Oct 31

Today’s News 31st October 2023

  • Freak Accident? Hockey Player Sidekicks Opponent In The Throat And Kills Him During Game
    Freak Accident? Hockey Player Sidekicks Opponent In The Throat And Kills Him During Game

    Controversy has erupted over the death of American hockey player Adam Johnson, who was struck in the neck and killed by another player’s ice skate in the second period of a Challenge Cup match against the Sheffield Steelers on Saturday in Sheffield, England.  Fans and players alike are divided over whether or not Canadian player Matt Petgrave deliberately used a sidekick maneuver, stabbing Johnson in the throat with his ice skate.  

    South Yorkshire Police are now investigating the gruesome incident, which left Matt Johnson’s blood all over the Utilita Arena.  Below is the game footage at normal speed:

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    The following footage shows Matt Petgrave’s kick in slow motion:

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    Below is the now deceased Adam Johnson:

    And Matt Petgrave…

    The mainstream media is already resoundingly describing the incident as a “freak accident.”  In fact, many news outlets are refusing to use Matt Petgrave’s name or show his face in their coverage.  However, NHL rules (along with leagues around the world) do not allow for players to kick a hockey puck in the air, and they are strict about kicking other players.  Kicking results in an immediate match penalty of the player along with ejection from the game pending a review of their player status.  Hockey players consistently train to avoid major penalties, which is why these kinds of “accidents” are incredibly rare. 

    There are only 23 reported incidents of hockey players dying on the ice worldwide since 1905.  Most of these deaths occurred before safety rules and equipment became standard.  The NHL only has one reported on ice death in its history.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 10/31/2023 – 02:45

  • Escobar: Iran-Russia Set A Western Trap In Palestine
    Escobar: Iran-Russia Set A Western Trap In Palestine

    Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle,

    The only country that could possibly distract the west from Ukraine is Israel. But the US and its allies are walking into an existential trap if they think a West Asian victory will be more easily won than a European one…

    The Russia-Iran strategic partnership – with China in the wings – is laying an elaborate, Sun Tzu-tinged trap for the Hegemon in West Asia. 

    Apart from Israel, there is no entity on the planet capable of switching the focus, in a flash, away from the west’s spectacular debacle in Ukraine. 

    The warmongers in charge of US foreign policy, not exactly Bismarckian stalwarts, believe that if Project Ukraine is unattainable, Project Final Solution in Palestine could instead be a – ethnic cleansing – cakewalk. 

    A more plausible scenario, though is that Iran-Russia – and the new “axis of evil” Russia-China-Iran – have all it takes to drag the Hegemon into a second quagmire. It’s all about using the enemy’s own, discombobulated flip-flapping to unbalance him and disorient him to oblivion.

    The White House’s wishful thinking that the Forever Wars in Ukraine and Israel are inscribed in the same lofty “democracy” drive and essential to US national interests, has already backfired – even among American public opinion. 

    That does not prevent cries and whispers along the Beltway revealing Israel-allied US neocons increasing the tempo to provoke Iran – via a proverbial false flag that would lead to an American attack. That Armageddon scenario neatly fits Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s biblical psychopathy. 

    Vassals would be forced to meekly comply. NATO heads of state have made a beeline to visit Israel to demonstrate their unconditional support for Tel Aviv – including Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Britain’s Rishi Sunak, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, the senile lodger at the White House, and France’s Emmanuel Macron. 

    Avenging the Arab “century of humiliation” 

    So far, Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has shown extraordinary restraint by not taking any bait. Hezbollah supports the Palestinian resistance as a whole – and until a few years back, had serious issues with Hamas, with which it clashed in Syria. Hamas, incidentally, while partially funded by Iran, is not run by Iran. As much as Tehran supports the Palestinian cause, Palestinian resistance groups make their own decisions. 

    The big news is that all these issues are now dissolving. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) went to Lebanon to visit Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in person this week. That spells out unity of purpose – or what the region’s Axis of Resistance calls the “Unity of Fronts.”   

    Even more eye-opening was Hamas’ visit to Moscow this week, which was met with impotent Israeli fury. The Hamas delegation was headed by a member of its Politburo, Abu Marzouk. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri came especially from Tehran and met two of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s key deputies, Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin.  

    That spells out Hamas, Iran, and Russia negotiating at the same table. 

    Hamas has called on the millions of Palestinians in the diaspora, as well as the whole Arab world and all lands of Islam, to unite. Slowly but surely, a pattern may be discerned: could the Arab world – and great swathes of Islam – be on the verge of significantly uniting to avenge their own “century of humiliation” – much as the Chinese did after WWII with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping? 

    Beijing, via its sophisticated diplomacy, is certainly hinting at it to key players, even before the ground-breaking, Russia-China brokered Iran-Saudi rapprochement was struck earlier this year. 

    That by itself won’t thwart the perpetual US neocon obsession to bomb critical infrastructure in Iran. Worth less than zero when it comes to military science, these neocons ignore how Iranian retaliation would – accurately – target each and every US base in Iraq and Syria, with the Persian Gulf an open case. 

    Peerless Russian military analyst Andrei Martyanov has shown what could happen to those expensive American iron bathtubs in the Eastern Mediterranean in case of an Israeli-threatened attack on Iran.   

    Moreover, there are at least 1,000 US troops in northern Syria stealing the country’s oil – which would also become an instant target. 

    Ali Fadavi, IRGC’s deputy commander-in-chief, cut to the chase: “We have technologies in the military field that no one knows about, and the Americans will know about them when we use them.”

    Cue to Iranian hypersonic Fattah missiles – cousins to the Khinzal and the DF-27 – traveling at Mach 15, and able to reach any target in Israel in 400 seconds.  

    And add to it sophisticated Russian electronic warfare (EW). As confirmed in Moscow six months ago, when it comes to military interconnection, the Iranians told the Russians at the same table, “whatever you need, just ask.” The same applies vice-versa, because the mutual enemy is one and the same.

    It’s all about the Strait of Hormuz 

    The heart of the matter in any Russian-Iran strategy is the Strait of Hormuz, through which transits at least 20 percent of the world’s oil (nearly 17 million barrels a day) plus 18 percent of liquified natural gas (LNG), which amounts to at least 3.5 billion cubic feet a day.  

    Iran is able to block the Strait of Hormuz in a flash. For starters, that would be some sort of poetic justice retribution for Israel aiming to gobble up, illegally, all the multibillion-dollar natural gas discovered offshore Gaza: this is, incidentally, one of the absolutely key reasons for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. 

    Yet the real deal will be to bring down the Wall Street-engineered $618 trillion derivative structure, as confirmed for years by analysts at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, as well as independent Persian Gulf energy traders. 

    So when push comes to shove – and way beyond the defense of Palestine and in a scenario of Total War – not only Russia-Iran but key players of the Arab world about to become members of BRICS 11 – such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE – do have what it takes to bring down the US financial system anytime they choose.  

    As an old school Deep State higher up, now in business in Central Europe, stresses:

    “The Islamic nations have the economic advantage. They can blow up the international financial system by cutting off the oil. They do not have to fire a single shot. Iran and Saudi Arabia are allying together. The 2008 crisis took 29 trillion dollars to solve but this one, should it happen, could not be solved even with 100 trillion dollars of fiat instruments.”

    As Persian Gulf traders told me, one possible scenario is OPEC starting to sanction Europe, first from Kuwait and then spreading from one OPEC country to another and to all countries that are treating the Muslim world as enemies and war fodder. 

    Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has already warned that oil to western markets could be put off because of what Israel is perpetrating in Gaza. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has already called, on the record, for a total oil and gas embargo by Islamic countries against nations – essentially NATO vassals – that support Israel.

    So Christian Zionists in the US allied with neocon asset Netanyahu threatening to attack Iran have the potential to pull down the entire world financial system.

    Forever War on Syria, remixed  

    Under the current volcano, the Russia-China strategic partnership has been extremely cautious. To the outside world, their mutual official position is to refuse to side with either Palestine or Israel; call for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds; call for a two-state solution; and respect international law. All their initiatives at the UN have been duly sabotaged by the Hegemon. 

    As it stands, Washington has refused the green light for the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza. The main reason is the immediate US priority: buy some time to expand the war to Syria, “accused” of being the key transit point for Iranian weapons to Hezbollah. That also doubles as re-opening the same old war front against Russia. 

    There are no illusions in Moscow. The intel apparatus knows well that Israeli Mossad agents have been advising Kiev while Tel Aviv was supplying weapons to Ukraine under serious US pressure.  That infuriated the siloviki, and may have constituted a fatal Israeli mistake.

    The neocons, for their part, never stop. They are advancing a parallel threat: if Hezbollah attacks Israel with something else than a few sparse rockets – and that simply won’t happen – the Hmeimim Russian Air Base in Latakia will be “eliminated” as a “warning” to Iran.

    This does not even qualify as children playing in the sandbox. After the serial Israeli attacks on the civilian Damascus and Aleppo airports, Moscow did not even blink before offering its Hmeimim facilities to Syria – complete with clearance for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cargo flights, according to some Russian intel sources. Netanyahu will not exactly harbor a death wish by bombing a fully A2/AD (anti-access/area denial) Russian Air Base.  

    Moscow also clearly sees what those expensive American iron bathtubs in the Eastern Mediterranean might be up to. The response has been swift: Mig-31Ks are patrolling neutral air space over the Black Sea 24/7, equipped with hypersonic Khinzals, which would take only six minutes to visit the Mediterranean.   

    Amidst all this neocon-drenched madness, with the Pentagon deploying a formidable array of weaponry plus “undisclosed” assets to the Eastern Mediterranean, whether the target is Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Russia, or all of the above, both China and North Korea – part of the new American-concocted “axis of evil” – have indicated they will not be mere bystanders. 

    The Chinese Navy is for all practical purposes shielding Iran from a distance. Yet even more forceful has been a statement by Premier Li Qiang – something unusually blunt and rare in Chinese diplomacy: 

    “China will continue to firmly support Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity, and will strongly oppose any external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs.”

    Never forget that China and Iran are linked by a comprehensive strategic partnership. Meanwhile, Russian Premier Mikhail Mishustin has reinforced the Russia-Iran strategic partnership in a meeting with Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber.

    Remember those rice eaters from Korea 

    Pro-Iran militias across the Axis of Resistance, are keeping a carefully tempered degree of confrontation against Israel, close to guerrilla hit-and-run. They won’t be engaged in massive attacks yet. But all bets are off if Israel invades Gaza. It’s clear the Arab world, for all its massive internal contradictions, will simply not tolerate the civilian massacre. 

    Bluntly, at the current incendiary juncture, the Hegemon has found the offramp from its Project Ukraine humiliation. They erroneously believe that the same old Forever War rekindled in West Asia can be “modulated” at will. And if two wars turn into an immense political albatross, as they will, what else is new? They will simply start a new war in the “Indo-Pacific.” 

    None of that fools Russia-Iran and their ice-cold monitoring of the flipping and flapping Hegemon every step of the way. It’s enlightening to remember what Malcolm X was already predicting in 1964:

    “Some rice eaters ran him out of Korea. Yes, they ran him out of Korea. Rice eaters with nothing but gym shoes, and a rifle, and a bowl of rice took him and his tanks and his napalm, and all that other action he’s supposed to have and ran him across the Yalu. Why? Cause the day that he can win on the ground has passed.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 10/31/2023 – 02:00

  • Decoding The Taxil Hoax: Part 2
    Decoding The Taxil Hoax: Part 2

    Authored by ‘Mr. E’ via bombthrower.com,

    Follow Mr. E on Substack and Twitter!

    In the previous post we discovered that the true identity of Lucifer is Aphrodite, and what’s considered ‘Satanism’ or ‘Luciferian’ are the more extreme forms of worship of this goddess. Now it’s time to explore just what that is, how long it’s been going on, and what it means for us in the present.

    For decades now, the world has been confronted with horrifying stories of ritual child sexual abuse, murder, cannibalism, elite pedophilia, and more. In the last decade we’ve had transgenderism shoved in our faces from every direction and made into a protected and privileged class. In some cases, disobeying the ludicrous demands of trans activists is now being met with arrest and police harassment. Groups are even lobbying to pass bills making the misgendering of trans people a crime punishable by massive fines and even jailtime.

    What does ritual abuse and the exaltation of transgenderism have in common, and what do either of these things have to do with the goddess of lust and fertility? In this report you’re going to find out the ugly, depraved truth behind the Canaanites, a group of people who have worked for millennia to keep humanity in chains and have been far more successful than most will ever admit.

    Let’s examine the practices of goddess worship, region by region, and see for ourselves what went on in ancient times, and what apparently continues today.

    Mediterranean

    In Greece, several more themes emerged in the worship of Aphrodite and Adonis. For instance, it appears Adonis was bi-sexual, loving not only Aphrodite and Persephone, but also Apollo. He played the typical male role when with females and would adopt female behaviors when with males.

    This crossing of gender roles gets even more extreme with Aphrodite. In Cyprus, an island with both Greeks and Phoenicians living on it, a version of Aphrodite emerged called Aphroditus. This was Aprhodite in every sense except that ‘it’ had a penis and sometimes a beard! Later this god (dess?) became Hermaphroditus, a child she produced with Hermes, another of her lovers. Hermaphroditus was born a male but was fused with Salmacis, a nymph who lusted after him and wanted to be united forever. Another child Aphrodite produced with Hermes was Priapus, a male with an oversized and permanent erection. In the story of Tiresias, we find Aphrodite exhibiting the power to change mortals into the opposite sex.

    While in Greece, the worship of Aphrodite never got more extreme than orgies and some doves being sacrificed in her name, things get a little more interesting in ancient Egypt. Their analog for the goddess was Hathor, and it appears her worship included the occasional orgy on drugs. The Turin Erotic Papyrus illustrates one of these events; people engaged in all sorts of sex acts while under the influence of the blue water lily. This lily contains an alkaloid that metabolizes in to apomorphine, a drug used today to treat erectile dysfunction and can cause persistent erections (priapism) in men. It also induces a euphoric state, with heightened sociability.

    The papyrus dates to the 20th dynasty of Egypt, but use of the blue water lily appears to have been popularized in the 18th dynasty. King Tut was buried with a great many of these, and it just so happens that this is the dynasty that took over Egypt right after the Hyksos expulsion. The Hyksos were a tribe of Canaanites that conquered Lower Egypt and possibly introduced these drugged out orgies during their rule from the 15th to 17th dynasties. The Egyptians described them as “bloodthirsty”, and we will soon see why. After being introduced to the lily and its psychoactive powers, its use spread throughout Canaan and even into Mesopotamia.

    Speaking of Canaan, it’s appropriate now to look at these people and just what they got up to in their worship of the goddess, because it’s quite relevant to what we see in elite society today. As already mentioned, their name for the goddess of lust and sexuality was Astarte, in Northern Syria it was Atargatis, and in Carthage it was Tanit. It’s in the Canaanite culture that we find ritual child sacrifice, a practice that extended to their colonies in Carthage and throughout the Mediterranean. This was done on an almost industrial scale, with special cemeteries called tophets being discovered with tens of thousands of urns filled with the burned remains of murdered infants and sometimes the animals that were sacrificed alongside them.

    They practiced ritual rape as well. When girls reached a certain age, they were taken to the temple of Astarte to be raped by a man who paid the temple handsomely for that privilege. After this rite of passage, the girl was told she had been blessed, and was sent back home.

    Also of importance was their celebration of transgenderism. The priesthoods of these goddesses, in order to reach the highest levels of their order, would ritually castrate themselves, dress as women, and take on women’s tasks.

    These depraved practices were not the exclusive domain of the Canaanites, either. The worship of this goddess is found further eastwards.

    Mesopotamia

    Arriving in the Fertile Crescent, we find that this goddess was worshipped under the names Inanna by the Sumerians, and Ishtar by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. We find yet more evidence of the sexual depravity practiced by the Canaanites.

    In Sumer, Inanna’s consort was Dumuzid, whom the Hebrews called Tammuz. Every year, the Sumerian King would perform the Hieros gamos, a sex ritual commemorating the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid, in view of the public with one of the priestesses of Inanna. The ritual is described in a sexually explicit hymn preserved on a cylinder seal at the National Museum of Iraq. She would “bathe her loins” in preparation for the King and declare “O my holy thighs!” as they proceeded in the act together. The priests of Inanna, known as the Gala, underwent a transformation into females, taking on their traditional roles, and engaging in sodomy.

    A Clay plaque. Mesopotamia (Iraq) Old Babylonian period 2000 BCE.

    Herodotus also tells us of a Babylonian custom that required every woman to deliver herself to the temple of Ishtar where she will be placed among the other women, while a line of men walk by to inspect them. The first man to offer her any sum of money must be accepted, and she must go with him to be raped. Herodotus goes on to say that this ordeal is over quickly for beautiful women, but the comely ones sometimes remain for years waiting for their turn to be defiled. A similar custom also took place in Cyprus.

    Pontic-Caspian Steppe

    Heading north into the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, where today we find Ukraine, Western Russia, and Kazakhstan, we find the ancient nomadic equestrians, the Thracians. They had many religious practices involving their divine lovers, including ritual orgies, human sacrifice, and transgenderism.

    Many of these customs were replicated by the Scythians who co-existed with the Thracians during the first millennium BC. The Scythians even practiced ritual cannibalism, and their highest and most powerful aristocracy was known as the Enaree. This was an orgiastic cult devoted to their snake-legged goddess of sex, Artimpasa. Like Aphroditus, this goddess was often pictured with a beard.

    These priests were effeminate and androgynous. They performed women’s work, spoke, and dressed like women, and potentially even castrated themselves as part of their “transformation” into women. They may even have been sodomized by other men in sex rituals while pretending to be women.

    Early in their history the Scythians invaded Canaan and sacked the temple of Astarte in Ascalon. The transgenderism of the Enaree was assumed to be a curse from the goddess who, as mentioned in the case of Tiresias, has the power to change men into women.

    A similar transgender priesthood, known as the Galli, existed in Phrygia and were devotees of their own version of the goddess, Cybele and her castrated partner Attis.

    An illustration of a shaman in Siberia, produced by the Dutch explorer Nicolaes Witsen in the late 17th century.

    A less ancient people of this area were the Khazars and by all accounts they continued many of the same practices as the Thracians and Scythians. Their religion was called Tengrism, which included shamanistic practices while dressed up like an animal.

    Marie Helene de Rothschild wearing the shaman’s antlers at the 1972 Surrealist Ball.

    The Khazarians are rumored to have converted to Judaism in the 10th century CE, and some evidence does exist in support of that. This is, however, a contentious matter and camps on both sides continue to dispute whether this actually took place.

    Marie Helene de Rothschild and her husband at the 1972 Surrealist Ball.

    Nevertheless, the 1972 Surrealist Party, held by Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild and her husband Guy at the Chateau de Ferrières, appears to have echoed many Khazarian cultural practices.

    Abrahamic Era

    Is it any wonder why, in the Bible, God warns the Israelites to never deal with or mix with Canaanites. Here’s but one of many quotes:

    And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them [Canaanites] before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. – Deuteronomy 7:2-4

    Furthermore, the Bible warns of infiltrators not only into Christianity, but also into Judaism:

    For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ … Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities … Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core … These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever … And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. – The Book of Jude

    The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair, sculpture by Daniel Chester French. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

    Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. – Revelation 3:9

    Just who are these infiltrators that Enoch prophesied about? We must consult the Book of Enoch for that answer:

    And Uriel said to me: ‘Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods, here shall they stand, till the day of the great judgement in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of. – Enoch 19:1-2

    A complete reading of the Book of the Watchers, in Enoch, reveals he’s talking about the Nephilim, children of the Fallen Watchers, angels who rebelled against God along with Satan; a thieving, murderous group of cannibals that also drank blood. In other sections of the Bible, it makes the connection between the Nephilim and Canaanites.

    Aside from Jude, we have further evidence of the Canaanite infiltration into Christianity and the practice of their depraved rituals. Consider this passage about the sect of Borborites, who allegedly engaged in ritual orgies:

    But even though one of them should accidentally implant the seed of his natural emission prematurely and the woman becomes pregnant, listen to a more dreadful thing that such people venture to do. They extract the fetus at the stage which is appropriate for their enterprise, take this aborted infant, and cut it up in a trough with a pestle. And they mix honey, pepper, and certain other perfumes and spices with it to keep from getting sick, and then all the revellers in this herd of swine and dogs assemble, and each eats a piece of the child with his fingers. And now, after this cannibalism, they pray to God and say, “We were not mocked by the archon of lust, but have gathered the brother’s blunder up!” And this, if you please, is their idea of the “perfect Passover.” – Epiphanius, Panarion, Chapter 26.5.4

    This is not even the full extent of Canaanite influence over the ancient world, a whole book would be needed for that, but there is one last thing worth mentioning. DNA studies performed on the nearly 3,000 year-old Paracas skulls of Peru reveal they came from Syria – making these Canaanites the earliest transatlantic voyagers known, nearly two millennia before the Vikings. Should it be a surprise, then, that we also find human sacrifice, cannibalism, and ritual sex in Mesoamerica?

    This discussion wouldn’t be complete without addressing the Catholic eucharist, either. For what more perfect evidence of the corruption of Christianity is there but the practice of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a man-God? This is a very serious matter, as the doctrine of transubstantiation mandates that Catholics truly believe this is an act of cannibalism. Furthermore, spitting it out is known as ‘host desecration’, a sin so egregious that only the Pope himself can forgive the offender, or excommunicate them.

    Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 24. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (Dec. 24, 2012).

    I would also be remiss to not mention the recent case of a “Gay Orgy” being organized by Catholic Priests in Poland that went horribly wrong. The event involved a male prostitute and “potency pills,” just like the drugged up Canaanite orgies of old, and ended with emergency services being called to tend to a man that had collapsed unconscious on the floor.

    Present Day

    These cult activities manifest today in many ways. Aside from the global phenomenon of ritual child abuse already mentioned, take the example set by Harry Hay. He was an LGBT activist, staunch defender of pedophilia, and acolyte of Aleister Crowley and his sex magick. Hay glorified promiscuous sex and sodomy as a path to spiritual enlightenment. The drugged orgies of old are now taking place as ‘chemsex’, a meth-fueled anal sex marathon. Satanic gay men and transgender women are found everywhere in the US government now. Rape, torture, murder, and cannibalism are being celebrated in art, most notably by Marina Abramovic who also hosts ‘Spirit Cooking’ sessions and parties with cakes shaped as people, that are chopped up and eaten.

    Lady Gaga with Marina Abramovic

    Can all this help explain recent events in the middle east? Consider the fact that Gaza was originally part of the Philistine States, separate from the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. If the Zionists of today were truly seeking a restoration of the original Hebrew Kingdoms, they would have no interest in Gaza, or Ashkelon for that matter. The Philistines, today’s Palestinians, were not one of the nations the Israelites were told to displace in the Bible. In fact, Genesis 21 and 26 recount two separate treaties Abraham and Isaac made with them.

    Gwen Stefani

    The only thing that could explain the Zionists lust for the Gaza strip is that they are not, in fact, being led by Jewish sentiment, but Canaanite. The Philistine States are a part of Canaan, and the Philistines seem to have immigrated there from the Aegean Sea shortly after the Late Bronze Age Collapse, when the Canaanite societies would have been economically weakened.

    Scene at the 1972 Rothschild Surrealist Ball.

    Canaan is the lands extending across the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, from just south of Gaza, all the way to northern Syria. If the government of Israel were being run by Canaanites, their incessant conflicts with Lebanon and Syria now make perfect sense. They’re trying to re-establish Canaan, not the Hebrew Kingdoms described in the Bible.

    Canaan according to the Bible.

    This was not even being done in secret not too long ago. In 1939 a movement was founded by Palestinian Jews with the express purpose of re-creating Canaan. A group of Lebanese Nationalists also got involved in their own efforts to bring back this ancient national identity. In fact, it was recently discovered that the Lebanese people share 90% of their DNA with the ancient Canaanites. Culturally or not, Canaanites continue to exist to this very day.

    Conclusion

    Returning full circle to my article about the Taxil hoax, we can see that his fabrication includes many elements of truth. Practitioners of this depraved form of goddess worship do indeed engage in the very same activities he leveled at the Masons. Thus, this hoax served as a wonderful device to project this cult’s misdeeds onto other parties.

    It should be remembered that Pope Leo XIII’s only complaint about Freemasons was that they were successfully advancing the idea of separation between Church and State, something enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution. This Pope was, in a very real way, anti-American. He narcissistically saw anything that could diminish his control of nations around the world as ‘Satanic’ and wanted to rouse a reactionary movement against the principles of the Enlightenment that were spreading rapidly through Western society.

    By a long and persevering labor, they endeavor to bring about this result – namely, that the teaching office and authority of the Church may become of no account in the civil State; and for this same reason they declare to the people and contend that Church and State ought to be altogether disunited. By this means they reject from the laws and from the commonwealth the wholesome influence of the Catholic religion; and they consequently imagine that States ought to be constituted without any regard for the laws and precepts of the Church. – Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus, Section 13.

    I highly recommend reading The Apocalypse of Yajnavalkya for more information about this cult. Nothing else I’ve ever read more completely explores their history and activities. It tells you in detail exactly where these people originated and why they have such a seething hatred for the rest of humanity. This has been going on for far longer than most can presently imagine.

    Nothing worthy of God is to be found in the acts of this demented group. They take their most base, animal desires and make rituals out of satisfying these urges. Rituals that can irreparably harm their non-consenting victims, leading them into lives of substance abuse, prostitution, depression, dissociative identity disorder, and other mental health issues.

    We aren’t living in a world besieged by “the Joos” or “duh Freemasons”, it’s a nameless gang of marauding Canaanites and those they’ve tricked into adopting their ways by promises of wealth, power, and influence. It’s been a few thousand years and now is the time to unmask these traitors to humanity and pull the rug out from underneath them, permanently.

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    Subscribe to the Bombthrower mailing list to get these posts as they come out, and follow Mr. E via his Substack and Twitter.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 23:55

  • Yen & UST Yields Tumble After BoJ's Mixed Messages, But…
    Yen & UST Yields Tumble After BoJ’s Mixed Messages, But…

    The market was well prepared for action from the Bank of Japan (BoJ) tonight after Nikkei reported the central bank’s intent to consider another tweak to its yield curve control (YCC) policy.

    Having moved from 0.25% to 0.5%, then to 1%, the Nikkei report prompted speculation that the central bank would raise the limit again, rather than abandoning YCC altogether, as JGB yields have traded up close to the 1% limit in recent days.

    The report noted that “the second framework tweak in three months appears to have been deemed necessary as 10-year yields are approaching 1% amid a backdrop of rising U.S. rates” and added that the “BOJ is also likely to more flexibly conduct its JGB purchase operations… This, along with a more flexible cap on 10-year yields, is aimed at deterring speculators from targeting the upper limit and sparing the BOJ the need to buy droves of JGBs to keep rates under 1%.”

    However, consensus is that BoJ will stand pat as historically the BoJ has paid less attention to market expectations than, say, the Fed.

    If USDJPY was anything to go by, it was starting to remove the odds of a BoJ YCC adjustment, as JPY weakened back from earlier gains on the Nikkei report…

    As we detailed earlier, no matter what the BOJ does today, the decision is sure to move markets.

    A policy hold could spur yen selling.

    There’s a good chance, though, that a sharp move beyond 150 against the dollar would invite intervention by Japan’s authorities to defend the currency.

    A tweak to the YCC parameters, such as lifting the 10-yield yield ceiling to 1.5%, could support the yen.

    But any strengthening would probably be limited to at most about 145 against the greenback, given the upward tug on the dollar from relatively high US yields.

    Additionally, The BoJ is expected to raise its inflation forecasts for both this fiscal year and next. This would likely bring Japan’s key inflation above 2% for three straight years, which of course leads to the question of why the BOJ still needs to continue with the current stimulus policy given its side-effects.

    So what will they do…

    Well, earlier today, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was asked in parliament ahead of the decision whether the BOJ’s ultra-easy policy was weakening the yen and causing price rises. Kishida, whose approval rating just hit a record low dur to soaring inflation, said central bank policy aims to achieve and maintain stable prices. He added that the government should coordinate with the BOJ on macroeconomic policies.

    And while the BoJ has released a policy statement at 12:06pm Tokyo time on the average since the introduction of yield curve control in 2016, today the BoJ released its statement at 12: 27pm Tokyo time (exactly one standard deviation late to its norm) and kept rates unchanged:

    BoJ maintains NIRP at -0.10% and 10yr JGB yield target at 0% but makes what was formerly a hard cap of 1% on yields into a reference range of 100bps up or down, vs the previous target of 50bps, thus making YCC even more flexible. The BoJ also says:

    • Will regard upper bound of 1% for 10yr JGB yield as reference in market ops.

    • Decision on YCC was made by 8-1 vote with Nakamura the dissenter.

    • Decides to make YCC more flexible.

    • Japan’s inflation outlook is overshooting but due largely to prolonged rises in import costs.

    • Will guide market operations nimbly.

    The most important changes of these is the BOJ’s description of the 1% rate as “a reference”, which sounds similar to the July 28 BoJ meeting, when Governor Kazuo Ueda made his first surprise move by maintaining the 10y yield target at 0% but said its 0.5% ceiling was a reference point and not a rigid limit. Back then, the BoJ offered to buy bonds at 1% and the JGB 10y yield was up 0.15% over the following week.

    Likely, the BoJ would allow 10y bond yields to creep higher with potential rinban operations risk if the 10y bond yields advance higher much too quickly.

    Additionally, the BOJ has also decided to abandon its daily fixed-rate bond-buying operations, its major tool for impacting rates, citing the “large side effects” it might entail. The BoJ also raised its economic growth but more importantly, its inflation forecasts…

    … which means that all else equal, Kishida’s approval rating is about to become even worse!

    This is mainly due to the prolonged effects of a pass-through to consumer prices of cost increases led by the past rise in import prices and the recent rise in crude oil prices. Toward the end of the projection period, the Bank expects that underlying CPI inflation will increase gradually toward achieving the price stability target of 2 percent, while this increase needs to be accompanied by an intensified virtuous cycle between wages and prices.

    Still confused? here is the BOJ’s trademark “explainer” for what today’s decision means. The bottom line is that the 1.00% cap is officially gone and instead the BOJ will allow 10Y rates to rise above the former hard limit at which point it may or may not engage in “nimble market operations.”

    Source: BOJ

    The initial reaction to the BoJ’s moves implied a less hawkish than expected statement, prompting JPY weakness, breaking back above 150/USD…

    JGB yields tumbled back…

    And so did 10Y UST yields…

    However, as UBS trading desk explains:

    My interpretation of the changes are that the previous YCC target of 0% +/-50bp was the loose target, allowing 10y JGB yields up to 1%, where it would conduct daily fixed-rate purchases if needed.

    Now the operations will not necessarily be at 1.00%: “The bank will determine the offer rate for fixed rate purchase operations each time, taking account of market rates and other factors.”

    Effectively the BoJ has raised the yield cap without saying where it is – still trying to let the markets find the natural balance of supply and demand whilst keeping a lid on bond vol

    So nothing would surprise us more than to wake up in the morning and see all this reversed.

    Finally, Bloomberg’s Gearoid Reidy asked a fascinating question: does the BOJ actually want to control the yield curve?

    The statement says:

    “It is appropriate for the Bank to increase the flexibility in the conduct of yield-curve control, so that long-term interest rates will be formed smoothly in financial markets in response to future developments.”

    That’s just… the market, surely? Where is the control? Does YCC even effectively exist anymore?

    How long  until the market realizes that Japan’s legendary YCC no longer actually exists?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 23:40

  • Georgia Couple Helps Police Scam The Gold-Scammers
    Georgia Couple Helps Police Scam The Gold-Scammers

    Via SchiffGold.com,

    A Georgia couple nearly lost more than $186,000 in a gold scam. But they ended up turning the tables and scamming the scammers.

    It all started with a pop-up on the Perry, Georgia, couple’s computer warning the machine was infected with a virus.

    The couple called the help number provided.

    That was their first mistake.

    The scammer on the other end warned that the virus may have compromised their bank account and helpfully connected them with their bank’s fraud department.

    This was the couple’s second mistake.

    They should have hung up and called the bank’s fraud department directly.

    The person the scammer connected them with was, of course, just another scammer. This individual confirmed that their account had been compromised, saying there were pending suspicious transactions.

    The couple was then passed along to a third scammer pretending to be from the Federal Trade Commission.

    This individual even emailed phony documents to “confirm” his identity.

    The fake federal agent told the couple the best way to protect their money was to take the $185,916 from the compromised account and buy bars of gold.

    The scammer told the couple an undercover FTC agent would come to their home, pick up the gold, and take it to Washington D.C. Once verified, the couple would receive a check for the full amount.

    As implausible as this may sound to you and me, the couple bought the story and went as far as to purchase 1 kilogram Royal Canadian Mint gold bars from a dealer in Texas.

    But at some point, the couple grew suspicious and called the police.

    The case ended up on the desk of Perry Police Department Detective Sgt. J.I. “Ike” Wilcox,’ and he hatched a plan to scam the scammers. He dubbed it “Operation Goldfinger.”

    It just so happened that Wilcox is an expert on fraud and teaches courses on how to avoid it.

    “A lot of times that demographic is more vulnerable because technology has evolved so much during their lifetime,” Wilcox told the Macon Telegraph.

    The police had the gold shipment rerouted back to the dealer.

    The couple received a full refund. But with the help of police, the husband and wife strung the scammers along, telling them the gold was on the way. Sure enough, the scammers arranged to have a courier come to the couple’s home to pick up the gold.

    When the SUV showed up, police arrested the driver, Gurdev Singh, 31, of Stockton, California. He faces numerous charges, including criminal attempt to commit theft by deception and exploitation of elder persons.

    “I could safely describe his reaction as genuine surprise,” Wilcox said.

    According to the Telegraph, the investigation remains open and detectives are trying to track down others involved in the scam.

    According to the US Department of Justice, in 2021, cyber-related crimes stole more than $140 million from victims in Georgia alone.

    The lesson is to always be on guard. If something feels fishy, it probably is.

    There are thousands of unscrupulous people out there trying to rip you off. And some of them aren’t criminals.

    There are a lot of shady businesses out there looking for ways to take advantage of you.

    You can learn more about gold scams and how to avoid getting ripped off in our free report, Classic Gold Scams. Click the link below to download the free report!

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 23:00

  • Bidenomics: Typical US Family Would Pay $9,100 To Comply With 'Dream House' Climate Wish List
    Bidenomics: Typical US Family Would Pay $9,100 To Comply With ‘Dream House’ Climate Wish List

    The Biden administration’s war on fossil fuels would cost the average American household more than $9,100 per year, according to a consumer watchdog.

    The Alliance for Consumers took an infographic from the Biden White House titled “Biden’s Dream Home,” which proposes new energy standards for various appliances, including air conditioners, stoves, washing machines, while the Department of Energy’s so-called Unified List of appliances includes microwave ovens, dehumidifiers and pool pumps.

    “Welcome to Biden’s Dream House, where the American dream just got significantly more expensive,” the group wrote on X.

    According to the consumer watchdog, gas furnace efficiency standards which will “significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions” for residences (according to the DOE), will cost consumers an estimated $494 additional on average, while dishwasher efficiency standards will cost somewhere between $50 and $400 to comply with, because the proposed rules will lead to drainage problems and clogging.

    Sears Kenmore washing machines are shown for sale inside a Sears department store in La Jolla, Calif., on March 22, 2017. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

    The rules targeting air conditioning units will cost around $1,100 to comply with.

    This year, the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Transportation (DOT) have announced a range of proposed rules that will make household appliances more expensive and, as some experts contend, are designed to force Americans to give up their current appliances.

    For example, under the DOE’s proposed natural gas stove rule, an estimated 90 percent of gas stoves would have to be redesigned, with reduced performance and raise the upfront cost of stove products by around $32 million per year. –Epoch Times

    New rules for water heaters will cost consumers an average of $2,800 more, while everything from ceiling fans, washing machines and light bulbs will also add to that $9,100 total.

    “It’s just spreading to more and more appliances. It seems that almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the house is either subject to a pending regulation or soon will be,”  Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News.

    “Consumers aren’t going to like any of it. These rules are almost always bad for consumers for the simple reason that they restrict consumer choice.”

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 22:40

  • Leaked Document Shows Israeli Govt 'Option' To Ethnically Cleanse Gaza
    Leaked Document Shows Israeli Govt ‘Option’ To Ethnically Cleanse Gaza

    Via The Cradle,

    Israeli culture magazine Mekovit on Saturday published a leaked document issued by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence recommending the occupation of Gaza and total transfer of its 2.3 million inhabitants to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

    The document, issued on October 13, identifies a plan to transfer all residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai as the preferred option among three alternatives regarding the future of the Palestinians in Gaza at the end of the current war between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance.

    Palestinians shelter at a temporary tent camp set up for those who were displaced from their homes by Israel’s evacuation orders and airstrikes, Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Image: Bloomberg

    The document recommends that Israel evacuate the Gazan population to Sinai during the war, establish tent cities and new cities in northern Sinai to accommodate the deported population, and then create a closed security zone stretching several kilometers inside Egypt. The deported Palestinians would not be allowed to return to any areas near the Israeli border.

    The existence of the document does not necessarily indicate that its recommendations are being implemented by Israel’s security establishment. The Ministry of Intelligence, headed by Gila Gamliel of the Likud party, does not control any of Israel’s intelligence agencies, but independently prepares studies and policy papers, which are distributed for consideration by the government and its security bodies.

    However, recent statements by Israeli government officials and actions by the Israeli army in Gaza suggest the plan is indeed being implemented. Since October 7, Israeli officials have repeatedly issued warnings to Palestinians to move to southern Gaza in advance of a looming ground invasion. 

    Israel has imposed a total siege on Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel, and electricity. The siege, combined with intense Israeli bombing that has killed over 8,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, threatens to make Gaza uninhabitable. 

    An official at the Ministry of Intelligence confirmed that the ten-page document is authentic but “was not supposed to reach the media,” Mekovit noted. According to a right-wing activist, the document from the Ministry of Intelligence was leaked by a member of Likud.

    Leaking the document was an attempt to find out whether “the public in Israel is ready to accept ideas of a transfer from Gaza.” The document unequivocally and explicitly recommends carrying out a transfer of civilians from Gaza as the desired outcome of the war.

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    The transfer plan is divided into several phases: in the first phase, the population in Gaza must be forced to move to southern Gaza, while Israeli air strikes will focus on targets in northern Gaza. In the second phase, the Israeli army’s ground entry into Gaza will begin, which will lead to the occupation of the entire strip, from north to south, and the “cleansing of the underground bunkers from Hamas fighters.”

    At the same time as the Gaza Strip is occupied, the citizens of Gaza will move to Egyptian territory and will be prevented from returning permanently. “It is important to leave the traffic lanes towards the south usable, to allow the evacuation of the civilian population towards Rafah,” the document states.

    The document recommends beginning a dedicated campaign that will “motivate” Gazans “to agree to the plan,” and make them give up their land. Gazan should be convinced that “Allah made sure that you lost this land because of the leadership of Hamas – there is no choice but to move to another place with the help of Your Muslim brothers,” the document reads.

    Further, the plan states the government must launch a public relations campaign that will promote the transfer program to western states in a way that does not promote hostility to Israel or damage its reputation. The deportation of the population from Gaza must be presented as a necessary humanitarian measure to receive international support. Such a deportation could be justified if it will lead to “fewer casualties among the civilian population compared to the expected number of casualties if they remain,” the document says.

    The document also states that the US should be leveraged to pressure Egypt to take in the residents of Gaza, and to encourage other European countries, and in particular Greece, Spain and Canada, to help take in and settle the refugees who will be evacuated from Gaza. 

    Finally, the document claims that if the population of Gaza remains, there will be “many Arab deaths” during the expected occupation of Gaza by the Israeli army, and this will damage Israel’s international image even more than the deportation of the population. For all these reasons, the recommendation of the Ministry of Intelligence is to promote the transfer of all Palestinians in Gaza to Sinai permanently.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 22:20

  • Krispy Kreme Downgraded On Prospect Of Waning Doughnut Demand As 'GLP-1 Fever' Sweeps America
    Krispy Kreme Downgraded On Prospect Of Waning Doughnut Demand As ‘GLP-1 Fever’ Sweeps America

    America’s anti-obesity craze, courtesy of GLP-1-based weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, continues to gain momentum as yet another Wall Street bank loses faith in obese consumers. 

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    On Monday, Truist Securities downgraded doughnut chain Krispy Kreme Inc. from “buy” to “hold” and slashed the price target from $20 to $13, citing GLP-1 trends. 

    Analysts led by Bill Chappell told investors:

    “We believe the stocks will be stuck in a holding pattern at best with strong potential for additional multiple contraction as the initial impact of GLP-1 use becomes more apparent. To be clear, we have NO IDEA what the impact of GLP-1s will be on overall food consumption, but we believe it is way too early in the cycle for anyone to have an accurate estimate.”

    Chappell said he needs more evidence to gauge the overall GLP-1 impacts on overall food consumption. He noted if GLP-1 impacts worked through Krispy Kreme and its peers in the third quarter – there would be enough data to forecast 2024-25 trends. 

    Chappell warned that GLP-1 overhang will weigh shares down for the next six to 12 months, “if not longer.” 

    He added: 

    “We believe the stocks will be stuck in a holding pattern at best with strong potential for additional multiple contraction as the initial impact of GLP-1 use becomes more apparent.” 

    Shares of Krispy Kreme fell as much as 3.6% in early New York trade, but most losses were recovered by early afternoon. Shares are up 24% on the year but remain around record lows. 

    Another problem for the doughnut chain is that top-line growth resulted from increased pricing during Covid. According to Chappell, this trend will “only feed into the GLP-1 narrative as pricing benefits recede and overall sales growth decelerates in the next few quarters.”

    We told readers 2.5 months ago about the emerging “food revolution” as the food industrial-complex has been too lazy to adapt to the shifting winds of an increasing number of Americans using GLP-1 drugs. 

