Today’s News 8th March 2024

• Ex-Google Engineer Arrested, Charged With Stealing AI Trade Secrets For China
  Ex-Google Engineer Arrested, Charged With Stealing AI Trade Secrets For China

  Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A former Google software engineer has been indicted on charges of stealing artificial intelligence-related trade secrets while working for Chinese competitors seeking to gain an edge in the AI race.

  

  Linwei Ding, a Chinese national who also goes by Leon, was charged by a federal grand jury in San Francisco with four counts of trade secret theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He was arrested on March 6 morning in California’s Newark city, where he lives.

  The 38-year-old allegedly stole over 500 files containing confidential information between May 2022 and May 2023, including detailed information about the hardware infrastructure and software platforms allowing Google’s supercomputing data centers to train large AI models through machine learning, according to the indictment.

  Within weeks after Mr. Ding began the theft activity, the indictment said, an early-stage Chinese company with a focus on AI offered to make him its chief technology officer. The position came with a monthly salary of around $14,800 with an annual bonus and company stock.

  That late October, Mr. Ding traveled to China and stayed there until the following March, participating in investor meetings to raise capital for the firm, Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Technology.

  In May 2023, he founded an AI start-up in Shanghai.

  “We have experience with Google’s ten-thousand-card computational power platform; we just need to replicate and upgrade it—and then further develop a computational power platform suited to China’s national conditions,” he stated in a document promoting his company on the China-based social media platform WeChat.

  He also tasked another Google employee to scan his access badge on three separate days in December 2023 to create the impression that he was working from the U.S. Google office when, in fact, he was in China, the Google investigators found after examining surveillance footage.

  Mr. Ding initially managed to evade Google’s detection by copying the Google data into the Apple Notes application on his Google-issued MacBook then converting it into PDF to upload into his personal Google Cloud account.

  But in December 2023, when he uploaded additional files from the Google network to another personal account while in China, Google became suspicious.

  He then told a Google investigator that he had intended to use the information as evidence of the work that he had conducted at Google, according to the indictment.

  Mr. Ding didn’t disclose either of his affiliations with China-based firms with Google, prosecutors said.

  Less than a week later, he booked a one-way ticket to Beijing slated to depart on Jan. 7. He then resigned from Google on Dec. 26.

  Google retrieved Mr. Ding’s Google laptop and mobile device from his home the day before his planned departure on Jan. 4.

  Stealing US Innovation

  

  Attorney General Merrick Garland disclosed the details of the case at an American Bar Association Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.

  “We will fiercely protect sensitive technologies developed in America from falling into the hands of those who should not have them,” he said.

  FBI director Christopher Wray said the charges were “the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are willing to go to steal American innovation.”

  “The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences,” he said in a statement.

  The interagency Disruptive Technology Strike Force that partook in the case was set up by the Departments of Justice and Commerce last year with an eye on threats of China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party exploiting U.S. innovations for its military development.

  Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a speech last month said that AI is a top priority for the task force, describing it as the “ultimate disruptive technology.”

  Mr. Wray, in a late February national security conference, also warned about the danger of generative AI in “making it easier for both more and less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence” and interference with the U.S. political process.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 23:40

• House Judiciary Panel Report Exposes Massive Government Surveillance Of Americans’ Financial Data
  House Judiciary Panel Report Exposes Massive Government Surveillance Of Americans’ Financial Data

  Authored by Stephen Katte via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Biden administration has been accused by the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government of conducting unlawful “broad” surveillance of citizens’ private financial data without a warrant and with no evidence of any crimes being committed by the individuals.

  

  In a new interim report released on March 6, and an accompanying press release, the committee claims to have uncovered “startling evidence,” proving the federal government pried into the private transactions of American consumers without specific evidence of any criminal conduct.

  According to the report, federal law enforcement, including the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the FBI, colluded with large financial institutions in the United States, such as Barclays, U.S. Bank, Charles Schwab, HSBC, Bank of America, PayPal, and many others in what boiled down to a “fishing expedition for Americans’ financial data.”

  “Tactics included keyword filtering of transactions, targeting terms like MAGA and TRUMP, as well as purchases of books, religious texts, firearms-related items, and recreational stores, like Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop, and Dick’s Sporting Goods,” the report said.

  “This surveillance extended beyond criminal suspicion, likely encompassing millions of Americans with conservative viewpoints or Second Amendment interests.”

  Led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the committee said FinCEN characterized these Americans as potential threats and subject to surveillance despite these transactions having no criminal nexus.

  Surveillance Targets Identified Using General Terms

  The interim report also detailed the existence of a web portal run by the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), a public-private partnership led by the FBI’s Office of Private Sector and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

  “This portal appears to have shared intelligence products with financial institutions that were used to identify individuals who fit the profile of criminal and domestic violent extremists, often because of their conservative political views or other constitutionally protected activity,” the committee said.

  “Federal law enforcement used these reports and other materials they shared with financial institutions to commandeer their databases and conduct sweeping searches of individuals not suspected of committing any crimes, without a warrant, in order to identify individuals making certain suspicious transactions.”

  Other surveillance targets were identified using other terms and specific transactions that concerned core political and religious expression.

  According to the report, law enforcement “derisively viewed American citizens,” who expressed opposition to firearm regulations, open borders, COVID-19 lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the “deep state” as potential domestic terrorists.

  “In other words, according to the FBI, an American citizen’s opposition to firearm regulations, open borders, or COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates, all of which are viewpoints protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, feed into an existing narrative many Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE) actors subscribe to regarding the U.S. government’s exercise of power,” the report said.

  “Put another way, expressing a belief in the existence of the deep state, support for typical conservative policies with respect to firearms or immigration, or doubt about the conventional narrative may result in an individual being labeled by the FBI as a DVE Actor and Likely to Pose an Increasing Threat.”

  The committee labeled it “disturbing” that the country’s most powerful law enforcement agency would consider views widely held by millions of Americans to be signs of DVE.

  

  Helping Law Enforcement Find Jan 6 Protestors

  Earlier this year, the Treasury Department admitted to helping law enforcement identify and arrest people involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. It urged banks to comb through customers’ private transactions using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump.”

  In January, allegations were also leveled at FinCEN, claiming the agency engaged in “pervasive financial surveillance” by circulating materials to banks that listed keywords that could be used to flag private financial transactions of potential Jan. 6 suspects. The materials also allegedly included instructions for banks to use indicators, including “the purchase of books” and subscriptions to media containing “extremist views.”

  “Federal law enforcement agencies, including FinCEN and the FBI, treated lawful transactions as suspicious and shared information with financial institutions through backdoor channels, often circulating materials exhibiting a clear animus towards conservative viewpoints,” the committee report said.

  “In addition, FinCEN and the FBI relied on Zoom discussions, private and online government-run portals, as well as sweeping searches of financial institutions’ records to conduct its investigation. Given the important civil liberties at stake, federal law enforcement’s overreach and political bias is alarming.”

  

  Further revelations from the report reveal that FinCEN relied heavily on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for guidance on what “relevant terms” and symbols could relate to racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE), which they say may “have application to the capitol riots and related activity.”

  The report calls the ADL a “notorious anti-conservative activist group” and says hate symbols” that ADL recommended monitoring included the “Celtic Cross,” the “Okay Hand Gesture,” “Pepe the Frog,” and “White Lives Matter.”

  The committee said it “should alarm Americans that FinCEN approved of and distributed a link to a database that considers symbols of faith such as the Christian Celtic Cross and other images opposing Antifa, a violent left-wing anarchist group, as hate symbols.”

  “This practice is reminiscent of the FBI’s disdain for ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholics,’ and the FBI’s reliance on the Southern Poverty Law Center another far-left activist group as an authoritative source on the Catholic Church,” the report said.

  The Epoch Times has contacted the FBI, Treasury Department, and the White House for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 23:00

• Biden Mulls Tapping US Army's Own Funds In Scramble To Arm Ukraine
  Biden Mulls Tapping US Army’s Own Funds In Scramble To Arm Ukraine

  The Biden White House is so desperate to provide further immediate funding to Ukraine, with the House still firmly blocking the sought after $60+ billion, that it is considering a move to try and tap $200 million from US Army funding.

  While $200 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the total Ukraine aid still being sought, it would be hugely symbolic, showing that Biden is ultimately willing to put Ukraine’s defenses first – while taking from America’s domestic defense budget to do it.

  

  Drawing on Pentagon reserves would free up funds to replenish critically low supplies at a moment Ukraine is by and large retreating from front lines in the east, however, Bloomberg has reported that the final decision hasn’t been made yet.

  Bloomberg noted that the “Debate over utilizing a small amount of Pentagon reserves underscores the furious effort at the White House to find any possible support for Ukraine.”

  “The White House is focused on urging the US House to pass the national security supplemental, and aides continue to believe that if the speaker were to put the bill to a vote, it would pass overwhelmingly, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said,” the report added. Biden renewed his call during Thursday night’s State of the Union address.

  Meanwhile, some small European nations are stepping up in an attempt to fill a huge gap in the wake of the US arms stoppage.

  “A Czech-led plan to buy 800,000 rounds of ammunition for Ukraine to fight Russia’s invading forces has secured enough funding, with contributions from 18 countries,” Czech President Petr Pavel described Thursday.

  According to more from Reuters, “The most pressing need for Ukraine two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion began has become artillery ammunition, which is running low as the sides use heavy cannon fire to hold largely static, entrenched positions along the 1,000-km (620-mile) front line.”

  The European Union a year ago promised to deliver one million ammunition rounds by now but has failed to do it, as European defense companies are being pleaded with by EU government leaders to expand infrastructure and production.

  LIVE FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

  Senator Ron Johnson: Ukraine can’t ask us for money when they’ve got no plan

  “Enough of this fantasy. If you want any funding for Ukraine, tell me how you’ll spend it to try to bring the war to an end.”

  Source: My Panel on @ZeroEdge pic.twitter.com/Yy5SOE1U64

  — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 7, 2024

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

  Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Zelensky is still pledging ‘victory’ against Russia, but he’s still recently admitted that his forces are running woefully low on weapons and ammunition, and that if more ammo doesn’t come from the US “within a month” – it will spell disaster for Ukraine’s efforts to pushback the invasion.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 22:40

• Israel To Take 'More Aggressive' Stance Against Russia To Curry Favor With US
  Israel To Take ‘More Aggressive’ Stance Against Russia To Curry Favor With US

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

  Israel isn’t planning to send early warning systems to Ukraine out of solidarity but is really trying to curry more favor with the US as its war with Hamas reaches the endgame, though Tel Aviv is disguising its true intentions as a signal of displeasure with Moscow’s balancing act between Israel and Hamas.

  Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN announced late last month that his country is “working to provide Ukraine with early warning systems”, which was followed by a hardline lawmaker promising that “Israel will take a more aggressive stance against Russia.” This came after the new Israeli Ambassador to Russia caused a scandal in early February by misportraying Russia’s regional policy, which readers can learn more about in this analysis here that hyperlinks to nearly two dozen relevant pieces about it.

  

  Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reacted to this development by lamenting “The fact that people in the region, especially Israeli politicians, perceive and follow the path imposed on them by the ‘exceptionalists’ – the US”, which has “exacerbated and brought closer this catastrophic situation in the region, given it an eerie momentum, provoked it.” Although Israel is still legally considered a “friendly” country by Russia, that could soon change depending on what it does.

  So long as it refrains from sending offensive arms, however, then it might not make that list. Even if it does, then Russia might still keep it off of there for now in order to explore whether diplomacy can result in reaching a “new normal” between them before tensions spiral out of control, similar in spirit to why Russia didn’t designate Turkiye despite it sending Ukraine attack drones. Relations with Ankara remained manageable and mutually beneficial for the most part so ties with Tel Aviv might end up the same way.

  Nevertheless, this shift in Israel’s approach towards NATO’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine – which is already an undeclared but limited hot war after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz inadvertently revealed that Western troops are secretly on the ground there – isn’t being done out of solidarity with Kiev. Rather, it superficially appears to due to Israel’s displeasure with Russia’s balancing act between it and Hamas but is really an attempt by Tel Aviv to curry favor with Washington as its war with Hamas reaches the endgame.

  Two detailed reports from American media in late November can be interpreted as an evolution of the Biden Administration’s pressure campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. The Washington Post informed their audience how he let Qatar fund Hamas, while the New York Times claimed that Israel was allegedly aware of Hamas’ sneak attack plans more than a year before its early October sneak attack. Both are damning and could fuel more protests against him once the conflict ends.

  About those, the Biden Administration was already implicated in the unprecedented nationwide ones that rocked Israel last spring, which were analyzed here as being motivated by its ruling liberal-globalists’ ideological opposition to the self-professed Jewish State’s conservative-nationalist government. Anticipating a repeat of those events upon the conclusion of another ceasefire ahead of Ramadan, it’s very possible that Bibi sought to preempt more meddling by agreeing to send those systems to Ukraine.

  In his mind, this desperate move could potentially alleviate some of the expected grassroots pressure upon him in that scenario by influencing the US to exercise a greater degree of self-restraint by not involving itself as much in any forthcoming round of Color Revolution unrest. The public pretext upon which these early warning systems are being sent is Israel’s displeasure with Russia’s balancing act between it and Hamas in order to deflect scrutiny from his real motives.

  After all, there’s no credence to the claim that Russia supported Hamas’ sneak attack, whether militarily or politically. The Kremlin has repeatedly condemned it as an act of terrorism but also condemned Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinians in response. Moscow’s hosting of Hamas’ political wing is solely intended to revive peace talks and secure the release of the hostages, the latter task of which “is under the personal control of the president of the Russian Federation” according to a senior diplomat.

  However much Israel might dislike this policy due to its desire that all countries take its side over Hamas’ per the zero-sum choice that it’s pressured them to make, this could continue to be conveyed through conventional diplomatic means instead of escalating matters by unilaterally sending such systems to Kiev. The reason why Israel’s export of this early warning equipment is so concerning to Russia is because it could lead to “mission creep” whereby air defense systems and possibly offensive arms soon follow.  

  Any significant Israeli-backed improvement of Ukraine’s air defense capabilities could lead to a symmetrical Russian-backed improvement of Syria’s, though this analysis here argues that Moscow won’t risk a wider war to stop Tel Aviv’s increasingly frequent strikes against Damascus. At any rate, these two might slip into a dangerous security dilemma since each might accuse the other of obstructing their strikes against what they consider to be legitimate military targets in those neighboring nations.

  The consequences could see Russia and Israel ramping up their respective strikes in Ukraine and Syria so as to more effectively break through these new defenses there. That won’t change the military-strategic dynamics of the Ukrainian Conflict but could risk a worsening of the West Asian Crisis if Iran feels comfortable enough to attack Israel from Syria under its host’s Russian-supplied umbrella. In that event, Israel could either react with a ground operation or might even launch one preemptively.

  From Bibi’s self-interested political perspective, widening the war to Syria in any ground or special forces capacity could perpetuate the West Asian Crisis to his domestic and international benefit. On the home front, he’ll likely be able to exploit that move to remain in power and avoid (possibly politically driven) corruption charges, while the foreign one could see the US alleviating potentially impending Color Revolution pressure upon him due to Israel more directly containing Iran in Syria per their joint interests.

  It’s unclear whether he’s gamed everything out this far, and even if he did, it can’t be taken for granted that events will evolve in that direction and not be offset by some hitherto unpredictable variables. Regardless of whatever his plans may be and however far he’s looking into the future, the fact of the matter is that Israel’s partial compliance with the US’ anti-Russian demands risks ruining ties with Moscow, and this could quickly reverberate throughout West Asia depending on the scenario trajectory.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 22:20

• Pro-Choice Democrats Fight To Make Abortion The Only Option
  Pro-Choice Democrats Fight To Make Abortion The Only Option

  Authored by Marrjorie Dannenfelser via RealClear Wire,

  At the State of the Union address this week, President Biden and the Democrats intend to leverage a tragic situation involving a woman who suffered a medical emergency during her pregnancy in order to advance their own abortion agenda. My heart goes out to this mother and any other mother experiencing a similar situation. It is heartbreaking to lose a child under any circumstances. But while President Biden exploits this tragedy for political gain, one critical piece of information you won’t hear during his address is that all state pro-life protections have provisions to protect mothers experiencing medical emergencies.

  

  Unfortunately, Biden and the Democrats think it is more politically expedient to scare women into believing they cannot access the care that they need than to roll up their sleeves and help the majority who want to parent. Peer-reviewed research found nearly 70% of post-abortive women describe their abortions as inconsistent with their own values and preferences, with one in four describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced. What are Biden and the Democrats doing to address this epidemic? They are peddling ever more abortion for any reason, past the point at which unborn children can feel pain and indeed at any time during a pregnancy. Theirs is North Korea and China-style abortion policy – and it utterly fails to align with the compassion and aid Americans desire for women facing difficult pregnancies.

  Meanwhile, the pro-life community has quietly built a vast network of charitable organizations across the nation that exist to address the needs of pregnant women who want to keep their babies but lack resources. In 2022 alone, pregnancy resource centers met with clients over 16 million times and delivered services with an estimated total value of at least $358 million. They saw almost 975,000 new clients and provided pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, parenting education programs, baby diapers, wipes, formula, clothing, and much more – all at no cost. These pregnancy resource centers not only meet the material needs of women, they can quite literally save their lives.

  That is what happened in the case of survivor Jean Marie Davis, who had been trafficked for nearly three decades in 33 states when an unintended pregnancy became the impetus for her escape. With no money and running from a pimp who was trying to kill her, Jean Marie had almost nowhere to turn. After endless calls, she was finally connected to a pregnancy resource director who changed everything. Jean Marie ultimately escaped a life of drugs, violence, and serial abuse, without sacrificing the son she loves, and today she helps women in similar circumstances by running a pregnancy resource center of her own.

  Hundreds of maternity homes across the nation also provide pregnant women in need with long-term housing and the material, medical, educational, and emotional resources to transform their lives and live their dreams. Rachel already had a young child, but her partner had turned abusive toward her, and then she found out she was pregnant again. She knew for the sake of her children she had to leave but had no vehicle and nowhere to turn until she found a maternity home which agreed to help. That home provided a safe and loving environment – plus all the resources Rachel needed to heal and thrive. While there, she pursued her education in the medical field and is now a registered nurse working at a local hospital. 

  Now if Biden and the Democrats have their way, the charitable organizations that stepped in to help Jean Marie, Rachel, and the countless other women who come to them because they want to keep their children would no longer exist. From overt calls to “shut them down,” to an HHS proposal to revoke any public funding for these centers, to the DOJ’s refusal to protect them from the massive wave of disturbing pro-abortion violence post-Dobbs, the message is clear: For Democrats, abortion is the only option.

  While the president and Democrats say they care about women, their actions speak otherwise.

  Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and author of “Life is Winning: Inside the Fight for Unborn Children and Their Mothers.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 21:40

• Killadelphia: 8 Teens Shot Near SEPTA Bus In Northeast Philly
  Killadelphia: 8 Teens Shot Near SEPTA Bus In Northeast Philly

  Just hours after the last shooting injuring four and killing one involving mass transit in Philadelphia was reported, yesterday it hit the wires that another “mass shooting” took place near a SEPTA bus in Northeast Philadelphia.

  One teen is “fighting for his life” while 7 other teens are recovering, NBC Philadelphia reports. 

  The incident occurred at around 3 p.m. near Northeast High School at Cottman and Rising Sun avenues, where students were waiting for a bus. Three assailants opened fire, shooting over 30 rounds from across the street, wounding eight teenagers.

  Surveillance captured them exiting a blue Hyundai Sonata and attacking as a bus arrived, then fleeing. The victims, aged between 15 and 17, included seven boys and a girl; two are critically injured.

  Descriptions of the gunmen have been released. The shooting prompted a lockdown at a nearby elementary school and hit two SEPTA buses without injuring passengers.

  Police have impounded a car believed to be involved in the shooting, seizing a blue Hyundai Sonata found parked on Roselyn Street in the Olney area of the city on Wednesday night. The vehicle, now at a local impound lot, is said to match the description of the dark blue 2019 Hyundai Sonata identified as the getaway car in surveillance footage.

  

  Mayor Cherelle Parker commented: “The purpose of our being here today is to inform you all that enough is enough. That every law enforcement partner that we have here in the city of Philadelphia is actively engaged in working together to ensure that every resource that is needed is readily available so that the work can be done to solve crimes.”

  Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel added: “It’s hard to sit here in three days and have 11 juveniles shot who are going and coming from school. The cowardly acts that we’ve seen over the last three days are unacceptable, The downstream impacts if we do not address gun violence and we do not address guns is what we see today.”

  “We cannot ignore what we’re seeing over the last three days. I will not sit here and people call me and tell me what I should or should not be doing,” Bethel continued.

  “This is what we see when we give guns in the hands of juveniles and what they do with them. Telling kids they should not carry guns because they’re scared. Really? This is the end results of what we see. So we’re going to work hard and continue with the men and women behind me and my team to get these guns off the street and stop this from happening.”

  This marks the fourth recent shooting near SEPTA properties, with 11 juveniles shot in the city this week. Other incidents involved fatal shootings and arguments, with no arrests made yet.

  WANTED for shooting 8 juveniles on 3/6/24 at 7300 Rising Sun Ave. Suspects armed and dangerous – do not approach. If you have information on these suspects -please call or 215-686-TIPS(8477) or 911 pic.twitter.com/cspPIL5LLv

  — Philadelphia Police Department (@PhillyPolice) March 7, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 21:20

• After A Pause, Jan. 6 Arrests Are Now Sharply Increasing
  After A Pause, Jan. 6 Arrests Are Now Sharply Increasing

  Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The pace of FBI arrests and the opening of new Jan. 6 criminal cases quickened so much in late 2023 and early 2024 that District of Columbia federal courts could bend under the weight.

  

  In the past two months, 93 people have been arrested and charged, according to Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.

  At the current rate, some 445 new cases could hit the docket in 2024—more than in 2022 and 2023, according to one estimate.

  In total, up to March 6, at least 1,358 people have been arrested by the FBI and criminally charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for crimes related to Jan. 6.

  If the current trend is to hold, total arrests could be 2,150 by the time the statute of limitations on Jan. 6 crimes expires in early 2026, according to Jacob Rugh, associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Mr. Rugh and researcher Isabella Felin have been publishing Jan. 6 statistics and data visualization on X and Instagram since August 2022.

  William Shipley, a former federal prosecutor who has represented more than 50 Jan. 6 defendants, said he noticed an upswing in cases starting in September 2023.

  “Within the past two months, three months, it seems like you’re seeing six, eight, 10 a week,” Mr. Shipley said on Feb. 23 during an Epoch Times panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

  “Every day, every day you see two or three more,” Mr. Shipley said. “My own view: it’s a political operation. Just my personal opinion. I think the Department of Justice, the Biden administration, is committed to continuing to keep this story front and center for purposes of the campaign.”

  Mr. Shipley said there was a six- to eight-month pause in arrests and prosecutions starting in early 2023 due to the strain Jan. 6 cases put on D.C. federal courts.

  

  “You’ve got a five-year statute of limitations, you don’t need to arrest everybody and prosecute them in the first 18 months, and there was a pause,” Mr. Shipley said. “There was a clear period of time where there weren’t arrests of any significant number happening.”

  The top arrest states include Florida (129), Texas (104), Pennsylvania (93), California (90), New York (80), Ohio (71), and Virginia (67). Together they comprise nearly 50 percent of all Jan. 6 defendants, according to research by Mr. Rugh.

  About 63 percent of Jan. 6 criminal cases have been adjudicated and defendants sentenced, according to DOJ figures. About 58 percent of defendants were given jail or prison time, 19 percent received home detention, and another 3.5 percent received a combination.

  Of the 769 defendants who pleaded guilty to charges, 69 percent were for misdemeanors and 31 percent for felonies, the DOJ reports.

  Some 1,276 defendants were charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and 486 were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.

  More than 350 were hit with the controversial “corruptly obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding” charge. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on April 16 on a challenge to how the DOJ has used 2002-era corporate fraud statutes to prosecute Jan. 6 defendants for interrupting the counting of Electoral College votes.

  Perfect Conviction Rate

  Perhaps the most remarkable Jan. 6 statistic comes from jury boxes in the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington D.C.

  Every one of the more than 100 Jan. 6 defendants who chose a jury trial were found guilty of at least some of the charges. That’s a perfect 100-percent conviction rate for federal prosecutors, a statistic cited repeatedly in change-of-venue motions. One hundred percent of those motions have been denied.

  Mr. Shipley told The Epoch Times that the DOJ’s historical conviction rate in the District of Columbia is about 65 percent, lower than the 90 percent that is “more typical” in other federal court districts.

  

  

  He said, “The way the question needs to be framed today and put before the judges again is, ‘How many trials and how high a conviction rate is necessary before the judges start to consider maybe it’s not the evidence but the jurors?’”

  District of Columbia jurors seated on Jan. 6 cases “are simply not open to listening to explanations from defendants who testify, or accept any of the ‘progress’ against the evidence made by defense counsel in cross-examination,” Mr. Shipley said.

  The DOJ has stated since Jan. 6 that finding, arresting, and prosecuting those who were at the U.S. Capitol is a top priority, carried out at “unprecedented speed and scale.” The FBI launched the largest investigation in its history in response to Jan. 6.

  Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, paints Jan. 6 in the dramatic tones of warfare as he pledges prosecutors will continue their work unabated into 2024 and beyond.

  “In scenes often reminiscent of a medieval battle, officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with members of the invading force, many of whom carried dangerous weapons including firearms, chemical sprays, tasers, stabbing weapons and makeshift weapons across the Capitol [grounds] and in the Capitol itself,” Graves said on Jan. 6, 2024.

  Jan. 6 was “likely the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history,” Mr. Graves said.

  The preamble to the DOJ’s monthly statistical update on Jan. 6 cases states: “The Department of Justice’s resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on January 6, 2021, has not, and will not, wane.”

  Mr. Shipley said the pace of arrests helps perpetuate the idea that supporters of former President Donald Trump comprise a threat to society.

  “They want to continue to have that argument that some portion of the political opposition is actually a criminal element,” he said. “They use the branding of all these J6 defendants to say, ‘See that sliver of the MAGA movement, they’re insurrectionists, they’re foes of democracy.’”

  The prosecution posture was set early on.

  Prosecution Machine

  Not even three weeks after the Jan. 6 incursion, the DOJ named senior prosecutors to go after the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other alleged “white nationalist” groups, according to internal documents obtained by Judicial Watch.

  A document dated Jan. 25, 2021, named assistant U.S. attorneys to investigate and prosecute white nationalists and militias, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, founder of the Oath Keepers who in 2023 was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, was named as an early target in a DOJ list obtained by Judicial Watch.

  Mr. Rhodes was added to the target list on Jan. 11, 2021, and his case assigned to FBI special agent Michael Palian, who testified against Mr. Rhodes and other defendants in the first Oath Keepers trial in 2022. Mr. Rhodes was not indicted and arrested until Jan. 13, 2022.

  

  

  “I’m not at all surprised that I was added to the target list on Jan. 11, 2021, long before there could have been any actual substantive investigation into me,” Mr. Rhodes told The Epoch Times in an email. “Goes to show that ‘show me the man, I’ll show you the crime’ was exactly their M.O.”

  Mr. Rhodes said the media set the tone for such a focus on the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

  “The fixation on the Oath Keepers came first from the mass media, which immediately in the hours and days after the Trump supporters entered the Capitol began to highlight the row of Oath Keepers walking up the steps and breathlessly calling it a ‘military stack formation’ and alleging that the Oath Keepers were leading the crowd,” Mr. Rhodes said.

  “Total nonsense. But since Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were already the two groups the leftist media loved to demonize and focus on,” Mr. Rhodes said, “no surprise those two groups became the focus of print and cable ‘news’ coverage of Jan. 6, spinning the false narrative that Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were ‘central’ to the events of Jan. 6 or were the ‘leaders.’”

  Rapid Indictment Team

  According to the DOJ draft plan, a branch would be established for “Priority Incidents and Subjects,” including the Jan. 6 pipe bombs, the shooting of Ashli Babbitt outside the Speaker’s Lobby, the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, use-of-force allegations against Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers, and assaults on federal officers by rioters.

  Another branch was to be established for priority investigations and rapid indictments and prosecution of Jan. 6 subjects. A branch would be established for “Advanced Litigation Support,” including mass data collection, discovery for defendants, and technology support to “store, process, analyze, and produce the unprecedented amount of data.”

  Judicial Watch obtained the plan as part of a 2021 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DOJ.

  “These documents detail a troubling and unprecedented deployment of federal resources to prosecute Americans caught up in the January 6 disturbance,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “The documents seem to describe a massive political and spy operation masquerading as a law enforcement operation.”

  Treniss Evans, a former Jan. 6 defendant and founder of the legal advocacy group Condemned USA, said the prosecution efforts are squarely aimed at harming President Trump.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 21:00

• Watch: President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"
  Watch: President Biden Delivers The “Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President”

  Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through the State of The Union, President Biden can go back to his crypt now.

  Whatever ‘they’ gave Biden, every American man, woman, and the other should be allowed to take it – though it seems the cocktail brings out ‘dark Brandon’?

  

  Tl;dw: Biden’s Speech tonight …

  • Fund Ukraine.

  • Trump is threat to democracy and America itself.

  • Abortion is good.

  • American Economy is stronger than ever.

  • Inflation wasn’t Biden’s fault.

  • Illegals are Americans too.

  • Republicans are responsible for the border crisis.

  • Trump is bad.

  • Biden stands with trans-children.

  • J6 was the worst insurrection since the Civil War.

  (h/t @TCDMS99)

  Tucker Carlson’s response sums it all up perfectly:

  “that was possibly the darkest, most un-American speech given by an American president. It wasn’t a speech, it was a rant…”

  Carlson continued: “The true measure of a nation’s greatness lies within its capacity to control borders, yet Bid refuses to do it.”

  “In a fair election, Joe Biden cannot win”

  And concluded:

  “There was not a meaningful word for the entire duration about the things that actually matter to people who live here.”

  Victor Davis Hanson added some excellent color, but this was probably the best line on Biden:

  “he doesn’t care… he lives in an alternative reality.“

  https://t.co/HVFuuHOVjc

  — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 8, 2024

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

  *  *  *

  Watch SOTU Live here…

  *   *   *

  Mises’ Connor O’Keeffe, warns: “Be on the Lookout for These Lies in Biden’s State of the Union Address.” 

  On Thursday evening, President Joe Biden is set to give his third State of the Union address. The political press has been buzzing with speculation over what the president will say. That speculation, however, is focused more on how Biden will perform, and which issues he will prioritize. Much of the speech is expected to be familiar.

  The story Biden will tell about what he has done as president and where the country finds itself as a result will be the same dishonest story he’s been telling since at least the summer.

  He’ll cite government statistics to say the economy is growing, unemployment is low, and inflation is down.

  Something that has been frustrating Biden, his team, and his allies in the media is that the American people do not feel as economically well off as the official data says they are. Despite what the White House and establishment-friendly journalists say, the problem lies with the data, not the American people’s ability to perceive their own well-being.

  As I wrote back in January, the reason for the discrepancy is the lack of distinction made between private economic activity and government spending in the most frequently cited economic indicators. There is an important difference between the two:

  • Government, unlike any other entity in the economy, can simply take money and resources from others to spend on things and hire people. Whether or not the spending brings people value is irrelevant

  • It’s the private sector that’s responsible for producing goods and services that actually meet people’s needs and wants. So, the private components of the economy have the most significant effect on people’s economic well-being.

  Recently, government spending and hiring has accounted for a larger than normal share of both economic activity and employment. This means the government is propping up these traditional measures, making the economy appear better than it actually is. Also, many of the jobs Biden and his allies take credit for creating will quickly go away once it becomes clear that consumers don’t actually want whatever the government encouraged these companies to produce.

  On top of all that, the administration is dealing with the consequences of their chosen inflation rhetoric.

  Since its peak in the summer of 2022, the president’s team has talked about inflation “coming back down,” which can easily give the impression that it’s prices that will eventually come back down.

  But that’s not what that phrase means. It would be more honest to say that price increases are slowing down.

  Americans are finally waking up to the fact that the cost of living will not return to prepandemic levels, and they’re not happy about it.

  The president has made some clumsy attempts at damage control, such as a Super Bowl Sunday video attacking food companies for “shrinkflation”—selling smaller portions at the same price instead of simply raising prices.

  In his speech Thursday, Biden is expected to play up his desire to crack down on the “corporate greed” he’s blaming for high prices.

  In the name of “bringing down costs for Americans,” the administration wants to implement targeted price ceilings – something anyone who has taken even a single economics class could tell you does more harm than good. Biden would never place the blame for the dramatic price increases we’ve experienced during his term where it actually belongs—on all the government spending that he and President Donald Trump oversaw during the pandemic, funded by the creation of $6 trillion out of thin air – because that kind of spending is precisely what he hopes to kick back up in a second term.

  If reelected, the president wants to “revive” parts of his so-called Build Back Better agenda, which he tried and failed to pass in his first year. That would bring a significant expansion of domestic spending. And Biden remains committed to the idea that Americans must be forced to continue funding the war in Ukraine. That’s another topic Biden is expected to highlight in the State of the Union, likely accompanied by the lie that Ukraine spending is good for the American economy. It isn’t.

  It’s not possible to predict all the ways President Biden will exaggerate, mislead, and outright lie in his speech on Thursday. But we can be sure of two things. The “state of the Union” is not as strong as Biden will say it is. And his policy ambitions risk making it much worse.

  *  *  *

  The American people will be tuning in on their smartphones, laptops, and televisions on Thursday evening to see if ‘sloppy joe’ 81-year-old President Joe Biden can coherently put together more than two sentences (even with a teleprompter) as he gives his third State of the Union in front of a divided Congress. 

  President Biden will speak on various topics to convince voters why he shouldn’t be sent to a retirement home.

  The state of our union under President Biden: three years of decline. pic.twitter.com/Da1KOIb3eR

  — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 7, 2024

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

  According to CNN sources, here are some of the topics Biden will discuss tonight:

  • Economic issues: Biden and his team have been drafting a speech heavy on economic populism, aides said, with calls for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy – an attempt to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans and their likely presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

  • Health care expenses: Biden will also push for lowering health care costs and discuss his efforts to go after drug manufacturers to lower the cost of prescription medications — all issues his advisers believe can help buoy what have been sagging economic approval ratings.

  • Israel’s war with Hamas: Also looming large over Biden’s primetime address is the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has consumed much of the president’s time and attention over the past few months. The president’s top national security advisers have been working around the clock to try to finalize a ceasefire-hostages release deal by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins next week.

  • An argument for reelection: Aides view Thursday’s speech as a critical opportunity for the president to tout his accomplishments in office and lay out his plans for another four years in the nation’s top job. Even though viewership has declined over the years, the yearly speech reliably draws tens of millions of households.

  Sources provided more color on Biden’s SOTU address: 

  The speech is expected to be heavy on economic populism. The president will talk about raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. He’ll highlight efforts to cut costs for the American people, including pushing Congress to help make prescription drugs more affordable.

  Biden will talk about the need to preserve democracy and freedom, a cornerstone of his re-election bid. That includes protecting and bolstering reproductive rights, an issue Democrats believe will energize voters in November. Biden is also expected to promote his unity agenda, a key feature of each of his addresses to Congress while in office.

  Biden is also expected to give remarks on border security while the invasion of illegals has become one of the most heated topics among American voters. A majority of voters are frustrated with radical progressives in the White House facilitating the illegal migrant invasion. 

  It is probable that the president will attribute the failure of the Senate border bill to the Republicans, a claim many voters view as unfounded. This is because the White House has the option to issue an executive order to restore border security, yet opts not to do so

  Maybe this is why? 

  Most Americans are still unaware that the census counts ALL people, including illegal immigrants, for deciding how many House seats each state gets!

  This results in Dem states getting roughly 20 more House seats, which is another strong incentive for them not to deport illegals.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2024

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

  While Biden addresses the nation, the Biden administration will be armed with a social media team to pump propaganda to at least 100 million Americans. 

  “The White House hosted about 70 creators, digital publishers, and influencers across three separate events” on Wednesday and Thursday, a White House official told CNN. 

  Not a very capable social media team… 

  The State of Confusion https://t.co/C31mHc5ABJ

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 7, 2024

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

  The administration’s move to ramp up social media operations comes as users on X are mostly free from government censorship with Elon Musk at the helm. This infuriates Democrats, who can no longer censor their political enemies on X. 

  Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers tell Axios that the president’s SOTU performance will be critical as he tries to dispel voter concerns about his elderly age. The address reached as many as 27 million people in 2023. 

  “We are all nervous,” said one House Democrat, citing concerns about the president’s “ability to speak without blowing things.”

  The SOTU address comes as Biden’s polling data is in the dumps. 

  

  BetOnline has created several money-making opportunities for gamblers tonight, such as betting on what word Biden mentions the most. 

  

  As well as…

  

  We will update you when Tucker Carlson’s live feed of SOTU is published. 

  Fuck it. We’ll do it live! Thursday night, March 7, our live response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech. pic.twitter.com/V0UwOrgKvz

  — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 6, 2024

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:55

• Watch: Indian Navy In Dramatic Sea Rescue Of True Confidence Crew After 3 Sailors Died
  Watch: Indian Navy In Dramatic Sea Rescue Of True Confidence Crew After 3 Sailors Died

  On Wednesday we reported on the deadly Houthi missile strike on the MV True Confidence, a Liberian-owned vessel, in the Red Sea. The attack resulted in the first fatalities since the Houthi campaign against international shipping began in reaction to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Three sailors tragically died while the rest of the crew abandoned the stricken vessel as it was on fire.

  The UK embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, confirmed on X: “At least two innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping. They must stop.” A statement by US Central Command later increased the death toll to three.

  The vessel’s owners and operator had said it was drifting 50 nautical miles southwest of Aden. True Confidence Shipping and Greece-based operator Third January Maritime Ltd said in a joint statement “The vessel is drifting” and that there the ship had no current connection with any US entity. However, the Indian Navy responded and was able to rescue several crew members, captured in a dramatic video below:

  Video of #India’s Armed Forces saving the crew of the TRUE CONFIDENCE that was attacked by the #IRGCterrorists-backed #Houthis yesterday. pic.twitter.com/yR5mMczzCh

  — Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) March 7, 2024

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

  Reuters has confirmed Thursday that “India’s navy evacuated all 20 crew from a stricken vessel in the Red Sea on Thursday, after a Houthi attack killed three seafarers in the first civilian fatalities from the Yemeni group’s campaign against the key shipping route.”

  The vessel’s owners have contacted and expressed condolences to the families. Two of the deceased were Filipino nationals, while the third was Vietnamese.

  The Indian Navy conducted a daring helicopter rescue from a small life raft in choppy waters. According to more from Reuters, “Some wounded were shown lying in the bottom of a navy lifeboat sent to assist.”

  “They were carried on stretchers onto the ship and were shown later with heavily bandaged limbs as they were evacuated to the Djibouti hospital,” the report continued.

  CENTCOM photo showing the vessel on fire and drifting following a direct hit by Houthi missile…

  

  The owners and managers further said in the statement: “The vessel is drifting well away from land and salvage arrangements are being made.” However, even salvage efforts will be high risk at a moment these waters off Yemen come under daily Houthi drone and rocket attacks.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:40

• Gaetz Accuses Jack Smith Of Election Interference In Complaint To DOJ Inspector General
  Gaetz Accuses Jack Smith Of Election Interference In Complaint To DOJ Inspector General

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused Special Counsel Jack Smith of election interference in a complaint filed with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) inspector general on Wednesday.

  

  In a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Mr. Gaetz asserted that Mr. Smith’s resistance to delaying a trial stems from an unspoken drive to hold it before the upcoming November presidential election.

  Last week, former President Donald Trump’s lawyers and Mr. Smith’s office filed motions requesting different trial dates in the classified documents criminal case in Florida. President Trump’s lawyers have argued that a fair trial cannot be held in an election year when he is the leading Republican candidate.

  “The witch hunt against President Trump by Attorney General Garland and Special Counsel Smith is a partisan exercise, and the American people know it!” Mr. Gaetz wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

  “Jack Smith’s attempt to speed up the trial against President Trump violates the DOJ’s rules and the law,” he continued. “His public comments and his office’s briefs before the Supreme Court demonstrate that he has no reason for his actions other than to unlawfully interfere in the 2024 presidential election.”

  In his letter, Mr. Gaetz pointed to statements by Mr. Smith in court filings where he has urged a “rapid” review of the case and stressed its “public importance.” This, according to the Florida congressman, shows that the case is an attempt at election interference.

  “Were there a legitimate, non-election related purpose for this request, these attorneys, who have filed in appeals courts many times, would have listed such,” Mr. Gaetz wrote (pdf).

  “Since charges have been filed and the defendant himself is taking a legal position on timing and lodging various appeals, that justification cannot, for example, be the rights of the defendant under the Constitution or Speedy Trial Act,” he continued.

  President Trump’s legal team made a similar argument last month, writing in a court filing that Mr. Smith was twisting “into logical knots” in his argument against delaying the trial.

  “The Special Counsel’s latest filing raises a compelling inference of a political motive—the motivation to influence the 2024 Presidential election by bringing the leading Republican candidate to trial before November 5, 2024,” President Trump’s lawyers wrote.

  Mr. Gaetz argued in Wednesday’s letter that Mr. Smith’s apparent rush to trial raises questions about compliance with DOJ policy. According to a 2022 memo issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland, law enforcement officers and prosecutors are prohibited from taking actions that could impact elections.

  The memo cites the DOJ’s Justice Manual, which has also been highlighted by President Trump’s legal team. The manual sets clear guidelines against using investigative steps, public statements, or criminal charges for electoral advantage.

  Citing legal scholars, including Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, Mr. Gaetz suggested in his letter that the rush to trial lacks a constitutional or statutory rationale, indicating a possible political motivation. Mr. Goldsmith, in an article referenced by Mr. Gaetz, questions the need for speed in the case and raises concerns about the consequences of such haste.

  Mr. Gaetz accused Mr. Smith of violating the law by trying to expedite the case in court.

  “It is the core of prohibited conduct that a purpose (not the purpose) of any official action of a prosecutor be to affect any election,” Mr. Gaetz wrote. “It may be morally correct that the American people should see swift resolution of this case, perhaps with dropped charges or a Trump acquittal before the November 2024 Presidential election, but wielding Executive Branch authority in the service of this is a violation of law. Prosecutors must be held to a higher standard.”

  Mr. Gaetz urged Mr. Garland to conduct an immediate investigation into potential violations of departmental regulations by Mr. Smith.

  The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Smith’s office for comment.

  Last week, Mr. Smith’s office requested a new trial date of July 8. On the same day, attorneys for the former president asked for a delay of the trial until after the 2024 election or, alternatively, for it to be held on Aug. 12.

  President Trump’s attorneys have argued that the U.S. Constitution affords him the right to run for president, engage in political speech-making protected by the First Amendment, and participate in legal proceedings, a right protected by the Sixth Amendment.

  President Trump is accused of violating the Espionage Act through unauthorized possession of national defense information, as well as conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:20

• China Blasts 'Unfathomable Absurdities' Of US Trade Curbs While Hailing Deepened Russia Ties
  China Blasts ‘Unfathomable Absurdities’ Of US Trade Curbs While Hailing Deepened Russia Ties

  China’s top diplomat on Thursday hit out at Washington’s “bewildering” trade policy during the much anticipated annual Foreign Minister’s briefing held during the ongoing “two sessions” gathering of China’s rubber stamp legislature.

  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi charged that the US is “devising various tactics to suppress China” and described that its “lengthening” unilateral anti-Beijing sanctions list is now at “bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity,” according to Bloomberg.

  China has been pushing and touting high-tech development, but this is amid significant barriers erected by Washington. Wang questioned on trade between the world’s two largest economies, “If it gets jittery whenever it hears the word China, where is its confidence as a major country?”

  

  He continued to lash out at the United States by saying, “If it only wants itself to prosper, but denies other countries legitimate development, where is international fairness? If it persistently monopolizes the high end of the value chain and keeps China at the low end, where is fairness and competition?“

  The over four hour-long engagement with reporters on a wide array of topics is a rare moment of the year where the foreign ministry can articulate the country’s foreign policy vision directly to reporters.

  However, the briefing is typically highly choreographed, and so there’s deep significance in the fact that the first foreign reporter to be called upon for a question was a Russian state media journalist.

  Wang praised robust Russian trade ties with China, which have increased in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine over two years ago. China-Russia trade reached a historic high of $240 billion, smashing President Xi and Putin’s target of $200 billion which had been set in a 2019 agreement.

  “Russian natural gas is fueling numerous Chinese households and Chinese-made automobiles are running on Russian roads,” Wang in the press conference. “All this shows the strong resilience and broad prospects of China-Russia mutually beneficial cooperation.”

  “China and Russia have forged a new paradigm of major country relations that differs entirely from the obsolete Cold War approach on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party,” he emphasized.

  On the question of the Ukraine war, Wang once again urged peace talks and called on all parties to avoid “unthinkable” escalation.

  China’s FM Wang Yi with 4 straightforward questions for the US, in the context of the bill to ban TikTok, the semiconductors sanctions on China, and the multiplication of banned Chinese products in the US (EV cars, port cranes, etc.)pic.twitter.com/CG1CnQSHyT

  “If the US says one…

  — Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) March 7, 2024

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

  On the issue of rising tensions in east Asian regional waters, which was just this week on display in the South China Sea with a collision incident between Chinese and Philippine Coast Guard vessels, he warned outside powers (of course primarily meaning the US) to not interfere and avoid provocations.

  “In the face of deliberate infringement, we will take justified actions to defend our rights in accordance with the law. In the face of unwarranted provocation, we will respond with prompt and legitimate countermeasures,” Wang asserted. “We also urge certain countries outside the region, not to make provocations, excite or stir up troubles.“

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 20:00

• COVID-19 Lockdowns Had High Health, Economic Costs: Swedish Study
  COVID-19 Lockdowns Had High Health, Economic Costs: Swedish Study

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

  Imposing restrictive lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic led to higher excess mortality in such nations while also damaging their economies, according to a recent Swedish study.

  

  Published in the Economic Affairs journal on Feb. 11, the study—which looked at the health and economic effects of COVID-19 lockdowns in Sweden—found that its less restrictive COVID-19 policies led to lower excess mortality compared to many European nations that imposed stronger lockdown rules. Sweden also suffered a lower negative impact on gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the pandemic period.

  Many policymakers made two key mistakes, researchers concluded.

  “First, they introduced lockdowns that were too stringent and had negligible positive health effects despite the evidence available at the time pointing toward the limited benefits of such broad measures.

  “Second, they responded to the downturn in economic activity with fiscal and monetary policies that were excessively expansionary.”

  Researchers looked at the excess mortality in Sweden between January 2020 and July 2022, comparing it to other European nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group.

  “Sweden and the other Nordic countries had among the lowest cumulative excess mortality rates of all European countries towards the end of the sample period,” they found. “Countries such as Finland and Norway, with the lowest average lockdown rate, show the lowest excess mortality, actually displaying a negative excess mortality rate.”

  “Sweden, which lagged behind other countries in March 2020 in introducing lockdown measures and then largely had an average lockdown rate, has one of the lowest cumulative excess mortality rates towards the end of the pandemic.”

  Nations that imposed more stringent lockdown measures didn’t have a lower excess mortality rate, the study said.

  For instance, school closures were likely an “inefficient policy” since kids were “relatively mildly affected by Covid-19 and were not a major source of the spread of the virus.”

  Of the 20,000 deaths in Sweden during the pandemic, only 21 people younger than the age of 19 years died even as all primary schools remained open throughout the pandemic, the study noted.

  Economic Implications

  Among economic effects, a “clear negative pattern” was observed in GDP growth rates between 2019 and 2021.

  “Countries with a higher lockdown rate displayed poorer economic growth.”

  Sweden was found to be doing better than others.

  “Sweden, with an average lockdown rate of 39 for 2020–21, shows a weak cumulative GDP growth of 3 percent during the two years 2020–21. Compared with an average annual pre-pandemic growth rate of 2.6 percent, the Swedish economy lost approximately one year of growth,” the study said. However, “countries with a higher lockdown rate lost between one and three years of economic growth.”

  “In other words, the Swedish economy took a hit as a result of the pandemic, but it was nevertheless possible to maintain a positive growth rate by avoiding the more severe lockdown measures applied in other countries.”

  Lockdown measures also had a fiscal impact. Sweden’s budget deficit due to COVID-19 restrictions was less than 3 percent of its GDP. Nations with more stringent lockdown measures had a higher deficit. For instance, the United Kingdom had a budget deficit of 27 percent, Italy 17 percent, and France 16 percent.

  After the pandemic, Sweden had a debt-to-GDP ratio of 36 percent at the end of 2021, just slightly higher than the 35 percent before the pandemic. By the end of 2022, that had declined to 34 percent.

  By contrast, France’s debt-to-GDP ratio after the pandemic was higher than what Greece encountered in 2009 at the beginning of the European debt crisis.

  “The unprecedented expansionary fiscal measures may have been necessary to support businesses and households through the pandemic and the lockdowns,“ the study said. ”However, the fiscal cost of these measures became exceedingly high in those countries that opted for a higher lockdown rate.”

  Researchers recommended that any response to a pandemic crisis in the future “should focus on the long-term perspective” as well.

  “We are not all dead in the long run—many have to live with the consequences of the pandemic crisis response. It is essential that crisis policies do not cause more harm than good.”

  The research was conducted by Frederick N.G. Andersson and Lars Jonung, two professors from Lund University in Sweden.

  Mr. Andersson is a macroeconomist specializing in long-term economic transitions. Mr. Jonung is a professor emeritus at the Department of Economics in the university and served as chairman of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council during 2012-13.

  Litany of Lockdown Harms

  Other studies also have detailed lockdown-related harms.

  A report published by the Centre of Social Justice (CSJ) think tank last year found that the COVID-19 pandemic was the “dynamite” that blew open the “gap between those who can get by and those stuck at the bottom” in the United Kingdom.

  “During lockdown: calls to a domestic abuse helpline rose 700 percent; mental ill-health in young people went from one in nine to one in six; and nearly a quarter amongst the oldest children; severe school absence jumped by 134 percent,” it said.

  In addition, “1.2 million more people went on working-age benefits; 86 percent more people sought help for addictions; prisoners were locked up for more than 22 hours per day, and a household became homeless every three minutes.”

  In an interview with Bill Maher last year, Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, acknowledged that his decision to push for harsher lockdown policies during the COVID-19 pandemic was wrong.

  “I was on the board of my kids’ school during COVID. I wanted a harsher lockdown policy, and, in retrospect, I was wrong. … The damage to kids from keeping them out of school longer was greater than the risk.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 19:40

• Mexico "Still Hasn't Seen Science" From US Proving Genetically Modified Corn Is Safe
  Mexico “Still Hasn’t Seen Science” From US Proving Genetically Modified Corn Is Safe

  Mexico submitted an official reply to the United States in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade dispute about importing genetically modified (GM) corn. Mexico argued that the herbicide glyphosate in the corn is unsafe for human consumption. Corn plays a vital role in the Mexican diet, particularly as the primary ingredient for tortilla flour.

  In a written submission to a USMCA panel, Mexico, the top buyer of US corn, used science to show how GM corn and Glyphosate harm human health. This has given Mexico the authority to ban GM corn for human consumption. 

  

  The submission outlined policies aimed at safeguarding consumers against the potential health effects of GM corn, asserting that these measures would have minimal trade impacts on US farmers.

  Here are the most critical parts of Mexico’s submission (list courtesy of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (ITAP)): 

  • The scientific evidence of GMO safety presented by the US is out of date, much of it from industry studies not supported by peer-review. According to Mexico, the US did not present any peer-reviewed study showing it safe to eat large quantities of GM corn exposed to Glyphosate in minimally processed form over a lifetime. Mexico makes the case that the US regulatory process is not stringent enough ensure that products are safe for Mexicans to consume at high levels. 

  • On public health, the submission details that GM corn, especially Bt corn engineered to kill insect pests, can have adverse impacts on non-target animals. Mammals have been shown to suffer damage to their digestive systems from a GM trait that kills its targets by attacking their guts. 

  • Mexican tortillas have been proven to be contaminated with GM corn and Glyphosate, the latter in residues from treatments of GM corn engineered to tolerate the herbicide featured in Roundup. Mexico shows that even low-level exposures can have negative long-term health impact. 

  Mexican Deputy Agriculture Secretary Victor Suarez told Reuters:

  The United States “argues that the decisions in Mexico are not based on science and that their decisions are … But we still haven’t seen the science of the United States or the companies. We are looking forward to that study with great pleasure.”

  Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP’s director of trade and international strategies, wrote in a statement: 

  “We welcome this vigorous defense of Mexico’s programs to transform its food system. The science they present backs up longstanding civil society campaigns for healthy foods and biodiverse agricultural systems. There’s a lot here that could contribute to more substantive debates on our food and agriculture system in the US, as well.” 

  IATP Senior Advisor Timothy A. Wise said: 

  “Ever since Mexico first announced its intentions to limit GM corn and glyphosate in its tortilla chain, the US government has asserted that Mexico’s policies are not based on science.” 

  Wise continued:

  “This comprehensive response refutes that claim, presenting hundreds of academic studies that show cause for concern about human health and the threat to native corn diversity.”

  Agri-chemical companies like Bayer have spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing GM crops for worldwide export out of the US. They also spend tens of millions of dollars in defending GM foods. 

  Meanwhile, Glyphosate is banned or limited in at least 25 countries and some areas within the United States. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared Glyphosate a probable human carcinogen. 

  Maybe Mexico is right. Question the chemicals in the food. 

  Are GMO foods the reason why there are more increased celiac and gluten sensitivity cases?

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 19:20

• Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued
  Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued

  Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Almost 230 people were arrested, and 13 potential victims were rescued in a Florida human trafficking sting dubbed, “Operation March Sadness 2024.”

  

  At a March 5 press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced the bust of a human trafficking operation on the west side of the county in Lakeland that led to 228 arrests and the rescue of 13 potential victims. The Polk County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) was assisted by police departments in Lakeland, Haines City, Davenport, Auburndale, Lake Hamilton, and the Winterhaven Fire and Rescue.

  According to a March 5 press release, the “eight-day-long undercover human trafficking operation” began on Feb. 22 and targeted suspects “involved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding and abetting prostitutes.

  The 228 arrests consisted of “66 prostitutes, 50 Johns, and 12 others,” Sheriff Judd said.

  “This time we identified 13 potential victims of human trafficking,” he added, saying his department has identified “58 potential victims of human trafficking in one year” through these operations.

  The significance, he said, was that this is “the most ever” they have been able to identify.

  Sheriff Judd also noted that 48 of those arrested were from Polk County, saying they “should know better.”

  “We talk about this,” he explained. “We don’t hide it, and if you don’t know about it you obviously live under a rock. So, you’ve had to learn the hard way.”

  For the rest, he offered a warning.

  “This is not the last operation,” he advised. “We‘ll have more, and we’ll give you the opportunity to be arrested if you’re stupid enough to show up. That’s a guarantee.”

  Of those arrested, 42 are married. One was a commercial pilot. There were members of the Air Force, sports coaches, law enforcement officers, and people in the medical profession. Some were teachers.

  Two minors were arrested. “They came down to rob us,” Sheriff Judd said, adding that they came armed with a BB gun that looked like a real gun.

  “That could have gone really bad for them,” he said.

  A total of 17 firearms were confiscated from 15 different suspects and 44 had possession of narcotics.

  ‘Addicted to This Cash’

  One of the men arrested was handling three illegal immigrant females from Venezuela for the head of a sex trafficking ring they believe is female.

  “She sets up their appointments, she puts their ads online, she tells them where to go,” Sheriff Judd explained, adding that the three victims had to “pay her $3,000 a piece” by the end of the week as a means of “paying off their debt.”

  Sheriff Judd then said that the three victims told law enforcement that when they came to the United States illegally “DHS gave them a form, and ID paperwork that allows them to fly for free.”

  So, while the three sex workers operate out of New York, they said they fly to major metropolitan areas for free “on the federal government where they set up their appointments for sex all around the country.”

  Sheriff Judd said all 21 of the illegal immigrants told a “similar story” regarding their involvement in the sex trafficking scheme.

  “We can’t work legally,” he recalled them saying. “We’re addicted to this cash. It’s a lot of cash and it’s quick so we have to give $3,000 a week. We get to keep everything above that.”

  “We have a crisis at the border,” Sheriff Judd asserted, “and because of the crisis at the border we have people that are victimizing illegal folks, forcing them into the sex trade because we allow these criminals in the country illegally.”

  Sheriff Judd also addressed headlines claiming that illegal immigrants “aren’t committing crime at any greater percentage than the people who are here legally.”

  “What they didn’t tell you if they weren’t here illegally at all the crime they would commit here would be zero,” he noted. “So, we’re being victimized.”

  On June 3, 2022, the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 615, creating a new duty for the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking (SCHT), which is to determine how many times social media platforms are used to assist, facilitate, or support human trafficking within the Sunshine State.

  To fulfill this requirement, the SCHT conducted a statewide survey of Florida’s 80 law enforcement agencies to record the number of times social media platforms were used to “facilitate human trafficking, trafficking operations, or control victims” since 2019.

  According to the 2023 Annual Report, they discovered that 72 human trafficking instances were recorded using Facebook, 65 through Instagram, five through WhatsApp, and four by using Facebook Messenger.

  The Epoch Times reached out to the PCSD to find out if “Operation March Sadness 2024” had been conducted through online social media platforms.

  While PCSD confirmed that the sting operation was conducted online, PCSD spokesperson Carrie Horstman said, “We don’t typically release information about which specific sites are used during our undercover investigations.”

  “Our message is for parents to monitor their children’s activities online—have all of their logins and passwords and check their accounts regularly,” she added, providing a link to resources parents can use to protect their children from online predators. “Don’t allow them to be friends online with people who are strangers, and don’t allow just anyone to ‘follow’ them.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 19:00

• House Panel Unanimously Advances Bipartisan Bill To Ban TikTok
  House Panel Unanimously Advances Bipartisan Bill To Ban TikTok

  TikTok’s days could be numbered in the United States, after the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advanced a bill Thursday that would require TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest the app or face a US ban.

  

  Introduced on Tuesday by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” bill is aimed at mitigating national security concerns over whether the Chinese government has access to the personal data to millions of Americans who use TikTok.

  While Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) – ranking member on the committee raised concerns over “how rushed this process has been,” the bill passed with no issue following a Thursday morning classified hearing prior to the vote.

  TikTok has vehemently denied that it poses national security risks due to its ownership by a Chinese parent company, and said that the legislation comes to an unfair “predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States.”

  “The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country,” said a spokesman for the company, The Hill reports.

  Ahead of Thursday’s vote, TikTok sent messages urging users to call Congress to oppose the bill. The notifications warned users to “stop a TikTok shutdown” and that Congress is “planning a total ban of TikTok.” 

  Lawmakers in support of the bill have pushed back on that allegation since the bill allows TikTok to continue to be used in the U.S. if ByteDance divests it.  

  Republicans on the committee also said the notification push to users highlighted their concerns about the app’s reach.

  Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) accused the company of using its “influence and powers to force users to contact their representatives.”

  While the bill has widespread support within the committee, it still faces outside opposition (pushed by lobbyists) from groups such as the ACLU and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, who say the decision could infringe on free speech.

  “I’m just not confident that this will actually side-step the free speech concerns that have been raised with previous attempts to ban TikTok,” said Sarah Krepps, director of the Tech Policy Institue at Cornell University, in a statement to The Hill.

  “ByteDance has said they will not divest TikTok, so I have no reason to think they would exercise that option,” Krepps continued. “So if they’re not going to divest, it leads back down the same road of a ban.”

  According to Krepps, a ban would likely be viewed as unconstitutional based on recent legal challenges to state TikTok bans.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 18:40

• CNN Credits Trump, Admits Biden "Made The Problem Worse" At The Border
  CNN Credits Trump, Admits Biden “Made The Problem Worse” At The Border

  Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

  In a rare collectors moment, CNN took time Tuesday to give Donald Trump credit regarding illegal immigration, admitting that the US does “have a problem,” at the border and that Biden has “made the problem worse.”

  

  While the comments came from Republican strategist Brad Todd, it’s the kind of admission that would never have aired while the likes of former CNN grinning clown Brian Stelter were at the helm on the network.

  Todd told other CNN panelists that the “out of control” southern border will be the “pull and push” of the 2024 election.

  “I think the fact that the border’s out of control and the Biden administration has made the problem worse is what’s the bigger problem,” Todd said, adding “The key portion of this electorate, I mean people who may not always like the way Trump talks or his choice of words, that they don’t like the way Joe Biden’s policies acted. Immigration is gonna be number one on that. Immigration and crisis both.”

  “Can the Biden campaign demonstrate that in fact they’re gonna take a new direction on immigration and on the economy? They’re gonna move more to the center. Or can Trump convince voters to look past some of the rhetoric they don’t like?” Todd further posited.

  One of the CNN anchors then attempted to steer the conversation toward criticising Trump, but first admitted:

  “You can make the case that the immigration system is broken, I don’t think many people will argue about that.”

  “The numbers of illegal immigrants, encounters on the border is what’s gonna drive the election. It’s not gonna end up being about Donald Trump’s rhetoric. It’s gonna end up being about the numbers under Joe Biden and the realities American citizens are seeing in cities across the country,” Todd further urged.

  While claiming Trump is exaggerating the border crisis, CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro nevertheless admitted we do have a problem,” adding  “And the problem is that there’s countries like Cuba, like Venezuela — which he can’t pronounce — like Nicaragua, and Haiti. Three of those are ruled by left-wing dictators who are anti-American.”

  Watch:

  In a rare collectors moment, CNN took time Tuesday to give Donald Trump credit regarding illegal immigration, admitting that the US does “have a problem,” at the border and that Biden has “made the problem worse.” Report here: https://t.co/hxNFoBm2qK pic.twitter.com/XjKjuQoveL

  — m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) March 6, 2024

  While it was hardly Trump friendly, it’s something that MSNBC talking heads refused to even acknowledge as a reality. Indeed they mocked the idea that illegal immigration is a concern for American voters.

  Earlier in their broadcast, CNN also admitted that Trump has taken full control of the Republican Party, and that his sweeping Super Tuesday primary wins demonstrate that “He has remade the party in his image.”

  “There are still some Republicans who are trying to take it away, like take it back. That’s over. That party doesn’t exist anymore,” one CNN analyst noted.

  CNN also carried Trump’s full speech Tuesday night, while MSNBC refused to air it, with extreme TDS sufferer Rachel Maddow declaring it would be “irresponsible” to do so.

  *  *  *

  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
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 18:20

• Bukele Detransitions Gender Theory From El Salvador Public Schools; Milei Calls It "Political Tool"
  Bukele Detransitions Gender Theory From El Salvador Public Schools; Milei Calls It “Political Tool”

  Last week, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told a packed audience at CPAC that gender theory is an blight on society, and said he believes that it’s “important that the curriculum doesn’t [include] gender ideology and all these [other] things,” adding “parents should be informed and have a say in what their children are going to learn.”

  

  Following his comments, El Salvador’s Ministry of Education announced that it will stop teaching gender theory to children.

  “Confirmed: we have removed all traces of gender ideology from public schools,” Minister of Education José Mauricio Pineda told El Pais.

  Bukele, 42, won his re-election bid with 84% of thevote, while his Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party is now the primary political force in the country. They have widespread support of the Salvadorian population, which is in alignment on issues such as gender theory and sex education.

  According to Pineda, “every use or trace of gender ideology” has been “removed from public schools.”

  Salvadorian feminists are of course screeching over the decision.

  “Bukele is a messianic figure, a patriarchal leader… a [paternalistic] president who watches over us and who [seems to think that he’s] anointed by God,” said human rights activist Celia Medrano, in a statement to El Pais. “He’s a highly conservative man with a very clear tendency to manipulate religion [in favor of] the message that women have to be kept at home.”

  Meanwhile in Argentina, President Javier Milei is on a similar mission to undo years of feminist policies – demoting the Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity to the level of undersecretary, and announcing that the government will prohibit so-called ‘inclusive’ language and “anything related to the gender perspective” in the administration.

  

  The country’s 144 telephone line for victims of gender-based violence, and shelters created for them, were recently eliminated as part of recent budget cuts.

  In response, feminist movements will be out in force on March 8, International Women’s Day.

  Beyond El Salvador and Argentina, in Columbia, voters rejected a peace agreement between the Santos government and FARC guerillas – because among other things, the agreements included a push for equality between men, women, LGBTQ+ and other ‘diverse’ identities.

  The rejection that took place at the polls that October had been brewing for months. Evangelical and Catholic groups, with the support of former president Álvaro Uribe’s party, had taken to the streets that summer to protest against the government’s “indoctrination in gender identity” due to its guidelines on sexuality.

  …

  María Fernanda Cabal, the leading senator of the most radical right wing, is a firm defender of these theses. She repeated the phrase: “Gender ideology is disgusting.” –El Pais

  One of the earliest leaders to reject DEI and gender ideology  was former President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro – whose government attempted to eliminate gender perspective in schools, only to be struck down by the country’s Supreme Court as being unconstitutional.

  

  That said, Bolsonaro’s head of cultural policy did veto ‘inclusive language’ from projects seeking tax beneffits, and the former president himself mocked the Argentine government after Alberto Fernández insisted on using such language in his official commnications.

  “How does that help your people? The only thing that has changed is that now there are shortages, poverty, and unemployment. May God protect our Argentine brothers and help us get out of this difficult situation,” he said.

  El Pais also notes Chile and the “ultraconservatives of Mexico” as opposing gender ideology.

  “Let’s recover the language, no more cultural deformation,” said Chilean Republican Party under José Antonio Kast during his first presidential run ahead of the country’s 2021 elections. “the so-called inclusive language is part of a political-ideological agenda, and not a cultural agenda. We are going to strengthen the correct use of language, with no forced imposition of its deviations or discrimination of any kind.”

  In short, Latin America has led the charge in rejecting the woke revolution.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 18:00

• Alabama Sued Over 'Racial Quota' For Real Estate Appraisers Board
  Alabama Sued Over ‘Racial Quota’ For Real Estate Appraisers Board

  Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

  A civil rights group is suing Alabama for allegedly implementing illegal racial quotas in appointments to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board (AREAB).

  

  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey speaks during a news conference in Montgomery, Ala., on July 29, 2020. (Kim Chandler/AP Photo)

  The lawsuit comes after Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) issued a report last year showing that as many as 25 states enforce race or sex-based quotas for public board appointments. PLF said there were 63 board mandates for race or sex-based appointments across the country.

  Promoted by vocal activists, “these mandates threaten the individual right to equality before the law, and without action, the problem is likely to worsen,” the report said.

  AREAB, which was created in 1990, licenses and regulates real estate appraisers in Alabama.

  Its nine members are appointed by Alabama’s governor.

  But state law imposes racial criteria on appointments: at least two board members have to be members of a racial minority group.

  There is currently one opening on the board for a public member, and state law requires the governor to consider race when appointing a person to fill that post.

  “Such blatant racial discrimination against individuals who could otherwise sit on AREAB serves no legitimate government purpose,” according to the new legal complaint (pdf) in American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) v. Ivey that was filed last month in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division.

  “It is demeaning, patronizing, un-American, and unconstitutional,” added the complaint.

  The plaintiff, AAER, describes itself as “a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to challenging distinctions and preferences made on the basis of race and ethnicity.” AAER is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

  The defendant, Gov. Kay Ivey, is being sued in her official capacity as Alabama’s governor.

  The Republican governor was served with the legal complaint on Feb. 26, according to court documents. Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr., who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, has been assigned to the case.

  AAER’s president Edward Blum said his group is suing the state because “there are unfortunately dozens of government boards and commissions that exclude people because of their race or ethnicity. No one’s race should be used to include them, or exclude them, from service on government boards.”

  Mr. Blum is also the founder of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA). SFFA was a litigant in SFFA v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, a 2023 Supreme Court decision that struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies at U.S. colleges.

  AAER states in the legal complaint that it has “members who are qualified, ready, willing, and able to be appointed to AREAB, including Member A, a citizen of Alabama who supports public service and property rights and has applied for the vacant public member position on AREAB.”

  However, because Member A is not a member of a racial minority group, she is not eligible for the vacant position, the complaint said.

  AAER said it is bringing this lawsuit under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “to ensure that every qualified citizen in Alabama has the equal right to serve on AREAB and to ensure that Alabamians are regulated by a board whose members are not selected on the basis of race.”

  “So long as this racial quota remains in place, members of the [AAER] who are not racial minorities will never receive equal consideration for openings on AREAB.”

  AAER is seeking a declaration from the court that the policy is unconstitutional and an injunction blocking its enforcement.

  Glenn Roper, a senior attorney at PLF, which is representing AAER, said, “It’s wrong for the government to make offensive assumptions about people’s experiences and qualifications based on race. And it’s unconstitutional to exclude some citizens from public service with arbitrary race quotas.”

  The public isn’t even aware of these racial restrictions in Alabama and other states, which is why PLF released its report on race and sex-based quotas in effect for public board appointments, the lawyer told The Epoch Times.

  The quota at AREAB is “unfair and it makes no sense to exclude people from public service because they don’t meet some racial requirements.

  “There’s nothing about real estate appraising, or the history of the real estate appraisal industry in Alabama, that requires having racial minorities be [involved in] regulating. That shouldn’t even be a consideration when deciding who to put on this board.”

  Mr. Roper said he was optimistic about the case.

  “Because racial considerations require the government to satisfy strict scrutiny, I think we have a very strong case, that’s a high bar for the government to clear. Really, they can’t meet either of the prongs. There’s no compelling interest in forcing racial minorities on the board.

  “And then even if there was, they haven’t narrowly tailored it like the Supreme Court requires,” he said.

  The attorney was referring to the strict scrutiny test that courts use when reviewing legislative or executive branch enactments that have a bearing on constitutional rights. A government interest is deemed compelling when it is essential or necessary, as opposed to a matter of preference, choice, or discretion.

  Just last year in the Harvard affirmative action case, the Supreme Court emphasized how stringent the test was and how “we’re not just going to accept the government’s say-so, so they’ve got to provide solid evidence when they want” to consider race-based government policies, Mr. Roper said.

  The Epoch Times reached out to the AREAB for comment but had not received a reply as of publication time.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 17:40

• California School District Pays Children $1,400 To Become 'Racial And Social Justice Warriors'
  California School District Pays Children $1,400 To Become ‘Racial And Social Justice Warriors’

  The Long Beach Unified School district in California is funneling money to a progressive activist group which is paying students $1,400 each to become racial and social justice warriors.

  

  The district paid $900,000 for a one-year contract to Californians for Justice (CFJ), a “youth-powered” non-profit that pushes racial justice ideology on children, the Free Press reports.

  Of that, $60,200 was allocated to pay 33 students and 10 families or parents $1,400 each to participate in CFJ’s training programs.

  According to the contract, the program exists to “provide assistance to teachers, administrators and selected students in building strategies to support cultural understanding and change.”

  

  On CFJ’s website, the group claims to have “trained hundreds of youth of color in Long Beach to be community leaders and organizers,” adding that it “provides leadership development opportunities throughout the school year and summer to ensure our youth leaders gain the political education and valuable organizing skills they need to lead social justice movements.”

  “It’s so fun! You get paid good, you can have a fun time,” one of the students posted recently to Instagram.

   

   

   

   

  View this post on Instagram

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  A post shared by Californians For Justice (@cal4justice)

  A spokesman for the Long Beach School District framed the paid program as “internships” which are to ensure “equitable participation in CFJ programs, embracing diverse perspectives in education.” Quite diversity word salad there.

  Teachers have serious concerns

  Four teachers from the Long Beach district voiced concern over the program, with one telling the Free Press that paying kids to participate is a “horrible propaganda strategy.“

  “I am shocked and horrified at such a fact,” another teacher told the outlet.

  Interestingly, one of CFJ’s major donors is a descendant of Levi Strauss – the Walter Haas fund. Other donors include the Rockefellers, an the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

  One major donor is a descendant of Levi Strauss, Walter Haas fundhttps://t.co/fsIlNiHVfs

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) March 7, 2024

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

  According to the report, Long Beach has paid CFJ nearly $2 million since 2019 to work with them. In 2021, the organization ran three professional development seminars in Long Beach high schools, during which participants were encouraged to embrace the role of “student voice,” and to “advance a district wide Equity Agenda” in conjunction with teachers and admins, the 2021-2022 contract read.

  Per the latest contract, CFJ will be hosting 15 more of these trainings during the 2023-2024 school year.

  One teacher told the Free Press on condition of anonymity that the workshops have become open forums for students to complain.

  “The way that they are handing scripts to students, even the words coming out of the students’ mouths it just feels like indoctrination and not information,” she told the outlet.

  Another teacher, Jay Goldfischer, agreed – saying “They’re teaching them parroting,” adding “which is the exact opposite of how you empower children.”

  CFJ defended itself in a statement to the Free Press, saying “Our agenda is not hidden and is simple: we want the Long Beach Unified School District to be a place where every student is represented honestly in classrooms and curricula, and where they are safe to be in critical dialogue supportive of democratic participation across differences.”

  //www.instagram.com/embed.js

   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 03/07/2024 – 17:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest