Today’s News 9th April 2023

• Eating Meat Is The Norm Almost Everywhere
  Eating Meat Is The Norm Almost Everywhere

  On average, 86 percent of people surveyed for Statista’s Consumer Insights in 21 countries said that their diet contained meat – highlighting that despite the trend around meat substitutes and plant-based products, eating meat remains the norm almost everywhere in the world.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, to satisfy the world’s hunger for meat, 340 million tons of it were produced globally in 2021. Because meat consumption typically increases as countries grow wealthier, that number has been rising.

  In only three out of 21 countries – Switzerland, China and India – fewer than 80 percent of respondents said that they ate meat. The latter country had the lowest score at 53 percent meat eaters. China still counted 79 percent of respondents saying they ate meat, while that number was 72 percent in Switzerland. India’s penchant for vegetarian fare is connected to Brahmanism or Vedic religion, a belief system connected to the caste of Brahmans, which are highly regarded in the Indian caste system, making vegetarianism equally desirable.

  

  In Western countries, vegetarianism is more often tied to concerns about environmental impact or unethical practices in meat production. Despite higher meat consumption in these countries, meat substitutes are relatively more popular there, ranging from 21 percent of respondents who said they bought them regularly in the UK to 12 percent in Spain and 11 percent in Austria. In China, 20 percent purchase meat substitutes regularly – the highest in the survey due to the Chinese market containing many traditional meat substitutes like tofu and seitan, whose long-standing popularity is intertwined with the history of Buddhism in the country.

  The conceptualization of foregoing meat not only as a moral but as an environmental act has led to meat-eaters also purchasing meat substitutes, as the overlapping of figures from the survey suggest.

  Regular purchase of meat substitutes was lowest in the meat-loving nation of South Korea, where only 9 percent of people purchase them on the regular.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 23:00

• Escobar: Iran And Saudi Arabia – A Chinese Win-Win
  Escobar: Iran And Saudi Arabia – A Chinese Win-Win

  Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle,

  The single Iranian-Saudi handshake buried trillions of dollars of western divide-and-rule investments across West Asia, and has global leaders rushing to Beijing for global solutions.

  

  The idea that History has an endpoint, as promoted by clueless neoconservatives in the unipolar 1990s, is flawed, as it is in an endless process of renewal. The recent official meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing marks a territory that was previously deemed unthinkable and which has undoubtedly caused grief for the War Inc. machine.

  This single handshake signifies the burial of trillions of dollars that were spent on dividing and ruling West Asia for over four decades. Additionally, the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the fabricated reality of the new millennium, featured as prime collateral damage in Beijing.

  Beijing’s optics as the capital of peace have been imprinted throughout the Global South, as evidenced by a subsequent sideshow where a couple of European leaders, a president, and a Eurocrat, arrived as supplicants to Xi Jinping, asking him to join the NATO line on the war in Ukraine. They were politely dismissed.

  Still, the optics were sealed: Beijing had presented a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine that was branded “irrational” by the Washington beltway neocons. The Europeans – hostages of a proxy war imposed by Washington – at least understood that anyone remotely interested in peace needs to go through the ritual of bowing to the new boss in Beijing.

  The irrelevance of the JCPOA

  Tehran-Riyadh relations, of course, will have a long, rocky way ahead – from activating previous cooperation deals signed in 1998 and 2001 to respecting, in practice, their mutual sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.

  Everything is far from solved – from the Saudi-led war on Yemen to the frontal clash of Persian Gulf Arab monarchies with Hezbollah and other resistance movements in the Levant. Yet that handshake is the first step leading, for instance, to the Saudi foreign minister’s upcoming trip to Damascus to formally invite President Bashar al-Assad to the Arab League summit in Riyadh next month.

  It’s crucial to stress that this Chinese diplomatic coup started way back with Moscow brokering negotiations in Baghdad and Oman; that was a natural development of Russia stepping in to help Iran save Syria from a crossover NATO-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) coalition of vultures.

  Then the baton was passed to Beijing, in total diplomatic sync. The drive to permanently bury GWOT and the myriad, nasty ramifications of the US war of terror was an essential part of the calculation; but even more pressing was the necessity to demonstrate how the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, had become irrelevant.

  Both Russia and China have experienced, inside and out, how the US always manages to torpedo a return to the JCPOA, as it was conceived and signed in 2015. Their task became to convince Riyadh and GCC states that Tehran has no interest in weaponizing nuclear power – and will remain a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

  Then it was up to Chinese diplomatic finesse to make it quite clear that the Persian Gulf monarchies’ fear of revolutionary Shi’ism is now as counter-productive as Tehran’s dread of being harassed and/or encircled by Salafi-jihadis. It’s as if Beijing had coined a motto: drop these hazy ideologies, and let’s do business.

  And business it is, and will be: better yet, mediated by Beijing and implicitly guaranteed by both nuclear superpowers Russia and China.

  Hop on the de-dollarization train

  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) may exhibit some Soprano-like traits, but he’s no fool: he instantly saw how this Chinese offer morphed beautifully into his domestic modernization plans. A Gulf source in Moscow, familiar with MbS’ rise and consolidation of power, details the crown prince’s drive to appeal to the younger Saudi generation who idolize him. Let girls drive their SUVs, go dancing, let their hair down, work hard, and be part of the “new” Saudi Arabia of Vision 2030: a global tourism and services hub, a sort of Dubai on steroids.

  And, crucially, this will also be a Eurasia-integrated Saudi Arabia; future, inevitable member of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS+ – just like Iran, which will also be sitting at the same communal tables.

  From Beijing’s point of view, this is all about its ambitious, multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A key BRI connectivity corridor runs from Central Asia to Iran and then beyond, to the Caucasus and/or Turkey. Another one – in search of investment opportunities – runs through the Arabian Sea, the Sea of Oman, and the Persian Gulf, part of the Maritime Silk Road.

  Beijing wants to develop BRI projects in both corridors: call it “peaceful modernization” applied to sustainable development. The Chinese always remember how the Ancient Silk Roads plied Persia and parts of Arabia: in this case, we have History Repeating Itself.

  A geopolitical revolution

  And then comes the Holy Grail: energy. Iran is a prime gas supplier to China, a matter of national security, inextricably linked to their $400 billion-plus strategic partnership deal. And Saudi Arabia is a prime oil supplier. Closer Sino-Saudi relations and interaction in key multipolar organizations such as the SCO and BRICS+ advance the fateful day when the petroyuan will be definitely enshrined.

  China and the UAE have already clinched their first gas deal in yuan. The high-speed de-dollarization train has already left the station. ASEAN is already actively discussing how to bypass the dollar to privilege settlements in local currencies – something unthinkable even a few months ago. The US dollar has already been thrown into a death by a thousand cuts spiral.

  And that will be the day when the game reaches a whole new unpredictable level.

  The destructive agenda of the neocon leaders in charge of US foreign policy should never be underestimated. They exploited the 9/11 “new Pearl Harbor” pretext to launch a crusade against the lands of Islam in 2001, followed by a NATO proxy war against Russia in 2014. Their ultimate ambition is to wage war against China before 2025.

  However, they are now facing a swift geopolitical and geoeconomic revolt of the World’s Heartland – from Russia and China to West Asia, and extrapolating to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and selected latitudes in Latin America.

  The turning point came on 26 February, 2022, when Washington’s neocons – in a glaring display of their shallow intellects – decided to freeze and/or steal the reserves of the only nation on the planet equipped with all the commodities that really matter, and with the necessary nous to unleash a momentous shift to a monetary system not anchored in fiat money.

  That was the fateful day when the cabal, identified by journalist Seymour Hersh as responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, actually blew the whistle for the high-speed de-dollarization train to leave the station, led by Russia, China, and now – welcome on board – Iran and Saudi Arabia.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 22:30

• Taiwan's Thinly Woven Diplomatic Web
  Taiwan’s Thinly Woven Diplomatic Web

  Taiwan is reported to be monitoring a Chinese strike group off its coast, the day after the its president Tsai Ing-wen met with U.S. House speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

  As Statista’s Martin Armstrong reports, in response to the meeting, China has stated publicly that it would take “resolute” measures to defend its sovereignty.

