Today’s News 30th December 2022

• UFO Topic Continues To Stir Debate With More Sightings, Studies
  UFO Topic Continues To Stir Debate With More Sightings, Studies

  Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The truth about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is still out there.

  

  Yet every so often, the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, gets a phone call about an unusual sighting in the night sky.

  Is it a UFO—or something else?

  Lowell Observatory historian Kevin Schindler says mostly it is a natural occurrence, like the planet Venus shining bright after sunset.

  

  And then those are tongue-in-cheek moments such as the letters that suggested there were extraterrestrials from Cassiopeia.

  “We do have a variety of people asking things like that,” Schindler says.

  But, UFO researchers say some cases defy explanation and include eyewitness reports from credible sources—from military people to commercial pilots.

  These sightings have taken the debate over UFOs to a new and sober level—to such an extent that the government formed an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) in August 2020 to study the topic in detail.

  In its unclassified report, “Preliminary Assessment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” dated June 25, 2021, the task force concluded that the subject of UAPs is worth further study and research funding.

  However, the report would not acknowledge an extraterrestrial origin.

  Unidentified Aerial Phenomena “pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security,” the report to congressional intelligence officials warned.

  While available reporting on UAPs is “largely inconclusive,” the report said sightings fall into five categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. Government or industry development programs, foreign adversary systems, and “other.”

  The report added that a few UAPs demonstrate advanced technology, though most reports “probably lack a single explanation.”

  In October 2022, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the formation of an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Study with 16 members versed in the subject.

  “Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are [and] the language of scientists is data,” according to a NASA fact sheet.

  

  The independent study group will examine UAP data over the next nine months and report on its findings around mid-2023.

  NASA asserted it is “going in with an open mind, and we expect to find that explanations will apply to some events and different explanations will apply to others.”

  “We will not underestimate what the natural world contains [and] there is a lot to learn.”

  NASA press secretary Katherine Rohloff said the study aims to identify data from the civilian government, commercial, and other sources that can shed light on UAPs.

  Using that data, the space agency will recommend a “roadmap” for future UAP analysis.

  In July 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced the establishment of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office to examine and assess potential aerial threats near military installations.

  The DoD said UAPs include anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged, and “trans-medium objects.”

  “Put simply, UAPs are objects that, when encountered, cannot be immediately identified and may exhibit anomalous behavior,” said DoD press operations spokeswoman Sue Gough.

  Gough cautioned that the lack of attribution “does not necessarily indicate the significance of each sighting or a threat to national security.”

  “Anomalous behavior means that DoD operators or sensors cannot make immediate sense of collected data, actions, or activities,” Gough told The Epoch Times in an email.

  Gough said that by combining data collection with rigorous science, “any object we encounter can likely be isolated, characterized, identified, and, if necessary, mitigated.”

  The DoD’s position is to collect as much data and see where it leads.

  

  Gough added, “We will not rush to conclusions in our analysis. In many cases, observed phenomena are classified as ‘unidentified’ simply because sensors [could not] collect enough information to make a positive attribution.”

  Since the purported crash of a UFO took place in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1948, the idea of visitors from other planets has captured the public’s imagination like no other.

  There have been thousands of reports of UFOs over the years since, ranging from direct sightings of strange lights and actual craft to alien abductions.

  Incidents such as these sparked a series of investigations by the U.S. Air Force, beginning with Project Sign in 1947, Project Grudge in 1948, and Project Blue Book from 1952 to 1969.

  The studies looked at more than 12,000 reported sightings in total, concluding UFOs were not a national security threat or of extraterrestrial origin.

  People who study UFOs are known as “ufologists.” And many ufologists, like documentary filmmaker Ron James of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), believe ample proof exists that UFOs are here and not of this world.

  More importantly, the government knows this.

  “When we say government, we’re not talking about guys at the Pentagon,” said James, MUFON’s director of public relations.

  “We’re talking about programs buried for years away from the institutional memory of the armed forces in pseudo-government, private ventures that are accountable to nobody and impossible to penetrate with the FOIA [Freedom Of Information Act].”

  James’s latest project, “Accidental Truths,” seeks to address the government’s “new narrative” of UFOs and the key people involved in concealing their existence.

  The 90-minute film’s release is due in early 2023.

  James said MUFON amassed a growing database of 120,000 UFO sightings and encounters since the group’s founding in 1969, receiving hundreds more cases each month.

  

  He said at least 97 percent of cases MUFON receives and investigates have a natural explanation, like the weather, satellites, or aircraft.

  The other 3 percent can’t easily be explained and requires further study.

  “When you talk about the field [of UFO research], you don’t cover it in one umbrella,” James told The Epoch Times. “Many of these avenues are conjecture, testimony, little documented evidence—which is fine.

  “Things that are science fiction today are science fact tomorrow.”

  More than 70 years after the Roswell incident, James said we know “something is going on.”

  “We don’t know exactly [but] we have a pretty good idea.”

  While Roswell catalyzed interest in UFOs, references to strange flying objects appear in texts going back to biblical times, James said.

  “This topic has been at the forefront of our culture and the general population since the 40s. Since the Roswell thing took off.”

  In December 2017, the New York Times published an article exposing what it said was a secret Pentagon program to investigate UFOs beginning in 2007.

  Former U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) reportedly obtained funding for the program.

  However, James said government investigations into UFOs amount to little more than a “dog and pony show.”

  “That’s how it’s been from the beginning. The acronyms [for the studies] are adding up,” James said.

  Through “compartmentalization” of various government entities, “it gives them the ability to say we don’t know anything about [UFOs], even though it’s a real thing,” James said.

  “By compartmentalization—and by what we call ‘stovepiping’—they’re able to sequester information. And then they have plausible deniability.”

  James believes there is a power struggle within certain levels of government between those who wish to cover up the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs and those who want to expose it.

  He said the government acknowledging the reality of alien technology and energy sources would be Earth-shaking.

  “It would destroy every paradigm, every power structure, every means of control that keeps the planet in check. It’s all about energy. Whoever controls the energy controls the entire planet,” James said.

  Despite official denials of non-terrestrial UFOs, sightings of strange objects continue to this day.

  The National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), a national clearinghouse of information on unidentified aerial sightings, has logged more than 150,000 reports over 47 years of operation. The center in December posted 1,255 new UFO sightings on its website.

  On Nov. 7, NUFORC received a report from multiple airline pilots describing a “dramatic display” of lights over the midwestern United States the night before.

  “Moreover, several other flight crews allegedly reported the same event over their backchannel, so-called ‘guard,’ radio frequency, and discussed the event extensively over an estimated 20-25 minutes,” according to NUFORC’s website.

  James said the UFO debate is far from over yet he doesn’t believe the new investigations will reveal anything significant.

  

  “It’s not going to reveal anything we don’t already know. If [the government] can drag it out for another 50 years, they’ll do it,” James said.

  “At some point, they will have to acknowledge the existence of non-human intelligence. Where it goes after that depends on what that relationship is about.”

  One organization focused on the search for advanced extraterrestrial civilizations through radio signals is SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

  SETI began as a government program in 1960. However, questions over its scientific value led Congress to terminate it in the 1970s, though SETI researchers reorganized privately in the 1990s.

  SETI senior astronomer Seth Shostak said there has been no shortage of UFO reports since he joined the organization.

  “I get a phone call almost every day from someone having difficulty with aliens in their personal lives,” Shostak said. “It’s not a new phenomenon for me.”

  Shostak agreed that public fascination with UFOs remains high while conspiracies of government cover-ups abound.

  “The fundamental fact is that ever since the 1960s, poll after poll has shown that one-third of the American populace believes that the aliens are buzzing the skies. Many call me up,” Shostak told The Epoch Times.

  Shostak said every time a new UFO study group enters the media cycle, it only stirs hope “that something new will happen,” and Americans “love a conspiracy.” But the evidence regarding alien visitation is doubtful. Otherwise, we’d see them in our everyday lives.

  “Maybe the aliens have lost interest or have been repelled by the fast food,” he joked. “If the aliens were visiting—if there were good evidence of that—you’d have thousands of scientists looking into this.”

  “They’d be beavering away at this every day,” Shostak told The Epoch Times. “What could be more important than the idea extraterrestrials have decided to come to Earth for—whatever reason? And they’re not doing that. That means [scientists] are not convinced.”

  The late American astronomer Percival Lowell, founder of the Lowell Observatory in 1894, stands out among 20th-century scientists who believed in life on other planets.

  Schindler said Lowell, from a wealthy Boston family, built the observatory housing its 24-inch refractor telescope to prove the existence of aqueducts, or “canals,” made by intelligent beings on Mars.

  Lowell was not “one of these wacky guys with all these crazy ideas,” Schindler said. “He was well-educated and went to Harvard because he was a Lowell.”

  “He started [the observatory] because he wanted to prove there was life on Mars.”

  Lowell would also study the field of planetary formation and how the solar system might have evolved, theorizing the existence of a ninth planet—Planet X.

  Lowell died in 1915, though his research would inspire other astronomers to carry on, leading to the discovery of Pluto on Feb. 8, 1930.

