In a move straight out of Louis “After me, the flood” XV, the outgoing BIden admin, in a seemingly desperate move to destabilize the global geopolitical picture, has authorized the lifting of some restrictions on Ukraine’s use of western-made weapons to strike military targets inside Russia, according to reports from Bloomberg and the AP. The decision was reportedly shaped by North Korea ramping up support for President Vladimir Putin’s army and an increase in Russian missile and drone attacks on its neighbor. 

The approval represents a major U.S. policy shift and comes as the deep state-supported, dementia-ridden puppet Joe Biden is about to leave office and incoming President-elect Donald Trump has said he would bring about a swift end to the war and has expressed skepticism over continued support by the United States.

If approved, the capability would likely be used first in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine is fighting against North Korean troops as well as Moscow’s forces, the people said. Still, any permission, if granted, is unlikely to go as far as Ukraine has requested, one of the people said.

As the war in Ukraine heads into its third full winter, the US and its allies “have grown extremely concerned” about Pyongyang’s decision to deploy its forces in combat and assessments by some Group of 20 nations suggest North Korea could eventually send as many as 100,000 troops to Russia. The allies believe the deepening cooperation between Putin and Kim Jong Un could have consequences for the security balance in the Indo-Pacific region, Bloomberg has reported previously.

Discussions between the allies over missile strikes have intensified since Donald Trump won US elections earlier this month, another Bloomberg source said. Trump has said he will seek a quick deal between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, without specifying how.

In other words, Biden’s puppet masters are urgently seeking to escalate the war in Ukraine to make the quick ceasefire sought by Trump impossible (after all, war is how the Deep State earns its income).

Until now, Biden had remained opposed, determined to hold the line against any escalation that he felt could draw the U.S. and other NATO members into direct conflict with Russia. But what supposedly triggered the shift is not Trump’s desire to end the war, at least not according to Bloomberg’s deep state sources, but North Korea’s decision to deploy deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow reclaim land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized this year, and which Russia has already mostly regained even as Ukraine continues to cede territory in the Donetsk region. The introduction of North Korean troops to the conflict comes as Moscow has seen a favorable shift in momentum.

As many as 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian assessments. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials say North Korea also has provided Russia with significant amounts of munitions to replenish its weapons stockpiles.

Trump, who takes office in January, spoke for months as a candidate about wanting Russia’s war in Ukraine to be over. He also repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid. His resounding election victory has Ukraine’s international backers worrying that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Putin.

Which is where the deep state’s World War 3 Hail Mary comes in, especially since the outgoing Biden administration has said it will send as much aid as possible to Kyiv before Trump takes office in January.

Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President-elect Donald Trump won the election on, among other things, pledges to roll back the regulations that were put in place under the Biden administration, particularly those intended to meet net-zero emissions goals in America’s energy industry.

In many cases, however, that will be easier said than done, and may not be something Trump can achieve on day one, according to analysts.

According to the American Action Forum, the Biden administration has finalized 1,114 new regulations to date, adding $1.8 trillion in costs to American businesses and consumers and an estimated 346 million hours of paperwork. And depending on how the regulations were put in place, the incoming Trump administration will likely face challenges in unwinding them.

“It will be on a regulation-by-regulation basis,” Dan Kish, senior vice president of policy at the American Energy Alliance, told The Epoch Times. “There’s actually three categories: executive orders, action from Congress, and those things that have to be done through regulation.

“In other words, there’s a process that’s been set up for changing regulations,” he said. “But all of those things are available to [Trump] depending on what happens with the final Congressional outcome.”

For regulatory mandates that have gone through the formal process of being enacted as “final rules” by agencies, the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) stipulates that cancellation of those rules must go through the same process. This includes a notice and public comment period, as well as a 30-day delayed effective date and a process for judicial review if people can claim they would be adversely affected.

“You do need to undergo rule-making to change rule-making, but a lot of the Biden administration mandates weren’t issued through rule-making,” Matt Bowman, senior counsel and director of regulatory practice for Alliance Defending Freedom, which has litigated against Biden administration mandates, told The Epoch Times.

