Jun 05

Today’s News 5th June 2024

  • Does Poland Fear That Ukraine Might One Day Make Irredentist Claims Against It?
    Does Poland Fear That Ukraine Might One Day Make Irredentist Claims Against It?

    Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

    The argument can be made that the national security pretexts upon which President Duda vetoed the Sejm’s bill to make Silesian a regional language concern the threat of Ukrainians exploiting this proposed precedent to revive their country’s post-World War I claims to parts of modern-day Poland.

    It was explained last month how “The Sejm’s Approval Of Silesian As A Regional Language Should Prompt Deep Reflection From Poles”, but then President Andrzej Duda from the previous conservative-nationalist government vetoed the new liberal-globalist coalition’s bill at the end of May. His official website explained the reasons here, which mostly concern the widely held scientific view that Silesian is just a dialect of Polish, not its own language like Kashubian which was granted regional status in 2005.

    None of the media that reported on this thought much of the national security arguments that he shared against making Silesian a regional language.

    Duda worried that representatives of other ethnolect groups could be emboldened by the precedent set by granting Silesian this status and warned that these processes could be exploited from abroad to divide Poland. He then concluded by declaring that “cultivating the native language serves to protect the preservation of national identity.”

    Although Duda implied that Russia could meddle in Poland through these means when he wrote that these threats could be “related to the war being waged on the eastern border”, the case can more compellingly be made that Ukraine poses a much greater danger to his country. The southeastern part of modern-day Poland used to be part of the “Ruthenian Voivodeship” during the Commonwealth era and comprised a significant number of folks who’d nowadays be called Ukrainians.

    It was on this former administrative and enduring demographic basis that the short-lived “West Ukrainian People’s Republic” claimed some of these same lands and even those a bit further westward along the Carpathian Mountains.

    The “Ukrainian People’s Republic” also claimed other more northerly parts of modern-day Poland’s eastern border on the same pretext that they were mostly populated by people that Kiev considered to be more Ukrainian than Polish.

    During the Second Polish Republic, efforts were made to (largely unsuccessfully) Polonize the Ukrainians (some of whom later terrorized and genocided Poles), and then many were exchanged with the USSR for Poles living in Soviet Ukraine after World War II changed the borders. Other exchanges with Soviet Belarus and Lithuania, as well as the expulsion of Germans, led to the “Polish People’s Republic” becoming the first ethno-religiously homogenous Polish state since Mieszko I’s founding of Poland in 966.

    This new demographic state of affairs remained in place up until 2022, after which a few million Ukrainians flooded into Poland, a sizeable number of whom still remain there. Although they’re scattered throughout the country, responsible members of the state like Duda – whose party admittedly facilitated this process for the purpose of turning Ukraine into its “junior partner” – fear that they might resettle in their formerly claimed border regions and one day agitate for “union” with Ukraine.

    Unlike Silesian, their language is universally recognized as distinct from Polish, so the stage would be set for Ukrainians to exploit linguistic pretexts per the proposed Silesian precedent to get the state to extend them a degree of cultural autonomy as the first step towards political autonomy sometime in the future.  Two of Kiev’s official positions over the past year show that Poland can’t rule out the scenario of its neighbor weaponizing this process against it.

    Zelensky’s senior advisor Podolyak declared last August that “[Poland] will remain [our closest partner and friend] until the end of the war. After it’s over, of course, we will have a competitive relationship, of course, we will compete for various markets, consumers, and so on. And, of course, we will clearly adopt pro-Ukrainian positions, protect these interests, fiercely defend them.” The prediction of post-conflict competition between these two doesn’t bode well for Poland’s territorial integrity as was explained.

    Several months later in January, Zelensky signed a decree “aimed at preserving the ethnic identity of Ukrainians in Russia”, specifically within the parts of his neighbor’s modern-day borders that were previously claimed by the “Ukrainian People’s Republic”. A similar decree could be signed with regards to Poland if their predicted post-conflict competition worsens, in which case Poland’s territorial integrity would definitely be threatened via the fifth column of Ukraine’s potentially border-dwelling nationals.

    Poland couldn’t rely on the US or the German-led EU for support in that event since both have interests in turning Ukraine into their joint bastion of influence on the continent after the conflict finally ends. They’d sell Poland out in a second to advance what their decisionmakers consider to be their national interests. Ukrainian losses in the east and south to Russia could therefore be compensated by gains in the West at Poland’s expense, though not right away of course, but sometime in the future.

    Polish politicians like returning Prime Minister Tusk and his ruling liberal-globalist coalition would eagerly go along with this since they’ve already comprehensively subordinated their country to Germany, which has its own interests in Ukraine. Their ideology also predisposes them to thinking that it wouldn’t make a meaningful difference if they lost those lands since the partial open borders regime with EU-aspirant Ukraine by that point would render the consequences for many people moot for the most part.

    It’s only those more responsible members of the state like Duda, whose party facilitated the large-scale migration of Ukrainians into Poland as was earlier written, who care enough about Poland to deny Ukraine the legal pretext for advancing its possibly revived claims per the proposed Silesian precedent. It’s these sensitive national security reasons upon which he vetoed the bill to make Silesian a regional language, which have everything to do with latent Hybrid War threats posed by Ukraine, not Russia.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 06/05/2024 – 02:00

  • Lest We Forget The Tiananmen Square Massacre On This Day In 1989
    Lest We Forget The Tiananmen Square Massacre On This Day In 1989

    On the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, human rights supporters continued to speak up about the democratic uprising that was brutally suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on June 4, 1989.

    The incident led to a massive death toll among unarmed students, and for decades, the CCP has systematically censored all information related to the massacre.

    “People commemorate the ‘June 4 Incident’ because it symbolizes universal values such as democracy, freedom, human rights, and peaceful protest. It stands as a bloody testament to the courage and resistance of the Chinese people,” said Du Wen, the former executive director of the Legal Advisory Office of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government, now in exile in Europe.

    He told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times that his generation remains nostalgic about the June 4 incident even though it is nearly impossible to find any trace of it inside China, where any discussion of it is taboo.

    As Mary Hong reports, that large-scale democratic movement provided the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with an excellent opportunity to peacefully transition from autocracy to democracy. At that time, the young students did not make any demands regarding the CCP’s power itself. Their demands were solely for freedom of the press and speech, expressing dissatisfaction only with the corruption among the CCP elite. The interest of young students in national affairs was largely due to the enlightened thinking and reformist spirit of two successive CCP General Secretaries, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang.

    However, CCP elders, represented by Chen Yun, believed that the students’ calls for freedom and democracy challenged the very foundation of CCP rule. Consequently, the hardliner Deng Xiaoping ordered the violent suppression of the democratic movement. While this temporarily stabilized the regime, the opportunities that the democratic movement presented to both the CCP and China were lost.

    The wound of history is still bleeding. China continues to pay a heavy price for the massacre. The issues that the students demanded the CCP address at that time did not disappear, instead, they have accumulated over history. The massacre made the CCP’s perceived legitimacy even more fragile in the eyes of the people. Many say that the CCP lost its legitimacy because of the “June 4th” massacre. I have always disagreed with this view. The CCP regime forcibly seized power from the Republic of China with the blatant military intervention of the Soviet Union. Claiming legitimacy for something taken by force is itself absurd and laughable. Moreover, the Chinese people never had the opportunity to question the legitimacy and effectiveness of the CCP’s governance. Objectively speaking, since 1949, the Chinese people have tacitly accepted a new regime imposed on them, thus the existence of the CCP regime at most holds a semblance of reasonableness. However, in the minds of the Chinese people, this reasonableness was significantly damaged by the “June 4th” massacre.

