Today’s News 31st January 2024

• Greg Abbott And The Invasion Of The Border Snatchers
  Greg Abbott And The Invasion Of The Border Snatchers

  Submitted by Donald Jeffries via “I Protest”,

  We’ve come a long way from the Boston Tea Party. What would happen to “extremists” throwing tea into a harbor today? Independence Hall. Lexington and Concord. The Articles of Confederation. Patrick Henry declaring, “I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to my dying day your right to say it.”

  

  The Founding Fathers (sorry, there were no Founding Mothers, and certainly no Founding Transgenders) would all be marginalized if they were living and breathing in the Orwellian mess that is America 2.0. They’d be relegated to writing on Substack. Maybe some of them would be subscribers of mine. No mainstream media outlet would give them even a momentary platform. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Keep your “insurrectionist” thoughts to yourself. That little line should be confined to Ben Franklin’s womanizing. Yes, Ben actually used “would you like to join me in the pursuit of happiness?” as an eighteenth century pickup line. When he wasn’t consorting with prostitutes dressed as nuns in his demonic Hellfire Club.

  Aside from Franklin, and certainly the bankers’ stooge Alexander Hamilton, the Founders were a legendary lot. The “greatest generation” if such a thing ever existed. As recently as 1963, Thomas Jefferson was thought so highly of that President Kennedy would tell a state dinner comprised of some of the leading cultural figures of the time, “The is the greatest assemblage of talent ever gathered together in the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” That kind of comment would get any Democrat, and probably any American, “cancelled” today. Sally Hemings was the real talent behind Jefferson. She wrote the Declaration of Independence. Designed Monticello. Ask any court historian. He was a racist rapist.

  One of the few responsibilities ceded to the central government under the Constitution is defending the border. Article 4, section 4, states clearly that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion…” Our southern border has been under an invasion of illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, undocumented migrants, whatever you want to call them, for over forty years now. More significantly, the federal government has gone beyond enabling this invasion. They have assisted it. Made it possible. Probably financed much of it.

  Greg Abbott has been governor of Texas since 2015. He epitomizes the Stupid Party’s tradition of issuing lukewarm rhetoric about “border security,” but ultimately doing nothing to stop the invasion. For unclear reasons, he has now stepped up the rhetoric decisively. After the Supreme Court- Trump’s supposed court, with his lovely nominee Amy Coney Barrett voting with the Left as usual- made one of its trademark disastrous decisions, Abbott threw down the gauntlet. The Court ruled that Texas can not try to stop the Feds from cutting down the barbed wire fencing they’ve put up in places, in a laughable attempt to stop the flow of immigrants.

  Think about that; the highest court in the land- the Supreme Court- has ruled that a state cannot defend its borders. True, the Feds are constitutionally delegated with that power, but they quite blatantly have neglected to do this for several decades now. Under the Biden administration, the numbers coming across the border with literally no resistance from U.S. authorities, have reached such a critical mass that it has finally caught the attention of even the sleeping Republicucks. When you have one of the three branches in government- the Executive- aiding and abetting a foreign invasion, another- the Legislative- encouraging it as well, and now the Judicial branch giving the invasion a legal imprimatur, then you understand the situation.

  Abbott’s fiery statements brought to mind visions of Sons of Liberty dancing in our heads. He has sounded remarkably like the Confederates did back in 1860, when he charged that the federal government has broken their “compact” with the states. This was the central premise behind the decision of the southern states to secede. Our fast food culture insists it was all about slavery. The dastardly, tobacco spitting whiter than White secessionists wanted their slaves, and that was that. Abraham Lincoln, the secular saint of our crumbling civilization, responded by declaring, “The Union of these States is perpetual.” That contradicted, of course, the guiding principle of our War for Independence, which was that all people have a right to consent to those who govern them. In 1860, the Confederate states no longer consented.

  What exactly does “consent” mean, anyhow? In America 2.0, it has come to be a carte blanche power given to women (well, when there were women- now all gender is fluid), over whether a sexual act can take place. This power has been extended to well beyond the act itself, so that women who have had time to reflect on a bad decision can claim they were “date raped,” or simply maintain that they had said “no,” but the hapless, mindless, horny male used force. If you think about it, Abraham Lincoln was a rapist. Or at least a date rapist. Those poor southern states clearly said “No!” But Honest Able pushed on relentlessly, resulting in nearly a million American deaths. He took their consent and shoved it in them with extreme unconstitutional force.

  Now I don’t know that Joe Biden has Lincoln’s raping capabilities, but he is certainly a time-tested hair sniffer and all around creep. Not that he’d be making any decisions anyhow. He’s barely capable of eating his own ice cream cone at this point. If I understood it correctly, the deadline for his first ultimatum to Texas has already passed. Videos of Texans firing their guns have gone viral. There is supposed to be a huge trucker convoy going to the border, to stand with the brave Texans. And most shockingly, the governor of twenty five other states have signed on with their support. This includes the putrid RINO in Utah. This is extremely uncharacteristic behavior on the part of Republicans. The Washington Generals. The apology experts.

  If history is an indicator, Abbott will return to form and back down. The other Republican governors will become Republicucks again. “State’s Rights” is an anachronistic term in America 2.0. It brings to mind images of Strom Thurmond, back before he married that pretty woman some forty years younger than him. Or George Wallace, trying to block Black students from entering the University of Alabama, and proclaiming, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” But in both those instances, the underlying motivation appears to have been race. Call it “White supremacy” if you must. You have to go back to 1860 to understand the real principles at stake. The Confederacy and Lincoln weren’t on the same page. Neither are the Biden administration and Texas.

  I’ve written extensively about our immigration policy. Which has become a no enforcement policy. A policy of overt favoritism towards those entering this country illegally. Free healthcare. Free VISA cards. Free transportation to various spots across America, usually by a startling coincidence to Republican enclaves with lots of “White privilege.” Free housing and food in some very nice hotels. And now, the Biden administration is supposedly instructing banks not to turn down loans to illegals. I don’t know, maybe that’s all Republican propaganda. It certainly seems hard to comprehend. Especially given that so many American citizens are sleeping in tents on the street, and foraging in dumpsters for food.

  I confess to feeling an illicit thrill over the prospect of Texas state authorities standing up to the biggest and most odious Goliath that ever existed. Maybe that’s how people felt nearly 190 years ago, when Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and a small band of other worthies steadfastly defended the Alamo against far superior forces. Remember the Barbed Wire! doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. To whatever degree our horrific leaders still care about public relations optics, it might give them pause before attempting to forcefully overpower Texas officials, and perhaps a lot of angry truckers. Maybe they’ll send a special Transgender SWAT team.

  I don’t know how any American could possibly support the federal government sending agents to a sovereign state, to remove the only weak blockade put up to repel a nonstop foreign invasion. But I know millions do. The Supreme Court does. So does the state controlled mainstream media. So does the entire entertainment world. Why would any American citizen be in favor of flooding the job market, and our tenuous government safety net, with unimaginable numbers of the poorest people in the world? We have way too many poor people of our own, and have little desire to help them, so why such generosity for poor people from other countries?

  Could this all turn into a Civil War II? Think of the ugly logistics involved. In my own family, outside of my wife and kids, I’m not sure any of my other large collection of relatives would be on my side in any such conflict. Not that I’d be taking up arms, mind you, but I’d have a logical rooting interest for those that are resisting tyranny. If brother fought brother in Lincoln’s war, think how many would be opposing each other in Civil War II. You would have father versus son, mother versus daughter, wife versus husband. As if American families weren’t already dysfunctional enough. I don’t think any of us would be literally fighting, with blue and red uniforms I guess, but the ideological battle would be brutal. And centered around Trumpenstein.

  Trump has praised Governor Abbott for his resolve. Frankly, by merely putting up barbed wire, Abbott has done more than Trump did in four years. It’s not much, of course, but it beats tweeting out toothless threats to put troops on the border, end sanctuary cities, end birthright citizenship, deport millions, and the like. Trump couldn’t even end DACA, which Obama created with an executive order. It wasn’t legislation. But he’s preoccupied, what with being ordered to pay millions to an off-the-wall woman who can’t remember the year in which he raped her. The border may be the boiling point, but this conflict is centered around a corrupt and politicized “justice” system, taxation without representation, and a huge cultural divide.

  I guess it’s fitting that illegal immigration should be the triggering mechanism for whatever battle that follows. It was Trump’s foundational issue in 2016, and what turned out to be his empty rhetoric on the subject precipitated an intense hatred towards him unlike that for any other public figure in our history. Ever since Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration “Reform” Act in 1986, this has been a bubble issue, waiting to explode like the “dream deferred” Langston Hughes wrote about. The Reagan Supreme Court, no friendlier to liberty than Trump’s Court, decreed that the children of illegals must be given a free public school education. And the 1965 “Reform” Act directed that almost all legal immigrants be nonwhite persons.

  As a fiery young radical, I watched all those old timers, along with the yuppies and soccer moms, accept bilingual signs. Bilingual ballots. Shouldn’t you have to be able to read a ballot in the predominant language of the country you’re voting in? Can you imagine being able to vote in France, or Greece, without understanding either language? But no, it’s “Press 2 for Spanish.” Is cheap labor really worth all that? Worth rendering your citizenship status meaningless? After all, if you don’t have to be a citizen to vote, just what advantage is there to being a citizen? And every “Woke” person in America supports noncitizens being able to vote. They’re the ones who will be opposing us in any prospective Civil War.

  I have said many times that America cannot continue in its present, balkanized state. I hate quoting the despot Lincoln, but a house divided against itself cannot stand. There is not a single foundational principle today which all Americans agree upon. God? Millions not only don’t believe in God, but mock and ridicule the concept. We don’t agree on when life begins. Probably at least 80 million Americans will never accept the transgender madness. Cancel us all you want, but you cannot make us believe that men can give birth. We will not accept the mutilation of little boys and little girls, sacrificed on the altar of identity politics.

