Today’s News 4th February 2025

• 2025: The CCP's 'Year Of Living Dangerously'
  2025: The CCP’s ‘Year Of Living Dangerously’

  Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,

  The 1983 film “The Year of Living Dangerously” tells the story of a journalist who faced intrigue and risk during the collapse of the Sukarno regime in Indonesia. Like this regime, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) faces significant challenges to its legitimacy and the stability of Xi Jinping’s rule in 2025.

  At the core of these challenges are the erosion of public trust, deepening economic crises, internal political purges, and rising social discontent. But external factors will also damage the CCP’s credibility, not the least of which is the new Trump administration’s focus on pushing back against Beijing’s trade and foreign policies.

  

  Erosion of Trust

  In broad strokes, one of the most profound threats to the CCP’s legitimacy is the erosion of public and political trust. The Chinese people are very aware of the state’s egregious abuses on multiple fronts and are pessimistic about the future. As a result, many Chinese, particularly the younger generation, are feeling alienated. This is partly because the Party has strengthened its control over nearly every aspect of Chinese society, at great expense to public opinion, and partly due to the lack of well-paying jobs.

  Beijing’s grand promise of so-called common prosperity, for example, has fallen short and revealed itself to be a wealth and power grab by the CCP. This erosion of trust also extends beyond social grievances and into the investment community. Investors’ loss of confidence in the CCP’s ability to reverse the economic decline and lead the country back to prosperity helps explain record levels of capital flight from China. Even global investment funds are avoiding Chinese bonds.

  These financial events indicate serious long-term concerns about the sustainability of China’s financial system.

  The erosion of trust is a critical challenge because the CCP’s legitimacy has always rested on its ability to provide economic growth and stability. Fewer Chinese believe that the CCP can do that. Hence, the trend of discontent isn’t new, but it is rising.

  A Slew of Economic Crises

  China’s deepening economic crises also weaken the CCP’s grip on power. Once lauded for lifting millions out of poverty, Beijing’s policies are the direct cause of China’s ongoing economic collapse. As noted, good jobs for young, educated Chinese are disappearing, and youth unemployment (ages 16–24) is at an all-time high. But that’s just a symptom of a deeper malaise.

  The real estate sector, which has accounted for more than 30 percent of GDP, has been imploding for years and continues to do so. This has led to job losses and financial ruin for millions. At the same time, income and wages are down, making housing unaffordable.

  What’s more, state-owned enterprises make up an estimated 28 percent of GDP and are mired in inefficiency and corruption. These and other economic obstacles have crushed consumer confidence and spending, causing stagnation and deflation in the domestic economy and slowing growth to its lowest levels in decades.

  Compounding these internal crises is the growing capital outflow from China. Billions of dollars are leaving the country each month, driven by both Chinese elites and ordinary citizens seeking safer havens for their wealth. This outflow signals a lack of confidence in the Chinese economy and raises serious concerns about the sustainability of China’s financial system.

  A weakening economy undermines the CCP’s core promise of prosperity, further threatening the Party’s credibility at home and abroad.

  Political Purges: Strengthening Control at a Cost

  Xi has consolidated his power more than any leader, even surpassing Mao Zedong. Like Mao, political purges that include the business, financial, and military spheres have become a hallmark of Xi’s leadership.

  However, as I noted in a previous post, they are also a source of fear, friction, and instability among even the highest officials. They are also a sign of Xi’s paranoia and insecurity. While many purged officials are believed to have been genuinely corrupt, others are believed to have represented potential threats to Xi’s power.

  The repeating cycle of purges has created uncertainty within the Party itself, making effective governance more difficult.

  Distinct but related to the purges is the aforementioned increase in the number of state-owned enterprises. As economic conditions worsened, the CCP resorted to taking over more private companies as a means of perpetuating its control over the economy and the populace. This is only accelerating the downward spiral.

  Social Discontent

  The social contract that secured the CCP’s legitimacy for decades—economic growth in exchange for political obedience—is unraveling. Despite its unrivaled surveillance state, social discontent is still a potent force. The grievances of the younger generation—which is deeply dissatisfied with life, their prospects, and the Party’s pervasive control—are bubbling to the surface.

  Consequently, a rising number of protests have erupted across the country in recent years.

  Discontent within the political and military echelons is also rising. The Chinese regime has responded with increasingly harsh crackdowns and constructing hundreds of new detention centers. Doing so, however, may well undercut loyalty to Xi and his ability to govern.

  External Headwinds Pose More Challenges

  Given the Trump administration’s determination to push back against Beijing in trade, technology, and foreign policy, the rivalry between China and the United States will intensify in 2025. Decoupling from China is a top priority for the United States, and doing so will make economic growth more difficult for the CCP in 2025 and onward. Tariffs reaching 60 percent are on the table, as well as other trade policy options.

  But it isn’t just the United States that wants to decouple from China. Some countries in the European Union are wary of being reliant on China and seek to limit Beijing’s exports to the EU. Japan and South Korea are also cooperating to blunt Chinese trade and influence in the region and globally. The Taiwan question looms large, as does the Trump administration’s declaration to take back the Panama Canal and reduce Beijing’s influence there.

  All of the above are but a few of the many external challenges the CCP faces in 2025, which may indeed be a pivotal year for the CCP, Xi, and the Chinese people.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 23:25

• India's Modi Has The Highest Approval Rating Among World Leaders, For Now…
  India’s Modi Has The Highest Approval Rating Among World Leaders, For Now…

  Last year, half the world’s population voted in elections.

  Some governments changed.

  Others came back.

  And still others stayed in power.

  Now a month into the new year, how do the people feel about their leadership?

  Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu charts the newest approval ratings of world leaders in 24 countries around the world, based on data collected by Morning Consult between Jan. 21–27, 2025.

  

  Per the source: ratings reflect a trailing seven-day simple moving average of views among adults in each country surveyed.

  Some Recently Elected (Or Re-Elected) Leaders Are Popular

  India’s Narendra Modi (75% approve) and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum (66% approve) top this rating sample of world leaders.

  Leader	Country	Approve (%)	No Opinion (%)	Disapprove (%)
  Narendra Modi	🇮🇳 India	75	6	19
  Claudia Sheinbaum	🇲🇽 Mexico	66	7	26
  Javier Milei	🇦🇷 Argentina	65	5	30
  Karin Keller-Sutter	🇨🇭 Switzerland	56	24	20
  Donald Trump	🇺🇸 U.S.	52	10	38
  Anthony Albanese	🇦🇺 Australia	46	11	42
  Dick Schoof	🇳🇱 Netherlands	42	19	39
  Donald Tusk	🇵🇱 Poland	42	11	47
  Giorgia Meloni	🇮🇹 Italy	42	7	51
  Ulf Kristersson	🇸🇪 Sweden	38	11	51
  Cyril Ramaphosa	🇿🇦 South Africa	37	9	54
  Alexander De Croo	🇧🇪 Belgium	35	22	43
  Recep Tayyip Erdogan	🇹🇷 Türkiye	33	11	56
  Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva	🇧🇷 Brazil	33	8	59
  Pedro Sanchez	🇪🇸 Spain	33	5	62
  Jonas Gahr Store	🇳🇴 Norway	30	9	60
  Keir Starmer	🇬🇧 UK	27	11	61
  Shigeru Ishiba	🇯🇵 Japan	25	21	54
  Karl Nehammer	🇦🇹 Austria	24	9	67
  Justin Trudeau	🇨🇦 Canada	22	7	71
  Olaf Scholz	🇩🇪 Germany	20	6	74
  Emmanuel Macron	🇫🇷 France	18	7	75
  Yoon Suk-Yeol	🇰🇷 South Korea	17	8	75
  Petr Fiala	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	16	7	77

  Modi was re-elected for a third term as India’s prime minister last May and Sheinbaum became Mexico’s (and North America’s) first woman president last October.

  President Donald Trump, just sworn in for a second term, also makes the top five with a 52% approval rating. Relatedly, people in other countries may not be as pleased about a second Trump presidency.

  However, the People Are Unhappy

  In most of these countries, the majority of people disapprove of their current government leader.

  Among the least-liked leaders is Yoon Suk Yeol, the suspended South Korean president who is currently detained on charges of insurrection and abuse of power.

  And then there’s France’s Emmanuel Macron, with three quarters of the population disapproving. According to Euronews, his ratings plummeted after he called for snap elections in 2024.

  Finally, there’s Petr Fiala, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Fiala’s government is struggling to handle the country’s economic problems and is deeply unpopular after breaking a promise to not raise taxes.

  Are you a political junkie and want more data insights? We’ve got you covered. Check out: Top U.S. Industries by Lobbying Spend in 2023 for your next conversation starter.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 23:00

• Digital Hegemony: Sophisticating Monitoring And Propaganda – Love Your Servitude!
  Digital Hegemony: Sophisticating Monitoring And Propaganda – Love Your Servitude!

  Authored by Colin Todhunter via GlodalResearch.ca,

  Today, we are witnessing a profound transformation. We are increasingly impacted by algorithmic decision-making, artificial intelligence, data proliferation, data harvesting and sophisticated monitoring of how we think and act. This affects how we work, how we access services and how we relate to and interact with others.  

