Apr 09

Today’s News 9th April 2024

  • "We Cannot Cope": Police Scotland Deluged With Politicized Hate-Crime Reports
    “We Cannot Cope”: Police Scotland Deluged With Politicized Hate-Crime Reports

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

    Entirely as predicted, Police Scotland has been deluged with vexatious and politically-driven ‘hate crime’ reports, with one top official complaining “we cannot cope.”

    Didn’t see this one coming.

    Under the new legislation, anyone deemed to have been verbally ‘abusive’, in person or online, to a transgender person, including “insulting” them could be hit with a prison sentence of up to seven years.

    That instantly led to a flood of bad faith reports, including from conservatives making a mockery of the system and from deranged left-wing activists trying to punish their ideological adversaries.

    David Threadgold, Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said that the new legislation was being exploited to pursue personal and political vendettas.

    “Police Scotland have gone public and said that on every occasion, reports of hate crime will be investigated,” Mr. Threadgold told the BBC. “That creates a situation where we simply cannot cope at the moment.”

    “When you have vexatious complaints, people who look to weaponise this legislation or who make these complaints for personal gain or political point scoring, then that creates a problem for the police which can affect public satisfaction in my organisation,” he added.

    As we previously highlighted, Police Scotland admitted that the new law could create “additional demand” and create a “resource implication” for police.

    This followed a trial of a separate program set to be implemented across the country to stop investigating crimes like theft and criminal damage, which authorities acknowledge will help criminals.

    As we reported yesterday, out of the more than 8000 reports police have received under the new ‘hate crime’ law, less than one per cent are leading to investigations.

    Police Scotland are having to pay officers in their control room “hundreds of thousands” in overtime to deal with the onslaught of frivolous reports.

    However, that’s still nearly 800 new investigations in a single week for a police force that already has stretched resources.

    It’s been a complete disaster, but they can’t say nobody warned them.

    *  *  *

    Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 04/09/2024 – 02:00

  • NetZero And Human Rights Are Mutually Exclusive
    NetZero And Human Rights Are Mutually Exclusive

    Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

    (Featuring: The Three Big Lies of “Climate Action”)

    Everybody talks a good game when asked about environmental concerns. But they underestimate what real “climate action” will cost them, personally, and they’re prone to balking when they figure it out.

    In 2018, The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago conducted a survey of 1,202 people asking them if they thought climate change was an issue, and if so, how much were they willing to contribute, out of their own pockets, towards “fixing it”:

    • 71% of the respondents said that climate change was a reality, and most of those thought human activity was largely responsible for it.

    • 57% said they’d be willing to spend $1/month, or $12 annually.

    • 23% were willing to go big: $40 a month, in order to “fix” climate change.

    A more recent study of ten European countries in 2021 found that most people feel as though they are already doing their part to live a climate conscious lifestyle – and further – they are individually doing more than those in the media, or their governments (hold that thought).

    In other words, while most respondents believed that there was an impending climate crisis, they also believe they had already made all the personal lifestyle adjustments they’ll need to make in order to address it.

    These attitudes are pretty typical of a populace who has already undergone massive conditioning by the media and academia around climate alarmism, but who otherwise live largely insular, bubble-wrapped lifestyles and think food comes from Uber Eats.

    They have no idea that  that climate targets, like “netzero” or Agenda 2030 will cost more them more than a few hundred bucks a year, per person, to “fix”.

    Even with carbon taxes becoming more prevalent – citizens think the extent of the impact on their lives are the economic pressures of them inexorably rising (here in Canada, the carbon tax went up 23% on April 1st, the same day all federal Members of Parliament got a pay raise).

    That’s bad enough – but people are still completely unprepared for what has already been decided from on high for their personal destinies:

    Climate Action requires a complete re-ordering of society and civilization itself.

    “De-carbonization” requires “#degrowth”, a euphemistic hashtag that really means forced austerity on all of humanity – save for those apparatchiks imposing it on the rest of us.

    The Big Lie of climate alarmism is threefold:

    1. That the climate goals of netzero and decarbonization can boost the economy and increase prosperity for all

    2. That achieving said goals will afford us control over the climate and alter the planetary physics of the earth itself

    3. That this is all “settled science”

    Let’s look at each of these in order:

    Big Lie #1: Pursuing Netzero will boost prosperity

    Many politicians like to gaslight us that there is a way achieve netzero targets in an economically beneficial manner. A good example, again here in Canada – is the carbon tax.

    Everybody pays the carbon tax – on gas, on flights, on heating their homes, etc. Most households get a “carbon tax rebate” – which is invariably, for less money than they have paid in carbon taxes. This is borne out in countless analyses on this, including the government’s own Parliamentary Budget Office report, which found that:

    “most households will experience a net loss of income from the federal carbon tax, even after rebates.

    Specifically, in fiscal year 2024-25, 60 per cent of households in Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba will pay more in carbon taxes than what they receive in rebates, after accounting for both direct and indirect costs of the carbon tax. By 2030, 80 per cent of households in Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. will be worse off, as will 60 per cent of households in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.

    Indeed, according to the PBO estimates, the carbon tax will cost the average Canadian household between $377 and $911 in 2024-25—even after rebates, with Albertans being the most affected. As the carbon tax escalates annually, the financial burden will intensify. By 2030, the carbon tax’s average net cost for Canadian households will rise to $1,490 in Manitoba, $1,723 in Saskatchewan, $1,820 in Ontario and $2,773 in Alberta.”
    — Via Fraser Institute

    Yet the Trudeau government frames the rebate as “free money” for Canadians, and demonizes anybody who wants to “Axe The Tax” as though they are trying to take money away from taxpayers.

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    If decarbonization was economically viable, then it would be happening on its own, without governments and the corporate media relentlessly brainwashing us to do it.

    For example, we would probably have mini-nuclear reactors all over the place by now if private industry was given some latitude to implement it.

    Instead we have millions of hectares of wind turbines that are only “green” if you can amortize the carbon inputs over 30 or 40 years. Alas, the typical wind turbine is cooked within a decade (that’s if they don’t explode first). Apparently they can’t be recycled, either. It’s actually making the situation worse.

    Big Lie #2: Achieving Netzero will enable us to control the planet’s climate

    There has perhaps never been a more grandiose and categorically impossible vision for humanity than the one where technocrats and experts can massage the trajectory of global climate through the judicious employment of carbon taxes, personal carbon footprint quotas and forced collectivism.

    On the planetary level – it makes no difference if a country like Canada decarbonized 100% – compared to the emissions of China alone. Right now they’re lighting up two new coal fired plants every week. Wake me up when they decarbonize.

    Not to mention numerous other countries who have no intention of foregoing their shot at economic prosperity at the behest of already an affluent (not to mention overly sanctimonious), West…

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    The discrepancies in values and aims between nation states already makes the 100% conformity that climate action requires a non-starter.

    That doesn’t even account for things we absolutely can’t control like the solar system itself.

    The best and brightest minds can’t even get interest rates right, nor “manage the economy” and that’s near 100% human driven. What are we supposed to do about the elephant in the room in terms of the single most relevant driver of climate cycles here on the planet: the sun?

    Our sun outputs an estimated 6 billion times more energy per second than all of humanity generates and consumes in an entire year. It is the likeliest candidate for what drives long term heating and cooling cycles, not only here on earth – but throughout the entire solar system.

    Granted – that energy radiates in all directions – if you only count all the energy that actually hits earth, that number drops: to 100 million times annual energy usage, per second.

    Source: NASA

    No amount of carbon taxes or collectivism is going to overpower that.

    Big Lie #3: The Science Is Settled™

    Decades of propaganda and operant conditioning has browbeat the public into believing, or at least not arguing, that “the science is settled” when it comes to climate. One of the most well worn tropes around this is “97% of climate scientists agree” that “humans are causing global warming”.

    Marc Morano’s, ‘The Politically Incorrect Guide To Climate Change’, (essential reading) years ago exposed the origin of that magical number, “97%”:

    In 2013, Australian researcher John Cook analyzed 11,944 peer-reviewed papers on climate change, from which the famous, mystical 97% figure emerged. It later came out (via UN lead author Richard Tol), that of those papers, 66.4% expressed “no opinion at all” on human-caused global warming. Those were eliminated. 

    The minority of papers that were left, and did express an opinion, were mostly on the same page, and Cook took his 97% from that.

    What is actually true, however, from the study’s own numbers, is this:

    • 11,944 papers were analyzed

    • 7,930 of them expressed no opinion on AGW (66.4%)

    • 97% of the remaining 4,013 papers did

    So it turns out that 97% of climate scientists do not agree that humans are causing global warming. It was more like 32.5% (97% of 33.6% of 11,944).

    Doesn’t have the same punch, does it?

    Of course, since then, 97% became Holy Canon. So much so that any climate scientists who knew what side of the bread the butter was on, got the message loud and clear: your academic career depends on aligning with the consensus.

    So called “climate deniers” are continually deplatformed and countervailing data suppressed. This may be changing, again owing to widespread disenfranchisement with how the “experts” managed the pandemic, the public seems to be more questioning.