    What is reasonable is real, and what is real is reasonable.

    It can be asserted that if there were to be another political upheaval, the CCP would find itself in a difficult position, unable to save itself.

    At that time, the Chinese people would not be as compliant as they were in 1989 and might very well seize the opportunity to overturn the CCP’s rule.

    When we observe the massacre 35 years ago within the context of the global landscape, it becomes clear that Deng Xiaoping’s drastic measures to maintain the CCP’s rule and power were met with tacit acceptance by then-U.S. President Bush.

    Although the CCP briefly faced diplomatic isolation, Deng Xiaoping’s resoluteness prevailed over the weak and short-sighted West.

    We must also clarify that the 75 years of suffering endured by the Chinese people under the CCP’s iron rule were not the choice of the Chinese people but were imposed on them by former U.S. President Harry Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

    This imposition began with former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s betrayal and sellout of wartime ally the Republic of China at the Yalta Conference, which allowed Stalin to occupy Northeast China.

    President Truman’s China policy further aided the CCP in sweeping across the entire Chinese mainland, plunging the Chinese people into the horrors and ravages of communism.

    Today, we remember June 4th. Although we commemorate it every year, we must clearly recognize the harsh reality: its impact on changing China’s existing autocratic system is extremely minimal, resonating only with a small, determined minority of Chinese democracy campaigners. The struggle between the Chinese people and the CCP is akin to a battle between humans and beasts, a war between people and demons, with almost no chance of success or victory. Despite this, we continue to pursue the day when the Chinese people can free themselves from the CCP’s brutal autocratic rule with perseverance.

    Under Xi Jinping’s leadership for the past 12 years, China’s national conditions have been regressing at an unprecedented speed and scale. The achievements of forty years of economic reform have been completely eroded. Politically, the country is experiencing a “Cultural Revolution 2.0,” reminiscent of Mao Zedong’s era. Social morals have decayed, and the collapse of Chinese society and the sudden fall of the CCP’s autocratic regime seem imminent. This represents a political opportunity for significant change in China.

    Coincidentally, the world is also beginning to regress and retreat. The United States, once a post-war beacon of democracy, freedom, and civilization respected and admired worldwide, has morally collapsed. Justice in the world is severely lacking, and the world is rapidly plunging into an abyss. This outcome is a result of the global trend, driven by the development and evolution of the world socialist and communist movements, spurred by malevolent forces, beyond human ability to reverse.

    Where is the world headed? There is a sense that God has already issued a warning. If humanity does not awaken and change its course, the angry God may once again unleash a great flood to prevent human depravity.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 23:40

  • These Are The 10 Deadliest Animals For Humans
    These Are The 10 Deadliest Animals For Humans

    While running into wild animals in a forest can seem like the worst situation for humans, there are plenty of other animals that are far deadlier than large predators.

    Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao ranks the top 10 deadliest animals by the number of people killed per year.

    Data for this visualization and article is sourced from BBC Science Focus.

    Spreaders of Diseases are Deadliest for Humans

    Mosquitoes, of course, are the reigning champions on the toll they take on humans. Every year they kill more than 700,000 people through a multitude of deadly diseases—dengue, yellow fever, and malaria.

    By some estimates, mosquitoes are responsible for the deaths of half of all the humans that have ever lived.

    Meanwhile, humans are (almost) their own worst enemies. Every year, nearly 400,000 homicides take place, making humans the second-deadliest animal for other human beings. And this doesn’t account for all the human-caused accidents that result in fatalities.

    At fourth place, dogs may be our best friends, but as a carrier of the deadly rabies virus, they end up fourth on the list of top 10 deadliest animals.

    Rounding out the top five are assassin bugs, which spread the parasite that causes Chagas disease, a condition that can go untreated for years and can result in serious complications that make it life-threatening.

    Large mammals, including lions, hippos, and elephants round out the top 10. Interestingly, bears kill around one person a year on average and wouldn’t be anywhere close to making this list of the deadliest animals.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 23:15

  • Student Debt Cancellation Is Extremely Unfair – Here Are 10 Reasons Why…
    Student Debt Cancellation Is Extremely Unfair – Here Are 10 Reasons Why…

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    A recent Tweet by Elizabeth Warren and a short rebuttal to her inspired this post. Let’s take a look at the Tweet and my 10 reasons.

    Deeply Unfair

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    10 Reasons Why Student Debt Cancellation is Unfair

    1. It is unfair to those who sacrificed to pay off their student loans and it’s unfair to those who foot the bill.

    2. It is an upward transfer of wealth. The plumber pays for someone  else’s college education.

    3. It encourages going to college when there might be better choices such as learning a trade. And It creates incentive to take on new student loans.

    4. It is blatant election year bribe to college students and college graduates.

    5. It creates creates a moral hazard for college administrators to sell useless degrees creating another overhang of new student debt.

    6. It creates a moral hazard for students who might feel that their debt should be forgiven in the future

    7. It subsidizes poor decision-making such as majoring in useless degrees including gender studies, anthropology, archeology, art history, music, culinary arts, fashion design, philosophy, etc.

    8. The president has no power to forgive student loans. Doing so creates another precedent for presidential rule by decree. This is too big a financial decision not to involve Congress. The current student loan program was authorized by Congress and contains no such authority to the president.

    9. Biden is openly flouting the Supreme court, another dangerous precedent.

    10. Free money is highly inflationary.

    Laughable Explanations to Difficult Question

    Everything this president does is inflationary. Yet, Biden and economists refuse to admit this.

    January 11, 2024: Is Inflation Down? That’s What President Biden Says

    February 20, 2024: The CBO Revised the Cost of Biden’s Energy Policies Up by $466 Billion

    April 12, 2024: How the Inflation Reduction Act Failed to Reduced Electricity Costs in Pictures

    May 11, 2024: What’s the Inflation Rate Under Biden vs 7 Previous Presidents?

    Any Questions?

    Addendum

    I left out a key point.

    As a Senator Biden sponsored a law that made it so student debt could not be discharged  in bankruptcy.

    Then he was buying donations from the big banks who run their credit card operations out of Delaware.

    Now he is buying votes.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 22:50

  • Seasonal US Gun Demand Slides To Pre-COVID Lows 
    Seasonal US Gun Demand Slides To Pre-COVID Lows 

    Bloomberg data shows that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks are at their lowest level for this time of year since pre-Covid. This data suggests that the gun-buying bubble, which peaked during the Covid and BLM riots, continues to deflate until the next round of Marxist groups spark riots in America.

    US unadjusted criminal background checks dropped 10% to 2.13 million in May. This is the lowest level in eight months, and compared with the same month a year earlier, down 17% from 2.55 million.

    On a seasonal basis, this is the lowest May level since May 2019 and well below the 5-year average. 

    NICS data is a proxy for gun sales because there is no national database tracking firearm purchases. 

    That said, gun and ammo stocks, such as Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. and Smith, Wesson Brands Inc., and Ammo Inc., have positively correlated with rising NICS and falling NICS. 

    What will spark the next panic buying? 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 22:25

  • Toxic Biosolids Threaten U.S. Farmland And Livestock
    Toxic Biosolids Threaten U.S. Farmland And Livestock

    Authored by Kurt Cobb via oilprice.com,

    Many years ago a civil engineer explained to me the wisdom of taking solid biological residues from sewage treatment plants—dubbed biosolids—and using them on farm fields and garden plots. After all, nature intended for human wastes to return to the soil to replenish it in the same way animal manure has long been used to fertilize farm fields.

    “What about all the industrial chemicals that end up in wastewater,” I asked. He replied that these weren’t significant enough to be concerned. I was skeptical.

    Fast forward to last week when the U.S. Congress took up a proposal to allocate $500 million to compensate farmers whose livelihoods have been undermined by applying biosolids—what most of us call sewage sludge—to their cropland. It turns out that those biosolids have poisoned both land and livestock across the United States. The ostensible concern is so-called “forever chemicals,” ones used to make such products as Teflon, firefighting foam, stain-resistant upholstery and water-resistant sports gear. These chemicals are linked to “cancer, liver damage, decreased fertility, and increased risk of asthma and thyroid disease.” They are dangerous to human and animal health even at very low levels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this year proposed limiting certain of these chemicals to less than 10 parts per trillion in drinking water. In two cases, the proposed limit is 4 parts per trillion.

    A recent study of 2,500 human subjects showed that nearly all of them have PFAS chemicals—the formal name for this group of chemicals which number in the thousands—in their blood. Some 1,593 water systems in the United States are known so far to be contaminated. These chemicals ought to have the description “everywhere chemicals” added to their name.

    But believe it or not, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to contamination of biosolids. A 2022 report on chemicals found by EPA’s examination of biosolids around the country lists 726 chemicals. These include chemicals used in pesticides, drugs, cosmetics, and flame retardants as well as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (widely used in electric transformers and highly carcinogenic).

    For many years the EPA has assured farmers that biosolids are safe. The agency is still promoting them as a way to improve the fertility of the soil. (Inquisitive readers might like to know that organic agriculture regulations prohibit the use of biosolids or sewage sludge of any kind.)

    The biosolids issue demonstrates clearly why the so-called circular economy is an impossibility in a modern industrial society. The chemicals produced by the modern economy are too many—over 150,000 by a recent count—and too easily dispersed to be segregated from the waste stream.

    That’s just the way the chemical industry likes it. It would be exceedingly expensive to prevent all leakage of toxic chemicals into the environment—and downright counterproductive in the case of pesticides and herbicides which must be broadly dispersed to be effective. And, it would be considerably more expensive to find substitutes that are nontoxic and biodegradable. No one in the chemical industry is going to do either of these things if they don’t have to.

    Ask yourself how many times the chemical industry and their mouthpieces in universities have told us not worry about chemicals in the environment. The concentrations are too small to hurt us, they say. Then, ask yourself whether you want to sit down to a meal of grains grown using biosolids and meat and milk products from animals dining on those same grains. Yum!

    By Kurt Cobb via Resource Insights

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 22:00

  • "This Is Horrifying": Baltimore County Releases Illegal Alien Sex Offender, Defying DHS' Detainer Request
    “This Is Horrifying”: Baltimore County Releases Illegal Alien Sex Offender, Defying DHS’ Detainer Request

    Local media outlet Fox 45 News revealed a convicted sex offender and illegal alien was released by Baltimore County officials, blatantly ignoring the federal government’s request to keep the criminal in jail. This stunning act of defiance in the progressive-controlled Baltimore metro area raises serious questions about their commitment to public safety, upholding law and order, and adherence to the federal government.

    Fox 45 spoke with the US Department of Homeland Security about 25-year-old Raul Calderon-Interiano, who was convicted of a fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault in April by a Baltimore County judge.

    The illegal alien was sentenced to six years in prison, but the judge suspended all of his prison time. 

    Despite federal immigration officials filing a “detainer” for the officials in the county to keep the illegal alien in custody, the Baltimore County Detention Center released him anyway after his prison sentence was suspended. 

    US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox 45 News in a statement, “Calderon-Interiano will remain in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States.” 

    A separate Fox 45 investigation found that Baltimore County officials regularly ignore detainer requests from the federal government to keep illegal aliens in custody.

    ICE data shows the county ignored about 70% of detainers in 2023.

    Del. Nino Mangione, R-Baltimore County, responded to the Fox 45 report, saying, “This is a horrifying, disgusting and outrageous story about how flawed our immigration system is.” 

    Mangione continued: 

    “This is yet another example of a question being asked too often, why in the hell is a person like this in our county and how did they get into our country to begin with?  And the irresponsible action of the Office of Refugee Resettlement is mind blowing to me.

    “What we need at ICE is an Office of Immediate and Permanent Deportation to remove these people from our country permanently. 

    “We have a liberal Democrat crisis that has been created by those who have no respect for the rule of law, border security, human decency, or the safety and security of American citizens.  Yet, the Democrats sit on their hands, make excuses, and do nothing year after year.

    This is their fault and their fault alone!” 

    There is absolutely no logical reason for the progressive county to let this illegal alien. Not one.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 21:35

  • OPEC+ Switches Strategy To Defend Market Share
    OPEC+ Switches Strategy To Defend Market Share

    By John Kemp, senior energy analyst

    Oil futures prices have fallen to the lowest level for four months and calendar spreads have slumped after OPEC⁺ ministers signalled their intention to start increasing production from the fourth quarter of 2024.

    Front-month Brent futures closed at $78 per barrel on June 3, the first day of trading following the OPEC⁺  ministerial meeting held on June 2, up just $2 per barrel compared with the same time last year.

    Brent’s six-month spread slumped to a backwardation of $1.50 per barrel (56th percentile for all months since 2000) from an average of $2.85 (78th percentile) in May and $4.86 (95th percentile) in April.

    Inter-month spreads for the remainder of 2024 and through 2025 have all softened as traders anticipate increasing OPEC⁺ production will eliminate any threat of shortages or a fall in inventories.

    Following a hybrid meeting held in Riyadh and online, OPEC⁺ announced voluntary output cuts amounting to 2.2 million barrels per day (b/d) would be extended until the end of September 2024. But the cuts will then be gradually phased out on a monthly basis over the final quarter of 2024 and the first three quarters of 2025.

    The planned production increases are subject to the caveat it can be “paused or reversed subject to market conditions”, ministers said. But it is nonetheless an enormous increment – equivalent to roughly 18 months of normal growth in global oil consumption.

    Inevitably, prices have fallen.

    STRATEGY SHIFT

    The scheduled production increases mark a change of strategy by OPEC⁺, led by Saudi Arabia, which had previously focused on depleting excess inventories and driving prices towards $100 per barrel.

    Instead, the group has switched its focus to stabilising, or even regaining, some of the market share it has lost in the last two years to rival producers in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Guyana.

    Repeated official and voluntary production cuts by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC⁺ members have failed to lift prices (though they probably averted a more severe decline).

    Instead they have thrown a lifeline to higher-cost producers in the western hemisphere, encouraging them to maintain and even increase output.

    Dwindling OPEC⁺ market share has simply become too painful and contentious to sustain; it brings uncomfortable reminders about Saudi Arabia’s role as a swing producer in the early 1980s.

    The scheduled increases are intended to signal there is a limit to how far Saudi Arabia and its closest allies will cut production on their own to support prices and they do not accept cuts are permanent.

    To stabilize and recapture market share, OPEC⁺ needs slower growth in rivals’ output and faster growth in consumption. Both imply lower prices to enforce a slowdown in drilling, stimulate fuel use, and make room for more OPEC⁺ crude.

    Extra production also implies inventories will be higher than previously anticipated, explaining the sudden slump in spreads.

    The Brent spread for the fourth quarter of 2024, when the first production increases are scheduled, slid to 89 cents per barrel on June 3 from $1.58 on May 28 and as much as $2.51 at one point in April.

    The spread for the whole period between September 2024 and September 2025 slid to $3 on June 3 from $5 on May 28 and more than $8 in early April.

    ROOM FOR MORE OIL

    For OPEC⁺ to pump more, others must pump less, other things equal, and that requires lower prices to force a production slowdown, especially in the price-sensitive and short-cycle U.S. shale sector.

    Pre-announcing increases in OPEC⁺ production is intended to forestall further increases in output by the U.S. shale sector, partly through signalling and partly through lower prices themselves.

    By deferring the first production increases until October, and making them conditional on future market conditions, OPEC⁺ ministers have given themselves some flexibility.

    Scheduled production increases can be deferred again if oil consumption growth fails to accelerate, inventories remain comfortable and prices stay under pressure.

    But OPEC⁺ has signalled an important shift in the direction of policy. Having repeatedly thrown the shale sector a lifeline in 2023, OPEC⁺ is preparing to squeeze it again in 2025.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 21:10

  • Delaware Hides Embezzlement Plot For Over A Year
    Delaware Hides Embezzlement Plot For Over A Year

    Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via RealClearWire,

    Topline: A Delaware employee stole $181,000 from the state’s Department of Labor early last year, but the public didn’t find out until this April. The truth was only revealed after the WHYY News public radio station contacted the Delaware Department of Labor following a tip.

    Key facts: Unemployment insurance administrator Michael Brittingham allegedly stole the money from the Delaware Unemployment Compensation Fund, according to WHYY.

    The State of Delaware hired Brittingham in February 2019. That summer, he was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing almost $43,000 from his homeowner’s association by writing checks to a company he owned, NEWAGE Management LLC, the news outlet reported.

    Instead of being fired by the state, Brittingham had his jail time turned into probation and even earned multiple job promotions while still serving his sentence. The state Department of Labor bizarrely blamed it on the fact that employees are expected to “self-report” criminal convictions in a statement to WHYY News.

    Brittingham’s salary doubled from $35,000 to $70,000 in that time span, according to records at OpenTheBooks.com.

    Brittingham then allegedly pulled the same check-writing scheme on a much larger scale. In January 2023, he instructed his staff to issue two tax refunds to NEWAGE Management LLC: one for $86,827 and another for $94,357

    He was caught by his colleagues once they realized the business’s address matched the one listed on Brittingham’s 2019 arrest warrant.

    Brittingham took his own life in April 2023 shortly after an investigation was opened.

    Background: The theft is just one part of larger issues with Delaware’s Department of Labor. Its $390 million unemployment fund was deemed to be “unauditable” in a state report issued this year.

    Independent auditors took the “unprecedented” step of issuing a “disclaimer of opinion” on the unemployment insurance fund, meaning its accounting practices are so poor that they could not determine whether its financial statements are accurate.

    But the auditors’ report did not mention the theft. Even now, the state refuses to tell WHYY News whether the investigation has been closed.

    Critical quote: “I’m not sure how or why they tried to keep it quiet other than they don’t want to bring attention to the fact that everything is really screwed up,” Laura Henderson, a tax collection manager at the state’s Unemployment Insurance Office, told WHYY News.

    “We would love for there to be transparency. For us to just put it out in the open like, ‘Hey, we’re drowning and let’s come up with a plan here.’”

     The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 21:10

  • In National IQ Test, Biden Does 'We Gotta Secure The Border!' Routine
    In National IQ Test, Biden Does ‘We Gotta Secure The Border!’ Routine

    Update (1443ET): President Ron Burgundy read what is perhaps the most audacious attempt to trick Americans into believing the exact opposite of reality – namely, that he didn’t cause the border crisis, Republicans are the reason it isn’t fixed, and he’s here to save the day.

    A national IQ test, if you will.

    And he’s off! To some kind of a start…

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    Oh…

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    Former President Trump responded to this attempted sleight of hand, saying that “The truth is that Crooked Joe Biden’s Executive Order won’t stop the invasion…it will actually make the invasion worse.”

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    After shredding Donald Trump’s ‘xenophobic’ Executive Orders on border security his first day in office more than three years ago, resulting in what some estimate to be upwards of 20 million illegal migrants pouring into the United States (which Trump plans to deport), President Joe Biden is quietly signing an executive order on Tuesday aimed at slowing migrant crossings.

    Joe BidenPhotographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg

    As we noted on Friday, the EO would slash asylum claims by roughly two-thirds of where they stand today – and would cap the number of daily encounters at an average of 2,500 crossings per day (or 912k per year), however Biden would allow mass asylum claims to resume once border encounters fall to around 1,500 per day.

    US Border Patrol recorded approximately 4,300 daily encounters in April – which of course doesn’t include ‘gotaways’ – those who enter the US without notice.

    The move comes three months after the White House said Biden was no longer considering using executive action to secure the border.

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    According to Bloomberg, lawmakers and others have been invited to a Tuesday afternoon event at the White House.

    The order is Biden’s most aggressive move yet to address the crisis on the US-Mexico border, which has seen record levels of migrants and taxed communities across the country struggling to deal with the influx of new arrivals. A bipartisan Senate plan that would have given Biden similar powers was blocked by Republicans at Trump’s behest earlier this year, denying the president a political win and prompting him to act unilaterally.

    Tuesday’s order is politically risky. It will invite criticism from Biden’s left flank, which has blasted moves to ramp up deportations as an inhumane approach to the crisis. That has the potential to stymie his efforts to shore up an electoral coalition already riven by divisions over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war and overarching concerns over his age and fitness to serve a second term. -Bloomberg

    The Biden administration’s move underscores how the administration has been compelled to act just months before the 2024 US election – as it’s become a centerpiece issue for Republicans on the campaign trail. Donald Trump has been constantly hammering Biden over the border as polls continue to show that voters think the border and immigration are critical issues.

    The Executive Order is also timed to reflect an effort to deter a seasonal increase in crossings that typically occurs each summer and early fall (right before the election), and comes as Mexico welcomes a new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who was elected on Sunday. She doesn’t take office until Oct. 1, and it’s unknown what actions she will take on the border situation.

    In recent weeks the Biden administration has taken other steps to tighten immigration rules. Last month, they proposed a rule that would allow the US to expedite the expulsion of certain undocumented migrants trying to claim asylum.

    According to the report, Biden will use Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act – which Trump invoked – which are anticipated to invite legal challenges.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News Sunday that the move is “too little too late,” adding “The only reason he’s doing that is because the polls say that it’s the biggest issue in America.”

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 20:43

  • The Ghost of COVID Past Looms Over Gen Z Voters
    The Ghost of COVID Past Looms Over Gen Z Voters

    Authored by Sam Raus via RealClearPolitics,

    More than 40 million Gen Z voters will be eligible to vote this November. For context, that’s more eligible voters than the population of California. And while often characterized as extremely progressive, college kids could shock Boomers with their presidential ballots. This fall, the iPhone generation might ultimately seek accountability for the leaders responsible for school closures, social distancing, and vaccine mandates.

    As mainstream media zeroes in on Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money case, figures like Anthony Fauci, Andrew Cuomo, Phil Murphy and Gavin Newsom are largely let off the hook. Pandemic memories have taken a back seat to hot-button issues including abortion, the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the Ukraine-Russia war, immigration, Trump’s and Biden’s personal struggles, and economics. But the social and academic fallout of “Zoom University” lingers in young voters’ minds as they see graduations canceled and cities littered by protestors yet again.

    Reckoning with the COVID era offers an opportunity for leadership in 2024. While the Dobbs decision overshadowed pandemic policies in the 2022 midterms, this fall, elected officials should highlight the fallout of quarantine regulations, emphasizing the lasting impact of prolonged social isolation, financially irresponsible aid packages, and more.

    Over the past year, Congress revisited the stain left on America by the pandemic. Once deemed a conspiracy theory, information on the potential Wuhan lab origins of the coronavirus was declassified last year after President Biden signed Sen. Josh Hawley’s unanimously passed COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023. This past week, legislation introduced by Sen. Eric Schmitt, Rep. Troy Balderson, and Rep. Kevin Hern aims to review the misallocation of COVID relief money by the Department of Treasury in response to inflation concerns. A bipartisan bill by Sen. Gary Peters seeks to create a permanent “Government Spending Oversight Committee” to replace the temporary “Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.”

    While news headlines and social media overlook the by-products of COVID-19, legislators from both parties seem engaged in discussions over the fiscal mismanagement and various socioeconomic consequences of closing life as we knew it. Although foreign relations and culture wars are expected to dominate voters’ attention, Americans remember what happened only yesterday, particularly those who saw formative years ripped away by pandemic politics. Legislators up for reelection in November would be wise to pick up on this and call for accountability for COVID-19 failures and transparency going forward.

    Biden likely will frame his administration as a “return to normal,” given that he took office as vaccines began to roll out for the elderly and lockdown restrictions eased across the country. Nevertheless, the White House strikes no distance from Democratic governors such as Gov. Newsom and Gov. Murphy who endorsed school closures and vaccine mandates. As the president already struggles with youth voters due to his careful alignment with Israel and vaccine skeptic progressives flocking to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Biden campaign may want to pass on tapping Newsom or Murphy as surrogates this cycle.

    Conversely, Gen Z voters may prove more sympathetic than expected to outspoken lockdown critics like Gov. Greg Abbott and Gov. Ron DeSantis. Despite sharing firm disagreements on cultural issues, most notably abortion and LGBT issues, droves of young people – myself included – fled the Northeast and California for an in-person college experience in the South. If Republicans want to make amends with the next generation of American voters, they should start by emphasizing depolarized topics such as quality education, social opportunities, and mental health.

    Whether they’re running for president or lower office, candidates in 2024 should adopt stronger rhetoric condemning the fiscal and public health fecklessness of four years ago. Legislation is needed to ensure transparency in scientific research, the defense of civil liberties, and the preservation of economic prosperity. Furthermore, future Congress and White House cabinet members have a social responsibility to better question authority, rushed conclusions, and media narratives. A shadow of the pandemic lurks over this election. The ultimate victors will be those who leverage it.

    Don’t underestimate the fury of a graduate scorned.

    Sam Raus is a Young Voices Contributor studying public relations and political science at the University of Miami. His commentary has appeared in RealClearDefense, The Daily Caller, The National Interest, and RealClearWorld, Follow him on Twitter: @SamRaus1

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 20:20

  • Report Details US Troop 'Land Corridors' In Event Of European Ground War With Russia
    Report Details US Troop ‘Land Corridors’ In Event Of European Ground War With Russia

    NATO has a plan in place for rapid deployment of its forces in the scenario of a future Russian attack on Europe. It includes the development of “land corridors” which can be used to rush some 300,000 troops — mostly American soldiers — to front line positions in order to defend against a Russian invasion.

    High-ranking British military sources described to the Telegraph that the plan entails troops landing at key European ports whereupon they would move east along pre-planned routes to counter potential Russian attacks.

    Lt. Gen. Alexander Sollfrank, chief of NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC), described to the UK publication, “Huge logistics bases, as we know them from Afghanistan and Iraq, are no longer possible because they will be attacked and destroyed very early on in a conflict situation.”

    Port of Rotterdam file image, identified as a key arrival point for US troops in event of major war in Europe.

    The logistics and troop transport corridors would originate in places like Greece, Italy, Turkey, The Netherlands, Norway – and the port of Rotterdam, a key northern European hub, is specifically named. Lines like the Germany-Poland railway are also mentioned in the report – all of which would theoretically allow rapid deployment of US forces to any NATO territory being threatened (based on Article 5 common defense).

    Separate alarmist reports in UK media have been warning that the West should prepare for war with Russia at some point in the next two decades, connected with ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

    For example, a prior March report in The Telegraph claimed that President Putin has a “paranoid obsession” with stoking conflict and provoking Western allies.

    “Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has secured his historic fifth term in office, it is patently clear that he will devote his next six-year spell at the Kremlin to pursuing his paranoid obsession of confronting the West,” that prior stated.

    As for the Telegraph’s latest Tuesday revelation of the NATO land corridors — with the somewhat loud and sensationalist headline of “Nato land corridors could rush US troops to front line in event of European war” — the reality is that big picture contingency plans like this have been on US and NATO planners’ shelves since the Cold War.

    But without doubt they are getting dusted off amid the continued escalation of the Ukraine proxy war…

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    According to some of the further planning details laid out by The Telegraph and its military sources:

    If Nato forces entering from the Netherlands are hit by Russian bombardment, or northern European ports destroyed, the alliance is set to shift focus to ports in Italy, Greece and Turkey. From Italian ports, US troops could be carried via land through Slovenia, Croatia to Hungary, which shares a border with Ukraine.

    Similar plans exist to transport forces from Turkish and Greek ports through Bulgaria and Romania to reach the alliance’s eastern flank. Plans are also being drawn up to transport troops via ports in the Balkans, as well as through Norway, Sweden and Finland.

    Lt Gen Sollfrank was further quoted as saying, “Ukraine suffers very much from these Russian long-range missile attacks on the logistic systems” – underscoring the importance of troop movements which would be out of reach of Russian systems.

    The report includes visuals tracking ‘land corridors’ for Western troops en route to confront Russian forces in a future scenario…

    Source: The Telegraph

    In the wake of the Telegraph report some pundits are saying this means WW3 is “starting now”… and while indeed at this point the world could already be witnessing the beginning phases (especially when historians look back), there’s yet some escalatory steps remaining before missiles start flying over Europe. Hopefully saner minds prevail, even if at the last minute (though we don’t have a lot of faith in this).

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 19:56

  • The Apartment Construction Boom Ends, Major Economic Impact Ahead
    The Apartment Construction Boom Ends, Major Economic Impact Ahead

    By Mish Shedlock of Mishtalk

    Interest rates are too high for many projects to start. Some started projects are in trouble. Let’s discuss the ramifications.

    The Wall Street Journal reports Developers Sit on Empty Lots After Historic Apartment Boom

    During the biggest apartment construction boom in decades, a growing number of developers can’t make the numbers work to get started on their project, or can’t get the money to complete them. Higher interest rates, tighter lending conditions and flattening rents in parts of the country have left property companies from California to Florida waiting for financing that might not come soon.

    The amount of time the average apartment project spends between construction authorization and when construction begins has risen to nearly 500 days, a 45% increase from 2019, according to property data firm Yardi Matrix.

    “We certainly are seeing a decline in construction,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “Deals and financing have dried up.”

    Some decline was inevitable. About half a million new apartments opened in 2023, the most in 40 years. Based on what is already under construction, analysts expect a similar number to be completed in 2024.

    But banks have other issues that keep them from lending as much to apartment builders this year. Many regional banks are souring on the commercial real-estate loans already on their books. 

    “Their current portfolios are getting marked down and they don’t have that much to lend,” said David Frosh, chief executive of Fidelity Bancorp Funding, a California real-estate lender.

    That means developers need to raise more cash from investors to build. But many investors are more cautious today, as rent growth flattens and new projects look less profitable at today’s higher interest rates and construction costs. 

    “The numbers don’t add up,” Frosh said.

    Housing Starts vs Completions Looks Ominous for the Economy

    On May 16, 2024, I commented Housing Starts vs Completions Looks Ominous for the Economy

    Housing completions have surpassed housing starts. History suggests bad things follow. But what’s happening this time?

    Starts Minus Completions

    Whether it’s all completions or just multi-family that matters the most, it doesn’t look very good either way.

    Economic Ramifications

    • Slowdown in construction employment.
    • Slowdown in loans.
    • Writeoffs on struggling projects. The WSJ mentioned several. There will be many.
    • Apartment construction loans will add to the misery of regional banks suffering on commercial real estate loans.
    • Huge slowdown in durable goods needs coming up: Appliances, furniture, light fixtures, etc.

    This is happening as a major slowdown in EVs is also underway.

    ISM Manufacturing New Orders and Backlogs in Steep Contraction

    Yesterday, I noted ISM Manufacturing New Orders and Backlogs in Steep Contraction

    The Manufacturing ISM was in contraction for 16 months went positive for a month and is contracting again for two months with order backlogs falling for 20 months.

    Order backlogs have plunged. New orders are sinking. This will impact employment. The economy is now struggling on multiple fronts simultaneously.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 19:30

  • Dershowitz: Trump Could Fast-Track His Appeal To Supreme Court
    Dershowitz: Trump Could Fast-Track His Appeal To Supreme Court

    Retired Harvard Law Professor and Jeffrey Epstein’s former attorney Alan Dershowitz thinks that former President Trump has a path to expedite his conviction to the US Supreme Court before the November presidential election.

    Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal ‘hush money’ payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

    In a Friday interview with Megyn Kelly, Dershowitz suggested that Trump’s legal team should immediately push to get their appeal heard before the New York Court of Appeals, asking them to bypass the Appellate Division – which, Dershowitz suggested, are elected and more likely to work against Trump.

    “The Appellate Division or Manhattan judges that are elected and they don’t want to have to face their families and say you were the judge who allowed Trump to become the next President of the United States. They don’t want to be Dershowitz’ed,” he said, referring to the fact that he defended Trump during his first impeachment trial in the Senate.

    “They don’t want to be treated in New York, the way I have been treated in Martha’s Vineyard and Harvard and New York because I defended Donald Trump, so they should skip the Appellate Division.”

    And so, to avoid the politicized Appellate Division, Trump’s attorneys should ask the Court of Appeals for an expedited appeal while preparing to argue in front of the US Supreme Court that the Manhattan case was rushed to try and get a verdict before the election. 

    Dershowitz further suggested that the Supreme Court has an obligation to review the case before the election so that the American public has resolution.

    As Tom Ozimek of the Epoch Times notes further, Dershowitz has in the past accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of unfairly building the case against the former president by using a novel legal theory to elevate misdemeanor business falsification charges into a felony by alleging that the records fraud was carried out to conceal an underlying crime. In the Trump case, the underlying crime that was alleged was seeking to interfere in the 2016 election by using non-disclosure agreements to prevent unfavorable media coverage about an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels that the former president has denied.

    Mr. Dershowitz said that Trump attorneys should consider supporting their petition to the New York Court of Appeals by highlighting two issues, with the first relating to the fact that the state’s highest court recently reversed Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction because the trial judge prejudicially allowed testimony on allegations unrelated to the case.

    The retired law professor alleged that Judge Juan Merchan “improperly” allowed irrelevant salacious details of President Trump’s alleged tryst with Ms. Daniels to be admitted into the record, while also raising the so-called “missing witness” issue.

    The second point that Mr. Dershowitz said would bolster a petition for an expedited review to the New York Court of Appeals is that the judge allegedly didn’t instruct the jury properly on why prosecutors didn’t call former Trump Organization CFO Alan Weisselberg to testify in the case. The judge was open to having Mr. Weisselberg testify but the prosecution didn’t call him, framing him as an unreliable witness due to earlier perjury charges in an unrelated case, while the defense also didn’t call him, citing the fact that prosecutors had undermined his credibility.

    Mr. Dershowitz argued that failure to call Mr. Weisselberg left a hole in proving the case because it was expected that his testimony would have undermined some of the claims from another witness, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who testified against the former president.

    “Number two, I think would be the failure to give an instruction on the missing witness,” Mr. Dershowitz said. “The way the judge and the prosecution handled Allen Weisselberg really denied the defendant the right to a presumption that the only reason he wasn’t called was because he would not have corroborated the very important testimony, lying testimony of Michael Cohen.”

    Mr. Dershowitz said those two issues are what Trump attorneys should highlight in their request for an expedited appeal.

    “This is a winnable appeal,” he insisted.

    The Epoch Times was unable to reach Trump counsel for comment on Mr. Dershowitz’s remarks.

    The guilty verdict made President Trump the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime.

    Other Legal Experts Weigh In

    Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told The Epoch Times that he shares frustration expressed by critics of the verdict, including the House speaker, at what he described as an obvious “miscarriage of justice.”

    Mr. von Spakovsky said that the prospect of the Supreme Court getting before the appeals process plays out in New York state courts is not realistic.

    “There are certainly issues that give the Supreme Court jurisdiction over the state court conviction, given the fundamental violation of Donald Trump’s substantive due process rights under the U.S. Constitution in the way the trial judge and prosecution mishandled the case,” he said. “But I don’t believe the Supreme Court will take the case until the state appeals process is exhausted.”

    Jonathan Emord, a constitutional law and litigation expert, told The Epoch Times that he believes that the trial violated President Trump’s due process rights and was “riddled with bias” but that he, too, sees little hope for Supreme Court intervention until the New York Court of Appeals has weighed in.

    “The fact of the matter is that a trial violated President Trump’s due process rights and was riddled with bias, evidentiary rulings that deprive him of a full and fair opportunity to present his case,” he said.

    “On the merits, there really is no foundation for a legal basis for decision because it’s a novel theory of law that’s been applied,” Mr. Emord said of the way the case was brought by Mr. Bragg.

    Asked why Mr. Johnson suggested that the Supreme Court should step in at an earlier-than-normal stage of the appeals process, Mr. Emord suggested it’s because of “exceptional circumstances.”

    “He’s arguing that there are exceptional circumstances that would warrant the Supreme Court to intervene and while there certainly are exceptional circumstances, I suspect that the Supreme Court would not intervene in the first instance, but would allow an appellate court in New York to issue a determination,” he said.

    Short of a successful appeal, President Trump could now be facing such penalties as jail time, probation, or fines.

    Sentencing in the case has been set for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention where President Trump will be formally designated as the Republican presidential nominee.

    While there are no laws barring President Trump from running for the White House as a convicted felon, an overturned verdict before Election Day would likely boost his chances of victory.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 19:05

  • This Guy Encapsulates How Everyone Feels When Fauci Complains About Being Harassed
    This Guy Encapsulates How Everyone Feels When Fauci Complains About Being Harassed

    Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

    Anthony Fauci got the verbal smacking of his life in Congress Monday from several GOP representatives on the COVID Select Subcommittee, but there was one guy who out did them all with some epic trolling while sitting directly behind him.

    Brandon Fellows encapsulated how everyone else reacted when Fauci began complaining about the harassment he has received by letters, email and texts for his role and actions during the pandemic.

    Fauci claimed he has received “credible death threats” and that they increase every time someone claims he is responsible for the death of people all over the world.

    He also claimed that it requires him to have “protective services.”

    While Fauci complained, Fellows pulled ‘boo boo’ faces behind him.

    Watch:

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    Fellows sat for some time behind Fauci before he was asked to leave the hearing, prompting Fellows to tell Fauci that he belongs in prison.

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    Fellows subsequently posted about the incident on Facebook:

    It turns out that Fellows was convicted earlier this year to three years in prison for entering the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and was on supervised release.

    This made leftists freak out even more.

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    Fellows responded.

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    Fauci himself addressed Fellows’ presence at the hearing during a softball fawning interview with CNN host Kaitlin Collins. Fauci exclaimed “What’s somebody like that doing at a hearing about COVID?”

    He also complained about the “vitriol” directed his way during the hearing, particularly from Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, which we highlighted earlier.

    During the hearing, Fauci was also subjected to a six minute berating by former White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson.

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    The verbal lectures didn’t deter Fauci from declaring that the unvaccinated are “responsible” for an “additional 200,000 to 300,000 deaths” from COVID in the U.S.

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    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
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 18:40

  • Queens Couple Finds $100,000 In Safe At Bottom Of Corona Park Lake While 'Magnet Fishing'
    Queens Couple Finds $100,000 In Safe At Bottom Of Corona Park Lake While ‘Magnet Fishing’

    A couple “fishing” with a magnet at a lake in Corona Park made the ultimate catch this weekend, pulling up a metal safe with approximately $100,000 in it from the bottom of the water, according to a new report from NY1. 

    NY1 reported that “‘Magnet Fishing’ enthusiasts lower high-powered magnets into bodies of water, and hoist them out to see what sticks.” In this case, something stuck. 

    James Kane and Barbie Agostini, both from Queens, did just that on Friday of last week and felt something heavy on the end of their line after a while. When they pulled the line up, they discovered an old safe. 

    “It was two stacks of freaking hundreds. Big stacks,” Kane said. He added the bills were “soaking wet, pretty much destroyed”. 

    Sadly, however, the money looked to have been ruined by the water, the New York Post added. 

    Kane, a seasoned magnet fisherman, remarked that he and Agostini have encountered numerous safes in the past, typically finding them empty except for some plastic bags that once contained money. 

    Kane admitted he cursed out loud in surprise. Agostini didn’t believe him at first.

    “He showed me and once I saw the actual dollars and the security ribbons I lost it,” Agostini said.

    “I guess the finders keepers rule worked for us,” Kane said. He noted that the couple called the police but there was no way to identify who owned the safe, which they guessed was probably stolen. 

    The couple started magnet fishing during the pandemic. “We were borded during covid lockdown and I’ve always had this itch to become a treasure hunter … so we discovered something called magnet fishing,” Kane concluded. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 18:15

  • Biden, Trump Test Executive Privilege With Claims
    Biden, Trump Test Executive Privilege With Claims

    Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The 2024 election cycle has resurfaced longstanding debates over presidential power and how much independence the executive enjoys from other branches of government.

    (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

    Executive privilege, which refers to presidents’ withholding communications from other branches, has come under scrutiny with issues surrounding both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The idea behind executive privilege is that presidents should have freedom to speak with advisers without fear of retaliation over the content of their comments.

    George Washington University law professor W. Burlette Carter told The Epoch Times via email: “Executive privilege is designed to allow presidents the broadest freedom to speak and act in the presidency in pursuit of the public good.”

    President Trump has asserted executive privilege before and after leaving office. Two of his associates—former White House advisors Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon—were sentenced to jail for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas while citing executive privilege.

    President Trump has tried asserting privilege over several areas, including correspondence related to Jan. 6, in order to challenge subpoenas of his former aides for a grand jury probe into Jan. 6, over his financial records, and over boxes of documents he transferred from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives.

    President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has asserted executive privilege over the audio recordings of his two-day interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who was investigating his handling of classified documents.

    The executive privilege claims from both have raised questions about when its assertion is legally valid, as well as how much other branches can demand of the executive.

    What Is Executive Privilege?

    Executive privilege isn’t explicitly granted in the Constitution but derives from the document’s general concept of separation of powers.

    Executive privilege is thought to have been asserted since the beginning of the Republic. The nation’s first president, George Washington, refused to cooperate with Congress’s request for information on his negotiations in the Jay Treaty with Great Britain.

    The concept of executive privilege was more firmly outlined in two Supreme Court cases involving former President Richard Nixon. Those cases—United States v. Nixon in 1974 and Nixon v. General Services Administration in 1977—collectively established that Congress could require storage of presidential records, and that the president’s interests in privilege must be balanced against those of the entities seeking the records.

    Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) questions Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Christopher Schroeder as he testifies about executive privilege doctrine at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 18, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court underscored the legal importance of executive privilege by stating that it “is fundamental to the operation of Government, and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution.”

    Since George Washington, multiple administrations have cited executive privilege over sensitive materials.

    Most recently, Attorney General Merrick Garland cited U.S. v. Nixon in a May 15 letter requesting that President Biden assert privilege over the audio of his interview with Mr. Hur rather than complying with subpoenas from two House committees.

    The same decision clarified, however, that generalized interests in confidentiality weren’t enough for presidents to assert executive privilege over evidence needed for “the fair administration of criminal justice.”

    Court decisions involving President Nixon have clarified that the privilege is limited and that presidents themselves aren’t the final arbiters of how far it extends. Rather, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in Nixon v. Sirica, the judicial branch has ultimate say over its applicability.

    What Does Executive Privilege Protect?

    The controversies surrounding investigations into both President Biden and President Trump have illustrated the somewhat messy debate over what executive privilege actually protects.

    It’s a long-debated question that hinges on the nature of the executive’s activities and the interests other branches have in its communications.

    These interests can vary but Congress may want to obtain information in order to better craft legislation. The judiciary, meanwhile, could be seeking that information for prosecutions.

    According to Ms. Carter, former presidents were able to assert executive privilege only “in cases alleging personal liability of the President for criminal or civil behavior.”

    She said that could occur “only so long as the action claimed to be privileged was in the course of performing presidential duties.”

    “Now if the president walks outside the White House and shoots someone after having a conversation about that plan, that is a different matter. No privilege during or after the presidency,” Ms. Carter said.

    Former special counsel Robert K. Hur testifies in front of a video of President Joe Biden at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

    The distinction between official and unofficial acts of presidents reached the Supreme Court this year but with a different aspect of executive power—that of presidential immunity. In April, the Supreme Court heard oral argument over President Trump’s claim that he enjoyed immunity from prosecution for the official acts that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had indicted him for in Washington.

    The court will issue its decision in June and experts speculate that the justices will issue a refined definition of presidential immunity to cover official acts while directing the district court to parse out which of President Trump’s acts fell under that classification.

    Trump’s Privileges and Immunities

    It’s unclear how the ruling will eventually parse President Trump’s activities on and leading up to Jan. 6, 2021.

    Regardless, in distinguishing between official and non-official acts, the court could prompt consideration about how both executive privilege and presidential immunity apply to certain aspects of the DOJ’s indictment.

    Pacific Legal Foundation Vice President Jim Burling said President Trump will likely face an “uphill battle” if he tries to assert executive privilege over communications in his Washington case.

    “He is going to have to prove whatever he did on January 6—he was acting as president rather than a former candidate or a losing candidate,” he told The Epoch Times.

    In his Washington trial, President Trump’s defense attorneys might claim that he was relying on the advice of his aides or attorneys in making some of his decisions. One of his attorneys, John Lauro, has already made this argument on television, saying that President Trump thought he was following the advice of his attorney.

    Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Epoch Times that if President Trump raises that type of defense, he might be forced to waive executive privilege, which extends to White House aides.

    Mr. Rahmani said the special counsel’s office may also try to force President Trump to waive attorney-client privilege. Both forms of privilege, he suggested, could hinder the prosecution’s ability to make its case.

    “For the prosecution to prove that Trump conspired to defraud the United States … they really need to get inside his head and prove that he knew … that he lost the election and that he intended to overturn the results anyway,” Mr. Rahmani said.

    Former President Donald Trump leaves after addressing members of the media following the verdict in his trial in New York City on May 31, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

    Weighing Executive and Legislative Interests

    “Once the privilege is asserted, the court weighs the interests of the various groups involved,” Ms. Carter said.

    “Remember, just because the DOJ says there was a crime does not prove there was a crime. And congressional investigations can be quite political. In both situations, the privilege holder’s rights and the purpose of the privilege must be considered.”

    In issuing a subpoena for President Biden’s audio files and other documents, House Republicans told the attorney general in February that the materials served Congress’ interest in oversight of the DOJ, its ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Biden, and potential legislation reforming special counsel investigations.

    The White House responded on May 16 by telling House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) they lacked a legitimate need for audio recordings as the administration had already given Republicans documents relevant to Mr. Hur’s investigation—including transcripts of his interviews with President Biden and his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.

    “The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal—to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes,” White House Counsel to the President Edward N. Siskel wrote the committee chairs in a letter.

    Mr. Garland also raised concerns in his May 15 letter that granting the Committees’ requests for the audio recordings would chill cooperation in future high-profile investigations such as Mr. Hur’s.

    Supreme Court Weighs In

    Democrats controlled the House from 2019 through 2022, which gave them leadership over committees that could issue subpoenas for President Trump—which they did for his tax returns and other financial information, as well as records related to the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 17:50

  • China's Chang'e-6 Blasts Off From Moon's Far Side With Rock Samples 
    China’s Chang’e-6 Blasts Off From Moon’s Far Side With Rock Samples 

    China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft has collected 2 kilograms (or about 4.4 pounds) of lunar rocks and soil from the moon’s far side. The spacecraft lifted off on Tuesday and has begun its journey back to Earth. This marks the first time any spacecraft has accomplished this lunar soil extraction from the moon’s far side as China aims for a crewed mission to the lunar surface by 2030.

    State-run media outlet Xinhua News Agency reports Chang’e-6 blasted off from the lunar surface on Tuesday morning and is expected to connect with an orbiter before returning rock samples to Earth. 

    If the spacecraft does not burn up on the descent into Earth’s atmosphere, this would be the first time any space agency has collected samples from the moon’s far side. The spacecraft is expected to return to Earth on June 25. 

    Xinhua described the mission as “an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history.” 

    The spacecraft touched down on the lunar surface on Sunday. By Monday, a drill and robotic arm had been deployed to extract rock and soil samples. 

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    By Tuesday morning, the spacecraft blasted off from the lunar surface. 

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    The lunar samples collected by Chang’e-6 from the moon’s far side hold huge scientific value. They could potentially provide scientists worldwide with insights into the origins of our solar system. 
     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 17:25

  • Israel Says Fires Under Control After Nearly 2,500 Acres Scorched By Hezbollah Attacks
    Israel Says Fires Under Control After Nearly 2,500 Acres Scorched By Hezbollah Attacks

    Via The Cradle

    Fires continued to blaze across Israel’s north on Tuesday as a result of Hezbollah rockets and drones fired at the Galilee and Golan Heights over the past few days. Israeli firefighting services said on Tuesday morning that most of the large fires were under control but that teams were still battling the flames. 

    The Israeli fire department said its firefighters were “working hard to protect communities and property,” adding that there was no threat to lives or infrastructure at the current time. 

    Fires burning near Kiryat Shmona on Monday, via AFP

    Over 30 firefighting teams were deployed to extinguish the flames. As a result of the fires, major roads in the Galilee remain shuttered. 

    The fire service also said nearly 990 acres of land were burned near Amiad. Israel’s Ziv Medical Center said early Tuesday in the northern city of Safad said it treated six reserve soldiers and five settlers for injuries and smoke inhalation. 

    The fires burned across Mount Adir, Kfar Giladi, Kiryat Shmona, and other areas. The fire service said it was still working to contain flames in Keren Naftali, which had broken out the day before. 

    The city of Katzrin, known as the Israeli capital of the occupied Golan Heights, was also subjected to intense flames.

    New satellite imagery from the European Commission’s Sentinel-2 satellite showed a massive swathe of scorched land just south of Katzrin. Hezbollah had targeted the Katzrin area with a rocket barrage on Sunday. 

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    On Monday, fires that initially broke out as a result of Hezbollah attacks over the weekend spread rapidly across the Israeli north. Hezbollah launched several more attacks on Monday and Tuesday.

    Footage from Monday evening showed several areas in the north engulfed in flames and firefighters struggling to contain their spread. 

    Middle East Eye meanwhile writes:

    The far-right Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which is also a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said on Monday that Israel should set up a security zone that extends into southern Lebanon.

    Writing on social media site X, Smotrich said that “the new strategy being spearheaded by the war cabinet is going up in flames for hours and blowing up in our faces. A year ago, the defense minister said that we will send Lebanon back to the Stone Age. Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Defense Minister, Mr. Chief of Staff: That time has come“.

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    Over 2,470 acres (over 10 square kilometers) of land have been scorched as a result of Hezbollah’s recent attacks, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority said on 3 June. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 06/04/2024 – 17:00

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