The Global Economy As An After School Special

By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

The Global Economy As An After School Special

This follows directly from Friday’s Warning, for lack of a better word, which leaned heavily on last weekend’s Be Afraid of Certainty, Not Uncertainty. Since anything can happen between the time this is distributed and “Liberation” Day, it seemed like a good time to take a view from 20,000 feet. Which leads me to discussing After School Specials.

For those who don’t know, the After School Special was a type of TV show. Longer (1 hour) with a bigger budget than a typical show aimed at children. But there was always a message or a moral to the show.

The typical show ran something along the lines of:

• A bad person, or group (bully, extortion, protection, etc.) does something to a good person, or group (generally weaker, awkward, or “loners”).
• Over time the “good” person or group trains, gets organized, or does something to fight back against the bad group or person.
• After an attempt or two, the good people win.
• More often than not, the “bad” people realize that they have been bad, and come to an agreement with the “good” people or even team up and let bygones be bygones. As “phony” as the rest of the plot, this ending always seemed the phoniest of all.

Right now, the trade war looks a lot like this, with a few plot “twists.”

• The U.S. administration believes it has been taken advantage of for years hence it is the good team in this global economic “movie.” The administration is just starting to fight back as the underdog to get even with the bullies/extortionists/protection racketeers.
• The rest of the world sees the U.S. as being the bully, the one upsetting the order, and flaunting traditional rules of engagement. Hence much of the rest of the world views themselves as the good people in the global economic “movie.”

Basically, the global economy (and some of this may apply to the ongoing wars and attempts at peace) is living in an After School Special – though everyone seems to believe they are on the “good” side.

The Problem with “An Eye for an Eye”

In theory an “eye for an eye” makes some sense. You poke out my eye, I poke out your eye. We are all even. We move on. Maybe this is where the concept of “reciprocity” fits in?

The problem is, in the real world, even at the After School Special level of preachiness, you can see how things can get out of control. No one can figure out who took the first eye, so it just keeps going on and on. Sound familiar to the tariff “negotiations” or rationalizations?

• Why did you slap me?
• Because you made fun of my girlfriend.
• Oh, but I said that because you mushed my brother’s ice cream into his face.
• And I’m sure there was a reason to mush the brother’s face in ice cream.
• And on and on and on.

Okay, this sounds juvenile (and it is) but isn’t what we are witnessing on the global economic landscape (and possibly the geopolitical landscape) playing out at least something like this? My guess is that a lot of people are nodding their heads, comfortable in the knowledge that the other side is the “bad” team and they, the “good” team, are merely responding.

While After School Specials typically lasted only an hour, many longer and even bigger budget films were made in the likeness of the After School Special. It just takes longer for the results to play out.

The Karate Kid might be my favorite example.

While it might be a stretch to list Animal House in this genre, I’m going to. First, how can you go wrong with referencing Animal House? Second, it does fit the concept at least a little. Third, and most importantly, how else could I manage to wedge in this quote:

• Bluto: Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no!
• Otter [to Boon]: The Germans?
• Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.

For some reason, this scene has been playing out a lot in my mind (almost every time I scroll through Twitter, I find myself wondering about when life imitates art). I won’t say any more as it will just get me in trouble, but the “forget it, he’s rolling” resonates as much as the line about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor.

Time for Serious Business

Sadly, the above is what passes as serious business for me. 

Maybe we will get a reprieve on Liberation Day? Maybe the art of the deal will succeed, and I will be pleasantly surprised this week, and in the weeks ahead as well.

But I’m stuck with my existing mindset:

• The administration has underestimated the intangibles that the U.S. received from the rest of the world – capital flows and aspirational purchases.
• It will take years to build out the capacity to manufacture what the U.S. lost during decades of being de-manufactured. There will be some jobs created to get that build-out going, but with so much uncertainty, that build-out is likely going to take longer to start (and be smaller at the start) than what the U.S. needs.
• The global disruption to supply chains AND leaving much of the world re-thinking how they want to do business with each other is very negative for the global economy.

Finally, and most importantly, from my view, is that even if there is a deal, the actions and words of the past 2 months have set in motion changes that will reverberate for years to come!

This fits into the American Brand and When Jeans Symbolized Freedom risk we’ve been worrying about.

The HOW is affecting the WHAT and will continue to affect the WHAT going forward. This is the biggest change from Trump 1.0 (along with the tactics various countries have adopted this time around, versus Trump 1.0).

As recently as February, we were far more optimistic, and possibly naïve regarding tariffs and policy – The New Trump Tariffs.

We will continue to adapt to policies and our best estimate of their likely results.

Bears Caught Long and the Destruction of Buy the Dippers

On Friday in London, I was able to discuss some reasons why I think equities have another 10% or more downside in the near-term. Bloomberg TV (Academy starts at the 1:14:30 mark).

Bears positioned long risk. The sentiment might be incredibly bearish, but we continue to see dip buyers. Not just in “safe” assets or some of the most popular names, but also in the 3x leveraged Nasdaq 100 and 2x leveraged single stocks! I cannot think of a worse way to be positioned than to be long risk, for some bounce, while really quite pessimistic (sadly this was me as we headed into the weekend, as it seemed prudent to take off negative bets into Friday’s selling, especially after what happened last Monday).

Plus, it is quarter end, and month end, so we might see some rebalancing and even the infamous tape-painting.

But I think until “buy the dip” has been torched (and it is getting there) we will see new lows in risk assets. With major U.S. indices sitting at or near 5-month lows, anyone who didn’t take profits is treading water, at best.

We haven’t seen a true capitulation in a long time (see comments on fund flows earlier in this section and last weekend). Even last August, when VIX spiked over allegations of the yen carry trade unwind, there was no capitulation (buying the dip was the mantra) and even the “gap higher in VIX” was largely a bogus calculation since it didn’t show up in futures trading levels.

We’ve been arguing that you should, for now, begin trading this market like it was the GFC or European Debt Crisis, by selling rips and being net bearish. We think that continues to be the modus operandi until there are real signs of capitulation in equities. Friday had the first hints of capitulation, but that is just likely to bring out the bears (especially bears caught long risk) leading to further downside in the coming days (unless we are pleasantly surprised about deals around Liberation Day).

Crypto

Crypto drifts in and out of the T-Report, and has wormed its way into today’s report. Lately it has behaved more or less like a “risky” asset. It has its own ebbs and flows but seems increasingly tied to stocks. As we have highlighted in the past – crypto has infiltrated the stock market. MSTR is clearly tied to crypto and is in the Nasdaq 100. MSTX and MSTU (2x leveraged MSTR stocks), and some other strategies linked to MSTR, are in people’s equity accounts. The Bitcoin ETFs also reside in people’s equity accounts, which I think links them more than in the past to equities.

While the linkage might be small, I think it has the potential to be like the butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo triggering rain in NYC. Small flows can impact the broader market and act as a catalyst to larger unwinds. With yet another company (or 2 if you look across the globe) joining the list of companies issuing bonds or equity to buy crypto for their Treasury portfolio, you’d think we’d be higher. Crypto was supported while those entities were engaged in buying crypto, but has sold off since. With Don Jr. touting crypto on social media and a barrage of “governments need to buy crypto” headlines (strategic reserves at the Federal and State level as far as you can see them), you’d think we’d be higher. Yet we aren’t.

Maybe some of the recent actions seem too “circular” to be believable. If you espouse the benefits of crypto, then buy more crypto. Rinse and repeat. Maybe that is wearing thin? Crypto is far from the highs.

Maybe as we face challenges with DOGE, Tariffs, and Peace/War, the ability to convince D.C. that we need to buy crypto is fading? At least until we see major wins across the board? There are wins, no doubt about it, but so far there is a decent amount of controversy, and let’s face it, stocks are down over 10% from their highs.

I’m the most bearish I’ve been on crypto in a long time and think it has the potential to have a GFC type of moment where the interlinked products, leveraged in many cases, create a vicious cycle, where each loss triggers concerns about another product, accelerating losses, rather than bringing in buyers.

Bottom Line

More risk-off. All risky assets will be repriced lower. The U.S. will lead the way lower. Sure, the old adage applies that if the U.S. sneezes, the world gets a cold, but I think the starting points on valuations, capital flows, and the perception of who is “good” versus who is “bad” will hit U.S. assets harder. If we use GDP as a metric for how people perceive the good vs bad then the U.S. has $30 trillion or so on its side, but it is far from clear how the other $80 trillion or so lines up.

Credit will not be spared. The longer the current methodology (and lack of any great deal) plays out, the more people will start discussing whether the recession will be a big “R” or little “r” recession, rather than doubting if we get one. I’m heading rapidly to the big R camp and might start breaking ground on the “D” word.

Rates could go lower in a global risk-off trade, as central banks will have to cut and there will be a flight to safety (in each region) but the inefficiencies of trying to redevelop global trade in months, instead of years, will keep rates (especially at the longer end) more elevated than they should be.

Last week, we highlighted the Nikkei and wondered what people were thinking in Japan as the late eighties ended. I presume they saw the world as their oyster, only to have it yanked away.

After spending the week in Ireland and London, I’ve been thinking about the saying “The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire.” The Empire under Queen Victoria was so vast that it is difficult to fathom.

Things change. And no, I’m not that dire and pessimistic, but I’ve also learned not to take things for granted.

Maybe by the time you read this, some grand bargains will have been struck, making the negative outlook irrelevant or completely wrong. But I’m no longer convinced that any bargains are at the end of this risk-off movement. It could just be the start of the second phase (and we may not even get those bargains).

In any case, this report went from the warm and fuzzy nature of an After School Special, to a dark place, rather quickly. If I’m wrong and markets rip higher (which would be really great) then I will be stuck rivaling Mr. Blutarsky’s GPA of “zero POINT zero.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 17:30

Key Takeaways From NYT's Secret History Detailing US 'Shocking' Involvement In Ukraine War

It is years too late and alternative and independent media had already done so much work on exposing the reality, including 600+ page books which have been published, but the New York Times on Sunday is out with a lengthy report on The Partnership: The Secret History of America’s Role in the Ukraine War.

Up until very recently, mainstream media gatekeepers wouldn't so much as admit that a proxy war has been unfolding from the very start of the conflict in Ukraine. This even after the so-called paper of record had earlier in Feb. 2024 acknowledged that the CIA had built 12 "secret spy bases" in Ukraine to wage a shadow war against Russia going back to 2014. 

Again, it comes much too belatedly, but now with Ukrainian forces clearly losing the fight, the Times admits that the prior Biden administration was far more involved in being embedded on a military and intelligence level with Ukraine than was previously made public by official sources.

The report is a deep dive into the "extraordinary partnership of intelligence, strategy, planning and technology" that became Zelensky's "secret weapon" in countering Russia. It begins by describing that within two months of Putin sending his army across the border, Ukrainian generals in civilians clothes were being secretly whisked away for high-level war planning sessions at US bases in Germany.

"The passengers were top Ukrainian generals," NY Times describes of men taken by a convoy of unmarked cars from the Ukrainian capital to Western Europe. "Their destination was Clay Kaserne, the headquarters of U.S. Army Europe and Africa in Wiesbaden, Germany. Their mission was to help forge what would become one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war in Ukraine."

The report makes clear that US commanders were much more inter-woven into Ukrainian operations than known, to the point of 'shocking' some NATO allies. In essence many counter-Russia operations happening on Ukraine's battlefields were simply run from the base in Germany. 

"But a New York Times investigation reveals that America was woven into the war far more intimately and broadly than previously understood," the report continues. "At critical moments, the partnership was the backbone of Ukrainian military operations that, by U.S. counts, have killed or wounded more than 700,000 Russian soldiers. (Ukraine has put its casualty toll at 435,000.) Side by side in Wiesbaden’s mission command center, American and Ukrainian officers planned Kyiv’s counteroffensives. A vast American intelligence-collection effort both guided big-picture battle strategy and funneled precise targeting information down to Ukrainian soldiers in the field."

Notably, this is essentially US officials and the NY Times also admitting that the Kremlin has all along been right when it insisted this was never really simply about Moscow vs. Kiev - but that NATO countries have militarized Ukraine and weaponized it against Russia. President Putin and Kremlin officials have been fiercely complaining about US intervention all along, but this was dismissed in the West as merely 'propaganda'.

Below are some key excerpts from the very lengthy NY Times report, with subheadings and emphasis by ZeroHedge...

* * *

Americans overseeing "kill chain"

One European intelligence chief recalled being taken aback to learn how deeply enmeshed his N.A.T.O. counterparts had become in Ukrainian operations. “They are part of the kill chain now,” he said.

The partnership’s guiding idea was that this close cooperation might allow the Ukrainians to accomplish the unlikeliest of feats — to deliver the invading Russians a crushing blow. 

Biggest battlefield feats were actually the CIA/Pentagon

An early proof of concept was a campaign against one of Russia’s most-feared battle groups, the 58th Combined Arms Army. In mid-2022, using American intelligence and targeting information, the Ukrainians unleashed a rocket barrage at the headquarters of the 58th in the Kherson region, killing generals and staff officers inside. Again and again, the group set up at another location; each time, the Americans found it and the Ukrainians destroyed it.

Farther south, the partners set their sights on the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet loaded missiles destined for Ukrainian targets onto warships and submarines. At the height of Ukraine’s 2022 counteroffensive, a predawn swarm of maritime drones, with support from the Central Intelligence Agency, attacked the port, damaging several warships and prompting the Russians to begin pulling them back.

Overreach

The Ukrainians sometimes saw the Americans as overbearing and controlling — the prototypical patronizing Americans. The Americans sometimes couldn’t understand why the Ukrainians didn’t simply accept good advice.

Where the Americans focused on measured, achievable objectives, they saw the Ukrainians as constantly grasping for the big win, the bright, shining prize. 

Failed 2023 counteroffensive actually hatched at American HQ

Yet at arguably the pivotal moment of the war — in mid-2023, as the Ukrainians mounted a counteroffensive to build victorious momentum after the first year’s successes — the strategy devised in Wiesbaden fell victim to the fractious internal politics of Ukraine: The president, Volodymyr Zelensky, versus his military chief (and potential electoral rival), and the military chief versus his headstrong subordinate commander. When Mr. Zelensky sided with the subordinate, the Ukrainians poured vast complements of men and resources into a finally futile campaign to recapture the devastated city of Bakhmut. Within months, the entire counteroffensive ended in stillborn failure.

Biden banned clandestine operations in public, while crossing red lines in secret

Time and again, the Biden administration authorized clandestine operations it had previously prohibited. American military advisers were dispatched to Kyiv and later allowed to travel closer to the fighting. Military and C.I.A. officers in Wiesbaden helped plan and support a campaign of Ukrainian strikes in Russian-annexed Crimea. Finally, the military and then the C.I.A. received the green light to enable pinpoint strikes deep inside Russia itself.

In some ways, Ukraine was, on a wider canvas, a rematch in a long history of U.S.-Russia proxy wars — Vietnam in the 1960s, Afghanistan in the 1980s, Syria three decades later.

Task Force Dragon

The defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, and General Milley had put the 18th Airborne in charge of delivering weapons and advising the Ukrainians on how to use them. When President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signed on to the M777s, the Tony Bass Auditorium became a full-fledged headquarters.

A Polish general became General Donahue’s deputy. A British general would manage the logistics hub on the former basketball court. A Canadian would oversee training.

The auditorium basement became what is known as a fusion center, producing intelligence about Russian battlefield positions, movements and intentions. There, according to intelligence officials, officers from the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency were joined by coalition intelligence officers.

The 18th Airborne is known as Dragon Corps; the new operation would be Task Force Dragon. All that was needed to bring the pieces together was the reluctant Ukrainian top command.

Debate over plausible deniability

Soon the Ukrainians, nearly 20 in all — intelligence officers, operational planners, communications and fire-control specialists — began arriving in Wiesbaden. Every morning, officers recalled, the Ukrainians and Americans gathered to survey Russian weapons systems and ground forces and determine the ripest, highest-value targets. The priority lists were then handed over to the intelligence fusion center, where officers analyzed streams of data to pinpoint the targets’ locations.

Inside the U.S. European Command, this process gave rise to a fine but fraught linguistic debate: Given the delicacy of the mission, was it unduly provocative to call targets “targets”?

Some officers thought “targets” was appropriate. Others called them “intel tippers,” because the Russians were often moving and the information would need verification on the ground.

The debate was settled by Maj. Gen. Timothy D. Brown, European Command’s intelligence chief: The locations of Russian forces would be “points of interest.” Intelligence on airborne threats would be “tracks of interest.”

“If you ever get asked the question, ‘Did you pass a target to the Ukrainians?’ you can legitimately not be lying when you say, ‘No, I did not,’” one U.S. official explained.

CIA and assassinations of Russian top officers

The White House also prohibited sharing intelligence on the locations of “strategic” Russian leaders, like the armed forces chief, Gen. Valery Gerasimov. “Imagine how that would be for us if we knew that the Russians helped some other country assassinate our chairman,” another senior U.S. official said. “Like, we’d go to war.” Similarly, Task Force Dragon couldn’t share intelligence that identified the locations of individual Russians.

The way the system worked, Task Force Dragon would tell the Ukrainians where Russians were positioned. But to protect intelligence sources and methods from Russian spies, it would not say how it knew what it knew. 

US operations room directly oversaw HIMARS strikes

Wiesbaden would oversee each HIMARS strike... HIMARS strikes that resulted in 100 or more Russian dead or wounded came almost weekly. Russian forces were left dazed and confused. Their morale plummeted, and with it their will to fight. And as the HIMARS arsenal grew from eight to 38 and the Ukrainian strikers became more proficient, an American official said, the toll rose as much as fivefold.

“We became a small part, maybe not the best part, but a small part, of your system,” General Zabrodskyi explained, adding: “Most states did this over a period of 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. But we were forced to do it in a matter of weeks.”

Together the partners were honing a killing machine.

Below: Editor-in-chief of Russia's RT reacts to these latest detailed revelations...

New NYT "secret history" of American involvement in Ukraine makes the skin crawl. pic.twitter.com/SaPulmruO0

— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) March 30, 2025

Tensions as Ukrainians push to blow past Putin's red lines

The previous year, the Russians had unwisely placed command posts, ammunition depots and logistics centers within 50 miles of the front lines. But new intelligence showed that the Russians had now moved critical installations beyond HIMARS’ reach. So Generals Cavoli and Aguto recommended the next quantum leap, giving the Ukrainians Army Tactical Missile Systems — missiles, known as ATACMS, that can travel up to 190 miles — to make it harder for Russian forces in Crimea to help defend Melitopol.

ATACMS were a particularly sore subject for the Biden administration. Russia’s military chief, General Gerasimov, had indirectly referred to them the previous May when he warned General Milley that anything that flew 190 miles would be breaching a red line. There was also a question of supply: The Pentagon was already warning that it would not have enough ATACMS if America had to fight its own war.

The message was blunt: Stop asking for ATACMS.

Biden admin kept giving in to Zelensky

Until now, the Ukrainians, with help from the C.I.A. and the U.S. and British navies, had used maritime drones, together with long-range British Storm Shadow and French SCALP missiles, to strike the Black Sea Fleet. Wiesbaden’s contribution was intelligence.

But to prosecute the wider Crimea campaign, the Ukrainians would need far more missiles. They would need hundreds of ATACMS.

At the Pentagon, the old cautions hadn’t melted away. But after General Aguto briefed Mr. Austin on all that Lunar Hail could achieve, an aide recalled, he said: “OK, there’s a really compelling strategic objective here. It isn’t just about striking things.”

Mr. Zelensky would get his long-pined-for ATACMS. Even so, one U.S. official said, “We knew that, in his heart of hearts, he still wanted to do something else, something more.”

Allies clashed over Kursk incursion 

On Aug. 10, the C.I.A. station chief left, too, for a job at headquarters. In the churn of command, General Syrsky made his move — sending troops across the southwest Russian border, into the region of Kursk.

For the Americans, the incursion’s unfolding was a significant breach of trust. It wasn’t just that the Ukrainians had again kept them in the dark; they had secretly crossed a mutually agreed-upon line, taking coalition-supplied equipment into Russian territory encompassed by the ops box, in violation of rules laid down when it was created.

The box had been established to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Kharkiv, not so the Ukrainians could take advantage of it to seize Russian soil. “It wasn’t almost blackmail, it was blackmail,” a senior Pentagon official said.

The Americans could have pulled the plug on the ops box. Yet they knew that to do so, an administration official explained, “could lead to a catastrophe”: Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk would perish unprotected by HIMARS rockets and U.S. intelligence.

US Intel behind attacks on huge Kerch Strait Bridge

Of roughly 100 targets across Crimea, the most coveted was the Kerch Strait Bridge, linking the peninsula to the Russian mainland. Mr. Putin saw the bridge as powerful physical proof of Crimea’s connection to the motherland. Toppling the Russian president’s symbol had, in turn, become the Ukrainian president’s obsession.

It had also been an American red line. In 2022, the Biden administration prohibited helping the Ukrainians target it; even the approaches on the Crimean side were to be treated as sovereign Russian territory. (Ukrainian intelligence services tried attacking it themselves, causing some damage.)

But after the partners agreed on Lunar Hail, the White House authorized the military and C.I.A. to secretly work with the Ukrainians and the British on a blueprint of attack to bring the bridge down: ATACMS would weaken vulnerable points on the deck, while maritime drones would blow up next to its stanchions.

But while the drones were being readied, the Russians hardened their defenses around the stanchions.

Lloyd Austin seen as 'godfather' of the secret ops

In early January, Generals Donahue and Cavoli visited Kyiv to meet with General Syrsky and ensure that he agreed on plans to replenish Ukrainian brigades and shore up their lines, the Pentagon official said. From there, they traveled to Ramstein Air Base, where they met Mr. Austin for what would be the final gathering of coalition defense chiefs before everything changed.

With the doors closed to the press and public, Mr. Austin’s counterparts hailed him as the “godfather” and “architect” of the partnership that, for all its broken trust and betrayals, had sustained the Ukrainians’ defiance and hope, begun in earnest on that spring day in 2022 when Generals Donahue and Zabrodskyi first met in Wiesbaden.

Read the full Secret History of America’s Role in the Ukraine War here.

*  *   *

After selling out quickly, 10 of these just showed up! Free Shipping. (click pic) Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 16:55

Canadian Banks Linked To Chinese Fentanyl Laundering Risk US Treasury Sanctions After Cartel Terror Designation

In an explosive interview with The Bureau's Sam Cooper, David Asher - a former senior U.S. State Department official with close ties to the Trump administration's financial and national security apparatus—issued a stark warning: Canadian banks could soon face a "new universe" of regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Treasury. This follows the formal designation of Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa group, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). According to Asher, the command-and-control structure for laundering proceeds from synthetic narcotics—produced using Chinese precursor chemicals—is largely orchestrated by Chinese triads operating out of Canada.

Asher warned that these transnational crime gang nexus seriously threatens both U.S. national security and the stability of the North American financial system. 

Exclusive: Canadian Banks Tied to Chinese Fentanyl Laundering Risk U.S. Treasury Sanctions After Cartel Terror Designation ⁦@StateDept⁩ ⁦@DHSgov⁩ ⁦@USTreasury⁩ ⁦@DEAHQ⁩ https://t.co/DA232SzHyr

— Sam Cooper (@scoopercooper) March 29, 2025

Here's the interview between Cooper and Asher, which offers a possible road map for the looming legal consequences for Canadian banks as the Trump administration ramps up hemispheric defense and moves to dismantle, once and for all, the command-and-control structures of Mexican cartels and Chinese triads operating through Canadian financial institutions. 

In an explosive, sweeping interview, former senior State Department investigator David Asher—closely connected to the Trump administration's financial and national security apparatus—warned that Canadian banks could soon face a "new universe" of regulatory scrutiny, including from the U.S. Treasury, due to the recent designation of Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Asher, who contends that the "command" for Western Hemisphere money laundering of synthetic narcotics—including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and ecstasy sourced from Chinese precursors—is "largely run by Chinese triads in Canada," also argues that this interconnected transnational network presents profound risks to Canadian financial institutions.

Speaking bluntly about the nexus between Chinese Triads and Mexican cartels operating in Canada, Asher said: "Of course, they're in bed with each other. This is why Tse Chi Lop lived in Toronto… These cartels are now designated as terrorist organizations. That changes everything—how we prosecute them, and what tools we can use."

Asher, along with Canadian law enforcement experts such as former RCMP intelligence analyst Scott McGregor, believes a rarely discussed Canadian legal barrier—Stinchcombe—must be overcome. They argue Canada could unlock powerful new authorities if it begins treating cartel-connected Chinese money laundering networks as accessories to terrorism.

The rule, derived from the 1991 Supreme Court case R. v. Stinchcombe, requires Canadian law enforcement to disclose nearly all investigative material to the defense. While intended to ensure a fair trial, critics say it severely hampers complex RCMP investigations, especially those relying on wiretaps or sensitive intelligence, and risks blowing the cover of international partners and covert operations.

Asher didn't mince words: "Every case I worked in Canada… the Stinchcombe thing ended up [inhibiting investigations]—we were targeting phone numbers tied to Canadian money launderers who were Chinese. And they got told after 90 days that we were going after them. Then they just changed numbers and changed their OPSEC. It's a farce."

He sees the recent terrorism designation of Mexican cartels as a legal pivot point: "That whole Stinchcombe thing should be thrown out the door because we can now use counter-terrorism authorities."

Asher believes that if Canadian law enforcement engages more directly with U.S. authorities, the financiers and money launderers tied to Chinese triads in Canada can be directly linked to fentanyl-trafficking Mexican cartels. If Canadian banks are shown to be facilitating these funds, even passively, they may be subject to U.S. regulations—including terrorism finance sanctions.

The implications for Canadian institutions are profound. "If any of these financial institutions are picking up a dollar for the cartels at this stage and we can prove it, then they're engaged in terrorism financing."

Asher also pointed to marijuana trafficking from Canada into the United States—not as a separate criminal enterprise, but as part of the same transnational fentanyl networks. He said Chinese Triads, with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, sit atop this narcotics pyramid and are exploiting Canada's legal marijuana system.

"The illegal pot—marijuana from Canada that comes into the New York State tri-state area and into the Pacific Northwest states of the United States is huge. And now we're seeing the integration of fentanyl into marijuana in some cases."

The flow of narcotics south and criminal proceeds north continues largely unabated, Asher warned, with superlabs in British Columbia and other areas of Canada producing meth, ecstasy, and fentanyl.

On Canada's enforcement efforts and the outcomes of official inquiries into Chinese criminal and influence networks, Asher was scathing: "What have you done to follow up on [the Cullen Commission]? Nothing. And then you had this Hogue inquiry about Chinese influence in politics. What have you done about that? It looks to me like practically nothing."

He called on Canada to show resolve on investigations that impact the United States: "Frankly, one of the first things you still need to do is: why is TD Bank Canada not being charged? And do we have charges against some of the executives, whether they've been publicly named or not?"

His core message is that Canada must shake off legal and political inertia: "Why wouldn't Canada want to protect itself? You're losing thousands of people every year, sometimes tens of thousands, due to overdoses and poisonings and basically murder in the form of these narcotics networks."

The consequences of inaction, Asher warned, could be dire—not only for Canadian sovereignty and public health, but for its banking sector's international standing. "Canadian money laundering command and control remains a huge issue for drug trafficking across the United States… That's just the bottom line."

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity. Some passages have been removed to streamline the discussion while preserving its core insights.

Sam Cooper: What is the key change that designating the Sinaloa cartel and these other Mexican cartels as terrorist networks—because Canada followed President Trump on that. So now this anti-terrorism law should be applicable in Canada. One, does that change the calculus of the U.S. working with the Canadian government in going after cartels in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal? And two, in your view, are these cartels operative with Chinese command-and-control financiers that underwrite their operations across North America?

David Asher: First of all, of course, they're in bed with each other. I mean, this is the reason why Tse Chi Lop lived in Canada and in Toronto. I mean, the Sinaloa cartel has significant operations with partners and proxies in Canada, both for distribution and, increasingly, we believe with production—the rise of these super labs.

And so, the way I define it: we can do law enforcement top down. We use their intelligence, use their sources. We know who the leadership are, we know where the money is. Rather than build a case from the bottom up and start with dime bags on the streets of Chicago or Vancouver, we say we know these cartels are designated, and now these cartels are terrorist organizations. That changes everything in terms of how we could prosecute them and what type of tools we can use. Because that whole Stinchcombe thing should be thrown out the door because we can now use counter-terrorism authorities. Because Canada does have a reasonably strong counter-terrorism law.

So if we treat these cartels as terrorists—which they are—and you've designated them, we can use our signals intelligence and all sorts of other tools to much more robustly target them without them knowing it. Because every case I worked in Canada, the Stinchcombe thing ended up—we were targeting phone numbers tied to Canadian money launderers who were Chinese, and also actually some Italian mob guys too, and Iranian mob guys. And they got told after 90 days that we were going after them. And then they just changed numbers and they changed their OPSEC. It's a farce, you know that. But I mean, just like with the terrorism designations, I think we're in a new universe here.

So now that the Latin cartels have been designated as terrorists, your Anti-Terrorism Act of 2017 will—it has these four key provisions: prevent terrorists from getting into Canada and protect Canadians from terrorist acts; activate tools to identify, prosecute, and convict terrorists; keep the border secure and contribute to economic security; and work with the international community to bring terrorists to justice and address root causes of violence.

All these aspects are fundamentally game changers. I mean, if you apply that, I think that you treat these cartels as terrorists, you start to prosecute them. We could do it jointly. And their partners too—I mean, they're accessories to terrorism. So if the Chinese are laundering the money, and if TD Bank, let's say, is accepting the money? Then TD Bank is involved in terrorism finance. Suddenly, then, the whole tapestry of authorities has changed, and we should not have to follow the Stinchcombe thing anymore. It should be that we have a direct way to secretly target the communications and follow the money through the cartels, now that they're basically the same as Hezbollah and the Quds Force and Al-Qaeda.

And then there's Chinese partners. Frankly, if they're working with them in a partnership, you should be able to approach them as accessories to terrorism from a legal standpoint. That would change your prosecution. It would change your intelligence collection capability, and it would actually conform with the facts, frankly.

And I think also anybody who's getting the Chinese guys you've profiled, like Paul King Jin and all these Chinese United Front actors in Vancouver—I mean, they are now effectively accessories to a terrorist organization's finances.

So I have to assume that your politicians are not going to meet with accessories to terrorist organizations anymore. I hope what this is doing in the U.S. is that all U.S. banks now are under warning that the Anti-Terrorism Act will be applied to them if they take one dollar of Sinaloa money.

I think that people are starting to realize that. And I think there's much—I think it's hardly that TD was the only Canadian bank that was involved in laundering money.

Sam Cooper: Can you expand on that?

David Asher: You've got other banks, like BMO. I'm not saying it's laundering money, but I'm not saying it isn't. I don't know, but they have huge operations in Mexico, so obviously they should be looked at. But if any of these financial institutions are picking up a dollar for the cartels at this stage and we can prove it, then they're engaged in terrorism financing. I mean, the U.S. government will go after banks anywhere in the world that are engaged in terrorism financing, Canadian or otherwise.

And I don't think the U.S. government is satisfied at all with the Canadian response at this stage. But there is great hope because if you start to crack down using your Anti-Terrorism Act, I think that we have an opportunity to change the framework for collective action and have a much better relationship.

But it's going to mean taking on the Chinese because the money laundering for terrorist dollars is material support for terrorism, and it's going to require going after the distribution of not just fentanyl, but let's not forget there's massive amounts of methamphetamine produced in Canada. And by the way, no one's talking about all the meth from Canada that's entering the United States. President Trump isn't just concerned about fentanyl. I mean, for years we've had methamphetamine coming out of Canada into the United States.

Sam Cooper: Well, I recently did a story on a major Sinaloa Cartel cell set up on the British Columbia border near the Peace Arch crossing. They were dealing with [Sinaloa Cartel boss] El Mayo directly, which says a lot, right?

And they were raided–mind you no one is even incarcerated—but they face civil forfeiture. And they found Mexican passports, fentanyl, MDMA, methamphetamine, ketamine, fake Xanax, incredible weapons caches. And you also just had another major smuggling operation of MDMA from B.C. just prosecuted in Washington state. So the U.S. government is concerned with all these precursors from China and that includes ecstasy as well, right?

David Asher: Yes. And of course, the illegal pot—marijuana from Canada that comes into the New York State tri-state area and into the Pacific Northwest states of the United States is huge. And now we're seeing the integration of fentanyl into marijuana in some cases.

I think that the Canadian defense that statistics show Canada is innocent in fentanyl trafficking across North America is just bullshit. I mean, something like probably 80% of the money laundering networks in the U.S. that are Chinese are in direct contact with numbers in Canada every day. And we don't know who those subscribers are. We're not allowed to spy on Canada.

Sam Cooper: Alright. Can I ask you this? I heard from a senior U.S. narcotics expert with deep knowledge that the pot being run down from Ontario into New York and the tri-state area was coming in tons — and that they believed this was command-and-control Chinese organized crime in Toronto. They said the funds connected to all of that was collected in the U.S. and ultimately coming back up to Toronto banks.

Like you said, the money comes back to be laundered where command is. So that's the legal—or really, illegal—pot trade from Canada, mixed with the fentanyl trafficking networks directed from Canada. The drugs go south, the cash is collected, and it's laundered back up through Canadian banks.

That's your TD Bank case, right?

David Asher: It's all part of the same drug trafficking organizations.

But look, we don't have super labs in the United States, and this idea that, well, we have super labs in Canada, but they're not targeting the United States—how the hell do you know that? I mean, you just stumbled upon this super lab out in British Columbia. How many others? We've heard from dozens of sources that there are a number of labs like that in Canada. I mean, there's no way they're not going to be involved in exporting to the United States.

But even if they aren't, it's a huge threat to Canada. And we have to assume that it's an incoming threat to the United States. But putting aside fentanyl super labs, you've got super methamphetamine labs too, and you've got the marijuana business, ecstasy business—it's all drug business. They're all interlinked. And let's not forget that Tse Chi Lop served, I don't know about nine years in prison in the United States. We arrested him well before he was identified publicly, and when he was based in Canada.

You showed in your book Wilful Blindness that Paul King Jin, all these guys come down to Las Vegas to launder money. Remember, you can take these chips from these casinos and you can exchange them internationally. They're like bearer bonds practically. You can take them and settle them elsewhere. The chips are fungible. So the idea that these major Chinese networks in Canada are not cross-border into the U.S. is also bullshit.

Sam Cooper: Absolutely, yes.

David Asher: That's not some secret. Everybody knows that who works organized crime cases. So what's going on in British Columbia, which your Cullen Commission reporting detailed in mind-altering detail. What has Canada done to follow up on that? Nothing. And then you had this Hogue inquiry about Chinese influence in politics. What has Canada done about that? It looks to me like practically nothing. I think there's a lot we can do though. And there are people in the Canadian government that want to work this positively, and I think there should be more receptivity to it in the United States.

But I think we'd like to see the Canadians put some meat on the plate. Can they help us target the Sinaloa cartel's operations in partnership with Chinese triads, not just in Canada, but in the U.S. too, and maybe even in Mexico?

I mean, have they come forward with a plan of attack together? I don't think so. And if they did, it would be helpful. But frankly, one of the first things you still need to do is: why is TD Bank Canada not being charged?

And do we have charges against some of the executives, whether they've been publicly named or not? It's in the document that the Department of Justice released that there were a number of people they've identified for criminal prosecution. I mean, in the U.S. we're fining TD $3.1 billion. What's Canada done? Like a $9 million fine against TD Corporate in Toronto. Seriously? The people in Toronto were running the money laundering network in the United States of America.

Sam Cooper: What more can you say about that piece?

David Asher: There are other people you should talk to about that. But we know there was command and control for the money laundering in Toronto. That's why the CEO of TD Canada resigned. He took the blame, but he hasn't been charged. I expect that that case has not ended yet. I think there's a high probability that it will be continuing. I don't know this for certain—I'm not involved—but from what I can see, the facts are pretty clear in the document that was put out by the Department of Justice. I don't think that there's grounds for this investigation into TD's money laundering activity at the headquarters level to stop.

But why isn't the Canadian government looking into them? This is the largest money laundering bank in the history of the United States of America. It's Canadian. Have you ever thought that you guys might be able to charge them for money laundering too? What about anything they're doing today?

At this point, I know they've hired people as consultants to try to supposedly clean up the bank, but you know what? They've got a long way to go. They have to close accounts. They've got to screen every relationship they've got. And even then, if the Department of the Treasury is satisfied, the Department of Justice might have a different view of it.

But I think that we know this: at the end of the day, the Canadian money laundering command and control remains a huge issue for drug trafficking of all sorts across the United States of America. And so I think that's just the bottom line.

Sam Cooper: Okay. Let's talk more about Stinchcombe and Canada's courts and cross-border crime, because this is a major cause of friction fundamentally for Canada and the U.S. as allies I believe.

Can you explain more about the extreme impediments that Canadian police work under, so that U.S. international enforcement is totally frustrated, loss of confidence, can't work with Canada. Could you briefly describe to the readers what Stinchcombe means in terms of your and the U.S. government's frustration in not being able to go up on [establish wiretaps] on Iranian, Chinese, and Mexican operatives in Canada?

David Asher: Well, we could go up on them, but then they had to be told we were going up on them. I mean, there's this disclosure rule. I'm not an expert on Canadian law, but I can tell you that we had multiple cases—including [Asher names an alleged Iran-regime connected criminal in Toronto that allegedly laundered several billion dollars in major Canadian banks] against the Iran network.

We actually did have a case into Tse Chi Lop as well that was significant with the Australians, but it was DEA-led. And we've had so many others, including against the Hells Angels of Canada, who were a big problem. I mean, those guys, they've been trafficking into the United States. And as far as I can understand it, every time we want to target someone, they end up getting told that they're being targeted. I mean, you can't build an undercover criminal investigation if the cover gets blown after 90 days because of some Canadian law or rule.

And the fact is, but now with this terrorism designation, at least when it comes to the cartels and their facilitating parties—and that could be the Hells Angels, that could be the Wolf Pack, that could be the Chinese triads—it doesn't really matter. They're facilitating terrorism.

And Canada would need to start to make cases on your own to identify, prosecute, and disable and dismantle these networks. Your government knows where these networks exist. It just acts like it's powerless to do anything. It's just not true. I've always felt that there was a compromise—because we were dealing with, in some of these Iran cases, we were dealing with terrorism. We had direct Hezbollah and Iranian IRGC connections in Canada. So it baffled us why the criminals were being told that they were being targeted or how they found out.

Whether it was through Stinchcombe or leaks or whatever. But all I can say is: when's the last time we did a major case together between U.S. and Canada to take down a network? Seriously? Can you name one?

Sam Cooper: I can't. No.

David Asher: Exactly. So there's none, basically, that's of any note. And it's not just to blame Canada. I'm saying let's just turn this into an opportunity for justice, because at the end of the day, your people are getting murdered by these cartels. And the cartels are making money because they can launder through these Chinese networks. And if they can't make money, they'll go out of business. So our job is not to protect Canada, but we're certainly happy to help.

But I think that this needs to be—and it's unfortunate that things have started off in an adversarial way between Washington and Ottawa. But I think that there's just a lot of frustration. And I know it exists at the Treasury Department, not just the Department of Justice.

You've got a ways to go, and I think that your new Prime Minister will hopefully be able to navigate this, and we'll see a new way of working these things together.

And I think, again, this terrorism designation is huge, but someone has to start by saying, okay, now we've got a terrorism designation. What do we do with it? And right now, I don't think you should wait for the U.S. to come and complain or appeal to you to do it. You should do this yourselves. Why wouldn't Canada want to protect itself? You're losing thousands of people every year, sometimes tens of thousands, due to overdoses and poisonings and basically murder in the form of these narcotics networks. And then, basically, you've created a countrywide environment that's permissive to criminal organizations, and people are suffering. The fact is, this enormous amount of real estate that's been bought across Canada, especially in British Columbia and the Toronto area, has been bought with money that's been laundered. It makes Miami in the 1980s look minor league.

Sam Cooper: Yeah. The estimates I'm getting now are over a trillion dollars in Toronto and Vancouver, connected to mortgage fraud and underground banking since 2010.

David Asher: Yeah, it's massive. And it has to be fixed. I mean, seriously, this is an opportunity.

Sam Cooper: It's an opportunity to improve both our nations.

David Asher: Correct. And I think if Canada came forward and said, we just identified the following networks and individuals who are laundering money for Chinese money laundering organizations, and we're going to take them down, the U.S. would probably be impressed. Right now, you're showing videos of dogs on the border and helicopters—that doesn't do anything. Make some arrests, take down some criminals.

Eliminating Mexican cartels and Chinese triads from financial institutions across the Americas is part of the Trump administration's broader strategy to strengthen national and hemispheric defense. This explains the push for deeper economic integration between the United States and Canada, along with the establishment of a hardened defense perimeter stretching from the Arctic to the Panama Canal.

Let's visualize that...

TD and other banks face continued scrutiny under U.S. anti-terrorism laws following the recent disclosure of Chinese-linked superlabs in Canada, as the drug overdose death crisis claims 100,000 Americans per year. This heightened scrutiny may help explain why TD Bank's equity on the Canadian stock exchange has yet to recover above its October 2024 highs, when the U.S. Department of Justice announced AML penalties against the bank.

What's clear is that U.S. officials are growing increasingly confident in their assessments of drug money laundering by international gangs through Canadian banks—and have already begun issuing AML violations, as seen in TD's case. We suspect the spotlight could soon shift to Mexican banks as well. And in the U.S., the DoJ should take a deeper dive into banks.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 15:45

Wisconsin AG Sues Musk Over $1 Million Giveaways, Loses, Then Appeals To State Supremes

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has appealed directly to the state Supreme Court, after an appeals court slapped down a Friday attempt to sue Elon Musk and his PAC to block a $1 million giveaway to Wisconsin voters.

Dem AG Josh Kaul is now asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to step in just hours ahead of Elon Musk’s event in Green Bay, asking the court to block Musk from giving any payments to Wisconsin voters as Musk campaigns for conservative court candidate Brad Schimel pic.twitter.com/ajYO4Kg1Vs

— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) March 30, 2025

In his original lawsuit, Kaul said he was trying to stop an “egregious” and illegal scheme to sway voters days before a pivotal state Supreme Court election.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul speaks at an event in Milwaukee, Wis., on Oct. 27, 2022. Morry Gash, File/AP Photo

As the Epoch Times notes further, Kaul’s original complaint, filed in Dane County Circuit Court on March 28, targets Musk’s announcement that two Wisconsin voters would be picked to receive $1 million each at a Sunday event—on the condition that they vote in the April 1 election. The high-stakes election will determine whether the high court remains a 4–3 liberal majority or flips to a conservative majority.

In a since-deleted post on social media on March 27, Musk wrote: “I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important.”

Musk later clarified his plans in a new post on X on March 28.

“On Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin,” Musk wrote. “To clarify a previous post, entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges. I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition.”

According to Kaul’s lawsuit, Musk’s March 27 post violated a Wisconsin Statute that prohibits offering financial incentives to cast a vote. The Wisconsin attorney general is seeking emergency relief to block the payouts, arguing that Musk’s plan violates state election laws.

“Musk’s announcement of his intention to pay $1 million to two Wisconsin electors who attend his event on Sunday night, specifically conditioned on their having voted in the upcoming April 3, 2025, Wisconsin Supreme Court election, is a blatant attempt to violate Wis. Stat. § 12.11,” the complaint states. “This must not happen.”

The lawsuit notes that Musk’s since-deleted post had garnered over 19 million views before it was taken down and was widely reported by the news media. While the complaint acknowledges that Musk removed the first post, it notes that, as of Friday afternoon, neither Musk nor America PAC had issued a statement rescinding the initial payout offer.

“Upon information and belief, despite taking down the X.com post, neither Musk nor America PAC have announced that the plan to make two $1 million payments to Wisconsin electors who have voted in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election has been cancelled,” Kaul wrote. He called on the court to issue a temporary restraining order that would bar Musk from any further promotion of the million-dollar gifts and prevent him from making the payments.

Musk’s attorney was not immediately reachable for comment. While Musk has not publicly commented on the lawsuit directly, he shared a post on X describing the lawsuit as “lawfare” and a “desperate attempt” by Democrats who are “terrified Elon is going to activate Wisconsinites to vote.”

The legal battle unfolds against the backdrop of a high-stakes race that could reshape Wisconsin’s political and judicial landscape. Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, a Republican, is facing off against Democratic Dane County Judge Susan Crawford for a 10-year term that will decide the ideological tilt of the court.

Musk’s America PAC launched a petition campaign earlier this month offering $100 to registered voters who signed a pledge opposing “activist judges.” The PAC also promised an additional $100 for each referral made by the signer.

“Judges should interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas,” the petition reads. “By signing below, I’m rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and demanding a judiciary that respects its role—interpreting, not legislating.”

Though recipients of the money are not required to vote in a particular way, Kaul referred to the petition in his complaint, arguing that the entire effort undermines election integrity and violates Wisconsin law.

This is not the first time Musk’s PAC has offered money to eligible voters before an election. During last year’s presidential election, America PAC ran a similar campaign offering $1 million per day to randomly selected petition signers in swing states, along with $100 bonuses in Pennsylvania.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 15:10

A Case For Net Zero Immigration

Authored by Robert Syrus via Robert's Newsletter,

Elon Musk fired over 6,000 Twitter employees, which was about 80 percent of the company's workforce, starting in November 2022. He told Tucker Carlson "It turns out you don't need all that many people to run Twitter". Recently President Trump offered two million federal workers a buyout severance package to leave their jobs. What if it turns out you don’t need all that many people to run America?

At this historical juncture when America is at last taking action on unlawful migration on the one hand and on the other hand credible sources such as Goldman Sachs are predicting radical worker displacement by AI and robotics it might be an opportune time to examine what labor and immigration policies really will put America, and Americans, first. A reversal of the deindustrialization processes which have beset the country over the past fifty years (and became turbo-charged once China was ushered into the WTO in 2001) if it is to be accomplished re-industrialization will look less like Rosie the Riveter and more like Robby the Robot.

There are some, with whom the Donald Trump of the shockingly gold-festooned NYC apartment might instinctively side, who call for bigger because…better, right? Matthew Yglesias argues this case in One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger. Of course if it only required a mega-sized population to be successful 800 million people in India would not depend upon daily government food handouts and 1.3 billion Africans would not rely on food imports for 80 percent of their groceries. Even in China, 11 percent of the population (which translates to roughly 153 million people) are unable to afford a healthy diet. So before inviting another 666 million people to enjoy the blessings of US liberty, policy makers should best examine all the most likely future scenarios.

If America is not completely full, it’s certainly full of foreigners. A 2018 study by researchers from Yale and MIT utilized mathematical modelling and estimated that the number of undocumented immigrants could be around 22 million, nearly double previous estimates. Common sense and Fox News will tell you that the real total is likely closer to 30 million after the Biden border-free-for-all. Combine that with some 30 million legal foreign born residents/naturalized citizens and you get 60 million newcomers. If you accept the figures of perennial immigration critic Ann Coulter (author of the famously prophetic book Adios America) of 50 million illegals you get a staggering 80 million foreign born residents, fully 24 percent of the aggregate Census Bureau population.

According to most sociological studies, it typically takes around three generations for European immigrants to become fully assimilated into American culture. Therefore isn’t the case for a ten-fold increase of foreign immigrants weaker than the case for Net Zero Immigration?

The populist Swiss People’s Party which leads most polls has campaigned on a promise to cap that tiny country’s population at 10 million. Larry Fink, head of investment behemoth Blackrock has cited studies which show countries with stable or declining populations may become the world’s leaders in incorporating AI and robotics. Even in sectors where there is no shortage of potential workers such as trucking, (the number-one high paying employment for non-college American men) automation is poised to make a devastating impact. Millions of driving jobs will vanish, permanently. During 2024 autonomous taxi company Waymo successfully completed 4 million passenger rides. Human drivers cannot compete with 24/7 operation, no strikes, and lower insurance rates. That being the case does it not make sense to discover which immigration policies most benefit the shrinking and increasingly threatened middle class citizen?

During January 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that over one million foreign-born workers found a job but effectively zero net jobs accrued to native born Americans. During a time of great employment transition does it make any sense to give away “golden ticket” jobs to foreigners residing in foreign countries through programs like H1B? The median starting salary for H1B jobs at companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google is about $150,000 but the opportunities for jumpstarting a person’s career and family life are incalculable. Here’s a question: what jobs absolutely positively cannot be filled by native born Americans or even any of the 60 million foreign-borns already here but must be filled by someone who currently lives in Mumbai or Shanghai? Can it be true native-born American’s brains have been permanently stunted from achieving excellence by 1990s TV shows as Vivek Ramaswamy recently, and perhaps unwisely, suggested?

China has no immigration program equivalent to H1B. Yet according to recent studies, China is currently considered to be ahead of the United States in several key technologies, including electric vehicles and batteries, advanced manufacturing, 5G network infrastructure, facial recognition technology, and certain aspects of artificial intelligence applications. Russia, with a GDP one tenth of America’s cannot compete for international technical talent; however the country ranked fifth in the world in terms of the number of people engaged in research and development and it is known to possess at least three hypersonic weapons systems deployed and used in active warfare with contrasts to the US total of zero.

Let us graciously disagree with Mr. Ramaswamy and consider the alternative case that there is no shortage of qualified or trainable workers in America. Let us further consider that the most practical course of development of the vast and varied landscape of the country’s economy is a steady state where a fixed number of 350 million citizens preside over an economy whose GDP growth is powered not by randomly adding foreign bodies but by the ever-increasing power and efficiency of automatons.

Will Elon Musk’s off-the-cuff prediction that there would come a point when "no job is needed" and jobs instead would be just for those who wanted one for "personal satisfaction" come true? Whatever the future holds, the concepts in the brief 2020 tome Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto are as much a dead end as Marxism for a simple reason: reality doesn’t work that way.

However…let’s fast forward to 2035: the country has a sensible skill-points and quota-based immigration plan, keeping the population stable as the nation is given time to assimilate the 60 million foreign born residents dumped into it during the previous 60 years and time to adjust to the Robot Industrial Revolution. These wise policies have not resulted in wage inflation or a labour shortage but has strongly incentivized corporate America to retrain the millions of workers displaced by AI and replace seasonal migrant labour with world-beating robotics which pick apples, cook French fries and drive 80 percent of truck and taxi trips, terrestrial and aeronautical.

Imagine Alfred Lutz, formerly employed as a Master Diesel Technician, recently retrained as a data scientist working for Walmart. Alfred makes enough money to support a politely hot stay-at-home wife and 2.6 mildly sassy but generally agreeable children. He works hard but can insist on reasonable leisure time and vacations; he is secure in the knowledge that his employer cannot just outsource his job to 2.5 H1B replacements for the same salary and no benefits. He is part of the resurgent middle class rescued in the mid-2020s by the MAGA movement.

As a flying drone limousine glides over Dallas freeways and lands him on his spacious driveway/helipad, Alfred may well reflect that the new American Dream rests on a foundation of net zero immigration and robot luxury capitalism.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 14:00

Mysterious Airstrip On Island Off Yemen Might Be Used By US Warplanes

Friday and the overnight hours saw US warplanes significantly ramp up airstrikes on Yemen, with several dozens of strikes on Friday alone, and more through the night and Saturday.

"United States air strikes have hit more than 40 locations across Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including in the capital, Sanaa, according to local media affiliated with the rebel group," regional media details. Some reports have counted over 70 strikes in the last 24 hours.

US Navy image

Some half of these attacks were on the Tahrir and Qiyada districts of the Yemeni capital, which contain residential neighborhoods. The Sanaa International Airport was also struck for a second night in a row.

The US-led attacks have become nearly non-stop, with dozens killed and many wounded on the ground, after President Trump this week warned that he's ready to bomb Yemen for "a long time" if the Houthis don't halt their drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The US President hailed the Yemen operation, which has been ongoing for about two weeks at this point, as "very successful beyond our wildest expectations." However, there's been no signs the Houthis intend to halt their own attacks off Yemen's coast and against Israel.

Al Jazeera has noted that "The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which now has authority from the White House to strike offensively in Yemen without pre-approval."

According to emerging reports of strikes which continued Saturday:

Meanwhile, satellite photos analyzed by the AP show a mysterious airstrip just off Yemen in a key maritime chokepoint now appears ready to accept flights and B-2 bombers within striking distance of the country Saturday.

The strikes into Saturday targeted multiple areas in Yemen under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthis, including the capital, Sanaa, and in the governorates of al-Jawf and Saada, rebel-controlled media reported. The strikes in Saada killed one person and wounded four others, the Houthi-run SABA news agency said.

Times of Israel has reported more on the above-mentioned airstrip as follows:

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show an airstrip now appears ready on Mayun Island, a volcanic outcropping in the center of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen.

The images show the airstrip had been painted with the designation markings “09” and “27” to the airstrip’s east and west respectively.

A Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis had acknowledged having “equipment” on Mayun, also known as Perim. However, air and sea traffic to Mayun has linked the construction to the UAE, which backs a secessionist force in Yemen known as the Southern Transitional Council.

So it appears US warplanes can now utilize a 'local' airspace under Saudi coalition auspices.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show an airstrip now appears ready on Mayun Island, a volcanic outcropping in the center of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen.https://t.co/3blmJQfJW6

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) March 29, 2025

Instead of the attacks forcing the Houthis to back down, the militant group has continued attacking southern and central Israel with ballistic missiles.

"The missile force targeted Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied Jaffa (Tel Aviv) area with a Zulfiqar ballistic missile and a military target south of occupied Jaffa with a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile. The operation successfully achieved its goal," Yemen's Houthi military had said Thursday.

Israel has reported no deaths or casualties from these attacks, but there's been limited damage. Most inbound projectiles have been intercepted or fell in the desert before reaching Tel Aviv.

* * *

We've sold a TON of these lighter / flashlight combos...

Buy two for free shipping! (over $50)... Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 13:25



 

 

Fun convo with Joe and Josh of Stacking Benjamins.

Transcript waaaay down the page here.

Stacking Benjamins:

Ever wondered how the top financial minds avoid disaster while the rest of us are busy panic-Googling “best investments 2024”? Today, Joe welcomes Barry Ritholtz of Ritholtz Wealth Management down to Mom’s basement for a conversation that flips typical investment advice on its head. It’s not about what to do—it’s about what not to do if you want to grow your money without losing your sanity.

Barry shares battle-tested insights from his years in the trenches, covering everything from behavioral finance to market psychology and how to avoid falling for trends that make great headlines but terrible portfolios.

 

 

 

Source:
How NOT To Invest: Lessons from Barry Ritholtz (SB1661)
Joe Saul-Sehy and Josh Bannerman
Stacking Benjamins, March 26, 2025

 

 

The post Stacking Benjamins: Lessons from How NOT to Invest appeared first on The Big Picture.

Trump's New World Order

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

The US-led world order has undergone several distinct phases since the end of World War 2.

From 1945 to 1991, it was defined by the Cold War—a global struggle between the US and the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the post-WW2 world order experienced a massive shift, with the US emerging as the undisputed global superpower. This era, often called the “unipolar moment,” lasted from 1991 until Trump’s inauguration in 2025.

Yuval Harari is a key advisor to Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He recently stated that if Trump were to become president again, it “is likely to be the kind of death blow to what remains of the global order.”

While I think it’s premature to declare the end of the post-WW2 world order, Trump’s return to the White House undoubtedly marks one of the most significant shifts in international relations since the Soviet Union’s fall.

Marco Rubio serves as Trump’s Secretary of State, tasked with executing Trump’s vision for America’s role on the world stage.

His statements—during his Senate confirmation hearings and in an interview with journalist Megyn Kelly—have made that vision unmistakably clear.

Here’s what Rubio stated during his confirmation hearings (emphasis added):

“Out of the triumphalism of the end of long Cold War emerged a bi-partisan consensus that we had reached ‘the end of history.’ That all the nations of Earth would become members of the democratic Western led community. That a foreign policy that served the national interest could now be replaced by one that served the ‘liberal world order.’ And that all mankind was now destined to abandon national identity, and we would become ‘one human family’ and ‘citizens of the world.’

This wasn’t just a fantasy; it was a dangerous delusion.

Here in America, and in many of the advanced economies across the world, an almost religious commitment to free and unfettered trade at the expense of our national economy, shrunk the middle class, left the working class in crisis, collapsed industrial capacity, and pushed critical supply chains into the hands of adversaries and rivals. An irrational zeal for maximum freedom of movement of people has resulted in a historic mass migration crisis here in America and around the world that threatens the stability of societies and governments.

While America far too often continued to prioritize the ‘global order’ above our core national interests, other nations continued to act the way countries always have and always will, in what they perceive to be in their best interest.

And instead of folding into the post-Cold War global order, they have manipulated it to serve their interest at the expense of ours. We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order. And they took advantage of all its benefits. But they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities. Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense.

The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us.

And all this has led us to a moment in which we must now confront the single greatest risk of geopolitical instability and generational global crisis in the lifetime of anyone alive here today.

Eight decades later, we are called to create a free world out of chaos once again. This will not be easy. And it will be impossible without a strong and confident America that engages in the world, putting our core national interests above all else once again.”

Here are Rubio’s remarks to Megyn Kelly (emphasis added):

Megyn Kelly: America First?

Secretary Rubio: Well, and that’s the way the world has always worked. The way the world has always worked is that the Chinese will do what’s in the best interests of China, the Russians will do what’s in the best interest of Russia, the Chileans are going to do what’s in the best interest of Chile, and the United States needs to do what’s in the best interest of the United States.

Where our interests align, that’s where you have partnerships and alliances; where our differences are not aligned, that is where the job of diplomacy is to prevent conflict while still furthering our national interests and understanding they’re going to further theirs. And that’s been lost.

And I think that was lost at the end of the Cold War, because we were the only power in the world, and so we assumed this responsibility of sort of becoming the global government in many cases, trying to solve every problem.

And there are terrible things happening in the world. There are. And then there are things that are terrible that impact our national interest directly, and we need to prioritize those again.

So, it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power. That was an anomaly. It was a product of the end of the Cold War, but eventually you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet.

We face that now with China and to some extent Russia, and then you have rogue states like Iran and North Korea you have to deal with.

So now more than ever we need to remember that foreign policy should always be about furthering the national interest of the United States and doing so, to the extent possible, avoiding war and armed conflict, which we have seen two times in the last century be very costly.

They’re celebrating the 80th anniversary this year of the end of the Second World War. That – I think if you look at the scale and scope of destruction and loss of life that occurred, it would be far worse if we had a global conflict now. It may end life on the planet. And it sounds like hyperbole, but you have multiple countries now who have the capability to end life on Earth. And so we need to really work hard to avoid armed conflict as much as possible, but never at the expense of our national interest. So that’s the tricky balance. “

Rubio’s words are a reflection of Trump’s vision and policy. Frankly, it’s a much-needed dose of realism and pragmatism.

It’s worth emphasizing several key points from Rubio’s remarks:

• The idea that the US could uphold a unipolar world order indefinitely “wasn’t just a fantasy; it was a dangerous delusion.”

• “The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us.”

• “We must now confront the single greatest risk of geopolitical instability and generational global crisis in the lifetime of anyone alive here today.”

• “It’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power. That was an anomaly.”

• “Eventually, you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet.”

Though it endured for 34 years, the notion that the US could maintain a unipolar world order indefinitely was never realistic.

President Trump seems to recognize that maintaining it is not just unrealistic but unsustainable. He appears to have decided that it is in the US’s best interest to transition to a multipolar reality on its own terms rather than be forced into it by a chaotic collapse.

We are now in a volatile adjustment period as the unipolar world order gives way to a multipolar one (click image below to enlarge).

Does this mean World War 3 is over?

I don’t think so. But it does mean we have entered a new phase of it.

There is still much to be determined—most crucially, the boundaries of the US, Russia, and China’s spheres of influence in this emerging multipolar world.

With the war in Ukraine all but lost and the prospect of victory in Taiwan shrinking by the day, the US government appears to have accepted that the complete subjugation of Russia and China under its unipolar dominance is no longer an achievable goal.

The goalposts of World War 3 have shifted.

Rather than total victory and preserving the unipolar world order, the US is now focused on maximizing its power within the new multipolar landscape—while limiting the influence of its most formidable rivals: Russia, China, and their allies, including Iran.

While the US seems to be moving away from the unipolar model and begrudgingly acknowledging the existence of rival powers, it still seeks to be the dominant force in a multipolar world.

The new global boundaries have yet to be defined, and the situation remains volatile and dangerous. Whether Trump can successfully guide the US—and the world—through this transition without descending into greater conflict remains an open question.

On a smaller scale, this mirrors how powerful criminal organizations—such as mafias and street gangs—operate within a city. Ideally, a gang or mafia would eliminate all rivals. However, when certain rivals prove too strong to destroy, the conflict shifts toward defining boundaries until a formal arrangement is reached that divides territories.

The same dynamic is now unfolding on a global scale between the US, Russia, and China as World War 3 plays out.

Each side is maneuvering to expand its power and influence until a new arrangement is reached that defines the balance of the multipolar world.

The Global Order Is Changing—Are You Ready?

The unipolar world is fading, and a volatile new multipolar reality is taking shape.

The global power structure is shifting fast—and the consequences will be massive.

Most people will be caught off guard—don’t be one of them.

What does this mean for America? For the economy? For you?

That’s why I’ve put together an urgent report revealing the hidden forces shaping this new era and how to prepare for the massive geopolitical and economic shifts ahead.

This could be the most important dispatch you read all year.

Don’t get caught unprepared.

Click here to see it now.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 10:30

Another update ... a few key points:
1) There is a clear seasonal pattern for house prices.
2) The surge in distressed sales during the housing bust distorted the seasonal pattern.  This was because distressed sales (at lower price points) happened at a steady rate all year, while regular sales followed the normal seasonal pattern.  This made for larger swings in the seasonal factor during the housing bust.3) The seasonal swings have increased recently without a surge in distressed sales.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the month-to-month change in the NSA Case-Shiller National index since 1987 (through January 2025). The seasonal pattern was smaller back in the '90s and early '00s and increased once the bubble burst.

The seasonal swings declined following the bust, however the pandemic price surge changed the month-over-month pattern.

The second graph shows the seasonal factors for the Case-Shiller National index since 1987. The factors started to change near the peak of the bubble, and really increased during the bust since normal sales followed the regular seasonal pattern - and distressed sales happened all year.   
The swings in the seasonal factors were decreasing following the bust but have increased again recently - this time without a surge in distressed sales.

BlackRock's Panama Port Deal With CK Hutchison Won't Be Signed Next Week

President Trump's master plan to strengthen hemispheric defense—aimed at eliminating Chinese influence in the Panama Canal—appears to have hit a bottleneck at the end of last week.

A new report Saturday reveals that Hong Kong's CK Hutchison will not sign a deal next week to sell its two ports on either side of the canal to a BlackRock-led consortium. It's back to the drawing board for the Trump administration, which will now need to implement new tactics to pressure Panama to rid itself of Chinese Communist influence.

Sources told Reuters that Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's deal to sell the Panama ports, including Balboa and Cristobal on either side of the canal, will not have the proper paperwork signed with the BlackRock-led investor group by the April 2 deadline for "obvious reasons."

Those obvious reasons include an infuriated Chinese Communist Party, which views Li as having bent the knee to Trump and the Americans by agreeing to give up such critical infrastructure around the canal.

For weeks, various Chinese media outlets called CK Hutchison's billionaire founder "spineless" and questioned which "side he should stand on." 

Another source said that talks are still very much underway regarding the $19 billion deal, which includes 43 ports in 23 countries. 

On Friday, the South China Morning Post first revealed that CK Hutchison Holdings "will not go ahead with the expected signing of a deal next week to sell its two strategic ports at the Panama Canal ... with Beijing saying it will launch an antitrust probe into the sale." 

CK Hutchison Deal Derailed After CCP In Beijing Launches Antitrust Probe https://t.co/vApfl7m6al

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 28, 2025

In another report, The Telegraph noted, "Chinese authorities have effectively blacklisted CK Hutchison and the business interests of the Li family by telling Chinese state-backed firms they will struggle to get regulatory approval for any work involving the group."

And earlier this month...

Beijing Fumes Over BlackRock's Panama Port Deal With CK Hutchison https://t.co/TipGfIMQQS

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 14, 2025

It's crucial to understand that eliminating Chinese Communist influence from the Panama Canal is part of Trump's master plan to strengthen hemispheric defense. This strategy also encompasses developing hardened defense layers around Canada and Greenland. It includes efforts to purge Chinese triad gangs, Mexican cartels, and other terrorist organizations from the North American financial system as the world fractures into a bipolar state. 

If the communists in Beijing actually nuked the port deal with BlackRock. Then expect some angry Truth Social posts from Trump. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 09:55

Greenland, Denmark Push Back On Vance's Visit

Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times,

Leadership in Denmark and Greenland are pushing back against the Trump administration’s proposal to take over Greenland following a controversial visit to the territory by Vice President JD Vance.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s new prime minister, said on March 28 that Vance’s visit signaled a “lack of respect,” and called for political unity to combat foreign interference.

“At a time when we as a people are under pressure, we must stand together,” Nielsen said during a press conference in Nuuk on March 28.

The comments came just hours after Vance led a delegation to a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. He accused Danish leadership of underinvesting in defense, which he said had allowed Chinese and Russian infiltration into the Americas.

“Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance said at the Pituffik Space Force Base on Friday.

“Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China, and other nations.”

Vance has repeatedly said that the Chinese and Russian militaries are using Greenland’s waterways, without providing details about the alleged incidents.

The United States has significantly scaled back its own Arctic defense spending over the decades, including in Greenland.

To that end, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that the United States had maintained 17 bases and more than 10,000 service members across the territory during the Cold War, but now only maintained the one base with about 200 personnel.

Denmark, meanwhile, is currently engaged in a $2 billion push to modernize its capabilities in the region. Rasmussen also noted a desire to spend more.

“[Vance] has a point that we haven’t done enough, but I’m a little provoked because it’s also the Americans who haven’t done enough,” Rasmussen said.

Similarly, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the Trump administration’s characterization was not a fair one and went against the spirit of the close alliance the two powers have shared for more than 80 years.

The souring in relations comes amid an aggressive push by President Donald Trump to annex Greenland. Trump has vowed to bring the territory under U.S. control and has refused to rule out using military force to do so.

Trump has said owning Greenland is an “absolute necessity” for maintaining international security, and Vance has said that controlling Greenland’s minerals will be vital to fueling the future economy of the United States.

Polls have shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose becoming part of the United States.

Likewise, Vance’s visit brought about some of the largest public demonstrations in Greenland’s history, with protesters wearing hats or waving banners with slogans including “Make America Go Away” and “Yankees Go Home.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 09:20

Sanctioned Syrian Population Desperately Trying To Access Oil & Gas

Syria's severe power shortages have continued throughout the country, also as many towns and cities remain largely destroyed following well over a decade of war. Rebuilding seems nowhere on the horizon as access to global investment and materials has been blocked by Washington.

The post-Assad Hayat Tahrir al-Sham government under Jolani (former AQ/ISIS commander) has just announced a tender to purchase around 7 million barrels of light crude oil, according to a fresh petroleum ministry statement.

Syria Issues Tender for 7M Barrels of Light Crude Oil: Syria TV

Here comes the Al qaeda oil

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 27, 2025

The purchase of 7 million barrels of light crude oil is to supply to the Baniyas refinery, Syrian media has specified.

Further, this week has seen limited efforts the ease the population's ongoing petrol woes. State-run SANA announced Tuesday, for example, that ship carrying 5,600 tons of gasoline arrived at the oil terminal of the Syrian Oil Transport Company Syrian Petroleum in Baniyas.

The last several years, as US sanctions have tightened, have seen long lines at gas stations and people having to ration fuel. 

Additionally, cities and households have had to endure the majority of the day with no electricity. Often this is merely an hour of power to homes a day, but there are reports that Damascus this month has improved to several hours of electricity daily.

Baniyas power station, via AP

This bettered energy situation in the capital may be the first fruits of a deal which was struck with Qatar two weeks ago. "Qatar will provide natural gas supplies to Syria with the aim of generating 400 megawatts of electricity a day, in a measure to help address the war-battered country’s severe electricity shortages," as quoted in SANA.

"Syria’s interim Minister of Electricity Omar Shaqrouq said the Qatari supplies are expected to increase the daily state-provided electricity supply from two to four hours per day," AP also reported.

"Under the deal, Qatar will send 2 million cubic meters of natural gas a day to the Deir Ali power station, south of Damascus, via a pipeline passing through Jordan," the report indicated.

Main takeaway: with Assad gone, we’re now allowed to admit that sanctions harm civilians. https://t.co/yqRqAgeKfr

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 26, 2025

It's still unclear what future fate awaits the oil and gas fields of Syria's northeast Deir Ezzor and Hasakah regions. US troops and their proxies - the Syrian Democratic Forces - still occupy these. Pre-occupation Syria drew enough resources from these fields in order to supply domestic needs.

US sanctions have all the while sought to cut off the flow of Iranian or Russian oil to the country. For now Trump appears willing to keep the sanctions in place, even with Assad gone.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 07:35

If Everything Is Going To Be Okay, Why Are The US & The EU Feverishly Preparing For World War III?

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

If there is going to be peace in the Middle East, why has the Pentagon sent 25 percent of our entire fleet of B-2 stealth bombers to the region? And if there is going to be peace in Europe, why is the European Union telling all of their citizens to store up food and water for a war with Russia?  We keep being told that everything is going to be okay, but meanwhile western officials continue to make moves that indicate that more war is coming.

According to Newsweek, the United States has “significantly increased its military presence” in the Middle East during the past couple of weeks…

The U.S. has significantly increased its military presence in both the Gulf and Indian Ocean, deploying B-2 stealth bombers, cargo planes, and aerial refueling tankers, alongside key assets like the USS Carl Vinson and USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carriers.

I am particularly concerned about the deployment of highly advanced B-2 stealth bombers to the region.

It is being reported that “at least five” B-2 stealth bombers have been deployed to the island of Diego Garcia…

The US military has sent at least five B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to highly strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

These heavy bombers can obliterate targets with their huge 25 tonne bomb payload per jet.

This means the US’s deadly fleet of five could carry an astounding 125 tonnes of bombs.

For those that do not know, Afghanistan was relentlessly bombed by U.S. air assets based in Diego Garcia during the invasion of that nation in 2001, and Iraq was relentlessly bombed by U.S. air assets based in Diego Garcia during the invasion of that nation in 2003.

Currently, the U.S. only possesses 20 B-2 stealth bombers, and so that means that 25 percent of them are now in Diego Garcia.

It is being speculated that these B-2 bombers could be involved in the ongoing campaign to bomb the Houthis in Yemen, but it is important to note that these B-2 bombers would also be ideal for carrying out the sort of “bunker buster” strikes that would be necessary to take out Iran’s nuclear program…

The bombers present a unique mix of capabilities, particularly their ability to penetrate past dense enemy air defenses to carry out ‘bunker buster’ strikes employing 30,000-pound class GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs. MOP, which only the B-2 is currently certified to employ operationally, itself offers a unique conventional option for striking deeply buried and fortified targets, of which there are many in Iran.

We do know that President Trump recently delivered a letter to the Iranians that gives them a choice with a very clear deadline.

Either the Iranians must make an agreement to end their nuclear program within two months or they will be attacked…

Recently, President Trump revealed that he had sent a letter to Tehran, demanding a new nuclear agreement within two months or face significant military consequences. With negotiations stalled and the deadline looming, the diplomatic window for de-escalation is quickly closing, leaving military action as an increasingly likely outcome.

The Iranians have already told us that they have no plans to negotiate.

So it appears that it is just a matter of time before the second option is implemented.

In a recent interview with “Face the Nation”, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz made it clear that there will be no compromises…

“Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s National Security Advisor, said during a separate interview on CBS News‘ “Face the Nation” this weekend. “It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon, and they will not and cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. That is its weaponization and its strategic missiles program.”

If B-2 stealth bombers start hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities, we will officially be at war with Iran.

I hope that everyone understands the implications of that.

Meanwhile, the European Union is “pushing for every household in the 27-nation bloc” to prepare an emergency kit in case a direct war with Russia breaks out…

European Union bureaucrats are pushing for every household in the 27-nation bloc to prepare the kit for war and natural disasters.

It is expected that will be part of a union’s broader “preparedness strategy” amid the threat from Russia.

Key items they will ask the bloc’s 450 million citizens to gather includes water, energy bars and a flashlight.

Why does every home in the EU need to prepare for war with Russia if there is going to be peace?

Do EU bureaucrats know something that the rest of us do not?

Sadly, it appears that even the very limited agreements that Russia and Ukraine just agreed to are not going to hold.  The Ukrainians just launched more strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, and the Russians just keep sending waves of drone attacks at Ukrainian cities…

Overnight, Russia said it had taken down nine drones, including two over the Black Sea. It also said Ukraine tried to attack a gas storage facility in Russian-occupied Crimea and energy infrastructure in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk regions. Ukraine said it conducted no such strikes.

Ukraine’s military reported 117 Russian drone attacks overnight. Local officials said the city of Kryvyi Rih had been hit by the biggest drone attack it has faced yet.

Hopefully both sides will come to their senses, because this is our one shot at peace.

If negotiations ultimately fail, it is inevitable that both sides will escalate matters, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is warning that an attack on Poland or any other NATO member “will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance”…

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte issued a stern warning to Vladimir Putin, stating that any attack on Poland or another NATO member would be met with a “devastating” response.

“If anyone were to miscalculate and think they can get away with an attack on Poland or on any other ally, they will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance. Our reaction will be devastating” he declared in Warsaw. “This has to be very clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and anyone else who wants to attack us.”

Those are unusually strong words.

Is he expecting something to happen?

Ominously, we are being told that four U.S. soldiers were just found dead near Lithuania’s border with Belarus…

Four US soldiers have reportedly been found dead in Lithuania after going missing during a training mission. A major search operation was launched after the tracked vehicle they were travelling in disappeared at around 4.45pm yesterday.

The Embassy in Vilnius has yet to confirm the deaths after releasing a statement to confirm only that four soldiers were missing. But speaking to reporters while visiting Warsaw, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: “Whilst I was speaking the news came out about four American soldiers who were killed in an incident in Lithuania,” as he confirmed he had no further details. The search, involving Lithuanian and US assets, has identified a “possible location” of where they are believed to have disappeared.

This is a very alarming incident.

Hopefully we will learn more details shortly.

There is one last thing that I wanted to mention today.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just told European journalists that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will die soon”…

Volodymyr Zelensky has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘will die soon’ in a candid assessment as he discussed the war on Ukraine. Speaking during a round table with journalists including the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen, the Ukrainian leader said: “He will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to an end.”

What an irresponsible thing to say.

Yes, Putin has been experiencing health problems for a long time.

But if Putin does die soon, the Russians will remember what Zelenskyy just said.  At that point it would be exceedingly difficult to convince the Russians that nothing nefarious was going on, and getting both sides to agree to any sort of a peace deal would almost certainly become impossible.

We are at such a delicate moment.

The decisions that global leaders make over the next several months could dramatically alter the course of human history, and right now I am not particularly optimistic about where things are heading.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/30/2025 - 07:00

Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:

• This Is the Land of Wolves Now: Masked agents snatching people off the street. Government officials using caged prisoners for propaganda videos. We are the villains. (The Bulwark)

• The Scammer’s Manual: How to Launder Money and Get Away With It: Documents and insiders reveal how one of the world’s major money laundering networks operates. (New York Times)

• IRS Predicts DOGE Lost Half a Trillion Dollars for the USA. IRS’ internal projections estimate that the DOGE-driven disruptions to the IRS since the inauguration are on track to have reduced tax receipts by more than $500 billion by April 15th (Talking Points Memo). see also Tax revenue could drop by 10 percent amid turmoil at IRS: Staff cuts and disruptions related to the U.S. DOGE Service have officials bracing for a sharp loss of revenue. (Washington Post)

• How a Global Online Network of White Supremacists Groomed a Teen to Kill: Neo-Nazi influencers on the social media platform Telegram created a network of chats and channels where they stoked racist, antisemitic and homophobic hate. The influencers, known as the Terrorgram Collective, targeted a teen in Slovakia and groomed him for three years to kill. Juraj Krajčík subscribed to at least 49 extremist Telegram chats and channels, many of them nodes in the Terrorgram network, before he killed two people at an LGBTQ+ bar.(ProPublica)

• We Mapped DOGE’s Silicon Valley and Corporate Connections: If Elon Musk is America’s CEO, DOGE is the Silicon Valley executive branch. (Wired)

• Delete your DNA from 23andMe right now: The genetic information company declared bankruptcy on Sunday, and California’s attorney general has issued a privacy “consumer alert.” (Washington Post)

• In His Second Term, Trump Fuels a ‘Machinery’ of Misinformation: President Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with falsehoods. Now he and those around him are using false claims to justify their policy changes.(New York Times)

• The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans: U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling. (The Atlantic) see also Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal: The administration has downplayed the importance of the text messages inadvertently sent to The Atlantic’s editor in chief. (The Atlantic) see also American Foreign Policy Is Being Run by the Dumbest Motherfuckers Alive: The fuckwittery on display right now by Trump’s foreign policy team boggles the mind. (Note: That is the actual headline and not my editorializing). (Drezner’s World)

• The Global Glacier Casualty List: Since the year 2000, global warming has led to the disappearance of thousands of glaciers across the world. At first, many of these glaciers were small. But now we are seeing larger glaciers melting, many with vital cultural, economic and environmental importance to human communities. The Global Glacier Casualty List exists to remember their names and tell their stories. (Glacier Casualty)

• Why DOGE is struggling to find fraud in Social Security: Claims of massive problems by Elon Musk and President Trump are at odds with the agency’s audits and reports.(Washington Post) see also Long waits, waves of calls, website crashes: Social Security is breaking down: A flood of cuts led by Elon Musk has sent the agency into chaos as a new commissioner prepares to take charge (Washington Post)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview  this weekend with Michael Lewis, author of MoneyBall, The Big Short, Liar’s Poker, and many others. His new book is Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service.

 

Trade War Retaliation Will Hit Trump Voters Hardest

Source: New York Times

Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here.

 

~~~

To learn how these reads are assembled each day, please see this.

 

The post 10 Sunday Reads appeared first on The Big Picture.

SpaceX Offers Starlink To Myanmar, Thailand After 1000 Dead In Massive Earthquake

SpaceX announced on Friday that it is "prepared to provide Starlink kits to assist with communications and relief efforts" in Thailand and Myanmar (also known as Burma), after more than 1,000 people were killed when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the country earlier in the day.

Devastating to hear of the earthquake’s toll on Thailand and Myanmar. The SpaceX team is prepared to provide Starlink kits to assist with communications needs and relief efforts, pending any necessary governmental approvals.

— Starlink (@Starlink) March 29, 2025

In addition to a death toll of 1,002 as of Saturday, there are 2,376 injured and 30 missing according to the military government, up sharply from the 144 dead reported by state media on Friday.

As the Epoch Times notes further, the U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the earthquake—which was 6.2 miles deep—was close to the city of Mandalay in Burma.

A dramatic video circulating on social media shows a high-rise building in Bangkok collapsing in a cloud of dust as construction workers run for their lives. Thai authorities said nine people had died and 101 were missing in Bangkok, mostly laborers trapped in the rubble of the collapsed tower.

High-rise building collapses due to strong #earthquake in Chatuchak, Bangkok. #แผ่นดินไหว #กรุงเทพมหานคร pic.twitter.com/fiRV6ZIZq2

— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) March 28, 2025

The high-rise building was being built for the auditor general of the Thai government by the China Railway Construction Corporation.

The USGS’s predictive modeling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 people in Burma, and that losses could be greater than the value of the country’s gross domestic product.

In Burma, the military government has declared a state of emergency in six regions and states, including Mandalay and the capital, Naypyidaw.

It said on the Telegram messaging app, “The state will make inquiries on the situation quickly and conduct rescue operations along with providing humanitarian aid.”

The Red Cross said: “Initial reports from the ground suggest the earthquake has caused significant damage. Information on humanitarian needs is still being gathered.”

Machinery is moved on the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on March 29, 2025, a day after an earthquake struck central Burma and Thailand. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

The Burmese government’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told state-run MRTV television channel that blood was in high demand in hospitals in Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyidaw.

The president of the European Commission wrote on X: “Heartbreaking scenes from Myanmar and Thailand after the devastating earthquake. My thoughts are with the victims & their families. Europe’s Copernicus satellites are already helping first responders. We are ready to provide more support. We stand with you in full solidarity.”

Chinese media reported that the earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

Burma’s second biggest city, Mandalay, was close to the epicenter, and a local resident, Htet Naing Oo, said several people had been trapped inside a tea shop which had collapsed.

She said, “We couldn’t go in. The situation is very bad.”

Photographs and videos posted on Facebook showed widespread damage in Mandalay.

Most houses in Mandalay are low-rise structures.

A 90-year-old bridge in the Sagaing region, southwest of Mandalay, collapsed, and the highway connecting Mandalay with Burma’s largest city, Yangon, was also damaged.

In the capital, Naypyidaw, Buddhist shrines were toppled and some homes damaged.

The tremor, which took place around midday on Friday, was followed by an aftershock with a magnitude of 6.4, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The greater Bangkok area is home to around 17 million people, many living in high-rise apartments.

Many people have been evacuated from office and residential buildings, pending the all-clear.

‘A Lot of Panic’

Fraser Morton, a British tourist who was in downtown Bangkok shopping for camera equipment, said, “All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic.”

“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall,” he added.

Morton said, “I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense. Lots of chaos.”

Water from infinity pools in several high-rise hotels can be seen in videos pouring down the sides of the buildings as they shook.

Rescue teams at a construction site where a building collapsed in Bangkok on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

Thousands of residents, workers, and tourists took shelter in the city’s Benjasiri Park, which is away from high buildings.

Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, called an emergency meeting on Friday to assess the impact.

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the tremor was felt in almost every region of the country.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/29/2025 - 23:55

Federal Judge Halts Shutdown Of Voice Of America

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America (VOA), the government-funded international news service whose 1,200 reporters and employees were placed on paid leave earlier this month.

The Voice of America building in Washington on June 15, 2020. Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

The judge, J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York, on Friday issued a temporary restraining order in favor of VOA employees and their unions. The order prevents the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, from shutting down the broadcasting network and its associated radio programs.

VOA employees filed the lawsuit against USAGM, its acting Director Victor Morales, and special adviser Kari Lake on March 21. The complaint accused the agency of failing to fulfill its legally mandated missions and violating both press freedom and the separation-of-powers doctrine when it took a “chainsaw” to the outlet, ordering the entire staff not to report to work, turning off the service, and locking the agency’s doors.

In his ruling, Oetken stated that VOA was likely to succeed on its claims, noting that USAGM’s actions appeared unconstitutional. He said that Lake lacked legal authority to withhold congressionally appropriated funds or terminate USAGM staff, programming, or contracts.

“By withholding the funds statutorily appropriated to fully administer USAGM, VOA, and its affiliates ... the executive is usurping Congress’s power of the purse and its legislative supremacy,” he wrote.

The judge did not require VOA to resume broadcasts, but made it clear that employees must not be terminated while the court determines whether the shutdown violates the Constitution or other federal administrative laws.

Friday’s order echoed a similar ruling by another district judge earlier in the week, which granted a temporary restraining order to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, blocking its funding freeze. The Trump administration has since stated in court filings that it has resumed funding for these outlets.

President Donald Trump and his supporters have been critical of VOA for years over alleged bias against conservative Americans and in favor of America’s adversaries.

In 2020, the White House sent an email accusing VOA of spending taxpayers’ money to “speak for authoritarian regimes.” It took issue with, among other things, a VOA social media post featuring a video of a light show celebrating the end of the lockdown in Wuhan, the Chinese megapolis where the COVID-19 virus first emerged; as well as the agency’s characterization of China’s effort to control the outbreak as a “model” for other nations.

“VOA too often speaks for America’s adversaries—not its citizens,” The White House said. “Journalists should report the facts, but VOA has instead amplified Beijing’s propaganda.”

The VOA first began broadcasting in 1942 in German-occupied territories as part of the Allies’ effort to engage Axis propaganda broadcasts with counterpropaganda. In the following decades, it became a staple in the propaganda war against the Soviet Union and other communist regimes. Over time, it evolved into a global news organization, now operating in more than 40 languages.

Elon Musk, a tech billionaire and Trump’s top adviser for downsizing the federal government’s spending and workforce, has echoed calls to shut down VOA and its sister networks, arguing that they have outlived their purpose.

“Yes, shut them down. Europe is free now (not counting stifling bureaucracy). Nobody listens to them anymore,” he wrote on X, accusing the outlets of being “radical left” and “torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/29/2025 - 23:20

"Damning Conduct": FBI Agents Stationed In Asia Paid For Sex From Prostitutes Over Several Years

FBI agents stationed overseas engaged in sex with prostitutes in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand—sometimes while colleagues attended anti-human trafficking training, the New York Times reported.

The "damning conduct", which occurred between 2009 and 2018, involved agents paying for or accepting sex while socializing with each other and local police, revealing a culture where women were routinely exploited.

The report, made public after a New York Times lawsuit, offers the most detailed account yet of a scandal kept largely under wraps since the early Trump years. It surfaces as new FBI Director Kash Patel vows to overhaul the agency.

Prostitution is widespread but illegal in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand—countries where FBI agents engaged in misconduct, despite the bureau’s ban on paying for sex and its stated focus on fighting human trafficking.

“The F.B.I. took swift action once alerted to the behavior,” the agency said, adding that those involved were fired and overseas personnel training has since been updated.

Some incidents occurred during official events. In 2017, agents in Bangkok twice visited bars to negotiate sex while accompanied by local police. That same year, the FBI co-hosted anti-trafficking training with Thai authorities. It's unclear if the misconduct occurred during that specific training.

The Times wrote that in 2018, during another event in Manila, FBI employees accepted prostitutes reportedly paid for by a local law enforcement agency, according to the report.

The Wall Street Journal first reported in 2018 that several FBI employees had been recalled from Asia amid an investigation into alleged contact with prostitutes and other misconduct.

A 2021 inspector general summary confirmed five employees had solicited sex abroad, and one had given a colleague “a package containing approximately 100 white pills to deliver to a foreign law enforcement officer.”

The full report, now released after a legal battle with The New York Times, details multiple violations involving groups of FBI employees. In one case, agents at a karaoke bar were handed room keys or numbered slips tied to hotel rooms—at least one was a supervisor. Two employees reportedly engaged in sex acts with prostitutes while sharing a room.

The Justice Department under both Trump and Biden fought to keep the details sealed, citing privacy concerns. A federal judge ultimately ordered the release of the less-redacted version on Thursday.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/29/2025 - 22:45

China's Tech Triple Play Threatens US National Security

Authored by Craig Singleton via RealClearWire,

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping has defiantly declared that technological innovation is the “main battlefield” in China’s quest for global preeminence. But, Beijing’s bold bid to transform itself into a global science superpower is not merely an economic imperative—it is a means to strengthen China’s military might and cyber capabilities, with grave implications for the United States.

At the center of Xi’s vision are what he calls China’s “new productive forces”—breakthroughs in advanced batteries, biotech, LiDAR, drones, and other emerging technologies that promise to redefine the next industrial revolution. By dominating these sectors, Beijing aims to ensure Chinese technology is deeply embedded within critical American supply chains—everything from power grids and ports to communications networks —thereby converting China’s commercial success into a powerful geopolitical tool of leverage.

Here at home, Beijing’s strategy is unfolding in three interlocking phases—penetrating, prepositioning, and profiting—which together form an insidious framework that both erodes America’s technological edge and undermines homeland security.

Recently exposed Chinese state-sponsored hacking campaigns—Salt, Volt, and Flax Typhoon—exemplify Beijing’s systematic approach to penetrating U.S. networks and critical infrastructure. The Salt campaign exploited vulnerabilities in telecommunications systems, allowing attackers to intercept voice and text communications and thereby compromise both civilian privacy and government operations. The Volt operation targeted industrial control systems, breaching energy and manufacturing networks to gain remote control over essential infrastructure. Meanwhile, Flax Typhoon focused on defense and government networks, exfiltrating sensitive data and installing persistent backdoors to facilitate future sabotage.

Collectively, these campaigns reveal how Chinese hackers methodically exploit software and hardware weaknesses to harvest critical intelligence and maintain enduring access to sensitive U.S networks, often with next-to-no consequences. Yet infiltration is not an end in itself. Once inside, Beijing systematically prepositions latent capabilities throughout our physical and digital supply chains, setting the stage for future coercion.

Today, Chinese-made LiDAR devices underpin smart city systems, autonomous vehicles, and certain aerial reconnaissance platforms. Similarly, Chinese-produced surveillance cameras and drones are integrated throughout our transportation network, including at major U.S. airports. Even critical infrastructure components like cranes in U.S. ports and batteries connected to our grids have morphed into strategic choke points, according to Congressional investigations.

In a conflict—or even a severe diplomatic crisis—these systemic dependencies could confer a decisive advantage to China. By withholding critical parts or inflating prices at a pivotal moment, Beijing can exploit these supply chain choke points to hamper U.S. readiness.

Prepositioned exploits could degrade or disable U.S. command-and-control systems, sabotage energy grids, or paralyze transportation networks—potentially stalling America’s response before a single shot is fired. Even if such disruptions remain hypothetical, the mere suspicion of sabotage can erode policymaker confidence and delay military mobilization efforts, effectively handing Beijing a silent veto over our crisis decision-making.

The final phase of Beijing’s strategy is profiting from these dependencies, turning commercial dominance into a revenue stream that reinforces its military-civil fusion. Chinese high-tech exports, ranging from advanced sensors and biotech innovations to drones and surveillance cameras, generate billions in revenue every year for Beijing. These profits are not reinvested merely for commercial growth; they are often funneled directly into programs bolstering People’s Liberation Army’s R&D efforts.

The stakes could hardly be higher. The House Homeland Security Committee, along with other congressional panels, has convened hearings spotlighting how Chinese hackers sit in vital infrastructure systems and how Beijing’s infiltration extends into our supply chains. The bipartisan consensus emerging from these discussions is clear: we must move swiftly from passive defense of American networks to proactive deterrence.

Policymakers can begin by tightening outbound investment screening and export controls. That means scrutinizing U.S. capital and technology flows into Chinese firms linked to China’s military-industrial base, ensuring that American money and know-how no longer subsidize Beijing’s military modernization. Simultaneously, federal agencies should adopt “clean network” standards for software, hardware, and data, effectively establishing cyber quarantines for critical infrastructure. This would bar high-risk Chinese devices from power grids, ports, and telecommunications systems—treating them as inherently untrusted until proven otherwise.

Equally important is imposing meaningful consequences on Beijing’s cyber intrusions. Diplomatic protests and token indictments of mid-level hackers have failed to alter China’s calculus. Instead, Washington should consider stronger penalties—including financial blacklisting of major Chinese firms or banks—to send an unmistakable message that continued infiltration carries real costs.

Finally, we must commit to robust innovation at home. America can’t meet the Chinese challenge simply by playing defense. Expanding federal R&D, incentivizing private-sector breakthroughs, and aligning workforce development with future technology needs will ensure that the United States remains a leader in the very fields—biotech, AI, quantum computing, energy storage—where China seeks supremacy.

Xi’s “main battlefield” is already upon us, and America can no longer afford complacency. China’s triple threat—penetrating, prepositioning, and profiting—targets the core of our national resilience. If we fail to respond decisively, we risk losing our technological edge and compromising our security. By fortifying our networks, enforcing meaningful consequences on malicious actors, and investing in American innovation, we can ensure Xi’s ambitions do not come at the expense of our prosperity and safety.

 

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/29/2025 - 22:10

"Reimagine New Jersey": Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Shown in Video Supporting Farrakhan’s Racist, Violent Views

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Across the country, Democratic leaders are resorting to what I have called “rage rhetoric” as supporters are turning to actual violence, including arson and other crimes directed against Tesla. 

In Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) even reacted to Novak Djokovic playing tennis with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by hoping that he is hit in the head. However, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, currently one of the top Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, appears to have gotten an early lead in this race to the bottom. In a video that has now attracted interest in his run for governor, Baraka gives a full-throated endorsement of the violent and racist rhetoric of Nation of Islam leader (and raging anti-Semite) Louis Farrakhan.

In a newly released video from 2004, Baraka is shown applauding and embracing Farrakhan as he calls for violence and denounces White people as “demons.” 

Those “demons” compose roughly 52% of the state that Baraka wants to lead.

The video from a Newark church shows Baraka introducing Farrakhan as “the leader of every Black person.”

“I don’t think that there’s any man today, present today, that has the kind of moral authority or spiritual strength. Not president, not community leader, not political international activist, nowhere that has the moral authority, the historical and political framework, that the Minister Farrakhan has, that. Who can stand where he stands and truly say that he is the leader of black people anywhere and everywhere.”

The New York Post uncovered the video showing Baraka giving Farrakhan a standing ovation as he denounces non-violence:  “We didn’t believe in no non-violence. The cracker hit you on your jaw, you break his neck. That’s the way we think.”

He also gives him a standing ovation in denouncing all white people as the “enemy.”

“Now the enemy comes in. You, the Crips, and the Bloods, they’ll send people in to give you rumors about your brother over there. These demons will even kill a policeman and then blame it on you. You dealing with a devil, man. You’re not dealing with righteous people. This cracker is the real devil. And you better wake up and realize that.”

Once again, this is the mayor of a major city and a leading Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey.

Baraka later arranged for Farrakhan to give a speech to over 1,000 high school students at Central High School in Newark, where he was principal.

Many on the far left shrug off such connections to racist or violent groups. It is reminiscent of former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, who once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence, and its website was banned in Germany. Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer.

With violence on the left increasing around the country, Democratic leaders continue to try to appease the most radical elements in their party. That was evident last week when Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) denounced the investigation into the attacks on Tesla dealerships and owners as “political weaponization.”

This is a long history of downplaying or shrugging off such violence, including some who seem to fuel the violence.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told George Floyd protesters in Minnesota to “get more confrontational” if a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin not guilty. And when Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was threatened in 2018 because she had not opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., mocked the concern over her safety with “boo hoo hoo.”

For her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to condemn left-wing mobs destroying statues and historic displays in her home city of San Francisco. Pelosi shrugged and said, “People will do what they do.”

In the case of Baraka, he appears to have a long history of associating with such violent and racist speech. In 2017, he organized another speech for Farrakhan titled “Separation or Death,” reportedly calling for a separate black state.

With the release of the videos, Baraka is standing firm in support of his association with Farrakhan, bizarrely defending his record of supporting “peace, equality, and equity.” He is blaming the “political establishment” for “false” claims based on these videos.

In his campaign for governor, Baraka is calling for voters to “reimagine New Jersey” and promising to “deconstruct the state budget and reassemble with equity as our north star; judging every decision as either a step towards equity or a step towards inequity.”

*  *  *

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, 03/29/2025 - 21:00

Paper Promises, Golden Truths

Authored by Adam Sharp via DailyReckoning.com,

Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.

— Voltaire, 18th century

In films and TV shows set in the future, money is usually a digital government currency.

Credits, cubits, and chits are a few names I recall. This is a globalist CBDC-based vision of the future. Bleak.

But in one of my favorite sci-fi movies, Looper, precious metals reign supreme as money. In that film, the inevitable breakdown in fiat currency has already occurred and hard money has made a comeback.

This latter scenario is far more likely. Time and time again, central banks and governments have proven they cannot be trusted with the power to create unlimited money. It doesn’t matter whether it’s paper or digital money, central bankers will print too much of it given the chance.

Without exception, every fiat currency in history has trended towards zero. Government digital money will be no different.

Voltaire wasn’t exaggerating when he said, “paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero”. In fact, he had just experienced it first-hand following France’s disastrous fiat experiments of the 1700s.

It’s a question of when, not if. And time is running short.

Our Unusual Fiat Era is Ending

Since 1971, the world has been under a highly unusual 100% fiat monetary system. Not a single country operates on hard money today.

Never before in history was every country simultaneously using fiat. We are living through an incredibly rare, and increasingly dangerous, monetary experiment.

For most of history, developed countries were on a gold and/or silver standard. Coinage was default for thousands of years.

Switching to paper money was always a desperation move. It often happened during or after a major war, when governments were running low on cash. So they switch to fiat to pay the bills, and debase everyone’s savings in the process.

The world has only been on a fiat standard since 1971. Which, not coincidentally, was when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard following huge deficits from the Vietnam War.

It has happened hundreds of times. After it all goes horribly wrong, gold and silver make their inevitable return.

The Dollar Had a Good Run

This fiat period has lasted longer than most. The dollar has been an unusually robust paper currency, and due some clever engineering, it essentially became an oil-backed currency (for many decades, oil producers would only accept dollars for oil).

The dollar will remain an important player for some time to come. But the era of the petrodollar system, where the dollar was the only way to buy oil, is over.

We are entering a new multi-polar era where countries use their own currencies to buy oil and other goods. And the U.S. is no longer the sole superpower.

Central banks around the world are gobbling up gold and diversifying away from the dollar as debt spirals out of control.

We’re approaching the end game now. This is why we’ve been pounding the table on gold and silver so much lately. And it’s why we will continue to going forward.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/29/2025 - 18:40