In the name of tolerance, tolerance is being abolished; this is a real threat we face.
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Site: Zero HedgeGLAAD Claims Free Speech Surge On Social Media Undermines LGBT SafetyTyler Durden Wed, 05/21/2025 - 09:30
One of the most detrimental self-sabotage efforts of the woke movement was their rabid push to control public speech online. In the case of gay and trans issues, any criticism no matter how factual or logical was met with Orwellian oversight. For most major social media apps, simply engaging in debate with LGBT activists could mean your account would be flagged and silenced for days or weeks at a time. Refusing to use a trans person's preferred pronouns could result in a permanent ban.
Such policies were established hand-in-hand with federal government efforts to codify LGBT language and make gay and trans people a privileged class protected from any and all scrutiny. Governments and social media platforms partnered up to institute speech controls that might not be possible otherwise. Under the guise of "protecting LGBT people" from discrimination, the door to arbitrary censorship was opened.
This is why in the US there is no such thing as a legal definition for "hate speech". Classifying any speech as "hate speech" would represent a clear violation of the 1st Amendment. Yes, you can "yell fire" in a crowded theater, and yes you can call people whatever pejoratives you want to call them. Hurt feelings are irrelevant to the law, and this is a good thing.
GLAAD, the gay and trans lobby group, thinks otherwise.
The organization issued an “alarming” Social Media Safety Index report this month, which found that, after significant rollbacks in protected speech, social media platforms are overwhelmingly "failing to protect" LGBTQ people.
The only major app that did not receive an "F" grade on LGBT safety was TikTok, which got a D+. GLAAD has now changed it's grading system due to the lack of platforms meeting their standards. For 2025, the platforms were rated numerically, with TikTok at 56/100; Facebook: 45/100; Instagram: 45/100; YouTube: 41/100; Threads: 40/100; and X the lowest at 30/100.
“At a time when real-world violence and harassment against LGBTQ people is on the rise, social media companies are profiting from the flames of anti-LGBTQ hate instead of ensuring the basic safety of LGBTQ users,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement shared with TheWrap. “These low scores should terrify anyone who cares about creating safer, more inclusive online spaces,” she added.
Taking into account the fact that woke activists consider mean words to be the same as an act of violence, it's difficult to take any warnings from GLAAD seriously.
The report lists 14 indicators which address a range of issues affecting LGBTQ people online, including data privacy, moderation transparency, training of content moderators, and workforce diversity. The factor that most interests GLAAD, however, is online censorship.
Jenni Olson, senior director of social media at GLAAD, argues that “The terrible rollbacks from Meta and YouTube are the most important news this year,” referring to both company’s recent decisions to allow previously prohibited hate speech, such as references to LGBTQ people being “abnormal” and “mentally ill” as well as the use of pejorative terms such as “tranny” and “transgenderism.”
“It is especially horrible that YouTube removed gender identity from its list of protected characteristics - and yet is continuing to state that the policy hasn’t changed, when it very clearly has …This is just unprecedented for a major platform. It is extremely concerning for a company to remove a protected characteristic group from a hate speech policy,” Olson said.
In other words, online speech policies are going back to normal and GLAAD doesn't like it. Frankly the amount of social division and strife caused over protecting the fragile feelings of a tiny percentage of the total population isn't worth it. LGBT groups are nothing more than a convenient minority vehicle which the establishment tried to use to inject thought control into the public consciousness. The societal damage done has been immense and will take years to reverse.
The popular anger over LGBT issues was created by the very activists crying about safety. If they had left people alone instead of trying to force their ideological language on the masses, there would be no animosity today. They earned public suspicion by trying to silence public discussion.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
Perhaps Putin should tell the Russian people and the Russian Army that his interest in resolving the conflict in Ukraine with peace negotiations lies in the possibility that the negotiations could be used to achieve a Great Power Agreement like what he and Lavrov tried to achieve with the West during the winter of 2021-2022 prior to Russia’s forced intervention in Ukraine. A New Yalta in effect.
Russian foreign affairs commentators have been speaking for some time about the need for a new Yalta agreement. A few years ago I was asked to address the Russian Academy of Sciences on the subject. I told them something that they did not want to hear: that Washington’s claim to hegemony prevented accommodation to Russian sovereignty.
A few thinking people have been perplexed at Putin’s conduct of the conflict in Ukraine. Russia could have ended the war quickly with conquest, but instead has fought a slow, restrained war that has greatly expanded the war with Putin and Lavrov bleating constantly for “peace negotiations.”
Why has Putin done this despite the protests of the Wagner Group and the Chechnya leader of the Muslim troops fighting in the Ukraine conflict? The only answer seems to be that he wants a New Yalta Agreement. If he wins the war, he loses the opportunity. So he drags out the war in the hopes that negotiations will provide a platform for addressing the “root cause of the conflict”–which he sees as the absence of a Great Power Agreement.
One problem Putin’s wishful strategy faces is Washington’s commitment to hegemony. No American president has repudiated the Wolfowitz Doctrine. Another is that the absence of victory goes down poorly with the Russian nationalists and with the troops themselves. There are news reports that Russians are suspicious and resentful of peace negotiations in Ukraine that stop short of victory.
Russian soldiers doing the fighting have told media that as tired as they are and as much as they want to go home, they want to liberate all of the regions that are once again part of Russia so that they don’t have to renew the fight in the future. As one of the soldiers asked, “Otherwise, have all the guys died in vain?”
Russia’s rescue of the Russian territories assigned to Ukraine by Soviet leaders is important to Putin, but more important is to secure a Great Power Agreement, a New Yalta, that accepts Russia as a member county free of sanctions, overthrow attempts, and conflicts.
Putin is so desirous of this agreement that he has risked the ever-widening of the Ukraine conflict to the point that drone attacks now close all Moscow airports and destroy energy infrastructure deep inside Russia. When Putin says that peace negotiations must address the “root cause of the conflict,” he means the absence of a Great Power Agreement.
Putin is not interested in a negotiated end to the conflict in Ukraine. He is hopeful of using negotiation to achieve a New Yalta. The problem that Putin faces is that Washington, wrapped up as it is in its assumed hegemony, has no comprehension of another country’s point of view.
Washington’s approach to all negotiations is to use threats, to look for levers of pressure to force other governments to accept Washington’s “solution” to the “problem,” usually a Washington creation. In other words, Washington doesn’t really negotiate. It imposes its solutions.
Trump expects the Ukrainian negotiations to fail, and has ensured as much, in order to be able to withdraw money and focus from Ukraine and use the resources to bring into operation Trump’s goal of an American Middle East colonial empire which began with Trump’s claim of Gaza as an American possession. This claim is a claim to the undersea gas reserves that run from Gaza’s border with Egypt to northern Syria. Trump’s visit in Saudi Arabia, the last remaining Arab state, was to enlist the rulers as junior partners in Trump’s American Middle East colonial empire. It seems that with Trump’s domestic agenda blocked by the judiciary, Trump will make us great again with the rise of America’s Middle East Empire.
Reprinted with permission from PaulCraigRoberts.org.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
The hatred of some in Israel for the people of Gaza – even for little children – is just astounding. If they have even a tiny bit of belief in God, they should pray for forgiveness.
Unfortunately, NPR reported last Thursday (May 15) on “deadly airstrikes, killing more than 150 people in the past day, including dozens of children.”
On May 9 the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and many other publications reported on a meeting of a subcommittee of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The hearing in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, was not about concern for children who were starving or who had to have amputations without anesthesia. It was about concern over the public relations harm to Israel.
One of the witnesses was Dr. Sharon Shaul from NATAN, a worldwide humanitarian aid charity.
Dr. Shaul said, “I believe that none of the people sitting around this table are concerned that a suffering child cannot receive painkillers or even minimal medical treatment.”
Then the story said that Knesset member Amit Halevi from Netanyahu’s Likud Party “interrupted her angrily saying, ‘I’m not sure you’re speaking for us when you say we want to treat every child and every woman.’”
The doctor then replied that she hoped the member would not oppose “a four-year-old child” undergoing an amputation receiving pain medication. “I hope you have that compassion,” Dr. Shaul said.
However, Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech “pointed at the doctor and said ‘the only treatment that should be given is to you.’” Another member shouted, “You are the sickest doctor I have ever seen.”
Elad Barashi, a producer at Israel’s Channel 14, surpassed even this hatred by writing on social media in early May: “Good morning. Let there be a holocaust in Gaza.”
In another post, he wrote: “I can’t understand the people here in the State of Israel who don’t want to fill Gaza with gas chambers … or train cars … and finish this story. Let there be a holocaust in Gaza.”
He added: “Men, women and children – by any means necessary we must simply carry out a Shoa against them – yes, read that again – H-O-L-O-C-A-U-S-T!”
He said there were 2.6 million terrorists in Gaza and wrote: “Without fear, without weakness – just Crush. Eliminate. Slaughter. Flatten. Dismantle. Smash. Shatter.”
The fanatic Netanyahu has been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, yet he is a hero in our Congress because of campaign contributions. The rest of the world is overwhelmingly against the genocide in Gaza.
In my column two weeks ago, I wrote of the letter signed by the 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which criticized what it called this “most extremist of Israeli governments” and said, “We stand against the war.”
Even more significant – in fact, almost shocking – is the column Thomas Friedman, the longtime New York Times columnist, published on May 9 entitled “This Israeli Government Is Not Our Ally.”
Friedman said Netanyahu has placed personal political survival before his nation’s and U.S. interests and wrote, “Netanyahu is not our friend.”
He added that “a permanent Israeli military occupation, whose unstated goal will be to pressure all Palestinians to leave is a prescription for a permanent insurgency – Vietnam on the Mediterranean.”
Israel has never had any prominent media voice more supportive than Friedman has been over the years. He has been writing for the New York Times since 1981.
President Trump wrote that the release of the American hostage Edan Alexander a few days ago was “a step taken in good faith toward the United States and the efforts … to put an end to this very brutal war…”
Axios reported that “Israel was not directly involved … and initially learned about it from its intelligence services who spy on Hamas.” This gives credence to the many reports that Trump is tired of being manipulated by Netanyahu.
CNN reported on May 12 that Trump “blindsided Israel several times already – announcing talks with Iran, a deal with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and direct talks with Hamas,” plus not stopping there on the president’s latest Middle East trip.
Maybe Friedman’s column and some of the statements and actions by Trump will finally give some members of Congress the courage to speak out against Israel’s cruelty in Gaza.
Reprinted with author’s permission from the Knoxville Focus.
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Site: LifeNews
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued the order in March 2020 that ultimately killed at least 15,000 nursing home residents. Many senior living centers were flooded with COVID patients thanks to Cuomo’s reckless order putting them in senior living facilities instead of other locations that could have protected elderly people.
Now, the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Cuomo, probing whether he lied to Congress about his role in a state policy that led to the deaths of thousands of nursing home residents. The investigation, initiated last month, centers on a controversial March 2020 directive that required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients, a policy critics argue caused a catastrophic loss of life among vulnerable seniors.
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The probe follows a referral from House Oversight Chairman James Comer, who accused Cuomo of making false statements to a House subcommittee investigating his administration’s handling of the pandemic.
Comer’s referral alleges Cuomo was involved in drafting a 2020 New York State Health Department report that downplayed nursing home deaths, despite testifying he had no role in its creation.
Cuomo’s March 25, 2020, order mandated nursing homes to admit or re-admit patients regardless of their COVID status, a decision that pro-life groups and grieving families say endangered elderly residents. The policy, which was revoked on May 10, 2020, is blamed for contributing to the deaths of at least 15,000 nursing home residents, according to reports.
A 2021 investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James found that the state undercounted nursing home deaths by as much as 50%, excluding residents who died after being transferred to hospitals.
This investigation is long overdue for people like Daniel Arbeeny, co-founder of We Care Memorial Wall for COVID nursing home victims, whose father, Norman, died in a Brooklyn nursing home after contracting COVID. Arbeeny, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cuomo in 2022, called the policy “reckless endangerment” that cost thousands of lives.
He has said Cuomo must be held accountable for forcing nursing homes to accept infected patients when safer alternatives, like hospital ships, were available.
Janice Dean, a Fox News meteorologist who lost both her in-laws to COVID-19 in New York nursing homes, has been a vocal critic as well and says there needs to be accountability for the 15,000 seniors who died alone because of Cuomo’s deadly directive.
Families of nursing home victims see the probe as a step toward justice.
Vivian Zayas, co-founder of Voices for Seniors, whose mother died in a Long Island nursing home, said, has demanded the truth for over 5 years.
The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment, citing a policy of not confirming ongoing investigations. Whether the probe will lead to charges remains unclear, but for pro-life advocates and affected families, it represents a chance to hold Cuomo accountable for policies they believe prioritized politics over human lives.
The post Justice Department Investigating Andrew Cuomo for Killing Thousands of Seniors appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
How America Is Being Made Great Again
Paul Craig Roberts
Perhaps Putin should tell the Russian people and the Russian Army that his interest in resolving the conflict in Ukraine with peace negotiations lies in the possibility that the negotiations could be used to achieve a Great Power Agreement like what he and Lavrov tried to achieve with the West during the winter of 2021-2022 prior to Russia’s forced intervention in Ukraine. A New Yalta in effect.
Russian foreign affairs commentators have been speaking for some time about the need for a new Yalta agreement. A few years ago I was asked to address the Russian Academy of Sciences on the subject. I told them something that they did not want to hear: that Washington’s claim to hegemony prevented accommodation to Russian sovereignty.
A few thinking people have been perplexed at Putin’s conduct of the conflict in Ukraine. Russia could have ended the war quickly with conquest, but instead has fought a slow, restrained war that has greatly expanded the war with Putin and Lavrov bleating constantly for “peace negotiations.”
Why has Putin done this despite the protests of the Wagner Group and the Chechnya leader of the Muslim troops fighting in the Ukraine conflict? The only answer seems to be that he wants a New Yalta Agreement. If he wins the war, he loses the opportunity. So he drags out the war in the hopes that negotiations will provide a platform for addressing the “root cause of the conflict”–which he sees as the absence of a Great Power Agreement.
One problem Putin’s wishful strategy faces is Washington’s commitment to hegemony. No American president has repudiated the Wolfowitz Doctrine. Another is that the absence of victory goes down poorly with the Russian nationalists and with the troops themselves. There are news reports that Russians are suspicious and resentful of peace negotiations in Ukraine that stop short of victory.
Russian soldiers doing the fighting have told media that as tired as they are and as much as they want to go home, they want to liberate all of the regions that are once again part of Russia so that they don’t have to renew the fight in the future. As one of the soldiers asked, “Otherwise, have all the guys died in vain?”
Russia’s rescue of the Russian territories assigned to Ukraine by Soviet leaders is important to Putin, but more important is to secure a Great Power Agreement, a New Yalta, that accepts Russia as a member county free of sanctions, overthrow attempts, and conflicts.
Putin is so desirous of this agreement that he has risked the ever-widening of the Ukraine conflict to the point that drone attacks now close all Moscow airports and destroy energy infrastructure deep inside Russia. When Putin says that peace negotiations must address the “root cause of the conflict,” he means the absence of a Great Power Agreement.
Putin is not interested in a negotiated end to the conflict in Ukraine. He is hopeful of using negotiation to achieve a New Yalta. The problem that Putin faces is that Washington, wrapped up as it is in its assumed hegemony, has no comprehension of another country’s point of view.
Washington’s approach to all negotiations is to use threats, to look for levers of pressure to force other governments to accept Washington’s “solution” to the “problem,” usually a Washington creation. In other words, Washington doesn’t really negotiate. It imposes its solutions.
Trump expects the Ukrainian negotiations to fail, and has ensured as much, in order to be able to withdraw money and focus from Ukraine and use the resources to bring into operation Trump’s goal of an American Middle East colonial empire which began with Trump’s claim of Gaza as an American possession. This claim is a claim to the undersea gas reserves that run from Gaza’s border with Egypt to northern Syria. Trump’s visit in Saudi Arabia, the last remaining Arab state, was to enlist the rulers as junior partners in Trump’s American Middle East colonial empire. It seems that with Trump’s domestic agenda blocked by the judiciary, Trump will make us great again with the rise of America’s Middle East Empire.
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Site: Saint Louis Catholic
There are plenty of areas in which to be disappointed (or justified, depending on your level of cynicism) by the current presidential administration. But one has to be grateful to God that Trump is president, if only to be freed from the globalist tyranny of the so-called World Health Organization. Withdrawing our country from the WHO and the oh-so-fraudulently-based Paris Climate Accords are two of the very best moves he has made.
Make no mistake, and you likely already know this, the globalist WHO and the climate scam are nothing more than means of globalist tyranny, the weakening of national sovereignty, and a gigantic tax on US citizens to fund their own destruction.
The global response to the 2020 cold virus “pandemic” was so good for the globalists that they want even more power. The WHO just adopted a “pandemic agreement” that requires member nations to do what it says. Thankfully, our withdrawal from this gang of corrupt and evil bureaucrats was already announced and will soon be over. I get the feeling also that should the gang declare a summer beach and playground pandemic before the literal ending date of US membership that our president would tell them where and how far up to stick their dictates.
Like I said at the time, it isn’t as though we deserve the blessings of the good Lord for anything we have done. But in His goodness He has given us a stay of execution, as it were. Further membership in the WHO might have been a literal death sentence. Good for President Trump.
Now do NATO.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
The Camp of the Saints
Paul Craig Roberts
80% Of French Women Want The Army Deployed In French Cities To Protect Them Against Immigrant-Invaders
France has seen an incredible 86 percent increase in sexual violence in the last 10 years, with mass immigration fueling this trend.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/80-french-women-want-army-deployed-french-cities-protect-them
It is the same in Sweden, Norway, Germany, all over Europe.
The French women will not receive the French army’s protection. The French government, like the governments in Norway, Sweden, Germany and all of Western Europe, is committed to the erasure of ethnic nations. French women should have read The Camp of the Saints. They should have voted for Marine Le Pen, the only French political leader who believes in a French ethnic nation.
Now it is too late for the French women. The government of France has framed Le Pen and sentenced her to prison for her defense of a French ethnic nation. She was eliminated for being a French nationalist, not for the alleged fraud used to frame her.
The death of white ethnic nations is the consequence of the use of education by the leftwing to destroy the belief system. White ethnicities have been taught to see themselves negatively and infused with guilt to such an extent that they cannot defend themselves or even recognize their true leaders. They consistently vote for their own destruction.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
Democrats Hate White People
Here is the white Democrat Rep. Merkley raising a fuss with Secretary of Defense Rubio–why Rubio?–about white South Africans being allowed into the US.
What more proof do insouciant Americans need that Democrats are anti-white?
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1924862459623440604
When you take a close look at the US Congress, the media, educators, the judiciary, you have to wonder how the United States can possibly survive.
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusOur thanks to Dr Agnieszka Fromme for sharing with us this interesting article about theological censorship in the post-Conciliar lectionary. It will be presented in two parts. Jefferson Bible (photo from Smithsonian)Was a “Richer Table of the Word” Truly Set for Us in 1969? A Comparison of the Tridentine Lectionary and the Ordo Lectionum Missae Dr. Agnieszka Fromme One of the aims of the Peter Kwasniewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02068005370670549612noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogIt’s great to see a phrase you have popularized for so long that people now use it rather commonly. It’s even better when that phrase is used to describe our new Pope Leo XIV. Also of note in that screen … Read More →
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Site: Voice of the Family
“Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel — for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia.” — Fr Robert Prevost OSA (Leo XIV) Johan Bergström-Allen is a “lay pastoral minister at Our Lady’s Church in York” and “chairman of […]
The post Of millstones and strange flesh appeared first on Voice of the Family.
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Site: Voice of the Family
As we have seen, the British campaign for abortion emerged from the eugenics movement, whose members believed society was “breeding from the wrong end” and that the proliferating “unfit” should be sterilised; however, while eugenicists believed that the “fit” should have more children, and the “unfit” fewer, the equally secular Neo-Malthusians advocated the small “Malthusian […]
The post Religion and the abortion campaign (2) appeared first on Voice of the Family.
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Site: Voice of the Family
From Divine Intimacy Prelude O Jesus, make me understand that my prayer is of no avail unless it is made in Your Name; that my faith is vain unless I convert it into works. 1 In this Sunday’s Gospel, taken again from the discourse of Jesus after the Last Supper (Jn 16:23–30), the Church continues […]
The post Efficacious prayer: on the fifth Sunday after Easter appeared first on Voice of the Family.
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Site: Mises InstituteEconomists have said that a higher education degree is a form of “signaling” by the person holding the diploma. Thanks to government attempts to make higher education readily available, the value of a college degree has been severely degraded.
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Site: AsiaNews.it40,000 welcome Pope Prevost in St Peter's Square for his first public audience. Tour in the popemobile amid cheers and flags from Lebanon, Ukraine, and peace movements. Leo XIV continues the catechetical series 'Jesus Our Hope', begun by Francis for the Jubilee. A renewed appeal for 'dignified humanitarian aid' to Gaza: 'We are called to sow hope and build peace.'
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Site: southern orders
Pope Leo has a busy June. Of note, though, is the return of the Corpus Christi Eucharistic Procession to Rome, specially the Basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major. It’s been a few years since Pope Francis has had the procession in Rome.Unfortunately it will be on a Sunday rather than the preceding Thursday. Keep in mind that the symbolic meaning of having it on Thursday is to remind us of Holy Thursday and the Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist by our Lord. Hopefully Holy Thursday never gets transferred to the following Sunday like Corpus Christi and the Ascension have.
From Vatican News:
As the Church marks the Solemnity of the Body & Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) on Sunday, June 22, Pope Leo XIV will preside at Mass at 5:00 PM in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and take part in the Eucharistic procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
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Site: AsiaNews.itIn an interview with AsiaNews, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako reflects on the days of the Conclave spent alongside the new pontiff and their 'very important' first meeting after the election. He describes the 'complicated situation' facing Christians in the Middle East, who suffer from a 'lack of stability' despite some improvements in security. His first words to Pope Prevost: 'We are counting on you.'
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Site: The Remnant Newspaper - Remnant ArticlesOn May 17, 2025, in the Clementine Hall, Pope Leo XIV received the members of the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation, a Vatican organization that promotes the study and dissemination of the Church's social doctrine. Speaking precisely about this, the Pope took the opportunity to clarify what he means by "doctrine."
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Site: Fr. Z's Blog“Shut up, pray for the man, keep doing your thing and stay out of sight. Winter is not over. The wolves are not dead yet.” HERE
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Site: Mises InstituteThe reaction to Biden’s cancer announcement reveals how little trust the public has in the people who spent years claiming that Biden’s mental decline was fabricated by right-wing propagandists. That lack of trust is well deserved.
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Site: Real Investment Advice
Monday was a record-setting day. Stocks opened down 1% on news that Moody's downgraded the US credit rating to AA. While some perceived the downgrade as problematic, retail investors, aka individuals, bought stocks at the highest rate ever. Per JP Morgan, retail investors purchased a net of $4.1 billion of US stocks in the first three hours of trading. As their graph below shows, Monday's retail buying stampede dwarfs prior instances.
While the retail net inflow was quite impressive, it does leave the bulls and bears with a consideration. We should ask ourselves who the retail investors bought the stock from. The answer, by default, is institutional investors. This trend of retail buying from institutional investors has been ongoing. As we wrote in Smart Money or Dumb Money: Who Will be Right:
Smart money (institutions and hedge funds) is aggressively selling this market while individual investors, aka dumb money, are aggressively buying. The difference in opinions is stunning.
Typically, institutional investors are right; however, over the last few years, retail has proven to be the smarter money. Is retail out of money? Or will institutions cover?
What To Watch Today
Earnings
Economy
- No notable economic releases today
Market Trading Update
Yesterday's commentary noted the numerous momentum indicators suggesting higher asset prices ahead. While the markets are indeed short-term overbought and due for a pullback, the bull market remains intact and will likely end the year with higher, rather than lower, prices. However, when markets rally as hard as they have lately, adding exposure to the market as needed becomes difficult.
The subject of this weekend's newsletter will be "Trading An Unstoppable Bull Market." This will not be the first time we have written this article, but every time we get into similar market environments, the challenges remain the same for investors.
There are millions of different ways to approach technical analysis, and investors use millions of combinations of technical indicators to try to decipher market movements. I am only going to discuss how we do it with you.
Notably, technical analysis does NOT predict the future. It is the study of historical price action, which is the purest representation of the psychology of market participants. From that study, we can make statistical observations about the behavior of market participants in the past. Those assumptions can help form a “guess,” assuming similar variables, about how they may act in the near term.
For our portfolio management needs, we keep our analysis very simple. We use one indicator to indicate if prices are overbought or oversold, two moving averages to determine the trend of prices, and Bollinger bands to warn of significant deviations from those moving averages. I show the technical setup in the sample chart below from SimpleVisor.com.
We are looking for either “warning signs” that stocks could be due for a short to intermediate-term, corrective period, or indications that they are oversold and ready to advance. Currently, we are dealing with the former.
Historically, when prices move toward the upper bands of 2- or 3-standard deviations above the 50-day moving average (dma), the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is overbought, and the MACD is crossing lower from a high level, stock prices generally correct to some degree. Such is the potential environment we will likely deal with in the next few weeks as we move into June and stock buybacks begin to fade. This is also why we have suggested taking profits, rebalancing risk, and holding cash for a better entry point.
However, while we are waiting for an entry point to increase exposure, it is essential to remember the most important commandment:
Commandment #1: “Thou Shall Not Trade Against the Trend.” – James P. Arthur Huprich
Let me be very clear. We are discussing risk management. You must understand the market’s overall trend and when it is changing. The negative price trend from April is over, and the market continues to trend positively. That is just what it is.
Currently, we are in a “bull market” advance. As such, we want to maintain our exposure to equity risk. However, this does not mean we should ignore what the market tells us and let the ebbs and flows wash over us. Eventually, another “ebb” will come, and we will want to increase risk accordingly. However, that is not today.
“In a bull market, you can be either long or neutral. In a bear market, you can only be neutral or short.” – Dennis Gartman
While the market could certainly pull back to the lower of those “bands,” corrections will likely remain confined to the 50-dma. As such, we will want to use those opportunities to trade portfolios into higher levels of equity exposure. With the market currently more overbought and extended, we want to remain cautious about committing our cash reserves to the broad market more aggressively.
“Willingness and ability to hold funds uninvested while awaiting real opportunities is a key to success in the battle for investment survival.” – Gerald Loeb
I hope this helps.
World Government Bond Yield Curves
The graph below from Trading View provides some context for the level of US Treasury yields. As shown, other than the UK, the US has the highest yields across the maturity spectrum. Other than China, all of the curves slope upward. Thus, short-term yields are lower than longer-term yields. Such a slope is normal. Moreover, it occurs after most of the slopes were inverted.
The notable difference between the curves is the lower short-term rates for all countries but the US and UK. Excluding Japan, their central banks have been more aggressive in cutting rates. While deficit- and tariff-related inflation narratives keep US yields higher than other countries, investors focused on the historical drivers of yields (inflation and economic activity) should find value in the higher yields. However, the battle between narratives and fundamentals favors the narratives for now.
How To Achieve Financial Independence And Retire Early (FIRE)
The FIRE movement—short for Financial Independence, Retire Early—has gained popularity among those who want more control over their time and financial future. Unlike traditional retirement models, FIRE encourages aggressive saving and disciplined financial planning to reach financial independence far earlier than the typical retirement age.
Whether you dream of leaving the 9-to-5 grind in your 40s or simply want to build more freedom into your life, understanding the FIRE retirement strategy and how to build a financial independence plan is essential.
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The post Retail Is Fearless: Buy The Dip Is On Steroids appeared first on RIA.
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Site: PeakProsperityEpstein's death inconsistencies suggest homicide, not suicide; official narratives questioned.
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Site: Crisis Magazine
Traditional, orthodox Roman Catholic believers ought to be extremely grateful that American Catholics do not vote on Catholic doctrine, moral teaching, and ecclesiology. Because if they did, and if they got their way, much of the historic Roman Catholic Church would be swept away into the dustbin of history. This conclusion screams from the pages of a recent Pew Research Center survey report…
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Site: Real Investment Advice
The following paragraph, courtesy of Amazon, reviews the book Death of the Dollar by William Rickenbacker.
Death of the Dollar by William F. Rickenbacker is a critical examination of the economic policies and monetary mismanagement that the author argues are eroding the value of the U.S. dollar and threatening financial stability. Rickenbacker contends that the actions of money managers, including excessive government spending, inflationary policies, and the detachment of the dollar from the gold standard, are systematically devaluing the currency. The book warns of an impending monetary disaster, highlighting how these policies disproportionately harm everyday citizens who rely on the dollar’s stability for savings and investments. Through a blend of economic analysis and historical context, Rickenbacker underscores the dangers of unchecked financial intervention and the potential for a collapse of the dollar’s purchasing power.
Plenty of books, articles, and social media posts herald the same grim forecast as Rickenbacker. For the most part, they rely on similar reasoning. Essentially, lax monetary policy and gross fiscal spending, both deemed to be inflationary, will result in dollar devaluation and ultimately the death of the dollar.
The difference between Rickenbacker’s book and other dollar demise forecasts is that Death of the Dollar was written in 1968! Fifty-seven years later, despite, or possibly because of Rickenbacker’s justifications, the dollar is still the world's reserve currency, and no other sovereign currency, cryptocurrency, or precious metal will replace it anytime soon.
Given the topic's importance and the gross misinformation spread about the dollar’s imminent demise, we review Rickenbacker’s thesis to highlight that today’s warnings have been around for decades and why the odds of them coming to fruition this time are very low, as they were decades ago.
Removal Of The Gold Standard
Rickenbacker’s book was published in 1968, three years before President Nixon closed the gold window, essentially making the dollar a fiat currency. While his book accurately predicted that ground-shaking event, it did not correctly anticipate its impact.
He reasoned that without gold regulating the supply of dollars, unchecked monetary policy would result in reckless “money printing.”
He was correct that the Fed would have more flexibility in managing the money supply. Furthermore, with this added power, we have seen reckless behavior, as he theorized. However, Rickenbacker erred on the money printing allegation.
The Fed doesn’t print money. All money is lent into creation by banks. The Fed prints bank reserves, which allow banks to make loans, i.e., print money, if they choose. More importantly, even if the money supply increases due to Fed incentives to lend, it's unclear whether such activity is good or bad for the economy and how it impacts inflation and ultimately the dollar’s value. That is a function of the productivity of debt.
Simply, productive debt drives economic growth, increases the nation's prosperity, and reduces deficits as a percentage of economic activity. Unproductive debt detracts from economic growth and prosperity and worsens deficits. Weaker growth from unproductive debt tends to be disinflationary.
As judged by an increasing debt-to-GDP ratio, aggregate debt has been unproductive, leading to lower inflation growth rates. Thus, if the concern is that “money printing” would lead to inflation, it may lead to disinflation.
Fed Flexibility
In one respect, Rickenbacker correctly said that giving the Fed more flexibility was a curse. Easy money policy has led to periods of gross speculation and crises, such as in 2008.
However, without the gold shackles, the Fed has incredible power to manage economic crises and avoid a currency collapse. In fact, despite the 2008 crisis having roots in the US mortgage market and the prospect of the collapse of the US banking system, the world flocked to dollars during the crisis, as shown below.
Most crises have been accompanied by a stronger dollar, proving that the dollar is the port in the storm foreign investors seek when economic confidence is lacking, and liquidity is paramount.
Excessive Government Spending
The book criticizes massive federal expenditures, particularly on social programs and military efforts, which create budget deficits, drive up inflation, and ultimately devalue the dollar. The book was written while Lyndon Johnson spent heavily on the Vietnam War and domestic programs. Again, Rickenbacker was correct in worrying about inflation, a big problem throughout the 1970s.
Despite ever-increasing government spending and an increasing debt-to-GDP ratio, the globalization of trade has expanded rapidly since his book was published. With it, foreigners' demand for dollars has been growing, and in mirror fashion, so is their need to invest the dollars, which helps us fund our deficits.
Even today, with “runaway” deficits making headlines daily, the dollar remains in the upper range of the last 35 years.
Dollar Devaluation In Context
Rickenbacker believed that easy money Federal Reserve policies, such as low interest rates and expanding the money supply, would fuel inflation that would erode the dollar’s purchasing power. He was right, as evidenced by comparing what a dollar buys today versus yesteryear. However, the argument provides little context.
For instance, in the 1950s, a hamburger (15 cents), fries (10 cents), and a Coke (10 cents) at McDonald's cost less than 50 cents. Today, the same meal could run nearly $10.
Although decades of inflation have drastically eroded the dollar's value, our standard of living has risen appreciably. To wit, the purchasing power of one dollar in 1947 has eroded to 7 cents. However, as shown below, inflation-adjusted incomes have risen fivefold since 1947. The dollar buys less, but our incomes buy more!
Trade and Balance of Payments Deficits
Rickenbacker points to persistent U.S. trade deficits and dollar outflows abroad, which weaken the currency’s global standing. He is correct that trade deficits have steadily increased, resulting in more dollars flowing abroad. However, more dollar outflows are a result of more demand for dollars. Furthermore, those dollars ultimately return to the US through investments and loans to the government and corporations. The larger the global economy, the greater the need for dollars, and the more dollars that need to be invested in the US economy.
Rickenbacker Was Right
The author’s concerns are valid and, in many cases, have proven true. However, the victim has not been the dollar. The victims are larger deficits, lower productivity growth, hollowing out of manufacturing, and a growing wealth divide, to name a few.
While these are big problems, they do not necessarily threaten the dollar's status. As we wrote in Four Reasons The Dollar Is Here To Stay:
The pundits will be right someday. The dollar’s death as the reserve currency will come, and some other nation’s currency, cryptocurrency, gold, shells, or something else will take its place. However, that day is not coming anytime soon. The four reasons we describe in the article leave the world with no alternative.
While China is rapidly growing its economy and global trade footprint, it lacks the rule of law and liquid capital markets to sustain a global currency. It’s difficult to see how a communist country can overcome those challenges.
The Euro is the most viable competitor. They have the rule of law, but their capital markets are not nearly liquid enough to facilitate global trade. They also lack the military might to force the usage of the Euro. Let us also remember its finances are in equally bad or even worse shape than the U.S. There is no reason to suspect the euro could overtake the dollar.
Bitcoin? Forget about it! The government will never relinquish its control over the currency because, with that, they lose control of the nation.
Summary
Had Rickenbacker’s Death of the Dollar book solely focused on monetary and fiscal imprudence and its negative implications for the country, he would have been proven a seer. Unfortunately, he was wrong to insist that the dollar would lose its status as the world’s reserve currency.
The graph below, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, shows how the dollar's usage in global transactions has been stable for the last two decades. The index calculation, as detailed at the bottom of the graphic, is based on the primary uses of currencies.
The post Death Of The Dollar: An Eternal Tale appeared first on RIA.
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Site: Crisis Magazine
On a recent Tuesday, beneath a wide, blue sky stretched over the French countryside, two Benedictine Sisters of Montmartre led me into a small room to speak with the bishop who had offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They spoke softly in French to Bishop Pascal Marie Roland, the shepherd of Belley-Ars, who listened in silence, nodding, his gaze fixed on the floor. When he finally looked up…
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Site: Mundabor's blogA video has surfaced of the now Pope Leo XIV, wearing an absolutely stupid-looking university hat, criticising those who criticised the Evil Clown. Because I feel directly – even in my insignificance – called into the question by a prelate who is now Pope, I will allow myself to *not* let bygones be bygones and […]
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Site: AsiaNews.itThe government in Tbilisi is proudly touting Georgia's buoyant GDP figures, claiming that the economy has tripled in recent years thanks to its own policies. However, the real driving force behind this surge has been the indirect effects of the war in Ukraine. ...
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Site: southern orders
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Site: Zero HedgeBreaking Down Global Military Spending By Country In 2024Tyler Durden Wed, 05/21/2025 - 04:15
In a world where superpowers are defined by economic and military stature, countries continue to invest hundreds of billions in military and defense every year.
In 2024, global military expenditure reached $2.7 trillion, hitting a record high - and just three countries made up more than half of the total.
This infographic, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, breaks down global military spending by country in 2024, highlighting the top military spenders using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The World’s Biggest Military Spenders in 2024
America continues to dominate global military expenditure, spending nearly $1 trillion or 3.4% of its GDP on defense in 2024. U.S. military expenditure makes up over one-third of the global total, and it also has the world’s biggest defense budget.
Here’s a look at the top 20 countries by military spending in 2024:
China follows the U.S. with an estimated $314 billion in military expenditure, up 7% from 2023. Over the last decade (2015–2024), China’s military spending increased by 59%.
Meanwhile, Russia’s spending was up by 38% year over year at nearly $150 billion. Together, the United States, China, and Russia—often considered strategic competitors—made up 54% of global military expenditure in 2024.
Germany and India round out the top five, with both countries ramping up military spending in light of rising geopolitical tensions in recent years. India’s simmering tensions with Pakistan and China contribute to its defense budget.
Meanwhile, as a major NATO member, Germany’s spending is partly down to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Together, NATO countries made up 55% of global military expenditure in 2024.
In the eighth spot, Ukraine has seen the biggest jump in military spending in recent years—with its 2024 spending at nearly 10 times 2021 levels. It also has the highest military burden globally at 34.5% of its GDP in 2024. Although peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are ongoing, a complete ceasefire is yet to be achieved.
To see how global military expenditure has evolved in the 21st century, check out 20 Years of Global Military Spending on the Voronoi app.
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Site: Mises Institute
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Site: Rorate CaeliCorrispondenza RomanaMay 21, 2025Two words recur frequently in Pope Leo XIV's speeches from the very beginning of his pontificate: “peace” and “unity.” Peace is what the Pontiff invokes in the face of an international scenario that in the Regina Caeli of May 12 he described as "dramatic." Unity is what the Church needs in order to face a fragmented world, as he explained in his May 18 New Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: Zero HedgeUK Space Ambitions Clash With NATO Airspace ConcernsTyler Durden Wed, 05/21/2025 - 03:30
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The UK’s new vertical launch spaceport at Saxa Vord poses risks to Icelandic airspace and territorial waters, potentially disrupting transatlantic flights and marine ecosystems.
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Exclusion zones for rocket launches could interfere with NATO's ability to effectively patrol the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, an area of strategic importance for defense.
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While a memorandum of understanding exists between the UK and Iceland, it may not adequately address the full defense and military ramifications of frequent space launches in this critical region.
When I relocated to the UK from New York in 1984, the Cold War was at its peak. US nuclear and conventional forces were spread across Europe and fears of a Soviet invasion or nuclear exchange were ever-present. In the UK, another critical strategic concern was the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, which are two stretches of the North Atlantic separating these three countries. During the Cold War, Soviet naval forces aimed to control this gap to access the broader North Atlantic and block NATO reinforcements to Europe, a scenario famously depicted in Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising.
After the Cold War ended and the so-called Peace Dividend reduced the gap’s significance, its strategic importance faded. However, since 2014, with Russia’s renewed assertiveness, the GIUK gap has regained prominence in NATO planning. The US reopened Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland in 2016, re-established its 2nd Fleet in 2018 to protect the gap and, as recently as March 2025, Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 increased its patrols in the region.
I warn of danger
While NATO has prepared for Russian threats, a new risk closer to home is now emerging: the UK’s and Europe’s first vertical launch spaceport at Saxa Vord, Shetland. Ironically, this site was once an RAF early warning and air defence base during the Cold War, bearing the motto Praemoneo de Periculis, or “I warn of danger”.
Commercial space launches are still in their infancy, but recent incidents such as SpaceX’s launch failures – spreading debris across Florida and the Caribbean and grounding flights – and a Norwegian test rocket explosion highlight the risks. Saxa Vord itself attempted a rocket launch last August, resulting in an engine explosion. The international nature of space launches means that countries near Saxa Vord, especially Iceland, are directly in the path of up to 30 planned launches per year, four a month at peak, with ambitions to increase to 40 or 50 annually.
These launches pose multiple risks to Iceland and the GIUK gap:
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Rockets may enter Icelandic airspace, with first-stage returns falling through Icelandic airspace and into territorial waters.
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Catastrophic failures could scatter debris, whilst hazardous chemicals from rocket propellants threaten marine ecosystems.
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Rerouted transatlantic flights of up to 76 a day, according to Icelandic air traffic control’s ‘anonymous’ response to the CAA’s Saxa Vord licence consultation.
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Even more importantly and less scrutinised – the presence of exclusion zones for launches could undermine NATO’s ability to patrol the gap effectively.
Memorandum of Misunderstanding
These risks are partly managed by a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the UK and Iceland in July 2021. The MoU mandates the closure of designated Icelandic sea and airspace areas before launches and outlines some procedures for debris recovery. However, while a handful of Icelandic officials are aware of the implications, the broader political and media discourse in both countries has yet to grapple with the full defence and military ramifications of the impact of such numbers of launches into NATO’s strategic sea and airspace.
The current trajectory of UK space ambitions – and planned rocket launch from the UK – means the UK’s space ambitions could inadvertently undermine the very security framework that underpins Western interests in the North Atlantic and the Arctic.
There is an urgent need for both the UK and Icelandic governments to reassess the risks from Saxa Vord, ensuring that existing bilateral agreements align the UK’s space programme with enduring geopolitical realities and the security needs of NATO and its allies. Saxa Vord has to be a success – but upon the present strategy security triumphs space whilst Iceland is developing its own space strategy – which might well consider how launch capability could be nationalised to give greater control over risk.
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Site: Mises InstituteBankruptcy in the short term is painful. In the long term, it is cleansing decades of poor federal government choices.
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Site: Zero HedgeTea Or Coffee?Tyler Durden Wed, 05/21/2025 - 02:45
Today, May 21 marks International Tea Day.
With a global market valued at nearly $50 billion in 2023, tea is said to be the second most consumed beverage in the world.
As the United Nations notes, the tea industry provides "a major source of income and export earnings for some of the poorest countries and, thanks to its high labor requirements, generates numerous jobs, particularly in remote and economically disadvantaged areas."
As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, Statista Consumer Insights surveyed 23 countries around the world to find out more about global tea drinking habits.
It found that while tea was a popular choice for many respondents, coffee proved to be consumed by a higher share of adults in almost every country surveyed, save for Turkey, Morocco and India.
You will find more infographics at Statista
In the United States a comparatively lower share of people said they drank tea (46 percent) or coffee (53 percent) regularly, while soft drinks were more popular (56 percent).
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Site: The Unz ReviewIt’s an oft-heard complaint, even a canard, about white people in general and white conservatives in particular. The immigration issue is framed in terms of white dislike for other races. It's misleading, even among most white right-wing types. While it’s true that some whites do harbor disdainful, contemptuous, hostile, and even hateful views in regards...
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Site: The Unz ReviewOn the road in Iran - The International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) is one of the most crucial geoeconomic/infrastructure projects of the 21st century. It unites at its core three key BRICS nations – Russia, Iran and India – branching out to the Caucasus and Central Asia. When fully operational, the INSTC will offer...
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Site: The Unz ReviewSometimes I have to pinch myself to accept that what happened in the United States — in the nation that leads the free world — between 2020 and today actually occurred. It is clear from the new book — Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover Up and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again —...
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Site: The Unz ReviewThis interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble. In a world gripped by daily catastrophes, there is one that affects all but lacks the attention it deserves. The climate crisis — pervaded by ecological collapse, war, endless resource accumulation fueled by capitalism — is the issue of our time. The warning signs are...
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Site: The Unz ReviewRumble link Bitchute link Paul Craig Roberts, the illustrious economist and architect of Reaganomics, became a notable voice of 9/11 truth two decades ago—a courageous move, given that he’s important enough to raise the ire of the perps and coverup team. Since then he has been calling it like he sees it and hasn’t backed...
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Site: The Unz ReviewFrance has seen an incredible 86 percent increase in sexual violence in the last 10 years, with mass immigration fueling this trend. It is the same in Sweden, Norway, Germany, all over Europe. The French women will not receive the French army’s protection. The French government, like the governments in Norway, Sweden, Germany and all...
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Site: AntiWar.comReprinted with permission from The Realist Review. To hear an American President, the supposed leader of the self-styled free world, no matter how disingenuously, declare that the age of nation building is over, and deliver a thunderous denunciation of the nation building project, its courtier class, and their influence on world affairs in a foreign … Continue reading "Which Way, Liberal Interventionist?"
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Site: The Unz ReviewPerhaps Putin should tell the Russian people and the Russian Army that his interest in resolving the conflict in Ukraine with peace negotiations lies in the possibility that the negotiations could be used to achieve a Great Power Agreement like what he and Lavrov tried to achieve with the West during the winter of 2021-2022...
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Site: AntiWar.comThis week the United States House of Representatives passed the ridiculously titled “Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act (MEGOBARI Act) by a vote of 349 to 42. The latter “nay” vote consisted of 34 stalwart America First, non-interventionist Republicans and but 8 Dems from the AOC/Squad wing. The rest … Continue reading "Out of Their Minds on Georgia"
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Site: The Unz Review– Donald Trump Feb. 26, 2025 Donald Trump appeared on The Apprentice, a reality-competition show, with a prize of a one-year $250,000 contract to promote one of Trump’s properties. Trump was the show’s centerpiece, which bolstered his reputation as a ruthless billionaire. Personally, I find “reality” shows creepy, but even I could not escape Trump’s...
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionKelsi Sheren, on Twitter, commented on the lobbying by euthanasia groups to legalize euthanasia for "mature minors" (children) in Canada.
The response to her social media was phenomenal but it also elicited a response from some euthanasia lobby leaders who accused Sheren of fear mongering and not getting her facts straight.
Sheren responded with a link to a Global news story from February 16, 2023 reporting on the Canadian government Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) released a report calling for the expansion of euthanasia (MAiD) to include mature minors.
Euthanasia for "mature minors" (children) is not legal in Canada but the issue of child euthanasia is being promoted by Canada's euthanasia lobby and a federal government committee recommended on February 15, 2023 that euthanasia be extended to "mature minors."
I responded to the February 15, 2023 (AMAD) report by stating:
The report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) was tabled in the House of Commons on February 15, 2023 calling for a drastic expansion of euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada. Among the recommendations, the report recommended that euthanasia be expanded to include children "mature minors."
That the Government of Canada establish a requirement that, where appropriate, the parents or guardians of a mature minor be consulted in the course of the assessment process for MAID, but that the will of a minor who is found to have the requisite decision-making capacity ultimately take priority.
Recommendation 19 in the report stated:This means that parents or guardians may or may not be consulted, in the euthanasia death of a child that is deemed to have decision-making capacity.
To understand Recommendation 19 better we need to go back to the draft policy developed by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto on euthanasia for "mature minors" that was published as a report in the Journal of Medical Ethics in September 2018.
- Article: Sick Kids Hospital Toronto will euthanize children with or without parental consent (Link).
Sick Children's hospital draft policy applied the same "ethics" for mature minors to make medical decisions as for making a decision to be killed.The draft policy by Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children set out what can be expected if Canada permits euthanasia for children (mature minors).
Children who are deemed, by their physician, as competent to make medical decisions would also be deemed competent to decide, with or without the consent of their parents, to be killed by lethal injection.
The Canadian government report suggested that child euthanasia and euthanasia of incompetent people by advance request be permitted. Both of these issues fundamental change the meaning of consent.
Child euthanasia is wrong, based on the meaning of effective consent.
Euthanasia is wrong because it enables doctors and nurse practitioners to literally kill their patients.
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Site: Real Jew News
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Site: Zero HedgeHow Hackers Can Control Your Phone With "Zero-Click" AttackTyler Durden Tue, 05/20/2025 - 20:55
Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
In 2025, most people are inseparable from their laptops and smartphones. With that familiarity has come a wariness of the dangers of clicking on unsolicited emails, SMS, or WhatsApp messages.
But there is a growing menace called zero-click attacks, which have previously targeted only VIPs or the very wealthy because of their cost and sophistication.
Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock
A zero-click attack is a cyberattack that hacks a device without the user clicking anything. It can happen just by receiving a message, call, or file. The attacker uses hidden flaws in apps or systems to take control of the device, with no action needed from the user and the user remains unaware of the attack.
“Although public awareness has increased recently, these attacks have steadily evolved over many years, becoming more frequent as smartphones and connected devices proliferated,” Nathan House, CEO of StationX, a UK-based cybersecurity training platform, told The Epoch Times.
“The key vulnerability is in the software, rather than the type of device, meaning any connected device with exploitable weaknesses could potentially be targeted,” he said.
Aras Nazarovas, an information security researcher at Cybernews, told The Epoch Times why zero-click attacks usually target VIPs, rather than ordinary individuals.
“Since finding such zero-click exploits is difficult and expensive, most of the time such exploits are used to gain access to information from key figures, such as politicians or journalists in authoritarian regimes,” he said.
“They are often used in targeted campaigns. Using such exploits to steal money is rare.”
In June 2024, the BBC reported that social media platform TikTok had admitted that a “very limited” number of accounts, including those of media outlet CNN, had been compromised.
While ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, did not confirm the nature of the hack, cybersecurity companies such as Kaspersky and Assured Intelligence suggested it stemmed from a zero-click exploit.
“The part that requires high levels of sophistication is finding bugs that allow such attacks and writing exploits for these bugs,” Nazarovas said.
“It has been a billion-dollar market for years, selling zero-click exploits and exploit chains. Some gray/dark market exploit brokers often offer $500,000 to $1 million for such exploit chains for popular devices and apps.”
An attendee inspects the new iPhone 16 Pro Max during event at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Sept. 9, 2024. Experts warn of a rise in zero-click attacks—cyberattacks that compromise devices without any user interaction. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Nazarovas added that while ordinary users have been hit in the past by zero-click ‘drive-by’ attacks. These are attacks that emerge after the unintentional installation of malicious software onto a device, often without the user even realizing it. They have become more infrequent with the growing gray market for such exploits.
House said zero-click exploits often seek out vulnerabilities in software and apps that are expensive to discover, which means the perpetrators are usually “nation-state actors or highly-funded groups.”
Expanded Spyware Markets
Although there have been recent innovations in AI that have made certain cyber crimes, such as voice-cloning or vishing, more prevalent, Nazarovas says there is no evidence yet that it has increased the risk from zero-click attacks.
House said people could use AI to “write zero-click exploit chains for people who would have otherwise lacked the time, experience, or knowledge to be able to discover and write such exploits.”
But, he said, the increase in zero-click attacks in recent years, “stems mainly from expanded spyware markets and greater availability of sophisticated exploits, rather than directly from AI-driven techniques.”
He said zero-click attacks have existed for more than a decade, the most infamous of which was the Pegasus spyware affair.
In July 2021, The Guardian and 16 other media outlets published a series of articles, alleging that foreign governments used the Israeli-based NSO Group’s Pegasus software to surveil at least 180 journalists and numerous other targets around the world.
Alleged targets of Pegasus surveillance included French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, and Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, who was slain in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.
A woman checks the website of Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office in Nicosia, Cyprus, on July 21, 2021. Pegasus has been tied to several high-profile international zero-click attacks in recent years. Mario Goldman/AFP via Getty Images
In a statement at the time, NSO Group said, “As NSO has previously stated, our technology was not associated in any way with the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”
On May 6, a California jury awarded WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, $444,719 in compensatory damages and $167.3 million in punitive damages, in a privacy case against NSO Group.
The WhatsApp complaint was focused on the Pegasus spyware, which, according to the lawsuit, was developed “to be remotely installed and enable the remote access and control of information—including calls, messages, and location—on mobile devices using the Android, iOS, and BlackBerry operating systems.”
“While ordinary users can occasionally become collateral targets, attackers generally reserve these costly exploits for individuals whose information is especially valuable or sensitive,” Nazarovas said.
According to Nazarovas, corporations offer hackers ‘bug bounties’ to incentivize them to find these exploits and report them to the company, rather than selling them to a broker who then sells them on to parties who use them illegally.
Read the rest here...
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Site: Zero HedgeDavid Sacks' Lieutenant Explains The Real Reason Why Trump's AI Deal With UAE Is A Yuge Win For AmericaTyler Durden Tue, 05/20/2025 - 20:30
Sriram Krishnan, Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, joined the Monday edition of TBPN to explain why the U.S.-UAE AI Partnership is a strategic victory for the United States in its race to lead AI development against China, a perspective largely (and unsurprisingly) overlooked by mainstream media.
EXCLUSIVE: we asked @sriramk to break down the $600B deal announced last week by @WhiteHouse.
— TBPN (@tbpn) May 19, 2025
"We signed the first AI acceleration partnership. There are 3 critical components to this deal."
"First, this represents a large investment in US data centers and US AI infrastructure.… https://t.co/cL4RUfgTRV pic.twitter.com/8MRimP0rMgSRIRAM KRISHAN: We signed the first AI acceleration partnership. You guys probably read about in the press, but there are probably three important components that just, I wanted to have the technology brothers have the alpha and the have the first group on that. The most important part, the first part, is that this represents a large investment in U.S. data centers and U.S. AI infrastructure. So these countries will be investing in U.S. AI infrastructure. To make them as equal, if not larger, than the data centers and infrastructure they're building back home. So this means, obviously a large infusion of capital revenue to data centers here in America.
JORDI HAYS: That story was kind of lost. Right? I feel like a lot of the focus was on localized investment and infrastructure.
JOHN COOGAN: To break it down in language that a venture capitalist could understand. This is something like what we're seeing with Stargate where there's a ton of capital forming and that's coming from SoftBank, but it's also coming from Middle Eastern investment funds and sovereign nations investing in American infrastructure. And then there's a whole host of companies that might come in the stack to actually build a new data center. Is that right?
SRIRAM KRISHAN: Exactly. You should be doing our talking points. I would say, look, these countries have AI ambitions, right? They want to buy American AI. They wanna buy our semiconductors. They want to buy our large language model. They want to use us. And so as a part of this deal, they're agreeing to a few things. The most important thing they're gonna agree to is that capital, like you mentioned, right? Like, and, and this is, by the way, net new. This is not part of any existing project. Sure. These net new deals will mean infrastructure being built out physically in the US.
So for example, if they build out X megawatts of gigawatts of capacity, yep. This will mean the same X megawatts of gigawatts of capacity in the US, and this is an important point. Because some of the chatter has been, Hey, how does America maintain its lead? Well, one of the ways we maintain our lead is everything that is being built up by our allies. We get a matching deal back home. So that's probably the number one headline.
The second headline would be that the vast majority of the GPUs that are as a part of this deal, which is gonna be, say, hosted in the UAE, will be hosted, run, operated by American hyperscaler companies, right? And so, you probably know them all, right? These would be large American companies who. They will be running it, hosting it, maintaining, and this is actually important because this represents an expansion opportunity for all of our companies. This means they would get to win market share away from competition from other countries. And obviously there's a whole huge amount of revenue and ecosystem coming in. And so that's the second key point, the vast majority of the GPUs are going to be run by American companies, often by a lot of our friends in these large, uh, you know, hyperscaler companies.
And the third point, and this is, again, something just lost in the chatter, is I'm sure you've heard questions about, Hey, how do we make sure these GPUs, you know, don't get to somebody they don't need to be. So there are rigorous security protocols in place, so every GPU gets shipped over. We are gonna make sure that, a., they can't be physically diverted. These are really large boxes. You can't hide them under your t-shirt or your tux and kind of stick them out the door. You can't really go George Clooney Oceans 11 on them. So one is there's going to be a large amount of physical verification and physical security protocols.
The second is remote access. We are gonna make sure through these deals, through the framework that nobody who's not supposed to have access, especially from countries of concern, can get access.
And so these three kinds of the core pillars, and here's why this event, right? And I think everybody in your audience who's like a technology person, a technology brother, or in the software world, here's why they'll understand it. What has history taught as a software industry? The company with the biggest network effect, the biggest ecosystem wins, right? We've all grown up with Microsoft. How did Microsoft win with the Windows and Office ecosystem? Think about this as the American AI ecosystem.
We are getting these resource-rich countries who are critical allies in very interesting geopolitical places to basically adopt the American AI stack, right? Up and down. This means they are going to be part of our ecosystem for years and decades to come, and it essentially forms a shield from them ever adopting or using technology or working closely with some people that we don't want them to work with. In a way, I kind of think of this like a software ecosystem play, where we now have them tied to the American AI ecosystem.
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Site: Zero HedgeTrump Unveils $175 Billion Plan For "Golden Dome" Missile Defense SystemTyler Durden Tue, 05/20/2025 - 20:05
By Ryan Morgan of Epoch Times
The Department of Defense has selected a design for President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative, Trump announced on May 20.
“I’m pleased to announce that we have officially selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system that will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea, and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
In his first week in office, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense to devise a plan to implement his missile defense proposal.
“It should be fully operational before the end of my term. So we'll have it done in about three years,” the president said.
Trump said the plan the Department of Defense has selected should cost about $175 billion to complete.
The plan will meld new technologies with existing U.S. missile defense systems.
Canada may also partner with the United States to help develop the improved missile defense shield, the president said. “Canada wants to be a part of it, which would be a fairly small expansion, but we'll work with them on pricing.”
In addition to new and improved space-based sensors and interceptors, Trump’s January executive order called for the Department of Defense to consider non-kinetic missile interception technologies such as lasers.
The order also tasked the department with examining methods and technologies for intercepting missile threats before they can launch, or in their initial boost phase.
Standing beside Trump during the Oval Office announcement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth noted the parallels between Trump’s missile defense proposal and the Strategic Defense Initiative put forth by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative included a number of aspirational missile defense concepts, and some critics referred to it as Reagan’s “Star Wars” proposal.
“President Reagan, 40 years ago, cast the vision for it. The technology wasn’t there. Now it is, and you’re following through,” Hegseth told the president.
Congressional Republicans have put forth a $150 billion supplemental military spending package, with about $25 billion set aside to kickstart the Golden Dome project. The $150 billion defense spending plan is one piece of a larger bill that Trump and his allies are hoping to pass through the reconciliation process, avoiding a potential Senate filibuster.
Trump expressed confidence that the reconciliation bill will pass.
“We’ve already spoken to everybody that we have to speak to,” he said.
“Everybody’s in line.”
Adding to his Golden Dome announcement on Tuesday, Trump named Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, as the program manager for the project.
Trump said Guetlein is “one of the most respected people in the world, having to do with defense.”
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Site: Public Discourse
If you have not yet read the recent First Things essay by the popular writer Freya India, The Right Has Forgotten Feeling, you should.
Twenty-four-year-old India grew up in the dominant, secular culture of the UK without so much as a nominal religious bulwark against its amoral norms. Her female peers, she maintains, desperately need to know the right-coded truths that she now accepts: casual sex is a bad deal for women; religion organized around the traditional family is a good one.
But according to India, the right’s attempts to persuade young women of these realities by way of intellectual argument are mostly futile and sometimes destructive. She counsels those who want to help girls eschew today’s amoral norms in favor of something better to embrace and fulfill—not ignore or condemn—the emotional and spiritual needs that are leading young women to uncritically embrace the secular left’s now-hegemonic lies in the first place. “The left,” India observes, “hears [young women’s] pain.” It “often has the wrong answers,” but “at least it listens.”
I confess that I was skeptical when first saw India’s piece, with its provocative thesis of a title, pop up in my Substack feed. After all, it is one of my foundational contentions that women should eschew both mainstream feminism and “trad” antifeminism precisely because, far from forgetting feeling, each has essentially infantilized and patronized women by elevating emotion and identity to the vaunted place that we should reserve for truth and virtue.
But India has convinced me that for all my harping on reality principles, I have largely failed to notice the only reality that matters here: the young women who most need to imbibe traditional values are constitutionally unable to do so. They cannot keep emotion in perspective, because they have no perspective. And they are not rejecting truth or virtue. A person cannot reject what she’s never seen, learned, or heard about.
The hollow remains of an already amoral, leftist culture are all that today’s young women know. There is nothing left to push back on in youthful rebellion, and nothing left to embrace on the other side. India writes:
Few try to understand what young women might be searching for in therapy culture, finding in liberal feminism, hearing from the left—what needs are being met that aren’t met elsewhere. Don’t we see that this world offers them no other sanctuary? Don’t we see that many young women haven’t “abandoned” faith, haven’t turned their backs on the sacred, but were born into a world already desecrated? That they haven’t forgotten their worth but were never taught it?
India suggests a remedy: that we talk about and argue from feelings rather than statistics, research, and texts. Talk about, for example, “the wound of growing up between two homes” and “help young women see that there are things in this life that should be held sacred, and that includes young women themselves.” And maybe she’s right about how we should relate to today’s twenty-something women. Maybe we should create the equivalent of a Federalist Society for therapists to attract more people with conservative values to psychological counseling. Maybe we should flood the social media zone with as many charismatic traditionalist influencers as we can and see who catches on. For India’s peers, it might be too late for anything else; and these tactics might do some good, as far as they go.
We have much more opportunity to steep the next generation of girls, the ones in preschool and grade school today, in truth, goodness, beauty, and wisdom before the culture lays sole claim on their attention. We don’t want them to grow up amid this same desecration, such that we’re once again trying to find balm for their broken souls a decade from now. We don’t want to be always on the defensive, helping individuals heal from a lifetime of dashed hopes and nonexistent morals by out-emoting the left (which we’ll never be able to do). We want to prevent the souls of the next generation from being broken in the first place, even as they encounter this broken world.
We may not know exactly how, but we can start by trying to fill the souls of today’s girls with worthy art, specifically, the kinds of great stories that address female formation in ways that subtly, and therefore deeply, steep girls in truth and virtue.
The Power of Great Stories
I am thirty-seven years old. I grew up in the dominant, secular culture of the US in the Sex and the City era. Things then were about as morally desecrated—though not as inhumanly pornified—as they are now.
When I have considered why I was invulnerable to the mainstream feminist ideas about work, sex, family, and more while so many of my equally (and more) intelligent peers were felled by them, I have thought mostly of my dad. A Catholic university professor and nonpartisan public intellectual, he has made a career of dispelling popular myths and replacing them with hard truths. At his hands, as a tween and a teen, I received lasting inoculation against ideological illogic. So, when I breathed in the culture’s regnant feminism with everyone else—first the popular kind, as a girl coming of age among mainstream peers, and then the academic iteration, as an undergraduate and graduate student in the humanities—I was already inured to its flaws because I was disposed to question supposedly incontrovertible dogma.
But India’s essay made me see that credit for my own invulnerability to the dominant culture around women’s issues goes not to my dad, but to my mom. Long before I was intellectually capable of his reason, I was emotionally and spiritually formed by her stories. Certainly, the books and ideas my dad provided taught me, on an intellectual level, how marriage and family formation benefit society. But more immediately important to me when I was India’s age was that, thanks to the books and films my mom introduced, I knew how falling in the kind of love that is likely to result in a happy, lasting marriage should (and shouldn’t) feel.
This is the emotional and spiritual formation that today’s right needs to encourage for today’s young women. Arguments will not reach people who are fundamentally unaware that there is anything left to argue about. We need to seize any opportunity to plant the emotional and spiritual seeds that could help girls to see and long for a world before—and maybe after—these ruins.
Here, in order of first publication or release, are five formational (sets of) stories that might help, or at least, serve as a starting point.
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1868), Eight Cousins (1875), and Rose in Bloom (1876): For men and women alike (I read Little Women to my sons, too), self-mastery and self-sacrifice constitute responsible maturation, not intolerable oppression. Unfettered freedom is empty. Seek in potential romantic partners the steady friendship and loyal devotion that make a good husband, not the fickle infatuation that often leads to a broken heart. (The 1994 Little Women movie captures the book well, but there’s no substitute for reading it, along with the other two.)
L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908) and Anne of Avonlea (1909): Imagination and passion are best deployed not to fantasize about a dream world that doesn’t exist, but to appreciate and improve the corner of the actual world that you inhabit. Perhaps more relevant than ever today: don’t be so intent on hooking some unattainable Prince Charming who checks all your predetermined requirements (or on living exactly the life that you conjured for yourself without the compromises that inevitably attend coupledom) that you overlook a more suitable match. (The 1987 miniseries is as good as or better than the books).
Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968): True love does not set you free; it does the opposite. The idea of love and sex as separate from commitment and responsibility is now a technical possibility, but it is nevertheless an eternal lie. Real love looks outward, to a life filled with as much chosen obligation to others as a given couple can handle.
American Girl’s original Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, and Molly story sets (1986-1994): The timeless qualities of strength, bravery, and responsibility are for girls, too. The self-expression that we valorize today is actually infantilization, not empowerment. Growing up means growing past absolute beliefs about what should be, and into nuanced understanding about how to make the best of what is.
Disney’s Mulan (1998) and The Princess and the Frog (2009): Your ambition, intelligence, and drive do not militate against marriage; the men worth marrying find women who demonstrate these Tocquevillian virtues attractive. Moreover, prioritizing and/or achieving romantic partnership does not make you any less ambitious, intelligent, or driven. But women and men do not typically express ambition, intelligence, and drive in the same ways or to the same ends, nor should they be expected to.
This admittedly idiosyncratic set of stories is not didactic, moralistic, or antiquated. In fact, these stories are poised to fulfill the distinctly female craving for emotional authenticity and psychological intimacy with other women, fictional or otherwise. They do so in a way that militates toward truth and virtue, rather than against them. This—not argument, and not high art—is one powerful way that young women can establish a foundational sense of how a female life well-lived should feel.
Right now, the dominant version of womanhood ostensibly well-lived is constructed by Tik Tok influencers and flimsily feminist-coded cartoon heroines with all the hollowness of Sleeping Beauty and (remarkably) even less worthy ambition. Most girls will encounter this content, and most of them will be influenced by it, and many of them will influence one another accordingly. This is doubly true in an era when ideas about what being a woman looks and feels like are transmitted ever more entirely by popular culture and peers, due to ever fewer intergenerational family and community ties.
But if we believe in the sanctity of the human spirit—and we must, if we are to have any hope at all—then we have to bet that exposure to all the nonsense will damage a young woman far less if she is also exposed to quality stories that provide her with a deeper, broader, less presentist and more universal perspective. Imbibing quality art despite living in a decadent age is the mental and spiritual equivalent of eating nutritious meals despite also consuming junk. If the alternative is eating only junk, even some nutritious meals make a big difference to your general health.
There are many possible ways to increase adolescent girls’ exposure to such healthy content. Perhaps a reprint of the original American Girl books by a conservative publishing house with deep pockets is in order, or a prefab book club to encourage reading them in schools and libraries. Or, we might benefit from excellent live action films of Mulan and The Princess and the Frog or new film adaptations of those other old books—ones that honor rather than undermine their life lessons. These are all mere starting points, but they are a start, nonetheless. None of these measures, standing alone, will restore our fallen culture on any scale. But repeated exposure to spiritually gripping, emotionally evocative stories of female formation in truth and virtue might at least open the eyes of some girls to the possibility of creating something better over their own horizons. Then those girls may encounter the dominant culture with at least the knowledge that alternatives—including ones providing different ways of accessing similar kinds of girl-coded emotional succor—can and do exist. And if, for even one woman, that seed of knowledge blossoms into a tree of truth and virtue, we’ll already be doing better by tomorrow’s young women than we are today.
Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock
An attendee inspects the new iPhone 16 Pro Max during event at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Sept. 9, 2024. Experts warn of a rise in zero-click attacks—cyberattacks that compromise devices without any user interaction. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A woman checks the website of Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office in Nicosia, Cyprus, on July 21, 2021. Pegasus has been tied to several high-profile international zero-click attacks in recent years. Mario Goldman/AFP via Getty Images
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