  More Whites are becoming fed up with the Great Replacement. And that lies at the heart of what’s happening at the border. Everyone coming across that border is nonwhite. Persons of color. We who oppose this are cast as colorless and privileged. As I’ve noted, this massive influx of nonwhite migrants is happening exclusively in Western nations. Majority White nations. At least for now. Where is the shrill “Woke” demands that China experience some of our “diversity?” Japan? North Korea? Saudi Arabia? India? This is a very simply equation; import nonwhites into White nations. Sure, it’s expensive, but obviously someone is paying for Haitians and Africans to travel great distances to “diversify” England, Canada, Australia, and the U.S.

  Nothing reveals the deterioration of America like our immigration policies. That open southern border is the poster child for America 2.0. And that’s with political prisoners everywhere, and citizens fired for politically incorrect social media posts, made on their own personal time. Legal precedents are being set to sue Thought Criminals for speculating about national events, or “exaggerating” the extent of their wealth. Or for even suggesting electoral fraud. The Orwellian term “Hate Speech” is accepted by almost all. Free speech is more unpopular than ever, and not allowed as a defense in American courtrooms. And our infrastructure “rebuild” consists of renaming “racist” roads, not fixing pot holes. Click your heels and repeat “Build Back Better.” But it’s that open border that epitomizes everything. The Beatles of corruption.

  If Greg Abbott and other Republicans surprise us all and stand strong, they will be thoroughly demonized. In a society run by the worst criminals in the world, dissent must be crushed. And so it has been. But it’s gone beyond that. The notion of dissent must be as demonized as any present-day dissenters. So the Founders become dead White male “racists,” memorable only as examples of “White Supremacy.” The stirring fight for liberty and independence becomes converted into endless lectures on how awful American slavery was, juxtaposed against the amazing accomplishments of Black Americans who were simultaneously prevented from accomplishing anything. The Civil War was about slavery. Period. Ask the great Nikki Haley. And World War II was a “good war.” It was about the Holocaust. Period. All enemies are “Nazis.”

  If the crisis at the border turns out any other way than the Texas officials skulking back to their offices with their tails between their legs, I’ll be shocked. They aren’t going to let states secede. Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president, demonstrated that to the tune of about 800,000 deaths. You aren’t leaving. Our government is like a cheating, abusive spouse, who won’t give us a divorce. The majority of brainwashed, unthinking Speeple have a special brand of Stockholm Syndrome. Let’s say the unthinkable happens, and the Texas guard and trucker convey defeats federal forces decisively. Would the state controlled media even report it? How would they spin even a federal victory? “U.S. Forces Prevent Texas From Defending its Border?”

  One senses that we are in the final act of a play. America 2.0, staggering around the ring, primed to be counted out. Have Texans, at least, been pushed perhaps a bit too far? Despite decades of non-enforcement at the border, has the incredible increase in migrants finally got their attention? Are Texans, or any appreciable number of Americans, capable of saying enough is enough? Our ancestors sacrificed everything for the right of self-determination. I’ll be watching with keen interest, remembering Bull Run, and Valley Forge, and Yorktown, and whistling “Dixie.” Just don’t tell the authorities. I’m pretty sure that’s a Thought Crime at this point.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 23:25

• Utah Passes Bills Banning DEI And Men Using Women’s Bathrooms
  Utah Passes Bills Banning DEI And Men Using Women’s Bathrooms

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Utah Legislature on Jan. 26 approved two conservative-minded bills that prompted Democrats to don all black in mourning—one that bans men from women’s bathrooms and another that ejects diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from public education.

  

  Utah state lawmakers in both chambers gave final legislative approval on Jan. 26 to H.B. 257, titled the Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying, and Women’s Opportunities Act. The measure prohibits men who identify as women from accessing women’s bathrooms in schools and government buildings.

  “Keeping men from women’s spaces is an appropriate and much needed boundary in Utah and across America,” the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Kera Birkeland, a Republican, said in a post on social media platform X.

  “Men don’t belong in women’s bathrooms,” competitive swimmer Riley Gaines said in a post on X. “Thanks @KeraBirk for your leadership on this.”

  The other bill, H.B. 261, titled the Equal Opportunity Initiatives Act, prohibits government employers and institutions of higher education and public education from engaging in discriminatory practices, including those based on DEI principles.

  The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Katy Hall, a Republican, would ban “requiring an individual, before, during, or after admission or employment, to provide certain submissions or attend certain training that promotes differential treatment.”

  Former NFL player Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) took to X to express his appreciation for the bill’s passage.

  “Thank you, Rep. Katy Hall, @KeithGroverUT, and Utah legislators for continuing to lead the way,” he wrote. “We’re leaving divisive DEI behind.”

  Mr. Burgess has criticized what he earlier described as the “leftist mantra of systemic racism.”

  On Jan. 25, when the bills had already passed one of the Utah Legislature’s chambers but before they cleared final legislative hurdles the next day, a group of Democrats staged a protest against the two measures—wearing all black as a sign of mourning.

  “That’s because we are hurting as we join with our communities, our marginalized communities and vulnerable communities, through this process and we just came out of the Senate floor that passed H.B.257 and H.B. 261 and they may move really fast to the governor’s desk,” one of the state representatives said, according to a video posted on an account on X called End Wokeness.

  Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, is expected to sign both bills into law. During a news conference in December, Mr. Cox voiced strong support for the anti-DEI bill.

  “I can assure you, after this legislative session, it will not be happening here in the state of Utah, these diversity statements that you have to sign to get hired,” Mr. Cox said.

  “It’s bordering on evil, that we’re forcing people into a political framework before they can even apply for a job, by the state.”

  More Details

  The bathroom bill, H.B. 257, bars people from using bathrooms for the opposite sex in schools and government-owned or -controlled buildings.

  The measure also stipulates that the state’s definition of “male” and “female” are based on biological characteristics such as genitalia as opposed to gender identity.

  There are exceptions for unisex or single-occupant facilities, changing rooms not open to the general public, and intersex individuals.

  Supporters of the bill have argued that it’s needed to protect women from male predators seeking to enter bathrooms or changing rooms under the pretense that they are transgender.

  Opponents claim that the bill unfairly singles out people from the transgender community.

  The DEI bill, H.B. 261, would prohibit universities and government entities from having offices that promote certain policies or require employees to submit statements of allegiance to DEI principles. It also prohibits mandatory DEI training.

  So far this year, Republican lawmakers have proposed several dozen bills across at least 17 states that restrict various DEI initiatives or require their public disclosure, according to an Associated Press legislative tally.

  Democrats, by contrast, have filed at least 20 bills in nine states that would promote or require DEI measures.

  Deluge of DEI

  The rise of DEI has been pronounced across businesses, colleges, and other institutions in the United States.

  For instance, more than 60 percent of U.S. companies have a race- or gender-based DEI program, according to a 2022 Harvard Business Review survey.

  Also, a recent report from The Heritage Foundation shows that DEI initiatives were present at 81 percent of community colleges reviewed; that figure was 96 percent when counting only community colleges with more than 10,000 students.

  But the backlash against DEI also has been pronounced.

  In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies at educational facilities that receive federal funding.

  Subsequently, state attorneys general from a dozen states urged major U.S. corporations to abandon their use of racial quotas and race-based preferences in hiring and contracting.

  Later, a report published by DEI consultancy firm Paradigm Strategies Inc. identified a decline in corporate DEI budgets and a drop in the number of organizations with a set DEI strategy.

  The year “2023 has undeniably shifted the DEI landscape for years to come,” according to the report.

  “External forces are no longer pushing companies to invest in DEI; instead, in some cases, external forces are pushing back on companies’ investment in DEI,” it reads.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 22:45

• Calling Someone 'Transphobic' In Florida Could Cost Accusers $35,000 Or More Under New Law
  Calling Someone ‘Transphobic’ In Florida Could Cost Accusers $35,000 Or More Under New Law

  In what could very clearly become the slipperiest of slopes, a bill introduced in the Florida Senate would make calling someone ‘transphobic’ , ‘homophobic’ , racist, or sexist a form of defamation.

  

  Introduced on Friday, SB 1780 “Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likeness,” would make it easier for people to sue each other for defamation.

  According to the bill, “an allegation that the plaintiff has discriminated against another person or group because of their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity constitutes defamation per se,” which means that even when said allegations are false, they are automatically defamatory – meaning that anyone accused of said ‘isms’ wouldn’t have to prove “actual malice,” a higher standard set for defamation suits following a 1964 Supreme Court case, New York Times vs. Sullivan.

  In instances where someone is accused of homophobia or transphobia, defendants charged with defamation wouldn’t be allowed to use the plaintiff’s religious or scientific beliefs as part of their defense, and could face fines of at least $35,000.

  The bill, which has a counterpart in the Florida House (HB 757), would also significantly narrow the definition of “public figure” in defamation lawsuits to exclude non-elected or appointed public employees, as well as individuals who became publicly known for defending themselves against accusations – either by giving interviews or being the subject of a viral “video, image, or statement uploaded on the Internet,” CBS News reports.

  The bill also weakens protections for anonymous sources for journalists – and classifies their statements as “presumptively false,” making journalists vulnerable to lawsuits.

  As Not the Bee notes, if passed, the law would not require actual malice to be proved for:

  • A person made famous solely from a video or pictures uploaded to the internet.
  • Statements made by a person defending their reputation.
  • Granting an interview on a subject.

  And just to be safe, the law also redefines when a famous person can claim actual malice. It says that judges should infer that statements are actually malicious when:

  • The source of the claim is unidentified and anonymous.
  • The allegation is fabricated solely in the imagination of the defendant.
  • The allegation is so implausible that only a reckless person would put it into circulation.
  • There are obvious reasons to doubt the veracity of the report.
  • The defendant willfully failed to validate or corroborate the claim.

  And finally, the law carves out protections for religion and science.

  • A defendant cannot prove the truth of an allegation of discrimination with respect to sexual orientation or gender identity by citing a plaintiff’s constitutionally protected religious expression or beliefs.
  • A defendant cannot prove the truth of an allegation of discrimination with respect to sexual orientation or gender identity by citing a plaintiff’s scientific beliefs.

  Of course, as the Bee‘s ‘Mister Retrops’ notes: “While I appreciate the law as a worthy effort to deal with these legal loopholes the Left is employing to attack anyone they see as a standing in the way of “real communism,” one has to wonder if there’s anything in this law that would keep it from being used as a cudgel of the Left.”

  To read a thorough breakdown of what’s going on, click here.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 22:25

• Monitor's Report In Fraud Case Contains "Factual Inaccuracies", Is "Disingenuous" Says Trump Attorney
  Monitor’s Report In Fraud Case Contains “Factual Inaccuracies”, Is “Disingenuous” Says Trump Attorney

  Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Attorneys for former President Donald Trump on Monday responded to a recent report issued by a court-appointed independent monitor regarding Trump Organization finances, disputing former judge Barbara Jones’s characterization of the financial statements as incomplete and inconsistent.

  

  Ms. Jones recommended that third party monitoring of Trump Organization continue, and concluded that “misstatements and errors may continue to occur,” which defense attorneys said was an effort to continue the monitor’s “exorbitant” fees paid by Trump Organization. Ms. Jones has been paid $2.6 million in her 14-month period as an independent monitor on the case.

  Ms. Jones’s team has received Trump Organization financial disclosures to third parties, including lenders and insurers; agreements and documents related to transactions; documents related to Trump Organization entities and dissolutions; bank statements; and documents provided to tax authorities.

  Attorney Clifford Robert claimed that the Jan. 26 report, submitted at the request of the court, was also meant to “fill the gaping hole in the Attorney General’s case” and was issued “in bad faith.”

  “The January 26 Report also contains numerous factual inaccuracies (casting serious doubt on the Monitor’s competency), fails to reference governing standards of any kind, and is otherwise misleading and disingenuous,” the letter reads.

  The report pointed out errors on seven disclosure items, three inconsistencies, and five clerical errors, which the defense argues are immaterial amid the thousands of pages of financial data related to the 400 entities Ms. Jones is monitoring.

  “The Monitor was appointed to report any financial reporting misconduct, suspicious activity or any suspected or actual fraudulent activity,“ the letter reads. ”The Monitor was not appointed to identify math errors or otherwise sensationalize minor and inconsequential accounting discrepancies scattered throughout the financial reports of the over 400 companies comprising the Defendants’ global enterprise.”

  Mr. Robert pointed out that the biggest discrepancy Ms. Jones identified was a difference of $1 million in an “internal trial balance presentation,” and had no actual impact. Mentions of delays in implementing transactions had provided “no evidence of any inappropriate or untoward conduct,” he added, claiming this representation as an effort to “malign such disclosures.”

  Mr. Robert noted that the words “misconduct,” “suspicious activity,” “suspected fraud,” or “actual fraud” do not appear in Ms. Jones’s report at all, and argued the errors she cites have been blown out of proportion.

  “Moreover, as the Reports and the January 26 Report make clear, every item identified has been resolved to the full satisfaction of the Monitor,” he added. “She has not and cannot point to even a single instance of controversy or complaint between any of the Defendants and outside third parties.”

  He pointed to five reports Ms. Jones previously submitted, in which she wrote that Trump Organization defendants were repeatedly “complying with” and “continuing to comply with” court orders and the third-party monitoring as a pattern of ongoing cooperation and good faith.

  “The Monitor now twists immaterial accounting items into a narrative favoring her continued appointment, and thereby the continued receipt of millions of dollars in excessive fees,” Mr. Robert argued.

  Mr. Robert argued there is no purpose in continuing the monitoring of Trump Organization going forward.

  Ruling, Penalties Imminent

  President Trump and other Trump Organization executives were sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James in September 2022 for fraud in the organization’s financial statements from 2011 to 2021.

  New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has already found the defendants liable for fraud, and is expected to issue an order this week that will detail the penalties President Trump will have to pay.

  The attorney general is seeking $370 million in disgorgement, which is the difference in what the state claims Trump Organization would have paid in interest and fees if the financial statement totals had been lower, plus several other penalties.

  The judge had already ordered the cancellation of President Trump’s business certificates and the dissolution of Trump Organization companies. The ambiguous order had been put on pause by an appeals court after defense attorneys argued it would upend the livelihoods of hundreds of employees overnight. It was not clear whether an independent receiver would then sell off Trump Organization properties under bankruptcy procedures, and the judge had said he would revisit the details.

  The attorney general is also seeking to bar President Trump from doing business in New York or with New York-based financial organizations for life, as well as five-year bans for his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who are executive vice presidents at Trump Organization.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 22:05

• More Israeli Troops To 'Go Into Action' Soon At Lebanon Border: Defense Minister
  More Israeli Troops To ‘Go Into Action’ Soon At Lebanon Border: Defense Minister

  As the region braces for the consequences of major US airstrikes on ‘Iranian proxies’ in Iraq and Syria, Israel’s defense minister has issued an alert saying Israeli troops will “very soon go into action” near the country’s northern border with Lebanon.

  Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued the words Monday at a time of daily tit-for-tat cross-border fire with Hezbollah. The conflict has thus far been seen as “contained” – yet things across the broader region are looking anything but contained. Gallant said, “They will very soon go into action… so the forces in the north are reinforced.”

  

  He added that reservists need to “prepare and come ready” for future operations in the north when called upon. Israel’s military struck several Hezbollah positions on Monday.

  “The targets included Hezbollah’s infrastructure and an observation post located in the southern Lebanese areas of Markaba, Taybeh, and Maroun Al-Ras,” the IDF said.

  This was in response to at least a dozen earlier attacks by Hezbollah the same day, which reportedly included use of Iranian-made Falaq-1 and Burkan missiles.

  Days ago, ABC News quoted an Israeli government official who predicted:

  Israel is “closer to war” with Hezbollah and a possible regional war than ever, a senior Israeli official said.

  Gallant had previously estimated that as a result of Hezbollah rockets which started soon after Oct.7, over 80,000 Israeli citizens are still displaced from their homes, after border regions had to be evacuated en masse.

  Incoming missile and drone alerts have also become commonplace across communities in the north. Some Israeli officials have wanted a more hawkish response in order to eventually allow these citizens to safely return to their homes in the north.

  ⚡️Hezb-Allah has just released a video titled:

  “I am the soldier of Radwan” pic.twitter.com/zLVxk2pCs3

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) January 30, 2024

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

  Over a month ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned, “If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis.”

  The consensus among regional analysts is that Hezbollah is far superior to Hamas’ capability in terms of numbers of fighters, missiles, and weaponry such as laser-guided anti-tank missiles. An all-out war scenario would be severe, but likely Lebanon would be devastated and come under Israeli bombs. For now it seems, neither side wants this worst-case scenario.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 21:45

• The Beltway Judge Hearing Trump Cases And Her Anti-Trump, Anti-Kavanaugh Husband
  The Beltway Judge Hearing Trump Cases And Her Anti-Trump, Anti-Kavanaugh Husband

  Authored by Julie Kelly via RealClear Wire,

  Washington glitterati assembled at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in October to celebrate federal employees making a difference in government. Hosted by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, the black-tie affair featured in-person appearances by top Biden White House officials including Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack.

  

  Midway through the evening’s festivities, Max Stier, president of the group sponsoring the event – the Partnership for Public Service, a $24 million nonprofit based in Washington that recruits individuals to work in the civil service – took the stage to thank his high-profile guests. “Great leaders are the heart and soul of effective organizations,” Stier said, “which is why I am so thankful to see so many of our government’s amazing leaders here tonight.”

  Stier also acknowledged one federal employee, his wife, Judge Florence Y. Pan, who sits on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Pan would soon need no introduction. Earlier this month she made headlines  by asking Donald Trump’s lawyers whether the presidential immunity he sought in connection with alleged Jan. 6 crimes was absolute.

  Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival?” Pan asked Trump lawyer John Sauer. “That’s an official act – an order to SEAL Team Six?” she clarified.

  Related: Anti-MAGA Networker at White House and Her J6 Prosecutor Husband

  Although the back and forth between Pan and Sauer was inconclusive as to the question about a president’s criminal liability, many mainstream outlets misconstrued the exchange while lionizing Pan for posing a question that they then used to advance their description of Trump as a lawless menace. The exchange, which Pan prompted when she posed the pre-arranged hypothetical at beginning of the hearing, has raised new questions about the impartiality of judges hearing politically charged cases.

  For months progressives have been insisting that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any case that involves Trump because of his wife Ginni Thomas’ political involvement and participation in the events of Jan. 6. Those same interests have yet to express similar worries about Pan’s objectivity, despite her husband’s longtime political activism and current opposition to another Trump presidency.

  Power couples are the lifeblood of Washington so it’s not unusual for political activists, judges, and White House bigwigs to rub elbows at fancy soirees like the October gala at the Kennedy Center. But Max Stier’s longtime ties to the Democratic Party, his access to key Biden administration officials, and his suggestion that Trump represents a threat to democracy at the same time his wife is handling sensitive matters related to the Department of Justice’s prosecution of the former president should raise questions about her impartiality.

  A member of Bill Clinton’s legal team during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Stier, 57, has been a Democratic Party fixture for nearly three decades. Since 2001, he has run the Partnership for Public Service, which is funded by some of the most generous benefactors of progressive causes including the Gates Foundation, Democracy Fund, and the Ford Foundation. In 2020, the Partnership launched an effort tied to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) movement, pledging to demand what it considers greater diversity in government agencies and institutions.

  In a letter to mark the group’s 20-year anniversary, Stier lamented the country’s democratic “crisis” caused by “a violent insurrection against Congress and growing suspicions about the results of a legitimate election.”

  Recently, Stier has joined the growing chorus of Beltway voices warning that a second Trump presidency would pose a unique “threat” to the country’s future. Stier and others are particularly concerned with Trump’s promise to convert tens of thousands of federal bureaucrats into political appointees, meaning they could be fired without cause by the president. Such a plan, according to Stier, undermines the Constitution and the law.

  “You wind up with a workforce that is not only going to deliver poor service, but also that is going to be a tool for retribution and actions that are contrary to our democratic system,” Stier said in a December 2023 Politico interview. “If you are selecting people on the basis of their political persuasion or their loyalty as opposed to their expertise and their commitment to the public good, you’re going to wind up with less good service and more risk for the American people.”

  Related: In Her J6 Courtroom, Trump Judge Is Pot Calling Defendant Incendiary

  “I don’t think we have a deep state today,” he said. But “the proposals that are on the table would create a deep state, rather than the effective state that we all should be pursuing.”

  Stier is doing more than just discussing the issue in media interviews; he is working directly with Biden officials to prevent Trump from following through on his pledge if he wins in November. Stier has called Trump’s plans to reform so-called “Schedule F” employees “an assault on our civil service, the core to our system of government and democratic institutions.”

  When Republicans threatened to shut down the government last year over disagreements with Democrats on federal spending levels, Stier warned it would sideline what unions estimate as 4 million government employees. “[It] is the equivalent of burning down your own house,” he said of a potential shutdown.

  But Stier is perhaps best known for his involvement in attempting to thwart Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Stier and Kavanaugh attended Yale University together in the mid-1980s. In September 2019, while reporting on a sexual abuse accusation made by another Yale student, Deborah Ramirez, the New York Times disclosed Stier’s account of an incident he allegedly witnessed during their freshman year.

  Two Times reporters, in their first-person-plural “analysis” favoring Kavanaugh’s accusers, wrote:

  A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. Mr. Stier, who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account, but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. We corroborated the story with two officials who have communicated with Mr. Stier; the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say she does not recall the episode.

  Stier’s still unproven allegations are included in a new documentary, “Justice,” about the Kavanaugh scandal. The film, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, centers on Ramirez and features a recording of Stier’s never-before-heard 2018 call to the FBI tip line detailing what he claimed to have seen and heard. 

  Washington Post entertainment reporter Jada Yuan wrote in January 2023:

  In the previously unheard recording, Stier says classmates told him not just that Kavanaugh stuck his penis in Ramirez’s face, but that afterward, Kavanaugh went to the bathroom to make himself erect before allegedly returning to assault her again, hoping to amuse an audience of mutual friends, In the film, Ramirez says she’d suppressed the memory so deeply she couldn’t recall this second incident. … Stier’s message to the FBI also cites another incident involving a different woman, which he says he witnessed “firsthand”: A severely inebriated Kavanaugh, his dorm mate, pulling his pants down at a different party while a group of soccer players forced a drunk female freshman to hold his penis.

  Stier did not appear as an interview subject in the film. Some speculated that Stier’s involvement in the Kavanaugh matter was retaliation against former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for allowing his wife’s earlier nomination as district judge to expire with the end of the Obama administration.

  Judge Pan, 57, a Taiwanese-American, has longstanding ties to the Democratic Party. A graduate of Stanford Law School, Pan worked for President Clinton’s departments of Justice and Treasury before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in 1999. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated her to serve as an associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. As his tenure drew to a close, Obama then nominated her unsuccessfully to serve as a United States district judge for the District of Columbia.

  After Trump left office in 2021, Pan became one of President Biden’s first judicial nominees, tapped again to serve as a U.S. district judge in Washington. Less than a year later, Biden promoted her to the D.C. appellate court; in both instances, Pan replaced Ketanji Brown Jackson as she made her way to the Supreme Court. She is the first Asian American to serve on both benches.

  “This is a perfect example of how the Deep State defends its interest,” Russell Vought, president of the Center for Renewing America, one of the organizations pushing for the Schedule F reforms told RealClearInvestigations. “In and out of government, multiple branches of government, relying on personal networks, even marriages, to defeat President Trump and thereby protect a permanent, unaccountable bureaucracy.”

  During her brief tenure on the appellate court, Pan has found herself on an unusually high number of politically charged cases.

  A panel of three judges initially hears appeals before the full court selected out of 11 sitting judges. Pan has been seated on two such panels regarding cases involving Jan. 6 and Donald Trump. In both cases she provided the key vote in a split, 2-1 decision, that sided with the government. In Fischer v. USA, Pan acknowledged that the government was making a “novel” use of a post-Enron statute that addressed tampering with documents to increase the legal jeopardy of individuals who disrupted the Electoral College Count on Jan. 6.

  “To be sure, outside of the January 6 cases brought in this jurisdiction, there is no precedent for using 1512(c)(2) to prosecute the type of conduct at issue in this case.” Nonetheless, Pan applied a “broad reading of the statute” to allow application of the law.

  Pan reached the same conclusion in Robertson v. USA on the same matter in another 2-1 decision. Her opinion in the Fischer case is now before the Supreme Court; legal observers predict the court might reverse her opinion, essentially overturning how the DOJ has interpreted the statute’s language to charge more than 300 Jan. 6 protesters with the felony count. (This would put Judge Kavanaugh in the unique position of voting against a decision written by the spouse of one of his accusers.)

  Unusual GOP Dissent on Court

  Pan also upheld another controversial lower court ruling that favored the DOJ and worked against Trump, one that recently resulted in a harsh rebuke from some of her colleagues on the circuit court.

  U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, another Obama appointee, in 2023 authorized an application from Special Counsel Jack Smith to obtain a search warrant for Trump’s Twitter data in his Jan. 6 case against the former President. Not only did Howell force the company to produce the records, which included direct messages and draft posts, she signed a nondisclosure order to prevent Twitter – now X and owned by liberal bête noire Elon Musk – from notifying its customer, Trump, about the warrant for 180 days.

  X appealed Howell’s nondisclosure order; Judge Pan backed Howell’s decision and ruled against the company’s appeal, citing the need to “safeguard the security and integrity of the investigation” and “avoid tipping off the former President about the warrant’s existence.”

  But Pan’s conclusions were wrong, four Republican-appointed judges on the D.C. circuit court wrote this month in what legal observers described as an unusual 12-page statement related to the appeal.

  “The Special Counsel’s approach obscured and bypassed any assertion of executive privilege and dodged the careful balance Congress struck in the Presidential Records Act,” Judges Neomi Rao, Justin Walker, Gregory Katsas, and Karen Henderson wrote in an order filed Jan. 16. “The district court and this court permitted this arrangement without any consideration of the consequential executive privilege issues raised by this unprecedented search. We should not have endorsed this gambit. Rather than follow established precedent, for the first time in American history, a court allowed access to presidential communications before any scrutiny of executive privilege.”

  But it was Pan’s exchange with Trump’s defense attorney during oral arguments related to Trump’s claims of presidential immunity against criminal prosecution that caught the media’s attention. Trump is seeking to dismiss Smith’s Jan. 6 indictment on immunity grounds; Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a landmark ruling in December denying Trump’s motion and concluded that presidents are subject to criminal prosecution.

  Roughly one minute into the Jan. 9 discussion, Pan interrupted Trump lawyer Sauer with her hypothetical question. The exchange went as follows:

  Pan: Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six?

  John Sauer: He would have to be and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution.

  Pan: But if he weren’t … there would be no criminal prosecution, no criminal liability for that?

  Sauer: Chief Justice’s opinion in Marbury against Madison … and the Impeachment Judgment Clause all clearly presuppose what the Founders were concerned about …

  Pan: I asked you a yes or no question. Could a president who ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?

  Sauer: If he were impeached and convicted first.

  Pan: So your answer is … no.

  Sauer: It is a qualified yes.

  Despite Sauer’s answer, figures in major media nonetheless reported that Sauer claimed a president could not be prosecuted for ordering the assassination of a political rival. (It was unclear whether Pan suggested the order or the act itself was illegal.) Legal analysts, cable news hosts, and columnists praised Pan regardless of the plausibility of such a scenario.

  Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman told MSNBC host Chris Hayes that “after Judge Pan asked that hypo about SEAL Team Six, Sauer … was a dead man walking. He will lose. He should lose.”

  Writing for the Atlantic, former federal prosecutor and Trump antagonist George Conway described Pan’s hypothetical as a way of setting a “trap” for Team Trump. He further suggested Pan could host “Meet the Press” if she decided to pursue a different career outside the judiciary.

  Conway continued to praise Pan in a CNN interview, calling her SEAL Team Six line of inquiry an “intellectual tour de force.”

  Democrats also seized on Sauer’s response. Rep. Adam Schiff, currently running for the U.S. Senate in California, denounced Trump and his legal team, insisting “there is no immunity for murder.”

  A reporter asked Trump about the exchange during an appearance on Jan. 11. “Do you agree with your lawyers, what they said on Tuesday, that you should not be prosecuted if you ordered SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent?” Trump replied that presidents “have to have immunity,” otherwise every president would be prosecuted by that leader’s successor of the opposite political party.

  Some pundits took Pan’s hypothetical a step further. MSNBC contributor Elie Mystal misrepresented Sauer’s answer, then proposed that Joe Biden could “launch a preemptive strike on a rebel stronghold at Mar-a-Lago” under Trump’s way of thinking.

  Paul Rozenzweig of the anti-Trump conservative site The Bulwark wrote that Trump’s reasoning meant Biden could assassinate Trump without any consequences.

  The controversy presumably will continue to swirl until Pan’s panel issues its ruling. It could be weeks until the opinion is filed. Until then, Trump’s March 4 trial date is on hold and looks less likely by the day, which is why Jack Smith asked the court to fast-track the announcement to expedite the process as it inevitably heads toward the Supreme Court. Considering the political composition of the three-judge panel – two judges appointed by Democratic presidents – most observers expect the appellate court to uphold Chutkan’s ruling.

  Meanwhile, Pan’s hypothetical scenario of a presidentially ordered hit likely will figure prominently in any opinion.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 21:25

• Taxpayer-Funded Electric Busses Are Sitting Broken Down And Idled Across The Country
  Taxpayer-Funded Electric Busses Are Sitting Broken Down And Idled Across The Country

  Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but the billions of dollars we’re spending to convert the country to “clean” energy in order to reduce carbon emissions is being allocated poorly. We know, government spending that isn’t efficient? We were shocked, too.

  The latest example comes from the idea that our tax money should be responsible for instituting electric busses nationwide. As Fox News reported this week, the idea has been nothing short of a total disaster, with busses broken down and unused across the nation. 

  Fox cites several examples, including authorities in Asheville, North Carolina, who have encountered numerous difficulties with their electric bus fleet, leading to the idling of three out of five buses bought in 2018 for “millions”. These challenges stem from an assortment of software glitches, mechanical failures, and the unavailability of necessary spare parts.

  In a similar vein, The Denver Gazette highlighted issues in Colorado Springs, where Mountain Metropolitan Transit’s electric bus initiative faces setbacks. Of the four e-buses procured in 2021, each costing $1.2 million primarily funded by governmental grants, two are currently non-operational.

  One of the key reasons the electric bus industry isn’t evolving? The free market has already sent it a message by bankrupting its key supplier and largest e-bus manufacturer in the U.S., a company called Proterra. 

  It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, exacerbating issues for cities with their buses. Despite being promoted by President Biden and having former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on its board, the company faced other challenges (for example: a business model that doesn’t work even with massive government subsidies). 

  

  Asheville’s interim transportation director, Jessica Morriss, reported difficulties in obtaining parts post-bankruptcy.

  Proterra’s problems predate the bankruptcy. In 2020, SEPTA in Philadelphia pulled its $24 million Proterra fleet, and in 2021, Foothill Transit in California reported over half of its electric buses idle. Other affected areas include Stockton, Reno, Louisville, where TARC’s entire fleet remained unused for two years, and Austin, where Capital Metro’s $46 million deal with Proterra faces delays.

  Broward County, Florida’s experience was particularly telling, with their Proterra buses breaking down far more frequently than diesel counterparts, highlighting the challenges in transitioning to electric public transportation, the report says.

  Now, Fox reports the company is trying to make a comeback. Jose Paul, Chief Revenue Officer of its new holding company, Phoenix Motorcars, discussed the company’s acquisition of Proterra’s “world-class technology” with FOX Business. He compared the evolution of electric vehicles to the early days of the Model T, noting that Proterra’s buses have been improving over time.

  Paul acknowledged challenges faced by Proterra’s customers, like Asheville, particularly due to part shortages following the bankruptcy. He revealed Phoenix Motorcars’ immediate plan to restock spare parts and address supplier issues.

  Paul expressed optimism that issues caused by Proterra’s bankruptcy would be resolved within six to nine months, emphasizing Phoenix’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

  It’ll be back at the trough for more of your taxpayer cash in no time…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 21:05

• Biden Admin Alters Course On Gas Stove Rule After Months Of Negotiations
  Biden Admin Alters Course On Gas Stove Rule After Months Of Negotiations

  Authored by Allen Zhong via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Department of Energy (DOE) released a watered-down finalized gas stove rule Monday after months of talks with industry groups and climate activist groups.

  

  The final rule made several major revisions to the initial rule which was released in February 2023 and was widely reported as a gas stove ban.

  The adopted rule allows extra-high input rate (HIR) burners and oversized cast-iron grates. It also increases the energy conservation standard for gas cooktops or gas ranges from 1,204 thousand British Thermal Units (BTUs) per year to 1,770 thousand BTUs per year.

  “The updated efficiency levels for gas cooking tops allow gas cooking tops to retain the presence of multiple HIR burners, continuous cast-iron grate,” read the adopted rules. “The adopted efficiency level thereby preserving consumer product choice for gas cooking tops.”

  The rules will not affect any current cooking products but only future products on the market.

  About 97 percent of gas cooking tops, 95 percent of electric standard ovens, 95 percent of electric self-clean ovens, 96 percent of gas standard ovens, and 96 percent of gas self-clean ovens would meet or exceed the required efficiency levels.

  However, 23 percent of electric smooth element cooking tops would fall short.

  It would take the industry $66.7 million of investment to make their product comply with the new standard, the DOE estimated.

  The final rules will be effective in 2028.

  The adoption of the new rules would save consumers approximately $1.6 billion on their utility bills and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 4 million metric tons in the coming 30 years, DOE projected.

  The revised rule is based on a joint recommendation back in September 2023 by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), the American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the Consumer Federation of America, the Consumer Reports, Earthjustice, the National Consumer Law Center, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

  The AHAM, a trade association representing the manufacturers of household appliances sold in the United States, applauded the new rules, saying it will save energy, preserve cooking methods and features for home cooks, and give manufacturers flexibility.

  “This standard is a win for consumers and energy savings,” AHAM President and CEO Kelly Mariotti said in a statement. “We thank DOE for adopting the recommended levels and we ask the Department to follow this success with a speedy release of the test procedure associated with the new standard.”

  Gas Stove Ban Controversy

  The initial rule published by the DOE said that 50 percent of gas stoves on the market would be impacted.

  It’s widely reported as a gas stove ban by the media because it could wipe off half of the gas stoves.

  AHAM said that the DOE was banning gas cooking products from the market and the DOE-backed analysis was flawed.

  “They have released the most stringent proposal for gas ranges, which only a sliver of the market can meet,” an industry spokesperson for AHAM told The Epoch Times then. “Clearly, the Department of Energy’s intentions are to eliminate gas products from the market. And they should just say that instead of releasing a deceptive and flawed analysis to justify their proposal”

  The DOE admitted in the adopted rule that there were errors and inaccuracies in the analysis released with the initial rule.

  To address the controversy over the potential gas stove ban, the DOE clarified in May 2023 that the federal government has no plan to ban gas stoves and it will revise the proposed rule to guarantee flexibility.

  “Claims that the federal government is banning gas stoves are absurd. Neither DOE nor the federal government plans to ban gas stoves. In February 2023, DOE published a proposal that would improve the efficiency of gas and electric stoves. If implemented, the standards would not go into effect until 2027 and help U.S. consumers save up to $1.7 billion. As required by congressional mandate, DOE is determined to ensure consumers have multiple options that are both cost-effective and energy-efficient,” the DOE explained on its website.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 20:45

• American F-16 Fighter Jet Crashes Off South Korea
  American F-16 Fighter Jet Crashes Off South Korea

  A US F-16 fighter jet has crashed in waters off South Korea’s west coast on Wednesday morning local time, according to initial reporting by Yonhap news agency. The pilot is reported to have ejected from the aircraft and was promptly rescued, after descending to the ocean.

  “The fighter jet crashed into the water and the rescued pilot is safe,” Yonhap reports of the incident which occurred near Gunsan, in North Jeolla province. 

  

  Though details have been scant, US Forces Korea have confirmed the crash. There doesn’t appear to have been any casualties as a result of the accident.

  The Korean peninsula has witnessed a significant rise in tensions especially going back to last summer, when the US parked a nuclear submarine in a South Korean port for the first time since the 1980s.

  From there, Pyongyang has ramped up its ballistic missile tests and military drills, which have been met with a rise in joint US-South Korean drills. However, it is as yet unclear whether this fresh jet crash came within the context of joint exercises.

  North Korea has meanwhile kicked off this week with a series of launches, including the latest on Wednesday:

  North Korea said Wednesday it conducted a test-firing of long-range cruise missiles with an aim to sharpen its counterattack and strategic strike capabilities, in its latest display of weapons threatening South Korea and Japan.

  The report by North Korean state media came a day after South Korea’s military detected the North firing multiple cruise missiles into waters off its western coast, the third launch of such weapons this month. The event extended a provocative streak in weapons testing as North Korea continues to raise pressure on the United States and its Asian allies amid a prolonged freeze in diplomacy.

  

  A mere month ago there was a similar crash of an American F-16 fighter jet, which was also in Gunsan (based out of Kunsan Airbase), and it happened during a training exercise, the details of which can be reviewed in a military publication. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 20:42

• This Is The Way Mega-Cap Tech Earnings Begin: Not With A Bang But A Whimper
  This Is The Way Mega-Cap Tech Earnings Begin: Not With A Bang But A Whimper

  After a two month meltup which priced-in not one but several quarter of sheer earnings (and guidance) perfection, there was zero room for disappointment today when $5 trillion in market cap reported between GOOGL and MSFT, not to mention AMD and a bunch of other tech and consumer names. Alas, it was not meant to be, and the mega-cap tech earnings began not with a bang but a whimper.

  Below is the EOD wrap from Goldman’s Mike Washington which is titled, appropriately enough, “All about tech (prints go 0 for 3)

  Another choppy session today as investors digested a hotter than anticipated JOLTS report (back above 9mm and an upward revision to previous month), megacaps slid ahead of the $5.7 trillion in market cap that reported tonight, and we got a slew of idiosyncratic movers as we enter the heart of earnings.

  After hours, Tech went 0 for 3:

  • MSFT flat on a solid print (azure +28% cc growth = in line w/ expectations),
  • GOOGL -4% on mixed print (slight top line beat, but Op inc missed street),
  • AMD -4% on a slight beat but guide FQ1 below (after trading down 3% today on a d/g away).

  We have seen de-risking in megacap tech space since the beginning of last week which should damper the downside risk to this group a bit… but these prints certainly did not clear the high bar.
   
  Other Standouts: Autos positioning was light headed into GM earnings this morning. Stock closed +8% after reporting sales & EPS upside and very strong guidance (F +2% in tandem). Banks and rate sensitives acted well on a competitor upgrade with the expectation for less onerous regulatory changes, and pockets of Semis/AI outperformed after a big raise from SMCI.
   
  Our desk was a 5 on 1 – 10 scale in terms of overall activity levels. Overall executed flow on our desk ended with a -44bp sell skew vs 30d avg of -81bps. L/Os finished -8% net sellers, driven by supply concentrated megacap tech and discretionary vs demand in Financials and REITs. HFs finished +31bps buy skew, with sector skews benign and offsetting in nature. HFs sold mega cap tech, Hcare vs bought Staples, REITs, and discretionary.

  Derivatives: Active day in the tech space, as clients traded several names ahead of earnings. We saw buyers of short dated upside in AMZN, GOOG & SNOW, including a buyer of 13.5k next Friday AMZN call spreads. At the index level, flows trended the opposite way as clients focused on fix-strike protection in both SPX and NDX. The straddle for the rest of the week went out at 1.20%. (h/t Pat Grahling)

  And here is something interesting: not even Goldman believes the bullshit spewed by Biden Department of Labor Propaganda.

  We’ve been watching the workforce reduction dynamic closely into 2024. UPS and PYPL today joins the list of companies with layoffs announced over the last 3 months:
   
  1. Twitch: 35% of workforce
  2. iRobot: 31% of workforce
  3. Hasbro: 20% of workforce
  4. Spotify: 17% of workforce
  5. Levi’s: 15% of workforce
  6. Zerox: 15% of workforce
  7. Qualtrics: 14% of workforce
  8. Wayfair: 13% of workforce
  9. Duolingo: 10% of workforce
  10. Washington Post: 10% of workforce
  11. eBay: 9% of workforce
  12. Business Insider: 8% of workforce
  13. Paypal: 7% of workforce
  14. Charles Schwab: 6% of workforce
  15. Blackrock: 3% of workforce
  16. UPS: 2% of workforce
  17. Salesforce: 1% of workforce
  18. Citigroup: 20,000 employees
  19. Pixar: 1,300 employees

  We, for one, can’t wait for this Thursday’s initial claims report to show another record low number just as US corporations lay off tens of thousands all around.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 20:24

• Delaware Court Judge Voids Elon Musk's $55BN Compensation Package
  Delaware Court Judge Voids Elon Musk’s $55BN Compensation Package

  A Delaware judge voided Elon Musk’s $55 billion pay package after a Tesla shareholder brought a case to court claiming it was excessive. The consequences of the ruling could have major implications for Tesla’s governance structure, but their implementation will hinge on a forthcoming appeal, according to Bloomberg. 

  The compensation case, which was launched by shareholder Richard Tornetta, argued that Tesla’s board lacked independence in crafting Musk’s pay, a view the judge supported.

  Tuesday’s court verdict requires Tesla’s board to put together a new executive compensation plan, at least temporarily overhauling the record-setting package previously awarded to Musk in 2018.

  A large portion of Musk’s net worth hangs in the balance, with the options valued at about $51.1 billion, according to the report. Excluding these options, his net worth would diminish to $154.3 billion, positioning him as the world’s third wealthiest individual, a step down from his prolonged stint at the top, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

  

  Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick cited inadequate disclosures and board conflicts of interest in her ruling. Musk, whose wealth largely comes from Tesla, the top auto company globally, has seen stock options from this plan vest as performance goals were met, though he hasn’t exercised them yet.

  The judge wrote: “In the final analysis, Musk launched a self-driving process, recalibrating the speed and direction along the way as he saw fit. The process arrived at an unfair price. And through this litigation, the plaintiff requests a recall.”

  “The most striking omission from the process is the absence of any evidence of adversarial negotiations between the Board and Musk concerning the size of the grant,” she continued.

  Musk’s defense couldn’t justify the necessity of this unprecedented compensation plan. The judge questioned the need for such a plan to retain Musk and achieve Tesla’s objectives. The outcome of Musk’s appeal or Tesla’s response with a new pay package is yet to be seen, and any compensation from the case will revert to Tesla, not the shareholder.

  “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,” Musk fired back on Twitter. 

  Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2024

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

  He followed this up with a poll on X asking (rhetorically) if Tesla should switch its state of incorporation to Texas.

  Should Tesla change its state of incorporation to Texas, home of its physical headquarters?

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 20:05

• So Many Problems Continue To Plague The EV Industry
  So Many Problems Continue To Plague The EV Industry

  Authored by Kristen Walker via RealClear Wire,

  The fourth quarter of 2023 was not good for Electric Vehicles (EV). Multiple manufacturers decided to curb or halt production. Ford in particular decided to cut their F150 Lightening Truck series in half. Roughly 4,500 auto dealers signed on to a letter petitioning the Biden administration to “tap the breaks” on its aggressive EV push, on account of EVs stacking up on dealer lots.

  

  The new year is already off to a rough start and we’re not even through the first month.

  Hertz announced it will be selling off about one third of its EVs, which will amount to roughly 20,000 vehicles. This is a major reversal from their promise just a few years ago to dramatically increase its EV fleet. The money procured from selling them off will be used for the purchase of internal combustion engines (ICE) in order to “meet customer demand.” The car rental company isn’t too keen on the expensive repairs that accompany EV ownership either, which can cost up to twice that of ICE vehicles.

  Mid-January saw a severe cold snap surge across many parts of the United States, greatly affecting the Midwest. Many Chicago-area EV owners found themselves unable to charge their vehicles, leaving them stranded. This is because on average an EV’s range can drop 40% and charging takes significantly longer in freezing conditions. Some motorists waited hours in line at charging stations that struggled to even charge vehicles, and long lines meant difficulty finding open charging stations. Other vehicles had to be towed. This can’t be good PR for the EV industry.

  And now, a cheating scandal.

  The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s fall study examines a rule in which EVs “improperly benefit from an erroneous interpretation by the U.S. Department of Energy of a series of laws” promoting alternative fuel vehicles, but “clearly excluding electric vehicles.” Carmakers can arbitrarily multiply the efficiency of EVs by 6.67, meaning a 2022 Tesla Model Y which tests at the equivalent of about 65 mpg in a laboratory is counted as having a compliance value of 430 mpg.

  Environmental groups questioned the legality of the rule; the Wall Street Journal broke the story last week, claiming that such inflated numbers have “no basis in reality or law.”

  With current regulations, automakers that don’t meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are required to purchase credits from those whose fleets exceed them. Imagine the credits EVs can earn using a multiplier that boosts efficiency nearly seven times greater than gas-powered cars. It’s in the billions. Tesla alone apparently brought in $554 million from these credits just in 2023’s third quarter, representing a large portion of their overall net income.

  The government is exploiting CAFE standards to drive the adoption of EVs.

  If we’ve learned anything in these last several months about EVs, it’s that the government needs to quit manipulating the market through its massive subsidization of an unwanted “transition” and forcing consumers to purchase vehicles they don’t want. And now we learn automakers have been finagled into manufacturing EVs.

  Blinded by their own climate ambitions, the net-zero crowd doesn’t see the writing on the wall. Nor do they seem to care that taxpayers are picking up the tab, particularly those purchasing ICE vehicles, which are artificially inflated to help companies recoup what they can’t charge EV buyers. Very few would actually pay the amount an EV really costs. Americans are bankrolling roughly $50,000 per EV over a decade, with the amount it takes to produce and keep them running. 

  The rapid push toward electrification is all way too much, far too soon. It’s crippling our economy and consumer wallets.

  Centrally planned economies never turn out well; why would this be any different?

  It’s past time to put consumers first, not the agenda of a select few. Like the letter penned by thousands of auto dealers across the nation said, “Many people just want to make their own choice about what vehicle is right for them.”

  Kristen Walker is a policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.theamericanconsumer.org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 19:45

• New York May Screw 4,000 Legal Residents Out Of A Job – So Migrants Can Have Them
  New York May Screw 4,000 Legal Residents Out Of A Job – So Migrants Can Have Them

  In a move that would once again punish those who entered the country legally, the state of New York is mulling a plan to hire around 4,000 ‘migrants and asylum seekers’ into mostly entry-level jobs that are allegedly ‘hard to recruit for,’ according to a Jan. 12 memo from the Department of Civil Service obtained by Bloomberg.

  

  The jobs in question would largely consist of areas like food service, equipment repairs, facilities management and office assistance, and would apply to those who have obtained a work permit, the memo states.

  To make these jobs more accessible, the state is proposing to create “transitional” titles with requirements more in line with the candidates’ qualifications. Once in those jobs, the workers would receive training and support to help them gain the necessary skills to be eligible for permanent roles. -Bloomberg

  “These individuals are able to perform many of the core duties of the positions that state agencies seek to fill,” the memo continues.

  Amid an influx of over 170,000 migrants bussed from southern border states ill-equipped to handle them, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has proposed a $2.4 billion plan to help provide for them. She’s also called on the Biden administration to speed up work permits, and boost federal aid for the migrants – arguing that letting them work would help the state’s economy and mitigate the humanitarian crisis.

  Nevermind the 14% of New York state that’s already living in poverty, or the roughly 436,000 unemployed legal New York residents.

  According to NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), the city will peel off roughly $10.6 billion in taxpayer funds to care for migrants over the three-year period ending in June 2025, with the city spending an average of $352 per night to care for each migrant family, according to city budget officials.

  “This initiative, which has not yet been implemented, would offer temporary employment opportunities that are available for anyone who can legally work in the United States,” said Hochul spox Avi Small. “Governor Hochul has prioritized modernizing our state workforce and eliminating red tape, and she has instituted a series of reforms to achieve that goal.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 19:25

• CDC Issues 'Health Alert' Over Measles Cases Across US
  CDC Issues ‘Health Alert’ Over Measles Cases Across US

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

  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday sent a notice to health care providers to “stay alert for measles cases” after multiple outbreaks were reported in recent weeks along with an instance where an “international traveler” may have exposed thousands to the virus at two Washington-area airports.

  

  The agency’s alert said that between Dec. 1, 2023, and Jan. 23 of this year, it received reports of 23 confirmed measles cases, “including seven direct importations of measles by international travelers and two outbreaks with more than five cases each.”

  In the alert, it said that health care providers should take note of patients who have febrile rash symptoms as well as other related measles symptoms such as a cough or conjunctivitis or have recently traveled outside the United States, namely in countries with measles outbreaks.

