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Terror Suspect Reportedly Crossed Biden’s Open Border Days Ago To Launch Bourbon Street Massacre

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Terror Suspect Reportedly Crossed Biden’s Open Border Days Ago To Launch Bourbon Street Massacre

Watch Live:

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Update (1157ET):

Fox News reporters, citing federal sources, revealed that the suspect in the terror attack on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning crossed into the US through the Biden-Harris administration’s open southern border at Eagle Pass, Texas, just a few days ago.

The dead terrorist was seen dressed in military fatigues.

Michael Flynn, who served as national security adviser in the Trump administration 1.0, wrote on X:

Again, it is not what you call it in the end that matters. What matters is if there was intelligence prior in some agency or department and it wasn’t acted upon. A failure of decision makers not a failure of intelligence.

Prevention is what we shoot for, that is what the hard work of intelligence does. If you don’t follow it and hunt down every lead, then you end up in a reactive, after the fact mode. This, tragically, is where we are for what should have been a very joyous occasion. Members of my family were walking along bourbon street last night at midnight.

Another big question, what’s next and are the people with knowledge rapidly cross leveling intelligence to prevent the next attack?

Readers should be reminded that just two weeks ago, we pointed out: “In the short term, the threats to the homeland are rising… Democrats have transformed America into a ‘terrorist playground’ with open borders.”

A massive scandal could erupt with the outgoing Biden administration, which likely did not act on critical intelligence about foreign threats operating on domestic soil. The failure of inaction and porous open southern and northern borders led to the deaths of at least 10 people and 35 injured on Bourbon Street in the terrorist attack early this morning. 

This is unacceptable! This should’ve never happened. 

The optics for Democrats and the Biden-Harris administration are absolutely terrible. This will significantly set back the party of open-border radicals as Americans increasingly demand the restoration of national security through a Trump 2.0 presidency.

Trump released a statement on Truth Social:

When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!

If this is Al-Qaeda, then there are rising probabilities of multiple coordinated attacks across the US because of years of open borders flooding the nation with terrorists and criminals.

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Update (0750ET):

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell confirmed that the truck ramming attack on Bourbon Street was a “terrorist attack.”

“First of all, the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack. I’ve been in direct contact with the White House, Governor Landry, and the unified command here.”   

Police killed the terror attack suspect when he exited the truck with an assault rifle, per ABC News report. 

Let’s not forget…

Two weeks ago… 

*   *   * 

Update (0730ET):

Local media outlets have published an image of the truck involved in the mass casualty incident on Bourbon Street.

The Ford F-150 Lightning truck has a Texas license plate reading “LZ 1575.” A flagpole hitch holder is visible with what appears to be a flag, although it seems covered. Additionally, there are four bullet holes in the rear cabin window of the truck.

*   *   * 

Update (0700ET):

The New Orleans Police Department told ABC News that “the strike appeared to be intentional” and “the driver has not been taken into custody.”

Witness tells CNN:

*   *   * 

Update (0640ET):

The City of New Orleans has confirmed ten dead and 30 injured after a vehicle plowed into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.

The New Orleans Police Department has yet to confirm whether the mass casualty incident was intentional. No details about the driver have been released. 

Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry writes on X: 

A press conference is expected shortly.

*   *   * 

The New Orleans Police Department told local media outlet WGNO that multiple people are dead after a vehicle plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. The area, a bar and restaurant district popular with tourists, was still very active just hours after New Year’s Eve celebrations.

NOPD said the vehicle struck a group of people around 3:15 a.m. local time at the intersection of Bourbon Street and Iberville

Witnesses told CBS News reporter Kati Weis that a truck crashed into the crowd at “high speeds,” adding that the driver exited the vehicle and started discharging a weapon, prompting police officers to return fire.

Unconfirmed video. 

Weis reported that multiple people were on the ground with serious injuries.

NOPD told CBS News that “initial reports show a car may have plowed into a group of people. Injuries are unknown but there are reported fatalities.”

*Developing… 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 11:57

Gold In 2025? Tragically Predictable

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Gold In 2025? Tragically Predictable

Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold,

Another year is ending, which means it’s time to look back in order to better look forward.

For 2025, I see no other realistic option or scenario ahead other than a weaker dollar and rising gold.

This is not “selling my book,” it’s just a common-sense approach to the realities of history, debt markets and the signals of my often-repeated mantra that can’t be repeated enough, namely: “The bond market is the thing.”

Below, we see why.

