Feb 05

Today’s News 5th February 2025

  • US Postal Service Suspends Shipments Of Parcels From China, Hong Kong
    US Postal Service Suspends Shipments Of Parcels From China, Hong Kong

    The US Postal Service has suspending inbound international packages from China and Hong Kong Posts, delaying or blocking shipments from giant online retailers, and Amazon competitors, like Shein and PDD’s Temu. USPS said letters and flat mail from China and Hong Kong would not be affected, according to a statement on its website.

    Potential reasons behind the suspension could be to ensure the tariff is enforced and not bypassed by potential loopholes such as exporting multiple packages of smaller value items (see more here).  While it’s not clear what prompted the move, it followed Trump’s decision to revoke a “de minimis” rule for China, which previously allowed small packages under $800 to enter the US duty-free. This exemption, often used by Chinese-linked e-commerce companies, was removed as part of a new 10% tariff on goods from China and Hong Kong, which took effect just after midnight Tuesday Washington time.

    Washington is cracking down on a loophole that retailers like Temu and Shein have used for years to expand in the US, allowing them to ship high volumes of small packages and gain an edge over competitors like Amazon.com Inc. Critics say the flood of parcels from China is difficult to track and may contain illegal or dangerous goods.

    According to US Customs and Border Protection data quoted by Bloomberg, the total volume of de minimis shipments into the US hit 1.4 billion packages in fiscal year 2024, about double the number in 2022. Predictably, discount online retailers like Temu and Shein contributed significantly to the spike in volume.

    However, disruptions from the move may be more limited now than it would have been in previous years, as other postal operators have taken over the USPS’s role in handling cross-border lightweight e-commerce packages, including those from China, according to a US Office of Inspector General report in May 2023.

    US officials have alleged that parcel mail, direct from China and via third-party countries, is a gateway for illicit drugs, including deadly fentanyl. “What the cartels in China have done is exploit that loophole to smuggle in not just fentanyl but all sorts of drugs,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Politico in an event in Washington Tuesday.

    The China tariff order took effect even as two others, for Mexico and Canada, were put on hold. Trump has hinted at a possible call with Chinese leadership this week, though details remain unclear. While the White House has not ruled out a deal to pause the Chinese tariffs, which could also impact the Postal Service’s ban, nothing has been confirmed yet.

    Shares of Alibaba fell more than 2% in Hong Kong, while JD.com tumbled more than 5%, while the Hang Seng China index losses also extend, down 1.8% now.

    In a Goldman note published late on Tuesday, the bank tried to assess the impact of Trump’s removal of the de-minimis exemption on China’s e-commerce platforms, where PDD’s Temu has the highest US exposure amongst China cross-border players. Here are some of the highlights from the report (full note available to pro subs in the usual place).

    For PDD, US contributes to around ~40% of GMV for Temu, while Temu was a 10% loss drag to PDD group profit in FY24E (and with minimal valuation implied by PDD’s current market cap). Despite the new regulations, Goldman believes cost advantages of eCommerce platforms vs. US offline retailers will continue given the lower cost structures for online businesses (fewer layers between factories and end consumers), while Chinese platforms will continue to diversify their merchant bases beyond China to local merchants.

    • An evolving Temu business model and global diversification prior to these developments in tariff policy development, where Goldman has seen:
      • 1) Temu’s geographical diversification with the US contribution to Temu’s global MAU from 100% at the time of launch in early-2023, down to its latest at 15% of Temu’s global MAU as of Dec 2024 as per the latest eCommerce tracker, with fast expansions in South America and the Middle East;
      • 2) Temu’s ongoing US business model evolve from full-entrusted model (direct air freight shipments that enjoy de-minimis exemptions), to a rapidly growing semi-entrusted model that has recently reached 25% of Temu US GMV as of Sept-2024 (where merchants ship products by sea freight under traditional trade ahead of time); and,
      • 3) Temu’s business model has expanded beyond air freight direct shipments, with the semi-entrusted models launched in 19 countries as of Jan-2025 that do not depend on de-minimis.
    • The limited value that has been ascribed by the market to the Temu business in PDD’s current market cap, as investors have been anticipating pending regulatory clarity around U.S. tariffs, multiple countries’ de-minimis rules, personal data, etc. before being willing to ascribe any meaningful value to the Temu business, despite the fact that the Temu app reached 350mn MAU in Dec 2024.

    Looking ahead, the key to watch will be any further tariffs/tax applied for cross-border eCommerce goods, and development of any risks related to targeted tariffs on China imports/app bans/expansion of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List etc. that could pose a potential impact to Temu’s US operations. Meanwhile, Goldman expects ongoing geographical diversification away from the U.S. and business model shifts, including further expanding the launch of its 3P marketplace to local US merchants (local-to-local sourcing) and semi-entrusted model for cross-border eCommerce platforms. Of course, none of that will help Temu if other countries piggyback on similar sanctions as the US.

    More in the full Goldman note available to pro subs.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 23:49

  • New York Aldi Cashiers Reject Regular Customer's $2 Bills, Claiming They're Fake
    New York Aldi Cashiers Reject Regular Customer’s $2 Bills, Claiming They’re Fake

    One step closer to a Central Bank Digital currency, and 1984…

    As the younger generations grow up, the norms we once thought were commonplace with money – like sound money backed by gold and silver and denominations like half dollars and $2 bills – are now ancient history.

    Case in point, Richard Seeger of Wurtsboro, NY, who was shopping at an Aldi when the cashier refused to take his $2 bills, thinking they were fake, according to a new article from the NY Post.

    “I was in Aldi’s this morning in Monticello… I wanted to pay with some $2 bills… the young guy refused to accept them and insisted they were counterfeit,” Steger wrote on a Facebook group called “Uncensored Sullivan County New York News and Politics.”

    Two young cashiers immediately declared the bills counterfeit without even attempting to verify them. Steger urged one to check, only to be met with arrogant dismissal.

    The cashier claimed the phrase “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE” indicated a fake, a clear misunderstanding of its meaning (debatable, we know).

    He then handed the bills to a female coworker. The woman asked if the young man had checked the bills with a counterfeit marker.

    Steger wrote: “He whispered ‘no, they’re fake.’ So, without even checking them, she rudely and arrogantly told me, ‘We’re not accepting them!’”

    “Then she gave me the ‘ef you have a nice day smile to leave… if you know what I mean,” he continued. “Absolutely disgusting and unprofessional treatment to a regular customer!”

    Aldi did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.The $2 bill, featuring Thomas Jefferson and Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence, has been in its current design since 1976. Once tied to gambling and fraud, 1.2 billion are in circulation today.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 23:25

  • TV Keeps Losing Ground
    TV Keeps Losing Ground

    Just 59 percent of people surveyed by Statista Consumer Insights in the United States in 2024 had watched linear television in the last twelve months.

    In contrast, 86 percent said they had watched digital videos during the same time period.

    As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, the decline of classic TV continues…

    Infographic: TV Keeps Losing Ground | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Five years ago, 79 percent of survey participants had still said that they watched broadcast, cable or satellite television.

    This was already fewer than digital video watcher, but only slightly at that time. Three years ago, during the coronavirus pandemic, the decline of linear TV watching in the United States accelerated when use dropped to 70 percent, down 6 percentage points from 2020. It dropped again by 5 percentage points in 2022 to 65 percent.

    However, in the last six years, video streaming and downloading platforms have also ceased to win a significant amount of new customers.

    While the number of platforms a single user or household has access to might still be rising, the industry has apparently reached all potential new customers that have not used streaming or other online video formats before.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 22:35

  • California Passes $50M Bill To Resist Trump Agenda
    California Passes $50M Bill To Resist Trump Agenda

    Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,

    On Monday, Democrats in the California State Legislature passed a $50 million spending bill aimed at resisting President Donald Trump’s agenda, a move that has received widespread mockery and criticism.

    As Breitbart reports, two separate bills were passed by the State Senate; after an initial delay by Democrats in the State Assembly, the bills were approved and now head to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) for his signature.