  

  While digital innovations and online platforms offer unparalleled ease, they also raise critical concerns about our independence. The constant connectivity and data-driven decision-making that characterise modern life has major implications. Technological advancements are used to shape preferences and behaviour, and predictably, powerholders use the notion of convenience to manipulate and exert control over populations.

  Giant corporations and the state are leveraging what is often termed ‘technological solutionism’ to establish a digital iron cage of control. By monitoring and predicting our thoughts and actions, these intertwined entities impose a tightening noose of automated systems, suffocating personal liberty.

  We are increasingly hurtling toward a reality reminiscent of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where a dystopian technocracy merges with a plutocracy.

  

  Huxley foresaw a society where the ruling class maintains control not through overt oppression but through subtle manipulation and distraction, effectively creating a system where people are conditioned to accept their servitude without resistance. In this emerging landscape, the values of order, conformity and compliance reign supreme, overshadowing individual freedoms and critical thought.

  In agriculture, technocratic control is increasingly evident in the push for a ‘one-world agriculture’ dominated by AI, genetic engineering and precision farming, all under the sway of a few powerful corporations. Companies like Bayer, Cargill, Corteva, Syngenta, Microsoft and Amazon, along with influential investment firms that hold stock in companies throughout the agrifood chain, aim for the standardisation of food systems.

  Their vision is a monopolistic, cloud-driven agricultural framework that prioritises control, dependency and uniformity over diversity and local practices. This approach threatens to reduce our food systems to an even blander, more standardised product line, stripping away traditional farming methods and local knowledge.

  In culture as well, the trend is starkly toward standardisation. The goal is to dilute or erase traditional knowledge, local customs and diverse worldviews, creating a bland, uniform, AI-driven existence that can be easily controlled and manipulated. This push extends to a radical alteration of human biology itself through transhumanism.

  The transhumanist agenda seeks to enhance human physical and cognitive capabilities through technology, aiming to transcend what it means to be human. This ambition aligns with the drive for a one-world agriculture, envisioning a standardised, technologically enhanced version of humanity (genetically engineered humans).

  When we scrutinise the transhumanist agenda, it reframes our understanding of movements like transgender rights, relaxed border controls and the breakdown of the nuclear family. We begin to see a vision of beings uprooted and detached from countries, families or fixed genders — the ultimate one-world human.

  For deeper insights into these implications, consider the work of Silvia Guerini, who critically examines transhumanism and its far-reaching consequences.

  Some may argue that this is merely human evolution. But history shows us that there has never been a predetermined, linear path for humanity. Our past is marked by conflict and struggle, where outcomes were never guaranteed.

  Moreover, who determines that the current powerholders driving these agendas are the ‘natural’ heirs to humanity’s legacy? Who grants them the authority to dictate the fate of billions? They have seized this role for themselves.

  It is not bit-part players like Musk, Bezos or Gates who are really orchestrating the agenda — it is those who hide in the shadows, not least the powerful banking families. According to Dean Henderson, this includes the Goldman Sachs, Rockefeller, Lehman, Kuhn Loeb, Rothschild, Warburg, Lazard and Israel Moses Seif families (see The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families).

  It is clear from the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual get-together at Davos that global powerholders and their minions do actually believe they have the right to sit in judgement over the fate of billions. They have contempt for genuine democracy and think they have some divine entitlement by virtue of stolen wealth or wealth acquired by manipulation or from sweated wage labour.

  The mainstream narrative would have us believe that these people have the best interests of humanity at heart, rather than ruthless, arrogant, devious schemers with contempt for the mass of humanity.

  It is revealing that in a 2007 interview, the late Aaron Russo, US filmmaker and businessman, shared claims about conversations that he said had taken place with Nicholas Rockefeller. According to Russo, these discussions took place some months before 9/11.

  Russo claimed that Nicholas Rockefeller told him about several future events and plans, not least an “event” that would lead to the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Russo claimed that Rockefeller had said the “event” would be used to initiate a “war on terror” without a real enemy, which Rockefeller was said to have described as a mystification to control US citizens.

  Rockefeller was also said to have stated that there were plans to reduce the world’s population by half and that paper currency would be replaced by subcutaneous microchips containing digital money (that can be switched off by the state) and personal information as a means of controlling the population.

  Nicholas Rockefeller allegedly referred to the mass of the global population as “serfs” or “slaves” who must be controlled, and he questioned why Russo would even want to care about the fate of such people.

  Rockefeller was also alleged to have told Russo (to Russo’s surprise) that the feminist movement was funded by the Rockefellers to get women into the workforce to tax them and to weaken the authority of the family so that the state could boost its control over future citizens by moulding children at an earlier age.

  These claims are unverified, but a quarter of a century on from when the conversation is said to have occurred, it would be wise to consider just how much closer we have moved towards the world revealed by Russo.

  A massive drop in sperm counts, the destabilisation and invasion of countries and the curbing of individual rights under the guise of the ‘war on terror’, the pushing of cash to the margins, a climate emergency narrative, talk about climate lockdowns and restricted movement, programmable digital currencies possibly linked to carbon footprints etc.

  But we do not have to rely on a conversation that perhaps took place a quarter of a century ago to evaluate the motives and machinations of this elite. An elite that in 2012 was claimed to have had up to 32 trillion dollars stashed in offshore banks around the globe. Who could say what the figure might be now, 13 years later, as the flow of wealth from ordinary people to multi-billionaires accelerated during the COVID episode.

  These so-called ‘wealth creators’, who have for centuries been appropriating ordinary people’s wealth, who have stashed it away in tax havens, who have bankrupted economies because of their reckless gambling and greed and who have imposed a form of globalisation that has resulted in devastating destruction and war for those who attempt to remain independent from them or structurally adjusted violence via privatisation and economic neo-liberalism for millions in countries that have acquiesced.

  Attempts to redress the balance have been brutally suppressed over the decades. From democratic leftist organisations or governments pursuing alternatives or just displaying independent tendencies, this elite class has used intelligence agencies, front groups, threats, co-opted leaders or military might to attempt to subvert or annihilate any threat to its global hegemony.

  Anyone familiar with the work of the late historian William Blum will be aware of the human cost in terms of lives lost since 1945 alone, thanks to his book Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II.

  First published in 1995, the book examines US military actions and covert operations, presenting a critical view of US foreign policy and its imperialist motives. Blum documents more than 50 instances of US interference in foreign governments, many of which were democratically elected and provides a thorough analysis of the consequences of these actions.

  For more in-depth insight into the global elite, Robert J Burrowes’ three-part series on  its nature, actions and goals is essential reading as is his  open-access e-book Historical Analysis of the Global Elite: Ransacking the World Economy Until ‘You’ll Own Nothing.

  The WEF and its enablers in national governments talk about ‘food transitions’, ‘energy transitions’, ‘digital transitions’ and countless other ‘transitions’. But these benign-sounding terms mask a profound restructuring of our societies — the WEF’s much-promoted great reset that is anything but innocuous.

  At its core, this restructuring represents an intense effort to further concentrate wealth, power and control in the hands of the world’s self-appointed masters. They aim to once and for all fully subjugate the masses, who will incrementally find themselves being (digitally) hammered into complete subservience.

  Huxley’s critique of modern society suggests that an elite can govern more efficiently by using psychological methods, such as conditioning and propaganda, rather than traditional forms of coercion: a “painless concentration camp” where true control could be achieved by making people love their servitude.

  So, each step of the way, populations across the world (in the BRICS countries too) will continue to be psychologically manipulated (‘nudged’) in to believing that being tracked and traced, implanted with chips, injected with nanoparticles, censored, stripped of individual liberties, criminalised for displaying an opinion that does not conform with the official narrative or digitally ID’d will be for their convenience, their safety or to protect ‘free speech’ or ‘democracy’.

  Democracy in name only — long ago hollowed out by government creditors, subverted and controlled opposition and corporate capture.

  What we are seeing is a fundamental reset that aims to determine not only our relationship with power but the very nature of our existence and even the right to exist as a human.

  So, what’s the solution? There is no simple answer. Articles like this are often read by individuals who already recognise the importance of education, organisation, activism and non-compliance. The key challenge lies in mobilising a critical mass of people to bring about the necessary pushback and change.

  While some might scoff, many are actively working towards this goal. And we should never forget — We Are Human, We Are Free.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 22:35

• Visualizing Drug-Use Trends In Young American Adults
  Visualizing Drug-Use Trends In Young American Adults

  Today, the three most common substances used among Americans aged 19 to 30 are alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine vapes.

  In particular, cannabis use is approaching record levels, while nicotine vaping among young adults has surged, with one in four reporting use over a 12-month period. By contrast, binge drinking and nonmedical prescription use are at record lows. Cigarette smoking has also dropped by two-thirds since 2004.

  This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, shows young adult substance use in America, based on data from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

  

  Young Adult Substance Use in America

  Below, we show the share of Americans aged 19 to 30 who have used the following substances at least once in the past 30 days, based on a survey of 4,810 respondents:

  

  *Other drugs are nonmedical drugs other than cannabis, including hallucinogens (including LSD), cocaine, amphetamines, sedatives (barbiturates), tranquilizers, and narcotics/opioids (including heroin). Data as of 2023.