To some, of course, the bond market is boring, but let’s keep it simple, because if you understand government debt, you see things with an almost eerie clarity.

So, let’s start with a brief, debt-based look back.

Looking Back

In my year-end report for 2023, we saw the coming events of 2024 fairly clearly.

This was not the result of genius or tarot cards, but just a blunt understanding of debt.

Predictable Rate Cuts

I said Powell would cut rates in 2024. He did precisely that. How did I know? Did Powell tell me so?

No, the bond market did.

Predictably Failed War on Inflation

Powell cut rates in 2024 because Uncle Sam (then at $34T in debt) would not and could not afford his failed yet admittedly dis-inflationary “higher for longer” rate policy to “beat” inflation—which I said he would never beat, and he never did.

Period.

Instead, Powell just took the CPI down in 2023 by gutting the middle class with a rate-hike-driven and hence demand-killing (dis-inflationary) recession that he then refused to call a recession.

Predictable Recession Forces

But I said the US would not be entering a recession in 2024, because it was ALREADY in a recession—and gave every proof of the same—from the blunt math of the Conference Board of Leading Indicators to the Oliver Anthony Indicator.

Predictable Bond Dumping

As for US government bonds, I said the world would dump rather than buy them, which is precisely what they’ve been doing all year—with its traditional best buyers (China and Japan) leading the way.

Again, was this psychic genius?

Hardly.

It was just accepting the fact that the rest of the world no longer loves a weaponized IOU from an indebted issuer of bonds with a finite duration yet infinite supply.

Predictable Gold Spike

Instead, I said the smart investors, nations and central banks of 2024 would choose gold (a finite asset of infinite duration) as a far superior reserve asset than the UST (in infinite asset of finite duration).

This, I said, would send gold (“the brightest star on the tree”) much higher.

And that’s precisely what gold did in 2024—hitting record nominal highs in all currencies, including the USD.

Predictable Stock Bubble

I also said the unavoidable rate cuts to come would take the already grossly over-valued S&P higher in 2024, which is, again precisely what followed.

I saw this not because of “insider knowledge” or brilliant market instincts, but sadly (and simply) because I knew that today’s pathetically centralized markets are as predictable as Pavlov’s dogs: They go up when the Fed is dovish (2024) and down when the Fed is hawkish (2022).

In short, in that year-end article as well as subsequent early-year interviews, I had to plug my nose while simultaneously announcing “Risk on!”

So, there we/you have it, when looking ahead into 2024 at the end of 2023, we could see with a common-sense understanding of debt and bond market forces that: 1) the Fed would cut rates, 2) the inflation war would be lost, 3) a recession was in hand, 4) nations would dump unloved USTs, and 5) gold would rise on central bank buying and 6) the stock bubble would fatten.

Again, see this date-stamped “psychic power” for yourselves.

Looking Forward

Which brings us now to the year ahead. 2025.

Once again, we need no crystal balls, direct lines to Wall Street insiders or romantic dinners with Jerome Powell to see the direction of market forces, economic realities or gold’s now secular direction.

Instead, we only need to understand the debt market, because, and I’ll say it again: The bond market is the thing.

Debt Rising, As Predicted…

When I wrote last year’s “year-ahead” report, US public debt was $34T.

As of now (and as expected), this appalling number is comfortably racing past $37T as Uncle Sam continues its fantasy (debt addiction) of spending far more than it takes in via tax receipts or GDP.

Such debt numbers, in the backdrop of an embarrassingly fat $130T global bond market, makes things, well, predictable…

History Rhymes—Weaker Dollar Predictable…

History, I say over and over, is far more instructive and honest than politicos, pundits, bankers and market makers.

And history confirms, without exception, that all debt-soaked nations (and power-hungry leaders) inevitably face a moment of reckoning when the only way to “solve” its self-created debt crisis (usually by excessive spending and grotesque military over-reach) is via the frog-boil debasement of the currency by which its citizens otherwise measure their wealth.

This, of course, is bad for long-term bond holders, paper currency savers and those who misunderstand the difference between nominal and real (inflation-adjusted) returns—i.e., those who refuse to see what history makes clear, namely: Debt Destroys Nations.

On the other hand, history is very kind to gold, and regardless of whether its spot price goes up or down in a period of months or quarters, it’s longer-term direction will go higher, much, much higher.

Why?

