  Mr. Abbott, a Republican, said as he signed the bill in Austin that it was necessary to protect the right of Texans “to make their own decisions about what health care they want to access and what health care they want to reject.”

  The legislation stated that an “employer may not adopt or enforce a mandate requiring an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment or a contract position.”

  Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison, who first introduced the legislation in 2021, voiced regret that the bill took so long to become law, posting on X, “This is great.  But… imagine how many careers would’ve been saved if the Texas COVID Vaccine Freedom Act had passed when I first introduced it… OVER TWO YEARS AGO.”

  Dr. Bowden says that while it is a positive step that choice has once again been restored to hospital employees, the administration’s decision to force its employees to choose between a shot they may not believe is safe and their ability to earn a living should have consequences.

  “The ramifications are immense and though I am happy they (the vaccine mandates) have been stopped, we still need to hold them accountable,” said Dr. Bowden.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 21:05

• Floating Down De Nile: Goldman Declares Hunter Biden Laptop May Be A Fake
  Floating Down De Nile: Goldman Declares Hunter Biden Laptop May Be A Fake

  Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

  

  As Stuart Smiley said on SNL’s Daily Affirmation, “De Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt.” Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman, a member of the House Weaponization of Government committee, caused yet another firestorm of controversy in declaring that the Hunter laptop may be a fake.

  That’s right. Despite media, American intelligence, and even other Democrats acknowledging the authenticity of the laptop, Goldman is still spreading denials . . . at a hearing on the weaponization of disinformation policies.

  Goldman has previously been criticized for making the case against President Joe Biden in disastrous efforts to discredit whistleblowers.

  As in past hearings, the Democrats opposed witnesses who tried to detail the growing evidence of a government-directed censorship system. Members like Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) continued to deny that there was any evidence of such censorship after spending years opposing the investigation of the program. Even with thousands of pages of evidence and a federal judge finding an “Orwellian” censorship system, Plaskett and her colleagues simply denied that such evidence exists.

  However, it was Goldman who stole the show in an exchange with  journalist Michael Shellenberger. Shellenberger referenced the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story before the election, a decision that Twitter and other companies now admit was wrong.

  Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman — a delusional conspiracy theorist — says “there’s actual evidence” that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “manipulated” by Russia (but can’t provide any any said “evidence”). pic.twitter.com/Lcn5cksgmy

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 30, 2023

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  However, truth has never been a particularly appealing option for politicians, particularly when it must come with an acknowledgment of past culpability in spreading disinformation.

  Recently, we discussed how Leon Panetta also doubled down recently on the claim that the laptop may still be Russian disinformation.

  Goldman also opted for denial and distraction over honesty and transparency.

  He told Shellenberger: “You’ve talked about the Hunter Biden laptop, and how the FBI knew it existed. You are aware, of course, that the laptop, so to speak, … that was published in the New York Post, was actually a hard drive that the New York Post admitted here was not authenticated as real…It was not the laptop the FBI had. You’re aware of that right?”

  Shellenberger responded: “It was the same contents.”

  Goldman shot back: “How do you know? You would have to authenticate it to know it was the same contents.”

  Shellenger responded: “Are you suggesting the New York Post participated in a conspiracy to construct the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop?”

  Goldman: “No, sir, the problem is that hard drives can be manipulated by Rudy Giuliani or Russia.”

  Shellengberger: “But what’s the evidence that that happened?”

  Goldman: “Well, there is actual evidence of it. But the point is, it’s not the same thing.”

  Goldman then concluded with the bizarre claim that “I’m glad you agree with me, Mr. Shellenberger, that transparency is the most important thing.”

  Goldman has yet to produce the “actual evidence” that the hard drives were changed by Giuliani or Russia.

  Before the election, many of us noted that the files on the laptop were easily authenticated and were confirmed by the other parties involved in some of these exchanges.  Since then the most damaging emails and messages have been authenticated and are not being denied by the Bidens.

  There is of course a term for such conspiracy theories used by Democrats to justify censorship: disinformation. Indeed, the Biden Administration is seeking the censorship of true information deemed “malinformation.”

  As someone raised in a liberal, politically active Democratic family in Chicago, it is distressing to see the party continue the push for censorship and blacklisting. However, the effort to deny the authenticity of these emails is particularly chilling. The transfers of millions to the Biden family and related meetings have now been confirmed by witnesses, including some questioned by Goldman.

  The fact that Goldman used a hearing on the weaponization of disinformation policies to spread disinformation is crushingly ironic.

  This is why floating down “de Nile” remains one of the most treacherous paths in the world.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 20:55

• Israel Pounds Southern Gaza As Officials Say 'Long War' Expected For A Year Or More
  Israel Pounds Southern Gaza As Officials Say ‘Long War’ Expected For A Year Or More

  Update(1405ET): All hell has broken loose on the first day of renewed fighting in Gaza post-truce. A UNICEF spokesperson said of the Friday bombardment, “This nightmare for people today just somehow got so much worse.” Already, Palestinian sources have said that over 100 have been killed in the last hours of IDF bombing of the Strip. Israeli media is reporting that at least 50 rockets have been launched from Gaza onto southern Israel.

  The aerial campaign has even expanded to include the southern half of the Strip, after throughout the early phase of the conflict Gazans were told to abandon their homes in the north and flee south for safety:

  Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows numerous plumes of smoke in the sky from Israeli army strikes on Khan Younis. …Khan Younis in southern Gaza is where thousands of Palestinians have fled from bombing farther north.

  Earlier in the day, the Israeli army dropped leaflets on the city, instructing Palestinians there to flee farther south to Rafah.

  The White House has said it supports Israel, and has blamed Hamas for the ceasefire’s collapse. Israeli officials have explained that Hamas refused to release ten more women captives. Israel says “This violated the terms of the agreement, which specified that Hamas would first release all women and children being held in Gaza in exchange for Israel agreeing to a truce for as long as nine days.”

  Perhaps the biggest and most ominous development in terms of what the future holds is seen in Israeli officials’ words to Financial Times. The Netanyahu is planning for a “long war” which could reach over the next year or more. FT writes in a new report:

  Israel is planning a campaign against Hamas that will stretch for a year or more, with the most intensive phase of the ground offensive continuing into early 2024, according to several people familiar with the preparations. The multi-phase strategy envisages Israeli forces, who are garrisoned inside north Gaza, making an imminent push deep into the south of the besieged Palestinian enclave.