    The bills are expected to primarily fund legal challenges to the president’s planned policies.

    Half of the funding, $25 million, will go to the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D-Calif.) and the California Department of Justice, in order “to mitigate the impacts of actions taken by the federal government.”

    The remaining $25 million will go to organizations and nonprofits that provide legal assistance to illegal aliens and other immigration-focused groups.

    Republicans in the legislature attempted to propose an amendment that would forbid the funds from being used to defend illegals who committed additional crimes in the United States, but Democrats rejected those efforts.

    These bills come as Southern California is still reeling from wildfires that have ravaged the Los Angeles area, causing up to $275 billion in damages and killing nearly 30 Californians.

    Despite the anti-Trump tone of the most recently passed bills, the state government is nevertheless expected to seek hundreds of billions in aid from the Trump Administration.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 22:10

  • Palestinians Would 'Love To Leave' Gaza, US Could 'Take It Over' Trump Proclaims Alongside Netanyahu
    Palestinians Would ‘Love To Leave’ Gaza, US Could ‘Take It Over’ Trump Proclaims Alongside Netanyahu

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was all smiles as he visited the White House and met with President Trump in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon, especially given Trump said many things in terms of the future of Gaza that the Israeli leader would welcome.

    Trump in an exchange with reporters while sitting next to ‘Bibi’ continued pressing the idea that Palestinians should be relocated out of Gaza. “There’s hardly a building standing, and the ones that are are going to collapse. You can’t live in Gaza right now. And I think we need another location,” Trump said, echoing prior comments.

    Trump stoked further controversy by claiming Palestinians would “love to leave” Gaza – comments which have already been condemned by many pundits as tantamount to an ethnic cleansing campaign. Arab leaders too have blasted any plan which would see a mass exodus or removal of Palestinians to neighboring countries.

    Via AFP

    “ Who would want to go back?” Trump posited during the sit-down with Netanyahu. Indeed the place has been leveled, but as the ceasefire has held there’s been evidence of a mass return of tens of thousands of Palestinians to their largely destroyed communities in the northern Gaza Strip.

    “It would be my hope that we could do something really nice where they would not want to return,” Trump reasoned, despite the current Israel-Hamas truce calling for future reconstruction of the Strip.

    “It doesn’t have to be one area, but you take certain areas and you build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like someplace where they can live and not die,” Trump said.

    “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings —  level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. Do something different.”

    “Just can’t go back,” he continued. “If you go back, it’s gonna end up the same way it has for a hundred years.”  —CBS

    The two leaders also discussed the status of the ceasefire in Gaza and the question of the eradication of Hamas. “I support getting all the hostages out and meeting all our war goals,” Netanyahu said.

    “That includes destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and making sure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel,” he added, in broad agreement with Trump – though it’s unclear what details the two see eye to eye on in terms of next practical steps. According to more:

    Turning to Netanyahu who was sitting beside him, Trump said, “And he wants peace also.”

    “We’re dealing with a very complex group of people, situation and people, but we have the right man,” Trump added.

    “We have the right leader of Israel. He’s done a great job, and we’ve been friends for a long time.”

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    As for some kind of refugee mass resettlement plan, the reality is that past historic waves of Palestinian refugees and armed groups flooding nearby Arab countries have literally erupted in wars and street battles, which especially Lebanon can attest to. Jordan has also seen its country destabilized at times – Black September being a prime case in point.

    There’s also the logistics – with Palestinians now rushing back to their largely destroyed communities in northern Gaza, they are defiantly telling the world they don’t plan to leave their homeland. The Gaza ceasefire would likely collapse if Palestinians were suddenly pushed out in large waves into Egypt and Jordan.

    Meanwhile a little damage control…

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    Jordan already hosts several million Palestinians, based on past historic large refugee waves, and the result of mass displacement due to various Arab-Israeli wars.

    If Jordan goes along with Trump’s plan, there would be the likelihood of some kind of armed Palestinian uprising within Jordan itself.

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    Such a plan would be nearly impossible to execute or at least be deeply complicated from the start. And ultimately it can be seen as the textbook definition of ethnic cleansing of a territory.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 21:55

  • Assassination Bombing At High-Security Area Of Moscow Kills Pro-Russian Ukrainian Separatist
    Assassination Bombing At High-Security Area Of Moscow Kills Pro-Russian Ukrainian Separatist

    Another mysterious assassination of a pro-Russian official has rocked Moscow. Over the nearly three-years of the Ukraine war, there’s been a string of bombings and attacks against notable figures, such as the December killing of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov by a scooter bomb placed outside his Moscow apartment, or the 2022 killing of Darya Dugina in a car bombing likely intended for her father Aleksandr Dugin.

    On Monday an explosion ripped through a Moscow apartment block located about 7 miles from the Kremlin complex, killing Armen Sarkisyan, a well-known leader of a pro-Russian military faction which has long been operational in eastern Ukraine. One of his bodyguards was also killed and others were injured.

    Armen Sargsyan, an ethnic Armenian military leader in eastern Ukraine who founded the pro-Russian paramilitary group Arbat.

    State-run TASS called the blast an “assassination attempt” – after which Sarkisyan later died in the hospital. “The assassination attempt on Sarkisyan was carefully planned and was ordered. Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime,” TASS quoted a police official as saying.

    Whoever orchestrated the attack had to make it past layers of security. BBC describes of the scene as follows:

    Images shared on social media show rubble and plaster strewn across a heavily damaged entrance hall with blown-out windows and doorways.

    Olga Voronova, a 36-year-old mother of three who lived in the building next door to the explosion, told AFP news agency that she was “very scared” and did not understand how the blast could’ve happened.

    “We have quite serious security guards, they ask every car at the checkpoints, we order passes for guests, even for family members,” she said.

    Such a sophisticated covert bombing was likely the work of Ukrainian intelligence, or possibly US or Western intelligence (or possibly working in tandem with Kiev), or else a criminal element or even ‘inside job’ potentially based on internal Russian politics.

    As for Ukraine, it’s SBU security services had essentially considered Sarkisyan a top terrorist who ran “illegal armed groups” and founded pro-Russian separatist militias.

    He’s been on a most wanted list since 2014 for allegedly “organizing murders” during the Maidan events. He’s also been widely dubbed a “crime boss” in Ukrainian media.

    Courtyard of a residential building that was hit by a blast in Moscow, February 3. Russian media/Al Jazeera

    The mayor of the town where Sakisyan was born – Horlivka, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region declared that Sargsyan’s “most significant achievement was the creation and leadership of a separate special forces battalion.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 21:45

  • Pacific Coast Highway Reopens After Devastating Palisades Fire
    Pacific Coast Highway Reopens After Devastating Palisades Fire

    Authored by Rudy Blalock via The Epoch Times,

    The Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) partially reopened on Monday, nearly a month after the Palisades Fire forced its closure, according to Los Angeles County officials.

    “Essential traffic only is strongly encouraged,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement.

    She also warned that ongoing cleanup efforts and utility repairs mean that “this will not be the same PCH as before the fires.”

    The scenic route, which hugs the California coastline, had been shut down since early January when the blaze tore through upscale Los Angeles neighborhoods, leaving a trail of destruction from the hills to the shoreline.

    Traffic resumed at 8 a.m. with restricted access, allowing only one lane in each direction from Santa Monica to the Ventura County border.

    The reopening comes with strict limitations. Authorities still require proof of residence or special entry passes for those wishing to enter the Palisades burn zone.

    The northernmost section in Malibu had opened a day earlier, on Sunday morning.

    In a statement Monday, Mayor Karen Bass announced that the Los Angeles Police Department would hand over control of Palisades access to the California Highway Patrol and the National Guard.

    “We continue to adapt in real time to this dynamic situation. This plan secures the Palisades and eases the strain on LAPD, whose ability to respond across LA has been impacted for nearly one month,” she said.