Let’s dig in…

The Fed’s Real Mandate: The Bond Market

When an unconstitutional central bank (created by a cabal of global bankers with a penchant for just embarrassing self-interest) becomes the unofficial fourth branch of government, you can be sure its real motives are not “employment and inflation” efficiency.

The Fed’s real motive is banks, bankers, power and credit management.

Or stated even more simply, the Fed’s real mandate is making sure the bond market, the rotten debt wind beneath our economic wings, does not die.

The Fed’s Real Poison: Currency Debasement

But how does a central bank keep its sovereign bond market alive, if less and less nations and investors trust or want those bonds, given the nation’s embarrassing bar tab?

Well, it’s simple: The central bank can mouse-click its own inflationary money out of thin air to pay for its debt sins.

It does this by magically printing trillions to buy its own unwanted bonds in order to keep bond yields down, because rising bond yields are the actual rates by which Uncle Sam must otherwise pay his criminally negligent debt.

If you understand this, you understand more than most.

And at current (fatal and unsustainable) debt levels, it is literally a matter of national survival to keep those yields compressed, which means it’s literally a matter of national survival to expand (i.e. debase) the M2 money supply to “inflate away” a now undeniable debt crisis.

In other words, the bond market is “saved” at the expense of the purchasing power of the currency.

Or even more to the point, those in power stay in power at the expense of their citizens’ wealth, as inflation is nothing more than an invisible tax.

In short, and regardless of the DXY’s “relative strength,” 2025 will see a weaker dollar in order to monetize its debts and make a slow but needed dent in its 125% debt/GDP ratio.

It’s just that, well predictable…

And since gold is nature’s physical money rather than Powell’s paper money, its natural direction north is equally predictable.

Trump: Making the Dollar Weak Again

Trump wants a weaker dollar. Jake Sullivan wants a weaker dollar. Heck, Yellen has been wanting a weaker dollar even while Powell was taking it higher during his failed 2022-23 “higher for longer” ruse-war against inflation.

Yet the DXY has been climbing since his election.

Can the dollar be saved? Is the dollar stronger than the Fed, the US Treasury Department or the White House?

Well, yes and no.

Realpolitik & Who’s Really in Charge in DC?

If one starts with what I believe is the correct premise that a currency will always be sacrificed to save the politically essential debt market, then its fairly safe to assume the USD will be no exception.

The only question today is who really has the power in DC to sacrifice the greenback?

Even the most true-blue democrat has to at least wonder out loud if Biden was ever really in charge of any policy or decision in the last four years.

The fatal decision, for example, to weaponize the UST/USD during the Putin sanctions (love or hate him) was undoubtedly a decision directed by the Department of Defense and the ever more powerful, bloated and centralized (but not so intelligent) intel circles of the “swamp.”

As Eisenhower so wisely warned in hisfarewell address, the military industrial complex has become more powerful than the democratic principles of our founding fathers, and thus it’s hard to imagine any significant cuts in military spending or military “freedom spreading.”

But as I recently wrote at some length, when a nation’s interest expense exceeds its military budget, that nation is ipso facto in open decline.

Given that debt levels and deficit spending are skyrocketing at the same time war drums and military spending is doing the same, it doesn’t require psychic powers to predict more war spending ahead, and hence more currency debasement to pay for it.

What About DOGE?

Whatever one thinks about Vivek, Trump or Musk, they are quite unlikely to ignore their promise to pink-slip large swaths of government jobs and bureaucratic over-spending in DC, ushering in possibly as much as $2T in otherwise needed spending cuts in the next 2 years.

Ok, fine. Spending cuts help reduce the deficit to GDP cancer.

But let’s not forget that 25% of US GDP comes from the Federal government.

If DOGE starts killing jobs in DC, that’s a bullet to the head of GDP and a lot of unemployed workers with mortgages and car loans sliding into an over-levered nation.

The Only Option is a Weaker Dollar

In other words, spending cuts are gonna be expensive.

They’re also gonna be inflationary. And more to the point, they’re gonna kill GDP, which means deficits will go up rather than down if DOGE gets into full gear with too strong a dollar.

Stated more simply: The risks and costs associated, ironically, with cutting spending, will only succeed if the USD is weaker rather than stronger when the pink slips start flying.

And what better way to weaken the USD then stapling interest rates to zero while simultaneously printing money to the moon?

That, as I see it today, is the only card DOGE and the new administration has to play going forward.

Anything less than a weaker dollar will kill any chance of Trump avoiding a lame duck status within his first 2 years, and Trump hates to be, well lame…

But regardless of who is in the White House, the Fed, the Department of Treasury or the dark halls of the Department of Defense, the realities of math and history tell us all we need to know.

