Today’s News 7th January 2025

• US Carriers Remain A Vital Power Projection Tool Despite Emerging Threats
  US Carriers Remain A Vital Power Projection Tool Despite Emerging Threats

  Authored by Mike Fredenberg via The Epoch Times,

  Recent friendly fire incidents in the Red Sea—resulting in the loss of one Super Hornet and the near-destruction of another—underscore the growing risks faced by U.S. naval assets. Early reports suggest that a U.S. cruiser mistakenly launched air defense missiles to protect the USS Truman, a Nimitz-class carrier. Deploying a carrier of this size in the confined waters of the Red Sea raises questions about the future deployment of these vessels amid escalating threats.

  

  For decades, U.S. aircraft carriers have been unparalleled symbols of military might. Beyond their function as mobile airbases, they represent sovereign U.S. territory, capable of projecting power globally. Since World War II, no class of ship has played a more pivotal role in U.S. military strategy.

  The Unique Strategic Value of Carriers

  U.S. carriers are in a league of their own; no other nation’s fleet comes close to matching their scale, capability, or influence. Historically, carriers have operated with relative safety. Even during the Cold War, when Soviet submarines and supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles posed potential risks, the carriers’ strategic value deterred direct attacks. Any significant assault on a U.S. carrier was widely understood as an act of war against the United States.

  The extraordinary investment in these vessels—with modern carriers costing over $10 billion and housing more than 5,000 personnel—elevates their importance. Their symbolic and strategic value means that an attack on a carrier would carry profound political and military consequences. While a U.S. president might downplay an attack on a destroyer, the same cannot be said for a carrier.

  Advances in Technology and Escalating Threats

  Although a maneuvering carrier in open waters remains a challenging target, emerging technologies and rising military powers pose increasing risks. Drones, in particular, represent a growing threat. In confined waters like the Red Sea, where widths range from 220 miles at their broadest to just 16 miles at their narrowest, carriers are more vulnerable. While airborne drones may not be capable of sinking a carrier, coordinated drone swarms could cripple flight operations and destroy carrier aircraft. Seaborne drones, including submersibles armed with large explosive payloads, also present significant risks.

  In addition, China’s advancements in satellite technology have enhanced its ability to locate and track U.S. naval vessels over long distances. This improved capability extends China’s “kill chain,” enabling its long-range anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles to target carriers with greater precision. These developments limit the tactical freedom U.S. carriers once enjoyed, especially in scenarios involving a potential blockade or invasion of Taiwan.

  Submarine and Missile Threats

  Carriers have long been vulnerable to submarines, particularly nuclear-powered ones fielded by Russia and China.

  These submarines, now benefiting from enhanced satellite support, can pose significant threats in wartime.

  While U.S. carriers retain their immense utility in projecting power, their operations will likely be more constrained when engaging peer competitors like China and Russia.

  The Role of Carriers in Future Conflicts

  Despite these challenges, carriers remain invaluable. Their ability to deliver air support, deter adversaries, and project U.S. influence ensures their continued relevance. However, their deployment strategies must adapt to emerging threats. Operating in confined or contested waters will place greater demands on supporting vessels tasked with carrier defense. Moreover, the increasing sophistication of adversarial technologies necessitates ongoing innovation to maintain the carriers’ strategic edge.

  While the future may bring new risks, the unique capabilities of U.S. carriers ensure they will remain central to American military power for the foreseeable future.

  However, their operational freedom will depend on evolving strategies to address threats from drones, submarines, and advanced missile systems.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 23:25

• Overall Trust In Election Process Rebounded In 2024
  Overall Trust In Election Process Rebounded In 2024

  Today marks four years since the U.S. Capitol riots of January 6, 2021.

  Pew Research Center conducted a poll on the topic in November 2020 and again in November 2024, in light of the latest election round.

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, the poll found that in 2024, voters were generally positive about how the elections were conducted and had more confidence in the results than in 2020. This change was largely driven by the sentiments among Republican Party voters.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In 2020, just 64 percent of Republican voters were confident that in-person ballots had been counted correctly. This figure shot up to 94 percent when survey participants were asked the same question in 2024 (after Trump won the vote), overtaking the confidence levels of Harris voters. Republican voters were even more skeptical of absentee or mail-in ballots in 2020, with only one in five saying that they were confident that such votes were counted correctly. This jumped to seven in ten (72 percent) in 2024.

  It stands to reason that a higher share of voters will want to believe that their chosen candidate wins – something reflected in the responses of both parties of voters.

  In 2020, 98 percent of Democratic Party voters thought the in-person ballots were counted correctly and 95 percent thought the same for absentee and mail-in votes.

  While these figures dropped when Trump was elected in 2024, a large majority of Democratic Party in-person and mail-in voters still had confidence in the voting system and believed the outcome.

  Even though 72 percent of Republican voters were at least somewhat confident that mail-in votes were counted correctly in the 2024 election, the figure is 6 percentage points lower than their counterpart respondents.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 23:00

• Collapsing Empire: RIP CIA Front's 'Overt Operations'
  Collapsing Empire: RIP CIA Front’s ‘Overt Operations’

  Authored by Kit Klarenberg via ‘Global Delinquents’ blog,

  In recent months, a remarkable development in the Empire’s decline has gone almost entirely unnoticed. The National Endowment for Democracy’s grant database has been removed from the web. Until recently, a searchable interface allowed visitors to view detailed records of Washington-funded NGOs, civil society groups, and media projects in particular countries – covering most of the world – the sums involved, and entities responsible for delivering these initiatives. This resource has now inexplicably vanished, and with it, enormous amounts of incontrovertible, self-incriminating evidence of destructive US skullduggery abroad.

  Take for example NED grant records for Georgia, the site of recent repeated colour revolution efforts, at the forefront of which were Endowment-bankrolled organisations. While still accessible via internet archives, they were deleted during the summer. Today, visitors to associated URLs are redirected to a brief entry simply titled “Eurasia”. The accompanying text describes in very broad terms the Endowment’s aims regionally and the total being spent, but the crucial questions of where and on what aren’t clarified. In a comic hypocrisy too, the blurb boldly states:

  “The heart of NED’s work in the region is the need to maintain access to objective information for local populations. Across the region, government actors are attempting to limit the space for citizens to distribute information and communicate freely online.”

  Resultantly, independent academics, activists, researchers, and journalists have been deprived of an invaluable resource for tracking and exposing the Empire’s machinations. Yet, the Endowment incinerating its public paper trail can only be considered a significant victory for these same actors. NED’s explicit and avowed raison d’être was to do publicly what US intelligence did – and in many cases still does – covertly. Now, after 40 years of wreaking havoc worldwide in service of the Empire, the CIA front has been forced underground, defeating its entire purpose. How long can it now survive?

  

  NED’s ‘Eurasia’ entry

  ‘Spyless Coups’

  NED was founded in November 1983, after the CIA became embroiled in a series of embarrassing public scandals. Then-Agency director William Casey was central to its construction. His objective was to create a public mechanism to conduct traditional CIA meddling overseas, except out in the open. Ever since, the Endowment has financed countless opposition groups, activist movements, media outlets, and trade unions to the tune of untold millions to engage in propaganda and political activism, to disrupt, destabilize, and displace ‘enemy’ regimes the world over.

  The NED’s true nature was openly acknowledged by the mainstream media for many years. In June 1986, longtime Endowment president Carl Gershman told the New York Times, “it would be terrible for democratic groups around the world” to be subsidized by the CIA. Past exposure of such connivances meant they had been “discontinued”, and farmed out to NED. Several high-ranking interviewees strenuously denied there was any connection between NED and the Agency, although the outlet acknowledged many Endowment programs seemed “superficially similar” to past CIA operations.

  At this time, NED was hard at work killing off Communism in the Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact, and Yugoslavia. This included for instance enormous investment in Poland’s famous Solidarity trade union, which became a global emblem of anti-Communist resistance. In September 1991, the Washington Post published a highly laudatory appraisal of these efforts, stating the “political miracles” the Endowment achieved in the former Soviet sphere had ushered in a “new world of spyless coups” and “innocence abroad”:

  “The old era of covert action is dead. The world doesn’t run in secret anymore. We are now living in the age of Overt Action…When such activities are done overtly, the flap potential is close to zero. Openness is its own protection. Covert funding for these groups would have been the kiss of death, if discovered. Overt funding, it would seem, has been a kiss of life.”

  NED proceeded to take down a number of governments throughout the 1990s and 2000s, very overtly. In many cases, mainstream outlets published highly revealing accounts detailing precisely how. In Ukraine in November 2004, Endowment-trained and bankrolled activists forced a rerun of that year’s presidential election to install a pro-Western puppet. As The Guardian jubilantly reported, the entire effort was “an American creation” and “sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in Western branding and mass marketing,” which had been repeatedly deployed in the new millennium to “topple unsavoury regimes”:

  “Funded and organised by the US government, deploying US consultancies, pollsters, diplomats, the two big American parties and US non-government organisations…the operation – engineering democracy through the ballot box and civil disobedience – is now so slick that the methods have matured into a template for winning other people’s elections.”