    In late July, a shift occurred as investors started to offload companies with potential downstream risks related to obesity drugs, as indicated by the Goldman Sachs Global HLC GLP Risk index. Concurrently, investors piled into Goldman’s GLP-1 Obesity drug basket to capitalize on slimming down Americans. 

    A recent Morgan Stanley presentation (available to pro subs) found the most bull case for the GLP-1 drugs could result in a 1.7% reduction (vs baseline) in calories consumed by Americans. 

    Not surprisingly, MS found a more pronounced impact on certain food categories among those on the weight-loss drugs.

    Also, the biggest losers appear to be fast food and pizza restaurants…

    … confections, cookies, and salty snacks…

    Expanding on MS’ report is Bank of America analyst Geoff Meacham (available to pro subs), who reveals the downstream effects of the obesity drug will impact the apparel industry as “eventual weight loss in the broader population could spur a wardrobe replacement cycle.” 

    Meacham said that an adoption rate of 38 million individuals using weight-loss drugs (midpoint of BofA’s estimated 2030 TAM) combined with the assumption of buying new clothing could result in $50 billion of new apparel spending. 

    Walmart has already voiced concern about seeing an impact on shopping demand from people taking the diabetes drug Ozempic, Wegovy, and other appetite-suppressing medications. 

    Banks are still evaluating the downstream effects of GLP-1 impacts that could be more clear in the next several quarters. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 22:00

  • Texas Reclaims Island From Mexican Cartels In Fight To Secure Border
    Texas Reclaims Island From Mexican Cartels In Fight To Secure Border

    Authored by J.M. Phelps via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Hondurans walk along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande and past an emptied-out migrant camp after crossing over from Mexico to El Paso, Texas, on May 13, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

    In the fight against Mexican cartels, Texas law enforcement recently took control of a dangerous island used by human traffickers.

    The Epoch Times spoke to Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, who identified Fronton Island as possibly “the most violent part” of the Texas–Mexico border. Belonging to Texas, Fronton Island is an island in the Rio Grande River. According to the General Land Office, “Fronton Island has been a hot spot for drug and human trafficking and dangerous cartel activity in the past couple of months.”

    Ms. Buckingham further described the island as “a law enforcement-free refuge, one where cartels went for refuge when they needed it.” On Sept. 7, she issued a letter to the Texas Department of Public Safety, authorizing law enforcement access to the state-owned 170-acre island.

    On an island where fully automatic weapons were once being fired regularly at night, as two violent cartels fought over its control, she said, “Law enforcement set foot on the island for the first time on Monday [Oct. 2].”

    Ms. Buckingham cannot speak to the details of the operation, but said the island has been reclaimed by an elite force of Texas Rangers. “Clearing the island and taking away [the cartel’s] shelter, they are finding caches of weapons and more than I can’t speak fully about,” she added.

    With a Texas flag planted on the island, Ms. Buckingham considers the operation a win against illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and human trafficking—but the scope of the problem exceeds this single region.

    “Texas is still getting flooded with illegal immigrants,” she said. “We’re seeing millions and millions of folks coming across the border.”

    To put this in perspective, she said, “The New York mayor is complaining about thousands of people coming [into his city], while Eagle Pass [in Texas] expects far more than that.” The numbers of migrants Eagle Pass has to brace for is “the equivalent of 2.7 million people illegally coming to New York every week.” In addition, she said, “these are not just family units, but a whole lot of young, military-aged males.”

    “Recent surges of illegal immigrants are setting new records for crossing the border,” she said. “There are numerous videos circulating online showing thousands of people literally storming across the border,” she added. “This is literally an invasion.”

    For those actually being processed by Border Patrol to enter the country, she said, their earliest court date to begin a legal process for their entry into the country would be the year 2027. “With a court date years in the future like this, many will just disappear,” she said.

    Streaming Across the Border

    According to Ms. Buckingham, “nearly everybody who comes who comes across the border has a wristband that indicates which cartel they belong to.”

    “Everyone who comes across is owned by somebody, so you’re basically seeing the largest increase in slavery that this world has ever seen,” she said. “Many are now obligated to the drug trade or the human trafficking trade because the cartels are controlling who crosses the border.”

    “With enough fentanyl across our border to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States, this has to stop,” she said, adding that “Texas is doing everything we possibly can to get this stopped.”

    One of the things Texas is doing is “creating a criminal record for the people who come across and break our laws so that they’re easily identifiable,” she said. “Because of [President Joe] Biden’s policies, what we’re seeing right now is a lot of criminals who simply get turned back around to their country to turn around again and walk back across the border.”

    “While Texas is fighting on every front and will continue to fight,” she said, “people need to seriously think about who they’re voting for in Congress and for president, because we need people who will enforce policies that stop illegal immigration, and the trafficking of drugs and people into our great country.”

    In September alone, Border Patrol encountered a record 269,735 migrants at the border; 218,763 of whom were attempting to illegally enter the country. In fiscal year 2023, a record 169 people on the terror watch list were apprehended, and more than 25,500 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the border.

    The White House and Department of Homeland Security did not return requests for comment.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 21:40

  • Salesforce CEO Demands Return Of 'Law And Order' Across Crime-Ridden San Fran
    Salesforce CEO Demands Return Of ‘Law And Order’ Across Crime-Ridden San Fran

    Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest employer and anchor tenant in the city’s tallest skyscraper, urged progressive leaders in City Hall on Sunday night to reverse course on defunding the police. He advocates to “refund” the police force after defunding policies sparked a metro area-wide surge in violent crime. This call from Benioff, alongside others, suggests a growing separation from previously ‘woke’ policies. However, these calls to reverse disastrous progressive policies could be too late. 

    On Sunday evening, Benioff posted on X, “San Francisco must REFUND the Police not continue to DEFUND the Police. Our SFPD and Sheriffs are the key to a safe and clean San Francisco every day. SFPD must be returned to >2000 officers within 18 months from <1400 where it has been allowed to fall, and the police force must be fully empowered to enforce ALL laws." 

    He continued, “Compensate ALL city employees to recruit the best officers in the country. Reward and recognize them for hiring the absolute best now. San Francisco Police Academy must be expanded for hiring surge. All laws must be fully enforced. Police must be fully funded. The DA’s office must prosecute to the fullest level of the law. Return Safety to retail business and residential properties NOW. DISTRICT BY DISTRICT – Police officers need to be enabled to protect assigned districts and rewarded & measured for their effectiveness. Metrics for effectiveness need to be clearly defined and transparent. Let’s institute a Neighborhood Policing model in San Francisco, safety District by District. We can and must do more now with our police force.”

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    And, of course, Elon Musk, whose X headquarters is based in the crime-ridden metro area, responded to Benioff’s post: “We must also grant law enforcement officers the respect and honor that they deserve. Every profession has flawed individuals, but it was deeply wrong to condemn all police officers, after they risked their lives to keep us safe, for the sins of the few.”

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    Musk has warned San Francisco’s downtown feels “post-apocalyptic” … 

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    The backfiring of policies recently forced Democrat Mayor London Breed to reverse course on her defunding the police initiatives. She has requested more funding for police, a move to attract businesses back to the downtown area.

    Benioff has previously warned about the metro area’s collapsing commercial real estate market, warning that the downtown area is “never going back to the way it was” in pre-Covid times.

    No more kneeling for the mayor?

    … and across the nation, who could’ve seen this coming? 

    Blue cities face severe police shortages as violent crime explodes. 

    X users responded to Benioff’s post: 

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    … 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 21:20

  • Biden Throws $45 Billion In Federal Funds To Convert Offices Into Homes
    Biden Throws $45 Billion In Federal Funds To Convert Offices Into Homes

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Questions abound. Assume you can convert offices into homes, who wants to live in them? Is a tear-down cheaper?

    To ease the housing crisis, White House Opens $45 Billion in Federal Funds to Convert Offices Into Homes

    Taking aim at the nation’s housing crisis, the White House kicked off a multiagency push on Friday to help real-estate developers convert more office buildings emptied by the pandemic into affordable housing.

    The initiative aims to harness $35 billion in low-cost loans already available through the Transportation Department to fund housing developments near transit hubs, folding the initiative into the Biden administration’s clean-energy push.

    It also opens up additional funding sources and tax incentives and offers a new guide to 20 federal programs that developers can tap and that offers technical assistance in what can be tricky and expensive conversions.

    A third part of the program will see the federal government draw up a public list of buildings it owns that could be made available for sale to help bolster development.

    The federal government owns about 1,500 office buildings nationally and had leases on almost 200 million square feet of additional space as of April, according to Barclays analysts, who said in a recent report that much of that office space was underused.

    Questions Abound

    Also consider San Francisco’s push to turn office buildings into homes hinges on this simple idea

    “Hope is not a strategy,” said Nick Romito, co-founder and CEO of VTS, a leasing and asset-management data company. “The hope that if you convert it, they will come —well, a lot depends on where that building is.”

    While New York City’s downtown financial district is home to a number of successful office-to-residential conversions, it also takes a vibrant neighborhood, with bustling cafés, grocery stores and more.

    “That is not the same for San Francisco,” Romito said. “The infrastructure and the cost of converting a building — that’s part of it,” he said. “But I’d be more concerned about, even if you can convert it, who wants to live there?”

    “What’s cheaper?” Romito said. “Is it cheaper to add amenities in maybe a zombie building, add a floor or two, to create a better experience? Or is it cheaper to knock the entire building down, rebuild something else, and pray to God you lease it?”

    Warren Wachsberger, CEO of Aecom Capital, a subsidiary of Aecom ACM, said revamping old office buildings isn’t that simple. “Less than 1% of all apartment units underway, being built nationally, are office-to-residential conversions, despite everybody’s love affair with them,” Wachsberger said, speaking from Los Angeles.

    “Many buildings probably won’t work,” Wachsberger said, observing that thick, concrete office floorplates often need to be drilled through and plumbing and heating systems overhauled, with local building codes adding to the headache.

    “It’s a lot easier and cheaper to demolish it and start over from scratch,” he said. “That means buying buildings essentially at the cost of land.”

    Wachsberger said hopes for an expansion of an office-to-residential conversion effort in Los Angeles in the 2000s likely hinge on incentives for developers and the buildings being in places where people wanted to work, eat, live and shop. “Until that’s able to come back, it’s difficult to create the vibrancy that was there prepandemic,” he said.

    Simple Idea

    I had to read that article twice to find the simple idea mentioned in the headline. The article never really explained. But I believe It’s in that last paragraph above: Incentives and free money from governments.

    With enough subsidies, developers will try nearly anything. Then when the projects fail, the developers ask for more money.