Tragic Lessons, Tragic Predictions

Again, and without exception, EVERY debt-soaked nation, empire and regime throughout history has been forced to debase its money and gut-punch its people in order to save its crown.

Oh, and go to war…

And that is where the USA and USD stands today: Out of options other than a debased currency.

DC can cut spending, yes, but it can’t cut enough to put a dent that matters without expanding its money supply and debasing its purchasing power.

It’s as tragically simple now as “inflate or die,” and sadly, gold therefore has nowhere to go but up simply because paper money has no choice but to go down.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 11:40

“He’s The One That Can Win Right Now”: Trump Says Mike Johnson Will Secure Enough Votes To Remain Speaker

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“He’s The One That Can Win Right Now”: Trump Says Mike Johnson Will Secure Enough Votes To Remain Speaker

While House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has a growing coalition of opponents within his own party who are ‘keeping their options open’ when it comes to Friday’s vote to decide his fate, President-elect Donald Trump says he thinks Johnson has enough votes to secure a second term.

Speaking with reporters outside Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve, Trump described Johnson as a “good man” and “a wonderful person” who will ultimately gain enough support during this week’s vote.

“We are going to have a great time in Washington, I think we are going to get great support,” Trump said, adding that he would call lawmakers personally to drum up support “if necessary.”

“He’s the one that can win right now, people like him, almost everybody likes him,” Trump continued.

The day before, Trump posted to Truth Social that Johnson was a “good, hard-working, religious man,” who will “do the right thing.”

“Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”

Johnson thanked Trump on X, saying that he was “honored and humbled” by the support.

“Together, we will quickly deliver on your America First agenda and usher in the new golden age of America,” he wrote, adding “The American people demand and deserve that we waste no time. Let’s get to work!”

That said, several House GOP members have suggested they’re no so hot for Johnson – with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) saying he plans to vote for an alternative, and that Johnson “gave the Democrats the billions of dollars they wanted for Ukraine.”

Meanwhile in a Fox News interview last week, Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) said that Republicans “need to consider, if we’re going to advance Trump’s agenda, whether the current leadership is what we need,” while Rep. Scott Perry said last Thursday that  he’s “going to keep my options open,” adding “I want to have a conversation with Mike.”

Other Republicans who are a “no” for Johnson include Andy Biggs (AZ), Victoria Spartz (IN) and Chip Roy (TX).

And while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) hasn’t publicly commented on how she will vote, she’s previously clashed with Johnson – having unsuccessfully attempted to unseat him in May over his support for a $1.2 trillion minibus spending bill, as well as his passage of a $95 billion foreign aid package which failed to include border provisions.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 11:05

Foreign Jihadists Appointed To Senior Positions In New Syrian Military

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Foreign Jihadists Appointed To Senior Positions In New Syrian Military

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Foreign jihadists have been appointed in senior positions in the new Syrian military, which is now led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of al-Qaeda that led the offensive that ousted former President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian sources told Reuters that the foreign fighters appointed to the military include Uyghurs, a Jordanian, a Turk, and an Albanian. “This is a small token of recognition for the sacrifices Islamist jihadists gave to our struggle for freedom from Assad’s oppression,” an HTS source told the media outlet.

Turkish citizen Ömer Muhammed Çiftçi, known as Muhtar Türki, was among those elevated to Brigadier General in the new Syrian Army.

Among the Uyghurs is Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, the commander of the Turkistan Islamic Party’s (TIP) forces in Syria. The TIP’s stated goal is to create an Islamic State in China’s western Xinjiang region.

Khudaberdi was named a brigadier general in the Syrian military, and two other Uyghur fighters were appointed colonels.

Sources told Reuters that Turkish citizen Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khatib were also made brigadier-generals.

Abdul Jashari, an Albanian fighter who was designated a terrorist by the US Treasury Department, was made a colonel.

HTS is still designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization, but the Biden administration has celebrated its takeover of Syria. The US has also made clear it’s willing to work with the new government and its de facto leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has been going by his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Earlier this month, Barbara Leaf, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, met with Julani and announced the US was removing a $10 million bounty on his head.

Julani, a former al-Qaeda leader, appointed other HTS members in senior positions of the “transitional government” and has said elections in Syria probably won’t happen for at least four years.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 09:20

Putin’s New Year’s Speech Marks Exactly 25 Years In Power: ‘Russians Should Be Proud’

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Putin’s New Year’s Speech Marks Exactly 25 Years In Power: ‘Russians Should Be Proud’

President Vladimir Putin has issued a traditional New Year’s Eve speech on Tuesday, which marks exactly 25 years of the Russian leader in power. There was a brief few year period when he was Prime Minister under President Dmitry Medvedev based on constitutional term limits.

He said that Russians should be “proud” of what Russia had done during his quarter century ruling the country. He issued the expected well wishes for the year ahead, but interestingly did not expressly mention the ongoing Ukraine war, which has resulted in far-reaching US and European sanctions on Moscow.

“Dear friends, in just a few minutes 2025 will be ushered in, completing the first quarter of the 21st century,” Putin began in the televised remarks.

“Yes, we still have a lot to decide but we can be rightfully proud of what has already been done,” he added, saying his 25 years as president led to the “further development” of the country and its economy and defense.

He heaped praise on Russian soldiers defending the nation, at a time that Ukrainian forces still occupy hundreds of square kilometers of the southern border region of Kursk.

“On this New Year’s Eve, the thoughts, hopes of relatives and friends, millions of people across Russia are together with our fighters and commanders,” Putin said. “Now, on the threshold of a new year, we are thinking about the future. We are sure that everything will be all right. We will only go forward.”

Putin first took power after having been named acting president on New Year’s Eve in 1999 when predecessor Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned amid post-Soviet economic collapse and turmoil.

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev started the tradition of a New Year’s Eve speech, and is watched by millions of Russian households. It typically involves a summary of major events of the past year, and general well wishes for the year to come.

“Now, on the threshold of a new year, we are thinking about the future. We are sure that everything will be all right. We will only go forward,” Putin said.

AFP noted that the address “aired on state TV just before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones” – and it was also likely closely watched by analysts at Western intelligence agencies and the Pentagon.

The Trump administration enters the White House in less than three weeks, and all eyes will be on the question of how quickly Trump will push Kiev toward the negotiating table.

The Kremlin has been cautiously optimistic, but feels in control of the war in the Donbas. President Zelensky has meanwhile balked at the possibility of ceding territory, though the Crimea question has remained open from the Ukrainians’ perspective.

Russia is going to settle on nothing less than total and permanent control over the four territories in the east, and a permanent ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO. Trump is reportedly mulling a minimum 20-year waiting period for Ukraine, however. Moscow says even this long delay is not acceptable.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 08:45

How Africa Became A Key Link For Mexican Cartels In Fentanyl Production

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How Africa Became A Key Link For Mexican Cartels In Fentanyl Production

Authored by Darren Taylor via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Mexican organized crime group accused of fueling the United States’ fentanyl crisis is now making the deadly drug in Africa, according to local and international law enforcement agencies.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock

The Sinaloa cartel has chosen South Africa as a major operational base, they said, largely because of its strong trade links to China, which produces the chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid.

“At this stage, there isn’t a big market for fentanyl in Africa, so much of this drug that’s being made in underground labs on the continent is being smuggled into the United States, the biggest fentanyl market in the world,” said Lt. Gen. Godfrey Lebeya, chief of The Hawks, South Africa’s top police investigative unit.

Drug overdoses have killed an estimated 400,000 Americans since 2021, with the majority linked to fentanyl, according to statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In its legal prescription form, fentanyl is a highly effective painkiller.

Criminals, however, copy its chemical makeup in labs and illegally sell it as a powder, dropped onto blotter paper, put in eyedroppers and nasal sprays, or made into pills that look like legitimate prescription opioids, according to a report by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

A few milligrams of fentanyl can kill, as it is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Lebeya told The Epoch Times that South African “drug traffickers and gangs linked to the Sinaloa cartel” are testing local narcotics markets.

“Fentanyl has definitely entered our trafficking conveyor belts,” he said. “We know that because we’re arresting suspects who are in possession of it and they tell us, ‘We want to see if South Africans get a taste for fentanyl.’

“This is very concerning because we’ve seen the scale of America’s crisis and we don’t want our country to go the same way.

“But we must be realistic and admit that it’s possible that we end up with a tragedy of our own because fentanyl is much cheaper than the other drugs circulating in South Africa, like cocaine and heroin, and the Mexicans who are driving fentanyl use in America are now on our soil.”

In July, The Hawks raided what they later described as a “drugs superlab” in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province, seizing large quantities of methamphetamine, a small quantity of fentanyl, and about 500 pounds of chemicals used to manufacture both drugs.

“The Faces of Fentanyl” wall displays photos of Americans who died from a fentanyl overdose, at the Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington, Va., on July 13, 2022. Agnes Bun/AFP via Getty Images

South African farmer Roelof Botha, 57, and three Mexican citizens—Gonzales Jorge Partida, 51, Gutierrez Lopes, 43, and Ruben Vidal Rodriguez, 44—are awaiting trial for alleged manufacturing, dealing, and possession of illicit drugs, as well as money laundering.

“We’re still questioning the Mexican guys,” Lebeya said. “They’re not saying much. But international partners have given us information that these men are working for the Sinaloa cartel.”

Lufuno Sadiki, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Cape Town, told The Epoch Times that it’s “easy for Mexicans to blend in with locals” because they look very similar to mixed-race South Africans.

“It appears as if the Mexicans, mostly from the Sinaloa cartel, are linking up with the local gangs and showing them the ropes, so to speak, [with regard to] fentanyl,” she said.

“In exchange, the South Africans introduce the cartel guys to trusted contacts in the criminal underground and to corrupt officials.”

Organized crime groups are attracted to South Africa for several reasons, according to Professor Anthony Minnaar, a security risk management expert at the University of Limpopo.

“It’s the continent’s wealthiest economy with a banking system that’s linked internationally but is flawed,” he told The Epoch Times. “The country has well-established drug markets of its own and a plethora of drug-trafficking gangs.

“South Africa also offers regular flight connections to Central and South America, with its ports visited daily by vessels registered in Mexico.

“Then it has high volume trade traffic from China, and criminals are hiding chemicals used to make crystal meth and fentanyl in containers coming from China.

“South Africa also has a high level of official corruption.”

Professor Francois Steyn, head of the Department of Criminology at the University of the Free State, told The Epoch Times that the Sinaloa cartel had “probably been in South Africa for longer than we think,” maybe for more than a decade.

“We’re picking up evidence of this only now because our systems have improved over the past five years or so and so has our cooperation with American law enforcement,” he said.

A Sinaloa state police officer helps dismantle one of three clandestine laboratories that produce illicit synthetic drugs, mainly methamphetamine, in El Dorado, Mexico, on June 4, 2019. Rashide Frias/AFP via Getty Images

In September 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Louisville, Kentucky, intercepted a package sent from South Africa containing enough cocaine and fentanyl to kill 220,000 people.

“That fentanyl must have been made in South Africa or somewhere else in Africa,” Steyn said. “If that wasn’t the case, it’s still clear that South Africa is being used as a conduit to get fentanyl and other narcotics into the American market and other markets.”

In January 2024, police found crystal meth and fentanyl worth 37 million rands (about $1.98 million) hidden in ornaments in a cargo shed at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

The shipment was headed to New Zealand.

“It’s really sad to know that our territory is being used to play a role in America’s fentanyl pandemic,” Lebeya said.

“But I’d like Americans to know we are cooperating with the relevant agencies in the United States and doing our best [to prevent fentanyl manufacturing and distribution].”

An indictment in a U.S. court case relating to fentanyl production described it as the “single deadliest drug threat” ever encountered in the country.

Read the rest here…

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 08:10

New Orleans Mayor Calls Bourbon Street Massacre A “Terrorist Attack”

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New Orleans Mayor Calls Bourbon Street Massacre A “Terrorist Attack”

Watch Live:

*   *   * 

Update (0750ET):

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell confirmed that the truck ramming attack on Bourbon Street was a “terrorist attack.”

“First of all, the city of New Orleans was impacted by a terrorist attack. I’ve been in direct contact with the White House, Governor Landry, and the unified command here.”   

Police killed the terror attack suspect when he exited the truck with an assault rifle, per ABC News report. 

Let’s not forget…

Two weeks ago… 

*   *   * 

Update (0730ET):

Local media outlets have published an image of the truck involved in the mass casualty incident on Bourbon Street.

The Ford F-150 Lightning truck has a Texas license plate reading “LZ 1575.” A flagpole hitch holder is visible with what appears to be a flag, although it seems covered. Additionally, there are four bullet holes in the rear cabin window of the truck.

*   *   * 

Update (0700ET):

The New Orleans Police Department told ABC News that “the strike appeared to be intentional” and “the driver has not been taken into custody.”

Witness tells CNN:

*   *   * 

Update (0640ET):

The City of New Orleans has confirmed ten dead and 30 injured after a vehicle plowed into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.

The New Orleans Police Department has yet to confirm whether the mass casualty incident was intentional. No details about the driver have been released. 

Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry writes on X: 

A press conference is expected shortly.

*   *   * 

The New Orleans Police Department told local media outlet WGNO that multiple people are dead after a vehicle plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. The area, a bar and restaurant district popular with tourists, was still very active just hours after New Year’s Eve celebrations.

NOPD said the vehicle struck a group of people around 3:15 a.m. local time at the intersection of Bourbon Street and Iberville

Witnesses told CBS News reporter Kati Weis that a truck crashed into the crowd at “high speeds,” adding that the driver exited the vehicle and started discharging a weapon, prompting police officers to return fire.

Unconfirmed video. 

Weis reported that multiple people were on the ground with serious injuries.

NOPD told CBS News that “initial reports show a car may have plowed into a group of people. Injuries are unknown but there are reported fatalities.”

*Developing… 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 07:50

France Launches First Air Raids Over Syria Since Assad’s Overthrow

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France Launches First Air Raids Over Syria Since Assad’s Overthrow

Now France is getting in on the Syria action in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow on December 8. Currently the hardline Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) holds Damascus and major cities across southern, central, and coastal Syria.

The Turks hold parts of the north near the border (and Turkey’s proxies, particularly the the Syrian National Army, or SNA), while the United States still occupies the northeast (also through its proxy the Kurkish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF). The Israeli military holds an expanse out of the Golan Heights in the south.

France’s defense ministry announced Tuesday that its warplanes launched airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) over the weekend.

French military/The Aviationist

This marks the first such French strikes in Syria since HTS took over Damascus:

“On Sunday, French air assets carried out targeted strikes against Daesh sites on Syrian soil,” the minister said in a statement on social platform X, using an Arab acronym for ISIS. He also published a video showing the military operation. “Our armies remain engaged in the fight against terrorism” in the region, Lecornu said.

French Rafale fighter jets and American Reaper drones “dropped a total of seven bombs on two military targets belonging to Daesh in central Syria,” the statement specified.

The ‘ISIS threat’ has also been cited by the Pentagon as ongoing justification for keeping some 2,000 or more American troops in Syria. The rationale for occupying Syria’s oil and gas fields has also been the ‘counter Iran’ mission, according to US officials.

But we should note the fact that ISIS has been relatively quiet since the HTS Jolani takeover of the country. Where are the big ISIS terror bombings of prior years when Assad held the country?

The reality is that ISIS terrorists are actually embedded with HTS and its foreign fighter affiliates, as recent American television footage has demonstrated.

The French government released footage of preparations for its weekend strikes on ISIS targets:

ISIS is the threat that keeps on giving: Western allies will stay in Syria for the time being while continually claiming that the coalition (Operation Inherent Resolve) must battle terrorists, even while giving tacit support to HTS in Damascus.

US-designated terrorist Abu Mohammad al-Julani of course began his jihadist career in Syria as a high-ranking member of ISIS and later al-Nusra Front (Al-Qaeda in Syria). As we highlighted previously, this is putting lipstick on a pig.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/01/2025 – 07:35

Civic Education: The Phoenix Arises

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Civic Education: The Phoenix Arises

Authored by Jack Miller & Michael Poliakoff via RealClearEducation,

The study of American history and government is undergoing an unprecedented renewal, akin to the phoenix – a mythical bird that is reborn by rising from the ashes of its predecessor.

Major universities have recently launched independent institutes, sometimes called “schools of civic thought,” dedicated to the in-depth exploration of an American political tradition that goes beyond partisan politics. These institutes have independent hiring authority and significant state funding.

So far about a dozen civic institutes have sprung up, from Arizona, Texas, and Florida to Tennessee, North Carolina, and Ohio – and others will be founded soon. They not only serve college students, but many also help K-12 teachers learn how to teach American history and government more effectively. Their mission is broad, with wide public programming.

In America, we have the privilege of living in a democratic republic, arguably the greatest the world has known. Citizens can engage in politics, persuade their fellow citizens, and effect real change. Our history offers many such examples.

It is all the more tragic and dangerous, then, that many students know so little about our history and institutions. They feel powerless and disaffected.

Too often, instead of engaging with America’s founding principles and history, students hear about the supposed oppressiveness of Western civilization and the American “slavocracy,” with dogmatic teaching of oppressor-oppressed ideas. Our students are frequently taught to believe the worst of our nation and its people.

By contrast, these new institutes endeavor to tell the complete American story – its warts but also its promise to give freedom and opportunity to all. They highlight our long and torturous journey to get ever closer to achieving the vision in our Declaration of Independence – that all men are created equal and are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This phoenix-like story has been long in preparation at the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History (JMC). Over 1,200 professors working in the academy today have been a part of the JMC network, writing and teaching about the American political tradition. This network has transformed a struggling subfield into a strong, competitive discipline and created a talent pool of faculty to support this movement’s rapid growth.

The pipeline for a new generation of classroom leaders was started 20 years ago when JMC began its program of summer institutes for young postdocs and professors. Now these professors operate at institutions of all types. Seven of the eight Ivy League schools have partnered with JMC, as have 18 state universities, along with many liberal arts and religious colleges.

Over 300 JMC-supported programs enrich the academic lives of students, providing guest speakers, fellowships, courses, and a chance to interact with dedicated faculty who are outside of the stale, progressive academic mainstream.

The Center for American Studies at Christopher Newport University is an example of this transformational work. Begun in 2007 with JMC’s assistance, it has grown to be a major force on campus. Co-directed by Professors Elizabeth and Nathan Busch, it has a full-time faculty of six who mentor many undergraduate students. The Center has brought to campus distinguished scholars and public officials, including the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Jonathan Turley, John Yoo, and William J. Perry, for presentations to the university community.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) works alongside JMC to promote the formation of new independent institutes. ACTA has redoubled its efforts to ensure that all undergraduates pass a required course that covers core American founding principles.

For 30 years, ACTA has warned of the cost of higher education’s malfeasance. In 2000, its extensive survey of students at the 50 most elite colleges and universities revealed a shocking level of historical and civic ignorance. ACTA’s survey report, “Losing America’s Memory,” led to a joint, unanimous resolution passed by Congress that called for improving the civic knowledge of college students.

ACTA’s 2024 survey that polled 3,000 college students shows that we must redouble our efforts.

Our work so far has helped South Carolina adopt the REACH Act. Since 2021, all of the state’s public universities require a course in which students study the key documents and moments in our nation’s story.

The new institutes of civic education, which began at Arizona State University in 2017, have now expanded into eight states on 13 campuses. Most recently, Ohio passed legislation that has already led to new institutes being set up at its five public universities. The goal is to expand civic education programs into many more states.

ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education is convening 24 of America’s most distinguished scholars, thought leaders, and educators to produce a white paper on the urgency of restoring the undergraduate requirement in American history and government at every college and university in the nation. The white paper will provide guidance on the scope of that course and how trustees and legislators can make America’s civic rebirth a reality. An anthology of essays, “American History and Government: What Every College Student Should Know,” will enhance the national conversation.

The new civic institutes will re-engage students with America’s story of freedom and opportunity for all. The joint contribution of JMC and ACTA, made alongside other civic-minded organizations, private and public, will renew students’ understanding of our nation as the land of the free. This is how Americans can mend our flaws and face the challenges of the future together.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/31/2024 – 23:15

Champagne Champions: US Tops UK As World’s Biggest Bubbly Buyer

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Champagne Champions: US Tops UK As World’s Biggest Bubbly Buyer
Champagne Champions: US Tops UK As World’s Biggest Bubbly Buyer

Amid Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, many people stocked up on their favorite drinks.

And what better way to toast on a special occasion than opening a bottle of champagne, one of France’s proudest exports.

As Statista’s Felix Richter shows in the chart below, the United States and the UK are particularly fond of the exclusive sparkling wine from the Champagne region, having imported 26.9 and 25.5 million bottles in 2023, respectively.

Infographic: Champagne Champions | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

As our chart, based on data by the trade association Comité Champagne, shows, five of the eight largest international markets for champagne are located in Europe.

This is not to say that other countries don’t enjoy sparkling wine, but the numbers given here only refer to the higher-priced, regionally-produced drink from the French region of Champagne.

The area was officially designated in 1927 and is home to winemakers like Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon and Krug.

While champagne makes up less than 10 percent of global sparkling wine consumption, it accounts for 35 percent of the market value, generated with only 0.5 percent of the world’s total vineyard area.

Overall, champagne exports from France amounted to roughly $4.4 billion in 2023, with the U.S. alone importing almost $1 billion worth of the prestigious bubbly.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/31/2024 – 22:30

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