Potential Sale Of Americans' DNA In 23andMe Database May Trigger National Security Review

The U.S. Department of Justice submitted a formal notice to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, which is overseeing the Chapter 11 case of defunct 23andMe Holding Co. (Case No. 25-40976), warning that the potential sale of its assets—including a gigantic pool of millions of Americans' genetic data—may trigger a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming wrote in a filing that 23andMe is prohibited from selling the genetic data of more than 15 million customers to "covered persons"—companies classified as foreign entities that are 50% or more owned by entities based in countries such as China, Russia, and North Korea.

Fleming's notice does not ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brian Walsh to take action against any potential 23andMe transactions. Instead, the U.S. government is requesting that CFIUS review any sale of genetic data to ensure foreign adversaries are not using shell companies to acquire it.

Safeguarding the gigantic pool of genetic data of Americans is a national security priority because of the increasing risk that precision bioweapons can be designed to target specific genetic traits or ethnic groups, based on shared DNA markers.

For example, if a hostile actor or rogue group linked to Iran or the Chinese Communist Party accessed genomic data, they could develop pathogens that are more virulent or lethal to those with certain genetic traits. 

Last month, James O'Keefe of O'Keefe Media Group stoked maximum fears after releasing a video featuring an undercover journalist speaking with Nathaniel Johnson, a policy advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

In the footage, Johnson suggested that 23andMe may have already sold off users' genetic data: "Do not give your information to those people [23andMe]... they sell it to other people."

Johnson explained: "There's a clause in their contract, that basically says, like, we can give your information to our shareholders. So that they can do stuff. And all of their shareholders are, like pharmaceutical companies. But some of those pharmaceutical companies are based in other countries, and those pharmaceutical companies in other countries are like the property of, like the Ministry of Defense of Russia. Or, like, owned, by China."

We have a U.S. Treasury Policy Advisor on tape telling us 23andMe has been sharing consumer data with "pharmaceutical companies," including the "Ministry of Defense of Russia."

Seems like they’ve got bigger issues than financial instability. https://t.co/WEHfnilncw pic.twitter.com/ROGQWCqvgW

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 24, 2025

The risks of genetic data being weaponized for biological warfare should be on the minds of the Trump administration as the great power competition with China goes into hyperdrive by the 2030s.

 

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Read the filing here:

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 09:05

The Rearrangement Of The Global Economic Order

Authored by Ronnie Stoferle via VonGreyerz.gold,

It was a tremor that shook the financial markets in the trading days following Liberation Day, when tariffs were imposed on almost every country in the world. One of the big winners was gold. After a brief setback below USD 3,000, the USD 3,200 mark was broken on April 11, the USD 3,300 mark on April 16, marking new all-time highs. However, the significant depreciation of the US dollar – the US dollar index fell by around 4% within a few days, by more than 4% against the euro and by around 8% against the Swiss franc – meant that the gold price in euro rose only slightly and fell by more than 4% in Swiss francs. By way of comparison, the S&P 500 dropped by more than 7%.

One reason for gold’s strength is its portfolio property as a hedge against (economic) political uncertainties of any kind, whether due to armed conflicts, political crises or trade conflicts. The positive correlation between the gold price in US dollars and the World Uncertainty Index is evident.

Another reason is the express wish of Donald Trump and his administration to significantly weaken the US dollar. The prevailing view in the US administration is that a strong US dollar is detrimental to the US economy. However, the former Deutschmark bloc around Germany and Switzerland, the latter still today, show that this argument does not stand up to reality. Regardless of this, the US dollar should be significantly devalued and, in conjunction with the tariffs, force the reindustrialization of the US – in line with the America First policy.

In addition, a possible Mar-a-Lago Accord is making the rounds, in reference to the two major currency agreements in the 1980s, the Plaza Accord (1985) and the Louvre Accord (1987). Both agreements led to a devaluation of the US dollar. The US current account improved at the time, but remained clearly in the red. A significant reduction was only achieved after the Louvre Accord, and in 1991, a slight surplus was even achieved on one occasion. After that, the US current account balance turned clearly negative again. The aim of the Louvre Accord was, however, to stop the depreciation of the US dollar and keep the exchange rates of the leading industrialized nations within a target corridor. The exact structure of the target corridors was agreed upon in an additional protocol that was never published.

The “improvement” in the current account balance desired by the Trump administration, i.e. the reduction of the current account deficit, would inevitably lead to lower capital flows into the US. Demand for US financial securities, both equities and bonds, would fall, and prices would fall with it.

The US discovers its gold treasure

In the course of discussions about the domestic and foreign policy, economic and trade policy reorganization desired by Trump and his administration, the idea has been floated that the US could raise its considerable gold reserves. Currently, the gold reserves held by the US Treasury are shown on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet as a gold certificate at a value of just USD 42.22 per ounce. This was the value of an ounce of gold in 1973 after the last official devaluation of the US dollar against gold. With a revaluation to the current gold price of around USD 3,000, the US could raise around USD 800 billion in a one-off transaction, as Switzerland did in 2000, when the Swiss National Bank (SNB) realized a revaluation gain of CHF 28bn as part of a revaluation of its gold holdings, which was distributed to the cantons and used for tax cuts, some of which were substantial. However, Finance Minister Scott Bessent has already taken the wind out of the sails of these rumors.

Notwithstanding the rejection, the role of gold as a reputable and valuable asset is becoming increasingly important. Gold is gradually moving away from its previous underdog role, especially because long-serving safe anchors such as government bonds, in particular, US Treasuries and German Bunds, in particular, are coming under increasing pressure, largely through their own fault.

Judy Shelton’s proposal of gold-backed government bonds

Another possible use for the US gold treasure comes from Judy Shelton. Many years ago, Judy Shelton, who is seen as a possible successor to Jerome Powell, whose term ends in 2026, presented her plan for a gold-backed government bond. The plan is simple and includes two main components: gold convertibility and the revaluation of the US’s current gold reserves mentioned above. Selected US Treasury emissions with a 50-year term, for example, would include an option for the bondholder to redeem the bond for a predetermined amount of gold per USD 1,000 face value in gold.

Regardless of whether this plan is implemented or not. It is further proof that gold is seen as a serious asset for solving serious economic problems.

Germany says goodbye to fiscal virtue

With his abdication as the self-proclaimed “King of debt”, Donald Trump first surprised us with his words and then, with the appointment of DOGE under Elon Musk, with his actions. In view of the current deficit figures, it seems difficult to imagine whether the goal of reducing Washington’s deficit to 3% by 2028, as set out in the “3-3-3 plan” by the current US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is realistic. In the first half of the new fiscal year (10/2024-03/2025), the US budget was once again in deep red territory. The deficit amounted to USD 1.3 trillion and was therefore more than 20% higher than in the previous year, particularly because spending increased by almost 10%.

Apart from the two COVID-19 years, 2020 and 2021, the US could have a budget deficit of more than USD 2 trillion for the first time. USD for the first time. With a projected deficit of USD 1.9 trillion or 6.2% of GDP for the fiscal year ending in September, the CBO’s current forecast is only slightly below this negative threshold. By way of comparison, it has been in the red by a considerable 3.8% on average over the last 50 years. The alarming financial situation of the US federal budget is illustrated by the fact that in February, at USD 306bn, the deficit was higher than Washington’s revenues of USD 296bn. In other words, 51% of all spending in February was debt-financed.

Germany abandons fiscal virtue

Equally surprising, albeit in the opposite direction, was the U-turn by Friedrich Merz, winner of the Bundestag elections and now Germany’s next Chancellor designate. With a double whammy, Germany departed from the path of fiscal virtue. A new special fund, which would be better described as special debt, amounting to EUR 500bn, of which EUR 100bn is earmarked for mandatory climate protection measures, and the easing of the debt brake for higher defense levies, has increased Germany’s national debt by around a third in one fell swoop.

The consequences of this historic breach of a campaign promise? The yields on German government bonds shot up. At its peak, the yield on the 10-year German government bond rose by more than 40 basis points, or 0.40 percentage points, to as much as 2.93%. At its peak, this was an increase of almost 20 percent. This was the strongest rise in German government bonds in more than 30 years. As a benchmark bond, it also pushed up the yields of other countries, most of which are significantly more indebted. For France and Italy, the German turnaround will further exacerbate the already tense debt situation.