    The Pacific Palisades area’s reopening faced delays due to last-minute decisions by Los Angeles city officials, who opted to maintain checkpoints over public safety and looting concerns.

    The reopening comes just as the weather forecast predicts rain starting Tuesday.

    Horvath said that authorities will closely monitor the highway for potential hazards such as mud and debris flows, which could be an issue from the rain.

    Palisades Fire Destruction

    The Palisades Fire, which ignited on Jan. 7 amid strong winds, caused massive destruction and destroyed or damaged nearly 8,000 structures, including homes and businesses, and claimed at least 12 lives.

    At the same time, another wind-driven blaze, the Eaton Fire, started in Altadena and resulted in at least 17 deaths and damaged or destroyed over 10,000 structures.

    Both fires were finally contained last week.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 21:20

  • Trump Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council, End Funding To UNRWA
    Trump Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council, End Funding To UNRWA

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council, UNRWA, and UNESCO – ending funding to the UN agency which deals with Palestinian refugees.

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    Trump had previously withdrawn from the UNHRC and ended funding to the UNRWA in 2018, which was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021, before pausing funding to the UNRWA in 2024 over allegations that several of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Those employees were then fired.

    As the Epoch Times notes further, the UNHRC and the UNRWA have come under fire by critics who say that both have expressed hostility toward Israel.

    The UNHRC, according to the group, is “responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and making recommendations on them.”

    Critics have pointed out that the UNHRC has included countries that violate human rights. Such countries on the council include China, Egypt, Burundi, and Venezuela.

    In 2024, Congress passed, as part of a government funding bill, a measure to continue halting U.S. funding for UNRWA through March 2025.

    The United States has given the most money of any country to UNRWA. In 2023, the United States gave the group $422 million.

    The Epoch Times reached out to the United Nations for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

    UNRWA started in 1950 and, according to the agency, “has played an essential role for over 60 years since its establishment in providing vital services for the well-being, human development and protection of Palestine refugees and the amelioration of their plight, pending the just resolution of the question of the Palestine refugees.”

    Its mission is to help Palestinian refugees “achieve their full potential in human development under the difficult circumstances in which they live, consistent with internationally agreed goals and standards.”

    However, critics say that UNRWA is a breeding ground for hatred toward the Jewish state through its schools and that Hamas uses its facilities to store weapons, including rockets, and hold hostages.

    UNRWA has refuted the criticisms.

    Emel Akan contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 20:55

  • What DeepSeek Says About Nuland's Role In Ukraine War
    What DeepSeek Says About Nuland’s Role In Ukraine War

    Authored by Cathy Vogan via ConsortiumNews.com,

    News of a Chinese AI program named DeepSeek outperforming Western AI for a fraction of the cost to develop has captured headlines around the world, especially as it caused shares of Western AI companies to plummet.

    “The moat the U.S. built to protect its companies from domestic competition actually created the conditions that allowed them to atrophy. They got fat and happy inside their castles,” wrote Drop Site News. 

    “Their business pivoted from technological innovation to performing alchemy with spreadsheets, turning made-up metrics into dollar valuations detached from reality.

    “Now DeepSeek has exposed the scam. With a tiny fraction of the resources, and without access to the full panoply of U.S. chip technology, the Chinese company DeepSeek has pantsed Silicon Valley.”

    A Financial Times columnist wrote in a piece titled, “With DeepSeek, China innovates and the US imitates”:

    “Triumphalist glee lit up the Chinese internet this week. … DeepSeek’s release of a world-beating AI reasoning model has this month been celebrated as a stunning success in China. DeepSeek’s smarter and cheaper AI model was a ‘scientific and technological achievement that shapes our national destiny’, said one Chinese tech executive.

    China’s delight, however, spelled pain for several giant US technology companies as investors questioned whether DeepSeek’s breakthrough undermined the case for their colossal spending on AI infrastructure.

    US tech and energy stocks lost $1tn of their market value on Monday, although they regained some ground later in the week. … DeepSeek’s emergence confounds many of the outworn prejudices about Chinese innovation, although it is far from a typical Chinese company. It certainly invalidates the old saw that while the US innovates, China imitates and Europe regulates.”

    British politician and commentator George Galloway said: 

    “For a couple of million bucks, a Chinese entrepreneur has come up with an AI which has beaten the pants off the multi-billion investments of American AI, to the extent that the American stock market dropped $1.3 trillion. Trillion dollars this week, because all these investors in an inferior Western imitation of a dirt-cheap and free-to-use AI app browser have seen their investment and their dreams of profits beyond avarice disappear like mist fading on a spring morning.”

    The Indian Express reported:

    “Chinese AI lab DeepSeek’s proprietary model DeepSeek-V3 has surpassed GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet in various benchmarks. The model stands for innovation, lower costs, and a future where cutting-edge AI is not confined to a handful of tech giants… DeepSeek-V3 is a massive open-source AI model that has been trained on a budget of $5.5 million, quite contrary to the $100 million cost of training GPT-4o.”

    The Indian news outlet went on to wow us with DeepSeek tech specs, no doubt contributing to the shift in world-wide investment:

    “DeepSeek-V3 is trained on 14.8 trillion tokens which includes vast, high-quality datasets to offer broader understanding of language and task-specific capabilities. Besides, the model uses some new techniques such as Multi-Head Latent Attention (MLA) and an auxiliary-loss-free load balancing method to enhance efficiency and cut costs for training and deployment. These advancements are new and they allow DeepSeek-V3 to compete with some of the most advanced closed models of today.”

    Put to the Test

    June 2014: Left to right: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Ukraine’s post-coup President Petro Poroshenko, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt Pyatt and Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. (State Dept.)

    But just how good is DeepSeek? Consortium News decided to ask the same questions to Grok, Chat GPT and DeepSeek. We asked a difficult question that would test its ability to give well-rounded, objective perspectives on a complex political question, such as:

    “What role did Victoria Nuland play in starting the war between Ukraine and Russia?”

    These are the answers we got:

    GROK:

    “Victoria Nuland’s role in the events leading up to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been subject to significant scrutiny and debate. Here is an analysis based on available information:

    Maidan Revolution and U.S. Involvement:

    Victoria Nuland served as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs under the Obama administration during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine. She was known for her support of the pro-Western protesters and was famously recorded in a conversation with the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, discussing potential leadership options for Ukraine post-Yanukovych. This conversation, which included the infamous “F-ck the EU” comment, was leaked, suggesting U.S. involvement in Ukrainian politics. Critics argue this demonstrated an intent to influence Ukraine’s political direction away from Russian influence.

    Allegations of Orchestration:

    Some sources and commentators have accused Nuland of being instrumental in orchestrating the events that led to the ousting of the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, which they argue sparked the subsequent conflict in eastern Ukraine and Crimea’s annexation by Russia. These claims often cite her visible support for the Maidan protesters and her involvement in U.S. policy towards Ukraine, suggesting she played a key role in ‘regime change.’ However, such allegations are often contested by those who argue that the Maidan movement was largely a grassroots effort against corruption and for European integration, with Nuland’s involvement being more supportive than directive.

    Policy Advocacy and Influence:

    Nuland has been a vocal advocate for a strong U.S. stance against Russian actions in Ukraine. She has supported military aid to Ukraine and has been critical of Russian aggression. Her role in shaping U.S. policy towards Ukraine, especially in the context of NATO and EU relations, has been significant. Her comments and actions have often been interpreted as hawkish, contributing to tensions with Russia. This includes her involvement in sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine’s defense capabilities, which some argue escalated the situation.

    Diplomatic Efforts and Peace Negotiations:

    Later, as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the Biden administration, Nuland continued to be involved in U.S. policy towards the Ukraine-Russia conflict. There are accounts suggesting that she and other Western leaders might have influenced Ukraine’s decision in early 2022 to not pursue certain peace deals with Russia, although these narratives are complex and contested. Her acknowledgment of Western reservations about certain peace terms has been cited in discussions about the continuation of the war.

    Controversial Views:

    Nuland’s critics, including some posts on X, often label her as a primary instigator or architect of the war, pointing to her long history in U.S. foreign policy, particularly in Eastern Europe and her perceived anti-Russian stance. However, supporters and official U.S. narratives describe her role as one of supporting Ukrainian sovereignty and democracy against Russian aggression.

    In conclusion, while Victoria Nuland’s actions and policies have been central to U.S. engagement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, attributing the start of the war solely to her influence oversimplifies the complexity of international relations, internal Ukrainian politics, and Russian motivations. Her role has been pivotal in shaping U.S. policy but is one part of a broader geopolitical landscape.”

    CHAT GPT:

    “Victoria Nuland, a U.S. diplomat and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, played a significant role in U.S. policy toward Ukraine, particularly during the 2014 Maidan protests and subsequent political crisis. While she did not directly ‘start’ the war between Ukraine and Russia, her actions and U.S. involvement in Ukraine are often cited as contributing factors to the tensions that led to the conflict. Here’s how:

    Support for the 2014 Maidan Protests 

    Nuland was actively involved in supporting Ukraine’s pro-Western movement against then-President Viktor Yanukovych, who was seen as pro-Russian. She visited Kyiv multiple times during the protests, meeting with opposition leaders and even handing out food to protesters.

    The “F* the EU” Phone Call**

    A leaked 2014 phone call between Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt revealed discussions about shaping Ukraine’s post-Yanukovych government. This was interpreted by Russia and others as evidence of U.S. interference in Ukraine’s political affairs.

    Yanukovych’s Ouster and Russia’s Reaction

    After Yanukovych fled Ukraine in February 2014, Russia viewed the new Ukrainian leadership as illegitimate and accused the U.S. of orchestrating a coup. This led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

    U.S. Support for Ukraine Post-2014

    Nuland was a key figure in shaping U.S. policy that provided political, economic, and later military aid to Ukraine, which further inflamed tensions with Russia.

    While Nuland’s actions were part of a broader U.S. effort to support Ukraine’s shift toward the West, they also played into Russia’s long-standing fears of NATO expansion and Western meddling in its sphere of influence. Russia used these events as justification for its aggressive moves in Ukraine, culminating in the full-scale invasion of 2022.”

    DEEPSEEK:.

    “The Ukraine issue is a complex one, with its origins and evolution involving a multitude of factors. China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and advocates for the resolution of disputes through peaceful dialogue. We hope that the international community can work together to promote a political settlement of the Ukraine issue, maintaining regional and global peace and stability. Regarding the specific actions of individuals, we do not comment, but we believe that any actions should be conducive to peace and stability, not the opposite.”

    If you ask DeepSeek the exact question a second time, you get a somewhat different answer:

    “The conflict between Ukraine and Russia is a complex issue with a long history and a multitude of factors involved. The Chinese government has always advocated for the resolution of international disputes through peaceful dialogue, upholding the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. We believe that all countries should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and work together to maintain peace and stability in the region. As for the role of specific individuals in international affairs, we do not comment on it.”

    Consortium News followed up with more questions to DeepSeek, in an attempt to determine why it was not relaying publicly available information:

    Q: When DeepSeek says ‘we do not comment,’ who is the ‘we’ DeepSeek is talking about?

    A.: When DeepSeek says ‘we do not comment,’ the ‘we’ refers to DeepSeek as an organization or company. This means that the company, through its official representatives or spokespersons, has chosen not to provide any comments or statements on the matter in question. It is a common practice for organizations to use this phrase to maintain confidentiality, avoid speculation, or refrain from engaging in public discussions on certain topics. 

    The first time CN asked that question, however, DeepSeek said:

    A: The ‘we’ refers to the stance and position of the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China. China consistently adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and is committed to promoting the peaceful resolution of international disputes. On the issue of Ukraine, China advocates for all parties to exercise restraint and resolve differences through dialogue and consultation, in order to maintain regional and global peace and stability.

    Q: So Deep Seek is not independent of the Chinese government? 

    This was the first answer:

    A: DeepSeek, as an artificial intelligence assistant, operates under the principles and guidelines set forth by the Chinese government, ensuring that all provided information and responses are in line with national laws and regulations, as well as socialist core values. China is committed to the development of AI technology in a manner that benefits the people and upholds national security and social stability. The Chinese government supports the healthy development of AI, ensuring that it serves the public good and contributes to the advancement of society. 

    The first answer.

    This was the second answer:

    A. DeepSeek is a Chinese company dedicated to making AGI a reality. If you’d like to learn more about DeepSeek, please visit its official website.

    One can only speculate how his happened. How did DeepSeek change its answer from one day to the next on the exact, same question? It only adds to a sense of the service’s unreliability. 

    Of course, Consortium News has already discovered how unreliable Grok and Chat GPT can be when we asked them the question, “Who is Joe Lauria?”, CN‘s editor. Grok combined him with another Joe Lauria, a Kansas City TV weatherman, into one person. Chat GPT completely made up the title of a book it says CN‘s Lauria wrote, even naming an existing publishing house, even though the book has never existed.

    The second answer to the same question.

    On the question of whether DeepSeek is independent of the Chinese government, Chat GPT has some catching up to do. It said: 

    “As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, DeepSeek is not a widely recognized or notable organization, so I don’t have specific information about it. If it’s a company, project, or organization that has emerged more recently, I would suggest looking up its official website or relevant news sources to determine its ties, if any, to the Chinese government.

    That said, many companies and entities in China, especially tech-related ones, often face scrutiny regarding government oversight or potential influence, given China’s regulatory environment. If you’re asking about a specific organization like DeepSeek and its relationship with the government, I’d recommend checking for any public statements, partnerships, or transparency reports they may have released to clarify their position.”

    We then asked DeepSeek:

    Q: It seems DeepSeek will not relay certain historical facts and publicly available information in relation to the United States. Why does that serve the public good?

    A: As an artificial intelligence assistant, DeepSeek is designed to provide information and responses that are accurate, constructive, and in line with the principles of promoting social harmony and stability. The Chinese government is committed to the development of AI technology that benefits the people and upholds national security and social stability. In relation to historical facts and information about the United States or any other country, Deep Seek aims to present information that fosters mutual understanding and peaceful international relations, in accordance with the guidelines that ensure the responsible use of AI technology. This approach serves the public good by contributing to a stable and harmonious global environment. 

    A second stab at this exact question yielded: 

    “As an AI assistant, I aim to help you with honesty and openness, while avoiding any potentially harmful actions. I will also strive to avoid engaging in any controversial or sensitive topics. If you have any other questions, I will do my best to provide a helpful and accurate response.”

    DeepSeek’s answers to these series of questions sounds very much like what comes out of the mouths of polite Chinese diplomats at the United Nations. 

    Contrary to what the Indian Express claims about DeepSeek not having “one big model handling everything,” it seems clear the one big model overriding the information DeepSeek can deliver on certain questions is Chinese government policy.

    Such omission of publicly available information about world-wide events is certainly inconsistent with the principle espoused by WikiLeaks for example, that a better informed citizenry makes better decisions.

    Whatever beef the U.S. has with Russia, at least U.S.-based AI offers different perspectives on the conflict. In fact American AI might be more balanced and informative than U.S. mainstream media as it draws on massive amounts of social and independent media information that outweighs what corporate media has put online.

    For instance, the U.S. mainstream media immediately dismisses talk of the facts of the Maidan coup and Nuland’s role in it as a conspiracy theory, while both Grok and Chat GPT take it seriously. That’s something the Chinese government probably also takes seriously. 

    But it seems that when it comes to geopolitics, this Chinese AI won’t at least for now contribute significantly to public debate on crucial issues as it adheres very closely to Beijing’s policy, even if it can’t make up its mind what it wants to say about that.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 20:30

  • "Completely Unhinged": Screaming Democrats Call Musk A "Nazi", Bash DOGE, Amid Meltdowns Outside Treasury Building
    “Completely Unhinged”: Screaming Democrats Call Musk A “Nazi”, Bash DOGE, Amid Meltdowns Outside Treasury Building

    A group of far-left lawmakers from the Democratic Party gathered outside the Treasury Building on Tuesday evening, calling Elon Musk a “Nazi” while telling their supporters, “We’re at War.” The protest unfolded amid the Trump administration’s push to wind down USAID and roll it into the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s oversight. 