  The goals include killing the three top Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa — while securing “a decisive” military victory against the group’s 24 battalions and underground tunnel network and destroying its “governing capability in Gaza”.

  “This will be a very long war . . . We’re currently not near halfway to achieving our objectives,” said one person familiar with the Israeli war plans. Israel’s overall strategy for Gaza is flexible, with timing dictated by multiple “clocks”, including operational progress on the ground, international pressure and opportunities to free Israeli hostages, the people said.

  #Watch: Wow, IDF strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza

  Tunnels? pic.twitter.com/yQOOf89Oti

  — Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 1, 2023

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  We’re only eight weeks in, and already there are signs this could easily spark a broader conflict. Another year of the bloodshed certainly opens the likelihood for a Mideast-wide conflagration involving possibly the US, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis. 

  Blinken’s meager “efforts” to achieve continued ceasefire… he packed up and left Israel as IDF warplanes went airborne.

  Parody account: https://t.co/MGkHop6KR0

  — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 1, 2023

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  * * *

  The Gaza truce has collapsed and Israel has resumed its bombing campaign of the Strip, following a full week of ceasefire and seven rounds of hostage/prisoner exchanges.

  Qatar and Egypt were reportedly pressing to extend the temporary pause in fighting for another two days, but Israel was not satisfied with the list of captives offered. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been looking into Hamas claims that the two young Bibas brothers were killed. “Israeli military has informed Bibas family members it is assessing a Hamas claim that the youngest Israeli hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his brother Ariel, 4, and their mother Shiri are no longer alive,” CNN reports.

  

  This grim and tragic revelation is likely what left Israel with less incentive to keep the ceasefire going, also as pressure has mounted from ultra-conservative circles within Netanyahu’s own ruling coalition to take the fight back to Hamas, and to see through the vow of eliminating the terror group. 

  Another big factor was Thursday’s terror attack involving a pair of Palestinian gunmen who unleashed M16 and pistol fire on a crowd waiting at a Jerusalem bus stop, killing three Israelis and injuring 16. Shortly after the attack, Hamas claimed responsibility.

  It’s likely that negotiators in Doha are still scrambling to get a ceasefire urgently back in place. After all, Israel says there are still 137 hostages in Hamas captivity, which also includes some Americans. In total 110 were returned home over the past week, with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released as part of the swap. The Times of Israel details of those who remain captive: 

  Among those still in captivity after the end of the truce Friday are 115 men, 20 women and two children, government spokesperson Eylon Levy says. Ten of the hostages are 75 and older, he says. The majority, or 126, are Israeli and 11 are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand.

  Levy lists the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri as among the hostages. The military has said it is investigating a Hamas claim that the boys and their mother were killed.

  Dozens of Palestinians have been reported killed after airstrikes started again Friday morning…

  Israel renewed its bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after talks to extend the truce which went into effect a week ago had failed.

  Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by the new bombardments, which hit buildings in Khan Younis, Rafah and northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/ZGCXSycNaG

  — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 1, 2023

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  Israel and mediators in Qatar were able to secure the release of most of the women and children hostages, as the last days have seen, but still 20 women remain along with the possibly still alive Bibas brothers, fate unknown. Israel as of Thursday welcomed eight more Israelis back from Hamas captivity.

  The IDF is meanwhile already dropping leaflets over parts of southern Israel telling civilians to leave their homes and leave the area. Prior to the truce, there were sporadic bombardments of parts of the south. But now it looks like the IDF will take the fight to the southern half too, even after Secretary of State Blinken’s urgings not to, conveyed to PM Netanyahu yesterday.

  Blinken flew out of Tel Aviv as IDF warplanes began the renewed bombing campaign…

  As Israel resumed its attack on Gaza today, @SecBlinken‘s “motorcade sped out of his hotel in Israel on its way to the Tel Aviv airport… Asked onboard his plane, Blinken declined to comment.”

  Reminds me of when Ford and Kissinger visited Indonesia in December 1975 and gave the… pic.twitter.com/HOHe6VHjur

  — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 1, 2023

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  Rockets have resumed being fired from Gaza, and Israel is again evacuating some southern communities, as both sides could once again be settling in for a ‘long war’. Rockets could also once again be coming from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is likely to rejoin the fight. On Thursday Blinken had urged Netanyahu to avoid killing civilians and that the soaring Gaza death toll is increasingly turning world opinion against Israel.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 20:55

• The Biggest Lies Used By Gavin Newsom In His Debate With Ron DeSantis
  The Biggest Lies Used By Gavin Newsom In His Debate With Ron DeSantis

  Gavin Newsom is what one might call a rhetoric peddler more than a debater.  He has a talent for twisting cherry-picked statistics and offering them out of context to defend false claims, and anyone seeking to enter a discourse with him will be forced to keep a long list of data points on file in their brain in order to counter the lies.  The most difficult people to argue with are those that aggressively exaggerate or slant the truth every time they open their mouths.  They are not bound by the same rules as someone trying to argue logically; they have an edge, until they are exposed for what they really are.  

  

  The political left’s spin machine is out in force on social media suggesting that Newsom “wiped the floor” with Ron DeSantis during their recent and much hyped Fox News debate.  This is not really the case, though a same small set of clips will probably circulate for the next couple weeks showcasing Newsom’s habit of throwing out soundbites and stats without evidence.  And, unfortunately in this day and age two minute video clips are what most people consume for their news.     

  Some might say that neither DeSantis or Newsom are relevant because neither of them will be presidential candidates in 2024 (Newsom even made this assertion at the beginning of the debate).  Don’t be so sure.  Joe Biden is increasingly losing his faculties and there is always the chance that he will step aside in 2024; as his public approval ratings plummet it may even be in the best interests of the DNC to push for a different candidate.  Gavin Newsom, suspiciously, has been acting as if he is auditioning for a chance at a presidential or vice presidential run.

  It’s a good idea to keep an eye on him.  He is, at the very least, a good litmus test for the kinds or propaganda the political left will rely on in the coming months.  And speaking of propaganda, here are the top most dishonest claims made by Newsom during his debate with Ron DeSantis.

  Newsom Claim #1:  “The last two years, more Floridians went to California than Californians going to Florida.” 

  This is a strategy designed to deflect criticism of California’s oppressive policies against businesses as well as their recent draconian covid policies.  The claim is utterly false.  In 2021, 24,000 Floridians moved to California – while 37,000 Californians moved to Florida.  In 2022, 29,000 Floridians moved to California while 51,000 Californians moved to Florida.  Furthermore, California had an overall population loss of 800,000 people in only three years.  Florida gained a massive 600,000 people in that same time period.  

  Keep in mind that thousands of small business owners and a number of major corporations have also left CA.  Newsom has consistently and blatantly lied about his state’s population exodus for a reason – It’s embarrassing.

  Newsom Claim #2:  “Florida has more gun violence than California…”

  This is based on per-capita data, a common method Newsom uses to obscure the massive crime in his own state.  Multiple cities across the US are not reporting complete crime data to the federal government as they wait for the FBI to finish updating their statistical collection system by 2025.  This means we can only compare data from 2021 or before.  

  That said, in 2021, CDC info shows that California had 3576 gun related deaths in 2021, while Florida had 3142 (many of the deaths are suicides or accidental).  California had 2361 homicides that same year, while Florida had only 1462.  And what about mass shootings?  California is #3 on the list of states with the most mass shootings in 2023, with around 60% more incidents than Florida.  

  Per capita adjustments do not make California a safer state, and neither do stringent gun control laws, as the facts show.  

  Newsome Claim #3:  “The working class pays lower taxes in California than Florida…”

  False, and also a deflection to avoid the issue of cost of living.   Florida is among the top ten states with the lowest income tax burden. California has the third-highest cost of living in the country, along with a higher tax burden.  Surveys show that the average annual income needed to live comfortably in California is $80,000.  In Florida, it is 57,000.    

  Newsom Claim #4:  “Inflation down to 3.2%. Wages are up to 4.4%. The economy is booming. 5.2%. GDP growth in the last quarter…”

  Another use of cherry-picked data to paint a false picture of the economy.  CPI is not an indicator of overall inflation, it is merely a window in time showing where inflation growth is at for the month.  Since Joe Biden entered the White House prices on the majority of goods and services have risen by 25%-30% on average.  A falling CPI does not change this in the slightest.  Americans will likely be paying 30% more for the cost of living for many years to come.  

  Over 60% of US workers say that their wages are lagging well behind inflation, even those that received a pay increase this year.  Biden is overseeing the worst stagflationary crisis in America in over 40 years.

  GDP growth numbers include government spending in their calculations, meaning they are fraudulent.  States like California and the federal government learned a long time ago that they can boost their GDP stats by borrowing and spending more each year.  These numbers do not represent the true health of the US economy in any way.  Which is why California is able to brag about having the highest GDP in the country yet it also has one of the worst homeless epidemics in the country.  

  Newsom Claim #5:  “14 million jobs created under Joe Biden, that’s 10 times more than the previous 3 GOP presidents combined…”

  False, and this lie is getting old.  The vast majority of the jobs cited by Newsom were not created by Biden, they were jobs lost during the covid lockdowns which Biden and Newsom aggressively pushed and tried to prolong for years.  When the Democrats were forced to end the lockdowns, many of these jobs returned.  

  Also, the surge in consumer buying created by over $8 trillion+ in covid money dumped into the economy created a short term employment frenzy, which is now starting to fade.  The stimulus bought Biden a few years, but will it last until the end of 2024?

  Newsom Claim #6:  “1406 books banned by Florida so far…”

  Incorrect.  No books have been “banned” by DeSantis and the State of Florida.  Some books have been removed from public schools, either for pornographic content or for propaganda content with no educational value.  The real question is, why does Newsom defend the exposure of young children to the pornography in these books, which are often easily found in California schools?  If it’s related to LGBT issues does that make it okay in his mind?  

  Newsom’s strength is his ability to lie with a smile on his face, and this says a lot about him as well as the people who support him.  America is suffocating under the weight of spin doctors, we don’t need yet another. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 20:40

• 8 Espionage Hacks To Outsmart The Masters Of Miscommunication
  8 Espionage Hacks To Outsmart The Masters Of Miscommunication

  Authored by Nicole James via The Epoch Times,

  In the era of pervasive surveillance reminiscent of Orwellian nightmares, old-school Cold War hacks have staged a comeback, offering a clandestine refuge for the exchange of information.

  

  As Big Brother looms large on every screen, the savvy practitioner must resurrect time-tested techniques to outsmart the puppeteers of miscommunication particularly in the face of impending legal consequences for government-designated purveyors of deceit.

  Here, in the spirit of cloak-and-dagger intrigue, are eight tried-and-true methods to outwit the masters of miscommunication:

  1. Auslan, Elvish, Klingon

  Elevate your discourse to heights beyond the reach of prying bureaucrats. There are many mythical languages you can learn that government agents and their goons are unlikely to master, such as conversational Klingon.

  Start with simple phrases but be careful as a seemingly anodyne statement such as “xɑb ʂoʂ.ˈlɪʔ q͡χut͡ʃ” which is pronounced “Hab SoSlI’ Quch” and means “Your mother has a smooth forehead” is, as Star Trek fans know, a grave insult.

  It may be worth memorising, “mIpHa’wI’ vIVumlaH?” (Where can I get a fake vaccine passport?) which is bound to be useful.

  Traditionalists might favour Elvish, while those with a penchant for hand movements could find sanctuary in the sign language Auslan’s silent eloquence when under surveillance of eavesdropping adversaries.

  2. Combustible Notepaper

  Add a combustible notebook to your shopping list.

  This was used in World War II and contained film that, when triggered by a pencil, would go up in smoke, disappearing in seconds.

  The CIA, masters of subterfuge, employed water-soluble paper for note-taking—an item easily disposed of, whether discreetly in a toilet sans flushing, or employed for the mundane task of nose-blowing (albeit with a potential mess).

  3. Cryptography

  In the realm of artful communication, classical codes emerge as the silent orchestrators of secrecy. The art of rearranging letters or substituting one for another stands as an age-old technique.

