'God Of Darkness' Asteroid Will Pass Extremely Close To Earth In 2029

Authored by Leslie Eastman via LegalInsurrection.com,

Asteroid Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction, is a near-Earth asteroid that has garnered significant attention due to its close approach to our home planet.

Discovered in 2004, Apophis is classified as a potentially hazardous object. Due to swing close enough to the planet in 2029, the gravitational influence will be enough to cause tremors.

A recent study led by Ronald-Louis Ballouz from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory suggests that the asteroid 99942 Apophis may experience tremors—similar to earthquakes—due to Earth’s gravitational pull during its close flyby on April 13, 2029, with simulations indicating significant surface changes.

Apophis, approximately 340 meters in size, will pass within about 32,000 kilometers of Earth, closer than many satellites in orbit.

When Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004, by Roy Tucker, David Tholen, and Fabrizio Bernardi during the University of Hawaii Asteroid Survey (UHAS), initial calculations indicated that it could approach Earth with a risk of collision, especially during its pass in 2029. It didn’t help that it is named after the Egyptian god of darkness and chaos.

The original estimates for collision were as high as 2.7%, and Apophis achieved the highest rating ever on the ‘Torino scale’ – a method used to evaluate the threat that an asteroid poses to Earth.

However, new calculations and observations have led scientists to conclude that there will be no impact….for at least 100 years.

….Using the data available at the time, astronomers believed that there was a chance that the flyby could alter the trajectory of Apophis in a way that would line it up for a collision with Earth in 2068.

However, radar observations of Apophis made by NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California and the Green Bank Observatory, West Virginia, in March 2021 greatly improved our knowledge of the asteroid’s current orbit and allowed astronomers to finally rule out any chance of Earth impact for at least 100 years.

And while it won’t strike Earth, Apophis will be bright enough in the skies to be visible to the unaided eye. So, the viewing parties could be fun!

As I mentioned, the viewing parties of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are currently making their own plans for up-close-and-personal observations.

The OSIRIS-APEX mission is slated to visit the asteroid. It continues the OSIRIS-REx mission, which successfully collected and returned samples from asteroid Bennu (which I reported on in a 2023 post).

OSIRIS-APEX is a mission to study the physical changes to asteroid Apophis that will result from its rare close encounter with Earth in April 2029. That year, Apophis’ orbit will bring it within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of Earth’s surface — closer to Earth than our highest-altitude satellites. Our planet’s gravitational pull is expected to alter the asteroid’s orbit, change how fast it spins on its axis, and possibly cause quakes or landslides that will alter its surface.

OSIRIS-APEX will allow scientists on Earth to observe these changes. Additionally, the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft will dip toward the surface of Apophis ­– a “stony” asteroid made of silicate (or rocky) material and a mixture of metallic nickel and iron ­ – and fire its engines to kick up loose rocks and dust. This maneuver will give scientists a peek at the composition of material just below the asteroid’s surface.

Other satellite projects, including those related to planetary defense, are also being planned.

Under the auspicious “NEAlight” project, a team from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) and led by space engineer Hakan Kayal has revealed three concepts for such spacecraft. Each of the suggested satellites will aim to exploit this asteroid passage because Earth experiences just once such event every millennium.

The goal? To collect data that could help scientists better understand the solar system, and perhaps even aid in the development of defense measures against dangerous asteroids.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 22:45

Airlines Charge Billions In 'Junk Fees' To Boost Revenue: Senate Report

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

As millions of Americans prepare for record-setting air travel this holiday season, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) released a report on Nov. 26 detailing the growing reliance of major airlines on ancillary fees.

A plane sits on the tarmac at San Francisco International Airport in California on June 10, 2015. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

These charges, sometimes referred to as “junk fees,” have become a vital revenue stream for the airlines while travelers “confront more and increasingly complex fees and fewer options for avoiding them,” according to the report.

The report, led by the chairman of the subcommittee, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), examines practices by American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines.

It highlights the use of dynamic pricing, incentive programs, and other strategies the committee said are used to generate revenue from services that were previously included in ticket prices.

“Our investigation has exposed new details about airlines exploiting passengers with sky high junk fees,” Blumenthal said in a statement accompanying the report. “As we head into the Thanksgiving weekend, we regret that travelers will be charged millions of dollars in fees that have no basis in cost to the airlines but simply fatten their bottom lines.”

Among the findings, the report revealed that Spirit and Frontier paid $26 million to gate agents and personnel between 2022 and 2023 for enforcing baggage policies.

These incentives were designed to identify passengers who exceed baggage allowances, often leading to additional fees, the report stated. Frontier agents, for example, can earn up to $10 per bag flagged for a fee at the gate.

The report also explored how airlines use algorithms to adjust ancillary fees based on customer data. This approach allows fees for services like seat selection to vary significantly, even on the same flight.

Between 2018 and 2023, the five airlines generated $12.4 billion in seat fee revenue, with some charges reaching as high as $899 for premium seats.

The subcommittee further noted that these fees are not consistently tied to the airlines’ costs of providing the associated services. Airlines reported that they do not maintain granular cost data to calculate the expenses of baggage handling or seat assignments, raising questions about fee transparency.

In some cases, airlines classify charges as “optional” services to avoid federal transportation taxes, which are applied to the airfare. The report found that such practices create inconsistencies in how services are taxed across carriers, potentially complicating price comparisons for travelers.

Executives from the five airlines are scheduled to testify before the subcommittee on Dec. 4 during a hearing titled “The Sky’s the Limit—New Revelations About Airline Fees.” Topics for discussion include consumer complaints about fee practices and potential measures to improve transparency and fairness in airline pricing.

Delta and American Airlines referred The Epoch Times to industry lobbyist group Airlines for America (A4A) for a comment, who said they were deeply disappointed in the report.

“The report demonstrates a clear failure by the subcommittee to understand the value the highly competitive U.S. airline industry brings to customers and employees,” A4A told The Epoch Times. “Rather, the report serves as just another holiday travel talking point.”

A4A defended the use of ancillary fees, stating that these charges provide consumers with greater flexibility and affordability.

The lobbyist group said that modern air travel is more accessible than ever, a development they attribute to pricing models that allow travelers to pay only for the services they need.

A4A further noted that airlines fully disclose fees at the time of purchase and comply with all laws and regulations, including those governing taxes and fees, which can comprise over twenty percent of ticket prices. They described any suggestions of noncompliance as “uninformed and inaccurate.”

Delta in a separate emailed statement said: “Delta looks forward to the continued dialogue with the Subcommittee including appearing at next week’s hearing. For more than a year, Delta has voluntarily responded to the Subcommittee’s sweeping requests, including providing documents and information, responding to numerous rounds of requests and follow-ons, and providing a senior level employee and subject matter expert at the Subcommittee’s request for a lengthy interview to discuss ancillary fees.”

Spirit Airlines told The Epoch Times that the company has “a long history of offering affordable, low-fare flights, which has made travel more accessible for the public.”

“We are transparent about our products and pricing, our airport policies ensure Guests are treated fairly and equally, and we comply with all tax laws and regulations. We respectfully disagree with numerous statements and conclusions contained in the report.”

Spirit said they look forward to explaining their position at the December hearing and believe that it’s “time to come together and discuss meaningful initiatives that would even the playing field between larger and smaller airlines to benefit all travelers, including those who rely on airlines like Spirit.”

United Airlines declined to comment to The Epoch Times. Delta and Frontier Airlines did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 21:00

Trump Nominates Kash Patel For FBI Director

After weeks of speculation, President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he's picked Kash Patel to replace Christopher Wray as the head of the FBI.

Patel has been a longtime critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency's Washington headquarters, cleaning house when it comes to top leadership, and bringing the nation's law enforcement agencies "to heel."

Kash Patel is no stranger to tackling big roles. He’s worked across defense, intelligence, and counterterrorism—now he might become CIA chief under Trump! What would a CIA led by Patel look like? pic.twitter.com/rP71IOTCsf

— Restricted Daily (@Restricted_on_X) November 12, 2024

According to a Saturday post to Truth Social, Trump called Patel a "brilliant lawyer, investigator, and “America First” fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People."

"He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution," Trump continued.

Patel has been open about what kind of changes he'd pursue if given the chance. His various proposals include reducing the FBI's footprint in Washington and “dramatically” limiting its authority. He hopes to curb the power of the Justice Department's Civil Division and jettison a Pentagon office that produces classified assessments of long-term trends and risks, arguing it is just a tool of the “deep state.”

Patel has said he also intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters, and change the law to make it easier to sue journalists. During an interview with Steve Bannon in December, Patel said he and others “will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media.” -AP

Patel has served as both a federal prosecutor and a public defender, and filled a number of administrative roles at the tail end of Trump's first term, including on the National Security Council and in the Pentagon.

And in a sign this is a good move - in 2021 when Trump floated Patel for deputy director of the CIA or the FBI, former AG William Barr said that would happen "over my dead body."

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said that no part of the FBI would be "safe" with Patel in a leadership position.

MELTDOWN: The fact that disgraced Andrew McCabe is against Kash taking over the FBI shows up that Kash is EXACTLY the correct person for the job. pic.twitter.com/YbDdj9LGXP

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 1, 2024

In response, Patel told the Washington Post: "Those calling me a danger, let’s just ask them for a proof, a piece of evidence that actually shows I’ve committed any constitutional violations or any ethical quandaries, and I’d love to hear their response to this."

Current FBI Director Christopher Wray will now either have to resign or be fired, assuming Patel makes it through Senate confirmation.

And as noted above, Patel has vowed to investigate and possibly prosecute regime-puppet journalists.

"Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections — we’re going to come after you," Patel said last year. "Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out."

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 20:25

Australian Senate Passes 'World First' Law Banning Under 16 Kids From Social Media

Authored by Monica O'Shea via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Late into the night on Nov. 28, the Australian Senate passed a “world first” law that bans under 16-year-old children from accessing social media.

The new law, once in effect, means young Australians will be barred from accessing platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, and X—age verification technology will be implemented by the Big Tech firms to ensure compliance.

AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Certain social media programs will be allowed, including YouTube and educational apps.

The centre-left Labor government achieved passage of the Bill with support from the centre-right Liberal-National Coalition amid a blitz of Bills on the last sitting day of Parliament in 2024.

The ban passed the lower house a day earlier.

Keeping Phones From Kids Unrealistic: Senator

Liberal Senator Dave Sharma speaking in the Senate on Nov. 28, argued that parents need assistance managing social media for children.

“I think parents need help with this, and this is why I think there is a case for government intervention,” he said.

“Partly because parents have to grapple with the ubiquity of phones and electronic devices, and the crude measure that some suggest—which is take away your kid’s phone, or give them a non-smartphone without adding any apps—I don’t think is particularly realistic,” Sharma said.

“I think in today’s era we expect our children to be able to be contacted and be contactable, and this is especially true in situations in many households today where both parents are working, and they are often not home when the children might be home or coming home from school.”

Sharma added he did not discount that there were some benefits to children using social media, providing a way for them to stay in touch and stay connected.

“We all saw this during the COVID pandemic, when our children weren’t going to school and they stayed in touch through messaging platforms, through social media platforms, and it allows them to build and maintain a social circle,” he said.

“I also appreciate that the people who are isolated geographically or socially or otherwise, it provides them a way to build a community which might not be available to them in the real world.

Greens Oppose

Greens Senator David Shoebridge, however, described the bill as “deeply flawed” and was a proposal that appeared to come from people who have “never been on the internet.”

“It’s a bill to appease [media mogul] Rupert Murdoch,” he claimed.

Shoebridge also described the short Senate inquiry into the legislation as a “sham” and said the evidence against a social media ban was “overwhelming.”

Labor Minister Jenny McAllister noted the law would not come into force for a year, emphasising that keeping “Australians safe online” was a top priority of the government.

“Through extensive consultation and with the input of states and territories, the government is agreeing that until a child turns 16, the social media environment as it stands is not age-appropriate for them,” the speech said (pdf).

“Critically, this legislation will allow for a twelve-month implementation period—to ensure this novel and world-leading reform can take effect with the care and consideration Australian’s rightly expect.”

What Social Media Companies Will Be Impacted?

The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, which will come into force within a year, will require social media platforms to take “reasonable steps” to stop Australian children from holding an account.

“The penalty amounts are intentionally large, which reflects the significance of the harms the Bill is intended to safeguard against,” the government said in its explanatory memorandum (pdf).

“It will also strongly signal the expectation that age-restricted social media platforms treat the minimum age obligation seriously.”

Companies that do not comply face fines of up to $49.5 million (US$32 million).

Social media platforms will also need to roll out technology to verify the minimum age of users.

“The Bill does not dictate how platforms must comply with the minimum age obligation,” the explanatory memorandum states.

“However, it is expected that at a minimum, the obligation will require platforms to implement some form of age assurance as a means of identifying whether a prospective or existing account holder is an Australian child under the age of 16 years.”

X Corporation’s Concerns With Legislation

X Corporation raised concerns about the legality of the legislation and failure to incentivise parents, in a submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee.

“We have serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the Bill, including its compatibility with other regulations and laws, including international human rights treaties to which Australia is a signatory, as further detailed below,” X said in a submission (pdf).

“By design, the Bill ignores the realities of the wider technology ecosystem and goes as far as to exclude entire industries and parts of society, including parents and caregivers, all of whom should be motivated and supported to work together to keep young Australians safe online.”

Billionaire Elon Musk also weighed into the debate on the social media ban personally on Nov. 21, responding to a post from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touting the ban.

“Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians,” Musk posted to X, in reference to the possible rollout of a national ID or age verification technology.

Catholic School Parents in Favour

The Senate Committee also heard views in favour of the bill, with the New South Wales government presenting a survey of 21,000 people that showed 87 percent of people supported a minimum age standard for social media.

Catholic school parents in Western Australia also argued that social media could impact children’s behaviour.

“Parents are worried that children and young people are becoming desensitised to some of the content that they are seeing, and that it is leading to a distorted understanding of some serious topics,” the advocacy group told the inquiry.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 19:50

Majority Will Rely On Financing For Black-Friday/Cyber-Monday Despite Discounts

Millennials are the most likely among the four generations to resort to financing with credit cards or Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) schemes for this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases, while only 55 percent of Baby Boomers will likely resort to these tactics to take full advantage of discounts offered by e-commerce platforms and retailers.

This data stems from a Deloitte consumer survey conducted in October 2024.

As Statista's Florian Zandt details below, among all financing methods surveyed, credit cards were the most popular at 53 percent respondent share.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Despite shoppers planning to stretch their budget either by paying at a later date or shouldering more credit card debt, the survey results suggest that average per-consumer spending will increase to $650 for the period between Thanksgiving Thursday and Cyber Monday.

This spending expectation is seemingly unaffected by the multiple crises like the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic influencing the world's economy; since 2019, spending has increased at a compound growth rate of almost ten percent per year.

While annual credit card payments have shot past 50 billion transactions in 2022, schemes like BNPL have only recently become popular. According to Worldpay's 2024 Global Payments Report, BNPL was utilized for five percent of domestic e-commerce payments in the U.S., up three percentage points from 2020.

Out of the 41 countries and territories surveyed, BNPL was especially popular in Sweden, Germany and Norway with e-commerce purchase shares of 21, 21 and 15 percent. Sweden ranking as highly is unsurprising, since Klarna, one of the premier BNPL providers, was founded in 2005 in Sweden's capital of Stockholm.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 19:15

Canadian Town Fined And Mayor Sent For Compulsory Education After Failing To Hoist Pride Flag

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

CBC News is reporting that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the small town of  Emo to pay damages after failing to hoist an “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag” in celebration of Pride Month. One problem is that the town of fewer than 2000 inhabitants does not have a flagpole (though you could presumably “show the flag” in other ways).

The National Post reports, that there has been a lengthy arbitration process between the tribunal and the town.

In a decision handed down last week, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that Emo, its mayor, and two councilors violated the Ontario Human Rights Code. The tribunal admitted in a later opinion that “the record indicated the Township did not receive many requests for declarations or proclamations or requests for display of a flag.”

Indeed, in a single 12-month period, they received only four — two from Borderland Pride.

Emo does not have a central flagpole, other than the Canadian flag over the front door of the Emo Municipal Office.

One issue that factored greatly in the tribunal hearings occurred during the debate over the flag proposal, which the council rejected by a vote of three to two. In the meeting. Mayor Harold McQuaker stated, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin … there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”

Doug Judson, a lawyer and a member of Borderland Pride’s board of directors, said that “the important thing we were seeking here was validation … as 2SLGBTQA plus people.”

The tribunal ruled that Borderland Pride will be awarded $15,000, with $10,000 coming from the township and $5,000 from Emo mayor Harold McQuaker.

At first, the fine against “McQuaker” in the town of “Emo” for failing to hoist an “LGBTQ2 rainbow flag” on a non-existent flagpole seemed too contrived.

However, the mayor of Emo is a McQuaker, and the Canadian press is standing by the story.

For years, the Canadian human rights tribunals have been the spearhead of the anti-free speech movement. We have previously discussed the tribunals (here, here, and here) in such controversies.

Not only must the town pay the fines, but McQuaker and Emo’s chief administrative officer were ordered to complete an online course called “Human Rights 101” and “provide proof of completion … to Borderland Pride within 30 days” as recompense for their disobedience.

The Post report notes the course being offered by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The animated video begins with what McQuaker must feel is a tad Orwellian with a statement that the Human Rights Code “is not meant to punish.” After all, being retrained to be a better human can hardly be viewed as punishment.

Hoist that on your nonexistent flagpole.

*  *  *

Here is the opinion: Ontario Human Rights Tribunal 

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 18:40

Rumble Sues California; Says State's "War Against Political Speech Is Censorship"

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Video streaming site Rumble has filed a lawsuit against the state of California in response to legislation forcing social media platforms to censor political speech.

Rumble is being represented by The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which filed suit against AB 2655, aka the “Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024,” in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division.

The legislation is Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s response to a deepfake satire video of Kamala Harris that was shared on X by Elon Musk among others.

JUST IN: Elon Musk tells CA Governor Gavin Newsom to "Suggon Deeznutz" after Newsom threatened to change the law to make AI “ad” voices illegal.

Newsom was upset over a parody video (below) that Musk shared on X.

"Manipulating a voice in an “ad” like this one should be illegal.… pic.twitter.com/19MYrk21rr

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 29, 2024

ADF stated in a press release that the law “deputizes” Rumble to restrict its user’s free speech, while another law, AB 2839, “Protecting Democracy Against Election Disinformation and Deepfakes,” uses vague standards to punish individuals posting political content about elections.

“California’s war against political speech is censorship, plain and simple. We can’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler.

“Rumble is one of the few online voices stepping up against this trend of censorship while other platforms and sites cave to totalitarian regimes censoring Americans,” Sechler further urged.

He added that “Rumble is standing for free speech even when it is hard. Other online platforms and media companies must see these laws for what they are — a threat to their existence.”

Chris Pavlovski, Chairman and CEO of Rumble, further urged that “The very thought of the government judging the content of political speech, and then deciding whether it should be permitted, censored, or eliminated altogether is about the most chilling thing you could imagine.”

“Rumble
will always celebrate freedom and support creative independence, so we’re delighted to work with ADF to help protect lawful online expression,” Pavlovski asserted.

The Democratic Party is pushing hard to enact laws that force censorship.

As both Hillary and Bill Clinton have noted, its a response to them losing ‘total control’ over the free flow of information.

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 17:30

NFL, NBA Issue "Security Alert" After Migrant Gangs Target Players' Mansions

America's top professional sports leagues have warned players about the growing threat of illegal alien criminal gangs targeting their mansions. This comes after a string of break-ins of athletes' homes, including Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. 

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero published a note about how the sports league issued a "security alert" to teams after "organized and skilled criminals" targeted players' homes. 

Pelissero continued:

Sources say the FBI is investigating the crime wave as international organized crime. The league, the NFL Players Association and team security forces also have been monitoring the crime spree, which is believed to be tied to a South American crime syndicate. At least one other current NFL player's home was burglarized in the past week.

"It's legit," said one source familiar with the situation. "It's a transnational crime ring, and over the last three weeks, they've focused on NBA and NFL players, and it's all over the country."

...

The homes of Mahomes and Kelce were burglarized on consecutive days last month in the Kansas City area. The Minnesota home of former Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph, who now plays for the Dallas Cowboys, was part of a series of burglaries last weekend, according to police.

Multiple people with knowledge of the crimes said the perpetrators are nonconfrontational and do not burglarize homes while residents are inside. Instead, they use public records to find players' addresses and conduct extensive surveillance. Then, by tracking team schedules and the social media accounts of players and their families, they wait until homes are empty -- often during games -- and gain access and quickly steal items such as cash, jewelry, watches and handbags, focusing mainly on master bedrooms and closets.

The alert issued on Wednesday by NFL Security confirmed the modus operandi and offered a number of recommendations, including not posting in real time on social media, installing security systems and keeping valuables out of plain sight.

Separately, NBC News confirmed a memo sent by the NBA to teams, citing FBI intelligence, about crimes linked to "transnational South American Theft Groups" that target "professional athletes and other high-net-worth individuals."

South American gangs are now robbing NFL player's mansions...

They're targeting the homes during games when no one is there.

I can't wait for mass deportations to start on January 20. pic.twitter.com/hzBk1HH8QU

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) November 29, 2024

An alarming trend of illegal alien crimes has spread nationwide to major cities because of the Biden-Harris administration's nation-killing open southern border invasion (championed by globalists) that rolled out the red carpet to ten-plus million unvetted migrants. 

One of the worst transnational South American gangs is Tren de Aragua, spreading across the nation like stage four cancer, setting up operations in major cities. 

Source: NYPost

Just months ago, investigative reporter James O'Keefe published a US Army North Division memo that warned an estimated 5,000 TdA gangsters were in the US. We suspect that number is a lot higher. 

The American people have given President-elect Donald Trump and incoming Border Czar Tom Homan a mandate to fix this illegal alien invasion crisis. It's time to hold accountable those who rolled out the red carpet for dangerous illegal aliens.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 16:55

Schedule F: Trump's Plan A For Emptying The Swamp

Authored by Tim Donner via Liberty Nation news,

Ever since Election Day, much talk has focused on President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments – in record time – of his Cabinet, advisors, and agency directors. This new administration is a diverse mix, but they all have one thing in common: The returning president sees them as loyal to him and his outsized agenda.

But what about all the other, more entrenched denizens of DC?

Enter Schedule F – Trump’s bold plan to “drain the Swamp.”

Washington is abuzz with the extraordinary diversity of beliefs among the new designees. This is far from typical for incoming presidents, who ordinarily populate their administrations with political veterans in lockstep with their ideology. But after assembling a largely forgettable team upon his arrival in DC as a novice in 2017, the road-tested 47th president has broken the mold, as is his wont, by selecting Republicans and Democrats, hawks and doves, neoconservatives and populists, corporatists and unionists, insiders and outsiders.

Trump’s most famously ambitious objective, however, is to drain and ultimately empty the DC swamp of its unelected, unaccountable, and obstructionist bureaucrats who can thwart the will of the president, as they did so often during his first administration. The arrogance of these supercilious apparatchiks is due to the iron-clad protections they enjoy as civil servants. They cannot be fired no matter their behavior, except in the rarest of circumstances. Presidents come and go, they tell themselves, but we will outlast them all and can act accordingly.

Trump and the “All of Government” Edict

You may recall the so-called “all-of-government” approach to the DEI agenda during the current administration, where the goal of equity must be embraced and adopted not only in social planning and policies but across all agencies and cabinet departments. Well, the incoming president will employ that same broad, sweeping approach to weeding out the most unproductive and recalcitrant employees among the federal government’s 2.2 million-strong civilian workforce. And while DOGE – the newly formed non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency to be headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – has been the talk of Washington, it faces severe limits in its attempts to affect systemic reform. No less than 60% of the government’s $6.8 trillion budget is “non-discretionary” and largely untouchable because it is devoted to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the exploding national debt, now more than $36 trillion. Another 13% is devoted to defense, which Trump has pledged to increase. Thus, Musk’s stated goal of cutting $2 trillion in unnecessary federal spending will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

However, taking an axe to the bloated budget ultimately figures to have less permanent impact than Trump’s audacious plans to alter the federal government’s modus operandi and its entrenched culture. The linchpin for his game-changing reforms is reinstating the innocuous-sounding Schedule F, instituted by Trump in the waning days of his first term but immediately reversed by Joe Biden upon taking office. It will empower massive changes in the bureaucracy, re-classifying thousands of careerists as political appointees. It refers to a section of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, exempting some federal employees from civil service protections, specifically those “whose position has been determined to be of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating character.” Under Trump’s plan, the number of such employees would jump from roughly 4,000 to about 50,000, signaling a sea change in the way Washington does business.

The outgoing Biden administration, deeply fearful of Trump’s bold plans to upend the DC establishment, is working overtime to “Trump-proof” (as much as possible) the federal government, hoping to minimize the damage to its familiar and comfortable way of life.

The Downside of Schedule F

The danger inherent in Schedule F is the likelihood that the next Democratic president could use the same expanded executive control over the bureaucracy to reverse course from Trump and bring in committed progressives who could do even more damage than the present embedded bureaucrats. So, to make these plans stick beyond Trump’s next term, his administration might attempt to move one or more executive agencies out of Washington. This would wrench thousands of civil servants out of their comfort zone, likely leading to a significant number of resignations by those accustomed to life inside the DC beltway.

Despite setting a risky precedent that could backfire on Republicans in the years ahead, Trump is focused on the here and now, believing the addition of Schedule F will force permanent structural change on what has effectively become a fourth branch of government, namely, the administrative state. Everyday Americans have complained about federal bureaucratic hegemony for as long as we can remember, but now they will finally have a president in place with specific plans to do something about it.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 16:20

Commercial Real Estate Bond Distress Reaches Record High

Via SchiffGold.com,

From the national debt to negative jobs reports, data has been piling up that suggests America’s economic bubble is ready to burst. Now, with the Fed’s most recent round of rate cuts moving through the economy, fault lines are appearing in the commercial real estate sector.

The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.

Commercial real estate continues to suffer despite the Federal Reserve’s attempt at ameliorating the capital markets with a 50-basis point rate cut in September.

The pain is especially apparent in the so-called “CRE-CLO” bond market. CRE-CLO bonds are packaged commercial real estate mortgages comprising short-term floating rate loans. These bridge loans were recently, and most notably, used to facilitate the biggest apartment investment bubble in history, but were also used in financing other commercial real estate sectors including office, retail, hotel, industrial, and self-storage.

Most of the current batch of bridge loans originated in the 2020-2022 period—when benchmark rates were near zero and commercial real estate prices were peaking—and carried maturities of three to five years. Benchmark rates are now much higher, prices much lower, and property performance far worse than anticipated. Thus, a wall of maturities is staring borrowers, lenders, and bondholders in the face, all while underlying property performance disappoints.

Despite attempts by lenders to extend and pretend—kicking the can down the road in the short term to avoid defaults until the Federal Reserve lowers rates enough to bail them out—their delusions of reprieve may be fading fast.

Apartment Investors Play Checkers Instead of Chess

At the end of Q3, the distress rate for CRE-CLO loans across all commercial real estate sectors reached 13.1 percent, an all-time high. Distress in this instance is defined as any loan reported 30 days or more delinquent, past the maturity date, in special servicing (typically due to a drop in occupancy or a failure to meet certain performance criteria), or any combination thereof.

Figure 1

While roughly one in seven loans meets these criteria, the weakness is concentrated in two or three sectors.

Unsurprisingly, office properties have the highest rate of distress, with nearly one in five CRE-CLO office loans experiencing current distress. This is to be expected after the covid panic of 2020, subsequent to which various “work-from-home” directives essentially made the office market obsolete.

For similar reasons, distress is also high in the retail segment, as all but the most well-heeled retailers were forced under by the maniacal and criminal government edicts of the time.

However, the real story here is in the apartment, or multifamily, sector. Seen in Figure 1, the distress rate for apartments touched 16.4 percent in August. An astonishing number, indicating that one in six apartment bridge loans were distressed. The improvement to 13.7 percent shown for September is seasonal, as renters settle in at the start of the school year.

While this picture is bad enough, the reality under the surface is far worse. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, using Q2 data from MSCI, the batch of currently distressed apartment bridge loans comprise roughly $14 billion in total loans, but there exists an additional $81 billion in potentially distressed loans. MSCI categorizes loans as “potentially distressed” if they have seen delinquent payments, forbearance (when the lender lets interest payments accrue rather than taking a default action), or where key performance metrics like occupancy and net operating income are dangerously low.

Figure 2

The arithmetically-aware will note that if the $14 billion of currently distressed apartment bridge loans comprise a roughly 14 percent distress rate at the end of Q2 (as shown in Figure 1) and there are an additional $81 billion in potentially distressed loans not yet categorized as “currently distressed” (as shown in Figure 2), then MSCI data implies that 95 percent of all apartment bridge loans are either currently distressed or in imminent danger of distress.

While astounding, this level of distress will come as no surprise to veterans of the apartment market. In the 2020-22 period, bridge loans of this variety were ubiquitous above a certain minimum loan size. And, because of the extreme and reckless nature of money printing undertaken by the Federal Reserve during this time—when interest rates were effectively zero—lenders underwrote property acquisitions with a 1.0x debt service coverage ratio (“DSCR”), meaning the initial net operating income of the property was projected to just cover interest payments, with nothing left over.

Bridge loan interest rates floated at a spread (typically around 350 basis points, or 3.5 percent) to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), which was essentially 0 percent until mid-2022. Because of the 1.0x DSCR standard, a property acquired during this period that had net operating income of $1 million would have also had interest payments of $1 million at the then-prevailing interest rate of 3.5 percent.

SOFR is now 4.9 percent, indicating a total interest rate of 8.4 percent (SOFR + 3.5 percent spread). This same property now has interest payments of $2.4 million while net operating income is unlikely to have increased to any significant extent, if at all. Insurance and property tax increases in particular have damaged apartment profitability while rent increases have been difficult to execute in the face of stagnating real wages. By the same token, absurdly optimistic renovation plans have been impossible in the face of cash flows increasingly shunted towards paying interest.

The Amazing Disappearing Rate Cut

The high amount of potential distress in CRE-CLO bonds, and the loans that underlie them, indicate an expectation on the part of lenders that help is coming in the form of lower interest rates. After all, capital markets have become used to being bailed out by the Federal Reserve, all but demanding that the taxpayer—not they—be held responsible for their poor decisions. Nevertheless, the Fed’s recent rate cut is proving not to be the magic bullet on which lenders relied.

By August of this year, futures markets had fully priced in a 25-50 basis point Fed rate cut in September, and were expecting additional 25 basis point cuts in November and December. This expectation for the Fed Funds Rate carried over into Treasury yields, a key benchmark for the commercial real estate industry. Particularly important in the case of distressed bridge loans since any hopes of refinancing are placed not on more bridge loans—which are now much less pervasive—but on the fixed-rate agency market comprising Fannie- and Freddie-backed apartment loans, which prices loans off a spread to treasuries.

At the beginning of August, as markets priced in 75-100 bps of Fed rate cuts by year-end, 10-year Treasury yields reacted accordingly, dropping from 4.30 percent in late July (they had been 4.70 percent in April) to 3.65 percent in the middle of September. As of early November, most of that move had been erased—with yields back near 4.30 percent—roughly where they were prior to market pricing in this year’s Fed rate cuts.

Fear and Trembling

Undeniably, participants in the commercial real estate market—apartment bridge lenders in particular—are relying on loose monetary policy for their immediate salvation. They may get their wish. While Treasury rates have moved stubbornly higher, market forces only mean so much if the Fed decides to supplement rate cuts with purchases of treasuries, driving yields lower—another round of quantitative easing.

Nevertheless, to the extent they’re allowed to be heard, market signals are unmistakable. A regime that can’t stop spending and continues to appropriate the property of its citizens through inflation will provide upward pressure on Treasury yields, all else equal. In a free market context, the rent-seekers that comprise the commercial real estate market will have to work out their own salvation.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 15:10

Israel Lifts Restrictions In Northern Israel As Ceasefire Holds; Hezbollah Chief Claims 'Victory'

The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire began four days ago, and has held enough to where for the fist time in more than a year tens of thousands of Israelis who've remained forcibly evacuated form their homes in the north can return to assess the situation.

The IDF Home Front Command on Saturday announced for the first time in many months that it is easing restrictions in northern Israel, allowing larger gatherings and for schools to finally reopen, in the clearest indicator so far that the ceasefire is holding and both sides are taking it seriously.

"Under the changes, schools in the northern frontier communities and the north Golan Heights will now be able to operate if adequate shelter can be reached in time," Israeli media writes. 

All restrictions previously in place throughout all areas of the country have now been lifted, which was approved by Defense Minister Israel Katz. Some 80,000 Israelis had been displaced by daily Hezbollah rocket and drone fire in the north.

On the other side of the border, tens of thousands of previously displaced Lebanese have been viewing their homes and communities for the first time in months. The opening couple days of the ceasefire, which took effect early on Nov.27, saw reports of some intermittent fire - especially from the Israeli side.

The 60-day US and French-brokered ceasefire has been widely viewed as off to a successful start, ending over 14 months of cross-border fire between Iran-linked Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Source: Al Jazeera

Despite the assassinations of its upper-tier leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah who died in an Israeli airstrike on September 27, the new head of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, claimed 'victory' in the war. Yet Hezbollah's top command ranks have been devastated, suffering historic losses after over two months of bombs falling on Beirut.

Still, he hailed that the group had achieved a "divine victory" in a Friday speech. "To those that were betting that Hezbollah would be weakened, we are sorry, their bets have failed," he said.

But he also pledged that the ceasefire deal with Israel will be upheld, and that Hezbollah leadership had agreed to it "with heads held high." Qassem explained Hezbollah had "approved the deal, with the resistance strong in the battlefield, and our heads held high with our right to defend [ourselves]."

A Reuters report at the end of this week claimed that Hezbollah's internal numbers are that it lost 4,000 of its fighters, which is a much higher tally than what the Lebanese government lists.

But what is very evident is that the death and destruction surpasses even the 2006 Lebanon war, which up till this year was the deadliest on Lebanese soil in the last several decades.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 14:35

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:

Click on graph for larger image.

• Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 3.9% year-over-year in September

• New Home Sales Decrease Sharply to 610,000 Annual Rate in October

• Fannie and Freddie: Single Family and Multi-Family Serious Delinquency Rates Increased in October

• Final Look at Local Housing Markets in October and a Look Ahead to November Sales

This is usually published 4 to 6 times a week and provides more in-depth analysis of the housing market.

Legal Plunder: Indiana Police Prey On Packages Transiting Huge FedEx Hub

Via Brian McGlinchey at Stark Realities

From a federal government operating far beyond the bounds of the Constitution to law enforcement agencies routinely entering private property without warrants, tyranny takes many forms in the United States. However, few are as shocking to the sensibilities as civil asset forfeiture, the controversial practice that empowers police to seize money, cars, trucks, houses or anything else they merely accuse of having a link to criminal activity — regardless of whether the property owner is charged with a crime.

Civil asset forfeiture is an affront to anyone who’s sincerely committed to the American justice system’s cornerstone presumption of innocence. With law enforcement typically keeping some or all of the assets that are seized, the practice has rightly been called “policing for profit.”

I’ve previously examined the raw tyranny of civil asset forfeiture, spotlighting the story of a Mississippi man who took $42,300 in cash to Houston with the intent of buying a second semi truck for his fledgling trucking business, only to have it seized — or, in legal jargon, “forfeited” — by Harris County police, who pulled him over for allegedly following the vehicle in front of him too closely.

Now I’m compelled to share a new example of this legalized theft — the most brazenly unjust and opportunistic one I’ve encountered yet: In an ongoing, multi-million-dollar racket in Indianapolis, police are routinely seizing cash they find in FedEx packages that happen to be routed through that company’s second-largest hub.

Like bears wading into a river teeming with salmon, state and local Indiana police officers routinely stride up to the conveyer belts at FedEx’s sprawling Indianapolis facility, where tens of thousands of packages flow by every hour, pouncing when they see a package with traits that meet their absurdly broad definition of “suspicious.”

Ample opportunity for Indiana’s predatory police agencies: The FedEx hub in Indianapolis can sort up to 99,000 packages per hour (WRTV)​

Review the criteria and you’ll quickly conclude you’ve sent and received many “suspicious” packages yourself. Supposedly damning attributes include:

• A box that’s taped on all its seams — something FedEx itself recommends

• A box that’s new

• A package that was dropped off at a FedEx shipping center

• A shipment paid by credit card, or “possibly by cash,” or by “unknown means” — a trio of criteria that seems to cover every possible means of payment.

• A package being sent to or from a so-called “source state” — a state that police consider a prominent conduit of illegal drugs. Depending on the law enforcement agency, that could encompass, among others, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. That sample list alone accounts for 29% of the US population.

After plucking a package from the FedEx stream, police present it to a K-9. If the dog alerts — which dogs have been found to do unjustifiably up to 66% or more of the time — police obtain a warrant to open it. While they often find no drugs, they’re all too happy when they find cash, which is confiscated and held as prosecutors file suit for the government to take permanent ownership.

In April of this year, Henry and Minh Cheng, who run a mom-and-pop jewelry wholesaling business in Los Angeles, were caught in Indiana’s unconscionable web, as police confiscated $42,825 in a FedEx package en route to them from a retailer in Virginia. The retailer had been slow to pay for jewelry the Chengs had shipped to them in January. When the Chengs followed up on the invoice, the retailer offered to pay immediately via cash. In a fateful move, the Chengs obtained a FedEx shipping label and transmitted it to the Virginia retailer.

Henry and Minh Cheng sent this invoice to a Virginia jewelry retailer in January; when the retailer shipped cash in April, police seized it (Institute for Justice)

"The next thing I know is the police and the prosecutor [are] forfeiting my money…based solely on suspicions,” Henry Cheng told Los Angeles station ABC7. “They didn't even name the crime that I've committed, because I know I have not committed any crime.”

Consistent with the inherent madness of civil asset forfeiture — in which property itself is put on trial — asset forfeiture cases are given bizarre case names such as “Nebraska v. One 1970 2-Door Sedan Rambler (Gremlin).” The case in which Indiana seeks ownership of the Chengs’ seized cash is “State of Indiana v. $42,825.00 in US Currency.”

It’s bad enough when Indiana police seize cash out of a car they pull over for speeding somewhere in the state, baselessly assuming the money played some unknown role in the violation of Indiana law. However, in their exploitation of the FedEx facility, Indiana police are typically taking cash that’s only in Indiana because FedEx’s logistical algorithms routed it there rather than through another FedEx hub.

(When asked by Stark Realities if the police presence at the facility requires FedEx’s consent, the company declined comment. FedEx likewise chose not to say if it was concerned about customers’ property being seized by police without any specific allegation of a crime.)

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has sued to confiscate currency in FedEx packages traveling to and from states other than Indiana at least 130 times in just the past two years, never identifying any specific violation of Indiana law that’s the basis for the asset forfeiture. The prosecutor’s complaint typically only alleges that “the seized currency was furnished or was intended to be furnished in exchange for a violation of a criminal statute, or is traceable as proceeds of a violation of a criminal statute, in violation of Indiana law” — which is utterly implausible given the money was merely being shipped through the state, and not at the direction of the shipper or receiver.

Asset forfeiture filings by Indiana prosecutors often specify no crime, leaving citizens perplexed as to how to proceed (via Institute for Justice)

Civil asset forfeiture places a daunting burden on those are victimized by it, forcing them to spend time and money navigating the government’s house of mirrors in an attempt to prove their money or property wasn’t associated with a crime. In many cases, victims of this legalized theft find the situation hopelessly complex and expensive, and simply give up. That demoralizing dynamic is compounded where the Indianapolis FedEx hub is concerned, as victims often live several hundred or even thousands of miles away.

Fortunately for the Chengs and hundreds of other victims of Indiana’s FedEx trap, their plight is now the focus of a class action lawsuit filed on their behalf by the Institute for Justice — a non-profit, public interest law firm that’s represented civil asset forfeiture victims across the country. Among other wrongs, the suit asserts that the police seizures of FedEx packages violate the US Constitution’s guarantees of due process, and the Indiana Constitution’s prohibition against prosecuting alleged crimes that occur outside Indiana.

"This scheme is one of the most predatory we have seen, and it's past time to put a stop to it," said Institute for Justice attorney Sam Gedge when the suit was filed. "It's illegal and unconstitutional for Indiana to forfeit in-transit money whose only connection to Indiana is the happenstance of FedEx's shipping practices."

Perhaps seeking to thwart the class action suit, the Marion County prosecutor’s office last week said it would give the lead plaintiff Chengs their money back — some seven months after taking it without articulating any specific violation of Indiana law. The suit will proceed, however, with Institute for Justice lawyers asking the court to bar the state of Indiana and Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears from initiating currency forfeitures like the one that targeted the Chengs.

Reflecting on what police have done to him and continue doing to people across the country, Henry Cheng’s sentiments echo those of many Americans upon first learning about civil asset forfeiture: “I am just totally stunned that this can happen in America."

* * *

Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com  

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

You may also like:

• Texas Case Illustrates Raw Tyranny of Civil Asset Forfeiture
• Americans Are Fighting For Control Of Federal Powers That Shouldn't Exist

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 14:00

Kremlin Warns Biden It Will Mount Response To 'Each' Use Of US-Supplied Missiles

The Kremlin has communicated to the Biden administration that its forces will hit back in major attacks on Ukrainian targets "each time" Russia is hit with US-supplied missiles.

President Putin "had warned that the authorization to use U.S. and other foreign-made missiles was an irresponsible and escalatory step," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a Friday briefing.

"And if these missiles are used, there will be an appropriate response every time," he warned.

Prior illustrative image of drone attack, via The Guardian 

This new warning came after President Putin said Russia could hit "decision-making centers" in Kiev with the new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, the Oreshnik. "As I have said repeatedly, there will always be a response from our side," Putin stressed.

This past week began with days of record-setting drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, chiefly targeting the country's energy infrastructure. This has left vast swathes of Ukraine without power, or else on a rolling blackout rationing system.

A Thursday overnight attack had additionally included 90 missiles and around 100 drones, according to Moscow's description.

Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko has said the national power infrastructure was "under massive enemy attack."

"Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine," Galushchenko said.

Emergency power outages have been confirmed in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Donetsk. Ukrenergo said it "urgently introduced emergency power cuts," as temperatures hover at around 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Mate, let's face it. We're waging a proxy war!"

Boris Johnson states unambiguously that Britain is engaged in a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/pJTswKDi0p

— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) November 29, 2024

Outside of Ukraine, a 'dirty war' and NATO escalation is taking shape. The below is a summary of events via Al Jazeera:

• Russia is waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe, while also stepping up its nuclear sabre-rattling to scare other countries off from backing Ukraine, the head of the United Kingdom’s MI6 foreign spy agency said.
• Poland has deployed Leopard 2 battle tanks in Latvia to reinforce the NATO brigade there.
• German defence giant Rheinmetall and Lithuania signed deals to begin construction of a $190m ammunition plant to make artillery shells in the country.
• German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius wants to order four new submarines to help meet NATO’s security requirements in Europe, a parliamentary budget committee source told the AFP news agency.
• Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence agency has warned of possible attempts by other states to influence the upcoming federal election.

When President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House on January 20, he will certainly have his hands full on the diplomatic front, if he hopes to negotiate a quick end to the war - as currently the conflict is only growing.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 13:25

The Political Realignment Of 2024 And What It Means For The Future

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The 2024 presidential election may be remembered as the moment Americans abandoned the issues that defined the post-Cold War era and formed new political coalitions based on class, some experts say.

People wait to vote at the Joslyn Park center in Santa Monica, Calif. on Nov. 5, 2024. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump solidified his hold on the working class in his second electoral victory, even as voters with higher incomes and education levels moved to the left. Whether those shifts will be permanent depends largely on how both parties respond to the emerging politics of class, according to analysts.

Some believe Democrats can recapture their historic working-class base by listening to the voters who have been drifting away from their party for a decade and crafting a new liberal vision based more on class than on race, gender, or social issues.

Republicans, on the other hand, might keep this new party configuration together if they deliver on the promises that won the majority while forming a governing philosophy based on Trump’s America First agenda without alienating traditional Republicans of the Reagan-Bush era.

Here’s what happened in 2024 and what it means for both parties.

Voters Moved in Both Directions

The composition of the major political parties has been shifting since 2012, but that shift reached a tipping point in 2024. The movement was seen most clearly in working-class voters, who supported Trump in even greater numbers than in 2016 and 2020.

Analysts commonly use education and income levels as indicators of class identity. By both measures, working-class voters across racial lines shifted right.

Education and Income

College graduates favored Republican candidates in every election from 1988 through 2004. That began to change in 2008 when President Barack Obama earned 50 percent of the college vote. The shift accelerated in 2016 when Democrats gained 55 percent of the vote among college graduates and held a majority for the next two elections. In 2024, 53 percent of voters with a Bachelor’s degree voted for Harris, as did 59 percent of those holding an advanced degree, exit polls showed.

Over the same period, voters who never attended college, a traditional mainstay of the Democratic coalition, increasingly voted Republican. In 2016, 46 percent of voters having a high school education or less voted Republican, which was consistent with the two previous election cycles. By 2024, the number of Republican voters who never attended college had risen to 63 percent, the polls revealed.

A similar migration occurred in terms of income. In 2012, 60 percent of voters with household incomes less than $50,000 voted Democrat. By 2024, that number had dropped below half.

At the same time, a majority of voters from households earning more than $100,000 per year favored the Democratic candidate for the first time since the data was tracked in 1988. The Republican share from this group in 2024 was 46 percent, the lowest ever.

Race, Gender, Religion

Minorities’ support for Democratic candidates has been strong since the 1970s, reaching a high point in 2008 with the election of Obama. Since then, however, the dropoff has been significant, especially among black and Hispanic men.

Support for Democrats by black voters fell from a high of 95 percent in 2008 to 85 percent in 2024. The drop was greatest among black men, 77 percent of whom voted for the Democratic candidate in 2024, the same percentage as in 1972. Black women, the most reliable Democratic voters, voted 91 percent for Vice President Kamala Harris, 5 percent lower than for Obama in 2008.

Hispanic support for the Democrats hovered around 65 percent for over 40 years. In 2024, the level dropped by 13 percentage points. The decline was more pronounced among Hispanic men. Just 43 percent of them voted Democratic this year, a lower percentage than that of white women.

Asian voters supported the Democratic candidate by 73 percent in 2012. That number dropped steadily over the next three cycles, reaching 54 percent in 2024.

Muslim voters, 74 percent of whom had supported Democrats in 2016 and 69 percent in 2020, all but abandoned the party in 2024, according to exit polling conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. That was due largely to the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Only 20 percent of Muslim voters chose Harris. In Michigan, home to the nation’s highest concentration of Muslim Americans, the number was 14 percent.

Regional Shifts

Shifts in the electorate by class and race in 2024 were significant enough to create movement, if not a landslide, in regional voting patterns.

The Blue Wall of industrial states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had been solidly Democratic in presidential elections from 1992 until 2016, when Trump won all three. Though President Joe Biden rebuilt that wall in 2020, Trump again carried those states again in 2024.

Trump also eroded Democratic support in traditional party strongholds like New York, New Jersey, and California. While Harris carried all three by a comfortable margin, she gained a smaller share of the vote than either Biden in 2020 or Hillary Clinton in 2016.

In Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, Harris drew about 38,000 fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. In Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Harris received about 36,000 fewer votes than Biden had. In Queens County, New York, the deficit was nearly 165,000, and in Los Angeles County, California, it was 621,000.

“Harris, in Democratic strongholds in Michigan and Pennsylvania, simply underperformed Biden’s vote totals,” Ken Kollman, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan, told The Epoch Times.

Though Harris still won those counties by a large margin, the erosion of support in traditionally strong democratic areas fueled Trump’s victory, according to Kollman.

According to William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, the upshot of these shifts is that class has again become a powerful force in electoral politics.

“We are witnessing the emergence of a new politics of class,” Galston said in a Nov. 12 panel hosted by the Brookings Institution. “Class, defined as educational attainment, dominates the scene in the United States and throughout the industrialized world.”

This new reality undercuts assumptions that have informed both parties for decades, and experts say both will need to make adjustments before the next election.

Democrats: Listen, Reimagine

Self-reflective statements by Democrats in the wake of the election have centered on the need to listen to voters.

“The country wanted change, and the vice president’s campaign decided they would not offer that,” longtime Democratic strategist James Carville said in a PBS interview on Nov. 13.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, the historian and Democratic commentator, focused on the need to reengage the people who have given the party its strength for generations.

“The most important thing that the Democrats have to take away from this loss is that they lost the working class base, and that’s been the foundation of the Democratic Party ever since FDR,” Goodwin said in a Fox News interview on Nov. 8. “I think the working class felt invisible. They felt forgotten.”

David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, told The Epoch Times that Democrats should talk to real working-class people.

“More importantly, go out and listen to them,” he said.

Economics Trumps Identity

A likely takeaway from those conversations, Schultz said, could be that identity politics seems less important to working-class voters than basic questions of economic survival.

“Hispanics, at the end of the day, are saying, ‘We want jobs. We’re not thrilled about illegal immigration, and we want higher wages.’” Schultz said, noting that this does not conform to the general perception of “Hispanic issues.”

Gabriel Sanchez, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico, reached a similar conclusion.

“Overwhelmingly, the economy is what Latino men have actually been talking about for three election cycles in a row,” Sanchez said in the Nov. 12 panel discussion.

That may be, in part, because Hispanics are a diverse group comprising a mix of national origins and cultures. As a result, “they do not have nearly as strong a sense of linked fate,” Aaron Dusso, a professor of political science at Indiana University Indianapolis, told The Epoch Times, referring to the sense of common identity and interests that characterizes some demographic groups.

The sense of linked fate is more pronounced among black Americans, according to Dusso. Yet an increasing share of black men voted Republican in the 2024 presidential election—for a fourth consecutive time. And that was despite direct appeals to black men from both Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, to vote for Harris based on their identity.

One explanation for that shift may be that younger blacks seem less concerned with the civil rights issues of a previous generation and more concerned with economic opportunity.

Lorenzo Sewell, a Detroit-area pastor who spoke at the Republican National Convention, said his decision to support Trump was rooted in disappointment with the economic results of Democratic leadership for the black community.

Noting that many are routinely forced to choose between paying rent, repairing their car, or paying child support, Sewell told the Epoch Times, “We’ve had Democrats running this city for 56 years. I’m not saying Democrats are wrong. I’m just asking, ‘Where’s the change?’”

Harris campaigned heavily on a promise to protect access to abortion as a civil right. Democrats had success with that issue on several state ballot initiatives after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Yet in the presidential contest, Harris drew the smallest share of the women’s vote, 53 percent, since 2004. Trump, with 45 percent, received the highest share of the women’s vote by any Republican since President George H.W. Bush.

“It’s a clear indication to me that, ultimately, the Dobbs decision is not going to have a political effect,” Dusso said.

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 11:40

The key report this week is the November employment report on Friday.

Other key indicators include the October Trade Deficit, the November ISM manufacturing index and November vehicle sales.

----- Monday, December 2nd -----
10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for November.  The consensus is for 47.5%, up from 46.5%.

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for October.  The consensus is for 0.2% increase in spending.

All day: Light vehicle sales for November.

The consensus is for 16.0 million SAAR in November, unchanged from the BEA estimate of 16.04 million SAAR in October (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).

This graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. 
The dashed line is the current sales rate.

----- Tuesday, December 3rd -----
10:00 AM: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for October from the BLS.

This graph shows job openings (black line), hires (purple), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS.

Jobs openings decreased in September to 7.44 million from 7.86 million in August.

The number of job openings (black) were down 20% year-over-year. Quits were down 15% year-over-year.

----- Wednesday, December 4th -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for November. This report is for private payrolls only (no government).  The consensus is for 166,000 jobs added, down from 233,000 in October.

10:00 AM: the ISM Services Index for November.  The consensus is for 55.5, down from 56.0.

1:45 PM: Discussion, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Moderated Discussion, At the New York Times DealBook Summit, New York, N.Y.

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, December 5th -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 220 thousand initial claims, up from 213 thousand last week.

8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for October from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum, through the most recent report. The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products.

The consensus is the trade deficit to be $78.8 billion.  The U.S. trade deficit was at $84.4 billion in September.

----- Friday, December 6th -----
8:30 AM: Employment Report for November.   The consensus is for 183,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 4.1%.

There were 12,000 jobs added in October, and the unemployment rate was at 4.1%.

This graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.

10:00 AM: University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for December).

"I Won't Claim That Milan Is A Safe City" Admits Leftist Mayor After Damning Stats Show Surge In Migrant Crime

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has announced the deployment of 600 additional police officers to Milan, citing concerns over integration challenges and rising crime rates, particularly in areas with significant immigrant populations.

The announcement follows recent unrest in the Corvetto district, where a 19-year-old Egyptian resident, Ramy Elgaml, died in a road accident after a police chase, sparking mass protests by the considerable immigrant population.

During a meeting on security with Milan’s prefect Claudio Sgaraglia and Police Chief Vittorio Pisani, Piantedosi confirmed that the reinforcements, planned before the Corvetto unrest, will enhance territorial control and improve public safety.

He offered damning statistics on the disproportionate involvement immigrants have in committing crime, noting that 65 percent of all offenses in the city are committed by foreign nationals despite representing 20 percent of all residents.

“These figures highlight integration challenges that must be addressed to reduce marginalization and its consequences,” Piantedosi stated. He denied comparisons to the recent Parisian suburban riots, calling them “very exaggerated,” but acknowledged that the Corvetto unrest signals issues requiring attention.

The Italian minister criticized the reliance on issuing residence permits as a solution to integration issues, pointing out the need for more comprehensive measures. He highlighted efforts already underway, noting over 40 high-impact operations and 162 arrests in Corvetto this year, but accepted that much more needed to be done.

“The second-most important city in Italy after Rome deserves all the attention it can get,” he added.

Milan’s left-wing mayor Beppe Sala echoed the need for investments in public housing and community centers to foster integration and accepted that the Italian city can no longer be considered a safe place to live.

“I won’t claim Milan is a safe city, but it is making an effort to address challenges faced by all international cities,” he said.

Sala claimed that migrant crime was a result of shortcomings in creating spaces for young immigrants to engage positively within their communities, linking the lack of such centers to increased alienation in the suburbs.

With over 60,000 public housing units out of Milan’s 800,000 apartments, Sala described the distribution as “disproportionate,” emphasizing the importance of equitable urban planning.

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, whose League party first made its name in the northern Italian city and the surrounding area, remarked on the meeting in a post on X.

“Minister Piantedosi’s data are crystal clear. Yet for the left, it is a non-problem, they seek justifications to the point of falsifying reality,” he wrote.

“Woe to anyone who criticizes the dogma of indiscriminate reception at all costs, woe to anyone who criticizes environments in which foreign crime thrives in our cities, woe to anyone who wants to harshly apply the law to intervene in an increasingly unsustainable situation,” he quipped.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 08:10

Istanbul's Grand Bazaar Rocked By Fears Over Fake $50 And $100 Bills

Fears of counterfeit $50 and $100 bills have disrupted foreign-exchange trade at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, the nation's largest currency trading gray market.

According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, some bureaus at the bazaar, a hub for currency trading, stopped purchasing the bills, saying the counting machines they use can’t identify the fake notes.

“The number of counterfeit dollars isn’t clear,” Anadolu cited Resat Yilmaz, a tradesman at the Bazaar, as saying. “These bills have to be collected, which can take two weeks.” Money-counting machines also have to be updated, he added.

A representative for currency traders said the disruption has no basis and “there’s no fake currency” in circulation. He blamed banks for what he said was a “clogging” of trading.

“Banks should accept old dollar bills. Currently, no bank is doing that,” Mehti Seren, head of the Association of All Authorized Institutions and Foreign Exchange Offices, said in a press conference. “Clients are then returning the dollars to us. That’s what’s clogging the system.”

The central bank said it’s sent warnings and expert opinions about the fake bills to banking associations.

“The necessary guidance on precautions to be taken regarding the technological infrastructure has been made,” the bank said in a statement. Bill counters, bill checkers and teller machines are being controlled and updated, the Turkish Banks Association said in a separate statement.

The prosecutor’s office in Istanbul launched an investigation, Anadolu said. The counterfeit bills entered Turkey from abroad, Haberturk reported, citing sources it didn’t identify.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 07:35

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service Warned About A 100k-Strong NATO Intervention In Ukraine

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

NATO might be willing to test Putin’s patience by crossing yet another of Russia’s perceived red lines in spite of its updated nuclear doctrine and new Oreshniks.

The NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine might be on the brink of an unprecedented escalation that could easily spiral out of control if Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is correct in claiming that NATO is planning a 100,000-strong military intervention in Ukraine under the guise of peacekeepers. The purpose is to freeze the conflict, presumably by having these troops function as tripwires for deterring a Russian attack that could spark World War III, and then rebuild Ukraine’s military-industrial complex (MIC).

SVR revealed that Poland will have control over Western Ukraine (like it did during the interwar period); Romania will be responsible for the Black Sea coast (which it seized during World War II via and ruled as the “Transnistria Governorate”); the UK will lord over Kiev and the north; while Germany will deploy its forces to the center and east of the country. The latter’s Rhinemetall will lead the efforts to rebuild Ukraine’s MIC by investing heavily, dispatching specialists, and providing high-performance equipment.

Another important detail is that “NATO is already deploying training centers in Ukraine, through which it is planned to drag at least a million mobilized Ukrainians”, while police functions will be carried out via Ukrainian nationalists that SVR likens to World War II-era Sonderkommandos. The last part is intriguing since it raises the question of why 100,000 NATO troops/peacekeepers would be required. Only a fraction of that is needed for tripwire and training purposes so perhaps those numbers are inaccurate.

In any case, this latest move isn’t surprising, and readers can review the following analyses to learn why:

* 1 November: “Trump 2.0 would be no easy ride for Vladimir Putin”

* 7 November: “Here’s What Trump’s Peace Plan Might Look Like & Why Russia Might Agree To It”

* 8 November: “View from Moscow: Russia tepidly welcomes Trump’s return”

* 9 November: “The Clock Is Ticking For Russia To Achieve Its Maximum Goals In The Ukrainian Conflict”

* 10 November: “10 Obstacles To Trump’s Reported Plan For Western/NATO Peacekeepers In Ukraine”

* 11 November: “Five Reasons Why Trump Should Revive The Draft Russian-Ukrainian Peace Treaty”

* 15 November: “Trump Probably Really Does Appreciate Two Points From Zelensky’s ‘Victory Plan’”

* 18 November: “The Moment Of Truth: How Will Russia Respond To Ukraine’s Use Of Western Long-Range Missiles?”

* 20 November: “Russia’s Updated Nuke Doctrine Aims To Deter Unacceptable Provocations From NATO”

* 22 November: “Putin Is Finally Climbing The Escalation Ladder”

The last analysis also includes a map at the end depicting the most realistic best-case scenario for Russia.

To summarize, Biden is beating Trump to the punch by “escalating to de-escalate” on better terms for the US, which Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine and the historic first use of the MIRV-capable Oreshnik hypersonic medium-range missile in combat are meant to deter. The 10 obstacles described above still stand, however, so it’s unclear exactly how viable NATO’s reportedly planned conventional intervention in Ukraine (regardless of the numbers involved and the pretext relied upon for justifying it) actually is.

Nevertheless, the fact that SVR warned the world about it suggests that it’s no longer the far-fetched scenario that it was thought to be, though the clock is also now ticking for NATO too since the possible rise to power of a populist conservative-nationalist in Romania next month could spoil these plans. NATO might therefore intervene before 21 December when that figure will take office if he wins. If he loses, then they might bide their time to prepare better, possibly placing this responsibility on Trump’s lap.

At any rate, SVR’s claim that NATO is setting up training centers in Ukraine shows that the bloc is still expanding there. If Russia doesn’t target these facilities, which could spark World War III, then it might have to accept as a fait accompli what SVR just warned about. In that event, as proposed in the “escalation ladder” analysis above, Russia might then reach a deal allowing NATO to safely enter Ukraine up to the Dnieper if Ukraine first demilitarizes everything east of it and north of Russia’s new regions.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/30/2024 - 07:00

Socialism: Science Or Cyanide?

Authored by Lawrence Reed From the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE),

Editor’s note: Marianna Davidovich, head of external relations at FEE, recently published a booklet titled “The Buried Stories of Communism & Socialism.” The following essay by FEE’s president emeritus, Lawrence W. Reed, appears in it as the Afterword.

In this volume, Marianna Davidovich vividly recounts the world’s horrific experiences with the evil of communism. It’s a ghastly record, littered with the bodies of a hundred million victims and the lost liberties of hundreds of millions more. No one should have ever expected otherwise; even the founder of modern communist ideology, Karl Marx, advocated extreme violence as a necessary ingredient in the communist formula.

What the world refers to as “communist” countries—such as the Soviet Union of Lenin and Stalin, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Mao’s China, Castro’s Cuba, and others Marianna discusses—would not be labeled as such by Karl Marx himself. He postulated that communism would be the end game of all history and would be characterized by government “withering away” after a period of socialism and its brutal “dictatorship of the proletariat.”

So, what we widely refer to as communist countries are, according to both Marx and the governments of those very countries themselves, socialist. None of them called themselves communist; all of them proudly adopted the socialist label. The full name of the old Soviet Union, for example, was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Marx’s prediction that socialist dictatorships would eventually dissolve into government-less, communist utopias was embraced by pseudo-intellectuals as some sort of messianic prophecy. But how could Marx know the future of his own country, let alone that of others? Was he a palm reader? Did he use tarot cards, a crystal ball, or a Ouija board? Or did God (in whom he didn’t believe) generously gift him with visionary powers that no one else has?

Of course, none of those things apply here. Marx was no fortune-teller. He was a charlatan, an angry and nasty scribbler with vile, racist, and anti-Semitic tendencies. He mooched off others all his life. As British historian Paul Johnson explained in his book, “Intellectuals,” Marx was cruel to his own family. He yearned for the violence his predicted socialist dictatorships would produce. Hardly anyone showed up for his funeral.

Marx’s notion that under communism, government would “wither away” was always a nonsensical non-starter. He never explained how or why that would occur. What would possibly prompt dictators with absolute power to one day just walk away from it? That’s more like a dumb fairy tale than a prophecy.

Now that Marianna has provided the awful details of death and destruction in the countries influenced by Marx’s teaching, the big remaining question is WHY? Why does socialism so naturally produce mayhem on an industrial scale?

Wait a minute, you ask.

What about the peaceful “democratic socialism” of Scandinavia?

Scandinavian countries are not socialist. They have no minimum wage laws, almost no interference with prices and the market forces of supply and demand. They have lower taxes on business and more school choice than the United States. They boast trade-based, globalized economies, and few if any nationalized industries.

The prime minister of Denmark recently declared, “I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.” The Index of Economic Freedom ranks Denmark, Norway, and Sweden as among the freest (most capitalist) in the world.

It’s true that after World War II, Scandinavian countries stumbled into generous welfare states, but being no more than a welfare state is not by itself dictionary socialism. More to the point, those nations eventually turned away from even that—cutting taxes and spending and reviving private sector entrepreneurship. Margaret Thatcher forced the same changes in Britain when, by the late 1970s, her country’s welfare state turned Britain into “the sick man of Europe.”

When countries adopt a blend of socialism and capitalism—a formula once termed “the middle way”—socialists claim credit for progress real or imagined. But repeatedly, such situations reveal that most if not all the “progress” such places achieve is not because of the socialism they’ve adopted, but because of the capitalism they haven’t yet destroyed. Capitalism produces wealth (even Marx admitted to that), whereas socialism and socialists simply confiscate and redistribute it.

Back to the central question: Why does socialism so naturally produce mayhem on an industrial scale?

One very big reason is its accumulation and centralization of power, the most toxic motivation in human history. The desire to dominate and control, to plan other people’s lives, to push others around and take their stuff, to monopolize one corner of society after another—all these elements of a “power trip” are part and parcel of the socialist vision.

But socialism promises to help the poor and the needy, you say! Well, of course, it promises such things. How far would it get if its advocates told the truth? Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, etc. all proclaimed “solidarity with the people,” especially the poor. They never honestly declared, “Give us power, and we will crush dissent and throw you to the dogs for opposing our plans!”

Socialism is rightly and widely perceived as diametrically opposed to capitalism. So, it can’t possibly be defined as acts of caring, sharing, giving, and being compassionate toward the needy. There is demonstrably more caring, sharing, giving, and compassion toward the needy under capitalism!

Even when it comes to most foreign aid, capitalist countries are the donors and socialist countries are the recipients. You can’t give it away or share it with anybody if you don’t create it in the first place, and socialism offers utterly no theory of wealth creation, only wealth confiscation and consumption.

Note that socialists do not propose to accomplish their objectives by mutual consent. They do not advocate raising the money for their plans by way of bake sales or charitable solicitations. Your participation is not voluntary. From start to finish, socialism’s defining characteristic is not so much the promises meant to beguile but rather, the method by which it implements its agenda—FORCE. If it’s voluntary, it’s not socialism. It’s that simple.

In theory, practice, and outcome, socialism is profoundly anti-social. Here’s why:

1. The plans of socialists are more important than yours. Why? Because they say so. Isn’t that reason enough? “The more the State plans,” wrote Austrian economist F. A. Hayek, “the more difficult planning becomes for the individual.” But socialists don’t care about that because what they have in mind is surely more noble than anything us peasants are thinking. Socialism is profoundly anti-individual because it seeks to homogenize people in a giant, collectivist blender.

2. Socialists are know-it-alls and know-nothings, simultaneously. This is a remarkable achievement, perhaps socialism’s singular contribution to sociology. Even if a socialist’s own life is a mess, he still knows how to run everybody else’s. Even if he doesn’t believe there’s a God, he thinks the State can be one. F. A. Hayek nailed it when he wrote, “The curious task of economics is to convince men of how little they know about what they imagine they can design.”

3. Socialism rejects biological science. No climate-change denier denies that climate exists. But socialists claim that if there’s such a thing as human nature, they can abolish and reinvent it. Humans are individuals, with no two alike in every way, but socialists believe they can homogenize and collectivize us into an obedient blob. It doesn’t bother them to punish individual success and achievement even if the result is equal impoverishment. They believe that human beings will work harder and smarter for the State than they will for themselves or their families. This is much closer to witchcraft than science.

4. Socialists call the cops for everything. Have you ever noticed that the socialist agenda is not a page of helpful suggestions, or a list of tips for better living? When they’re in charge, you don’t get to say, “No, thanks.” Freedom of choice? No, sir! Socialist ideas are so good, the old saying goes, that they must be mandatory and opposing views must be censored. Deep inside every socialist, even the naïve but well-meaning ones, a totalitarian demon is struggling to get out. This is what socialists eventually do with such monotonous regularity that you can absolutely count on it.

5. Socialism is more than anti-capitalism. It’s anti-capital. In his remarkable book, “Intellectuals,” British historian Paul Johnson penned a blistering chapter about Karl Marx. Johnson quotes Marx’s own mother as famously remarking that she wished her son Karl “would accumulate some capital instead of just writing about it.” Mrs. Marx was on to something. Karl and his acolytes, to one degree or another, make war on the single most powerful generator of the material wealth that improves the lives of people—namely, private property and its accumulation by private, profit-seeking individuals who invest and create and employ. Wherever such lunacy gains power, it marches its subjects backward towards the Stone Age.

6. Conflict is their God. From Marx to socialists of the present day, conflict is everything.If it’s not present, they will invent it. After all, everyone is either a victim or a villain, an oppressor or part of the oppressed. Conflict is the way history unfolds, so they tell us. And like palm readers and tarot card practitioners, they declare the future to be on their side. This always-angry perspective rules out a spirit of gratitude, especially toward capitalists. Socialists never show up at a business of any size with signs exclaiming “Thank you for taking risks, providing products and employing people.”

One of the greatest economists ever, Ludwig von Mises, wrote this eloquent summation:

A man who chooses between drinking a glass of milk and a glass of a solution of potassium cyanide does not choose between two beverages; he chooses between life and death. A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. Socialism is not an alternative to capitalism; it is an alternative to any system under which men can live as human beings.

Communism as envisioned by its intellectual father Karl Marx is an unachievable and undesirable fantasy. In the real world, efforts to realize Marx’s delusions are simply full-blown, unadulterated socialism. And that’s the cyanide that both Mises and Marianna are warning us about.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/29/2024 - 23:50