Another Soldier Confesses: IDF Used Palestinians As Human Shields, Committed Other War Crimes

Another Israeli soldier and veteran of Israel's ongoing war in Gaza has admitted that he was a party to war crimes -- and says his commander ordered him and other soldiers to continue perpetrating those crimes even after they'd raised objections. This latest of many such accounts was given to CBS News by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier who agreed to speak on the condition that his identity wouldn't be revealed. The experience that troubled him the most was his unit's practice of forcing Palestinian civilians to probe buildings for improvised explosive devices.  

"They were Palestinian," he said. "We sent them in first to see if the building was clear and check for booby traps…They were trembling and shaking." So apparently common is the practice of using Palestinians in such a manner that it has a name of its own: the "Mosquito Protocol," where Palestinians civilians are equated with the hated insects.  

The soldier told CBS that he objected to that abusive treatment of civilians, to the point that he took his concern to the chain of command -- where it fell on deaf ears. "We talked to our commander, and we asked him to stop doing it," he said, but said the unconscionable orders continued to be issued.  

Screen shot from a video said to show a bound Palestinian detainee being forced to walk ahead of IDF soldiers as they clear a building (Al Jazeera)

The whistleblowing soldier who spoke to CBS says he continues to be troubled by what he personally did in Gaza. "I'm morally wounded. It's fucked up, you know, to use citizens as your human shield like a dog." The term "moral injury" describes psychological problems that spring from having observed, perpetrated, or failed to prevent actions that violate one's sense of right and wrong. 

Of course, the people on the other end of the depraved practice battle their own psychological demons. CBS spoke to a 14-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank, where the IDF is accused of the same form of abuse. He claims he and his nine-year-old cousin were forced at gunpoint to search a four-story apartment building. "I was so scared. Then they started beating us," he said. The IDF told CBS it prohibits this behavior.  

The soldier said he was witness to other IDF evils: "We've burned down buildings for no reasons, which is violating the international law, of course." That confession should come as little surprise to even the most casual observer of the war, given the IDF's astonishingly thorough and plainly visible destruction of neighborhoods, towns and cities throughout Gaza -- and IDF soldiers' enthusiastic use of personal social media accounts to share videos of themselves joyfully demolishing entire housing complexes. A January before-and-after analysis of Gaza using satellite imagery concluded that between 50% and 61% of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. 

The IDF loves to film themselves blowing up Palestinian homes. pic.twitter.com/poiYVpf9C2

— White Rabbit (@Dark_RabbitHole) January 7, 2025

A 2024 investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which interviewed soldiers, concluded the IDF has indeed used Palestinian civilians to probe Gaza tunnels which were feared to have been booby-trapped, with soldiers told, "Our lives are more important than their lives." The soldiers ridiculed the Israel government's official denials of the practice:

"I saw the IDF's response [to posted videos said to show human shields at work], which totally doesn't reflect reality. It's done with the knowledge of the brigade commander, at the least... [Soldiers] know it's not a one-time incident of a young and stupid company commander who decides on his own to take somebody."

According to accounts from soldiers and those who claim to have been their victims, Palestinians are often detained, dressed in uniforms and flak jackets, mounted with cameras, and sent into buildings with their hands zip-tied behind them. Sometimes, they're said to be simply stripped to their underwear and their hands tied before being coerced into the potentially lethal situation.    

As ugly as the Mosquito Protocol allegations are, they're far from the worst claims about the IDF's conduct. As we covered last summer, a team of 20 humanitarian US doctors who volunteered to work Gaza hospitals were stunned by the volume of civilian harm, and particularly by how frequently they had to treat children with headshot wounds. A doctor who normally works in gunfire-heavy Chicago described the horrific conclusion he reached as the pattern emerged on the treatment tables in front of him: 

"I thought these kids were in the wrong place at the wrong time, like sadly, some of the kids we treat in Chicago. But after the third or fourth time, I realized it was intentional; bullets were being put in these kids on purpose."

On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said the IDF is "the most moral army in the world." We'll give Netanyahu the last word...while President Trump gives the IDF another $4 billion in weapons and ammunition.  

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 21:20

Want To Fix The Birth Dearth? Make Marriage Matter

Authored by Melanie Israel via The Daily Signal, a publication of The Heritage Foundation,

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about birth data for 2023 is out. For everyone concerned about the long-term decline in America’s birth rate, the report doesn’t show strong signs that much has changed.

Why should we care about declining birth rates, and what’s driving the trend? As a recent Heritage Foundation report warns, U.S. fertility is now below replacement. Fewer births and our historic low fertility rate will affect the future economy. It will affect programs like Social Security. Don’t forget the military. What about caregiving as the elderly age? A declining population will affect our nation’s future in more ways than we can count.

If you ask 10 people why the number of births keeps going down, you’ll probably get 10 different answers, from housing and child care costs to economic anxiety to student loan debt. While there’s not one sole reason (and therefore not one single policy solution,) at the heart of the issue is marriage—fewer marriages, specifically.

Fewer Americans are getting married, and those who do are getting married later, which in turn delays having kids (and how many they eventually have). My colleagues recently published a Special Report analyzing trends in marriage, childbearing, and other important factors of American family life. In it, they note:

“Today, married couples make up less than half (47 percent) of U.S. households, 40 percent of children are born outside marriage, and the birth rate has reached its lowest recorded level. 

The age of first marriage has increased by about seven years for both sexes. 

More adults ages 18 to 44 have cohabited (59 percent) than have been married (50 percent). 

Marriage itself has been legally redefined nationwide with the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision in a way that rejects the fundamental link between marriage and childbearing.

In fact, for a growing and influential segment of the country, even defining ‘man’ and ‘woman’ seems to be an impossible task."

Healthy marriages help establish stable families and a thriving civil society. (And no, cohabitation does not provide the same stability and benefits for adults and children as marriage.) Separating marriage + having children has changed the structure of family formation for the worse.

For all the attention that solving the “birth dearth” gets, pronatalism is not enough. It is not enough to look for policies and technology (some with serious ethical concerns) that encourages or assists people to reproduce. Addressing healthy marriages has to be front and center of policy proposals.

There’s no one-size policy to help people enter a healthy marriage and keep it that way. One way to help is using (and building on) existing funding and programing at the state and federal level. But government programs can’t fix decades of cultural forces that have minimized or dismissed the importance of coupling sex, marriage, and childbearing together. The decline in marriage rates didn’t happen overnight just as the decline in births didn’t happen overnight.

Put frankly, it took a long time to make the mess we’re in and it’ll take time to clean it up, too. We can debate the merits of things like student loan “forgiveness,” housing benefits, child care subsidies, and tax credits. But the most meaningful, effective way to address declining births is to reorient society to value family formation within stable, healthy marriages. Want to address the birth dearth? Let’s show our fellow Americans that marriage matters.

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 20:55

PA Municipalities Crying Poor After COVID Relief Funds Finally Dry Up

It was a good run, but they had to know it was going to end at some point. Now that the federal government funding gravy train that began with COVID is finally starting to come to an end, suddenly Pennsylvania is crying poor. 

PA Governor Josh Shapiro's administration has said it is bracing for some Pennsylvania towns to fall into financial distress as federal COVID stimulus money runs out, according to ABC 27.

During the pandemic, state and local governments leaned heavily on federal aid to stay afloat. But with that support ending, cracks are starting to show.

Now the Department of Community and Economic Development is asking for a $10 million boost to the state’s emergency fund for struggling municipalities in its 2025-26 budget—just 2.3% of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s $430 million request for the agency.

Some argue the funding is too little, while others say it would be smarter to help towns before they reach crisis levels. Under Act 47, distressed municipalities can access recovery support once they officially declare financial hardship.

As billions in federal COVID relief dollars run out, Pennsylvania is preparing for a wave of municipal financial distress. The Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) wants to add $10 million to the Act 47 fund, which supports struggling local governments. As of March 18, the fund held $17.4 million, and current participants include Harrisburg, Chester, and Newville.

The ABC report notes that DCED Secretary Rick Siger called the proposal a proactive step to prepare for “any potential impact for the ARPA cliff,” referring to the end of American Rescue Plan Act funding. Passed in 2021, ARPA sent $350 billion to governments nationwide, including $7.29 billion for Pennsylvania, $4.95 billion for large counties and cities, and $1.21 billion for smaller municipalities.

Governments had until the end of 2024 to commit ARPA funds, and must spend them by Dec. 31, 2026. Most Pennsylvania municipalities used their share to replace lost revenue—an easy reporting route under Treasury rules. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s 2,140 smallest recipients (Tier 5 entities) did exactly that.

But the relief was temporary. “This money is not going to be replaced. It was designed for an emergency. The emergency is gone,” said William Glasgall of the Volcker Alliance. He warned that limiting expenses and raising taxes will soon be “very common” for local governments. Glasgall also dismissed DCED’s proposed boost: “I mean, [$10] million will last about three seconds.”

Some towns already feel the squeeze. State College avoided tax hikes for three of the last four years thanks to ARPA funds—but a property tax increase is coming in 2025.

Still, not all municipalities are panicking. David Sanko of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors said many local governments are “not stressed at all” because they planned ahead. His group urged members not to rely on ARPA for ongoing costs and is now pushing the state to cut expenses—like repealing prevailing wage mandates—rather than only expand aid.

Sen. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin), who represents Harrisburg, agrees prevention is better than rescue. “More needs to be done to prevent communities from becoming financially distressed instead of offering help afterward,” she said. As for the $10 million increase, she’s uncertain it will make it through the legislature. With possible federal funding cuts ahead, Kim warned, “I am bracing myself for a very, very different budget in the next couple of months.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 20:30

Texas Gave 15,000 More MMR Shots This Year - Now It Has More Measles Cases Than the Entire US Had In 2024

Authored by Jon Fleetwood,

Texas administered 15,000 more measles vaccinations this year compared to 2024—and now there’s a growing measles outbreak that has surpassed the total number of cases reported across the entire United States last year.

The news follows this website’s February report that measles cases in Gaines County, Texas, had jumped 242% following a health district campaign to hand out free measles vaccines.

A measles outbreak after higher vaccination rates in Texas calls into question the shot’s claimed effectiveness and underlying design.

Timeline & Numbers

Between January 1 and March 16 last year, 158,000 measles vaccines were administered in the state, according to CBS News.

During the same time this year, 173,000 measles doses were given.

There are now more measles cases in Texas than there were across the United States in all of 2024.

On Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 309 cases have been identified in the state since late January.

That’s compared to only 285 cases nationwide last year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

What’s worse, measles cases in West Texas are “still on the rise” and “local public health officials say they expect the virus to keep spreading for at least several more months and that the official case number is likely an undercount,” according to CBS.

The numbers don’t lie—Texas is witnessing a record-breaking measles outbreak in the wake of increased vaccination efforts.

Measles Vaccine Virus Is Product of Gain-of-Function & Can Shed Onto Unvaccinated

U.S. military biodefense experts confirm in a May 2016 publication in The Journal of Infectious Diseases that the live virus inside the measles (MMR) vaccine is engineered using “a technique that could be considered, by current definitions, GOF research.”

GOF (gain-of-function) experiments can cause viruses to become more infectious.

The wild-type measles virus (Montefiore 89 strain) purportedly found in nature mostly uses a receptor called CD150 to gain entry to and infect immune cells.

However, the vaccine strain (Edmonston strain) is manipulated in the laboratory to acquire the ability to bind another receptor called CD46, which is more abundant in the body and expressed on most human nucleated cells.

This means the measles virus injected into the MMR-vaccinated has the potential to enter many more cells compared to the wild-type virus, due to its acquired ability to use an additional cellular receptor.

The vaccine virus also sheds.

An August 2024 study in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Virology confirms the measles vaccine virus sheds in recently vaccinated children for 29 days, meaning the vaccinated can spread the virus to the unvaccinated for about a month.

A 1995 CDC study found that 83% of vaccinated children had measles virus shed in their urine.

With a genetically modified vaccine virus capable of shedding for nearly a month and entering a broader range of human cells than the wild-type strain, the question becomes harder to ignore: Is the vaccine itself playing a role in the surge?

*  *  *

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 20:05

USAID Officially Shuttered After Court Victory

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been officially shuttered after a federal appeals court Friday determined that the Trump administration could continue dismantling it.

The ruling nullifies a lower court ruling that found that Elon Musk and DOGE were exercising enough independent authority to require Senate confirmation under the Constitution's Appointments Clause.

"While defendants’ role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional," wrote US Circuit Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, a Trump appointee. "And none of this is to say that plaintiffs will not be able to develop evidence of unconstitutional conduct as the case progresses. Time will tell," he continued.

USAID was one of DOGE's first targets. In addition to finding all sorts of waste, fraud and abuse, America First Legal found last week that USAID was behind an online censorship scheme. 

A week before that, a senior USAID official ordered the agency's remaining staff to report to their now-former headquarters in Washington DC for an "all day" group effort to destroy documents, many of which contain sensitive information.

After DOGE cleaned house, 26 current and former USAID employees sued - arguing that Elon Musk and DOGE have no actual independent authority. Earlier this month, US District Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, indefinitely blocked Musk and DOGE personnel from shutting down the agency.

*  *  *

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In response, the 4th Circuit panel unanimously agreed that Chuang's ruling should be nullified as the administration's appeal proceeds - though just two of the judges on Friday found that Musk was likely acting constitutionally.

"As to Musk, the evidence before us creates a strong likelihood that he functioned as an advisor to the President, carrying out the President’s policies of shrinking government and reducing spending, not as an Officer who required constitutional appointment," wrote Quattlebaum, who was joined by US Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer, a George HW Bush appointee.

US Circuit Judge Roger Gregory said he only voted with his colleagues because the USAID workers sued the wrong defendants - and if they'd sued USAID itself, he would have sided with them.

"We may never know how many lives will be lost or cut short by the Defendants’ decision to abruptly cancel billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated foreign aid," Gregory wrote. "We may never know the lasting effect of Defendants’ actions on our national aspirations and goals. But those are not the questions before the Court today."

Rubio Shutters

Meanwhile, the US State Department on Friday announced that it is officially closing down USAID - with the formal last day set to take place before July 1, the NY Post reports.

According to ABC News, ex-DOGE official Jeremy Lewin announced USAID's shuttering in an internal memo earlier Friday.

"Foreign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders, and strengthen our partnerships with key allies," Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted to X. "Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago. As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high. Thanks to President [Donald] Trump, this misguided and fiscally irresponsible era is now over."

According to Rubio, the department is "reorienting" the agency's foreign assistance programs, and will continue its "essential lifesaving programs."

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 19:40

Modern OPSEC And Thirdworldization

Authored by Fabian Ommar via The Organic Prepper,

Last year, International Man published an intriguing article by Jeff Thomas about American society during the Great Depression period. Duly named Duesenberg In A Barn, it opens with a story about shifts in culture and the lifestyle of wealthy individuals and families during the 1930s and beyond (Duesenberg produced luxury sport cars between 1913 and 1937).

He recounts how the riches that didn’t get snuffed out by, or even profited from, the 1929 Stock Market Crash, kept flaunting their wealth trying to outcompete each other, in an attempt to extend the 1920s Jazz Era hedonism and largesse into Depression times.

However, as the crisis aggravated, these individuals and families started to realize that such behavior amidst the rampant misery was quickly becoming a liability. 

“Whatever the psychology involved, in 1930, those who had fared well soon learned that it was unwise to be conspicuous in their continued wealth. At that point, an interesting but little-remembered development occurred. Such people put their mink coats in the closet, their jewelry in a safe place, and found barns in the countryside into which they could park their Duesenbergs, Cords, and Auburns.”

The rich toned down not from sympathy or compassion but as adaptation. Contrary to what many think, the wealthy have a sharp survival instinct.

That’s a crucial distinction, with the keywords being “adaptation” and “survival”, and the main takeaway an important social dynamic typical of all crises: the nail that stands out gets hammered. 

Those born and living in unstable and hostile contexts are constantly reminded of all the unwritten rules that keep us, our kin, and our stuff, safer. From criminals, sure, but also from tyrannical, greedy governments and corrupt authorities. 

I call that Thirdworldization OPSEC. It applies to criminality and government overreach mainly, but as Thirdworldization expands, it’s now applicable to other areas of social existence. Illegal immigrants, as well as political, religious, and ideological extremists from our own society, must now be added to the list of official (i.e., state) and criminal threats.

Threats are increasing and modern OPSEC is important.

There are periods in history when the number and diversity of potential enemies and hazards around us rise, and that’s the case in most of the West right now.

People are financially insecure, afraid of the future, confused, and lost. Those feelings lead to anger and revolt. Add all the leftist/woke indoctrination and brainwashing of the last years, and we get a mass of utterly discontent and unhinged folks out there. 

The majority cannot put a finger on, much less process what’s happening. Nevertheless, the sentiments are there and everyone starts lashing out at everyone else, resulting more frequent and intense episodes of violence and increased friction.

I’m talking about gratuitous, random, and now targeted and coordinated violence coming from all sides and for a variety of reasons. I warned about this in 2023, and it’s now coming to a head. 

Let’s examine some facets of this phenomenon and how to deal with this new reality.

Starting with what Thomas addressed in his Duesenberg article: lifestyle, status, and ostentation

There are many similarities between the 1920s and now. The risks of a grave economic or financial event are sky-high. Growth is abysmal, inflation is rising, and living standards are dropping. 

And critically, the concentration of wealth is growing at an accelerated pace. The haves are getting fleeced and may be outnumbered by the have-nots at some point, which is bad.

Economic disparity begets political polarization, which begets the undoing of the social fabric, which begets cultural degradation, which begets the undoing of civilization.

More people are living in the streets (I’ll return to that in an upcoming post). Drug and alcohol abuse are skyrocketing, and mental illness is exploding. Those things are happening across all demographics, which is concerning and one of the points of this post.

“Thou shall not flaunt.”

Even though we’re not yet at the stage described by Jeff Thomas, the words of late philanthropist George Peabody – “Ostentation is a target you hang on your back” – already come to mind as a survival rule in a declining society. 

Nonetheless, everybody’s trying to keep up with the Joneses, something evident in both the real world and the web. Social media is a carousel of Dubai trips, fabulous resorts, fancy restaurants, luxurious dresses, plastic surgeries, and Lamborghinis. 

That’s not the reality, but a facade. This is the age of gambling, easy money chasing, glorification of ignorance (Dunning-Kruger and “influencer culture”), fake lifestyles, and blatant ostentation. It’s a bubble, and the bill will come due.

But enough with the rant. No one has to live like a monk. Being aware, smart, contained, and disciplined always pays, only now more than ever. Besides, it only requires focus on what we can control: our profile, exposure, consumption choices, and lifestyle.

The same dynamic happens in other areas as well.

Let’s talk about political radicalization. Tesla owners and dealers are getting their vehicles and premises vandalized by Trump haters, who now have turned into Musk haters thanks to his association with the government and his role in DOGE initiatives (no need for links as both topics are all over the news).

It’s, in essence, a criminal matter, but with political and ideological motivations, things get more complex and sensitive, not to mention dangerous. 

I’ve previously expressed my view on the likelihood of a civil war 2.0 in the U.S.. I stand by everything I said in that article, including the potential for the rise of intra-terrorism and political violence, or even criminality, reaching civil-war-like levels.

Is the mass of indoctrinated and radical people ready to spread a wave of madness and violence? We’re already getting a glimpse of that. Will it fizzle out or escalate? How will government, institutions and other sectors of society respond if that happens? 

We don’t know, and that’s the point.

It’s possible, so the question is how probable? Even a few can cause great damage, physically and to the nation’s mood and institutional order. 

“Literally anyone can be a lone wolf. It’ll make the problem that much tougher to tackle, without curtailing civil liberties. Civil war or not, a wave of violence is coming.” 

That’s Max Remington on his excellent “Trouble Brewing On The Horizon”  recently in his Substack. I encourage you to read it fully as it tackles the various angles of this phenomenon and the possible outcomes in a very thorough and down-to-earth fashion. 

The left has no guardrails and is showing signs it won’t concede power, entitlements, and schemes easily or without a fight. But in truth, even peaceful people can turn radical.

So you may just be denied service in a restaurant for wearing this hat or that shirt, or get your car keyed for sporting this or that sticker. But the possibility of something worse happening cannot be ignored, now more than ever. 

Bringing this segment to a conclusion, let’s be pragmatic: Defending and expressing political views, preferences, and affiliations with excessive fervor, or trying to sway people with vehemence, has never been wise or a 100% risk-free endeavor. It’s now quickly becoming a liability, and that’s what matters to us.

Individual identity and personal expression

In a multidimensional crisis, volatility is the norm. Criminality aside, things get crazy beyond the imaginable, often involving aspects of lifestyle and politics as addressed above, but also of culture, religion, race and ethnicity, sex and gender, and more. 

Even small, seemingly innocent actions can lead to unwanted outcomes, sometimes dreadful ones. One such example is the case of the “Deadly Posts”:

“Brazilian Criminal Groups Are Allegedly Monitoring Social Media For Perceived Rivals.” [SOURCE]

People being kidnapped and assassinated by gangs and factions for posting selfies with hand signs on social media may sound like typical Third World stuff. The truth is that it’s neither new nor exclusive to banana republics and narco-states, as this ABC News article from 2013 shows. 

Since gangs and criminals exist pretty much everywhere, we must assume that stuff like that can happen anywhere, so it’s also worth reflection and consideration.

An issue in the virtual realm as well

People and businesses are being persecuted, canceled, marooned, or hacked for expressing their views and opinions on social media and internet. If they’re not, they can and the risk is now bigger than ever.

Citizens get arrested and charged in the UK and other countries for political, racial or gender-related posts, or other reason deemed contentious by the authorities. This is happening here in Brazil and other places as well, and when it makes the news (which is rare), it gets distorted.

The internet is a minefield. Here are various forms of drawing a personal SHTF onto oneself (and that’s discounting the risks presented by virtual scams and other heists). Even if you consider yourself a digital hermit, others around you (relatives, friends, etc.) may get inadvertently affected, so think about it.

The rules or grounds for those things to happen aren’t much clearer, making matters even worse. Hate speech? Misogyny? Racism? Discrimination? Anything can stick, especially if it’s the government and their acolytes (corrupt NGAs and the media). It’s better to lay low and refrain from some fights.

Do you want to be right or be safe, happy, and get things done?

“You mean I cannot talk on my phone while walking the streets? That I cannot wear my MAGA hat or shirt or stick a flag in my front yard, drive this or that car? That I cannot openly agree or disagree with this or that view, or express my dissatisfaction with how X, Y, or Z do things?”

It’s not a matter of can but should. What is to be gained versus what can be lost. The potential risks, and not only in the short term. 

In times like these, to err on the safe side is a wise strategy. Not turning paranoid, but I am considering the potential implications of some stances, decisions, and behaviors.

What about religion?

That’s a more complex and delicate issue. We all have hills on which we’re willing to die rather than surrender, and religion may be the case for some.

It’s a very intimate subject, perhaps the most personal of all being addressed here so I’ll refrain from comment and leave each to make their own reflections.

New world mindset for urbanites

The worse the crisis, the more dangerous it gets out there. It’s not just crime and violence of all kinds that go up, but other forms of uncivilized savagery as well: road rage, domestic violence, abuses against children, elders, women, minorities, and more. 

Road rage, in particular, is a big issue because when everyone is at boiling point, the risks of getting inadvertently involved in trouble simply by everyday exposure and friction increase exponentially. 

Be mindful of vigilanteism as well. It’s a complex issue with many angles and thus worth a dedicated post, so I’ll just say it also tends to rise and become critical in times of unrest. Common citizens can get caught on both sides, and the consequences can be grave.

Being 100% grey all the time and about everything is impossible. Realizing that is critical, even those living as recluses will eventually draw some attention or bump into someone the wrong way. Keep a cool head and the emotions in check is something under our control.

Final words

I acknowledge First World residents might feel these ideas represent a loss of freedom and personal agency. Unfortunately, it’s true in part, and there’s not much we can do about it. 

Just because we’ve been living relatively peacefully for the last 20 or 30 years doesn’t mean it will remain so forever. 

For the record, I’m not saying these things are happening or will happen where you live. Some phenomena are global, but they don’t happen on the same scale or intensity everywhere. 

Most important, it’s not an SHTF. The world as we know it is changing, not ending. Not everything will be fine, but it never is anyway, and that’s okay. It’s perfectly possible to live a good and normal life in a volatile world. 

Becoming paranoid isn’t the answer, much less joining the madness. Be realistic and smart: assess the situation, prepare, make the necessary adjustments, and do what you can. And as always, stay safe.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 19:15

The American Public Will Have To Step In To Eliminate The Parasitic Bureaucracy

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

The reasons why conservatives fight so adamantly for smaller government have never been more obvious than they are today. Even before the DOGE audits, the galactic cost of federal debt spending was clearly crushing our economy. The interest payments alone are costing the American taxpayer around $1 trillion annually. If nothing changes for the better the national debt will hit $54 trillion by 2034.

Of course, this is unsustainable. The system will completely collapse well before another decade ends; under the weight of rising interest rates or under the weight of exponential inflation. We are already seeing the results of the spending bonanza through ongoing stagflation. Prices on most goods are 30% higher (or more) in the past 5 years. Home prices and rent costs are up at least 50% on average. Americans are being financially suffocated.

The US public wants a reckoning for this theft – And yes, it is theft. Our government, like an MC Escher drawing, is an endless maze of dead ends and black holes. It’s a vampiric organism that siphons money from taxpayer pockets, infinitely churning and embezzling and feeding until there is nothing left. It will not stop, until we make it stop.

Part of this parasite’s defense is to pretend like it doesn’t exist. We know it exists because we can see our blood being drained; we can see the results. But proving that it exists is another matter and it was nearly impossible because the only entity that has been allowed to audit the government is the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In other words, the government audits itself.

Most of our government apparatus is NOT elected. The vast majority of it is created from thin air through bureaucracy. Each new tentacle, once created, grows without regulation and forms new tentacles until there is no way to tell what connects to what and where all the money is going.

The original source of this bureaucracy is a cabal of ultra rich elites backing unaccountable NGOs. They helped to create the system over decades so that they could slither back and forth from government to NGOs to corporations without being noticed. The revolving door became standard and the same wealthy moguls and social engineers heading up think tanks and non-profits and international conglomerates were now able to cycle into various government agencies and change policy to benefit them.

Without the bureaucracy the power of the elites is greatly diminished. That is to say, bureaucratic agencies ARE the true power in government – Not presidents, not congressmen, not senators, and certainly not the American people. Political parties can change, presidents can change, the US can go from red to blue and back again, and the system remains mostly the same.

Until the Trump Administration and DOGE, no one has even tried to audit the government and figure out what the majority of these agencies are doing. The same goes for the Federal Reserve Bank, which facilitates fiat cash beyond the limits of taxpayer funds. They make deficit spending possible and allow the bureaucracy to grow without restriction. The Fed has never faced a full audit either, and good luck trying to get Congress to institute one.

The bottom line is this: The government has been deliberately engineered in such a way that nothing can ever be fixed or reformed. The existence of “the bureaucracy” as we know it today was never intended by the Founding Fathers and it should not be allowed to remain. It is the “Shadow Government”, or at least, it is the primary mechanism by which the Shadow Government rules over the US. Get rid of the bureaucracy and the elites lose everything.

This is why the global geopolitical reaction to DOGE has been so insane and violent; the parasites are seeking to protect themselves and keep their blood supply flowing.

Why does the average American citizen need an agency like USAID? We don’t need it – It serves no purpose. It functions only as an embezzlement scheme for bureaucrats and NGOs.  So, we just get rid of it, right? Except it’s not that easy…

For now it appears that the bureaucracy is using the judicial apparatus in a bid to prevent DOGE and Trump from making necessary cuts. Trump is being told that as President, he’s not allowed to fire anyone in the Federal Government. Think about how insane that sounds.

The jurisdictional overreach and clear political bias is astonishing, but it makes sense. The US President is not supposed to have any real power, he’s only meant to act as a figurehead to make us peasants feel like our votes matter. He’s not supposed to actually follow through on his campaign promises and effect legitimate reform according to the will of the people. That’s crazy talk…

The bureaucrats are so used to running the country and controlling the cash behind the scenes that they are utterly shell-shocked by the notion of being independently audited. They think they are above scrutiny or accountability.

Democrats in particular are absolutely enraged, taking to social media and ranting about how “democracy is under threat” because employees within these agencies are being asked to justify their jobs. The reaction to DOGE is so unhinged I don’t think the public is processing it yet.

Again, the Shadow Government (the bureaucracy) is the real government. When leftists claim audits and cuts are a “danger to democracy” what they mean to say is, THEIR POWER is being threatened. The majority of American voters elected Donald Trump and by extension his administrative team based on his campaign platform of smaller government and balanced budgets. Democrats argue that the will of the voters is anti-democratic.

So what is the solution to this blatant obstruction of voter choice and government accountability?

I believe the situation may end up calling for public intervention by conservative citizens. Leftist activists are being organized by NGOs to thwart DOGE, but where are the conservative activists to help DOGE? Maybe unnecessary agencies need to be shut down by public mandate regardless of what woke Obama appointed judges say?

A mass of conservatives surrounding an agency building would shut operations down by default and send a message, wouldn’t it? Leftists had no problem picketing outside the houses of Supreme Court Judges when they overturned Roe V Wade; conservatives could do the same thing with leftist judges blocking deportations of illegal migrants. If leftists want to use political intimidation by setting fire to Tesla dealerships, conservatives could organize groups to watch over these businesses.

This is not necessarily an effort to protect some electric cars from being vandalized. The point is to send a message that conservatives are not going to sit at home doing nothing while leftists run rampant doing whatever they please. The political left has had a near monopoly on public action for far too long.

I get it – A lot of these people are being paid to do what they’re doing and the rest of us have real jobs and real lives to keep us busy. But frankly, this should galvanize people more. If so many of these activist groups are astroturf then there needs to be a grassroots response to confront them. If they need to be paid and we don’t, then we hold a more legitimate and powerful position in the long run.

In terms of judicial obstruction I see very little recourse other than citizen intervention.

The other option is for the Trump Administration to ignore the judges and continue forward, but even this strategy would require very public mass support from Americans. To be clear, I understand that this creates a slippery slope for presidential power. However, did any of us in the Liberty Movement really believe that the government would shrink itself or that the elites would release their hold over the system because of an election?

Did anyone really think that a reckoning would happen with the endorsement of the courts? The courts have never been the true counterbalance to tyranny, the American people are the counterbalance.

Make no mistake, this is a life or death struggle playing out in front of our eyes. If we continue down the current path of unrestricted government our economy will implode and the establishment elites are positioned to take full advantage of such a crisis. There will be nothing left of America when they are finished; our nation will be a dried up husk.

Now is the time to remove them and their institutions from our society. If we don’t accomplish this task soon our children and their children will live in a world controlled by a faceless bureaucratic mafia immune to all accountability; driving each new generation into perpetual poverty and oppression.

*  *  *

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 18:25

This Is The Income Needed To Be Middle Class In Every US State

How much do you need to make to be considered middle class in the U.S.? According to research by SmartAsset, that can range from $36,000 to $200,000, depending on where you live.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, illustrates the income needed to be considered middle class in every U.S. state. Middle class in this graphic is defined as earning between two-thirds and double the median household income. SmartAsset compiled the data as of February 2025.

To Be Middle Class

The median household income in the U.S. is approximately $75,000, with half of Americans earning less. States with high urbanization and economic activity, like California and New York, tend to have much higher income requirements to count as middle class, while rural states with lower costs, like West Virginia and Arkansas, have lower thresholds.

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In Massachusetts, a household needs to earn between $67,000 and $200,000 to be considered middle class. The state has a high cost of living due to expensive housing, high taxes, and strong demand for services. Its economy is driven by industries like technology, healthcare, and education, attracting well-paid professionals and increasing competition for housing, especially in cities like Boston.

State Lower bound on middle class income Upper bound on middle class income Massachusetts $66,565 $199,716 New Jersey $66,514 $199,562 Maryland $65,779 $197,356 New Hampshire $64,552 $193,676 California $63,674 $191,042 Hawaii $63,542 $190,644 Washington $63,064 $189,210 Utah $62,274 $186,842 Colorado $61,934 $185,822 Connecticut $61,104 $183,330 Virginia $59,948 $179,862 Alaska $57,748 $173,262 Minnesota $56,718 $170,172 Rhode Island $56,642 $169,944 New York $54,725 $164,190 Delaware $54,235 $162,722 Vermont $54,135 $162,422 Illinois $53,532 $160,612 Oregon $53,435 $160,320 Arizona $51,538 $154,630 North Dakota $51,012 $153,050 Nevada $50,904 $152,728 Texas $50,515 $151,560 Idaho $49,956 $149,884 Georgia $49,750 $149,264 Wisconsin $49,749 $149,262 Nebraska $49,722 $149,180 Pennsylvania $49,211 $147,648 Maine $49,150 $147,466 Florida $48,869 $146,622 Wyoming $48,272 $144,830 South Dakota $47,869 $143,620 Iowa $47,617 $142,866 Montana $47,198 $141,608 North Carolina $47,198 $141,608 Kansas $46,884 $140,666 Indiana $46,313 $138,954 Michigan $46,117 $138,366 Missouri $45,692 $137,090 South Carolina $45,198 $135,608 Ohio $45,175 $135,538 Tennessee $45,083 $135,262 New Mexico $41,508 $124,536 Alabama $41,471 $124,424 Oklahoma $41,421 $124,276 Kentucky $40,741 $122,236 Arkansas $39,129 $117,400 Louisiana $38,815 $116,458 West Virginia $37,295 $111,896 Mississippi $36,132 $108,406

Meanwhile, in Mississippi, the minimum household income to be considered middle class is $36,162. Mississippi is one of the cheapest states to live in due to its low housing costs, lower-than-average wages, and relatively low taxes. The cost of goods and services, including groceries, healthcare, and transportation, is also lower than the national average. Additionally, Mississippi has a lower population density and is less of an economic hub compared to wealthier states.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out this graphic, which ranks the income a family needs to live comfortably in every U.S. state.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 18:00

Feds Investigate California Schools Accused Of Hiding Children's Gender Transition From Parents

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times,

A California policy that prevents schools from requiring staff to disclose a child’s gender identity or sexual orientation to his or her parents may be in violation of a federal law, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday.

The federal agency’s Student Privacy Policy Office, which oversees the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), is investigating instances in California where school personnel in various districts allegedly hid information from parents and assisted students with their gender “transition,” a March 27 news release notes.

The Department of Education alleged that AB 1955, which took effect on Jan. 1, conflicts with FERPA, which gives parents the right to review students’ records. The department’s news release said federal law supersedes any state law in this case.

“Teachers and school counselors should not be in the business of advising minors entrusted to their care on consequential decisions about their sexual identity and mental health. That responsibility and privilege lies with a parent or trusted loved one,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the news release.

“It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law for California schools to hide crucial information about a student’s well-being from parents and guardians. The agency launched today’s investigation to vigorously protect parents’ rights and ensure that students do not fall victim to a radical transgender ideology that often leads to family alienation and irreversible medical interventions.”

In an email response to The Epoch Times, the California Department of Education said the federal law only requires schools to provide student records on request, not verbal disclosures.

“AB 1955 prohibits local educational agencies from mandating that staff disclose students’ gender identity to parents without student consent unless otherwise required by state or federal law,” the California agency wrote. 

“AB 1955 does not mandate nondisclosure. Based on the plain language of both laws, there is no conflict between AB 1955 and FERPA, which permits a parent access to their student’s written records upon request.”

Upon returning to the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting schools from promoting the idea that there are more than two genders. School districts and states also face federal funding cuts for allowing males identifying as transgender to compete in girls’ or women’s sports.

Parents Defending Education, whose leaders in recent months have testified before legislative committees regarding educational issues, reports on its website that 1,214 districts across the country serving more than 12 million students in grades K-12 have policies openly stating that “district personnel can or should keep a student’s transgender status hidden from parents.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 17:40

Charlie Javice Convicted In JPM Fraud Case

The millennial who duped JPMorgan Chase into purchasing a now-defunct student finance startup—whose customer database was mostly fake—was found guilty of bank fraud by a Manhattan federal court jury on Friday and faces decades in prison. 

The startup, 'Frank,' was founded by former CEO Charlie Javice in 2016. It offered software to help young millennials obtain financial aid in what Javice framed as "an Amazon for higher education," and had the backing of billionaire Marc Rowan - the company's lead investor. 

All this schooling for what? 

Her political donations are blue...

In September 2021, JPMorgan touted the $175 million deal to purchase Frank, calling the platform the "fastest-growing college financial planning platform" used by over 5 million students at 6,000 institutions.

However, shortly after JPM closed the deal with Javice, the bank discovered that most of the platform's claimed 4.25 million users were fabricated, with the actual number totaling fewer than 300,000. 

The five-week trial concluded after jurors deliberated for about six hours, reaching a verdict on Friday morning: they found Javice guilty on the most serious count of bank fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Here are more details about the trial (courtesy of AP News):

Javice's lawyer, Jose Baez, told the jury that JPMorgan knew what it was getting in the deal, and made up the fraud allegations due to buyer's remorse after government regulatory changes made the data it received in the deal useless to its hopes of gaining new young customers.

. . .

Frank's chief of engineering, Patrick Vovor, testified at the trial that Javice had asked him to generate synthetic data to support her claim that the company had over 4 million users. At the time, JPMorgan was insisting on verification of the customers. Vovor said he refused her request.

"I told them I would not do anything illegal," Vovor testified.

Defense lawyers attacked Vovor's credibility during the trial, suggesting he had a crush on Javice and was resentful that he had been rejected, a claim he denied.

Prosecutors said Javice then paid a college friend $18,000 to use a computer program to create millions of fake names with pedigree information. The results were sent to a third-party data provider that JPMorgan hired to verify the number of customers, but the data provider never checked to ensure the people were real, testimony showed.

At the peak, Javice regularly appeared on corporate media TV outlets, even appearing on Forbes' "30 Under 30"... 

There's something about millennials appearing on Forbes' "30 Under 30" and fraud. 

Javice is a Miami Beach resident who was arrested in 2023 and has been free on a $2 million bail since.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Whether she follows Elizabeth Holmes' path: Delaying prison time through repeated pregnancies—remains to be seen. Her legal team will likely weigh this as a viable strategy. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 17:20

Judge Extends Injunction Against Trump's Alien Enemies Act Invocation

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on March 28 extended a temporary restraining order that prevents U.S. officials from deporting illegal immigrants from the United States solely on the basis of President Donald Trump’s invocation of a wartime law.

Boasberg said in a 3-page ruling there is good cause to extend the order because Venezuelan nationals who sued over the invocation are entitled to relief preventing their removal “at least until they have had a chance to challenge that they are covered by the Proclamation.”

“That is so because they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that they are entitled to such an opportunity; that they will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of emergency relief; and that the balance of equities and the public interest tilt in their favor,” the judge said, citing his previous rulings in the case.

No developments have taken place since the entry of the order and a similar narrower order that call those decisions into question, according to the ruling.

The injunctions had been due to expire on March 29. They are now in place until April 12, or until further order from the court.

Lawyers for the illegal immigrants had asked Boasberg to extend the orders, which were entered on March 15, just hours after Trump’s proclamation was made public.

If the orders were allowed to expire, officials would resume deportation flights to El Salvador, the lawyers warned.

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys had opposed the motion for an extension. They wrote in a filing that the court lacks jurisdiction over the allegations, “which challenge matters within the President’s unreviewable authority and, nonetheless, sound in habeas and must therefore be brought as habeas claims in district of confinement.”

The extension came on the same day the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case, claiming that the block on utilizing the Alien Enemies Act to deport members of the Tren de Aragua terrorist gang “is forcing the United States to harbor individuals whom national-security officials have identified as members of a foreign terrorist organization bent upon grievously harming Americans.”

Chief Justice John Roberts soon after set a deadline of 10 a.m. on April 1 for lawyers for the illegal immigrants to respond.

The Alien Enemies Act states in part that whenever “a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government,” the president shall proclaim that nationals from that hostile nation shall be deported.

Trump said in a proclamation that Tren de Aragua, working with the Venezuelan government, has been “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States.”

A divided federal appeals court on March 26 upheld the temporary restraining orders from Boasberg.

U.S. Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, in the majority, said in a concurring opinion that the U.S. District Court in Washington had jurisdiction to hear the case, even though the illegal immigrants have been detained in Texas. U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Miller, also in the majority, said in a concurring opinion that the government does not face irreparable harm absent a stay, in part because officials can still deport the illegal immigrants through the typical deportation process outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act.

U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, in a dissent, said that the legal claims should have been filed in Texas. He also said the government has shown that the restraining orders “threaten irreparable harm to delicate negotiations with foreign powers on matters concerning national security.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 17:00

Tesla Takedown Revolutionaries Prepare Mobilization Nationwide

Far-left revolutionaries behind the "Tesla Takedown" color revolution operation have identified dozens of Tesla targets nationwide and are preparing to mobilize far-left agitators aligned with the Democratic Party to those locations as soon as Saturday, in what the rogue group—reportedly funded by Soros-linked organizations like Indivisible—calls a "Global Day of Action."

The Tesla Takedown website links to The Action Network—an online platform used by shady far-left NGOs to organize and fundraise—which shows that groups like Troublemakers and the Disruption Project are leading tomorrow's efforts to "tank Tesla's stock" and destroy shareholder value. 

"Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy," Tesla Takedown wrote on its website, adding, "The stakes couldn't be higher. No one is coming to save us—not politicians, not the media." 

Tesla Takedown's claims are baseless and not grounded in fact.

Here is the most comprehensive list of nearly 200 @Tesla Takedowns scheduled for this Saturday, March 29th, 2025.

If you get footage of the protests or catch acts of violence or vandalism on video, please put it inside the Tesla Takedown WatchDOGE community we created at… https://t.co/n7tyTsPmKl

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) March 28, 2025

Meanwhile, this call to action, or in other words, a mobilization of far-left agitators, some of which are paid by rogue NGOs, is being supported by unhinged Democratic lawmakers! 

Wow

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 20, 2025

And a failed vice-presidential candidate...

As Gov. Walz gloats about Tesla stock dropping, records from the Minnesota State Board of Investment show that as of 6/30/24, the state of Minnesota had 1.6 million shares of Tesla in its retirement fund, and 211,000 shares of Tesla in its non-retirement fund. I've reached out to… https://t.co/W0EA0cPASS pic.twitter.com/r1obVBpfU7

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 19, 2025

And far-left academia...

Tesla Takedown Organizers Plan Color Revolution To "Kill" Brand & "Death Spiral" For Investors https://t.co/JIf80uPeEt

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 21, 2025

Elon Musk previously wrote on X that an investigation found five ActBlue-funded groups have fueled Tesla protests in recent weeks, including Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project, and Democratic Socialists of America (AoC's party). 

Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company?

I understand not wanting to buy a product, but this is extreme arson and destruction! https://t.co/AIL8WPt0uv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 20, 2025

Tesla Takedown claims on its website that its movement is "peaceful" and "oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property." Yet, there has been a series of domestic terrorism attacks on Tesla vehicles, service locations, and charging networks in recent weeks as the party of radicals and their corporate media allies push dangerous and toxic rhetoric to energize activists. This is nothing more than a rudderless party nurturing hate, violence, and destruction.

Here's our latest reporting on the Democratic Party's planned color revolution against Tesla by using their network of rogue NGOs:

• Rogue Soros-Funded NGO Plots Multi-City Assault On Tesla As Domestic Terrorism Escalates

• Tesla Takedown Organizers Plan Color Revolution To "Kill" Brand & "Death Spiral" For Investors

• "Tread Carefully": Pam Bondi Issues Warning To Unhinged Rep. Jasmine Crockett Over Musk "Takedown"

Dems are using the same color revolution playbook with NGOs that was seen during the BLM riots in 2020. The party is resorting to violence as DOGE slashed NGO funding by neutering USAID and handing it over to the State Department.

All of this chaos comes as the Democratic Party's polling numbers have imploded to record lows as their strategy becomes attacking an American company with some of its supporters firebombing private property.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 16:40

Bedlam, Pending

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

"You need a sufficient amount of ruthlessness to run a country" 

- Will Chamberlain on "X"

You understand, all these lawsuit shenanigans with select federal judges from Woke-crazed districts like Boston, San Francisco, Rhode Island, and the DC Beltway are aimed at provoking a second civil war. The objective is to burden Mr. Trump with so many restrictions on the executive that the country can’t be governed without declaring a national emergency.

This is the Democratic Party’s desperate strategy to stay alive: to preserve the flow of taxpayer money to its minions stuffed into the organs of government like cancer cells, and the vast network of NGOs that employ its agents and spread its sickness. The Democratic Party is a malignancy within the republic and the money is the blood-flow that feeds it.

DOGE is the chemotherapy that has starved some of the worst tumors, such as USAID. Chemotherapy is always hard on the patient. Cancer is a very tough and resourceful enemy of a healthy body, and fights back by any means available. Ultimately, it seeks to kill the body it has come to inhabit — in this case, the body-politic of the USA. We are fighting for the life of our republic against a demonic enemy.

The Democratic Party displays exactly the characteristics that human beings traditionally associate with pure evil. Above all, it lies about everything that it does. It lies, of course, in order to deceive you, so that you won’t understand how it is working to vanquish you and your posterity (your kids and their future). RussiaGate, Covid-19, the Ukraine War, all were marinated in lies. The lies operate through the perversion of language, so you won’t understand what is being said. For instance: that the Democratic Party is working to save our democracy. That howler persists in their every public performance.

The Democratic Party controls the major organs of information: The New York Times, CNN, Hollywood. They are the conveyers of lies, bamboozling the body politic to divide and conquer it. The Democratic party is a bad faith legion enlisted to defend the Father-of-Lies, America’s Deep State (a.k.a. the blob). That information regime is failing now along with the Democratic Party. The Deep State is failing with them. They are the parasites that kills its host. They intend to kill the republic as they go down.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is supposed to function like an immune system for the body politic, defending it against political sickness. The current organized action in the federal judiciary against the executive is a grave sickness induced by the Deep State that must be corrected by the SCOTUS. We await that corrective action — a sweeping decision in reply to 100-plus lawsuits — that the chief executive is in-charge of the executive department and that his prerogatives to manage the staffing and actions of the executive agencies can’t be arrogated by federal judges.

So far, obviously, the SCOTUS has not yet come to issue that decision. Many of you worry that they will fail to, because Chief Justice John Roberts appears to be somehow under the influence of the Deep State. Let’s have a look. Sheldon Snook is Special Assistant to Chief Justice Roberts, and is deeply involved in the day-to-day management of the SCOTUS. Sheldon Snook is married to Mary McCord. Ms. McCord has been a leading actor, via her various roles in the Deep State, in the seditious operations against President Trump since 2017.

As Acting Attorney General for National Security in 2017, Mary McCord, turned James Comey’s FBI jihad against National Security advisor Mike Flynn into a malicious and ultimately unsuccessful prosecution. (The DOJ dropped the charges, which Judge Emmet G. Sullivan refused to execute, thus necessitating a pardon from Mr. Trump.)

Mary McCord was instrumental in the DOJ’s dishonest FISA application to surveil Carter Page (when Judge James Boasberg sat on the FISA Court). Ms. McCord quit the DOJ to become a counsel to the committee in the first impeachment of Donald Trump. In that role, she assisted Norm Eisen, the Chief Counsel to committee Chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler. Norm Eisen has gone on since that time to become the chief coordinator of lawfare operations against Mr. Trump. Mary McCord remains a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council, sponsored by George and Alex Soros. Sheldon Snook remains at John Roberts’ right hand.

Do you find these connections disturbing? Do they suggest where Justice John Roberts may stand in the war between the Deep State and President Donald Trump? I suppose we are going to find out.

So, if the SCOTUS upholds the arrogation of executive powers and prerogatives by federal district judges, don’t expect Mr. Trump to roll over for that decision. It may come to pass, as per all the above, that he will be constrained to declare a national emergency to vacate the Deep State actors who are trying to make it impossible for him to govern, establishing special tribunals to disarm them. This, of course, will be seen by the Deep State and the Democratic Party as cassus belli, an excuse to declare war against the president. We seem to be headed in that direction. There will be friction, heat, and light.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 16:20

Trump Revokes Security Clearances For Law Firm That Hired Robert Mueller

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on March 27 suspending security clearances held by WilmerHale lawyers due to activities that he deemed “detrimental to critical American interests.”

The order directs government agencies to revoke security clearances for WilmerHale employees, terminate any contracts with the law firm, and restrict its employees’ access to government buildings.

The proclamation specifically cited WilmerHale’s employment of former special counsel Robert Mueller, along with his top aides, Aaron Zebley and James Quarles.

Mueller had previously investigated allegations of cooperation between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian actors. The probe ultimately found no evidence that they conspired to influence the election.

In his order, Trump accused WilmerHale of engaging in “obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends” by employing lawyers who, he said, abused their prosecutorial power “to upend the democratic process and distort justice.”

“Mueller’s investigation epitomizes the weaponization of government, yet WilmerHale claimed he ‘embodies the highest value of our firm and profession’,” the order stated. “This weaponization of the justice system must not be rewarded, let alone condoned.”

The proclamation also alleges that WilmerHale used its pro bono practices to allow noncitizens to vote and undermine efforts “to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders.” The law firm is also accused of discriminating against employees based on their race.

WilmerHale employs more than 1,100 lawyers and has a leading U.S. Supreme Court practice. Some of its major clients include Apple, Harvard University, Meta, and Tesla.

In response to Trump’s proclamation, a WilmerHale spokesperson defended its hiring of Mueller, saying that he retired from the firm in 2021 after a “long, distinguished career in public service.”

“We look forward to pursuing all appropriate remedies to this unlawful order,” the spokesperson said in a statement to multiple news outlets.

The spokesperson said that the proclamation resembled an executive order targeting another law firm, which has been blocked by a judge. Trump signed an order on March 6 targeting Perkins Coie—the law firm hired by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee–due to what he perceived as “dishonest and dangerous activity” conducted by the firm.

Trump’s order also Perkins Coie’s hiring of opposition research company Fusion GPS, which then employed Christopher Steele, the retired British counterintelligence specialist who compiled the now-discredited Steele dossier accusing the Trump 2016 presidential campaign of conspiring with Russia.

Perkins Coie has challenged Trump’s executive action, arguing that the president’s order violated its rights of free speech, free association, and due process under the Constitution. District of Columbia District Judge Beryl Howell on March 12 agreed to temporarily block parts of Trump’s order imposing certain sanctions on the law firm, saying the law firm was likely to win its lawsuit.

Trump also signed an order on March 14 directing government agencies to revoke the security clearances held by employees of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (Paul Weiss). The order also directs agencies to terminate their contracts with the law firm.

That order was withdrawn on March 20 after Paul Weiss released a statement agreeing to review its hiring practices, committing to merit-based hiring, retention, and promotion, and dedicated the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono services in support of the Trump administration’s initiatives such as assisting veterans, and the president’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.

In response to Trump’s moves against certain law firms, 20 Democratic state attorneys general and the American Bar Association accused the president of posing dangers to the U.S. legal system by chilling lawyers’ freedom to choose their clients.

The Epoch Times has reached out to WilmerHale for further comment and did not receive a response by publication time.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 13:20

Zelensky Sensationally Claims 'Putin Will Die Soon'

Throughout the more than three-year long Ukraine war, there have been various waves of reporting in the West suggesting that President Vladimir Putin is in extremely poor health. This typically takes the form of rumor and wild speculation from western tabloids.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revived these rumors this week, going so far as to say in an interview that Putin "will die soon" - in response to yet more unverified reports of his poor health.

He made the unexpected claim in a sit-down interview with journalists alongside French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday in Paris.

Zelensky asserted that Putin "will die soon, and that's a fact, and it will come to an end," and added that death is "what he is afraid of."

The Ukrainian leader was responding to the latest British tabloid stories which described that Putin has been shaking uncontrollably at public events.

"It was reported last week that Putin, 72, suffered a 'mini stroke' after shaking uncontrollably at a conference, The Standard reported," one US media report said. 

Zelensky naturally didn't offer any evidence or proof, and even Fox called his words 'sensational'...

Putin hopes to "remain in power until his death," Zelenskyy said, adding that the Russian leader seeks "a direct confrontation with the West," per the outlet. 

Of course, the Kremlin has rejected such reports, and there's been no indications issued by US intelligence of some kind of dire health event impacting Putin's ability to rule.

Zelensky's motive in claiming this became evident elsewhere in the interview, when he said: "It is very important that America does not help Putin to get out of this global isolation now."

Europe has been vocalizing stronger support to Kiev, even as Washington distances itself - and as it pursues bilateral talks and negotiations with Russia.

France's Macron is even pushing a coalition of countries willing to deploy Western troops to Ukraine, which if followed through on would certainly spark broader war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 13:00

Trump Says Call With Carney "Extremely Productive", Says They Will Meet After Election

Authored by Matthew Horwood via The Epoch Times,

U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney over the phone, and that the two leaders plan to meet “immediately” after the federal election. 

“It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things,” Trump said on Truth Social on March 28, adding that the two would meet “immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors.”

Trump added that the discussion between the two leaders will “end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada.”

Carney has not yet commented on the call, and no readout has been issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. Carney is scheduled to meet with provincial and territorial leaders this afternoon.

On March 26, Trump announced he would put 25 percent tariffs on all vehicles and some car parts imported into the United States. 

The automobile tariffs are set to kick in on April 3, a day after the U.S. will impose reciprocal tariffs on all its trading partners. Tariffs on auto parts will take effect on May 3.

Trump also placed 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4, but soon after, announced a one-month tariff pause on all products compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trump also imposed 25 percent tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum, including from Canada, on March 12.

Following a U.S.-Canada cabinet commitee meeting on March 27, Carney announced he would hold a phone call with Trump in the coming days, where he said he would make clear that the two countries are “best served by cooperation and mutual respect.”

During that press conference, the prime minister said his government was considering “many options” to retaliate against the latest tariffs, and that these measures would have “maximum impact in the United States and minimum impacts here in Canada.”

Carney previously said on March 24 that a phone call with Trump would not happen until after the next Canadian election on April 28, as he said he thinks the U.S. president is “waiting for the outcome of the election“ before talks, to ”see who has a strong mandate from Canadians.”

Carney, who was sworn in as prime minister on March 14 after winning the Liberal leadership race, said that call would need to happen “on our terms as a sovereign country, not as what he pretends we are,” in reference to Trump’s repeated remarks that Canada should merge with the United States.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 12:40

Panama Canal Deal Derailed After Beijing Launches Antitrust Probe

The Chinese Communist Party has been furious over Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's deal to sell Panama Canal ports to a consortium of investors that includes BlackRock, following pressure from President Trump as the US moves to bolster hemispheric defense—a massive security effort in which Panama plays a critical role. 

A new report from the South China Morning Post said Friday morning that Li's flagship 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."

There were multiple reports this week that Beijing was tightening the screws on Li's CK Hutchison to stop the sale to BlackRock next week.

In one such 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."

Here's more from SCMP's report:

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's 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, the Post has learned, with Beijing saying it will launch an antitrust probe into the sale.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said on Friday it was looking into CK Hutchison's US$23 billion deal to sell 45 ports spread over 23 countries to a consortium led by United States investment firm BlackRock.

The investigation was announced after pro-Beijing media Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao asked whether the deal required approval from the country's antitrust review.

"We have noticed this transaction, and will review it in accordance with the law to ensure fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest," a spokesman from the anti-monopoly department under market regulator said in a written reply.

The watchdog did not reveal when the investigation would be launched.

The department is responsible for conducting antitrust reviews and providing guidance to companies over their response to mitigate risk and ensure compliance overseas.

What's evident is that the sale of the Panama ports, including Balboa and Cristobal on either side of the canal, to the consortium that includes BlackRock has put the HK billionaire in the direct firing line of the CCP. 

In a separate report on the temporarily derailed deal, the Wall Street Journal cited sources familiar with the negotiations who said the April 2nd deadline will not be met.

Here's more color on what sources are saying:

Some of the people said the delay in signing the documents and Beijing's regulatory review didn't mean that the deal would be called off—only that a little more time was needed. Others said Beijing believed it might be able to force a more substantial delay or rethinking of the deal.

People involved in the negotiations and outside analysts have said they expect the deal would ultimately go through. They pointed to the risks for Beijing if it appeared to block a commercial transaction that doesn't involve ports in mainland China or Hong Kong.

. . . 

Chinese officials have telegraphed to Hutchison that they would call in BlackRock for a regulatory review if the parties went ahead with the transaction, people familiar with the matter said. Antitrust officials have started examining BlackRock's businesses, especially its investments in China, some of the people said.

CK Hutchison has denied the sale was politically motivated, while HK newspapers slammed the deal, calling it "a spineless kneeling, profit-seeking and unrighteous act, ignoring national interests and national justice, and betraying and selling out all Chinese people." 

The HK paper Ta Kung Pao warned that BlackRock could charge "special docking fees" to Chinese commercial ships and "suppress China's development" in the region. 

More broadly, the CCP is expected to fight tooth and nail to block Trump's hemispheric strategy in the Americas—from Canada to Greenland to Panama. But this will only push Trump to escalate the trade war until the communists in Beijing say "uncle."

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 12:20

VDH: The Passing Signal Psychodrama

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

When we finally learn the full melodrama of the so-called Signal 1-2 day “scandal” of inviting a leftwing, Trump-despising, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg onto a supposedly secure conference list, involving most of the top Trump security officials, lots of questions need asking and answering.

Most importantly, who exactly had Goldberg’s private number, and ostensibly (in error [?]) could have possibly inserted it into the cleared list of participants in the discussions? Why Goldberg, rather than some random person of some 345 million Americans? 

So why in the world would any top Trump officials or their staffers ever even have Goldberg’s private contact information—given his quite public record of a) fabricating stories with unnamed sources, and b) suffering from a decade of chronic Trump derangement syndrome? 

Did Goldberg know the mechanisms that had prompted and continued his stealthy presence on the secure discussions? 

Why did citizen Goldberg not simply come clean on day one that he realized he was mistakenly included in key national security conference communications, to which he did not belong, and thus should be obviously excluded immediately? Why stealthily listen in for eleven some days? Was the idea of informing his hosts of his own improper presence too old-fashioned morality? 

Did Goldberg’s publicizing these discreet discussions really affect in any way at all the otherwise completely successful mission to neutralize years of appeased Houthis aggression and begin to end their veritable destruction of Red Sea international maritime commerce? 

How did this blunder rank with prior diplomatic and military screw-ups? 

Did it rate with the indiscretion of Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s January 1950 Press Club speech de facto excluding South Korea from the American defense umbrella—an omission that may or may not have contributed to the June 1950 North Korean invasion of the South? 

Was it comparable to Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie’s assurance to Saddam Hussein, “We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait”— a needless remark that may have mistakenly green-lighted his 1990 invasion of Kuwait? 

Was it comparable to Barack Obama’s March 2012 “hot mic” quid-pro-quo assurance to Russian president Medvedev? Obama got caught in front of the world promising Putin that he would have “flexibility” on American-Eastern European missile defense—if Putin gave him “space” during his “last” election. 

And indeed, it is forgotten that both kept their promises: Obama foolishly dismantled American-sponsored Eastern European plans for missile defense, and Putin stayed put for Obama, perhaps empowering Obama’s successful election cycle—postponing his preplanned invasions of Ukraine until 2014. Careerism at the expense of national security? 

Did it rank with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, stealthily contacting his Chinese communist counterpart Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng, to warn him that he would likely prewarn the People’s Liberation Army leader, if he, Milley, had self-diagnosed his Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump as supposedly dangerously likely to trigger an existential war? 

Why would Hillary Clinton weigh in given her illegal use of a private server to transmit classified State Department information and her subsequent destruction of subpoenaed communication devices? 

Why would the serial fabulist Susan Rice weigh in, given in the election-year 2012 she flat-out lied to the nation on five Sunday news shows, claiming preposterously that the deadly preplanned terrorist attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi were actually unexpected "spontaneous" demonstrations incited by anger over an anti-Muslim video? Ditto her fallacious Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “honor” narrative or her lie about the removal of Syrian WMD. 

Why would Leon Panetta weigh in, when he was one of the supposed “51 intelligence authorities” in 2020 who ridiculously claimed Hunter Biden’s FBI-authenticated laptop had all the hallmarks of a Russian intelligence disinformation effort—a lie designed to arm Joe Biden before the last 2020 debate, and which might well have affected the 2020 election and for which Panetta has never apologized? 

In the end, this was a blunder, but also what the left calls a “teachable moment”, in which a) all future similar conferences should be either held in person or its participants triple-checked on a secure line; and b) all Trump high appointees and their staffers should know enough to have nothing to do with those who wake up each morning wishing to destroy them - and go to bed each night lamenting that they have not done enough to advance that destruction.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 12:00

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Allow Venezuelan Deportations To Proceed During Legal Challenge

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to step in and allow the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador while a legal battle plays out in lower courts.

Alleged Tren de Aragua gang members are processed at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador

The move comes two days after an appeals court upheld a temporary block on the Trump administration's ability to deport illegal migrants under the Alien Enemies Act.

In their request, the DOJ argued that federal courts should not be allowed to interfere with diplomatic matters, the Associated Press reports.

"The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the President," Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the request. "The republic cannot afford a different choice."

Earlier this month US District Judge James Boasberg paused the flights by ruling that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua deserve a hearing to deny they belong to the gang. Boasberg also demanded details on two flights on March 15 to determine whether the administration defied his oral and written orders to block them.

The Trump administration also asked the Supreme Court to overturn Boasberg's order pausing flights, and to put that order on hold while they consider that request.

"Those orders – which are likely to extend additional weeks – now jeopardize sensitive diplomatic negotiations and delicate national-security operations, which were designed to extirpate TdA’s presence in our country before it gains a greater foothold," wrote Harris.

The Supreme Court has asked lawyers for some of the deported Venezuelans to respond by 10am Tuesday to the Trump admin request.

The DOJ has argued that Trump had the authority to declare TdA a foreign terrorist organization and deport them without hearings. Government lawyers also refused to release flight information on the deportations, arguing that it would reveal sources and methods behind the deportations.

"Once that secondary disclosure occurred, any opportunity for appellate review would be moot; the damage would be done, and the effect on United States foreign policy could be catastrophic," the DOJ wrote.

The DOJ insists that the government obeyed Boasberg's written order blocking the flights, but says that his earlier oral order while the flights were in the air weren't enforceable. Government lawyers also contend that Trump had the authority to conduct the flights as commander-in-chief of the US military and the country's head of foreign affairs.

Trump, meanwhile, has called for Boasberg's impeachment - saying that the lifetime Obama-appointee is "a troublemaker and agitator."

*  *  *

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Click pic... buy seeds... take food supply into your own hands... Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 11:40

Capitalist To Socialist Professor: "Consent Is The Root Of Morality"

In 1917, amidst the chaos of World War I, Vladimir Lenin declared that "the state is the instrument of class oppression." Just months later, the Bolshevik Revolution transformed Russia into the world’s first socialist state—an experiment that would spiral into decades of authoritarianism, economic ruin, and millions of lives lost. But was it the failure of socialism itself or the perversion of its ideals by authoritarian regimes that doomed it?

Last night, we dove into this centuries-old debate with Rutgers Professor Ben Burgis defending the promise of socialism, while Libertarian Institute editor Keith Knight argues that capitalism remains the only true path to freedom and prosperity. 

The Capitalist View: Consent

“Capitalism is a social system based on the explicit right of private property and voluntary contracts between consenting adults." That was the position of Mr. Knight who emphasized several times that capitalism ultimately comes down to the concept of consent (aka volunteerism).

"Under a system of private property and voluntary exchange, no one can get a penny out of your pocket or a second of your time unless you voluntarily agree to it.”

Hear his full opening remarks:

pic.twitter.com/6dxvW4T8xv

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) March 28, 2025

The Socialist View: Equality

Now imagine a world where "working people collectively own the means of production and decided together how to divide up the proceeds." This is Burgis’s vision and in it, he says, workers would have a "reasonable level of democratic input." 

"If the mission was bring about economic equality and equal human dignity for everyone, it failed." The disparity between the rich and the poor is "morally indefensible.”

Hear his opening remarks:

pic.twitter.com/sNzjU61Mok

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) March 28, 2025

“Exploitation”

An interesting faultline was exposed around the definition of ‘exploitation’.

To Marx, it’s the “forced extraction of labor by a ruling class.” Listen as our Libertarian Keith fires off questions to get to the root of Marxist logic:

pic.twitter.com/sZcCOYtNFh

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) March 28, 2025

Watch full debate below and subscribe to our YouTube Channel:

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/28/2025 - 10:40