  Consider the transformation of “The solar panel is booby-trapped” into “Uif tpmbs qbofm jt cppcz usbqqfe,” achieved by a simple letter-by-letter shift.

  Julius Caesar used it with a shift of three to communicate with his generals, although messages such as “lchmy nby vfiix izz gs niau” or “rinse the blood off my toga” may have been meant for the local laundromat.

  Cryptographic history traces back to ancient Egypt, where the first known code was etched in stone around 1,900 BC. Even the ancient Israelites engaged in the art of Atbash, an early Hebrew code.

  For an added layer of protection in these trying times, consider translating conversational Klingon into Abash.

  

  The Enigma coding machine that was used by the Germans in WWII on display at Bletchley Park National Code Centre in Bletchley, England, on Nov. 25, 2004. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

  4. The Dead Drop

  The dead drop involves putting a message (usually in code) in seemingly innocuous items.

  Picture hollow coins or, for a touch of Dutch—or is it French?—bravery, a bottle of Bolly.

  Coins have limited space but can hold messages in microdots, a writing system developed during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War to lighten the load of carrier pigeons. Even the future Queen Elizabeth found solace in these pigeons for her missives.

  The most famous case of a hollow coin being intercepted was when a Russian spy accidentally gave his hollow coin to a newspaper boy.

  When the boy dropped the coin, the microdot photo fell out, but the secret message was still safe for four years because that’s how long it took the FBI to crack its code.

  5. Poetry

  Ever thought poetry could be a covert tool? The French Resistance certainly did. They turned verses into codes, using them not just to convey messages but also to spot fellow rebels.

  One standout piece was “The Life that I Have,” penned by Leo Marks.

  Chelsea Clinton even had it recited at her wedding to Marc Mezvinsky. Was it a subtle nod to some family secret? Maybe in Klingon? We’re not ruling anything out.

  6. Pyramid Power

  The French Resistance had another trick up its sleeve: the Pyramid structure. This furtive pyramid was built on the notion that members only engaged with one or two comrades.

  A shroud of secrecy enveloped the organization as no official records of membership were maintained, and messages traversed only through the sacred conduit of whispered exchanges.

  The brilliance lay in limiting exposure; enemy infiltrators, at best, could unmask merely two resistance members, leaving the remainder of the organization veiled in safety.

  It worked until it didn’t, with the Gestapo insinuating themselves into the command echelons of select resistance groups.

  Trust, a rare commodity in these precarious times, may find a shaky foundation, but discovering someone with a lifetime subscription to The Epoch Times could be a promising initiation.

  7. Tying Your Shoelaces

  Behold the mystique within the magicians’ code, where the simple act of tying shoelaces transcends its pedestrian facade.

  

  A boy ties his shoelace as he takes an evacuation train with her mother and sister in Pokrovsk amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)

  Variations in knots carry a covert language, from the ominous “I am going to blow up the wind turbine” to the whimsically perplexing, “The woman standing next to you, I think she likes you.”

  Concealing messages in the mundane theatre of daily life remains a timeless strategy.

  Proceed with caution, however—tying both shoes together risks not only revealing your covert semaphore but also the perilous pratfall of a well-executed trip.

  8. Jack-in-the-Box

  In the arsenal of evasive tactics, the Jack-in-the-Box emerges as an unconventional ally, though not necessarily in the realm of communication.

  A Jack-in-a-Box was used in 1982 by a CIA agent to evade KGB surveillance.

  It is a suitcase that hides a dummy that looks like you from the shoulders up.

  If you’re in a car chase, just wait for a sharp turn, open the Jack-in-the-Box, and roll out the passenger door. (Once cars are banned, this may not work as well on a bicycle.)

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 20:15

• Did Elon Musk's 'GFY' Tirade Accelerate Pivot In Advertising Strategy? 
  Did Elon Musk’s ‘GFY’ Tirade Accelerate Pivot In Advertising Strategy? 

  On Thursday we emphasized in a note titled “Time To Boycott Elon’s Boycotters” that when mega-corporations advertise on social media platforms or news websites, it’s often less about traditional advertising and more about supporting, promoting, and financially backing specific ideologies and party lines that align with their interests. 

  

  As we noted, “It’s why when Pfizer or Moderna spend tens of millions for advertising in the NYT, it is not so people are aware that Pfizer makes a covid booster shot – they know that from non-stop news coverage; it is to make sure that the NYT never questions the corporate party line. In other words, it is public relations in an advertising wrapper.” 

  Elon Musk is purging these mega-corporations from advertising on X, intentionally or unintentionally. 

  His remarks on Wednesday at the DealBook Conference, where he bluntly told the audience that advertisers who attempt to “blackmail him” can “go fuck themselves.”

  🚨WATCH🚨 – ELON MUSK GOING VIRAL ON NATIONAL TV‼️ “Go Fuck Yourselves” to all advertisers threatening to leave X 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/KL7jgCk1Tg

  — Nelson Epega (@nelsonepega) November 29, 2023

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

  Musk was referring to some of these advertisers: Disney, IBM, and Apple, which halted ad spending on the platform for the billionaire’s ‘antisemitic post.’  

  However, what is very interesting is that other social media channels, like Facebook and Instagram, have had way worse content on their feeds, but you don’t see corporate media and activist groups trying to pressure advertisers on those platforms. 

  Out with the old…

  To that end, Musk plans to attract small business advertising to plug the holes.

  “Small and medium businesses are a very significant engine that we have definitely underplayed for a long time,” X told the Financial Times. 

  X even said, “It [was] always part of the plan — now we will go even further with it.”

  Perhaps large corporate ad spend was always destined to evaporate. When Musk bought X, he fired 80% of the workforce and dismantled the FBI’s communication channels with the platform that suppressed non-approved government stories, such as Covid lab theory and Hunter Biden laptop stories. The “one big club,” as it were, does not like this.

  X told FT that it has ramped up ties with advertisers, such as JumpCrew, to which it will outsource some ad sales to target small and medium-sized businesses. 

  A former X senior sales executive said Musk would have to soon make a difficult decision in either keeping an in-house ads team or moving to outsource sales and adopting an automated “self-service small business platform.”

