To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living, but existing.
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Site: Zero HedgeClimate Worries Are Non-Credible, Luxury Beliefs That Harm Civilization ItselfTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 15:43
Authored by Joakim Book via The Mises Institute,
I live in a small village at the edge of lands surrounded by very harsh nature. Those who occupied these valleys in ages past lived ruthlessly dangerous lives, where starvation was a constant worry, the sea just as often nurtured as it took away, and the winters were long and perilous. Nowadays, while I’m walking the desolate mountains or admiring the fierce storms from inside my nice, sheltered existence, echoing in my head is Thomas Hobbes’s descriptions of man’s precivilizational life: “Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
In the 2020s, we live fairly comfortable lives here, my fellow villagers and I. Our hearths are warm, our command over economic goods excellent. We live long, safe lives, where nobody starves and where almost nobody perishes in outbursts of nature’s wrath. We use machines—constructed far, far away using materials we don’t have, that run on fossil fuels that these lands don’t contain—to move away the snow that frequently and predictably lands on our doorsteps and otherwise would have made our roads impassable and our houses prisons. We use different machines—constructed far, far away using materials we don’t have, that run on fossil fuels that these lands don’t contain—to get ourselves out of our valley and transport goods and services back, including exotic fruits and vegetables that never grow here (certainly not in winter!).
It truly is fascinating to behold the astonishing things that globalized trade and capitalism can accomplish. Stepping back and thinking about the miracles of modern trade, innovation, and division of labor is so humbling.
Yet we well-off moderns worry about our collective existence to the point that kids have nightmares, and survey respondents overwhelmingly say climate change will end the human race.
Something like one-third of young people say they don’t want kids for fear of worsening the climate condition or how they’d fare in that brave, new world. “Climate anxiety is widespread among youth,” reports National Geographic. “How can we help kids cope with ‘eco-anxiety’?” asks the British Broadcasting Corporation. The vast majority of respondents in a global ten thousand–person study published in the Lancet in 2021 admitted to be very or extremely worried. Vox writers worry about the ethics of raising children. A new study, reported on by Phys.org, pointed to how many young people won’t have kids because of climate change: it’d be unfair to “bring a child into the world,” who’d have to live with the constant “feeling of impending doom, every day, for their whole life,” says one interviewed would-be parent.
Many of my fellow villagers entertain all these global ideas—melting glaciers and parts per million–numbers, floods and ethical dilemmas about us vulgar humans making earth inhospitable or uninhabitable.
It’s a strange thing to worry about obsessively, while the vicious storm raging outside the double-glazed windows affect nothing about our food supply, electricity use, heating, or ability to participate in the global division of labor—whether in our offices or remotely via high-speed internet. It somehow seems contradictory to passionately rally against capitalism from the comforts of very capitalistically built and maintained houses, hotels, and pubs; to inveigh against the burning of fossil fuels that literally keeps one alive.
It has me thinking about the action axiom, the starting point of Ludwig von Mises’s praxeology and the pillar-stone upon which Austrian economics rests. The colloquial version of this foundational Austrian maxim is “put your money where your mouth is” or “actions speak louder than words.” We demonstrate by our actions where our preferences and values lie; we reveal them to the world (act them into existence, really) when we do one thing instead of another, when we purchase one good instead of another, when we work instead of relax. All of this is wrapped in uncertainty and hopes and subjective human desires trading off against other such desires; in hindsight we can regret the choices we made. Still, says Murray Rothbard, a man’s “preferences are deducible from what he has chosen in action.”
Perhaps all this climate complaining is simply virtue signaling, in a world where feelings matter more than facts. The detachment from the physical processes of basic living—energy, materials, transportation, and in complicated monetary economies, money—has made many people ignorant, taking for granted the lifestyles we live and the standards of living we have. It has allowed us to start thinking foundational and civilization-carrying systems like money, fossil fuels, or commercial institutions are optional—a mere matter of ideological choice between good and evil people. They’re not.
I’m reminded too of luxury beliefs, a somewhat hyped concept coined by Rob Henderson, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge and author of the recent book Troubled. Henderson transfers Thorstein Veblen’s “conspicuous consumption”—the purchasing of expensive, often seemingly useless goods with the purpose of flaunting one’s wealth—to the moral and political domain. A luxury belief, like a conspicuous good, is acquired in order to impress others, and is designed to “confer status on the upper class at very little cost, while inflicting costs upon the lower classes.”
Luxury beliefs don’t make much sense and don’t have staying power in the real world of atoms and temperature, of nature and starvation. But we’re so far detached from the world that physically supports us—so rich, so deluded, so well off—that we’re willing to believe (and by extension willing to experiment with) the very systems that uphold our existence.
Cue environmental concerns and anticapitalism.
Taken literally, enacting policies based on such follies into place, we’re on a path to horror and poverty, with brutish and short lives to follow.
The good news is that those systems are remarkably resilient and these voices might still be all “tawk,” as Nassim Taleb would say.
The popular energy-finance Substack Doomberg made a similar observation in February, listing two paragraphs’ worth of major events that happened from 1971: oil crisis, Iran-Iraq, Kuwait wars, Middle Eastern conflicts, the Asian and peso and ruble financial collapses, the terrorist attacks, Libya-Syria-Ukraine, the global financial crisis, and covid.
Through all of them, as tumultuous as they seemed at the time and as relevant as they remain in the political consciousness, the world’s total energy consumption is a straight line through all of it.
Here’s their graph:
BP Statistical Review global total energy consumption
Source: Doomberg
Socioeconomic events as radical as women’s rights or racial equality; left-wing or right-wing leaders; crises and recessions, inflations and boom years; generations of scholars and scientists and political movements . . . and there’s no impact on the basic thing that powers our civilization.
Eighty-five percent of the globe’s primary energy consumption comes directly from fossil fuels—the same it was over thirty years ago when I was born. You can speak beliefs about climate change, about noncredible, net-zero policy goals (always with years suspiciously ending in zero or five), about reducing reliance on fossil fuels, or about how “clean” renewable energy is. You can throw government money at it, pass laws, or pontificate in the high courts, legislative auditoriums, or the public square, but you’re just not changing that. You can’t change that.
Cypherpunks write code. Clever people ignore politics. You should get out of the house, stop worrying too much about the lunatics running the asylum, and instead admire nature.
That’s what I’m doing.
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Site: Catholic ConclaveCatholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: LifeNews
The Nevada Supreme Court stopped a challenge to a state amendment that would allow abortions up to birth in the Western state. As a result of the ruling, Nevada voters will vote this November on the radical amendment.
The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously approved the pro-abortion language after a district court judge has blocked it from moving forward — finding that it contained multiple subjects and was misleading.
The supreme court reversed, claiming that the amendment only addressed “reproductive freedom.”
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The campaign must submit at least 102,362 signatures for it to appear on the ballot. If it passes, voters will have to approve it again in 2026 for it to appear in the state constitution.
In a decision handed down November 21, Judge James T. Russell concluded that a proposed ballot initiative that would have embedded abortion in the Nevada constitution is too broad, contains a “misleading description of effect” and has an unfunded mandate.
“This is probably the clearest case I have seen that I think there is a violation of the single-subject rule,” Russell said, according to KOLO-TV Reno. “I’ve seen a lot of them over the years and in respect to this particular matter, there are too many subjects. Not all of which are functionally related to each other.”
The post Nevada Supreme Court Approves Ballot Amendment for Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeNike "Permanently" Laying Off 740 Employees At World HeadquartersTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 15:20
US athletic footwear and apparel company Nike announced late in the cash session on Friday that it is undergoing a restructuring effort to trim costs at its World Headquarters (WHQ) located in Beaverton, Oregon.
Michele Adams, VP of People Solutions at Nike, might be the most hated person at the company this afternoon. In a letter to staff, she wrote that "approximately 740 employees at WHQ" will be "permanently" laid off by late June.
"As a result of a second phase of impacts, which will take effect by June 28, 2024, approximately 740 employees at WHQ will have been impacted by this and the recent prior permanent reduction of the workforce," Adams said.
In December, Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe said the company would reduce its global headcount by 2% as management moves forward with a cost-savings program of as much as $2 billion over the next three years.
Data from Bloomberg shows that Nike's total headcount stood at around 83,700 as of the end of 2023. The company has been dramatically hiring over the last decade and a half - those efforts appear to have just stalled.
Nike shares have stumbled into a correction as of late March.
Yet another sign consumers are pulling back on clothing apparel and other sporting goods merchandise?
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Site: Zero HedgeHow Big Tech Is Consuming America's Electricity And WaterTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 15:00
Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
As federal net-zero policies attempt to shift transportation, heating, and other essentials onto the electric grid, one of the hottest growth sectors of America’s economy is poised to increase electricity demand exponentially, further straining an energy infrastructure that is being pushed into the red.
(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)
Data centers, the so-called “brains of the internet,” are industrial warehouses packed with rows upon rows of servers. They process, communicate, and store the data behind everything from bank records, online retailers, and social media platforms to Netflix shows and your personal iPhone videos.
“Data centers are essential to cloud computing and its ability to give users remote access to data,” a 2023 Federal Reserve report states, quoting a Science article that calls them the “information backbone of an increasingly digitalized world.”
Many analysts laud data centers as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the real estate market, but the industry may soon find itself hitting a wall as local communities put up increasing resistance to the industry’s seemingly insatiable appetite for power and water.
“While other commercial real estate sectors are experiencing a decline in construction pipelines, data center development has reached an all-time high,” according to a January report by Newmark, a commercial real estate advisory.
“However, growth is increasingly constrained by land and power availability, supply chain challenges and construction delays, not to mention increasing resistance from some local jurisdictions.”
The report said the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies is fueling the demand.
The industry is led by cloud computing behemoths like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Meta. It also includes digital landlords, called co-location companies, which rent storage space out to third parties. These include Equinix, Digital Realty, and CyrusOne.
Electricity Demand From Data to Double by 2030
Data warehouses consumed 17 gigawatts of electricity in 2022, or about 4 percent of total U.S. consumption. This is projected to double to 35 gigawatts by 2030.
Eric Woodell, who holds a doctorate of science in information systems and communications and is the founder of Amerruss, a tech infrastructure management company, referred to data centers as “energy hogs.”
“But now your data center for AI applications is no longer a hog, it’s an elephant and it’s living in your backyard,” he told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Woodell has been managing data centers for 25 years, formerly for Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset manager.
A mere 10-foot-square space within the average data center consumes about 10 times as much electricity as the average home, he said.
The NSA's Utah data collection center has Salt Lake City in the background, in Bluffdale, Utah, on March 17, 2017. The $1.5 billion data center is thought to be the worlds largest
“While conventional data centers are already pulling an enormous amount of power, AI computing doesn’t use CPUs [central processing units], but GPU-based systems instead, as the GPUs [graphics processing units] are tailored to better handle complex mathematical functions,” he said. “But there’s a catch: they draw between five and 10 times more power than similarly equipped CPU systems.”
This hefty increase in electricity demand strains a grid that is already predicted to feature power shortages and routine rolling blackouts in the coming years. This is due to more demands being placed on the grid at a time when utilities are aggressively shutting down coal and gas plants in their transition to wind and solar energy.
According to a February case study of one large regional electric utility, PJM, by Quanta Technologies, the next several years will feature “equipment overloads that trigger as much as 6,826 MW of load shedding during average winter peak demand.”
Load shedding means cutting power to consumers, also known as blackouts, to prevent a system collapse.
PJM serves a dozen eastern Mid-Atlantic states as a wholesale provider.
“The analysis reveals the expected overload of 30 bulk transmission facilities (230 kV and higher) in the 2028 summer due primarily to high load growth associated mostly with new data centers,” the report states.
A man sits in the shade of his umbrella while dogs play in the park under high tension power lines in Redondo Beach, Calif., on Aug. 16, 2020. California has ordered rolling power outages as a heat wave strains its electrical system. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)
Curiously, given that the transition to renewable energy is ostensibly to fight rising temperatures, the Quanta report finds that “electric demand is peaking less in summer and more in winter.” This is particularly worrisome as states on the West Coast and in the northeast, representing nearly one-third of natural gas consumers across the United States, are banning gas heating in new homes, forcing those households to rely on electricity for essential heating.
PJM forecasts new data center load growth of 7,500 MW by 2028, while deactivating 11,100 MW of fossil fuel production, leaving an 18.6 Gigawatt gap between new demand and remaining supply in this sector, according to Mr. Woodell.
“18.6 Gigawatts would power roughly 3 million homes or New York City three times over,” he stated. “The ramifications are massive.”
Data Center Alley
Globally, data centers consume about 3 percent of the world’s electricity, according to Ryan Yonk, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research. This consumption tends to be steady and predictable, and utilities can expand to accommodate it, he said.
However, problems arise when centers become concentrated in a single area, especially if that area is transitioning away from fossil fuels.
“For individual communities, there are some real questions about data centers going in, particularly if they’re going to be clustered, and they often are,” Mr. Yonk told The Epoch Times.
“Data centers end up having consistent power requirements, which means that the grid can be pretty well expanded so long as production capacity is high enough,” he said. “But as we transition more to renewables ... the greater the baseline demand, the more problematic it can be.”
The region covered by PJM and the Quanta study is significant because it includes the world’s largest data hub, where about half of all U.S. data centers are located and through which an estimated 70 percent of the world’s internet traffic passes.
For anyone who conducts a Google search or makes an Amazon purchase, that transaction will likely be processed in what is known as Data Center Alley, home to about 150 data warehouses in Loudoun County, northern Virginia.
Data Center Alley had its beginnings in the 1980s when America Online (AOL) located its headquarters there. It quickly drew in others due to its proximity to Washington, its construction of the “world’s densest” fiber optic network, a supply of relatively cheap electricity, and local tax incentives.
“This is the area where you want to locate to connect up to everything else,” Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), told The Epoch Times.
“Everybody is building off of each other in these data centers; you have to think about it as one giant network that is all communicating with each other,” she said.
“What’s happened from the ‘90s to now is that we’ve supersized them. We’ve gone from a small building that was part of a larger business campus and was only five megawatts, to these hyper-scale warehouse-type buildings that are now 200,000 square feet, and they’re using up to 90 megawatts per building.”
For scale, 90 megawatts is about the electricity consumption of 22,000 homes, according to a PEC report.
Read more here...
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Site: RT - News
With help from the Democrats, the Republican speaker is set to put the $60 billion bill to a vote
The US House of Representatives introduced a rule on Friday that would allow a vote for a $95 billion foreign aid bill, including $60 billion earmarked for the government in Kiev.
Requested by President Joe Biden last October, the funding proposal has languished in the House for months due to objections from a faction of the Republican majority. Friday saw 165 Democrats and only 151 Republicans vote in favor of the rule change, fueling fury against Speaker Mike Johnson.
According to the Washington Post, the issue of Ukraine funding has “deeply divided a dysfunctional” Republican Party.
Congressman Michael Burgess of Texas, who chairs the Rules Committee, said he regretted not having border security in the package of bills but that “the requirement for America to assert itself as the leader of the free world is not optional, it’s not a requirement we can put on pause.”
His party colleague, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, fumed that the Republican leadership is “fighting tooth and nail to pass Democrat, America Last priorities.”
I voted ‘NO’ on the rule to give more aid to Ukraine.
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) April 19, 2024
Washington needs to stop shoveling money to Ukraine while our own borders are wide open. pic.twitter.com/DfPWKi9183“Washington needs to stop shoveling money to Ukraine while our own borders are wide open,” Congressman Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, complained.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has filed a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson over the rule change. It has been endorsed by Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona.
Read more
Ukraine could be defeated this year – CIA chief
Johnson became speaker last October after the House Freedom Caucus, the same group now opposed to Ukraine funding, ousted Kevin McCarthy over a secret deal with Democrats to fund Kiev.
The Louisiana Republican plans to put the Ukraine funding bill up for a vote on Saturday. If adopted, it would go back to the Senate for approval before it can be signed into effect by Biden.
While some of the $60 billion would go to pay the salaries of Ukrainian government officials, much would end up in the pockets of US weapons manufacturers. About 20% of the funding would be restructured as a loan, but with the provision that Biden can write it off after November 15.
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Site: Zero HedgeCocoa Hyperinflation Accelerates As Grindings Show No Demand DestructionTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 14:40
Cocoa hyperinflation is insane. The latest data from the futures market shows that cocoa prices in New York surged above the $12,000 per ton level today as the pace of processing in factories remains robust. This indicates that demand destruction has yet to emerge despite the massive multi-month parabolic price surge.
Cocoa futures surged 18% in the last two days to a record high of $12,125. Prices are up more than 190% year-to-date and are in breakout territory.
Bloomberg says the news today about grindings—where cocoa transforms into butter and powder used in candy—only dropped 2% in Europe and marginally lower in Asia for the first quarter compared with the same quarter one year ago.
Source: Bloomberg
John Goodwin, a senior commodity analyst at ArrowStream, said the grindings numbers are "nowhere near the deterioration we needed to end this rally," adding, "It's crazy how resilient those numbers were."
In other words, despite cocoa prices skyrocketing to the moon, there has yet to be noticeable demand destruction among consumers that would derail this rally.
"The market is watching processing data to get an idea of whether the rally is starting to hurt demand and how hard it's becoming for chocolatiers to obtain beans, though the data risks becoming a less reliable gauge of demand as shortfalls make it more difficult to source cocoa," Bloomberg pointed out.
Paul Joules, an analyst at Rabobank, wrote in a note that grindings figures are "an indication that for now demand is holding up despite current pricing," adding that "demand destruction will come, but clearly it's taking longer to filter into grind data than the market was anticipating."
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that famed commodity trader Pierre Andurand opened a "small, long position" in cocoa futures in early March. Since then, prices have erupted. In an email, he told the media outlet that his price target is "$20,000 later this year" amid worsening continued drought and disease across West Africa, denting production at cocoa farms.
If cocoa prices rise, chocolate makers like the US Hershey Company will see demand destruction. However, this has yet to happen, and consumers are not complaining about higher prices (yet).
On Google Search, we looked at various key phrases a consumer would ask online about why prices were rising. Still, there is no search trend explosion.
However, as cocoa prices soar, the number of headlines about "chocolate prices" has hit a record high.
Perhaps Andurand's $20,000 price target is correct. Still, we have no idea where the price must go before demand destruction strikes.
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Site: Zero HedgeA Chart To Think AboutTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 14:20
Authored by Peter Tchir via Academy Securities,
For all the “big tech”, momentum, hype; for all the “all-time highs”; this has not been a great year for tech...
Based on closing prices, the only day since January 19th, that you could have bought the Nasdaq 100 index and be profitable, is January 31st (and unless I type quickly, that might not even be true).
Had you came into the year long the Nasdaq 100, you would be up just over 2%.
Think about how many people got “FOMO’d” into buying markets at levels they weren’t comfortable with?
Now with yields rising, the Fed potentially on hold until after the election, valuation concerns mounting, and the “reaction function” to earnings, seems to be looking for negatives rather than positives, will people stay in this market?
Not great for 60/40 accounts and not sure when risk parity has to reduce exposures (they’ve been helped by commodities), but should be soon, if not already (changing correlations is as important for their models as individual asset class volatility – none going the “right” direction at the moment).
Finally, and for those who have been reading T-Reports for a long time, know that I like to say “flash crashes” and “massive overnight moves” are like criminals, they tend to return to the scene of the crime, which does not bode well for equity risk (and therefore credit risk – credit is moving due to that far more than anything wrong in credit fundamentals).
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Site: RT - News
The individual collapsed to the ground before police officers extinguished the flames
A man has set himself on fire outside the ‘hush money’ trial of former US President Donald Trump in New York City. The flames were eventually extinguished, but it remains unclear whether the man died from his injuries.
The dramatic incident occurred on Friday afternoon, shortly after final jury selections were made and the panel was seated.
Video footage shows the man engulfed in flames, kneeling upright with his hands behind his head. After burning for around a minute, the visibly charred man collapsed to the ground and the burning remains were extinguished by police officers.
The incident was broadcast live by several US news networks, including Fox and CNN. As Fox reporters realized what was happening, one could be heard telling his colleagues to search their truck for a fire extinguisher.
After putting out the fire, police officers covered the man’s body with fire blankets before he was loaded into an ambulance. It is unclear whether he survived.
Witnesses told CNN that he had scattered pamphlets before dousing himself in gasoline and lighting a match. The New York Police Department told reporters that officers are “still gathering information” on what happened.
The pamphlets included a link to a Substack account, on which the man identified himself as Max Azzarello, "an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan." In a rambling manifesto, Azzarello said that this "extreme act of protest" was intended to draw attention to an "apocalyptic fascist world coup."
Warning: extremely graphic content:
BREAKING: PROTESTER LIGHTS THEMSELF ON FIRE OUTSIDE TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL IN NYC.
— Mike Carter (@MikeCarterTV) April 19, 2024
*WARNING GRAPHIC* pic.twitter.com/a2x07YeXO1The incident occurred on the fourth day of Trump’s criminal trial. The former president is accused of misreporting so-called ‘hush-money’ payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, although he insists the trial is “political persecution” orchestrated by President Joe Biden to take him out of contention before November’s presidential election.
Presiding over the case is Judge Juan Merchan, who has refused to recuse himself despite his daughter working for a marketing firm representing several top Democrats. Merchan issued a gag order against Trump last month, forbidding the former president from criticizing the prosecution.
The incident occurs less than two months after an active-duty US Air Force member died by self immolation outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, protesting against military support for Israel. The man, 25-year-old airman Aaron Bushnell, shouted “free Palestine!” as he burned to death.
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Site: LifeNews
As previously reported, Operation Rescue has seen an increase in medical emergencies since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, especially in leftist cities and states that have turned into abortion destinations – such as Illinois.
This time, on-site pro-life eyewitnesses saw two emergencies on the same day at the University of New Mexico Center for Reproductive Health in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The information was provided by Abortion Free New Mexico.
First Emergency:
According to eyewitnesses, a woman was taken to an ambulance on a gurney around 2:30 p.m. on April 10, 2024. Another ambulance, a police car and a fire engine were also on the scene.
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Second Emergency:
That same day, less than two hours later, at around 4 p.m., a second ambulance was seen at the abortion facility to transport another woman to the emergency room.
Unknowns:
The condition of both women remains unknown.
Operation Rescue is trying to obtain 911 records for both emergencies from the city of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Fire Department. Nevertheless, based on previous requests, a total or partial denial of records is expected. Operation Rescue’s team has seen this pattern in many abortion destination cities where the abortion cartel is not held accountable.
Over and over again, women are injured – or worse – by abortion. Yet what happens to them gets covered up, swept away, and quietly erased in a disappearing act. The public deserves to know how dangerous abortion is, and yet public records frequently are withheld, denied, or mysteriously missing.
This silence costs women and babies.
“We continue to see an increase in medical emergencies like these while the traditional media, liberal groups, and their allies remain silent,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Meanwhile women keep getting hurt. But we will move forward with our work exposing the truth of what the abortion cartel does not want the public to know about abortion. We pray for these women who were injured, though the condition of each remains unclear. And, we will keep fighting by all legal means for life.”
LifeNews Note: Ricardo Pinedo writes for Operation Rescue.
The post Abortion Clinic Sends Two Women to ER in Less Than Two Hours After Botched Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Community in Mission
The Gospel from last Saturday’s daily Mass (Saturday of the 2nd Week of Easter) describes troubles rising and demonstrates how to endure them:
When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading (John 6:16-21).
The images in this passage are reminiscent of the journey of life. The disciples have set out in a boat to cross to the other shore. We, too, have set out for another shore in our life. Darkness grows for them as it often does for us. The winds are contrary, and the sea becomes choppy. The must row because the sails are useless. So it is for us also. We would rather let the wind carry us effortlessly to the other shore, but while life has many pleasant moments when we can do this, there are other times when the storms and winds assail us and make our journey difficult.
The disciples are a few miles into their journey when the crisis arises—or is it a blessing? They see Jesus walking on the water. Although He is their blessing, they don’t see it that way. Other gospel passages say that they thought they were seeing a ghost (e.g., Matt 14:26).
Life can be like this. Our blessing, our solution, our healing can be right in front of us, yet we are terrified. I remember one time when my cat was trapped in the attic of the rectory (I have no idea how she got up there). We made an opening in the ceiling to get her out, but she was too terrified to come near enough that I could let her down. It took a long time (and some kitty snacks) to lure her. Although I was her rescuer, she saw me as her tormenter. We are often like this, fearing the very Savior sent to us. We are like children who scream in fright as the doctor approaches with the shot that will cure or prevent sickness. The Lord God once said of us,
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. But the more I called them, the farther they ran from Me …. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them … [who] bent down to feed them (Hosea 11:1-4).
Yes, we often fear the very source or means of our blessing.
The text says, “… and they were afraid.” They are looking right at Jesus, their savior, yet they do not realize it; they do not recognize Him and are afraid. We, too, are like this. Why do we sometimes fear Jesus, the very source of our salvation? Because He does not always heal us on our terms. He talks of strange remedies like the cross. Strangely, He permits storms in our life and we are both fearful and resentful. However, the very cross and storms we fear are often the means by which He saves us! We need some degree of suffering and storms to keep us humble, to help us to grow in wisdom, to trust Him, and to keep calling on Him. Jesus talks of unsettling things like taking up our cross and following Him, losing our life so as to find it and save it. Jesus Himself won the victory hanging on a cross, not astride a war-horse slaughtering His enemies.
We see Jesus coming toward us in a storm, but rather than simply stopping the storm, He tells us not to be afraid. Why doesn’t He just take away the storm? I don’t know; He simply says, Do not be afraid. It is I. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (Jn 16:33).
Jesus wants His presence to be enough for us. He is with us, so why are we afraid? There are going to be storms; that’s a promise—but He will be with us; that, too, is a promise. There’s a saying that’s particularly: “Don’t tell God how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is.”
The gospel passage we are discussing ends abruptly by saying, They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading. Well, what do you know, they finally understand that it is Jesus and they reach the shore!
Note that there is no indication in the passage that the storm ended. The winds may have still been blowing, the seas still rough, but none of that matters once they have reached their destination. One may think that this destination merely refers to the boat docks at Capernaum, but that would be worldly, limited, and erroneous. The shore to which we all sail is none other than the Lord Himself. He is our peace, our goal, our destination.
At times His solutions may involve paradox. The cross is strange medicine to the worldly—but loss can usher in gain, a door may close only that another may open, death can bring life. Do not be afraid; He is near. That is not a ghost approaching you in the storm, it is the Lord! All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).
This is a vignette, an essay on life. Storms will come, but the solution is near: Do not be afraid. It is I.
Help me, Lord, to know that you are the source of my peace. You are always near; Help me to hear your voice, saying, Do not be afraid. It is I.
There is an old gospel song that has these lyrics:
I love the Lord;
He heard my cry;
And he pitied every groan.
Long as I live;
And troubles rise;
I’ll hasten to his throne.The storm described here is a storm that came to them. There are other storms in our life that can be avoided. Monday’s post will deal with that.
The post Overcoming Fear on a Stormy Night in Galilee appeared first on Community in Mission.
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Site: Zero HedgeFreedom Caucus Posts Rotating Guard To Block Sneaky Leadership MovesTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 13:45
In a sign of growing discord among House Republicans, members of the Freedom Caucus are taking turns monitoring the House floor to prevent the GOP leadership from using sneaky procedural tactics to sap the power of increasingly rebellious conservatives.
Specifically, they're wary that party leaders and their allies will, without prior announcement, bring measures to the floor and seek their passage via "unanimous consent." With that approach, the presiding officer simply states, "If there is no objection, the motion will be adopted." After a pause to allow for objections, the officer declares, "Since there is no objection, the motion is adopted."
The U.S. House is now officially in an alternate universe where the Speaker shares procedural power with Democrats.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 19, 2024
It’s unfortunate our Speaker has chosen this route. Just to maintain control of the floor, he will need to rely on dozens of democrats tomorrow. https://t.co/BKpJjABFCYThat's where the Freedom Caucus's Floor Action Response Team (yes, "FART") comes in. With their round-the-legislative-clock presence, they always have a member positioned to object to unanimous consent motions, forcing proposals to go through a more arduous procedure.
House conservatives both inside and outside the Freedom Caucus are increasingly irate over Speaker Mike Johnson's actions, from pushing foreign aid for Ukraine, allowing omnibus spending bills that kick the fiscal can down the road, and personally casting the tie-breaking vote against adding a warrant requirement to the extension Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. All the while, he's pushed border security to the back burner.
The Freedom Caucus and its allies are on particular alert for moves that would reverse concessions made by Johnson's predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, as part of his negotiations with conservatives pursuant to ascending to the speakership. For example, establishment Republicans could try to:
- Remove three conservatives from the powerful Rules Committee, which exerts a variety of controls over the flow of legislation through the House, and is therefore in position to expedite or thwart the progress of a bill. The targeted conservatives are Thomas Massie (KY), Chip Roy (TX) and Ralph Norman (SC), Politico reports.
- Raise the required number of members who must back a motion to oust the speaker before it can be put to a vote. Today, it only requires one. Last month, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed such a "motion to vacate the chair." On Tuesday, Massie announced he would co-sponsor the motion, telling Johnson to his face, "You're not going to be speaker much longer."
The three members who refuse to support the Speaker’s agenda should resign from the Rules Committee immediately. If they refuse, they should be removed immediately. They are there on behalf of the conference, not themselves. https://t.co/dV0LUKrpoR
— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) April 18, 2024After a tense meeting with Johnson, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who introduced the successful motion to oust McCarthy, issued a public warning against changing the rules. “Talking about changing the threshold to the motion to vacate is likely to induce the motion to vacate,” he told reporters.
Greene issued her own admonition: "Mike Johnson owes our entire conference a meeting. And if he wants to change the motion to vacate he needs to come before the Republican Conference that elected him and tell us of his intentions and tell us what this rule change … is going to be.”
Johnson has been deflecting questions about whether he was contemplating such a move, both with media and with Gaetz and others. When Gaetz was asked on Thursday if he would back a motion to vacate, he hinted that he was moving in that direction, coyly saying, "You know I woke up today and I didn't." At the same time, he said Johnson's ouster would be "sub-optimal," and that he'd prefer to see Johnson come around and "govern in accordance with the commitments we made."
Gaetz marveled at Johnson's rapid conversion to establishment puppet once the gavel was in his hand:
"When we voted for Mike Johnson for speaker, he was fresh off of a vote against Ukraine aid, he was publicly advocating for a warrant requirement on FISA, and the central thesis of his campaign for speaker was single-subject spending bills...[Now] look where we are."
News -- Matt Gaetz tells us he engaged in a 'tense' conversation with Johnson, who didn't rule out changing motion to vacate now in upcoming rule
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 18, 2024
(Also got into it with Rep. Van Orden who was daring them to move ahead with vacate vote - which Gaetz doesn't support w Johnson) pic.twitter.com/VyBdpSlN9y -
Site: Zero HedgeWatch: Migrants Complain That New Yorkers Don't Learn African LanguagesTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 13:25
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A hearing held earlier this week in New York by the Council’s immigration and hospital committees saw black migrants who have arrived in the city airing their grievances about public services they have been provided, including food and accommodation, with one woman even complaining that New Yorkers won’t learn Congolese languages.
The hearing drew over a thousand immigrants, mostly from countries in Africa, and many illegally in the country, with some claiming that they had been promised money, green cards or work visas if they attended.
Over 1,000 African migrants swarm NYC’s City Hall over supposed falsely promised green cards https://t.co/EnOA6ETrWJ
— New York Post (@nypost) April 16, 2024While only 250 of them were allowed inside, the rest congregated outside in a park protesting.
Over 1,000 African migrants swarm NYC’s City Hall over supposed falsely promised green cards
— blue pill red pill your choice (@andred928) April 16, 2024
The crowd was mostly made up of new arrivals from Guinea, in West Africa, and were apparently drawn to City Hall by an activist group.— Article pic.twitter.com/h2LwjXyLGQThe hearing was touted in a press release as aimed at African migrants in shelters to “understand how the [Adams] Administration is addressing language access barriers, cultural competency challenges, health needs, and other roadblocks.”
At one point during the hearing, which lasted for over SIX HOURS, the conversation turned to language services offered by the state, with some migrants complaining that Spanish and English speakers are given priority, and African immigrants are unfairly excluded.
It was then pointed out that many immigrants are illiterate and can only speak their native language and further suggested that New Yorkers “refuse to accommodate” by not learning those languages.
There are 3,000 languages spoken across Africa, with many having hundreds of different dialects.
Migrants in NYC complain that people who live there and provide them with free services are not willing to learn hundreds of different African languages. They go on to call NYC "racist" and "shameful." Full report: https://t.co/rIRTpbL3IZ pic.twitter.com/1hFQXga0HK
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) April 18, 2024At another point in the hearing migrants began complaining about the free food and housing they have been provided, saying it isn’t good enough.
They described the situation as “unacceptable,” and “shameful,” and even calling New York City “Anti-African, racist and Xeonophobic,” charging that the council is “responsible for this pain and suffering” that will affect migrants “for generations to come.”
"This is shameful time for NYC. IT IS ANTI-AFRICAN AND XENOPHOBIC!"
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 17, 2024
Another migrant complains about the free accommodations provided to black illegal immigrants in NYC: pic.twitter.com/OVNlvBCFGfAt another point in the hearing, City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino challenged the complaints, noting “I’ve been listening to everybody speak and making demands on New York City to do MORE MORE MORE.”
“How much more are we supposed to do?” she urged, adding “this system is so overworked and overburdened. We don’t have the resources.”
NY City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino responds to migrants complaining about the free food, housing and other services provided to them. "What motivated you to come here thinking the streets are paved in gold? They are not." Full report here: https://t.co/rIRTpbL3IZ pic.twitter.com/rF0KGMtB7B
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) April 18, 2024“I have to ask you all, what motivated you to come here thinking the streets are paved in gold? They are not,” Paladino continued adding “people have come across the border illegally,” before other council members interrupted her and demanded she ask a pertinent question.
Here is the full exchange, with Paladino’s comments:
I sat on the New York City Council Committee on Hospitals jointly with the Committee on Immigration to discuss the experience of black migrants in New York City.
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@CMvpaladino) April 17, 2024
It truly pains me to hear the experiences these people are going through, I am extremely sympathetic to their… pic.twitter.com/4MzJIerSCLMayor Eric Adams responded to the protests and complaints, stating that it is the Federal government’s responsibility to “finish the job they started.”
“As we have said repeatedly, the federal government needs to finish the job they started by providing an immediate pathway to work for the tens of thousands of migrants they let into this country,” Adam’s office stated.
It added that “We are exceptionally proud of the dignity and respect we’ve been able to provide these migrants, as well as everyone else in our care, but, make no mistake, New York City should have never been left largely on its own to manage this national humanitarian crisis.”
Eric Adams' office hits back at 1,000 African migrants who descended on City Hall in protest, claiming NYC does enough for them https://t.co/SQi1J5cSJk pic.twitter.com/pqDyvHtTPB
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) April 17, 2024* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
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Site: RT - News
The conflict could drag Europe “into its depths,” the Hungarian prime minister has warned
The leaders of the EU and NATO are potentially ready to deploy forces to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed on Friday. Brussels sees the conflict between Moscow and Kiev as its “own” and is failing to consider the risks arising from its ever-deeper involvement, he warned.
The mood of EU leaders is “one of war,” Orban told a gathering of his Fidesz Party ahead of the EU Parliament elections. “There is a pro-war majority in Brussels today,” he said, adding that the bloc’s politics “are dominated by the logic of war.” EU politicians are already so invested in the conflict that they fail to see the flaws in their strategy, the prime minister argued.
Despite all the “money and weapons, the situation is not improving [for Kiev], in fact, it is getting worse… We are one step away from the West sending troops to Ukraine,” Orban warned. “This is a vortex of war that can drag Europe into its depths. Brussels is playing with fire.”
Read more
Sending troops to Ukraine ‘worth considering’ – ex-UK defense minister
Budapest will not let itself be dragged into the hostilities, and “will not enter… the war on either side,” the prime minister pledged, adding that his country “must stand for peace” everywhere, including in “Brussels, Washington, the UN and NATO.”
“We don't want war, and we don't want Hungary to become a toy of great powers again,” Orban stated.
The idea of sending NATO troops to Ukraine has been repeatedly floated by Western leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron first raised it in February, saying “all options are possible.”
Read more
US won’t fight for Ukraine – White House
Macron has since doubled down, stating that there are “no limits” to support for Kiev. His words initially alarmed some NATO allies, who quickly denied having such plans. However, the French leader did receive backing from certain members of the US-led military bloc.
In March, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Russia’s military operation in Ukraine requires an “asymmetric escalation” on the part of the West. Warsaw’s top diplomat also called the idea of a NATO presence in Ukraine “not unthinkable.”
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said earlier in April that every NATO member already has military personnel in Ukraine operating as advisers or instructors. Last week, the former UK minister of state for the armed forces, James Heappey, told Sky News that sending NATO troops to Ukraine should be considered.
Moscow has warned that deploying NATO troops in Ukraine would bring the US-led bloc to the brink of a full-blown conflict with Russia. President Vladimir Putin stated in March that it would be “one step shy of a full-scale World War III.”
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
Speaker Johnson’s ignominious betrayal of fiscal sanity might well be the death knell for the GOP. He is apparently risking his speakership on behalf of $95 billion of foreign aid boondoggles that Uncle Sam cannot remotely afford, and which actually provide zero benefit to the homeland security of America. And we do mean zero, as in nothing, nichts, nada, nyet and nugatory, as we amplify below.
What Johnson’s impending Waterloo means, therefore, is not merely the prospect of another wild and wooly succession battle, but actually that there is no point at all in the preservation of a Republican majority and GOP House Speaker. After all, the Washington GOP has become so infected with neocon warmongers and careerist pols who spend a lifetime basking in the imperial projects and pretensions of the world’s War Capital that apparently the best the House GOP caucus could do when it ejected the previous careerist deep-stater from the Speaker’s chair was to tap the dim-witted nincompoop who currently occupies it.
The Republican party is thus truly beyond redemption. As JFK once said about the CIA, its needs to be splintered into a thousand pieces and swept into the dustbin of history.
Indeed, when you look at the calamitous fiscal trajectory embedded in the CBO’s latest 30-year fiscal outlook, you truly have to wonder about what miniature minds like Congressman Johnson’s are actually thinking. That is to say, the latest CBO report published in March presumes that there will never be another recession and no inflation flare-up, interest rate spike, global energy dislocation, prolonged Forever War or any other imaginable crisis ever again—just smooth economic sailing for the next 30 years.
And yet, and then. Even by the math of this Rosy Scenario on steroids the public debt will reach $140 trillion at minimum by 2054. In turn, that would cause interest payments on the public debt with rates no higher than those which prevailed between 1986 and1997 to reach $10 trillion per year.
You simply don’t need paragraphs, pages and whole monographs worth of analysis and amplification to understand where that is going. The nation’s fisc is now on the cusp of descending into the maws of a doomsday machine. So how in the world do these elements of Johnson’s offering make even the remotest sense?
Speaker Johnson’s Foreign Aid Boondoggle:
Indo-Pacific aid: $8.1 billion.
Israel: $26.4 billion.
Ukraine: $60.8 billion.
Total: $95.3 billion.Apparently, it’s because Johnson and a good share of the Washington GOP have succumbed wholesale to neocon paranoia, stupidity, lies and hollow excuses for warmongering. For crying out loud, Putin has no interest in molesting the Poles, to say nothing of storming the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. He is certainly no Ghandi, but well more than smart enough to recognize that with Russia’s GDP of $2.2 trillion and war budget of $80 billion there would be no point in going to war with NATO’s $45 trillion of GDP and combined war budgets in excess of $1.2 trillion.
Likewise, China’s $50 trillion debt-ridden Ponzi would collapse in months if its $3.5 trillion flow of export earnings were disrupted after attempting to land its single modern aircraft carrier on the California coast. And Iran has no nukes, no intercontinental range missiles and a GDP equal to 130 hours of US annual output.
So, some Axis of evil!
Yet that’s exactly what the Speaker said this morning after going to too many Deep State briefings and apparently having his own johnson yanked once too often. The Swamp creatures surely see the lad’s naivete and blithering ignorance as a gift that doesn’t stop giving. That is to say, a “mark” who knows nothing at all about the world from sources not stamped, “Top Secret (lies)”.
Speaker Mike Johnson: “We’re going to stand for freedom and make sure that Putin doesn’t march through Europe… we’re the greatest Nation on the planet, and we have to act like it”, This is a critical time right now, a critical time on the world stage. I can make a selfish decision and do something that’s different but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing. “I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important. I really do. I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten.
I believe Xi, Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. I think they’re in coordination on it. “So I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies.
To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys. My son is going to begin in the Naval Academy this fall. This is a live-fire exercise for me as it is so many American families. This is not a game, this is not a joke.Needless to say, our dufus Speaker doesn’t know the “Baltics” from the “Balkans” where Serbia and other Russian friendlies are definitely not quaking in their boots about Putin. In point of fact, however, it is not hard to see that the civil war and territorial dispute between Kiev and Moscow over the Donbas and rim of the Black Sea from Mariupol to Odessa is a one-off of Russian and regional history and Washington’s mindless push of NATO eastward to Russia’s very doorstep.
The light-yellow area of this 1897 map gave an unmistakable message: To wit, in the late Russian Empire there was no doubt as to the paternity of the Donbas and the lands adjacent to the Azov Sea and the Black Sea. Already then, they were part of the 125 years-old New Russia, which had been assembled by purchase and conquest during the reign of Catherine the Great.
Indeed, it was only in 1922 that the yellow area—essentially demarcating the four provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which recently voted to rejoin Russia—was appended to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic by the great humanitarian and map-maker, V. Lenin.And yet Speaker Johnson now wants to crash the Republican Party on enforcing a map drawn by one of history’s bloodiest monsters. It’s come down to that.
That is to say, the war in Ukraine would stop tomorrow without another dime of aid from the US taxpayers if Washington agreed to partition the wholly artificial polity assembled by Lenin, Stalin (parts of Poland) and Khruschev (Crimea). In every presidential election in “Ukraine” since 1991 the electorate has essentially voted for separation via 80/20 pluralities in Novorossiya and Crimea for the pro-Russian candidate and 80/20 pluralities in the center and west for the Ukrainian nationalist.
That is, America’s national security would be undermined not one bit by a new map showing two countries and no war: That is, Novorossiya (New Russia) in the east and south, on the one hand, and the parts and pieces of Poland, Galicia-Austria and the Cossack Hetmanates in the center and west, on the other. Agree to keep NATO out of this rump state of Ukraine and it’s all over except the shouting.
Nevertheless, the insanity of the Russophobia which keeps knuckleheads like Johnson from having an even rudimentary grasp of the matter reveals an even larger issue. Namely, it explains why Washington’s hegemonic foreign policy is a dysfunctional disaster, which unceasingly spawns madness like today’s $95 billion foreign aid boondoggle.
To wit, it encourages the Empire’s client and allied states to take bellicose positions vis a vis Washington designated rivals and enemies because it brings aid to their treasuries, weapons to their militaries and prestige and self-importance to their politicians and diplomats.
Thus, would Poland’s rightwing politicians always be barking at Russia, Russia, Russia in the absence of its NATO membership and US military and diplomatic shield? We sincerely doubt they would be poking the bear, but instead would be seeking friendly accommodation with a natural trading partner.
Likewise with Germany. The latter was apparently so petrified by a rescendant Russia that as recently as 2019 it spent the grand sum of just $50 billion and 1.3% of GDP on defense, while quite logically fueling its booming industrial and export economy with cheap Russian gas.
What has changed since then is not remotely Germany’s assessment of the Russian threat. What changed is client state politics. The Green Party entered the government coalition with the Social Democrats by beating the war-drums because they saw attacking Russia and Russian gas as a way to promote their hideous crusade against fossil fuel. And they did so with impunity, knowing that Washington’s military shield had their backs.
As to Taiwan’s client state politics, it’s not even a close call. Announce that Washington’s archaic “strategic ambiguity” policy– left over from the time of two departed demons, Mao Zedong and Chaing Kai Chek—has now also departed into the “inoperative” realm of Nixon-speak and you wouldn’t need any “Indo-Pacific” aid boondoggles, either.
To the contrary, Taiwan’s leaders would be scampering to Beijing for discussions of a “Hong Kong” transition in short order. America’s homeland security, of course, would be no worse for the wear except for saving the cost of 100,000 servicemen in the Far East and the multi-trillion cost over time of patrolling the Pacific for the benefit of exactly what?
Then, of course, we get to the $26.4 billion for Israel. That’s about 4.5% of its GDP and should come out of its own war taxes, not Uncle Sam’s credit card. Moreover, it’s proof positive of the baleful impact of the Empire’s military shield and checkbook on client state politics. As we recently showed, Israel’s defense spending has been steadily plunging to less than 5% of GDP, even as its voters have repeatedly elected bellicose governments consisting of rightwing warmongers and fanatical religious factions.
These Netanyahu governments have consistently undermined a two-state solution to the Palestine problem, even going so far as to bless the transfer of billions of cash in suitcases to Hamas in order to undermine the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority. Likewise, Netanyahu has wantonly demonized Iran mainly for the purpose of domestic politics and as a means to assemble 60+ vote coalitions in the Knesset.
Absent the US Navy and Air Force shield in the region, however, no Israeli government would have ever conducted unending assassination raids on that country or sabotaged on Capitol Hill Washington’s attempts at constructive arrangements with Iran like Obama’s nuke deal.
Indeed, absent Uncle Sam’s $4 billion annual gift and even more valuable regional military shield, Netanyahu and his extremist coalitions would have needed to raise taxes massively in Israel in order to fund their Garrison State war policies. We doubt the Israeli electorate would have tolerated the true cost of Netanyahu’s madness for very long.
At the end of the day, what Washington now needs is a break-up of the GOP and the formation of a Peace and Freedom party from the remnants of the conservative GOP and the dovish left. Both have been ejected from the UniParty by today’s Republican and Democrat denizens of the world’s War Capital.
So perhaps Johnson’s hari-kari act will bear some fruit, after all. Not as he intended, but in the good way that American democracy desperately needs at this fraught juncture.
Reprinted with permission from David Stockman’s Contra Corner.
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Site: AntiWar.com
Speaker Johnson’s ignominious betrayal of fiscal sanity might well be the death knell for the GOP. He is apparently risking his speakership on behalf of $95 billion of foreign aid boondoggles that Uncle Sam cannot remotely afford, and which actually provide zero benefit to the homeland security of America. And we do mean zero, as … Continue reading "Speaker Johnson’s Ignominious Betrayal of Americans on Behalf of the War Party"
The post Speaker Johnson’s Ignominious Betrayal of Americans on Behalf of the War Party appeared first on Antiwar.com.
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Site: AsiaNews.itAccording to a media investigation, the number of operations carried out abroad by the Research & Analysis Wing has increased since 2020. The agency reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office. Islamabad has been reluctant to talk about it because the people targeted are terrorists or militants of groups Pakistan has always denied hosting.
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Site: LifeNews
New polling is suggesting that former President Donald Trump is leading incumbent Joe Biden by a thin margin, but it may not be enough to secure a Trump victory in November. According to the latest Emerson College nationwide survey released on Thursday, 46% of voters back Trump, against 43% who back Biden, with 12% undecided. When undecided voters are asked which way they lean towards voting, Trump’s overall support increases to 51% and Biden’s to 48%.
The current state of the economy, including jobs and inflation, seemingly play a significant role in which candidate voters prefer. Thirty-six percent of voters ranked the economy as their top issue going into November, ahead of 21% of voters who rated immigration as their top issue.
Seventy-five percent of those polled responded that they think the cost of living in the U.S. is rising. Of that 75%, 56% intend to vote for Trump and only 32% for Biden. Among voters who responded that the cost of living is “staying the same” (18%), 67% intend to back Biden and only 18% Trump. Among voters who responded that the cost of living is easing (7%), a staggering 94% intend to back Biden and only 6% intend to back Trump.
Trump also leads among voters who say that their family has an average (Trump at 46%, Biden at 44%), below average (Trump at 49%, Biden at 40%), or far below average (Trump at 50%, Biden at 32%) income. Biden leads Trump 50% to 42% among those who say their family has an above average income and 55% to 29% among those who say their family has a far above average income. Additionally, Biden leads Trump 51% to 38% among voters who say they work less than 20 hours a week, 52% to 37% among those who say they work 20 to 29 hours a week, and 45% to 43% among those who say they work 30 to 39 hours a week. Meanwhile, Trump leads Biden 50% to 38% among those who say they work 40 to 49 hours a week, 59% to 35% among those who say they work 50 to 59 hours a week, and a staggering 80% to 7% among those who say the work 60 hours a week or more.
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Another poll released Thursday, the Harvard Youth Poll, found that the economy was also the top concern for voters aged 18 to 29. “Make no mistake, this is a different youth electorate than we saw in 2020 and 2022, and young voters are motivated by different things,” said John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. “Economic issues are top of mind, housing is a major concern — and the gap between young men’s and young women’s political preferences is pronounced.”
Although Trump’s share of young voters is expanding, Biden still commands a strong lead over the demographic. Among voters under the age of 30, 45% intend to vote for Biden in November and 37% for Trump, with 16% undecided. Among registered voters under 30, the margin broadens: 50% back Biden and 37% back Trump, with 12% undecided. Among voters under 30 who self-identity as likely to vote in November, 56% back Biden and 37% back Trump, with only 6% undecided.
Following a national trend, economic issues were the top concern for voters under the age of 30. Sixty-four percent of respondents rated inflation as a major concern, 59% named health care, 56% named housing, and 53% named jobs. Abortion was an issue of concern for 50% of young voters, according to the survey. Additionally, when pollsters asked young voters which of two particular issues was more important to them, inflation was ranked more important than every other issue named except for abortion.
The Washington Stand asked FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter for his insights on new polling data. “This election cycle is feeling a lot like 2016, in that we are seeing noticeable movement among key groups that will prove decisive come November. In 2016, it was noncollege white voters in the Rust Belt states that put Trump over the top,” Carpenter explained. “This election it looks like noncollege voters of all ethnicities, as well as Gen Z and Millennial voters, are behaving more like a swing vote that could go either way than a single voting bloc. If that’s the case in the fall, then Biden is in real trouble.”
“It’s likely young voters who prioritized things like climate change and social justice in 2020 have been stung by the reality of inflation and the overall crisis in affordability since the election of Biden,” Carpenter noted. “These voters might not switch to vote for Trump outright, but if they stay home or vote third party, they can damage Biden’s reelection effort substantially. At this point in the campaign Biden should be focused on winning independent voters. Instead, he is having to spend precious time and resources to keep his 2020 coalition intact.”
LifeNews Note: S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
The post Trump Leads Biden in Latest Presidential Polls as America Struggles appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Henrymakow.com
Please send links and comments to hmakow@gmail.comWe live in a world where Zionists define "terrorism" to exclude the genocide of 30,000 women and children while including an obvious Hamas false flag where the Israeli "Hannibal" doctrine was responsible for most deaths.Not to mention the devastation of thousands of homes. The Israeli government has removed itself from civilized norms and should be treated like rabid dogs. (This apparently is their strategy.)We must refuse to let Zionists and their Gentile proxies define reality for us. This is also a war for Truth and Reality.Iran Downplays Iran Strikes; Proof of Capability, Rather than Escalation-Israeli opposition leader Lapid calls right-wing Ben Gvir's remark 'unforgivable' after apparent mockery of Israeli strike against IranMark Glenn--"Yes, yes, we know...Israel 'didn't know' about the impending attacks that took place on Oct. 7th...Despite what is her insurmountable paranoia, despite her technological prowess in the fields of surveillance, infiltration detection, etc, despite the fact that Gaza is chock full of Mistavriim (Jewish spies of Arabic descent who can pass for Palestinians) and despite the repeated warnings coming from both Unit 8200 and Border Patrol units within the IDF that 'something big' was coming, nevertheless, Israel 'didn't know'."-The war isn't between countries. The war is on YOU.Who benefits from Iran attacking Israel? Who benefits from Iran seizing cargo ships as the US blowsthem up? Isn't it obvious at this point--------------------------------------------------The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution on April 16 declaring the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" antisemitic.In a democratic society, you cannot ban dissenting views.-
(Thanks to Dr. Robert Malone for sending this)Greg Reese- Nanobots That Release Toxins And Harvest Energy From the BodyHumans being turned into batteries to fuel digital A.I. prison."My team developed nano-robots that carry antenna. These antenna are made from metal nanoparticles. Now the antenna enable the nanobots to respond to externally applied electromagnetic fields. So these version of nanobots can actually be activated with a press of a button on a joystick." ~ Dr. Ido Bachelet--Pastor Chuck Baldwin---Could Israel Cease To Exist As A Nation-State In The Near Future, And, If It Did, What Would Happen To The Evangelical Church?-Well maybe not...'Nothing would remain': Iran's president vows to completely destroy Israel if it launches 'tiniest invasion'Iran's president minced no words during remarks at a military parade on Wednesday, vowing to completely destroy Israel should it attack Iran.--Dr. HENRY MAKOW ~ `ASK HENRY!´ "The Legendary Controversial Illusion-Killer" [Age Of Truth TV]-
I Made It Clear To Israelis - Don't Move on Haifa."(You know, Haifa - that city in Israel...)-Reader named Joe--"Checkout this video on the WHO's move to take health freedom awayfrom 194 countries."We must fight back. Spread the word.""-Bro Nathaniel laments we can't mention the source of our problemsand composes a ditty called "The Swindler"--Brian Shilhavy- Are You Prepared for Life with No Internet?"Most people cannot even imagine or fathom what life would be like today without the Internet. Total e-commerce sales for 2023 were estimated at $1.1 TRILLION in the U.S., an increase of 7.6 percent (±1.2%) from 2022. If the Internet went down for just 1 day, it would result in a loss of $11 billion in the U.S., and about $43 billion worldwide. If the Internet went down for just a few days to a week, our economy would totally collapse. If the Internet went down for a month, SOCIETY would collapse. This is not exaggeration or hyperbole. People who understand the technology know that this is true. This is why the Globalists, such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), have been warning the public since late 2020 that a "Cyber Pandemic" and "Cyber Attack" are coming that will make COVID-19 look like a walk in the park. They're not wrong."The rest of the article is mainly devoted to personal reflections.--
Jessica Rose--36 million dollars set aside for vaccine injuries for the next 2 years in CanadaGee, I wonder why? Let's do some math...---Prof.Angus Dalgleish: Massive Cancer Deaths Study Vindicates My Warnings Over COVID Boosters"It is well over a year since I first published my concerns that my patients with melanoma were relapsing after several years of being in remission...they had all had a booster covid vaccine..."-Perspectives on the Pandemic | "Blood Clots and Beyond" | Episode 15In February, 2021, Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, M.D. and a number of his colleagues warned the European Medicines Agency about the potential danger of blood clots and cerebral vein thrombosis in millions of people receiving experimental gene-based injections.Since then, two of the four injections have been suspended or recalled in Europe and the United States for just that reason.In this episode of Perspectives, Professor Bhakdi explains the science behind the problem, why it is not just limited to the products already suspended, and why in the long term we may be creating dangerously overactive immune systems in billions of unwitting subjects.-Maxime Bernier says it's 'astounding' Alberta is 'pushing' COVID boosters, tells Danielle Smith to stop itThe People's Party of Canada leader tells the Alberta government: 'It's over! Get over it!' -
Site: LifeNews
As the Biden administration accelerates their strategy of promoting abortion as their go-to issue ahead of the November elections, a new poll is confirming the results of numerous previous polls showing that a supermajority of American voters oppose abortion after the third month of pregnancy — a view that is not in line with the Democratic Party’s public position of unrestricted abortion.
On Wednesday, Rasmussen Reports released the results of a poll revealing that 66% of American voters are opposed to late-term abortions beyond 12 weeks. These latest numbers are largely similar to polling results from the last 20 years, which show anywhere from 55 to 71% of Americans opposing second trimester abortions and 70 to 86% opposing third trimester abortions.
Notably, Democratic lawmakers in recent years have consistently refused to say if they would place any limits on abortion, even up to the moment of birth. The current Democratic Party platform makes no reference to placing any limits on the procedure, going so far as to say that the party would work to overturn any and all pro-life protections enacted by duly elected state lawmakers, as well as any federal protections: “Democrats oppose and will fight to overturn federal and state laws that create barriers to reproductive health and rights.”
The platform goes on to state that Democrats would force taxpayers to pay for abortions by “repeal[ing] the Hyde Amendment,” a position that is opposed by 60% of Americans. The platform further declares that Democrats will sweep away all state pro-life protections by “codify[ing] the right to reproductive freedom” in federal law, which the party has already attempted to do with the “Women’s Health Protection Act.”
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Despite the Democratic Party’s unwillingness to show any moderation on abortion, Republicans in recent months have struggled to find their footing on how to message on the issue and have often not taken advantage of the contrast between public opinion on late-term abortion and the Democratic position. Former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel has urged GOPers to point out the Democrats’ extremism in recent months. “We are the pro-life, pro-woman, pro-family party, and we can win on abortion,” she argued. “But that means putting Democrats on the defense and forcing them to own their own extreme positions.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) voiced similar sentiments, pushing candidates to “not run away from the issue” and to “confidently articulate” their pro-life positions.
In comments to The Washington Stand, Director of FRC Action Matt Carpenter contended that the Democratic Party is engaging in a money-centric strategy to overcome the discrepancy between their abortion extremism and public opinion.
“Across the nation, pro-abortion groups are pushing for ballot measures which would amend state constitutions to allow abortion through all stages of pregnancy, on the taxpayer dime,” he observed. “Liberal dark money groups are pouring campaign cash into these efforts, and Democrat political operatives are licking their chops at the thought of a super-charged pro-abortion turnout at the polls. Forgetting for a moment that poll after poll shows voters are concerned mostly about the cost-of-living crisis, rising crime, and the daily invasion at the southern border, the reality is voters are not supportive of second and third trimester abortions.”
Nonetheless, Carpenter went on to acknowledge that pro-life Republicans face challenges in educating voters on abortion ahead of November. “While the pro-abortion side relies on a phalanx of pundits repeating their euphemisms, the pro-life movement has their work cut out for them to educate voters as to the extreme nature of these measures which would prevent states from protecting unborn children from abortion in the second and third trimesters.”
Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, also acknowledged the challenges in the current political climate but encouraged GOP candidates to be unafraid of making plain the Democratic Party’s position on abortion. “The tragedy of only 66% of voters opposing late-term abortion points to the prevalence of the culture of death,” she told TWS. “It demonstrates that our culture has become one that values people based on what they can do or accomplish as opposed to the fact that each person is a son or daughter of God. We have a lot of work to do building a culture of life.”
Szoch concluded, “That said — 66% of voters is a majority of Americans who agree that killing an unborn child after viability is a grave evil. Political candidates should recognize that speaking the truth about the Democratic Party’s views on life — their desire for abortion through (and even infanticide after) birth — is out of step with the American people.”
LifeNews Note: Dan Hart writes for the Family Research Council. He is the senior editor of The Washington Stand.
The post Poll Shows 66% of Americans Oppose Abortions After 12 Weeks appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
On Thursday, April 18, 2024, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael E. Horowitz released his report on the FBI’s leaked memo targeting Catholics, and once again the loyal sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have been slapped in the face.
While the IG’s report notes that the memo “improperly conflated religious beliefs of activists with the likelihood they would engage in domestic terrorism,” it goes on to say that there was no evidence that “anyone ordered or directed” an investigation of Catholics because of their religious beliefs.
To say that no one ordered an investigation of Catholics because of their religion is about as persuasive as saying no one ordered an investigation of blacks because of their race.
Frankly, the IG’s report does little to bring this issue to a close. It is overly vague, ambiguous, and littered with contradictions. Catholics deserve a better accounting of the FBI’s and DOJ’s actions.
The IG insists that the memo grew out of the FBI’s investigation of alleged domestic terrorists. But if the intent of this investigation was to focus on right-wing nationalists, how did Catholics become the focus of the leaked FBI memo last year? Why did the FBI look into establishing sources and other contacts in the Church, instead of focusing on the stomping grounds unique to right-wing nationalists? The IG’s report has nothing to clarify these questions.
Further, the IG’s report admits that one of the woman authors of the leaked memo says she was “really interested in this resurgence of interest in the Catholic Church” by what the FBI claim are domestic terrorists. This statement alone contradicts the claim in the IG’s report that Catholics were just tangentially connected to the FBI’s investigation of genuine targets. From the jump, the authors clearly were “interested” in the Catholic Church.
Ultimately, the IG’s report does not put this matter to rest. Certain elements within the FBI and DOJ went rogue and have not been held accountable for their actions. For a year, they could have taken proactive steps to assure Catholics across the country that these renegades faced serious consequences; however, they have admitted they were “aghast” and even “appalled” by the leaked memo but took no substantive actions to resolve the matter.
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Therefore, I call upon the Congress, a co-equal branch of government, to exercise its oversight authority to get to the bottom of this once and for all. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has rightfully pointed out that the IG’s report glosses over the fact that critical files associated with the memo were deleted. This is a serious breach. These files are federal records and bureaucrats cannot just destroy them on a whim.
Additionally, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) has shown great tenacity in taking on the FBI. I would encourage him in the strongest terms possible to call for new hearings on this matter so we can hear directly from IG Horowitz to clear up the vagueness and ambiguities in his written report.
Last year, I sent several letters to Rep. Jordan with direct questions that would help allay the fears of Catholics regarding the FBI’s memo. Many of them remain unanswered. It is paramount we get the answers to these questions:
Was it someone from outside the FBI that crafted this egregious abuse of power?
Has there been a broader internal investigation of the FBI seeking to learn if other agents have also been spying on Catholics?
How common is it for FBI agents to infiltrate houses of worship—of any religion—employing “tripwire sources”?
What did they intend to do with the information once they completed their probe?
Without new hearings and concrete efforts not only to resolve the lingering questions but also to hold these rogue agents accountable, Catholics will rightly remain skeptical of the FBI and DOJ. We are not walking away from this, and I will have more to say on this in the future.
LifeNews Note: Bill Donohue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
The post Biden Admin Report Tries to Exonerate FBI for Targeting Pro-Life Catholics appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: AsiaNews.itDeveloped by the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence, the humanoid has a "mental and value system' of 'a 3- or 4-year-old girl" but could 'grow" quickly with experience. Set to debut in a few days at the Zhongguancun Forum, her ability to relate to people is described as her strong point. She could play a role in seniors' care, an increasingly important issue in tomorrow's China.
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Site: RT - News
A major offensive would have “terrible consequences,” the US Secretary of State has said
The US believes that Israel could achieve its military objectives in Gaza without an invasion of the city of Rafah, which Washington will not support, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. The statement was made on Friday at a news conference following a summit of G7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted his country will conduct a military operation in Rafah, despite concerns over the potential civilian death toll. Members of the Israeli government, including Netanyahu, have maintained that the Jewish state cannot achieve its primary stated goal of defeating the Palestinian militant group Hamas without entering Rafah.
“We believe that a major military operation with a large presence of civilian population would have terrible consequences for that population,” Blinken told journalists. “We have been very clear about this …We cannot support a major military operation in Rafah,” he said.
The US, a key supplier of military aid to Israel, has been expressing concerns that an operation in Rafah would cause significant civilian casualties. Blinken pointed out there are currently around 1.4 million people in the city, which is located next to the Egyptian border, many of whom have been displaced from other parts of Gaza.
“We are committed, as Israel is, to ensuring that Gaza cannot be controlled by Hamas … Making sure that Hamas cannot repeat the events of October 7 … But in terms of major military operations in Rafah, it’s something that we don’t support and we believe that the objective can be achieved by other means,” Blinked stated.
Read more
US blocks Palestine’s UN membership bid
The diplomat insisted that the US had engaged in discussions about Rafah with senior Israeli officials as recently as this week and that such discussions would continue.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu said recently that a date had already been set for an operation in Rafah, but declined to reveal exactly when. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that two additional brigades will be mobilized for operations in Gaza. The announcement came a week after the Jewish state pulled most of its ground forces out of the Palestinian enclave, in what the military leadership described as preparation for a mission in the city of Rafah.
The ongoing hostilities in Gaza were triggered by a Hamas incursion into southern Israel in October, in which some 1,200 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed amid the Israeli retaliation, most of them women and children, according to local health authorities.
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Site: RT - News
US tax dollars were used to help West Jerusalem target Tehran’s American-made F-14 fighter jets, the SpaceX CEO says
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took aim at Israel’s recent strikes on an Iranian airbase, suggesting that West Jerusalem used US money to attack American-made jets, which were sold to the Shah during the Cold War era.
On Friday, several media outlets reported that Israel had struck targets across Iran. The airstrike came nearly a week after Tehran launched a series of its own attacks on the Jewish state, using hundreds of drones and missiles. That strike was in response to what Iran says was a deadly Israeli raid on its consulate in Damascus, Syria.
One of Israel’s strikes on Friday targeted Isfahan Airbase, home to an Iranian fleet of US-made F-14 Tomcats, according to the Iranian authorities. The fighter jets, which were discontinued in the US in 2006, were purchased by Iran’s Western-leaning government before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The scale of the damage to the airbase is unclear. Iranian media claims that several Israeli drones were destroyed during the attack.
Read more
Israeli strike targeted Iranian airbase – NYT
Tehran lost several F-14s during the grueling 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, although the 1970s-era warplanes have faced maintenance difficulties due to a lack of spare parts.
Commenting on the strike on Friday, Musk pointed to the irony of the situation, writing, “our tax dollars somehow also blowing up our tax dollars.” In a separate post on X (formerly Twitter), he seemed to express dismay about the current standoff in the Middle East, saying, “we should send rockets not at each other, but rather to the stars.”
Israel, a key American ally in the Middle East, has been one of the leading recipients of military aid from Washington. In 2016, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the US, under which West Jerusalem would receive $38 billion in assistance over the following ten years. The US also helped the Jewish state develop its Iron Dome air defense system, and the country is a member of the F-35 fighter program.
The US Congress has been deliberating for months over a foreign aid package bill which would provide aid to Israel. While the bulk of it ($61 billion) is earmarked for Ukraine, it also includes $26 billion in support for Israel and the provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, which has suffered unprecedented devastation during West Jerusalem’s conflict with Hamas.
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Site: Zero HedgeMysterious Iranian 'Spy' Ship Returns Home As Israel-Iran Conflict WorsensTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 11:05
A suspected Iranian spy ship that its own government calls an "intelligence and logistics" vessel returned home this week after a three-year mis, as well as more recently lingering near Yemen for months.
The Iranian 'spy ship' BEHSHAD (9167289), which had a hand in the Red Sea Crisis by assisting Houthis in launching attacks against commercial and naval vessels over the past several months, has now returned to Iran after a 3-year deployment. We were able to verify her in… pic.twitter.com/NqJ3LYdIWY
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) April 19, 2024The MV Behshad entered the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and moored off Bandar Abbas, a port city located on the southern coast of Iran, on Thursday.
Several reports, including one from The Wall Street Journal in December, suggest the vessel was directly assisting Yemen's Houthi forces with targeting commercial ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea.
"Iran's paramilitary forces are providing real-time intelligence to Yemen's Houthis that the rebels are using to direct drones and missiles to target ships passing through the Red Sea, Western and regional security officials said," WSJ wrote in the report, citing Western intelligence sources.
In March, we pointed out that Behshad moored near the area where undersea data cables linking several continents were severed.
Behshad's return to Iran comes as the Israel-Iran conflict deteriorated, with both countries volleying missiles and drones at each other in recent days.
"The ship is likely viewed as one of the targets Israel may hit in the future," said Michael Horowitz, the head of intelligence at Le Beck International, a security and risk management consultancy, in a post on X.
Interesting Bloomberg report about the Iranian intelligence ship, Bershad, which has returned to #Iran since April 1 - incidently we've see a dip in Houthi attacks.
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) April 18, 2024
The ship is likely viewed as one of the targets Israel may hit in the futurehttps://t.co/IcRB5bOM4JIran's state media hasn't commented on Behshad's movements.
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Site: Zero HedgeMysterious Iranian 'Spy' Ship Returns Home As Israel-Iran Conflict WorsensTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 11:05
A suspected Iranian spy ship that its own government calls an "intelligence and logistics" vessel returned home this week after a three-year mis, as well as more recently lingering near Yemen for months.
The Iranian 'spy ship' BEHSHAD (9167289), which had a hand in the Red Sea Crisis by assisting Houthis in launching attacks against commercial and naval vessels over the past several months, has now returned to Iran after a 3-year deployment. We were able to verify her in… pic.twitter.com/NqJ3LYdIWY
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) April 19, 2024The MV Behshad entered the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and moored off Bandar Abbas, a port city located on the southern coast of Iran, on Thursday.
Several reports, including one from The Wall Street Journal in December, suggest the vessel was directly assisting Yemen's Houthi forces with targeting commercial ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea.
"Iran's paramilitary forces are providing real-time intelligence to Yemen's Houthis that the rebels are using to direct drones and missiles to target ships passing through the Red Sea, Western and regional security officials said," WSJ wrote in the report, citing Western intelligence sources.
In March, we pointed out that Behshad moored near the area where undersea data cables linking several continents were severed.
Behshad's return to Iran comes as the Israel-Iran conflict deteriorated, with both countries volleying missiles and drones at each other in recent days.
"The ship is likely viewed as one of the targets Israel may hit in the future," said Michael Horowitz, the head of intelligence at Le Beck International, a security and risk management consultancy, in a post on X.
Interesting Bloomberg report about the Iranian intelligence ship, Bershad, which has returned to #Iran since April 1 - incidently we've see a dip in Houthi attacks.
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) April 18, 2024
The ship is likely viewed as one of the targets Israel may hit in the futurehttps://t.co/IcRB5bOM4JIran's state media hasn't commented on Behshad's movements.
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Site: RT - News
Both Tehran and West Jerusalem have downplayed the event
Explosions near the Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday morning were Israeli strikes on a military airfield, the New York Times claimed on Friday, citing anonymous sources. Neither Israel nor Iran has officially commented on the incident.
Israel vowed to “respond” to last Saturday’s drone and missile strike by Iran, itself reprisal for the April 1 bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed several senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Residents of the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Tabriz reported a series of blasts early on Friday. According to the NYT, three Iranian officials said the military airbase near Isfahan was hit. The Fars News agency reported that the explosions were heard near the city’s civilian airport.
“The sound was related to Isfahan’s air defense systems firing at suspicious objects,” Brigadier Siavash Mihandoust, senior army commander in Isfahan province, said on Friday. “We have not had any damage,” he added.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi gave a speech later in the day praising last Saturday’s strike on Israel but did not mention the explosions in Isfahan or Tabriz.
Read more
Israel strikes Iran – media
According to Bloomberg, Israel had warned the US in advance that it would strike Iran in the next 24-48 hours. This was a change from the April 1 attack on Syria, when the White House was informed after the airstrike was already underway, the NYT reported.
Iran vowed to punish Israel but waited 12 days to do so, while warning the US to stay out of it. Tehran also publicly accused the UN of not doing its job to mete out justice, claiming Iran had been left with no choice but to strike back.
Unnamed Israeli officials told British-based media that West Jerusalem would strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities in case of an attack, but that now appears to have been a psychological operation intended to deter Tehran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday that there had been “no damage” to nuclear sites in Iran. The agency head, Rafael Grossi, called for “extreme restraint from everybody.”
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Site: RT - News
Papua New Guinean tribes are unlikely to have eaten the US president’s uncle, an academic has told The Guardian
Academics from Papua New Guinea have criticized US President Joe Biden for suggesting that their countrymen ate his uncle after a wartime plane crash. Local tribes “wouldn’t just eat any white men that fell from the sky,” one lecturer told The Guardian.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Biden recounted the alleged fate of 2nd Lieutenant Ambrose J Finnegan Jr., whose reconnaissance plane was “shot down in New Guinea” in 1944. “They never found his body,” Biden said, “because there used to be, there were a lot of cannibals − for real − in that part of New Guinea.”
Michael Kabuni, a political science lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea, told The Guardian that while cannibalism was historically practiced by some tribes who inhabited the country, “they wouldn’t just eat any white men that fell from the sky.”
READ MORE: Biden claims ‘cannibals’ ate his uncle
“The Melanesian group of people… are a very proud people,” Kabuni said. “And they would find this kind of categorisation very offensive. Not because someone says ‘oh there used to be cannibalism in PNG’ – yes, we know that, that’s a fact. But taking it out of context, and implying that your [uncle] jumps out of the plane and somehow we think it’s a good meal is unacceptable.”
Read more
Biden claims he rode non-existent train over collapsed bridge
Human flesh was not a staple in the Melanesian diet, Kabuni explained. Instead, some tribes would eat their deceased relatives as a funerary custom, he told the British newspaper. According to the University of Western Australia, the practice triggered an outbreak of a fatal disease known as ‘Kuru’ and died out in the early 1960s.
“I am lost for words actually,” Papua New Guinean opposition leader Allan Bird told The Guardian. “I don’t feel offended. It’s hilarious really. I am sure when Biden was a child, those are the things he heard his parents say. And it probably stuck with him all his life.”
Economics professor Maholopa Laveil argued that Biden should have chosen his words better, considering the US signed a security pact with Papua New Guinea last year. With the agreement struck, Washington is currently attempting to pressure the country out of a separate pact with China.
“For a US president to say that – particularly after a lot of deals have been struck with PNG and the work they’ve been doing in the Pacific – even off the cuff, I don’t think that should have been said at all,” Laveil said.
READ MORE: State of emergency declared amid deadly Papua New Guinea riots
According to official military records, Finnegan was killed when his plane crashed “for unknown reasons” off the north coast of the island. “One crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge,” the Pentagon’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency states, adding that “an aerial search the next day found no trace of the missing aircraft or the lost crew members.”
Biden has a long record of exaggerating his own involvement in historic events. The 81-year-old has falsely claimed that he visited Ground Zero in New York the day after the September 11 terrorist attacks, that he was arrested while attempting to visit Nelson Mandela in a South African jail, and that he marched with civil rights protesters in the 1960s.
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Site: LifeNews
The Catholic bishops in Poland are calling for citizens of the eastern European country to set aside a day of prayer to save babies from abortion. While the call is for the EU nation to rally in prayer, there’s no reason why Christians across the globe can’t join in to pray for unborn children to be spared from the terrible tragedy of abortion.
“I warmly encourage you to make the coming Sunday a day of special prayer in defense of the unborn,” Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, the chair of the Polish Episcopal Conference, said in a statement. “I ask that in all churches in Poland, at every holy Mass, we pray for this intention.”
“Life is a gift of God and as such is an inalienable right of every human being; therefore, it must be protected and supported at every stage of its development,” the archbishop said. “Respect for life, which belongs to the most important values, is one of the fundamental duties of every human being.”
As CNA reports, the call for prayer comes as Poland is dealing with radical pro-abortion bills.
Lawmakers on Friday advanced four pro-abortion bills to be considered by a special committee in the Sejm, which is Poland’s lower legislative body. This was the first major action on abortion taken by the new coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk after voters ousted the Law and Justice party from leadership of the country.
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Two of the bills would legalize abortion through the 12th week of pregnancy, which would be a sharp departure from the country’s strong pro-life laws. Under current law, abortion is only legal when the mother’s life is at risk or when the pregnancy occurred from illegal sexual activity, such as rape or incest.
A third bill would decriminalize abortion. Although women who procure abortions do not face criminal penalties under current law, anyone who assists a woman in carrying out an abortion could land up to three years in prison. The proposal would eliminate those criminal penalties for abortionists and other accomplices.
The fourth bill, which was proposed by the center-right Third Way party, would maintain most of the current abortion laws but expand legal abortion to instances in which the unborn child has a fetal abnormality.
Thousands of pro-life advocates recently marched in Poland against abortion to protest the legislation.
Thousands of pro-life advocates March for LIFE in Poland! pic.twitter.com/e45YEpLuTv
— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) April 15, 2024
The post Catholic Bishops Call for Day of Prayer to Save Babies From Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
The government of Georgia has tried for some time to implement a law “On transparency of foreign influence”. Its aim is to publicly identify organizations and parties who receive a significant amount of their budget from abroad:
The draft law “In order to ensure transparency”, initiated for the second time by the Georgian Dream faction, envisages the registration of such non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities and media outlets, whose income – more than 20% – is received from abroad as an organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power. According to the project, everyone who is considered an “organization carrying the interests of a foreign power” must be registered in the public register under the same name in a mandatory manner. At the time of registration, it will be necessary to reflect the received income. At the same time, the organizations will have the obligation to fill in the financial declaration every year.
Those organization who currently receive money from the various U.S. or EU government or non-government organizations are of course not amused that they will have to reveal their association with such sources. They want to lobby for foreign positions without being identified as foreign influencers.
They have therefore launched protests against their country’s government and parliament which has passed the law in the first reading. Two further readings will be required to finalize the law.
The protesters against the law claim that it is a “Russian law” against “foreign agents”.
Since 2012 Russia does have a law that is somewhat similar to what Georgia is attempting to implement but such type of laws are certainly not a Russian intervention:
Supporters of the [Russian version of the] law have likened it to similar legislation in the US that requires lobbyists employed by foreign governments to reveal their financing.
The U.S. equivalent to the Russian and Georgian law is of course the much older Foreign Agents Registration Act:
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) (22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq.) is a United States law that imposes public disclosure obligations on persons representing foreign interests. It requires “foreign agents”—defined as individuals or entities engaged in domestic lobbying or advocacy for foreign governments, organizations, or persons (“foreign principals”)—to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and disclose their relationship, activities, and related financial compensation.
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FARA was enacted in 1938 primarily to counter Nazi propaganda, with an initial focus on criminal prosecution of subversive activities; since 1966, enforcement has shifted mostly to civil penalties and voluntary compliance.For most of its existence, FARA was relatively obscure and rarely invoked; since 2017, the law has been enforced with far greater regularity and intensity, particularly against officials connected to the Trump administration. Subsequent high-profile indictments and convictions under FARA have prompted greater public, political, and legal scrutiny, including calls for reform.
FARA is administered and enforced by the FARA Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) within the DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD). Since 2016, there has been a 30 percent increase in registrations; as of November 2022, there were over 500 active foreign agents registered with the FARA Unit.
The Washington Post, without mentioning the long standing FARA law which is at least as strict as the new Georgian one, falsely insists that the original idea of the new Georgian law is indeed Russian:
Georgia pushes Russian-style ‘foreign agent’ law, putting E.U. bid at risk
Georgia’s Parliament voted Wednesday to advance deeply contentious legislation aimed at cracking down on “foreign agents” — an echo of a similar law in Russia that has been used to crush political dissent.
In Georgia, the bill has sparked huge street protests and drawn condemnation, including from President Salome Zourabichvili, who is not a member of the Georgian Dream political party, which controls Parliament and the government.
Zourabichvili and other critics say the bill is itself an instrument of foreign interference — backed by Russia and intended to undermine Georgia’s bid to join the European Union.
On Tuesday evening, as some protesters clashed with police in the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, Zourabichvili said the bill was evidence of Russian meddling.
However neither is the law “Russian style” – it is a copy of FARA – nor does the law include the loaded word “agent”. It does not accuse anyone of being such but seeks public transparency over foreign financial influences which would of course also include Russian ones.
The protests against the law look like an attempt of a typical color revolution:
17 Apr 23:15 – “Let’s demand that the Prime Minister talks to us” – rally participants moved towards the government administration
After Levan Tsutskiridze, co-founder of the “European Platform of Georgia” group, announced the plan of action, demonstrators headed towards the government chancellery and demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister. Tsutskiridze proposed demanding that the government repeal the law and release those detained the day before. Police and security forces are strengthening their cordon near the chancellery building.
At 21:30 rally participants presented an ultimatum to the authorities demanding the repeal of the law and gave them one hour to make this statement.
Attempts to storm or blockade government buildings have been pushed back. The government is holding firm. It has a solid majority in parliament and can outvote a potential presidential veto.
Every Georgian decision maker has the Ukrainian “Maidan revolution” in mind during which the opposition used snipers (allegedly from Georgia!) shot at police as well as protesters.
We can be sure that the Georgian government is aware and well prepared for such an escalation.
The law is likely to pass. Soon thereafter a majority of the organizations which currently organize the street protests against the law will have to admit that they are the foreign paid influencers the law is aimed at to reveal their dubious interests.
Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.
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Site: Zero HedgeNational Security Implications Of Baltimore Bridge CatastropheTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 10:45
Authored by Rob Maness via RealClearDefense,
The Port of Baltimore is “closed until further notice” following the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy, sending several industries into disarray and jeopardizing national security.
In 2023, the port handled a record amount of international cargo, ranked ninth for both dollar value and tonnage in the United States. Vital for both imports and exports of a variety of commodities, the Port of Baltimore has always had international significance and the impact of its closure will be wide-ranging and long-term for the supply chain in the United States and beyond. Given the seriousness of this issue, Congress must come together to approve the funding to clean up the debris, reopen the channel, and rebuild the bridge.
Having three decades of experience in the United States military, and with foreign affairs and national security issues I can safely say that the reverberations of the disaster will be felt across the globe. The repercussions with regards to energy security are of specific concern and must be addressed.
Domestically, the impacts of these hiccups in the energy supply chain are already being felt. CSX’s Curtis Bay Piers in particular – heavily impacted by the bridge collapse – supplies coal to power the Maryland electric grid and provides metallurgical coal critical for the steel industry. The inability to ship energy supplies from this terminal has created a ripple effect in both sectors. A warning from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), meanwhile, that the bridge collapse and subsequent impact to the port will slow the growth of U.S. coal exports to our allies has also weakened that supply chain of growing importance.
International demand for American coal has been on the rise in the past few years due to Europe’s tightening energy supply, low natural gas reservoirs, and conflict in the region as many countries like Ukraine turned elsewhere to get their energy commodities. As the second-largest exporting hub for coal in the United States, accounting for nearly one-third (28 percent) of total exports in 2023, the Port of Baltimore has helped meet that demand.
While most of the coal exported from the Port of Baltimore was historically destined for locations outside of Europe, it has increasingly been finding its way to countries on the continent dealing with rising Russian aggression, providing them an alternative to forced reliance on Russian energy supplies. But with the port’s unspecified closure and reopening timelines, American allies around the world may be forced to turn back to Vladimir Putin and his cronies. This will give Russia undue power, in Europe in particular, which has historically relied heavily on Russian imports of coal, oil, and natural gas.
China’s rise and efforts to use energy and infrastructure connections to extend their reach and influence around the world have also been a growing concern for years now. Its Belt and Road Initiative includes significant investments in energy infrastructure across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and has been used to extend its influence by becoming a partner in meeting these regions' energy needs. The disruption in the flow of energy resources that has occurred as a result of the Port of Baltimore’s indefinite closure could subsequently force some U.S. allies to seek alternative suppliers and with the country’s coal output hitting record highs in 2023, it may provide an opening for the Communist Country to further assert itself on the world stage.
Energy independence and security means having enough energy to meet demand, as well as protecting power systems and infrastructure from physical attacks and cyber threats. Given these facts, the United States should be focused on bolstering the resiliency of its own energy supply chain – as well as strengthening connections with allies who are also concerned about the rise of Chinese and Russian influence around the world – by prioritizing the restoration of the Port of Baltimore. This will not only restore a vital link in the nation's energy supply chain but also signal to adversaries that the United States is committed to safeguarding its infrastructure and, by extension, its ability to act freely on the international stage.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently highlighted the need for quick cleanup, noting that “we need to make sure that we're actually moving quickly to get the American economy going again, because the Port of Baltimore is instrumental in our larger economic growth." Given the domino effects of its continued closure – most specifically to national security and energy independence across the globe – leaders in Washington must come together to quickly clean up and repair access to the port.
Rob Maness is a Retired Colonel and Founder of Iron Liberty Group.
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Site: Zero HedgeFrench Police Arrest Suspected Suicide Bomber After Surrounding Iran Consulate In ParisTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 10:43
Update(1049ET): The crisis at the Iranian consulate in Paris appears to be resolved, with a suspect under arrest and being investigated, according to France24:
A Paris police official said the man was seen at about 11am local time (0900 GMT) entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and an explosive vest.
The man later left the consulate and on being searched was found not to be carrying any explosives, a police source said. The man's motives were not immediately clear.
The report further said, "Le Parisien newspaper said on its website that, according to several witnesses, the man had dragged flags on the floor of the consulate and said he wanted to avenge the death of his brother."
* * *
A major police and emergency response is ongoing outside the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday, where a man is reportedly threatening to blow himself up in what's possibly some kind of hostage standoff.
Police are asking the public to avoid the area and say that security services' intervention in the situation is imminent. "Service was interrupted on a nearby metro line for security reasons," the RATP metro company has alerted the public.
Via Reuters: French police and members of French special police forces of Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) secure the area near Iran consulate where a man is threatening to blow himself up.
The consulate is at Rue Fresnel in the 16th district of the capital city, and the standoff comes just hours after an overnight Israeli aerial attack on Iran, which involved drones infiltrating Iranian airspace and also possibly Israeli jets firing from over Iraqi airspace. Iran said its anti-air defenses intercepted all threats.
However, the Iran-Israel situation has since avoided tit-for-tat escalation since the overnight assault, with the Iranians saying they do not plan to respond and escalate further.
Currently, few details are known of the consulate standoff, with conflicting reports saying the man may have a suicide vest on, or is carrying several grenades under his belt. French security services have at this point revealed little, and likely themselves possess few verified details of the situation.
#BREAKING: French forces surround Iranian consulate in Paris where man threatens to blow himself up#Iran #France #Paris pic.twitter.com/HSm1JcowaW
— WorldNews (@FirstWorldNewss) April 19, 2024Local media footage has shown heavily armed police units cordoning off the area where the consulate is located. It remains unclear how many Iranian diplomats and consular workers might be inside.
developing...
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Site: The Remnant Newspaper
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
Given the lying and fact twisting that have routinely been part and parcel of accounts of what is occurring in the Middle East, the past several weeks have nevertheless been shocking in terms of how an abysmally low standard of truth can be reduced even farther. Looking at developments objectively, one comes up with a series of facts. First of all, Israel was not at war with either Syria or Iran during the first weeks in April. Iran had never attacked Israel prior to that point and Syria last fought Israel in 1973, over fifty years ago. Israel, however, has regularly been assassinating Iranian officials and scientists and it has been frequently been bombing Syria since 2017, increasing the pace to weekly and sometimes even daily attacks over the past six months paralleling the Gaza fighting. A particularly devastating attack took place on March 29th when the Israeli military launched massive strikes against a weapons storage depot in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo which killed at least 40 people, most of them Syrian soldiers. The air strikes produced a series of explosions that also killed six Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.
But three days later on April 1st a very damaging and unprovoked attack was directed against the Iranian Embassy’s Consulate General, which was located in an upscale neighborhood in Damascus, Syria’s capital. The building was completely destroyed by missiles fired from F-35 fighter planes that had crossed over the Syrian border from Israel, killing Iranian diplomats as well as Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Zahedi’s deputy, General Haji Rahimi, and also Brigadier General Hossein Amirollah, the chief of general staff for the al-Quds force in Syria and Lebanon. Syria subsequently confirmed that a total of 13 people were killed in the attack, including six Syrians and a Lebanese Hezbollah militiaman. Both Iran and Hezbollah vowed revenge.
Attacking a diplomatic mission is considered a major war crime according to the Vienna Convention, but there was no condemnation of the incident coming from the US and the usual suspects in Western Europe. Instead of doing what was right by pressuring Israel to stop attacking its neighbors and thereby possibly preventing a major war in the Middle East, President Joe Biden repeated his pledge that the United States would regard as “ironclad” its commitment to guarantee Israel’s security if Iran were to strike back. This guaranteed to Israel that any action taken by it would be supported by Washington. The Biden Administration also predictably voted against a Russian and Chinese drafted UN Security Council resolution to condemn the Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate, which was a clear violation of international law and an act of war committed by Israel. The US reportedly cast its veto vote “no” after “Diplomats said the US told council colleagues that many of the facts of what happened on Monday in Damascus remained unclear.” What was actually unclear was the fog that generally surrounds the Biden foreign policy and national security team since it was pretty transparent who was the aggressor in terms of means, motive and outcome.
When Iran did retaliate on April 13th, it carried out a carefully calibrated moderate strike against military targets intended to do damage but not cause a large number of casualties. It reportedly hit several airbases from which the Israeli fighter bombers had begun their attack on Damascus as well as an Israeli Air Force intelligence center in the formerly Syrian Golan Heights. No one was killed in spite of the 300 estimated drones and missiles that were launched, most being intercepted by Israel and its allies. But the attack nevertheless sent a message from Tehran that next time it could be much worse, both immediate in timing and “considerably more severe” than its response on Saturday night had been. Iran also claims that it attempted to prevent an escalation by warning the US about their plans, which would be passed on to Israel, that a “controlled” retaliation was coming. The Pentagon denied that it had been told anything, which may mean that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asleep at his desk once again.
Not content with the outcome, Israel inevitably struck back on Friday, hitting a major airbase near Isfahan, and, to make sure no one was missed, targets in both Iraq and Syria. Iranian military sources advise however that the loud explosions heard by local residents were Iranian air defenses shooting at some flying objects, presumably drones. Per the New York Times and other accommodating media, the strike was a warning that Israel could penetrate Iranian airspace and not intended to do serious damage. The Pentagon was apparently informed shortly before the Israeli action. Iran’s counter-counter retaliation is now pending, but it is clear that Netanyahu will not be deterred by electoral considerations in the United States to stay his hand in his own counter-counter response.
And how does the United States fit into the story? The White House response to the Iranian attack on Israeli territory was inevitably completely unlike the previous uncritical response to Israel’s Consulate General attack, namely condemnation of Iran and the repetition of the usual tripe about “Israel has a right to defend itself” and the sanctity of the “ironclad” defense arrangement. Biden also attempted to cover himself against political blowback due to his licking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shoes in the upcoming November election by making it known that he had spoken with and advised Netanyahu, recommending not carrying out a reprisal of the reprisal, which Washington would be unable to support as it could/would lead to major escalation. Netanyahu, not fearing Biden’s displeasure, blew the advice off and he and his war cabinet made clear that they were working on a response as well as setting a timetable for invading Rafah in south Gaza, which Biden had also recommended against.
The White House completed its groveling to Netanyahu by vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on April 18th that would have advocated full UN membership status for the state of Palestine, demonstrating that kicking the Palestinians is always a good way to maintain Israeli favor! The vote was 12 (including France, Japan and South Korea) in favor, two abstentions (the shameless United Kingdom and, surprisingly, Switzerland) and an American veto. The US insisted that elevation of Palestine’s diplomatic status can only be obtained after negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield absurdly raised another objection: “Right now, the Palestinians don’t have control over a significant portion of what is supposed to be their state. It’s being controlled by a terrorist organization.” She was referring to Hamas but the comment actually more correctly is applicable to Israel. In any event, a leaked White House memo had previously revealed that Biden opposes full UN membership and statehood for the Palestinians without Israel’s approval, which, of course, will not be forthcoming.
So we have Israel as the aggressor against two countries that were not declared enemies and had not attacked the Jewish state in any way in many, many years. But when Israel attacked them, committing a major war crime Joe Biden and company preferred to sit on their hands and mumble, saving their vituperation for when Iran staged a deliberately mild counter-attack as a warning. That is called hypocrisy, to turn things on their head to provide the answer that one wants to see and it applies equally to Biden accusing the Russians of “illegal occupation” in Ukraine while Israel’s theft of Syria’s Golan Heights and ongoing seizure of the West Bank goes unchallenged by Washington. And the pushback against Iran is unlikely to diminish very soon as the Jewish controlled US Congress also has the bit between its teeth to demonstrate how much it loves Israel. Congressman Steve Scalise, GOP House Majority Leader, has announced that “In light of Iran’s unjustified attack on Israel, the House will move from its previously announced legislative schedule next week to instead consider legislation that supports our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable. The House of Representatives stands strongly with Israel, and there must be consequences for this unprovoked attack.” Over at the Senate Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas is advocating punishing Iran by beating on its possible friends in the US, physically attacking folks who are demonstrating in support of the Palestinians. Cotton said that the “pro-Hamas criminals” should be confronted by angry citizens who “take matters into [their] own hands” and confront the offenders, endorsing the use of force against peaceful demonstrators.
But there is also the back story behind why Israel likely attacked the Iranians in Syria in the first place. I and a number of other observers immediately after the Israeli attack assumed that the Jewish state had staged a deliberate over-the-top provocation to draw Washington into its wars. Just as in the case of the October 7th Gaza attack by Hamas, which Israel had full knowledge of and let happen, Netanyahu sought to create a situation in which it would goad Iran into being forced to retaliate to force an “ironclad” Biden to protect its “ally” by taking on Iran directly.
Why did Israel do it beyond the obvious desire to destroy Iran just like it is destroying the Palestinians? It was done because Israel has likely become aware that it is viewed as the world’s greatest pariah state due to its genocide in Gaza, to include the recent horrific killing of hundreds of Palestinians in the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as well as the targeted assassination of seven employees of a charity that was bringing in food to those starving due to Israel’s blocking the entry of relief supplies. And also because Israel is actually not winning its war against Hamas, it needed to shift the narrative to something different. That would be using its time-honored technique of making itself once again the “victim” in confronting a powerful new enemy, Iran, which would make the problem of bad public relations with the world over Gaza be in part mitigated.
A shift in the story would also presumably bring with it the expected help from the United States and its European allies to do the hard work in killing Iranians. And the trick seems to have worked, predictably. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain has been recently facing demands to cut off arms shipments to Israel because of the devastating death toll in Gaza, but on the following Monday, he was able to salute the British warplanes that had shot down some Iranian drones sent by Iran to attack Israel. It was a telling example of how Israel has been able to scramble the equation in the Middle East. Faced with a intensively publicized barrage of Iranian missiles, Britain, the United States, France and others rushed to help the Israelis who had in fact started the conflict. The United States is also currently planning on increasing the pressure on Iran through a series of tough new sanctions being prepared by Treasury Secretary Janice Yellen, saying “Treasury will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” Yellen notably did nothing when Israel committed a major war crime in its attack on the Iranian Consulate General in Damascus, nor has she supported sanctions over the Israeli Gaza genocide. More aid for the Jewish state is also still waiting for a congressional vote to approve the $14 billion currently in the pipeline, with Washington Report claiming that this year’s total US aid to Netanyahu will likely exceed $25 billion “in direct costs related to its fervent support for Israel.”
Right now, the dilemma for the US government will be that it must pull out all the stops in supporting Israel or face inter alia retaliation by the Israel Lobby working through its donors and media resources to defeat Biden in November. And there hovers in the peripheries of one’s mind the worse grim possibility that Israel, if rebuffed by its “allies,” will use its secret nuclear arsenal to blow up the Middle East and presumably a large chunk of adjacent areas in Europe and Asia as well. There are stories already circulating suggesting that the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona might have been an Iranian target and that Israel is right now preparing to take out Iranian nuclear research sites. Netanyahu is calling the shots while a befuddled White House looks on. Israel has baited a trap and Joe Biden has stepped right into it.
Reprinted with permission from Unz Review.
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Site: Zero HedgeAI Bubble Stumbles: First ASML, Now TSMC Downgrades 2024 Global Chip OutlookTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 10:25
According to a first-quarter update on Wednesday from Dutch chip giant ASML - the world's sole producer of equipment needed to make the most advanced chips - chip makers aren't rushing to prepare for the next leg in the AI boom.
This was confirmed on Friday when Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. - the world's largest contract chip maker - offered investors a very cautious outlook for the industry despite upbeat first-quarter earnings results.
TSMC reported better-than-expected first-quarter results led by increasing demand for advanced chips. TSMC's quarterly net profit climbed 8.9%, breaking a three-quarter slide.
Aside from the earnings, TSMC's downshift in this year's industry outlook spooked the market, sending shares down as much as 7.2% in Taipei.
This was the largest intraday decline in about 18 months.
Excluding memory chips, TSMC's industry outlook for the year is expected to be about 10%, compared to a growth forecast of "more than 10%" just three months ago.
"Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty persists, potentially weighing on consumer sentiment and end-market demand," Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei told investors on an earnings call.
Some Wall Street weren't surprised by TSMC's gloomy outlook.
Deutsche Bank analyst Robert Sanders told clients in a note that self-driving company Mobileye Global warned not too long ago that a chip supply glut materialized in the auto industry.
As noted earlier, ASML's 22% miss on first-quarter bookings is one sign that China's frontloading of lithography machines has ended.
We explained here:
Followed by this week's proof:
TSMC, AMSL, and Nvidia are likely long-term winners in the AI era. However, the new forecast suggests the AI bubble is waning and risks further deflating.
Plus, higher for longer interest rates by the Federal Reserve and reaccelerating inflation are bad news for tech valuations.
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Site: AsiaNews.itSuicides are up, especially by hanging. Some 631 inmates died in the last four years, from, among others, assaults, riots, disease, psychological disorders, and drug abuse. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka calls for greater protection, like taking inmates' picture immediately after arrest.
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Site: Zero HedgeUS Vetoes Palestinian Bid For Full UN MembershipTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 10:05
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
The US has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have granted Palestine status as a full UN member state, a move that goes against President Biden’s claim that he favors a two-state solution.
The US was the only member of the 15-member council to vote against the resolution, while the UK and Switzerland abstained. There were 12 votes in favor from Russia, China, France, Japan, South Korea, Ecuador, Algeria, Malta, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, and Guyana.
Palestine currently has non-member observer status at the UN, via Reuters.
A resolution needs nine votes to pass, but the US and the other four permanent members of the council — China, Russia, France, and the UK — have veto power.
Before the Thursday vote, The Intercept reported that the US was lobbying other countries to vote against the resolution so the US wouldn’t have to veto it.
The Biden administration has come under criticism for claiming to favor a peace deal that involves a two-state solution while continuing to provide unconditional military aid and diplomatic support to Israel, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated his opposition to a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has explicitly stated that he will not allow the creation of a Palestinian state in any future scenario. "In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control all territory west of the Jordan," he said in January. "This collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?"
The Israeli leader has also credited himself for why there is no Palestinian state. "Everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence," he said in February.
China finds the U.S. decision to veto Palestine's full U.N. membership bid
— Johannes Maria (@luo_yuehan) April 19, 2024
"most disappointing" pic.twitter.com/H3InQa2sT1The opposition to a Palestinian state is not unique to Netanyahu or his coalition government. Ninety-nine out of the 120 members of the Knesset recently voted against a resolution rejecting the "unilateral" creation of a Palestinian state.
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Site: LifeNews
A group of left-wing and far-left members of the U.S. House released a policy agenda Thursday partly aimed at boosting support for President Joe Biden in November.
NBC News reported that the new agenda from the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) “doubles as a blueprint of political advice for how it believes President Joe Biden can win over progressives and young voters who are uninspired by his re-election bid.”
The CPC’s “seven-point agenda is heavily focused on economics and lighter on cultural issues,” NBC added.
Still, one of its planks emphasizes “advancing justice” through pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ, and pro-illegal migrant policies – as well as support for “national policing standards.”
CPC Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, stated: “The way we came to this agenda is to say that we were going to put into this agenda things that were populist and possible … and affected a huge number of people.”
Jayapal underscored that left-wing voters are crucial for Biden’s chances of securing a second term this year.
“If the progressive base is not excited and enthusiastic — and if they don’t feel like we are trying to earn their votes and that they are important — then I think the horrific idea of a second Donald Trump presidency could become reality,” the leftist lawmaker told NBC.
“We have to excite our base,” she continued. “We have to show them what the path forward is — not just say, ‘This is the most important election of your life, and we expect you to vote.”
SUPPORT LIFENEWS! To help us fight Joe Biden’s abortion agenda, please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
Also in her comments to NBC, Jayapal seemed to acknowledge the fact that Biden has been trailing Trump in most recent polls.
“We are not seeing the momentum that we would like to see,” she pointed out. “We’re going to have a tough election.”
An Emerson College poll released Thursday showed Trump three points ahead of Biden nationally.
The Hill indicated: “Trump leads Biden 46 percent to 43 percent, according to the poll.”
“Support for Biden dropped 2 percentage points since the previous Emerson College poll in early April, while Trump’s polling stayed at 46 percent,” The Hill added.
However, the incumbent president particularly seems to be struggling with attracting the support of younger voters in his re-election campaign – compared with his initial race against Trump four years ago.
Per POLITICO, “Biden leads Trump, 45 percent to 37 percent, among people ages 18 to 29 in a Harvard Youth Poll released Thursday, with 16 percent undecided.”
“That 8 percentage point margin is much smaller than at this point in the 2020 election,” POLITICO noted.
Many observers agree that this relatively dismal showing among young voters for a Democrat jeopardizes Biden’s chances of remaining in office.
NBC stated that much of the CPC’s ambitious “agenda will have no realistic chance of passage unless Democrats sweep control of the White House, the House and the Senate this fall.”
“[I]n addition, Democrats would need 50 senators ready to pierce the 60-vote filibuster rule to get around likely GOP opposition,” NBC’s report pointed out. “That would be a herculean task, as Democrats face a daunting map in 2024 Senate races, defending a slew of seats in purple and red states.”
CatholicVote Director of Governmental Affairs Tom McClusky explained that the new CPC agenda provides American voters with insight into where the current Democratic Party stands on issues they emphasize less frequently than abortion.
“As Joe Biden only talks about his targeting of children for elimination it is helpful that the second-largest Democratic Caucus in Congress lays out the rest of his agenda,” McClusky said.
“It is an anti-business, anti-family, anti-parents, anti-US agenda that only Karl Marx could love,” he added. “When they state what they are FOR, it is also telling: pro-abortion, pro-crime and pro-illegal immigration.”
“The message is clear, ‘elect us and we will destroy America,’” McClusky stressed.
The over 30-year-old CPC currently boasts 96 House members – all Democrats.
One of its founders was socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT – who is currently the caucus’ only Senate member.
Some of the more notable CPC members include deeply controversial far-left Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, and Cori Bush, D-MO.
Tlaib made headlines last week when she declined to answer a reporter’s question over whether she supported “Death to America” chants in her district.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-NY – best known for pulling a fire alarm on Capitol Hill last October – is also a CPC member.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, a self-professed Catholic and socialist, is perhaps the most high-profile House member of the caucus.
All five of the aforementioned lawmakers are members of “the Squad” an informal grouping of far-left members of the House who hold controversial views on a variety of domestic and foreign policy issues.
“The Squad” is entirely within the CPC.
One former longtime member of the caucus was Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-AZ, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2024 U.S. Senate Election in Arizona. According to the Associated Press (AP) “as [Gallego] prepared for a Senate run, he quietly left the group.”
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Leftist Democrats Release Radical Pro-Abortion Agenda for a 2nd Biden Term appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Mises InstituteFollowing a long history of foolishly protecting American steel companies, President Biden has slapped down new punitive tariffs on steel imports.
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Site: Steyn OnlineLast weekend, after a protracted absence due to my various health issues, Tales for Our Time returned with a classic and highly apposite short story by Edgar Allan Poe: The Masque of the Red Death. If you've yet to hear it, you'll find it here. That was
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Site: Steyn OnlineJoe Biden cries uncle...
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Site: Zero HedgeTrump Media Stock Spikes After CEO Pens "Naked" Short LetterTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 09:46
Shares of Trump Media spiked on Friday after the company alerted the Nasdaq to 'potential market manipulation' from 'naked' short selling of its stock.
The warning came as the company, which trades under the symbol $DJT, offered shareholders detailed instructions on how to prevent someone from loaning out their shares to short sellers.
In a Friday morning letter to Nasdaq CEO Adrena Friedman, CEO Devin Nunes noted that as of Wednesday, "DJT appears on Nasdaq’s ‘Reg SHO threshold list,’ which is indicative of unlawful trading activity."
"his is particularly troubling given that ‘naked’ short selling often entails sophisticated market participants profiting at the expense of retail investors," Nunes continued.
$DJT CEO going full “Ape”. Never go full Ape. pic.twitter.com/clicSGJiwJ
— Diogenes (@WallStCynic) April 19, 2024In his letter, Nunes pointed to circumstantial evidence - including DJT being the most expensive stock to short in the US, which he said would give brokers "significant financial incentive to lend non-existent shares," CNBC reports. The letter also links to a CNBC article which delves into the high premiums brokers were charging short sellers for loans of DJT to sell.
"I write to bring your attention to potential market manipulation of the stock of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp," wrote Nunes. "As you know, ‘naked’ short selling — selling shares of a stock without first borrowing the shares of stock deemed difficult to locate — is generally illegal pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) Regulation SHO," the letter continues.
"Data made available to us indicate that just four market participants have been responsible for over 60% of the extraordinary volume of DJT shares traded: Citadel Securities, VIRTU Americas, G1 Execution Services, and Jane Street Capital," Nunes said, adding: "In light of the foregoing, and Nasdaq’s obligation and commitment to protect the interests of retail investors, please advise what steps you can take to foster transparency and compliance by ensuring market makers are adhering to Reg SHO, requiring brokers to disclose their ’Net Short” positions, and preventing the lending of shares that do not exist."
Shares of DJT began spiking premarket, and were up as much as 11%.
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Site: LifeNews
I have great news. The California assisted suicide expansion bill (SB 1196) has been pulled.
This is great news, but let’s be clear, the language of SB 1196 is the goal of the assisted suicide lobby but the bill was determined to have gone too far too fast.
Based on the summary of SB 1196 by Senator Blakespear I stated that the bill would have:
- Allowed euthanasia by IV (intravenous), as in Canada. Currently, California permits assisted suicide (lethal poison that a person takes orally at the time and place of their own choosing, with or without witnesses). This bill allowed for death by IV. This constitutes euthanasia/homicide.
- Changed the criteria from terminally ill (6 month prognosis) to the Canadian model: “a grievous and irremediable medical condition.” Thus, there would be no time limit and no terminal illness requirement.
- Allowed people with early to mid-stage dementia to consent to assisted suicide or euthanasia, even though they have a condition that impairs their capacity to consent.
- Removed the California residency requirement. California would join Oregon and Vermont, dropping their residency requirements and allowing for suicide tourism.
- Removed the 2031 sunset clause in the California assisted suicide law.
I published an article on March 18, 2024, stating that the California bill would legalize medical killing. After the language of SB 1196 was released I further explained how SB 1196 would have expanded medical killing in California.
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SB 1196 would have changed the law from requiring ingesting of the lethal poison to utilizing the lethal poison. Utilize was not defined in the bill but it could be defined as: “to make practical and effective use of.”
SB 1196 would have changed the law from requiring a terminal disease to a grievous and irremediable medical condition.
Terminal disease was based on a 6 month prognosis whereas grievous and irremediable medical condition had a long definition that essentially mean’t that the person has a serious chronic condition that will continue to decline.
The bill stated:
For purposes of this part, a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” includes a diagnosis of early to mid-stage dementia while the individual still has the capacity to make medical decisions.
How would early to mid-state dementia have been defined in practise?
SB 1196 permitted non-doctors to participate in the law. SB 1196 added the following: nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and registered nurses. SB 1196 removed the residency requirement in the California law by striking out the words – is a resident of California. SB 1196 allowed the use of an IV (intravenous) catheter to “utilize” the poison. SB 1196 stated:
death through ingestion, or through an intravenous pathway after a health care provider places an intravenous catheter if one was not already placed, to bring about the qualified individual’s own death.
This statement did not limit the use of the IV catheter to assisted suicide and may have allowed for euthanasia/homicide.
Later SB 1196, stated:
For purposes of this section, “assisting the qualified individual by preparing the aid-in-dying drug” includes a health care provider placing an intravenous catheter, so long as the health care provider does not assist the qualified individual in introducing the aid-in-dying drug into the qualified individual’s vein.
This statement inferred that the person must somehow utilize the IV catheter. The IV could be placed but the health care provider could not “assist”. This was intentionally confusing. There may also have been circumstances, such as ALS, where the person has difficulty “utilizing” the IV catheter without assistance.
On June 22, 2022, a California federal judge rejected a case designed to permit euthanasia within California’s assisted suicide act. Shavelson, a doctor that solely focuses on assisting suicide and Sandra Morris, who had ALS, argued that the state’s assisted suicide law discriminated against people who had difficulty self-ingesting the lethal drugs and to remedy the situation the state needed to permit euthanasia in those cases.
In that case, Shavelson argued that allowing the administration of lethal drugs by IV catheter when a person has difficulty self-administering the lethal drugs was necessary. Justice Chhabria rejected the argument and stated:
Chhabria ruled the case could not proceed on the theory that it violates the ADA because the accommodation they seek would cross the boundary created by the End of Life Option Act, “from the ability to end your own life to the ability to have someone else end it for you.”
Chhabria further ruled:
“Such an accommodation would ‘compromise’ the essential nature of the act, and would therefore fundamentally alter the program.’”
The judge said the law’s self-administration requirement is the “final safeguard” to ensure the act remains voluntary.
“A person seeking to end their life pursuant to the act can opt out at any point — after requesting or receiving the prescription, after the drugs are in their hand, after the feeding tube has been installed, after saying goodbye,” he wrote. “The accommodation that the plaintiffs seek would significantly undermine these protections by opening a window during which there would be no way of knowing whether the patient had changed their mind.”
If SB 1196 would have changed the California law by removing self-administer, removing the terminal illness requirement and allowing the utilization of an IV catheter, these changes would make it impossible to distinguish between an act of assisted suicide and an act of euthanasia/homicide.
Assisted suicide is receiving lethal poison and self-administer it for the purpose of causing death.
Euthanasia is when another person, usually a medical professional, administers the lethal poison for the purpose of causing death. Euthanasia is a form of homicide/murder.
Since SB 1196 did not require a “third/independent party” to witness the act, therefore SB 1196 would have enable euthanasia under the guise of assisted suicide and achieve for the euthanasia lobby what was denied to them by Justice Chhabria in 2022.
SB 1196 was a “Trojan horse” euthanasia bill.
SB 1196 is the end goal of the assisted suicide lobby.
LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.
The post California Bill Dies That Would Have Expanded Assisted Suicide appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeThought Police: Home Visit For UK Man Who Expressed Anger Online About Sydney Bishop Being Stabbed by IslamistTyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 09:40
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,
A video out of the UK shows a man being visited at home by two police officers and an NHS psychologist after he expressed anger online about the stabbing of a Bishop in Sydney by an Islamist.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed by a 16-year-old boy at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church on Monday night, an attack that was caught on camera.
The teenager walked right up to the bishop as he was giving a sermon and furiously jabbed at him with a knife while shouting “Allahu Akbar” as onlookers desperately tried to wrestle him to the ground.
After the teen was pinned down, he could be seen smirking.
Now a new video has emerged showing how an Orthodox Christian man in the UK received a home visit from police and a psychologist for reportedly posting online, “Christians must stand up.”
The clip shows a female officer explaining how authorities had “a few concerns” about what the man had posted on social media.
“So why are you here today?” asks the man.
British police and a psychologist showed up at this man's home because he had posted on social media "Christians must stand up" after Islamist attack on bishop in Australia. This usually happens in dictatorships. pic.twitter.com/FljQkb4j8c
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) April 19, 2024The woman says the police have been told the man “might have a few concerns, a few things that are bothering you at the moment.”
“This is religious discrimination,” responds the man, asserting that the police wouldn’t be knocking on the door of a Muslim if they had made similar statements.
“People raised concerns about your views…about what’s going on in Australia,” the police officer continues.
“Yeah, so I’m an Orthodox Christian, now you’ve turned up at my house because I went and seen my priest,” the man responds.
The NHS psychologist reiterated that there was a report about “some beliefs being expressed” and that he was there to ‘help’ the man.
“So because I’ve questioned about the church not acting on behalf of Christians, you’re now turning up here with mental health nurses assuming I’m some right-wing nutter,” the thought criminal responds.
The video ends at this point.
Presumably, despite rising violent crime and police increasingly incapable of responding to actual crimes like theft and burglaries, they have plenty of resources to visit people’s homes over Facebook posts.
The teenager who stabbed the bishop has been charged with committing a terrorist act and could face lifetime imprisonment.
The attack was followed by a riot outside the church, which prompted more media demonization of the ‘fiery, but mostly peaceful demonstrators’ than the stabbing of the bishop itself.
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Site: Zero HedgeWith 'Halving' Imminent, Peter Schiff Says 'Bitcoin Has No Value'Tyler Durden Fri, 04/19/2024 - 09:00
Peter recently appeared on Market Overtime with Oliver Renick for an interview. In their wide-ranging discussion, Peter speaks on monetary policy, the reliability of inflation data, and reasons to avoid Bitcoin.
Contrary to the popular narrative, gold’s recent rise is not because of world conflicts. Inflation is the driving force behind the metal’s price action:
“This is just the beginning of a massive re-pricing of gold, and people aren’t even buying it yet. You have central banks buying, but investors aren’t even buying gold. Retail investors, the institutions— they’re not in the market at all. They don’t even understand why gold is rising. They’re attributing it to geopolitical risks, but it’s all about inflation. The key is that the markets have the inflation story wrong. The Fed rate hikes up to five and a quarter, five and a half, have not been nearly enough to put the inflation genie back in the bottle.”
As the media and policymakers begin to question the feasibility of a 2% inflation target, their preferred measures of inflation are probably not as accurate as they should be:
“I’d say [inflation’s] at least double what the CPI is. So if the government claims inflation is two, it’s four. And when they claimed it was nine, it was probably 18. People are struggling. It’s a lousy economy. People’s real incomes have been eviscerated by inflation. They’re forced to work multiple jobs. They’re drowning in a mountain of debt, and we’re headed for a major disaster.”
Lurking under the economy’s surface are decades of residual damage from artificially low-interest rates, especially in the housing and banking sectors:
“The entire banking system is insolvent. That’s the big problem— when interest rates were kept at zero, and all these homeowners were refinancing their mortgages at 3%. The banks own all that paper. They’re insolvent now! They own all these treasuries. Thanks to the government— the Fed— the entire US banking system is insolvent. And if the Fed actually raised interest rates to an appropriate level, all the banks would fail, including all the too-big-to-fail banks.”
The omens of economic disaster remind Peter of warnings he made in the early 2000s:
“I kept warning about the mistakes the Fed was making, and the housing bubble, and the financial crisis that was going to hit when the bubble popped. People would say, ‘When, when, when?’ Well, I don’t have a date. I just know that it’s going to happen. I can’t tell you exactly when. It’s the same thing now. But a lot of things have happened now, just like they did in 2007, that indicated that the day of reckoning was getting closer.”
Pivoting to the crypto vs. gold debate, Peter argues gold’s value stems from non-monetary uses that Bitcoin lacks:
“They say, ‘Bitcoin is a store of value,’ but it doesn’t have any value. You can’t store what you don’t have. The reason gold is a store of value is I can take the gold that I have and in a hundred years, I can make a watch with it. I can conduct electricity with it. I can use it in medicine, in dentistry. Gold has a real purpose in the world. It is a commodity that is used throughout industry.”
He thinks Bitcoin’s recent highs are driven by ETF hype, perhaps a prime example of the “greater fool” theory:
“The public was dumping their gold stocks to put their money into these ETFs. But the problem is, when the people who bought these ETFs want to get out, it will be impossible. … There won’t be enough demand for the people who bought to get out. The price is going to crash. We’re going to see the biggest Bitcoin crash we’ve ever seen. … These are paper hands. They’re not diamond hands.”
Bitcoin and gold are categorically different assets, and investing in Bitcoin is a risky bet:
“Look, if you want to go in Bitcoin, take the money that you would have used to buy lottery tickets or if you’re planning a trip to Vegas, instead of playing craps or roulette, you can gamble with Bitcoin. But don’t confuse it with an investment. It’s not even a legitimate speculation. It’s just pure gambling.”
Be sure to check out Peter’s other recent interview on Fox Business, and stay tuned for Peter’s response later this week to Jerome Powell’s remarks made on Tuesday, April 16th.
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Site: RT - NewsInfrastructure strikes, Donbass push and anti-drone warfare: The last week in the Ukrainian conflict
Moscow has reported making new gains in Donbass, while continuing its campaign against critical Ukrainian facilities
The past week in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has seen continued active combat at multiple locations along the front line, with the most intense hostilities in Donbass, where Moscow continues its effort to push westwards.
Russia also launched large-scale, long-range strikes on critical Ukrainian infrastructure, including multiple thermal power plants, completely obliterating the largest facility in Kiev Region.New gains in Donbass
On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry announced the liberation of Pervomayskoye, a village located some 20 km to the west of the Russian city of Donetsk. The village has been an important foothold for Ukrainian troops, as it stretches along an elaborate system of canals, ponds and dams.
Read more
Ukrainian strikes inside Russia ineffective – Pentagon
Pervomayskoye has provided cover for the southern flank of Ukrainian forces which had been attempting to entrench at the Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line after the liberation of the strategic town of Avdeevka mid-february.
While the Russian westward push in the area has seemingly slowed, the military reported minor gains to the west of the now-breached defensive line.
Among the three settlements stretching along a canal system, only the village of Berdychi remains under partial Ukrainian control, with the situation expected to worsen for Kiev following a successful advance by Russian troops to the north of the village, reported on Wednesday
Critical infrastructure strikes
Russia has continued with its renewed campaign against Ukraine’s critical facilities, prompted by Kiev’s growing efforts to attack the country’s oil refineries and other energy facilities. Last Thursday, the Russian military hit multiple energy plants across Ukraine, including the Tripolskaya Thermal Power Plant, the largest in Kiev Region. This is the first time the facility has been targeted.
The plant was hit by multiple projectiles, including new, lighter, Russian Kh-69 cruise missiles, which sparked a major fire that completely destroyed the generator hall. The Kh-69s are significantly smaller than other cruise missiles in Moscow’s inventory and can therefore be launched by fighter jets and frontline bombers, rather than by strategic aircraft, allowing for a more agile use.
The Dobrotvorskaya Thermal Power Plant in the west of Ukraine was also targeted for the first time since the beginning of hostilities. The plant was simultaneously hit by two missiles, footage circulating online suggests.
Anti-drone tactics
Kamikaze FPV drones have become a growing problem for both sides over the course of the conflict, prompting servicemen to come up with additional means to protect their armored and soft vehicles, particularly from strikes from above and the rear. Crude anti-drone grilles and nettings, as well as factory-made armor, colloquially known as “grills,” have become a common sight.
The protective contraptions have become increasingly unsightly and sizeable. To this end the Russian military apparently fielded materiel featuring ultimate anti-drone protection: the “Tsar grill.” A T-72 tank, boasting an anti-drone shell fully covering the vehicle, debuted last week near the town of Krasnogorovka, to the west of Donetsk, which has seen intense combat over the past few weeks.
The tank, footage of which promptly went viral, actually fared well in combat. The vehicle, which apparently acted as a heavy APC, spearheaded a successful attack on Krasnogorovka, allowing Russian forces to reach residential areas on its southeastern outskirts.
The tank survived the attack and has since starred in a new video that emerged this week. The vehicle has apparently received new modifications, becoming even more ungainly, and now features a tower of drone jammers on the roof of the ‘grill.’ The tank has been seen rolling through central Krasnogorovka, as well as successfully leaving the settlement, despite several close explosions.
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Site: RT - News
The bloc’s regulator has urged caution in the reduction of liquified natural gas imports from Russia as the transit deal with Ukraine nears expiration
The EU’s energy regulator has warned against drastic reductions of imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Russia, despite the bloc’s ambition to completely end its reliance on fossil fuels from the country over the Ukraine conflict.
In the 2024 Market Monitoring Report released on Friday, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) said that “reductions in Russian LNG imports should be approached with caution,” particularly given the impending end of the supply of pipeline gas from the country later this year.
The report was referring to the expiration of the five-year transit contract for gas pipeline supply from Russia to Europe via Ukraine in December. Ukraine said last month that it had no plans to prolong the deal. If the flow stops, the EU could potentially lose 13.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas, or about 4% of last year’s total consumption.
The other remaining pipeline route from Russia to Europe goes under the Black Sea to Turkey and Bulgaria.
The EU is aiming to completely end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027. To that effect, the reduction of the LNG imports from the country “should be considered in gradual steps starting with spot imports,” reads the report. “Substantial volumes” were contracted under long-term agreements before the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions, the document adds.
Read more
Insurers claim ‘government’ could have sabotaged Nord Stream – Kommersant
ACER expressed concern over the new powers granted by the EU Parliament to individual countries earlier this month. EU countries now have the legal option to restrict the flow of Russian LNG at the national level. If taken, such moves could break the long-term supply contracts and result in hefty penalties for European companies.
Russia is the second-largest producer of LNG in the Atlantic basin after the US, ACER notes. The sanctioned country was also the bloc’s second-biggest LNG supplier after the US in 2023. According to the data provider Kpler, Russia accounted for 16% of total EU imports last year.
Several countries including Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states are pushing for the EU to impose an immediate total ban on Russian LNG. According to the Financial Times’ sources, officials are set to lobby the European Commission over the plan next week.
Some EU members still rely heavily on Russian LNG, which continues to flow into the continent, mostly through ports in Spain, Belgium and France. A complete ban on the resource would require unanimity among the member states.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
This is what the digital revolution brought us
Paul Craig Roberts
Your information is everywhere on the internet. It is in your banking, financial, credit card, cell phone, internet, utility, and online purchase accounts and in the accounts of these companies’ service providers. Your information is in more places than you can imagine. The internet system is easy to hack, because it was created as an open system for the military.
Depending on what thieves gain access to, they may make purchases on your current credit cards and/or drain your bank accounts.
Identity thieves can also use all or some of your data to open new credit or loan accounts – and then let the unpaid debts pile up.
By opening a lot of new accounts in a short period of time, thieves can lower your credit score. The repercussions of a low credit score are immense.
The FBI, the NSA can put kiddie porn on your computer and arrest you.
We can be spied on without warrants in violation of the Constitution.
Cyber security does not exist. It is a myth.
The digital revolution has totally destroyed our constitutional right to privacy and has left us insecure to every kind of malevolent event.
The shifting of all custom relations costs to the customer, resulting in service users spending endless time with a robot trying to correct service and account problems. Problems previously handled in 3 minutes now take 3 hours, sometimes three days.
The digital revolution has brought us kids who have never played outside in the sunshine and live in a world of video games. We now have reality-immune kids.
The digital revolution is the foundation for our coming Age of Tyranny.
The developers of the digital revolution are humanity’s worse enemies.
The only solution is to bring back the analogue days.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
Financial Armageddon Is a Sword of Damocles Hanging by a Thread
Put this article — https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/04/alasdair-macleod/interest-rates-are-going-higher/ — together with my series on The Great Dispossession, and you will see the disaster that has been engineered for us.
Even forewarned, what can we do? The White House Fool’s sanctions and policy of creating enemies out of Russia and China prevent the transfer of our money and financial assets to safety.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
Tucker Carlson Reports: House Republicans Rush to the Defense of the Police State
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tucker-carlson-congress-lying-you-about-fisa
(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)
The NSA's Utah data collection center has Salt Lake City in the background, in Bluffdale, Utah, on March 17, 2017. The $1.5 billion data center is thought to be the worlds largest
A man sits in the shade of his umbrella while dogs play in the park under high tension power lines in Redondo Beach, Calif., on Aug. 16, 2020. California has ordered rolling power outages as a heat wave strains its electrical system. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)
Source: Bloomberg
Via Reuters: French police and members of French special police forces of Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) secure the area near Iran consulate where a man is threatening to blow himself up.
Palestine currently has non-member observer status at the UN, via Reuters.
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