The obvious question is whether Merz is not jeopardizing the status of the German government bond as a safe anchor of the fiat financial system with this U-turn. In any case, gold offers an alternative that has been tried and tested for centuries to close the resulting gap.

Conclusion

With Donald Trump’s inauguration, uncertainty in international politics, geopolitical dynamics and the financial markets has increased significantly. It remains to be seen how long this phase will last, especially with the new factor of the US’s erratic tariff policy. What is certain is that gold is benefiting from the increased uncertainty. It is also certain that gold’s role as a neutral asset without counterparty risk has been strengthened. What is new is that gold is also increasingly being rediscovered as an economic policy instrument. Gold should also become even more attractive for investors due to the volatility and weakness of the equity and bond markets.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 08:30

From BofA:

1Q GDP tracking increased three tenths to 0.7% q/q saar after the upward revisions to Jan and Feb core control retail sales. [Apr 17th estimate]
emphasis added

From Goldman:

We left our Q1 GDP tracking estimate unchanged at +0.4% (quarter-over-quarter annualized). [Apr 17th estimate]

And from the Atlanta Fed: GDPNow

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2025 is -2.2 percent on April 17, unchanged from April 16 after rounding. The alternative model forecast, which adjusts for imports and exports of gold as described here, is -0.1 percent. After this morning’s housing starts report from the US Census Bureau, both the standard model’s and the alternative model’s nowcasts of first-quarter real residential fixed investment growth decreased from 3.7 percent to 2.9 percent. [Apr 17th estimate]

These Are America's Oldest Companies

Did you know that over one in five U.S. companies fail in their first year? 

Despite this brutal statistic, a rare few have stood the test of time, not just for decades, but for centuries.

In this infographic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu takes a look at America’s oldest companies founded in the 1700s. For context, this timeline also includes a selection of younger companies that are widely known.

Data & Discussion

The featured companies are listed in the table below.

All of these businesses have survived economic upheavals, wars, and technological revolutions, making their longevity even more impressive.

Let’s take a closer look at some of their histories.

Jim Beam: A Legacy in American Whiskey

Founded in 1795 by Jacob Beam in Kentucky, Jim Beam is one of America’s oldest and most iconic whiskey distilleries.

Initially named Old Jake Beam Sour Mash, the brand survived Prohibition by temporarily ceasing production and then swiftly restarted in 1933—just 120 days after repeal.

In 2014, the company was acquired by Japanese distiller, Suntory, for $16 billion, leading to the formation of Beam Suntory.

Dixon Ticonderoga: The Pencil that Wrote History

Established in 1795, Dixon Ticonderoga began as a humble graphite pencil company, originally named after Fort Ticonderoga in New York.

Contrary to popular belief, the company did not invent the iconic No. 2 yellow pencil, but it popularized it in the early 20th century through widespread adoption in schools nationwide.

JPMorgan Chase: Banking Across Centuries

JPMorgan Chase, founded in 1799 as The Bank of the Manhattan Company by Aaron Burr, is among the oldest financial institutions still operating in the U.S.

The current company was created in 2000 by the merger of J.P. Morgan & Co. and Chase Manhattan Company. As of Q4 2024, it is America’s largest bank with $4 trillion in assets.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out this graphic ranking companies with the most merger and acquisition deals since 2008.

 

 

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 07:55

How American Life Expectancy Compares To Its Peers

For decades, Americans could expect to live about as long as their peers in other wealthy countries... but today, that story is changing.

Based on a 2025 analysis by Peterson-KFF, American life expectancy is now lagging significantly behind comparable nations, with the gap growing wider than ever before.

From chronic diseases to healthcare disparities, multiple factors are contributing to Americans dying younger. In this infographic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu takes a look at how the U.S. stacks up—and how quickly it’s falling behind.

Data and Discussion

The data we used to create this graphic is included in the table below.

The comparable country group is based on averages across 11 nations: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

Year U.S. (yrs) Comparable Country
Average (yrs) 1980 73.7 74.6 1981 74.1 74.8 1982 74.5 75.1 1983 74.6 75.3 1984 74.7 75.7 1985 74.7 75.7 1986 74.7 76 1987 74.9 76.4 1988 74.9 76.5 1989 75.1 76.7 1990 75.4 76.9 1991 75.5 77.1 1992 75.8 77.3 1993 75.5 77.4 1994 75.7 77.8 1995 75.8 77.8 1996 76.1 78.1 1997 76.5 78.4 1998 76.7 78.6 1999 76.7 78.7 2000 76.8 79 2001 77 79.3 2002 77 79.4 2003 77.2 79.5 2004 77.6 80.1 2005 77.6 80.2 2006 77.8 80.6 2007 78.1 80.8 2008 78.2 81 2009 78.5 81.2 2010 78.7 81.4 2011 78.7 81.6 2012 78.8 81.6 2013 78.8 81.8 2014 78.9 82.1 2015 78.7 81.9 2016 78.7 82.2 2017 78.6 82.3 2018 78.7 82.3 2019 78.8 82.6 2020 77 82 2021 76.4 82.2 2022 77.5 82.2 2023 78.4 82.5

Higher Spending, Lower Life Expectancy

According to Peterson-KFF, the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy among large, wealthy countries despite outspending its peers on healthcare.

In 2023, health spending per capita in the U.S. climbed to $13,432, versus $7,393 for the same 11 nation peer group.

This disconnect suggests inefficiencies, unequal access, and other systemic problems in the U.S. healthcare system are preventing resources from translating into longer, healthier lives.

Chronic Diseases Drag American Life Expectancy Down

A key factor behind the stagnation of life expectancy in the U.S. is the rising prevalence of chronic diseases.

This includes kidney disease, which in 2021 claimed 41 lives per 100,000 in the U.S., versus just 28 per 100,000 for the comparable country group.

If you’re enjoying our content, check out this graphic showing global obesity projections by 2050 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 06:45

My end-of-week morning train WFH reads:

• The world’s hot new trade is “sell America” For decades, the world has invested in America. Now, a global moment of clarity threatens to redirect trillions of dollars of capital inflows and diminish the U.S. in the international economic order. The U.S. receives nearly $2 trillion each year in foreign capital inflows, according to government data — things like investments in businesses and bank lending, but also foreign investors buying U.S. stocks and bonds. (Axios)

• A Growing Share of New Yorkers Are Set to Receive — Not Buy — Their Homes: About a quarter of all Manhattan home sales in 2024 involved a trust, a preferred tool for passing on wealth. (Bloomberg) see also In 15 Years, 80,000 Homes in the New York Area May Be Lost to Flooding: The metro region’s housing shortage is acute. But by 2040, dozens of neighborhoods and suburbs are likely to have lost thousands of homes to floods, a new report found. (New York Times)

• Trump Has Added Risk to the Surest Bet in Global Finance: Shocked by Trump’s trade war, foreign investors are selling U.S. government bonds, long the world’s safe haven. (New York Times)

• Breaking Up is Hard to Do: It’ll Take More than Trump’s Trade War to Break the World’s Affection for Dollars. (Macroeconomic Policy Nexus)

• America’s Heartland Is Coming Back. Can the Recovery Last? Tariffs will threaten the region’s newfound prosperity, but its economic gains may prove surprisingly durable. (Barron’s)

• This Family Spent Years Chasing the Holy Grail of a 100% Roth Retirement Portfolio: Even those who aren’t all in are moving money into Roths because of volatile markets. Wall Street Journal)

• Why China Won’t Give In to Trump: Xi Jinping, like his American counterpart, needs to be the top dog. (The Atlantic) see also It’s Xi Jinping’s World, and Trump Is Just Living in It: As Donald Trump blows up the rules-based order, China is pulling ahead in the global battle for ideas. (Bloomberg)

• 10 Questions You Should Always Ask at Doctors’ Appointments: When you go to the doctor, you’re probably the one answering most of the questions. Yet it’s essential to make sure you’re asking plenty of your own. “We need to get someone to fund a bazillion-dollar PSA to tell people to be bolder when they talk to their doctors,” says Risa Arin, founder and CEO of XpertPatient, a patient education platform. “I see this over and over again: People aren’t asking any questions, never mind the right ones.” (Time)

• Scientists find ‘strongest evidence yet’ of life on distant planet. Scientists have found new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life. A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms. This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet’s atmosphere by Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). (BBC)

• In its sublime fourth season, ‘Hacks’ hits its stride: Uproarious and surprisingly poignant, Max’s Emmy darling hasn’t lost a step. (Washington Post)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Martin Escobari of, General Atlantic, where he is Chairman, anbd head of the Global Growth Equity Investment Committee, and Managing Director. Before joining General Atlantic in 2012, Martín was Co-Founder and CFO of Submarino.com, a leading Brazilian online retailer that went public on the Bovespa and was sold to Lojas Americanas in 2006. He was recently appointed to the Harvard Management Company Board.

 

This is called “capital flight” It usually only happens to poor countries (it never ends well)

Source: Noahpinion

 

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The post 10 Friday AM Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

'Soft-Spoken' Jolani Makes 'Time Top 100' List As Sectarian Massacres Continue In Syria

Via The Cradle

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously known as the Al-Qaeda chief Abu Mohammad al-Julani, was selected as one of Time magazine’s yearly list of the 100 'most influential' people. 

Former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who played a role in and advocated for Washington’s regime change policies in the country, put forward Sharaa for the Time 100 list. "Last December, after years of building a powerful armed faction – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), classified internationally as a terrorist group – Ahmad al-Sharaa and his rebel alliance toppled Bashar Assad’s brutal government in Syria," the write-up reads.

"Once aligned with Al-Qaeda and then ISIS, the soft-­spoken Sharaa later fought both groups aggressively to ensure his fighters answered to him. More recently, he assembled alliances with other Syrian rebels, often at gunpoint, and secured Turkish support. He also established a religiously conservative statelet in northwest Syria that ruled effectively and reached out to reassure minority group – to beat Assad, the ambitious Sharaa understood he had to become a political leader as well as a military force," Ford wrote. 

He went on to say that "Now interim President of all Syria, Sharaa balances between militants he once led and liberal Syrians relieved Assad is gone," adding that "observers are left to wonder" if he is an extremist or a "more a pragmatic politician who exploited extremist groups to gain power."

This year’s list comes as Sharaa has been hoping to secure international support and sanctions relief, a little over a month after his government’s forces killed around 1,700 Alawites in a series of sectarian killings along the Syrian coast. 

The killings have continued. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 42 people have died in sectarian killings since the end of Ramadan on 30 March. Incidents have spread from Latakia to Tartous and inland to Homs. The forces of Sharaa’s government have also recently blocked aid deliveries to the affected areas.

Up until last year, the new Syrian president was known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani. He was the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the extremist militant organization that took power in Syria in December last year after the collapse of former president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

His group has its roots in the Nusra Front – which was Al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria before being rebranded several times and becoming known as HTS. It now makes up the bulk of the new Syrian military, alongside other ISIS and Al-Qaeda-linked factions backed by Turkiye. 

In an earlier life, Sharaa had studied media briefly and then joined the medicine faculty at Damascus University before leaving to join Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) following the 2003 US invasion.

He served as the deputy to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi back when the group was known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). Sharaa was dispatched by Baghdadi in 2011 to enter the war against Assad’s government in Syria, where he took part in the launching of deadly suicide attacks against both security personnel and civilians before founding the Nusra Front in 2012.

A US terror designation and $10 million dollar bounty for Sharaa’s capture was lifted in January 2025. 

The UK and several European countries have begun easing sanctions on Syria, and Washington provided a six-month exemption from some sanctions in January. The US has reportedly given Syria a list of demands that it wants Damascus to fulfill in exchange for partial relief from sanctions. Sharaa’s government is also set to receive support from Turkiye, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 06:10

Cash-Strapped Hamas Can't Pay Its Fighters 

This week, Israeli's military reaffirmed it is staying in Gaza indefinitely, as its ultra-controversial anti-Hamas operation continues in the civilian-packed Palestinian enclave.

"Unlike in the past," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized," Defense Minister Israel Katz began in a Wednesday statement. The IDF "will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria."

As the IDF settles in for the long-haul while battling a Hamas and Islamic Jihad insurgency in the Strip, the Islamic militants reportedly retain 75% of their tunnel networks, and some 40,000 fighters and the ability to produce their own weapons.

However, a fresh report in The Wall Street Journal finds that Hamas is increasingly cash-strapped, and it is having trouble paying its rank and file fighters. Funding from both West Bank-based institutions, as well as from external backers, have been drying up and increasingly blocked.

Via Associated Press

The group is increasingly turning to theft of inbound humanitarian shipments, which have been entering the enclave sporadically, and based on what Israeli forces allow:

Israel last month cut off supplies of humanitarian goods to the enclave, some of which Hamas had been seizing and selling to raise funds, according to Arab, Israeli and Western officials. Its renewed offensive has targeted and killed Hamas officials who played important roles in distributing cash to cadres and sent others into hiding, Arab intelligence officials said.

In recent weeks, the Israeli military has said it killed a money changer who was key to what it called terrorist financing for Hamas as well as a number of top political officials in rapid succession.

The report observes this has resulted in a "debilitating squeeze" for Hamas finances. Currently Hamas is still presenting itself as the only government over the Gaza Strip, which Israel is seeking to put a permanent end to.

"Salary payments to many Gaza government employees have ceased, while many senior Hamas fighters and political staff began receiving only about half of their pay midway through last month’s Ramadan holy period, the intelligence officials said. Rank-and-file Hamas fighters’ pay had been averaging around $200 to $300 a month, they said," WSJ writes.

And apparently due to the war, external support has also dried up, as the IDF has sought to block physical cash from going in and out of the Strip, and this has impacted funding from the Gulf as well as Iran.

"Hamas, which controls Gaza’s civilian government, got monthly cash transfers of $15 million from Qatar before the war," WSJ continues. "It also has raised funds from places including western Africa, South Asia and the U.K., building up a stockpile of some $500 million, much of it in Turkey, according to Western and Arab officials."

This doesn't mean the Hamas insurgency targeting occupying IDF troops will stop anytime soon, but it could begin to be a serious impact on morale. Still, the situation is likely long past the point of the Islamist fighters having "nothing to lose".

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 05:35

"This Is No Longer Immigration, This Is Displacement..."

Via Remix News,

For the first time, Muslim students are the largest religious group in Vienna’s schools, underlining the incredible demographic transformation taking place in the Austrian city. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) is now raising the alarm.

Muslim students now account for 41.2 percent of all students, while Christian students fell to 34.5 percent. The trend is only growing, and is accompanied by rising problems, including violence in schools, anti-Semitism, and contempt for women.

The data was obtained from the office of Bettina Emmerling, the city councilor responsible for education. Last year, the proportion of students of Islamic faith was 39.4 percent, but now, for the first time, it has crossed 40 percent, reports Exxpress.

Meanwhile, the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) is raising the alarm about the rapid demographic change in Austria and Vienna.

“Austrians will soon be strangers in their own country,” said Hannes Amesbauer, security spokesman for the FPÖ.

FPÖ National Council member Maximilian Weinzierl, the FPÖ youth spokesperson and federal chairman of the Freedom Party Youth said:

“What we as the FPÖ have been warning about for decades, but which was always dismissed as right-wing scaremongering, is now reality: Immigration has completely overrun our country….41.2 percent of Muslim students – that’s no longer a minority, that’s the new majority. And it’s not just that Austrian children have become a minority in schools. Even together with other Christian European migrants, they are fewer than non-European Muslims. This is the direct result of replacement migration, asylum abuse, and the denial of reality by the SPÖ, ÖVP, and Greens.

In more and more school classes, German is a second language, and our values ​​are becoming increasingly secondary. Our children are being marginalized by migrants. This is no longer immigration, this is displacement.”

Meanwhile, the government is attempting to head off the problems brought on by Vienna’s exploding Muslim population. According to Emmerling, a politician for the NEOS party, the principles of human dignity, pluralism and democracy, as well as gender equality, must be clear to young people in particular. According to her, “it is during childhood that it is easiest to learn and master acceptance and diversity.”

* * *

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However, several studies, both from universities and the government, warn that young Muslims in Vienna are not only more religious than average, but also more likely to hold negative or extremist views. These views include anti-Semitism, prejudice against the LGBTQ community, and rejection of women’s equal rights.

“No one in Vienna may live a lifestyle that is based on a fundamentalist interpretation of religious texts, especially if it is anti-women, anti-minority, anti-state or anti-democratic,” said Emmerling.

To address the growing tension in the school system, Emmerling wants to introduce a new, mandatory subject starting in elementary school called “Living in a Democracy,” which aims to teach the basic principles of democracy, ethical values ​​and coexistence on a common basis. Christoph Wiederkehr, the liberal NEOS education minister, has already presented concrete plans in this regard.

As Remix News has previously reported, Vienna’s teachers are resigning en masse due to growing violence and harassment in schools.

According to teachers’ union member Thomas Krebs, teachers are fleeing Vienna’s compulsory schools “in droves.” However, the Vienna state government does not offer any useful ideas on how to deal with the increasing influx of students.

“On one peak day, I even received 20 reports of staff terminating (their contract) for the coming school year,” he stated.

Krebs notes the resignation wave comes down to the Vienna state government failing to require sufficient German language skills when entering school and failing to take action against violence, extremism, and misogyny.

In many schools, the situation is dire. Evelyn Kometter, chairwoman of the umbrella organization of parents’ associations across Austria, notes, “The teacher has to repeat a sentence 10 to 12 times until it is finally understood. But by then, two-thirds of the lesson is already over.”

In her role, Kometter is facing a never-ending deluge of parents complaining about the situations in their classrooms. “For example, there is a mother whose son is in a class with 22 students — only three of whom can speak German.” The result is pure chaos. “The teacher is not taken seriously and is not understood.”

The government’s response is not to improve the situation between teachers and students, but instead race to make space for more newcomers. Krebs states that all green space is being paved over, the government is building container classrooms, and huge school extensions are being constructed. However, there is no government concept beyond this.

“They can think of nothing better to do than to plow up the last green spaces and sports facilities for schools with excavators and construction equipment and to pave them over with containers and huge extensions without any real plan,” said Krebs.

The new data shows that among Christian students, 17.5 percent are Roman Catholic, 14.5 percent are Orthodox Christian, and 23 percent of students do not belong to any religious community. The proportion of Buddhist students is 0.2 percent, Jewish students constitute 0.1 percent, and other religions stand at 0.9 percent. The poll surveyed a total of 112,600 students in Vienna’s primary, secondary, special, and vocational schools.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 04/18/2025 - 05:00

The NWO Religion: How The Woke Postmodern “Faith” Glorifies Evil

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

It’s not as if it was ever a secret: The very core of the woke movement is fundamentally rooted in evil. The general definition of “evil” being a conscious act of deception and destruction, the deliberate victimization of others for the sake of personal power, pleasure and gain. When I try to imagine what a religion of evil might look like I consistently come back to the far-left woke movement along with its rabid mantras, agendas and self righteous narcissism.

The majority of human beings have an inherent sense of good and evil; we often refer to this condition as conscience or moral compass. The intuitive inner voice that guides us and warns us when we stray into “the dark side” is a product of archetypal knowledge – What psychologist Carl Jung described as a set of inborn complexes or symbols that tap into our deepest emotions and sense of identity. All our social interactions are in some way affected by these archetypes.

These ideas are universal, present in nearly every culture in every part of the world at every point in time in the world. Societies with zero social interaction and separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles all have these symbols and principles present in their mythology, academia and ideologies. The building blocks of everything from language, to mathematics to religion and morality are influenced by inherent psychological imprints present in our minds from the moment of birth.

I have written extensively about these inborn characteristics since 2006 because their existence is a fascinating window into the human soul. Numerous philosophers, anthropologists and mind scientists have spent their careers studying archetypes and their meanings.

Some people (myself included) view archetypes as scientific proof of creative design; proof of God. Fatalists take it further and argue that they are a kind of genetic “pre-programming” or divine software that controls everything we think and do. However, because archetypes share dual identities and competing concepts, this means we are not necessarily “programmed” like robots. Rather we are given the ability to choose and with choice comes the free will to do good, or evil.

For other people (globalists, leftists and run of the mill psychopaths) free will means the ability to choose not to believe in archetypes, or morality or even objective truth. They choose nihilism, but this is only part of the problem. The defiance of truth goes beyond some misguided attempt to be free from societal judgment.

Instead, evil people define freedom without responsibility as the ultimate state of being – In other words, they view the capacity to inflict suffering and destruction without regard as an evolutionary advantage. They think their lack of humanity makes them superhuman.

It’s no mistake that leftists and woke activists are obsessed with power dynamics; their new religion ensures that they cannot see the world any other way. For woke ideologues everything revolves around which groups hold power and how they can take that power for themselves. Thus, questions of right and wrong never enter into the equation. Power is the end that justifies all means.

They see moral order as an artificial construct that oppresses them (because they want to do evil without consequence). Moral relativism at its core requires the victimization of others as a form of rebellion against order. Of course, the injustice of this mentality is hard to dismiss but leftists have a way around that.

There’s no shortage of woke activists who have displayed a contempt for the law and for morals when they’re being judged, but they will joyfully embrace morals and the law when they think these things can be used against their enemies. Hypocritically, leftists like the idea of rules, but only for other people. Rules are a shield to prevent retribution from the people they victimize. That’s the only purpose rules serve for the woke.

To summarize, leftists are TOTAL relativists. The rules do not apply to them. The law does not apply to them. Morality does not apply to them. Conscience is non-existent for them (or it exists but they have trained their minds to ignore it). Biological reality does not apply to them. They think they are special and that boundaries should only exist for the people they don’t like.

This is pure evil. There’s no other rational way to look at it.

But where does this demonic belief system come from? Well, there are many theories. The term “Postmodernism” comes up often and is a philosophy from the latter part of the 20th Century that rejects ideas of objective and universal truth. Postmodernism is cited as an ideological offspring of Marxism; a smug rebranding of the socialist agenda for consumption by the academic elite.

Another source that I’ve covered over the years is “Futurism”, which was a precursor movement to the socialist regimes in Europe in the 20th Century. Futurists believe that all old ideas are inferior and must be constantly replaced with new ideas in order for society to progress. It emphasizes the inversion of conservatism; a war on the accomplishments and constructs of previous generations. That is to say, the past has no value to them because it gets in the way of the new order they want.

They believe that society must exist as an ever churning revolution against tradition, principles and reason. Chaos is the result. In many ways they even revere it. If I were to define Postmodernism and Futurism in practical terms, both represent a psychopathic love affair with chaos. For without objective truth there can be no order, and without order evil prevails.

It should be noted that both Postmodernism and Futurism started as artistic movements within the elitist fold. Both started as mind games for deconstructing archetypes and then they were adapted by academia and ideological zealots into the realm of politics. If the inborn meaning of archetypes can be deconstructed, then all the principles of our civilization can be deconstructed.

I’ve mentioned this quote many times and I’ll use it again here because it perfectly encompasses the problem posed by relativists – As Charlie Sheen states at the end of the movie Platoon:

“Somebody once wrote, ‘Hell is the impossibility of reason.’ That’s what this place feels like. Hell…”

This is the world that leftists and globalists are trying to build right now: A hell on Earth. A world without reason. But what would motivate people to embrace such a monstrous social inversion? That’s where Luciferianism comes in. Luciferianism is in part a religion; an ideology of self worship that venerates pride and believes SOME humans are gods trapped by the oppressive boundaries of nature and society. It’s a common trait among narcopaths and psychopaths; the internal lust for godhood is a tale as old as the Bible.

Lucifer (Satan) was a servant entity that sought to surpass God and rule the universe by his own standards. The Garden of Eden is based on the idea of humanity coveting the power of knowledge without responsibility and losing respect for creation. The Tower of Babel is a tale of man’s foolish urge to centralize and control creation, building great monuments to himself in a vain effort to reach the divine.

The theme pops up over and over again, not just in Christianity but also in secular mythology. The idea that we should not “play God” is present in popular media ever since the era of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Luciferians declare the opposite: They say yes, they will play god, and anyone that tries to stop them is an “inferior” that deserves to be eliminated.

In this way the trio of evils combines to form the New World Order religion. Postmodernism is a war on objective truth, especially as it applies to human society. Futurism is a war on the past, cultural heritage and the conservation of traditional values and structures. Luciferiansim is a war on God; the denial of natural law and the refusal to accept that there are limits to human understanding and control.

When a person adopts all of these beliefs together they are capable of any conceivable atrocity. There is nothing they won’t do to achieve the destruction of the very fabric of our current civilization. There is no crime they will not rationalize. No gruesome action they will not justify. After all, they are “gods”, but gods of nihilism and death.

Of course, a REAL God has the power to create, and that’s something woke adherents are incapable of. They know how to steal, copy, repurpose and tear things down, but they will never have the capacity to create anything new. They are only gods in their little minds, but the rest of us have to suffer because of their delusions.

The war on truth and reason is a strategy to invert the natural order. It puts power in the hands of moral relativists because a society that favors relativism will automatically favor people without moral restraint. The more vicious and predatory you are, the easier it will be to get ahead. Today we might try to discourage or punish this kind of behavior, but as time passes it is increasingly normalized.

The one thing evil people are most desperate to prove is that everyone else is just like them, given the right circumstances. Turn everyday life into hell and all morality goes out the window, at least in theory.

We need to ask, what happens when evil becomes acceptable and good becomes passe? In the end you get a black void of despair and the absence of direction or purpose. Imagine a future where your principles and conscience are used against you, holding you back while people that have no principles are given all of life’s rewards. The currency of your society becomes psychopathy and the lunatics run the asylum.

And what’s really horrifying is that we’re not very far from this Orwellian nightmare. In some ways, it’s already upon us. This is the intended religion of the future – A “faith” built on the hatred of all creation, in which self worship is divine and reason is considered a punishable heresy.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 23:40

Chinese Satellite Imaging Firm Helping Houthis Target US Warships

Washington is now accusing China of getting in bed with the Iran-backed Shia Houthis of Yemen, who have long waged a war against Red Sea shipping, including attacks on US warships and Israel.

The US State Department on Thursday issued allegations centered on Chinese firm, Chang Guang Satellite Technology, saying it is directly supporting attacks by Houthi fighters against American interests. This firm is well-known to be close to the CCP government, and is already under Western sanctions.

"We can confirm the reporting that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company Limited (CGSTL) is directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on U.S. interests," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a press briefing.

The statement was issued in the wake of a Financial Times report which said the firm is supplying the Houthis with satellite imagery used in targeting. 

"The United States has raised our concerns privately numerous times to the Chinese government on Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co Ltd’s role in supporting the Houthis in order to get Beijing to take action," a US officials was quoted in the report as saying. But these warnings were reportedly "ignored".

CGSTL has long been described as close to the Chinese government, and has been a central firm in the country's military-civil fusion program, which requires private sector companies to provide assistance to the government when called upon. The Chinese Embassy in Washington has denied any awareness of these new allegations concerning support to the Houthis. Interestingly, public company documents present the firm's purpose as providing "earthquake services". 

And the state connections are clear...

According to background on the company via FT:

The Chinese company was established in 2014 as a joint venture between the provincial government in Jilin and a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun, the province’s capital.

“Chang Guang is one of a handful of ‘ostensibly’ commercial Chinese satellite companies that are in fact deeply embedded in the military-civil fusion ecosystem, supplying global surveillance capabilities to both civilian and military customers,” said James Mulvenon, an expert on the Chinese military and intelligence services at Pamir Consulting.

It previously came under US sanctions during 2023 in connection with the Ukraine war, having been accused of giving high-resolution satellite imagery to Wagner Group, Russia's most well-known and controversial mercenary firm.

The FT report indicates that CGSTL had Chang Guang 100 satellites in orbit as of last year, and there are ambitious plans achieve 300 circling the earth by the end of 2025, which would allow for snapshots of any location on the planet each ten minutes.

If it does have a role in Yemen, this will further damage already severely strained US-China relations mid the tariff war, given the Houthis have frequently directly targeted US warships, including the carrier USS Harry S. Truman with drone and missile attacks. The USS Carl Vison carrier is about to joint the Truman in patrolling regional waters, also as tensions heat up with Iran.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 23:15

Panama Port Deal Drama Reveals The New Great Game Of Ports And Chokepoints

Authored by John Mills via The Epoch Times,

After decades of being a forgotten relic of American history, Panama and its canal are front and center as President Donald Trump defines a new era of America First involvement in the world.

At his joint session of Congress on March 4, Trump said, “Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals.”

The president continued:

“The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others, but others could use it. But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure.

“Thirty-eight thousand workers died building the Panama Canal. They died of malaria. They died of snake bites and mosquitoes. Not a nice place to work.

“They paid them very highly to go there, knowing there was a 25 percent chance that they would die. The most expensive project, also, that was ever built in our country’s history, if you bring it up to modern-day costs.”

Trump’s closing remarks on the topic explained this administration’s future plans: “It was given away by the Carter administration for $1, but that agreement has been violated very severely. We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”

BlackRock Makes Port Offer

The company that Trump was referring to was BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, with around $11.5 trillion under management. The timing of the announcement was likely not coincidental.

According to The Wall Street Journal, there was communication and interaction between BlackRock and the Trump administration about the deal; hence, the administration appeared to have some advanced knowledge that a deal was in play.

The current port company with a multi-year concession from Panama to operate container terminals at each end of the canal is the historic CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., which was known as Hutchison Whampoa until 2015. This company traces its roots to Hong Kong in 1863 and was sold to billionaire Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong.

When asked about the planned sale at a press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, CNN reported that she said, “I would like to emphasize that China has always firmly opposed the use of economic coercion, hegemonism and bullying to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of other countries.”

It is interesting that this comment cannot be found in the transcript of the press briefing on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation’s anti-monopoly division said they are now reviewing the sale.

“We are aware of the comments made by China,“ U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. ”It’s also no surprise that the CCP is upset at this acquisition, which will reduce their control over the Panama Canal area.

“We are also glad to see U.S. investors acquire a controlling stake in the Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports at Balboa and Cristóbal at either end of the Panama Canal.”

The New Great Game

It is important to note that the proposed CK Hutchison sale to Black Rock for $22 billion was not only for its two Panama ports, but also its worldwide array of ports.

The Epoch Times talked to Ann Vandersteel and Michael Yon, two journalists who have spent extensive time in Panama. The author of this article also spent several days in Panama in late 2023 with these two journalists, conducting a comprehensive survey of the Panama Canal, and did live reporting from the canal for NTD News, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

Vandersteel pointed to her recent article on the port sale drama and noted:

“The deal would have given BlackRock operational control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including 199 berths across key maritime chokepoints. This would have instantly wiped out about one-third of the PRC’s global port reach, dealing a colossal blow to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure.”

Yon said the Balboa Port on the Pacific end of the Panama Canal was at an extremely constrained point on the canal, which is little more than a ship’s length across.

He said this exact point at the Balboa Port that Hutchison is under long term concession to operate “is quite a chokepoint” that could very quickly block the canal if there was a similar incident to the 2024 Baltimore Bridge ship allision or the 2021 Suez Canal incident where a Taiwanese super-size container ship, the Ever Given, unexplainedly wedged itself in the Suez, totally blocking traffic for six days.

There have been past incidents, Yon noted, such as the 2020 ship collision in the Panama Canal that destroyed the railway bridge across the canal.

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

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 22:50

"Embarrassed" Reaction To New 45 Foot Naked Woman Statue In San Francisco

A towering 45-foot statue of a nude woman now looms over San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza, drawing equal parts awe, ridicule, and criticism, according to Fox News.

The sculpture, R-Evolution, originally created for Burning Man in 2015 by Marco Cochrane, was unveiled Thursday with lights, music, and performance art. Designed to “breathe” using internal motors, the statue is meant to symbolize strength and compassion.

Instead, it’s ignited backlash from residents and commentators who see it as a tone-deaf installation in a city still grappling with homelessness, open-air drug use, and economic decay.

"Nothing says ‘reviving downtown’ like a 45-foot naked lady getting rear-end surgery," one user quipped after viral footage showed a cherry picker being hoisted awkwardly between the statue’s legs. Another commented, “This picture kind of embodies the spirit of San Francisco — head up a--.”

NEW: San Francisco has erected a statue of a woman with no clothes on which will be greeting visitors in front of the Ferry Building.

The 45-foot-tall statue was installed to "jazz up downtown" according to CBS News.

One worker was seen doing a "surgical procedure" on the… pic.twitter.com/QjxhbiYEpn

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 10, 2025

While some have praised the sculpture as empowering, others view it as a misplaced priority. “I don't know where to begin about the misplaced priorities for the city of San Francisco,” said Bruce Lou, a recent Republican challenger to Rep. Nancy Pelosi. “They seem like they are focused on absolutely everything except the things that matter.”

John Dennis, former San Francisco GOP chair, offered a sharper critique: “A giant, naked woman blocking the proud, iconic Ferry Building is a perfect metaphor for San Francisco these days.”

Even left-leaning voices have joined the chorus. KQED arts editor Sarah Hotchkiss wrote, "As I gazed up at this monumental steel and mesh sculpture on Thursday, I felt embarrassed for the city of San Francisco... we are all the audience for this thing, and no one asked us if we wanted it."

The statue’s installation comes amid a homelessness crisis affecting over 8,300 residents, according to city data. While San Francisco plans to spend nearly $690 million on housing and homelessness in the next fiscal year, encampments remain widespread.

Crime stats show a mixed bag: violent crime is down 14% and car break-ins are at a 22-year low, but gun violence has edged up 5%. Drug-related arrests are up nearly 40% over early 2024, yet critics argue enforcement without treatment only displaces the problem.

Fox News writes that R-Evolution is expected to remain on display for six months to a year. Rep. Pelosi has not commented on the installation.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 22:25

Pentagon Review Of Close Combat Training Standards Is Long Overdue

Authored by Elaine Donnelly via RealClearDefense,

Ten years have passed since the Department of Defense initiated a social experiment with women in the military. Pentagon officials promised that female trainees headed for previously all-male combat arms units would have to meet the exact same standards as men.  Has the experiment played out as promised?

We are about to find out. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s March 30 Memorandum calls for a 60-day review to achieve high, uncompromised standards in combat arms units such as the infantry, Special Operations, and other occupations with extraordinary physical demands. 

Thanks to a series of Executive Orders that President Donald Trump has issued since January, Hegseth’s 6-month implementation period should proceed without equivocation or distractions related to percentage-based diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quotas.  Wrote Hegseth, “[I]t is essential to identify which positions require heightened entry-level and sustained physical fitness.”

An honest review of contemporary policies regarding women in the military should reflect sound priorities unrelated to DEI. Career opportunities are important, but if there is a conflict, the needs of the military must come first.

Direct Ground Combat Goes Beyond “In Harm’s Way”

As the Center for Military Readiness stated in this CMR Policy Analysis, implementation of Hegseth’s order must begin with clear definitions of terms, starting with “direct ground combat.” (DGC). Direct ground combat arms units such as the infantry, armor, artillery, and Special Forces in all branches of the service are trained to seek out and attack the enemy with deliberate offensive action.

Physical demands in DGC units typically are greater than those in units and military occupational specialties (MOSs) that serve “in harm’s way” in war zones. Men and women serving in such roles are at risk of contingent or incident-related combat, and those that come under fire are trained to fight back and return to base. Their mission, however, is not to seek out and engage the enemy with deliberate offensive action.

Medical technicians, truck drivers, intelligence teams and other support troops serve with courage, and all must be prepared for wartime contingencies. More than 150 military women died during war operations in the Middle East since 9/11, including two female Marines who were killed by a suicide bomber during America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

It is not necessary, however, for all personnel to meet the same physically demanding standards as infantry, armor, artillery, or Special Operations forces. Nor should tough standards in those units be lowered or “redefined” to meet DEI goals.

Empirical Data Ignored

Secretary Hegseth’s review of contemporary training requirements also requires an honest review of recent history. In 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter elevated “equity” above reality when he opened to women all units and military occupational specialties, including previously all-male infantry, Air Force Special Forces, Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs.

In doing so, Carter disregarded empirical data indicating that his egalitarian policies would compromise standards and effectiveness in close combat units.

From 2012-2015, the Marine Corps conducted a scientific study of the issue, which included nine months of field tests overseen by the University of Pittsburgh. The purpose of the research was to prove a simple hypothesis: “An integrated unit under gender-neutral standards will perform equally as well as a gender-restricted unit.” 

However, as CMR wrote in a Statement for the Record of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on February 2, 2016, despite positive expectations for field tests conducted with well-qualified female and average male volunteers, USMC field test data disproved the hypothesis.  A Summary of empirical data and still relevant findings gathered by the Marine Corps’ Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force (GCEITF) during that study reveals facts that are very relevant to discussions today. 

For example:  All-male task force teams outperformed their mixed-gender counterparts in 69 percent (93 of 134) of ground combat tasks. Physical differences were more pronounced in “specialties that carried the assault load plus the additional weight of crew-served weapons and ammunition.”

In gender-mixed units, physical deficiencies had negative effects on the unit’s speed and effectiveness in simulated battle tasks, including marching under heavy loads, casualty evacuation, and marksmanship while fatigued. Significant differences also were noted in the mixed-gender units’ ability to negotiate obstacles and evacuate casualties, and musculoskeletal injury rates were double – 40.5% for females, compared to 18.8% for men.

These results supported a Memorandum from then-Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford to keep some close combat units all-male.  Secretary Carter ignored the Commandant’s rational request and opened all close combat positions to women for purposes of “equity.”

When “Equality” is not Equal

Secretary Carter also promised to maintain sex-neutral (identical) training standards for the combat arms, but that promise proved impossible to keep.

In 2019, the army began trials with a more challenging six-event Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) to replace the long-standing Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). The ACFT was supposed to have sex-neutral (identical) requirements and scoring systems for both male and female trainees.

However, due to high failure rates among the women, officials tried to improve pass rates by           removing the most demanding elements of the ACFT, altering scoring systems, or making some events optional.   

Women’s scores improved, but DoD contractor RAND acknowledged in its December 2024 report that tougher standards for combat arms units “may be too high to achieve the Army’s desired pass rates for various ‘subgroups’ (the largest being women). Ultimately, the Army reinstated sex-normed (different) standards while pretending that nothing had changed.

Physical realities shattered unrealistic theories about sex equality in the combat arms. This is why Secretary Hegseth is correct in directing the various services to clearly define combat arms occupations and provide tough training that saves lives and missions.

Standards for these roles, Hegseth noted, “should emphasize the ability to carry heavy loads, endure prolonged physical exertion, and perform effectively in austere, hostile environments. Service members in these roles must exhibit speed, strength, agility, and endurance to navigate the demands of combat situations.”

All branches of the service should produce honest evaluations of entry-level and advanced training requirements needed in close combat units and MOS’s. Officials also should determine realistic requirements for other troops who must be prepared for wartime contingencies or hostile incidents while serving “in harm’s way.”   

The goal should be to strengthen combat effectiveness, not to advance individual careers or percentage-based demographic quotas.

Elaine Donnelly is President of the Center for Military Readiness (CMR), founded in 1993, following her service on the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. CMR is an independent public policy organization that reports on and analyzes military/social issues.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 22:00

Trump Signs Order To Help States Import Low-Cost Medications

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 15 that directs a wide range of actions to lower the cost of prescription medications, including through the importation of prescription drugs from Canada by the states.

Prescription drugs are displayed at NYC Discount Pharmacy in Manhattan in New York on July 23, 2024. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

States have been authorized since 2020 to import certain drugs from Canada—where they are often available at a lower price—under section 804 of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. However, approval from the Food and Drug Administration is required, and that process is complex.

Florida is the only state now authorized to import drugs from Canada, and the approval process took more than three years.

Trump’s order instructs the Food and Drug Administration to improve the process and encourages states to apply for authorization to import medications.

An analysis by health research group KFF found that per-capita spending on prescriptions was 42 percent higher in the United States than in Canada.

Lowering Prices

Three items in the executive order aim at lowering the cost of drugs already available in the United States.

The first such action is to revisit the Medicare drug negotiation program, which was authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act.

This program allows Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to reduce the cost of brand-name drugs approved for Medicare Part B and Part D beneficiaries.

The initial round of lower prices involving 10 prescription medications will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. A second round of 15 drugs will be available for Medicare beneficiaries at a reduced price in 2027.

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A White House official told reporters that the Trump administration would improve the program and make it more transparent.

A second price-lowering action aims to make Medicare’s payment for prescription drugs commensurate with the supplier’s cost. Currently, Medicare pays as much as 35 percent over the actual cost of some medications.

A third provision for lowering prices directs that steps be taken to ensure that Medicare pays a comparable price for prescription drugs regardless of where they are dispensed.

Currently, Medicare may pay up to 60 percent more for a drug dispensed at an outpatient clinic than for the same medication dispensed at a doctor’s office, which creates an incentive for providers to drive traffic to the higher-paying location.

A fourth action item directs Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to further reduce the price of insulin.

Currently, the negotiated price is $35. A White House official told reporters that, based on the new order, low-income and uninsured patients may be able to receive insulin for as little as 3 cents per vial, plus an administrative fee. Injectable epinephrine may be available for as little as $15 per auto-injector.

This order will achieve that by ensuring that all discounts on insulin and epinephrine that the government offers to health care providers are passed on to consumers.

The Drug Pipeline

Other provisions of Trump’s order aim to lower costs by improving the drug development and approval process.

First, the order directs the Food and Drug Administration to streamline the approval process for generic and biosimilar medications. That could reduce the price of medication for some patients by as much as 80 percent.

Currently, there is a backlog of generic and biosimilar medications awaiting approval, according to the White House.

Second, Trump’s order directs Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress to address what the administration sees as an imbalance in the emphasis placed on the development of some highly expensive drugs.

Small-molecule medications are produced from chemicals, are less costly, and can treat a wide variety of ailments. Ibuprofen is an example of a small-molecule medication.

Large-molecule medications are derived from living organisms, are more costly to produce, and are delivered by infusion. Gene-based therapies, immunotherapies, and hormonal regulators are examples of large-molecule medications.

The current system encourages companies to invest in developing the more expensive large-molecule treatments over less costly alternatives, according to the White House.

No timeline for implementing that legislative solution was announced.

One element of Trump’s order cracks down on the practices of some brokers in the prescription drug supply chain.

The order directs the Department of Labor to set rules concerning the disclosure of broker fees for prescription drugs.

In some cases, employers hire a broker to negotiate prescription drug fees on behalf of their employees, but the broker may act against the employer’s best interest by accepting fees from the pharmacy benefit manager that it recommends, according to a White House official.

Provisions supporting this rule-making are included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act but have not been fully enforced, according to the White House.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 21:10

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Friday:
• All US markets will be closed in observance of Good Friday.

• AT 10:00 AM ET, State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for March 2025

Israel Allows Largest Ever Group Of Jews To Pray At Al-Aqsa Mosque

Via Middle East Eye

Israel allowed more than 1,000 Jewish worshippers to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday, with groups of up to 180 entering the Islamic holy site - the largest number ever permitted by the authorities.

They were seen entering the site, referred to as Temple Mount in Judaism, flanked by Israeli security services. The move marks a departure from Israel's previous policy of allowing no more than 30 Jewish Israelis at a time into the site, which was conquered by Israel in the 1967 war and is recognized as occupied territory internationally.

Jewish worshippers gather at the Lions' Gate in Jerusalem as they attempt to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, via MEE

The Islamic Waqf, the organization that administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Middle East Eye that 1,200 Jewish Israelis entered on Wednesday. More than 4,000 have stormed the Muslim holy site since the Passover holiday began last weekend.

Israeli police said that "officers safeguarded visits to the Temple Mount in accordance with visitation regulations and group size limitations, which are determined by circumstances such as overall visitor numbers and the police's ability to ensure public safety and order".

Thousands of Jewish worshippers could be seen dancing and celebrating at the Lions' Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. Muslim worshippers were prevented from entering the mosque.

Aouni Bazbaz, director of international affairs at the Waqf, told MEE that the scenes on Wednesday - and in the previous days - had been unprecedented. "These are frightening scenes," he said.

Bazbaz added that the total of settlers who entered the site in 2003 stood at 258, while "the numbers have risen exponentially" today, with thousands making their way into the complex. "Today [as the Islamic Waqf], we will be dealing with something we have never ever dealt with before," he said.

A change in status quo?

The Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem has long declared Jewish worship on Temple Mount forbidden unless worshippers are "ritually pure", which is believed impossible under modern conditions.

However, many Orthodox Jewish settlers oppose this stance, arguing that preventing them from worshipping there is discriminatory.

Israeli police allowed 180 settlers to pray inside Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, a move condemned by Palestinians as a serious breach of the status quo. pic.twitter.com/C7f6rDRVwV

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 16, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that "the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change", referring to a 1757 Ottoman decree reaffirming a ban on non-Muslims entering Al-Aqsa Mosque and granting Jews the right to pray at the Western Wall.

However, in recent years, visits by Jewish settlers to the site have become increasingly routine. Some Israeli government members, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have openly called for Jewish prayer to be permitted at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The far-right minister has even been filmed entering the complex on several occasions.

Some Israeli settlers have called for the construction of a Jewish temple modelled after two temples that once stood on the site - a move that some have said would necessitate the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the three holiest sites in Islam.

The Temple Mount Administration, a far-right group advocating for the construction of a temple on the site, said on Tuesday that there had been "3,000 worshippers at the Temple Mount in the first three days of Passover".

⚡️JUST IN:

Today’s storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque for the fifth day by Israeli settlers was the largest since the occupation of Palestine.

Itamar Ben Gvir welcomed the performance of Talmudic rituals in Al-Aqsa’s courtyards, saying such events have not occurred there in 30 years,… pic.twitter.com/MxAjHA6sHa

— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) April 17, 2025

Bazbaz warned that the division of Al-Aqsa Mosque was increasingly becoming a reality. He compared it to the situation at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, which has been divided into a mosque and a synagogue - both under Israeli control.

"Let's use the media phrase for what is happening: apartheid or segregation has become a historical and current reality on the ground," he said. Bazbaz added that the situation had worsened since the start of the war in Gaza, with Jewish religious practices on Al-Aqsa Mosque being encouraged and even backed by the authorities.

"What happened today was more of a move to cause outrage rather than for religious purposes," he said.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 20:20

From Caricatures To Character: How President Trump Redefines Perceptions

Authored by Susan Harris via The Epoch Times,

In an era of polarized narratives, Donald Trump’s true character is often reduced to soundbites and crafted caricatures. That’s the Donald Trump comedian and political commentator Bill Maher thought he knew.

A lot of people didn’t think it would go well when Maher recently went to the White House to have dinner with President Trump, but they were proved wrong.

In an endearing yet hilarious monologue about the visit, Maher told how he had presented Trump with a list of names he’d called him. Maher read from that list, claiming that through the years, the president had described him as, “stupid, dummy, low-life dummy, sleazebag, and stone-cold crazy” among other colorful characterizations.

Maher, who has taken on the most controversial subjects through the years, has a reputation for dishing it out pretty hard himself. Vanity Fair described him as having “built his brand on provocation.”

Despite their shared histories for theatrics, the key takeaway from Maher’s monologue was that Trump gave him a “very generous amount of time and a willingness to listen and accept me as a possible friend.” It was clear that he was both impressed and humbled with the president and the graciousness he showed during their meeting.

Take, for example, the fact that it is often reported that Trump never laughs. Those of us who watched his rallies live—either in person or on the internet—knew this wasn’t the case. I can vouch for the fact that Trump often had his supporters laughing, and wasn’t afraid to laugh along. If you want footage of a long, hearty belly laugh, however, you’d be hard pressed to find that of anyone, let alone of a world leader.

Maher confirmed that he believed President Trump never laughed, saying, “Just for starters he never laughs. I’ve never seen him laugh in public. But he does, including at himself, and it’s not fake.”

Yet, beyond the headlines are the lesser-told accounts of personal kindness, acts of compassion, and a resilience that culminated in a defining moment of courage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. These traits and actions reveal a man with a deep capacity for compassion and an old-school conviction that a leader should embody America’s strength.

In a recent interview with broadcaster Glenn Beck, Washington Examiner reporter Salena Zito revealed what she witnessed in Butler on July 13, 2024. 

(Her upcoming book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland,” is already a pre-order bestseller on Amazon.)

Zito, who attended the rally with her daughter, had a front row seat to the events as they unfolded. She said that as Trump lay on the ground, shielded by the Secret Service, he began chanting, “USA, USA!” That was a moment few people saw or heard, and it was overshadowed by the now famous phrase, “Fight, fight, fight!”—words Trump gave the crowd with a raised fist as he was being led to safety.

President Trump knew Ms. Zito well—so well that he called her the morning after the assassination attempt to see if she and her daughter were OK. 

By her own account, she responded with an expletive: “Are you ... kidding me? You’re the one that was shot, right?”

Zito said she and Trump spoke many times throughout that day, and she asked him why he reacted the way he did.

He responded: 

“Well Selena, at that moment I wasn’t Donald Trump. I was symbolic. Even though I wasn’t president yet ... I had once been president. I had an obligation to show that the country is strong, that we will not be defeated, and that we are resolute. I did not want to be the symbol of America being weak.”

That statement was reminiscent of Trump at the height of the pandemic, when he himself tested positive for COVID. We remember a very sick president walking cooly from the White House to the helicopter that would take him to Walter Reed hospital. Later we found out he was sicker than we thought; the walk across the lawn was likely not an easy one.

Later, Trump left Walter Reed to wave at supporters gathering outside. The move was criticized by some, but most of us saw it for what it was—a show of strength for a country whose people desperately needed inspiration and hope.

Here in New York State, for instance, it was downright depressing to see American flags at half-mast throughout the pandemic. It gave the impression that we were all doomed and we might as well throw in the towel—COVID had won. Luckily, the only time President Trump ordered the flags lowered for pandemic victims was from May 22–24, 2020. It was reportedly done at the request of congressional democrats. Trump knew that strength begets strength.

Outside of the self-inflicted soundbites, hateful caricatures, and misleading media narratives, people like Bill Maher and Salena Zito continue to inform us of a president who possesses warmth, an openness to making amends, and the kind of Churchillian fortitude every leader should possess—but rarely does.

*  *  *

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

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 18:50

Rubio Nukes Offshoot Of 'Global Engagement Center' With 'Same Roster Of Employees'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has just killed the Biden administration's last-ditch effort to shelter the government's Ministry of Truth, the Global Engagement Center (GEC).

In a new op-ed published by The Federalist (a target of the GEC along with yours truly), Rubio writes;

GEC was supposed to be dead already. But, as many have learned the hard way, in Washington, D.C., few things ever truly die. When Republicans in Congress sunset GEC’s funding at the end of last year, the Biden State Department simply slapped on a new name. The GEC became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R-FIMI) office, with the same roster of employees. With this new name, they hoped to survive the transition to the new administration.

Today, we are putting that to an end. Whatever name it goes by, GEC is dead. It will not return.

Rubio further notes how well-intentioned initiatives to counter foreign actors "nearly destroyed America's long free speech history."

As the Epoch Times notes further, originally founded as the Counterterrorism Communication Center in 2007 to root out narratives from Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, it became the GEC in 2016 under the Obama administration with an expanded mission to broaden efforts countering foreign disinformation.

According to its webpage, which has been archived on the State Department’s website, the center’s mission was “to direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.”

“We do not target American audiences,” Daniel Kimmage, a center employee, said during a previous deposition. “The GEC’s concern is with the actions of foreign propaganda actors. The GEC’s concern stops there. It doesn’t extend to the speech of Americans.”

The Epoch Times reported that the center was set to close in the final days of the Biden administration in December 2024. It was at the center of several legal cases for its involvement in an initiative called Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), which sought to flag election disinformation on social media.

Rubio said in his op-ed that “GEC was supposed to be dead already,” and that his predecessors under the Biden administration changed the center’s name to the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office in the hopes of it surviving the transition while retaining the same employee roster.

He referred to GEC’s work with the EIP and noted that the head of the center, Richard Stengel, in the introduction of his book “Information Wars,” likened the way President Donald Trump talks to that of terrorists or Russian disinformation campaigns.

In his op-ed, Rubio also accused the GEC of working during the COVID-19 pandemic to label any speculation of the coronavirus being an engineered bioweapon or coming from research conducted in a lab in Wuhan as being Russian disinformation and foreign propaganda.

Rather than restaff the office, Rubio took a stand against what he called the entire disinformation industry and the idea that the American people needed to be protected from lies online.

At the same time, he said he was confident that his department could remain vigilant against communist China and other nations with growing authoritarian censorship without this office.

“The best way to counter disinformation is free speech, is to make sure that what’s true has as equal or greater opportunity to communicate as what’s not true,” Rubio said during the interview. “We’ve learned that the hard way.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 18:25

Trump Admin Orders Halt To Offshore Wind Project Near New York

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said on April 16 that he had ordered a halt to the construction of a major wind project off the coast of New York “until further review.”

Burgum, posting to the social platform X on Wednesday, said he had consulted with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to direct the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to “halt all construction activities” on Equinor’s Empire Wind project. The Biden administration approved the project in 2023, with construction beginning last year.

The interior secretary accused the former administration of “rush[ing] through its approval without sufficient analysis.” He did not provide further details on potential faults identified.

“On day one, [President Donald Trump] called for comprehensive reviews of federal wind projects and wind leasing, and at Interior, we are doing our part to make sure these instructions are followed,” Burgum wrote in a follow-up post.

The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Equinor, a Norway-based company, was supported by President Joe Biden in his efforts to expand renewable energy projects.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an arm of the Interior Department that permits offshore energy projects, gave the company a stop-work order, according to an Equinor spokesperson.

“We will engage directly with BOEM and the Department of Interior to understand the questions raised about the permits we have received from authorities,” Equinor said in a statement provided to media outlets. “We will not comment about the potential consequences until we know more.”

Equinor did not respond to a request for further comment by publication time.

Lutnick was involved in the decision because the Commerce Department houses the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is also involved in permitted offshore wind facilities.

Burgum’s decision follows Trump’s January order to review all offshore wind permitting and leasing on his first day back in office in January.

After declaring a national energy emergency, the Trump administration has hastened the speed of environmental reviews and has fast-tracked approvals for other energy projects.

Since Trump’s order, the offshore wind industry has worked to align itself with the president’s energy agenda.

At the time, the American Clean Power Association said in a statement that it “strongly supports President Trump’s effort to reform the permitting process to speed the development of all forms of domestic energy production.”

However, the group’s CEO, Jason Grumet, on Wednesday criticized Burgum’s decision to halt the Empire Wind project.

“Halting construction of fully permitted energy projects is the literal opposite of an energy abundance agenda,” Grumet wrote in a statement.

“With skyrocketing energy demand and increasing consumer prices, we need streamlined permitting for all domestic energy resources. Doubling back to reconsider permits after projects are under construction sends a chilling signal to all energy investment.”

He urged the Trump administration to “quickly address perceived inadequacies in the prior permit approvals so that this project can complete construction and bring much-needed power to the grid.”

Located 12 nautical miles south of Long Island, New York, the lease area will house two projects, which together are expected to generate enough energy to power 700,000 homes each year.

Empire Wind was expected to begin producing electricity in 2027 and is a key part of New York’s efforts to move toward renewable energy.

In response to the pause, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the project had already generated roughly 1,000 “good-paying union jobs” and is contributing to the state’s economy.

“This fully federally permitted project has already put shovels in the ground before the President’s executive orders—it’s exactly the type of bipartisan energy solution we should be working on,” Hochul wrote in a statement.

“As Governor, I will not allow this federal overreach to stand. I will fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy, and New York’s economic future.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a press conference on Nov. 14, 2024. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Critics of offshore wind projects are concerned about their potential environmental impacts.

According to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, offshore wind farms “can be damaging to fish and other marine species” due to the noise and vibration from both the construction and operation of the wind turbines. Disturbing the sea floor during construction can also “affect plankton in the water column.”

However, beyond the energy produced, offshore wind farms also have some indirect benefits.

“The turbines may act as ‘artificial reefs’ and increase biological productivity in the vicinity,” the university’s Center for Environmental Science added. “The presence of hard structures can provide habitat for barnacles, sponges, and other invertebrates, which may locally increase fish abundance. These processes can consequently result in attracting predators higher up the food chain.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/17/2025 - 18:00