  It then said health care providers should “immediately” report the cases to state and local health agencies about suspected measles cases, which are then reported to the CDC

  “Do not allow patients with suspected measles to remain in the waiting room or other common areas of the healthcare facility; isolate patients with suspected measles immediately, ideally in a single-patient airborne infection isolation room,” the agency said, or they are urged to wait in a private room with a closed door. “Healthcare providers should be adequately protected against measles and should adhere to standard and airborne precautions when evaluating suspect cases regardless of their vaccination status,” it said.

  The agency also again recommended that people receive a vaccine for measles and pushed health care providers to recommend the shots. In 2023, the CDC sent out a similar health alert pushing for people to get vaccinated for the virus.

  According to the alerts, the CDC said that most measles cases involve young children who haven’t received a measles-containing shot. Recent research, published in late December 2023, suggests if the measles vaccine is given after the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine—known as DTP or DTAP—there is an overall positive effect. If the order is reversed, a negative effect was observed.

  Recent Cases

  While the CDC did not go into specifics, health officials in the District of Columbia and Virginia issued notices about a “case of measles in a person who traveled through” area airports after returning from “international travel.”

  That person traveled to Dulles International Airport in the international arrivals area of the main terminal between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Jan. 3, as well as at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s Terminal A between 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, Jan. 4, according to the health agencies.

  Health authorities are now working to identify people who may have been exposed to measles, including working to contact possibly exposed passengers on several flights, those alerts said earlier in January.

  Neither statements from the Virginia and Washington health agencies listed the airlines or flights the infected person used. It’s also not clear what country the person had been traveling to.

  In recent weeks, cases have been reported in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Kansas City, Delaware, and Washington state, according to various media reports.

  Federal officials have confirmed at least 9 measles cases in Missouri, Georgia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania as of Jan. 25, 2024. Over 1,200 measles cases have been confirmed since 2019, the CDC says.

  Months before the COVID-19 pandemic started worldwide, health officials in New York’s Rockland County declared an emergency in 2019 after more than 100 people were diagnosed with the virus in the area. At the time, the declaration had banned minors who were not vaccinated for measles from appearing in public places, including shopping centers, schools, and restaurants.

  Symptoms

  Health authorities say that measles is a highly transmissible virus that spreads through the air when a person breathes, coughs, talks, or sneezes.

  The virus generally shows up in two stages. In the first, most people develop a fever higher than 101 degrees Fahrenheit, runny nose, watery red eyes, or cough. These symptoms generally start seven to 14 days after being exposed.

  Officials say the second stage of measles starts about two to three days after the initial symptoms. Some people develop what is known as Koplik spots—tiny white spots—inside the mouth, according to the CDC.

  Three to five days after the first symptoms begin, the telltale measles rash starts to appear on the patient’s face near the hairline area before it spreads to the rest of the body, spreading downward, the CDC has said.

  “Small raised bumps may also appear on top of the flat red spots,” and the “spots may become joined together as they spread from the head to the rest of the body,” the agency says. “When the rash appears, a person’s fever may spike to more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit.”

  The CDC and the World Health Organization in November said that there were nine million measles cases and 136,000 deaths in 2022.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 19:05

• Fire Engulfs Massive Chicken Plant In Texas
  Fire Engulfs Massive Chicken Plant In Texas

  Recall the surge of headlines in 2022 about mysterious fires at food processing plants.

  

  

  At the same time, rogue elites, part of the World Economic Forum cult – pushed sinister narratives of how the working poor class must abandon “animal protein” for “insects” because the current food supply chain was contributing to climate change. Yet these elites, flying across the world in private jets and sailing on diesel-powered megayachts, is kosher?

  

  The question many have for 2024: Will a series of mysterious fires erupt at food plants across the US while radical WEF elites continue their info campaign to ‘reset’ the food supply chain? 

  According to BBC News, the first big fire of the year was reported at a large chicken farm in a rural part of Northeast Brazos County in Texas. 

  Footage shared by photographer James Nowak with KBTX shows that the fire at Feather Crest Farms is burning on the south end near Democrat Road. Still no word on what started it.

  🔴DETAILS –> https://t.co/yVA74bzp08 pic.twitter.com/DSzeXXxrQm

  — 🚨 Rusty Surette 🚨 (@KBTXRusty) January 30, 2024

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  The blaze at Feather Crest Farms, located near Fickey Road east of Kurten, was reported shortly after 5 p.m. local time. Authorities stated on Monday night that it might take several days to extinguish the fire completely.

  Ground footage shared by Jim Suydam with KBTX shows that the fire at Feather Crest Farms continues to burn into the night. Firefighters have come from other counties nearby to help out.

  🔴DETAILS –> https://t.co/yVA74bzWPG pic.twitter.com/BMRMuASrZT

  — 🚨 Rusty Surette 🚨 (@KBTXRusty) January 30, 2024

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  Last year, Tucker Carlson interviewed Dutch political activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, who said, “I think that the push for insect eating is just a compliance test because our politicians know that when they control the food, they control the people.” 

  It’s odd that WEF routinely advocates the urgent need to reset the food supply chain while commercial farms mysteriously ignite. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 18:58

• "It Must Be Stopped": 12 Agriculture Officials Warn Largest U.S. Banks About Net Zero Agenda
  “It Must Be Stopped”: 12 Agriculture Officials Warn Largest U.S. Banks About Net Zero Agenda

  A dozen Republican state agriculture commissioners have penned a letter to six U.S. megabanks, informing them that their push for ESG investing could wind up leading to price increases and may impact food availability. 

  The letter was sent to executives at Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo and took exception with the group’s membership in the UN organized Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), according to Fox News. 

  The NZBA is “committed to financing ambitious climate action” and is attempting to force the economy to net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. The letter notes that this could result in “severe consequences” for farmers. 

  The letter reads: “Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture requires a complete overhaul of on-farm infrastructure — one of the goals of the NZBA.” 

  “This would have a catastrophic impact on our farmers. Proposed net-zero roadmaps describe dramatic, impractical, and costly changes to American farming and ranching operations such as switching to electric machinery and equipment; installing on-site solar panels and wind turbines; moving to organic fertilizer; altering rice-field irrigation systems; and slashing U.S. ruminant meat consumption in half, costing millions of livestock jobs,” it continues. 

  The letter then says: “To make matters worse, these changes will increase food costs and decrease food production at a time when global food demand is expected to rise dramatically.”

  “This is compounded by the fact that, the average American has been struggling to keep up with inflation during the tenure of the Biden Administration. The reality could be much worse. These effects will hit the poor the hardest,” the commissioners wrote. 

  

  They said the goal of net zero emissions could “permanently damage American agriculture and endanger our country’s food security” and said that “American farmers should not be forced to put our food supply at risk.”

  Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper commented to Fox: “American agriculture is sending a clear signal: we will not bend the knee to the failed, left-wing climate agenda of the United Nations that seeks to cripple one of our country’s most critical industries.”

  “Now more than ever, banks that do business with America should be unquestionably supporting American industries — and that starts with the one that puts food on our tables, clothes on our backs, and shelter over our heads.” 

  Harper continued: “The UN’s Net-Zero Banking Alliance would be the equivalent of a run on the bank for our nation’s agriculture industry and pose a serious threat to our national security — and it must be stopped.”

  Will Hild, the executive director of watchdog group Consumers’ Research, told Fox News: “Farmers and ranchers are the foundation of our economy and international climate cartels like the NZBA pose nothing less than an existential threat to their future. By forcing ESG, Brian Moynihan and his cohort have driven the cost of doing business for small family farmers and independent ranchers to astronomical heights.”

  Hild continued: “The Ag officials and Commissioners hit the nail on the head in their letter: should their misguided climate extremism continue unabated, these megabanks will put our entire food supply in serious jeopardy. I applaud the states for their action, and I look forward to working with them to defend American consumers from this corporate malfeasance.”

  Officials from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia all signed the letter. You can read the full letter here: 

  The letter asserts that, as members of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), @BankOfAmerica, @Citi, @JPMorgan, @MorganStanley, @WellsFargo, and @GoldmanSachs are all working in lockstep to force the ESG agenda onto the entire domestic food supply chain: pic.twitter.com/1phYm6iOvo

  — Will Hild (@WillHild) January 29, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 18:45

• Arizona GOP Selects New Chair After Attempted Kari Lake Bribery Scandal
  Arizona GOP Selects New Chair After Attempted Kari Lake Bribery Scandal

  Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Arizona Republican Party selected a new Trump-endorsed chair on Jan. 27 after the former party leader resigned following a bribery controversy.

  

  “We proudly present our new Chairwoman [Gina Swoboda], alongside the dynamic new AZGOP Board!” the party said in a Jan. 28 post on social media platform X. “With a laser focus on the 2024 elections, our mission is clear: to win additional seats in the state legislature, reclaim our Senate and Congressional seats, take control of school boards, and win back the White House. We are ready for victory!”

  Ms. Swoboda was elected at the annual GOP meeting held at Dream City Church in north Phoenix on Jan. 27, which was attended by more than 1,000 people. Previously, only elections for the party’s lower-level positions were scheduled for the day.

  However, the sudden resignation of former state GOP chair Jeff DeWit due to bribery allegations triggered an urgent election to select a successor. Mr. DeWit was only one year into his scheduled two-year term. His departure triggered a rush of candidates who aimed to secure the position.

  Three candidates were initially nominated: Ms. Swoboda, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor, and Mesa resident Verl Farnsworth, who ran for the office of president of the United States in 2012.

  According to Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers, Ms. Swoboda secured 67 percent of the votes.

  In a Jan. 28 X post, Ms. Swoboda voiced her support for former President Donald Trump, who backed her in the race.

  “Arizona is the key to the presidency,“ she wrote. ”I was proud to have the support of President Trump in this victory to lead the AZGOP into the most important election of our lifetime. Now it’s time to turn out every last vote for the 47th President, DONALD J TRUMP!”