“We’ve won several cases against mandates that they didn’t bother to put through the rule-making process,” Bowman said. “Those can be taken down pretty quickly.”

Many of the regulations that were issued by direct orders from President Joe Biden will likely be rescinded in the same way.

“Executive orders will drive the overarching regulatory policy goals of the next administration,” Dan Goldbeck, director of regulatory policy at the center-right American Action Forum, told The Epoch Times. “But they will have limited direct impact on rules already on the books.”

The Role of Congress and the Courts

However, even for regulations that have gone through the rule-making process, there are several options available to the Trump administration to have them rescinded in short order. The first is have Congress overturn them using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) if Republicans are able to gain a workable majority in the House.

According to the CRA, agencies must submit final rules to Congress before they can take effect. If both houses of Congress disapprove of the rule, and the President concurs or Congress overrides a presidential veto, the rule cannot go into effect. There is, however, a time limit, effectively about 6 months, for Congress to take action.

Since its passage, the CRA has been used to overturn a total of 20 federal rules, 16 of which were Obama administration mandates overturned by a GOP-led Congress in 2017.

“It’s tough to say what the exact number will be this time around, but I expect Congressional Republicans to be quite active on this front,” Goldbeck said.

In order to avoid the fate of many Obama-era regulations that were blocked by Congress, the Biden administration rushed to finalize a number of rules well before the date when a new administration could take office.

“There’s plenty to suggest that the Biden administration made a point of finalizing some of its highest priority rules earlier this year to avoid potential scrutiny under the CRA,” Goldbeck said. “Nevertheless, the general expectation is that any rule finalized from the start of this past August onward will be vulnerable to repeal under the CRA.”

Even for regulations that are no longer subject to Congressional review, there are options to remove them fairly quickly, particularly those that have been challenged in court.

“Many of the rules, the most egregious rules the Biden administration imposed, are in court, and courts don’t need to wait for a rule-making process to strike down an illegal rule,” Bowman said. “Courts have already in some cases issued at least preliminary injunctions against those rules so that the Trump Department of Justice, if it prioritizes the President’s agenda, can acknowledge the illegality of some of these rules.”

Where lower courts have ruled in favor of the Biden administration, the DOJ can appeal those cases to the Supreme Court in hopes of getting a different verdict. And for cases that are awaiting decisions, federal agencies can delay enforcement of the rules until a verdict is reached.

‘Personnel Is Policy’

In Washington, it is often said that “personnel is policy.” Accordingly, the people that Trump puts in place within the agencies will also go a long way in determining how regulations are implemented, if at all.

“What he can do through executive orders is give instructions to the federal agencies to stand up or stand down on any number of initiatives,” Jonathan Berry, managing partner at Boyden Gray and former chief counsel to President-elect Trump’s first-term transition team, told The Epoch Times.

In addition, outside of existing agencies, Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will run a new department intended to oversee the reduction of regulations throughout the federal government and improve government efficiency.

How well Trump’s agencies coordinate among each another, including cooperation between regulators and the DOJ, will be a critical factor in determining whether or not Trump’s deregulatory agenda succeeds, according to Bowman.

“I think the President can achieve his goals if all of his appointees are on the same page,” Bowman said.

Officials in Bucks County, Pennsylvania are openly disregarding a state Supreme Court ruling prohibiting them from counting provisional ballots missing a signature, as Democrats and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) challenge Republican Senator-elect Dave McCormick’s election victory.

Bucks County Board of Commissioners Chair Robert J. Harvie Jr. (D) and Vice Chair Dianne Ellis-Marseglia (D) are plowing ahead with their count of the illegal ballots that are missing signatures in one of two places, which officials have referred to as “block two” and “block four.” The third commissioner, Republican Gene DiGirolamo was the lone dissenting voice.

🚨🚨🚨#BucksCounty Democrat Commissioners violate the rule of law and ignore PA Supreme Court ruling!

