**Why China & Its Trading Allies Are Well Placed To Topple The Dollar**

Why China & Its Trading Allies Are Well Placed To Topple The Dollar

_Authored by Wolfgang Munchau via NewStatesman.com,_ (https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2023/05/china-trading-allies-placed-topple-dollar-brazil-lula-da-silva-global-south)

**_After decades meting out sanctions and financial coercion, the US may soon feel its grip on world trade beginning to loosen..._**

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**Change is good, but dollars are better,** a US author of romance novels once wrote. A similarly light-hearted sentiment often inspires discussions about the future role of the US dollar (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/us-dollar) as the world’s leading currency. The consensus view is that the dollar is safe. I think the consensus is wrong.

**The dollar is the foundation of US global leadership, and the future of the dollar is therefore intricately linked to the debate about geopolitical fragmentation.**

Brazil (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/brazil)’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/lula-da-silva) da Silva, asked during his recent visit to China (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/china):

> **_“Why should every country have to be tied to the dollar for trade?… Who decided the dollar would be the \[world’s\] currency?”_**

These are good questions.

**The perhaps surprising answer is that he himself made that decision, together with the former leaders of the other “Brics” group of nations: Brazil (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/brazil), Russia (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/russia), India (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/india), China and South Africa.** Their economic-development models have succeeded but have also critically depended on the US dollar. During the period of hyperglobalisation – which I date from 1990 to 2020 – the US became the global importer of last resort, and let its trade deficit against the rest of the world increase. China and many other fast-developing economies built up savings in the currency they were paid in – the US dollar. They invested those savings into US bonds and other assets. **The willingness of the US to absorb the world’s savings surpluses was the engine of globalisation**. It ensured that the dollar would maintain its status as the world’s leading currency.

This mechanism explains what happened in the last 20 years, but it won’t tell us what will happen in the next 20. Yet the dollar fans assume that the geopolitical and geo-economic environment (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/environment) will stay broadly the same.

**If the five Brics countries wanted to end their dependence on the dollar, they would have to do more than just choose another currency to trade in**. It is not a menu choice, as Lula suggested during the same speech. He and his fellow Brics leaders would have to change how they interact with the rest of the world, and with one another.

**China is key.** In 2021, the country derived 43 per cent of its GDP from investment. This is approximately twice the level of the US and other Western countries. If China managed to shift some of its GDP to consumption, it would reduce its external trade surplus, as consumers tend to buy more imported goods. If you wanted to be less reliant on the US dollar, this is where you would have to start. As a second step, China and the other Brics countries could start trading more with each other, become more self-reliant in their supply chains, and set up their own financial infrastructure.

**Changing economic models is hard.** Three years after Brexit (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/brexit), the UK is still struggling to move away from a model that depended on close integration with the EU. Germany (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/germany) is finding it hard to maintain competitiveness without cheap Russian gas (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/russian-gas) and with impaired global supply. It takes decades to build industrial production lines and supply chains. In China, there are an awful lot of vested political interests at the regional level, which rely on the investment boom continuing. If President Xi Jinping (https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/xi-jinping) was really keen to extricate China from the US dollar, he would need to impose policies that would meet with resistance from regional leaders. In parallel, China would also have to start a long process of shifting at least part of its $3.2trn worth of foreign reserves held in dollars into other currencies. All of this would take a long time – one or two decades, perhaps.

**The reason I think China, Brazil and others will ultimately go down that difficult route is the overuse of economic sanc…

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/why-china-its-trading-allies-are-well-placed-topple-dollar

**Basel IV Rules Are Coming And Will Make Bank Lives Even More Difficult**

Basel IV Rules Are Coming And Will Make Bank Lives Even More Difficult

Following up on the earlier Morgan Stanley note (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/morgan-stanley-new-banking-rules-will-make-credit-standards-even-tighter)predicting that new regulatory rules will significantly and adversely impact new credit creation and will further tighten bank lending standards, Morgan Stanley analysts expect the Fed to publish new bank-capital rules between late May and early July, followed by a comment period, and ultimately a Final Rule, that would be phased in over time between 2025-27.

They expect implementation of this “Basel III Endgame,” also known as Basel IV, to drive up risk-weighted assets (RWAs) and capital requirements for their US Large-Cap Banks coverage, with the greatest impact on Global Systemically Important Banks (GSIBs).

While the analysts acknowledge that they can’t assess the exact impact until the final rules come out, after triangulating data from numerous Bank for International Settlements publications , **they conclude that Common Equity Tier 1 Capital (CET1) ratios in their US GSIB coverage could decrease by a weighted average 0.7%**(range 0.5-1.4%) in a more moderate “Scenario 1”...

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... **and by 1.2% (range 0.9-1.9%) in a tougher “Scenario 2.”**(for more please see " _Basel III Endgame is Coming... Get Ready for Tougher Capital Requirements (https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7ss7kab26l85aj/MS%20Basel%20III%20Endgame%20is%20Coming...%20Get%20Ready%20for%20Tougher%20Capital%20Requirements.pdf?dl=0)_" available to professional subscribers).

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Separately, and in keeping tabs on the ongoing debt crisis, **Morgan Stanley refreshed its analysis of excess capital for our Large Cap Banks and Consumer Finance coverage**. 1Q23 excess capital levels versus regulatory minimums at the median bank increased 13% q/q, but at the Money Centers excess capital decreased a median 16%, driven by declines at C and GS.

Bottom line: MS estimates some $153B of excess capital across the group vs. regulatory minimums as of 1Q23.  Commentary from this earnings season suggests that managements are shifting into capital build mode as macro risk rises and as regulators are expected to impose tougher capital requirements on the industry.

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For more see "How Much Excess Capital Do Banks Have (https://www.dropbox.com/s/1w40zp3va4xn1e2/MS%20-%20How%20Much%20Excess%20Capital%20Do%20Banks%20Have.pdf?dl=0)?"

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sun, 05/07/2023 - 16:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/basel-iv-rules-are-coming-and-will-make-bank-lives-even-more-difficult

**Like A Tweet, Lose Your Job**

Like A Tweet, Lose Your Job

_Via The Brownstone Institute,_ (https://brownstone.org/articles/like-a-tweet-lose-your-job/)

**The president of Thomas Jefferson University may lose his job for liking tweets from Alex Berenson on his personal account.** The episode marks a warning against those in mainstream institutions that any deviation from prevailing orthodoxy – no matter how minor – will not be tolerated.

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Mark Tykocinski, a Yale trained molecular immunologist, became president of the university in 2022. Last week, a reporter from _The Philadelphia Inquirer_ went through **his personal Twitter account which had under 300 followers.**

The _Inquirer_ reported that Dr. Tykocinski had liked tweets from Berenson that **criticized transgender surgeries for children** and the efficacy of mRNA Covd vaccines.

> _“Two years after their introduction, the mRNAs Covid vaccines have proven to be what we all should have expected,” one tweet (https://twitter.com/alexberenson/status/1602052628636114944?lang=da) from Berenson argued._

>

> _“Another in a long line of overhyped, rushed, profit-driven Big Pharma flops with weak long-term efficacy and a lousy side effect profile.”_

**This constituted a media and academic scandal.** The reporter demanded an explanation, and Tykocinski’s colleagues rebuked his transgression. Thomas Jefferson University CEO Joseph G. Cacchione wrote (https://www.foxnews.com/media/university-president-reprimanded-liking-tweets-push-back-transgender-child-surgery) to faculty, employees, and students that Tykocinski “should have known better” than to like those tweets.

Even self-professed defenders of free speech joined the chorus of reprimands. Jonathan Zimmerman is a professor at the Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and the author of _Free Speech: And Why You Should Give a Damn_ (https://www.amazon.com/Free-Speech-Should-Give-Damn/dp/1952536103/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3TP5SU5V4NE6&keywords=Free+Speech+and+Why+You+Should+Give+a+Damn+Zimmerman&qid=1683213728&sprefix=free+speech+and+why+you+should+give+a+damn+zimmerman%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1). In 2021, he defended Georgetown Law adjunct professor Sandra Sellers after she was fired (https://brownstone.org/articles/the-corruption-of-georgetown-law/) for noticing that black students underperformed in her class.