  While alcohol is the most prevalent substance overall, use has declined from 74% of young adults in 1988 to 64.9% in 2023.

  Moreover, daily drinking habits sank to 3.6% of young adults, the lowest share ever recorded. In line with this trend, binge drinking, represented as more than five drinks in a row during a two-week period, fell to 27.2%. Binge drinking has broadly trended downward since the 2008 peak of 37.3%.

  Meanwhile, cigarette smoking has declined dramatically—from 29.4% of young adults in 1988 to just 8.8% in 2023—although vaping nicotine is on the rise. In response to its increasing prevalence, 15 states have enacted laws on flavored vapes and online sales amid healthcare risks. Most recently, flavored vapes were banned in California in January 2025.

  Despite the ongoing opiod epidemic, drug use (other than cannabis) has fallen slightly from 9.4% of young adults in 1988 to 6.6% in 2023. Overall, hallucinogenics are among the most commonly-used drugs, reaching a record high of 8.5% of young adults over a 12-month period.

  Meanwhile, the share of young adults that have used cannabis at least once in the past 30 days has risen from 17.5% in 1988 to 28.7% in 2023. For those using cannabis on a daily basis, this figure stands at one in 10 young adults. As cannabis legalization has spread across nearly half of all U.S. states, use has also risen among adults aged 35 to 50 over the past five years.

  To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on alcohol consumption by region.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 22:10

• Dem Lawmakers Urge RFK Jr. To Recuse From All Vaccine-Related Decisions
  Dem Lawmakers Urge RFK Jr. To Recuse From All Vaccine-Related Decisions

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  Several Democrat lawmakers said on Feb. 2 that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should commit to avoiding all decisions related to vaccines if he becomes the next U.S. health secretary.

  

  “Given the breadth of your involvement in vaccine litigation, such a recusal would help ensure that you and your family do not benefit financially from official government actions that you will oversee and control,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote in a letter to Kennedy.

  President Donald Trump has selected Kennedy, a lawyer, to take over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

  The department includes the Food and Drug Administration, which clears vaccines, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issues vaccine guidance that is widely adopted by states.

  The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled this week to vote on Kennedy’s nomination. If a majority approves, the nomination will be sent to the full Senate.

  Kennedy said in an ethics agreement that, if he is confirmed, he would resign from a consulting arrangement with the Wisner Baum law firm that involves referring cases to the firm.

  “Pursuant to the referral agreement, I am entitled to receive 10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the firm. I am not trying these cases, I am not an attorney of record for the cases, and I will not provide representational services in connection with the cases during my appointment to the position of Secretary,” Kennedy wrote.

  The Finance Committee identified at least five cases related to litigation over the Gardasil human papillomavirus vaccine in which Kennedy is still listed as the attorney of record.

  “When questioned by the Committee, you did not directly acknowledge this omission or provide clarity about any financial compensation you might receive related to these cases,” Wyden and Warren said.

  While Kennedy agreed to divest from those cases, Kennedy declined to recuse himself from decisions related to Gardasil in written communication with the panel, the senators said. He also disclosed that he was divesting his interest in cases referred to Wisner Baum to his adult son, which would let an immediate family member benefit from Kennedy’s secretary role if Kennedy is confirmed, they added.

  Recusing from vaccine-related decisions and communications will “ensure vaccine-related policymaking and communications are not inappropriately skewed by your personal views at the expense of scientific evidence,” they wrote.

  A spokesperson for Kennedy did not answer the phone or return a voicemail.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 21:45

• Clearest Image Of US Navy's Directed-Energy Weapon Firing Laser Rounds
  Clearest Image Of US Navy’s Directed-Energy Weapon Firing Laser Rounds

  Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS (High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance) weapon has been successfully deployed aboard a US Navy warship. Designed to counter unmanned aerial threats, the high-energy laser weapon operates at a cost of only a few dollars per shot—an extraordinary savings for the Navy, which has a habit of spending tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per missile interception.

  Defense Blog reports that an update on HELIOS was published in a January 2025 report by the US Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation. The report includes an image of the USS Preble deploying its HELIOS weapon system at sea—one of the clearest images of the laser weapon in action to date.

  “The US Center for Countermeasures (CCM) supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target. CCM collected imagery of the engagements to support the evaluation of system performance,” the annual report said. 

  

  HELIOS is currently rated at 60 kilowatts and can scale up to 120 kilowatts, significantly enhancing Preble’s lethality against kamikaze drones. The laser weapon provides an operational advantage: unlimited firing capacity as long as power is available. This reduces the weight and space on the missile destroyer but reduces the cost-per-round from tens of thousands of dollars to just a few bucks. 

  

  “HELIOS represents a major step forward in naval warfare, providing a cost-effective countermeasure against drones, small boats, and other asymmetric threats,” the military blog said, adding, “The U.S. Navy has been expanding its directed energy arsenal, and the HELIOS-equipped USS Preble joins a growing number of Navy ships fielding high-energy laser weapons.” 

  We have been following the progression of directed energy weapons on US warships over the last decade:

  • 2016: US Navy To Begin Testing Powerful 150-Kilowatt Laser Weapon System

  • 2017: “The Technology Is Getting Real” – Laser Weapons Edge Closer To Battlefield Use

  • 2017: Navy Unveils World’s First Active Laser Weapon In Persian Gulf

  • 2019: Navy Ready To “Burn Boats” With New Laser Weapon

  • 2019: Raytheon Shoots Down Multiple Drones With Directed Laser Weapon

  • 2021: US Navy Tests New Laser Weapon Off Yemen Coast

  Beyond laser weapons, the US military remains hyper-focused on stealth fighter and bomber aircraft, hypersonic weapons, unmanned drones, and other high-tech technologies amid a weapon and AI arms with China. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 21:20

• They Really Do Want Us To Be Weak Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Financially, & Spiritually So That We Will Become Dependent On Them
  They Really Do Want Us To Be Weak Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Financially, & Spiritually So That We Will Become Dependent On Them

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  It takes strength to be free.  That is why they want us to be weak.  

  

  When we are weak, we are much more likely to become dependent upon the system to survive, and that makes us much easier to control.  So they give us junk to eat, they put poisons into our air and water, they “dumb us down” from a very early age, they feed us a steady stream of “programming” that makes us depressed and afraid, they get us hooked on legal and illegal drugs, and they constantly try to get us into as much debt as possible.

  Something that a rapper known as Zuby posted on Twitter sums this up perfectly…

  

  He really nailed it.

  We were created to be independent beings, but the elite are constantly attempting to make us as dependent as possible.

  Here in the United States, we are supposed to be the most prosperous nation on the entire planet.

  And yet most of us are living like servants.

  When I was growing up, $80,000 sounded like an enormous mountain of money.  And it actually was a very significant amount of money in those days.  But in 2025 it just doesn’t go that far.  Today, the median household income in the U.S. is approximately $80,000 a year.  Approximately half of all U.S. households make more than that, and approximately half of all U.S. households make less than that.  So if your family earns $80,000 in 2025 that would put you about right in the middle.

  So can a typical family of four survive on $80,000 in America today?

  The answer might surprise you.

  Over the past four years, the cost of living has been rising much faster than our paychecks have.

  As a result, our standard of living has been steadily going down.

  $80,000 breaks down to about $6,666 a month.  So how far will $6,666 a month stretch for a family of four in today’s economy?….

  First of all, our hypothetical family of four needs a place to live.  As I discussed the other day, the household income required to purchase a typical home in the U.S. has more than tripled since January 2012.  At this point, the average mortgage payment in the U.S. is about $2,200.

  So after paying the mortgage, we only have $4,466 left.

  Next, our family of four has to pay for utilities for their home.  According to Google AI, the average U.S. household spends $600 a month on their utilities bills.

  So now we only have $3,866 left.

  Our family is also going to need phone and Internet service.  Cell phone bills for a family of four can balloon to ridiculous proportions, but let’s assume that our family of four is extremely budget conscious and has found a package where they can get basic phone service for 50 dollars a month and Internet service for 50 dollars a month.

  Now we are down to $3,766.

  In our hypothetical household, both parents are also going to need vehicles to get to work.  Let’s assume that both vehicles were purchased used, so the payments will only total about $600 a month.  If the vehicles were purchased new this number could potentially be much higher.

  Suddenly we only have $3,166 remaining.

  If our family has two vehicles that means that they will also be paying for automobile insurance.  Let’s assume that they both have exemplary driving records and so they are only spending about $100 a month.

  Now our total is just $3,066.

  Our hypothetical family of four is also going to need health insurance.  According to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, a typical family of four will spend $1,437 a month on health insurance.

  Ouch.

  Now we only have $1,629 left.

  Our hypothetical family is also going to have to eat.  Let’s assume that our family clips coupons and cuts corners any way that it can and only spends about $50 for each member of the family on food and toiletries each week.  That works out to a total of $800 a month for the entire family.

  I know that number may seem way too low to many of you, but let’s go with it.

  That brings our remaining cash down to just $829.

  Needless to say, our hypothetical family will also need to buy gasoline to get to and from work each week.  Let’s assume that they don’t live too far from work and only need to fill up both vehicles about once per week.  That would give them a gasoline bill of about $50 a week or $200 a month.  Of course if either of them has a long commute to work or if a lot of extra driving is required for other reasons this expense could be far, far higher.

  After everything that we have gone through so far, we actually have $629 left.

  That is a reason to celebrate, right?

  Wrong.

  We haven’t taken federal, state and local taxes out of the paycheck yet.

  Federal, state and local taxes will reduce your paycheck by about one-fourth.

  So after taxes, we are now $1,371 in the hole.

  Up to this point we have assumed that our family does not have any credit card debt or student loan debt at all.  If they do, those payments will have to be made as well.

  In addition, the budget above includes no money for clothing, no money for dining out, no money for additional entertainment, no money for medications, no money for pets, no money for hobbies, no money for life insurance, no money for vacations, no money for vehicle repairs and maintenance, no money for child care, no money for birthday or holiday gifts, and no money for retirement.

  On top of everything else, if our family of four has a catastrophic health expense that health insurance will not pay for, then our hypothetical family of four is suddenly facing a complete and utter financial catastrophe.

  Are you starting to get the picture?

  Most of us are just desperately trying to find a way to scrape by from month to month, and that is the way that the elite like it.

  Do you feel like you are a hamster on a wheel that is never really getting anywhere?

  Well, the truth is that what you are feeling is very real, because the entire system has been designed to keep us all trapped for as long as possible.

  It is time to wake up, get strong, and realize what life is really all about.

  You were not designed to be a cog in their machine.

  If you don’t take control of your life, someone else will.

  I promise you that.

  If you don’t want to be a hamster on a wheel, stop listening to their lies and start living the way that you were designed to live.

  We were meant to be free, but the elite will happily keep you enslaved if you allow them to do so.

  *  *  *

  Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 20:55

• USAF Spy Plane Runs SIGINT Operation Near Cabo As US Preps For Potential Cartel Fight
  USAF Spy Plane Runs SIGINT Operation Near Cabo As US Preps For Potential Cartel Fight

  After what may be the shortest trade war in history, Mexico and Canada have each committed 10,000 troops to their respective borders, while the US has reinforced its southern border with thousands of troops. These developments suggest the US military may be gearing up for potential action against out-of-control Mexican drug cartels, with the first step involving the collection of signals intelligence (SIGINT) through surveillance flights over cartel-controlled territories in Mexico. 

  Several open-source intelligence X accounts have posted flight tracking data of a US Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, indicating it may have conducted a SIGINT operation over the southern half of Baja California, a region home to heavily armed Tijuana Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel members.

  

  “Wow, for the first time I have ever seen, a U.S. Air Force RC-135V “Rivet Joint” Signals Intelligence Platform from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, is operating within Mexican Airspace, over the Gulf of California between Baja California Sur, Sonora, and Sinaloa,” OSINTdefender wrote on X. 

  Wow, for the first time I have ever seen, a U.S. Air Force RC-135V “Rivet Joint” Signals Intelligence Platform from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, is operating within Mexican Airspace, over the Gulf of California between Baja California Sur, Sonora, and Sinaloa. pic.twitter.com/ucEDSc4Zxj

  — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 3, 2025

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

  WarMonitor wrote on X, “American military RC-135V Rivet Joint surveillance plane has been taking a good look at cartel positions all over the western coast of Mexico today including in Sinaloa.” 

  American military RC-135V Rivet Joint surveillance plane has been taking a good look at cartel positions all over the western coast of Mexico today including in Sinaloa.

  — WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@WarMonitor3) February 3, 2025

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

  OSINTdefender wrote in another post, “One of the first concrete signs of new US military activity within Mexico.”

  A USAF RC-135V Rivet Joint signals reconnaissance aircraft is currently loitering over the Gulf of California, hoovering up signals intelligence from Mexico.

  One of the first concrete signs of new US military activity within Mexico. pic.twitter.com/2La1KHVA2m

  — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 3, 2025

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

  “This may be part of the new US-Mexico (Trump-Sheinbaum) cooperation against the drug cartels,” former USAF lieutenant colonel Rick Francona wrote on X. 

  This is something I haven’t seen before – a US Air Force RC-135V Rivet Joint SIGINT platform operating in Mexican airspace. I’ve got a few hours on 845….

  This may be part of the new US-Mexico (Trump-Sheinbaum) cooperation against the drug cartels.

  That’s an orbit, not a… pic.twitter.com/tS57HjBPmR

  — Rick Francona (@MiddleEastGuy) February 4, 2025

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

  The RC-135V/W Rivet Joint is the USAF’s premier SIGINT aircraft, designed to intercept, identify, and analyze enemy communications and electronic signals. Operated primarily by the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the spy plane will be a critical air asset for the Trump administration and the Department of Defense for real-time intelligence collection, surveillance, and even electronic warfare against cartels. The purpose of this flight is likely to be strategic planning and threat assessment. 

  Recall that President Trump recently designated Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.” When reporters asked Trump whether he would consider deploying US special forces operators to Mexico, he responded, “Could happen” and added, “Stranger things have happened.” 

  On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said…

  BREAKING: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just confirmed that the United States could now conduct special operations against Mexican cartels now that President Trump has declared them foreign terrorist organizations.

  “All options will be on the table.” pic.twitter.com/UhCvRaGRvJ

  — George (@BehizyTweets) January 31, 2025

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

  Trump’s shock weekend tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China were mainly to get neighboring countries on board with operations to “disrupt and dismantle” Mexican drug cartels, as well as prepare for the busting of command and control centers operated by Chinese transnational organized crime networks. 

  We noted this before Canada bowed a knee to Trump…

  US & Canada Unveil Blueprint For Post-Tariff Partnership To ‘Disrupt & Dismantle’ CCP-Fueled Fentanyl Crisis https://t.co/bjGL1VG6aH

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 3, 2025

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

  What’s important to note is that China’s “reverse opium wars” on America, think of it as hybrid warfare, is coming to an abrupt end under Trump. The drug death catastrophe of 100,00 Americans per year was unacceptable and somehow allowed to happen by the Biden-Haris regime and rogue Democrats who pushed open southern borders. 

  Dismantling Mexican drug cartels could be a very messy operation, which is why the Trump administration fortified the border with the military. The challenge, however, is that if US special forces operators kill cartel leaders, retaliatory attacks by cartel members could occur at Mexican beach resorts or, worse, on the streets of US cities. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 20:30

• Lawsuit Puts Oregon City Back In Spotlight Over Homeless Camping
  Lawsuit Puts Oregon City Back In Spotlight Over Homeless Camping

  Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

  An activist group is suing an Oregon city over its public camping policies after the city prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed municipalities to enforce homeless camping bans.

  

  The new lawsuit comes after the Supreme Court in June 2024 upheld a local ordinance banning public camping, which activists claimed criminalized being homeless. The court rejected 6-3 the novel argument that the local law in Grants Pass, Oregon, violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

  The new legal complaint in Disability Rights Oregon v. City of Grants Pass was filed on Jan. 30 in the Circuit Court for the State of Oregon for Josephine County. Grants Pass, with a population of 39,000, is in southwest Oregon near the California border.

  The city has one overnight shelter that adults may access, called the Gospel Rescue Mission.

  Some homeless people don’t stay there because it requires regular attendance at religious services, and bans smoking, alcohol, illegal drugs, and pets, according to the complaint.

  On Jan. 7, the City Council voted to shut down the larger of two city-owned campsites on which homeless people had been permitted to stay and to restrict the use of the smaller one. City officials said the larger site was an unsanitary eyesore. Construction of a water treatment facility is expected to begin at the larger site in May.

  The legal complaint said both sites were unsuitable for use by disabled people, including those using mobility devices such as wheelchairs.

  These people “often found themselves struggling to traverse the uneven ground, requiring assistance to make it even a short distance within the campsites.”

  The smaller site is open from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., after which campers have to remove their belongings.

  The lawsuit asks the state court for a temporary restraining order reversing the closure of the larger campsite and halting the city policy restricting the hours of the smaller campsite.

  Portland-based Disability Rights Oregon and five homeless individuals who are disabled say in the complaint that the city’s new camping policies discriminate against disabled people and run afoul of a provision in Section 195.530 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, a state law.

  Subsection 2 of the law states that: “Any city or county law that regulates the acts of sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property that is open to the public must be objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.”

  Subsection 4 allows a homeless person to “bring suit for injunctive or declaratory relief to challenge the objective reasonableness of [such] a city or county law.”

  The complaint argues the city is breaking the law because the space in which camping is now allowed is, among other things, too small.

  The small plot of land is “only large enough to hold less than 20% of the tents of people who are currently homeless in Grants Pass. For about 80% of the homeless people in Grants Pass, Grants Pass city code now makes it illegal for them to exist and survive by virtue of their poverty and disabilities,” according to the complaint.

  Instead of making objectively reasonable regulations “the city has chosen to use its authority to recriminalize being homeless in the guise of a time/place/manner restriction,” the complaint said.

  The city “wants to make being homeless in Grants Pass so unpleasant that people go elsewhere,” the complaint said. “Despite the presence of numerous elderly, ill, and disabled people on site, the city increased its draconian restrictions in the dead of winter leaving hundreds of people with no legal option for their continued survival.”

  The city “currently has no meaningful plan to provide shelter or otherwise assist homeless people to find places to live. People have no place to legally go,” the complaint states.

  Jake Cornett is the executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon.

  “Putting the lives of people with disabilities at risk in the dead of winter because they don’t have housing is cruel and illegal,” he said in a statement. “Without adequate shelter space available, forcing a person in a wheelchair or someone with a chronic illness to pack and move their belongings daily is not just impossible, it’s inhumane. Grants Pass’s dangerous actions must be stopped.”

  The Epoch Times reached out to Mark Bartholomew, interim city attorney for Grants Pass, for comment. No reply was received by publication time.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 20:05

• US Readies New $1BN Arms Sale To Israel As Netanyahu Arrives In Washington
  US Readies New $1BN Arms Sale To Israel As Netanyahu Arrives In Washington

  While the name of the game for Trump has been cut, cut, cut and put a halt to all wasteful and corrupt US foreign aid siphoned abroad, funds sent to Israel have remained untouched.

  And now the Trump administration is readying a new $1 billion arms sale to Israel, including 4,700 1,000-pound bombs and armored bulldozers. Trump is requesting fresh Congressional approval for the potential sale.

  

  The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story Monday, wrote “The planned weapons sales include 4,700 1,000-pound bombs, worth more than $700 million, as well as armored bulldozers built by Caterpillar, worth more than $300 million, the officials said.”

  “The new arms requests, which would be paid for from the billions of dollars in annual U.S. military aid to Israel, come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington and set to meet President Trump on Tuesday to discuss the cease-fire in Gaza, a separate truce in Lebanon and tensions in the wider Middle East,” the report continued.

  This comes amid the backdrop of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arriving in Washington D.C. on Monday, ahead of his scheduled White House visit with Trump Tuesday.

  Crucially, Netanyahu will be the first world leader to meet with Trump since the Jan.20 inauguration. Israel remains America’s closest official Mideast ally, and a meeting between a new president and Israel’s head of state is typical spanning back multiple administrations.

  But these are sensitive times, given the fragile Gaza ceasefire and hostage/prisoner swap deal is still ongoing. Some hardliners close to Netanyahu oppose it, even while families of the hostages have pressed for it to go all the way until all hostages alive and deceased are returned.

  The Tuesday meeting in the Oval Office is expected to be dominated by these several issues:

  • Preserving the Gaza ceasefire
  • A potential deal to finally achieve Israel-Saudi relations
  • Moving forward with a total $8 billion in arms transfers

  These issues are somewhat interlocking. Trump has stood with Netanyahu on the stance of wanting to see the final military eradication of Hamas, but Trump has also hailed the ceasefire as ultimately the product of his administration entering office.

  As for the arms transfers issue, WSJ has detailed the following:

  Netanyahu and other Israeli officials are expected to press Trump to move forward with a separate set of arms transfers that were initially requested by the Biden administration, totaling more than $8 billion in new bombs, missiles and artillery rounds.

  The Biden administration notified key congressional leaders about that sale in January before it left office. The weapons haven’t yet received full approval because of a hold by some Democratic lawmakers, a congressional official said.

  Last week, Trump within released a hold on a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel previously paused by the Biden administration.

  And on Monday, the US has moved to cut all funding to the controversial UN aid organization present in Palestinian territories – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The US has long sided with Israel regarding the accusation that it is compromised by local Hamas staffers, or Hamas-sympathetic officials.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 19:40

• Secret Service Agent: DEI Contributed To Near-Killing Of Trump
  Secret Service Agent: DEI Contributed To Near-Killing Of Trump

  Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics,

  A Secret Service agent is for the first time publicly speaking out against the agency’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which he says contributed to the first assassination attempt against President Trump last summer.

  

  A 13-year veteran of the agency who has served in an elite unit and top protective assignments, Rashid Ellis sat down for an interview with the Independent Women’s Forum, a Virginia-based conservative nonprofit.

  IWF is in the process of making a documentary, titled “Qualifications, Not Quotas,” about Ellis’s experience and released an explanation of the documentary and a trailer Thursday providing a snapshot of his experience and concerns.

  “My initial thoughts when seeing the Butler assassination attempt was dread,” Ellis states solemnly in the trailer. “My stomach was in knots watching it because we had known for years that this was coming.”

  “I believe agendas have taken priority at the United States Secret Service for a long time, which is why Butler and July 13 happened and why we got a president get shot,” he adds.

  A graduate of The Citadel, a prestigious military college in South Carolina, Ellis has served on the Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team, an elite unit that provides tactical support to the president of the United States. Ellis went on to serve on the Presidential Protective Detail, a top assignment protecting presidents and their families, and as an instructor at the Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center, where he has taught new and experienced agents about counter-surveillance, according to a 2023 article on The Citadel’s website.

  “To be in the Secret Service, you have to be worthy of trust and confidence,” Ellis, wearing his Citadel class ring on a braided necklace around his neck, states in the video. “I’ve always viewed [it] as an honor and privilege to serve in this capacity. However … what I’ve seen with the United States is a different set of standards based on gender.”

  Despite his accomplishments, Ellis, who is black, says he was unfairly denied a leadership position and believes that DEI gender “quotas played a factor.” He argues that the agency’s hiring and promotions based on skin color and gender have directly contributed to lowering morale and the ongoing exodus of senior agents leaving the agency. The previous Secret Service leadership placed a special emphasis on hiring and promoting women.

  “Real danger is out there,” he states. “We need to restore confidence. We have to be focused on the threat that’s outside and the threat that’s in front of us.”

  During the final weeks of the campaign, whistleblowers warned members of Congress that Trump was facing multiple “assassination teams,” including three inspired by Iran and other governments. The FBI arrested Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national with ties to Iran, one day before the Butler rally and later charged him with murder for hire as part of an alleged scheme to assassinate Trump on U.S. soil. The Justice Department in November announced separate charges against an “Iranian asset” and two Americans in a murder-for-hire scheme against Trump.

  Even before the assassination attempts in the final months of the campaign, Secret Service agents were sounding the alarm that DEI policies were lowering hiring and training standards in the push to reach quotas for female and minority agents and officers, as RealClearPolitics reported in late April.

  The criticism came in the wake of an incident in which a female Secret Service agent physically attacked a superior at Joint Base Andrews, home base for Air Force One and Air Force Two. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the incident as a “medical matter” and said the agency would not “disclose further details.”

  The incident attracted scrutiny of an initiative signed by former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to increase the number of female agents. Cheatle, whom former President Biden tapped to serve as USSS director, was responding to Biden’s executive order requiring all federal agencies to demonstrate a commitment to DEI, which he issued on his first day in office in 2021.

  Cheatle, who resigned under pressure from Congress after the Butler assassination attempt, signed onto the 30×30 initiative, a national campaign to increase the representation of women in all law enforcement ranks across the country to 30% of the workplace by 2030. Before Cheatle stepped down, she was close to reaching that goal, with women making up nearly a quarter of Secret Service agents and Uniformed Division officers, Secret Service sources told RCP.

  In addition, at least until Trump’s first days in office, the Secret Service had an “Inclusion and Engagement Council,” which pledged to become the agency’s “game-changers” when it comes to helping the agency “build, foster, create, and inspire a workforce where diversity and inclusion are not just ‘talked about’ but demonstrated by all employees through ‘Every Action, Every Day.’”

  The agency also had an Office of Equity & Employment Support Services, which maintained an internal website to provide “executive leadership and oversight for the effective management of all resources and, agency-wide initiatives, and external requirements” for DEI. That office included at least a dozen officials devoted to working on DEI programs, according to screenshots of the internal website that RCP viewed.

  After the first assassination attempt against Trump and before the second at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course, the Secret Service’s DEI office sent out an agency-wide email soliciting nominations for agency employees to attend the “Out and Equal” Workplace Summit at Disney World. The all-expense paid, three-day LGBTQ+ conference, which RCP first reported, took place Oct. 7-10, during the height of the campaign season when agents were working at a frenetic pace with no leave permitted.

  The internal agency solicitation spurred a wave of criticism from members of Congress investigating the agency’s failures at Butler. The Secret Service rationalized its participation with a spokesman noting that only a limited number of administrative personnel were permitted to attend.

  On his first day in office, Trump began to dismantle the previous administration’s DEI efforts across the federal government. His executive order, titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” directed all federal DEI staff be placed on paid lead and, eventually, laid off.

  Trump also tapped Sean Curran, head of his campaign detail, as the new director, replacing acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe who retired last week. Just two days into the job, Curran started cleaning house. On Jan. 21, he reassigned or pressed at least 10 senior leaders to retire immediately in a shake-up agents referred to as “Bloody Friday.”

  Though many agents applauded these actions from the new administration, they believe it will take years of effort to right the DEI wrongs, which they say have severely weakened the agency.