  Meanwhile, X CEO Linda Yaccarino responded to the controversy:

  Linda Yaccarino, X’s chief executive hired by Musk for her deep connections to the advertising world, was bombarded by calls from friends and associates last weekend during her daughter’s wedding, according to several people familiar with the matter. They urged her to quit to protect her reputation.

  On Thursday evening, Yaccarino instead sent a company-wide email cheering on X’s stance on fighting “censorship” and stating that Musk had shared an “unmatched and completely unvarnished perspective” and vision for the future. -FT

  “Our principles do not have a price tag, nor will they be compromised — ever,” wrote Yaccarino. “And no matter how hard they try, we will not be distracted by sideline critics who don’t understand our mission.”

  X’s switch in advertising strategy is necessary to mitigate corporate media and activist groups’ ‘blackmail” of ad spending for content that they do not like.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 19:50

• Here Are The 38 Lawmakers Leaving Congress In 2024 (Twice As Many Democrats As Republicans)
  Here Are The 38 Lawmakers Leaving Congress In 2024 (Twice As Many Democrats As Republicans)

  Authored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times,

  Nearly 40 Congressional lawmakers aren’t seeking reelection in 2024… and most of them are Democrats…

  

  Twenty-one House Democrats are opting out of another term compared to 11 Republicans. On the Senate side, six senators, four Democrat and two Republican, said they’re leaving public office, and one has opted to pursue a state governorship.

  In comparison to the 38 lawmakers departing Congress so far this cycle, only 24 lawmakers retired before the 2022 election. Twenty-seven had done so before the 2020 election and 31 in 2018, according to Ballotpedia.

  A spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which serves the same purpose for House Democrats as the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) does for House Republicans, didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

  David Carlucci, a veteran New York state Democratic legislator and campaign consultant with a growing client list, described the wave of Democratic departures as partly attributable to “a normal confluence of events that happens where you have members leaving Congress.”

  “Usually, the party that is not in power, you find that there are resignations from Congress,” he said. “If you are in power and you have chairmanships, you stick it out.”

  Mr. Carlucci cautioned against ascribing too much significance to the retirement imbalance, noting that, for example, three of the 21 departing Democrats are members of the California delegation and are announced candidates for the Senate seat of the deceased former Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

  House Democrats rally on the East Steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 13, 2023. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

  The three include Reps Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Ms. Porter is serving her third term in the House, while Mr. Schiff and Ms. Lee are long-serving veterans of 11 and 12 terms, respectively. Mr. Schiff and Ms. Lee represent safe Democratic districts, while Ms. Porter’s district is competitive, being targeted by both the NRCC and the DCCC in 2024.

  Republicans have a ready explanation for the imbalance of retirees that’s centered on Mr. Biden’s mounting problems with voters.

  “A civil war in their caucus over support for Israel, a historically unpopular president, and an inexperienced [House Minority] leader in Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) begs the question, why stay? Combine that with the climb out of the minority getting steeper by the day, House Democrats are smart to make a mad dash for the exits,” NRCC national press secretary Will Reinert told The Epoch Times.

  The NRCC is the command center of GOP efforts to defend and expand the party’s narrow four-seat majority in the November 2024 elections.

  Courtney Parella, communications director for the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), told The Epoch Times that Democrats are “looking for the exits,” thanks to “a historically unpopular president, a toxic and damaging agenda, and an unfavorable political environment.”

  Ms. Parella said that “as Democrats continue to lose some of their top fundraisers in the House, several now-open seats have quickly become even better pickup opportunities for Republicans and remain pivotal to growing the majority in 2024.”

   

  (L–R) Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Rep. Pete Aguilar, (D-Calif.), and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) arrive as the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its last public meeting in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 19, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)

  The CLF is a political action committee that describes itself as “the only outside group to have the endorsement of the entire House Republican leadership.”

  “The CLF supports Republican candidates for the House of Representatives and counters the efforts of well-funded left-wing groups seeking to elect liberals to Congress,” it stated.

  Mr. Carlucci said the increasing partisan rancor in Congress specifically and more generally throughout American politics is a factor that’s motivating representatives to opt out of reelection bids.

  “I think there is something to the fact that politics is changing. It’s always changing but now more rapidly than ever. We have seen the decorum in Congress degraded, at least to us watching it through cable TV. I’m sure there have always been side comments and digs, but now it has spilled over to a former Speaker of the House elbowing a colleague or a sitting senator challenging a witness to fight in a Senate hearing,” he said.

  Mr. Carlucci referred to recent incidents in the Capitol in which former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was alleged to have elbowed Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) in the back and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) challenged a union leader during a Senate hearing to make good on his previously tweeted threats of physical violence.

  Mr. Carlucci also suggested that in the case of long-serving members, there’s a growing incentive “after a distinguished career to pack it in because the style of politics now is one where the electorate does not really reward results; it’s much more driven by the theater.”

  Then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) talks to reporters inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 2, 2023. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

  National Republican strategist Jimmy Keady said a significant factor in the retirement imbalance is that Democrats are having difficulty recruiting quality candidates.

  “Candidate quality matters for all levels of government. What we are seeing is a Democratic Party with a deficiency of quality candidates who can win in highly competitive races. Instead of recruiting from the outside, the Democratic Party is having to recruit from their own ranks, jeopardizing their control of competitive districts across the country,” Mr. Keady told The Epoch Times.

  “We just saw this in Virginia where Del. Kim Taylor was a key recruit for Virginia Republicans, and she won reelection in a Biden+11 district. Republicans are focused on pulling leaders outside of the beltway to run in these districts, and based on retirements so far, Democrats are going to have a hard time keeping up.”

  In addition to Mr. Schiff, Ms. Lee, and Ms. Porter, House Democrats leaving to pursue Senate seats include Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Colin Allred (D-Texas), David Trone (D-Md.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), and Andy Kim (D-N.J.).

  Other House Democrats who are retiring to pursue another political office include Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), who hopes to be elected state attorney general; Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.); a Virginia gubernatorial candidate; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who’s running for mayor of Houston; and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) who’s seeking the presidency.

   

  Members-elect of the 118th Congress leave the House Chamber after three ballots failed to elect a new speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2023. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

  Retiring House Democrats who aren’t seeking other offices include California Reps. Anna Eshoo, Grace Napolitano, and Leo Cardenas; Michigan Rep. Dale Kildee; Virginia Rep. Jennifer Wexton; Washington Rep. Derek Kilmer; Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes; and Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer.

  House Republicans who are departing to seek a different political office include Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), both of whom are Senate candidates, and Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who’s a candidate for state attorney general.

  Retiring House Republicans include Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, Reps. Kay Granger and Michael Burgess of Texas, and Reps. Brad Wenstrup and Bill Johnson of Ohio. New York’s Rep. George Santos is expected to be expelled from Congress imminently as a result of a scathing House Ethics Committee report.

  Senate Democrat retirees include Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Tom Carper of Delaware, LaPhonza Butler of California, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

  Republican Senate retirees include Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Mike Braun of Indiana, who’s running for governor of the Hoosier state.

  
  
  
  

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 19:25

• Why Are Searches For 'Trailer Park Near Me' Erupting? 
  Why Are Searches For ‘Trailer Park Near Me’ Erupting? 

  The eruption in Google searches for “RV lot near me” has hit a five-year high. The reason for the surge remains unclear but could be attributed to the worsening housing affordability crisis ushered in by the failure of ‘Bidenomics.’

  

  Earlier this year, we noticed in several RV Industry Association’s industry reports (read here) that new monthly shipments for “Park Model RVs,” otherwise known as trailers, were outpacing last year’s levels.

  

  None of this comes as a surprise, as the worst housing affordability crisis in a generation has killed the ‘American Dream’ for many folks. 

  

  The most vocal folks complaining about the era of unaffordability of everything have been Gen-Zers on the Chinese social media platform TikTok. These youngsters are experiencing voter regret after a president who could be their great-great-great grandfather pushed failed policies that have been nothing more than a financial disaster for them. 

  Millennials crying about life, rent, groceries.

  “and all we do, we record a video and post it on social media. Then we close up the app and go about our day.”

  Do you have sympathy for their situation? Or do you want to tell them, “try voting differently next time.” I sort of… pic.twitter.com/KEZ3rjxdxw

  — Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) October 12, 2023

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

  They’re also mad about owning nothing: 

  “The thing about being in Gen Z is that, generally, we quite literally own nothing,” PJ Yancey told Bussiness Insider. He said, “We’re not homeowners; we don’t own a ranch, a vacation home, any kind of property at all. If we’re living on our own, it’s in someone else’s house or apartment.”

  So, the kid went out into the desert in California and bought a $200 plot of land. 

  @peejstead I love my dirt #offroad #crazy ♬ 3 Stars – Jair Archive

  https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js

  The lesson youngsters need to learn is the government and central bank are responsible for your financial woes. And the search data plus mobile home industry data only confirms that Gen-Zer’s standard of living has quickly deteriorated. Welcome to third-world style living. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 19:00

• The Urgency Of Strengthening America’s Electric Grid Cybersecurity
  The Urgency Of Strengthening America’s Electric Grid Cybersecurity

  Authored by Paul Steidler via RealClear Wire,

  

  The U.S. electric grid continues to face a bevy of foreign and domestic cyberattack threats. Therefore, it makes more sense than ever before for utilities and transmission operators to aggressively fortify their cyber defenses. In fact, failure to do so is a classic case of being penny wise and pound foolish. 

  The evidence includes the following: 

  • On November 16, following two days of cybersecurity scenario testing by more than 250 organizations, Manny Cancel, Senior Vice President of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) said, “The threat landscape in which we are operating is unprecedented – we are facing challenges that are increasingly difficult to detect and protect against.”
  • NERC added that evolving cyber threats to the grid are “guided by geopolitical events, new vulnerabilities, changes in technologies, and increasingly bold cyber criminals and hackers.”
  • China, Russia, and other countries continue to impose cybersecurity threats to the U.S. electric grid, as discussed in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Annual Threat Assessment.
  • Cybersecurity insurance premiums continue to rise sharply, making preventative actions more compelling from a cost-benefit standpoint. 
  • The shift to renewable energy and distributed resources opens additional vulnerabilities for electric utilities. As Bruce Walker, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure Security said in July 18 Congressional testimony, “Importantly, the risk associated with cyber is exacerbated by the rapid transformational changes happening in the electric sector. The transition away from a centralized generation and command and control model to a decentralized model, has increased the surface area for cyber penetration.  

  The grid’s Operational Technology (OT) vulnerabilities are particularly notable. OT refers to the remote monitoring and control of components in the electric system. This encompasses supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and industrial control systems (ICS) networks. 

  An October 2022 U.S. Department of Energy study found, “Another industry trend is increased attacker experimentation and exploitation targeting OT systems.” 

  The U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued a similar warning: “Grid distribution systems – which carry electricity from transmission systems to consumers – have grown more vulnerable, in part because their operational technology increasingly allows remote access and connections to business networks.”

  One way to simplify critical infrastructure protection and keep OT secure is to place a device that only allows pre-defined, legitimate signals to be sent to the OT on a network. This reduces the costs of more holistic network changes. It also prevents non-specific commands from passing through a protected device. 

  One such system, Binary Armor, places an in-line barrier to cyber intrusion, while monitoring all communications to a piece of OT. The device is small, approximately five by three inches, and weighs less than a pound. It can be deployed throughout the distribution grid, including on main substation data lines and within substations. 

  Legitimate commands can pass through. Those that would cause the device to behave in dangerous, destructive ways are thwarted. 

  Binary Amor cannot be modified or reconfigured without physical access to the system, thereby providing robust security for remote facilities and critical infrastructure. The system allows the system operator to define the rules for SCADA/ICS traffic and to inspect every byte of information. 

  The scope of threats that the U.S. electric grid will continue to face are likely to rise in complexity and severity. Rather than waiting for dictates from regulators, utilities and transmission grid operators should identify important areas for cybersecurity protection, especially where there are efficient, cost-effective solutions. In this environment, OT protection is especially important and likely to be even more so soon. 

