Today’s News 5th January 2025

• On China's Massive Hacking Campaign Targeting The US
  On China’s Massive Hacking Campaign Targeting The US

  Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times,

  China has dramatically increased its cyberattacks against the United States since Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

  From espionage to intellectual property theft to sabotage, here is a look at 20 of the largest Chinese cyberattacks against the United States in the last 10 years.

  

  August 2014: Community Health Systems Hack 

  A state-backed hacking group in China—referred to as APT18—launched an advanced malware attack against Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, one of the nation’s largest hospital health care services.

  The group succeeded in exfiltrating the sensitive personal information of more than 4.5 million patients, including their Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, names, and birth dates.

  

  (Left) FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell addresses the media from the National Hurricane Center in Miami on May 31, 2023. (Right) United States Postal Service trucks in Farmingdale, N.Y., on April 12, 2020. Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

  November 2014: NOAA and USPS Hacks

  State-backed hackers in China launched malware and DDOS attacks against several government entities, including the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Office of Personnel Management.

  The personal information of more than 800,000 employees at USPS, as well as that of customers who had called customer services, was exfiltrated. NOAA officials reported that they were immediately able to restore service to four affected websites but had not reported the incident for months, which was a violation of U.S. policy.

  

  The entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building that houses the Office of Personnel Management headquarters in Washington on June 5, 2015. U.S. investigators have said that at least four million current and former federal employees might have had their personal information stolen by Chinese hackers. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

  June 2015: Office of Personnel Management Hack

  The federal government’s primary hiring agency was hacked by state-backed cyber actors in China. More than a million users’ personal information, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, were stolen.

  Those affected included current and former federal employees and contractors, as well as applicants for federal jobs and individuals listed on background check forms.

  The attack was the third and largest of its kind in a matter of weeks and appeared to have specifically targeted data and applications related to U.S. security clearances. As such, the data stolen also included the financial histories and family information of those undergoing federal background checks at the time.

  

  A Belgian plant of the U.S. chemicals group DuPont de Nemours in Mechelenon on April 13, 2004. Herwig Vergult/AFP via Getty Images

  January 2016: Dupont Chemical Hack 

  Pangang Group, a Chinese state-owned steel manufacturer, was charged by the U.S. government for stealing trade secrets from DuPont, a major chemical corporation. The group had obtained access to information on the U.S. company’s computers.

  Pangang worked with unidentified hackers to purchase trade secrets from a long-time DuPont employee, who stole the company’s method for manufacturing titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in many applications, including semiconductors and solar panel cells.

  

  The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) logo is seen in during the International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget on June 25, 2017. Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images

  April 2017: FAA, NASA Spearfishing Campaign 

  Song Wu, an employee for China’s state-owned aerospace and defense corporation AVIC, allegedly began a multiyear spearfishing campaign against targets in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army.

  Wu was later charged in 2024 for creating email accounts impersonating U.S.-based researchers and engineers to obtain restricted software used for aerospace engineering and computational fluid dynamics.

  The U.S. government alleged that the software obtained could be used to develop advanced tactical missiles and aerodynamic designs for other weapons.

  

  A sign depicting the four members of China’s military indicted on charges of hacking into Equifax Inc. and stealing data from millions of Americans is on display shortly after Attorney General William Barr held a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on Feb. 10, 2020. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

  May 2017: Equifax Hack

  Chinese military hackers breached the Equifax credit bureau in the largest-known theft of personal information.

  More than 145 million Americans’ sensitive personal data, including Social Security and driver’s license numbers, were stolen. The hackers also obtained roughly 200,000 American credit card numbers.

  The hackers routed traffic through approximately 34 servers located in nearly 20 countries to obfuscate their true location.

  The United States later indicted four members of China’s military for the hack in 2020. As in most such cases, the hackers remain in China and have never been arrested.

  January 2018: Navy Personnel, Technology Hacks

  Chinese state-backed hackers allegedly compromised the computers of a U.S. Navy contractor and stole a large amount of highly sensitive data on undersea warfare, including U.S. plans for a supersonic anti-ship missile known as “Sea Dragon” for use on submarines, The Washington Post reported.

  The hacked material also included signals and sensor data, information about submarine cryptographic systems, and electronic warfare documents from the Navy’s primary submarine development unit.

  

  A sign depicting Chinese government hackers who allegedly targeted scores of companies in a dozen countries, at a press conference about Chinese hacking at the Justice Department in Washington on Dec. 20, 2018. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

  June 2019: APT10 Utility Spearfishing Campaign 

  APT10, a hacking group directed by China’s Ministry of State Security, began a massive spearfishing and hacking campaign targeting U.S. aerospace, engineering, and telecommunications firms.

  By using stolen passwords and malware, the hackers were able to steal records related to 130,000 Navy personnel.

  Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest builder of U.S. military ships and nuclear-powered submarines, acknowledged that it was targeted in the attack, and that computer systems owned by one of its subsidiaries were discovered connecting to a foreign server controlled by APT10.

  

  Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael R. Sherwin speaks to the media about charges and arrests related to a computer intrusion campaign tied to the Chinese government by a group called APT 41, at the Department of Justice in Washington on Sept. 16, 2020. Tasos Katopodis-Pool/Getty Images

  August 2019: APT41 Hacks Revealed 

  China-based hacking group APT41 penetrated and spied on global tech, communications, and health care providers for China’s Ministry of State Security.

  The group deployed rootkits, granting itself hard-to-detect control over computers, by compromising millions of copies of a utility called CCleaner. APT41 also hijacked a software update pushed by Asus to reach 1 million computers, targeting a small subset of those users.

  

  A nurse prepares a dose of the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19, donated by the United States, at a vaccination center in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala, on July 15, 2021. Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images

  May 2020: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Espionage 

  Chinese regime-linked hackers targeted biotech company Moderna as it conducted research to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.

  The effort involved conducting reconnaissance in order to steal proprietary research needed to develop a vaccine for the disease, which Moderna received nearly half a billion dollars to create from the U.S. government.

  A U.S. indictment alleged that the China-based hackers probed public websites for vulnerabilities and scouted accounts of key personnel after gaining access to a network used by Moderna.

  

  Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, looks at a hearing with the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on May 14, 2021. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

  February 2021: Chinese Access to NSA Hacking Tools Revealed

  Israeli researchers discovered that Chinese spies had stolen and deployed code first developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to support their hacking operations.

  The NSA hacking tools were leaked online in 2017. Still, cyber investigators found evidence that the Chinese communist-backed APT31 hacking group had deployed an identical tool as early as 2014. This suggests that China-based hackers had persistent access to the nation’s best national security cyber tools for years.

  

  People walk by a Microsoft store in New York City on July 26, 2023. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

  March 2021: Silk Typhoon 

  A cyber-espionage group associated with China’s Ministry of State Security stole emails and passwords from more than 30,000 organizations by exploiting flaws in Microsoft Exchange Servers.

  The group, dubbed Silk Typhoon by Microsoft, worked closely with China-back APT40, leveraging a flaw in Microsoft’s software to gain full access to emails hosted on more than 250,000 servers in the United States.

  Among the organizations most affected by the hack were American pharmaceutical companies, defense contractors, and think tanks.

  

  Attendees pass by an Alibaba.com display at a consumer technology trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas on Jan. 8, 2019. David Becker/Getty Images

  December 2021: Log4j Hacks 

  APT41 returned to action, leveraging a previously unknown vulnerability in commonly used open-source logging software Log4j. The group used the vulnerability to hack into at least six unspecified U.S. government agency networks over a nine-month period.

  The vulnerability allowed APT41 to keep track of user chats and clicks and follow user link clicks to outside sites, allowing hackers to control a targeted server.

  The hackers then used the hijacked networks to mine cryptocurrency, create botnets, send spam, and establish backdoors for future malware attacks.

  Notably, the China-based company Alibaba first discovered the security flaw and privately reported it to Apache Software, which created the affected software. The Chinese Communist Party afterward punished Alibaba by revoking an information-sharing deal, as Chinese law requires security flaws to be reported to the regime.

  

  Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) sets up a sign alongside a bipartisan group of Democrat and Republican members of Congress as they announce a proposal for a COVID-19 relief bill on Capitol Hill on Dec. 1, 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

  December 2022: COVID-19 Relief Fund Theft 

  APT41 stole millions of dollars worth of U.S. COVID-19 relief benefits, which were intended to help Americans who were negatively impacted by the government’s economic shutdowns during the 2020 pandemic.

  The sum was part of a staggering estimated $280 billion in stolen COVID-19 relief, which was illicitly intercepted by foreign hackers and domestic fraudsters who used the Social Security numbers and personal information of deceased and incarcerated Americans to claim benefits illegally.

  To date, the Justice Department has only successfully recovered about $1.5 billion of the stolen funds.

  May 2023: Antique Typhoon 

  Antique Typhoon, a Chinese state-backed hacking outfit, forged digital authentication tokens to access the webmail accounts of 25 organizations, including numerous U.S. government agencies.

  The hackers were able to obtain the emails of government officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and members of Congress, including Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). The hackers used persistent access to the email accounts only for exfiltrating data, suggesting that their purpose was primarily espionage.

  

  Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te gives a speech at the CommonWealth Semiconductor Forum in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 16, 2023. Annabelle Chih/Getty Images

  August 2023: HiatusRAT 

  China-backed hackers began targeting U.S. and Taiwanese military procurement systems, as well as semiconductor and chemical manufacturers.

  The hackers leveraged a remote access tool to breach the system used to coordinate arms shipments from the United States to Taiwan. International open-source reporting suggests that the hackers’ goal was to gain intelligence on future defense contracts between the two powers.

  September 2023: BlackTech Router Attack 

  China-backed hacking group BlackTech began targeting major corporate headquarters throughout the United States. The group appeared to focus its attacks on gaining access to American and Japanese companies working in the defense sector.

  U.S. and allied intelligence agencies announced that having penetrated the international subsidiaries of major companies, BlackTech was now using its access to grant itself entry to major corporate networks within the United States in order to exfiltrate data.

  January 2024: Volt Typhoon 

  U.S. intelligence agencies announced that Volt Typhoon, a Chinese state-backed hacking group, was pre-positioning malware in critical infrastructure throughout the United States, including water, gas, energy, rail, air, and port infrastructure.

  Unlike most other Chinese hacking efforts that focus on espionage or intellectual property theft, Volt Typhoon sought to position malware in U.S. infrastructure in order to sabotage it in the event of a conflict between the two nations. Such sabotage would result in mass casualties among American citizens.

  U.S. intelligence agencies said that they have removed Volt Typhoon malware from thousands of systems but that it remains embedded in some privately owned infrastructure and has been present since at least 2021.

  

  (Left) A sign is posted in front of an AT&T retail store in San Rafael, Calif., on May 17, 2021. (Right) A man on his cell phone walks past a Verizon Wireless store in Washington on Dec. 30, 2014. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

  November 2024: Salt Typhoon 

  U.S. intelligence agencies acknowledged that Salt Typhoon, a Chinese state-backed hacking group, has compromised the infrastructure used by eight major telecommunications companies, including AT&T, CenturyLink, and Verizon.

  Salt Typhoon appeared to have gained access to the backend infrastructure used to accommodate the U.S. government’s own wiretapping efforts and thus gained access to virtually all calls and texts made using the affected networks.

