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2024-09-16 15:40:00

Would-Be Trump Assassin Palled Around With Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade In Ukraine: What Did The Government Know?
Would-Be Trump Assassin Palled Around With Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade In Ukraine: What Did The Government Know?
Perhaps the most interesting angle to https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-safe-after-shooter-ak47-reportedly-targeted-former-pres-while-golfing-secret
that when he went to Ukraine to recruit for its International Legion in 2022 he was a Western mainstream media darling for a time, having been quoted on behalf of the cause to get more foreign fighters to throw into the battle against Russia by a who's who of major media sources from FT to Newsweek to the NY Times.
But when he arrived in Ukraine, according to these media reports, the 58-year old Routh himself was considered too old to fight alongside the Ukrainian army. "So plan B," Routh described to one outlet, "was to come to Kiev and promote the idea of many others coming to join the International Legion. We need thousands of people here to fight alongside Ukrainians."
"There are about 190 countries on our planet, and if the governments are not officially sending soldiers here, then we civilians should pick up this torch and make it happen," he described. He had told Newsweek in a video interview from Ukraine that the war with Russia was as simple as "good vs. evil" and essentially the same as good guys and bad guys in the Hollywood movies Americans grew up with. It was not a gray conflict, he described, but "black and white".
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/routhukr.jpg?itok=GVTEfqvc
In March of 2022, just a month into the Russian invasion, he tweeted that everyone around the globe should be willing to volunteer and "fight and die" in Ukraine. Still, much of his time was https://thegrayzone.com/2024/09/15/suspect-trump-assassination-plot-recruited-for-ukraines-international-legion/
spent in a hotel room in the far western city of Lviv.
Among the more bizarre aspects to his campaigning on behalf of the Ukrainian military's foreign legion were his efforts to recruit US-trained Afghan special soldiers to go to Ukraine's front lines. The initiative appeared so large in scale (given Routh was seeking to transfer hundreds, or even thousands, of Afghan fighters - according to his words) - that one https://x.com/Travis_4_Trump/status/1835439611687862602
in light of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump: "Who was he working with in the US government that was allowing him to do this?"
In a 2023 interview with the NY Times Routh openly displayed his proclivity toward violent acts by threatening to shoot his critics, and the Times featured the quote almost as if lionizing his commitment https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/15/us/politics/trump-shooting-suspect-routh.html
:
In a telephone interview with The New York Times in 2023, when Mr. Routh was in Washington, he spoke with the self-assuredness of a seasoned diplomat who thought his plans to support Ukraine’s war effort were sure to succeed. But he appeared to have little patience for anyone who got in his way. When an American foreign fighter seemed to talk down to him in a Facebook message he shared with The New York Times, Mr. Routh said, "he needs to be shot."
There needs to be a full investigation of all the Washington officials and reporters the second would-be Trump assassin has interacted with over the last four years, including Malcom Nance, the entire Vindman clan, and everyone associated with the Helsinki Commission. https://t.co/JErwzeSIzu
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1835489687105896890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He has received the media attention https://www.semafor.com/article/03/08/2023/ukraine-is-turning-down-hundreds-of-afghan-soldiers-who-want-to-join-its-war-effort
head of the International Volunteer Center in Ukraine. Importantly, he has boasted of having "had partners meeting with [Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense] every week and still have not been able to get them to agree to issue one single visa." This raises the question of the degree of his involvement with US government officials at the time.
The Times had documented that Routh planned to move volunteers "in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine" - and claimed that many had expressed interests. He further boasted of breaking or at least bending foreign countries' laws in some cases. "We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country," he told NY Times. He announced on Facebook at one point, "Soldiers, please do not call me. We are still trying to get Ukraine to accept Afghan soldiers and hope to have some answers in the coming months… please have patience."
He also recounted some of this experience in his self-published book, still https://www.amazon.com.br/Ukraines-Unwinnable-War-Abandonment-Citizen-Taiwan-ebook/dp/B0BX4W9XKT
, which is titled "Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the end of Humanity."
As if all of this weren't shady enough, raising a myriad of questions over who in the US government knew what and when of the future would be Trump shooter, he had connections with Ukraine's neo-Nazi Azov Brigade (often referenced by its earlier name Azov Battalion).
🚨BREAKING: Ryan Routh was featured in an AZOV propaganda video in 2022. For those unaware, AZOV is a violent, far-right Ukrainian militia with neo-Nazi origins, notorious for its anti-Russian extremism—and supported by the CIA. Yet the media stays silent. https://t.co/kfHvo6vZWx
— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) https://twitter.com/goddeketal/status/1835496716373524824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For a brief background review of Azov, even mainstream media has long grudgingly https://news.sky.com/story/us-lifts-10-year-weapon-ban-on-ukraines-controversial-azov-brigade-which-russia-calls-neo-nazis-as-kharkiv-sees-calm-with-american-arms-13151380
.
The US State Department in June of this year announced that it finally lifted a longtime ban on giving weapons and training to Ukraine's notorious Azov Brigade (often referenced by its earlier name Azov Battalion). All the while, Azov's members have never been shy about sporting Nazi-inspired patches.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/azv.jpg?itok=D5K9E21t
As of Monday, and with all of these deep Ukraine connections made evident with regard to Ryan Routh, the Zelensky government as well as Azov Brigade are attempting some serious PR damage control. But in the process, their statements serve to confirm Rough's connections to the neo-Nazi outfit. According to https://www.euronews.com/2024/09/16/suspected-trump-florida-shooter-wasnt-a-member-of-ukrainian-international-volunteer-unit-i
:
Meanwhile, a video appeared on social media linking Routh to the Azov Brigade, claiming he participated in a 2022 event to support the unit's Mariupol brigade.
The Azov Brigade said the event was a peaceful demonstration open to all and that Routh was never part of the unit.
"We would like to officially state that Ryan Wesley Routh has no connection to Azov and has never had any connection to Azov," the unit said in a statement on X.
So they are literally doing the "mostly peaceful" line. The statement from Azov Brigade continues with an attempt to blame all of this on Russia: "We believe that the spread of the narrative about the possible connection between Azov and Ryan Wesley Routh is playing along with Russian propaganda and discredits the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine and the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine in general," it added.
And yet, below is an example of something Rough posted to his social media. https://thegrayzone.com/2024/09/15/suspect-trump-assassination-plot-recruited-for-ukraines-international-legion/
reported on it before it was deleted by Facebook administrators, presumably amid the FBI/Secret Service investigation: An official Ukrainian military enlistment form Routh posted on his Facebook page, which administrators have deleted.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/routhpost.jpg?itok=RinjMNrK
But one thing is still indisputable based on the piles of public evidence. As geopolitical analyst Andrew Korybko https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-ukrainian-trace-in-the-latest
, "The suspect is a Ukro-maniac who’d been radicalized by the Mainstream Media into traveling to Kiev, trying to join the 'International Legion'..."
Korybko further https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-ukrainian-trace-in-the-latest
:
There’s no way that the earlier mentioned American “deep state” had no idea who Routh was after he’d already traveled to Kiev to try to join the “International Legion” and then openly told the New York Times about his plans to recruit Afghan soldiers that fled to Pakistan as refugees. He also brazenly boasted about how he’d purchase passports for them from there to facilitate their travel to Ukraine. The FBI might soon “do the meme” and admit that he was “on their radar”, but there’s much more to it.
The Newsweek interview... certainly the mainstream didn't treat him as just some rando who happened to be passing through war-ravaged Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/UKRAINE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Russian Market (@runews) https://twitter.com/runews/status/1835453559191548028?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Clearly, this doesn't look like a guy who had no connections in Ukraine, or was merely some 'war tourist' on the sidelines as the Ukrainian government and Azov would have us believe. Again the question remains: what did the US government know about this radicalized individual and when did they know it? Did he have help from US government officials in his Ukraine travels and recruitment campaign?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 09/16/2024 - 09:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/would-be-trump-assassin-palled-around-neo-nazi-azov-brigade-ukraine-what-did

2024-09-13 01:40:00

Tim Walz's Democrats Are Not The Blue Dog Democrats
Tim Walz's Democrats Are Not The Blue Dog Democrats
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/09/09/tim_walzs_democrats_are_not_blue_dog_democrats_151585.html
,
In six years, Tim Walz took our state budget from $44 billion to $70 billion, squandered a $19 billion surplus and turned it into a deficit even though Minnesotans overwhelmingly wanted tax cuts, raised taxes by $10 billion, increased state government spending by 40%, adopted a California emissions standard, created more government mandates and regulation including expensive leave policies, welcomed illegal immigrants and gave them drivers licenses, and cemented Minnesota as a sanctuary state, to name a few of his accomplishments.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/662604a.jpg?itok=q7RnIr2m
The waste, fraud, and abuse in Walz’s administration shows just what his leadership could bring to Washington, D.C. He failed at government oversight of a massive Feeding Our Futures scandal, and another Walz administration program is under FBI investigation for potential fraud – the program saw 3,000% growth over the period of just a few years.
Minnesota started following in California’s footsteps as a liberal bastion in the Midwest. Our neighboring states reaped the benefits. In two years, Minnesota lost more than 50,000 residents – and not to warmer states like Florida, but the majority moved to Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas – all with much friendlier economic policies and lower cost of living. IRS data shows Minnesota lost $2.1 billion in income migration, which will likely only be accelerated when Walz-approved taxes on businesses and high-income earners go into effect.
Two years ago, Tim Walz ran for reelection as an unpopular sitting governor. COVID-19 and Walz’s handling of it was very fresh in our minds. At the same time, Minneapolis and surrounding cities were literally burning after George Floyd’s murder accelerated the Defund the Police movement, during which there was no leadership from our governor.
When Walz first ran for governor, he had positioned himself as a hokey member of Congress, a former educator with bad dad jokes. Now he had a record. Many thought he would be a one-term governor. What happened is very Minnesota Nice of Republicans.
I’ve worked in Republican politics for a long time, at the Republican National Committee and on campaigns in Minnesota and across the country. I have never seen such a futile effort to replace an unpopular sitting Democrat governor than when Tim Walz was reelected in 2022.
As governor, Walz kept his COVID emergency powers in place for 400 days, was an empty plaid shirt when Minneapolis burned after George Floyd’s death, oversaw historic crime rates as a radical anti-police movement was encouraged by the Democrat party, brought the fifth-highest taxes in the country, and had more people leaving the state than moving to it. And he was reelected.
There were two lessons from the 2022 election cycle that allowed Tim Walz to catapult to the vice presidential nomination.
First was the Minnesota Republican Party nearly single-handedly reelecting him with their broken endorsement process that they protect at all costs.
In 2022, there was a wide field of Republicans who were exceptionally qualified to take on Tim Walz. Instead of one of those candidates becoming the nominee, the convention endorsement process – that allows a couple thousand of the most right-wing Republican delegates to make the decision for the masses – nominated a candidate who couldn’t be elected statewide.
Because of a gentleman’s agreement that says candidates will “respect the endorsement” and drop out of the primary after the convention, there was no actual primary that allowed the rest of the Republican Party to have a say on their nominee. So unfortunately, Minnesota was left with a false choice – Tim Walz, who wasn’t as moderate as he pretended, or someone who was automatically labeled as extreme.
The second lesson was a passive-aggressive Minnesota press corps that gave Tim Walz a pass. They let him talk out of both sides of his mouth and pretend to be something he wasn’t. They allowed the Democrats to completely change the size and scope of government in Minnesota unchecked.
He shouldn’t get the same treatment nationally as he did in Minnesota. As many of us say, he will have his turn in the barrel where he’ll be getting questions from all sides. It will be the first time he will be tested.
Walz’s approval rating before COVID-19 was 65%, and by 2021 he was under 50%. Today, he’s at 48%. There are many reasons why, and they should be examined for all Americans to see.
Walz and Kamala Harris are doing their best to ride out their honeymoon. I don’t blame them. National Democrats will find they have one of the most untested and liberal tickets we have ever seen. Walz’s old congressional district is made up of the exact voters who oppose him today, and they vote a lot like Western Wisconsin.
Now we will see if Donald Trump can be disciplined enough to expose it.
Kirsten Kukowski is a former Republican National Committee press secretary and was communications director for former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign in 2016. She runs K2 and Company, a public affairs company based in Minnesota where she lives and works.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 09/12/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tim-walzs-democrats-are-not-blue-dog-democrats

2024-09-11 17:10:00

Debate Post-Mortem: Trump Was Trump, Harris Held Up, And Moderators Played Partisan Tricks
Debate Post-Mortem: Trump Was Trump, Harris Held Up, And Moderators Played Partisan Tricks
The initial reaction to last night's debate was that Trump was Trump, the moderators became debaters, and Harris, while nervous and rehearsed, didn't crash and burn - leading to an initial kneejerk in the betting markets favoring the Vice President's odds in November.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GXKNndyX0AAXsdS.jpg?itok=oj0rsTvN
Bettors on https://twitter.com/Polymarket?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
saw this debate as an out-performance for Kamala
* Trump went from +7 to even odds
* 97% chance Kamala won debate according to polls (74% before debate)
* Kamala up 3% to win popular vote
No major gaffes or terrible moments for Harris https://t.co/8cGAJN07MM
— Nikolai Yakovenko (@ivan_bezdomny) https://twitter.com/ivan_bezdomny/status/1833704021732831491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
While some conservative sites have called the debate for Trump, along with speaker Mike Johnson...
Mike Johnson on Fox Business insists Trump actually won the debate, citing polls from Newsmax and the Daily Caller (sounds legit) https://t.co/NXzLihRTpx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1833878310633259019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
...most on the left are celebrating - with https://punchbowl.news/article/election-2024/harris-trump-debate-philadelphia/
writing that "Tuesday night's debate couldn't have gone better for Harris."
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/09/11/harris-debate-coached-attacks-trump-altitude-column-00178594
writes: "Trump's Improv Stood No Chance Against Harris' Coached Attacks."
Harris’ strategy in her first debate as a presidential nominee was custom-tailored for one specific moment and one specific opponent. She plainly used her long days of debate prep in a Pittsburgh hotel to compile a rich anthology of taunts, putdowns and derisive one-liners against former President Donald Trump.
Of course, Trump was in a 3-on-1 debate:
This clip may be the most egregious example of ABC debate moderators' direct actions/inactions to affect viewers’ perceptions of the information presented at the debate.
There are at least seven instances of this within a two-minute span.
This is not “bias."
It’s much worse.… https://t.co/tYJhZwGwdW
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1833869730735603919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And Harris was allowed to get away with murder:
Last night Kamala lied and said she wouldn’t take away your guns despite evidence of her saying otherwise. She did not get fact checked by ABC moderator David Muir. https://t.co/7JKIrEGgXe
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1833878159533695214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In fact, here are the 'top 5 lies' that ABC News moderators failed to fact-check https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1833871207114084380
:
1. Mandatory Firearm Buybacks:
Kamala Harris told Trump to "stop lying" about her wanting to confiscate firearms. Harris has previously stated multiple times that she wants to launch a mandatory buyback program.
The ABC moderators said nothing.
2. "Fine People" Hoax:
Kamala Harris claimed Trump called neo-N*zi's "very fine people." This hoax was debunked by Snopes but the ABC moderators let it slide.
The ABC moderators said nothing.
3. Post-Birth Abortion:
Trump claimed babies were 'k*lled' outside the womb in failed abortions. Under Tim Walz, babies born alive in botched abortions are allowed to be left to d*e.
Eight babies who survived abortions in Minnesota were abandoned and sadly perished under Walz.
The ABC moderators simply said Trump was lying and moved on without adding context.
4. Defund the Police:
Kamala Harris laughed when Trump said she wanted to defund the police. During a previous interview, Harris said having more cops on the street is "wrong."
She also supported taking police officers out of schools.
The ABC moderators said nothing.
5. Bloodbath Hoax:
Kamala Harris claimed Trump said there would be a bl**dbath if he is not elected, insinuating that his supporters would start k*lling people.
This is completely false. The comment was made during a rally where Trump said there would be a "bl**dbath" for the American auto industry if he is not elected.
The ABC moderators said nothing.
Top 5 lies that the ABC News moderators refused to fact-check or falsely fact-checked during the debate:
1. Mandatory Firearm Buybacks:
Kamala Harris told Trump to "stop lying" about her wanting to confiscate firearms. Harris has previously stated multiple times that she wants… https://t.co/6aXznDnq7O
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1833871207114084380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
While Goldman notes that the debate "seems to have gone in favor of Harris judging by betting markets and the reaction in assets overnight.," ING suggest a 'wait and see' approach, writing this AM: "Markets may want to wait on new opinion polls in the coming days to take more decisive positions on the election," adding "For now, indications that Harris won this debate, even if by a small margin, can keep a lid on the dollar."
Meanwhile, the media is already starting to lie and gaslight. For starter's the New Yorker's Susan Glasser has never heard of Harris' plan that would support taxpayer-funded gender care and transition surgeries for detained illegal aliens.
Trump made history last night for sure. Who will ever forget him ranting on stage about immigrants eating people's dogs? Or insisting that the Vice President 'wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in jail'?
My piece on Trump's too-crazy moment:…
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) https://twitter.com/sbg1/status/1833841364913496480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Except https://nypost.com/2024/09/09/us-news/kamala-harris-told-aclu-shed-fund-trans-surgeries-for-migrant-inmates-decriminalize-drugs-and-end-ice-detainers-during-2020-campaign/
, and CNN even covered it:
Apparently, https://twitter.com/sbg1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
have not heard of this news outlet called CNN.
Gaslight much? https://t.co/b1NCH29c3v
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) https://twitter.com/thackerpd/status/1833873972460749230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Many are saying this won't move the needle much in either direction.
My debate analysis won't make anyone happy. I think Kamala was weak and nervous, especially early. She came off as phony and rehearsed the rest of the way. But Trump missed a lot of opportunities to land a blow, rambled too much, and took the bait repeatedly throughout. I don't…
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1833695053417423036?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Of course Harris wants a 2nd debate...
That said, as ZeroHedge friend and contributor "Quoth the Raven" https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/tonights-debate-will-backfire-horribly
, the debate will backfire for both Harris and ABC...
After last night, when the average critically thinking, independent or moderate voter begins to emerge from the visceral reaction of who “won” the debate, the picture will start to come into focus. And it’ll be a picture of a news network that constantly tried to fact-check Donald Trump, despite Kamala Harris repeating multiple debunked conspiracy theories, like Trump’s Charlottesville comments, which were already https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-very-fine-people/
” comment, which was used in the context of talking about the auto industry.
...
More people know today that the left-leaning media has a narrative and lies to them than ever before. This debate will be different from other ones because it’ll eventually be looked at in that context. And when people go back and watch how the moderators constantly argued the merits with Trump while leading Harris in her answers to multiple questions, this debate will be revealed for the biased farce that it was. And then — mark my words — it will do more harm than good for Kamala Harris.
the https://twitter.com/hashtag/debate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Skscartoon (@skscartoon) https://twitter.com/skscartoon/status/1833838004500300208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 09/11/2024 - 11:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/debate-post-mortem-trump-was-trump-harris-held-and-moderators-played-partisan-tricks

2024-09-11 12:55:00

Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Recalled Eggs Spreads Across Nine States
Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Recalled Eggs Spreads Across Nine States
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued urgent warnings concerning a Salmonella outbreak that has affected 65 individuals across nine states. The outbreak has been traced back to eggs sold by Milo’s Poultry Farms, a company based in Bonduel, Wisconsin, according to a https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-salmonella-eggs-sept-2024?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
released by the FDA on September 6.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%28238%29_0.jpg?itok=35XVhF3N
The eggs implicated in this outbreak were distributed to retailers and food service locations in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Milo’s Poultry Farms has contacted customers who purchased the affected eggs, as indicated in the FDA’s notice.
Growing Numbers of Infections
To date, the CDC has reported 65 cases of Salmonella infections stemming from this outbreak, resulting in 24 hospitalizations. While there have been no fatalities, the CDC warns that the true number of infections is likely higher. This is due to the fact that many individuals recover from Salmonella infections without seeking medical attention and therefore are not tested or reported. The cases reported thus far occurred between May 23 and August 10.
A https://www.fda.gov/files/CaseCountMapProvided-by-CDC.jpg
released by the CDC and FDA highlights that the infections have been spread across California, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Virginia. Wisconsin and Illinois account for the majority of reported cases, with 42 and 11 cases respectively.
The CDC’s findings suggest that the outbreak might not be limited to the states where cases have already been confirmed. The agency noted that it can take several weeks to determine whether an individual is part of a broader outbreak.
Tracing the Source of Infection
Interviews conducted by state and local public health officials with affected individuals revealed that several had eaten at the same restaurants in the days before they became ill. These findings point to the likelihood that contaminated eggs were served or sold at those locations. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported four clusters of illness at restaurants where the recalled eggs were served, reinforcing this theory.
The eggs associated with the outbreak were labeled under the names Milo’s Poultry Farms or Tony’s Fresh Market. The FDA’s recall notice urges all retailers, restaurants, and consumers to discard the recalled eggs immediately. If the eggs were stored without their original packaging and cannot be identified as part of the recall, the FDA recommends they be thrown away as a precaution.
Symptoms and Risks of Salmonella Infection
Salmonella is a type of bacteria that can cause symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, fever, diarrhea, and stomach pain. The majority of people infected with Salmonella recover without medical treatment within a week. However, the infection can be severe for infants, young children, the elderly, those with weakened immune systems, and people taking medications that reduce stomach acidity.
In rare cases, a Salmonella infection can lead to severe complications by spreading to the blood, joints, nervous system, brain, spinal fluid, or urinary tract, potentially resulting in hospitalization or death. Some people may develop reactive arthritis, a condition characterized by joint pain that can last for months or years and may be difficult to treat.
Protective Measures
Both the CDC and FDA stress the importance of following proper food safety practices to avoid Salmonella infection. Consumers are advised to wash their hands, utensils, and food preparation surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after handling raw eggs or raw egg-containing food. The FDA also emphasizes the importance of disposing of any potentially contaminated eggs and urges vigilance for symptoms of Salmonella infection, particularly among vulnerable populations.
As the investigation continues, the public is encouraged to stay informed and heed the guidance of public health authorities to prevent further spread of this outbreak.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 09/11/2024 - 06:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/salmonella-outbreak-linked-recalled-eggs-spreads-across-nine-states

2024-09-08 22:55:00

"Can't Take It Anymore": Residents Of Springfield Ohio Beg For Help After 20,000 Haitians Overwhelm City, Eat Local Wildlife
"Can't Take It Anymore": Residents Of Springfield Ohio Beg For Help After 20,000 Haitians Overwhelm City, Eat Local Wildlife
The city of Springfield, Ohio - population 60,000, has been overwhelmed by roughly 20,000 Haitian illegal migrants, who flocked to the city - exacerbating a 'significant housing crisis' according to https://www.vance.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Housing-and-Immigration-Letter-7.8.2024.pdf
, and eating pets and wildlife according to locals.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GW13GmoWkAEu7D6.jpg?itok=ogc58B7p
During an Aug. 27 City Commission meeting, one local resident said that Haitians were "in the park grabbing ducks, cutting the heads off, and eating them."
"Haitians are in the park grabbing ducks, cutting the heads off, and eating them"
Springfield resident to City Council: https://t.co/aZLsOT8v2b
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1832773191976014217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Another local resident posted to a Facebook group that their neighbor had a cat go missing - only to see it "hanging from a branch, like you'd do a deer for butchering, & they [the Haitians] were carving it up to eat."
Springfield is a small town in Ohio.
4 years ago, they had 60k residents.
Under Harris and Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were shipped to the town.
Now ducks and pets are disappearing. https://t.co/OOFq3ZdTiA
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1832134984557113706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
While the cat claim has been https://x.com/ZaidJilani/status/1832462731896586257
showing that cats are indeed part of Haitian cuisine.
Another local told the city that she "can't take it anymore," as Haitian migrants are littering on her yard and harassing she and her husband.
Absolutely HEARTBREAKING moment Springfield, Ohio, resident tells mayor that she "can't take it anymore" as Haitian migrants squat on her lawn, litter in her yard and harass her and elderly husband daily.
The mayor of Springfield does NOT want people to see this: https://t.co/OJtAy7LSXX
— captive dreamer (@captivedreamer7) https://twitter.com/captivedreamer7/status/1832265609905672235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Resident Glenda Bailey told the city "They have become the occupiers. What they've done is they've replaced the population in Springfield."
Tensions came to a boil last year after a illegal immigrant from Haiti caused a school bus crash last August, killing 11-year-old Aiden Clark after the child was thrown out of the emergency exit as the bus rolled off the road. Another 20 students were injured.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/89240421-13808817-image-a-138_1725391468572.jpg?itok=f1tcCndB
In July, city manager Bryan Heck wrote to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee asking for more federal funding.
"Springfield has seen a surge in population through immigration that has significantly impacted our ability as a community to produce enough housing opportunities for all," he wrote.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 09/08/2024 - 16:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cant-take-it-anymore-residents-springfield-ohio-beg-help-after-20000-haitians-overwhelm

2024-09-08 20:35:00

House GOP Introduces Stopgap Bill To Avert Government Shutdown, Block Non-Citizen Voting
House GOP Introduces Stopgap Bill To Avert Government Shutdown, Block Non-Citizen Voting
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/house-gop-introduces-stopgap-bill-to-avert-government-shutdown-block-noncitizen-voting-5719876?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
House Republicans have introduced a stopgap spending bill designed to avert a government shutdown at the end of September, but its inclusion of a provision targeting noncitizen voting has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2815%29_5.jpg?itok=bXrl8yul
Unveiled on Sept. 6, the proposed https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20240909/FINAL%20CR%209.6.24%20at%20523%20pm%20(002).pdf
would extend federal funding through late March of next year while mandating that states verify U.S. citizenship during the voter registration process. The requirement has ignited heated debate on Capitol Hill.
The bill, titled the “Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2025,” aims to keep government agencies running beyond the Sept. 30 funding deadline. However, the addition of the voter verification provision has intensified partisan divisions, raising doubts about the bill’s chances of passing in its current form.
“Today, House Republicans are taking a critically important step to keep the federal government funded and to secure our federal election process,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement after the draft text of the stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, was revealed.
“Congress has a responsibility to do both, and we must ensure that only American citizens can decide American elections,” he said.
Democrats swiftly condemned the proposal.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) issued a https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-and-murray-joint-statement-on-house-republican-funding-proposal
saying that “avoiding a government shutdown requires bipartisanship, not a bill drawn up by one party.”
The pair said Johnson was “wasting precious time” with the measure and “making the same mistake as former Speaker McCarthy did a year ago.”
“This tactic didn’t work last September and it will not work this year either,” they said.
“If Speaker Johnson drives House Republicans down this highly partisan path, the odds of a shutdown go way up.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) lost his leadership role last year under circumstances related to a stopgap funding measure when he brought a watered down version of the proposed bill to the House floor for a last-minute vote. The draft lacked key border security and spending cut provisions pushed for by hardline Republicans, however, contributing to a vote to remove him from the speakership.
Key Provisions of the Stopgap Measure
The proposed continuing resolution aims to prevent a partial shutdown by maintaining federal funding at current levels until March 28, 2025. The bill would extend funding for essential government services and agencies, including defense, education, health care, and more, giving lawmakers several months of breathing room to negotiate the full-year budget for fiscal year 2025.
The bill also introduces major changes to voter registration through a section titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
It requires individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate, or military ID, when registering to vote in federal elections, barring states from processing voter registrations without this documentation. Additionally, the bill requires states to actively remove noncitizens from voter rolls, using databases including the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system.
Beyond voter registration, the bill includes an additional $10 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to bolster the nation’s disaster relief fund.
Additionally, the bill sets aside $47 million for extra security during Inauguration Day in January 2025, a period that traditionally requires substantial federal resources.
In general, the bill offers temporary funding solutions for numerous federal agencies, based on previous fiscal year allocations. This means it extends funding for items such as defense projects and agricultural initiatives without initiating new programs or allowing increases in production rates for projects that were not previously funded.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 09/08/2024 - 14:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-gop-introduces-stopgap-bill-avert-government-shutdown-block-non-citizen-voting

2024-09-07 14:45:00

US-Iraq Deal: Near Quarter-Century Long Pentagon Occupation To Finally End
US-Iraq Deal: Near Quarter-Century Long Pentagon Occupation To Finally End
On Friday the governments of Iraq and the United States reached a landmark agreement for the final exit of all US-coalition troops from the territory of Iraq.
Several sources confirmed to https://www.reuters.com/world/us-iraq-deal-would-see-hundreds-troops-withdraw-first-year-sources-say-2024-09-06/
that hundreds of still remaining American and Western allied troops will pull out of the country by September 2025, with the remainder to exit by the close of 2026.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/troopsiraq.jpg?itok=Q7ILiHoG
It will bring to an end an almost quarter-century occupation which began with the 2003 'shock and awe' bombing of Baghdad and full-scale invasion under the Bush-Cheney administration. The US overthrew Saddam Hussein and the country suffered many years of chaos, an anti-US insurgency, and the rise of terror groups like AQI and ISIS. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died, and by some estimates one million perished. Several thousands of US and coalition troops died.
Further, the government that replace Saddam has been, ironically enough, allied with Tehran and dominated by Shia politicians and their interests.
A senior US official told Reuters Friday, "We have an agreement, its now just a question of when to announce it." In recent years, the Pentagon has sought to justify its remaining in Iraq as necessary to combat ISIS.
But for years there have been widespread efforts in Iraqi parliament and among the population to force the foreign troops out. Political leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan (in the north), however, have been the most friendly to the US presence.
More recently, US bases and even the embassy have come under attack by Iran-aligned Shia paramilitary groups. The Iraqi Army has long been accused of giving these paramilitary groups free reign, and even cooperates with them in many cases.
The US withdrawal was supposed to happen earlier this summer but was put on hold amid escalation between Israel and Iran. Reuters reports the following statement of the Iraqi https://www.reuters.com/world/us-iraq-deal-would-see-hundreds-troops-withdraw-first-year-sources-say-2024-09-06/
:
Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said technical talks with Washington on the coalition drawdown had concluded.
"We are now on the brink of transitioning the relationship between Iraq and members of the international coalition to a new level, focusing on bilateral relations in military, security, economic, and cultural areas," he said.
The Pentagon has long been worried that a full pullout from Iraq would leave American troops in Syria more exposed. US troops in Syria have been supported logistically from the Iraq side of the border. However, the Syrian government and its allied groups in Iraq have long charged American forces with looting Syrian oil, ferrying it across the border into Iraq.
Friday's announcement follows Biden's controversial rapid troop exit from Afghanistan in Aug.2021, which left many deaths, including among Marines and other service members, along with hundreds of Afghan civilians...
What a shot. Doesn't get more symbolic than this
Last US troops take off from Kabul marking an end to 20 years of US military presence in Afghanistan https://t.co/TD0duGdvM8
— Al Misbah Institute (@almisbah123) https://twitter.com/almisbah123/status/1432536494108028929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Currently the US is believed to have some 2,500 US troops still in Iraq, many of them Army intelligence and special forces advisors, and 900 in neighboring Syria. However, the number of contractors and intelligence officers is likely much greater. Even after the final US troops depart Iraq, an entire army of private contractors is expected to remain.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 09/07/2024 - 08:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/deal-will-mark-end-near-quarter-century-us-troop-occupation-iraq

2024-09-05 21:06:46

Wait, What? Prosecutors Urge Hunter Biden Judge To Reject Plea Deal
Wait, What? Prosecutors Urge Hunter Biden Judge To Reject Plea Deal
Update (1505ET): It would appear that Hunter Biden doesn't have a nicely arranged plea deal with the DOJ after all - as prosecutors have urged the judge in the case to reject his proposal to plead guilty.
Of note, Hunter is attempting to plead guilty via an "Alford plea," which would have to be approved by the prosecution and higher-ups at the DOJ.
It appears they were caught off guard.
Hunter Biden attempting a bait-and-switch stunt like this via an Alford plea is a total joke. A defendant would never do this without the knowledge that he had a commutation or pardon in his back pocket. And any normal prosecutor would just laugh, reject it, and proceed to trial.
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1831754161693638723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I hope the prosecutors reject this Alford plea offer. Hunter would be able to still maintain his innocence. https://t.co/5Jke14RzTM
— Mary K (@MadeMeJoin2Read) https://twitter.com/MadeMeJoin2Read/status/1831767778623418692?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Developing...
* * *
Hunter Biden's lawyers announced on Thursday that the first son will plead guilty in his $1.4 million tax evasion case.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/hunter%201_0_6.PNG?itok=FG8uQrL6
"Mr. Biden intends to change his plea this morning," Hunter's lawyer Abbe Lowell told the judge in a Los Angeles federal courtroom, with the younger Biden facing trial on nine federal charges for failing to pay federal taxes from 2016 - 2019.
If convicted, Hunter faced up to 17 years behind bars. He currently faces up to 25 years behind bars when he's sentenced in November for a conviction on gun charges.
With the potential sentence of 17 years, Hunter Biden today pleads guilty https://t.co/OyJwMhYYRU
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) https://twitter.com/KarluskaP/status/1831721340925071543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
With the potential sentence of 17 years, Hunter Biden today pleads guilty https://t.co/OyJwMhYYRU
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) https://twitter.com/KarluskaP/status/1831721340925071543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 09/05/2024 - 15:06
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunter-biden-flips-11th-hour-guilty-plea-14m-criminal-tax-evasion-case

2024-09-05 17:33:44

Oil Slides Despite Huge Draw Sending Total US Crude Inventories To 2024 Low
Oil Slides Despite Huge Draw Sending Total US Crude Inventories To 2024 Low
With oil trading at 2024 lows, despite a report earlier https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/oil-rises-after-opec-agrees-delay-october-output-hike
that a whopping 7.4 million in crude oil were drawn in the past week with draws also in all other categories, moments ago the DOE confirmed what we warned recently, namely that as CTAs - and the Kamala/Biden oil trading desk - are aggressively shorting oil into oblivion, oil demand remains resilient and very soon we may hit tank bottoms...
Will be ironic if CTAs short oil all the way down to tank bottoms
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1831065107767726351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
... when it reported another huge draw in the last week. Here is what API reported yesterday, and what the DOE said this morning:
API
Crude -7.4mm (exp. -1mm)
Gasoline -0.3mm
Distillates -0.4mm
Cushing -0.8mm
DOE
Crude -6.873k (exp. -0.3mm)
Gasoline +848k
Distillates -371k
Cushing -1.142mm
Of note, US Crude stocks declined for the 9th week in the past 10 (my much more than expected) as Gasoline inventories rose fractionally reversing 3 weeks of draws while distillates were flat. But what is perhaps most interesting is the continued drain of Cushing, where a few more weeks of this decline and everyone will be talking about tank bottoms.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/doe%20cushing%20weekly.jpg?itok=8zcy3BgO
One reason for the large oil draw is that in the past week, the Biden admin added a notable 1.8mm barrels to the SPR, the largest increase since June 2020.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/SPR%20inventory%20change.jpg?itok=GnC6KCFp
That pushed the total US Crude stockpile down to its lowest since January...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/crude%20oil%20total.jpg?itok=zrKaRjPY
The collapse in US inventories takes place as US crude production remained at an all time record high (and despite a continued decline in oil rigs).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/us%20crude.jpg?itok=UhAD_GXM
And yet, despite the massive draw, despite the collapsing US inventories, despite the risk of tank bottoms in Cushing, and despite the OPEC+ decision not to hike output, WTI Crude prices extended their earlier losses as the bears are now fully in control of the energy complex.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/WTI%20crude%202024-09-05_11-32-40.jpg?itok=a8l3HTvO
The flip side is that with demand flat if not rising, there is only so much more inventory draws that can take place before there is an unprecedented paper price vs physical showdown, and a full-blown physical oil crisis that blows up in the shorting CTAs' electronic faces.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 09/05/2024 - 11:33
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/oil-slides-despite-huge-draw-sending-total-us-crude-inventories-2024-low

2024-09-04 22:40:00

Biden Says He's Not Allowed To Go Out Into Crowds Anymore...
Biden Says He's Not Allowed To Go Out Into Crowds Anymore...
After two weeks slumped in a deck-chair on a beach, The (reported) President of The United States of America - Joe Biden - is back baby...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-09-04_19-30-32.gif?itok=4WOeB5bX
However, when asked by reporters about going out on the trail to campaign for his vice president Kamala Harris, he offered a somewhat surprising response...
“I’m not able to go out in the crowds anymore. The Secret Service doesn’t let me,” Biden told a reporter.
When asked “why not?”
He responded “They say it’s too dangerous.”
Forgive us for questioning this 'narrative' but isn't that what the Secret Service is for?
Is society really so dangerous now that even the US President (and most popular president ever - according to 2020's reported election count) is fearful for his safety in public...
See how dangerous society has become under president Trump... Oh wait https://t.co/e3H7Z9CzQY
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1831046623990087733?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 09/04/2024 - 16:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-says-hes-not-allowed-go-out-crowds-anymore

2024-09-03 14:35:00

Shares Of US Steel Slide After VP Harris Opposes Nippon's $15 Billion Buyout Deal
Shares Of US Steel Slide After VP Harris Opposes Nippon's $15 Billion Buyout Deal
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited Pittsburgh for the Labor Day holiday with President Biden. There, she declared that United States Steel should remain domestically owned and operated, yet another high-profile critic of US Steel's proposed sale to Japan's Nippon Steel.
"US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies," Harris told the audience at Union Hall in Pittsburgh, where US Steel is headquartered.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/US%20STEEL.jpg?itok=pIgtRkhn
She said, "I couldn't agree more with President Biden — US Steel should remain American-owned, and American-operated. And I will always have the backs of America's steelworkers."
Harris commented on the Nippon Steel deal while visiting Pennsylvania on Monday. The state has become a critical battleground area as she is attempting to shore up support for blue-collar workers ahead of the November election.
"I will continue to count on the strength, the determination, and the hard work of the leaders in this room to knock on doors, to get folks to the polls and, bluntly put … to help us win Pennsylvania," Harris told the crowd.
5. 🇺🇸 KAMALA STANDS WITH U.S. STEEL
"U.S. Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies.
I couldn't agree more with President Biden — U.S. steel should remain American-owned and American-operated." https://t.co/OSne5zLbST
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1830816856237584817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Harris has revealed she is essentially a mirror image of Biden - not shocking whatsoever - and will follow the president's pro-union footsteps. Her campaign's block of Nippon Steel's US Steel bid is identical to Biden's.
Nippon's planned $15 billion acquisition of US Steel has faced bipartisan political backlash since the deal was announced in late 2023. The Japanese company has conducted a bold lobbying campaign in recent months to ensure the deal goes through amid concerns about a faltering steel industry in the US.
Despite the critics, Nippon executives remain "confident" that its "acquisition of US Steel will revitalize the American steel rustbelt, benefit American workers, local communities and national security in a way no other alternative can."
Meanwhile, Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump has also vowed to block the transaction. This is yet another policy that Harris closely aligns with Trump on.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GWEfpMJWEAA2v7L.jpg?itok=E-PwE_7j
In markets, shares of US Steel in New York were 6% lower in premarket trading around the mid-point of the $35 handle.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_1ca930bd.png?itok=LO1YCTim
If US Steel's headquarters weren't based in a critical swing state and didn't have large production facilities in the Pittsburgh area, Harris would likely have little to no interest in this.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 09/03/2024 - 08:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/shares-us-steel-slide-after-vp-harris-opposes-nippons-15-buyout-deal

2024-09-01 16:30:00

Elon Musk Warns Censorship Of X "Is A Certainty" If Kamala Harris Wins
Elon Musk Warns Censorship Of X "Is A Certainty" If Kamala Harris Wins
https://modernity.news/2024/08/31/elon-musk-warns-censorship-of-x-is-a-certainty-if-kamala-harris-wins/
,
X owner Elon Musk has warned Americans that if the Democrats win the election in November, censorship of the platform is a “certainty.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Musk-1.jpg?itok=ealiNtH3
Musk was responding to a post that posited X could be suspended in America as it has just been in Brazil by a leftist judge acting to censor his political opponents.
Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge. https://t.co/ZIV8KbDCmk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829308905177956551?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the post from X Global Government Affairs notes.
It adds that “Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.”
Musk urged that this situation could easily unfold in the U.S. should Trump not be elected.
Censorship is a certainty if Dems win https://t.co/oQBshOI0qs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829627847960404124?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Musk followed up with a post highlighting previous footage of Kamala Harris demanding that Trump be suspended from the old Twitter.
“Freedom of speech is under massive attack around the world,” Musk declared.
Freedom of speech is under massive attack around the world https://t.co/01L9HeUYct
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1829664223892480096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Harris has a track record of censoring social media for political clout.
https://modernity.news/2024/08/27/mark-zuckerberg-regrets-censorship-of-covid-info-hunter-biden-laptop-story/
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/support
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 09/01/2024 - 10:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/elon-musk-warns-censorship-x-certainty-if-kamala-harris-wins-0

2024-08-31 13:35:00

These Are The 10 Worst Countries In The World For Women
These Are The 10 Worst Countries In The World For Women
Metrics assessing women’s safety, inclusion, and access to justice vary greatly by country and region.
In this graphic https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-10-worst-countries-for-women/
scores from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/WorstCountries_Site%20%281%29.jpg?itok=WfoB2JrI
Countries are given an index score out of 1.0 that is derived based on the following components:
Inclusion: education, employment, financial inclusion, cell phone use, parliamentary representation
Justice: absence of legal discrimination, access to justice, maternal mortality ratio, son bias
Safety: intimate partner violence, community safety, political violence targeting women, and proximity to conflict
Which are the Worst Countries for Women?
All of the bottom 10 countries for women are located in either the Middle East or Africa.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-30_23-49-52.gif?itok=Gjbb02DS
High maternal mortality rates, low education rates, and elevated rates of intimate partner violence were some key contributors to the low overall scores. Proximity to conflict also hindered the group’s rankings.
The average index score for the group, at 0.38, is around half the global average of 0.65.
Overall, the status of women deteriorated in 13 countries globally from 2017 to 2023. Somalia (#169), Haiti (#167), and Eswatini (#170) underwent the largest declines.
If you found this interesting, check out https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-10-best-countries-for-women/
that looks at the best countries for women in 2023, revealing a very different regional perspective.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/31/2024 - 07:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/these-are-10-worst-countries-world-women

2024-08-30 00:05:00

US Ramps Up Military Support For Kenyan Operations In Haiti
US Ramps Up Military Support For Kenyan Operations In Haiti
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/us-to-ramp-up-military-support-for-kenyan-operations-in-haiti/
The White House is upping its support for the Kenyan operations in Haiti by sending an additional two dozen armored vehicles. The US is backing Nairobi’s armed force in Port-au-Prince.
On Friday, US Southern Command https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/3883631/department-of-defense-to-deliver-additional-mraps-turrets-for-the-mss-mission-i/
on boosting military aid for the Kenyan forces in Haiti. "As part of the US government’s ongoing support to Haitian-led security efforts in the country, 24 additional MRAPS will be delivered and transferred to Kenyan personnel deployed to Haiti as part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kenyapolicehaiti.jpg?itok=fVdPoCqQ
It continues, "The MSS will add the vehicles to its existing fleet of 10 US-provided MRAPS."
Earlier this year, Nairobi sent hundreds of armed troops to the Caribbean nation on what it dubs a "policing" operation. The US orchestrated the deployment of Kenyan soldiers to Haiti.
Washington believed the troops could aid Haitian police in restoring power in Port-au-Prince to a government set up by the White House. Following the assassination of President Jovenal Moise in 2021, Haiti dissented into chaos under US-backed governments.
The White House got authorization to finance, train, and arm a Kenyan-led military force to take control of Haiti from paramilitary groups and gangs. Responsible Statecraft previously detailed when the troops touched down https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-philippines/
:
Washington pledged its financial and logistical support for the mission in a https://apnews.com/article/kenya-united-states-haiti-defense-austin-ed1496d72b426011f3e8a36a971ca12d#:~:text=NAIROBI%2C%20Kenya%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94,Haiti%20to%20combat%20gang%20violence.
with Kenya signed in September 2023. It was then that Kenya committed to deploying 1,000 troops to Port-au-Prince. The mission is also expected to include about 1,500 soldiers and police officers from other countries, bringing the total size of the prospective intervention force to 2,500.
However, the troops are said to be in a policing role and are not operating as UN Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers have a dark legacy in Haiti including causing a cholera outbreak and rampant sexual abuse.
Recent footage from this summer showing the chaotic streets of Port-au-Prince...
another camera angle of yesterday dramatic skirmish during interim Haitian prime minister visit to an abandoned hospital in Port-au-Prince https://t.co/qkDDPqb6Mb
— alex (@africaken1) https://twitter.com/africaken1/status/1818688733681782930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Prime Minister Garry Conille said Wednesday the Kenyan https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-police-military-kenyans-shooting-ad2ffb474743ad035974e81bc5c0e87e
in one of Port au Prince’s roughest neighborhoods. "It’s not going to be quick," he added, "we must be patient."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/29/2024 - 18:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-ramps-military-support-kenyan-operations-haiti

2024-08-29 23:40:00

"Living In Third World": Armed Venezuelan Gang Members Roam Colorado Apartment Building
"Living In Third World": Armed Venezuelan Gang Members Roam Colorado Apartment Building
Far-left lawmakers in sanctuary city Denver welcomed tens of thousands of illegal aliens who invaded the US southern border under the Biden-Harris administration's watch. Now, the Denver suburb of Aurora is in turmoil as the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua roams the streets armed with rifles and pistols, transforming parts of the once peaceful metro area into a third-world-esque state.
"There's a huge increase in violence in these areas in Aurora, where these newly arrived foreign-born migrants, many of whom are Venezuelan, have started to grow," former ICE field office director and Colorado GOP congressional candidate John Fabbricatore told https://www.foxnews.com/media/denver-suburb-rocked-huge-increase-migrant-gang-violence-biden-harris-administration-complicit
earlier this week.
Denver Democrats have welcomed over 42,000 illegal aliens since 2022, some of whom include members of Tren de Aragua.
New footage has surfaced of alleged gang violence at The Edge at Lowry apartments in Aurora, which, according to local media https://kdvr.com/news/local/video-shows-group-of-men-carrying-guns-at-troubled-aurora-apartment-complex/
, is a "hotspot" for migrant crime.
In the video, men can be seen walking up a stairwell carrying weapons. They can be heard speaking Spanish.
The owners of the video said it was taken shortly before a shootout at the complex that left one person seriously injured. Several vehicles were also damaged by gunfire.
All of the people appear to be carrying rifles and handguns, except for one of the men who can be seen talking on a cell phone. They all then gather around a door and go in.
🚨BREAKING: Newly released video shows armed gang of Venezuelan illegals take over apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.
Aurora, a quiet community with a population of 390,000 has become a base of operations for the brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which already has… https://t.co/mNW8FF5mXa
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1828927878958068156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, Aurora Council Member Danielle Jurinsky has warned the Venezuelan gang is overrunning the metro area.
Jurinsky recently told Fox News, "Residents tell me they feel they are living in a third-world country at this point."
He pointed the finger at the Biden-Harris team, saying the people of Aurora are "suffering" at their "hands."
Due to the Biden-Harris administration allowing millions of illegal migrants into our country, the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua is now taking over suburbs of Denver, CO.
"Parts of the city are absolutely under this gang control. The local media is downplaying this. I… https://t.co/6ll4P7byIg
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1829126641416634875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Aurora police released a statement Wednesday afternoon:
The city and Aurora Police Department, as we previously stated, established a special task force in collaboration with other local, state and federal partners to specifically address concerns about Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and other criminal activity affecting migrant communities. We are grateful that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a valuable federal partner, has acknowledged its ongoing work into TdA across the metro and appreciate the additional resources it provides to combat this issue.
We are aware that components of TdA are operating in Aurora. APD has been increasingly collecting evidence to show the gang is connected to crimes in the area. However, as we have said previously and as the DEA similarly stated, it would be improper at this time for the city and APD to make any conclusory statements about specific incidents or provide details about law enforcement strategy and operations.
Based on our initial investigative work, we believe reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated. We urge all community members, including members of our migrant communities, to please report crimes committed against them to their local law enforcement agencies and not remain silent victims. Crime victims can report crimes anonymously by calling Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720.913.STOP (7867).
As always, information could change as the investigations continue at the local, state and federal levels.
UPDATE: The city and Aurora Police Department, as previously stated, established a special task force in collaboration with other local, state and federal partners to specifically address concerns about Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and other criminal activity affecting… https://t.co/ytAhIcBxy0
— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) https://twitter.com/AuroraPD/status/1828943029882716310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Biden-Harris administration is complicit in the border chaos and importing the third world into the US. If the aim is to overwhelm local municipalities to trigger chaos and pave the way for some far-left "change," then it certainly appears that this might be the objective. The situation will get much worse before it gets better.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/29/2024 - 17:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/living-third-world-armed-venezuelan-gang-members-roam-colorado-apartment-building

2024-08-29 12:55:00

48% Of NYC Bus Riders Don't Pay Fares
48% Of NYC Bus Riders Don't Pay Fares
As New York City and the MTA devises their next plan to tax or hike prices on everything from owning a vehicle to 'congestion' to having a driver's license to living within 10 miles of the Lincoln Tunnel, we have a thought: maybe just focus on collecting fares from existing riders...
We know it's controversial, but in the wake of a new https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/nyregion/nyc-bus-subway-fare-evasion.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240828&instance_id=132815&nl=the-morning&regi_id=110941733&segment_id=176270&te=1&user_id=eb3b115abed24cacb59032280aed3dee
claiming that 48% of MTA Bus riders fail to pay fares, we can't help but ask.
The Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/nyregion/nyc-bus-subway-fare-evasion.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240828&instance_id=132815&nl=the-morning&regi_id=110941733&segment_id=176270&te=1&user_id=eb3b115abed24cacb59032280aed3dee
that before the pandemic, about 20% of bus riders didn't pay, but this has worsened recently.
Despite this, officials have mainly focused on the subway, deploying police and security to enforce fares, while bus fare evasion remains much higher. In early 2024, nearly half of bus riders evaded fares, compared to 14% on the subway, even though subway ridership is twice as high.
The evasion has cost the MTA "startling" losses—$315 million from bus riders and $285 million from subway riders in 2022, according to a 2023 report.
David R. Jones, an MTA board member and the chief executive of the Community Service Society said: “In the public’s mind, they don’t see the bus system as the real source of fare evasion. We have to get people to recognize that this is no longer acceptable.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/fare%20mta.jpg?itok=6WDpulGl
Drivers are increasingly afraid to collect fares due to violent, the report says. Bus driver Robert Freeman said: “First and foremost, I avoid all confrontation. Me, I just concentrate on driving, and I don’t say nothing.”
The NYPD https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/nyregion/nyc-bus-subway-fare-evasion.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240828&instance_id=132815&nl=the-morning&regi_id=110941733&segment_id=176270&te=1&user_id=eb3b115abed24cacb59032280aed3dee
: “New Yorkers have come to expect and rightfully deserve to use the city’s mass transit system without being subjected to acts of lawlessness.”
Some paying riders resent free riders, while advocates for low-income residents fear stricter enforcement will disproportionately impact vulnerable people. The bus system, which serves many older and poorer individuals, has become a focal point in this debate, the Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/nyregion/nyc-bus-subway-fare-evasion.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240828&instance_id=132815&nl=the-morning&regi_id=110941733&segment_id=176270&te=1&user_id=eb3b115abed24cacb59032280aed3dee
.
The MTAs ongoing struggle with fare evasion has sparked discussions about whether mass transit should be free, funded by taxes like public services. Assemblyman Zohran K. Mamdani, a Democrat, recently supported a bill for free rides on select bus routes, arguing that New Yorkers cannot afford the current costs.
But the MTA urgently needs fare revenue, facing a projected $1 billion deficit by 2028 due to higher-than-expected fare evasion. Before the pandemic, fares accounted for about 42% of the MTA's revenue.
The situation worsened when Governor Kathy Hochul canceled a planned congestion pricing program, costing the MTA $15 billion in potential funding.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/29/2024 - 06:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/48-nyc-bus-riders-dont-pay-fares

2024-08-28 23:40:00

Biden-Harris Admin Busted Using Secret Rule To 'Trump-Proof' DOJ
Biden-Harris Admin Busted Using Secret Rule To 'Trump-Proof' DOJ
https://headlineusa.com/biden-harris-busted-using-secret-rule-to-trump-proof-doj/
The Biden-Harris administration appears to have intensified its efforts to block a potential return by President Donald Trump to the White House, according to a https://dailycaller.com/2024/08/27/exclusive-biden-harris-admin-rapidly-trump-proofing-doj-as-election-looms/
from the Daily Caller on Tuesday.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/1000-3-5-e1652237038924-696x350.jpg?itok=0IEguUyx
The current administration has resorted to using a “Schedule A” hiring rule to staff DOJ offices with individuals who may be shielded from potential termination by a new administration, including that of Trump if he wins the 2024 election.
Several hundred employees have been hired under this rule, bypassing merit-based qualifications and allowing them to keep their jobs even at the end of the current administration’s term.
Put in practice, this means that if Trump is sworn in as president, he could find himself grappling with leftover Biden appointees. This follows several reports suggesting that President Joe Biden is implementing policies designed to undermine Trump if elected.
According to https://protectpublicstrust.org/press-releases/biden-harris-caught-trump-proofing-doj-with-midnight-appointments/
and first reported by the Caller, the specific offices targeted include the powerful Environmental and Natural Resources (ENRD) and the Antitrust and Immigration Review departments.
PPT Director Michael Chamberlain suggested that the use of “Schedule A” could be part of the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to hamstring their successor and block future presidents from reversing their agenda.
“Exploiting non-competitive hiring authorities to fill career civil service positions could be just another component of this scheme,” Chamberlain said, as cited by the Caller. “It’s no wonder that the public’s trust in its government has all but disappeared.”
Documents obtained by PPT reveal that the DOJ has hired over 100 immigration judges using this rule. These individuals are responsible for determining whether illegal aliens can remain in the U.S. while their cases are pending.
“The administration is also using Schedule A to install immigration judges — again, outside of the normal merit-based system — who will rule on cases of those in a position to benefit from the administration’s immigration policies,” PPT stated in a press statement.
The use of “Schedule A” has also been https://protectpublicstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ENRD-Antitrust-Immigration-Schedule-A.pdf
, a DOJ division tasked with enforcing environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
PPT sounded the alarm that ENRD is a “vital office in advancing the Biden-Harris administration’s energy and climate policies, and the placement of Biden-Harris loyalists is a means to defend those policies even if a future Trump (or other) administration seeks to change them.”
The DOJ’s antitrust division has also seen an increase in staff members hired through “Schedule A,” likely compromising the non-partisan nature of the federal department.
“Until recently, antitrust enforcement was a relatively technical and non-partisan division. But the Biden-Harris administration’s increasingly aggressive implementation has sparked complaints of politicized enforcement,” PPT warned.
Headline USA could not reach a DOJ spokesperson through its media mainline or after-hours hotline at 9:40 p.m. ET. A separate call to the operator’s hotline also prompted an automated message claiming the offices were closed.
https://auth.scribd.com/u/signup?state=hKFo2SBwYy0tZ1Y1anlmNlk5aWd0YW9iYzdGNnhfRVRPQ1JPSqFur3VuaXZlcnNhbC1sb2dpbqN0aWTZIE1pX2dZM0lhYk5JQ3NiUENGdFBMSVMyVGpEM1JsTmxoo2NpZNkgZ3ljN3lyZnpzdkpmaXd5bHNlYXU4Y3g5dVZhb2FOU1A&ui_locales=en
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/28/2024 - 17:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-harris-admin-busted-using-secret-rule-trump-proof-doj

2024-08-28 14:25:00

Kamala Grants Joint Interview With Walz To Leftist CNN Anchor Dana Bash
Kamala Grants Joint Interview With Walz To Leftist CNN Anchor Dana Bash
https://headlineusa.com/kamala-grants-interview-to-leftist-cnn-anchor-dana-bash/
Vice President Kamala Harris has finally agreed to an interview after weeks of avoiding the press since being anointed as the Democratic nominee for president.
Those expecting a tough interview with hard-hitting questions might find themselves disappointed because it will be held on CNN and https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/27/politics/kamala-harris-cnn-interview?Date=20240827&Profile=cnnbrk&utm_content=1724792604&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
by left-leaning anchor Dana Bash.
In an unusual move, Harris will also share the spotlight with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. https://headlineusa.com/tag/tim-walz/
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/AP21320808744312-scaled-e1638815.jpg?itok=70Fuxodo
The pre-taped interview will air at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, roughly 39 days after President Joe Biden https://headlineusa.com/dnc-coup-biden-must-resign-immediately-trump-and-gop-lawmakers-demand/
the 2024 race and endorsed Harris as his successor.
Since announcing her presidential bid, Harris has avoided major media interactions. Instead, she has opted to speak off-the-record, meaning reporters cannot report or repeat her statements.
Despite clinching the Democratic nomination, Harris has yet to issue a major policy platform or thoroughly explain why her aides have walked back some of her most radical policies.
Harris, once dubbed the most liberal senator, has reversed her positions on a range of issues, including https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/19/medicare-for-all-harris-progressives-2024-elections-00174447
for an electric vehicle mandate.
She has also distanced herself from decriminalizing illegal border crossings, packing the Supreme Court, defunding the police and the Green New Deal.
On social media, several Harris critics pointed out that Bash suggested that Bash is unlikely to challenge Harris on her frequent flip-flopping or clarify which policies she currently supports.
Some https://x.com/Simply4Truth_/status/1826686356644311368
that Bash was once married to Jeremy Bash, an Obama administration operative involved in the infamous letter incorrectly suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Bash’s leftist bias is further highlighted in ahttps://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2024/06/24/watch-out-shenanigans-cnn-debate-moderators-tapper-and-bash
by the Media Research Center.
CNN's https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
are moderating this week's presidential debate, despite their extensive history of unhinged bias and election interference.
Does anyone seriously think these two can be objective?
Read more from https://twitter.com/GCDickens?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) https://twitter.com/newsbusters/status/1805243099762872321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And recently, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1822638186172150204
Bash after she defended Walz in a baffling response to his stolen valor scandal.
NEW: JD Vance shreds VP Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and even host Dana Bash during an interview on CNN.
1. Vance calls out Walz for stolen valor, says he did it for political gain.
2. Vance rips Harris for refusing to sit down for a TV interview, calls out Bash for asking him about… https://t.co/MUbW1uAAkZ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1822638186172150204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In contrast, President Donald Trump has praised Bash for her “fair” interviews during the first presidential debate that ultimately led to Biden’s ouster from the 2024 ticket. “They were very fair,” Trump said before jesting about Bash’s first name. “Is it Dah-Na? Of Dana?”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/28/2024 - 08:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/kamala-grants-joint-interview-walz-leftist-cnn-anchor-dana-bash

2024-08-28 05:25:00

Recent Events Prove Western Nations Are Highly Vulnerable To Cyber Calamity
Recent Events Prove Western Nations Are Highly Vulnerable To Cyber Calamity
https://alt-market.us/recent-events-prove-western-nations-are-highly-vulnerable-to-cyber-calamity/
As most people are aware, this month there was a sweeping internet outage across the US which led to a failure in roughly 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices. Disruptions included banks, airline networks, emergency call centers, online retailers and numerous corporate networks. The outage is estimated to have caused at least $5.4 billion in profit losses and it only lasted about a day.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/cyberattack1-768x469.jpg?itok=kb3eOL7_
The alleged cause of the breakdown was Crowdstrike, a cyber-security company that uses large scale data updates to Microsoft Windows networks to counter cyber threats. Instead, the company uploaded bugged code and caused a cascading outage. Mac and Linux machines were not affected.
The scale of the https://www.axios.com/2024/07/24/fortune-500-crowdstrike-outage-impact
– Over 25% of Fortune 500 companies were frozen. Travel essentially stopped. Business transactions for many companies ceased. Some banks including Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, TD Bank and Wells Fargo could not function and customers could not access their accounts.
The event reminded me of the panic surrounding the Y2K scare 25 years ago. Of course, that was all nonsense; US systems were definitely not digitized to an extent great enough to cause a disaster should there be an internet crash or a software crash. But today things are very different. Nearly every sector of the American (and European) economy and many utilities are directly dependent on a functioning internet.
The fear that prevailed during Y2K was unrealistic in 1999. Now, it makes perfect sense.
I often hear preppers talk about the impending danger of an EMP leading to a grid down scenario. However, this kind of attack is highly overblown. Even major solar storms have not caused the kind of electrical breakdown that theorists suggest might happen. Instead, I would recommend worrying a lot more about cyber threats. I believe these events will become far more common in the next few years for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, there is the potential for random error like the Crowdstrike incident. Then there’s the potential for a foreign attack on US and European digital infrastructure. Then, there’s the potential for a false flag event BLAMED on random error or a foreign government in order to foment war or economic collapse.
In 2021 in my article https://alt-market.us/cyberpolygon-will-the-next-globalist-war-game-lead-to-another-convenient-catastrophe/
to the covid pandemic. He suggested that governments would have to respond to both in a similar fashion (i.e. lockdowns and extensive controls on individual freedoms).
In the past I have mentioned a very interesting event that was barely covered by the corporate media called the “Fastly Outage.” I examined the implications of this and more in my article https://alt-market.us/obamas-weird-new-movie-and-americas-extreme-vulnerability-to-cyber-attack/
.
In June of 2021 there was an internet outage that led to large swaths of the web going completely dark, including a number of mainstream news sites, Amazon, eBay, Twitch, Reddit, etc. A host of government websites also went down. All this happened when content delivery network (CDN) company Fastly experienced a “bug.” Although Amazon had its website back online within 20 minutes, the brief outage cost the company over $5.5 million in sales.
A content delivery network is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. They make up what is known as the “backbone” of the internet. Only a handful of these company’s support a vast majority of internet activity. All it would take is for a few to go down, and the internet goes down, taking our economy with it.
The recent Crowdstrike situation is perhaps the worst web disruption of all time, and that was just a bug in a software update. Imagine if someone wanted to deliberately damage internet functions for an extended period of time? The results would be catastrophic.
With supply chains completely dependent on “just-in-time” freight deliveries and those deliveries dependent on efficient digital communications and payments between retailers and manufacturers, a web-down scenario for more than a few days would cause an immediate loss of consumer goods. Stores would empty within hours should the public realize that new shipments might not arrive for a long time.
Keep in mind, I’m not even accounting for payment processing between customers and retailers. If that shuts down, then ALL sales shut down. Then, whatever food you have left in your pantry or in storage is what you will have to live on until the problem is fixed. If it is ever fixed…
Network attacks are difficult to independently trace, which means anyone can initiate them and anyone can be blamed afterwards. With the increasing tensions between western and eastern nations the chances of an attack are high. And corrupt government officials could also trigger an internet crisis and blame it on foreign enemies – Either to convince the public to go to war, or to convince the public to accept greater authoritarianism.
I believe a cyber attack is the next most likely global disaster. We weathered covid and defeated the draconian mandates. The economy is in the midst of a stagflation crisis but the system is still operating. But what if the next ploy is a complete shutdown of the web and a fast moving financial collapse?
Figuring out who triggered the breakdown would be nearly impossible. We could suspect, but proving who did it is another matter. In the meantime, western officials controlled by globalist interests could lock down internet traffic and eliminate alternative media platforms they don’t like, giving the public access to corporate news sources only.
There are millions of Americans out there ready for a systemic collapse. According to surveys around 30% of adult Americans now consider themselves preppers. But that leaves 70% of the population in a daze, unaware and panicking should the supply chain break. Will they care who was behind the attack? Probably not. They’ll be far more concerned with simple survival.
What are the most practical solutions to this? As always we can https://prepperbeef.com/
and friends. To protect data, I recommend shutting OFF Windows Updates to prevent something like a Crowdstrike error from affecting your devices. You can also set up a Linux-based device with all your important data storage secured.
You can purchase an exterior hard drive and clone your computer data, then throw it in a closet or a waterproof case. Then there is the option of building a completely offline device (a computer that has never and will never connect to the internet).
These options protect you and your valuable files, but there’s not much that can be done to prevent a national scale cyber attack and the damage that one could cause. Organizing for inevitable chaos and violence is all you can do.
With a cyber-event there is the distinct danger of communications disruptions – No cell phones, no email, no social media, nothing. So, having knowledge in ham radio and radio communications is a must. I’m a general class ham and I’m still finding there’s more to learn, but a basic knowledge of radios, frequency bands and repeaters will help you to at least listen in on chatter and get important information outside of controlled news networks.
The people who used to claim it’s “doom mongering” to examine the threat of cyber attacks have been proven utterly wrong this past month. We just witnessed one of the worst internet implosions of all time and more are on the way. Prepare accordingly and remember that technological dependency is a double-edged sword. Use your tech wisely and don’t let it run your life.
* * *
One survival food company, https://prepperbeef.com/shop
, has proactively dropped prices to allow Americans to stock up ahead of projected hikes in beef prices. Their 25-year shelf life steaks currently come at a 25% discount with promo code “invest25”.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/27/2024 - 23:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/recent-events-prove-western-nations-are-highly-vulnerable-cyber-calamity

2024-08-27 22:20:00

Dear Democrats, Things Are Not Looking Good...
Dear Democrats, Things Are Not Looking Good...
https://jennasside.rocks/p/dear-democrats-things-are-not-looking
Dear Democrats,
I hope you’ve got your organic, ethically-sourced stress balls and fair trade lavender calming spray handy, because I think you’re going to need them. The anti-vax black sheep of Camelot has https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n15oCfLdmXI
come November.
I can only imagine how that makes you feel. Probably like someone decided to mix peanut butter and ketchup and everyone else is like holy crap you have to try this it’s actually delicious but you’re allergic to peanut butter and ketchup and now you’re about to throw up.
I know you’re clinging to your MOMALA yard sign like Rose on that wooden door after the Titanic went down, and frankly, I don’t blame you. We both know the list of things you cherish *that’s about to vanish like socks in the dryer* is longer than a CVS receipt.
DEI? Yeah—Discriminate, Exclude, and Ignore
In an RFTrump administration, you can https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2020/09/president-trump-issues-executive-order-prohibiting-divisive-concepts-in-federal-contractor-trainings/
faster than the free Italian meatball samples at Costco. How much do you want to bet that despotic duo will try to install some sort of transphobic meritocracy where pronouns, chromosomes, and sexual preferences don’t even matter, and hard work and talent will determine how successful you’ll be? I know! Imagine this dystopian future world where job promotions are handed out based on skills and accomplishments rather than skin color or relative neurodivergence or how well your beard compliments your breasts. Go get yourself a paper bag and breathe into it. I’ll wait.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2861%29.jpg?itok=mCHuqEXt
Not anymore, I’m afraid.
KKKritical Race Theory? RIP.
I hope you’ve gotten your fill of those engaging CRT discussions, because I've a hunch they’re about to go the way of the flip phone. Bobby-loves-Donny will surely put their privileged, white-cloaked heads together (God help us all!) and declare CRT a national threat—right up there with climate change which, by the way, they’ll likely rename something like “ weather”. (I know, for a minute there you thought that Bobby, a lifelong tree hugger, was going to immediately ban gas-powered cars or at least start taxing cow farts or something, but sadly the guy https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-08-24/rfj-jr-sheds-environmentalist-mantle-with-trump-endorsement
, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.) All that progress you made trying to shame white people for being born melanin deficient and encouraging minorities to feel ever more oppressed, bitter, and victimized? Poof! Gone. (Maybe tissues will become affordable again.)
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2862%29.jpg?itok=xmhoQo_4
Open Borders? More Like a Swiss Bank Vault Inside Fort Knox.
Remember when the United States was all about welcoming and helping the huddled masses yearning to breathe free? Yeah, you can tuck that away on a shelf with your model pyramid and replica Rosetta Stone. Get ready for a giant, impenetrable wall complete with laser beams and possibly a moat filled with piranhas. Instead of the government spending our collective money to import, welcome, house, feed, clothe, educate, connect, and otherwise support strangers who pay no taxes and may or may not have come here to kill us, now those funds are probably going to be used to [gasp!] benefit American citizens. It’s so narcissistic and xenophobic, I don’t even know where to start. The good news is once they eliminate that censorship that kept you so safe during Covid, at least you’ll be able to virtue signal express your displeasure online by using a variety of hashtags like #ImmigrationIsBeautiful and #NoHumanIsIllegal and #I’mStuckInACountryBeingLedByAPairOfRacistWhiteDudesSendHelp.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2863%29.jpg?itok=XRtppUbO
Fear not, snowflakes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/fernandoalfonso/2019/01/09/donald-trumps-border-wall-inspires-funny-lego-set-design/
.
Just Make Rich People Pay for Everything? I Don’t Think So.
With two famously flush white guys running the show, you just know that hyper-taxing the affluent (like AOC’s brilliant and clearly fair and not in any way punitive proposed https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-s-70-percent-tax-rich-isn-t-ncna963146
) is not going to happen. Obviously it’s way better to force those snooty, fat-cat uppercrusters to fork over exponentially more of their hard-earned money to support social programs and reduce income inequality and put gay pride flags in all our classrooms. Now you’re going to have to contribute to all of that, too! It’s so not fair, I honestly can’t even.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2864%29.jpg?itok=4YGlmmXW
Second Amendment Rights? Don’t Tread on THOSE.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Seriously? But… but… that means people will continue to be able to defend themselves against criminals and tyrants! If they would just ban guns completely, everyone knows all the murderous thugs would turn in their weapons and violent crime would cease to exist. Thanks to this nauseating turn of events, the next thing you know, everybody and their granny will be packing heat and folks will be shooting each other over parking spaces https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlr2z23ykno
, which is obviously far more civil and less scary. The only safe solution is to lock yourself in your home and never leave again (except for during elections, because they’ll definitely be banning mail-in ballots, those bigoted trolls). Or move to Canada.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2865%29.jpg?itok=W9mj1ItC
You can bring this one up in therapy.
Foreign Policy? You Mean Nasty Nationalism [shudders].
I know. We were (still are!) thisclose to going to war with China Russia Iran Syria … somebody. https://jennasside.rocks/p/the-war-on-women-just-got-literal
(so anti-Semitic!) and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement (so rude!) and the WHO (again). Oh, and they’ll tax the hell out of Chinese imports, so you can say a sad so long to all those sweet Shein and Temu deals. Sorry, boo. It was fun while it lasted.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2866%29.jpg?itok=CdF1V43h
Free Speech? You Mean, Mean Tweets Are Coming Back.
It’s a frightening thought but one we must all come to terms with: The leader of the free world will be able to communicate with people—openly and without censorship—on the largest and most influential free speech platform in the digital universe. Not only that, but you can bet the channel’s formerly progressive founder isn’t merely going to allow this; that suddenly right-wing sycophant will amplify it. (Although surely there’s lots of overlap, Trump, Musk, and Kennedy Jr. have a combined 288 million followers on X. Timala, in comparison, have a sort of embarrassing 16M collective fans. Go ahead and fact-check that while you still can, because I’m pretty sure fact-checking will soon be a thing of the past.)
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2867%29.jpg?itok=yHWRU-Bm
McSeriously? You Can Kiss Your Fast Food Addiction Goodbye
I know, your kids live for Chick-fil-A Fridays at school. It’s the highlight of the whole week, practically the only way you can get those little rugrats to the bus stop on time—with tantalizing promises of soggy waffle fries and greasy poultry nuggets awaiting during the midday break. Well, just listen to what that https://www.amazon.com/Real-Anthony-Fauci-Democracy-Childrens/dp/1510766804
had to say:
“Two-thirds of American adults and children suffer from chronic health issues. Fifty years ago that number was less than 1%. In America, 74% of Americans are now overweight or obese, including 50% of our children. One-hundred and twenty years ago, when somebody was obese, they were sent to the circus. When my uncle was president, our country spent $0 on chronic disease. Today, government healthcare spending is almost all for chronic disease, and it’s double the military budget, and it is the fastest growing budget item in the federal budget. Chronic disease costs more to the economy as a whole, at least 4 trillion dollars, five times our military budget. We’re going to bring healthy food back to school lunches. We’re going to stop subsidizing the worst foods with our agricultural subsidies. We’re going to get toxic chemicals out of our food. We’re going to reform the entire food system.”
There’s no getting around it: Friday mornings are going to suck.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2868%29.jpg?itok=dkZgiZxr
Spoiler: There’s a NEW New World Order Coming to Town.
I know the dramatic and shocking Kennedonald combo is going to take some getting used to. I mean, we were about to have our country’s first Black Indian, female assigned-female-at-birth cackler commander-in-chief. It was going to be historic; unprecedented! I’ll bet Kamalamadingdong was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzqDUhaOb10
when this bombshell dropped—now she’ll never get to go! (Maybe Doug can take her to Europe instead?)
That woman had plans, dammit. She was somehow going to lower the cost of living that skyrocketed under her veepdom and fix inflation (apparently, https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/08/04/kamala-harriss-plan-to-fix-inflation-goes-viral-for-all-the-wrong-reasons-n4931340
which would guarantee that more people—especially kids and lower income families—would have access to wonderful pharmaceuticals like Ozempic and vaccines! For free!
With RFK Jr. in or around the White House, now everyone’s going to have to learn about (ugh) healthy eating and (yuck) preventative health, which is so much harder and more annoying than jabbing yourself with skinny serum. Alas, the curtain is about to fall on that glorious and golden age. If vaccines even survive at all (which they probably won’t because Kennedy likes to claim—based on nothing but peer reviewed literature the CDC refuses to look at which https://www.amazon.com/Vax-Unvax-Childrens-Health-Defense-Kennedy/dp/1510766960
—that unvaccinated kids are healthier across the board in nearly every metric you can think of), you definitely won’t be getting a donut with your next series, I’m afraid.
You Can Retire Your MAKE AMERICA OBAMA AGAIN hat.
I wish I had some soothing words of comfort for you, but there’s no getting around it; this is a terrifying time to be alive. Even though Trump was already president and didn’t do any of these things, he could literally declare martial law the day he takes office. He could imprison his political opponents and critics, refuse to leave the White House ever again, and basically destroy democracy by continuing to point out that https://hbr.org/1995/05/why-the-news-is-not-the-truth
: “Ultimately, the only thing that will save our country and our children is if we choose to love our kids more than we hate each other.”
(Can you imagine that level of rhetoric spewing from the Oval Office on a routine basis? I mean, sure https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-02-02-the-new-liberal-philosophy-explained-hatred-is-tolerance.html
, but it’s toward specific, hate-worthy things like white privilege, toxic masculinity, police officers, Christians, and Trump!)
Sadly, it’s looking like this is our future. I guess the good news is, it’s only four years.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/27/2024 - 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dear-democrats-things-are-not-looking-good

2024-08-27 21:05:00

Will $1 Trillion In Treasury Carry Trades Blow Up The Clearinghouses
Will $1 Trillion In Treasury Carry Trades Blow Up The Clearinghouses
By Russell Clark of https://www.russell-clark.com/p/whats-going-on-with-leveraged-treasury
Reading the excellent article by Brian Meehan of Bloomberg Intelligence, “Basis Trade Growth Is Massive”, I was reminded just how stupid clearinghouses really are. If you ever meet a head of a clearinghouse, I can assure it was not brains that got them to this key position in global finance.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/4e3ecfac-31a2-4868-a3b2-20b75b851d60_2352x1564.jpg?itok=C_1guhER
As the article points out, there is now a $1.1 trillion notional short position in US treasury futures. You should not read this as the market being bearish on treasuries. It is a levered trade to make a “risk free” return on the difference in price between off the run treasuries and treasury future positions. For every short position in the treasury futures, there should be a long position in the physical market.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/carry%20trade%20bbg%20chart.jpg?itok=MV8vgsis
The size of the trade has been large for awhile. The Federal Reserve took a look at it and thought it was not a https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/quantifying-treasury-cash-futures-basis-trades-20240308.html
(uh oh!). It has the same data as above, just that Bloomberg has provided an up to date estimate. In the post GFC world, much of this trade has migrated from prop desks at banks to hedge funds.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/OFR.jpg?itok=7E0yq6Pw
This is not a new phenomenon. BIS noted in 2019 reports that the Repo market has become bifurcated between banks and hedge funds. See dotted line in middle graph.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2af38559-b6c0-4c36-b11a-2a59318e527b_1316x904.png?itok=8WM86ctE
This is a natural by-product of how clearinghouses work. The clearinghouses at the centre of repo trading (LCH and CME) are only concerned with how quickly trades can be liquidated. As they tend to settle on a daily basis, and hedge funds and other asset managers need to settle constantly, they tend to allow trades to grow in size much more than when investment banks were at the centre of repo market.
Clearinghouses cannot go bust. So they pursue policies to grow volumes as much as possible. One such policy is compression trades. This is where very similar interest rates products can be compressed into a single product to allow more leverage to be used. Below show that a multiple of outstanding notional is being compressed every year.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/28d8b7df-6524-488a-b91e-21eacc971aa0_518x326.png?itok=PMhkuADs
The problem is that when there is a shock in interest rate markets, then liquidity disappears and clearinghouse starts demanding more margin from all players, which then leads to spiraling weaker market. We saw just such a circumstance in the UK gilt market under the PM Truss. The sell off in gilts could only be contained by the Bank of England becoming a buyer of last resort.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/d19f4fcf-f2bc-4646-b270-e2308f0e21b7_1560x1038.jpg?itok=4B4MnSNG
The big investment banks know that the clearinghouse misprice risk, which is why they suggested that they should take more financial risk in pricing, to incentivise them to do a better job. Regulators have so far ignored this advice. The proposed risk waterfall is presented below. https://www.goldmansachs.com/pressroom/press-releases/current/multimedia/ccp-paper.pdf
. A close look at the proposed margin from the waterfall is a the ability to bankrupt CCPs. This has so far been rejected.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dadbc840-5828-4d57-bd72-9e5f887b0134_512x728.png?itok=ay-WVMz5
So how does this fit in with LTCM? Well LTCM focused on risk free arbitrage trades. The problem with most of the trades is that you need substantial leverage to make them work. Most banks would feel uncomfortable lending a hedge fund that much. The downfall of LTCM as it was told to me, and I did work at UBS, was that one day there were industry drinks and one trader mentioned how much business he was doing with LTCM - and another trader said, hang on a second, we are doing just as much business as well. The traders then worked out that LTCM had far more leverage than they had disclosed, and as they traders worked this out, sold their positions before LTCM could. This put downward pressure on their trades, eventually forcing them bankrupt and bringing about a bailout. In essence, LTCM became the market, and at that point, it was destroyed. But it only became so leveraged because it acted in secrecy.
Under the new clearinghouse system, no such subterfuge is necessary. The clearinghouse actively wants you to borrow as much as possible, as long as you meet the liquidity and volatility seen over the look back period - typically 10 years. The problem, as the details above show, is that the hedge funds are all in. So are retail investors. Shares outstanding in TLT has skyrocketed.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/c324b315-7245-4c48-aef0-fd43ad8b723c_3234x1800.png?itok=Un0i9WIK
So what could go wrong? Well in the US, after the presidential election is out of the way, you could expect inflationary policies to be announced (higher minimum wage, more tariffs, more stimulus). This leads to inflation expectations rising. Physical treasuries are held in ETFs like TLT, which probably see redemptions. Treasuries fall, basis trade widen, margin calls are issued, which leads to more selling of treasuries, and more basis widening, until the Fed steps into buy treasuries. This seems likely to me: a long GLD/TLT trade should do well in that environment. Having gone sideways for a few months, a move higher looks overdue.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/d6c34b1a-37df-4593-8754-051f3fbb38e5_3240x1883.png?itok=xd44hbhU
The clearinghouse reform is failed reform - but it will take a crisis to change. Maybe this will be the one.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/27/2024 - 15:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/will-1-trillion-treasury-carry-trades-blow-clearinshouses

2024-08-27 00:00:00

Another Pete Buttigieg Failure? Merchant Marine Manpower Deficit Sidelines 17 Support Ships For Wartime
Another Pete Buttigieg Failure? Merchant Marine Manpower Deficit Sidelines 17 Support Ships For Wartime
Former President Trump warned on Sunday, "There will be no future under Comrade Kamala Harris, because she will take us into a Nuclear World War III!"
There will be no future under Comrade Kamala Harris, because she will take us into a Nuclear World War III! She will never be respected by the Tyrants of the World!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1827784751312142496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Far-left activists within the Biden-Harris administration have spent what appears to be more time prioritizing their woke religion than effectively managing the nation as the war in Eastern Europe broadens, regional conflict fears elevated in the Middle East, and South China Sea threats rise. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is the prime example of a woke activist within the admin, pushing "racial equity in roads" and diversity hiring in the FAA's hiring practices.
Buttigieg is an ineffective manager, and it's no surprise why. He's more focused on pushing far-left activism and spreading woke ideology through the federal government than on doing his job. His mishandling of the https://www.zerohedge.com/political/many-east-palestine-residents-question-intentions-bidens-visit-year-after-toxic-train
are just a few examples of his incompetence.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/lol_7.jpg?itok=t_vZdt3F
The list of failures is quickly growing with Buttigieg, and this time, it's more serious than ever, as maritime news website https://news.usni.org/2024/08/22/navy-could-sideline-17-support-ships-due-to-manpower-issues
reported:
"Military Sealift Command has drafted a plan to remove the crews from 17 Navy support ships due to a lack of qualified mariners to operate the vessels across the Navy."
The support ships are part of the Merchant Marines fleet, overseen by the Maritime Administration, an agency of the Department of Transportation, which makes this Buttigieg's responsibility at the end of the day.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/navy-sideline-17-vessels-manpower-shortage-operating-crews-redistributed-report
spoke with Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, stated that the Merchant Marines don't have enough manpower to keep the 17 support ships operational. These include replenishment vessels, tankers, and other crucial ships needed to deliver military personnel and weapons worldwide.
Under Buttigieg's watch, this has morphed into a crisis of war preparedness, as the Biden-Harris team seems to be mishandling conflicts around the world, which has stoked, as Trump said, nuclear war risks.
This is starting to go viral 🤩
Fox & NYP correctly reported it’s a US Merchant Mariner, not Navy, shortage 🤩
They didn’t call us civilians 🤩
BUT nobody here asking who is in charge of the US Merchant Marine?
Who is responsible for this disaster?
Answer: https://twitter.com/SecretaryPete?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1827696988995088864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
USNI provided more color on the labor shortage affecting Merchant Marines:
The MSC "force generation reset" identified two Lewis and Clark replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF) and two forward-deployed Navy expeditionary sea bases that would enter an "extended maintenance" period and have their crews retasked to other ships in the fleet, three people familiar with the plan told USNI News Thursday.
Based on the crew requirements on the platforms, sideling all the ships could reduce the civilian mariner demand for MSC by as many as 700 billets.
A defense official confirmed the basic outline of the plan to USNI News on Thursday. Two sources identified the forward-deployed sea bases as USS Lewis Puller (ESB-3), based in Bahrain in U.S. Central Command, and USS Hershel "Woody" Williams (ESB-4), based in Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece, and operated in U.S. European and Africa Command.
A Navy official, when contacted by USNI News, acknowledged the service was working on a plan to retask civilian mariners but did not provide details.
The new effort, known informally as "the great reset" has yet to be adopted by the Navy and is awaiting approval from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, USNI News understands.
The Military Sealift Command operates a fleet of logistics ships that refuel and resupply the Navy's ships around the world and are crewed by 5,500 civilians who are employed by the Navy.
Across the MSC there are about 4,500 billets for mariners on a wide variety of U.S. support ships ranging from resupply vessels, fleet oilers that refuel ships and aircraft, salvage ships, the Navy's two command ships, submarine tenders and hospital ships.
For every billet on an MSC ship there are about 1.27 mariners to fill the positions, a ratio that two former MSC master mariners told USNI News on Thursday was unsusstainable.
"If you're required to have 100 people on a vessel. There are only 27 more people on shore at any given time to rotate those crew members," a former MSC mariner told USNI News.
At that ratio, a mariner would be at sea for four months and off for about a month and then return.
"That math just doesn't work," the former mariner told USNI News.
"No one is able to have a healthy work-life balance and be able to get off the ship and get adequate time to go home, have time at home with their family, take leave, take care of medical requirements [in that timeframe]. There is so much training required of every billet at MSC to stay proficient with Navy requirements and training and merchant marine credentialing."
Montgomery also told Fox, "There's a lack of experienced merchant mariners to crew the ships, and this is really a clear danger to national security."
Yet, there will never be any accountability for Buttigieg's mounting failures to the taxpayers. His latest failure threatens the logistical backbone of the entire Navy while nuclear war threats are quickly rising.
Voters should demand accountability and ask why Buttigieg is more focused on "racial equity in roads" than winning the next world war.
Failure after failure by the Biden-Harris administration, with zero accountability for taxpayers, has many folks asking if the nation is being purposely undermined.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/26/2024 - 18:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/another-pete-buttigieg-failure-merchant-marine-manpower-deficit-sidelines-17-support-ships

2024-08-26 13:45:00

Teacher Fired After Alleged Jan. 6 Involvement Wins Wrongful Termination Lawsuit
Teacher Fired After Alleged Jan. 6 Involvement Wins Wrongful Termination Lawsuit
By Dave Huber of https://www.thecollegefix.com/teacher-fired-after-alleged-jan-6-involvement-wins-wrongful-termination-lawsuit/
A Pennsylvania teacher who was fired for allegedly attending the U.S. Capitol “insurrection” on January 6, 2021, has https://apnews.com/article/allentown-pennsylvania-teacher-jan-6-lawsuit-0941e45d580cac29d44986db58aca0d9
a wrongful termination lawsuit after a two-week trial.
Jason Moorehead, a 17-year veteran social studies instructor in the Allentown School District, had always https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/lehigh-county/allentown-area/fired-allentown-middle-school-teacher-prevails-in-federal-trial/article_03f7d210-5d74-11ef-8589-1340729fc1c8.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_69News
he was “at all times over a mile away” at the Washington Monument when the riot occurred.
But on Jan. 7, the district issued a https://jbs.org/assets/sites/2/Allentown-Supers-PDF.pdf
stating a district employee “was involved in the electoral college protest.” In it, Superintendent Thomas Parker did note the district “has an obligation to respect the First Amendment rights of our staff.”
District Solicitor John Freund also https://www.thecollegefix.com/pennsylvania-school-district-cans-teacher-who-participated-in-washington-dc-protest/
“only after knowing all the facts” could the district act in a manner that “balances First Amendment rights with the higher standards set for public school teachers.”
These standards include “teachers’ duty not to participate in or advocate un-American or subversive doctrines.”
https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/allentown/jury-awards-131-500-to-ex-allentown-teacher-in-lawsuit-over-jan-6-stop-the-steal-rally
reports the district also “saw [Moorehead’s] light-hearted comments” on social media about the happenings at the Capitol.
For example, in response to a post which said “Don’t worry everyone, the Capitol is insured,” Moorehead wrote “This!” The remark is a reference to those who said https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/463933/no-insurance-wont-save-the-businesses-destroyed-by-anti-police-riots/
riots in U.S. history following the killing of George Floyd.
Although Moorehead wasn’t specifically named in the district statement, “outraged members of the public soon identified him” https://www.thecollegefix.com/pennsylvania-school-district-cans-teacher-who-participated-in-washington-dc-protest/
. Some posted Moorehead’s picture and home address on social media.
On X (then Twitter), the account CROH Lehigh Valley (the first four letters standing for “Community Research Opposing Hate”) https://x.com/crohlv/status/1374356354266193922
that Moorehead “was identified as an attendee of the J6 Capitol coup attempt” and that “his presence is enough reason for him to never teach #Allentown students ever again.”
It added “Students cannot be safe in a classroom with a fascist.”
It’s been 75 days since https://twitter.com/AllentownSD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— CROH Lehigh Valley (@crohlv) https://twitter.com/crohlv/status/1374356354266193922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
During the investigation, Moorehead was “questioned extensively” by district officials where, again, he insisted he was nowhere near the Capitol.
At the trial, the district claimed it had “attempted” to reinstate Moorehead — as long as he took a “cultural sensitivity” course. Moorehead refused, alleging the district had “created an unsafe, hostile work environment.”
He then was terminated.
Moorehead filed suit claiming the district and several school board members had violated his civil rights (“for besmirching his name” due to his conservative political leanings) and for illegally suspending him based on the teachers union collective bargaining agreement.
On Aug. 16, a jury awarded Moorehead $131,500, most of which will come from the district. Two school board members, Lisa Conover and Nancy Wilt, are liable for $6,000 and $500 respectively.
Moorehead had not specified a desired dollar amount for “loss of earnings, loss of career, reputational damage, mental and emotional pain and suffering,” and punitive damages.
Moorehead’s lawyer AJ Fleuhr said in statement that he and his client were happy “a federal jury recognized that the Allentown School District violated Jason Moorehead’s First Amendment rights to free speech, assembly, and political affiliation,” and that the named board members had “maliciously and wantonly attacked him.”
Fleuhr added “There was never any justification for [the district’s] insidious and Orwellian course of action.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/26/2024 - 07:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/teacher-fired-after-alleged-jan-6-involvement-wins-wrongful-termination-lawsuit

2024-08-25 20:00:00

U Of Tampa RA Training Includes Scenario Of Student Feeling "Threatened" By Conservative Roommate With MAGA Flag
U Of Tampa RA Training Includes Scenario Of Student Feeling "Threatened" By Conservative Roommate With MAGA Flag
By Brendan McDonald of https://www.campusreform.org/article/u-tampa-ra-training-includes-scenario-student-feeling-threatened-conservative-roommate-maga-flag/26169
The University of Tampa’s resident advisor (RA) training featured a hypothetical scenario in which a student complained about feeling “unsafe” because a roommate hung a “Make America Great Again” flag and was a member of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/what%20would%20you%20do.jpg?itok=brSJ7vsh
Affiliated with the Young America’s Foundation, YAF chapters organize conservative speakers and trainings for students on campuses around the country. A picture of the University of Tampa slide was https://yaf.org/news/yaf-members-are-unsafe-roommates-according-to-university-of-tampa-ra-training/
and shared by the group on Friday, Aug. 16.
“You just returned from class and one of your residents asks to speak with you,” the training https://x.com/itsSpencerBrown/status/1824504322345861390
reads. “He states that he feels unsafe in his room and needs an immediate room change. He goes on to state that he feels unsafe and threatened because his roommate put up a ‘Make America Great Again’ flag in the room and that he is a member of YAF.”
Slide from the University of Tampa RA training on how to handle a resident who "feels unsafe and threatened because his roommate put up a 'Make America Great Again' flag in the room and...is a member of YAF." https://t.co/OdB3ZxcVKR
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) https://twitter.com/itsSpencerBrown/status/1824504322345861390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
On the YAF website, University of Tampa YAF Chair Nicole Gillis criticized the slide as the most recent example of colleges and universities attempting to indoctrinate their students.
“This is the unfortunate state of higher education in America right now,” she said. “Universities are indoctrinating students by painting conservatives as evil. This seemingly small example in an RA training at UT implies they think that conservatives are dangerous and that students should be afraid of people with conservative ideas.”
The Young America’s Foundation Chief Office Spencer Brown pointed out what he sees as the contrast between how school administrators treat conservative students versus how they treat liberal ones.
“The demonizing of conservative students and infantilizing coddling of fragile leftists who outrageously claim to feel physically threatened by intellectual diversity does a disservice to students and ought to be roundly mocked,” he said. “A school such as the University of Tampa — or any with wildly biased trainings like this — has no business calling itself an institution of ‘higher’ learning. Clearly, University of Tampa administrators and student employees need some mandatory tolerance training.”
Conservative students regularly feel isolated and discriminated against by their universities. Three self-identified conservative students from two different schools spoke in a Fox News interview last month about they feel silenced in and out of the classroom, with one saying she has been “https://www.campusreform.org/article/ive-yelled-professors-conservative-students-share-challenges-todays-campuses/25965
” by professors.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/25/2024 - 14:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/u-tampa-ra-training-includes-scenario-student-feeling-threatened-conservative-roommate

2024-08-24 15:20:00

'Festival Of Diversity' Horror: Manhunt For 'Arab-Looking' Man After 3 Killed, 8 Wounded In Mass Stabbing In Germany
'Festival Of Diversity' Horror: Manhunt For 'Arab-Looking' Man After 3 Killed, 8 Wounded In Mass Stabbing In Germany
A major manhunt is underway after a Friday night mass stabbing attack killed three people and wounded eight more at a "Festival of Diversity" in Germany. Living up to the event's billing, witnesses to the bloodshed in the western German city of Solingen say the attacker was Arab in appearance -- a detail every major US news outlet is omitting from its coverage as our report is written.
"This evening we are all in shock, horror and great sadness in Solingen. https://www.solinger-tageblatt.de/lokales/solingen/stadtjubilaeum-in-solingen-mindestens-drei-tote-bei-attacke-auf-dem-fronhof-INBGJVQ2DZCDNMZCAGF2NIZLI4.html
," said Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach. "I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives." While the festival was indeed being held on the occasion of the city's 650th anniversary, rather than emphasizing German heritage and history, the organizers were apparently determined to put "diversity" front and center.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-24%20at%2012.00.45%20AM.jpeg?itok=EFBhXuji
Their goal was accomplished in way they didn't intend, with the attacker himself reportedly infusing his own strain of "diversity." According to the German newspaper Bild, https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/knife-attack-germany-festival-solingen-wczqf68vd
provided spectator Lars Breitzke's account of what he saw:
Suprafon was playing on stage. Suddenly [Breitzke] realized from the expression on the singer Suzan Köcher's face that something was wrong. "And then a person fell over just a meter away from me," says Breitzke. At first he thought it was a drunk. But when he turned around, he saw other people lying on the floor. And several pools of blood.
After https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-police-search-assailant-festival-stabbing-that-kills-3-2024-08-24/
of London.
While the Festival of Diversity was slated to extend all through the weekend, organizers opted to cancel it altogether shortly after midnight. Video circulating on social media purportedly shows the attack's bloody aftermath:
These are the Germans who were stabbed to death by an Islamic terrorist in Solingen, Germany.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! https://t.co/ZdDbBDOpV2
— Europe Invasion (@EuropeInvasionn) https://twitter.com/EuropeInvasionn/status/1827096834956816798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As if it weren't ironic enough for a "diversity" festival in Germany to be terrorized by someone apparently of foreign heritage, Solingen is also known as the https://ciselier.com/en-us/blogs/news/welcome-to-solingen-city-of-blades?srsltid=AfmBOoocqdeagND4DJZj1UIm0pqf6cqMx_ipxdLcdw84Ppo0ePeBk9JP
owing to its long history as a center of scissor- and knife-making that stretches back to the Middle Ages.
Friday night's horror show in the small city close to Dusseldorf and Cologne is the just the latest episode of bloodshed visited upon Germany by knife-wielding killers of non-German heritage. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/germany-considering-deportations-afghanistan-after-migrant-stabbing-attack
a police officer and wounded six more people in Mannheim.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GPnJ9-MXQAAoX2P.jpg?itok=zbpeawFL
An immigration crackdown doesn't appear to be on the table. Instead, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently urged a different remedy: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-gets-tough-on-knife-crime-with-stricter-laws/a-69963224
she told German public broadcaster ARD. She has urged the legislature to only allow the carrying of blades 6cm or smaller; the current limit is 12. She is also pushing for an outright ban on switchblades.
Serious knife attacks in Germany are up 9.7% year-over-year. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party thinks blades per se aren't the problem:  "We have exploding foreign crime, youth crime, migrant violence, because we have open borders," https://www.dw.com/en/germany-gets-tough-on-knife-crime-with-stricter-laws/a-69963224
party co-leader Alice Weidel in July.
Many hours after Bild first cited multiple witnesses who said the Festival of Diversity killer is a young "arab looking" man, no US media outlets are choosing to include that detail. While The Times of London did, it pushed it to the final paragraph of 20 in its coverage.
The sole source that the perpetrator in the Solingen attack was "Arab-looking" was a witness account reported in https://twitter.com/BILD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1827283844099154111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Similarly, at this writing, German police have not shared a description of their suspect, but have asked the public to send them videos and photos that could be helpful.
Presented without comment. https://t.co/G3gqW9Ioeq
Meanwhile, North Rhine-Westphalia interior minister told reporters, "None of us knows why" the attack happened.
We've got a hunch it has something to do with another diversifier with an intense distaste for diversity.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/24/2024 - 09:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/festival-diversity-horror-manhunt-arab-appearing-man-after-3-killed-8-wounded-mass

2024-08-24 00:40:00

Southern California City Bans Smoking And Vaping In Apartments, Condos
Southern California City Bans Smoking And Vaping In Apartments, Condos
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/southern-california-city-bans-smoking-and-vaping-in-rental-units-5710414?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
Starting next year, smoking or vaping inside apartments, condos, or other multi-family housing in Carlsbad, Calif., will be illegal, the city council decided Aug. 20.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202024-08-23T140314.941.jpg?itok=TRzevPEN
In a 4–1 vote Tuesday, city leaders approved a smoke-free ordinance for multi-unit housing in the coastal city of 115,000 people, about 35 miles north of San Diego.
The new law, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, covers all smoking and vaping, including marijuana used for recreational and medical purposes.
Although medical marijuana is legal in California, the city can prohibit its use in some places, according to Carlsbad City Attorney Cindie McMahon.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its state counterpart do not require a reasonable accommodation for anything that poses a health and safety risk to other parties,” McMahon said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The city expects landlords and property management companies to enforce the new rules by including them in future lease contracts instead of the city hiring more code enforcement or police officers to respond to citizen complaints.
Councilwoman Melanie Burkholder, a mental health counselor and former U.S. Secret Service agent, voted against the measure.
“It feels like to me an overreach of the city,” she told other councilors at a meeting July 30, when the ordinance was introduced.
“I don’t think we should be property managers or landlords to that extent. It just sounds like the city’s telling someone how to live their life.”
Many residents and property owners agreed.
Condo owner Cheryl Knebel was one of many private citizens to oppose the plan.
“I am strongly against this idea,” Knebel wrote to the City Council.
“I am a nonsmoker but challenge the restriction on smoking inside a privately owned residence. I understand that smoking is awful for those who live next door. I wouldn’t like it. However, as a homeowner no one should be able to dictate what I do inside my residence as long as it is legal.”
Shiella McNulty, also a nonsmoker, said the ordinance goes too far.
“I’m a lifetime nonsmoker and I would love to never smell pot or cigarettes burning near me again!” she wrote to the City Council.
“It’s disgusting! However, this proposal goes too far from a societal perspective. ... Do we really want to squeeze our neighbors again when they are addicted to a substance that apparently gives them some relief or enjoyment? In their own home?”
Councilwoman Teresa Acosta supported the new rules, along with the mayor and other councilors.
“I am in support of it, and I think it is one of the things we need to do as leaders, is to stand up for the health of residents,” Acosta said in the July 30 meeting.
“Especially knowing this is not just a toxic issue, but also deadly. We need to watch out for smoking in multi-family units.”
The idea is not new. In 2011, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law giving landlords the right to make their properties smoke-free.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202024-08-23T140615.849.jpg?itok=1xM_N3-V
According to Mike Strong, the city’s assistant director of community development, 84 California cities and counties have adopted no-smoking policies for multi-unit housing.
City staff was directed in 2023 to develop a no-smoking ordinance. Staff consulted with the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law—a national nonprofit law group based in St. Paul, Minn.—which created a model smoke-free housing https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/CA-Smoke-free-MUH-Model-Ordinance.pdf
for California cities and counties in 2020.
The city expects to get up to 10 complaints per month about violations once the ordinance goes into effect, Strong told councilors July 30.
The ban applies to apartment buildings, condos, townhomes, senior assisted living facilities, long-term health care facilities, and single-family homes licensed as care facilities.
Not included in the ordinance are hotels, motels, mobile home parks, campgrounds, single-family homes, and accessory dwelling units, sometimes referred to as mother-in-law units built behind single-family homes.
Smoking and vaping any substance will also be off-limits in rental housing parking lots, playgrounds, halls, and other common areas.
The ordinance allows landlords to designate a smoking area as long as it is 25 feet from housing units and other amenities.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 - 18:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/southern-california-city-bans-smoking-and-vaping-apartments-condos

2024-08-23 21:30:00

Gaslighting AP Touts Chicago's Mostly 'Peaceful' DNC Riots; Social Media Says Otherwise
Gaslighting AP Touts Chicago's Mostly 'Peaceful' DNC Riots; Social Media Says Otherwise
https://headlineusa.com/gaslighting-ap-tout-peaceful-riots/
,
Huge fight breaks out after the Antifa crowd tried to go through the Chicago Police line. Very chaotic scene: https://t.co/iEMO6U5vtr
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1826056099776311580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
From https://headlineusa.com/chicago-businesses-brace-for-rowdy-violent-dnc-protests/
on Nancy Pelosi’s interview with Stephen Colbert, the unrest in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention has been a maelstrom of festering chaos befitting of the party that birthed it with reckless social experiments, identity politics and tacit support for terrorists.
🔵 Protest gets bloody
A protestor had to be treated after getting into an altercation with another protestor after a rally.
Follow Newsweek’s live blog for the latest updates: https://t.co/OEUI2Rd7Xf
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1825690044985684235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
BREAKING: Reporter Ben Bergquam gets assaulted by far-left extremist outside of the DNC after he tried stopping them from burning an American flag.
“F**k this country… burn it down. Burn it down,” the extremist shouted.
Stay safe, https://twitter.com/BenBergquam?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1826063445399318847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Chicago — A DNC far-left rioter taunts police. An officer tells him to come closer, which he does. He is then arrested. https://t.co/iVWulCyKfV
— Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1826083414627258657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
While https://headlineusa.com/hecklers-toss-maggots-into-dnc-breakfast-following-bomb-threats/
may have come home to roost, making life uncomfortable for Democrat elites as they celebrate a successful intra-party coup d’état, one would hardly know from reading accounts of the DNC gathering in most mainstream media outlets.
Unlike the https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1968-democratic-convention
in Chicago, where the counterculture anti-war protests took center-stage (and ultimately helped Richard Nixon win in a landslide), the Left now controls most of the levers of power and major institutions in America, aggressively enacting a tight lockdown on unauthorized narratives as if it were a COVID-era Tim Walz.
Many mainstream media outlets have opted to remain silent about the violent clashes. But with counternarratives beginning to leak on social media, it fell on the propagandist Associated Press to report that there was nothing to see here.
The AP’s https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-israel-hamas-war-2b304b0c418639f61a421d30a8802cb5
on Thursday, which included three bylined authors, bordered on comical in its belaboring of the “mostly peaceful protest” trope, repeating the word “peaceful” five times—or one reference per every 51.2 words. (For context, that is roughly the same number as the paragraph you are now reading.)
The pro-Palestinian puff piece echoed an embarrassing segment during the 2020 George Floyd riots in Minneapolis—when MSNBC’s Ali Velshi insisted that, despite the massive conflagration raging behind him, “it is not, generally speaking, unruly.”
.https://twitter.com/AliVelshi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
reports from Minneapolis where multiple fires have broken out amid protests following the death of George Floyd.
"Protesters are now getting closer and closer to firefighters...The fire is not under control. It's burning completely wildly." https://t.co/lznosC9wCO
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1266206866239107072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In the aftermath of the Biden presidency, however, many have now wisened to the Left’s refusal to hold itself accountable—morally or otherwise—for the inevitable consequences of its rhetoric and policies.
While the emboldened media has gone on to gaslight about other significant-yet-politically-inconvenient episodes—most recently including the declining mental acuity of President Joe Biden and the apotheosis of his replacement, Kamala Harris, atop the 2024 ticket—its efforts have seen diminishing returns, forcing many once-revered news outlets to cut their staffs or shutter altogether.
The phenomenon itself helped propel the term “gaslighting” into the common vernacular, even earning it a distinction as Merriam–Webster’s https://headlineusa.com/merriam-webster-gaslighting-word-year/
And it has given rise to new memes in the conservative X-osphere, including the now-iconic phrase “Let’s go, Brandon”—which is more a commentary on the complicit media running interference for the Democratic power structure than it is a specific condemnation of the Biden administration.
How it Started...Talladega Superspeedway: Brandon Brown had just won a NASCAR race. And sportscaster Kelli Stavast commented in an interview with Brown afterward how the crowd seemed to be chanting in his honor: ‘Let’s go, Brandon!” https://t.co/BlRcn7O4f1
— Zen Diamond Apartments Newslink (@apartments_zen) https://twitter.com/apartments_zen/status/1455690506432704514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Yet, ridicule notwithstanding, the danger of Democrats’ denialism and willful ignorance is quite real and ever-more palpable, shattering the lives of many who fall in the path of the Left’s long march, while ominously portending an even bleaker future should its efforts succeed.
As part of our ongoing effort to expose blatant https://headlineusa.com/tag/media-bias
at leftist media outlets, the AP’s complete, unedited story on Chicago’s unrest is included below:
Chicago police say they’re ready for final day of protests at DNC following night of no arrests
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/AP24235019919015-e1724355335665_80.jpg?itok=SiCOU0of
(Associated Press) Chicago police said Thursday that they are not changing any of their tactics and are ready for a final night of pro-Palestinian demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention, after a peaceful march that resulted in no injuries or arrests.
On Wednesday night, more than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully past a park where pro-Israel demonstrators had gathered earlier. That demonstration came a day after violent clashes between police and protesters led to 56 arrests at a much smaller, unsanctioned protest outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago.
Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the protest Wednesday night ended without arrests and that no one was injured.
Snelling praised the organizers of the Wednesday protest, saying it’s an example of how people can hold First Amendment-protected demonstrations peacefully by collaborating in advance with law enforcement.
“Did we have a couple dustups? Sure, but those things were quickly rectified,” he said.
The biggest protest so far, which attracted about 3,500 people on Monday, was largely peaceful and resulted in 13 arrests, most related to a breach of security fencing. They did not gain access to the inner security perimeter at the United Center, where the convention is taking place.
Two people were arrested Sunday night during another mostly peaceful march.
The Coalition to March on the DNC, which organized the march on Monday, planned its second permitted demonstration of the week on Thursday, with a rally in a park near the United Center followed by a march through adjacent streets.
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at https://twitter.com/realbensellers
.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 - 15:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gaslighting-ap-touts-chicagos-mostly-peaceful-dnc-riots-social-media-says-otherwise

2024-08-23 19:25:00

Pedophile Arrested For Death Threats Against Trump During Arizona Border Visit
Pedophile Arrested For Death Threats Against Trump During Arizona Border Visit
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/man-arrested-for-death-threats-against-trump-during-arizona-border-visit-5711380?ea_src=frontpage&ea_cnt=a&ea_med=top-news-7-top-stories-2-title-0
(emphasis ours),
As former President Donald Trump was heading out of Cochise County, Arizona, on Aug. 22, police were arresting a local man suspected of making death threats against the presidential candidate.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28631%29.jpg?itok=mVCkzeUM
Police identified the suspect as Ronald Lee Syvrud, 66, from the city of Benson. The former president said he had been unaware that a manhunt for the suspect was underway during his campaign stop at the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, told The Epoch Times that the alleged threats were made on social media. Capas did not say whether police found any evidence that the suspect intended to make good on the alleged threats.
Syvrud was charged with two counts of threatening in connection with the posts about Trump, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. He also faces a felony warrant from Graham County, Arizona, for failure to register as a sex offender. He remained in the Cochise County Jail awaiting court action during the evening of Aug. 22.
🚨 Breaking 🚨 APPREHENDED 🚨
Authorities in Arizona have arrested Ronald Lee Syvrud (66)
Raise your hand ✋️ if you want him to get life in prison, for threatening to kill President Trump..... this can not go unpunished https://t.co/VJ29IL1fGa
— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) https://twitter.com/Chicago1Ray/status/1826748393710125495?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Earlier that day, about four hours before Trump’s scheduled border visit, the sheriff’s office https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LTMHdWDTmCBUvRLu/
a notice seeking the public’s help to find Syvrud because he was wanted for other warrants and “as an investigative lead for threats to kill a presidential candidate.”
The agency later updated that Facebook post, stating that someone alerted the sheriff’s office about “a threatening message on social media...directed at candidate Donald Trump” on Aug. 21.
“This message contained language that indicated bodily harm to the candidate,” the agency said, adding that investigators found a second Trump-threatening post from Syvrud on Aug. 22.
“As part of the operations plan in place for the visit of candidate Donald Trump...locating this subject was a priority,” the sheriff’s office Facebook post said.
BREAKING: I've found the Facebook alias account of the Arizona man wanted by law enforcement for an alleged threat to assassinate Donald Trump while he is campaigning in Arizona.
Ronald Syvrud, a registered s—x offender, uses multiple aliases. On Facebook, he goes by "Sven Lee." https://t.co/iqHpR1Z2s6
— Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1826747484086882540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
After learning that Syvrud might be in a small community named St. David, officers went to that location. Around 2:16 p.m., the officers spotted Syvrud in the area, and he was arrested without incident.
Capas said Syvrud was arrested around 2:30 p.m. local time. That was about an hour after the former president finished making remarks and answering reporters’ questions at a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Cochise County.
[ZH: And of course, Syvrud is a pedo...]
Law enforcement in Arizona is seeking a 66-year-old man who allegedly posted about plans to assassinate Donald Trump.
Suspect Ronald Syvrud, of Benson, Ariz., is a registered s—x offender from Wisconsin. Read: https://t.co/FHlt5nvFPU
— Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1826735988657586655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Around 1:15 p.m., when a reporter asked whether Trump was aware of an ongoing manhunt relating to death threats against him or whether he might be in danger for visiting Cochise County, Trump said, “I’ve heard it’s dangerous, but I also have a job to do.”
But, about the specific threat, he said: “I haven’t heard about that; They probably want to keep it from me.”
Jokingly, he said: “Let’s get out of here right now.”
However, Trump did acknowledge that some people didn’t want him to make this border visit because of concerns about his safety. “I have heard it was very unsafe to make this trip,” he said. “And the reason is that I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys.”
Trump’s appearance was held amid undeveloped desert terrain near the Coronado National Memorial following https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/in-arizona-jd-vance-visits-half-finished-border-wall-5698050
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), on Aug. 1.
In advance of Trump’s visit, police blocked nearby roads, and no one was allowed in except pre-approved news crews, guest speakers, campaign staff, and invited guests. Secret Service officers screened all news media personnel—their belongings, equipment, and vehicles.
As Trump spoke, snipers were stationed on elevated platforms nearby.
The former president pointed out that additional barriers had been placed along the wall. The thick metal panels would block people on the Mexican side of the border from seeing attendees of the border event, he said, telling dozens of reporters that this security measure was protecting them, too.
The former president took the opportunity to again commend Secret Service officers as he has done repeatedly since he survived a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I have great respect for Secret Service, the job they do, including a month and a half ago, when they were jumping on top of me with bullets flying right at them,” he said.
In an apparent reference to continuing concerns over security failures at the Butler event, Trump said, “So, mistakes were made, and they’re going to learn from the mistakes. But I have great respect.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 - 13:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pedophile-arrested-death-threats-against-trump-during-arizona-border-visit

2024-08-23 00:25:00

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit From Disabled Workers Against Elon Musk's X
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit From Disabled Workers Against Elon Musk's X
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-from-disabled-workers-against-elon-musks-x-5710791?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin on Aug. 21 dismissed a lawsuit against social media platform X brought by people with disabilities who were fired by the company after Elon Musk bought it.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202024-08-22T111137.419.jpg?itok=XjjfOSAo
Dmitry Borodaenko, an engineering manager who was with X until late 2022, said the firings violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by treating disabled workers differently from others.
Borodaenko did not provide evidence to support this position, Martinez-Olguin https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25057014-judge-order-in-x-disability-lawsuit
.
“Borodaenko fails to show how employees with disabilities were treated differently by Twitter’s broad return-to-the-office policy and increased workload,” she said.
“Borodaenko’s theory improperly relies on the assumption that all employees with disabilities necessarily required remote work as a reasonable accommodation.”
Borodaenko brought the case, and two other disabled former employees were later named as additional plaintiffs.
Arguments against X, formerly known as Twitter, partly rested on the experience of Hana Thier, one of the additional plaintiffs. According to the new ruling, Thier was improperly added after a different judge permitted Borodaenko to file an updated complaint.
Plaintiffs had alleged that Musk was “openly hostile towards disabled employees and insinuated that they were lazy,” and that he had “tweeted that a disabled former Twitter employee used his disability as an excuse not to work.”
Musk later apologized to the worker, who has muscular dystrophy, “for [his] misunderstanding of [the employee’s] situation.”
The plaintiffs also highlighted how Musk quickly reversed previously broad work-from-home policies after buying X, and said any employees who remained with the company would have to be exceptional people and work long hours.
While Musk’s comments “may contribute to a showing of animus, they fall short of illustrating how the new return-to-the-office and increased workload policies treated employees with disabilities differently than similarly-situated employees,” Martinez-Olguin said.
Accusations that Musk’s policies significantly discriminated against disabled workers and are not justified by business necessity also fell short, the judge said.
The allegations presented in the updated complaint “are nothing more than conclusions devoid of factual support,” she said, adding later that “the new allegations fail to move the needle to plead a plausible disparate impact claim.”
The earlier version of the suit had been dismissed but Borodaenko was allowed to file a new version.
The claims “were previously dismissed by the court because plaintiffs failed to allege facts to plausibly state a claim for relief under a theory of either disparate treatment or disparate impact disability discrimination,” X lawyers said. “These same defects remain in the” updated complaint, they said.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit but said that Borodaenko could file an amendment complaint that adequately fixes the failings within 28 days.
Lawyers for X and the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-disabled-workers-against-elon-musks-x

2024-08-22 23:40:00

Quinn: They've Selected Kamala & This Is Their Plan
Quinn: They've Selected Kamala & This Is Their Plan
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/08/22/theyve-selected-kamala-and-this-is-their-plan/
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken
The Powers That Be/Deep State have gone to Plan B, since Plan A was a dementia ridden, pants shitting, child sniffing, corrupt, global embarrassment. Everybody knows Kamala Harris is an extremely unlikable, vacuous, commie, diversity shill, Obama puppet. She couldn’t get above 2% support in the 2020 Democrat primaries and had the lowest popularity rating of any VP in history, because she is an honest to goodness moron. She was selected because she can read a teleprompter better than the shuffling cadaver in the White House. Every time she is stumped by a question, she cackles like a hyena, so she cackles a lot.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kamala-cackle.jpg?itok=Vu_CWfAW
She hasn’t had an original thought or idea in her entire worthless, sleeping up the ladder, life. But, suddenly she is the toast of the town and the regime media has gone into full propaganda mode to elevate her as the joyful diversity queen who will lead us to the promised land. It is beyond laughable, but have you observed the ignorant masses and their immense gullibility and lack of critical thinking skills? The Deep State engineers have, and they know they can place her in the oval office. The propaganda media machine is in full “elect Kamala” mode, as can be seen in the graphic below.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/LegacyMedia.jpg?itok=m6XRY7dJ
The plan to place this low IQ diversity puppet into the White House is multi-faceted.
First, they will flood the airwaves with negative ads about Trump, because her record is non-existent/disastrous. They have hundreds of millions to do so.
Second, they will have their regime media outlets heap praise upon her glorious rise against all odds through her joyful brilliance, while scorning Trump as a criminal, white supremacist, Putin puppet.
Third, they will try to duplicate the “Basement Biden” strategy of 2020 by never letting her speak off the cuff, do interviews without having the questions a week in advance, or god forbid do a press conference. They will make up reasons why she won’t debate Trump, and then blame Trump for not debating. They cannot allow her to talk, because it will immediately reveal she is one of the dumbest human beings on the planet.
Fourth, they will conspire with their regime media partners to rig the polls, showing Kamala leading on a national level and either leading or very close in the seven swing states that matter. Absolutely nothing has changed regarding mail-in ballots since the 2020 stolen election. The Dems continue to register illegals as voters. With the cover of fake polls showing a close race, they will cheat again in all the Democrat controlled urban shitholes to win again. The left wing governor of PA, who isn’t Kamala’s VP because he is a Jew and was nixed by her handlers, has already announced the PA results will not be final on election night. They need to see how far behind they might be to get just enough additional votes from Philly to win the state. Remember the left wing media polls in 2016? Their game plan hasn’t changed.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/chart-2016-10-18.jpg?itok=BEBPRdFt
Fifth, the Deep State will continue to try and drum up a new pandemic (Monkeypox, Bird Flu, New Covid strain) in order to drastically reduce or eliminate in-person voting, so they can commit more mail-in ballot fraud. They also have the old electronic ballot machine manipulation as a back-up plan.
If this multi-faceted plan does not seem to be doing the trick, they will take more extreme measures, as desperation will creep in, knowing their wealth, power and control over the country is in jeopardy. They already tried to assassinate Trump and missed by inches. They will try again and make it look like Iran was the culprit. It isn’t a coincidence they keep pushing us closer and closer towards war with Russia and Iran. As a last resort, they will create a false flag incident designed to start WW3 and rally the country behind the existing regime. They will declare a national emergency and declare it too dangerous to hold elections, so they will be suspended.
No matter how the next three months play out, there will be blood.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/1PK-rJjNwz9rYPYCDF_2TzQ.jpg?itok=AFrNZwes
They will do anything to place that cackling diversity drunk into the White House, and if they fail, all hell will be unleashed, as their BLM, Antifa, and illegal immigrant hordes are activated and instructed to burn it all down. Buckle up. A shit storm is coming.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 17:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/quinn-theyve-selected-kamala-their-plan

2024-08-22 11:00:00

PCR: The Western World Has Succumbed To Tyranny
PCR: The Western World Has Succumbed To Tyranny
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/08/20/the-western-world-has-succumbed-to-tyranny/
We can add Richard Medhurst to Tulsi Gabbard, Scott Ritter, Amb. Craig Murray, Julian Assange, and many others who are harassed, arrested, imprisoned by police state authorities in the US, UK, EU, and Canada for practicing the disappearing profession of journalism.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-21_14-47-05.jpg?itok=nMvLdUqH
When Richard Medhurst can be arrested in a London airport for “expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization,” we know freedom is dead and journalism no longer exists. All that Western journalists are permitted to do today is to support the official lies in the official narratives that are used to construct the false reality in which we live.
We no longer have the BBC, the New York Times, the London Times, ABC, NBC, CBS to hold government accountable. What we have are propaganda ministries that support official narratives.
The job of the Western media is to lie to the people in behalf of the establishment that rules them.
As the growing intimidation of alternative media makes clear, the ability to express truth is rapidly disappearing in the Western world. Soon we will be locked into The Matrix, only there will be no superhuman opposition.
It has been years since we could believe one word that we hear from the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC, the London Times, Telegraph, The Guardian, or the main European media sources.
The notion that the West is free is a joke. When there is no free expression there is only tyranny. And that is what the Western world is. A tyranny.
The reason the Western governments have no difficulty supporting the Nazi governments in Ukraine and Israel is that they are Nazis themselves.
Medhurst describes his arrest. It reminds me of Franz Kafka’s book, The Trial, a story of a man who is arrested by an unaccountable authority who prosecutes him without ever revealing the crime for which he is being punished. This is what happened to Julian Assange who lost a decade of his life to pure tyranny, tyranny supported by American conservatives who are so utterly stupid that they were convinced by official narratives that he was a Russian spy against America.
How does a people this stupid survive. They don’t. The police state that they fell for is now closing around them.
Here is Richard Medhurst to tell you about it:
I Was Arrested at Heathrow Airport as a “Terrorist” for My Journalism
August 20, 2024
I was arrested at Heathrow Airport under the Terrorism Act, Sec 12 because of my reporting.
6 police officers were waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft.
I was held for almost 24 hours and questioned.
I believe I'm the first journalist to be arrested under this… https://t.co/pbf6q5dXIf
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) https://twitter.com/richimedhurst/status/1825663412904288585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
My name is Richard Thomas Medhurst.
I am an internationally accredited journalist from the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, as I landed in London Heathrow airport, I was immediately escorted off the plane by 6 police officers who were waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft.
They arrested me—not detained—but arrested me under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly “expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization” but wouldn’t explain what this meant.
One officer took my bags, and when I asked why he was still back in the aircraft, I was told “look mate, you can get nicked right here in front of everyone, or in there. Your choice.”
I was taken to an adjacent room, patted down, my phone confiscated.
I was not allowed to inform my family.
Despite being calm and cooperative, I was handcuffed with something that placed my shoulders in an awkward position, and my wrists on top of, rather than next to each other. The handcuffs were extremely tight. Despite the police loosening them, they left marks on me for two days.
The police took me down onto the runway and put me in a police van; essentially a mobile cage and informed me everything was being recorded.
The van was cramped. I had to struggle the entire time to keep my balance and try not to fall over as we drove to the police station.
Once inside the station, they searched me again for the 2nd time in 10 minutes.
I was told to sit on a bench, remove my shoes; remove my socks. I was told to turn my socks inside out and hold them up for the officers to inspect.
They also made me hold up my feet for them to check.
The officers took me to a room with UV lights, which they told me is used to catch burglars sprayed with something—I have no idea why they did this, since they just removed me off a plane.
My suitcase was then opened in the lobby and ransacked; all my journalistic equipment and devices were seized, including phones, sim cards, wireless microphones, microphones and headphones. Even my shoelaces.
They later took my DNA, fingerprints, palmprints, and photographed me.
I was placed in solitary confinement, in a cold cell that smelt like urine. There was barely any light, and the bed—if you can even call it a bed—was a small concrete ledge, with a paper thin mattress.
The cell had no windows. No heating. No toilet paper.
I was recorded 24/7, with audio and video— even when going to the toilet.
I had to eat food with a piece of cardboard, that you’re supposed to fold in two in order to scoop up the meal.
The police said I have the right to inform someone I’m locked up. So I said, ok I want to call my family. And then they’d go: “well, your calls are withheld because of the nature of the alleged offense”.
I tried to ask: well what’s the point of a right if you can randomly withdraw it? Why tell me that I have this right at all?
And one of them said something along the lines of: “well it’s not an absolute right. It can be waived”.
Similarly, they said I had the right to know why I was being detained. So I asked (again), and the police would say something like: “we’re just the arresting officers, we don’t really know”, or, “this will be explained to you during the interview”, or some other generic response.
Despite the police officers’ civility and cheerfulness, I felt the whole process was designed to humiliate, intimidate, and dehumanize me; to treat me like a criminal, even though they must have been aware of my background and that I am a journalist.
I was under surveillance almost the entire time, from the moment I was arrested until I was released, be it in the police van, the station, the cell—all of it. No privacy whatsoever.
Many of my requests were also delayed or outright ignored.
When I was detained, I asked for water several times. The police would always say “sure”, but I ended up waiting hours for a tiny cup of water.
I asked if I could have my own clothes because I was in a t-shirt, it was cold and couldn’t sleep. They said they’d give me a pullover but never did. Although one guard did give me a 2nd blanket.
See, you have to nag and nag for the most basic things. This is why I was afraid they weren’t even going to call a solicitor for me.
I was able to see the nurse on one occasion. But on three other occasions when I asked to see the nurse, they’d say “yes”, then nothing.
For many hours, no one in the world knew what had happened to me or where I was.
Only the police could call a solicitor for me. I had to ask 4-5 different guards for several hours until I finally received a call.
Some of my solicitor’s calls did not get through or were not answered. One of the calls, my solicitor was told would be monitored and so they simply refused to take it.
I asked to speak to them afterwards when that happened but was not allowed to.
In total, I spent almost 24 hours in detention. At no point, whatsoever, was I allowed to speak to a family member or friend.
After waiting 15 hours, I was finally interviewed by two detectives. The interview lasted just about an hour, an hour and a half.
So there was clearly no need to hold me there this entire time.
But I believe that this was done on purpose to try to rattle me psychologically.
That failed.
I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police.
I am not a terrorist. I have no criminal record.
Prior to this incident, I’d never been detained in my entire life.
I’m a product of the diplomatic community and I’m raised to be anti-war.
Both my parents won Nobel Peace Prizes for their work as United Nations peacekeepers. They had a tremendous effect on my worldview and outlook, and instilled in me the importance of diplomacy, international law and peace.
I myself, am a victim of terrorism. When I attended the British school in Islamabad, the Egyptian embassy adjacent to my school was blown up in a double bombing.
I categorically and unequivocally condemn terrorism.
I am a Medhurst. My family goes back 1000 years in this country. I come from a long line of public servants. My father served in the London Metropolitan Police, before entering the UN. He is an expert and an authority on counterterrorism who taught me much. My grandfather was in the Royal Air Force during WWII, and his father before him in the British Army in WWI.
I perhaps don’t have the same career paths as them, but I consider my journalism to be a public service and my way of doing my bit for the country, by providing a counterweight to mainstream media.
I love my country and respect its laws and legal institutions.
I get the feeling, nevertheless, that those like myself who are speaking up and reporting on the situation in Palestine are being targeted.
I had booked my ticket to London on the same day. Yet an entire team of police were mobilized to arrest and question me. This is why I felt that it was a pre-planned, coordinated arrest.
Many people have been detained in Britain because of their connection to journalism. Sometimes under the Terrorism Act, sometimes not.
I think of Julian Assange, Craig Murray, Kit Klarenberg, David Miranda, Vanessa Beeley.
However, as far as I’m aware, I’m the only journalist to have been arrested, and held for up to 24 hours under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act.
Keep in mind the conditions I outlined previously: the psychological element that you’re made to wait endlessly, you’re not told what you’re accused of, nor when you’ll be questioned.
Despite being released unconditionally, I do not feel that my bail is truly unconditional.
I am effectively in limbo, not knowing if I will be charged in 3 months, or if I will go to prison.
Journalism is my livelihood. I have an ethical and moral responsibility toward the general public to inform. But I feel that a muzzle has been placed on me.
I simply do not know if or how I can work at all during the next months. Palestine—the humanitarian crisis in Gaza— remain the most pressing news story in the world, however, it seems that any statement, no matter how innocent, factual, and well-intentioned, can be skewed and twisted into an offense of the highest order.
This is precisely the danger and absurdity of the Terrorism Act that I have always sought to impress upon the public, long before I ever became a victim of it myself.
It is out of control and has no place in a democracy.
Counter terrorism laws should be used to fight actual terrorism, not journalism.
We cannot call ourselves a democracy as long as reporters are dragged off of planes and detained and treated like murderers.
I am disgusted that I am being politically persecuted in my own country.
As I do not know if I can still report as a journalist for the next months, I kindly ask for your support during these times.
Freedom of the press, freedom of speech really are under attack. The state is cracking down and escalating, to try and stop people from speaking out against our government’s complicity in genocide.
Please stand not just with me, but with the others who are still inside. I know what they are going through, and the best relief is to know that people on the outside are rooting for you, and doing everything they can to get you out.
Thank you.
Richard Medhurst
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 05:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pcr-western-world-has-succumbed-tyranny

2024-08-22 05:00:00

Beijing Rips Biden For 'Peddling China Nuclear Threat Narrative'
Beijing Rips Biden For 'Peddling China Nuclear Threat Narrative'
China has responded to the fresh NY Times revelation that President Joe Biden recently (and secretly) approved a new nuclear strategic plan that includes US preparations for a simultaneous nuclear war with Russia, China, and North Korea. The new strategic doctrine was reportedly put into effect in March.
"The U.S. is peddling the China nuclear threat narrative, finding excuses to seek strategic advantage," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning https://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-says-seriously-concerned-us-072653082.html
on Wednesday.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/warheads.jpeg?itok=pKLY9dOz
"China is seriously concerned about the relevant report and the facts have fully proved that the United States has constantly stirred up the so-called China nuclear threat theory in recent years," she added.
Mao insisted that instead of hyping fake threats, Washington should pursue setting an example of nuclear disarmament and de-escalation, and reminded a press briefing that Beijing officially maintains a a policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons.
"China has always kept its nuclear capabilities to a minimum required for national security needs with no intention to engage in any arms race with any country," the spokeswoman continued.
She then called attention to the fact that the US possesses "the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal" and at the same time "stubbornly adheres to a nuclear deterrence policy based on the first use of nuclear weapons."
As we https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-approved-secret-nuclear-war-strategy-focused-simultaneous-conflicts
, the US nuclear strategy is updated about every four years or so and is highly classified. The Times described the new strategy as the "first to examine in detail whether the United States is prepared to respond to nuclear crises that break out simultaneously or sequentially, with a combination of nuclear and nonnuclear weapons."
China’s arsenal is still just a fraction of what the US and Russia possess. The State Department https://www.state.gov/transparency-in-the-u-s-nuclear-weapons-stockpile-2/
that the US has 5,748 warheads, including 2,000 that are retired and awaiting dismantlement.
Classified doc reveals Joe Biden 'approved a highly classified nuclear strategic plan that reorients US deterrent strategy to focus on China's rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal'
White House - "Not a response to any single entity, country nor threat" https://t.co/svHGmQvfcJ
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1826299796589531260?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to the Arms Control Association, Russia has 5,580 warheads, including 1,200 that are retired and awaiting dismantlement. Russia has 1,549 nuclear warheads that are deployed, and the US deploys 1,419.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 23:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beijing-rips-biden-peddling-china-nuclear-threat-narrative

2024-08-22 04:35:00

Diversity Is A False Religion To Destroy America
Diversity Is A False Religion To Destroy America
https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/21/diversity-is-a-false-religion-to-destroy-america/
This week, the https://www.nas.org/
produced similar documents before that.
The https://www.nas.org/reports/dei-and-maryland-college-campuses
“Eliminating discrimination means eliminating all of it … distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their nature odious.”
Virginia’s report is similar to the others with its focus on money, asking https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf
show that UVA’s DEI expenditures have skyrocketed even more, with over $20 million spent in 2023 including for 235 DEI employees.
That’s taxpayer money not spent on instruction, library holdings, or lab equipment.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-1369972777.jpg?itok=-P4AoQdx
The “diversity” contagion is a relatively recent mind virus. The word was almost unheard of for most of American history, making its first real appearance in a https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/regents_of_the_university_of_california_v_bakke_(1978)
in education. The brief mention may have seemed innocuous but “diversity” was then seized upon by those hostile to Western civilization to dilute social cohesion in Western nations. (Diversity is not a thing in Japan, which would likely view it as an act of war.)
America typifies the West as it is a product of Great Britain and, for its first 200 years, was populated almost entirely by Western peoples of the United Kingdom and Europe. America’s founding documents—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—enshrine Western principles of limited government for a free and presumably moral people. In fact, most founders emphasized that the Constitution would not work without a moral people. And the governance established by the Constitution—its separation of powers, its checks and balances including between the federal and state powers—reflects America’s Christian heritage and especially the Christian notion of man’s tendency toward corruption and sin. Hence the checks on power. As Lord Acton famously explained, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Nowhere in these founding documents does the word “diversity” appear, nor do its partner buzzwords “equity,” “inclusion,” etc. In fact, diversity ideology is not only un-American (that is, not part of our basic laws), it’s arguably anti-American in that it obsesses about race to pit Americans against each other. It also undermines America as the land of opportunity where individuals matter most—their talent, industry, and character.
Where America would value the individual, https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/tribalism-or-individualism
. It’s preoccupied with groups, typically based on race or sex. All this fosters poisonous identity politics where the individual barely matters. This also undermines excellence as the tribe trumps individual talent. It’s no coincidence that collectivist, socialist regimes tend to have crumbling bridges, bad cars, and outdated technologies. They’re against individual achievement. America was never like this. But it’s getting that way now.
Worse, diversity ideologies always have a religious flavor. They’re packaged as moral imperatives and pitched especially to young people as if they’re a “new and improved” ethics. Young people are by definition inexperienced and usually unwise—which is to say, they’re easy prey. Family and societal breakdown has also made them unanchored, free radicals who are even easier to manipulate, indoctrinate, and control. And they’re https://www.goacta.org/2024/07/acta-releases-alarming-new-survey-showing-dangerous-level-of-civic-illiteracy-among-college-students/
in the slave trade, with one African tribe often selling another to the Europeans. They also don’t seem to realize that Europeans—“whites”—were the ones to abolish slavery. Even today, slavery remains a common practice in much of the world, especially within the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia. Any praise for Western civilization and especially its religious heritage for this moral progress? Nope. Just more diversity propaganda, the false religion.
America needs to reject these destructive diversity ideologies and return to its place as the land of opportunity for individuals—its citizens. It can start by rooting out DEI in its educational institutions, starting with colleges and universities. It’s none too soon.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 22:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/diversity-false-religion-destroy-america

2024-08-22 03:20:00

Northwestern Implements 'Mandatory Anti-Hate Trainings' Following Chaotic Gaza Campus Protests
Northwestern Implements 'Mandatory Anti-Hate Trainings' Following Chaotic Gaza Campus Protests
Higher education is nothing more than https://www.zerohedge.com/political/harvard-leftist-summer-reading-list-recommends-book-how-indoctrinate-students-crt
, costing students (or taxpayers, in some cases) tens of thousands of dollars per year to be uploaded with the woke mind virus. Some of these woke activist students were triggered earlier this year, spewing racist hate speech and death threats against Jewish students (and we're sure the hate went both ways) over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
RAINING: 2:15pm Friday at the pro-Palestinian protest at Northwestern University In Evanston, Illinois. Much of the crowd which reached over 600 a hour ago is leaving. Everybody else moving to tents and covering food & signs with tarps. https://t.co/QzAjTTHNt8
— Mark Weyermuller (@publicpolicyman) https://twitter.com/publicpolicyman/status/1783938999448469665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The chaos and hate that flooded schoolyards at universities and colleges like Northwestern University earlier this year has served as a major wake-up call for Americans, leading many to question how leftist institutions might be indoctrinating vulnerable young minds.
Hate at Northwestern must have been such a serious issue for the administration because now, the school has https://www.northwestern.edu/leadership-notes/2024/an-update-on-summer-work-at-northwestern.html
mandatory training for all students on preventing antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.
"There is no room on our campus for antisemitism; there is no room for Islamophobia; there is no room for racism and other forms of identity-based hate. Northwestern will not tolerate behavior or speech that harms members of our community," Northwestern President Michael Schill wrote in a statement.
Schill revealed new 'educational opportunities' for students this coming semester:
Mandatory trainings on antisemitism and other forms of hate will be used in September at incoming student orientation and over the Fall Quarter for all returning students. Training also will be provided to staff and faculty.
A set of lectures and panels on antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism as well as the history and politics of the conflict in the Middle East.
This comes as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators clashed on campus in late 2023 and through the spring 2024 semester. Also, there was a failed effort by the pro-Palestinian side to force Northwestern's administration to divest from all things Israel.
Meanwhile, Harvard University added a new essay topic for applicants: how they handle disagreements.
The changes are coming in response to a nation shocked after witnessing the out-of-control uprisings at left-wing colleges and universities over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, along with the surge of hate that emerged from these woke institutions.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 21:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/northwestern-implements-mandatory-anti-hate-trainings-following-chaotic-gaza-campus

2024-08-22 01:40:09

Wall Street Outraged Over Latest Epic F*ck Up By Biden's Labor Department
Wall Street Outraged Over Latest Epic F*ck Up By Biden's Labor Department
It's delightfully fitting that on the day the entire financial world was holding its breath for Biden's highly politicized and grossly incompetent Bureau of Labor Statistics to admit it had massively fucked up the jobs data over the past year, that Biden's highly politicized and grossly incompetent Bureau of Labor Statistics fucked up even more.
At exactly 10am ET this morning, the BLS was supposed to publish its annual https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesprelbmk.htm
, which was the second biggest annual overestimation of job creation in US history... something that surely was pure coincidence in an election year).
However, 10:01am ET hit... and nothing happened: millions of traders, thousands of economists and countless macrotourists were furiously slamming the F5 key, refreshing the revisions page to see.... nothing change. This went on, and on, and on.... and even though the market actually reacted as if data had been published, it turned out that algos were merely responding to phantom triggers in hopes of triggering momentum ignition up or down. No actual data was reported.
Market reacts to the BLS revision number which hasn't been published yet
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1826258568397664292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As the desperate wait continued, and as seconds turned to minutes, we joked - nearly 30 minutes after the report was originally due - by publishing the phone number for the BLS department responsible for today's report.
https://t.co/mdFRtZoIqY
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1826264711962513810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As it turns out, at least some people had more luck than us in reaching said department (we repeatedly got voicemail with the promise that someone would get back to us in 24-48 hours), because as https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-21/banks-obtained-key-jobs-revisions-data-while-report-was-delayed
reports, "at least three banks managed to obtain key payroll numbers Wednesday while the rest of Wall Street was kept waiting for a half-hour by a government delay that whipsawed markets and sowed confusion on trading desks."
That's right: while the rest of the world was freaking out, paralyzed by the gross incompetence of the Biden Department of Labor (which, as a reminder, was merely informing us of just how incompetent it truly was by overestimating nearly 1 million jobs in 2024), banks such as Mizuho, BNP Paribas and Nomura all called into the phone number listed above... and got the answer, by some absolute BLS moron who was not aware that they are leaking material, non-public information to extremely sophisticated investors while the rest of the world was stuck in the dark courtesy of, well, other absolute BLS moron who had days if not weeks to prepare today's report and yet still couldn't get it out on time... or even 30 minutes after time.
And then, frustration turned to anger and outrage on Wall Street as word spread from trading desk to trading desk that the BLS was releasing the number to some firms over the phone!
When the data was finally released shortly after 10:30 am, it showed payrolls will likely be revised down by 818,000 for the 12 months through March, the biggest downward revision to the job numbers since 2009.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/historical%20payrolls%20revisions_0.jpg?itok=aB5PWMNH
Stocks initially jumped and bonds gained because the report lent support to speculation that the Fed will start cutting interest rates next month, then quickly reversed as panic seemed to sweep over Wall Street at the thought that the BIden admin had been actively covering up a labor market recession. In the end, hopium won out and stocks closed near the highs of the day, because - well - Powell will always make sure stocks keeps rising.
"I don’t wonder that people are upset,” Nancy Tengler, the chief executive officer of Laffer Tengler Investments. “The whole thing reeks of incompetence."
Well, yeah, but what makes it especially hilarious is that the incompetence came on the day the BLS was admitting 12 months of prior propaganda incompetence. Seriously, not even the USSR had fuck ups of this caliber.
The delay - and subsequent one-by-one disclosure - is the latest in a series of embarrassing mishaps to roil Labor Department data releases, which hilarious is who the markets have to rely on for "accurate" data on the state of the US labor market and the trajectory of inflation and the economy.
In a post on X, the agency said it was “looking into the reason for the delay”...
We are aware there was a delay to the CES preliminary benchmark announcement. We are looking into the reason for the delay. We have no additional information to share regarding the delay at this time. https://t.co/nXPlwtZZa7
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) https://twitter.com/BLS_gov/status/1826283709408174333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
... to which https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1826400376859623646+
that when the idiots responsible for this latest fuck up are fired, the BLS should make sure to seasonally adjust it so it adds at least another 1 million government jobs.
As Bloomberg reminds us, the government’s economic data reports were once released under tightly controlled embargos to accredited news agencies, including Bloomberg. But the practice was abandoned during the pandemic, when departments across the government shifted to just releasing the data on the Internet to everyone at once. Officials said that method would better protect the security of market-moving data, but instead all it did was create groups of https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-09/jpmorgan-blackrock-among-bls-economist-s-cpi-super-users
" who had preferential and early access to government data from Biden's corrupt agency.
When it didn’t come out on time, Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior US economist BNP Paribas, said she kept refreshing the web page, waiting for the numbers. Then “we called the public line a couple times and they gave us the number,” she said.
Steven Ricchiuto, chief US economist at Mizuho, did the same. “Knowing the data was delayed we had to call for the number before it showed up on their website,” he said.
ZeroHedge itself received the leaked data at 10:24am ET through our expert network, but not even we dared to publish it to our premium subscribers amid concerns that the BLS could not possibly be this stupid and incompetent to be releasing the number on a case by case basis instead of blasting it to the entire world at the same time.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/818k.jpg?itok=LDhDmQjy
In the end, it turned out the BLS was even more incompetent than we could possibly imagine.
“I am more than a little annoyed,” said Troy Ludtka, senior US economist at SMBC Nikko Securities Americas, who was among those who waited on the public release.
“To put it in the most generous terms: Government agencies absolutely cannot be selectively releasing critical, market-moving information to some agents and broker dealers first via telephone while keeping others in the dark,” he said. “This is anathema to the very idea of a balanced market built on fair, accessible information.”
Troy, but you ain't seen nothing yet: if Kamala wins and if the US goes full Kam-unist, the very idea of a balanced market will be anathema, replaced by centrally planned... well, everything.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/wall-street-outraged-over-latest-epic-fk-bidens-labor-department

2024-08-22 00:50:00

After Undercover Ops, Texas Launches Investigation Into Orgs 'Illegally Registering Non-Citizens To Vote'
After Undercover Ops, Texas Launches Investigation Into Orgs 'Illegally Registering Non-Citizens To Vote'
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-launches-investigation-reports-organizations-may-be-illegally
on Wednesday into organizations that are allegedly registering non-citizens to vote.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/waiting%20for.JPG?itok=zcRhnYE1
Following undercover operations, the AG's Election Integrity Unit found that multiple nonprofit organizations have opened booths outside of Texas Department of Public Safety Driver's license offices in order to 'assist' with voter registration.
According to Paxton's office, "Texans are deeply troubled by the possibility that organizations purporting to assist with voter registration are illegally registering noncitizens to vote in our elections."
"The Biden-Harris Administration has intentionally flooded our country with illegal aliens, and without proper safeguards, foreign nationals can illegally influence elections at the local, state, and national level. It is a crime to vote—or to register to vote—if you are not a United States Citizen. Any wrongdoing will be punished to the fullest extent of the law," Paxton continued.
🚨Breaking: I am launching an investigation into reports that organizations in Texas are illegally registering non-citizens to vote.
Texans are deeply troubled by the possibility that organizations purporting to assist with voter registration are illegally registering… https://t.co/ayXqy3eogG
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) https://twitter.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1826329904293839192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/19/texas-gop-looking-into-reports-that-dems-are-registering-noncitizens-to-vote-outside-of-dmvs/
notes further,
On Sunday, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo https://x.com/MariaBartiromo/status/1825169849363972404
that, according to a friend, Democrats had set up voter registration drives outside of three DMVs in Weatherford and Fort Worth.
“Friend of mine’s wife had to take her 16 yr old son to the DMV this week for a new license,” Bartiromo began.
Couldn’t get an online appointment (all full) so went in person and had to go to 3 DMV’s to get something done. First DMV was in Weatherford. Had a massive line of immigrants getting licenses and had a tent and table outside the front door of the DMV registering them to vote! Second one was in Fort Worth with same lines and same Dems out front. Third one was in North Fort Worth had no lines but had same voter registration drive.
Brady Gray, Chairman of the Parker County Republican Party in Weatherford, https://x.com/Brady_Gray/status/1825322102058090689
saying he would look into it.
“Under Kamala’s watch the border has been overrun, now MY county is being overrun,” Gray wrote. “I’m done listening to those who claim ‘replacement theory’ is racist and conspiratorial. Democrats are intentionally trying to circumvent law to steal elections. That’s not hyperbole, it’s a fact.”
The Republican chairman added that since Bartiromo’s disturbing post went out, he had been inundated with messages from concerned residents asking if the Parker County GOP was aware of the report.
“We are, and I will be fully investigating the claims in our community,” Gray said.
Bo French, chairman of the Tarrant County GOP also https://x.com/Bo_French_TX/status/1825198370656317797
to the story on X: “This is beyond troubling. It’s time we not only shut down the border, we need to immediately implement e-verify, proof of citizenship to vote and deport every illegal alien in America,” he said. “As for this election, we need intervention from @GovAbbo @DanPatrick @KenPaxtonTX to prevent illegals from voting. We are on the cusp of losing Texas forever.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reposted Bartiromo’s post on Sunday without comment, signaling that the shocking report was also on his radar.
American Greatness has reached out to the Texas AG’s office, the Parker County GOP, and the Tarrant County GOP for further comment.
Another X account, Hollywood Resistance, reported a similar voter-registration drive was happening in McKinney, Texas.
“On either side of the [DMV]doors were voter registration tables, & all the signs were in Spanish. Not one word of English. No asking for ID, just for an address,” Hollywood Resistance https://x.com/ResistItAllTX/status/1825189681077571637
The Biden regime has allowed and in many cases, facilitated the entrance of 12 to 18 million migrants into the United States in the past three and a half years, leading many Republicans to fear that https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-battle-lines-of-2024s-epic-struggle/
of election-changing voter fraud is imminent.
https://whoscounting.us/
Ben Weingarten that two factors are about to produce that perfect storm: “the invasion of our country by millions of illegals” and new Democrat-driven policies that ease voter registration and participation limits.
A new https://www.justfacts.com/news_non-citizen_voter_registration
estimates that 10–27 percent of noncitizen adults are registered to vote illegally, and 5–13 percent expected to cast illegal ballots in 2024.
According to Mitchell and other election integrity experts, significant numbers of these noncitizens will wind up on voter rolls thanks to Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14019, which directs every federal agency to register and mobilize voters.
Officials in Alabama and Mississippi say that under the executive order, which RCI has previously examined, authorities are already attempting to register noncitizens to vote. The Biden Administration initiative calls on federal agencies to coordinate with third-party groups in pursuit of its objectives as well.
In testimony before the House Administration Committee in May, J. Christian Adams, a fellow former DOJ official and president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, affirmed that “most often noncitizens are getting on the rolls through the motor voter registration process or third-party registration drives.”
During the congressional election integrity hearing in May, New York University Brennan Center for Justice President Michael Waldman repeated the Democrat mantra that “under current law, noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal four times over: it is both a state and federal crime to register to vote, and it is both a state and federal crime to vote in federal elections.”
While its arguable that these laws are sufficient to curb noncitizen registration and voting, voter integrity experts claim that the ultimate goal of illegal voter registrations is to generate ballots for Democrat groups to harvest.
According to Adams, there is “almost nothing the public or political parties can do on the back end to identify, challenge, and invalidate noncitizen votes prior to election certification.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 18:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/after-undercover-ops-texas-launches-investigation-orgs-illegally-registering-non-citizens

2024-08-22 00:25:00

Harris's Kamunist Agenda Faces Harsh Reality
Harris's Kamunist Agenda Faces Harsh Reality
https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/18/harriss-kamunist-agenda-faces-harsh-reality/
Don’t cry for me, Argentina.
Cry for Kamala the https://nypost.pressreader.com/new-york-post/20240817/281479281733497/textview
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/230131150635-02-kamala-harris.jpg?itok=8gyEksrj
It took them a while, it’s true, but at least Argentina has someone with a rudimentary knowledge of economics in charge.
Indeed, Javier Milei, one of my favorite leaders on the world stage today (along with Viktor Orbán, Benjamin Netanyahu, Georgia Meloni, and Nayib Bukele) is a Trump-like dynamo. If I had a more developed entrepreneurial bent, I would try marketing a line of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYFQwfBZUi8
—surprise, surprise—has sparked a 195% rise in available housing stock.
Meanwhile, the socialists funneling ideas to Harris have put together an economic plan redolent of Venezuela or, indeed, the Soviet Union. Its centerpiece revolves around centrally promulgated and enforced wage and price controls—a recipe for shortages and inflation.
The plan itself has been ridiculed across the ideological spectrum, from CNN to The Wall Street Journal. “Harris’ plan to stop price gouging,” https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/16/business/harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation/index.html
in a masterpiece of understatement, “could create more problems than it solves.”
The https://www.wsj.com/opinion/kamala-harris-economic-plan-price-controls-housing-child-tax-credit-richard-nixon-a37e08b4
. For one thing, there is “no evidence that supermarkets or other food retailers are gouging anyone. Food prices are higher than they were before the Biden Presidency, but that is because of inflation.”
And who caused that inflation, Kemo Sabe? The man with the keys to the money duplicating machine, Joe Biden or his handlers.
Moreover, “fixing prices is a recipe for shortages, as controls would discourage grocery suppliers. Voilà, empty store shelves. Price controls have led to shortages everywhere they’ve been tried, from Moscow to Caracas.”
Some of the propaganda press—The New York Times, MSNBC, etc—have been working overtime to keep up a brave face. The low hum you hear is the hydrogen pumps shooting gas into the leaky balloon of the Democrat consortium. As I have noted ever since Kamala was plucked out of the bin marked “ridiculous” and dusted off as the mannequin’s understudy, the intoxicating paroxysms of glee that convulsed the left-leaning media pundits was but a https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/04/kamala-harris-and-the-masque-of-magical-thinking/
. It induced feelings of giddiness but could not last. I thought it would probably linger through the DNC convention next week, but the manic phase is already passing the stupor consequent on the sudden drop in energy has set in.
The depressive funk is not helped by the Harris campaign’s strategy of “out-of-sight-out-of-mind.” They concluded that it worked with Joe Biden in 2020, and so they thought they would try it again. But there is no COVID emergency to shut the country down this time around and it is pretty clear that the Dems’ basement strategy cannot be successfully dusted off and applied to Kamala. True, she is nearly as inarticulate as Biden, but the public will not put up with the Wizard of Oz gambit a second time.
Besides, Team Trump is wheeling out all sorts of embarrassing things that will destroy Harris if they are not effectively answered.
For example, a https://x.com/mirandadevine/status/1824800024301093073
discussing her support of the government taking over private patents by fiat has surfaced and is being industriously circulated.
I will snatch their patents, so that we [the American government] will take over.
Yes we can do that!
The question is: ‘Do you have the will to do it’!?
I have the will to do it.
Noted.
I almost feel sorry for Harris, emphasis on the adverb. https://x.com/chuckcallesto/status/1824823753651392742?s=43
are that 100,000 protestors are set to converge on Chicago next week to torch the city and torment Democrat convention-goers. Will it be a bigger, badder version of what happened in Chicago in 1968? That time, golden boy Hubert Humphrey* went in on a cloud of fairy dust and came out of the convention 20 points behind Nixon.
Efforts to paint Trump and JD as “https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxep081_pqjhlklLbfLA74HdeSp77fJQTA?feature=shared
ideas like exempting tips from federal income tax.
Even more damaging have been the mounting attacks by conservatives on the whole Harris-Walz concession. Governor Walz has turned out to be a special kind of liability, a sick freak who https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/aug/7/walz-dubbed-tampon-tim-by-trump-fans-over-law-requ/
as the BLM rioters rampaged through the city. His patina of plaid, dad-like folksiness is completely belied by his sympathy for Communist China not to mention his personal inclinations.
Why was Walz picked as Harris’s running mate in the first place? One midwestern friend might have hit upon the answer. Tim Walz, he said, was what the coastal elites of this country believe a midwesterner looks and acts like. He has all the “progressive” attitudes of the left, but he articulates them accoutered in a more string-tie, aw-shucks manner
I expected a certain amount of small-caliber fire by now, but it turns out that Trump supporters are already pounding Harris-Walz with heavy artillery. For example, speaking on “The Five” just a few days ago, https://x.com/AmericanHubener/status/1824794219975741533
Harris’s record on the border, inflation, and other issues.
What’s coming will not be pretty. But I predict that it will be cathartic. It’s hard to know just how much of a hose Trump’s victory will be for the rank Augean stables of Democrat incumbency. Doubtless, many clumps of ordure will remain. Many, however, will be flushed into the impatient, rushing currents of change. I am looking forward to it.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/harriss-kamunist-agenda-faces-harsh-reality

2024-08-22 00:00:00

Israeli Assassinations Are Near-Daily In Lebanon, Airstrikes Reaching Deeper
Israeli Assassinations Are Near-Daily In Lebanon, Airstrikes Reaching Deeper
The past several days have seen a significant uptick in rare Israeli airstrikes deep into Lebanese territory, with multiple airstrikes having hit the Bekaa Valley in the country's east.
Most of the strikes were late Monday into Tuesday, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) describing that fighter jets attacked a "Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the area of Bekaa Valley in Lebanon" - resulting in massive fireballs lighting up the night sky.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/carstrike.jpg?itok=Oi5k3mf8
"Following the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large amounts of weapons in the facilities struck," the Israeli army https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-strikes-hezbollah-weapons-depots-deep-in-lebanon-after-deadly-drone-attack/
.
These strikes occurred more than 40 miles from the Israeli border, and Israeli typically launches such rare long-range operations in response to deadly Hezbollah rocket attacks. This latest escalation came after a Hezbollah attack killed a 45-year old IDF Warrant Officer in the Western Galilee.
As for the latest IDF attacks on Bekaa, Lebanon’s health ministry said in the aftermath that eight people total, including two Syrian children, were wounded. Hezbollah then retaliated with some 200 rockets fired at Israel on Tuesday.
"Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19," AP reports. "On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more than 200 projectiles toward Israel, after Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border, a significant increase in the daily skirmishes."
Wednesday has seen at least 50 Hezbollah rockets fired on northern Israel, reportedly in response to the IDF assassinating a top Palestinian official from the West Bank who was in southern Lebanon when his vehicle was struck. The targeted killing happened outside the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon. Al Jazeera's correspondent https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/21/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-bombards-gaza-lebanon-us-says-deal-near?update=3130877
:
The strike targeted Khalil al-Maqdah, a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a loose coalition of Palestinian groups that believe in armed resistance. The Martyrs Brigades issued a statement, calling [al-Maqdah] a commander who played a key role in supporting the Palestinian people and supporting Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.
A short while ago, we saw the Lebanese army take away the car that [al-Maqdah] was targeted in.
Israel has been escalating its attacks as of late, expanding the scope of its attacks. And clearly there’s no front line any longer.
Al Jazeera concludes after this latest that "Targeted killings are becoming a near-daily occurrence."
Below: Hezbollah arms depot struck, far away from Israeli border...
بالفيديو: أول لحظات الغارات على https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— كواليس بيروت - Kawalis Beirut (@KawalisBeirut) https://twitter.com/KawalisBeirut/status/1825591635972874517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As both sides slide closer to potential all-out war, which could eventually witness an Israeli military invasion of southern Lebanon, the AP tallies that "The exchanges have killed more than 500 people in Lebanon — mostly militants but also including around 100 civilians and non-combatants — and 23 soldiers and 26 civilians in Israel."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 18:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israeli-assassinations-are-near-daily-lebanon-airstrikes-reaching-deeper

2024-08-21 23:40:00

'Two Minutes Of Hate': Dems Roll Surreal, Unhinged Attack Montage On Loop At The DNC
'Two Minutes Of Hate': Dems Roll Surreal, Unhinged Attack Montage On Loop At The DNC
https://thedailybell.com/all-articles/two-minutes-of-hate-dems-roll-surreal-unhinged-attack-montage-on-loop-at-the-dnc/
In George Orwell’s prophetic and seminal work, 1984, the Two Minutes of Hate was a daily ritual of operant conditioning, in which a video reel depicting enemies of the state was broadcast throughout society with the express aim of whipping the masses into a frenetic state of loathing towards any who opposed Big Brother.
Since the appearance of the “Dark Brandon” entity, the non-brainwashed have been wary of the nasty turn politics has taken in the United States, and elsewhere.
If four years of unhinged Trump Derangement Syndrome from the MSM wasn’t enough, now the President and incumbent party was channeling unrestrained animus at roughly half the U.S. population.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/big-brother-brandon-1024x340.jpg?itok=yCcGbr54
While constantly professing to be the party for “preserving democracy” https://bombthrower.com/the-radical-left-cant-understand-why-normal-people-are-angry/
, the US Democratic Party is channeling ominous and blatant overtones of repression, dare I say, even hatred toward their fellow citizens who may not be so like-minded.
So far the Democratic National Convention has been a dumpster fire of cringe, disrespect and hypocrisy but one takeaway, posted on twitter (I originally saw it here) takes the cake:
Grotesque and somewhat s*xualized images of https://twitter.com/laurenboebert?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Arjun Singh (@arjunswritings) https://twitter.com/arjunswritings/status/1826117719210467832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The profanity laden video depicts political opponents as cockroaches (could you imagine the reaction if a conservative made that comparison?), and sprinkles in sexualized images, including Elon Musk deep throating a phallic object labeled “MAGAsickle”.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dnc-montage.jpg?itok=aBPqIcRS
If there was any doubt that the Democratic Party has been captured by far-left lunatics, the big takeaways were:
America is evil (MAGA literally stands for restoring the country to its former grandeur)
Wealth is evil (“F*CK BILLIONAIRES”), and
Literal communism (“REDISTRIBUTE THAT SHIT”)
This is the core takeaway from the DNC platform 👇 https://t.co/Rc7koxy3py
— The Daily Bell: Far Right Dumpster Fire Of Freedom (@TheBell_News) https://twitter.com/TheBell_News/status/1826276167617593823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In case you were wondering what you’re really voting for if you tick the box for the Dems this November – it’s looks like some kind of deranged mutation of Orwell’s 1984 and Ayn Rand’s “We The Living”, replete with wealth redistribution https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-08-21/six-straight-minutes-democrats-calling-re-education-camps
.
Remember – it’s always relatively easy to vote your way into communism – but you have to fight your way out.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 17:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/two-minutes-hate-dems-roll-surreal-unhinged-attack-montage-loop-dnc

2024-08-21 23:20:00

Top Biden-Harris Official Calls For 'Queering Nuclear Weapons'
Top Biden-Harris Official Calls For 'Queering Nuclear Weapons'
A recent Biden-Harris administration Department of Energy high level hire is attracting controversy, as well as appropriate widespread mockery, for publishing formal articles calling for the "queering of nuclear weapons". This is almost word-for-word an actual title of one of her papers.
Sneha Nair was named special assistant in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) less than a year ago, and since then several of her recent academic papers have been unearthed, focusing on "the relationship between queerness and nuclear policy" as a "substantive" issue. Bellow is one such paper co-authored by Nair, featured at the prominent publication https://thebulletin.org/2023/06/queering-nuclear-weapons-how-lgbtq-inclusion-strengthens-security-and-reshapes-disarmament/
...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bulletinnkweapons.jpg?itok=RoR2OisF
The article, which is one of several such examples authored by her, claims that "discrimination against queer people can undermine nuclear security and increase nuclear risk."
"Equity and inclusion for queer people is not just a box-ticking exercise in ethics and social justice; it is also essential for creating effective nuclear policy," Nair continues.
And supposedly the US homeland faces greater nuclear risk if there is "exclusion" and "unfair" treatment under the aegis of the supposed white male patriarchy. Below are some actual segments taken from this top Biden official's work, which includes interesting buzzwords like a "male-dominated" "nuclear priesthood" [emphasis ZH]:
Exclusion and unfair treatment of queer individuals and other minorities by a homogenous, cis-heteronormative community of practitioners also creates vulnerabilities in nuclear decision making.
* * *
Including a wider range of perspectives in nuclear decision making creates a more comprehensive definition of who or what constitutes a “threat” to nuclear security. An example of this is the threat posed by some white supremacist groups with plans to acquire nuclear weapons or material, which can go undetected when a white-majority workforce does not perceive these groups and their ideological motivation as a relevant threat to their nuclear security mission.
* * *
Nuclear deterrence is associated with "rationality" and "security," while disarmament and justice for nuclear weapon victims are coded as “emotion” and a lack of understanding of the “real” mechanics of security.
* * *
Queer theory is also about rejecting binary choices and zero-sum thinking, such as the tenet that nuclear deterrence creates security and disarmament creates vulnerability.
* * *
Diversity and inclusion are especially important for the policy community dealing with arsenal development and nuclear posture. Women familiar with this “nuclear priesthood” describe it as “male-dominated and unwelcoming.”
Meet Sneha Nair, who Biden appointed as special assistant at the Department of Energy.
Nair wrote that "queer theory" is essential for deterring threats to nuclear energy facilities in the U.S.
Can someone explain how "queer theory" has anything to do with managing our nuclear… https://t.co/YtqXcJA0CU
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1826276422081540572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And considering one more rather interesting quote, perhaps Russia's Putin or China's Xi is open to hearing about the "hidden stories" of "trauma" among those personnel overseeing America's nuclear arsenal?...
"Finally, queer theory informs the struggle for nuclear justice and disarmament," Nair wrote. "Queer theory helps to shift the perception of nuclear weapons as instruments for security by telling the hidden stories of displacement, illness, and trauma caused by their production and testing."
Nair appears to have risen to her position on a DEI wave of new hires. She has recently vowed to focus her efforts on implementing 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' values at the highest levels of US national security. "By understanding DEI as a set of values critical to security, and therefore as an element of an effective nuclear security culture, stakeholders can explore how DEI can contribute to stronger security at nuclear facilities," she has written.
Meanwhile, Fox News has also noted her pre-administration position and https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-harris-department-energy-official-calls-queering-nuclear-weapons-part-radical-dei-agenda
:
Before she joined the administration, she worked for the Stimson Institute, which has received hundreds of thousands from Soros' Open Society Foundations and millions from "The Embassy of the State of Qatar" over the years, Fox News Digital's review of their funding sources revealed.
This is all coming to light quite dangerously at a moment the Ukraine war is escalating by the day, given especially that the ongoing Kursk incursion risks deeper NATO involvement, and amid the recent infusion of more Western weapons into the conflict, especially US-made F-16 fighter jets.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/nukerainbow.jpg?itok=fVXxpr9s
Additionally, just this week The NY Times revealed that President Biden last March made changes to US strategic doctrine. "In a classified document approved in March, the president ordered U.S. forces to prepare for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea," https://archive.vn/gK49G#selection-691.0-691.172
wrote. Alongside, Putin and Xi, North Korea's Kim is surely not going to be 'scared' or impressed by our new DEI nuke officials.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 17:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/top-biden-harris-official-calls-queering-nuclear-weapons

2024-08-21 17:16:42

US Jobs Revised Down By 818,000 In Election Year Shocker, Second Worst Revision In US History
US Jobs Revised Down By 818,000 In Election Year Shocker, Second Worst Revision In US History
Back in March, when most of Wall Street and economists still believed the lies spewed forth by the Biden Bureau of Labor Statistics, which intentionally uses inaccurate, rushed "data" from the Establishment survey which is meant to pad sentiment and make the economy appears far stronger than it is (as one can see by the constant monthly downward revisions), we did an in-depth analysis looking at the actual, "uncooked" numbers published by the Philadelphia Fed preview of the annual Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages employment revision, and warned our readers that actual US payrolls are overstated by at least 800,000.
Philadelphia Fed Admits US Payrolls Overstated By At Least 800,000 https://t.co/JZZxweddh9
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1773436179498598623?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Specifically, we concluded that "the BLS had overstated payrolls by 800,000 through Dec 2023 (and more if one were to extend the data series into 2024)" and added that "it's truly statistically remarkable how every time the data error is in favor of a stronger, if fake, economy."
Furthermore, we also noted that the revision "also means that far from the stellar 230K average monthly increase in payrolls in 2023, which the White House would spin time and again as direct evidence of the benefits of Bidenomics, the true average monthly payroll increase in 2023 was only 130K! The full monthly change in payrolls as originally reported by the BLS (in green) and the actual monthly number, as per the QCEW (in red) is shown below."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/QCEW%20cs%20NFP%20monthly_2.png?itok=4NOG0_9M
This matters because as we reminded https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1825248254893953351
, "the preliminary estimate of the benchmark revision indicates an adjustment to March 2024 total nonfarm employment of -818,000 (-0.5 percent)" or just above the 800,000 was said to expect back in March.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/BLS%20job%20revisions%202024.jpg?itok=E4k1yXaU
The revision is mainly due to the highest-paying sectors: i.e., professional services -358k, leisure -150k, and manufacturing -115k. Not at all surprising: government was revised +1,000.
How big is the 818,000 revision in contact? As the chart below shows, the 2024 revision was the biggest in the past decade, and the second biggest on record, with just the 824K downward revision in 2009 just (barely) greater.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/payroll%20benchmark%20revisions%20historical.jpg?itok=l9lHyFE3
Putting it all together, we now know - as we reported first back in March - that the labor market is, and was, far weaker than conventionally believed. In fact, no less than 800,000 payrolls would end up "missing" when one uses the far more accurate Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data rather than the BLS' woefully inaccurate and politically mandated payrolls "data", and if one looks back the the monthly gains across most of 2023, one gets not 218K jobs added on average every month but rather 150K, a 31% decline. Needless to say, the market would look very different if it had known that effectively all the payroll "beats" of the past year would be deleted!
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/monthly%20change%20post%20revision.jpg?itok=bvXMVHrX
Of course, none of that paints Bidenomics, or Kamalanomics, or whatever it is now, in a flattering picture, because while one can at least pretend that issuing $1 trillion in debt every 100 days to add 3 million jos per year is somewhat acceptable, learning that that ridiculous amount buys 800,000 jobs less is hardly the endorsement that the White House needs. On the flip side, pretending that the US had added an additional 800,000 jobs in the past year is precisely what Biden, and now, Kamala would have wanted to generate the kind of buzz and momentum that somehow translates into the "greatest economy ever"... at least until it is all revised away as the admin's lies finally wash away.
What is the implication for the market? Well, as UBS trader Leo He correctly notes, "the Fed is well aware of nonfarm payrolls (establishment survey) overstating the job market, but unemployment rate (household survey) underestimating the job market" and he goes on to quote Governor Bowman's speech on Tuesday:
"There are also risks that the labor market has not been as strong as the payroll data have been indicating, and it appears that the recent rise in unemployment may be exaggerating the degree of cooling in labor markets. The Q4 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) report suggests that job gains have been consistently overstated in the establishment survey since March of last year, while the household survey unemployment data have become less accurate as response rates have appreciably declined since the pandemic. The rise in the unemployment rate this year largely reflects weaker hiring, as job searchers entering the labor force are taking longer to find work, and layoffs remain low. It is also likely that some temporary factors contributed to the soft July employment report. The rise in the unemployment rate in July was largely accounted for by workers who are experiencing a temporary layoff and are more likely to be rehired in coming months. Hurricane Beryl also likely contributed to weaker job gains, as the number of workers not working due to bad weather increased significantly last month."
At the end of the day, all this does is cement the Fed's 25bps rate cut next month.
As for broader socio-political implications, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/philadelphia-fed-admits-us-payrolls-overstated-least-800000
, which predicted today's revision with near 100% accuracy, by warning that the staggering size of the revised data "is also why nobody in the mainstream media - which is now nothing more than the PR smokescreen for the Biden puppetmasters, the government and the deep state - will ever mention this report."
Today it will be more difficult for the propaganda press to ignore it.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:16
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-jobs-revised-down-818000-election-year-shocker-second-worst-revision-us-history

2024-08-21 05:25:00

From Agrarianism To Transhumanism: The Long March To Dystopia
From Agrarianism To Transhumanism: The Long March To Dystopia
https://off-guardian.org/2024/08/20/from-agrarianism-to-transhumanism-the-long-march-to-dystopia/
“A total demolition of the previous forms of existence is underway: how one comes into the world, biological sex, education, relationships, the family, even the diet that is about to become synthetic.”
Silvia Guerini, radical ecologist, in ‘From the ‘Neutral’ Body to the Posthuman Cyborg: A Critique of Gender Ideology’ (2023)
We are currently seeing an acceleration of the corporate consolidation of the entire global agri-food chain.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Firefly-cyborg-figure-farming-a.jpg?itok=RmpGLfeX
The big data conglomerates, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, https://grain.org/en/article/6595-digital-control-how-big-tech-moves-into-food-and-farming-and-what-it-means
, such as Corteva, Bayer, Cargill and Syngenta, in a quest to impose their model of food and agriculture on the world.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and big financial institutions, like BlackRock and Vanguard, are also involved, whether through https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-land-portfolio-biggest-private-farmland-owner-in-america-2021-1?op=1
]
The billionaire interests behind this try to portray their techno-solutionism as some kind of humanitarian endeavour: saving the planet with ‘climate-friendly solutions’, ‘helping farmers’ or ‘feeding the world’. But what it really amounts to is repackaging and greenwashing the https://janataweekly.org/dispossession-and-imperialism-repackaged-as-feeding-the-world/
.
It involves a shift towards a ‘https://regenerationinternational.org/2021/04/05/vandana-shiva-bill-gates-empires-must-be-dismantled/
’ under the control of agritech and the data giants, which is to be based on genetically engineered seeds, laboratory created products that resemble food, ‘precision’ and ‘data-driven’ agriculture and farming without farmers, with the entire agrifood chain, from field (or lab) to retail, being governed by monopolistic e-commerce platforms determined by artificial intelligence systems and algorithms.
Those who are pushing this agenda have a vision not only for farmers but also for humanity in general.
The elites through their military-digital-financial (Pentagon/Silicon Valley/Big Finance) complex want to use their technologies to reshape the world and redefine what it means to be human. They regard humans, their cultures and their practices, like nature itself, as a problem and deficient.
Farmers are to be displaced and replaced with drones, machines and cloud-based computing. Food is to be redefined and people are to be fed synthetic, genetically engineered products. Cultures are to be eradicated, and humanity is to be fully urbanised, subservient and disconnected from the natural world.
What it means to be human is to be radically transformed. But what has it meant to be human until now or at least prior to the (relatively recent) Industrial Revolution and associated mass urbanisation?
To answer this question, we need to discuss our connection to nature and what most of humanity was involved in prior to industrialisation — cultivating food.
Many of the ancient rituals and celebrations of our forebears were built around stories, myths and rituals that helped them come to terms with some of the most fundamental issues of existence, from death to rebirth and fertility. These culturally embedded beliefs and practices served to sanctify their practical relationship with nature and its role in sustaining human life.
As agriculture became key to human survival, the planting and harvesting of crops and other seasonal activities associated with food production were central to these customs.
Humans celebrated nature and the life it gave birth to. Ancient beliefs and rituals were imbued with hope and renewal and people had a necessary and immediate relationship with the sun, seeds, animals, wind, fire, soil and rain and the changing seasons that nourished and brought life. Our cultural and social relationships with agrarian production and associated deities had a sound practical base.
People’s lives have been tied to planting, harvesting, seeds, soil and the seasons for thousands of years.
Silvia Guerini, whose quote introduces this article, notes the importance of deep-rooted relationships and the rituals that re-affirm them. She says that through rituals a community recognises itself and its place in the world. They create the spirit of a rooted community by contributing to rooting and making a single existence endure in a time, in a territory, in a community.
<a href="http://www.amerika.org/texts/stag-and-earth-mother-pagan-beliefs-in-ancient-britain-robert-w-nicholls/" rel="nofollow">Professor Robert W Nicholls</a> explains that the cults of Woden and Thor were superimposed on far older and better-rooted beliefs related to the sun and the earth, the crops and the animals and the rotation of the seasons between the light and warmth of summer and the cold and dark of winter.
Humanity’s relationship with farming and food and our connections to land, nature and community has for millennia defined what it means to be human.
Take India, for example. Environmental scientist <a href="http://indiafacts.org/hindu-roots-modern-ecology/" rel="nofollow">Viva Kermani</a> says that Hinduism is the world’s largest nature-based religion that:
“…recognises and seeks the Divine in nature and acknowledges everything as sacred. It views the earth as our Mother and hence advocates that it should not be exploited. A loss of this understanding that earth is our mother, or rather a deliberate ignorance of this, has resulted in the abuse and the exploitation of the earth and its resources.”
Kermani notes that ancient scriptures instructed people that the animals and plants found in India are sacred and, therefore, all aspects of nature are to be revered. She adds that this understanding of and reverence towards the environment is common to all Indic religious and spiritual systems: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
According to Kermani, the Vedic deities have deep symbolism and many layers of existence. One such association is with ecology. Surya is associated with the sun, the source of heat and light that nourishes everyone; Indra is associated with rain, crops, and abundance; and Agni is the deity of fire and transformation and controls all changes.
She notes that the Vrikshayurveda, an ancient Sanskrit text on the science of plants and trees, contains details about soil conservation, planting, sowing, treatment, propagating, how to deal with pests and diseases and a lot more.
Like Nicholls, Kermani provides insight into some of the profound cultural, philosophical and practical aspects of humanity’s connection to nature and food production.
This connection resonates with agrarianism, a philosophy based on cooperative labour and fellowship, which stands in stark contrast to the values and impacts of urban life, capitalism and technology that are seen as detrimental to independence and dignity. Agrarianism, too, emphasises a spiritual dimension as well as the value of rural society, small farms, widespread property ownership and political decentralisation.
The prominent proponent of agrarianism https://comment.org/contributors/wilma-van-der-leek
:
The revolution which began with machines and chemicals now continues with automation, computers and biotechnology.”
For Berry, agrarianism is not a sentimental longing for a time past. Colonial attitudes, domestic, foreign and now global, have resisted true agrarianism almost from the beginning — there has never been fully sustainable, stable, locally adapted, land-based economies.
However, Berry provides many examples of small (and larger) farms that have similar output as industrial agriculture with one third of the energy.
In his poem ‘A Spiritual Journey’, Berry writes the following:
And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles,
no matter how long,
but only by a spiritual journey,
a journey of one inch,
very arduous and humbling and joyful,
by which we arrive at the ground at our feet,
and learn to be at home.”
But in the cold, centralised, technocratic dystopia that is planned, humanity’s spiritual connection to the countryside, food and agrarian production are to be cast into the dustbin of history.
Silvia Guerini says:
The past becomes something to be erased in order to break the thread that binds us to a history, to a tradition, to a belonging, for the transition towards a new uprooted humanity, without past, without memory… a new humanity dehumanised in its essence, totally in the hands of the manipulators of reality and truth”.
This dehumanised humanity severed from the past is part of the wider agenda of transhumanism. For instance, we are not just seeing a push towards a world without farmers and everything that has connected us to the soil but, according to Guerini, also a world without mothers.
She argues that those behind test-tube babies and surrogate motherhood now have their sights on genetic engineering and artificial wombs, which would cut women out of the reproductive process. Guerini predicts that artificial wombs could eventually be demanded, or rather marketed, as a right for everyone, including transgender people. It is interesting that the language around pregnancy is already contested with the omission of ‘women’ from statements like ‘persons who can get pregnant’.
Of course, there has long been a https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/10.1142/9789811259265_0001?srsltid=AfmBOoquI0NvbniovNZ768MAiOQnXEPHnXKT8NahiQB6Wr9xTmCy_rRg
between biotechnology, eugenics and genetic engineering. Genetically engineered crops, gene drives and gene editing are now a reality, but the ultimate goal is marrying artificial intelligence, bionanotechnology and genetic engineering to produce the one-world transhuman.
This is being pushed by powerful interests, who, according to Guerini, are using a rainbow, transgenic left and LGBTQ+ organisations to promote a new synthetic identity and claim to new rights. She says this is an attack on life, on nature, on “what is born, as opposed to artificial” and adds that all ties to the real, natural world must be severed.
It is interesting that in its report https://about.sainsburys.co.uk/~/media/Files/S/Sainsburys/pdf-downloads/futureoffood-10c.pdf
, the UK supermarket giant Sainsburys celebrates a future where we are microchipped and tracked and neural laces have the potential to see all of our genetic, health and situational data recorded, stored and analysed by algorithms that could work out exactly what food (delivered by drone) we need to support us at a particular time in our life. All sold as ‘personal optimisation’.
Moreover, it is likely, according to the report, that we will be getting key nutrients through implants. Part of these nutrients will come in the form of lab-grown food and insects.
A neural lace is an ultra-thin mesh that can be implanted in the skull, forming a collection of electrodes capable of monitoring brain function. It creates an interface between the brain and the machine.
Sainsburys does a pretty good job of trying to promote a dystopian future where AI has taken your job, but, according to the report, you have lots of time to celebrate the wonderful, warped world of ‘food culture’ created by the supermarket and your digital overlords.
Technofeudalism meets transhumanism — all for your convenience, of course.
But none of this will happen overnight. And whether the technology will deliver remains to be seen. Those who are promoting this brave new world might have overplayed their hand but will spend the following decades trying to drive their vision forward.
But arrogance is their Achilles heel.
There is still time to educate, to organise, to resist and to agitate against this hubris, not least by challenging the industrial food giants and the system that sustains them and by advocating for and creating grass-root food movements and local economies that strengthen food sovereignty.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/20/2024 - 23:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/agrarianism-transhumanism-long-march-dystopia

2024-08-21 01:40:00

Harris' Unrealized Gains Tax Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy
Harris' Unrealized Gains Tax Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy
Submitted by https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/taxing-unrealized-gains-would-obliterate
On Tuesday, https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/taxing-unrealized-gains-would-obliterate
that Presidential candidate Kamala Harris would be supporting President Joe Biden’s tax proposals for 2025, which include a 44.6% capital gains rate and a 25% tax on unrealized gains.
Having used up all of the rest of the batshit, insane, counterintuitive economic dirty tricks left in the "we'll literally do anything but cut spending" bag, the Biden administration began pushing this tax idea in April 2024 when I first wrote about it. Unrealized gains taxation could be the most destructive idea for our country since prohibition, I joked at the time.
As part of its https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/taxing-unrealized-gains-would-obliterate
a minimum tax equal to 25 percent of a taxpayer’s taxable income and unrealized capital gains less the sum of their regular tax, for taxpayers with wealth over $100 million.
https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/kamala%20laughing_0.jpg?itok=UtpqUjMo
Putting aside the fact that this high-risk idea only amounts to a pittance, $430 billion per year, the introduction of taxing unrealized gains could be one of the worst slippery slopes we ever dare to roll our country’s economy down.
I mean, shit, we could save $1 trillion just by not sending $100 billion a year to other nations for starters. But I digress. For an outline of exactly what an unrealized gains tax is, here's the https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/taxing-unrealized-gains-would-obliterate
:
A tax on unrealized capital gains means that individuals are penalized for owning appreciating assets, regardless of whether they have realized any actual income from selling them.
If you purchased a stock for $100 this year, for example, and it increased to $110 next year, you would pay the assigned tax rate on the $10 capital gain. You didn’t sell the asset, so you don’t realize the $10 appreciation, but must pay the tax regardless.
Taxing unrealized capital gains contradicts the basic principles of fairness and property rights essential for a free and prosperous society. Taxation, if we’re going to have it on income, should be based on https://mises.org/podcasts/human-action-podcast/are-capital-gains-income-connection-misess-calculation-problem
, not on paper gains that may never materialize.
AIER notes that implementing such a tax not only deeply infringes upon personal liberty and private property rights — but I can’t help but think about how it also sets a destructive wrecking ball rolling down a slippery slope for the first time in our nation's history.
And, given the precarious state of our nation's finances, it doesn't seem like the best time to start spitballing about new risky ideas that may or may not catch on only because they sound like they are addressing the problem of a widening wealth gap that Federal Reserve policies created and continue to exacerbate to begin with.
If the administration really wanted to address the problem of wealth inequality, it would be setting its sights on the central bank that sacrificed price stability so it could spray trillions of dollars in "stimulus" toward financial assets, while cutting American families paltry checks of just $600, during COVID. When I did the math during COVID, the total amount spent to bail out the country when we decided to shut down the economy and have the Federal Reserve replace it with a fiat house of cards amounted to something like $17,500 per every citizen in the United States.
Except, again, only $600 of that went to each individual. The rest went to the financial sector, in turn widening the inequality gap further as billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos saw tens of billions of dollars added to their net worth in a matter of months.
And so now, https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/sadly-we-watch-it-crash
tangible, decisive action to actually address the problem, the Harris administration is putting forth a plan that won’t just be negative for the country, it could very well be the hill that our country’s economy dies on. And to be honest, I’m not being hyperbolic.
Over the last few years, we have seen an extraordinary exodus from places like New York and California, to places like Florida and Texas, because the former states were essentially taxing far too much relative to the benefits of what they were providing for citizens.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb6a7862-0384-40fb-bd2c-408798d02bb3_634x602.jpeg
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11575181/Woke-exodus-California-New-York-lost-half-MILLION-residents-July-2020.html
Ergo, places like California have seen people like Joe Rogan and Elon Musk move to Texas, while states like New York have seen businesses like Ken Griffin's Citadel move to Florida. There’s nothing to read between the lines about when it comes to this capital flight out of one state and into another. It is simple cause and effect: at some point, people simply don’t think it is worth living in these states due to the taxes being too high.
It’s a quintessential example of the Laffer Curve. Tax too much, people are disincentivized to generate productivity, or in this case, live in your state.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6d9e50d7-631c-4a85-9d61-cd827ed895b8_769x622.png
Harris' proposal to raise regular capital gains taxes is one thing, albeit still egregious; it is far lesser noxious of the two proposals. Taxing unrealized gains is an exponentially worse type of taxation that introduces not just a higher tax rate and a 3rd type of income tax, but a completely new system for taxation – one that taxes people's assets as they appreciate, not just when they realize the gains of said appreciation.
“But it will only be against people worth more than $100 million,” proponents of the idea will exclaim. Hell, I’m not worth 1% of that, so why should I even care?
First off, it can’t be understated how earth-shattering it is to put this terrible idea into motion, regardless of who it is going to affect. You can’t justify a stunning overreach on people's constitutional rights and civil liberties just because they sit in a certain tax bracket. And it is a line that, once crossed, the government won’t backtrack on. Once taxing unrealized gains makes its way into the zeitgeist, it sticks around for good. And, if it sticks around, it’ll only be another meaningful step moving the U.S. economy closer to an anemic corpse of a state-planned economy.
A tax of this nature creates a vacuum that does nothing but suck the vibrancy out of an economy. In addition to setting a new moral hazard standard, the tax directly targets the people with the most capital at work in our country. By specifically targeting the people that have the means to create new enterprises and invest using this capital, and then driving them out of the country, the tax is a surefire way to suck the lifeblood out of what’s left of the United States economy.
Make no mistake: it will be a clarion call for billionaires to simply move out of the United States and into tax havens. And think about it — these are the people that have the means to up and simply leave the country and relocate anytime they want. For them, if it makes financial sense, they will do it. Implementing this unrealized gains tax will set the ball in motion, you can mark my words. The rich will be as good as gone.
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And when billionaires decide to up and leave the United States, all of the tax revenue they were generating otherwise — not just the unrealized gains tax — leaves with them. In other words, an unrealized gains tax will push them past their limit and result in catastrophic consequences for the country's tax revenue as a whole. It’ll literally do far more harm than good. If I can understand why, a fifth grader can. That means the ultra-rich, who are much smarter than I am, definitely understand it. They’re not going to be interested in hanging around and forking over this much more cash “for the good of the cause”. They already likely have a plan in such case this tax is passed, and — as a hint — it isn’t to happily hand over a check to the Harris administration and say “thanks for being such great stewards of my capital, keep up the good work”.
In reality, it likely involves yachts, dual passports, “investments” in places like Bermuda and Mauritius, attending F1 races and tennis matches, expensive champagne and Eastern European escorts (hereinafter referred to as: “The Hunter Biden Experience”).
But seriously, setting aside the billionaires for a moment, the tax is going to dampen everybody’s incentive to try and earn and invest to begin with. Who wants to invest in the market if they’re going to be taxed on their gains the very next day?
Possibly the worst part of this idea is its timing. The https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/yields-to-trigger-serious-earthquakes
) about our government going through all of the solutions mandatory before arriving at any solution that works in the slightest, but this would be the granddaddy of all examples if implemented.
The timing of this proposed solution couldn’t be worse. We are at a point in our country's fiscal history where we need balance more than ever.
We have the largest deficit and the most debt relative to GDP we have had in recent history.
The BRICS nations, including Russia, China, and India, are actively pursuing ways to break off of the Western banking system and challenge the U.S. dollar.
Inflation is running rampant and high interest rates are more than likely to cause our economy to slow down in marked fashion.
We’re running deficits, but we need the tax revenue we are currently bringing in if we have any hope of cutting spending to balance our budget and right the country's ship economically. The loss of tax revenue as a result of capital flight from the United States responding to this proposed unrealized gains tax would be catastrophic and would accelerate the country's financial and monetary demise, not help it.
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/taxing-unrealized-gains-would-obliterate?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
on social media if you enjoyed.
Now read:
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-can-save-liberalismby-endorsing
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/1307-days
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/tip-tax-toe
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/matt-taibbi-kamala-trump-and-the
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b4f0b11-cdb4-4f89-9600-5faf882f9b35_66x52.png
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/20/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/harris-unrealized-gains-tax-would-obliterate-us-economy

2024-08-21 00:25:00

US, Allies Condemn China's Actions Against Philippine Vessels In South China Sea
US, Allies Condemn China's Actions Against Philippine Vessels In South China Sea
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/us-allies-condemn-chinas-actions-against-philippine-vessels-in-south-china-sea-5709055?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
The United States and several of its allies condemned China over what they said were dangerous actions by Chinese coast guard vessels after they collided with Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%28110%29_0.jpg?itok=V5ulukph
The incident happened in the early hours of Aug. 19 near the Sabina Shoal, with Beijing and Manila https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/china-philippines-trade-accusations-after-coast-guard-vessel-collision-5708006
of being responsible for the collisions.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel https://www.state.gov/u-s-support-for-the-philippines-in-the-south-china-sea-11/
China for its actions against “lawful Philippine maritime operations” in an Aug. 19 statement.
“PRC [People’s Republic of China] ships employed reckless maneuvers, deliberately colliding with two Philippine Coast Guard ships, causing structural damage and jeopardizing the safety of the crew onboard,” Patel said.
The collision occurred about 20 nautical miles southeast of the Escoda Shoal, which is a part of the South China Sea that the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea. The Sabina Shaol is located near the Second Thomas Shoal.
The latest incident marks renewed geopolitical tension between China and the Philippines, following a short reprieve since the two sides inked a https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/philippines-and-china-reach-deal-for-resupply-missions-to-deescalate-tensions-in-south-china-sea-5691415
with China after two Chinese fighter jets deployed fares in the path of a Philippine patrol plane.
Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general at the National Security Council of the Philippines, https://x.com/jaytaryela/status/1825351369756414183
on Monday that the two Philippine coast guard patrol boats, BRP Bagacay (MRRV-4410) and BRP Cape Engaño (MRRV-441), were on a resupply mission for the Philippine outposts at Patag and Lawak islands in the Spratly Islands. The two boats were rammed by Chinese coast guard vessels and suffered structural damage, he said.
“These actions are the latest examples of the PRC using dangerous and escalatory measures to enforce its expansive and unlawful South China Sea maritime claims,” Patel said. He called on China to abide by international law and desist from “dangerous and destabilizing conduct.”
Malaya said the United States reaffirms that Article IV of the 1951 U.S.–Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty “extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft—including those of its Coast Guard—anywhere in the South China Sea.”
International Condemnation
Australia, Canada, https://x.com/EUAmbPH/status/1825450601901064585
condemned China’s latest maritime actions.
Australia’s ambassador to the Philippines, HK Yu, wrote in a post on social media platform https://x.com/AusAmbPH/status/1825510302202421404
that China’s actions undermine efforts to de-escalate tensions.
David Hartman, Canada’s ambassador to the Philippines, condemned the “irresponsible and dangerous maneuvers of the China Coast Guard” in an https://x.com/AmbDBHartman/status/1825625958453490161
.
“These actions are inconsistent with China’s obligations under international law and undermine efforts to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea,” Hartman wrote.
Japan’s ambassador to the Philippines, Endo Kazuya, said in an https://x.com/AmbJPNinPH/status/1825526000035512715
post that Tokyo does not tolerate harassment and actions that “increase tensions or disturb navigational rights.”
Kazuya added that Japan “stands with [the Philiphines] by upholding rules-based order and peaceful settlement of disputes based on [international] law.”
Earlier this month, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, and the United States https://www.pacom.mil/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/3863748/multilateral-maritime-cooperative-activity-joint-statement/
a two-day “multilateral maritime cooperative activity” within Manila’s exclusive economic zones. The drill was aimed at showing the four nations’ “collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to a statement from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
Manila continued its criticism of Beijing over the collision on Tuesday. Alexander Lopez, a spokesperson for the country’s maritime council, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippine-says-china-coast-guards-actions-shoal-not-helping-confidence-building-2024-08-20/
“serious concern over the deliberate harassment and infringement by China” on the Philippines’ sovereignty and sovereign rights in the South China Sea.
In July, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, https://www.wicker.senate.gov/services/files/D6431EA8-5BF9-41A1-A0C5-E7167C3B0242
to President Joe Biden over their concerns regarding China’s use of force against the Philippines in the South China Sea.
The lawmakers asked Biden to provide a “full list of military, diplomatic, and economic options developed by the Departments of State and Defense to support the Philippines and deter further escalation by the PRC.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/20/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-allies-condemn-chinas-actions-against-philippine-vessels-south-china-sea

2024-08-20 11:45:00

Who's Receiving The Most Green Cards (By Country Of Origin)
Who's Receiving The Most Green Cards (By Country Of Origin)
Many people around the world dream of living in the United States, seeking better opportunities or fleeing conflict and poverty. The U.S. is home to https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-u-s-immigrants-by-region/
than any other nation, surpassing the combined totals of Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Kingdom.
This graphic, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/whos-receiving-u-s-green-cards-by-country-of-origin/
ranks the top 15 countries of origin for people who gained permanent residency in the U.S. in 2022.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-19_15-21-37.jpg?itok=xzOry1uG
The data was sourced from the https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2022
. In total, 1,018,340 people received green cards in 2022.
Mexico and India Top the List
Mexico remains the most significant contributor to U.S. immigration, with 10.7 million immigrants. Consequently, it leads in the number of green cards, with 139,000 issued in 2022. Many Mexicans come to the U.S. seeking economic opportunities, better living standards, and family reunification.
Rank
Country
Green Cards (2022)
1
🇲🇽 Mexico
138,772
2
🇮🇳 India
127,012
3
🇨🇳 China
67,950
4
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
40,152
5
🇨🇺 Cuba
36,642
6
🇵🇭 Philippines
35,998
7
🇸🇻 El Salvador
30,876
8
🇻🇳 Vietnam
24,425
9
🇧🇷 Brazil
24,169
10
🇨🇴 Colombia
21,723
11
🇻🇪 Venezuela
21,025
12
🇭🇳 Honduras
17,099
13
🇬🇹 Guatemala
16,990
14
🇯🇲 Jamaica
16,482
15
🇰🇷 South Korea
16,172
16
🇦🇫 Afghanistan
14,193
17
🇳🇬 Nigeria
12,385
18
🇳🇵 Nepal
12,010
19
🇪🇨 Ecuador
11,910
20
🇵🇰 Pakistan
11,777
21
🇺🇦 Ukraine
11,621
22
🇨🇦 Canada
11,317
23
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
10,858
24
🇭🇹 Haiti
10,432
25
🇮🇷 Iran
9,407
26
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
9,143
27
🇷🇺 Russia
8,906
28
🇪🇬 Egypt
8,348
29
🇵🇪 Peru
8,035
30
🇹🇷 Turkey
7,001
31
🇦🇱 Albania
5,945
32
🇨🇲 Cameroon
5,879
33
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
5,720
34
🇾🇪 Yemen
5,648
35
🇬🇭 Ghana
5,451
36
🇹🇼 Taiwan
5,091
37
🇰🇪 Kenya
5,014
38
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
4,979
39
🇯🇴 Jordan
4,779
40
🇲🇦 Morocco
4,756
41
🇨🇩 Congo, Democratic Republic
4,688
42
🇹🇭 Thailand
4,632
43
🇫🇷 France
4,351
44
🇯🇵 Japan
4,184
45
🇦🇷 Argentina
4,128
46
🇩🇪 Germany
4,088
47
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
3,754
48
🇿🇦 South Africa
3,535
49
🇮🇹 Italy
3,477
50
🇬🇾 Guyana
3,455
51
🇮🇱 Israel
3,439
52
🇱🇧 Lebanon
3,434
53
🇰🇭 Cambodia
3,400
54
🇸🇾 Syria
3,248
55
🇵🇱 Poland
3,192
56
🇩🇿 Algeria
3,125
57
🇦🇲 Armenia
3,037
58
🇲🇲 Burma
2,879
59
🇪🇸 Spain
2,865
60
🇦🇺 Australia
2,859
61
🇮🇶 Iraq
2,797
62
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
2,764
63
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
2,572
64
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
2,435
65
🇱🇷 Liberia
2,412
66
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
2,323
67
🇬🇪 Georgia
2,303
68
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
2,301
69
🇧🇾 Belarus
2,172
70
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
2,167
71
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
1,960
72
🇹🇬 Togo
1,887
73
🇷🇴 Romania
1,827
74
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
1,787
75
🇪🇷 Eritrea
1,760
76
🇮🇩 Indonesia
1,752
77
🇨🇱 Chile
1,747
78
🇹🇿 Tanzania
1,643
79
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
1,637
80
🇧🇴 Bolivia
1,621
81
🇺🇬 Uganda
1,620
82
🇲🇾 Malaysia
1,573
83
🇨🇮 Cote d'Ivoire
1,559
84
🇷🇼 Rwanda
1,540
85
🇲🇩 Moldova
1,499
86
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
1,433
87
Unknown
1,392
88
🇸🇩 Sudan
1,371
89
🇮🇪 Ireland
1,366
90
🇬🇳 Guinea
1,365
91
🇸🇳 Senegal
1,253
92
Soviet Union (former)
1,236
93
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
1,151
94
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
1,129
95
🇫🇯 Fiji
1,124
96
🇨🇻 Cabo Verde
1,119
97
🇰🇼 Kuwait
1,116
98
🇸🇴 Somalia
1,042
99
🇬🇲 Gambia
1,010
100
🇲🇳 Mongolia
1,005
101
🇲🇰 North Macedonia
979
102
🇳🇱 Netherlands
972
103
🇸🇬 Singapore
971
104
🇵🇦 Panama
952
105
🇹🇯 Tajikistan
951
106
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan
942
107
🇬🇷 Greece
918
108
🇽🇰 Kosovo
853
109
🇭🇺 Hungary
840
110
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
814
111
🇧🇮 Burundi
788
112
🇧🇸 Bahamas
767
113
🇸🇪 Sweden
751
114
🇵🇹 Portugal
746
115
🇺🇾 Uruguay
731
116
🇧🇯 Benin
721
117
🇱🇾 Libya
709
118
🇳🇿 New Zealand
650
119
🇷🇸 Serbia
636
120
🇱🇨 Saint Lucia
628
121
🇱🇦 Laos
621
122
🇨🇭 Switzerland
614
123
🇧🇿 Belize
591
124
🇹🇳 Tunisia
569
125
🇧🇪 Belgium
552
126
Serbia and Montenegro (former)
544
India ranks second, with 127,000 immigrants receiving green cards. Indian immigration has surged due to the country’s large pool of skilled professionals, particularly in the tech and healthcare sectors, seeking better job prospects and higher education opportunities in the U.S.
Indian Immigration Rises
In 2020, the number of new permanent residents from India fell to a 10-year low of 46,363, possibly due to stricter COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, immigration has increased since then, climbing to 93,450 in 2021 and 127,012 in 2022.
Together, immigrants from Mexico and India accounted for 265,784 green cards, making up 26% of the total issued in 2022.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/20/2024 - 05:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/whos-receiving-most-green-cards-country-origin

2024-08-20 02:30:00

Democratic D.C Councilman Arrested & Charged With Bribery, Faces 15 Years In Jail
Democratic D.C Councilman Arrested & Charged With Bribery, Faces 15 Years In Jail
Washington, D.C., Councilman Trayon White Sr. has been charged with bribery, according to court filings unsealed on Aug. 19.
White was arrested on Sunday by federal authorities.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2873%29_2.jpg?itok=93s3sTmY
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/washington-councilman-arrested-and-charged-with-bribery-5708227?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
from an FBI agent, White agreed to accept $156,000 in cash in exchange for using his position as a member of Washington’s District Council to pressure government employees to extend contracts valued at $5 million.
White indeed took payment of $35,000 in cash across four separate occasions—the most recent on Aug. 9—from the owner of the companies that were given the contracts, according to the affidavit.
City code bars public officials from accepting any gifts from people or entities that have or are seeking to obtain contractual or other business with Washington’s government.
White and the owner met on June 26 to discuss a scheme that involved the owner paying White money to ascertain whether contracts for the owner’s companies with the District of Columbia Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement would be extended, according to charging documents. White accepted $15,000 at the meeting and said he would discuss with a certain government employee what would happen with the contracts.
In a meeting about three weeks later, the pair met again and White gave the owner updates on the contracts and received $5,000, the FBI agent said.
During another meeting in July, the owner allegedly gave White $10,000 and they talked about his ongoing efforts to extend the contracts the companies had with the neighborhood office and the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which he oversees as chairman of the District Council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries, and Youth Affairs. White was also working on helping secure new contracts for the companies.
“I feel good energy about what we embarking on, what we trying to do. I want to bring you up to speed before we go in here about stuff I’ve been working on, trying to get you where you need to be,” White was quoted as saying.
In the last meeting, in August, White received $5,000, according to the affidavit, which included images of White holding white envelopes that were said to be full of money. He said local officials had told him the contracts were poised to be extended.
The owner of the companies provided information to federal officials as part of a plea agreement he reached in which he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bribery related to how he fraudulently obtained loans from the federal government and bribed White.
“Because the investigation into the alleged bribery scheme involved contracts that could soon be awarded and other potential official acts that could be taken, our Office took swift steps to address the alleged crimes we were investigating,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said in a https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/dc-city-councilmember-arrested-bribery-charge#:~:text=%E2%80%9CBecause%20the%20investigation%20into%20the,%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20U.S.%20Attorney%20Graves.
.
A query to a spokesperson for White returned an away message. White has not appeared to comment on his arrest and the charge. He did not have an attorney listed on the court docket.
White, a Democrat, first joined the District Council in January 2017 and was reelected to another term in 2020.
The law that White is accused of violating bars officials from demanding, seeking, receiving, accepting, or agreeing to receive or accept anything of value in return for “being influenced in the performance of any official act; being influenced to commit or aid in committing, or to collude in, or allow, any fraud, or make opportunity for the commission of any fraud, on the United States; or being induced to do or omit to do any act in violation of the official duty of such official or person.”
White faces up to 15 years in prison as well as a fine of up to three times the money he agreed to accept.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/19/2024 - 20:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democratic-dc-councilman-arrested-charged-bribery-faces-15-years-jail

2024-08-19 21:45:00

SEC Slaps Carl Icahn With Disclosure Fines In Margin-Loan Probe
SEC Slaps Carl Icahn With Disclosure Fines In Margin-Loan Probe
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed a multimillion-dollar fine on Carl Icahn, a famed activist investor, and his company, Icahn Enterprises LP (IEP), for not disclosing Icahn's billions in personal margin loans. These loans were secured using Icahn's stake in IEP as collateral.
The SEC wrote in a https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-99
that Icahn and IEP failed to "disclose information relating to Icahn's pledges of IEP securities as collateral to secure personal margin loans worth billions of dollars under agreements with various lenders."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-19_14-39-23.png?itok=u6OJklaF
The SEC said Icahn, who is IEP's controlling shareholder and Chairman of the board of directors of IEP's general partner, pledged anywhere from 51% to 82% of IEP shares "as collateral to secure personal margin loans worth billions of dollars under agreements with various lenders." The failure to disclose that fact to shareholders or federal regulators resulted in IEP and Icahn agreeing to pay $1.5 million and $500,000 in civil penalties.
The SEC continued:
Notwithstanding Icahn's various margin loan agreements and amendments, IEP failed to disclose Icahn's pledges of IEP securities as required in its Form 10K until February 25, 2022. Icahn also failed to file amendments to Schedule 13D describing his personal margin loan agreements and amendments, which dated back to at least 2005, and failed to attach required guaranty agreements. Icahn's failure to file the required amendments to Schedule 13D persisted until at least July 9, 2023.
Osman Nawaz, a senior SEC official, wrote in a statement, "The federal securities laws imposed independent disclosure obligations on both Icahn and IEP," adding, "These disclosures would have revealed that Icahn pledged over half of IEP's outstanding shares at any given time."
The investigation began shortly after short-seller Hindenburg Research released a short report on IEP in early May 2023. Shares of the company crashed in the days and weeks following the report.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/hindenburg-unveils-short-position-icahn-enterprises-says-company-inflated-75
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/icahn-sees-31-billion-wealth-evaporate-after-hindenburg-research-report
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/hindenburg-raises-critical-new-questions-about-icahns-increasing-share-pledges-new-report
At the time, Hindenburg wrote that Icahn "has made a classic mistake of taking on too much leverage in the face of sustained losses: a combination that rarely ends well." The firm called IEP a "Ponzi-like structure."
The SEC said Icahn cooperated with investigators during the investigation. In a filing on Monday, IEP noted there was no "substantive" communication with the US Attorney's office since the initial inquiry in 2023.
Following today's announcement from the SEC, Hindenburg reiterated its short in IEP:
Icahn rightly got charged by the SEC for failing to disclose details of his massive margin loan.
The company is still operating a ponzi-like structure, as we originally alleged. Icahn Enterprises lost almost $1 billion last quarter alone yet is paying out a distribution equivalent to an annualized ~47% of its net asset value (NAV).
The company currently trades at an ~88% premium to its reported NAV, even when ignoring its aggressive marks on its illiquid private investments.
Rather than blame us for his own investment failings, Icahn should put his money where his mouth is. Following our report, the company announced a $500 million buyback and has since bought back zero units. Instead the company has actually sold $99 million of units through an at-the-market offering in the past 2 quarters, continuing to dump overvalued shares on unsuspecting retail investors.
We remain short units of $IEP.
Icahn rightly got charged by the SEC for failing to disclose details of his massive margin loan.
The company is still operating a ponzi-like structure, as we originally alleged. Icahn Enterprises lost almost $1 billion last quarter alone yet is paying out a distribution…
— Hindenburg Research (@HindenburgRes) https://twitter.com/HindenburgRes/status/1825544688364859647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In markets, IEP fell 6% into the $15 handle in the US cash session, hovering at lows not seen in decades. Shares are down nearly 76.5% since peaking around the $69 handle in the first quarter of 2021.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_1776a0c7.png?itok=C-ljmiDP
Notice the big surge in bearish IEP bets following Hindenburg's report last May. The latest data from Bloomberg shows 15% of the float is short, or about 7.335 million shares.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_1776ac8e.png?itok=ve56F4Hb
Icahn told Bloomberg, "We are glad to put this matter behind us and will continue to focus on operating the business for the benefit of unit holders."
Bears, like Hindenburg, still believe there is more downside.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/19/2024 - 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/sec-slaps-carl-icahn-disclosure-fines-margin-loan-probe

2024-08-19 18:45:00

Kursk: Invasion, Outbreak Of War, Distraction, Pawn?
Kursk: Invasion, Outbreak Of War, Distraction, Pawn?
https://voicefromrussia.ch/en/kursk-invasion-outbreak-of-war-distraction-pledge/
Ukraine’s attack in the Kursk region is prompting Western media and “experts” to make statements that have nothing to do with reality. It will fail...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Putin-mit-schlechter-Laune.jpg?itok=fjn3yy92
President Putin
Snapshot
There are currently around 10,000 Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region. To date, the Ukrainians have succeeded in capturing around 50 villages and the town of Sudzha. The entire conquered area measures approx. 1,000 km2 – this corresponds to 0.0058% of the area of Russia.
The aim seemed to be to capture the nuclear power plant located southwest of Kursk in order to gain control of it. In the meantime, the Russians have succeeded in stopping the Ukrainians’ advance to the north and east. There the Ukrainians are digging themselves in. In the west of the deployment zone, the Ukrainian forces are moving in a westerly direction. The momentum is slowing down noticeably.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Kursk-map.jpg?itok=j7WM3Ctf
Red line: Russia-Ukraine border – colored yellow: Approximate territorial gains as of August 17, 2024 – Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKg7ed5eLC8
At the same time, on the night of August 17, the Ukrainians once again tried to destroy the Crimean Bridge using all available means – drones, cruise missiles, HIMARS, etc. They did not succeed.
The operation in the Kursk region marked the first time Russia had been attacked since 1941. At that time, almost 4 million soldiers invaded Russia. They failed before Moscow in the winter of 1941. However, the war lasted over three years longer and left behind a mountain of corpses of around 40 million people.
What are Ukraine’s goals – have they been achieved?
If one looks at the scale (troops deployed and territory gained), the question arises as to what the Ukrainians are aiming to achieve with this military action.
What is important in this context is the fact that the military situation for Ukraine on the almost 2,000 kilometre-long front is dire. The Russians are advancing faster and faster. Ukrainian losses in the last two months have totalled over 60,000 per month. This means that the loss rate has doubled this summer in a long-term comparison. The Ukrainians are unable to compensate for these losses despite the extremely aggressive forced recruitment. At the moment, conscripts in Ukraine are being hunted down and thrown onto the front line after a quick bleaching period of a few days – a human tragedy.
The Ukrainian leadership is well aware of this and a few weeks ago (President) Zelensky announced that the Russians would have to be involved in the next round of possible peace negotiations. On the one hand, this is an admission that the ‘peace negotiations’ at the Bürgenstock in Switzerland, as predicted by us, were a complete failure and that (President) Zelensky has lost all initiative and political freedom of movement.
However, the endeavour to negotiate with the Russians was already doomed to failure before the action in the Kursk region. The legalistic Russians no longer recognise (President) Zelensky as the legitimate leader of Ukraine. And rightly so: (President) Zelensky has been ruling without a constitutional basis since May. Consequently, we put the title of the president in brackets in our articles. A negotiated solution involving (President) Zelensky was therefore ruled out even before the Kursk offensive.
Consequently, the Ukrainian leadership is seeking a liberating strike with the action in Kursk; this may well make sense from the Ukrainian perspective if a sustainable result could be achieved in the medium term.
It can be assumed that the Ukrainians are pursuing several goals with this action: On the one hand, they hoped that with their invasion of the Kursk region, the Russians would withdraw their troops from the front and thus halt or at least reduce their advance along the entire line of contact. In this way, the Ukrainians hoped to achieve what the Russians had achieved with the opening of the Kharkov front a few months ago.
The Ukrainians have demonstrably failed to achieve the first objective: the advance of Russian troops in the various sections of the front continues unabated.
The second objective was to hold the spoils for possible negotiations by capturing the Kursk nuclear power plant and taking as many Russian civilians as possible hostage.
These goals do not appear to be achievable either. The capture of the Kursk nuclear power plant has failed and appears to be out of reach in the future. Nevertheless, this nuclear power plant poses a real threat to a large part of the Russian population, for example if it were to be hit by HIMARS missiles. By taking civilians hostage, the Ukrainians will indeed ensure that the Russians will hold back in their fightback with heavy weapons, which will lead to a delay in the recapture.
However, the Ukrainians will buy their initial success at a very high price. As with the drone attacks in Moscow at the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainians have not succeeded in frightening the Russians with this action either. What’s more, in the past – as was the case during the Second World War, for example – such terrorist actions have not borne fruit at all, but have led to implacability on the Russian side. This time will be no different.
A comparison with the Battle of Kursk is ridiculous
Incidentally, a comparison with the Battle of Kursk is ridiculous: almost 800,000 soldiers took part in Operation Citadel in July 1943 on the German side and almost two million on the Russian side. The respective sides were led by the finest commanders. Wehrmacht: von Manstein, von Kluge, Hoth, Kempf, Model, Guderian, Jodl, etc. Soviet Union: Zhukov, Rokossovski, Vatutin, Konev, etc.
It is considered the largest battle ever fought in world history and the last offensive of the Wehrmacht on the territory of the Soviet Union, which ended disastrously for the Germans and left behind a mountain of corpses totalling around 800,000 people.
A comparison is therefore in no way appropriate.
How does the West portray these events?
On 15 August, the Ukrainians speak of 75 villages taken, the Russians of 40.
I know the area around Kursk personally. Huge plains, interspersed with small villages or hamlets with a few houses, sometimes a petrol station, a few small shops and possibly a police station. Everything completely open – no Russian army for miles around. If two armoured personnel carriers with twenty soldiers drive in, that village is considered conquered. To describe this occupation as a ‘conquest’ is therefore misleading and pure propaganda. It is true that the Ukrainians have set up a Kursk military command. However, this does not change the fact that 1,000 km2 of sparsely populated territory will not bring about any strategic change. In addition, the troops now in the region must be supplied. This can only be done at the expense of the troops on the main front.
The fact that this coup is nevertheless being celebrated in part as a turning point in the war is merely an indication of the desperate overall situation in Ukraine.
In December 1944, the Wehrmacht attempted to turn the tide in the Ardennes in a similar way (Battle of the Bulge). After a rapid advance by the last well-equipped German armoured troops that lasted a few days, the offensive quickly collapsed under the overwhelming forces of the Allies, who were initially taken completely by surprise. There is every indication that this military action will meet the same fate for Ukraine.
Optimism in the West is a chimera
The West has already announced that it will supply even more weapons. The Ukrainians’ main problem, however, is that the huge losses mean that no personnel – and certainly no qualified personnel – is available. This clearly reflects the West’s perfidious strategy: fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.
The Ukrainian people are aware of this.
The Ukrainian people are unable and unwilling to go on
I have established good contacts in Ukraine. I cannot go into detail about the nature of these contacts, but they are sources that allow me to gain a relatively good impression of the mood of the people. These are not political sources, but sources that cut across all social classes and the whole country. What do they actually mean and say – what is the real mood in Ukraine?
The people have had enough – of the war, of the corruption, of the power cuts, of the heat, of Zelensky, who came to power with the promise of peace with a fantastic result and betrayed his people. The people want peace.
The question of whether they would give up Crimea, Donbass, Kherson and Zaporizhia in order to achieve peace is not really an issue. 90% answer ‘yes’. Western media report 25% to 45%. It is worth remembering that as recently as December, the remnants of the Ukrainian middle class still largely assumed that they would be able to win the war. There is nothing left of this optimism.
The only question that now remains is whether, how and when the people will be able to assert their will. Only time will tell.
The Western media, which constantly pretend to be on the side of the Ukrainian people and to represent their interests, show through their deliberately false reporting that they are completely indifferent to the fate of those people.
Conclusion
History teaches us that a last stand by a sinking army does not lead to lasting results (see the Battle of the Bulge in 1944).
This action in the Kursk region was only possible thanks to a surprise effect – the Ukrainians succeeded in doing this, the Russians actually allowed themselves to be surprised. Whether this military action was made possible by negligence, betrayal or a deliberate but incorrect risk analysis is completely unclear and ultimately irrelevant. The Russians always stand behind their leadership in times of need and will push the Ukrainians back out of Russia despite any sacrifices.
Anyone who claims that this action was carried out without close leadership from Washington and London has still not recognised the nature of this conflict: The US and the UK are waging a proxy war against Russia, Ukraine is merely an implementing agent.
Ultimately, this incident is just one piece of the mosaic in a threatening overall picture that has been keeping the world on tenterhooks for months now and will probably continue to do so for some time to come.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/19/2024 - 12:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kursk-invasion-outbreak-war-distraction-pawn

2024-08-19 14:30:00

DNC Kicks Off: Day 1- Pandering, Protests, & 'POTUS'
DNC Kicks Off: Day 1- Pandering, Protests, & 'POTUS'
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/dnc-set-to-kick-off-heres-what-to-expect-5707732?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
Starting Monday, Democrats will hold their long-anticipated national convention during which they'll formally nominate their presidential candidate and outline to voters their vision for the future.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2848%29_3.jpg?itok=4AJY--yV
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will formally lock in the presidential and vice presidential nominees for both major parties.
Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), were nominated at the Republican National Convention last month.
Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, clinched enough delegates to win her party’s nomination at the beginning of August during a virtual roll vote that left little room for last minute dissenters.
She’s expected to accept the nomination, along with her chosen running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in speeches delivered on the final two nights of the event.
This is set to be a very different convention than voters expected at the beginning of the election cycle, when President Joe Biden led the ticket for Democrats.
However, a pressure campaign forced Biden out of the candidacy after an underwhelming debate performance shock up the political landscape.
Since Harris took over the ticket, Democrats have enjoyed a boost in polling. Still, the stakes are high for Harris and the Democrats, who will need to put on a united front after months of division within the party.
Here’s what to expect during the second major party convention of the year.
When and Where
The DNC will be held from Monday, Aug. 19, to Thursday, Aug. 22, in Chicago.
Democrats have a long history of holding their conventions in the windy city—this will be the 12th time since 1864 that the convention has been hosted there.
The last DNC to be held in Chicago was in 1996, when President Bill Clinton was easily re-nominated by his party.
The main event this year is being held at the United Center, a convention center that doubles as the home stadium for the Chicago Bulls basketball team and the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team.
Around 50,000 attendees are expected, including the party’s approximately 5,000 delegates. Like most major political events, it won’t be open to the public.
However, it will stream on a variety of platforms, according to the party.
In addition to the normal media coverage of the event each night, voters will also be able to watch the convention online, courtesy of C-Span.
The event will also be streamed in its entirety via Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube using the vertical style popularized by those apps.
Additional delegate-only events that are not streamed to the public will be hosted at the nearby McCormick Center.
Speakers
The convention will feature speeches from an array of Democrat notables.
Biden will be among the first speakers. He’s expected to call into the convention via video.
As is tradition at these events, neither Walz nor Harris are expected to speak until the final two days: Walz is likely to speak on the second to last day of the convention, and Harris on the final night.
Speaker are expected to appear according to this schedule:
Aug. 19:
President Joe Biden
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Aug. 20:
Former President Barack Obama
Aug. 21:
Former President Bill Clinton
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
Aug. 22:
Vice President Kamala Harris
Time and Day TBD:
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.)
Platform
During the convention, Democrats will also formally adopt their party’s draft platform.
Released in July, the draft https://democrats.org/news/dnc-releases-2024-party-platform-draft-outlining-historic-record-and-bold-agenda-for-president-biden-and-vice-president-harris-to-finish-the-job/
mentions Trump dozens of times.
It also details Democrats’ position on an array of issues.
It reiterates Democrats’ demands for a federal codification of Roe v. Wade—unsurprising as abortion is one of Democrats’ strongest polling issues.
Economically, there’s not much in the platform that’s especially new: it calls for the federal minimum wage to be raised to $15 an hour by 2026, policies to increase the affordability of childcare and healthcare, and making the Child Tax Credit permanent.
Additionally, the platform repeats Democrats’ long-held demands for higher taxation of very wealthy individuals and corporations.
The draft platform also calls for securing the southern border while providing a “pathway to citizenship” for the millions of illegal immigrants in the country.
However, this platform, released in early July, hasn’t been updated since Biden dropped out.
Now, hours before the convention kicks off, it still lists Biden as the party’s candidate.
As is usually the case at major party conventions, the platform will be discussed, debated, amended, and formally ratified during the convention.
Protests
While Democrats seek to project an image of unity, there’s one factor that’s outside of the party’s control: expected protests from interest groups on the left.
Namely, protestors are expected to move full steam ahead with protests originally planned against Biden.
Time to board up your businesses, Democrats are coming to Chicago https://t.co/azU47I30k1
— Matt Batzel (@MattBatzel) https://twitter.com/MattBatzel/status/1824854768629493811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
One protest, https://www.marchondnc2024.org/join
as the “March on the DNC 2024,” will feature a group of around 200 left wing-groups, and could potentially number into the tens of thousands—raising concerns about event security.
Specifically, the protestors are https://www.marchondnc2024.org/our-demands
that the DNC and Harris change their stance on Israel, calling for the United States to “stand with Palestine” and “end U.S. aid to Israel,” along with a laundry list of other left-wing demands.
The event already has the highest possible federal security classification.
Security for the event will be https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/chicago-gears-up-for-dnc-amid-protests-and-security-concerns-5705708
by a coalition of local, state, and federal law enforcement, including the Secret Service.
Despite the challenges, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and local police have https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/chicago-police-boss-no-repeat-of-1968-violence-as-protesters-descend-on-dnc-5707682
that the event will be secure.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/19/2024 - 08:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dnc-kicks-day-1-pandering-protests-potus

2024-08-19 01:15:00

Lebanon Plunged Into Darkness As Last Operational Power Plant Runs Out Of Fuel
Lebanon Plunged Into Darkness As Last Operational Power Plant Runs Out Of Fuel
The entirety of the Lebanese capital and the whole nation has been plunged into darkness amid a crippling power outage which has been in effect since midday Saturday.
That's when the state power provider Electricité du Liban (EDL) announced in https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1424070/countrywide-power-outages-as-edl-announces-complete-depletion-of-oil-reserves.html
that "the last operational unit at the Zahrani power plant was forced to shut down completely, due to the complete depletion of the plant's fuel oil reserves, resulting in a total power outage across all Lebanese territories."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/beirutoutage.jpg?itok=z5___O2m
The official statement identified that the shutdown affects "essential facilities such as the airport, port, water pumps, sewage systems and prisons."
The situation could grow dangerous for the citizenry given that even wastewater treatment facilities and drinking water pumping stations have been impacted, resulting in the South Lebanon Water Establishment to issue a statement "urging citizens to conserve water as much as possible due to the expected reduction in water supply."
Separate regional https://en.irna.ir/news/85571150/Minister-assures-fuel-shipment-as-Lebanon-faces-mass-power-outage
say that the government anticipated the depletion of fuel, and prepared for electricity generators to temporarily supply power to Beirut Airport for two days.
The General Director of Beirut Airport expressed hope that it can still be operational until additional fuel arrives, while caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad indicated a timeline of 24-48 hours for the resumption of regular power operations across the capital.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyaz is seeking to assure the public that new gas shipments from Egypt will soon arrive at Lebanese ports to resupply the fuel required for power plants. Algeria too has in a fresh statement said it is ready to send emergency fuel assistance.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/beirutdark.jpg?itok=7w36xdk9
While Lebanon's economic and electricity and resource woes have been exacerbated by the de facto state of war between Hezbollah and Israel in the southern border, the reality is the country has already suffered energy shortages and rolling blackouts for at least the last two years following the banking and currency crisis.
Neighboring Syria too has also had regular blackouts and periods where the water is turned off going back years. The whole region came under severe wartime economic strain going back to the height of the Syrian proxy war, and the full impact on smaller Lebanon is now being felt full force. But is also a story of severe mismanagement by the Central Bank of Lebanon, also amid long-running and historic corruption and elite cronyism.
Lebanon is currently experiencing a blackout, which is not related to conflicts but rather to the government's failure to pay its bills. https://t.co/cpR0SnA7VJ
— SuperGirlBunny_TheChamp (@SuperGirlDChamp) https://twitter.com/SuperGirlDChamp/status/1824851946127426034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Some Western analysts have blamed Hezbollah for stealing and diverting fuel and electricity from Beirut airport, and for holding the country's resources hostage, but the economic woes are a much bigger force which have been felt for a long time before the current conflict with Israel.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 19:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/lebanon-plunged-darkness-last-operational-power-plant-runs-out-fuel

2024-08-18 22:20:00

Could Democrats Make Kamala Harris President Before Election?
Could Democrats Make Kamala Harris President Before Election?
https://modernity.news/2024/08/18/the-hill-democrats-could-make-kamala-harris-president-before-election
An opinion piece in The Hill posits that Democrats could spring the ultimate October surprise by making Kamala Harris president before the election in November.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/BidenHarris.jpg?itok=wuShShhz
Douglas MacKinnon notes that “This is already the most surreal presidential election of our lifetimes,” and that it could get even more bizarre.
He adds, “I wrote several times in this space over the last two years that I never believed Biden would be the nominee, and I was proven right. I also honestly believe Trump will pull away from Harris come September and October.”
“So, what then? How would the Democrats and the Harris campaign react to that?” MacKinnon wonders.
He suggests that “At some point, might it become politically expedient to the Democrats to elevate Harris to the presidency for the remainder of the campaign?” adding “Is anything off the table in this weird election cycle? I don’t think so.”
"Democrats still might invoke the 25th Amendment to make Harris president" (https://twitter.com/TheHillOpinion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— The Hill (@thehill) https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1824857744764989663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As is well documented, Democrats could invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office. But at this point, it would be clearly a political move. Biden has not been running anything for three years anyway.
MacKinnon suggests the 25th may not even be needed, noting that Biden could even enter the Democratic National Convention and say “I’ve had it. I’m done. I am resigning from my office and going back to Delaware.”
It’s a bit far fetched, but who knows with the state of this election cycle.
I was assured that Joe was just fine, that he just wasn't up to serving four more years. Was that not true?
— Richard DeCamp (@richdecamp) https://twitter.com/richdecamp/status/1824861358254661964?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is the October Surprise, but doubt it will work as intended.
— Usually Right (@normouspenis) https://twitter.com/normouspenis/status/1824859247290778070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It's always about them and their insane need to keep power.
Joe has dementia It's not about the safety of the US and its citizens.
It's about making Kamala look good for the election.
These people are heartless obtuse monsters.
— Miss Patriot (@MissPatriot17) https://twitter.com/MissPatriot17/status/1824871472801931301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
That's more likely sooner than later.
Incumbent presidency.
Great tool and great ads.
Re-(s)elect President Kackle.
— Ken Herzberg (@HerzbergKen) https://twitter.com/HerzbergKen/status/1824871713269518351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The coup is just not finished.
They have to fully disgrace themselves.
— ☘️ERIC♎8️⃣ (@starside8) https://twitter.com/starside8/status/1824929154883862743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/support
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/could-democrats-make-kamala-harris-president-election

2024-08-18 05:20:00

New York Times' 'Distorted' Coverage Of CCP Abuses Likely Cost Lives, Report Says
New York Times' 'Distorted' Coverage Of CCP Abuses Likely Cost Lives, Report Says
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/behind-the-new-york-times-china-coverage-decades-of-distortion-5653964?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
At critical moments over the past 25 years, the New York Times has aided the interests of a power faction within the Chinese Communist Party responsible for atrocities against practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong.
On top of implicating itself ethically, the paper has also, as a result, distorted its China coverage and misled its readers, as revealed by an analysis of The New York Times’ China coverage as well as interviews with half a dozen experts on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politics and geopolitics.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/nyt%20reda.jpg?itok=2z3i0ATr
Due to the paper’s disproportionate influence on policy, its skewed coverage has likely led to a loss of life and treasure that is difficult to quantify, some experts said.
The New York Times has for decades positioned itself as a global newspaper, insisting on a necessity of access to China, according to former staffers. That meant convincing the communist regime that the paper’s presence would benefit it.
The paper has never explained what price it has paid for access to the country.
“There’s always the issue of, if you want to be a global newspaper, what do you have to do to keep China happy and stay in business there?” Tom Kuntz, a former editor at the paper, told The Epoch Times.
“There’s always been tensions, and I know they’ve, like a lot of companies, tried to maintain access to China.”
Bradley Thayer, a former senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, expert on strategic assessment of China, and a contributor to The Epoch Times, was more blunt.
“If they don’t cover the regime the way the regime wants to be covered, they’re going to be blackballed. They’re not going to be able to return,” he told The Epoch Times.
“So all of these individuals have a vested interest, if you will, in toeing the Party line.”
Covering Chinese politics, The New York Times has ascribed sincerity where deception is expected and glossed over where it should have dug deeper, all in a pattern of affinity with the interests of a CCP clique aligned with former Party leader Jiang Zemin, multiple experts affirmed.
Jiang’s influence has waned since 2012, when incoming CCP leader Xi Jinping exhibited an unexpected dexterity in eliminating his opponents. Only a minority of Jiang’s acolytes have maintained influence since his death in 2022. Despite the shift in power, however, The New York Times has maintained the pro-Jiang pattern.
The New York Times did not respond to a detailed list of emailed questions for this article.
Privileged Position
The paper developed a special connection with Jiang in 2001, when its then-publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., and several editors and reporters were granted a rare audience with the dictator.
The paper ran a flattering interview headlined “In Jiang’s Words: ‘I Hope the Western World Can Understand China Better.’”
Within days, the CCP unblocked access to The New York Times’ website in China.
A month later, the CCP unblocked several other Western news sites, including those of The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the BBC. The sites were blocked again within a week.
The New York Times, on the other hand, remained accessible. Users then https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/world/china-toughens-obstacles-to-internet-searches.html
that content on the site was being blocked selectively, giving the paper a chance to benefit from access to the Chinese market to the degree that it kept within bounds acceptable to the CCP.
The interview came at a sensitive time for Jiang. He had only a little more than a year left before he was supposed to hand over Party control to Hu Jintao, fulfilling the succession line stipulated by Deng Xiaoping, his predecessor.
But things weren’t going well for Jiang. His persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, a political campaign that was supposed to whip the Party and the nation into conformity under his control, was failing to reach its goals. Even worse, foreign media, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, were taking apart the CCP’s anti-Falun Gong propaganda and highlighting accounts of wrongful detention and torture.
The New York Times, by contrast, appeared most helpful to Jiang’s campaign. By the time of the 2001 interview, the paper ran several dozen articles on Falun Gong, almost all of them profusely parroting the propaganda portraying the practice as a “cult” or a “sect.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline consisting of slow-moving exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was introduced to the public in China in 1992, and by the end of the decade, an estimated 70 million to 100 million people were practicing it.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2883%29a.jpg?itok=_GLjiidz
When in January 2001 CCP state media claimed that several people who set themselves on fire on Tiananmen Square in Beijing were Falun Gong practitioners, The Washington Post dispatched a reporter to fact-check the story. The New York Times, on the other hand, immediately took the CCP line as fact.
If the paper employed its much-touted investigative acumen, it would have discovered, as others have, that the incident was staged. After the first man allegedly set himself alight in the middle of the square, four policemen somehow managed to obtain several fire extinguishers, rush to the scene, and put out the fire, all in less than one minute.
Given the distances involved on the giant square, that wouldn’t have been physically possible—unless the officers already had the fire extinguishers ready and knew in advance where on the square they would be needed that day, several independent investigations concluded, pointing out dozens of other inconsistencies.
Even without any investigation, the incident made little sense. The victims supposedly followed a belief that burning themselves alive would bring them to heaven. But Falun Gong includes no such belief. In fact, its literature treats suicide as killing a human life, which it explicitly prohibits.
The New York Times didn’t even find it strange that since Falun Gong’s public introduction in 1992, of the tens of millions of people practicing it, none of them had publicly set themselves on fire until that day, and none had done so since.
Even after The Washington Post investigation traced several of the alleged victims back to their hometown and found that none had ever been seen practicing Falun Gong, The New York Times continued to parrot the CCP’s propaganda.
Jiang was apparently pleased with The New York Times, calling it during the 2001 interview “a very good paper.”
Getting in Jiang’s good graces on the Falun Gong issue would have been particularly critical, as it struck at the heart of a core principle of CCP politics, several experts affirmed.
Partners in Crime
One of the bedrocks of the CCP’s internal politics is ensuring one’s own safety, particularly upon retirement. Cadres are well aware of the pitiful fate of many high-ranking comrades. Infamously, Liu Shaoqi, once No. 2 to the CCP’s first leader, Mao Zedong, was purged during the Cultural Revolution, arrested, and tortured to death.
When Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, looked for somebody to helm the CCP after him in 1989, he picked Jiang Zemin, the Shanghai Party secretary who supported the CCP’s deployment of military to crush the 1989 student protests.
“Because Jiang was implicated in the repression of the students, Deng could trust Jiang to be his successor. Jiang could not in the future use the massacre against Deng without implicating himself,” explained Matthew Little, a senior editor of The Epoch Times, in a 2012 https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/responsibility-for-persecution-dogs-ccp-leaders-1488561
.
The persecution of Falun Gong played much the same role for Jiang, who https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/rewarded-for-torture-the-rise-of-bo-xilai-in-china-1487849
.
These officials, tied by shared complicity in the atrocities, were at the core of Jiang’s power faction, sometimes called the “Shanghai gang.”
In exchange for their support, Jiang let the gang abuse their offices and plunder state-owned assets, setting the tone for a nationwide culture of corruption.
That culture served a dual purpose for Jiang. On one hand, it allowed him to buy supporters, especially in the 1990s, when he struggled to form a power base among CCP cadres, who generally saw him as incompetent, according to an unofficial biography of Jiang published by The Epoch Times.
On the other hand, he could eliminate his rivals in the name of “anti-corruption.”
But the sword of anti-corruption cuts both ways. As Xi later demonstrated, it could be applied selectively against the Jiang faction, too.
The bond through culpability in the Falun Gong repression was more solid. The crimes became so extensive that none of the culprits would have risked their revelation, some China experts said.
There was a problem, though: Jiang’s designated replacement, Hu Jintao, showed little enthusiasm for the Falun Gong campaign.
“Jiang tried to push Hu to persecute Falun Gong and found he was quite reluctant,” said Li Linyi, a China commentator, expert on CCP internal politics, and Epoch Times contributor.
“Their relationship started to deteriorate after that. Jiang just felt more and more concerned about Hu.”
Just as the CCP under Deng redressed some victims of the Cultural Revolution, Hu could, at least theoretically, redress Falun Gong, blame Jiang, and purge his faction.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2884%29_0.jpg?itok=sbTcMI-4
In reality, this was unlikely to happen, Li said.
“There was a huge price for redressing the Cultural Revolution,” he said. “Not only did some top CCP leaders get purged, but the CCP admitted they made a big mistake. That is not good for them in order to hold power in China in the long term. The CCP is still criticized for what they did during the Cultural Revolution.”
CCP leaders would only backtrack on Falun Gong as a last resort, if they felt it would save the regime, he said.
That didn’t mean, however, that Hu and his supporters couldn’t use the Falun Gong issue to endanger Jiang and his faction in other ways. Indeed, there’s evidence that they have.
“All [Jiang’s] policies could have continued to be carried out by Hu Jintao, except this one. ... The only thing Jiang Zemin worried about was the policy of persecuting Falun Gong,” said Heng He, a veteran China commentator with NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.
Jiang was thus extremely motivated to constrain Hu and prop up his own image, several experts confirmed.
The New York Times proved helpful in this pursuit.
Shoring Up a Dictator’s Legacy
By 2002, The New York Times was in pro-Jiang mode. Parroting the Party propaganda, the paper declared that Falun Gong had been successfully “crushed.”
Citing CCP sources, it suggested that Falun Gong was already passé and that it only ever had 2 million practitioners. It went as far as claiming that the figure cited by Falun Gong sources, 70 million, was baseless.
Yet a few years earlier, before the persecution began, multiple Western and Chinese media, including The Associated Press and The New York Times, provided figures of 70 million or 100 million, generally attributing them to estimates by the Chinese State Sports Administration, which had the best insight due to a massive survey of Falun Gong practitioners it conducted in the late 1990s.
Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/behind-the-new-york-times-china-coverage-decades-of-distortion-5653964?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 23:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/new-york-times-distorted-coverage-ccp-abuses-likely-cost-lives-report-says

2024-08-17 20:35:00

Ten Killed In Southern Lebanon In One Of The Deadliest Israeli Strikes Since Oct 7
Ten Killed In Southern Lebanon In One Of The Deadliest Israeli Strikes Since Oct 7
An overnight airstrike on southern Lebanon by Israel is being called one of the single deadliest attacks since the daily tit-for-tat exchange of fire began last October. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health announced the devastating attack killed at least ten people including "a woman and her two children" - and that five others were wounded, two critically. Some of the deceased were Syrian refugees.
While Lebanon says that a residential building was hit, Israel's military maintains that its air force struck a weapons warehouse run by Hezbollah about seven miles from the Israeli border, in Nabatiyeh.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Nabatiyehattack.jpg?itok=JP1bSbD7
Al Jazeera says that some kind of factory building was struck in the attack, but that there was a residential floor with families and employees living there.
"We are a well-known family in the area. We have no political affiliation and are not aligned to any political party. We are concerned only with our business and livelihood," Hussein Tahmaz, the factory owner, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/17/at-least-six-killed-in-latest-israeli-strike-on-southern-lebanon
Al Jazeera. He rejected that Hezbollah used it for weapons storage.
Hezbollah appeared to quickly retaliate, with Israel's military conforming "approximately 55 projectiles" being fired into northern Israel on Saturday, resulting in no injuries.
However, a separate attack resulted in a soldier being severely injured and another lightly wounded after a projectile from Lebanon struck
Meanwhile, international diplomats have been scrambling, talking to both sides in an effort to avoid all-out war, which still looms. For at least a month now, there has been a greater urgency of countries to get their https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2ndvg18j8o
:
Many foreign nationals are gone, heeding the advice of their governments. Plenty of Lebanese have fled too. Others cannot tear themselves away - like the 30-year-old chef of a hip café (Beirut has too many of these to count). She is tattooed and candid but prefers not to be named.
“Living in Beirut is like being in a toxic relationship you can’t escape,” she tells me.
“I am emotionally attached. I have family abroad, and I could leave, but I don’t want to. We live day to day. And we joke about the situation.”
In the next breath she admits business has suffered, and she has post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s like a cold war for us,” she says. She is expecting a hotter one but hopes it will be short.
Lebanon's economy had already for the last couple years been in free-fall, with a severe banking crisis and runaway inflation, and with common Lebanese blocked from accessing their own savings by local banks.
At least 9 people killed in an Israeli warplane attack on Wadi Al-Kfour in Nabatieh. There are children among those killed. https://t.co/aiuVjumtg2
— Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@alihashem_tv) https://twitter.com/alihashem_tv/status/1824681500631240957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Israel has warned that if all-out war breaks out it will send not just Hezbollah but all of Lebanon back to the "stone age". Many Western carriers have for weeks suspended service to both Beirut and Tel Aviv, citing safety concerns.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 14:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ten-killed-southern-lebanon-one-deadliest-israeli-strikes-oct-7

2024-08-17 20:00:00

New Video Appears To Show DC Police Units Planting J6 Pipe Bomb
New Video Appears To Show DC Police Units Planting J6 Pipe Bomb
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/08/16/new-video-appears-to-show-dc-police-units-planting-a-j6-pipe-bomb/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-video-appears-to-show-dc-police-units-planting-a-j6-pipe-bomb
,
One of the great mysteries about the January 6, 2021, events is the lack of curiosity by the FBI about who planted the pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters. Amid all of the available CCTV video and surveillance technology exploited by the justice department, their transparent unwillingness to identify the pipe bomber has always been a dog that did not bark.
The Occam’s Razor explanation for why DC and federal law enforcement have been incurious, points to law enforcement actually planting the bombs. New CCTV video seems to show exactly that.
Shortly after 12:51pm a DC police SUV appears next to the park bench where the pipe bomb was discovered. [Video Below] A man with a bag exits the SUV, points to the bench, pulls up his right coat collar to obscure his face from the camera located across the street, then walks to the bench with the bag. The “pipe bomb” device allegedly was found at 1:05 p.m. by a plainclothes officer from the Capitol Police.
NEW: Recently discovered video from Jan 6 shows an individual believed to be police carrying a bag toward the location where "pipe bomb" was found at DNC.
This is about 15 minutes before another officer "discovered" the device.
Another shady moment in this unsolved "mystery" https://t.co/OeZZsKw1hs
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1823783318300557761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Darren Beattie https://revolver.news/2024/08/explosive-new-footage-of-capitol-police-kamala-secret-service-suggests-jan-6-pipe-bomb-hoax-worse-than-we-thought/
I am not going to repeat the reporting above, the timelines therein, or the granular details painstakingly outlined. The research is solid, informative and accurate. Instead, my focus is about “why” the pipe bombs were planted.
Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy (House) along with Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence (Senate) did not want the January 6th certification of electors challenged. If you suspect the 85 million votes for Joe Biden might have been manufactured (mail-in ballots), then you understand the DC motive to avoid any electoral challenge that might have resulted in state level legislative inquiry and/or vote counting review.
To avoid the challenge to the electoral certification process, a lengthy and very formal process where the Senate must separate from the House as each state is formally questioned/challenged and a debate/vote on each state’s set of electors takes place (minimum 2 hours each state), an EMERGENCY process triggered by the House Speaker (Pelosi) was needed. That’s where the pipe bombs come into play.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/DC-Pipe-Bomb-1.jpg?itok=eXIfVUUw
We have previously https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/08/06/reminder-the-parliamentary-motive-behind-the-j6-fedsurrection/
.
The J6 pipe bombs were the insurance policy, in the event the feds (Ray Epps et al) couldn’t get the crowd to comply with the FBI provocations.
In essence, if no one stormed the Capitol, the finding of the two pipe bombs would have then been the emergency needed to stop the electoral process, evacuate congress and trigger the emergency session. Which explains why the FBI had/has no interest in the DC pipe bomb suspects.
As it turned out, the DC crew (Pelosi et al) didn’t need the “pipe bomb emergency” because the manufactured riot (opening the doors to the Capitol building etc.) worked. The J6 emergency need was fulfilled by the “riot” within the Capitol building; the bomb narrative was not needed.
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/28/mcconnells-exhilarating-insurrection/
to work with their House colleagues to demand the formation of an audit commission to investigate election “irregularities” in the 2020 election. Absent an audit, the group of senators, including Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) pledged to reject the Electoral College results from the disputed states.
The Hail Mary effort was doomed to fail; yet the American people would have heard hours of debate related to provable election fraud over the course of the day.
And no one opposed the effort more than ex-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
During a https://www.axios.com/mcconnell-calls-jan-6-certification-his-most-consequential-vote-323cd74c-7dfa-4420-bd32-32a36398dadc.html
on December 31, 2020, McConnell urged his Republican Senate colleagues to abandon plans to object to the certification, insisting his vote to certify the 2020 election results would be “the most consequential I have ever cast” in his 36-year Senate career.
From the Senate floor on the afternoon of January 6, McConnell gave a dramatic https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article248313650.html
warning of the dire consequences to the country should Republicans succeed in delaying the vote. He downplayed examples of voting fraud and even mocked the fact that Trump-appointed judges rejected election lawsuits.
“The voters, the courts, and the States have all spoken,” McConnell insisted. “If we overrule them, it would damage our Republic forever. If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.”
Roughly six hours later, McConnell got his way. Cowed by the crowd of largely peaceful Americans allowed into the building by Capitol police, most Republican senators backed off the audit proposal. McConnell, echoing hyperbolic talking points about an “insurrection” seeded earlier in the day by Democratic lawmakers and the news media, gloated. “They tried to disrupt our democracy,” he declared on the Senate floor after Congress reconvened around 8 p.m. “This failed attempt to obstruct Congress, this failed insurrection, only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our Republic.”
Congress officially certified the Electoral College results early the next day. (https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/28/mcconnells-exhilarating-insurrection/
)
That’s how the whole process happened.
Everything around the J6 events was set up by a small group of Marxists within government who are intensely ideological and supported by systems of Law and Order they created, purposefully to control the outcomes of their manipulation.
The group then used the J6 Committee to further the false narrative, manufacture additional false claims, control the information flow and present themselves as victims within an insurrection effort they manufactured out of whole cloth.
The J6 Committee was to the J6 story, as Robert Mueller was to the Trump/Russia collusion story. The system controls the outcomes, hides the activity, and engineers false narratives (lies).
~ https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=RZ4BWXR87UTLW
~
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 14:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-video-appears-show-dc-police-units-planting-j6-pipe-bomb

2024-08-17 03:45:00

Judge Green-Lights Lawsuit Accusing PepsiCo Of Deceptively Advertising Protein Bars
Judge Green-Lights Lawsuit Accusing PepsiCo Of Deceptively Advertising Protein Bars
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/judge-green-lights-lawsuit-accusing-pepsico-of-deceptively-advertising-protein-bars-5706736?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
A lawsuit against food and beverage giant PepsiCo alleging it made false claims about how healthy its Gatorade protein bars are can proceed, a federal judge ruled on Aug. 15.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2847%29_3.jpg?itok=AII3lrHr
In his https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ian-mccausland-v-pepsico-ruling-mtd.pdf
, U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts in San Jose, California, said the three consumer plaintiffs in the legal challenge against PepsiCo had plausibly alleged that the company’s marketing and labeling was deceptive.
As a result, the judge said the lawsuit can move forward.
The ruling stems from a class-action lawsuit filed against PepsiCo in 2023 by three self-described fitness enthusiasts alleging the company “deceptively advertises that its Gatorade Protein Bars promote consumers’ fitness, health, athleticism, and well-being when they in fact contain high levels of total and added sugars that render such claims misleading.”
In their https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/mccausland-v-pepsico-complaint.pdf
, the consumers argued that a single serving of PepsiCo’s Gatorade protein bar exceeds the daily, health-based limits for added sugars recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA) for women and youth. It also approaches the daily limit for men, they said.
The AHA https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar/added-sugars
no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day for women and 36 grams for men.
According to the lawsuit, PepsiCo’s Gatorade protein bars contain 29 grams of sugar, including 28 grams of added sugar and just 20 grams of protein.
“Plaintiffs would not have purchased, purchased as many of, or paid as much for Gatorade Protein Bars had the product been marketed transparently—that is, as an excessively high added sugar candy or junk food the consumption of which health authorities recommend eliminating and/or limiting because of associated health risks,” the lawsuit stated.
The consumers, in their lawsuit, also highlighted health advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noting that excessive consumption of added sugars correlates with obesity, diabetes, and other related medical conditions including cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.
They claimed PepsiCo violated multiple federal and state laws, including the California Unfair Competition Law, the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California’s False Advertising Law, and the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act among others.
PepsiCo Says Claims Are ‘Implausible’
The three plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages.
PepsiCo had sought to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the claims were “implausible” because it did not market the bars as healthy or low in sugar, particularly for flavors like Chocolate Chip and Cookies and Cream.
The company said in court documents that “truthful statements about protein, athletic recovery, and rebuilding muscles do not mean healthy or low in sugar,” and that the label does in fact disclose the sugar content of the bars.
PepsiCo further argued that it is preempted under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and that the plaintiffs’ claims “would impose requirements for labeling sugar content that differ from the requirements of federal law.”
In his ruling, Judge Pitts said plaintiffs in the lawsuit have plausibly pleaded that they were otherwise “reasonable consumers, were not knowledgeable enough to properly interpret the sugar content listed on the label, and were deceived given PepsiCo’s marketing campaign and self-proclaimed science-backed claims.”
The judge noted that PepsiCo is correct that plaintiffs’ claims are preempted “to the extent they challenge health or protein-content claims that are consistent with federal regulations.”
However, he found that many of the statements plaintiffs claim constitute deceptive or misleading advertising cannot reasonably be construed as health or nutrient-content claims, and therefore are not preempted.
The judge also agreed that PepsiCo can make health- and protein-content claims consistent with federal regulations, noting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not consider sugar a “disqualifying ingredient” when making health claims.
The Epoch Times has contacted PepsiCo for comment.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 21:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/judge-green-lights-lawsuit-accusing-pepsico-deceptively-advertising-protein-bars

2024-08-17 02:05:00

21 Years After Bush Overthrew Saddam, Bill In Iraqi Parliament Could Legitimize Child Marriage
21 Years After Bush Overthrew Saddam, Bill In Iraqi Parliament Could Legitimize Child Marriage
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-women-campaigners-condemn-amendments-could-see-children-married
Women and children's rights campaigners in Iraq have pushed back at proposals that could enshrine sectarianism in family relationships, hand more power in family matters to clerics and open the door for marriage to be legalized for children as young as nine years old.
The amendments to Law No. 188, the Personal Status Law of 1959 have been heavily promoted by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of conservative Shia Islamist parties that form the largest bloc in parliament.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/protestschildmarriage.jpg?itok=qFN-Puid
The first reading took place on Sunday, following a failed attempt on July 24 that was shelved after some parties objected. It is only the latest attempt to bring forward amendments to the law, with previous ones being shelved after political outcry.
According to the draft bill, when concluding a marriage contract, a Muslim couple are required to choose either the Sunni or Shia sect. They can then choose that sect to represent them in "all matters of personal status" rather than the civil judiciary.
"When a dispute occurs between the spouses regarding the doctrine according to whose provisions the marriage contract was concluded, the contract is deemed to have been concluded in accordance with the husband’s doctrine unless evidence exists to the contrary," reads the draft, which was circulated by a number of Iraqi politicians on social media.
It would also allow figures from "the offices of the Shiite and Sunni endowments" to finalize marriages rather than the courts. The draft requires Shia and Sunni endowments to submit a "code of legal rulings" to the parliament six months after ratifying the amendments, stipulating the Shia code would be based on "Jaafari jurisprudence".
Although the question of child marriage is not directly addressed in the amendments, https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/091120173
and conducted by religious figures, making them illegal under the current Iraqi Personal Status Law.
The proposed amendments could see those marriages - 22 percent of which, according to the UN, involve girls under 14 - legitimized by the state.
However, last week the Coordination Framework https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/30072024
the amendments would come before the parliament, saying they were constitutional and did "not contradict the constants of Sharia and the foundations of democracy".
Ra’ad al-Maliki, the MP who proposed the bill, has also hit back at claims the bill would lower the age minimum for marriage, calling them "lies fabricated by some out of hatred for applying the provisions of God’s law to those who want them".
'No to the marriage of minors'
Women's rights organizations have publicly demonstrated against the bill. On July 28, a group of activists - including campaigners from the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) - gathered in Baghdad's Tahrir Square in opposition to the bill.
They held placards reading "the era of female slaves is over" and "No to the marriage of minors". Yanar Mohammed, president of OWFI, told Middle East Eye that the Coordination Framework were trying to push the "archaic" laws as a means of distracting from their own failings, including "huge corruption".
"Their most efficient tool for this distraction is to terrorize Iraqi women and civil society with a legislation that strips away all the rights that Iraqi women gained in modern times, and force archaic Islamic sharia on them that regards women as bodies for pleasure and breeding, and not as human being[s] with human rights," she said.
She added that OWFI and others were building a "coalition" to try and prevent the bill from passing through the parliament and defend the current law.
A number of Iraqi female lawmakers, including members from different factions, have meanwhile formed a coalition in opposition to the amendments of the Personal Status Law.
"The group wants to make it clear to everyone that the rejection is not based on emotions or external motives, but on legal, religious, professional, and social considerations and people who are concerned about protecting the order of the Iraqi family," Iraqi MP Noor Nafea al-Julihawi was quoted as saying by the Kurdistan24 news site.
'Profoundly negative impact'
The 1959 law was passed under the government of Abdul-Karim Qasim, a leftist nationalist who brought in a number of progressive reforms, including increased rights for women. Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, however, rightwing [hardline Islamic] political parties in the country have attempted to roll back these rights.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/saddamoverthrow.jpg?itok=LJnCzTIA
Previous versions of the bill have included rules preventing Muslim men from marrying non-Muslims, the legalization of marital rape, and banning women from leaving the house without their husband's permission.
The latest version is considerably less explicit, but campaigners fear its passage will allow religious authorities to introduce the rules through their establishment of the Personal Status code. "These proposed changes to the Personal Status law would have a profoundly negative impact on the rights and wellbeing of women and children in Iraq," said Tamara Amir, CEO of the Iraqi Women's Rights Platform.
She told MEE that unlike previous attempts at passing the reforms, she believed that the current government - led by Coordination Framework member Mohammed Shia al-Sudani - would manage to get it passed, despite Iraqi society being "divided" on the issue.
"They would further entrench gender inequality and put vulnerable individuals at greater risk," she said. "We urge policymakers to reject these proposals and instead focus on strengthening protections for women and children."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 20:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/21-years-after-bush-overthrew-saddam-bill-iraqi-parliament-could-legitimize-child

2024-08-17 01:15:00

Aging Is Not A Gradual Process, But Accelerates At 2 Main Stages
Aging Is Not A Gradual Process, But Accelerates At 2 Main Stages
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/aging-is-not-a-gradual-process-but-accelerates-at-2-main-stages-5705107?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
Aging has traditionally been viewed synonymously with a steady decline in health, but recent research unveils a more complex picture.
Aging is not gradual but surges at key stages of life, particularly during our 40s and 60s, due to dramatic shifts in our molecules and microorganisms, according to researchers at Stanford Medicine, who published a study on Wednesday in Nature Aging.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2877%29_0.jpg?itok=M1llGiHg
The researchers analyzed how biomarkers—molecules such as RNA and proteins that reflect biological changes—shift across distinct five-year intervals in people aged 25 to 75 and beyond.
Unlike standard medical evaluations, which might involve only 15 to 20 measurements, the researchers made “tens of thousands of measurements.” They found that biomarkers change most dramatically during two key periods in our lives: the mid-40s and the early 60s.
The researchers found it interesting to find observable changes related to cardiovascular disease and other health issues. This is important because acknowledging such changes can lead to actionable steps for improvement, Michael Snyder, who holds a doctorate in biology and is the chair of genetics and the study’s senior author, told The Epoch Times.
He added that understanding these specific periods of change could help in developing interventions.
2 Key Periods of Change
The researchers followed thousands of molecules and microbes in their investigation. About 81 percent of the molecules exhibited significant nonlinear changes, meaning they changed more at certain ages than others. Only around 7 percent changed at a constant rate as study participants aged.
The https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-024-00692-2
tracked participants over periods ranging from two to seven years. Previous findings from this same group of volunteers showed that people’s kidneys, livers, metabolisms, and immune systems aged at different rates.
The researchers analyzed 5,405 samples from 108 participants, encompassing more than 135,000 biological features, including gene activity, proteins, metabolites, and microbiomes. This culminated in a total of nearly 250 billion distinct data points.
When the researchers analyzed clusters of molecules showing the most significant changes, they identified two critical periods: the mid-40s and early 60s, during which these transformations were most pronounced.
Around age 40, the following was observed:
Changes in molecules indicated a reduced efficiency in alcohol, caffeine, and fat metabolism.
The risk of cardiovascular diseases increased as platelets and proteins involved in blood clotting became impaired.
Skin cells and proteins became dysregulated, potentially impairing skin structure and elasticity.
The following occurred around age 60:
Molecular changes indicated further reduced efficiency in metabolizing caffeine and essential fatty acids. Unsaturated fat production also decreased.
Glucose metabolism was affected, suggesting elevated insulin resistance.
Kidney function declined, as indicated by higher blood urea nitrogen levels, which show the kidneys are becoming less effective at filtering waste from the body.
Cardiac issues increased due to a rise in plasma levels of phenylalanine, an essential amino acid associated with heart problems.
Higher levels of cytokines, proteins that regulate the immune system, showed that the immune system weakens.
For those in their 60s, monitoring kidney function and increasing water intake could be beneficial, Snyder suggested.
Similarly, individuals in their 40s should heed changes in lipid metabolism and consider cutting back on fatty meals. Snyder pointed out that these insights underline the importance of recognizing and addressing biological changes to manage health effectively as we age.
Overall, people in both age groups should consider exercising more to support heart health and preserve muscle mass. In one’s 40s, it’s also a good idea to drink less alcohol since the body doesn’t metabolize it as well anymore, added Snyder.
The major changes seen in people’s mid-40s surprised Snyder and his team.
“I don’t know that I would have necessarily known that there’d be such a big period of change [in] people at their mid-40s,” said Snyder.
The researchers first thought that menopause or perimenopause might be causing these changes in women and affecting the overall results. However, when they looked at the data separately for men and women, they found that men in their mid-40s experienced similar changes. “[In women, people might think] maybe it’s all due to women hitting menopause,” Synder said. “But it turns out the same thing’s there, whether it’s male or female.”
“This suggests that while menopause or perimenopause may contribute to the changes observed in women in their mid-40s, there are likely other, more significant factors influencing these changes in both men and women,” study first author Xiaotao Shen, who has a doctorate in metabolomics and bioinformatics and is a former Stanford Medicine postdoctoral scholar, said in a https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1054359
. “Identifying and studying these factors should be a priority for future research.”
Personalized Medicine: Informing Lifestyle Choices
The research team plans to explore the drivers of these clusters of change. Such changes point to the need for people to pay attention to their health, especially in their 40s and 60s, the researchers said.
Snyder, who is also the author of the book “Genomics and Personalized Medicine: What Everyone Needs to Know,” said that the study is a step toward moving beyond generic advice like “exercise more” or “eat better” and creating personalized aging profiles that pinpoint exact health risks.
”By understanding these patterns ... you can take action on it,” he added.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 19:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/aging-not-gradual-process-accelerates-2-main-stages

2024-08-16 22:00:00

Gold Soars To Record High, Dollar Dumps As Kamala Unveils 'Populist' Economic Plan
Gold Soars To Record High, Dollar Dumps As Kamala Unveils 'Populist' Economic Plan
We are sure it's just a coincidence...
...but on the day that Kamala Harris unveils her price-fixing, vote-buying agenda for economic growth...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%281%29_4.jpg?itok=zhiHhqVI
...the dollar plunged to 5-month lows...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmD716.jpg?itok=oGen1UIN
Source: Bloomberg
... and gold soared to a record high, topping $2500 for the first time...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmC463_1.jpg?itok=-I_cpep5
Source: Bloomberg
US equities also soared this week to their best week since 2023, led by a a 5%-plus surge in the Nasdaq (up 12% from last Monday's lows)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-16_12-59-44.jpg?itok=yNC_dLHo
Nasdaq rallied up to a key technical resistance level - at its 50DMA and the last July high...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-16_12-23-32.jpg?itok=uJigkRkS
Which mirrors the rebound in Mag7 stocks (as they rallied up to the late-July highs, but couldn't break it)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm6DC0.jpg?itok=t-lPb2QZ
Source: Bloomberg
Small Caps were lifted by an ongoing short-squeeze...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm64E3.jpg?itok=lm5GCFw-
Source: Bloomberg
VIX was clubbed like a baby seal on the week, extending its largest/fastest retracement ever...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-16_12-32-07.jpg?itok=H_WpZMcF
The collapse of implied vol this week leaves a massive discount to the realized vol of the last month...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm6239.jpg?itok=tQGmNkBD
Source: Bloomberg
Credit markets rallied hard this week, adjust back from "hard landing" to "soft landing" scenarios...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm61A3.jpg?itok=ezJ5TlsI
Source: Bloomberg
Despite all the focus on jobless claims, CPI, and retail sales, this week was actually a 'weak' one for US macro surprises...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmF926.jpg?itok=CtqC1cGJ
Source: Bloomberg
...and that sparked a hawkish drop in rate-cut expectations - back to pre-payrolls levels (less than 200bps of cuts to end-2025)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm62DA.jpg?itok=Unjivjjd
Source: Bloomberg
That prompted weakness at the short-end (+1bps) of the Treasury curve on the week (but the long-end ended 7bps lower on the week). The obvious shift was the bearish rise in yields after CPI...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmAF78.jpg?itok=1lEuR-p4
Source: Bloomberg
The yield curve flattened significantly on the week, with 2s10s re-inverting...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmAACB.jpg?itok=9y6Z71pK
Source: Bloomberg
Another choppy week for crypto but today saw Bitcoin surge back up to $60,000 as Kamala spoke. to end the week unchanged...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm5A96.jpg?itok=veMvRP0S
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices were flat on the week after some volatile days...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmA97A.jpg?itok=q_fwL7FM
Source: Bloomberg
The other side of the AI-trade - copper - is not buying the euphoria in AI stocks...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm7FCF.jpg?itok=9mdHQDyr
Source: Bloomberg
Also worth noting is that the yen carry trade was not fully embraced to lift stocks...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm3C26.jpg?itok=ct_h9zD9
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, the plunge in the dollar and surge in stocks and gold all took place since Kamala overtook Trump in the prediction markets...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm6851.jpg?itok=wcb-zv3Z
Source: Bloomberg
Coincidence?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 16:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/gold-soars-record-high-dollar-dumps-kamala-unveils-populist-economic-plan

2024-08-16 20:46:08

Watch Live: Harris Unveils Plan To Fix Last 4 Years Of Economic Destruction
Watch Live: Harris Unveils Plan To Fix Last 4 Years Of Economic Destruction
(Update: 1445ET):
Watch live:
* * *
With the election right around the corner and the average American choking on inflation, Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled several galaxy brain policies aimed at "lowering costs for American families," which she and her teleprompter will present at a Friday speech in North Carolina at 2:45 p.m. ET - just days before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/I76CQBLZ5FOGFD2LGLZHTWOJAQ.jpg?itok=f4sxjvoH
While we know about Harris https://www.zerohedge.com/political/plagiarizing-trump-copy-cat-kamala-promises-no-tax-tips
Donald Trump's plan to eliminate taxes on tips (after she was the tie-breaking vote on legislation to supercharge IRS enforcement), the proposals also include;
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/vp-harris-first-economic-plan-proposes-federal-price-controls-combat-inflation
to crack down on 'corporate price-gouging in the food and grocery industries.'
(Except...)
Here's your "price gouging" narrative: average costs paid by businesses have risen just as much as costs charged to consumers - if businesses are being "greedy," they're doing it all wrong... https://t.co/ALiw72MXSf
— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1823701645328572497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
A $25,000 subsidy for first-time home buyers, under which those who have a two-year history of on-time rent payments would be eligible for "down-payment support."
A cap on prescription drug costs and the elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans
Child tax credit that would provide $6,000 per child to families for the first year of a baby's life (after JD Vance suggested an increase from $2,000 per child to $5,000)
Other items include efforts aimed at lowering the cost of rent and helping renters who are struggling financially, according to https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-endorse-protections-renters-removal-key-tax-benefits-wall-st-in-rcna166821
. She will also propose plans to stop data firms from driving up lease rates, as well as stopping Wall Street firms from buying and flipping homes in bulk.
As part of the rollout, Harris will call on Congress to pass the https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-and-wyden-introduce-legislation-to-crack-down-on-companies-that-inflate-rents-with-price-fixing-algorithms/__;!!PIZeeW5wscynRQ!tCI2pOIr9b1b3u09Ta1lxF1oRFy7EGlcffv__1WOxVtsUMV4gNoV5Ma-gXlrEDL_nr3q40WhJe7GuIUp4Ihvdl5hXq_alg$
, a bill introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., that they said would prevent corporate landlords from using private equity-backed price-setting tools to raise rents dramatically in communities across the country.
Harris will also call on Congress to pass the https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/sherrod-brown-colleagues-bill-crack-down-corporate-investors-buy-local-homes-housing-prices__;!!PIZeeW5wscynRQ!tCI2pOIr9b1b3u09Ta1lxF1oRFy7EGlcffv__1WOxVtsUMV4gNoV5Ma-gXlrEDL_nr3q40WhJe7GuIUp4Ihvdl4cOVprFQ$
, a bill introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and several other Democratic senators. The bill is designed to stop communities from being taken advantage of by Wall Street investors and distant landlords. The bill would curtail those practices by removing key tax benefits for major investors who acquire large numbers of single-family rental homes.
Harris will also call for the construction of three million new housing units via construction tax incentives - as well as a $40 billion proposal for local governments to build or preserve affordable housing units. We're sure that won't be a giant cash grab.
Cleaning Up Their Mess?
As even the https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/08/16/kamala-harris-2024-policy-child-tax-credit/
notes - "Harris has thus far surrounded herself with many former aides to Biden, and her team had made some overtures to business leaders that they hoped reflected a more centrist approach. But the policy positions she embraced Friday suggest she will continue, if not deepen, the party’s transformation under Biden, who pushed for more aggressive government intervention in the economy on industrial, labor and antitrust policies."
Meanwhile, according to a Gallup survey taken earlier this year, just 21% of Americans say it's a good time to buy a house - while just days ago, July's inflation reading showed that shelter prices jumped 0.4% from the previous month. According to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, it might take 'several years' for the pandemic-era rent increases to abate.
Trump Responds
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/trump%20resp.PNG?itok=b2tGOdzZ
During a Thursday news conference at his New Jersey golf resort, the former president denounced the package as Venezuela-style communism.
"This announcement is an admission that her economic policies have totally failed and caused really a catastrophe for our country, and beyond that, a catastrophe in the world," said Trump.
President Trump calls Kamala’s price controls “the Maduro Plan”
“This announcement is an admission that her economic policies have totally failed."https://t.co/LlnkwVgnGo
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1824188592312422570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
People have questions...
It should come as no surprise that https://twitter.com/hashtag/ComradeKamala?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
is proposing a communist economic agenda.
She has openly said that her ideology means "everyone ends up in the same place."
A vote for Kamala is a vote for food shortages and skyrocketed housing prices.https://t.co/X6nr4n1zM7
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1824471804171399348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
won’t that just increase the price of all homes by $25,000 while also increasing the deficit https://t.co/F4VgpA1e1K
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) https://twitter.com/WholeMarsBlog/status/1824268386689544253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
for those asking:
3. wage controls.
4. nationalization
5. "but real communism has never been tried before" https://t.co/u123tz9R2B
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1824270322096357869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Kamala Harris promises to cut inflation by spending and printing more money, reducing competition, and attacking businesses.
It worked nowhere never.
Welcome to US "peronism"
— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) https://twitter.com/dlacalle_IA/status/1824373506433286518?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://t.co/hgKz02UcRr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1824409235486032221?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And for the icing on the cake - the Washington Post is now framing it as a "populist policy agenda," a word whose starter pack we thought came with a tiki torch and khakis (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/12/pandemic-will-fuel-populism-that-sent-trump-white-house/
).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%286%29_3.png?itok=IbMDrLKH
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 14:46
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/harris-unveils-plan-fix-last-4-years-economic-destruction

2024-08-16 19:40:00

The Winners And Losers Of The AI Power Boom
The Winners And Losers Of The AI Power Boom
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Winners-and-Losers-of-the-AI-Power-Boom.html
AI technology is causing a surge in US power demand, especially from data centers.
This is pushing up wholesale electricity prices, boosting profits for power producers.
Consumers are likely to face higher electricity bills as utilities invest in grid upgrades to meet the rising demand.
The U.S. power market is poised for a major shake-up as consumption is soaring amid the AI technology boom.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-15_igvn8ldteq.jpg?itok=04I0P4hS
The surge in power demand, led by data centers, has started to create winners in the American electricity sector. Expectations of booming consumption in the coming years are raising wholesale and retail power prices, pushing up profits for power-generating firms and utilities, and raising household bills for consumers.
The AI-led jump in power demand could also kick-start legislative changes in some states that could allow utilities to own and invest in power-generation capacity.
Power Producers’ Profits Jump
Many independent power producers are boosting their earnings guidance, expecting much higher wholesale capacity auction prices for the coming years to continue supporting their revenues.
Amid tighter supplies, this year’s capacity auction prices at one of the biggest regional U.S. markets have soared compared to last year.
PJM Interconnection, which coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity and ensures power supplies for 65 million people in all or parts of 13 eastern and Midwest U.S. states and D.C., https://pjm.com/-/media/about-pjm/newsroom/2024-releases/20240730-pjm-capacity-auction-procures-sufficient-resources-to-meet-rto-reliability-requirement.ashx
at the end of July that it had secured sufficient resources to meet the reliability requirement for the 2025/2026 Delivery Year.
The auction produced a price of $269.92 per megawatt (MW)-day for much of the PJM footprint, compared to $28.92/MW-day for the 2024/2025 auction. That’s more than a nine-fold jump in just one year.
The key drivers of the higher prices included decreased supply offers into the auction due mainly to generator retirements, an increase in projected peak load, and FERC-approved market reforms, including improved reliability risk modeling for extreme weather.
The high prices in areas in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina are “due to insufficient resources inside those regions and constraints on the transmission system that limit the ability to import capacity,” according to PJM.
“These prices indicate that those regions would benefit from either additional resources, additional transmission to allow increased imports into those regions, or a combination of the two,” said PJM.
As a result of the high prices that power generators cleared at the capacity auctions, many electricity producers raised their earnings guidance when announcing Q2 results this month.
Talen Energy, for example, https://ir.talenenergy.com/news-releases/news-release-details/talen-energy-reports-second-quarter-2024-results-and-raises-2024
its 2024 guidance ranges, with a new Adjusted EBITDA range of $720 million to $780 million and a new Adjusted Free Cash Flow range of $245 million to $285 million.
Vistra Corp https://investor.vistracorp.com/2024-08-08-Vistra-Reports-Second-Quarter-2024-Results
it’s confident that it would achieve Ongoing Operations Adjusted EBITDA results toward the upper end of the guidance range for 2024.
“Additionally, given our strong hedge profile and the recent PJM capacity auction results, we are increasing the range of our midpoint opportunity for 2025 Ongoing Operations Adjusted EBITDA by $200 million to $5,200 million to $5,700 million,” said Jim Burke, president and chief executive officer of Vistra.
The corporation has started construction of two new solar facilities, a 200-MW site backed by Amazon in Texas and a 405-MW site backed by Microsoft in Illinois.
Constellation Energy https://investors.constellationenergy.com/static-files/f1f592f5-7c1e-4278-904f-dfd03653f87c
its adjusted operating earnings per share for 2024, too, as its commercial business is outperforming the guidance in a volatile market.
The jump in PJM’s capacity auction prices will translate into a $0.25 additional boost to earnings per share (EPS) for 2025 and $1.25 in additional EPS for 2026, Constellation Energy said.
Capacity auction prices will likely remain high in the next few years as power producers race to add more power plants to the grid amid surging demand.
“What we’re seeing in the [latest] capacity auction is the tip of the iceberg,” Hugh Wynne, co-head of utilities and renewable energy research at SSR, told https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/ai-is-about-to-boost-power-billswholl-take-heat-for-that-c527f27b?mod=panda_wsj_section_alert
, commenting on the capacity and supply needs of the U.S. power market.
Higher Prices for Consumers
The need for more power resources and increased investments in transmission lines and grid expansions and upgrades will start to raise the cost of household electricity prices as utilities, when allowed by regulators, will seek to pass on some of the higher costs and capex onto consumers.
U.S. consumers https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/US-Electricity-Prices-Surge-Amid-Grid-Strains-and-Rising-Demand.html
higher electricity bills as power providers raise investments in much-needed grid improvements amid an old power system that is not designed to cope with soaring demand and more frequent extreme weather events.
Over the past year, electricity price inflation has outpaced total consumer inflation in the United States. Expected further hikes in power rates for consumers could spark political backlash in some states and service areas.
“Transmission and distribution costs have been one of the major drivers for increases in retail electricity prices in recent years,” U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=62303
.
Due to tighter power supply, electric utility stocks are https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Markets-Sleepiest-Sector-Becomes-Top-Winner-of-the-AI-Boom.html
this year as the surge in artificial intelligence technology has created a most unlikely winner on the stock market.
The U.S. power sector landscape could also be on the tip of regulatory changes as some regionally regulated utilities are pushing for changes to be allowed to invest in new generation capacity.
Such is the case with Pennsylvania-based PPL Corporation, whose Vice President for Investor Relations, Andy Ludwig, https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/ppl-corporation-nyseppl-q2-2024-earnings-call-transcript-1329734/
on the Q2 earnings call that the company would be “advocating for legislative changes in Pennsylvania that would drive needed generation development, including authority that would support regulated utility investments in new generation.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 13:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/winners-and-losers-ai-power-boom

2024-08-16 17:40:00

Will The Fed Get Kamala Elected?
Will The Fed Get Kamala Elected?
https://dailyreckoning.com/will-fed-get-kamala-elected/
The Aug. 5 mini-crash was a potent reminder to investors that stock markets aren’t a one-way street.
It wasn’t the end of the world. Market indexes down 3.0% in a day is a big deal, but it bears no comparison to October 1929 when the stock market fell 21% over two days or October 1987 when the stock market fell 21% in one day.
What caused the Aug. 5 mini-crash? There are several suspects. The employment report issued on Friday, Aug. 2 showed a decline in job creation and an uptick in the unemployment rate.
Neither move was extreme but it got the markets’ attention. In fact, the Aug. 5 decline actually started on Aug. 2, giving the two-day decline a greater impact.
It’s also the case that late July and early August was when many companies, especially Big Tech, reported their earnings for the quarter ending June 30, and offered their forward guidance.
Hey, AI: Show Me
Many of these reports showed huge expenditures for artificial intelligence (AI) with little or no gains in revenue. That was enough to cause market analysts and investors to reprice the entire sector.
This “show me” attitude toward AI drove many huge stocks such as Nvidia and Samsung lower even before the two-day rout on Aug. 2 and 5.
Finally, there’s ample evidence that the economy is now in a recession. There’s something much bigger than the markets behind all of this. It’s the economy. I’ve been warning about a recession for a long time — now it’s here.
Last Friday’s unemployment report was a sign. Still, unemployment is a lagging indicator. It means the recession probably began in June or even May. We won’t know for a few more months when the National Bureau of Economic Research makes its unofficial “official” call.
This recession could be severe based on excess inventories (that need to be dumped) and a host of other technical indicators. A protracted recession is consistent with my forecast for a long, slow grind down in stocks as discussed below.
What Comes Next
Just to be clear, Aug. 5 was not the “big one.” A crash of 25% or more in a compressed period of a few weeks (similar to what we saw in March–April 2020) is always possible, but this correction has a dynamic that suggests it’ll feel for a bottom and then settle down.
The “buy the dip” crowd are still around and they’ll be dipping their toes in the water on a continual basis. That doesn’t mean a sudden rally, but it could mean the market will bounce around the new bottom with those needing cash (or just cautious) getting out and the bottom-feeders getting in.
The timing of crashes is hard to predict, even when you know they’re coming. But the aftermath of a crash is even harder to predict. The real impact of the Aug. 5 mini-crash was the increase in volatility.
In place of steady gains, investors should now expect big up and down days within a larger downward trend.
Worse Than a Crash
We may actually be in for something worse than a crash. We may be in for a long, slow grind to a new bottom that could be down 70% or more from the top (to, say, Dow 12,000).
Investors are familiar with the Dow crash of 21% in 1929 but fewer know that the bottom did not come until June 1932, down over 80% from the 1929 high.
Something similar happened in the 1970s where the Dow was 1,000 in 1969 and 1,000 in 1982. It went nowhere in 13 years (with volatility along the way).
Adjusted for inflation, the 1982 index was worth less than half the 1969 index so in real terms you lost over 50% of your wealth during those 13 years before a new bull market began.
The problem with a 25-year recovery (1929–1954) or a 13-year recovery (1969–1982) is that many people don’t have the time to recover. Be prepared for that sort of outcome.
A Cut Is Coming
Here’s what I recently wrote about the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September: “The best way out for the Fed is to keep their heads down and do nothing. That’s what I expect the Fed to do absent an extreme market meltdown or a sharp spike in unemployment.”
Well, we’ve just had the meltdown and spike in quick succession so it’s clear the Fed will cut rates in September.
But that’s not a free lunch. My original formulation that the Fed wouldn’t cut was based on the fact that inflation was still too high. That’s still true. So the Fed will be throwing in the towel on inflation in order to calm stock markets.
The Fed may end up with the worst of both worlds — continuing inflation and recession known as “stagflation.”
And don’t hold your breath waiting for the “Fed put.” The Fed put is real, but it only comes out when stock markets are crashing, say, 20% or more in a few weeks or when there’s a bank panic or both.
We’re not there yet. It could happen, but the situation right now is not bad enough for the Fed to intervene apart from a 0.25% cut in September. Don’t look for an intermeeting cut or a 0.50% cut.
As I’ve said before, the Fed doesn’t want you to panic, but they don’t want to appear panicky themselves.
The Politics of a September Rate Cut
A September rate cut puts Powell on a direct collision course with Donald Trump. That’s because the rate cut will come just six weeks ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.
It’ll probably give the stock market a boost (in many ways the mere expectation of a rate cut has already boosted stocks following the Aug. 5 mini crash).
In turn, this will boost the Democrats’ chances of winning the presidential election. Trump has publicly said that Powell shouldn’t cut rates so close to the election, and to do so should be considered a kind of election interference by the supposedly apolitical Fed.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dr-hero-img-08-14-24-shutterstoc.jpg?itok=DqcA1o8w
Powell may be able to justify a rate cut using an economic slowdown and stock market volatility as cover. But if Trump wins the election, there may be a high price for Powell and the Fed to pay for this political rate cut.
In the first place, all seats on the Fed Board of Governors are selected by the president. Trump could nominate allies like Judy Shelton, Larry Kudlow and Monica Crowley to fill those seats.
It’s not clear Trump could fire Jay Powell (it’s possible but it has never been done before so the matter could be litigated) but Powell’s term as chair is up on May 15, 2026, so Trump could replace him relatively early in his second term.
Would Trump Neuter the Fed?
Trump could also seek legislation (assuming Republicans control both Houses of Congress) that could reduce Fed powers and their autonomy.
This could include repealing the “dual mandate” that requires the Fed to target unemployment and inflation at the same time (impossible to do but the Fed goes through the motions).
This would return the Fed to its original purpose of sound money and lender of last resort. So there’s a lot at stake if Powell goes ahead with his political rate cut.
If Trump wins and Republicans take both houses of Congress, we could be dealing with a neutered Fed.
That might be negative if the Fed were truly apolitical — the Fed should be independent of politics.
But since the Fed isn’t apolitical, a neutered Fed would be good for the economy and the American people overall.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 11:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/will-fed-get-kamala-elected

2024-08-16 14:50:00

Peter Schiff: More Disastrous Rate-Cuts On The Horizon
Peter Schiff: More Disastrous Rate-Cuts On The Horizon
https://www.schiffgold.com/peters-podcast/peter-schiff-more-disastrous-rate-cuts-on-the-horizon
Peter’s back in Puerto Rico for this episode. He explains his theory behind the market’s bounce back last week, notes why last week’s panic bodes poorly for Bitcoin, and comments on two major political events— Kamala Harris’s VP pick and the “hate speech” clamp-down in the United Kingdom.
With more evidence mounting of a recession, Peter reminds us that the Fed’s policy over the last few decades makes such a recession inevitable:
“The right thing is to raise rates more and let the chips fall where they may. Sure, stocks are going to crash. Real estate is going to crash. We’re going to have a hard landing. It’s going to be a recession. But unfortunately, that’s what we need. Not because it’s fun, but because it’s necessary. Now, if you don’t want to have this necessary crash, then the Fed never should have made that deal with the devil, because the devil is going to come to collect eventually.”
Even though rate cuts are the wrong move, the markets are confident cuts are coming in September or even earlier:
“I said on my podcast that if we didn’t get the emergency rate cut, we were getting a cut for sure in September. I just thought they may not even wait until September. They may have to do it sooner. And they still might because we still have a long time between that September meeting and right now. But because the bond market started to price that in and rates went down, that helped the markets, because the markets saw this and they’re like, ‘Ok, the Fed is definitely going to cut now.’ … The market now realizes that the Fed is going to move on in September no matter what. And that I think that helped the market’s psychology.”
Bitcoin’s recent performance demonstrates why it’s a bad choice for a federal Bitcoin reserve:
“When everything was going down, Bitcoin went down the most. And they’re trying to get the government to have a Bitcoin reserve? You can’t have a reserve asset that’s the most volatile asset. The reserve asset is the one you’re supposed to rely on. When everything else is selling off, you can use that reserve asset. But how can you use a reserve asset that goes down even more than the stuff you’re trying to hedge?”
In election news, Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Peter thinks Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro would have been a better pick, but the media is keen to defend Harris against any criticism:
“The media has been repackaging and rebranding her. I mean, they’re lying as much about Harris as they were about Biden. The same people had said, ‘Biden is sharp as a tack,’ right? And then kick him to the curb as soon as that lie was exposed. Now they’ve got a new lie about how great Kamala Harris is. As long as she keeps her mouth shut and nobody actually hears her talk, they can keep selling her to the American public like she’s the greatest thing. And apparently it’s working.”
With the United Kingdom government cracking down on protests and online social media posts, Peter explains why free speech is so important:
“If you’re not allowed to be offensive, if you’re not allowed to hurt other people’s feelings, then you don’t have freedom of speech. Well, what do you have? The whole concept of free speech is that you have to defend the rights of people to say things that you disagree with— that may be offensive to you, that may be hateful. Because the minute you let the government decide, the government can decide, ‘what is offensive? What is hateful?’ Well, then they can make anything they want hateful or offensive.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 08:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/peter-schiff-more-disastrous-rate-cuts-horizon

2024-08-15 21:45:00

Subway Calls 'Emergency' Meeting With Franchisees As Fast-Food 'Value Wars' Potentially Claim First Casualty
Subway Calls 'Emergency' Meeting With Franchisees As Fast-Food 'Value Wars' Potentially Claim First Casualty
Quick-service restaurants (QSR) are locked in a fierce "value war," offering cash-strapped consumers $5 meal deals or even better bargains to maintain their market share. This battle for value has intensified as QSR executives recognize that low- and mid-tier households have been financially squeezed by the Biden-Harris economy. With elevated inflation, high interest rates, depleted savings, and maxed-out credit cards, consumers are in rough shape.
McDonald's was the https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/first-mcdonalds-now-burger-king-admits-are-broke-planned-reintroduction-5-meal
" with more deals for customers every day of the week this fall."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-15_09-24-17%20copy.png?itok=WViAxxhN
As the QSR value wars heat up, sandwich chain Subway could be the first casualty in the spiraling price battle:
Here's more from the https://nypost.com/2024/08/14/business/subway-calls-emergency-meeting-with-franchisees-as-sales-plummet-sources/
:
Subway has called a hasty meeting with franchisees of its 19,000 North American sandwich shops as they grapple with faltering sales and profits, The Post has learned.
...
"This conference is essential," Subway said in the invite. "Join us … to discuss the state of the industry and an update on our business."
The NYPost spoke with a franchisee operator who owns twenty stores. The individual said, "Same-store sales are down 5% to 10% in recent weeks compared to the prior year." The individual blames the downturn in the chain's promotions, and foot traffic has plunged.
"They are doing crazy coupons," the franchisee owner said, adding, "Our gross sales are not even at 2012 levels, and profit then was five times what it is today."
The latest national ad campaign with NBA great Charles Barkley appears to have been a flop. Data shared with NYPost showed that average weekly same-store sales for the Eastern US region with about 1,000 locations dipped 8.7% between June 25 and July 16 compared to the same period one year ago.
Restaurant consultant John Gordon said the Thursday meeting appears "very unusual."
In recent weeks, Gordon said he had viewed Subway's same-store sales figures across the West Coast and East Coast regions, which show a 10% plunge.
QSR value wars and emergency meetings by Subway do not occur during boom times; they are ominous signs that the https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/earnings-call-mentions-consumer-downturn-soar-highest-level-financial-crisis
is gathering pace.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/subway-calls-emergency-franchisees-fast-food-value-wars-potentially-claim-first-casualty

2024-08-15 18:05:00

Vance And Walz Agree To Oct. 1 Debate
Vance And Walz Agree To Oct. 1 Debate
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/vance-and-walz-agree-to-oct-1-debate-5706217?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
A much-anticipated debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appears to be on as both vice presidential candidates have agreed to CBS’s proposal for an Oct. 1 face-off.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202024-08-15T090100.989.jpg?itok=HsknxCkO
The network issued a statement Wednesday indicating that it had invited both vice-presidential candidates to take part in a debate in New York City, presenting both campaigns with four dates as options: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8.
Walz, who remains the presumptive Democratic Party nominee until the Democratic National Convention later this month, accepted the invitation in a https://x.com/Tim_Walz/status/1823824781873176770
on X, writing: “See you on October 1, JD.”
Vance, who initially told Fox News that he would most likely agree but that his team needed time to review the rules and conditions of the debate, agreed to the Oct. 1 debate and upped the ante by agreeing to another debate proposed by CNN.
“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!” Vance wrote in a https://x.com/JDVance/status/1824075920216310262
on X.
At the time of reporting, it was unclear whether Walz had agreed to the Sept. 18 debate proposed by CNN.
Vance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql_Meyfx1TI
on Wednesday after being asked whether he would agree to the Oct. 1 debate on CBS that he would most likely be there but that his campaign needed to review the conditions.
“I strongly suspect we’re going to be there on October the 1st,” Vance said, but added the condition that “we’re not going to do one of these fake debates where they don’t actually have an audience there, where they don’t actually set the parameters in a way where we can have a good exchange of ideas.
“We’re going to do a real debate, and if CBS agrees to it, then certainly we’ll do it,” Vance said.
The Ohio Republican drew a contrast between the large volume of media interviews that the Trump–Vance campaign has been giving compared to the Harris–Waltz campaign, adding that he wants to debate Walz several times because “it’s important for the American people to actually see us discuss our views.”
Vance https://www.mediaite.com/politics/vance-rips-kamala-harris-after-slew-of-sunday-show-hits-shes-had-as-many-tough-interviews-as-walz-has-battlefield-deployments/
Vice President Kamala Harris for her lack of media availability since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
“I enjoyed sitting down with three of the major networks today to answer the tough questions any leader should answer,” Vance said in an Aug. 11 https://x.com/JDVance/status/1822718644591501711
on X, after giving three separate interviews on Sunday morning shows.
Harris has largely avoided answering questions from the press since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, drawing criticism from conservatives and journalists alike.
Previously, Vance said that he https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/vance-wont-commit-to-debate-until-walz-is-officially-nominated-5700776
to a debate until Walz was officially named the vice presidential nominee, which is expected to take place at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, scheduled for Aug. 19–22.
Historically, both of the major party presidential and vice presidential nominees have participated in debates.
So far, Trump and Harris https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-agrees-to-debate-harris-on-fox-news-in-pennsylvania-5699072
to one debate, which is to be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10.
There has been speculation that other Trump–Harris debates could take place, though nothing has been formalized.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 12:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/vance-and-walz-agree-oct-1-debate

2024-08-15 16:45:00

"I'm Not Leaving": Kim Dotcom Defiant After NZ Approves Extradition For Trial In United States
"I'm Not Leaving": Kim Dotcom Defiant After NZ Approves Extradition For Trial In United States
Internet mogul Kim Dotcom says he's not going anywhere after New Zealand's justice minister said on Thursday that he will be extradited to the Untied States on charges related to his defunct file-sharing website Megaupload.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GTY_kim_dotcom_tk_140325_16x9_992.jpg?itok=AkWnx2Ab
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced that he had signed an extradition order for Dotcom, saying in a statement: "I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial," adding "As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision."
The extradition order comes 12 years after an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. In 2017, the high court in New Zealand first approved his extradition - with an appeal court reaffirming the finding in 2018. In 2020, the country's supreme court again affirmed the finding, however they also left the door open for further judicial review.
Dotcom responded to the decision, posting on Tuesday that "the obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload."
He later said: "I love New Zealand. I'm not leaving."
I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving 😘
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1824000525500584077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He also says he 'has a plan.'
Oops 😬 Don’t worry I have a plan 😉 https://t.co/1ow9drHcfv
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1823993237931221340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to US authorities, Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives cost film studios over US$500 million by encouraging people to store and share copyrighted material - generating over US$175 million for his website. He also faces charges of money laundering and racketeering.
The internet mogul says he should not be held personally liable for copyright infringement carried out on his site.
"New Zealand copyright law (92b) makes it clear that an ISP can’t be criminally liable for actions of their users," Dotcom noted in 2017 following the high court's decision. "Unless you’re Kim Dotcom?"
Megaupload was based in Hong Kong until 2012, when the US seized the domain and shuttered the site. It relaunched in 2013 as Mega, with a New Zealand domain name, however Dotcom has had no involvement in the company since at least 2015. The company's chief marketing officer, Finn Batato, and chief technical officer and co-founder, Mathias Ortmann, both from Germany, along with a third executive, the Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, were arrested in Auckland with Dotcom in 2012, according to https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/15/kim-dotcom-to-be-extradited-from-new-zealand-to-us
.
Ortmann and Van der Kolk were sentenced to jail terms in 2023 under plea deals that avoided extradition, while Batato died in 2022 in New Zealand.
Needless to say, Dotcom's supporters are out in force:
We support you 100% sir!
— Crypto Rand (@crypto_rand) https://twitter.com/crypto_rand/status/1824001564010221904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The decision to extradite you is a blow to justice. You fought against unfair persecution for over a decade. The U.S. wants to scapegoat you for issues they couldn't control. NZ should should protect you, not serve as a proxy for U.S. overreach.
— Elon Musk (@persianracer) https://twitter.com/persianracer/status/1824004896376693209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 10:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/im-not-leaving-kim-dotcom-defiant-after-nz-approves-extradition-trial-united-states

2024-08-15 10:15:00

World's Top Steelmaker Warns Of "Harsh Winter" Amid Growing Fears Of 2008 Or 2015-Style Downturn
World's Top Steelmaker Warns Of "Harsh Winter" Amid Growing Fears Of 2008 Or 2015-Style Downturn
Some economists warn that central banks, including the Federal Reserve, have pushed their interest rate hiking cycle too far. Meanwhile, Chinese investors are wary of the growth prospects for the world's second-largest economy. The troubling trends in the world's two biggest economies have sparked concerns that the global economic landing might be far more turbulent than initially anticipated.
For instance, this morning, the world's biggest steel producer in China, China Baowu Steel Group, warned that the steel industry is plunging into a prolonged "harsh winter."
This downturn will be "longer, colder, and more difficult to endure than expected," Baowu Steel Chairman Hu Wangming said at the company's most recent half-year earnings result meeting.
"Financial departments at all levels should pay more attention to the security of the company's funding," Wangming said. He noted a need to strengthen controls over overdue payments and detect fake trades.
He said, "In the process of crossing the long and harsh winter, cash is more important than profit."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_19bc0d90.png?itok=euZjvrNj
Hou Angui, general manager and deputy party secretary at Baowu Steel warned at the meeting, "The current situation in the steel industry is more severe than the downturns of 2008 and 2015."
For commodities, including steel and copper, the dire warning from Baowu Steel comes as the property market downturn in China continues to worsen. Factory activity in the world's second-largest economy remains under pressure, and investors are extremely cautious about China's growth outlook.
Goldman's Lisheng Wang recently met with onshore clients in Beijing and Shanghai. These clients include mutual funds, private equity funds, and asset managers in banks/insurance companies.
Wang said, "Compared with two months ago, local investors viewed signals from the Third Plenum and July Politburo meeting as neutral, remained cautious on China's growth outlook and policy implementation, and showed increased concerns on the US recession risk, election uncertainty, and potential impact on China."
In markets, Goldman's James Busby said iron ore prices moved lower in Singapore, down nearly 3% with "Macro fund selling." He noted to clients about Baowu Steel's warning and pointed out that iron ore prices slid to May 2023 lows.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_19be4c26.png?itok=q0PN7IlI
BMO analyst Colin Hamilton said, "The entire Chinese steel industry is positioning for a consolidation."
As Chinese iron ore inventories swell, steel mills face mounting supply pressures, likely forcing them to cut production. Additionally, these mills are exporting deflation, with steel exports expected to exceed 100 million tons this year—the highest level since 2016.
Talk of global economic slowdowns is heating up worldwide, with the JPM Global Manufacturing PMI sliding into a contraction (<50) earlier this summer.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_19b0eb19.png?itok=P5hAGcLL
Meanwhile, US interest rate traders are pricing in four 25bps cuts by the end of the year.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_19b10902.png?itok=kijYC3U3
All of this points to the economic storm clouds quickly gathering pace.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 04:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/worlds-top-steelmaker-warns-harsh-winter-amid-growing-fears-2008-or-2015-style-downturn

2024-08-15 04:35:00

California Sheriff Blasts Harris For Using His Image In "Misleading" Campaign Ad, Says He Supports Trump
California Sheriff Blasts Harris For Using His Image In "Misleading" Campaign Ad, Says He Supports Trump
https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/13/california-sheriff-blasts-harris-for-using-his-image-in-misleading-campaign-ad-says-he-supports-trump/
A California sheriff is slamming Kamala Harris over her ‘misleading’ political ad that fraudulently touted her border security record while using his image without permission.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-1246315223-scaled-e1.jpg?itok=zFLFWCYr
The video features Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and other local and state law enforcement officers flanking then Attorney General Harris during her visit to the Central Valley in 2014.
“In light of a recent political ad put out by Kamala Harris featuring Sheriff Boudreaux, as well as other local law enforcement, the Sheriff wants to make it abundantly clear that his image is being used without his permission, and he does NOT endorse Harris for President or any other political office,” the sheriff said in a statement issued to https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-sheriff-featured-kamala-harris-campaign-ad-decries-use-image-i-do-not-support-her
Boudreaux has spent 37 years in the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and is currently president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association.
“As a matter of fact, I would like to point out the misleading information projected in that same political ad. In the ad, Harris claims to have spent decades fighting violent crime as a ‘border state prosecutor,’” Boudreaux stated.
The ad claims:
“As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border.” Harris’ campaign ad also dubiously states that she will “hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.”
Boudreaux and other law enforcement officials in Southern California were outraged that Harris would take credit for fighting crime at the border when she allegedly only “undercut” their efforts.
“How can you go in and promote that you were this tight border person when all the troops are coming across the border, and you literally are eliminating all these task forces? I mean, that completely made us mad,” Boudreaux told Fox News.
“When you see that advertisement, if you do a little research, you’ll find that what she’s (Harris) touting goes completely against what was happening at the time, so when she put that picture out there with me in it, I got really upset, that ad is all smoke and mirrors,” Boudreaux said. “I do not support her.”
Harris reportedly came to the Valley in 2014 to take credit for “a years-long investigation into a multi-national drug operation, with ties to Mexican drug cartels and prison gangs,” that was done by local law enforcement.
According to the sheriff, 11 people were arrested, including suspected “kingpin” Jose Magana of Dinuba in that case.
“The truth is, Harris never cared about the cartels and did nothing to stop people from illegally crossing the border,” Boudreaux said.
The sheriff made note of Harris’ haughty attitude during the 2014 visit.
“We were in the green room. She never came in and said hello to any of us. She walked up front, gave her presser, literally walked out, never said hi to any of us,” Boudreaux said. “I’m disgusted because, you know, she didn’t shake hands. She didn’t say hello. And she’s taken credit for all this work that the locals did.”
Boudreaux’s political action committee, Golden State Justice, also issued a scathing statement blasting Harris’ new campaign ad.
“As Attorney General, Kamala Harris undercut efforts by California law enforcement officials to stop criminals from flooding our state with guns and drugs across the border,” the statement read.
“She repeatedly defunded and shuttered task forces designed to protect our residents, leaving the Valley and our state vulnerable,” the statement continued. “Kamala’s sad attempt to paint herself as tough on the border by implying my support – and the support of neighboring law enforcement leaders—is pathetic.”
The statement concluded by saying “a politician crowding the podium at a press conference clearly hasn’t solved our border crisis. Neither has Kamala Harris.”
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward, who is also featured in the ad, was also enraged by the video.
“The hypocrisy knows no bounds. It’s disingenuous and her campaign ad, somehow now, touting her reputation as a prosecutor as a positive thing, she was attorney general under three of the worst tragedies that had befallen the citizens of the state of California,” Ward told Fox News.
Ward concurred with Boudreaux about using their images in a campaign ad without permission, saying that it should have been a “professional courtesy” to let them know about it.
“We’re not hard people to find or to contact. Simple professional courtesy would have been warning us that it was going to be used. And I think that we are well within our rights to clarify the records,” Ward said.
“Just as Sheriff Boudreaux said, I do not in any way want the use of that photo to be construed as support of her (Harris) either in her candidacy, current candidacy, or even in her tenure as attorney general of the State of California.”
In an interview Tuesday with Fox News, Boudreaux said Harris showed up in 2014 “for a sound bite, didn’t shake anyone’s hands and she quickly left the briefing room.”
He said law enforcement officials in Southern California are “very familiar” with Harris’ record and her campaign ad was “deceptive to say the least.”
The sheriff added, “I just wanted to come out and say that for me as the sheriff or Tulare County looking out for victims, looking for someone who’s going to support criminal justice and law enforcement, that is best represented by Donald Trump, not Kamala Harris.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 22:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/california-sheriff-blasts-harris-using-his-image-misleading-campaign-ad-says-he-supports

2024-08-15 03:45:00

Reclaiming Strength and Rebuilding Lost Muscle
Reclaiming Strength and Rebuilding Lost Muscle
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/reclaiming-strength-and-rebuilding-lost-muscle-5701029?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
Muscle atrophy, the wasting or loss of muscle tissue, can occur astonishingly quickly, posing serious challenges for individuals recovering from prolonged illness or extended periods of inactivity.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/exercise-for-seniors-2472927765.jpg?itok=WPCR0W9m
A https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcsm.12259
in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia, and Muscle revealed that just three days of simulated bed rest resulted in a more than 10 percent loss of muscle tissue and increased fatty infiltration of the muscle.
“Believe it or not, you can start losing significant muscle mass in just five days of inactivity,” fitness and nutrition expert JJ Virgin told The Epoch Times. She noted that athletes can see the effects of reduced activity within about three weeks if they don’t maintain their workout routines.
Everson A. Nunes, a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University, noted the variability in muscle loss during inactivity. In an email to The Epoch Times, he said that healthy young individuals can lose about 0.8 percent of muscle per day during a week of leg immobilization.
Nunes said that the primary cause of atrophy is the lack of mechanical stimulus.
“Muscles, tendons, and bones need mechanical stress to maintain size, function, and proper turnover rates,” he wrote. The key to healthy muscles, tendons, and bones is continuous breakdown and rebuilding.
Muscle loss can happen during extended periods of bed rest because of illness or injury, leading to disuse-induced atrophy.
“Disuse-induced atrophy will likely affect every person in his or her lifetime, and can be debilitating, especially in the elderly,” Sue Bodine, who holds a doctorate in neuromuscular physiology, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23800384/
.
“If you’re sidelined due to an injury or stuck in bed, your muscles aren’t getting the workout they need to stay strong,” Virgin said. Without movement, muscles begin to degrade, resulting in a noticeable loss of strength and function.
Aging and Atrophy
Aging is a significant contributor to muscle atrophy. Our bodies naturally lose muscle mass and strength as we age, a process known as sarcopenia. This decline begins as early as age 30, with muscle mass decreasing by 3 percent to 8 percent per decade, and the rate of loss doubling at about age 60, making it even more challenging to maintain muscle health, according to Virgin.
Even more troubling is the loss of strength and power, occurring twice and three times the rate of muscle mass loss, respectively, according to Virgin. These changes can significantly impact daily activities and overall quality of life.
“The maintenance of muscle mass is dependent on the balance of two processes: the rate of protein synthesis and protein degradation. Under atrophy conditions, there is a shift in the balance of these two processes such that there is a net loss of muscle proteins,” Bodine https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3856924/
.
A 2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20123-1
in Nature Communications supports this by highlighting the numerous factors affecting muscle health. The authors note that changes in muscle mass can significantly impact metabolism, movement, and even breathing. Their research shows that muscle function adapts to environmental and nutritional cues, emphasizing the importance of balancing protein synthesis and degradation.
The Role of Inflammation in Muscle Atrophy
Inflammation is a key factor in muscle loss, particularly for individuals with chronic illnesses or persistent low-grade inflammation. Nunes notes that chronic diseases and high body fat can cause anabolic resistance, meaning muscles do not respond well to muscle-building signals from protein intake or exercise.
In cases of severe injury, trauma, or systemic diseases, inflammation plays a critical role in helping the body heal. High levels of inflammatory mediators are released in response to these conditions, but this can also lead to increased muscle breakdown. This inflammatory response, while essential for healing and defense, can complicate muscle recovery by exacerbating muscle atrophy.
“With major injury or trauma or systemic diseases, inflammation scales up and causes massive behavior and metabolic changes contributing to muscle loss,” Nunes wrote.
“It has been difficult to find a sweet spot that is able to prevent unwanted effects but still having an effective healing/defense response,” Nunes wrote. This challenge is particularly evident when using anti-inflammatory drugs, which can inhibit both harmful and beneficial inflammatory processes.
For those with chronic inflammation, strategies to combat muscle loss include a combination of drugs and lifestyle changes. These may involve anti-inflammatory medications, anabolic agents, and therapies aimed at maintaining appetite and muscle function. It’s important that people exercise regularly and eat well, but these can be difficult habits to maintain.
Rebuilding Strength at Any Age
Many believe that muscle atrophy is irreversible, particularly as people age, based on the misconception that older adults can’t build muscle.
“This simply isn’t true,” Virgin said. “Muscle plasticity, the ability of muscles to regenerate and grow, persists throughout life. With the right training and nutrition, you can rebuild muscle at any age.”
Recovery for older adults often requires more time and a more focused approach than it does for younger people. In young, healthy adults, muscle mass recovery following disuse atrophy is usually complete, but in older people, it is often delayed and sometimes incomplete.
“As we age, our bodies naturally experience a decrease in muscle regenerative capacity and hormonal changes that can slow down the recovery process,” Virgin said.
Older adults must pay closer attention to their diet, particularly protein, to support muscle repair and recovery. With age, our bodies experience anabolic resistance, which means that eating protein or amino acids doesn’t stimulate muscle building as much as when we were younger. Consequently, seniors may require more protein than younger people to achieve similar muscle repair and growth.
“Staying active is the most important thing we all should do on a population level to prevent anabolic resistance and help with recovery,” Nunes wrote. He noted that physically active older adults do not exhibit signs of anabolic resistance.
Rebuilding muscular strength begins with movement, but it is crucial to address the underlying causes of inactivity, whether that be a specific ailment, lack of time, or something else.
“Treating the cause is the most important step, in parallel with physiotherapy or supervised exercises. These are the most effective strategies targeting the inactivity aspect,” Nunes wrote.
Practical Exercises for Rebuilding Muscle After Inactivity
After a prolonged period of inactivity or illness, rebuilding muscle should be approached gradually and safely.
“Ideally, you want to get up and moving as quickly as possible,” Virgin said.
Virgin advises starting with simple isometric exercises involving holding a contraction without movement, such as planks. These exercises are beneficial for those with limited mobility, as they help rebuild strength with minimal injury risk and require no equipment. This approach allows muscles to engage even if walking is not possible.
As recovery progresses, incorporating resistance training becomes essential. Virgin recommends exercises that mimic daily activities, such as squats, bent-over rows, and dips. Starting with body weight or light resistance bands helps focus on proper technique before gradually increasing the resistance. Using a full range of motion and engaging the core are crucial for effective muscle rebuilding.
For individuals unable to handle significant resistance due to injury, blood flow restriction training (BFRT) offers an effective alternative. This involves exercising while wearing bands or other devices that restrict blood flow. For example, while lifting a weight with the arm, a person may have a band tied around the arm similar to the tourniquet applied when giving a blood sample.
According to a https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9490016/
in the Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, BFRT can “prove to be a boon in many conditions such as muscle weakness and degeneration.” It can be an essential treatment in preventing disuse atrophy during the initial days of bed rest in post-surgical patients.
Maintaining consistent activity is key to recovery. Virgin suggests tracking daily steps and gradually increasing them. Adding a weighted vest, known as a rucking vest, can enhance strength and endurance.
Once a basic fitness level is established, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be introduced. HIIT involves short bursts of intense activity followed by rest periods or lower-intensity exercise. This method aids muscle building and growth hormone release, while improving cardiovascular health and boosting metabolism.
“Recovery strategies should also include adequate rest and stress management, as elevated stress hormones like cortisol can further impair muscle recovery and overall health,” Virgin said.
Nutrition’s Role in Muscle Recovery
Nutrition plays a pivotal role in muscle recovery and overall health during and after injury or illness. A 2020 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7284346/
in Nutrients emphasizes that periods of disuse combined with poor dietary intake can accelerate muscle loss and weaken strength, especially in older adults.
“Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth,” Virgin said. Ensuring an optimal protein intake is critical, with a minimum of 100 grams per day, and ideally 1 gram or more per pound of ideal body weight.
However, Nunes noted that merely increasing protein intake does not prevent muscle loss. “Muscles need to be put to work in order to decrease the level of loss during inactivity or disease,” he wrote.
Virgin also recommends incorporating 15 grams of essential amino acids with one to two meals a day to provide the necessary nutrients for healing and preventing muscle breakdown. Additionally, extra collagen, either as a supplement or through bone broth or bone broth protein powder, can be beneficial at an intake of 15 grams to 30 grams daily.
Virgin highlighted creatine’s benefits for enhancing performance and recovery, making it a valuable addition to any recovery regimen.
The Mental Grit Behind Physical Recovery
Nunes noted that the mental factor directly affects nutrition, sleep, and overall activity levels.
“Mental resilience is absolutely crucial in physical recovery,” Virgin said. It greatly affects the speed and completeness of recovery from illness, injury, or prolonged inactivity.
When physical strength is weakened, mental grit is essential for maintaining focus, discipline, and positivity, enabling adherence to recovery protocols and coping with the often slow and frustrating healing process.
“It’s like armor for your psyche, protecting and propelling you forward even when the going gets tough,” Virgin said, underscoring the importance of a strong mindset.
Cultivating mental resilience during recovery involves several key strategies, she said.
Embrace a positive outlook. It’s not just about thinking happy thoughts but strategically viewing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Visualize. Picture yourself healed, strong, and thriving, which can help steer your subconscious toward those outcomes.
Practice resilience-building techniques. Gratitude journaling and mindfulness meditation are beneficial. These practices reduce stress and improve overall mental well-being.
Build Your Community. Being surrounded by people who uplift and encourage provides emotional comfort and practical help, motivating adherence to recovery goals.
Setting Realistic Goals and Measuring Progress in Muscle Recovery
Tracking progress is essential for those aiming to regain muscle strength after inactivity, according to Virgin. One effective starting point is a DEXA scan, which estimates skeletal muscle mass and assesses balance between limbs. This scan offers a detailed baseline, enabling precise progress monitoring.
Alongside DEXA scans, regular fitness tests can assess improvements in strength, power, endurance, flexibility, and balance. At-home tests include hand dynamometer grip strength, push-ups, flexed arm hang or pull-ups, vertical jump, sit and reach for flexibility, and standing balance.
For ongoing tracking, affordable bioimpedance scales can align with DEXA results, providing a convenient way to monitor changes at home. Virgin advises reassessing fitness tests every one to three months and repeating the DEXA scan every six months to track long-term progress.
Tracking progress offers tangible evidence of improvements and boosts motivation. Fitness trackers, apps, or workout journals can help monitor routines by recording exercise types, weights, and repetitions. This documentation aids in adjusting goals and ensuring continued progress.
“Always start out doing less than you think you can and progress carefully. Listen to your body,” Virgin said. If you experience joint pain or soreness, reduce your activity and consult an expert to check your form.
“Be sure to celebrate milestones, no matter how small, as they
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 21:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/reclaiming-strength-and-rebuilding-lost-muscle

2024-08-15 03:20:00

Taliban Flexes US Weapons In Military Parade, Left Behind By Biden-Harris' Botched Afghan Exit
Taliban Flexes US Weapons In Military Parade, Left Behind By Biden-Harris' Botched Afghan Exit
The Biden-Harris administration's poor planning and execution in Afghanistan resulted in the botched withdrawal that https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gold-star-dad-heckles-biden-over-sons-death-botched-afghanistan-withdrawal
, left Americans stranded, and allowed billions of dollars in US military equipment to flow into the hands of the Taliban terror group.
Since the https://www.zerohedge.com/political/costs-afghanistan-withdrawal-debacle
in August 2021 under Biden-Harris, the war-torn nation (thank you, Bush/Cheney), landlocked in the Middle East, has once again become a safe haven for terrorism. The chaotic withdrawal allowed Taliban fighters to commandeer Black Hawk helicopters, A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft, armored Humvees, and 600,000 weapons, including grenade launchers, machine guns, and rifles.
President Biden’s memory is worse than we thought:
“The truth is, I’m the only President this century…this decade that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.”
The American people will never forget the horrible withdrawal from Afghanistan that claimed… https://t.co/MQ0bkN11So
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1806499020098969649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
There has been zero accountability from President Biden or Vice President Kalama Harris over these https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-ignored-advice-pushed-afghanistan-unconditional-withdrawal-former-ambassador
. Even to the extent that Biden made the stunning claim during the presidential debate in June that he was "the only president this century" and "this decade" that did not have any troops "dying anywhere in the world."
Biden claims he’s the only President this Century…this Decade doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the World.
Guess there’s no chance he could name those that died at Abby gate or the three soldiers that died in FEBRUARY!
Those poor Gold Star Families. https://t.co/sZR5JuDO32
— Clyp Keeper (@DGrayTexas45) https://twitter.com/DGrayTexas45/status/1806505924313358825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, Americans might get fired up after learning that Taliban fighters have showcased all of Biden-Harris' gifts from the botched exit in a massive military parade, marking the third anniversary of the takeover of Afghanistan.
JUST IN: 🇦🇫 🇺🇸 The Taliban held a military parade using United States military equipment that was left behind after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
This parade marks the third anniversary of the Taliban's return to power in the nation. https://t.co/oZzg0RuAo5
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) https://twitter.com/BRICSinfo/status/1823742240050577686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
NEW: The Taliban held a military parade at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan with the US military equipment they stole after the disastrous Biden-Harris withdrawal.
The Taliban was celebrating the third anniversary of taking over the former US air base as they trolled the US with… https://t.co/UUuANxX4UO
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1823755885497442403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Taliban organized a massive military parade at Bagram Military Base on the 3rd anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Military equipment left by the U.S. forces everywhere. https://t.co/fvcU3qCXWk
— Clash Report (@clashreport) https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1823734945631900066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Taliban just held a military parade with our equipment that was left during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
Kamala was the “last person in the room” when the decisions were made regarding the withdrawal.
Around $7B worth of equipment was left.
Kamala is responsible… https://t.co/Adhfjb1e41
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1823757528448241966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
What were those gifts?
List of equipment we left in Afghanistan:
- 12,000 humvees
- 42,000 trucks
- 1,000 armored vehicles
- 78 planes/helicopters
- 350,000 rifles
- 16,000 night vision goggles
- 160,000 radios
- much more
We destroyed some, but most of it we left for the Taliban to use and/or sell. https://t.co/aZVKqzoXF8
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1823766336150913339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here's what X users are saying:
"If this doesn't raise your BP and your temperature, then you don't realize what the Biden/Harris Administration did: they have made the Taliban a 21st century kinetic warfare force," https://x.com/SovMichael/status/1823751151009063063
said.
https://x.com/PolitiBunny/status/1823762732841394297
, "The Democrat’s presidential nominee made it possible for this Taliban parade to happen. Yes, those are our vehicles and weapons, left behind by Biden/Harris."
Harris' presidential campaign has been running far from her 3.5-year toxic track record as VP, with elderly Biden guiding rudderless foreign policy that has led the world to the brink of war.
The Biden-Harris duo has little to show for their time in office. Even White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre could not name one of Harris' accomplishments.
The White House can't name a single accomplishment of Vice President Harris.
She's the most unpopular vice president in history, oversaw the worst border crisis ever, and stood by while Americans were crushed by high prices.
It's a record of failure and incompetence. https://t.co/niq1VSeYsn
— Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) https://twitter.com/GReschenthaler/status/1823375995476279722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
All Harris needs to do - is continue to avoid all press conferences and hide under the cloak of far-left corporate media that has launched a massive info war to convince the American people the person who pushed terrible economic, domestic, and foreign policy is the best choice in November.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 21:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/taliban-flexes-us-weapons-military-parade-left-behind-biden-harris-botched-afghan-exit

2024-08-15 02:55:00

Human Rights Lawyer: Olympic Boxer's "Cyberbullies" Lawsuit A Threat To Free Speech
Human Rights Lawyer: Olympic Boxer's "Cyberbullies" Lawsuit A Threat To Free Speech
https://modernity.news/2024/08/14/human-rights-lawyer-olympic-boxers-cyberbullies-lawsuit-a-threat-to-free-speech
A human rights lawyer has warned that a lawsuit brought by Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif against the likes of Elon Musk and JK Rowling could set a significant precedent against free speech.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GBN.jpg?itok=w3wD05lQ
Khelif, who competed and https://modernity.news/2024/08/10/biological-male-boxer-imane-khelif-wins-olympic-gold-medal/
in the women’s welterweight division, despite having XY chromosomes, is charging that prominent personalities and bodies engaged in “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”
Questions were raised by both the World Boxing Organisation and the International Boxing Association regarding Khelif’s eligibility to compete as a woman following two previous ‘failed’ gender tests.
Speaking to GB News, human rights lawyer David Haigh warned that the lawsuit could lead to “policing of social media” across borders.
Haigh outlined “If they proceed with this, the Paris prosecutors have the reach jurisdiction to come to other countries. And if that is the case, that then is a very concerning development.”
“You can have countries around the world basically policing social media in other countries. It could be a very, very significant case in free speech, the use of social media,” Haigh added.
'This could be a very significant case both in free speech and gender politics.'
David Haigh discusses reports Imane Khelif is to sue Elon Musk and J.K Rowling over harassment about her gender. https://t.co/Io0hBDOlqZ
— GB News (@GBNEWS) https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1823645175022866810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He continued, “are we now going to see France trying to extradite or issuing arrest warrants for JK Rowling? It’s a very slippery slope and it could become a very significant case.”
The lawyer also noted that the case could also set a legal precedent in terms of gender ideology.
“If it proceeds, and that’s a big if, it could have significant ramifications. Whether or not there has been harassment, you will have a debate on what is and isn’t a man or a woman in the court,” he noted.
“If part of whether or not there has been harassment and abuse comes down to whether or not that boxer is a man or a woman, obviously evidence will need to be put forward on both sides of that,” Haigh further explained.
* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/support
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 20:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/human-rights-lawyer-olympic-boxers-cyberbullies-lawsuit-threat-free-speech

2024-08-15 02:30:00

FTC Says Google Antitrust Ruling Goes Beyond Epic Games, Hints Tech 'Monopolist' Should Be Broken Up
FTC Says Google Antitrust Ruling Goes Beyond Epic Games, Hints Tech 'Monopolist' Should Be Broken Up
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amicus brief in the Epic Games antitrust lawsuit against Google’s monopolistic behavior, suggesting that the court impose stringent actions against such practices.
The https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.364325/gov.uscourts.cand.364325.1.0.pdf
was filed in 2020 by developer Epic Games against Google. Epic claimed that Google violated antitrust regulations by monopolizing two markets: the market for distribution of mobile apps for Android users and the market for processing payments. In addition, Google benefits from gaining access to user data.
“Google has thus installed itself as an unavoidable middleman for app developers who wish to reach Android users and vice versa,” Epic said.
In December 2023, a district court jury in California https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/jury-rules-in-favor-of-epic-games-in-antitrust-lawsuit-against-google-5545359
in favor of Epic, finding that the game developer proved that Google was in violation of antitrust laws. District Judge James Donato has yet to decide on what relief Epic should be provided.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/ftc-says-google-antitrust-ruling-goes-beyond-epic-games-must-consider-wider-implications-5705634?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
in the case, suggesting how the court could consider remedies.
Ensuring antitrust laws are strictly enforced “is essential for protecting and preserving economic freedom and the free-enterprise system,” the agency pointed out.
“When a company engages in business practices that are found to violate the antitrust laws, courts are empowered to remedy those violations by ordering all relief necessary to restore competition in the affected markets,” it stated.
This includes “identifying and requiring actions that the defendant must affirmatively take toward that end.”
If companies violating antitrust laws reap the advantages secured through such actions, it will end up incentivizing other firms to engage in similar behavior, the agency warned.
As such, the district court should ensure that the violating firm does not continue securing the benefits obtained via breaching antitrust rules, it stated.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202024-08-14T141339.757.jpg?itok=T4qW-tuM
Though it should be said that at no point does the FTC outright say that Google should be broken up, https://siliconangle.com/2024/08/13/ftc-enters-google-vs-epic-games-case-hints-google-broken/
, that any lay reader with a knowledge of U.S. antitrust law and English can reasonably come to that conclusion. And there’s more.
“Looking forward in cases like Epic v. Google often requires the consideration of network effects, data feedback loops, and other key features of digital markets,” the FTC writes. “This could help ensure that potential competitors can overcome the advantages established digital platforms often gain, which include network effects and data incumbency.”
But the real kicker comes towards the end. “Google’s monopolistic behavior has significantly harmed millions of users in the United States,” the FTC adds. “Allowing monopolists to reap the rewards of illegal monopolization while avoiding the costs of restoring the competition that they unlawfully eliminated would undermine deterrence.”
There is a strong possibility that the FTC is hinting at a possible breakup of Google as a negotiating tactic; nonetheless, it should be taken seriously.
Kent Walker, president of Google global affairs, said the decision “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine“ but concludes that Google ”shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” according to a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.
“Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal,” Walker stated.
“As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”
Earlier this year, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-in-keynote-speech-warren-urges-stronger-antitrust-enforcement-to-break-up-big-tech-companies
for stronger antitrust enforcement to break up big tech firms.
“To restore competition in existing digital markets and to foster emerging markets like AI, Amazon’s e-commerce platform should be separated from its product lines. Google should be broken into its search business and its browsing services,” she said.
“Each of the major cloud services—Google, Microsoft, and Amazon—should not be allowed to use their enormous size to dominate a whole new field, and that means blocking them from operating large language models. Each of these moves would create valuable competition.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-13/doj-considers-seeking-google-goog-breakup-after-major-antitrust-win?embedded-checkout=true
Bloomberg, less severe options than a breakup of Google include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products.
Should a breakup occur, first up would be forcing Google to divest both its Android operating system and its Chrome web browser.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 20:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/ftc-says-google-antitrust-ruling-goes-beyond-epic-games-hints-tech-monopolist-should-be

2024-08-15 02:05:00

Vote Integrity's Nitty-Gritty: The Battle Lines Of '24's Epic Struggle
Vote Integrity's Nitty-Gritty: The Battle Lines Of '24's Epic Struggle
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/08/14/vote_integritys_nitty-gritty_the_battle_lines_of_24s_epic_struggle_1051309.html
,
More than a dozen jurisdictions run by Democrats – including Washington D.C., and several adjacent Maryland municipalities – allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections. San Francisco not only permits noncitizens to vote but https://www.kqed.org/news/11976026/san-francisco-appoints-first-non-citizen-to-serve-on-elections-commission
to serve on its Elections Commission.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/565389a.jpeg?itok=O48qzdEk
Such developments, against a backdrop of millions of illegal migrants streaming into the United States under the Biden-Harris administration, bring new urgency to debates over election integrity. Many Republicans fear that a widespread effort is afoot to give noncitizens the full benefits of citizenship, including the right to vote in all elections, on top of https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/press-release/more-states-are-providing-fully-state-funded-health-coverage-to-some-individuals-regardless-of-immigration-status/#:~:text=Six%20states%20%E2%80%94%20California%2C%20Colorado%2C,have%20taken%20place%20since%202020.
already available to illegal aliens in some places, notably drivers licenses, food stamps, government health care, and work visas.
Although Democrats note that noncitizens may not participate in federal elections and claim there is little evidence noncitizens are voting unlawfully, critics are unmollified.
A RealClearInvestigations analysis of proposed and enacted state and federal laws, along with other reporting and research, suggests that the fight over noncitizen voting is only likely to intensify this year – both in the immediate wake of an expected closely-contested presidential election and in its aftermath.
States across the country report that thousands of noncitizens have been discovered on voter rolls in the past decade, with unknown numbers already having voted:
Pennsylvania found 11,000 registrants https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403.64.1_3.pdf#page=37
2,500 individuals from the rolls, and it could not verify the citizenship status of the other 8,700 registrants.
Virginia has https://publicinterestlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/VA-ERIC-Scrub-Report-FINAL.pdf#page=3
a study showing that of nearly 1,500 noncitizens the Commonwealth removed from rolls from May 2023 to February 2024, 23% had cast ballots since February 2019.
New Jersey had some 616 self-reported noncitizens in 11 counties “engaged on some level with the statewide registration system,” 9% of whom cast ballots, according to a 2017 https://publicinterestlegal.org/pilf-files/Garden-State-Gotcha_PILF.pdf
conducted by the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
Boston, Massachusetts, officials https://publicinterestlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Boston-Noncitizen-Report-2024.pdf
this year that the city had removed 70 noncitizens from the rolls, some 22 of whom had voted, the removals coming in response to disclosure requests from the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
Ohio recently https://www.ohiosos.gov/media-center/press-releases/2024/2024-08-01/
North Carolina identified more than 1,400 registrants on state voter rolls who did not appear to be naturalized, in an https://publicinterestlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Motor-Voter-at-30-North-Carolina-FINAL.pdf#page=3
at the polls to vote, and 24 had their registration challenged; 11 challenges were sustained or justified.
Arizona https://apps.azsos.gov/election/VoterReg/2024/Publish_Statistics_for_Federal_Only_Registrants_as_of_july_1st_2024.pdf
in which a 7-2 majority led by the late Justice Antonin Scalia ruled that federal voter registration requirements – of which documentary proof of citizenship is not one – preempted the state’s standards.
Other https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/06/despite-liberals-hysterical-denial-aliens-are-registering-and-voting/
.
Republicans argue that such examples expose weaknesses in the voter registration and administration process – including that registrants need not provide proof of citizenship to get on the voter rolls. These and other loopholes in state-run systems make elections vulnerable to ineligible noncitizen voters today.
Each side has its own research to support its claims. Democrats cite a https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/noncitizen-voting-missing-millions
by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, finding that local election officials overseeing the tabulation of 23.5 million ballots during the 2016 presidential election identified only 30 potential incidents of noncitizen voting.
Republicans highlight a recent https://www.justfacts.com/news_non-citizen_voter_registration
. Election integrity advocates argue that states have not found many incidents of noncitizen voting for the simple reason that authorities, including the Department of Justice, do not look for it.
“DOJ investigations of illegal voting are all but nonexistent,” Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said in a recent floor debate concerning the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, a bill Lee and House colleague Chip Roy (R-Texas) https://www.lee.senate.gov/2024/5/lee-and-roy-partner-on-legislation-to-secure-federal-elections
to combat noncitizen voting. After the House passed the measure in July, Democrats blocked the legislation in the upper chamber, where it remains stalled.
“[T]oo many prosecutors refuse to enforce the law even when such illegal behavior is discovered by election officials or others,” Hans von Spakovsky, a former Department of Justice official who now works at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Congress in May.
Should election officials fail to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots on the front end, J. Christian Adams, a fellow former DOJ official and president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, told RCI, there is “almost nothing” the public or political parties can do on the back end to identify, challenge, and invalidate noncitizen votes prior to election certification.
Adams’ group has https://publicinterestlegal.org/tied-elections/
myriad electoral races decided by one vote or tied over the last two decades – something he and others argue indicates just how critical it is to combat illegal voting, given the potential impact to tight races up and down ballots.
States generally seem unfazed by the prospect of noncitizen voting. For this article, RealClearInvestigations contacted authorities in the seven states comprising RealClearPolitics’ https://www.realclearpolling.com/elections/president/2024/battleground-states
: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Two states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, did not respond to RCI’s inquiries. Election authorities in the five responsive states maintained that current law is a sufficient deterrent to noncitizen voting, emphasizing that casting a ballot as a foreigner would constitute a criminal offense with grave penalties.
“Someone would have to knowingly and intentionally commit a class 6 Felony if they did vote as a noncitizen, and it would result in the revocation of their legal status in the USA, and they would likely face deportation,” a spokesman for Arizona’s Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said in a statement. The spokesman said he hoped his statement, which pointed to the state’s voter challenge process and noted other procedures pertaining to citizenship, would “compel” RealClearInvestigations to “clear up [RCI’s] notions and erroneous assumptions.”
Georgia touted its 2022 citizenship https://sos.ga.gov/news/citizenship-audit-finds-1634-noncitizens-attempted-register-vote
in correspondence with RCI, the first such review of the voter rolls for citizenship in state history, in which it found that 1,634 people who attempted to register to vote were not verified by the SAVE program. All were in “pending citizenship” status within Georgia’s internal systems, and thus none had been allowed to vote. “Due to the effective processes Georgia has in place to verify U.S citizenship at the time of registration … we are confident noncitizens are not voting in Georgia, and if one ever does, they will be punished to the full extent of the law,” Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told RCI.
North Carolina election board public information director Patrick Gannon told RCI: “We have little evidence of noncitizens voting in elections, and get very few complaints alleging voting by noncitizens.”
He pointed to a 2016 https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/election-security/audits/2016-11-08-election-audit-report.pdf
.
Similarly, Wisconsin election commission public information officer Riley Vetterkind told RCI, “There is not evidence to support the idea that noncitizens are voting in Wisconsin in significant numbers.” The spokesperson for the state’s https://elections.wi.gov/about-wec/members-and-administrator
election fraud, irregularities, or violations referred to district attorneys by municipal clerks that the state’s election commission “has been made aware of.”
These messages of reassurance, however, at times come with notes of caution that underpin election integrity advocates’ concerns.
States each have their own independent processes to maintain voter lists. Those processes vary widely in vigor, tempo, and transparency. They are often based on different degrees of access to sources of citizenship status with which to identify ineligible voters. “No state or federal law requires the WEC [Wisconsin Elections Commission] or clerks to verify a voter’s citizenship status beyond requiring the voter to certify that they are a U.S. citizen as a qualification for voter eligibility,” said Vetterkind.
Pennsylvania has https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403.64.1_3.pdf#page=11
that “The Commonwealth has no systematic program to identify and remove noncitizens from the voter rolls.”
The Public Interest Legal Foundation has https://publicinterestlegal.org/foreign-nationals-voting/
against the Keystone State and other jurisdictions just to get a peek into their registration list maintenance processes. As for how states identify potential noncitizens, Gannon said of North Carolina’s audit that “relying on state databases was wildly inaccurate for determining citizenship status.”
The state passed a law in 2023 requiring that the election board regularly reconcile its registration list with lists provided by state courts of those excused from jury duty due to lack of citizenship – an ad hoc approach commonly used by other states.
Georgia emphasized its use of the Department of Homeland Security’s more robust SAVE https://www.uscis.gov/save/resources/voter-registration-and-voter-list-maintenance-fact-sheet
, which provides “point in time immigration status” for those who have been issued a unique immigration identifier. (This Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements tool is distinct from the GOP-sponsored legislation with the same acronym.)
Most state officials who responded to RCI’s query emphasized that there are laws on the books permitting third-party challenges to voter eligibility. But this is a measure requiring time, money, and effort. The two former Justice Department officials – Spakovsky and Adams – recently took issue with the view that state audits and scrubs of voter rolls ought to inspire confidence, writing in the https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/06/despite-liberals-hysterical-denial-aliens-are-registering-and-voting/
:
Because almost no state even attempts to verify that individuals registering to vote are U.S. citizens – and because the federal government, including both the courts and the executive branch, have put up significant barriers to such verification – we don’t really know how many aliens, whether here legally or illegally, are registering and voting.
Rougher Weather Ahead
Whatever the extent of noncitizen registration and voting today, https://whoscounting.us/
leader Cleta Mitchell says conditions are building for a “perfect storm.” Two factors are about to produce it: “the invasion of our country by millions of illegals” and a series of largely Democratic Party-driven efforts to ease voter registration and participation.
Mitchell and others, including the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, https://x.com/OversightPR/status/1775955480386457863
, which directs every federal agency to register and mobilize voters.
Officials in https://www.sos.alabama.gov/index.php/newsroom/wes-allen-exposes-federal-government-policy-providing-voter-registration-forms-non
in pursuit of its objectives as well. Adams, testifying alongside Spakovsky for the Republican majority before the House Administration Committee in May, said that “most often noncitizens are getting on the rolls through the motor voter registration process or third-party registration drives.”
Regarding motor-voter registration, the https://www.onlycitizensvotecoalition.com/
warns that “many states are now automatically registering people to vote at the time of coming into contact with the DMV unless the person ‘opts out’ of registration.”
Advocates are also concerned that practices like same-day voter registration and allowing the use of student IDs to vote – IDs that can be issued to foreigners – could lead to noncitizens ending up on voter rolls and potentially voting.
These issues likely only exacerbate concerns election integrity advocates already have around practices like mail-in voting and ballot harvesting that have become widespread since the 2020 election. A more robust “level of citizenship tracking and verification would almost certainly require legislative change to accomplish,” Wisconsin’s Riley Vetterkind told RCI.
Congressional Republicans have sought to do just that with the SAVE Act, which passed the House on July 10 in a largely party-line vote. Under the existing registration system, applicants attest to their citizenship simply by checking a box, under penalty of perjury. House Speaker Mike Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUzEM0Jw2Zc
this nothing more than an “honor system” that leaves “people who have already proven they have no regard or respect for our laws” undeterred.
The SAVE Act would close this loophole by requiring that applicants provide proof of citizenship in person when registering to vote in federal elections. Adams has argued that under the less stringent status quo, noncitizens often end up on the voter rolls through no fault of their own – subjecting aliens who often can’t speak English to severe legal liability.
Critics of the SAVE Act, echoing some states, believe those liabilities – including the threat of deportation, jail time, and other punishments – sufficiently curb noncitizen registration and voting.
New York University Brennan Center for Justice President Michael Waldman emphasized in the May congressional hearing, as the Democrat minority’s witness opposite Adams and Spakovsky, that “under current law, noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal four times over: it is both a state and federal crime to register to vote, and it is both a state and federal crime to vote in federal elections.”
The liberal think-tank did not respond to RCI’s inquiries in connection with this story. Democratic party leaders from https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SAP-HR8281.pdf
also dismiss evidence of noncitizen voting, claiming it is virtually non-existent.
“Even the conservative CATO Institute has said that ‘noncitizens don’t illegally vote in detectable numbers,’” California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla noted in a floor speech in response to Mike Lee, referencing a 2020 https://www.cato.org/blog/noncitizens-dont-illegally-vote-detectable-numbers
from the libertarian think tank.
Democrats also claim the bill’s documentary proof of citizenship requirements disenfranchise potential voters. They point to past https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/effects-requiring-documentary-proof-citizenship
showing millions of Americans lack commonly used documents to prove citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate – two of a number of forms one could present to satisfy the SAVE Act’s requirements.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu98aGXOe_Y
the SAVE Act an “extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill.”
DHS's ‘Slow-Walking’
https://mikejohnson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/save_act_white_paper.pdf#page=11
in a recent executive order, only three states – his included – require even a full social security number to register to vote.
Thus, the SAVE Act would also mandate that states bolster their registration list maintenance practices explicitly to identify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls – including through cross-referencing their lists with more comprehensive data sources.
Only five states currently have access to one resource referenced in the bill, the Department of Homeland Security’s https://www.uscis.gov/save/resources/voter-registration-and-voter-list-maintenance-fact-sheet
indicates that DHS is not granting the same level of access to all states and may be “slow-walking” requests to use it.
'Significant Inaccuracies' in the Federal Database
When asked about this allegation, a spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service told RCI, “There is an established process agencies must undergo and eligibility criteria agencies must meet to complete SAVE registration.”
“USCIS is committed to working with agencies seeking access to SAVE and processing registration requests as efficiently as possible,” the spokesperson added while referring a reporter to https://www.uscis.gov/save/register-an-agency-for-save
on its website.
Still, these databases are not seen by all as a panacea. “Even using the federal SAVE database, which can only be used to determine current citizenship status for one person at a time, and only when that person has been involved in the federal immigration system, our agency found significant inaccuracies in the data we received,” North Carolina’s Patrick Gannon told RCI in an email. “There is no comprehensive, accurate, or up-to-date database of U.S. citizens that election administrators could use for verification purposes.”
Democrats argue that the more robust voter registration list maintenance demanded by Republicans could leave eligible voters purged. https://youtu.be/ft5Sb8ELtVs?si=hY4XKf8BOuIG2QDV&t=1122
the SAVE Act “nothing other than a solution in search of a problem,” Sen. Padilla blocked the bill in the upper chamber.
With a September https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/08/12/congress/preview-of-the-spending-fight-00173600
.
Meanwhile, election integrity advocates like the Only Citizens Vote Coalition are calling for state-level model legislation to combat noncitizen voting. The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has been working to identify vulnerabilities in extant voter registration systems and potential legal violations, https://x.com/OversightPR/status/1820591636226724016
lawmakers to enforce relevant laws to combat noncitizen voting.
The conservative public interest law organization America First Legal recently sent https://media.aflegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/24150622/Combined-Letter.pdf
to all 50 states instructing them that under existing law, states can and should send requests to the DHS soliciting the citizenship status of registered voters.
America First Legal has also sent https://aflegal.org/america-first-legal-sends-legal-demand-letter-to-all-15-arizona-counties-threatening-legal-action-if-they-do-not-take-action-to-stop-illegal-aliens-from-voting/
to all 15 Arizona County Recorders compelling them to verify the citizenship of all “federal-only” voters, including through making citizenship requests of DHS – or face legal action.
On Aug. 5, America First Legal filed suit against the Maricopa County Recorder for his alleged failure to act in response to the group’s demand letter. Three days later, the Republican National Committee https://gop.com/press-release/rnc-files-application-in-scotus/
an emergency application at the Supreme Court in a bid to compel Arizona to enforce its proof of citizenship requirements for the 2024 presidential election.
Warning: Extended Lawfare Ahead
These forces on the right are likely to find themselves locked in battle with the left for years to come.
House Democrats, today in the slim minority, have voted to continue https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7109/text
were unable or unwilling to affirm that only citizens should be permitted to vote in federal elections during a March Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning elections.
As a presidential candidate in 2020, Vice President Kamala Harris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-QP5TBTVhY
legislation providing benefits for illegal aliens, including state-funded healthcare, driver’s licenses, and free college tuition.
Those on the left see voting rights, like the expansion of other benefits to noncitizens, as a matter of fairness.
“Immigrants pay taxes, they use city services, their kids go to our public schools. They are part of our community. And they deserve a say in local government,” New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2021/12/09/city-council-approves-bill-allowing-noncitizens-to-vote-in-municipal-elections
in defending a bill that has been ruled unconstitutional that would have allowed an estimated 800,000 noncitizens to vote in local elections.
The Trump-Vance campaign, by contrast, has called for mass deportation of the illegal alien population to which Democrats increasingly wish to extend rights and benefits, among https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/#page=8
the Republicans say aim to protect and support Americans. In contrast to the growing coterie of blue-state jurisdictions embracing noncitizen voting, red states are increasingly passing amendments prohibiting local governments from allowing noncitizens to vote, with Louisiana and Ohio most approving such constitutional changes in 2022. Eight more states have citizenship-related ballot measures in the 2024 election.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 20:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/vote-integritys-nitty-gritty-battle-lines-24s-epic-struggle

2024-08-15 01:40:00

Don't Let Washington Do To Airlines What It Did To Amtrak
Don't Let Washington Do To Airlines What It Did To Amtrak
Submitted by Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on X https://x.com/MerrillMatthews?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
.
A record number of travelers are taking to the skies this year. In an era of expensive groceries, gas, food and rent, the last thing anyone wants is a massive increase in airfares.
But that's precisely what travelers could experience if lawmakers push through new restrictions on prices, routes and even seat sizes.
More airline regulation might sound appealing. But red tape always comes with a cost, often in higher prices but also in reduced access and convenience.
Air travel used to be heavily regulated. Until the late 1970s, government officials set fares, routes and schedules for all interstate air travel. Prices were sky high, the industry operated inefficiently and relatively few people flew.
Lawmakers decided they had to do something. Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978. The law allowed airlines to determine their own routes and prices.
The change unleashed competition and allowed low-cost operators to enter the market. Choices skyrocketed and prices fell. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the cost of flying is half of what it was before Congress deregulated the industry.
Deregulation led to more options. The number of cities connected via nonstop service, and the number of carriers providing that service, increased markedly.
More affordable tickets and an explosion of routes made flying accessible to millions of Americans. In 1977, a quarter of Americans reported flying in the past year. Today, it's close to half. Nearly 90 percent of Americans have flown in their lifetime.
Considering these outcomes, why do policymakers seem intent on bringing back onerous airline regulations? Especially considering the government has a less-than-stellar public-transportation "track record" -- that is, Amtrak.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/old%20amtrak%20train.jpg?itok=ndXq044M
Amtrak is a government-subsidized public train system that receives billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. Government created the system because passenger trains were losing money. The Washington Times notes, "Even with all that money, there are still widespread complaints about the train service. Signal problems, mechanical snafus and computer breakdowns are seen across the country."
In Congress, members have proposed legislation that would pave the way for more federal control of airline baggage policies, fees, and seat sizes. A recent Department of Transportation rule imposes complex restrictions on airline refund policies that even the seasoned traveler may be hard-pressed to understand.
Together, the changes amount to an oversized regulatory regime that would be expensive and time consuming to comply with. Some airlines could be forced to raise prices or cut unprofitable routes altogether.
Proposals to re-regulate the airlines have nothing to do with passenger safety. It's been 15 years since the last fatal U.S. commercial airline crash.
To be sure, there's room to improve America's air travel system. Shortages among air traffic controllers contribute to frustrating flight delays and cancellations. Outdated facilities and infrastructure pose challenges in many parts of the country. But remember, these broken parts of the system are largely under government control already.
Subjecting airlines to burdensome regulations wouldn't make air travel better. It'd lead to higher costs, fewer routes, and less-satisfied travelers. Don't let Washington do to the airline industry what it did to train travel.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dont-let-washington-do-airlines-what-it-did-amtrak

2024-08-15 00:50:00

"Would It Kill You Guys?" CNN Gets Confrontational With Harris SPOX For Avoiding Interviews, Press Conferences
"Would It Kill You Guys?" CNN Gets Confrontational With Harris SPOX For Avoiding Interviews, Press Conferences
The Harris campaign's 'hide Kamala' strategy may be working from a polling perspective - but it's gone on so long that even CNN is getting annoyed.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/acosta%2012a.png?itok=wzm00YHK
"Would it kill you guys to have a press conference?" asked the network's Jim Acosta (of 'shouting at Trump' fame) during an interview with Harris communications director Michael Tyler.
"I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn't she had a press conference?"
To which Tyler laughed sheepishly and pivoted to robotic talking points about Harris and running mate Tim Walz being "busy" traveling around the country to multiple (teleprompter) campaign rallies.
"Michael, you know a campaign really isn't really a press conference," Acosta pushed back. "Why hasn't she had a press conference? She's the vice president, she can handle the questions, why not do it?"
Tyler said Harris will sit down for a one-on-one interview before the end of the month, which Acosta said was "not a lot," adding "can you commit to a press conference by the end of the month?"
Tyler once again deflected - saying "We will commit to directly engage with the voters who are actually going to decide this election, and that is going to be complete with rallies, with sit-down interviews, with press conferences, with all the digital assets that we have at our disposal."
Watch:
From Trump War Room https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
:
CNN: "Would it kill you guys to have a press conference?"
HARRIS SPOX: Kamala holds rallies so she can read from her teleprompter!
CNN: "A campaign rally is not a press conference."
HARRIS SPOX: "We're gonna be having a sit-down interview… https://t.co/7yvbXG0Ubp
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1823735404547465559?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
CNN's John Berman also pressed a Harris campaign spox over the VP's lack of media presence.
"The reason I was asking you about today is because it seems like she has time if she wanted to do an interview with a member of the media or do a news conference, correct? There does appear to be that time, if she wanted," said Berman - to which Harris campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod repeated Tyler's talking point that Harris and Walz are bringing their message directly to voters.
"She hit a number of battleground states. I think we had 15,000 people in Detroit last week, 12 to 13,000 in Nevada. She’s been taking her message to the voters and drawing large crowds. So she’s actually having those direct conversations," said Elrod - before Berman cut her off.
"But not today — all I’m saying is not today. She could do an interview today, I would think, you know, because she’s not out there today," said the CNN host.
JUST IN: CNN asks Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod (https://twitter.com/adrienneelrod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) https://twitter.com/simonateba/status/1823363657826238968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, Trump did a lengthy press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week and had a https://www.zerohedge.com/political/x-conversation-between-musk-and-trump-generates-over-billion-views
with Elon Musk - something Harris clearly couldn't pull off because her biggest liability, like Biden, is her brain.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 18:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/would-it-kill-you-guys-cnn-gets-confrontational-harris-spox-avoiding-interviews-press

2024-08-15 00:25:00

45% Of Bitcoin Supply Has Not Moved In 6 Months
45% Of Bitcoin Supply Has Not Moved In 6 Months
By William Suberg of https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-supply-not-moved-6-months-research
Nearly half the available Bitcoin supply has not moved in the past six months, onchain data confirms. In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “https://insights.glassnode.com/the-week-onchain-week-33-2024/
,” analytics firm Glassnode shows investors did not “sell the top” on BTC.
Bitcoin hodlers double down on reaccumulation
Bitcoin may have put in a new all-time high some five months ago, but a large section of the BTC investor base continues to double down on its holdings.
Analyzing the realized cap HODL waves indicator, Glassnode reveals that just over 45% of all bitcoins have remained dormant in their wallets for at least the past half a year.
Despite the record highs and subsequent volatility, a considerable swath of market participants prefer to do nothing.
https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/realized%20btc%20waves.jpg?itok=N_eAFcbM
Long-term holders (LTHs) — entities hodling coins for at least 155 days — distributed to the market both leading up to the all-time high and later on.
“We can also assess the 7-day change in LTH supply as a tool to assess rates of change in their aggregate balance. We can see substantial LTH distribution, typical of macro topping formations, into the March ATH,” Glassnode explains.
“Fewer than 1.7% of trading days have ever recording a larger distribution pressure. More recently, this metric has returned to positive territory, indicating that the LTH cohort are expressing a preference for holding onto their coins.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/ls%20term%20hodler.jpg?itok=wtnKfnYo
That theme speaks to what “The Week Onchain” describes as “a notable slow-down in the distribution pressure by LTHs.”
“This has led to the percentage of network wealth held by this cohort to firstly stabilize, and then recommence growing,” it continues.
“Despite the substantial sell-side pressure by LTHs into the market ATH, wealth held by longer-term investors remains historically elevated when compared to previous all time high breakouts.”
BTC sell-off angst pervades market mood
As Cointelegraph continues to report, sell-side pressure is never far from traders’ minds this month.
After the mass sell-off at the start of August, concerns of a https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-price-chart-bitcoin-match-49-5-k-lows-days
.
Recent fluctuations in the https://cointelegraph.com/news/more-extreme-fear-ftx-crash-5-things-bitcoin-this-week
underscore the uncertainty currently running through crypto as a whole.
Countering this is optimism over global liquidity, with some perspectives seeing crypto benefiting from a move toward https://cointelegraph.com/explained/impact-of-fed-interest-rates-on-crypto-holders
.
“Global money supply is exploding up. Plus we just broke out of a massive 4 year consolidation,” Charles Charles Edwards, the founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, https://x.com/caprioleio/status/1823346927712567631
on X this week.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/45-bitcoin-supply-has-not-moved-6-months

2024-08-15 00:00:00

WHO Declares Monkeypox "Global Health Emergency" - Again
WHO Declares Monkeypox "Global Health Emergency" - Again
Just when we thought we had the monkeypox menace whipped, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared an African outbreak of mpox (renamed so as not to offend monkeys, apparently), a new public health emergency.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/who-monkeypox-phone.jpg?itok=w_tf0ro4
The UN agency's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the declaration in Geneva after accepting a recommendation from WHO's emergency committee.
As the https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/world-health-organization-declares-mpox-outbreak-in-africa-a-global-health-emergency-5705630?ea_src=frontpage&&ea_med=lead-story-0-title-0
notes further, Tedros said there have already been more than 14,000 reported cases and 524 reported deaths in Africa this year, a jump from last year. He also pointed to the emergence of a new mpox strain, or clade, which he described as worrying.
“In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of mpox in other parts of Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” Tedros said at a briefing.
Mpox is a virus that occurs in animals and humans. Mpox can spread between people and causes an illness that typically manifests with a rash and resolves in a few weeks. But some cases can lead to death.
Mpox has predominately affected men who have sex with other men.
A public health emergency of international concern, or global health emergency, is the highest level of alarm the WHO can convey.
It’s declared for extraordinary events deemed to constitute a public health risk to countries through the international spread of disease.
COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern in 2020.
That declaration ended in 2023 after the number of cases dropped considerably.
And as https://off-guardian.org/2024/08/14/who-declares-monkeypox-a-global-emergency-again/
.
In truth, it was a narrative that flapped its little wings as hard as it could but never got off the ground.
They tried to label it as “the same level as leprosy and the plague”, they did the trick with the PCR tests, and they https://off-guardian.org/2022/05/24/the-nhs-just-edited-their-monkeypox-page-to-make-it-scarier/
.
They followed the https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/08/monkeypox-is-following-the-covid-playbook-step-by-step/
…none of it worked.
In the end it just sort of fizzled away.
But now it’s back. This time https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/16/the-who-is-changing-the-name-monkeypox-is-it-really-because-of-racism/
.
There’s some talk of clades and variants and whatnot, but we’re all too familiar with this dance now to let a costume change distract from the same old routine.
We know what’s going on.
The only questions worth asking are “why now?” and “what next?”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 18:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/who-declares-monkeypox-global-health-emergency-again

2024-08-14 23:28:31

Buffett 13F Confirms Sale Of 400 Million Apple Shares, Other Liqudations; New Positions In ULTA And HEI
Buffett 13F Confirms Sale Of 400 Million Apple Shares, Other Liqudations; New Positions In ULTA And HEI
At the start of August, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/buffett-calls-top-berkshire-quietly-dumps-half-its-apple-shares-amid-record-liquidation
revealed deep inside the Berkshire 10Q, that billionaire Warren Buffett had sold more than half of his AAPL holdings (approximately 400 million shares according to our calculations)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/berkshire%20holdings%20of%20AAPL%20stock_1.jpg?itok=fHYT4iwS
... as part of Berkshire's biggest portfolio liquidation on record, one which saw some $75.5 billion in stock sales during the second quarter of 2024.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/berkshire%20sales_0.jpg?itok=XOO9mFTF
Of course, all these were only approximations since the 10Q did not break out the specifics of the Berkshire portfolio, which is why were were eagerly awaiting today's release of the Berkshire 13F for the second quarter. It confirmed what we already knew:
Buffett indeed sold some 389.4 million shares of AAPL in Q2, bringing his total to exactly 400 million shares as of June 30. What is remarkable is that Buffett managed to unwind more than half his massive position (which at March 31 amounted to $135.4 billion), while the stock was levitating for much of Q2. Also remarkable is that even with the huge sale, Apple still remains Berkshire's top holding, valued at $84.2 billion as of June 30.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/buffett%20aapl%20sales_1.jpg?itok=Azx8pFM-
Going down the list, Buffett also sold 3.6%, or 4.4 million, of his shares in Chveron, which remained the 5th largest position in Berkshire's portfolio.
The other 3 names in the top 5 were unchanged during the quarter, but as previously reported, we already know that Berkshire has been slowly dumping a lot of BofA shares, as he is now also liquidating his 2nd largest position (amounted to $41.1 billion as of June 30, but certainly less now).
There were some other stake reductions including:
Capital One Financial, where Buffett sold 21.3% of his March 31 stake, reducing his ownership from 12.5 million to 9.8 million shares.
T-Mobile, where Buffett sold 10.9% of his stake, reducing ownership from 5.2 million to 4.7 million shares.
Louisiana-Pacific, where Buffett sold 9.6% of his stake, cutting ownership from 6.6 million to 6.0 million shares.
Floor & Design, where Buffett sold 16.8% of his stake, cutting ownership from 4.8 million to 4.0 million shares.
It wasn't all sales: Buffett also added to existing positions in the following names:
Occidental: added 2.9%, or 7.3 million shares, bringing the total to 255.3 million shares. OXY is his 6th largest position, behind Chevron.
Chubb: added 4.3%, or 1.1 million shares, bringing the total to 27 million shares in what is now his 9th largest position by value.
Liberty Media: added 5.5%, or 6.7 million shares, bringing the total to 128.8 million shares.
Sirius XM: added 262% or 96.2 million shares, bringing the total to 132.9 million shares.
Also of note, there were two liquidations, as Berkshire dumped its entire stake in Snowflake, selling 6.125 million shares worth $990 million as of Q2, and also liquidated his stake in Paramount Global; this amounted to 7.5 million shares of the flaming dumpster fire worth $88.6 million.
Finally, Buffett added two new positions:
HEICO Corp: Berkshire purchased 1 million shares of the aerospace product manufacturer, worth $185 million
Ulta Beaty: Berkshire purchased 690K shares of the beauty store operator, worth $267 million.
That said, both of these positions are tiny and barely make a dent in the firm's $280 billion portfolio.
Finally, one thing which we find odd is that while the 13F showed some $50.6 billion in stock sales (by value) in Q1, Berkshire's 10Q cash flows statement disclosed the $75.5 billion worth of stock had been sold in Q2, indicating that at least $25 billion worth of sales took place without being revealed on the 13F.
While we muse over this puzzle, here is the full breakdown of Berkshire's latest 13F
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Buffett%2013F%20Q2%202024.jpg?itok=Aw-9HHan
Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000095012324008740/0000950123-24-008740-index.htm
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 17:28
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/buffett-13f-confirms-sale-400-million-apple-shares-other-liqudations-new-positions-ulta-and

2024-08-14 23:00:00

Russia Ready To Execute Nuclear Attacks On NATO Targets, According To Leaked Documents
Russia Ready To Execute Nuclear Attacks On NATO Targets, According To Leaked Documents
Via https://rmx.news/article/russia-ready-to-execute-nuclear-attacks-on-nato-targets-according-to-leaked-documents/
,
Western sources have reportedly leaked Russian plans drawn up between 2008 and 2014 for “a series of overwhelming strikes across Western Europe,” the https://www.ft.com/content/237e1e55-401d-4eeb-875b-03fe68f81575?countryCode=HUN
reported.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/AP22050713041394-2048x1181.jpeg?itok=RkShX9ah
Citing documents from Western security sources, Putin allegedly sought to enable the Russian navy to execute nuclear strikes within NATO territory were a conflict with the alliance to emerge.
Targets would not be solely military. According to William Alberque, a former NATO official:
“There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of targets mapped across Europe, including military and infrastructure targets.”
Russia is also evidently still capable of transporting nuclear weapons on surface ships, which experts say carries a significant risk of escalation or accident. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed by the U.S. and Russia in 1991, was supposed to have eliminated this possibility, although many have often questioned Moscow’s adherence to it.
Possible targets presented by the FT included the west coast of France, military installations in Norway, Germany, and Estonia, as well as the British port town of Barrow-in-Furness, known for its production of nuclear submarines.
“They see (tactical nuclear warheads) as potentially war-winning weapons,” says Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey and an arms control expert.
“They’re going to want to use them, and they’re going to want to use them pretty quickly.”
Anton Bendarzsevszkij, director of the Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation, has said that “there is a global arms race that resembles the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s,” according to https://mandiner.hu/kulfold/2024/08/titkos-aktak-szivarogtak-ki-oroszorszag-atomhaborus-celpontjairol-europa-is-teriteken
.
Russia is said to have north of 5,500 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, while the United States has just over 5,000, meaning the two countries control some 90 percent of such weapons today.
Continue reading at https://rmx.news/article/russia-ready-to-execute-nuclear-attacks-on-nato-targets-according-to-leaked-documents/
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 17:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-ready-execute-nuclear-attacks-nato-targets-according-leaked-documents

2024-08-14 22:40:00

Pentagon Belatedly Reveals 8 US Troops Were Wounded In Syria Attack Last Week
Pentagon Belatedly Reveals 8 US Troops Were Wounded In Syria Attack Last Week
Since last fall US forces have recorded over 100 rocket and drone attacks on their positions in Iraq and Syria by Iran-aligned militias or Syrian national militias, depending on the side of the border. While most of the time these incidents pass without casualties, some observers have long suspected the Pentagon attempts to keep the number of wounded or injured US personnel from these attacks under wraps.
The Pentagon belatedly https://www.arabnews.com/node/2567318/middle-east
that a total of eight US troops were wounded in a drone attack that struck a US base in northeast Syria last Friday. Spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said that all eight were treated for traumatic brain injuries - the common term for potential head injuries when a person is too near a blast - as well as smoke inhalation.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/troopssyria.jpg?itok=ggqU8MFG
"Three of those service members have returned to duty while the others remain under observation," told a press breifing. "According to CENTCOM (US Central Command), none of the injuries are life-threatening."
It happened at Rumalyn Landing Zone, which is in Hasaka in northeast Syria - for years subject of the US military occupation. While over the weekend the Pentagon acknowledged the attack, saying their were minor injuries, it had withheld details as well as to the number of troops injured.
These attacks have been on the rise of late, as ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/drone-attack-us-base-syria-injuries-reported/story?id=112730470
:
Since Oct. 18, there have been close to 170 attacks taking place on a nearly daily basis as Iranian-backed militia groups target U.S bases in Iraq and Syria, supposedly in retaliation for the Israel-Hamas war.
Those attacks largely stopped after Feb. 4 following large-scale U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and a drone strike that killed a top-level leader of the Kataib Hezbollah militia group that the U.S. held responsible for the attacks.
Since the July 31st Israeli killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the region has been on edge in expectation of a major Iranian retaliation on Israel. This has put American troops occupying easter Syria in harm's way, leading many to question what the Pentagon is still doing there.
The Pentagon and mainstream media have meanwhile dusted off the ole 'counter ISIS' mission rationale...
"In a little-publicized campaign, American aircraft conduct airstrikes and provide live aerial surveillance to SDF ground forces who conduct raids on suspected Islamic State cells," https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/in-syrias-hinterlands-the-u-s-wages-a-hidden-campaign-against-a-resurgent-islamic-state-f22c44df
wrote this week. "While they usually stay a safe distance from the fighting, elite U.S. troops sometimes conduct missions on their own to kill or capture senior Islamic State leaders."
This is a recipe for seeking to keep US troops there as part of yet another post-911 era 'forever war' which has no specific and definable aims.
What is RLZ? It stands for Rumeilan Landing Zone. An austere US base in the Northeast of Syria with a paved runway that was constructed sometime in 2016. (The naming convention can also be seen in the similar KLZ base for Kobani Landing Zone) https://t.co/c5JSZFG4OP
— IntelWalrus (@IntelWalrus) https://twitter.com/IntelWalrus/status/1490051197029470210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
WSJ wrote further that "Islamic State’s latest comeback effort represents a different challenge than the one it posed in its heyday, when hundreds of militants would charge through isolated villages and crowded cities in tanks and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. Now the group operates in smaller cells armed with rifles and booby traps."
Of course, no one ever asks anymore how the Islamic State https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-23/secret-pentagon-report-reveals-us-created-isis-tool-overthrow-syrias-president-assad
, in the context of the Western allies and Gulf axis drive to overthrow Assad.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 16:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/pentagon-belatedly-reveals-8-us-troops-were-wounded-syria-attack-last-week

2024-08-14 22:20:00

The Shiny New Kamala Harris That Propaganda Built
The Shiny New Kamala Harris That Propaganda Built
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/shiny-new-kamala-harris-propaganda/
Remember just over a month ago when Kamala Harris was the https://www.foxnews.com/media/kamala-harris-receives-worst-vice-presidential-rating-nbc-news-polls-history
?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-14_10-42-42.jpg?itok=3O-5a7Sr
Remember how she utterly failed as “border czar?”
Remember how many terrible gaffes she made, speaking in word salads and nodding her encouragement to pretend we all understood what the heck she was talking about?
Don’t worry. Now we have a shiny NEW Kamala Harris who’s prepared to be the leader of the free world.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/snkh-1024x536.jpg?itok=jF3alLQG
Going back even further, who remembers her alleged inappropriate relationship with her boss that helped her to rapidly (allegedly) climb the political ladder in California? And what about her keeping black men incarcerated in California past their release dates just so they could be used as slave labor? What about her throwing the book at 2,000 people for possessing marijuana while currently laughing/cackling about how “nobody should go to jail for smoking some weed?”
But that was the OLD Kamala Harris.
You’re encouraged to forget all that. Not just encouraged, but you’re gaslit and brainwashed into forgetting it. The Shiny New Kamala Harris (SNKH) is a whole different human being.
SNKH is teleprompted and scripted. She doesn’t say anything that wasn’t already approved for her to say because the propaganda machine knows about those confusing word salads she rambles. In fact, SNKH hasn’t done a single interview since she was shoved into place for a floundering Joe Biden.
SNKH has had her entire background “disappeared” into some internet black hole. You know and I know that she was the “border czar” but all the “fact checkers” are acting like this never happened. Everything that is happening at the border and with illegal migrants now will continue to happen and even worsen if she is elected. She has a proven track record of doing… absolutely nothing about this issue. But I challenge you to find any mention of her shortcomings on the MSM.
SNKH is lauded as “Mommala” to the Gen Z-ers. But in fact, she has no children and she’s certainly not maternal when it comes to things like protecting kids from violent criminal migrant gangs. And if her step-daughter, Ella Emhoff, a radical pro-Palestinian “model,” reflects SNKH’s values, I want none of that. In fact, Ella’s dad is Jewish, and Ella has “pointedly insisted she does not consider herself Jewish,” according to https://nypost.com/2024/07/27/us-news/vice-president-harris-stepdaughter-joining-in-race-on-instagram/
t.
Emhoff has also raised cash for “urgent relief for Gaza’s children” — which critics said would https://nypost.com/2023/11/04/news/kamala-harris-stepdaughter-ella-emhoff-raising-money-for-gaza/
And that isn’t all – the candidate who everyone thought would be her Vice Presidential pick, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, was looked over for Tim Walz, a dude who turned Minnesota into a “sanctuary state” for illegals and LBGTQ kids whose parents won’t allow them to undergo “gender-affirming care.” Oh, and also, he’s lied about his military service. Repeatedly. We’re talking stolen valor level lies.
But the MSM is beating a totally different drum.
In the span of the three weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the election on Twitter and someone tried to assassinate former President Trump, SNKH has undergone a total transformation, courtesy of the Mainstream Media Propaganda Machine. The media appears to be colluding with the Democrats or Harris’s campaign or someone to make her a totally different and socially acceptable choice for president.
Not only have they memory-holed all mentions of “border czar-ing,” but they’ve also gotten rid of many of her former faux pas. They have created a new Kamala Harris to present to the world in the span of just 23 days. They have created a total illusion of SNKH’s greatness and somehow completely turned the polls around.
Or have they?
I remember when we all thought Hillary Clinton was going to win back in 2016 and were shocked when Trump was announced as the 45th president. The polls then showed a strong lead for HRC, but in the end, even allegedly cheating, she lost.
Are the polls now any different? Are all these positive polls for real that show this ultra-confused woman trouncing President Trump? The same President Trump who got shot and got up pumping his fist in the air telling us to “fight!?” The same President Trump who was soundly defeating President Biden? Has it turned around that quickly or are they just telling us that it has?
I honestly think it’s the second. I have great difficulty imagining who could believe this ridiculous scheme to paint SNKH as a totally different person. Of course, I also can’t understand why people thought Joe Biden was A-OK and non-demented until his fateful debate with Trump. So perhaps I’m wrong.
The Harris Campaign is feeding the Shiny New Kamala Harris creation, too
Of course, the Harris Campaign is right up there, priming the pump for all the wonderful things SNKH has accomplished and will soon accomplish. But they don’t seem to believe the MSM is doing enough.
According to https://www.axios.com/2024/08/13/harris-campaign-google-poltical-ads-news-publishers
, they are making up headlines and attributing them to MSM networks in their ad campaigns.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Harris-sponsored-Google-ads-sugg.jpg?itok=05UXZoST
Image Courtesy of Axios
No, those aren’t real. Those are ads that will pop up when you search Google for something related to the topic of SNKH and her wannabe VP, Tim Walz. Those misleading ads are fake headlines, wild dreams, and crazy wishes that are made to look absolutely real to those who are searching for information.
Here’s more from the https://www.axios.com/2024/08/13/harris-campaign-google-poltical-ads-news-publishers
about this:
… Since August 3rd, nearly a dozen news companies have been used in these types of search ads from the Harris campaign, Axios found.
Examples include https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR10754550246068453377/creative/CR14477053514531995649?region=21171&topic=political&format=TEXT&platform=SEARCH
.
The ads include links to real articles from the news outlets, but the headlines and supporting text have been altered to read as though the articles support the Harris campaign’s objectives.
For example, an ad that ran alongside an article from The Guardian shows a headline that reads “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom” and then includes supporting text underneath the headline that reads, “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”
An ad featuring a link to an NPR story reads, “Harris Will Lower Health Costs,” with supporting text that says, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.”
It’s not illegal but it’s kinda crazy how all those “disinformation” websites aren’t all over this. They https://www.theorganicprepper.com/newsguard-rating/
for posting links to studies with opposing results.
What it all adds up to
In my humble opinion, here’s what we could expect from a Harris presidency:
More crime and devolution from our leaky southern border
More difficulty for the average REAL American to get social assistance because we’re spending billions on illegal immigrants
Unsafe cities because of liberal ideas of “criminal justice”
Even more inflation than we’re already facing at the grocery store
A full-on stock market collapse as the world loses faith in America and our dollar
More surveillance and control
A war in the Middle East that will spill over into the rest of the world
A globe that has no respect for Americans
More DEI-related incompetence
More Marxist B(aloney) S(andwiches) shoved down our throats at every opportunity
A quick trip to communism when people can no longer survive in the inhospitable economic climate of the future
Remember, you know what you know about her. Don’t let this tomfoolery and gaslighting make you forget how inept this person is and how unsuited she is for the highest office in the United States of America.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/shiny-new-kamala-harris-propaganda-built

2024-08-14 21:05:00

Watch: Tulsi Gabbard Suing Biden/Harris Admin For Placing Her On Terrorist Watch List
Watch: Tulsi Gabbard Suing Biden/Harris Admin For Placing Her On Terrorist Watch List
https://modernity.news/2024/08/14/watch-tulsi-gabbard-suing-biden-harris-admin-for-placing-her-on-terrorist-watch-list
Former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard is taking legal action against the Biden/Harris Administration after she discovered that she has essentially been placed on a terrorist watch list.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/TG-1.jpg?itok=D-DOsVEv
Gabbard, a military veteran, had it brought to her attention by Federal Air Marshal whistleblowers that she has been marked under the Quiet Skies program, a TSA scheme that seeks to identify travellers who may pose a risk to aviation security.
Those on this watchlist are not banned from flying, but are subject to enhanced searches and surveillance at airports, including having armed Air Marshals accompanying them on flights.
The whistleblowers have informed Gabbard that she is being monitored by two Explosive Detection Canine Teams, one Transportation Security Specialist specializing in explosives, one plainclothes TSA Supervisor, and three Federal Air Marshals every time she flies.
Kamala Harris is not knowledgeable or strong enough to stand up to potential adversaries, or just as importantly the unelected warmongers — i.e. the Military Industrial Complex which profits from war, and the National Security State which uses these wars as a pretext to further… https://t.co/1uUS6CtGii
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1815697038371397993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The whistleblowers have stated that Gabbard became marked on the program on July 23, just one day after she openly criticised Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and the ‘Deep State’ during a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham (below).
There is no logical reason why Gabbard should be on the watchlist, unless criticising the regime is a designating factor.
Gabbard posted a video explaining why she is taking legal action, noting “My own government, my president, my commander-in-chief is targeting me as a potential domestic terrorist, the closest word that comes to mind is a complete sense of betrayal.”
“After serving over 21 years and continuing to serve in our nation’s military, my own government has labeled and is targeting me directly now as a domestic terrorist,” she added.
Gabbard further asserted “They’re using people like the air marshals as weapons and pawns to target their political opponents.”
“Of course, there’s no explanation given, which is why we are taking legal recourse,” she emphasised.
“Obviously, I’ve been very outspoken about the dangers of the Biden-Harris administration to our democracy and to our freedom and to our national security. This is what happens as a result,” she concluded.
Tulsi Gabbard will be taking legal action against the Biden/Harris admin over putting her on a terrorist watch list:
“My own government, my president, my commander-in-chief is targeting me as a potential domestic terrorist, the closest word that comes to mind is a complete sense… https://t.co/2Z4gfzHFQv
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) https://twitter.com/EndTribalism/status/1822762309179281692?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Gabbard also went back onto Ingraham’s show to talk about the surveillance.
RETALIATION. A few weeks ago, I had the audacity to tell the truth: that Kamala Harris would essentially be a mouthpiece and puppet of the Military Industrial Complex and National Security State. The next day, July 23, they retaliated. Sadly this is what we can expect from the… https://t.co/nxddO5TGTj
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1822256370382696599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I am deeply concerned about reports that https://twitter.com/TSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Rep. Doug Lamborn (@RepDLamborn) https://twitter.com/RepDLamborn/status/1823113609637154861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Wow. Just wow. Iraq veteran and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard targeted for TSA harassment as a terror threat. Yet another example of the weaponization of government agencies against political opponents of the administration — or should I call it “the regime”? This is not…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1821565272311963744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/support
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 15:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-tulsi-gabbard-suing-bidenharris-admin-placing-her-terrorist-watch-list

2024-08-14 20:45:00

Crypto Tumbles As 'Harris/Biden' Admin Moves Another 10,000 'Silk Road' Bitcoin To Coinbase
Crypto Tumbles As 'Harris/Biden' Admin Moves Another 10,000 'Silk Road' Bitcoin To Coinbase
Bitcoin prices fell this morning in reaction to the lackluster CPI (as rate-cut expectations dipped). That selloff broke through $60,000 and accelerated further as headlines broke that the US government moved 10,000 seized Bitcoin from the Silk Road dark web marketplace to a Coinbase wallet Wednesday.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm21D7.jpg?itok=UUxDSEMd
According to thehttps://x.com/ArkhamIntel/status/1823755773987500286
the funds were seized during the Silk Road raid and are currently valued at $593.91 million.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GU9GRmnWkAAJPZq.jpg?itok=JlsEgSrr
It's not immediately clear whether the United States plans to sell or custody the assets.
The transaction follows a previous move of https://decrypt.co/242235/us-government-moves-2-billion-silk-road-bitcoin
worth of Silk Road Bitcoin in late July.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GU9GQn8W8AA9DIs.jpg?itok=SGmnZXBf
As a reminder, the price action (dowwward) in various cryptocurrencies is front-running expectations of the creditors getting their hands back on these assets and selling them...
...the only problem with that argument is, https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/diamond-hands-mtgox-creditors-hodl-bitcoin-despite-10-year-wait
, the creditors are not selling, they're HODLing...
“Now, seeing the continued growth and acceptance of their industry, many Mt. Gox creditors may have become even stronger believers in Bitcoin and its future potential, choosing to hodl further.”
So, its really only the algos, reacting to the headlines, that is driving any dips.
“This resilience suggests that while short-term volatility is possible, the long-term impact on Bitcoin’s market dynamics will likely be minimal.”
The US government currently holds roughly 203,000 BTC valued at approximately $12 billion at the time of this writing.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GU9GS5gWAAAzZ1A.jpg?itok=d1gYuGYr
The decision by the Biden/Harris administration in the last few weeks to seemingly accelerate the dumping of their 'seized' Bitcoin comes right as former President Trump outlined his Bitcoin strategy (including creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve).
The Harris campaign continues to desperately try and placate the crypto community - despite almost four years of nothing but hate for the sovereign currency and its heretical holders. Let's see how Crypto-Kamala's aides explain the ongoing dumping of assets.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 14:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/crypto-tumbles-harrisbiden-admin-moves-another-10000-silk-road-bitcoin-coinbase

2024-08-14 20:05:00

Zelensky Pushes 'Buffer Zone' In Conquered Areas Of Kursk With Martial Law
Zelensky Pushes 'Buffer Zone' In Conquered Areas Of Kursk With Martial Law
Ukrainian officials have touted that part of the success of its troop incursion into Russia's southern Kursk region is that Moscow has been forced to divert some of its soldiers from front line fighting in the Donbass to Russia's southern border oblasts.
"(The Russians) are now trying to stop our advance; they have pulled in reserves, which has benefited our defense forces in other areas, because it has become easier to work there," a Ukrainian military commander identified as Dymtro Kholod https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/ukraine-russia-war-kursk-incursion-08-14-24/index.html
CNN Wednesday.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kurskfighting.jpg?itok=m3JPf2i3
But there are conflicting claims and counterclaims, with the Russian defense ministry (MoD) announcing it the latest statement that its forces continue to "repel an attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to invade the territory of the Russian Federation" - now just after a week after the cross-border offensive began.
The ministry further explained that its ground troops, supported by air and drone strikes, had successfully prevented Ukrainian troops from making further advances "deep into Russian territory." It mentioned that it defended the small settlements of Skrylevka and Levshinka, which lie about 20km from the border. "The attempts by enemy mobile units using armored equipment to break through deeper into Russian territory have been repelled," the MoD said.
President Zelensky, however, has continued to https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/08/14/ukrainian-army-moving-further-into-russia-zelensky-says-a86023
that his troops are "moving further" into Russia, which also involved major overnight drone attacks targeting four Russian airfields in the "largest attack" of its kind since the war began.
"In the Kursk region, we are moving further. From one to two kilometers (0.6-1.2 miles) in different areas since the beginning of the day," Zelensky announced on social media. He claimed that "more than 100 Russian servicemen" have been captured in recent days of fighting and that this will "speed up the return home of our boys and girls."
Amid a lot of ongoing speculation over Zelensky's ultimate aim and motives for this cross-border operation which started on Aug.6, the Ukrainian leader unveiled on Wednesday that Ukraine is seeking to establish a "buffer zone" inside Russia to prevent attacks on Ukrainian citizens.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has outlined on Telegram "The creation of a buffer zone in the Kursk region is a step to protect our border communities from daily enemy attacks." He said that Sumy along has seen 20,000 Ukrainians evacuated through the course of the war.
Ukraine releases more footage of captured Russian soldiers in Kursk region. https://t.co/gaynBt5GSF
— Clash Report (@clashreport) https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1822727569143455762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Surprisingly, Klymenko suggested the indefinite occupation of Kursk territory that Ukraine has captured over the past week. He asserted that Russian citizens in Kursk "were abandoned by Russia without the most necessary things" and that the Ukrainian military is looking to supply "the needs of the locals for drinking water, food, medicines and hygiene kits so that we can organize humanitarian aid as soon as possible…"
Similarly, Ukrainian Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk spoke the same day about establishing a "security zone" in areas which have https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/ukraine-russia-war-kursk-incursion-08-14-24/index.html
:
"There are Russian civilians within this zone. They are protected by international humanitarian law, which Ukraine fully complies with," she said, so the Ukrainian military would "conduct humanitarian operations to support civilians within the mentioned zone" as well as open corridors for civilians to evacuate, either into Ukraine or within Russia.
One of the ironies in all of this is that previously in the war President Putin himself spoke about establishing a 'buffer zone' on the other side of the Ukraine border, to prevent southern Russian settlements from coming under attack.
It seems Ukraine's offensive is coming at a very high cost, per https://sputnikglobe.com/20240814/ukraine-loses-up-to-270-soldiers-in-kursk-region-in-past-day---mod-1119768480.html
:
The Ukrainian armed forces lose up to 270 soldiers and 16 armored vehicles, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on Wednesday.
"In the past day, the losses of the armed forces of Ukraine amounted to 270 military personnel and 16 armored vehicles, including two tanks, an armored personnel carrier Stryker, 13 armored combat vehicles, as well as 10 vehicles and a 122-mm D-30 howitzer," the ministry said, adding that Russian troops repelled six Ukrainian attacks around five https://sputnikglobe.com/20240814/ukraine-wants-to-start-talks-using-kursk-nuclear-plant-seizure-as-ultimatum---akhmat-head-1119766218.html
.
Ukrainian troops https://sputnikglobe.com/20240813/ukraine-loses-up-to-420-soldiers-in-kursk-area-in-past-day---mod-1119751102.html
2,300 servicemen and 37 tanks during their offensive in the Kursk Region, the ministry added.
A high-risk, ultra provocative PR-driven decision of Zelensky...
As I said, Kursk attack is PR-driven decision of Zelensky: "Zelenskyy: The Kursk disaster was a symbolic beginning of Putin's rule, and now it's end for him. "We see how Russia really moves [under Putin’s rule]: 24 years ago, there was the Kursk disaster – the symbolic beginning… https://t.co/fsxHLwRjBG
— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) https://twitter.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1823102179067965561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
But now, adding insult to injury, Zelensky is even https://x.com/theinformant_x/status/1823744396715495429
talking about the imposition of martial law in Kursk areas under control of the Ukrainian army. He said later in the day Wednesday that there's still a "good pace" of advance into Russia.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 14:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-pushes-buffer-zone-conquered-areas-kursk-martial-law

2024-08-14 17:45:00

Transitioning From A Seller's Market To A Buyer's Market
Transitioning From A Seller's Market To A Buyer's Market
By Stefan Koopman, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank
Buyer's Market
US producer price inflation was soft in July. Both headline (0.1% m/m and 2.2% y/y) and core (0.0% m/m and 2.4% y/y) PPI inflation came in below expectations. Goods prices rose by 0.6% m/m, while services fell by 0.2% m/m, suggesting that a fall in retail markups drove down this otherwise hotter report. This indicates that retail firms are losing pricing power and are discounting more heavily, as reflected in various company earnings reports.
The components of the PPI that feed into the PCE price gauge, due later this month, were also relatively benign, adding to the case for investors betting on lower interest rates from September onwards. Following this muted report, stocks ended the US session firmly higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 posting 1.5-week highs and adding further to the market’s recovery from the early-month selloff. Bond yields fell, with the 10-year UST yielding 3.84%, down 5 bps from before the report. In Europe, the German 10-year rate has fallen to 2.18%. The dollar softened, with the DXY at 102.69 and EUR/USD just below the 1.10 handle.
Earlier yesterday, the NFIB small business optimism index surged to a two-year high in July, driven by expectations of an improving economy. This optimism is likely influenced by confidence in a Trump victory following President Biden’s weak performances and the ensuing uncertainty about the Democratic presidential candidate during much of July. However, this optimism may have waned by the time the August survey is conducted. The survey also showed that the share of firms planning price increases fell to 24%, the lowest since April 2023, though still historically elevated. Businesses are increasingly concerned about softening demand amid persistent input price pressures, and less so about labor shortages. This ongoing transition from seller’s markets to buyer’s markets marks a post-COVID priority change. The survey indicates that businesses are dealing with margin squeezes more by slowing wage increases rather than resorting to layoffs.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/small%20business%20prices.jpg?itok=SUQByNe9
The UK is also transitioning from seller’s markets to buyer’s markets. The headline CPI ticked up slightly this morning, from 2% to 2.2%, but this was a tenth less than expected. The rise in the annual rate is mainly due to energy prices, which fell less than they did a year ago. This was somewhat offset by hotel prices, which saw a monthly fall of 6.4% compared with a rise of 8.2% a year ago. This print helped lower the services inflation figure, suggesting that June’s elevated services print, which raised doubts about an interest rate cut ahead of the August MPC, was driven by one-offs. Indeed, both core CPI and services CPI, which are more indicative of pricing power, fell more than expected, to 3.3% and 5.2% y/y respectively.
Yesterday’s UK labor market figures showed that regular pay growth slowed to 5.4% y/y, in line with expectations. Total pay growth, including bonuses, slowed significantly to 4.5% from 5.7%, with last year’s one-off NHS bonuses affecting the y/y comparison. Meanwhile, the number of job openings continues to decline and is now at 884,000, barely above pre-COVID levels. This all suggests a labor market that is gradually transitioning into a buyer’s market too. Based on the relationship between vacancies and unemployment, we expect regular wage growth to fall further towards the 4-4.5% range in the coming months.
The MPC welcomes these numbers, as it ex-post validates their narrow decision to cut rates by 25bp. We don't see this immediately leading to another 25bp cut at the forthcoming meeting, as this month’s 5-4 split and the current guidance clearly suggests that the MPC wants to take a gradual approach. It does, however, set us up for another Bank of England cut come November.
Speaking of cuts, the RBNZ today lowered the official cash rate (OCR) by 25 bps to 5.25%. We had previously forecasted a cut this month, but recently pushed this call to October due to resilience in non-tradable inflation. However, the RBNZ indicated that the output gap appears more negative than previously thought, with downside risks to employment and growth becoming more apparent. The RBNZ now forecasts a recession in the second half of this year, with the published OCR track implying a little over two rate cuts before Christmas and a terminal rate of 2.98% in Q3 2027.
We have long held the view that the New Zealand economy is weakening quickly and that rate cuts would need to come sooner rather than later (until recently, the market consensus was for cuts to begin in 2025). Nevertheless, we believe the RBNZ’s estimates of the terminal rate published today look low compared to comparable economies. Our forecast is that the RBNZ will cut rates five times in total, reaching an OCR of 4.25% by July next year. This is partially informed by our belief that the R* is higher than the RBNZ’s estimates and our expectations of persistent supply-side inflationary pressures. However, we agree that the risk skew for this forecast is to the downside.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 11:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/transitioning-sellers-market-buyers-market

2024-08-14 16:50:00

NYC Migrant Crisis To Cost Staggering $5 Billion For Shelters, Security And Food
NYC Migrant Crisis To Cost Staggering $5 Billion For Shelters, Security And Food
The tab for New York City to house and feed scores of illegal migrants has likely surpassed $5 billion, of which $2 billion alone has been spent on housing, according to city data cited by the https://nypost.com/2024/08/13/us-news/nyc-migrant-crisis-costs-will-crack-eye-popping-5-billion-on-shelters-security-and-food/
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/12324442_101322-wabc-nyc-migrant-hotel-imga.jpg?itok=1zu77Sxz
Since the spring of 2022, some 212,000 'asylum seekers' have flowed through the system, according to City Hall.
Money spent so far includes:
$1.98 billion on housing and rent.
About $2 billion on services and supplies.
Nearly $500 million on food and medical costs.
Another $500 million on IT, administrative and other costs.
The NYPD has spent $21 million on public safety and security related to the migrants.
The eye-popping figures, listed on the city’s online https://www.nyc.gov/site/omb/as-fund-tracker.page
, shows the city overall spent $4.88 billion combined through fiscal years 2023 and ‘24. Based on the rate of spending, the city likely exceeded more than $112 million since the start of the new fiscal year beginning July 1, or will soon, cracking $5 billion.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has even projected the cost could double, hitting $10 billion over the three year period ending June 30, 2025.
In a recent posting, the city's Department of Homeless Services revealed two more contracts this week totaling a combined $40 million in order to provide services to migrants at hotels converted into emergency shelters - which include hotels at the heart of the Broadway tourist disrict.
According to Mayor Eric Adams' chief of staff Camille Joseph Varlack, "This is not a New York City issue or even a United States issue, this is a worldwide issue," adding "We’ve had the opportunity to speak to other cities who are expecting and experiencing migration and we expect that to continue between wars and climate change and all the other issues."
Hotels Raking It In...
As noted last month by https://www.theblaze.com/news/nyc-hotels-are-set-to-take-in-over-1-billion-in-taxpayer-funds-to-support-migrants-report
New York City hotels will be taking in more than $1 billion in taxpayer cash to support migrants. Their reports note that the city currently uses 193 migrant shelters, with about 80% housed in motels, hotels, or inns.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/migrants_4.jpg?itok=vNvdfw5U
According to a May analysis by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the average cost per hotel room is $156, though some reports suggest these locations may be charging over $300 per night since migrants began arriving in spring 2022.
The report highlights that by May 31, the city had spent about $4.88 billion on the migrant crisis, with $1.98 billion allocated specifically to migrant housing, including hotels, motels, and tent cities at Randall's Island and Floyd Bennett Field.
The Blaze https://www.theblaze.com/news/nyc-hotels-are-set-to-take-in-over-1-billion-in-taxpayer-funds-to-support-migrants-report
that CoStar reported in November 2023 that up to 16,000 hotel rooms have been taken off the market for migrants, impacting the hotel industry negatively.
William Shandler, who is a manager at Iron Bar commented: “Our taxes are being used to pay for the migrants, and where are we supposed to make revenue? How as a business could we function?”
Councilwoman Joann Ariola added that hotels are "not for sheltering the masses of people pouring over our borders every day," but rather for tourism. “These locations were meant to boost the economy of this city, but instead they’ve become a net drain and are costing us enormously,” she told the https://nypost.com/2024/07/07/us-news/hotel-make-up-vast-majority-of-migrant-shelters-raking-in-millions/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/migrants2_1.jpg?itok=8q5yAk8G
The Post wrote that the city's financial support has bolstered the hotel industry, which added 21,000 rooms in the four years before the pandemic, according to the Department of Planning. When tourism plummeted in 2020, former Mayor Bill de Blasio provided a lifeline by contracting hotels to house the homeless.
Mayor Eric Adams has continued this practice. By September, the city extended a three-year, $1.3 billion contract with the Hotel Association of New York City to house migrants. Additionally, a $76.69 million emergency contract was signed in January for shelter at 15 hotels.
HANYC’s president, Vijay Dandapani, stated they're working to keep costs low while supporting the city's efforts to care for asylum seekers.
Enjoy your next vacation to New York City!
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 10:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nyc-migrant-crisis-cost-staggering-5-billion-just-shelters-security-and-food

2024-08-14 02:30:00

Putin Appoints Ex-Bodyguard & Aide To Oversee Defense Of Kursk As Zelensky Boasts Of 74 Towns Captured
Putin Appoints Ex-Bodyguard & Aide To Oversee Defense Of Kursk As Zelensky Boasts Of 74 Towns Captured
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said his military has seized dozens of Russian settlements and towns spanning hundreds of kilometers in Russia's Kursk oblast.
The surprise offensive is now one week in, and Zelensky boasted in an X post: "Ukraine controls 74 communities." This is a significantly higher figure than the Kremlin has publicized, and there remain deeply contrasting accounts of what is going on in the war-ravaged border region, or whether Russian forces have https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/08/ukraine-sitrep-the-kursk-incursion-was-stopped.html#more
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kurskattack.jpg?itok=sLBlaM4f
"Despite the difficult and intense battles, our forces continue to advance in the Kursk region," Zelensky added, saying that many Russian border troops have been captured and can be used to eventually get Ukrainian POWs back.
Kiev says that the ultimate purpose of the high-risk operation is to protect its populace from Russian strikes, many of which happen from across the border. Currently, it is unclear the amount of territory the Ukraine invading force actually holds. By all accounts, Russian border posts were poorly manned and armed at the time of the attack which started Tuesday morning a week ago.
"Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi has stated.
Things are still desperate on the Russian side amid a state of emergency in southern oblasts along the border. Well over 100,000 citizens have been evacuated.
"There is no light, no connection, no water. There is nothing. It’s as if everyone has flown to another planet, and you are left alone. And the birds stopped singing," an elderly man identified as Mikhail https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-incursion-5378360d6b1f244930d8886be4469bc9
Russian state television on Tuesday. "Helicopters and planes fly over the yard and shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind."
Acting Kursk Region Governor Aleksey Smirnov has announced that at least 12 Russian civilians have been killed and another 121 injured, including ten children, amid the ongoing Ukraine military incursion.
President Putin has meanwhile reportedly appointed a special official to take charge of efforts to restore order to Kursk and the border regions. He's been identified in regional press as the president's personal aide and former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dyumin.jpg?itok=GJQ2_JEJ
One report https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/08/13/putin-appoints-ex-bodyguard-dyumin-to-oversee-defense-of-kursk-region-lawmaker-says-a86008
:
"Indeed, Alexei Gennadyevich Dyumin was summoned yesterday and tasked with supervising the counterterrorist operation," State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Ivanov, whose district is in the Kursk region, told the RTVI broadcaster.
Dyumin was the only non-cabinet member not connected with the military or security services <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/74856" rel="nofollow">who was present</a> at a televised meeting with Putin on Monday. During that meeting, which was focused on the fighting in the Kursk region, the Kremlin leader ordered the military to “dislodge” Ukraine’s forces from Russian territory.
Later, an anonymous Telegram channel claiming insider knowledge https://t.me/satirkka/3901
that Putin directed Dyumin to "coordinate all agencies currently operating in the Kursk region."
However, the Kremlin has not officially verified whether Dyumin has indeed been put in charge of Kursk operations.
At this moment a United Nations agency is trying to gain access to the region. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has issued formal request for Moscow to grant access to the Kursk Region to investigate Russian allegations of abuses and war crimes committed by invading Ukrainian troops.
More dumb takes from hopelessly inept washed up politico. https://t.co/Zsz0f6t5VK
— Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) https://twitter.com/DanielLMcAdams/status/1823441969072468049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"We are trying to gather information about the situation in Kursk Region, but without access it is very difficult," OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a fresh statement. “We have requested access to Russia to be able to obtain additional information."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 20:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-appoints-ex-bodyguard-aide-oversee-defense-kursk-zelensky-boasts-74-towns

2024-08-14 01:40:00

Tesla's 1950s-Style Drive-In Supercharger In Hollywood Takes Shape
Tesla's 1950s-Style Drive-In Supercharger In Hollywood Takes Shape
The next generation of Tesla Supercharger stations could feature a restaurant, drive-in movie theater, and dozens of charging bays. Tesla seems eager to spice up the currently dull charging experience and possibly open up new revenue streams for the company.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-13_15-19-32.png?itok=4b45pVil
Auto blog https://driveteslacanada.ca/news/teslas-hollywood-diner-gets-first-job-posting-seeking-diner-experience-specialist/#google_vignette
has been tracking the progress of Tesla's Hollywood Diner and Supercharger project, located at 7001 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-13_15-18-49.png?itok=x1xEh5P3
"Plans reveal the company is building unique destination for Tesla owners, including a two-story restaurant with seating for over 200 diners and a separate theater area that accommodates up to 77 guests," Drive Tesla Canada said, adding, "Those guests, and Tesla owners plugged in at one of the Supercharger posts, will be able to watch movies on two towering 45-foot LED screens located in the parking lot."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/tesla_6.jpg?itok=CAlE72hH
Construction began about one year ago, and as the project draws closer to completion, Tesla recently https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/tesla-diner-experience-specialist-at-ev-careers-3986145793/
its first job opening for the diner.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-13_15-28-08.png?itok=DRcT7s2_
A video published days ago by YouTuber JoshWest247 shows the 1950s-esque drive-in Supercharging station has taken shape.
This new deluxe Tesla charging station prototype could eventually be rolled out across major metro areas, enhancing the charging experience for drivers and creating a new revenue stream for the company.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/teslas-1950s-style-drive-supercharger-hollywood-takes-shape

2024-08-13 19:40:00

A $150,000 House In 1988 Now Costs $707,500; Thank You, Fed!
A $150,000 House In 1988 Now Costs $707,500; Thank You, Fed!
https://mishtalk.com/economics/a-150000-house-in-1988-now-costs-707500-thank-you-fed/
The Fed has grossly distorted the housing market and no fix is in sight. A couple of images will explain...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Case-Shiller-Home-Price-19881500.jpg?itok=t-Qd8RIC
Chart data from Case-Shiller, mortgage calculation based on Fannie Mae 30-year mortgage rates, chart by Mish
Home Price Calculation Notes
Case-Shiller measures repeat sales of the same home over time.
Case-Shiller is a much better, but less timely measure than median or average home price. However, the measure lags. Recent data is through May representing sales in February, March, and April.
The price above reflects the increasing value of the Case-Shiller index over time.
Mortgage Payment and Mortgage Rate
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Mortgage-Payment-and-Mortgage-Ra.jpg?itok=S1DPFm1s
The above chart represents the mortgage payment of the same house as the lead chart reflecting the changing price and interest rate over time.
Price, Mortgage Rate, Mortgage Payment Over Time, Same House
The $150,000 home purchased in January 1988 had a mortgage payment of $1,076 reflecting a mortgage rate of 10.38 percent.
In 2006, the home was worth about $403,634 up and the mortgage payment was $2,086 reflecting a mortgage rate of 6.52 percent.
If you bought at the end of 2020 when the Fed clobbered interest rates to a record low of 2.68 percent, that same home that cost $150,000 in 1988 would have cost $502,649. However, due to Fed “affordability” magic, the mortgage payment was only $1,605. Thank you Fed!
However, if you want to buy now (May 2024) that $150,000 1988 home will set you back a mere $707,499. Your mortgage payment would be $3,662 at a mortgage rate of 7.06 percent. Oops and Ouch!
It’s Worse Than Described Above
Mortgage rates are slightly higher in practice.
Also, prices do not include property taxes or insurance.
Mess Entirely of Fed’s Making
This is a mess entirely of the Fed’s making. And it’s what happens when the Fed, and economists in general do not count home prices as inflation.
Home prices are not directly in the CPI or PCE. The latter is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.
Economists consider home prices a capital expense not a consumer expense. The problem is simple: Inflation is not just a consumer price concern!
The Fed ignored obvious inflation in the Great Recession and did so again in the Covid recession.
Existing Home Sales Drop 5.4 Percent But Median Price Hits New Record
Existing-home sales declined 5.4 percent in June. It was the 23rd decline in 29 months. But the median price hit a new record.
For Discussion, please see https://mishtalk.com/economics/existing-home-sales-drop-5-4-percent-but-median-price-hits-new-record/
Existing-home sales are about where they were in December 1995 and May 1979!
Only price-insensitive buyers, the newly rich, or those who just sold their previous house, can afford to buy.
All-cash sales accounted for 28% of purchase transactions in June.
Housing, Rent, CPI Indexes Jan 2020 vs May 2024
Housing: 212 to 323, +52.4 Percent
Rent 187 to 231, +23.5 Percent
CPI: 153 to 185, +20.9 Percent
Haves vs Have Nots
Existing homeowners who refinanced near or perhaps even under 3.0 percent have extra money in their pocket every month to spend. And they do.
Those who spend every penny then have an unexpected expense or a big rent increase are in trouble.
The group of people who were doing OK but now aren’t is expanding. Also the unemployment rate is rising and small business employment is in a serious nose dive.
Small Business Employment Growth Is Now Negative
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/ADP-Change-in-Employment-by-Empl%20%281%29.jpg?itok=uBx355op
Data from ADP, chart by Mish
For discussion, please see https://mishtalk.com/economics/small-business-employment-growth-is-now-negative-and-what-it-means/
ADP data shows year-over-year payroll growth is negative 88,000 for small corporations sized 20-49. Trends are negative in all but very large corporations.
On July 26, I commented https://mishtalk.com/economics/expect-the-bls-to-revise-job-growth-down-by-730000-in-2023-more-this-year/
At the heart of these revisions is a horribly flawed birth-death model used by the BLS. My calculation closely matches an estimate by Bloomberg’s chief Economist.
In addition to the birth-death model, or perhaps explaining the birth-death model errors, small business employment is declining fast.
Unemployment Rate Jumps, Jobs Rise Only 114,000 with More Negative Revisions
On August 2, I commented https://mishtalk.com/economics/unemployment-rate-jumps-jobs-rise-only-114000-with-more-negative-revisions/
The headline jobs number was much weaker than the consensus estimate of 180,000 and the unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points.
The McKelvey (Sahm) Unemployment Rate Recession Rule Just Triggered
On July 8 I commented https://mishtalk.com/economics/weak-data-says-a-recession-has-already-started-lets-now-discuss-when/
I did an update on August 2 using a tighter trigger.
Also on August 2, I commented https://mishtalk.com/economics/the-mckelvey-sahm-unemployment-rate-recession-rule-just-triggered/
Recession with rising unemployment rates and https://mishtalk.com/economics/intel-announces-15000-job-cuts-15-percent-of-its-workforce/
is not the best environment to be buying a house even if mortgage rates have declined.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 13:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/150000-house-1988-now-costs-707500-thank-you-fed

2024-08-13 16:40:00

Rabobank: Questions Swirl What The Economic Program Of A Harris Administration Might Look Like
Rabobank: Questions Swirl What The Economic Program Of A Harris Administration Might Look Like
By Benjamin Picton, Senior strategist at Rabobank
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Stocks struggled for direction yesterday as markets looked ahead to a packed data calendar for the rest of the week. The S&P500 closed flat, the NASDAQ rose 0.21% and the EuroStoxx 50 closed marginally lower. Active Brent crude futures defied lower demand estimates from OPEC+ to rise 3.31% (the most since October last year) as markets continue to brace for escalation in the Middle East, and the Treasuries curve barely moved at all.
Energy markets are particularly interesting at the moment. Dutch TTF natural gas futures took a bit of a breather yesterday after rallying for four-straight sessions last week. Active TTF futures closed down 1.79% following signs that Ukraine’s military incursion into Russian territory has not materially interrupted natural gas flows through the Sudzha metering point. Meanwhile, UK National Balance Point gas prices hit their highest levels since December last year before selling off into the close.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/TTF%20prices.jpg?itok=MXdIO0y5
Bloomberg https://pub.raboresearch.rabobank.com/public/r/3Is1xtfd3t19jCUyaGrS1w/Fnrah74JTdiyJ5liF5BDlg/wadffJdmHYbkgUEvnkGkww
that Crown LNG is aiming to construct a fourth British LNG import terminal by 2027, cutting the UK’s reliance on pipeline gas from the continent but also locking in a higher cost base for British supplies under normal market conditions. Rabobank Energy Analyst Florence Schmidt expects that any further geopolitical developments in the Middle East or Russia/Ukraine will keep European gas prices well supported in the near term, with warm weather providing the only bearish influence on prices.
Gold prices are again trading close to all-time highs after gaining 1.7% yesterday. The gains in gold came despite little change in the Bloomberg Dollar spot index but might be a reflection of nerves over geopolitical issues and a marginal increase in market pricing of rate cuts for the September Fed meeting (-39.2bps today vs -38bps yesterday). US PPI figures released later today will provide further direction to markets before the key CPI release tomorrow and jobless claims on Thursday.
PPI aside, the other major event today is Donald Trump’s return to the X platform in a live exchange with Elon Musk. In an extended (and, at time of writing, ongoing) interview Trump excoriated the Biden administration’s performance on dealing with the pandemic, controlling inflation, the border and international affairs while highlighting the strong economic performance of his own administration. The latter might contain some degree of ‘poast’-hoc fallacy (as does the Biden/Harris claims on job creation) as the Trump administration benefited in-part from ongoing recovery from the 2007/8 financial crisis.
Trump’s return to X might be interpreted as an attempt to regain the initiative in a Presidential race where some polling and betting markets have Kamala Harris taking a lead in likely electoral college outcomes. The Trump campaign appears to have been caught flat-footed by the switchout of Biden for Harris, but there’s still plenty of water to pass under the bridge before election day in November.
While Harris is enjoying a poll bump at the moment, questions are being raised about what the economic program of a Harris administration might look like. The Trump trade is already reasonably well understood, and the likely inflationary effects of an expansion of tariffs, tax cuts and easier monetary policy are incorporated into some market forecasts (including ours). Harris’ economic program remains a comparative mystery, but the Vice President has started to put some flesh on the bones recently by suggesting that she would safeguard the independence of the Fed while adopting Donald Trump’s idea of exempting tips from income tax.
Critics have https://pub.raboresearch.rabobank.com/public/r/YPuh4NhprBbDMtW8jS1Leg/Fnrah74JTdiyJ5liF5BDlg/wadffJdmHYbkgUEvnkGkww
that Harris’ adoption of Trump’s plan to exempt tips from income tax is at odds with her having cast a tie-breaking vote to pass Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included a provision to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to tighten up on income tax compliance. The Harris campaign has indicated that it plans to release further details of the Vice President’s economic agenda as early as Friday this week. Might that announcement contain some post-hoc fallacies of its own?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 10:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rabobank-questions-swirl-what-economic-program-harris-administration-might-look

2024-08-13 13:45:00

Paris 2024: These Countries Punched Above Their Weight
Paris 2024: These Countries Punched Above Their Weight
While the United States may have once again topped the official medal table at the Paris 2024 Olympics, there are some less-talked-about countries that seriously punched above their weight at the quadrennial event.
Adjusting for population size, https://www.statista.com/chart/32837/population-adjusted-medal-table-at-paris-2024/
that the U.S. medal haul of 126 actually places the country in rank 48 with 0.37 medals per one million inhabitants, which is way ahead of China’s 0.06 medals per million inhabitants but far behind many other countries, including New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands - all nations that consistently outperform their size at the Olympics.
https://www.statista.com/chart/32837/population-adjusted-medal-table-at-paris-2024/
You will find more infographics at https://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/
Unsurprisingly, the countries at the very top of our list, Grenada, Dominica and Saint Lucia, all have populations smaller than 200,000, making their medals count – 2, 1 and 2, respectively – stand out among nations with many times as many inhabitants.
With a population of 26.7 million, Australia is the biggest nation near the top of the population-adjusted medal table.
The country won an impressive 53 medals, including 18 gold medals, in Paris, mainly but exclusively thanks to its strength in swimming competitions, where Australian athletes won 18 medals, including 7 gold medals.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 07:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/paris-2024-these-countries-punched-above-their-weight

2024-08-13 12:30:00

Another Green Energy Company Declares Bankruptcy, Thank Biden's Tariffs
Another Green Energy Company Declares Bankruptcy, Thank Biden's Tariffs
https://mishtalk.com/economics/another-green-energy-company-declares-bankruptcy-thank-bidens-tariffs/
Conflicting goals often leads to the worst of both outcomes. That’s what’s happening with solar panels and EVs.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Sunpower-Bankruptcy.jpg?itok=lnXmGc2K
SunPower Went Bankrupt Despite Huge Subsidies
The Wall Street Journal reports https://www.wsj.com/opinion/sunpower-bankruptcy-inflation-reduction-act-subsidies-green-energy-joe-biden-kamala-harris-a8bef0c6?mod=hp_opin_pos_5#cxrecs_s
The 39-year-old SunPower is the latest solar rooftop business to fail this year. Others include Titan Solar Power and Sunworks. SunPower cited a “severe liquidity crisis caused by a sharp decline in demand in the solar market and SunPower’s inability to obtain new capital.” The IRA boosted solar subsidies, so why has demand fallen?
One reason is higher interest rates have made rooftop panel leasing less attractive to customers. Some states like California have scaled back programs that pay customers to send solar power they don’t use to the grid. Such subsidies raise the cost of power for people who don’t have panels. In California the grid is often overloaded with solar power.
The cost of panels has also increased amid overall inflation and President Biden’s tariffs, which were backed by domestic manufacturers and Democrats in Congress. Solar installers warned the tariffs would hurt their industry, and they have. Jobs that Mr. Biden’s subsidies giveth, his tariffs and inflation taketh.
Offshore wind projects are also getting scratched because of rising costs and interest rates that make them uneconomic even with subsidies. BP last year wrote down its U.S. offshore wind business by $1.1 billion. Wind developer Orsted last autumn announced $4 billion in write-downs after walking away from two projects off the New Jersey coast.
BP recently scaled back a planned U.S. biofuels investment. Shell this year said it would close its hydrogen refueling stations in California as few people are buying fuel-cell vehicles, and subsidies for hydrogen production have fallen. Talk about stranded assets.
Tariffs and Subsidies Backfire
Biden only wants clean energy if it every piece of it is made in the USA. That means higher costs, even with subsidies.
I commented on this in advance as it was easy to see.
The attempt force production of solar panels in the US resulted in prices so high that few wanted them.
Three Results
No noticeable increase in US production
Lost jobs from installers
No furthering of clean energy goals
Ford is Losing $100,000 on Every EV
Despite subsidies, https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/06/18/heres-the-staggering-amount-of-money-ford-loses-on/#:~:text=A%20report%20says%20Ford%20is,Model%20e%20division%20in%202024.
A report says Ford is losing more than $100,000 on each EV.
Ford is reducing spending on EV plans by $12 billion.
Ford is estimated to lose $5.5 billion from its Model e division in 2024.
You either want a faster rollout of EVs and clean energy projects or you don’t.
Insisting companies use only made-in-USA components when the infrastructure is not in place and demand is low leads to losses like these.
Unfortunately, we are in for tariff wars no matter who wins the election.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 06:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/another-green-energy-company-declares-bankruptcy-thank-bidens-tariffs

2024-08-13 03:45:00

Tip Tax Toe
Tip Tax Toe
Submitted by https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/tip-tax-toe
The genesis of Donald Trump’s "no tax on tips" policy idea, which started gaining ground earlier this year, https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/tip-tax-toe
after the former president had a discussion with a server in Las Vegas who complained about her taxes.
“We want to pay our fair share, but we also don’t want to be taken advantage of. I say it’s like the mob: They take what they want from us. We are pissed off about this,” Eileen Scott, a cocktail waitress on the floor of Harrah’s Las Vegas, https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/tip-tax-toe
The New York Times, who commended Trump’s improvisational policy idea less than a month ago, on July 18th.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6deef3c5-0802-40fd-aa5e-e5500d3aa57c_633x745.png
The idea has gained so much steam, that the Harris campaign and Democratic party are now trying to adopt this policy as their own:
Harris copying the Trump campaign on the idea sets off two alarm bells for me.
First, it says their campaign is obviously incapable of coming up with their own novel and well-liked policy ideas, so they are stealing Trump’s.
The second is that Harris’ out-of-the-blue stance against taxation stands in stark contrast to her record, and her party, which has focused excruciatingly on obsessing over tax revenue from the American public.
In fact, in February 2023, barely a year ago, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s IRS https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-introduces-new-service-industry-tip-reporting-program
the “Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA)”, which was specifically introduced to use electronic point of sale machines to “improve tip reporting compliance” — i.e. monitor employee tips and report them to the IRS.
In exchange for “protection from liability under the rules that define tips as part of an employee's pay”, the program asked employers to submit annual reports, compiled by their point of sale systems, on tip data.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F419840e8-0d42-4605-9d77-5d92670ed63c_651x239.png
The same New York Times piece from July reported same:
The I.R.S. has in recent years taken steps to try to collect more taxes owed on tipped income. The tax agency said that Americans appeared to underreport earnings in cash tips, and it started a new voluntary compliance program last year for employers. Americans reported roughly $38 billion in tipped income in 2018, according to I.R.S. data.
Those that listen to me and read me frequently know I have often taken exception to the fruitlessness of obsessing over taxes such as these on middle America. It isn’t because I have some beef with paying taxes — I don’t — it’s because common sense would indicate to anybody with a brain that that spending is far more of a problem than missing miniscule amounts from revenue collection in the country right now.
For example, last month — around the time the New York Times was complimenting Trump’s “no tax on tips” idea, Elizabeth Warren was celebrating collecting $1 billion more in taxes from the American people.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7d781a72-7e78-4779-879d-6c7fa18788d8_596x332.png
But the “boosted” funding she is referring to https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2024/02/08/empowering-the-irs-understanding-the-full-potential-of-the-inflation-reduction-acts-historic-investment-in-the-internal-revenue-service/#:~:text=The%20Inflation%20Reduction%20Act%20provided,by%20the%20wealthiest%20tax%20evaders.
$80 billion.
Then, I step back from this and look at the tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid we are sending out the door — $66 billion in https://www.foreignassistance.gov/
in 2024 — and and can’t help but think that if we just calm our spending addiction in the slightest, we could make far more progress than tightening the vice grip of taxation around American citizens. It’s a grip that had gotten so tight, they were coming after tipped employees last year.
On top of going after tipped employees, the Biden administration had floated the extraordinarily asinine idea of https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/taxing-unrealized-gains-would-obliterate
.
It’s an incredible morphing act that we are witnessing with Kamala Harris.
We have watched a woman who was about as popular as shingles within the Democratic Party, who won zero primaries and zero delegates in 2020 and 2024, somehow fall ass-backward into the Democratic nomination spot. And now we’re bearing witness to watching her entire platform undergo an all-expenses-paid facelift courtesy of the incessant spin job that the mainstream media is happy to perform.
Here’s the cover spot Time gave Harris this week without even interviewing her, saying she “pulled off the swiftest vibe shift in modern political history”. That’s a lot of words for “political coup”.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0caa26ac-03c6-4734-9ff9-2d9996725857_1200x1200.jpeg
Look, it’s as simple as this: as of this writing, Kamala Harris has been vice president for 1,299 days. This should give pause to anybody who hears her say she’s going to change current policies "day one" in office.
Have we forgotten that she has been in office for nearly 27,000 hours already?
🔥 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Using the coupon entitles you to 50% off an annual subscription to Fringe Finance for as long as you wish to subscribe: https://quoththeraven.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=d8097c43
Is it not obvious to people that her call for changes is a tacit admission that the policies she helped institute over the last three years have already been failures?
The problem for Harris is that the policies on the right side of the aisle, with the exception of abortion, mostly fall in line with what the American people truly want: low taxes, privacy in their social lives, secure borders, price stability, energy independence, law and order, a strong military, and peace through strength. In order to try and secure the centrist vote in between both parties, the Democrats have to try to make their radical socialist agenda look as though it touches these bases, when it clearly does not.
This means they’re going to say one thing and do another once they get into office. Hence, we a “no tax on tips” policy from a woman who cast the deciding vote on $80 billion in new IRS funding months before they introduced a program to bring in more taxes from tips. Could it be any clearer?
Don’t let the Harris administration fool you into thinking they are on the side of everyday Americans — the record they’ve posted over the last three years starkly speaks otherwise.
Now read:
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/george-gammon-explains-the-yen-carry
https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/matt-taibbi-kamala-trump-and-the
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b4f0b11-cdb4-4f89-9600-5faf882f9b35_66x52.png
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with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 21:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tip-tax-toe

2024-08-13 00:50:00

Biden, European Leaders Tell Iran to 'Stand Down' Amid Frenzied Speculation
Biden, European Leaders Tell Iran to 'Stand Down' Amid Frenzied Speculation
Is tonight the night? In a familiar refrain of the past several days, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Monday the military is on "peak alert" for an attack from Iran or Hezbollah.
The White House too believes an attack is imminent or at least within "days" away. At the same time a senior Israeli official told https://www.axios.com/2024/08/12/iran-israel-white-house-us-intelligence-attack
: "The Iranians openly signal (on the ground) their determination to carry out a significant attack in addition to their public statements that the attack will exceed the one they carried out in April."
The official additionally observed that "Iranian public statements do not reflect any retreat." Warnings from the West urging Tehran to not retaliate have been on repeat for a week-and-a-half following the July 31st Israeli killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/tehranmissiles.jpg?itok=OtA-Nyje
The US has been joined by European countries in calling on Iran to "stand down" amid reports of significant Iranian and Hezbollah weapons movement and positioning.
US President Joe Biden alongside the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy issued a fresh joint statement Monday: "We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place," a joint statement said after their presidents and prime ministers spoke by phone.
As for the IDF, its latest statement also described that the Israeli Air Force has increased its patrols over Lebanon "to detect and intercept threats."
"We view the statements of our enemies seriously, and are therefore prepared at the highest level of readiness for defense and attack," it continued.
Even the Vatican has tried to intervene toward preventing a https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-ceasefire-talks-iran-attack-intl/index.html
:
Following Haniyeh’s assassination, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Haniyeh’s death would “not pass in vain,” and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that “blood vengeance” for the killing is “certain.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian furthered those threats on Monday, telling a Vatican official in a phone call that the assassination warrants Iran’s right to “self defense” and to “respond to an aggressor,” Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.
Meanwhile amid fears of the wider Israeli confrontation with the 'Iran axis', the IDF has kept up its operations and strikes inside Gaza.
UPDATE
• US: Iran attack ‘could be this week’
• Another US destroyer 🚢to region
• Israel on alert, situation tense
• Gallant clashes with Netanyahu
• Israel hits South Lebanon
• UK PM 📞 Iran prez
• Europeans, US push for ceasefire talks https://t.co/3WxtvahzB0
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1823082842911363459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes on several areas of Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 16 people and wounded several," reports https://www.arabnews.com/node/2567110/middle-east
. "Meanwhile more families and displaced persons streamed out of areas threatened by new evacuation orders telling people to clear the area."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 18:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-european-leaders-tell-iran-stand-down-amid-frenzied-speculation

2024-08-13 00:25:00

US Marshals Arrest Over 230 Fugitives, Including Rapists And Murderers, In Maryland Operation
US Marshals Arrest Over 230 Fugitives, Including Rapists And Murderers, In Maryland Operation
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/us-marshals-arrest-over-230-fugitives-including-rapists-and-murderers-in-maryland-operation-5702287?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
The U.S. Marshals Service has announced the conclusion of “Operation Silver Shield,” a 90-day interagency operation that resulted in the arrest of 232 fugitives across Maryland, including individuals wanted for serious crimes such as rape and murder.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2851%29_1.jpg?itok=XFXM5KjI
The large-scale, public safety initiative, which ran from May through August 2024, targeted non-compliant sex offenders and fugitives associated with violent crimes, the U.S. Marshals said in an Aug. 9 press release. Among the arrested were 36 individuals wanted for sex offender registration violations, 17 for rape, and 14 for homicide.
“The arrest of these fugitives represents a step in the right direction to keep Maryland safe,” Erek L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement.
As part of the operation, law enforcement also seized seven firearms and successfully recovered four critically missing children.
Dozens of federal, state, and local agencies participated in the operation, with deputies from the District of Maryland prioritizing the arrest of non-compliant sex offenders, while members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, a unit of the U.S. Marshals, focused on catching violent fugitives.
“Throughout this operation, we worked hand-in-hand with local communities to take dangerous offenders off the streets,“ Mathew Silverman, chief deputy U.S. Marshal for the District of Maryland, said in a statement, adding that the results of the operation reflect ”the true power of our public safety partnership.”
The Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, which has apprehended over 78,000 fugitives since its inception in 2004, has partnership agreements with over 133 federal, state, and local agencies operating in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Besides the U.S. Marshals Service, some of the law enforcement agencies involved in Operation Silver Shield include the Baltimore Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the FBI.
Operation Silver Shield was launched on May 3, 2024, aiming to protect the community by prioritizing the recovery of critically missing children and arresting offenders who pose the biggest risk to public safety.
A similar operation in 2023, dubbed “Operation We Will Find You,” https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/us-marshals-rescue-225-endangered-or-missing-children-in-national-operation-5295834
the recovery of 225 missing or endangered children.
At the time, the U.S. Marshals noted that cases involving missing or endangered children are some of the most challenging due to the presence of “high-risk factors,” such as involvement in child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual and physical abuse, and serious medical and mental health conditions.
The passage of the https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/178
in 2015 strengthened law enforcement’s ability to recover missing children. The legislation enhanced the U.S. Marshals’ authority, enabling them to better address cases involving endangered children, even when a fugitive or sex offender wasn’t directly involved.
Since the law’s enactment, the U.S. Marshals, in collaboration with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, have successfully recovered over 3,100 missing children.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/us-marshals-arrest-over-230-fugitives-including-rapists-and-murderers-maryland-operation

2024-08-12 20:40:00

Putin Says There Will Be No Peace Talks With Ukraine As 180,000 Citizens Evacuated Amid Invasion
Putin Says There Will Be No Peace Talks With Ukraine As 180,000 Citizens Evacuated Amid Invasion
Ukraine's brazen and high risk cross-border ground incursion into Russia's Kursk region is nearly one week in, with Russian forces still fighting off the invaders, and Kiev confirming in a fresh statement that the "offensive operation" is continuing.
Russian emergency authorities are evacuated an astounding 180,000 citizens from border regions where fighting has encroached. An official briefing delivered to President Putin on the situation on Monday has revealed that this shock Ukraine offensive is bigger and more expansive and devastating than previously believed.
"Ukraine’s military has taken control of 28 towns and villages in Russia’s Kursk border region, prompting a sixth of its population to flee the incursion, the acting regional governor told President Vladimir Putin," https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-12/russia-evacuates-180-000-as-ukraine-is-said-to-take-28-towns
writes of official statements. But it remains that along the front lines inside eastern Ukraine, Russian forces are still advancing, with RIA stating "Russia takes control of the settlement of Lyscychne in Ukraine."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kursksign.jpg?itok=LZcx-SGT
Ukraine is now claiming that its forces hold 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory, a Monday statement from its defense ministry said. According to more from Bloomberg, Russian officials have admitted that a sizeable chunk of Russian territory is in a https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-12/russia-evacuates-180-000-as-ukraine-is-said-to-take-28-towns
:
More than 120,000 people have left their homes and about 60,000 more are waiting to be evacuated, Alexey Smirnov told Putin and Russia’s top security officials during a televised meeting on Monday. Ukrainian forces have penetrated at least 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) into Russia and control a border area at least 40 kilometers wide, though there’s “no clear understanding” of where their troops are, he said.
President Putin has issued his first detailed public statements since the incursion began. One thing he stressed in the Monday remarks is that now there will be no peace talks or settlement with Kiev.
"It is now clear why the Kiev regime refused our proposals to return to the plan for peaceful settlement," Putin said. "The enemy, with the help of its Western masters - it is doing their bidding, and the West is waging war against us using Ukrainians... seeks to improve its negotiating position in the future."
"But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike civilians, civilian infrastructure or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities," the Russian leader added.. "What can we even talk about with them?"
This latter part was in reference to the somewhat mysterious drama happening Sunday at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where a fire appeared to break out, which was then used by President Zelensky to hype the threat of looming nuclear disaster. But the UN's IAEA https://www.zerohedge.com/military/fire-breaks-out-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant
, which may have simply involved tires being set alight at the complex, has had no impact on nuclear safety.
JUST IN: 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Russian President Putin says there will be no more peace talks with Ukraine.
"What is there to even talk about with those who attack civilians and nuclear facilities?" https://t.co/uugF3zQO9b
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) https://twitter.com/BRICSinfo/status/1822984263475638406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As for the latest developments on Russia's efforts to push back the southern invasion, the Kremlin has issued the following https://tass.com/politics/1828033
:
Hospitals have admitted 69 people that were injured in Ukrainian shelling of the Kursk Region,
17 are in serious condition.
Ukraine has lost up to 1,350 troops,
Ukraine has lost 29 tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers since the start
And below are some of the last developments in the last hours via https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/12/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-belgorod-kursk-brace-for-kyivs-advance
:
New evacuation orders have been issued in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions amid Ukraine’s cross-border incursion.
Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) says that Russia is trying to falsely accuse Kyiv’s military of war crimes.
Kursk’s governor, Alexei Smirnov, says the total civilian death toll from Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region has reached 12.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Ukraine is trying to undermine Russian stability with its https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/8/ukraine-attacks-russias-kursk-region-hopes-f-16s-boost-counteroffensive
into the south of the country, but it will not succeed.
Russia says it has repelled seven Ukrainian attacks in Kursk launched by Ukraine’s 80th and 82nd airborne assault brigades in the past 24 hours.
A Ukrainian deputy energy minister accused of taking a bribe worth half a million dollars has been arrested along with three alleged accomplices, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Amid ongoing speculation as to what Zelensky ultimately hopes to get out of this Kursk operation, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has been in phone calls with Western counterparts, urging NATO countries to lift their prior bans on Western weapons being used to attack inside Russia.
The internationalization of this proxy war is growing...
Escalation without diplomacy:
- NATO is backing deep strikes into Russia and the invasion of Russia (Kursk). It is not possible to criticise Zelensky even as he attacks the Zaporizhya nuclear power plants and use openly Nazi brigades to target civilians
- On the Russian side,… https://t.co/PKxSbCJwtI
— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) https://twitter.com/Glenn_Diesen/status/1822967953853145498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Umerov said on X that he urged the leadership of France to lift the ban on "hitting military targets" in the "enemy’s territory".
Russian leadership is viewing with increased dismay surprising scenes like the following...
Ukrainian soldiers from the 225th Separate Assault Battalion ripping down the Russian tricolor on the administrative building in Daryino, Kursk region. https://t.co/dsBB0zgR64
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1822983141088178450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In May the French Presidency's office stipulated that Western weapons could be used only on locations "from which the missiles are fired" and "not other civilian or military targets." But now it has become clear that Ukraine hopes to strike deeper into Russia with NATO-supplied long range missiles.
This would mark an ultra-dangerous turning point in the war, which the Kremlin might consider an 'existential threat' to the nation, triggering deployment of strategic forces. Already Western-supplied armored vehicles have been spotted among Ukraine's invasion force.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 14:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-says-there-will-be-no-peace-talks-ukraine-180000-citizens-evacuated-amid

2024-08-12 18:25:00

Trump Posts On X In Big Return Ahead Of "Unscripted" Interview With Elon Musk
Trump Posts On X In Big Return Ahead Of "Unscripted" Interview With Elon Musk
Former President Donald Trump is preparing for tonight's highly anticipated interview on the X platform with Elon Musk, which is expected to be an 'internet-breaking' event.
Trump getting ready to join Elon on X Spaces and dunk on Kamala 😆 https://t.co/OXOpZ641zv
— Adam Lowisz (@AdamLowisz) https://twitter.com/AdamLowisz/status/1822902171341398022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The interview on X is set to begin live-streaming at 8 pm EST. Musk wrote on X, "This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!"
This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!
If you have specific questions & comments, post them under the chat.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1822800186520838531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The world's richest man noted, "If you have specific questions & comments, post them under the chat."
Entertainment guaranteed! https://t.co/5oR7YLVQr6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1822827074299584955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
On Sunday evening, Musk launched multiple stream tests, garnering millions of views to ensure X's backend systems are ready for scaling ahead of tonight's conversation.
Test preparations followed the May 2023 streaming event on X between Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which suffered multiple technical difficulties.
Despite Trump's posting to only Truth Social, the former president has finally returned to X around 1120 ET. Trump's last post on X dates back to August 2023.
https://t.co/tf87iebMdN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1823016427680358790?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In the days following the attempted assassination of Trump at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally in mid-July, Musk https://www.zerohedge.com/political/elon-musk-pledges-45-million-monthly-pro-trump-super-pac-counter-dems-swing-states
Trump. With that came Trump's U-turn on electric vehicles as well, declaring: "I'm for electric cars; I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So, I have no choice."
Musk and his entourage of tech VCs have for decades supported Democrats, if that's Obama, Clinton, and Biden. But in recent years, especially for Musk, he has declared war on the 'https://www.zerohedge.com/political/i-lost-my-son-musk-says-he-was-tricked-approving-puberty-blockers?ref=pressrex.com
' and Marxism pushed by Democrats. Furthermore, Musk believes in secured borders and law and order in cities - something the Trump ticket supports at the very core level. Yet, VP Harris supports a radical far-left agenda (an extension of Biden's) of open borders (hence her failed position as 'Border Czar'), and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, has had a horrendous response record during BLM riots.
The Washington Post said VP Harris has no public events scheduled on Monday. She and her team will likely be tuning in to the event, as keyboard warriors on both sides of the political aisle will engage in a meme war on X during the interview.
VP Harris has yet to give a press interview since she was catapulted to the top of the Democratic ticket. The reason likely stems from her poor debating skills, hence why she cannot go off script of the real VP Harris will be revealed. She must have a teleprompter nearby to speak coherently.
We are watching a movie and the rerun at the same time!🤣 https://t.co/SHB8FHU32E
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) https://twitter.com/KarluskaP/status/1821702888940331429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The interview with Musk and Trump, unscripted, is yet another sign legacy 'far left' corporate media is dying as the next-gen media rises from the ashes this election cycle. It's only a matter of time before presidential debates will be held on X.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 12:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-posts-x-big-return-ahead-unscripted-interview-elon-musk

2024-08-12 12:30:00

15 States Sue To Block Federal Government From Expanding Obamcare To Cover Illegal Immigrants
15 States Sue To Block Federal Government From Expanding Obamcare To Cover Illegal Immigrants
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/15-states-sue-to-block-biden-admin-from-expanding-aca-to-cover-illegal-immigrants-5702870?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
Fifteen states have filed a https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2024/pr24-61.pdf
against the Biden administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), challenging a new rule that extends health coverage benefits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to individuals granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202024-08-11T124226.290.jpg?itok=dcg9oUD5
Filed in the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota on Aug. 8, the lawsuit alleges that the new rule defies existing federal laws defining eligibility for public benefits.
The states, represented by their attorneys general, argue that the rule published by CMS in May unlawfully expands the definition of “lawfully present” to include DACA recipients, thus making them eligible for federally subsidized health insurance coverage.
“Illegal aliens shouldn’t get a free pass into our country,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who is leading the coalition of states, said in a https://ag.ks.gov/media-center/news-releases/2024/08/08/kobach-leads-coalition-to-stop-biden-harris-from-giving-obamacare-to-illegal-aliens
.
“They shouldn’t receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive, and the Biden–Harris administration shouldn’t get a free pass to violate federal law.”
The plaintiffs contend that the CMS rule conflicts with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, which restricts federal public benefits to certain categories of “qualified aliens.”
According to court documents, “aliens who have been granted deferred action under DACA are not included in the definition of such qualified aliens.”
The plaintiffs argue that CMS’s inclusion of DACA recipients in the “lawfully present” category contradicts statutory definitions for public benefits eligibility.
The complaint states that the ACA mandates that only U.S. citizens, nationals, or aliens “lawfully present” are eligible to enroll in a qualified health plan through a subsidized exchange.
The plaintiffs assert that “DACA recipients are, by definition, unlawfully present in the United States,” and therefore should not be eligible for these benefits. They claim that CMS’s decision is “contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious.”
Furthermore, the plaintiffs argue that the rule places undue financial and administrative burdens on the states, particularly those with state-run ACA exchanges.
They claim that the expansion of coverage incentivizes unlawfully present individuals to remain in the United States, thereby increasing fiscal burdens on state resources.
CMS justified the rule, stating it aligns with the “broad aims of the ACA to increase access to health coverage.”
CMS also cited the economic importance of DACA recipients and their disproportionately high percentage of uninsured individuals.
The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, requesting the court to vacate the CMS rule and prevent its implementation. The states ask for the rule to be postponed pending judicial review and for the defendants to be enjoined from implementing it.
A CMS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 06:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/15-states-sue-block-federal-government-expanding-obamcare-cover-illegal-immigrants

2024-08-12 10:15:00

3 Billion People Exposed In Massive Unreported Data Theft
3 Billion People Exposed In Massive Unreported Data Theft
It's one of the "biggest data breaches ever" and you might be exposed as a result.
Background check company Jerico Pictures Inc., which does business under the name National Public Data was breached back hackers earlier this year, a new lawsuit alleges.
The suit says that as a result, 2.9 billion people have had confidential data exposed and stolen, https://mashable.com/article/background-check-company-breached-3-billion-affected
.
The worst part is that those impacted by this cyberattack may be unaware of their involvement since National Public Data allegedly collects data from non-public sources without consent.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/breach_0.jpg?itok=5iBU2kUc
The breach has exposed information on nearly 3 billion people, including full names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and personal details of both living and deceased relatives.
The https://mashable.com/article/background-check-company-breached-3-billion-affected
says that this previously unknown breach's timing remains unclear.
Plaintiff Christopher Hofmann learned of it in July when an identity theft protection service alerted him that his data had been leaked on the dark web. The hackers posted the "National Public Data" database on a dark web forum in April, seeking $3.5 million from a buyer.
Last month, Mashable also reported on RockYou2024, a massive leak of nearly 10 billion users' credentials, though it was an updated compilation of older breaches.
With billions of records exposed, the National Public Data breach could be one of the largest ever, comparable to Yahoo's 2013 breach affecting 3 billion accounts.
Great news if you're https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/att-reveals-hackers-stole-nearly-all-records-customer-calls-texts
PR department though, we guess...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 04:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/3-billion-people-exposed-massive-unreported-data-theft

2024-08-12 04:45:00

Ohio Prosecutor Fired After Biting Man's Finger Off In Bizarre Road Rage Incident
Ohio Prosecutor Fired After Biting Man's Finger Off In Bizarre Road Rage Incident
Here's something to think about the next time you want to give someone 'the finger' in traffic.
An assistant Ohio prosecutor was fired from his job for allegedly biting off a man's finger in a road rage incident last month, according to a https://nypost.com/2024/08/09/us-news/assistant-ohio-county-prosecutor-christopher-murray-fired-for-allegedly-biting-off-a-mans-finger-during-road-rage-fight-report/
.
The man who lost a finger reportedly honked at the prosecutor, Christopher Murray, at a green light.
The Riverside Police Department responded to reports of a fight on the US Route 35 overpass, about 210 miles from Cleveland, where one caller mentioned severe bloodshed and a bitten-off finger, according to the arrest report.
The Post https://nypost.com/2024/08/09/us-news/assistant-ohio-county-prosecutor-christopher-murray-fired-for-allegedly-biting-off-a-mans-finger-during-road-rage-fight-report/
states that when law enforcement arrived, they found a 43-year-old man covered in blood standing outside his vehicle. Medical personnel confirmed that part of his middle finger had been bitten off.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/rr1.jpg?itok=td4isbbw
The victim's finger was severed at the tip of the knuckle, and police later found it under his vehicle. He claimed he honked at the car in front of him when it didn't move after the light turned green.
He "laid on his horn", https://nypost.com/2024/08/09/us-news/assistant-ohio-county-prosecutor-christopher-murray-fired-for-allegedly-biting-off-a-mans-finger-during-road-rage-fight-report/
.
Police identified the driver as Murray, who allegedly approached the victim’s car, declared his intent to fight, and pulled open the driver’s door.
The two ended up on the ground, where the victim claimed Murray bit his finger. Murray then fled but dropped his phone, which police used to identify him. The victim was taken to the hospital for further treatment, and Murray now faces felonious assault charges.
Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David D. Hayes said he had been fired from his job as a result: “As Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, I became aware on July 8, 2024, of an ongoing criminal investigation in Montgomery County regarding my employee Christopher Murray.”
“After due consideration, I terminated Christopher Murray’s employment with the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office.”
Here is the report from WDTN:
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 22:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ohio-prosecutor-fired-after-biting-mans-finger-bizarre-road-rage-incident

2024-08-11 21:10:00

Bitcoin Is Change Management
Bitcoin Is Change Management
Authored by Kane KcGukin https://kanemcgukin.substack.com/p/bitcoin-is-change-management
,
For the past few years, after every Bitcoin Conference, I take time to reflect on my learnings and observations. What did I see, and what does it mean for Bitcoin’s future and the broader financial system?
Unfortunately, this year, Bitcoin’s main event was hijacked by politicians.
Their presence was so pervasive it degraded the ability to float freely, meet people, and learn from the vast set of stages talking about all things Bitcoin. On the one hand, it’s not exactly a surprise that political interests are laser focused on Bitcoin. On the other hand, it’s difficult to witness Bitcoin being used as a pandering tool.
As with any setback, we must ask ourselves. What is the opportunity? Where is the signal amongst the noise?
Bitcoin Is Much More Than “Number Go Up”
In all honesty, the “number go up” narrative is one of the most fiat-brained ideas in Bitcoin. That doesn’t mean the show can’t go on. The conference this year proved Bitcoin will outlast longer any naysaying from TradFi skeptics.
Bill Mill IV summed them up nicely: “Most people work for somebody else… even if you believe in Bitcoin and you buy on behalf of somebody else, or one of your bosses doesn’t like it. You’re done. You’re head’s chopped off. Whereas, if it goes right, and somebody that you work for didn’t like it; you get a begrudging pat on the back. So, everything comes down to incentives.”
So, why is there such confidence in Bitcoin? Because of three things:
The Nakamoto Stage opening presentation.
The focus on Bitcoin as a solution to our energy infrastructure problem.
Edward Snowden, 4th Turnings, and the power of paradigm shifts
Mastering Strategic Thinking
To kick off the conference, on the Nakamoto main stage, was Sophie von Laer’s talk: https://youtu.be/mk7YxP97T84?feature=shared
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/adaptive-resilience.jpg?itok=xy0IrAIh
What stood out most was it felt like a subtle psychological prep for what is to come and what types of individuals will be recruited to lead the charge. The talk felt like a high-level intelligence briefing, with its nuanced linguistic framing and psychological messaging. While I can’t say for certain if this was intentional, the theme became increasingly apparent over the next few hours and days.
There was a heavy government influence throughout Bitcoin 2024. Whether it be Trump, one of the numerous politicians, or Edward Snowden it was made clear that Bitcoin’s network would be a pivotal tool for decades to come.
Sophie’s descriptions of a Strategic Maverick, the strategic mindset, new paradigms, and the necessity of disconnection to achieve connection, felt very foretelling of what will be required for the chaos we’re living through (see https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Turning-American-Prophecy-Rendezvous/dp/0767900464
).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/strategic-mavericks.jpg?itok=PmOMIahP
Her thoughts on how we program and condition leaders seemed to outline an expectation for Bitcoiners who will inevitably partner with political forces as they bare down.
The framing around “thinking about not just your own needs but the needs of those around you” sounded much more moral, principled, and unifying than the divisiveness of our current DEI handbook.
Strategic Plan = continuous improvement and evolution
Strategic Alliance = it takes a village, a tribe
“Knowing the intersection of the things going on around you.”
Adaptive Resilience = manage change effectively
“Culture that fosters the change that is going on.”
Positive Psychology = focus on the things you do well in life.
A culture that thinks together becomes more coherent. We’ve got a lot of work to do based on where we stand today.
Strategic Maverick’s understand Adaptive Resilience: “The period of rest after change allows you to become the thing you want. Someone truly becomes adaptive in this time.” A framing, or warning? It seemed fitting for Bitcoin and Bitcoiners alike, amid this paradigm shift.
Bitcoin: an Energy Infrastructure Solution
Beyond politics, Bitcoin’s role in revamping the US energy infrastructure was a major focus of the conference. The recurring theme was that we are still early in this new paradigm.
Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty made a great point in his talk when he highlighted that post-WWII was about expanding people, goods, and energy use in the US. To continue to support all that growth, we need more energy efficiency. And, caught in the middle of all the economic growth and the increasing energy demand is our money.
Bitcoin miners provide solutions to both monetary and energy challenges. They help balance energy use and, more importantly, generate revenue for utility companies by purchasing excess energy that would otherwise be wasted. As Harry Sudock succinctly put it, “Revenue cures everything.”
What better way to solve an energy issue than with machines that can switch on and off, easily balancing our stressed grid?
These machines provide revenue during periods that would otherwise be unprofitable. Additionally, they offer the flexibility to shut down during peak energy consumption, preventing the drain on scarce power.
Our modern economy relies heavily on advanced technologies. As we move forward, we’ll require significant updates and optimizations to our energy infrastructure, networks, and server farms. Each of these technologies has an exponential energy component. Bitcoin is the only solution that computes both money and energy in exponential form.
Edward Snowden: “Cast a Vote, Don’t Join a Cult”
Snowden’s greatest point was dousing cold water on the political parade. He attempted to bring us back down to earth a bit by offering several reminders that neither political party is as much your friend, as they are just out to get Bitcoiners to love them. Citing past behaviors, he urged us to remain caustious with this quote:
“for in every country of the world, I believe, the avarice and injustice of princes and sovereign states, abusing the confidence of their subjects, have by degrees diminished the real quantity of metal, which had been originally contained in their coins.” -Adam Smith
Edward reminded us that technologies have historically been designed to benefit “them”, organizations and politicians. This perspective makes it easier to envision a future where privacy diminishes as quickly as we can now connect, considering the six degrees of separation.
He touched briefly on the moral dilemma we face. Reminding us that our internal system feels broken, because of our broken money. With political interference, we may have started a new version of the same game, but with new rules. In this game, we should all be prepared to make difficult decisions.
Among many enlightening quotes Snowden made, I thought these two are worth remembering:
“We are competing constantly and cooperating rarely. We need to change that.”
“The internet is broken because the institution is competing against the individual, and the individual against another individual.”
Peter Theil made reference to the idea behind the first quote in his book https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296
, and the second quote offered powerful insights to the situation we’re watching unfold.
Tying it All Together
The message was clear throughout Bitcoin 2024 we are headed for a paradigm shift on the other side of this https://youtu.be/EVzmKpw_ges?si=rcb3fyEsGjH8NgO8
, and the Bitcoin tribe is believed to have the leaders that will shape the culture of our future.
Bitcoin is now mainstream. It’s still early in the adoption phase, but the Bitcoin network will be a crucial tool for our future.
How that future is shaped, and Bitcoin’s role in our financial system, will depend on which side of the aisle gains control and how they choose to use it. Will it be an asset and means to rebuild our aging energy infrastructure or is it just another monitoring device? Only time will tell.
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 15:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bitcoin-change-management