Dec 05

Today’s News 5th December 2024

  • You'd Better Watch Out: The Surveillance State Is Making A List, And You're On It
    You'd Better Watch Out: The Surveillance State Is Making A List, And You're On It

    Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

    “He sees you when you’re sleeping

    He knows when you’re awake

    He knows when you’ve been bad or good

    So be good for goodness’ sake!”

    —“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”

    You’d better watch out—you’d better not pout—you’d better not cry—‘cos I’m telling you why: this Christmas, it’s the Surveillance State that’s making a list and checking it twice, and it won’t matter whether you’ve been bad or good.

    You’ll be on this list whether you like it or not.

    Mass surveillance is the Deep State’s version of a “gift” that keeps on giving…back to the Deep State.

    Geofencing dragnets. Fusion centers. Smart devices. Behavioral threat assessments. Terror watch lists. Facial recognition. Snitch tip lines. Biometric scanners. Pre-crime. DNA databases. Data mining. Precognitive technology. Drones. Contact tracing apps. License plate readers. Social media vetting. Surveillance towers.

    What these add up to is a world in which, on any given day, the average person is now monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked in more than 20 different ways by both government and corporate eyes and ears.

    Big Tech wedded to Big Government has become Big Brother.

    Every second of every day, the American people are being spied on by a vast network of digital Peeping Toms, electronic eavesdroppers and robotic snoops.

    This creepy new era of government/corporate spying—in which we’re being listened to, watched, tracked, followed, mapped, bought, sold and targeted—has been made possible by a global army of techno-tyrants, fusion centers and Peeping Toms.

    Consider just a small sampling of the tools being used to track our movements, monitor our spending, and sniff out all the ways in which our thoughts, actions and social circles might land us on the government’s naughty list, whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.

    Tracking you based on your phone and movements: Cell phones have become de facto snitches, offering up a steady stream of digital location data on users’ movements and travels. For instance, the FBI was able to use geofence data to identify more than 5,000 mobile devices (and their owners) in a 4-acre area around the Capitol on January 6. This latest surveillance tactic could land you in jail for being in the “wrong place and time.” Police are also using cell-site simulators to carry out mass surveillance of protests without the need for a warrant. Moreover, federal agents can now employ a number of hacking methods in order to gain access to your computer activities and “see” whatever you’re seeing on your monitor. Malicious hacking software can also be used to remotely activate cameras and microphones, offering another means of glimpsing into the personal business of a target.

    Tracking you based on your DNA. DNA technology in the hands of government officials completes our transition to a Surveillance State. If you have the misfortune to leave your DNA traces anywhere a crime has been committed, you’ve already got a file somewhere in some state or federal database—albeit it may be a file without a name. By accessing your DNA, the government will soon know everything else about you that they don’t already know: your family chart, your ancestry, what you look like, your health history, your inclination to follow orders or chart your own course, etc. After all, a DNA print reveals everything about “who we are, where we come from, and who we will be.” It can also be used to predict the physical appearance of potential suspects. It’s only a matter of time before the police state’s pursuit of criminals expands into genetic profiling and a preemptive hunt for criminals of the future.

    Tracking you based on your face: Facial recognition software aims to create a society in which every individual who steps out into public is tracked and recorded as they go about their daily business. Coupled with surveillance cameras that blanket the country, facial recognition technology allows the government and its corporate partners to identify and track someone’s movements in real-time. One particularly controversial software program created by Clearview AI has been used by police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to collect photos on social media sites for inclusion in a massive facial recognition database. Similarly, biometric software, which relies on one’s unique identifiers (fingerprints, irises, voice prints), is becoming the standard for navigating security lines, as well as bypassing digital locks and gaining access to phones, computers, office buildings, etc. In fact, greater numbers of travelers are opting into programs that rely on their biometrics in order to avoid long waits at airport security. Scientists are also developing lasers that can identify and surveil individuals based on their heartbeats, scent and microbiome.

    Tracking you based on your behavior: Rapid advances in behavioral surveillance are not only making it possible for individuals to be monitored and tracked based on their patterns of movement or behavior, including gait recognition (the way one walks), but have given rise to whole industries that revolve around predicting one’s behavior based on data and surveillance patterns and are also shaping the behaviors of whole populations. One smart “anti-riot” surveillance system purports to predict mass riots and unauthorized public events by using artificial intelligence to analyze social media, news sources, surveillance video feeds and public transportation data.

    Tracking you based on your spending and consumer activities: With every smartphone we buy, every GPS device we install, every X/Twitter, Facebook, and Google account we open, every frequent buyer card we use for purchases—whether at the grocer’s, the yogurt shop, the airlines or the department store—and every credit and debit card we use to pay for our transactions, we’re helping Corporate America build a dossier for its government counterparts on who we know, what we think, how we spend our money, and how we spend our time. Consumer surveillance, by which your activities and data in the physical and online realms are tracked and shared with advertisers, has become big business, a $300 billion industry that routinely harvests your data for profit. Corporations such as Target have not only been tracking and assessing the behavior of their customers, particularly their purchasing patterns, for years, but the retailer has also funded major surveillance in cities across the country and developed behavioral surveillance algorithms that can determine whether someone’s mannerisms might fit the profile of a thief.

    Tracking you based on your public activities: Private corporations in conjunction with police agencies throughout the country have created a web of surveillance that encompasses all major cities in order to monitor large groups of people seamlessly, as in the case of protests and rallies. They are also engaging in extensive online surveillance, looking for any hints of “large public events, social unrest, gang communications, and criminally predicated individuals.” Defense contractors have been at the forefront of this lucrative market. Fusion centers, $330 million-a-year, information-sharing hubs for federal, state and law enforcement agencies, monitor and report such “suspicious” behavior as people buying pallets of bottled water, photographing government buildings, and applying for a pilot’s license as “suspicious activity.”

    Tracking you based on your social media activities: Every move you make, especially on social media, is monitored, mined for data, crunched, and tabulated in order to form a picture of who you are, what makes you tick, and how best to control you when and if it becomes necessary to bring you in line. As The Intercept reported, the FBI, CIA, NSA and other government agencies are increasingly investing in and relying on corporate surveillance technologies that can mine constitutionally protected speech on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in order to identify potential extremists and predict who might engage in future acts of anti-government behavior. This obsession with social media as a form of surveillance will have some frightening consequences in coming years. As Helen A.S. Popkin, writing for NBC News, observed, “We may very well face a future where algorithms bust people en masse for referencing illegal ‘Game of Thrones’ downloads… the new software has the potential to roll, Terminator-style, targeting every social media user with a shameful confession or questionable sense of humor.”

    Tracking you based on your social network: Not content to merely spy on individuals through their online activity, government agencies are now using surveillance technology to track one’s social network, the people you might connect with by phone, text message, email or through social message, in order to ferret out possible criminals. An FBI document obtained by Rolling Stone speaks to the ease with which agents are able to access address book data from Facebook’s WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage services from the accounts of targeted individuals and individuals not under investigation who might have a targeted individual within their network. What this creates is a “guilt by association” society in which we are all as guilty as the most culpable person in our address book.

    Tracking you based on your car: License plate readers are mass surveillance tools that can photograph over 1,800 license tag numbers per minute, take a picture of every passing license tag number and store the tag number and the date, time, and location of the picture in a searchable database, then share the data with law enforcement, fusion centers and private companies to track the movements of persons in their cars. With tens of thousands of these license plate readers now in operation throughout the country, affixed to overpasses, cop cars and throughout business sectors and residential neighborhoods, it allows police to track vehicles and run the plates through law enforcement databases for abducted children, stolen cars, missing people and wanted fugitives. Of course, the technology is not infallible: there have been numerous incidents in which police have mistakenly relied on license plate data to capture out suspects only to end up detaining innocent people at gunpoint.

    Tracking you based on your mail: Just about every branch of the government—from the Postal Service to the Treasury Department and every agency in between—now has its own surveillance sector, authorized to spy on the American people. For instance, the U.S. Postal Service, which has been photographing the exterior of every piece of paper mail for the past 20 years, is also spying on Americans’ texts, emails and social media posts. Headed up by the Postal Service’s law enforcement division, the Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) is reportedly using facial recognition technology, combined with fake online identities, to ferret out potential troublemakers with “inflammatory” posts. The agency claims the online surveillance, which falls outside its conventional job scope of processing and delivering paper mail, is necessary to help postal workers avoid “potentially volatile situations.”

    Now the government wants us to believe that we have nothing to fear from these mass spying programs as long as we’ve done nothing wrong.

    Don’t believe it.

