CHICAGO PASTOR OFFERS APOLOGY FOR THE WAY HE CONDUCTED SAME-SEX BLESSING
You may remember this story from a couple weeks ago: A priest in Chicago last month blessed a same-sex couple,
Authored by Alfredo Ortiz via RealClearPolicy,
The specter of stagflation has returned. On April 25th, The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that GDP only grew by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year, well below expectations.
Consumer spending on goods actually declined in the quarter as ordinary Americans are financially tapped out. The report also showed inflation remains stubbornly high, continuing a recent trend of resurgent inflation running about twice the Federal Reserve's target rate.
American small businesses are the biggest victims of the stagflationary economy, which is being weighed down by big government policies. This was the most important storyline coming out of this Month’s National Small Business Week.
President Biden is claiming a small business "boom" under his administration. The reality is entrepreneurs grapple with a triple threat: a decelerating economy, soaring inflation, and escalating credit expenses due to his bad policies.
American consumers have a record $1.2 trillion of credit card debt. They are experiencing declining real wages and face a cost-of-living crisis. They can't afford to keep up their discretionary spending, which small businesses rely on to survive and thrive.
It now costs the average American family $12,000 more to enjoy the same living standards as before President Biden took office.
Since Biden's inauguration, wholesale costs for small businesses have risen by 20%. To maintain their slim profit margins, entrepreneurs are forced to raise prices, alienating loyal customers and reducing demand. Commentators and the media don't understand that there's only so much customers are willing to pay for nonessential goods and services.
To contend with outrageous inflation, the Fed raised interest rates to a 22-year high. High credit costs have dried up access to capital, making it impossible or prohibitively expensive for small businesses to expand or even continue operating.
The Fed was supposed to start cutting interest rates soon, but as I predicted, given resurgent inflation, they have no other choice but to maintain today's elevated levels, continuing the credit crunch.
Given these headwinds, it's no surprise that Job Creators Network's national poll of small businesses finds two-thirds of respondents say the current economic climate may force them to close their doors. Most businesses say the price hikes they are facing are more than the official inflation numbers suggest. One-third say elevated neighborhood crime is reducing their earnings. Small businesses are whimpering, not booming.
Coverage of National Small Business Week was no surprise – the mainstream media refuses to admit that big government policies are why small businesses are suffering. Consider the reckless spending fueling inflation's fire. The annual deficit is on track to surpass $2 trillion this year, and the nation adds another $1 trillion to the national debt every three months. This money printing is rapidly devaluing the value of the dollar, hurting small businesses and consumers.
The Biden administration is also in the midst of a regulatory onslaught that's hitting small businesses hard. It recently issued rules expanding overtime pay, banning noncompete contracts, mandating electric vehicle use, and regulating internet access. According to the American Action Forum, the Biden administration has issued more than $1 trillion of regulations – 30 times more than under President Trump.
Biden's biggest threat to small businesses is still to come. He recently promised that if he's reelected, he will dramatically raise taxes on small businesses by letting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire in 2025 as scheduled. That means small businesses would face a 20% tax hike, the end of bonus depreciation, and higher tax brackets on their earnings. This massive tax hike would throw today's stagflationary economy into recession.
Here's the real message of National Small Business Week: Biden and Democrats are waging a war on small businesses that won't end until they've been voted out of office.
Alfredo Ortiz is CEO of Job Creators Network, author of "The Real Race Revolutionaries," and co-host of the Main Street Matters podcast.
From the Deacon’s Bench:
You may remember this story from a couple weeks ago: A priest in Chicago last month blessed a same-sex couple,
Thanks to Joe Biden’s politicized Justice Department, a pro-life advocate will spend the next five years in a federal prison for protesting abortion.
If Lauren Handy was an environmental activist or a leftist supporting Hamas, her sit-in at an abortion business would have earned her a misdemeanor charge and maybe a small fine. But because she is a pro-life advocate protesting abortion, the Biden administration used the FACE Act to prosecute her for supposedly blocking access to abortion.
Even though the law, which abrogates the free speech rights of pro-life Americans, has rarely been used, the Biden administration pushed for putting several pro-life advocates in prison for over a decade for protesting abortion. Biden officials misused the law to push for the highest penalties, reserved for violent and criminal behavior, to prosecute peaceful pro-life Americans who merely exercised their free speech rights.
Today, Biden got what he wished for as Handy has been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison and three years probation under the FACE Act for peaceful civil disobedience.
Handy, a Catholic, is a well-known pro-life voice on the political left. She was the primary organizer and leader of the peaceful protest sponsored by Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising that led to the ongoing court cases.
In a statement before the ruling, Handy shed some perspective on being jailed for her pro-life activism.
“It has been close to 9 months since I was abruptly ripped from my community. This has led me to think long and hard on what to say about my sentencing today in federal court. Some drafts were angry and righteous while most were just a tearstained longing for my loved ones back home. Yes, this time has been challenging but I refuse to be jaded. Why? Because life goes on… even in jail. So I might as well continue to love and cry and scream and dance. That is joy. The feeling of being fully alive without shame. Which is something no court can take from me. So today, I am at peace with myself and my future. I will go into court with my head held high and my heart open.”
PAAU condmned the ruling today, telling LifeNews that Handy has been wrongly sentenced to 4 years & 9 months in federal prison for an act of peaceful civil disobedience to prevent federal crimes such as partial birth abortion and infanticide.
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Caroline Smith, Executive Director of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising said, “The abortion industry wants to scare, intimidate, fear-monger, and isolate us. But what they don’t know is we have a radical hope that goes beyond the concrete walls of both prisons and abortuaries. I believe the oppression that the DOJ is expressing right now will absolutely backfire on them in the near future. Oppression always backfires, especially when your motivation is blood money. Abortion is murder, and fetuses are people, and nothing will stop Rescue.”
PAAU Founder Terrisa Bukovinac said “Today the Biden Administration and Merrick Garland’s DOJ have reached a new level of tyranny. There is no other social justice movement in our nation who’s activists are subject to years in federal prison for nonviolent resistance. This blatant viewpoint discrimination has incalculable consequences for babies, their parents, those who defend them, and for peaceful activists across movements worldwide. I continue to stand by Lauren and the other 8 defendants who risked their freedoms to stand in defense of the least of us.”
A total of 10 pro-life advocate face the federal criminal charges after they were arrested and indicted for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) in 2020 at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, DC. That’s a late-term abortion facility suspected of breaking federal law by performing partial birth abortions and illegally allowing babies born aluive after failed abortions to die.
The defendants – often called “rescuers” by fellow members of the pro-life movement – partook in a 2020 peaceful protest against a notorious Washington, D.C. abortuary that performed late-term abortions.
Last year, all nine were found guilty of violating the controversial Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. They each face a sentence of up to 11 years in federal prison. The FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act prohibits individuals from attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere (by use of force, threat of force, or physical obstruction) with anyone obtaining or performing an abortion.
The indictment in the case says that on Oct. 22, 2020, 10 individuals “conspired with one another and with others known and unknown to obstruct access” to the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C.
“It was the purpose of the conspiracy to create a blockade to stop the clinic from providing and patients from obtaining reproductive health services,” the indictment alleges. The indictment says the defendants used “deception” to gain access to the clinic, used “force” to enter, and barricaded themselves inside with “ropes and chains.”
A video of the rescue shows the pro-life advocates praying and singing inside the abortion facility and refusing to leave so abortions could end the lives of unborn children.
Stephen Crampton, senior counsel for the nonprofit legal firm Thomas More Society, says the cases are clearly political persecution.
“They waited a year and a half to file this action,” Crampton said. “If indeed this was some sort of dire offense and the defendants ought to be incarcerated, why in the world, does the government wait a year and a half to file the charges?”
“The climate activists were out there [in D.C.] gluing their hands to the streets, shutting down traffic and everything, you think there’s any chance the feds are going to prosecute those people or try to put them in prison for 11 years?” he asked.
He also told Fox News that finding a fair jury was practically impossible considering that D.C. is the “most pro-abortion city in America.”
The pro-lifers on trial conducted a rescue at the Washington Surgi-Clinic operated by the notorious late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo who was busted by a LiveAction undercover investigator for admitting that he would not help a child with life-saving efforts if he or she survived a late-term abortion. He emphatically stated that a nearby hospital’s efforts to save the life of a child he was trying to abort was “the stupidest thing they could have done.”
Lauren Handy and Herb Geraghty cited those videos as the reason for the rescue and protest at the abortion business because of the concern babies might be left to die. They chained themselves to the entrace of the abortion center in an attempt to stop abortions.
A pro-life advocate says the charges are wrong because the protests were non-violent.
Caroline Taylor Smith, executive director of PAAU told LifeNews, “This overreaching of power and authority by Biden’s DOJ is egregious and must be stopped. Nonviolent prolife actions should not be a federal crime, and peaceful people with a desire to save lives should not be jailed for over a decade. Some of these Rescuers could be facing death by incarceration. We must repeal the FACE Act now!”
Jonathan Darnel, one of the four pro-life Americans Biden is targeting in this second trial, plead not guilty to the charges.
“I am definitely not guilty of the charges leveled against me, which is rather ironic that I should find myself in this position,” Darnel told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Nevertheless, if a jury finds me guilty of FACE even erroneously, it would be an honor because the kids are worthy of protection.”
Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotely a Clinton nominee, is presiding over the hearings, which are slated to take place at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia just a few blocks from the U.S. Supreme Court. John Hinshaw and Will Goodman also face sentencing today. The sentencings will continue on Wednesday, May 15, with Herb (born Rosemary) Geraghty at 9:00 a.m., Jonathan Darnel at 11:00 a.m., Jean Marshall at 1:30 p.m., and Joan Andrews Bell at 3:00 p.m. On Friday, May 17, the judge is scheduled to sentence Heather Idoni at 9:30 a.m.
Kollar-Kotely was also originally going to sentence the final defendant, Paulette Harlow, on Friday. However, Harlow’s sentencing was postponed until two weeks later on Friday, May 31, at 1:30 p.m.
Last year, former President Donald Trump promised to support “political prisoners” if he’s elected president. During the Family Research Council’s “Pray, Vote, Stand Summit” in Washington, D.C., Trump vowed to get innocent Americans out of jail for standing up for their beliefs while criminals run rampant.
“I am announcing that the moment I win the election, I will appoint a special task force to rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who has been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration,” Trump said.
Trump referenced the convictions of pro-life advocates who now face as many as 11 years in prison for rescuing babies from abortions at a late-term abortion business in Washington D.C.
“If we stand together in this fight, we’re going to defeat Crooked Joe Biden; if he runs — will he make it to the starting gate?” Trump said.
The post Biden Gets Pro-Life Advocate Lauren Handy Thrown in Prison for 57 Months for Protesting Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.
By Michael Every of Rabobank
Ideally, I would have written this on May 4th not 14th, but I am going to talk Star Wars.
I was a fan in 1977, kept the flame alive when only battered VHS cassettes of the original trilogy existed, and was delighted to get prequels. Until the opening crawl announced, “The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.” I recall thinking, “This is my job - boring!” But the prequels were better than the sequels and all the TV shows I don’t watch. Indeed, the prequels’ clunky theme of democracy crumbling into autocracy, dispute over trade routes, then war, seems even more prescient than my 2016 ‘Thin Ice’ report, which underlined how the 21st century could echo the 20th, and our more detailed fragmented ‘World in 2030’ report in 2020.
In just the last week: the IMF warned the world risks splitting into walled-off FX/trade blocs; The Economist stated “The liberal international order is slowly coming apart,” with “a worrying number of triggers that could set off a descent into anarchy”; Germany flagged conscription for all 18-year olds and spending over 3% of GDP on defence; China introduced military training for all High School students; Biden raised tariffs on Chinese EVs to 102.5%, and Trump said he would make it 200%, with tariffs on used cooking oil likely next; Bloomberg warned “The US, China, Russia are in a spiral towards war”; the manager of the Hong Kong trade office in London was arrested for spying; and, as some underline Russia has shifted to a full war economy that incentivises the martial, my prediction that markets will serve national security going forwards came true in Putin firing his defence minister to appoint an economist to the role instead.
Moreover, former US Trade Representative and potential Trump Treasury Secretary Lighthizer (or Lightsabre, having been advised by the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Godley balance sheets, Michael Pettis) argued the US --and all countries save those with natural advantages-- should, over time, run balanced trade where they export only in order to import rather than to accumulate trade surpluses. He believes, correctly, that comparative advantage is movable via industrial policy and FDI, which Ricardo assumed could never happen in his free trade theory.
Lighthizer/sabre says tariffs are not the best single way to achieve this; a weaker dollar to do so would require interfering with the Fed to slash rates, which he’s not enthusiastic about – though Trump may be; and the bluntest method --a certificate of export needed to purchase an import-- is incompatible with a free economy; so that leaves capital controls and/or hefty taxation on capital inflows into US assets to prevent foreign parties parking dollars earned from trade there. Logically, if you remove the capital account inflow, the current account outflow (i.e., the trade deficit) also disappears.
Such an outcome is a proton torpedo down the global-trade-and-market Death Star’s exhaust shaft. If the US runs balanced trade, the flow of dollars to the offshore Eurodollar system grinds to a halt. Those tens of trillions of debts will need to be serviced with the 7-ish trillion of dollar FX reserves, or new *offshore* credit, or Fed swap-lines, granting it new Force powers. FX would swing wildly (as some already call dollar strength vs. EM “sinister”). Global supply chains would be up-ended from the Light to the Dark side. Current practices in financial markets would naturally blow up. And all of this is advocated by a former USTR --a role selling more free trade to the world until 2016-- because it’s the only logical way for the US exit a global system that is weakening it in many fundamental regards, even if a few prosper mightily from it.
Padmé Amidala bewails in one of the Star Wars prequels, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause,” and there is a lot of that happening too. But so far neoliberal market liberty dies to thunderous snores. The vast majority working in markets are paying no attention to this global backdrop at all. Which brings me back to Star Wars again in a different sense.
There is an 18-year movie-time chronological gap between the last Star Wars prequel and the first Star Wars from 1977. In that short timeframe, everyone in the galaxy who’d witnessed Jedis running round performing miracles for much of their lives forgot what lightsabres and Jedi were. That much is clear from Han Solo’s dismissive comments about the Force to Luke Skywalker in Episode IV. I had always thought that was just bad scriptwriting.
However, perhaps everyone in Star Wars knew what a Jedi was, but didn’t want to lose their jobs: likewise, the systemic risks to markets in our global backdrop are not fit for polite conversation among central banks and their watchers. These aren’t the droids (or trades) you are looking for. Move along.
Or, maybe people forgot because nobody in Star Wars reads. People in the movies look at screens, but you never see a book except the Jedi Scrolls, of which even Yoda says, “page-turners, they are not.” The Star Wars universe is thus post-literate, which would explain why a population sending real-time holograms across the galaxy are unable to remember something important that happened very recently. Today, financial markets are also full of screens, but rarely books. They have all information possible, but nobody can remember classical economics, or what happened last month, let alone 18 years ago. Where was Fed Funds in 2006? What was happening in markets? What did the Republic look like? Were there disputes over the taxation of trade routes? Were Jedi strolling around? “Who knows? I’m buying all the things!”
Indeed, GameStop looks like it’s going to happen again, for those who can’t recall how it ended last time; “May the Market Forces be with you” – until you are manipulated by a hidden Sith somewhere. Moreover, the Aussie budget yesterday had much lower government inflation forecasts than the RBA’s Statement on Monetary Policy just before it - so, ‘rate cuts are coming!’ again. Of course, this political Jedi mind trick suggests we are about to get more subsidies for consumers to artificially depress some elements of CPI while actually juicing the economy: as always on fighting inflation, it is “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
To conclude, a long time ago on a trading floor far, far away I was asked for my simplest forecast for our future: I said in the best case, Star Trek --united mankind working together-- and in the worst case, Star Wars. And here we are.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” to put it mildly. So do the IMF, The Economist, some at Bloomberg, the German defence minister, and Xi Jinping.
Gordon Friesen
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Gordon Friesen
President, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Previous articles by Gordon Friesen:
Tuberous sclerosis complex. Most people have never heard of this rare medical condition.
Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), also known as tuberous sclerosis, is a rare genetic disease that causes non-cancerous (benign) tumors to grow in the brain and several areas of the body, including the spinal cord, nerves, eyes, lung, heart, kidneys, and skin.
The excess cells form noncancerous tumors, which can form anywhere in your body. The severity of this condition often depends on tumor locations. Mild or moderate cases are often manageable with medication or other treatments.
After Elizabeth Brown’s son, Beckett, was diagnosed with the condition, and knowing the medical challenges he faces, when Elizabth and her husband found out they were having another baby, their doctor did what so many doctors have when a baby has a potential disability or medical condition: suggested abortion. Surely they didn’t want another baby with the same medical diagnosis, so killing the baby must be the right answer?
Wrong.
“The geneticist sat me down; my stepmother-in-law was with me. The geneticist said, ‘So I just wanted to know what options you were thinking if this baby has TSC. A lot of the other couples, when they find out their child may have a genetic condition like Down syndrome or TSC or some other condition they can’t medically help, sometimes they consider terminating the pregnancy.’ I said, ‘Absolutely not. I have a baby with TSC at home and he’s absolutely perfect. I can’t believe you would ask me that,’” said Elizabeth.
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The geneticist said it was an internal policy to ask, meaning the medical establishment or hospital system requires that doctors talk to parents about aborting their baby after they receive a diagnosis or even if there is the possibility of a diagnosis.
Elizabeth told the doctor never to ask that question again. When she returned to the MFM for an ultrasound at 20 weeks, the doctor asked if she had received her blood test results yet, and when Elizabeth said that she hadn’t, the doctor began to talk about how “complex” TSC is and asked if she had “thought about any options.”
“I said, ‘Are you talking about me killing my baby?’ And he said, ‘Yes, terminating the pregnancy.’ I said, ‘You mean killing my baby. My husband and my son are perfect and have TSC.’ I was so shocked and saddened.”
This story is another reminder that we have to train doctors and medical professionals to value life.
LifeNews Note: Photo couresty of Elizabeth Brown via LiveAction.
The post Couple Refuses Doctor’s Suggestion to Have Abortion Just Because Their Son Had a Rare Diagnosis appeared first on LifeNews.com.
The couple’s foundation could face fines or a suspension from the registry
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could face fines and see their charity foundation suspended after it was found “delinquent” by US authorities, it was reported on Tuesday.
A notice sent by California’s Department of Justice on May 3 said the Archewell foundation is “listed as delinquent” for “failing to submit required annual report(s) and/or renewal fees.”
According to US authorities, state records show that the foundation’s last renewal was in May 2023 and that it has officially been marked delinquent, meaning the charity cannot raise money.
“An organization that is listed as delinquent is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds,” the letter from California’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers warned. The foundation’s registration may be “suspended or revoked,” the document added.
The couple insisted all the charity documents were filed on time, but that the required check was lost in the mail and has since been resubmitted, the BBC reported, citing a source close to Archewell.
“A new check has been mailed and we anticipate that this will be quickly resolved and reflected in records within seven business days,” the source noted.
Read more MMA star Khabib has accounts blocked over $3 million tax debt – mediaNews of the filing came as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent three days in Nigeria, where they were seen visiting schools, playing sports, and announcing an expansion of charitable partnerships.
The Archewell Foundation charity was established by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, and was named in honor of their son Archie, now aged five. It has backed projects ranging from helping Afghan women in the US to tackling misinformation.
Other funded projects included $200,000 for a “gender justice” project in Washington, $125,000 for a civil-rights charity, and $100,000 for a project promoting responsible use of technology, the BBC said, citing Archewell’s financial filings.
The couple launched the charity in 2020 after they stepped down from their duties as senior members of the royal family and left London for Los Angeles.
The foundation says its mission is to “show up, do good,” adding: “We meet the moment by showing up, taking action and using our unparalleled spotlight to uplift and unite communities – local and global – through acts of service and compassion.”
The couple’s foundation could face fines or a suspension from the registry
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could face fines and see their charity foundation suspended after it was found “delinquent” by US authorities, it was reported on Tuesday.
A notice sent by California’s Department of Justice on May 3 said the Archewell foundation is “listed as delinquent” for “failing to submit required annual report(s) and/or renewal fees.”
According to US authorities, state records show that the foundation’s last renewal was in May 2023 and that it has officially been marked delinquent, meaning the charity cannot raise money.
“An organization that is listed as delinquent is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds,” the letter from California’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers warned. The foundation’s registration may be “suspended or revoked,” the document added.
The couple insisted all the charity documents were filed on time, but that the required check was lost in the mail and has since been resubmitted, the BBC reported, citing a source close to Archewell.
“A new check has been mailed and we anticipate that this will be quickly resolved and reflected in records within seven business days,” the source noted.
Read more MMA star Khabib has accounts blocked over $3 million tax debt – mediaNews of the filing came as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent three days in Nigeria, where they were seen visiting schools, playing sports, and announcing an expansion of charitable partnerships.
The Archewell Foundation charity was established by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, and was named in honor of their son Archie, now aged five. It has backed projects ranging from helping Afghan women in the US to tackling misinformation.
Other funded projects included $200,000 for a “gender justice” project in Washington, $125,000 for a civil-rights charity, and $100,000 for a project promoting responsible use of technology, the BBC said, citing Archewell’s financial filings.
The couple launched the charity in 2020 after they stepped down from their duties as senior members of the royal family and left London for Los Angeles.
The foundation says its mission is to “show up, do good,” adding: “We meet the moment by showing up, taking action and using our unparalleled spotlight to uplift and unite communities – local and global – through acts of service and compassion.”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the first day of the examination of Michael Cohen. He is expected to start his cross examination today. How bad will it be? After lying to Congress, courts, banks, and most everyone else, it will be bad. Years ago, Cohen threatened a journalist and told him “what I’m going to do to you is going to be f—ing disgusting.” Well, that bad. On cross examination, Cohen faces a reckoning of biblical proportions.
Michael Cohen apparently wants a reality show but, if his testimony Monday is any indication, reality is about to sink in for not just Cohen but the prosecutors and the court.
In stoking interest in his own appearance, the former Trump counsel promised the public that they should be “prepared to be surprised.”
Thus far, however, Cohen has offered nothing new and, more importantly, nothing to make the case for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Just before he took the stand, the New York Post revealed that Cohen has been peddling a reality show called “The Fixer,” including working with Colin Whelan, who helped create “Joe Exotic: Tigers, Lies and Cover-Up.” Whelan appears interested to stay within that genre.
The Cohen pitch came with a cheesy promo video where he promised viewers, “I am your fixer.”
His first post-Trump client, Bragg, may have to disagree.
Cohen had only one advantage for Bragg: His notoriously flexible morals and ethics, which allows him to say most anything to support his sponsors.
With the prosecution’s case almost over, Bragg needed Cohen to clearly state that Trump intentionally committed fraud to conceal some still poorly defined crime.
The problem is that Cohen only confirmed that Trump knew he was going to pay for the nondisclosure agreement and that it would be buried before the election. None of that is unlawful.
On his reality show promo, Cohen tells viewers that he is now there to fix their problems because “the little guy doesn’t usually have access to people with my particular set of skills.”
Those skills seem to have escaped all of the witnesses who were compelled to work with him.
Witnesses detailed how Cohen was ridiculed as someone “prone to exaggeration” and unprofessional.
Former Trump associate Hope Hicks said that Cohen was constantly trying to insinuate himself into the campaign and that he “used to like to call himself Mister Fix It, but it was only because he first broke it.”
Cohen only succeeded in confirming that he put together this payment and advised Trump to go forward with it.
He assured him that it would effectively kill the story before the election.
None of that is illegal. The “Fix it man” assured Trump that he fixed it and now wants Trump to go to jail for following that advice.
In the course of that representation, Cohen also admitted to taping his client without his knowledge, a breathtaking breach of trust and confidentiality.
This is the man who, according to Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, expected to be Trump’s Attorney General.
Davidson said that Cohen was “depressed and despondent” and “I thought he was going to kill himself” when he realized that he would not be made a cabinet member.
Cohen contradicted Davidson and insisted that he only wanted to be Trump’s personal lawyer.
He also admitted that he was unaware that the publisher of National Enquirer, David Pecker, had long killed negative stories about Trump and other celebrities for decades.
Cohen has yet to fix the problem for Bragg.
More importantly, he has added to the problem for Judge Juan Merchan. Many of us have ridiculed this case as devoid of any criminal act.
Indeed, Merchan has allowed the prosecutors to proceed without clearly stating what crime was being concealed.
It is not even clear why paying one’s lawyer a lump sum for his services and costs (including the NDA payment) was not a “legal expense” or how it was supposed to be entered on a business ledger.
Absent a sudden epiphany in his final testimony on Tuesday, Merchan should rule in favor of a directed verdict — that is, throwing the case out before it goes to a jury. If he instead sends this farcical case to the jury, it is Merchan, not Cohen, who may have a better claim to a reality show as the ultimate “Fixer.”
A London court has charged three people with assisting an unnamed foreign intelligence service
Officials in Hong Kong and China have strongly denied claims of spying in Britain after a London court charged three men with assisting a foreign intelligence service on Monday.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee condemned the charges and called for the British authorities to provide full information about the arrests.
“Any attempt to make unwarranted allegations against the Hong Kong government is unacceptable,” Lee said at a regular press briefing, as quoted by Bloomberg.
Lee also appealed for fair treatment for one of the suspects who works for Hong Kong’s trade outpost in London.
The defendant, Bill Yuen Chung-biu, is the office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. The other suspects are Peter Wai, a dual British and Chinese national, who is a UK Border Force officer, and Matthew Trickett, a private investigator and former Royal Marine commando.
Read more UK MPs blame China for MOD data breach – mediaThe men were charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service between December 2023 and May 2024 by “agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception” in Britain, Reuters reported, citing the charges brought in court. The suspects face a maximum possible sentence of 14 years for each charge.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and a former British colony. The Chinese embassy in the UK also issued a statement on Monday condemning what it described as the “UK’s malicious fabrication and unwarranted accusation” against Hong Kong.
“The UK has staged a series of accusations against China, including those on ‘China spies’ and cyber-attacks,” the statement said, insisting the accusations are “groundless and slanderous.” China has also urged the UK to “stop spreading the so-call[ed] ‘China threat theory’ and end “political manipulation” against the country.
Read more Germans arrested on suspicion of spying for ChinaLast month, two British men were charged with spying for China and breaching the Official Secrets Act. According to police, Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher, “obtained, collected, recorded, published, or communicated” information that was determined to either be, or potentially be, “directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy.”
US President Joe Biden’s administration has also repeatedly accused China of state-backed hacking and cybercrime. The Five Eyes intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and US previously accused Beijing of intellectual property theft and of using artificial intelligence for hacking and spying against the nations in the group.
Hong Kong operates 14 economic and trade offices around the world. Their aim is to advance the city’s economic interests and promote foreign investment in Hong Kong.
Squeezed in between today's (hotter than expected) PPI and tomorrow's CPI, Fed Chair Jay Powell will join The ECB's Dutch Central Banker Klaus Knot at the annual general meeting of the Foreign Bankers' Association.
After PPI - and a wave of higher prices across various indicators - will Powell admit that he can now see the 'flation'?
...and if not, will he explain why he is so desperate to start cutting rates (before November?)...
Watch Powell speak live here (due to start at 10amET)... (FBA has blocked playback on all other sites except YouTube, so no embed: click on the image to link to the YouTube stream)...
Poland itself does not yet have the full system, President Andrzej Duda has said
Poland cannot give Ukraine any US-made Patriot missile systems because it does not have the full system for its own defense, Polish President Andrzej Duda reiterated on Tuesday. Kiev has been asking its Western backers to provide more long-range air defense systems to repel Russian strikes.
Poland has only just started receiving the first elements of the Patriot surface-to-air batteries that it ordered from the US seven years ago, Duda told Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Warsaw is currently in the process of building its own defense shield, part of which will be formed by the Patriot, he added.
“It’s difficult to say right now if we could be providing Patriot systems to Ukraine because, as a matter of fact, we still do not have the system in Poland, we do not have it complete to provide for our own defense,” Duda stated.
Ukraine earlier received several Patriot launchers, each of which costs more than $1 billion, from the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. The Financial Times reported in April that Kiev was lobbying Poland, Spain and Romania for batteries to be donated.
Read more US promises new Ukraine weapons will be game changer – mediaBoth Duda and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated last month that Poland didn’t have any Patriot missile systems available to donate to Ukraine.
Germany and Spain recently agreed to send additional batteries to Kiev. Greece ruled out a donation, and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said some members of his government were against the idea of sharing such weapons.
Poland has already donated $4 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, including more than 300 battle tanks and Soviet-designed MiG 29 fighter jets, Duda said on Tuesday.
Poland is modernizing its armed forces, and it must replace what it donated to Ukraine, he added. Warsaw spends 4% of its GDP on defense, which is higher than NATO´s 2.5% target.
The Polish leader reiterated the claim that if Russia is allowed to win in Ukraine, it will keep attacking, and may target other neighboring countries. The Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – have increasingly voiced fears that they could be next. That would be “a huge threat to the whole world,” Duda said.
READ MORE: Anti-Russia campaign money stolen in NATO state – media
Moscow has repeatedly dismissed such claims, insisting it has no intention of attacking any NATO country. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March that the idea that Moscow will attack some other country such as Poland, or the Baltic States was “complete nonsense” and “drivel.”
Moscow cited NATO’s expansion in Europe and its increasing presence in Ukraine as one of the key triggers of the current conflict.
Poland itself does not yet have the full system, President Andrzej Duda has said
Poland cannot give Ukraine any US-made Patriot missile systems because it does not have the full system for its own defense, Polish President Andrzej Duda reiterated on Tuesday. Kiev has been asking its Western backers to provide more long-range air defense systems to repel Russian strikes.
Poland has only just started receiving the first elements of the Patriot surface-to-air batteries that it ordered from the US seven years ago, Duda told Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Warsaw is currently in the process of building its own defense shield, part of which will be formed by the Patriot, he added.
“It’s difficult to say right now if we could be providing Patriot systems to Ukraine because, as a matter of fact, we still do not have the system in Poland, we do not have it complete to provide for our own defense,” Duda stated.
Ukraine earlier received several Patriot launchers, each of which costs more than $1 billion, from the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. The Financial Times reported in April that Kiev was lobbying Poland, Spain and Romania for batteries to be donated.
Read more US promises new Ukraine weapons will be game changer – mediaBoth Duda and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated last month that Poland didn’t have any Patriot missile systems available to donate to Ukraine.
Germany and Spain recently agreed to send additional batteries to Kiev. Greece ruled out a donation, and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said some members of his government were against the idea of sharing such weapons.
Poland has already donated $4 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, including more than 300 battle tanks and Soviet-designed MiG 29 fighter jets, Duda said on Tuesday.
Poland is modernizing its armed forces, and it must replace what it donated to Ukraine, he added. Warsaw spends 4% of its GDP on defense, which is higher than NATO´s 2.5% target.
The Polish leader reiterated the claim that if Russia is allowed to win in Ukraine, it will keep attacking, and may target other neighboring countries. The Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – have increasingly voiced fears that they could be next. That would be “a huge threat to the whole world,” Duda said.
READ MORE: Anti-Russia campaign money stolen in NATO state – media
Moscow has repeatedly dismissed such claims, insisting it has no intention of attacking any NATO country. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March that the idea that Moscow will attack some other country such as Poland, or the Baltic States was “complete nonsense” and “drivel.”
Moscow cited NATO’s expansion in Europe and its increasing presence in Ukraine as one of the key triggers of the current conflict.
Abortion supporters nationwide make contradictory statements daily. Usually, it sounds something like this:
Life is valuable – except in the womb.
It’s ok to kill a preborn child up until nine months, but when it’s born, then it can’t be killed.
It’s a baby when they want it to be – otherwise, it’s a “fetus.”
It’s more startling and concerning when trained medical professionals not only accept contradictory statements such as these but go directly against the oaths they vowed to take. The heart of the Hippocratic Oath is to “abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm.”
Or, a similar phrase stated by Thomas Inman, says more descriptively, “Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient.”
Some medical personnel threw away their morals, along with dignity for all patients – born and preborn. Illinois’ biggest pro-abortion lobbying group, “Personal PAC,” held a fundraiser in downtown Chicago in Dearborn for “Doctors for Choice.” Students for Life of America (SFLA) mobilized alongside the Pro-Life Action League of Illinois to protest the event and showcase to the community the horror of abortion.
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With Illinois being one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation, this pro-abortion PAC needs public disapproval, not more funding. They have already wreaked havoc on life, having funded the Reproductive Health Act, which made abortion legal through nine months, and helped repeal the Parental Notification Act, which allows abortionists to perform abortions on minors without parental consent or notice. Not to mention, women from neighboring states travel through Illinois borders to obtain an abortion. With more funding, this PAC could do even more damage in Illinois.
“Chicagoans deserve to know what is happening in their city and how lives are legally being ended through abortion in their city and state,” stated Shawna Weber, SFLA’s upper Midwest regional coordinator. “Continued funding for abortions in this state is devastating news for everyone. When the abortionists get more money, they use it to end more lives and wreak more havoc on the pro-life movement in the state.”
“As a young pro-life activist, it is essential that we disrupt the corrupt abortion industry that does not care about women but wants to kill children,” says Sarah Carter, a recent graduate and an SFLA alumni at Wheaton College. “Healthcare is supposed to heal, not kill.”
We exposed Chicagoans to the messaging about what was happening inside Dearborn – death and destruction from doctors who are supposed to protect. While we received both positive and negative feedback, overall, we were able to mobilize with other pro-lifers on such a crucial issue for the state.
“Doctors for Choice” is an oxymoron. Women in Chicago, neighboring states, and nationwide deserve doctors who inform and take their oath to protect life seriously.
LifeNews Note: Jordan Estabrook graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and serves the Pro-Life Generation as a press specialist and online editor. She writes for the Students for Life blog.
The post Pro-Life Advocates Protest Event for Pro-Abortion “Doctors” appeared first on LifeNews.com.
A US Army officer has resigned from his post at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to protest Washington's "nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel" -- support that's facilitated "the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians." Mann describes himself as a "descendent of European Jews" who was raised to be "particularly unforgiving" where "responsibility for ethnic cleansing" is concerned.
When Major Harrison Mann left DIA in April, he sent a two-page letter to a group of his colleagues there, saying he felt they were owed an explanation for his "relatively abrupt departure." On Monday, Mann shared the letter with the public, via a post to his LinkedIn page.
Army Major Harrison Mann condemned "unqualified" US government support of the State of Israel (LinkedIn)His post targets others in government who are feeling morally conflicted by performing duties that support the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rampage in Gaza. The apparent catalyst for going public now: the start of IDF attacks on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge after being forced to evacuate other areas of the 25-mile-long strip.
"I cannot justify staying silent any longer...It is clear that this week, some of you will still be asked to provide support -- directly or indirectly -- to the Israeli military as it conducts operations into Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza...I am sharing [my letter] now in the hope that you too will discover you are not alone, you are not voiceless, and you are not powerless.
In the April letter explaining his departure, Mann describes how his growing misgivings grew as the IDF's retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel continued, with US government help:
"Each of us signed up to serve knowing we might have to support policies that we weren't fully convinced of. Our defense institutions couldn't function otherwise. However, at some point it became difficult to justify the outcomes of this particular policy. At some point -- whatever the justification -- you're either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you're not."
A malnourished 6-year-old being treated at a field hospital in Rafah, Gaza (via Human Rights Watch)In April, UNICEF said one in three Gaza children under two years old are acutely malnourished. When Israel began retaliating after Oct. 7, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared, "I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly."
Mann described how imagery emanating from Gaza made him feel increasingly guilty about the DIA's role in "directly execut[ing] policy" that supported the IDF-inflicted mass misery:
"The nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel...has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians...The past months have presented us with the most horrific and heartbreaking images imaginable -- sometimes playing on the news in our own spaces -- and I have been unable to ignore connection between those images and my duties here. This has caused me incredible shame and guilt."
The IDF has unleashed mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, as seen here in the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital (France24)The William & Mary graduate said he'd hoped for a quick end to the war. As it continued, he tried to rationalize his continued service to the DIA and, by extension, the IDF:
I told myself my individual contribution was minimal, and that if I didn't do my job, someone else would, so why cause a stir for nothing? I told myself I don't make policy and it's not my place to question it. Above all, I was afraid. Afraid of violating our professional norms. Afraid of disappointing officers I respect. Afraid you would feel betrayed.
Mann said his resignation was ultimately sparked by "moral injury" -- a term that Syracuse University's Moral Injury Project defines as "damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct." Moral injury is considered to be one factor contributing to the high rate of suicide observed in military veterans.
Mann also explained how his upbringing affected his moral calculus:
"As the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing — my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany — where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ and the inadequacy of ‘just following orders’ were oft repeated.
I am haunted by the knowledge that I have failed those principles. But I also have hope that my grandfather would afford me some grace; that he would still be proud of me for stepping away from this war, however belatedly."
In addition to objecting to Israel's mass harm to civilians, Mann noted that "[America's] unconditional support also encourages reckless escalation that risks wider war.” Mann was originally commissioned as an infantry officer and later became a foreign area officer focused on the Middle East. Along the way, he earned a master of public administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.
The Red Crescent said six Palestinians were killed when the IDF bombed this ambulance in January; Israel denied responsibility (ABC Australia)Mann's resignation-in-protest strikes us as much better and more effective choice than the one made by Air Force Airman Aaron Bushnell, who fatally self-immolated at the Israeli embassy in Washington. In another high-profile resignation, the State Department's Josh Paul in October quit his job in a role that supported arms transfers to Israel. Speaking at Amherst, he cited the lack of consideration for the consequences: “[There was] no interest in debating: Are the weapons that we are providing going to be used appropriately? … Should we be having conversations with the government of Israel about what they're doing?”
According to the latest estimates reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 34,000 Palestinians have died since Oct. 7. Of the identified dead, 32% are children and 20% are women. In April, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson collaborated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to push through another $14.3 billion in aid to the State of Israel.
Mann said that after distributing his letter to his DIA colleagues in April, he received "an unexpected outpouring of support." As his protest now reaches a far larger audience, some may say this Army officer should have just kept following orders and serving as a cog in the empire's machine, keeping his concerns about America's unqualified support of Israel to himself. Safe to say that George Washington would think otherwise.
Franciscan University of Steubenville on Saturday celebrated its 76th commencement exercises, sending out nearly 900 students who heard Catholic U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito urge them to “go out boldly,” but also warn that the freedoms of speech and religion are seriously endangered in our current culture.
In his commencement address, Alito told the graduating class – which broke a record for the largest in the school’s history for a fourth consecutive year – to leave Franciscan ready to “engage the world,” while still acknowledging that it’s “rough out there,” and “probably rougher … now that it has been for quite some time.”
Franciscan University President Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR ’89, introduced Alito, who received an honorary doctorate in Christian ethics “for his decades of exemplary public service and tireless efforts to protect and uphold justice and the rule of law.”
Pivonka first cited the associate justice’s majority opinion in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014), which upheld religious freedom. A lengthy standing ovation for Alito erupted next when Pivonka cited his majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), which held the United States Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
During his address, the Supreme Court justice focused primarily on the Constitution, referring to it as “the source that has formed the backbone of my work as a judge for the past 30 years.”
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“I believe that our Constitution could not have endured, and could not have provided the framework for our country’s growth, if it did not rest on a deep understanding of human nature and human behavior,” he said.
He highlighted some of the lessons “the Constitution teaches us” – lessons that apply to everyday life. The first of these, he noted, is “the need to be rigorous and disciplined in identifying the things that are most fundamental.”
“A striking feature of our Constitution is its brevity … our Constitution is brief because it focuses on the things that are essential,” the associate justice observed:
It sets out the structure of the government, it protects basic rights and then it leaves just about everything else to be decided by the American people acting through their elected representatives …The framers’ strategy, a disciplined identification of what is fundamental has served our country well. And this same strategy is a good one to implement in our personal lives … we can make the effort to keep in mind what is fundamental and permanent in our lives. And that is absolutely critical. Because the things that call out most loudly for our attention on a daily basis are not necessarily the things that matter most in the end.
Another lesson taught by the Constitution, Alito said, “is that it guards against improvident change.”
“The constitution is exceedingly hard to change,” he explained:
An amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and it must be ratified by three-quarters of the states. And because the amendment process is so difficult, our Constitution has been amended only 27 times this date, despite the fact that more than 10,000 proposed amendments have been considered in Congress.
Alito elaborated that the framers “deliberately” made the process of amending the Constitution strenuous because of their “understanding of the nature of the fundamental rights that are protected by the Constitution.”
He continued:
I’m sure we all remember the famous words of the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal,” and “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” That short and famous statement speaks volumes and one of the most important things it says is that there are certain moral principles that are true and immutable. These principles of right and wrong are not relative or circumstantial. They are not of our making, and it is not within our power to change them.
Alito added that the Constitution’s framers anticipated there would be times “when rulers and people would become restive” and when “the principles of constitutional liberty would be imperiled unless established by irreparable law.”
“[U]nder all circumstances, this same fundamental idea that there are certain principles that we cannot compromise without paying a fearsome price applies to our personal lives,” he said. During such times, “if we have fixed and clear principles, principles that are written in bold letters on our hearts, we may be able to find our way through. If we don’t, we can easily go astray.”
Alito observed that “troubled waters” are currently “slamming against some of our most fundamental principles.” But he pointed out another lesson to be drawn from the Constitution: a “respect for reason and civil discourse.”
He spoke to the graduates about the challenges that lie ahead as they leave school:
Support for freedom of speech is declining, dangerously, especially where it should find broadest and widest acceptance. In a book called “The Idea of a University,” St. John Henry Newman saw the university as a place for reasoned debate. Today, very few colleges live up to that ideal. This place is one of the few that does, and you are very fortunate to have had that experience. Religious liberty is also threatened. When you venture out into the world, you may find yourself in a job or community or social setting where you will be pressured to endorse ideas you don’t believe or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm.
“In the same way, your challenge during troubled times will be to distinguish between dedication to principles that never change, and mere nostalgia for the past,” he told the graduates. “In order to engage our society and try to make it a better place – that is essential. And that requires judgment and prudence.”
“That isn’t easy,” Alito concluded. “But what you have learned, and the habits of mind that your education has inculcated, should help you to meet that challenge. Our society needs you to do just that.”
LifeNews Note: Susan Berry writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Catholic College Honors Justice Samuel Alito With Award for Upholding Justice appeared first on LifeNews.com.
Incredibly the Israeli genocide in Gaza is now reaching new heights of violence. Casualty figures are not coming in, as the attacks are so bad that bodies cannot be recovered, medics cannot travel and there are almost no medical facilities operational now anyway.
We now see that the Western injunctions not to attack Rafah were a smokescreen of lies to mask complicity. The final pocket of Gaza is being ruthlessly ethnically cleansed and its infrastructure will be destroyed like all the rest.
It is striking that this is accompanied by an absolutely shameless doubling down of support for Israel by the Western political and media classes. Any thought that their isolation from the vast breadth of public opinion would give them pause, must be abandoned. Their Zionist lobby paymasters have jerked the chain, and rather than rowing back, we are seeing a redoubling of their efforts to suppress dissent and obscure the truth.
Some of this shameless distortion is so dissonant with the alleged norms of Western society it is almost impossible to believe it is happening. Here are a few examples.
1) Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta is a highly respected reconstructive surgeon who continued to work heroically and tirelessly in Al Shifa hospital, carrying out operation after operation, mostly on women and children, as the hospital was shelled, strafed and machine gunned around him.
He was already a surgeon of great distinction, based in Glasgow where he is now Rector of Glasgow University.
When Germany banned him from entering to address the conference on Palestine from which Yanis Varoufakis and others were also barred, it appeared perhaps as a one-off action as part of Germany’s extreme and panicked reaction to pro-Palestinian expression.
We have come to understand that Germany has a vicious hatred of Palestinians, remarkably based on the psychological trauma of inherited guilt from the Holocaust. While this is a muddled national psychosis that is plainly immoral and wrongheaded, at least it is possible to have some understanding of how it occurred.
But it then turned out that the travel ban slapped on Dr Abu Sitta by Germany has a Schengen-wide effect as he was also banned from France. That appeared again something that was almost a technical accident as regards the rest of Europe.
But the Western political establishment has now doubled down again by banning him from the Netherlands, and this time the Dutch government has made it clear that it supports the ban, and is not just caught by a Schengen restriction.
So the major governments of the European Union are forbidding a distinguished surgeon from giving first-hand medical evidence of the genocide taking place. I cannot think of anything that more sharply exposes the willingness of the Western political class to abandon the most basic tenets of supposed “Western democracy” in the interests of Israel.
2) The willingness of the United States to use extreme violence against pro-Palestinian students on college campuses is another demonstration of the same abandonment of the pretence of democracy when it comes to Israel. It also illustrates what has come to be a serious generational divide in Western public opinion, with young people very strongly motivated to oppose the genocide (which is not to say that older people are pro-genocide, just that they are more split, particularly in the USA).
This is being followed up with yet more crazed pro-Israeli legislation in the United States, seeking to designate anti-genocide and pro-Palestinian expression on campuses as anti-semitic and thus illegal.
In many ways this typifies the reaction of the ruling class across the West. Their reaction to suddenly being exposed as the paid servants of an Israel which no longer has popular support and now causes public revulsion, is simply to attempt to ban free expression and make it specifically illegal to disagree with them.
Fair use excerpt. Read the whole article here.
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
In separate remarks at two different events on Friday, Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito issued warnings about the state of affairs in America today, including support for freedom of speech “declining dangerously” and the nation’s capital becoming a “hideous” place where cancel culture runs rampant.
Supreme Court Associate Justices Elena Kagan (L), Clarence Thomas ((2L), Samuel Alito (2R) and Chief Justice John Roberts (R) arrive for services for former President George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Dec. 3, 2018. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)Justice Thomas spoke at a conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Point Clear, Alabama, while Justice Alito delivered a commencement address at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic college in Ohio, with both of the conservative-minded judges painting a dark picture—while encouraging action and offering hope.
At the Alabama event, Justice Thomas was asked to comment by the moderator—U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle—about what it’s like to work “in a world that seems meanspirited.”
“I think there’s challenges to that,” Justice Thomas said. “We’re in a world and we—certainly my wife and I the last two or three years it’s been—just the nastiness and the lies, it’s just incredible.”
Justice Thomas has faced heavy fire from Democrats who accuse him of skirting disclosure rules, of corruption in general, and of being too cozy with wealthy Republicans. They have not been able to point to any specific court cases in which the justice has misbehaved. Some activists have even pushed for Justice Thomas’s impeachment.
By contrast, over 100 former Supreme Court clerks signed an open letter last year defending Justice Thomas’s integrity, calling him a man of “unwavering principle” whose independence is “unshakable.” They called various critical stories that have targeted him as “malicious” and “perpetuating the ugly assumption that the Justice cannot think for himself.”
“They are part of a larger attack on the Court and its legitimacy as an institution,” the letter also stated. “The picture they paint of the Court and the man for whom we worked bears no resemblance to reality.”
Public opinion polls suggest public trust in the Supreme Court recently fell to new lows.
Addressing the criticism, Justice Thomas said at the Alabama conference that Washington had become a “hideous” place where “people pride themselves in being awful,” while characterizing America beyond the Beltway as a place where regular people “don’t pride themselves in doing harmful things.”
Justice Thomas also expressed concern that court writings have become inaccessible to the average person, engendering a sense of alienation.
“The regular people I think are being disenfranchised sometimes by the way that we talk about cases,” Justice Thomas said, while expressing hope that this could change.
Justice Alito warned graduates at the Catholic college in Ohio that freedom of speech and religion were both being assailed in today’s America, while expressing hope that young people would take up the mantle and fight for positive change.
In his address, Justice Alito made a reference to pop culture, namely to a graduation speech delivered by the character Thornton Melon (played by Rodney Dangerfield) in the movie “Back to School.”
He jokingly cited Mr. Melon’s advice to graduates, which was not to go out into the world after graduating because “it’s rough out there” and instead move back in with their parents, let them pay all the bills, and “worry about it.”
“As Mr. Melon said, it is rough out there,” Justice Alito said. “It’s probably rougher out there now than it has been for quite some time. But that is precisely why your contributions will be so important.”
Justice Alito said that, outside the walls of the campus, “troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles,” referring to freedom of speech.
“Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously,” he continued, noting that this problem is especially acute on college campuses, which he said are places where the exchange of ideas should be most protected.
“Very few colleges live up to that ideal. This place is one of them … but things are not that way out there in the broader world,” Justice Alito said.
He also raised the issue of freedom of religion being “imperiled,” noting that graduates may find themselves in jobs or social settings where they will be pressured to renounce their beliefs or adopt ones they find morally objectionable.
“It will be up to you to stand firm,” he said.
Notably, Justice Alito authored the 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and handed the matter of deciding on abortion rights to states.
Restaurant chain Red Lobster appears to be the latest beneficiary of "Bidenomics", with reports surfacing this week that "dozens" of its locations across the country are unexpectedly closing down.
More than 80 locations in at least 27 states have now been listed as "temporarily closed" on the restaurant chain's website, according to CBS affiliate WBNS.
The report said that workers at the locations were offered "no notice whatsoever" as to the closings. The Orlando-based seafood chain known for its endless shrimp deals has been struggling with significant internal and financial challenges, the report says.
Recently, the company faced rumors of bankruptcy as it sought a buyer to avoid filing for Chapter 11, with multiple media outlets reporting the potential filing last month.
It was reported that it might file for bankruptcy to restructure its debt and reduce its 650 US locations.
The chain underwent considerable leadership changes in 2021 and 2022, with new appointees in several top positions including CEO, chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, and chief information officer, all of whom departed within two years - usually not a sign things are moving in the right direction.
Last summer, the company reintroduced its endless shrimp menu deal, which resulted in an $11 million loss.
Even more devastating, CBS reports that Thai Union, Red Lobster's top supplier, has severed ties with the chain.
A liquidation company has started an online auction for kitchen equipment and other contents from the closed Red Lobster locations, the report adds.
Amid these developments, the company has not publicly commented on the recent closures of several locations nor responded to inquiries about them.
From its founding in 1949 until the start of NATO’s proxy war against Russia in 2022, the principal troublesome issue for the Alliance was Washington’s repeated calls for greater burden-sharing on the part of its allies. Discontent on Washington’s part emerged early and often. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, warned NATO’s European members that unless they did more to enhance collective defense the United States might be compelled to reassess the extent of its commitment to Europe’s security. That warning led to repeated promises of greater defense efforts on the part of the allies. Those promises were rarely followed by meaningful actions, however.
Such continued manifestations of free-riding generated periodic US calls to reduce Washington’s overall military commitment to Europe. That sentiment reached a crescendo in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The most serious substantive effort took the form of the Mansfield, Amendment, which proposed to reduce the US troop presence in Europe by approximately one- third. The principal sponsor was Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT). Both Lyndon Johnson’s and Richard Nixon’s administrations waged a vigorous fight against the proposed legislation. Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security advisor, eventually led a successful fight against the proposal. Nevertheless, calls for similar action continued during subsequent administrations. Donald Trump was especially vocal in his demands for the Europeans to engage in more substantial burden-sharing.
NATO burden-sharing, however, remained much more prominent in the realm of rhetoric than substance. In 2006 and again in 2014, Alliance members promised to devote a minimum of 2 percent of their annual gross domestic product to defense. At the time that military tensions between Russia and Ukraine exploded into full-scale warfare in February 2022, those promises had remained largely unfulfilled. Despite NATO members embracing a highly confrontational policy toward Moscow, only 11 of the 31 NATO members were fulfilling their pledge of 2 percent GDP for defense. Russia’s invasion, however, led to a more serious commitment to burden-sharing. The nature of that concept also changed in two ways. Two prominent neutral powers now abandoned neutrality and applied to join the alliance. Both Sweden and Finland were prepared to join the Western bloc directed against Russia. This was a crucial development, especially for Sweden, which had been strictly neutral in international conflicts for nearly two centuries. Stockholm had even managed to avoid entanglement in the two world wars. Helsinki’s neutrality was far less voluntary. It occurred during the Cold War only because of the Soviet Union’s intense pressure. In any case, the addition of two significant military players to NATO has increased a dangerous rivalry between two competing blocs.
The other significant change in the burden-sharing concept was that previously, the NATO allies seemed to regard Washington’s desire for greater burden-sharing largely in financial terms. In other words, to both the Europeans and the United States, burden-sharing was seen primarily in terms of the European members paying a little more for policies that remained under Washington’s firm control. Now, however, burden-sharing seems to mean more involvement on the part of Europe’s NATO members with respect to weapons and strategic initiatives. Not only have those countries become more responsive to Washington’s calls for military assistance to Ukraine, several of them, including Poland, Romania, and the Baltic republics, have been taking the lead and pushing the United States to take more action against Russia.
Washington seems content with this arrangement, which amounts to a US proxy war strategy, with Ukraine handling the actual fighting against Russia and with Kiev receiving ample weaponry from NATO members. That military hardware has been coming as much from certain European alliance members as from the United States. Moreover, there has been a steady escalation in NATO’s willingness to supply ever more lethal armaments to Ukraine. For example, early in the fighting, NATO countries were primarily providing weapons with limited reach and lethality. Both aspects have gradually changed. One early escalation was to provide Ukraine with sophisticated anti-tank weapons. Now, weapons shipments even include longer range missiles capable of striking targets inside of Russia. Several allies have successfully pressured Washington into providing more destructive weapons that Biden administration leaders initially refused to authorize. Patriot air-defense missiles and M-17 Abrams tanks are two examples of such escalation.
There are growing rumors of another round of escalation that could be even more dangerous. Some alliance leaders, especially in NATO’s Eastern members, are no longer ruling out providing “volunteers” to help Ukraine in direct combat roles. Such a move would be extraordinarily dangerous and greatly increase the risk of armed clashes between Russia and NATO forces that could lead to World War III. There are media reports that as many as three thousand armed volunteers from foreign countries are already in Ukraine assisting the Ukrainian regime.
It is hard to accept the frightening possibility that Western policy has made Europe’s strategic situation even more dangerous than it was at the height of the Cold War. However, that appears to be the possible consequences of NATO’s evolving policy.
Reprinted with permission from Antiwar.com.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has signed the bill to repeal Arizona’s abortion ban, making it so babies will continue being aborted in the southwestern state. But that repeal doesn’t go into effect until later in the year.
Desperate to kill babies in abortions, the Planned Parenthood abortion business filed suit to repeal the abortion ban early.
But the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision Monday rejected that request from the abortion giant. The decision denied an attempt by Planned Parenthood to halt judgment affirming the state’s pro-life law, but to allow a delay for Attorney General Kris Mayes to consider an appeal.
In a response filed today, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys asked the court to finalize its judgment affirming the state’s pro-life law, but the court temporarily paused that process, allowing the attorney general up to 90 days to consider an appeal.
“Life is a human right, and Arizona’s pro-life law respects that fundamental right. Life begins at conception,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jake Warner told LifeNews. “At just six weeks, unborn babies’ hearts begin to beat. At eight weeks, they have fingers and toes. And at 10 weeks, their unique fingerprints begin to form.”
“Arizona’s pro-life law has protected unborn children for over 100 years, and while we are deeply saddened by the legislature’s recent vote to repeal the law, it won’t take effect immediately, as the legislature intentionally decided. And though the court paused its judgment, we will continue working to protect unborn children and promote real support and health care for Arizona families,” he continued.
In a gleeful message, Hobbs celebrated her own signing of the bill.
SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, please donate to LifeNews.com!
“With the stroke of my pen, the 1864 abortion ban is about to OFFICIALLY become a thing of the past,” she wrote on X (Twitter).
However, under the state Constitution, any law repeal doesn’t take effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, and the end date can vary. For example, if this session ends in late July like last year, the repeal would only become effective in late October or early November.
This week, the Arizona Senate bowed to the pro-abortion mob by approving a measure to repeal the state’s new abortion ban before it ever reached implementation to begin saving babies.
With the ban repealed, babies would lose almost all protection in the state. A 15-week abortion ban would go into place that only allows protecting babies up to that point – meaning 90% of more abortions would become legal.
Two Republicans, T.J. Shope and Shawnna Bolick, sided with Democrats to deliver enough votes to pass House Bill 2677, which would repeal the pro-life law that made Arizona one of 19 states to protect babies from abortion.
Bolick described herself as pro-life but said she supported abortions in some rare circumstances. Instead of backing legislation to allow abortions in those very rare cases, she voted to subject every single unborn children to potentially be killed in an abortion.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman condemned the Republican members who voted in favor of the measure and other Republicans complained the bill was fast-tracked through the legislature instead of committees having time to evaluate the legislation and take public input.
The Arizona Life Coalition was saddened by the developments.
“This repeal signifies more than a legislative shift; it marks a profound loss for those who stand for the sanctity of every innocent human life from conception,” it told LifeNews. “Every abortion is a loss of a priceless human being and a failure to protect the most defenseless among us.”
The post Arizona Supreme Court Rejects Planned Parenthood’s Request to Get Rid of Abortion Ban Early appeared first on LifeNews.com.
Ahead of tomorrow's CPI, traders are eyeing this morning's Producer Prices for any hints that the disinflation trend will return...or not.
The answer is "not!"
April Producer Prices rose 0.5% MoM (vs +0.3% exp), with March's +0.2% MoM revised down to -0.1% MoM. The downward revision did not stop the YoY read rising to 2.2% (from +2.1% in March)...
Source: Bloomberg
This is the highest YoY read since April 2023 and is the fourth hotter than expected headline PPI print...
Source: Bloomberg
Producer Prices have been aggressively downwardly revised for 4 of the last 7 months...
Source: Bloomberg
Services costs soared, dominating April's PPI gains with Energy the second most important factor. Food prices actually declined on a MoM basis.
Source: Bloomberg
On a YoY basis, headline PPI's rise was dominated by Services (rising at their hottest since July 2023). For the first time since Feb 2023, none of the underlying factors were negative on a YoY basis...
Source: Bloomberg
On a 6-month annualized rate, Final Demand Core Services PPI is rising at its highest since Q3 2021...
Source: Goldman Sachs
After last month's farcical 'seasonally adjusted' gasoline price, April saw the PPI Gasoline index rise (with actual prices at the pump) but still has a long way to go...
Source: Bloomberg
Core PPI was worse - rising 0.5% MoM (more than double the +0.2% MoM expected) - which pushed the Core PPI YoY up to +2.4%...
Source: Bloomberg
And finally US PPI Final Demand Less Foods Energy and Trade Services rose by 0.4% MoM and 3.1% YoY (the highest in 12 months).
Worse still the pipeline for primary PPI is not good as intermediate demand is starting to accelerate...
Source: Bloomberg
Here are Wall Street’s reactions to PPI:
Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley:
Sticky inflation looked downright stuck this morning after a much hotter-than-expected inflation reading. But with last month’s numbers revised lower, this report may not have been as much of an upside shock as it first appeared to be.
Right or wrong, the CPI tends to have a bigger short-term impact on the markets, so the picture could look much different 24 hours from now. But if the CPI also comes in above expectations, the interest rate picture may be thrown into doubt.
Bespoke Investment Group:
The results of April’s PPI showed a hotter-than-expected m/m reading. That’s the bad news. On a y/y basis, though, the readings were much closer to expectations as March’s report was revised down to negative 0.1% on both a headline and core basis.”
Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance:
This week is important for markets because they are worried about inflation and this morning’s producer price index hasn’t done anything to assuage those fears.
The most important data release is tomorrow’s CPI print because the Fed’s dual mandate is based on CPI and unemployment, with the former being what the Fed is solely focused on right now.
We believe that the stock market will move higher throughout the year on strong corporate profits and consumer spending, but volatility is likely to spike in the meantime, because the inflation data is going to keep the Fed on edge.
Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial:
Moreover, this report underscores Fed concerns that the path of disinflation has stalled, requiring a higher-for-longer policy stance to combat seemingly entrenched inflation.
An overriding question — and potential dilemma — hovering over markets is whether the broader economic landscape is softening at the same time inflation inches higher, making the Fed’s job increasingly difficult.
Bill Adams at Comerica Bank:
Between an upside surprise and downward revisions to prior data, the trend in total PPI was slightly higher than expected in April.
The PPI report suggests upside risk to the April CPI report, which will come out tomorrow.
At the margin the Fed will see the PPI report as another reason to slow-roll interest rate cuts.
Paul Ashworth at Capital Economics:
These days we mostly care about what the PPI means for the Fed’s preferred PCE deflator measure of core consumer price inflation.
In that respect, April’s news was mixed but, on balance, encouraging. The bad news is that PPI portfolio management prices increased by 3.9% m/m. But that was more than outweighed by the good news. We’ll know more after the release of April’s CPI tomorrow.
Scott Helfstein at Global X:
Inflation and the Fed are less important than growth, and companies have adjusted to the new reality of higher prices and continue to look for technology solutions to manage for profit.
The last mile on inflation was always going to be the hardest, but we should be comfortable with these numbers.
Over the past month, 'higher prices' have dominated 'lower prices' in recent survey data...
Higher producer prices:
Lower producer prices:
Do you see the 'flation' now, Jay?
So, no, The Fed does not have inflation under control.
However, there is some hope for tomorrow's CPI as many of the drivers for the consumer prices that are echoed in the producer prices are not accelerating...
No reason to be alarmed by PPI... Strong stock market performance drove part of the gains, but airfares down sharply, auto insurance flat, and general consumer goods markups down... https://t.co/8478c7rykF
— Gregory Daco (@GregDaco) May 14, 2024A big surprise miss tomorrow, of course, would send stocks to the moon (GME-style) and give Powell what he needs to start cutting.
By Michael Msika, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist
European stocks are hovering around record highs on conviction that interest rates will come down and revive the economy, making this week’s inflation data a key to extending the rally.
Monetary policies in the US and in Europe are expected to diverge for a few months, with the European Central Bank seen cutting rates earlier than the Fed with inflation looking more in check on the old continent. Yet, US data is always in the driver’s seat when it comes to financial markets, and this week should be no exception, making it all about US CPI.
Whatever the print, the impact that the figure may have on bond yields is looking increasingly important as the correlation between European equities and US treasury yields is now the most negative since the mid-1990s, a pre-condition to a major rally back then.
Morgan Stanley strategists led by Marina Zavolock see the case continuing to build up for a 1990s play-book that saw stocks rallying around the Fed pivot, driven by bond-sensitive sectors like real estate, construction and materials, as well as utilities. “A key catalyst to make or break the trade is this week’s US CPI print,” they say.
The disinflation process is continuing but has been stalling in past months, triggering a repricing in the outlook for rate cuts, particularly in the US. Yet, the subsequent wobble seen in stock markets in April has now been erased, with volatility back to subdued levels both in the US and in Europe. In fact, our preferred measure of near-term stress, the 2/8 VIX future spread is already back to calm levels.
“We think vol (VIX) and vol-of-vol (VVIX) have now found a lower bound in the near-term,” say UBS derivatives strategists led by Maxwell Grinacoff, seeing over 1% implied move for the market on CPI data. “We favor selling puts to fund upside call spreads to position for a moderate retracement higher in volatility risk premia ahead of key CPI and retail sales data.”
Granted, the market has been sensitive to macro data, especially inflation, as shown in the chart below. While some of the moves have often been short-lived, investors may want to keep in mind that the S&P 500 has not had a 2% drop in over 300 trading days, which is abnormal, so some deeper correction can’t be excluded based on history.
Still, one thing that could play in favor of the market is that positioning is now a bit more balanced. While vol control funds’ allocation is still near the historical maximum, CTAs have reduced their equity long positions globally, and risk parity funds also trimmed their exposure to around historical average, according to Deutsche Bank strategists.
“Squeeze risks for rate-sensitive laggards on a CPI miss outweigh downside risks on a CPI beat,” say Bank of America derivatives strategists including Ohsung Kwon. They add that with inflation above consensus for five straight months, the rates market has already priced out five cuts so far this year. But they see equities able to tolerate higher inflation. An in-line print should also be net positive, removing the inflation overhang at least in the near term, they say.
“We expect this week’s April CPI report will likely be central to market participants’ focus and the tone that the market will likely take on near term,” says Oppenheimer Asset Management chief strategist John Stoltzfus. “Near-term volatility could in our view continue to present opportunity for investors to ‘catch babies that get thrown out with the bath water’ in periods of market down drafts.”
Update (0915ET): Is this 'meme stock frenzy', The Fed's fault once again?
The last time US financial conditions were this easy (jawboned by Fed officials' pivot) was the start of the first manic meltup in GME and its meme-mates...
The meme mania has started to spread with not just AMC and GME, but Virgin Galactic, BlackBerry, Nikola, and SunPower all soaring among many others...
* * *
With AMC Entertainment and GameStop's short squeezes causing significant losses for short sellers on Monday, we noted the growing likelihood that "bankers are burning the phones at GME and AMC pitching ATM equity offerings for after the close."
You know jefferies bankers are burning the phones at GME and AMC pitching ATM equity offerings for after the close
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 13, 2024Fast forward to Tuesday morning.
And there it is
AMC Raised About $250M of New Equity Capital in ATM Offering
Thank you retail investors https://t.co/MPu8vfEmNz
And this.
And 99% of the stock was sold yesterday bro
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 14, 2024Bloomberg reports that AMC completed a previously disclosed ATM on March 28. The deal was completed through Citigroup Global Markets, Barclays Capital, B. Riley Securities, and Goldman Sachs & Co., raising about $250 million in new capital for the struggling company - at an average price of $3.45 per share - or about 72.5 million shares.
Meanwhile, AMC is up 95% in premarket trading in New York, trading around the $10 handle. In the last two days, shares are up a whopping 232%.
Before yesterday's ripper, AMC was a perfect candidate for a squeeze, with 55.4 million shares, or about 18.82% of the float short.
The revival of the 'Meme day trading army' - occurred oddly with a post on X from Roaring Kitty, also known as Keith Gill, on Sunday night.
— Roaring Kitty (@TheRoaringKitty) May 13, 2024GameStop is also higher in premarket, +124% to the $68 handle, on yet another massive short squeeze. In two days, shares have squeezed over 269% higher.
Hedge funds were scorched in yesterday's Meme stock squeeze.
Hedge funds got roasted in today’s Meme Stock squeeze.
We just witnessed a 4-Sigma day in HF VIP Longs vs Most Shorted Stocks (-5.9%).
This is the 2nd worst day since the original Meme Stock Mania. $GME $AMC $NVAX $BYND pic.twitter.com/fIjZDGZieh
GS' Most Shorted Stock Index had the largest single-day increase since mid-December.
On Monday, we cited a note from Goldman Sachs flow of funds guru, Scott Rubner, who told clients, "I am starting to see some real FOMO start to develop based on incomings last week. Roaring Kitty is back, the message boards are going crazy this am. It is time for a thread."
Being a squeeze, and just a squeeze, nothing is constant - and what goes up, at some point - after the hedge funds are roasted - must come down—yet another painful lesson.
Estonia’s defense minister has dismissed remarks by a presidential advisor regarding a possible military deployment
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur has insisted that neither Tallinn nor the European Union are considering proposals to deploy troops to Ukraine.
He was commenting on remarks made by Madis Roll, the national security advisor to Estonian President Alar Karis, who told news outlet Breaking Defense last week that the country was “seriously” considering sending troops to fill “rear” roles in Ukraine.
According to Roll, the Estonian government is weighing up the potential move in a bid to help Kiev solve its manpower problem and send more soldiers to the front line.
The article reported that Estonian troops could be positioned away from the battlefield and assume non-direct combat roles from Ukrainian Armed Forces in order to free them up to fight on the front line.
The outlet said Roll had suggested that the move could be part of a full NATO mission “to show broader combined strength and determination,” but didn’t rule out the possibility of Estonia acting with a smaller group of allies.
The idea “has not reached anywhere” either in Estonia or at EU level, Pevkur said, adding that there had been no specific discussion within government on the matter.
Read more Baltic state backs sending NATO troops to Ukraine“I think that, according to Madis Roll, it has perhaps been interpreted too boldly” he told ERR. “There is certainly no initiative of Estonia’s own, and Estonia is certainly not going to do anything alone,” added the defense minister.
Estonia, along with Latvia and Lithuania, has been at the forefront of the West’s confrontation with Moscow since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Tallinn and the other Baltic states have long touted a strategy of backing Kiev with NATO troops.
Last week, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte told the Financial Times that she had been given the authority by parliament to deploy troops to Ukraine for training, but that Kiev had not made such a request.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told The Guardian last week that he favors deploying NATO military instructors with air defense cover to Ukraine.
In recent months, French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly floated the idea of sending NATO troops to Ukraine. Several other member states have pushed back against Macron’s comments, however, insisting they have no plans to deploy troops.
Russia has repeatedly warned that it would view any NATO troop deployments in Ukraine as a major escalation, adding that it would not change the situation on the battlefield.
London-listed Anglo-American has unveiled a "clear, compelling, and decisive plan to unlock significant value from its portfolio." This strategy involves selling its platinum and diamond business units while concentrating on copper, positioning itself to prosper off the 'Next AI Trade' as data centers and power grids will use an enormous amount of the base metal to 'power up' the digital economy. Also, it's a move to thwart a hostile takeover attempt from BHP Group.
Anglo was forced to radically transform itself into a copper giant because of BHP's twice-rejected takeover bid, now worth £34 billion ($43 billion). The move also responds to shareholder pressure to focus on copper assets and demerge its stakes in less profitable ones, such as its steelmaking unit, coal business, Anglo American Platinum, and De Beers (diamonds).
Anglo Chief Executive Officer Duncan Wanblad's major overhaul aims to replicate rival BHP CEO Mike Henry's proposed idea of transforming Anglo into one of the world's biggest copper giants.
Financial Review noted that Wanblad plans to wait until after the South African elections on May 29 before announcing his complete restructuring of the company, which will need South African government approval for a demerger of its platinum and diamond mines.
"The only thing the BHP bid [did] was force the timeline on work we were already doing," Wanblad said on a call at 0300 ET. He will present the overhaul plan at the Bank of America Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference in Miami, Florida, today.
He continued, "I would probably not have announced this at this particular point in time, it would have been just a little bit later … I would have been much more sensitive in terms of the stakeholder management of this, but I now have no option."
In markets, Anglo shares in London slipped by 3%, while BHP's shares increased by 3%, reflecting the market's perception of a reduced takeover probability.
"The outcome of Anglo's strategic review will not have changed BHP's plans, but they are probably actively assessing where they are now in light of this," said Lachlan Shaw, an analyst from UBS Group AG.
Joshua Mahoney, chief markets analyst at Scope Markets, wrote in a note, "The decision to spin off their diamond, platinum, and coal mining operations will see a greater focus on copper."
Mahoney said, "With copper rising into a fresh two-year high this morning, there is a clear surge in demand for this key material as the world progressively moves towards increased electrification."
Concentrating on copper assets is the correct move for Anglo, as Goldman's Nicholas Snowdon penned in a note last week for clients that metal market is "moving into extreme tightness."
Last month, being uber-bullish on copper, Snowdon wrote, "Copper's time is now" (available to pro subscribers in the usual place)...
Separately, Bank of America's commodity desk jumped on the copper trade, warning that a "supply crisis is here."
In December, billionaire mining investor Robert Friedland explained to Bloomberg TV in an interview that copper prices are set to soar because the mining industry is failing to increase supply ahead of 'accelerating demand.' He warned:
"We're heading for a train wreck here."
As we've noted in "The Next AI Trade" & "Everyone Is Piling Into The "Next AI Trade"", as well as "The "Next AI Trade" Just Hit An All Time High," - data center demand and powering up America will need copious amounts of copper, at a time when mining supplies are dwindling. We all know what that means for price.
The bloc is on track to be producing 2 million shells per year for Ukraine, the European commissioner for the internal market has said
The European Union’s defense industry has partially switched to a war economy, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton has said.
Kiev could face a “dangerous period” this year as the focus of Western politicians backing it has now turned to the European Parliament elections on June 6-9 and US presidential election on November 5, Breton explained in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV on Monday.
Russia may well take advantage of this “uncertainty” and “move forward” on the front line, he said.
“Because of this, we in Europe have decided to significantly increase our subsidies in terms of weapons and ammunition” for Ukraine, the commissioner stressed.
According to Breton, the EU is now on track to be producing 2 million shells, including 155mm caliber, per year for Ukraine.
Read more Ukraine facing ‘a nightmare’ – CNNHe said that it is fair to say the EU has “moved into a war economy” at least in terms of shell production.
“Now the challenge is for us to move into a war economy in all segments of the European defense industry,” the commissioner added.
In March, the European Commission approved the allocation of €500 million ($590 million) to boost the production of shells in the EU. According to Brussels, the bloc will be able to make 2 million shells annually by the end of 2025.
Last year, the EU vowed to supply Kiev with 1 million shells by March 2024. However, it later acknowledged that it would not be able to meet this goal. Ukrainian officials said that they received around a third of what had been promised.
In April, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the switch to a war economy was “necessary” as defense spending and military orders have been on the rise across the EU.
READ MORE: Danish PM reveals timeline for first F-16 delivery to Ukraine
Russia has warned repeatedly that foreign weapons being sent to Kiev will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will merely prolong the fighting and increases the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to officials in Moscow, the provision of arms, intelligence sharing, and the training of Ukrainian troops mean that Western nations have already become de-facto parties to the conflict.
Authored by Peter Reagan via Birch Gold Group,
The total debt owed by the United States federal government has reached incredible levels. Today, the total is $34,541,727,970,599.17 – but by the time you read this article, it’ll probably be higher.
I say “probably” because the debt is growing exponentially that by the time you read this, it’s quite possible that another few hundred billion have taken the total over $35 trillion.
Look at the official chart and attention to how fast total debt has risen since the turn of the century:
In the year 2000, total government debt was $5.7 trillion.
Ah, the good old days…
The nation’s debt has grown more than $5.7 trillion since President Biden took office!
Let me put it another way:
It took the federal government 224 years, the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War and two World Wars to rack up the first $5.7 trillion in red ink
And then it took the Biden administration just three years to rack up the last $5.7 trillion!
I apologize for going on and on about this but I honestly cannot believe it.
It’s hard to call this an apples-to-apples comparison, though, because for the majority of those first two centuries, the dollar’s value was based on a defined quantity of gold or silver.
Well, obviously that cannot be the case any more! Based on my back-of-the-envelope estimate, there’s only $16.1 trillion in gold in the world (based on current prices). The ONLY way to create such an astonishing mountain of debt was to divorce the currency from any intrinsic value.
It’s almost a magic trick.
Think about it…
Once, a dollar was 3/4 oz of silver, or 1/2 oz for a $10 coin. People had to go and dig that precious metal out of the ground, refine it and stamp it. That’s a lot of work.
Then, the dollar became a paper certificate exchangeable for the equivalent weight of gold or silver. That’s just more convenient.
Finally, the dollar became just the paper itself.
It’s like money from nothing!
And to be clear, this “money from nothing” magic trick has been working since Nixon ended the last vestiges of the gold standard just over 50 years ago.
But you know how sleight-of-hand works, right?
It depends on deception.
And every time you do the same trick, the audience is one step closer to figuring out that it’s not really magic after all…
This exact same magic trick that’s been supporting both the federal government and the U.S. dollar for five decades just isn’t working as well as it used to.
Writing for Project Syndicate, economist and author Kenneth Rogoff recently summarized the insane mentality that drives the current debt situation:
For over a decade, numerous economists – primarily but not exclusively on the left – have argued that the potential benefits of using debt to finance government spending far outweigh any associated costs. The notion that advanced economies could suffer from debt overhang was widely dismissed, and dissenting voices were often ridiculed.
Just so we’re clear, “debt overhang” is defined as a “debt burden so large that an entity cannot take on additional debt to finance future projects, dissuading current investment.”
Via Investopedia
A debt overhang makes it impossible to do anything other than pay back the debt.
That’s what makes it dangerous.
The people who “widely dismissed” the very idea that a whole nation could suffer from a debt overhang are a lot quieter now.
Rogoff explains why:
The tide has turned over the past two years, as this type of magical thinking collided with the harsh realities of high inflation and the return to normal long-term real interest rates. A recent reassessment by three senior IMF economists underscores this remarkable shift. The authors project that the advanced economies’ average debt-to-income ratio will rise to 120% of GDP by 2028, owing to their declining long-term growth prospects. They also note that with elevated borrowing costs becoming the “new normal,” developed countries must “gradually and credibly rebuild fiscal buffers and ensure the sustainability of their sovereign debt.”
That’s another way of saying, “What got us here won’t get us there.”
The federal government printed its way into this debt mountain – it cannot print its way out. See, they’ve done the magic trick too many times.
The audience caught on.
Now we ALL know there’s no magic. Nothing but a rapidly-growing pile of IOUs.
The question becomes, does the government have time to learn a new magic trick?
“The United States has about 20 years left”
Cole Walmsley of Gaiter Capital wrote an entire essay on X to summarize the conundrum facing the U.S. right now. The whole thing’s worth a read, but here are the highlights:
The U.S. Treasury, which is part of the U.S. Federal Government, has to sell new debt to new investors to pay off the old debt from old investors. This is because of 1) the constant budgetary deficits and 2) the debt from years past coming due.
Remember, the debt is made up of two big chunks: This year’s deficit, and all the other deficits racked up over the decades.
The U.S. Federal Government has been in a budgetary deficit in 49 of the last 53 years, with the last surplus year being in 2001.
But yet, even in that 2001 “budgetary surplus” year, the total debt amount increased.
Why?
Because a whole bunch of debt from years past came due.
He does a good job of putting the concept of “a trillion” into perspective, too:
Trillion is just a word. Let’s make sure we note the significance.
A *billion* seconds ago was 1993 (31 years ago).
A *trillion* seconds ago was 30,000 B.C.
And then multiply that trillion by 34.7.
That’s the scale of the United States debt bill.
Finally, Walmsley exposes the shell game at the heart of the federal government’s balance sheet:
The U.S. Treasury always has to have buyers of its debt, because if they don’t, they won’t be able to pay off 1) their deficit spending and 2) the old debt coming due (and the interest on the debt). If they fail to pay those off, the Government would default and collapse.
Well, then, who buys all the U.S. Government debt?
Key point: The largest buyer and owner of the U.S. Federal Government debt is THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THEMSELVES.
Approximately one third of all U.S. government debt is “owed” to another government department!
You know, this would be hilarious if it wasn’t our Social Security he’s talking about…
So how long can this farce last?
We have a couple of answers.
First, the Wharton School of Business explained why the United States is running out of time to recover from the teetering mountain of debt:
We estimate that the U.S. debt held by the public cannot exceed about 200 percent of GDP…
Larger [debt-to-GDP] ratios in countries like Japan, for example, are not relevant for the United States, because Japan has a much larger household saving rate, which more-than absorbs the larger government debt.
Under current policy, the United States has about 20 years for corrective action after which no amount of future tax increases or spending cuts could avoid the government defaulting on its debt whether explicitly or implicitly (i.e., debt monetization producing significant inflation). Unlike technical defaults where payments are merely delayed, this default would be much larger and would reverberate across the U.S. and world economies.
Japan has a debt-to-GDP ratio of about 260% made possible by the savings habits of Japanese households!
Here in the U.S. we save about 3.2% of our income right now – while in Japan, the savings rate averages 13.2% (and has been as high as 62%!)
Obviously, American households aren’t saving anywhere near enough money to support federal government deficits, even if they wanted to.
(We already pay taxes! Why should we give the White House even more of our money?)
In fact, the “end” could truly be drawing near… In his book This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, coauthored with Carmen Reinhart, Rogoff identified dozens of sovereign debt crises.
Every one unfolded the same way, at about the same time – all for the same reason.
The government’s irresistible urge to keep spending until it becomes obvious to everyone, even elected officials, that IOU is another way of saying, “You’re screwed.”
Now you know how much a trillion really is and why the U.S. won’t take Japan’s path to managing its debt.
Now you know the magic trick supporting the global financial system is just an accounting con.
So let’s talk about how we can move past the magical thinking, into the clear light of reality…
If you want to secure your retirement in the face of insane debt spending on the part of the Biden Administration, then it’s time to consider alternative options.
Unlike the vague promise of the dollar, physical precious metals like gold and silver are tangible physical assets you can hold in your hand. They can’t be replaced, canceled or inflated away.
The Founding Fathers knew this – and that’s why they tried to make certain our nation would never fall into the same trap that destroyed so many proud nations in the past. But they couldn’t save the nation.
That doesn’t mean we can’t save ourselves.
Make sure you’ve sheltered at least some portion of your savings with real safe-haven assets that you can hold in your hand. No amount of economic or government insanity can destroy gold and silver.
Empires rise and fall like tides on the beach of history. Gold and silver simply endure.
* * *
With global instability increasing and election uncertainties on the horizon, protecting your retirement savings is more important than ever. And this is why you should consider diversifying into a physical gold IRA. Because they offer an easy and tax-deferred way to safeguard your savings using tangible assets. To learn more, click here to get your FREE info kit on Gold IRAs from Birch Gold Group.
Putin Needs to Shake-Up Himself
Paul Craig Roberts
Putin is conducting a large shake-up in the Russian government. He needs to give himself a good shaking as well.
Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Russia’s Chechen providence said on Russia’s Rossiya TV channel:
“I believe that we need to attack more actively, we need to hit hard while there is time. This month we need to take the nearest territory, we definitely need to take Odessa and Kharkiv. Then sit this Zelensky down and force him to sign all the papers that Russia needs for the security of our state, citizens and the Russian-speakers who live on the territory of Ukraine.”
This is the second Russian war leader after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, to express dissatisfaction with the glacially slow pace at which Putin is conducting the conflict. One wonders if Kadyrov will have a similar fate to Prigozhin.
I am not an expert on the Russian military. My impression is that the Wagner and Chechen soldiers are Russia’s best combat troops. It is a pity to waste such troops in a war conducted at a snail’s pace.
The slow pace at which Putin has conducted the war has resulted in the war being greatly widened and thus made much more dangerous and difficult to resolve. Indeed, Putin is now in danger of NATO occupying Odessa before Russian troops can get there. If the West can keep Odessa and Kharkiv out of Russian hands, the war will be a defeat for Putin. It is inexplicable that Putin takes this risk. Putin’s dilemma is that a man who sees himself as an instrument of peace is a poor war leader.
Curiously, Foreign Minister Lavrov says that the West has decided to prolong the war. No. The prolonged war was Putin’s decision. A war that should have been over in three weeks has lasted 27 months.
Putin’s neglect of the war’s requirements is the reason that Russians in the Russian city and region of Belgorod are slaughtered by drones and missiles on their way to work and why “Russian apartment buildings in Russian cities struck by high intensity weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West collapse on the inhabitants. The snail-paced conflict was supposed to save lives. Instead, casualties have multiplied many fold and spread to Russian civilians distant from the battlefield.
Now there is a shakeup at the top of the Russian military with a civilian without military experience taking over as defense minister. I think Putin would be taken more seriously if he had appointed Ramzan Kadyrov as defense minister. Instead, Putin has stuck in an economist who, like Putin’s central bank director, is more concerned with the expense of the conflict–now one-third of the Russian budget–than they are about winning the war before it spins out of control. The neo-liberal Putin supports as Russia’s central bank manager is a failure on all fronts. She left Russian assets in the West to be seized by Washington’s sanctions. She was unable to understand that Russia did not need loans from the West to develop economically. And now she imposes 16% interest rates on the Russian economy. Stalin would have long ago shot her. I have often wondered if Russia can survive Putin’s central bank director.
Putin has done a good job of Russifying a population that was infatuated with the West. The population again thinks of itself as a distinct and proud national entity, not as a wannabe cog in globalist machinery run by Washington. Putin gets kudos for this, but his conduct of the war maximizes the likelihood of the conflict spinning out of control. Prigozhin understood this, and so does Kadyrov. Will Putin understand before his limited military operation spins into World War 3?
Scott Ritter Says Ukraine is Militarily Exhausted and the Conflict Has 3 months to go.
The question is whether Washington accepts the defeat or whether more troops will follow the French Foreign Legion into the conflict.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/scott-ritter-predicts-how-ukraine-will-end-1118382169.html
Ever since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 and other AI tools that have followed in its wake, people have been pondering the potential of artificial intelligence to replace certain occupations, trying to figure out if and how the nascent technology will change the way people work. And while the focus of discussions like this is often on the risk of certain jobs being replaced by emerging technologies; as Statista's Felix Richter reports, these shifts, as well as societal changes, usually offer new employment opportunities as well.
Think of the rise of e-commerce for example: while it has led to a decline in retail jobs, it has supported strong job growth in transportation and warehousing and still does.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Projections, transportation and warehousing is going to be among the fastest growing sectors over the next decade, with wage and salary employment in the sector projected to grow 8.6 percent between 2022 and 2032.
At 9.7 percent, the biggest increase in employment is expected for the healthcare and social assistance sector, which is driven less by technological changes and more by demographic shifts. Due to the ageing population and the growing prevalence of chronic conditions, the healthcare and social assistance sector is projected to account for 2.1 million new jobs by 2032, making up almost half of all new jobs expected by the end of the projection period.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Looking at individual occupations, this trend is also evident, with home health and personal care aids projected to be by far the fastest-growing occupation over the next decade, adding more than 800,000 jobs by 2032.
With registered nurses and medical and health service managers also in the top 10, it’s clear that the health sector as a whole is going to be a major driver of employment growth in the near future.
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