Distinction Matter - Subscribed Feeds

  1. Site: Zero Hedge
    4 days 21 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Fink-ing About A New Globalization

    By Michael Every of Rabobank

    Fink-ing about a new globalisation

    In a daily markets update there are many times when all that matters are the economic data. There are also days when the bigger picture matters more. The dichotomy between yesterday’s weak US factory orders (-3.7%) and the surprise increase in JOLTS (7.4m) is worth a cursory glance, as is weaker-than-expected Aussie Q1 GDP at 0.2% q-o-q vs. 0.4% expected (so, “rate cuts!”), but none of them mean much vs. what we just saw at the global strategy level.

    Iran said it could accept a proposed US nuclear deal whereby a regional consortium (it, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and maybe Turkey) would see civilian uranium enrichment under IAEA supervision if it’s done on its soil - otherwise it will reject it, opening the door to a US or Israeli strike. Is this geopolitical out-of-the-box thinking and a Middle East Pax Americana with low (dollar-denominated) energy prices, high economic growth, and low US military presence, or a Pandora’s box? Only time will tell, but this could prove a high order geopolitical pivot point; as

    The Israeli government may be close to collapse over the issue of drafting its ultra-orthodox citizens --news on that could come Wednesday-- as thousands of ex-jihadis are being brought into a new Western-accepted Syrian army: what could go wrong there looking at history?

    Ukraine hit Russia again, underwater-mining the foundations of the Kerch bridge leading to Crimea. So, no ceasefire or peace, and while Russia is making slow gains on the ground in Ukraine, the latter is hitting Russia harder, something that will happen more as more advanced weapons are shipped to it. That backdrop matters to a Europe now rolling up its sleeves on the military front. Separately, Ukraine stated its grain harvest could be down 10% this year: imagine if the war were to bring that figure down further, as Russia has tried to do before

    In Europe, the Dutch government collapsed over migration issues just before the upcoming NATO summit it’s hosting: a new election looms there at some point a few months from now, until which we will get a caretaker administration. 

    In the UK, media underline that NATO will at that meeting force London to spend 3.5% of GDP on defense (and another 1.5% on related infrastructure) just after its Strategic Defence Review said it wouldn’t, leaving London looking silly, and having no idea how to pay for it: indeed, NATO is now seeking a fivefold boost in its ground-based air defence systems. It’s not just the UK that’s true for of course. Vast sums need to flow to armed forces globally.

    In Asia, regular military high-spender South Korea’s left-leaning Lee Jae-Myung won the presidential election after his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment for his declaration of martial law. The full geopolitical ramifications of that are still unclear, although Lee is certainly seen as more pro-China than Yoon.

    Japan said it might join the expensive US Golden Dome anti-missile plan, which underlines which way it was always going to lean geopolitically, and shows how little optionality it has on trade – the more so given a media report underlining the accelerating fall in Japanese automakers’ market share in Thailand, a former lock-in for them for decades due to fortified layers of integrated Japan-only supply chains which has been up-ended by the entry of cheaper Chinese EVs not needing them. This underlines how technology shifts can overturn established trading patterns and economic power structures, especially for those who fall behind the curve. Still no US-Japan trade deal yet though.

    President Trump signed 50% steel & aluminium tariffs but exempted the UK due to their US trade deal; and he is set to waive some legal requirements to boost US critical minerals/rare earth output, where China has a current monopoly it’s using to throttle industrial supply chains. That doesn’t show up on Bloomberg data yet, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a critical issue. 

    Treasury Secretary Bessent said Beijing has a choice on whether it’s a dependable trade partner, reiterating it must shift to a more consumption-led economy – and, presumably, to allow others to get the rare earths they need for industry.

    On consumption, Elon Musk called Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill a “disgusting abomination”, as Bessent underlined in an interview that while he wants to get the fiscal deficit down, the aim is to do so via higher growth rather than a hard fiscal stop.

    Meanwhile, the FBI arrested a Chinese national for allegedly smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen, fusarium graminearum, an “agroterrorism agent,” into the US to research at the University of Michigan, where she works, increasing tensions over Chinese student visas and current ‘we don’t do geopolitics’ US university research models. That’s an emerging global bifurcation with major implications. Yet while there are stories of US academics now considering moving abroad --who else has US money, labs, and academic freedoms?-- the loss of Chinese students to the US is more a geopolitical blow to Beijing (and the Ivy League) than it is an economic one to universities which reject 99% of equally-qualified applicants from other countries. 

    As backdrop to all this, a Wall Street Journal op-ed argued ‘The War of Revision is Coming’, where Taiwan may be the next Ukraine, and warns: “All democratic societies will ultimately have to reckon with this unwelcome global transition from a postwar to a prewar era in world history."

    But potential rate cuts are more important though, right, Mr. Market? Yes, maybe… if they help pay for stepped-up military expenditures implied by the above. Yet how do we structure our political-economies to ensure they do that and not --for a random example that would obviously never be part of any sensible government’s game-plan in the current circumstances-- push up house prices instead? *If* you believe what the Wall Street Journal op-ed says, this is an existential issue for democratic societies: but you wouldn’t think so from how many are acting. However, some key voices are talking new talk.

    BlackRock CEO Larry Fink used a Financial Times op-ed to say “globalization is over” and we need a “new draft” without massive trade and financial imbalances causing inequality, and with local economies that help workers(!) The logical implications of such are staggering: no more massive trade surpluses and deficits, upending the global trading structure; no more free-wheeling global capital flows creating those trade surpluses and deficits and holdings of certain assets; more local consumption first, with what’s left exported, so less trade overall; and a reallocation of purchasing power from top income deciles to those at the bottom via more inclusive local capitalism(s) across all those taking part in the new system.

    Of course, this BlackRock rhetoric could be the next ‘Build Back Better’, i.e., an empty incantation nobody actually expected to achieve anything but which sounded good to the disaffected. However, it would be hard to argue that things are currently static. Rather, they are moving fast and breaking things. 

    Indeed, what Fink just said sounds a lot like some past neo-mercantilists and some interpretations of what the White House is trying to achieve. (Which doesn’t mean they will succeed but is naturally why BlackRock just said it.) 

    You want to talk jolts? Look at that bigger picture, not the US (or other) data.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 06/04/2025 - 11:45
  2. Site: AsiaNews.it
    4 days 21 hours ago
    Political tensions between the two countries have not eased after a border skirmish on 25 May, while Thailand rejects external 'interference' in the border issue. This crisis is intertwined with a court ruling expected on 13 June regarding former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was linked in the past by friendship and business to Cambodia's ruling Hun clan. Meanwhile, Thailand remains caught in never-ending tensions between civilian and military leaders.
  3. Site: Zero Hedge
    4 days 21 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Oil Prices Tumble On Report That Saudis Want To 'Super-Size' OPEC Production Hikes

    Update (1130ET): Having surged overnight and extended gains on a big crude draw (and trade-talk progress with the Europeans), oil prices are tanking now as Bloomberg reports that, according to people familiar with the matter, Saudi Arabia wants OPEC+ to continue with accelerated oil supply hikes in the coming months as it puts greater importance on regaining lost market share.

    The kingdom, which holds an increasingly dominant position within OPEC+, wants the group to add at least 411,000 barrels a day in August and potentially September, the people said, asking not to be named because the information was private.

    Riyadh is keen to unwind its cuts as quickly as possible to take advantage of peak demand during the northern hemisphere summer, one person said.

    ...

    ...the kingdom sees no reason to slow down — as Russia, Algeria and Oman suggested at the last OPEC+ meeting — because seasonal demand will peak in the coming months, the people said.

    Before the group’s most recent meeting, there had been some discussion of an even larger increase, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The reaction was instant, slamming WTI down 2%...

    We would imagine Russia will not be pleased at this outburst (or the US shale producers or the Kazakhs), but Trump might be happy with what his old friends in The Kingdom are saying (and doing).

    *  *  *

    Crude prices are higher this morning on signs of progress in trade talks between the US and EU and the API report of a major drawdown in American crude inventories (despite product builds).

    Geopolitical tensions continue to drive prices more aggressively as the possibility of a Putin-Zelensky meeting came and went and Iranian peace deal talks stumble.

    The big question for traders is - will the official data confirm API's drawdown?

    API

    • Crude -3.28mm

    • Cushing +952k

    • Gasoline +4.73mm

    • Distillates +761k

    DOE

    • Crude -4.30mm

    • Cushing +576k

    • Gasoline +5.22mm

    • Distillates +4.23mm

    The official data confirmed API's report with a large crude draw offset by big draws in products...

    Source: Bloomberg

    Even including the 509k barrel addition to the SPR, total crude stocks fell by the most since December...

    Source: Bloomberg

    The rig count continues to slide (now at its lowest since Dec 2021), and despite Trump's 'Drill, Baby, Drill' push, US crude production remains well of its highs...

    Source: Bloomberg

    WTI extended gains after the official data confirmed API's...

    Source: Bloomberg

    Oil rose at the start of the week after a decision by OPEC+ to increase production in July was in line with expectations, easing concerns over a bigger hike.

    However, prices are still down about 11% this year on fears around a looming supply glut, while traders continue to monitor US trade tariffs as President Donald Trump said his Chinese counterpart is “extremely hard” to make a deal with.

    Saudi Arabia led increases in OPEC oil production last month as the group began its series of accelerated supply additions, according to a Bloomberg survey.

    Nevertheless, the hike fell short of the full amount the kingdom could have added under the agreements.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 06/04/2025 - 11:25
  4. Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
    4 days 21 hours ago

    Alex Schadenberg
    Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

    Florian Willet with Philip Nitschke
    Florian Willet, who was the co-chair of the last-resort suicide organization, reportedly died by suicide last month in Cologne Germany “with the help of a specialised organisation”.

    The suicide death of Willet is tragic, but I recognize that Willet was not terminally ill or physically suffering, but rather it was stated that: “Florian’s spirit was broken.” after serving 70 days in jail after being arrested in the "suicide pod" death of a 64-year-old unnamed American woman.

    On September 24, 2024 I published an article stating that the Swiss police had made arrests related to the Sarco suicide pod. Willet was one of the participants who was arrested and held in jail in the Sarco suicide pod death, while Swiss police investigated.

    The Sarco suicide pod kills a person by releasing nitrogen gas into the pod causing the person to die of asphyxiation. On September 29, 2024 I published an article explaining why the Sarco suicide pod method constitutes torture.

    Miriam Kuepper and Elena Salvoni reported for the Daily Mail, on October 28, 2024 that strangulation marks were found on the 64-year-old American woman who died in the Sarco death pod. 

    The investigation related to the strangulation marks ended when the strangulation marks were attributed to the jerking of the victims muscles and her arms while she was dying of asphyxiation.

    An article by Adam Sage that was published by the Times on June 3, 2025 stated that:

    A euthanasia activist who was arrested for providing a suicide pod in which a woman took her own life in Switzerland last year has died after developing a psychotic disorder.

    Florian Willet, 47, is thought to have taken his own life. He was a “broken” man after spending 70 days in custody in connection with the death of an American woman in a specially-designed capsule in a Swiss forest, according to The Last Resort, the right-to-die association he jointly chaired.Sage further explained that:
    Swiss prosecutors initially suspected Willet of murder after discovering strangulation marks on the neck of the first user of the capsule — a 64-year-old American suffering from skull base osteomyelitis. He was the only person beside the pod when she died.

    Although he was released from detention in December when prosecutors discounted the murder allegation, the investigation has continued into claims that he and other people close to The Last Resort incited the pod user to take their own life. The Last resort assisted suicide group claimed that Willet was a victim. Sage wrote:
    The Last Resort sought to depict Willet as a victim of Swiss justice. A statement from the organisation said: “He knew that he did nothing illegal or wrong, but his belief in the rule of law in Switzerland was in tatters. In the final months of his life, Dr Florian Willet shouldered more than any man should. Florian has now paid the ultimate price — his life — for his compassion.”Willet's death is tragic but he was not a victim and certainly not a hero. His death underlines the goals of the assisted suicide lobby. He died with the assistance of a "specialised organization" even though he was not terminally ill and was experiencing a treatable condition. The goal of Philip Nitschke and the assisted suicide lobby, as stated by Wesley Smith is:
    Death on demand, for any reason, at any time, by anyone — with the possible exception of children — and assisted by whomever for any reason. This is the ultimate destination of the euthanasia movement, whether by design or simple logical consequence.The Sarco suicide pod was invented by Philip Nitschke, who had lost his medical license in Australia. A 64-year-old American woman died in the Sarco pod in connection to The Last Resort Swiss assisted suicide group that was led by Florian Willett, a former spokesperson for the euthanasia group Dignitas and Fiona Stewart, the wife of Philip Nitschke.
  5. Site: LifeNews
    4 days 21 hours ago
    Author: ProLife Campaign

    Recently published research coupled with a reply to a Parliamentary Question raises very real concerns about the risk to women’s health related to state-supported abortion. The Pro Life Campaign has called for a meeting with the Minister for Health to discuss these and other developments regarding Ireland’s abortion law.

    The research article published in the Irish Journal of Sociology describes a retrospective review of cases of in-patient medical abortion up to 12 weeks gestation in a single tertiary hospital in the south-west of Ireland, during the period from 1 Jan 2019 to 31 Dec 2022. 1

    The complications recorded resulting from the abortions included women requiring blood transfusions, extended hospital stays, with some even being admitted to high-dependency units. 12% of the women who underwent abortions during this period presented to an emergency department on an unplanned basis, primarily due to concerns about infection or bleeding.

    While the authors of the article described these complications as “infrequent” and in keeping with the international literature, their findings are worth highlighting in the context of very little public discussion of abortion complications in Ireland since Irish hospitals began providing medical abortions. 2

    REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.

    Separately, but also of significance, a reply from the HSE to a parliamentary question submitted by Deputy Carol Nolan TD (PQ 10966/25) states that during the period 2019-2024, there were 29 incidents where ‘moderate harm’ was reported for women undergoing abortions.

    Commenting on all the latest information that’s come to light, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy said:

    “These findings taken together are very troubling and should prompt a serious official response. The reply to the recent Parliamentary Question showing that for 29 women since 2019, the damage done to them by the abortion they had reached the level of ‘moderate harm’, which is one of the official categories listed for adverse incidents. The description given for ‘moderate harm’ includes an increased length of stay in hospital and the possibility of ‘causing permanent or long-term harm or loss of function’ for the woman. 3 The possibility of such an outcome is very serious for the women involved. It raises the question: why is there little or no public discussion on this and other deeply troubling effects of the new abortion law previously raised? If, as it appears, they are being overlooked because some people in power don’t want to face any of the inconvenient truths about the law they passed, this shows disgraceful disregard of women’s health. Some healthcare providers are less likely to discuss challenges of abortion provision if it could undermine continued availability of abortion – a reality of “self-censorship” that is explicitly stated in another recent article, published by researchers involved in the three-year review. 4

    “Women being admitted to high dependency units in hospitals after abortion is not what the people of Ireland were promised at the time of the abortion referendum, when senior politicians were falsely calling abortion ‘healthcare’ even though it’s evidently a life-ending procedure. What was claimed back then is a discussion for another day but right now the Government has a duty to start listening to voices other than those from the most extreme side of the pro-abortion movement.

    “In the interests of women’s health and the lives of unborn babies, those in positions of power need to start acknowledging what’s happening under the new law, including the massive increase in abortions and the adverse consequences of abortion on women that are not being faced. The Pro Life Campaign is requesting an urgent meeting with the Minister for Health to discuss the matter.”

    ENDS

    1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07916035251342113
    2. https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/personalpq/pq/2025-pq-responses/march-2025/pq-10966-25-carol-nolan.pdf
    3. https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/nqpsd/qps-incident-management/incident-management/hse-incident-management-framework-guidance-2020.pdf
    4. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/07916035251342129

    The post 1 in 8 Women in Ireland Needs Emergency Medical Care After Botched Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  6. Site: AsiaNews.it
    4 days 22 hours ago
    The prime minister ousted by parliament had promoted a New Recovery Policy to make Mongolia independent from the mining industry interests. Despite economic growth and the reduction of public debt, his government has had to face growing criticism, triggered by the luxury flaunted by his son on social media. Now a new phase of political uncertainty has opened for the country nestled between Russia and China.
  7. Site: Henrymakow.com
    4 days 22 hours ago
    sluts-say-yes.png
    The Illuminati (Communists) used Feminism to attack society at its weakest point - women. 

    Feminism is essentially a depopulation program. It convinces women to squander their most fertile years, when they are irresistible to men, in pursuing career instead of marriage and family.  It convinces young women their total value lies in sex appeal. As a result,
    they act like strippers and prostitutes. Needless to say, this kills marriage and family. 
     
    Western women have been psychologically sterilized. They were taught the things they most crave - love, marriage and family are "oppressive!" They are now desperate as men turn their backs on them. YouTube is full of videos of women offering themselves to strangers. The female franchise has been destroyed.


    Below--"Burkha Vs Bikini" - Since this article was written in 2002, it has been reposted on numerous Muslim, Christian and Hindu websites.
    I revisit this reaffirmation of gender, marriage and family in the hopes of restoring some gender sanity.


    "I am not advocating the burka but rather some of the values that it represents, specifically a woman's consecration to her future husband and family, and the modesty and dignity this entails."

    "Young women in the West are naive to think sex appeal is the only thing that matters to men. Men seek intelligence, character, personality, purity, talent, dignity, modesty and refinement in a permanent mate. Act like a whore and you'll be treated like one."




    By Henry Makow PhD

    On my wall, I have a picture of a Muslim woman shrouded in a burka.

    Beside it is a picture of an American beauty contestant, wearing nothing but a bikini.

    One woman is totally hidden from the public; the other is totally exposed. These two extremes say a great deal about the clash of so-called "civilizations."

    The role of woman is at the heart of any culture. Apart from stealing Arab oil, the turmoil in the Middle East is about stripping Muslims of their religion and culture, exchanging the burka for a bikini.

    I am not an expert on the condition of Muslim women and I love feminine beauty too much to advocate the burka here. But I am defending some of the values that the burka represents for me.

    For me, the burka represents a woman's consecration to her husband and family. Only they see her. It affirms the privacy, exclusivity and importance of the domestic sphere.

    The Muslim woman's focus is her home, the "nest" where her children are born and reared. She is the "home" maker, the taproot that sustains the spiritual life of the family, nurturing and training her children, providing refuge and support to her husband.

    In contrast, the bikinied American beauty queen struts practically naked in front of millions on TV.  A feminist, she belongs to herself.  In practice, paradoxically, she is public property. She belongs to no one and everyone. She shops her body to the highest bidder. She is auctioning herself all of the time.

    In America, the cultural measure of a woman's value is her sex appeal. (As this asset depreciates quickly, she is neurotically obsessed with appearance and plagued by weight problems.)

    Miley_Cyrus_Twerking-VMAs.png

    As an adolescent, her role model is Miley Cyrus, a singer whose act approximates a strip tease. From Miley, she learns that she will be loved only if she gives sex. Thus, she learns to "hook up" furtively rather than to demand patient courtship, love and marriage.

    As a result, dozens of males know her before her husband does. She loses her innocence, which is a large part of her charm. She becomes hardened and calculating. Unable to love, she is unfit to receive her husband's seed.


    FEMININITY

    The feminine personality is founded on the emotional relationship between mother and baby. It is based on nurturing and self-sacrifice.

    Masculinity is founded on the relationship between hunter and prey. It is based on aggression and reason.

    Feminism deceives women to believe femininity has resulted in "oppression" and they should adopt male behavior instead.

    The result: a confused and aggressive woman with a large chip on her shoulder, unfit to become a wife or mother.

    This is the goal of the NWO social engineers: undermine sexual identity and destroy the family, create social and personal dysfunction, and reduce the population. In the "brave new world," women are not supposed to be mothers and progenitors of the race. They are meant to be autonomous sex objects.

    Liberating women is often given as an excuse for the war in places like Afghanistan. Liberating them to what? To Miley Cyrus? To low-rise "see-my-thong" pants? To the mutual masturbation that passes for sexuality in America? If they really cared about women, maybe they'd end the war.


    PARENTHOOD

    Parenthood is the pinnacle of human development. It is the stage when we finally graduate from self-indulgence and become God's surrogates: creating and nurturing new life. Our children represent our natural growth. They are an extension of ourselves.

    The New World Order does not want us to reach this level of maturity. Pornography is a substitute for marriage. We are to remain single: stunted, sex-starved and self-obsessed.

      They don't want us to have a permanent "private" life. We are meant to remain lonely and isolated, in a state of perpetual courtship, dependent on consumer products for our identity.

    This is especially destructive for a woman. Her sexual attraction is a function of her fertility. As fertility declines, so does her sex appeal. If a woman devotes her prime years to become "independent," she is not likely to find a permanent mate.

    Her long-term personal fulfilment and happiness lie in making marriage and family her first priority.

    Feminism is another cruel New World Order hoax that has debauched American women and despoiled Western civilization. It has ruined millions of lives and represents a lethal threat to Islam.

    I am not advocating the burka but rather some of the values that it represents, specifically a woman's consecration to her future husband and family, and the modesty and dignity this entails.

    The burka and the bikini represent two extremes. The answer lies somewhere in the middle.

    ------------

    Related- Cabala- How Sex Became Our Religion


    Pearl Davis--"Men build and run societies for women."


    - 90% of women are on birth control

    - 1/3 women has an STD

    - 1/3 women has had an abortion

    - 95% of women are not virgins on their wedding night

    - average body count is at least 5-8 men

    - Women initiate 70% of divorces


    New First Comment from Amana, a burka-wearing woman


    I read your article regarding the contrast between bikini and burka and in fact, I had read a long time back and loved it then. I really appreciate your emphasis on modesty family values and so on.

    Let me tell you as a Muslim woman who transitioned from a fairly modern educated girl to now a hijabi niqaabi( face covering woman).

    I had an English medium education from a well-reputed school in my country. I was an American at heart..I watched Hollywood movies listened to the American rock pop music n spoke fluent English.

    For me, that was something to be proud of. I never valued much the best blessing in the world called Islam my religion. However after my father's death that changed. Something inside me broke and I started wondering about the purpose of my life. I ended up reading my holy book Quran under teachers n realized the treasure it had. This time I started changing from inside n its been 10 years now. I never covered my head in my own Muslim country but became a niqaabi in America. My husband and I joke about how I was an American at heart back in my own country and a thorough proud happy Muslimah in the US. I am married with 4 kids that I homeschool as I want to inculcate in my kids the real values my religion tells. I have seen read and heard enough about the sorry state of the country I once idealized

    All that is gone now. God guided me and showed me what really is beyond all the deception. I am awake to everything around me. I thank Allah every day for taking me out of the darkness of ignorance and showing me light and what it truly means to be a Muslim woman.

    And one last thing, taking a Burka is the most amazingly beautiful and liberating experience of my life. I swear I can challenge any woman on this planet to show me she has the same peace in her heart as I do. I cover myself, I look after the needs of my husband and kids and in return treated like a queen by my husband. And I don't want to give up this role for a million dollars. 

    I hate it when brainwashed zombies say Muslim women are forced to or this is a culture..its not a culture its a command of God Almighty. Too bad Christians don't follow the steps of Mary the mother of Jesus while Muslim women do. Paul abolished the law hence today christian women dont practice it. Swine is fine to eat and hijab is practised by the nuns only. The Christianity today is not in its original form anymore. it's Pauline Christianity where a lot of commands are in sheer contradiction to commands of God. 

    I ask everyone who has learned Islam only from fox CNN etc to do some unbiased study and ask the scholars of Islam. I swear if they are sincere they will embrace it with all their heart inshallah.


    Peace

    A Muslim woman






  8. Site: LifeNews
    4 days 22 hours ago
    Author: Jerry Cox

    Official reports from the Arkansas Department of Health’s Vital Statistics show no abortions occurred in the state during 2024.

    Arkansas law generally prohibits abortion, but it contains exceptions for situations in which the mother’s life is at risk.

    The state publishes annual reports every June documenting the number of abortions performed during the previous year. The Health Department recently released three different reports showing the number of abortions performed last year, the number of women who experienced complications from abortion, and the number of abortions necessary to save the life of the mother. All three reports show 0 abortions during 2024.

    REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.

    In the past, Arkansas has averaged around 3,200 abortions per year. All in all, our team estimates Arkansas’ pro-life laws are protecting thousands of women and unborn children from abortion each year.

    These reports are great news. Arkansas has successfully prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother. Arkansas’ pro-life laws are protecting women, and they are saving unborn children.

    Last year a flawed measure that would have repealed Arkansas’ pro-life laws and written abortion into the state constitution nearly made the ballot. If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would have allowed thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

    The amendment did not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion. It contained sweeping health exceptions that would permit abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases. The amendment also would have paved the way for publicly funded abortion in Arkansas by changing Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution that currently prohibits taxpayer funded abortion in the state.

    Fortunately, the Arkansas Supreme Court disqualified the measure from the ballot after recognizing its sponsors failed to comply with state laws governing the initiative process.

    This year Arkansas’ legislators also rejected measures that would have weakened the state’s pro-life laws.

    The State of Arkansas has invested millions of dollars to help support women with unplanned pregnancies.

    That is something to celebrate.

    LifeNews Note: Jerry Cox is the president of the Arkansas Family Council.

    The post Arkansas Goes From 3,200 Abortions Per Year to 0 as Abortion Ban Saves Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  9. Site: Mises Institute
    4 days 22 hours ago
    Author: Paul F. Cwik
    How much money does an economy need in circulation to function? Austrians believe that a growing economy does not need a growing supply of money, which sets Austrian Economics apart from other schools of economic thought.
  10. Site: Steyn Online
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Mark takes questions from Steyn Club members around the planet...
  11. Site: Steyn Online
    4 days 23 hours ago
    If you missed today's edition of Steyn's Clubland Q&A live around the planet, here's the action replay. This week's show covered a range of topics from the dawn of Pride Season to the death of nations. Click above to listen...
  12. Site: AsiaNews.it
    4 days 23 hours ago
    At today's audience, before 35,000 faithful in St Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV continued the Jubilee catechesis on 'Jesus Christ our hope". The parable in the Gospel of Matthew is "a story that fosters our hope". Speaking to young people, he urged them 'not [to] delay, roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and you will not be disappointed!'
  13. Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Author: Moon of Alabama

    In 1976 the French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd predicted the down fall of the Soviet Union. In After The Empire, first published in French in 2001, he predicted the (relative) decline of the United States. 

    In his latest (and last) book, La Défaite de l’Occident (The Defeat of the West), he laments the West’s inability to distinguish facts from wishes, as seen in its behavior during the war in Ukraine. Nihilism, a lack of values and of acceptance of reality, has infested western thinking:

    Trans ideology is therefore, in my opinion, one of the flags of this nihilism that now defines the West, this drive to destroy not just things and people but reality.

    Todd recently opened a substack where he is posting speeches and talks he has given.

    Two of those, a recent talk given in Russia (in French) and one given in Hungary (in English) make (mostly) similar points.

    The downfall of the Soviet Union led to deep psychological and societal dislocations in Russia. The defeat of the West, or ‘liberal democracy’,  is leading to similar consequences in Western societies.

    While Todd had predicted the fall of the Soviet Union, he had not anticipated the consequences it would have for Russia:

    But the collapse of Russia in the 1990s is something I would never have anticipated. The fundamental reason why I was unable to understand or anticipate the dislocation of Russia itself is that I had not understood that communism was not simply a means of organising economic activity in Russia, but also a kind of religion. It was belief that allowed the system to exist and the dissolution of that belief represented, of course, something at least as damaging as the dislocation of the economic system.

    It took three decades for Russia to overcome the psychological dislocation that was the result of the destruction of its political and economical system.

    Todd is suspecting that a similar process is currently happening in the West:

    All of this has a bearing upon what is happening today. I will talk about two things in my lecture. I will talk about the defeat of the West, by which I mean something quite technical and specific, which is not very complex and has not surprised me. I had anticipated it, and to a certain extent it’s already under way in Ukraine. But we are now in the next phase, which is the dislocation of the West, and I have to say that, just as in the dislocation of communism, of the Soviet system, I am unable to understand exactly what is going on. The fundamental attitude that we need to have now is, I would say, an attitude of humility. Everything that’s happening, especially since the election of Donald Trump, surprises me.

    I have been surprised by the violence with which Trump has turned against his Ukrainian and Europeans allies – or rather his vassals. The will of the Europeans to continue or restart the war – even though Europe is certainly the region of the world which would be most advantaged by a peace agreement – has also been a great surprise to me. We have to start from these surprises if we want to think properly about what’s going on.

    I will discuss those surprises, some of which concern me a lot, in a later piece.

    The defeat of the Soviet Union (and Russia) came after it had lost the economic war with the West. It had also lost a war in Afghanistan. The Soviet system had turned out to be a failure.

    The West, or as Mearsheimer is arguing (vid), ‘liberal hegemony’, has been routed in Afghanistan. The attempts to ‘liberate’ Libya and Syria have failed to the point where the Western ‘war on terror’ launched against al-Qaeda has led to the installation of an al-Qaeda bigwig as the new president of Syria. The economic decline of the West is demonstrated by the rise of China. The West’s moral self-defeat of its ‘values’ can be daily witnessed in Gaza.

    ‘Liberal democracy’, the system of ideas that has for decades been the leading light of the West, has failed.

    Like communism in Russia, ‘liberal democracy’ has not only an economic side but is also a kind of religion. The failure of this belief system is upon us.

    The accumulation of defeat after defeat by the ‘liberal democracy’ system has led to a psychological breakdown, an internal dislocation of the West. This is now leading to irrational acts and to seeking refuge in wishful thinking.

    Or, as Alastair Crooke is summarizing the phenomenon and warns:

    The psychological dislocation caused by ‘defeat’ may explain (but not justify) the West’s ‘curious’ inability to understand world events: The almost pathological dissociation from the real world that it displays in its words and actions: It’s blindness – for example, to the Russian experience of history and to the long history behind Shi’a defiance in Iran. Yet, even as the political situation deteriorates … there is no sign of the West becoming more reality-based in its understanding – and it is very likely that it will continue to live in its alternative construction of reality – until it is forcibly expelled.

    Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.

  14. Site: southern orders
    4 days 23 hours ago



    One of the things that I think would help the Ancient Mass in the best sense of the word is to allow the Liturgy of the Word to be expressed as it is in the Modern Mass.

    As an aging priest, when I celebrate the Sung Ancient Mass, at no point do I sit down throughout the Mass.

    That’s what I like about the Modern Mass. I sit down and listen to the readings prior to the Gospel.

    So, my suggestion is that the Liturgy of the Word be celebrated in the AM as in the MM. No longer does the priest need to read the Scriptures at the altar in Latin. After the Collect, he goes to his chair and a reader reads the Epistle in the vernacular with the conclusion “The Word of the Lord” and the congregation’s response “Thanks be to God.” 

    The Gradual is chanted by the schola and there is no need for the celebrant to have to recite it also, although quietly. 

    The Gospel is proclaimed as it would be in the Solemn Sung Mass, facing northward but away from the altar. 

    That’s it.

    Now for the gravitational pull on the AM on the MM:

    I will focus just on the Introductory Rite which in the MM is a disaster. 

    As the Official Chant from the Roman Gradual is chanted either in the original Latin or the Vernacular, the priest and ministers approach the foot of the altar for the traditional, but modified, Prayers at the Foot of the Altar. The only modification, though is combining the priest and ministers’ Confiteor into one recitation. Then they ascend to the altar for the priestly kiss and then incensing if used. As soon as the Entrance Chant is completed, without introduction, every goes directly to the Kyrie that returns to its 9-fold expression, followed, if prescribed, by the Gloria. 

    Then the Collect is prayed, with the traditional “The Lord be with you” preceding it. 

    The only other change would be to the “Lord, I am not worthy” which becomes three-fold again. 

    There you have it. 

  15. Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Author: John W. And Nisha Whitehead

    Call it what it is: a panopticon presidency.

    President Trump’s plan to fuse government power with private surveillance tech to build a centralized, national citizen database is the final step in transforming America from a constitutional republic into a digital dictatorship armed with algorithms and powered by unaccountable, all-seeing artificial intelligence.

    This isn’t about national security. It’s about control.

    According to news reports, the Trump administration is quietly collaborating with Palantir Technologies—the data-mining behemoth co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel—to construct a centralized, government-wide surveillance system that would consolidate biometric, behavioral, and geolocation data into a single, weaponized database of Americans’ private information.

    This isn’t about protecting freedom. It’s about rendering freedom obsolete.

    What we’re witnessing is the transformation of America into a digital prison—one where the inmates are told we’re free while every move, every word, every thought is monitored, recorded, and used to assign a “threat score” that determines our place in the new hierarchy of obedience.

    The tools enabling this all-seeing surveillance regime are not new, but under Trump’s direction, they are being fused together in unprecedented ways—with Palantir at the center of this digital dragnet.

    Palantir, long criticized for its role in powering ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and predictive policing, is now poised to become the brain of Trump’s surveillance regime.

    Under the guise of “data integration” and “public safety,” this public-private partnership would deploy AI-enhanced systems to comb through everything from facial recognition feeds and license plate readers to social media posts and cellphone metadata—cross-referencing it all to assess a person’s risk to the state.

    This isn’t speculative. It’s already happening.

    Palantir’s Gotham platform, used by law enforcement and military agencies, has long been the backbone of real-time tracking and predictive analysis. Now, with Trump’s backing, it threatens to become the central nervous system of a digitally enforced authoritarianism.

    As Palantir itself admits, its mission is to “augment human decision-making.” In practice, that means replacing probable cause with probability scores, courtrooms with code, and due process with data pipelines.

    In this new regime, your innocence will be irrelevant. The algorithm will decide who you are.

    To understand the full danger of this moment, we must trace the long arc of government surveillance—from secret intelligence programs like COINTELPRO and the USA PATRIOT Act to today’s AI-driven digital dragnet embodied by data fusion centers.

    Building on this foundation of historical abuse, the government has evolved its tactics, replacing human informants with algorithms and wiretaps with metadata, ushering in an age where pre-crime prediction is treated as prosecution.

    Every smartphone ping, GPS coordinate, facial scan, online purchase, and social media like becomes part of your “digital exhaust”—a breadcrumb trail of metadata that the government now uses to build behavioral profiles. The FBI calls it “open-source intelligence.” But make no mistake: this is dragnet surveillance, and it is fundamentally unconstitutional.

    Already, government agencies are mining this data to generate “pattern of life” analyses, flag “radicalized” individuals, and preemptively investigate those who merely share anti-government views.

    This is not law enforcement. This is thought-policing by machine, the logical outcome of a system that criminalizes dissent and deputizes algorithms to do the targeting.

    Nor is this entirely new.

    For decades, the federal government has reportedly maintained a highly classified database known as Main Core, designed to collect and store information on Americans deemed potential threats to national security.

    As Tim Shorrock reported for Salon, “One former intelligence official described Main Core as ‘an emergency internal security database system’ designed for use by the military in the event of a national catastrophe, a suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law.”

    Trump’s embrace of Palantir, and its unparalleled ability to fuse surveillance feeds, social media metadata, public records, and AI-driven predictions, marks a dangerous evolution: a modern-day resurrection of Main Core, digitized, centralized, and fully automated.

    What was once covert contingency planning is now becoming active policy.

    What has emerged is a surveillance model more vast than anything dreamed up by past regimes—a digital panopticon in which every citizen is watched constantly, and every move is logged in a government database—not by humans, but by machines without conscience, without compassion, and without constitutional limits.

    This is not science fiction. This is America—now.

    As this technological tyranny expands, the foundational safeguards of the Constitution—those supposed bulwarks against arbitrary power—are quietly being nullified and its protections rendered meaningless.

    What does the Fourth Amendment mean in a world where your entire life can be searched, sorted, and scored without a warrant? What does the First Amendment mean when expressing dissent gets you flagged as an extremist? What does the presumption of innocence mean when algorithms determine guilt?

    The Constitution was written for humans—not for machine rule. It cannot compete with predictive analytics trained to bypass rights, sidestep accountability, and automate tyranny.

    And that is the endgame: the automation of authoritarianism. An unblinking, AI-powered surveillance regime that renders due process obsolete and dissent fatal.

    Still, it is not too late to resist—but doing so requires awareness, courage, and a willingness to confront the machinery of our own captivity.

    Make no mistake: the government is not your friend in this. Neither are the corporations building this digital prison. They thrive on your data, your fear, and your silence.

    To resist, we must first understand the weaponized AI tools being used against us.

    We must demand transparency, enforce limits on data collection, ban predictive profiling, and dismantle the fusion centers feeding this machine.

    We must treat AI surveillance with the same suspicion we once reserved for secret police. Because that is what AI-powered governance has become—secret police—only smarter, faster, and less accountable.

    We don’t have much time.

    Trump’s alliance with Palantir is a warning sign—not just of where we are, but of where we’re headed. A place where freedom is conditional, rights are revocable, and justice is decided by code.

    The question is no longer whether we’re being watched—that is now a given—but whether we will meekly accept it. Will we dismantle this electronic concentration camp, or will we continue building the infrastructure of our own enslavement?

    As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if we trade liberty for convenience and privacy for security, we will find ourselves locked in a prison we helped build, and the bars won’t be made of steel. They will be made of data.

    Reprinted with permission from the Rutherford Institute.

  16. Site: LifeNews
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Author: Elise DeGeeter

    Students for Life Action (SFLAction) has launched a month-long June campaign pressuring 12 Republican senators to back the House-approved budget bill that defunds Planned Parenthood and major abortion providers.

    The campaign aims to integrate the House’s pro-life language into the Senate version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which narrowly passed the House May 22. The Senate is now expected to revise the bill before it reaches the president’s desk in early July.

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    “Our message to our friends is simple: No matter what your concerns, work to get the House language in the Senate budget. That means cutting off Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion from our healthcare spending in the base text of the bill and for a minimum of 10 years,” SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins said last week. “Yes, there are many issues facing our nation, but don’t throw more than 400,000 babies out with the federal budget bathwater.”

    SFLAction said the campaign targets senators reluctant to “set aside differences” and prioritize defunding the abortion providers, with Hawkins describing the list as including both “friends and sometimes foes.”

    The 12 GOP senators, with varied records on life issues, include Sens. Shelly Capito, W. Va., Susan Collins, Maine, Ron Johnson, Wis., Mike Lee, Utah, Mitch McConnell, Ky., Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, Rand Paul, Ky., Rick Scott, Fla., Dan Sullivan, Alaska, John Thune, S.D., Thom Tillis, N.C., and Todd Young, Ind.

    According to SFLAction, Collins and Murkowski have consistently supported abortion measures, raising concerns about their willingness to back a pro-life budget.

    Meanwhile, some Republicans, including Sen. Roger Marshall, Kan., are pushing for deeper spending cuts, seeking to expand the House’s proposed $1.5 trillion in cuts to as much as $6 trillion, according to Fox News.

    “Pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion,” SFLAction’s Hawkins said. “Our friends in the U.S. Senate need to know that pro-life voters will not forgive and forget the continued waste of our resources on Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion.”

    Planned Parenthood’s 2023-2024 annual report revealed that the abortion vendor committed  402,200 abortions — up nearly 10,000 from the previous year — while collecting more than $792 million in taxpayer funds.

    LifeNews Note: Elise DeGeeter writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

    The post Pro-Life Groups Fight to Keep Planned Parenthood Defunding in One Big Beautiful Bill appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  17. Site: ChurchPOP
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Author: The Editors

    There are few things more “Catholic” in Catholicism than the pope, especially regarding the dogma of papal infallibility. Unfortunately, it’s also widely misunderstood.

    Here are five common myths about papal infallibility:

    Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP

    Myth 1: Papal infallibility means the pope is never wrong.

    Truth: Papal infallibility means the pope can be infallible when he teaches a certain way, not that he is always infallible in everything he teaches all the time. He is only infallible when he, in exercising his Petrine office, intentionally teaches something definitively for the whole Church. It’s rare for popes to invoke this authority.

    Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP

    Myth 2: It means the pope never sins.

    Truth: Papal infallibility only regards doctrine, not the holiness of the pope. As our former pontiff, Pope Francis, humbly admitted, the pope is a sinful person who is in need of God’s grace and goes to confession like everyone else.

    Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP

    Myth 3: It means the pope can make up new doctrines.

    Truth: It’s actually the teaching of the Catholic Church that divine revelation ceased with the death of the last apostle. The only thing the Church’s magisterium, which includes the pope, can do is defend, explain, and clarify the Word of God. The pope is not capable of revealing “new” truths, only correctly interpreting what God has already revealed.

    Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP

    Myth 4: It’s a modern invention.

    Truth: Yes, papal infallibility was made a dogma in the 19th century – but it had always been believed by the Church. You can see it in the Church fathers, even as early as the second century, in the writings of Saint Irenaeus (Against Heresies, III.3).

    Caroline Perkins, ChurchPOP

    Myth 5: It’s not in the Bible.

    Truth: Jesus told Peter that he was the “rock” on which He would build His Church, and that the “gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16) If the Church is built on Peter (the successor of whom is the pope), and the Church can’t fail, then that means the Holy Spirit will not let the papacy fail. That’s the essence of papal infallibility.

    Would you add anything to the list?

  18. Site: Mundabor's blog
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Author: Mundabor
    I have written about the Ukrainian Stunt only two days ago. I have, on that occasion, expressed the opinion that the grandstanding declaration of the Ukrainian government were a hill of manure, and that the Western propaganda reported them uncritically, and amplified them, because that’s what propaganda outlets do. Two days later, and we have […]
  19. Site: Ron Paul Institute for Peace And Prosperity
    4 days 23 hours ago
    Author: Adam Dick

    California has earned a reputation for high taxes. Yet, this week there is a sign of hope for tax resistance in the state legislature. On Monday, the California Assembly voted unanimously to delay by five years a tax increase that had been set to go into effect on July 1.

    AB 564 — the legislation approved by the Assembly — deals with delaying the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration’s impending increase of a state-imposed special tax on marijuana sales from 15 percent to 19 percent. The state tax is in addition to special marijuana taxes that local governments impose.

    A March press release from Assembly member Matt Haney, the bill’s sponsor, presented several arguments supporting the stopping, or at least delaying, of the impending tax increase. The press release noted that “the licensed cannabis market” in California that “has been in a sharp decline as evidenced by plummeting sales and tax revenue” is at a disadvantage because of marijuana taxes already being lower in other states such as Michigan and Colorado. The press release further argued that the expected tax increase would cause marijuana businesses across the state to fail and could even significantly hinder tourism in California.

    I January of 2019, I wrote about the threat high taxes in California posed to the then one year old legal recreational marijuana market in the state. HR 564, which still has to be considered by the state’s Senate and governor before it can become law, is a starting place for addressing this problem.

    Delaying a marijuana tax increase does some good. But, ultimately, to enhance respect for freedom and increase wealth, the special marijuana “sin taxes” imposed by governments in California and across America should be eliminated.

  20. Site: LifeNews
    5 days 3 min ago
    Author: Elise DeGeeter

    The Trump administration rolled back a controversial Biden-era policy Tuesday that aimed to force emergency room doctors to perform abortions under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), drawing praise from pro-life leaders and religious liberty advocates.

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the reversal in a press release, framing it as a move to protect both pregnant women and their unborn children.

    “CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA, which protects all individuals who present to a hospital emergency department seeking examination or treatment, including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy,” the agency stated. “CMS will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions.”

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    The previous Biden-era policy, issued in July 2022 by then-HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, required doctors to perform abortions if they deemed the procedure necessary to stabilize a patient — even if it violated state pro-life laws or the doctor’s convictions.

    In response, the  Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit earlier this year on behalf of the Catholic Medical Association, which argued that the mandate was a violation of conscience rights.

    Following Tuesday’s announcement, ADF announced it was dropping the case, while praising the move as a win for doctors.

    “Doctors—especially in emergency rooms—are tasked with preserving life,” said ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman. “The Trump administration has rolled back a harmful Biden-era mandate that compelled doctors to end unborn lives, in violation of their deeply held beliefs.”

    Bowman emphasized that all 50 states already permit doctors to treat life-threatening conditions like ectopic pregnancies.

    “Emergency room physicians can and do treat life-threatening conditions such as ectopic pregnancies, and every state allows doctors to do whatever is necessary to preserve the life of a mother,” he said. “Now, doctors will be able to perform their life-giving duties without fear of government officials forcing them to end life and violate their beliefs.”

    Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America also celebrated the move.

    “Led by Dr. Oz, the Trump administration has delivered another win for life and truth – stopping Biden’s attack on emergency care for both pregnant moms and their unborn children,” said SBA Pro-Life President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

    Dannenfelser criticized former President Joe Biden’s policy for creating dangerous confusion, falsely suggesting that women in pro-life states could not receive critical emergency care.

    “Democrats have created confusion on this fact to justify their extremely unpopular agenda for all-trimester abortion,” she said. “In situations where every minute counts, their lies lead to delayed care and put women in needless, unacceptable danger.”

    LifeNews Note: Elise DeGeeter writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

    The post Trump Stops Biden Rule Forcing Doctors to Do Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  21. Site: PeakProsperity
    5 days 17 min ago
    Author: nickythec
    Join Chris and Evie for the Signal Hour live at 1pm ET.
  22. Site: LifeNews
    5 days 28 min ago
    Author: Joshua Mercer

    The FBI’s anti-Catholic Richmond memo was distributed to more than 1,000 employees in FBI field offices across the country before it was ever leaked to the public by a whistleblower, according to documents obtained and revealed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, this week.

    What is more, Grassley found that the FBI had “produced at least 13 additional documents and five attachments that used anti-Catholic terminology and relied on information from the radical far-left Southern Poverty Law Center,” according to a June 3 press release from the senator’s office.

    Grassley also found that the FBI Richmond field office drafted an additional anti-Catholic memo that was going to be distributed throughout the entire Bureau “but was never published due to backlash following the Richmond Memo’s public disclosure,” the release states.

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    Grassley, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter June 2 to FBI Director Kash Patel recounting that he had sent multiple letters to former FBI Director Christopher Wray inquiring about the “preparation of the [Richmond] memo, its dissemination, the use of biased sources such as the radical Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and later, the FBI’s misleading representations to Congress, including those of former Director Wray.”

    The FBI did not adequately respond to these inquiries during Wray’s tenure, Grassley wrote.

    Grassley’s letter to Patel also details that the FBI offices in Louisville, Portland, and Milwaukee were all consulted ahead of the Richmond memo’s preparation.

    “The FBI’s recent production shows the FBI analysts in Richmond also consulted with the Louisville, Portland, and Milwaukee field offices as they prepared the Richmond memo,” Grassley wrote. “This included gathering information about Catholic traditionalist groups from the Louisville Field Office. That information appears to have informed a slide presentation at least one of the Richmond analysts produced referencing [Radical Traditionalist Catholics] RTCs’ supposed ‘core concepts,’ including ‘[c]onservative family values/roles’ and finding ‘radical-traditional Catholicism’s’ beliefs were, ‘[c]omparable to Islamist ideology.’”

    In a June 3 statement, CatholicVote Cofounder Joshua Mercer emphasized that Grassley’s findings should cause shockwaves through the nation.

    “In 2023, CatholicVote sued the Biden administration’s FBI to obtain copies of the documents that led to the infamous ‘Richmond memo’ authorizing agents to spy on Catholic churches,” Mercer said. “Thousands of heavily redacted pages and a lawsuit later, we learned that the FBI effort had involved at least four field offices – including Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Richmond.”

    “We now know that the FBI under President Biden launched a nationally coordinated effort to monitor traditional Catholics as ‘potential domestic terrorists’ because his administration perceived them as political enemies,” Mercer continued. “Our own government authorized the use of undercover agents to infiltrate our Catholic churches, parish schools, and even diocesan offices around the country.”

    “This week, thanks to Senator Chuck Grassley, we learned the ‘Richmond memo’ was much worse than that,” Mercer said. “It was just one of 13 FBI documents and 5 attachments targeting ‘radical traditional Catholics’ and citing the Southern Poverty Law Center — an anti-Catholic hate group. Not only that, the memo was sent to over 1,000 FBI employees in at least three additional cities.”

    “This frontal assault on the First Amendment should horrify every American – and it must never be allowed to happen again,” Mercer said. “CatholicVote calls on FBI Director Kash Patel to make public the measures his agency is taking to make sure these directives are immediately rescinded, their authors fired, and any ongoing surveillance of Catholics brought to a halt.”

    As CatholicVote reported in 2023, Wray testified under oath before the Senate Intelligence Committee that he was “aghast” upon learning of the memo, which he described as “a single product by a single field office” that was immediately “withdrawn and removed from FBI systems.”

    In his June 3 letter to Patel, Grassley wrote that “Wray’s testimony was inaccurate not only because it failed to reveal the scope of the memo’s production and dissemination, but also because it failed to reveal the existence of a second, draft product on the same topic intended for external distribution to the whole FBI.”

    This internal draft, intended to be a Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report (SPEAR), repeated claims that traditionalist Catholics posed a threat of violent extremism, according to Grassley. Though never finalized, the report was circulated until FBI leadership ordered its deletion after national backlash resulting from the Richmond memo being leaked to the public.

    “It was clearly a separate product, since it involved a different planned distribution to the whole Bureau, and a different chain of review, through the Counterterrorism Division,” Grassley wrote. “It also contained different content from the internal Domain Perspective, notably deleting references to the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

    During his January confirmation hearing, Patel pledged to hold accountable those responsible for the persecution of Catholics and the destruction of records related to the misconduct.

    Grassley urged Patel to identify the officials responsible for the deletion of the Richmond memo and requested a search for additional documentation and an update on whether any of the deleted files can be recovered.

    LifeNews Note: Elise DeGeeter writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

    The post Joe Biden Had Entire FBI Targeting Pro-Life Catholics appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  23. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 49 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    This website relies on its readers’ support

    How Well Does Russia Understand the West?

    Paul Craig Roberts.

    I raise the question in the title because the Russian media looks askance at what it labels “a rise in the popularity of right-wing forces” in “recent elections in three EU countries.”  The Russian media describes as “right-wing” the awakened ethnic nationalities–the French of France, the Germans of Germany–as “right-wing.”  But President Putin of Russia describes Russia as Russian, even though the Federation is comprised of different nationalities.  Putin stresses that whatever the ethnicities of the Russian Federation, all are Russian.  This is likely the case as the non-Russian ethnicities have been part of Russia for a very long time, whereas in the West the newly-arriving immigrant-invaders are proving to be unassimilable hostiles.

    Putin doesn’t regard Russian ethnicity, an ethnicity extended to the Muslim provinces of the Federation such as Chechnya, as right-wing. So why does Russia regard European ethnic nationality “right-wing?”

    The answer, I think, is that the American, European and British left-wing have conflated an ethnic consciousness that constitutes a national state with Nazism.  The Nazis were a socialist party, not a right-wing one.  But they were National Socialists which the left-wing contrasted with approved international socialism associated with the Soviet Union. Right-wing became anything to the right  of  Trotskyist International Communism. Nationalism was seen as a barrier to the spread of Communism, and thus it was evil.

    Do Russians comprehend that European ethnic states are being over run by non-European ethniticies and that France is ceasing to be France, that Britain is ceasing to be British, that Germany is ceasing to be German?

    The efforts of European peoples to defend their ethnicities is not right-wing. If Marine Le Pen is a Nazi because she speaks for the ethnic French people, so is Putin who describes Russia as Russian.

    Russians should understand that the reappearance of ethnic nationalism in Europe is a demand for sovereignty and is compatible with Putin’s demand for Russian sovereignty.  Instead of falling into the narrative that ethnic nationalism is right-wing, hence Nazi, Russians should realize that ethnic European national states are allies who wish to be free of open borders that are overwhelming Europe with immigrant-invaders.

    French President General Charles de Gaulle was the last independent European leader.  He refused Franch’s entry into the American empire and refused to submit France to NATO.  If European ethnic nationalism can be revived, it means the end of Washington’s European empire.  

  24. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 50 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    PCR Discusses with Coffee and a Mike What Is Really Going On

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udADHGs8xtY 

  25. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 51 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    Israel Is So Powerful That Israel Can Prevent MIT Class President from Attending Graduation Ceremony

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/02/mit-commencement-speech-gaza?CMP=share_btn_url 

    Comment by PCR:

    Israel also determines who is allowed tenure in US universities. Remember the case of Steven Salaita. Salaita, a tenured professor at  Virginia Tech, was hired away by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Salaita resigned from Virginia Tech and moved to Illinois. The Israel Lobby objected, and apparently on Israel’s orders, the University of Illinois chancellor cancelled the appointment of Salaita, who, last I heard, was employed driving a school bus.

    The is also the case of Norman Finkelstein. Israel was able to reach inside a US Catholic University and rescind Finkelstein’s tenure. The Israel Lobby’s power has prevented Finkelstein, an acknowledged scholar, from obtaining another university appointment.

    Israel’s power over what Americans are permitted to say has grown under the Trump regime.  American students who dare to criticize Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people are expelled from their universities, and foreign students who object to Israel’s genocide are branded “terrorists” and deported.

    What more evidence do you need that America is the punk two-bit puppet of Israel?  When Israel gives the order to its punk puppet:  “Cancel Free Speech and Academic Freedom,”  the American puppet does as it is ordered.

     

     

  26. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 52 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    Is the Trump Regime an American Police State that Serves Israel?

    https://starkrealities.substack.com/p/israel-first-rubio-victimizes-student-op-ed 

  27. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 52 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    The Ever-widening War

    https://www.unz.com/pescobar/waiting-for-the-oreshniks-while-the-istanbul-kabuki-proceeds-not-negatively/ 

    Comment by PCR:

    Few comprehend the seriousness of this strike on Russia’s strategic bombing fleet.  Putin invited the attack by doing nothing about a prior attack on Russia’s strategic warning radar.  Putin’s never-ending war which sacrifices Russian soldiers for little gain will eventually erupt into a big war.

    Another dangerous implication lies in the answer to the question:  Did Trump give the green light for what is in effect a declaration of war against Russia?  If not, it means Trump is not in the loop.  So who is making decisions that will result in war between the US and Russia?

    A person would think this would be a matter of serious concern and discussion.  But it is not.  So how can a devastating war be avoided?

    Why does the Kremlin attend peace talks while Russia’s strategic air force is undergoing attack?  How can Russia expect to be taken seriously when it constantly sends signals of weakness?  Little wonder Zelensky and the West give Putin the finger.

     

  28. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 53 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    If the ruling establishment has prevailed over Trump on the spending side, will it next be the war side?

    https://www.rt.com/news/618616-trump-bill-pork-abomination/ 

  29. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 54 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    The Ever-Widening War

    UK preparing for war 

    https://www.rt.com/news/618511-uk-war-readiness-plans/ 

    UK must prepare for direct conflict with Russia 

    https://www.rt.com/news/618465-uk-preparing-for-direct-conflict/ 

  30. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 55 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    The Next Planned and Released Pandemic Is On Its Way

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPrh-1Tu-gE 

  31. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 56 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    Elite Western universities form a corrupt and parasitic empire

    https://www.rt.com/news/618349-elite-universities-corrupt-empire/ 

  32. Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
    5 days 56 min ago
    Author: pcr3

    Czech Republic Joins Rest of Europe in Banning Truth and Free Speech

    https://www.rt.com/news/618355-teacher-sentenced-prague/ 

  33. Site: AsiaNews.it
    5 days 1 hour ago
    The visa restrictions announced by the White House particularly affect Chinese students, who now number 277,000 in the United States. However, their numbers had already been declining in recent years, with the growth of alternatives in Asian universities, particularly in Japan, South Korea and Singapore. While Chinese universities are climbing the rankings in technological disciplines, they suffer from limitations on freedom of thought in the humanities.
  34. Site: southern orders
    5 days 1 hour ago




     #1, The good bishop, bless his little heart, has shown the world and more than likely Pope Leo XIV just how mean, unjust and stupid TC is and this may well persuade Pope Leo to address this unjust situation rather quickly. Time will tell.

    #2, the good bishop, bless his little heart, has shown the world just how silly certain 1970’s ideology about the Modern Mass are, especially its rubrics. Perhaps this will move Pope Leo XIV to address the problems with the Modern Mass and enable the Ancient Mass to have a gravitational pull upon it to clean it up, make it more like the Ancient Mass, even in the vernacular, and allow by rubrics the things that Bishop Martin wants to forbid since these aren’t in the rubrics, like ad orientem, birettas, bells, Latin, kneeling for Holy Communion and altar railings and head coverings for women. 

    Edward Pentin has a good article in the National Catholic Register about what the option are for Pope Leo XIV in addressing the liturgical devisions that Pope Francis’ papacy put on steroids. You can read it here. 

    One suggestion is that Pope Leo simply suppress TC and reinstitute SP.

    If the Holy Father does this, I do think His Holiness needs to address any problems that SP caused for bishops or bishops caused for themselves. 

    1. Perhaps new names should be given, rather than ordinary and extraordinary. What might that be? Why not just make it easy. The Ancient Mass (AM) and the Modern Mass (MM), the Latin Church’s  one Mass in two diverse Rites. 

    2. Bishops need to be involved with priests and communities who celebrate both forms of the Mass. They themselves must learn how to celebrate both forms of the Mass, especially the Modern Mass by celebrating it properly without ad libs and multiple commentaries and greetings during it breaking the train of prayer that the Mass is. 

    3. There are to be no “rogue” celebrations of the Ancient Mass without the Bishop’s approval, meaning the First Mass of newly ordained priests or priests celebrating the Ancient Mass in place of a normally celebrated Modern Mass. The Ancient Mass must be well advertised in parish bulletins and Catholics must not be caught off guard by having a priest impose the Ancient Mass on a congregation because it is the priest’s preference. 

    4. The laity who request the other sacraments in the Ancient Form, to include Requiems, must be allowed this option and the parish must provide appropriate worship aids to assist those who attend the Ancient Liturgies of the Church. 

    5. There must be a crackdown on the liturgical abuses that occur with regular frequency in the Modern Mass, especially ad libs, incessant chatting at various points in the Mass by the celebrant, even bishops. Read the black and do the red and make clear that ad orientem is possible, kneeling for communion is allowed and altar railings are not banned!

  35. Site: AsiaNews.it
    5 days 1 hour ago
    A report prepared by ACT NOW and Jubilee Australia brings the issue of deforestation back to the forefront. The focus is on issues related to the application and implementation of logging licenses, which are exploited for different purposes. It is necessary to ensure better control of the timber industry and develop local employment and income.
  36. Site: OnePeterFive
    5 days 1 hour ago
    Author: Pope St. Gregory the Great
    christ king original sin

    From the Roman office. ℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing. Benediction. May God the Father Omnipotent, be to us merciful and clement. ℟. Amen. Reading 4 From the Sermons of St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa. Discourse on the Lords Ascension. The very thought of this day’s Festival is great enough in itself, but the Prophet David hath much inflamed our joyful enthusiasm by the Psalms.

    Source

  37. Site: Mises Institute
    5 days 1 hour ago
    Author: Antony P. Mueller
    While President Trump rails against US trade deficits, he forgets that they are due to the fact that the US dollar is the world‘s reserve currency. This, in turn, encourages deficit spending and a bloated national debt.
  38. Site: Catholic Conclave
    5 days 1 hour ago
    The Catholic Church is building a new parish and community center on Bassinplatz in Potsdam's city center, costing approximately €7.2 million. The Archdiocese of Berlin announced this on Monday. The building is scheduled for completion by early 2028.The new building is being built on a plot of approximately 650 square meters on Gutenbergstrasse, where a historic Dutch house previously stood.The Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
  39. Site: Novus Motus Liturgicus
    5 days 2 hours ago
    The author of this series wishes to remain anonymous. He is an experienced master of ceremonies and chanter, intimately familiar with both the 1962 rubrics and the pre-1939 rubrics in ordinary parish contexts.In the summer of 2022, almost as if to mark as well as the first anniversary of the lamentable papal motu proprio, Paul Cavendish and Peter Kwasniewski collaborated to produce and publish a Peter Kwasniewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02068005370670549612noreply@blogger.com0
  40. Site: Zero Hedge
    5 days 2 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Nvidia's Revenue Pipeline Tops $1 Trillion, UBS Tells Clients

    Following Nvidia's better-than-expected earnings report last Wednesday, UBS analysts were inundated with investor inquiries, primarily focused on the chipmaker's near-term growth visibility and the durability of its long-term revenue pipeline.

    Below, UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri addressed the most frequently asked questions, unpacked key commentary from the earnings call, and provided expanded visibility into a multi-year AI infrastructure boom.

    Visibility to data center revenue doubling yet again?

    An area where we have received a few investor inbounds, but still seems somewhat overlooked is NVDA's commentary on its pipeline. The company noted on its FQ1:26 earnings call that it has visibility into "tens of gigawatts" of AI infrastructure projects in the "not too distant future". Assuming a "low case" pipeline of 20GW and NVDA's stated range of ~$40-50B per GW, this puts its total revenue opportunity for this pipeline at a minium of ~$1T. While the company did not specify a timeframe for this pipeline, based on our conversations, we believe these projects are likely to be rolled out over a 2-3 year period. Using the average of this timeframe, this suggests the company may effectively have "visibility" to ~$400B/yr in data center revenue, or about 2x our $233B data center revenue estimate for C2026. This is obviously very heady, but we did note in UBS' deep dive on OpenAI's Abilene AI Factory that Crusoe alone has ~20GW in project pipeline and this is just one digital infrastructure project developer. The upshot of this is that we believe investor concerns around growth sustainability should be allayed by some of this commentary from the earnings call.

    The math around the rack numbers given on the call

    One of the main investor questions we got coming out of the call was what NVDA was trying to imply by the GB200 rack numbers it provided on the call - which were so far above conventional wisdom that it spurred some confusion. The company said "on average major hyperscalers are each deploying nearly 1,000 NVL72 racks or 72,000 Blackwell GPUs per week and are on track to further ramp output this quarter". Taken at face value, this implies a GPU run rate of nearly 1MM/Q for each hyperscaler - so far above most consensus estimates that it was hard to foot. Therefore, we believe the company was not trying to communicate a revenue "run-rate" but simply trying to reassure investors that GB200 rack issues are resolved and a large quantity of racks are moving from the ODMs and OEMs now to customers - consistent with our commentary into the call that investor concerns about supply chain inventory were overblown. We would not try to do anything more with these numbers as we think the company meant this to be more illustrative than quantitative.

    NVLink bolsters growth in Networking.

    Networking revenue grew to ~$5B in FQ1:26 (+64% Q/Q), $1B of which NVDA attributed to NVLink revenue which was up substantially Q/Q. We believe this is almost entirely tied to the ramp in shipments of GB200 NVL72 rack scale systems, each of which includes a 72-GPU NVLink domain (vs an up to 8-GPU domain for HGX systems). NVDA is recognizing NVLink revenue separately for these NVL72 systems, which is/was not the case for HGX boards where revenue has been consolidated into the Compute sub-segment of Data Center. As such, we would expect Networking revenue to track more closely to NVL72 rack shipments going forward, albeit maybe with a little bit of a lag.

    Gaming growth driven by… gamers.

    The sharp improvement in Gaming revenue in FQ1 (up nearly 50% Q/Q and well ahead of expectations) has prompted many investors to question whether there was some component of 50-series RTX cards being pulled into China for AI workload purposes. Though this cannot be completely discounted, we suspect any such pull-in was likely very limited due to: 1) availability of Blackwell-based RTX GPUs being still too limited in the gaming channel to enable larger-scale deployment, 2) RTX 50-series GPUs are PCIe based and do not support NVLink for scale-up, and 3) NVDA had to some degree starved the gaming channel for Blackwell out of the gate as it prioritized capacity for data center applications so the FQ1 (April) growth was driven by back-filling the channel following these severe supply shortages.

    Gross margin drivers for 2H.

    General improvement in Blackwell profitability and cost downs remain the primary driver to get margins back to the mid-70%s target by FYE26. Part of this, we believe, is GB300 - for which NVDA may actually recognise a small amount of revenue inside of FQ2 with the real ramp being FQ3. Longer-term, we believe pricing to value remains the key function for NVDA's margins - this comes down to both hardware and the software overlay of which the release of Dynamo at GTC is a prime example (accelerates inference on NVDA hardware by >30x).

    Taken together, Nvidia's earnings, along with expanding visibility into a multi-year AI infrastructure boom via UBS, suggest that this boom is less about product cycles and more about exponential infrastructure scaling

    Last week, UBS analysts Steven Fisher, Amit Mehrotra, and others noted that the construction boom of AI data centers is not expected to show up in the real economy or provide structural tailwinds until the second quarter of 2026.

    "More slowing before reacceleration in 2026," Fisher wrote in a note, adding, "We expect stimulus and structural forces to drive the rebound, while cyclical factors remain weak."

    Another UBS note outlined the bullish outlook on data center-driven power demand, particularly for natural gas-linked utilities and midstream names.

    The AI data center buildout could be viewed as the digital-age cousin of the 1930s "New Deal"—but instead of highways and dams, it's GPUs and megawatts. It's reshaping American infrastructure but with Big Tech at the helm. 

    Tyler Durden Wed, 06/04/2025 - 06:55
  41. Site: Zero Hedge
    5 days 2 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    EU Tech Laws Erect Digital Iron Curtain

    Authored by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes via TheDailyEconomy.org,

    Over the past decades, Europe has created little of real relevance in terms of technological platforms, social networks, operating systems, or search engines.

    In contrast, it has built an extensive regulatory apparatus designed to limit and punish those who have actually innovated.

    Rather than producing its own alternatives to American tech giants, the EU has chosen to suffocate existing ones through regulations such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

    The DSA aims to control the content and internal functioning of digital platforms, requiring the rapid removal of content deemed “inappropriate” in what amounts to a modern form of censorship, as well as the disclosure of how algorithms work and restrictions on targeted advertising. The DMA, in turn, seeks to curtail the power of so-called gatekeepers by forcing companies like Apple, Google, or Meta to open their systems to competitors, avoid self-preferencing, and separate data flows between products.

    These two regulations could potentially have a greater impact on U.S. tech companies than any domestic legislation, as they are rules made in Brussels but applied to American companies in an extraterritorial manner. And they go far beyond fines: they force structural changes to the design of systems and functionalities, something that no sovereign state should be imposing on foreign private enterprise.

    In April 2025, Meta was fined €200 million under the Digital Markets Act for allegedly imposing a “consent or pay” model on European users of Facebook and Instagram, without offering a real alternative. Beyond the fine, it was forced to separate data flows between platforms, thereby compromising the personalized advertising system that sustains its profitability. This was a blatant interference in its business model.

    That same month, Apple was fined €500 million for preventing platforms like Spotify from informing users about alternative payment methods outside the App Store. The company was required to remove these restrictions, opening iOS to external app stores and competing payment systems. Once again, this was an unwelcome intrusion and a direct attack on the exclusivity-based model of the Apple ecosystem.

    Other companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and even X are also under scrutiny, with the latter particularly affected by DSA rules, having been the target of a formal investigation in 2023 for alleged noncompliance in content moderation.

    Big Tech, by its very nature, is the primary, focused target of this new European legal framework. These companies operate on a global scale, rely on business models centered around the collection and monetization of data, integrate multiple layers of the digital ecosystem vertically, and hold dominant positions in key areas such as search engines, social networks, and operating systems.

    With around 450 million consumers and a high level of digital purchasing power, the EU is the second-largest digital market in the world. For Big Tech, leaving Europe is not an option. And that is precisely where Brussels derives its power: by imposing demanding rules, it forces global changes, since maintaining different versions of a product for each region is costly and technically unfeasible. In this way, the European Union becomes a de facto global legislator, exporting its regulatory vision to the rest of the world.

    Despite living under different institutional realities, Europeans and Americans share fundamental values: individual liberty, private initiative, and open innovation. It is in the name of these values that they must now walk a common path of resistance to this regulatory overreach, reaffirming a transatlantic alliance in defense of innovation, digital sovereignty, and freedom itself.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 06/04/2025 - 06:30
  42. Site: Catholic Conclave
    5 days 3 hours ago
    According to an Ifop report for the Observatoire Français du Catholicisme published on Monday 2 June, 41% of French people say they believe in God, while 59% do not. In 1947, 66% of French people believed in God: in 2004, the figure was 55%, and in 2023 44%. The fall continues.The Baptism of ClovisAlthough 76% of those questioned had been baptised into the Catholic faith (compared with 92% in Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
  43. Site: Mises Institute
    5 days 3 hours ago
    Thomas DiLorenzo joins the New American's Alex Newman to discuss " Federal Reserve: The Ultimate Deep State Tool of Control & Destruction"
  44. Site: Zero Hedge
    5 days 3 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Number Of Zombie Properties Increase In 30 US States

    The number of zombie homes - vacant properties abandoned by owners during the foreclosure process - rose in 30 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in the second quarter of this year from the previous quarter, real estate data analytics company ATTOM said in a May 29 statement.

    Zombie homes, which can fall into disrepair and negatively impact the value of other properties in the neighborhood, are a sign of distress in the housing market and the broader economy.

    As Naveen Athrappully reports for The Epoch Times, among states with at least 50 zombie homes, North Carolina saw the largest percentage increase in these properties year-over-year, with their numbers rising by 52.5 percent during this period.

    This was followed by Iowa and Texas, both seeing an over 50 percent jump in zombie properties. South Carolina and Kansas were the next on the list.

    According to ATTOM’s analysis, Peoria County in Illinois ranked at the top in the list of U.S. counties with the highest zombie foreclosure rates.

    Broome County in New York came in second, followed by Cuyahoga County in Ohio, Baltimore City County in Maryland, and Indiana’s Marion County.

    On a positive note, things looked better from a nationwide perspective, with only one out of every 14,207 being zombie properties in Q2, which ATTOM said was a low rate, indicating the strength of the post-pandemic U.S. housing market.

    “Thankfully, we’re not seeing a lot of homes sitting vacant due to pending foreclosures, which is good for families, neighborhoods, and the market,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “However, foreclosure filings have shown a recent uptick—with April seeing a 14 percent increase compared to the same month last year.”

    “So far, buyers seem to be scooping up these repossessed homes relatively quickly, so they aren’t sitting empty,” he added. “Nobody wants to see a return to the days of the 2008 housing crisis when vacant, blighted homes were common in many parts of the country.”

    Meanwhile, the number of property foreclosures had risen by 11 percent in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, breaking away from the trend of three consecutive quarterly declines, ATTOM said in an April 11 statement.

    “While levels remain below historical averages, the quarterly growth suggests that some homeowners may be starting to feel the pressure of ongoing economic challenges,” Barber said.

    “However, strong home equity positions in many markets continue to help buffer against a more significant spike in distress.”

    Consequences of Zombie Properties

    According to a June 18 post by financial services company Rocket Mortgage, zombie homes can negatively affect homeowners even after they abandon the properties.

    For instance, the owner may continue to owe property taxes that could end up becoming a tax lien. Similarly, the zombie property may continue accruing homeowners’ association fees, which, if unpaid, could result in a lawsuit.

    “These consequences can result in a major hit to your credit score, among other financial and legal implications. This could prevent you from moving on with your life and regaining your financial footing,” said the post.

    “Abandoned homes can fall into disrepair and affect the surrounding property values. A vacant property can become a shelter for squatters and attract vandalism or other crimes. This could drive away potential new residents and force current ones to reconsider whether their neighborhood is still safe to live in.”

    Lawmakers are taking action to tackle the issue of zombie properties putting unnecessary burdens on people.

    In mid-May, the Connecticut Senate passed SB 1336, a bill seeking to protect homeowners having “zombie mortgages,” the Connecticut Senate Democrats said in a May 15 statement.

    The bill, co-sponsored by state Sen. Pat Billie Miller, places a statute of limitations on lenders regarding the collection of long-dormant second loans on properties, also known as zombie mortgages.

    It prohibits lenders from starting foreclosure proceedings on secondary mortgages 10 years after the scheduled final loan payment date or 10 years after the lender stopped communicating with the borrower.

    “This bill protects our homeowners from foreclosure threats based on debt that’s been dormant for more than a decade,” Miller said. “The change puts Connecticut in alignment with national trends as states across the country move to shield consumers from the delayed impact of predatory lending practices.”

    “No one making reliable payments on their primary mortgage should face foreclosure because someone made an opportunistic decision to resurrect a secondary loan, years after deciding that collection wasn’t worth the effort when property values plummeted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.”

    The bill passed the House and Senate, and now needs to be signed by the state governor.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 06/04/2025 - 05:45
  45. Site: Mises Institute
    5 days 3 hours ago
    Thomas DiLorenzo joins CapitalCosm to discuss the growing interest in gold at the state level
  46. Site: Crisis Magazine
    5 days 3 hours ago
    Author: Sarah Cain

    The leaked Liturgical Norms document from Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte reads like a parody of 1970s fervor, delivered by a tyrannical hand through a series of ironically rigid dictates. They are poised to cause direct harm to the priests of the diocese and, through their pain, to faithful parishioners. The man who claims that the liturgy is not the place for “our preferences”…

    Source

  47. Site: AsiaNews.it
    5 days 4 hours ago
    A celebration presided over by the apostolic nuncio in India has confirmed the supernatural nature of the appearance of the face of Christ on a host 12 years ago. A sign for the Syro-Malabar Church, which has long been wounded by the liturgical dispute. Abp. Girelli: 'May the Eucharist be a sign of communion with God and of unity among the faithful, not of discord.'
  48. Site: Crisis Magazine
    5 days 4 hours ago
    Author: Jason Jones

    Comedian and podcaster Theo Von recently showed a kind of courage that I hope and pray will be the defining characteristic of the rising generation of public figures: the courage of living in solidarity with the vulnerable. In a short, simple, unpretentious video, he spoke out on what he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “genocide” in Gaza. Watch Theo’s short message now for…

    Source

  49. Site: Mises Institute
    5 days 4 hours ago
    Author: Ryan McMaken
    In contrast to an ancient agrarian economy, the developing economy presented many risks and costs for lenders, and the idea of what was fair and just in money lending had to change.
  50. Site: Catholic Conclave
    5 days 4 hours ago
     Scroll down for today'sSaint of the Day/ FeastReading of the MartyrologyDedication of the MonthDedication of the DayRosaryFive Wounds Rosary in LatinSeven Sorrows Rosary in EnglishLatin Monastic OfficeReading of the Rule of Saint BenedictCelebration of MassReading from the School of Jesus CrucifiedFeast of Saint Francis CaraccioloFrancis (Francesco) Caracciolo was born in Villa Santa Maria Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0

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