> _“Georgetown’s official policy on speech says it is ‘committed to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate in all matters.’ It has now carved out an exception for matters of race, which are essentially closed,” he wrote (https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0321-crw-black-law-students-20210319-nafr4sxwznapnnhcdlhkqka6ye-story.html)._

>

> **_“The lesson \[from Georgetown\] is clear and unequivocal: Keep your big mouth shut, if you know what’s good for you.”_**

Now, Zimmerman has discovered his own carve-out – wrongthink related to Covid and juvenile transgender procedures.

> **“If he liked those tweets because he agrees with Alex Berenson, that is a dagger at the heart of the scientific enterprise,”** Zimmerman told the _Inquirer_.

>

> _**“There’s no other way to describe it.”**_

“I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man,” then-Vice President Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1800. **Now, the university that bears his name has declared hostility against its president for social media wrongthink.**

But the attack is not directed at Dr. Tykocinski. It is a warning against anyone in institutions that they must conform to prevailing orthodoxy or risk their professional reputations. They must _keep their big mouths shut_, in the words of Professor Zimmerman. In this system, career advancement relies on obedience rather than ingenuity. It is no wonder that our ruling class is so banal.

**By silencing critics, the powerful aim to achieve authority without accountability. Submission is central to their quest for power, and threatening the livelihoods of freethinkers is a powerful ploy.**

Berenson’s reporting and support from public figures like Jay Bhattacharya (https://twitter.com/DrJBhattacharya/status/1653430438071881735) and Elon Musk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1653450624048955422) may save Dr. Tyconski’s job for now; but going forward, he’ll know the price that he will bear if he deviates from groupthink. He didn’t have to _say_ anything to learn this reality. He didn’t make a post or deliver a speech. All it took was liking a tweet from a journalist.

**Free speech is more than a slogan. It must be an operational reality for everyone.** It can be closed down by forces other than edicts from government. It can be suppressed also by a…

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tweet-lose-your-job

**Buffett Turns Gloomy: The "Incredible Period" For The US Economy Is Coming To An End**

Buffett Turns Gloomy: The "Incredible Period" For The US Economy Is Coming To An End

While Warren Buffett's insights on the economy are traditionally cheerful and uplifting - usually hitting at time of peak pessimism in the form of self-serving NYT op-eds (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17buffett.html)or CNBC vignettes (and usually around the time the Omaha billionaire knows that the government will backstop his TBTF investments, unlike those of pretty much anyone else), on Saturday the head of Berkshire Hathaway had a far more downbeat and gloomy prediction for his own businesses - and the broader economy in general - the good times may be over.

Speaking at Berkshire's annual general meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, the billionaire investor said he expects **earnings at the majority of the conglomerate's operations to fall this year** as the coming economic downturn slows corporate activity further. He made his pessimistic comments even as Berkshire posted an almost 13% gain in operating earnings to $8.07 billion for the first quarter, up from $7.04 billion a year ago.

“The majority of our businesses will report lower earnings this year than last year,” Buffett, 92, said, before crowds of thousands at the event on Saturday according to Bloomberg (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/berkshire-hathaway-boosts-pace-share-121737958.html). During the last six months or so, the “incredible period” for the US economy has been coming to an end, he said.

As Bloomberg notes Berkshire is often viewed as a proxy for economic health owing to the expansive nature of its businesses ranging from railroad to electric utilities and retail. Buffett himself has said Berkshire owes its success to the incredible growth of the US economy over the decades, **but his prediction for a slowdown at his firms comes as upheaval at regional banks threatens to curtail lending as inflation and higher rates continue to bite.**

Buffett’s long-time business partner Charlie Munger, 99, who joined him on stage, said the more-difficult economic environment will also make it harder for value investors, who typically buy stocks that look cheap compared to the intrinsic value of the businesses.

“Get used to making less,” Munger said.

Despite the broader pessimism, Buffett said he expects earnings at its insurance underwriting operations — which are less correlated to business activity — to improve this year. Berkshire already reported higher earnings at those businesses including auto-insurer Geico, which swung to profitability following six quarters of losses.

Geico posted $703 million in earnings as higher average premiums and lower advertising spending contributed to the gain even as claim frequencies fell, Berkshire said in a statement reporting its earnings Saturday. That revival follows a difficult period for the underwriting business as inflation took its toll on the cost of materials and labor.

Geico has been facing particular pressure from rivals including Progressive, which Buffett has called “well-run,” and Allstate which had long used telematics programs to track drivers and encourage better behavior before Geico introduced the offering. Geico’s profit also helped Berkshire’s insurance underwriting businesses deliver $911 million in profit compared with $167 million a year earlier.

Berkshire previously said it expected Geico to return to operating profitability in 2023, after securing premium rate increases. Still, Geico remains an issue for Berkshire, with top line growth in the quarter of less than 1% that “significantly lags peers,” CFRA analyst Cathy Seifert said.

> “ _I suspect rate hikes being put through to offset claim cost inflation is being met with policy cancellations,” she said. “While the loss of unprofitable policies is not always a bad thing- that’s not usually the policies — and policyholders — that leave.”_

Other parts of the conglomerate took a bigger hit, **with after-tax earnings from Berkshire Hathaway Energy falling 46.3% from the same time last year amid “lower earnings from the US regulated utilities, other energy businesses and real estate brokerage businesses.**” Railroad results were also weaker than expected due to a fall in freight volumes and higher operating expenses, according to Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan.

But at one of Berkshire’s best known businesses, Brooks Running Co., Chief Executive Officer Jim Weber was skeptical of a steep consumer downturn.

> _“With unemployment being so low, it’s hard to be believing we’re going to fall off a cliff into a recession at the consumer level,” Weber said in an interview on Friday ahead of the meeting. “I wonder if this is going to be an asset-value recession.”_

Among other topics discussed on Saturday were Buffett's succession, the banking crisis, the US debt ceiling crisis, the company's …

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/buffett-turns-gloomy-incredible-period-us-economy-coming-end

**Georgia Passes Law To Crack Down On 'Far-Left' Prosecutors Who Are Soft On Crime**

Georgia Passes Law To Crack Down On 'Far-Left' Prosecutors Who Are Soft On Crime

As of Friday, Georgia will no longer cater to "far-left prosecutors" who are soft on crime, after Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill into law establishing the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PACQ), part of a broader GOP thrust to get tougher on crime and make communities safer, the _Epoch Times_ (https://www.theepochtimes.com/georgia-adopts-law-to-crack-down-on-far-left-prosecutors-who-are-soft-on-crime_5246939.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge) reports.

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" **My No. 1 priority is public safety across our state,**" said Kemp, whose office described the commission as a "valuable oversight mechanism" that ensures the duties of state officials are fulfilled.

The Commission will be comprised of **eight members**, six of whom will be current or former prosecutors, and two other lawyers, who will oversee district attorneys and solicitors general.

"The creation of the PACQ will help hold prosecutors driven by out-of-touch politics than commitment to their responsibilities accountable and make our communities safer," said Kemp.

> _**The new commission has the authority to investigate alleged misconduct by district attorneys and solicitors-general** and discipline or remove them entirely if they meet the conditions for removal, which include “willful and persistent failure to carry out statutory duties” and conduct that is “prejudicial to the administration of justice.”_

>

> _**Republicans across the country have pushed measures to rein in progressive prosecutors** who they see (https://scalise.house.gov/press-release/Scalise-And-Fitzgerald-Soft-On-Crime-Democrats-Are-Ruining-Our-Communities) as being soft on criminals by declining to prosecute certain crimes. -Epoch Times_

"As hardworking law enforcement officers routinely put their lives on the line to investigate, confront, and arrest criminal offenders, **I won’t stand idly by as they’re met with resistance from rogue or incompetent prosecutors who refuse to uphold the law**,”" said Kemp.

**State Democrats unsurprisingly opposed the law**, arguing that the Republican legislative majority was looking for ways to impose its will on Democratic voters.

"I strongly oppose an excessive and unnecessary commission as district attorneys are already held accountable under existing laws and through the current democratic process of holding election," said Deborah Gonzalez, Democratic district attorney for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, who has declined to prosecute drug crimes involving marijuana.

**Republicans go after "rogue" prosecutors**

Georgia's new commission comes amid a fight by Republicans against "rogue" district attorneys, often funded directly or indirectly by billionaire agent of chaos, George Soros.

"The inability to ensure public safety and protect communities is occurring at every level of state government," Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) wrote in an op-ed (https://scalise.house.gov/press-release/Scalise-And-Fitzgerald-Soft-On-Crime-Democrats-Are-Ruining-Our-Communities). "By cracking down on rogue prosecutors who favor criminals over victims, we can ensure that no one else is put in harm’s way as a result of Democrats’ negligence."

According to former President Donald Trump, "Soros prosecutors appear to be engaging in selective enforcement based on illegal racial discrimination" in major Democratic strongholds such as Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Trump has vowed to target Soros prosecutors if he's elected president again in 2024, and has vowed to "overhaul" the Department of Justice.

"They are Marxist in many cases," said Trump, who pledged to appoint around 100 US attorneys who are the "polar opposite" of the "Soros district attorneys and others being appointed around the United States."

**On Thursday** (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/soros-backed-st-louis-attorney-kim-gardner-resigns), a progressive prosecutor who was notoriously funded by far-left billionaire George Soros announced her resignation, **after months of bipartisan pressure to do so.**

_Fox News_ (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/soros-backed-prosecutor-mired-scandal-resigns-office) reports that Kim Gardner, the Circuit Attorney for St. Louis, announced that her resignation will be effective June 1st. **Gardner was one of the first prosecutors in the country to be bankrolled by Soros, who has since expanded his efforts to other major cities across the country.** She was first elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, largely due to Soros’ financial backing. Prior to her re…

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/georgia-passes-law-crack-down-far-left-prosecutors-who-are-soft-crime

**Majority Of Germans Say Migrants Bring More Problems Than Benefits, Want Limit On Refugees**

Majority Of Germans Say Migrants Bring More Problems Than Benefits, Want Limit On Refugees

_Authored by John Cody via Remix News,_ (https://rmx.news/germany/majority-of-germans-say-migrants-bring-more-problems-than-benefits-want-limit-on-refugees/)

A new poll shows that a slight majority of Germans are turning against mass immigration, with **52 percent saying that they believe Germany should “take in fewer refugees,”** an **increase of 12 points since January 2020.**

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The results come just a week before a long-awaited migration summit (https://rmx.news/germany/germany-calls-for-a-refugee-summit-as-new-migrant-wave-strains-cities-and-states/) that will involve federal and state governments meeting in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office to discuss the ongoing crisis.

The poll, conducted for Infratest Dimap on behalf of ARD Tagesthemen and Die Welt (https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article245157496/Deutschlandtrend-Mehrheit-sieht-eher-Nachteile-von-Zuwanderung.html), also asked respondents whether they see migrants as bringing more advantages or disadvantages. **For 54 percent, they said the disadvantages of immigration outweigh the advantages,** while only a third said that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

**However, when it comes to skilled immigration, Germans are more supportive.** For this type of immigration, 41 percent said they would like to recruit more of these workers, while 28 percent said the number should be kept at the current level. Only 23 percent wanted to recruit fewer of these workers.

Germans have clearly soured on refugees, with just 8 percent wanting to take more in, while 33 percent said the numbers should stay at their current levels. Another 52 percent want “fewer refugees.”

Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters are the least likely to support immigration, with 92 percent favoring restrictive policies. Meanwhile, 61 percent of FDP and 57 percent of CDU/CSU voters also want restrictions. Even one left-wing party takes a majority negative view on immigration, with supporters of Die Linke (Left Party) seeing more disadvantages than advantages (51 percent to 42 percent).

Polling on the topic of mass immigration has delivered similar results as of late, with a slight majority of Germans saying they do not want more immigration.

**At the same time, the AfD party, most known for its stance against immigration, has hit a new high of 16.5 percent in national polls.**

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sun, 05/07/2023 - 07:35

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/majority-germans-say-migrants-bring-more-problems-benefits-want-limit-refugees

**Escobar: Global De-Dollarization Nearing "Crossroads Moment"**

Escobar: Global De-Dollarization Nearing "Crossroads Moment"

_Authored by Ekaterina Blinova,_ (https://sputnikglobe.com/20230503/pepe-escobar-global-de-dollarization-nearing-crossroads-moment-1110062907.html)

**_De-dollarization is heading for a breakthrough due to rising global discontent with US 'casino capitalism'..._**

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_**"It's a gigantic snowball all over the world. We cannot even keep up with it,”**_ Pepe Escobar said in an interview with the New Rules podcast.

_“It's very important what is going to be discussed at the BRICS summit in South Africa. **This will probably be the crossroads moment where things are going to then go."**_

Escobar explained that a growing number of countries in the Global South were doing the math and concluding that the US dollar was not a safe bet. The combination of aggressive US sanctions policy and reckless government spending have dramatically reduced the greenback’s international appeal.

> _“If you want to analyze the patterns these past two decades, you need to understand the fact that, if you are rich in commodities and if you are a productive capitalist nation and you decide to issue a currency, it will be internationally respected because people will know it's based on facts, actual provenance, actual wealth,” he said. “That’s contrary to the system that we have now, which I have been calling it ‘casino capitalism’ for years. It's futures, it's bets, it's suppositions. It may go right or wrong. If you lose, you lose it all. The house mostly always wins because the house is the one who prints the currency. It's backed by nothing, literally, by a country that owes $30 trillion \[in national debt\] now and it will never be able to repay it."_

To make matters even worse, the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes has made borrowing in dollars expensive for almost everyone in the world. Prior to the Fed's move, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned in January 2022 that the US raising interest rates could backfire on the global economy (https://sputnikglobe.com/20220921/how-the-us-fed-rate-hike-may-backfire-on-global-economy-1101050330.html) and especially on countries with higher levels of dollar-denominated debt.

The ongoing US banking crisis threatens to further destabilize international financial markets. No country in the world wants to "catch a cold" when the US economy "sneezes," as memories of the 2008 financial crisis linger.

> _"They say, 'look, why do we have to be subjected to this kind of arrangement?' And of course, before, as we all know, it was ‘the Empire of bases’, over 800 military bases all over the world, 'the power of the financial markets', 'the power of soft culture', 'the power of cancel culture', but the Global South is not intimidated anymore. I think this is the first \[time\] in this new millennium. We never had this before in the past two and a half centuries, at least," Escobar said._

BRICS Seeking to Establish New Currency

In January 2023, BRICS – an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – made a splash by announcing that it may soon explore the possibility of creating its own currency to by-pass the US dollar. The idea was articulated on both sides of the Atlantic: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touched upon the plan (https://sputnikglobe.com/20230128/new-currency-zones-taking-shape-within-brics-as-global-dollar-system-crumbling-economist-says-1106787680.html) during a presser after his meeting with Angolan President Joao Lourenco on January 25.

On the other side of the pond, President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discussed the issue of the creation of a common currency for BRICS and the countries of Mercosur, a South American trade bloc, during his meeting with his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernandez.

> _**"Why can’t an institution like the BRICS bank have a currency to finance trade relations between Brazil and China, between Brazil and all the other BRICS countries? Who decided that the dollar was the (trade) currency after the end of gold parity?"**_ Lula said during an April visit to the Shanghai-based New Development Bank.

According to Escobar, the formation and development of three organizations, namely BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union predetermined the end of the greenback-centered world order. BRICS members are now discussing designing an alternative currency; similar discussions are being held in the Eurasian Economic Union; they should start coordinating and then this will spill over to the SCO, the writer projected.

The trend has already been engulfing ot…

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-global-de-dollarization-nearing-crossroads-moment

**Digital Fentanyl: The CCP’s Cyber Campaign To Destroy America**

Digital Fentanyl: The CCP’s Cyber Campaign To Destroy America

_Authored by Kash Patel via The Epoch Times (https://www.theepochtimes.com/digital-fentanyl-the-ccps-cyber-campaign-to-destroy-america_5238744.html) (emphasis ours),_

**The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has always played the long game.** It’s pivotal to their strength. They have a disciplined ability to think generationally rather than focus on the current political climate of the now. The CCP has zero respect for the rule of law, nor do they abide by any code of ethics. When you have the ability to rule without law, you become the world’s adversary.

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_The social media application logo for TikTok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a U.S. flag and Chinese flag background in Washington, on March 16, 2023. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)_ (?itok=C8iQFd0h)

The CCP has poured their fentanyl onto our streets via their partners south of our border: the Mexican drug cartels. This has led to the untimely deaths of over 100,000 Americans last year alone due to fentanyl overdoses. Now, China has fashioned this death drug into the form of common candy to make it more appealing to our youth. This is the death train being operated by the CCP. It’s the one you can see and feel every day.

Tragically, for America, **the CCP also have their silent killer in the form of digital fentanyl, and it’s called TikTok. This social media platform is a facet of CCP warfare that remains invisible to most.**

The CCP has launched an information war on America that isn’t in the form of news. However, the means by which they’re doing so is now only being accurately reported in the mainstream media. After years of accepting CCP disinformation, our media is finally waking up to the cold hard fact of data theft. The CCP pirates are seizing troves of information daily through TikTok.

The nearly 150 million Americans that sign into the platform daily, nearly half our population, would do well to take a moment to give their thumb a rest and their eyes something to read. Unless, of course, they want the CCP to win.

Unfortunately, through the Biden administration’s disastrous foreign policy, we aren’t set up to win the information war head-on, let alone take on any aspect of it. Download TikTok onto your phone, and the CCP has a four-lane highway into your everyday life for free. Not only are we letting them, but by intentionally giving the CCP a massive money bin of data for free, Xi is laughing all the way from mainland China. How can we let this be in 2023 America?

**What are they stealing? Your personal information, information on your family, your habits, hobbies, and your internet footprint for starters.** They then collate this data and stack it for use against Americans based on their interests and vulnerabilities. How else do you think Chinese spies infiltrate American lives? It’s not Google.

For those wondering, “but Tik Tok is an American company,” that’s a false narrative, and it was entirely defeated when the CEO of ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, testified before Congress recently. Immediately thereafter, you had Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) demanding public support for TikTok.

President Donald Trump understood the CCP’s intention better than anyone: from their Belt and Road Initiative, the manipulation of their currency, and their desire to supplant America on the global stage. Trump responded resoundingly, taking steps to ban TikTok, implementing tariffs and trade sanctions, and expelling Chinese diplomats from the United States.

Biden and his administration have not only reversed every single one of these measures, but have also retracted from taking any position against Xi and the CCP. By doing so, we have seen the rise of the petro-yuan to replace the petro-dollar. We have seen Xi broker deals between Saudi Arabia and Iran, inching the world’s largest state sponsor of terror closer to a weapon’s grade nuclear program.

_Read more **here...** (https://www.theepochtimes.com/digital-fentanyl-the-ccps-cyber-campaign-to-destroy-america_5238744.html)_

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sat, 05/06/2023 - 23:30

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/digital-fentanyl-ccps-cyber-campaign-destroy-america

**The Countries With The Most Satellites In Space**

The Countries With The Most Satellites In Space

**The race for space has started anew as a flurry of private and government projects are once again reaching for humanity's last frontier.** In April, Gen. Chance Saltzman of the U.S. Space Force said that the new level of activity seen in space exploration was also increasing the level of threat the United States faces in Earth's orbit and beyond, as reported by CNBC. (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/20/space-force-chief-on-new-era-of-threats-beyond-earth.html)

_As Statista's Katharina Buchholz notes_ (https://www.statista.com/chart/17107/countries-with-the-most-satellites-in-space/), **Saltzman's remarks - and as some may argue, the existence of the U.S. Space Force itself - stands in contrast to the notion of space as a place beyond national interests that has thrived on collaboration rather than confrontation.**

When the branch of the U.S. military was founded under President Donald Trump in 2019, one of the first organizations to speak out (https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/space-force-would-trigger-arms-race) against it was the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science advocacy nonprofit founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

(https://www.statista.com/chart/17107/countries-with-the-most-satellites-in-space/)

_You will find more infographics at Statista (https://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/)_

**The organization urged the U.S. government to reconsider and to warm up to the idea of space as a place where different nations coexist peacefully instead of a place where war takes place.** The group with an extensive satellite database pointed out that military activity was only a minor part of all things happening in space. The data backs up this claim (https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/satellite-database#.XG6yv3RKiUk). Out of the roughly 5,500 satellites listed as active, only 424 have military uses. While the U.S. is the country with most satellites in space (3,415), multinational cooperations come in fourth place.

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sat, 05/06/2023 - 23:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/countries-most-satellites-space

**America's First Black President Left A Legacy Of Slavery**

America's First Black President Left A Legacy Of Slavery

_Authored by Brian McGlinchey via starkrealities.substack.com_ (https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/americas-first-black-president-left)

Barack Obama was elected president some 143 years after the abolition of slavery in the United States. As teary-eyed African-Americans watched Obama’s 2008 election night speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, **none could have imagined that America’s first black president would leave his own legacy of slavery — _in Africa_.**

However, that’s exactly what he did, thanks to a combination of imperial hubris, disregard for constitutional restraints on executive war powers, and the use of false pretenses.

In 2011, **egged on by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a handful of other advisors, Obama ordered a months-long series of air strikes that facilitated a NATO-backed regime change** campaign that toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

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**In Feb. 2011, Obama announces he's directed his administration to prepare a "full range of options" for a US response to Libyan unrest**(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) (?itok=cQ0jjtAf)

Rather than ushering in liberal democracy and prosperity, the ouster of Gaddafi left the country fractured, with two rival governments and various militias vying for power. **Obama’s regime change marked the start of an ongoing era of chaos, with some of the greatest resulting evils inflicted on black Africans.**

Those evils began during the war, as racism and Gaddafi’s use of sub-Saharan black mercenaries combined to spark widespread **atrocities perpetrated against blacks** who were seen as fair game for various atrocities including beatings, rapes and lynchings.

“We had 70-80 people from Chad working for our company,” a Turkish construction worker told _BBC (https://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/07/07/libya-ethnic-cleansing/)_. **“They were cut dead with pruning shears and axes**, attackers saying: ‘You are providing troops for Gaddafi.’ The Sudanese were also massacred. We saw it for ourselves.”

One rebel group was glorified (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/libya-spectacular-revolution-disgraced-racism) in roadside graffiti as **“the brigade for purging slaves, black skin”** — that being a reference to Libya’s black descendants of slaves, such as those who populated the town of Tawergha. Once home to 30,000 people, Tawergha was ransacked and its occupants assaulted to the point of turning it into an ethnically-cleansed (https://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/26/libya-ethnic-cleansing-tawargha-genocide/) ghost town.

In 2017 — six years after Gaddafi’s death — CNN captured **a new and unthinkable dimension of misery being imposed on black people** as a result of Obama’s regime change: The network aired video (https://youtu.be/2S2qtGisT34) of two **open-air slave auctions hosted in Libya.** “Big strong boys for farm work,” said an auctioneer. One trio of blacks was purchased for $400 each.

?itok=o_bEjnqL (?itok=o_bEjnqL)**Nigerian Sunday Iabarot shows the scar he says he received when he was branded by his captors**(Lynsey Addario for (?itok=o_bEjnqL)TIME (https://time.com/longform/african-slave-trade/))

It hasn’t stopped. Last month, the United Nations reported (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/libya-urgent-action-needed-remedy-deteriorating-human-rights-situation-un) that a three-year investigation found “arbitrary detention, murder, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance” have become **a “widespread practice”** in Libya.

Obama’s War Power Hypocrisy

As a candidate in 2007, Obama was clear-throated about the limits of presidential military authority, telling (https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/mar/23/barack-obama/barack-obamas-libya-intervention-flip-flop-what-he/) the _Boston Globe_, "The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”

However, as president, **Obama betrayed those assurances — and violated his oath of office — by ordering the Pentagon to carry out bombing attacks on Libya without congressional authorizati…

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/americas-first-black-president-left-legacy-slavery

**Berkeley Prof Admits Claimed Indian Heritage Was Heap Big Falsehood**

Berkeley Prof Admits Claimed Indian Heritage Was Heap Big Falsehood

**A Berkeley professor who'd long claimed she was a Native American admitted this week that she's just a boring, plain ol' white woman.**

**"I am a white person** who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life, based on incomplete information," Elizabeth Hoover confessed on her personal website (https://www.profelizabethmhoover.com/identity). Resisting calls for her resignation, Hoover says she has "been **working with restorative justice facilitators** to better understand how members of the...community have felt harmed and betrayed, and ways I can work to meaningfully make amends."

This news would be amusing enough coming from any professor on the leftist campus. What gives it extra luster is that **Hoover is a professor of anthropology -- the study of human societies and cultures.**

?itok=awi6fU4t (?itok=awi6fU4t)**Hoover (right) with an award she was given at the 2015 Indigenous Farming Conference**(via her now-deleted Twitter (?itok=awi6fU4t)account (https://twitter.com/bluefancyshawl))

Hoover, who has a doctorate from Brown, claims her family led her to believe she was of Mohawk and Mi'kmaq descent, "but as an adult, as an academic, **I should have done my due diligence to confirm** that my ancestors were who I was told they were."

**Hoover's status helped her land prestigious jobs, grants and fellowships** and become a high-profile member of the "food sovereignty" movement, according (https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/05/04/i-am-a-white-person-uc-berkeley-scholar-apologizes-for-wrongly-claiming-to-be-native-american-her-whole-life/) to Indianz.com.

In 2021, **Hoover appeared on the "Alleged Pretendian List"** compiled by Native American writer and activist Jacqueline Keeler. Her list, which has included (https://nypost.com/2022/01/01/alleged-pretendians-list-exposes-allegedly-fake-native-americans/) Elizabeth Warren and Johnny Depp, targets people whom Keeler considers to be "monetizing their claims" of Indian heritage.

**“Ethnic fraud, particularly against native people is huge,”** Keeler told the _New York Post_ (https://nypost.com/2022/01/01/alleged-pretendians-list-exposes-allegedly-fake-native-americans/) in January. **“There is an element of narcissism.** There is a lack of empathy because they will retaliate against native people who try to expose their fraud.”

Hoover says **she'd been challenged on her claim of Indian ancestry since her first job** as an assistant professor, and interpreted the questions as "petty jealousy or people just looking to interfere in my life." By deflecting their inquiries rather than checking on her background, Hoover says she was "subverting the sovereignty of the Nations I was identifying with."

**This is the second shoe moccasin that Hoover has dropped.** In October, she disclosed that her genealogical research uncovered "no records of tribal citizenship (https://apnews.com/article/berkeley-professor-false-native-identity-apology-dabc6d97dcb6f96aedc6c6c62b4975ee) for any of my family members in the tribal databases that were accessed.”

?itok=_G--0B3v\

**With students and academics calling for her scalp, this gatherer may become hunter of new job** (?itok=_G--0B3v)

In the ensuing uproar, **former students organized a letter demanding her resignation, and obtained hundreds of signatures** from Berkeley and other university professors and students, and Native Americans too. The letter said "her claims of having lived experience as an Indigenous person by **dancing at powwows** \[are\] absolutely appalling.”

Columbia Mohawk scholar Audra Simpson told _The Mercury News_ (https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/05/04/i-am-a-white-person-uc-berkeley-scholar-apologizes-for-wrongly-claiming-to-be-native-american-her-whole-life/) that Hoover's record demonstrates that she **“lacks the requisite ethical and academic integrity** to be a professor or a social scientist.”

Befitting her place on a hypersensitive outpost of leftist victimhood ideology, **Hoover's new confession is thoroughly peppered with the right jargon, such as eight uses of "hurt" and a whopping 14 uses of "harm"**\-\- including a perplexing reference to "activating historical harms." A sampling:

> “I have brought **hurt, harm**, and broken trust to the Native community at large...

>

> I caused **harm**. I **hurt** Native people who have been my friends, colleagues, students, and family, both directly through fractured trust and th…

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/berkeley-prof-admits-claimed-indian-heritage-was-heap-big-falsehood

**Alaskan Trucking Fleets Promise $150K Driver Salaries Amid Drilling Boom**

Alaskan Trucking Fleets Promise $150K Driver Salaries Amid Drilling Boom

_By Rachel Premack of FreightWaves (https://www.freightwaves.com/news/alaskan-trucking-fleets-promise-150k-driver-salaries-amid-drilling-boom)_

As more drilling and mining projects are approved in Alaska, local trucking fleets are planning to hire drivers around the United States to haul equipment, chemicals and other loads — particularly on its fearsome Dalton Highway, a remote, 414-mile road that connects Fairbanks to oil fields near the Arctic Ocean.

?itok=TslHFEL4 (?itok=TslHFEL4)

The developments, particularly ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Willow project (https://apnews.com/article/alaska-oil-drilling-biden-environment-climate-c39147c8ae1797aab9cb27219bf92675), have been controversial as they may mar some of Earth’s most remote land. However, for the residents of the United States’ third-least-populated state, the new investments could bring an economic boom that many locals say the state needs.

The construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in the 1970s and oil boom of the 1980s transformed Alaska. The pipeline brought in some 70,000 workers (https://aoghs.org/transportation/trans-alaska-pipeline/#:~:text=The%20pipeline%20project%20involved%20some,laid%20on%20March%2027%2C%201975.) and often their families. Many of them stayed; Alaska’s population grew three times as fast as the rest of the country in the 1970s and 1980s. As of 2013, (https://laborstats.alaska.gov/trends/dec13art3.pdf) more than half of Alaska’s housing stock was built in those decades.

Josh Norum, the president of Fairbanks-based Sourdough Express, said the impending explosion in mining and drilling could rival those frothy years.

“We’re calling it our second pipeline,” Norum said. “(The Trans-Alaska Pipeline) was a huge boom. … We’re comparing that opportunity with this next phase.”

**6-figure salaries for Alaskan truck drivers — but the job isn’t for everyone**

In response, Alaskan trucking companies are searching for truck drivers to haul equipment — and they’re paying them massive salaries.

Drivers who can tackle the so-called haul road, which is packed with ice in the winter and prone to dust and mud the other three seasons, are in particular demand.

Norum said Sourdough Express drivers on the haul road earn $95,000 to $120,000, in addition to health care, retirement and paid time off benefits. Compensation has increased by 15% over the past two years.

Sourdough Express currently employs 85 company drivers in addition to contractors, Norum said, adding that over the next few years the company will add 50 to 100 new drivers.

Gage Schutte, vice president of freight operations for Alaska West Express, also said the company is looking to add 50 to 100 new drivers to its fleet. According to a federal database (https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp?searchtype=ANY&query_type=queryCarrierSnapshot&query_param=USDOT&original_query_param=NAME&query_string=222&original_query_string=ALASKA%20WEST%20EXPRESS%20INC), the company currently has 121 drivers.

Alaska West Express increased driver compensation by 11% this year. Each round trip between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay on the haul road pays around $1,500, Schutte said. Drivers can expect to make 100 to 115 trips to Prudhoe a year. That means Alaska West Express drivers can earn around $150,000 to $170,000 a year, in addition to benefits.

That might be enticing for truck drivers who are struggling with slumping freight volumes and looking for a well-paid gig. Thousands of trucking authorities have already shut down this year as gigs available for drivers dry up (https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-bloodbath-snares-fleets-large-and-small). According to federal data, tractor-trailer drivers earn a median annual wage of around $48,000 (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers.htm).

However, these aren’t easy jobs. The best conditions on the haul road are in the winter, when temperatures in the negative 20s give the ice-packed highway its best traction. Fall and spring make the road slushy, while summertime means the haul road is dusty or slick with calcium that’s used to make it _less_ dusty.

Robb Christenson, the director of sales and pricing at Sourdough Express, was a truck driver around his native Alaska for nearly three decades, including some 50 runs on the haul road. He said those loads weren’t easy, but hauling chemicals and heavy equipment near the Arctic Circle was certainly memorable.

“The equipment that you haul you’ve never seen before in your life,” Christenson said. “Being a part of that and doing that, it means som…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/alaskan-trucking-fleets-promise-150k-driver-salaries-amid-drilling-boom

**New Mexico And Florida Most Dangerous States For Pedestrians**

New Mexico And Florida Most Dangerous States For Pedestrians

**New Mexico and Florida are the most dangerous states for pedestrians in the U.S.,** according to a report by NGO Smart Growth America. (https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/)The two U.S. metro areas (https://www.statista.com/topics/7313/metropolitan-areas-in-the-us/) with the highest average rates of pedestrian deaths are also located in these states. South Carolina, with the top 5 most dangerous metro to pedestrians, is the only other state that counted an annual average of more than 3 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 of population between 2016 and 2020.

_As Statista's Kathraina Buchholz reports_ (https://www.statista.com/chart/16781/most-dangerous-states-for-pedestrians/), the data shows that **states where pedestrians are most often killed in traffic (https://www.statista.com/topics/3708/road-accidents-in-the-us/) are typically located in the American South and Southwest.** Delaware is the only state not following this pattern and is the fifth most dangerous for pedestrians in the nation at almost 2.9 people per 100,000 inhabitants killed on average in recent years. Smart Growth America believes this is because Southern and Southwestern metros are more likely to be designed for cars rather than for a variety of road users. For example, **these cities experience more sprawl, which is again linked to more pedestrian deaths.**

(https://www.statista.com/chart/16781/most-dangerous-states-for-pedestrians/)

_You will find more infographics at Statista (https://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/)_

According to the source, **pedestrian deaths have been climbing steadily in the United States to more than 6,500 people in 2020 - up from around 5,500 in 2015.** For 2021, the organization's preliminary estimate assumes that a record 7,300 people have been killed while walking in the country. This is in line with the Governors Highway Safety Associations' (https://www.ghsa.org/resources/news-releases/GHSA-Pedestrian-Spotlight23)estimate of a 40-year high of pedestrian deaths that year. The trend did not let off in the first half of 2022, the latest point in time for which data exists.

**The study also highlights that older people, poor people and people of color are killed while walking in higher numbers.** In the time frame of the study, an average of 4.2 in every 100,000 Native Americans and 3.0 in every 100,000 Black Americans died in such a way every year. In comparison, the average annual death rate in the country was just 1.9 in 100,000 during these years. This is because poorer and marginalized communities **most often live close to high-speed roadways and in places with inadequate pedestrian infrastructure.**

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sat, 05/06/2023 - 21:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/new-mexico-and-florida-most-dangerous-states-pedestrians

**High Levels Of Toxic Metals Found In Widely Consumed Drinks: Study**

High Levels Of Toxic Metals Found In Widely Consumed Drinks: Study

_Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/high-levels-of-toxic-metals-found-in-widely-consumed-drinks-study_5244495.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge) (emphasis ours),_

A new study has found that **some commonly consumed beverages such as fruit juice and artificial soda contain levels of toxic metals including arsenic, cadmium, and lead that exceed federal drinking water standards.**

?itok=LqAY7H8y\

_A woman shops for frozen foods on an aisle across from sodas and other sugary drinks for sale at a superrmarket in Monterey Park, California, on June 18, 2014. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)_ (?itok=LqAY7H8y)

Researchers from Tulane University, Louisiana, measured 25 different toxic metals (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157523001047) and trace elements in 60 soft beverages, including single fruit juice, mixed fruit juice, plant-based milk, artificial soda, and tea.

The drinks were purchased in New Orleans and are commercially available in supermarkets across the United States.

Researchers found that **five of the 60 beverages tested contained levels of a toxic metal above federal drinking water standards.**

Two mixed juices had levels of arsenic above the 10 microgram/liter standard. Meanwhile, a cranberry juice, a mixed carrot and fruit juice, and an oat milk each had levels of cadmium exceeding the three parts per billion standard.

What Are Arsenic and Cadmium?

Arsenic is a naturally occurring tasteless, colorless, and odorless, chemical element that can be found in the environment, including in food and water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The element persists in the environment and does not deteriorate.

The  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted (https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/drinking-water-arsenic-rule-history) a 10 parts per billion (ppb), or 10 microgram/liter standard for arsenic in public drinking water in 2001, replacing the old standard of 50 microgram/liter.

However, **long-term exposure to high levels of arsenic can result in skin disorders, an increased risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and several types of cancer**, according to the CDC. (https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Arsenic_FactSheet.html#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20exposure%20to%20high,and%20several%20types%20of%20cancer.)

Cadmium, meanwhile, is another naturally occurring element used in products such as batteries, pigments, metal coatings, and plastics but also found in plant and animal foods, according to the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Cadmium_FactSheet.html).

When consumed in large amounts, cadmium can cause stomach issues and when inhaled at high levels, it can lead to lung damage or death. Cadmium is considered a cancer-causing agent.

“Exposure to low levels of cadmium in air, food, water, and particularly in tobacco smoke over time may build up cadmium in the kidneys and cause kidney disease and fragile bones,” the CDC notes.

Fruit Juices, Plant-Based Milks Contain Higher Levels

In total, 7 of the 25 elements measured by researchers in their study exceeded drinking water standards in some of the drinks, including nickel, manganese, boron, cadmium, strontium, arsenic, and selenium, while lead was detected in more than 93 percent of the 60 samples, although the majority contained levels below one part per billion.

The highest level (6.3 micrograms/kg) was found in a lime sports drink, though that is still below standards for drinking water set by the EPA and the World Health Organization.

Overall, mixed fruit juices and plant-based milks, including oat and almond milk, contained higher levels of toxic metals than other drinks analyzed in the study, researchers said.

Researchers did not identify the specific brands they studied but noted that they can be purchased at local supermarkets and retail stores.

The findings of the study, titled, “ **Toxic metals and essential elements contents in commercially available fruit juices and other non-alcoholic beverages from the United States**,” were published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.

_Read more **here...** (https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/high-levels-of-toxic-metals-found-in-widely-consumed-drinks-study_5244495.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge)_

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sat, 05/06/2023 - 20:30

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/high-levels-toxic-metals-found-widely-consumed-drinks-study

**Prominent Russian Novelist Wounded In Car Bomb Assassination Attempt**

Prominent Russian Novelist Wounded In Car Bomb Assassination Attempt

One of Russia's best-known novelists has been targeted in an apparent attempted assassination near the city of Nizhny Novgorod on Saturday. RIA Novosti is reporting that a native of Ukraine is in custody related to the attack.

Zakhar Prilepin was **wounded by a car bomb**, **which killed his driver**. Immediately after the blast he was seriously injured but reportedly conscious, after which a suspect was quickly detained, according to Russia's Interior Ministry.

?itok=nPsd5_S9\

_Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin in Moscow in 2017, presenting his book “Platoon. Officers and rebels of Russian Literature”. via AFP_ (?itok=nPsd5_S9)

"The search for possible accomplices continues," the government statement said.  "Law enforcement officers are now investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident. Zakhar is OK," the regional governor said.

Prilepin is not only a contemporary literary giant in Russia, but he's **considered to be very active in support of the Ukraine war**, with the BBC and other Western sources describing him as a prominent commentator of ultranationalist politics. He's a former member of the State Duma and has been very active in conservative political movements within the country.

Further according to BBC, a pro-Ukraine opposition group has claimed responsibility for the attack (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65509809):

> _The explosion reportedly took place on a remote road some 80km (50 miles) from the town of Bor. State media said the blogger suffered a concussion and fractured bones._

>

> _**The partisan group Atesh, which is made up of Ukrainians and Crimean Tartars, claimed it was behind the attack**._

>

> _**"We had a feeling that sooner or later he would be blown up,"** they wrote on Telegram. "He was not driving alone, but with a surprise on the underside of the car."_

The group said further it "had been hunting Prilepin since the start of this year."

?itok=jFLFYhWt\

_A Crimean opposition group "Atesh" -  reportedly associated with the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, has claimed responsibility in a social media post._ (?itok=jFLFYhWt)

Below is a brief biographical snapshot of Prilepin and some of his novels via Russia's RT (https://www.rt.com/russia/575879-car-russian-political-activist-writer-prilepin/):

> _**After the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, Prilepin emerged as a staunch supporter of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics**, which broke free from Ukraine’s rule and later joined Russia. In 2017, he formed his own volunteer battalion, taking the position of political officer. In late January, the writer’s press service said that Prilepin had signed a contract with Russia’s National Guard and set off for the conflict zone._

>

> _Prilepin has also authored several books, most notably ‘The Pathologies’, a novel about the Chechen War, as well as ‘Some Will Not Go To Hell’, describing the hostilities in Donbass._

State media sources have described the explosion as occurring on a highway, with the device having been previously planted underneath the car, and which could have been detonated by remote signal.

> ⚡️Another video from the place where Zakhar Prilepin's car was blown up pic.twitter.com/bEvZ7epSkv (https://t.co/bEvZ7epSkv)

>

> — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 6, 2023 (https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1654798192037306371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

It marks **the third in a string of assassination operations on Russian soil** since the invasion of Ukraine began. In April pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed when a bomb detonated inside a St. Petersburg event when he was leading a talk. Moscow has blamed Ukrainian intelligence, as well as pointed the finger to Kiev's Western backers for providing support for an emerging **cross-border 'dirty war'**.

In August the daughter of well-known Russian philosopher and political commentator Aleksandr Dugin was killed in a car bombing. Darya Dugina's death shocked Russia and grabbed global headlines, setting off speculation that Aleksandr Dugin himself was the likely target. Father and daughter reportedly may have switched cars at the last moment while traveling back from a Russian national festival event outside Moscow.

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Sat, 05/06/2023 - 20:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/prominent-russian-novelist-wounded-car-bomb-assassination-attempt

**Wagner Chief Warns His Forces To Exit Bakhmut On May 10 While Military Leaders "Sit Like Fat Cats"**

Wagner Chief Warns His Forces To Exit Bakhmut On May 10 While Military Leaders "Sit Like Fat Cats"

The infighting between Wagner Group mercenary firm and Russia's defense ministry has come to a head, as on Friday Wagner chiefYevgeny Prigozhin declared he's **withdrawing his forces from Bakhmut on May 10** for lack of ammunition. He's issued fierce complaints for weeks that ammunition is being withheld from the military chain of command as internal tensions have exploded into public view.

"I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on May 10, 2023, we are obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the Defense Ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds," Prigozhin said (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/wagner-group-putin-forces-bakhmut-b2333076.html).

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"I’m withdrawing Wagner PMC units because without ammunition, **they are doomed to a senseless death**," Prigozhin continued, asserting that his firm had fallen **"out of favor with envious near-military bureaucrats."**

The day prior to this he issued a separate dramatic battlefield video on Telegram declaring "We are lacking 70% of the needed ammunition!" The clip is dramatic and disturbing as it shows Prigozhin **standing over dozens of his fighters killed on the Ukrainian battlefield**, while blaming their deaths on lack of adequate support.

In the video, he expressly calls out the defense minister and chief of the armed forces: **"Shoigu, Gerasimov, where … is the ammunition?"** says Prigozhin. "The blood is still fresh," he says of bodies around him. **"They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices."**

It is by far the most scathing attack on the regular chain of command as well as unsupportive politicians at home launched by the Wagner chief, following weeks of public verbal denunciations and even warnings to take the matter directly to Putin, who is no doubt fully aware of the spat. The Thursday social media message included the following moment (https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/05/europe/wagner-military-group-prigozhin-ammunition-tirade-intl-hnk-ml/index.html):

> _“These are someone’s f\*\*king fathers and someone’s sons. And you f\*\*kers who aren’t giving \[us\] ammunition, you b\*tches, will have your guts eaten out in hell!” yelled Prigozhin in Thursday’s video._

> ⚡️Prigozhin statement translated via an AI:

>

> Part 1

>

> (note: 2022, not 1922) pic.twitter.com/Whh0jQ6ncm (https://t.co/Whh0jQ6ncm)

>

> — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 5, 2023 (https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1654404004921655296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Prigozhin has already threatened to quit Bakhmut before - but it would be a huge blow to the Russian advance there, given they already **control some 90% of the strategic city** in Donetsk oblast. There's growing speculation that this rift has sparked elite infighting within the halls of the Kremlin.

He's repeatedly charged the regular military command with **"betraying"** his fighters by withholding ammunition in the ongoing spat which became public with the Russian seizure of Soledar. A Wagner statement at the time declared victory over the city for itself, but controversially didn't acknowledge the role of the regular military. The infighting has increasingly been out in the open since then, and is no doubt somewhat of an embarrassment while facing down NATO and the Western allies.

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Fri, 05/05/2023 - 10:40

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/wagner-chief-says-his-forces-exit-bakhmut-may-10-military-leaders-sit-fat-cats

**National Police Association And Other Groups Sue To Obtain Audrey Hale Manifesto**

National Police Association And Other Groups Sue To Obtain Audrey Hale Manifesto

_Authored by Jonathan Turley,_ (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/05/05/national-police-association-sue-to-obtain-audrey-hale-manifesto/)

In March, Audrey Hale shocked the nation by opening fire at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee (https://www.foxnews.com/us/nashville-shooter-audrey-hale-transgender-woman-opened-fire-covenant-school). **The police soon acknowledged that they had a manifesto from Hale on why she took this inexplicable and horrific action.** We all then waited for the release of the manifesto. We are still waiting.

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It is not uncommon for there to be a delay in the release of information in a major crime pending investigation. What was weird is that the police quickly confirmed that Hale acted alone and Hale was dead. There is no prosecution that will occur in the case. **Yet, it is May and the authorities are still refusing to release the manifesto . . .** and they will not fully explain why. Now, the National Police Association and other groups are suing to make the writings and other materials of mass shooter Audrey Hale (https://www.foxnews.com/us/nashville-shooter-audrey-hale-transgender-woman-opened-fire-covenant-school) public.

**There were twenty journals, five laptops, a suicide note, yearbooks, cellphones and various notes written by Hale, 28, that were seized from the house she shared with her parents.**

There have been press reports that the authorities consider the manifesto to be “astronomically dangerous (https://nypost.com/2023/04/20/audrey-hale-manifesto-blueprint-on-destruction-say-pols-who-claim-fbi-stalling-release/).”

**They may be unsettling and even dangerous, but the question is the right of the authorities to keep such evidence from the public and the press.** The government can always declare information to be too “dangerous” to release for a variety of reasons. However, we have a system that defaults on disclosures and public access.

The Tennessee Public Records Act governs records created by any governmental entity of Tennessee, including the police department. Under that law, a public record covers all records “regardless of physical form or characteristic, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental entity.” Note the verb “received.” That would include this evidence. Furthermore, “made” would include emails addressing why authorities decided to withhold the documents.

**If these are public records they must be “be open for personal inspection by any citizen of this state,” and custodians cannot refuse access “unless otherwise provided by state law.”**

There is an exception under Rule 16(a)(2) of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure for ongoing investigations or prosecutions, but this case is clearly not active in the sense of any additional charges. Hale is dead. The law does not contemplate that the government can simply declare that a case is forever pending as a way to avoid disclosures.

I do not know what is in the manifesto or why it is so unnerving for authorities. However, **what is clearly “dangerous” is for officials to flaunt the law and withhold information from the press and the public.**

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Fri, 05/05/2023 - 10:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/national-police-association-and-other-groups-sue-obtain-audrey-hale-manifesto

**ADP Jobs Data Are Now Much More Accurate Than Nonfarm Payrolls**

ADP Jobs Data Are Now Much More Accurate Than Nonfarm Payrolls

_By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities_

Total jobs at 253k are very good, but that number came with downward revisions of 149k, which will help keep the Fed at bay. **It also makes me wonder why the market doesn’t pay more attention to ADP?** Last month ADP was 142k versus an original print of 236k on NFP, which just got revised down to 165k. Two months ago, ADP was 261k while NFP was over 311k, that got revised down to 248k. **With low NFP survey response rates and a revised ADP methodology, maybe ADP day should be more important?**

**?itok=31ixE-Qe (?itok=31ixE-Qe)**

As a reminder, this is what the dramatic NFP revisions (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/april-payrolls-smash-expectations-after-huge-downward-revisions-unemployment-blacks-hits)looks like.

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Unemployment rate dropped from 3.5% to 3.4%, though it seems more like a function of rounding than a meaningful drop). The household survey only increased by 139k with civilian labor force declining a touch, hence the move from 3.5% to 3.4% isn’t as strong as it might appear, but it will catch the Fed’s attention.

Earnings could be problematic for the Fed. Last month’s annual rate of 4.2% was nudged up to 4.3% but more importantly, this month showed a 0.5% increase, the largest monthly increase since 0.6% in March 2022! (July 2022 tied at 0.5%). There might be some “devil in the detail” issues with this number, but for anyone not looking at the nuances of the data, this will bring up concerns about inflation and the Fed.

A report, that overall will give the inflation hawks at the Fed some pause, and keeps us in the one and “donish” camp than the definite pause camp.

**Banks**

Bank stocks bouncing this morning, thankfully, though it might be linked to headlines suggesting that a short sale ban is coming. Maybe it is, and maybe it will help, but my recollection from the GFC and European Debt Crisis, is all that short selling bans do is cause a brief pop as some shorts cover, only to create a bigger problem (a lack of short covering bids) if the problems that started the selling originally, attract attention.

**Do Stock Buybacks Trump QT?**

I do believe that QT acts as a headwind to asset prices, but as we continue through earnings season more and more companies are announcing their buyback plans. With their blackout periods over, they can initiate discretionary purchases. That is a positive for the market and **should, at the very least, neutralize the impacts of QT.**

> What's Next For Markets: It's The "Return Of Buybacks" And "Peak Fed" Vs "Sell In May" And "Terrible Breadth" https://t.co/FUoUEZHWGp (https://t.co/FUoUEZHWGp)

>

> — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 30, 2023 (https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1652795240154103809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

**Where Do Bond Losses Come From?**

I’m not sure that I have a cohesive theory or trade on the back of yesterday’s Bond Loss piece (https://academysecurities.com/wp-content/uploads/Mommy-Where-Do-Credit-Losses-Come-From.pdf), but something tells me it is worth a read as it will gel into a stronger view on tail risk all markets are facing.

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Fri, 05/05/2023 - 10:04

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/adp-jobs-data-are-now-much-more-accurate-nonfarm-payrolls

**JPMorgan's Dimon Will Visit China This Month**

JPMorgan's Dimon Will Visit China This Month

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon is expected to visit mainland China this month for the first time in four years, Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgans-dimon-visit-mainland-china-first-time-4-years-sources-2023-05-05/) said, citing sources familiar with travel plans.

Dimon is set to visit China, as JPMorgan will be organizing three conferences in Shanghai's financial center later this month, according to another source. This marks the banker's first visit to the country since the onset of the virus pandemic in early 2020.

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The three conferences, the Morgan Tech Exchange Conference, the China New Economy Forum, and the Global China Summit, will occur over three days. Dimon will attend all conferences and conduct internal and external meetings, an indication Western bankers still have some willingness to invest in China.

JPMorgan has a business presence in China. Its wholly-owned securities venture conducts securities underwriting and advisory services. Reuters noted, "The Wall Street bank acquired 100% ownership of its funds management joint venture in January."

In 2021, Dimon regretted joking that his bank would probably outlast China's Communist Party.

> _"I regret and should not have made that comment._

>

> _"I was trying to emphasize the strength and longevity of our company," Dimon said in a statement._

After the conferences, Dimon plans to visit Hong Kong in early June, the sources added.

Dimon joins a list of elite bankers who have visited China this year. In March, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, HSBC CEO Noel Quinn, and Standard Chartered boss Bill Winters met with Chinese officials and regulators.

Despite calls from Washington lawmakers for a decoupling between the US and China, Wall Street bankers continue with expansion plans in the world's second-largest economy.

Tyler Durden (https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)Fri, 05/05/2023 - 07:44

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/jpmorgans-dimon-will-visit-mainland-china-month

**Establishment Economists Are Finally Realizing It’s Time To Pay The Piper**

Establishment Economists Are Finally Realizing It’s Time To Pay The Piper

_Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us_ (https://alt-market.us/establishment-economists-are-finally-realizing-its-time-to-pay-the-piper/)

The one thing about the financial world that never ceases to amaze me is how far behind the curve mainstream economists always seem to be. Not long ago we had both Janet Yellen and Paul Krugman, economists supposedly at the front of the pack, both proving to be utterly ignorant (or strategically dishonest) on the effects of central bank stimulus measures and the threat of inflation. In fact, they both consistently denied such a threat existed until they were crushed by the evidence.

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This tends to be the modus operandi of top establishment analysts, and the majority of economists out there simply follow the lead of these gatekeepers – Maybe because they’re vying for a limited number of cushy positions in the field, or perhaps because they’re afraid that if they present a contradictory theory they’ll be ostracized. Economics is often absurdist in nature because Ivy League “experts” can be wrong time and time again and yet still keep their jobs and rise up through the ranks.  It’s a bit like Hollywood in that way; they fail upwards.

In the meantime, alternative economists keep hitting the target with our observations and predictions, but we’ll never get job offers from establishment publications because they’re not looking for people who are right, they’re looking for people that toe the line.

And so it goes. I look forward to the fast approaching day when all of these guys (and girls) proclaim frantically that “no one saw this crisis coming.” After things get even worse, they’ll all come out and say they actually “saw the crisis coming and tried to warn us.”

The hope is not so much to get credit where credit is due (because that’s not going to happen), but to wake up as many people who will listen as possible to the dangers ahead, and maybe save a few lives or inspire a few rebels in the process. In the case of establishment yes-men, the hope is that they eventually get that left hook to the face from reality and lose credibility in the eyes of the public. They deserve to go down with the ship – Either they are disinformation agents or they’re too ignorant to see the writing on the wall and should not have the jobs they have.

The latest US bank failures seem to be ringing their bell the past couple of months, that’s for sure. In a survey managed by the World Economic Forum (https://www.weforum.org/reports/chief-economists-outlook-may-2023/), over 80% of chief economists now say that central banks “face a trade-off between managing inflation and maintaining financial sector stability.” They now warn that price pressures look likely to remain higher for longer and they predict a prolonged period of higher interest rates that will expose further frailties in the banking sector, potentially compromising the capacity of central banks to rein in inflation.  This is a HUGE reversal from their original message of a magical soft landing.

Imagine that. The very thing alternative economists including myself have been “ranting” about for years (https://alt-market.us/the-feds-catch-22-taper-is-a-weapon-not-a-policy-error/), the very thing they used to say was “conspiracy theory” or Chicken Little doom mongering, is now accepted as fact by a majority of surveyed economists.

But where does this leave us?  After acceptance usually comes panic.

The credit crunch is just beginning and the absorbing of the insolvent First Republic Bank (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/03/after-first-republics-rescue-economists-predict-further-pain.html) into JP Morgan is a median step to a larger crash. The expectation is that the Federal Reserve will step in to dump more stimulus into the system to keep it afloat, but it’s too late. My position has always been that the central banks would deliberately initiate a liquidity crisis through steady interest rate hikes. This has now happened.

The Catch-22 scenario has been accomplished. Just like the lead up to the 2008 credit crisis, all the Fed needed to do was raise rates to around 5% to 6% and suddenly all systemic debt becomes untenable. Now it’s happening again and they KNEW it would happen again. Except this time, we have an extra $20 trillion in national debt, a banking network completely addicted to cheap fiat stimulus and an exponential stagflation problem.

If the Fed cuts rates prices will skyrocket even more. If they keep rates at current levels or raise them, more banks will implode. Most mainstream analysts will expect the…

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/establishment-economists-are-finally-realizing-its-time-pay-piper