For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
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Site: Zero HedgeJudge Shoots Down Effort To Identify FBI, Undercover Police On Jan. 6Tyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 19:45
Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A federal judge in Washington D.C. has denied seven motions from a defendant seeking to identify FBI agents in Jan. 6 crowds and gain access to undercover videos shot by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, at least one of whom incited the crowds at the U.S. Capitol.
Former FBI special agent John Guandolo (center) with two possible active FBI special agents at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Illustration by The Epoch Times, U.S. Capitol Police/Graphic by The Epoch Times)
In a 22-page order, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled against William Pope on a range of motions filed in his Jan. 6 criminal case since May 2023.
Judge Contreras partially granted a government cross-motion to modify the evidence protective order in the case. “I now have the most restricted discovery access conditions of any Jan 6 defendant,” Mr. Pope wrote on X.
“All I’m asking for is a fair fight in court, but he’s denying me rights to defend myself Pro Se that aren’t denied to attorneys,” Mr. Pope told The Epoch Times in a statement. “Even though some January 6 attorneys have filed highly sensitive materials as public exhibits, or leaked them on social media, I have not released a single sensitive or highly sensitive file governed by the protective order.”
Mr. Pope, 38, publisher of the news website Free State Kansas, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, covering the protest and subsequent violence.
Federal prosecutors charged him with civil disorder, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, impeding ingress or egress in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
He faces a July 22 trial.
Sought FBI Agents
Mr. Pope most recently asked the court to compel federal prosecutors to identify all FBI special agents or other employees who were “material witnesses” at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and produce “all photographs, videos, and records related to their presence.”
In that motion, Mr. Pope cited two suspected FBI agents who attended Jan. 6 events at the Capitol with former special agent John Guandolo, who once served as the Bureau’s liaison with U.S. Capitol Police.
Mr. Guandolo “has said in interviews that he was with several active-duty FBI agents on January 6, and that he and those agents have been interviewed by the FBI regarding their observations,” Mr. Pope wrote in his Feb. 12 motion.
One of the men was seen on security video clapping enthusiastically as a large crowd of protesters rushed up the east steps to the Columbus Doors. “Oh, oh, oh man, this is huge,” the man said, heard on Mr. Guandolo’s cell phone video that showed the crowd ascending the steps.
The other suspected agent was seen on Capitol Police security video meeting with an FBI SWAT team shortly after its BearCat tactical vehicle rolled onto the House Plaza at about 2:30 p.m. Twenty minutes later the SWAT team responded to the South Door after the shooting of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.
Federal prosecutors argued they have no obligation to investigate the identity or roles of FBI agents on Jan. 6. The judge concurred.
“The Court agrees with the government and finds that defendant has failed to show that the government has an obligation to produce the requested material,” Judge Contreras wrote.
In another motion denied by Judge Contreras, Mr. Pope sought to compel the U.S. Department of Justice to inventory and provide access to all Capitol Police security video it has had in its possession.
Mr. Pope said footage is missing from some of the 1,800 USCP security cameras, and prosecutors have only produced 6,000 hours of security video in discovery. A U.S. House committee that oversees Capitol Police has released 20,000 hours of an expected 40,000 hours it will post publicly.
William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, carries an American flag just inside the Senate Wing Door at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Capitol Police/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Mr. Pope wrote that the importance of the security video—thousands of hours of which are now available on Rumble—is underscored by an investigation suggesting two Capitol police officers perjured themselves in the first Oath Keepers trial in the fall of 2022.
Video obtained by Blaze Media showed that a supposed confrontation between Officer Harry Dunn and the Oath Keepers could not have occurred as he described under oath. Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who testified that he witnessed the confrontation, was in another part of Capitol grounds at the time.
‘Not Beneficial’
“While Pope asserts that the missing camera footage is ‘highly relevant to January 6 cases, including [his] own,’ … he does not explain what he expects the footage to show or why that footage would assist in his defense,” Judge Contreras wrote. “Much of the camera footage that Pope requests depicts areas where Pope never set foot. That footage is therefore not beneficial to Pope’s case.”
The judge also denied Mr. Pope’s Aug. 21, 2023, motion seeking video shot by more than two dozen members of the MPD Electronic Surveillance Unit on Jan. 6. He first requested access to the Electronic Surveillance Unit videos in March 2023.
Former FBI special agent John Guandolo with suspected FBI agents Colleague 1 and Colleague 2, along with an unidentified man labeled in court filings as Colleague 3, on the Southwest Walk of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Capitol Police/Graphic by The Epoch Times)
The August 2023 motion cites MPD internal affairs investigations of MPD officers Nicholas Tomasula and Lt. Zeb Barcus. Hundreds of pages of documents on Mr. Tomasula were heavily redacted, Mr. Pope said, and “the two reports have led to more questions about misconduct by undercover police.”
Mr. Tomasula was identified as the MPD officer heard on video encouraging protesters on the Northwest Steps to keep going and enter the Capitol. He was heard participating in crowd chants such as, “Whose House? Our House!”
At the foot of the Northwest Steps, as a protester climbed up a makeshift ladder onto the balustrade, Mr. Tomasula shouted: “C’mon, man, let’s go! Leave that [expletive],” his video showed. Mr. Tomasula got help from a protester climbing onto the balustrade, then shouted to protesters moving up the steps, “C’mon, go, go, go!”
Federal prosecutors admitted in 2023 that Mr. Tomasula acted as a provocateur embedded in the crowd on Jan. 6.
Judge Contreras concluded Electronic Surveillance Unit video is only relevant to the extent Mr. Pope can identify an undercover officer whose path he crossed.
“While evidence of undercover officers instigating the riot on January 6 could—hypothetically—be helpful and material to Pope’s case, Pope’s motion ‘never identifies a single individual he interacted with whom he now suspects to be an undercover actor,’” Judge Contreras wrote.
“Pope does not say that he himself spoke with or was induced by any undercover officer,” the judge wrote. “Therefore, he cannot make an entrapment defense with the evidence he seeks from the government, and the material he seeks is irrelevant and immaterial.”
Mr. Pope complained that prosecutors restricted his access to some of the investigative materials, which he described as “highly explosive” and “exculpatory.”
In previous filings, Mr. Pope described several self-identified Antifa supporters who were intercepted by undercover MPD officers on Jan. 6, including one who was carrying a gun.
Metropolitan Police Department undercover detectives Ricardo Leiva and Michael Callahan were part of a three-man Electronic Surveillance Unit team at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. District Court/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
MPD officers made a traffic stop at 10:15 a.m. on Jan. 6 of a vehicle containing three Antifa operatives: Jonathan Kelly, Logan Grimes, and Dempsey Mikula.
“Undercover officers who stopped their vehicle said they had received reports that the individuals were carrying weapons,” Mr. Pope wrote. “No footage of this incident has been produced by the government in discovery. However, Kelly live-streamed part of the police stop to Facebook.”
Metropolitan Police arrested Mr. Grimes—who identifies as a woman and uses the name Leslie—for carrying a pistol without a license and being in possession of a high-capacity magazine and unregistered ammunition, according to Mr. Pope. The charges were dropped on Jan. 7, 2021.
In a previous filing, Mr. Pope identified undercover MPD officer Ryan Roe, who encountered a still-unidentified protester seen cutting down green plastic temporary fencing on Capitol grounds. Mr. Roe said to #FenceCutterBulwark, “Appreciate it, brother,” according to his video.
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Site: RT - News
Much of the equipment won’t be ready for years, however
The Pentagon is preparing to announce a new batch of weapons and ammunition for Kiev worth up to $6 billion, anonymous officials have told Politico.
Among the items featured in the package are Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, artillery shells, HIMARS rockets, air-to-air missiles, drones, and counter-drone weapons, the sources said.
Washington has already rushed $1 billion worth of ammunition to Kiev, drawn down from US military stocks, since President Joe Biden signed a bill providing for $61 billion in aid to the Ukrainian government.
The pending $6 billion batch will not come out of the Pentagon’s stockpile, however, as it is funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), through which the Pentagon issues contracts to the US military industry to build new equipment for Kiev. This means the goods “likely won’t arrive in Ukraine for several years,” Politico noted.
Read more
Ukrainian foreign minister agrees with Kremlin
The $61 billion aid package, of which the latest consignment is part, was approved earlier this week after months of languishing in Congress. The Republicans, who held it up in the House of Representatives, signed off on it without securing any significant changes from the Democrats.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had blamed the suspension of American aid for a series of battlefield setbacks that his army has experienced since last year. Most Western media outlets have predicted a turnaround in Ukrainian fortunes now that the new US funding has been approved.
An analysis published by the Economist on Thursday went so far as to suggest that the bill may have prevented a Russian offensive this summer, which Moscow “might have hoped” to use to “force a Ukrainian surrender on humiliating terms.”
READ MORE: Pentagon details shipment of military supplies to Ukraine
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has shrugged off the new US aid bill as unable to change the battlefield dynamics, which are firmly in Russia’s favor. According to President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the only thing the new US funding will do is get more Ukrainians killed.
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Site: Zero HedgeLuxury DC Apartment Building Replaces Front Desk Staff With Amazon Lockers, Sparking Tenant ProtestTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 19:25
Tenants of a luxury apartment building blocks from the White House were furious this week after they discovered the building's management company fired all front desk workers and replaced them with Amazon delivery lockers.
Journalist Samuel Breslow of the media outlet The Forward wrote on X about tenants of CityCenterDC, a mixed-use development consisting of two condominium buildings, two rental apartment buildings, two office buildings, and a luxury hotel, on 10th St NW, or about a five-minute walk to the White House, "protested the surprise decision to fire front desk staff, replacing them with Amazon delivery lockers."
Tenants of the @CityCenterDC luxury apartments are protesting a surprise decision to fire front desk staff, replacing them with Amazon/@minnowpod delivery lockers.@Hines management prepared a presentation to try to appease; they didn't get beyond the first slide.#CityCenterDC pic.twitter.com/Zx4wK0Ov8I
— Samuel Breslow (@sdkb42) April 23, 2024The building described the move to replace human workers with Amazon lockers as a "technology advancement aimed at enriching your stay."
Apartments.com shows that CityCenterDC's rent ranges from $2,500 a month for a studio to $15,300 for a luxury apartment.
On Instagram, user washingtonianprobs posted Breslow's story. Folks there weren't thrilled:
"All the crime and violence goin around the last thing they should do is leave the front desk unattended," one Instagram user said.
Someone asked: "How did the property management company think that replacing the front desk ppl with lockers is the same?"
"Goes to show how disconnected they are with people outside of their status. They don't realize that replacing front desk staff with storgage boxes is taking away jobs from people and altering folks livelihood," another user said.
For ZH readers, this example of AI automation job loss is not surprising. Recall this Goldman note: "AI Will Lead To 300 Million Layoffs In The US And Europe."
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Site: Zero HedgeSaudi Arabia's Massive Futuristic Vanity Projects Falter Amid Gaza WarTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 19:05
Authored by Giorgio Cafiero via The Cradle
Launched in 2017, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM, a sprawling high-tech development on the northwestern Red Sea coast, was introduced as the crown jewel of Vision 2030. This futuristic desert megaproject, extending over some Jordanian and Egyptian territory, was cast as a bold leap toward economic diversification under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). But, recent geopolitical setbacks have raised significant concerns about the viability of some of NEOM's components.
Initially celebrated for its revolutionary design, The Line, a linear city within NEOM, was to redefine urban living. Yet, recent reports suggest a dramatic scaling back. Earlier this month, Bloomberg revealed a massive reduction in the metropolis’ scope – from 105 to 1.5 miles – and a decrease in likely inhabitants from 1.5 million to fewer than 300,000 by 2030. Furthermore, funding uncertainties and workforce reductions indicate a project in jeopardy.
While this adjustment does not signify a wholesale failure of Vision 2030, it does prompt a re-evaluation of the project’s most ambitious elements.
Experts suggest that The Line’s original scale was overly optimistic, lacking the necessary urban infrastructure for such an innovative endeavor. Financial and geopolitical challenges, including regional instability and insufficient foreign direct investment, further complicate NEOM’s future.
Not so straight-forward
The drastic downsizing of The Line “appears to be a reassessment of timeline feasibility,” Dr Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, tells The Cradle. “There are many experimental, world-first dimensions within the NEOM gigaproject, and some are eventually going to need rightsizing or rethinking.”
Also speaking to The Cradle, Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Baker Institute Fellow at Rice University, believes the project’s contraction to be a good thing:
Reports that The Line may be scaled back significantly is actually a positive move if it injects greater realism into a project whose initial scale appeared fanciful and difficult to translate into reality. Greater pragmatism in designing and delivering the gigaprojects associated with Vision 2030 is a good thing and means there is a greater likelihood of the projects making it off the drawing board.
Given financial and economic factors, The Line was never feasible as initially presented. Ultimately, the amount of wealth the Saudis generate from oil is not enough to finance the most ambitious of MbS’ Vision 2030 projects. And Riyadh has not been able to lure the levels of foreign direct investment needed to make these extremely expensive vanity projects realizable.
“The vast scope of [The Line] always struck me and many other observers as aspirational rather than realistic,” explains Gordon Gray, the former US ambassador to Tunisia.
Some analysts have pushed back against the recent avalanche of negative media coverage...
All the gloating about NEOM getting scaled back misses the point.
— Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (@yarbatman) April 20, 2024
NEOM is a “moonshot” that has already succeeded.
It totally shifted the parameters of acceptable ambition in Saudi Arabia and made people see the kingdom within a paradigm of development.https://t.co/UjAX5CSdfMSpeaking to The Cradle, Ryan Bohl, a Middle East and North African analyst at risk intelligence company RANE, says:
I’d argue that the goals for The Line were unrealistic from the start, given that there’s virtually no urban infrastructure in the area, and it’s very difficult for cities to be started from scratch like that, regardless of the amount of investment poured in. Even if Saudi Arabia had, for example, done something extreme like declare NEOM to be their new capital city, it would still probably struggle to attract residents as we’ve seen from other historical examples like Brazil’s shift of its capital to Brasília.
Nonetheless, The Line and other singular projects had a purpose that was not necessarily about actually implementing the projects themselves. “The point of The Line, in particular, was to create a raison de parler – for people to actually talk about Saudi Arabia, to create a massive public debate globally where people are saying there’s something amazing happening in the desert,” Dr Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King’s College London, tells The Cradle.
It attracts attention. That sort of discourse – positive or negative – creates a buzz. That buzz was supposed to attract investors who wanted to be a part of this, help Saudi Arabia build a city of the future, and try to do something completely outlandish and absolutely unconventional.
Gaza: a wrench in the works
The leadership in Riyadh has understood that the success of Vision 2030 heavily depends on attracting substantial foreign direct investment into the Kingdom. Ultimately, stability in Saudi Arabia and the wider West Asian region is crucial.
Consequently, Riyadh’s recent foreign policy has been less ideological, focusing instead on maintaining amicable terms with all major players in West Asia to advance Saudi business, commercial, and economic interests.
Within this context, Riyadh has worked to reach a peace deal with Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, made an effort to preserve the Beijing-brokered 2023 Saudi–Iranian détente, restored relations with Qatar and Syria, and mended fences with Turkiye.
Therefore, beyond financial and economic constraints that require a reassessment of the most ambitious Vision 2030 projects, such as The Line, Israel’s brutal six-month war on Gaza and the expansion of that conflict into the Red Sea have created headwinds for Saudi Arabia’s geoeconomic plans.
As Arhama Siddiqa, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, explains to The Cradle:
Given the current instability in the Red Sea region, investors may hesitate to support a large-scale project like NEOM due to perceived risks. Even if the direct security threat to NEOM is minimal, the overall instability in the area can deter investors from committing substantial resources to a long-term venture. Additionally, the broader [West Asia] conflict further complicates the situation, adding another layer of uncertainty. Addressing these security concerns could require Saudi Arabia to allocate more resources to regional security measures, potentially diverting funds from the NEOM project.
There is no denying that Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification agenda is vulnerable to naval operations in the Red Sea. NEOM and other Red Sea projects require vessels to be able to freely travel from the Gulf of Aden through the Bab al-Mandab and up to Saudi Arabia’s west coast.
THE LINE, @NEOM ‘s groundbreaking vertical city, reimagines urban living: no roads, cars, or emissions – just 5 minutes to all you need. Powered by the world’s latest tech for sustainability, connectivity, lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/If1mGAM3wV
— Wyatt Roy (@MrWyattR) April 25, 2024The Gaza war’s potential spillover into this vital waterway continues to raise concerns for Saudi officials about the impact on the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. These dynamics help explain Riyadh’s frustration with the White House for not leveraging its influence over Israel to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. It has led to Saudi Arabia’s decision to abstain from joining any US-led security initiatives and military operations in the Red Sea and Yemen.
The Israel–NEOM connection
Israel’s geographic proximity to northwestern Saudi Arabia, its technological advancement, and its vibrant startup culture position the occupation state as a promising partner for Vision 2030 and the NEOM project, particularly in biotechnology, cybersecurity, and manufacturing.
Writing in March 2021, Dr Ali Dogan, previously a Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, went as far as arguing that “relations with Israel are necessary for Saudi Arabia to complete NEOM.”
Dr Mohammad Yaghi, a research fellow at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, similarly stated that NEOM “requires peace and coordination with Israel, especially if the city is to have a chance of becoming a tourist attraction.” However, Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the Islamic world, exemplified by the monarch’s title as the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” makes any formal normalization of relations with Tel Aviv highly sensitive.
Initially, it was thought that while the UAE and Bahrain could establish overt relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia would continue to engage covertly, ensuring essential collaborations like those rumored in the tech sector could progress discreetly.
An example being in June 2020, when controversy arose over Saudi Arabia’s alleged engagement with an Israeli cybersecurity firm, which the Saudi embassy later denied.
Yet, almost seven months into Israel’s campaign to annihilate Gaza, can Saudi Arabia still look to Tel Aviv as a partner in NEOM? It appears that amid ongoing crises in the region, chiefly the Gaza genocide, Riyadh must be careful to avoid being seen as cooperating with the Israelis in covert ways, and full-fledged normalization seems off the table for the foreseeable future.
Nonetheless, after the dust settles in Gaza and the Red Sea security crisis calms down, Saudi Arabia will likely maintain its interest in fostering ties with Israel as part of an “economic normalization” between the two countries. This could be important to Vision 2030’s future, particularly in NEOM. But Israel’s unprecedented military campaign in Gaza will likely alter West Asia in many ways for decades to come. Even after the current war in Gaza is over, anger toward Israel and the US will continue.
Without a doubt, the Israeli–NEOM connection will be increasingly sensitive and controversial, both in the Kingdom and the wider region – a factor that the leadership in Riyadh cannot dismiss.
-
Site: Zero HedgeSaudi Arabia's Massive Futuristic Vanity Projects Falter Amid Gaza WarTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 19:05
Authored by Giorgio Cafiero via The Cradle
Launched in 2017, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM, a sprawling high-tech development on the northwestern Red Sea coast, was introduced as the crown jewel of Vision 2030. This futuristic desert megaproject, extending over some Jordanian and Egyptian territory, was cast as a bold leap toward economic diversification under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). But, recent geopolitical setbacks have raised significant concerns about the viability of some of NEOM's components.
Initially celebrated for its revolutionary design, The Line, a linear city within NEOM, was to redefine urban living. Yet, recent reports suggest a dramatic scaling back. Earlier this month, Bloomberg revealed a massive reduction in the metropolis’ scope – from 105 to 1.5 miles – and a decrease in likely inhabitants from 1.5 million to fewer than 300,000 by 2030. Furthermore, funding uncertainties and workforce reductions indicate a project in jeopardy.
While this adjustment does not signify a wholesale failure of Vision 2030, it does prompt a re-evaluation of the project’s most ambitious elements.
Experts suggest that The Line’s original scale was overly optimistic, lacking the necessary urban infrastructure for such an innovative endeavor. Financial and geopolitical challenges, including regional instability and insufficient foreign direct investment, further complicate NEOM’s future.
Not so straight-forward
The drastic downsizing of The Line “appears to be a reassessment of timeline feasibility,” Dr Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, tells The Cradle. “There are many experimental, world-first dimensions within the NEOM gigaproject, and some are eventually going to need rightsizing or rethinking.”
Also speaking to The Cradle, Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Baker Institute Fellow at Rice University, believes the project’s contraction to be a good thing:
Reports that The Line may be scaled back significantly is actually a positive move if it injects greater realism into a project whose initial scale appeared fanciful and difficult to translate into reality. Greater pragmatism in designing and delivering the gigaprojects associated with Vision 2030 is a good thing and means there is a greater likelihood of the projects making it off the drawing board.
Given financial and economic factors, The Line was never feasible as initially presented. Ultimately, the amount of wealth the Saudis generate from oil is not enough to finance the most ambitious of MbS’ Vision 2030 projects. And Riyadh has not been able to lure the levels of foreign direct investment needed to make these extremely expensive vanity projects realizable.
“The vast scope of [The Line] always struck me and many other observers as aspirational rather than realistic,” explains Gordon Gray, the former US ambassador to Tunisia.
Some analysts have pushed back against the recent avalanche of negative media coverage...
All the gloating about NEOM getting scaled back misses the point.
— Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (@yarbatman) April 20, 2024
NEOM is a “moonshot” that has already succeeded.
It totally shifted the parameters of acceptable ambition in Saudi Arabia and made people see the kingdom within a paradigm of development.https://t.co/UjAX5CSdfMSpeaking to The Cradle, Ryan Bohl, a Middle East and North African analyst at risk intelligence company RANE, says:
I’d argue that the goals for The Line were unrealistic from the start, given that there’s virtually no urban infrastructure in the area, and it’s very difficult for cities to be started from scratch like that, regardless of the amount of investment poured in. Even if Saudi Arabia had, for example, done something extreme like declare NEOM to be their new capital city, it would still probably struggle to attract residents as we’ve seen from other historical examples like Brazil’s shift of its capital to Brasília.
Nonetheless, The Line and other singular projects had a purpose that was not necessarily about actually implementing the projects themselves. “The point of The Line, in particular, was to create a raison de parler – for people to actually talk about Saudi Arabia, to create a massive public debate globally where people are saying there’s something amazing happening in the desert,” Dr Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King’s College London, tells The Cradle.
It attracts attention. That sort of discourse – positive or negative – creates a buzz. That buzz was supposed to attract investors who wanted to be a part of this, help Saudi Arabia build a city of the future, and try to do something completely outlandish and absolutely unconventional.
Gaza: a wrench in the works
The leadership in Riyadh has understood that the success of Vision 2030 heavily depends on attracting substantial foreign direct investment into the Kingdom. Ultimately, stability in Saudi Arabia and the wider West Asian region is crucial.
Consequently, Riyadh’s recent foreign policy has been less ideological, focusing instead on maintaining amicable terms with all major players in West Asia to advance Saudi business, commercial, and economic interests.
Within this context, Riyadh has worked to reach a peace deal with Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, made an effort to preserve the Beijing-brokered 2023 Saudi–Iranian détente, restored relations with Qatar and Syria, and mended fences with Turkiye.
Therefore, beyond financial and economic constraints that require a reassessment of the most ambitious Vision 2030 projects, such as The Line, Israel’s brutal six-month war on Gaza and the expansion of that conflict into the Red Sea have created headwinds for Saudi Arabia’s geoeconomic plans.
As Arhama Siddiqa, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, explains to The Cradle:
Given the current instability in the Red Sea region, investors may hesitate to support a large-scale project like NEOM due to perceived risks. Even if the direct security threat to NEOM is minimal, the overall instability in the area can deter investors from committing substantial resources to a long-term venture. Additionally, the broader [West Asia] conflict further complicates the situation, adding another layer of uncertainty. Addressing these security concerns could require Saudi Arabia to allocate more resources to regional security measures, potentially diverting funds from the NEOM project.
There is no denying that Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification agenda is vulnerable to naval operations in the Red Sea. NEOM and other Red Sea projects require vessels to be able to freely travel from the Gulf of Aden through the Bab al-Mandab and up to Saudi Arabia’s west coast.
THE LINE, @NEOM ‘s groundbreaking vertical city, reimagines urban living: no roads, cars, or emissions – just 5 minutes to all you need. Powered by the world’s latest tech for sustainability, connectivity, lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/If1mGAM3wV
— Wyatt Roy (@MrWyattR) April 25, 2024The Gaza war’s potential spillover into this vital waterway continues to raise concerns for Saudi officials about the impact on the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. These dynamics help explain Riyadh’s frustration with the White House for not leveraging its influence over Israel to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. It has led to Saudi Arabia’s decision to abstain from joining any US-led security initiatives and military operations in the Red Sea and Yemen.
The Israel–NEOM connection
Israel’s geographic proximity to northwestern Saudi Arabia, its technological advancement, and its vibrant startup culture position the occupation state as a promising partner for Vision 2030 and the NEOM project, particularly in biotechnology, cybersecurity, and manufacturing.
Writing in March 2021, Dr Ali Dogan, previously a Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, went as far as arguing that “relations with Israel are necessary for Saudi Arabia to complete NEOM.”
Dr Mohammad Yaghi, a research fellow at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, similarly stated that NEOM “requires peace and coordination with Israel, especially if the city is to have a chance of becoming a tourist attraction.” However, Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the Islamic world, exemplified by the monarch’s title as the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” makes any formal normalization of relations with Tel Aviv highly sensitive.
Initially, it was thought that while the UAE and Bahrain could establish overt relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia would continue to engage covertly, ensuring essential collaborations like those rumored in the tech sector could progress discreetly.
An example being in June 2020, when controversy arose over Saudi Arabia’s alleged engagement with an Israeli cybersecurity firm, which the Saudi embassy later denied.
Yet, almost seven months into Israel’s campaign to annihilate Gaza, can Saudi Arabia still look to Tel Aviv as a partner in NEOM? It appears that amid ongoing crises in the region, chiefly the Gaza genocide, Riyadh must be careful to avoid being seen as cooperating with the Israelis in covert ways, and full-fledged normalization seems off the table for the foreseeable future.
Nonetheless, after the dust settles in Gaza and the Red Sea security crisis calms down, Saudi Arabia will likely maintain its interest in fostering ties with Israel as part of an “economic normalization” between the two countries. This could be important to Vision 2030’s future, particularly in NEOM. But Israel’s unprecedented military campaign in Gaza will likely alter West Asia in many ways for decades to come. Even after the current war in Gaza is over, anger toward Israel and the US will continue.
Without a doubt, the Israeli–NEOM connection will be increasingly sensitive and controversial, both in the Kingdom and the wider region – a factor that the leadership in Riyadh cannot dismiss.
-
Site: Zero HedgeSaudi Arabia's Massive Futuristic Vanity Projects Falter Amid Gaza WarTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 19:05
Authored by Giorgio Cafiero via The Cradle
Launched in 2017, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM, a sprawling high-tech development on the northwestern Red Sea coast, was introduced as the crown jewel of Vision 2030. This futuristic desert megaproject, extending over some Jordanian and Egyptian territory, was cast as a bold leap toward economic diversification under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). But, recent geopolitical setbacks have raised significant concerns about the viability of some of NEOM's components.
Initially celebrated for its revolutionary design, The Line, a linear city within NEOM, was to redefine urban living. Yet, recent reports suggest a dramatic scaling back. Earlier this month, Bloomberg revealed a massive reduction in the metropolis’ scope – from 105 to 1.5 miles – and a decrease in likely inhabitants from 1.5 million to fewer than 300,000 by 2030. Furthermore, funding uncertainties and workforce reductions indicate a project in jeopardy.
While this adjustment does not signify a wholesale failure of Vision 2030, it does prompt a re-evaluation of the project’s most ambitious elements.
Experts suggest that The Line’s original scale was overly optimistic, lacking the necessary urban infrastructure for such an innovative endeavor. Financial and geopolitical challenges, including regional instability and insufficient foreign direct investment, further complicate NEOM’s future.
Not so straight-forward
The drastic downsizing of The Line “appears to be a reassessment of timeline feasibility,” Dr Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, tells The Cradle. “There are many experimental, world-first dimensions within the NEOM gigaproject, and some are eventually going to need rightsizing or rethinking.”
Also speaking to The Cradle, Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Baker Institute Fellow at Rice University, believes the project’s contraction to be a good thing:
Reports that The Line may be scaled back significantly is actually a positive move if it injects greater realism into a project whose initial scale appeared fanciful and difficult to translate into reality. Greater pragmatism in designing and delivering the gigaprojects associated with Vision 2030 is a good thing and means there is a greater likelihood of the projects making it off the drawing board.
Given financial and economic factors, The Line was never feasible as initially presented. Ultimately, the amount of wealth the Saudis generate from oil is not enough to finance the most ambitious of MbS’ Vision 2030 projects. And Riyadh has not been able to lure the levels of foreign direct investment needed to make these extremely expensive vanity projects realizable.
“The vast scope of [The Line] always struck me and many other observers as aspirational rather than realistic,” explains Gordon Gray, the former US ambassador to Tunisia.
Some analysts have pushed back against the recent avalanche of negative media coverage...
All the gloating about NEOM getting scaled back misses the point.
— Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (@yarbatman) April 20, 2024
NEOM is a “moonshot” that has already succeeded.
It totally shifted the parameters of acceptable ambition in Saudi Arabia and made people see the kingdom within a paradigm of development.https://t.co/UjAX5CSdfMSpeaking to The Cradle, Ryan Bohl, a Middle East and North African analyst at risk intelligence company RANE, says:
I’d argue that the goals for The Line were unrealistic from the start, given that there’s virtually no urban infrastructure in the area, and it’s very difficult for cities to be started from scratch like that, regardless of the amount of investment poured in. Even if Saudi Arabia had, for example, done something extreme like declare NEOM to be their new capital city, it would still probably struggle to attract residents as we’ve seen from other historical examples like Brazil’s shift of its capital to Brasília.
Nonetheless, The Line and other singular projects had a purpose that was not necessarily about actually implementing the projects themselves. “The point of The Line, in particular, was to create a raison de parler – for people to actually talk about Saudi Arabia, to create a massive public debate globally where people are saying there’s something amazing happening in the desert,” Dr Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King’s College London, tells The Cradle.
It attracts attention. That sort of discourse – positive or negative – creates a buzz. That buzz was supposed to attract investors who wanted to be a part of this, help Saudi Arabia build a city of the future, and try to do something completely outlandish and absolutely unconventional.
Gaza: a wrench in the works
The leadership in Riyadh has understood that the success of Vision 2030 heavily depends on attracting substantial foreign direct investment into the Kingdom. Ultimately, stability in Saudi Arabia and the wider West Asian region is crucial.
Consequently, Riyadh’s recent foreign policy has been less ideological, focusing instead on maintaining amicable terms with all major players in West Asia to advance Saudi business, commercial, and economic interests.
Within this context, Riyadh has worked to reach a peace deal with Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, made an effort to preserve the Beijing-brokered 2023 Saudi–Iranian détente, restored relations with Qatar and Syria, and mended fences with Turkiye.
Therefore, beyond financial and economic constraints that require a reassessment of the most ambitious Vision 2030 projects, such as The Line, Israel’s brutal six-month war on Gaza and the expansion of that conflict into the Red Sea have created headwinds for Saudi Arabia’s geoeconomic plans.
As Arhama Siddiqa, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, explains to The Cradle:
Given the current instability in the Red Sea region, investors may hesitate to support a large-scale project like NEOM due to perceived risks. Even if the direct security threat to NEOM is minimal, the overall instability in the area can deter investors from committing substantial resources to a long-term venture. Additionally, the broader [West Asia] conflict further complicates the situation, adding another layer of uncertainty. Addressing these security concerns could require Saudi Arabia to allocate more resources to regional security measures, potentially diverting funds from the NEOM project.
There is no denying that Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification agenda is vulnerable to naval operations in the Red Sea. NEOM and other Red Sea projects require vessels to be able to freely travel from the Gulf of Aden through the Bab al-Mandab and up to Saudi Arabia’s west coast.
THE LINE, @NEOM ‘s groundbreaking vertical city, reimagines urban living: no roads, cars, or emissions – just 5 minutes to all you need. Powered by the world’s latest tech for sustainability, connectivity, lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/If1mGAM3wV
— Wyatt Roy (@MrWyattR) April 25, 2024The Gaza war’s potential spillover into this vital waterway continues to raise concerns for Saudi officials about the impact on the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. These dynamics help explain Riyadh’s frustration with the White House for not leveraging its influence over Israel to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. It has led to Saudi Arabia’s decision to abstain from joining any US-led security initiatives and military operations in the Red Sea and Yemen.
The Israel–NEOM connection
Israel’s geographic proximity to northwestern Saudi Arabia, its technological advancement, and its vibrant startup culture position the occupation state as a promising partner for Vision 2030 and the NEOM project, particularly in biotechnology, cybersecurity, and manufacturing.
Writing in March 2021, Dr Ali Dogan, previously a Research Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, went as far as arguing that “relations with Israel are necessary for Saudi Arabia to complete NEOM.”
Dr Mohammad Yaghi, a research fellow at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, similarly stated that NEOM “requires peace and coordination with Israel, especially if the city is to have a chance of becoming a tourist attraction.” However, Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the Islamic world, exemplified by the monarch’s title as the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” makes any formal normalization of relations with Tel Aviv highly sensitive.
Initially, it was thought that while the UAE and Bahrain could establish overt relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia would continue to engage covertly, ensuring essential collaborations like those rumored in the tech sector could progress discreetly.
An example being in June 2020, when controversy arose over Saudi Arabia’s alleged engagement with an Israeli cybersecurity firm, which the Saudi embassy later denied.
Yet, almost seven months into Israel’s campaign to annihilate Gaza, can Saudi Arabia still look to Tel Aviv as a partner in NEOM? It appears that amid ongoing crises in the region, chiefly the Gaza genocide, Riyadh must be careful to avoid being seen as cooperating with the Israelis in covert ways, and full-fledged normalization seems off the table for the foreseeable future.
Nonetheless, after the dust settles in Gaza and the Red Sea security crisis calms down, Saudi Arabia will likely maintain its interest in fostering ties with Israel as part of an “economic normalization” between the two countries. This could be important to Vision 2030’s future, particularly in NEOM. But Israel’s unprecedented military campaign in Gaza will likely alter West Asia in many ways for decades to come. Even after the current war in Gaza is over, anger toward Israel and the US will continue.
Without a doubt, the Israeli–NEOM connection will be increasingly sensitive and controversial, both in the Kingdom and the wider region – a factor that the leadership in Riyadh cannot dismiss.
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Site: LifeNews
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) recently joined U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in introducing a resolution of disapproval to overturn a Biden administration final rule that directs nine federal agencies to discriminate against faith-based organizations.
The Congressional Review Act resolution (S.J.Res.73) targets a rule finalized in March that empowers the nine agencies to jeopardize the ability of faith-based organizations to receive federal contracts and grants on the same basis as secular organizations. The rule will effectively force religious organizations and faith-based charities to choose between receiving federal funds and maintaining their core beliefs.
“The Biden administration’s unrelenting attacks on faith-based organizations are unfounded, unwarranted, and offensive. These organizations are often pillars of our communities in offering services, guidance, and support, and we must do all that we can to ensure they can continue their transformative work,” said Hyde-Smith, chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus.
“Faith-based charities have long been essential partners to the federal government, providing crucial ‘boots on the ground’ support in many initiatives. The Biden Administration’s rule threatens to sideline these charities and force a radical social agenda on them,” Rubio said.
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The “Partnerships With Faith-Based and Neighborhood Organizations” rule directs federal agencies to levy unrealistic and burdensome regulations on faith-based recipients of federal funds that make it financially and logistically infeasible for these charities carrying out social service programs, such as soup kitchens, educational outreach, or child welfare providers.
The agencies given the green light to show bias against faith-based services include the U.S. Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Additional S.J.Res.73 cosponsors include U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
Hyde-Smith recently cosponsored the Protecting Religious Freedom for Foster Families Act (S.3935) that targets the proposed HHS rule to require foster caregivers to adhere to the radical left’s transgender agenda or exit the foster care system. The Senator is also an original cosponsor of the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (S.3344) to prohibit federal, state and local government agencies that receive federal adoption assistance funding from discriminating against child welfare service providers based on the providers’ unwillingness to act contrary to their religious beliefs.
The post Senator Introduces Resolution to Block New Biden Rule Discriminating Against Christian Groups appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
On March 16, a 911 call was made from the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Aurora, Illinois. According to the recorded 911 call and the computer-aided dispatch transcript, provided courtesy of Illinois-based Pro-Life Action League, a female patient required transport by ambulance to a hospital emergency room. The caller stated the woman was suffering from “heavy bleeding.”
Dangerous hemorrhages are not new to this Planned Parenthood in the Chicago metropolitan area. Operation Rescue has documented multiple hemorrhages at this facility, at least one of which was a critical uterine perforation. These are the types of life-threatening injuries that have killed many women after elective abortions.
This abortion facility commits abortions up to the late gestational age of 22 weeks. Its employees have been caught withholding information during 911 calls. Even as a patient lay unresponsive, one past caller seemed incapable of providing basic information. Another caller was unable to communicate whether a patient was breathing. In yet another case, the caller withheld vital information from both the 911 dispatcher and the parents of a suicidal minor.
Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ//
The heavily redacted computer-aided dispatch transcript from the critical injury on March 16 provides little more than what was already gleaned from the 911 call.
Illinois is an abortion destination, leaving preborn children unprotected and also putting the mothers of those infants in extreme danger. Illinois has essentially legalized back-alley abortions.
In 2019, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) signed the “Reproductive Health Act” into law, which established a fundamental right to abortion. It also repealed a 1975 Illinois law that, after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, would have returned the state to its pre-Roe prohibition of abortion unless necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life.
In 2021, Pritzker went on to sign HB370 – the so-called “Youth Health and Safety Act” that repealed the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995, which required a parent or guardian to be notified at least 48 hours in advance of a minor seeking an abortion. As a result, an abortion clinic is no longer required by law to contact a parent or legal guardian when a child presents for an elective abortion. With this safety requirement removed, rapists and child sex traffickers are much less likely to be held responsible for their abuse.
Illinois also does not require “pregnancy termination specialty centers” (PTSC) to acquire and maintain facility licensure. This means surgical abortion facilities are not held to the same common sense standards to which other ambulatory surgical treatment centers are held.
“It is heartbreaking that women and girls, deceived by the lies of the abortion cartel and the media, travel from neighboring states to Illinois abortion facilities,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
“They obviously believe Planned Parenthood is an actual healthcare facility where they will receive legitimate care. Instead, they leave these centers as grieving post-abortion mothers with a lifetime of emotional wounds. And, far too often, these women leave lying on a gurney with life-threatening internal injuries.”
LifeNews Note: Anne Reed writes for Operation Rescue.
The post Woman Hemorrhages After Planned Parenthood Injures Her in Botched Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeSecret Service Agent Assigned To Kamala Harris Hospitalized After Fighting Other AgentsTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:45
A Secret Service agent assigned to protect Vice President Kamala Harris got into a physical altercation with several other agents Monday morning around 9 a.m. near Joint Base Andrews, located near Washington DC.
The agent in question was immediately "removed from their assignment," the Secret Service told the NY Post.
"A US Secret Service special agent supporting the Vice President’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing," said Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications.
According to CBS News, "the agent spouted gibberish, was speaking incoherently and provoked another officer physically," and "pushed the special agent in charge while they were near the lounge of Joint Base Andrews."
They were immediately handcuffed and detained by other Secret Service agents who intervened, and ambulances were called to the scene. An initial medical evaluation concluded that there was no indication of substance abuse.
The USSS remains in a temporary holding pattern until further information becomes available, the sources said. After the agent receives additional medical attention and further evaluation, it will be determined if they can return to work. An internal review will be conducted and the USSS will assess if the agent's top secret security clearance will be removed for medical or disciplinary reasons, sources explained. -NBC News
Harris was at the Naval Observatory at the time according to the USSS, and the incident had "no impact on her departure from Joint Base Andrews" on the day in question.
According to RealClearPolitics journalist Susan Crabtree, "there are DEI concerns among the USSS community about the hiring of this agent," adding "Other agents and officers within the USSS are asking questions about the agent’s hiring process, whether the USSS did enough to look into the agent’s background and monitor the agent’s mental well-being…"
Other details: Sources say the agent in question was acted erratically upon showing up for a traveling shift at Joint Base Andrews. The agent ended up tackling the Senior Agent in Charge of the VP detail, got on top of him and started punching him. At this point, I'm told, the…
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) April 24, 2024 -
Site: ChurchPOP
Gary Sinise, a father, actor, producer, and the founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation joined "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" to discuss his late son, Mac Sinise’s battle with cancer and love of music.
According to his father Gary, Mac began drumming at the age of nine and often performed with his father’s Lt. Dan Band as a substitute drummer. He graduated from the USC Thornton School of Music where he studied composition and songwriting.
Gary tells Arroyo that after Mac graduated and continued with his music, he was not as happy as he thought. Mac came home to regroup and Gary introduced him to a Catholic counselor.
“It was Bishop Robert Baron who confirmed Mac into the [Catholic] Church in 2017. This was probably 14 months before he was diagnosed with cancer. The Church and his faith…became such a big part of his life."Mac was diagnosed in 2018 with chordoma, a rare form of tissue cancer. After experiencing extreme pain and discomfort, Mac was sent to a spinal surgeon for CT scans. It was then that an orange-sized tumor was discovered on his tailbone.
“Unfortunately, about eight months later, we found out that the cancer came back and it was starting to spread. Then, we found out right around Christmastime in 2019 that there was more tumor on his neck. So he's going to have to go in early 2020 and get another surgery on his neck to remove the tumor.”
Gary notes that Mac had multiple procedures to remove tumors and spent several months in the hospital. However, after removing the tumor from his spine, he experienced damage to his right side.
“By the time he got home, he was now in a wheelchair," Gary explains. "He's doing multiple different drugs that they're trying him on to fight the cancer but there are no drugs for chordoma.”
Mac’s friend, Oliver Schnee, whom he had lost touch with, began sending Mac text messages and voicemails. Schnee stated that Mac did not respond, but after sending him some old photos he came across from their younger days at Disneyland, he finally replied. The two planned to meet and catch up, however, Schnee hadn’t yet heard the news about Mac’s health.
“I drove to his house, [and] my heart broke when I saw Mac. Nothing could have really prepared me for just how heavy it was, especially knowing that he was a drummer and now being paralyzed he couldn't even play his instrument as a form of catharsis. That really hit hard," Schnee tells Arroyo. "But what I did notice was that his attitude and his spirit was still incredibly upbeat. It was very admirable and inspiring to witness.”
Mac stated:
“I was trying to write music and stuff again and I had stopped quite a bit. Just been focusing on trying to get my health back in shape and just to fight this battle of cancer, and in the process, writing music has been a huge therapy for me.”Mac found an old piece of music he left unfinished in college that he hoped to complete with a full orchestra. After sending the music to Schnee and taking note of Mac’s health, the two decided to finish the project.
“It was this wild mixture of his body failing, but mentally, creatively, [and] spiritually he's still going, and there's still a lot of music inside him that wants to come out and that needs to come out," Schnee shares.
"Since he started working on this project, he is back to being Mac. He's smiling again, he's waking up looking forward to the day ahead of him, and he rediscovered his purpose.
"Then he called and he said, 'Hey man, I need to finish this.' And I went, 'What do you mean?’ He's like, ‘This project is keeping me going. It's keeping me alive. I'm rediscovering my purpose so can we do a whole album.’ I said, 'Let's do it.'”
Schnee shares that Mac called him again, hoping to record with his dad one last time.
“That was one of the most powerful and incredible moments through the whole last 12 months was being in Blackbird Studios. Something kicked into high gear, adrenaline or what, but he was able to play the song from top to bottom. When he couldn't play 15 seconds a few weeks ago, he was able to play the whole song top to bottom.”
Gary states, “Mac wanted to keep living in spite of the damage that was being done to him by the disease and every moment that he had that he was feeling good he was taking advantage of it.”
“Those days in the studio you can see he was alive in the studio. When you see those videos and he was enjoying those moments, his faith really sustained him a lot," Gary continues.
"If you look in his Bible and you look in some of the books that he was reading, he was constantly underlining things that really jumped out to him and meant something to him. When I sit and read some of the things, it's like Mac just telling me stuff. It's like messages.”
Mac Sinise died on Jan. 5, 2024, at the age of 33.
Gary mentions that his experiences at the Gary Sinise Foundation, working with families and dealing with the loss of loved ones, helped him gain strength and courage for what was to come.
“I prayed on it, and you know, we have a strong family…our faith has been good to us and strong for us.”
Watch the full segment on EWTN:
Click here if you cannot see the video above.
Mac Sinise’s album, "Resurrection & Revival" can be purchased here.
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Fallacy That Rules The WorldTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:25
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
Smart people know to avoid fallacies.
One of them is known as the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc.
It’s Latin for “after this, therefore because of this.”
The classic example concerns the rooster and the sunrise.
Every morning before the sun comes up, the rooster does his crazy crowing routine, waking up everyone around. Shortly after, the light begins to appear on the horizon.
If you knew nothing else, and you watched this happen over and over, you might conclude that the rooster is causing the sun to rise.
Of course, this is testable. You could kill the rooster and see what happens. The sun still comes up. But wait just a moment. Just the fact that this one rooster is dead doesn’t mean that all roosters are gone. Some rooster somewhere is crowing and causing the sun to rise. So your little experiment doesn’t disprove the theory.
What a conundrum, right?
If someone is convinced that a bird is controlling the sun, there is probably no way to convince him otherwise.
We can laugh at this example. How can someone be so dumb? Actually, this basic fallacy affects all science in all times, all places, and all subjects. The presumption that a regular pattern showing something happens and then something else happens with regularity implies causation is baked into human thinking. Now and always.
It’s a fallacy, meaning that it is not necessarily true. It could be true, however, subject to serious investigation. And therein lies the real problem. We need to figure out what causes what. But discerning causal agents from accidental ones is the biggest issue in all thinking.
The need to know is baked into what it means to be a rational creature. We just cannot help ourselves. That’s why this fallacy persists everywhere.
There is also the famous case of malaria. It was once believed that infections were worse at nightfall, so the theory was that it was caused by cold air at night. Not crazy, right? Except that the real reason was that the mosquitoes came out in the evenings. They were the real culprit. But a bad theory based on fallacy prevented many people from seeing it.
My goodness, we were overwhelmed by this during the COVID-19 experience. The fake science was overwhelming.
Day after day, we saw loads of fake science of this sort being dumped on the world.
Look, California’s cases are down and California bans gatherings, therefore coercive measures are controlling virus spread!
Not so fast.
These factors could be completely unrelated. We might not even have good data on infections at all. Those are subject to testing (accurate or not) and might be completely wrong on a population level. Even if the data were correct, the low infections could be caused by weather, prior immunity, or something else that we have not considered.
Early on, I can recall looking at these amazing real-time charts of infections and deaths and believing that I had a window into reality. Several times, I even posted things along the lines of “See, Arizona has achieved herd immunity,” without understanding that the data were wildly inaccurate and subject to testing, reporting, and a host of other factors. Even the data were suspect: Misclassification was rampant.
And here too, the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc bit everyone extremely hard. But most of us went along with it.
So crazy did it all become that people including bureaucrats at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started inventing nutty theories such as that masking protects against virus spread, which science had long proven to be untrue. It became even crazier: You can sit without a mask but walking and standing causes viruses to spread, so that’s when you have to wear a mask!
Absolutely nuts!
It was the same after vaccination.
Countless famous people took to social media to announce they had COVID-19 but it was a mild case thanks to the vaccine. There is simply no way they could know that. They knew for sure that they had the vaccine and they knew for sure that their case of COVID-19 was mild. But believing that one caused the other was simply a matter of faith. It might have been mild regardless. It might have been milder. As time went on, we encountered many studies showing that more vaccination was associated with more infection. Did one cause the other? It’s hard to say.
And yet vast numbers of vaccine studies in the past several years have been affected by this problem. Particularly vexing is the problem of the “healthy user bias,” which is that people who were vaccinated tend to be more compliant and conscientious in other ways too, which meant that initially, it seemed like they had better health outcomes from COVID-19 vaccination, but the results were actually attributable to this bias.
This was revealed in later studies. But the problem of discerning cause and effect from random noise still persists.
The field of medicine has long dealt with this problem. We are mortified that the practice of bleeding patients persisted for centuries even up to the 19th century. How could they have been so stupid? Well, they had a theory that disease was caused by bad humors in the blood so it needed to be drained. Then they observed that the patient got better.
Well, the patient might have gotten better anyway and even faster without bleeding. But it took many centuries to finally realize that. Many non-allopathic medicine people had been screaming about this issue for a long time, but they were ignored as cranks. That’s because bleeding was a conventional practice endorsed by the people with the most professional prestige.
Once you see this fallacy at work, you cannot unsee it. It’s everywhere in medicine but also in economics, health, horticulture, law and sociology, and all the physical world sciences. The gun debate is a good example. There is high crime and there are lots of guns, so people conclude that the guns cause the crime, whereas the presence of guns might simply be a response to crime and a means of protection. Without them, the crime would be far worse.
The fallacy in question drives vast amounts of politics today. There is a tendency to blame any existing president for all existing economic conditions, but the real cause might date further back in time. Still, nearly every debate follows the same lines: This happened; therefore, his actions or inactions caused it. It could be true or it might be the same as the rooster and the sunrise.
We flatter ourselves now that we are beyond such fallacies. They belong only to the superstition-ridden ages of the past. That’s complete nonsense. We are probably more inundated by this fallacy now than ever. Whatever it is that people trust and believe in at any particular time is what people identify as the key to curing whatever malady is around.
Today, people believe in pharmaceuticals. Whatever the issue is, it can be solved by a new lab-created potion. As a result, we are soaked as a society in these, even though the evidence for many of them is scant. The more you look at, for example, the effect of psychiatric drugs, the less it becomes clear whether and to what extent these help or actually may worsen the real problem.
It’s even true with antibiotics. All parents use amoxicillin on childhood ear infections today. But my grandmother swore by putting warm mineral oil in the ear and avoiding conventional meds completely. It took me only a few minutes to discover a 2003 study that randomized whether kids got herbal oils with or without antibiotics. Results: no difference.
The implications are profound. We are so attached to pharma and allopathic strategies that we might be overlooking vast naturopathic and homeopathic methods that work better.
Seizing on one solution and sticking with it prevents the human mind from being creative about other possible and better solutions. Generations can go by in which fallacies rule the day. We can laugh about roosters and sun, bleeding and disease, dances and rain, but how many times do we commit these fallacies in our world today but our dogmatic attachments prevent us from seeing them?
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Fallacy That Rules The WorldTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:25
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
Smart people know to avoid fallacies.
One of them is known as the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc.
It’s Latin for “after this, therefore because of this.”
The classic example concerns the rooster and the sunrise.
Every morning before the sun comes up, the rooster does his crazy crowing routine, waking up everyone around. Shortly after, the light begins to appear on the horizon.
If you knew nothing else, and you watched this happen over and over, you might conclude that the rooster is causing the sun to rise.
Of course, this is testable. You could kill the rooster and see what happens. The sun still comes up. But wait just a moment. Just the fact that this one rooster is dead doesn’t mean that all roosters are gone. Some rooster somewhere is crowing and causing the sun to rise. So your little experiment doesn’t disprove the theory.
What a conundrum, right?
If someone is convinced that a bird is controlling the sun, there is probably no way to convince him otherwise.
We can laugh at this example. How can someone be so dumb? Actually, this basic fallacy affects all science in all times, all places, and all subjects. The presumption that a regular pattern showing something happens and then something else happens with regularity implies causation is baked into human thinking. Now and always.
It’s a fallacy, meaning that it is not necessarily true. It could be true, however, subject to serious investigation. And therein lies the real problem. We need to figure out what causes what. But discerning causal agents from accidental ones is the biggest issue in all thinking.
The need to know is baked into what it means to be a rational creature. We just cannot help ourselves. That’s why this fallacy persists everywhere.
There is also the famous case of malaria. It was once believed that infections were worse at nightfall, so the theory was that it was caused by cold air at night. Not crazy, right? Except that the real reason was that the mosquitoes came out in the evenings. They were the real culprit. But a bad theory based on fallacy prevented many people from seeing it.
My goodness, we were overwhelmed by this during the COVID-19 experience. The fake science was overwhelming.
Day after day, we saw loads of fake science of this sort being dumped on the world.
Look, California’s cases are down and California bans gatherings, therefore coercive measures are controlling virus spread!
Not so fast.
These factors could be completely unrelated. We might not even have good data on infections at all. Those are subject to testing (accurate or not) and might be completely wrong on a population level. Even if the data were correct, the low infections could be caused by weather, prior immunity, or something else that we have not considered.
Early on, I can recall looking at these amazing real-time charts of infections and deaths and believing that I had a window into reality. Several times, I even posted things along the lines of “See, Arizona has achieved herd immunity,” without understanding that the data were wildly inaccurate and subject to testing, reporting, and a host of other factors. Even the data were suspect: Misclassification was rampant.
And here too, the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc bit everyone extremely hard. But most of us went along with it.
So crazy did it all become that people including bureaucrats at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started inventing nutty theories such as that masking protects against virus spread, which science had long proven to be untrue. It became even crazier: You can sit without a mask but walking and standing causes viruses to spread, so that’s when you have to wear a mask!
Absolutely nuts!
It was the same after vaccination.
Countless famous people took to social media to announce they had COVID-19 but it was a mild case thanks to the vaccine. There is simply no way they could know that. They knew for sure that they had the vaccine and they knew for sure that their case of COVID-19 was mild. But believing that one caused the other was simply a matter of faith. It might have been mild regardless. It might have been milder. As time went on, we encountered many studies showing that more vaccination was associated with more infection. Did one cause the other? It’s hard to say.
And yet vast numbers of vaccine studies in the past several years have been affected by this problem. Particularly vexing is the problem of the “healthy user bias,” which is that people who were vaccinated tend to be more compliant and conscientious in other ways too, which meant that initially, it seemed like they had better health outcomes from COVID-19 vaccination, but the results were actually attributable to this bias.
This was revealed in later studies. But the problem of discerning cause and effect from random noise still persists.
The field of medicine has long dealt with this problem. We are mortified that the practice of bleeding patients persisted for centuries even up to the 19th century. How could they have been so stupid? Well, they had a theory that disease was caused by bad humors in the blood so it needed to be drained. Then they observed that the patient got better.
Well, the patient might have gotten better anyway and even faster without bleeding. But it took many centuries to finally realize that. Many non-allopathic medicine people had been screaming about this issue for a long time, but they were ignored as cranks. That’s because bleeding was a conventional practice endorsed by the people with the most professional prestige.
Once you see this fallacy at work, you cannot unsee it. It’s everywhere in medicine but also in economics, health, horticulture, law and sociology, and all the physical world sciences. The gun debate is a good example. There is high crime and there are lots of guns, so people conclude that the guns cause the crime, whereas the presence of guns might simply be a response to crime and a means of protection. Without them, the crime would be far worse.
The fallacy in question drives vast amounts of politics today. There is a tendency to blame any existing president for all existing economic conditions, but the real cause might date further back in time. Still, nearly every debate follows the same lines: This happened; therefore, his actions or inactions caused it. It could be true or it might be the same as the rooster and the sunrise.
We flatter ourselves now that we are beyond such fallacies. They belong only to the superstition-ridden ages of the past. That’s complete nonsense. We are probably more inundated by this fallacy now than ever. Whatever it is that people trust and believe in at any particular time is what people identify as the key to curing whatever malady is around.
Today, people believe in pharmaceuticals. Whatever the issue is, it can be solved by a new lab-created potion. As a result, we are soaked as a society in these, even though the evidence for many of them is scant. The more you look at, for example, the effect of psychiatric drugs, the less it becomes clear whether and to what extent these help or actually may worsen the real problem.
It’s even true with antibiotics. All parents use amoxicillin on childhood ear infections today. But my grandmother swore by putting warm mineral oil in the ear and avoiding conventional meds completely. It took me only a few minutes to discover a 2003 study that randomized whether kids got herbal oils with or without antibiotics. Results: no difference.
The implications are profound. We are so attached to pharma and allopathic strategies that we might be overlooking vast naturopathic and homeopathic methods that work better.
Seizing on one solution and sticking with it prevents the human mind from being creative about other possible and better solutions. Generations can go by in which fallacies rule the day. We can laugh about roosters and sun, bleeding and disease, dances and rain, but how many times do we commit these fallacies in our world today but our dogmatic attachments prevent us from seeing them?
-
Site: Zero HedgeThe Fallacy That Rules The WorldTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:25
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
Smart people know to avoid fallacies.
One of them is known as the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc.
It’s Latin for “after this, therefore because of this.”
The classic example concerns the rooster and the sunrise.
Every morning before the sun comes up, the rooster does his crazy crowing routine, waking up everyone around. Shortly after, the light begins to appear on the horizon.
If you knew nothing else, and you watched this happen over and over, you might conclude that the rooster is causing the sun to rise.
Of course, this is testable. You could kill the rooster and see what happens. The sun still comes up. But wait just a moment. Just the fact that this one rooster is dead doesn’t mean that all roosters are gone. Some rooster somewhere is crowing and causing the sun to rise. So your little experiment doesn’t disprove the theory.
What a conundrum, right?
If someone is convinced that a bird is controlling the sun, there is probably no way to convince him otherwise.
We can laugh at this example. How can someone be so dumb? Actually, this basic fallacy affects all science in all times, all places, and all subjects. The presumption that a regular pattern showing something happens and then something else happens with regularity implies causation is baked into human thinking. Now and always.
It’s a fallacy, meaning that it is not necessarily true. It could be true, however, subject to serious investigation. And therein lies the real problem. We need to figure out what causes what. But discerning causal agents from accidental ones is the biggest issue in all thinking.
The need to know is baked into what it means to be a rational creature. We just cannot help ourselves. That’s why this fallacy persists everywhere.
There is also the famous case of malaria. It was once believed that infections were worse at nightfall, so the theory was that it was caused by cold air at night. Not crazy, right? Except that the real reason was that the mosquitoes came out in the evenings. They were the real culprit. But a bad theory based on fallacy prevented many people from seeing it.
My goodness, we were overwhelmed by this during the COVID-19 experience. The fake science was overwhelming.
Day after day, we saw loads of fake science of this sort being dumped on the world.
Look, California’s cases are down and California bans gatherings, therefore coercive measures are controlling virus spread!
Not so fast.
These factors could be completely unrelated. We might not even have good data on infections at all. Those are subject to testing (accurate or not) and might be completely wrong on a population level. Even if the data were correct, the low infections could be caused by weather, prior immunity, or something else that we have not considered.
Early on, I can recall looking at these amazing real-time charts of infections and deaths and believing that I had a window into reality. Several times, I even posted things along the lines of “See, Arizona has achieved herd immunity,” without understanding that the data were wildly inaccurate and subject to testing, reporting, and a host of other factors. Even the data were suspect: Misclassification was rampant.
And here too, the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc bit everyone extremely hard. But most of us went along with it.
So crazy did it all become that people including bureaucrats at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started inventing nutty theories such as that masking protects against virus spread, which science had long proven to be untrue. It became even crazier: You can sit without a mask but walking and standing causes viruses to spread, so that’s when you have to wear a mask!
Absolutely nuts!
It was the same after vaccination.
Countless famous people took to social media to announce they had COVID-19 but it was a mild case thanks to the vaccine. There is simply no way they could know that. They knew for sure that they had the vaccine and they knew for sure that their case of COVID-19 was mild. But believing that one caused the other was simply a matter of faith. It might have been mild regardless. It might have been milder. As time went on, we encountered many studies showing that more vaccination was associated with more infection. Did one cause the other? It’s hard to say.
And yet vast numbers of vaccine studies in the past several years have been affected by this problem. Particularly vexing is the problem of the “healthy user bias,” which is that people who were vaccinated tend to be more compliant and conscientious in other ways too, which meant that initially, it seemed like they had better health outcomes from COVID-19 vaccination, but the results were actually attributable to this bias.
This was revealed in later studies. But the problem of discerning cause and effect from random noise still persists.
The field of medicine has long dealt with this problem. We are mortified that the practice of bleeding patients persisted for centuries even up to the 19th century. How could they have been so stupid? Well, they had a theory that disease was caused by bad humors in the blood so it needed to be drained. Then they observed that the patient got better.
Well, the patient might have gotten better anyway and even faster without bleeding. But it took many centuries to finally realize that. Many non-allopathic medicine people had been screaming about this issue for a long time, but they were ignored as cranks. That’s because bleeding was a conventional practice endorsed by the people with the most professional prestige.
Once you see this fallacy at work, you cannot unsee it. It’s everywhere in medicine but also in economics, health, horticulture, law and sociology, and all the physical world sciences. The gun debate is a good example. There is high crime and there are lots of guns, so people conclude that the guns cause the crime, whereas the presence of guns might simply be a response to crime and a means of protection. Without them, the crime would be far worse.
The fallacy in question drives vast amounts of politics today. There is a tendency to blame any existing president for all existing economic conditions, but the real cause might date further back in time. Still, nearly every debate follows the same lines: This happened; therefore, his actions or inactions caused it. It could be true or it might be the same as the rooster and the sunrise.
We flatter ourselves now that we are beyond such fallacies. They belong only to the superstition-ridden ages of the past. That’s complete nonsense. We are probably more inundated by this fallacy now than ever. Whatever it is that people trust and believe in at any particular time is what people identify as the key to curing whatever malady is around.
Today, people believe in pharmaceuticals. Whatever the issue is, it can be solved by a new lab-created potion. As a result, we are soaked as a society in these, even though the evidence for many of them is scant. The more you look at, for example, the effect of psychiatric drugs, the less it becomes clear whether and to what extent these help or actually may worsen the real problem.
It’s even true with antibiotics. All parents use amoxicillin on childhood ear infections today. But my grandmother swore by putting warm mineral oil in the ear and avoiding conventional meds completely. It took me only a few minutes to discover a 2003 study that randomized whether kids got herbal oils with or without antibiotics. Results: no difference.
The implications are profound. We are so attached to pharma and allopathic strategies that we might be overlooking vast naturopathic and homeopathic methods that work better.
Seizing on one solution and sticking with it prevents the human mind from being creative about other possible and better solutions. Generations can go by in which fallacies rule the day. We can laugh about roosters and sun, bleeding and disease, dances and rain, but how many times do we commit these fallacies in our world today but our dogmatic attachments prevent us from seeing them?
-
Site: RT - News
The body urged more restrictions on the heavily-sanctioned country, while calling for “de-escalation” in the Middle East
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday condemning recent Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel and calling for new sanctions against Tehran.
The resolution was backed by an overwhelming majority, with 357 MEPs voting in favor and only 20 against. It reiterated the European Parliament’s “full support for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens” and condemned Tehran’s actions.
The April 13 retaliatory strikes were prompted by a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria two weeks prior, which killed seven senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the strike on the diplomatic mission. While the resolution said the MEPs “deplore the attack” on the consulate and underscore “the importance of the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises,” it did not call for any action in response. Instead, it demanded more sanctions against Iran and its partners.
Read more
Here’s why Iran decided not to attack Israel again
“MEPs welcome the EU’s decision to expand its current sanctions regime against Iran, including by sanctioning the country’s supply and production of unmanned drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle East. They demand that these sanctions be urgently put in place and call for more individuals and entities to be targeted,” said the resolution.
The parliament also explicitly called for designating Iran’s elite IRGC force as a terrorist entity, arguing that this was “long overdue due to malign Iranian activities.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, should also be placed on the list “in its entirety,” MEPs argued, apparently referring to both the militant and political wings of the group.
-
Site: RT - News
The body urged more restrictions on the heavily-sanctioned country, while calling for “de-escalation” in the Middle East
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday condemning recent Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel and calling for new sanctions against Tehran.
The resolution was backed by an overwhelming majority, with 357 MEPs voting in favor and only 20 against. It reiterated the European Parliament’s “full support for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens” and condemned Tehran’s actions.
The April 13 retaliatory strikes were prompted by a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria two weeks prior, which killed seven senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the strike on the diplomatic mission. While the resolution said the MEPs “deplore the attack” on the consulate and underscore “the importance of the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises,” it did not call for any action in response. Instead, it demanded more sanctions against Iran and its partners.
Read more
Here’s why Iran decided not to attack Israel again
“MEPs welcome the EU’s decision to expand its current sanctions regime against Iran, including by sanctioning the country’s supply and production of unmanned drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle East. They demand that these sanctions be urgently put in place and call for more individuals and entities to be targeted,” said the resolution.
The parliament also explicitly called for designating Iran’s elite IRGC force as a terrorist entity, arguing that this was “long overdue due to malign Iranian activities.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, should also be placed on the list “in its entirety,” MEPs argued, apparently referring to both the militant and political wings of the group.
-
Site: RT - News
The body urged more restrictions on the heavily-sanctioned country, while calling for “de-escalation” in the Middle East
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday condemning recent Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel and calling for new sanctions against Tehran.
The resolution was backed by an overwhelming majority, with 357 MEPs voting in favor and only 20 against. It reiterated the European Parliament’s “full support for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens” and condemned Tehran’s actions.
The April 13 retaliatory strikes were prompted by a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria two weeks prior, which killed seven senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the strike on the diplomatic mission. While the resolution said the MEPs “deplore the attack” on the consulate and underscore “the importance of the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises,” it did not call for any action in response. Instead, it demanded more sanctions against Iran and its partners.
Read more
Here’s why Iran decided not to attack Israel again
“MEPs welcome the EU’s decision to expand its current sanctions regime against Iran, including by sanctioning the country’s supply and production of unmanned drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle East. They demand that these sanctions be urgently put in place and call for more individuals and entities to be targeted,” said the resolution.
The parliament also explicitly called for designating Iran’s elite IRGC force as a terrorist entity, arguing that this was “long overdue due to malign Iranian activities.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, should also be placed on the list “in its entirety,” MEPs argued, apparently referring to both the militant and political wings of the group.
-
Site: RT - News
“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday to kick off a three-day trip. It is reported that he will speak with his Chinese counterpart and potentially with President Xi Jinping. As the New York Times reported, quoting officials privy to the visit, one of the main topics will be China’s alleged support of Russia, which includes the supposed sale of weapon components and dual-use products. It also comes at a time of increased tensions.
Relations have shown a flicker of warmth since US President Joe Biden and Xi’s encounter at the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last year. However, this visit comes sandwiched between significant moves by the Biden administration.
On the one hand, Biden recently signed off on a hefty military aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, coupled with a divest-or-ban provision for the Chinese social media juggernaut, TikTok. On the other, a historic trilateral summit involving the US, Japan, and the Philippines hints at potential formal military collaborations down the road, with the US deploying medium-range missiles in the Philippines, a move with unmistakable implications for China.
Blinken’s trip also follows closely on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to China, which coincided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s presence in the country. Lavrov’s visit underscored the enduring bond between Russia and China, while Yellen’s seemed to foreshadow potential trade tensions over what Beijing perceives as baseless accusations of “overcapacity.”
Behind the diplomatic niceties lies a deeper agenda: the concerted effort by the US and some of its allies to curb China’s economic and technological ascent. This was laid bare when EU officials on Tuesday executed unannounced raids on the offices of a Chinese company in Poland and Denmark.
Read more
US ‘shooting itself in the foot’ by arming Taiwan – Beijing
The European Commission said that its “unannounced inspections” are based on “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.” Despite this explanation, it appears the EU is mirroring Washington’s growing scrutiny of and hostility against Chinese firms. The EU’s alignment with the US on trade policy, particularly regarding China, signals a loose front aimed at constraining China’s global economic reach.
The issue of Russia is also another excuse to limit China. The bilateral partnership has been extraordinarily beneficial for both sides: their trade reached a record $240.1 billion in 2023, and Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% the same year despite Western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Russia’s economy will grow faster than all advanced economies in 2024.
This is due in no small part to trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, but it’s also due to the fact that many other large countries, such as Brazil and India, have not joined Western sanctions on Russia – they just aren’t trading in strategic sectors of the economy like China is. But even in those sectors, the US and its allies have never revealed evidence that Beijing is directly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
What it’s really about was revealed in 2021 when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated bluntly that “we (the US) need to work with Europe” to “slow down China’s rate of innovation.” Even during the administration of former President Donald Trump, the US was strong-arming European countries to implement bans on Huawei and attempting to bully others into signing public tenders with US companies over Chinese competitors.
Read more
US would beat China in a war – intel official
The idea was that without the ability to compete globally, Chinese firms in the high-tech sphere would inevitably become less profitable and, thus, less innovative. But this is not the case, in fact. While Western countries attempt to control the narrative with accusations of unfair trade practices and military equipment sales, the reality is that Chinese firms continue to dominate global markets in crucial sectors like solar power, telecommunications, and electric vehicles.
They are simply implementing protectionist policies to prop up their own companies while failing to take concrete steps to actually compete in the market. But for Europe, it should be noted how one-sided this is. The continent is reliant on US tech; the EU’s GDP advantage has crumbled over the past decade-and-a-half since the 2008 financial crash; and it is becoming strategically compromised due to US influence and a lack of domestic innovation.
In essence, the diplomatic dance between Blinken and his Chinese counterparts encapsulates a broader struggle for supremacy in a rapidly evolving world order. Overcapacity is a myth; China has the best industrial base in the world and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Accusations of assisting in war efforts – made even more absurd by America’s open support for Israel’s operation in Gaza, which has been credibly accused of genocide – are just noise. The US and its underlings are simply just getting beat in almost every meaningful sphere, which will make Antony Blinken’s job especially tough this week.
-
Site: RT - News
“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday to kick off a three-day trip. It is reported that he will speak with his Chinese counterpart and potentially with President Xi Jinping. As the New York Times reported, quoting officials privy to the visit, one of the main topics will be China’s alleged support of Russia, which includes the supposed sale of weapon components and dual-use products. It also comes at a time of increased tensions.
Relations have shown a flicker of warmth since US President Joe Biden and Xi’s encounter at the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last year. However, this visit comes sandwiched between significant moves by the Biden administration.
On the one hand, Biden recently signed off on a hefty military aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, coupled with a divest-or-ban provision for the Chinese social media juggernaut, TikTok. On the other, a historic trilateral summit involving the US, Japan, and the Philippines hints at potential formal military collaborations down the road, with the US deploying medium-range missiles in the Philippines, a move with unmistakable implications for China.
Blinken’s trip also follows closely on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to China, which coincided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s presence in the country. Lavrov’s visit underscored the enduring bond between Russia and China, while Yellen’s seemed to foreshadow potential trade tensions over what Beijing perceives as baseless accusations of “overcapacity.”
Behind the diplomatic niceties lies a deeper agenda: the concerted effort by the US and some of its allies to curb China’s economic and technological ascent. This was laid bare when EU officials on Tuesday executed unannounced raids on the offices of a Chinese company in Poland and Denmark.
Read more
US ‘shooting itself in the foot’ by arming Taiwan – Beijing
The European Commission said that its “unannounced inspections” are based on “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.” Despite this explanation, it appears the EU is mirroring Washington’s growing scrutiny of and hostility against Chinese firms. The EU’s alignment with the US on trade policy, particularly regarding China, signals a loose front aimed at constraining China’s global economic reach.
The issue of Russia is also another excuse to limit China. The bilateral partnership has been extraordinarily beneficial for both sides: their trade reached a record $240.1 billion in 2023, and Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% the same year despite Western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Russia’s economy will grow faster than all advanced economies in 2024.
This is due in no small part to trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, but it’s also due to the fact that many other large countries, such as Brazil and India, have not joined Western sanctions on Russia – they just aren’t trading in strategic sectors of the economy like China is. But even in those sectors, the US and its allies have never revealed evidence that Beijing is directly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
What it’s really about was revealed in 2021 when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated bluntly that “we (the US) need to work with Europe” to “slow down China’s rate of innovation.” Even during the administration of former President Donald Trump, the US was strong-arming European countries to implement bans on Huawei and attempting to bully others into signing public tenders with US companies over Chinese competitors.
Read more
US would beat China in a war – intel official
The idea was that without the ability to compete globally, Chinese firms in the high-tech sphere would inevitably become less profitable and, thus, less innovative. But this is not the case, in fact. While Western countries attempt to control the narrative with accusations of unfair trade practices and military equipment sales, the reality is that Chinese firms continue to dominate global markets in crucial sectors like solar power, telecommunications, and electric vehicles.
They are simply implementing protectionist policies to prop up their own companies while failing to take concrete steps to actually compete in the market. But for Europe, it should be noted how one-sided this is. The continent is reliant on US tech; the EU’s GDP advantage has crumbled over the past decade-and-a-half since the 2008 financial crash; and it is becoming strategically compromised due to US influence and a lack of domestic innovation.
In essence, the diplomatic dance between Blinken and his Chinese counterparts encapsulates a broader struggle for supremacy in a rapidly evolving world order. Overcapacity is a myth; China has the best industrial base in the world and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Accusations of assisting in war efforts – made even more absurd by America’s open support for Israel’s operation in Gaza, which has been credibly accused of genocide – are just noise. The US and its underlings are simply just getting beat in almost every meaningful sphere, which will make Antony Blinken’s job especially tough this week.
-
Site: RT - News
“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday to kick off a three-day trip. It is reported that he will speak with his Chinese counterpart and potentially with President Xi Jinping. As the New York Times reported, quoting officials privy to the visit, one of the main topics will be China’s alleged support of Russia, which includes the supposed sale of weapon components and dual-use products. It also comes at a time of increased tensions.
Relations have shown a flicker of warmth since US President Joe Biden and Xi’s encounter at the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last year. However, this visit comes sandwiched between significant moves by the Biden administration.
On the one hand, Biden recently signed off on a hefty military aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, coupled with a divest-or-ban provision for the Chinese social media juggernaut, TikTok. On the other, a historic trilateral summit involving the US, Japan, and the Philippines hints at potential formal military collaborations down the road, with the US deploying medium-range missiles in the Philippines, a move with unmistakable implications for China.
Blinken’s trip also follows closely on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to China, which coincided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s presence in the country. Lavrov’s visit underscored the enduring bond between Russia and China, while Yellen’s seemed to foreshadow potential trade tensions over what Beijing perceives as baseless accusations of “overcapacity.”
Behind the diplomatic niceties lies a deeper agenda: the concerted effort by the US and some of its allies to curb China’s economic and technological ascent. This was laid bare when EU officials on Tuesday executed unannounced raids on the offices of a Chinese company in Poland and Denmark.
Read more
US ‘shooting itself in the foot’ by arming Taiwan – Beijing
The European Commission said that its “unannounced inspections” are based on “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.” Despite this explanation, it appears the EU is mirroring Washington’s growing scrutiny of and hostility against Chinese firms. The EU’s alignment with the US on trade policy, particularly regarding China, signals a loose front aimed at constraining China’s global economic reach.
The issue of Russia is also another excuse to limit China. The bilateral partnership has been extraordinarily beneficial for both sides: their trade reached a record $240.1 billion in 2023, and Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% the same year despite Western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Russia’s economy will grow faster than all advanced economies in 2024.
This is due in no small part to trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, but it’s also due to the fact that many other large countries, such as Brazil and India, have not joined Western sanctions on Russia – they just aren’t trading in strategic sectors of the economy like China is. But even in those sectors, the US and its allies have never revealed evidence that Beijing is directly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
What it’s really about was revealed in 2021 when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated bluntly that “we (the US) need to work with Europe” to “slow down China’s rate of innovation.” Even during the administration of former President Donald Trump, the US was strong-arming European countries to implement bans on Huawei and attempting to bully others into signing public tenders with US companies over Chinese competitors.
Read more
US would beat China in a war – intel official
The idea was that without the ability to compete globally, Chinese firms in the high-tech sphere would inevitably become less profitable and, thus, less innovative. But this is not the case, in fact. While Western countries attempt to control the narrative with accusations of unfair trade practices and military equipment sales, the reality is that Chinese firms continue to dominate global markets in crucial sectors like solar power, telecommunications, and electric vehicles.
They are simply implementing protectionist policies to prop up their own companies while failing to take concrete steps to actually compete in the market. But for Europe, it should be noted how one-sided this is. The continent is reliant on US tech; the EU’s GDP advantage has crumbled over the past decade-and-a-half since the 2008 financial crash; and it is becoming strategically compromised due to US influence and a lack of domestic innovation.
In essence, the diplomatic dance between Blinken and his Chinese counterparts encapsulates a broader struggle for supremacy in a rapidly evolving world order. Overcapacity is a myth; China has the best industrial base in the world and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Accusations of assisting in war efforts – made even more absurd by America’s open support for Israel’s operation in Gaza, which has been credibly accused of genocide – are just noise. The US and its underlings are simply just getting beat in almost every meaningful sphere, which will make Antony Blinken’s job especially tough this week.
-
Site: RT - News
“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday to kick off a three-day trip. It is reported that he will speak with his Chinese counterpart and potentially with President Xi Jinping. As the New York Times reported, quoting officials privy to the visit, one of the main topics will be China’s alleged support of Russia, which includes the supposed sale of weapon components and dual-use products. It also comes at a time of increased tensions.
Relations have shown a flicker of warmth since US President Joe Biden and Xi’s encounter at the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last year. However, this visit comes sandwiched between significant moves by the Biden administration.
On the one hand, Biden recently signed off on a hefty military aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, coupled with a divest-or-ban provision for the Chinese social media juggernaut, TikTok. On the other, a historic trilateral summit involving the US, Japan, and the Philippines hints at potential formal military collaborations down the road, with the US deploying medium-range missiles in the Philippines, a move with unmistakable implications for China.
Blinken’s trip also follows closely on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to China, which coincided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s presence in the country. Lavrov’s visit underscored the enduring bond between Russia and China, while Yellen’s seemed to foreshadow potential trade tensions over what Beijing perceives as baseless accusations of “overcapacity.”
Behind the diplomatic niceties lies a deeper agenda: the concerted effort by the US and some of its allies to curb China’s economic and technological ascent. This was laid bare when EU officials on Tuesday executed unannounced raids on the offices of a Chinese company in Poland and Denmark.
Read more
US ‘shooting itself in the foot’ by arming Taiwan – Beijing
The European Commission said that its “unannounced inspections” are based on “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.” Despite this explanation, it appears the EU is mirroring Washington’s growing scrutiny of and hostility against Chinese firms. The EU’s alignment with the US on trade policy, particularly regarding China, signals a loose front aimed at constraining China’s global economic reach.
The issue of Russia is also another excuse to limit China. The bilateral partnership has been extraordinarily beneficial for both sides: their trade reached a record $240.1 billion in 2023, and Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% the same year despite Western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Russia’s economy will grow faster than all advanced economies in 2024.
This is due in no small part to trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, but it’s also due to the fact that many other large countries, such as Brazil and India, have not joined Western sanctions on Russia – they just aren’t trading in strategic sectors of the economy like China is. But even in those sectors, the US and its allies have never revealed evidence that Beijing is directly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
What it’s really about was revealed in 2021 when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated bluntly that “we (the US) need to work with Europe” to “slow down China’s rate of innovation.” Even during the administration of former President Donald Trump, the US was strong-arming European countries to implement bans on Huawei and attempting to bully others into signing public tenders with US companies over Chinese competitors.
Read more
US would beat China in a war – intel official
The idea was that without the ability to compete globally, Chinese firms in the high-tech sphere would inevitably become less profitable and, thus, less innovative. But this is not the case, in fact. While Western countries attempt to control the narrative with accusations of unfair trade practices and military equipment sales, the reality is that Chinese firms continue to dominate global markets in crucial sectors like solar power, telecommunications, and electric vehicles.
They are simply implementing protectionist policies to prop up their own companies while failing to take concrete steps to actually compete in the market. But for Europe, it should be noted how one-sided this is. The continent is reliant on US tech; the EU’s GDP advantage has crumbled over the past decade-and-a-half since the 2008 financial crash; and it is becoming strategically compromised due to US influence and a lack of domestic innovation.
In essence, the diplomatic dance between Blinken and his Chinese counterparts encapsulates a broader struggle for supremacy in a rapidly evolving world order. Overcapacity is a myth; China has the best industrial base in the world and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Accusations of assisting in war efforts – made even more absurd by America’s open support for Israel’s operation in Gaza, which has been credibly accused of genocide – are just noise. The US and its underlings are simply just getting beat in almost every meaningful sphere, which will make Antony Blinken’s job especially tough this week.
-
Site: Zero HedgeHouthis Launch Attack On US Cargo & Navy Ships Following Two Weeks Of QuietTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:05
Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis have announced new aggressive actions in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea regions, saying late Wednesday that projectiles were launched against more US and Israeli-owned commercial vessels, and that a US warship was also targeted. This follows a period of relative quiet this month.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video address that an antiship ballistic missile was launched against the Maersk Yorktown cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in a direct hit.
The US military subsequently confirmed the fresh attack on the "US-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members"; however, the statement indicated no casualties or damage. The projectile may have exploded near the ship without hitting it.
File image, Maritime Executive
"There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in the statement, without indicating whether there was any level of an actual direct strike on the ship. Commenting further, Maritime Executive details:
They received a report from a vessel of an explosion in the water approximately 72 nautical miles southeast of the port of Djibouti. The statement only said that there had been an explosion "at a distance," and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
CENTCOM further described that within hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown, US forces "successfully engaged and destroyed" four drones over Yemen.
The government of Greece this week also said it has been engaged in fresh counter-Houthi actions:
The Greek Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships serving in the European Union’s naval mission to counter the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched towards a commercial ship from Yemen.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier confirmed an incident some 72 nautical miles (133km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.
These kind of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and off Yemen's coast have somewhat waned of late, compared with the near daily intensity of the prior months, and some analysts have speculated that the Houthis are running low on their missile and drone arsenal.
Prior to Wednesday's new incidents, the last significant Houthi attacks prior to that came two weeks ago. This could also be due to the prospect of some kind of Red Sea truce negotiations which have been reported of late.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 065 - ATTACK#MartimeSecurity #MarSechttps://t.co/fX3hWupi7g pic.twitter.com/mQ3nmxwGj7
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 25, 2024A Yemeni official has been cited in regional outlet The National as saying, "In response to the Yemeni group's attempts to target Israeli ships, the US has not only resorted to military action but also sought to convey proposals that would incentivize the militants to stop their attacks."
“Messages containing incentives were sent from the Americans to Sanaa in recent weeks. These messages were delivered through envoys and mediators, including western officials, with the Omani capital, Muscat, also playing a significant role," the source added.
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Site: Zero HedgeHouthis Launch Attack On US Cargo & Navy Ships Following Two Weeks Of QuietTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:05
Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis have announced new aggressive actions in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea regions, saying late Wednesday that projectiles were launched against more US and Israeli-owned commercial vessels, and that a US warship was also targeted. This follows a period of relative quiet this month.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video address that an antiship ballistic missile was launched against the Maersk Yorktown cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in a direct hit.
The US military subsequently confirmed the fresh attack on the "US-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members"; however, the statement indicated no casualties or damage. The projectile may have exploded near the ship without hitting it.
File image, Maritime Executive
"There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in the statement, without indicating whether there was any level of an actual direct strike on the ship. Commenting further, Maritime Executive details:
They received a report from a vessel of an explosion in the water approximately 72 nautical miles southeast of the port of Djibouti. The statement only said that there had been an explosion "at a distance," and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
CENTCOM further described that within hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown, US forces "successfully engaged and destroyed" four drones over Yemen.
The government of Greece this week also said it has been engaged in fresh counter-Houthi actions:
The Greek Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships serving in the European Union’s naval mission to counter the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched towards a commercial ship from Yemen.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier confirmed an incident some 72 nautical miles (133km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.
These kind of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and off Yemen's coast have somewhat waned of late, compared with the near daily intensity of the prior months, and some analysts have speculated that the Houthis are running low on their missile and drone arsenal.
Prior to Wednesday's new incidents, the last significant Houthi attacks prior to that came two weeks ago. This could also be due to the prospect of some kind of Red Sea truce negotiations which have been reported of late.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 065 - ATTACK#MartimeSecurity #MarSechttps://t.co/fX3hWupi7g pic.twitter.com/mQ3nmxwGj7
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 25, 2024A Yemeni official has been cited in regional outlet The National as saying, "In response to the Yemeni group's attempts to target Israeli ships, the US has not only resorted to military action but also sought to convey proposals that would incentivize the militants to stop their attacks."
“Messages containing incentives were sent from the Americans to Sanaa in recent weeks. These messages were delivered through envoys and mediators, including western officials, with the Omani capital, Muscat, also playing a significant role," the source added.
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Site: Zero HedgeHouthis Launch Attack On US Cargo & Navy Ships Following Two Weeks Of QuietTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:05
Yemen’s Iran-linked Houthis have announced new aggressive actions in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea regions, saying late Wednesday that projectiles were launched against more US and Israeli-owned commercial vessels, and that a US warship was also targeted. This follows a period of relative quiet this month.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video address that an antiship ballistic missile was launched against the Maersk Yorktown cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in a direct hit.
The US military subsequently confirmed the fresh attack on the "US-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members"; however, the statement indicated no casualties or damage. The projectile may have exploded near the ship without hitting it.
File image, Maritime Executive
"There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in the statement, without indicating whether there was any level of an actual direct strike on the ship. Commenting further, Maritime Executive details:
They received a report from a vessel of an explosion in the water approximately 72 nautical miles southeast of the port of Djibouti. The statement only said that there had been an explosion "at a distance," and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
CENTCOM further described that within hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown, US forces "successfully engaged and destroyed" four drones over Yemen.
The government of Greece this week also said it has been engaged in fresh counter-Houthi actions:
The Greek Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships serving in the European Union’s naval mission to counter the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched towards a commercial ship from Yemen.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier confirmed an incident some 72 nautical miles (133km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.
These kind of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and off Yemen's coast have somewhat waned of late, compared with the near daily intensity of the prior months, and some analysts have speculated that the Houthis are running low on their missile and drone arsenal.
Prior to Wednesday's new incidents, the last significant Houthi attacks prior to that came two weeks ago. This could also be due to the prospect of some kind of Red Sea truce negotiations which have been reported of late.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 065 - ATTACK#MartimeSecurity #MarSechttps://t.co/fX3hWupi7g pic.twitter.com/mQ3nmxwGj7
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 25, 2024A Yemeni official has been cited in regional outlet The National as saying, "In response to the Yemeni group's attempts to target Israeli ships, the US has not only resorted to military action but also sought to convey proposals that would incentivize the militants to stop their attacks."
“Messages containing incentives were sent from the Americans to Sanaa in recent weeks. These messages were delivered through envoys and mediators, including western officials, with the Omani capital, Muscat, also playing a significant role," the source added.
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Site: Zero HedgeGet Ready To Be Hammered By Property TaxesTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 17:45
It's not just record capital gains taxes that Americans have to look forward to if they choose "4 more years, pause" of the senile occupant in the White House: As Epoch Times' Jeffrey Tucker reports, property taxes are also about to soar.
Below we excerpt from his latest report on where the Biden tax tsunami sill strike next:
Get Ready to Be Hammered by Property Taxes
There have been very few points of financial solace in the past few years apart from rising financial markets. Part of that has been an incredible increase in home valuations. This comes from inflation, yes, but also from shifts in supply and demand for home purchases. Demand is as it always was but realizing it is another matter.
The problem is on the supply side. In most places around the country, homes are not going on the market at the same and predictable pace they once were. This is for reasons of soaring costs of new mortgages. Many homeowners purchased back when interest rates were absurdly low and negative in real terms, perhaps 2 or 3 percent.
Selling now means paying huge capital gains taxes and then applying for a new mortgage at 7.5 percent. The implications of that seemingly small change are actually gigantic, and making it work without paying drastically more in monthly bills means moving to a cheaper area of the country or downsizing the quality and size of the home.
Rather than make that choice, many homeowners are stuck living right where they are even if they would prefer some other job or home elsewhere. They are frozen in place but, hey, at least these people have homes that they own, right?
Not only that but the valuation that you see on Zillow is going up and up. Yay!
Not so fast. In the United States, you pay property taxes on your home. This reality gives rise to the perennial question: do you really own your home if maintaining that title requires paying huge property taxes on the place annually? If you don’t pay, the house is taken over by the state, period. It feels a bit like renting doesn’t it? Indeed, the difference between renting and owning can get a bit blurry.
Property taxes are the way schools are funded in the United States generally speaking and with some exceptions. Taxes are organized according to school districts, the lines of which are extremely strict. The identical home one street from the next can have a big difference in price based entirely on market perceptions of quality of the schools in the relevant district.
This is a major reason why “school choice,” whereby anyone from any district can attend any other, has never made much progress politically in the United States. It means a tremendous scrambling of ownership valuations. No one wants that.
You pay these taxes whether you use the schools or not and whether or not you even have children at all. That’s what makes them public schools. The public shares in the expense but the reality is that it is not the public but just property owners from one district to another, with subsidies added by state governments and the federal government, plus “booster” organizations formed by parents.
If you are living in a district and stuck in a home because you cannot move due to expense, you are still stuck paying taxes regardless. These are assessed annually based not on the price at which you purchased the home but on the value of the home at present market value. That doesn’t seem fair either. Why should you continue to have to pay more and more in taxes based on valuation that you are not actually seeing in any kind of profit?
You are a sitting duck, forced to cough up whatever the assessors and tax collectors decide you have to pay.
This year alone, we are seeing huge increases in market valuations that are reflected in taxes you have to pay whether you use public schools or not. The taxes on many mid-sized homes in Texas, for example, are going up thousands of dollars right now. The fear in Georgia is so large that some activists have put on the ballot an initiative to cap property taxes to insulate them from market pressures.
Adding to the frustration here is the terrible reality of school closures from 2020–2022. Even if you wanted to use the schools, you could not because the authorities said that there were viruses in the schools that the children would spread and bring home. There was never any evidence at all that schools were uniquely guilty of viral spread but the perception was used as the excuse to force everyone into Zoom school, which taught the kids nothing.
We are now faced with years of learning loss that keeps getting worse, not to mention soaring absenteeism. The routines of an entire generation were disrupted and not returned to normal.
Continue reading at Epoch Times
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Site: LifeNews
The Missouri legislature today approved a bill that would defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business and other companies in the state that kill babies in abortions.
Although Missouri is one of the pro-life states where babies are protected, state tax dollars still go to the abortion giant. And that’s a problem given a recent expose’ showing Planned Parenthood is trafficking teen girls across state lines for secret abortions without their parents even knowing.
Susan Klein, Executive Director of Missouri Right to Life, told LifeNews.com she is elated by the news.
Today, May 25, 2024, the Missouri General Assembly truly agreed to and finally passed HB 2634, putting in statute language that restricts tax-payer funds from going to abortion providers and their affiliates.
Prior to 2020, Missouri restricted family planning funds to abortion providers through the budget process. In 2020, Planned Parenthood and others filed suit against that defunding process and the Missouri Supreme Court agreed that it was unconstitutional but also stated that the defunding could be done by placing the pro-life protective language in statute. Since then, the legislature has attempted to use different language in the budget which has all been found unconstitutional. This year, HB 2634 contained pro-life language to be placed in statute.
In December, Project Veritas filmed Planned Parenthood employees stating that they would take minor girls across state lines for abortions without their parents’ knowledge or consent. In February, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit against Planned Parenthood for violations of Missouri laws.
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
In their just released 2022-2023 annual report, Planned Parenthood reported total income of over 2 billion dollars. For the year the annual report covers, Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions, or about 4 in 10 abortions, and abortions outnumbered prenatal care 62 to 1. In addition, Planned Parenthood boosted its abortion numbers by facilitating “transportation and travel support, financial assistance, and referrals.”
Pro-life Missourians are grateful to House Sponsor, Representative Cody Smith and Senate Handler, Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman and the Missouri legislators who voted for protecting our firmly held beliefs in the sanctity of human life and prohibiting our tax-dollars from subsidizing the destruction of innocent unborn babies.
As LifeNews previously reported in February, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood after an expose’ video showed officials discussing how they take teen girls out of state for secret abortions.
Project Veritas conducted an investigation just before Christmas this past year in which a journalist entered a Kansas City, Mo. clinic asking how to get an abortion for a 13-year-old. The male reporter was met with certainty and confidence from the staff that although the procedure is illegal in Missouri, the minor could be sent to Kansas for the procedure, and no one would need to know. This not only includes parents, but staff at the school.
“We can give a doctor’s note,” said the Planned Parenthood managing director known only by her first name, LeShauna, “We just cut off the letterhead.”
The undercover reporter asked the managing director how often they send minors into neighboring Kansas for the procedure.
“Every day,” she said, and repeated, “every day.”
In his announcement video, published by Project Veritas, the AG credited Project Veritas’s investigation as the impetus for today’s legal assault against America’s largest abortion provider.
“Today, I’m proud to announce that the state of Missouri is moving forward with a lawsuit to permanently drive Planned Parenthood from the state of Missouri,” he said. “We’re seeking a court order enjoining Planned Parenthood from concealing sexual offenses committed against minors, and for conspiring to transport minors across state lines for abortions in violation of state statute.”
“What is contained in the investigative video produced by Project Veritas is deplorable. Planned Parenthood by state statute is a mandatory reporter for any sexual offenses against children. And yet in the video, an agent of Planned Parenthood is committed to concealing the fact that a 13-year-old who cannot legally consent to sexual conduct has experienced sexual abuse. This should disgust anyone concerned about the health and safety of women and children in the state of Missouri,” said Attorney General Bailey.
The Missouri Attorney General credited Project Veritas with uncovering evidence of Planned Parenthood’s criminal activity.
Bailey stated, “This lawsuit is a direct result of the investigation conducted by Project Veritas in November of 2023 that uncovered an agent of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City, brazenly committed to past, present, and future violations of this state’s laws regarding proper parental consent notification, a conspiracy to traffic women out of state for abortions, and a conspiracy to conceal the sexual exploitation of children.”
The lawsuit filed today seeks a court order enjoining Planned Parenthood from concealing sexual offenses committed against minors, and for conspiring to transport minors across state lines for abortions in violation of state statute. Bailey also called upon state policymakers to use the tools necessary to permanently defund Planned Parenthood. As part of the lawsuit the AG’s office will be conducting its own investigation. Planned Parenthood could be facing administrative, civil, and criminal penalties.
The post Missouri Legislature Defunds Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: PeakProsperityWill this be the year that the ""markets"" get away from the Fed and their dedicated public-private Wall Street manipulation crew? If that happens, will that be the pressure that pulls the Great Taking trigger? Tune in as Paul Kiker and I discuss the proposed 44.6% capital gains tax rate, the yen, and other currently important topics.
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Site: RT - News
Purchases of Bibles or searches for “MAGA” and Trump were considered indicators of “extremism”
Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent letters to 13 financial institutions they suspect of colluding with the FBI and the Treasury Department to spy on Americans without a warrant in relation to the 2021 Capitol riot.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had stormed the legislature just as Republican lawmakers were starting to register objections to certifying the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats labeled the unrest as an “insurrection” and sought to arrest over 1,000 people involved in any way.
Some of these people were apparently targeted by financial institutions working with the FBI and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by the Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism’,” said a letter from Jordan, which the Daily Mail obtained exclusively on Thursday.
Read more
Apple and Google more dangerous than governments – Telegram founder
Jordan has pointed to evidence that the FBI and FinCEN instructed banks to look for purchases of Bibles or search terms such as “Trump” or “MAGA,” the acronym for the 45th president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Congress was already investigating Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank and Truist. Thursday’s letter was sent to Charles Schwab, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union. That makes 13 banks or financial institutions potentially involved in the dragnet.
Bank of America alone sent data on 211 individuals to the FBI and FinCen by January 17, 2021. However, its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) was sent after the federal agencies asked banks to look for “extremist” purchases. Four of the 211 were tagged for a follow-up and visited by FBI agents. None of them ended up being charged with anything.
Read more
Trump pledges to release Capitol rioters
“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.
Since 2021, the FBI has targeted “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as well as parents who spoke up at school board meetings – on issues such as mask mandates or critical race theory – as potential domestic terrorists. Both programs were officially denounced after being revealed by whistleblowers.
-
Site: RT - News
Purchases of Bibles or searches for “MAGA” and Trump were considered indicators of “extremism”
Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent letters to 13 financial institutions they suspect of colluding with the FBI and the Treasury Department to spy on Americans without a warrant in relation to the 2021 Capitol riot.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had stormed the legislature just as Republican lawmakers were starting to register objections to certifying the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats labeled the unrest as an “insurrection” and sought to arrest over 1,000 people involved in any way.
Some of these people were apparently targeted by financial institutions working with the FBI and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by the Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism’,” said a letter from Jordan, which the Daily Mail obtained exclusively on Thursday.
Read more
Apple and Google more dangerous than governments – Telegram founder
Jordan has pointed to evidence that the FBI and FinCEN instructed banks to look for purchases of Bibles or search terms such as “Trump” or “MAGA,” the acronym for the 45th president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Congress was already investigating Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank and Truist. Thursday’s letter was sent to Charles Schwab, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union. That makes 13 banks or financial institutions potentially involved in the dragnet.
Bank of America alone sent data on 211 individuals to the FBI and FinCen by January 17, 2021. However, its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) was sent after the federal agencies asked banks to look for “extremist” purchases. Four of the 211 were tagged for a follow-up and visited by FBI agents. None of them ended up being charged with anything.
Read more
Trump pledges to release Capitol rioters
“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.
Since 2021, the FBI has targeted “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as well as parents who spoke up at school board meetings – on issues such as mask mandates or critical race theory – as potential domestic terrorists. Both programs were officially denounced after being revealed by whistleblowers.
-
Site: RT - News
Purchases of Bibles or searches for “MAGA” and Trump were considered indicators of “extremism”
Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent letters to 13 financial institutions they suspect of colluding with the FBI and the Treasury Department to spy on Americans without a warrant in relation to the 2021 Capitol riot.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had stormed the legislature just as Republican lawmakers were starting to register objections to certifying the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats labeled the unrest as an “insurrection” and sought to arrest over 1,000 people involved in any way.
Some of these people were apparently targeted by financial institutions working with the FBI and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by the Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism’,” said a letter from Jordan, which the Daily Mail obtained exclusively on Thursday.
Read more
Apple and Google more dangerous than governments – Telegram founder
Jordan has pointed to evidence that the FBI and FinCEN instructed banks to look for purchases of Bibles or search terms such as “Trump” or “MAGA,” the acronym for the 45th president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Congress was already investigating Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank and Truist. Thursday’s letter was sent to Charles Schwab, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union. That makes 13 banks or financial institutions potentially involved in the dragnet.
Bank of America alone sent data on 211 individuals to the FBI and FinCen by January 17, 2021. However, its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) was sent after the federal agencies asked banks to look for “extremist” purchases. Four of the 211 were tagged for a follow-up and visited by FBI agents. None of them ended up being charged with anything.
Read more
Trump pledges to release Capitol rioters
“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.
Since 2021, the FBI has targeted “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as well as parents who spoke up at school board meetings – on issues such as mask mandates or critical race theory – as potential domestic terrorists. Both programs were officially denounced after being revealed by whistleblowers.
-
Site: RT - News
Purchases of Bibles or searches for “MAGA” and Trump were considered indicators of “extremism”
Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent letters to 13 financial institutions they suspect of colluding with the FBI and the Treasury Department to spy on Americans without a warrant in relation to the 2021 Capitol riot.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had stormed the legislature just as Republican lawmakers were starting to register objections to certifying the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats labeled the unrest as an “insurrection” and sought to arrest over 1,000 people involved in any way.
Some of these people were apparently targeted by financial institutions working with the FBI and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by the Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism’,” said a letter from Jordan, which the Daily Mail obtained exclusively on Thursday.
Read more
Apple and Google more dangerous than governments – Telegram founder
Jordan has pointed to evidence that the FBI and FinCEN instructed banks to look for purchases of Bibles or search terms such as “Trump” or “MAGA,” the acronym for the 45th president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Congress was already investigating Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank and Truist. Thursday’s letter was sent to Charles Schwab, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union. That makes 13 banks or financial institutions potentially involved in the dragnet.
Bank of America alone sent data on 211 individuals to the FBI and FinCen by January 17, 2021. However, its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) was sent after the federal agencies asked banks to look for “extremist” purchases. Four of the 211 were tagged for a follow-up and visited by FBI agents. None of them ended up being charged with anything.
Read more
Trump pledges to release Capitol rioters
“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.
Since 2021, the FBI has targeted “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as well as parents who spoke up at school board meetings – on issues such as mask mandates or critical race theory – as potential domestic terrorists. Both programs were officially denounced after being revealed by whistleblowers.
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Ghetto-ization Of American LifeTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 17:25
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Behind the facade of normalization, even high-income lifestyles have been ghetto-ized.
Consider the defining characteristics of a ghetto:
1. The residents can't afford to live elsewhere.
2. Everything is a rip-off because options are limited and retailers / service providers know residents have no other choice or must go to extraordinary effort to get better quality or a lower price.
3. Nothing works correctly or efficiently. Things break down and aren't fixed properly. Maintenance is poor to non-existent. Any service requires standing in line or being on hold.
4. Local governance is corrupt and/or incompetent. Residents are viewed as a reliable "vote farm" for the incumbents, even though whatever little they accomplish for the residents doesn't reduce the sources of immiseration.
5. The locale is unsafe. Cars are routinely broken into, there are security bars over windows and gates to entrances, everything not chained down is stolen--and even what is chained down is stolen.
6. There are few viable businesses and numerous empty storefronts.
7. The built environment is ugly: strip malls, used car lots, etc. There are few safe public spaces or parks that are well maintained and inviting.
8. Most of the commerce is corporate-owned outlets; the money doesn't stay in the community.
9. Public transport is minimal and constantly being degraded.
10. They get you coming and going: whatever is available is double in cost, effort and time. Very little is convenient or easy. Services are far away.
11. Residents pay high rates of interest on debt.
12. There are few sources of healthy real food. The residents are unhealthy and self-medicate with a panoply of addictions to alcohol, meds, painkillers, gambling, social media, gaming, celebrity worship, etc.
13. Nobody in authority really cares what the residents experience, as they know the residents are atomized and ground down, incapable of cooperating in an organized fashion, and therefore powerless.
I submit that these defining characteristics of ghettos apply to wide swaths of American life. Ghettos are not limited to urban zones; suburbs and rural locales can qualify as well. The defining zeitgeist of a ghetto is the residents are effectively held hostage by limited options and high costs: public and private-sector monopolies that provide poor quality at high prices.
Daily life is a grind of long waits / commutes, low-quality goods and services, shadow work (work we have to do that we're not paid for that was once done as part of the service we pay for) and unhealthy addictions to distractions and whatever offers a temporary escape from the grind.
We've habituated to being corralled into the immiseration of limited options and high costs; the immiseration and sordid degradation have been normalized into "everyday life." We've lost track of what's been lost to erosion and decay. We sense what's been lost but feel powerless to reverse it. This is the essence of the ghetto-ization of daily life.
Behind the facade of normalization, even high-income lifestyles have been ghetto-ized. But saying this is anathema: either be upbeat, optimistic and positive or remain silent.
What's worse, the ghetto-ization or our inability to recognize it and discuss it openly?
* * *
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Site: Zero HedgeAs Tax-Season Ebbs, Money-Market Funds See Return Of Inflows; Fed's Bank Bailout Fund Remains At $126BNTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 17:05
After the prior week's almost unprecedented outflows, total money market fund assets rose last week (admittedly by a modest $9.1BN), but remain below the $6TN level ($5.97TN) as tax-season draws roll off...
Source: Bloomberg
The flows into money-market fund assets through April 24 mainly on the back of inflows by institutional investors, which had led the tax-related decline the prior week. Institutions added $8.9 billion in money-market fund exposure.
Source: Bloomberg
In a breakdown for the week to April 24, government funds - which invest primarily in securities like Treasury bills, repurchase agreements and agency debt - saw assets rise to $4.84 trillion, a $3.97 billion increase.
Prime funds, which tend to invest in higher-risk assets such as commercial paper, meanwhile, saw assets rise to $1.02 trillion, a $3.15 billion increase.
Still, cash is expected to continue piling into money funds as long as the Federal Reserve keeps rates on hold - and this week has seen rate-cut expectations tumble further...
Source: Bloomberg
The Fed balance sheet continued to shrink, falling $32.8BN to its lowest since Jan 2021...
Source: Bloomberg
As The Fed starts discussing tapering QT, usage of The Fed's bank bailout facility (now expired but these are 12 month term loans) continued to decline (though only by a tiny $638MM), basically erasing all the late-period arb-driven inflows, leaving a huge $126BN hole in bank balance sheets still being filled by this...
Source: Bloomberg
This means the 'real' crisis money that banks used to save their souls is yet to really unwind from this bailout fund (and rates are considerably higher now than they were a year ago when the balance sheet holes were stuff with fake Fed paper - i.e. the losses are bigger).
Finally, we note that bank reserves at The Fed plunged last week and while US equity market cap has bounced a little in the last two days, we suspect the trend down (and a painful recoupling) remains a threat...
Source: Bloomberg
While there may be no rate-cuts anytime soon... will The Fed taper QT in a big enough manner to avoid that recoupling?
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Site: LifeNews
An overwhelming majority of Michigan voters support retaining provisions of Michigan law related to abortion which, while maintaining access to abortion, safeguard the health and safety of women, minors, parents and taxpayers. These provisions include parental consent for minors and a 24-hour waiting period to allow for informed consent before having an abortion procedure, according to the MRG, LLC-commissioned Spring 2024 Michigan Poll®. The statewide survey of 600 registered voters was conducted April 8-11.
“Even with a woman’s right to choose being codified in the Michigan Constitution via Proposal 3, a vast majority of voters – including those who consider themselves to be pro-choice – still support certain regulations surrounding the procedure,” said Jenell Leonard, owner of MRG, LLC. “The protection of the patient, minors, and taxpayers are still important considerations across the state and beyond political spectrums.”
68% of all voters support parental consent
Sixty-eight percent of all voters support the current requirement that minor-age children must have the consent of a parent before having an abortion, while only 22% oppose the regulation. This protection is supported in every geographical area of the state (including 79% of Detroit voters), among all demographic groups tested including women, pro-choice, and pro-life supporters, and across the political spectrum of Republicans, Democrats, and Independent voters.
All Voters Dem IND GOP Pro-Choice Pro-Life Cons Mod Lib Support 68% 62% 69% 75% 63% 75% 75% 72% 49% Oppose 22% 31% 19% 15% 28% 16% 11% 22% 39%Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ//
66% of all voters support the 24-hour waiting period and informed consent
Poll results also show 66% of voters support maintaining the 24-hour waiting period so women can receive proper information regarding the procedure. Only 24% oppose the regulation. The 24-hour waiting period is also favored in every geographical area of the state and amongst all demographic groups tested.
All Voters Dem IND GOP Pro-Choice Pro-Life Cons Mod Lib Support 66% 59% 67% 72% 63% 69% 74% 69% 50% Oppose 24% 36% 22% 15% 29% 20% 14% 25% 40%Caucasion African American Males Females 18-34 35-50 51-64 65+ Support 67% 68% 70% 68% 64% 66% 66% 65% Oppose 24% 26% 19% 25% 25% 25% 25% 23%61% of all voters oppose their taxpayer dollars paying for abortions
By a 61%-31% margin, voters don’t want their tax dollars paying for abortion. The support is shared across all geographical areas, except Oakland County where 51% support taxpayer funded abortions; 42% oppose. The highest opposition to taxpayer-funded abortion is found in Macomb County where 74% oppose using taxpayer dollars. Pro-choice voters are split on the issue and Republicans and Independents strongly oppose.
All Voters Dem IND GOP Pro-Choice Pro-Life Cons Mod Lib Yes 31% 55% 31% 8% 46% 9% 10% 32% 64% No 61% 34% 63% 88% 44% 89% 86% 60% 24%Sag/Flint/Bay City GR/Kal/West MI Cad/TC/Soo Mid-MichLansing Metro Detroit UP/Other Yes 25% 31% 14% 31% 35% 29% No 67% 62% 79% 55% 58% 57%The Questions and Results
Click below to download the full press release and view results.
The post 68% of Michigan Voters Support Parental Consent and Waiting Period Before Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusSt Mark, whose feast is kept today, is the only evangelist who records that when the soldiers came to arrest Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, “a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and they laid hold on him. But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked.” (14, 51-52) In keeping with the common ancient practice of authorial anonymity, it Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Zero HedgeLawmakers Ask IRS To Investigate Chinese Funding Of Anti-Israel ProtestsTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:45
Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,
On Wednesday, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives called for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to begin investigating the financial links between China and anti-Israel groups that have been protesting throughout the United States since October 7th.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the request comes from members of the House Ways and Means Committee, who wrote a letter expressing concerns that “foreign adversaries are taking advantage of loopholes to impact American political activity with little-to-no transparency.”
One such example is The People’s Forum, a group that organized anti-Israel protests such as public school walkouts in New York City.
The group is bankrolled by Neville Roy Singham, a tech mogul with pro-China sympathies, as documented by the New York Times.
The People’s Forum urged students to chant anti-Semitic phrases, including “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which calls for the extermination of all Israelis.
Another example is The Energy Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit group that focuses primarily on global warming, yet operates mostly out of China and has deep ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
This organization has repeatedly advocated for “green” energy policies that would hurt the United States’ energy production, to the benefit of China.
“Not only do these activities raise serious national security concerns, but they also raise questions about whether organizations like this receive foreign funding from America’s adversaries and whether the Internal Revenue Service (‘IRS’) is conducting oversight of entities like these,” said the letter sent by lawmakers to IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel.
The committee members asked if the IRS has “a definition of antisemitism in place within the agency that it considers when evaluating the claimed exempt purpose of a tax-exempt organization,” for the purposes of cracking down on such radical groups. The letter also asked if the IRS would eventually start an investigation into the various financial links between China and various domestic groups.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Dr Ramona CoelhoAn excellent interview of Dr Ramona Coelho by Jonathon Van Maren was published in the European Conservative on April 24, 2024.
As stated by Van Maren, Dr Coelho is a family physician in London, Ontario, with a practice largely serving marginalized patients, she has testified before Parliament, laid out the dangers of legal euthanasia on TV and in print, and presciently warned policymakers of many of the scenarios we now see unfolding. Dr Coelho is a leading voice opposing Canada's euthanasia regime.
Van Maren begins the article by bringing up two of the most recent Canadian euthanasia stories and commenting on the issue of euthanasia for mental illness alone:
For the past several years, the euthanasia horror stories unfolding in Canada have captured the attention of the press on both sides of the Atlantic. I have detailed many of them in my reporting; as I write this, a desperate father is battling in court to prevent his healthy 27-year-old autistic daughter from dying by doctor-administered lethal injection; another Canadian has been approved for euthanasia after developing bedsores while waiting for necessary healthcare that is increasingly difficult to obtain.
At the end of January, the Trudeau government delayed, for the second time, their plan to expand euthanasia eligibility to Canadians struggling solely with mental illness. Initially, a strong majority of Canadians supported legal euthanasia in limited circumstances. The events of the past several years have begun to erode that support, and the Conservative Party is campaigning on a promise to pass legislation banning euthanasia for mental illness. It is an incredibly pressing issue: if suicide-by-doctor were to be made available to the mentally ill, Canada’s ever-rising euthanasia death rate would spike overnight.
Dr Coelho defines what is mean't by the term MAiD:
Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) is the Canadian term that refers to both euthanasia and assisted suicide, although up to this point 99.9% of cases have been euthanasia (physician administered lethal cocktail to induce death, usually by IV) so I think it’s accurate and clearer to refer to this as euthanasia. However, it is possible that there might be more cases of assisted suicide (patient self-administers the lethal cocktail of drugs) in coming years as both are permitted. I will refer to it as MAiD just for ease and as some very few cases do involve assisted suicide.Van Maren then asks Dr Coelho to comment on euthanasia for mental illness:
MAiD really never should have been an option for those with mental illness. Canadians face major barriers to access mental health care and numerous Canadian psychiatrists have voiced serious reservations about this expansion. We do not even understand how clinically to distinguish between the overwhelming majority of those with mental illness, who recover with suicide prevention and services, and those very few who might not. Such an expansion would allow healthcare practitioners arbitrarily to decide who deserves suicide prevention and who is deemed eligible for MAiD, potentially placing many Canadians’ lives at risk.
The legislation permitting MAiD for mental illness should have been permanently abandoned. But despite recommendations from its most recent parliamentary committee and most Canadian provinces asking that the legislation be indefinitely paused, the government has chosen simply to delay its implementation once again, this time until 2027. Politically, the delay in implementation of this legislation, rather than stopping it altogether, seems imprudent for the current government, as it may become a significant election issue. I would say Canadians are increasingly recognizing the risks of expanding MAiD to include individuals whose sole medical condition is mental illness.
Dr Coelho then comments on possible further expansions of MAiD in Canada:
And besides this, we still have the 2023 parliamentary recommendations to include MAiD for “mature” children and advance directives for euthanasia next. MAiD was initially introduced as an exceptional procedure to be used only for those near death with intolerable suffering, but once society embraces the intentional ending of one’s life as a treatment for suffering, it becomes practically impossible to contain, with Canada being a case in point.Dr Coelho then comments on the concerns with medical safety:
In February 2024, the Canadian Human Rights Commission expressed ongoing concern over reports indicating that individuals with disabilities opt for MAiD due to a lack of essential support services. The CHRC is joined by UN human rights experts, Canadian disability groups, Indigenous advocates, social justice groups, and numerous medical and legal professionals in these concerns.
I was interviewed for a documentary featuring the tragic MAiD death of Rosina Kamis, who, citing poverty and loneliness, chose MAiD due to insufficient support. Some Canadian bioethicists argue that MAiD under “unjust social circumstances” is a form of “harm reduction.” However, this is not a free autonomous choice, but death driven by desperation and structural inequalities.
Messages promoting suicide and easier access to lethal means heighten suicide risks. MAiD exacerbates these dangers, endangering vulnerable individuals by increasing the likelihood of being induced into a premature death. Additionally, healthcare providers’ often inaccurately rate the quality of life of individuals with disabilities as poor, which may lead to their biases leading to suggesting or approvals of MAiD, particularly when patients are experiencing transient low points in their lives.
Dr Coelho then comments on the model practise standard:
Health Canada’s “Model Practice Standard for Medical Assistance in Dying” suggests informing patients about MAiD if the practitioner suspects it aligns with patient values and preferences. In contrast, other jurisdictions discourage or prohibit raising death as a treatment option due to concerns about undue patient pressure. The model practice standard’s stance on “conscientious objection” supports “effective referral” of patients. This means that, if a physician is concerned that MAiD is not a patient’s best option, they must still refer the patient to ensure access to MAiD, instead of pausing or stopping the process.
Examples of these unsafe policies are evident in MAiD training videos. In one, an instructor recognizes that patients may choose MAiD for unmet psycho-social needs, suggesting referral for MAiD completion if discomfort arises. Another instructor in a separate video advises continuing the MAiD process even if a practitioner believes a patient doesn’t qualify for MAiD, suggesting doctor shopping is acceptable.
Certain regions in Canada have the highest MAiD death rates globally. By 2022, nearly 45,000 MAiD deaths occurred across Canada since its legalization—almost 13,000 in 2022 alone, with estimates for 2023 approaching 16,000. Canada’s MAiD regime has chosen to prioritize accessibility over patient safety.
Dr Coelho then comments on her experience with the disability community:
Realizing my political naivety while advocating for legislative change has been a profoundly sad and eye-opening experience. Despite the government’s repeated assurances of listening to the concerns of persons with disabilities and their advocates, the reality witnessed during parliamentary hearings has been disheartening, as their voices are frequently disregarded or dismissed.
Throughout these hearings, committee members have consistently challenged the credibility of accounts detailing abuses within the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) system. They assert an unwavering trust in MAiD assessors, portraying them as professionals deserving of complete faith and trust to get it right every time. However, this confidence is inconsistently applied, as committee members often interrupt and question the integrity of medical and legal experts expressing caution or offering alternative perspectives.
Furthermore, the presence of physicians who are now part of the government on MAiD parliamentary committees has not resulted in the expected depth of medical expertise or unbiased guidance. Instead, their contributions have often been marked by bias, with loaded questions designed to limit responses and paint concerned witnesses as advocating for prolonged suffering. This portrayal is starkly at odds with the reality faced by patients who endure lengthy waits for treatment. This waiting for care and being neglected by our society and health care system wears people down and can lead to choosing MAiD as the only accessible option.
Dr Coelho then comments on the euthanasia lobby:
Behind the scenes, powerful lobby groups in Canada wield significant influence in shaping the debate surrounding the expansion of MAiD. These groups, backed by substantial funding for government relations, dictate the trajectory of discussions, often overshadowing the voices of the underfunded and marginalized disability community. Despite the government’s claims of inclusivity, the reality is that this debate has been primarily driven by powerful interests, rather than the voices of those directly affected.
In essence, the legislative process surrounding MAiD in Canada has exposed systemic flaws and power imbalances, highlighting the urgent need for genuine inclusivity and meaningful dialogue that centers on the experiences and concerns of the real stakeholders, the disability community, which is most directly impacted by these policies.
Coelho is then asked about what must be done to reduce MAiD:
Thomas Insel’s book Healing drives home the critical role community life, support networks, and purpose have in dictating mental health outcomes, thereby highlighting the need for proactive measures. Firstly, the government must fulfill its duty to ensure everyone gets timely care, counseling, and the community resources they need. It’s unfortunate that we’re offering death as an option without properly supporting people who are struggling. At the same time, establishing a national suicide prevention framework is imperative to mitigate the risk factors that could contribute to MAiD decisions.
Palliative care centers have to be prioritized, offering a range of services including pain management, emotional support, end-of-life planning, and counseling individuals facing terminal illness, alongside robust access to disability and mental health services. This entails a concerted effort to build expertise, expand medical care systems, and ensure widespread accessibility.
Investment in community systems is essential too, fostering relationships and a sense of purpose and belonging. By organizing regular community gatherings, support groups, and educational workshops, communities can forge stronger bonds, mitigating feelings of isolation and despair. On the ground level, everyone can be involved in making sure neighbours and family members feel they are needed and cared for.
Furthermore, Canada’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities must be upheld, ensuring the provision of essential services and support for those with disabilities and chronic illnesses. The government has to address the systemic lack of social, economic, and health supports in order to alleviate the suffering that may otherwise drive individuals towards MAiD. We know that suffering from social and economic deprivation actually increases overall suffering from disability as it becomes conflated.
In essence, reducing the number of victims under Canada’s MAiD regime requires a comprehensive approach. Only through concerted efforts across these fronts can Canada ensure the dignity and well-being of its citizens, particularly those facing vulnerability and suffering. We need to make people feel they can live with dignity.
Dr Coelho is then asked what a future government must do:
Sadly, many Canadians remain unaware of the risks of our MAiD regime. As I mentioned, once a society embraces ending life as a solution to suffering, containing this procedure becomes nearly impossible. Tragically, the victims of this system are dead and can be forgotten, silenced, unable to recount the injustices that may have influenced their “choosing” death.
Therefore, to start, completely repealing Bill C-7 is imperative. Anything less is unacceptable to the disability community and greatly perpetuates the risks that death is driven by unjust circumstances.
There is also an urgent need to redefine the terms used in legislation, particularly ambiguous terms like reasonably foreseeable natural death (RFND). Through broad interpretations, individuals with potentially years of life ahead of them are prematurely ending their lives through the RFND track—a practice that was intended only for those in the final stages of life. Moreover, we have people who are simply stating they will refuse care to make themselves sick enough to qualify for RFND; MAiD should only be available to those with a disease prognosis of six months or less, not to individuals deliberately inducing sickness to qualify.
It is necessary to stem the influence of powerful lobby groups and expansionist medical advocacy organizations like the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP). CAMAP received 3.3 million Canadian dollars in funding from Health Canada to educate MAiD assessors and providers and has many problematic guidance policies. A balanced independent panel of experts, as urged by the Canadian Human Rights Commissioner, should be convened to review the MAiD regime. This panel should guide legislative amendments, Health Canada policies, and provincial regulatory bodies to increase patient safety.
Many existing policies clearly require revision, including raising MAiD unsolicited, enforced mandatory referrals, and the worrisome trend of integrating MAiD into all care facilities. Ideally, a civil board comprising a multidisciplinary team should evaluate each case before approval to mitigate choices to die that are driven by structural inequalities. We also need better, publicly available, data collection all around.
This is not merely a matter of individual autonomy; it is a public safety concern that is affecting marginalized and disabled individuals. When discussing autonomy, we must consider relational autonomy—what we owe to each other and society as a whole. MAiD is a public policy, so we must consider the well-being of all—not just those seeking to end their lives on their own terms.
Previous articles by or articles concerning Dr Ramona Coelho (Article links).
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Site: Zero HedgeGoogle Soars To Record After Smashing Estimates, Launches $70 Billion Buyback And Starts Paying DividendTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:32
After the first two Mag7 companies were a study in market paradoxes, when TSLA missed across the board and soared (after guiding much better than expected) and META beat across the board but plunged (after guiding weaker than expected while boosting its spending forecast), moments ago two of the Mag7 giants, GOOGL and MSFT, both reported and this time there was far less drama: both beat, and saw their stock soaring after hours.
Focusing on Google parent Alphabet, Goldman said ahead of earnings that positioning here was not as excessive (at 7/10) which may be why the stock is soaring some 13% after the close on what otherwise appears to be a solid beat. Here are the details:
- EPS $1.89, beating estimate $1.53, and up more than 50% vs the $1.17 a year ago.
- Q1 Revenue $80.54 billion, beating the estimate of $79.04 billion, and up 15% YoY
- Google advertising revenue $61.66 billion, beating the estimate $60.18 billion
- YouTube ads revenue $8.09 billion, beating the estimate $7.73 billion
- Google Services revenue $70.40 billion, beating the estimate $69.06 billion
- Google Cloud revenue $9.57 billion, beating the estimate $9.37 billion
- Other Bets revenue $495 million, beating estimate $372.4 million
- Operating income $25.47 billion, beating estimate $22.4 billion
- Google Services operating income $27.90 billion, beating the estimate $24.3 billion
- Google Cloud operating income $900 million, beating the estimate $672.4 million
- Other Bets operating loss $1.02 billion, beating the estimate loss $1.12 billion
- Operating margin 32%, beating the estimate 28.6%
- Capital expenditure $12.01 billion, beating the estimate $10.32 billion
- Number of employees 180,895, down from 190,711
A quick point on YouTube: it was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion; YouTube now generates $1.65 billion of revenue every 18 days.
The results visually:
While Google's cloud numbers were stellar, with revenue rising from $7.5BN to $9.6BN, and beating estimates of $9.4BN, what investors wanted to hear was more about the company's progress on AI. This is what it had to say:
As announced on April 18, 2024, we are consolidating teams that focus on building artificial intelligence (AI) models across Google Research and Google DeepMind to further accelerate our progress in AI. AI model development teams previously under Google Research in our Google Services segment will be included as part of Google DeepMind, reported within Alphabet-level activities, prospectively beginning in the second quarter of 2024.
Like other Big Tech companies, Alphabet has been plowing money into developing artificial intelligence, a strategy that has helped drive demand for its cloud services, which saw revenue rise 28% in the first quarter. While Google remains a distant third in the cloud computing market, trailing Amazon and Microsoft, the company’s prowess in AI could help it close the gap.
Google has developed much of the underlying technology being used in the AI boom today, and has woven it into products from web search to its suite of enterprise software from Gmail to Google Docs. Yet ever since OpenAI’s ChatGPT was released in late 2022, Google has been battling the perception that it’s lagging behind Microsoft and OpenAI in rolling out new generative AI tools. The arrival of popular chatbots such as ChatGPT — which answers questions in a conversational tone rather than providing lists of links to other websites — has posed a threat to Google’s two-decade stranglehold on search. The company is struggling to compete in generative AI without cannibalizing its core profit machine.
Google has been scrambling to reassert its early lead in AI, after its early efforts were marred by embarrassing blunders, including a scandal over how its AI model Gemini handled race that forced the company to suspend image generation of people.
Commenting on the results, CFO Ruth Porat said: “Our strong financial results for the first quarter reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base. We delivered revenues of $80.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year, and operating margin expansion.”
It certainly delivered, and just to make sure the market rewarded it, the company not only announced the start of new cash dividend at 20 cents...
Alphabet’s Board of Directors today approved the initiation of a cash dividend program, and declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share that will be paid on June 17, 2024, to stockholders of record as of June 10, 2024, on each of the company’s Class A, Class B, and Class C shares.
... but also announced a new stock buyback program for $70 billion!
Alphabet’s Board of Directors today authorized the company to repurchase up to an additional $70.0 billion of its Class A and Class C shares in a manner deemed in the best interest of the company and its stockholders, taking into account the economic cost and prevailing market conditions, including the relative trading prices and volumes of the Class A and Class C shares.
While investors have shown they are excited about the prospects of AI, they want tech companies to continue to focus on revenue and profit in the meantime. Meta, which competes with Google in AI and also digital advertising, suffered its worst stock decline since October 2022 after reporting that it would spend billions of dollars more this year on AI efforts and projecting weaker revenue for the current quarter. For its part, Google - which does not do forecasts - paid $12BN in capex in the quarter, $1.7 billion more than estimated.
For all the hoopla about AI, search advertising remains the engine of Google’s lucrative business, and the company is facing heightened competition there, too. Meta has been seeding AI tools throughout its advertising business and Snap Inc. has also undergone a total revamp of its ad business to improve ad targeting. The digital ad market is recovering from a post-pandemic slump, buoyed by the Olympics Games this summer, but Google is increasingly vying for those ad dollars with Meta and Snap.
If consumers gravitate from Google search to the new wave of chatbots, that could imperil the company’s search advertising juggernaut, which is expected to generate nearly $200 billion in revenue this year and the bulk of Alphabet’s profit.
Cloud has been a bright spot for Google, after it first became profitable early last year. Many young AI startups are founded by former Google employees, creating a strong pipeline of cloud clients.For now, however, these concerns were on the backburner, with GOOGL stock exploding about 12% after hours, and trading at a new all time high.
- EPS $1.89, beating estimate $1.53, and up more than 50% vs the $1.17 a year ago.
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Site: Zero HedgeGoogle Soars To Record After Smashing Estimates, Launches $70 Billion Buyback And Starts Paying DividendTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:32
After the first two Mag7 companies were a study in market paradoxes, when TSLA missed across the board and soared (after guiding much better than expected) and META beat across the board but plunged (after guiding weaker than expected while boosting its spending forecast), moments ago two of the Mag7 giants, GOOGL and MSFT, both reported and this time there was far less drama: both beat, and saw their stock soaring after hours.
Focusing on Google parent Alphabet, Goldman said ahead of earnings that positioning here was not as excessive (at 7/10) which may be why the stock is soaring some 13% after the close on what otherwise appears to be a solid beat. Here are the details:
- EPS $1.89, beating estimate $1.53, and up more than 50% vs the $1.17 a year ago.
- Q1 Revenue $80.54 billion, beating the estimate of $79.04 billion, and up 15% YoY
- Google advertising revenue $61.66 billion, beating the estimate $60.18 billion
- YouTube ads revenue $8.09 billion, beating the estimate $7.73 billion
- Google Services revenue $70.40 billion, beating the estimate $69.06 billion
- Google Cloud revenue $9.57 billion, beating the estimate $9.37 billion
- Other Bets revenue $495 million, beating estimate $372.4 million
- Operating income $25.47 billion, beating estimate $22.4 billion
- Google Services operating income $27.90 billion, beating the estimate $24.3 billion
- Google Cloud operating income $900 million, beating the estimate $672.4 million
- Other Bets operating loss $1.02 billion, beating the estimate loss $1.12 billion
- Operating margin 32%, beating the estimate 28.6%
- Capital expenditure $12.01 billion, beating the estimate $10.32 billion
- Number of employees 180,895, down from 190,711
A quick point on YouTube: it was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion; YouTube now generates $1.65 billion of revenue every 18 days.
The results visually:
While Google's cloud numbers were stellar, with revenue rising from $7.5BN to $9.6BN, and beating estimates of $9.4BN, what investors wanted to hear was more about the company's progress on AI. This is what it had to say:
As announced on April 18, 2024, we are consolidating teams that focus on building artificial intelligence (AI) models across Google Research and Google DeepMind to further accelerate our progress in AI. AI model development teams previously under Google Research in our Google Services segment will be included as part of Google DeepMind, reported within Alphabet-level activities, prospectively beginning in the second quarter of 2024.
Like other Big Tech companies, Alphabet has been plowing money into developing artificial intelligence, a strategy that has helped drive demand for its cloud services, which saw revenue rise 28% in the first quarter. While Google remains a distant third in the cloud computing market, trailing Amazon and Microsoft, the company’s prowess in AI could help it close the gap.
Google has developed much of the underlying technology being used in the AI boom today, and has woven it into products from web search to its suite of enterprise software from Gmail to Google Docs. Yet ever since OpenAI’s ChatGPT was released in late 2022, Google has been battling the perception that it’s lagging behind Microsoft and OpenAI in rolling out new generative AI tools. The arrival of popular chatbots such as ChatGPT — which answers questions in a conversational tone rather than providing lists of links to other websites — has posed a threat to Google’s two-decade stranglehold on search. The company is struggling to compete in generative AI without cannibalizing its core profit machine.
Google has been scrambling to reassert its early lead in AI, after its early efforts were marred by embarrassing blunders, including a scandal over how its AI model Gemini handled race that forced the company to suspend image generation of people.
Commenting on the results, CFO Ruth Porat said: “Our strong financial results for the first quarter reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base. We delivered revenues of $80.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year, and operating margin expansion.”
It certainly delivered, and just to make sure the market rewarded it, the company not only announced the start of new cash dividend at 20 cents...
Alphabet’s Board of Directors today approved the initiation of a cash dividend program, and declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share that will be paid on June 17, 2024, to stockholders of record as of June 10, 2024, on each of the company’s Class A, Class B, and Class C shares.
... but also announced a new stock buyback program for $70 billion!
Alphabet’s Board of Directors today authorized the company to repurchase up to an additional $70.0 billion of its Class A and Class C shares in a manner deemed in the best interest of the company and its stockholders, taking into account the economic cost and prevailing market conditions, including the relative trading prices and volumes of the Class A and Class C shares.
While investors have shown they are excited about the prospects of AI, they want tech companies to continue to focus on revenue and profit in the meantime. Meta, which competes with Google in AI and also digital advertising, suffered its worst stock decline since October 2022 after reporting that it would spend billions of dollars more this year on AI efforts and projecting weaker revenue for the current quarter. For its part, Google - which does not do forecasts - paid $12BN in capex in the quarter, $1.7 billion more than estimated.
For all the hoopla about AI, search advertising remains the engine of Google’s lucrative business, and the company is facing heightened competition there, too. Meta has been seeding AI tools throughout its advertising business and Snap Inc. has also undergone a total revamp of its ad business to improve ad targeting. The digital ad market is recovering from a post-pandemic slump, buoyed by the Olympics Games this summer, but Google is increasingly vying for those ad dollars with Meta and Snap.
If consumers gravitate from Google search to the new wave of chatbots, that could imperil the company’s search advertising juggernaut, which is expected to generate nearly $200 billion in revenue this year and the bulk of Alphabet’s profit.
Cloud has been a bright spot for Google, after it first became profitable early last year. Many young AI startups are founded by former Google employees, creating a strong pipeline of cloud clients.For now, however, these concerns were on the backburner, with GOOGL stock exploding about 12% after hours, and trading at a new all time high.
- EPS $1.89, beating estimate $1.53, and up more than 50% vs the $1.17 a year ago.
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Site: Zero HedgeBiden Campaign To Remain On TikTok Even After Signing Bill To Ban AppTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:30
Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,
Despite the fact that Joe Biden signed into law a bill that will ban the Chinese social media app TikTok if its parent company does not sell it, his campaign will continue to use the app in the meantime.
As Fox News reports, campaign officials confirmed on Wednesday that the Biden campaign “will stay on TikTok,” even after Biden signed a massive foreign aid package which included the provision on TikTok.
The law requires ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app within nine months or else the app will be banned from use in the United States.
The law banning TikTok had been in the works on Capitol Hill for some time, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing national security concerns over TikTok’s close ties to the Chinese government, as well as privacy concerns regarding users’ personal data.
The provision to ban TikTok was included in the broader $95 billion foreign aid bill, which included money for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
A standalone bill on TikTok had stalled in the Senate, so Republicans simply worked the legislation into the overall aid package in order to guarantee its passage. The bill passed both houses with overwhelming support.
Whereas the original TikTok bill gave ByteDance six months to sell the app, the final version gives the company nine months to sell, thus setting the deadline after the November election.
If a sale is confirmed to be in the process, the legislation gives the company an extra three months to finalize the deal.
TikTok has refused to capitulate to the new law, repeatedly denying accusations of privacy breaches or being a national security threat.
“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” said Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, in a memo sent to all employees on Saturday.
“This is the beginning, not the end of this long process.”
Following the passage of the law, TikTok declared the new legislation to be “unconstitutional.”
“This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail.”
“This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans,” the statement continued. “As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired.”
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Site: Zero HedgeMicrosoft Surges As AI-Growth Drives Across-The-Board BeatTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:16
Investors can exhale after META's meltdown as MSFT just reported better-than-expected revenues in Q3 of $61.86 billion (estimate $60.87 billion).
All the business segments also beat expectations:
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Productivity and Business Processes revenue $19.57 billion, estimate $19.54 billion
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More Personal Computing revenue $15.58 billion, estimate $15.07 billion
With the AI-exposed segments strong:
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Microsoft Cloud revenue $35.1 billion, estimate $33.93 billion
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Intelligent Cloud revenue $26.71 billion, estimate $26.25 billion
“This quarter Microsoft Cloud revenue was $35.1 billion, up 23% year-over-year, driven by strong execution by our sales teams and partners,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.
Azure revenue gained 31% in the quarter, above an average prediction of 29%, picking up slightly from the 30% growth in the previous period.
“Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.
Investors are liking what they are seeing from the earnings so far with MSFT up around 5% after hours, erasing the META-driven losses during the day...
Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.
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Site: Zero HedgeMicrosoft Surges As AI-Growth Drives Across-The-Board BeatTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:16
Investors can exhale after META's meltdown as MSFT just reported better-than-expected revenues in Q3 of $61.86 billion (estimate $60.87 billion).
All the business segments also beat expectations:
-
Productivity and Business Processes revenue $19.57 billion, estimate $19.54 billion
-
More Personal Computing revenue $15.58 billion, estimate $15.07 billion
With the AI-exposed segments strong:
-
Microsoft Cloud revenue $35.1 billion, estimate $33.93 billion
-
Intelligent Cloud revenue $26.71 billion, estimate $26.25 billion
“This quarter Microsoft Cloud revenue was $35.1 billion, up 23% year-over-year, driven by strong execution by our sales teams and partners,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.
Azure revenue gained 31% in the quarter, above an average prediction of 29%, picking up slightly from the 30% growth in the previous period.
“Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.
Investors are liking what they are seeing from the earnings so far with MSFT up around 5% after hours, erasing the META-driven losses during the day...
Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.
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Site: The Remnant Newspaper
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Site: LifeNews
Today, Wisconsin Right to Life, Wisconsin Family Action, and Pro-Life Wisconsin joined together to block Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s pursuit to find a right to abortion in the Wisconsin Constitution. They are being represented by The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) and the Thomas More Society.
There is no right to abortion in the Wisconsin Constitution, and it is the role of Wisconsin’s elected legislature to create policy on abortion.
LifeNews is on GETTR. Please follow us for the latest pro-life news
All three pro-life organizations have been working for years to offer alternatives to abortion and help Wisconsin women make life-affirming decisions.
In response, Heather Weininger, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life stated, “We celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the opportunity to address the question of life at a state level through our elected state legislature. While we as pro-life advocates are fighting for protections for preborn children and their mothers, radical pro-abortion providers are trying to bypass the legislative process and weaponize the court system to enshrine abortion access on demand. They are putting the lives of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable at risk.”
Christine File, President of Wisconsin Family Action stated, “Planned Parenthood invites the Wisconsin Supreme Court to flout Dobbs, usurp the state legislature’s role to create law, and ‘find’ a novel constitutional right to abortion. Wisconsin’s history and law has protected women and pre-born babies since before statehood. The purpose of government is to secure rights, including the foundational human right to life. Scientifically, it is undeniable that there are two lives at stake here: the woman’s and the pre-born baby’s. The Supreme Court is not the proper venue to create health and safety law nor the proper mechanism to add a constitutional amendment. The legislature is the proper body to weigh the policy considerations and create law, not the Court.”
Dan Miller, State Director at Pro-Life Wisconsin stated, “Finding a right to abortion in our state constitution, where there clearly is none, would be the most extreme form of legislating from the bench. Tens of thousands of lives are at stake. All our common-sense pro-life laws, including an ultrasound requirement and 24-hour waiting period, that protect women and their preborn children would likely fall. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in Dobbs that there is no federal constitutional right to abortion. Nothing in Wisconsin’s constitution or the history of our state would remotely suggest such a right. We implore the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reject Planned Parenthood’s radical and self-serving plans.”
The post Pro-Life Groups Oppose Measure to Make Abortion a “Constitutional Right” in Wisconsin appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeStagflation Signal Slams Stocks & Bonds; Bullion & Black Gold BidTyler Durden Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:00
Overall, US macro data has suddenly started to disappoint (not the least of which was today's ugly GDP print)...
Source: Bloomberg
But, while 'bad news' for the economy has recently been 'good news' for stocks (enables an easier Fed), today's data 'punched that narrative in the face' with Core PCE price index in Q1 soaring considerably more than expected. And here's the problem - inflation expectations are surging at the same time as growth expectations are sliding - the nemesis of every central banker is upon us: STAGFLATION.
It's been a theme all year but recently has become so much more pronounced that not even the best 'spinners' can ignore...
Source: Bloomberg
And that sent rate-cut expectations plummeting to cycle lows (and took June completely off the table for a cut)(
Source: Bloomberg
Combine the ugly macro data with some ugly micro (META) and Goldman's trading desk noted overall flow was skewed better to sell:
LO’s driving more of the supply here with a -3% sell skew. An outlier is that we are seeing very real demand in AAPL from both HF and L/O community. META seeing very little defense from L/O . Overall activity from the group feels muted.
In the HF community we are slightly better to buy. Very notable that in macro products, short ratios are elevated to 75%. We are seeing cover buying in the Tech.
Overall, the majors were all lower close to close, but well off their knee-jerk lows from the GDP/PCE data... The Dow was the laggard on the day (with IBM & CAT the biggest points drag). The rest of the majors were all equally pummeled (though we do note that Nasdaq is still up over 2% on the week)...
The initial puked slammed The Dow and Nasdaq back below their 100DMAs and the ramp-fest back up to that critical technical level, but that couldn't hold into the close...
As you'd expect, given META's meltdown, the basket of MAG7 stocks was ugly out of the gate - and ended red - but staged a decent comeback during the day...
Source: Bloomberg
And 'most shorted' stocks followed a similar trajectory - squeezing higher after an ugly open...
Source: Bloomberg
Tech stocks overall ended marginally lower, Energy outperformed while Real Estate and Healthcare lagged...
Source: Bloomberg
Treasuries were clubbed like a baby seal on the macro data and pulled back only modestly during the day with the short-end and belly underperforming the long-end...
Source: Bloomberg
2Y Yields broke above 5.00% AGAIN... but were unable to close above it AGAIN...
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar spiked immediately higher on the GDP data, but as the day wore on, the dollar bled back its gains to end lower on the day...
Source: Bloomberg
Gold prices rallied on the day, shrugging off the vol in the dollar...
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin managed gain on the day after overnight weakness...
Source: Bloomberg
Crude prices managed solid gains after early weakness with WTI rallying back up towards $84...
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, we are down to the vinegar strokes of the week with GOOGL & MSFT tonight, and PCE tomorrow...
Source: Bloomberg
...and don't forget The Fed next week where no action is expected, but the words may speak even louder this time.
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Site: LifeNews
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) and others spoke Thursday against a proposed measure to enshrine unlimited abortion in the Minnesota Constitution (the so-called Equal Rights Amendment). MCCL also discussed a 7-figure media campaign launched this week, which includes a TV and digital ad currently running (titled “Way Out There”).
“Minnesotans across the state are having new conversations about the truth of abortion. The truth about abortions on viable babies. The truth about abortions on babies who can feel excruciating pain,” said MCCL Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser. “And they are stepping forward with us to say, “No. This is not our values. This is not who Minnesota is.”
“I am deeply concerned that the new Equal Rights Amendment being proposed says nothing about religious or conscience rights,” said Mohamed Amin Ahmed, the communications director for the Republican People of Color in Minnesota. “These are very important to all people of faith, and to all Muslims.”
“Latino families and Latino women love their children, born and unborn,” noted Cristina Zaczkowski, who does Latino outreach with MCCL. “We think it is doubly offensive to put [abortion] in an Equal Rights Amendment, which is supposed to protect women. … Latinas and all people in our culture will fight for the children we love, for the values we treasure.”
LifeNews is on GETTR. Please follow us for the latest pro-life news
“I want to say, as an Ojibwe person, we do not believe in abortion,” said Donna Bergstrom, the deputy chair of the Republican Party. “In Ojibwe there’s not even a word for abortion because the concept doesn’t exist for us. We are people that respect the Creator, and the Creator has given that life to that mother.”
“We have abortion in this state legal up to and including the day of birth,” added Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover). “It’s not fiction. And I just really feel like that’s not where women of this state are.”
Minnesota law already allows abortion without limits, but the version of the ERA proposed by groups like Gender Justice and ERA Minnesota would enshrine it into the Constitution and prevent future lawmakers from enacting even commonsense abortion policies. The proposal also excludes language safeguarding conscience and religious rights, removing protection for “creed” that was included in a previous version.
The post Minnesota Citizens Speak Out Against Amendment Allowing Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: RT - News
Pedro Sanchez says he needs a time-out as his wife faces inquiry over influence peddling
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife.
The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government.
“I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking myself: Is it worth it for me to remain [in office] in spite of the right and far-right’s mudslinging?” the PM wrote, explaining the decision on what he called “unprecedented slander and harassment.”
The announcement came hours after Spanish media reported that a Madrid judge had launched a preliminary investigation into whether the PM’s wife, Begona Gomez, had used her government connections to further her private business interests.
Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 24, 2024The court did not give details of the accusations against Gomez other than to say it had begun investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption on April 16.
Read more
Spain to end golden visa program
The complaint against Gomez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, who have taken part in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years. The platform is reportedly led by a man linked to the far right.
Manos Limpias put out a statement on Thursday acknowledging that its allegations might be false, because they were based on online newspaper reports. “If they are not true, it will be up to those that published them to take responsibility for the falsehood,” the platform claimed.
According to media reports, Madrid’s prosecuting authority on Thursday requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Gomez.
Sanchez said his wife would defend her honor and work with the judiciary to make clear there is no substance to the allegations against her.
-
Site: RT - News
Pedro Sanchez says he needs a time-out as his wife faces inquiry over influence peddling
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife.
The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government.
“I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking myself: Is it worth it for me to remain [in office] in spite of the right and far-right’s mudslinging?” the PM wrote, explaining the decision on what he called “unprecedented slander and harassment.”
The announcement came hours after Spanish media reported that a Madrid judge had launched a preliminary investigation into whether the PM’s wife, Begona Gomez, had used her government connections to further her private business interests.
Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 24, 2024The court did not give details of the accusations against Gomez other than to say it had begun investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption on April 16.
Read more
Spain to end golden visa program
The complaint against Gomez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, who have taken part in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years. The platform is reportedly led by a man linked to the far right.
Manos Limpias put out a statement on Thursday acknowledging that its allegations might be false, because they were based on online newspaper reports. “If they are not true, it will be up to those that published them to take responsibility for the falsehood,” the platform claimed.
According to media reports, Madrid’s prosecuting authority on Thursday requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Gomez.
Sanchez said his wife would defend her honor and work with the judiciary to make clear there is no substance to the allegations against her.
-
Site: RT - News
Pedro Sanchez says he needs a time-out as his wife faces inquiry over influence peddling
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife.
The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government.
“I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking myself: Is it worth it for me to remain [in office] in spite of the right and far-right’s mudslinging?” the PM wrote, explaining the decision on what he called “unprecedented slander and harassment.”
The announcement came hours after Spanish media reported that a Madrid judge had launched a preliminary investigation into whether the PM’s wife, Begona Gomez, had used her government connections to further her private business interests.
Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 24, 2024The court did not give details of the accusations against Gomez other than to say it had begun investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption on April 16.
Read more
Spain to end golden visa program
The complaint against Gomez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, who have taken part in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years. The platform is reportedly led by a man linked to the far right.
Manos Limpias put out a statement on Thursday acknowledging that its allegations might be false, because they were based on online newspaper reports. “If they are not true, it will be up to those that published them to take responsibility for the falsehood,” the platform claimed.
According to media reports, Madrid’s prosecuting authority on Thursday requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Gomez.
Sanchez said his wife would defend her honor and work with the judiciary to make clear there is no substance to the allegations against her.
-
Site: RT - News
Pedro Sanchez says he needs a time-out as his wife faces inquiry over influence peddling
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife.
The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government.
“I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking myself: Is it worth it for me to remain [in office] in spite of the right and far-right’s mudslinging?” the PM wrote, explaining the decision on what he called “unprecedented slander and harassment.”
The announcement came hours after Spanish media reported that a Madrid judge had launched a preliminary investigation into whether the PM’s wife, Begona Gomez, had used her government connections to further her private business interests.
Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 24, 2024The court did not give details of the accusations against Gomez other than to say it had begun investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption on April 16.
Read more
Spain to end golden visa program
The complaint against Gomez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, who have taken part in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years. The platform is reportedly led by a man linked to the far right.
Manos Limpias put out a statement on Thursday acknowledging that its allegations might be false, because they were based on online newspaper reports. “If they are not true, it will be up to those that published them to take responsibility for the falsehood,” the platform claimed.
According to media reports, Madrid’s prosecuting authority on Thursday requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Gomez.
Sanchez said his wife would defend her honor and work with the judiciary to make clear there is no substance to the allegations against her.
-
Site: Catholic ConclaveCathcon: They could not have thought of a more ironic title if they tried.Find out just how much scandal is associated with Father RupnikAnd below the Global Jesuits are still celebrating his work. It is not an accident; they do know, as the comments are turned off. Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
Former FBI special agent John Guandolo (center) with two possible active FBI special agents at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Illustration by The Epoch Times, U.S. Capitol Police/Graphic by The Epoch Times)
William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, carries an American flag just inside the Senate Wing Door at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Capitol Police/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Former FBI special agent John Guandolo with suspected FBI agents Colleague 1 and Colleague 2, along with an unidentified man labeled in court filings as Colleague 3, on the Southwest Walk of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Capitol Police/Graphic by The Epoch Times)
Metropolitan Police Department undercover detectives Ricardo Leiva and Michael Callahan were part of a three-man Electronic Surveillance Unit team at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. District Court/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
File image, Maritime Executive
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