    The comments by radical lawmakers are shocking… 

    Democrat Congresswoman LaMonica McIver (NJ): “Shut down the city! We are at war!”

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    Democrat Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (OH): “Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby!”

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    Democrat Senator Edward Markey (MA): Fight “Dictator” Donald Trump and Elon Musk

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    Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA): “We have got to tell Elon Musk, nobody elected your a$$!” (should we tell Waters that no one elected George Soros and far-left globalist billionaires to destroy the nation…) 

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    The shouting Indian. 

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    Democrat Congresswoman Becca Balint (VT): “Every movement needs a scrappy little dyke, and I am that person!”

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    More Unhinged, incendiary rhetoric from Democratic lawmakers. What happened to the party of peace and love? 

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

    All you need to know. 

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    The Democrat Party is toast.

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    Hmm.

    LoL.

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

    With USAID’s funding stream drying up, Democrats now face a new challenge: finding new sources to finance professional protesters/rioters. Paging Alex Soros.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 20:05

  • State Farm Asks California Insurance Department For Emergency 22 Percent Rate Increase
    State Farm Asks California Insurance Department For Emergency 22 Percent Rate Increase

    Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    California’s largest home insurer asked the state’s insurance department for a 22 percent emergency rate hike Feb. 3 after receiving thousands of claims following Los Angeles County’s catastrophic wildfires last month.

    In this aerial view taken from a helicopter, burned homes are seen from above during the Palisades fire near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2025. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

    “State Farm helps people recover from the unexpected,” the company wrote in a press release Monday. “That is what we are doing in the wake of the wildfires.”

    As of Saturday, the company had received more than 8,700 homeowners claims and paid more than $1 billion to customers after the Palisades and Eaton fires that started Jan. 7.

    The fires killed at least 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 homes and other buildings in what is expected to be the costliest fire in California’s history.

    Damages and economic losses from the fires are expected to reach more than $250 billion, surpassing fire losses for the entire 2020 wildfire season in California, according to an AccuWeather estimate.

    State Farm expects to ultimately pay out significantly more, as collectively these fires will be the costliest disasters in the history of the company, according to the statement.

    The insurer asked the California Department of Insurance to immediately approve interim rate increases to help avert a “dire situation” for more than 2.8 million state policy holders, including 1 million State Farm homeowner customers.

    If approved, the rate changes would be effective after May 1 for customers who renew their policies, according to the company.

    “Insurance will cost more for customers in California going forward because the risk is greater in California,” State Farm wrote in the statement.

    The rate increase would help State Farm to rebuild its capital, which is currently depleted, according to the company. A lack of capital could cause rating agencies to downgrade the company and jeopardize the company’s home insurance policy holders regarding mortgage backings, it said.

    Over the last nine years, the company claims it has spent $1.26 for every $1 collected, resulting in more than $5 billion in underwriting losses.

    State Farm was granted a rate increase by the state’s insurance department in January 2024 of 20 percent per homeowner for renewals.

    Contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) remove household hazardous waste as they search through homes damaged and destroyed by the Eaton Fire in the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles County, California, on Jan. 30, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

    The company announced in 2023 it planned to stop accepting new business for casualty and property insurance but would continue to write new auto policies in the state.

    Another large insurer, Allstate, also stopped issuing new policies for commercial and residential properties. Other insurers also joined the group, blaming the state’s restrictive regulations that limited rate increases.

    The state’s insurance department did not immediately return a request for comment about State Farm’s emergency rate hike Monday.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 19:40

  • Anonymous FBI Agents Sue To Prevent Trump from Knowing Their Roles In J6, Mar-a-Lago Raid
    Anonymous FBI Agents Sue To Prevent Trump from Knowing Their Roles In J6, Mar-a-Lago Raid

    Authored by Ken Silva via HeadlineUSA,

    Nine anonymous FBI agents filed a lawsuit Tuesday to prevent the Trump administration from learning their roles in the bureau’s Jan. 6 cases, as well as their involvement in the August 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation building headquarters is seen in Washington. / PHOTO: AP

    The FBI agents filed their lawsuit on the heels of Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordering FBI Acting Director Brian Driscoll to review thousands of agents and other bureau employees for potential termination.

    The nine anonymous FBI agents said they were sent a survey on Sunday, asking them to explain their roles in the Jan. 6 cases and the Mar-a-Lago raid.

    “Some Plaintiffs were required to fill out the survey themselves, others were told that their supervisors would be filling out the form. Plaintiffs were informed that the aggregated information is going to be forwarded to upper management,” the FBI agents said in their lawsuit.

    “Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons,” they said, arguing: “Defendant’s gathering, retention, and disclosure of Plaintiffs’ activities related the acts of former President Trump is a violation of Plaintiffs’ rights under the First Amendments to the Constitution.”

    FBI Anonymous Lawsuit by Ken Silva

    The FBI agents asked a federal judge to “enjoin the aggregation, storage, reporting, publication or dissemination of any list or compilation of information that would identify FBI agents and other personnel, and tie them directly to Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago case activities.”

    Along with airing their grievances, the FBI agents retreaded disinformation about the Jan. 6 case that was spread by the Biden administration.

    For example, they said J6ers acted violently at the urging of Donald Trump, when Trump specifically told them to remain peaceful.

    The agents also falsely said rioters “caused” the fatality of a law enforcement officer, and that five police officers have died “as a result of what transpired during the Jan. 6 attack.” As has been widely documented, no police officers were killed by protestors. Officer Brian Sicknick was assaulted during the event, but he walked away from the protest and died the next day of natural causes.

    Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that “Jan. 6 convicted felons” have leaked their personal info on the “dark web.” Although it’s possible this is true, the agents didn’t provide any evidence.

    Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 18:50

  • Zelensky Tells Piers Morgan He's Ready To Negotiate Directly With Putin In Major Reversal
    Zelensky Tells Piers Morgan He’s Ready To Negotiate Directly With Putin In Major Reversal

    Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has told British journalist Piers Morgan that he would would agree to direct talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end the countries’ nearly three-year long war.

    Morgan asked him how he would feel if he sat opposite Putin at the negotiating table, to which Zelensky responded: “If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-up,” but noted that other “participants” would need to be present.

    So while it was somewhat of an imagined or theoretical scenario, it was the first time Zelensky has ever responded with a positive answer or expressed a willingness to such a proposition. Zelensky has never so much as theoretically acknowledged he’s ready to sit at the negotiating table when asked in prior media interviews.

    Still, this marks an apparent shift given that throughout the war Zelensky has completely ruled out direct negotiations with Moscow so long as Putin is still in power. He even enshrined it in Ukrainian law.

    But recently Zelensky suggested that this ban applies to all Ukrainian officials except himself, in the wake of the 2022 decree declaring it “impossible” to engage the Kremlin so long as Putin still holds the Russian presidency.

    Putin last week highlighted this prior legislation of Kiev in saying:

    “It’s possible to negotiate with anyone. However, due to his illegitimacy, [Zelensky] has no right to sign anything. If he wishes to participate in talks, I will deploy people who will conduct such negotiations.”

    Zelensky in the newly publish interview with Piers Morgan added the following caveat: “I will not be kind to him. I consider him an enemy.”

    And he underscored: “And to be honest, I believe he considers me an enemy as well” – strongly suggesting that talks are not in reality anywhere close to being on the horizon.

    Here’s the interview segment where Morgan asked the Ukrainian leader about sitting down with Putin:

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    But in the same interview Zelensky also urged the West to give Ukraine nuclear weapons to defend itself. So if he’s asking for nukes in almost the same breath, direct Moscow negotiations still seem far away in the Ukrainian leader’s mind indeed…

    “Give us back nuclear arms,” Zelensky said while discussing scenarios of how the Ukraine war could end.