  ‘Kiss of Death’

  The next year, USAID published a glossy magazine, Democracy Rising, bragging extensively about how it and NED were fundamental to a wave of insurrectionary upheaval in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere during the first years of the 21st century. Fast forward to February 2014, and Ukraine’s government once again fell victim to an Endowment-orchestrated coup, in the form of the Maidan ‘revolution’. Yet, the media either ignored the irrefutable US role in fomenting the upheaval, or dismissed the proposition as “Russian disinformation” or conspiracy theory.

  

  This is despite; contemporary polls never showing majority Ukrainian support for the Maidan protests; ousted President Viktor Yanukovych remaining the most popular politician in the country until his last day in office; every actor at Maidan’s forefront, including the individuals who started the demonstrations, receiving NED or USAID funding; leaders of Washington-financed organizations in the country openly advertising their desire to overthrow Yanukovych in the years prior; and the Endowment pumping around $20 million into the country in 2013 alone.

  

  A Maidan crowd

  This mass omertà, which has intensified since, may be attributable to ever-rising hostility towards NED by foreign governments and populations, and associated efforts to restrict or outright proscribe the organization. The reality of the Endowment’s raison d’être and modus operandi has thus not only become unsayable, but must be vehemently denied by Western journalists. Representatively, a July 2015 Guardian report on Russia banning NED quite unbelievably relied on a brief quote from the Endowment’s own website to describe its operations.

  

  While the mainstream media may have remained silent on the NED’s mephitic influence overseas over the past decade, the same is not true of dissident academics, activists, researchers, and journalists. The Endowment grant database served as an invaluable tool for keeping a close eye on Washington’s international intrigues, and mapping the personal and organisational connections of NED-sponsorsed agents and entities of influence. Meanwhile, the Enowment’s status as a CIA front could be simply proven, via multiple public admissions of its own leaders.

  Whenever protests erupted somewhere in the world and received widespread Western news coverage, concerned citizens could consult the NED grant database and find in the overwhelming majority of cases, most if not all individuals and groups quoted in media reports were in receipt of Endowment funding. While impossible to quantify, it would be unsurprising if dissident voices calling attention to this fact have helped avert colour revolution efforts, disrupted meddling campaigns, protected popular governments and political figures, and more.

  Of course, despite NED brazenly purging evidence of its vast operations from the web, that conniving continues apace regardless – now, covertly. One might even argue the Endowment’s chicanery is all the more dangerous resultantly, given individuals and organizations can conceal their funding sources. But the move amply shows NED today cannot withstand the slightest public scrutiny, which its existence was intended to exemplify. It also demonstrates that “overt operations” with open US funding are now the very “kiss of death” the Endowment was meant to replace. The Empire is on the run.

  *  *  *

  All my investigations are free to access, thanks to the generosity of my readers. Independent journalism nonetheless requires investment, so if you took value from this article or any others, please consider sharing, or even becoming a paid subscriber. Your support is always gratefully received, and will never be forgotten. To buy me a coffee or two, please click this link.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 22:35

• Alan Dershowitz: Lawfare Against Trump & Allies "Worse Than Stalinism"
  Alan Dershowitz: Lawfare Against Trump & Allies “Worse Than Stalinism”

  On Saturday evening, President-elect Donald Trump and dozens of others screened a new documentary, “The Eastman Dilemma: Lawfare or Justice,” which decries the use of “lawfare” against Trump’s allies who questioned election integrity in 2020. 

  Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law professor, told the audience at Mar-a-Lago during the screening event that the lawfare against Trump was “worse than Stalinism.” 

  Dershowitz left the audience with a message:

  “Fight back fairly. Use the law. And I can help you do that. We can fight back fairly. We can fight back in a way that makes it clear that we respect the law. We will not use lawfare against lawfare. We will use the Constitution and the rule of law.” 

  Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek released Dershowitz’s speech on X.

  .@AlanDersh explains how “guerrilla lawfare” (the term he coined) was used against @realDonaldTrump, and how it was “worse than Stalinism” (he explains why in detail), and how those harmed should “fight back fairly” within the bounds of the constitution—all while Trump looks on,… pic.twitter.com/401l7jdU79

  — Jan Jekielek (@JanJekielek) January 5, 2025

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

  An earlier note titled “In New Film, Former Trump Attorney Details Struggles of Conservative Lawyers” by Epoch’s Emel Akan provided more color into the new film… 

  In a new documentary, constitutional scholar John Eastman argues that in recent years, the United States has seen the rise of a “two-tiered justice system” in which the legal system has unfairly targeted lawyers representing conservative clients.

  In the new film “The Eastman Dilemma: Lawfare or Justice,” he argues that lawyers who defended President Donald Trump and other conservative figures after the 2020 election faced harsh penalties for questioning election integrity—penalties he believes would not be applied if those on the left made similar claims.

  Eastman, a former law professor, gained national attention for advising Trump on constitutional challenges to election procedures in several key battleground states following the 2020 presidential election. He has faced both disbarment and criminal charges related to his role.

  The documentary, which will premiere on Jan. 4 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, aims to shed light on the problems he and other lawyers have faced.

  Alongside Eastman, the movie also features Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law professor, and Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice Department official in the Trump administration.

  “For the last three years, everybody that was involved in raising the serious challenge to illegality in the 2020 election has been targeted for lawfare, criminal prosecutions, and bar disbarment proceedings,” Eastman told The Epoch Times.

  He posits that the goal of these efforts has been not only to get lawyers disbarred but also send a message so that no one will dare take on such challenges in the future.

  “The purpose of the movie is to expose that lawfare, but also to put together a brief summary of the evidence of illegality that occurred in the 2020 election, so people can know that we weren’t making this stuff up,” Eastman said.

  He calls these actions against him and other lawyers “unjustified and unprecedented.”

  “I’d like Americans to understand that what we did was in defense of the Constitution,” Eastman said. “I want people to learn about it and to come away angry, so that it never happens again.”

  In 2020, he was invited to join an election integrity working group organized at Trump’s request. The group was formed in anticipation of post-election litigation related to the presidential race. On Dec. 6, 2020, Eastman received a formal engagement letter for legal services defining the scope of the agreement.

  Eastman is facing criminal charges in both Georgia and Arizona related to his alleged role in efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.

  Following 35 days of trial, a California state bar court judge found in March 2024 that “Eastman’s wrongdoing constitutes exceptionally serious ethical violations warranting severe professional discipline” and recommended his disbarment.

  Judge Yvette Roland ruled that Eastman, who had held his California law license for more than 26 years, broke ethics rules by advancing Trump’s challenges to the integrity of the 2020 election.

  “His lack of insight into the wrongfulness of his misconduct is deeply troubling,” she wrote.

  Eastman has also been allegedly de-banked by Bank of America and USAA.

  In an interview in April 2024, Eastman told The Epoch Times that both banks had decided to close his accounts and discontinue doing business with him, without offering an explanation. Eastman believed that these actions were connected to his role in advising Trump.

  Bank of America spokesperson Bill Halldin denied the claims of alleged de-banking.

  “Due to privacy rules, we don’t comment on client accounts. However, I can say that political views are not a factor in any account closing,” Halldin told The Epoch Times in an email on Jan.3.

  USAA did not respond to the request for comment by the time of publication.

  Eastman once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

  He is a former dean of Chapman University Law School and a visiting professor at the University of Colorado. He also had to sever ties with both institutions in January 2021.

  “They both canceled me in the same week,” Eastman said. “I’ve been disinvited from conferences and removed from publications.”

  Despite the challenges of the past three years, Eastman says he has never doubted that it was worth it. Though he still spends nearly all his time defending himself, he remains hopeful that 2025 will bring an end to his struggles.

  “I very much look forward to having this stuff past me so I don’t have to devote nearly full time to defending myself.”

  “The Eastman Dilemma: Lawfare or Justice” will be released on Jan. 6. Between 400 and 500 guests are expected to attend the film premiere event at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 4.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 22:10

• Mike Pence's Role In J6
  Mike Pence’s Role In J6

  Authored by Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke via TruthOverNews.org,

  Most of us have known all along that the January 6th Insurrection narrative was a hoax – albeit a very effective one – that was perpetrated by the Left. But there’s someone else whose actions on that fateful day have escaped the close scrutiny they deserve. A man whose seemingly perfectly-timed actions may have played a greater role in the events of that day than any other single individual.

  We’re talking, of course, about the actions of Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence. While many know that Pence later played down allegations of voter fraud and certified Biden’s Presidency, few are fully aware of Pence’s actions on and leading up to that fateful day.

  

  On Dec. 22, 2020, Pence spoke at a Turning Point USA event in West Palm Beach where he told the crowd that “as our election contest continues, I’ll make you a promise. We’re going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. We’re going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out. We’re going to win Georgia, we’re going to save America and we’ll never stop fighting to make America great again. You watch.”

  But Pence wasn’t done firing up supporters of President Trump who hoped the election could be successfully challenged. Two days prior to the events at the Capitol, during an impassioned speech on Monday, Jan 4, 2021, Pence urged Georgia Republicans to vote for Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler while reassuring the enthusiastic crowd that he “stands with President Trump”.

  Pence assured the crowd that he would use his position as president of the Senate to review the 2020 election, telling the cheering masses that “We’ve all got our doubts about the last election. I want to assure you, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about voting irregularities. And I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence.”

  The crowd roared its approval:

  Despite his fiery rhetoric, Pence knew his words were almost certainly hollow at the time that he said them.

  A last gasp lawsuit – that we thought was actually quite good – was filed by Texas AG Ken Paxton on December 8, 2020, challenging the many uncon­sti­tu­tion­al changes to 2020 elec­tion laws in key battleground states. Instead of focusing on election fraud, Paxton highlighted how four states exploited Covid and the subsequent shutdown to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.

  Paxton’s lawsuit also noted how these battleground states flooded their citizens with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring statutory requirements as to how those were received, evaluated and counted. It was a very good lawsuit. It was also almost immediately rejected by the Supreme Court – who apparently wanted no part in deciding the outcome of the election. That rejection marked the true end of any election challenges.

  The day after Pence’s Georgia speech, on the morning of January 5, 2021, President Trump sent a tweet stating that “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” There was no public response from Pence, although that afternoon the New York Times ran a story alleging that Pence had told Trump at lunch that day that “he did not believe he had the power to block congressional certification of Biden’s victory.”

  But that story was quickly refuted by Trump, who issued a statement claiming Pence had “never said that. Trump continued, declaring that “The vice president and I are in total agreement that the vice president has the power to act.” Trump said that Pence had “several options under the U.S. Constitution. He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification. He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation.”

  Throughout all of this, Pence said nothing publicly.

  Neither Pence nor his office made any statement refuting the President’s claim or restating Pence’s position—until the following day when Trump was giving his Capitol speech, which began at noon on Jan. 6th.

  At 12:53, just minutes before a joint session of Congress was to elect a president – and while Trump was still giving his speech – Pence’s office released a letter to members of Congress stating his position on electoral certification for the first time publicly, saying, “I do not believe that the Founders of our country intended to invest the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the Joint Session of Congress.”

  Pence’s position that he lacked unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted was not an overtly unreasonable position. But Pence’s unexplained failure to clarify his position until Trump was near the end of his speech on Jan 6th was an issue. A big one.

  Pence’s statement to Congress was first released at 12:53 p.m. Four minutes later, individuals began jumping fencing located at 1st Street and at 12:58 p.m. a crowd broke “through fencing near the Peace Monument.” To make matters potentially more inflammatory, Pence also sent his statement out broadly in a tweet at 1:02 EST – exactly 10 minutes before Trump wrapped up his speech before a huge crowd of tens of thousands of people.

  At the exact moment of Pence’s tweet, fencing on the Capitol steps was breached. At 1:06 pm the joint session of Congress convened to count the electoral votes. At 1:12 pm Trump finished his speech at The Ellipse.

  Meanwhile, the situation at the Capitol continued to rapidly deteriorate and at 2:08 p.m. the Capitol was placed on lockdown. Between 2:11 and 2:18 p.m. the Capitol building was “breached” and at 2:18 p.m. the House called a recess during its debates over objections to the Arizona electoral votes.

  At 2:24, Trump sent a tweet stating that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” Two minutes later, at 2:26 pm, the Senate called a recess over an objection to the electoral votes from Arizona.

  That was the end of any legal objections and debates in Congress. At 2:38, President Trump sent out a tweet calling for peace in the Capitol, asking that everyone “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

  By roughly 5:00 p.m., relative order was restored in the Capitol allowing the Senate to resume its proceedings at 8:06 p.m. and at 3:42 a.m. on Jan. 7, Pence certified the election results. Pence declared Biden the “President-Elect” with no further objections to the election results being heard.

  Following the certification of votes, Pence shared an “elbow bump” with speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Notably, Pence later said nothing in defense of conservative congressmen such as Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley when they were being demonized in the media for raising constitutional objections to the electoral votes—something that Democrats have done three times in the last two decades.

  On January 19th, Pence sent out a tweet noting that it had been his privilege to serve as “your Vice President these past four years.” No mention of Trump or his family was made. Two months later, Pence broke his silence on the events of January 6th, carefully recrafting his words from his fateful speech on January 4th in the process.

  Pence said that he had “pledged to ensure that all objections properly raised” during the electoral count process “would be given a full hearing before Congress and the American people.” Unsurprisingly, Pence blamed the events of January 6th for “depriving the American people of a substantive discussion in Congress about election integrity in America.”

  The brazenness of Pence in redefining his role was, and still remains, revolting. Why is it that Pence failed to openly state his intended position in the days leading up to January 6th? Why did Pence choose to give a speech just two days before Jan 6th in which he raised the possibility – and the hopes of tens of millions of his fellow citizens – that he would personally step in to assist in challenging the 2020 election outcome when he knew he wouldn’t do so?

  Pence understood the impact and results from his words when he proclaimed that he would fight until all illegal votes were thrown out. Pence understood what it meant when he told the American people that they would have their day in Congress.

  Worse still, Pence also understood the impact from his strategically timed reversal when he suddenly claimed that he lacked unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted.

  Mike Pence knew what would happen.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 21:45

• Bannon Goes Off On Musk Over "Social Credit Score" Changes On X
  Bannon Goes Off On Musk Over “Social Credit Score” Changes On X

  To say Steve Bannon is not a fan of Elon Musk would be putting it lightly.

  

  In 2023, the former White House chief strategist suggested that Musk is a “total and complete phony,” who is “owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Chinese Communist Party.”

  Then last week, after Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy sparked a firestorm of criticism over H-1B visas, Bannon said that Musk and other tech companies utilizing H-1B labor “want a tech feudalism.”

  And on Saturday, Bannon suggested that Musk has “masters in Beijing” during a Sunday episode of WarRoom in which Bannon discussed Musk’s decision to change the algorithm on X to reduce “negativity.”

  “This is the CCP. This is a social credit score,” said Bannon, adding “He’s got a glass jaw…he’s got the maturity of an 11-year-old. It’s obvious, he can’t take criticism.”

  Musk’s Hypocrisy: X will Alter Algorithm to Suppress “Negativity,” Joe Allen Reports @JOEBOTxyz pic.twitter.com/bV4BfWLy5s

  — Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) January 4, 2025

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

  “One of his weaknesses is that he needs to be loved. He needs the masses to love him. He needs the masses to love him, you can tell when he’s on the stage, he needs that glory.”

  Bannon then circled back on the H-1B visa debate for which Musk started catching major shit from the right.

  “So then when his apparatus turns against him, and particularly people that cheered him who said ‘hey, we hate what you’re doing to this country, we know now that you’re lying to us, bald-faced lie, these are not high-skilled people,’ and they turn, all of a sudden, he has to go to what is a Chinese credit score,” he continued.

  “They have a digital ghetto. And to only have raised up what praises him. That is like the little boy’s mentally of ‘I want to be the superhero, I want to put the cape on and kind of skip around.'”

  “It’s an absolute indication of immaturity, of not being able to deal with things as an adult. And that’s what you’re seeing being implemented on Twitter here,” Bannon said.

  Musk’s decision to change the X algorithm to “maximize unregretted user-seconds” has not gone over well – particularly among the ‘free speech absolutist’ crowd, which recoiled in shock during the H-1B visa debate when those critical of the program found themselves demonetized or outright banned from the platform.

  Algorithm tweak coming soon to promote more informational/entertaining content. We will publish the changes to @XEng.

  Our goal is to maximize unregretted user-seconds. Too much negativity is being pushed that technically grows user time, but not unregretted user time.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 4, 2025

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 21:20

• The Age Of Debt And Monetary Destruction
  The Age Of Debt And Monetary Destruction

  Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

  If you want to really understand the current monetary system and the risks and opportunities it creates, you must read “The Age of Debt Bubbles.” This is a comprehensive, informed, and thorough analysis of the current global monetary system.

  

  Debt bloats the global economy. Spending and debt, rather than savings and prudent investment, form the foundation of economic development. This debt-based system, where sovereign debt is allegedly the safest asset and governments continue to stretch their solvency ratios, is constantly generating boom and bust cycles. Through a meticulous examination of historical data and trends, this book analyses the risks posed by the ever-expanding debt bubbles.

  The book explains that debt has become a pervasive and inescapable feature of modern economies. The relentless pursuit of growth and profit with little equity involved has driven individuals, corporations, and governments to take on increasingly larger amounts of risk through indebtedness in exchange for lower returns, creating a fragile house of cards that is the root of all financial crises.

  The Era of Increasing Debt Bubbles and Economic Instability: “An In-depth Analysis of Debt Crises, Asset Bubbles, and the Role of Monetary Policy” offers a thorough and exhaustive exploration of contemporary monetary policy, debt-fueled bubbles, and the economic consequences they entail.

  There are two main sections in the book:

  The first part delves deeply into elucidating the intricate process of money creation within contemporary economies while also scrutinising the formation of debt bubbles. Here are some key points to consider:

  Banks create new money when making loans, expanding both sides of their balance sheet. Governments create new money through spending and borrowing. Banks need some capital to lend to the private economy. None is required to lend to money-printing governments. Even economists often misunderstand this process. Additionally, central bank reserves are not a constraint on bank lending; they are supplied on demand.

  This process of constant monetary expansion to justify the accumulation of risk is often referred to as “liquidity injections,” as if it were a much-needed blood transfusion, when most of the time it simply disguises rising debt and risks built into the financial system. The current monetary system disguises its tendency to create boom-bust cycles with newly created currency.

  This constant process of credit expansion can lead to malinvestment and economic distortions. Companies take increasing levels of debt to invest in businesses with fragile fundamentals, house prices rise well above affordability, credit card borrowing reaches all-time highs despite rising inflation and weaker real wage growth, and equity and bond valuations soar despite poor economic fundamentals… All these are manifestations of the risk of malinvestment and debt accumulation.

  Part two features chapters from senior policymakers offering perspectives on debt bubbles and modern central banking.

  Contributors include William White (former BIS official), Barbara Kolm (Austrian central bank VP), Lord Syed Kamall (former MEP), and Miguel Fernandez Ordoñez (former Bank of Spain Governor). Some of these contributors see the monetary system from a Keynesian perspective, giving the reader a balanced approach and different perspectives.

  This essential work highlights how most textbooks and economists misunderstand the creation of money in modern economies. The book correctly criticises central bank policies, which seem more focused on perpetuating and disguising bubbles than preventing them. The manipulation of interest rates is one of the most dangerous factors. Central banks cut interest rates to encourage credit growth, and this always leads to distortions in the economy. Furthermore, when monetary policy creates inflation, policymakers increase rates, hurting the last recipients of money more severely.

  Money creation is never neutral. It always disproportionately benefits the first recipient of new money, governments in particular, and negatively impacts the last recipients, real wages, and deposit savings. As such, the current monetary system is designed to penalise the most prudent savers and erode the purchasing power of the currency while rewarding excessive risk-taking and government fiscal irresponsibility.

  In periods of monetary expansion, the size of government in the economy rises as adding debt is rewarded and regulation forces banks to consider government debt as a zero-risk asset. However, in periods of monetary contraction, the size of government in the economy also increases because almost the entire burden of interest rate hikes and liquidity contraction falls on the shoulders of families and small businesses.

  The authors of this seminal work propose that the monetary policy framework of advanced countries requires fundamental reforms. They advocate for a system that shifts from an endless increase in reserves to a system of scarce reserves, akin to the gold standard. This would reduce central banks’ footprint in the economy and limit their effects on resource allocation. It is also crucial to limit the central banks’ links with government indebtedness to maintain independence, also reducing central bank balance sheets to maximise their ability to expand when truly needed. The authors also suggest that market forces should determine interest rates more than central bank policy, as malinvestment and asset bubbles primarily stem from artificially low interest rates.

  “The Age of Debt Bubbles” is an essential contribution to the debate on monetary policy and financial stability. It challenges conventional wisdom and offers alternative perspectives on issues that affect all of us.

  As Hayek said:

  “the past instability of the market economy is the consequence of the exclusion of the most important regulator of the market mechanism, money, from itself being regulated by the market process.”.

  This book is particularly timely because citizens are suffering persistent inflation after unprecedented central bank interventions, leading to all-time high asset prices but weaker real wage growth. If you want to understand money and why it matters to you, this is an essential read.

  *  *  *

  The Age of Debt Bubbles: An Analysis of Debt Crises, Asset Bubbles and Monetary Policy (Professional Practice in Governance and Public Organizations) Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2024, is available in all good bookstores and online shops.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 20:55

• Vacationing IDF Soldier Flees Brazil As He's Pursued For Gaza 'War Crimes'
  Vacationing IDF Soldier Flees Brazil As He’s Pursued For Gaza ‘War Crimes’

  In what may mark the start of a phenomenon echoing the enduring, worldwide pursuit of alleged rank-and-file World War II Nazi war criminals, an Israeli soldier vacationing with his family was forced to flee Brazil after a court directed police to investigate claims that he’d participated in war crimes in Gaza. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar denounced the development, accusing Brazil of antisemitism.   

  The court’s move came in response to a complaint filed in Brazil by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF). The pro-Palestinian group, named after a five-year-old girl said to have been killed by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tank firing on her family’s car, had reportedly submitted substantial documentation to the court, including photos, videos, and geolocation identifiers. Taken together, they were offered as proof that IDF soldier Yuval Vagdani has placed explosives that were used to level “entire neighborhoods” in Gaza last November.

  🚨🚨 Urgent Alert❗️
  The #HindRajabFoundation has verified information that Israel is imminently attempting to smuggle suspected Israeli war criminal Yuval Vagdani out of Brazil, because of a Brazilian court order for police to take investigative measures against him. There are… pic.twitter.com/DiIigN4kC2

  — The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) January 4, 2025

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

  “This individual actively contributed to the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and his own statements and behavior clearly align with the genocidal objectives in Gaza,” said HRF lead attorney Maira Pinheiro. According to Palestinian authorities, more than 45,800 Gaza residents have been killed in Israel’s enormously destructive war that followed the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel. Aside from Israeli military action, Palestinians are also menaced by malnourishment and disease as Israel thwarts the flow of food and supplies into the strip. 

  More to the point of Brazil’s interest in Vagdani: As of last August, Israel had damaged or destroyed nearly two-thirds of all buildings in Gaza — with the toll on housing unlike anything seen on Earth seen since World War II, according to a UN estimate via satellite analysis. 

  The Israeli military’s campaign to significantly expand a “buffer zone” along the eastern perimeter of #Gaza should be investigated as the war crimes of wanton destruction and collective punishment.

  Read @Amnesty’s new investigation here: https://t.co/RNB6e6hpWj pic.twitter.com/5U71BCd65p

  — Amnesty International (@amnesty) September 5, 2024

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

  The Israeli foreign ministry took credit for helping Vagdani flee Brazil before investigators could close in on him. Vagdani’s father told Israel’s Channel 12 that an Israeli diplomatic office messaged one of his son’s travel companions to tip him off that a warrant had been issued. Vagdani’s whereabouts are unknown as of this writing, but the Israeli government said he achieved a “swift and safe departure from Brazil.” On Oct. 7, he was reportedly at the Nova music festival that came under Hamas attack, but he managed to run multiple kilometers to safety.  

  New: Our analysis of social media videos found Israeli soldiers filming themselves in Gaza destroying civilian property, including a number of homes. We focused on combat engineers, who used D9 bulldozers and explosives to destroy civilian buildings.https://t.co/CgorfdSVlr pic.twitter.com/whWFBTTBoP

  — Aric Toler (@AricToler) February 6, 2024

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

  Deploying a common rhetorical tool used when the State of Israel and its military come under condemnation, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said Brazil’s move against Vagdani sprang from a hatred of all Jews. “What we are witnessing is a systematic and anti-Semitic campaign aimed at denying Israel’s right to self-defense. Countless international actors and many countries are complicit in this,” he said. 

  To identify alleged perpetrators of war crimes, the Hind Rajab Foundation has capitalized on IDF soldiers’ notorious sharing of videos showing them engaged in all manner of wanton destruction in Gaza, laughing as they unleash the instant demolition of enormous housing complexes or sadistically trash small shops. There’s even a disturbing, recurring theme of IDF soldiers wearing the dresses and underwear of displaced Palestinian women, a practice now carrying over to the IDF’s war in Lebanon: 

  I’ve been in four wars, as a soldier or reporter, and seen a lot of atrocities and abuses. But dressing up in the clothes of the women and girls you’ve killed or displaced is a sick and twisted practice wholly unique to the murderous perverts of the Israeli army. https://t.co/uAiJ4Gbciq

  — Seth Harp (@sethharpesq) October 31, 2024

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

  On Sunday, the Israeli government said IDF soldiers should take the Brazil situation as a warning against sharing videos and photos of their destructive exploits on social media. “The foreign ministry draws Israelis’ attention to posts on social media about their military service, and to the fact that anti-Israel elements may exploit these posts to initiate futile legal proceedings against them,” the foreign ministry said Sunday. Of course, if such legal proceedings were entirely “futile,” the Israeli government may not have been in such a hurry to help Vagdani escape from Brazil. 

  Brazil is one of 125 signatory-countries of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC). “Any country that has signed the statute is compelled to ensure that crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide must be investigated and their perpetrators must be brought to justice,” Pinheiro told Brazil’s Metropoles. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their conduct of the Gaza war. Netanyahu has called the IDF “the most moral army in the world.” 

  Israeli soldiers filmed themselves destroying a Palestinian shop in Ramallah and posted it on their social media accounts.
  pic.twitter.com/G34nib4bOV

  — Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,M.Sc.,DPT. (@drhossamsamy65) February 11, 2024

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

  An Israeli soldier has made a video that shows him vandalising a Palestinian-owned shop in Gaza and mocking its contents. pic.twitter.com/dkJOjXaQYd

  — Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 11, 2023

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 20:30

• The M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank: A Symbol Of Dominance And Deterrence
  The M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank: A Symbol Of Dominance And Deterrence

  Authored by John Mills via The Epoch Times,

  The M-1 Abrams main battle tank was championed by then-Army Chief of Staff Creighton Abrams in the early 1970s. Abrams had vowed never again that American tanks would be anything but dominant after his experience driving his regiment of Sherman tanks to relieve the surrounded American force in Bastogne in December 1944.

  

  The German tanks were far better armed and armored. The Abrams tank delivered dominance and overmatch by annihilating the most advanced Soviet tanks used by the Iraqis in 1991’s Battle of 73 Easting. The Chinese (and Russians) continue to study Desert Storm as their model of perfect warfare, and they know the decisive role of the M-1 tank well.

  Taiwan has sought M-1 tanks from the United States for years, and they were finally approved in 2019. As the cyber liaison from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense (MND) for several years, M-1 tanks were routinely brought up as the first point of order in our regular bilateral cyber meetings. It was a bit of a stretch to connect M-1 tanks to cyber—but there is a nexus.

  M-1 ranks not only have the dominant firepower, mobility, and protection of any tank in existence but are also heavily connected to the cyber world. They are perhaps the most ferocious land domain and internet protocol endpoints ever created. It took years, but finally, the deal was consummated, and now the first 38 tanks have arrived in Taiwan. The Taiwanese army now has its hands on the best tank ever created with a proven combat record.

  Abrams Tanks Send Message of Deterrence, US Support

  The first M-1s were delivered to the Hsinchu, Taiwan-based Armor Training Command. Some will become training tanks; some will be the nucleus of the first M-1 armored battalion of the Taiwanese army. Delivering the M-1 tank was a strong signal of U.S. resolve.

  However, there has been hesitancy on the U.S. side over the M-1s. The issue was the “prickly” versus “prestige” debate. This was a basic math issue on defense spending with some American policy experts. “Prestige” weapons such as tanks, submarines, and ships consumed a higher percentage of the Taiwanese defense budget. This was a realistic concern during earlier days of lesser Taiwanese defense spending.

  One way to address both the “prickly” and “prestige” weapons was to increase Taiwanese defense spending. Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party has implemented seven straight years of defense spending increases, reaching over $20 billion in 2025.

  Both “prickly” weapons (drones and missiles) and “prestige” weapons have a role. Ukraine had few weapons, prickly or prestige, and made Ukraine look like an easy, 72-hour Desert Storm to Russia. Without any visible deterrence, Russia, a vassal of China, was seeing a green light to invade Ukraine. Having a disciplined and ready force of prestige weapons like the M-1 tank is a visible, demonstrative signal of deterrence that totalitarian countries like China see, respect, and incorporate into their invasion calculus.

  By late 2023, “prickly” weapons were bogging down the war, as both Russia and Ukraine faced small drones on the battlefield. But Ukraine was able to break out of this drone stalemate by using tank maneuver warfare (including M-1s) to counterattack and occupy a significant swath of Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

  The Taiwanese M-1 tanks are a strategic psychological operations message of deterrence and a powerful maneuver force to strike and destroy any possible Chinese beachheads on Taiwan’s west coast if an invasion occurs.

  Taiwan Waits for Delivery of Defense Equipment

  One question regarding the M-1 tank delivery to Taiwan is: Why did it take so long?

  There is a significant backlog of “prickly” and “prestige” weapons orders for Taiwan, and it’s a U.S. industrial base issue, not a Taiwanese issue. For M-1 tanks, the sole plant for new construction and refurbishment is in Lima, Ohio. With the war in Ukraine, interest in the M-1 has outpaced the plant’s capacity, which has languished and has been underutilized for almost 20 years.

  Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Australia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the U.S. Army are all jostling for slots in the production and refurbishment schedule, which squeezes Taiwan’s deliveries. U.S. missiles are also in high demand, straining the American defense industrial base.

  The good news is that Taiwan has started receiving some missile shipments. The first 100 Harpoon coastal defense missile launchers and 400 Harpoon Block II missiles arrived in September 2024, based on a 2020 order placed during Donald Trump’s first presidential term.

  HIMARS long-range rocket artillery, which has proven so effective in Ukraine, has partially arrived in Taiwan. This was also ordered in 2020, meaning about a four-year lead time. Beyond these missiles, there is still a long list of items that are already paid for by Taiwan and waiting for production and delivery.

  Chinese Penetration of LOGINK Shipping Software 

  China has been conducting an expanding set of Joint Sword exercises demonstrating a possible blockade or quarantine of Taiwan.

  During a meeting in September 2024 in Taiwan, Tzu-Yun Su, a research fellow and director of the Taiwan-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, expressed concern that the Chinese regime might quarantine Taiwan within six months.

  LOGINK is an integrated platform of logistics data broadly used in the transportation community. This system is potentially being used, like port “spy” cranes, for monitoring U.S. war material shipments to Taiwan. A spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Command stated, “China is seeking to enhance its visibility into the global supply chain, including U.S. military logistics.”

  With communist China leveraging LOGINK, future shipments of the $22 billion-plus of the backlog of war material from the United States to Taiwan may be selectively targeted in the coming years.

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 20:05

• North Korea Launches Suspected Hypersonic Ballistic Missile In 1st Test Of 2025
  North Korea Launches Suspected Hypersonic Ballistic Missile In 1st Test Of 2025

  North Korea has for the past several months been ramping up missile tests, but on Monday Pyongyang launched a suspected hypersonic missile in its first such test-fire of 2025.

  South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) indicated it traveled approximately 1,100km (some 690 miles) into the East Sea after being launched at around 12 noon. This would be enough to reach US Pacific bases in locations like Guam.

  

  The timing appeared intent on sending a message, given that at that moment US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Seoul holding meetings with South Korean leadership amid an ongoing political crisis.

  While the JCS noted the rocket flew a shorter distance than is normal of intermediate-range ballistic missile, they said it was a suspected hypersonic, meaning it is so fast as to be difficult for modern defenses to intercept.

  Newsweek provides more of the regional context as follows:

  Monday’s launch was North Korea’s first since it fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles toward a similar area in November, just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

  Pyongyang’s first test-fire of 2025 came as Blinken, America’s top diplomat, met with South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok. Choi assumed the interim role after the South Korean Parliament voted to impeach a second president in two weeks.

  At a press conference later the same day, Blinken said Russia was likely providing North Korea with advanced satellite technology in exchange for Kim’s dispatch of elite troops to the Ukraine war.

  Blinken addressed the new launch during a press conference in Seoul, saying “Today’s launch is just a reminder to all of us of how important our collaborative work is.”

  As for South Korea, an official foreign ministry statement said the missile launch “constitutes a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the international community.”

  During a visit to Seoul, top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken fended off questions over his country’s willingness to speak out following impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law. https://t.co/l8ffktr8P6

  — The Japan Times (@japantimes) January 6, 2025

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

  Pyongyang has been seen as engaged in heightened nuclear saber-rattling over the last year, especially following the US decision to at times park a nuclear submarine at South Korean port. The north has also frequently condemned joint US-South Korean military drills, which it denounces as “invasion rehearsals”.

  Seoul and the West at this point are deeply worried that the north could renew banned nuclear tests. The last known North Korean nuclear test was in 2017.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 19:40

• High Interest Rates Are Healthy, Low Rates Are Poison
  High Interest Rates Are Healthy, Low Rates Are Poison

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  The status quo has it backwards: low rates are now essential to prop up the wreckage left from previous doses of default and cascading losses.

  The economy depends on two related drivers: low interest rates and asset bubbles. These two feed back into one another, as low rates / loose credit enables those marginal buyers who otherwise wouldn’t qualify to enter the market, generating demand pressure which boosts asset valuations, which then provide more collateral for additional borrowing.

  This dynamic is what inflated Housing Bubble #1 in 2003-2007, as mortgage agencies (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac), private-sector lenders and credit agencies all opened the spigots of loose lending standards and low interest rates to enable marginal buyers–roughly 5% of the entire market of homeowners–to buy homes.

  At the other end of the spectrum, those with ready access to credit jumped into marginal development projects to cash in on the bubble inflating. This dynamic worked in a similar fashion: projects that would have been too risky when rates were high and credit was tight were now penciling out as opportunities to cash in on the bubble by selling unbuilt homes in marginal areas to marginal buyers seeking to pyramid their wealth castles of debt.

  Since the first house they bought with a 3% down payment loan had soared in value, they could now borrow against that “wealth” / collateral to buy a second spec home, and as that rose in value (even if it wasn’t yet finished), they could leverage that gain into a third mortgage / spec house. The developers were minting money as buyers snapped up houses not yet even started.

  This low-rates, loose credit bubble burst, as all credit-based bubbles do, with devastating consequences. The Phantom wealth of the bubble vanished, leaving giant craters of default and losses.

  Low rates and loose credit are poison that tastes so good we can’t stop consuming more. Then the effects kick in, and the emergency measures–bailing out Too Big To Fail lenders and agencies–don’t restore the phantom wealth or a healthy economy. Rather, they make the economy dependent on financial fentanyl for its “growth.”

  High interest rates and tight credit standards force consumers to discipline their financial habits to save money and pay down debt as the only means to increase their creditworthiness. The same discipline is imposed on big-time developers / investors: marginal projects no longer pencil out, and so risky gambles are set aside.

  The economy prospers when marginal borrowers doomed to default are excluded and risky ventures doomed to fail are tabled. Low interest rates and loose credit inject default and catastrophic losses into the system, and as these defaults and losses ripple through the tightly bound financial system, they trigger other defaults and losses, forcing financial authorities to reward the losers with bailouts: the profits skimmed from risky lending and investments are private, but the losses fall on the taxpayers and the public.

  IN effect, the big players in the casino can go ahead and gamble on high-risk bets, knowing the house will cover their losses. The individuals sucked into margin debt, pyramided debt and risky gambles will be wiped out–no bailout for you–while those that enabled the casino are saved from the consequences of their risky gambles.

  The Federal Reserve moved Heaven and Earth to push interest rates near zero and open the credit spigots as the means to “grow the economy.” Depending on more poison to treat the previous poisoning is itself a risky gamble. As with real-world fentanyl, whether the dose of financial fentanyl is lethal or not is unknown until it’s too late.

  

  High interest rates and tight credit are healthy, low rates and loose credit are sugar-high poison. The status quo has it backwards: low rates are now essential to prop up the wreckage left from previous doses of default and cascading losses.

  *  *  *

  Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  Subscribe to my Substack for free

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 19:15

• Popular Seattle "Safe Space" Waffle Shop Forced To Close Due To Inflation And New $20 Minimum Wage
  Popular Seattle “Safe Space” Waffle Shop Forced To Close Due To Inflation And New $20 Minimum Wage

  A waffle shop in Seattle is being forced to close down over the city’s new $20 per hour minimum wage law, according to a new report by the New York Post.

  The owner of Bebop Waffle Shop said she was forced to close after the city’s new $20.76 minimum wage law took effect on New Year’s Day.

  Owner Corina Luckenbach told the Post: 

  “I’ve cried every day.”

  Luckenbach, who founded Bebop over a decade ago after moving from New York to Seattle, said inflation-driven food costs and reduced foot traffic due to remote work had already strained her business. The minimum wage hike was the final blow.

  

  “This is financially just not going to make sense anymore. Because, just for me, the increase would cost me $32,000 more a year,” she said. 

  Luckenbach, who named the cafe after her late dachshund, said she supports higher wages in theory but couldn’t sustain the increase. Previously, large Seattle employers had a $18.69 minimum wage, while smaller ones had to meet $20.28 through tips or benefits, the Post wrote. 

  Previously, small businesses could pay $17.25 per hour if tips or $2.19 in medical benefits met compensation thresholds. The new $20.76 law, $4 above Washington’s minimum wage, applies to all businesses and removes tip and benefit credits.

  “The hardest thing” about closing is that it “takes away a safe space for people,” Luckenbach, who is gay, said. “The stories of like what it meant to people to come in and feel safe and to feel welcomed — I just, I didn’t know.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 18:50

• Sedentary Lifestyle Linked To Higher Risk Of 19 Health Conditions: Study
  Sedentary Lifestyle Linked To Higher Risk Of 19 Health Conditions: Study

  Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  People who lead a sedentary life, uncommitted to physical exercise, face a higher risk of various health issues, including diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure, a new study confirms.

  

  A peer-reviewed study, published on Jan. 2 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its Preventing Chronic Disease journal, investigated how physical engagement is linked to health.

  After analyzing hospital data of 7,261 adult patients, the study concluded that physically active individuals had “significantly lower diastolic blood pressure, resting pulse, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, and significantly higher HDL cholesterol” compared to those less active.

  Individuals who exercised more had significantly lower rates of as many as 19 inactivity-related conditions, including anemia deficiency, chronic pulmonary disease, depression, uncomplicated hypertension, complicated hypertension, obesity, mild liver disease, drug abuse, hypothyroidism, psychoses, weight loss, uncomplicated diabetes, complicated diabetes, congestive heart failure, neurologic disorders affecting movement, peripheral vascular disease, valvular disease, neurologic seizures, and autoimmune disorders.

  For their study, researchers collected data from surveys submitted by patients during their hospital admission process between November 2017 and December 2022.

  The survey asked two simple questions related to their exercise habits—how many days per week they engaged in exercises and the time spent on such activities.

  Patients were divided into three segments, with 60 percent being physically active, 36 percent insufficiently active, and 4 percent inactive.

  The activity level directly corresponded to medical conditions, with inactive individuals suffering a mean of 2.2 medical conditions, which fell to 1.5 among insufficiently active people and 1.2 for active individuals.

  The study defines “active” people as those who reported at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-vigorous exercise, while “insufficiently active” people were those who reported 1 to 149 minutes per week.

  Researchers stated that the findings support “regularly screening patients for inactivity and providing inactive patients with resources to promote physical activity.”

  The study was funded by the Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Iowa. The authors, affiliated with the University of Iowa, did not list any potential conflicts of interest.

  Tackling a Sedentary Lifestyle

  A study published last year found that walking 10,000 steps daily could reduce the ill health effects of a sedentary lifestyle, with the risk of cardiovascular disease down by 21 percent and the risk of death down by 39 percent.

  Matthew Ahmadi, lead author, clarified that while increasing the daily step count is beneficial, it is not an excuse to sit for long periods of time.

  “This is by no means a get out of jail card for people who are sedentary for excessive periods of time,” he said. “However, it does hold an important public health message that all movement matters and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by upping their daily step count.”

  The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has issued guidelines for American adults on healthy physical activity.

  Adults should “move more and sit less” on a daily basis. Some physical activity, no matter how little, is better than none at all, the guidelines state.

  “For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.”

  Alternatively, they should consider doing “an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity.” Aerobic exercise should be spread throughout the week.

  The agency also recommended that adults do muscle-strengthening exercise of moderate or greater intensity on at least two days per week. These exercises should involve all major muscle groups in the body, it said, adding that such activities offer additional health benefits.

  As for older adults, if they cannot do moderate-intensity aerobic activities for 150 minutes per week because they suffer from chronic conditions, “they should be as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow,” the guidelines state.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 18:25

• Turkey Threatens US, Kurdish Proxies: 'Matter Of Time' Before Eliminated From Syria
  Turkey Threatens US, Kurdish Proxies: ‘Matter Of Time’ Before Eliminated From Syria

  American and Turkish policies in Syria are increasingly clashing in the open in the wake of Assad’s ouster on December 8. As we detailed last week, the Pentagon is building a new base in the heart of Kurdish territory in northern Syria near the Turkish border (which the US has since denied, despite videos showing the military build-up).

  This is a huge provocation to the Erdogan government, given the Turkish army and its proxies are at war with the US-backed Syrian Kurds. In fresh Monday statements, Turkey has put both the Kurds and by extension Washington on notice, saying it is only a “matter of time” before Kurdish militants are driven out of Syria.

  Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan emphasized that Turkey will not accept any future Syria with the YPG in it. The YPG makes up the core of the US-funded and trained Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but Turkey sees it as but an extension of the outlawed PKK.

  

  “We are in a position not only to see but also to break any kind of plot in the region,” Fidan told a press conference alongside his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in Ankara.

  “Conditions in Syria have changed. We believe it’s only a matter of time before the PKK/YPG is eliminated,” he said, calling on the group to lay down its arms “as soon as possible.”

  “The PKK’s empire of violence built over Kurdish people is on the verge of collapsing,” he added, according to Turkish media. That’s when he indirectly addressed the United States, which has propped up the YPG for at least a half-decade at this point:

  “If you (the West) have different aims in the region, if you want to serve another policy by using Daesh as an excuse to embolden the PKK, then there is no way for that either,” he said.

  The Pentagon has long justified its troop presence in the northeast Syria as part of the ‘counter-ISIS’ mission, even though the Islamic State had been defeated long ago. At times US officials also talk about the ‘counter-Iran’ mission, which is less pressing now in the wake of Assad’s defeat.

  Turkish media is meanwhile reporting that Jolani’s HTS government in Damascus, which is without doubt serving Turkey’s interests, has ordered the Syrian Kurds to immediately lay down their arms:

  The interim Syrian government held talks with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), demanding that they disarm, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

  …Two meetings have taken place between the new Syrian authorities and representatives of the PKK, who reportedly sought recognition as a division or corps within the official Syrian army in exchange for disarmament. The new Syrian authorities did not accept any conditions, the Turkish newspaper said.

  But the Kurds do have significant leverage, given they are directly supported by US special forces and aerial assets, and currently control almost all oil and gas fields in Syria.

  

  The Kurds will likely settle for nothing less than clear autonomy and self-governance within a federated system if they are to be part of the Syrian state. As for Washington, it’s anything but clear what the end-game is for the US occupation. Another big looming questions is whether it will keep up the sanctions, which have brutalized the common populace in the region.

  Trump during his first term in office expressed a desire to bring the troops home, and it remains uncertain whether he’ll try to see this through during this next term. He doesn’t take kindly to threats from Turkey, however.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 18:00

• "Debasement Trade" Into Bitcoin & Gold Is Here To Stay; JPMorgan
  “Debasement Trade” Into Bitcoin & Gold Is Here To Stay; JPMorgan

  Authored by Alex O’Donnell via CoinTelegraph.com,

  The so-called “debasement trade” into gold and Bitcoin is “here to stay” as investors brace for persistent geopolitical uncertainty, according to a Jan. 3 research note by JPMorgan shared with Cointelegraph.

  

  Gold and BTC “appear to have become more important components of investors’ portfolios structurally” as they increasingly seek to hedge against geopolitical risk and inflation, the bank said, citing the “record capital inflow into crypto markets in 2024.”

  

  Source: JPMorgan

  The debasement trade refers to increasing demand for gold and BTC due to factors ranging from “structurally higher geopolitical uncertainty since 2022, to persistent high uncertainty about the longer-term inflation backdrop, to concerns about ‘debt debasement’ due to persistently high government deficits across major economies,” among others, JPMorgan said.

  

  Source: JPMorgan

  Institutional inflows

  Investment managers including Paul Tudor Jones are longing Bitcoin and other commodities on fears that “all roads lead to inflation” in the United States.

  US state governments are also adding Bitcoin as “a hedge against fiscal uncertainty,” asset manager VanEck said in December.

  In October, JPMorgan cited spiking open interest on BTC futures as another indicator that “funds might see gold and Bitcoin as similar assets.” 

  In 2024, net open interest on BTC futures rose from approximately $18 billion in January to upward of $55 billion in December, according to data from CoinGlass.

  

  Source: CoinGlass

  “In addition, the fact that Bitcoin [exchange-traded funds] started seeing inflows again in September after an outflow in August suggests that retail investors might also see gold and Bitcoin in a similar fashion,” JPMorgan said in October. 

  In November, US Bitcoin ETFs broke $100 billion in net assets for the first time, according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence.

  Crypto ETF inflows are among the most important metrics to watch because they are “more likely than other trading activity to be new funds/market participants entering the crypto space,” according to a December report by Citi shared with Cointelegraph.

  Surging institutional inflows could cause positive “demand shocks” for Bitcoin, potentially sending BTC’s price soaring in 2025, asset manager Sygnum Bank said in December.

  *  *  *

  [ZH: The structural rise of gold in investors’ portfolios is best shown in the chart below, which proxies gold allocation globally via the stock of gold that is held for investment purposes by central banks or private investors holding gold via coins, bars or physical gold ETFs (or similar products) as % of the stock of equities, bonds and cash held by non-bank investors globally.

  

  Professional subscribers can read JPMorgan’s full note here…

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 17:40

• Ability To Read, Write, Or Do Math Is No Longer Required To Teach In New Jersey
  Ability To Read, Write, Or Do Math Is No Longer Required To Teach In New Jersey

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  Teachers’ unions prevail in New Jersey. Kids will suffer…

  Literacy Not Required to Teach

  

  Adobe Stock Image from article below. I added 1 + 1 = ?

  CampusSafety reports New Jersey Teachers No Longer Required to Pass Basic Literacy Test

  New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy passed Act 1669 as part of the state’s 2025 budget in June to address a teacher shortage, Read Lion reports. The law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. Individuals seeking an instructional certificate will no longer need to pass the Praxis Core Test, a basic skills test for reading, writing, and math that is administered by the state’s Commissioner of Education.

  “We need more teachers,” Democratic Sen. Jim Beach, who sponsored the bill, said in May 2024 when the chamber cleared the bill in a 34-2 vote. “This is the best way to get them.”

  New York, California, Arizona Lower Teacher Requirements

  In 2017, New York also scrapped its basic literacy requirements for teachers, noting it was meant to increase diversity among teachers. According to the NEA, only about half of New York students in grades three through eight tested proficient in English and math during the 2022-2023 school year despite the state spending almost twice the national average on education.

  California and Arizona also lowered requirements for teacher certification by implementing fast-track options for substitute teachers to become full-time educators and eliminating exam requirements to make up for shortages in the field that were worsened by the pandemic, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

  Former Educator Gives Opinion on Eliminating Teacher Literacy Exams

  Erika Sanzi, former educator and current director of outreach at Parents Defending Education, a national grassroots organization, spoke to the National News Desk about why she is against Act 1669.

  “It’s important to know that the teachers union, specifically in this case, the NEA, pushes really hard for this. I’m a former member of the NEA in two states. Generally, whatever they push for, tends to be something that’s not particularly good for students,” said Sanzi. “The NEA wants to eliminate all barriers to teaching because that increases their number of dues-paying members, and when that’s your mission, student learning and quality control really aren’t priorities at all and so that’s a concern, for sure.”

  Blue State Union Corruption

  Blue state union corruption is obvious.

  But no place is worse than Chicago when it comes to making sure unions are first and kids are last.

  March 13, 2024: Chicago Teachers’ Union Seeks $50 Billion Despite $700 Million City Deficit

  If you live in Illinois, get the hell out before unions take every penny you have.

  July 2, 2024: In Chicago There’s Under a 50 Percent Chance Police Show Up If You are Shot

  Good luck in Chicago getting the police to show up if you are shot, stabbed, a victim of domestic violence, or any number of other serious crimes.

  November 25, 2024: When Do Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City of Chicago Finally Implode?

  Chicago slashed 2,103 public safety job but added 184 administrators. The budget deficit is nearly $1 billion.

  December 23, 2024: The Corruption and Incompetence of Chicago’s Mayor Has No Bounds

  Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson stepped to new lows when his hand-picked board fired Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez without cause.

  Diversity and Union Priority vs Kids

  The New Jersey teachers’ unions say the test is unneeded.

  But if the test not needed, then then every teacher would easily pass. Why do so many fail an easy test?

  In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson sacrifices police, safety, and education for the sake of the teachers’ unions.

  The Chicago mayor is easily the worst mayor in the country.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 17:00

• Russia Achieves Major Battlefield Breakthrough In Eastern Ukraine As Trump Inauguration Nears
  Russia Achieves Major Battlefield Breakthrough In Eastern Ukraine As Trump Inauguration Nears

  Russia on Monday announced a key breakthrough in eastern Ukraine, saying its forces have captured the “important logistics hub” of Kurakhove, following months of steady gains.

  Russian forces “have fully liberated the town of Kurakhove — the biggest settlement in southwestern Donbas,” the Defense Ministry (MoD) announced on Telegram.

  The MoD claimed further that the Ukrainian army had lost more than 12,000 of the 15,000 troops deployed to defend Kurakhove, figures which are not independently verifiable. The military also said Ukraine lost about “3,000 pieces of various weapons and military hardware, including 40 tanks and other armored combat vehicles.”

  

  The city has long been a strategic Ukrainian army stronghold in the Donetsk region, with an industrial zone and a (since shuttered) thermal plant and a reservoir. The city’s importance is also in its location, sitting on a central highway connecting eastern and southern Ukraine.

  The fight for Kurakhove has been on since mid-October, during which time heavy shelling has persisted. The Russian MoD statement has additionally described Kurakhove as “a powerful fortified area with a developed network of pillboxes and underground communications.”

  A Ukrainian military official has claimed the Russian victory declarations are premature. “As of this morning, battles were ongoing within [the city] limits, so the enemy’s announcements about capturing the city are clearly rushed,” a spokesman said.

  However, there is some independent confirmation of the Russian breakthrough via Associated Press and other regional sources:

  According to Meduza’s military analysts, Russian forces reached the center of Kurakhove in mid-December, encircling nearly the entire city from the north, east, and south, and raising the Russian flag over the municipal government headquarters. At the time, however, Ukrainian forces still controlled the power station’s industrial zone and the pipe plant on the western side of the city. Ukrainian troops were forced out of the industrial zone just before New Year’s day and are now holding positions in Dachne, a village on Kurakhove’s outskirts, Meduza’s analysts say. 

  DeepState, an OSINT project with close ties to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, also shows that Russian forces have seized Kurakhove. This comes after Ukrainian analysts reported that Russian troops were advancing in the area on January 5. 

  Overhead view of the war-ravaged city of Kurakhove:

  #UkraineRussiaWar
  🌐 Place: #Kurakhove
  🕰 Date: ~21.12.2024
  📌 Coordinates: 47.9781945, 37.2814659
  👩‍🚀 Squad: #110Brigade
  📝 Description: Russian military raised a flag on the roof of a building in Kurakhove.

  🖥 id: 21122024.1644
  ✉️source: https://t.co/Vz8VhSuaBb
  Map:… pic.twitter.com/fAx6gwBebp

  — Military Summary (@MilitarySummary) December 21, 2024

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

  Both warring sides have been seeking to achieve as much battlefield dominance as possible before Donald Trump takes office in two weeks. 

  While Moscow was already in the driver’s seat, the capture of Kurakhove is being widely viewed as a decisive victory which will provide Russia with clear major leverage for any potential ceasefire negotiations under a new Trump administration.

  Analyst Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment was quoted in AP as saying the future looks bleak for Kiev: “Ukraine is losing territory. The coldest part of the winter is yet ahead. The current theory of success is unclear, or what resources will be made available by the West in 2025,” he summarized.

  

  And Washington Post writes, “Ukraine is in an increasingly dire state as Russia captures territory at the fastest pace since the start of the invasion, with Moscow capitalizing on its greatest advantage: manpower.”

  Ukraine has in the past days launched a significant counteroffensive in Russia’s Kursk territory, but this accomplishes little strategically where the main theatre of war is happening in Donetsk. Russia has been patiently seeking to gain back ground in the border territory, with the population still evacuated.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 16:40

• The Biden Admin's 'Prank-O-Rama'…
  The Biden Admin’s ‘Prank-O-Rama’…

  Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

  “They found a cure for gluttony. Now do narcissism.”

  – Peachy Keenan

  Poor “Joe Biden” can’t help himself as the suns sets on his ignominious career.

  He ordered the American flag to fly at half-staff into January 20, inauguration day, to signal grief and distress at Donald Trump’s swearing-in – not realizing, apparently, that Mr. Trump’s first act in office will be to order the flags raised back up, signaling symbolically the end to America’s grief and distress under “Joe Biden.”

  

  You might wonder: what other sort of vicious mischief the Party of Chaos has in store in the final ramp-up to a momentous change of government? Well, no sooner had ol’ “JB” draped the Wegovy-slenderized neck of Hillary Clinton with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, than Bill Clinton went on ABC’s The View to declare he was “open to talking with [‘President Biden’]” about a preemptive pardon for Hillary.

  Say, whu. . . ? What crimes did Bill have in mind that such a pardon might avail? Skolkovo? Uranium One? The Clinton Foundation’s sketchy activities in Haiti after the earthquake there? Bill preemptively mentioned the old emails bidness as a ruse. Nothing to see there, folks, he protested. (Just don’t look anywhere else!)

  You must imagine that the incoming Solicitor General, John Sauer’s, first act in office will be to ask SCOTUS for a ruling on the legitimacy of preemptive pardons – blanket pardons for crimes alive perhaps in guilty consciences but nowhere extant as yet in the legal system. The justices might detect a certain logical incoherence in that proposition. “Joe Biden” should have just draped wreaths of garlic around the necks of Mrs. Clinton, Liz Cheney, and Alex Soros (standing in for ol’ George).

  Judge Juan Merchan did not get a medal. He’s warming up for his January 10 stunt of sentencing of Mr. Trump for the “felony” of recording a payment to lawyer Michael Cohen as a “legal expense” (times thirty-four) so Democrats can holler “nyah nyah, felon!” as Mr. Trump re-enters the Oval Office. Judge Merchan himself has racked-up an impressive list of federal offenses around deprivation of Mr. Trump’s civil rights and due process issues as well as judicial misconduct, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. Justice may await the judge.

  Today, January 6, of course, is electoral vote certification day in a joint session of Congress. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has been making noises about contesting certification on the grounds that Mr. Trump is an “insurrectionist” under the disqualification clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Don’t be surprised if Jamie makes a show of it to justify all his loose talk, but it will only be a performance. He might as well bring a chicken into the chamber and bite its head off.

  The shadowy claque behind “Joe Biden” has been super-busy cooking up documents for the demented old bird to sign before leaving office, anything that supposedly might discommode the incoming Mr. Trump. “JB” is like a bandit fleeing the scene of a crime, throwing his stolen booty into the road off the back of his truck to trip up the police closing in. Close down offshore oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts for evermore. . . ban gas-powered water heaters. . . any old thing to make life more uncomfortable for the people of this land. The shadowy claque seems oblivious to the fact that the people won’t appreciate these pranks, that they just give more reasons for them to drive a wooden stake through the heart of the Democratic Party — as if it even had one.

  Prank-of-the-week, though, goes to Tony Blinken’s State Department. No sooner had Congress defunded his agency’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) — that is, its censorship coordination hub — than the muppets at State redistributed GEC’s personnel to other corners of the agency and scared up new funding for their censorship activities from some dark hidey-hole of sequestered money. Do they suppose no one will find out where these employees went? All that’s necessary is to look up who was on the GEC’s payroll in 2024, and earlier in the hub’s heyday, and see if they remain on the State Department’s payroll now — and then fire the whole lot of them for cause: abrogating Americans’ First Amendment rights. Buh-bye. . . .

  You are not out-of-order worrying, of course, that the political Left and the deep state blob behind them might look, in desperation, for other ways to prevent Donald Trump from getting sworn in. There’s the president-elect’s rally in DC the night before the inauguration. Not a few MAGAs are wondering if that’s really a good idea. And the recent garish drone swarms around the USA have put folks ill at ease about a swearing-in on the west front of the US Capitol, out in the open air. I’d even be a little concerned about the mechanicals of Mr. Trump’s airplane as he flies north from Mar-a-Lago to the big event in Washington.

  Nobody will surprised if “Joe Biden” does not show up on the dais at the Capitol that fateful day. He at least has one final snub left for Mr. Trump as “JB” departs office with the pardon he will preemptively lay on himself in the wee hours of January 19 — in case anyone might inquire into all those shadow companies that First Son Hunter was running over the years to receive money from China, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, and Gawd knows who else, to be redistributed (i.e., laundered) through the innumerable bank accounts of Biden family members. There is that to consider.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 16:20

• Trump Border Czar: Mass Deportations Of Illegals Starts Day One
  Trump Border Czar: Mass Deportations Of Illegals Starts Day One

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  President Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan unequivocally outlined that mass arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants inside the US will begin on day one of Trump’s second term and will not be delayed under any circumstances.

  

  In an interview with CBS News, Homan asserted “We know where a lot of the criminals are. ICE is great at this work, we know where some are, but they simply haven’t been able to go arrest them because Secretary Mayorkas’s priorities have handcuffed ICE.”

  “We know where a lot of the criminals are, they have been prevented from arresting. We are gonna arrest starting day one,” Homan reiterated.

  Homan further noted that sanctuary cities refuse to work with ICE, stating ”We would love to work in local jails, but sanctuary cities won’t allow us into those jails. It’s much easier to arrest a public safety threat in the safety and security in the public jail than out in the street.”

  Tom Homan, who will be President-elect Donald Trump’s “border czar,” says the administration will concentrate on “public safety threats and national security threats” in its plans for mass deportations starting on “day one.”

  He adds, “We would love to work in local jails, but… pic.twitter.com/o19UHvZeMq

  — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 5, 2025

  Anchor Margaret Brennan then asked Homan what will happen if the illegals are not accepted back by their home countries.

  “Where do you send people because some of these countries, like Venezuela, don’t accept deportations right now?” Brennan asked.

  “First of all, we got President Trump coming into the Oval Office, and he has proven during his first administration his leadership,” Homan responded adding “It took President Trump 48 hours to get El Salvador to take back their criminal aliens into their prisons.”

  “Mexico didn’t want to do the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program, but President Trump was able to get ‘Remain in Mexico’ established in Mexico. He was able to get Mexico [to] put military in the southern and northern border,” Homan added.

  He continued, “This administration has not forced these countries to take them back and we have what we call a third safe country. We already have countries talking about taking back people from other countries. For instance Venezuela doesn’t take their people back. There’s other ways we can do it. There’s other countries [who’d] be willing to accept them.”

  “We’re hoping that President Trump will work with Venezuela like he did with Mexico and El Salvador and get these countries to take them back. If they don’t, they’re still gonna be deported, they’re just gonna be deported to a different country,” Homan further asserted.

  “We’re not gonna be held up on removing public safety threats in this country. We have to put the safety of the American people first,” Homan emphasised, adding “We’ve had too many young women murdered and raped and burned alive by members of Venezuelan gangs. They need to be a priority under this administration. It’s [going to] be a priority starting day one and they will be deported.”

  Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan says he hopes President-elect Donald Trump will work with Venezuela on an agreement to take back citizens who are being deported from the U.S., as Trump previously did for El Salvador and Mexico.

  If Venezuela doesn’t cooperate, Homan says their… pic.twitter.com/mWGUXmDhvE

  — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 5, 2025

  As we have previously highlighted, insiders say Trump already has deals in place to send illegals to Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Grenada, Panama or possibly elsewhere should their home countries refuse to take them back.

  At one point during the interview, Brennan suggested Trump isn’t as strong on deportations as Homan indicates by suggesting that Biden had more deportations than during Trump’s first term.

  Homan noted that 80 percent of the Biden administration’s ‘deportation’ numbers are from Border Patrol arrests that were moved back across the southern border.

  “They weren’t interior enforcement arrests,” he said, adding the Biden administration is “playing a numbers game.”

  “You can compare the number of deportations under Trump versus Biden. When you consider a 45-year low in crossings, the number of deportations [is] going to be lower because we don’t have that population to process and deport,” Homan also pointed out.

  The full interview is below:

  *  *  *

  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
  Mon, 01/06/2025 – 15:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest