Today’s News 6th May 2023

• Who Helped Overturn The "Pentagon Papers Principle"? The Washington Post And New York Times
  Who Helped Overturn The “Pentagon Papers Principle”? The Washington Post And New York Times

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

  Last December, Michael Shellenberger reported in a #TwitterFiles thread that the Aspen Institute hosted a “Hack-and-Dump Working Group” exercise in the summer of 2020 titled, “Burisma Leak,” which predicted with uncanny accuracy an upcoming derogatory story in the New York Post about Hunter Biden’s lost laptop.

  

  The documents Shellenberger published showed how at least five media figures, including David Sanger and David McCraw of the New York Times, Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post, then-Daily Beast and future Rolling Stone editor Noah Schactman, and Rick Baker of CNN worked alongside Twitter and Facebook’s chief moderation officers, Yoel Roth and Nathaniel Gleicher, to plan a response to a hypothetical damaging exposé about Joe Biden’s son.

  The “Burisma Leak” exercise predicted many elements of the real response to the New York Post’s coming Hunter Biden story, including complaints from influential Democratic congressman Adam Schiff about its “source and veracity,” and public statements from “former senior intelligence officials” falsely raising the specter of a “Russian operation.”

  Newly uncovered documents show the war-gamed, choreographed response to the New York Post piece in October, 2020 — which included temporary suppression by those tech platforms Twitter and Facebook — may have been part of a broader plan to re-think basic journalistic standards in general, beyond just the one incident. This included junking what experts involved with the tabletop exercise referred to as the “Pentagon Papers Principle,” under which journalists since Daniel Ellsberg’s 1971 leak had “operated under a single rule: Once information is authenticated, if it is newsworthy, publish it.”

  The “break” from the age-old standard was endorsed by multiple current and former figures from the Washington Post and New York Times, the two papers most associated with the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Neither of the press offices of the two papers would comment, nor did individual figures named in the #TwitterFiles leaks.

  The genesis of this idea appeared to come from a paper co-authored by two Aspen tabletop attendees, both from Stanford: longtime journalist Janine Zacharia and former Obama and Trump Cybersecurity Policy Director Andrew James Grotto. Their “How to Report Responsibly on Hacks and Disinformation: 10 Guidelines and a Template for Every Newsroom” included the idea of ditching the “Pentagon Papers Principle,” insisting, “authentication alone is not enough to run with something.”

  

  The concept seemed to provide the intellectual foundation for shelving the Post story, which otherwise presented a real conundrum for would-be censors, being neither fake news nor a Russian plant. The elaborate carve-out for dealing with such material is laid out in another newly discovered document, called “Partnership for a Healthy Digital Public Sphere: Opportunities & Challenges in Content Moderation.”

  This summary was sent by Aspen Digital’s Executive Director and former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller to two other Aspen figures on September 15, 2020. Echoing the Stanford paper, it summarized the lessons Aspen Digital learned from examining the hack-and-dump problem, explaining the need to put “provenance front and center”:

  

  The concept theoretically represented a major shift, asking reporters to move from focusing on the what of news to why? and who from?

  Subscribers to Racket News can read the rest here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 23:40

• Class-Action Suit Launched Against Australian Government Over COVID Vaccine Injuries
  Class-Action Suit Launched Against Australian Government Over COVID Vaccine Injuries

  Authored by Daniel Y. Teng via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  As reports of vaccine injuries gain traction globally, an Australian doctor is leading a new class action against the federal government and key medical figures.

  

  Queensland GP Dr. Melissa McCann has filed the action in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of 500 complainants.

  The action targets the federal government, Dr. Brendan Murphy, the Chief Medical Officer, and Prof. John Skerritt, the public face of the Therapeutic Goods Administration—the country’s drug regulatory body.

  “The action will argue that the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA] did not fulfil their duty to properly regulate the COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in considerable harm and damage to Australians,” said Natalie Strijland from NR Barbi Solicitor said in a statement.

  The main thrust of the claim is that the government’s actions in promoting the use of COVID-19 vaccines were “negligent or wrongful” and resulted in personal injury, medical expenses, and economic loss for the claimants.

  “The claim now proceeds upon the basis that the government, in fact, acted negligently in approving the vaccines and also by failing to withdraw them after approval based upon the known evidence,” Strijland said.

  “Australians who have experienced a serious adverse event following COVID-19 vaccination are invited to step forward and register for this class action.”

  Liberal Sen. Gerard Rennick—a vocal critic of vaccine mandates—welcomed the action.

  “Thank you to Dr. Melissa McCann and the solicitors that have taken up the fight to help those affected and still suffering,” he wrote in an online statement.

  “It is disappointing, to say the least, that people are not being compensated or receiving the healthcare they now need due to these experimental jabs which were, as we now know, never designed to be safe or effective.”

  Vaccine Injury Payouts Ongoing

  The Australian government operates a vaccine injury compensation scheme that has, thus far, paid out over $7.3 million (US$4.87 million) to 137 claimants. It has received 3,501 applications and is progressing with 2,263, according to figures obtained by news.com.au.

  The Department of Social Services has previously estimated the government could be liable for a payout of $77 million (US$49.35 million).

  Lawyers assisting patients have noted the challenges with navigating the scheme.

  “We’ve had just under 350 inquiries about adverse outcomes, and they have been extremely varied, but most of them have a condition that has some ongoing impact. Not many seem to fit within the criteria of the six categories,” personal injury lawyer Clare Eves told The Epoch Times previously.

  Meanwhile, in response to the class action, the Australian Department of Health said, “The department is aware of a proceeding commenced today in the Federal Court of Australia by applicants represented by NR Barbi Solicitor Pty Ltd. As the matter is before the court, it is inappropriate to comment further.”

  Vaccine Injuries No Longer A Taboo Topic

  Since late last year, vaccine injuries have gained increasing recognition.

  Previously, health authorities censured medical professionals who questioned the efficacy of the jab—part of a wider effort to encourage vaccine takeup.

  In December 2022, former MP Dr. Kerryn Phelps and her partner revealed they suffered serious injuries from a COVID-19 vaccine and suggested that the actual number of adverse events linked to the jab was far higher than what official data showed.

  “In my case, the injury resulted in dysautonomia with intermittent fevers and cardiovascular implications including breathlessness, inappropriate sinus tachycardia and blood pressure fluctuations,” she wrote in a submission to Parliament.

  Some medical practitioners continue to fight to be reinstated into their profession after being ousted for speaking out against the vaccine or mandates.

  In August 2022, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency suspended the registration of North Brisbane GP William Bay after he interrupted a national Australian Medical Association conference in late July and told attendees to stop forcing vaccines on people.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 23:20

• The Ruination Of Great American Cities
  The Ruination Of Great American Cities

  Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  There was something deeply demoralizing about the recent Mayoral election in Chicago, once among America’s greatest cities. The good news is that the catastrophic reign of a deeply corrupt and crazed mayor, who piled egregiously racist policies on top of one of the worst COVID responses in the country, came to an end. The bad news is that a guy who is arguably worse took her place.

  

  As Allysia Finley put it in the Wall Street Journal, “Brandon Johnson’s victory in last week’s Chicago mayoral race is a reminder that no matter how bad things get, they can always get worse.”

  The city itself is facing bankruptcy but that economic reality is changing nothing about city policies. Crime is out of control. Poverty and despair are on the rise. And the residents who can leave are fleeing. Businesses are closing up shop and 175,000 people have left the city in the last two years, leaving the place at the mercy of people who only vote for more handouts and union controls.

  The people who leave feel a sense of guilt, but the decision is entirely rational. One person’s vote makes no difference and no one has the obligation to stick around and become a sacrificial victim of pillaging politicians and dangerous criminals.

  It’s all deeply tragic. The first time I went to Chicago many years ago, I was just thrilled to discover a city which seemed to combine the best of New York City but without the chaos, confusion, and muck. But sadly, those days have come to an end.

  At some point in the last three years, many people just decided the situation was hopeless and left for greener pastures. Sadly, this put the city into a deep spiral of political disaster to the point that hopes for change and renewal seem to have been permanently dashed. Maybe it will come back to life at some point but maybe not in any of our lifetimes.

  Incredibly, however, this same spiral of exodus plus the entrenchment of crime and corruption seems to be affecting other great cities too. People living in New York City today are grateful for an end to the utter madness and desolation of the lockdown years and the city is certainly revived today as compared to what it was in 2020 and 2021. However, by any standard, the experience of the city is massively deprecated compared with what it was only a few years ago.

  For my part, I avoid the city as much as possible, simply because I cannot bear the Gotham-like feel of the place, with the inescapable stench of trash, sewage, and weed, plus the ever-present threat of crime. To be sure, there are some beautiful neighborhoods but getting there requires that you interact with the rest of the city through its main transportation portals.

  And the bureaucracy of the state in general is absolutely overwhelming. If you own a business with an employee in New York State, you know this. Navigating the endless bureaucracies just to get a basic payroll in place is maddening beyond belief. One agency doesn’t talk to another and has no idea what they are doing. Compliance alone is too complicated even for online payroll platforms like Gusto. I know of companies that refuse even to hire anyone who lives there just to avoid this mess.

  There are two other cities on the deathwatch list: San Francisco and Seattle. You know of the deep tragedy of San Francisco if you have visited lately. The place is an appalling mess and deeply dangerous too. Murder has nearly become normalized as something that just happens. Robert Lee, founder of CashApp and one of the most brilliant young entrepreneurs in the country, was brutally stabbed in broad daylight last week. The appalling event came to be shrugged off by major media as something that just happens, when reported at all.

  I wasn’t entirely aware of the turn Seattle had taken until I visited last month, and found the same thing, with residents fleeing as fast as they could if they had the resources to do so. This trend leaves the cities in the hands of hoodlums public and private and dooms the place to go a long time without reform.

  This is a reversal of the past when big cities would go through cycles of bust and boom once city fathers saw the errors of their ways. That is no longer a dynamic that seems plausible now. In other words, this time could be permanent.

  The city as an institution is one of the great achievements in the history of modern civilization. They first began to emerge in the late Middle Ages with the end of feudal estates and the rise of the money-based exchange economy that allowed people to move and travel without grave danger. The city drew people out of their tribal hovels and created new centers of prosperity and the exchange of ideas. It was here and in spots all over the world that germinated the creative ideas that led to revolutions in art, literature, science, medicine, and industry.

  Cities also created the basis for growing amounts of tolerance, peace, and human rights, as diverse people from all lands and languages came together to their mutual advantage. The experience led to a greater appreciation for the universality of the human experience and incentivized the entrenchment of a new ethos of togetherness. Arguably, it was the city that ended the religious wars, for example, and eventually slavery too.

  The American cities were newer than those in the Old World but especially prosperous in ways that no one could even imagine. American freedoms in the second half of the 19th century led to the miracles of San Francisco, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago, and Hartford. But once the technology of steel and its commercial viability arrived by the turn of the 20th century, New York City overtook them all and eventually gave us wonders of the world like the Empire State Building. Meanwhile, Los Angeles, Dallas, St. Louis, Miami, and others rose up to greatness too.

  The 21st century fall of so many American cities poses dangers not just to the city but also to the host state, simply because of the direct election of senators. The original Constitution assured that cities could not dominate state politics because the Senate representation was not subject to direct election. The 17th Amendment of 1913 changed that. Now the fate of the city has a profound effect on the whole state and then the whole nation. It was not supposed to be this way but the disastrous decision to change the Constitution assured that it would be so.

  There is another factor to consider. People like Anthony Fauci and the plutocrats at the World Economic Forum somehow turned against cities in the last decade, deciding that they really did nothing but promote material excess, disease, and waste. They were suddenly put on the chopping block in the name of “radical changes that may take decades to achieve: rebuilding the infrastructures of human existence, from cities to homes to workplaces.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 23:00

• Australia PM Says No Point In US Pursuing Assange: "Enough Is Enough"
  Australia PM Says No Point In US Pursuing Assange: “Enough Is Enough”

  Australia has done very little over past years in practical terms when it comes to protecting the rights of its imprisoned citizen Julian Assange, who is still locked up in London’s Belmarsh Prison as his extradition case is slowly processing through the courts. 

  This is why it’s somewhat surprising and refreshing to very belatedly hear Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while visiting England complain about the WikiLeaks founder’s ongoing detention, though not for the first time of his administration. He also expressed concerns over his health and well-being during all these years of harsh confinement, previously holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy as well.

  

  On Friday Albanese said he is “frustrated” for not having found a diplomatic fix to Assange’s plight. “I know it’s frustrating, I share the frustration,” Albanese told ABC television from London.

  “I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is and the U.S. administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian government’s position is. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration.”

  “Enough is enough, this needs to be brought to a conclusion, it needs to be worked through,” said Albanese, and also highlighted a glaring contradiction:

  Albanese said Australians were failing to understand the reasons for freeing the source who leaked the documents to Assange while he still remained in prison, referring to the release of former U.S. soldier and WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning.

  WikiLeaks and Assange’s legal team and family will certainly welcome the Australian leaders’ protestations, and there’s hope that Albanese will continue pressing the issue with President Joe Biden.

  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his most aggressive “frustration” (anger) to date over the fact that Joe Biden continues to keep Australian citizen Julian Assange imprisoned.

  “Enough is enough,” he said. Indeed.https://t.co/4Kt0WEyCM6

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 5, 2023

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  Assange supporters, however, are arguing that Albanese is in a position to do much more, but has so far stopped short:

  The prime minister apparently is not willing to use his leverage with the U.S. regarding Assange when it comes to Australia’s reckless assistance to Washington’s preparations for war with China. As many people have pointed out, the U.S. needs Australia a lot more than Australia needs the U.S. in this regard.  

  And the point Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong made about Australia not interfering in the ongoing legal processes of another country has been rubbished by the fact that Australia has done just that in two cases to free their citizens from foreign jails. 

  Assange is sitting in Belmarsh prison just miles from where Albanese is staying in London. The prime minister can go see his jailed citizen, as suggested by Consortium News reader Randal Marin.

  Assange’s plight has largely dropped out of mainstream media coverage, and so indeed any potential efforts of Albanese to visit him in prison would be hugely symbolic and a boost to WikiLeaks.

  White House Press Secretary refuses to answer question about Julian Assange when asked about criticism of double standards in calling for the release of Evan Gershkovich, while pursuing prosecution of Assange #WorldPressFreedomDay #FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/at7lcbYUwP

  — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 3, 2023

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

  But it remains that Australia is a member of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing allies, and thus is always likely to default on the side of Washington’s security interests in cases like this, centered on a famous dissident journalist.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 22:40

• The Perfect Democratic President?
  The Perfect Democratic President?

  Authored by Paul Gottfried via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Daniel Henninger, writing in the Wall Street Journal on April 26, properly describes Joe Biden as “the perfect Democratic president.”

  

  According to Henninger, Biden’s “non-compos” condition should give the “left wing of his party free rein” during his second presidential term, which is exactly what his party wants. A cognitively impaired, not particularly principled figurehead fits the needs of his handlers; and Biden obviously has no interest in doing anything to upset them. He will dutifully get behind his party’s latest woke project and ritualistically attack its Republican opponents as white nationalists, sexists, and homophobes.

  Equally significant, Biden is the perfect front figure for an administrative state in which the chief executive provides little more than an ornament: “A beside-the-point president is the best thing that has ever happened to the progressive centralization project. That is why Washington’s Democrats would embrace a Kamala Harris succession.”

  What I discern in Henninger’s compelling description of a second Biden term is the outline of my thesis in “After Liberalism” (Princeton, 1999), which is subtitled “Mass Democracy in the Administrative State.” In this work I argue that modern Western regimes are not really about “democracy,” that is, meaningful self-rule, of the kind that existed historically in Swiss cantons or in Thomas Jefferson’s concept of popular government. The modern version of democracy is about public administration, in which citizens are called on periodically to give their rulers a stamp of approval through elections (which are now conducted in much of this country without voters having to identify themselves or even appearing in person at a voting precinct).

  “Liberal democracies” have also ceased to be “liberal” in any real sense since that term now refers to the actions and policies of governments run by public administrators and their media backers. It’s now considered “liberal” for the state to approve of the sexual mutilation of children, even without parental permission, or to close down opposition speech, if our administrators decide that’s the “liberal” course of action.

  There’s also a secular state religion that reigns in most Western countries, and that too dispenses “liberal” teachings. When I wrote “After Liberalism,” that state religion featured a more modest form of diversity than the one that’s now in place. In its more recent form, as taught by the media and academic priesthood, postliberal liberalism has turned woke and now urges discrimination against white people, particularly against heterosexual white males. It also discriminates against devout Christians of all races, in the name of transgendered identity, which represents the newest distillation of liberal orthodoxy.

  Political labels are therefore in freefall, and often mean no more than what those who control our lives and consciousness want those terms to signify. Values and rights are also part of the common moral vocabulary, which is shaped through an exercise of will on the part of our “liberal democratic” leaders. Henninger may be actually understating this situation when he observes about policy wonks and social engineers running the Deep State that “their control of the bureaucratic levers today is unprecedented.” Even more ominously, we may now be at a loss trying to figure out how we can reverse this situation. With “passive presidents” like Biden technically at the helm and fronting for woke administrative elites, there’s no real chance of this ever happening. The bureaucratic control that Henninger bewails, unless upended, will likely reach further unprecedented levels.    

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 22:20

• New Israeli Protest Target: Ultra-Orthodox Subsidies, Draft Exemptions
  New Israeli Protest Target: Ultra-Orthodox Subsidies, Draft Exemptions

  The protest movement that’s rocked Israeli politics over the past months on Thursday shifted its fire to a new target: special treatments given to the country’s rapidly-growing ultra-Orthodox population. The growing discontent threatens to widen a critical fault line spanning Israeli economics and politics.  

  

  Declaring a “Day of Disruption to Demand Equality,” tens of thousands of marchers in several cities asked for an end to a variety of special perks given to Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are called “Haredim.” As they did in their successful quest to force a pause in Prime Minster Netanyahu’s supreme court reform scheme, protesters blocked roads and demonstrated outside cabinet officers’ houses — although their numbers lagged earlier demonstrations. 

  One of those special treatments is exemptions from Israel’s military draft. Haredim who are enrolled in religious study get to skip compulsory military service, a central aspect of Israeli society and an essential ingredient in the country’s militarism. 

  

  As long as they keep studying the Torah, the exemption keeps going too. Worse, Haredi men receive public subsidies all the way to the standard retirement age of 67. That’s an economic double-whammy: These men aren’t productive, and are taking money collected from others. (Thanks to America’s lavish foreign aid to Israel, and the fact that money is fungible, some of those on the wrong end of this redistribution scheme are US taxpayers.) 

  In another exception to policy, Haredi children are exempt from Israel’s educational standards. Haredim children don’t have to study core topics like math, science and English, which means they offer lesser skills to would-be employers. 

  

  According to the Bank of Israel, 75% of Haredi women work, but just 50% of men. Two thirds of those working men only work part-time, and mostly in menial jobs commensurate with their lack of Earthly education. The average Haredi family pays only a third of the income tax paid by non-Haredim.

  Within Israel, the dynamic has sparked growing resentment among non-Haredi Jews. “This is taxpayer money, almost exclusively funded by families whose children serve in the IDF,” wrote Yaakov Katz in a Jerusalem Post opinion essay. “Having IDF-serving families fund non-serving families is an insult to these soldiers.

  

  Similar sentiments were expressed on Thursday. “[The Haredim] are not carrying with us, they are not part of society,” 58-year-old Dafna Goldenberg told the Washington Post. “I’m deeply worried that it will all collapse.” 

  She said when she debated Haredim in front of a yeshiva school, they assured her, “God will protect us and we will protect you by studying Torah.” 

  The economics of the situation are growing grimmer each day, thanks to the fact that the Haredim are the fast-growing segment of Israel’s population, with a birth rate that’s triple that of non-Haredi Jews. 

  The politics are intense too. Netanyahu’s grip on power rests in part on Haredi political parties, whose demands for expedited passage of new laws cementing military exemptions for Yeshiva students are accompanied by threats of withdrawing from the ruling coalition. 

  “Coalition agreements signed between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties also reportedly promise to funnel billions to ultra-Orthodox institutions, housing developments, and health-care and child-care services, proposals that have further infuriated the anti-governmental protests” — Washington Post 

  Since he values power above all else, look for Netanyahu to walk a tightrope, with a bias toward advancing the Haredim agenda at the price of undermining Israel’s long-term economic, cultural and political stability. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 22:00

• NATO To Open Office In Japan, The Alliance’s First In Asia
  NATO To Open Office In Japan, The Alliance’s First In Asia

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  NATO is planning to open a liaison office in Japan next year, the alliance’s first in Asia, Nikkei Asia first reported Wednesday.

  In recent years, NATO has turned its gaze toward the Asia Pacific region and named China a “systemic challenge” in its 2022 Strategic Concept. As part of its strategy against China, the alliance is deepening cooperation with countries in the region.

  

  According to Nikkei, the purpose of the liaison office in Japan is to “allow the military alliance to conduct periodic consultations with Japan and key partners in the region, such as South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand as China emerges as a new challenge, alongside its traditional focus on Russia.”

  The report said NATO and Japan will take more steps to increase cooperation by signing an agreement known as an Individually Tailored Partnership Programme ahead of the NATO summit that will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, in June.

  Japan also plans to open an independent mission to NATO, separate from the Embassy in Belgium.

  In response to the news, China warned of NATO’s plans to expand into Asia. “Asia is an anchor for peace and stability and a promising land for cooperation and development, not a wrestling ground for geopolitical competition,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

  “NATO’s continued eastward foray into the Asia Pacific and interference in regional affairs will inevitably undermine regional peace and stability and stoke camp confrontation. This calls for high vigilance among regional countries,” she added.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 21:40

• The World's Monarchies
  The World’s Monarchies

  The coronation of King Charles III this Saturday will be an exercise in pomp and extravagance. People around the world will be following the spectacle closely, but critics have also been using the occasion to point out the cost and anachronistic nature of the institution that is the British monarchy.

  While opinions on whether the British crown is gobbling up or generating money differ, ending the official status of the UK’s royal line would have far-reaching consequences globally.

  As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, in addition to British Overseas Territories, King Charles III serves as the head of state of 14 sovereign countries other than his own – making the UK the most prolific among the world’s 17 constitutional monarchies which keep employing monarchs as representative heads of state.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  However, the fabric of the British Commonwealth has lately tattered somewhat. Barbados removed the British monarch as the head of state in 2021, while Jamaica last year announced that it was also starting the process. Barbados took the step after 55 years as an independent Commonwealth member, while Jamaica celebrated its 60th year of independence in August of 2022. Barbados was the first country in almost 30 years to drop the British monarch. Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago as well as Dominica had previously opted for a different head of state.

  In addition to constitutional monarchies, there are also still a dozen countries around the world which are absolute or semi-constitutional monarchies, meaning that monarchs yield considerable powers there. These types of systems are most common today on the Arabian Peninsula, even though Morocco, Brunei, Eswatini and Liechtenstein also count among them. Semi-constitutionalism – where monarchs and elected representatives share powers – ranges from countries which let monarchs retain some powers next to an elected parliament to so-called elective monarchies, which elect leaders from a group of royals – the governing system of the United Arab Emirates. The Pope is also elected from a group of cardinals, but he is the singular ruler over the Vatican, therefore considered an absolute monarchy.

  Ten countries in Europe and five in Asia as well as Tonga and Lesotho retain their own monarch in a representative function and as head of state. Traditional subnational monarchies are prolific in Indonesia and South Africa, where the king of the Zulu nation, Misuzulu Sinqobile kaZwelithini, holds considerable informal power in the Eastern region of KwaZulu-Natal.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 21:20

• Will Ron DeSantis Actually Run For President In 2024?
  Will Ron DeSantis Actually Run For President In 2024?

  Authored by Roger L. Simon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  It’s likely that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce a 2024 presidential campaign. Les jeux sont fait, the bets are placed, as the French say at Monte Carlo and elsewhere—not to mention the ability the rest of us have to place them on the ever-escalating number of political betting sites.

  

  DeSantis is forming or is said to be forming an exploratory committee this month that allows substantial contributions to his campaign.

  But in truth, it’s looking at this moment like he may have made a mistake and that biding his time, remaining Florida’s governor and waiting for 2028, might be a smarter strategy. In fact, this early attempt might prove self-destructive in the long run, tarnishing his image and giving him the whiff of the loser.

  It’s not too late to say no.

  A new CBS–YouGov poll released May 1 shows the Florida governor trailing former President Donald Trump by a yawning gap of 36 percentage points: 58 to 22. This continues a blowout trend that has been going on for some time.

  This undoubtedly discourages financial backers, several of whom DeSantis already seems to be hemorrhaging.

  Making things yet more difficult for the governor is that many now believe he’s the chosen candidate of Fox News, a network that seemingly has lost its soul (and much of its audience) due to its cancellation of Tucker Carlson.

  Does this mean that Trump has the Republican nomination “in the bag”? As of now, I would have to say yes, even though 27 percent of GOP voters, according to this poll, have yet to be convinced, a percentage of those deeming him “too controversial.”

  What about the supposed also-rans in this poll?

  In order, they are former Vice President Mike Pence and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, tied at 5 percent, and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley at 4 percent.  The rest—talk show host Larry Elder, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson—weren’t even able to register a full 1 percent.

  The one who’s interesting here, obviously, is Ramaswamy. He has come literally from out of nowhere to tie for the lead in the second tier with Pence, who isn’t yet declared and—his appeal static—possibly is having second thoughts.

  On May 2, Byron York, in his Washington Examiner column that’s known for a middle-of-the-road conventional Republican approach, looks askance on Haley’s contention that she should deserve the nomination because she constitutes a “new generation.”

  York quotes from her February announcement speech in Charleston: “We’re ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future. I come here today with a vision of that future.”

  She called for “mandatory mental competency for politicians over 75 years old.” (Trump has already taken such a test and passed. Biden, as far as we know, hasn’t done so.)

  The problem for the 51-year-old Haley is that her “vision of that future” isn’t especially unique, nor does it differ substantially in any serious way from her supposedly geriatric rival, the former president.

  What York overlooks, at least in this column, is that Ramaswamy, at 37, isn’t only considerably younger than Haley, but also has a more original vision and takes things further by advocating for such things as the complete destruction of the FBI and our intelligence agencies as we know them, and their replacement from the ground up.

  He also has far more Silicon Valley-type technical expertise as the founder and CEO of a biotech company than anybody running for president on either side. In a field dominated by the left, this makes him a tremendous, arguably crucial, asset to the right as artificial intelligence continues to take over our world.

  People are beginning to realize that, and given his high level of articulateness, it makes it less surprising that Ramaswamy has risen so rapidly to the top of that second tier.

  Where will he go from here? Defeating Trump is a big chew when he is still 17 points behind DeSantis, although it’s interesting he is substantially closer to the Florida governor in polling than the 36 points that DeSantis trails the 45th president.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 21:00

• Watch: Fist-Fight Breaks Out Between Russian & Ukrainian Diplomats At Conference
  Watch: Fist-Fight Breaks Out Between Russian & Ukrainian Diplomats At Conference

  A Ukrainian diplomatic official has released video of himself punching a Russian official on Thursday. In the rare moment, rival delegations who were attending a meeting of Black Sea nations in Turkey literally came to blows while the war in Ukraine rages.

  Oleksandr Marikovski posted the video, which has since gone viral. It shows a scuffle over display of a Ukrainian flag in a hallway of the parliament building in Ankara. “A Ukrainian delegate has punched a Russian delegate in the face during a meeting of Black Sea nations after his Ukrainian flag was snatched away to stop him from photobombing a video interview,” Al Jazeera comments of the scene. Watch:

  Tensions had already been high at the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) assembly, given that earlier in the day Ukrainian delegates staged a protest in an attempt to disrupt a Russian delegate’s address to fellow representatives.

  Video of that prior incident showed mayhem breaking out on the assembly floor as security guards restrained the Ukrainian officials and attempted to impose order. 

  Watch the prior disruption on the assembly floor:

  A scuffle broke out between Ukrainian and Russian delegates at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in Türkiye’s capital Ankara

  Tensions boiled over after Ukrainians interrupted a Russian official’s speech👇 pic.twitter.com/AzZiQi2B6L

  — ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) May 4, 2023

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  Host country Turkey condemned the scenes, with parliament’s head Mustafa Sentop issuing a firm rebuke. “I condemn this behavior that disrupts the peaceful environment that Turkey is trying to establish,” he said.

  Given that Russia in many international venues has been isolated and essentially ‘de-platformed’ – it’s somewhat rare for Ukrainian and Russian officials to come into direct contact these days. Turkey, however, has been more willing to attempt to get the two sides together, also as it tries to salvage the UN-backed grain deal. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 20:40

• Scientists Found New Psychoactive Drugs In Wastewaters
  Scientists Found New Psychoactive Drugs In Wastewaters

  Authored by Irina Antonova via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A new study has identified over a dozen new psychoactive drugs in the wastewater of various sites worldwide.

  

  The trend of increasing new psychoactive substances (NPS) and the difficulty for law enforcement to control their circulation prompted a study by the University of Queensland, Australia, which was part of an international wastewater surveillance program.

  The study covered a three-year period—from 2019 to 2022—and 47 cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, China and Brazil.

  The lead scientist Dr Richard Bade told UQ News that they detected 18 NPS in the wastewater samples from around the world.

  “In Australia, we found seven new psychoactive substances, including mephedrone, ethylone and eutylone, which all have a similar effect to MDMA or cocaine,” Bade said.

  “We also found an increase in similar drugs in Europe, where there were high levels of 3-methylmethcathinone, particularly in Spain and Slovenia.

  What Are NPS Drugs

  New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are synthetic or semi-synthetic substances that are designed to mimic the effects of traditional illicit drugs such as cocaine, cannabis, or amphetamines.

  They are sometimes called “designer drugs” or “legal highs” because they are often created to circumvent existing drug laws and regulations.

  NPS can be chemically similar to illegal drugs, or they may have entirely new chemical structures that have not been previously identified.

  Some examples of NPS include synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, and phenethylamines.

  These substances are often marketed as legal alternatives to traditional drugs, and are sold online, in head shops, or on the street.

  One of the main concerns with NPS is that their effects are often not well understood, and they can be much more potent than traditional drugs, which can lead to a range of health risks, including overdose, addiction, and long-term health consequences.

  As NPS are often marketed as “legal highs”, many people assume that they are safe to use, but this is not the case.

  It’s important to remember that just because a substance is legal or unregulated it does not mean that it is safe or without risk.

  Why Do People Use Illicit Drugs?

  People reach for the new psychoactive substances because they are able to mimic the effect of already known illicit drugs but lack any legal restrictions.

  “These substances are synthesised to replace banned substances, which means they have a slightly different molecular structure to stay ahead of the law,” explains  Bade.

  “They are generally manufactured in smaller quantities than traditional illicit drugs, making it difficult for law enforcement to control the circulation.”

  The authors state in their paper that they attribute the use of illicit drugs to the societal burden.

  Their study showed that the highest consumption of NPS was recorded around the New Year period, indicating that the consumption goes up during parties and festivals.

  In addition, the lockdowns around the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the use of those drugs, according to the researchers.

  “Harsh lockdowns and restrictions across the world meant people weren’t participating in traditional new year festivities, which was reflected in our results,” said  Bade.

  Types of NPS Specific to Global Location

  The researchers also pointed out that the NPS they identified seemed to have geographic ties.

  For example, mitragynine was primarily found in sites throughout the United States; eutylone and 3-methylmethcathinone were at high amounts in the wastewaters of New Zealand and several countries in Europe; 2F-deschloroketamine was found in Italy, Iceland and mainly in South-East Asia, especially in China; methoxetamine and methiopropamine predominantly in Australia.

  Another conclusive finding was that the most commonly found class of NPS were the synthetic cathinones, which is a type of amphetamine known to induce the production of the ‘feel-good” or “happy” hormone dopamine.

  Overall, the authors think that they have achieved the goal of their study which showed the importance of tackling this issue via regular annual and systematic wastewater analyses on a global scale.

  “It is imperative to monitor the use of these drugs given our limited knowledge of their specific effects, how they interact with other drugs, and the harm they cause when consumed,” said Bade.

  “International wastewater surveillance can allow us to identify what new psychoactive substances are being used globally and how these trends spread across continents.

  “Adopting an annual wastewater analysis approach for the surveillance of these compounds is a cost-effective and ethical way for organisations to see what is trending and where educational messaging would make an impact.”

  What Are Psychoactive Drugs?

  Psychoactive drugs affect the central nervous system and alter brain function, causing changes in perception, mood, consciousness, and behaviour.

  These drugs can be legal, such as prescription medications used to treat various mental and physical health conditions, or illegal, such as recreational drugs that are abused for their mind-altering effects.

  Psychoactive drugs can be categorized into different classes based on their chemical structure, mechanism of action, and the effects they produce. Some of the most commonly used classes of psychoactive drugs include:

  • Stimulants: These drugs increase activity in the brain and body, leading to increased alertness, energy, and euphoria. Examples include caffeine, cocaine, and amphetamines.
  • Depressants: These drugs slow down activity in the brain and body, leading to feelings of relaxation, drowsiness, and reduced anxiety. Examples include alcohol, benzodiazepines, and opioids.
  • Hallucinogens: These drugs alter perception and mood, causing visual and auditory hallucinations and profound changes in consciousness. Examples include LSD, psilocybin, and DMT.
  • Cannabinoids: These drugs are derived from the cannabis plant and produce a range of effects, including relaxation, euphoria, altered perception, and pain relief. Examples include THC and CBD.