  McCarthy, for his part, said after the visit that the U.S. “must continue the arms sales to Taiwan and make sure such sales reach Taiwan on a very timely basis”.

  Tsai’s stopover in the States is part of a diplomatic trip to her country’s remaining allies in Central America.

  With the power that China holds on the international stage, the Taiwanese government can only count on the official support of a few small states around the world.

  Most recently, Honduras announced in March that it was realigning to seek diplomatic ties to China, having previously been an ally of Taiwan.

  Currently, only 13 independent countries recognize the Taipei government, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  The majority are located in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Paraguay, Guatemala and Haiti. Taiwan’s other four allies are island nations in Southeast Asia, namely Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. This list is rounded off with the Kingdom of Eswatini, located in Africa, and the Vatican City State, in Europe.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 22:00

• G7 Nations To Emphasize The Importance Of Nuclear Power In Upcoming Announcement
  G7 Nations To Emphasize The Importance Of Nuclear Power In Upcoming Announcement

  The thesis we presented to readers in December 2020 recommended uranium stocks on the belief that nuclear energy would eventually be incorporated into the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) framework, as highlighted in our article “Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze,” is proving to be accurate. 

  As per a draft statement cited by The Japan Times, energy and environment ministers of G7 nations are preparing to announce the importance of nuclear power for energy security amidst the global push towards decarbonization.  

  The statement, seen Friday, is likely to note that G7 countries welcome Japan’s plan to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean in a transparent way and in close coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the draft.

  The announcement could come as soon as the G7 climate, energy, and environment ministers meet in Japan on April 15-16. 

  The Times said multiple G7 countries are accelerating their push towards extending the life of nuclear power plants and constructing new ones.

  Parliament is currently deliberating legislation that would extend the life of nuclear plants beyond 60 years as the government aims to ensure stable electricity supply and promote decarbonization at the same time.

  Britain and France are accelerating construction of new nuclear plants, while the development of a small modular reactor is underway in the United States.

  Germany, which is expected to complete the shutdown of all nuclear plants in the country this month, opposes highlighting the importance of nuclear power.

  The draft statement also laid out a plan for advanced economies to build small modular reactors and next-generation reactors. 

  At the time of our initial recommendation, the majority of uranium stocks were trading at a fraction of their price now. 

  

  The case for nuclear energy becomes even stronger as governments aim to decarbonize their economies within the next decade, as it is impossible to achieve this solely through solar and wind power.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 21:00

• Jan. 6 Rioters Fight To Await Trial At Home
  Jan. 6 Rioters Fight To Await Trial At Home

  Authored by Eric Felten via RealClear Wire,

  If the government had had its way, Eric Munchel and his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, would already have been in jail for two years. Arrested in February 2021 for participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, they finally are scheduled to go on trial next week in the Washington courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth.

  

  It won’t be the first time Munchel and Eisenhart will find themselves before Lamberth. He is the judge who declared two years ago that they were far too dangerous to be allowed outside prison walls. Home confinement, enforced with ankle monitors and GPS tracking, Lamberth ruled, would not be sufficient to protect the public from the honky-tonk bartender and his traveling-nurse mother.

  Their case, combined with hundreds of others in the Capitol breach, have led to an over-crowded docket, one groaning under the weight of what the Department of Justice has described as the largest criminal case in American history. And it’s only going to get more crowded. The courts may be prosecuting another 1,000 accused of crimes related to the Capitol riot.

  Munchel and Eisenhart are an odd pair to be prominent players in the Capitol Hill action-dramedy. Munchel wore his iPhone as a body cam, documenting his actions. Aside from some shouting and some trespass, Eisenhart and Munchel didn’t seem to do much in the way of rioting. Mother and son entered the Capitol through an open door and strolled past police who didn’t tell them to get out. Mother and son wandered the halls of the Congress. They entered the abandoned Senate chamber where Munchel spied the body’s ceremonial gavel. “I want that f—ing gavel!” Munchel declared. But he did nothing to touch, let alone take, the Senate heirloom. The one thing Munchel did take were some white zip-ties that seemed to have been abandoned on a table.

  They might be among the thousand yet to be prosecuted if it hadn’t been for a particular behavior that called attention to them and made them among the earliest targets for arrest. And that wasn’t their time spent in the Capitol, but their time spent talking to a reporter for the Sunday Times (of London). They were featured in the newspaper’s story about the fracas under the headline “Trump’s militias say they are armed and ready to defend their freedoms.” The sub-hed read, “Further violence, and even civil war, is threatened.”

  The paper had a photo of Munchel leaping over a railing in the Senate chamber, a fistful of white zip-ties in his hand. Though there was no evidence that Munchel tied or assaulted anyone, the Times suggested the zip-ties showed just how dangerous he was: “These are the restraints typically used by police to detain individuals.” The Sunday Times didn’t claim to know what he was going to do with them, but also didn’t hesitate to imagine the worst: “The photograph led to speculation that the rioters were potentially planning to take hostages.”

  Munchel and his mother, Eisenhart, didn’t do themselves any favors indulging in big talk and bravado. When asked by the British newspaper what they hoped to accomplish, Munchel bragged, “It was a kind of flexing of muscles. The point of getting inside the building is to show them that we can and will.”

  “This country was founded on revolution,” Eisenhart declared to the reporter. “They’re going to take every legitimate means from us, and we can’t even express ourselves on the internet, we won’t even be able to speak freely, what is America for?” Eisenhart got herself worked up: “I’d rather die as a 57-year-old woman than live under oppression. I’d rather die and would rather fight.” Judge Lamberth would later call that statement “chilling,” and would use it to justify an order putting Eisenhart behind bars indefinitely while she awaited trial.

  Munchel and Eisenhart left Washington the day after the riot and made their ways home – Munchel to Tennessee, Eisenhart to Georgia. With the help of the Sunday Times’ coverage and social media, it didn’t take long for them to realize they were prime targets of the massive investigation. In a gesture of cooperation, Eisenhart contacted the FBI and checked to see if police wanted her to surrender.

  In February, Munchel and Eisenhart were arrested and brought before a federal magistrate judge in Nashville, Jeffery “Chip” Frensley. He was unpersuaded by the Department of Justice portrayal of mother-and-son rioters as an ongoing insurrectionist threat to the nation. It wasn’t clear to him what their motives and intent were. “The proof on these issues is inconsistent.”

  The prosecutors’ intent was perfectly clear. They wanted Munchel and Eisenhart locked up indefinitely until they could be put on trial. The government argued there were no release conditions that would ensure Eisenhart and Munchel wouldn’t pose a danger to the community. Federal prosecutors insisted the two be placed in pretrial detention, which is to say, imprisoned before they were convicted. Nor would there be any limit to how long the defendants would be jailed as they waited for trial, the expectation of a speedy trial notwithstanding

  Frensley was not nearly as breathless as the Justice Department’s team. The judge considered it sufficient for Munchel to wait at home for trial. The defendant would not be allowed to travel to Washington; would have to give up his guns, notwithstanding they were licensed; would be required to present himself once a week to “pre-trial services”; and would have an ankle monitor to enforce home detention.

  And as for Eisenhart, the worst blot on her permanent record was a citation 20 years ago for driving with a suspended license. Frensley called for Eisenhart to be similarly confined, monitored, and surveilled at home until it was time for her trial. Frensley found that the government had failed to demonstrate either of the elements normally needed to justify holding defendants without bail. Prosecutors had proved neither that she was a threat to the community nor a flight risk.

  Nor was Frensley ready to lock Munchel away. Though he had acted with “an absolute disrespect of law enforcement,” Frensley said the video from Munchel’s body cam also showed him “speaking with law enforcement in respectful ways.” The judge said he had “no reason to believe Mr. Munchel is part of an organized, collective action against the government.” In ruling that Munchel be released pending trial, Frensley concluded, “Mr. Munchel does not pose an obvious and clear danger to the safety of this community.”