  This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 18:40

• You Thought Murder Hornets Were Bad? The "Super Pig" Invasion Looms
  You Thought Murder Hornets Were Bad? The “Super Pig” Invasion Looms

  Fans of fearmongering classics such as “murder hornets” , “monkey pox” and “take this experimental vaccine or you’ll kill grandma” will love this one…

  According to new reports, a population of badass “super pigs” is about to descend on North America from Canada, prompting northern US states such as Montana, Minnesota and North Dakota to take measures against the invasion.

  

  The wild pigs, currently roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boars with the size and fertility of domestic swine to create so-called “super pigs” that one expert called “the most invasive animal on the planet,” and “an ecological train wreck,” according to CBS News.

  

  What caused this?

  According to the report, Canadian farmers just cut pigs loose after the market collapsed in 2001. The pigs persevered – with the strong surviving harsh Canadian winters, and the weak dying off. The result was highly destructive packs of pigs are roaming around, eating anything – including crops and wildlife.

  They tear up land when they root for bugs and crops. They can spread devastating diseases to hog farms like African swine fever. And they reproduce quickly. A sow can have six piglets in a litter and raise two litters in a year.

  That means 65% or more of a wild pig population could be killed every year and it will still increase, Brook said. Hunting just makes the problem worse, he said. The success rate for hunters is only about 2% to 3% and several states have banned hunting because it makes the pigs more wary and nocturnal — tougher to track down and eradicate.

  Wild pigs already cause around $2.5 billion in damage to U.S. crops every year, mostly in southern states like Texas. And they can be aggressive toward humans. A woman in Texas was killed by wild pigs in 2019. -CBS News

  Feral pigs already in the United States have caused some $100 million in property damage in Texas, where lawmakers have authorized hot air balloon hunts to eradicate the porcine menace.

  

  Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada’s leading authorities on the problem, has documented 62,000 wild pig sightings in Canada, and have seen them on both sides of the Canada-North Dakota border.

  “Nobody should be surprised when pigs start walking across that border if they haven’t already,” said Brook. “The question is: What will be done about it?”

  “The only path forward is you have to be really aggressive and you have to use all the tools in the toolbox,” Brook said.

  Murdalize em!

  Options for eradication include guns, traps such as the “BoarBuster,” and nets fired from helicopters.

  Looks like bacon is on the menu, boys!

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 18:20

• Trump Claims 'Cheating' In Wisconsin Election Case: 'Republicans Must Do Something'
  Trump Claims ‘Cheating’ In Wisconsin Election Case: ‘Republicans Must Do Something’

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

  

  Former President Donald Trump issued a response after the Wisconsin State Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case targeting state election maps.

  Last week, Democrats urged the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps. The lawsuit was first brought by voters the day after the court flipped to what some say is a majority 4-3 liberal control in August. They want all 132 state lawmakers to stand for election under new, more favorable maps in 2024.

  The state Legislature’s district maps were first drawn under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, allowing the GOP to keep their majority in both chambers of the state Legislature.

  Earlier this week, the former president offered criticism of the challenge, condemning the Wisconsin Supreme Court for taking up the challenge. He also shared a Wall Street Journal editorial that raised questions about the timing of the lawsuit after Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who was backed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, started serving.

  “Tremendous cheating going on in a State that I love, Wisconsin. Republicans must do something to stop it!” President Trump said in a Truth Social post.

  The Wall Street Journal article, meanwhile, wrote that Democrats fought to get Judge Protasiewicz elected earlier this year so “she could help them retake control of the state Legislature through a rewrite of the state’s political maps. Now the court’s liberal majority is going through contortions to deliver on that anti-democratic judicial promissory note,” describing the scenario as a “looming judicial coup.”

  The fight comes ahead of the 2024 election in a battleground state where four of the six past presidential elections have been decided by fewer than 23,000 votes, and Republicans have built large majorities in the legislature under maps they drew over a decade ago.

  President Trump won Wisconsin in the 2016 vote, while the state was certified in favor of President Joe Biden in 2020. Analysts have said it remains a key battleground state in 2024, coming after Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) won his reelection bid last year.

  Motives

  Last week, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley most aggressively questioned the motives of Democrats and repeatedly referenced newly elected Judge Protasiewicz saying during her campaign that the current maps are “rigged.”

  “Everybody knows that the reason we’re here is because there was a change in the membership of the court,” Judge Bradley said. She said ordering elections for all 132 lawmakers, including half of the Senate midway through their current terms, was “absolutely extraordinary.”

  “I can’t imagine something less democratic than unseating most of the Legislature that was duly elected last year,” she added.

  During a candidate forum last year, Judge Protasiewicz said that the legislative “maps are rigged, bottom line. Absolutely, positively rigged. They do not reflect the people in this state.”

  “They do not reflect accurate representation, neither the state Assembly or the state Senate. They are rigged, period. Coming right out and saying that. I don’t think you could sell to any reasonable person that the maps are fair,” Judge Protasiewicz continued.

  Attorney Mark Gaber, from the Campaign Legal Center, said the timing of the lawsuit had nothing to do with the election result. He said the challenge over whether the districts are unconstitutionally not contiguous would have been filed, regardless of the makeup of the court. “I don’t see that as a partisan issue,” Mr. Gaber said.

  Taylor Meehan, attorney for the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature, said the lawsuit was meritless, brought too late, and that Democrats only filed it because control of the court flipped. “They are a wolf in sheep’s clothing designed to backdoor a political statewide remedy,” Mr. Meehan said.

  

  Due to her comments on the “rigged” maps, Republicans in the Legislature have publicly floated impeaching the judge if she didn’t recuse herself from the case and other redistricting cases.

  On Tuesday, a judge dismissed a left-wing group’s lawsuit that claimed a panel researching the possible impeachment of the judge violated the state’s laws. Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ruled that the group, American Oversight, filed its lawsuit too early, coming after Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos asked former state Supreme Court justices in September to advise on whether it’s legal to impeach the justice.

  The legal fight in Wisconsin comes after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state of Alabama’s bid to use a Republican-drawn congressional map. Months before that, the top U.S. court issued a ruling against the state that argued Alabama violated the Voting Rights Act, although Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said the court erred in its decision.

  “It is now clear that none of the maps proposed by Republican supermajorities had any chance of success. Treating voters as individuals would not do. Instead, our elected representatives and our voters must apparently be reduced to skin color alone,” he said at the time.

  The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 18:00

• Hezbollah Rejoins Fight, Lebanese Civilians Killed, After Gaza Truce Ended
  Hezbollah Rejoins Fight, Lebanese Civilians Killed, After Gaza Truce Ended

  The resumption of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the truce ended Friday morning has quickly translated into rocket and artillery fire in Israel’s north, where emergency sirens have sent residents running for shelter across several towns. 

  Hezbollah, which over the past week has respected the Hamas truce during which time it by and large silenced its weapons, has rejoined the conflict. Already there have been deaths in Lebanon after Israel responded by shelling the town of Hula. Hezbollah-affiliated television channel al-Manar said that a mother and her son were killed in the attack.

  ⚡️Anti tank missile fire from Lebanon targets Israeli occupation site, filmed from Kiryat Shmona pic.twitter.com/uaVuXsTeHp

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) December 1, 2023

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

  Previously in the day Al Jazeera reported that “Hezbollah claimed a strike on Israeli soldiers in the first cross-border attack on Israel since the resumption of the fighting in Gaza.”

  Last weekend, the government of Iraq warned that if the Gaza ceasefire doesn’t become permanent, there’s a strong chance the conflict turns into broader regional war.

  The Pentagon has forces on high alert at US bases in Syrian and Iraq. Prior the truce of last Friday, American bases in the region had come under some 60 or more total drone and rocket attacks. The US responded with airstrikes several times against ‘Iran-backed militias’. 

  Whether these attacks will start up again is a big question the West will be watching closely. The Biden administration has repeatedly threatened to strike against Iran-linked targets and assets if Americans come under threat.

  Below: Israeli artillery shelling parts of southern Lebanon

  

  As for Hezbollah, despite that before the truce there were daily attacks on southern Israel, its role has been limited thus far after eight weeks of conflict. Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has previously stated that the group’s intent is to keep Israeli forces bogged down enough in the north to where the IDF can’t focus its entire arsenal and tanks on the Gaza theatre. 

  But a big fear in Tel Aviv and Washington remains the possibility that Hezbollah could launch a full war. Its rockets and manpower are considered much bigger than that of Hamas, and a scenario like the 2006 war is something Israeli military leaders likely hope to avoid.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 17:40

• Our National Bankruptcy: Moral, Economic, And Political
  Our National Bankruptcy: Moral, Economic, And Political

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

  

  Commentary

  Last month I got a call from a friend who works in Congress. He was distressed by the absurd condition of the federal finances. How could the wealthiest country in the world be almost $34 trillion in debt while charging ahead into ever-deeper debt? It seems like a horror movie come to life.

  Congress is gridlocked with the spigot of federal spending seemingly locked permanently into the wide-open position.

  The conversation with my friend touched on three points: how did this untenable situation come about, how can we reverse course, and what model of government would protect us from endless debt?

  How Did We Get Into This Untenable Predicament?

  What has brought the federal government of the United States of America to the edge of a fiscal abyss? It boils down to two main factors: the perverse incentives of electoral democracy accompanied by a gradual moral decay.

  The fundamental underlying cause of our catastrophic debt is a decay of morality. Over the decades, the traditional American respect for the sanctity of private property has eroded and diminished. Under the influence of progressive and socialist ideas and other sophistries, the American people came to believe that they were entitled to receive benefits that others would be made to pay for. This is the self-destructive nature of democracy. By popular demand as expressed at the ballot box, voluntary exchange and charity have been progressively replaced by compulsory government-mandated transfers of wealth (transfers of wealth that would be considered theft if done by non-government actors).

  In a democracy, politicians seeking elective office always need more votes. They have found that they can buy votes, not with their own money, but with money from the federal treasury, by conferring ever-larger benefits on ever-more beneficiaries. The political incentive is for Congress and presidents to spend, spend, spend. And since voters hate taxes, another political incentive is to not antagonize voters by raising taxes. Running up the national debt is the inevitable outcome of these incentives.

  Government over-spending is the Achilles’ heel of democracy. In words often attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship …”

  Twentieth-century American economist Howard Kershner put it less eloquently: “When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare.”

  How Can We Pull Out of This Fiscal Tailspin?

  The short answer is: We can’t. Theoretically, it would be possible if a majority of voting Americans recognized the dangers inherent in national bankruptcy and elected presidents and a Congress that would undo the vast web of wealth-transfer programs, but this isn’t realistic. Few voters are willing to relinquish the particular government programs that benefit them, and so dismantling the welfare state voluntarily is a non-starter.

  Instead, the most likely scenario is to continue on our present self-destructive course until the point in time when there won’t be enough suckers who believe in “the full faith and credit of the federal government” to buy its debt, and the Federal Reserve is forced to create additional trillions of dollars, thereby torpedoing the purchasing power of the people and precipitating an economic cataclysm causing massive social upheaval and a likely political revolution.

  A Blueprint for a Fiscally Responsible Government

  Yes, and it’s a blueprint sitting in plain sight. It’s our Constitution.

  The Constitution enumerates a relatively small number of functions that the federal government is to perform. There’s no explicit authorization in the Constitution for the federal government to get involved in directing, influencing, or managing such areas of our economy as agriculture, housing, health care, energy, education, transportation, retirement, etc.

  It’s clear from the writings of the founding generation that they never expected the federal government to extend into the economic affairs of citizens.

  Thomas Jefferson (letter to Albert Gallatin, 1817): “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”

  Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall (McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819): “This government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers.”

  James Jackson (member of the First Congress): “We must confine ourselves to the powers described in the Constitution, and the moment we pass it, we take an arbitrary stride towards a despotic Government.”

  What happened to our founders’ vision of limited government? Again, the moral decay of “We, the people” bears the primary responsibility. President John Adams hit the nail on the head: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

  What President Adams understood is crucial. Any constitution—even one that expresses the most noble ideals and enlightened ideas—is little more than a piece of worthless paper if the people don’t value it enough to accept its authority and lack the commitment to consistently accept, uphold, and defend its strictures and rules.

  We need a blueprint like our original constitution. But more than that, we need a moral revival so that we can again live as free people under a federal government limited to the task of defending our lives, liberty, and property.

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times of ZeroHedge.

  ZeroPointNow
  Fri, 12/01/2023 – 17:00

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