    The government’s definition of a “bad” guy is extraordinarily broad, and it results in the warrantless surveillance of innocent, law-abiding Americans on a staggering scale.

    As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people—weapons of compliance and control in the government’s hands—haven’t made America any safer. And they certainly aren’t helping to preserve our freedoms.

    Indeed, America will never be safe as long as the U.S. government is allowed to shred the Constitution.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 23:25

  • Blinken Ramps Up Pressure For Zelensky To 'Get Younger People Into The Fight'
    Blinken Ramps Up Pressure For Zelensky To 'Get Younger People Into The Fight'

    It’s no secret that the Biden administration has been pressuring Ukraine’s Zelensky behind the scenes to drop the age of conscription down to 18 from the current age of 25. But now the White House is becoming much more direct and out in the open about it.

    With less than 50 days to go of Biden in office, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Kiev to make “hard decisions” about expanding mobilization efforts to fight the Russians. He’s urging that younger men be forced into the fight.

    “Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary” Blinken stated in a NATO press conference on Wednesday. “Right now, 18- to 25-year-olds are not in the fight,” he explained.

    Reuters/AFP image

    He emphasized that that manpower is critical “because even with the money, even with the munitions, there have to be people on the front lines.” The Biden White House has been rushing as much arms to Ukraine forces as it can with little time left in the Democratic administration.

    Blinken also stressed that NATO is seeking to ensure every soldier Ukraine mobilizes has “the training and the equipment they need to effectively defend the country.”

    Additionally, Reuters quoted the US top diplomat as saying it remains “up to the Ukrainian authorities to decide how best to get younger men into the fight.”

    NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte the same day echoed the US view in a press conference: “We need probably more people to move to the front line” – he said without specifying age groups.

    As the outgoing Biden administration is asking Congress to soon approve billions more for Ukraine, this conscription age change policy could serve as the quid pro quo being requested of Kiev from Washington, in order to keep the billions in arms and aid flowing.

    Last spring on one of his many visits to Ukraine, hawkish Senator Lindsey Graham expressed shock upon learning that men in their early 20s in Ukraine cannot be drafted. “I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe [conscription age starts] at 27,” he said at the time. “You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27.” 

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    When President Volodymyr Zelensky soon after this statement signed a bill into effect to lower the mobilization age for combat duty from 27 to 25, this took some of the pressure off for the time being.

    But now the pressure is ramping up once again. If Zelensky pulls the trigger it would be hugely unpopular among Ukrainians, and could result in internal dissent and mass protests, even as the war rages in the east.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 23:00

  • South Korea Martial Law Decree Spotlights Challenge Of Communist Infiltration
    South Korea Martial Law Decree Spotlights Challenge Of Communist Infiltration

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

    A martial law order from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has again put communist influence in the country under the spotlight.

    For the first time in nearly four decades, the South Korean leader invoked the authority, accusing the opposing Democratic Party of aligning with communist North Korea. He revoked martial law hours later after parliament voted to lift the order.

    South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the third session of the G20 Leaders’ Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Nov. 19, 2024. Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

    “I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said in a late-night address on Dec. 3.

    He said the political opposition, which dominates the national assembly, was “paralyzing the judiciary by intimidating judges and impeaching a large number of prosecutors” and causing dysfunction in other government sectors as well.

    North Korea is far from the only country bringing communist influence over the peninsula.

    China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner, has considerable sway.

    Opposition Ties to China

    Lee Jae-myung, who has likened himself to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and leads the opposition party, has taken a more friendly stance toward the Chinese regime even as Yoon has tried to steer his country closer to the United States and reverse the country’s yearslong trend of appeasing Beijing.

    During a campaign rally in March, Lee criticized Yoon’s approach to China and his comments on the regime’s military encroachment on Taiwan, which the Chinese regime has sought to claim as its own.

    “Why are you provoking China?” Lee said. “What does the Taiwan issue have to do with South Korea?”

    A former presidential candidate, Lee was convicted two weeks ago of violating election law and was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term.

    South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung (C) walks out from the main conference hall of the National Assembly in Seoul, Korea, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec. 4, 2024. Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images

    Lee lost the 2022 election to Yoon by less than 1 percentage point, making it the closest election in South Korean presidential history.

    “It’s a very serious problem that we need to be aware of,” Suzanne Scholte, president of Virginia-based Defense Forum Foundation, previously told The Epoch Times. “A liberal democracy like South Korea almost elected a pro-communist candidate in the last election.”

    The concern may be a pressing one if Yoon’s popularity plummets as a result of his emergency declaration. His own political party has disavowed the martial law order and said they would “stop it with the people.”

    “Yoon’s political days are likely numbered since the populace will be united in its criticism, and the majority opposition party will seek Yoon’s impeachment,” Bruce Klingner, a veteran at the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency who specializes in Korean affairs, told The Epoch Times.

    During the brief martial law declaration, Lee called for people in South Korea to descend on the national assembly to protest the order.

    Lee’s party won a major legislative victory in April’s general election, winning 175 out of 300 seats to the ruling People Power Party’s 108 seats.

    Chinese Regime’s Wide Reach

    South Korea is heavily reliant on China for trade and investment, a relationship that has further allowed Chinese authorities to influence its other sectors, including politics.

    “Economy, culture, universities, there is no place that hasn’t been penetrated,” a former counter-espionage official, who asked to remain anonymous, previously told The Epoch Times.

    Cities in the two countries have signed nearly 700 friendship or sisterhood agreements.

    Hundreds of Chinese civil servants were sent to work and train in South Korea through a state-sponsored civil servant exchange program. The Chinese embassy pays for South Korean youths to spend a week in China; it hands them books of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s speeches to read before they depart and expresses hope that they’ll be leaders of future bilateral relations.

    Then-China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee Chairman Li Zhanshu (L) shakes hands with South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo during a joint press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 16, 2022. Kim Hong-ji/AFP via Getty Images

    A mayor for the South Korean city of Gwangju in 2023 tried to build a park to honor the composer of the anthem of the People’s Liberation Army and a marching song for North Korea in order to attract tourists from China.

    The subversion by the Chinese Communist Party in Korea is not as well known compared to the threats from North Korea, but “it is extensive, and it is rather deep,” Tara O, author of The Collapse of North Korea, previously told Epoch Times sister media outlet NTD. She said the effort to build the park was “very ironic.”

    “That is just one of cultural warfare by China,” she said.

    Dozens of South Korean media outlets carry articles by the Chinese regime’s propaganda mouthpiece People’s Daily.

    South Korea also has the highest number of Confucius Institutes, a Chinese state-funded language education program to promote Beijing’s agenda.

    In a previous interview with The Epoch Times, Choi Soo Yong, a retired case officer from the National Intelligence Service, noted that there’s a room dedicated to the collections of works about Xi at the Seoul National University.

    By contrast, the university has no memorial to South Korea’s forefathers.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 22:35

  • Cutting Back Blood Pressure Drugs Doesn't Raise Heart-Related Risk, Study Finds
    Cutting Back Blood Pressure Drugs Doesn't Raise Heart-Related Risk, Study Finds

    Authored by Rachel Ann T. Melegrito via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Blood pressure (BP) medications are some of the most overly prescribed medications.

    Over 70 percent of adults 60 years and older have high blood pressure, and over half of those take blood pressure medication to prevent cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. For those who don’t need blood pressure medication, taking these drugs may do more harm than good.

    WINDCOLORS/Shutterstock

    In a new study challenging decades of medical practice, researchers have suggested that nursing home residents might safely stop or reduce their blood pressure medication use by 30 percent or more without increasing their risk of heart attack or stroke.

    Older adults have a higher risk of adverse drug reactions and side effects when taking multiple medications (polypharmacy), as their ability to absorb and eliminate drugs is often impaired. Taking people off these drugs can help reduce the risk of side effects like dizziness and falls and potential interactions associated with polypharmacy.

    Doing More Harm Than Good

    Published in JAMA Network Open on Nov. 25, the study found that discontinuing nursing home residents’ BP medications or reducing their dosage by at least 30 percent did not lead to hospitalization for heart attack or stroke after two years, compared to those who continued taking their prescriptions.

    Researchers analyzed electronic health record data from long-term care residents aged 65 and older admitted to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) community living centers. These residents were taking at least one BP medication. Nearly 18 percent of the roughly 13,000 residents had their BP medications reduced in dosage or frequency for at least two weeks.

    Researchers monitored these residents for two years, finding no significant difference in the risk of hospitalization for heart attack or stroke between those who reduced or discontinued their BP medications and those whose prescriptions remained unchanged.

