Journalism's Latest Draft Recasts Ukraine Narrative

Authored by J. Peder Zane via RealClearPolitics,

Journalism may indeed be the first draft of history but that old chestnut can be misleading. Where it suggests a set-in-stone version of events, that first draft is really an unfolding detective story, revised and rewritten as we dig out better answers to the eternal questions of who, what, when, where, and how.

Two of my colleagues at RealClearInvestigations – Aaron Maté and Paul Sperry – recently recast one of the biggest stories of our time: America’s long, strange, and destructive entanglement with Ukraine.

As with all great investigative journalism, Maté and Sperry draw on a wide range of documents and insider accounts to reveal facts the powers-that-be have tried to conceal. While President Biden and many other leaders from both parties cast Ukraine as a bastion of democracy and a beacon of freedom, Maté and Sperry reveal how a decade of anti-democratic interference by Biden and other U.S. officials has led that country to the brink of destruction while corrupting America’s domestic politics.

Their reporting shows that Ukraine is not an independent democracy but a client state of America which has pushed Ukraine into ever-deepening conflict with Russia. It does not excuse Vladimir Putin’s illegal and murderous invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but it shows the massive escalation in a decade-long proxy war the two powers have been conducting on another nation’s soil.

Although this conflict stretches back decades and even centuries, Maté’s April 30 article starts in 2013. That’s when an uprising known as the Maidan movement was percolating in opposition to Ukraine’s notoriously corrupt president, Viktor Yanukovych, who had delayed signing a trade pact with the European Union because he did not want to alienate Russia.

The Maidan movement was soon co-opted by ultra-nationalist groups, some of whose members “openly sported Nazi insignia.” But many American officials, including then-Vice President Biden, saw it as an opportunity to pull Ukraine from the influence of Russia and to undermine Putin.

High-ranking U.S. officials – including senior State Department official Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt – actively advised the movement, which staged a coup in 2014 by storming the Ukrainian parliament. Those same American officials were also involved in naming the new government.

Putin immediately moved to counter growing American influence on his border. Just days after the coup, Russia invaded and soon annexed Crimea. Russophile Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas region followed suit. While Putin publicly told the Donbas forces to seek a diplomatic solution to their claims, American officials, including then-CIA Director John Brennan pushed Ukraine’s new government to armed conflict. As Maté wrote, Ukraine then “descended into a full-scale civil war. Thousands were killed and millions displaced in the ensuing conflict.”

As Putin issued threats that eventually turned into war, the U.S. tightened its grip on Ukraine. U.S. officials, including Biden, vetted appointments and dismissals in Kyiv, shaping, Maté reports, “the personnel and policies of subsequent Ukrainian governments, all while expanding its military and intelligence presence in Ukraine via the CIA and NATO.”

Sperry’s April 17 article changes our understanding of one of the most famous and consequential examples of U.S. meddling – Biden’s December 2015 threat to withhold $1 billion in aid if Ukraine did not fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. It has long been known that Shokin had launched multiple investigations into Burisma Holdings, the corruption-riddled energy giant that was paying Biden’s son Hunter millions of dollars. After Shokin was fired, those probes went away.

After this quid pro quo came to light, the Obama administration said that Biden was just carrying out the policy wishes of our government and its European allies. Sperry’s reporting, however, indicates that the U.S. had no such concerns about Shokin in the months before Biden’s threat: “An Oct. 1, 2015, memo summarizing the recommendation of the Interagency Policy Committee on Ukraine stated, ‘Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its [anti-corruption] reform agenda to justify a third [loan] guarantee.’”

Sperry also reports that one Biden advisor at the time was especially surprised by his boss’s action – Eric Ciaramella. On Jan. 21, 2016, Ambassador Pyatt emailed Ciaramella and other White House aides an article from the Ukrainian press – “U.S. loan guarantee conditional on Shokin’s dismissal.”

“Yikes,” Ciaramella responded. “I don’t recall this [the firing] coming up in our meeting with them,” he said, referring to an earlier White House meeting he hosted with top Ukrainian prosecutors.

The backstory Sperry brought to light would take on new significance three years later, when Ciaramella sparked Donald Trump’s first impeachment by complaining that the president had allegedly tried to condition Ukraine aid on an announcement that it was looking into Biden family corruption in that country – as well as Ukraine’s well documented efforts to interfere in the 2016 election in support of Hillary Clinton.

Sperry’s reporting suggests that the Trump impeachment was part of an effort to cover up Biden’s attempt to shield his family from the law. The strategy might have worked but for a strange stroke of fate, with the surfacing of a laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware repair shop that detailed his family’s high-level influence peddling.

As Ukraine – a mid-sized country halfway around the world – played a key role in our 2016 and 2020 elections, so it promises to do the same in 2024. At first glance, its prominence seems amazing. Maté and Sperry, in far greater detail than I have summarized here, help us understand why.

Their dispatches are far from the last word. Future reporting will find still undiscovered facts, providing, one hopes, a clear sense of the past as it becomes history. Their work is also achingly relevant to the president as we witness the carnage in Ukraine. As Maté writes, “In claiming to defend Ukraine from Russian influence, Ukraine was subsumed by American influence” at incalculable cost.

Their reporting also reveals the tangled complexity of human affairs requires a healthy amount of cognitive dissonance. America’s support for Ukraine may be a necessary defense against Putin’s aggression. But it is also a recurrence of our long and now largely disavowed history of promoting regime change for seemingly noble reasons in far-flung corners of the world such as Guatemala, Iran, South Vietnam, Chile, and other places. It is not the role of journalists to resolve this tension, but, as Maté and Sperry have, to detail it without fear or favor, so that others might.

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/07/2024 - 05:00

Who's Building The Most Solar Energy?

In 2023, solar energy accounted for three-quarters of renewable capacity additions worldwide. Most of this growth occurred in Asia, the EU, and the U.S., continuing a trend observed over the past decade.

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti illustrates the rise in installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in China, the EU, and the U.S. between 2010 and 2022, measured in gigawatts (GW). Bruegel compiled the data..

Chinese Dominance

As of 2022, China’s total installed capacity stands at 393 GW, nearly double that of the EU’s 205 GW and surpassing the USA’s total of 113 GW by more than threefold in absolute terms.

Since 2017, China has shown a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 25% in installed PV capacity, while the USA has seen a CAGR of 21%, and the EU of 16%.

Additionally, China dominates the production of solar power components, currently controlling around 80% of the world’s solar panel supply chain.

In 2022, China’s solar industry employed 2.76 million individuals, with manufacturing roles representing approximately 1.8 million and the remaining 918,000 jobs in construction, installation, and operations and maintenance.

The EU industry employed 648,000 individuals, while the U.S. reached 264,000 jobs.

According to the IEA, China accounts for almost 60% of new renewable capacity expected to become operational globally by 2028.

Despite the phasing out of national subsidies in 2020 and 2021, deployment of solar PV in China is accelerating. The country is expected to reach its national 2030 target for wind and solar PV installations in 2024, six years ahead of schedule.

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/07/2024 - 04:15

Systematic Review Reveals Many COVID-19 Vaccine Recipients Experienced New-Onset Psychosis

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

Individuals who took COVID-19 vaccines were found to have later suffered from psychosis, with Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots linked to most of the cases.

A 1-year-old child receives a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in Seattle, Wash., on June 21, 2022. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

The peer-reviewed systemic review, published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry journal on April 12, examined cases of new-onset psychosis among people who took the vaccines. Psychosis refers to symptoms that occur when an individual has difficulty differentiating between reality and fantasy, with hallucinations and delusions being two key types. The review looked at 21 articles describing 24 cases of psychosis symptoms following vaccination. The researchers concluded that “data suggest a potential link between young age, mRNA, and viral vector vaccines with new-onset psychosis within 7 days post-vaccination.”

“Collecting data on vaccine-related psychiatric effects is crucial for prevention, and an algorithm for monitoring and treating mental health reactions post-vaccination is necessary for comprehensive management.”

Out of the 24 cases, 13 were female. The median age of participants was 36 years. Twenty-two patients (91.2 percent) had no specific history of somatic illness and comorbidities.

In 33.3 percent of the cases, administration of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine “potentially induced adverse psychiatric events,” the study said. The viral vector AstraZeneca vaccine was linked to psychotic symptoms in 25 percent of cases.

In 45.8 percent of incidences, psychotic symptoms were reported after the first shot and in fifty percent after the second dose.

“Almost all reviewed cases (95.8 percent) presented with psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations (visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile) and delusions (mostly persecutory and delusions of reference).”

The most common form of hallucination was auditory, experienced in 54.2 percent of the cases, while visual hallucinations were experienced by 12.5 percent of patients.

“Motor disturbances, such as increased or decreased motor activity and bizarre behavior, were mentioned in 83.3 percent of cases. In 3 (12.5 percent) cases, a suicidal attempt was described.”

The psychotic symptoms mostly lasted for a period of one and two months.

The patients were treated using various methods including antipsychotics and steroids, but only 12 out of the 24 made a full recovery. The remaining suffered from “residual symptoms such as decreased emotional expressions, low affect, or residual psychotic symptoms.”

In one case, the patient reported a positive COVID-19 test result. “Previous studies have shown that individuals with documented comorbidities and a history of COVID-19 infection exhibit a statistically significant increase in adverse events following vaccination,” the study noted.

Researchers speculated that inflammatory conditions following vaccination may be a reason behind the psychosis. The study found elevated C-reactive protein levels and mild to moderate leukocytosis—high white blood cell count—as the most common blood abnormalities. Both conditions have links with inflammation.

Another hypothesis suggested in the study was that post-vaccination psychosis could suggest a manifestation of autoimmune anti-NMDA encephalitis, a condition in which the immune system targets the brain neurons by mistake and causes inflammation.

Researchers noted that instances of anti-NMDA encephalitis have been repeatedly reported after vaccinations against infections like influenza, pertussis, yellow fever, and typhus.

“Considering the potential link between post-vaccination psychosis and autoimmune anti-NMDA encephalitis, it is advisable to consider immunological screening in individuals presenting psychiatric symptoms post-COVID-19 vaccination.”

A third possible reason suggested in the study is that the various speculations and uncertainties regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines could lead to people experiencing “significant stress,” which could end up triggering the development of psychiatric reactions.

The authors received financial support for the review, with the article-processing charge funded by Riga Stradins University, Latvia. Researchers declared no conflicts of interest in the study.

Post-Vax Psychosis Cases

Episodes of psychosis after taking COVID-19 shots have been detailed in several case studies. In one instance, a 15-year-old boy from Taiwan was sent to hospital two days after taking the second Pfizer shot. He was screaming and exhibiting agitation and uncontrollable limb stretching.

Other bizarre behaviors included sitting up and lying down frequently. The child was prescribed antipsychotics yet his behaviors continued to persist after being discharged for more than a month.

The doctors then put the boy under a steroid regimen, which is anti-inflammatory and helps calm down an overactive immune system. His symptoms then improved.

In another case from Brazil, a woman in her 30s, who was previously healthy, developed refractory psychosis within 24 hours of taking an mRNA COVID-19 shot. The woman had disorganized thoughts, was aggressive, and believed she was being persecuted at the hospital.

Even though she was treated with mood stabilizers and antipsychotics, her behavior showed improvements only after four months of hospitalization. However, her psychosis continued.

A May 2022 review described the case of an 18-year-old woman who developed psychotic symptoms on the same day she took the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine.

“Symptoms started few hours after the vaccination with irrelevant talk. Over the next three days, it progressed to irritability, delusions of persecution and reference, and visual hallucinations.”

Another case study detailed the situation of a 45-year-old woman with no family history or personal history of mental disorders who ended up developing psychosis a month after she received a COVID vaccine. She quit her 18-year-old job abruptly and displayed erratic behaviors.

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/07/2024 - 03:30

These Were The Deadliest Countries For Journalists In 2023

50 media professionals were killed due to their journalistic activities in 2023, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) database.

As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, by far the deadliest place for journalists last year was in the Palestinian territories, where 16 deaths were counted in just the last three months of the year.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Following some way behind were Mexico with four deaths reported there in 2023, three in Afghanistan, three in Bangladesh, three in Lebanon, and two deaths in Cameroon, Ukraine and the Philippines, respectively.

A single journalist was also killed in each of the following countries: Albania, China, Colombia, Honduras, India, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Paraguay, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and the United States. Meanwhile, 109 people were listed as having “disappeared” last year, with the highest numbers recorded in Mexico (34), Syria (9), Russia (6), Pakistan (6), the Democratic Republic of Congo (5) and Kosovo (5).

It is important to note here that media professionals’ deaths are only listed here if confirmed by the RSF as being linked to their journalistic work. This explains why these figures seem low and that they are subject to change as fact-checking is carried out.

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/07/2024 - 02:45

Majority Of Germans Reject Muslim Immigration, Express Fear Of Becoming A "Minority In Germany"

Authored by John Cody via ReMix News,

Rejection of immigrants from Islamic countries has increased in Germany, according to the latest Insa poll commissioned by the Nius media group.

The most recent survey shows an absolute majority of 52 percent rather agree with the statement that “Germany should generally no longer accept refugees from Islamic countries”. Only 34 percent say “disagree” or “tend to disagree” with this statement.

There is even greater agreement with the statement that “in certain areas of my town or village, I have the feeling that I am no longer in Germany.” According to the poll, 57 percent agree with the statement, while 36 percent do not share this feeling.

The poll further shows that 54 percent of respondents said they were “afraid that Germans will become a minority in Germany.” On the other hand, 37 percent said they were not concerned.

A relative majority supports the theory behind the Great Replacement, which the domestic intelligence agency the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) classifies as a “right-wing extremist” viewpoint.

According to the poll, 45 percent of respondents agree with the statement: “I believe that Europeans are gradually being replaced by immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.”

A smaller number of people, 41 percent, reject this statement.

WATCH: "I don't have to become a minority in my own country." @EvaVlaar says Whites are being replaced in their native countries. Here is the actual data behind her claims, which shows rapid demographic change in the West's biggest cities. pic.twitter.com/rot877Xe8Z

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) April 29, 2024

Racism against Whites

Two-thirds of Germans (65 percent) agree with the statement that there is “racism against Whites” in Germany, while only a small minority of 22 percent think this is not true.

A strong majority also believe integration has not worked, with 58 percent saying “no” to the question of whether “migrants have largely integrated well in Germany.” Only 29 percent of respondents say migrants have integrated well.

Immigrants burden the German school system

An overwhelming majority of Germans agree with the statement that “the current migration is overburdening the German school system.” The results show that 75 percent, or three-quarters, agree with this statement, while 22 percent say they do not see a problem.

Remix News has previously reported on the problems facing the country’s school system, which is increasingly made up of an immigrant population, and in some cities, even constitutes the majority of students. Teachers and principals face assault, classroom overcrowding, language difficulties, and aggressive clashes between minority groups.

The survey follows a series of polls that show Germans are rapidly souring on mass immigration. Currently, the most popular party among German youth is the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party while the AfD is now the second most popular party in the country, even if the party’s overall support has seen a slight drop of between 3 to 4 points over the last three to four months.

Just this week, approximately 1,000 Muslims belonging to a radical pro-Sharia group marched in Hamburg to call for a caliphate in Germany, sparking national headlines and a sharp debate about the country’s growing Muslim population. Last month, it was reported that the share of foreigners committing crimes in the country had hit a record high of 41 percent.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/07/2024 - 02:00

San Diego Sues CNC Milling Technologists, Alleging They're Flouting California ‘Ghost Gun’ Laws

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

The San Diego County government is suing the manufacturer of a computer numerical control (CNC) machine, alleging that it is being used to manufacture unserialized firearms parts.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the county by the gun-control legal advocacy group Giffords Law Center, alleges the “Coast Runner” CNC machine, marketed by Coast Runner Industries, Inc., is simply a rebrand of the “Ghost Gunner” CNC machine previously developed and marketed by Defense Distributed and Ghost Gunner Inc.

Gun rights activist and technologist Cody Wilson has been working for years against gun control efforts by expanding access to the tools necessary to produce firearms at home. He has used his non-profit, Defense Distributed, as a platform to pioneer technological advancements in the manufacture of firearms using both 3D-printing and CNC technology.

Individuals are not prohibited under federal rules and regulations from producing firearms for their personal use, but gun control proponents in several states have sought to prevent the proliferation of unserialized privately-made firearms, which they’ve referred to as “ghost guns.”

While gun control advocates have attempted to stop the spread of “ghost guns,” Mr. Wilson and Defense Distributed have worked to ensure home manufacturing of firearms remains accessible with the development of its “Ghost Gunner” line of CNC machines.

California Law and CNC Machines

In 2022, the Democrat-supermajority California legislature passed legislation that makes it unlawful to sell or transfer any “CNC milling machine that has the sole or primary function of manufacturing firearms to any person in this state, other than a federally licensed firearms manufacturer or importer.”

Following the passage of the 2022 law, the Ghost Gunner sales website states, “Ghost Gunner CNC machines are not currently available to non-FFL California customers.” But after Defense Distributed and Ghost Gunner restricted sales of its machines in California, a new company called Coast Runner emerged, marketing a similar CNC machine.

The new lawsuit names Coast Runner Industries Inc., Ghost Runner Inc., and Defense Distributed as defendants.

“The ‘Coast Runner’ and the ‘Ghost Gunner’ share more than just similar rhyming names. The ‘Coast Runner’ is in fact the Ghost Gunner with a new coat of paint,” the San Diego County lawsuit states.

“It has the same internal designs, the same features, and is being marketed for the same purpose: the illegal production of untraceable ghost guns. Moreover, it is being sold and marketed by the same company, as public records show that Coast Runner Industries, Inc. is merely an alter ego of Ghost Gunner Inc. and Defense Distributed.”

A marketing video for the latest iteration of the “Ghost Gunner” CNC machine shows it being used for what appear to be firearm frames and receivers, and the sales website for the machine makes clear that it is “optimized for machining AR-15 and AK-47 receivers.” By contrast, marketing videos and materials for the “Coast Runner” emphasize its cutting power and precision.

San Diego County’s legal complaint notes that the “Coast Runner” made an appearance earlier this year at the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) show, a trade show hosted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

The lawsuit also notes that individuals who previously worked with Ghost Gunner and Defense Distributed have gone on to work with Coast Runner Inc.

“Defendants flout California law with too-cute-by-half sales and marketing tactics. The Coast Runner is not a joke-it is an illegal device designed, marketed, and sold to enable its users to make firearms and to violate California’s gun violence prevention laws,” the complaint states.

“Plaintiff brings this suit to put an end to Defendants’ flagrant violations of California law and to seek remedy for the harm Defendants have caused and are continuing to cause in California.”

California ‘Doesn’t Have the Nerve to Ban CNC’: Wilson

The legal complaint seeks a judgment finding all defendants to be in violation of California law and seeks a civil penalty of as much as $25,000 per alleged violation of the California law prohibiting sales of CNC machines for firearms manufacturing, along with an award of “reasonable damages” to the state.

Mr. Wilson insisted Defense Distributed remains in compliance with California law.

“Defense Distributed follows California law with great effort,” he told NTD News in an emailed statement.

“The state doesn’t have the nerve to ban CNC, so they ban speech about the technology.”

Mr. Wilson declined to offer further comment on the lawsuit as he and his legal team prepare to respond.

NTD News also contacted Coast Runner for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 23:40

These Are The 20 Countries Most Indebted To China

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu ranked the top 20 countries by their amount of debt to China. These figures are as of 2022, and come from the World Bank (accessed via Yahoo Finance).

This dataset highlights Pakistan and Angola as having the largest debts to China by a wide margin. Both countries have taken billions in loans from China for various infrastructure and energy projects.

Critically, both countries have also struggled to manage their debt burdens. In February 2024, China extended the maturity of a $2 billion loan to Pakistan.

Soon after in March 2024, Angola negotiated a lower monthly debt payment with its biggest Chinese creditor, China Development Bank (CDB).

Could China be in Trouble?

China has provided developing countries with over $1 trillion in committed funding through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive economic development project aimed at enhancing trade between China and countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Many believe that this lending spree could be an issue in the near future.

According to a 2023 report by AidData, 80% of these loans involve countries in financial distress, raising concerns about whether participating nations will ever be able to repay their debts.

While China claims the BRI is a driver of global development, critics in the West have long warned that the BRI employs debt-trap diplomacy, a tactic where one country uses loans to gain influence over another.

Editor’s note: The debt shown in this visualization focuses only on direct external debt, and does not include publicly-traded, liquid, debt securities like bonds. Furthermore, it’s worth noting the World Bank data excludes some countries with data accuracy or reporting issues, such as Venezuela.

If you enjoyed this post, check out our breakdown of $97 trillion in global government debt.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 23:20

McMaken: The FBI And CIA Are Enemies Of The American People

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson sat down for a three-hour-plus discussion on the Joe Rogan Show last week, covering everything from UFOs, to religion and artificial intelligence. But perhaps the most important topic they covered was the insidious and dangerous role played by the US regime’s intelligence agencies in America. 

Specifically, Carlson suggested the CIA continues to lobby for keeping the JFK files secret, possibly because the CIA had a role in the assassination. Tucker also brought up how the FBI’s second-in-command was responsible for taking down Richard Nixon. Carlson described how intelligence agencies hold immense power within Congress because members of Congress—who are generally disreputable people with many secrets—are terrified of being blackmailed. After all, in a post-Patriot Act world of nearly unrestrained spying by the US regime, there is no privacy in America. 

I’ll let you, dear readers, listen to the full interview and make up your mind for yourselves as to the details of the discussion. 

What I want to highlight here, however, is how remarkable it is that two major media figures—Rogan and Carlson—are announcing to their millions of listeners and readers that organizations like the CIA and the FBI are despicable agencies committed to undermining the legal and constitutional institutions of the United States. 

This is long overdue. 

Deep-state agencies like the CIA and the FBI have for far too long been considered reputable organizations just trying to “keep us safe” or somehow defend the United States from alleged foreign threats. Conservatives have long been among the worst offenders. Libertarians know this well, and have observed for decades the breed of “small-government” conservatives who one minute claim “the government can’t do anything right” and then the next minute simp for “heroic” CIA and FBI agents. People such as these have long checked their critical thinking skills at the door as soon as the discussion turns to the regime’s spy agencies—or the Pentagon, for that matter. This is not to say that Leftists are guiltless on this. While historically it was the Left that actually made some efforts to expose intelligence agencies and their crimes in the 1970s, that is now ancient history. The Left in 2024 has rarely met a regime spook it didn’t like. This was made explicit last month when Adam Westbrook and Lindsey Crouse declared in The New York Times that “the Deep State is actually kind of awesome.” 

The job of opposing these contemptible enemies of freedom at America’s intelligence agencies—especially the FBI and CIA and NSA—falls to the minority of Americans who actually care about law and human rights enough to seek true restraints on regime power. Those of us in this minority must never miss an opportunity to disparage, doubt, question, and generally express loathing for these organizations and for every single agent and employee at these agencies who collects a taxpayer-funded salary. 

A Danger for Many Decades 

Since at least the early 1960s, many have understood that the post-war intelligence agencies have posed an especially dangerous threat to the people of the United States. For example, exactly one month after Kennedy’s assassination—surely, just a coincidence!—former president Harry Truman expressed alarm about the CIA’s meddling in domestic affairs. He wrote in The Washington Post: “For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas. ...I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations.”

Then as now, however, The Washington Post was an arm of the deep state and the editor buried Truman’s op-ed on Page A11. The CIA was outraged enough by the column, however, that CIA director Allen Dulles lied and claimed that Truman had been “quite astounded“ when he saw his own article and that the whole thing was really the work of a Truman aide.

This bizarre attempt by CIA operative to “retract” Truman’s article was nonetheless contradicted by Truman himself who reiterated in a 1964 letter that Truman had only intended the CIA to be an informational service for the president, and that “[I]t was not intended to operate as an international agency engaged in strange activities.” Truman would later tell an interviewer that “[I]f I’d known what was going to happen, I never would have [created the CIA.]”1 

Of course, Truman may have known about many of the CIA’s “strange activities” by the late 1950s, such as MKULTRA, and related “mind control” experiments with LSD and other drugs. The CIA was known to drug the agency’s victims against their will, such as seven black inmates in Kentucky who were were fed “’double, triple and quadruple’ doses of LSD for 77 straight days.” One might also mention the very suspicious case of Frank Olson, a bioweapons expert who was given LSD by CIA agents without his knowledge. Olson later “fell” to his death from a hotel window in 1953. The agency lied about drugging Olson for 22 years. 

The CIA faced some scrutiny in the wake of the Vietnam war as the Left began to rein in the deep state which had spent years attempting to destroy American opponents of the war through a variety of dirty tricks. Yet, the agency had hardly been “reformed” by the time the US’s “war on terror” was launched in late 2001. The CIA returned to its illegal medical torture—assuming it had ever stopped—with new medical experiments on regime prisoners. Documents uncovered by the ACLU have shown that CIA doctors are still used to provide a veneer of scientific legitimacy to CIA torture programs. In the age of vaccine passports, this alliance between doctors and the CIA should alarm any defender of human rights. 

In spite of all this, the CIA continues to fail spectacularly at its original mission of collecting useful information. The CIA failed to see the Iranian Revolution coming. The CIA was clueless about Soviet Missiles shipped to Cuba in 1962. The CIA believed the Soviet Union was an economic powerhouse in the 1980s. And, of course, the CIA let 9/11 happen right under its nose. 

Given all this, even conservative stalwarts have seen the light on the CIA in recent years. The late Angelo Codevilla, for example, penned a 2020 article calling for “breaking up” the CIA. The CIA, Codevilla notes, is now so “ideologically partisan,” so “obsolete,” and its record of failure so undeniable, that the agency is now “inherently dangerous and low-value.” 

End the FBI

The CIA isn’t alone in its war on American freedom and decency, however. The FBI is almost equally dangerous, which is why Codevilla also calls for the FBI to be “restricted to law enforcement.” 

Unknown to many Americans, the FBI doesn’t even consider itself to be a law enforcement agency anymore. The FBI is now a “national security” agency, and that means the FBI is an arm of the American spy regime. This, of course, is why the Department of Justice can now be used for blatantly political purposes such as when the FBI spied on candidate Donald Trump in 2016. 

Here at mises.org, we’ve already reported on the mixture of abuse and incompetence that characterizes the FBI. The FBI expends countless hours tracking down harmless “enemies” of the regime—such as little old ladies prosecuted for the January 6 riot—while ignoring real criminals like Larry Nassar. Nor surprisingly, local police will tell you it’s the state and local police who do the real work of tracking down real criminals, and then the FBI swoops in to take the credit. 

Moreover, the history of the FBI lends substantial plausibility to Tucker Carlson’s claim that intelligence agencies are in the business of blackmailing members of Congress. This is a known tactic employed by J. Edgar Hoover during this 48-year reign at the FBI. Hoover, of course, was lauded for decades as a hero, but in reality, he was, in the words of historian Beverly Gage, a “one-dimensional tyrant and backroom schemer who strong-armed the rest of the country into submission...the most influential federal appointee of the twentieth century.” Hoover and his army of compliant FBI agents spied on anyone and everyone—especially elected officials and other public figures—who might be useful as a target for blackmail.

So, what to do with these agencies? 

There is nothing that these agencies do that could justify their continued existence. Both agencies—neither of which in their present forms are authorized among the enumerated powers of the US constitution—were sold to the taxpayers as agencies to be used only against hardened criminals and foreign dictators. Today, these organizations spend their time exploiting the taxpayers for ever larger budgets, for ever more power to spy on Americans, and new ways to trick those same Americans into supporting the regime’s latest wars. 

They are, simply put, the regime’s secret police, devoted to building the regime’s power. One answer is to eviscerate their budgets, repeal their enabling legislation, and encourage aggressive lawfare against the regime in retribution for these agencies’ many crimes. That’s probably a best-case scenario. Other scenarios likely require the bankruptcy of the regime, or perhaps its dissolution. That is likely to come with substantial and negative economic effects in the short term. Unfortunately, many Americans are still enthralled to these organizations thanks to relentless state propaganda that tells us this American version of the KGB exists for our own good.  Abolition will clearly take time. Now is a good time to start.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 23:00

Amidst Staffing Shortage, Merced County's Sheriff Is Often Sole Officer To Respond To Calls

Merced County California's Sheriff is officially sounding the warning bells.

Sheriff Vern Warnke, who has worked in the county's office for 45 years, is officially declaring a public safety crisis, according to a new report from Yahoo and the LA Times. Why? Because he's often finding himself the only person available to respond to calls.

In a recent incident, a woman reported a domestic dispute involving her armed husband. With no deputies nearby, Warnke, identifiable by his cowboy hat and badge, intervened and successfully defused the situation.

“We had nobody to send, and I, as the sheriff, I'm still a cop, I still love what I do. But we're at that point when the sheriff and administration are having to take calls.”

Warnke has recently expressed deep concern over the rising number of deputy vacancies. In a recent video message, he lamented the staffing shortage, fearing it could jeopardize public safety, urging residents to recognize the severity of the situation.

He said in the message: “I'm fighting for the sheriff's office’s life right now. That means I'm fighting for your public safety. So folks, it's bad."

He continued: “Our correctional bureaus are understaffed and overworked. Our patrol deputies are understaffed and overworked. Our communication center with the dispatchers — it could be to the point when you dial 911, we have nobody who can answer it. And that's not a joke. It's not a threat. It's a fact.”

The report notes that the Merced sheriff's office, usually staffed with 100 deputies for patrols, currently has 20 vacancies, while 23 custodial deputy positions out of 108 remain unfilled. The investigative unit, intended for 18 members, now operates with only eight, and the dispatch team has four vacancies out of 13 staff.

Despite recent pleas to the county Board of Supervisors for increased budget and control over fund allocation, Warnke's requests have been ignored.

With just four deputies patrolling nearly 2,000 square miles during the day, and dispatch shifts covered by a lieutenant and two sergeants, the office faces severe understaffing. Colleagues are often asked to work overtime beyond their 12-hour shifts, with one dispatcher clocking over 700 hours of overtime in a year.

California's law enforcement struggle is widespread, with patrol officer numbers per 100,000 residents at their lowest since 1991, according to a January report. Many cities, including Alameda and San Francisco, have resorted to hefty enlistment bonuses and pay raises to attract and retain officers. Even Los Angeles, with increased officer pay and bonuses, still grapples with vacancies.

Smaller municipalities offer incentives like gym memberships and dry-cleaning services, but rural counties lack the resources for such incentives. Tehama County suspended daytime patrols in 2022 due to staff shortages.

Despite its relatively larger budget, Merced County struggles to retain deputies, losing them to neighboring counties with higher pay. Despite offering $10,000 signing bonuses, Merced's top deputies earn less than those in neighboring counties, creating a cycle of turnover. Warnke expressed frustration with the county's short-term fixes and lack of long-term planning, highlighting persistent staffing issues despite past raises.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 22:40

China Bulls Beware: Credit Markets Flash A Warning

By Ye Xie, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

Chinese stocks have been on a stealth bull run, but the renewed market optimism may be built a shaky foundation — especially when it comes to credit.

The MSCI China Index has climbed 24% from its lows in January. The Hang Seng Index has also recovered, so much so that its 9% gain this year is on par with the Nasdaq Composite Index.

A number of factors have helped. The economic data in the first quarter beat expectations, with stimulus starting to gain traction. Valuations were cheap and investors who were bearish in China needed to close some of their underweighted positions to catch up. In addition, the Politburo meeting last week offered some positive surprises, hinting that the government may find ways to deal with unsold properties.

But in the big scheme of things, a lot of structural headwinds haven’t disappeared. The housing market, for instance, remains in deep trouble, with new home sales in big cities down 39% in April.

An even bigger risk lies in the broader credit market. Beijing’s strategy has been to shift resources from the speculative housing market to more productive industrial sectors such as electronic vehicles and renewable energy. As a result, bank loans to the housing sector have collapsed, while lending to industries soared.

But there’s a limit to how far such a strategy can go. Some industries are now plagued by overcapacity concerns, while there’s a rising threat of protectionism from foreign countries that have seen a flood of Chinese imports. And in recent months, industrial loan growth has slowed after the epic surge.

As a result, strategists at Clocktower note that China may be in the potentially treacherous position where credit demand from both households and corporations is falling at the same time.

Why that is important? The strategists explained:

A credit collapse will be a death knell for a highly leveraged economy like China. If the public sector does not come to support credit growth in a timely manner, a sharp growth deceleration is likely to occur going forward as economic agents will be forced to cut consumption and investment to meet their debt obligations.

That’s the warning Chinese stock bulls may have to heed.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 22:20

PA Man Who "Didn't Even Make Over $100,000" Gets $34.6 Billion Tax Bill

Barry Tangert, of Mount Joy, Lancaster County got the shock of his life after filing his taxes this year, when the PA Department of Revenue sent him a tax bill for more than $34 billion.

The number was so huge that it didn't even fit on the bottom line of the bill he was sent. To be exact, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue that said he owed the state $34,576,826,561.47, according to WGAL. 

Tangert told WGAL: "I knew it was an obvious blunder. I don't even make over $100,000 a year, so there's no way I could owe anywhere near that."

"I don't know if it was a computer glitch in the transmission or if it was an input error from my tax preparer," he added. 

Tangert said he reached out to the Department of Revenue: "The first thing he said was, 'You had a good year.' And I said, 'I wish'."

Neither Tangert of WGAL, both of whom reached out to the Department of Revenue at first, got a clarification about how the error happened. 

Later, WGAL was told it "was an isolated incident that stemmed from the wrong numbers being inputted into the system". 

Barry Tangert's jaw dropped when he got his latest tax bill. He was charged more than $34 billion in overdue taxes, penalties and interest. https://t.co/smKwkKfwBp

— Dillon Fuhrman (@DFuhrmanKYMA) April 27, 2024

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 22:00

Ex-CNN Host Chris Cuomo Reveals COVID Vaccine Injury: "I'm Sick Myself"

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former CNN host Chris Cuomo said in a recent news segment that he is suffering from a health condition after he received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo attends the 12th annual CNN Heroes tribute in New York on Dec. 8, 2018 (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Mr. Cuomo made the revelation during his NewsNation program when he was interviewing a nurse practitioner, Shaun Barcavage, a nurse practitioner who said he suffered vaccine injuries and has received little help or recognition.

“We know that vaccines can have unintended consequences, AKA side effects, but nobody’s really talking about it because they’re too afraid of blame, and they just want it to go away,” Mr. Cuomo said. “But the problem is people like Shaun—and me—and millions of others who still have weird stuff with their bloodwork and their lives and their feelings—you know, physically—are not going away,” he added.

Mr. Cuomo, 53, did not go into the details about his symptoms or the brand of COVID-19 vaccine he received. But during the interview, Mr. Cuomo offered to share his doctor’s information with Mr. Barcavage.

“I’m sick myself, but I’m working with people who are working with this,” Mr. Cuomo said.

The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Cuomo for comment Sunday.

Mr. Barcavage told the program that he has received little support from federal health agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“I thought there would be people ready to help me after my injury,” he said in the NewsNation segment with Mr. Cuomo, which aired last week. “I reached out to political representatives, the NIH, the CDC, the FDA, but I received no answers. No one wanted to touch it.”

Other Famous Claims

Other than Mr. Cuomo, relatively few celebrities have spoken about vaccine-related injuries they may have suffered. However, one of the world’s richest people, Elon Musk, said that he was almost hospitalized after taking the shot.

Mr. Musk revealed last year he got COVID-19 and experienced “mild cold symptoms,” but took multiple vaccine doses in order travel. However, he revealed that the “third shot almost sent me to hospital,” according to a social media post.

“How many other people out there have symptoms that are actually from the vaccine or COVID treatment, rather than COVID itself?” he asked.

“It’s not like I don’t believe in vaccines—I do. However, the cure cannot be potentially worse than the disease,” he said. “Public debate over efficacy should not be shut down,” Mr. Musk continued.

Around the same time, former Fox News host and current podcaster Megyn Kelly said that she, too, suffered vaccine-related health issues and stated she wishes she never took the jab.

“I regret getting the vaccine, even though I’m a 52-year-old woman, because I don’t think I needed it,” Ms. Kelly said on a Sept. 6 episode of her podcast. “I think I would have been fine. I had got COVID many times, and it was well past when the vaccine was doing what it was supposed to be doing,” she added.

“For the first time, I tested positive for an autoimmune issue at my annual physical. And I went to the best rheumatologist in New York, and I asked her, do you think this could have to do with the fact that I got the ... booster and then got COVID within three weeks? And she said yes. Yes. I wasn’t the only one she’d seen that with,” Ms. Kelly continued.

On social media, Ms. Kelly had written that she received the Johnson & Johnson shot. It’s not clear what vaccine Mr. Musk had taken.

There’s a growing body of data suggesting that COVID-19 vaccine side effects are more serious than previously claimed.

There have been papers linking spike-protein-based COVID-19 vaccines to skin problems, a dull ringing in the ears known as tinnitus, visual impairments, blood clotting, and even death.

The CDC still recommends that people of all ages receive a COVID-19 vaccine, saying that the potential side effects do not outweigh COVID-19. In a notice published in late April, the agency again called for adults aged 65 and older to get the latest version of the vaccines.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 21:40

Boeing's Day Just Got Worse: First Crewed Launch Of Starliner Spacecraft Scrubbed

Update (2120ET): Its not been a great day for Boeing.

After a wave of whistleblowers and a new FAA probe, the planemaker has abandoned its plans for its first crewed launch of the Starliner spacecraft "out of an abundance of caution," just two hours before planned takeoff.

ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has made the decision to the launch team that launch operations will not continue tonight for #AtlasV and #Starliner.https://t.co/yCCjHu9R5K

— ULA (@ulalaunch) May 7, 2024

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) cites an issue with the oxygen relief valve on the Atlas V rocket for scrubbing the launch.

Officials involved in the planned launch had said repeatedly that they wouldn't hesitate to postpone the flight if any risks to safety emerged. Bill Nelson, the administrator for NASA and a former astronaut himself, reiterated that point Monday evening, saying the agency's first priority is safety.

"We go when we're ready," he said in a post on X.

*  *  *

Seven years behind schedule and more than a billion-dollar cost overrun, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is finally atop an Atlas V rocket at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. If all goes according to plan, the launch will occur tonight at 2234 ET. 

Who’s ready for a rocket launch? #Starliner pic.twitter.com/EU3Z9iNUci

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) May 6, 2024

Boeing's Starliner aims to be big defense's answer to Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew Dragon, a spacecraft that has already achieved orbit 13 times. Fifty astronauts, cosmonauts, and civilians have flown into orbit via a Crew Dragon, with 12 flights to the International Space Station. 

At a preflight briefing last week, astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore told reporters safety is essential on the crewed test flight:

"Why do we think it's as safe as possible? We wouldn't be standing here if we didn't." 

Wilmore continued:

"Do we expect it to go perfectly? This is the first human flight of the spacecraft. I'm sure we'll find things out. That's why we do this. This is a test flight."

Meanwhile, Musk chimed in on X about Starliner being seven years behind schedule:

Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.

Note, the crew capsule design of Dragon 2 has almost nothing in common with Dragon 1.

Too many non-technical managers at Boeing.

Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.

Note, the crew capsule design of Dragon 2 has almost nothing in common with Dragon 1.

Too many non-technical managers at Boeing. https://t.co/bTXWAfxfrh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2024

SpaceX has proved that the bloated military-industrial complex cannot deliver next-generation technology to the market quickly enough and under budget.

Watch the launch event live here:

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 21:20

Illegal Immigrant Crisis Stings Border Town In Unexpected Way

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Benny Rodriguez, an 80-year-old grandfather of seven, beams as he points to faded photographs on the wall and proudly narrates the story of Eagle Grocery, a family-run business since 1939.

(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

It withstood a fire in 1948. It emerged from a flood in 1954. And since 2002, the 11,000-square-foot store has persevered in the shadow of a 218,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter two miles away.

“We’ve been through a lot, but we’re still here, and we love it; we love our community, and that’s what keeps us going,” Mr. Rodriguez told The Epoch Times inside the grocery at Main and Adams Streets.

But there are new worries about a recurrent threat that Eagle Grocery, the Rodriguez family, and the local economy have faced over the years.

In attempting to halt illegal crossings, federal officials have sometimes blocked the flow of law-abiding Eagle Grocery shoppers by blocking the legal ports of entry across the border bridges from Mexico.

That has hurt this shop’s bottom line, but the problem isn’t local. American businesses in border towns from California to Texas suffer when legal ports of entry are blocked, often as a political show of force in response to a surge in illegal crossings.

Business owners like Mr. Rodriguez and officials in towns like Eagle Pass worry that government leaders might resort to this tactic more often to save face, even though its effectiveness is debatable, while illegal immigration remains the top concern for voters in the 2024 presidential race.

The last time the legal port of entry was blocked, the economy of Eagle Pass suffered a half-million-dollar loss in just a few weeks, its fire chief, Manuel Mello III, said.

“If this continues, we will have to place a freeze on hiring personnel, purchasing equipment, and completing projects for our citizens,” he testified to Congress during a January hearing on illegal immigration.

Similar unintended consequences are playing out in many U.S. border towns. And the collateral damage is rippling across America in ways that most people don’t realize, draining tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue.

Many Texans, including the Rodriguez clan, say this scenario provides more proof that many decision-makers are out of touch with the realities of life along the border. They hope for a fresh, commonsense antidote.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump wait downtown near Shelby Park during his visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 29, 2024. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Beneficial Relationships

Mexico, the United States’ No. 1 trade partner, helped generate nearly $1 trillion in gross domestic product and at least 8 million jobs across America in 2023, according to a February report from The Perryman Group, a Texas-based firm that has analyzed U.S.–Mexico “Bordernomics” for many years.

“Trade, business relationships, workforce flows, and family ties link the 10 states along both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border,” benefiting both nations, a Perryman report points out.

The fate of Eagle Pass, Texas, is intertwined with its Mexican sister city, Piedras Negras—typifying such relationships all along both sides of the border.

“They depend on us; we depend on them,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “If they don’t come over here, and we don’t go over there, everything stops.”

In 2016, he served as Eagle Pass’s “Mr. Amigo,” an honor bestowed upon one resident of each city for the annual International Friendship Festival. But in March, the illegal immigration crisis displaced the joint celebration from its usual home in Shelby Park.

That 47-acre Eagle Pass park sits alongside the Rio Grande, the river separating the United States and Mexico. For months, it has remained closed amid a standoff between federal and state authorities who disagree over how to enforce immigration laws and control the U.S. border.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is among the many Republicans who accuse President Joe Biden of promoting open-border policies; Mr. Abbott emphasizes stringent enforcement of immigration laws and construction of border barriers. The White House has advocated “a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system” while calling on Congress to “make long overdue reforms to U.S. immigration laws.”

That clash—and unprecedented numbers of illegal immigrants—thrust Eagle Pass, a city of about 30,000 people, into the national spotlight late last year.

Often called “La Puerta de México,” Mexico’s Door, Eagle Pass serves as the fastest route from Mexico to major Texas cities.

A pair of international bridges, simply called Bridge One and Bridge Two, connect Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras.

In a typical month, some 300,000 vehicles and 40,000 pedestrians traverse those bridges legally, city data show.

But below those bridges, illegal crossings along the Rio Grande reached a record high last December. In that month Border Patrol agents in the Eagle Pass region apprehended more than 71,000 illegal immigrants; border-wide, arrests totaled 251,000, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Vehicles wait to enter into the United States from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 17, 2024. (John Moore/Getty Images) ‘It Makes No Sense’

These illegal immigrant surges are unpredictable. CBP has sometimes responded by shutting down bridges leading from Mexico to the United States.

As soon as the feds stopped passenger cars from crossing Bridge One in Eagle Pass on Nov. 27, 2023, “60 percent of our customer base was gone,” said Mr. Rodriguez’s wife, Angie.

Many Mexican nationals possess U.S.-issued cards permitting them to travel back and forth. They come into the United States to visit friends and family; they attend school, eat at restaurants, enjoy entertainment, and go shopping. Then they return to their homes in and near Piedras Negras.

These are the people whom the recent U.S. government border restrictions affected the most, the Rodriguez family’s eldest son, Jaime, 50, told The Epoch Times.

“So, you close the bridge to legal shoppers … to open the way for illegal people coming across under the bridge; it makes no sense,” Mr. Jaime Rodriguez said.

But that’s what happens “when you’re making decisions from Washington, D.C., without knowing the repercussions you’re having.”

The effects reverberate from Brownsville at Texas’s southernmost tip to the border’s end point in California, almost 2,000 miles away, he said.

Data supports his assertion. Last year’s border “inefficiencies” clogged the commerce pipeline, causing economic losses of $1.6 billion in the Texas border region, the Perryman Group calculated. Nearly 17,000 jobs were lost, about half of them in retail trade.

Cargo Chaos

Three weeks into the bridge shutdown, The Texas Border Coalition, which pushes for “secure, efficient borders that facilitate legitimate trade and travel,” appealed to the Biden administration for relief.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 21:00

41% Of Americans Think Civil War Likely By 2029, Some Say Sooner Amid Chaos 

Americans have been stunned by the Democratic megadonors funneling money into Marxist groups, sparking mass chaos across colleges and universities nationwide as risks are mounting that 'BLM-style' riots could spill over into city streets this summer.

Law-abiding Americans have taken notice of radical left-wing policies pushing this nation further into chaos, from failed progressive cities ignoring law and order to open borders igniting the greatest illegal alien invasion this nation has ever seen. There is a growing sense among the population that possibly a controlled demolition of the country is underway by the radical left. 

The spark that could ignite the next round of social unrest is possibly Marxist 'useful idiots' (some of which are professional and paid protesters) on school campuses who quite literally have said they want a revolution to usher in a "socialist reconstruction of America." 

An extremist on the mic says: "There’s only one solution, intifada revolution. We must have a revolution so we can have a socialist reconstruction of the USA."

This isn’t just about Israel/Palestine. It's an attempt of the Marxist takeover of America. Our colleges have become… pic.twitter.com/2IEqRyuorB

— A Man Of Memes (@RickyDoggin) April 30, 2024

Americans are closely watching these developments on their smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs and have taken note of the possibility of summer riots, pushing the nation closer and closer to what some voters believe is a civil war on the horizon. 

A new survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 41% of Americans are concerned a civil war could erupt sometime over the next five years, including 16% who say civil war is "very likely" in that same timeframe. 

Meanwhile, 49% of respondents do not believe another civil war is likely in the next five years, with 20% expressing that it is "Not At All Likely." An additional 10% are uncertain about the future. 

"The possibility that America could face another civil war soon is not too far-fetched for a lot of voters," the pollsters said about their survey. 

Given these events last week:

"Nothing Wrong With Being Hamas": Radical Leftist Groups Trained Students Before Nationwide Campus Chaos https://t.co/R9n7ZIeY7v

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 5, 2024

NYPD Raids Columbia, Protesters Arrested https://t.co/hyGlix0OuC

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 1, 2024

As Americans brace for more chaos, radical leftist non-governmental organizations are artificially driving the nation into turmoil. The FBI's silence on this matter raises questions, with some suggesting their priorities may lie elsewhere, such as targeting President Biden's political adversaries ahead of the presidential elections in November. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 20:40

Death Of Self-Checkout, Walmart Charges For It In Some Locations

By Mish Shedlock of MishTalk

Theft and complaints are taking a toll on self-checkout. Now, Walmart wants you to pay $98 a year for Walmart+ for the self-checkout privilege at some stores.

Retailers Scale Back Self-Checkouts

The Wall Street Journal reports Retailers Scale Back Self-Checkouts to Curb Irritation and Theft

Attention, shoppers: Retailers are rethinking your cashier job.

Store operators are modifying how they use self-checkout stations in a bid to boost their bottom lines and improve the shopping experience for customers.

Some retailers are pulling kiosks out of stores as a way to keep a lid on theft. Others, including Target (TGT), Dollar General (DG) and the regional grocery chain Schnucks, have limited how many items customers can bring to self-checkouts to avoid bottlenecks and alleviate headaches for staff.

Schnucks now limits its self-checkout lanes to 10 items or fewer. While the primary intention is to improve customer service and checkout efficiency, Simon said the company expects some reduction of theft as well. “This item limit will help us maintain our costs while keeping the prices lower for our customers,” he said.

About a fifth of people who used self-checkouts said they accidentally took an item without paying for it, according to a survey of 2,000 shoppers last year by LendingTree. Some 15% of self-checkout users admitted to stealing an item on purpose.

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, said it removed self-checkout lanes and replaced them with cashier-staffed lanes at locations including stores in Cleveland and Shrewsbury, Mo. When checkout access is limited, some stores are designating self-checkout lanes for Walmart+ customers, who pay a membership fee of $98 a year.

In 2022, Dollar General said self-checkout was so successful and popular with customers that it tried making some stores entirely self-checkout. A year later, CEO Todd Vasos pulled back on those plans.

“We had relied and started to rely too much this year on self-checkout in our stores,” Vasos said on a December earnings call. “We should be using self-checkout as a secondary checkout vehicle, not a primary.”

In March, the company said it would remove self-checkout for stores with the highest levels of shrink. For remaining stores with self-checkout, it would limit customers to scanning five items or fewer.

Do You Like Self-Checkout?

I cannot stand it. My wife prefers it. Something always seems to go wrong for me. You cannot scan beer or wine, the bar code won’t read, and Costco has a limit on the cost amount.

The latter hit me at Costco this week when I tried to scan a whole beef tenderloin. I had to call an attendant a second time for beer. Loose produce is generally an issue.

Besides, trained clerks are faster, assuming you can find one. But it’s theft issue that will kill self-checkout at grocery stores. Double up a package of T-bone steaks and poof, the store just lost over $30.

RFIDs can take care of general merchandise, but RFIDs in hamburger?

Now Walmart wants you to pay for the agony of self-checkout. No thanks.

A Rise in the Incentive to Steal

On April 27, I noted Growth in Spending Exceeds Growth in Income for Most of the Last 10 Months

A deeper dive into personal income and outlays for March shows significant signs of consumer stress to maintain standards of living.

Only twice in the last 10 months has growth in real income been greater than growth in real spending.

Count dishonest folks struggling with food or rent among those who like self-checkout. The number is sure to rise as the economy slows.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 20:20

Mapping The Number Of AI Startups By Country

Amidst the recent expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualized data from Quid (accessed via Stanford’s 2024 AI Index Report) to highlight the top 15 countries which have seen the most AI startup activity over the past decade.

The figures in this graphic represent the number of newly funded AI startups within that country, in the time period of 2013 to 2023. Only companies that received over $1.5 million in private investment were considered.

Data and Highlights

The following table lists all of the numbers featured in the above graphic.

From this data, we can see that the U.S., China, and UK have established themselves as major hotbeds for AI innovation.

In terms of funding, the U.S. is massively ahead, with private AI investment totaling $335 billion between 2013 to 2023. AI startups in China raised $104 billion over the same timeframe, while those in the UK raised $22 billion.

Further analysis reveals that the U.S. is widening this gap even more. In 2023, for example, private investment in the U.S. grew by 22% from 2022 levels. Meanwhile, investment fell in China (-44%) and the UK (-14.1%) over the same time span.

Where is All This Money Flowing To?

Quid also breaks down total private AI investment by focus area, providing insight into which sectors are receiving the most funding.

Attracting the most money is AI infrastructure, research, and governance, which refers to startups that are building AI applications (like OpenAI’s ChatGPT).

The second biggest focus area is natural language processing (NLP), which is a type of AI that enables computers to understand and interpret human language. This technology has numerous use cases for businesses, particularly in financial services, where NLP can power customer support chatbots and automated wealth advisors.

With $8 billion invested into NLP-focused startups during 2023, investors appear keenly aware of this technology’s transformative potential.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 20:00

Panama Elects New President Who Vows To Shut Migrant Trail, Restore Economy

Voters in the Republic of Panama on Sunday elected a new president who has vowed to sever a key segment of the Latina American migrant trail that leads to the United States while restoring the country's reputation as an investment destination.   

“We’ll promote a government that’s pro-investment, and pro-private enterprise,” said Mulino in his victory address. (Matias Delacroix/AP)

Former security minister Jose Raul Mulino won via an approximate 34% plurality of the vote. He was a late entrant to the race -- subbing in for former President Ricardo Martinelli, who was banned from running after being convicted for money laundering and sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison.

The conviction arose from the use of public money to buy a media firm, which then gave Martinelli a majority ownership position. Martinelli is currently living in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City, where he's been granted asylum. That didn't stop him from being an active voice in the campaign, urging voters to choose Mulino via messages from his makeshift home in an embassy storeroom. On Sunday, Mulino acknowledged the boost, visiting Martinelli at the Nicaraguan compound after he'd cast his own vote: 

Gracias JR Mulino por tu visita hoy pic.twitter.com/nyWmBPhkF9

— Ricardo Martinelli (@rmartinelli) May 5, 2024

Mulino, whose five-year term will begin on July 1, has vowed to stem the massive flow of illegal migration that transits Panama en route from South America to the United States. In 2023, more than 500,000 migrants traveled through Panama; most of them were Venezuelan, reports Bloomberg. 

“I will not permit thousands of illegals to pass through our territory like nothing, without control,” said 64-year-old Mulino as he campaigned for office. Making good on that promise will require major attention to Panama's notorious Darien Gap, a roadless, 60-mile stretch of of swamps, mountains and rain forest that is the only terrestrial connection between South and Central America.

Passage through the gap is filled with perils, not least of which are assault, robbery and rape at the hands of criminal gangs. Aid groups say the criminals in the zone are extraordinarily evil, and are known to steal food -- including baby formula -- and abandoning beaten, hungry victims in the jungle. 

Mulino has also promised to confront the country's many economic challenges -- which have prompted credit downgrades. Fitch lowered Panamanian debt to junk status in March. For now, S&P and Moody's score Panamanian bonds one slot above junk.

Lashing out against inflation and government corruption: In 2022, demonstrators imposed roadblocks across the country 

The shuttering of a single enterprise has hit Panama's economic and fiscal prospects hard. It's the $10 billion Cobre copper mine run by First Quantum Materials, which accounted for 5% of Panama's GDP and 1.5% of the global copper supply. In December, the Supreme Court said the company's contract -- which it took over through a hostile takeover -- was unconstitutional.

The terms of that contract were perceived by Panamanians as leaving too much on the table, and the mine has been the subject of major protests. Some of the opposition springs from ecological concerns. Mulino's challenge: Strike a new deal and get the mine working again, bringing money into the economy and taxes into government coffers.

The country has also suffering an economic hit from a drought that has lowered water levels in Gatun Lake. The lake an important component of the Panama Canal route, and the lower water level forced restrictions that slashed canal transits and total tonnage. "The run rate for fiscal year 2024 of vessels through the canal is 9,700, 23% lower than the 2023 fiscal year throughput," FreightWaves reported in February. 

Nudging the canal back toward normal operations will require identifying a new water source. One proposal calls for the construction of a $900 million water reservoir, something the US Army Corp of Engineers explored in the late 1990s. If it gets the green light, construction is expected to span five years. 

The proposed Rio Indio Reservoir would be situated southwest of Lake Gatun (via Engineering News-Record)

In 2022, the country was rocked the largest civil unrest since the end of dictator Manuel Noriega's reign in 1989. The action included strikes by teachers and construction workers -- and demonstrators using fiery roadblocks -- as citizens lashed out against rising prices, as well as government corruption in the form of legislators' families and cronies being granted bloated contracts and salaries. Members of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party threw fuel on the fire when photos captured them drinking $340 bottles of Macallan whisky while celebrating the start of a new legislative session.  

Order was restored after President Cortizo ordered 10% government payroll cuts and imposted price controls. Of course, government market interventions are never a path to lasting prosperity and stability. That's a fact President-Elect Mulino may not fully grasp: One of his promised economic remedies is a boost in the country's minimum wage.  

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 19:20

Confidence In Biden Economic Stewardship Historically Low

By Megan Brenan of Gallup

With Americans less optimistic about the state of the U.S. economy than they have been in recent months and concern about inflation persisting, their confidence in President Joe Biden to recommend or do the right thing for the economy is among the lowest Gallup has measured for any president since 2001. But Biden is not alone in facing a skeptical public, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, and presumptive presidential nominee Republican Donald Trump garner confidence ratings below 50%.

Forty-six percent of U.S. adults say they have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence in Trump to do or recommend the right thing for the economy, while fewer say the same of Biden (38%), Powell (39%), and Democratic (38%) and Republican (36%) leaders in Congress.

To a large degree, this reflects partisanship; Democrats are confident in Biden, Powell and Democratic congressional leaders, while Republicans are confident in Trump and Republican congressional leaders. Partisans have little to no confidence in the opposing party’s leaders. While political independents are not overly confident in any of the leaders, they have the most confidence in Trump.

These findings are from Gallup's Economy and Personal Finance poll, conducted April 1-22. During the poll’s field period, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest Consumer Price Index data showing that inflation remains stubbornly elevated, though nowhere near the 40-year highs seen in 2022. After the poll was completed, Powell announced that interest rates would remain steady due to the current inflation rate.

Confidence in Biden’s Management of Economy Low Compared With Predecessors

Gallup has tracked confidence in presidents’ ability to do the right thing for the economy annually since George W. Bush took office in 2001. Bush, Barack Obama and Biden (to a lesser extent) enjoyed majority-level economic confidence ratings at the start of their presidencies, while the public's confidence in Trump never rose above his initial 48% reading. Trump’s current rating is essentially tied with that of his last year in office.

Obama’s confidence ratings were at least 50% each year except for one (42% in 2014). Biden has fared much worse as confidence in his economic management dropped precipitously in 2022 from 57% to 40% amid sharply higher inflation, and it has been below 40% since then. Only Bush earned lower confidence from Americans than Biden has since last year -- by the end of his second term, amid the Great Recession, when just 34% of Americans expressed confidence in his economic abilities.

Confidence in Powell Remains Low Historically

Powell's latest economic confidence reading of 39% is statistically similar to last year’s 36%. Alan Greenspan, who served five terms in the position, inspired majority-level confidence for each of Gallup's five readings between 2001 and 2005. In contrast, the two chairs of the Federal Reserve who followed Greenspan -- Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen -- failed to register confidence ratings above 50%.

One reason Fed chairs typically engender less confidence than presidents is that the public is not overly familiar with them, and thus more likely to not offer an opinion on their leadership. This year, 16% do not offer an opinion on Powell. Historically, the average percentage not expressing a view on the Fed chair’s leadership has been 17%.

Below-Average Confidence in Democratic, Republican Congressional Leaders

The current economic confidence readings for both parties’ congressional leaders are statistically similar to last year’s readings but well below the historical average for each. Democratic leadership’s latest 38% confidence rating is near the all-time low of 34% recorded in 2023 and below the average of 46% since 2001. Republican leadership’s latest 36% rating is well above the 24% low for that group, in 2014, but significantly below the historical average of 43%.

Confidence ratings were last at the majority level in 2009 for Democratic congressional leaders and in 2003 for Republican congressional leaders.

Confidence in Economic Leaders Driven by Partisanship

Americans’ confidence in these key leaders is driven by partisans' differing views. Broad majorities of Republicans express confidence in the economic competence of Trump (86%), their party’s presumptive presidential nominee, and 82% of Democrats do the same of Biden.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they are confident in their own party’s congressional leaders (80% vs. 67%, respectively). Democrats (56%) are also more confident than Republicans (30%) in Powell’s handling of the economy. Few in either party are confident in the opposing party’s presidential candidate or congressional leaders.

Roughly one-third of independents say they are confident in Biden, Powell and both parties’ congressional leaders. Trump earns higher confidence from independents (45%).

Bottom Line

Americans’ assessments of the national economy are bleak, and they lack confidence in U.S. leaders’ ability to manage it properly. Democrats trust Biden and Powell on the economy, while Republicans trust Trump -- but relatively few independents trust any of the current leaders who have a hand in managing the economy. The net result is that, unlike as recently as 2021, none of the key national figures who can influence the economy earns the trust of a majority of Americans.

Biden's subpar rating could have significant electoral implications as not only does he have the lowest economic rating of any president seeking reelection since Gallup began tracking this in 2001, but independents trust his opponent more than him.

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 19:00

DHS Shuts Down Expert Group That Denied Hunter Biden Laptop Story

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Biden administration has agreed to shut down a national security experts’ group as part of settling a lawsuit accusing the group of being politically biased in favor of Democrats.

On Sept. 19, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group to provide advice on intelligence and national security efforts. In November, America First Legal (AFL) and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell sued the DHS, the group, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, arguing that the experts group violated provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

Section 5 of FACA requires that an advisory committee be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view.” It also mandates there be provisions to ensure that “the advice and recommendations of the advisory committee will not be inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or by any special interest.”

The lawsuit noted that “the Experts Group’s members are political allies of the Biden Administration. Most members have applauded the Administration’s decisions and fervidly condemned former President Trump’s America First approach to foreign policy.”

“They have overwhelmingly donated to President Biden or other Democrats. Defendant Mayorkas selected members that are agreeable, not balanced,” it stated.

Some of the members were also signatories of a letter that dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation.

On May 2, plaintiffs and the defendants in the case agreed to settle the matter, with the DHS agreeing to wind up the experts group in 30 days.

The group “will not hold any future meetings, and the Department will not reconstitute the Experts Group inconsistent with the FACA or the Homeland Security Act of 2002,” the joint notice of the agreement stated.

The DHS agreed to provide AFL with the group’s meeting agendas and minutes, which have to be submitted within 15 days. “Based on these representations, Plaintiffs have agreed to dismiss their lawsuit with prejudice.”

The department did not admit any wrongdoing and maintained its position that the group did not violate FACA.

“Thanks to the courage of Ric Grenell in standing up to the Deep State, we have just achieved an unqualified legal victory over Mayorkas and Biden. As a result of our lawsuit in federal court, DHS is surrendering in total to our demands,” said Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal.

The “partisan” experts group “would have been used to promote censored, unethical spying, and gross civil rights invasions of political enemies,” he added.

Mr. Grenell said that DHS “surrendered” on the issue because they knew AFL was in the right and that “Biden’s team broke the law.”

This is the second time that the Biden administration has agreed to disband an advisory group due to violating FACA provisions. In December 2022, the Department of Education disbanded its National Parents and Families Engagement Council after legal action brought by AFL and its clients.

Partisan Committee

When the DHS experts group was first announced, the panel comprised seventeen members. In its lawsuit, AFL stated that these members “do not represent a fair balance of viewpoints.”

Two of the panel members were John Brennan, a former director of the CIA, and James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. Both of them were signatories of the “Letter of 51,” using their intelligence credentials to outrightly dismiss the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election.

Despite the FBI having validated the authenticity of the laptop, the letter claimed that the story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Another panel member, Tashina Gauhar, a former associate deputy attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general, is linked to the 2016 Trump–Russia collusion probe.

She was “extensively involved in the FBI’s corrupt, partisan probe into the baseless allegations that former President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia before the 2016 election, including drafting the FISA applications that were used to spy on the Trump campaign,” the lawsuit noted.

Out of the 17 panel members, 13 have a history of political contributions, collectively making 945 contributions to candidates for political office that are reportable to the Federal Election Commission.

“Of those 945 contributions, 932 (98.62 percent) were made to Democrat candidates for office, while only 12 (1.27 percent) were made to Republican candidates for office,” the lawsuit stated.

“Of the 13 contributors, 9 contributed only to Democrats, whereas 1 contributed only to a Republican (with a single donation of $250). Three contributed to members of both parties, but of those, 2 were heavily lopsided in favor of Democrat candidates. The other contributor gave 8 contributions to Democrat candidates and 7 to Republican candidates.”

In total, the political contributions made by the panel members came to over $168,000 since January 2012, out of which more than $156,000 went to Democrat candidates.

On Sept. 29 after the DHS announced the experts group, GOP lawmakers had written a letter to Mr. Mayorkas, asking him to rescind appointments of people like Mr. Clapper and Mr. Brennan as they were “individuals known to spread lies and disinformation.”

A few days earlier on Sept. 26, Rep. August Pfluger (R-Tex.) introduced HR 5729 which sought to “prohibit the use of Federal funds to establish a Homeland Intelligence Experts Group and for other purposes.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 05/06/2024 - 18:20