  Despite the wide-ranging access, China-based hackers appeared to have used the persistent access to target high-profile individuals, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

  Congressional leaders have described the hack, which likely began in 2022, as among the most significant breaches in history. It is unclear how Salt Typhoon will be evicted from the infrastructure. The group retained access to U.S. telecommunications until late December.

  

  Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen delivers remarks at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington on April 20, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

  January 2025: US Treasury Department Hack 

  The Treasury Department revealed that Chinese state-backed hackers had breached the department’s networks, gaining access to the servers of an office responsible for administering international sanctions.

  The hackers also gained access to the department’s networks by compromising third-party cybersecurity service provider BeyondTrust, stole an as-of-yet unknown number of unclassified documents, and targeted the accounts of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 23:20

• In The Jan 6 Killing Of Ashli Babbitt, A Leftist Double-Standard On Cop Misconduct
  In The Jan 6 Killing Of Ashli Babbitt, A Leftist Double-Standard On Cop Misconduct

  Via Brian McGlinchey at Stark Realities

  Contrary to exaggerated, partisan rhetoric that frames the Jan 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot as a “deadly insurrection,” the truth is that only one homicide occurred that day. The victim, an unarmed Trump supporter, was shot and killed by a police officer with a history of irresponsible handling of firearms, who opted against a nonlethal response to an act of trespassing, and who fired his weapon in the absence of any imminent threat of death or serious injury to himself or others in his vicinity.

  US Capitol Police (USCP) Lieutenant Michael Byrd’s killing of Ashli Babbitt came just six months after George Floyd’s death under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, an incident that sparked outrage, widespread calls for police reform, and nationwide rioting. In the case of Babbitt’s killing, however, the collective reaction from the American left and major media at best amounted to an indifferent shrug. Worse, many reflexively heralded Byrd as a hero and viewed Babbitt as a deserving recipient of the bullet that perforated her trachea and lung.

  The contrast illustrates how partisan framing short-circuits people’s ability to uniformly and objectively apply principles to the facts before them. Put another way, an intellectually honest person can reject Babbitt’s politics, condemn her unlawful conduct on Jan. 6 and rightly conclude that she was the victim of an unjustified police shooting.

  

  In 2021, the Department of Justice announced it had completed an investigation of the shooting and found “insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.” The DOJ did not, however, assert that Byrd’s use of deadly force was warranted. Last year, Babbitt’s husband filed a civil suit against the federal government, seeking $30 million in damages; the trial is slated to commence in July 2026.

  Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego who operated a pool business with her husband, attended the “Save America” rally in Washington on Jan. 6 before joining others who proceeded to the Capitol grounds. After things escalated and rioters breached the Capitol building, she entered it, and a female police officer reportedly instructed her to walk toward the House side of the complex.

  Here’s how the DOJ described what happened next; I’ve bolded three words I’ll address shortly:

  Ms. Babbitt was among a mob of people that…gained access to a hallway outside “Speaker’s Lobby,” which leads to the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. At the time, the USCP was evacuating Members from the Chamber, which the mob was trying to enter from multiple doorways. USCP officers used furniture to barricade a set of glass doors separating the hallway and Speaker’s Lobby to try and stop the mob from entering the Speaker’s Lobby and the Chamber, and three officers positioned themselves between the doors and the mob.

  Members of the mob attempted to break through the doors by striking them and breaking the glass with their hands, flagpoles, helmets, and other objects. Eventually, the three USCP officers positioned outside the doors were forced to evacuate. As members of the mob continued to strike the glass doors, Ms. Babbitt attempted to climb through one of the doors where glass was broken out. An officer inside the Speaker’s Lobby fired one round from his service pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, causing her to fall back from the doorway and onto the floor.

  Though it’s not narrowly relevant to Byrd’s decision to pull the trigger, the DOJ’s passive-tense claim that the three officers on Babbitt’s side of the doors “were forced to evacuate” is important because it indicates an extreme inclination to put the best spin possible on officers’ decisions. Video shows those three officers failing to make any meaningful effort to stop those who were hammering the glass doors. After enduring mounting verbal abuse and violations of their personal space, they simply walked away from the doors, clearing the way for the rioters to remove the glass from a side window and for Babbitt to proceed through the opening.

  According to the 32-page complaint filed in the civil suit, one of those three officers later told investigators, “I grapple with this, you know, if I should’ve stayed.” More pointedly, one of the members of the Containment and Emergency Response Team (CERT) who ascended the stairs from behind the mob told investigators, “I was thinking why, why the fuck did they leave?”

  Some of the most damning information in the civil complaint comes from Byrd’s own mouth. In a 2021 NBC interview conducted by an excessively sympathetic Lester Holt, Byrd said:

  • “I could not see exactly what was happening [on the other side of] the door…it’s impossible for me to see what’s on the other side because we had created such a barricade — it was high enough that the visibility was impossible.”

  • “[Babbitt’s] failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.”

  • “It was later [that] I found out that the subject did not have a weapon, but there was no way to know that at that time, and I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions [were].”

  • “Of course we had our weapons drawn as part of our training. You had [false reports of] shots fired onto the House floor, you’re trained to take a tactical defensive position and prepare for the threat.”

  There are many unsettling things about Byrd’s statements, chief among them his admission that he saw no weapon in Babbitt’s hands, and had “no way to know” if she was armed or what her intentions were. “Without additional information indicating that a person is likely armed, officers cannot conclude that someone has a weapon just because they cannot see definitively that the person does not have a weapon,” wrote Geoffrey Alpert, Jeff Noble, Seth Stoughton at Lawfare.

  Among other incriminating elements of Byrd’s NBC interview:

  • Byrd asserts that Babbitt’s mere failure to comply with orders not to proceed through the door justified the use of lethal force.

  • He implies that (false) reports of shots fired somewhere else in the Capitol gave him a green light to start shooting noncompliant people in his vicinity; in other words, he seems to have made a blanket assessment that every trespasser in the building posed an imminent danger justifying deadly force.

  “Officers cannot rely on generalized assumptions. They must base their conclusions on specific and individualized facts,” the Lawfare authors note.

  Unsatisfied with merely defending his killing of Babbitt, Byrd used the NBC interview to declare himself as a hero, telling Holt, “I showed the utmost courage on January 6…I know that day I saved countless lives.” That latter boast is truly extraordinary, especially considering it was made with the benefit of hindsight. It would be one thing for Byrd to try attributing his deadly decision to a reliance on bad information amid the chaos of Jan. 6; it’s another to lionize himself with a baseless claim of rioters’ murderous intent.

  Under USCP policy, lethal force is only authorized when “the officer perceives that the subject poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” As Babbitt rose to awkwardly enter through the open window — where she would next have to awkwardly navigate a furniture barricade on the other side — there was no indication that she had the ability to seriously injure or kill anyone.

  

  As seen in video of the shooting, Byrd’s positioning was problematic; the civil complaint characterizes it as an “ambush.” From the perspective of the rioters, Byrd was positioned on the far left, at an angle some 160 degrees from Babbitt, who was on the right side of the doors. Before stepping forward and killing Babbitt, Byrd was tucked inside another doorway, with only his pistol extending past the opening.

  It’s very unlikely Babbitt saw his raised pistol and knew she was being threatened with death if she went through the window. Indeed, one of those three officers who inexplicably abandoned the doorway on Babbitt’s side told investigators, “I saw him . . . there was no way that woman would’ve seen that.” What’s more, Byrd told Holt that he repeatedly screamed “get back..stop…get back…no,” but made no claim that he verbally warned Babbitt that she was on the verge of being shot.

  By all indications, Babbitt’s unarmed ascent to the window was a circumstance that called for the use of nonlethal force. That could have taken many forms — a firm shove back through the window, yanking her forward to the floor, or perhaps using pepper spray or a taser. While not clear how the various officers were equipped, note that police aren’t justified in resorting to deadly force just because it’s all they have available. It’s telling that, among multiple armed officers on that side of the doorway, Byrd was the only one who opened fire.

  The civil complaint also credibly accuses Byrd of failing to handle his firearm in accordance with USCP policy, by:

  • Unholstering it before any imminent threat had emerged to justify doing so

  • Failing to hold his pistol at a “low ready” position and instead pointed it at people who posed no imminent threat

  • Putting his finger inside the pistol’s trigger guard, “tapping it on and off the trigger for at least 14 seconds before he shot and killed Ashli.” Across law enforcement, the military and in civilian self-defense, it’s a universally-embraced principle that one’s finger shouldn’t be put inside the trigger guard until a decision to fire has been made.

  

  After shooting Babbitt, Byrd took to his radio, his voice filled with panic — and a self-serving falsehood. “We got shots fired in the lobby. We got shots, shots fired in the lobby of the House chamber. Shots are being fired at us and we’re sh… uhh, prepared to fire back at them,” he said, seemingly so desperate to justify his action that he falsely reported coming under fire himself.

  In the aftermath of incidents involving excessive use of force, we often find the officer in question has a blemished service record. That’s the case with Byrd, whose checkered past includes irresponsible handling of firearms. In 2019, Byrd was suspended for 33 days after he left his loaded weapon in a Capitol Visitor Center complex bathroom for nearly an hour; it was discovered by another officer.

  Even more concerning was a 2004 off-duty incident. Byrd fired his service weapon at a stolen car fleeing his neighborhood — hitting it from behind. Investigators said Byrd’s claim that he fired at the car in self-defense as the driver attempted to hit him was “inaccurate.”

  They also determined that Byrd put his innocent neighbor in the line of fire as he pulled the trigger. Stray rounds hit nearby homes, according to the Babbitt civil complaint. Foreshadowing Byrd’s decision-making on Jan. 6, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) concluded he’d fired in a “careless and imprudent manner.” That finding was overruled, however, via an appeal to the Disciplinary Review Board.

  In another off-duty incident, Byrd was given a seven-day suspension without pay in 2015 after accosting a police officer providing security at a high school football game, showering him with profanities and reportedly calling him “a piece of shit, asshole and racist” who was only concerned with policing the “black side” of the football field.

  Further underscoring the double-standards at play in the Babbitt case, imagine the response from the left if there were a controversial shooting in which a white male police officer had demonstrated a similar, racially-charged loss of composure years before killing an unarmed black female trespasser.

  “The ironies of Babbitt’s death abound—and not just because in this case the cop with the quick trigger finger was black and his victim was a white woman,” wrote Jonathan Tobin. “Both those who are supporting Byrd and those who consider the pass he got from his superiors an injustice have probably been on the opposite side of similar controversies in the past year. Some of those who think Babbitt was the victim of a police murder have defended officers accused of killing unarmed black persons. And many who are lauding Byrd as a defender of democracy were outraged by the same killings.”

  Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com  

  

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

  You may also like:

  • Legal Plunder: Indiana Police Prey On Packages Transiting Huge FedEx Hub
  • Government Agents Routinely Entering Private Land Without Warrants

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 22:45

• On The March, School Choice Takes Its Fight From Red, Right To Blue
  On The March, School Choice Takes Its Fight From Red, Right To Blue

  Authored by Vince Bielski via RealClearInvestigations,

  Private school choice advocates expect that 2025 will be the year that they finally bring the last big red state, Texas, into the fold. The likely victory would, in turn, pose the next big challenge for the controversial movement: Can it win in enemy territory — that is, blue states — too?

  

  Inspired by free-market ideology and Christian faith, advocates aim to give families more educational choices by providing them with public funds that they mostly use for private instruction at religious schools. Although the movement now has a foothold in almost all red states, to become an influential force in education, it needs to make deeper inroads into densely populated blue states, where Democrats, teachers’ unions, and rural Republicans have built a formidable wall of opposition to protect public schools.