    This outcome may be attributed to the side effects of these medications potentially outweighing the benefits of tightly controlled blood pressure, Michelle Odden, who has a doctorate in epidemiology and is an associate professor of epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told The Epoch Times in an email interview.

    “The other possibility is that high blood pressure may not be as risky in older people with a lot of health conditions or other conditions such as frailty that require them to live in a nursing home,” she added.

    Also, residents who reduced or discontinued their BP medications tended to have slightly lower systolic (the top number) and diastolic (the bottom number) blood pressure levels before going off medications. This group was also on more antihypertensive drugs and had a history of conditions such as diabetes, stroke, kidney failure, and acute kidney injury.

    High blood pressure is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. BP medications may need to be taken for life, especially if lifestyle changes fail to yield adequate results.

    Not controlling hypertension can lead to serious complications. For instance, a 20-mmHg increase in systolic blood pressure and a 10-mmHg increase in diastolic blood pressure can double the risk of ischemic heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

    However, previous research has indicated that excessively lowering systolic blood pressure (below 130 mmHg) or excessive use of BP medications may actually harm older adults, particularly those on multiple medications or with preexisting health problems.​

    A 2015 investigation found that people with particularly low blood pressure and those taking multiple BP medications faced more than double the risk of death compared to others with high blood pressure, highlighting the dangers of overtreatment in frail populations.

    The new study reported that these findings contrast with an earlier Cochrane review. Cochrane is a British nonprofit recognized as the highest standard of evidence-based health care. The review suggested that stopping or reducing BP medications increased the risk of heart attack by 86 percent and stroke by 44 percent. However, the authors stated that the review had weak evidence, noting that the included studies were low-quality, had short follow-up periods, focused solely on discontinuation of diuretic antihypertensive medication, and were conducted over 20 years ago.

    Long-Term Use May Lead to Kidney Damage

    Apart from preventing cardiovascular disease, BP medications are also prescribed to avoid kidney damage. However, some research has suggested that going on BP medication for the long term may do the reverse and actually cause kidney damage.

    A study published in Circulation Research in October gave a potential reason for why long-term use of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors, a commonly prescribed type of BP medication, may lead to kidney damage.

    Renin is a protein that increases blood pressure. Cells in the kidney release renin when blood pressure is low and stop releasing it to lower blood pressure. Renin also activates angiotensin, which constricts blood vessels to increase blood pressure. RAS inhibitors reduce blood pressure by blocking these various biochemical processes.

    The research was conducted in mice, and three-dimensional imaging was used to detect changes in the animals’ kidneys.

    The researchers found that suppressing renin and angiotensin with antihypertensives caused blood vessels in the kidneys to balloon, causing kidney damage.

    “We found that RAS inhibition causes widespread vascular disease, impacting all arterioles (tiny blood vessels) and their associated glomeruli (the kidneys’ filtering units),” Dr. Maria Luisa S. Sequeira-Lopez, professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and co-author of the study, told The Epoch Times.

    Sequeira-Lopez said that RAS inhibition was also linked to increased scarring and inflammation and disorganized nerves in diseased blood vessels.

    Read the rest here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 22:10

  • Bitcoin Soars Above $100,000 For The First Time
    Bitcoin Soars Above $100,000 For The First Time

    After toying with its fanatical fan base for much of the past 2 weeks, teasing a breach of the “nice round number” resistance several times only to fade right below it, moments ago bitcoin finally erupted higher with an aggressive buyer taking advantage of the illiquid Asian session and sending the world’s first digital token above $100,000 for the first time ever…

    …  rising more than 3% to $101,554 since president-elect Trump nominated a pro-crypto head of the SEC….

    …as the sell wall at $100,000 was promptly dismantled leading to massive levered liquidations…

    … and greenlighting the road to $200,000 and beyond.

    The crypto market has jumped by roughly $1.4 trillion since Trump’s US election victory on Nov. 5, on a platform that roundly embraces crypto and bitcoin is now larger in ‘market cap’ than Saudi Aramco (topping $2 trillion tonight)…

    Trump earlier confirmed that he had selected the crypto advocate Paul Atkins to replace outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who cracked down on digital assets at the bidding of his sith lord, Liz Warren.

    Speculators also digested comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said at an economic forum in Moscow that nobody can prohibit the use of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

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    Bitcoin on Nov. 22 was less than $300 from achieving $100,000 for the first time but fell back while teasing the crypto community. Crypto’s adherents view the six-figure number as a validation of claims that Bitcoin is a modern-day store of value and hedge for inflation risk.

    In addition to making new highs in USD terms, bitcoin’s rally tonight took it to a new record high versus gold…

    Bitcoin ETFs have attracted inflows of about $32 billion this year, including over $8 billion since Trump became president. The combined trading volume for digital assets and related derivatives across centralized exchanges climbed to a record of more than $10 trillion last month, according to CCData.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 21:49

  • Yes, The President Can Deploy Troops To Enforce Immigration Law
    Yes, The President Can Deploy Troops To Enforce Immigration Law

    Authored by Patrick O’Malley and Joe Buccino via RealClearDefense,

    President-elect Trump’s confirmation last month of his plan to deploy military assets for immigration enforcement sparked a constitutional debate. Legal scholars and commentators quickly declared such action forbidden by long-standing prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. But this conventional wisdom misreads both the letter and spirit of American law. A careful examination of a pair of longstanding statutes reveals military support for immigration enforcement is permissible.

    The issue hinges on two 19th century laws: the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the Insurrection Act of 1807. When properly understood, both allow the President to use active-duty military forces to support the deportation of illegal immigrants.

    Posse Comitatus: A Firewall Between the Military and Law Enforcement

    Since our nation’s founding, Americans have been wary of standing armies and their role in civilian affairs. Concerns about military involvement in domestic law enforcement dates back to colonial experiences under British rule, particularly the quartering of British troops in civilian homes and their use to enforce British law. This experience was so troubling that it influenced several key elements of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

    The Third Amendment, ratified in 1791, explicitly prohibits American soldiers from occupying private homes inside the county during peacetime. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, informed by a distrust of a large military force employed against its citizenry, codified the separation of military and civilian law enforcement. This act established a firewall between military force and civilian law enforcement.

    The term “posse comitatus,” Latin for “power of the country,” dates back to the medieval England tradition of local sheriffs organizing citizens to assist in maintaining public order. A form of this practice made its way to the American Old West: sheriffs called for volunteers – “a posse” of the county – to chase down bandits. This power allowed sheriffs to deputize civilians to temporarily suppress lawlessness and maintain order.

    The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 derives its name from this practice with a crucial distinction: it specifically prohibits the military from acting as this civilian force. The law’s architects recognized that using soldiers instead of citizens for domestic law enforcement would fundamentally alter the relationship between military power and civil society. They sought to ensure that federal troops were kept out of local law enforcement.

    Yet this legislative barrier against using military force for domestic law enforcement is not absolute. Congress regularly makes exceptions, allowing military support to civilian law enforcement for actions such as protecting federal property, conducting domestic counterterror operations, engaging in counterdrug efforts. In cases related to immigration enforcement, courts have ruled the Posse Comitatus Act only prohibits direct military involvement in law enforcement actions such as detaining citizens. Support activities, from transportation to surveillance, remain legal. This distinction between direct enforcement and support operations provides the legal basis for President-elect Trump’s proposed use of military assets in his planned deportation program.

    Military Assets Against Illegal Immigration Today: U.S. Troops at the Southwest Border

    The military currently provides support for immigration enforcement. Today, roughly 4,000 service members assist Customs and Border Protection along the southwest border. They operate surveillance aircraft, transport Border Patrol personnel, and maintain vehicles. These activities fall within the established legal framework for military support of immigration operations.

    The incoming administration has the potential to significantly expand this support role. Military aircraft could transport detainees, military installations could provide temporary housing facilities, and military personnel could assist with administrative and logistical tasks. None of these activities would violate Posse Comitatus because they do not involve direct law enforcement actions.

    The Insurrection Act: A Broad Authority for Military Force

    But what about using military forces to support law enforcement and enforce the law? This is where the Insurrection Act becomes crucial.

    The Insurrection Act, a composite of laws enacted between 1792 and 1807, represents a significant exception to the traditional separation of military and civilian law enforcement in the United States. The act grants presidents extraordinary power to deploy federal troops on American soil—a power that is typically forbidden but also vitally important to the success of federalism.

