Today’s News 3rd March 2023

• The American People Must Draw Red Lines Now
  The American People Must Draw Red Lines Now

  Authored by Connor Freeman via The Libertarian Institute, 

  Washington and NATO have rapidly escalated their war with Russia. The White House appears to have blown up the Nord Stream pipelines in a blatant act of war against Russia, not to mention Germany and other European allies.The CIA is reportedly conducting sabotage attacks on Russian infrastructure and the Pentagon has tacitly endorsed Kiev’s drone strikes hundreds of miles deep inside the Russian mainland.

  Along with an assortment of NATO commandos, U.S. troops, CIA, and Special Operations forces are on the ground in Ukraine as well. The White House has greenlit the transfer of Bradley armored fighting vehicles, longer range rockets, and M1 Abrams battle tanks to the battlefield.

  

  Kiev is demanding hundreds of tanks. Concurrently, multiple European NATO members are sending their own main battle tanks to Ukraine, and a U.S. backed assault on Crimea is expected soon. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky goads London, Berlin, and Paris into handing over fighter jets, his country has already suffered more than 100,000 casualties, hundreds of Ukrainian troops are dying every day just over a battle for the eastern Donetsk city of Bakhmut.

  In recent months, officials in Kiev have explicitly stated that Ukraine—a “de facto” NATO member—is “shedding blood” for a “NATO mission.” The goal is eliminating Moscow as a “threat” to the alliance by weakening, destabilizing, and disintegrating Russia.

  In the process, Ukraine, the human battering ram, is being destroyed. But in the words of Madeline Albright, from the Empire’s perspective, “the price is worth it.”

  Russia must be crippled before the Pentagon launches its impending war against China, “the big one,” which top military commanders and four star generals now warn will take place in only a few years.

  In the meantime, experts and analysts continue to point out—along with even The New York Times—that we are systematically pushing “the United States and its NATO allies closer to direct conflict with Russia.”

  What is the justification for this seemingly perpetual escalation? The U.S. war machine reasons that since Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet ordered strikes on NATO territory or pushed the nuclear button, Washington and its NATO vassals can freely provide Kiev with increasingly advanced weapons and even support assaults against the Crimean Peninsula as well as the Russian homeland itself.

  The aforementioned tanks will likely be used for the potential attacks on Crimea (read: Russian territory) currently being considered by the White House. Such an escalation could swiftly lead to World War III and a nuclear exchange.

  Incidentally, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists warns nuclear war is now a more likely possibility than at any time during the Cold War. In making their case for turning the clock to 90 seconds to midnight—for the first time—the group partly refers to the refusal of the United States, Ukraine, and its allies to come to the negotiating table.

  BAS president and CEO Rachel Bronson said in a statement following the decision that the “U.S. government, its NATO allies and Ukraine have a multitude of channels for dialogue; we urge leaders to explore all of them to their fullest ability to turn back the clock.”

  Last fall, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was advocating a negotiated settlement between Kiev and Moscow. However, he was all but vetoed by the so-called diplomats in Antony Blinken’s State Department.

  Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently discussed how he attempted to mediate a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine in early March 2022. According to Bennett, both sides made major concessions and “there was a good chance of reaching a ceasefire.”  He has now revealed the effort was overruled and ultimately “blocked” by President Joe Biden and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

  According to current and former U.S. officials, that same month, Turkish brokered talks in Istanbul between the warring sides also established a workable foundation for a future settlement. The whole enterprise was squashed again by Johnson, acting on behalf of the “collective West.”

  Even when U.S. military leadership expresses uneasiness about the war’s trajectory, the provision of heavy western-made tanks, or the sheer inability of Ukrainian forces to regain all the territory Russia has captured, the escalations continue anyway. The hawkish Secretary General of NATO himself has said “I fear that the war in Ukraine will get out of control, and spread into a major war between NATO and Russia.”

  Likewise, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned “I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open.” The American people must draw red lines now and stop their out of control ruling class waging wars against nuclear armed powers. As Roger Waters says, this is not a drill.

  Our fellow countrymen have become dangerously desensitized to the thought of direct conflict with both Russia and China.

  Tragically, our people have been numb for a long time. They have yet to truly reckon with our government’s mass murder marathon of the last 20 years including one million dead Iraqis, half a million dead Syrians, as well as the hundreds of thousands killed in Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.

  Designedly, our enemies in Washington need us to be numb to the inevitable results of their reckless, murderous policies. The hawks will next try the same proxy war strategy in Taiwan, we will not get another chance to draw red lines.

  We must demand all military aid be terminated, and that the White House and the State Department be forced to support or at least not interfere with negotiations.

  We must demand an immediate end to this war now.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 23:40

• PA Man Hid Explosive Device In Bag Checked On FL Flight: FBI
  PA Man Hid Explosive Device In Bag Checked On FL Flight: FBI

  A Pennsylvania man has been arrested after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspectors found a live explosive device hidden in a bag he checked for a flight from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley International Airport to Orlando Sanford International on Monday.  

  Marc Muffley, a 40-year-old resident of Lansford, Pennsylvania, has been charged with possessing an explosive in an airport and possessing or attempting to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.  

  

  In a criminal complaint, the FBI says Muffley’s bag was flagged by an alarm after he checked it at the Allegiant Air counter. Officials examined the bag and found a “circular compound, approximately three inches in diameter, wrapped in wax-like paper and clear plastic wrap hidden in the lining of the baggage.”

  When an FBI bomb technician X-rayed the compound, he concluded it contained a “granular type of powder consistent with a commercial grade firework. This granular powder is suspected to be a mixture of flash powder and the dark granulars that are used in commercial grade fireworks.”

  

  Two fuses were attached to the compound: a “quick fuse” that appeared to “part of the original manufacture,” and a slower-burning “hobby fuse” that appeared to be added later. The agent submitting the criminal complaint said the powders “are susceptible to ignite from heat and friction and posed a significant risk to the aircraft and passengers.” 

  The FBI says Muffley’s bag also contained a can of butane, a lighter, a pipe with white powder residue, a wireless drill with cordless batteries, and two GFCI outlets taped together with black tape. Upon discovery, the “immediate area” of the airport was evacuated, the TSA said. 

  According to the complaint, airport security cameras captured Muffley being dropped off at the airport on Monday morning. While the name of the car’s owner was redacted, that person’s driver’s license has the same address as Muffley, about 40 miles northwest of the Lehigh Valley airport in Allentown. 

  

  When TSA officials found the explosive compound, they paged Muffley over the airport public address system, directing him to report to the security desk. Five minutes later, cameras captured him leaving the airport.

  Muffley was arrested at his home about 12 hours later, at 11:30 Monday night. On Thursday, he admitted to packing the materials, but his lawyer suggested he intended to shoot fireworks on a Florida beach, near where his ill grandfather lives. 

  “No one has posited one conceivable theory on how this thing could have gone off. That was not going to happen inside of a bag,” said his attorney, Jonathan McDonald. The judge ordered him held without bail. 

  

  The Daily Mail, linking to Muffley’s rap sheet, reports that he has faced a variety of charges dating to 2017, including drug charges, harassment, “disorderly conduct engage in fighting,” and driving an unregistered vehicle. Citing the Hazleton Standard-Speaker, CNN reports that he was also arrested for stealing $22 worth of batteries from a Family Dollar store. 

  Discussing the criminal history with CNN, former Lansford police chief Jack Soberick said his many encounters with Muffley were minor in nature: “There’s nothing that would light up and say, ‘Hey, this guy’s gonna try to bomb an aircraft’. I don’t think he’s radicalized or anything like that.”

  This explosive compound was initially discovered by a machine. In 2015, an internal TSA investigation found that manned checkpoints had a 95% failure rate in discovering mock explosives and weapons being smuggled by undercover agents testing the system. 

  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 23:20

• Gaslighting: "Conspiracy Theories" Already Proven True In 2023
  Gaslighting: “Conspiracy Theories” Already Proven True In 2023

  Authored by Marie Hawthorne via The Organic Prepper blog,

  Preppers get called conspiracy theorists a lot.  It’s supposed to be demeaning, but considering how many conspiracy theories have been proven correct lately, I no longer consider it an insult.  The more time goes by, the more “conspiracy theorists” just seem ahead of the game.

  Quite a few “conspiracy theories” have recently come to light as actual facts in 2023 already. And it’s only the beginning of March.

  

  Let’s look at a recent batch of “conspiracy theories” that aren’t really theories any more.  

  Gas stoves in peril?

  In January, the OP ran a story about the potential ban on gas stoves.  Naturally, the mainstream media poo-poohed the idea that the government would do something like that.  The New York Times insisted that “No, Biden is Not Trying to Ban Gas Stoves.”   CNN likewise claimed Biden didn’t want to ban the stoves  NPR dismissed the thought of banning gas stoves as a right-wing, culture war stunt.

  Well, maybe they’re not going to outright ban gas stoves. . . but the Department of Energy is proposing new efficiency standards that will make approximately half the gas stoves on the market no longer available. So, technically this isn’t a ban, but regulating gas stoves out of existence has the exact same effect.   

  This is particularly problematic for anyone with fairly new models.  Newer appliances are made to break down within about ten years.  Anyone who’s been a homeowner for more than a decade knows this.  If appliances are made to only last ten years or so, the government doesn’t need to conduct some dramatic midnight raid to steal your stove.  All they have to do is wait.  Within ten years, most people will have to replace their stoves anyway, and at that point, very few, if any, gas stoves will still be on the market.  

  Nope, it’s not just a theory.  They really do want to get rid of gas stoves.

  Covid origins?

  And in other Department of Energy news, the agency recently came to the conclusion that Covid probably did come from a lab.  The findings were part of a classified report, which the government agency shared with the Wall Street Journal last weekend.

  Back in 2021, the FBI had been the only federal agency to state with “moderate confidence” that Covid came from a lab.  At the time, their finding mostly went ignored.  However, with another agency admitting it, and WSJ covering the story, it becomes more difficult to brush aside.

  And at least we’re allowed to openly discuss the lab leak now.  Two years ago, we weren’t.  In February 2021, Facebook banned any discussion of the possible laboratory origins of Covid.  The lab leak theory was just too crazy to even consider. Zero Hedge was banished from Twitter for daring to suggest the makeup of the virus was peculiar in 2020. The Organic Prepper was called a disinformation site and defunded due, in part, to our coverage of the virus.

  But now, House Republicans are launching an investigation into the origins of Covid.   And once the Wall Street Journal publishes something, even the stodgiest Boomers can’t ignore it.  

  The Covid lab leak theory is slowly but surely looking less like a theory, and more like an established fact.

  The Covid vaccine?

  This is hardly the only situation in which Covid dissidents have been proven correct.  There has been a small contingent of people from the beginning who were reluctant to participate in the trial of a novel medical product.  Considering the many criminal payouts Big Pharma has had to make over the years, wanting long-term studies before trying a novel pharmaceutical product shouldn’t be controversial.    

  The cost (injecting a poorly-tested novel substance) did not match up with the benefit (avoiding a not-particularly dangerous disease that many of us had a natural immunity to anyway).  Plenty of well-informed people had perfectly rational reasons for vaccine hesitancy.

  Were our concerns taken seriously?  No.  The Othering was vicious and relentless.  Daisy wrote an article about it here.  Family relationships were stressed and sometimes broken. Careers were ended. Opportunities were denied. Reputations were ruined.  

  And meanwhile, the “safe and effective” drumbeat resounded.  Anyone who wanted real answers about what was happening, who wanted to wait for long-term studies, was dismissed as a conspiracy theorist.

  So, who was right?  Were the shots safe and effective?  Or were the conspiracy theorists the reasonable ones?

  I’m not a doctor or statistician.  All I can do is point at actual numbers.  And even the most pro-vax publications cannot hide the non-Covid excess mortality of the past two years. Young, formerly healthy people have been dying at far higher rates than they used to, and it’s not from Covid.  As of right now, no one can prove that jabs are responsible, because no one wants to look that closely.  But we can’t prove they’re not responsible, either.  Safe?  I’m not convinced, and neither are a lot of vastly more qualified people.  Just look at Ed Dowd’s meticulously researched book, Cause Uknown.

  And even Tony “The Science” Fauci recently admitted that the shots don’t really work at preventing transmission or infection.  So, nope, these jabs aren’t effective either.  

  Meanwhile, Congress is finally launching an investigation into the safety of the forced vaccine.

  Were the conspiracy theorists right to be cautious about the new shots?  Yeah, I think so.  

  Mandatory masking?

  And what about the masks?  We got mixed signals about masks from the beginning.  In March 2020, Dr. Fauci said they didn’t work, then he later changed his tune.  Many people around the country had to deal with mask mandates for over a year.

  Well, the experts at the Cochrane Library recently published a huge meta-analysis of the effectiveness of physical barriers (like masks) at preventing respiratory viruses (like Covid).  They can’t find any strong links between masking and disease prevention.  Cochrane studies are the gold standard.  They’re very conservative, they rarely make hard and fast statements, but once they do, people typically stop arguing.  

  The mask debate is one that really smacks us at the OP because, back in 2021, NewsGuard cited our questioning of the mask narrative as a reason to downgrade us, which really hurt our income stream.  Daisy goes into the whole story here. She cited studies with a variety of outcomes regarding masks, and NewsGuard saw the variety of viewpoints as reason enough to downgrade us.

  The journalism majors working at NewsGuard don’t seem to understand that letting multiple educated people argue is more true to the scientific ideal than top-down authoritarian mandates.  

  I’m not the only person saying this.  Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor and MD, said as much in a recent interview with Jordan Peterson. At 5:26, he talks about public perception during the pandemic:

  There was this sort of uni-vocal conclusion that you had to do lockdowns, you had to wear masks, you had to socially distance, you had to put plastic barriers up, you had to close schools, you had to do all of these things; that the vaccines would stop transmission of the disease, that therefore it was warranted that people would lose their jobs over them.  All of these ideas were sold as if there was a scientific consensus in favor of them.  That was a lie.  There was never a scientific consensus on almost any of the topics; and as you say on masks, in fact, the preexisting narrative, the preexisting idea of most scientists before the pandemic, was in quite the opposite direction.

  Dr. Bhattacharya’s not the only highly qualified doctor speaking out, either.  In fact, so many of the various Covid narratives have been proven wrong, that Dr. Marty Makary, chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins medical school, recently published an article February 27 titled “10 myths told by covid experts—and now debunked.”  

  “Masks prevent transmission” is #2 on the list.  I guess if NewsGuard still thinks Daisy is a conspiracy theorist over this one, she’s got some pretty kick-ass company.

  But in all seriousness, thank God (or whoever you pray to) for doctors like Dr. Bhattacharya and Dr. Makary for not treating the public like we’re mentally impaired rodents.  There are still a few true medical experts out there who genuinely want to educate the public, and give us real answers.  

  The air and water in East Palestine?

  In the meantime, I wonder if the EPA will find any real experts. That agency keeps insisting that the air and water in East Palestine are perfectly safe, despite the derailment and subsequent disaster going on a few weeks ago.  

  The EPA says they’ve been testing for everything and that the numbers indicate everything looks good; professional chemists aren’t so sure.  “They should be testing for individual compounds, and if they are testing for total VOCs [volatile organic compounds] as a screen, they need to have very sensitive instruments because some VOCs are much more toxic than others,” says Ted Schettler, MD, and science director at the nonprofit Science and Environmental Health network.  The fact that East Palestine residents are still smelling off odors suggests that the EPA is not using sensitive enough equipment.

  And the EPA hasn’t started testing for the myriad other substances that formed when the known chemicals in the train were burned.  When you mix chemicals together and burn them, new chemicals form, and this hasn’t even been talked about much yet.  

  It’s probably going to be a long time before we have a good picture of the damage caused by this derailment.  But, what do we know?

  We know that the people of East Palestine are still suffering from bizarre symptoms.  Rashes, shortness of breath, and a burning sensation while breathing are common.  Some people have had voice changes, loss of taste and smell, and random infections. Because East Palestine is such a low-income area, doctors can’t do the tests they need to, though they all agree that the citizens are in real pain.  

  And yet EPA Administrator Michael Regan states, “Nothing is coming back that shows adverse health impacts.”  

  Government officials are not helping themselves by insisting there’s “nothing to see here!”  Distrusting the federal government has traditionally been in the realm of conspiracy theorists, but once again, which group of people seems more reasonable?  