  “Though I welcome the change of leadership at the top of the agency and the reforms I hope they will prioritize, I worry that it will take years to rectify the damage that discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion policies have caused,” Ellis told RCP in a written statement. “The Secret Service’s role is critical, and if we do not clean out the rot that has embedded itself in this agency, our people – and our protectees – will pay the price.”

  Ellis noted that he has proudly worked for the agency for 13 years and has repeatedly put his “life on the line to advance this agency’s mission and secure the safety of our protectees.”

  Unfortunately, he says, over the past several years he watched the agency’s leaders abandon its critical protective mission “in favor of ideological goals.”

  “The relentless push by Secret Service leadership to meet diversity quotas in particular has compromised our ability to meet our protectees’ needs,” he argued. “This agenda has contributed to devastating security failures, including the July 13 assassination attempt of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

  “I know this firsthand because I am one of many Secret Service agents who was wrongly sidelined by agency leadership because I did not meet their sex-based diversity requirements,” he said.

  The IWF is continuing to work on a full documentary about Ellis’ experiences and deep concerns but decided to release a trailer to highlight the “counterproductive” impact DEI policies have had on several federal agencies, including the Secret Service. DEI policies are especially detrimental to the Secret Service’s “zero-fail” mission and its top priority of protecting presidents, vice presidents, their family members, and key Cabinet members, according to Kaylee McGhee White, editor-in-chief of Independent Women Features, IWF’s storytelling and journalism arm, which is producing the documentary.

  “The Secret Service is one of many federal agencies whose work has been hampered by divisive and counterproductive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies,” McGhee White said. “Given the Secret Service’s critical work, this agenda has had particularly visible consequences. The Secret Service’s protectees should not be worried about whether the agency is able to adequately prepare for and respond to threats due to unfair hiring and promotion standards.

  “Unfortunately, as Rashid Ellis has confirmed, that is exactly what has happened,” she said.

  Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 19:15

• OPEC Drops US EIA As A Secondary Source Assessing Oil Production
  OPEC Drops US EIA As A Secondary Source Assessing Oil Production

  Authored by By Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

  • OPEC has replaced the EIA with Kpler, OilX, and ESAI as secondary sources for assessing crude oil production and compliance with output cuts.

  • This decision comes after OPEC previously dropped the IEA from its list of data sources.

  • The move is seen as a significant snub to the U.S. energy agency and reflects growing tensions between OPEC and the West.

  OPEC is dropping the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) as a secondary source to assess crude oil production of the OPEC+ countries and their compliance with the group’s output cuts, the cartel said after a panel meeting on Monday.

  

  After thorough analysis from the OPEC Secretariat, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) replaced consultancy Rystad Energy and the EIA with Kpler, OilX, and ESAI, as part of the secondary sources used to assess the crude oil production and compliance, OPEC said.

  The move is effective from February 1, 2025. Before that date, OPEC used figures from seven consultancies and agencies, including the EIA, Rystad Energy, and Wood Mackenzie, among others.

  OPEC uses secondary sources to track and report its crude oil production and to monitor compliance with the OPEC+ production cuts by using the average of the figures provided by these sources.

  OPEC had already dropped in 2022 the International Energy Agency (IEA) from its list of secondary sources after the Paris-based agency embarked on a campaign to criticize oil-producing countries and call for no new oil and gas projects in a world of net zero emissions.

  OPEC has repeatedly slammed the international agency for what the cartel says are “dangerous” predictions of peak oil demand by 2030.

  Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman even called in 2021 the IEA’s Roadmap to Net Zero “La La Land”.

  Now it’s the turn of the U.S. EIA to be replaced as a secondary source.

  OPEC did not give explanations as to why it has decided to drop the U.S. energy administration from its pool of secondary sources providers.

  At the Monday meeting of the JMMC, the OPEC+ panel reviewing policy and markets and potentially recommending actions to the group’s ministers to take, the committee said it would not recommend changes to the group’s current plans to begin gradually unwinding the cuts in April 2025.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 18:25

• Angry Dem Lawmakers Blocked By Security From Entering USAID Headquarters
  Angry Dem Lawmakers Blocked By Security From Entering USAID Headquarters

  Update(1815ET): And now apparently Dems have essentially been locked out of the USAID headquarters in Washington, amid efforts to get in and investigate what’s going on, and seeking to meet with top administrators now running the show (or rather, overseeing the dismantling of the agency) in the HQ. The Hill details Monday afternoon:

  A group of Senate and House Democrats were blocked from entering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday.

  The Democratic lawmakers, who are opposed to President Trump’s efforts to shut down the agency, left without incident after a brief exchange with security officials. The group, led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), were told the front office of the administrator of USAID was not available to meet. 

  A select group of USAID employees with the front office administrator were in the office Monday, an official told lawmakers outside the doors, but were not free to meet with the lawmakers.

  One Democratic lawmaker told the publication about being blocked at the entrance that the whole saga is “underwhelming”. However, clearly Trump and Musk are setting off huge alarm bells, and this is likely but the first salvo on Congress’s attempt to intervene.

  Dem lawmakers were barred from getting into the USAID offices, says Sen @ChrisVanHollen. They had slammed Musk and the Trump administration for what they’re doing to USAID, repeatedly calling it illegal. pic.twitter.com/Fn91CTVuKg

  — Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) February 3, 2025

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

  Blocked!… no access:

  

  * * *

  It’s happening fast after Sunday statements of Elon Musk confirming President Trump “agreed” to shut USAID down… USAID’s headquarters in Washington D.C. has been closed for the day on Monday, with employees receiving an early morning email telling them to remain at home.

  Musk says the agency has effectively been shut down. The email, which is now widely circulating on social media postings, was sent from Gavin Kliger via an official usaid.gov. address. He is one among the twenty-somethings assisting Musk in implementing Trump’s order to slash foreign aid and stop waste.

  

  “Logos and photos of its aid work have been stripped from building walls,” CNN writes of the HQ’s sudden closure. This after all web and and social media accounts went dark over the weekend, now with a simplified version of its webpage on the State Department’s website.

  “None of this could be done without the full support of the president,” Musk said in a Sunday X Spaces event. “I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed with that we should shut it down. I want to be clear. I actually checked with him a few times. I said, “Are you sure?’ ‘Yes.’ So we’re shutting it down.”

  Thousands of staff have told media outlets that they have lost access to their email accounts, which have been deactivated.

  A USAID worker has subsequently said: “We have been officially informed that the US Department of State now has access to all of our internal documents and our entire suite of files, documents, everything — all of our systems.” Top officials were fired over the weekend.

  Musk says “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper”…

  We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.

  Could gone to some great parties.

  Did that instead. https://t.co/0V35nacICW

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025

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

  Access to USAID’s Google drive and other sensitive data has reportedly been transferred straight under the State Department. It appears any future foreign aid programs will simply be run out of the State Department, with more executive branch oversight.

  One big question that remains is how much noise Congressional leaders will make. Will Congress attempt intervention, also as there are reports that Musk and DOGE have access to the US Treasury’s payment system?

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 18:15

• Russia's Medvedev Warns That US Deep State Might Swallow Musk
  Russia’s Medvedev Warns That US Deep State Might Swallow Musk

  Having long witnessed the phenomenon of USAID-backed ‘color revolutions’ in neighboring and regional former Soviet satellite countries, Russia has been closely following the Trump administration’s efforts to fully dismantle the United States Agency for International Development.

  Head of the recently established US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, has been spearheading this, saying on Monday that “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” And now Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has weighed in with a message and a warning.

  The former Russian president and top national security official expressed hope that the US deep state won’t consume Elon Musk after shutting down the long-running agency known for having funded regime change operations abroad for many decades.

  “Smart move by Elon Musk, trying to plug USAID’s Deep Throat. Let’s hope notorious Deep State doesn’t swallow him whole,” Medvedev wrote on X.

  Smart move by @elonmusk, trying to plug USAID’s Deep Throat. Let’s hope notorious Deep State doesn’t swallow him whole…

  — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) February 3, 2025

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  Ironically this came the same day that never-Trump neocon and intellectual architect behind Bush’s disastrous Iraq war issued a tweet declaring his preference for the deep state, and he was being quite literal.

  “The deep state is far preferable to the Trump state,” Kristol said, in a rare moment saying what many other career government operatives are thinking, or saying the quiet part out loud.

  Interestingly Medvedev also took the opportunity Monday to blast Ukraine and President Zelensky over alleged ‘missing’ USAID funds meant for Kiev. According to Russia’s RT:

  Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s recent claim that he is unaware of the whereabouts of more than $100 billion of Western aid funds allocated to Kiev is a “brazen and cynical lie,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested.

  In a Telegram post on Monday, Medvedev, who now serves as the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, accused Zelensky and his associates of embezzling significant sums. “In a fit of candor, the Bandera regime’s boss admitted that he and his cronies had siphoned off $100 billion,” he stated.

  Zelensky had told the Associated Press in an interview published the day prior that Ukraine received just over $75 billion in military and other types of assistance, despite $177 billion in military aid had been approved under Biden.

  

  “When it is said that Ukraine received $200 billion to support the army during the war – that’s not true. I don’t know where all that money went. Perhaps it’s true on paper with hundreds of different programs – I won’t argue, and we’re immensely grateful for everything. But in reality, we received about $76 billion. It’s significant aid, but it’s not $200 billion,” Zelensky said, in remarks that have raised eyebrows.

  There may also be serious questions from the new Trump administration over the line about not knowing where all that money went. Time for a full stoppage at least until there is a thorough US-sponsored audit? Medvedev has alleged, “The hundred billion lined the pockets of all kinds of kleptocrats from Washington to Kiev.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 18:00

• Spoiling For A Fight: Why Challenging Birthright Citizenship May Be A Win-Win Strategy For Trump
  Spoiling For A Fight: Why Challenging Birthright Citizenship May Be A Win-Win Strategy For Trump

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  Last week, the Trump administration doubled down in its fight against birthright citizenship. The usual alliance of pundits, professors and press lined up to declare any challenge to birthright citizenship as absurd. Yet the administration seemed not only undeterred, but delighted.

  

  There is a reason for that euphoria: They believe that they cannot lose this fight.

  The legal case against birthright citizenship has always been tough to make, given the long-standing interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment in federal courts and agencies. Many in academia and the media have shown unusual outrage toward anyone questioning the basis for birthright citizenship as a legal or policy matter.

  This is perhaps best evinced by Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe’s profane tirade the last time Trump raised this issue years ago: “This f—ing racist wants to reverse the outcome of the Civil War.”

  Putting aside that the Civil War was fought over slavery, not immigration, many at the time would have disagreed that this was one of the outcomes of either the Civil War or the Fourteenth Amendment.

  The Fourteenth Amendment starts and ends as a model of clarity, stating that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are “citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” However, sandwiched between those two phrases, Congress inserted the words “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Those six words have perplexed many since they were first drafted.

  For some, the line must be read as a whole and guarantees that anyone born within the United States becomes an American citizen.

  For others, the six words cannot be read out of the amendment as superfluous. They argue that this indicates that the parents must be here in a legal status, either as citizens or legal residents.

  This division was evident at the very birth of the amendment.

  Some of those debating the question clearly believed that the amendment did cover anyone born on our soil regardless of the status of the parents.

  During the debates, Senator Edgar Cowan of Pennsylvania asked:

  “Is the child of the Chinese immigrant in California a citizen? Is the child born of a Gypsy born in Pennsylvania a citizen?” Senator John Conness of California answered this in the affirmative.

  Others indicated the opposite understanding.

  Senator Jacob Howard, coauthor of the Fourteenth Amendment, said it was “simply declaratory” of the Civil Rights Act to protect freed slaves.

  Howard assured senators, “This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, or who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers.” Likewise, Senator Lyman Trumbull, author of the 13th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act and a drafter of the Fourteenth Amendment, said that the six words included only those “not owing allegiance to anyone else.”

  This debate has raged for decades. While Democrats today portray anyone supporting the narrower interpretation as a racist or nutty, it was not long ago that many Democratic leaders opposed birthright citizenship, including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). He later denounced his old position with the same passion.

  The Supreme Court itself seemed conflicted in the relatively few cases that touched on this issue. In 1872, in the Slaughterhouse Cases, the court interpreted the words “subject to its jurisdiction” as “intended to exclude from its operation” children of “citizens or subjects of foreign states born within the United States.” A few years later, in Minor v. Happersett, the court unanimously expressed “doubts” that citizenship would apply for “children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents.”

  Then, in 1884, the Supreme Court handed down Elk v. Wilkins and held that parents must not merely be “subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and not subject to any foreign power”  To claim citizenship, they must owe the U.S. “direct and immediate allegiance.”

  Supporters of birthright citizenship can cite countervailing authority to support their position. In 1898, the court ruled in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark that “the Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens.”

  Anti-birthright advocates stress the court’s additional emphasis that the parents had to have “a permanent domicil[e] and residence in the United States, and [be] there carrying on business.”

  Yet in 1982, in Plyler v. Doe, the court voted 5-4 that the Fourteenth Amendment required Texas to provide public schooling to the children of illegal immigrants, noting that there is “no plausible distinction with respect to Fourteenth Amendment ‘jurisdiction’ can be drawn between resident aliens whose entry into the United States was lawful, and resident aliens whose entry was unlawful.”

  There are strong arguments in favor of the broader interpretation to include birthright citizenship, and the case law favors the conventional interpretation. Indeed, it is not clear whether the Trump administration could secure a majority of the court to adopt the narrower interpretation, including potentially skeptical conservatives such as John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

  What is clear is that such an interpretation would likely need to be made by the Supreme Court (rather than lower courts) given the existing precedent in favor of birthright citizenship.

  So what makes this a win-win proposition for the Trump administration? The politics are stronger than the precedent.

  Even if the administration loses before the Supreme Court, it will force Democrats again to fight against a tougher stance on immigration issues. Democrats maintained that position in the last election despite polling showing that 83 percent of Americans support deportations of immigrants with violent criminal records and almost half support mass deportation of all undocumented persons.

  On birthright citizenship, roughly half of the country now opposes it, according to a recent Emerson poll.

  That is consistent with much of the world.

  The U.S. is actually in the minority on the issue.

  Our closest allies in Europe reject birthright citizens and follow the common practice of “jus sanguinis,” or right of blood.

  We are part of a smaller number of countries following “jus soli,” or right of soil.

  That is why the Trump administration may win either way. It will either secure a new interpretation from the high court or it could spur a campaign for a constitutional amendment. All of this could unfold around the time of the midterm elections, when incumbents of the president’s party are generally disfavored. This is a wedge issue that many in the Republican Party might welcome.

  Indeed, the most relevant quote from the Civil War period may be that of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the final year of the war, when he declared “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” It was a war of attrition, and Grant liked the odds. Some conservatives seem to have the same view of the lay of the land in the fight over birthright citizenship.

  *  *  *

  Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 17:40

• Watch: Hornet's Nest Kicked As Raskin, Omar Throw Public Tantrum Over USAID Hostile Takeover
  Watch: Hornet’s Nest Kicked As Raskin, Omar Throw Public Tantrum Over USAID Hostile Takeover

  Apparently the Trump administration is directly over the target, as Democrats are absolutely freaking out over DOGE’s ‘hostile takeover’ of USAID, which on Monday was folded into the State Department under Marco Rubio.

  

  In a nutshell, USAID has been a deep state slush fund used for unmitigated malarkey around the world, and was essentially a money laundering operation that has funded radical organizations linked to terrorists, censorship operations, EcoHealth Alliance, and a laundry list of other anti-American activities.

  USAID – The Ultimate Nerve Center Of A Rogue Foreign Policy Establishment pic.twitter.com/jz9nJsmzw0

  — Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) February 2, 2025

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  In a Monday statement, the State Department acknowledged that USAID “has long strayed from its original mission of responsibly advancing American interests abroad, and it is now abundantly clear that significant portions of USAID funding are not aligned with the core national interests of the United States.”

  Cue Freakout

  For further confirmation that USAID is nothing but a deep state slush fund, look no further than its defenders. On Monday, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) staged a protest outside USAID headquarters in Washington DC.

  “We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one, and here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like!” screeched Omar. Notably, $2.3 billion of USAID went to Somalia, where she’s from.

  JUST IN: Rep. Ilhan Omar goes on an unhinged rant claiming that Trump is a dictator because he’s trying to save money and get rid of government corruption.

  “We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one, and here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship… pic.twitter.com/DbBYCXNjhD

  — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 3, 2025

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsRaskin, meanwhile, slammed DOGE head Elon Musk.

  “Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury, but you don’t control the money of the American people.”

  “Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID,” Raskin continued, adding “He doesn’t have the power to destroy it, and who will stop him? We are!”

  Sorry Jamie, USAID was created by JFK at the height of the Cold War by Executive Order, and can be folded into the State Department at Trump’s will.

  BREAKING: Rep. Jamie Raskin blasts Elon Musk outside USAID HQ, declaring that Democrats will block DOGE from eliminating government waste and fraud.

  “Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID.”

  “He doesn’t have the power to destroy it, and who will stop him? We are!”

  “We don’t have a… pic.twitter.com/sXtf9AqDZe

  — KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 3, 2025

  Again, Trump and Musk are directly over the target. 

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 17:20

• Trump Should End The Ukraine War Now: 'Get On The Phone & Tell Zelensky It's Over'
  Trump Should End The Ukraine War Now: ‘Get On The Phone & Tell Zelensky It’s Over’

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  President Trump had a simple but profound message about the Ukraine war during his campaign: “I want everybody to stop dying. They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying.”

  About two weeks into his second term in office, Russians and Ukrainians are still dying, and not just soldiers. On January 29, a Ukrainian drone killed a mother and her two-year-old child in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast. The following day, a Russian drone slammed into an apartment building in northeastern Ukraine, killing six people, who were described as three older married couples.

  Trump has reportedly given his envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellogg, 100 days to end the war, and a purported leaked plan drawn up by the administration would call for a ceasefire by Easter to begin talks on a lasting peace deal.

  

  But between now and then, many more Ukrainians and Russians will die. And for what? There’s nothing the US can do now to give Ukraine any real leverage over Russia. Time is on Russia’s side, and everybody knows it. Ukraine will have to make serious concessions to achieve peace, and that will be the situation now and in 100 days.

  There are other reasons to stop the war besides the daily casualties. The risk of escalation is still very real as Ukrainian drones are flying into Russia on a daily basis and sometimes target very sensitive infrastructure, including nuclear power plants.

  Contrary to what many believe, Ukraine did not build up its drone capabilities by itself. In its final days, the Biden administration decided to reveal a once-secret program that funded Ukrainian drone development to the tune of $1.5 billion. We also know that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia are carried out using intelligence from the West.

  Russia has shown that it doesn’t want to take the war to NATO in the face of Western-backed attacks on its territory, and it’s even more unlikely to do so now that there is a new US administration that’s at least talking about ending the war. But rogue elements of Ukrainian intelligence or even President Zelensky himself might decide to go for one big provocation, something Russia can’t leave unanswered, as a final desperate effort to get direct NATO intervention.

  According to the leaked US plan to end the war, the US will direct Ukraine to lift martial law once a peace deal is reached. That means Zelensky will no longer have an excuse not to hold elections, and he is bound to lose after signing a deal that hands over a chunk of territory to the Russians.

  Zelensky knows his days in power are numbered and that this war will be his legacy. He will be remembered for choosing to fight a war he could have never won instead of signing a deal in the first weeks of the invasion that would have ended the dying and left Ukraine much more intact than it is today.

  For the sake of the Ukrainians and Russians who could die in the coming weeks and to bring the world back from the brink of World War III, Trump should get on the phone with Zelensky today and tell him it’s over.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 17:00

• Trudeau Bends The Knee: Canada Will Send 10,000 Troops To Border, Name Fentanyl Czar To Delay Trump Tariffs
  Trudeau Bends The Knee: Canada Will Send 10,000 Troops To Border, Name Fentanyl Czar To Delay Trump Tariffs

  Update (4:40pm ET):  In what is a carbon copy of Trump’s tariff-delaying deal with Mexico, moments ago Canada’s outgoing PM, Justin Trudeau, said that he too had bent the knee, i.e. had a “good call” with Trump, and that US tariffs on Canada would be paused for 30 days after Canada – just like Mexico – agreed to send 10,000 troops to the border as part of a $1.3 billion border plan which “reinforces the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl”.

  

  Trudeau also said that Canada will appoint a Fentanyl Czar, list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, and launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.

  Finally, the Canadian PM also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million.

  As a result of not only bending the knee but bending over fully for the US president, Trump’s proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days.

  I just had a good call with President Trump. Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. Nearly…

  — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 3, 2025

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  Shortly after Trudeau’s post, Trump followed suit on his own Truth Social network, writing that Canada “has agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl that have been pouring into our Country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, while destroying their families and communities all across our Country.”

  Trump concluded by saying that he is “very pleased with this initial outcome” adding that the Tariffs announced on Saturday will be paused for a 30 day period “to see whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured. FAIRNESS FOR ALL!”

  

  Trump has agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl that have been pouring into our Country, killing hundreds of thousands of

  Separately, the FT reported that all shipments arriving by mail from Canada and China will need to be cleared by customs from Tuesday onwards as the US moved to close a trade loophole that allowed low value imports to avoid duties.

  “Without regard to their value, no mail shipments from China will be cleared or released” by the Customs and Border Protection agency “unless and until formal entry is properly filed”, the agency said in a document scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on February 5.

  The CBP used the same language in a filing about tariffs on Canada, also scheduled to be published on Wednesday.

  Details on the CBP’s order requiring “formal entry” for shipments from Canada and China follows US President Donald Trump issuing executive actions imposing tariffs on goods from those countries.

  Trump’s executive orders stated that the articles applicable for tariffs would not be exempt from the so-called “de minimis exemption”, which allows low value imports to avoid duties.

  * * *

  Tl;dr: VP JD Vance summed it all up in one simple tweet:

  “For three days a lot of the far left has actively rooted against America and argued we’d get nothing out of President Trunp’s demands that Mexico secure its country.

  Well, how do you like them apples?”

  Apples indeed! Now let’s see what Trudeau has to say later…

  *  *  *

  Late last night we said that it is very likely Trump’s trade war would be very short, after we pointed to better than evern Polymarket odds that the trade war with both Mexico and Canada would be over in the next month or two.

  And trade war over

  MEXICAN PRESIDENT SHEINBAUM SAYS MEXICO WILL DEPLOY 10,000 NATIONAL GUARD IMMEIDATLEY TO BORDER TO AVOID TRAFFICKING OF DRUGS TO U.S. https://t.co/A6LlS5zXHx

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 3, 2025

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  And then, just hours later, this appears to have been validated after Mexico’s president Scheinbaum said that after having a good conversation with Trump, Mexico is “pausing tariffs for a month for now” and that Mexico will promptly comply with Trump’s ask by reinforning the northern border with 10,000 national guard members to “prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the US, particularly fentanyl.”

  Sostuvimos una buena conversación con el presidente Trump con mucho respeto a nuestra relación y la soberanía; llegamos a una serie de acuerdos:

  1.México reforzará la frontera norte con 10 mil elementos de la Guardia Nacional de forma inmediata, para evitar el tráfico de drogas…

  — Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) February 3, 2025

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

  Here is a translation of what she said:

  We had a good conversation with President Trump with great respect for our relationship and sovereignty; we reached a series of agreements:

  1. Mexico will immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl.

  2. The United States is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.

  3. Our teams will begin working today on two fronts: security and trade.

  4. They are pausing tariffs for one month from now.

  President Trump has confirmed the tariffs are paused for one month:

  

  The Canadians were very busy scouring the Government’s tariffs site…

  

  And now that trade war with Mexico appears to be over, Trump just has to repeat the same with Canada when he speaks to Trudeau at 3pm ET today.

  As for China, we doubt that particular trade war will be as easy to win but who knows: Trump is certainly on a roll.

  In any case, the market is certainly delighted with the outcome, and the Mexican peso is surging…

  

  TSY yields are rising (shouldn’t they fall on non-inflationary, non-tariffs?)…

  

  Oil prices have plunged, erasing overnight tariff-driven gains…

  

  Bitcoin is ripping higher (as we suppose this means no large drop in global liquidity?)

  

  And US equities are reversing the large losses overnight quite rapidly…

  

  Now, what will the MSM say after doom-mongering all morning about Trump’s ‘catastrophic’ tariffs?

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 16:53

• Another Mass Ukrainian Drone Attack Triggers Fires At Oil & Gas Facilities In Southern Russia
  Another Mass Ukrainian Drone Attack Triggers Fires At Oil & Gas Facilities In Southern Russia

  Ukraine launched another large-scale drone attack on Russian territory overnight targeting oil refineries and infrastructure. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the widespread nature of the attack, saying it shot down over 70 of the inbound drones.

  Drones reportedly struck an oil refinery Russia’s southern Volgograd region as part of the larger attack. Infrastructure in the southern Astrakhan region was also targeted, including gas facilities.

  The damaged refinery in Volgograd appears to belong to Russian oil giant Lukoil. This marks the third oil refinery hit by Ukrainian drones within a little over a week. Such large-scale attacks seem to now be coming at a weekly pace.

  

  Falling drone debris over the Volgograd region has resulted in local fires, and the whole attack has disrupted commercial flights over the impacted regions.

  “The air defence forces of the defence ministry repelled a massive attack by aircraft-type drones on the territory of the Volgograd region,” Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said.

  Russia’s defense ministry said of the scope that 27 drones were downed over the Rostov Region, 25 over Volgograd, seven over the Astrakhan, five over the Voronezh Region, four over the Belgorod Region, and two over Kursk.

  A number of regional airports had flight restrictions imposed, including airports in Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Saratov and Ulyanovsk, the press service of Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency indicated. However, all air traffic later resumed as normal. The airports of Vladikavkaz, Grozny and Makhachkala left restrictions in place longer.

  The Ukrainian attacks and the resulting damage to Russian refineries have reduced Russia’s capability to process crude, also amid constant major emergency repairs and maintenance.

  This trend has been on since early last year. As it became clear that battlefield success in the eastern frontlines would remain elusive, Kiev has replaced its waning reliance on artillery with cheap suicide drones targeting the Russian oil export machine deep within Russian territory, as a way to wage economic and psychological warfare on the Kremlin.

  Large-scale drone attack on Russia

  Overnight, 70 drones were shot down over Russia. Nine airports temporarily restricted operations.

  As a result of the large-scale attack on Volgograd, “localized fires” started in the city not on the territory of an oil depot, the region’s… pic.twitter.com/kWfvQKzMRQ

  — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 3, 2025

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  The constant mass drone attacks have done nothing to alter Russia’s advances in Ukraine’s east, but Kiev hopes to put a dent in Russia’s war machine by setting back its crucial oil and energy-based revenue. 

  Ukraine has also hoped to grab the attention of its Western backers with these attacks, signaling NATO that it can escalate against Russia if it chooses to.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/03/2025 – 16:40

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