    The act’s broad language, largely unchanged since the Civil War, allows presidents to deploy troops whenever they believe domestic unrest, rebellion, or resistance to federal law makes normal enforcement impossible. This extensive authority is rooted in Congress’s constitutional power to call forth the militia to “execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions,” as described in the Constitution. The act effectively creates a presidential override of the prohibitions against using military forces for domestic law enforcement. What was initially conceived as an emergency power for a young nation now stands as a powerful tool for President-elect Trump, who might see state resistance to federal immigration enforcement as justification for military deployment.

    Illegal Immigrant Safe Havens: Local Government Resistance to Federal Law

    Some jurisdictions have already declared their intention to resist federal immigration enforcement. Six states have already publicly announced plans to resist President-elect Trump’s plan to deport thousands of undocumented immigrants. Under the Insurrection Act, such resistance justifies the use of military force.

    The deployment of military forces by a president inside the United States to enforce the law when local governments refuse to do so is not unprecedented. This happened several times during the Civil Rights era, most famously when President Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act to send the 101st Airborne to Little Rock in 1957 when state officials obstructed federal desegregation orders. Nearly seven decades later, the principle remains unchanged: local authorities cannot nullify federal law. If they attempt to do so, the President has authority to direct military power to enforce it. Invocation of the Insurrection Act in such an instance would permit American troops to detain undocumented immigrants inside the United States.

    The Constitution provides remedies when state and local authorities obstruct federal law enforcement. The incoming administration has legal authority to use military assets to support immigration enforcement. Those who claim otherwise misunderstand both the law and its historical context.

    Patrick O’Malley is an attorney in New York and Maryland, a former Assistant District Attorney in Queens County, NY, and a retired U.S. Army Reserve Judge Adjutant General officer who taught National Security Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

    Joe Buccino is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and the CEO of Vantage + Vox.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 21:45

  • President Biden, Where Are The Children?
    President Biden, Where Are The Children?

    Authored by Samuel Rodriguez via RealClearPolitics,

    In recent months, a disturbing revelation has emerged from the heart of our nation’s immigration system: Over 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the U.S. border during the Biden-Harris administration are unaccounted for. An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report dated Aug. 19, 2024, confirms this alarming statistic, highlighting a profound failure in our duty to protect the most vulnerable.

    The DHS report reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lost track of at least 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children, with the whereabouts of up to 323,000 remaining unknown. Without a doubt, we cannot deny the fact that many of these children are now tools and victims of the human sex trafficking industry – a heinous trade that represents the worst of the worst. This staggering number raises urgent questions about the safety and well-being of these children. They are left to fend for themselves in a dangerous world without proper oversight.

    The House of Representatives has taken notice, holding a hearing on Nov. 19, 2024, entitled “Trafficked, Exploited, and Missing: Migrant Children Victims of the Biden-Harris Administration.” This hearing aims to address the systemic failures that have led to this crisis and to hold those responsible for the welfare of these children accountable.

    The New York Times has previously reported on the challenges faced by unaccompanied migrant children. On Feb. 15, 2023, an article highlighted the surge in child labor among migrant children, noting that many are forced into hazardous jobs to survive. Another report on April 17, 2023, detailed the lack of proper vetting for sponsors, leading to situations where children are placed in unsafe environments. These reports underscore a pattern of neglect and systemic failure that demands immediate action.

    It is worth recalling the outcry during the Trump administration over the alleged “children in cages” narrative – a claim that was later debunked. The media and public were swift to condemn what was perceived as inhumane treatment of migrant children. Yet now, faced with the reality of hundreds of thousands of missing children, there is a deafening silence. Where is the collective moral outrage? How is it that a false alarm over detention centers led to national protests, but the disappearance of over 300,000 children has not moved us to the same level of indignation?

    The current administration must be held accountable for this humanitarian crisis. President Biden and Vice President Harris must take immediate and decisive action to locate these missing children and ensure their safety. Furthermore, those in positions of oversight who have failed in their duties must resign. The American people deserve transparency and accountability from their leaders, especially when the lives of innocent children are at stake.

    This is not a partisan issue; it is a moral imperative. The missing children are not just statistics; they are human beings, many of whom are now trapped in a cycle of abuse and exploitation. The human sex trafficking industry thrives on the most vulnerable, and these children, abandoned by the very systems meant to protect them, are its latest victims.

    We must demand answers and action. The time for complacency has passed. We must find the children. Let this be the rallying cry for a nation that claims to champion the cause of justice and freedom.

    Let the moral conscience of America awaken. Let the lives of these children remind us of our responsibility. Let us not rest until they are found.

    Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is lead pastor of New Season Church in Sacramento, California, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He has advised three U.S. presidents and is the first Latino to participate in multiple presidential inauguration ceremonies.  

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 20:55

  • Horrific Video Shows Assassination Of UnitedHealthcare CEO In Midtown Manhattan
    Horrific Video Shows Assassination Of UnitedHealthcare CEO In Midtown Manhattan

    Update (1351ET):

    X user Collin Rugg posted a horrific surveillance video of what appears to be the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier today. 

    Rugg said: 

    “Video footage shows a man in the grey backpack pulling out a pistol with a silencer on it before opening fire. The man was seen firing multiple shots at Thompson who stumbled to the ground. According to The New York Post, the weapon jammed at one point, prompting the gunman to fix it so he could keep firing. He then fled down an alley and was last seen in Central Park.”

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    Update (1329ET):

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    Update (1040ET):

    CBS New York’s Tim McNicholas posted on X a screenshot of an NYPD Crime Stoppers flyer indicating that a $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

    Judging by the far-right image on the flyer, and as reported by other media outlets, the suspect is believed to have used a firearm with a suppressor.

    The Daily Mail provides an infographic of the incident area, noting that the suspect remains at large.

    Earlier, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters the killing appeared to be targeted: “We want to be clear to New Yorkers that this does not appear to be a random act of violence.”

    New York’s police commissioner called the killing a “brazen targeted attack.” 

    NYTimes noted:

    “The pages on the UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealth Group websites with headshots and bios for company leadership were not available after the shooting on Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear why the pages were no longer accessible.”

    *   *   *  

    Update (1040ET):

    The suspect in the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thomspon killing used a “firearm with a silencer,” according to CNBC, citing a source close to the investigation. 

    According to the source, “The suspect is also described as a white male wearing a black hoodie, black pants, black sneakers with white trim, and a gray backpack.” 

    The shooting of Thomspon occurred in front of 1335 Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan at 0646 ET.

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    Update (0955ET):

    Additional details about the shooting are emerging. 

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    NYC media outlet PIX11 News has learned that the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the parent company of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, just outside the Hilton Hotel. 

    “Multiple sources confirm to @PIX11News that United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside the Hilton hotel in midtown just before 7 am, where he was slated to speak at a investor meeting later today,” PIX11’s Dan Mannarino wrote on X. 

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    Brian Thompson’s LinkedIn profile. 

    NYPost reports the fatal shooting of CEO Brian Thompson,50, was a “targeted attack.” 

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    Here’s more: 

    The CEO of UnitedHealth was fatally shot in the chest Wednesday morning outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown in what police say was a targeted attack. Brian Thompson, 50, was at the hotel at around 6:46 am when a masked man fired at the CEO and fled eastbound on 6th Avenue, police sources told The Post. Thomas was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

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    Thompson became CEO of UnitedHealthcare in 2021 after joining UnitedHealth Group in 2004. UnitedHealth Group is largest health insurance company in the US by revenue, with over $189 billion in 2024. 

    *Developing…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 20:35

  • Kremlin Trolls South Korea & US: 'Professed Democracy' Can Morph Into 'Absolute Chaos' In Couple Of Hours
    Kremlin Trolls South Korea & US: 'Professed Democracy' Can Morph Into 'Absolute Chaos' In Couple Of Hours

    The Kremlin in a fresh Wednesday statement appeared to engage in a bit of trolling of South Korea and its Western backers like the US following the prior day’s wild and short-lived martial law events.

    “North Korea’s concerns over its security are understandable given the political instability in the South,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, which is somewhat ironic given the West constantly stresses the real threat and source of regional instability is actually Pyongyang. 

    Kremlin pool image

    Her comments sought to emphasize the unpredictability of democracies supported by Washington. “In my opinion, many have understood why the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)… is so concerned over its security,” she said.

    “It’s because they see that in a couple of hours [South Korea] can morph from a professed democracy into absolute chaos, with tanks on the streets, a storming of parliament, popular confrontation and some brute-force tactics,” Zakharova continued. 

    This means the north’s vigilance and constant state of war readiness – which has included increased weapons testing of late – is entirely justified, she suggested in her explanation, given the “unpredictable” neighbor to the south.

    Just before 5am local time on Wednesday South Korea’s president Yoon Suk Yeol lifted his martial-law declaration after parliament voted unanimously against the measure. Troops had at one point stormed the parliament building, and there were bizarre scenes of lawmakers scaling fences to get back in.

    He had argued his drastic move was necessary as his political opponents made the nation vulnerable to North Korean “communist forces” as government couldn’t function. Parliament rejected the rationale.

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    “The martial law is aimed at eradicating pro-North Korean forces and to protect the constitutional order of freedom,” the 63-year old Yoon had claimed while declaring martial law on Tuesday.

    The less than day-long episode marked the largest flare-up in political turmoil in South Korea since full-scale martial law was declared in the spring of 1980.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 20:30

  • Was Gen Z Key to Trump's Electoral Success?
    Was Gen Z Key to Trump's Electoral Success?

    Authored by Nick Kayal via RealClearPennsylvania,

    Donald Trump completed his comeback to become the 47th president of the United States in resounding fashion. Trump was able to sweep the seven swing states, win the popular vote, and lead the charge as the GOP took back the Senate and retained the House, all while the party holds a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. There are many positives to highlight about Trump’s win, including his gains among black male and Latino voters, but the most fascinating ingredient of his success may be his appeal to Generation Z and young males, thanks in part to the evolving media landscape and how media is now consumed.

    According to NBC News exit poll data, Trump received 43% of Gen-Z voters (those between the ages of 18 and 29). Within that subset, Trump also received 42% of those aged 18 to 24. This youngest voting- eligible demographic accounts for only 14% of those who voted, but it’s fascinating to analyze how a 78-year-old Republican was able to appeal to them. He did so by making himself available where young people spend their time – on social media, following influencers, and listening to podcast hosts.

    As Politico has reported, Republicans increasingly seek out alternative news sources. Only 21% of Republicans read newspapers in 2024. Just 35% watched national network news. Republicans go to websites and apps 39% of the time. Forty-six percent gather information from social media (presumably X, Truth, and Rumble). A staggering 55% consume on-demand audio and video, such as podcasts and streaming services. Trump and his campaign staff understood this.

    Enter Joe Rogan.

    Trump appeared on Rogan’s Spotify show and spent three hours talking with the top podcast host in the world. Trump also joined the Theo Vonn podcast. He visited other hot properties such as Aidan Ross’s gamer channel and “Bussin’ with the Boys.” These interviews had an impact on young American voters; the casual, conversational approach to politics has appealed to Gen-Z and created a connection with Trump.

    “Trump’s victory isn’t a result of a failure by news outlets to sufficiently hold him accountable,” an article at Semafor explains. “The real answer is one that is a lot more uncomfortable to grapple with: The national news media is more limited in its reach and influence than ever in the modern era.”

    The NBC News exit polling data for swing states reveals striking numbers for the Generation Z demographic. In Pennsylvania, Trump received 41% of the Gen Z vote. In Georgia, it was 39%. In North Carolina, Trump won almost half (forty-nine percent); in Wisconsin, he took 45%, and in Michigan, 49%.

    Worth noting, too, is that Trump did better with Gen Z women than in 2020, which seems almost unfathomable when you consider that he was running against Kamala Harris, who made abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign. Trump lost young women to Joe Biden by 35 points in 2020. In 2024, he reduced that deficit by eleven points, as Harris won by twenty-four points. Trump also made a 13-point swing in his favor with young men overall, compared to 2020, when Biden won these voters by 11 points.

    Donald Trump is a generational political figure. He surrounded himself with staffers who understood the shift in electoral and communication dynamics – how to get your message out and who to get it out to. Platforms matter. Evolving is essential. Trump did so, and it proved a major factor in defeating an opponent and a party that the media portrayed as more tech savvy. They were wrong, again – and Trump has won, again.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 20:05

  • "Who's Laughing Now?" NYC Mayor Boasts About Bitcoin Paychecks
    "Who's Laughing Now?" NYC Mayor Boasts About Bitcoin Paychecks

    “Remember y’all laughed at me when I first got my Bitcoin – who’s laughing now?”

    In early 2022, Adams took his first three paychecks as New York City mayor in Bitcoin and Ethereum – a sum of crypto that would have equaled roughly $32,000 at the time, according to publicly available data.

    Since then, Bitcoin has more than doubled in price and Ethereum has climbed some 40% in the same period.

    This morning, Adams, currently facing wire fraud and conspiracy charges, appeared to mock attendees at the groundbreaking ceremony for a museum over his Bitcoin holdings. 

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    As CoinTelegraph’s Turner Wright reports, speaking at the American LGBTQ+ Museum on Dec. 3, Mayor Adams responded to a question about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s potential role in the United States government, pivoting to Bitcoin he received while in office.

    According to the mayor, people “should not be afraid of Bitcoin” then appeared to mock viewers and attendees.

    “Remember y’all laughed at me when I first got my Bitcoin — who’s laughing now?” said Adams.

    “Go look at my Bitcoin now. You all mock me. ‘You’re taking your first three paychecks in Bitcoin, what’s wrong with you?’ Now you wish you would have done it.”

    Adams, who assumed office as the Mayor of New York City in January 2022, announced after winning his election that he intended to accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin.

    The price of BTC at the time of his announcement was roughly $61,000 – the cryptocurrency has since surged to roughly $96,000, an increase of 57%.

    In September, US authorities indicted Adams on one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery, one count of wire fraud, two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.

    If given the maximum sentences for each charge served consecutively, he could face decades in prison if convicted.

    As mayor, Adams has often been a proponent of many policies favorable to digital assets, including promises to make New York City the “center of the cryptocurrency industry.”

    He also criticized legislation passed by the state’s government in 2022 that imposed a two-year moratorium on proof-of-work mining using non-renewable energy sources.

    Adams’ offer to accept his paychecks in Bitcoin came in response to a social media challenge for elected officials to earn a crypto-based salary.

    Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who won reelection in 2021, said he would accept his first paycheck in BTC, prompting Adams to say he would take the first three.  

    As with many subjects, Adams’ relationship to crypto is not without controversy.

    A year after taking a chunk of his salary home in BTC and ETH, the mayor landed in hot water for failing to disclose his crypto holdings in a mandatory report filed with the city’s Conflict of Interest Board.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 19:40

  • World War III Is Heating Up On Several Fronts, But Most Americans Have No Idea…
    World War III Is Heating Up On Several Fronts, But Most Americans Have No Idea…

    Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

    In recent months, quite a few pundits have been openly warning us that World War III has begun.  Sadly, those pundits are quite correct.  Right now, a historic global struggle is being waged by two very powerful alliances.  The “western alliance” made up of the United States, Europe, Israel and their allies is engaged in a battle for supremacy with the “eastern alliance” made up of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Syria and their allies.  Over the past week, this battle for supremacy has erupted on a couple of new fronts, but most Americans have no idea what is really going on.

    Just look at what is happening in Syria.  Most Americans have no idea that radical Sunni Muslims backed by the western alliance just conducted a highly successful offensive on Syria’s second largest city and are threatening to overthrow the Assad regime once and for all…

    The Syrian military and its ally Russia conducted deadly joint air raids Monday on areas that Islamist-led rebels seized control of over the weekend. The strikes were a response to a lightning offensive by the rebels that saw them wrest control of swathes of northwest Syria from government forces.

    The conflict that started more than a decade ago took a significant turn several days ago, catching many — including, it seems, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his Russian backers — by surprise. On Saturday, rebels, including many with the U.S.-designated Islamic terrorist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), took control of the major city of Aleppo in northern Syria.

    The rebels seized Aleppo’s airport and started pushing into towns and villages in the countryside around the city on Sunday after leaving piles of dead government soldiers in the streets. Observers said the rebel forces were often met with little to no resistance by regime forces, but by Monday the pace of the surprise offensive appeared to have slowed, with Assad and his Russian backers ramping-up their response.

    While she served as Secretary of State during the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton was instrumental in starting the civil war in Syria.  That civil war caused a massive refugee crisis that western Europe is still wrestling with to this day.

    Now the civil war in Syria has freshly erupted, and if Assad gets toppled that will be a major victory for the western alliance.

    Of course the eastern alliance does not plan to go down without a fight.  Over the weekend, Iraqi militia groups that are backed by Iran “have been pouring across the border into eastern Syria”…

    Widespread reports, including observers on the ground, have indicated that Iran-backed Iraqi militias have been pouring across the border into eastern Syria to assist Damascus in repelling the Islamist militant advance after Al Qaeda splinter group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham took over Aleppo this weekend.

    A Syrian army officer has told Reuters that Iraqi militia forces crossing the border are “fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the frontlines in the north.”

    Many of the fighters have been identified as belonging to the Kataib Hezbollah and Fatemiyoun groups. The US has long been in an internecine conflict with Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, with over the years periodic rocket fire even targeting the US Embassy in Baghdad, as well as various bases which host remaining American troops.

    And it appears that Iranian military forces could be on the verge of intervening directly in the conflict…

    Boroujerdi told a news conference in Damascus that Iran was ready to render military assistance to Syria. “Iran’s military aid will be provided as soon as Tehran receives a request from the Syrian government. We are going to announce it immediately,” the Iranian deputy said.

    Boroujerdi, who is heading an Iranian delegation, arrived in Damascus on Wednesday for talks with Syrian Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is expected to meet Boroujerdi on Thursday.

    The Iranian deputy stressed the importance of the four-sided coordination of efforts by Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria in fighting terrorism.

    Iran normally prefers to fight their wars using proxy forces.

    But desperate times call for desperate measures.

    Meanwhile, Israel’s ceasefire with Hezbollah seems to be breaking down already…

    The ceasefire in Lebanon, barely five days old, is near collapse as of Monday after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, following the Biden-Harris administration’s erroneous claim that Israeli surveillance drones violated the agreement.

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported Monday that two Hezbollah rockets had been fired at Har (Mount) Dov, a strategic mountain that Breitbart News visited last Thursday and which Hezbollah claims, wrongly, is Lebanese.

    If Hezbollah is forced to keep their forces in Lebanon in order to contend with the IDF, they won’t be able to intervene in the conflict in Syria.

    Ultimately, so many of these conflicts are interrelated.

    Ukraine is hoping that at least some Russian forces get diverted to Syria to help the Assad regime, because last month the Ukrainians lost a great deal of territory…

    Ukraine has endured a tough three months in which Russian forces made gains across the front, which are likely continue over winter, a military analyst has said.

    “The trend is very worrying, and there’s no reason to expect the situation to calm down in December either,” Emil Kastehelmi, from the Finnish-based Black Bird Group, told Newsweek.

    In an X, formerly Twitter, thread, the OSINT analyst said that, in the three months to December, Moscow’s troops had captured around 617 square miles in Ukraine and 190 in Russia’s Kursk oblast, where Ukrainian forces had staged an incursion but where they have lost the western flank, as well as positions in the Donbas region.

    Ukraine is the one place where the western alliance is losing badly, and western politicians are extremely determined to turn things around.

    But the truth is that unless NATO gets directly involved, Ukraine will definitely lose.

    As the war drags on, Ukrainian soldiers are deserting from their posts in staggering numbers…

    More than twice as many Ukrainian soldiers have been charged with desertion this year than in 2022 and 2023 combined, the Financial Times has reported. The spike in desertions has hampered Kiev’s ability to replenish its thinned-out ranks.

    Ukrainian prosecutors opened 60,000 cases against deserters between January and October of this year, the British newspaper reported on Saturday, noting that those convicted face prison terms of up to 12 years.

    Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have already died on the killing fields of eastern Ukraine.

    Let us hope for an agreement that will bring the endless slaughter to an end.

    Before I conclude this article, I want to mention one more nation where the great battle between east and west has suddenly erupted.

    In Georgia, angry protesters that are being backed by the western alliance have been clashing violently with the police for days.  Just like we witnessed in Ukraine in 2014, it appears that this could be an attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected government of Georgia…

    Days of protests have rocked Georgia following the government’s controversial decision to delay the former Soviet country’s bid to join the European Union.

    Tensions have been brewing for months in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, where critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of following increasingly authoritarian, pro-Russia policies in a turn away from the West that has tempered hopes for Georgia’s long-promised path to EU membership.

    The protests have been met with a violent police crackdown as the ruling party and thousands of protesters become locked in a deepening battle over the country’s future and whether Georgia should forge closer ties with Russia or Europe.

    The U.S. and Europe would love to see a “color revolution” that removes the Georgian Dream party from power.

    Of course the Russians and other eastern alliance nations would very much like to avert such an outcome.

    I just wish that every country would be allowed to do what they want without outside interference.

    But that isn’t going to happen, is it?

    Sadly, the great struggle between east and west that we are witnessing is just going to continue to intensify, and at this stage it should be obvious to everyone that it is not going to have a happy ending.

    We live in such perilous times, and if you have not been paying much attention to what is going on around the world now would be a great time to start.

    *  *  *

    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
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 19:15

  • Watch: Terror Leader Julani Makes Rare Appearance In Aleppo, Ending Rumors Of His Death
    Watch: Terror Leader Julani Makes Rare Appearance In Aleppo, Ending Rumors Of His Death

    Soon after the fall of Aleppo last week, rumors began to circulate that the longtime head of Syrian Al-Qaeda (now called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS) Abu Mohammad al-Julani, was killed in a Russian retaliatory airstrike in Idlib. These claims made it into Lebanese and Israeli media, but with no verification.

    But the rumors were laid to rest on Wednesday with Julani’s unexpected appearance in the center of historic Aleppo. Al Jazeera featured footage (below) of the HTS leader descending the steps of the historic and iconic Aleppo citadel in what was clearly a ‘victory’ celebration.

    HTS leader in Syria al-Jolani poses on top of citadel in Aleppo

    The terror leader, who has a $10 million bounty on his head by the FBI and US Rewards for Justice program, is asserting ownership over the major northern Syrian city. His jihadist forces are currently threatening the central city of Hama as well.

    According to the latest from the Associated Press, “Syrian insurgents captured four new towns early Tuesday, bringing them closer to the central city of Hama, opposition activists said, while government forces retook some territory they lost last week.”

    Large Syrian Army reinforcements have been observed heading north from Damascus over the last 24 hours. The HTS militants and AQ-aligned groups are less than six miles from Hama, and have threatened and taken adjacent towns on the edge of the city.

    Julani is believed supported from Turkey, and likely by other allied Western nations’ intelligence services as well, despite his Al-Qaeda background. Once known as the Nusra Front, which early in the Syrian war of the last decade cooperated at times with the Islamic State, the group now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has long attempted a rebranding campaign. 

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    HTS has gone through many names and iterations over the years while holding on to much of Idlib province bordering Turkey, even as much of the rest of Syria came back under the control of the Assad government. 

    Still, Washington has long admitted it is a terror organization. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Sunday  that HTS remains “a terrorist organization designated by the United States” and expressed that the US has “real concerns about the designs and objectives of that organization.” But he also admitted that the US will not “cry” over the pressure the Syrian government and its allies are facing from the successful offensive on Aleppo.

    Meanwhile, just like in the opening years of the war, the US mainstream media is once again working overtime trying to whitewash Syria’s Al Qaeda factions, presenting them as mere ‘rebels’ and ‘revolutionaries’. The below is a real line from The Wall Street Journal this week:

    Once affiliated with Islamic State and al Qaeda, Jawlani professes religious tolerance.

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    Likely there will much more such obvious propaganda efforts to come. But the supposedly ‘tolerant’ Julani is still on the FBI’s ‘most wanted’ list, and no amount of obfuscation or Gulf think tank sponsored rebranding campaigns will change that.

    Given that the terror chief just appeared out in the open, posing on top of the Aleppo Citadel, the CIA or US military likely could have taken him out with a drone… but they won’t. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 18:50

  • Fauci, Schiff, And Cheney May Receive 'Preemptive Pardons'
    Fauci, Schiff, And Cheney May Receive 'Preemptive Pardons'

    Days after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter for a 10-year period dating back to his involvement with Burisma, senior White House aides are reportedly locked in a contentious debate over a potential unprecedented move: issuing preemptive pardons to a wide range of current and former public officials who could find themselves under intense scrutiny, and prosecution, after Donald Trump takes office, Politico reports.

    Among those discussed for potential pardons are high-profile figures like Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA), former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

    Their justification is that Trump will seek retribution, with their concerns growing more urgent following Trump’s announcement last weekend appointing Kash Patel as FBI director. Patel, a staunch ally of Trump, has vowed to pursue the former president’s critics, heightening concerns among Biden aides about possible investigations or indictments against officials who have opposed Trump in the past.

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    Biden aides are deeply divided, according to the report. On one hand, granting preemptive pardons could provide a shield against Trump’s promised “revenge tour” but might also create the appearance of impropriety, effectively validating Trump’s accusations of corruption. Additionally, those offered pardons might refuse them, citing innocence or the perception of guilt that could accompany a pardon.

    Meanwhile, were there any takers on this?

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    Because…

    Historical Precedent and Political Risk

    End-of-administration pardons are always politically fraught, but the stakes in this case are uniquely high. Biden’s aides have privately discussed the precedent set by President Gerald Ford’s 1974 preemptive pardon of Richard Nixon, which spared the nation further division after Watergate. Democrats like Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) have invoked that example, suggesting that pardons might be necessary to heal a polarized nation and protect officials from undue political persecution.

    “If it’s clear by January 19 that [revenge] is his intention, then I would recommend to President Biden that he provide those preemptive pardons to people, because that’s really what our country is going to need next year,” Markey said in a recent interview.

    Others are far less supportive. Schiff, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, has been outspoken in his opposition. “I would urge the president not to do that,” he said, adding “I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”

    As X user Derek Wang notes:

    Preemptive pardon has never been used in history and I think will likely be challenged and to be decided by SC.

    Section. 2 of US Constitution: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

    “Offenses” are not “potential offenses”, the word clearly indicates the offenses that are already determined by court legally, not any potential offenses to be determined in future.

    Hunter Biden’s Pardon and the Broader Clemency Debate

    Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, has further complicated the White House’s deliberations. Hunter’s sweeping 11-year pardon drew criticism from many within the Democratic Party and intensified pressure on Biden to extend clemency to others.

    House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) invoked Hunter Biden’s pardon this week in calling on the president to, on a case-by-case basis, spare “the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses.” -Politico

    Trump has repeatedly vowed to go after those he views as part of the Deep State. His disdain for figures like Cheney and Fauci is well-documented, with Trump even calling for members of the Jan. 6 committee to face jail time.

    The decision to issue preemptive pardons would undoubtedly solidify Biden’s status as one of the worst presidents in US history. On one side lies the risk of fueling Trump’s narrative of impropriety; on the other, the prospect of leaving key public servants exposed to investigations that are completely warranted.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 18:25

  • Renovation Downturn Forces These Home Furnishing Retailers To Increase Deals
    Renovation Downturn Forces These Home Furnishing Retailers To Increase Deals

    Record-high home prices, combined with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate surpassing 7% once again, continue to create the worst housing affordability environment in a generation. Consequently, the residential renovation market sours, pressuring home furnishing companies to offer better deals. 

    A team of Goldman analysts led by Kate McShane updated their proprietary home furnishings promotional tracker for November, in which they found increased promotions, markdowns, and free shipping across the industry for notable home furnishings retailers including Arhaus, At Home, Bassett Furniture, Cost Plus World Market, Crate & Barrel, Ethan Allen Interiors, Havertys, Kirkland’s, Pottery Barn, PB Teen, Pottery Barn Kids, Rejuvenation, Wayfair, and West Elm.

    McShane noted that average markdowns were slightly higher for the industry year-over-year last month, although Williams-Sonoma was one of the only home furnishings retailers not offering increased deals to somewhat flattish compared with the same month last year. 

    Here are the key observations from their findings:

    • Free shipping ticked up sequentially and year over year in November across the industry and Williams Sonoma banners;

    • Markdowns increased sequentially and year over year across the industry;

    • Promotions are notably higher sequentially and year over year at the Williams Sonoma banner, while promotions are lower at West Elm and Rejuvenation

    Industry-wide, markdowns increased month-over-month and year-over-year, with PB Kids and Wayfair offering the best deals. 

    • November’s industry markdowns increased both m/m and y/y: Sequentially, the average markdown across the industry increased m/m at 40% in Nov vs. 37%/37%/41% in Oct/Sep/Aug. The average markdown increased y/y compared to 39% in Nov ’23.

    • Markdown level by company: Overall, PB Kids (58%) and Wayfair (58%) were the companies with the highest average markdowns in Nov ’24. PB Teen, Rejuvenation, and West Elm had the highest markdowns on a 1-year average (also taking account of consistency in promotions over the months).

    • Free shipping: Overall days of free shipping increased both sequentially and y/y in Nov ’24 to 14 days, vs. 9/13 days in Oct’ 24/Nov ’23. Kirkland’s, Pottery Barn, and Williams-Sonoma offered free shipping every day in Nov ’24, with the next highest frequency seen at PB Kids’s at 29 days.

    McShane noted, “While we don’t include RH in our promotional analysis, we do note the company continues to advertise its fall clearance sale with up to 60% off outdoor, living, dining, and bedroom items.” 

    Average Markdowns on a retailer basis:

    Pottery Barn 

    West Elm

    Williams-Sonoma

    Rejuvenation

    The number of days home furnishings companies offered ‘free shipping’ last month surged. 

    Williams-Sonoma’s free shipping promotion was much higher than the industry average. 

    The entire industry has been in the dumps since the Covid spike.

    And this is why.

    McShane highlighted that the barometer for the residential renovation market remains uninspiring. 

    Given all this, there are indeed deals for patient consumers who held back during the Covid surge in home renovations. Goldman’s McShane gives readers a broad understanding of what home furnishings companies offer the best deals. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 18:00

  • Trump Selects Peter Navarro As Top Trade Adviser
    Trump Selects Peter Navarro As Top Trade Adviser

    Authored by Jackson Richman and Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    President-elect Donald Trump announced on Dec. 4 that he has selected Peter Navarro as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.

    During Trump’s first term, Navarro, a staunch advocate of tariffs, served as director of the National Trade Council and as director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.

    The former director of the U.S. Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro, speaks on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 17, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    Trump said the new role “leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience while harnessing his extensive policy analytic and media skills.”

    Navarro’s “mission will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump manufacturing, tariff, and trade agendas,” the president-elect said.

    Navarro was released from prison on July 17 after serving a four-month sentence for refusing to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

    Tariffs were an integral economic policy feature of Trump’s 2024 election campaign. Since his victory last month, Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, slap 10 percent levies on Chinese goods, and implement a 100 percent tariff on countries engaged in anti-dollar activities.

    As one of the top White House economic and trade advisers in Trump’s first administration, Navarro was a leading voice in enacting tariffs on the United States’ trading partners, particularly China.

    Navarro said levies would help level the playing field and rectify what he viewed as unfair imbalances in international trade.

    “President Trump has made it clear he’s a free trader. He’s made it abundantly clear that for this administration, free trade means is free, fair, reciprocal, and balanced,” Navarro said in prepared remarks at a June 2018 Hudson Institute event outlining Trump’s policy regarding the U.S.–China trade relationship.

    In 2019, he also championed Trump’s threat of tariffs on Mexico in response to Mexico’s “exports” of “illegal aliens.”

    “This is strictly about national security and threats to our economy from illegal immigration from a criminal enterprise,” Navarro told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

    Despite various criticisms that Trump’s tariffs would ignite inflation pressures and weigh on economic growth prospects, Navarro defended his trade agenda as “one of the most successful applications of a defense trade policy in U.S. history.”

    Appearing at a Harvard University event in April 2019, Navarro declared that “Ricardo is dead.” This was in reference to 19th-century economist David Ricardo, who touted that international trade is always beneficial and that nations can prosper with the theory of “comparative advantage.”

    However, according to Navarro, 19th-century economic philosophies have little relevance in modern global markets filled with “industrial espionage, rampant cheating, intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, state capitalism, and currency misalignments.”

    Navarro has been reluctant to back trade agreements supported by whom he called “globalist elites” on Wall Street.

    “If Wall Street is involved and continues to insinuate itself into these negotiations, there will be a stench around any deal that’s consummated because it will have the imprimatur of Goldman Sachs and Wall Street,” Navarro said in a 2019 speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Navarro will not be the only pro-tariff official in the incoming administration.

    Trump has been surrounding himself with staunch defenders of his trade agenda.

    Scott Bessent, a Wall Street financier tapped to lead the Treasury Department, has been vocal in supporting levies on U.S. trading partners.

    Bessent has spoken favorably about tariffs, describing the measure as a negotiating tool to accomplish the president-elect’s foreign policy objectives.

    “Whether it is getting allies to spend more on their own defense, opening foreign markets to U.S. exports, securing cooperation on ending illegal immigration and interdicting fentanyl trafficking, or deterring military aggression, tariffs can play a central role,” Bessent wrote in a recent Fox News op-ed.

    In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bessent also said that tariffs should be “layered in gradually” to prevent immediate inflationary pressures and allow disinflationary measures to offset higher prices.

    Trump selected billionaire Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary.

    Lutnick, the CEO of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has also endorsed tariffs, calling them “bargaining chips” to negotiate better trade pacts that can slash levies.