  The Twitter files?

  I’ve spent a lot of time wondering if I’m too cynical, too eager to see ill intent.

  Then came the Twitter Files. 

  We’ve written about them before on this site. When Elon Musk bought Twitter, he handed over internal documents to independent journalists Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and Lee Feng to peruse.  

  Many figures in alternative media had suspected they were being shadow-banned, or having a hard time reaching followers.  The Twitter Files confirmed everyone’s worst suspicions: the federal government does spend millions of dollars policing online content, and much of it targets law-abiding citizens with inconvenient opinions, rather than real criminals.  Many of the people that had their accounts locked or frozen weren’t even big media presences, just people with a few dozen followers with an annoying sense of humor, or who got snarky about the wrong things.   

  Five years ago, anyone convinced the Feds were watching their every online move would have been labeled a crazy conspiracy theorist.  

  Well, yet again, the conspiracy theorists have been proven correct.  

  The gaslighting continues.

  If you’ve ever been in an abusive relationship, you probably know what it’s like to have someone trying to convince you you’re crazy.  The only way to survive gaslighting like that is to constantly remind yourself of things you know are true.  That’s why it’s so important to keep track of whatever narratives we’re supposed to swallow and constantly check them against our preexisting knowledge base.  It’s important to hold purveyors of false narratives to account; it’s important to point to tangible facts and to be able to discuss them.

  These are only the most recent examples of conspiracy theorists being proven correct.  Daisy had an article about “7 Things That Used to Be ‘Crazy Conspiracy Theories’ Until 2020 Happened.”  The tin foil hat wearers have been getting vindicated a lot in the past few years.  

  I think we’re going to keep seeing more of this for a while.  Universal Basic Income, digital currencies, AI tech, there are so many new things happening right now. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 23:00

• California's Years-Long Drought Eases As Mother Nature Fills Reservoirs
  California’s Years-Long Drought Eases As Mother Nature Fills Reservoirs

  A map released on Thursday by US Drought Monitor shows that the convey belt of severe rain and winter storms for the last two months has significantly eased California’s extreme drought.

  The Sierra Nevada region in north-central California, the coastline stretching from Monterey Bay to northwest Los Angeles County, and parts of northwest California, including Humboldt and Del Norte counties, are no longer classified as being in a state of drought.

  The middle of the state is now labeled as “abnormally dry,” while northeast California and the high desert of southeastern California remain in “severe drought” and “moderate drought” classifications — but easing from extreme levels several months ago. 

  

  On Jan. 12, the drought map showed that conditions in various regions had started to improve after a series of storms in the first two weeks of the month.

  

  Here’s what the drought map looked like on Jan. 5. 

  

  And on Dec. 9. 

  

  Since the recent snowstorms, snowpack levels across the state have reportedly reached a 40-year high. 

  

  There’s so much snow in Southern California that Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency. 

  San Bernardino Co. Snow Response:

  – 4 to 5 feet of additional snow overnight
  -500 miles of mountain roads need plowing
  -Over 96 responses to residents
  -No serious injuries/deaths
  -still waiting on additional resources after emergency declaration @FOXLAhttps://t.co/fYy07DbUgj pic.twitter.com/TgvOhZScxa

  — Mario Ramirez (@MarioFOXLA) March 1, 2023

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

  All the storms have been a boon for California’s reservoirs. The latest figures show 94% of major reservoir levels are at normal for this time of year. This is great news following last summer when reservoir levels were dangerously low. 

  

  Here are stunning before and after photos of Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs. 

  

  

  And just like that, Mother Nature heals itself without any assistance from Democrats who tax the heck out of people in the name of ‘saving the planet.’ 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 22:40

• Pentagon Claims Iran Is '12 Days Away' From Nuke Material For A Bomb
  Pentagon Claims Iran Is ’12 Days Away’ From Nuke Material For A Bomb

  Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,

  Speaking to the US House Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl falsely testified that Iran could make enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb in “about 12 days.”

  Kahl claims that Iran’s enrichment capacity has increased sufficiently over the course of the past five years — since the US abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the “Iran nuclear deal” — to reduce that timeline from more like a year, and regrets that the JCPOA is “on ice.”

  

  Kahl as the third ranking DOD official said in his testimony, “Because Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days.”

  He continued: “And so I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice.”

  But other officials concede that Iran is not stockpiling any uranium enriched beyond 60%, well short of weapons grade, and also doubt Iran’s other technical capacities to build nuclear weapons.

  Iran may produce fissile material for a bomb ‘in about 12 days’ – says US senior official @ColinKahl pic.twitter.com/5FyEvSpoEf

  — Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) February 28, 2023

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

  Getting a bomb’s worth of 90% uranium is no small task, even before trying to make it into a deliverable weapon. Iran’s weapons development capabilities would be in doubt even if they were stockpiling uranium, which again they aren’t.

  Pentagon officials still maintain that getting back into a deal with Iran is preferable to not having one.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 22:20

• Fed Governor Speech Canceled After Zoom Conference "Hijacker" Plays Porn
  Fed Governor Speech Canceled After Zoom Conference “Hijacker” Plays Porn

  A virtual event with Fed Governor Christopher Waller was canceled on Thursday after the Zoom videoconference was “hijacked” by a participant who displayed pornographic images that was visible to all viewers.

  Waller had planned to deliver remarks (his prepared hawkish speech is here, a Reuters summary can be found here) on the economic outlook to the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America, which was hosting the event, but it was not meant to be.

  “We were a victim of a teleconference or Zoom hijacking and we are trying to understand what we need to do going forward to prevent this from ever happening again. It is an incident we deeply regret,” said Brent Tjarks, executive director of the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA), which hosted the event via a Zoom link. “We have had various programs and this is something that we have never had happen to us.”

  Tjarks said that he suspects one of the security switches that mutes those watching an event was set incorrectly, but he was not yet sure of the details.

  A few minutes before the event was to start, one participant using the screen name “Dan” began displaying graphic, pornographic images, according to a Reuters reporter on the call.

  Microphones and video were not muted by the organizer upon joining, and more than 220 participants on the Zoom call at one point before it was terminated,

  The decision to cancel was made in consultation with the Fed after the intrusion. After releasing Waller’s prepared remarks, the Fed said in a statement that “there are technical difficulties with Governor Waller’s virtual event and it has been canceled.”

  The Fed said the event, which was to feature a speech by Waller as well as a question-and-answer session, was canceled due to “technical difficulties.”

  Fed events are typically highly choreographed and security is usually tight.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 22:00

• 'Shocking' Condom Scavenger Hunt Part Of New School Workbook With 'Sexual Assignments'
  ‘Shocking’ Condom Scavenger Hunt Part Of New School Workbook With ‘Sexual Assignments’

  Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A condom scavenger hunt is part of a new workbook being used in public schools.

  The workbook, which has been discovered in both middle and high schools, is filled with hundreds of pages of sexual assignments.

  

  Rhode Island English school teacher and parent Ramona Bessinger, who is also a national advocate against woke ideology in schools, told The Epoch Times that parents don’t know about the workbook or its assignments because it falls under the category of what schools call “consumables.”

  “Consumables live on shelves in the classroom. Students do not take them home and once they complete an assignment, their teacher tears the worksheet out of the book, reviews it, grades it, and then throws it away,” explained Bessinger.

  

  She believes consumables are deliberately designed to keep parents in the dark about assignments that would upset them.

  Bessinger, who has appeared on national TV including the Tucker Carlson Show, is currently on suspension from her teaching position with the Providence schools for criticizing CRT teaching and sexually graphic material being used in the classroom.

  The national watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit over Bessinger’s suspension.

  Parties are under a gag order in the controversy.

  But says Bessinger, she can still talk as a parent and said even with all the shocking material she has seen, the assignment entitled “condom hunt” she says was especially stomach-turning.

  Directions on the assignment, which is entitled “Condom Hunt,” instruct students to “research the availability of condoms from a local store or other resources.”

  It goes on to tell students to complete the remainder of the worksheet by providing the names of the store they found condoms including giving its address and business hours.

  It also asks students to list “what kinds of condoms” were sold at the stores they visited.

  Unusual Scavenger Hunt

  Then it asks students to answer about the unusual scavenger hunt. “How comfortable would you feel getting condoms here,” one question asks.