  On Jan. 27, President Trump said in a Truth Social post that Ms. Swoboda had his “complete and total endorsement to be chairwoman of the Republican Party of Arizona.”

  “She is an outstanding person with incredible passion for our Party,” he wrote.

  Kari Lake, a candidate for the U.S. Senate who allegedly was offered bribes by Mr. DeWit, called Ms. Swoboda’s win a “massive victory.”

  “Gina is a National Leader in election law. She is a grassroots hero and is loved by Republicans of ALL stripes. Gina is battle-tested and a woman of great integrity—she understands that the White House and Senate Majority—and frankly, the survival of our Republic—runs right through State 48,” Ms. Lake wrote in a Jan. 28 X post.

  “President Trump and I were VERY proud to endorse Gina. We look forward to restoring Arizona’s faith in elections and winning BIG in 2024.”

  Ms. Swoboda works as a senior adviser on elections for the Arizona Senate. She is the executive director of the Voter Reference Foundation, which describes itself as “dedicated to ensuring transparent, accurate, and fair elections” in the country.

  The Controversy

  The bribery scandal that led to Mr. DeWit’s resignation came to light after The Daily Mail published a recording from March 2023 featuring a conversation between him and Ms. Lake.

  In the recording, Mr. DeWit says that “very powerful people” want to keep Ms. Lake out of the Senate race for two years.

  “They’re willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way. So this conversation never happened,” he said.

  “This is crazy though. They should want me. I’m a great candidate. People love me. These people are corrupt,” Ms. Lake responded. “This is about defeating Trump, and I think that’s a bad, bad thing for our country … This is about the final death blow to Trump, and I don’t think that’s good for our country.”

  Mr. DeWit agreed: “It’s not … but at the same time I’m not even sure Trump can win again.”

  “Just say, is there a number at which—” Mr. DeWit says before being cut off by Ms. Lake.

  “I can be bought? That’s what it’s about,” she says.

  Mr. DeWit suggests that he might be killed if the powerful figures behind him offering the bribe were to be exposed.

  “Don’t tell anybody we had this conversation,” he warns Ms. Lake.

  After the recording was published, Ms. Lake said in an interview with NBC that Mr. DeWit has “got to resign.”

  On the same day, Mr. Dewit said he resigned from the post of Arizona GOP chair. In a statement, he accused Ms. Lake’s team of secretly recording their controversial conversation and leaking it to the media.

  “I said things I regret, but I realize when hearing Lake’s recording that I was set up,” he said. “I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party.”

  During the Jan. 27 election, when Ms. Lake took to the stage to nominate Ms. Swoboda, some audience members booed in an apparent rebuff to her involvement in the bribing scandal.

  In an interview with AZCentral, Arizona Speaker of the House Ben Toma said that the recent turmoil was “unfortunate” for the party.

  “I hope we can find a way to get united as a party very soon because I think that matters a lot,“ he said. ”It’ll make a big difference by the time we get to the general election.”

  J.D. Watson, a state committee member from Scottsdale, said he was concerned about the corruption exposed by the scandal.

  “I believe that [DeWit] did something wrong. … He needs to own up to it and stop being the victim.”

  Mr. Watson also said he appreciated that Ms. Lake turned down the bribe and potentially leaked her conversation with Mr. DeWit.

  “We’re talking six figures, possibly, and she could not be bought.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 18:25

• Nuland 'Sets The Record Straight' On US Forever Occupation Of Syria
  Nuland ‘Sets The Record Straight’ On US Forever Occupation Of Syria

  For several days there has been a flurry of reports in both independent and mainstream media outlets suggesting the US could finally withdraw American troops from Iraq and Syria. These reports spread widely especially before the Sunday drone attack on a US base on the Syrian-Jordanian border, which killed three American soldiers and injured over 40 more, according to revised casualty figures.

  For example, Foreign Policy reported last Wednesday that the White House is actively reviewing and reconsidering the troop presence after a years-long occupation of Syria, however the report emphasized that “no definitive decision has been made to leave.”

  

  Still, there had not been any serious reporting or “debate” on a plan to withdraw from Syria going back to the middle of the Trump administration, when then President Trump pointed out that troops were there “to secure the oil”. 

  Just as in the aforementioned Foreign Policy article, hawks argue that American must “stay the course” (with no exit date, as these things tend to go) as if somehow the Pentagon’s absence from the region will unleash chaos and an expansionist Iran (or insert Russia, China, or any ‘bad guy’ of the moment).

  But this week, a top Biden admin official sought to definitively dispel the substantial rumors that an Iraq or Syria withdrawal could be around the corner.

  And it was none other than Victoria “F*ck The EU” Nuland:

  “Well, first let me set the records straight, the United States is not withdrawing from Syria,” Nuland, who is US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, has told CNN Turk.

  Nuland’s comments are being reported in foreign media but have been absent from the US mainstream, perhaps given general apathy among the American public on questions of the ‘forever’ occupation of Syria.

  After the killings of 3 US troops, top State Dept. official Victoria Nuland declares that “the USA is not withdrawing from Syria.” She adds that the US needs to stay to fight ISIS.

  Pentagon documents show that this is a lie: the US is barely fighting ISIS. In fact, the US has… pic.twitter.com/KKsmbAD1Yb

  — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) January 30, 2024

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  At this point, Americans are by and large conditioned to assume that it is the “right” of America to indefinitely occupy sovereign foreign states in the Middle East and sweep up their energy resources. And all the while the ruling class in the D.C. beltway feigns concern for the needless loss of life of US troops placed precariously in far-flung deserts.

  The Ron Paul Institute’s Daniel McAdams has aptly described what’s really going on, and nothing more really needs to be said…

  She loves having American troops killed in places like Syria. It brings the US closer to the neocon fantasy of war with Iran. She views members of the US military as mere cattle. Mere pawns. The people in charge of American foreign policy hate Americans. https://t.co/IyucfW4PYO

  — Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) January 30, 2024

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 18:05

• No Longer Craving Murder, Rapper Snoop Dogg Now Has "Nothing But Love And Respect" For Trump
  No Longer Craving Murder, Rapper Snoop Dogg Now Has “Nothing But Love And Respect” For Trump

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Rap star Snoop Dogg has expressed strong praise for former President Donald Trump, joining a list of celebrities who have either spoken favorably about or outright endorsed the former president in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

  

  Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., said in an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times that he’s still not sure who he’ll endorse in the election. But he made clear his view of the former president on a more personal level.

  “I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump,” Snoop Dogg said.

  This positioning is quite a shift from Snoop Dogg’s 2017 rap video showing a mock execution of a clown dressed as President Trump.

  In a mock breaking news clip, Klump is seen at a “Clown House” press conference where the TV news crawl reads “Ronald Klump wants to deport all doggs.”

  Later, Snoop Dogg is seen firing a fake pistol at Klump as he stands with his hands raised.

  The rapper said President Trump had never done anything wrong to him. On the contrary, “he has done only great things for me.”

  The musician specifically praised President Trump’s decision to pardon Michael Harris, one of the co-founders of the Death Row Records label that signed Snoop Dogg early on in his career.

  Before leaving office in 2021, President Trump commuted Mr. Harris’ 25-to-life sentence for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder

  Mr. Harris, who served a total of 33 years behind bars, told the Daily Mail after he was pardoned that he was grateful to President Trump for the pardon.

  “Whyever he did it, he did it, when so many others wouldn’t do it,” he told the outlet, adding, “I’m grateful that God did whatever God do to get mo to sit in this seat. And whatever vessel he used.”

  He added that his bid for clemency under former President Barack Obama had failed.

  Snoop Dogg’s latest praise for President Trump stands in contrast to earlier criticism, including when he said ahead of the 2020 election that his first-ever vote in a presidential election would be for President Trump’s opponent.

  While Snoop Dogg has yet to formally declare his support for President Trump in the 2024 election, a number of celebrities have thrown their weight behind the former president, including comedian Roseanne Barr, actor Dean Cain, and rapper Kodak Black, who once said he would gladly gift the former president $1 million if he needed it.

  Besides celebrities, President Trump has racked up 227 noteworthy endorsements from House representatives, senators, and state governors—a figure many times higher than the handful of endorsements given to his sole remaining major GOP presidential rival, Nikki Haley.

  President Trump is the frontrunner by far in his bid for the Republican nomination, with 70.3 percent support, compared to 12.6 percent for Ms. Haley, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.

  Taylor Swift Biden Endorsement Rumors

  Meanwhile, as President Joe Biden’s approval ratings sit at historic lows, his team is reportedly looking to get some enthusiasm going for his campaign by seeking an endorsement from pop superstar Taylor Swift.

  It’s unclear whether Ms. Swift, who boasts over 279 million followers on Instagram and has consistently backed Democrats, plans to endorse President Biden.

  She endorsed President Biden in the 2020 presidential election and has expressed unfavorable views of President Trump.

  The buzz around a possible Swift endorsement for President Biden has become so widespread that, according to The New York Times, the president’s campaign team has urged applicants for an open social media position not to tout the potential endorsement as a silver bullet strategy.

  Speculation about Ms. Swift throwing her weight behind President Biden prompted Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur who recently dropped out of the Republican primary race to endorse President Trump, to joke that the NFL may have rigged the Super Bowl to give Ms. Swift a broad platform to announce the potential endorsement.

  “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months,” Mr. Ramaswamy said in a post on X.

  Ms. Swift, who is dating Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, has been spotted in recent weeks attending NFL games in support of her boyfriend.

  

  The Chiefs, who are the reigning Super Bowl champions, are set to play the San Francisco 49ers at this season’s final NFL matchup in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Feb. 11.

  Celebrity endorsements aside, President Biden’s strategy appears focused on trying to win over independent voters, while seeking to label President Trump and his supporters as “Make America Great Again” extremists and accusing them of being anti-democratic for their calls for vote audits.

  President Trump, on the other hand, has sought to portray President Biden as having disastrous energy and border policies that undermine U.S. national security, while pegging the president as frail, incompetent, and dishonest.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/30/2024 – 17:45

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