    “I think tariffs make sense,” Lutnick told CNBC’s “Money Movers” in September. “We should compare what people tariff us and put the exact same tariffs on them and make it equal.”

    The president-elect recently rounded out his economic team with Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council and international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as U.S. trade representative.

    Hassett was the previous head of the Council of Economic Advisers, a position that Trump has yet to announce.

    According to Trump, Greer was integral in his first term in replacing the decades-old North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement and implementing tariffs on China.

    Greer was the chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who served as Trump’s former trade representative.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 17:40

  • Israel Warns Troops Against Traveling Abroad Over 'Blacklists' In Europe 
    Israel Warns Troops Against Traveling Abroad Over 'Blacklists' In Europe 

    Israel continues feeling the pressure in the wake of the controversial International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant for overseeing alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

    Israel’s military has issued an alert to all troops warning about travel abroad. “Some soldiers have already been required to leave countries they visited due to concerns about legal proceedings,” the Israeli news site Ynet reports Wednesday.

    The report details that in many cases pro-Palestinian organizations are pressuring governments abroad to block certain individuals from traveling, by creating “blacklists” with details of Israeli army soldiers. Names and photos are used and circulated while “hoping to identify future travel plans.”

    Via Flash90

    “Individual proceedings against soldiers and junior officers traveling abroad could be based on ICC rulings. To any soldier or officer, if they are arrested, summoned for questioning, or feel they are being followed or photographed while abroad, Israel will provide immediate legal assistance through its local embassy or the Foreign Ministry’s situation room,” the army said in the message.

    “In non-ICC member countries such as the US, China, or India, there is local legislation governing the law of war. These nations are not obligated to act on ICC arrest warrants, but local laws could still pose risks,” it added. 

     Ynet notes that some European governments have already taken action against over a dozen soldiers:

    The IDF has identified about 30 cases of criminal proceedings initiated against its members. At least eight soldiers, including some who had traveled to Cyprus, Slovenia and the Netherlands, were forced to leave immediately.

    The push for the arrest warrants was overseen by The Hague-based ICC’s Karim Khan, and subsequently the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were obtained on November 21.

    While the ICC has no enforcement arm, relying on individual member states, it creates a political headache for the Israeli government. And clearly, given the army’s warning to all ranks of troops, the warrants are having a chilling and trickle-down effect.

    Israel, the US, and some other allies have blasted the ICC move as outrageous and even ‘antisemitic’. The ICC has in turn said it has long faced coercion and threats from Israeli officials.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 17:20

  • The FBI Has Been Political From The Start
    The FBI Has Been Political From The Start

    Authored by Connor O’Keefe via The Mises Institute,

    On Saturday night, Donald Trump announced he intends to appoint Kash Patel as director of the FBI.

    The news sparked an immediate frenzy from establishment figures across media and politics.

    Legal and national security “experts” were deployed to the Sunday morning news shows to characterize the move as evidence that Trump intends to politicize the FBI and use it as a weapon against his many political opponents.

    The political establishment’s concerns about what a Trump FBI could do mirror a lot of what we’ve heard from the right in recent years as they found themselves in the Bureau’s crosshairs.

    But almost all of these complaints and warnings have operated under the assumption that—with maybe the exception of a few bad episodes in the 1960s—the FBI has long been an essential crime-fighting force that has only recently become—or threatens to become—corrupted by politics.

    In truth, the FBI has always been used as a weapon against political movements and rivals of the established political class. That’s the reason it was created.

    At the end of the 1800s, left-wing anarchists were attacking heads of state all across Europe. In a few short years, the king of Italy, the prime minister of Spain, the empress of Austria, and the president of France were all assassinated by anarchists. While no communist or anarchist movement had yet to take over a country, the tenacity of these activists and revolutionaries was seriously concerning those in power in the United States.

    Then, in 1901, President William McKinley was shot and killed by an anarchist while attending a meet-and-greet in Buffalo, New York, which brought his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, into office. It was President Roosevelt who tapped his Attorney General Charles Bonaparte—the grandnephew of Napoleon—to create the FBI.

    The AG was required by law to get congressional approval before creating this new “investigative” service of special agents within the Department of Justice. In the spring of 1908, Bonaparte officially requested the money and authority to create the FBI. Congress came back with an emphatic no.

    Members of the House saw through the innocuous language of the request and figured out exactly what the president and AG were doing—creating a secret police force that was answerable only to them.

    House Democrats like Joseph Swagar and John J. Fitzgerald and Republicans like Walter I. Smith and George Waldo all loudly condemned the proposal, saying it called for a “system of espionage” comparable to the Tsar’s secret police in Russia that stood in stark contrast to the very principles at the heart of the American system. Congress explicitly forbade the AG from creating this new Bureau.

    So what did Bonaparte do? He waited for Congress to break for the summer and then went ahead and created the FBI anyway.

    Congress was only notified about the new federal police force half a year later when Bonaparte included a quick throw-away line at the end of his annual report: “It became necessary for the department to organize a small force of special agents of its own.”

    So, the FBI was not created in response to out-of-control crime; its creation was a crime.

    Immediately, the new Bureau was unleashed on anyone and everyone who was perceived as a threat to those in power. That started with left-wing anarchists but quickly expanded to include many antiwar activists as President Wilson pulled the country into World War I.

    From the outset, the FBI operated primarily as a domestic intelligence agency—recruiting spies within groups they were targeting and breaking into their offices and homes, intercepting mail, and tapping the phones of anyone they considered a threat.

    As the years wore on—like most other executive agencies—the Bureau evolved away from serving the direct interests of whoever happened to sit in the Oval Office to instead serve its own interest and the interest of the broader entrenched, permanent power structure in Washington.

    In the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, the FBI conducted covert operations aimed at inciting violence between domestic groups, breaking up political organizations it disapproved of, and, perhaps most famously, collecting blackmail on Martin Luther King Jr. that they then tried to use to drive him to commit suicide.

    Although today’s FBI acknowledges and publicly disavows these past activities, they are still carrying out egregious operations that always seem to benefit the political class. The Bureau has taken up a kind of sting operation where, over and over again, agents find isolated, gullible, often mentally-handicapped young men, pretend to be political radicals or higher-ups in a terrorist organization, and then convince the young men to plan and carry out a terrorist attack with FBI-funds and resources. Agents then step in at the end and act like they heroically stopped a real plot.

    The FBI did this relentlessly with young Muslim men after 9/11. The arrests helped prolong the perception that the global war on terror and extreme measures like the Patriot Act were necessary.

    In recent years, the FBI has conducted a number of similar schemes with right-wing groups—advancing the establishment’s narrative that Donald Trump is radicalizing “uneducated” middle Americans and turning them into violent insurrectionists.

    And then there are, of course, all the ways the FBI directly tried to undermine and hinder Trump’s first term. Right-wingers are correctly deriding the establishment for panicking about Trump’s FBI doing to them what they have tried to do to him. But many—on both sides—go wrong when they present the Bureau as only recently, or imminently, being corrupted into serving the interests of those in power. That’s been its role since the beginning.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 17:00

  • Bitcoin Nears Record High As Trump Nominates Crypto-Friendly Paul Atkins To Replace Gensler As SEC Chair
    Bitcoin Nears Record High As Trump Nominates Crypto-Friendly Paul Atkins To Replace Gensler As SEC Chair

    With the departure of the most corrupt and incompetent – not to mention most hacked – SEC chair in history, Gary Gensler, is finally out.

    And, as we predicted, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated pro-crypto Paul Atkins to replace Gensler as the new chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)… and BTC exploded higher on the news…

    As CoinTelegraph’s Vince Quill reports, in a Dec. 4 announcement, Trump highlighted Atkins’ track record and experience as a former SEC commissioner. Trump wrote via Truth Social:

    “Paul is the CEO & Founder of Patomak Global Partners, a risk management consultancy. As Co-Chairman of the Digital Chamber’s Token Alliance since 2017, he has worked on & studied the digital assets industry.”

    “A former SEC Commissioner from 2002-2008, Paul strongly advocated for transparency & protecting investors,” Trump continued.

    “He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”

    Source: Donald Trump

    The nomination of a pro-crypto SEC commissioner was one of Trump’s promises to crypto voters early on in his campaign and a highlight of his keynote address at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

    Atkins served as an SEC commissioner from 2002 through 2008.

    Despite the threats of removal, Gary Gensler doubled down on his anti-crypto rhetoric in November before finally tendering his resignation.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 12/04/2024 – 16:40

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