  “Once we finish with the low-hanging fruit, Texas and a few other red states, this movement will go to a blue state strategy,” said Robert Enlow, CEO of the national advocacy group EdChoice. “It has to figure something out. Let’s be honest.” 

  The political battles over school choice have been fierce, with critics such as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten claiming that programs will “defund public schools.” In Nebraska, where voters killed a new program in November, an attack ad from choice opponents depicted supporters dressed in suits storming into a public school classroom and intimidating children, drawing protests from state senators who called it ridiculous and insulting.

  Despite the warnings from opponents, most choice programs launched in the last three decades have been too small to significantly threaten enrollment-based school funding.

  They have been restricted mainly to lower-income parents who may be dissatisfied with lax discipline and lackluster instruction – problems exacerbated by the pandemic – at their public schools. All told, private choice programs enroll only about 2% of all K-12 students.

  The stakes are getting higher, however, as the movement – national advocacy groups, wealthy donors, and grassroots Christian activists – wins legislative battles for “universal” programs designed to expand enrollment. In universal programs now in 12 red states, all families, rich and poor, are typically eligible for public funds, even for children already in private school. 

  Patrick Wolf, a prominent school choice researcher at the University of Arkansas, says universal programs are a smart strategy for the movement. Advocates hope they will improve upon the earlier programs for disadvantaged kids that produced mixed academic results and failed to build much political momentum even in some red states like Kentucky. 

  Under universal eligibility, families that struggle financially to keep their kids in private school are joining the programs for tuition relief. And wealthier families that participate have added social and political capital to the movement, giving it stronger legs. 

  “Strategically the advantage is clear,” Wolf said. “Universal eligibility creates a bigger tent of beneficiaries. That’s good for the programs and everyone in them.”

  But universal programs are even more contentious with Democratic lawmakers because of the costs to pay for private education, essentially creating a second publicly funded school system. While the early restricted programs actually save money – since the cost of a choice scholarship is typically much less than a public-school education – universal programs create a new taxpayer expense: the funding of students already in private schools.

  “School choice would subsidize some of the wealthiest families in my state who already send their kids to private schools,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro told RealClearInvestigations in explaining his opposition to a universal bill in his state of Tennessee. “It’s bad economics because we are not changing activity or improving outcomes. We are just pushing dollars from one group of people to another.”

  In Arizona, the first state to adopt a universal program in 2022, the costs have ballooned. Almost half of the 80,000 students getting funding were already in private school, driving up the price tag of the program to $800 million last year, according to the Department of Education. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to rein in the program that contributed to the state’s $1.3 billion budget deficit last year, forcing big cutbacks in funding water infrastructure projects to cope with droughts. 

  “It’s just not possible for these states to fund two separate educational systems, the public and the private,” said Professor Josh Cowen, whose new book, “The Privateers,” is critical of school choice programs. “The scholarships are an interest group subsidy that states have to make hard choices to pay for.”

  Hardball Politics in Texas 

  In Texas, the cost of a universal program, a top priority of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, prompted a revolt among rural Republican lawmakers. The $500 million proposed program would escalate over time, they feared, forcing cutbacks in funding for public schools that also serve as community centers and major employers in rural areas.

  To win over rural Republicans, the bill contained a large $7 billion increase in public school funding on top of an approved $6 billion boost earlier in 2023. Texas school districts stood to gain far more money than they might lose in per-pupil funding when students left for private schools, says Mandy Drogin, who focuses on school choice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

  But rural Republican lawmakers turned down the $7 billion sweetener by voting to kill the universal program, spurring an unbending Abbott to play hardball, targeting his own party members for defeat in March primaries. To fund these efforts, Abbott received a $6 million donation from school choice advocate and billionaire donor Jeff Yass, an example of the big money behind the movement. 

  Eleven of the challengers Abbott endorsed and funded won in the primaries on a school choice platform and then sailed to victory in November, providing the votes for a universal program this year. 

  One of the newly elected legislators is Hillary Hickland, a stay-at-home mom and conservative Christian activist who, like several other challengers, had never run for public office. The victory of Hickland and the other 10 Republican candidates supported by Abbott underscored the potency of school choice in a state where a recent poll shows 69% of voters support it.

  “A grassroots movement based on issues affecting families propelled several of us who are first-timers to victory,” Hickland told RCI. “We have the votes in the House to pass it and the overwhelming support of Texans who have been working to advance school choice for over three decades.” 

  Shapiro’s ‘Unfinished Business’ 

  Advocates say the stars are aligned to turn Pennsylvania into a blue state win. It already has a limited tax credit program to incentivize private donations for choice scholarships. What’s more, Gov. Josh Shapiro is one of the few Democratic state leaders who supports school choice, as do Pennsylvania voters by a wide margin.

  The issue came to a head in 2023 when a Shapiro-backed non-universal voucher proposal targeting students in low-performing schools was met with stiff opposition from House Democrats and the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union. Shapiro was forced to line-item veto the voucher proposal to get the budget approved, calling school choice “unfinished business.”

  In November, Pennsylvania swung to the right by backing President-elect Donald Trump and sending Republican challenger Dave McCormick to the U.S. Senate. The cheers of school choice advocates were muted because Democrats held on to a one-seat majority in the state House. 

  The fate of another voucher bill expected in 2025 may depend on whether a few Democrats are willing to break with House leadership and risk political payback, according to a veteran of the Pennsylvania battles. Leaders reportedly threatened to take away committee assignments and staff from Democrat Amen Brown, a black representative who crossed the aisle to back the voucher bill. 

  “Governor Shapiro has a chance to deliver on his promise to expand educational opportunity for underserved children,” said Tommy Schultz, CEO of the advocacy group American Federation for Children. “It will require bold leadership to bring House leadership to the table and get it done.” 

  EdChoice policy director Ed Tarnowski also sees Virginia as fertile blue state ground after a decade of defeated choice bills, including one in 2023, at the hands of Democrats. Since taking office in 2022, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has been shaking up public education, introducing a system of accountability and higher academic standards lst year while also pushing school choice. 

  Still, advocates will need the support of Democrats who control the General Assembly to create a state-funded program. Grassroots activists with the Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance are using a bottom-up strategy, educating low-income families throughout the state about school choice and encouraging them to pressure lawmakers into backing the program. It’s the type of campaign that led to the approval of vouchers in Washington, D.C., says Craig DiSesa, executive director of the alliance. “We plan to replicate that model.”

  Illinois Backpedals 

  Illinois shows how fragile school choice laws can be in blue states. Myles Mendoza, a liberal Democrat and former social worker, spearheaded a campaign for a program in Illinois after seeing the personal harm that failing Chicago Public Schools inflicted on students. 

  As president of Empower Illinois, he built a coalition of Republicans, moderate Democrats, and trade unions to pass a $100 million tax credit scholarship program for disadvantaged kids in 2017. It was part of a deal that also boosted funding for high-poverty public schools.

  The program was a hit, with three times more demand than supply of about 10,000 scholarships, many of them awarded to kids in Catholic schools. But the election of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, beating Republican Bruce Rauner with the help of an endorsement by the Illinois Federation of Teachers, shattered the bipartisan coalition behind the program. Pritzker let it sunset in 2023. 

  For school choice to get a permanent foothold in blue states like Illinois, Mendoza says, advocates need to rally more blue-collar, Latino, and Jewish families that are troubled by public schools. “These groups could pressure Democrats to support private school choice over time,” Mendoza said. “But currently there are no votes in Illinois to pass school choice.”

  Professor Wolf also sees external pressures forcing blue states like Illinois to get with the program. With school choice now in a majority of states, he says, Illinois will come under pressure to adopt it or risk losing residents to four of its neighbors with choice programs. Such peer pressure explains why public charter schools are now in 46 states.

  “Illinois is losing population, so Democratic legislators might consider that they could hold on to more of their families if they return to offering at least the low-income ones support for private school enrollment,” Wolf said. 

  No Choice of Good Private Schools 

  Politics isn’t the only drag on the movement’s ambitions. Another is academic. Many higher quality private schools don’t accept school-choice students because of the state rules, such as reporting test scores, that come with participation in the programs.  

  Catholic schools have enrolled most students in many of the programs, with other religiously affiliated schools taking students, too, according to researchers. A study of Washington D.C., Louisiana, and Indiana found that private schools that are smaller, less expensive, and more diverse – features associated with a less rigorous education – are more likely to participate in programs. An examination of the Milwaukee program underscored the instability of participating schools, particularly startups: 41% of all the schools failed over a 25-year period. 

  It’s not surprising, then, that school-choice students are not typically posting stellar academic gains. Wolf says rigorous studies of the early small programs showed some positive academic results on standardized tests, while more recent examinations of bigger programs revealed some negative outcomes. Researchers did find more consistently positive effects for students with graduation rates and college entrance and completion. Wolf calls the results “mixed.”

  Professor Cowen, who was optimistic about the programs early on, is now a critic. He says the negative academic results from the larger programs are significant, on par with the learning loss students recently suffered during the pandemic.

  “Twenty years ago, there were only a small number of private schools participating in programs and they were pretty decent,” said Cowen. “But many more schools are involved now, some of them located in church basements, and many of them are not interested in academic outcomes. That’s not their main mission.” 

  Advocates are putting their faith in the expansion of universal programs across the country to raise the academic bar. As more children from wealthier families get scholarships, the theory goes, it will encourage higher-quality private schools to participate in the programs, lifting the performance of all students, including low-income kids.

  Will Congress Act?

  Facing uphill battles in blue states, the movement has a Plan B. With Republicans taking control of Congress this year, John Schilling at Invest in Education says advocates are cautiously optimistic about the chances of a federal tax credit bill to privately fund school choice scholarships for students nationwide. Such an approach would provide a wedge into blue states where groups would collect donations to start scholarship programs that otherwise might not get off the ground. 

  “We see this law as creating opportunity in blue states where there is entrenched opposition to school choice,” said Schilling. “The only way states like New York, California, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts can get school choice now is through a federal tax credit.”

  The Educational Choice for Children Act, which has 180 Republican co-sponsors, is hardly a sure bet. Democrats are solidly opposed to it, and many rural Republicans don’t like it either. The bill probably won’t get the 60 votes needed in the Senate to avoid a filibuster, which means Republicans may try to push it through budget reconciliation, a difficult undertaking but one that requires only a majority to pass a bill. 

  Cowen at Michigan State University sees hypocrisy in the movement’s turn to Washington. Republicans are banking on federal legislation while also calling for a reduction in Washington’s influence on education and even the dismantling of the Department of Education. But the chance to open up blue states to school choice is apparently too good an opportunity to pass up.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 22:10

• These Were The Most Viewed Wikipedia Pages In 2024
  These Were The Most Viewed Wikipedia Pages In 2024

  The most viewed Wikipedia articles of 2024 reflect the key figures, events, and cultural moments that defined the year.

  While ChatGPT was the most visited article last year, ‘Deaths in 2024’ topped this year’s list, a trend seen frequently over the past decade. Moreover, political topics took center stage, driven by a historic number of people going to the polls.

  This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most viewed Wikipedia pages in 2024, based on data from the Wikimedia Foundation.

  

  Ranked: The Top 10 Most Popular Wikipedia Articles

  Below, we show the articles that captured the most views across English Wikipedia up to November 22, 2024:

  

  As we can see, Kamala Harris was the most popular public figure, at 29 million views, while the 2024 U.S. presidential election followed closely behind at 28 million views.

  While several polls predicted Harris would win the election by a slim margin, the exact opposite occurred, with Donald Trump securing all seven swing states and the popular vote. Overall, three of the top 10 articles of 2024 related to the Republican party.

  Following a trend seen in recent years, readers in India drove substantial readership, particularly on the Indian Premier League, a professional cricket league, and India’s general election. With 642 million people casting their votes, it marked the largest democratic election in history.

  Meanwhile, the release of a Netflix documentary series on Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who murdered their parents in 1989, spurred millions of pageviews. Also ranking in the top 25 is cartel leader Griselda Blanco, whose life is the focus of the series Griselda, featuring Sofia Vergara.

  Most Viewed Wikipedia Pages by Month

  In the table below, we show the most visited Wikipedia pages by month, highlighting the key trends over the course of the year:

  

  As we can see, U.S. vice president JD Vance was the most viewed page in July, after being announced as Trump’s running mate.

  Later, in November, the U.S. presidential election was the most popular page as over 155 million Americans went to the polls. In a highly polarized election, it marked the second-biggest voter turnout in U.S. history.

  To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on the top Google searches worldwide in 2024.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 21:35

• Georgia Proves It: Stable Electricity Markets Attract Business And Growth
  Georgia Proves It: Stable Electricity Markets Attract Business And Growth

  Authored by Kevin Doyle via RealClearEnergy,

  When considering factors that spur a state’s economic development and growth, how a state regulates its utilities is too often overlooked. That could not be more important now that the needs of AI and data centers have created the highest power demand in a generation, requiring a buildout of at least $50 billion just for new generation and another $250 billion for data centers. 

  

  The states which can provide stability and predictability to utilities will be the winners in this race. Georgia is proves it: Atlanta is already among the top 10 data center markets, and construction grew 76% year-over-year to 1,281 Megawatts in the first half of this year. 

  A big ingredient in this success is Georgia’s utility regulation structure and the advantages it affords Georgians, especially when compared to deregulated states in the Northeast. The Peach State’s well-regulated energy market not only ensures affordable rates and reliable service, but actively supports economic growth in ways that deregulated states struggle to match.

  Georgia’s stability and predictability are a long-term competitive advantage in the eyes of businesses seeking sites for new plants or facilities across the country. In contrast, the deregulated energy markets in states like New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts usually face higher rates plus price volatility and reliability issues that are a big part of the equation guiding where businesses locate operations—especially large industrial consumers.

  The proof is in the pudding. Georgia consistently ranks among the best states for business. Between July 1, 2023, and June 30 of this year, the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team supported 429 facility expansions and new locations, resulting in more than $20.3 billion in investment and the commitment of 26,900 new, private sector jobs statewide.

  Georgia’s Public Service Commission oversees the Peach State’s investor-owned utilities, while the state’s cooperatives and municipal utilities are regulated by their member-elected boards of directors and their citizen-elected city councils, respectively. This structure regulates utility rates and oversees infrastructure investments, ensuring energy prices remain affordable and predictable for families and businesses. This steady foundation allows businesses to forecast energy costs accurately, which makes for better-informed long-term investment decisions.

  Data centers are not the only investments that result. Take the case of the Hyundai Motor Group’s recent decision to build a $5.5 billion electric vehicle plant in Bryan County. Highlighting the state’s appeal to major investors, the plant is expected to create 8,000 jobs and stimulate significant economic activity in the region. 

  Consider the case of Plant Vogtle, a nuclear joint venture among the state’s utilities. Vogtle Units 3 and 4, one of the largest construction projects in the United States, would not have been possible without Georgia’s regulatory framework. Plant Vogtle generated thousands of construction jobs and permanent positions and represents a significant investment in the state’s energy infrastructure, providing reliable, emissions-free electricity. That is an attractive option for employers that prioritize clean energy.

  Georgia’s regulatory framework also supports sustainable economic growth by encouraging investments in renewable energy and clean technologies. Georgia ranks among the top seven states for solar capacity as a result of its rapid expansion of solar power.

  This focus on sustainability not only addresses environmental concerns but also creates new economic opportunities. The growth of the universal solar industry in Georgia has led to the creation of numerous jobs and has attracted investments from major solar companies. In deregulated states, the fragmented approach to energy regulation can hinder the development of renewable energy projects, limiting both economic and environmental benefits.

  As other states, especially those with deregulated energy markets, look to enhance their economic development efforts, Georgia’s approach provides valuable lessons. A focus on stability, infrastructure investment, and support for innovation drives economic growth, jobs and ensures affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner electricity for decades. 

  Georgia’s families and businesses are the winners, and that is a model to which every state should aspire.

  Kevin Doyle is the Consumer Energy Alliance’s Southeast director.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 21:00

• Mid-Atlantic 'Snow Drought' May End In Days
  Mid-Atlantic ‘Snow Drought’ May End In Days

  The snow drought across the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington metro area may finally end in the coming days.

  “It has been 1095 days since Baltimore (BWI) has recorded a snowfall of 6″ or more: Jan 3rd in 2022 (6.8″),” WBAL TV meteorologist Tony Pann wrote on X.

  Pann said, “It has been 2939 days since Baltimore has recorded a snowfall of 7″ or more: Jan 23rd in 2016 (25.5″).” 

  It has been 1095 days since Baltimore (BWI) has recorded a snowfall of 6″ or more: Jan 3rd in 2022 (6.8″). It has been 2939 days since Baltimore has recorded a snowfall of 7″ or more: Jan 23rd in 2016 (25.5″). What will Monday bring? 🤔 Stay tuned…❄️🚂 pic.twitter.com/uMw2R0Kkbc

  — Tony Pann (@TonyPannWBAL) January 2, 2025

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

  Winter storm watches and warnings have been posted across the Mid-Atlantic states as the next storm is expected to arrive late Sunday night. The heaviest snow is expected Monday morning and could end the multi-year snow drought across the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington metro area.

  Here are the latest snow total forecasts:

  National Weather Service: 

  

  Private Weather Forecaster BAMWX:

  

  Private Weather Forecaster NY NJ PA Weather: 

  

  Cold will persist across the Lower 48:

  Next week, the flow of cold air will strengthen across North America, bringing below-average temperatures to a large area. Conversely, temperatures in more northern regions will be above average. This will create a paradoxical situation where northern Florida experiences… pic.twitter.com/3o4PHNrF2y

  — Ventusky (@Ventuskycom) January 4, 2025

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

  Latest reporting on weather pattern shifts, storms, and impacted commodity markets:

  • Dec. 27: “All Systems Go” For Polar Vortex Air Dumping Into US

  • Dec. 30: NatGas Futures Spike Ahead Of Forecasted “Historic Cold”

  • Jan. 2: Old Man Winter Points Crosshairs On US Mid-Atlantic

  • Jan. 3: Cattle Futures Hit New Record High As Polar Blast Set To Hit Nation’s Beef Supply

  Whatever happened to Greta and far-left climate activists who called for the imminent demise of planet Earth because of petrol-burning cars and cow farts? Meanwhile, Bill Gates wants to vaccinate cows to stop the farts. Can’t make this shit up.

  But-but-but…

  “Doesn’t Fit MSM Narrative”: Latest Arctic Ice Data Shows 26% Larger Than 2012 https://t.co/FdA02ZxvkT

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 26, 2024

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

  Sigh. The climate change cult is just one big money grab from taxpayers. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 20:25

• Virgin Islands Delegate's Mic Cut Amid Whining Over Non-Voting Rule
  Virgin Islands Delegate’s Mic Cut Amid Whining Over Non-Voting Rule

  Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

  U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett threw a dramatic tantrum on Friday on the House floor while protesting her and other U.S. territories’ non-voting status while selecting the 119th Congress’s speaker of the House. 

  

  Plaskett’s attempt to make a political and performative point quickly fell flat as her microphone was cut off for failing to follow House rules.  

  After the first speaker roll call, Plaskett demanded to know why non-voting delegates like herself were not called to vote.

  Democrat Delegate Stacey Plaskett has a meltdown and has to have the rules explained to her. pic.twitter.com/mXx0KrraHd

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

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

  The move appeared to be part of a plan to gain viral attention. 

  “Northern Mariana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia were not called, representing collectively 4 million Americans … collectively the largest per capita of veterans in this country,” Plaskett began.  

  “I ask why they were not called from the parliamentarian, please,” she added. 

  The House clerk provided a straightforward response, swiftly shutting down Plaskett’s lecture. 

  “Delegates-elect and the resident commissioner-elect are not qualified to vote. Representatives-elect are the only individuals qualified to vote in the election of a speaker,” the House clerk answered.  

  “As provided in Section 36 of the House Rules and Manual, the speaker is elected by a majority of the members-elect voting by surname,” he added. 

  In response, Plaskett launched into what appeared to be a memorized rant. 

  “This body and this nation has a territories’ and a colony’s problem,” she added.

  “What was supposed to be temporary has now effectively become permanent. We must do something about this problem…” 

  Plaskett’s tirade was abruptly cut short when the clerk proceeded to mute her microphone: “House will be in order.” 

  The U.S. Virgin Islands is one of the six U.S. territories that are partially represented by delegates instead of lawmakers. They can introduce legislation and be part of committees but lack authority to vote on the House floor. 

  American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico are the other territories. They are respectively represented by Aumua Amata Radewagen, Eleanor Holmes Norton, James Moylan, Kimberlyn King-Hinds and Pablo Jose Hernandez Rivera. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 19:50

• Trump Administration Must Begin Restoring American Values On Day One
  Trump Administration Must Begin Restoring American Values On Day One

  Authored by Kenin Spivak via RealClearPolitics,

  As the Biden-Harris administration slips away, Donald Trump must fulfill his promises to dispose of the woke detritus. His administration will have to bypass antidemocratic booby traps, including recently adopted rules that take time to reverse, last-minute appointments of progressive federal judges, and a hostile, left-leaning Deep State protected by Joe Biden’s revocation of Schedule F termination rights.

  

  Democrats incessantly claimed that Trump would be a dictator. Instead, Biden became the most authoritarian president of the last 80 years. Article I, Section 3 of the United States Constitution requires the President to “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” and in his oath of office, he swears to do so. Instead, Biden and his administration issued executive orders and rules he knew to be unconstitutional, unlawful and unpopular, including a radical left agenda of censorship, racism through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and fanatic transgenderism.

  The Trump administration should promptly seek to settle lawsuits centered on the outgoing administration’s hard left policies by conceding the government’s position is wrong. It will be difficult for future administrations to violate the settlements without approval of the other parties. At the least, the administration should dismiss, with prejudice, the cases in which it is the plaintiff.

  The Trump administration also should seek legislative solutions that give standing to states and private individuals to secure government compliance, and to act as “private attorneys general” to enforce these laws if a future administration fails to do so. Though it will be tough to obtain the 60 votes required for passage in the Senate, there may be opportunities to peel off a few Democrats, or to use reconciliation, which requires only a majority. Regrettably, eliminating the filibuster to facilitate passage would ultimately backfire.

  Trump’s team is well positioned for this mission. Harmeet K. Dhillon, Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, is a tough litigator who believes in the Constitution and individual rights. Linda McMahon, another of the strong, intelligent women around Trump, will be instrumental as secretary of the Department of Education, which mandated and funds much of the woke jihad. Trump fairly describes Brendan Carr, his pick to chair the Federal Communications Commission, as “a warrior for Free Speech.”

  Abhorrent polices to which the Trump administration must take a blowtorch include:

  Censorship: The White House directed at least 80 senior officials in 11 federal agencies to collude with and coerce media platforms into blocking content unsupportive of administration positions. Homeland Security official Jen Easterly explained that the goal was to require Americans to “get the facts” from the administration.

  When states and individuals sued, Federal District Court Judge Terry Doughty found that the administration was arguably engaged in “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, but the Supreme Court reversed by ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

  On December 20, 2024, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released its final 17,000-page report detailing this repressive censorship enterprise, which, unknown to Trump, got its start during his first administration.

  The Republican platform promises: “We will ban the Federal Government from colluding with anyone to censor Lawful Speech, defund institutions engaged in censorship, and hold accountable all bureaucrats involved with illegal censoring. We will protect Free Speech online.” Now, Trump must deliver.

  DEI: Despite constitutional prohibitions on racial discrimination, a century of federal civil rights law and Supreme Court rulings, Americans’ overwhelming opposition, and the harm it does to people of all backgrounds, the administration imposed DEI throughout government, and on private institutions and businesses receiving federal grants and contracts (see here , here, here, here, here, here). It spent tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on these programs, and hundreds of millions more to develop and administer them. A recent report from the Legal Insurrection Foundation reveals that even after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, universities persist in expanding DEI.

  Chief Justice John Roberts bluntly declared, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Trump and many of his nominees have pledged to end DEI.

  Trump should appoint an Anti-DEI czar who will meticulously take the steps required to rescind all executive actions and rules, fire all federal DEI officials, end all federal DEI efforts, terminate contracts, grants and other programs with recipients engaged in DEI, and commence litigation against state and local governments, universities, and businesses that continue this odious practice.

  Transgenderism: Biden was relentless in advancing transgenderism, imperiling American rights and the safety of many of the approximately 1% of Americans who are confused about their sex (see here, here, and here). Among numerous trans-centric actions, the administration issued regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments that effectively required schools to treat trans men as females and health care rules to require everyone to share in the cost of gender re-assignment surgery and lifelong hormone treatments. Concurrently, the administration eviscerated due process for students accused of a new expansive definition of “sexual discrimination.”

  The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Title IX regulations, and in December the administration withdrew them. Conversely, after 25 states passed laws barring transgender athletes from competing on opposite-sex teams, federal appellate courts prohibited implementation of those laws in four states.

  If an adult believes he or she is another “gender,” that adult has the right to cross-dress, or to pay for surgery and hormones, but that cost should not be passed on to others through government or insurance reimbursement, and no American should be compelled to forgo privacy, safety or opportunities to pander to a disorder. The new administration must restore the rules and regulations that existed at the end of Trump’s first term, and it must litigate to protect women and girls. In December, Trump reiterated his commitment to do so. As a first step, the Justice Department should end its partisan prosecution of Dr. Eithan Haim for disclosing that Texas Children’s Hospital secretly continued to implant hormone blockers in children after announcing that it would cease doing so.

  ***

  The Trump administration must control our borders; de-politicize the Justice Department; tamp down the embers of inflation; restore American prestige, military preparedness, and the criminal justice system; rescind Biden-Harris’ climate zealotry; rebuild our industrial base; harden our infrastructure; and rid the bureaucracy of far-left extremists.

  But, aside from our borders, none of these priorities is more important than fulfilling Trump’s pledge to restore traditional, sane, centrist American values.

  Kenin M. Spivak is founder and chairman of SMI Group LLC, an international consulting firm and investment bank. He is the author of fiction and non-fiction books and a frequent speaker and contributor to media, including The American Mind, National Review, the National Association of Scholars, television, radio, and podcasts.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 18:40

• Biden Quietly Bans Most Gas Powered Tankless Water Heaters
  Biden Quietly Bans Most Gas Powered Tankless Water Heaters

  In a significant regulatory shift that took place quietly the day after Christmas, the Biden administration finalized new climate rules targeting natural gas-powered instantaneous water heaters. The Department of Energy (DOE), which traditionally issues a press release for such regulations, chose not to announce these changes publicly, raising eyebrows across various sectors.

  

  According to the Free Beacon, the new regulations aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a move aligned with broader climate change mitigation efforts. However, the regulations are set to remove approximately 40% of the current tankless water heater models from the market by 2029 (between gas and electric). This shift is expected to force consumers to opt for either more expensive or less efficient alternatives.

  An industry analysis forecasts that the average cost increase for new water heaters due to the regulations will be around $450. This price hike is poised to disproportionately affect low-income and senior households, who are among the most reliant on the more affordable models currently targeted for phase-out.

  Meanwhile, the timing of these regulations is noteworthy – coming in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has expressed intentions to roll back many of Biden’s climate initiatives to bolster energy production and stimulate economic growth. This regulatory push on water heaters is part of a series of actions targeting household appliances, including gas stoves and refrigerators, aimed at reducing carbon emissions and promoting electric alternatives.

  Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, criticized the move, stating, “It bans an entire category of tankless water heaters and the ones that are most affordable. This is all part of the climate change agenda…an antipathy towards natural gas because they want to electrify everything.”

  Industry’s Response and Legal Challenges

  The regulation has sparked extensive debate about its legality and practicality. The American Gas Association has hinted at possible legal action, suggesting that the rule might violate the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which prohibits banning products that offer unique performance characteristics.

  Frank Windsor, president of Rinnai America, the nation’s leading manufacturer of tankless water heaters, voiced strong opposition. He highlighted the contradiction in eliminating higher-efficiency product categories- telling the Beacon, “If you really want to impact the water heating ruling, you really need to deal with the tank models.” Rinnai America, having invested $70 million in a new facility in Georgia based on the previous administration’s manufacturing incentives, finds itself at risk of seeing its investment become obsolete under the new rules.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 18:05

• 2024 Review – Another 20% Year. What's Next?
  2024 Review – Another 20% Year. What’s Next?

  Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

  Santa Is A No-Show

  Last week, we discussed how it seemed as if Santa arrived on Christmas Eve, pushing the markets back above the important 50-DMA. However, by the end of the year, it seemed investors were naughty this year and received a “lump of coal,“ with markets selling off back toward recent lows. One important note was that momentum and relative strength remained weak, keeping selling pressure intact.

  There is no way to sugarcoat the market’s poor performance. While December started with a bang, it ended with a whimper, with a long stretch of daily losses into year-end. Now, 2025 is opening with a whimper. Small caps fell apart after attempting to “make a comeback,” and overall market breadth declined. However, with the markets now oversold, we should expect a rally heading into the Presidential inauguration, which likely started on Friday.

  Despite Friday’s impressive reflexive rally, the market fell about 0.5% short of rallying enough to save the “Santa Rally.”

  

  However, although the “Santa Rally” failed to materialize, bullish hopes for 2025 are not yet lost.

  “Since 1950, when all three January indicators (The Santa Claus Rally (SCR), First Five Days (FFD) and the full-month January Barometer (JB)) are up, the S&P 500 was up 90.6% of the time (29 out of 32 years) with an average gain of 17.7%. When one or more of the Trifecta is down, in this case, the SCR, the year is up 59.5% of the time (25 of 42) with a paltry average gain of 2.9%.” – Stocktraders Almanac

  While the lack of a Santa rally is disappointing, as noted by Stocktraders Almanac:

  “Of the 16 down SCRs since 1950, 11 years have been up and 5 down, but the average gain is a tepid 6.1%.“

  

  However, even with a failed Santa rally, the January barometer holds the key for the year. Historically, a positive January has been a bullish sign for stocks. The chart below highlights that the popular Wall Street maxim has stood the test of time. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has posted an average annual return of 16.8% during years that included a positive January. Furthermore, the index generated positive returns in 89% of these years. In contrast, when the index traded lower in January, annual returns dropped to -1.7%, with only 50% of occurrences yielding positive results.

  

  With the bulls needing a positive January performance, the market has its work cut out. However, with the market’s short-term oversold and breadth, there is a reasonable technical setup for an improvement in performance in January.

  

  However, will 2025 be another banner year? Maybe. But the market certainly faces headwinds, from elevated earnings expectations to valuations. Our best guess is that while this year will likely see a continuation of the bull market cycle, it will be punctuated by increased bouts of volatility that will weigh on investor sentiment. In other words, “buckle up and keep your arms and belongings inside the vehicle.”

  This week, we will do a short 2024 review.

  2024 Review – Another 20% Plus Year

  The market had another 20% plus return for the year. As we discussed previously, the market rarely delivers an “average” return of 8-10%. About 38% of the time, the market delivers 20% or more returns.

  Since 1900, the stock market has “averaged” an 8% annualized rate of return. However, this does NOT mean the market returns 8% every year. As we discussed recently, several key facts about markets should be understood. Stocks rise more often than they fall: Historically, the stock market increases about 73% of the time. The other 27% of the time, market corrections reverse the excesses of previous advances. The table below shows the dispersion of returns over time.”

  

  For analysts, being permanently “bullish” leads to a 73% success rate on market calls, which, if you are a professional baseball player, a .730 batting average will enshrine you in the “Hall Of Fame.” However, as investors, the problem with being always bullish is the impact on our portfolios for the “other” 27% of outcomes. This is important in the history of 20% plus annual returns. In the table above, in the far-right column, there are periods where 20% plus gains were clustered.

  

  So, what does that mean?

  The Long Term

  It is worth noting that these periods of “well-above-average” returns were followed by “well-below-average” returns. As shown, these periods of “mean-reversion” were generally triggered by some event that reversed elevated valuation levels.

  

  As we see in the market, these periods of excess valuations are a psychological byproduct of investor sentiment. Our 2024 review found that investor allocations to equities reached a record, corresponding to a sharp increase in valuation levels as investors were willing to overpay for earnings growth.

  

  As asset prices rise, speculation. increases, creating a “feedback loop.” The more asset prices rise, the more confident investors become, leading to further price increases fueling a bull market. The chart below shows the length of previous bull markets throughout history, with the average length of bull markets running about 5 1/2 years.

  

  However, while the long duration of bull markets favors being bullish, the problem is that eventually, some “event” occurs that causes a reversal of expectations. When that occurs, investors reprice the market back to reality. As shown, bear markets and the ensuing recessions are generally very short. Most bear markets last less than 18 months and are more painful experiences.

  

  Does that mean 2025 will be a “mean reverting” year? No. However, as discussed in this 2024 review, there are certain warning signs that next year could be very different.

  2024 Review – A Year Of Concentration

  For the second year in a row, the one big standout was the level of market concentration. The “Mega-cap” stocks have become an ever-increasing percentage of the S&P 500 index. We have not witnessed this since the early 70s with the “Nifty-Fifty” and just before the “Dot.com” crash.

  

  Over the last few years, capital flows into the largest market capitalization stocks have led to an increasing skew between the “have and have nots.” Over the last year, the companies that dominate the market capitalization weighting of the S&P 500 index created a substantial outperformance over the equal-weighted index.

  

  Speaking of the “have-nots,” the 60/40 allocation lagged far behind the S&P 500 index on a performance basis as bonds struggled with “sticky inflation” and continued to push to increase portfolio risk as investors chased asset prices higher.

  

  However, that continued performance chase has led to the most significant rolling two-year performance spread between the market capitalization and equal-weighted index since 2008 and 2019.

  

  While the surge in market concentration has been notable over the last two years, the chase for performance has been a growing issue since 2014. As shown, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 (both market-capitalization-weighted and dominated by the same stocks) have massively outperformed everything from small and mid-capitalization companies to gold, oil, and bonds.

  

  Notably, in 2024, the “Mega 7” market-capitalization companies returned 50%, while the S&P 500 was higher by 22%, and the Russell 2000 trailed far behind, rising just 12%.

  

  The question is, why is this happening?

  2024 Review – Speculation Goes Parabolic

  As discussed, the surge in “Exchange-Traded Funds” or “ETFs” has changed the investing landscape.

  “Following the 2020 pandemic shutdown, the Government and Federal Reserve went into overdrive, providing round after round of fiscal and monetary support. Money flooded the economy, from PPP Loans to rent moratoriums, $1500 checks directly to consumers, debt forgiveness, zero interest rates, and quantitative easing. Unsurprisingly, much of that money entered the financial markets, and retail investors plowed nearly $900 billion in market-related ETFs. Interestingly, in 2024, most of those supports are gone, interest rates have risen sharply, and the Federal Reserve is reducing its balance sheet. Yet, somehow, investors figured out a way to push $913 billion (YTD) into ETFs, which is a record inflow.”

  

  That surge of capital into ETFs contributed to the outsized performance of large capitalization companies, primarily the “Magnificent 7,” relative to the rest of the index, as shown above. This happens because most of these passive ETFs are market capitalization-weighted.

  For example, every ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index, the Nasdaq, or some variation thereof has the same top holdings. Currently, the top 10 stocks comprise roughly 40% of those ETFs.

  

  Therefore, every time someone invests $1 into one of those ETFs, roughly 40 cents of that dollar flows into just 10 stocks. Such is why, in our 2024 review, those 10 stocks, except Microsoft, outperformed the S&P 500 index by a wide margin.

  

  The byproduct of consistently rising prices and investors’ chase for performance creates demand for Wall Street to provide more products for investors to purchase. This is why 2024 saw a massive increase in single-stock ETFs and, more critically, leveraged ETFs.

  

  The growing demand by investors to leverage speculate in the market is a topic we covered recently in our Daily Market Commentary and is the hallmark of our 2024 review:

  “We see surging volume in leveraged single-stock ETFs. An example of such an ETF is Granite Shares NVDL. The ETF offers a 2x leveraged holding of Nvidia shares. If Nvidia falls by 3%, the ETF will decline by 6%. Conversely, if Nvidia rises by 5%, the ETF will climb 10%. Accordingly, leveraged single-stock ETFs can be incredibly speculative. Furthermore, the massive surge in volume in such ETFs, as we share below, further confirms speculative behaviors are growing.

  Leverage and extreme speculation can drive markets higher than most investors forecast. However, in the process, they create a divergence between fundamentals and valuations, thus exposing the markets to risk. Increased leverage and speculation are not reasons to sell immediately, but they indicate that markets are getting frothy, warranting our close attention.“

  

  The important point is that while 2024 was a great year in the markets, history suggests that expectations for 2025 should likely be tempered. Such brings us to the obvious question, “What should I be watching for to signal a shift in investor sentiment?”

  2024 Review – What To Watch For In 2025

  While investors are giddy with returns over the past year, that exuberance has increased the expectation that things will continue in 2025. Of course, earnings growth will be the biggest driver for returns in 2025.

  Forward earnings estimates are optimistic and well above their long-term historical logarithmic growth trend. Analysts expect the S&P 500 will see earnings reach $249/share from $208/share at the end of 2024. That is an expected growth rate of 19% for earnings. However, that current estimate is $68/share above historical earnings’ long-term exponential growth trend. While such deviations existed previously, they were usually close to the point where such optimism ended. The ends of those exuberant periods of earnings growth generally coincided with a recession or a mean-reverting event. However, while estimates are currently very elevated, they can remain elevated longer than you think possible.

  

  The timing of “the” event that reverses more extreme investor exuberance and speculation is always the most challenging. However, it always occurs when it is least expected. As we enter 2025, investor sentiment of expected stock returns over the next 12 months is near the highest levels on record. At the same time, credit spreads remain near the lowest levels on record, confirming the high degree of complacency in today’s markets.

  

  Such exuberance and overconfidence tend to precede some level of disappointment.

  Earnings Matter More Than You Think

  The most significant risk in 2025 is an event that causes a significant decline in earnings expectations. As shown, there is a very high correlation between earnings trends and the rate of change in asset prices.

  

  As I discussed in “Predictions For 2025:”

  “The problem with current forward estimates is that several factors must exist to sustain historically high earnings growth.

  1. Economic growth must remain more robust than the average 20-year growth rate.
  2. Wage and labor growth must reverse to sustain historically elevated profit margins, and,
  3. Both interest rates and inflation must reverse to very low levels.

  While such is possible, the probabilities are low, as strong economic growth cannot exist in a low inflation and interest-rate environment. More notably, if the Fed cuts rates further, as most economists and analysts expect next year, such will be in response to a slowing economic environment or financial stress. Such would not support more optimistic earnings estimates of $251 per share next year. This represents roughly a 19% increase from Q4-2024 levels. (In 2023, estimates for 2024 suggested a 14% increase, which was just 9%. The long-term trend of earnings growth from 1900 to the present is just 7.7%).”

  

  While the bullish predictions for next year are certainly possible, that outcome faces many challenges. This is particularly true given that the market trades at fairly lofty valuations. Even in a “soft landing” environment, earnings should weaken, which makes current valuations at 27x earnings more challenging to sustain. Therefore, assuming earnings decline toward their long-term trend, that would suggest current estimates fall to $220/share by the end of 2025. This substantially changes the outlook for stocks.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 17:30

• Honduras Threatens To Evict US From Key Military Base Over Looming Mass Deportations
  Honduras Threatens To Evict US From Key Military Base Over Looming Mass Deportations

  Honduran President Xiomara Castro has threatened to evict US military forces from a major base if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his promise to unleash a mass-deportation policy targeting illegal immigrants. An estimated five percent of the Honduras population lives in America. 

  “Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military arena,” Castro said in a New Year’s day address. In office since January 2022 and a member of the leftist Liberty and Refoundation (LIBRE) Party, Castro’s husband Manuel Zelaya was president from 2006 until he was removed in a 2009 coup. 

  BREAKING: Honduras President Xiomara Castro just issued a threat to President Trump, saying she’ll shutdown U.S. military bases if he deports Honduran nationals.

  “Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies… pic.twitter.com/wD0QFjMCrL

  — George (@BehizyTweets) January 3, 2025

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

  Castro’s remarks were cheered by many, but some Honduran politicians hesitated to endorse the pre-emptive threat on a Trump administration that hasn’t even taken power yet, while others condemned it. Among the detractors was likely November 2025 presidential challenger Jorge Calix, who said Castro’s heated rhetoric put Honduras “in grave danger.” Another potential challenger, Olban Valladares, said “[Castro] knows we don’t have the ability to threaten the United States in any way, that the damages it would cause Honduras would be terrible.”

  Like other Latin American countries, Honduras has a huge financial interest in keeping its huge population of illegal emigrants inside the United States — the money they send back to families inside Honduras accounts for up to 25% of the country’s economy, the New York Times reports. 

  The United States has service members in several locations in Honduras, but one stands far above the others in importance: Soto Cano Air Base is the largest US base in Central America. Currently operating under the moniker Joint Task Force Bravo, American forces have been there since 1983. Touted as a key asset for anti-drug and humanitarian missions, the base has long been used to facilitate American meddling in the region, such as the US-backed Contra insurgency that waged a bloody and failed guerrilla war against Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista government. 

  

  “Without paying a cent for decades, they maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case would lose all reason to exist in Honduras,” said Castro. According to the US government, the State Department and US Agency for International Development together provided $780.5 million in various forms of aid to Honduras between 2020 and 2023 alone. America is also the country’s largest trading partner. 

  While many Honduran officials aren’t backing Castro’s threat, Foreign Minister Enrique Reina opined that Castro has the authority to unilaterally suspend the long-standing US-Honduran agreement under which the Pentagon built Soto Cano and currently bases more than a thousand service members and civilians. 

  Trump’s transition team chose to respond gently. “The Trump administration looks forward to engaging our Latin American partners to ensure our southern border is secure and illegal immigrants can be returned to their country of origin,” said spokesman Brian Hughes. Trump himself has been full of bluster on the issue of secure borders — for example, threatening to hammer Mexico and Canada with 25% tariffs if they failed to block migrants and fentanyl from flowing across the frontiers. 

  Of course, for genuine America-Firsters who want secure borders AND an end to our sprawling, bankrupting military empire, Castro’s threat sounds just great:    

  So Honduras has threatened President Trump with throwing the US military out if Trump deports Hondurans ! I say that’s a win win situation! Bye bye pic.twitter.com/ApVoP9Phgs

  — Papageorgio (@gecffmn) January 3, 2025

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

   

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 16:55

• Biden & Make-Believe Democracy
  Biden & Make-Believe Democracy

  Authored by Jonathan Cook via ConsortiumNews.com,

  If a large chunk of the public can be persuaded that a man who is incapable of finding the door is “sharp as a tack,” they can be made to believe a lot of other things too…

  

  Only in the world of political make-believe we inhabit in the West would The Wall Street Journal’s account of Biden’s years-long cognitive decline, and its concealment by his officials, count as a scoop.

  And only in a world in which the billionaire-owned media alone constructs and polices what counts as reality would the WSJ be able to run this story without also being expected to consider what it signifies about America’s professed democracy.

  The emperor, we are now told, was naked all along. How did it take more than four years for the fearless, tenacious billionaire-owned media to notice?

  The WSJ reports that even back in 2021 Biden had what his officials described as “bad days” when his mind worked so poorly he had to be kept away from senior Congresspeople and his own cabinet colleagues.

  So insulated was he that he rarely met even with key figures directing White House policy, such as the secretaries of State, Defence and the Treasury.

  He was able to hold only two or three cabinet meetings a year during his four-year term — a total of nine, compared to 19 by Barack Obama and 25 by Donald Trump.

  His aides barely strayed from his side because they needed to whisper instructions for him to carry out the simplest of public tasks, such as where to enter and exit a room.

  Concern only went mainstream when he performed catastrophically in an unscripted TV debate against Donald Trump in June, eventually having to pull out of his re-election bid and let his vice-president, Kamala Harris, take over.

  Shortly afterwards, it emerged that he had been receiving regular visits to the White House from a leading neurologist and Parkinson’s expert.

  Many observers — myself included — pointed out Biden’s mental infirmity from the get-go. Matt Orfalea has been compiling video clips of the president’s stunning gaffes and verbal confusions for years. None of us were geniuses. We didn’t need access to the 50 White House insiders interviewed by the WSJ. It was blindingly obvious.

  Biden wanders offstage or walks like a geriatric robot. Yet we are meant to believe he’s carefully navigating us through the nuclear tripwires of the West’s serial wars.

  My latest article can be read here: https://t.co/V3J2zCxmRb pic.twitter.com/4EaGcKon0x

  — Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) June 15, 2024

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

  You had to be lying, or hypnotised, to deny what was so visible.

  And yet every time we pointed out Biden’s clear cognitive impairment, we were accused of promoting conspiracy theories, engaging in elder abuse, or supporting Trump.

  The emperor, so we were told, was fully clothed.

  The truth about Biden hasn’t suddenly leaked out from his officials. Senior politicians on both sides of the aisle knew. White House correspondents knew. Editors knew. And they all lied to protect the system of power to which they belong, the system that keeps them gainfully employed, the system that maintains their status. No one was going to rock the boat.

  [See:  Stop Calling It A ‘Stutter:’ Dozens of Examples Show Biden’s Dementia Symptoms and Caitlin Johnstone: Biden Not Running the Show]

  The WSJ hasn’t suddenly found out things it didn’t know before. The reason it is coming clean now – as are White House staffers – is that President Biden is almost out the door. The truth is no longer a serious threat to the Washington power system.

  There will be more revelations about Biden’s incapacity – maybe contained in a future book by Bob Woodward – after his presidency has become a distant memory. When it is safe for the full story to be told. When the lies are no longer important.

  But more significant than the media deceptions are the fact that much of the public fell for them, not once but over and over again: day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

  Why? Because far too many of us are in the grip of the West’s propaganda system. We believe that the billionaire-owned media is to be trusted, that it serves the public good, not private wealth.

  If a large chunk of the public can be persuaded that a man who is incapable of finding the door through which he’s supposed to leave is “sharp as a tack”, then why would they not also believe that the United States is promoting democracy as it has laid waste to the Middle East over the past two decades to control the region’s oil?

  Or that Washington is seeking peace for the world and Ukraine by arming it with ever-more offensive weapons against a nuclear-armed Russia so that the U.S. can place ballistic missiles on Moscow’s doorstep?

  Or that the U.S. wants a ceasefire in Gaza even as it supplies the munitions, intelligence and diplomatic cover for Israel to carry out a genocide there?

  The problem is that, subjected to a lifetime of elite propaganda, many are readier to believe that very propaganda than the evidence of their own own eyes. They are truly hypnotised.

  Even now, many are listening to the “revelations” of Biden’s long decline and, just like the WSJ, not wondering how the U.S. has been functioning for the past four years with a president barely able to read a teleprompter, one whose mind is so vacant he can wander off in the middle of a conversation.

  Does the U.S. run by itself? Does it need a president? Or is the president nothing more than a figurehead for a permanent bureaucracy that expects to wield power from the shadows, unobserved by voters and unaccountable to them? Is the U.S. a democracy, or is the democracy just a facade behind which a wealth elite maintains its power?

  Biden has given us the answer. Were you listening?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 16:20

• Soundgarden Team-Up With Fat Activist Vocalist Ends With Disastrous Crowd Surf Attempt
  Soundgarden Team-Up With Fat Activist Vocalist Ends With Disastrous Crowd Surf Attempt

  Grunge rock band Sound Garden, popular in the 1990s after their hit album ‘Superunknown’, has been a rare feature on the live music scene since the death of lead singer Chris Cornell at age 52 in 2017.  The group has limited itself to a few shows, usually featuring a guest lead vocalist.  Some have speculated that the band has been trying out new singers for a potential return, using the name “Nudedragons” (an anagram of Soundgarden).  However, most of their team ups have been with female singers that sound nothing like Chris Cornell.

  In their most recent show (part of a charity event) Soundgarden brought in a black female activist singer by the name of Shaina Shepherd, a resident of Seattle, Washington that dubs herself a mix between “gospel and garbage metal”.  Shepherd’s biography boasts:

  “While finding her voice on the piano, she was finding her voice as the lead singer of Seattle prog-rock and soul band BEARAXE. BEARAXE has allowed Shepherd to hone her craft as a gospel-influenced rock artist exploring classicism, sexism, and self-care themes. And as her relationship with the piano grew, she began to weave similar themes through a lens of vulnerability and thematic strong structures akin to the operas and oratorios she studied as a new musician…”

  

  As with most popular but aging bands, the veneer wears off dramatically over time and a desperation to try anything to breathe new life into their fading careers can lead to some disastrous choices.  Working with an overweight leftist activist with delusions of grandeur might not have been the best choice for Soundgarden.

  The new sassy overweight Soundgarden singer tried to crowdsurf but the crowd wasn’t into it and let her faceplant pic.twitter.com/vwj1IJ3OfT

  — Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 3, 2025

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

  Shaina Shepherd is heard exclaiming “I knew I was too heavy for you motherfuckers…” as the crowd struggled to prop her up after her embarrassing face-plant.  She then stumbled back to the stage in a daze. Shepherd’s miscalculation was one of basic physics, combined with the fact that the majority of Soundgarden fans are now in their 50s and quickly moved out of the way to avoid yet another expensive trip to their chiropractor. 

  It has been noted by fans that Shepherd was not very good at singing the band’s lineup of songs, asserting that if they’re actually looking for a talented replacement for Chris Cornell they should talk to Cornell’s daughter.  

  Soundgarden replaced Chris Cornell with Shaina Shepherd…a singer and community organizer. If only they had another female option that had close ties to the band’s legacy itself and possessed stellar vocals…one can only dream…oh wait.. Toni Cornell. pic.twitter.com/j3G0Ncpf50

  — Johnny St.Pete (@JohnMcCloy) January 3, 2025

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

  Though the incident is hilarious, it’s also a sad reminder of the steep downward spiral of the music industry in the past decade, as well as the slow death of the rock genre.  Popular music has become increasingly sterile and generic and a lot of that could be attributed to the effects of the woke mind virus on the industry as a whole.  There is also a laziness factor that can’t be denied, with many music personalities now incapable of playing an instrument or even singing without voice autotune software.  

  Hopefully talent will make a comeback as a feature of our culture in the near future. In the meantime, people will have to cling to their nostalgia for warmth.    

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 15:45

• Furious Allstate Customers Uncover Video Of Disgustingly Woke DEI Hiring Practices
  Furious Allstate Customers Uncover Video Of Disgustingly Woke DEI Hiring Practices

  Authored by Zach Dean via OutKick,

  I can promise you, there is no company in America happier that it’s Saturday than Allstate. Not even close. 

  They needed the weekend in just the worst possible way. Now, it’s all their fault, because they tried to virtue-signal and politize a terrorist attack on US soil. Stupid. Dumb, dumb, dumb. 

  

  That crap may have flown a few months ago, but not anymore. Americans overwhelmingly rejected woke culture in November. It’s over. You guys lost. Sanity is back. 

  And that means insanely dumb videos like the one Allstate pumped out during Thursday’s Sugar Bowl, in which their CEO basically called out us – AMERICANS! – for not being more positive and receptive to change in the wake of the New Orleans terrorist attack, no longer fly. 

  They don’t work. We don’t accept them, and, in turn, we don’t accept your stupid narrative. 

  Anyway, you all know about the video by now. Lord knows my Twitter has been blowing up ever since I discovered yesterday that Allstate tried to scrub the video from Elon’s site. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work. 

  That’s not the point of this blog. The point here is … furious customers have also discovered another video from Allstate, this one from last year, which perfectly explains just how woke this company really is. 

  Enjoy!

  DEI chief for @Allstate boasted about using DEI in their hiring practices and promised to use more diversity specifically when hiring for leadership positions.

  If you’re qualified and are not “diverse” enough and were passed up for a job or a promotion at Allstate, you may have… https://t.co/0oFW8AYnob pic.twitter.com/0qujKXQAar

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

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

  In their year end report for 2023, @Allstate boasts about their dedication to DEI and having less White men in their company.

  Were White men discriminated against in their hiring practices? https://t.co/0oFW8AYVdJ pic.twitter.com/ztHy7nWI8e

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

  This explains a lot from Allstate

  My God. It’s just amazing. Seriously, it’s amazing how bad they are. And by they, I mean box-checking execs who try to cater to the mob when, deep down, they really don’t care about the mob. 

  They care about being canceled, which is why they try to gaslight to the highest degree so they can point to videos like this and say, WE ARE DIVERSE!

  But we don’t want you to be diverse. We want you to be good at your job. I’ve long said that DEI hiring is the most racist thing in the country. I was a boss not too long ago for a woke media company (y’all can figure out which one pretty easily), and I had to hire people. 

  And I was told, in no uncertain terms, to do my best to check the diversity box. And you know what I told them? Kick rocks. 

  I want resumes laid in front of me, with no names on them, and I’ll pick the best ones. That’s it. That’s all we want – the best people hired, no matter what color they are. 

  So does this video from Allstate shock me? Of course not. I’ve seen it up close and personal. I’ve seen it happen in real-time. 

  Does explain Thursday’s woke Sugar Bowl video a little more, though. 

  What a time to be alive.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 15:10

• Watch: Hillary Clinton & George Soros Receive Presidential Medal Of Freedom
  Watch: Hillary Clinton & George Soros Receive Presidential Medal Of Freedom

  In the latest award for individuals responsible for the destruction of Western civilization (see: Nobel Prize), President Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor, to Hillary Clinton and George Soros, along with 17 others, during a Saturday ceremony at the White House.

  

  “President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else,” the White House said in a statement. “These nineteen Americans are great leaders who have made America a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.”

  Soros, 94, notably gave over $175 million to Democrats during the 2022 midterms per FEC records, and has ‘installed’ dozens of soft-on-crime District Attorneys in key Democrat-run cities, who have presided over the breakdown of law and order across the land.

  The Hungarian-born billionaire who’s been banned from Hungary for sowing social discord – also funneled another $60 million to House and Senate Democrats through his Democracy PAC, while shifting billions in his personal net worth to his Open Society Foundations – which fund progressive projects around the world, such as ferrying an untold number of migrants from Africa to Europe.

  His son Alexander, who’s engaged to former Clinton aide and Huma Abedin, accepted the award on his father’s behalf.

  🚨BREAKING: Alexander Soros receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of George Soros pic.twitter.com/Csy2ll3JRy

  — Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) January 4, 2025

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

  Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom a decade after she paid a British spook to fabricate the Trump-Russia hoax, before losing the 2016 US election. She also housed top-secret information on a non-secure server at her house, had her aides destroy electronic devices with literal hammers, and used software to scrub evidence of wrongdoing.

  At the conclusion of the bureau’s investigation, former FBI Director James Comey said that Clinton and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” but that the FBI “did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information.”  –NY Post

  The former first lady, secretary of state and New York Senator “made history many times over decades in public service,” the White House said in a statement.

  Biden just gave Crooked Hillary Clinton the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian award.

  January 20th can’t come soon enough. pic.twitter.com/4VYWODRj6D

  — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 4, 2025

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

  Biden will also award the Medal to the following individuals, per the Post:

  • Bono, the frontman of rock band U2

  • Michael J. Fox, the “Back to the Future” star 

  • Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a Los Angeles Lakers legend

  • Ralph Lauren, the visionary fashion designer

  • Lionel Messi, the MLS star and captain of Argentina’s World Cup-winning soccer team 

  • Denzel Washington, the Academy-Award-winning actor

  • Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue

  • William Sanford Nye, the television presenter better known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy 

  • Robert Francis Kennedy, the slain former New York senator and US Attorney General 

  • Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist and anthropologist 

  • David M. Rubenstein, the billionaire co-founder of The Carlye Group

  • José Andrés, the celebrity chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen charity group

  • Ashton Baldwin Carter, the former Defense Secretary 

  • Tim Gill, an entrepreneur whose work has advanced LGBT rights

  • George W. Romney, the late businessman and former Michigan governor

  • George Stevens, Jr., an author and playwright

  • Fannie Lou Hamer, the late civil rights leader and  founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

  Meanwhile as we noted last week, Liz Cheney received the “Presidential Citizens Medal,” prompting President-elect Trump to blast her as a “warmonger of low intelligence.” (h/t modernity.news)

  Watch the bizarre interaction between Biden and Liz Cheney today…

  He jerks her hand back a few times and she rolls her eyes at one point…

  Also he looks like he freezes when he’s handing her the bs award… and just holds on to it for too long.

  He is not well. pic.twitter.com/8srEU5yk7B

  — Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) January 3, 2025

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

  Do they each get a piece of Marina Abramović art as well? Hopefully none of these clumsy rascals gets a black eye at the afterparty.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 14:35

• Disgraceful: MSNBC Host Trashes US Veterans…
  Disgraceful: MSNBC Host Trashes US Veterans…

  Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

  MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell elicited backlash Friday for declaring that US veterans represent a greater terror threat than the undocumented illegal immigrants crossing over the border in their hundreds of thousands per month.

  

  Reacting to the two new year’s day terror attacks on his program watched by practically nobody now, O’Donnell declared “The simple fact is, this country has suffered more deadly terrorism at the hands of American-born citizens who are veterans of the United States military than people who have crossed into this country at the southern border.”

  “It is very clear from the evidence that if you want to worry about terrorism in this country, the United States Army is a much bigger problem than the southern border,” he further proclaimed.

  O’Donnell then referred to Timothy McVeigh, the domestic terrorist behind the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, to argue that American veterans have carried out more violent acts in the US than illegal immigrants have.

  “Timothy McVeigh parked a truck outside that building loaded with explosives in an act of homegrown American terrorism,” O’Donnell stated.

  He continued, “Timothy McVeigh’s hatred of the American government was not tamed in any way by his service in the American military. So, too, with America’s latest terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve, with an American military veteran driving a pickup truck through a crowd to murder 14 people.”

  MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell: “It is very clear from the evidence that if you want to worry about terrorism in this country, the United States Army is a much bigger problem than the southern border.” pic.twitter.com/b5859v9QIm

  — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 3, 2025

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

  The host conveniently left out the thousands of illegals that have been convicted of violent crimes, even murders, and instead suggested that every military vet is a potential truck bomber.

  You really can’t hate the media enough.

  — Frank Bojazi (@FrankBojazi) January 3, 2025

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

  Thanks for sharing what you overlords told you to tell us.

  — Jeanette Monos (@monos_jeanette) January 3, 2025

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

  Excusing the terrorism of the cartels and sex traffickers, I’m just going to bookmark this for later…

  — The Vocal Vet (@TheVocalVet) January 3, 2025

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

  So the media supports the US sending warriors to go fight wars for their buddy politician friends; then they use the veteran status of these warriors as an excuse to not criticize the invasion at our southern border; and the real problem is veterans? That’s narrative building.

  — Denis Michaels (@Denis_Michaels1) January 4, 2025

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

  I don’t remember the 9/11 attacks be perpetrated by Military Veterans.

  He might have forgotten about that day, we haven’t.

  — David Addams (@dwa16007) January 4, 2025

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

  Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 14:00

• Make Greenland Great Again: PM Seeks Independence From Denmark
  Make Greenland Great Again: PM Seeks Independence From Denmark

  “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, while also announcing Ken Howery for US ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark. 

  

  Trump’s reopening of discussions about purchasing rare earth minerals-rich Greenland came just before Christmas and were followed by the usual kerfuffle from the liberal media.

  But, as the Wall Street Journal reports, during his New Year speech, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede emphasized his desire to pursue independence from Denmark, its former colonial ruler, marking a significant change in the rhetoric surrounding the Arctic island’s future.

  As a reminder, Greenland – the world’s biggest island which is home to about 57,000 people – was a Danish colony until it become a self-governing territory of Denmark in 1979.

  Since 2009, Greenland has held the right to declare independence through a referendum.

  Egede’s speech also expressed a desire to strengthen Greenland’s cooperation with other countries.

  “It is about time that we ourselves take a step and shape our future, also with regard to who we will cooperate closely with, and who our trading partners will be,” he said…

  “It is now time for our country to take the next step. Like other countries in the world, we must work to remove the obstacles to cooperation – which we can describe as the shackles of colonialism – and move forward,” he said.

  As Mike Shedlock notes, Greenland – whose capital Nuuk is nearer to New York than Copenhagen – is rich in mineral, oil, and natural gas resources, but it relies on annual subsidies from Denmark worth some €500 million a year.

  Home to a large US Air Force air base, Greenland is strategically vital for the US military. Following Trump’s latest remarks about buying the island last month, Denmark announced it would increase defence spending there by at least €1.3 billion — though Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the timing was just an “irony of fate”.

  Of course, none of this means that Mr. Egede welcomes a U.S. acquisition. Kathryn Armstrong reported for the BBC after the most recent Trump declaration of interest last month:

  Greenland has once again said it is not for sale after US President-elect Donald Trump said he wanted to take control of the territory.

  “Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland,” its prime minister said on Monday, a day after Trump repeated comments about the Arctic island that he first made several years ago.

  But if Greenland is rapidly moving toward a split with Denmark, it will likely be seeking a partner to offer security, as well as new commercial opportunities. The BBC report quoted Mr. Egede:

  “We must not lose our long struggle for freedom. However, we must continue to be open to co-operation and trade with the whole world, especially with our neighbours,” he said.

  Responding to Trump’s latest comments, Egede last week said that Greenland is “not for sale and will never be for sale”.

  Danish voters may well have something to say about that…

  Make Greenland Great Again?

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 13:25

• Hospital System Implements Mask Mandate Across Illinois
  Hospital System Implements Mask Mandate Across Illinois

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A hospital system in Illinois this week issued a mandate that everyone entering its facilities must wear a mask due to “widespread respiratory illnesses” in the area.

  

  “Starting Tuesday, December 31, all employees, patients and visitors at our hospitals are required to wear masks due to the widespread respiratory illnesses in our communities, including COVID-19, influenza and RSV,” said OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, based in Peoria, Illinois, in a statement posted on Facebook.

  “Additionally, we are implementing a temporary visitor restriction: only two visitors (age 18+) per patient at a time. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our community safe.”

  It comes as Rush University Medical Center, based in Chicago, said in a statement that starting on Dec. 2, it will require “patients and visitors to wear hospital-approved masks when they are in clinical offices, waiting areas and patient registration.”

  “The policy coincides with the respiratory virus season, when the spread of flu, RSV, and COVID-19 rises,” it wrote.

  New Jersey Hospital Appears to Mandate Masks

  The largest hospital system in New Jersey, RWJ Barnabas Health, said in December that visitors and patients in its facilities “are expected” to wear a face mask. Masking is also being “strongly encouraged” for staff and visitors at the company’s outpatient and medical group facilities in the state, according to a statement released in mid-December.

  “Wear an appropriate face mask. We will offer you a new mask for source control or may ask you to replace your own mask with a hospital-supplied mask,” the hospital said to patients and visitors.

  For outpatient and medical group buildings, “masking is strongly encouraged for all providers, staff, patients, visitors and vendors at all times in the presence of patients,” it said.

  RWJ Barnabas added that “masking is REQUIRED for all patients who present with respiratory symptoms, as well as all staff members and providers caring for them.”

  New York State Issues Mandate

  As of mid-December, New York state health care workers who have not received an influenza vaccine have to wear masks when working in places where residents or patients are present in facilities.

  In a Dec. 18 statement, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald declared that the “flu is prevalent across the State means healthcare personnel who are not vaccinated against the flu this season need to take extra precautions and wear a mask in healthcare facilities to avoid exposing sick patients and those most vulnerable to complications of the virus.”

  His declaration on requiring masking did not mention COVID-19, only influenza. During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments, as well as private businesses, required masks due to the virus.

  California Counties Mandate Masks

  Starting in November, multiple counties in California’s Bay Area required masks for staff working at hospitals and health care facilities. The mandate will end on March 31 of this year.

  Counties with mask requirements for employees include San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Napa, and San Mateo. But Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, and San Mateo County also require visitors and patients in those health care facilities to wear masks, according to an earlier review from The Epoch Times.

  Aside from the county mandates, a hospital system in Monterey reinstated a mandate for patients, visitors, and staff around the same time.

  Respiratory Virus Numbers Rising

  Late last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that cases of respiratory illnesses associated with RSV, influenza, and COVID-19 are increasing across the country.

  Emergency department visits for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, are still high, the CDC said in a statement. Flu-related emergency department visits are at moderate levels, the agency said.

  COVID-19 activity is also “increasing in most areas of the country, with high COVID-19 wastewater levels and increasing emergency department visits and laboratory percent positivity,” the agency added.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 12:50

• Amish Farmer Celebrates "Big Win For Food Freedom"
  Amish Farmer Celebrates “Big Win For Food Freedom”

  Robert Barnes, an attorney for raw milk producer and Amish farmer Amos Miller, revealed on X late Friday night that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania “affirmed the trial court decision allowing Amish farmer Amos Miller to continue to make his wonderful food available to customers outside the state.” 

  Big win today for #FoodFreedom as Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the trial court decision allowing #Amish farmer #AmosMiller to continue to make his wonderful food available to customers outside the state. Thank you to everyone who spoke out for Amos!

  — Robert Barnes (@barnes_law) January 4, 2025

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

  MASSIVE LEGAL WIN FOR @barnes_law & AMOS MILLER: Amos can continue selling his products outside the state of Pennsylvania.

  This is incredible. Well done, Barnes! pic.twitter.com/Spx12bUc72

  — Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) January 4, 2025

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

  Recall that the government raided Miller’s farm in early 2024 for selling raw milk, organic eggs, grass-fed beef, and other nutritious foods to consumers, citing repeated failures to comply with overly burdensome federal farming regulations.

  Footage of the search being conducted inside Amos Miller’s organic farm store in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. pic.twitter.com/iKUDbo9CcR

  — The Lancaster Patriot (@TheLanPatriot) January 4, 2024

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

  Big Gov’t Raids Small Amish Farmer Who Refuses To Participate In The Industrial Meat/Milk Complex https://t.co/3W8ItfuWd8

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 6, 2024

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

  The USDA tried to bring Miller’s farm into compliance with federal regulations, but the Amish farmer spent many months in court rather than obtaining a license to produce raw milk for sale. 

  Since last January’s search warrant, the “Pennsylvania Dutch” community became outraged and mobilized in a rare vote in federal elections for Trump-Vance to stand up against rogue federal agencies captured by the processed foods industrial complex.

  

  

  

  “Tremendous diabolical government overreach. It had nothing to do with food safety & everything to do with government control. If I recall correctly, the department responsible for “food safety” in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also put Amos Miller through hell along with the FDA. This overreach by tyrannical government forces must end,” one X user said. 

  Here’s what others are saying about this big win for the Amish:

  👏👏👏👏👏 we need more quality food options not less. The Amish have always provided quality products at reasonable cost ..the government should subsidize small farms and ranches not Big Food Corps who saturate foods with pesticides and Glyphosates .. 🙏🏾🙏🏾

  — Cherie King (@1cheriebaby) January 4, 2025

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

  The Amish are friends to the earth.

  — Sam (@fallmysteries) January 4, 2025

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

  This is such wonderful news for Mr. Miller and the great Amish community. Well done, sir.

  — AmericanHeartlandMagazine (@USAHeartlandMag) January 4, 2025

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

  Under the MAHA movement, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s food supply chain must be restored into the hands of the people – not continued mega corporations poisoning consumers with seed oils and highly processed foods. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/04/2025 – 12:15

Digest powered by RSS Digest