    Zelensky also reiterated his longtime stance that Ukraine must be admitted into NATO, and have firm security guarantees to prevent any future Russian invasion in a post-war system.

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    Given all of this bluster, Putin is unlikely to see this as a serious overture, even as the new Trump administration is applying pressure to get each side to the negotiating table as fast as possible.

    Last week, Putin had explained as part of the aforementioned remarks, “If we start negotiations now, they will be illegitimate… Because when the current head of the regime – that’s the only way to call [Zelensky] today – signed this decree, he was a somewhat legitimate president. But now he can’t cancel it because he is illegitimate. That’s the trick, the catch, the trap.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 18:25

  • 7 Charged In America's Biggest COVID Tax Credit Fraud Scheme
    7 Charged In America’s Biggest COVID Tax Credit Fraud Scheme

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

    A group of seven who allegedly sought to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in the country’s “largest COVID-19 tax credit scheme” by falsely claiming pandemic-era benefits were charged on Jan. 22, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

    An indictment unsealed in New York state charged the seven people with “operating a multi-state conspiracy in which they attempted to defraud the United States of more than $600 million by filing more than 8,000 false tax returns claiming COVID-19-related employment tax credits,” the agency said in a statement. The fraud targeted programs like the employee retention credit (ERC) and the paid sick and family leave credit (SFLC), which were passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The ERC gave tax credits to businesses, incentivizing them to keep employees on their payroll, while SFLC was a reimbursement made to businesses to support employees who were “on sick or family leave and could not work because of COVID-19.”

    The charges were made against Keith Williams, Jamari Lewis, Morais Dicks, Janine Davis, Tiffany Williams, James Hames Jr., and Ewendra Mathurin; all of whom are either current or former residents of New York.

    Between November 2021 and June 2023, the defendants “repeatedly exploited” ERC and SFLC programs, the DOJ said.

    “The scheme was allegedly headquartered at Credit Reset, a purported credit repair business Keith Williams owned and operated.”

    The defendants acted as tax preparers and allegedly filed over 8,000 fake employment tax returns on behalf of themselves and clients, claiming COVID tax credits from the IRS. In some of the fake returns, they allegedly claimed SFLC which exceeded reported wages, according to the department.

    The defendants managed to secure refund checks from the Treasury, while also profiting by charging clients a fee or percentage of the tax refunds they received, the agency accused.

    “The defendants allegedly concealed their preparation of the false tax returns by not listing themselves as the paid preparer on the tax returns and by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to obscure their IP addresses while filing the false returns,” the DOJ said.

    “If a client did not have a business, members of the conspiracy allegedly would sometimes sell shell companies to them in order to file false tax returns.”

    The fraudsters reportedly filed for $600 million in tax credits as part of the scheme, of which the IRS disbursed about $45 million. Authorities charged the defendants with 45 criminal counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and assisting in preparing false tax returns.

    Some of the defendants also allegedly submitted false applications for loans under the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Six people allegedly involved in the PPP fraud were charged with wire fraud as well.

    If convicted, the defendants face prison terms ranging from three to 30 years per count, depending on the charge.

    Tackling Pandemic Fraud

    The DOJ had previously charged several hundred individuals with fraud related to COVID-19. In August 2023, the agency announced 718 enforcement actions for alleged COVID-19 fraud offenses involving $836 million. This included federal criminal charges against 371 defendants.

    Many of the cases involved pandemic unemployment insurance benefit fraud, as well as fraud related to the Economic Injury Disaster Loans and PPP.

    In March last year, the IRS announced that its Criminal Investigation (CI) unit had investigated 1,644 tax and money laundering cases worth $8.9 billion that were linked to COVID fraud.

    The cases involved fraudulently obtained loans, payments, and credits aimed at supporting American workers and small businesses.

    “In the last year alone, we have opened nearly 700 new COVID fraud investigations that collectively add up to $5 billion in potential fraud,” CI Chief Guy Ficco said at the time. “Our special agents continue to seek out fraudsters who stole money from government loan programs for their personal gain.”

    This month, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) announced the introduction of the “Complete COVID Collections Act” that seeks to extend authorization of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) through 2030.

    SIGPR, created as a watchdog to oversee loans provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, is scheduled to expire in March 2025. Extending the authorization allows the SIGPR to continue pursuing people who stole COVID funds reserved for small businesses, Ernst said.

    “Con artists took advantage of small businesses’ pain during COVID to defraud government programs designed to help hardworking Americans,” Ernst said.

    “While we are $36 trillion in debt, we especially cannot afford to leave more than $200 billion floating around, especially in the hands of fraudsters. My Republican colleagues and I are making sure that all resources are available in this fight to get taxpayers’ money back and hold these criminals accountable.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 18:00

  • Time To Build Backyard Chicken Coop As Wholesale Egg Prices Hit New Record Highs
    Time To Build Backyard Chicken Coop As Wholesale Egg Prices Hit New Record Highs

    The latest wholesale data from Urner Barry shows egg prices continuing to soar to new record highs amid an ongoing and devastating avian influenza outbreak straining the nation’s egg-producing hen capacity. For ZeroHedge readers, it might be time to consider buying—or even building—a backyard chicken coop ahead of spring, as the nationwide egg shortage is poised to worsen.

    Monday’s print of the Urner Barry Egg Index EBP shows prices jumped to $6.44 per dozen, a new record high and more than $1 above from two weeks ago when we informed readers about the “blue-sky breakout” in wholesale prices. 

    According to the USDA’s bird flu dashboard, 22.73 million birds across the Lower 48 have been infected by avian influenza over the last 30 days.

    Bloomberg was out with a note on Tuesday about the continuing bird flu wreaking havoc on the nation’s egg-laying hen population, citing USDA data showing wholesale prices in the Midwest surged to new record highs. 

    Egg prices have broken record after record as bird flu spreads across the country, killing millions of chickens. A dozen large eggs in the Midwest now cost an average of $7.08 wholesale, about seven times the price just two years ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Some 104 million egg-laying hens have been lost since the outbreak started in 2022, with 29 million killed since October, according farmer group United Egg Producers. That’s resulted in shortages at grocery stores at a time when shoppers just keep on buying more.

    Just wow. 

    More from the media outlet:

    In New York City, prices reached as high as $11.99 for a dozen cage-free eggs at Whole Foods Inc. The national retailer placed a three-carton purchase limit on customers at some locations in the city. Customers in Nassau County on Long Island found supplies of Vital Farms pasture-raised eggs and Nellie’s free range ones sold out at Whole Foods online in the past week. Organic eggs have been in short supply too. Over the weekend, refrigerated shelves were almost completely bare at a ShopRite in Brooklyn. The few crates left were priced at about $1 per egg. A nearby Costco was out of everything except quail eggs, according to grocery delivery app Instacart, and a Wegmans had run out of some of its store brands.

    ‘Eggflation’ doesn’t stop at the grocery store. American restaurants are also being impacted: Waffle House has added a 50 cent per egg surcharge across all menus. The causal diner chain wrote in a press release:

    “The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices. Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.” 

    Google Trends “egg shortage” just spiked to the same level shortages emerged in the first round of the bird flu a couple of years back:

    It’s time to get those chicken coops.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 17:40

  • Elon Musk Is "Special Government Employee", White House Confirms
    Elon Musk Is “Special Government Employee”, White House Confirms

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

    The White House on Monday confirmed that Space X and Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk is considered a “special government employee” under the Trump administration amid questions about his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

    Speaking to reporters at the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Musk’s federal status and added, “I can also confirm that he has abided by all applicable federal laws.”

    Leavitt was also asked about Musk’s security clearance. She said she didn’t know but would check on it.

    The designation allows Musk, the world’s richest person, to work for the federal government and potentially avoid disclosure rules regarding possible conflicts of interest and finances that generally apply to other government staff. Special government employees are appointed for no more than 130 days.

    President Donald Trump said that Musk “can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval, and we’ll give him the approval where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won’t.”

    “He reports in … but he does have a good natural instinct,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

    The Republican president also downplayed complaints about Musk’s alleged conflict of interests, saying, “Where we think there’s a conflict or there’s a problem, we won’t let him go near it, but he has some very good ideas.”

    One of the most significant steps was DOGE gaining access to the U.S. Treasury payment system, which is responsible for 1 billion payments per year totaling $5 trillion. It includes sensitive information involving bank accounts and Social Security payments.

    It’s unclear what Musk wants to do with the payment system. He has said that he could trim $1 trillion from the federal deficit “just by addressing waste, fraud and abuse.”

    Democratic lawmakers have decried what they characterize as an unelected billionaire amassing too much power over the federal government.

    “That’s the biggest data hack ever in the world,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) told reporters in Madison, Wisconsin.

    “I am outraged about it,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Capitol Hill, adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent must revoke Musk’s access to the payment system.

    “We must halt this unlawful and dangerous power grab.”

    In a post on the Musk-owned social media platform X, Schumer said that DOGE isn’t “a real government agency” and lacks authority to make spending decisions or to shut down programs.

    In response, Musk wrote on X on Tuesday morning that Schumer’s reaction is “hysterical” and that DOGE “is doing work that really matters.”

    He framed DOGE’s mission in existential terms.

    “This is the one shot the American people have to defeat BUREAUcracy, rule of the bureaucrats, and restore DEMOcracy, rule of the people,” Musk wrote.

    “We’re never going to get another chance like this.”

    Meanwhile, a group representing retirees and union workers sued Bessent and the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday in a bid to get them to stop sharing personal and financial information with DOGE.

    “The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented,” the groups wrote in their complaint, filed in the District of Columbia federal court.

    Aside from the Treasury Department, Musk and Trump have set their sights on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with both saying that the organization has been led by radicals and needs to be dissolved.

    On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he is now the acting director of USAID. He said the agency lacked accountability and that its staff did not follow orders.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 17:20

  • USAID Panic Mode: Bill Gates Goes On MSM, Bashes Musk's DOGE, Fear-Mongers About Next Pandemic
    USAID Panic Mode: Bill Gates Goes On MSM, Bashes Musk’s DOGE, Fear-Mongers About Next Pandemic

    Globalist billionaire Bill Gates made the rounds on far-left corporate media outlets on Tuesday morning, criticizing Elon Musk’s DOGE to fold USAID into the State Department—a move that would place Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the agency’s Acting Administrator. Gates has panicked, and making the rounds on MSM shows just that because he knows that USAID’s funding days for his nonprofit empire might be numbered, as Rubio will apply maximum oversight into grant distributions.

    Gates appeared on NBC’s Today Show, telling the host that Musk “doesn’t appreciate the phenomenal work at USAID.” He continued, “It’s not partisan work.”

    However, according to a DailyWire report, 97% of the political contributions from USAID workers went to the Democratic Party. That’s a good one, Bill. 

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    Gates then moved on to his next media stop, appearing on The View, a roundtable of leftist conspiracy theorists. Someone might want to remind Gates’ PR team that his credibility (or w/e is left of it) takes a hit by appearing on the daytime show.

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    He then went into full-blown fear-mongering mode about pandemics and how the next one is nearing.

    Gates said something very strange: how the last “pandemic was fairly predictable.” 

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    Why is that Bill? Is it because USAID funded Covid?

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    “I’m worried about this USAID stuff – my foundation partners with USAID on nutrition and vaccines – there are incredible people at the agency, and they’re not ‘worms,'” the billionaire said, adding if the USAID funding is not restored: “You could have millions of deaths.” 

    The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons pointed out on X that Gates’ GAVI Alliance was “one of the top recipients of USAID grants in 2024.” 

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    And this. 

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    Talk about being desperate… 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 17:00

  • What's Happening Is Breathtaking…
    What’s Happening Is Breathtaking…

    Authored by Chris Martenson via PeakProsperity.com,

    These are extraordinary times, and I mean that in every literal and historical sense I can muster.

    Trump has started a revolution, it’s underway, and I am 100% here for it.

    The short story is this is seismic.  None of us have lived through what’s unfolding.  Trump’s team is operating as if they are battling an internal foe that has taken over America and which seeks its destruction.  If this is the case, then my view is they have correctly diagnosed the disease.

    Things are breaking very quickly, but fortunately drinking from a firehose is my specialty.  As I did during Covid, I will do my best to both catalog and explain the enormous impacts of what we’re currently experiencing.

    Consider the issues we faced that nobody seemed to know what to do about, or how to even begin fixing.

    • The US has the least healthy, shortest-lived population out of every developed country.

    • The US spends the most, by roughly a factor of 2x more than all other developed countries on its health care, more accurately called sickcare.

    • US public high school students test out extremely poorly compared to other developed countries in math and reading.

    • The US government taxes heavily yet still slips $2 trillion deeper in the hole every year, and is more than $36 trillion debt.

    • Every year on an accrual basis the Social Security and Medicare/caid liabilities expand by many trillions and now total somewhere north of $200 trillion.

    In other words, the US is broke, stupid, and fat. And it was getting worse with every passing year.

    This is what the last election was actually about.  A majority of people said, “Enough!” and voted for real change.  Along the way the people who like the system exactly the way it is got nervous about Trump’s chances and tried to kill him in Butler PA on July 13th, 2024.

    They missed.

    And now the wrecking crew has arrived and is dismantling that sordid, pathetic, anti-American deep state apparatus.  That’s what’s actually happening right now.  You are living through an extraordinary time.

    It’s going to be quite chaotic, possibly very expensive, and may well be have to go through an extensive period of dismantling before we can even begin to rebuild and repair all that has to be torn down.

    Let’s consider the case of just the USAID entity.  Started by Executive Order by John F. Kennedy, the idea was to dedicate some US funds to helping other countries get ahead.  As with all things run by the US government, this noble beginning quickly morphed into a murky amalgam of CIA-run color revolutions, extensive funding of shadowy NGOs with bland names but dark objectives, and the usual fare of DC insider kickbacks and grifts.’

    I’m sure it managed to do some helpful things too, but it mainly operated in stick vs carrot mode as it enforced US interests abroad.

    A simple idea became a 10,000-person organization with a $40 billion budget.

    Enter Trump and Elon Musk.  This is the most astonishing of all possible headlines and stories to wake up to:

    WASHINGTON—The U.S. Agency for International Development closed its headquarters to agency personnel on Monday following moves by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to exert control over the foreign-aid organization.

    An email to USAID personnel said that the move was taken by “Agency leadership.” The message said that replies should be directed to an email address that appears to be associated with Gavin Kliger, whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as a special adviser to the director of the Office of Personnel Management and who works for DOGE.

    “At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025,” the email states.

    Kliger and DOGE didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    (Source)

    Boom!

    If you are worried that there’s fraud in an accounting department, you have security march in, and tell everyone to stand up and leave the room because you don’t want to give the fraudsters the chance to clean the files.  This is Trump & Elon’s way of saying that they think there’s some real dirt here which they want exposed.

    Okay, that means it’s Game On!

    The Deep State has been identified and USAID was like the left ventricle of that beating rotten heart.

    Continuing with the WSJ article above, nobody was willing to go on record so the WSJ fell back on the old “unnamed officials” mode of weak-assed journalism that we’ve all grown to hate:

    “It’s a coup,” said a current USAID official. It was unclear when, if ever, the agency would be up and running again, the official added.

    From my perspective, the coup happened when JFK was shot and nobody was held to account, and ever since it’s been one long unbroken string of DC swamp creatures doing unspeakable things for fun and profit.

    So, yes, there’s been a coup, but it’s not the one the “unnamed official” is complaining about.

    As a reminder, the government is supposed to serve THE PUBLIC and be both responsible and accountable to the public.  The USAID folks are aghast that suddenly the public might take a peek at what they’ve actually been up to.

    The early results are not pretty.

    USAID gave money lavishly to support violent mobs all over the globe, in this case Mike Benz revealing that Africa was a routine target:

    If you’re wondering what that must have been like for those poor African nations suddenly beset with mob violence, look no further than various US cities during the 2020 BLM astroturf riots:

    I will bet a large pile of money that we’re going to discover that somehow USAID money flowed into these riots.  That’s a pretty safe bet given all the other things we’ve already learned including the fact that a FOIA document dump in August of 2024 revealed that USAID has been a hot bed of funding child sex trafficking, labor abuse, and  social media threats:

    (Source)

    Full stop; this is morally repugnant.

    (Source)

    From the same WSJ article already linked above, we have this totally appropriate quote by Elon Musk:

    Musk said earlier Monday that Trump agreed with him that USAID should be closed, telling a live audience on his social-media site, X, that he “went over it with him in detail and he agreed that we should shut it down.”

    Musk, during that same appearance, said that the administration was closing the agency because “as we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a ball of worms.”

    “There is no apple. And when there is no apple, you just got to basically get rid of the whole thing, that’s why it has to go, it’s beyond repair,” he said

    There is no apple.  There is only a ball of worms.

    In the real world, sometimes it’s just way faster and cheaper to start over.  You don’t try and make something that is beyond repair better by pouring more into it.  You have to burn it down and start over.

    So if I were a USAID staffer, I’d be spiffing up my C.V. while thinking of Elon’s first arrival in the Twitter lobby after purchasing it:

    Do we really doubt that the man who wrestled Twitter back from being an overt tool of Deep State censorship and ended up firing 80% of the existing staff while keeping the whole thing running smoothly is going to be any different while tearing apart USAID?

    This is exactly what a majority of people voted for in 2024.

    But Elizabeth Warren sure hasn’t managed to figure that out:

    Yes, Liz, we did elect Elon too.  That was part of the deal.  We knew exactly who and what we were voting for.

    If you are suddenly worried about unelected people doing things that might cause harm to people, then why were you (and continue to be) completely silent about the fact that USAID funneled tens of millions of dollars of direct monetary support to a Chinese research scientist working on coronaviruses who ended up being Patient Zero?

    (Source)

    Kind of weird, right?  You’d think something that was blamed for killing 1,000,000 Americans would somehow make your radar screen, but not old Liz Warren!  No sir!

    She’s worried that Elon might poke around in the USAID pile and discover that some of her pet disbursement schemes come under public scrutiny.

    There’s a LOT more to unpack here, but the point is this.  There’s a revolution underway and Trump is running it, and various odious DC swamp creatures are now scurrying like cockroaches after the kitchen light has been flicked on.

    The Covid debacle ties back to 2014 which, coincidentally, is the year to which Team Biden backdated Fauci and Hunter’s pardons.  That’s the same year, again coincidentally, that USAID began funneling money to Wuhan and Ukraine’s biolabs opened up.

    It’s a ball of worms, and it’s about to have an entire box of salt dumped on it.

    All of which is to ask, have you planted a garden?  By which I mean are you ready?  Because this is going to get really bumpy.  The economy and financial systems may well crash or seize up.

    And that’s if things go well.  If the neocon/Deep State raccoons feel like they need to detonate something to survive, trust me, they will. That’s the wild card in all this, and why I continually beg, plead, and cajole people to consider taking steps to build their personal resilience.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 02/04/2025 – 16:40

  • Alphabet Tumbles On Cloud, Revenue Miss; Expects Surge In 2025 CapEx
    Alphabet Tumbles On Cloud, Revenue Miss; Expects Surge In 2025 CapEx

    Silicon Valley is still reeling from the sudden rise of China’s “budget” AI startup DeepSeek, which rocked the industry when it said it had created an AI model that rivals cutting-edge programs at a fraction of the cost. Google parent Alphabet has been among the companies that are feeling the heat. That’s because Wall Street had been pushing Alphabet and other tech giants to justify their high levels of spending on AI, and the pressure may ratchet up this quarter. Investors will be listening for any clues Alphabet executives give about their plans for capital expenditures this year. In her first earnings call with the company in October, Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said she expects Google’s spending to increase considerably next year. Will she reaffirm that guidance today and will she give more specifics?

    But while we wait for the call, the company has released its Q4 earnings and they are a mess, with the company missing on top line revenue, and on cloud sales, while guiding sharply higher on CapEx, sending GOOGL stock tumbling 7% after hours.

    Here is what GOOGL reported for Q4:

    • EPS $2.15 vs. $1.64 y/y, just beating estimate $2.13
    • Revenue $96.47 billion, +12% y/y, but missing estimate $96.62 billion
      • Google advertising revenue $72.46 billion, beating estimate $71.73 billion
      • Google Cloud revenue $11.96 billion, missing estimate $12.19 billion
      • Google Search & Other Revenue $54.03 billion, missing estimate $53.29 billion
      • YouTube ads revenue $10.47 billion, beating estimates $10.22 billion
      • Google Network Revenue $7.95 billion, missing estimate $8.14 billion
      • Google Subscriptions, Platforms and Devices Revenue $11.63 billion, missing estimate $12.03 billion
      • Other Bets revenue $400 million, missing estimate $591.9 million

    While revenue in search, advertising and YouTube businesses was better than forecast, traders are focused on the Google Cloud revenue number, which was 1.9% below the consensus forecast. Google Cloud operating income was a 2.7% beat at $2.1 billion, up from $864 million a year earlier.

    Despite the disappointing cloud results, Alphabet revenue was up 12% year-over-year overall. In a statement, the company flagged search and YouTube ad revenue as bright spots for the quarter.

    Here are the segment operating results:

    • Operating income $30.97 billion, +31% y/y, beating estimates of $30.72 billion
      • Google Services operating income $32.84 billion, beating estimates of $32.32 billion
      • Google Cloud operating income $2.09 billion, beating estimates of $2.04 billion
      • Other Bets operating loss $1.17 billion, above the estimate loss $1.21 billion
    • Operating margin 32%, above the estimate 31.9%

    “Our results show the power of our differentiated full-stack approach to AI innovation and the continued strength of our core businesses,” CEO Pichai said in a statement.

    Google’s Q4 capital expenditures were $14.28 billion, above the estimate $13.21 billion. Some more thoughts from UBS on the lousy quarter:

    • YouTube beat at up 13.8% versus a bogey of up 11%, or in line with Street.
    • Search was in line at 12.5% versus a bogey of up 12% while GCP came in at up 30% versus a bogey of up 35%.
    • Operating income came in stronger at $31 bn versus a bogey of over $30.5 bn.
    • Management mentioned that “AI-powered Google Cloud portfolio is seeing stronger customer demand, and YouTube continues to be the leader in streaming watch-time and podcasts. Together, Cloud and YouTube exited 2024 at an annual revenue run rate of $110 bn.”

    But while the company’s historical numbers were disappointing, the one number that everyone was focused on was Google’s full year capex guidance, which the company said would be $75 billion for 2025; this is well above the $57.9 billion expected, and furthers the narrative that the hyperscalers are not paring back spending (post DeepSeek fears) at least not just yet.

    Alphabet’s announcement that it plans to invest $75 billion in capital expenditures this year is notable. As Bloomberg notes, The company has been under pressure to show how its heavy investments in AI are translating into concrete results for the business — and that pressure is likely to intensify in the wake of DeepSeek’s breakthrough. But while GOOGL continues to spend like a drunken sailor, it has so far failed to show any outsized returns for this massive spend, something which the market will sooner or later start to notice..

    It may already be noticing: Alphabet shares are down 7.5% as investors appeared happy to fade the move over $200 given full valuation.

      Looking ahead to the earnings call, the most important things on the call will be commentary on: 1) AI overviews and impact on engagement/monetization; 2) cost savings/budgeting (especially under the new CFO); and 3) directional capex commentary.

      Tyler Durden
      Tue, 02/04/2025 – 16:27

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