    Clean Energy Question

    What the heck does this have to do with clean energy?

    The answer is clearly nothing. Nonetheless, $45 billion is siphoned from the Biden administration’s clean-energy push.

    The government has 1,500 office buildings nationally and leases on almost 200 million square feet of additional space that it does not need. Instead of canceling leases and selling the real estate, it’s going to convert them into clean energy spaces.

    Biden’s Green Energy Inflation Reduction Act Needs a Big Bailout Already

    Please note Biden’s Green Energy Inflation Reduction Act Needs a Big Bailout Already

    Surprise, surprise. Subsidies were not enough to make Biden’s energy projects profitable.

    The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for green energy, yet now renewable developers want utility rate-payers in New York and other states to bail them out.

    According to a report late last month by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (Nyserda), large offshore wind developers are asking for an average 48% price adjustment in their contracts to cover rising costs. The Alliance for Clean Energy NY is also requesting an average 64% price increase on 86 solar and wind projects.

    What Will This Office to Apartment Conversion Ultimately Cost?

    Supposedly, this office conversion idea will only cost $45 billion.

    I assume it will eventually cost $450 billion minimum by the time Biden finishes. He is guaranteed to add subsidized low income, clean energy, free electric heat, and free child care into the mix.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 21:00

  • Watch: COVID Authoritarians Want Forgiveness – Here's Why They Don't Deserve It
    Watch: COVID Authoritarians Want Forgiveness – Here’s Why They Don’t Deserve It

    Do authoritarians deserve a chance to be treated with grace and forgiveness?  The question is circulating regularly these days in the wake of the complete failure of covid pandemic response and the victory of the anti-mandate movement.  The answer relies on a series of counter-questions based on logic and predictable outcomes.  It’s the kind of discussion that covid cultists don’t want to have; they just want everyone to forget because they now have something to lose politically  

    Scott Galloway, Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and member of the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders Of Tomorrow” list, is one of the cultists that now wants to be given a free pass as he debates the issue on Real Time with Bill Maher.

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    The question that we need to ask Galloway is:  How forgiving was he when confronted with people who opposed his authoritarianism?  Galloway was rabidly pro-mandate.  He consistently called for harsher punishments for people refusing to comply and he demanded that the unvaccinated be treated as second tier citizens banned from places of business.  As he argued in his blog titled ‘Half Of America Has Its Head Up Its Ass. It’s Time For A Vaccine Mandate’:

    “Enough already. Federal law should require any citizen who wants to cash a government check, use public transport, or enter a place of business to show proof of vaccination…”

    Galloway cited the ever present inflated CDC data on covid deaths in America as the justification for his authoritarian position.  Of course, data was available not long after the spread of covid indicating that the Infection Fatality Rate of the virus was a tiny 0.23% and that 99.8% of the population (including the unvaccinated) had nothing to fear.  Not only that, but the CDC has recently and quietly published information showing that around 95% of people who died with covid also had one or more comorbidities and 75% had at least four – Meaning, if you did not have multiple comorbidities your chances of dying from covid were incredibly small.   

    Do Galloway and those like him deserve a clean slate?  No, they don’t, and here’s why…

    No Apologies

    We hear many covid authoritarians talk about forgiveness but very few of them actually apologize for their behavior.  Galloway calls for “grace”, perhaps trying to appeal to the Christian notion of “turning the other cheek.”  He admits he was wrong on the mandates (because the data forces him to), but he doesn’t actually apologize for his behavior.  In fact, he excuses his behavior and the behavior of leftist politicians as them doing the best they could do given the imperfect information they had at the time.  This is a common tactic of misdirection.

    As noted above, within months of covid becoming active in the US, the data was already available showing that the virus was not a legitimate threat.  So the claim that their information was “the best they had at the time” does not hold water.  There was more than enough evidence to warrant opposition to unconstitutional policies (frankly, even if covid had been more deadly it doesn’t justify violations of the Bill of Rights).  Millions of Americans tried to explain the truth to those panicking over covid, and they chose not to listen, calling us “selfish conspiracy theorists.” 

    But the greatest trespasses were among those analysts and “influencers” who used covid as an opportunity for political gain, knowing that there was information that debunked government and media spin.  The worst people are those that have no intention of making amends because they plan to try again.  People who do wrong and refuse to give a legitimate apology are the kinds of people that are likely to commit similar offenses in the future.   

    Mad With Power

    The covidians were primarily from the left side of the political spectrum and wherever leftists were most concentrated is where the most egregious violations of liberty took place.  The political left went absolutely mad with power, with a large number of Democrats supporting Orwellian controls to punish people refusing to submit to the mandates. 

    There were calls to fine the unvaccinated, imprison people who question the vaccine, put the vaccinated on home lockdown and even take away their children.  In some states, like New York, there was active legislation put forward to create detention facilities for people that did not comply (covid camps).  That is some serious Stalinist behavior and we are still waiting for it to be addressed and for certain political leaders to be punished.  

    As the old saying goes: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”  We have now seen the character of the political left.  We have seen the character of people like Galloway, and they have been found untrustworthy.

    It Can And Will Happen Again

    The covid event was really a litmus test for authoritarian tendencies in the US.  At least half the public failed that test miserably.  We may not see another pandemic agenda in our lifetimes, but that doesn’t really matter.  There will be many other opportunities in the future for ignorant people and sociopathic people to act out on their darker impulses.  It is important to make a note of how the individuals around us behave when they think it’s safe to be evil, and we must remember who they are.  These are not people that should be given “grace” or trust down the road when the next crisis strikes; they have shown themselves to be unworthy of that.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 20:40

  • "The Pessimistic Tone On Conference Calls Is Striking": US Stocks Are Facing Falling Profit Forecasts
    “The Pessimistic Tone On Conference Calls Is Striking”: US Stocks Are Facing Falling Profit Forecasts

    By Sagarika Jaisanghani, Bloomberg markets live reporter and analyst

    A deteriorating outlook for corporate earnings offers little support for the S&P 500 reeling from its worst October since 2018.

    While data from Bloomberg Intelligence show US firms are on pace to report a surprise increase in third-quarter earnings, forecasts for future quarters have been marked down as companies warned of tepid demand and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook. Deutsche Bank Group AG said analysts’ estimates for the fourth quarter have been cut by a “more than typical” 1.9% since the start of the reporting season.

    Profit estimates for the next 12 months for the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index — which weights companies equally rather than by market value, a move that pares the influence of the technology behemoths — have come down 1.8% since the start of October, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

    “The pessimistic tone” on post-earnings conference calls “is striking,” said Lori Calvasina, head of US equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets LLC. The magnitude of downward revisions in 2023 and 2024 forecasts means the season so far hasn’t been “enough to get the US equity market out of its recent malaise,” she wrote in a note.

    US stocks have slumped this month in their worst October performance in six years, hurt by a surge in bond yields and renewed geopolitical concerns. A disappointing showing from technology giants including Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. has also weighed on sentiment. The S&P 500 confirmed a technical correction on Friday after slumping 10% from its July peak.

    Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson — among the most bearish voices on Wall Street — said profit expectations are still “too high for the fourth quarter and 2024, even in an economy that’s performing well.” The strategist said the odds of a rally in the fourth quarter were much lower given “narrowing breadth, cautious factor leadership, falling earnings revisions and fading consumer and business confidence.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 20:20

  • 60 Million Americans Under Freeze Alerts As Powerful Arctic Blast Crashes Temps Nationwide
    60 Million Americans Under Freeze Alerts As Powerful Arctic Blast Crashes Temps Nationwide

    As highlighted in last week’s article (view here), temperatures across the Lower 48 are diving as a cold blast pours in from Canada. These bone-chilling temperatures come just in time for Halloween. About 250 million Americans are feeling below-average temperatures, while 60 million will be under frost or freeze alerts.

    According to private weather forecaster BAMWX, the cold air invasion has already begun:

    A lot of record cold lows on the table to start out November. 20s all the way down to Central Texas with temperatures 15 – 20F below normal.

    We first called for a major Halloween cold front 2 weeks ago and it is here. 

    Fox Weather said the cold blast will affect more than “250 million Americans from coast to coast,” while 60 million Americans, from Big Bend of Texas to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, will be under cold weather alerts. 

    Meteorologist Beau Dodson said the worst cold weather will be on Wednesday morning. He showed on a map where “new record low temperatures will be possible.” 

     “Temperatures plunged across Texas now more than 30°F below normal for Oct 30th. Overall the Lower 48 is an astounding 13°F below normal,” meteorologist Ryan Maue said. 

    This is wild! 

    … and this. 

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    Bloomberg data shows the cold shot will be short-lived. However, Lower 48 temps are expected to drop again by mid-month. 

    Recall it feels like just yesterday when corporate media was pushing climate misinformation by attempting to persuade the public that Earth was recklessly spiraling into a boiling crisis. 

    Also, remember, NOAA had to run far away from lying corporate media about the “hottest day ever.” At the same time, 1,600 scientists around the world signed a declaration declaring there was no climate emergency. 

    We penned several notes that an El Nino winter could leave some parts of the Lower 48 with a cold and snowy winter: 

    New snow forecasts for the Mid-Alantic show a snowy winter from DC to NYC. 

    But-but-but corporate media said the Earth is boiling… 

    Time to buy a snowmobile?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 20:00

  • Is Bitcoin Deflationary? And What To Expect Next?
    Is Bitcoin Deflationary? And What To Expect Next?

    Submitted by Seth Chalnick (@seth_oshi),

    Inspired by this ZeroHedge article about the Cantillon Effect, a friend asked me today if I follow how Bitcoin is perceived as “deflationary”?

    This came within the context of a broader discussion about “fiscal dominance” as it relates to market-breaking events imploding in real-time.

    My response follows…

    Excellent article explaining the Cantillon effect… i.e. how those closest to the printing presses benefit not just disproportionately, but at the expense of everyone else.

    And who can blame them? Centralization leads to more centralization, as oligopolies across different verticals align incentives to play ball. It is, in fact, probable that most of us complaining today would also quietly accept a multibillion dollar payout, if it “just meant that” innocent citizens halfway around the world would die as a result. Especially if plausible deniability couldn’t directly link it back. Especially if we could justify it as a “greater good”. Not saying we would, but its pretty fucking clear as day that others would… and that this is also how the world has always worked, since arguably before man first harnessed the power to create a surplus.

    But life has a funny way of balancing out. See guillotines, viruses, and schoolyard bully resolution for reference.

    In my opinion, Bitcoin gets misclassified as “deflationary” because people conflate theorical (cyclical?) price declines with an eventual fixed supply of money. Basically they take fiscal (Keynesian) and/or Monetary (Friedman) and/or MMT (idiotic) square peg world views, based on their own malincentives or fears, and rationalize them into round holes screaming FUD (fear/uncertainty/doubt) to justify the status quo and cognitive dissonance.