  “It’s interesting he wanted to prove there was intelligent life on Mars and didn’t—wanted to discover a planet and didn’t. He probably went to his grave unfulfilled in some ways because he didn’t do that one big thing,” Schindler said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 23:40

• Rolex Watch Theft Wave Hits Major Western Cities
  Rolex Watch Theft Wave Hits Major Western Cities

  Timepiece aficionados are leaving their Rolex, Patek, Audemars Piguet, and other expensive watches at home as they attempt to stay under criminals’ radar while in public. From Los Angeles to Manhattan to London to Paris, violent high-end watch robberies are rising. 

  “I outright stopped wearing it [stainless steel Rolex Submariner] on the subway.

  “I don’t want to draw attention to myself in that way” amid the spate of subway crimes, New York City resident Troy Barmore told NYTimes in August. 

  While watch theft statistics are limited in major metro areas, authorities across the US and Europe have warned about a wave of criminals targeting affluent people for their timepieces. 

  

  Bloomberg reported London’s Metropolitan Police Service recorded a staggering 60% jump in knife-point robberies. In Paris, an entire police task force has been assigned to investigate luxury watch theft. 

  “This is a top priority for us, and we have already made a number of arrests.

  “No one should have to go about their day in fear of thieves,” said London Detective Chief Superintendent Owain Richards.

  Police data in London shows 667 Rolex watches were stolen from people between January and September, up from 60 over the same period last year. The average value of watches stolen in the English capital exceeded 10,000 pounds this summer. 

  

  Watch owners insure their timepieces, but that’s the least of their worries because they could become victims of a violent robbery. Some who sport these watches have taken them off and placed them in winder boxes. 

  And back to the US, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said 206 thefts involving at least one watch valued at $5,000 or more occurred between Jan. 1 through mid-November. That’s a 30% increase over the same period last year. 

  Organized crime gangs have been mainly on the prowl, scoping out wealthy folks, either at their homes or in public, waiting to pounce and steal expensive jewelry. These thefts are also happening at home. 

  “We are definitely seeing examples of robberies and thefts of luxury watches taking place across North America,” Tannie Ng, a senior underwriter for luxury collections at Chubb Ltd., said in an interview.

  With that in mind, it’s safer to wear less expensive and or no jewelry at all. And for those who want to wear fancy jewelry despite the risks, well, wearing body armor and or legally concealing a weapon could be your best shot at survival as the western world plummets into a crime-infested liberal utopia. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 23:20

• World Economic Forum Cancels Twitter, Directs Followers To Chinese Social Media Apps
  World Economic Forum Cancels Twitter, Directs Followers To Chinese Social Media Apps

  Authored by Jordan Schachtel via The Dossier (emphasis ours),

  

  Prior to its upcoming conference in Davos next month, the World Economic Forum (WEF) appears to have joined the cancel campaign against Twitter, taking to recommending Chinese state-controlled social media apps to “follow along” with Davos Man into the future.

  Twitter is noticeably absent from the entities listed on the organization’s “How to follow Davos 2023” social media pamphlet, and that appears to be no accident. 

  To stay up to speed with all that is happening within the invite-only doors of the ruling class confab, the WEF recommends following along through a handful of social media sites. They include the U.S.-based narrative-compliant Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, along with the Chinese social media apps TikTok WeChat, and Weibo. Twitter, which has freed itself from the grasp of the WEF-endorsed censorship-compliant social apps, is no longer included.

  Through its founder Klaus Schwab and partner organizations, the WEF has a very cozy relationship with the Chinese government. Davos recently revealed that their China office now has 40 full time staffers. Moreover, every year in Beijing, the WEF hosts its “Annual Meeting of the New Champions,” which facilitates partnerships between international businesses and the Chinese Community Party. In 2018, the CCP awarded Klaus Schwab with its China Reform Friendship Medal, a medal for non-Chinese people who do the CCP’s bidding overseas.

  Davos 2023 will feature Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, on stage. First reported by The Dossier, he will appear at an event titled “Tackling Harm in The Digital Era.” 

  In case you missed it, The Dossier has obtained an early, partial list of both events and confirmed speakers for Davos 2023. On the agenda for the 2023 conference includes event titles such as Why We Need Battery Passports, Leading The Charge Through Earth’s New Normal, A Living Wage For All, Enabling An Equitable Transition, and Beyond The Rainbow: Advancing LGBTQ+ Rights, among others.

  The Bird App has faced a ferocious cancel campaign following its change of management. Elon Musk’s pledge to turn Twitter into a free speech platform has met major resistance from the institutional corporate and governmental ruling class. Several WEF partners, such as BlackRock, have joined the attacks against Twitter, boycotting the platform in protest of its “content moderation” policies. It should come as no surprise that the ruling class’s favorite narrative and ideas shop for technocratic tyranny has come after Twitter, given that the latter app is now serving as the one major global social media platform for open debate and dialogue.

  Subscribe to The Dossier

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 23:00

• Despite Massive COVID Wave, High-Frequency Indicators Show China's Traffic Congestion Rebounds
  Despite Massive COVID Wave, High-Frequency Indicators Show China’s Traffic Congestion Rebounds

  China abruptly reversed the zero-Covid regime that isolated the world’s second-largest economy for nearly three years. High-frequency data shows highway congestion is rising, which could indicate a surge in crude demand in 2023. 

  BloombergNEF published a note that found China’s road congestion index rebounded from the previous week. The index includes highway congestion from 15 major cities, which jumped by 58.2% versus a week earlier. And what this means is that mobility is increasing across China despite the resurgence of Covid-19 infections. 

  

  China’s exit from zero-Covid (more on what the reopening means for the economy and markets) could indicate crude consumption for the country might begin to tick up in the first quarter of 2023 and accelerate in the back half of the year if the reopening process is smooth. 

  Since 2020, strict lockdowns and quarantines have impeded mobility by road inside China. For the first ten months of this year, passengers traveling by road were down 82% versus the same period in 2019. As restrictions ease, travel demand will increase and eventually rebound as urban and long-distance highway travel resumes. This would boost oil consumption. 

  China is opening back up

  Traffic in Beijing: pic.twitter.com/hA10rb04sS

  — Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) December 26, 2022

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

  “China’s total consumption is set to rise by 1.0 million b/d or more by the end of 2023 as travel restrictions unwind and manufacturing recovers,” Reuters noted. As we explained last month, China has already increased oil imports for reopening. 

  The problem with China reopening is there might not be enough spare crude production capacity to satisfy demand by the second half of 2023. Crude supply remains constrained by OPEC+ output limits, sanctions on Russia, and a lack of US crude production, so if there’s no global recession next year, the likelihood of renewed upward pressure on crude could take hold.

  

  … and maybe former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s bullish outlook for $150 Brent is something to note. 

  1. Oil price will rise to $150 a barrel, and gas price will top $5.000 per 1.000 cubic meters

  2. The UK will rejoin the EU

  3. The EU will collapse after the UK’s return; Euro will drop out of use as the former EU currency

  — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) December 26, 2022

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 22:40

• Lying Liar George Santos Under Investigation For All Those Lies
  Lying Liar George Santos Under Investigation For All Those Lies

  Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Republican Congressman-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) is being investigated by prosecutors after he said he had embellished his professional biography during his campaign to represent the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

  

  Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, a Republican who took office at the start of 2022, said in a statement on Dec. 29: “The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning.

  “The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”

  Representatives for Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

  On Dec. 26, in an interview with the New York Post and New York-based radio station WABC, Santos said he had fabricated parts of his education and work experience, in what he called “resume embellishments.”

  Santos had falsely claimed on his biography posted on the National Republican Congressional Committee that he had obtained “degrees in finance and economics” at Baruch College and New York University, and had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

  The revelations came about after a report from The New York Times on Dec. 19 called into question what Santos had claimed about his heritage, education, and work history.

  The rep.-elect said he still plans to assume office in January. He is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 3, when the U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes.

  “I want to make sure that if I disappointed anyone by resume embellishments, I’m sorry,” he told WABC on Dec. 26. “And I will deliver to you on everything I campaigned on because it’s still the same guy, still the same message, still the same priorities.”

  Santos faced other allegations such as that he had falsely said he was Jewish. Santos on Dec. 26 told the New York Post he had “never claimed to be Jewish.”

  Previously, he referred to himself as “a proud American Jew,” reported The Associated Press, and described himself as a “non-observant Jew,” reported the Jewish Insider. He separately had said on Twitter that he is a “conservative Roman Catholic.”

  In remarks to the Jewish Insider in early November, Santos said: “Whether my mother’s Jewish background beliefs, which are mine, or my father’s Roman Catholic beliefs, which are also mine, are represented or not, I want to represent everyone else that practices every other religion to make sure everybody feels like they have a partner in me.”

