US Ramps Up Military Support For Kenyan Operations In Haiti
US Ramps Up Military Support For Kenyan Operations In Haiti
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/us-to-ramp-up-military-support-for-kenyan-operations-in-haiti/
The White House is upping its support for the Kenyan operations in Haiti by sending an additional two dozen armored vehicles. The US is backing Nairobi’s armed force in Port-au-Prince.
On Friday, US Southern Command https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/3883631/department-of-defense-to-deliver-additional-mraps-turrets-for-the-mss-mission-i/
on boosting military aid for the Kenyan forces in Haiti. "As part of the US government’s ongoing support to Haitian-led security efforts in the country, 24 additional MRAPS will be delivered and transferred to Kenyan personnel deployed to Haiti as part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission."
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It continues, "The MSS will add the vehicles to its existing fleet of 10 US-provided MRAPS."
Earlier this year, Nairobi sent hundreds of armed troops to the Caribbean nation on what it dubs a "policing" operation. The US orchestrated the deployment of Kenyan soldiers to Haiti.
Washington believed the troops could aid Haitian police in restoring power in Port-au-Prince to a government set up by the White House. Following the assassination of President Jovenal Moise in 2021, Haiti dissented into chaos under US-backed governments.
The White House got authorization to finance, train, and arm a Kenyan-led military force to take control of Haiti from paramilitary groups and gangs. Responsible Statecraft previously detailed when the troops touched down https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-philippines/
:
Washington pledged its financial and logistical support for the mission in a https://apnews.com/article/kenya-united-states-haiti-defense-austin-ed1496d72b426011f3e8a36a971ca12d#:~:text=NAIROBI%2C%20Kenya%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94,Haiti%20to%20combat%20gang%20violence.
with Kenya signed in September 2023. It was then that Kenya committed to deploying 1,000 troops to Port-au-Prince. The mission is also expected to include about 1,500 soldiers and police officers from other countries, bringing the total size of the prospective intervention force to 2,500.
However, the troops are said to be in a policing role and are not operating as UN Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers have a dark legacy in Haiti including causing a cholera outbreak and rampant sexual abuse.
Recent footage from this summer showing the chaotic streets of Port-au-Prince...
another camera angle of yesterday dramatic skirmish during interim Haitian prime minister visit to an abandoned hospital in Port-au-Prince https://t.co/qkDDPqb6Mb
— alex (@africaken1) https://twitter.com/africaken1/status/1818688733681782930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Prime Minister Garry Conille said Wednesday the Kenyan https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-police-military-kenyans-shooting-ad2ffb474743ad035974e81bc5c0e87e
in one of Port au Prince’s roughest neighborhoods. "It’s not going to be quick," he added, "we must be patient."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/29/2024 - 18:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-ramps-military-support-kenyan-operations-haiti
Zelensky Claims West-Supplied F16s Successfully Shot Down Russian Missiles
Zelensky Claims West-Supplied F16s Successfully Shot Down Russian Missiles
This week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that for the first time Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets have been engaged in combat against the Russians, and successfully shot down inbound missiles and drones.
"We destroyed already some missiles and drones using the F-16," Zelensky https://www.thedefensepost.com/2024/08/27/ukraine-used-f16s-russian-attacks/#google_vignette
Tuesday, specifically in comments given in English, before a press briefing - but without providing many details.
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The first batch of F-16s donated by European countries, and greenlighted by Washington, only arrived earlier this month; however it's not known precisely how many are now in Ukraine's possession or where they are operating from.
Monday through Tuesday saw one of the largest waves of airstrikes by Russia targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure nationwide.
Despite that Ukraine may at this point be operating a dozen US-made F-16s or more, Russia still managed to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses, targeting 15 out of 24 oblasts - and plunging much of the country into darkness.
But Kiev is claiming that only some 10% of Russian projectiles fired in the Monday large-scale attack hit their targets, out of well over 100 missiles and the same amount of drones fired.
Previously, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/07/13/russia-says-f-16-jets-in-ukraine-will-be-seen-as-nuclear-threat-a81823
that the Kremlin "will regard the very fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere."
Still, Zelensky is already pushing for more jets in order to defend the skies. The Economist has indicated that ten have so far been delivered, out of a pledged total of 79.
But Zelensky has stated that his armed forces need at least 128 if they hope to successfully take on the well-armed Russians.
Photographs at undisclosed locations of F-16s parked in Ukraine have emerged this month...
One of the delivered F-16 in service with the PS ZSU armed with AIM-120 AMRAAMs somewhere in Ukraine. https://twitter.com/John_A_Ridge?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Source https://t.co/MjYUtaCx61
— War Armor (@WarArmor13) https://twitter.com/WarArmor13/status/1821526556155560015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The https://www.wsj.com/world/u-s-to-arm-ukraines-f-16-jets-with-advanced-weapons-71d81e20
previously indicated that the Pentagon is outfitting Ukraine's jets with air-to-ground AGM-88 HARM missiles, bomb sights, diameter bombs, AMRAAM advanced air-to-air missiles, and AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missiles. All sides keep escalating and the weapons pipeline to Kiev shows no signs of slowing.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/28/2024 - 21:20
California Votes To Approve $150K In Taxpayer-Funded Home Loans For Illegal Aliens
California Votes To Approve $150K In Taxpayer-Funded Home Loans For Illegal Aliens
Update: Big surprise!! They passed it!!
BREAKING: The California State Senate just voted overwhelmingly to pass AB 1840, which allows illegal aliens to apply for taxpayer funded down payments on homes up to $150,000.
An unbelievable betrayal of the citizens of their state. https://t.co/WX3i4F1imM
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1828518854886355007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As a reminder, US median home prices are already at record highs... so what exactly do they think this free-money will do?
* * *
The state of California could soon pass a law that will make illegal aliens eligible to receive as much as $150,000 in taxpayer-funded loans to purchase new homes.
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According to https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-close-approving-150k-loans-illegal-immigrants-help-purchase-homes
, the “California Dream for All” act is likely to pass through the overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled state legislature.
The bill would implement a statewide program that provides 20% in down payment assistance, as high as $150,000, for illegals who seek to buy homes in the state.
The only requirements to apply are that one must be a first-time homebuyer and a first-generation homebuyer; the program will also require income levels to be below a certain limit relevant to the county where the applicant lives.
Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has not yet said whether or not he will sign the bill into law.
A spokesman for his office said that the governor “doesn’t typically comment on pending legislation,” but that “if the bill reaches his desk, the Governor will evaluate it on its merits.”
Democrats in the state have defended the bill, claiming that it simply promotes equality and gives the same opportunities to illegals that American citizens would have.
Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula (D-Calif.), the author of the bill, has claimed that the legislation would still require applicants to meet federal requirements, which includes providing either taxpayer identification or a Social Security number, both of which are things that illegals are generally not supposed to have.
“We simply wanted to be as inclusive as possible within our policies so that all who are paying taxes here in our state were able to qualify,” said Arambula.
“Without the intentional law that we are introducing, we felt that there were complexities and questions that many in the immigrant community would have.”
A similar effort is ongoing https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/22/taxpayer-funded-group-offers-30000-to-illegal-aliens-to-buy-homes/
, being carried out by a taxpayer-funded organization called Hacienda CDC, which is offering handouts of up to $30,000 exclusively to illegal aliens as down payment assistance in buying new homes.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Tue, 08/27/2024 - 17:40
Fascism 2.0 – Globalism & The Subjects Of Interest
Fascism 2.0 – Globalism & The Subjects Of Interest
https://off-guardian.org/2024/08/23/fascism-2-0-globalism-and-the-subjects-of-interest/
This is Part 2 of Paul’s “Fascism 2.0” series, part one can be read https://off-guardian.org/2024/08/21/fascism-2-0-the-changing-face-of-social-media-censorship/
.
In this second article in a series of three, I’m going to set the developments we have seen regarding Social Media censorship in the context of globalist power structures and suggest there is growing evidence the narrative manipulation we information consumers have been witnessing is in service to a globalist cause.
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It’s important, I think, when having this kind of a discussion, to avoid falling into the trap of talking about a conspiratorial nebulous “they” without adequately defining who “they” are because such thinking leads to imprecise and ill justified reasoning and can, quite rightly, lead to the accusation of conspiracy theory style thinking. So I will define exactly what I mean by globalism and globalists. Your own definition may differ, but this is what I mean.
Globalists possess extreme wealth, typically in the billions, and can live anywhere in the world they choose. They have diversified international business interests, often shared with other globalists, and frequently receive invitations to events like Davos from the WEF.
The people we are speaking of inhabit a rarified and incestuously small community. Additionally with the arrival of the Internet, Globalism has been transformed, with the opportunity for ad-hoc co-opting of the powerful greatly enhanced. As the world has shrunk, the most influential power brokers have drawn closer together, breaking down barriers of geography and physical location.
Globalists are in the enviable position that they, unlike the common citizen, are able to leverage tax and legislative competition between countries. So for example Ireland’s GDP leapt after Ireland in 2003 quite deliberately introduced the EUs most competitive corporation tax rate (12.5%). The influx of tech businesses to Dublin brought an immense boost to the Irish economy and boosted Irish GDP to enviable levels. Globalists can pick and choose where they do business.
Now we know who Globalists are, I’m going to provide a particular definition of Globalism distinct from the old-world brochure-wear version: The old version runs something like this: Globalism is the activity of engaging in Economic Integration, Cultural Exchange, Multilateral Cooperation, Migration and Mobility policy making and Technology and Information exchange. And it is true it does involve these things, but in my opinion, the more revealing way to view globalism is by looking at the subjects and policy areas in which Globalists show greatest interest. And those are:
Environment: Man-Made Global warming
Global Health Security (World Health)
Banking and International Finance
Central Banking Digital Currency and Digital Identity
Regional economic development
Defence (arms manufacture and supply)
Population and migration
We know these interests because the WEF website and agenda over the years, has revealed them to us, over and over. Look carefully at this list. Do you notice a common thread?
One consequence of the pandemic period was that people began to wake-up to the fact government policy can be implemented at the drop of a hat that will hand billions trillions of dollars to corporations owned by those who are already the wealthiest in the world. Through pandemic policy, the extent of the handover was so fast, so brazen, so deeply affecting of our lives, it could hardly be missed.
According to a report by Oxfam, during the pandemic, the world’s wealthiest individuals saw their fortunes rise dramatically, with the ten richest men doubling their wealth from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion. This surge highlights a broader trend where the wealthiest 1% gained $1.4 trillion.
Meanwhile, the world’s poor and middle classes, including small and medium-sized businesses, collectively lost around $1.3 trillion due to economic disruptions.
Just consider the local shops people were no longer visiting during lockdown. Instead, of course, they were buying from Amazon.
And pharmaceutical firm revenues were also a part of the redistribution. The revenues, all mandated by government, were mind boggling (even where there were no government mandates and private healthcare, the vaccines were purchased with tax money). Pfizer alone saw revenues of over $150 billion through government vaccine and other mandated pharmaceuticals purchase. And now people are increasingly aware this was off the back of the products that were always unsafe, ineffective and rushed to market.
between EU Commission President, Ursula Von Der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, reveal in secret Von Der Leyen agreed to purchase 4.6 billion doses of the Pfizer, vaccine, or ten shots shots per man woman and child living in the EU. Ten!
To some it has become clear, at best, it can be said that for Pfizer, safety took a second seat to a money grab of epic scale. To others, they are corporate psychopaths of the highest order. And Pfizer, we should not forget, have been subject to the second largest corporate fine – $2.3 billion – for criminal malfeasance ever paid in the pharmaceutical industry. Further during Covid, together with the CDC, Pfizer attempted to use the courts, to hide the vaccine trial data for 75 years. Re-analysis of their own trial data (only possible because they failed in their attempt to hide it) has since shown the vaccines were never safe.
Through these recent events (and helpfully nudged along by podcasters like Joe Rogan and Russel Brand), many have begun to wake-up to how the globalist money-grab works and how it has been operating similarly, if less obviously, across a number of sectors for years.
The common thread in these globalist topics is that each represents a vast, policy-driven market worth billions or trillions.
In the brochure-ware version of the list, each of these subject areas involves moral imperatives. The moral imperatives dictate that the actions and policies implemented by governments around the world, are important to ease fulfilment of virtuous objectives (like preventing global warming).
In practice, like with the vaccines during the pandemic, the value of these policy endowments to global business is so vast that the likelihood of avarice and self-interest cannot be ignored – indeed, I would argue, it becomes inevitable.
The scale of these policy-driven markets is so vast, it’s difficult to fully grasp in a single article. The many ways in which they take money from you and me without the policies first having been produced through a clear democratic process are legion. When you start to break it down, the “scam” is so vast, it’s difficult to grasp it all. So I won’t try to do that in a single article.
Instead I will point to one company which also ties-up an important point I want to make about the nature of globalist finance. Globalists cross-invest. When people become that wealthy, though they usually made the bulk of their money from one sector, they quickly start to diversify.
Cash is for ad-hoc spending and is only ever a tiny fraction of asset value. Cash loses out on interest payments. Investment asset value in multi-billions is almost always represented by shares in business interests or funds, essentially less liquid financial instruments than cash.
So almost by definition when you have billions, you have investments in many things. And what you have invested in will overlap with the investments of other globalist billionaires. Through hedging, you end up owning a little bit of pretty much everything out there that is significantly profitable, and there will be a special focus on business in those preferred policy driven sectors I listed above because, as I have indicated, the revenues there can be assured; the playing field tilted.
The important point to understand is that as well as spreading the risk, the number of areas in which you have an interest is multiplied and, just as importantly, the number of globalist billionaires with whom you share an interest is also increased. The result is a highly diversified, ultra powerful financial unit (a cabal if you like) who hold in common to a massive degree, interest in lobbying for broadly the same policies and ensuring they are applied in the broadly the same policy-driven markets.
And if you want a good example of kind just how diverse these investments get, you only need to look at the worlds largest fund management company, Blackrock.
Fortunately for us, a Blackrock executive recently committed to video insight into how the system works. He didn’t mean to. It was a sting. But the video is fascinating. Additionally presidential candidate RFK Jr has also given some great video summary overviews of how the system works.
So first, let’s examine the video of Blackrock executive Serge Varlay.
In it we are informed, “Blackrock manages $20 trillion in asset value, it’s incomprehensible numbers. […] All of this is beyond an normal persons understanding.”
Well I have news for Mr Varlay. No it isn’t. For many of us it stands out like a flashing red-light. But I accept it may be the case that most people are not aware of what Varlay has to say.
“How do they run the world?” The undercover interviewer asks (who Serge seems to be under the impression is a date).
“You acquire stuff. You diversify. You acquire, you keep acquiring. You spend whatever you make in acquiring more. And at a certain point your risk level is super low. Imagine you’ve invested in 10 different industries from food to drinks to technology. If one of them fails it doesn’t matter, you have nine others to back you up. The risk money is inherently in just about everything.
You own a little bit of everything, and that little bit of everything gives you so much money on a yearly basis, that you can take this big f**k-ton of money, and then you can start to buy people.”
“It’s not the president,” he says, presumably referring to who they own, though on this point weather he is talking literally or illustratively on this point is unfortunately not made clear, “it’s who is controlling the wallet of the President.”
And on campaign financing we are told, “Yes you can buy your candidates. First there’s the Senators. These guys are f**king cheap. For $10 grand you can buy a Senator. I could give you [meaning a senator] like $500k right now, no questions asked. Are you gonna do what needs to be done?”
The interviewer asks “Does everybody do that? Does Blackrock do that?”
“Everybody does that. […] The hedge funds, Blackrock, the banks. These guys run the world.”
“It doesn’t matter who wins. They are in my pocket at this point.”
The (presumably hot) date then asks, “Do you have any thoughts on the Ukraine Russia War?”
“Ukraine is good for business. You know that right. I’ll give an example. Russia blows up Ukraine’s grain silos. The price of wheat is going to go mad up. The Ukrainian economy is tied very largely to the global Wheat market; price of bread, you know, literally everything, goes up and down. This is fantastic if you’re trading. The volatility creates opportunity to make profit. War is real f**king good for business.”
This last point, we should note, applies equally to all the wars waged by the West for the last 23 years (and more) and backs up the claims by presidential candidate RFK Jr that elements of the US establishment are incentivised to commit the West to a policy of assured “forever-wars” for financial gain. Remember the thread connecting the list of Globalist interests above. The revenues are policy driven. This is not a free market.
Inhttps://www.facebook.com/reel/795668072424534
presidential candidate RFK Jr sums up how effectively Blackrock “launder” money.
“The entire budget for EPA is $12 billion. That’s all we have for the environment in this country. We are giving 12 times that to Ukraine in one year and that’s just the beginning because even if the Ukraine war ended today we’re still going to spend half a trillion there rebuilding the country. The contracts to rebuild the country are even bigger than the war contracts.
So [Senator] Mitch McConnell was asked in March, because the Republicans are supposed to be concerned about budget deficit, ‘can we really afford 113 billion’ he was asked, he said ‘Don’t worry. It’s not really going to Ukraine. It’s going to US military contractors so it’s good for our country.’
He just admitted exactly what we’ve all been saying. It’s all just a money laundering scheme by Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing and Lockheed. Who do you think owns every one of those companies?
Blackrock.”
These videos offer critical insights and are essential viewing for anyone seeking to understand the depth of globalist influence.
There is so much to talk about in relation to policy driven markets and we haven’t even begun to look at climate change and the 2030 agenda which involves yet more astronomical sums (just a little on that later), but I have presented enough to establish the principle these markets afford very substantial special forms of protected revenue – and those revenues are most usually at the expense of the taxpayers and middle classes.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Sat, 08/24/2024 - 23:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/fascism-20-globalism-subjects-interest
Southern California City Bans Smoking And Vaping In Apartments, Condos
Southern California City Bans Smoking And Vaping In Apartments, Condos
Starting next year, smoking or vaping inside apartments, condos, or other multi-family housing in Carlsbad, Calif., will be illegal, the city council decided Aug. 20.
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In a 4–1 vote Tuesday, city leaders approved a smoke-free ordinance for multi-unit housing in the coastal city of 115,000 people, about 35 miles north of San Diego.
The new law, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, covers all smoking and vaping, including marijuana used for recreational and medical purposes.
Although medical marijuana is legal in California, the city can prohibit its use in some places, according to Carlsbad City Attorney Cindie McMahon.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its state counterpart do not require a reasonable accommodation for anything that poses a health and safety risk to other parties,” McMahon said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The city expects landlords and property management companies to enforce the new rules by including them in future lease contracts instead of the city hiring more code enforcement or police officers to respond to citizen complaints.
Councilwoman Melanie Burkholder, a mental health counselor and former U.S. Secret Service agent, voted against the measure.
“It feels like to me an overreach of the city,” she told other councilors at a meeting July 30, when the ordinance was introduced.
“I don’t think we should be property managers or landlords to that extent. It just sounds like the city’s telling someone how to live their life.”
Many residents and property owners agreed.
Condo owner Cheryl Knebel was one of many private citizens to oppose the plan.
“I am strongly against this idea,” Knebel wrote to the City Council.
“I am a nonsmoker but challenge the restriction on smoking inside a privately owned residence. I understand that smoking is awful for those who live next door. I wouldn’t like it. However, as a homeowner no one should be able to dictate what I do inside my residence as long as it is legal.”
Shiella McNulty, also a nonsmoker, said the ordinance goes too far.
“I’m a lifetime nonsmoker and I would love to never smell pot or cigarettes burning near me again!” she wrote to the City Council.
“It’s disgusting! However, this proposal goes too far from a societal perspective. ... Do we really want to squeeze our neighbors again when they are addicted to a substance that apparently gives them some relief or enjoyment? In their own home?”
Councilwoman Teresa Acosta supported the new rules, along with the mayor and other councilors.
“I am in support of it, and I think it is one of the things we need to do as leaders, is to stand up for the health of residents,” Acosta said in the July 30 meeting.
“Especially knowing this is not just a toxic issue, but also deadly. We need to watch out for smoking in multi-family units.”
The idea is not new. In 2011, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law giving landlords the right to make their properties smoke-free.
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According to Mike Strong, the city’s assistant director of community development, 84 California cities and counties have adopted no-smoking policies for multi-unit housing.
City staff was directed in 2023 to develop a no-smoking ordinance. Staff consulted with the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law—a national nonprofit law group based in St. Paul, Minn.—which created a model smoke-free housing https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/CA-Smoke-free-MUH-Model-Ordinance.pdf
for California cities and counties in 2020.
The city expects to get up to 10 complaints per month about violations once the ordinance goes into effect, Strong told councilors July 30.
The ban applies to apartment buildings, condos, townhomes, senior assisted living facilities, long-term health care facilities, and single-family homes licensed as care facilities.
Not included in the ordinance are hotels, motels, mobile home parks, campgrounds, single-family homes, and accessory dwelling units, sometimes referred to as mother-in-law units built behind single-family homes.
Smoking and vaping any substance will also be off-limits in rental housing parking lots, playgrounds, halls, and other common areas.
The ordinance allows landlords to designate a smoking area as long as it is 25 feet from housing units and other amenities.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 08/23/2024 - 18:40
The Political Matrix Sustains The Illusion Of Freedom
The Political Matrix Sustains The Illusion Of Freedom
“When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”
- Neil Postman
What you smell is the stench of a dying republic.
Our dying republic.
We are trapped in a political matrix intended to sustain the illusion that we are citizens of a constitutional republic.
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In reality, we are caught somewhere between a https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-kleptocracy/2017/01/04/42b30d72-c78f-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html
(a government run by unprincipled career politicians, corporations and thieves that panders to the worst vices in our nature and has little regard for the rights of American citizens).
For years now, the government has been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the American people, letting us enjoy just enough freedom to think we are free but not enough to actually allow us to live as a free people.
In other words, we’re allowed to bask in the illusion of freedom while we’re being stripped of the very rights intended to ensure that we can hold the government accountable to abiding by the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution.
We’re in trouble, folks.
This is no longer America, land of the free, where the government is of the people, by the people and for the people.
Rather, this is Amerika, where fascism, totalitarianism and militarism go hand in hand.
Freedom no longer means what it once did.
This holds true whether you’re talking about the right to criticize the government in word or deed, the right to be free from government surveillance, the right to not have your person or your property subjected to warrantless searches by government agents, the right to due process, the right to be safe from militarized police invading your home, the right to be innocent until proven guilty and every other right that once reinforced the founders’ commitment to the American experiment in freedom.
Not only do we no longer have dominion over our bodies, our families, our property and our lives, but the government continues to chip away at what few rights we still have to speak freely and think for ourselves.
My friends, we’re being played for fools.
On paper, we may be technically free.
In reality, however, we are only as free as a government official may allow.
We only think we live in a constitutional republic, governed by just laws created for our benefit.
Truth be told, we live in a dictatorship disguised as a democracy where all that we own, all that we earn, all that we say and do—our very lives—depends on the benevolence of government agents and corporate shareholders for whom profit and power will always trump principle. And now the government is litigating and legislating its way into a new framework where the dictates of petty bureaucrats carry greater weight than the inalienable rights of the citizenry.
With every court ruling that allows the government to operate above the rule of law, every piece of legislation that limits our freedoms, and every act of government wrongdoing that goes unpunished, we’re slowly being conditioned to a society in which we have little real control over our lives.
As Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight Zone and an insightful commentator on human nature, once observed, “We’re developing a new citizenry. One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won’t be able to think.”
Indeed, not only are we developing a new citizenry incapable of thinking for themselves, but we’re also instilling in them a complete and utter reliance on the government and its corporate partners to do everything for them—tell them what to eat, what to wear, how to think, what to believe, how long to sleep, who to vote for, whom to associate with, and on and on.
In this way, we have created a welfare state, a nanny state, a police state, a surveillance state, an electronic concentration camp—call it what you will, the meaning is the same: in our quest for less personal responsibility, a greater sense of security, and no burdensome obligations to each other or to future generations, we have created a society in which we have no true freedom.
Government surveillance, police abuse, SWAT team raids, economic instability, asset forfeiture schemes, pork barrel legislation, militarized police, drones, endless wars, private prisons, involuntary detentions, biometrics databases, free speech zones, etc.: these are mile markers on the road to a fascist state where citizens are treated like cattle, to be branded and eventually led to the slaughterhouse.
Freedom, or what’s left of it, is being threatened from every direction.
The threats are of many kinds: political, cultural, educational, media, and psychological. However, as history shows us, freedom is not, on the whole, wrested from a citizenry. It is all too often given over voluntarily and for such a cheap price: safety, security, bread, and circuses.
This is part and parcel of the propaganda churned out by the government machine.
That said, what we face today—mind manipulation and systemic violence—is not new. What is different are the techniques used and the large-scale control of mass humanity, coercive police tactics and pervasive surveillance.
We are overdue for a systemic check on the government’s overreaches and power grabs.
By “government,” I’m not referring to the highly partisan, two-party bureaucracy of the Republicans and Democrats. Rather, I’m referring to “government” with a capital “G,” the entrenched Deep State that is unaffected by elections, unaltered by populist movements, and has set itself beyond the reach of the law.
For years now, we have suffered the injustices, cruelties, corruption and abuse of an entrenched government bureaucracy that has no regard for the Constitution or the rights of the citizenry.
We have lingered too long in this strange twilight zone where ego trumps justice, propaganda perverts truth, and imperial presidents—empowered to indulge their authoritarian tendencies by legalistic courts, corrupt legislatures and a disinterested, distracted populace—rule by fiat rather than by the rule of law.
Where we find ourselves now is in the unenviable position of needing to rein in all three branches of government—the Executive, the Judicial, and the Legislative—that have exceeded their authority and grown drunk on power.
We are the unwitting victims of a system so corrupt that those who stand up for the rule of law and aspire to transparency in government are in the minority. This corruption is so vast it spans all branches of government.
The predators of the police state are wreaking havoc on our freedoms, our communities, and our lives. The government doesn’t listen to the citizenry, it refuses to abide by the Constitution, which is our rule of law, and it treats the citizenry as a source of funding and little else.
The American kleptocracy has sucked the American people down a rabbit hole into a parallel universe in which the Constitution is meaningless, the government is all-powerful, and the citizenry is powerless to defend itself against government agents who steal, spy, lie, plunder, kill, abuse and generally inflict mayhem and sow madness on everyone and everything in their sphere.
This dissolution of that sacred covenant between the citizenry and the government—establishing “we the people” as the masters and the government as the servant—didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen because of one particular incident or one particular president. It is a process, one that began long ago and continues in the present day, aided and abetted by politicians who have mastered the polarizing art of how to “divide and conquer.”
Unfortunately, there is no magic spell to transport us back to a place and time where “we the people” weren’t merely fodder for a corporate gristmill, operated by government hired hands, whose priorities are money and power.
Our freedoms have become casualties in an all-out war on the American people.
Through every fault of our own—our apathy, our ignorance, our intolerance, our disinclination to do the hard work of holding government leaders accountable to the rule of law, our inclination to let politics trump longstanding constitutional principles—we have been reduced to this sorry state in which we are little more than shackled inmates in a prison operated for the profit of a corporate elite.
If we continue down this road, there can be no surprise about what awaits us at the end.
For there to be any hope of real change, we must change how we think about ourselves, our fellow human beings, freedom, society, and the government.
The following principles may help any budding freedom fighters in the struggle to liberate themselves and our society.
First, we must come to grips with the reality that the present system does not foster freedom. The government’s primary purpose is maintaining power and control. It’s an oligarchy composed of corporate giants wedded to government officials who benefit from the relationship. In other words, it is motivated by greed and exists to perpetuate itself.
Second, voting is no guarantee of liberty. Voting is a way to keep the citizenry pacified. That’s why the government places so much emphasis on the reassurance ritual of voting. It provides the illusion of participation while maintaining the status quo. As Jordan Michael Smith, writing for the Boston Globe, concludes about the American government, “There’s the one we elect, and then there’s the one behind it, steering huge swaths of policy almost unchecked. Elected officials end up serving as mere cover for the real decisions made by the bureaucracy.”
Third, question everything. Don’t assume anything the government does is for the good of the citizenry. As James Madison warned, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Fourth, there is little hope for any true resistance if you are mindlessly connected to the electronic concentration camp. Remember, what you’re being electronically fed by those in power is meant to pacify, distract, and control you.
Fifth, be wise and realize that there is power in numbers. Networks, coalitions, and movements can accomplish much—especially if their objectives are focused, practical and nonviolent—and they are very much feared by government authorities.
Sixth, as always, change must start with “we the people.” I’ve always advised people to think nationally, but act locally. Yet it can be hard to make a difference locally when the local government is as deaf, dumb and blind to the needs of its constituents as the national government.
Seventh, local towns, cities and states can nullify or say “no” to federal laws that violate the rights and freedoms of the citizenry. When and if you see such federal laws passed, gather your coalition of citizens and demand that your local town council nullify such laws. If enough towns and cities across the country would speak truth to power in this way, we might see some positive movement from the federal governmental machine.
Clearly, it’s time to clean house at all levels of government.
We have been saddled with the wreckage of a government at all levels that no longer represents the citizenry, serves the citizenry, or is accountable to the citizenry.
“We the people” are not the masters anymore.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the federal government, state governments, or local governing bodies: at all ends of the spectrum and every point in between, a shift has taken place.
“We the people” are not being seen, heard or valued.
We no longer count for much of anything beyond an occasional electoral vote and as a source of income for the government’s ever-burgeoning financial needs.
Everything happening at the national level is playing out at the local level, as well: the violence, the militarization, the intolerance, the lopsided governance, and an uneasy awareness that the citizenry have no say in how their communities are being governed.
So, what’s the answer?
For starters, stop tolerating corruption, graft, intolerance, greed, incompetence, ineptitude, militarism, lawlessness, ignorance, brutality, deceit, collusion, corpulence, bureaucracy, immorality, depravity, censorship, cruelty, violence, mediocrity, and tyranny. These are the hallmarks of an institution that is rotten through and through.
Stop holding your nose in order to block out the stench of a rotting institution.
Stop letting the government and its agents treat you like a servant or a slave.
You’ve got rights. We’ve all got rights. This is our country. This is our government. No one can take it away from us unless we make it easy for them.
You’ve got a better chance of making your displeasure seen and felt and heard within your own community. But it will take perseverance and unity and a commitment to finding common ground with your fellow citizens.
As I make clear in my book https://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-America-War-American-People/dp/1590795229/
, we’re making it way too easy for the police state to take over.
So, stop being an accessory to the murder of the American republic.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 23:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/political-matrix-sustains-illusion-freedom
Wall Street Outraged Over Latest Epic F*ck Up By Biden's Labor Department
Wall Street Outraged Over Latest Epic F*ck Up By Biden's Labor Department
It's delightfully fitting that on the day the entire financial world was holding its breath for Biden's highly politicized and grossly incompetent Bureau of Labor Statistics to admit it had massively fucked up the jobs data over the past year, that Biden's highly politicized and grossly incompetent Bureau of Labor Statistics fucked up even more.
At exactly 10am ET this morning, the BLS was supposed to publish its annual https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesprelbmk.htm
, which was the second biggest annual overestimation of job creation in US history... something that surely was pure coincidence in an election year).
However, 10:01am ET hit... and nothing happened: millions of traders, thousands of economists and countless macrotourists were furiously slamming the F5 key, refreshing the revisions page to see.... nothing change. This went on, and on, and on.... and even though the market actually reacted as if data had been published, it turned out that algos were merely responding to phantom triggers in hopes of triggering momentum ignition up or down. No actual data was reported.
Market reacts to the BLS revision number which hasn't been published yet
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1826258568397664292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As the desperate wait continued, and as seconds turned to minutes, we joked - nearly 30 minutes after the report was originally due - by publishing the phone number for the BLS department responsible for today's report.
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1826264711962513810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As it turns out, at least some people had more luck than us in reaching said department (we repeatedly got voicemail with the promise that someone would get back to us in 24-48 hours), because as https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-21/banks-obtained-key-jobs-revisions-data-while-report-was-delayed
reports, "at least three banks managed to obtain key payroll numbers Wednesday while the rest of Wall Street was kept waiting for a half-hour by a government delay that whipsawed markets and sowed confusion on trading desks."
That's right: while the rest of the world was freaking out, paralyzed by the gross incompetence of the Biden Department of Labor (which, as a reminder, was merely informing us of just how incompetent it truly was by overestimating nearly 1 million jobs in 2024), banks such as Mizuho, BNP Paribas and Nomura all called into the phone number listed above... and got the answer, by some absolute BLS moron who was not aware that they are leaking material, non-public information to extremely sophisticated investors while the rest of the world was stuck in the dark courtesy of, well, other absolute BLS moron who had days if not weeks to prepare today's report and yet still couldn't get it out on time... or even 30 minutes after time.
And then, frustration turned to anger and outrage on Wall Street as word spread from trading desk to trading desk that the BLS was releasing the number to some firms over the phone!
When the data was finally released shortly after 10:30 am, it showed payrolls will likely be revised down by 818,000 for the 12 months through March, the biggest downward revision to the job numbers since 2009.
?itok=aB5PWMNH
Stocks initially jumped and bonds gained because the report lent support to speculation that the Fed will start cutting interest rates next month, then quickly reversed as panic seemed to sweep over Wall Street at the thought that the BIden admin had been actively covering up a labor market recession. In the end, hopium won out and stocks closed near the highs of the day, because - well - Powell will always make sure stocks keeps rising.
"I don’t wonder that people are upset,” Nancy Tengler, the chief executive officer of Laffer Tengler Investments. “The whole thing reeks of incompetence."
Well, yeah, but what makes it especially hilarious is that the incompetence came on the day the BLS was admitting 12 months of prior propaganda incompetence. Seriously, not even the USSR had fuck ups of this caliber.
The delay - and subsequent one-by-one disclosure - is the latest in a series of embarrassing mishaps to roil Labor Department data releases, which hilarious is who the markets have to rely on for "accurate" data on the state of the US labor market and the trajectory of inflation and the economy.
In a post on X, the agency said it was “looking into the reason for the delay”...
We are aware there was a delay to the CES preliminary benchmark announcement. We are looking into the reason for the delay. We have no additional information to share regarding the delay at this time. https://t.co/nXPlwtZZa7
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) https://twitter.com/BLS_gov/status/1826283709408174333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
... to which https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1826400376859623646+
that when the idiots responsible for this latest fuck up are fired, the BLS should make sure to seasonally adjust it so it adds at least another 1 million government jobs.
As Bloomberg reminds us, the government’s economic data reports were once released under tightly controlled embargos to accredited news agencies, including Bloomberg. But the practice was abandoned during the pandemic, when departments across the government shifted to just releasing the data on the Internet to everyone at once. Officials said that method would better protect the security of market-moving data, but instead all it did was create groups of https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-09/jpmorgan-blackrock-among-bls-economist-s-cpi-super-users
" who had preferential and early access to government data from Biden's corrupt agency.
When it didn’t come out on time, Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior US economist BNP Paribas, said she kept refreshing the web page, waiting for the numbers. Then “we called the public line a couple times and they gave us the number,” she said.
Steven Ricchiuto, chief US economist at Mizuho, did the same. “Knowing the data was delayed we had to call for the number before it showed up on their website,” he said.
ZeroHedge itself received the leaked data at 10:24am ET through our expert network, but not even we dared to publish it to our premium subscribers amid concerns that the BLS could not possibly be this stupid and incompetent to be releasing the number on a case by case basis instead of blasting it to the entire world at the same time.
?itok=LDhDmQjy
In the end, it turned out the BLS was even more incompetent than we could possibly imagine.
“I am more than a little annoyed,” said Troy Ludtka, senior US economist at SMBC Nikko Securities Americas, who was among those who waited on the public release.
“To put it in the most generous terms: Government agencies absolutely cannot be selectively releasing critical, market-moving information to some agents and broker dealers first via telephone while keeping others in the dark,” he said. “This is anathema to the very idea of a balanced market built on fair, accessible information.”
Troy, but you ain't seen nothing yet: if Kamala wins and if the US goes full Kam-unist, the very idea of a balanced market will be anathema, replaced by centrally planned... well, everything.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/wall-street-outraged-over-latest-epic-fk-bidens-labor-department
Germany To Extend Border Controls To Combat Illegal Migration
Germany To Extend Border Controls To Combat Illegal Migration
https://rmx.news/article/germany-to-extend-border-controls-to-combat-illegal-migration/
External border controls will continue around Germany until the number of illegal migrants drops significantly, German Interior Minister https://rmx.news/germany/germany-on-high-alert-as-tensions-rise-in-the-middle-east-interior-minister-reveals/
stated on Monday during a meeting with Federal Police Chief Dieter Romann in Rostock.
?itok=vImPuvXa
Although numbers have started to decline, they remain higher than in previous years.
“I am not willing to accept these figures,” Faeser emphasized.
The German interior ministry is reportedly frustrated by the uneven distribution of refugees across Europe, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Faeser pointed out that only a few countries are shouldering the bulk of the migration burden.
She also confirmed that existing controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland will remain in place until the implementation of the Common European Asylum System which was approved this spring.
However, this process will take several more months, with the earliest end to the checks expected in June 2025.
Despite a record influx of nearly 128,000 illegal migrants last year, this year’s numbers have dropped, with 53,000 illegal entries reported so far — a 16 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. German authorities attribute this decline in part to the reintroduced border controls.
The Federal Police report that most illegal entries occur via Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland.
The stationary https://rmx.news/poland/german-opposition-demands-checks-on-borders-with-poland-and-czechia-as-illegal-immigration-sky-rockets/
with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland were initially introduced on Oct. 16, following the earlier reinstatement of controls at the Austrian border.
The decision came as German authorities noticed a rising influx of refugees and increased human smuggling activities along these routes.
https://rmx.news/article/germany-to-extend-border-controls-to-combat-illegal-migration/
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/21/2024 - 02:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/germany-extend-border-controls-combat-illegal-migration
"I'm Not Leaving": Kim Dotcom Defiant After NZ Approves Extradition For Trial In United States
"I'm Not Leaving": Kim Dotcom Defiant After NZ Approves Extradition For Trial In United States
Internet mogul Kim Dotcom says he's not going anywhere after New Zealand's justice minister said on Thursday that he will be extradited to the Untied States on charges related to his defunct file-sharing website Megaupload.
?itok=AkWnx2Ab
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced that he had signed an extradition order for Dotcom, saying in a statement: "I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial," adding "As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision."
The extradition order comes 12 years after an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. In 2017, the high court in New Zealand first approved his extradition - with an appeal court reaffirming the finding in 2018. In 2020, the country's supreme court again affirmed the finding, however they also left the door open for further judicial review.
Dotcom responded to the decision, posting on Tuesday that "the obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload."
He later said: "I love New Zealand. I'm not leaving."
I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving 😘
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1824000525500584077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He also says he 'has a plan.'
Oops 😬 Don’t worry I have a plan 😉 https://t.co/1ow9drHcfv
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1823993237931221340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to US authorities, Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives cost film studios over US$500 million by encouraging people to store and share copyrighted material - generating over US$175 million for his website. He also faces charges of money laundering and racketeering.
The internet mogul says he should not be held personally liable for copyright infringement carried out on his site.
"New Zealand copyright law (92b) makes it clear that an ISP can’t be criminally liable for actions of their users," Dotcom noted in 2017 following the high court's decision. "Unless you’re Kim Dotcom?"
Megaupload was based in Hong Kong until 2012, when the US seized the domain and shuttered the site. It relaunched in 2013 as Mega, with a New Zealand domain name, however Dotcom has had no involvement in the company since at least 2015. The company's chief marketing officer, Finn Batato, and chief technical officer and co-founder, Mathias Ortmann, both from Germany, along with a third executive, the Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, were arrested in Auckland with Dotcom in 2012, according to https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/15/kim-dotcom-to-be-extradited-from-new-zealand-to-us
.
Ortmann and Van der Kolk were sentenced to jail terms in 2023 under plea deals that avoided extradition, while Batato died in 2022 in New Zealand.
Needless to say, Dotcom's supporters are out in force:
We support you 100% sir!
— Crypto Rand (@crypto_rand) https://twitter.com/crypto_rand/status/1824001564010221904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The decision to extradite you is a blow to justice. You fought against unfair persecution for over a decade. The U.S. wants to scapegoat you for issues they couldn't control. NZ should should protect you, not serve as a proxy for U.S. overreach.
— Elon Musk (@persianracer) https://twitter.com/persianracer/status/1824004896376693209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Thu, 08/15/2024 - 10:45
California Sheriff Blasts Harris For Using His Image In "Misleading" Campaign Ad, Says He Supports Trump
California Sheriff Blasts Harris For Using His Image In "Misleading" Campaign Ad, Says He Supports Trump
A California sheriff is slamming Kamala Harris over her ‘misleading’ political ad that fraudulently touted her border security record while using his image without permission.
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The video features Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and other local and state law enforcement officers flanking then Attorney General Harris during her visit to the Central Valley in 2014.
“In light of a recent political ad put out by Kamala Harris featuring Sheriff Boudreaux, as well as other local law enforcement, the Sheriff wants to make it abundantly clear that his image is being used without his permission, and he does NOT endorse Harris for President or any other political office,” the sheriff said in a statement issued to https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-sheriff-featured-kamala-harris-campaign-ad-decries-use-image-i-do-not-support-her
Boudreaux has spent 37 years in the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and is currently president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association.
“As a matter of fact, I would like to point out the misleading information projected in that same political ad. In the ad, Harris claims to have spent decades fighting violent crime as a ‘border state prosecutor,’” Boudreaux stated.
The ad claims:
“As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border.” Harris’ campaign ad also dubiously states that she will “hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.”
Boudreaux and other law enforcement officials in Southern California were outraged that Harris would take credit for fighting crime at the border when she allegedly only “undercut” their efforts.
“How can you go in and promote that you were this tight border person when all the troops are coming across the border, and you literally are eliminating all these task forces? I mean, that completely made us mad,” Boudreaux told Fox News.
“When you see that advertisement, if you do a little research, you’ll find that what she’s (Harris) touting goes completely against what was happening at the time, so when she put that picture out there with me in it, I got really upset, that ad is all smoke and mirrors,” Boudreaux said. “I do not support her.”
Harris reportedly came to the Valley in 2014 to take credit for “a years-long investigation into a multi-national drug operation, with ties to Mexican drug cartels and prison gangs,” that was done by local law enforcement.
According to the sheriff, 11 people were arrested, including suspected “kingpin” Jose Magana of Dinuba in that case.
“The truth is, Harris never cared about the cartels and did nothing to stop people from illegally crossing the border,” Boudreaux said.
The sheriff made note of Harris’ haughty attitude during the 2014 visit.
“We were in the green room. She never came in and said hello to any of us. She walked up front, gave her presser, literally walked out, never said hi to any of us,” Boudreaux said. “I’m disgusted because, you know, she didn’t shake hands. She didn’t say hello. And she’s taken credit for all this work that the locals did.”
Boudreaux’s political action committee, Golden State Justice, also issued a scathing statement blasting Harris’ new campaign ad.
“As Attorney General, Kamala Harris undercut efforts by California law enforcement officials to stop criminals from flooding our state with guns and drugs across the border,” the statement read.
“She repeatedly defunded and shuttered task forces designed to protect our residents, leaving the Valley and our state vulnerable,” the statement continued. “Kamala’s sad attempt to paint herself as tough on the border by implying my support – and the support of neighboring law enforcement leaders—is pathetic.”
The statement concluded by saying “a politician crowding the podium at a press conference clearly hasn’t solved our border crisis. Neither has Kamala Harris.”
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward, who is also featured in the ad, was also enraged by the video.
“The hypocrisy knows no bounds. It’s disingenuous and her campaign ad, somehow now, touting her reputation as a prosecutor as a positive thing, she was attorney general under three of the worst tragedies that had befallen the citizens of the state of California,” Ward told Fox News.
Ward concurred with Boudreaux about using their images in a campaign ad without permission, saying that it should have been a “professional courtesy” to let them know about it.
“We’re not hard people to find or to contact. Simple professional courtesy would have been warning us that it was going to be used. And I think that we are well within our rights to clarify the records,” Ward said.
“Just as Sheriff Boudreaux said, I do not in any way want the use of that photo to be construed as support of her (Harris) either in her candidacy, current candidacy, or even in her tenure as attorney general of the State of California.”
In an interview Tuesday with Fox News, Boudreaux said Harris showed up in 2014 “for a sound bite, didn’t shake anyone’s hands and she quickly left the briefing room.”
He said law enforcement officials in Southern California are “very familiar” with Harris’ record and her campaign ad was “deceptive to say the least.”
The sheriff added, “I just wanted to come out and say that for me as the sheriff or Tulare County looking out for victims, looking for someone who’s going to support criminal justice and law enforcement, that is best represented by Donald Trump, not Kamala Harris.”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 22:35
Reclaiming Strength and Rebuilding Lost Muscle
Reclaiming Strength and Rebuilding Lost Muscle
(emphasis ours),
Muscle atrophy, the wasting or loss of muscle tissue, can occur astonishingly quickly, posing serious challenges for individuals recovering from prolonged illness or extended periods of inactivity.
?itok=WPCR0W9m
A https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcsm.12259
in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia, and Muscle revealed that just three days of simulated bed rest resulted in a more than 10 percent loss of muscle tissue and increased fatty infiltration of the muscle.
“Believe it or not, you can start losing significant muscle mass in just five days of inactivity,” fitness and nutrition expert JJ Virgin told The Epoch Times. She noted that athletes can see the effects of reduced activity within about three weeks if they don’t maintain their workout routines.
Everson A. Nunes, a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University, noted the variability in muscle loss during inactivity. In an email to The Epoch Times, he said that healthy young individuals can lose about 0.8 percent of muscle per day during a week of leg immobilization.
Nunes said that the primary cause of atrophy is the lack of mechanical stimulus.
“Muscles, tendons, and bones need mechanical stress to maintain size, function, and proper turnover rates,” he wrote. The key to healthy muscles, tendons, and bones is continuous breakdown and rebuilding.
Muscle loss can happen during extended periods of bed rest because of illness or injury, leading to disuse-induced atrophy.
“Disuse-induced atrophy will likely affect every person in his or her lifetime, and can be debilitating, especially in the elderly,” Sue Bodine, who holds a doctorate in neuromuscular physiology, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23800384/
.
“If you’re sidelined due to an injury or stuck in bed, your muscles aren’t getting the workout they need to stay strong,” Virgin said. Without movement, muscles begin to degrade, resulting in a noticeable loss of strength and function.
Aging and Atrophy
Aging is a significant contributor to muscle atrophy. Our bodies naturally lose muscle mass and strength as we age, a process known as sarcopenia. This decline begins as early as age 30, with muscle mass decreasing by 3 percent to 8 percent per decade, and the rate of loss doubling at about age 60, making it even more challenging to maintain muscle health, according to Virgin.
Even more troubling is the loss of strength and power, occurring twice and three times the rate of muscle mass loss, respectively, according to Virgin. These changes can significantly impact daily activities and overall quality of life.
“The maintenance of muscle mass is dependent on the balance of two processes: the rate of protein synthesis and protein degradation. Under atrophy conditions, there is a shift in the balance of these two processes such that there is a net loss of muscle proteins,” Bodine https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3856924/
.
A 2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20123-1
in Nature Communications supports this by highlighting the numerous factors affecting muscle health. The authors note that changes in muscle mass can significantly impact metabolism, movement, and even breathing. Their research shows that muscle function adapts to environmental and nutritional cues, emphasizing the importance of balancing protein synthesis and degradation.
The Role of Inflammation in Muscle Atrophy
Inflammation is a key factor in muscle loss, particularly for individuals with chronic illnesses or persistent low-grade inflammation. Nunes notes that chronic diseases and high body fat can cause anabolic resistance, meaning muscles do not respond well to muscle-building signals from protein intake or exercise.
In cases of severe injury, trauma, or systemic diseases, inflammation plays a critical role in helping the body heal. High levels of inflammatory mediators are released in response to these conditions, but this can also lead to increased muscle breakdown. This inflammatory response, while essential for healing and defense, can complicate muscle recovery by exacerbating muscle atrophy.
“With major injury or trauma or systemic diseases, inflammation scales up and causes massive behavior and metabolic changes contributing to muscle loss,” Nunes wrote.
“It has been difficult to find a sweet spot that is able to prevent unwanted effects but still having an effective healing/defense response,” Nunes wrote. This challenge is particularly evident when using anti-inflammatory drugs, which can inhibit both harmful and beneficial inflammatory processes.
For those with chronic inflammation, strategies to combat muscle loss include a combination of drugs and lifestyle changes. These may involve anti-inflammatory medications, anabolic agents, and therapies aimed at maintaining appetite and muscle function. It’s important that people exercise regularly and eat well, but these can be difficult habits to maintain.
Rebuilding Strength at Any Age
Many believe that muscle atrophy is irreversible, particularly as people age, based on the misconception that older adults can’t build muscle.
“This simply isn’t true,” Virgin said. “Muscle plasticity, the ability of muscles to regenerate and grow, persists throughout life. With the right training and nutrition, you can rebuild muscle at any age.”
Recovery for older adults often requires more time and a more focused approach than it does for younger people. In young, healthy adults, muscle mass recovery following disuse atrophy is usually complete, but in older people, it is often delayed and sometimes incomplete.
“As we age, our bodies naturally experience a decrease in muscle regenerative capacity and hormonal changes that can slow down the recovery process,” Virgin said.
Older adults must pay closer attention to their diet, particularly protein, to support muscle repair and recovery. With age, our bodies experience anabolic resistance, which means that eating protein or amino acids doesn’t stimulate muscle building as much as when we were younger. Consequently, seniors may require more protein than younger people to achieve similar muscle repair and growth.
“Staying active is the most important thing we all should do on a population level to prevent anabolic resistance and help with recovery,” Nunes wrote. He noted that physically active older adults do not exhibit signs of anabolic resistance.
Rebuilding muscular strength begins with movement, but it is crucial to address the underlying causes of inactivity, whether that be a specific ailment, lack of time, or something else.
“Treating the cause is the most important step, in parallel with physiotherapy or supervised exercises. These are the most effective strategies targeting the inactivity aspect,” Nunes wrote.
Practical Exercises for Rebuilding Muscle After Inactivity
After a prolonged period of inactivity or illness, rebuilding muscle should be approached gradually and safely.
“Ideally, you want to get up and moving as quickly as possible,” Virgin said.
Virgin advises starting with simple isometric exercises involving holding a contraction without movement, such as planks. These exercises are beneficial for those with limited mobility, as they help rebuild strength with minimal injury risk and require no equipment. This approach allows muscles to engage even if walking is not possible.
As recovery progresses, incorporating resistance training becomes essential. Virgin recommends exercises that mimic daily activities, such as squats, bent-over rows, and dips. Starting with body weight or light resistance bands helps focus on proper technique before gradually increasing the resistance. Using a full range of motion and engaging the core are crucial for effective muscle rebuilding.
For individuals unable to handle significant resistance due to injury, blood flow restriction training (BFRT) offers an effective alternative. This involves exercising while wearing bands or other devices that restrict blood flow. For example, while lifting a weight with the arm, a person may have a band tied around the arm similar to the tourniquet applied when giving a blood sample.
According to a https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9490016/
in the Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, BFRT can “prove to be a boon in many conditions such as muscle weakness and degeneration.” It can be an essential treatment in preventing disuse atrophy during the initial days of bed rest in post-surgical patients.
Maintaining consistent activity is key to recovery. Virgin suggests tracking daily steps and gradually increasing them. Adding a weighted vest, known as a rucking vest, can enhance strength and endurance.
Once a basic fitness level is established, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be introduced. HIIT involves short bursts of intense activity followed by rest periods or lower-intensity exercise. This method aids muscle building and growth hormone release, while improving cardiovascular health and boosting metabolism.
“Recovery strategies should also include adequate rest and stress management, as elevated stress hormones like cortisol can further impair muscle recovery and overall health,” Virgin said.
Nutrition’s Role in Muscle Recovery
Nutrition plays a pivotal role in muscle recovery and overall health during and after injury or illness. A 2020 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7284346/
in Nutrients emphasizes that periods of disuse combined with poor dietary intake can accelerate muscle loss and weaken strength, especially in older adults.
“Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth,” Virgin said. Ensuring an optimal protein intake is critical, with a minimum of 100 grams per day, and ideally 1 gram or more per pound of ideal body weight.
However, Nunes noted that merely increasing protein intake does not prevent muscle loss. “Muscles need to be put to work in order to decrease the level of loss during inactivity or disease,” he wrote.
Virgin also recommends incorporating 15 grams of essential amino acids with one to two meals a day to provide the necessary nutrients for healing and preventing muscle breakdown. Additionally, extra collagen, either as a supplement or through bone broth or bone broth protein powder, can be beneficial at an intake of 15 grams to 30 grams daily.
Virgin highlighted creatine’s benefits for enhancing performance and recovery, making it a valuable addition to any recovery regimen.
The Mental Grit Behind Physical Recovery
Nunes noted that the mental factor directly affects nutrition, sleep, and overall activity levels.
“Mental resilience is absolutely crucial in physical recovery,” Virgin said. It greatly affects the speed and completeness of recovery from illness, injury, or prolonged inactivity.
When physical strength is weakened, mental grit is essential for maintaining focus, discipline, and positivity, enabling adherence to recovery protocols and coping with the often slow and frustrating healing process.
“It’s like armor for your psyche, protecting and propelling you forward even when the going gets tough,” Virgin said, underscoring the importance of a strong mindset.
Cultivating mental resilience during recovery involves several key strategies, she said.
Embrace a positive outlook. It’s not just about thinking happy thoughts but strategically viewing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Visualize. Picture yourself healed, strong, and thriving, which can help steer your subconscious toward those outcomes.
Practice resilience-building techniques. Gratitude journaling and mindfulness meditation are beneficial. These practices reduce stress and improve overall mental well-being.
Build Your Community. Being surrounded by people who uplift and encourage provides emotional comfort and practical help, motivating adherence to recovery goals.
Setting Realistic Goals and Measuring Progress in Muscle Recovery
Tracking progress is essential for those aiming to regain muscle strength after inactivity, according to Virgin. One effective starting point is a DEXA scan, which estimates skeletal muscle mass and assesses balance between limbs. This scan offers a detailed baseline, enabling precise progress monitoring.
Alongside DEXA scans, regular fitness tests can assess improvements in strength, power, endurance, flexibility, and balance. At-home tests include hand dynamometer grip strength, push-ups, flexed arm hang or pull-ups, vertical jump, sit and reach for flexibility, and standing balance.
For ongoing tracking, affordable bioimpedance scales can align with DEXA results, providing a convenient way to monitor changes at home. Virgin advises reassessing fitness tests every one to three months and repeating the DEXA scan every six months to track long-term progress.
Tracking progress offers tangible evidence of improvements and boosts motivation. Fitness trackers, apps, or workout journals can help monitor routines by recording exercise types, weights, and repetitions. This documentation aids in adjusting goals and ensuring continued progress.
“Always start out doing less than you think you can and progress carefully. Listen to your body,” Virgin said. If you experience joint pain or soreness, reduce your activity and consult an expert to check your form.
“Be sure to celebrate milestones, no matter how small, as they
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 21:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/reclaiming-strength-and-rebuilding-lost-muscle
Taliban Flexes US Weapons In Military Parade, Left Behind By Biden-Harris' Botched Afghan Exit
Taliban Flexes US Weapons In Military Parade, Left Behind By Biden-Harris' Botched Afghan Exit
The Biden-Harris administration's poor planning and execution in Afghanistan resulted in the botched withdrawal that https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gold-star-dad-heckles-biden-over-sons-death-botched-afghanistan-withdrawal
, left Americans stranded, and allowed billions of dollars in US military equipment to flow into the hands of the Taliban terror group.
Since the https://www.zerohedge.com/political/costs-afghanistan-withdrawal-debacle
in August 2021 under Biden-Harris, the war-torn nation (thank you, Bush/Cheney), landlocked in the Middle East, has once again become a safe haven for terrorism. The chaotic withdrawal allowed Taliban fighters to commandeer Black Hawk helicopters, A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft, armored Humvees, and 600,000 weapons, including grenade launchers, machine guns, and rifles.
President Biden’s memory is worse than we thought:
“The truth is, I’m the only President this century…this decade that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.”
The American people will never forget the horrible withdrawal from Afghanistan that claimed… https://t.co/MQ0bkN11So
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1806499020098969649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
There has been zero accountability from President Biden or Vice President Kalama Harris over these https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-ignored-advice-pushed-afghanistan-unconditional-withdrawal-former-ambassador
. Even to the extent that Biden made the stunning claim during the presidential debate in June that he was "the only president this century" and "this decade" that did not have any troops "dying anywhere in the world."
Biden claims he’s the only President this Century…this Decade doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the World.
Guess there’s no chance he could name those that died at Abby gate or the three soldiers that died in FEBRUARY!
Those poor Gold Star Families. https://t.co/sZR5JuDO32
— Clyp Keeper (@DGrayTexas45) https://twitter.com/DGrayTexas45/status/1806505924313358825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, Americans might get fired up after learning that Taliban fighters have showcased all of Biden-Harris' gifts from the botched exit in a massive military parade, marking the third anniversary of the takeover of Afghanistan.
JUST IN: 🇦🇫 🇺🇸 The Taliban held a military parade using United States military equipment that was left behind after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
This parade marks the third anniversary of the Taliban's return to power in the nation. https://t.co/oZzg0RuAo5
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) https://twitter.com/BRICSinfo/status/1823742240050577686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
NEW: The Taliban held a military parade at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan with the US military equipment they stole after the disastrous Biden-Harris withdrawal.
The Taliban was celebrating the third anniversary of taking over the former US air base as they trolled the US with… https://t.co/UUuANxX4UO
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1823755885497442403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Taliban organized a massive military parade at Bagram Military Base on the 3rd anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Military equipment left by the U.S. forces everywhere. https://t.co/fvcU3qCXWk
— Clash Report (@clashreport) https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1823734945631900066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Taliban just held a military parade with our equipment that was left during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
Kamala was the “last person in the room” when the decisions were made regarding the withdrawal.
Around $7B worth of equipment was left.
Kamala is responsible… https://t.co/Adhfjb1e41
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1823757528448241966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
What were those gifts?
List of equipment we left in Afghanistan:
- 12,000 humvees
- 42,000 trucks
- 1,000 armored vehicles
- 78 planes/helicopters
- 350,000 rifles
- 16,000 night vision goggles
- 160,000 radios
- much more
We destroyed some, but most of it we left for the Taliban to use and/or sell. https://t.co/aZVKqzoXF8
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1823766336150913339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here's what X users are saying:
"If this doesn't raise your BP and your temperature, then you don't realize what the Biden/Harris Administration did: they have made the Taliban a 21st century kinetic warfare force," https://x.com/SovMichael/status/1823751151009063063
said.
https://x.com/PolitiBunny/status/1823762732841394297
, "The Democrat’s presidential nominee made it possible for this Taliban parade to happen. Yes, those are our vehicles and weapons, left behind by Biden/Harris."
Harris' presidential campaign has been running far from her 3.5-year toxic track record as VP, with elderly Biden guiding rudderless foreign policy that has led the world to the brink of war.
The Biden-Harris duo has little to show for their time in office. Even White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre could not name one of Harris' accomplishments.
The White House can't name a single accomplishment of Vice President Harris.
She's the most unpopular vice president in history, oversaw the worst border crisis ever, and stood by while Americans were crushed by high prices.
It's a record of failure and incompetence. https://t.co/niq1VSeYsn
— Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) https://twitter.com/GReschenthaler/status/1823375995476279722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
All Harris needs to do - is continue to avoid all press conferences and hide under the cloak of far-left corporate media that has launched a massive info war to convince the American people the person who pushed terrible economic, domestic, and foreign policy is the best choice in November.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 21:20
Human Rights Lawyer: Olympic Boxer's "Cyberbullies" Lawsuit A Threat To Free Speech
Human Rights Lawyer: Olympic Boxer's "Cyberbullies" Lawsuit A Threat To Free Speech
A human rights lawyer has warned that a lawsuit brought by Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif against the likes of Elon Musk and JK Rowling could set a significant precedent against free speech.
?itok=w3wD05lQ
Khelif, who competed and https://modernity.news/2024/08/10/biological-male-boxer-imane-khelif-wins-olympic-gold-medal/
in the women’s welterweight division, despite having XY chromosomes, is charging that prominent personalities and bodies engaged in “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”
Questions were raised by both the World Boxing Organisation and the International Boxing Association regarding Khelif’s eligibility to compete as a woman following two previous ‘failed’ gender tests.
Speaking to GB News, human rights lawyer David Haigh warned that the lawsuit could lead to “policing of social media” across borders.
Haigh outlined “If they proceed with this, the Paris prosecutors have the reach jurisdiction to come to other countries. And if that is the case, that then is a very concerning development.”
“You can have countries around the world basically policing social media in other countries. It could be a very, very significant case in free speech, the use of social media,” Haigh added.
'This could be a very significant case both in free speech and gender politics.'
David Haigh discusses reports Imane Khelif is to sue Elon Musk and J.K Rowling over harassment about her gender. https://t.co/Io0hBDOlqZ
— GB News (@GBNEWS) https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1823645175022866810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He continued, “are we now going to see France trying to extradite or issuing arrest warrants for JK Rowling? It’s a very slippery slope and it could become a very significant case.”
The lawyer also noted that the case could also set a legal precedent in terms of gender ideology.
“If it proceeds, and that’s a big if, it could have significant ramifications. Whether or not there has been harassment, you will have a debate on what is and isn’t a man or a woman in the court,” he noted.
“If part of whether or not there has been harassment and abuse comes down to whether or not that boxer is a man or a woman, obviously evidence will need to be put forward on both sides of that,” Haigh further explained.
* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/support
.
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Wed, 08/14/2024 - 20:55
FTC Says Google Antitrust Ruling Goes Beyond Epic Games, Hints Tech 'Monopolist' Should Be Broken Up
FTC Says Google Antitrust Ruling Goes Beyond Epic Games, Hints Tech 'Monopolist' Should Be Broken Up
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amicus brief in the Epic Games antitrust lawsuit against Google’s monopolistic behavior, suggesting that the court impose stringent actions against such practices.
The https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.364325/gov.uscourts.cand.364325.1.0.pdf
was filed in 2020 by developer Epic Games against Google. Epic claimed that Google violated antitrust regulations by monopolizing two markets: the market for distribution of mobile apps for Android users and the market for processing payments. In addition, Google benefits from gaining access to user data.
“Google has thus installed itself as an unavoidable middleman for app developers who wish to reach Android users and vice versa,” Epic said.
In December 2023, a district court jury in California https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/jury-rules-in-favor-of-epic-games-in-antitrust-lawsuit-against-google-5545359
in favor of Epic, finding that the game developer proved that Google was in violation of antitrust laws. District Judge James Donato has yet to decide on what relief Epic should be provided.
in the case, suggesting how the court could consider remedies.
Ensuring antitrust laws are strictly enforced “is essential for protecting and preserving economic freedom and the free-enterprise system,” the agency pointed out.
“When a company engages in business practices that are found to violate the antitrust laws, courts are empowered to remedy those violations by ordering all relief necessary to restore competition in the affected markets,” it stated.
This includes “identifying and requiring actions that the defendant must affirmatively take toward that end.”
If companies violating antitrust laws reap the advantages secured through such actions, it will end up incentivizing other firms to engage in similar behavior, the agency warned.
As such, the district court should ensure that the violating firm does not continue securing the benefits obtained via breaching antitrust rules, it stated.
?itok=T4qW-tuM
Though it should be said that at no point does the FTC outright say that Google should be broken up, https://siliconangle.com/2024/08/13/ftc-enters-google-vs-epic-games-case-hints-google-broken/
, that any lay reader with a knowledge of U.S. antitrust law and English can reasonably come to that conclusion. And there’s more.
“Looking forward in cases like Epic v. Google often requires the consideration of network effects, data feedback loops, and other key features of digital markets,” the FTC writes. “This could help ensure that potential competitors can overcome the advantages established digital platforms often gain, which include network effects and data incumbency.”
But the real kicker comes towards the end. “Google’s monopolistic behavior has significantly harmed millions of users in the United States,” the FTC adds. “Allowing monopolists to reap the rewards of illegal monopolization while avoiding the costs of restoring the competition that they unlawfully eliminated would undermine deterrence.”
There is a strong possibility that the FTC is hinting at a possible breakup of Google as a negotiating tactic; nonetheless, it should be taken seriously.
Kent Walker, president of Google global affairs, said the decision “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine“ but concludes that Google ”shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available,” according to a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.
“Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal,” Walker stated.
“As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”
Earlier this year, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-in-keynote-speech-warren-urges-stronger-antitrust-enforcement-to-break-up-big-tech-companies
for stronger antitrust enforcement to break up big tech firms.
“To restore competition in existing digital markets and to foster emerging markets like AI, Amazon’s e-commerce platform should be separated from its product lines. Google should be broken into its search business and its browsing services,” she said.
“Each of the major cloud services—Google, Microsoft, and Amazon—should not be allowed to use their enormous size to dominate a whole new field, and that means blocking them from operating large language models. Each of these moves would create valuable competition.”
Bloomberg, less severe options than a breakup of Google include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products.
Should a breakup occur, first up would be forcing Google to divest both its Android operating system and its Chrome web browser.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 20:30
Vote Integrity's Nitty-Gritty: The Battle Lines Of '24's Epic Struggle
Vote Integrity's Nitty-Gritty: The Battle Lines Of '24's Epic Struggle
,
More than a dozen jurisdictions run by Democrats – including Washington D.C., and several adjacent Maryland municipalities – allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections. San Francisco not only permits noncitizens to vote but https://www.kqed.org/news/11976026/san-francisco-appoints-first-non-citizen-to-serve-on-elections-commission
to serve on its Elections Commission.
?itok=O48qzdEk
Such developments, against a backdrop of millions of illegal migrants streaming into the United States under the Biden-Harris administration, bring new urgency to debates over election integrity. Many Republicans fear that a widespread effort is afoot to give noncitizens the full benefits of citizenship, including the right to vote in all elections, on top of https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/press-release/more-states-are-providing-fully-state-funded-health-coverage-to-some-individuals-regardless-of-immigration-status/#:~:text=Six%20states%20%E2%80%94%20California%2C%20Colorado%2C,have%20taken%20place%20since%202020.
already available to illegal aliens in some places, notably drivers licenses, food stamps, government health care, and work visas.
Although Democrats note that noncitizens may not participate in federal elections and claim there is little evidence noncitizens are voting unlawfully, critics are unmollified.
A RealClearInvestigations analysis of proposed and enacted state and federal laws, along with other reporting and research, suggests that the fight over noncitizen voting is only likely to intensify this year – both in the immediate wake of an expected closely-contested presidential election and in its aftermath.
States across the country report that thousands of noncitizens have been discovered on voter rolls in the past decade, with unknown numbers already having voted:
Pennsylvania found 11,000 registrants https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403.64.1_3.pdf#page=37
2,500 individuals from the rolls, and it could not verify the citizenship status of the other 8,700 registrants.
Virginia has https://publicinterestlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/VA-ERIC-Scrub-Report-FINAL.pdf#page=3
a study showing that of nearly 1,500 noncitizens the Commonwealth removed from rolls from May 2023 to February 2024, 23% had cast ballots since February 2019.
New Jersey had some 616 self-reported noncitizens in 11 counties “engaged on some level with the statewide registration system,” 9% of whom cast ballots, according to a 2017 https://publicinterestlegal.org/pilf-files/Garden-State-Gotcha_PILF.pdf
conducted by the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
Boston, Massachusetts, officials https://publicinterestlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Boston-Noncitizen-Report-2024.pdf
this year that the city had removed 70 noncitizens from the rolls, some 22 of whom had voted, the removals coming in response to disclosure requests from the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
Ohio recently https://www.ohiosos.gov/media-center/press-releases/2024/2024-08-01/
North Carolina identified more than 1,400 registrants on state voter rolls who did not appear to be naturalized, in an https://publicinterestlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Motor-Voter-at-30-North-Carolina-FINAL.pdf#page=3
at the polls to vote, and 24 had their registration challenged; 11 challenges were sustained or justified.
in which a 7-2 majority led by the late Justice Antonin Scalia ruled that federal voter registration requirements – of which documentary proof of citizenship is not one – preempted the state’s standards.
.
Republicans argue that such examples expose weaknesses in the voter registration and administration process – including that registrants need not provide proof of citizenship to get on the voter rolls. These and other loopholes in state-run systems make elections vulnerable to ineligible noncitizen voters today.
Each side has its own research to support its claims. Democrats cite a https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/noncitizen-voting-missing-millions
by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, finding that local election officials overseeing the tabulation of 23.5 million ballots during the 2016 presidential election identified only 30 potential incidents of noncitizen voting.
Republicans highlight a recent https://www.justfacts.com/news_non-citizen_voter_registration
. Election integrity advocates argue that states have not found many incidents of noncitizen voting for the simple reason that authorities, including the Department of Justice, do not look for it.
“DOJ investigations of illegal voting are all but nonexistent,” Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said in a recent floor debate concerning the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, a bill Lee and House colleague Chip Roy (R-Texas) https://www.lee.senate.gov/2024/5/lee-and-roy-partner-on-legislation-to-secure-federal-elections
to combat noncitizen voting. After the House passed the measure in July, Democrats blocked the legislation in the upper chamber, where it remains stalled.
“[T]oo many prosecutors refuse to enforce the law even when such illegal behavior is discovered by election officials or others,” Hans von Spakovsky, a former Department of Justice official who now works at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Congress in May.
Should election officials fail to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots on the front end, J. Christian Adams, a fellow former DOJ official and president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, told RCI, there is “almost nothing” the public or political parties can do on the back end to identify, challenge, and invalidate noncitizen votes prior to election certification.
Adams’ group has https://publicinterestlegal.org/tied-elections/
myriad electoral races decided by one vote or tied over the last two decades – something he and others argue indicates just how critical it is to combat illegal voting, given the potential impact to tight races up and down ballots.
States generally seem unfazed by the prospect of noncitizen voting. For this article, RealClearInvestigations contacted authorities in the seven states comprising RealClearPolitics’ https://www.realclearpolling.com/elections/president/2024/battleground-states
: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Two states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, did not respond to RCI’s inquiries. Election authorities in the five responsive states maintained that current law is a sufficient deterrent to noncitizen voting, emphasizing that casting a ballot as a foreigner would constitute a criminal offense with grave penalties.
“Someone would have to knowingly and intentionally commit a class 6 Felony if they did vote as a noncitizen, and it would result in the revocation of their legal status in the USA, and they would likely face deportation,” a spokesman for Arizona’s Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said in a statement. The spokesman said he hoped his statement, which pointed to the state’s voter challenge process and noted other procedures pertaining to citizenship, would “compel” RealClearInvestigations to “clear up [RCI’s] notions and erroneous assumptions.”
Georgia touted its 2022 citizenship https://sos.ga.gov/news/citizenship-audit-finds-1634-noncitizens-attempted-register-vote
in correspondence with RCI, the first such review of the voter rolls for citizenship in state history, in which it found that 1,634 people who attempted to register to vote were not verified by the SAVE program. All were in “pending citizenship” status within Georgia’s internal systems, and thus none had been allowed to vote. “Due to the effective processes Georgia has in place to verify U.S citizenship at the time of registration … we are confident noncitizens are not voting in Georgia, and if one ever does, they will be punished to the full extent of the law,” Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told RCI.
North Carolina election board public information director Patrick Gannon told RCI: “We have little evidence of noncitizens voting in elections, and get very few complaints alleging voting by noncitizens.”
He pointed to a 2016 https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/election-security/audits/2016-11-08-election-audit-report.pdf
.
Similarly, Wisconsin election commission public information officer Riley Vetterkind told RCI, “There is not evidence to support the idea that noncitizens are voting in Wisconsin in significant numbers.” The spokesperson for the state’s https://elections.wi.gov/about-wec/members-and-administrator
election fraud, irregularities, or violations referred to district attorneys by municipal clerks that the state’s election commission “has been made aware of.”
These messages of reassurance, however, at times come with notes of caution that underpin election integrity advocates’ concerns.
States each have their own independent processes to maintain voter lists. Those processes vary widely in vigor, tempo, and transparency. They are often based on different degrees of access to sources of citizenship status with which to identify ineligible voters. “No state or federal law requires the WEC [Wisconsin Elections Commission] or clerks to verify a voter’s citizenship status beyond requiring the voter to certify that they are a U.S. citizen as a qualification for voter eligibility,” said Vetterkind.
Pennsylvania has https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403/gov.uscourts.pamd.120403.64.1_3.pdf#page=11
that “The Commonwealth has no systematic program to identify and remove noncitizens from the voter rolls.”
The Public Interest Legal Foundation has https://publicinterestlegal.org/foreign-nationals-voting/
against the Keystone State and other jurisdictions just to get a peek into their registration list maintenance processes. As for how states identify potential noncitizens, Gannon said of North Carolina’s audit that “relying on state databases was wildly inaccurate for determining citizenship status.”
The state passed a law in 2023 requiring that the election board regularly reconcile its registration list with lists provided by state courts of those excused from jury duty due to lack of citizenship – an ad hoc approach commonly used by other states.
Georgia emphasized its use of the Department of Homeland Security’s more robust SAVE https://www.uscis.gov/save/resources/voter-registration-and-voter-list-maintenance-fact-sheet
, which provides “point in time immigration status” for those who have been issued a unique immigration identifier. (This Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements tool is distinct from the GOP-sponsored legislation with the same acronym.)
Most state officials who responded to RCI’s query emphasized that there are laws on the books permitting third-party challenges to voter eligibility. But this is a measure requiring time, money, and effort. The two former Justice Department officials – Spakovsky and Adams – recently took issue with the view that state audits and scrubs of voter rolls ought to inspire confidence, writing in the https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/06/despite-liberals-hysterical-denial-aliens-are-registering-and-voting/
:
Because almost no state even attempts to verify that individuals registering to vote are U.S. citizens – and because the federal government, including both the courts and the executive branch, have put up significant barriers to such verification – we don’t really know how many aliens, whether here legally or illegally, are registering and voting.
Rougher Weather Ahead
Whatever the extent of noncitizen registration and voting today, https://whoscounting.us/
leader Cleta Mitchell says conditions are building for a “perfect storm.” Two factors are about to produce it: “the invasion of our country by millions of illegals” and a series of largely Democratic Party-driven efforts to ease voter registration and participation.
Mitchell and others, including the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, https://x.com/OversightPR/status/1775955480386457863
, which directs every federal agency to register and mobilize voters.
in pursuit of its objectives as well. Adams, testifying alongside Spakovsky for the Republican majority before the House Administration Committee in May, said that “most often noncitizens are getting on the rolls through the motor voter registration process or third-party registration drives.”
Regarding motor-voter registration, the https://www.onlycitizensvotecoalition.com/
warns that “many states are now automatically registering people to vote at the time of coming into contact with the DMV unless the person ‘opts out’ of registration.”
Advocates are also concerned that practices like same-day voter registration and allowing the use of student IDs to vote – IDs that can be issued to foreigners – could lead to noncitizens ending up on voter rolls and potentially voting.
These issues likely only exacerbate concerns election integrity advocates already have around practices like mail-in voting and ballot harvesting that have become widespread since the 2020 election. A more robust “level of citizenship tracking and verification would almost certainly require legislative change to accomplish,” Wisconsin’s Riley Vetterkind told RCI.
Congressional Republicans have sought to do just that with the SAVE Act, which passed the House on July 10 in a largely party-line vote. Under the existing registration system, applicants attest to their citizenship simply by checking a box, under penalty of perjury. House Speaker Mike Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUzEM0Jw2Zc
this nothing more than an “honor system” that leaves “people who have already proven they have no regard or respect for our laws” undeterred.
The SAVE Act would close this loophole by requiring that applicants provide proof of citizenship in person when registering to vote in federal elections. Adams has argued that under the less stringent status quo, noncitizens often end up on the voter rolls through no fault of their own – subjecting aliens who often can’t speak English to severe legal liability.
Critics of the SAVE Act, echoing some states, believe those liabilities – including the threat of deportation, jail time, and other punishments – sufficiently curb noncitizen registration and voting.
New York University Brennan Center for Justice President Michael Waldman emphasized in the May congressional hearing, as the Democrat minority’s witness opposite Adams and Spakovsky, that “under current law, noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal four times over: it is both a state and federal crime to register to vote, and it is both a state and federal crime to vote in federal elections.”
The liberal think-tank did not respond to RCI’s inquiries in connection with this story. Democratic party leaders from https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SAP-HR8281.pdf
also dismiss evidence of noncitizen voting, claiming it is virtually non-existent.
“Even the conservative CATO Institute has said that ‘noncitizens don’t illegally vote in detectable numbers,’” California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla noted in a floor speech in response to Mike Lee, referencing a 2020 https://www.cato.org/blog/noncitizens-dont-illegally-vote-detectable-numbers
from the libertarian think tank.
Democrats also claim the bill’s documentary proof of citizenship requirements disenfranchise potential voters. They point to past https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/effects-requiring-documentary-proof-citizenship
showing millions of Americans lack commonly used documents to prove citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate – two of a number of forms one could present to satisfy the SAVE Act’s requirements.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu98aGXOe_Y
the SAVE Act an “extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill.”
DHS's ‘Slow-Walking’
https://mikejohnson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/save_act_white_paper.pdf#page=11
in a recent executive order, only three states – his included – require even a full social security number to register to vote.
Thus, the SAVE Act would also mandate that states bolster their registration list maintenance practices explicitly to identify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls – including through cross-referencing their lists with more comprehensive data sources.
Only five states currently have access to one resource referenced in the bill, the Department of Homeland Security’s https://www.uscis.gov/save/resources/voter-registration-and-voter-list-maintenance-fact-sheet
indicates that DHS is not granting the same level of access to all states and may be “slow-walking” requests to use it.
'Significant Inaccuracies' in the Federal Database
When asked about this allegation, a spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service told RCI, “There is an established process agencies must undergo and eligibility criteria agencies must meet to complete SAVE registration.”
“USCIS is committed to working with agencies seeking access to SAVE and processing registration requests as efficiently as possible,” the spokesperson added while referring a reporter to https://www.uscis.gov/save/register-an-agency-for-save
on its website.
Still, these databases are not seen by all as a panacea. “Even using the federal SAVE database, which can only be used to determine current citizenship status for one person at a time, and only when that person has been involved in the federal immigration system, our agency found significant inaccuracies in the data we received,” North Carolina’s Patrick Gannon told RCI in an email. “There is no comprehensive, accurate, or up-to-date database of U.S. citizens that election administrators could use for verification purposes.”
Democrats argue that the more robust voter registration list maintenance demanded by Republicans could leave eligible voters purged. https://youtu.be/ft5Sb8ELtVs?si=hY4XKf8BOuIG2QDV&t=1122
the SAVE Act “nothing other than a solution in search of a problem,” Sen. Padilla blocked the bill in the upper chamber.
With a September https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/08/12/congress/preview-of-the-spending-fight-00173600
.
Meanwhile, election integrity advocates like the Only Citizens Vote Coalition are calling for state-level model legislation to combat noncitizen voting. The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has been working to identify vulnerabilities in extant voter registration systems and potential legal violations, https://x.com/OversightPR/status/1820591636226724016
lawmakers to enforce relevant laws to combat noncitizen voting.
The conservative public interest law organization America First Legal recently sent https://media.aflegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/24150622/Combined-Letter.pdf
to all 50 states instructing them that under existing law, states can and should send requests to the DHS soliciting the citizenship status of registered voters.
America First Legal has also sent https://aflegal.org/america-first-legal-sends-legal-demand-letter-to-all-15-arizona-counties-threatening-legal-action-if-they-do-not-take-action-to-stop-illegal-aliens-from-voting/
to all 15 Arizona County Recorders compelling them to verify the citizenship of all “federal-only” voters, including through making citizenship requests of DHS – or face legal action.
On Aug. 5, America First Legal filed suit against the Maricopa County Recorder for his alleged failure to act in response to the group’s demand letter. Three days later, the Republican National Committee https://gop.com/press-release/rnc-files-application-in-scotus/
an emergency application at the Supreme Court in a bid to compel Arizona to enforce its proof of citizenship requirements for the 2024 presidential election.
Warning: Extended Lawfare Ahead
These forces on the right are likely to find themselves locked in battle with the left for years to come.
House Democrats, today in the slim minority, have voted to continue https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7109/text
were unable or unwilling to affirm that only citizens should be permitted to vote in federal elections during a March Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning elections.
As a presidential candidate in 2020, Vice President Kamala Harris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-QP5TBTVhY
legislation providing benefits for illegal aliens, including state-funded healthcare, driver’s licenses, and free college tuition.
Those on the left see voting rights, like the expansion of other benefits to noncitizens, as a matter of fairness.
“Immigrants pay taxes, they use city services, their kids go to our public schools. They are part of our community. And they deserve a say in local government,” New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2021/12/09/city-council-approves-bill-allowing-noncitizens-to-vote-in-municipal-elections
in defending a bill that has been ruled unconstitutional that would have allowed an estimated 800,000 noncitizens to vote in local elections.
The Trump-Vance campaign, by contrast, has called for mass deportation of the illegal alien population to which Democrats increasingly wish to extend rights and benefits, among https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/#page=8
the Republicans say aim to protect and support Americans. In contrast to the growing coterie of blue-state jurisdictions embracing noncitizen voting, red states are increasingly passing amendments prohibiting local governments from allowing noncitizens to vote, with Louisiana and Ohio most approving such constitutional changes in 2022. Eight more states have citizenship-related ballot measures in the 2024 election.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 20:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/vote-integritys-nitty-gritty-battle-lines-24s-epic-struggle
Don't Let Washington Do To Airlines What It Did To Amtrak
Don't Let Washington Do To Airlines What It Did To Amtrak
Submitted by Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on X https://x.com/MerrillMatthews?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
.
A record number of travelers are taking to the skies this year. In an era of expensive groceries, gas, food and rent, the last thing anyone wants is a massive increase in airfares.
But that's precisely what travelers could experience if lawmakers push through new restrictions on prices, routes and even seat sizes.
More airline regulation might sound appealing. But red tape always comes with a cost, often in higher prices but also in reduced access and convenience.
Air travel used to be heavily regulated. Until the late 1970s, government officials set fares, routes and schedules for all interstate air travel. Prices were sky high, the industry operated inefficiently and relatively few people flew.
Lawmakers decided they had to do something. Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978. The law allowed airlines to determine their own routes and prices.
The change unleashed competition and allowed low-cost operators to enter the market. Choices skyrocketed and prices fell. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the cost of flying is half of what it was before Congress deregulated the industry.
Deregulation led to more options. The number of cities connected via nonstop service, and the number of carriers providing that service, increased markedly.
More affordable tickets and an explosion of routes made flying accessible to millions of Americans. In 1977, a quarter of Americans reported flying in the past year. Today, it's close to half. Nearly 90 percent of Americans have flown in their lifetime.
Considering these outcomes, why do policymakers seem intent on bringing back onerous airline regulations? Especially considering the government has a less-than-stellar public-transportation "track record" -- that is, Amtrak.
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Amtrak is a government-subsidized public train system that receives billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. Government created the system because passenger trains were losing money. The Washington Times notes, "Even with all that money, there are still widespread complaints about the train service. Signal problems, mechanical snafus and computer breakdowns are seen across the country."
In Congress, members have proposed legislation that would pave the way for more federal control of airline baggage policies, fees, and seat sizes. A recent Department of Transportation rule imposes complex restrictions on airline refund policies that even the seasoned traveler may be hard-pressed to understand.
Together, the changes amount to an oversized regulatory regime that would be expensive and time consuming to comply with. Some airlines could be forced to raise prices or cut unprofitable routes altogether.
Proposals to re-regulate the airlines have nothing to do with passenger safety. It's been 15 years since the last fatal U.S. commercial airline crash.
To be sure, there's room to improve America's air travel system. Shortages among air traffic controllers contribute to frustrating flight delays and cancellations. Outdated facilities and infrastructure pose challenges in many parts of the country. But remember, these broken parts of the system are largely under government control already.
Subjecting airlines to burdensome regulations wouldn't make air travel better. It'd lead to higher costs, fewer routes, and less-satisfied travelers. Don't let Washington do to the airline industry what it did to train travel.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 19:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dont-let-washington-do-airlines-what-it-did-amtrak
China Port Explosion Snarls Trans-Pacific Container Trade
China Port Explosion Snarls Trans-Pacific Container Trade
The closure of Ningbo Beilun’s Phase III Terminal is expected to have cascading effects on the main trans-Pacific trade lanes out of Asia, and the supply chain at large, in the midst of the peak shipping season.
As Stuart Chris reports for https://www.freightwaves.com/news/china-port-explosion-snarls-trans-pacific-container-trade
, container traffic has been halted at Ningbo following a shipboard explosion involving hazardous materials at one of the world’s busiest intermodal hubs.
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The explosion aboard the Yang Ming vessel YM Mobility on Friday reportedly involved organic peroxide materials.
There were no injuries in the blast, but the terminal has been closed until further notice.
Ningbo is the world’s third-busiest container port, with volume of 33.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2023.
The shutdown couldn’t come at a worse time https://www.freightwaves.com/news/report-finds-us-container-imports-could-approach-monthly-record
for North American imports are forecast for August, after an “early peak” in June as shippers rushed to get holiday merchandise ahead of expected supply chain disruptions in the fall.
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“With this closure, Ningbo Port is no longer operational, compounding existing supply chain disruptions exacerbated by Typhoon Gaemi in July,” said Christian Roeloffs, co-founder and chief executive of Container xChange, an online container marketplace based in Hamburg, Germany, in a customer advisory.
“For container trading companies and those involved in container leasing, this incident presents some straightforward challenges worth accounting for. The disruption at the Ningbo Port, combined with pre-existing congestion at major Asian ports, will lead to a deterioration of ocean schedules and further delays in container availability,” Roeloffs said.
“Companies must brace for increased dwell times, potential re-routing of shipments, and a tightening of available container supplies, especially for hazardous and dangerous goods.”
The exchange advised shippers to evaluate alternative routes through other ports but to expect increased congestion at neighboring hubs.
Shippers should also plan for extended delays amid longer dwell times at major ports, and adjust inventory levels and delivery schedules accordingly.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 19:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/china-port-explosion-snarls-trans-pacific-container-trade
"Would It Kill You Guys?" CNN Gets Confrontational With Harris SPOX For Avoiding Interviews, Press Conferences
"Would It Kill You Guys?" CNN Gets Confrontational With Harris SPOX For Avoiding Interviews, Press Conferences
The Harris campaign's 'hide Kamala' strategy may be working from a polling perspective - but it's gone on so long that even CNN is getting annoyed.
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"Would it kill you guys to have a press conference?" asked the network's Jim Acosta (of 'shouting at Trump' fame) during an interview with Harris communications director Michael Tyler.
"I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn't she had a press conference?"
To which Tyler laughed sheepishly and pivoted to robotic talking points about Harris and running mate Tim Walz being "busy" traveling around the country to multiple (teleprompter) campaign rallies.
"Michael, you know a campaign really isn't really a press conference," Acosta pushed back. "Why hasn't she had a press conference? She's the vice president, she can handle the questions, why not do it?"
Tyler said Harris will sit down for a one-on-one interview before the end of the month, which Acosta said was "not a lot," adding "can you commit to a press conference by the end of the month?"
Tyler once again deflected - saying "We will commit to directly engage with the voters who are actually going to decide this election, and that is going to be complete with rallies, with sit-down interviews, with press conferences, with all the digital assets that we have at our disposal."
Watch:
From Trump War Room https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
:
CNN: "Would it kill you guys to have a press conference?"
HARRIS SPOX: Kamala holds rallies so she can read from her teleprompter!
CNN: "A campaign rally is not a press conference."
HARRIS SPOX: "We're gonna be having a sit-down interview… https://t.co/7yvbXG0Ubp
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1823735404547465559?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
CNN's John Berman also pressed a Harris campaign spox over the VP's lack of media presence.
"The reason I was asking you about today is because it seems like she has time if she wanted to do an interview with a member of the media or do a news conference, correct? There does appear to be that time, if she wanted," said Berman - to which Harris campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod repeated Tyler's talking point that Harris and Walz are bringing their message directly to voters.
"She hit a number of battleground states. I think we had 15,000 people in Detroit last week, 12 to 13,000 in Nevada. She’s been taking her message to the voters and drawing large crowds. So she’s actually having those direct conversations," said Elrod - before Berman cut her off.
"But not today — all I’m saying is not today. She could do an interview today, I would think, you know, because she’s not out there today," said the CNN host.
JUST IN: CNN asks Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod (https://twitter.com/adrienneelrod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) https://twitter.com/simonateba/status/1823363657826238968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, Trump did a lengthy press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week and had a https://www.zerohedge.com/political/x-conversation-between-musk-and-trump-generates-over-billion-views
with Elon Musk - something Harris clearly couldn't pull off because her biggest liability, like Biden, is her brain.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 18:50
45% Of Bitcoin Supply Has Not Moved In 6 Months
45% Of Bitcoin Supply Has Not Moved In 6 Months
By William Suberg of https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-supply-not-moved-6-months-research
Nearly half the available Bitcoin supply has not moved in the past six months, onchain data confirms. In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “https://insights.glassnode.com/the-week-onchain-week-33-2024/
,” analytics firm Glassnode shows investors did not “sell the top” on BTC.
Bitcoin hodlers double down on reaccumulation
Bitcoin may have put in a new all-time high some five months ago, but a large section of the BTC investor base continues to double down on its holdings.
Analyzing the realized cap HODL waves indicator, Glassnode reveals that just over 45% of all bitcoins have remained dormant in their wallets for at least the past half a year.
Despite the record highs and subsequent volatility, a considerable swath of market participants prefer to do nothing.
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Long-term holders (LTHs) — entities hodling coins for at least 155 days — distributed to the market both leading up to the all-time high and later on.
“We can also assess the 7-day change in LTH supply as a tool to assess rates of change in their aggregate balance. We can see substantial LTH distribution, typical of macro topping formations, into the March ATH,” Glassnode explains.
“Fewer than 1.7% of trading days have ever recording a larger distribution pressure. More recently, this metric has returned to positive territory, indicating that the LTH cohort are expressing a preference for holding onto their coins.”
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That theme speaks to what “The Week Onchain” describes as “a notable slow-down in the distribution pressure by LTHs.”
“This has led to the percentage of network wealth held by this cohort to firstly stabilize, and then recommence growing,” it continues.
“Despite the substantial sell-side pressure by LTHs into the market ATH, wealth held by longer-term investors remains historically elevated when compared to previous all time high breakouts.”
BTC sell-off angst pervades market mood
As Cointelegraph continues to report, sell-side pressure is never far from traders’ minds this month.
After the mass sell-off at the start of August, concerns of a https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-price-chart-bitcoin-match-49-5-k-lows-days
.
Recent fluctuations in the https://cointelegraph.com/news/more-extreme-fear-ftx-crash-5-things-bitcoin-this-week
underscore the uncertainty currently running through crypto as a whole.
Countering this is optimism over global liquidity, with some perspectives seeing crypto benefiting from a move toward https://cointelegraph.com/explained/impact-of-fed-interest-rates-on-crypto-holders
.
“Global money supply is exploding up. Plus we just broke out of a massive 4 year consolidation,” Charles Charles Edwards, the founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, https://x.com/caprioleio/status/1823346927712567631
on X this week.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/45-bitcoin-supply-has-not-moved-6-months
WHO Declares Monkeypox "Global Health Emergency" - Again
WHO Declares Monkeypox "Global Health Emergency" - Again
Just when we thought we had the monkeypox menace whipped, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared an African outbreak of mpox (renamed so as not to offend monkeys, apparently), a new public health emergency.
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The UN agency's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the declaration in Geneva after accepting a recommendation from WHO's emergency committee.
notes further, Tedros said there have already been more than 14,000 reported cases and 524 reported deaths in Africa this year, a jump from last year. He also pointed to the emergence of a new mpox strain, or clade, which he described as worrying.
“In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of mpox in other parts of Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” Tedros said at a briefing.
Mpox is a virus that occurs in animals and humans. Mpox can spread between people and causes an illness that typically manifests with a rash and resolves in a few weeks. But some cases can lead to death.
Mpox has predominately affected men who have sex with other men.
A public health emergency of international concern, or global health emergency, is the highest level of alarm the WHO can convey.
It’s declared for extraordinary events deemed to constitute a public health risk to countries through the international spread of disease.
COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern in 2020.
That declaration ended in 2023 after the number of cases dropped considerably.
And as https://off-guardian.org/2024/08/14/who-declares-monkeypox-a-global-emergency-again/
.
In truth, it was a narrative that flapped its little wings as hard as it could but never got off the ground.
They tried to label it as “the same level as leprosy and the plague”, they did the trick with the PCR tests, and they https://off-guardian.org/2022/05/24/the-nhs-just-edited-their-monkeypox-page-to-make-it-scarier/
.
They followed the https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/08/monkeypox-is-following-the-covid-playbook-step-by-step/
…none of it worked.
In the end it just sort of fizzled away.
But now it’s back. This time https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/16/the-who-is-changing-the-name-monkeypox-is-it-really-because-of-racism/
.
There’s some talk of clades and variants and whatnot, but we’re all too familiar with this dance now to let a costume change distract from the same old routine.
We know what’s going on.
The only questions worth asking are “why now?” and “what next?”
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 18:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/who-declares-monkeypox-global-health-emergency-again