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2024-09-13 11:20:00

Potential Port Strike Has Retailers, Manufacturers Scrambling
Potential Port Strike Has Retailers, Manufacturers Scrambling
By Noi Mahoney of https://www.freightwaves.com/news/potential-port-strike-has-retailers-manufacturers-scrambling
Retailers and manufacturers are seeking to mitigate a potentially multibillion-dollar hit if members of the International Longshoremen’s Association go on strike beginning Oct. 1 at 13 of the nation’s major East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/freightwaves.jpg?itok=wmnjBUrb
The contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance, which negotiates on behalf of management of the ports, terminals and shipping lines, is due to expire at midnight on Sept. 30. The contract covers 25,000 workers and ports stretching from Boston to Houston, the ILA said.
Billions of dollars worth of imported goods, from cars and light trucks to electronics to food, clothing, jewelry and agricultural products come into the U.S. through East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
Members of the National Retail Federation (NRF) have been concerned about the potential for the strike for months, according to Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president of supply chain and customs policy.
“Many have taken steps to mitigate the potential impact by bringing in products earlier and frontloading the peak shipping season or by shifting products back to the West Coast,” Gold https://nrf.com/blog/port-labor-strike-gets-closer-reality
Tuesday on the NRF website. “Imports at U.S. ports … have been at or above 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units since April, and September is expected to see 2.31 million TEU — import levels not seen since 2022.”
Gold said a strike also has the potential to disrupt retailers stocking up for the holiday season, as well as manufacturers and farmers relying on raw materials to keep operations moving.
“For retailers, that means holiday shipments might not arrive on time. Manufacturers might not receive parts, materials and supplies needed for production, which will lead to assembly lines shutting down. And farmers won’t be able to get their products to overseas markets, which could lead to lost sales,” Gold said.
Major ports such as Savannah, Georgia, and Houston bring in tons of materials for U.S. manufacturers, such as auto parts, heavy machinery, steel, lumber and other goods.
Officials with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) said a prolonged strike could be devastating to the sector.
“Any disruption resulting from the United States Maritime Alliance and the International Longshoremen’s Association negotiations would deal an immediate blow to the manufacturing supply chain,” Christopher Netram, NAM’s managing vice president of policy, recently told CNBC. “A work stoppage at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports would upend logistics for U.S. businesses and hinder the movement of goods upon which millions of Americans depend. Costs will rise and manufacturing jobs will be lost if parts and supplies don’t arrive on time.”
The labor battle has already impacted global logistics providers and transportation operators, said Paul Brashier, vice president of drayage and intermodal at ITS Logistics.
“The U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports handle billions of dollars in trade monthly and about 43% of all U.S. imports,” Brashier said in ITS Logistics’ https://www.its4logistics.com/port-rail-index/its-logistics-september-2024-port-rail-ramp-index-potential-ila-strike-on-east-and-gulf-coasts-fuel-peak-season-uncertainty
for September. “As we wait for the negotiations to come to a close, industry professionals should keep in mind that we will see a few weeks of elevated demand for inland dray, rail congestion, and other operational issues in September as containers make their way through the North American supply chain.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 09/13/2024 - 07:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/potential-port-strike-has-retailers-manufacturers-scrambling

2024-09-11 10:55:00

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

2024-09-06 22:50:00

1000s Of 'Dollar Stores' Clustered In Swing States May Offer New Insights Into Voter Sentiment
1000s Of 'Dollar Stores' Clustered In Swing States May Offer New Insights Into Voter Sentiment
Dollar General and Dollar Tree, with over 19,000 stores and nearly 16,800 US stores, respectively, delivered some alarming news in the past week about their crumbling core customer bases battered by elevated inflation and high interest rates—consequences of failed Bidenomics. The extensive nationwide footprint these two discount retailers have could give political strategists a glimpse into even gloomier consumer sentiment on a state-by-state basis, even potentially capturing some consumer sentiment in critical battleground states.
Last Thursday, Dollar General shares crashed the most on record after earnings underwhelmed for the second quarter, and the sales outlook for the full year was slashed on what management warned its core customers "https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dollar-general-shares-crash-after-earnings-miss-outlook-slashed-financially-constrained
."
About one week later, on Wednesday, Dollar Tree shares plunged after second-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations. The discount retailer also cut its full-year outlook, pointing to mounting financial pressures on middle-income and higher-income customers.
Dollar Tree Chief Financial Officer Jeff Davis wrote in a statement that the "https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/first-dollar-general-now-dollar-tree-shares-plunge-both-discount-retailers-warn-core
on the purchasing behavior of Dollar Tree's middle- and higher-income customers" was the main driver in reducing its full-year sales forecast.
Given that Dollar General and Dollar Tree have a combined footprint of over 36,000 stores, primarily centered in the eastern half of the US, the warnings from both management teams about faltering low/mid-tier customer bases provide political strategists with deeper insight into how consumers feel ahead of the elections this fall and what topics dominate at the dinner table. We suspect Biden-Harris' inflation storm is the most dominant topic as folks can barely afford discount retailer junk food.
A recent report from analytics firm Numerator prepared for Bussiness Insider noted about 40% of shoppers in the US buy from Dollar General. There was no data on Dollar Tree. What's very clear is that millions upon millions of Americans shop at both of these discount retailers. Suppose average ticket sizes are sliding for junk food, such as candy, chips, and sodas, basically a one-stop-shop for diabetes. In that case, the average shopper at these discount retailers is feeling the financially crushing effects of failed Bidneomics. This type of sentiment can impact elections and make 'inflation' a top concern when choosing their candidate.
Geographically, Dollar General stores are primarily centered in the eastern half of the US. Thousands of these stores are clustered in critical swing states in the region, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and some in Georgia.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-29_07-55-43_0.png?itok=ceF78kGW
Data from Statista shows swing state North Carolina has 1,035 Dollar General Stores, Pennsylvania has 914, and Michigan 696.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-09-05_13-41-59.png?itok=QvyExXih
For Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, most of the stores reside in the eastern half of the US. Again, given what management has said about its core customer base under pressure, the geographical locations of the stores can suggest a whole lot of gloom and doom for the working poor across critical swing states.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/DollarTree0319-1.png?itok=W9Og9coN
This gives us a much more true glimpse into souring consumer sentiment on a geographical basis, where inflation dominates household discussions ahead of the fall elections, especially in critical swing states.
Meanwhile, former President Trump has hammered VP Harris for igniting the inflation storm with President Biden. VP Harris offered communist price controls as a solution, but the entire nation was in disbelief. Folks realize they had it good under Trump's first term, and just awful under Biden-Harris.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 09/06/2024 - 18:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/thousands-dollar-general-dollar-tree-stores-clustered-swing-states-may-new-insights-voter

2024-09-06 22:25:57

Biden Steals Trump's Idea To Launch Sovereign Wealth Fund
Biden Steals Trump's Idea To Launch Sovereign Wealth Fund
Two days ago when president https://rollcall.com/2024/09/05/trump-floats-us-sovereign-wealth-fund-as-part-of-economic-pitch/
the idea of a sovereign wealth fund...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/sov%20wealth%20fund.jpg?itok=Qt6oPWDo
... hard-core Democrats and/or socialist billionaires balked at the idea, mocking it as wannabe Saudi Arabia.
So the republican nominee, a few hours ago, said he wants to take taxpayer money and put it in a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Who thinks it’s a good idea to give Donald Trump
taxpayer money to invest in businesses that he picks ?
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1831753245146149245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Trump, speaking to economic leaders on Thursday, said he envisioned the fund as a way to address persistent debt issues and said it would be funded through his plan to impose tariffs on all imports.
“We’ll be able to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs, advanced defense capabilities, cutting-edge medical research and help save billions of dollars in preventing disease in the first place,” Trump said. “And it is many of the people in this room who will be helping to advise and recommend investments for this fund.”
But expect all the leftist critics to positively love the idea now, just a few hours later, because late on Friday https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-06/biden-aides-working-on-proposal-for-us-sovereign-wealth-fund
reported that the Kamala/Biden admin has stolen yet another idea from Trump (after eliminating tax on tips, and stimulating new business creation): aides to Joe Biden "have been crafting a proposal to create a sovereign wealth fund" that would allow the US to invest in national security interests including technology, energy, and critical links in the supply chain, a person familiar with the effort, told Bloomberg.
As Bloomberg admits, the "behind-the-scenes work" by NSA Jake Sullivan and his deputy, Daleep Singh, mirrors - at least in spirit - a proposal floated Thursday by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who called for a government-owned investment fund to finance “great national endeavors” during a speech to the Economic Club of New York. Of course, it would look just a little suspicious if the admin of the president in absentia were to float a wealth fund idea just one day after Trump did the same, so Bloomberg had to make it seem that Biden had been working on their version of Trump's idea "for months" and that's precisely what it said:
Sullivan and Singh have been working on the project for months across a series of weekly brainstorming efforts, and have met with economic experts on the National Security Council to debate the size, structure, funding, leadership, and potential guardrails for a proposed fund.
It wasn't clear if it was the "sources" that clarified on the ongoing duration of the project, or just Bloomberg's attempt to make the latest policy theft appear a bit more organic. It gets funnier:
The work has progressed to the point where planning documents have been circulated among White House staffers and key agencies, according to the person familiar, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Sure it has: and Biden waited until 2 months before the end of his presidency to make the push... or rather waht push:
But even as the work has progressed, key details — including, critically, the fund’s structure, funding model, and investment strategy — remain unclear.
And so, just like every aspect in Kamala's policy agenda, we'll have to wait for Trump to reveal the details of his own plan before "sources" leak what Biden was working on before he decided to hit Rehoboth beach permanently after Nancy Pelosi's July putsch. One thing is certain though: whether it its Trump or the puppetmasters who control Kamala, a SWF - especially one of material size in the $1+ trillion range - will lead to another sharp spike in US debt, pushing US debt sharply higher from its latest record daily print just over $35.3 trillion, and making holders of non fiat assets richer as the US careens toward a monetary and fiscal solvency crisis.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 09/06/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/biden-steals-trumps-idea-launch-sovereign-wealth-fund

2024-09-04 11:45:00

Watch: Ukraine Unveils Terrifying Flamethrower Drone Which Spits Thermite
Watch: Ukraine Unveils Terrifying Flamethrower Drone Which Spits Thermite
Ukraine appears to have in its possession a new drone which spits fire. A viral battlefield video posted to the internet early this week shows the moment a Ukrainian 'flamethrowing drone' unleashed hot thermite on Russian defensive positions down below. Many commenters have compared it to a dragon upon viewing the clip.
A huge and terrifying flame rains down on a forested position, instantly catching bushes, shrubs, and trees on fire - presumably to flush out Russian soldiers reportedly using the location to conceal their location. The video was initially https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13806045/Moment-Ukraine-uses-terrifying-flesh-melting-flamethrower-drone-set-Russian-defences-fire-2-400C-incendiaries-bid-flush-Putins-soldiers-treeline-hiding.html
by the 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade to social media, and was captioned "Drakaris"—in reference to the dragons in the popular series "Game of Thrones".
Thermite, which is presumably what the UAV is shooting toward Russian positions, is a mix of iron oxide and magnesium, and is able to reach 2,400 Celsius. It can instantly set alight and melt almost anything in its path. Currently, https://x.com/RyanMcbeth/status/1830944451860275280
that "War accelerates innovation, and the Ukrainian conflict has transformed the use of drones as weapons in particular." Watch the 'fire-breathing' drone in action below:
Eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian drone drops molten thermite on a Russian-held treeline, setting it ablaze. https://t.co/LWKDj3NGpz
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1830564527592624170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 09/04/2024 - 07:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/watch-ukraine-unveils-terrifying-flame-thrower-drone-which-spits-thermite

2024-09-04 11:20:00

Risks Facing Bullish Investors As September Begins
Risks Facing Bullish Investors As September Begins
https://realinvestmentadvice.com/risks-facing-bullish-investors-as-september-begins/
Since the end of the “https://realinvestmentadvice.com/yen-carry-trade-blows-up-sparking-global-sell-off/
correction in August, bullish positioning has returned with a vengeance, yet two key risks face investors as September begins. While bullish positioning and optimism are ingredients for a rising market, there is more to this story.
It is true that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” meaning that as the market rises, investors begin to chase higher stock prices, leading to a virtual buying spiral. Such leads to an improvement in market breadth and participation, which supports further price increases. Following the August decline, the chart below shows the improvement in the NYSE advance-decline line and the number of stocks trading above their respective 50-day moving averages (DMA).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-107.jpg?itok=aPHTzHoA
Given thathttps://realinvestmentadvice.com/overbought-conditions-set-up-short-term-correction/
this data confirms that buyers are increasingly willing to pay higher prices to bring sellers to market. That cycle continues until buyers willing to pay higher prices decline. While prices are rising, we are seeing a dwindling of buyers at current prices, as shown in the chart of trading volume at various price levels. As shown, buyers currently “live lower” between 5440-5480 and the recent correctional lows.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-108_0.jpg?itok=2MWxOHAm
However, despite the diminishing pool of buyers at current levels, investors are becoming increasingly bullish as prices rise. As shown in our composite fear/greed gauge, based on “how investors are positioned” in the market, we are back to more “greed” based levels. While not at extreme levels, investors are becoming increasingly optimistic about higher future prices. Of course, such readings only confirm what market prices are already telling us.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Fear-Greed-Index-2-1.jpg?itok=Own4_9qs
However, two primary risks to the bullish advance are developing as we enter September.
Share Buyback Window Begins To Close
Over the next two months, a primary risk to bullish investors is removing a critical buyer in the market – corporations. For more on the importance of corporate share purchases on the financial markets, read the following:
https://realinvestmentadvice.com/40-of-the-bull-market-is-due-soley-to-buybacks/
https://realinvestmentadvice.com/stock-buybacks-arent-bad-just-misused-abused/
https://realinvestmentadvice.com/can-mega-capitalization-stocks-continue-their-dominance/
Those articles support that corporations have comprised roughly 100% of net equity purchases since 2000. In other words, the market would be trading closer to 3000 rather than 5600 without corporate share buybacks.
However, these share buybacks also pose risks to the market in the short-term as well. As Michael Lebowitz noted this morning:
“Like the meteorological seasons, share buybacks also follow predictable patterns. Accordingly, as shown below, we are past the peak share buyback season. Following the peak, share buybacks will decline rapidly until early November. Declining share buybacks is not a bearish indicator per se. However, as the number of buybacks declines, the market, specifically the stocks conducting buybacks, will have less demand for their stock. Think of share buybacks as a tailwind.
The pattern is predictable because it directly relates to corporate earnings reports. For three reasons, most companies ban share buybacks about a month before their quarterly earnings report.
Insider Trading Concerns—Employees have access to non-public information regarding their earnings. Therefore, the ban helps eliminate the perception that the company might be trading its stock on such information.
Investor Perception– Similarly, investors might be suspicious if the company was actively buying its stock right before the earnings announcements. If the investors were mimicking the company’s purchases, this could create heightened volatility in the stock.
Regulatory Concerns—While the SEC does not regulate share buybacks before earnings, most companies want to avoid an investigation if the SEC suspects those buying back the shares have inside information.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/buyback-seasons.jpg?itok=A7wcinaL
As shown on Thursday, September 5th, the window for buybacks will begin to close. Corporate buying support will be non-existent by the beginning of October and through the end of the month. In other words, the primary buyer of equities will not be available to bid prices.
If you don’t believe that share buybacks are as crucial as we state, the following chart should answer any questions.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-109.jpg?itok=2UTCIXoO
Unfortunately, removing that primary buyer will coincide with a secondary market risk.
Presidential Election Concerns
As we enter September and October, a secondary risk increases. Historically, these months have seen stock market declines, especially in years with a Presidential election. There are three primary reasons for this trend.
1. Uncertainty Surrounding Election Outcomes
Markets dislike uncertainty, and the outcome of a Presidential election is a significant unknown. Investors become cautious during election years, especially when the race is tight. They worry about potential policy changes impacting taxes, regulations, and government spending. That heightened uncertainty increases market volatility and often results in stock market declines as investors move to safer assets.
2. Policy Change Concerns
Depending on the election outcome, significant policy changes can occur. For instance, Harris and Trump have very different approaches to fiscal policy, regulation, and international trade this year. With the polls very tight, Wall Street may look to lock in gains before the election, fearing that new policies might negatively affect corporate profits via higher tax rates and, potentially, changes to capital gains rates.
3. Economic Data Releases
September and October are critical months for economic data releases, particularly since the Federal Reserve expects to cut rates in September. Key indicators from employment, inflation, and housing will potentially move markets over the next two months. Given the approaching election, the markets will scrutinize those releases closely as candidates try to leverage the data. Any negative surprises could result in a sharp pickup in volatility.
Conclusion
As we head into September, which already has a weak performance record, understanding these two risks can help investors navigate a potential pickup in volatility, particularly during election years.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%283%29_8.jpg?itok=wetn3icd
However, the timing of such a consolidation or correction is always tricky.
We suggest maintaining risk controls, taking profits as needed, rebalancing portfolios, and holding slightly higher cash levels.
While these actions won’t entirely shield portfolios from a near-term decline, they will buffer increased volatility, allowing for more rational and controlled portfolio management decisions.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 09/04/2024 - 07:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/risks-facing-bullish-investors-september-begins

2024-09-03 22:25:00

So Much For Sanctions: Russia Surpasses US For Gas Exports To EU
So Much For Sanctions: Russia Surpasses US For Gas Exports To EU
By Liz Heflin of https://rmx.news/article/so-much-for-sanctions-russia-surpasses-us-for-gas-exports-to-eu/
From April to June, the European Union bought more than 12.7 billion cubic meters from Russia and 12.3 billion cubic meters from the United States.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Putin-Gazprom.jpg?itok=OZtkMNxv
Director of the Russian Department of Economic Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry, Dmitri Birichevski, says Russia now supplies 15 percent of the total volume of natural gas imported by the European Union. This despite the EU’s REPowerEU instituted back in May 2022 to shift away from Russia and cut it off from its flow of energy profits.
Birichevski noted, in particular, the fact that France imported 4.4 billion cubic meters of liquid natural gas (LNG) in the first quarter of 2024, more than double the circa 2 billion it imported in 2023.
Norway is still in first place, having supplied the EU with 23.9 billion cubic meters in Q2. Prior to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia held the top spot.
The German government maintains it no longer imports any gas from Moscow. However, many member states clearly do.
In the face of renewed demands to end Russian imports and defund Putin’s war chest, the energy policy spokesman for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) suggested that the EU “pay a fixed amount of aid and arms supplies to Ukraine for every cubic meter of imported Russian gas.“
After Hungarian FM Szijjártó's meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, Hungary doubles down on Russian gas, saying it is not a matter of ideology but physics.
The government has repeatedly put families and households first when it comes to securing energy supply, and with the… https://t.co/iBL0Rl6J3p
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) https://twitter.com/RMXnews/status/1829523156358324736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The matter of Russian gas imports has been an ongoing saga, with reports of shipments from Russia being essentially laundered through other countries and pipelines to avoid being stamped as “Russian.”
This new data comes in the face of no less than 14 sanctions packages, including the latest one adopted in June, which specifically prohibits the transit of Russian LNG.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 09/03/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/so-much-sanctions-russia-surpasses-us-gas-exports-eu

2024-08-30 01:50:00

Which US Industries Spend The Most On Lobbying?
Which US Industries Spend The Most On Lobbying?
In the United States, companies, unions, trade associations, and other organizations invest billions of dollars each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies.
In 2023, over 12,000 different lobbyists in the U.S. spent a a record $4.3 billion on lobbying activities, according to Open Secrets, a non-profit research group tracking money in U.S. politics. This was up from $4.1 billion in 2022—and the highest annual total so far.
Organizations either hire lobbying firms or employ in-house lobbyists to meet with government officials, seeking to influence government decision-making.
In the following chart, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-which-u-s-industries-spend-the-most-on-lobbying/
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Top-Industries-by-Lobbying-Spend.jpg?itok=fE9o_D71
Which Industries Spent the Most On Lobbying?
The Pharmaceuticals and Health Products industry was the biggest industry spender in the U.S. in 2023, investing a total of $382.6 million towards lobbying.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-28_10-13-36.jpg?itok=WlPrE-kI
The two https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/summary?cycle=2023&id=H04
in the pharmaceuticals industry were the industry’s leading lobby group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and pharmacy benefit managers association Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.
In 2023, multiple https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1339
were introduced that would mandate pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), the intermediaries who negotiate prescription drug prices with manufacturers on behalf of clients, to disclose their business practices, including the fees they earn from transactions.
These bills were introduced in response to https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/pharmacy-benefit-managers-staff-report.pdf
that PBMs play a significant role in driving up prescription drug costs.
Other big spenders in the industry include https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/worlds-50-largest-pharmaceutical-companies/
Pfizer, Amgen, and Roche Holdings, who all spent over $11 million on lobbying last year.
Big Tech Companies Were Major Lobbyists
In the second-ranked Electronics and Manufacturing and Equipment industry, big tech companies like Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, IBM, and Intel were among the top spenders in the industry, ranging from $5.5 to $13 million in lobbying expenditures.
In 2023, Apple spent nearly $9.9 million to lobby against several https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/bills?cycle=2023&id=D000021754
big tech platforms like Amazon, Apple, and Google from giving preferential treatment to their own services in marketplaces they operate.
Apple https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/s2992/
that this bill could undermine user security and privacy by limiting its ability to control the app ecosystem.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/29/2024 - 21:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/which-us-industries-spend-most-lobbying

2024-08-30 00:35:00

You Had One Job: Kamala Blows Pre-Taped Interview Question With Walz Right Next To Her
You Had One Job: Kamala Blows Pre-Taped Interview Question With Walz Right Next To Her
Kamala Harris had one job - don't blow your first sit-down interview with the press. No word salad. No 'unburdened by what has been' mantra. Don't cackle to cover up for a lack of brain cells.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dead.JPG?itok=3gafRdbn
She couldn't even do that...
Sitting down with running mate Tim Walz for a pre-taped CNN interview set to air at 9PM Thursday, a preview clip reveals she's still an absolute moron.
Dana Bash (whose CIA ex-husband signed the Hunter Biden https://nypost.com/2022/08/29/msnbc-pundit-jeremy-bash-who-cast-doubt-on-hunter-bidens-laptop-tapped-for-wh-intelligence-board/
) tossed Harris what should have been a well-rehearsed softball; asking how voters should "look at some of the changes you've made."
"Is it because you have more experience now and you’ve learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?"
In other words; why shouldn't believe believe you're full of shit over your dramatic shift in positions towards moderate policies?
There are a million ways to answer that spoon-fed question, but Harris chose more word salad.
"I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed," she replied. "You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time."
Yes, deadlines around time.
I think I'm starting to understand why they don't let this woman do unscripted interviews with the media.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1829251578362245413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The reactions were classic...
An 18 minute interview with an emotional support Governor.....That's beyond pathetic! 🤦‍♂️🤣😅😎 https://t.co/lk2fXuqDL7
— Andre Nuta 🇺🇲 (@andre_nuta) https://twitter.com/andre_nuta/status/1829268759929901348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
So she's saying that her values haven't changed, just her policies now.
Kamala is a chameleon and a fraud.
— AmericanPapaBear (@AmericaPapaBear) https://twitter.com/AmericaPapaBear/status/1829268575242063922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Kamala Harris is her name and word salad is her game! https://t.co/CAQMCd5gN5
— ProudPatriotUS🇺🇲 (@PrPatriotUS) https://twitter.com/PrPatriotUS/status/1829267393811726752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Lmao, so that is their strategy?
"My policies are completely different but my values are the same"
🤡
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1829251738744041969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
At least the debate on the 10th should be entertaining, to say the least!
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/29/2024 - 20:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/you-had-one-job-kamala-blows-pre-taped-interview-walz-right-next-her

2024-08-29 22:05:00

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

2024-08-26 02:45:00

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln Shuts Down DEI Office, Eliminates $320k Vice Chancellor Position
University Of Nebraska-Lincoln Shuts Down DEI Office, Eliminates $320k Vice Chancellor Position
By Adam Sabes of https://www.campusreform.org/article/university-nebraska-lincoln-shuts-dei-office-eliminates-320k-vice-chancellor-position/26164
The https://www.campusreform.org/nebraska
has closed its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office and eliminated its vice chancellor position.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/DEI%20teaser%202.jpg?itok=Wp-wVXyb
In an email, UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett said to the campus community on Tuesday that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion will be closing, according to the https://columbustelegram.com/news/state-regional/education/unl-to-close-office-of-diversity-and-inclusion-as-part-of-reorganization/article_4f510b37-31c6-516c-bf51-df0f621b0abf.html
.
The change also means the university’s vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion position, held by Marco Barker, will be eliminated come December. Including benefits, Barker’s salary is almost $320,000.
$750,000 will also go back into the university’s overall budget, which was previously allocated for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
”I fully grasp the weight of this decision and its implications,” Bennett wrote, adding that “a centralized approach to this work is no longer right for our institution.”
Bennett told the Lincoln Journal-Star that a recent trend of establishing DEI offices at colleges and universities has “shifted.”
”I think during that period, perhaps, a goal was met and those offices have served the campuses well,” Bennett said.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s five employees can apply for other positions across the university.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/25/2024 - 22:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/university-nebraska-lincoln-shuts-down-dei-office-eliminates-320k-vice-chancellor

2024-08-24 21:30:00

Beheaded During BLM Riots, Washington Monument At GWU Vandalized By Pro-Palestinian Protesters
Beheaded During BLM Riots, Washington Monument At GWU Vandalized By Pro-Palestinian Protesters
https://www.thecollegefix.com/beheaded-during-blm-riots-washington-bust-at-gwu-now-hit-with-anti-israel-graffiti
One bust of President George Washington inside the nation’s capitol just can’t catch a break.
The monument at George Washington University was https://www.thecollegefix.com/george-washington-university-takes-three-weeks-to-acknowledge-beheading-of-its-namesakes-statue/
during the height of the Black Lives Matter riots in June 2020.
The university finally https://www.thecollegefix.com/washington-is-back-gwu-replaces-lopped-off-presidents-bust/
by the summer of 2022.
Now the private institution is going to have to send its custodial crew back out there.
On Wednesday the monument was hit with graffiti stating “disclose divest now” in red spray paint. It was one of several places peppered with such vandalism, according to images posted by pro-Palestinian social media accounts.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-24_11-09-52.jpg?itok=6h1xu56q
The vandalism came as the pro-Palestinian protesters kicked off the first day of school with aggressive protests — this despite the fact that GWU https://www.israelnationalnews.com/en/news/394965
both Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace for the fall semester in an attempt to rein in the chaos.
“Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside University President Ellen Granberg’s on-campus house and the barricades surrounding University Yard on the first day of the fall semester to underscore ongoing demands that GW discloses its finances and divests from Israel,” the GW Hatchet student newspaper https://gwhatchet.com/2024/08/23/pro-palestinian-protesters-march-to-f-street-house-u-yard-on-first-day-of-class/
.
The demonstrators also tried to get back into the fenced-off GW University Yard: “Police are on the scene, but students seem adamant. This was the location of their encampment, ‘Shohada Square,'” https://x.com/thestustustudio/status/1826801524644933915
citizen journalist Stu Studio.
BREAKING: George Washington University student protesters and DMV SJP are trying to get back into the fenced-off GW University Yard. Police are on the scene, but students seem adamant. This was the location of their encampment, "Shohada Square."
Your move https://twitter.com/GWtweets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Stu (@thestustustudio) https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1826801524644933915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Student Coalition for Palestine at GWU https://www.instagram.com/p/C-87VwDx3gM/?hl=en&img_index=1
on Instagram on Thursday about the vandalism:
Last night, autonomous protestors sent a message to Provost Christopher Alan Bracey at his home, spray painting the message amplified and repeated by students, faculty, and the people of this city onto Bracey’s very own driveway: “DISCLOSE DIVEST NOW!” During the encampment earlier this spring, Provost Bracey himself violently assaulted two students. A statue of George Washington on campus was also branded with the same demand.
Let this be a message to Bracey and every administrator at this University. We will never falter from our demands. This administration has the blood of 186,000 Palestinians on their hands. The burn of pepper spray, the bruises of police brutality, and the mark of handcuffs and zipties on our comrades are forever seared into our memory and consciousness. Your crimes will follow you wherever you go. You will be confronted in your events, in your offices, at your homes. Every step you take we will be there to hold you accountable.
This week’s uproar at GWU comes a few months after a pro-Palestinian GWU student tribunal called for campus leaders to be https://www.thecollegefix.com/pro-palestinian-gwu-student-tribunal-calls-for-campus-leaders-to-be-beheaded-on-guillotines/
on guillotines. Protests got so bad in the spring semester GWU administrators called on help from the metro police.
A https://www.thecollegefix.com/pro-palestinian-gwu-student-tribunal-calls-for-campus-leaders-to-be-beheaded-on-guillotines/
from University President Ellen Granberg stated at the time that all of the university’s efforts to end the encampment and deter protesters from escalation failed.
Granberg’s memo stated in part that “when protesters overrun barriers established to protect the community, vandalize a university statue and flag, surround and intimidate GW students with antisemitic images and hateful rhetoric, chase people out of a public yard based on their perceived beliefs, and ignore, degrade, and push GW Police Officers and university maintenance staff, the protest ceases to be peaceful or productive. All of these things have happened at GW in the last five days.”
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/24/george-washington-monument-vandalized-by-pro-palestinian-protesters/
, the continued vandalism on our campus is often defended as free speech. It is not.
As he discussed in his book “https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom
.
As students return, protests are again ramping up around our campus and other schools.
As for George, the monument will have to be, again, restored. It is all being heralded as “a message to Bracey and every administrator at this University.”
The question is whether officials will be equally clear and consistent in their own message that threats, property damage, and other offenses will not be tolerated on our campuses.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/24/2024 - 17:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/beheaded-during-blm-riots-washington-monument-gwu-vandalized-pro-palestinian-protesters

2024-08-24 20:20:00

Illegal Immigration Lull At Southwest Border Likely Temporary; Experts Say
Illegal Immigration Lull At Southwest Border Likely Temporary; Experts Say
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/experts-illegal-immigration-lull-at-southwest-border-likely-temporary-5705584?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
The number of immigrants illegally entering the United States is down at least temporarily because of deals cut with the United States’ southern neighbors and other measures, according to experts, but the crisis is far from over.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2891%29_2.jpg?itok=JFk472Wk
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters
showed 205,000 illegal immigrant encounters in June, slightly lower than the 208,000 in June of 2021 after President Joe Biden took office.
The Biden administration has taken credit for the recent drop, attributing it to new asylum rules limiting the number of people allowed to cross illegally into the country and through the CBP One app, which enables migrants to make appointments with Border Patrol to enter the United States.
Other factors limiting the number of illegal migrants crossing the border include deals with Mexico and Panama.
In December 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, seeking help with decreasing illegal immigration.
This summer, the Biden administration promised to help pay for Panama’s efforts to repatriate hundreds of thousands of migrants headed to the United States via the Darien Gap, one of the most treacherous migration routes.
Biden’s efforts came after millions of people from more than 150 countries crossed the U.S. southern border illegally last year, drawing intense media attention with the 2024 election on the horizon.
Even with help from southern neighbors and a new executive order in place, illegal immigrant encounters stand at 2.4 million through June so far this fiscal year—likely to outpace the 2022 total of 2.8 million.
Last year, a record 3.2 million illegal immigrants entered the United States. More than 10 million migrants have crossed into the country unlawfully since Biden reversed Trump administration policies such as “Remain in Mexico,” under which asylum seekers waited until their asylum claim could be heard.
The arrangement between the Biden administration and Mexico triggered a crackdown on migrants headed to the U.S. southern border. Mexican officials have rounded up tens of thousands of migrants, busing them to the southern cities of Villahermosa and Tapachula.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2892%29_2.jpg?itok=WRsbO3BJ
Honduran girl Dareli Matamoros holds a sign asking President Joe Biden to let her in during a migrant demonstration at San Ysidro crossing port in Tijuana, Mexico, on March 2, 2021. Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images
Some U.S.-bound migrants in Mexico reported being sent back to southern Mexico as many as six times, causing them to run out of money and become stuck at least temporarily.
That’s significant, because the CPB One app currently doesn’t work south of Mexico City, meaning migrants must start their journey all over again or remain stranded in southern Mexico.
The Biden administration https://www.cbp.gov/about/mobile-apps-directory/cbpone
that the app will begin to work throughout Mexico, including in the southern region, on Aug. 23, which is likely to increase traffic again.
The app allows migrants on their way to illegally cross the U.S. southern border to set up an appointment with border patrol at ports of entry. The immigrants are processed at ports of entry in Arizona, Texas, and California and released into the country to await asylum hearings.
The House Committee on Homeland Security, after reviewing https://homeland.house.gov/2023/10/23/new-documents-obtained-by-homeland-majority-detail-shocking-abuse-of-cbp-one-app/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSecretary%20Mayorkas%20has%20utterly%20abused,zero%20claim%20to%20be%20admitted.
provided by DHS, contend that the CBP One app is being abused, because almost 96 percent of noncitizens using it are unlawfully released into the country.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2893%29_2.jpg?itok=6s-zX8wh
Panamanian President-elect José Raúl Mulino visits the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blancas, in the jungle province of Darién, Panama, on June 28, 2024. Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images
Many illegal immigrants’ asylum claims are ultimately rejected because they came for economic reasons, instead of fearing persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
In 2021, one https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/667/
by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse showed that less than 30 percent of illegal immigrants who applied for asylum qualified for it.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/paxton-sues-biden-administration-over-their-illegal-use-mobile-phone-app-bring-countless-illegal
the Biden administration in 2023 over the CBP One app, claiming that the administration used rulemaking to circumvent immigration laws made by Congress.
“Federal law makes clear that those entering the country illegally should be expelled from the United States, except in very rare circumstances,“ Paxton said in a statement.
”However, the Biden border app does not and cannot verify that an illegal immigrant would qualify for an exception, which would prevent them from being deported.”
Todd Bensman is the senior national security fellow at the conservative Center for Immigration Studies think tank, and he spoke to The Epoch Times on Aug. 13 from Panama, where he assessed the number of migrants coming through the Darien Gap.
Traffic was down substantially, he said, but some migrants he spoke with on the Colombia side of the jungle passage seemed to be in a holding pattern, waiting to see whether others were making it through.
“There’s a lull right now for sure, a decisive lull in Darien,” he said.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2894%29_2.jpg?itok=S1cMuXcn
Fabiola Suarez from Venezuela rests at Bajo Chiquito in the Darien Gap after a 3-day trek from Colombia on Feb. 18, 2024. She said her destination is Denver, where her husband is waiting. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
Venezuelans, who make up the most significant number of migrants trekking through the dangerous route into Panama, may be waiting to see what happens in the wake of their country’s contested presidential election, he said.
President Nicolás Maduro has refused to step down after the opposition party running against the de facto dictator claimed victory in the July 28 election. The United States has refused to recognize Maduro’s claim that he won.
Maduro’s forces have rounded up more than 2,000 dissidents who demonstrated or cast doubt on his having won a third term despite evidence showing that he lost by more than two to one.
Bensman predicted that traffic would stay low for the next couple of months as migrants weigh the situation.
“The migrants are definitely nervous about what the Panamanians said out loud that they were going to do and the fact that some barbed wire went up on some of the trails,” he said.
“But I think that’s temporary because the Panamanians are really kind of still letting everybody in.”
Bensman said Panama is deporting about 50 to 100 migrants with criminal records out of the country each week by plane.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2895%29_1.jpg?itok=WaDefj_m
A Venezuelan family treks from Bajo Chiquito to Lajas Blancas on Feb. 18, 2024. The woman, who was limping as she walked, said her knee gave out. Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times
Panamanian officials who spoke with him said American personnel aren’t helping with the operation, he added. And the Biden administration has yet to provide funds to pay for repatriation flights for immigrants as promised.
Mayorkas, who attended Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino’s July 1 inauguration, signed a memorandum of understanding to provide financial assistance to Panama for illegal immigrant repatriation flights out of the country.
Bensman said he believes Mexico’s actions of rounding up migrants near the U.S. border and busing them back south has made the most difference in the number of migrants attempting to illegally cross the United States’ southwest border.
Meanwhile, immigrants from https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/dhs-puts-migrant-parole-program-on-hold-amid-alleged-fraud-in-application-process-5699040
(CHNV) have been quietly flown into the United States under a Biden administration mass parole program that was recently suspended over fraud concerns.
Up to 30,000 CHNV nationals https://www.uscis.gov/CHNV#:~:text=If%20necessary%2C%20you%20can%20file,for%20Form%20I%2D765%20instead.&text=The%20U.S.%20government%20may%20grant,Haitians%2C%20Nicaraguans%2C%20and%20Venezuelans.
were allowed into the United States under the administration’s use of parole, enabling most to stay up to two years and receive work permits.
The illegal immigrants needed a sponsor and to purchase their own airplane tickets to qualify for the program.
Miami received the bulk of flights of those entering under mass parole, according to CBP https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters
.
Border Patrol numbers filtered for those CHNV nationalities arriving at the Miami airport for fiscal year 2023 through June 2024 total almost 335,000, with all interior ports totaling more than half a million, according to CBP statistics.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2896%29_2.jpg?itok=priGWkW8
Mexican federal military troops check the identification of people on the bank of the Rio Grande across from the United States, in Piedras Negras Mexico, on April 21, 2022. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times
The pause in the CHNV program came after an internal report by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services found fraudulent information in thousands of application forms filed by sponsors. The Federation for American Immigration Reform https://www.fairus.org/news/executive/internal-homeland-security-report-proves-biden-harris-mayorkas-chnv-parole-program
the report.
Internal government documents showed that the same Social Security numbers, addresses, and phone numbers were used hundreds of times in some cases. Also, 100,948 forms were filled out by 3,218 serial sponsors, meaning sponsors whose numbers appeared on 20 or more forms.
Documents showed that 24 of the 1,000 most used sponsor Social Security numbers belonged to people who were deceased. Also, 100 physical addresses were used between 124 and 739 times on more than 19,000 forms.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) called mass parole an “unlawful” program that obscured the problem of an overrun border.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/24/2024 - 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/illegal-immigration-lull-southwest-border-likely-temporary-experts-say

2024-08-23 17:55:00

Watch Live: RFK Jr Addresses The Nation
Watch Live: RFK Jr Addresses The Nation
The 2024 presidential election race is about to take its next unexpected turn.
In minutes, Robert Kennedy Jr. is expected to suspend his presidential race, and if the rumors are true, he will endorse Donald Trump in a stunning rebuke to the party that is inexorably linked to the legacy of his father and his uncle, brothers Jack and Bobby Kennedy.
Watch Live (due to start at 2pmET)
https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/23/rfk-endorsing-donald-trump-the-next-unexpected-twist/
to keep the train going.
It wasn’t enough to reach office but it got his foot in the door after RFK Jr. was shunned by Democrat Party insiders in their initial effort to prop up husk of a president, Joe Biden.
Now they are stuck with Biden’s insurance policy, Kamala Harris.
It terrified the Dems to have RFK Jr. in the running, https://www.foxnews.com/video/6360736360112
. And to dampen his impact on the Harris-Walz ticket, after trying to deny him ballot access and remove RFK Jr. from the state ballots he made his way to, Democrats will now attempt to keep him on ballots to hurt Trump.
Such hypocrites.
He’s an environmental attorney, about as Lefty Democrat as you can get! He was expected to capitulate, kiss the crown, and get in line with everyone else. Instead, he went rogue. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/09/politics/kennedy-independent-campaign/index.html
.
In exchange for his potential endorsement, what can Trump promise?
A cabinet post? Being named director of the FBI to clean up that mess? Or ironically, heading up the CIA? Maybe after six decades, we’ll find out exactly what was the role of the agency in assassinating his uncle and if it had any role in his own father’s assassination.
He’s now rumored to be ready to endorse Trump and is expected to announce his campaign suspension in Phoenix, where https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-to-rally-at-same-glendale-arena-where-kamala-harris-drew-thousands/ar-AA1pcIOI
. Coincidence? Unlikely.
If this happens, it will take much of the post-DNC momentum away from Harris-Walz and focus attention on the PR value of RFK Jr.’s endorsement.
Imagine the son of RFK and the nephew of JFK, endorsing a Republican candidate for the presidency, Donald Trump no less.
It will be a net positive gain for Trump, although not much and only for so long. But it could make all the difference in a race that’s expected to be tight in the all-important swing states—especially Pennsylvania.
Right now, in their post-DNC euphoria, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/20/kamala-harris-dnc-challenges-00174859
.
Don’t be fooled by their misplaced optimism. It’s an illusion even when presented by seasoned political analysts like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPqiXFixNcg
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/rfk-jr-kicked-off-bad-news-kamal.jpg?itok=MyM4GONp
Where Things Stand in the Swing States
https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/23/rfk-endorsing-donald-trump-the-next-unexpected-twist/
From west to east, let’s look at the latest polling, factoring in the impact of the potential Kennedy endorsement factored in, considering how the polls misread the 2016 and 2020 results. Remember that if Trump wins the states he did in 2020 and adds Georgia and Pennsylvania, he’s at the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the 47th president of the United States. We are also factoring in Harris’s surge in polling in the wake of her anointment after Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. The latest polling and anecdotal analysis indicate that the surge is fading and that the Harris-Walz ticket, especially in the wake of Walz misstating (the way the mainstream media is couching his lies) his personal story. On Thursday afternoon on her podcast, Megyn Kelly ripped Walz apologist Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) a new one in a very https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwIgwGrTnSM
. That damage on the stolen valor issue has yet to be fully baked into the electoral cake.
(Response bias and Democrat oversampling in many of the polls—most specifically the New York Times/Sienna poll—over the last month radically shifted the polls after Biden ended his campaign.)
We should note that Harris is lagging behind Biden’s polling at this point in 2020 with Black, Latino, and blue-collar voters in all of the crucial swing states.
Nevada: In recent election cycles, Nevada is trending right. With its large hospitality industry voter base in Las Vegas, Trump got out in front of Democrats with his no taxes on tips policy position. It was such a positive move, that it was quickly copied by Harris. But hospitality segment workers are smart enough to realize that Trump is the better choice to look out for their interests. Taking into consideration Trump’s increasing appeal to the state’s Hispanic community along with rural Nevada’s traditional right leanings, Trump could potentially win the state by as much as five percent, especially when the way past polls have consistently underestimated Trump in both 2016 and 2020 even though he lost Nevada in both previous races.
Arizona: Arizona was one state that massively benefited from the move from Biden to Harris. Before the swap, Trump was comfortably leading Biden but that gap closed with Harris actually leading in some polls. But things have swung back in the opposite direction. Factor in RFK Jr.’s withdrawal in a tight race and it appears to shift the advantage back to Trump. What can be important in Arizona is that with the shift back to Trump, can he carry Kari Lake across the finish line? She is currently losing to Democrat Rubin Gallego by up to five percent in most polls. Immigration is indirectly on the ballot in Arizona and, as Election Day approaches, should benefit both Trump and Lake. As with other tight races, just 20 or 30 thousand net votes moving from RFK Jr. to Trump could easily deliver Arizona back to the GOP.
Wisconsin: Harris is currently up by 1 percent in Wisconsin according to the latest Rasmussen polling, which over the last two election cycles has been the most accurate. But several other polls show Trump outperforming his 2020 results. And this is another state where polls in both 2016 and 2020 underestimated Trump’s support. The polling is likely underestimating his support this year as well and if that turns out to be the case, Trump is probably leading by 3 to 4 percent. Democrats will continue trying to keep Harris’s unpopular far-left positions cloaked, much as they did in 2020 with Biden. But it is unlikely that the strategy will work this time. Expect Harris’s numbers to plummet after Labor Day, especially following the first—and currently only confirmed—debate on September 10 in Philadelphia, hosted by the Harris-friendly ABC network. Notably, Democratic shill George Stephanopoulos will not be moderating. Harris’s policies on the border and the economy are likely to face intense scrutiny.
Michigan: Of the six swing states, Michigan is the least favorable for Trump but with its large Muslim population in the Detroit area, Michigan is trending away from the Democrats and Harris knows it. She will try her best to tack away from Biden’s unpopular support for Israel but it’s going to be very difficult to do. This only got worse with Democrat leadership’s decision to not offer Palestinian Americans any speaking slot at the DNC. We don’t think this important voting block will vote for Trump but they can show their displeasure by staying away from the polls in November. In a tight race, that could swing the state to Trump. Also, with its very heavy blue-collar auto workers constituency, Trump’s stance on electric vehicles could prove to be a deciding factor even without RFK Jr.’s endorsement. (More than any other state, in Michigan Harris-Walz is caught between a rock and a hard place on the Israel-Palestinian Gaza conflict. Democrats have alienated both sides.)
Georgia: In a state where Trump lost by 0.2 percent in 2020, even factoring in the state’s large Black population, it appears that Harris is not moving the needle. Trump is very strong in the rural areas and is improving in the Atlanta suburbs he lost in 2020 after winning them in 2016. We expect that Georgia will flip back in 2024, especially if Trump continues to improve his numbers with Black men. Previously, Trump shot himself in the foot with his previous ill-advised attacks on popular Governor Brian Kemp (who is supporting Trump). But yesterday Trump and Kemp settled their differences dating back to the 2020 election with Kemp issuing a full-throated endorsement of Trump. Trump currently enjoys a two percent lead in the polling aggregates and with Kemp’s endorsement its 16 EC votes should go to Trump. We think that with Kemp’s endorsement—who defeated Stacey Abrams for Governor twice and has a powerful statewide machine—Georgia’s is now off the table for Harris-Walz. Look for Trump to win Georgia by four points or more.
Pennsylvania: It’s been our observation since Biden stepped down with Harris taking his place, by selecting Tim Walz instead of Josh Shapiro as her running mate, she’s made a huge mistake with national implications. Those implications? Jewish voters in other crucial swing states will view the snub of Shapiro in a very negative way. It seems that Democrats think they can win the Keystone State without him being her running mate. Pennsylvania has been trending to the right with Republicans enjoying a big edge in new voter registrations. This is one state where RFK’s exit from the race should benefit Trump. In the multi-candidate polls, RFK was taking more votes from Trump than Harris. Depending on which poll you follow, the state is anywhere from +1 for Harris to +4 for Trump. With RFK Jr. just dropping out (and not endorsing Trump), it looks like Pennsylvania’s 19 EC votes will go to Trump giving him the election.
(With an RFK Jr. endorsement combined with Glenn Youngkin’s popularity, is Virginia now a swing state that Trump can flip? This bears watching between now and the first debate in September.)
The RFK Jr. campaign probably peeled off more Dems than Republicans, so this endorsement is going to piss off the Dems in a higher proportion to the votes they will lose. They realize the mistake they made by https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/22/politics/democrats-legal-challenges-rfk-jr-ballot/index.html
.
If anything, it will be entertaining to see left-on-left infighting. Dems will not take this endorsement lying down; they will trot out Kennedy’s “weirdness” (seems to be more projection than usual coming from them) and maybe tout his betrayal of the Kennedy legacy as if anyone under 60 even remembers. The left hates defectors from the plantation, no matter what legacy a defector’s surname might suggest.
The 2024 race has been the wildest in modern American history and it’s not even Labor Day yet. And what will be this cycle’s October Surprise? In this crazy year, we predict it’s going to be Biden’s resignation after the one scheduled debate so Harris can run as the official incumbent. Could that swing the final result back to Harris? We shall see. Buckle up, it’s only going to get crazier over the next 70 days.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 - 13:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-rfk-jr-addresses-nation

2024-08-22 21:40:00

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 18:35:00

'No Israeli Withdrawal, No Ceasefire Deal': Hamas
'No Israeli Withdrawal, No Ceasefire Deal': Hamas
https://thecradle.co/articles/no-israeli-withdrawal-no-ceasefire-deal-hamas
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement https://sarabic.ae/20240822/%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%84%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-1091984825.html
on Thursday, confirming they will reject any agreement that does not include an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The joint statement was issued following a meeting between PIJ Secretary-General Ziad Nakhala and Hamas Shura Council head Mohammad Darwish in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
The statement stressed the "necessity of stopping the aggression and war to which the Palestinian people are being subjected and punishing the leaders of the occupation for the crimes they are committing against humanity."
"The position of the resistance and the Palestinian people on achieving any agreement is a comprehensive cessation of aggression, a complete withdrawal from the Strip, the start of reconstruction, and the end of the siege with a serious exchange deal," the joint statement added.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/hamasspox.jpg?itok=YqesZUgB
It also held "the occupation leaders responsible for aborting the efforts undertaken by the mediators through their insistence on continuing the aggression and denying what was done in previous stages, especially the proposal approved by the movement [Hamas] on 2 July."
Additionally, the Hamas and PIJ statement renewed the call for the immediate delivery of sufficient amounts of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, warning of the "consequences of the continued collective punishment" by Israel.
The statement comes as a new round of ceasefire https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-bridge-too-far-blinkens-desperate-bid-for-a-hostage-ceasefire-deal/
– unattended by Hamas – are expected to kick off in the coming days. The meetings were initially scheduled for Wednesday in the Egyptian capital but were delayed to an unspecified date.
"The high-level Cairo meeting regarding the negotiations will be held on Saturday or Sunday. The negotiating team is working around the clock to bridge the gap, including the Philadelphia file with Egypt," an Israeli official told Yedioth Ahronoth on Thursday.
Wednesday's Biden-Netanyahu phone call included the US President issuing the same repeat call for achieving a quick ceasefire, but with little other substance...
🇺🇸 🇮🇱 President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu by phone last night about the threat presented by Iran and its proxy forces, and about the necessity for a ceasefire in Gaza.https://t.co/vhKiuBLo0x
— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) https://twitter.com/FaytuksNetwork/status/1826607345235099658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Hamas has rejected a newhttps://thecradle.co/articles/hamas-calls-out-us-bridging-proposal-for-gaza-ceasefire-not-what-we-agreed-to
l – which Washington says Israel has agreed to – for failing to address the group’s demands for a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and several other issues.
It is unclear precisely what is in the new proposal. A https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26478
Al-Sharq on August 20 that the proposal does not include an Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, as Hamas’ terms stipulate. Netanyahu himself confirmed on the same date that Israel would refuse any withdrawal from the Gaza–Egypt border.
The source also said the proposal demands a screening mechanism to inspect displaced Gazans who would return to the northern strip as part of an agreement – one of the many Israeli conditions complicating recent negotiations.
Some pundits have pointed out that the US President could bring real pressure to bear on the situation if he wanted to...
I wrote in the Guardian about how Reagan with a single phone call made Begin end his Beirut offensive in 1982 in 20 mins. It turns out Carter did the same 4 years earlier, with the threat to cut off military aid.
Joe Biden could be doing so much *if* he wanted to stop Netanyahu. https://t.co/O4fjt70hPt
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1804024009899806729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It also does not guarantee a permanent ceasefire. The US proposal states that "a permanent ceasefire will be discussed in the second phase within a specific limit, and if Hamas does not agree to the Israeli demands, the army will return to the war and carry out its military operations," according to the source.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 14:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-israeli-withdrawal-no-ceasefire-deal-hamas

2024-08-22 18:15:00

Ukrainian Missile Sets Fuel-Laden Ferry On Fire At Key Russian Port
Ukrainian Missile Sets Fuel-Laden Ferry On Fire At Key Russian Port
A large fire has been spotted raging in southern Russia's Krasnodar region on the Black Sea, following reports that a Ukrainian missile struck a railway ferry transporting fuel tanks.
"The Kyiv regime carried out another terrorist attack on the territory of the Krasnodar region," Russian authorities https://t.me/opershtab23/8425
on social media. "A railway ferry carrying fuel tanks to Port Kavkaz was hit."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/krasnodar.jpg?itok=rtZ2AoVm
Smoke and fire could be seen for miles issuing forth from Port Kavkaz, which is one of Russia's largest, as it sits at a rail and ferry hub connecting Russia with the Crimean peninsula.
Port Kavkaz is also a major oil terminal, and for that reason along with being a central logistics hub has come under somewhat frequent missile and drone attack throughout the war.
"Moments ago, a Ukrainian Navy Neptune cruise missile successfully struck a Russian ferry carrying fuel tankers in the Kavkaz port, near Kerch," a war monitor https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/1826636525272269025
on X. "A series of explosions have ripped through the port area."
Video showing the initial moments after missile impact:
https://t.co/uYtX4cCydG
The first moments following the impact, captured from nearby. https://t.co/0MHYuqAZRM
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1826638275786014858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Another war monitor, https://x.com/clashreport/status/1826633151940297215
, has detailed that the missile hit the Russian ferry "Conro Trader" with fuel tanks aboard in the port of Kavkaz.
At the moment of impact the ferry went up in flames, with the explosion reaching several stories high, videos of the attack show.
Ukraine has been desperate to change the battlefield narrative given it is still steadily losing ground in the Donbass. It is seeking to do this by launching frequent attacks on Russian territory and sensitive locations.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/conrdtrder.jpg?itok=8nkY2iLe
A fresh CNN report meanwhile confirms that Ukraine forces are on the retreat from eastern front lines:
"The enemy is advancing faster than expected," Tretiak said in a radio interview on Tuesday. "So we are trying to do as much as possible to evacuate people by the end of the week."
While Pokrovsk is not a major city – about 60,000 people lived there before the war and many have left since the start of the full-scale invasion – it serves as a key hub for the Ukrainian military thanks to its easy access to Kostiantynivka, another military center.
🇷🇺🇺🇦 As a result of the hit, the ferry sank in the waters of the port of Kavkaz, the operational headquarters of Kuban reported.
It is also reported that there are no fires on the territory of the port itself.
3/ https://t.co/jUAK61PdeV
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1826653867024736398?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The attacks on key Russian energy facilities, ports, and even airfields have become an almost daily occurrence at this point. Kiev is hoping that it will force Moscow to pull manpower from the frontlines, but that doesn't appear to have occurred on any large scale just yet.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 14:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukrainian-missile-sets-fuel-laden-ferry-fire-russian-black-sea-port

2024-08-22 14:35:00

Gullible CNN 'Journalist' Dragged For Fact Checking JD Vance Joke About Tim Walz
Gullible CNN 'Journalist' Dragged For Fact Checking JD Vance Joke About Tim Walz
https://modernity.news/2024/08/22/cnn-journalist-dragged-for-fact-checking-jd-vances-joke-about-tim-walz/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cnn-journalist-dragged-for-fact-checking-jd-vances-joke-about-tim-walz
,
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Vance_80%281%29.jpg?itok=d5ROkhlT
Earlier this week, JD Vance cracked a joke about Democrats holding their convention in Chicago so that Tim Walz would be able to say he’s been in a war zone.
JD VANCE: They held the convention in Chicago so that Tim Walz could accurately say that he’s been in a war zone. https://t.co/nLRNV7dBDx
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1825948205567369552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Hilariously, a CNN reporter took the comment at face value and ‘fact checked’ it as wrong.
Vance in WI says his "little theory" about why Democrats chose to host their convention in Chicago is "so that [Walz] could actually, accurately say that he went, he visited a combat zone"
Democrats selected Chicago in April 2023 — long before Biden even considered dropping out
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) https://twitter.com/alaynatreene/status/1825967232515547266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
She did a journalism.
The journos are so dumb and broken they’re now fact-checking obvious jokes. https://t.co/QiR34h3vkD
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1826267346056651167?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Hard hitting research.
When you fact check a joke... it makes your entire "journalism" career the joke.
It also makes CNN the joke.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) https://twitter.com/TimRunsHisMouth/status/1826292809076265106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Who’s gonna tell her?
It was a joke. A funny one.
— NotYourJewishMom (@CaffMomREDACTED) https://twitter.com/CaffMomREDACTED/status/1825967649811214635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As we previously highlighted, even CNN admitted that there is no evidence to back up the notion that Walz ever saw combat, despite his misleading assertions.
Walz’s claims that he was deployed in support of the military operation in Afghanistan, and the fact that he skipped out of deployment to Iraq, led U.S. military veterans to post images of themselves on combat duty in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other theatres of war, captioning the pictures “Me not being Tim Walz.
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
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 10:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/gullible-cnn-journalist-dragged-fact-checking-jd-vance-joke-about-tim-walz

2024-08-22 13:45:00

Tech Tycoon Mike Lynch Confirmed Dead After Tornado Capsized Superyacht
Tech Tycoon Mike Lynch Confirmed Dead After Tornado Capsized Superyacht
The Italian Coast Guard has confirmed the recovery of the bodies of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Christopher Morvillo, and his wife Neda Morvillo from the wreckage of the Bayesian superyacht, https://news.sky.com/story/superyacht-sinks-latest-mike-lynch-bayesian-sicily-skynews-live-13199663
reported. The yacht was hit by a tornado and capsized early Monday.
AFP News and https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/two-bodies-still-missing-mike-lynchs-sunken-yacht-sicily-2024-08-22/
have also reported that Lynch's body had been recovered from the wreckage. Authorities are continuing the search for Lynch's 18-year-old daughter.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GVj8nlAXYAAf1eH.jpg?itok=hD1VBaMr
All five bodies (names noted above) were recovered from the sunken superyacht on Wednesday.
'He was an inspiring figure for many.'
Mike Lynch's legacy "should be celebrated", says his friend, Brent Hoberman, following his death.
Mr Lynch has been named as one of five victims recovered from the sunken superyacht.https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
📺 Sky 501 https://t.co/TRqcIlGrMm
— Sky News (@SkyNews) https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1826539999132631488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sky News spoke with Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, Bayesian's shipbuilder, who said the superyacht's design and construction were flawless. He said the superyacht Lynch was on was "unsinkable."
He suggested human error was likely responsible for the sinking: "The ship sank because it took on water. From where? Investigators will have to say."
On Tuesday, the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa posted footage of the https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/days-apart-british-tech-titan-missing-after-yacht-hit-tornado-co-defendant-killed-car-crash
, or as some say, a waterspout or tornado.
Naufragio del Bayesian, al vaglio le telecamere di case e negozi. In un video il veliero che affonda: “Scomparso in 60 secondi” https://t.co/IiyXDAfiOo
— La Stampa (@LaStampa) https://twitter.com/LaStampa/status/1825916476739694725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Climatologist Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society, told https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mike-lynch-yacht-body-bayesian-dead-sicily-b2600053.html
that waters around the superyacht were 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) at the time of the incident. He said, "This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms."
Lynch, once described as 'Britain's Bill Gates,' spent much of his time defending his name in court against fraud allegations stemming from the 2011 sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. In early June, a federal court jury in San Francisco found Lynch not guilty following an 11-week criminal trial.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 09:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tech-tycoon-mike-lynch-confirmed-dead-after-tornado-capsized-superyacht

2024-08-22 12:25:00

New Footage Shows Trump Shooter Casually Strolling Around PA Rally
New Footage Shows Trump Shooter Casually Strolling Around PA Rally
https://modernity.news/2024/08/22/new-footage-shows-trump-shooter-casually-strolling-around-pa-rally
New footage has emerged of failed Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks walking around merch stalls at the Butler rally before he attempted to kill the Republican nominee.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Crooks-1.jpg?itok=ymfHu7Kf
Crooks is seen walking by vendors dressed in the same grey t-shirt, shorts and sneakers he was later seen in while taking aim at Trump on the sloped rooftop.
The footage was https://www.tiktok.com/@ironcladusa/video/7394850830802816298
to TikTok by a user called IronCladUSA, with the caption “Terrifying moment…looking back at my videos from the PA Butler Trump rally on 7/13/24. We were there just trying to sell our patriotic hats from my small business.”
“Captured a video of Thomas Matthew Crooks…just before the assassination attempt occurred,” the caption notes, adding “interesting he was wearing shorts instead of pants, which he later had on, and he has no bags with him at this moment.”
Here is the footage:
Appears to be new footage of sniper Thomas Matthew Crooks at the Butler rally before shooting President Trump https://t.co/srmgVv81qr
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1825675545960440013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And here is Crooks after he was neutralised. He was still wearing the same shorts, not pants as the caption on the new footage suggested:
Here’s him after https://t.co/V9GAr0Pnd2
— j.UAP (@JDFloridaSun) https://twitter.com/JDFloridaSun/status/1825680584858804685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As we previously highlighted, Crooks was captured on video running along the rooftop, but somehow evading Secret Service snipers.
Local police were the ones who spotted Crooks minutes before the assassination attempt as he jumped between the rooftops preparing to get in position to kill Trump.
Police were unable to alert Secret Service because they were not communicating on the same radio frequency.
As we also highlighted earlier this week, a leading watchdog group says the FBI is hiding records relating to its coordination with the Secret Service for the rally.
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Thu, 08/22/2024 - 08:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-footage-shows-trump-shooter-casually-strolling-around-pa-rally

2024-08-22 06:00:00

Taxpayer-Funded Posters In London Proclaim "Hey Straight White Men Pass The Power!"
Taxpayer-Funded Posters In London Proclaim "Hey Straight White Men Pass The Power!"
https://modernity.news/2024/08/21/taxpayer-funded-posters-in-london-proclaim-hey-straight-white-men-pass-the-power
A taxpayer-funded group is once again putting up posters around London that say, “Hey Straight White Men Pass The Power!”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/210824poster.jpg?itok=dpoLaaXF
Yes, really.
The posters, which originally appeared in Southwark, London and other areas of the UK in 2022, appear to have popped up once again, with an image posted to X showing one in Acton, London.
Billboards saying "Hey straight white men, pass the power!" are appearing all over London, just to make sure you know it's not happening and it's a good thing that it is. https://t.co/BMZFUKJqRg
— RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) https://twitter.com/Babygravy9/status/1825889829814431758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
They are the work of an art project called the Artichoke Trust and were designed by a black artist from Marseille called Nadina who previously produced ‘street art’ that proclaimed, ‘Never forget George Floyd’ and ‘Nobody is free until Palestine is free’.
“Research from the Taxpayers’ Alliance claimed (the group) had been given £3million from a government art grant,” reported the https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11084863/Anger-taxpayer-funded-charity-erects-Hey-Straight-White-Men-Pass-Power-billboards.html
.
Respondents questioned precisely what ‘power’ straight white men were supposed to give up in a society where they are already disenfranchised to the extent that large, partially government-funded billboards in major cities scream at them for merely existing.
“Hey straight white men, pass the power!”
Anti-White billboards seen across Britain were tax-funded.
Complete absurdity. https://t.co/s0vuUXM5oi
— iamyesyouareno (@iamyesyouareno) https://twitter.com/iamyesyouareno/status/1823977076598190339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When the posters initially appeared two years ago, they drew the ire of author Douglas Murray, who asked who exactly white people were supposed to ‘pass the power’ to.
“When I see such a piece of public insult, a number of things cross my otherwise tranquil mind. The first is a desire to put a foot through the billboard in question,” https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-should-straight-white-men-pass-the-power-2/
Murray.
“The second is to wonder whether Southwark council, the Mayor of London or anyone else would permit any similarly bigoted public messages if they happened to turn it round the other way. ‘Oy, black blokes. Give us your rights!’, for example. Or: ‘Hey, gays, hand over the cash!’ Those billboards would most likely be hate crimes, and the mayor of London, Southwark council, the General Synod and everyone else would immediately be out to condemn them as such. But when it comes to not just insulting straight white men, but actually hectoring them, then it seems no one can be bothered to raise a whisper of objection.”
Once you see it… https://t.co/u9Gh6jdFiH
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) https://twitter.com/willchamberlain/status/1825904438134952001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Respondents on X compared the posters to anti-mass migration stickers that were handed out by activist Sam Melia, who ended up https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-68448867
a 2 year prison sentence for “inciting racial hatred.”
The stickers handed out by Melia included one that said, “It’s OK to be white.”
How bad are hate speech laws in the UK? Saying "it's OK to be white" can result in a harsher sentence than child pornography. https://twitter.com/abigailandwords?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
found numerous cases in which UK judges jailed thought criminals while letting actual criminals off the hook.
The list is shocking.🧵 https://t.co/ell2A5hjdi
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) https://twitter.com/aaronsibarium/status/1825977695361994875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
So apparently, merely affirming that it’s acceptable to be white is a criminal offence, but demanding white men give up their (illusory) power is a social justice cause to be celebrated and funded with taxpayer money.
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/22/2024 - 02:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taxpayer-funded-posters-london-proclaim-hey-straight-white-men-pass-power

2024-08-21 23:40:09

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

2024-08-21 21:40:00

'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 13:25:00

Justice Department Steps In For Trump In George Floyd Protests Case
Justice Department Steps In For Trump In George Floyd Protests Case
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/justice-department-steps-in-for-trump-in-george-floyd-protests-case-5709173?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
The Justice Department has intervened for former President Donald Trump, asking a federal court in Washington to dismiss a civil complaint brought over a clash between protestors and police that took place in the city following George Floyd’s death.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%2885%29_2.jpg?itok=xteXjnm1
Black Lives Matter D.C. and others brought the original lawsuit in June 2020, just days after police used crowd control tactics in Lafayette Square before Trump was set to appear at a nearby church.
The https://courtlistener.com/docket/17224294/black-lives-matter-dc-v-trump/?page=1
has seen court filings for years, with a group of plaintiffs filing an amended complaint in April this year.
On Aug. 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice that it was substituting itself for Trump because he was acting within the scope of his office that day.
Its decision was based on the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).
In its notice, the DOJ said the law “provides that upon certification by the attorney general that a federal employee was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the plaintiff’s claim arose, any civil action or proceeding commenced upon such a claim and arising under state law shall be deemed an action against the United States, and the United States shall be substituted as the defendant with respect to those claims.”
James G. Touhey, who leads the torts branch of DOJ’s civil division, certified that Trump “was an employee of the government acting in the scope of office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the plaintiffs’ claims arose.”
The https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.218706/gov.uscourts.dcd.218706.208.0_1.pdf
had named Trump in his individual capacity and requested damages. It alleged Trump was liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, battery, and negligence in purported violation of a district law surrounding free speech.
A separate motion to dismiss, also filed on Aug. 19, argued that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ claims because they failed to exhaust administrative remedies.
It added that the plaintiffs had failed to show that their claims fell within the limited waiver of sovereign immunity offered by the FTCA.
The complaint alleged that the agencies involved with the suit had failed to respond within a https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/2675
specified under the FTCA.
“Plaintiffs have therefore exhausted their administrative remedies under the FTCA,” the complaint read.
The DOJ’s actions came against the backdrop of broader controversy about Trump’s immunity and the federal government’s involvement in his legal battles.
Special Counsel Jack Smith prompted a legal battle that ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court establishing a landmark precedent on presidential immunity in July.
That case focused on criminal liability, but presidents have long enjoyed broad immunity from civil liability for actions that fall within the outer perimeter of their official duties.
In 2023, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit https://apnews.com/article/trump-jan-6-capitol-police-congress-immunity-d18d0c6369837c725578cf6e13c18883
the former president could not avoid civil liability in a suit from injured Capitol Police officers.
In that case, DOJ attorneys told the court that a president would not be protected by “absolute immunity” if his words were found to have been an “incitement of imminent private violence.”
Trump has denied wrongdoing associated with the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021, and his attorneys said he didn’t intend to spark violence.
The DOJ had supported Trump in the lawsuit between him and writer E. Jean Carroll but reversed it in 2023.
In a July 11 https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/r2hGat9ZWnH4/v0
to attorneys for Trump and Carroll, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said the DOJ could no longer conclude the former president was acting in his capacity as president when he made the allegedly defamatory statements about Carroll.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 09:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/justice-department-steps-trump-george-floyd-protests-case

2024-08-21 07:30:00

"Legal But Harmful" - Keir Starmer's Authoritarian Slippery Slope Crackdown On Dissent
"Legal But Harmful" - Keir Starmer's Authoritarian Slippery Slope Crackdown On Dissent
https://mises.org/power-market/keir-starmers-crackdown-dissent
It’s not unfair to say that the current unrest and rioting in the UK has been accompanied by a lot of inaccurate information. As with any event, everyone should be aware that it becomes a lot easier to spread false information and have people believe it. Tensions are boiling over and emotions are running amok, and it does not take a genius to understand why you should be more wary of misinformation when emotion is in the driver’s seat.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/keir-starmer-flag-union-labour.jpg?itok=rbFTZKp1
Unfortunately, the #1 rule of government is to never let an emergency go to waste. The relationship between emergencies and the state is a symbiotic relationship. Supposed “emergencies” almost always lead to the growth of government and a creeping infringement on natural rights. Take the current events in the UK—the riots accompany a crackdown on an individual’s right to say what they wish on their property, free from punishment by the government or anyone else.
During the riots, misinformation has been used manipulatively, amid extremely volatile emotions, by people for their own ends. This has been very public, with the most prominent example being the claim that the Southport stabber was a Muslim named Ali Al-Shakati. This was entirely false, but it spread all over social media and angered the people that were looking for a reason to be violent.
The public nature of the misinformation, combined with the emergencies caused by the riots, has allowed the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, to threaten social media platforms, https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/pm-starmer-warns-social-media-firms-after-southport-misinformation-fuels-uk-2024-08-01/
:
Let me also say to large social media companies, and those who run them, violent disorder clearly whipped up online: that is also a crime. It’s happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere.
In the spirit of an assault on our natural right to free speech, Starmer announced that his government would be re-examining existing legislation related to regulation of social media, even threatening to bring back proposed legislation that was abandoned in 2022 due to its open assault on free speech. Starmer’s government has https://www.ft.com/content/d026a8d1-26d1-494d-83dc-5ff0204388e8
measures that would remove “legal but harmful” content. At least Cicero had a somewhat clear political philosophy before he violated all his beliefs about the universality of law. Starmer has yet to flesh out his actual political philosophy but followed Cicero down the path of violating individual rights.
In 2012, Keir Starmer was the director of public prosecutions and he was for reforming a clause of the Public Order act that made insults a criminal offense, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2245990/Keir-Starmer-QC-Backs-free-speech-saying-OK-offend-people.html
:
The clear problem of the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such. Criticism, ridicule, sarcasm, merely stating an alternative point of view to the orthodoxy, can be interpreted as insult.
Many people who are ardent believers in two-tier policing may post a statement along the lines of, “Keir Starmer, you are a Muslim-sympathizer, and you just don’t care about the communities outside of the Islamic community.” Is this an insult or an incitement of hatred?
It could be both, but Starmer’s lack of thought concerning basic political philosophy and ethics means that he can feel comfortable holding both positions, completely unaware that his actions are nonsensical and entirely inconsistent.
Your right to say what you want, post what you want, express the feelings that come from the deepest reaches of your being, does not come from the state, a document, or a politician. It comes from the undeniable fact that you are your own being—you own yourself and only you can exert any action you wish over the many appendages of your body. Only you can produce the thoughts that constitute reason from your brain. No one else is able to take control of your brain and make you think a certain way. Proponents of restrictions on man’s ability to reason through the tool of speech should admit that they do not believe they own themselves since that is the logical conclusion of their position. Admit that you do not own yourself and we can discuss the immense political power that comes from that logic. You will soon realize just how dangerous this position is to yourself, those you love, and everyone else under which your position is enforced.
Free speech does have consequences, but those do not and can never involve the violation of the immutable fact that you own your body. You cannot sentence someone to any criminal offense due to what they say. They have not violated anyone else’s right to property, which includes your body, thus, it is manifestly immoral to use the heavy iron hand of the state to punish them for it.
If you disagree or dislike what another person says, then challenge that view, converse and debate to come to the truth, and spread it as far as you can. Unfortunately, many prominent political commentators and politicians feel the need to say that your natural right to your ability to reason is, in fact, not absolute, but qualified.
The political figures should consider why there are so many people with “ghastly” views. Members of the establishment ponder why their arguments are not taken seriously, and mistakenly come to the conclusion that it must be due to the volatile state of human nature—some people are just idiotic plebs to them. The lack of self-awareness is breathtaking. The establishment spends decades lying to the public, manipulating emotions, and lambasting them for their lying eyes. After a lot of what our lying eyes have told us becomes true years later, not even one of these figures will admit their error. Perhaps this is why so many have views they despise enough to wish them arrested.
You should listen to those you oppose so you can better understand their worldview and get a measure of how much thought they have put into their positions. In this spirit, there have been some interesting takes on free speech.
Keir Starmer’s government is suggesting removing “legal but harmful” speech. What is harmful? Hypothetically, if I state that the chancellor of the exchequer is a dull and bland orator who inspires very little confidence in anything and does not show any sign of truly understanding economics, is that harmful?
The chancellor may very well claim that her feelings have been hurt, that her reputation has been damaged, and thereby the great institution that is the treasury has been brought into disrepute, causing her ability to operate to be restricted by widely-perceived incompetence. If you have an establishment worldview, you probably believe that’s harmful. If I post it, should it be removed? The subjectivity implies inconsistent application of the law to target opinions that are uncouth. Think of the politician that you find the most duplicitous and hate the most, would you trust them with these powers? Remember, your guys won’t be in power forever.
Another take I’ve seen is https://x.com/JMPSimor/status/1822223675996700848
from a fairly prominent KC in the UK.
She attempts to justify the crackdown on free speech by suggesting that because the British parliament is adopting it, not the government, that this is an expression of “the will of people.” It is critical to make readers aware that this justification shows how shallow her thought process is. She has put zero thought into how this justifies the worst possible attacks on an individual’s natural rights since, per her own logic, if the parliament adopts the legislation, then that’s democracy in action and, therefore, justified. There is nothing in her own logic that theoretically would prevent parliament from adopting legislation that takes away your right to have a trial that is based on only the available evidence, then this is justified as its “the will of the people.”
She would probably oppose this, but if follows the same reasoning she uses to justify the restriction of speech.
We can add these events to the very long list of cases where governments exploit emergencies to expand their powers. Natural rights are inherent to every human being. Free speech plays a vital role to express why a society that wants to remain free should fight against forces that seek to diminish it. Those who argue that free speech is not absolute should think about this. Every dictatorship in the history of man started by suppressing speech because they knew that it helped shape their narrative and shut out opposing opinions from the mainstream. History is not binary, nations are not either fully free or totally authoritarian. Are you willing to take the risk of unleashing a power that could be dispensed by those you vehemently dislike? Man is fallible and politicians certainly aren’t altruistic, they all have their own agendas, so is there not an incentive to use this power to push their narrative? Questions to truly ponder and discuss before taking the leap.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 03:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/legal-harmful-keir-starmers-authoritarian-slippery-slope-crackdown-dissent

2024-08-20 23:40:00

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.
🔥 40% off FOR LIFE: Use https://quoththeraven.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=fa90a2a2
and get 40% off an annual subscription, good for as long as you wish to remain a subscriber.
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

2024-08-20 12:25:00

Plot Thickens? British Tech Titan's Co-Defendant Killed In Car Crash, Days Before Yacht 'Hit By Tornado'
Plot Thickens? British Tech Titan's Co-Defendant Killed In Car Crash, Days Before Yacht 'Hit By Tornado'
An unexpected violent storm, which some EU media outlets described as a 'tornado,' sank the British-flagged superyacht "Bayesian" early Monday morning off the coast of Sicily. Local authorities confirmed one dead, and six people are missing, including https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/british-tech-titan-mike-lynch-missing-after-superyacht-sinks-sicily
and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer. Bayesian was carrying 22 people during what appears to be a 'weather-related' incident.
Superyacht BAYESIAN sank off Palermo after a tornado hit early this morning. 15 rescued, 6 missing, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch.
MarineTraffic data shows its last signal received via AIS at 2:06 UTC before sinking.
Read more on the story: https://t.co/WOL75loP7I
— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) https://twitter.com/MarineTraffic/status/1825548907721723982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Let's take a step back because the plot thickens here. Just days before the Bayesian sank to the ocean floor, off the coast of Porticello - a small fishing village nestled between Palermo and Cefalu on Sicily's western shore - Lynch's co-defendant in the US Autonomy-Hewlett-Packard fraud trial was struck and killed by a car while out for a run near his home in England on Saturday.
https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/2024-08-20_08-16-19.png?itok=Hw1bquLv
Here's more from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mike-lynch-stephen-chamberlain-car-accident-yacht-trial-b2598779.html
:
Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy's former vice president of finance, who worked alongside chief executive Mr Lynch, was killed after being hit by a vehicle while out running on Saturday, his lawyer, Gary Lincenberg said.
...
In a statement, Mr Lincenberg said: "Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.
"He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him. Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family."
Chamberlain faced similar fraud and conspiracy charges as his former boss, Lynch, for allegedly conspiring to inflate their company Autonomy before it was sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.
On June 6, a federal court jury in San Francisco found Lynch and Chamberlain not guilty following an 11-week criminal trial.
According to the Pew Research Center analysis, only 0.4% of federal criminal cases in 2022 ended in acquittal, which means the two executives were extremely lucky with the positive outcome.
However, not so much in the last several days, with Chamberlain killed by a vehicle while on a jog and Lynch missing after a tornado hit the superyacht he was on.
Also on the vessel was Bloomer from Morgan Stanley, who has been confirmed missing by Italian authorities.
Here's more from Bloomberg about Bloomer...
Bloomer, 70, has worked in the finance industry for five decades. He's been chairman of Morgan Stanley's European business since 2018, and was named to lead British insurer Hiscox Ltd.'s board last year. He is a friend of Lynch and was a witness for the defense in the long-running legal battle with Hewlett Packard.
The real mystery is how Lynch and Chamberlain went from being the luckiest men—acquitted in a federal criminal fraud case—to the unlikeliest in separate, unexpected incidents just days apart.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/20/2024 - 08:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/days-apart-british-tech-titan-missing-after-yacht-hit-tornado-co-defendant-killed-car-crash

2024-08-20 00:30:00

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 21:20:00

Local Cop, Not Secret Service, Shot Trump Rally Shooter First
Local Cop, Not Secret Service, Shot Trump Rally Shooter First
The first shot to hit Thomas Crooks, the man who sprayed eight shots at a Butler, Pennsylvania Trump rally on July 13 - hitting Trump in the ear and killing an attendee - came from a local SWAT operator who was about 100 yards away from the building on which Crooks was positioned, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) https://clayhiggins.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Preliminary-Investigative-Report-8.12.24.pdf
in a preliminary investigative report.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2896%29_0.jpg?itok=cyTbvqW4
When the SWAT officer saw Crooks moving around the rooftop, he quickly left his post and sprinted towards the man, "running to a clear shot position directly into the line of fire while Crooks was firing," said Higgins.
"He stopped Crooks and importantly, I believe the shot damaged the buffer tube on Crooks’ AR," Higgins added later, citing eyewitness testimony.
Shooting the buffer tube may have disabled Crooks' rifle.
The next shot which killed Crooks came from a US Secret Service counter-sniper, according to Higgins.
As the https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/local-officer-shot-trump-rally-shooter-first-knocking-him-down-investigation-finds-5708022
notes further, Higgins, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives task force, traveled to Butler County to recreate how Crooks climbed onto the roof and assess what happened.
He said he was assisted in the investigation by local officials, including the Butler County Emergency Services Unit tactical team commander and a top official with the Butler County District Attorney’s office.
Higgins said that among the theories he probed was whether there was another shooter on top of a water tower overlooking the fairgrounds.
“There are videos on the internet showing a dark figure or a shadow on the water tower on J13. If there had been someone on that tower on J13, it would have to have been some top-shelf operator way beyond anything I’ve ever actually seen,” Higgins wrote. “Regular SWAT operators or snipers would not have the skills and gear to quickly overcome the first 25 feet of no ladder and then climb the remaining 75 feet to the catwalk, and then climb the quite intimidating and precarious dome vent access ladder.”
Higgins said he did not think it was possible for a second shooter to have been on top of the tower and that he did not see any evidence supporting the theory. He also stated that all 10 shots heard that day were accounted for, with eight coming from Crooks, one from a local SWAT officer, and one from the Secret Service.
Higgins said he plans on climbing to the top of the tower in the future as he continues to investigate the shooting.
“As I have said, every question will be answered, every theory explored, and every doubt erased. The American people deserve the full truth on the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Higgins said in a statement. “Our investigative efforts are moving forward in good faith. The release of my preliminary investigative report is reflective of my desire to deliver transparency and reassurance to the American people.”
Higgins sent his findings to Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), the chairman of the House task force.
The task force was created to issue subpoenas and take other steps to look into the shooting. It was given a deadline of Dec. 13 to produce a final report.
Kelly and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the top Democrat on the committee, recently asked top federal officials, including U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, for documents and information related to the attempted assassination. Lawmakers have not yet disclosed what information they’ve received.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/19/2024 - 17:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/local-cop-not-secret-service-shot-trump-rally-shooter-first

2024-08-19 12:50:00

Ukraine Destroys 3rd Bridge In Russia's Kursk, Zelensky Stresses He'll Keep Territory
Ukraine Destroys 3rd Bridge In Russia's Kursk, Zelensky Stresses He'll Keep Territory
Following the Friday destruction of the strategic bridge in the Russian town Glushkovo, which lies in Kursk oblast, and the taking out of another bridge across the River Seym on Saturday, Ukraine has attacked and damaged a third bridge in the same region, Moscow has confirmed.
Russia’s Investigative Committee on Monday announced that https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/19/ukraine-hits-second-key-bridge-as-continues-incursion-into-russias-kursk
located along the River Seym, which winds through the Kursk region, was destroyed in a Ukrainian attack.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/thirdbridge.jpg?itok=8i5x-0-I
Ukraine's military has said that the targeted attacks are intended to disrupt Russian supply lines and make Russian troop and armory movement much more difficult.
"Minus one more bridge," Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram while publishing footage of the attack.
"The Air Force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precision air strikes," Oleshchuk said further.
In follow-up to this Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined his stated aims in detail:
"It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory," he said in his evening address.
He also explained how the hundreds of Russian troops captured in Kursk since the brazen cross-border operation began on Aug.6 will be used to bolster the countries "exchange fund" - a reference to the ability to get Ukrainians back through prisoner swaps.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/second%20bridge.jpg?itok=R2EJ4I5A
RT has noted that "Russian President Vladimir Putin stated last month that the number of POWs held by both sides is five to one in Russia’s favor," but now "Ukraine claims to have taken dozens of Russian border guards prisoner during the first phase of its Kursk offensive."
Ukrainian officials have of late talked about prioritizing the return of those "who defended Azovstal" in future prisoner exchanges, many of which were made of the infamous Azov Battalion, which is well-known to have neo-Nazis in its ranks.
There are widespread reports that Ukraine has utilized US-supplied munitions, including the HIMARS system (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-destroys-key-bridge-kursk-region-using-us-supplied-himars
) to strike some of these bridges. The below video is from the third bridge to be blown up.
JDAM strike on a Bridge near Zvanne, Kursk.
Single hit.
I remember seeing multiple attempts on the Bridges near Kherson when the AFU was preparing to retake the city.
Ukraine’s proficiency with precision munitions has become very accomplished over the last year. https://t.co/2A9gNRhKWV
— 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐯™ (@Shavghan) https://twitter.com/Shavghan/status/1825272173235228682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Though impossible to confirm, Ukraine is now claiming to have seized 440 square miles of Russian territory. It also says the Kursk operation has been able to divert Moscow's attention from the front lines in Donbass, though the degree to which infantry troops have had to be pulled and relocated to Russia's southern oblasts for defense remains uncertain.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/19/2024 - 08:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-destroys-3rd-bridge-russias-kursk-zelensky-stresses-hell-keep-territory

2024-08-19 12:30:00

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

2024-08-18 23:15:00

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 22:05:00

IDF Expands Gaza Operations As Blinken Arrives For 9th Visit To Israel
IDF Expands Gaza Operations As Blinken Arrives For 9th Visit To Israel
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Israel on Sunday for his ninth visit since Oct.7 as part of an ongoing effort to achieve ceasefire in Gaza, and to gain the release of the hostages.
He's expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 11 a.m. tomorrow (local time), alongside which there will be meetings with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Foreign Minister Israel Katz and President Isaac Herzog.
The Biden administration has constantly claimed to be "at the goal line" of achieving a truce deal, a refrain heard for months, but with still nothing official to show.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/blinkenplane.jpg?itok=LSVOYr7W
Both warring sides have blamed the other. Hamas has long insisted on a full Israeli military withdrawal as a condition for releasing the hostages.
But Netanyahu has countered that he will not order troops out of Gaza until Hamas as an organization is destroyed and fully eradicated. Some of his own generals, however, have argued that this will be impossible and an protracted, or even endless insurgency will result.
The latest words of Netanyahu reveal he won't budge despite international and https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-august-18-2024/
:
Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel is sticking to its demands in ongoing hostage talks, positions that he says are in line with the proposal laid out by the White House in May.
“We are conducting very complex negotiations,” he says, “while on the other side stands a murderous, uninhibited, and obstinate terrorist organization.”
“But I want to emphasize,” the premier continues, “we are conducting negotiations [“give-and-take” in Hebrew], and not give-and-give. There are areas where we can show flexibility, and there are area where we can’t show flexibility — and we are standing firm on them. We know quite well how to distinguish between the two.”
For whatever 'optimism' comes out of Doha, and for whatever 'carrots' the US hopes to use to entice both sides to at least agree to a pause in fighting, Blinken's ninth trip appears yet another diplomatic exercise in futility.
The US still hasn't hesitated to approve https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-approves-20bn-weapons-sales-israel-wider-war-looms
for Israel of late. So in the end Tel Aviv clearly has little to fear from White House 'pressure'.
"I'm bored, so I shoot." Israeli soldiers describe near-total absence of firing regulations in Gaza, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze & leaving corpses on the streets - all with their commanders' permission | https://twitter.com/972mag?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1825161022170165508?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
At the same time US progressives and also conservative anti-war activists have long pointed out that the White House's condemnation of the unfolding humanitarian disaster, which US-supplied bombs are having an outsized role in, is all for show and mere public relations damage control.
And likely that's what Blinken's latest trip to the region is all about. There will be much high-ideal rhetoric and little substance. And the war and escalation will continue. Meanwhile a Times of Israel Sunday top https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-august-18-2024/
: IDF expanding operations in southern, central Gaza... even as Blinken is in country.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 18:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/idf-expands-gaza-operations-blinken-arrives-9th-visit-israel

2024-08-18 20:20:00

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
.
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 18:00:00

WHO Raises Outbreak Alarm As Once Eradicated Polio Returns To Gaza
WHO Raises Outbreak Alarm As Once Eradicated Polio Returns To Gaza
https://www.commondreams.org/news/polio-in-gaza
Following over a month of warnings, Gaza recorded its first case of polio since the highly contagious virus was eradicated there 25 years ago, prompting a Friday call by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for a temporary truce to enable a vaccination drive in the embattled strip.
The Gaza Health Ministry https://www.facebook.com/mohps/posts/pfbid0xroNaDya4LhncrxcXFNpTWv8g8EVMjZmw89BrhQmPrGHpRzdsGe2yVzp1tq4tiG3l?rdid=Ai3zqL9Ah3AjlSNU
Friday that an 10-month-old infant in the central city of Deir al-Balah "who has not received any polio vaccine dose" has tested positive for the virus, which often causes paralysis and can be fatal. The ministry said the baby is one of "a number of children" who have presented with symptoms consistent with polio in recent days.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/gazawastewater.jpg?itok=l37LLYDX
"The continued brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has caused a health disaster as witnessed by international organizations," the ministry added, citing "the lack of basic hygiene needs, the lack of sanitation services, the accumulation of waste on the streets and around the shelters of the displaced, and the lack of safe drinking water" as factors that "have created a conducive environment for outbreaks."
Responding to the news, Guterres implored Israeli and Palestinian forces to lay down their arms so that U.N. humanitarian aid workers can launch a campaign to vaccinate half a million Gazan children.
"I am appealing to all parties to provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses for the campaign," he https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/press-encounter/2024-08-16/secretary-generals-press-encounter-polio-gaza-scroll-down-for-arabic-version?_gl=1*1wgwlw4*_ga*MTk3MzkzNDMyNi4xNjg2NzYxMzQ2*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTcyMzkwOTI3NS4xMTUuMS4xNzIzOTExODAwLjAuMC4w*_ga_S5EKZKSB78*MTcyMzkwOTI3NC43Mi4xLjE3MjM5MTM0NDEuNjAuMC4w
at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
"Let's be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian cease-fire," Guterres stressed. "But in any case, a polio pause is a must."
The U.N. World Health Organization and other groups https://www.commondreams.org/news/polio-gaza
the entire strip a "polio epidemic zone."
Guterres said Friday that Gaza's health, water, and sanitation systems "have been decimated" by Israeli attacks, which have destroyed or damaged most hospitals and primary care facilities and created fertile ground for the spread of disease.
As Leslie Roberts https://www.science.org/content/article/virus-causes-polio-has-been-found-gaza-here-s-why-grim-news
for Science:
The poliovirus is transmitted through the "fecal-oral" route—by contact with the feces of an infected child or consumption of water or food contaminated by fecal matter. The conditions in which the 1.9 million displaced Gazans are living—crammed into unhygienic camps with little access to clean water and sanitation and untreated sewage flowing openly between tents—create an ideal environment for the virus to thrive.
Since the war began in October 2023, 70% of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza have been significantly damaged, and about 340,000 tons of solid waste have accumulated in or near populated areas, according to an estimate from the U.N. Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Cluster. In June, Oxfam estimated there is just one toilet for every 4,130 people in Al-Mawasi, a supposed "safe zone" west of Khan Younis that recently came under Israeli attack.
In addition to polio, Israel's assault on Gaza and its disruption of medical supplies have fueled the spread of other preventable diseases including measles and hepatitis A.
A delegation from the UN finally made it into North Gaza. The video footage from the car shows a harrowing level of destruction. https://t.co/wDRljMh8MR
— AHMED | أحمد (@ASE) https://twitter.com/ASE/status/1824907269395390662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"We know how an effective polio vaccination campaign must be administered," Guterres said. "Given the wholesale devastation in Gaza, at least 95% vaccination coverage will be needed during each round of the two-round campaign to prevent polio's spread and reduce its emergence."
The Gaza Health Ministry said that it has been working with the U.N. and other international organizations "over the past weeks on developing an integrated comprehensive plan for the implementation of an expanded polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip," and that it will "carry out a vaccination campaign in the next few days targeting children under the age of 10."
Children, who make up around half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people, have been https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-children
dozens of Palestinian children.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 1.1 million doses of a two-dose, orally administered type 2 polio vaccine have been provided by the United Nations Children's Fund, with another 400,000 doses on the way. UNICEF said it "is coordinating delivery efforts and the cold chain equipment needed for storage."
Medical teams from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for https://www.commondreams.org/tag/palestine
around 200 of its workers—said they are ready to administer the polio vaccines and assist in their distribution.
The Gaza Health Ministry renewed its "appeal to the international community and the international health organizations to speed up intervention to immediately stop the barbaric Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, work to prepare the ground conditions in order to rescue what can be salvaged, and provide immediate healthcare services to... our people."
As the poliovirus is now circulating in Gaza, the https://twitter.com/UN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
is poised to launch a vaccine campaign for more than 640,000 children.
It's impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign amid a raging war.
Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio in Gaza is peace and an… https://t.co/gle5FZDzTt
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1824534694983290885?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The agency also made an "urgent appeal" for "the necessity of immediate action to rebuild safe drinking water and sanitation systems, dispose of medical and solid waste, work on importing fuel to pump clean fresh water, and allow unconditional entry of medical supplies, medicines, and special materials used for personal hygiene."
Guterres underscored the need to "defeat a vicious virus that, left unchecked, would have a disastrous effect not only for Palestinian children in Gaza, but also in neighboring countries and the region."
"Polio does not care about dividing lines, and polio does not wait," he said. "Polio goes beyond politics. It transcends all divisions. And so it is our shared obligation to come together. To mobilize—not to fight people, but to fight polio." However, he stressed, "it is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over."
"A successful polio vaccination campaign needs safety," Guterres added. "Safety for health workers to do their jobs. Safety for children and families to get to the health facilities. And safety for those health facilities to be protected from bombardment."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 14:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-raises-outbreak-alarm-once-eradicate-polio-returns-gaza

2024-08-18 17:25:00

Belarus Says Ukraine Amassing Troops At Border; Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Suffers Drone Attack
Belarus Says Ukraine Amassing Troops At Border; Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Suffers Drone Attack
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned Sunday that Ukraine is also amassing troops on Belarus' border amid the ongoing incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast. Lukashenko alleged that Kiev has positioned more than 120,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus and this is being deemed an act of 'aggression' by military authorities. But it is curious where Ukraine got the manpower for this, if accurate.
State-run BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying, "Seeing their aggressive policy, we have introduced there and placed in certain points – in case of war, they would be defense – our military along the entire border."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/lukash.jpg?itok=liR_P8Vo
Thus he made it clear that Belarusian forces could counter-attack into Ukraine if Minsk observes any Ukrainian incursion on its sovereign territory.
These extreme border tensions are nothing new, given Belarus has long been a logistics hub and staging ground for Russia's Ukraine operations; however, the whole Kursk shock cross-border operation has certainly upped the ante.
While these constitute serious threats from Lukashenko, it is as yet unclear how many regular army troops have been sent to bolster the state security services' some 12,000 border guards already typically deployed.
Meanwhile, Russia has launched another ballistic missile attack on Kiev in retaliation for the Kursk invasion. This one was an early morning Sunday assault, with the Kyiv City Military Administration https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/18/belarus-says-ukraine-amassing-troops-at-border-amid-incursion-into-russia
on Telegram: "This is the third ballistic missile attack on the capital in August with a clear interval of six days between each attack." Drones were also sent, with Ukraine's military saying it intercepted all of them.
Also, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has issued new warnings and concerns over the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which since early in the war has been occupied by Russian troops and authorities. The IAEA warned the safety of the complex is "deteriorating" following a nearby weekend drone strike. The IAEA https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/18/belarus-says-ukraine-amassing-troops-at-border-amid-incursion-into-russia
—
...warned on Saturday of an escalation in the security dangers at the plant, reporting "intense" military activity over the past week in the area, including very close to the plant.
...IAEA experts on site reported that the damage "seemed to have been caused by a drone equipped with an explosive payload", affecting the road between the plant’s two main gates.
No biggie. Just a drone strike just outside the nuclear plant’s protected area near the essential cooling water sprinkler ponds and about 100 meters from the only remaining power supply to the facility... https://t.co/ftksyZyFWj
— Jonathan M. Metzl (@JonathanMetzl) https://twitter.com/JonathanMetzl/status/1824982156206018762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It seems the Ukrainians are attempting to stage a provocation in a desperate act following accusations from President Zelensky https://www.zerohedge.com/military/fire-breaks-out-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant
that the Russians set fire to the plant.
Fighting inside Kursk is still intense, with Ukraine forces have destroyed a second key bridge, which strongly suggests they plan to seek to hold territory for significantly longer. The Associated Press details https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-incursion-bridge-invasion-43d6579c82c24ffc5cfabd99d07c66db
:
Ukraine has destroyed a key bridge in Russia’s Kursk region and struck a second one nearby, less than two weeks into its stunning cross-border incursion, disrupting Russian supply routes and possibly signaling that its troops are planning to dig in.
Russia’s pro-Kremlin military bloggers have acknowledged that the destruction of the first bridge, which spanned the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo, will impede deliveries of supplies to Russian forces repelling Ukraine’s incursion, although Moscow could still use pontoons and smaller bridges in the area. Ukraine’s air force chief, Lt. Mykola Oleshchuk, on Friday released a video of a Ukrainian airstrike that split the bridge in two.
Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops hit a second bridge in Russia, according to Oleshchuk and the Russian regional governor, Alexei Smirnov.
Still, Russian defense ministry statements continue to try and paint a positive picture, with a top ranking Commander Major General Apty Alaudinov telling TASS on Sunday "Our situation is completely under control."
Ukraine War Update: "Kursk Incursion"
Latest map from https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
as of 8 PM CET, 17th August:
- Borders shown are estimated based on available information.
- Map supported by military sources, with events corroborated by geolocated images and videos. https://t.co/owqoLz5mcU
— EU Made Simple (@EU_Made_Simple) https://twitter.com/EU_Made_Simple/status/1824909043795644593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"The enemy is trying to break through into our territory around the clock. All these attempts end with the elimination of the enemy and the burning of the equipment. That is why we are destroying the enemy's reserves," he told TASS.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 13:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/belarus-says-ukraine-amassing-troops-border-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-suffers-drone

2024-08-18 16:15:00

"Make It Great Like '68": Chicago Businesses Board Up As Protesters Threaten To Shut Down DNC
"Make It Great Like '68": Chicago Businesses Board Up As Protesters Threaten To Shut Down DNC
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to descend near the Democratic National Convention in downtown Chicago in the coming days. Local media reports that shops have already boarded up doors and windows with plywood ahead of what could be a chaotic week.
Crews with Chicago Board Up Services told https://wgntv.com/news/democratic-national-convention-chicago-2024/downtown-chicago-businesses-board-up-democratic-national-convention/
that at least a dozen shops around the West Loop, downtown, and Daley Plaza have been completely boarded up. They expect additional businesses to do the same.
Weird. They didn't have to do this for the Republican National Convention.
Chicago Businesses Boarding Up Ahead of Democratic Nat‘l Convention https://t.co/utubNPQOwM
— Kerry 🇺🇸 (@K1erry) https://twitter.com/K1erry/status/1824573064207532171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Scott Schapiro, the owner of Syd Jerome, a menswear shop at 20 N. Clark St., told https://www.nbcchicago.com/dnc-chicago-2024/downtown-chicago-businesses-board-up-amid-worries-of-unrest-during-dnc/3524200/
that he is no stranger to smash-and-grab and looting in the metro area and decided to take extra precautions, such as boarding up doors and windows ahead of the convention - where thousands of protesters are expected.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/fN94E_Lh.jpg?itok=3rPIxg0-
"You get that phone call in the middle of the night and your heart jumps out of your chest," Schapiro told the local media outlet.
He continued, "We want to sleep a little more soundly at night, and this gives us a little security, and we hope that there isn't any incident obviously, but in the event there is, we want to have maximum protection."
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
Protest organizers told https://www.nbcnews.com/news/will-protesters-police-problem-democratic-national-convention-rcna166535
that 20,000 demonstrators from several states will take over downtown streets in an approved protest area near the Democratic National Convention.
"The 264 protest groups that have said they will participate are primarily focused on Palestinian rights, ending the war in Gaza and reducing US aid to Israel," NBC said, adding, "Others represent a patchwork of left-leaning causes: climate activists, socialists, anti-racist organizations, queer and trans rights groups."
Mayor Brandon Johnson informed business owners and residents last week that the metro area is well prepared for social unrest. He reiterated that Chicago's police force has worked with the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker brushed off fears that next week's Democratic National Convention could erupt into the same kind of violence experienced during the 1968 convention.
Other local media outlets predict a much larger crowd size, upwards of 100,000 pro-Palestinian protesters.
One protest organization, Behind Enemy Lines, has called for "Make it Great like '68," referring to the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GU8-ZzUWwAAw6r7.jpg?itok=gNsPQ4P2
"We're not calling for violence or planning on anything illegal, but we think that there's ways for people to protest that do go beyond business as usual," the group spokesperson said, who asked not to be named and quoted by https://www.wbez.org/government-politics/dnc-2024/2024/08/16/one-chicago-protest-group-issues-a-call-to-make-it-great-like-68-and-shut-down-the-dnc
.
The media outlet explained, "Behind Enemy Lines has opened a temporary office on Chicago's Northwest Side, decorated with posters bearing slogans such as "Stop Killer Kamala" and "Fight Back for Gaza!""
Any outbreak of civil disobedience could ignite a wave of bad press for VP Harris and the Democrats.
VP Harris is already coming off a week of terrible headlines after debuting her first economic policies, including https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/vp-harris-first-economic-plan-proposes-federal-price-controls-combat-inflation
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 12:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/make-it-great-68-chicago-businesses-board-protesters-threaten-shutdown-dnc

2024-08-18 15:40:00

The Super-Wealthy Have A Problem
The Super-Wealthy Have A Problem
https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-super-wealthy-have-problem.html
The less self-congratulatory camp of the super-wealthy understand the pressure cooker of inequality and unfairness is going to blow unless they relinquish some of their unearned gains generated by Fed policies.
The cultural consensus holds that the super-wealthy always manage to come out ahead in any spot of bother. Due to their grip on the levers of financial and political power, whatever lays waste to the bottom 90% of the populace is either 1) an opportunity to increase their wealth or 2) a minor bump in the road to ever-expanding wealth.
History offers an abundance of examples. A favorite of mine is the guest books of the French chateaus owned by the super-wealthy, which logged visits from the Usual Suspects (political and financial bigshots) until 1940, when the names of Nazi bigshots began filling the ledgers, and then in 1945, the visitor list reverted to the Usual Suspects: a seamless transition from one set of political overlords to the next that the chateau owners rode without difficulty.
But there are counter-examples as well. Consider the family estate of famed architect I.M. Pei in Suzhou, China. I visited the impressive Pei residence, which is now a government-owned property open to the public. The Pei family was wealthy enough to be comfortably in the top tier of Chinese society. Life was good for China's elite, right up to 1949. These elites did not glide though the revolution intact; their wealth was confiscated.
They were replaced with a new elite, who now holds vast troves of wealth secreted away in the West, and just as I.M. Pei attended prestigious American Ivy League universities, so too do the sons and daughters of China's party elites, under assumed names, of course, to allow them a private experience outside the limelight.
So the super-wealthy don't always skate through tumultuous times, emerging richer than ever. We all understand how vast wealth inequality influences the political and social responses to crises. What is less well understood is the role of fairness in the social and political realms: if the inequality is understood to be the result of extremes of unfairness, the public mood darkens considerably, as humans are innately sensitive to unfairness.
The porousness of the border between the wealthy and the poor matters greatly in assessing fairness. If the financial-social membrane between the two classes is relatively porous, enabling the most ambitious and brightest of the poor to enter the ranks of the wealthy (or the ranks of the the top 10% who serve them), then the society maintains a minimum level of fairness that alleviates the pressure to overthrow the regime.
The remedial actions of the state also matter greatly. If the government acts decisively to raise estate taxes, taxes on unearned (i.e. rentier) income and on the higher reaches of earned income, and devotes some minimal attention to the basic needs of the bottom 90%, these policies also alleviate the pressure to overthrow the regime.
The book https://amzn.to/3AsGuaj
addresses these dynamics in admirable detail.
In other words, extremes of wealth/power inequality set the stage, but the closing act is decided by our responses to soaring inequality. If the response is PR artifice, i.e. the rich keep getting richer as the suffering of the bottom 90% increases, regime change starts looking like the only solution available.
If, on the other hand, policy makers and the public push back against the dominance of the super-wealthy, then the status quo can avoid fragmentation and dissolution.
The super-wealthy play a key role in this choice of response, and this fragments the elites into warring camps, a dynamic I've addressed many times over the years, including in my chart of some of the overlapping crises that will demand more than duct-tape responses:
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/overlapping-crises3-17_2.jpg?itok=ZU92_9tx
The backdrop is the policies that have handed the super-wealthy immense gains in wealth and power via policy-driven asset appreciation and the gradual diminishment of the purchasing power of wages. Over the past 45 years, the value of earnings has declined $149 trillion to the benefit of unearned gains reaped by the already-wealthy:
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/wages-share4-24a%20%281%29_0.jpg?itok=tYzmaMWs
This chart shows how wealth inequality has risen from the late 1970s, and how it was rocket-boosted by the Federal Reserve's "wealth effect" policies of quantitative easing (QE):
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/wealth-inequality5-24.jpg?itok=M63K4Z6J
The bottom 80% own a mere fraction of the wealth owned by the top 1% and top 10%
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/wealth-inequality1-24A_1.jpg?itok=K8crKkDM
While the wealthy cling to the self-serving narcissistic view that since we're doing fine, everyone's doing fine, the reality is the bottom 80% are awakening to the reality that they're not doing fine, a divide that will only widen as recession tightens its grip on the throats of the bottom 80%:
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/wealth-sentiment7-24a.jpg?itok=Iq5_HnJh
This is the vision of the "our wealth is rightly all ours" camp of the super-wealthy: the rest of us will own nothing and we'll be gloriously happy. Uh, sure. Since we're so happy, why don't we switch places?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/YON_0.jpg?itok=1FzNeSyh
The less self-congratulatory camp of the super-wealthy understand the pressure cooker of inequality and unfairness is going to blow unless they relinquish some of their unearned gains generated by Fed policies. While they naturally intend on keeping the vast majority of their gains, they realize the dividends of limitless greed might just be the overthrow of the regime they control to serve their own interests.
The rest of us play a part, too, of course, and our choice boils down to this: "And you want me to join this?"
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Roper_0.jpg?itok=FIpZhwm9
The super-wealthy have a problem: if they refuse to release the pressure building in a grossly unfair, rigged system that's enriched them beyond measure, then the pendulum may swing to the other extreme and they'll be visiting their former estates as tourists in a few years.
But if they agree to relinquish some part of their gains, they fear the tides of history may erode their sand castles. Aiya, what a dilemma.
* * *
https://www.patreon.com/charleshughsmith
.
https://charleshughsmith.substack.com/
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 11:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/super-wealthy-have-problem

2024-08-18 13:20:00

Watch: Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Chromosomes Don't Determine Biological Sex
Watch: Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Chromosomes Don't Determine Biological Sex
https://modernity.news/2024/08/17/watch-neil-degrasse-tyson-says-chromosomes-dont-determine-biological-sex
TV scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson has elicited backlash after claiming that DNA doesn’t determine whether a person is male or female.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/NDT.jpg?itok=LgTnpupN
Yes, really.
Here he claims that every day anyone can decide “today I feel like I am female or male.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson takes pride in “communicating science”. Here he explains that XX/XY chromosomes don't determine if you are male or female, and instead, each day you can wake up and decide that “today I feel like I am female or male” 🤯
This is the state of science today 🤡 https://t.co/qui5sBtFPe
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1824187347937923466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Presumably they can just change their mind back again the next day?
Neil deGrasse Tyson leans to the mental and emotional aspect of sexuality while ignoring the physical.
It's not how you feel!
It's what you are!
— Alexander Glumac (@SmokedGeezer) https://twitter.com/SmokedGeezer/status/1824191517780742325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Tyson is not a biologist, he’s a physicist, still shouldn’t he know better?
In his defense, he is the dumbest physicist on the planet.
— Tiger Cat (@BackTo_1970) https://twitter.com/BackTo_1970/status/1824187588313256402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sure, DNA doesn't matter. I'm going to wake up tomorrow and decide I'm 7 foot tall. Or maybe I'll decide to be Asian. 🤦‍♂️ It's seriously pathetic that people who really know better play this game.
— Austin (@FireBeardViking) https://twitter.com/FireBeardViking/status/1824198599078715494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He’s a scientist, yet he is essentially saying that anything can just be the way you feel like it being at any given moment.
Next, he’ll tell us the stars only exist if we believe in them. Welcome to the new age of "feelings over facts"! 🌌🤡
— Danny Lucas (@realDannyLucas_) https://twitter.com/realDannyLucas_/status/1824188798647013693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Any credibility he had left is gone.
He’s sold out every bit of scientific integrity a man in his position should have.
— la scapigliata (@lascapigliata8) https://twitter.com/lascapigliata8/status/1824403113119219931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It’s sound bite ‘science’.
That's the kind of "science" you get from a pop star scientist.
— 🇺🇸Brett🇺🇸 (@PatrioTrumpet) https://twitter.com/PatrioTrumpet/status/1824424664979980378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Imagine trading a lifetime of integrity for a thumbs up from the alphabet brigade.
Your periodic reminder that just because someone is on television as an "expert" in one area that does not mean they're an expert in that area, other areas or even smart. For example: Bill Nye is not a scientist and never has been, he's an actor. https://t.co/zJUBjZXY84
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) https://twitter.com/derekahunter/status/1824426069782307260?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/neiltyson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— KayR (@Kellyring) https://twitter.com/Kellyring/status/1824193755882328173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Say what you want but don’t claim it’s science.
No, xx and xy determine male and female. However if society (or some in it) wish to create new definitions and ideas they are free to do so. Others are free not to adopt them. It’s no better to force tyranny on a majority than to force tyranny on a minority. https://t.co/nIx6ERf4ZM
— Sharyl Attkisson 🕵️‍♂️💼🥋 (@SharylAttkisson) https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/status/1824445273956897021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"Why can't you just shut up and trust the SCIENCE?!?!?"
Gee, I wonder... https://t.co/FCp4VNM1W3
— Whatever (@MIFrenchieMom) https://twitter.com/MIFrenchieMom/status/1824397744749850967?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The moment objective truth is inverted, we’re moving backwards.
Any society that adopts this deserves to fail.
Rejection of objective facts has no place in an enlightened world. https://t.co/Xx5hnl1pFG
— 自由戦士アイデアレーンジャー (@1776Dairenn) https://twitter.com/1776Dairenn/status/1824458349771100568?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
Sun, 08/18/2024 - 09:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-neil-degrasse-tyson-says-chromosomes-dont-determine-biological-sex

2024-08-18 00:25:00

Kevin Plank's Race Farm Listed For $22 Million Amid Under Armour Troubles
Kevin Plank's Race Farm Listed For $22 Million Amid Under Armour Troubles
Baltimore-based Under Amour has been undergoing a broad multi-year restructuring plan. Earlier this year, founder Kevin Plank returned to the helm, hoping to reverse the sales slump and boost profits.
Given that UA shares have been a trainwreck since the company was accused of defrauding shareholders about revenue growth in a bid to beat Wall Street's forecasts in 2017, Plank, the third largest shareholder, has seen his paper wealth evaporate.
In June, UA agreed to pay $434 million to settle the lawsuit that accused Plank of intentionally deceiving investors about the company's financial health between Sept. 16, 2015, and Nov. 1, 2019. UA will use cash and a revolving credit facility to pay the settlement.
With UA in the dumps, about 21 miles north of the company's headquarters in Baltimore City, situated in some of the best steeplechase country in the US, Plank's 530-acre horse farm, called "Sagamore Farm," was "briefly listed for $22 million," according to local media https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/economy/real-estate/kevin-plank-sagamore-farm-76HTFCLVPBGC5CGNYBMTWDWPZ4/
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-17_11-41-37.png?itok=gPw4T-6B
Here's more from the local media outlet:
The listing by the real estate firm Compass was publicly available online on Monday morning. Denie Dulin, the listing agent, said the Glyndon estate might be sold privately and declined to comment further.
"It's not publicly being marketed yet," Dulin said.
Plank bought Sagamore Farm from a developer in 2007 through an LLC. It's unclear how much he paid. Property records do not disclose a sale price.
In 2010, several years after Plank bought the race farm, he told the Baltimore Sun paper that he planned to win a 'Triple Crown.'
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GVC6MspXIAEjEaz.jpg?itok=zsun2B1O
The real estate agent did not explain why Plank decided to sell the race farm. Plank has been locked in a zoning dispute with local conservation groups after he proposed building a whiskey distillery on the historic farm. The timing of the sale also comes amid UA restructuring efforts.
Meanwhile, Plank, who previously supported former President Trump, hosted a closed-door fundraiser for far-left Democrats at Sagamore's main house in mid-May.
See Gov. Wes Moore clapping on the right side of the image. And no, this is not a deep fake.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-17_11-23-44.png?itok=jFDXKdlA
The nearly two-decade partying at the Plank family's 'frat house' at Sagamore is coming to an end—better start focusing on turning around the sinking UA ship.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 20:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/kevin-planks-race-farm-listed-22-million-amid-under-armour-troubles

2024-08-17 23:15:00

Rogan And Quaid Ask: Who's Really Running The Country?
Rogan And Quaid Ask: Who's Really Running The Country?
Joe Rogan and actor Dennis Quaid recently sat down for an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, where among other things - they questioned who's actually running the country.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/quaid%20hand.JPG?itok=IWCwUz6-
"They’re emboldened by the fact they’re essentially running the country without a president for the last three years," said Rogan, adding "Because he [Biden] is not there. And since he’s decided that he’s not going to run again, he’s gone. He’s vanished."
To which Quaid replied: "It makes [you wonder]. Who’s running it now?"
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/08/17/whos-really-running-the-country/
,
Joe Rogan and Dennis Quaid Raise SERIOUS Questions About Who’s Really Running the Country
“It [president] is a figurehead. That's all it is.”
“They’re essentially running the country without a president for the last three years.”
JOE ROGAN: “They’re emboldened by the fact… https://t.co/CG3bkIWwH6
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1824497201294270481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
WATCH: Joe Rogan Goes After Kamala Harris for Stealing Trump’s “No Tax on Tips” Idea
“Here’s the problem: In 2022, she was one of the deciding votes to go after people that were not reporting their tips.”
“It’s hilarious that two years later, she’s acting like this is… https://t.co/kAVCmp978N
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1824505575994007689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 19:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rogan-and-quaid-ask-whos-really-running-country

2024-08-17 22:05:00

Zelensky Says Ukraine 'Strengthening' Positions Kursk, Boasts Of Many POWs Captured
Zelensky Says Ukraine 'Strengthening' Positions Kursk, Boasts Of Many POWs Captured
On Saturday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his forces are "strengthening" their positions in Russia's Kursk region. The invasion into Russian territory shocked the world and has left Kremlin officials shocked, with some expressing frustration that the border was apparently so poorly guarded.
"As of this morning, we have replenished the exchange fund for our country," Zelensky said, after his army reportedly captured hundreds of POWs since the Aug.6 invasion of the southern Russian oblast.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kurskpows.jpg?itok=pYJKB1Du
"I thank all the soldiers and commanders who are taking Russian soldiers prisoner and thus bringing the release of our soldiers and civilians held by Russia closer," he added, according to official government social media channels.
Zelensky acknowledged that the Russian side is responding with a fierce fight: "(There were) dozens of Russian assaults on our positions over the last day. But our soldiers and units are doing everything to destroy the occupier and repel the attacks," he continued.
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky simultaneously "reported on the strengthening of the positions of our forces in the Kursk region and the expansion of stabilized territory" in a public statement.
Kiev is also presenting that its forces are in better shape along the eastern front in the Donbass, after in prior days asserting that Russia was forced to remove some its front line fighting forces in order to defend Kursk and Belgorod.
In Ukraine's Sumy, there are Saturday reports of a large blaze after a fresh Russian https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-incursion-sumy-missile-2c61b1ee9adb4d1a7a2d19ab983c14bf
:
A Russian missile sparked a blaze in the city of Sumy that injured two people and also damaged cars and nearby buildings, said Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. It said that the hit had involved an Iskander-K cruise missile and an aerial bomb.
Ukraine’s air force also said it had shot down 14 Russian drones overnight, including over the Kyiv region.
Likely Russia's aerial assaults on other major cities, including the capital of Kiev, will only increase as a way of retaliation.
Harrowing videos of the fighting in Kursk reveal that the Ukrainians have already established trenches and physical defenses in the region, planning for an attempt to indefinitely occupy Russian territory...
As for Zelensky's claim of having captured large masses of Russian troops during the Kursk incursion, the AP https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-incursion-sumy-missile-2c61b1ee9adb4d1a7a2d19ab983c14bf
, "On Friday, the AP visited a detention center in Ukraine, the location of which cannot be disclosed due to security restrictions. Dozens of POWs were seen, some of them walking with their hands tied behind their backs while a guard led them down a corridor. Some had rations of a thin soup with cabbage and onions."
Regardless of all the current pro-Kiev optimism, many analysts warn there are real limits and the likelihood Ukraine forces will soon be in worse shape than before due to this ultra-risky cross-border operation...
A very good analysis with several important points here. Among them: “There is a limit to how successful Ukraine can be. It was suffering from a shortage of troops to rotate and hold the line prior to its operation in Kursk. Now it has pulled together what was available as an… https://t.co/gqGvQefDwJ
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1824845242832474380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Zelensky government has been touting that it plans to hold onto a "buffer zone" in Kursk, to prevent Russia from launching cross-border mortar and missile strike on Ukraine. The Kremlin's retaliation is expected to grow big at some point soon.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 18:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-says-ukraine-strengthening-positions-kursk-boasts-many-pows-captured

2024-08-17 19:45:00

The Beginning Of The End? Germany To Ban All New Ukraine Military Aid
The Beginning Of The End? Germany To Ban All New Ukraine Military Aid
Three days ago, in the https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/new-nord-stream-sabotage-narrative-says-zelenskys-top-general-went-rogue
seeking to radically shift the narrative over the Nordstream sabotage, where instead of the CIA being blamed for the explosion of the critical gas pipeline from Russia to Europe, unnamed "intelligence" sources forged on with a hilarious script according to which a top Ukraine general (operating initially under the instructions of Zelensky but then going rogue wen Z got "cold feet") was responsible for coordinating the sabotage using a handful of rank amateurs who somehow managed to sneak to the bottom of the Baltic sea and conduct an unprecedented military operation, we said that - no matter the laughable veracity of the report - relations between Germany and Ukraine are "about to turn ugly", and we asked why this story is coming out just now?
Looks like relations between Germany and Ukraine are about to turn ugly: Zelensky was behind the Nordstream sabotage (even if he allegedly got cold feet at the end, but was unable to halt it). The question: why this story coming out now. https://t.co/Zo4GBGECaF
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1823908902674542684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
We didn't have long to wait to get the answer: as German media reports, this U-turn in the narrative (which according to some meant that NATO should now unleash its full military power against.... Ukraine, which had single-handedly attacked German assets by blowing up the Nordstream) was meant to soften the blow from Germany's decision to finally cut off Ukraine's - and Zelensky's - unprecedented grift.
According to a Saturday report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the German government will stop new military aid to Ukraine as part of the ruling coalition's plan to reduce spending. The report, which cited non-public documents and emails as well as discussions with unnamed sources, goes on to note that the moratorium on new assistance - which is already in effect - will affect new requests for funding, not previously approved aid,
In a letter sent to the German defense ministry on Aug. 5, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that future funding would no longer come from Germany's federal budget but from proceeds from frozen Russian assets, according to the German newspaper. And since we already know that recent attempts to liquidate Russian assets crashed and burned over fears of escalating Russian retaliation, this effectively means no more aid for Ukraine.
Berlin, which is Europe's main supplier of military aid to Kyiv, had previously signaled a change in course on Ukraine last month, when the governing coalition of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals adopted a preliminary deal on a draft budget for 2025. The compromise detailed plans to slash future assistance to Ukraine by half to €4 billion to fulfill other spending priorities. And, it now appears, that even this token amount is about to be cut to zero.
As we https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/russia-interest
, the G7’s decision to extend a USD 50 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by immobilized Russian assets, was this summit’s most significant step forward. This loan structure reflects a typical compromise between the US and Europe. While the straightforward solution would involve seizing all of Russia’s frozen assets (estimated at USD 280 billion) to directly fund Ukraine’s war efforts, European countries – particularly France, Germany, and Belgium – aggressively shied away from this, viewing it as too aggressive and fearing Russian reciprocation. Instead, they opted for using the interest on matured assets, which amounts to only a few billion dollars per year. The first option would be a game changer, we said, "whereas the second option falls embarrassingly short."
The G7 https://t.co/IBaSo7UR4f
— Ryan Gerritsen🇨🇦🇳🇱 (@ryangerritsen) https://twitter.com/ryangerritsen/status/1801243071025225920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And now Ukraine will have to be satisfied with receiving whatever meager interest seized Russian funds generate.
Meanwhile, the primary source of funding for Ukraine - the Biden family and various deep state operatives - is about to dry out, after Biden finally leaves the White House and quit politics forever in three months.
Speaking after the Cabinet approved the draft budget in mid-July, Germany FinMin Lindner said Ukraine would have to rely more on funds from "European sources" as well as the frozen Russian assets. But it's still unclear if, and when, that money will flow.
According to https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-halt-new-ukraine-military-aid-report-war-russia/
, contentions over Ukraine aid reportedly deepened the rifts in the ruling coalition in Berlin, already tattered by weeks of internal fights over a series of issues from the budget to welfare. Green leader and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said this week he plans to run for chancellor as the Greens’ candidate in the 2025 federal election, casting doubt on the survival of the governing alliance of which he is a member.
“It’s quite obvious that this coalition has major problems finding common ground,” Habeck said regarding the recent disputes.
“The ideas are falling apart.”
Which is also why Zelensky will have no choice but to resort to ever-more-desperate and shocking provocations and diversions to keep the money flowing, as the alternative is complete devastation for Ukraine and its Western backers.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/beginning-end-germany-ban-all-new-ukraine-military-aid

2024-08-17 19:10:00

"I Mean It": Biden Endorses Violence, Tells Dems To "Beat The Hell Out Of" Republicans
"I Mean It": Biden Endorses Violence, Tells Dems To "Beat The Hell Out Of" Republicans
https://headlineusa.com/i-mean-it-biden-endorses-violence-tells-dems-to-beat-the-hll-out-of-republicans/
https://headlineusa.com/tag/Joe-Biden
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/1688755282098.jpg?itok=eR4pE-Ar
The Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-calls-on-supporters-to-beat-the-hell-out-of-republicans-i-mean-it
.
“Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is: beat the h*ll out of them,” Biden told the crowd during an event in Prince George’s County, https://headlineusa.com/tag/maryland
.
After the far-left audience cheered for violence, Biden doubled down by saying, “I mean it!”
Conservatives on social media quickly criticized Biden and leftists who supported him.
“Disgusting!” the Trump War Room account wrote in a post while also noting that Biden’s remark came just a month after the attempted assassination against Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
Biden instructs the audience to "beat the hell" out of Republicans — a month after the assassination attempt against President Trump. Disgusting! https://t.co/MpxSGBsu4h
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1824148301593317521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“Is this a call to violence?” asked the https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1824211351675474339
which is operated by Chaya Raichik and has over 3.3 million followers.
Collin Rugg, who has an X account with 1.4 million followers, also responded to the violent rhetoric.
“If Trump said this, it would be wall-to-wall coverage on MSNBC for the next three weeks,” he wrote, adding that the Washington Post “would be putting the ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ banner up.”
If Trump said this, it would be wall-to-wall coverage on MSNBC for the next three weeks.
WaPo would be putting the 'Democracy Dies in Darkness' banner up.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1824212472812933174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In June, Trump faced Biden in a debate hosted by CNN, and just weeks after the disastrous Biden performance, the leftist establishment removed him as a presidential candidate and replaced him with Harris.
Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton are https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dnc-speakers-biden-obama-bill-hillary-clinton/
at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., are expected to accept their nominations and deliver remarks.
Biden’s violent rhetoric was just another example of Democrats’ evil nature. It was also recently revealed that Nancy Pelosi https://headlineusa.com/pelosi-issues-death-threats-against-republicans-despite-condemning-political-violence/
death threats to pro-Trump Republicans as well.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 15:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/i-mean-it-biden-endorses-violence-tells-dems-beat-hell-out-republicans

2024-08-17 18:35:00

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 18:00:00

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 16:15:00

Watch: Bloody Brawl In Turkey's Parliament Left Lawmakers Injured, Even Women Were Punched
Watch: Bloody Brawl In Turkey's Parliament Left Lawmakers Injured, Even Women Were Punched
Turkey's parliament descended into a rare, violent brawl on Friday - all caught on camera - and which literally resulted in blood on the ground and at least two lawmakers injured.
The fracas lasted for a stunning 30-minutes, and it all started during a speech from opposition leftist MP Ahmet Sik of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP). Sik had been lambasting Erdogan's ruling AK party and its lawmakers, defending a 'controversial' figure Can Atalay - who ran for a parliament seat from jail in 2023 and won after being sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2022 under Erdogan's government.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/parliamentfight.jpg?itok=bWydOJpz
Atalay was subsequently stripped of his mandate by AKP authorities, but the Workers' Party of Turkey moved to reverse this ban from parliament and restore his elected mandate on Friday. This infuriated AKP politicians.
Things erupted in turmoil when MP Sik called AKP lawmakers "the biggest terrorists of this country."
That's when an enraged Alpay Ozalan of the AKP suddenly approached the podium and slapped and the opposition representative, who fell to the ground. From there all hell broke lose and at one point even women were being punched.
Politico https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-parliament-brawl-can-atalay-prison-gezi-seven-ahmet-sik-akp-alpay-ozalan/
, which should prove a national embarrassment and certainly won't do anything to help improve Turkey's years-long efforts to join the European Union:
At that point, AKP member Alpay Özalan launched into Şık and shoved him to the ground. Other AKP lawmakers joined in to punch him while he was on the floor.
The attack quickly turned into a https://apnews.com/video/turkey-prisons-recep-tayyip-erdogan-a16c6f3c22354bfaa74cd6fa1f532d4d
that lasted 30 minutes and led to the suspension of the hearing. When the session eventually resumed three hours later, MPs voted to uphold Atalay’s suspension.
The https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkish-mps-brawl-during-debate-jailed-opposition-lawmaker-2024-08-16/
Şık for his statements against the AKP and Özalan for the assault that kicked off the fight.
Watch how the fight started below:
A fistfight broke out in Turkey's parliament when an opposition deputy was attacked after calling for his colleague, jailed on charges of organising anti-government protests but since elected an MP, to be admitted to the assembly | Read more: https://t.co/UTaDHtv2vG
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1824479625315078646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Leader of the main opposition party CHP Özgür Özel later issued a statement saying the whole spectacle was shamful.
"Lawmakers punched other lawmakers, even women. This is unacceptable," he said according to https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkish-mps-brawl-during-debate-jailed-opposition-lawmaker-2024-08-16/
. In the aftermath spots and streaks of blood had to be wiped off white marble steps in front of the speaker's podium.
The jailed official at the center of the controversy, Atalay, is a "lawyer, rights activist and one of the https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/06/turkiye-free-the-gezi-7/
.
A fistfight broke out in Turkey's parliament when an opposition deputy was attacked after calling for his colleague, jailed on charges of organizing anti-government protests but since elected an MP, to be admitted to the assembly https://t.co/M4NyyclfD2
— Reuters (@Reuters) https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1824527799966896329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Brawls in Turkish parliament have been known to happen from time to time, but have become more rare. A much smaller scuffle happened in June, related to the jailing of a pro-Kurdish mayor. The Kurdish issue is especially a hot-button topic anytime it arises in Turkish parliament.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 12:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-bloody-brawl-turkeys-parliament-left-lawmakers-injured-even-women-were-punched

2024-08-17 15:05:00

Russian Media Claims Ukraine Preparing 'Dirty Nuke' Attack; Kiev "Refutes These False Reports"
Russian Media Claims Ukraine Preparing 'Dirty Nuke' Attack; Kiev "Refutes These False Reports"
Russian state media outlets are sounding the alarm in the overnight hours, alleging that Ukrainian forces are preparing to strike the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Enerhodar, Ukraine, and the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Russia with radioactive warheads, all in an attempt to create a false flag and blame Moscow. Conversely, the https://kyivindependent.com/kyiv-dismisses/
quickly brushed off these claims as totally baseless. The situation unfolding in Eastern Europe underlines the growing uncertainty and chaos, thickening the 'fog of war' as tensions escalate.
Concerns over a 'nuclear catastrophe' have soared in the last week after Russia and Ukraine traded blame for a drone strike on ZNPP that sparked a https://www.zerohedge.com/military/fire-breaks-out-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant
. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is entering a new phase, with Ukraine invading Russian territory for the first time.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-17_10-20-26.png?itok=qi-LBqDs
Now, several Russian state-controlled media outlets, including https://www.rt.com/russia/602705-dirty-nuclear-ukraine/
, citing 'intelligence received by Russia,' warned on Friday night that "Ukrainian forces have begun preparations to target nuclear waste storage sites at a Russian power plant with radioactive warheads and to then blame Moscow."
A Russian State media outlet, citing Russian law enforcement officials, reports that Ukrainian Armed Forces are planning to detonate a dirty nuclear bomb and the potential targets are storage sites at power plants. https://t.co/1AGHGedAv6
— RT (@RT_com) https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1824552472439898171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here are snippets from RT's report about Ukraine possibly preparing for a 'dirty nuke' attack on nuclear power plants.
"Sources on the other side report that the [Ukrainians] are preparing a nuclear false flag – an explosion of a dirty atomic bomb," military journalist Marat Khairullin said Friday on his Telegram channel. "They plan to strike the storage sites of spent nuclear fuel of a nuclear power plant."
The special warheads intended for the attack have already been delivered to the Vostochny Mining and Processing plant in Zhovti Vody, in Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Region, according to Khairullin.
As possible targets of the attack, Khairullin indicated either the Zaporozhye NPP in Energodar or the Kursk NPP in Kurchatov, noting that the Ukrainian government and its Western backers are "desperate and willing to try anything."
A security official in the Russian Military Administration of Kharkov Region corroborated Khairullin's claim to RIA Novosti on Friday. The attack is intended to use radioactive warheads to target spent fuel storage sites at a nuclear power plant, and the ammunition has already been delivered to Zhovti Vody.
Kiev's intention is to accuse Moscow of a false flag so it could justify using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, the security official said. The Ukrainian government has received orders from its Western backers to "escalate as much as possible," he added.
In a separate report, https://www.rt.com/russia/602723-military-response-dirty-bomb-nuclear/
cited comments from the Defense Ministry in Moscow that warned swift countermeasures will be taken if Kiev goes through with planned attacks on nuclear power plants:
"If the Kiev regime begins to realize its criminal plans aimed at creating a man-made disaster in the European part of the continent that would infer the radioactive contamination of vast territories, tough military and military-technical countermeasures will be taken immediately".
On the other hand, the https://kyivindependent.com/kyiv-dismisses/
has quickly rejected Russia's claims about planned dirty bomb attacks on nuclear power plants.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi called the claims "a surge of insane Russian propaganda," adding, "We officially refute these false reports. Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies."
On X, a user who goes by the name "James Porrazzo" listed dozens of headlines showing how Russia has been the "boy who cried wolf" about nuclear war threats. It's clear that Moscow has often drawn "red lines" and threatened nuclear war... However, the situation in Eastern Europe appears more dire than ever before, with a Ukrainian offensive within Russian territory
🇷🇺 The number of times Russia has declared a "red line" and threatened nuclear war. There's many more.
Life Tip: Threats only work when backed with ACTION.
Otherwise, they fall into the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" category. https://t.co/MhaQksGVuF
— James Porrazzo (@JamesPorrazzo) https://twitter.com/JamesPorrazzo/status/1824730727625216276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Threats of nuclear conflict also come as nearly https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-says-there-will-be-no-peace-talks-ukraine-180000-citizens-evacuated-amid
from the Kursk and Belgorod regions due to the Ukrainian military offensive.
Back home, Americans are growing more anxious about who is actually running the US government. This comes as President Biden's mental acuity slips, and VP Harris spends her time promoting https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/kamala-harris-price-control-plan-would-cause-widespread-supply-chain-crisis
on the campaign trail.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 11:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-media-claims-ukraine-preparing-dirty-nuke-attack-kiev-refutes-these-false

2024-08-17 13:55:00

Kamala Harris' Price Control Plan Would Cause A Widespread Supply-Chain Crisis
Kamala Harris' Price Control Plan Would Cause A Widespread Supply-Chain Crisis
The Democrats have been instituting a propaganda campaign to hide or deny the effects of inflation ever since Joe Biden took office in 2021. At first, they claimed there was no inflation threat. Then they claimed inflation was “transitory.” When the CPI hit 40 year highs they were forced to admit that inflation was an issue, but refused to admit the true cause (helicopter money from the Federal Reserve to fund various stimulus programs the US cannot afford). Instead, Biden and Harris argued that the business world was to blame and high prices were a product of “price gouging.”
The establishment media has been running with this narrative for years even though it has been thoroughly debunked. Retail prices have risen in direct correlation to the increases in production costs. As prices in raw materials and manufacturing rise, the prices on the shelf rise. And, as too many dollars chase too few goods the manufacturing sector struggles to keep up with labor demands. More labor with higher wages and a strained supply mean, again, higher prices.
Using producers as a scapegoat for economic failure is a time-honored tradition of socialist governments that refuse to take responsibility for their own failures. It is also a way for politicians to pretend like they're fixing the problem; temporarily treating the symptoms but never actually dealing with the source of the illness (because they are the source).
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
Rising costs were a top challenge for manufacturers in 2023 and this year looks to be no different. Inflation https://www.manufacturingdive.com/news/manufacturing-trends-operations-costs-supplies-2024/703356/
not only for materials, but wages and energy and the problem is expected to persist well into 2025. Industry reports also suggest that declines in consumer demand have combined with inflation in prices, putting a strain on profits and the supply chain.
As demand falters and costs increase manufacturers have to reduce supply. As supply declines, either shelves will be empty or prices will climb even higher on the black market.
The Kamala Harris campaign recently released their economic policy plan to solve the ongoing stagflationary crisis, and it's not surprising that Harris intends to continue the very same strategies that caused the problem in the first place. She intends to print even more money to create even more handouts in order to bribe low-information voters. Analysts are calling her plan an attempt to institute communist economic restrictions and upend what's left of the free market. This is true, but what does this mean in terms of consequences?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kamala-harris1.jpg?itok=uMWysxNP
Beyond causing the death of what's left of the free market in the US, the bigger threat is the immediate damage that https://abcnews.go.com/US/harris-propose-ban-grocery-price-gouging-cool-inflation/story?id=112864648
to the supply chain. With already thin profit margins for manufacturers and rising labor costs there is little room to maneuver. Price controls would put a low ceiling on revenues and without profit incentives, there is no reason for companies to continue producing. They will slow production of goods or shut down completely until better market conditions return.
It's interesting to note that both https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/735161586781898890/pdf/Price-Controls-Good-Intentions-Bad-Outcomes.pdf
have recently warned about the dangers of price controls - Those guys are corrupt, but they aren't crazy like Kamala. The last time the US instituted price controls was during the early-1970s during the onset of the last stagflation crisis. This was after the Nixon-era removal of the Dollar from the gold standard. It was an unmitigated disaster.
On Aug. 15, 1971, in a nationally televised address, Nixon announced, “I am today ordering a freeze on all prices and wages throughout the United States.” After a 90-day freeze, increases would have to be approved by a “Pay Board” and a “Price Commission,” with an eye toward eventually lifting controls. This move was initially popular and helped win Nixon a second term in office.
However, by 1973 and the advent of the OPEC Oil Embargo it had become clear that price controls did not work. As the https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/29/archives/food-shortages-termed-possible-in-next-month-shortages-of-food-are.html
:
"Housewives searching their supermarket shelves this coming week will find most of what they want still there. But widening circle of food processors and retailers are caught in a profit squeeze resulting from the price freeze, and this is beginning to curtail production of some foods...It could lead to shortages of many items in the next month.
Every echelon of the food industry, from farmers to retailers are criticizing the ceilings imposed on meat in March and on all other items on June 13. Their unhappiness about the ceiling has contributed to recent warnings of shortages."
In June 1973, Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw explain in The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy:
“Ranchers stopped shipping their cattle to the market, farmers drowned their chickens, and consumers emptied the shelves of supermarkets...”
The government is in no position to police prices. These controls will only cause more damage in the long run and Kamala Harris and her team of Biden advisors are not intelligent enough to deal with the problem anyway.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 09:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/kamala-harris-price-control-plan-would-cause-widespread-supply-chain-crisis

2024-08-17 12:45:00

Tiny Village In Ireland Overrun By Government-Relocated Migrants
Tiny Village In Ireland Overrun By Government-Relocated Migrants
The 'Great Replacement' comes to Ireland? Public concerns surrounding government supported open immigration plans in the UK have been consistently treated as "xenophobic" and "overblown" by the media and authorities alike. The typical M.O. of politicians has been to ignore all scrutiny and attack anyone that dares to question the agenda.
Reports that migrant relocation programs were going to flood rural Irish locations with foreign elements raised eyebrows (and raised questions) last month as to the purpose of transplanting the third-world into outlying villages in the UK. These same villages have been demographically unchanged for centuries.
The theory, which holds considerable validity, is that western countries are being destabilized from within by corrupt progressive leaders with the intent to upend traditional western society and replace it with a self-devouring multicultural soup that is easier to convert to globalism. Rural areas of the west are commonly viewed as safe havens away from the corrosive politics of woke socialism, and the targeting of these places seems to verify everyone's worst fears about open borders.
This brings us to the tiny hamlet of Tipperary in Ireland (population 165), where the Gardaí assisted Department of Integration had used a manor property called the Dundrum House Hotel to bring hundreds of Ukrainian refugees into the country. Locals noted they had few problems with the Ukrainians because they seemed to easily integrate into the already existing community. However, now that the government has their foot in the door of the village, they have decided to move the Ukrainians out and replace them with third-world migrants with non-western value systems.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/IrishProtest1.jpg?itok=ZMB2IOA0
Because of numerous examples of rampant criminality and violence (from rape gangs to mass stabbings) brought by such migrants to major cities throughout Europe and the UK, locals worry that same ideology of dominance and exploitation will now take over their once quiet corner of Ireland. The fact that around 80% of these migrants are single military age men gives little comfort to the residents.
Protests have https://www.independent.ie/regionals/tipperary/news/man-arrested-amid-tense-scenes-in-tipperary-as-first-group-of-asylum-seekers-arrive-at-dundrum-house-hotel/a1733562700.html
after it was revealed that at least 265 migrants would be relocated there, greatly outnumbering the indigenous population.
📍Dundrum, Tipperary.
This tiny Irish village of 200 people was forcibly planted this morning. 280 ‘asylum seekers’ are to be housed in this hotel, replacing the local population overnight.
Ireland is ground zero for population replacement. https://t.co/L4x1x7QMbV
— MichaeloKeeffe (@Mick_O_Keeffe) https://twitter.com/Mick_O_Keeffe/status/1823329085541564586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Other more discreet and suspicious migrant compounds have been cited in rural areas of Ireland, protected by government security and housing only military age males from predominantly third-world and Islamic countries. The presence of these compounds reads more like a covert invasion rather than an attempt at integration.
Something very sinister is happening in Ireland.
Thousands of strange foreign men are being planted all around the country in sites which resemble military camps.
Locals are living in fear as masked foreign men patrol rural Ireland. https://t.co/54zdz6UUkD
— MichaeloKeeffe (@Mick_O_Keeffe) https://twitter.com/Mick_O_Keeffe/status/1823483455180550144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Keep in mind that a common argument made by UK officials is that these migrants are "needed" in order to fill gaps in the service sector labor market. Yet, rural regions like these have no demand for such labor because they rely predominantly on tourism. Why are these foreign men being sent to these places?
Locals report that when concerns are raised by the public the government will assert that only women and children and families will be transplanted to these centers, and most of them will be Ukrainians. But when the media cameras are gone and the protests die down, military age males from Africa and the Middle East are quietly dumped into the community by the hundreds (and strangely, many men from Caucusus nation of Georgia).
With a majority of UK citizens (69%) https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/immigration-tracker-march-2024
according to polls and riots erupting after migrant attacks, UK governments have doubled down on "diversity" and are refusing to take public opposition seriously. When patriot protests are organized, progressive NGOs with extensive resources bus in leftist activists to disrupt or silence them.
The transplantation of young migrant men has also proven to be a buffer for the government, as gangs of foreigners patrol the streets and attempt to intimidate locals into silence. The trade-off is clear: Leftist officials give migrants access to the bounty of the west, and migrants protect those officials from popular uprisings in return.
The last places for western citizens to go to for safety are rural enclaves, and even now those are being taken away.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 08:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tiny-village-ireland-overrun-government-relocated-migrants

2024-08-17 12:10:00

UK Government Set To Ban Silent Prayer Outside Abortion Clinics
UK Government Set To Ban Silent Prayer Outside Abortion Clinics
https://modernity.news/2024/08/16/uk-government-set-to-ban-silent-prayer-outside-abortion-clinics
As the crackdown on free speech accelerates, the UK government is set to ban people silently praying in their heads outside abortion clinics.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/160824police.jpg?itok=Me0Xx3iV
MPs voted for legislation last year that would ban silent prayer within ‘buffer zones’ 150 metres around the location of a clinic or hospital providing abortion services.
However, this has not come come into force and guidance was subsequently published allowing silent prayer within ‘safe access zones’ where activists would be able to hand out leaflets and engage in conversations with women considering abortions.
The guidance stated that, “Silent prayer, being the engagement of the mind and thought in prayer towards God, is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998 and should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances.”
The issue shot to public attention in March 2023 when campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/14/us-condemns-uk-for-praying-womans-abortion-clinic-arrest/
by police for silently praying in front of a British Pregnancy Advisory Services clinic that was subject to a ‘buffer zone’ order.
🚨BREAKING: Isabel has been arrested, AGAIN, for THINKING.
MPs vote TOMORROW on banning silent prayer near all abortion facilities in🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿&🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
"You've said you're engaging in prayer, which is the offense."
"Silent prayer."
"You were still engaging in prayer, which is the offense." https://t.co/AId3OguiXz
— ADF UK (@ADF_UK) https://twitter.com/ADF_UK/status/1632820479131099136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Vaughan-Spruce’s arrest drew international condemnation and was denounced by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
West Midlands Police later released her without charge and were forced to issue an apology after Vaughan-Spruce complained that she had been arrested for a “thought crime”.
However, such rights are set to be trampled completely as the new Labour government pushes to scrap the guidance and completely outlaw silent protest near abortion clinics, effectively criminalizing anyone who stands outside one and engages in ‘wrongthink’.
The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/15/home-office-review-ban-silent-prayer-abortion-clinics/
, “That ministers will now be reviewing this guidance. Pro-choice campaigners hope the review will result in both silent prayer and the handing out of leaflets being limited.”
"Home Office 'considering banning silent prayer outside abortion clinics'"
Free speech is under threat in Labour Britain, and so too, it seems, is free non-speech. https://t.co/jVHuEXuOii
— David Frost (@DavidGHFrost) https://twitter.com/DavidGHFrost/status/1824336649142079746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Dame Diana Johnson, the new policing minister, stated, “We specifically voted against proposals to allow silent prayer and consensual communication in safe access zones.”
“I notice that the Home Office has produced guidance which includes those measures being allowed.”
“I just wondered why you would do that when Parliament had been very clear that that was not the will of Parliament,” she added.
As we document in the video below, Brits are now being arrested and imprisoned for posts on social media which contain “anti-establishment rhetoric” as the purge intensifies following the recent anti-mass migration riots.
* * *
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
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 08:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-government-set-ban-silent-prayer-outside-abortion-clinics

2024-08-17 03:00:00

Ukraine Destroys Key Bridge In Kursk Region Using US-Supplied HIMARS
Ukraine Destroys Key Bridge In Kursk Region Using US-Supplied HIMARS
The Ukrainian government is still proclaiming that its forces are making progress into the southern Russian oblast of Kursk, while the Kremlin has at the same time https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/16/russia-says-it-eliminated-ukrainian-unit-as-kyiv-claims-advances-in-kursk
its troops destroyed an entire reconnaissance and sabotage group in western Kursk on Friday.
Regardless of which side's narrative of events are more accurate amid the fog of war, the biggest end of week development has involved the destruction of a key Russian bridge on Friday.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kurskbridge.jpeg?itok=AIHscw4K
The pro-opposition Amsterdam-based Moscow Times has identified that "The bridge, which spanned the Seym River near the town of Glushkovo, was https://t.me/romanov_92/45038
earlier in the day in an attack that killed two volunteer workers from the All-Russia People’s Front, pro-war bloggers said."
"Later on Friday, the bridge collapsed after being struck by a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket, the Kremlin-aligned Mash Telegram news channel https://t.me/mash/56792
, publishing images of the destroyed structure," the report continued. This is a reference to the US Army's M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System which can be outfitted with either mid-range or long-range missiles.
Aerial images and videos have been circulating throughout the day, and Acting Kursk region governor Alexei Smirnov has since https://t.me/gubernator_46/7676
that the bridge collapsed.
The bridge was nearly seven miles north of the Ukrainian border, and was used as a key supply and logistics route for Russian forces fighting off the cross-border incursion.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bridgekrsk.jpg?itok=MAkv5rA2
The specific targeting of the bridge may be a move by Ukraine to solidify control of the Glushkovsky district, which leaves the protection of the Seym River a significant geographical barrier for Russian troops.
If it is indeed true that a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket struck and destroyed the bridge, this would mark a huge turning point of the conflict, where Ukraine troops are on Russian soil using American heavy rocket systems to take out major infrastructure.
Ukraine's air force boasted that it took out the bridge...
Ukraine’s Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk claims responsibility for the destruction of a bridge in Russia’s Kursk region today. Video via his Telegram channel. “Aviation of the Air Force takes an active part in combat operations in the Kursk direction.… https://t.co/K28WsC56Ml
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1824516620661764448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
RIA additionally reported a Russian security official as saying additionally on Friday, "Samples of small arms manufactured by the United States and Sweden have been seized at the liquidation site of a Ukrainian sabotage group near the village of Kremyanoe in the Kursk region."
So it is very clear by now that at least on some level, Western-supplied arms are having a central role in Ukrainian invasion of Russia's southern oblasts.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 23:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-destroys-key-bridge-kursk-region-using-us-supplied-himars

2024-08-17 01:20:00

Israel Stuns By Saying US, UK, France Will Assist In Offensive Strikes On Iran
Israel Stuns By Saying US, UK, France Will Assist In Offensive Strikes On Iran
Israel just upped the ante in its showdown with Iran amid ongoing concerns that an attack from the Islamic Republic could still be imminent in retaliation for the July 31st assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Friday that he expects not only the US but also its allies Britain and France to assist in offensive operations against Iran if it attacks. Katz conveyed the comments while meeting British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, in a bit of a risky diplomatic preemptive move given neither of these countries have openly proclaimed they are ready to launch direct attacks on Iran.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/katzfrnce.jpg?itok=uJWpMe8K
The Israeli FM was invoking the example of the United States, and https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-expects-uk-france-to-help-hit-iran-if-tehran-attacks-katz-tells-counterparts/
"that Israel expects France and Britain to publicly clarify to Iran that it is unacceptable for it to attack Israel and that if Iran attacks, the US-led coalition will join Israel not only in defense but also in an attack against significant targets in Iran."
It's as yet unclear whether even Washington has signed onto this, though it has moved significant Pentagon assets including an aircraft carrier strike group and submarine into regional waters.
When on April 13 Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones on Israel, US fighter jets helped intercept many of the inbound projectiles. American warships also engaged inbound missiles. But US involvement was only defensive, and ultimately there was no direct counterstrike on targets inside Iran. France and the UK also took part in this purely defensive operation.
"Israel cannot not respond strongly to attacks on it," Katz continued. His assumption is that clearly the US will partner Israel in any potential retaliation.
And yet, Israeli media later said of the perhaps presumptuous remarks that they were softened in the later official readout produced by the https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-expects-uk-france-to-help-hit-iran-if-tehran-attacks-katz-tells-counterparts/
:
An English-language statement from the meeting, which was held in English, sent out by the Foreign Ministry softened Katz’s message and omitted the sentence about needing to retaliate...
"I thanked them for their support of Israel and made it clear that the right way to deter Iran and prevent war is by announcing that if Iran attacks, they will stand with Israel not only in defense but also in striking targets in Iran."
However the US and Western allies have so far engaged in offensive strikes only on Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, amid the ongoing Red Sea shipping crisis.
BREAKING: A senior https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) https://twitter.com/JamesRosenTV/status/1824510402774044710?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Katz's words appeared intent on testing the waters and seeing just how far Israel's Western partners might be willing to go. Certainly, Israel's goading the US into direct attacks on Iran will be met with displeasure at least behind close doors at the White House, State Dept, and Pentagon.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 21:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-stuns-saying-us-uk-france-will-assist-offensive-strikes-iran

2024-08-17 00:05:00

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

2024-08-16 23:40:00

Kamalanomics Blowback Begins As Food Prices Hit Record Highs
Kamalanomics Blowback Begins As Food Prices Hit Record Highs
"KamalaCosts" and "Kamalanomics" are trending on X on Friday afternoon as Vice President Kamala Harris https://www.zerohedge.com/political/harris-unveils-plan-fix-last-4-years-economic-destruction
to address the crushing economic environment faced by the working poor and middle class during her tenure as vice president in the Biden administration.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GVIGi-WXEAAPJem.jpg?itok=rnGop9Dc
Recall that VP Harris was the biggest 'Bidenomics' cheerleader.
Kamala Harris 367 days ago: "That is called Bidenomics! Ha ha ha! That is called Bidenomics and we are very proud of Bidenomics!" https://t.co/gOxPZvxTCk
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1820486468563022018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It makes very little sense why VP Harris has recently admitted at campaign rallies there's an ongoing inflation storm and affordability crisis, yet it appears she is throwing President Biden under the bus. However, she is second in command and trying to deflect accountability for nation-killing, out-of-control government spending that stoked the inflation storm.
Shortest political ad I've ever seen 🤣 https://t.co/l8T2pHU4Cz
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1824525304641278172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Americans are beyond frustrated with inflation that the Biden-Harris administration has fueled over the past 3.5 years while VP Kamala Harris travels across the country, avoiding 'unscripted' press conferences and trying to convince voters at highly scripted campaign rallies that she's not responsible.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/shes-literally-running-against-herself-vp-kamala-harris-admits-families-hit-cost-living
After stealing former President Trump's proposed 'https://www.zerohedge.com/political/plagiarizing-trump-copy-cat-kamala-promises-no-tax-tips
pointed out that it was a poor policy choice...
"If your opponent claims you're a "communist," maybe don't start with an economic agenda that can (accurately) be labeled as federal price controls."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202024-08-16%20at%203.23.51%20PM.png?itok=HM3KCuYx
Investment analyst Lyn Alden pointed out on X that grocery stores like Kroger have "razor-thin profit margins." So the whole 'corporate price gouging' narrative by Harris' team is just 'malarkey.'
Grocery stores have razor-thin profit margins and people are talking about them price gouging. 🤷‍♀️ https://t.co/rHpVSB1sWX
— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1824498761894134072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Producers of food products have similar margins in the low double-digit range.
Producers of food products typically have margins in the single-digit to low-double-digit range, which is normal for a business, and similar to what they were a decade ago. https://t.co/whKkgscOUo
— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1824503621758648367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
House Republicans reminded folks on X today about the sour subject of Biden-Harris' food price inflation crisis:
🚨🚨Since Kamala Harris took office:
📈Eggs are UP 46.8%.
📈Peanut butter is UP 42.8%.
📈Crackers are UP 40.3%.
📈Baby food and formula are UP 30.1%.
📈 Inflation has skyrocketed by OVER 20%,
📈Delivery services are UP 29.7%. https://twitter.com/hashtag/KamalaCosts?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) https://twitter.com/HouseGOP/status/1824478108654661881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Others pointed out that 'Kamalanomics' is just an extension of 'Bidenomics' and focused on the massive food price surges.
When Kamala Harris took office inflation was at 1.4%. Nearly four years later it’s at 20.2%. How has https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kamalanomics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Scott DesJarlais (@DesJarlaisTN04) https://twitter.com/DesJarlaisTN04/status/1824509886987665688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is Kamalanomics. https://t.co/uUuJEdYg03
— GOP (@GOP) https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1823743405802795039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Just saw that Georgians have paid $27,427 more due to inflation since January 2021.
At this rate, the only thing growing faster than my grocery bill is my disappointment. https://twitter.com/hashtag/kamalanomics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) https://twitter.com/RepMikeCollins/status/1824085412022726857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
🚨 🔥
President Trump is commenting on https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kamalanomics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
.
He says this is just beginning, this is disaster.
Do you agree with him? https://t.co/teF2nM55Bz
— Frankie™️🦅 (@B7frankH) https://twitter.com/B7frankH/status/1824421095178420362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Harris prepares to battle Kamalanomics with Stalinist federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries. This woman is a Communist. https://t.co/lbrgFvUA3K
— JJ Murray (@therealJJMurray) https://twitter.com/therealJJMurray/status/1824198209339637915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Americans cannot afford four more years of Kamalanomics. https://twitter.com/hashtag/kamalanomics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Saint James Hartline (@JamesHartline) https://twitter.com/JamesHartline/status/1816226409624527229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, the latest data shows burger prices at the supermarket are at record highs.
If elected, Kamala will work very hard to reverse the record 40% increase in beef prices under the Biden/Kamala admin https://t.co/r0v4V7itWg
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1824513027187622277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Urner Barry wholesale data shows egg prices are erupting again.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-16_14-24-09.png?itok=OnsO6dJv
VP Harris had 3.5 years to save the middle class - yet she focused on wokeism and failed at her 'Border Czar' job.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GSinI7AaQAA9mdC.jpg?itok=Hjiy2GvJ
Food prices have yet to come back down to Earth.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8470c51.png?itok=8BmgaL-J
The latest US CPI Food Prices At-Home index is up 21% since Biden-Harris entered office, while wages for the working poor and middle class are only up 19.8%.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed_178.jpg?itok=746p7zZY
Food prices at home rose 6.5% during Trump's term (+1.6% p.a.). During Biden's term, food prices at home were up over 21% (+5.5% p.a.).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed-1_57.jpg?itok=SQfLMIAe
"Inflation is experienced at the grocery store, but always manufactured by the government. It's the same story every time. The politicians who create it by printing money, villainize and blame companies that have nothing to do with it — to distract from their reckless spending," https://x.com/cameron
wrote on X.
Inflation is experienced at the grocery store, but always manufactured by the government. It's the same story every time. The politicians who create it by printing money, villainize and blame companies that have nothing to do with it — to distract from their reckless spending. https://t.co/EJkng1004Q
— Cameron Winklevoss (@cameron) https://twitter.com/cameron/status/1824517673192985084?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The angle the Trump campaign appears to be taking is to hammer VP Harris and Democrats for their mismanaging of the economy that has financially decimated the working poor and middle class.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/kamalanomics-blowback-begins-food-prices-hit-record-highs

2024-08-16 22:50:00

Watch: Hezbollah Reveals Massive Underground Missile Base
Watch: Hezbollah Reveals Massive Underground Missile Base
The massive tunnel network underneath the Gaza Strip used by Hamas has long been known about, as has Iran's deep underground missile silos which defend the Islamic Republic's most sensitive military equipment from potential airstrikes, but much lesser known is Hezbollah's network of tunnels under southern Lebanon.
For the first time, Hezbollah on Friday published new video featuring a highly secretive underground facility from which its tens of thousands of missiles can be launched and stored. The location appears to be a mountainous area, given that the video is titled https://thecradle.co/articles/hezbollah-reveals-massive-underground-base-reminds-israel-retaliation-imminent
to a translation, "Our mountains are our storage sites."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/hezbtunnels.png?itok=2-3fqRpW
Hezbollah is calling the secret site "Imad-4" - after a commander who was killed by Israel in 2008, and it has passage ways that appear in some areas to be at least two stories high, or big enough to drive large military trucks through.
Lengthy tunnels and corridors are showcased in the video, through which trucks with missile launch pads are seen moving, as well as smaller combat vehicles like motorcycles or armored carriers.
Mobile rocket launch vehicles can apparently fire from out of the bunker when a tunnel entrance opens up. The video and messaging is intended to spook Israel as the potential for a broader war looms.
Lebanese newspaper https://www.almayadeen.net/news/politics/%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%B4%D9%81-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A3%D8%A9--%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AF-4--%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%B6---%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%81
suggested that it is not the only underground site, but that others exist. The publication wrote that Hezbollah "is not afraid to go to war, and is prepared for it if [Israel] decides to go too far in escalation and aggression."
"The capabilities of the Islamic Resistance, especially missiles, are fully prepared to defend Lebanon … the secrecy of the site allows Hezbollah’s missile capabilities to be immune from any preemptive Israeli strikes," Al Mayadeen continued.
Given that Iran has https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/16/iran-reveals-underground-missile-city-as-regional-tensions-rise.html
'missile cities' which it showcases from time to time, it is likely that Iranian advisers led the way in helping to construct Hezbollah's tunnels.
Watch Hezbollah's nearly 5-minute long video below:
Watch | Hezbollah publishes a new video titled "Our mountains are our stores," displaying the Lebanese Resistance's vast underground tunnels and missile store named the “Imad 4 facility" after former commander Imad Mughniyeh.
Hezbollah has only used a limited amount of its… https://t.co/e7S7vNnqYb
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1824368443753144348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In the Gaza Strip, it has been precisely Hamas' use of literally hundreds of miles of underground tunnels which has allowed it to survive the Israeli onslaught. Small guerilla teams can strike Israeli convoys and then rapidly retreat back to the tunnels. Israel says it has thus far killed at least 17,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, but there are believed to still be many thousands more.
Given that most war analysts consider Hezbollah's capabilities to be superior to Hamas', Israel would likely have an even tougher up-hill battle if it eventually invades southern Lebanon in an effort to destroy or degrade the Shia paramilitary force.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 18:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-hezbollah-reveals-massive-underground-missile-base

2024-08-16 20:20:00

Welcome To The 'Take No Prisoners', 'End Of The Road' Election
Welcome To The 'Take No Prisoners', 'End Of The Road' Election
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-no-prisoners-end-of-the-road-election/
“It’s all projection of their own bad desires, bad actions, personal afflictions to the point where the best way to tell what they plan to do is to see what they accuse others of.”
- El Gato Malo on Democrats
It’s fun to muse on the torrent of panicked, deranged texting between Democratic Convention delegates as a runaway train of malignant fates, bad choices, insane policies, delusional ideas, and feral emotion drives them to nominate a moron for president. The confusion and self-doubt must be epic. Are we really gonna do this? Is this really happening? You must imagine this is the same state of mind as, say, a car-full of drunken bridesmaids fishtailing down the highway at 70mph toward a telephone pole.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/mxw8ebw1u8f51.jpg?itok=CmuUllkX
The mis-plays and subterfuges that brought them to this pass cannot be undone: the insult of letting “Joe Biden” front for a criminal blob government, the many hoaxes and the exorbitant lawfare lawlessness, the gross mismanagement of public affairs, wreckage of institutions, ruined economy, devalued dollar, destruction of households and communities, sexual lunacy and programmed mental illness — this is the party’s legacy. Are none among them even a little bit ashamed of the damage they’ve done to this nation? And maybe wondering about it between one another? Perhaps even anxious to make it stop?
And so, the delegates head to Chicago, a city in civic freefall, to either pretend to celebrate the capricious selection of utterly dubious leaders imposed on them by unseen hands, or, just maybe, to revolt against the evil cabal affecting to “defend our democracy” by squashing it. Of course that’s inside the convention. Lord knows what hijinks are being concocted for outside the United Center arena by the various tribes that run on hot yellow bile these dog days of summer — the Hamas mob, the sex freaks, Antifas, BLMs, assorted Bolsheviks, anarchists, utopians, climate change sob-sisters, Gramscian culture stompers, Spartacists, Trotskyites, Jacobins, Fabians, and plain old riffraff out for fun and loot. The gigantic parking wasteland surrounding the United Center on West Madison Street has the look of a perfect battlefield.
All that commences on Monday.
In the meantime, much misdirection zings around the Trumpian opposition and the outlier Robert F Kennedy, Jr., as the intel blob that runs mainstream media attempts to seed dissension and confusion amongst them. It includes rumors that Mr. Trump made “a deal” with the blob to go all flabby in exchange for getting let off the hook on his many blob-contrived lawfare problems. The chance of that being true must be zero, even though New York Judge Juan Merchan has an opportunity to send the former president to jail on September 18. I would like to see him try that. It will surely prompt the most momentous and memorable tableau of symbolic resistance in US history since John Paul Jones yelled to the British ship Serapis requesting his surrender, “I have not yet begun to fight.”
As for RFK, Jr., stories circulate that Mr. Trump tried (and failed) to make a deal that would have got Bobby on-board as veep, or some other juicy assignment, if he would drop out of the race. But it’s hard to see exactly how that discredits either of them, since just about everybody expects Mr. Trump, if elected, to employ Bobby for, at least, cleaning up the public health and pharma sectors of the blob — an epic task he’s ideally suited for.
Then, there was malicious chatter late this week that Bobby had approached Kamala Harris with a proffered endorsement in exchange for a key position in her government — assuming that massive ballot fraud ensures her victory November fifth. Mr. Kennedy denied the rumor and went on to denounce the current incarnation of the Democratic Party as utterly inimical to everything it used to represent when his father and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, were in office, especially on matters of free speech and censorship.
As that quarrel rolled out, Judge Christina Ryba kicked Bobby off the New York ballot for supposedly mis-stating that he was a New York resident on his own voter registration. He intends to appeal. New York has become a judicial sewer under Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul.
So, stand by now to see whether Kamala Harris and Tim Walz come out of next week’s convention Mixmaster the same way they went in: as bona fide candidates. At some point Ms. Harris will have to demonstrate some fitness for high office besides being a go-go dancer and a laugh riot. Tim Walz acts so unhinged in front of every audience that I expect the campaign to stuff him in a broom closet when the convention is over — should he actually still be on the ticket when all is said and done.
It seems at this point that the brooding Matron of Chappaqua will never get her “turn” in the White House after all. It must gall Hillary to see history change her out for an equity hire with half a brain. Politics is a cruel business. You’ll see just how cruel the next time they try to whack Mr. Trump in this No Prisoners, End of the Road election campaign. It will almost certainly get crazier from here.
* * *
Support his blog by visiting https://www.patreon.com/JamesHowardKunstler
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/welcome-take-no-prisoners-end-road-election

2024-08-16 20:00:00

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 19:40:00

San Francisco City Attorney Sues Sites That "Undress" Women With AI
San Francisco City Attorney Sues Sites That "Undress" Women With AI
https://cointelegraph.com/news/san-francisco-attorney-sues-ai-sites-undress-women
San Francisco’s City Attorney has filed a lawsuit against the owners of 16 websites that have allowed users to “nudify” women and young girls using AI.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/ai-that-undresses-girls.jpg?itok=PKH9kKf6
The office of San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu on Aug. 15 https://www.sfcityattorney.org/2024/08/15/city-attorney-sues-most-visited-websites-that-create-nonconsensual-deepfake-pornography/#:~:text=SAN%20FRANCISCO%20(August%2015%2C%202024,distribute%20nonconsensual%20AI%2Dgenerated%20pornography
he was suing the owners of 16 of the “most-visited websites” that allow users to “undress” people in a photo to make “nonconsensual nude images of women and girls.”
A redacted version of the suit https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Complaint_Final_Redacted.pdf
and Estonia who have violated California and United States laws on deepfake porn, revenge porn and child sexual abuse material.
The websites are far from unknown, either. The complaint claims that they have racked up https://cointelegraph.com/news/wall-street-ai-bubble-crypto-projects
in just the first half of the year.
One website boasted that it allows its users to “see anyone naked.” Another says, “Imagine wasting time taking her out on dates when you can just use [the website] to get her nudes,” according to the complaint.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/f861dede-ff86-4858-983e-fef299a5.jpg?itok=jDF2BCsV
Source: https://x.com/SFCityAttorney/status/1824145474355597783
The https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-is-black-box-ai
used by the sites are trained on images of porn and child sexual abuse material, Chiu’s office said.
Essentially, someone can upload a picture of their target to https://cointelegraph.com/learn/deepfakes-how-to-spot-fake-audio-and-video
, pornographic version of them. Some sites limit their generations to adults only, but others even allow images of children to be created.
Chiu’s office said the images are “virtually indistinguishable” from the real thing and have been used to “extort, bully, threaten, and humiliate women and girls,” many of which have https://cointelegraph.com/news/new-bill-suggests-standardized-watermark-content-combat-ai-deepfakes
the fake images once they’ve been created.
In February, AI-generated nude images of 16 eighth-grade students — who are typically 13 to 14 years old — were shared around by students at a California middle school, it said.
In June, ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-11/bacchus-marsh-grammar-explicit-images-ai-nude/103965298
Victoria Police arrested a teenager for allegedly circulating 50 images of grade nine to 12 students who attended a school outside Melbourne, Australia.
“This investigation has taken us to the darkest corners of the internet, and I am absolutely horrified for the women and girls who have had to endure this exploitation,” said Chiu.
“We all need to do our part to crack down on bad actors using AI to exploit and abuse real people, including children,” he added.
Chiu said that AI has “enormous promise,” but there are criminals that are exploiting the technology, adding, “We have to be very clear that this is not innovation — this is sexual abuse.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 15:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/san-francisco-city-attorney-sues-sites-undress-women-ai

2024-08-16 17:20:00

Trump: I Told Netanyahu 'Win Fast' Because 'The Killing Has To Stop'
Trump: I Told Netanyahu 'Win Fast' Because 'The Killing Has To Stop'
Former US president Donald Trump's consistent message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the ongoing Gaza war has been that Israel should get it done quickly, declare victory, and then walk away.
The Republican presidential nominee was questioned by reporters at a New Jersey press event Thursday whether he has called for Netanyahu to achieve ceasefire with Hamas in their private conversations. Trump revealed that when he met Netanyahu https://apnews.com/article/trump-netanyahu-gaza-war-israel-3d7a6b47060fbe51f66d82104ac5e1aa
at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate he told the Israeli leader to swiftly "get your victory" because the "killing has to stop" in Gaza.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/trumpandbibi1_0.jpg?itok=Gz21TVTU
However, Trump denied pressing Netanyahu for a ceasefire and asserted that Netanyahu "knows what he’s doing." Trump has heaped criticism on VP Kamala Harris precisely for openly urging a quick ceasefire.
"I did encourage him to get this over with. You want to get it over with fast. Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop," Trump added, positing a big of a significant caveat.
Trump spelling out that the "killing has to stop" is the closest he has come to criticizing the way Israel is executing the war in Gaza.
"From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire," Trump said at the New Jersey event. He added that it "would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack."
"I will give Israel the support that it needs to win but I do want them to win fast," Trump added. But the fact remains that Hamas as a guerrilla force is able to utilize networks of tunnels which are seemingly endless, making a protracted conflict inevitable if Tel Aviv really hopes to fully eradicate Hamas, which some IDF generals have said is impossible.
All of this comes the same week that the Gaza Health Ministry has announced over 40,000 dead in Gaza since last October. Israel has consistently disputed these figures, saying they are inflated that at least 17,000 of the dead were Hamas terrorists.
There has been some tensions and awkward back-and-forth this week between Netanyahu's office and the Trump campaign, after https://www.axios.com/2024/08/15/trump-netanyahu-gaza-hostage-ceasefire-deal-call
reported that Netanyahu's office "said in a statement Thursday that he did not speak with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal."
News of the alleged phone call has stirred controversy, with some accusing Trump of circumventing proper government channels related to representing US foreign policy at a sensitive moment...
Netanyahu’s been clear for months he will not accept a lasting ceasefire deal. He’s said so dozens of times. Yet Biden keeps faking like this is a thing that could happen without a credible threat of US cutting off aid—which Biden refuses to do. The Trump angle is a non sequitur https://t.co/RJ44D6BIaF
— Adam Johnson (@adamjohnsonCHI) https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonCHI/status/1824176840107233555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This after Axios earlier reported that the two had a secretive phone call to discuss the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, according to two US officials. But the Trump team neither confirmed nor denied, and didn't issue comment.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 13:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-i-told-netanyahu-win-fast-because-killing-has-stop

2024-08-16 14:15:00

Watch: Amazon's Alexa Says Trump Wasn't Shot
Watch: Amazon's Alexa Says Trump Wasn't Shot
https://modernity.news/2024/08/15/watch-amazons-alexa-says-trump-wasnt-shot
Someone asked Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa for clarification on whether President Trump was really shot on July 13, and it replied in the negative.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Alexa.jpg?itok=Y0yscSuz
Footage widely shared on social media shows Alexa being asked “Was Trump really shot?”
The bot replies “No, Donald Trump was not really shot.”
It adds, “There were two attempted assassinations of Donald Trump, one in 2016 and another in 2024. Both times the assailant was stopped and arrested by security forces.”
“These events were widely reported in the news,” it adds.
Amazon’s Alexa says Trump was never actually shot.
Why is Amazon hiding the truth?https://t.co/f05u2E6nt2
— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1823914264496890156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As we previously highlighted, the FBI has categorically confirmed that Trump was hit by a bullet, despite earlier doubts sowed by Director Christopher Wray, who appeared to give credence to a theory that Trump was hit by shrapnel or glass.
“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” an FBI statement noted.
Wray had earlier in the week during testimony in Congress stated “There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel,” further spurring deranged leftist conspiracy theorists, including some who believe the entire thing was staged by Trump himself.
* * *
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
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 10:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-amazons-alexa-says-trump-wasnt-shot

2024-08-16 13:45:00

Harris Unveils Plan To Fix Last 4 Years Of Economic Destruction
Harris Unveils Plan To Fix Last 4 Years Of Economic Destruction
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 - 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...
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 - 09:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/harris-unveils-plan-fix-last-4-years-economic-destruction

2024-08-16 10:30:00

UK Health Workers Ordered To Ask Men If They're Pregnant Before X-Rays: Report
UK Health Workers Ordered To Ask Men If They're Pregnant Before X-Rays: Report
https://modernity.news/2024/08/14/uk-health-workers-ordered-to-ask-men-if-theyre-pregnant-before-x-rays-report
The Telegraph reports that National Health Service staff in the UK are being mandated to ask everyone, even men, if they are pregnant before carrying out radiography.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/doctor.jpg?itok=XqtlP0TZ
The report notes that as part of ‘inclusivity guidance’, all patients aged 12-55 must be asked the question, regardless of their sex.
The new mandate was introduced following an incident where a ‘trans man’ (a biological woman) who was unknowingly pregnant underwent a CT scan.
The guidance states that staff must be inclusive of transgender, non-binary and intersex patients and refrain from making assumptions about biological sex.
🔴 NHS staff told to ask men if they are pregnant before X-rays https://t.co/xtjs1kJAr5
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1822554074224451844?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Whistleblowers within the health service have told the Telegraph that new ‘inclusive’ forms to be filled in by patients are causing “confusion and anger” and putting people’s health at risk.
The report further notes that the pregnancy forms have sections asking for sex at birth, preferred name and pronouns, and contain “ridiculous” statements about people who are born with variations in sex characteristics.
A radiographer notes that one male patient who was scheduled to see specialists for an urgent cancer diagnosis “was so annoyed by the questions on the form, he shouted, he left the department and didn’t actually have a scan”.
Other patients were left with doubts about the quality of care they were receiving due to the inclusivity forms.
Women in particular have reacted badly to the new policy, with some “who have had terrible miscarriages, [and] ectopic pregnancies” being reminded of the trauma.
“Instead of just asking ‘is there any chance you could be pregnant?’ and them choosing to say ‘no’, they’re now having to say, ‘I had two ectopic pregnancies, and I don’t have ovaries anymore’ and we then write that down,” a source urged.
Parents are also fuming over the policy, according to sources, charging that their children are being “indoctrinated” to choose preferred pronouns and gender identity.
Figures from the Office For National Statistics show that less than 1 percent of the population identifies as trans or non binary.
This is the latest in a line of such concerns to be aired from within the NHS, as we have previously highlighted.
* * *
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
Fri, 08/16/2024 - 06:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-health-workers-ordered-ask-men-if-theyre-pregnant-x-rays-report

2024-08-16 02:10:00

Coming To San Fran? Viral Video Shows 'Sub-Lethal' Remote Gun Protecting Commercial Building
Coming To San Fran? Viral Video Shows 'Sub-Lethal' Remote Gun Protecting Commercial Building
South Africa ranks third in Africa on the Global Organized Crime Index. Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban are among the most dangerous cities in the country, suffering from high levels of violent crime, carjackings, robberies, and murders.
Given the South African government's inability to protect individuals and businesses from the chaos, one South African company has developed a non-lethal remote control gun mounted on light poles that shoots intruders.
Johannesburg-based Sublethal developed the non-lethal remote-control gun that fires standard .68 caliber paintballs with solid nylon bullets or pepper balls.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/gun_4.jpg?itok=Fmz8g32q
"This weapon is frequently used in security in South Africa and internationally where non-lethal force should be used," https://www.sublethal.co.za/
wrote on its website.
A video of the weapon in use in South Africa has gone viral on X in the past day, garnering more than 5 million views.
En Sudáfrica hay una cámara de seguridad que cuando detecta a un chorro lo caga a tiros kjjj
Para que aprendan las viejas acá con las alarmas vecinales https://t.co/7A9CAtN6E5
— ElBuni (@therealbuni) https://twitter.com/therealbuni/status/1823746361784746128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here's the full video:
Sublethal noted, "The remote gun will not autonomously shoot anyone. The gun is controlled either from a control center or from the user's cellphone. Either way, there is a human who decides when to shoot."
It's only a matter of time before this non-lethal remote-control gun, mounted on light poles, finds its way into commercial yards across the US, given the Democrats' inability to uphold common sense law and order.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 22:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/coming-san-fran-viral-video-shows-sublethal-remote-gun-protecting-commerical-building

2024-08-16 01:20:00

Wealthy Chinese National Engineered "Bogus Raid" To Strongarm Business Partner Out Of $37 Million
Wealthy Chinese National Engineered "Bogus Raid" To Strongarm Business Partner Out Of $37 Million
Four former law enforcement and military officers are being accused of conducting a raid in 2019 that they used to extort a businessman out of $37 million.
The four accused individuals were paid by the victim's business partner, a wealthy Chinese national, to engage in the "bogus raid", https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/4-former-officers-accused-staging-sham-raid-extort-nearly-37-million-c-rcna166279
They then made the businessman sign over his multimillion-dollar interest in Jiangsu Sinorgchem, a Chinese rubber chemical manufacturer. He had previously been in a dispute regarding the company for years.
According to the https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ex-law-enforcement-and-former-military-officers-charged-alleged-sham-raid-extort-oc
, the four men involved were:
Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, of Canyon Country, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputy who stopped working for LASD in 2020 and owns a Santa Clarita-based process service company;
Glen Louis Cozart, 63, of Upland, a former LASD deputy who owns and operates a San Bernardino County-based private investigation and security services company;
Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, 39, of Australia, a United Kingdom citizen and former member of the British military who owns an Australia-based private investigation and asset recovery business; and
Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, of Australia, an Australian citizen and former member of the Australian military who owns an Australia-based risk management services business.
The https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/4-former-officers-accused-staging-sham-raid-extort-nearly-37-million-c-rcna166279
says that during the raid, the man's wife and two children were present. The victim and his business partner, referred to only as "unindicted co-conspirator 1," a wealthy Chinese national, were not named, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202024-08-15%20at%205.59.12%E2%80%AFAM.jpg?itok=L3ZdScQR
In December 2018, the unindicted co-conspirator asked Turbett to help resolve her business dispute, expressing frustration with costly litigation and seeking an alternative solution, prosecutors said. She promised Turbett they could both retire if he succeeded.
Turbett and the co-conspirator then created fake settlement agreements, requiring victim 1 to transfer nearly $37 million in cash and shares in Jiangsu Sinorgchem to her. This set off a chain of events leading to the staged raid on June 17, 2019, according to the https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/4-former-officers-accused-staging-sham-raid-extort-nearly-37-million-c-rcna166279
.
Before the raid, Turbett hired Cozart, who then recruited Lankford, a sheriff’s deputy, to locate victim 1 using a law enforcement database, which was against policy, prosecutors said.
Turbett and Hart flew from Australia to Los Angeles to meet with Cozart and Lankford to plan the sham raid. During the raid, the defendants detained the victim and his family, confiscated their phones, and subjected the businessman to physical threats until he signed the agreements, prosecutors said.
Although warned not to contact police, the victim reported the incident after the defendants left. Lankford later lied to police, claiming the raid was legitimate and that no force was used.
By November 2019, all defendants had been paid for their roles in coercing the businessman, with the co-conspirator paying Turbett’s company around $419,813 and thanking him for a "very good job," according to prosecutors.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada commented: “It is critical that we hold public officials, including law enforcement officers, to the same standards as the rest of us. It is unacceptable and a serious civil rights violation for a sworn police officer to take the law into his own hands and abuse the authority of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
“The defendants in this case allegedly believed they could carry out vigilante justice by using official police powers to enter the home of vulnerable victims and extorting them out of millions of dollars,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
The full DOJ press release can be read https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ex-law-enforcement-and-former-military-officers-charged-alleged-sham-raid-extort-oc
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 21:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wealthy-chinese-national-engineered-bogus-raid-strongarm-business-partner-out-37-million

2024-08-16 00:55:00

10 Things To Know About Tim Walz And His Ties To Communist China
10 Things To Know About Tim Walz And His Ties To Communist China
https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/15/ten-things-to-know-about-tim-walz-and-communist-china/
Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential candidate seems to be a case of ideological birds of a feather flocking together.
In the wake of the selection, Walz has received considerable criticism for his deception and dissembling regarding his military service.
He merits equally great criticism for his ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Here are ten things that you did not know about Tim Walz and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-2160509325.jpg?itok=WlgYJzOA
First, Walz claimed that he was in the PRC during the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre. One of the authors interviewed him in 2014 when he made this statement, and he later repeated the same falsehood to the media. In reality, Walz did not enter China until September 1989, several months after the massacre. He entered China from Hong Kong as part of the WorldTeach program, which was sponsored by the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID). HIID was known for being very pro-PRC and had trained many high-ranking Chinese officials. Later, HIID received many millions of dollars from the PRC.
Second, Walz claimed that he went to the PRC in 1989 because it was a rising country. However, China was not rising at that time. In fact, it was still extremely impoverished. The PRC’s rise occurred in the mid-1990s and especially after 2001 when it joined the World Trade Organization. After the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Chinese government was desperate to recruit foreigners to come to the country. A few did to show support for the communist regime.
Third, the Chinese gave Walz the name “Tian Hua.” Walz misrepresented its meaning by saying it reflected his kindness. In reality, there is no such implication in Chinese. “Tian” means “field,” and “Hua” means “China.” The accurate translation of “Tian Hua” is “the fields of China.”
Fourth, in 2014, Walz explained why he went to the PRC during that critical time: “I felt it was more important than ever to go, to make sure that story was told, and to let the Chinese people know we were standing there, we were with them.” This was clearly a lie. After the massacre, the CCP launched a political crackdown that permeated the PRC and it remains a taboo issue. Hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned, and no one could even mention the bloody event without risking arrest. Walz would not have been able to say a word to his students unless he wanted to get himself and them into serious trouble. In fact, according to Tim Walz himself, he fell in love with that China, that is, with the CCP’s form of tyrannical and illegitimate rule over the Chinese people.
Fifth, it is well known that after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Chinese authorities—including the Ministry for State Security, the United Front, and other spy agencies—made concerted efforts to woo every foreigner in the PRC—especially Americans—by showering them with gifts and praise with the promise of more to come. Walz mentioned that he received so many gifts that he could not bring them all back to the U.S. At that time, China was a very poor country, with the average income of a Chinese worker being less than $20 per month. Moreover, it was somewhat dangerous for ordinary Chinese citizens to get too close to foreigners, particularly Americans. The Chinese government did not fully resume its open-door policy until 1992, long after Walz had left.
Sixth, Walz chose June 4 as his wedding day in 1994, which is extremely unusual. Even ordinary Chinese people would avoid selecting that bloody day for celebrations, as it is considered bad luck. The only reason someone might choose that day would be to show submission to the Chinese government by celebrating the crackdown. In Chinese symbolic tradition, this could be seen as a pledge of loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Seventh, before his honeymoon, Walz launched a company called Educational Travel Adventures, which specialized in bringing American students to China. An article in the local Chinese media reported that he and his bride brought 50 students from America. The company continued to send students to China until 2003. It is important to note that operating a business in China requires all kinds of permits—both official and unofficial—from Chinese authorities at the local, provincial, and central levels. These permits were typically obtained either by paying bribes or by securing endorsements, whether tacit or open, from government officials. For foreigners, the MSS would certainly have been involved. That is as certain as the sun rising in the east.
Eighth, education is one of the most closely monitored activities in the PRC. To operate a business like his, Walz would have needed at least one local partner, if not several, and those partners would have been sanctioned by State Security. There is no way around it. However, Walz has never mentioned any such partnership. After carefully searching Chinese websites, we were not able to find any records, which is very unusual. Typically, local Chinese media would boast about large groups of foreign students visiting and about Americans who loved China. An educated guess would be that such records were completely wiped after Walz entered politics.
Ninth, it is likely that possible partners of Walz’s company in the United States would be local Confucius Institutes and CTG Travel, which is PRC-owned. In the PRC, they would be local or central offices of the United Front Department, the Department of Education, the Communist Youth League, and universities and colleges. These partners underscore strong ties to the CCP.
Tenth, there likely are many more shoes to drop when it comes to Walz’s relationship with the PRC and CCP. It was a longstanding relationship. It is a certainty that the CCP expects something in return for their investment in Walz. The American people deserve to know the who, what, where, why, and when of Walz’s relationship with the PRC. Walz would not be the first politician bought by the CCP, President Biden, his family, and associates have received many scores of millions of dollars from PRC entities. But Walz should be the last. His close ties to the CCP alone should disqualify him from office.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 20:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/10-things-know-about-tim-walz-and-his-ties-communist-china

2024-08-16 00:30:00

CIA Sees Kursk Raid As Having 'Punctured The Hubris' Of Putin
CIA Sees Kursk Raid As Having 'Punctured The Hubris' Of Putin
President Joe Biden said this week that he was in "constant contact" with the Ukrainians related to the ongoing invasion of Kursk oblast. "I’ve spoken with my staff on a regular basis probably every four or five hours for the last six or eight days,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/08/13/remarks-by-president-biden-after-air-force-one-arrival-kenner-la/
about the fighting in Kursk, which is now at a week-and-a-half.
"And it’s — it’s creating a real dilemma for Putin. And we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact with — with the Ukrainians," he added. "That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active."
From the start, US officials have acted like they were in the dark the whole time as to Ukraine's plans, likely for the purpose of plausible deniability and so Kiev isn't seen by Moscow as having been directly backed by NATO in the brazen cross-border operation.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kurskinv.jpg?itok=CLvxLoOf
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had initially said on Friday, "We’re in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts, and we are working to gain a better understanding of what they’re doing, what their goals are, what their strategy is, and I’m going to leave a little bit of space for us to have those conversations before I try to characterize what’s going on."
But on Thursday there are the following interesting lines from the NY Times pointing out that top US officials have been quick to boast about how the operation has dealt a blow to the https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/15/us/politics/ukraine-incursion-russia-kursk.html
:
The operation itself will not drive Russia to the bargaining table, according to U.S. officials. Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, has pledged not to negotiate while Ukraine occupies Russia, and American officials said he should be taken at his word.
But in public speeches, the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, has spoken about the need to puncture the hubris of Mr. Putin. Russia will not make any concessions, he has said, until Mr. Putin’s overconfidence is challenged and Ukraine shows strength on the battlefield.
The Times also proclaims that this operation has embarrassed Putin and exposed weaknesses. And US officials further say that the fight is about to get a lot dirtier and more risky, in expectation of future sabotage and cross-border campaigns.
"American officials say Ukraine will have to build on the operation, with other daring operations that can push back against Russia’s sense that its victory is inevitable," writes NY Times. "Whether that will include more cross-border incursions, secret sabotage missions or other yet-to-be-planned operations remains to be seen."
These future operations might involve use of US-supplied equipment, just like with the current Kurks mission: "The lack of warning to Kyiv’s foremost Western ally took on even greater meaning when it became clear that Ukraine was using American-supplied vehicles, arms and munitions to help carry out the bold ground operation into Russia," the report continues.
Ukrainian forces conduct an ambush in Kursk. Seems like there are a lot of these small groups conducting operations in areas the Russians feel are safe to travel. https://t.co/pms8tvKt5H
— Preston Stewart (@prestonstew_) https://twitter.com/prestonstew_/status/1824068285794541592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Politico is meanwhile separately reporting that the Biden administration is now "open" to providing Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which would be "a move that would give Kyiv's F-16s greater combat punch as it seeks to gain further momentum in its fight against Russia," according to the https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/15/biden-missiles-ukraine-russia-00174147
.
Ukrainian operations and heavy fighting have also reportedly spread to the Belgorod region. Kiev continues to tout 'victories' - including the capture of another 100 Russian soldiers on Thursday. Dramatic accounts like the following continue to come out in Western https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukrainian-soldier-said-russian-troops-045814890.html
:
A Ukrainian soldier who participated in the first forays of last week's Kursk incursion said his unit caught Russian troops completely by surprise as the latter were having coffee. His account, published by https://www.ft.com/content/bc695adf-bd17-4242-b4bc-82235a97edbf
by Ukraine's rare cross-border attack on August 6.
The FT wrote that the soldier, identified as Volodymyr, was part of a unit operating a US-provided Stryker armored fighting vehicle.
Volodymyr told the outlet that his unit entered Kursk in the late morning of August 6, and soon found a group of Russian troops "sitting in the forest, drinking coffee at a table."
"Then our Stryker drives right into their table," he said, per the FT. "We killed many of them on the first day. Because they were unarmed and didn't expect us," he added.
More mass surrenders of Russians in Kursk. https://t.co/UMcumnK8iG
— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1824011808610369963?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And now Zelensky has opened a new administrative center in Ukraine. "Ukraine solidified its control over the parts of Russia’s Kursk region it has taken in a 10-day offensive, announcing Thursday the appointment of a military commander to manage the area as well as new battlefield successes," https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/15/russia-ukraine-kursk-captured-soldiers/
writes.
The cross-border assault has unfolded over the past ten days, with Ukrainian officials recently floating a plan to hold territory inside Russia as a "buffer zone". However, Russia has been sending heavy manpower to the region, as well as aerial power.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 20:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/cia-sees-kursk-raid-having-punctured-hubris-putin

2024-08-16 00:05:00

Fake Images Are Everywhere Now—Here's How To Spot Them
Fake Images Are Everywhere Now—Here's How To Spot Them
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/fake-images-are-everywhere-now-heres-how-to-spot-them-5703444?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop, it’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between real photographs and AI-generated images.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/spot%20itaa.png?itok=y1J0Fl13
AI can create everything from stunning landscapes to lifelike portraits in a matter of moments—and at first glance, they may appear perfectly legitimate.
In this age of misinformation, how can you discern if the images you’re seeing are real or fabricated?
Fortunately, there are subtle clues that can help us tell the difference, including inconsistencies in texture, anomalies in human features, and garbled writing. By understanding these telltale signs, you can better navigate digital information and assess the authenticity of the images you encounter.
1. Unnatural Hands and Limbs
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2872%29_0.jpg?itok=ggmbXnoX
Hands and limbs are surprisingly complex structures, and AI often struggles to accurately replicate them. Look for extra, oddly shaped, or misaligned fingers. They may also be positioned in an unusual way or have improper dimensions.
In the above image, the children’s hands and feet look unnatural, with misshapen fingers and toes as well as misaligned sandal straps.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/oop.PNG?itok=xTZ68Btf
2. Discrepancies in Details
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2873%29_0.jpg?itok=p9K5wf01
AI has difficulty rendering small details, so you might also see objects and elements being subtly merged together in unnatural ways. These imperfections occur because AI relies on pattern recognition, which can fail when handling intricate or nuanced details.
So if you’re uncertain if a crowd photo is legitimate, take a look at the details. For example, background faces are often blurred or have soft, poorly defined characteristics.
In this AI-generated image, the man in the water has a blurry face and fingerless hands, while the young man on shore has a transparent leg that appears to merge into the background.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/notreal.PNG?itok=GU_aCK8p
3. Overly Perfect Skin
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/skin.PNG?itok=JosqDpDW
Having an overly smooth face with very little texture is a sign of an AI-generated photo. Its lack of genuine texture and flaws can almost make the individual look comical.
In the above images, the girl on the left has extremely smooth skin and hair that blends in with her collar. The boy to the right also has skin that is too smooth.
4. Misalignments
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2871%29_0.jpg?itok=U8rLQ41c
AI can struggle with alignments, resulting in a disjointed or incoherent appearance because elements don’t align properly.
Objects may overlap in unnatural ways that defy spatial coherence.
Zoom in to spot inconsistencies, such as in the above image, where the lines of the wicker cut through the picnic items. The texture lines on the woven picnic basket and tray are misaligned.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2874%29_0.jpg?itok=85A3dF2n
5. Inconsistencies and Asymmetries in Small Details
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/pers.PNG?itok=7x-bopkZ
Inconsistencies in minor things, such as glasses with mismatched lenses or frames, should be easy to notice.
Though they appear genuine at first glance, the following AI-generated photos from ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com have flaws that may be seen with closer examination.
The woman in the left image is wearing two completely different earrings.
The center image is betrayed as AI-generated by the left corner, where the man’s shirt blends with the background.
In the image on the far right, the endpieces of the glasses are mismatched.
6. Garbled Writing
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2875%29_0.jpg?itok=aAnl_zkS
AI-generated images often produce garbled or nonsensical text, with letters and words jumbled.
Take a close look at any writing or logos in the image to see if they are difficult to read or completely incoherent.
This image, produced by AI, depicts traffic on a crowded street. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the text on the roadside billboard is illegible.
7. Illogical Context
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2876%29_0.jpg?itok=i1BprTOk
Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/fake-images-are-everywhere-now-heres-how-to-spot-them-5703444?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 20:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/fake-images-are-everywhere-now-heres-how-spot-them

2024-08-15 16:05:00

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 07:30:00

White British Cops Win Discrimination Case; Were Not Considered For Promotion Due To Skin-Color
White British Cops Win Discrimination Case; Were Not Considered For Promotion Due To Skin-Color
https://modernity.news/2024/08/14/white-police-officers-win-discrimination-case-were-not-considered-for-promotion-due-to-skin-colour
Three Thames Valley Police officers have won an employment tribunal in which they charged they had been disadvantaged by employers for being “white British”.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/police_2.jpg?itok=IZnYtQvY
The Telegraph reports that the tribunal was informed that a superintendent at the police force was tasked with ‘improving diversity’, specifically by seeking to appoint an “Asian” sergeant to the rank of Detective Inspector.
👮 Three white police officers have won a discrimination case after an employment judge ruled that they were passed over for promotion because of their race.https://t.co/MhYO7ibVFU
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1823115320816492840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The three officers, who had all been working for the force for between 19-26 years were actively blocked from applying for the position.
The vacancy was never advertised and no competitive employment process was initiated, it was revealed at the tribunal.
A month after the position became available, a Sergeant Sidhu (Forename withheld) was appointed.
This person held a lower rank and wasn’t even an inspector or detective inspector, unlike the three white officers.
'We have a police force that's turned down well qualified white candidates - just because they're white - so Sergeant Sidhu can have a go!'https://twitter.com/PatrickChristys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— GB News (@GBNEWS) https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1823474147101450471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Tribunal noted that the Superintendent (Emma Baillie) had been ordered to “make it happen” by the Deputy Chief Constable and “took the decision without thinking it through.”
It was also revealed that Baillie later tried to “retrospectively justify” the decision, claiming the appointment was made under a “BAME Progression Program which clearly did not exist at the time”.
“Superintendent Baillie and no doubt the deputy chief constable had been warned of the risk of operating such a policy,” the tribunal said.
Employment Judge Robin Postle concluded “The Superintendent made a decision to move Police Sergeant Sidhu into the detective inspector role without any competitive assessment process taking place.“
Postle added, “It went beyond mere encouragement, disadvantaging those officers who did not share Sergeant Sidhu’s protected characteristic of race and who were denied the opportunity to apply for the role.”
“It was not a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Clearly, Superintendent Baillie was only focused on ‘making it work’ rather than carrying out a balancing exercise,” the judge further noted, adding that the decision “clearly constituted positive discrimination.”
White privilege, right?
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 03:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/white-british-cops-win-discrimination-case-were-not-considered-promotion-due-skin-color

2024-08-15 01:20:00

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

2024-08-14 23:40:00

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

2024-08-14 20:40:00

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 14:05:00

Germany Issues First Arrest Warrant In Nord Stream Sabotage Investigation
Germany Issues First Arrest Warrant In Nord Stream Sabotage Investigation
The Nord Stream pipeline explosion was one the largest acts of industrial sabotage in modern history. Nearly two years later, speculation continues to swirl about who was behind the attack.
Was it the CIA, as famed journalist and Pulitzer prize winner https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nord-stream-sabotage-was-cia-us-navy-covert-op-seymour-hersh-bombshell-prompts-white
? Did the Russians blow up their own undersea pipeline in the Baltic Sea? Or was it a Ukrainian commando with a sailing yacht?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GFuWme5WkAA68LB.jpg?itok=06eqA7Lo
A new report surfaced on Wednesday, released by several German media outlets, including ARD, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2024-07/nordstream-anschlag-ermittlungen-festnahme
. It details how German officials obtained an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian citizen named 'Volodymyr Z' in June, who was living in Poland at the time.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-14_07-46-15.png?itok=PdZ-BLWh
Polish National Public Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Anna Adamiak told Reuters that the arrest warrant was sent to the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw in June.
Volodymyr Z was a diver wanted in connection with the Nord Stream explosion that rocked the NatGas pipeline, which stretches from Russia to Germany, in September 2022.
"Ultimately, Volodymyr Z. was not detained, because at the beginning of July he left Polish territory, crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border," Adamiak said.
She continued, "Free crossing of the Polish-Ukrainian border by the above-mentioned person was possible because German authorities... did not include him in the database of wanted persons, which meant that the Polish Border Guard had no knowledge and no grounds to detain Volodymyr Z."
UPDATE: Poland confirmed it had received a European arrest warrant from Germany for a suspect in the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
The Polish prosecutor's office said Volodymyr Z. could not be arrested as he left the country for Ukraine in early July. https://t.co/saOVCJCaxk
— DW News (@dwnews) https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1823657961966739882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In February, Swedish and Danish authorities closed their investigation into who was behind the pipeline sabotage.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/sweden-halts-nord-stream-investigation-hands-germany-hersh-fills-more-blanks
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/denmark-drops-probe-nord-stream-gas-pipeline-sabotage
In early 2023, months after the pipeline attack, journalist Seymour Hersh published a bombshell report on his Substack that alleged the https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nord-stream-sabotage-was-cia-us-navy-covert-op-seymour-hersh-bombshell-prompts-white
as part of a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise.
"The Navy proposed using a newly commissioned submarine to assault the pipeline directly. The Air Force discussed dropping bombs with delayed fuses that could be set off remotely. The CIA argued that whatever was done, it would have to be covert. Everyone involved understood the stakes," the report, entitled https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream
, reads.
Days after the explosion, America's corporate media outlets pushed this propaganda.
The mainstream news media is the main source of disinformation today https://t.co/QreqONGS7h
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1623329690764345344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
One can't help but wonder if the latest push by EU corporate media is yet another misinformation and disinformation campaign to shift the blame from the US to Ukraine.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 10:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/germany-issues-first-arrest-warrant-nord-stream-sabotage-investigation

2024-08-14 12:25:00

61-Year-Old Brit Gets 18 Month Prison Sentence For Chanting "Who The F**k Is Allah"
61-Year-Old Brit Gets 18 Month Prison Sentence For Chanting "Who The F**k Is Allah"
https://modernity.news/2024/08/14/61-year-old-man-gets-18-month-prison-sentence-for-chanting-who-the-fuck-is-allah
A 61-year-old man in the UK was jailed for 18 months for chanting “who the fuck is Allah” and telling police officers “you’re not English anymore” during a protest outside Downing Street.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/140824spring.jpg?itok=iFchY66t
Yes really.
The sentence handed out to David Spring is the latest shocking example of how low the bar has now been set in terms of free speech in response to rioting that occurred after the murder of three girls in Southport last month.
Spring attended a demonstration of around 700 people in London on July 31 which turned disorderly.
Police bodycam footage that was played in court showed Spring calling police officers “cunts,” making “hostile gestures” and joining in with chants of “who the fuck is Allah” and “you’re not English anymore.”
While Spring’s behavior could be described as offensive and unruly, the fact that he will spent the next year and a half behind bars for saying mean words exemplifies how the UK has slipped into extreme authoritarianism in the space of just two weeks.
Jesus fucking christ, save us. https://t.co/weqxkY0kwS
— Callum (@AkkadSecretary) https://twitter.com/AkkadSecretary/status/1823463720225325535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When he was arrested, Spring told police, “I didn’t go up to London to riot. I went to complain about people put up in hotels,” referring to illegal immigrants staying in hotels at taxpayer expense.
Defending lawyer Piers Kiss-Wilson said, “The defendant asked me to put forward his apologies to the court and he says he is embarrassed by his behaviour and he is ashamed by it.”
“He also wants to apologise to his family and friends and his wife who don’t deserve this.”
The man’s wife, who suffers from ill health, will now be deprived of her primary carer thanks to Spring’s imprisonment.
Two headlines
Two legal judgments
Two tier country
This is the United Kingdom https://t.co/0F1ZAnPdSB
— Mahyar Tousi (@MahyarTousi) https://twitter.com/MahyarTousi/status/1823485226804257223?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The question once again arises as to why these individuals are continuing to plead guilty despite the fact that it is not preventing them from being handed jail time.
Despite the fact that the legislation surrounding hate speech and incitement is more draconian in the UK than in numerous other major western countries, one would think a good free speech lawyer would be able to defend these people more adeptly.
As we highlighted yesterday, Spring’s sentence is only outdone in its absurdity by cases where online speech of people who never even attended riots is leading to prison sentences.
Another man was imprisoned for 2 months merely for posting the words “coming to a town near you” alongside images of Muslim men on Facebook.
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https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 08:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/61-year-old-brit-gets-18-month-prison-sentence-chanting-who-fk-allah

2024-08-14 11:20:00

Will Trump End Elections? Anatomy Of A Failed Hoax
Will Trump End Elections? Anatomy Of A Failed Hoax
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/08/12/will_trump_end_elections_anatomy_of_a_failed_hoax__151431.html
,
Apparently Saul Alinsky has been resurrected and is working as the chief propaganda coordinator for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
Alinsky was a 1960s radical who helped shape the strategy for a leftist takeover of the bulwark institutions that for two centuries had protected the American republic from opportunistic would-be dictators.
Alinsky’s goal was to create a guidebook for how leftist radicals could wrest America’s domestic and foreign policy away from conservatives, moderates, and traditional liberals. His 1971 blueprint was called “Rules for Radicals,” and it instructed left-wing activists how to gain power in their communities through a campaign of character assassination, manipulation, and ruthless persistence.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/525956a.jpg?itok=X5w0LV4t
Those three characteristics have been in plain view for the last two weeks as Harris and her surrogates have unleashed a series of attacks on Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance.
In particular, Harris and the left-wing media have adopted two of Alinsky’s rules in order to try to destroy the public image of Trump and Vance. The first is: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.” The second rule is “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
Both of those can be seen in the push to label Trump and Vance as “weird,” an insult employed by Harris’ running mate Tim Walz when he was auditioning for the job. There is absolutely no response to that insult except to say, “I’m not weird; you are,” and that’s the tactic Trump’s team employed, but it was hopeless. The Democrats picked the target, froze it, and personalized it. Alinsky was right. You can’t counterattack ridicule.
So the best you can hope for is to expose the attack as itself being ridiculous. Vance has tried to do that by pointing out that Walz’s policies such as putting tampons in elementary school boys bathrooms are what’s weird. It might have been an effective counter-tactic when this country had a media that wasn’t thoroughly partisan. But a press corps thrilled to join in regurgitating Democratic Party talking points doesn’t care how weird it is that Tampon Tim can’t tell the difference between boys and girls.
The good news is that Donald Trump is very familiar with the Democrats’ tactic of character assassination. For the past nine years he has been subjected to endless false attacks that aimed to polarize him as first a Russian stooge, then a white supremacist, and finally an enemy of democracy who threatened a “bloodbath” if he wasn’t reelected in 2024. Those attacks have all been exposed as partisan chicanery, but that doesn’t stop his opponents from repeating them every chance they get.
Two weeks ago, Democrats and the mainstream media were caught red-handed as they tried to jump-start a new hoax that suggested Trump would cancel future elections if he were elected this year.
The video that played on Sunday morning shows and across the universe of cable news channels for three days at the end of July came from a speech that Trump delivered to the Turning Point Action Believers Summit on Friday, July 26. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/27/politics/video/trump-christian-vote-vinjamuri-nr-digvid
typified the way Trump’s words were portrayed, with one commentator saying that “it certainly sounds like a presidential candidate that is determined to shut down the democratic process.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-christian-voters-turning-point-action/
reached the same conclusion, saying that on social media there were “some calls of alarm in response to Trump’s comments, expressing concern that they alluded to authoritarianism and could be interpreted as an indication that he would not leave office if he wins the election.”
That’s ridiculous, of course, and if there should be any concern about Trump’s words, it would be about how nonchalantly the media distorted them for the purpose of character assassination.
The part of Trump’s speech that was played or quoted ad infinitum by mainstream media for those three days was this:
“Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians … In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.”
Twisting those words to suggest Trump was planning “to shut down the democratic process” is just cynical. But if anyone were sincerely alarmed, you’d think that their next step would be to listen to the entire speech where these words were uttered to find out if there was any missing context.
A real journalist would look for answers before running with a hugely damaging and potentially slanderous story. But this episode demonstrates conclusively that there are very few real journalists left in America.
I knew the real meaning of Trump’s words because I had watched the speech live on a streaming channel, but how much work would it take for a highly paid network reporter or anchor to look at the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghEIj7jS6qI
after the fact before accusing the former president of plotting to eliminate elections?
If they had, they would have found that, a little over 37 minutes into his speech, Trump explained to his audience that Christians vote in disappointingly low numbers, and if they wanted him to return to the White House, they needed to go out and vote “at least this election.”
Here’s the full quote that I don’t believe was ever played, not once, by any major media outlet:
And by the way, Christians have to vote. You know, I don’t want to scold you, but do you know Christians do not vote proportionately, they don’t vote like they should. They’re not big voters … They have to vote. If they don’t vote, we’re not going to win the election. If you do vote, we’re going to win in a landslide. Too big to rig. We’re gonna win in a landslide. … You know, you have tremendous power, but you just don’t know that. But you have to use that power. Christians are a group that’s known not to vote very much. You have to go out at least this election, just get us into that beautiful White House. Vote for your congressmen and women. Vote for your senators. We will change this country for the better. This country will be great again like never before. You gotta vote. … This election will be the most important election in the history of our country. We’re going to save our country with this election.
Who knows how much damage the reporting of CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC did to Trump while the “Canceled Elections Hoax” played out from that Friday until Tuesday of the following week? And I don’t expect that we have heard the last of this hoax, any more than we have heard the last of the https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-very-fine-people/
” after seven years.
But there was a sudden and definitive end to the use of the misleading clip on TV news outlets starting that Monday night, July 29. That’s because Laura Ingraham aired an interview with Trump on Fox News where she asked him specifically what he meant by saying that Christians wouldn’t have to vote again in four years.
Trump repeated to Ingraham exactly what he had said in his speech – that Christians tend not to vote in as high numbers as other interest groups – but even Ingraham had a hard time grasping the idea. Certainly she had never watched the video of the entire speech, and apparently neither did anyone on her staff, because she truly seemed to be unsure why Trump had said that he wanted Christians to “vote, just this time.” Even after Trump explained, she still wanted him to reassure her that he didn’t plan to cancel future elections.
To be clear, Ingraham is a lawyer by training, not a journalist. Even so, she shamed the real journalists by at least asking the target of the smear to explain himself. But that wouldn’t have even been necessary if anyone in the media had bothered to listen to the Believers speech in the first place.
And even after the Ingraham interview, there were several news articles that simply refused to comprehend Trump’s explanation. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/us/politics/trump-christians-vote-ingraham.html
characterized the interview as Trump declining “to back away from [the] ‘You don’t have to vote again’ line” and saying that he “brushed aside multiple requests to walk back or clarify the statement.”
Wrong. Actually, the New York Times declined to accept Trump’s explanation and tried unsuccessfully to keep the hoax alive. But as we see every day, the real hoax is journalists pretending to be fair and impartial when, in fact, they are just tools of the radical left who have one goal in mind: Target Trump.
Saul Alinsky would be proud.
Frank Miele, the retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His newest book, “https://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-Most-Country-Heartland/dp/1732963355/
or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA or on Twitter or Gettr @HeartlandDiary.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 07:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/will-trump-end-elections-anatomy-failed-hoax

2024-08-14 10:55:00

German Military Base Locked Down After Suspected Sabotage To Water Supply
German Military Base Locked Down After Suspected Sabotage To Water Supply
A German military base, home to thousands of troops, was placed under lockdown on Wednesday following a suspected sabotage targeting its water supply, according to https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/koeln-wahn-verdacht-auf-sabotage-gegen-die-bundeswehr-kontaminiertes-leitungswasser-a-c4754c35-c380-4a92-a6b9-d2ecb140bc99?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#ref=rss
.
Die Bundeswehrkaserne Köln-Wahn ist abgeriegelt. Nach SPIEGEL-Informationen gehen die Behörden dem Verdacht einer Straftat nach. Soldaten dürfen kein Trinkwasser entnehmen. https://t.co/7ICbP2IZtW
— DER SPIEGEL (@derspiegel) https://twitter.com/derspiegel/status/1823628012182757454?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Officials at the Cologne-Wahn military base, which has 4,300 soldiers and 1,200 civilian employees, informed all military personnel and employees not to drink the water as they believed it had been contaminated.
Military police and the military intelligence agency found damage to a stretch of fence on the base's perimeter, with reason to believe someone illegally entered the base. Spiegel said officials are investigating all alleged crimes.
Here's more from Spiegel:
In an internal communication from the Bundeswehr's Territorial Command (TFK), personnel still in the barracks are asked to speak to "unknown persons within sight" and to report "any suspicious behavior." This is an indication that the authorities are searching the area for possible perpetrators. Already on Wednesday night, there were internal reports from the Bundeswehr that a suspicious person had been spotted near the fence around the barracks and had fled after being discovered.
The TFK's statement also states that the barracks will remain sealed off until further notice – "neither in nor out."
A spokesperson for the Territorial Command in Berlin confirmed to https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-military-base-sealed-off-due-suspected-sabotage-act-reports-spiegel-2024-08-14/
that the military base was locked down but declined to provide more information on what that entailed. He said, "We have our reasons for taking this action, and we take the case seriously."
Cologne-Wahn is a critical military hub that supports war efforts in Ukraine. It also houses military aircraft used for travel by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 06:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/german-military-base-locked-down-after-suspected-sabotage-water-supply

2024-08-14 01:45:00

Colbert's Own Audience Laughs At Him Seriously Stating CNN Is "Objective"
Colbert's Own Audience Laughs At Him Seriously Stating CNN Is "Objective"
https://modernity.news/2024/08/13/colberts-own-audience-laughs-at-him-seriously-stating-cnn-is-objective
There was an awkward but amusing moment when Stephen Colbert seriously stated that CNN was “objective” and “just reports the news as it is,” prompting his own audience to laugh hysterically at the notion when they weren’t supposed to.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/130824colbert.jpg?itok=e_9nHB_I
The incident occurred during Colbert’s interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who has repeatedly betrayed her anti-Trump bias, including infamously during a town hall event she hosted with Trump last year.
Collins claimed Trump was on the back foot because he didn’t know how to “go after” Kamala Harris due to her being a non-white woman.
“It’s kind of been this moment where he has not been able to coalesce behind a single attack line,” asserted Collins.
NEW: Audience starts cracking up after a serious Stephen Colbert tells CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that CNN “just reports the news as it is.”
Remarkable.
Colbert: “I know you guys are objective over [at CNN], you just report the news as it is.”
Audience: *Laughs hysterically*… https://t.co/9R8iv2UXeN
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1823365884213346613?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Colbert responded: “I know you guys are objective over there, that you just report the news as it is,” to which his audience reacted by laughing.
A surprised Collins responded, “Was that supposed to be a laugh line?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be but ah, I guess it is,” said Colbert.
Whoops.
How revealing that Colbert’s own virulently NPC audience even knows instinctively that claiming CNN is “objective” is utterly hilarious.
“Lmaooo, the public knows,” commented Elon Musk.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-13_17-18-41.jpg?itok=Kjhr7S7U
* * *
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
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 21:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/colberts-own-audience-laughs-him-seriously-stating-cnn-objective

2024-08-14 00:30:00

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

2024-08-13 23:40:00

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 22:00:00

EU Disavows "Attention-Seeking Politician" Thierry Breton Over 'Electoral Interference' Letter Threatening Musk
EU Disavows "Attention-Seeking Politician" Thierry Breton Over 'Electoral Interference' Letter Threatening Musk
With Monday night's unfiltered discussion between Donald Trump and Elon Musk generating a reported https://www.zerohedge.com/political/x-conversation-between-musk-and-trump-generates-over-billion-views
, it's no wonder the left collectively freaked out.
Not only did the Washington Post ask the White House if there was anything they could do to stop the conversation from taking place...
The Washington Post’s Cleve Wootson: “One more, https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1823068701240758626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
...The EU's Thierry Breton, the current Commissioner for Internal Market of the EU, sent a letter to Musk threatening X with punishment if they didn't crack down on "content that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-2100332392.jpg?itok=jYCiyU8P
Musk responded appropriately:
To be honest, I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme, but I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible! https://t.co/jL0GDW5QUx
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1823076043017630114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For the uninitiated:
Theory Fucks His Own Face After All...
In a harsh rebuke, Brussels has accused Breton of going rogue with the letter to Musk - saying he never sought approval from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to send the letter.
"The timing and the wording of the letter were neither co-ordinated or agreed with the president nor with the [commissioners]," the Commission said in a Tuesday statement reported by the https://www.ft.com/content/09cf4713-7199-4e47-a373-ed5de61c2afa#comments-anchor
.
"Thierry has his own mind and way of working and thinking," said one EU official who asked not to be named.
As the Times notes (lol), "Musk responded to the letter from Breton with a meme from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, that showed one character yelling: “Take a big step back and literally fuck your own face.”"
Politico Europe reports that four separate EU officials said that Breton's threat to Musk caught many off guard within the Commission.
"The EU is not in the business of electoral interference," said one of those officials. "DSA implementation is too important to be misused by an attention-seeking politician in search of his next big job."
Meanwhile, a Trump campaign spokesperson responded by saying "The European Union should mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the US presidential election," while Musk later posted that he would be "happy to host" Kamala Harris for a similar discussion.
In response to Breton's letter, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said it was an "unprecedented attempt to stretch a law intended to apply in Europe to political activities in the US," while Trump campaign official Chris LaCivita said that the "European Union is attempting to meddle in the US Election," adding "They can go to hell."
European Union is attempting to meddle in the US Election …they can go to hell https://t.co/d9ullhN0N2
— Chris LaCivita (@LaCivitaC) https://twitter.com/LaCivitaC/status/1823095796759142404?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Never go full Thierry...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 18:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-disavows-attention-seeking-politician-thierry-breton-over-electoral-interference

2024-08-13 20:00:00

Dollar Dumped To 4-Mo Lows, Bitcoin & Big-Caps Pumped Ahead Of CPI Tsunami
Dollar Dumped To 4-Mo Lows, Bitcoin & Big-Caps Pumped Ahead Of CPI Tsunami
Cooler than expected headline and core PPI (dovish for monetary policy hopefuls) trumped the margin-compression (bearish for corporate profitability and therefore stocks) aspect of the producer prices data this morning exaggerating a weak-dollar/BTFD stocks trend that emerged overnight.
The 'cool' PPI knocked the 'inflation-surprise'-macro-index down to its lowest since February... but at the same time 'growth-surprise' data has also stagnated significantly...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmE899.jpg?itok=ZXu-M2Bv
Source: Bloomberg
But, it was the dollar index that stood out today, tanking to post-payrolls plunge lows...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm4819.jpg?itok=h_e1_HKI
Source: Bloomberg
... dumped to its lowest in four months, breaking below its 200DMA...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm627A_0.jpg?itok=WWetzn2U
Source: Bloomberg
Interestingly, as the dollar tanked, it was a buy-all-the-things day with bonds (prices) up, stocks up, and crypto up; but of particular note was weakness in oil (well, Iran hasn't blown anything to shit today), and gold (flat - at record highs - as WW3 appears to be postponed... for now).
Nasdaq was the biggest winner on the day (surging 2.5%), but all the majors were up strong today...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-13_12-59-32.jpg?itok=HiJzJWbF
Seems like we could have seen this one coming...
Goldman Sees Surge In Stock Buyback Orders As Volatility Fades https://t.co/sOXXasrUwr
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1823056888683962374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Mag7 stocks continued to roar back to life...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmC7C5_0.jpg?itok=6BMoKVB7
Source: Bloomberg
...and 'most shorted' stocks were squeezed hard, having now erased exactly 50% of their plunge from last week...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm3297.jpg?itok=F7HidYaZ
Source: Bloomberg
VIX was sold once again, back down to an 18 handle (and the levels before the payrolls panic)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm3F92_0.jpg?itok=7AODjeyW
Source: Bloomberg
But shorter-dated vol is aggressively bid into tomorrow's CPI and NVDA's earnings
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmEB7.jpg?itok=lV-5umZ8
Source: Bloomberg
Treasury yields tumbled on the day, extending lower after the cool PPI. The Short-end outperformed (2Y -8bps, 30Y -4bps)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm6CFC.jpg?itok=2eAwGzmp
Source: Bloomberg
The 2y Yield broke back below 4.00%...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm914E.jpg?itok=E5XZ9Uw5
Source: Bloomberg
Rate-cut expectations jumped around 10bps on the day, mainly focused on the 2024 shift...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm1A51.jpg?itok=PbymhGzE
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin surged back to $61,500, erasing all of the weakness from Sunday...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm3B44_0.jpg?itok=Ld4y7RK0
Source: Bloomberg
Crude oil prices dipped after WTI double-topped at $80...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmAE62.jpg?itok=M1CsEWA8
Source: Bloomberg
Gold was relatively flat today, holding at record highs...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm60A8.jpg?itok=8q6hkfnC
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, for context, today's tumble in the dollar was NOT driven by a resumption of the yen-carry trade...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm67D9.jpg?itok=UPHpQObl
Source: Bloomberg
...of course tomorrow's CPI print will decide which way yen breaks out.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 16:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dollar-dumped-4-mo-lows-bitcoin-big-caps-pumped-ahead-cpi-tsunami

2024-08-13 16:40:00

Smartmatic President Surrenders To US Authorities In Miami To Face Election-Related Bribery, Corruption Charges
Smartmatic President Surrenders To US Authorities In Miami To Face Election-Related Bribery, Corruption Charges
Smartmatic co-founder and president Roger Piñate surrendered to federal authorities in Miami, Florida on Monday, where he faces charges related to foreign corruption, bribery, and money laundering to secure elections contracts in the Philippines.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Roger_fitteda.jpeg.jpg?itok=u2AIr2b1
Piñate, 49, was charged along with Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, the company's former VP of hardware development - who also surrendered on Monday.
Piñate posted an $8.5 million dollar bond and was later released, however he did not enter a plea because his defense attorney, Curt Miner, has yet to become his permanent lawyer. Vasquez was released on a $1 million bond. His defense attorney, Frank Rubino, told the Miami Herald "It's so early in the case, "But we have been aware of this investigation since 2019."
Oh...
According to the indictment, the alleged co-conspirators financed the bribes by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine used in the elections. To hide their crime, prosecutors say they used coded language to refer to a slush fund used to make the illicit payments - causing the creation of fraudulent contracts and fake loan agreements to make the transfers appear legitimate.
The defendants then allegedly laundered the funds related to the bribery scheme via a constellation of international bank accounts in Asia, Europe and the United States - including in the Southern District of Florida.
Court records, including a Homeland Security Investigations criminal complaint, indicate that Smartmatic’s contracts with the Philippines were worth $199 million for providing voting machines and other services for the May 2016 election for president, vice president and other official positions.
...
Piñate, Vasquez, Bautista and Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel who oversaw Smartmatic’s contracts in the Philippines, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.
The defendants each face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on the above charges, as well as up to five more years each for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to violate the FCPA.
According to the report, the federal probe in South Florida began with Bautista's wife - who, while in the https://archive.is/o/aBhBI/https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/179016-comelec-chair-andy-patricia-bautista-inside-story/
, informed the Philippine National Bureau of lnvestigation that her husband had "large amounts of unexplained wealth," telling the Bureau's Anti-Fraud division that her husband had roughly one billion Philippine Pesos, or US$20 million in ill-gotten gains.
Smartmatic was founded in 2000 by Piñate, Antonio Mugica and Alfredo José Anzola - making international headlines after Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez chose the company to replace the country's voting machines in 2004. In 2006, they acquired Sequoia Voting Systems - though later divested its stake.
According to Smartmatic's website, Piñate "played a critical role in planning and executing the world’s largest election using optical scanners (in the Philippines) and in Smartmatic winning the largest election contract in US history (in Los Angeles)."
So they admit that the voting machines can be hacked, but they claim it can't be fixed? 🤨 https://t.co/YvNfE5Udok
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1823313559264137359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/13/2024 - 12:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/smartmatic-president-surrenders-us-authorities-miami-face-bribery-corruption-charges

2024-08-13 14:40:00

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 02:10:00

Senator Graham Hails Ukraine's Incursion Into Russia as 'Bold', 'Beautiful'
Senator Graham Hails Ukraine's Incursion Into Russia as 'Bold', 'Beautiful'
Of course he showed up in Kiev at this https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pentagon-refuses-rule-out-strikes-moscow-shocking-exchange-ukraines-incursion-kursk
of the Ukraine war, when uncontrollable escalation is looking more and more inevitable as Putin will now be 'forced' to respond to the shock cross-border invasion into Kursk...
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was in the Ukrainian capital on Monday where he praised Ukraine's move into Russian territory as "brilliant" and "bold". He also urged the White House to pour more weapons into the fight, and to give Zelensky whatever is needed. Graham provocatively spoke of 'kicking Putin's ass'.
"What I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up. Putin started this, kick his ass... Let these people fight! Give them weapons they need to win a war they can't lose." - US Senator Lindsey Graham in Kyiv. https://t.co/UczJpujIiz
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1823070520977641491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Republican lawmaker made the trip with fellow anti-Russia hawk, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. "What do I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up," Graham told reporters.
"Bottom line is to the administration. ...Give them weapons they need to win the war they can't afford to lose," he continued.
Graham has certainly been no stranger to issuing fiery and ultra-provocative statements which seem aimed at goading Putin and the Kremlin. During a 2023 visit to Ukraine https://x.com/stillgray/status/1662630291893256193
that "the Russians are dying" and "that’s the best money we’ve ever spent."
.https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) https://twitter.com/USAmbKyiv/status/1823064490864455788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Soon after the meeting with the US Senate delegation on Monday, President Zelensky thanked them for strong American support and said on X, "We discussed what exactly is needed to bring this war to a just end, including our need to use long-range weapons."
What comes next is possibly Ukraine hitting places like Moscow with long-range missiles, something which would likely trigger escalation to WW3. The Europeans will also likely soon feel more blowback from all of these latest provocations as Moscow readies a response.
Satellite photos have shown that gas measuring station in Sudzha, which helps supply Europe, has https://x.com/novayagazeta_en/status/1823029047955255471
after Ukraine captured it during the now week-long Kursk offensive...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/satimagegas.jpg?itok=NQCrkKuY
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 after this extreme provocation.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 22:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/senator-graham-hails-ukraines-incursion-russia-bold-beautiful

2024-08-13 01:45:00

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
QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer https://quoththeraven.substack.com/about
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

2024-08-12 21:20:00

US Records 2nd Biggest July Deficit In History As 25% Of Tax Revenue Go To Pay Interest
US Records 2nd Biggest July Deficit In History As 25% Of Tax Revenue Go To Pay Interest
While there was much more talk about the soaring US budget deficit earlier this year, when debt seemed to rise by $1 trillion every other month, lately it appears that the topic has become almost taboo perhaps because neither presidential candidate has any plan or clue how to normalize the trend which assures fiscal collapse for the US and the loss of dollar reserve status.
But while others may have conflicts of interest in reporting on this most important topic, we don't, and we are sad to inform our readers that July was another catastrophic month for US fiscal viability: that's because US tax revenue of $330.4BN (down sharply from the $466.3BN in June, if higher than the $276.2BN a year ago), was far below the $573.1BN in government outlays (which was materially above the $537.2BN in June and also the $496.9BN last July)...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/July%202024%20deficit.jpg?itok=dZjKtu1M
.... resulting in a monthly deficit of $243.7BN, the second largest July budget deficit on record, surpassed only by the record post-covid print in July 2021.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/july%20deficit%20chart.jpg?itok=Hyh_xbzD
With two months left in the fiscal year, the US budget deficit for fiscal 2024 has hite $1.517 trillion, tracking last year's blowout expansion almost dollar for dollar (one year ago the cumulative deficit was $1.613 trillion), and the 4th highest on record despite there being no raging emergency and no war demanding such a massive deficit spend.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/cumulative%20deficit_0.jpg?itok=vfeCT0or
Unfortunately, that's as good as it gets, because when one takes a step back and ignores the monthly calendar effects, the picture remains the same: the US is spending far more than it is generating in tax revenues.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/govt%20revenue%20and%20spending.jpg?itok=9mAzAkcP
In fact, at $581BN, the 6-month moving average (to smooth out month-to-month changes) in US government spending has risen to the highest level since August 2021, when the US was still reeling from the covid shock.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/govt%20spending%206%20month.jpg?itok=a3O6efdg
So how is this possible? How can the US, which is now $35 trillion in the hole justify this kind of irresponsible, profligate spending? The only possible answer for why this level of explosive deficit (and debt) growth continues, is the admin's ongoing attempts to buy as many votes as possible, as well as the relentless increase in interest on the US debt.
And it only goes downhill from there, because as we have noted previously, the biggest risk factor is not so much spending on such discretionary items as social security, health and national defense ("how dare you say these are discretionary! these are mandatory, untouchable outlays" some will scream, but if and when the taxes dry up and the dollar loses its reserve status you will see just how discretionary they are), but on interest, and here recall what we said back in April: "interest on US debt - currently the second biggest government outlay at $1.2 trillion - will surpass social security and become the single biggest US expense before the end of 2024 at $1.6 trillion."...
Now that rate cuts are off the table, interest on US debt - currently the second biggest government outlay at $1.1 trillion - will surpass social security and become the single biggest US expense before the end of 2024 at $1.6 trillion. https://t.co/OQYjHhOks9
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1778236117017330127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
... and hit $1.7 trillion by April 2025, at which point it will be by far the single biggest outlay of the US government.
$1.7 trillion in interest spending next April.
This is the Minsky Moment https://t.co/S3ChHjFbyg
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1783953180482510959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
So where are we now? Well, according to the latest Treasury Monthly Statement, in July the US spent a gross $88.6 billion on debt interest, bringing the YTD total to $956 billion and is on pace to hit $1.157 trillion for the full year.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/int%20exepnse%20on%20debt.jpg?itok=qqub0GhT
And putting it in context, the $87 billion in gross interest spending (which follows June's record $140 billion) was 25% of all US receipts (mostly taxes) in June...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/debt%20receipts%20spending.jpg?itok=qQoyG4eU
... a staggering number fast approaching the threshold where everyone will be forced to admit the US has crossed into a Minsky moment.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 17:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/july-budget-deficit-2nd-biggest-history-25-tax-revenue-go-pay-interest

2024-08-12 18:20:00

US Gymnast Jordan Chiles Must Return Bronze Medal, Olympic Committee Says
US Gymnast Jordan Chiles Must Return Bronze Medal, Olympic Committee Says
https://www.theepochtimes.com/sports/us-gymnast-jordan-chiles-must-return-bronze-medal-olympic-committee-says-5703688?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
(emphasis ours),
U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles must return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise last week after the sport’s highest court rejected an appeal by Chiles’s coach that vaulted her to third place over Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated on Aug. 11.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%2852%29_1.jpg?itok=rYs-B6kz
The IOC confirmed the reallocation of the medal less than 24 hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided an appeal from Chiles’s coach during the Aug. 5 competition, which had resulted in a score change.
The IOC stated that it “will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania),” in an Aug. 11 https://olympics.com/en/news/ioc-discussions-reallocation-ceremony-award-floor-exercise-bronze-ana-barbosu
.
“We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal,” the statement reads.
The ruling from a court on Aug. 10 states that the American’s inquiry was made outside the allotted time window and is therefore invalid, reverting Chiles’s score to 13.666. Barbosu received a 13.700.
“The inquiry submitted on behalf of ... Jordan Chiles in the Final of the women’s Floor exercise was raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline provided by article 8.5 of the 2024 [International Gymnastics Federation] Technical Regulations and is determined to be without effect,” the court’s decision reads in part.
In an apparent reaction to the decision, Chiles wrote in an Instagram post that she was “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health.”
USA Gymnastics, in an Aug. 10 statement, said that the ruling and “inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with [International Gymnastics Federation] rules to ensure accurate scoring.”
“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless, and extremely hurtful attacks on social media,” the statement reads. “No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support, or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”
On Aug. 11, the team said in a statement that it would appeal the decision because it believes “that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation.”
Team USA coach Cecile Landi last week explained why she asked for a review, telling reporters that “at this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like, ‘We’re just going to try.’”
“I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like, ‘What?’” Landi said.
Meanwhile, Chiles told TeamUSA.com that she didn’t “even realize my coaches put in an inquiry” for her score.
After the Americans’ appeal last week that prevented Barbosu from getting the bronze, controversy erupted. Romanian gymnastics legend and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci was critical of the judges.
“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this,” Comaneci https://x.com/nadiacomaneci10/status/1820483816848605506
on social media.
The former longtime gymnast also https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-U27vOoYuF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
a video clip of the NBC prime-time broadcast of the final event and claimed that Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea’s heel didn’t go out of bounds, alleging that she was unfairly penalized.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote on social media that he would not attend the Olympics’ Closing Ceremony on Aug. 11 after Barbosu was denied the podium.
“I decided not to attend the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, following the scandalous situation in the gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonorable manner,” he https://www.facebook.com/share/p/uiS2hwMoKQq52nRz/
on Facebook. “To withdraw a medal earned for honest work on the basis of an appeal, which neither the coaches nor the top technicians understand, is totally unacceptable!”
Despite being stripped of the bronze medal, Chiles still has a gold in the team all-around competition that Team USA won earlier in the competition.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 14:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-gymnast-jordan-chiles-must-return-bronze-medal-olympic-committee-says

2024-08-12 17:45:00

America's 'Mini OPEC': Major US Refiners Slash Capacity Amid Global Glut Fears
America's 'Mini OPEC': Major US Refiners Slash Capacity Amid Global Glut Fears
Following the series of mega-mergers in the oil exploration and production space, a potential US refining cartel—a 'mini OPEC on American soil'—could be taking shape with some of the first coordinated policies to reduce refining capacity this quarter as demand falters and concerns about a global glut of crude mount.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-11/oil-refiners-in-us-slow-down-stoking-global-crude-glut-worries
reports that four major refiners, including Marathon Petroleum, owner of the largest US refinery, plan to reduce refining capacity at 13 of its plants to an average of 90%, down 4% from the same quarter in 2023. Similarly, PBF Energy announced plans to refine the least amount of crude in three years. Phillips 66 will operate refineries near two-year lows, and Valero Energy expects to cut oil processing soon.
The four major refiners represent about 40% of the US capacity to refine oil into diesel, jet fuel, gasoline, and other essential crude products critical to the economy. Slowdown fears encompass not just the US economy (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/suddenly-recession-tip-everyones-tongue-wow-did-happen-fast
last Monday) but also China, thus reducing crude product demand and shrinking profit margins for refiners.
On Monday morning, commodity firm Argus' Bachar EL-Halabi wrote on X, "Opec blinks first, downgrading for the first time since July 2023 its global oil demand growth forecasts for 2024 and 2025."
Halabi continued:
Opec now sees demand growth projection for 2024 to be 2.11mn b/d down from 2.25mn b/d.
Opec has also cut its oil demand growth forecast for next year by 60,000 b/d to 1.78mn b/d.
Opec's latest oil demand growth projections narrow the gap with other forecasters such as the IEA and EIA, but Opec's figures are still comparatively bullish.
Reminder: The IEA projects oil demand to increase by 970,000 b/d this year, while the EIA sees demand rising by 1.1mn b/d.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/Opec?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
blinks first, downgrading for the first time since July 2023 its global oil demand growth forecasts for 2024 and 2025.
🛢️ Opec now sees demand growth projection for 2024 to be 2.11mn b/d down from 2.25mn b/d.
🛢️ Opec has also cut its oil demand growth forecast for next… https://t.co/BPPe0C95id
— Bachar EL-Halabi | بشار الحلبي (@Bacharelhalabi) https://twitter.com/Bacharelhalabi/status/1822950447449076172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Vikas Dwivedi, Macquarie's global oil and gas strategist, told Bloomberg recently in an interview in Houston, "Compressed refining margins are setting up the stage for another round of heavy refinery maintenance in the US during the fall season ... and that's going to weigh on balances and may add to crude builds in the US for the rest of the year."
He said the potential for supplies to exceed demand has reduced the premium geopolitical risks festering in the Middle East, explaining, "The market is no longer willing to pay a huge premium for that because the tensions haven't so far resulted in a loss of barrels."
Dwivedi expects Brent crude oil to average around $75/bbl in the fourth quarter and slide as low as $64/bbl in the second quarter of next year.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_f2d122f.png?itok=9pVqXMmb
In the meantime, Crude is soaring today amid geopolitical tensions...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmA60D_0.jpg?itok=MVKUD-0r
Chief Commercial Officer Rick Hessling said Marathon "will run economically at 90%" capacity in the third quarter, a multi-year low. He pointed out that the Chinese economic recovery remains a significant concern, and OPEC could stir volatility with policy in the short term.
The bigger story here is the possible rise of the US refining cartel after a series of mega-mergers in recent quarters.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 13:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/americas-mini-opec-major-us-refiners-slash-capacity-amid-global-glut-fears

2024-08-12 16:25:00

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 15:15:00

Biden's Freudian Slip: "If Trump Wins," There'll Be No Peaceful Transfer Of Power
Biden's Freudian Slip: "If Trump Wins," There'll Be No Peaceful Transfer Of Power
https://modernity.news/2024/08/12/bidens-freudian-slip-if-trump-wins-therell-be-no-peaceful-transfer-of-power/
,
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/120824biden.jpg?itok=W7iFLMun
President Joe Biden uttered an interesting Freudian slip when he said that “if Trump wins” the election he’s not confident there’ll be a peaceful transfer of power.
Biden made the remarks during an interview with CBS News.
“Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025,” Biden was asked.
“If Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all,” he responded.
Well, that’s one hell of a powerful Freudian slip.
“Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025”
“if Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all!” -Joe Biden
Cut (because there is an edit/cut)
“I mean, if Trump loses, I’m not confident at… https://t.co/VXrbKmVlnZ
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) https://twitter.com/thevivafrei/status/1822962027901395242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
There then appeared to be a cut in the interview before Biden corrected himself, “I mean, if Trump loses, I’m not confident at all.”
While Biden is infamous for his verbal gaffes, many respondents on X actually believed this to be a revealing Freudian slip.
As we https://modernity.news/2024/08/12/watch-biden-admits-coup-pelosi-says-resignation-letter-didnt-sound-like-joe-biden/
earlier, during the same interview, Biden confirmed that high ranking Democrats pushed him out of the race, essentially corroborating the accusations of a coup.
“A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races,” Biden said.
The president was reportedly told by Nancy Pelosi that he would be removed either by means of “the easy way” or “the hard way,” after he desperately tried to cling onto the nomination despite being humiliated during a presidential debate with Donald Trump.
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
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 11:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bidens-freudian-slip-if-trump-wins-therell-be-no-peaceful-transfer-power

2024-08-12 10:48:00

IAEA Confirms "No Impact On Nuclear Safety" After Zaporizhzhia Power Plant Fire
IAEA Confirms "No Impact On Nuclear Safety" After Zaporizhzhia Power Plant Fire
Update (Monday):
The geopolitical environment in Eastern Europe and the Middle East is quickly heating up, with Ukraine at the center of attention on Sunday evening. Europe can breathe a major sigh of relief after an alleged drone strike on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been reported as having 'no impact' on nuclear safety.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency wrote on X, "IAEA experts witnessed strong dark smoke coming from ZNPP's northern area following multiple explosions heard in the evening," adding, "Team was told by ZNPP of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site. No impact has been reported for nuclear safety."
IAEA experts witnessed strong dark smoke coming from ZNPP’s northern area following multiple explosions heard in the evening. Team was told by ZNPP of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site. No impact has been reported for nuclear safety. https://t.co/pZ0VGRZtbf
— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1822726530772177028?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here's more from the IAEA:
The IAEA team reported hearing an explosion today at the same time the ZNPP informed them that a drone had allegedly struck one of the plant's two cooling towers.
In order to ascertain the extent and possible cause of this event, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) is requesting immediate access to the cooling tower to assess the damage.
ZNPP has two cooling towers located at the northern side of the cooling pond, outside of the ZNPP perimeter. Cooling towers are used during power operation of the plant. Their damage does not directly impact the safety of the six units in shutdown. However, any kind of fire on the site or in its vicinity represents a risk of spreading the fire also to facilities essential for safety.
The plant confirmed to the Team that there is no risk of elevated radiation levels as there is no radioactive material in the vicinity of the alleged attack area. The Team independently verified the radiation levels and confirmed it remained unchanged.
IAEA Director General Grossi reiterated that any military action taken against the plant represents a clear violation of the five concrete principles for protecting the facility, which were established at the United Nations Security Council in May last year.
"These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now," said Director General Grossi.
Here's footage of the cooling tower blaze at Zaporizhzhia.
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, the highest in Europe, comment by Rogozin:
One of the two cooling towers of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, whose main task is to cool water during normal operation of the station, was struck by two direct strikes from attack UAVs, which resulted in… https://t.co/ygX5icwkiN
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1822876696200032474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Data from the Joint Research Centre of Radioactivity Environment Monitoring (https://remap.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Advanced.aspx
) shows radiation levels are still normal despite the ongoing incident.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-12_06-33-14.png?itok=KihLW4mS
Amid the 'fog of war,' Ukraine and Russia are pointing fingers at each other for the incident.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Sunday evening post on X seemed like a deliberate attempt to pull the West deeper into the conflict. With F-16s now in the skies, Ukrainian forces pushing into Russian territory, and no signs of peace on the horizon, the conflict is clearly escalating.
* * *
Just hours before futures in the US open, troubling news has surfaced on X that Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's cooling tower has caught fire.
At first, several X users that identified as "OSINT"—or open-source intelligence—pointed out the fire developing at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe (able to generate 6,000 megawatts for four million homes).
A blaze has broken out at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine this evening, sending up a large column of black smoke.
Ukrainian sources report that the Russians set tires on fire in the vicinity of one of the cooling towers. https://t.co/yNzA9a9lRR
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1822707569963728976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
About 15 minutes later, around 1500 ET, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on X that "Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant."
Zelensky continued:
Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal.
Since the first day of its seizure, Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia NPP only to blackmail Ukraine, all of Europe, and the world.
We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.
Enerhodar. We have recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the… https://t.co/TQUi3BJg4J
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1822710266674684154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Zaporizhzhia NPP has come under shelling and drone attacks in the past. The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has issued numerous warnings about the plant dangerously close to suffering an accident or attack.
According to Russian state-controlled Russia Today, the fire at Zaporizhzhia NPP's cooling systems facility was the direct "result of Ukrainian shelling of Energodar city - local authorities." At this moment, it really depends on the source for who is responsible for the fire. Welcome to the 'fog of war'.
⚡️Fire breaks out at Zaporizhzhya NPP cooling systems facility as result of Ukrainian shelling of Energodar city - local authorities https://t.co/v17IDeIbxy
— RT (@RT_com) https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1822714492603732288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
AFP News cited Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, who said the fire at the cooling system was a result of shelling of the town of Energodar by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Russian occupation troops set something on fire(reportedly tires) near the unit of Zaporizhzhia power plant https://t.co/Ghcru7qV61
— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1822701445080367268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Data from the Joint Research Centre of Radioactivity Environment Monitoring (https://remap.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Advanced.aspx
) shows radiation levels are still normal despite the ongoing incident.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-11_15-59-41.png?itok=eVx9V0Pj
In April, Goldman's Borislav Vladimirov told clients, "Sabotage or failure at the NPP Zaporizhzhia. Situated on the front line of the war in Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its type in Europe, poses ongoing risks not only due to the threat of Russian sabotage, but also to the gradual deterioration of the facility due to poor maintenance and extreme (war-zone) operating conditions."
The fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP coincides with the recent deployment of Ukrainian fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets in the air along the frontline in the southern Kherson region, according to Newsweek. Additionally, Ukrainian forces have seized the "Sudzha" gas metering station, one of the last remaining Russian pipelines still delivering NatGas to Europe through Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has been intensifying suicide drone missions targeting Russian energy infrastructure.
In markets, well, crypto at the moment, since futures are closed, the first response by algos has been to dump Bitcoin and Ethereum.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed_1024.png?itok=6eGEIfsd
*This story is developing... Please check back for updates.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 06:48
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/fire-breaks-out-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant

2024-08-12 10:48:00

IAEA Confirms "No Impact On Nuclear Safety" After Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Fire
IAEA Confirms "No Impact On Nuclear Safety" After Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Fire
Update (Monday):
The geopolitical environment in Eastern Europe and the Middle East is quickly heating up, with Ukraine at the center of attention on Sunday evening. Europe can breathe a major sigh of relief after an alleged drone strike on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been reported as having 'no impact' on nuclear safety.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency wrote on X, "IAEA experts witnessed strong dark smoke coming from ZNPP's northern area following multiple explosions heard in the evening," adding, "Team was told by ZNPP of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site. No impact has been reported for nuclear safety."
IAEA experts witnessed strong dark smoke coming from ZNPP’s northern area following multiple explosions heard in the evening. Team was told by ZNPP of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site. No impact has been reported for nuclear safety. https://t.co/pZ0VGRZtbf
— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1822726530772177028?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here's more from the IAEA:
The IAEA team reported hearing an explosion today at the same time the ZNPP informed them that a drone had allegedly struck one of the plant's two cooling towers.
In order to ascertain the extent and possible cause of this event, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya (ISAMZ) is requesting immediate access to the cooling tower to assess the damage.
ZNPP has two cooling towers located at the northern side of the cooling pond, outside of the ZNPP perimeter. Cooling towers are used during power operation of the plant. Their damage does not directly impact the safety of the six units in shutdown. However, any kind of fire on the site or in its vicinity represents a risk of spreading the fire also to facilities essential for safety.
The plant confirmed to the Team that there is no risk of elevated radiation levels as there is no radioactive material in the vicinity of the alleged attack area. The Team independently verified the radiation levels and confirmed it remained unchanged.
IAEA Director General Grossi reiterated that any military action taken against the plant represents a clear violation of the five concrete principles for protecting the facility, which were established at the United Nations Security Council in May last year.
"These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now," said Director General Grossi.
Here's footage of the cooling tower blaze at Zaporizhzhia.
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, the highest in Europe, comment by Rogozin:
One of the two cooling towers of the Zaporizhzhya NPP, whose main task is to cool water during normal operation of the station, was struck by two direct strikes from attack UAVs, which resulted in… https://t.co/ygX5icwkiN
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1822876696200032474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Data from the Joint Research Centre of Radioactivity Environment Monitoring (https://remap.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Advanced.aspx
) shows radiation levels are still normal despite the ongoing incident.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-12_06-33-14.png?itok=KihLW4mS
Amid the 'fog of war,' Ukraine and Russia are pointing fingers at each other for the incident.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Sunday evening post on X seemed like a deliberate attempt to pull the West deeper into the conflict. With F-16s now in the skies, Ukrainian forces pushing into Russian territory, and no signs of peace on the horizon, the conflict is clearly escalating.
* * *
Just hours before futures in the US open, troubling news has surfaced on X that Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's cooling tower has caught fire.
At first, several X users that identified as "OSINT"—or open-source intelligence—pointed out the fire developing at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe (able to generate 6,000 megawatts for four million homes).
A blaze has broken out at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine this evening, sending up a large column of black smoke.
Ukrainian sources report that the Russians set tires on fire in the vicinity of one of the cooling towers. https://t.co/yNzA9a9lRR
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1822707569963728976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
About 15 minutes later, around 1500 ET, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on X that "Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant."
Zelensky continued:
Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal.
Since the first day of its seizure, Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia NPP only to blackmail Ukraine, all of Europe, and the world.
We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.
Enerhodar. We have recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the… https://t.co/TQUi3BJg4J
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1822710266674684154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Zaporizhzhia NPP has come under shelling and drone attacks in the past. The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has issued numerous warnings about the plant dangerously close to suffering an accident or attack.
According to Russian state-controlled Russia Today, the fire at Zaporizhzhia NPP's cooling systems facility was the direct "result of Ukrainian shelling of Energodar city - local authorities." At this moment, it really depends on the source for who is responsible for the fire. Welcome to the 'fog of war'.
⚡️Fire breaks out at Zaporizhzhya NPP cooling systems facility as result of Ukrainian shelling of Energodar city - local authorities https://t.co/v17IDeIbxy
— RT (@RT_com) https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1822714492603732288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
AFP News cited Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, who said the fire at the cooling system was a result of shelling of the town of Energodar by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Russian occupation troops set something on fire(reportedly tires) near the unit of Zaporizhzhia power plant https://t.co/Ghcru7qV61
— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1822701445080367268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Data from the Joint Research Centre of Radioactivity Environment Monitoring (https://remap.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Advanced.aspx
) shows radiation levels are still normal despite the ongoing incident.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-11_15-59-41.png?itok=eVx9V0Pj
In April, Goldman's Borislav Vladimirov told clients, "Sabotage or failure at the NPP Zaporizhzhia. Situated on the front line of the war in Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its type in Europe, poses ongoing risks not only due to the threat of Russian sabotage, but also to the gradual deterioration of the facility due to poor maintenance and extreme (war-zone) operating conditions."
The fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP coincides with the recent deployment of Ukrainian fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets in the air along the frontline in the southern Kherson region, according to Newsweek. Additionally, Ukrainian forces have seized the "Sudzha" gas metering station, one of the last remaining Russian pipelines still delivering NatGas to Europe through Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has been intensifying suicide drone missions targeting Russian energy infrastructure.
In markets, well, crypto at the moment, since futures are closed, the first response by algos has been to dump Bitcoin and Ethereum.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed_1024.png?itok=6eGEIfsd
*This story is developing... Please check back for updates.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 06:48
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/fire-breaks-out-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant

2024-08-12 10:30:00

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 09:00:00

Damascus Calls On Occupying US Forces To stop Bombing Syrians, Leave The Country
Damascus Calls On Occupying US Forces To stop Bombing Syrians, Leave The Country
https://thecradle.co/articles/damascus-calls-on-occupying-us-forces-to-stop-bombing-syrians-leave-the-country
Syria on Saturday https://sarabic.ae/20240810/%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%82%D9%81-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7-1091608676.html
on the United States to stop bombing Syrians, stop supporting Kurdish "separatist militias," and immediately withdraw from Syrian territory.
A statement issued by the Syrian Foreign Ministry said: "US warplanes, with the support of the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) militia, launched several raids in Deir Ezzor, Hasakah, and Qamishli, targeting innocent civilians defending their families, villages, and properties."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/usoccupationsyria_0.jpg?itok=wA7O-q-M
Earlier, a Syrian security source https://sarabic.ae/20240810/%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%82%D9%81-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7-1091608676.html
Sputnik that US helicopters bombed several villages in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, enabling the SDF to regain the villages and towns they lost two days ago after violent battles with Syrian government-backed tribal forces.
The statement added: "The SDF, which is an agent of the American occupation, launched criminal attacks on our people in Deir Ezzor, Hasakah, and Qamishli, in addition to other villages in the eastern and northeastern regions. These barbaric attacks led to the martyrdom of a number of Syrian citizens, including women and children."
The US military began partnering with the Kurdish (YPG) People's Protection Units in 2014. An offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the YPG later changed its name to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Together, the US and SDF occupy Syria’s northwest, including Hasakah, Raqqa, and parts of Deir Ezzor, denying Syria access to its oil resources and wheat-producing agricultural land. Syria also suffers under brutal US economic sanctions, which have further impoverished the war-torn country.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry statement continued: "The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms that the US occupation of part of Syrian territory represents a flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty and the unity and integrity of its territories, and that the United States' support for its agent separatist militias represents a cheap tool to implement its hostile plans against Syria."
Syria stressed that "all these inhumane and immoral practices against its people in the eastern and northeastern regions, including preventing the arrival of food and drinking water, aim to double the suffering of the Syrians and prolong the war against them."
The statement continued, "Syria affirms that the will of its people to liberate their land and preserve their sovereignty will be achieved no matter how great the sacrifices are, and the terrorism and crimes of those militias will not weaken its resolve."
🚨BREAKING :
The US has started bombing Syrians to try and stop us from taking back OUR OWN oil fields! https://t.co/2GJUid52w1
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) https://twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/1821171289878622226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For its part, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-syria/we-will-defend-deir-ez-zor-at-all-costs-74728
13 civilians have been killed and twelve others injured in attacks by Syrian government troops in Deir Ezzor in the past week as part of a campaign against the SDF.
Xebat Siettî, from the command of the SDF’s Hajin Military Council, said, "The troops of the Damascus government and the gangs of Difa al-Watani have massively bombed our positions. There was also an attempted infiltration on the ground. The Hajin Military Council repelled the attackers, who then retreated to the other bank of the Euphrates.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Mon, 08/12/2024 - 05:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/damascus-calls-occupying-us-forces-stop-bombing-syrians-leave-country

2024-08-11 20:20:00

Zelensky Blames Russia, Goads Western Allies, After Fire Breaks Out At Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
Zelensky Blames Russia, Goads Western Allies, After Fire Breaks Out At Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
Just hours before futures in the US open, troubling news has surfaced on X that Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's cooling tower has caught fire.
At first, several X users that identified as "OSINT"—or open-source intelligence—pointed out the fire developing at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe (able to generate 6,000 megawatts for four million homes).
A blaze has broken out at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine this evening, sending up a large column of black smoke.
Ukrainian sources report that the Russians set tires on fire in the vicinity of one of the cooling towers. https://t.co/yNzA9a9lRR
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1822707569963728976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
About 15 minutes later, around 1500 ET, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on X that "Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant."
Zelensky continued:
Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal.
Since the first day of its seizure, Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia NPP only to blackmail Ukraine, all of Europe, and the world.
We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the IAEA to react. Russia must be held accountable for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.
Enerhodar. We have recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the… https://t.co/TQUi3BJg4J
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1822710266674684154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Zaporizhzhia NPP has come under shelling and drone attacks in the past. The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has issued numerous warnings about the plant dangerously close to suffering an accident or attack.
According to Russian state-controlled Russia Today, the fire at Zaporizhzhia NPP's cooling systems facility was the direct "result of Ukrainian shelling of Energodar city - local authorities." At this moment, it really depends on the source for who is responsible for the fire. Welcome to the 'fog of war'.
⚡️Fire breaks out at Zaporizhzhya NPP cooling systems facility as result of Ukrainian shelling of Energodar city - local authorities https://t.co/v17IDeIbxy
— RT (@RT_com) https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1822714492603732288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
AFP News cited Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, who said the fire at the cooling system was a result of shelling of the town of Energodar by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Russian occupation troops set something on fire(reportedly tires) near the unit of Zaporizhzhia power plant https://t.co/Ghcru7qV61
— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1822701445080367268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Data from the Joint Research Centre of Radioactivity Environment Monitoring (https://remap.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Advanced.aspx
) shows radiation levels are still normal despite the ongoing incident.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-11_15-59-41.png?itok=eVx9V0Pj
In April, Goldman's Borislav Vladimirov told clients, "Sabotage or failure at the NPP Zaporizhzhia. Situated on the front line of the war in Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its type in Europe, poses ongoing risks not only due to the threat of Russian sabotage, but also to the gradual deterioration of the facility due to poor maintenance and extreme (war-zone) operating conditions."
The fire at the Zaporizhzhia NPP coincides with the recent deployment of Ukrainian fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets in the air along the frontline in the southern Kherson region, according to Newsweek. Additionally, Ukrainian forces have seized the "Sudzha" gas metering station, one of the last remaining Russian pipelines still delivering NatGas to Europe through Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has been intensifying suicide drone missions targeting Russian energy infrastructure.
In markets, well, crypto at the moment, since futures are closed, the first response by algos has been to dump Bitcoin and Ethereum.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed_1024.png?itok=6eGEIfsd
*This story is developing... Please check back for updates.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/fire-breaks-out-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant

2024-08-11 19:45:00

Secret Service Apologizes For Picking Lock, Breaking Into Local Salon After Covering-Up Security Cam
Secret Service Apologizes For Picking Lock, Breaking Into Local Salon After Covering-Up Security Cam
The Secret Service has apologized to a Massachusetts salon owner after her security camera showed individuals breaking into her business to use the bathroom while on assignment for a nearby VP Kamala Harris fundraiser.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/covered.PNG?itok=2lSbk_Nt
Berkshires salon owner Alicia Powers says someone picked her lock and broke into her store to use the bathroom after a Secret Service officer covered a camera with tape.
Those using the bathroom included a pair in emergency medical uniforms, while a person in a camouflage law enforcement uniform and another in a dark suit with a white shirt could be seen guarding the door.
The U.S. Secret Service is apologizing to a Massachusetts salon owner after an agent covered her security camera with duct tape and broke into her salon by picking the lock so that its bathroom could be used by various people for a two-hour period.
After the two-hour period,… https://t.co/s4qSFtebn0
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1822446668333416826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to the https://nypost.com/2024/08/11/us-news/secret-service-apologizes-to-salon-owner-over-break-in-bathroom-use-during-kamala-harris-event/
:
A Secret Service rep was adamant that agents would not break into buildings like that — but did not deny that an officer covered her camera with tape, an act that was captured by surveillance footage, and appeared to cop some sort of mea culpa in a statement.
"The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner. We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission," said spox Melissa McKenzie.
According to https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-service-busted-salon-use-bathroom-owner-2024-8
, the head of the Secret Service's Boston-based field office called the salon owner to apologize.
"He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong," said Powers. "They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission."
According to Powers, the incident took place on July 27, prior to Harris' first major in-person fundraiser since President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race. The salon is held behind the Colonial Theatre, where Harris' event was held. She added that her salon was closed before the fundraiser due to the chaotic security presence.
"They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again — totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation," she told Insider. "And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday."
After the tape was placed on the camera, her interior cameras detected four other people over a 90 minute span.
"There were several people in and out for about an hour and a half — just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission," she told the outlet. "And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left and left my building completely unlocked and did not take the tape off the camera.
"Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them,” she said. “But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/secret-service-apologizes-picking-lock-breaking-local-salon-after-camera-covered-tape

2024-08-11 19:10:00

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
.
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.
* * *
Get on the https://bombthrower.com/join
.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 15:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bitcoin-change-management

2024-08-11 18:35:00

ATF Dispatched After McMansion Explodes Near Baltimore
ATF Dispatched After McMansion Explodes Near Baltimore
A McMansion in Harford County, Maryland, exploded on Sunday morning, resulting in one fatality at the 2300 block of Arthur Woods Drive in Bel Air.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-08-11_12-05-54.png?itok=oPjpKQMO
Harford County Fire and EMS Association spokesman Jeffrey Sexton told https://www.wbaltv.com/article/house-explosion-bel-air-arthurs-woods-drive/61846402
that emergency dispatchers received a call early this morning reporting a natural gas leak at the house. Shortly after, their hotlines were flooded with reports of an explosion.
Neighborhood doorbell camera captured the sound of a house exploding in the 2300 block of Arthur Woods Drive in Bel Air on Sunday morning.
You can find all the details on our website https://t.co/0ufS0dHAon
— WMAR-2 News (@WMAR2News) https://twitter.com/WMAR2News/status/1822660477198938529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Local utility company Baltimore Gas and Electric was aware of the NatGas leak, and contractors were on-site at the time of the explosion that obliterated the house and damaged surrounding structures in the neighborhood.
One of our viewers, Sam Casale, sent us this drone video captured minutes after a home on Arthur Woods Drive in Bel Air reportedly exploded killing at least one person. You can see the home is reduced to rubble. Firefighters are still searching the debris. https://twitter.com/wbaltv11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Breana Ross (@breanarossWBAL) https://twitter.com/breanarossWBAL/status/1822620782016524319?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"This is one of the largest explosions I've seen, especially in Harford County," Master Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire told WBAL.
Update on apparent house explosion. Volunteer Firefighters continue to search for victims. No current public threat. https://twitter.com/HarfordCoDES?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Special Operations is responding with special equipment to search the rubble.
Media staging is Abingdon Library 2510 South Tollgate Road, Abingdon. https://t.co/B7srld2j6N
— Harford Co., MD Fire & EMS (@HarforCoFireEMS) https://twitter.com/HarforCoFireEMS/status/1822599505549664472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
House explosion in Bel Air https://t.co/O1MyjY8hMY
— Megan Weeks (@sparkyweeks25) https://twitter.com/sparkyweeks25/status/1822618696587575547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Emergency officials said one of the workers and a neighbor were injured. The deceased victim's identity has not been released.
The home was for sale at the time. Investigators are still trying to determine whether the homeowner was inside during the incident.
Alkire added that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is en route to the scene.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 14:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/atf-dispatched-after-mcmansion-explodes-near-baltimore

2024-08-11 13:55:00

Russia Begins Heavy Retaliation On Ukrainian Capital As Zelensky Breaks Silence On Kursk Invasion
Russia Begins Heavy Retaliation On Ukrainian Capital As Zelensky Breaks Silence On Kursk Invasion
Now in the sixth day of the Kursk invasion, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky explained the following on Sunday, breaking his silence and giving his first official confirmation of the daring cross-border ground operation, "Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyii regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor’s territory." He added: "Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor."
On the same day Russia’s Foreign Ministry has vowed, "A tough response from the Russian army will not be long in coming." But that response appears to have already begun overnight and into Sunday, as the capital of Kiev has come under heavy missile attack. Missiles did not reach the center of the city, but the suburbs were impacted.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/kievattack.jpg?itok=nrNL8hsG
The Associated Press has described that at least four ballistic missiles slammed into the capital region along with 57 Shahed drones sent, citing Ukraine's air force, which also said its air defenses intercepted 53 of the drones.
Zelensky has alleged that as part of the aerial assault, Russia used a North Korean ballistic missile. "According to preliminary information, the Russians used a North Korean missile in this attack – yet another deliberate terrorist strike against Ukraine," Zelensky stated on social media. "Pyrotechnic experts are still working to determine the exact data regarding this missile," he added.
The US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink has condemned the new Russian aerial assault, saying it killed a man and his four-year old boy.
Air alerts and explosions sounded all night around Kyiv as Russia launched multiple missile attacks, killing a man and his 4-year-old son. A terrible reminder that Russia has not stopped its illegal invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory and its bombing of peaceful civilians. https://t.co/Sj782XuafZ
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) https://twitter.com/USAmbKyiv/status/1822563869111312481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As has been the pattern after any major air assault by Russia, Zelensky pressed his Western allies for more immediate defense equipment to defend the skies. He urged that "to really stop Russian terror, we need not only a full-fledged air shield that will protect all our cities and communities, but also strong decisions from partners — decisions that will remove restrictions on our defensive actions."
This reference to "strong decisions" is clearly an appeal for Western militaries to get more directly involved.
Some analysts view this ongoing Kursk cross-border offensive as a last-ditch and desperate ploy to force an escalation so that the US and NATO will more directly intervene, or else to gain leverage. Others say this is all PR-driven and that Ukrainian troops are being sacrificed in what's essentially a suicide mission for propaganda purposes and as but a temporary blow to Kremlin morale...
As I said, Kursk attack is PR-driven decision by Zelensky: "Invading Russia is Zelensky’s riskiest decision yet. Crack troops are being used for a risky counterpunch to Putin that astonished the world — and the fingerprints of Ukraine’s president are all over it.
President… https://t.co/cFMfohUTVW
— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) https://twitter.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1822384258893353114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It also appears a distraction of sorts from the front lines, where Ukraine is fairing poorly and having serious manpower problems. It might be forcing Russia to relocate reservists from the Donbass region as well in order to urgently protect its borders.
Ukraine has continued sending drones and missiles into Russian territory, with one reportedly hitting a building in Kursk on Sunday, wounding 13 according to local sources.
BREAKING:
The Ukrainian Army has struck and destroyed a Russian convoy of trucks carrying T-80 tanks into the battle zone near Korenovo in the Kursk region of Russia.
Another major blow to the Russian forces in the area. https://t.co/oG2twrm2ak
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1822614339523588499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, the world is witnessing Russia fight a war to repel invaders on its own territory in the southern region, with state media describing a Ukrainian command and control center having been destroyed in the https://www.rt.com/russia/602423-russia-destroy-ukraine-command-post/
:
A missile strike has destroyed a Ukrainian command-and-control center in Russia’s Kursk Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has claimed, releasing video of the strike. Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale incursion into the border region earlier this week.
Ukraine sent tanks into Kursk, which Russia is taking out via airstrikes...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/tankskursk.jpg?itok=ABLY4WDM
Many tens of thousands of Russian citizens have been evacuated from several border regions - with Russian sources acknowledging some 80,000 have fled in buses, trains, and cars. A formal "state of emergency" has persisted as Russia pours droops and security forces into the Kursk region to restore order.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sun, 08/11/2024 - 09:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-begins-heavy-retaliation-ukrainian-capital-zelensky-breaks-silence-kursk