  It’s important to note that while some psychoactive drugs may have beneficial effects when used appropriately under medical supervision, many of them can be highly addictive, lead to physical and psychological dependence, and have a range of adverse health consequences.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 20:20

• Want To See What An Out-Of-Control City Looks Like?
  Want To See What An Out-Of-Control City Looks Like?

  Want to see what an out-of-control city looks like?

  Yesterday in Milwaukee, a stolen KIA rear ended a school bus while it was letting children off… pic.twitter.com/N6xSGV12WI

  — Southland Post (@SouthlandPost) May 2, 2023

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  A cellphone video (above) captured the moment when a stolen Kia slammed into the rear of a school bus parked outside a middle school in Milwaukee earlier this week.

  Local media outlet WISN said two teenage girls had been arrested in connection with Monday’s stolen Kia. Both girls were passengers and injured while police said the driver was still on the loose. 

  Before the Kia plowed into the school bus, a 15-year-old passenger was hanging out of the car window. Police said that person was knocked unconscious. It is not yet clear what charges the two teenagers will be facing. 

  A reporter from WTMJ asked an eyewitness, “What’s going through your mind as you’re seeing this?”

  “Scary. Scary,” said Therese Nelson, a parent dropping her kid off at Morse Middle School around 0900 local time. She first noticed the Kia swerving in the distance and then described the crash:

  “I see them turn around in my mirror, and next thing I know they hit the bus, and the passenger was on the ground, and the rest of them took off.” 

  Local media outlets did not specify whether the stolen Kia was connected to a TikTok challenge. A surge in thefts of Kias and Hyundais has been observed in cities across the country. A number of cities, like Milwaukee, Seattle, Cleveland, San Diego, and St. Louis, are suing Kia and Hyundai for unspecified damages over the manufacturers’ production of cars lacking common anti-theft technology.

  However, these thefts are coming at a time when progressive-run cities are going light on criminals. And there’s no one else to blame for the demise of liberal cities spiraling into a hellhole of crime but bad policies. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 20:00

• Randi Weingarten Goes Mega-Karen After Twitter Community Notes Expose Lockdown Lies
  Randi Weingarten Goes Mega-Karen After Twitter Community Notes Expose Lockdown Lies

  Revisionist lockdown authoritarian Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, has doubled down in her campaign to convince everyone she was for opening schools.

  

  To review – Weingarten testified to Congress late last month that she “spent every day from February on trying to get schools open,” adding “we knew that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools.”

  This earned Weingarten a ‘community notes’ correction on Twitter, in which users noted that she previously called attempts to reopen schools in the fall of 2020 “reckless, callous and cruel.”

  AFT President Randi Weingarten: “We spent every day from February on trying to get schools open. We knew that remote education was not a substitute for opening schools.” pic.twitter.com/1qNL05VD3u

  — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 26, 2023

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsIt was so bad that even CNN called out Weingarten.

  .@ScottJenningsKY to @rweingarten: “I am stunned at what you have said this week…I think you’ll find that most parents believe you are the tip of the sphere of school closures…I hear no remorse whatsoever about the generational damage that’s been done…” pic.twitter.com/gVCDgpP3dN

  — Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) April 28, 2023

  Karen please…

  Outstanding compilation of footage of teachers’ union leader Randi Weingarten calling for COVID school closures throughout 2020 and 2021, contrary to her now casting herself as a bold advocate for schools reopening.pic.twitter.com/UcWjfmqpno

  — Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) May 3, 2023

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  Politifact to the rescue!

  Establishment ‘fact checker’ Politifact raced to the scene to perform triage for Weingarten by suggesting that she advocated for “advocated for tailored approaches that prioritized safety needs of individual districts, educators and students but stopped short of endorsing a full return to in-person learning all across the country.”

  Community notes quickly sliced through that word salad of bullshit, amending Weingarten’s May 2 tweet touting the Politifact ‘correction’ to the record. Weingarten also turned off replies for anyone that doesn’t follow her. Both stunning and brave, we know.

  PolitiFact | Here’s what AFT’s Randi Weingarten said about reopening schools during COVID-19 https://t.co/6WgnvSgb43

  — Randi Weingarten 🇺🇦🇺🇸💪🏿👩‍🎓 (@rweingarten) May 2, 2023

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  Weingarten tripled down, tweeting: “What’s false is the community note, not @PolitiFact.”

  Randi would like to speak to the manager of twitter https://t.co/71hVBRAkPq

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 5, 2023

  Of course, still no answer for why her union aggressively pushed for lockdowns at the local level.

  She just needs to add another note to clarify previous statements, endorsing them or not.

  I don’t understand her issue. 🤷🏽‍♀️

  Community Notes are made by the community for the community.

  — Luciana Villanti (@allinthenewedu) May 5, 2023

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  Parent SMOKES School Board boss Randi Weingarten to her FACE LIVE on CNN for closing schools:

  “I hear no remorse whatsoever about the generational damage that’s been done.”🔥

  pic.twitter.com/WJz8xfhw8N

  — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 28, 2023

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  I’m willing to debate Ms. Weingarten on any issue discussed in any of these community notes as she wishes.

  But lets be clear: I would bring video evidence of what she said, the date she said it, and what her union was saying at the time.

  Any time. Any place. https://t.co/SZTT4LqUHf

  — Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) May 5, 2023

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 19:20

• Pennsylvania Amish Kept True To Their Traditions – Then The Government Came
  Pennsylvania Amish Kept True To Their Traditions – Then The Government Came

  Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Among the historic Amish settlements in southeastern Pennsylvania, faith, fidelity, and long days working in green fields are the root of traditional farming.

  

  Together, they support and nourish a community and culture steeped in biblical teachings.

  In Lancaster County, west of Philadelphia, the Amish hold fast with many of the old ways. Their primary means of getting around is still horse and buggy, and they use herbal remedies for many common ailments.

  The Amish of Lancaster County are also a humble and private people (many Amish do not like having their photograph taken or name publicized). Shunning pride and vanity, they experience a particular joy and satisfaction in living close to the earth, free of the stress and pressures of outside worldly entanglements.

  

  Many Amish still speak a German dialect called “Pennsylvania Dutch,” living and conducting themselves in an uncomplicated manner.

  Traditional clothing—long dresses, aprons, and bonnets for women; trousers, shirts, jackets, and hats for men—distinguishes them from the world of “the English,” the term used to denote non-Amish.

  The peaceful simplicity of Amish life has its allure and also everyday challenges and economic realities interacting with the larger society around them.

  Some small multi-generational farm owners, like Jesse Lapp, try to adapt to these influences through “agri-tourism” and diversification into the trades, while still passing their wisdom and traditional farming methods down from generation to generation.

  

  “If you don’t pass on the techniques from one generation to the next, it gets lost,” said Lapp, 44, owner of Old Windmill Farm in Ronks, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated farming community 63 miles from Philadelphia.

  “Farming is not a textbook,” said the farmer, who learned how to work the land from his father, who learned it from his father and those before him.

  “You learn things from your parents, from experiences, what your parents struggled with. You learn from that.”

  However, strictly organic farmers in Lancaster County, like Amos Miller, are confronted with government regulations they see as hostile to Christian values and personal choices in producing food.

  Today, Miller, 45, is at the center of a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lawsuit accusing him of violating federal food safety laws.

  

  There have been financial penalties and threats of jail time over selling non-federally inspected and “erroneously labeled” milk and meat at Miller’s Organic Farm of Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania.

  Miller views the case as government overreaches targeting small organic farms to regulate them out of existence.

  “There are many farmers that would like to continue to be farmers,” Miller told The Epoch Times.

  “It’s in our culture. We love farming. But the food system is so monopolized and regulated that we can’t be true farmers. You can’t make a living on the farm.”

  The Amish in the United States consists of four primary groups: Beachy Amish, Amish Mennonites, New Order, and Old Order Amish whose forebears fled religious persecution in Europe during the early 18th century. They have different views regarding the use of modern technology.

  “The Amish do not consider technology evil in itself, but they believe that technology if left untamed will undermine worthy traditions and accelerate assimilation into the surrounding society,” according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College on its Amish Studies website.

  “Mass media technology, in particular, they fear, would introduce foreign values into their culture. By bringing greater mobility, cars would pull the community apart, eroding local ties.

  “Horse-and-buggy transportation keeps the community anchored in its local geographical base.”

  

  As a population, the Amish are among the fastest-growing in America, with more than 300,000 located in 32 states. More than 60 percent of the Amish live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in local congregations called church districts.

  In Lancaster County, the Amish population is approximately 45,000 adults and children.

  Old Windmill is a fourth-generation family farm on 65 acres, raising about a dozen head of cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, and horses and mules. The owner said he decided to expand into agri-tourism to supplement cash flow.

  “Bigger farms is the way to make a living,” the owner told The Epoch Times. “Everything is mass produced. When my grandfather was farming, they had a chicken house. They had some eggs to sell. They had a tobacco barn right here.”

  He said Old Windmill Farm left dairy farming as it became more labor intense and costly. His crops include rye, corn, alfalfa, and soybeans, rotating with the seasons. He uses an old hay baler drawn by four mules, a hay rake, and other gasoline-driven engines.

  “We don’t have modern machines; we have machines manufactured maybe in the 50s. Some are antique machines as well,” he said.

  A local metal fabricator makes parts to repair the machines when they break down.

  “There are diversified farms” using more modern tools, the owner said. “We’re sort of die-hard” using older technology.

  A typical day at Old Windmill Farm begins at dawn when the lights go on, and the roosters start crowing.

  “If you’re a farmer in the Amish community, you get up around 4:30 or quarter of five,” he said.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 19:00

• AOC And Matt Gaetz Team Up To Ban Lawmakers From Trading Stocks
  AOC And Matt Gaetz Team Up To Ban Lawmakers From Trading Stocks

  Days before PacWest Bancorp tanked from the mid-20s to the mid $2 range in 48 hours, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) – the Levi Strauss heir / Trump impeachment lead counsel-turned-lawmaker, sold his shares in the beleaguered bank.

  

  You just can’t make this up

  Rep. Dan Goldman (D) timed selling $PACW perfectly

  He sold on 3/6, avoiding the not only the initial drop in $PACW but also the 50% drop after hours today

  And guess which district he represents? Wall Street pic.twitter.com/8lObyctnnu

  — Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker ♟ (@PelosiTracker_) May 3, 2023

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  And while there’s no evidence that Goldman was trading on insider information, Goldman’s win is emblematic of so many others by lawmakers which seem to work out in their favor.

  To that end – Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) have teamed up to co-sponsor a bill which bans members of Congress from trading stocks.

  

  The Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act would ban members of Congress and their spouses and dependents from making financial investments. Also co-sponsoring the bill are Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).

  “The ability to individually trade stock erodes the public’s trust in government,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “When members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple.”

  Meanwhile, Gaetz told Fox News that “AOC is wrong a lot, she’d probably say the same thing about me, but she’s not corrupt and I will work with anyone and everyone to ensure that Congress is not so compromised.”

  A 63% majority of registered voters said they support a ban on stock trading for members of Congress, according to 2022 Morning Consult poll. That includes 69% of Democrats, 64% of independents and 58% of Republicans.

  At least 113 members of Congress or members of their families disclosed stock transactions in 2021 totaling $355 million, according to a report from Capitol Trades, which tracks trading on Capitol Hill, and some but not all could be potential conflicts of interest based on lawmakers’ committee assignments. The New York Times found 18% of Congress sat on committees that “potentially gave them insight into the companies whose shares they reported buying or selling.” –Deseret.com

  As Axios notes;

  • There was significant bipartisan support for the issue last year, but bills to ban or limit the issue were never brought to the floor for a vote in either chamber.
  • Back in January, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) reintroduced his bill – dubbed the Pelosi Act.
  • After having consistently opposed such a measure, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signaled she’d relent.

  Last July, former Dallas fed president Richard Fisher slammed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her husband Paul over allegations of insider trading.

  

  “Clearly people have taken advantage of inside information forever,” Fisher told CNBC, responding to a report from Punchbowl News. “I’m sorry to see that Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi and others appear to have taken advantage of inside information.”

  “Clearly people have taken advantage of inside information forever,” says Richard Fischer. “I’m sorry to see that Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi and others appear to have taken advantage of inside information.” pic.twitter.com/v9PmHvCoM3

  — Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 28, 2022

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  The Pelosis have repeatedly come under fire for the trades which appeared to be based on nonpublic information.

  Recall, the last we wrote about Pelosi’s suspiciously good timing with her stock trades, we noted she had punted on several names heading into 2023. Prior to her trades being carefully scrutinized, Pelosi had a knack for minting cash from her stock trades, which we detailed here. 

  In March of 2021, the Pelosis scored $1.95 million on Microsoft call options less than two weeks before the tech giant secured a $22 billion contract to supply US Army combat troops with augmented reality headsets, while in January of the same year, Paul Pelosi bought up to $1 million of Tesla calls before the Biden administration announced plans to push electric vehicles.

  Pelosi being asked if her husband ever insider traded today was literally the same thing as this classic Chappelle sketch… 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/MBYTA0gXsH

  — Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 21, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 18:40

• US Bank-Run Escalates: Deposit Outflows Top $360 Billion In Last 3 Weeks
  US Bank-Run Escalates: Deposit Outflows Top $360 Billion In Last 3 Weeks

  Tl;dr: The bank run continues to accelerate…

  

  …especially if one looks at non-seasonally-adjusted data.

  

  Crucially that is over 360 billion of deposit outflows from US banks in the last 3 weeks.

  And here is the source data:

  SA:

  

  NSA:

  

  How much of this tax related, and how much is a bank run, and how does the Fed know which is which?

  Here’s a question:

  During a bank run when billions of deposits are getting yanked each day, do you seasonally adjust the bank run?

  Because that’s what the Fed did and here is the deposit data:

  Seasonally adjusted: $12.5BN outflow

  Actual: -$120BN, or 10x greater, outflow pic.twitter.com/31wGBuXF4m

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 5, 2023

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  Sure, some of this is tax outflows, but the Fed is just using a historical seasonal adjustment  factor AS IF there is no bank run which is traditionally the case…

  *  *  *

  After yesterday’s massive money market inflows, expectations are that tonight’s data from The Fed’s H.8 report will show major deposit outflows from US commercial banks (despite today’s exuberant bounce in some regional bank shares). Bear in mind, as we detailed yesterday, that The Fed’s emergency bank rescue facility usage remains extremely high and has shown now signs at all of easing…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  On a seasonally-adjusted basis, total US Commercial Bank deposits fell $12.5 billion during the week ended 4/26…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  However, on a seasonally adjusted basis, US commercial bank deposits (ex-large time deposits) increased last week (during the week-ending 4/26), rising $10.92 billion…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  On a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, US commercial bank deposits (ex-large time deposits) tumbled again, down $113 billion (also at its lowest since April 2021)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  That is over $360 billion in outflows in the last 3 weeks… but but but SVB fixed everything?

  And judging by yesterday’s money market inflows, the deposit outflows continued this week (remember, despoist data is lagged a week to money market and Fed balance sheet data)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Large and Small banks saw very modest inflows (on a seasonally adjusted basis) but foreign banks saw large outflows…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Foreign banks saw the biggest weekly outflows since 6/30/2021…

  • Large Banks +$10.3 billion

  • Small Banks +$584 million

  • Foreign Banks -$22.14 billion

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  However, what really matters is the non-seasonally-adjusted data which saw major outflows across small, large, and foreign banks…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  In context, the bank run is escalating…

  

  On the other side of the ledger, Commercial bank lending rose $41.6 billion in the week ended April 26 after increasing $12.4 billion the prior week, according to seasonally adjusted data.

  Small bank lending exploded higher to $30.6 billion…

  

  Small Bank Weekly Change:

  • Small Bank C&I Loans: +$1.1BN

  • Small Bank Real Estate Loans: +$20.6BN

  • Small Bank Consumer Loans: +$5.3BN

  • Small Bank All other Loans and Leases: +$3.7BN

  Anyone else wonder how and to whom the small banks lent that much in CRE loans? Money good?

  

  Large Bank Weekly Change:

  • Large Bank C&I Loans: -$0.4BN

  • Large bank Real Estate Loans: -$1.7BN

  • Large Bank Consumer Loans: +$4.4BN

  • Large Bank All other Loans and Leases: +$7.4BN

  

  Despite today’s bounce, it was another ugly week for bank stocks(big and small)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  So you still believe the banking crisis over?

  Finally, we remind readers, this data does not include this week’s potential problems (as the deposit and loan data is lagged by a week).

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 18:33

• The Suburbs Are Pulling Us Apart
  The Suburbs Are Pulling Us Apart

  Authored by Guy Ciarrocchi via RealClear Wire,

  My wife and I moved from Philadelphia to the western suburbs of Chester County for many reasons. The move offered us the best of all worlds. We would be living close enough to Philadelphia, but in even less time, we could be in rural Chester County, with its mushroom farms, farmer’s markets, and homemade foods and products. We could go back to South Philly to eat dinner on Passyunk Avenue, or choose to eat at a quiet country inn on a back road with no traffic lights – or even streetlights.

  

  Our neighbors were a mix: some had lived here for decades, some had moved here from more rural communities, and some had come here, like us, from Philadelphia. For us, the suburbs were a bridge to different parts of Pennsylvania and the nation. The suburbs were both the melting pot and the patchwork quilt that is America. Our neighbors had gun racks and Volvos. We all seemed to enjoy our community and appreciate that we were made up of differing backgrounds. In a sense, it was the suburbs that were connecting all of us – and holding America together.

  But something changed. I didn’t notice it until it had already happened – because it happened slowly.

  I should’ve noticed it in the signs that started popping up in coffee shops. The occasional “speeches” being made by actors at community theaters before or after a show. The new magnets on cars. The impromptu conversations after Mass. The community blogs that were supposed to be about garage sales and advice on finding a plumber but that started sounding like a Sunday morning talk show – the kind where nobody really talks, they just yell and interrupt. We were coming apart.

  Finally, I noticed it in our politics. Not just the changing election results but in what the campaigns were focused on, as reflected in candidate speeches, in palm cards, and on webpages.

  Somewhere, over the last generation, the suburbs had become ground zero for every societal, cultural – and, ultimately, every political – problem in Pennsylvania and in our nation.

  Think of the battles of just the last few years.

  The biggest fights over Covid mandates took place in the suburbs – not in rural Pennsylvania, where most people went about their business. Not in Philadelphia, where many could walk to stores or order takeout or delivery, as they did frequently even before the lockdowns. In other words, not where culture is more unified.

  The battles were among store-owners of pizza shops, diners, and barbershops and their neighbors, from Langhorne to West Chester. And in 2021 and 2022, the biggest battles came when worlds clashed. When people from more rural areas and those who had moved on from masking ventured into Wayne, Media, or Narberth to buy coffee and were greeted by baristas in masks, who gave them that look: “Why don’t you have a mask?”

  And this was nothing compared to the battles over children and schools – not only concerning masks, but also “critical race theory,” sex education, curriculum, books in school libraries, and student bathrooms.

  Not a week goes by without the media focusing on a suburban school district – Central Bucks, Perkiomen Valley, Tredyffrin/Easttown, West Chester, Southeast Delco, Great Valley, and Hatboro-Horsham. (And, in Virginia, most of America knows about the battles in Loudon County – the Chester County of the Washington, D.C. area.)

  School board races now cost thousands of dollars to run and generate more interest and higher voter turnout than full-time, paying elected offices. (School board members are not paid in Pennsylvania.) School board meetings have become must-see TV – or must-avoid TV, depending on one’s tastes.

  The suburbs, then, are no longer a cultural bridge. No longer a melting pot. No longer a patchwork of people and cultures, with mutual appreciation – or at least respect. They are now the flashpoint. It’s no wonder that politics has become so heated here. The political clashes are being driven by cultural clashes on deeply personal issues.

  When it comes to elections, this is a problem for Republicans since they are currently the opposition party. The trouble is that many people have picked their party – their team – and are unlikely to switch easily. And in this polarized environment, they follow the lead of their party on most issues. And those still undecided politically may not take a favorable view of Republicans, seeing them as merely adversarial to the status quo.

  For a long time, the suburbs helped keep America together. Now, it’s the suburbs that are pulling us apart – at rapid speed and high temperature.

  As Pennsylvania – and America – becomes more suburban, it’s imperative that we find a way to lower that temperature. This is bigger than politics or elections. It’s about staying together as a nation.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 18:20

• Billionaire Buys Jeffery Epstein's Islands, Paving Way For "Five-Star Resort"
  Billionaire Buys Jeffery Epstein’s Islands, Paving Way For “Five-Star Resort”

  Billionaire investor Stephen Deckoff purchased two Caribbean islands previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier accused of sex trafficking. Deckoff has plans to transform one of the islands, known by some as “Pedophile Island,” into a world-class resort. 

  On Wednesday, Deckoff, under his firm SD Investments, announced the acquisition of the Great St. James and Little St. James islands for $60 million, or less than half of their initial asking price. 

  

  Court filings have revealed Epstein used one of the islands to sexually abuse young girls for years. The billionaire wants to purge the island of evil for a new “state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort.”

  “Mr. Deckoff plans to develop a state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort that will help bolster tourism, create jobs, and spur economic development in the region, while respecting and preserving the important environment of the islands,” a press release from the investment firm read. 

  AP News reported funds from the island sale would go towards the $105 million sex trafficking lawsuit against Epstein’s estate, which the US Virgin Islands government settled. SD Investments didn’t reveal how much it would invest in the new resort. 

  Whether or not high net-worth folks will visit the island is a big gamble for Deckoff…

  

  If the new resort ever gets built, some of Epstein’s guests who visited the island over the years, such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, probably won’t return. 

  There’s no word if Deckoff will keep Epstein’s mysterious temple structure. 

  

  The purchase was reported on the same day that CNBC revealed JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon would be deposed in late May over civil lawsuits accusing the megabank of benefiting from Epstein’s sex trafficking operations. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 18:00

• Freedom Convoy's B.J.Dichter: We Live In A Belief-Based Society
  Freedom Convoy’s B.J.Dichter: We Live In A Belief-Based Society

  Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

  The two convoys: #FreedomConvoy and Political Convoy

  “I have news for everybody on the left, you’re the right-wing authoritarians who wanted to censor my video games and music in the 90s. That’s what you’ve become, you’ve become the very people you profess to be fighting against. “

  I recently had a chance to sit down with B. J Dichter of Canada’s #FreedomConvoy to talk about what happened in Ottawa, what the #FreedomConvoy was all about, and his new book Honking For Freedom.

  

  The full transcript of the show is now available, highlights include:

  What the #FreedomConvoy was all about:

  Markjr:

  One thing that was always frustrating to me when talking about the Freedom Convoy, and we’ll get into the whole narrative and spin and media, but let’s state it for the record here. What was the goal of the Freedom Convoy?

  BJ Dichter:  Oh, it was pretty simple: to end the vaccine mandates and to end the ArriveCan app.

  (Dichter had outlined in an earlier podcast with Robert Breedlove how he was pulling up to the border to re-enter Canada and was holding his phone out the window to the Canada Border agent who told him not to bother, his phone had already broadcasted everything they needed to know about him when he was still approaching the border).

  The mass conditioning of the public by the mainstream media:

  There was nothing but deception from legacy media, there was deception from alternative media as well on all sides.

  And no one was being straight with what was going on. I was doing my best to try to manage that and to leverage one media over the other, to do my best to get the story out while also trying to bait the legacy media to cover it. Because in the beginning, the legacy media wasn’t covering it. They’re trying to ignore it, which is one of the reasons I banned them from our press conferences. And I knew that would set them off. What people don’t know is not only did I ban them from our press conferences, but I also sent invites to all my contacts in the legacy media. And then when they responded, I said, “oh, sorry, you can’t come.”

  Markjr: 

  I think marketers call that the takeaway sale.

  What infuriated me about that, when you look at headlines throughout the world, there was one guy with a confederate flag, who was hounded out of the crowd by the Convoy, and there was one guy with the swastika flag. I would pay money have that person revealed and outed because what I think, and I’m not the only one, was that he was a plant.

  It was just so convenient that there was a photographer there getting professional quality photos of this person walking through the crowd. And yet, those two images were on an infinite loop all over the world. They just looped the same image over and over.

  And then it’s so subtle: Suddenly the headlines, say, confederate flags and swastikas — plural. And it’s so subtle, right?

  So it gets into the mind of the masses. They think that this place was overrun with Hitler Youth and Klansmen, and it was one guy of each: one swastika, one confederate flag, and they were hounded out of the area by the participants.

  That was infuriating.

  The other thing I’ll say about this, is when I tried to engage with people who disagreed with me about what you were trying to do, what the goal of the Convoy was, the discourse would be civil, and it would be polite, until one thing happened:

  When I challenged their source of news. When I called into question the veracity of the mainstream media, the conversation turned nasty immediately. So what I found very odd about this is you can oppose people’s premises and you can attack even their beliefs. But if you attack their support structure for how they base their knowledge, they get defensive and they come out swinging.

  BJ Dichter:

  Yeah, it’s because you’ve triggered them into cognitive dissonance.

  One of the people that benefits of all this, is that I managed to connect with some people that have large platforms, people who I admire, one of them was I messaged him back and forth just a couple of times, is Scott Adams. 

  Scott Adams describes this as the seven signs of cognitive dissonance trying to do his best to get people to understand this.

  Once you challenge their belief system,  they jump into one of the seven categories which are:

  1. change to the topic
  2. ad hominem
  3. mind reading
  4. word salad
  5. analogy instead of reason
  6. it’s too complicated to explain, or the ‘
  7. so you’re saying’ straw man

  Which is what you saw.

  That’s what you’ve done, you’ve managed to force them, and into second guessing their belief system, because we’re no longer a science-based society, we are now a belief-based society.And we don’t challenge our own beliefs.

   

  The role of Bitcoin in the #FreedomConvoy

  Bitcoiners were trying to warn the convoy organizers that their fundraising proceeds would likely be seized, when they first approached Tamara Lich, she said reportedly said: “I don’t need video game money, I need real money.”

  Eventually, they found their way to Dichter, who still encountered resistance from the other organizers who viewed it with suspicion.

  Markjr: So how many people became instantly orange-pilled when bank accounts started getting frozen?

  BJ Dichter:

  It’s amazing. You know, it’s just like the narrative poisoning problem with messaging. Once you once you throw them the counter-narrative, either people slip into the seven signs of cognitive dissonance, or if it’s really serious, it really hits them emotionally where it’s important, like their freedom and their wealth, then they switch to “Okay, tell me more.”

  Right. So we got a little bit of that. There was so much. I mean, I spent a week on the phone with lawyers trying not to get arrested. There were so many other things going on that it’s not even covered in the book, stuff I haven’t talked about yet. But what it did is it allow me to do consecutive Twitter spaces towards the end and then after the convoy and leading up to Bitcoin 2022 in Miami, that I had people saying, “Okay, tell me about Bitcoin. How did it work during the convoy? How do I buy it? Should I keep it here?”

  It just really opened up the doors, where people previously they dismissed it, because in the Western world, we’re spoiled. We don’t deal with regular currency collapses. We’re not in Argentina and Brazil, right?

  So what is Bitcoin here? It’s an investment. Well, once the Freedom Convoy came around that hyperbolic scenario that we all thought would never happen here. It’s always going to happen somewhere else. Well, it happened here.

  And now it’s more than just an investment for a small group of people that’s growing daily. That’s why in my discord, we have a Bitcoin chat for people who are new, and still learning and don’t understand and I like the soft pill approach, the soft orange pill approach of letting people come to you and they are definitely coming because of the Chief Marketing Officer of Bitcoin: Justin Trudeau.

  I love the Bitcoin community and I hate the word community. But it’s so awesome and it’s so many people in politics don’t have this advantage, the die-hard politic political people, to go into a space, where there’s a whole bunch of people have a whole bunch of different views on the world, and how the world should operate, but they agree on one thing, which is freedom, sovereignty of money, decentral decentralization, and it’s become this, this undercurrent that allows us all to talk to each other. And I’ve only ever experienced that in Bitcoin. So that’s the societal benefits and political benefits, if you will, with Bitcoin on top of the monetary value that it has, and I’m trying my best to make more and more people realize that and see that and some of them have.

  Iterating for Freedom: The Dutch Farmers have a crack:

  We talked about how the #FreedomConvoy set off a chain reaction around the world, it was arguably the beginning of the end of the Lockdown Era and vaccine mandates.

  BJ Dichter:

  Look what happened in the Netherlands. Jordan Peterson explained to me on one of our calls, he said, the people in the Netherlands who eventually connected with, they looked at what happened in the convoy.

  They tried to look at the weaknesses that were exposed by the government. And they tried to hedge against that.

  They had regular protests, they would break it up, they’d start again,  always kept the government guessing.

  And what was the eventual result of that was the fact that they protected against all the things that we dealt with. They actually formed a party, and they got 20% of the vote. And now they have the political capital, and the votes in their parliament to block any of this nonsense, whether it’s WTF or Neo-progressive, whatever you want to call it, to block any of these restrictions on farmers, because they have 20% of the parliament.

  So they won. 

  Did it work in Canada?

  We saw them testing messaging. And I remember saying to some of the other road captains, people are organizing and saying this is good.

  They’re testing messaging, that means they have data showing that there’s overwhelming support for us. They don’t know what to do. Just wait, let’s wait it out a couple of days.

  And then lo and behold, we started to see provinces. Scott Moe, in Saskatchewan, started testing messaging and saying, ‘Oh, well, maybe we’re gonna roll back. Maybe it’s time to end the pandemic and restrictions.’

  And I was laughing, #nothingtodowithtruckers, right? Because they’ll never admit it.  And I found out from a number of people, there was 30+ convoys around the world, that people realized in various jurisdictions that this tactic was working.

  And this also had the same ripple effect and jurisdictions outside of Canada.

  So yeah, I think it did. The only one that held on were the Trudeau administration. Because extremists only know one worldview, and they’ll always double down on their strategy, they’ll never sit back and think, what’s the other guy thinking?

  There is zero respect. And they eventually, how many months later, was it eight months later, they eventually removed the restrictions within Canada and the mandates. And once again, #nothingtodowithtruckers; just because you think you can hang on for additional six months? You think we don’t know it? It was the convoy. We know it did.

  However B.J Dichter seems to think that the Canadian #FreedomConvoy protestors were robbed of the same victories that the later iterations, like the Dutch Farmers, were achieving. Facing the prospect of a class action suit for over $400 million, it’s hard to see the silver lining:

  BJ Dichter:

  We were robbed of building an equivalent grassroots movement, that wasn’t tied to any political party that we could have maneuvered and found candidates, politicians, groups of people, advocacy groups to align with, to have that sort of effect on Canadian politics, we were robbed of that, and that I will never forgive them for.

  Markjr:

  This brings us back to Martin Gurrie’s book [Revolt of the Public], who said that the fatal flaw in a lot of these populist movements was that they didn’t have a coherent strategy for what to do with the momentum and the inertia and the victories that they achieved, like they could overthrow a government, but then, you know, just someone worse would take its place.

  So there was no coherent methodology to sort of channel it all into and what you were describing the Dutch, the Netherlands. They transcended that. They figured it out.

  It’s early days here in Canada. Maybe that particular chapter went the way it did. But you guys did something immutable, something transformative, really, you set off the whole movement, and that set the entire thing in motion so that I wouldn’t sell yourself short there because it all started in Canada with you guys

  BJ Dichter

  I think we’re right now at the stage where people are, you know, independent journalists, YouTubers are now talking to myself and other people are understanding the nuance of what went on behind the scenes.

  They’re now understanding that there are two convoys there — that what I call political convoy and freedom convoy.  And freedom convoy was much larger.

  The political convoy was a small group of people trying to co-opt us for the political class, which is going to happen everywhere. We’re going to have some rough waters for a little while as we kind of purge out the political convoy and political conflict and go back to their parties.

  The rest of us can refocus on unifying and building something with people we don’t necessarily agree with everything, but we agree on respect and unity and tolerating each other.

  Off Camera: Liberal Faction planned to oust Trudeau

  After we stopped recording we continued speaking a while, including some developments around the class action lawsuit which Dichter will announce in due course (follow the links below to stay on top of this).

  However one of the bombshell revelations that came up (at least for me) was that Dichter had been contacted by a faction of MPs from within the Liberal Party of Canada who were more receptive to the grievances of the convoy and who were planning to oust Trudeau by supporting a non-confidence motion in Parliament. It never materialized as the Emergency Act was soon invoked, possibly because Trudeau was in full “seige mentality” by then. (my take, not Dichter’s).

  When the convoy was happening I said that the leader of every Canadian political party was going to end up losing their job over it. The CPC dumped the “liberal-lite” Erin O’Toole almost immediately. Looks like elements within the Liberal Party wanted to do the same with Trudeau. We all know Jagmeet Singh is loathed by his own base and will probably not survive his party’s next leadership ballot given that he’s single-handedly propping up Trudeau while trying to sound like he’s fighting the system.

  See also:

  • The full transcript
  • Episode page for  BombthrowerTV Episode #9: Honking For Freedom
  • HonkingForFreedom.com
  • Support the legal defense fund with Bitcoin
  • B J Dichter’s Discord
  • The Honking For Freedom book

  The interview:

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to The Bombthrower email list and receive a free copy of the Crypto Capitalist Manifesto – or follow me on Nostr or Twitter. My Bitcoin Capitalist premium letter provides an actionable investment thesis for navigating the coming monetary apartheid between being a CBDC-serf and a Sovereign Individual with Bitcoin. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 05/05/2023 – 17:40

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