    Bitcoin will actually continue to be “inflationary” until the year 2140, when the last bitcoin will have been mined.

    That’s 117 years away.

    What Bitcoin actually is… is disinflationary… because people are incentivized to save it rather than spend it, and to make sound investments with it, rather than foolishly levered ones, and to build generational low-time-preference projects, like bridges, universities, infrastructure, cathedrals, artwork, etc… versus spending FIAT now on high-time-preference items, because it will be worth less (worthless?) in the future, such that gambling, fast food, leverage, and immediate gratification get drawn like moths to the lights of extreme celebrity, cancel culture, debauchery, depravity, etc.

    Look at all the historical great civilizations. Most of everything meaningful was built during gold standard periods. Bitcoin is popularly viewed as having an erratic valuation, something that moves quickly and beyond our control. In periods where gold was not messed with it became stable. That is, until its derivatives became corrupted. Which is perhaps a tendency of human nature itself, but not inevitable.

    Bitcoin is currently undergoing an adoption phase, quite similar but opposite to the Cantillon effect. Those in early, who can withstand the wild swings, will benefit disproportionately, outperforming every other asset class. But it will inevitably settle down. And it will subsume or at least check and balance FIAT/CBDC. And it may very well lead to a gold 2.0 standard. Because it is better than gold in every way (except industrial use). And it is notably more defensible than gold from derivative dilution… because gold has no open source distributed ledger.

    Bitcoin is in fact slightly deflationary, in that people can lose their private keys to their bitcoin holdings, and lose it forever, thereby making the rest of the pool more valuable. But this is a small fraction, and will decrease over time, as bitcoin education increases, and custody solutions simplify. This happened a lot in the beginning, because people didn’t know what they were sitting on. Now that its valuable, people either safeguard it or get scared away from it altogether.

    Circling back to why it gets a bad rep as deflationary… the primary reason is because the masters of the universe cannot inflate it. They can’t print it. They can’t finance wars with it. They can’t steal its citizens’ life force with it. They can’t hide behind the justification of “saving the world from depression” during the next financial crises. Case in point… compare 2008 banking crisis with the SBF blowout. 2008 was “fixed” by inflating the bubble of the next generation to grotesque proportions. SBF got exposed for the ponzi he was, and what, 5 months later, we’re within $5k price pre-crisis?

    Everyone talks about the Great Depression and how we “learned our lessons” to avoid it. Compare the Great Depression with the lesser known depression of 1920-1921. 1920 was the single most deflationary year we ever had. It was extremely painful. Shit burned. And then the economy roared back. What we “learned” was how to more efficiently transfer wealth to the rich. That, and to use war as a vehicle for stealing other people’s lives, possessions, and future life force.

    In the end, Bitcoin offers a way to vote with your feet, a parallel system that doesn’t care about your feelings, that will reward those who see its inevitability, that has rules with no rulers, that is incorruptible and beyond the scope of governmental control.

    Personally, as geopolitics implode, markets dislocate, and the financial world starts to break… I have never been more bullish or higher conviction on Bitcoin:

    • The ponzis washed out

    • ETF approval will not only infuse billions in capital, but more importantly, blast a positive feedback loop of credibility onto the world stage

    • The next “Halving” starts in about 6 months, which mathematically cuts the new supply creation by 50% every four years, which if past is prologue, will start the next bull run

    • The next bull run will ramp up in tandem with the next presidential election shit show, and at least two 2nd-tier candidates potentially representing the tying vote are very much pro-bitcoin

    • The FACT that I introduced three years ago… namely that the US Dollar has LOST its world reserve currency status… will slowly, painfully, begrudgingly… make its way into the American zeitgeist… and Bitcoin will be taken seriously as a vehicle for flight to quality. Smart money (i.e. Larry Fink, Blackrock) is already calling it that.

    Now ask yourself… is it more likely:

    • That spending on social services, military, and debt service repayment will increase or decrease?

    • That rates remain high enough for longer (if not higher) or decrease all the way back to 1%, which is what it would take to keep the ponzi alive?

    • That investors will demand more interest, or accept less interest, on the money they loan the US, now that our currency is debasing at an ever faster pace?

    • That other countries will sell or buy US treasuries to insulate themselves from potential sanctions, and while we head into dollar weakness?

    • That investors will buy Bitcoin, a .5t market cap with no sustainable derivative market, or Gold, a 10t market cap with artificial price cap, opaque ledger, and difficulty safeguarding?

    • That a material number of the world’s 50 million millionaires will want at least 1 bitcoin?

      • Which is problematic… because there are only ~19 million bitcoins minted. Guess what happens to the price when they do start competing… in a market where 85% of supply has not changed hands… EVEN DURING THE SBF DEBACLE.

    When the world was down on TikTok and the mob tried to lynch it. Why didn’t they? Because they couldn’t. Try messing around with bitcoin and finding out. When only five people have cell phones, they have cute walky-talkies. When third-world villagers have them, the network changes the world. Get ready for Bitcoin’s network.

    Bitcoin is a vote against Davos. Against the Uniparty. Against the Fed. Against censorship, high-timepreference, depravity, cancel culture, vaccines, the war machine, pronouns, gun control, and everyone who doesn’t surf.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 19:40

  • Soros-Backed Activist District Attorney Gets Robbed – Becomes Victim Of Her Own System
    Soros-Backed Activist District Attorney Gets Robbed – Becomes Victim Of Her Own System

    Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is no stranger to controversy.  She raised eyebrows after she received at least $130,000 from George Soros during her failed 2018 election bid, then won in 2022 on a campaign of radical criminal reforms for the Oakland area.  Her primary position?  That minorities are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and the criminal court system and that “equity” policies would stop the rising crime rate.

    Price has made headlines in the past for various suspect behaviors and decisions.  Not long after taking office she hired her boyfriend, Antwon Cloird, to her office as a “senior program specialist” with a six-figure income.  She then tried to interfere in a triple-murder-for-hire case, creating a plea deal for the defendant and reducing his sentence down to a maximum of 15 years even though he was eligible for 75 years.  The presiding judge blocked Price’s plea deal, but dropped two charges.  Price accused the judge of bias and said he should no longer be allowed to preside over criminal cases.     

    Pamela Price’s methods have so far been a disaster for the Bay Area.  Skyrocketing crime (41% increase in burglaries and 20% increase in robberies) has led to Alameda residents demanding a recall of the far-left activist DA.  Alameda and the surrounding metro area does not report full violent crime data and will not provide such information to the FBI until 2024-2025.  Violent crime rates are estimated to have risen at least 20%.  Residents say Price’s soft-on-crime antics are making things far worse for the community and costing innocent lives.  

    Ironically, Price has become a victim of her own policies.  The DA had her car broken into and was robbed this week, items including a laptop were taken; the break-in happened in broad daylight at 3pm at 27th Street and Telegraph Avenue, near the Alameda County Family Justice facility.  When Price attempted to call police to investigate the crime, she waited an hour for a response, then was forced to file a report online.  Lack of adequate law enforcement presence and the refusal to prosecute, often based on race, have been cited as the biggest catalysts for the Bay Area’s swift social and economic decline.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 19:20

  • The Counterculture Everyone Forgot
    The Counterculture Everyone Forgot

    Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

    Rather than mocking the Counterculture, we would benefit from re-acquiring its values that favored frugality and the ownership of skills, work, enterprise and land.

    Mention the Counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, and the memory stored in popular culture is of drug-dazed, half-naked hippies dancing to rock music. There was a slice of that, to be sure, but there was much more that’s largely been forgotten:

    The Counterculture was primarily a response to the meaningless debt-dependent consumerism that had already taken hold of our society and economy. The core values of the Counterculture Everyone Forgot were:

    1. Learning how to make and repair things oneself

    2. Frugality

    3. Rejection of debt

    I submit that the value of these life precepts will become increasingly visible and necessary. As I’ve explained before, reliance on debt incentivizes the most destructive and unsustainable traits of human nature: choosing the painless, sacrifice-free option of pushing costs into the future, the removal of any incentive to become more productive and efficient, and the optimization of the illusion that the future will painlessly be able to not just service the current mountain of debt but an entire mountain range of debt that will pile up as our borrowing increases.

    The emptiness and meaningless of consumerism has reached levels which are now actively destroying our health, as I laid out in gory detail in The Profitable Destruction of Americans’ Health. The optimization of maximizing profit via monopoly/cartel profiteering, planned obsolescence and shrinflation (getting less while paying more) has stripped products and services of durability, so everything we buy is on a conveyor belt to the Landfill–the perfection of our Waste Is Growth Landfill Economy.

    This conveyor belt of squandered wealth looks sustainable as long as debt can skyrocket at near-zero rates of interest. But those days are gone, never to return. Borrowing more money now costs money, and so long after the unrepairable, low-quality gew-gaw is rotting away in the landfill, the debt used to purchase it lives on, eating the borrower alive.

    The secular bible of the Counterculture was the Whole Earth Catalog, a collection of quality American-manufactured tools and products designed for durability and productive use. In other words, things that aren’t consumed, they’re used to generate value. This concept has largely been lost: human beings are not productive beings, we’re consumers, whose very identity anf existence flows from buying more of everything: I shop, therefore I am.

    The depravity of borrowing money to squander on things of questionable or temporary value was visible 60 years ago, and the depravity will soon consume all those who believe this system is sustainable. What’s the opposite of a depraved dependence on debt to buy stuff of questionable or temporary value? Buying tools with cash and learning how to use them to create value for oneself, one’s household and one’s community, and consume / share / sell what one produces.

    The Counterculture questioned the value of debt and consumerism, and sought to return to the bedrock skills and values of the pre-debt/consumerism era. These included frugality–waste not, want not–in service of saving up and paying cash for everything rather than borrowing money, and in reducing dependence on the exploitive system of labor, where one sells their time (i.e. their life) for the dubious benefits of a wage.

    The favored Counterculture alternative was to own your own work, own your own tools and own your own land. And by “own” we mean “own free and clear,” i.e. zero debt.

    One of the more popular books of the Counterculture era was How to Live on Nothing (1/1/71), an exaggeration of course, but nonetheless it offered a practical guide to spending as little as possible, for it was understood that frugality equals freedom and debt equals servitude.

    In my own work, I’ve strived to offer alternatives to piling up debt / servitude. My book Get a Job, Build a Real Career describes an alternative to accepting a lifetime of debt /servitude for a university degree of questionable value–learn how to accredit yourself.

    My book Self-Reliance in the 21st Century lays out a framework for increasing self-reliance by reducing exposure to systemic fragilities and vulnerabilities, and assembling real-world skills and assets rather than pile up more debt or depending on a government funded by debt.

    Our first house was a micro-house constructed with hand tools as there was no electrical service onsite. Those who know how can do quite a bit with a sharp handsaw and other basic tools. A few years later, when we were 26 years of age, we built a “real house” ourselves, subcontracting the electrical and plumbing asd required by local building codes. We took out a local bank loan for $5,000 to finish the house and paid it off in less than two years. (In today’s money, that’s $17,500.) Then the house was ours, free and clear.

    Frugality in service of saving and paying cash for durable value really is freedom. So is knowing how to do things so you don’t have to pay others to do what you could have done yourself.

    Rather than mocking the Counterculture, we would benefit from re-acquiring its values that favored frugality and self-reliance, the ownership of skills, work, enterprise and land, sharing knowledge with others and a rejection of debt as needless servitude.

    These values don’t disappear with financial success, for they are the bedrock of financial success. Here are my work slippers and my dress slippers, for going out into the world looking my best:

    *  *  *

    My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century. Read the first chapter for free (PDF)

    Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

    Subscribe to my Substack for free

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 19:00

  • Tucker And Farage: Why Aren't Muslim Countries Taking Muslim Refugees?
    Tucker And Farage: Why Aren’t Muslim Countries Taking Muslim Refugees?

    Tucker Carlson sat down with former UK politician Nigel Farage to discuss where refugees from current conflicts in the Middle East should go, considering that there will be “hundreds of thousands, possibly millions” of them in the coming weeks, months and years.

    Carlson posited a scenario in which Israel is asked to take in refugees who hate them.

    “So if you were to suggest ‘well why isn’t Israel take them in, it’s their War’, the response you would get would be… ‘that’s insane these people are dangerous.'”

    Likewise, a country with Christian roots such as the United States – which feels it should try to help people, should remember that “the duty of any government its primary duty is the Integrity of its own country and its citizens,” Carlson continued.

    Carlson then observes that there’s a distinct lack of voices calling for countries with booming economies, such as China, to bear the refugee load. Why instead are Christian countries, historically bastions of refuge, the only ones saddled with this “obligation”?

    “It’s interesting that no one ever says well China’s got the fastest-growing economy in the world they have an obligation to take in millions of refugees,” he said.

    Farage noted the UK’s “great history in the UK of taking refugees,” noting that “they did very, very well in Commerce, Finance, the military in our country,” in terms of persecuted groups that the country has taken in throughout history.

    But juxtapose this with the recent waves of refugees, and a disturbing pattern emerges. A significant number of these refugees, especially from regions like Gaza, are potential sympathizers of extremist groups like Hamas. Given the spate of extremist-driven incidents in the West, particularly in the UK, one can’t help but wonder: are Western countries knowingly or unknowingly sowing the seeds of their own societal unrest?

    “So if you take any significant number from Gaza into our country, you will have a significant percentage of Hamas sympathizers and supporters among them,” said Carlson.

    To which Farage replied: “And if anyone should take them Tucker, shouldn’t it be the Egyptians? Shouldn’t it be the Saudis? Shouldn’t it be their co-religionists in that part of the world? And how interesting that Saudi Arabia didn’t take a single person from Syria because they were worried of the impact it would have on Saudi Society. Right. And the same goes for Egypt.”

    Marxism and ‘conservative cowardice.’

    According to Farage, “We have allowed the virus of Marxism to take hold in our countries,” noting how Britain and the United States are being indoctrinated with a toxic blend of guilt over their colonial pasts, allegations of institutional racism, and a host of other divisive narratives. All the while, conservative voices, which could counter this downward spiral, remain silenced by a spineless media establishment.

    “Conservative cowardice through politics and media has led to so very much of this,” he continued.

    Watch:

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 18:38

  • Biden Policies Delivered $50-$60 Billion To Iran
    Biden Policies Delivered $50-$60 Billion To Iran

    By Adam Andrzejewski of Open the Books Substack

    By making concessions to the Mullahs who operate the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, the Biden Administration has directly or indirectly pumped more than $50 billion into their coffers enabling untold violence and international destabilization, threatening our our allies and implicating our energy supply chain – just as the Administration also instituted unprecedented handcuffs on U.S. energy independence.

    It allowed the sale of Iranian oil worth approximately $40 billion.

    It allowed the sale of electricity to Iraq, bringing in an estimated $10 billion to the regime.

    Most recently, it released another $6 billion to Iran in Iranian cash. Fortunately for all, the current custodian of that cash, Qatar, has agreed to hold onto those payouts for now.

    Despite universal opprobrium and hard sanctions on Iran, Yale University and The Johns Hopkins University have partnered with Iranian entities for research in country since 2013 on the U.S. taxpayer’s dime. Both universities hold massive endowments and don’t need the taxpayer’s help. Furthermore, both were recently criticized for not rebuking the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.

    KEY BACKGROUND

    Iranian Oil: The Mullahs increased oil exports by about 1.5 million barrels a day during Biden’s presidency according to The Committee to Unleash Prosperity founded by the economists Stephen Moore, Lawrence Kudlow, Arthur Laffer, and Steve Forbes:

    “This has put roughly $40 billion more into the coffers of the Iranian government,” according to the committee’s investigation.

    Loosening Iranian oil sanctions accompanied decline in domestic U.S. oil production by some 700 million barrels a year, thanks to the administrations resolute anti-fossil fuel polices.

    The Wall Street Journal wrote, “there’s no question the U.S. decision to ease enforcement of oil sanctions against Iran has aided Israel’s enemies.”

    By not enforcing oil sanctions, cash flowed to Tehran, which then had billions more to fund Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.

    The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, reports Iran’s oil production jumped more than ten-percent from 2.6 million barrels a day in April, to 3 million in August.

    Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies points out that not enforcing Iranian oil sanctions also helps China: Iran’s oil increased production can’t be accomplished by sanction evasion alone.

    “That number likely reflects a policy of non-enforcement of sanctions,” Goldberg said. “With the administration pursuing so-called ‘de-escalation’ policies with both Iran and China simultaneously, tacitly approving increased Iranian oil exports to China is one way the White House can offer concessions to both regimes.”

    Reuters reported on the increased OPEC output: “Iran, which has been boosting supply despite U.S. sanctions, also pumped more, with output hitting the highest level since 2018.” That’s the year Washington re-imposed sanctions.

    Iranian electricity: Earlier this year, Iraq made another $10 billion in frozen assets available to pay for natural gas that Iraq buys from Iran.

    U.S. sanctions prevent Iraq from paying Iran directly for the gas, and Tehran had cut supplies, plunging already electricity-starved Iraq into blackouts. That lead to an Iraqi plan to barter with Iran, sending its oil as payment for Tehran’s natural gas.

    $6 billion in unfrozen Iranian assets: The Wall Street Journal news side published an exclusive on October 8th, that since August, Iran helped plot the Hamas attack on Israel.

    It’s impossible to miss that this took places as the Biden Administration unfroze $6 billion in disputed Iranian funds.

    In the communique announcing the accord, the U.S. agreed to release five Iranians held in the U.S. and the $6 billion, in exchange for freeing five U.S. citizens illegally held in Tehran. For the Mullahcracy, crime pays — they got their guys and the money.

    The funds at issue had been in South Korea. The money was transferred to Doha, Qatar, along with a fig leaf suggesting they will be expended only for “humanitarian” spending, such as food and medicine. Obviously, $6 billion for food and medicine frees up another $6 billion for terror and violence.

    As The Hill said, “Iran has access to $6 billion that it did not have access to three months ago.”

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken insists the money wasn’t used to attack Israel.

    “Not a single dollar from that account has actually been spent to date,” Blinken said. “It’s very carefully and closely regulated by the Treasury Department to make sure that it’s only used for food, for medicine, for medical equipment.”

    Somehow, the Biden Administration, which is expert in spending other people’s money, simply cannot understand the $6 billion boost it gave to terrorists.

    U.S. federal grants spent in Iran: Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com searched the federal checkbook for direct payments to entities in Iran and found that U.S. agencies have funded American universities doing work in Iran with Iranian institutions.

    It’s unclear how this partnership happens when U.S. sanctions are in place.

    From 2016 to 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gave Johns Hopkins University $538,000 in the form of a mental health research grant for a project the university did in conjunction with Tehran Medical Science University – a subdivision of the Iranian government.

    The description states a contract

    “will cover effort for Dr. Larry Wissow [Johns Hopkins] to have the role of co-pi of the grant. Activities will include weekly meetings with Dr. Mojtaba the other co-pi and with Dr. Sharifi, the leader of the Iranian research team, to oversee the ongoing conduct of the project. Dr. Wissow will have primary responsibility for drafting analysis plans and for creating the de-identified data set that will be deposited with NIMH. He will also participate in drafting and submitting manuscripts developed from the study data.”

    For perspective on its spending, Johns Hopkins’ spokeswoman Jill Rosen pointed to the university’s position of leading the nation in research spending for the 43rd consecutive year, with $3.2 billion spent in FY 2021.

    The National Science Foundation also funded $17,000 for Yale University to do doctoral dissertation research in Iran.

    Both universities have large endowments — $40.7 billion for Yale, and about $8 billion for Johns Hopkins — and Yale, among other Ivy League schools, is being criticized for not rebuking the Hamas invasion of Israel. 

    TROUBLING INTEL

    U.S. officials won’t say that Iran “gave the green light” to Hamas to attack Israel, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, or otherwise was directly involved in the planning or funding of the Oct. 7 attack.

    But U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in an October 10th White House press briefing:

    “Iran is complicit in this attack in a broad sense because they have provided the lion’s share of the funding for the military wing of Hamas, they have provided training, they have provided capabilities, they have provided support, and they have had engagement and contact with Hamas over years and years. And all of that has played a role in contributing to what we have seen.”

    Sullivan continued, “Now, as to the question of whether Iran knew about this attack in advance or helped plan or direct this attack, we do not — as of the moment I’m standing here at the podium — have confirmation of that.”

    According to unclassified U.S. documents,

    ‘‘Iran has historically provided up to $100 million annually in combined support to Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.’’

    The U.S. knows Iran funds Hamas. Therefore: Freeing up $6 billion in a cash-for-hostages deal, trading $10 billion from Iraq for natural gas, or increasing Iranian oil output and revenues by $40 billion means America gave Iran billions in leeway it could use to empower Hamas, and indeed Iran’s entire terror network, to the detriment of our allies.

    CRUCIAL QUOTE

    ​​ “We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel, so obviously it’s easy to understand that they tried to coordinate,” said Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. “The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran.”

    ADDITIONAL READING:

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 10/30/2023 – 18:20

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