  It then provides students with multiple choices to choose from ranging from very comfortable to very uncomfortable.

  The final question on the assignment asks students if they would “recommend that a friend buy condoms here” and explain their answer.

  The last part of the assignment is called “Self-Check” with two options to choose from.

  One of the options states “I provide all the information about obtaining condoms.” The second states “I explained why I would or wouldn’t recommend this resource to a friend.”

  Other assignments out of the workbook include one entitled “Harley and Drew” for which students are asked to answer questions about sexual encounters between two friends when one invites the other over to his house where he is babysitting his little brother.

  Another is a group assignment involving a matching card game of sexual terms including several transgender and homosexual terms and expressions.

  Unhappy Parents

  “Schools are bastardizing childhood innocence with these assignments,” Nicole Solas, a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum told The Epoch Times.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 21:40

• What To Know Ahead Of China's Two Sessions
  What To Know Ahead Of China’s Two Sessions

  The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC) – the so-called Two Sessions – will kick off this weekend (starting on Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5, respectively). During the one-week long “Two Sessions” event, the Government Work Report delivered by outgoing Premier Li Keqiang and the 2023 fiscal budget proposed by the Ministry of Finance will be discussed and approved by the NPC. Because this year’s Two Sessions coincide with the once-in-a-decade personnel reshuffling at the State Council as well as all the ministries under the State Council, they carry special importance.

  The TL/DR summary of what to expect, comes from Bloomberg’s in-house China expert Tom Orlik who writes that the Congress/Conference will see a further direct concentration of economic and financial power under the CCP:

  While the assumption among many China watchers is that the changes represent a further tilt away from markets that is ultimately bad for growth, recent moves to end Covid Zero restrictions, boost support for the property sector and seek better ties with the US suggest that investors shouldn’t rush to conclusions. The potential positive way of looking at the looming personnel and organizational changes is when Xi has a team around him who he’s familiar with and who he trusts. Perhaps there’s just some more space to get some good things done, to make some pragmatic decisions.

  For those less pressed for time, here is a more detailed summary on what to expect at the Two Sessions, as excerpted from a recent note by Goldman analyst Hui Shan

  Three things to watch: growth target, fiscal budget, and personnel changes

  On the first day of the NPC (Sunday, March 5), the sitting premier Li Keqiang will deliver his last Government Work Report (GWR) which will contain the government’s various economic targets, most important of which is the GDP growth target. Goldman’s baseline expectation is a relatively conservative “around 5%” GDP growth target, although the bank forecasts actual GDP growth to be 5.5% in 2023. Last year’s miss on growth target (3.0% actual growth vs. “around 5.5%” target) may cause policymakers to set a low bar to ensure success this year as evidenced by provincial governments’ conservative targets for 2023. Investors currently expect a growth target in the 5-5.5% range, and a significantly higher target (e.g., 6%) announced over the weekend could be market-moving.

  The GWR will mention some fiscal plans such as official on-budget deficit (GS expects 3.2% vs. 2.8% last year) and local government special bond (LGSB) quota (GS expects RMB 4tn vs. RMB 3.65tn last year). However, the more comprehensive fiscal budget proposal is likely released later during the Two Sessions. The projected tax revenue growth may inform us about the government’s expectation on nominal GDP growth, the planned transfer from central to local governments may hint at policymakers’ concern on local governments’ fiscal conditions and their determination in controlling local government implicit debt, and the government-managed fund revenue (mostly land sales revenue) may give us clues on policymakers’ view on the property sector momentum.

  During the Two Sessions, changes to Party and state organizations and reshuffling of State Council and ministerial personnel, which were planned at the Second Plenum during February 26-28, will be revealed to the public and approved by the NPC. It has been reported in the media that the financial regulatory authority may be moved to a resurrected Central Financial Work Commission (which was first established in 1998 in the aftermath of the Asia Financial Crisis and abolished in 2003) led by Ding Xuexiang, a Politburo Standing Committee member. The current Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council and led by Liu He may cease to exist. And He Lifeng, a Politburo member, may replace Guo Shuqing, a Central Committee member, to become the party secretary of the PBOC. If true, these changes indicate an elevated importance of, and more party control over, the financial regulatory system.

  

  Beyond these three key parameters, statements on sector-specific policies can be important to investors as well. For example, characterization of the property market, consumption boosting measures, and internet regulations are worth monitoring. Such discussions may be provided in the GWR, press conferences with ministers in economic and financial areas, and/or in official news reports by Xinhua, People’s Daily and CCTV. Additionally, statements in the GWR regarding Taiwan may also gather market attention

  Where we are in the post-Covid recovery

  To gauge policy stance to be unveiled at or after the Two Sessions, one must first assess where China is in its post-Covid economic recovery. Based on GS tracking of high-frequency data, mobility measures such as the 100-city traffic congestion index have mostly normalized (Exhibit 2). Channel checks and anecdotal evidence suggest that high-end consumer markets have been recovering quickly. In the property market, the 30-city daily property sales data showed notable improvements in recent days (Exhibit 3). Similarly, the NBS 70-city property prices and the Beke’s 50-city existing home prices showed increases in the latest readings. However, it should be noted that high-frequency data in the property sector tend to overweight large top-tier cities where fundamentals are more supportive of a faster recovery. Smaller lower-tier cities, by contrast, continue to struggle due to weak demographic and economic fundamentals as well as dampened price expectations. For many consumption categories, 2022 demand was dramatically below trend and there is still a long way to go for China’s post-Covid recovery, especially for services sectors, mass markets, migrant and young workers.

  

  Four policy expectations

  As mobility, consumption, and property have begun to show clear signs of recovering, the growth acceleration that the market expect this year is broadly on track. As a result, cyclical policy in aggregate should be less stimulative this year than last year. In fact, the PBOC has allowed interbank market rates (e.g., DR007) to increase to the level of policy rates (e.g., 7-day OMO), a sign of policy normalization after very loose liquidity conditions during and after the Shanghai lockdown last year (Exhibit 4).1 Despite higher headline official on-budget deficit and LGSB quota that will likely be released on the first day of the NPC, Goldman expects the augmented fiscal deficit, a more comprehensive gauge of fiscal stance, to narrow by 1.5% of GDP from 2022 to 2023.

  

  But this is not to say that policy will tighten in the same abrupt and significant manner as it did in 2020H2. Precisely because the withdrawal of policy support and the imposition and tightening measures were too much too fast back then, policymakers will be more patient this time around, especially when the potential downside risk from weaker external demand remains considerable and confidence remains fragile. Even though the February PMIs were much stronger than expected and property prices in top-tier cities appear to be edging higher again, a meaningful withdrawal of policy support is unlikely until at least Q3 this year.

  Policymakers have been reiterating the message of enhancing domestic demand and boosting private consumption since last December’s Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC). However, the likelihood of significant nationwide cash handouts remains very low. Between budget constraints and cultural preferences, the government will continue the past approach of using infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy when needed. Consumption-boosting measures will likely stay within the realm of tax subsidies for autos and home appliances, accelerated rental housing construction, and small-scale local consumption coupons.

  Although the precise policy stance announced at or after the Two Sessions is difficult to predict, especially with the once-in-a-decade reshuffling at the State Council and in various ministries, there should effectively be a “policy put” for at least 5% growth this year. With GDP growth only reaching 3% last year and with 2023 marking the first year of the new premier’s 10-year term, the government’s tolerance for below 5% GDP growth this year will be low.

  Two key risks, one external and one domestic

  The most significant downside risk to China’s 2023 economic growth is exports. Chinese exports fell sharply in late 2022 (-9.9% yoy in December), in line with the experience of other export-oriented economies such as South Korea and Taiwan and suggesting external demand has indeed been softening. Recent media reports also highlighted empty containers at ports and dwindling overseas orders. Goldman’s baseline expectation is flat real goods exports this year as its global team projects no recession in the US or Europe over the next 12 months. However, if exports turn out to be a lot weaker than expected, policymakers may need to boost monetary/fiscal easing and infrastructure building again. Given the more limited fiscal space after last year’s efforts to stabilize the economy, additional infrastructure investment would likely be financed through policy banks and commercial banks instead of government debt.

  Onshore conversations suggest business and consumer confidence remains the main risk to growth domestically. Without confidence, the post-Covid recovery may not be sustainable as private firms are reluctant to invest and households are reluctant to spend. The recent message from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection against “financial elites” and “hedonism and extravagance” has raised concerns that anti-corruption campaign could intensify this year. Hence, communications from the top economic and financial policymakers in the new government after the Two Sessions will be particularly important to watch.

  There are certainly other risks in the economy. US-China relations have weighed on investor sentiment after the balloon incident, US Secretary of the State Antony Blinken postponing his trip to China, and media reports of China considering supplying arms to Russia. We may see more negative headlines in the coming months. However, this is a structural issue and the impact on economic growth this year still looks limited thus far. Financial risks from small and rural banks and local government financing vehicles (LGFV) could re-emerge later this year if NPLs are recognized and interest rates rise after policy normalization. But such risks can be managed and the Zunyi LGFV bond restructuring in January was an example. Risks of policy overtightening also appear low due to the experience of 2020/2021, and as discussed earlier, policymakers will be more patient this year.

  Overall, China’s post-Covid recovery has just started with some encouraging signs, setting the stage for Goldman’s forecast of 5.5% full-year GDP growth (and 6.5% yoy in Q4) which is above consensus (Bloomberg consensus 5.2%). The government is likely to remain patient in withdrawing support, and to stand by to ease in the event that recovery disappoints or exports fall short. After the strong February PMI print, the market will be focusing on hard data such as January/February trade (to be released on March 7) and retail sales (to be released on March 15). If these hard data surprise meaningfully to the upside, the risk-on market movements featuring stronger RMB and higher equity/rates/commodities will continue.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 21:20

• CCP Seeks To 'Replace' US With 'Tech-Powered Dystopia': Select Committee Testimony
  CCP Seeks To ‘Replace’ US With ‘Tech-Powered Dystopia’: Select Committee Testimony

  Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  China’s communist regime is engaged in a concerted effort to undermine and replace the United States by weaponizing Americans against one another, according to testimony received by a new congressional committee focused on competition with the regime.

  

  The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held its first hearing on Feb. 28, titled simply “The Chinese Communist Party’s Threat to America.”

  Committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) described the competition between the United States and CCP as an “existential struggle,” and said that the CCP, which rules China as a single-party state, was pitting “America against America,” hoping to topple the United States from within.

  Ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) agreed with the assessment, saying that the regime sought to exploit the political divisions endemic to democratic societies against the United States.

  “The CCP wants us to be fractious, partisan, and prejudiced,” Krishnamoorthi said.

  “We must rise to the occasion and prove them wrong.”

  To that end, however, Gallagher noted that many powerful and monied interests within the United States had made their fortunes outsourcing American jobs to China, and were pushing back on U.S. efforts to secure itself against the regime.

  “The CCP has found friends on Wall Street, in Fortune 500 C-suites, and on K Street who are ready and willing to oppose efforts to push back,” Gallagher said.

  “This strategy has worked well in the past, and the CCP is confident it will work again. Our task on this committee is to ensure that it does not.”

  ‘Tech-Powered Dystopia’

  Former National Security adviser H.R. McMaster testified on the issue, saying that the United States had “fallen behind” in the strategic competition with the CCP and that continued investments into China by American corporations were “underwriting our own demise.”

  McMaster said that the “false promises of liberalization” had led to a corporate and political class within America that had largely expected continued investment in China to transform it into a more modern and democratic society.

  Instead, he said, the regime had doubled down on its Marxist ideology and was now exporting destructive ideologies to erode support for the West.

  To that end, McMaster said that a “curriculum of self loathing,” which asserts the United States is the reason for the world’s problems, had taken hold of much of the popular and academic culture in the West, and prevented the nation from adequately defending itself against continued espionage, theft, and repression by the CCP.

  Likewise, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) said that corporate America was “scared and worried” about the possibility of angering CCP authorities, and that the regime was exploiting that fear to undermine the United States on the world stage.

  “China has a plan to replace the United States,” LaHood said.

  As such, Gallagher said that the Select Committee would help to coordinate legislative efforts from across congressional committees, and focus on tackling the CCP’s ideological, technological, economic, and military efforts against the United States and its allies and partners.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 21:00

• Suspected Poison Gas Attacks On Iranian Girls' Schools Have Made Hundreds Sick
  Suspected Poison Gas Attacks On Iranian Girls’ Schools Have Made Hundreds Sick

  A mysterious spate of mass illnesses across various parts of Iran only impacting groups of girls is beginning to cause panic and alarm, ironically also at a moment of continuing anti-government protests focusing on women taking off the veil. 

  Girls in up to 15 cities have been affected, Iranian authorities have said, in what are suspected to be mass poisonings. There’s currently speculation that an unknown entity, possibly hardline Islamists, may be throwing some type of poisonous gas mixture into schools and school yards, causing dozens of girls at a time to fall ill. The bizarre incidents began being reported back in November.

  

  Al Jazeera reports based on the latest statements from Iranian lawmakers that “Similar poisonings have since happened in several other schools in Qom, Tehran, the city of Borujerd in the western province of Lorestan and the northwestern city of Ardebi.” And further, “Scores of schoolgirls have been affected in each incident, and some have had to be hospitalized.”

  However, there have been no confirmed deaths in the incidents where the impacted students reported smelling unusual odors such as “rotten tangerines” or strong chemical smells, or even scents akin to perfumes. There have been rumors of a death resulting from the alleged poison attacks, but this was denied by local authorities. 

  School girls have reported feeling headaches and nausea, and there have been some reports of individuals experiencing temporary paralysis of their limbs.

  Really disturbing scenes from @1500Tasvir of Isfahan University of Technology students today being taken away on stretchers after another poison attack. Girls are being raped, blinded, imprisoned, killed, and now poisoned in #Iran. pic.twitter.com/Duit9QXOmS

  — Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) March 1, 2023

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  There’s growing suspicion that these could be attacks by hardline Islamists who condemn the idea of women receiving education, akin to neighboring Afghanistan’s recent banning of all girls’ schooling under Taliban rule. A top Iranian officials has suggested this is the case: 

  But a deputy health minister, Younes Panahi, earlier this week became the first official to confirm that the poisonings have been deliberate. He told state-linked media that “some people” wish to stop girls from going to school. He did not elaborate.

  Panahi said the poisonings have been caused by commercially available chemicals and cannot be transmitted because no viruses or bacteria are involved.

  In some instances entire classrooms of students and teachers reported smelling odors before mass sicknesses…

  One girl noticed a strange smell, and told her teacher she struggled to breathe. The teacher asked the other students if they smelled anything. Then the whole class fell ill.

  A string of mysterious, alleged poisonings stokes fear in Iran. My story:https://t.co/KFhYJCW9Bu

  — Sune Engel Rasmussen (@SuneEngel) March 2, 2023

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  As the poison attacks have in the past days been subject of growing international media attention, Washington has weighed in, with US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby calling the situation “deeply concerning” on Thursday. Investigations at multiple locations are still ongoing.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 20:40

• Would The Founders Approve Of Our Class Divisions?
  Would The Founders Approve Of Our Class Divisions?

  Authored by Adam Carrington via RealClear Wire,

  We live in politically divided times. How we describe the sources of our divisions, though, varies. Some focus on principles such as equality, justice, liberty, and order. Some take up policy disputes related to those principles while others look to economic class, race, or even geography.

  

  Does using these lenses to view our divisions violate our founding principles? Since humans will disagree about justice, especially its application, one can defend principled lines. Indeed, our Founders created mechanisms of elections and deliberative bodies to adjudicate those differences. Moreover, one can rightly conclude that race presents a troubling source of division in light of our commitment to human equality.

  But what about economic or social class?

  The issue of class holds particular salience today, because its relationship to our broader partisan divides has changed drastically over the past several decades. In a recent New York Times piece, Nate Cohn describes our partisanship in terms of education, a demarcation of social class that has largely replaced distinctions by economic class and even shows signs of mitigating racial voting disparities.

  In his explanation, Cohn shows how the growth of voters with college degrees has changed the political landscape. That block has increased dramatically over the last 60 years, rising to 41% of the voting population in the 2022 midterm elections. As that group has gained influence in the Democratic Party, those without college degrees have moved toward the GOP. Accelerating in 2016, working class voters now vote for Republicans at levels unimaginable decades ago.

  The difference in education marks a division in principles and resulting policy preferences. College-educated voters tend to hold more progressive views, especially on cultural matters like sexuality, abortion, and, to the degree it is cultural, immigration. Those without a college degree lean more conservatively on such matters. These divisions have replaced partisan lines more delineated by economic factors of rich, poor, and middle class and are lessening the voting gaps according to race. Turning from their existence to their legitimacy, one might argue that both instances of class divides contradict our commitment to equality – constituting various flavors of “identity politics” where we vote according to who a person “is” rather than what they believe or how they act.

  The Founders were keenly aware of class divisions. In Federalist 10, James Madison noted that “the diversity in the faculties of men” resulted in “the possession of different degrees and kinds of property.” He continued that “from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties.”

  We certainly do form partisan coalitions along class lines. The differences in “degrees” of property explain the divide in economic class. The distinction in “kinds of property” also reveal our educational alignment. A college degree is a discrete kind of property that privileges (or discourages) acquiring other intellectual or material possessions.

  Yet in Federalist 10, Madison argues these divisions won’t go away. They won’t go away because human beings can’t help thinking (at least in part) along these lines. They also won’t go away because of the commitment to the principle that government exists in large part to protect property rights – including their unequal and varied distributions.

  This illuminates an essential principle that oversees our class divisions, neither seeking to destroy them nor merely placating them. In Federalist 51, Madison wrote, “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.” We must order our class divisions, whether economic or social, in the pursuit of justice.

  Class divides, including ones in education, can inform justice. In the “Essex Result” (1778), future federal judge Theophilus Parsons argued persons from different classes tended to make distinct, helpful contributions to the pursuit of justice. He saw that the few wealthy and educated people were better suited to contribute “wisdom, firmness, consistency, and perseverance.” The many, he noted, is where “we shall find the greatest share of political honesty, probity, and a regard to the interest of the whole.” You need both sets of virtues to pursue justice well. Thus you need both sets of perspectives to participate in politics. While operating according to majority rule, our system seeks to integrate these different elements into wise and moral policymaking – a kind of checking and balancing of interests toward the common good.

  At the same time, class divisions can threaten justice. Federalist 10 warned of “factions,” a group of persons driven by impulsive passions who sought to violate individual rights and the common good. Madison pegs the permanence of our class divisions as one reason we cannot completely rid ourselves of factions and their nefarious goals. Different classes will ever be tempted to say their class should alone rule and their interests as the only just ones, thereby laying the path to violating the rights of others. We can see elements of these perspectives at work in our contemporary politics, wherein the college educated look down on the morals and intellect of “the rest” while “the rest” question the wisdom and values of the college-educated.

  Thus our assessment of class divides, whether the older economic ones or the newer educational ones, cannot be a simple endorsement or condemnation. Instead we must return to the wisdom of the Founders. These ever-present divides must be channeled toward good and steered away from bad. We must seek justice, affirming human equality and liberty even as we recognize distinctions among us. While the Founders would tell us we have no other choice, they also would tell us not to despair. Our divisions may be a source of a better unity.

  Adam Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 20:20

• Blinken & Lavrov Meet For First Time Since Ukraine War At G20
  Blinken & Lavrov Meet For First Time Since Ukraine War At G20

  After last month President Putin declared Russia has suspended participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty, and at a moment the Kremlin is accusing Washington of aiding cross-border sabotage and drone attacks on its soil, proof has emerged that the two superpower rivals are still talking at the highest levels. 

  “Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday during the Group of 20 (G-20) conference about the war in Ukraine and the New START nuclear treaty,” The Associated Press reports Thursday.

  The two top diplomats spoke for about 10 minutes on the sidelines of the summit, which is the first such in-person meeting since the war’s start, coming shortly after the Ukraine war has entered its second year. Additionally the G20 reportedly ended without finding consensus on Ukraine, with India’s foreign minister citing “divergences” among countries represented. 

  

  Blinken referenced the talk with Lavrov at a press conference afterward, a summary of which said:

  At a news conference, Blinken said he told Lavrov that the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and would push for the war to end through diplomatic terms that Kyiv agrees to.

  “End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace,” Blinken said he had told Lavrov. But, he noted that “President Putin, has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying there is nothing to even talk about until Ukraine accepts the new territorial reality.”

  Blinken said he also urged Russia to reverse “its irresponsible decision and return to” participation in the New START nuclear treaty.

  “Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries,” Blinken said he told Lavrov, adding that the United States was always willing to discuss arms control with Russia no matter what irritants there are in the bilateral relationship.

  Also very notable is that Blinken indicated he put forward a “serious proposal” for the release of detained ex-Marine and US citizen Paul Whelan. He stressed that “Russia should take it.”

  Lavrov didn’t specifically respond to Blinken’s description of the meeting, and it’s unclear how he presented the Russian position. But a statement by Lavrov did emphasize that G20 was a failure in terms of addressing the Ukraine crisis: 

  “Unfortunately, the declaration on behalf of all G20 ministers could not be approved. Our Western colleagues, just as they did a year ago under the Indonesian presidency, tried by all means, by hook or by crook, using various rhetorical statements, to bring to the fore the situation around Ukraine, which they, of course, present under the sauce of the so-called Russian aggression,” he said.

  “Nothing good has come of this. The discussion, at least in some of the speeches by Western delegations, especially the G7 countries, has boiled down to emotional statements. And all of this, of course, was done at the expense of a normal discussion of the problems that really stand on the G20 agenda.”

  As for India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, saying “The experience of the last few years – financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism and wars – clearly shows that global governance has failed.” He added: “We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can.”

  Thus Modi seemed to agree with Russia’s negative assessment concluding that G20 leaders fell far short of producing any meaningful resolutions on Ukraine. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 20:00

• Childhood Obesity: What You’re Not Hearing In The News
  Childhood Obesity: What You’re Not Hearing In The News

  Authored by Sally Fallon Morell via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  New guidelines on treating childhood obesity from the American Academy of Pediatrics call for early and aggressive treatment—including weight loss drugs for children as young as 6 and bariatric surgery for youths as young as 13—instead of what they call “watchful waiting or unnecessary delay of appropriate treatment of children.”

  

  The guidelines immediately stirred controversy, with critics on the left concerned about unequal access to treatment and conservative commentators suggesting that the guidelines offer an easy out for poor lifestyle choices. Critics from across the spectrum have noted the potential long-term consequences of putting children on drugs and performing irreversible surgery on teenagers.

  “Lifestyle choices” typically mean more exercise—along with less processed food and more fruits and vegetables in the diet—but no one in the mainstream is suggesting that the solution is to allow children to eat more natural saturated fat.

  Years ago, my co-author and colleague Mary Enig, who held a doctorate in nutritional sciences, had an interesting conversation with an official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency had researched the best way to fatten pigs—research that was never published. When they fed pigs whole milk or coconut oil, the pigs stayed lean—they found that the best way to fatten pigs was to feed them skim milk.

  The Department’s dietary guidelines stipulate reduced fat milk for all Americans above the age of 2. Could this policy—initiated in the 1990s—explain the increase in obesity among American children? A couple of studies indicate that this could be the case.

  The first, published in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at diet and metabolic markers in 4-year-old children in Sweden. “High body mass index was associated with a low percentage of energy from fat,” and greater weight was related to greater insulin resistance, especially in girls. In other words, children on low-fat diets tended to be overweight and had markers that presage diabetes later in life.

  The second study, published in 2013 in the Archives of Diseases of Children, looked specifically at children consuming reduced-fat milk, comparing the body mass index of those drinking 1 percent skim milk and 2 percent “whole milk” drinkers. (I put “whole milk” in quotation marks because commercial whole milk contains 3.5 percent fat, and whole milk obtained from the farm can contain up to 5 percent fat.)

  Across all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic status subgroups, those drinking 1 percent skim milk “had an increased adjusted odds of being overweight … or obese … In longitudinal analysis, children drinking 1 percent skim milk at both 2 and 4 years were more likely to become overweight/obese between these time points …” In other words—children on skim milk are more likely to become fat—just like pigs do!

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 19:40

• Surge In Mortgage Rates Above 7% Sends Homebuyer Applications To 28 Year Low
  Surge In Mortgage Rates Above 7% Sends Homebuyer Applications To 28 Year Low

  One month ago, when looking at the CME’s little known housing price futures, we noted that at least according to the market, housing has now bottomed. A lot has changed since then, and while the May 23 Housing Price Futures contract has continued to ascent confirming the market remains optimistic in a bottom…

  

  … the recent surge in mortgage may soon spoil the bullish outlook.

  According to Bankrate, the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage jumped back over 7%, rising to 7.06% (7.10% according to Mortgage News Daily), the highest level since early November.

  

  “Rates continue to move at the suggestion of economic data, and the data hasn’t been friendly. This is scary considering this week’s data is insignificant compared to several upcoming reports,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.

  When rates went over 7% last October – the highest level in more than 20 years – the housing market was being read its last rites, which was also one of the reasons why many expected the Fed to ease back on its tightening. But rates then pulled back in the following months, as inflation appeared to be easing. By mid-January rates were touching 6%, spurring a big jump in buyers signing contracts on existing homes.

  Since then, various housing indicators have shown a sizable improvement including new home sales , largely the result of a plunge in prices…

  

  … as well as pending home sales which rose an unexpectedly strong 8% from December, according to the National Association of Realtors. But the past four weeks have been rough, with rates moving sharply some 100bps since the start of February.

  

  That means that for a buyer purchasing a $400,000 home with 20% down on a 30-year fixed loan, the monthly payment, including principal and interest, is now roughly $230 a month more than it would have been a month ago. Compared with a year ago, when rates were in the 4% range, today’s monthly payment is about 50% higher, according to CNBC’s Diana Olick.

  As a result, mortgage applications from homebuyers have been falling for the past month and last week hit a 28-year low.

  

  “The recent jump in mortgage rates has led to a retreat in purchase applications, with activity down for three straight weeks,” said Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “After solid gains in purchase activity to begin 2023, higher rates, ongoing inflationary pressures, and economic volatility are giving some prospective homebuyers pause about entering the housing market.”

  At the start of this year, with rates slightly lower, it appeared the housing market was starting to recover just in time for the traditionally busy spring season. But that recovery has now stalled, and rising rates are only part of the picture.

  “Consumers have taken on a record amount of debt, including mortgage, personal, auto, and student loans,” noted George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com. “With rising interest rates, financial burdens are expected to increase, making consumer choices more difficult in the months ahead.”

  Which, of course, is just what the Biden admin and the Fed want.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 19:20

• New York City Agrees To Pay Hundreds Of Black Lives Matter Demonstrators For Arrest Tactics
  New York City Agrees To Pay Hundreds Of Black Lives Matter Demonstrators For Arrest Tactics

  Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The New York City government has agreed to pay more than 300 Black Lives Matter demonstrators $21,500 each to settle a lawsuit over the crowd control tactics police used in response to demonstrations in the summer of 2020.

  

  In July 2020, a group of four activists brought a lawsuit against the city on behalf of themselves and other demonstrators who were subjected to allegedly aggressive policing while they protested in the streets. The lawsuit specifically alleged police used unjustified force, such as strikes with their batons and fists and pepper spray, to subdue protesters.

  The plaintiffs also alleged police used a tactic known as “kettling,” in which they surrounded demonstrators to prevent them from escaping arrest. The police were also alleged to have excessively tightened plastic handcuffs on arrested protesters, “which caused pain, bruising and, in some cases, led to long-term injury.”

  During the course of their lawsuit, which became a class action case, the plaintiffs identified 320 people who fit their proposed class of demonstrators who were “detained and/or subjected to force by police while protesting police brutality on June 4, 2020 in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx.”

  On Tuesday, an attorney for the plaintiffs announced they had reached a settlement (pdf) with the city after more than two and a half years. The agreement stipulates that each of the 320 people who met the class description would receive $21,500, with an additional $2,500 awarded to each individual who was given a legal summons after they were arrested. The agreement also covered attorney’s fees for the plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit forward.

  

  Mott Haven Clash

  The June 4, 2020, protest in question took place just days after George Floyd, a black man, died in Minneapolis Police custody. Protests and riots spread throughout the county following Floyd’s death, including in New York City.

  The plaintiffs said they were among those “engaging in peaceful protesting” following Floyd’s death.

  Some demonstrations in New York City had devolved into violence and looting in the days leading up to the June 4, 2020, protest in Mott Haven. A man was shot during rioting and looting in the SOHO neighborhood of the city on June 1. In response to the violence and looting, then New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed a curfew throughout the city, beginning at 8 p.m. every evening.

  

  According to the Mott Haven Herald, a demonstration began in the Mott Haven neighborhood at around 7 p.m. on June 4, 2020. Participants brought helmets and goggles because, as attendee Shellyne Rodriguez told the publication, “we had seen the violence perpetrated against protesters.”

  The lawsuit alleged police began kettling the protesters before the curfew, preventing some of the protesters from being able to leave before the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect. The lawsuit also alleged that plaintiff Charlie Monlouis-Anderle “never heard the police tell the protesters to leave or disperse” and said officers charged at some of the protesters at around 8:15 p.m. on June 4, 2020. Plaintiff Jarrett Payne claimed that he had heard because the protest was peaceful, it was allowed to continue past the 8 p.m. curfew.

  While the lawsuit did not claim all those arrested in Mott Haven on June 4, 2020, intended to obey the curfew, the complaint did claim that enforcement of the city-wide curfew was “inconsistent” and that “police used the curfew as a pretext for perpetrating mass violence on and arresting protesters, with no apparent justification for the differential treatment.”

  

  Clash Aftermath

  Following the June 4 Mott Haven arrests, NYPD officials said some of the marchers were “screaming and yelling at officers, throwing plastic bottles with unknown liquids, and acting in a disorderly manner,” the New York Daily News reported. NYPD officials also claimed they recovered hammers, wrenches, gas masks, and “additional items that could be used to cause injuries” from among the protesters they kettled and arrested in the Mott Haven neighborhood.

  Several protesters were left bloodied by the clash with police, according to the lawsuit. Plaintiff Jarrett Payne said that after he and other demonstrators were handcuffed, a police officer standing nearby said to him, unprovoked, “you got what was coming to you.”

  In his initial response to the June 4, 2020 protest, de Blasio said he had reviewed evidence showing that individuals at the protest were prepared to commit and encourage violence and that he wanted the New York City Police Department to intervene, and that “they did it effectively.”

  

  Human Rights Watch subsequently published a report disputing claims that those arrested had weapons and intended to commit acts of violence and vandalism. The HRW report pointed to a flyer for the event that advised attendees, “DON’T CARRY ANYTHING YOU DON’T WANT IN THE HANDS OF THE POLICE (IE: WEAPONS, DRUGS, FAKE IDS, ORGANIZING PLANS OR ADDRESS BOOKS, CASH OVER $100).” The HRW report also contended that weapons police found were never definitively linked to Mott Haven protesters.

  “The police have not provided any evidence that they found these items on protesters in Mott Haven or that these items were intended to be used for violent acts, saying only that they were “seized from individuals arrested in the Bronx last night,” the HRW report said.

  By October 2020, de Blasio appeared to reverse his stance on the police response to the Mott Haven protest, saying NYPD officers were in the wrong with their handling of the incident.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 19:00

• "Comply Promptly": House Judiciary, Intel Committees Send Demand Letters To Officials Who Discredited Hunter Biden Story
  “Comply Promptly”: House Judiciary, Intel Committees Send Demand Letters To Officials Who Discredited Hunter Biden Story

  Two House Committees investigating Biden family malarkey have sent demand letters to 29 Central Intelligence officials who discredited the Hunter Biden laptop story, and have yet to respond to previously requested interviews.

  

  Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Mike Turner, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, reiterated their requests for testimony, and asked that the officials “comply promptly,” the Daily Caller reports.

  “The Committee on the Judiciary and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are conducting oversight of federal law-enforcement and intelligence matters within our respective jurisdictions. The Judiciary Committee made a prior request to you for documents and information about the public statement you signed in October 2020 that falsely implied the New York Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden was the product of Russian disinformation,” read the letters.

  Both The Washington Post and The New York Times noted the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop in March 2022, more than one year after the Daily Caller News Foundation first verified it. Recent reporting by the Daily Caller and other outlets has highlighted the Biden family’s extensive dealings with Chinese companies, including a presentation Hunter Biden gave promoting American shale and natural gas to Chinese businessmen. -Daily Caller

  “This request, to include a request for a transcribed interview before the Committees, remains outstanding. These documents and your testimony are necessary to further our oversight. As we begin the 118th Congress, we write again to reiterate our outstanding request and ask that you immediately comply in full,” read the letters. 

  “You have been on notice about our oversight request—and aware the request is outstanding—for months. For your convenience, we have attached the letter from the Judiciary Committee dated April 6, 2022. To date, you have not complied with this request. Accordingly, we reiterate our requests and ask that you comply promptly.“

  The letters were sent to:

  • Nada Bakos
  • David B. Buckley
  • David Cariens
  • Janice Cariens
  • Peter Corsell
  • Brett Davis
  • Glenn Gerstell
  • Steven L. Hall
  • Kent Harrington
  • Don Hepburn
  • Timothy D. Kilbourn
  • Andrew Liepman
  • Ronald Marks
  • Jonna Hiestand Mendez
  • John Moseman
  • Emile Nakhleh
  • Gerald A. O’Shea
  • David Priess
  • Pamela Purcilly
  • Chris Savos
  • John Sipher
  • Stephen Slick
  • Cynthia Strand
  • Greg Tarbell
  • David Terry
  • Gregory Treverton
  • John D. Tullius
  • David A. Vanell
  • Winston Wiley

  According to former Biden family business partner Tony Bobulinski, Joe Biden was “plainly familiar” with his brother James’ and son Hunter’s business dealings with  a CCP-linked Chinese energy company.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 18:40

• Schools Are Pushing Gender Pronouns And Hiding It from Parents
  Schools Are Pushing Gender Pronouns And Hiding It from Parents

  Authored by John Ransom via RealClear Wire,

  A new report reveals students in the nation’s largest school districts are encouraged to change their names and pronouns without parental knowledge, even though those same schools require parental approval for over-the-counter medicine.

  

  The report, released by The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI), found that “eight of the nation’s 20 largest school districts allow students to use names and pronouns at school aligned with their gender identity without parental knowledge and consent,” said DFI.

  “Yet these same districts, including New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, and Chicago Public Schools, require parental permission to dispense over-the-counter medication to students at school,” added DFI. 

  The report comes one day after news broke that Saint Paul Public Schools are “explicitly instructing teachers to use students’ preferred names and pronouns with or without parental consent,” according to WZTV Nashville.

  The study said that while the schools rightfully followed parental wishes regarding medications, the same logic wasn’t applied to the use of pronouns, overthrowing “the social and cultural consensus that parents decided what was best for their children.”

  “School districts across the country are failing to respect the rights of parents to make decisions for their minor children,” said Bob Eitel, co-founder and president of DFI. 

  Dozens of parents spoke to the New York Times last month, saying that keeping secrets from parents is “a stab in the back from the school system.” 

  The Times details the work of a transgender clinical psychologist, Dr. Erica Anderson, who is advocating for parental rights. 

  “It’s well established that one of the most important factors in helping gender-questioning children is family support,” Anderson told Fox News Digital. 

  “So to deliberately deprive a child of support at a time potentially when they most need it is, I think, a serious error in judgment,” she added.

  The DFI report says there are serious risks that come with changing how children interact with teachers and peers.

  “Interim guidance from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service explains that ‘early social Transition’ in children is an ‘active intervention’ that ‘should not be viewed as a neutral act’” said the DFI report.  

  The survey said that a wide range of lobbying groups such as GLSEN, the Human Rights Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Education Association authored a guidebook that recommends schools discuss gender pronouns with students while cautioning them to be prepared not to inform parents. 

  DFI recommended governors, legislatures, boards of education, education agencies, school districts, school boards and schools push back against such guidance to ensure that parents direct medical and mental health decisions for their children.   

  “Most importantly, parents should know their rights and demand transparency from their schools,” the report concluded. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 18:20

• Argentina's Power Restored After Blackout Plunged Half Of Country Into Darkness
  Argentina’s Power Restored After Blackout Plunged Half Of Country Into Darkness

  The national grid in Argentina has regained power after a fire caused damage to a high-voltage power line that sparked blackouts for half the country, according to BBC.

  More than 20 million individuals experienced a power outage on Wednesday afternoon when transmission lines were damaged by a fire in fields west of the capital, Buenos Aires. This incident also resulted in the state-run nuclear facility Atucha I and Embalse being shut down.

  In #Argentina, 20 million people were left without electricity due to a major fire that led to the shutdown of the Atucha I nuclear power plant. pic.twitter.com/aoFi8GbrCh

  — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 2, 2023

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

  “Local TV station Todo Noticias reported that the grid was unable to meet 40% of electricity demand,” Bloomberg said. The graphic below shows the moment power generation plunged. 

  

  In Buenos Aires, blackouts were reported across many districts. Entire neighborhoods went dark, traffic lights malfunctioned, subway station service halted, and mass confusion was widespread. 

  Millions left in darkness as major power outage cripples several of Argentina’s provinces, including parts of Buenos Aireshttps://t.co/ceo6APxc8l pic.twitter.com/NJYIHj30Ir

  — AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 2, 2023

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

  Alejandra Rodriguez, a waitress in the capital, told AFP news her restaurant switched on a generator. She said the worst thing about the blackout was the uncertainty about when the power would be flipped back on. 

  “We cannot work, we cannot clean ourselves, our bathrooms have run out of water, we cannot attend to people,” Rodriguez said. 

  Rolling blackouts in Buenos Aires are not uncommon. Several years ago, a massive electrical failure left millions in the dark for days. An unannounced blackout is startling and usually causes mass confusion citywide. 

  In addition, Argentina has been suffering dangerous heat waves. Temperatures in Buenos Aires topped 37C (99F) yesterday during the blackout. 

  After years of insufficient power grid investment, this incident is not unexpected in the third-world country. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 18:00

• Rep. Comer Says He's Delaying Hunter Biden Subpoena To Ensure Win If It Goes To Court
  Rep. Comer Says He’s Delaying Hunter Biden Subpoena To Ensure Win If It Goes To Court

  Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has ignored a House Oversight Committee request for records of his business activities and potential access to classified information, but Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is holding off on a subpoena for now.

  

  On Feb. 8, Comer sent Hunter Biden a letter (pdf) requesting that he turn over a variety of records, including any communications with his father about his various foreign business activities and associates and any classified documents he may possess. Comer gave Hunter Biden a Feb. 22 deadline to respond to the information request.

  Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, outright rejected the information request in a Feb. 9 response letter shared with the Washington Post.

  Despite Lowell’s rejection letter and the missed deadline, Comer has yet to follow up his information request with a more forceful request through a legal subpoena. In comments with Punchbowl News, which were published on Wednesday, Comer said he is holding back on a subpoena for now, in order to ensure better odds that the subpoena will succeed if Hunter Biden’s legal team challenges the legal demand in court.

  “It’s not just issuing a subpoena, it’s about winning,” Comer said.

  “We give people plenty of time. When you do subpoenas, if you want to win in court, you have to show good faith effort that you tried to get the information. So we’re checking some boxes,” Comer continued.

  “When we do subpoena, if we have to, then we’re going to win the subpoenas in court,” Comer added.

  Biden’s Lawyer Says Records Request Not Legitimate

  In his letter rebuffing Comer’s initial effort to recover Hunter Biden’s records, Lowell said the Oversight Committee lacked a legitimate reason for seeking the records.

  “As your Letter is a sweeping attempt to collect an expansive array of documents and communications from President Biden and his family, I write to explain that the Committee on Oversight and Accountability lacks a legitimate legislative purpose and oversight basis for requesting such records from Mr. Biden, who is a private citizen,” Lowell wrote.

  Case law states that a House committee must have a specific legislative purpose to pursue records and it cannot simply be an excuse to launch an investigation.

  In his Feb. 8 letter, Comer said the activities of Hunter Biden and his business associates “raise significant ethics and national security concerns” and the Oversight Committee “will examine drafting legislation to strengthen federal ethics laws regarding public officials and their families.”

  “We will also analyze and make recommendations regarding federal laws and regulations to ensure that financial institutions have the proper internal controls and compliance programs to alert federal agencies of potential money laundering activity,” he wrote. “The Oversight Committee is committed to exposing the waste, fraud, and abuse that has taken place at the highest levels of our government, and your documents are critical to our investigation.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/02/2023 – 17:40

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