    The recent Climate The Movie: The Cold Truth has gone viral – and in it we see how the machinations of Big Climate may be driven more by junk science and hidden agendas than an altruistic desire to protect the environment.

    So it’s no surprise then, that the climate alarmists are turning out in full force to have it suppressed:

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    Fortunately, the genie is out of the bottle now – Climate The Movie is being circulated far and wide, even having been uploaded to the decentralized InterPlanetary File System

    After the botched policy responses to Covid, when it comes to climate,  the public increasingly isn’t buying it.  We’ll see this in action when the Canada’s Liberals, who have clearly gone “all in” on climate, lose the next election. I’ve been predicting a 1993-style blowout (when Bryan Mulroney’s deeply loathed Conservatives lost all but three seats, including their party status).

    However, the public seemingly possesses but a single lever to resist all this: the ability to vote out politicians hellbent on impoverishing them.

    But if the rabble continues in its propensity to vote the “wrong way”, how much longer will they be permitted to do so?

    As we’ll see below – this lever will have to be rescinded, because otherwise the world will end.

    Which is why the only forward course of action is political, economic and cultural tyranny.

    If the plebs won’t voluntarily accept climate action – it will have to be forced on them.

    The unpleasant truth is – if policy makers are serious about achieving netzero, it will require a massive policy of degrowth that will impoverish the masses and demolish the economy – none of which is conducive to being re-elected.

    Which means: if world governments are serious about climate action, they will have to impose a totalitarian dictatorship to achieve it.

    This has already been understood and internalized by the mainstream corporate media – after experiencing the destruction of their monopoly on “news” at the hands of the internet – have aggressively pivoted into a new business model: that of being propagandists for eco-Marxism.

    Academia is right there alongside, putting out research papers to enshrine climate collectivism into the public discourse, and freeze out any dissenters.

    In “Political Legitimacy, Authoritarianism, and Climate Change”, Ross Mittiga, a professor of Political Theory at the Catholic University of Chile (and Democratic Socialist) argues that political aspirants should not even be permitted to seek office unless they pass a “climate litmus test”;

    “Governments might also justifiably limit certain democratic institutions and processes to the extent these bear on the promulgation or implementation of environmental policy. This could involve imposing a climate litmus-test on those who seek public office, disqualifying anyone who has significant (relational or financial) ties to climate-harming industries or a history of climate denialism.”

    “More strongly, governments may establish institutions capable of overturning previous democratic decisions (expressed, for example, in popu- lar referenda or plebiscites) against the implementation of carbon taxes or other necessary climate policies.”

    In a 2023 piece via BBC’s “Future World”, the prospect of climate change and action around it was deemed “too important to be left to personal choice”, which laments,

    ”what do truly low-carbon lifestyles look like – and can they really be achieved by personal choice alone?“

    Future Labs – also out of the UK – put out a paper on the future of travel last year, that predicted mandatory “carbon passports” that would limit one’s travel based on their C02 footprint:

    A personal carbon emissions limit will become the new normal…

    These allowances will manifest as passports that force people to ration their carbon in line with the global carbon budget…

    By 2040, we can expect to see limitations imposed on the amount of travel that is permitted each year.

    Experts suggest that individuals should currently limit their carbon emissions to 2.3 tonnes each year

    This last line is important – because it puts a number to how far down the rabble is expected to ratchet down their living standards: it’s about one quarter of what the typical G20 citizen emits today – by 2040, and “experts suggest” that gets cut again by half by 2050.

    In the carbon passports article I laid out a table showing by how much individuals in each country would have to ratchet down their output to meet the personal carbon allowances, set by unelected and unaccountable experts:

    Both politicians and their appointed apparatchiks are being more open about their ideologies and decidedly collectivist aims:

    In 2023 a federal report published by Health Canada openly advocated for the dismantling of capitalism itself, equating it with white supremacy and colonialism – attributing them all as core drivers of the climate crisis. Another term for “capitalism” is “free markets”.

    The report also advocated for collectivism and decried individualism as “one of the core values of society that has to change”:

    “The hopes expressed by participants encompassed such a vision of collectivism”

    “there are 3 core values in western society, and for that matter, in global society, that have to change. One core value is about growth and materialism. The second core value is liberty and individualism, which has to be rethought because the kind of individualism that is preached by neoliberals is part of the problem. It advances the individual over the collective… it leads to a huge number of problems, and it undermines the collective process”

    “If we don’t address capitalism, if we don’t address colonialism, racism, the patriarchy, et cetera, we’re going to tread water for a long time until we eventually drown …”

    As I remarked at the time: this was not a think piece or a screed from Vox or Jacobin Magazine – it was an official Canadian government report issued in the name of “His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Health, 2023”.

    Canadian politicians across all parties have been coalescing around climate authoritarianism for decades. In 2007, Canada’s Laurentian Elite met in Merrickville, Ontario to discuss how best to advance the climate agenda – and was later analyzed via a series of interviews with the participants who comprised a who’s who of Canadian dynastic wealth, corporate power, politics – and media.

    They transcended party boundaries: Former Prime Minister Joe Clark, Justin Trudeau bagman Stephen Bronfman, Patrick Daniel (Enbridge), Stéphane Dion, former Quebec premiere Pierre Marc Johnson, WE Charity co-founder Mark Kielburger, the list goes on.

    From the “strictly confidential” briefings which are openly linked from this UCLA professor’s web page we learn how Canada’s elite ruminated about the lack of action on climate change, and how untenable the required societal mobilization would be in a democracy:

    “It is impossible to have real conservation in a democracy! What is needed is a benevolent dictator—globally, and in Canada.”

    During the proceedings…

    “…many speakers express a longing for an authoritative decision process that somehow takes the issue out of the political arena. Some express this as the need for a “benign dictator;”

    Today we have Canadian Members of Parliament attempting to advance legislation that would imprison people for speaking in favour of fossil fuels.

    This move toward climate authoritarianism is spreading throughout the neoLiberal world order – most recently in Germany a “Climate Justice” report by the German Ethics Council concluded that “restricting freedoms may be necessary to fight climate change”.

    The original is in german, although there is an english summary here, I had the full PDF run through DeepL and is here.

    From the summary, we do get the juicy bits:

    “Responsibility presupposes freedom, and freedom includes responsibility. This principle also applies for climate change; it is crucial for our free and democratic society and safeguarded and guaranteed by law. Social coexistence requires mutual restrictions of freedom, in order to provide equitable freedom for all.“

    “The inner and rationally guided realisation of the necessity for action leads to self-commitment as an expression of one’s individual freedom. This may imply that people question their former lifestyle or adapt their behaviour, for example by voluntarily abandoning certain vacation, consumption or mobility practices.”

    And the Orwell Award goes to:

    “On grounds of justice, it can be morally required to contribute to measures to tackle climate change. If one’s own exercise of freedom interferes in an unjust manner with the freedom and welfare of others or of future generations, for example through consumption that is harmful to the climate, the authorities may intervene with restrictions of freedom.

    As long as there is no regulatory obligation, it is left up to the individual to accept a moral obligation to co-operate.”

    This would be a good place to ask yourself: what do you think the relentless attacks on Bitcoin’s Proof of Work mining has really been about? It isn’t to save the environment from Bitcoin’s electricity consumption – it’s to create the pretext for asserting authority over all energy usage.

    We could probably even riff out one of those Martin Niemöller “First They Came For…” poetic reboots:

    “First they came for the Bitcoin miners (but I didn’t care because I was a no-coiner)…” (or one of those PoS retards).

    “Then they came for…” yada yada yada – guess how it ends?

    “Then they came for me, because of my heated bathroom floors”

    There’s only one other problem with all this…

    #Degrowth For Thee, But Not For Me

    It’s not bad enough that your consumption choices are being decided for you by unelected technocrats informed by garbage computer models predicting an unfalsifiable eco-Eschaton.

    What’s worse is that while you’re personal standard of living is going to be attenuated, metered, capped and regulated (this is what the coming CBDCs are all about) – the apparatchiks, functionaries and career politicians who force this on you will not ratchet back their own consumption patterns, not at all.

    When I reported on COP26’s takeaways (basically, they’re coming after your meat consumption), what stood out the most was the hypocrisy of a strategic objective emerging from an elite conclave that was arrived at almost exclusively by private jet, and whose culinary menu contained some of the most carbon heavy delicacies available. High grade Scottish haggis and venison were served,  soy protein and bugs were not.

    This is the rule, not the exception. Canada’s environment minister, who doesn’t mince words that “fighting climate change is about limiting your energy usage”:

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    But has no qualms around spending millions of dollars flying his entourage out to COP28 and staying in a $2,000/night luxury hotel suite.

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    Never forget this: whenever you hear politicians, “experts”, policy wonks and especially celebrities talking about the need to dial back consumption, energy usage, travel, meat consumption and even owning pets in order to “Save The World” they aren’t talking about their own lifestyles. They’re talking about yours.

    The Public Has Had Enough

    Earlier I mentioned how there’s basically one lever the public can use to skate eco-authoritarianism into the boards, and that’s the electoral process – which is why we wonder out loud how long those will be allowed to continue.

    Here’s Klaus Schwab navel gazing with Sergei Brin about how Big Tech and algorithms will make elections unnecessary, “because the algos will already know who is going to win” (he poses this hypothetical about a minute after he says “in ten years we’ll all be sitting here with our brain implants”)

    Back here in reality: Canada’s left-wing coalition will be ejected from power in the next election, that’s pretty well a forgone conclusion.

    The US would be headed in that direction, provided the election in November actually takes place and isn’t rigged. The stakes are so high there, it’s hard to know what will happen. I once said that Donald Trump would be the penultimate President of the United States as we know them. Meaning, whoever came after him, would be the last President of a United States. We’ll see.

    The public sentiment is overwhelmingly done with climate alarmism, wokeness, and cultural Marxism in general. The question now is, will this backlash and turning point be allowed to express itself peacefully and democratically? Or will it end up unleashing a more forceful backlash?

    This is all part of the war between centralization and decentralization, which I’ve always said is, and will be, the defining tension of our era. This will transcend left vs. right, conservative vs. liberal.

    The battle now is between people who want to decide things for everybody else, vs. people who want control over their own lives.

    The Most Important Thing You Can Do

    First – you have to help dismantle the norm that it is somehow unacceptable or immoral to reject the prevailing climate alarmism.

    When Karen the co-worker goes off on a sermon in  the lunchroom that “Pierre Poilievre has no climate action plan”, instead of internally smirking and looking forward to the next election, you have to speak up, right there and then, “Yes, that’s why everybody is going to vote for him, including me”.

    This is important because, as we saw under COVID, the tyrannical regimens continued as long as normal people were afraid to speak their minds.

    Nobody liked being arbitrarily divided into “essential” and “non-essential” workers and businesses.

    Nobody liked wearing masks, sticking PCR tests up their noses or standing on the fucking dots. But everybody did it, because the first two doctors who spoke up about how stupid it all was, had their careers destroyed – and that set the trend for the next two years.

    It was the forced vaccinations that finally put the public over the edge, and it took a near uprising by the #FreedomConvoy to finally turn the tide and put an end to it.

    The coming Climate Authoritarianism will make COVID tyranny seem like a libertarian paradise.

    In today’s landscape of internet connected everything, big data, and now AI, and soon, monetary Apartheid via CBDCs, all the ingredients will be there for a technocratic authoritarianism that netzero and degrowth requires.

    Your job isn’t to tell the government you aren’t on board with this: your job is to demonstrate to those around you that it’s ok not to be on board with it.

    That also means you will have to be able the weather the consequences of not being on board with it.

    My advice continues to be: strive for financial independence – if you have a job, start your own business on the side. If you already own a business, start, buy or invest in another one. Get yourself to the point where you can be fired, canceled, ridiculed and shunned and it not being the end of you.

    Of course, that also means, if you haven’t already, start stacking Bitcoin. It’s the one monetary asset no government, no bureaucrat and no supranational entity can ever take away from you, that gains purchasing power over time and is in general, The Big Short on clown world we’re heading into.

    *  *  *

    My next e-book The CBDC Survival Guide: Navigating Monetary Apartheid will be out soon (honest), sign up for The Bombthrower mailing list and I’ll let you know when it drops – and get a copy of the The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto in the meantime. 

    Follow me on Twitter or Nostr.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 23:40

  • Insurers Spy On Houses Via Aerial Imagery, Seeking Reasons To Cancel Coverage
    Insurers Spy On Houses Via Aerial Imagery, Seeking Reasons To Cancel Coverage

    Insurance companies across the country are using satellites, drones, manned airplanes and even high-altitude balloons to spy on properties they cover with homeowners policies — and using the findings to drop customers, often without giving any opportunity to address alleged shortcomings. 

    “We’ve seen a dramatic increase across the country in reports from consumers who’ve been dropped by their insurers on the basis of an aerial image,” United Policyholders executive director Amy Bach tell the Wall Street Journal. Reasons can range from shoddy roofing to yard clutter and undeclared trampolines.  

    Much of this surveillance is done via the Geospatial Insurance Consortium, which boasts of its coverage of 99% of the US population.

    The Geospatial Insurance Consortium provides imagery insurers use to study roof condition and look for risky property attributes (via GIC)

    In pitching its ability to provide high-resolution “imagery and insights” for property reviews, GIC says insurers can use the service to “review risk and exposure on a building such as proximity of vegetation to the structure, whether a roof needs updating, and verify the exact location for a policy.” 

    “If your roof is 20 years old and one hailstorm is going to take it off, you should pay more than somebody with a brand new roof,” Allstate CEO Tom Willson told the Journal, unapologetically and ominously adding that, where the company’s use of digital imagery is concerned, “there’s even more to come.” 

    Wilson framed aerial spying as a pricing issue, but many consumers are finding that companies are using it to suddenly drop their coverage altogether. 

    The Journal describes the experience of northern California resident Cindy Picos, who was dropped by CSAA Insurance last month, with the company saying aerial imagery revealed that her roof had aged beyond its life expectancy. She paid for an inspection of her own, which found the roof was good for another decade. CSAA wasn’t impressed, and said its decision was final. The firm also refused to share its photos, though it now says it’s changed that policy and will let customers see them — if they ask. 

    Another Californian, CJ Sveen, was dropped by AAA Homeowners Insurance after their reconnaissance discovered “clutter” in his yard. An indignant Sveen told ABC7 that he uses his yard as a workshop “Apparently they have some pictures and they noticed clutter. I find that offensive. How dare you judge me because of my stuff!”

    In AAA’s defense, clutter isn’t just about aesthetics. It could present a fire hazard, attract rodents that harm the structure, present a physical danger to visitors, and obstruct firefighters’ ability to quickly contain a fire at the premises. 

    Would you cover this house? CJ Sveen’s homeowners policy was cancelled after aerial imagery captured clutter in his yard

    Another California couple had their policy torn up by AAA after overhead photography found their swimming pool had been drained. The aging pair said they emptied it because their grandchildren had grown up and they no longer used it. Empty pools are prone to cracking for lack of counter-pressure from water; they can also “float” up from the earth, creating hazardous conditions. 

    Former Michigan Farmers Insurance agent Nichole Brink told the Journal she quit the company last year over her concern that it was aggressively using aerial imagery to chase off customers, and even using shots that were two or three years old. “It’s like they’re using anything as an excuse to get people off their books,” she said. Farmers says it gives policyholders at least 60 days to challenge the company’s findings or remedy shortcomings.

    It’s probably no coincidence that Californians are frequently targeted for non-renewal via overhead spy technology. Insurers are aggressively paring back their business in the state, as the state’s thicket of regulations has blocked insurers’ ability to adequately charge for coverage in a state cursed by wildfires and earthquakes.  

    Last year, for example, State Farm said it would no longer issue new homeowners policies in the Golden State. The, in March, the company took the more draconian step of opting not to renew 72,000 property and commercial apartment policies. AIG bailed on the state in 2022. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 23:20

  • Lara Trump: RNC Focused Like A Laser On Election Integrity
    Lara Trump: RNC Focused Like A Laser On Election Integrity

    Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Lara Trump said Sunday that election integrity is a top priority in the upcoming November election and the committee is focused on it “like a laser.”

    Lara Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 28, 2020. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

    During an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” on April 7, Ms. Trump said that the committee will dedicate all of its resources to its Election Integrity Division “as needed.”

    “When you talk about election integrity, it is vital. It is the number one thing that we are focused on, aside from getting out the vote, which, of course, Donald Trump himself will do for us,” Ms. Trump said.

    “We are making sure that we leave nothing to chance because we have to understand the importance of this election,” she added.

    Former President Donald Trump raked in a massive $50.5 million in funds for his reelection bid on Saturday. With this funding, Ms. Trump, the daughter-in-law of President Trump, said the RNC can now afford to ensure that poll workers are trained and lawyers are present in every voting precinct.

    “Prior to last night, the largest single event fundraiser in politics ever was the one that Joe Biden had. And he needed three presidents to haul in $26 million,” she said, referring to President Biden’s fundraiser in March, which included former presidents Barrack Obama and Bill Clinton.

    “We needed one man, Donald J. Trump, one president, to double that,” Ms. Trump added.

    Ms. Trump said that the outcome of this fundraiser event reflects a shift where “people are not sitting on the sidelines anymore.”

    “They understand what’s at stake. It’s a must-win election. And from the election integrity perspective, we’re focused on it like a laser at the RNC,” she added.

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    Under a joint-fundraising agreement, funds from the fundraiser event will go to the Trump campaign, the former president’s Save America PAC, the RNC, and state GOP parties.

    RNC chair Michael Whatley, who was also present for the interview, said the committee will spend “every dollar” raised on two “critical core” missions: increasing voter turnout and protecting the ballot.

    Mr. Whatley said that the RNC is working with state legislatures, boards of elections, and secretaries of state to ensure the implementation of the rules of the road.

    The committee will file lawsuits if the rules are not adhered to, he said, adding that the RNC had filed over 80 lawsuits in 24 states “to make sure that we have the ground ready to go for safe elections.”

    The committee has also been recruiting and training thousands of observers and attorneys “to make sure that we are in the room” when a vote is cast and counted, Mr. Whatley said.

    Michael Whatley, speaks before former President Donald Trump’s arrival for a rally in Greensboro, N.C., on March 2, 2024. (Jonathan Drake/Reuters)

    “What we want are fair, accurate, secure, and transparent elections. And when we have it, then we’re going to protect the sanctity of that ballot. We’re going to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” he added.

    President Trump’s campaign’s fundraiser, dubbed the “Inaugural Leadership Dinner,” was held in hedge fund billionaire John Paulson’s $110 million home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday.

    Thie event is a much-needed boost for President Trump, who has been routinely outraised by President Biden amid a financial squeeze due to ballooning lawyer fees and legal payouts from his criminal and civil court cases.

    Mr. Paulson told The Epoch Times on Saturday that the event has now claimed the position of being the most successful political fundraiser in U.S. history.

    “This sold-out event has raised the most in a single political fundraiser in history. This overwhelming support demonstrates the enthusiasm for President Trump and his policies,” he remarked.

    Melanie Sun, Janice Hisle, and Reuter contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 23:00

  • China Paid $250,000 To "Threat Actors" In Canada In 2018 And 2019
    China Paid $250,000 To “Threat Actors” In Canada In 2018 And 2019

    A new document given to Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission suggests that Chinese officials may have offered $250,000 to “threat actors” in 2018 and 2019, according to a new report from The Globe and Mail. 

    The Canadian Security Intelligence Service document on election interference said that prior to and during the 2019 election “a group of known and suspected People’s Republic of China related threat actors in Canada, including PRC officials, worked in loose coordination with one another to covertly advance PRC interests though Canadian democratic institutions.”

    “Some of these threat actors received financial support from the PRC,” and says “reporting indicated that 11 political candidates and 13 political staff members were assessed to be either implicated in or impacted by this group of threat actors,” the document says. 

    The report suggests the $250,000 from Chinese officials in Canada was likely for foreign interference rather than political donations.

    It describes the complex routing of these funds through various individuals to mask their origin, eventually reaching a staff member of a 2019 federal election candidate and an Ontario MPP, via an influential community leader, the Mail wrote.

    According to the document, the implicated candidates include seven Liberals and four Conservatives, with some knowingly participating in foreign interference activities, while others were oblivious due to the secretive nature of the operations.

    The federal government initiated the Foreign Interference Commission inquiry in September, led by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, in response to reports by The Globe and Mail on Chinese interference in Canadian democracy.

    The inquiry, which took place on Thursday, featured testimonies from senior officials of CSIS, the RCMP, the Department of Global Affairs, and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s electronic intelligence agency.

    Dan Rogers, a former CSE official and now the deputy national security adviser, revealed the CSE had intelligence post-2021 election about alleged fund distributions, which was shared with the RCMP and CSIS, though specifics weren’t disclosed. RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme stated that no criminal investigations into foreign interference were opened for the 2019 or 2021 elections, as no intelligence received warranted such actions.

    However, an investigation into foreign interference was launched following the last general election when Conservative MP Michael Chong reported being targeted by China.

    Too bad the Biden family doesn’t do business in Canada – the PRC probably could have gotten influence a lot easier that way, though it may have cost a bit more due to the need to support Hunter’s “lifestyle” and “social agenda”.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 22:40

  • FDA Finally Takes Down Ivermectin Posts After Settlement
    FDA Finally Takes Down Ivermectin Posts After Settlement

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Social media posts urging people not to take ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 have been taken down by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    The FDA removed posts from X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn that stated: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously y’all. Stop it.”

    The posts had remained up even after the regulatory agency agreed to take them down as part of a settlement in a legal case brought by doctors who said the posts wrongly interfered with their practice of medicine.

    The March 21 settlement said the FDA would take down specific posts within 21 days. The posts were made in August 2021.

    The FDA has also deleted the following posts:

    • An Aug. 21, 2021, Instagram post that said: “You are not a horse. Stop it with the #ivermectin. It’s not authorized for treating #COVID.”

    • An April 26, 2022, Twitter post that said: “Hold your horses ya’ll. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19.”

    The posts directed people to an FDA webpage titled, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” The page itself acknowledged that the FDA has approved ivermectin for some uses but said “taking a drug for an unapproved use can be very dangerous” and “currently available data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19.”

    The agency pointed to a database of clinical trials testing ivermectin against COVID-19; some of the trials showed the drug works against the illness.

    Doctors commonly prescribe FDA-approved drugs for a range of purposes, including some outside the scope of approval. The practice is known as off-label prescription.

    The FDA’s ivermectin posts gained tremendous traction across social media and news outlets, prompting internal excitement, emails obtained by The Epoch Times showed. Millions of people saw the posts. “That was great! Even I saw it!” Dr. Janet Woodcock, the agency’s acting commissioner at the time, said in one missive.

    The FDA has not alerted its followers on social media that it removed the posts.

    2022, celebrated the development.

    The case “sets an important legal precedent which should deter them from attempting this stunt again anytime soon,” she wrote on X. In another post, she said that “the terms we were asking for were met when we agreed to settle” and “we were not optimistic about what we would get in discovery.”

    But while the posts and page have been removed, the FDA has created a new page about ivermectin and COVID-19.

    Published on April 5, it states: “One of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s jobs is to carefully evaluate the scientific data on a drug to be sure that it is both safe and effective for a particular use. There continues to be interest in a drug called ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 in humans. The FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals.”

    The page repeats the statement that “the FDA has determined that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID 19 in humans,” but lacks the link to the database showing mixed results from trials.

    The page also says that “health care professionals may choose to prescribe or use an approved human drug for an unapproved use when they judge that the unapproved use is medically appropriate for an individual patient.”

    An FDA spokesperson previously told The Epoch Times that the settlement was not an admission of a violation of law or any other wrongdoing.

    “FDA has not changed its position that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19,“ the spokesperson said. ”The agency has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 22:20

  • LA 'Mansion Tax' Is Yet Another Democrat Debacle
    LA ‘Mansion Tax’ Is Yet Another Democrat Debacle

    In November 2022, Los Angeles voters approved a so-called ‘mansion tax,’ which slaps a 4% sales tax on properties sold for over $5 million, and 5.5% for those over $10 million.

    The scheme (Measure ULA), put forward by Democrats, was projected to raise roughly $672 million in its first year, to be used for affordable housing.

    Not only did the plan fall short by hundreds of millions of dollars (raising just $215 million), the measure caused residential building construction to plummet, raising housing prices even further, the Washington Examiner writes, noting that the tax doesn’t just apply to large homes in Bel Air, “but also gas stations, commercial real estate, condominiums, and apartment complexes.”

    Los Angeles real estate brokers say the $5 million threshold means the new ULA tax will hit just about any apartment complex with over 15 housing units. This has discouraged lenders from offering mortgages on, and developers from building, the very multifamily projects the city needs more of to reduce housing costs. Since nearly two-thirds of homes in Los Angeles have asking prices of at least $1 million, working-class families must often rent multifamily homes to live in. CoStar analyst Ryan Patap noted that developers are further discouraged by the city’s “broader political shift in the city that’s more supportive of restrictions on landlords and more supportive of protections for tenants.”

    Around the state as a whole, multifamily housing has trended above the national average. Whereas new multifamily housing permit authorization fell nationally by nearly 19% from 2022 to 2023, California’s only decreased by 5%. But in Los Angeles County, authorizations dropped by 19%, and in LA city, they slumped by a staggering 24%. The mansion tax appears to be to blame. -Washington Examiner

    City officials are still slapping themselves on the back, bragging that $150 million from Measure ULA revenues have helped fund programs for short-term emergency rental assistance (for whom?), as well as tenant outreach and education, tenant protections, defense against evictions (squatter defense?), direct cash assistance for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

    “The pace at which ULA is generating revenue, especially over the last quarter, is impressive,” reads a statement from Joan Ling, a real estate adviser and policy analyst in urban planning who is also the lead author of a report from UCLA, USC, and Occidental College recapping ULA’s first year.

    “ULA is enabling Los Angeles to finally meet the big structural challenges driving our housing crisis—like the skyrocketing costs of land and construction—so that we can build more homes more quickly.”

    That said, as the Examiner concludes:

    Supporters have bragged that the legislation has already funded $23 million on eviction protection and tenant outreach and $28 million on aid to distressed tenants and landlords, but neither of these programs do anything actually to lower rents for working families.

    The real protection Angeleno tenants need is from a Democratic Party that is constantly passing new regulations and higher taxes that make new home and apartment construction more expensive. Until Los Angeles voters start electing leaders whose motto is “Build baby build,” they can only expect their existing housing crisis to get worse.

    Indeed.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 22:00

  • "This Is Crazy": Fetterman Tears Into 'Squatters Rights' Laws, Soft-On-Crime Policies
    “This Is Crazy”: Fetterman Tears Into ‘Squatters Rights’ Laws, Soft-On-Crime Policies

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

    Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has blasted the idea of “squatter’s rights,” questioning the laws that allow interlopers on a property to claim ownership over its rightful owner, calling it a case of “just breaking the law.”

    U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) walks toward the Senate Chambers in Washington, D.C., on March 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

    Squatter rights laws allow anyone illegally occupying another person’s property to claim ownership if they are not evicted after a certain amount of time. Also known as adverse possession laws, these laws are in effect in all 50 U.S. states but enforcement differs significantly.

    In an April 6 interview with The New York Post, Mr. Fetterman said he had extensive experience with these laws while he was mayor of Braddock in Pennsylvania. In some cases, they can come into effect after only 30 days of illegally occupying a building.

    “It’s wild that if you go away on a long trip, for 30 days, and someone breaks into your home and suddenly, they have rights,” he said.

    “This is crazy. Like if somebody stole your car, and then they held it for 30 days, then somehow you now have some rights?” he added.

    According to law experts who have spoken with The Epoch Times, police can’t help because it’s a civil matter. Under these laws, the only way to remove a squatter claiming ownership is through an eviction lawsuit, which can drag on for months or years because housing courts are severely backlogged at the moment.

    Squatter’s rights as they exist today can be traced back to the Homestead Act of 1862, which allowed settlers to claim land in the western United States under the agreement they would improve it and live on it for at least five years. Over time, the concept of squatter’s rights have expanded well beyond land claims.

    According to Mr. Fetterman, “Squatters have no rights,” and during his time as Mayor, he always tried to “push back against that.”

    Another expert speaking to The Epoch Times claimed illegal immigrants could further exacerbate the squatter rights issue, although he noted he had yet to see this transpire.

    Border Patrol has encountered more than 7.6 million illegal immigrants trying to cross the border since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. Many have come seeking asylum and various jurisdictions around the country are struggling to keep up with the influx of people, stretching resources to their limits in some cases, such as in Texas, Arizona, and New York.

    Fetterman Says US Needs to Be Smart and Aggressive on Crime

    Soft crime policies are being blamed for the fatal shooting of NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller during a traffic stop in Queens last month. According to authorities, Guy Rivera, who was accused of the crime, has at least 21 prior arrests for drug and assault related offenses.

    Mr. Fetterman says he has no issue giving second chances to offenders who have made a mistake. But 20 chances is pushing it too far.

    “If you have those kinds of established records, it doesn’t serve any greater goal to allow people that are offending, offending, offending and allow them to not be held accountable,” he said.

    “If this individual is convicted, then he should spend the rest of his life in prison and never have an opportunity to get out,” he added.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 21:40

  • Biden Scrambles To Buy Votes With New Taxpayer-Funded Student Debt Relief Scheme
    Biden Scrambles To Buy Votes With New Taxpayer-Funded Student Debt Relief Scheme

    After American borrowers adjusted their finances amid the mass-suspension of student loan payments during the pandemic (and the scorching inflation that followed), the Biden administration on Monday announced new student loan plans that would give borrowers up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness for balances that have grown due to unpaid interest since entering repayment, regardless of income.

    The plan is aimed at those with “runaway interest.”

    Those who qualify for the “SAVE IDR” (income-driven repayment) would have the full balance of their unpaid interest forgiven, which would benefit roughly 25 million Americans.

    What’s more, the administration is also looking to provide automatic debt relief for those who qualify under the SAVE plan, Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and similar forgiveness programs which have hit red tape when it comes to relief.

    Lastly, the plan would give relief to those enrolled in low-financial-value education programs deemed insufficient by the Department of Education, as well as those experiencing hardship in paying back loans and who are at risk of default.

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    “The Biden-Harris Administration plans to release proposed rules on these plans over the coming months. If these plans are finalized as proposed, this fall the Administration would begin canceling up to $20,000 in interest for millions of borrowers and full loan forgiveness for millions more,” the administration said in a Monday statement.

    The administration said the White House estimates more than 30 million Americans would have benefited from loan forgiveness from the plans during the past three years.

    The administration is also emphasizing how its action will help Black and Latino borrowers and those who went to community college, who are more likely to struggle with student loan debt. –The Hill

    “These actions are expected to provide significant relief to Black and Latino borrowers, borrowers who attended community college, and borrowers who are financially vulnerable because they took out debt but never had the chance to complete their degree,” according to the administration.

    So the Biden administration is taking taxpayer money to pay the banks their interest?

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 21:20

  • Xi's Production Push Set To Fan Renewed Trade War
    Xi’s Production Push Set To Fan Renewed Trade War

    By George Lei, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist

    US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen implored Beijing’s top leaders during her four-day visit to refrain from boosting the country’s already vast manufacturing capacity and to focus on lifting domestic demand instead.

    That push, however, is in stark contrast to the priorities of President Xi Jinping, whose “new productive forces” slogan is now dominating the economic policy discourse. His push suggests the country’s expansion of its production capacity will likely persist and contribute to increasing tensions with the nation’s major trading partners.

    While its not entirely clear how Xi’s policy will play out on the ground, equity investors have already picked winners since the phrase was listed as the government’s top task in early March. Market reactions seem to imply that Beijing will double down on state spending to strengthen China’s transition toward high-tech, value-added production and advanced manufacturing. There is also a perception that “Made in China 2025” – a government plan to groom 10 globally competitive industries, and one that drew the ire of former President Trump – is making a comeback.

    The push for greater investments in manufacturing will likely reinforce China’s role as the world’s factory and fuel already-tense trade relationships with the US and other major economies, both in the developed and developing worlds. Over the past few months, the European Union, for one, has pushed back hard against a glut of Chinese products flooding the bloc’s market, including EVs, semi-conductors and solar and wind equipment. Frictions have also been on the rise with countries including Chile, Turkey and India in recent years.

    Beijing has also attempted to reorient its economy toward one driven by consumption, but it’s had little success. Back in 2020, Xi advocated “dual circulation,” a catchphrase calling for a greater push on reforms to build an economy with stronger local catalysts and a pivot away from export-led growth. That vision never materialized and the term has subsequently fallen into disuse, like other popular slogans during the pandemic era such as curbing “disorderly capital.”

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    Tasked with delivering 5% growth yet unable to either engineer a major housing stimulus or lend a strong helping hand to consumers, policymakers can only resort to increased manufacturing investments, Michael Pettis, professor of finance at Peking University and senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in a tweet on Friday.

    With Xi’s motto “housing is for living in, not for speculation” surfacing from time to time in policy discourse and calls for direct cash transfer to consumers falling on deaf ears, re-balancing toward a consumer-driven economy looks like a tall order.

    As production exceeds consumption, Pettis says “trade conflict is only likely to get worse.” That probably won’t change no matter who wins the White House in November.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 21:00

  • DOJ Stonewalls Over Audio Of Biden Interview With Special Counsel Hur
    DOJ Stonewalls Over Audio Of Biden Interview With Special Counsel Hur

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reused to provide audio tapes of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, defying a subpoena by the House GOP.

    In an April 8 letter to the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee, Assistant AG Carlos Felipe Uriarte complained that despite cooperating with other aspects of the Feb. 27 subpoena, “the committees have responded with escalation and threats of criminal contempt.”

    “We urge the committees to avoid conflict rather than seek it,” he added – while working for the same DOJ that has specifically sought conflict by launching investigations and lawsuits against former President Trump.

    “It is not too late for the committees to choose a different path, to take an offramp towards the ’spirit of dynamic compromise’ that the Constitution requires of us both,” the letter continues.

    The Feb. 27 subpoena requested copies of notes, audio files, video and transcripts related to Hur’s probe, and had a deadline of March 7, according to the Epoch Times, which has obtained a copy.

    “Americans expect equal justice under the law and DOJ is allowing the Bidens to operate above it,”  House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said in a statement. “Special Counsel Hur’s report outlined that classified documents Joe Biden stashed for years relate to countries where his family cashed in on the Biden brand.”

    In response to a request for audio of what author Mark Zwonitzer recorded while interviewing Biden, whose two memoirs he wrote, Uriarte said there is no need for the department to hand it over because the committees also have transcripts of the interviews.

    “To go further by producing the audio files would compound the likelihood that future prosecutors will be unable to secure this level of cooperation,” Uriarte wrote.

    “They might have a harder time obtaining consent to an interview at all. It is clearly not in the public interest to render such cooperation with prosecutors and investigators less likely in the future.”

    Uriarte then reiterated that the DOJ has provided ample evidence to the committees.

    “The department is willing to hear more from the committees, but at this time your further requests appear attenuated from the committees’ stated purposes—with today’s production, you now have the information you requested. Given the extraordinary executive branch confidentiality interests implicated here, a specific and adequate showing of need for any additional information, tethered to the authority under which the committees purport to act, is critical,” he wrote.

    Uriarte then hilariously asked the committees not to make DOJ materials public, writing “To ensure an adequate opportunity to review these materials for suitability for public release, we respectfully request that the committees not disseminate or otherwise disclose the documents or information therein without prior consultation with the department.”

    As the Epoch Times notes further;

    ‘The Evidence Does Not Establish’ Biden’s Guilt

    Mr. Hur announced on Feb. 8 that President Biden would not be charged.

    “Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” Mr. Hur wrote in a 388-page report to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

    The materials, the report stated, included “marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods.” The FBI collected these items during a search of President Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, last year.

    The FBI last year also searched the president’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where they also found classified materials.

    Nonetheless, Mr. Hur said that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” and that “prosecution of Mr. Biden is also unwarranted based on our consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors set forth in the Department of Justice’s Principles of Federal Prosecution.”

    The classified documents are from President Biden’s more than four-decade political career, including the Senate, the vice presidency, and now the presidency.

    Mr. Hur interviewed President Biden over the span of two days last year.

    In deciding not to charge the president, Mr. Hur said that a jury likely wouldn’t convict him, in part due to his cognitive issues.

    “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Mr. Hur wrote.

    “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

    The Afghanistan documents, which had the highest level of classification in the United States, were from 2009. These papers were in a Virginia home that President Biden rented in 2019, where he met with Mr. Zwonitzer for his two books before the classified documents were sent to Delaware.

    “Nevertheless, we do not believe this evidence is sufficient, as jurors would likely find reasonable doubt for one or more of several reasons,” Mr. Hur wrote.

    “Both when he served as vice president and when the Afghanistan documents were found in Mr. Biden’s Delaware garage in 2022, his possession of them in his Delaware home was not a basis for prosecution because as vice president and president, he had authority to keep classified documents in his home,” he continued.

    “The best case for charges would rely on Mr. Biden’s possession of the Afghanistan documents in his Virginia home in February 2017, when he was a private citizen and when he told his ghostwriter he had just found classified material.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 20:40

  • New EPA Emissions Standards Defy Reality
    New EPA Emissions Standards Defy Reality

    Authored by Christian Milord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The recent stringent Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) carbon emissions standards for internal combustion engines defy economic realities. The EPA would have us believe that coercing folks to buy electric vehicles (EV) will somehow reduce alleged climate change extremes. The new rules will negatively affect California and the entire nation.

    Traffic moves along Interstate 80 in Berkeley, Calif., on August 24, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    Obviously, most folks want to maintain clean air, land, and water ecosystems. However, scientists haven’t agreed on what degree human activity adversely impacts global climate change as opposed to natural causes for extreme climate events. Several dire predictions of rising seas haven’t panned out over several decades, while cooling and warming trends haven’t been too much out of the ordinary.

    The new EPA standards are part of a government plan to make EVs two-thirds of new car sales by 2032. Thirty percent of heavy duty commercial vehicles have to be emissions-free by 2032 and 40 percent of short-haul trucks by the same time frame. Emission particulates must be reduced to nine micrograms for each cubic meter of exhaust. Spokespersons from the American Petroleum Institute stated that the new regulation “threatens consumer freedom, energy reliability and national security.”

    These EPA goals are unlikely to eventuate due to several factors. First, Americans bristle when they are pressured into purchasing products that haven’t proven their worth over an extended period of time. Electric vehicles can be expensive and heavy due to large batteries that are costly to repair when they break down. They take too long to charge up when contrasted with diesel or gas refilling times. How will the grid handle millions of EVs when it can’t even cope with current electricity demands?

    Next, electric vehicles lose power in wintry weather, thus increasing the already existent range anxiety. What if an owner needs to charge up the vehicle and the charger doesn’t work at a chosen location, or it has an incompatible charger? Moreover, owners must keep in mind that criminals cut charger cables for the materials, something they aren’t tempted to do at diesel or gasoline filling stations.

    The car rental company Hertz learned a hard lesson when it purchased a fleet of EVs and hardly anyone wanted to rent them for reasons already noted. Hertz is now trying to sell 20,000 of these vehicles and adding back gasoline-powered cars. Other car rental companies will likely see the writing on the wall and follow suit. A similar scenario is unfolding with some bus and van companies as well.

    Third, purchasing these vehicles benefits China, because the PRC controls most of the rare earth minerals that go into batteries, as well as the lithium battery industry. Products that are manufactured in China might have questionable quality control standards as they move through the production process. How reliable are these heavy batteries, and how often do they catch on fire? It is unwise to surrender critical facets of our national and technological security to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

    Fourth, mandating a rapid transition to EVs puts government policies way ahead of actual innovation in the free market. Consumers want choices when it comes to making big purchases, and if they want an EV or hybrid vehicle that’s fine, but buying an internal combustion vehicle ought to be an option, too. With decreasing options, the costs of energy will skyrocket and healthy competition will be stifled.

    Fifth, although the new EPA guidelines would further reduce carbon emissions, the earth needs these emissions because plants turn CO2 into oxygen. Furthermore, climate alarmists ignore the fact that fossil fuel emissions have become much cleaner over the last four or five decades due to catalytic converters and pollution controls on industry. Extracting and refining fossil fuels have undergone a purer process.

    Sixth, has the EPA thought about the pollution generated by the recycling of large batteries, car bodies, solar panels, and wind turbines? Fossil fuel energy will be needed to carry out this process, just as oil products keep the electric grid in operation. Solar and wind power are unreliable sources of energy and would result in brownouts and power shortages if petroleum products are left out of the energy equation.

    Seventh, do government officials and well-heeled climate “progressives” truly believe what they are preaching? Most of them have fine cars, big homes, and they jet around the world leaving a huge carbon footprint in their wake. Their hypocrisy is staggering as they attempt to impose a minimalist lifestyle on other Americans while they live the high life. They don’t have to face the repercussions of their shortsighted mandates, yet they want the masses to regress back to a pre-industrial stage of existence.

    Finally, America has plentiful supplies of natural gas and petroleum that could last more than a century. Transitioning to an emissions-free society will take several decades if it happens at all. Until then, cleaner and reliable fuel sources will be in constant demand to drive a modern economy and lift people out of poverty. Indeed, energy autonomy is a crucial aspect of economic, informational, and national security.

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

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 20:20

  • Ukraine May Have To Compromise With Russia, NATO Chief Admits
    Ukraine May Have To Compromise With Russia, NATO Chief Admits

    In a rare moment following more than two years of war, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has belatedly admitted the Ukraine may have to compromise with Russia at the negotiating table.

    He made the remarks in a fresh interview with BBC at a moment he’s urging Western allies to commit to approving his proposed five-year, 100 billion euro fund for Ukraine. As we’ve underscored before, this is largely about “Trump-proofing” NATO funding for Kiev for years to come, in anticipation that he could be in the White House next year.

    AFP

    Stoltenberg is still playing up the narrative that Ukraine needs major backing from the West in order to build leverage going into any potential future negotiations. Battlefield gains enabled with strong Western support could lead to an “acceptable result” for the Ukrainian side, he said.

    “At the end of the day, it has to be Ukraine that decides what kind of compromises they’re willing to do, we need to enable them to be in a position where they actually achieve an acceptable result around the negotiating table,” he told BBC.

    He sought to clarify that he’s not urging Ukraine to offer any concessions at this point, but said that “real peace” will only be achievable when “Ukraine prevails”.

    And yet, by all accounts Ukraine forces have not made any forward advances, instead the opposite. BBC commented on Stoltenberg’s rare talk of ‘compromise’ as follows: 

    But his language is notable because President Volodymyr Zelensky has always been adamant that he would never negotiate with Putin despite some calls on him to do so, including from the Pope.

    Mr Stoltenberg refused to be drawn on whether he was concerned about the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House, saying only that he was sure the US would continue to be an important ally, whoever was in charge.

    Zelensky’s consistent position throughout the war has been to say that he’ll never negotiate with Moscow so long as Vladimir Putin is in power.

    As for Stoltenberg, he had this to say only a few weeks ago in response to Pope Francis’ position that the warring sides need to urgently find compromise and end all fighting…

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    Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stunned by asserting bluntly that “Ukraine Will Become A Member Of NATO”.  He told reporters last Thursday in Brussels, where foreign ministers met to prepare for the alliance’s annual meeting in July: “Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our purpose at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership.”

    Below is one geopolitical commentator’s reaction to this “lie” of Ukraine joining NATO…

    * * *

    But it’s the lying and level of lying which is astonishing. As Anthony Blinken stunned journalists just recently by saying that “Ukraine will join NATO” – perhaps the biggest lie ever of the entire war as western leaders know this is impossible and can never happen, without, that is the full defeat and exit of Russian forces. Actually it’s the second biggest lie. The greatest lie of all is the one about Russia having its sights on European countries to invade and conquer which is something that Stoltenberg constantly says but not one EU leader believes which is evident in their irresponsible depletion of their own missiles.

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

    Macron also plays a key role in the manufacture of these untruths with his recent success in convincing journalists to write up the “we could send French troops into Ukraine” when, in fact, he packed that statement with so many caveats that he really didn’t say it at all. What is clear is that there is a state of panic now which is palpable from the West in general and that Macron, as well as NATO leaders, are having informal talks – or at least are having talks about possible talks – with Russia over some sort of what the Americans like to call an “off ramp” for Ukraine and the West. You could call it a “white flag” which has probably left you humming the song.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 20:00

  • LA's District Attorney Sued By Game Of Thrones Actor Over Dismissed Pedophilia Charges
    LA’s District Attorney Sued By Game Of Thrones Actor Over Dismissed Pedophilia Charges

    Authored by Emma Aksalic via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is facing legal action after a “Game of Thrones” actor filed suit over dismissed pedophilia charges.

    Actor Joseph Gatt attends the World Premiere of Disney’s “Dumbo” at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 11, 2019. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

    Joseph Gatt—best known for his role as “Thenn Warg” on the popular HBO television series—is suing the city of Los Angeles, the LAPD, and the District Attorney’s office.

    The 52-year-old is seeking $40 million in damages, and says the allegations made against him were not only career-ending, but ruined his reputation by branding him as a “serial pedophile.”

    The charges stem from a 2022 arrest after Mr. Gatt was accused of engaging in sexually explicit online communication with a minor across state lines. He notes the claims were inadequately investigated prior to his felony charges being publicly announced in an LAPD press release.

    The alleged interaction resulted from a video on Cameo Mr. Gatt recorded for a fan’s 16th birthday, before being contacted by the teenage girl via social media on multiple occasions. Mr. Gatt did respond, but according to the suit it was in a manner that was “wholly appropriate and consistent with typical celebrity-fan exchanges.” The two, however, never met in person.

    Cameo is a video-sharing website often used by public figures. Users can purchase a personalized video for the individual receiving it. This gives fans a chance to connect with their favorite celebrities with a video message for any occasion. A crucial bit of information the lawsuit says backs claims that the teenage girl was an “admittedly obsessed fan of Gatt.”

    The 16-year-old went on to claim to have pictures of the supposed inappropriate conversations, but the defendants failed to “interview or even remotely assess for credibility.” Mr. Gatt was arrested in April of 2022 following a search warrant on his home. He called the act an “invasion of privacy” that deprived him of his “liberty and freedom.”

    Court records show the charges were dismissed in February of this year, after finding there was no sustainable evidence, and following forensic analysis, the minor in question fabricated the incriminating screenshots.

    According to the suit, officials allegedly withheld exculpatory information critical to Mr. Gatt’s case and failed to take action for over 20 months following his initial arrest. The complaint notes the defendants showed “reckless disregard for the truth,” while acting with the knowledge that the pictures were not “reliable, credible, or trustworthy on their face.”

    As a result, Mr. Gatt says he was fired from two movie roles he had already been cast in, with scenes being cut or reshot from movies he previously filmed in. He was excluded or disinvited from premieres and immediately stopped receiving any future business opportunities. The actor’s PR team and representatives dropped him as a client, and said death threats had become a recurrence.

    At the time of the incident, the actor took to social media vehemently denying the claims made against him, calling them “100% categorically wrong and reckless.” He pointed out errors and misleading information in the case, but was ultimately cooperating with authorities to clear his name.

    In California, if a person is falsely accused of a crime the accuser could be held liable via civil action for malicious prosecution. As a result, Mr. Gatt is requesting “compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages in an amount to be determined at trial, constituting his losses foreseeably resulting from Defendants’ misconduct,” per the suit.

    Meanwhile, Mr. Gascón has made headlines in recent months, after one of his staff prosecutors spoke out accusing him of intimidation tactics. Deputy District Attorney Tatiana Chahoian said authorities showed up to her home to deliver a disciplinary letter after blowing the whistle on a memo from Mr. Gascón telling prosecutors not to charge for crimes regarding street racing, a major issue facing the city of Los Angeles.

    In an interview with FOX, Ms. Chahoian said she feared retaliation adding her job was on the line because she “said something my boss didn’t like.”

    “Silencing people by threatening them with the police is literally a mafia tactic, and I don’t work for the mob,” Ms. Chahoian said.

    The embattled DA is up for reelection and will face off against contender and former attorney general Nathan Hochman to defend his seat come November.

    The Epoch Times reached out to Mr. Gascón’s office for comment.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 19:40

  • Taiwanese Chip-Making Giant TSMC Gets Billions In US Grants, Loans For Third Arizona Chip Factory 
    Taiwanese Chip-Making Giant TSMC Gets Billions In US Grants, Loans For Third Arizona Chip Factory 

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip maker, plans to build a third chip factory in Arizona after receiving $6.6 billion in grants and $5 billion in loans through US government subsidies. This is part of a massive effort led by the Biden administration to make America’s semiconductor manufacturing industry great again. 

    “Today, we continue building on that historic progress, with the Department of Commerce announcing a preliminary agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to support the construction of leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing facilities right here in the United States,” the White House wrote in a press release. 

    The White House said, “Thanks to this investment, TSMC will also build a third chip factory in Phoenix, increasing its total investment in Arizona to $65 billion and creating over 25,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs, along with thousands of indirect jobs.”

    “It’s a national security problem that we don’t manufacture any of the world’s most sophisticated chips in the United States,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters. 

    TSMC’s third chip plant will produce next-generation 2-nanometer chips, forecasted to be in production by the decade’s end. According to Bloomberg, the other two chip plants are expected to begin production in 2025 and 2028. 

    Raimondo pointed out that 2nm chips will be crucial for artificial intelligence chips that power the defense industry. 

    “For the first time ever, we will be making at scale the most advanced semiconductor chips on the planet here in the United States of America, by the way, with American workers,” the official said. 

    TSMC’s expansion in the United States will mitigate China’s influence on chip supply chains across Asia, especially Taiwan-based ones. 

    Here are some of the latest investments the Biden administration has dished out to tech firms for re-shoring efforts. 

    Source: Bloomberg

    Raimondo recently said the Chips Act allows the US to capture about 20% of the world’s most advanced chip production by 2030. As a reminder, the US once had 37% of the world’s chip production in 1990 and has since plummeted to about 12% in recent years due to the West’s globalist leaders who off-shored America’s manufacturing capacity. It’s time to bring the production back as the world fractures into a dangerous multi-polar state. 

     

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 19:20

  • New York Grand Jury Releases Scathing Report Against Child Protection Services Agency
    New York Grand Jury Releases Scathing Report Against Child Protection Services Agency

    Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The result of a six-month special grand jury investigation into the murder of 8-year-old Tommy Valva by his father has revealed another disturbing instance of abuse of power by child protection agencies and the family court system.

    A picture of Harmony Montgomery before she went missing in 2019 (Courtesy of Justice For Harmony)

    The New York boy died in 2019 from hypothermia after his father, an NYPD cop, inflicted a series of cruel punishments on him. He made the child strip naked, lay on a cold cement garage floor, and hosed him down with cold water. Michael Valva was convicted of his son’s murder in 2022.

    The grand jury report, released on April 3, is wrought with similar findings in the recent review of the murder of 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery. Details of the girl’s murder and the state of New Hampshire’s inability to account for her whereabouts for two years gripped the nation.

    It was a tragedy set in motion when Massachusetts Family Court Judge Mark Newman awarded custody of the little girl to her father Adam Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery was convicted in February of murdering his daughter.

    Judge Newman granted custody to Mr. Montgomery instead of the girl’s mother despite his lengthy violent criminal history and transient status.

    Before Tommy Valva’s murder, Suffolk County Family Court Judge Jeff Zimmerman also awarded full custody of the little boy along with his two brothers to his father Michael Valva over the boy’s mother Justyna Zubko-Valva.

    In both Harmony and Tommy’s cases, court records, which were widely publicized in both murder trials, show that neither of their mothers had any history of abuse or violence.

    In both of the children’s cases, child protection service workers went along with the court’s custody awards despite knowing that there were serious child abuse allegations and child welfare concerns pending against both men.

    In her office’s findings from an investigation into Harmony’s murder, Maria Mossaides, director of the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, slammed the state child protection agency for what she called system-wide failures and also for “recklessly” favoring parental rights over Harmony’s safety.

    Throughout its 75-page investigative report, the New York grand jury charges New York’s child protection services system with the same kind of failures.

    It faulted CPS employees for deeming child abuse allegations by another parent as unfounded with little evidence. It also cited the system as flawed for not having any independent checks and balances with the agency over such decisions.

    According to the grand jury, the agency even refused to return its records for the investigation.

    “The failure of CPS to do so can only be interpreted as a transparent attempt to shield their own inaction from public scrutiny. Thus, the laws and rules must be changed to prevent such future injustices,” the investigative jury charged.

    In its report, it also focuses on another familiar issue raised in other states regarding the operations of child protection agencies and the family court system: the immunity that child protection workers and judges enjoy from dereliction of duty.

    Rep. Bryan Slaton presents Amendment 1 to House Bill 567, on April 1, 2021. (Screenshot courtesy of Bryan Slaton)

    “Even though immunity does not preclude a finding of criminal liability for CPS caseworkers who have engaged in willful misconduct or gross negligence, such caseworkers are still effectively impervious to any such liability in cases where reports are deemed unfounded,” the panel wrote.

    The panel discovered that caseworkers, due to not being required to substantiate their findings to the court or even a supervisor, created a shield against accusations of “willful misconduct or gross negligence.”

    “In this regard, employees of CPS have the unilateral ability to thwart criminal investigations prior to the matter of immunity even becoming relevant, by determining that a case is unfounded, or by deciding not to migrate prior unfounded reports and related materials in a new indicated investigation,” the panel found.

    At a press conference during the murder trial, Ms. Zubko-Valva talked about her many pleas for help to child protection workers and other state officials that went ignored.

    “I kept thinking about all the institutions who failed to help him, who completely did absolutely nothing … now everybody’s trying to do the right thing … but where were you when I begged you for help when you could have saved my child’s life,” said Ms. Zubka-Valva who said she also filed a complaint with the FBI after Judge Hope Schwartz Zimmerman gave custody to Mr. Valva.

    The judge awarded custody to the father after a divorce attorney complained to the court Ms. Zubko-Valva was “interfering with her access to the children,” according to a pending wrongful death lawsuit Ms. Zubko-Valva filed against the county CPS.

    Details of CPS’ alleged complicity in the court’s custody ruling are scattered throughout the lawsuit. These include accounts of the agency’s quick dismissal of a flash drive. The lawsuit stated the mother provided this drive to the agency, and it contained 320 documents and other evidence supporting the claim that Tommy and his brothers were enduring severe abuse by their father and stepmother, Angela Pollina, who was convicted last March of the second-degree murder of her stepson.

    According to the lawsuit, the evidence included several letters from Tommy’s pediatrician and therapists corroborating the abuse. It was already revealed in the lawsuit and during Mr. Valva and Ms. Pollina’s trial that the agency ignored visible signs Tommy and his brothers were being starved.

    Two years ago, the Institute for Justice (IJ) launched “Project Immunity and Accountability,” a national campaign to end immunity for government officials.

    “If we the people must follow the law, our government must follow the Constitution,” the group states as the headline to its campaign’s mission.

    CPS agencies have long been accused of using immunity to justify their troubling decisions rather than reform them.

    In a 2007 case, a child advocate brought a federal suit against the Standing Rock Child Protection Services and Bureau of Indian Affairs in North Dakota after the agencies claimed immunity for knowingly placing a juvenile sex offender into a foster home with three young children.

    “Such immunity, it maintains, is based on the agency’s policy decision to protect the privacy interests of its former ward,” the lawsuit charged. “By this argument, CPS creates a smokescreen within which to hide from liability, despite its flagrant abuse of a system that it is duty-bound to protect.”

    As part of its campaign, IJ is asking state legislators to adopt amendments to their state constitution to abolish government immunity, but so far no lawmakers have taken up the cause.

    In New Hampshire, where Harmony Montgomery was murdered in 2019, Republican lawmakers like Rep. Leah Cushman have been pushing for reform of the child protection agency and family courts.

    The state did not accept any blame for the girl’s murder even though evidence was introduced during her father’s trial that the agency failed to conduct mandatory checks on her and appeared to be unaware that she had been missing for two years.

    Recently, Ms. Cushman successfully convinced House leaders to form a special committee to investigate the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth, and Family (DCYF).

    As reported previously by The Epoch Times, the committee had only started when she was removed as chairman of the committee by the House Speaker when she initiated a voluntary oath for both victims and officials as part of the special committee’s investigation.

    She has since told The Epoch Times she believes the “real fix” is to take child protection service agencies out of the “investigation business,” abolish family courts, and return allegations of child abuse to the criminal courts where there is real due process.

    “Keeping these cases civil is being soft on crime and letting people shown to be abusive to never face justice in a real court of law,” she said.

    The NH DCYF, Massachusetts Department of Children Services, and Suffolk County Child Protective Services did not respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 19:00

  • China Gold-Buying Frenzy Sparks Chaos In ETFs
    China Gold-Buying Frenzy Sparks Chaos In ETFs

    For the second time in a week, trading in an ETF that owns gold companies was halted in China overnight.

    The ETF’s price had gained over 40% in the past four sessions before falling 10% after trading resumed Monday.

    “The lack of alternatives, and the fact that it’s become a lot more difficult than it was a few years ago to get your money out of China and invest elsewhere – I think that’s definitely helping gold,” said Nikos Kavalis, managing director at consultancy Metals Focus Ltd.

    “Demand is pretty decent, considering where the price is.”

    China Asset Management Co. – who run the ChinaAMC CSI SH-SZ-HK Gold Industry Equity ETF – halted the investment vehicle “to protect investors’ interests” as the fund’s premium over its underlying assets increased to more than 30%…

    As Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas highlighted: “Investors [in China] are so desperate to buy things that are not linked to their own economy/stock mkt, which has been in the gutter.”

    For context, that surge in the ETF correlated with a spot gold price near $2700…

    Source: Bloomberg

    As Bloomberg reports, the enthusiasm about products tied to gold, which has staged a record-setting rally in recent weeks, shows a desire to park money in a sector seen relatively immune to a struggling economy.

    “Gold is trading at an all time high and gold ETF demand has surged in the past week with almost $600 million of net inflows into gold ETFs globally,” said Rebecca Sin, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.

    “Demand in Mainland China could continue as investors look to diversify their holdings with commodities and foreign ETFs.”

    The ETF fervor is a fresh example of yield-hungry Chinese investors flocking to pockets of market strength as deepening property woes, volatile stocks and falling deposit rates reduce their options.

    For those wondering why buying bitcoin ETFs is not allowed there, Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas notes that “if it were, they’d be going gaga for them given how much FOMO they have been showing for gold and US stocks (btc easily outperforming both).”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 18:40

  • Russia Is Preparing For A Gasoline Shortage
    Russia Is Preparing For A Gasoline Shortage

    By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

    Russia is seeking to import gasoline from Kazakhstan in case shortages occur on the Russian market because of the diminished refining capacity due to maintenance and damages from Ukrainian drone attacks, Reuters reported on Monday, citing industry sources.

    Russia has asked Kazakhstan to prepare to potentially deliver 100,000 tons of gasoline, the sources told Reuters.

    Russia is also ready to import gasoline from Belarus if the current domestic supply is insufficient to meet demand.

    Russia is estimated to have slashed in half its gasoline exports via railway after imposing a six-month ban on exports from March 1 to ensure sufficient domestic supply in peak demand season, while several refineries are undergoing regular maintenance and urgent repairs after Ukrainian drone strikes.

    Russia suspended gasoline exports from March 1 until August 31, 2024, to ensure supply for the domestic market in peak demand season, in a second such export ban in just a few months. In the autumn of 2023, Russia banned exports of diesel and gasoline in an effort to stabilize domestic fuel prices in the face of soaring prices and shortages as crude oil rallied and the Russian ruble weakened.

    Russia has seen its refining capacity diminished in recent weeks, due to seasonal maintenance, but most of all due to drone attacks from Ukraine, which have damaged several refineries that have shut down for repairs.

    According to Reuters estimates, the amount of Russian oil refining capacity that has been taken offline due to Ukrainian drone strikes is 14% of Russia’s total refining capacity. Calculations show that 900,000 barrels per day of refining capacity have been taken offline by drone strikes, Reuters reported last month.

    Most recently, strong spring floods have shut down one refinery in Russia as they compromised a dam in the area forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 18:20

  • Washington Offers Tehran Negotiations To Avoid Striking Israel: Report
    Washington Offers Tehran Negotiations To Avoid Striking Israel: Report

    Via The Cradle

    Iranian diplomatic sources say the US is trying to convince Iran not to retaliate against Israel for its bombing of the Iranian embassy in Syria earlier this month, Al-Jarida newspaper reported on Monday.

    The Israeli strike targeted a building attached to the Iranian embassy in Damascus. It led to the killing of the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, his deputy, and five other IRGC officers. A source in the Iranian foreign ministry told the prominent Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Jarida that Washington offered Tehran direct negotiations with Tel Aviv to de-escalate the conflict.  

    According to the source, Washington will guarantee to persuade Tel Aviv to stop its military operations in Syria and Lebanon on the condition that Iran commit not to retaliate against Israel for the Damascus attack.

    At the same time, a diplomatic source in Beirut told Al-Jarida that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected an American proposal to pledge to stop attacks in Syria.

    The source added that Iranian leader Ali Khamenei is reviewing the US offer but is not expected to accept it if it does not include guarantees for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and to stop all Israeli and US attacks on Iranian targets or those belonging to Iran’s allies in the Axis of Resistance.

    The source revealed that the Iranians had also previously received a verbal Israeli proposal via a Gulf state. In the proposal, Tel Aviv claimed it was ready to stop operations against Iranian targets in Syria and Lebanon in exchange for Tehran abandoning retaliation for the killing of Zahedi, whose killing was considered the most significant blow to Iran since the assassination of Qassem Soleimani.

    According to the source, the Iranian Foreign Ministry responded to the Israeli message by saying that the proposal must also include a ceasefire in Gaza.

    However, some IRGC leaders were unhappy with the foreign ministry’s response, viewing the Israeli proposal as a trap. The IRGC leaders argued that any negotiations with Israel must take place only after Iran has retaliated.

    The source stated that IRGC commanders believe that Israel’s targeting of the Iranian consulate is an opportunity that should not be missed to strike a strong blow at Israel, especially since the consular building in Damascus is considered sovereign Iranian territory and was targeted in a clear violation of international law.

    The source said that the IRGC leadership believes Washington will not enter a war with Iran even if it retaliates against Israel. They also consider that an adequately harsh strike against Israel will compel it to accept a ceasefire in Gaza and abandon any plans to invade Lebanon or escalate its bombing in Syria.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/08/2024 – 17:40

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