  The government’s lawyers warned that Munchel had become dangerously radicalized and that there was “no reason to think those views will diminish over time.” Indeed, they said, “they may get worse.” 

  If it seems Judge Frensley was generous in his interpretation of Munchel and Eisenhart’s behavior, by contrast, the government sought at every turn to make the worst of the defendants’ actions. The video from Munchel’s iPhone shows him shouting at other rioters, “Don’t break sh-t,” and “No vandalizing sh-t …We ain’t no goddamn Antifa, motherf—ers.” He threatened his fellow rioters that he would “break” anyone who committed acts of vandalism.

  Lamberth allowed that though Munchel’s threats to “break” any vandals may have been beneficial, “These were not peaceful acts.” According to Lamberth, Munchel’s willingness to threaten violence against vandals “evinces violent behavior.”

  But what about those zip-ties with which Munchel and Eisenhart were going to take hostages? Prosecutors admitted, in their brief for Judge Lamberth, that neither mother nor son had brought the zip-ties. They had found them abandoned on a table in a Capitol hallway, and had picked them up.

  Munchel’s actions at the Capitol riots were thoroughly documented – by his own smart phone. In his opinion remanding Munchel and Eisenhart to pretrial confinement, Lamberth allowed that the video camera footage showed there was “no evidence indicating that, while inside the Capitol, Munchel or Eisenhart vandalized any property or physically harmed any person.”

  The hearing in Judge Frensley’s court was on a Friday. Prosecutors urged the judge to hold the pair over the weekend. The Department of Justice wanted time to have Frensley overruled by the Washington-based judges who had been unsparing in their treatment of accused rioters. Frensley acquiesced. Come Monday, just before Munchel and Eisenhart were to be released, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Beryl A. Howell stayed Judge Frensley’s order that Eisenhart and Munchel be released to home confinement. The case was assigned to Judge Royce Lamberth.

  He found it particularly concerning that Eisenhart had used “language of insurrection.” By citing the American revolution, U.S. attorneys argued, Eisenhart had demonstrated “the danger she poses to the community if released.” Lamberth agreed: “As a self-avowed, would-be martyr, she poses a clear danger to our republic.” He took seriously that she was prepared to die for her cause, which made her a “danger to the community.” If she’s willing to die for the MAGA revolution,” Lamberth concluded, “the consequences for disobeying release conditions are unlikely to deter her.”

  The judge made the extraordinary determination that there were “no release conditions” that could “ensure that Eisenhart would not pose a danger to the community.” Or at least it would have been extraordinary before it became the norm to keep behind bars those accused of charges related to Jan. 6.

  That new norm led to overcrowding at the D.C. jail, where a COVID protocol was instituted in which social distancing was indistinguishable from solitary confinement.

  These new norms of hardcore pre-trial jailing also fell afoul of the bedrock principle that one is innocent until proven guilty.

  A three-judge appeals court panel sprung Munchel and Eisenhart two years ago in March and sent them home to be monitored in the fashion Judge Frensley had ordered in the first place. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins wrote the opinion overruling Lamberth’s opinion ordering the mother and son be jailed while awaiting trial. Wilkins made the case not just for avoiding pre-trial detention, but for protecting principles of justice, even those involving – perhaps especially those involving – defendants disliked by the government. Wilkins quoted a legal precedent from a case, U.S. v. Salerno, involving organized crime: “In our society liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited exception.”

  In a concurring opinion, Judge Gregory Katsas assessed the threat posed by Munchel and Eisenhart: “Their misconduct was serious, but it hardly threatened to topple the Republic. Nor, for that matter, did it reveal an unmitigable propensity for future violence.

  Munchel and Eisenhart will be back in Washington next week. Tuesday morning, jury selection begins. Presiding will be a judge who has already made clear his apocalyptic views of the defendants and the events they participated in.

  Eric Felten is an investigative correspondent for RealClearInvestigations, reporting on government corruption. He is a former columnist for the Wall Street Journal and previously a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University. Felten has been published in Washingtonian, People, National Geographic Traveler, The Weekly Standard, Daily Beast, National Review, Spectator USA, and Reader’s Digest.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 20:30

• Ex-ABC Senior Producer Who Rolling Stone Covered For Indicted On Child Porn Charges
  Ex-ABC Senior Producer Who Rolling Stone Covered For Indicted On Child Porn Charges

  Former ABC senior producer James Gordon Meek has been indicted on three counts of child pornography nearly one year after the FBI raided his Arlington, Virginia home.

  

  If convicted, the Emmy-winning producer faces between five and 20 years in prison for transporting images of child pornography.

  According to the NY Post, and noted by the Daily Mail, Meek’s alleged pedophilia was exposed after Dropbox dropped the dime on him – alerting authorities to child porn stored on his account in March 2021.

  Several of Meek’s devices allegedly contained images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and multiple chat conversations with users engaged in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children, according to the DOJ release.

  In two of those conversations, a username allegedly associated with Meek received and distributed child sexual abuse materials through an internet-based messaging platform, as per the DOJ.  

  Following the raid, the department obtained a search warrant for Meek’s iCloud account on November 14. They contained backups of two of his devices and included a screenshot of one of the explicit discussions.

  They also uncovered an Apple laptop that contained ‘approximately 90 images and videos of child pornography.’ -Daily Mail

  Meek, a divorced father of two, also allegedly had Snapchat and Instagram accounts that contained conversations and images of unidentified minor females.

  Rolling Stone EIC covered for him

  As we noted last month, after the FBI conducted a raid on a journalist last April, Rolling Stone framed it as an abuse of power – writing that it was “quite possibly, the first” carried out by the Biden administration on a reporter – in this case, former ABC national security reporter James Gordon Meek, who was previously an investigator for the House Homeland Security Committee.

  The truth is that Editor-in-Chief Noah Shachtman edited the article to remove all mention that the raid was part of a federal investigation into child porn, according to NPR.

  As edited by Rolling Stone Editor-in-Chief Noah Shachtman, however, the article omitted a key fact that Siegel initially intended to include: Siegel had learned from her sources that Meek had been raided as part of a federal investigation into images of child sex abuse, something not publicly revealed until last month.

  Why did Rolling Stone suggest Meek was targeted for his coverage of national security, rather than something unrelated to his journalism?

  NPR also reported, citing two anonymous sources, that Washington attorney Mark “I’ve gotten clearances for guys who had child porn issues and love hanging out at Disney World by myself” Zaid called Shachtman on Meek’s behalf while Siegel was writing up the story.

  

  Zaid confirmed to NPR that he called Shachtman – and admitted that Meek was a longtime friend and client who he was representing on any potential prosecution or investigation of his potential possession of classified material.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 20:00

• IRS Chief Reveals Hiring Plan For Armed Agents
  IRS Chief Reveals Hiring Plan For Armed Agents

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel on Thursday provided details about plans to hire armed agents in the agency’s criminal investigations division, amid Republican concerns about a proliferation of gun-toting tax enforcers.

  

  Werfel said in a call with reporters that the share of staff working in the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) unit would not climb above the current level of around 2.6 percent of the IRS’s overall workforce.

  There are “no plans to increase” the hiring rate at the IRS-CI unit, Werfel said on the call. “That will stay at its current rate.”

  The IRS-CI examines potential criminal activity related to tax crimes and makes recommendations for prosecution to the tax division of the Department of Justice. Agents at the criminal investigations division are authorized to carry guns and use lethal force.

  Dubbed “gun-toters,” the armed special agents in the unit are responsible for enforcing those parts of the tax code in which violations amount to crimes, according to former IRS Special Agent Robert Nordlander.

  According to the IRS-CI’s annual report (pdf), there were roughly 2,077 special agents in the criminal investigations unit as of the 2022 budget year, which represents around 2.6 percent of the IRS’s entire workforce.

  The IRS employed 80,006 full time staffers as of the 2022 budget year, according to the agency’s strategic operating plan released on April 6.

  The plan indicates how the IRS plans to use the $80 billion in new funding provided by Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. The new cash infusion would be used to hire thousands of new employees, improve tax enforcement and customer service, and audit wealthy taxpayers and corporations.

  The plan indicates the agency intends to hire nearly 30,000 new full-time employees during the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, including 8,782 hires in enforcement and 13,883 in taxpayer service.

  Assuming no attrition owing to resignation and retirement, that would put the IRS’s total workforce by 2024 at roughly 110,000 employees.

  In order to maintain the IRS-CI’s 2.6 percent share of the entire workforce, it would need to bring up the number of armed agents to roughly 2,860 from the current 2,077.

  Carissa Cutrell, a public affairs officer at IRS-CI, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the unit is hoping to hire between 300 and 350 special agents this year.

  This means that, if the following year another 300–350 agents are hired, that would put the total number between 2,677 and 2,777. That’s roughly 2.4-2.5 percent of the IRS’s overall workforce.

  In the mid-1990s, the criminal investigations unit had around 3,500 special agents and Cutrell said they lose between 150 and 175 agents each year owing to retirement and attrition.

  The IRS’s strategic plan did not provide hiring estimates beyond 2024. The agency noted that its operating plan will be updated annually and it will adjust its hiring plan.

  Republicans have warned that the IRS’s $80 billion cash infusion would be used to hire an “army of 87,000” tax enforcers.

  The 87,000 figure comes from a 2021 Treasury Department report (pdf) that estimated that the IRS could hire 86,852 full-time employees over the course of a decade if it were to receive an $80 billion funding boost.

  ‘Army of 87,000’ Tax Enforcers?

  The idea of an “army of 87,000” new tax enforcement agents surged into the spotlight and became an internet meme after Republicans warned that the $80 billion in new IRS funding under the Inflation Reduction Act would squeeze ordinary Americans for “every last penny.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 19:30

• Multi-Tenant Apartment Building Sales Drop 74%, The Most Since 2008
  Multi-Tenant Apartment Building Sales Drop 74%, The Most Since 2008

  Thanks to higher interest rates, turmoil at regional banks, and slowing rent growth, sales of apartment buildings are falling at their fastest rate since the subprime-mortgage crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports.

  

  In the first quarter of this year, investors purchased approximately $14 billion of apartment buildings – a decline in sales of 74% from the same quarter last year, according to preliminary data from CoStar Group. The drop could be the largest annual sales decline for any quarter going back to a 77% drop in Q1 2009.

  The $14 billion in first-quarter sales was the lowest amount for any quarter since 2012, with the exception of the second quarter of 2020 when pandemic lockdowns effectively froze the market.

  The recent drop in building sales follows a stretch of record-setting transactions that peaked in late 2021, when the multifamily sector was a top performer in commercial real estate. Cash-rich investors had a strong appetite for apartment buildings. Their top choices were in Sunbelt cities such as Dallas, Phoenix and Tampa, Fla., where rental housing is largely unregulated and rents were rising 20% or more annually until last year. -WSJ

  The combination of factors noted above mean that the math for buying an apartment building doesn’t pencil out in many cases – as the cost to refinance purchases has jumped along with interest rates. In some major metro areas, rents are also flat or declining, after record increases.

  

  The Journal also notes that thanks to an upheaval in banking, it’s become more difficult to finance buildings, according to investors and analysts, who say banks are either pulling back on lending or only doing so at very high rates.

  But there is one type of sale most everyone expects more of: forced sales. A number of investors bought buildings in recent years with short-term, floating-rate debt. Because of rising interest rates, those loans cost a lot more to pay down than they did when building owners first borrowed the money. 

  The remaining balance of many floating-rate loans will come due this year, and borrowers whose buildings aren’t bringing in enough cash every month might have to sell their buildings to pay off their debts. -WSJ

  “Nobody wants to take a loss when they don’t have to,” according to Graham Sowden, chief investment officer at RREAF Holdings, a real-estate investment firm based in Dallas.

  The trend in apartment buildings follows a similar pullback in the broader residential housing market, where home prices fell year-over-year for the first time since 2012, with sales volume declining sharply as well, for the same basic reasons.

  In February, the prices of multifamily buildings dropped 8.7% vs. the same month last year according to the MSCI Real Assets pricing index.

  

  Green Street, which tracks publicly traded landlords, found a 20% drop in building values from their late 2021 highs.

  Meanwhile, brokers and investors aren’t expecting building sales to pick up anytime soon – in part because of a  backlog of nearly 500,000 new units that are slated to be delivered this year, the most in almost 40 years.

  According to Trevor Koskovich, president of multifamily at the Northmarq brokerage firm, “We’re in the very early stages” of floating-rate loans coming due this year, and various things hitting various fans.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 19:00

• A Silicon Valley Vs. Homeless-Industrial-Complex Power-Struggle Emerges In San Francisco
  A Silicon Valley Vs. Homeless-Industrial-Complex Power-Struggle Emerges In San Francisco

  Authored by Monica Showalter via AmericanThinker.com,

  Something about the apparently random street murder of Silicon Valley tech executive Bob Lee seems to have overturned a crawly rock in San Francisco’s political scene, suggesting a brewing power struggle on the horizon.

  

  On the one hand, we have a very vocally angry Silicon Valley tech community speaking out about the out-of-control crime situation in the city, with the valued and talented Lee’s untimely death from some night creature who crawled out from some sewer or encampment and stabbed him to death, quite possibly in a drug-addled haze.  That’s expected if you live in a place full of bums and criminals, but Lee didn’t live in a place full of bums and criminals.  He had actually fled the city for Florida based on its engulfing crime and come back only for a brief business trip.

  On the other hand, we have a soggy, entrenched political establishment seeking to assure that there’s really no crime problem at all.  This is evident enough in the “crime is down” coverage seen in the political establishment’s house organ, the San Francisco Chronicle, and in the surreal statements of the city hall power establishment, which is rooted in special interests, particularly the most powerful one, the homeless industrial complex.  I wrote about that here.  San Francisco currently spends about as much on homeless “services” as it does on police, and by some studies such as the one cited below, actually more.

  Not surprisingly, as per Thomas Sowell’s observation, you can have all the poverty you want to pay for, and San Francisco pays a lot.

  The Hoover Institution’s Lee Ohanian has noted:

  Spending $1.1 billion on homelessness is just the latest installment in San Francisco’s constant failure to sensibly and humanely deal with an issue that it chronically misdiagnoses and mismanages about as much as is humanly possible. Since fiscal year 2016–17, San Francisco has spent over $2.8 billion on homelessness, and the city’s politicians remain seemingly baffled, year after year, as the number of homeless in the city skyrocket, as opioid overdoses kill more than COVID-19, and as the city has become nearly the most dangerous in the country. https://www.hoover.org/research/why-san-francisco-nearly-most-crime-rid….

  Since 2016, the number of homeless in San Francisco has increased from 12,249 to 19,086, which comes out to about $57,000 in spending per homeless person per year. With a total population of about 860,000, roughly 2.2 percent of San Francisco residents are homeless, which is over 12 times the national average. There is little doubt that as San Francisco spends more, homelessness and its impact on the city worsens.

  Do the homeless get that $57,000 being spent on them?  Of course not.  The princelings of the NGO establishments got that money — for themselves.  That’s what’s made them politically powerful, enough to call the shots at city hall.

  Meanwhile, the tech barons keep the city afloat through their taxes paid, which in turn pay for the city’s homeless services — which fuels the homelessness.  The taxes they pay are the highest in the nation (which, naturally, the Chronicle claims doesn’t matter to the tech companies, but that is unlikely to be true).  We also know that they’re not happy now that the crime that coincides with the growth of the homeless-industrial complex has spiraled into their tech talent base.  It’s not just Lee’s murder, though that’s not small.  It’s that ordinary tech workers don’t want to return to the offices.  The tech firms have leases in those buildings and need to utilize that paid-for space.  The workers don’t want to return and many have fled to friendlier, less crime-infested climes in Texas, Washington State, and Florida.  That’s leaving San Francisco with a lot of empty office space — about a 30% vacancy rate, which is one of the country’s highest — and a 30% drop in tax revenues, given that the city finances itself by a huge margin through property taxes. 

  The collision of political interests happened when one of the city’s criminals preyed on tech royalty Bob Lee.  Then we started seeing posts like this, from tech-baron-of-tech-barons Elon Musk:

  If you become mayor, my companies will double their investment in San Francisco.

  Such an incredible city has been used & abused by management for too long!

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2023

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

  And this not-so-disguised shot at the San Francisco Chronicle with all its bogus claims about crime being down based on misread statistics:

  Only people who have never solved problems with data say things like “believe the data.”

  No. Do not “believe” the data. Interrogate the data. Explore it. Ask how it was collected. Dig into methodologies.

  The more surprising the data, the greater the need. https://t.co/w7q6KiP8Lf

  — Lee Edwards (@terronk) April 7, 2023

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

  And this simple, brutal one:

  Also, believe your eyes as you walk around downtown SF. It’s insane.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2023

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

  Those sound like shots across the bow.

  And of course, Musk is a bugbear to the left, but he’s the biggest bear in the tech establishment

  Over at city hall, the political establishment is knee-deep in the NGOs and depends on them to maintain their political power.  But they also depend on the tech barons for money to pay the NGOs. 

  The tech barons are mad and, based on Musk’s tweets, now seem to be looking to get rid of them.  

  They’re on the warpath.  

  They were the moneybags behind the ouster of far-left district attorney Chesa Boudin last year.  Now based on this string of events, they may be getting ready to storm the deep blue fortress.

  Lee’s death may have been the starting point, and Musk’s recent tweets may be the accelerator.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 18:30

• Miami-Area Beach Full Of Feces, Officials Warn Public Against Swimming
  Miami-Area Beach Full Of Feces, Officials Warn Public Against Swimming

  Health officials in South Florida have advised beachgoers to avoid a popular beach due to excessive amounts of fecal matter in the water. This comes as surrounding beaches are hit with a poisonous algae bloom and a massive blob of seaweed. 

  Several water sampling tests in the northern part of Crandon Park, near Miami, failed to meet the state and federal water quality standards. The water is contaminated with enterococci bacteria, an indicator of fecal material. 

  

  The latest test, on Tuesday, found “70.5 or greater Enterococcus sp per 100 mi of marine water,” according to the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County. 

  

  “The result of the sampling indicates that water contact may pose an increased risk of illness, particularly for susceptible individuals,” the health agency said. There was no mention of the fecal matter’s source. 

  And compound this with poisonous algae bloom, commonly referred to as ‘red tide,’ has caused widespread death of marine wildlife. Also, a massive seaweed blob is causing havoc on beaches. 

  Anyone planning a trip to visit South Florida beaches might want to hold off for now. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 18:00

• California's Education Priorities Are Focused On Equity Quotas
  California’s Education Priorities Are Focused On Equity Quotas

  Authored by Christian Milord via The Epoch Times,

  A March 26 front page article in the Orange County Register bemoaned the fact that too few black and Latino males become teachers in the California public schools in proportion to Caucasian men and women. It didn’t mention Asian male teachers, but painted minority teachers as “people of color” as if Caucasians don’t come in many shades of skin tone. The article claimed that many minority males are hesitant to enter teaching as they think teaching in the K-12 public schools is primarily a female profession.

  The column went on to mention that most public school teachers in California and the Southland are Caucasian men and women. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has discussed this issue before, while state and university initiatives have been drawn up to remedy this alleged “inequity.” The state aims to recruit, train, and retain greater numbers of minority group teachers. California State University–Fullerton is one of several universities taking on this proposal.

  On the surface, there is nothing wrong with encouraging high school and university students to pursue education careers as well as STEM professions. However, if you dig deeper, you find that these initiatives have little to do with equality of opportunity, but rather are an attempt to check off boxes in order to attain government-driven “equity” quotas. Sometimes initial good intentions can end up with biased outcomes.

  

  Moreover, the article assumed that minority teachers want to instruct students who look like them, and students want teachers who look like them. This takes for granted that these minorities have shared life experiences. What kind of objective research was carried out to arrive at this conclusion? Don’t most parents and students hope for teachers who are qualified and possess the temperament to educate their children regardless of ethnicity, gender, or race?

  This reality came to the forefront during the pandemic when parents demanded more input into the curriculum content being taught. Most parents objected to the focus on critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and transgender ideologies to the detriment of civics and other rigorous core courses. They also opposed the promotion of Marxist theories in the classroom.

  

  A participant holds up a sign during a rally against critical race theory being taught in schools, at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

  Some parents questioned the over-emphasis on district, site, and state tests that align with the factory model of education. Despite this emphasis, math and reading test scores are in the cellar in this state. Indeed, many families have left the public schools and opted for charter, home, or private schools due to the indoctrination churned out in many public schools.

  As an educator and mentor, I’ve witnessed the gradual watering down of California’s public education system. The results have been troubling. Far too many upper-course university students have the writing skills of students at the junior high or early high school level. A fixation on electronic devices is partially to blame for this decline. Students aren’t reading enough to curate knowledge in order to develop writing skills in a variety of genres.

  Students would benefit if the state and university schools of education placed greater focus on intellectual diversity and an emphasis on character and skills. Martin Luther King, Jr., wisely noted that folks ought to be assessed on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. In a nation where equality of opportunity is systemic, anyone can select their own career and be successful without bureaucratic tinkering in the local schools. Experience, guidance, research, and trial and error can assist individuals in their quest to forge their own occupational destinies.

  Utilizing the equity of outcomes approach punishes those who earn rewards through hard work and study habits. Moreover, it’s a disservice to minorities who want to compete on merit and don’t wish to be handed special favors based on arbitrary standards.

  If education officials would pivot from an obsession with color, gender, and race to an emphasis on character, merit, and rigor, the public schools could be transformed into wholesome environments for all students. People wouldn’t care what teachers look like as long as they possess a passion to educate students as individuals, regardless of their backgrounds.

  Hopefully, teachers would recognize that all human beings are “people of color” so that this meaningless phrase could be relegated to the ash heap. They might also become aware that everyone is equal in the eyes of the Divine Creator.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 17:30

• "Not Lovin' It": McDonald's Slashes Pay Closes Offices, Layoffs Workers
  “Not Lovin’ It”: McDonald’s Slashes Pay Closes Offices, Layoffs Workers

  This week, the fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp. initiated an organizational restructuring that involved layoffs, reshuffling employees, and the closure of some offices. The Wall Street Journal provided an in-depth view of the critical corporate changes as recession threats surge.  

  We reported on Monday that McDonald’s told US employees and some international staff that they should work from home in the first half of the week so it could deliver staffing decisions virtually. 

  “The restructuring this week is reaching company-wide, resulting in hundreds of layoffs and for some employees reductions in their compensation packages,” WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. 

  Some employees were offered the opportunity to stay with the company but with reductions in their compensation packages, including changes to titles and benefits.

  An internal company memo on Thursday showed the corporate restructuring unfolded in multiple waves this week. The memo said there were changes to positions and promotions for other employees, including ten corporate officers working across finance, operations, and marketing. 

  

  The company announced plans to shut down its field offices by summer, citing underutilization and the need for a more efficient national structure. In another internal email, Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, voiced concerns the fast-food chain’s complex structure needed to be streamlined. 

  “While the McDonald’s Brand is in the strongest position it has been in years, we also recognize that our business has grown increasingly complex in recent years,” Erlinger said in an email. 

  Advising McDonald’s on its restructuring efforts has been done by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. This isn’t the first time the fast-food chain has undertaken such an effort. In 2018, it was able to streamline operations that saved $500 million in administrative expenses. 

  According to McDonald’s latest annual report, it has 150,000 employees across corporate and other offices and in company-owned and operated restaurants. Months ago, it said staffing levels would be readjusted.  

  The job cuts are part of a broad restructuring as companies across many other industries reduce headcounts ahead of a possible recession. 

  And already, McDonald’s revealed a slowdown in lower-income customers ordering fewer items.

  McDonald’s is preparing for some economic landing, which might be “hard.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 17:00

• Marco Rubio Accidentally Makes A Great Argument Against US Dollar Hegemony
  Marco Rubio Accidentally Makes A Great Argument Against US Dollar Hegemony

  Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

  Some empire managers are so brash about wanting to rule the world that they’ll occasionally voice their position so directly it sounds like an anti-imperialist said it…

  

  We saw just such an instance last Wednesday during a conversation between empire propagandist Sean Hannity and warmongering senator Marco Rubio on Fox News. So frenzied was Rubio in his vitriol about the rise of China on the world stage that he accidentally wound up providing a very good argument against the hegemony of the US dollar.

  Rubio began with a rant about how the US is in a “conflict” with China in response to a question from Hannity about whether Xi Jinping is preparing for war with America.

  “The bottom line is we’re in a conflict, and I think we have to start talking about it that way,” Rubio said. “I was very young, obviously, at the end of the Cold War, but it’s been about 30 years since there was another superpower on the earth that was in conflict with the United States. We are back in that place. We need to stop pretending like that’s not the case now.”

  Hannity repeated the soundbite he’s been pushing for the last few weeks saying that China, Russia and Iran are a “new Axis of Evil,” then Rubio made a very revealing comment about a recent deal that was struck between China and Brazil.

  “Just today, Brazil, the largest country in the Western Hemisphere, cut a trade deal with China,” said Rubio.

  “They’re going to, from now on, do trade in their own currencies, get right around the dollar. They’re creating a secondary economy in the world totally independent of the United States. We won’t have to talk about sanctions in five years, because there’ll be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar that we won’t have the ability to sanction them.”

  Rubio is not the first US imperialist we’ve seen expressing concern about the US dollar losing its position as the dominant currency of the world, not just with regard to China and Brazil but between China and Russia, between China and Saudi Arabia, between China and India, and between India and Russia.

  “The dollar is America’s superpower,” Fareed Zakaria writes for The Washington Post.

  “It gives Washington unrivaled economic and political muscle. The United States can slap sanctions on countries unilaterally, freezing them out of large parts of the world economy. And when Washington spends freely, it can be certain that its debt, usually in the form of T-bills, will be bought up by the rest of the world.”

  “Now an increasing number of nations are eager to find alternative financial systems to insulate themselves from Washington’s willingness to use sanctions as political leverage,” writes Jamie Seidel for the Murdoch-owned News.com.au, quoting an Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tanker as saying,

  “Chinese authorities were shocked by the seizure of the Russian central bank’s foreign exchange reserves following the invasion of Ukraine. In the event of a Sino-American conflict, Chinese assets would similarly be vulnerable.”

  The other day Pentagon insider and DC swamp monster Elbridge Colby spotlighted a concern on Twitter that the US might not be able to finance a war with China if the US dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency.

  👇🚨 https://t.co/HETAVilL2V

  — Elbridge Colby (@ElbridgeColby) March 27, 2023

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

  The US has engaged in a tremendous amount of manipulation to secure the dollar’s position as the global reserve currency and all the power that comes with it, and has used it to fund a war machine of unprecedented might and to inflict starvation sanctions on disobedient nations around the world. It is a weapon, and US imperialists are bemoaning the looming loss of that weapon because they want to use it on many more people for the advancement of the interests of the empire.

  Economic sanctions are somehow the only form of warfare where it’s considered acceptable to deliberately target civilian populations with deadly force, and the US empire makes liberal use of them. Starvation sanctions always hurt the weakest and most vulnerable members of a population by depriving them of access to medicine and adequate nutrition, and future generations (if there are future generations) will judge harshly those who used them.

  It seems unlikely to me that the emergence of a multipolar world will in and of itself produce any kind of wonderful utopia, and as Professor Richard Wolff explains the dollar’s decline could potentially give rise to a lot of economic chaos and suffering. But at the very least the fall of US dollar hegemony would deprive one group of psychopaths a powerful weapon they should never have had, and could even end up impeding the empire’s ability to ramp up for a global conflict between major powers — a conflict which must never occur.

  In any case humanity cannot continue along the trajectory it has been on, and any divergence from that trajectory opens up the possibility of real healthy change. Here’s hoping Marco Rubio is given a lot more to be upset about in the coming years.

  *  * *

  My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

  Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 16:30

• Americans Divided On Taxing The Rich
  Americans Divided On Taxing The Rich

  U.S. adults were divided on the topic of whether their government should or should not redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich in Gallup’s latest survey wave, conducted in July 2022.

  Where 52 percent of voters were in favor of bringing in higher taxes, 47 opposed the idea.

  As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, the share of voters that agreed with taxing the rich varies greatly by their political affiliations.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Where nearly eight in ten Democratic-leaning voters supported the move as of July, only a quarter of Republican-leaning voters said the same.

  

  These standpoints have remained fairly consistent since 2009, although there’s been a slight divergence since 2016, as the share of Democratic-leaning U.S. adults thinking the rich should be taxed more heavily has grown by 5 percentage points.

  Gallup analyst Frank Newport highlights in one article that the wording of this question has likely had an impact on respondents’ answers, since previous surveys carried out over the past 25 years have found repeatedly that at least six in ten U.S. adults agree that upper-income Americans pay too little in taxes.

  Data from a recent YouGov survey carried out in September 2022 supports the Gallup findings, simultaneously in terms of his assessment that the average American supports taxing the rich, finding that 57 percent of U.S. respondents said that billionaires are currently taxed either somewhat/much too low in the U.S., versus only 10 percent who thought they are taxed much/somewhat too high and 17 percent who said billionaires are taxed “about right”.

  While at the same time the poll shows that when the question turns to one of policy and action, there was again more of a split, as 45 percent of U.S. respondents said they thought that the federal government should try to reduce the share of wealth held by billionaires in the country, while 31 percent said they should not, and 24 percent said they were not sure.

  In January 2023, more than 200 millionaires and billionaires called on governments around the world to tax “the ultra rich, now” to help with extreme inequality, as reported by The Guardian.

  

  So much virtue…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 16:00

• Twitter Vows To Crackdown On Users 'Weaponizing' Abuse-Reporting System By Making Fake Complaints
  Twitter Vows To Crackdown On Users ‘Weaponizing’ Abuse-Reporting System By Making Fake Complaints

  Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times,

  Twitter has changed its abuse and harassment policy in a crackdown on the weaponization of the user reporting system by fake complaints.

  

  The social media platform announced on April 7 that it had updated its abuse and harassment policy to clarify how it defined “targeted harassment.”

  There have been increasing complaints from individuals about being attacked and harassed by random Twitter users for their opinions in an attempt to have them driven from the app.

  Twitter has responded to complaints by updating the criteria for “targeted harassment” of individuals on its website.

  “We believe in free speech and we also believe users have a right to use and enjoy our platform without being subjected to targeted and repeated harassment,” Twitter said.

  “We define ‘targeted harassment’ as behavior that is repeated, unreciprocated, and intended to humiliate or degrade an individual(s). This includes targeting people based on gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation.”

  After Twitter CEO Elon Musk bought the tech giant last year, there have been many changes regarding user censorship, account validation, and the restoration of previously banned accounts.

  The relaxation of censorship on Twitter has led to a more relaxed and opinionated user base, but harassment and threats by extremists and left-wing social justice warriors have increased.

  The rapper and podcaster, Zuby, tweeted about the various attacks and threats he receives on Twitter.

  Some angry users even filed false allegations against certain individuals to Twitter monitors to get them banned or suspended.

  “Fake woke idiots have tried to ‘cancel’ me many times. They’ve tried to get me banned off social media, deplatformed from speaking events, they even tried to implicate me in a murder. They failed of course. But these are not nice people. If you’ve dealt with them, you know,” said Zuby.

  Fake woke idiots have tried to ‘cancel’ me many times.

  They’ve tried to get me banned off social media, deplatformed from speaking events, they even tried to implicate me in a murder.

  They failed of course. But these are not nice people. If you’ve dealt with them, you know.

  — ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) April 7, 2023

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

  The artist said that many of the personal attacks are by people who have no other reason than take glee at ruining his reputation but veil their intent under the guise of virtue signaling

  “A lot of people still think all these folks are ‘nice but misguided’. No. Some are. Especially the younger ones. But a lot of malicious, wicked people hide under the ‘social justice’ umbrella and take glee in hurting others. Emotionally and physically. Then they play victim,” Zuby said.

  “I am blessed to have an extremely high tolerance for negative crap that comes my way. So I rarely even address it, but most people aren’t wired like that. There are people who will take glee in destroying your reputation. Most pretend to be ‘kind’ and ‘virtuous’. Beware,” he continued.

  Musk responded to Zuby’s assessment of the threat with a one-word response, “True.”

  “They tried to wreck your reputation last year and are still trying… They are happy to lie, libel, harass, intimidate, etc. Not good people,” Zuby said in reply.

  The billionaire owner of the social media platform has himself been attacked by progressives and the media for his strong support of freedom of expression and his skepticism of the latest woke narrative.

  Abuse Policy Update

  In less in a day after the exchange, Twitter released an update for its abuse policy.

  “We have been working hard to develop a balanced approach to free speech and keeping people safe from ongoing, repeated harassment. Over the next few weeks we will make it easier to report targeted harassment as well,” said Ella Irwin, Twitter’s VP of Product Trust and Safety, in a tweet.

  When a user asked if Twitter would make it harder for a user to abuse the reporting system. Irwin tweeted back, “Doing that too. We have already suspended ~100 users in the past month who submitted over 500k bad faith reports this year and will be actively enforcing users who weaponize our reporting system going forward.”

  Musk added to Irwin’s comments, tweeting, “I should emphasize that someone really has to go over-the-top by repeatedly harassing the same account with no provocation to get their post bounced. This is not a hair-trigger situation.”

  Many users feel relieved by the updated standards.

  “100 is better than nothing. Thanks. Would be nice to know if the 5K of us given a 12 hour time-out counts as a strike or not. Personally perturbed due to my longevity without such. And now in jeopardy of not being considered for Community Notes,” tweeted a long-time user who supported the changes.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 15:30

• 'Nobody Is Safe': Former San Fran Fire Commissioner Beaten With Metal Bar
  ‘Nobody Is Safe’: Former San Fran Fire Commissioner Beaten With Metal Bar

  In the latest illustration of San Francisco’s steady descent into bloody, lawless dystopia, the city’s former fire commissioner was viciously beaten with a crowbar — just one day after a well-known crypto tech executive was stabbed to death. 

  The former commissioner, Don Carmignani, was beaten on the streets of the Marina District, just steps from his residence. A friend says he suffered a broken jaw, fractured skull, and many lacerations of his head and face.

  

  The incident happened around 7:30pm Wednesday. Carmignani’s father says his son had asked three homeless people who’d camped out in front of his house to move out of the area. When they re-situated themselves just down the street, Carmignani confronted them again, his father says, and the beating commenced. 

  “He asked them to move and he was blindsided by a metal pipe to the head,” Carmignani friend and former candidate for district attorney Joe Alioto Veronese told Fox2. “Don’s a big guy and what it says to me is this kind of thing can happen to anybody. Nobody is safe in San Francisco right now.”

  Police arrested a homeless man, 24-year-old Garret Doty, and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon and battery causing serious bodily injury. 

  

  ABC7 interviewed one of his homeless associates, who said Carmignani had been “disrespectful” when they were loitering near his home. When reporter Lyanne Melendez asked if that justified beating someone up, the man replied, “Yeah, sometimes.” 

  Neighbors are all too familiar with Doty and his pals. “They’re always on the sidewalk surrounded by a pile of trash, folded over, smoking drugs,” said Andrew Cuzzone. “It’s alarming…It makes me want to move to another city. It’s no way to live in fear all the time.”

  The day before this display of barbarism, the city was shaken by the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee outside a luxury apartment building. 

  @DailyMail posted the CCTV footage showing Cash App founder Bob Lee asking for help after being stabbed, the car drove off. Then walked towards the apartment building staggering, holding his midsection and collapsing. #BobLee #SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/1t83GNNpmt

  — DeL2000 (@DeL2000) April 7, 2023

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 15:00

• North Korea Tests Underwater Drone To Assess Its "Fatal Attack Ability": State Media
  North Korea Tests Underwater Drone To Assess Its “Fatal Attack Ability”: State Media

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

  North Korea has claimed it tested a new type of nuclear-capable underwater drone this week to assess the weapon’s “fatal attack ability.”

  State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Saturday that a “Haeil-2” drone was deployed off the coast of South Hamgyong province on April 4 and reached the target in the waters off Ryongdae Port on April 7.

  

  This photo provided by the North Korean regime, shows what it says is an underwater blast of test warhead loaded to an unmanned underwater nuclear attack craft “Haeil” during an exercise around Hongwon Bay in waters off North Korea’s eastern coast on March 23, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

  KCNA said the drone cruised 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of simulated underwater distance in the East Sea of Korea for 71 hours and six minutes before its test warhead was detonated underwater.

  “The test perfectly proved the reliability of the underwater strategic weapon system and its fatal attacks ability,” KCNA claimed.

  The drone test came just weeks after North Korea claimed to have tested an underwater attack drone named “Haeil” from March 21 to 23, which the regime said was capable of generating a “super-scale radioactive tsunami.”

  On March 28, KCNA said that North Korea conducted another test of what it called the “Haeil-1” underwater attack drone from March 25 to 27.

  North Korea said its underwater attack drone had undergone over 50 shakedowns in the past two years and is built to “stealthily infiltrate into operational waters” and make underwater explosions to destroy naval striker groups and enemy ports.

  ‘An Attempt At Deception’

  However, analysts are skeptical of North Korea’s claims and said the regime may have “exaggerated” the drone’s capabilities. South Korea’s military said the development of the Haeil drone is still at an early stage.

  “Having pieced together the South Korea-U.S. analysis of the ‘underwater nuclear attack drone’ as well as expert views on it, our military is putting weight to the possibility that the claim might have been exaggerated or fabricated,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on March 27.

  “There have been movements indicating the North has been working to develop an unmanned undersea vehicle, but our assessment is that it is still at an early [development] stage,” it added.

  Ankit Panda, an analyst at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on Twitter that the underwater drone test could be “an attempt at deception” by the North Korean regime.

  “I tend to take North Korea seriously, but can’t rule out the possibility that this is an attempt at deception/psyop [psychological operation]. Would be ill-advised to allocate limited fizmat for a warhead to go in this thing, [in my opinon] vs more road-mobile ballistic missiles,” he stated.

  North Korea did not provide the drone’s specifications. A recent report by the Institute for Science and International Security estimated that the drone’s diameter is within 40 to 50 centimeters, analyzing a photo published by North Korean media.

  “North Korea’s ability to put a nuclear warhead into an underwater drone should not be taken as given; the announced test involved conventional explosives only,” the report states.

  “This diameter could conceivably hold a pure fission weapon, but it is on the small size and would likely have a yield in the range of 10 to 25 kilotons,” it added.

  Anti-Submarine Drills

  The United States, South Korea, and Japan conducted two-day anti-submarine exercises around the waters of South Korea’s Jeju Island on Monday to counter North Korea’s underwater threats.

  

  South Korean Navy personnel are seen standing alongside the USS Nimitz, during its port visit to Busan on March 28, 2023. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)

  The drills involved the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Decatur, which were deployed to South Korea’s Busan naval base last week.

  “This exercise will be a good opportunity to improve the maritime operational capabilities of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to respond to underwater threats such as North Korea’s SLBMs [submarine-launched ballistic missiles], which are advancing in sophistication,” South Korean Rear Adm. Kim In-ho said in a statement.

  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to make the United States and South Korea realize that they “are bound to lose more than they get and face a greater threat” over their “expansion of war drills in the region.”

  The United States has persisted in engaging in “direct talks” with North Korea without preconditions in favor of a diplomatic solution, but North Korea has rebuffed these efforts.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 14:30

• Trump Indictment Paving The Way For His Comeback To Oval Office, Predicts Gingrich
  Trump Indictment Paving The Way For His Comeback To Oval Office, Predicts Gingrich

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

  The charges against former President Donald Trump are giving a major boost to his bid to return to the White House, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

  “They’re forcing Republicans to choose between corruption and Trump,” he told The Epoch Times, noting that even Trump’s Republican critics, such as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush haven’t been impressed with the case.

  “Trump is stronger today than he was a month ago,” said Gingrich, a contributor to The Epoch Times.

  

  Recent poll data and political analysis largely lean in favor of Gingrich’s prediction.

  Trump has raised $8 million in the four days after a New York grand jury in a deep blue county indicted him on allegations relating to his alleged role in a hush money payment to adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels. A Yahoo! News-YouGov poll taken immediately after the indictment found 57 percent of respondents supporting Trump over his leading potential rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had 31 percent of the hypothetical votes. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on April 3, 48 percent of Republican respondents backed Trump as their party’s presidential nominee, up from 44 percent in a March 14-20 poll.

  The 34 counts of felony charges brought about by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg made Trump the first former president to face criminal prosecution. Trump on April 4 pleaded not guilty to all charges.

  The unprecedented indictment has united all major Republican 2024 hopefuls to rally behind Trump, and Gingrich—who says the case from Bragg is no more than a “publicity stunt”—said the prosecution has made it “very hard for anybody to attack him, because it sounds like you’re siding with the corrupt establishment.”

  Trump, Gingrich said, will likely become the Republican nominee and “Biden’s policy failures are going to make it more likely that Trump will win the election.”

  “He’ll be the first American President to lose an election and come back and win a second time after Grover Cleveland,” who won the presidency in 1884 and then again in 1892, Gingrich said.

  Gingrich quoted from a speech from a Cleveland ally, Democrat Edward S. Bragg from Wisconsin, who said that people love and respect Cleveland “not only for himself, for his character, for his integrity and judgment and iron will, but they love him most of all for the enemies he has made.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 13:30

• Shots Fired: The Twitter-Substack War & Matt Taibbi's Not-So-Good-Friday
  Shots Fired: The Twitter-Substack War & Matt Taibbi’s Not-So-Good-Friday

  As the first Easter weekend in three years with the possibility of ‘normality’ in social interactions, ‘Good Friday’ turned into a ‘No Good, Very Bad Friday’ for many Substack-ers, including most notably Twitter Files-amplifying journalist Matt Taibbi.

  

  As The Epoch Times’ Tom Ozimek writes, Taibbi, who posts his articles on Substack and is one of the most popular contributors on the platform, announced he’s leaving Twitter in protest of apparent changes that have made the platform unusable for him.

  The indefatigable independent journalist made the announcement in a post titled “The Craziest Friday Ever” and a series of tweets, in which he said that he had just learned that Substack links were being blocked on Twitter.

  “When I asked why, I was told it’s a dispute over the new Substack Notes platform,” Taibbi wrote in a tweet.

  

  By way of background, Substack recently announced Notes, a feature that allows short-form posts similar to tweets.

  The move appears to have prompted Twitter to retaliate by blocking the ability to share Substack links on Twitter or like, retweet, and comment on tweets that include a link to Substack articles.

  “We’re investigating reports that Twitter embeds and authentication no longer work on Substack,” Substack said on its own Twitter account.

  “We are actively trying to resolve this and will share updates as additional information becomes available.”

  Which could be a major problem for writers who have chosen Substack as their distribution and marketing platform, since 25% of Substack traffic comes from Social Media…

  

  …and 61% of that traffic comes from Twitter…

  

  So one can see why this would be an issue for Substack writers as a key marketing platform is reportedly removed.

  Taibbi confirmed the problem on his Substack platform:

  “It turns out Twitter is upset about the new Substack Notes feature, which they see as a hostile rival,” adding that when he asked how he was supposed to market his work, he was given the option of posting his articles on Twitter rather than on Substack.

  “Not much suspense there; I’m staying at Substack,” Taibbi wrote, confirming his decision to leave Musk’s platform:

  “Beginning early next week I’ll be using the new Substack Notes feature (to which you’ll all have access) instead of Twitter, a decision that apparently will come with a price as far as any future Twitter Files reports are concerned.”

  “It was absolutely worth it and I’ll always be grateful to those who gave me the chance to work on that story, but man is this a crazy planet,” he added.

  But Twitter CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet that Taibbi’s assertion that Substack links were being blocked on Twitter is false.

  “Substack links were never blocked. Matt’s statement is false,” Musk wrote.

  In line with Musk’s remarks, there is no direct block but Twitter has started marking links to Substack as unsafe…

  Twitter now has a warning label up on Su—ack posts, claiming the links “may be unsafe,” furthering the smear campaign against the independent publishing platform.

  A guy worth 200 billion dollars is damaging the ability of people who are mostly trying to make a few extra bucks… pic.twitter.com/ZheeWDfeYU

  — Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) April 8, 2023

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

  …something we at ZeroHedge know a thing or two about…

  This is crazy though pic.twitter.com/uXcLjiCktj

  — Austerity Cornflakes (@itslikeyouknow_) April 8, 2023

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

  Musk said that Substack was trying to “download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted.”

  Finally, Musk added that it “turns out Matt [Taibbi] is/was an employee of Substack.”

  1. Substack links were never blocked. Matt’s statement is false.

  2. Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted.

  3. Turns out Matt is/was an employee of Substack.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2023

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

  While many have remarked on this being antithetical to Musk’s free-speech mission, it is clearly more nuanced than that given the Substack’s leveraging the openness of Twitter while creating a product that would directly compete with it…

  This is kinda my first reaction too. Basically you leverage writers who leveraged twitter to build a following. Twitter is almost certainly the most important channel for writers to acquire customers. So you then kinda try to compete directly with them. Hmm https://t.co/fMInvFv7Cv

  — Buyback Capital (@Larryjamieson_) April 8, 2023

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

  Additinally, as The Brownstone Institute’s Jeffrey Tucker notes, the timing itself is alarming because the very woke ADL just published a big attack on Substack with the usual litany of complaints about how the platform is enabling disinformation. 

  “The ADL Center on Extremism observed a recent increase in Substack’s popularity, as well as several conspiratorial or extremist influencers either creating their own Substacks or directing their followers to others. A number of these Substack accounts were dedicated to spreading extremist, antisemitic and conspiratorial narratives, and several problematic authors are popular enough to have earned a ‘bestseller’ ranking on the platform.”

  The article proceeds along familiar tactics. It lists aggressively hateful sites promoting real hate and anti-Semitism. As the reader warms up to the thesis and sees the point, the article starts including merely partisan material from Libs of TikTok, then goes after poor Steve Kirsch who writes mostly entirely about vaccines, and then even includes eminent scientist Robert Malone, just so we are clear about what is going on here. 

  The attack here is entirely pointless. The reader can handle egregious sites on Substack by simply not reading or subscribing. By throwing in good scientists with absolute hate-mongers, the article only serves a censorious agenda.

  We can only hope that this situation gets ironed out sooner rather than later as Musk’s ‘opening’ of the public square for those of us who may not toe-the-line 100% with every press release from The White House and Taibbi’s detailed exposé of every ‘conspiracy theory’ we have pointed out becoming ‘conspiracy fact’ has moved America (and perhaps the world) inch by inch closer to real democracy… as opposed to the escalating narrative-control that we have experienced over the last decade.

  Instead of blocking Substack, Musk should allow links but only to paying users who are already monetizing on the other side and are using Twitter for distribution.

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 8, 2023

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

  But it appears the rumble in the social media jungle just escalated…

  👀 @ElonMusk (Account that mostly reposts old memes) is no longer following @mtaibbi

  — Big Tech Alert (@BigTechAlert) April 7, 2023

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

  Make Orwell Proud Again!

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/08/2023 – 13:00

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