  Read more here…

  What’s Happening? pic.twitter.com/leEqTSyFvV

  — David Morgan (@silverguru22) November 30, 2022

   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 22:20

• The New Yorker Promotes "People's CDC" And Mask Mandates Forever
  The New Yorker Promotes “People’s CDC” And Mask Mandates Forever

  When the science no longer supports the establishment narrative, the science no longer matters.  This is the lesson we have learned time and time again over the course of the past few years when it comes to covid mandates and vaccine cultism.  Americans in particular have been whipped with incessant claims since 2020 that the “science is settled” when it comes to mask restrictions, lockdowns, mRNA technology, etc.  Yet, as time passes, every “conspiracy theory” asserted by the anti-mandate crowd turns out to be true.

  This, however, is not stopping the covid cult (made up mostly of political leftists) from blindly marching forward as they cling to the sweet taste of ultimate power they experienced from 2020 – 2021.  They just can’t let it go.  The pandemic world is their ideal world, and they continue to reveal their addiction in a steady outcry for ongoing restrictions.  

  The New Yorker has recently joined the trend for perpetual medical tyranny with an article titled ‘The Case For Wearing Masks Forever’ in which they promote the concept of a new politicized version of the CDC, called the People’s CDC, which ignores the actual science and enables the irrational fears of covid obsessives. 

  

  The People’s CDC is made up of academics, doctors, activists, and artists who believe that the government has left them to fend for themselves against Covid-19.  They believe the CDC’s data and guidelines have been distorted by powerful forces with vested interests in keeping people at work and keeping anxieties about the pandemic down.

  This is a fascinating juxtaposition of previous narratives.  Two years ago, anti-mandate movements argued the exact opposite – That data and guidelines had been distorted by powerful forces vested in keeping the public afraid and under control.  As it turns out, the anti-mandate crowd was right about everything.  The public was being lied to about the effectiveness of the masks, the effectiveness of the lockdowns and the effectiveness of the vaccines.  Establishment institutions have been forced by the wider dissemination of scientific data to admit this reality. 

  And now, leftists are livid. They feel betrayed by the very government agencies that once fed their craving for fear. 

  The People’s CDC admits they don’t really know what their larger goal is, only that they are seeking to provide an “alternative source of information”, one that essentially reinforces their ideological assumptions.  It should be noted that when conservatives and liberty activists tried to share scientific information that was contrary to the establishment narrative, it was these same leftists that cried for censorship and called anti-mandate groups “dangerous”.  

  The difference between the two groups is stark, though.  On the conservative side, the goal was clear and concise – Stop the draconian mandates because they are politically motivated and are not based on legitimate science. The goal was to separate politics from science.   On the leftist side the broad motivation is to inject activism into science; to make science as political as possible.  This is a truly dangerous and destructive endeavor.

  The group suggests that ongoing mask mandates are essential to dealing with the spread of covid.  Members even claim that opposition to masks is predominantly among white people, and that anti-masking is rooted in “white supremacy” and eugenics.  Many minorities are also anti-mask, and the fact that The New Yorker would even entertain such drivel highlights the downfall of mainstream journalism.

  The People’s CDC notes that they take issue with the way that the real CDC emphasizes individual choices over collective action.  This was not the case a year ago and it really still isn’t the case today.  What they are likely more upset about is that the CDC gave up on collective enforcement because such measures failed to pass scientific scrutiny and the scrutiny of the public.

  The official median Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) of covid continues to sit at a mere 0.23%.  Meaning, on average over 99.7% of the population is not at risk of dying from the virus.  This is a number which every establishment institution seeks to avoid mentioning because it lays bare the insanity behind covid fear mongering.  

  The CDC has openly admitted that masking is not very effective, noting that the cloth masks which were widely required in public establishments across the country do little or nothing to prevent the transmission of covid.  At best they acted as a placebo, at worst they represented as symbol of submission to collectivist authority.  While N95 masks are purported to be more effective, recent studies show that the N95 offers no more protection than cloth masks.

  States in which masking was widely enforced did not see any significant reduction in infection rates or death rates over states that had no mask mandates.  In fact, the rates are almost identical.  

  

  This is the kind of information The New Yorker and the People’s CDC never mention.  That’s what happens when science is tainted by activism – The quest for truth becomes an annoyance rather than the primary mission. 

  What the covid debate really amounts to is a conflict between those that support individual liberty vs those that do not.  Those that think society should be group focused and think that individual choice is a threat vs those that see the group as an abstraction exploited to take away people’s freedoms.  Collectivists see the covid mandates as a vehicle to further their cause.  They don’t care if the science contradicts their aims because the point is ultimately not public health and safety, the point is to elevate the ideology of the group over the individual.  This is why anti-mandate champions often refer to people like those in the “People’s CDC” as cultists; they desire ideological alignment to the detriment of all other concerns, including reality.   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 22:00

• GOP-Controlled State Legislatures Weigh 'Constitutionality' Of Presidential Executive Orders
  GOP-Controlled State Legislatures Weigh ‘Constitutionality’ Of Presidential Executive Orders

  Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Rep. Brian Seitz (R-Branson) will enter his third session when the Missouri General Assembly convenes in Springfield on Jan. 4 and, for the third time, he is sponsoring a bill that would require state lawmakers to scrutinize and, potentially disregard, some presidential executive orders.

  

  Under his proposed House Bill 174, the Missouri House must review all presidential executive orders not affirmed by a Congressional vote to determine if “they are, in fact, Constitutional,” Seitz told The Epoch Times.

  If the Missouri House has questions about the constitutionality of a presidential executive order, the bill requires it be referred to the state’s attorney general to determine if it “restricts a person’s constitutional rights.”

  “I’m a firm believer in states’ rights, and am very concerned about losing our authority [as a legislature] to federal overreach,” Seitz said.

  That purview would apply to any presidential executive order that relates to “regulation of business activities or personal behaviors during a pandemic or other public health emergency,” natural resources, the agricultural industry, land use, “the financial sector through the imposition of environmental, social, or governance [ESG] standards, and “the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

  “There are three branches of the government—not one,” Seitz said, stressing if adopted, the measure “would cover executive orders from presidents of either party.”

  But make no mistake: The bill—along with Senate companions filed by Sen. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville)—is hardly bipartisan in genesis.

  Since Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president in January 2021, similar bills have been introduced in at least nine other Republican-controlled state legislatures: Alabama, Utah, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Iowa, and South Carolina.

  The Oklahoma and Tennessee bills advanced through committees to chamber votes in 2021 but ultimately were not adopted.

  American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) senior director for Homeland Security, International Relations, and Federalism Karla Jones said the bills are in response to “federal overreach that infringes on state sovereignty.”

  Washington-based ALEC is usually the generator of conservative policy guides and model bills that state lawmakers carry into sessions.

  But in reference to presidential executive orders, the council adopted its model policy regarding presidential executive orders in December 2021 in response to bills submitted by state lawmakers in six states during that year’s sessions.

  “We just saw [the bills] proliferating because executive orders were becoming such a problem,” Jones told The Epoch Times. “There was a lot of alarm among state lawmakers who care about federalism and worry about federal overreach.”

  During his first six months in office, “Biden was on track to issue more executive orders than FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt],” she said. “He has since leveled off considerably and is now pretty equal with President Donald Trump, who also issued more executive orders than we thought was prudent.”

  According to Ballotpedia, as of Dec. 22, Biden had signed 105 executive orders. During his four years in office, Trump issued 220. FDR signed more than 3,500 in his 12 years in office.

  Jones said it is easy to disparage a president’s use of executive authority, but it’s often exerted by default.

  “Congress doesn’t have the political will to do the hard work, so many presidents rely on executive orders,” she said. “George Washington had, like, one. Single-digit executive orders,” during a presidency “was typical for the first 50 years of our history.”

  ALEC’s policy fine-tunes the 2021 versions of the bills. Rather than tie them to specific issues, such as gun owners’ rights, the policy is a guide for bills “that could be used in any state” across a range of issues, Jones said, including by Democrat-controlled legislatures.

  “Blue state may care about federal overreach in other areas.”

  Seitz’s proposed HB 174 is similar to Iowa’s HF 815, filed in 2021 by Rep. John Wills, (R-Spirit Lake), which would have required Iowa to disregard, or not enforce, any presidential executive order related to a public health emergency, firearms, land-use, or regulation of natural resources, the agricultural industry, and the financial sector, that “restricts a person’s rights.”

  HF 815 would also have accorded the Iowa Legislative Council authority to review the constitutionality of presidential executive orders and refer its conclusions to the state’s attorney general or governor’s office.

  Oklahoma Rep. Jay Steagall (R-Yukon), sponsored a 2021 resolution that claimed the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment allows states to claim sovereignty when it comes to discarding presidential executive orders.

  Neither was adopted.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 21:40

• Laid Off Tech Workers Are Having No Trouble Finding New Jobs
  Laid Off Tech Workers Are Having No Trouble Finding New Jobs

  It was just hours ago that we wrote about how restaurant staffing was returning to pre-pandemic levels and, in what we’re sure is totally not a coincidence, it also appears that laid off tech workers are having no trouble finding new jobs. 

  According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, the job market apparently hasn’t softened enough just yet: tech workers are finding jobs “shortly after beginning their search” despite the tightening job market.

  The 10.3 million job openings across the economy still “far exceeds” the number of unemployed Americans, the report noted.

  

  Ergo, 79% of workers who were laid off or terminated found new work within three months, the report says. About 40% of workers found new jobs less than a month after being terminated or laid off from the tech jobs, according to data from ZipRecruiter.

  Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told the Journal: “Despite the widespread layoffs, hiring freezes, and cost-cutting taking place in tech, many tech workers are finding reemployment remarkably quickly. They’re still the most sought-after workers with the most in-demand skills.” 

  The report noted that a smaller share of workers in tech are spending long periods of time searching for new opportunities:

  About 5% of laid off tech workers who found jobs from April to October had spent more than six months hunting for work, down from 26% of those hired between August 2021 and February 2022, ZipRecruiter said.

  One 23 year old former videographer, who was fired and then able to land a new job within two months, told WSJ: ““When I was applying, to be honest, I didn’t feel very confident because there was such an influx of competition with a lot of people also being laid off.”

  

  But he was able to land a social media manager job at a software startup under 3 months from being laid off. “I was surprised at how quickly I was able to secure an offer for a job,” he said of the new opportunity. 

  Ryan Sutton, district president at Robert Half, a global recruitment firm added: “We’ve definitely seen a slowdown in hiring, but the reason why is that the job creation level was beyond record highs because of the slingshot effect of the pandemic. From August 2020 to May 2022, it wasn’t red-hot. It was lava-hot.”

  He said the “usual” occurrence of laid off tech workers contacting his company for placement hasn’t happened. “We have not seen it yet—we haven’t seen more candidates coming to market. Our recruiters are having to hunt and hustle just as much as they had to in the last couple of years,” he concluded.  

  And it appears the bounce back for laid off workers isn’t just limited to tech. Workers in other industries, such as transportation and delivery, were also able to find new jobs easily, the Journal concluded. You can read their full report here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 21:20

• China's COVID Chaos A "Horrible Indictment" Of US Leadership For Emulating CCP Lockdowns: Former White House Adviser
  China’s COVID Chaos A “Horrible Indictment” Of US Leadership For Emulating CCP Lockdowns: Former White House Adviser

  Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times,

  If the world can learn one thing from the COVID chaos in China, it is that “locking down does not work,” said healthcare policy adviser Dr. Scott Atlas.

  “We don’t even know really the extent of the harms to their population that they inflicted by locking down but we know anecdotally that there were massive harms to people—they couldn’t get food, they couldn’t get their own medications, people were imposing a completely uncivilized, almost animalistic way,” Atlas, a previous White House special coronavirus adviser and contributor to The Epoch Times, said in an interview.

  

  For almost three years, China’s ruling regime has imposed a severe zero-COVID strategy, using strict lockdowns, centralized quarantines, mass testing, and omnipresent surveillance to contain the virus’s spread, leading to many residents being deprived of basic living needs, and some even dying from a lack of care.

  “This is a massive human rights violation,” Atlas said.

  “All of their policies imposed on their public,” he said, referring to China’s communist party (CCP), “is an example of one of the most extraordinary violations of human rights that we have seen in modern history.”

  ‘Flies in the Face of Common Sense’

  The policy reversal that came without a transition plan accompanied an exponential surge of cases that was quickly overwhelming the country’s health system.

  World Health Organization emergencies director Mike Ryan noted during a global health briefing on Dec. 14 that this wave of COVID-19 now seen in China is not due to the lifting of COVID restrictions, as it started long before any easing of the zero-COVID policy.

  “I think that it’s very important to recognize that,” he said, adding,

  “The disease was spreading intensively because I believe the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease, and I believe that the Chinese authorities have decided strategically that that for them is not the best option anymore.”

  Contrasting the few death cases the authorities have reported—11 since the easing of COVID curbs earlier this month—was mounting anecdotal evidence suggesting that the virus is fast spreading in Chinese cities and fatalities are rising. Hospitals and funeral homes have been filling up, with backlogs of bodies awaiting cremation.

  The Chinese numbers, Atlas said, are “absurd” to think of.

  “This just completely flies in the face of common sense,” he said.

  “No one should believe the counting method that is reported by China,” he added, noting that to “save face and justify their reckless harmful lockdowns,” the regime would “necessarily have to say they had fewer deaths.”

  

  COVID-19 patients on gurneys at Tianjin First Center Hospital in Tianjin, China, on Dec. 28, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

  “I don’t know how anyone would think that they have transparency on how they’re counting.”

  The lack of data from China has been so concerning that it has driven the United States to impose a new travel curb mandating COVID tests for travelers from China.

  Lockdown Success ‘Fantasy’

  That the regime has been “lying about the numbers” from the beginning, Atlas said, poses a troubling question.

  In January 2020, after suppressing whistleblower doctors and journalists trying to sound warning about the emerging virus, China became the world’s first country to shut down cities in response to COVID-19 spiraling out of control. As the virus spread, the lockdown method that Beijing insisted was effective was then quickly copied by other countries around the world, such as the United States.

  Atlas, an early lockdown critic, has previously enumerated the toll that such policies inflict on the public, from learning loss and mental health damage to a rise in substance abuse.

  “There was this false belief that somehow China had ‘beaten the virus.’ This was a completely absurd lie—a fantasy.”

  

  Health workers wait for people to scan a health code to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in the Jing’an district in Shanghai, China, on Dec. 22, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

  It was a lie that Atlas believes policymakers “blind to science” bought without question.

  “It’s one thing that it’s a society like China [that] imposes the draconian policies on its on its public, because that’s what totalitarian societies do,” he said. “But it’s another thing—it’s extraordinary that governments of supposedly ‘free societies’ would attempt to impose these sorts of policies on the public—and even more sad is the acquiescence of people to such policies.”

  “It’s a horrible indictment of American leadership to emulate a totalitarian society like China.”

  Separate from the fact that locking down can’t get rid of a virus, Atlas sees two things that the world hasn’t grasped about the CCP’s “inhumane policies”: “the true failure of their policies and the massive harms on their own people.”

  “The worst thing for China, or any totalitarian society, is to have people start realizing that the government policies are failures,” he said. “Because the only reason that the totalitarian societies exist is they have power.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 21:00

• National Guard Going Door-To-Door In Buffalo, Official Says
  National Guard Going Door-To-Door In Buffalo, Official Says

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

  Police and National Guard members are going door-to-door Wednesday to check on some Buffalo residents following a major winter storm that left dozens of people dead in recent days, officials said Wednesday.

  

  Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz confirmed the development on Wednesday morning in a news conference. National Guard members and police will be deployed to neighborhoods that lost power during the storm.

  Poloncarz also warned more dead could be found during the door-to-door checks. “We are fearful that there are people who are not doing well, or who may have perished,” he said.

  “If your neighborhood lost power, you’re going to see a member of the National Guard starting now for the next 48 hours, who is going to knock on your door, ‘Is everybody OK? Was there any issues? Is anyone sick,’” Poloncarz added.

  Officials said more than 30 people so far have been reported to have died because of the blizzard that raged Friday and Saturday in western New York, an area prone to powerful winter storms. The historic Blizzard of 1977 killed as many as 29.

  A driving ban remained in effect for Buffalo, Poloncarz said Wednesday. The National Guard and state police are enforcing the measure, he said.

  “The National Guard is NOT ticketing, they are assisting with traffic issues and people violating the driving ban in the City of Buffalo while crews are still working to clear roads,” he wrote on Twitter Wednesday, adding that the ban on driving will likely remain for the rest of Wednesday.

  

  The county executive added that “no EMS call will go unanswered” and that “911 has been up and running and EMS crews are focused on life-saving missions. There may be delays, but they are out responding to calls.”

  At least one death in Erie County was connected to an EMS delay, he told CNN on Tuesday. “Our emergency responders could not get to the person because of the snow,” Poloncarz added. “They were blocked, and by the time they got there it was too late.”

  Only a trace of snow might fall on Buffalo and Western New York off the Great Lakes on Wednesday as temperatures will hit 40 degrees Fahrenheit, said Josh Weiss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

  “Most of the snow has ended, fortunately. They need a break,” Weiss said. “In Buffalo, there’s no forecast below zero into next week,” he said. “By the weekend it’ll be in the 50s.”

  Weiss said that a warming trend has also begun for the eastern third of the United States and will extend past the new Year with temperatures remaining largely above freezing. Melting snow presents a risk of flooding and about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of rain is expected in Western New York on Friday and Saturday.

  “We’re expecting a rapid melt, and regional flooding on creeks. Creeks will top out,” Poloncarz said Wednesday.

  Other Details

  Giant snow-blowing machines were deployed to help clear several major highways clogged with towering drifts.

  

  Hundreds of electric company linemen were out restoring power, and Poloncarz posted on Twitter that some 4,500 customers remained without electricity on Tuesday, as crews cleared downed trees with chain saws.

  For residents essentially trapped in their homes for two days, the easing of the storm brought a realization of how much snow fell during white-out conditions that had limited their view.

  New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called it an “epic, once-in-a-lifetime” weather disaster, the worst blizzard to hit the Buffalo area in 45 years.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 20:40

• Judge Keeps Oregon’s Strict Gun Control Measure On Ice
  Judge Keeps Oregon’s Strict Gun Control Measure On Ice

  Authored by Scottie Barnes via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  An Oregon gun-control measure that many predict will wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court remains in limbo.

  

  In a Dec 23 hearing, Circuit Court Judge Robert Raschio said he would rule by Jan. 3 whether to lift a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Oregon Ballot Measure 114 requirement that a background check be completed before a firearm can be sold or transferred.

  Earlier this month, Raschio issued a TRO on the measure’s permit-to-purchase provision and its ban on magazines that carry 10 or more rounds. Those TROs are still in place.

  Passed in November with just 50.7 percent of the vote, Ballot Measure 114 was initially scheduled to take effect Dec. 8 but, starting on Dec. 6, faced a flurry of lawsuits.

  

  In a Harney County suit filed on Dec. 6 by Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Gun Owners Federation, Cliff Asmussen, and Joseph Arnold, Raschio issued a TRO just three hours after Federal Court Judge Karin J. Immergut had denied such relief to plaintiffs in one of four related cases.

  In his ruling, Raschio said the law violated the Oregon state constitution’s right to bear arms and that Oregonians would be “unable to lawfully purchase a firearm or bear a magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition in the State of Oregon.”

  The Oregon Department of Justice immediately filed a petition asking the Oregon Supreme Court to vacate the lower court’s decision.

  “We strongly disagree with the decision of the Harney County Circuit Court,” Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum wrote to the court. “Our mandamus petition to the Oregon Supreme Court gives our highest state court the opportunity to weigh in now and reverse the Harney County judge’s ruling.”

  The state Supreme Court refused to intervene.

  State Unprepared to Issue Permits

  On Dec. 13, Raschio heard arguments on the permit-to-purchase provision, which the state acknowledged was not ready to go. The state had declared that it needed until approximately Feb. 8 to implement that system.

  Lifting the order before the permitting system is ready would cause “irreparable harm to the constitutional right to bear arms,” he said. The judge continued the TRO for this provision. When the state notifies him in writing that it is prepared to roll out the new permitting program, he will schedule a hearing.

  The court then considered the ban on magazines that hold 10 rounds or more. The state argued that such firearms were not in “common use” when the Second Amendment was ratified. So, they are not protected.

  The state’s expert, Brian DeLay, associate professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley, testified that high-capacity firearms were an “experimental technology” and not commercially available when the Oregon Constitution was ratified.

  Experts for the plaintiffs testified that high-capacity firearms have existed since the 16th century.

  Lewis and Clark Carried High Capacity Firearm

  Isaac Botkin, the technical and education director at manufacturing company T-Rex Arms for more than a decade, described a long history of firearms capable of holding more than 10 rounds, the most famous being one carried by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was in 1804-06 that Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Lt. William Clark led the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest.

  “Meriwether Lewis carried a firearm that had the capability of 20 or 22 rounds that was quite effective,” he said.

  The state’s attorney argued that Botkin shouldn’t be allowed to make any “historical conclusions” on the history of guns, claiming that he is not an expert. The judge disagreed and allowed Botkin to continue.

  Plaintiff’s Attorney Tony Aiello Jr. argued that magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are standard for guns manufactured today. He said those guns are “essentially the same firearm, just modified by design and function,” as some of the nation’s earliest guns.

  Raschio asked whether magazine restrictions would “reasonably promote public safety by restraining a constitutional right to bear arms” as claimed in the ballot measure. Aiello argued that it would not, claiming that the ban would deny law-abiding Oregonians the ability to defend themselves while criminals continue to ignore the law.

  Background Check Provision Scrutinized

  Convinced that the ban would violate Oregonians’ rights under the state constitution, Raschio also extended the TRO on the magazine restriction.

  “Based upon the preliminary evidence, the result of BM 114 would be a near absolute prohibition on handguns and many other firearms with their magazines,” Raschio wrote.

  The Dec. 23 hearing focused primarily on the measure’s requirement that a background check is completed before a firearm can be sold or transferred.

  Oregon special Attorney General Harry B. Wilson argued that the completed background-check requirement would save lives, is constitutional, and wasn’t explicitly challenged by the plaintiffs.

  A licensed firearms dealer can legally deliver a purchased gun after three business days if the required federal background check is not complete—what gun control advocates call the “Charleston Loophole.” Measure 114 would end that by giving the state more time to complete background checks.

  Measure Offers No Guarantee of Expediency

  “Although a significant percentage of background checks are completed automatically within minutes, many require additional time,” Wilson wrote to the court. “As a result, in some instances, individuals with felony criminal histories can obtain a firearm because the transferer can deliver the firearm after three days and before the background check is complete.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 20:20

• Watch: New Batch Of Stealth Fighters Delivered To Russian Aerospace Forces
  Watch: New Batch Of Stealth Fighters Delivered To Russian Aerospace Forces

  Russia’s state-controlled United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced a new batch of Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighters had been delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to EurAsian Times. 

  “A new batch of fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jets has been delivered under a major contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. This aircraft is the future of Russian military aviation, embodies advanced technologies and design solutions. It has super maneuverability, is barely noticeable, can destroy air and ground targets, detect the enemy from long distances and operate in network-centric warfare,” Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec, the Russian state-owned technology company, said in a statement. 

  UAC didn’t elaborate on how many Su-57 were delivered in the latest batch. Still, some on Twitter who posted images of the jets speculated at least four. 

  The United Aircraft Corporation announced that KnAAZ delivered another batch of Su-57 fighters to the Russian Air Force. The video appears to show four fighters. https://t.co/gKQs7gCojP pic.twitter.com/FLairgoyHK

  — Rob Lee (@RALee85) December 28, 2022

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

  A new serial batch of SU-57 felons has been delivered to the Russian aerospace forces. pic.twitter.com/fsrrJHItiS

  — ayden (@squatsons) December 28, 2022

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

  In May, two Su-57s were delivered to Russian Aerospace Forces. It’s believed 6 to 15 Su-57s are already operational. Over the next five years, Russia plans for 76 Su-57 fighters. 

  Russia’s first stealth-capable fighter plane will eventually replace fourth-generation MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft though production is very slow. Perhaps the tweet explains why… 

  This comparison of the Su-57 production line versus the F-35 production line really sums up the most important difference between these aircraft.
  One is the most technologically advanced fighter in the world. The other is practically artisanal. pic.twitter.com/pGAYJauVUj

  — Alex Hollings (@AlexHollings52) October 1, 2022

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

  For all the times Moscow touts its new weapon systems, these fifth-generation fighters have been widely absent from Ukrainian airspace since the invasion. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 20:00

• California Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Magic Mushrooms, Other Psychedelics
  California Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Magic Mushrooms, Other Psychedelics

  Authored by Jamie Joseph via The Epoch Times,

  A Democratic lawmaker in California introduced a bill Dec. 19 to decriminalize the personal use of plant-based psychedelic drugs—such as magic mushrooms, mescaline, and psilocybin—outside of school grounds for people 21 and up.

  “Criminalizing drug use and possession accomplish absolutely nothing other than to fill up our prisons with people who are addicted,” said Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) outside of the state Capitol Dec. 19.

  “We need to treat drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal one.”

  Wiener, the author of Senate Bill (SB) 58, said that psychedelics—a type of hallucinogenic drug—“have huge promise” when it comes to helping those suffering from mental health issues such as opioid addiction, depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

  

  Sen. Scott Wiener speaks in front of the California State Senate on Aug. 31, 2022. (Screenshot via California State Senate)

  SB 58 will also allow the cultivation, transfer, or transportation of fungi or other plant-based materials that can serve as ingredients for these drugs, according to its text.

  The bill may be heard on or after Jan. 16, 2023.

  These drugs affect how people see, hear, taste, smell, or feel, and can radically affect the user’s mood and thought, sometimes resulting in psychosis, according to existing academic studies.

  One veteran, Michael Young, said at the press conference he came home to the United States with severe PTSD after 10 years of counter-terrorism missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

  “Psychedelics help heal the unseen scars from my years of service in the war on terror,” he said.

  “This sacred medicine showed me how to put myself back together again.”

  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, hallucinogens “can cause users to see images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem real but do not exist.” The effects of ingesting psychedelics generally begin within 20 to 90 minutes and can last up to 12 hours in some cases or as short as 15 minutes in others, according to the institute.

  

  Magic Mushrooms sit in a fridge in London, England, on July 18, 2005. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

  SB 58 is a comparably moderate version of a previous bill Wiener proposed but failed to pass in 2021, which would have legalized not only plant-based but synthetic psychedelics, such as MDMAs, LSD, and ketamine.

  Although it is rare for someone to die from an LSD overdose, “severe injury and death has occurred as an indirect result of using LSD, in that accidents, self-mutilation, and suicide have occurred … when people are largely unaware of what they are doing,” according to the American Addiction Centers.

  The Heroic Hearts Project—a co-sponsor of SB 519 of 2021 and psychedelic advocacy group for veterans struggling with PTSD—said “psychedelic treatment options provided these veterans with a level of relief and healing that many had come to believe was no longer possible.”

  Several law enforcement groups opposed the 2021 bill, including the California College and University Police Chiefs Association, California District Attorneys Association, California Narcotic Officers’ Association, California Police Chiefs Association, California State Sheriffs’ Association, California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, and Peace Officers’ Research Association of California, among other organizations.

  The Peace Officers’ Research Association of California “believes many of the penalties related to controlled substances work as a deterrent or a reason for individuals to get the treatment they need to turn their lives around,” according to a statement of opposition submitted to the state Assembly Health Committee in July 2021.

  “Furthermore, [the association] believes this bill will cause an increase in the selling and personal use of drugs, which will lead to greater crime and arrests in our communities,” the statement read.

  Under the CURES Act, signed into law in 2016 to expand medical innovations, many hallucinogenic substances—including LSD, DMT, mescaline, and psilocybin—are classified as Schedule 1 substances, meaning they pose a high risk of abuse and are not accepted for medical use.

  In September, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion calling for law enforcement to deprioritize investigations and arrests of adults found in possession of psychedelics. This was a month after an Oakland church using magic mushrooms as its form of communion was raided by police.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 19:40

• Buttigieg Knew: State AGs Warned Transportation Agency Of Airline Debacle Months Ago
  Buttigieg Knew: State AGs Warned Transportation Agency Of Airline Debacle Months Ago

  Shortly before Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in September that airline issues would ‘get better‘ before the holidays, a bipartisan group of attorneys general warned him that regulators’ lax oversight over the industry was about to lead to chaos.

  

  According to The Lever, federal officials stood by as Southwest Airlines executives, “flush with cash from a government bailout,” showered themselves in cash and dividends, instead of shoring up fundamental issues that have contributed to this week’s travel mayhem.

  Four months before Southwest’s mass cancellation of flights, 38 state attorneys general wrote to congressional leaders declaring that Buttigieg’s agency “failed to respond and to provide appropriate recourse” to thousands of consumer complaints about airlines customer service. -The Lever

  “Americans are justifiably frustrated that federal government agencies charged with overseeing airline consumer protection are unable or unwilling to hold the airline industry accountable,” the AGs wrote in August, urging Congress to pass legislation which would arm state officials to enforce consumer protection laws against airlines.

  On August 2, New York AG Letitia James sent Buttigieg a letter raising the alarm over “the deeply troubling and escalating pattern of airlines delaying and canceling flights,” especially during the holidays. The letter made several recommendations, including;

  • Require airlines to advertise and sell only flights that they have adequate personnel to fly and support. Perform regular audits of airlines to ensure compliance, thoroughly investigate airlines with excess cancellations, and impose fines on airlines that do not comply.
  • Require airlines to provide partial refunds to passengers for any cancellation that results in a rescheduled flight which the passenger accepts but that is later or longer than the originally purchased flight.
  • Require airlines to provide full refunds and additional payments for cancellations that require passengers to cancel their flights and assume additional costs, such as flights on other airlines, rental car reservations, gas, or hotel stays, in order to make it to their destination.
  • Require airlines to provide full and prompt refunds to passengers, at passengers’ request, if flights are delayed for longer than a time period established by the FAA.
  • Impose steep fines for domestic flight delays of more than two hours and international flight delays of more than three hours that are not weather-related

  Congressional lawmakers put pressure on Buttigieg nearly six months ago.

  Nearly six months ago ⁦@BernieSanders⁩ & I called for Buttigieg to implement fines & penalties on airlines for cancelling flights. Why were these recommendations not followed? This mess with Southwest could have been avoided. We need bold action. https://t.co/wVH4iAezfx

  — Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) December 29, 2022

  One week after the letter from the Attorneys General, Buttigieg told The Late Late Show With James Corden that the airline experience “is going to get better by the holidays,” Lever reports.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 19:20

• Gun Owners Of America Labels 18 Republican Senators "Turncoats"
  Gun Owners Of America Labels 18 Republican Senators “Turncoats”

  Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times,

  Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Virginia-based Second Amendment rights advocacy group, issued a scathing rebuke of the 18 Republican senators who voted for the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Act.

  

  In a Dec. 22 press release, GOA accused the group of advancing the Biden administration’s anti-gun agenda.

  “Unfortunately, 12 gun-control items just passed the Senate with the help of these 18 Republican turncoats,” the press release states.

  The Republicans who voted for the bill are Sen. Roy Blount, Missouri; Sen. John Boozman, Arkansas; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia; Sen. Susan Collins, Maine; Sen. John Cornyn, Texas; Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas; Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina; Sen. Jim Inhofe, Oklahoma; Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky; Sen. Jerry Moran, Kansas; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio; Sen. Mitt Romney, Utah; Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota; Sen, Richard Shelby, Alabama; Sen. John Thune, South Dakota; Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi; and Sen. Todd Young, Indiana.

  

  The GOA was already unhappy with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) for his support of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

  Attempts by The Epoch Times to contact the senators were unsuccessful due mainly to their offices being closed for the Christmas holidays.

  All 18 listed expressed support for the Second Amendment on their websites. All but Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds mentioned their Omnibus votes. The vast majority said military spending, national security issues, and funding were part of their decision.

  One example is Sen. Jim Inhofe who represents Oklahoma, considered the reddest of red states.

  His Omnibus press release lists defense as one of his top priorities. Inhofe touts spending on computer technology, weapons systems, and construction projects at military installations around the world.

  He also includes a list of infrastructure projects in at least 17 counties and municipalities in Oklahoma. Not to mention grants for research at various Oklahoma institutions.

  One Oklahoma project that might draw GOA’s attention is a $10 million Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) to train law enforcement officers to respond to mentally ill or disabled persons.

  GOA flagged such spending as a way for federal officials to promote Extreme Risk Protection orders—so-called Red Flag laws—in the states.

  

  Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) touted defense spending, homeland security, and infrastructure projects as reasons he supported the Omnibus bill. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

  Red Flag Laws allow local officials to confiscate firearms owned by a person who has been ruled to be a danger to himself or the community. This can be done regardless of whether the person has broken the law.

  Inhofe wrote that, overall, he is happy with the Omnibus deal. “While this is not the package Republicans would have written on our own, the $45 billion increase for our troops will make our country more secure,” his statement reads.

  But, a review of the 18 senators’ reveals a mixed bag regarding Second Amendment fervor. All the senators criticized by GOA portray themselves as Second Amendment advocates. Some, however, do call for limits or increased regulation.

  Senator John Cornyn, from the generally gun-friendly state of Texas, draws GOA’s ire in particular.

  Like Inhofe, Cornyn touts defense, homeland security, and infrastructure spending as big wins. However, his press release highlights school safety grants and laws supporting crime victims.

  Much of this is covered by the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” which Cornyn helped pass. The GOA opposed the law and school safety grants as the foot-in-the-door for Red Flag Laws.

  During his fight to pass the Act, Cornyn denied that it called for such laws.

  

  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wrote on her website that she believes Extreme Risk Protection orders can be balanced with due process rights. She also listed defense spending and infrastructure as reasons she supported the Omnibus spending bill. (Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images)

  However, Senator Susan Collins, who worked on the Act with Cornyn, pointed to Maine’s “Yellow Flag” law as an example of what could be done to reduce gun violence and protect individual rights.

  Collins’ website doesn’t have one press release specific to the Omnibus bill, but she does list several projects funded by the plan. These include new ships for the U.S. Navy and funding for colleges and medical facilities.

  She is also a strong supporter of Red Flag laws.

  On her website, Collins says these laws can be implemented while respecting the due process rights of individual citizens.

  Utah’s Sen. Mitt Romney also supported the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

  His press release on the Omnibus bill doesn’t mention the Second Amendment, but he does agree with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They complain that the current process makes it difficult to take firm stands on specific issues.

  “The process for government funding must change in the next Congress and allow for individual appropriations bills to be voted on in regular order instead of being combined into large catchall bills which force us to vote for the bad to get the good,” Romney wrote.

  Graham agrees.

  “This legislation is far from perfect, and the process that led us to this point needs to change,” Graham wrote on his website.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 19:00

• Biden Awkwardly Congratulates Most Extreme Right Government In Israel's History
  Biden Awkwardly Congratulates Most Extreme Right Government In Israel’s History

  As we previewed earlier Benjamin Netanyahu has formed what’s being widely perceived as the most hardline and right-wing governing coalition in the country’s history, and on Thursday he was sworn in as the next prime minister along with this top officials.

  President Biden promptly issued a formal congratulations, but also stressed that his administration will “oppose policies that endanger” the two-state solution or “contradict our mutual interests and values.”

  

  The somewhat strained congratulatory statement among “friends” suggests that relations could get rocky from the start, given on Wednesday Netanyahu’s Likud party released the new governing coalition’s policy guidelines which vowed to place settlement expansion in the Palestinian West Bank as highest on the list of priorities.

  The policy statement opens by vowing to “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel – in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria.” 

  Netanyahu’s return to power, after already being the longest-ever serving PM for the country, comes after he was ousted 18-months ago under a cloud of scandal. He served as prime minister from 2009 to 2021 – and his ultra-right coalition finally emerged victorious after multiple failed national election attempts.

  Here’s how Axios, consistent even with a number of Israeli publications, describes the new government sworn in on Thursday: 

  The new government reflects the rise of the Israeli extreme right. Two once-fringe figures known for expressing racist and Jewish supremacist views — Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir — have become senior ministers.

  Biden still stressed that the two leaders can “jointly address the many challenges and opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East region, including threats from Iran.”

  Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as Israel’s prime minister in a comeback at the head of a right-wing cabinet that promises to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and pursue other policies criticized at home and abroad https://t.co/bOF9f1Tkd1 pic.twitter.com/skHQvSfqTU

  — Reuters (@Reuters) December 29, 2022

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

  The Biden statement continued: “The United States is working to promote a region that’s increasingly integrated, prosperous, and secure, with benefits for all of its people.”

  The White House has only within the past month acknowledged that the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal is dead. Israeli officials have long warned that any “bad deal” would result in them seriously contemplating a preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Netanyahu’s own newly appointed national security chief actively supports military strikes on the Islamic Republic.

  It’s worth recalling that after the Biden administration entered the White House at the start of 2021, then PM Netanyahu had to wait weeks for an initial phone call from Biden after Israel reached out. This was widely taken inside Israel as sign of a ‘cold shoulder’ from Biden.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 18:40

• Of Economic Crises & Pandemics: Facebook As Fact, Government As Truth, Big Pharma As God
  Of Economic Crises & Pandemics: Facebook As Fact, Government As Truth, Big Pharma As God

  Authored by Colin Todhunter via Off-Guardian.org,

  If events since March 2020 have shown us anything, it is that fear is a powerful weapon for securing hegemony. Any government can manipulate fear about certain things while conveniently ignoring real dangers that a population faces.

  

  Author and researcher Robert J Burrowes says:

  …if we were seriously concerned about our world, the gravest and longest-standing health crisis on the planet is the one that starves to death 100,000 people each day. No panic about that, of course.”

  No panic because the controlling interests of the global food system have long profited from a ‘stuffed and starved’ strategy that ensures people unnecessarily go hungry when corporate profit rather than need dictates policies.

  US social commentator Walter Lippmann once said that ‘responsible men’ make decisions and must be protected from the ‘bewildered herd’ – the public. He added that the public should be subdued, obedient and distracted from what is really happening. Screaming patriotic slogans and fearing for their lives, they should be admiring with awe leaders who save them from destruction.

  During COVID, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern urged citizens to trust the government and its agencies for all information and stated:

  Otherwise, dismiss anything else. We will continue to be your single source of truth.”

  In the US, Fauci presented himself as ‘the science’. In New Zealand, Ardern was ‘the truth’. It was similar in countries across the world – different figures but the same approach.

  Like other political leaders, Ardern clamped down on civil liberties with the full force of state violence on hand to ensure compliance with ‘the truth’. Those who questioned the COVID narrative – including world-renowned scientists – were smeared, shut down and censored.

  It was an internationally orchestrated campaign involving governments, the big tech companies, media and the WHO, among others.

  The EU Times reported on 17 December 2022 that the US Centers for Disease Control worked with social media to censor facts and information about COVID that ran afoul of official narratives.

  The organisation America First Legal noted in a press release that the fourth set of documents it released – obtained from litigation against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – revealed:

  …further concrete evidence of collusion between the CDC and social media companies to censor free speech and silence the public square under the government’s label of ‘misinformation’.”

  Twitter ran a ‘Partner Support Portal’ for government employees and other ‘stakeholders’ to submit posts that it would remove or flag as ‘misinformation’ on its platform.

  The US government was actively working to ‘socially inoculate’ the public against anything that threatened its narrative. Big tech corporations monitored and manipulated users for the purposes of censoring unapproved information and pushing government propaganda. Facebook sent written materials to the CDC in which it talked of censoring more than sixteen million ‘pieces of content’ containing opinions or information the government wanted suppressed.

  AFL noted that the CDC was “collaborating with UNICEF, the WHO and IFCN member and leading civil society organisation Mafindo” to mitigate ‘disinformation’. Mafindo is a Facebook third-party fact-checking partner based in Indonesia and funded by Google.

  AFL states:

  What is clear is that the United States government, big tech platforms, and international organizations were fully entangled in an intricate campaign to violate the First Amendment, to silence the American people, and to censor dissenting views.”

  The CDC’s mask guidance policies for school children were also shown to be driven by politics rather than science.

  Across all the major Western nations, there was a clamp down on dissent and a massive censorship campaign to justify a policy framework of social and economic lockdowns, masking, distancing and state intrusion into almost every aspect of private life.

  The findings of AFL indicate how centres of power can and do act in unison when they need to. The fact that it involved a worldwide campaign shows something huge was at stake.

  The official narrative was about protecting populations from a deadly virus. And any dissent that did seep into the edges of mainstream discourse (like Tucker Carlson on Fox News or a few presenters on Talk Radio in the UK, for instance) tended to focus on politicians going too far on lockdowns and restrictions and being caught up in their egotistical lust for power and control.

  Such a superficial explanation avoided a deep, critical analysis of the situation. Indeed, any focus on big finance’s – Wall Street and the City of London – role in this was conspicuous by its absence.

  In March 2022, BlackRock’s Rob Kapito warned that a ‘very entitled’ generation of people would soon have to face shortages for the first time in their lives as some goods grow scarce because of rising inflation. BlackRock is the world’s most powerful investment fund.

  Kapito talked about the situation in Ukraine and COVID being responsible for the current economic crisis, conveniently ignoring the inflationary impact of the trillions pumped into imploding financial markets in 2019 and 2020 (dwarfing the crisis of 2008).

  The war in Ukraine as well as COVID are being used to explain the roots of the current economic crisis. But COVID policies were a symptom not a cause of the crisis – they were used to manage what by late 2019 was regarded as an impending economic meltdown. Draconian COVID policies had little to do with a public health emergency.

  That much is made clear in the article A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Systemic Collapse and Pandemic Simulation by Professor Fabio Vighi.

  On 15 August 2019, BlackRock issued a white paper instructing the US Federal Reserve to inject liquidity directly into the financial system to prevent “a dramatic downturn”. The message was unequivocal:

  An unprecedented response is needed when monetary policy is exhausted and fiscal policy alone is not enough. That response will likely involve ‘going direct’.”

  It also stated the need to find ways to get central bank money directly in the hands of public and private sector spenders while avoiding hyperinflation.

  Six days earlier, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) had in a working paper called for “unconventional monetary policy measures” to “insulate the real economy from further deterioration in financial conditions”.

  Vighi’s shows why the hegemonic class reacted so severely to a public health issue that impacted a minority of the population. This response only makes sense when viewed within the context of economics.

  Come late 2019 and especially 2020, pumping trillions into the financial system followed by lockdowns (to prevent hyperinflation) were used as the “unconventional monetary policies” that the BIS had called for on 9 August 2019.

  Did you really think the authorities cared so much about something that mainly affected the over-80s and those with severe comorbidities that they would lock down the entire global economy?

  Did they really care so much about ordinary people, especially unproductive labour – the working class old and working class infirm – when through the years of imposed austerity, we saw the working classes being treated with utter contempt?

  And did those who imposed restrictions and lockdowns really believe there was a ‘deadly’ virus on the loose?

  Think of booze parties at Downing Street, Neil Ferguson’s breaking of lockdown rules to carry on an extra-marital affair, Matt Hancock breaking his own COVID rules with his lover, maskless world leaders gathering in London while their servants wore masks, various US political leaders ignoring their own rules and the public theatre of Fauci et al masking up for TV cameras then maskless as soon as they were off camera.

  While such people tyrannised populations with fear and lockdowns, it is clear they themselves were unworried about ‘the virus’.

  After embarking on a massive anti-Russia media propaganda campaign earlier this year to garner public support for Ukraine, the centres of power in the West are now sending billions of dollars of the public’s money into the coffers of the likes of weapons manufacturers Raytheon and Boeing.

  Such corporations are more than happy to profit from sacrificing the lives of ordinary Ukrainians in the geopolitical quest to weaken and balkanise Russia so that US interests can gain a dominant, strategic foothold on the Eurasian landmass.

  And while billions of dollars are being spent to achieve this, a wholly unnecessary ‘cost of living’ crisis (resulting from reckless economic neoliberalism which has finally imploded) is being imposed on working people in the Western countries – regarded as mere collateral damage when it comes to economic policies, war and corporate profit. The result is misery and poverty and the demonisation of some of the (now striking) workers who were lauded as ‘heroes’ during COVID.

  But – of course – the powers that have so much demonstrable contempt for the lives of ordinary people at home and abroad will close down the entire global economy to protect their health!

  Those who believe this are testament to the power of propaganda.

  COVID-related policies were wholly disproportionate to any risk posed to public health, especially when considering the way ‘COVID death’ definitions and data were often massaged and how PCR tests were misused to scare populations into submission.

  And the big winner has been Big Pharma, an industry with a track record of dirty tricks, false advertising and death and injury resulting from its products. If, say, Pfizer were an individual, given its corporate crimes, it would be serving a lengthy prison sentence with the proverbial key being thrown away.

  But corporations with lengthy corporate rap sheets across many sectors are promoted to the public as being trustworthy and dependable. When governments partner (conspire) with such enterprises, they are conspiring with criminal recidivist companies. And when people purchase stock in them, the same applies.

  Given the reference to the global food system at the beginning of this article, of particular interest are the crimes of Dupont and Bayer (see the Powerbase website), and Monsanto and Cargill (see the Corporate Research Project (CRP) website).

  And, of course, Pfizer and its disturbing corporate rap sheet also appears on the CRP site.

  These immensely wealthy corporations spend millions each year funding various groups and lobbying governments and international bodies. Little wonder that they wield tremendous influence and, in one way or another, become ‘trusted partners’ of governments, the WHO, the WTO and the like.

  In Pfizer’s case, trusted so much as being granted ‘emergency use authorisation’ to have its ‘vaccines’ brought to market and then forced on the public via the coercive policies of governments.

  Returning to Lippmann, since early 2020 so many people have feared for their lives and have admired with awe leaders who supposedly saved them from destruction. Even now as reports on vaccine injuries, vaccine inefficacy and increased mortality rates since the jab rollouts are largely taboo within the mainstream media, the public are being kept on message as the WHO and Big Pharma work towards a global treaty that will strip all their rights come the next economic meltdown or ‘pandemic’.

  This article was written over the Yuletide period, an increasingly secular celebration stripped of religious connotation. These days, ‘in Big Pharma we trust’ might be more apt along with blind faith in a Zuckerberg-esque fantasy metaverse where Facebook is fact, government is truth and Big Pharma is God.

  Because (heaven help us) that we should be left to think for ourselves!

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 18:20

• Andurand Sees Oil Demand Soaring As Much As 4MM b/d In 2023
  Andurand Sees Oil Demand Soaring As Much As 4MM b/d In 2023

  When sitting down to make forecasts about 2023, perhaps the biggest wildcard is what happens to the price of commodities in general, and oil in particular, after China fully reopens following its current “post covid-zero” hiccup which may lead to even more chaos but which will promptly reverse in a few weeks time.

  Here, estimates vary, but few are as optimistic as iconic oil hedge fund trader Pierre Andurand, who said that global oil demand could soar as much as 4% at some point next year if the world fully emerges from Covid restrictions.

  

  In a series of overnight tweets, Andurand said that consumption has been lagging long-term trends and, boosted by a switch to oil from gas, may increase by 3 million to 4 million barrels a day in 2023. As a reminder, Andurand’s main commodities fund has crushed the competition this year, rising about 50% in 2022.  Andurand is among several fund managers who made huge profits betting that supply-chain disruptions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to jumps in oil and other commodities.

  Andurand (who in March incorrectly predicted that oil would hit $200 by year-end as Biden’s drain sends the SPR to record lows) caveated that the oil demand surge will be limited by the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, which are displacing about 600,000 barrels a day of fuel use, but net demand will still be more than enough to offset this drop.

  ever since. In periods of recessions, oil demand would be below trend for a year or 2, and then meet the trend again. After being below trend in 2008 and 2009, oil demand went back to trend in 2010, as if no great recession happened. Could it do the same again? 2/6 pic.twitter.com/dXJk1SkVwE

  — Pierre Andurand 🇺🇦🌻🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@AndurandPierre) December 29, 2022

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

  The main reason why we might not meet the trend line again is the growth of EVs. From 2019 to 2023, 35 million new EVs will have been sold. This roughly represents a loss of 600kbd of oil demand. Another shock to oil demand is the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 4/6

  — Pierre Andurand 🇺🇦🌻🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@AndurandPierre) December 29, 2022

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

  and some gas-to-oil switching. So, overall, the potential to see a surge of oil demand of 3-4mbd sometime in 2023 is there, assuming the world reopens fully. 6/6

  — Pierre Andurand 🇺🇦🌻🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@AndurandPierre) December 29, 2022

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

  PS: World population also increased by 280 million people between 2019 and 2023

  — Pierre Andurand 🇺🇦🌻🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@AndurandPierre) December 29, 2022

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

  Having been bearish on oil for much of 2021 and 2022 despite its relentless march higher, Wall Street banks now widely expect that crude prices, trading near $82 a barrel in London, will advance next year as sanctions squeeze Russian supplies.

  That said, the bullish mood isn’t unanimous and as Bloomberg notes, veteran analyst and PIRA founder Gary Ross at Black Gold Investors tweeted on Wednesday that oil market balances are “weak” and will deteriorate further in early 2023 as US storms curb refinery operations.

  Oil S&D is weak with stocks hardly declining in 4Q vs last yr’s substantial decline. It will be worse in 1Q, even assuming Rus oil outputs drops 5%, which looks unlikely but not an unreasonable assumption. With the US Xmas storm hitting runs>crude output, crude is backing up.

  — Dr. Gary N. Ross (@kingofcrude) December 28, 2022

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 18:00

• West Point Begins Removal, Alteration Of Confederate Memorials On Campus
  West Point Begins Removal, Alteration Of Confederate Memorials On Campus

  Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has commenced the removal and modification of 13 Confederate memorials and symbols on its campus at the direction of the Department of Defense.

  

  The modifications—recommended by the congressionally mandated Naming Commission and subsequently approved by the Defense Department in October—were to begin over the school’s holiday break, which started on Dec. 18.

  “Academy leaders and key stakeholders developed a comprehensive plan to ensure that historical artifacts will be professionally and respectfully handled during the execution phase,” the school said in a Dec. 19 statement. “Memorabilia removed during this process will be relocated to appropriate sites, including museums or other suitable venues.”

  According to a letter (pdf) signed by Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, items to be placed in storage includes a portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that hung in the academy’s library, Jefferson Hall; a stone bust of Lee from Reconciliation Plaza; and a bronze triptych from the main entrance of Bartlett Hall.

  Meanwhile, the portrait and the stone bust of Union Gen. Ulysses Grant that have traditionally accompanied those of Lee will be moved to Grant Hall.

  By Spring 2023, the school also intends to replace a quote from Lee displayed at Honor Plaza and begin refacing select stone markers at Reconciliation Plaza with modified language and images.

  Several streets, buildings, and areas around the West Point campus are also slated to be renamed, including Lee Road, Beauregard Place, Hardee Place, Lee Barracks, Lee Housing Area, and Lee Child Development Center.

  “We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” Gilland wrote in the letter. “In the case of those items that were class gifts (specifically, Honor Plaza and Reconciliation Plaza), we will continue to work closely with those classes throughout this process. Any costs associated with the Commission’s recommendations will be resourced within the Department of Defense.”

  The History

  The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, was founded in 1802 under President Thomas Jefferson.

  The school churned out hundreds of graduates who fought for both the Union and Confederate armies, including Grant, in the class of 1843 and Lee in 1829.

  Lee, who became commander of the Confederate Army toward the end of the Civil War, graduated second in his class at West Point and later served as the school’s superintendent from 1852 to 1855.

  Calls for Revisions

  Established under the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2021, the Naming Commission was created to assign, modify, or remove names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia within the Department of Defense that commemorate the Confederacy or those who voluntarily fought for the Confederate Army.

  On Aug. 29, the eight-member commission submitted Part II of its final report to Congress (pdf), which addressed assets of the U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Naval Academy.

  “Throughout the [West Point] grounds, plaques adorn almost every building and entrance, honoring the names and lives of West Point graduates who demonstrated exceptional devotion to the defense of the United States and the advancement of its ideals,” the commissioners wrote in their report. “Commemorating the Confederacy alongside those graduates honors men who fought against the United States of America, and whose cause sought to destroy the nation as we know it.”

  In defending their recommendations relating to assets named after Lee, the commissioners noted that the general turned down the opportunity to serve as the top field commander for the Union Army, opting instead to join the Confederates.

  “The consequences of his decisions were wide-ranging and destructive,” they added. “Lee’s armies were responsible for the deaths of more United States Soldiers than practically any other enemy in our nation’s history.”

  As for the triptych, the commissioners called for the removal of the names of several Confederate soldiers. Additionally, acknowledging that the triptych’s depiction of a hooded Ku Klux Klansman did not fall under their purview, the commissioners also encouraged the secretary of defense to “address DoD assets that highlight the KKK in Defense Memorialization processes and create a standard disposition requirement for such assets.”

  “The Commissioners do not make these recommendations with any intention of erasing history,” the commissioners noted. “The facts of the past remain and the Commissioners are confident the history of the Civil War will continue to be taught at all service academies with all the quality and complex detail our national past deserves. Rather, they make these recommendations to affirm West Point’s long tradition of educating future generations of America’s military leaders to represent the best of our national ideals.”

  Reactions

  West Point’s announcement has been met with mixed reactions from those who have served in the nation’s armed forces, with some supporting the changes and others decrying them.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 12/29/2022 – 17:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest