NATO Must Talk Turkey

Submitted by Todd Baumann, the Director of Operations for Special Guests Publicity

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) hasn’t just outlived its usefulness. One of its member states has been wearing out its welcome since the fall of the Soviet Union. Turkey was considered a secular nation when it sought entry into NATO after World War II. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkey has been attempting to resurrect its Islamic fundamentalist, Ottoman roots. Sadly, we the people of the United States are obligated to protect and defend it.

Exactly 30 years ago, in 1994, while speaking to young fundamentalist Muslims in Antwerp, Belgium, a Turkish Sheikh named Nazim Al-Kibrisi al-Haqqani took to the stage in a stadium filled to capacity, with close to 20,000 people present. After putting the phrase, “Allahu Akbar” to a repetitive musical chant, he exhorted the crowd to join him. He even referred to the audience as a “flood of people (being) a small sign of the glorious rise of Islam”.

There, in the front row, stood a smiling, young Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is currently the President of Turkey. In his speech, Kibrisi bemoaned the failures of his generation over the previous 70 years to preserve Islam. He insisted the young crowd which filled the stadium would restore the glory of Islam. This was a clear reference to the defeat of the Turkish Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, in 1922. It was also a personal reference. Kibrisi was born that year. Even the stadium was built between 1921 – 1923.

Did I mention that Erdoğan was in the front row?

In 1952, a very secular Turkey joined NATO amid concerns that the Soviet Union be problematic. Membership in NATO provided Turkey with a hedge against invasion. Then, when the Soviet Union fell, Neo-Ottomanism began to rise. Unfortunately, NATO continued growing as well, even becoming more corrupt, with the central component of its mission – Soviet style communism no longer a threat.

Neo-Ottomanism seeks a restoration of the old empire, which seeks expansionism and ultimately, a global Islamic caliphate.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in the 1920’s as well. It too seeks a return to life under the Ottoman Empire. During the one year reign of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt following the Arab Spring, this became even more evident. Erdoğan’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood was clear. Both expressed a desire to restore an era of Islamic rule.

As an aside, the history between Turkey and Russia goes back well more than 500 years; it is an adversarial history at that. It includes the fall of Christianity in Constantinople. The seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church then moved to Russia. Even then it was Muslims vs. Christians. This says nothing of the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Despite the extermination of between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians, the Turks remain holocaust denialists.

The removal of Bashar al-Assad is largely perceived as a good thing. Is it? The answer to that question depends on what replaces him. The Syrian rebels are comprised of various factions, but the Muslim Brotherhood is chief among them. Again, the Muslim Brotherhood’s loyalties to the Neo-Ottoman movement should not be questioned; it’s alive and well.

Of course, a rudderless Syria, especially one that helps to serve Turkey’s interests, doesn’t bode well for the Iranian Mullahs either. The attacks of October 7, 2023, have had a cascading effect that has very much helped us get to this point. Israel, rightly so, decimated Hamas and its leadership; it did the same to Hezbollah. Exploding pagers and precision strikes very much contributed to the conditions that led to Assad’s ouster.

It's far too early to tell if the Iranian regime has been weakened, if at all. It’s likely very capable of counteroffensive attacks. Nonetheless, if the Iranian mullahs are toppled the same question will need to be asked: Is it a good thing? Again, it depends on what replaces it.

Russia is currently bogged down in Ukraine and that reality is seen as having contributed to Assad’s fall from power. What happens next in Syria is anybody’s guess. Does Israel acquire any of that territory? Does the Muslim Brotherhood take over and align with Turkey? Does Turkey have any aspirations there upon dispatching the Kurds to the north?

Should the mullahs fall, the resulting power vacuum could pave the way for radical groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliates, to seize control. This would present a grave threat to regional stability, as the Brotherhood’s ideology aligns with more extreme interpretations of Islam. Should the Brotherhood move into Iran (Persia), Turkey would not be far behind.

Turkey’s membership in NATO adds a dangerous layer of complexity. Article 5 of the NATO treaty obligates member states, including the United States, to come to the defense of any member that is attacked. Should Turkey engage in a conflict with Russia—a historical adversary and current competitor in Syria and the Black Sea—the U.S. and its NATO allies could be dragged into a direct confrontation with Moscow. Such a scenario risks escalating into World War III, a catastrophic outcome for global security.

Syria is a mess right now. Stability is paramount but we have no idea what that country is going to look like in the future.

As for what should happen moving forward, Turkey should be jettisoned from NATO and Iran’s nuclear facilities must be taken out.

Then we can talk about those Mullahs.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/21/2024 - 07:00

Escobar: Anarchy In The Levant - Your Future Dream Is A Chaos Scheme

Authored by Pepe Escobar,

Tehran and Moscow harbor no illusions – and are preparing accordingly. The war on BRICS is just getting started.

Syria as we knew it is being eviscerated in real time – in geographic, cultural, economic and military terms – by an appalling confluence of mercenary Rent-a-Jihadi mobs and psychopathological genocidals praying at the altar of Eretz Israel.

All of that is fully supported by rabid NATOstan hyenas – masters of narrative control – and fully intertwined with the eradication of Palestine.

Across the avowedly dejected Global Majority, there’s a feeling that the momentarily exhausted Axis of Resistance will need to go turbo-Sisyphus to rearrange, resupply and recalibrate the defense of Palestine.

Predictably, there’s not a peep across the NATOstan sphere about Tel Aviv’s feral, indiscriminate bombing and snatching of sovereign Syrian territory. That represents a glaring illustration of the “rules-based international order” in action.

Collective West Think Tankland is in rapture. Chatham House preaches a Syrian rebuilding in this “watershed moment” led by the U.S., EU, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, capable of “forging a consensus around Syria” that “could serve as the foundation for a new regional order.”

The rabidly anti-BRICS Center for a New American Security (CNAS) demands “expelling Russia’s military presence” from Syria and “to close the country as an avenue for Iran’s power projection.”

The Axis of Resistance is being mourned across the spectrum. Not so fast. The deeper meaning of the “ceasefire” between Israel and Hezbollah is that the psycho-pathologicals, for all practical purposes, were defeated, even if they wreaked horrendous havoc on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs.

Changing the narrative – and the focus – to the Greater Idlibistan offensive allowed an avowedly massive tactical victory not only for Eretz Israel goons but for the assembled NATOstan/Turkiye combo. Yet the real nitty-gritty starts now, even as the partition of Syria is already in effect.

The Rent-a-Jihadi mob, in theory under the control of the aspiring Caliph of Al-Sham, the Saudi al-Jolani, real name Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sha’a, sooner or later may turn against the Eretz Israel project, considering they entertain cozy relations with Hamas in Gaza.

At least for the moment, everything is swell for the Oded Yinon and/or Bernard Lewis plan to subdue West Asia via time-tested Divide and Rule. This harks back not only to Sykes-Picot in 1917, but even earlier, to 1906, when British PM Henry Campbell-Bannerman asserted that,

“There are people [Arabs] who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions.”

So if these “people” united, they would then “take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world.”

Ergo, the necessity of “a foreign body” [later constituted as Israel] to be “planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”

Pirates of the Levant

The Eretz Israel hallucination does not exactly mingle with Sultan Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman dream, even though they coincide in the broader urge to redraw the map of the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia.

As for the Exceptionalists, they can barely believe their luck. In a swoop, they just gobbled up the key strategic node of a now buried idea: Arabism, or anti-imperialism in the Levant.

Ever since Barack Obama, in the early 2010s, declared war on Syria under orders from Tel Aviv, the Empire of Chaos had thrown everything and the kitchen sink at Damascus for at least 13 years: the longest and most expensive regime change campaign in U.S. history, complete with toxic, forced-starvation sanctions – until suddenly the big prize fell on their lap.

The prize involves – in theory – smashing an ally of three top BRICS, Russia, Iran and China, with the added bonus of turning it into a geoeconomic black hole while doctoring the narrative to sell “the end of the dictator” to the Global Majority as the precondition for the rise of a new Dubai.

We still don’t know how rump Syria will look like – and even for how long it will be governed by a bunch of neoliberal Salafi-jihadis with trimmed beards and cheap new off-the-rack suits.

The fact is the Hegemon is already controlling at least a third of Syrian territory for at least a decade – and will continue to steal Syrian oil and wheat with absolute impunity: Pirates of the Levant in full regalia.

Playing the role of sidekick, the UK’s MI6 will continue to excel in providing P.R. ops, across-the-board lobbying and gun-running opportunities for the gullible motley crew of mercenary Salafi-jihadis.

When it comes to Tel Aviv, they are destroying Eretz Israel’s largest remaining Arab military opposition; stealing/annexing land non-stop; and dreaming of total domination, aerial and naval, in case Russia loses its bases in Tartus and Hmeimim (that’s a major “if”). Not to mention they somewhat indirectly control the new Caliph, who has meekly asked them to please, don’t conquer too much Syrian land.

The partition will proceed along three other major vectors.

1. Hegemon-controlled land and military bases – which might be used to attack Iraq. Forget about a fake sovereign Syria recovering their oil fields.

2. Turkiye-annexed land which will inevitably lead to the full absorption of Aleppo (already proclaimed by the Sultan on the record).

3. Damascus run by an ISIS offshoot directly manipulated by Turkish intel.

All of the above might lead, already in the first quarter of 2025, to a sort of Salafi-Jihadi Zionization arrangement with just one objective: to ease sanctions from the U.S. and the EU.

As for al-Jolani, real name Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sha’a, for all his woke rebranding, he was Al-Zarkawi’s lieutenant and Emir of Nineveh during the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI, later reconverted as ISIS) rampage in Mesopotamia. There’s no way Baghdad will have political relations with a Salafi-jihadi who’s on Iraq’s most wanted list.

An additional headache is the EU’s conditions for normalizing Syria, as spelled out by the unelected batshit crazy Estonian responsible for its foreign policy (and representing nearly 500 million European citizens): Brussels will only lift sanctions if there are no Russian bases and “Russian influence” left in the Caliphate of al-Sham.

Meanwhile, the Empire of Chaos will continue its plunder – in conjunction with Israel. The Syrian oil stolen by the Americans is sold by the Kurds to Israel in Erbil with a huge discount. After all, this oil is “free” – as in stolen. At least 40% of Israel’s oil comes from the Erbil racket.

And it gets worse.

Israel has annexed the Al-Wahda dam in the basin of the Yarmouk river, close to the city of Al-Qusayr in the Dara’a governorate, and near the Jordanian border. This dam provides at least 30% of Syria’s water and 40% of Jordan’s water.

Everything is so predictable: what the NATOstan/Israel combo really wants is an amputated, disaggregated, vulnerable Syria.

Empire of Chaos goes Full Anarchy

Yet the whole toxic equation is far from over. Aspiring Caliph Jolani may be tempted to allow Russia to keep its bases – and to transport their weapons systems out of the country intact. He is in close contact with Moscow, and HTS is de facto protecting Russian assets.

In parallel, Hezbollah signaled it is willing to “cooperate” with HTS, which by the way is also protecting the Iranian embassy in Damascus. ​​

There is no evidence whatsoever that the Greater Idlibistan invasion was a Trojan Horse agreed on the negotiating table by the – dead – “Astana process” even before the fateful Doha meeting on Saturday, January 7.

What is certain is that the analysis in Moscow and Beijing privileges the Long Big Picture. The Chinese for now are extremely circumspect on the record about the whole Syrian drama, apart from declaring themselves “ready to play a constructive role”. Beijing and Moscow see Syria as a temporary setback on BRICS inflicted by an Empire on Desperation Row, along with its equally desperate Eretz Israel ally and a Sultan biting more than he can chew.

The lame duck Biden combo is absolutely clueless on the emergence of a – possible – Israeli-Turkish hegemonic vector in a key node of West Asia. The only thing that matters for Straussian neo-cons and their Tel Aviv psycho-apocalyptic buddies, when it comes to the disintegration of Syria, is the window of opportunity ahead for Israel to attack Iran.

The Times of Israel is in rapture: while previously the “IAF would not fly directly over Damascus when carrying out strikes on Iran-linked targets in the capital, it now can.”

The key to unlock the whole riddle may lie, once again, with Jolani. Everything in West Asia is always in perpetual flux. Only a few days after the fall of Damascus, Sultan Erdogan as well as NATO have refused to help Jolani against the Israeli onslaught in Syria.

Talk about the aspiring Caliphate’s “sovereignty”.

So where Jolani could turn to in a quest for possible allies? And who can he rely on to impose some order in totally disaggregated Syria – including air power to fight ISIS pockets across the desert?

Enter Tehran and Moscow. Ergo, the back channels on overdrive. They would not bat an eye when it comes to “cooperating” with the infant Caliphate – as long as their national interests are not threatened.

The Empire of Chaos will remain unmatched in terms of narrative control, P.R. stunts, monopolizing social media spheres and non-stop psy war. All hybrid fronts. But that’s about it.

The Empire was miserably defeated in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And continues to be humiliated by the Houthis in the Red Sea. Washington has less than zero advantage over Russia on the military sphere – except on electronic warfare (EW), at least on the West Asian theatre, and ISR (Russia is catching up), which instantly translates into inflicting more and more terror.

As for Iran, it’s far from weaker now than before the fall of Damascus. That’s imperial narrative spin, inbuilt in the self-pleasing Exceptionalist mechanism. Ayatollah Khamenei, a fine strategist, does not waste his words. Tehran will eventually develop an alternative supply chain to Hezbollah and the West Bank.

Besides, follow the money. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has already noted that “the new Syrian government will take on all of Syria’s financial obligations to Iran.” That’s a lot of money – that Jolani does not have.

Michael Hudson is adamant: “Anarchy is what the U.S. plan is.” This being West Asia, where backstabbing is an art, there will be blowback. Tehran and Moscow harbor no illusions – and are preparing accordingly. The war on BRICS is just getting started.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 23:25

Diddy, Deadpool, & The Donald: 2024 In Google Searches

2024 will be another year not forgotten any time soon. A look at the biggest trending Google searches can serve as a reminder for just some of the events and situations that have shaped our world over the last 12 months.

The following chart, via Statista's Anna Fleck, looks at the most-googled terms between January 1 and November 23.

You will find more infographics at Statista

At the top of the trending news-related searches was the U.S. election.

With 3.7 billion people having had the opportunity to go to the polls worldwide this year, 2024 has been dubbed a ‘super year’ for elections. In November, the victory of Republican nominee Donald Trump against the Democratic Party’s pick Kamala Harris will have major implications both domestically and abroad, in terms of trade and foreign policy. Other elections this year included BJP leader and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi winning a third term in office, despite losing a parliamentary majority, and the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer ousting the Conservative Party after 14 years in power.

The second fastest growing news search term was “excessive heat”.

As of November, 2024 was on track to be the warmest year on record. It was a year when more than 1,300 people died during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia due to heat.

In the world of music, Sean “Diddy” Combs was the most searched-for artist among the English-speaking world this year.

Combs has been at the center of sexual assault, rape and sex trafficking lawsuits. The next most searched-for artists were Usher, Linkin Park, Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Timberlake.

In terms of movies this year, the ones to garner the most search attention included Inside Out 2, an animated Pixar and Disney movie about different emotions personified as well as the Marvel superhero movie Deadpool & Wolverine and Saltburn, a thriller and social commentary on wealth.

This year, Google also revealed the top earworms around the world. The eclectic mix of “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone, “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” by Creepy Nuts and “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga were the three tunes that were looked up most frequently using the “hum to search” function.

Finally, the most prolific people searched for this year included both Trump and Harris together with Princess Kate, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and after treatment is now reported to be cancer free.

Sadly, not all of the world's well-known and popular people made it to the end of 2024. The most high-profile passing, at least in terms of Google Search queries, was that of One Direction singer Liam Payne.

According to Google Trends’ methodology, the round up of searches in 2024 excludes data from China, Iran and North Korea.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 23:00

Trump Could Tariff NATO Allies That Do Not Pay Up

Authored by Anders Corr via The Epoch Times,

Russia launched almost 300 drones and missiles in a coordinated attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Dec. 13. The attack is an apparent attempt to further terrorize Ukrainians into surrender by destroying their heat and light in the middle of winter.

The war has dragged on for almost three years now, and Ukrainians are getting tired. Their army is depleted of personnel and weapons. Gallup’s latest surveys indicate that 52 percent of Ukrainians want to end the war, even if that means giving away land to Russia. Only 38 percent now want to keep fighting until victory, down from 73 percent in 2022.

President-elect Donald Trump is trying to both minimize the risk of escalation and shift more of the war’s burden to European allies that have not paid their fair share of defense expenditures for decades. Such a shift is eminently possible as the United States has so far committed about half of Europe’s $255 billion in aid to Ukraine. After the U.S. election, many European leaders have already doubled their commitments. But they must go much further to fully deter Russia.

The U.S. national debt is growing at an unsustainable rate, and without new revenues, Washington can no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. Given this unfortunate reality, Trump has led calls for a cease-fire that would likely entail a risk: appeasing Russia with Ukrainian land, which would potentially incentivize Moscow and the regime in China to escalate aggression down the road. If Moscow wins in Ukraine, Beijing could try the same in Taiwan sooner, and the axis of evil wars, including those of Iran and arguably North Korea, might have no end in sight.

There is a solution: force Europeans to increase their defense spending, including military aid to Ukraine, to at least 3 percent of GDP. Trump is heading in that direction.

At a meeting in Paris on Dec. 7, Trump said he wants to see Ukraine emerge as a strong and well-armed country. He wants European soldiers, rather than Americans, to be present in Ukraine after a cease-fire as peacekeepers and to bear most of the expense of the continued deterrence of Russia. This will free the United States to better deter China’s communist regime.

Trump wants Europe to help pressure China, including with tariffs, to, in turn, pressure Russia to come to the bargaining table. China has a more powerful economy and conventional military compared to Russia. After North Korea sent troops to fight Ukraine, some, like JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, said that World War III had already started. Others say Russia wants to expand to at least the boundaries of the old Soviet Union. After conquering Ukraine, the Russian army could try to take the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—all of which are now NATO members. Moscow has already stepped up its espionage in these regions and beyond, from Mexico to the Arctic. Some of it targets the United States.

NATO chief Mark Rutte warned on Dec. 12 that the West is “not ready” for an increasing Russian threat over the next five years, which includes a long-term goal of conflict with the West.

“It is time to shift to a wartime mindset, and turbocharge our defense production and defense spending,” he said.

Rutte had praised Trump’s first term for getting NATO countries to increase their defense expenditures.

Now, Trump is doing it again.

He has reiterated his intention to withdraw the United States from NATO if other countries do not reach defense spending of at least 2 percent of their GDP.

He could reasonably increase that demand to 3 percent and add another penalty: tariffs for those that fall below the agreed level.

These tariffs could focus on luxuries and replaceables so as not to disrupt more important U.S. supply lines.

European leaders are beginning to take action and will likely fund any U.S. shortfall to keep the Russian army further away from European capitals. Rutte has called for an increase in the defense spending goal among NATO members. Many NATO countries—namely Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Croatia, and Canada—pay less than 2 percent of GDP, while several countries, including the United States, Poland, and the Baltics, spend more than 3 percent.

The United States spent 41 percent of GDP on defense at the height of World War II and 10 percent during the Cold War. It was a lot of money, but our freedom was worth the expense. For those countries looking to get a free ride, Trump should apply his signature tariffs. He has threatened Canada with tariffs and could do so as a penalty for its low defense spending. That strategy could also be extended to other NATO countries that shirk their commitments.

Our strong U.S. economy is in part because people around the world see the United States as not only victorious against our most dangerous enemies but also as a nation with a free-market democratic system as something that they trust, want to emulate, and in which they want to invest. After World War II, that impressive soft power made countries agree to choose New York and Washington as the headquarters of the world’s most important international institutions. But costly wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have made most Americans rethink our role as the only “world’s policeman” who makes the world safe for democracy. At the very least, we also want our allies to shoulder their fair share.

*  *  *

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 22:35

Rocking Around The Plastic Tree

For some families, the search for the right Christmas tree is an annual event.

However, as Statista's Felix Richter reports, for large shares of Americans and Brits though, this search may have ended a long time ago - the perfect tree already sitting safely in the attic or garage, ready for its glorious but fleeting return to the living room.

As new survey data from Statista Consumer Insights shows, it's a different story in Germany.

You will find more infographics at Statista

There, at the home of the Christmas tree tradition, the practice is still very much alive - 42 percent of adults said they would be putting up a real tree this year, compared to 26 percent in the U.S. and just 20 percent in the United Kingdom.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 22:10

Never Underestimate The Power Of Unfinished Business

Authored by Robert Malone via The Brownstone Institute,

The Fathomless Bottom of the Deep State

The Senior Executive Service (SES) class of federal employees was created under President Carter through the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The SES was established to “…ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality.”

Another Carter-created component of the State, as is the Department of Education. The SES employees were supposed to ensure top performances in all the various agencies. That was the theory, but the reality is something entirely different, as is so often the case with these initiatives such as the “Department of Homeland Security.”

Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. SES employees are the major link between these appointees and the rest of the Federal workforce. They operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 Federal agencies. They are referred to as members by the Office of Personnel Management and are considered above “employee” designation. They are members of the SES, and don’t you forget that! Today’s SES runs the country.

The SES even has its own flag (which has been largely removed from the government web pages since I last wrote about the SES in June of 2022). and their own non-profit agency called the Senior Executive Association (SEA), whose stated goal is to protect the rights of SES members – which lists both lobbying Congress and instituting legal action to protect SES member status. This non-profit acts like a union.

SES members operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 Federal agencies and serve in key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. Thus positioned, the SES bosses enforce political orthodoxy and fidelity to the deep state. They can act in this manner because their employment is virtually guaranteed. An SES employee’s job is so secure that an Agency Head cannot terminate an SES employee unless the Commissioner issues a certificate stating that the termination is in the public interest. Even then, the termination is subject to litigation.

Barack Obama believed that the SES program should be expanded and, through a 2015 executive order, “Strengthening the Senior Executive Service,” sought to expand and “facilitate career executive continuity between administrations.” But more than that, his executive order implemented:

“a comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of the recruitment, hiring, retention, and development of their SES cadre.”

Yep – the federal government has been using DEI-based hiring and promotions for the SES instead of merit, well…ever since Obama’s presidency.

By May 31, 2016, agencies with 20 or more SES positions were tasked with developing a plan “to increase the number of SES members who are rotating to improve talent development, mission delivery, and collaboration.” 

Obama’s other objective, other than securing more DEI employees, was to secure more loyal troops for the administration of his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton. Luckily, she then lost to Donald Trump. However, the increased number of SES employees, strengthening their stranglehold on government power and over the presidency, remained. 

As it turns out, the Justice Department includes those elite, highly paid bosses from the Senior Executive Service. So does the Department of Homeland Security, from which the SES also deploys personnel into the Secret Service. As does just about every agency in the US government. As of 2018, there were almost 8,000 SES employees.

The other important point about the SES is that the president has no role in choosing them; he can’t reassign them or fire them. The SES comprises the non-transparent group of managers and elites who run the country from within. They are the employees who quietly block, slow-walk, and defer presidential orders. What President Trump and Kash Patel might call the “deep state.” 

In effect, our democracy has been turned upside down while being captured by bureaucratic and corporate interests that endorse authoritarian policies – hence, we are now living under a system of “inverted totalitarianism.” The United States has been co-opted into a managed democracy, thanks to Carter and Obama. 

President Trump was stymied in his efforts to reform the government due to the SES cadre, and then he finally hit upon a solution.

That is an executive order known as “Schedule F,” which he signed in October 2020, just prior to leaving office. Biden canceled the Schedule F executive order on the first day of his presidency. 

This new employee classification system would have included federal workers in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character,” which are “not normally subject to change as the result of a presidential transition.”

The “Schedule F” executive order would have allowed agencies to reclassify policy jobs under a new employment schedule and had proposed to give senior managers greater flexibility in hiring candidates and firing employees. Hence, the SES employees would have functionally become “at-will” employees. At-will employment means that an employer can dismiss an employee for any reason, without having to establish “just cause” for termination, as long as the reason is not illegal. At-will employment is the law of the land in all states except Montana.

President Trump stated that this executive order would be reinstated on day one. 

But Not so Fast!

On January 22, 2021, shortly after taking office, President Biden repealed the Schedule F executive order. This action prevented Schedule F from being implemented, as it had not yet taken effect when Trump left office.

In September 2023, the Biden administration, through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), began working on new regulations to make it difficult to reintroduce Schedule F policies.

On April 4, 2024, OPM issued a final rule aimed at stopping potential future attempts to implement Schedule F or something similar. This rule ensured that the new civil service job protections couldn’t be removed by reimplementing Schedule F.

However, all of these political machinations may come to naught.

Remember the Chevron Deference?

The Chevron deference was a key principle in U.S. administrative law for nearly 40 years, established by the Supreme Court in 1984 in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. It directed courts to defer to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute that the agency administers.

This doctrine significantly empowered federal agencies by giving them considerable leeway in interpreting and implementing ambiguous statutory provisions. It essentially allowed the administrative state to create laws without Congressional oversight.

However, in June 2024, the US Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The Court ruled that the Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority, and courts may not defer to an agency’s interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous. 

The end of Chevron Deference represents a major shift in administrative law, reducing the power of federal agencies and increasing judicial scrutiny of agency actions. One of the implications of the Chevron deference is the reduced power for federal agencies in interpreting laws. 

How Does This Affect Schedule F?

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may need to provide more robust justifications for its new policies regarding Schedule F, as it can no longer rely on the Chevron deference to support its interpretations of federal employment laws.

The truth is that as soon as President Trump implements Schedule F, the Senior Executives Association may challenge it in court, and the OPM will use its new rules to fight it tooth and nail.

Due to the Chevron deference, this legal fight may be aborted or short-circuited. Time will tell.

On the Legislative Side

In 2023, the House adopted an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill for 2023 that would prevent future administrations from reviving Schedule F or similar measures. However, during the reconciliation process between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the Schedule F ban was omitted from the final compromise version. The final version of the 2023 NDAA that was signed into law did not include the language banning future attempts at creating Schedule F, but Congress may pull those clauses out of the Democrat party’s bag of tricks at any time.

The easiest way out of this quandary in the long term is for Congress to amend the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to clarify the role of the SES employee and other employees within the federal government. This would be a permanent solution instead of a temporary bandaid.

Republished from the author’s Substack

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 21:45

Trump-Era Official Blasts Canada Over Fentanyl Super Labs & Transnational Crime Gangs 

President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose a sweeping 25% tariff on all goods and services from Canada, aimed at pressuring the neighbors to the north to curb cross-border fentanyl and human smuggling, has thrown Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government into a state of turmoil. 

Trade between Canada and the US is the largest of any two nations, with cross-border trade totaling $926 billion in 2023—roughly $2.5 billion daily. This dark tariff reality for Trudeau of not responding adequately to Trump's border security demand risks pushing Canada into an economic crisis. 

In response, the Canadian government unveiled a new border security plan on Wednseday, costing about a billion dollars to strengthen border security with the US. 

"President Trump is securing the border and he hasn't even taken office yet," Trump's transition team wrote in a news release, adding, "Facing an uproar among his own citizens ... embattled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just announced a billion-dollar plan for major border security improvements and increased border patrols." 

The new border proposal outlines the deployment of drones, helicopters, and other advanced technologies along the 5,525-mile northern border.

Despite Wednesday's announcement, calls for Trudeau's resignation continue to mount, while his approval ratings implode. The longer far-left Trudeau remains in power, the more his popularity will erode, with citizens frustrated by his years of incompetence.  

David Asher, who previously led a Trump-era task force on fentanyl, commented on the border proposal. He appeared on CBC News Network earlier this week to share his insights.

Asher told the CBC News host that the new border proposal "looks rather unimpressive" and is a "drop in the bucket compared to what we actually need." 

Asher then segued the conversation, stating that his "concerns go well beyond the border," highlighting the expansion of fentanyl superlab production across Canada—much of which is destined for the US.

"US law enforcement has a lot of sources telling us - that not only the Mexican cartels are setting up operations in Canada - but also Chinese organized crime - and even Iranian organized crime..." 

He stated that all three organizations were tied into a massive bust in Vancouver of drugs and chemicals equal to more than 95 million pills. 

Asher said whoever was running that superlab in Vancouver had their eyes on the US market. 

"This has gotten to a point, with superlabs and super laundering networks and lack of super cooperation with the US, that these issues have irritated President Trump and others," Asher concluded. 

Watch David Asher, fellow at the Hudson Institute, tear a strip off Canada for its fentanyl super lab and organized crime problems.

Unimpressed with the limp plan on the border - no new dollars this year.

Critical of disclosure laws and Cameron Ortiz for leaking all of Five… pic.twitter.com/jvaB5vbNNZ

— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) December 20, 2024

The question now is, will Canada's new border proposal be enough to satisfy Trump?

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 21:20

Parents' Rights Group Reveals Dept Of Ed Spent $1 Billion On DEI Since 2021

Authored by Elad Vaida via Campus Reform,

A parental rights group published a report showing that the Department of Education has spent enormous sums to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Parents Defending Education works to “reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas.”

It published its report on Dec. 12 demonstrating that, since 2021, the Department of Education has spent $1,002,522,304.81 to promote DEI at “universities, school districts, and nonprofits.”

That sum includes $489,883,797.81 for “DEI Hiring,” $343,337,286 for “DEI Programming,” and $169,301,221 for “Based Mental health/Social Emotional Learning.” 

Some of the report’s “key findings” include a $1,261,718 to the University of Iowa to “train 40 elementary teachers to ‘enact equity-centered education’ in partner K-12 districts.’”

The report also highlights a $4 million grant to the Regents of the University of California, U.C. San Diego for a program to “directly engage high school youth from low-income, racial minoritized groups.”

The federal government routinely pours great sums into promoting DEI in higher education. 

In October, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed it would hand out more than $7 million to six different universities to “grow initiatives in engineering-related disciplines and fields for learners who have historically been underrepresented and underserved in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”

NASA’s senior advisor for engagement and equity Shahra Lambert said the grants would help pave “the way for greater diversity in engineering and STEM.”

The National Institutes of Health also granted more than $19 million to The City University of New York to found a new “Center for Minority Health, Equity and Social Justice.”

Campus Reform reached out to Parents Defending Education for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 20:55

Check Your WiFi Router Brand... US Mulls Ban On Chinese-Made TP-Link

Chinese TP-Link routers, the best-selling ones on Jeff Bezos' Amazon, have been intensely scrutinized by US investigators due to links to multiple Chinese cyberattacks. This has prompted US officials to consider a potential ban on these routers, citing national security concerns. 

Sources familiar with investigations at the Commerce, Defense, and Justice departments told the Wall Street Journal that a nationwide ban on TP-Link routers could come as soon as next year. 

WSJ noted that the Shenzhen-based router manufacturer accounts for an alarming 65% of the US router market in homes and small businesses, adding, "It is also the top choice on Amazon.com, and powers internet communications for the Defense Department and other federal government agencies."

Sources told WSJ that some TP-Link routers shipped to the US have security flaws, and the company has resisted cooperating with security researchers to address the identified issues. 

In October, Microsoft published a report that revealed a Chinese hacking group had access to thousands of compromised TP-Link routers. 

"CovertNetwork-1658 specifically refers to a collection of egress IPs that may be used by one or more Chinese threat actors and is wholly comprised of compromised devices. Microsoft assesses that a threat actor located in China established and maintains this network. The threat actor exploits a vulnerability in the routers to gain remote code execution capability," the report explained.

When Microsoft published the report, TP-Link was already under scrutiny. In August, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party called for an investigation into TP-Link routers. 

In the letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, the lawmakers wrote, "TP-Link's unusual degree of vulnerabilities and required compliance with PRC law are in and of themselves disconcerting. When combined with the PRC government's common use of SOHO [small office/home office] routers like TP-Link to perpetrate extensive cyberattacks in the United States, it becomes significantly alarming." 

WSJ reported that Biden-Harris officials are exploring potential action against TP-Link in response to recent cyberattacks connected with China. The likely action could come during Trump's second term. 

The potential ban on TP-Link routers could mark the largest removal of Chinese tech from the US market since the Trump admin removed Huawei tech from America's infrastructure.

It might be a good time to check what type of router or mesh network you have before Trump takes office next month.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 20:30

'Hawk Tuah' Influencer Breaks Silence After Memecoin Rig-Pull Allegations

Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com,

Hailey Welch, the influencer behind the viral ‘Hawk Tuah’ TikTok video, has released a statement after a memecoin bearing her handle pumped and dumped quickly after its December launch.

In a Dec. 20 X post, Welch said she was “fully cooperating” with lawyers who represented investors in the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) token.

The crypto users filed a lawsuit against the project’s creators and partners - Welch herself was not named as a defendant in the suit - alleging they engaged in the promotion and sale of an unregistered securities offering.

A statement posted to X on Dec. 20. Source: Hailey Welch

On Dec. 4, the HAWK token launched, rising to a market capitalization of roughly $500 million before quickly dropping by 90%, prompting many users to speculate there had been a rug pull.

Welch called on anyone affected to contact lawyers, adding she took the situation “extremely seriously.”  

From TikTok stardom to memecoin promoter?

Welch, who rose to internet fame after a June clip of her describing a sexual act went viral on TikTok, has parlayed the incident into her Hawk Tuah nickname and brand.

Her likeness was used on the HAWK token, and she promoted the memecoin on social media.

According to blockchain data, one wallet sniped HAWK tokens shortly after the project launched, purchasing roughly 18% of the memecoin supply and then selling it for more than $1 million in profit.

Many of the memecoin’s investors, however, reported massive losses after the price pumped and dumped.

It’s unclear whether Welch or the project’s founders could face criminal or regulatory lawsuits in the United States as a result of the memecoin launch.

Under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, the regulator has treated the majority of tokens as securities under its purview. However, the SEC is set to change hands to Republican control beginning in January.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 20:05

Eggflation: Dozen-Pack At Supermarket Hit Record Highs As Bird Flu Ravages Farms

New retail price data shows supermarket prices of a dozen eggs have soared to record highs. The surge comes amid an ever-expanding bird flu outbreak that has led to the culling of millions of birds, denting the size of the nation's egg-laying hen population. 

Bloomberg cited Expana data showing that a dozen eggs in the Midwest cost about $5.67 this week, exceeding the record high of $5.46 set in December 2022. 

Source: Bloomberg

Expana's managing editor for eggs in the Americas, Karyn Rispoli, explained that a "potent combination of avian flu-related production losses and heightened retail demand throughout the holiday baking season" catapulted prices to record highs. 

She said 17 million egg-laying hens and younger birds known as pullets had been culled since mid-October amid a surge in bird flu cases, adding that was one of the worst stretches in the current bird-flu outbreak since the virus first emerged in the nation's flock in February 2022. 

"The virus also jumped to other species including dairy cattle, while a person was hospitalized with a severe case of H5N1 bird flu in Louisiana this week," Bloomberg noted. 

Wholesale egg prices via the Urner Barry Egg Index are nearing record highs (again) .... 

Last month, we noted. 

Egg Prices Surge Again As Grocers Face Shortages Amid Bird Flu Outbreak https://t.co/8oikLTnryy

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 22, 2024

And pointed out in the November CPI print: "A quarter of the November rise in prices for final demand goods is attributable to a 54.6-percent jump in the index for chicken eggs." 

This comes as global food inflation has entered a dangerous phase of re-acceleration.

The best way cash-strapped households can hedge over the elevated food inflation storm is to produce their own food. Whether it's setting up a chicken coop, planting a garden, installing honeybee hives, or creating pastures for a few cows, now is the time to hedge against rising prices. It's not just about prices - it's also about health and security. Become ungovernable by taking back the food supply chain from the corrupt food industrial complex that heavily influences federal policy-making.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 19:40

Yes, Abolish Daylight Saving Time

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

For all our lives, we’ve been subjected to forced seasonal time change. Spring forward, fall back. That’s how we learn from childhood how to remember this.

We are also told the reason early on. We are extending daylight hours. But only a moment’s thought reveals this to be untrue. The light you gain from a one-hour change is borrowed from later in the day.

Government cannot magically make the day longer.

It’s like the old joke, supposedly from an “old Indian” who points out that you cannot make a blanket longer by cutting off one end and sewing it on the other.

I’ve never met anyone who approves of this massive disruption in our sense of time. Some people prefer Standard Time, while others prefer Daylight Saving Time, depending on their area within a given zone. But regardless, it seems as if everyone agrees that we should stick to one version of time and not change it so brutally in the middle of a year.

To be sure, all this became mechanically easier once time became digital. We don’t have to have friends, family, neighbors, and the TV yelling at us to turn back the clock or bump it forward. But it seems as if there are always a few clocks around that do not automatically change, such as the kitchen clock with the battery or the oven clock. Then we have to figure out how the stupid thing works and fuss with it, twice per year.

Every study shows that this disruption is terrible for health, as it disrupts sleep patterns and contributes to mental fatigue and even depression. It is associated with increased hospital admissions and even car crashes. This should not shock us. Our bodies are regulated by patterns of the sun, more so than we know.

Then there are the missed appointments.

If everyone hates it so much, why does it persist? It keeps happening simply because it keeps happening. No one knows how to get rid of it. While there is widespread public hatred of the practice, there is no real lobbying force to do anything about it.

Forced seasonal time disruptions are the paradigmatic case of a system that just keeps going on because no one really knows how to stop it, even though no one really likes it.

Fortunately, President-elect Donald Trump has an uncanny sense of the public mood. He is the first political figure in my lifetime who has openly blasted Daylight Saving Time and sworn to end it on the federal level. If states want to keep it, fine. My prediction is that it will go away completely. That’s a good thing.

Oddly, I find myself thrilled by this! It thoroughly confuses children, dogs, and adults, too. The whole crazy business began during World War I as a way to conserve energy and cause the daylight to arrive earlier in the day for purposes of munitions manufacturing. Others say there were some agricultural reasons, too.

The reason that this all began had plenty to do with a fashionable scientism of the time. Elites had come to enjoy toying with all things under the general belief that mechanized schemes could override nature itself. This affected so much along with the rise of indoor lighting, flight, steel bridges, internal combustion, telegraphic communications, the telephone, and recorded sound. It seemed as if there was nothing that could not be engineered to perfection, even the rotations of the sun.

Remember that a few decades earlier, there was already a huge controversy over time in the United States. When the railroads came along and gained political power, they pushed hard for unified schedules in zones so that people would not arrive at an earlier time at their destination than when they left.

It was common before about 1885 that every town kept its own version of local time. How was that determined? Very simply: When the sun is overhead, that is noon. Surrounding areas generally deferred to the time on the city and town clocks. This also fits with the sundial. There were no time zones, but rather just normal time. Everyone knew what it was.

Once the railroads came along, they lobbied mayors to adopt a more unified system. As a result, many acquiesced, much to the annoyance of many people who simply could not understand how it was that an industrial power could presume the right to define time in its own profitability interests.

For some years, clocks in the United States commonly displayed the actual time (or local time) plus what they called railroad time.

The railroads eventually prevailed. The United States was divided into four time zones, regardless of local time. For the first time in the history of the planet, the sundial no longer made any sense. What we called time was completely severed from any measurement of time drawn from natural patterns. We came to be managed by industry rather than reality.

If you think about the sheer intellectual arrogance of that, it is rather shocking. I like to think that I would have been among the resistors to this ridiculous trick from 150 years ago.

If you are curious about this, you can look up your actual time in your area right now. You can go to mysolartime.com and see exactly what time it really is right now, no matter what your smartphone says. From where I am typing right now, the actual time is nine minutes later than the clock says.

I urge you to do this, and think about what this means. If you are really feeling rebellious, you can start adhering to your local time just for the fun of it.

Up with local time and down with railroad time!

In any case, there is something wonderful about how everyone seems to be rethinking everything in our times. It seems like we are getting rid of the fluoride in the water after more than half a century of awful medicalization via public water supplies.

The effort to get rid of Daylight Saving Time is very similar, taking on an annoyance that should have ended long ago, finally through an authoritative voice who can do something about it.

Yay! I’m thrilled. But if it were up to me, I would go further and directly target the time zones themselves. They are the real source of the problem and the reason why some people favor Daylight Saving Time and others favor Standard Time, depending on which side of the zone you live.

The truth is that neither is correct. They are both fake versions of actual time. The actual time from the ancient world until relatively recently is a simple matter of the sun. When it is directly overhead, it is the noon hour or high noon. That’s it and nothing more. The rest follows from that.

Again, we have tools now that can tell you with great precision what time it actually is.

How to schedule meetings across long distances? The easy way is to use Coordinated Universal Time. It would take a day or two to get used to, but life would become so much easier. Just one time for the world for scheduling all things, and then we have local time, which is the time standard by which we live in the course of our lives. It’s what we should have done to begin with.

Nonetheless, scrapping time changes is an obvious beginning. The 150-year history of government/industry intervention in time is the classic case of bad policy imposed to fix previous bad policy. It was never a good idea to replace real time with constructed/imposed time. Repealing Daylight Saving is a good start.

Maybe if all goes well, we won’t be springing forward after all. How merciful that would be!

*  *  *

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

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 19:15

Stoking Fears Of Rape By Coyotes, Texas To Use Mexican Billboards To Scare Migrants Off

Texas has launched a billboard campaign in four Central American countries that uses pointed language -- some of it brutally frank -- to scare away would-be illegal immigrants from trying to make the dangerous journey into the United States. 

"[The billboards] give potential illegal immigrants thinking of leaving their home country -- and those already on the way -- a realistic picture of what will happen to them on their journey or if they illegally cross into Texas," Gov. Greg Abbott said at a Thursday press conference. "These billboards tell the horror stories of human trafficking. They implore those people in Central America to consider the violent, horrific realities of what will happen to the women and children they bring with them."

"Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies. Coyotes lie. Don't put your family at risk."

Budgeted for approximately $100,000, the campaign has already placed 40 billboards in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, along with some along the Mexican frontier. Consistent with Mexico's role as a conduit that funnels immigrants from all over the world, many of the billboards use languages other than Spanish, including Arabic, Russian and Chinese.   

With harsh messaging reminiscent of what some countries mandate for cigarette packaging, some of the 14 billboards unveiled on Thursday are viscerally brunt. They stoke fears not only imprisonment or kidnapping, but of wives and daughters being impregnated by rapists. Here's a sampling:

• "How much did you pay to have your daughter raped? Many girls are raped by the coyotes you hire."

• "Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies. Coyotes lie. Don't put your family at risk."

• "This fourteen-year-old girl was raped by more than 20 men on her way to the border. Protect your family. Change their fate."

• "Danger Ahead. If you cross into Texas illegally, you will regret it forever."

• "If you thought the journey to the border was harsh, just wait until you see what life in jail is like."

"This fourteen-year-old girl was raped by more than 20 men on her way to the border. Protect your family. Change their fate."

“There is a largely unspoken sexual assault crisis impacting women and children migrating to the Texas border,” said Rose Luna, CEO of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. "There have been several rape trees and lots of women who have been found beaten and raped in front of our house and left to die."

Rape trees are said to be places where coyotes sexually assault migrants, and then adorn the branches with the underwear of their victims. Thursday's press conference was held next to what was described as a burned-down rape tree at Wall Ranch in Eagle Pass. Some knowledgeable people have expressed skepticism that the rape tree phenomenon is real, including South Texas sheriffs and the US Border Patrol -- which is not to say migrants aren't at high risk of sexual assault. 

"How much did you pay to have your daughter raped? Many girls are raped by the coyotes you hire."

Abbott has set out to distinguish himself as an aggressive defender of the Texas border. He's made headlines by shipping illegal immigrants to northern, Democratic cities. Earlier this year, Abbott announced the construction of a military base along the Rio Grand at the border city of Eagle Pass.  Forward Operating Base. Spanning 80-acres, "Forward Operating Base Eagle" will eventually house upwards of 1,800 Texas National Guard soldiers supporting Operation Lone Star -- Texas' border enforcement crackdown campaign -- and will be expandable to house 2,300.  

Texas National Guard soldiers stand in the backdrop of a February press conference announcing the construction of Forward Operating Base Eagle (KXAN News)

Abbott's groundbreaking Texas billboard campaign comes as Donald Trump is poised to return to the presidency, bringing with him a promised border and illegal-immigrant campaign even more aggressive than he pursued in his first term -- to include mass deportations and an end to birthright citizenship.  

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 18:50

Florida Officials Say Federal Government Has "Stonewalled" State Investigation Into Would-Be Trump Assassin

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Florida’s governor and attorney general on Dec. 18 accused the federal government of blocking a state investigation into Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate then-former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody alleged that the Department of Justice informed the state that it had to suspend its investigation into Routh, citing a federal law about prosecuting crimes against significant public figures.

“It was made known that they intended to shut down our investigation and invoke federal jurisdiction in doing so,” Moody said Dec. 18 at a press conference.

“We didn’t believe it should be interpreted in the way that they suggested.”

At the same time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote that the federal government has “stonewalled Florida’s investigation of the Trump assassination attempt at every turn” and that he supports Moody’s attempts to move forward in their case against Routh.

“The tide will turn on January 20th and we fully expect that the federal roadblocks will be removed,” he wrote on social media, referring to the date that Trump will take office.

“The would-be assassin needs to face the full force of justice and the people deserve the truth about the defendant’s history, motivations and plan.”

The Department of Justice did not respond to an Epoch Times request for comment on Dec. 19.

At the same time, Moody’s office obtained a warrant for Routh’s arrest in mid-September, hours after he was allegedly discovered lying in wait for Trump armed with a rifle in Palm Beach County, Florida. After reportedly being shot at by a Secret Service agent, he fled and was arrested on Interstate 95 in Martin County.

After his arrest, a car crash occurred that injured a 6-year-old girl traveling with her family, Moody said during a press conference. The crash occurred in connection with the pursuit of Routh along the interstate, according to officials.

“As a result of that [accident], we felt compelled to seek justice on her behalf and her family that will never be the same as they cope with her injuries,” she said at a press briefing on Dec. 18.

Moody said the crash occurred after officials shut down traffic on I-95 as they tried to apprehend the suspect. A spokesperson for Moody said prosecutors will file the new charge when Routh is in state custody.

The multi-vehicle crash happened about 30 minutes after Routh’s arrest on I-95, according to the state’s investigation, but Moody alleged it was a result of his actions as he was attempting to evade capture. The girl suffered serious injuries, Moody’s office stated.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit for Routh, the accident occurred while authorities were apprehending him, about three or four miles south of where they stopped his vehicle.

Northbound traffic along the major interstate was halted because of the risk of the traffic stop and because it was not clear whether any weapons or explosives were inside Routh’s car, according to the affidavit. Southbound traffic was also halted as officials attempted to investigate his vehicle.

On Sept. 15, the Secret Service stated that one of its agents allegedly discovered Routh with his gun barrel sticking through Trump’s course perimeter fence as the then-former president was playing a round of golf. The agent opened fire on Routh, prompting him to flee in his vehicle before sheriff’s officials and other law enforcement arrested him along I-95 later that day.

Federal prosecutors said that Routh, whose residence is listed in Hawaii, allegedly waited for the president for about 12 hours and that cellphone data revealed he was in the area around Trump’s golf course and Mar-a-Lago for a month before the alleged assassination attempt.

Later, prosecutors said they discovered Routh had written a note that was left with an acquaintance. The note admitted he wanted to assassinate Trump because of the decision by the first Trump administration to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal that was signed by the Obama administration. Social media accounts associated with Routh also showed he was an avid supporter of Ukraine during the Russia–Ukraine conflict and had attempted to recruit people to fight.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 17:40

US Reveals It Has More Than Twice As Many Troops In Syria Than Previously Disclosed

Only now after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad does Washington come clean about the actual number of American troops it has in Syria.

On Thursday, the Pentagon revealed it has roughly 2,000 troops occupying northeast Syria, home to the country's vital supply of oil and gas, which is over twice the number it has been officially disclosing for years.

The US has occupied Syria's oil and gas regions for years.

US military spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said this has been the figure for a "while"—apparently long before the dramatic events of this month. Ryder claimed the he had just "learned" the true troop number.

"As you know, we have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers were higher, and so asked to look into it. I learned today that in fact there are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria," he said.

He then tried to pass off the discrepancy as merely a distinction between the 900 long term deployments and those forces rotating in on a more temporary basis.

Map source: @MeesEnergy

"As I understand it and as it was explained to me, these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer-term deployments," Ryder said.

The Pentagon and CENTCOM have also recently been reviving talk of the 'counter-ISIS' mission as justification for keeping the US occupation ongoing. This even as NATO member Turkey has been seeking to drive out the Kurdish-led SDF from northern Syria, which the US backs.

The Biden administration has also this week said it is in direct contact with designated terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which holds Damascus and major cities. 

Obviously this is some absurd gaslighting of the American public by the Pentagon. The question remains: why reveal it now?

How does the Pentagon “recently learn” that it has more than double the number of US troops in Syria than it claimed to have a day earlier? pic.twitter.com/fydxpWcNqT

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 20, 2024

The US is likely to use its possession of the oil and gas fields in Deir Ezzor, which was previously vital to meeting the Syrian population's domestic consumption needs, as leverage to get HTS leadership to fall in line with Washington's agenda for the region.

The US had long occupied the energy fields in the first place in order to tighten the economic blockade noose around Assad's neck, but ultimately it is the common people who suffer most.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 17:20

Judge Rejects Federal Government Request, Allows Derek Chauvin To Examine George Floyd's Heart

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge has turned down the federal government’s bid to stop Derek Chauvin from examining George Floyd’s heart tissue.

“The Court is not persuaded by the Government’s arguments, which provide no compelling reason that the Court should change its previous determination,” U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson said in a two-page order filed on Dec. 19.

The order granting Chauvin’s motion to examine Floyd’s heart tissue will stand, he said.

Magnuson on Dec. 16 ruled that Chauvin can test substances preserved from Floyd’s autopsy, including his blood and heart tissue. Chauvin is attempting to prove the theory that Floyd’s death was not related to the restraint that Chauvin applied to Floyd in Minnesota in May 2020.

Chauvin, a police officer in Minneapolis at the time, was later charged and convicted of murdering Floyd.

The present development involves Chauvin’s argument that his former attorney did not adequately represent him.

An expert named Dr. William Schaetzel had contacted the attorney and offered his opinion that Floyd’s death stemmed from factors other than the restraint, but the attorney did not pass along the opinion, according to Chauvin.

Schaetzel said the death was caused by a heart attack. Chauvin said the testing could support the opinion.

“Given the significant nature of the criminal case that Mr. Chauvin was convicted of, and given that the discovery that Mr. Chauvin seeks could support Dr. Schaetzel’s opinion of how Mr. Floyd died, the Court finds that there is good cause to allow Mr. Chauvin to take the discovery that he seeks,” Magnuson said in his Dec. 16 order.

The U.S. Department of Justice then filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider. Government lawyers said that Chauvin could not show ineffective counsel, in part because another expert had already offered a similar opinion during Chauvin’s trial.

The lawyers also said that if the judge turned down the Justice Department’s motion, he should enter an amended order granting discovery to the government as well as to Chauvin.

“The government specifically requests access to expert disclosures for any expert Defendant intends to call at a hearing (including each expert’s qualifications and a full explanation of any opinions and the bases therefore), as well as all lab reports and test results generated by any lab to which Defendant submits requests,” they wrote.

Magnuson denied that request, although he said he expects the government will be able to access the test results.

“The Court expects the parties to cooperate in the discovery process, allowing the Government reasonable access to any lab reports, test results, and expert disclosures,” he said. “The Court will not issue a separate order to that end.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 17:00

Et Tu Jagmeet? Trudeau Game Over Looms As Key Ally Vows To Topple Him

In what could be the final act of a political drama swirling around Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh has thundered in with a no-confidence motion that could topple the government, Reuters reports.

"We will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons," said Singh.

The motion, set to unfold as the House of Commons returns from winter recess on January 27, has sent shockwaves through Ottawa's political corridors already rattled by internal Liberal strife and a high-profile cabinet resignation.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wants to 'urgently' reconvene parliament so that lawmakers can hold a no-confidence vote ahead of schedule.

The undercurrents of discontent have been bubbling for months, but the situation came to a head when Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s stalwart Finance Minister, abruptly vacated her post amid a cloud of controversy. Sources close to the matter cite irreconcilable differences over policy directions and leadership style, with Freeland's departure exposing cracks in the Liberal foundation.

[W]hen Trudeau informed Freeland five days later that she would soon be out as finance minister, she was deeply upset. Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor and a darling of global markets, was taking over, Trudeau told her. But he had another important job in mind for her: a cabinet role managing Canada’s suddenly fraught relations with the US and President-elect Donald Trump. It did not, however, come with running a government department.

...

Freeland was having none of it. To her, this was a major demotion — one delivered over a Zoom call, no less. She spent the weekend agonizing over how to respond, according to people familiar with the course of events — stewing with the same frustration she had experienced in the summer, when reports emerged that Trudeau was courting Carney as her possible replacement. -Bloomberg

Meanwhile, Trudeau reshuffled his cabinet on Friday, days after Freeland's departure. Ontario MP David McGuinty was named Canada's minister of public safety, while Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has been named the new housing minister.

Amid this backdrop, Singh's declaration couldn’t be more dramatically timed to twist the knife. In a scathing open letter, he lambasted Trudeau’s leadership, painting the Liberal government as too entangled in internal conflicts and corporate interests to effectively govern. Sing's letter sets the stage for a potential early election if the no-confidence vote gathers steam across opposition benches​.

As Singh points out, the cost of living and housing crises are hitting Canadians hard, and with Trump-era tariffs looming, economic pressures could intensify, making the political stakes even higher.

Political pundits suggest voter fatigue with the Liberals is palpable. A slew of recent polls underscores a grim forecast for Trudeau’s party, which could face a drubbing at the polls if an election were called today. The political landscape in Canada is crackling with anticipation of a shake-up as the NDP appears to pivot away from its previous support of the minority government, a move that could redraw the lines of allegiance within the House of Commons​.

As January 27 looms, all eyes will be on Ottawa.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 16:40

Will Trump Tariffs Kill Commercial Real Estate?

Via SchiffGold.com,

Will the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian imports could send shockwaves through the already vulnerable U.S. commercial real estate market? With a 10% tariff on goods from China and 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, the additional cost will be passed along to the US builder and consumer — and is a stiff repudiation to the notion of free markets.

The Fed has predictably failed to get inflation under control before starting its rate-cutting bonanza, and tariffs will cause prices to skyrocket for materials like aluminum, steel and wood, all without addressing deficits. The price increases could a wave ripping through everything from food packaging, cars, trucks, ships, aircraft, and electronics to logistics, housing, and commercial construction. Or, in other words, just about everything. As Peter Schiff recently said:

Why doesn’t every country just impose tariffs if it doesn’t cost anything for their own citizens? …A tariff is a tax. It’s a tax on the consumer for buying stuff. 100% of it is paid by consumers. There’s nobody else to pay it!”

Higher packaging and logistics prices means more expensive products for Amercians across the board. Tariff-fueled price rises could also be the straw that breaks the back of the fragile commercial real estate market, which continues to teeter on the brink with high costs, bad loans, empty office buildings, and overexposed banks creating an explosive cocktail just waiting for a match.    

The cost of essential building materials—like steel, aluminum, and wood—is set to rise significantly. Given that these materials form the backbone of construction, Trump tariffs and the price increases they’re guaranteed to cause could have dire implications for developers, lenders, and the broader economy. 

In 2023, Canada was the US’s single steel supplier. As of 2022, it was also at the top of the list for wood, with China in spot number two and Mexico close behind. The US is a top global importer of iron and steel and is Mexico’s primary customer; Mexico accounted for approximately 15% of the total steel imported while China provided 5%. And while China is a minimal steel importer  to the US compared to other countries, it’s a nation that has become a powerful symbol for the broader implosion of US manufacturing. 

It means that with no manufacturing base to make anything domestically, we have nothing to fall back on. Market forces dictate that two things will happen. One, the goods and supplies that do get sent to the US will start to cost much more money. Two, countries that are heavy exporters to the US will reduce the amounts of goods that they sell us to begin with, creating less supply and driving up prices even more. Either way, the tariff plan is a heavy-handed state intervention that has no ability to empower Trump to lower taxes, as promised. Instead, it’s bound to increase the cost of everything as consumers struggle to figure out where all their clothes, toys, and other goods have gone, with whatever’s left on shelves now priced even more hopelessly out of their budget.

U.S. City Average Dollar Purchasing Power Since 1913, St. Louis Fed

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average [CUUR0000SA0R], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SA0R, December 14, 2024.

Meanwhile, iconic American steel producer US Steel is now pushing for a deal to be sold to Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker [ZH: which has now been blocked]. The outlook for US manufacturing has gotten so bad that many working-class US Steel workers are celebrating, seeing the deal as the only thing that can save their good old American jobs. The Biden administration appears to be preparing to block the deal on the grounds of preserving “national security.” But they’re damned if they do, and the’re damned if they don’t.

As tariffs on Chinese and Mexican goods and materials significantly increase the cost of building, it will become even harder for CRE loans to be repaid as struggling developers have nowhere to go but back to the bank to borrow more money. Developers relying on Canadian, Chinese, and Mexican building materials, equipment, and supplies will face higher project costs as they juggle already razor-thin margins and risks like zoning complications, permitting issues, unexpected legal costs, and other extremely expensive snags common to their industry. 

The economy can only handle so many powder kegs. As Peter Schiff said about tariffs on his November 27th episode of The Peter Schiff Show:

The best thing to do if a country wants to be dumb enough to try to limit the ability of its own citizens to trade freely is not to do the same thing to your citizens. Let your own citizens trade freely, and you’re going to win.”

According to Trepp, a leading provider of real estate analytics, nearly $1.5 trillion in commercial real estate loans are set to mature by 2025. Distressed loans are reaching a fever pitch for commercial properties like retail, buildings, apartments and other residential developments, and offices across the US. 

Mortgage-backed security delinquencies associated with office properties are nearing a rate not seen since the 2008 financial meltdown. And many office buildings associated with these troubled loans haven’t even come close to finding enough renters to fill them, becoming post-COVID phantom buildings in a zombie market. Now that remote work and Zoom meetings have cemented themselves as the permanent New Normal, developers are pivoting to desperate measures like expensive office-to-apartment conversions as a Hail Mary to save their projects.

Banks, particularly regional lenders, are trapped in a prison of overexposure to CRE. The FDIC’s Q2 2024 report shows that real estate loans account for 40% of the total loan portfolios for many small and mid-sized banks across America. The government and Fed like to pretend that it’s not a big deal since these are “smaller” banks, willfully ignoring the fact that a series of small bank failures often portends the unfolding of a broader crisis. A construction slump triggered by rising material costs and inflation from central bank meddling and the higher costs from import tariffs, could conspire with other factors to trigger a full-blown CRE collapse and banking crisis. 

Having no manufacturing base in the US only makes a bad thing even worse. The catch-22 is that Trump wants to use tariffs to cut taxes and hopes it will somehow bring American companies and manufacturing back. But without manufacturing, you have no choice but to sacrifice consumers and developers and builders at the altar of foreign imports. It’s an economic ouroboros where the problem eats the solution. 

The Fed wants to cut rates more to save CRE and banks, and in desperation, may fire up the money printer in big way. But it’s just adding fuel to a different fire. 

In previous crises, such as the 2008 financial crash and COVID, QE “stabilized” markets with an epic run of money printing. With inflation still too hot as the Fed rushed to cut interest rates, it’s backed into a corner as usual: keep cutting to save the banks and CRE, throwing savers to the wolves as their purchasing power tanks, or stifle inflation with higher rates and let a banking and CRE crisis rip. We know what it will do. The Fed never sacrifices the banks to preserve the dollar’s purchasing power. They’d rather sacrifice savers and taxpayers with low rates and QE than play a game of bank failure dominos. Either way, the outlook is horrifying.

The CRE bomb has been building for quite some time now. The next round of upward price shocks, exacerbated by the shock of heavy tariffs when the US has close to zero manufacturing base left, could be what lights the fuse.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 15:40

Syrian Leader With $10M Bounty On His Head Meets With Delegation From Country That Put The $10M Bounty On His Head

On Friday for the first time top Biden administration envoys met with Abu Mohammed al-Jolani in Damascus. Ironically the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader, who has reverted to going by his birth name of Ahmad al-Sharaa, is wanted by the FBI for terrorism and still has a $10 million bounty on his head.

That didn't stop Barbara A. Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and a Biden admin delegation from meeting with the HTS leader in Damascus, where they discussed sanctions, the thorny issue of the $10 million reward, and locating missing US citizens in Syria (specifically journalist Austin Tice).

HTS leader who has a $10 million bounty on his head meets with delegation from country that put the $10 million bounty on his head pic.twitter.com/u0TYh9PWqP

— Hassan Ridha (@sayed_ridha) December 20, 2024

Jolani is trying to present himself as a "moderate". Perhaps this is why for one of the first times he allowed himself to be photographed alongside a woman without a head-covering.

He and HTS are trying to attract Western legitimacy and support, and so have pledged to uphold the rights of women and non-Muslim religious communities (such as Christians, Alawites, Druze, etc.) 

In the aftermath of the Friday meeting a member of the US delegation called it "good and productive." This marked the first trip to Damascus by State Department officials in over a decade. 

American diplomats had long refused to meet with the now ousted President Bashar al-Assad, yet now they quickly flock to the Syrian capital to embrace someone who literally fought with ISIS a mere few years ago.

The US had shuttered its embassy in Damascus and relocated its diplomatic staff by 2012, in protest of the Assad 'regime'. All the while US intelligence had ramped up its covert operations for regime change known as 'Timber Sycamore'.

The NY Times had previously described of these efforts, "The shuttering of the C.I.A. program, one of the most expensive efforts to arm and train rebels since the agency’s program arming the mujahedeen in Afghanistan during the 1980s, has forced a reckoning over its successes and failures."

Reporter: Is $10,000,000 for Jolani still valid?

Miller: It is

Reporter: So if someone arrested him and gave him to US, he/she is gonna take 10 million dollars

Miller: I’m not gonna deal with hypotheticals

Matt Lee: The reward can’t be claimed by a government official… pic.twitter.com/Z1H5ka10pv

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) December 17, 2024

Now, with apparently mission accomplished, and Assad in Moscow, the US is returning its diplomatic presence to Damascus, perhaps permanently. 

For the Friday meeting between the US officials and Jolani, Leaf was "accompanied by former U.S. envoy to Syria Daniel Rubinstein who will stay in Syria as the top U.S. diplomat on the ground." Clearly, Washington is now OK with Syria being run by an al-Qaeda faction, and as Israeli and Turkey divide up the territorial spoils in the south and north.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 15:20

Trump Effect? China's 1Y Yield Crashes Below 1% For First Time Since GFC

For the first time since the Great Financial Crisis (2008/9), short-dated Chinese bond yields have plunged back below 1%. In fact they are now at record lows...

Source: Bloomberg

As we head into the end of the year, impatient investors are left waiting for a real plan to underwrite consumption (as yields melt inexorably lower), and capital flight accelerates (spurred by concerns about yuan weakness). China suffered a record fund exit last month under the category of securities investment, according to official data released this week.

The drop in one-year yields reflects “prevailing expectations for PBOC’s strong easing next year amid the moderately loose policy and the shortage of high quality fixed-income assets,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian foreign-exchange strategist at Mizuho Bank in Hong Kong.

“Such developments could intensify concerns over US-China monetary policy divergence, and reinforce yuan depreciation pressure.”

Demand for shorter-maturity debt is also rising after the central bank pushed back against the bond-buying frenzy, prompting traders to shift away from longer-dated securities that are more exposed to the risk of intervention.

Shorter-dated bonds may be benefiting from several factors, including ample liquidity and the central bank’s operation of “buying short-term government bonds and selling some longer-dated notes,” said Zhaopeng Xing, a senior strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

While the PBOC’s operations may have contributed to the front-end rally, the slide in yields “looks quite extreme,” said Zhaopeng Xing, a senior strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

That’s because yields have fallen below the level of about 1.1% paid by banks for deposits that are often used to buy bonds, he said.

However, as Bloomberg reports, some analysts at least are warning the bond rally may be nearing its end.

A pickup in economic growth, along with a shift in consumer savings behavior and a more cautious-than-expected PBOC policy, may turn the bond bull run into a rout next year, said Adam Wolfe, an emerging markets economist at Absolute Strategy Research in London.

“China’s bond market likely overstates the easing that’s expected.”

The decline in yields is spurring debate about whether China’s economy is heading toward a recession... especially if Trump's tariff threats become real and not just a negotiating tactic.

There’s some speculation interest rates may fall to zero if government efforts to bolster consumption and property demand continue to fall short.

The nation’s longer-maturity yields dropped below their Japanese counterparts last month in a sign investors are positioning for so-called Japanification of the world’s second-biggest economy.

Tyler Durden Fri, 12/20/2024 - 15:00