Democrat Commissioners Diane Marseglia and Bob Harvie voted today to count illegal ballots, against PA Supreme Court ruling, in an attempt to aid former Senator Bob Casey.… pic.twitter.com/qAdFlVchmh

— Bucks GOP (@BucksGOP) November 14, 2024

Yet after Deputy County Solicitor Daniel Grieser advised that “unless it’s signed by the voter in two places… we shouldn’t count these,” Ellis-Marseglia and Harvie Jr. pushed forward with a count.

As the county has some ballots missing two signatures and others missing signatures in either “block two” or “block four,” DiGirolamo, moments before the motion to count the votes passed, moved to reject all three types of ballots missing signatures through a single motion, grouping them all together.

That motion failed with his colleagues, but before it did, Ellis-Marseglia shockingly said she did not value court precedent and touted her indifference regarding whether or not she was breaking the law in her official capacity by ignoring the recent state Supreme Court ruling. -Breitbart

“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” said Ellis-Marseglia in response to the illegal count, adding “People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”

According to officials, there are fewer than 80,000 provisional ballots left to be counted across the state, less than 2% of the vote, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

In August, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that provisional ballots missing a signature should not be counted. The case, which featured challenges from Republican primary candidates Jamie Walsh and Mike Cabell, upheld Section 3050(a.4) of the election code, which states that those voting via provisional ballot must also submit a signed affidavit.

Anti-MAGA

On Nov. 4, Ellis-Marseglia posted a MSNBC opinion piece on X, citing a portion which states that “voters must prevent anyone with ties to the MAGA movement from overseeing this critical electoral process.“

“The integrity of the Bucks County’s Board of Commissioners hangs in the balance. As we move closer to the 2024 election, voters must prevent anyone with ties to the MAGA movement from overseeing this critical electoral process.”https://t.co/lAv9BB2mvj

— MarsegliaHarvie2023 (@MarsegliaHarvie) November 4, 2023

A once-respected poll showed Vice President Harris leading by three percentage points in Iowa just days before the presidential election, which ultimately resulted in Donald Trump ahead by thirteen points—a massive margin of error of sixteen percentage points. 

Following this public opinion polling blunder, pollster J. Ann Selzer stated in a guest column in the Des Moines Register on Sunday that her days advising the paper’s famed Iowa Poll are over as she will be “transitioning to other ventures and opportunities.” 

Selzer was once considered the “gold standard” of polling, but after Trump swept the state by a 13-point margin, winning the actual vote 56-43%, she later acknowledged her poll was a “big miss” and suggested that it might have “actually energized [d] and activated [d] Republican voters who thought they would likely coast to victory,” according to CNN.

J. Ann Selzer is retiring from election polling. “Over a year ago I advised the Register I would not renew when my 2024 contract expired with the latest election poll as I transition to other ventures and opportunities…” https://t.co/n4nSLAvL2E

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 17, 2024

“Over a year ago I advised the Register I would not renew when my 2024 contract expired with the latest election poll as I transition to other ventures and opportunities,” Selzer wrote in the Des Moines Register, emphasizing how her decision to retire was well in play before her disastrous polling results failed to capture a Trump win accurately.

She continued, “Polling is a science of estimation, and science has a way of periodically humbling the scientist. So, I’m humbled, yet always willing to learn from unexpected findings.” 

Well, perhaps science can become biased when some pollsters suffer from ‘Trump derangement syndrome.’ 

Separately, Kristin Roberts, chief content officer of Gannett Media, which owns the Des Moines Register, told CNN that the Iowa Poll will “evolve as we find new ways to accurately capture public sentiment and the pulse of Iowans on state and national issues.”

“Our mission is to provide trusted news and content to our readers and the public,” Roberts said, adding, “We did not deliver on that promise when we shared results of the last Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, which did not accurately capture the outcome of the presidential election.”

X user Torsten Prochnow had a good take on Selzer’s retirement…

Ann Selzer’s retirement marks the end of what was once considered the “gold standard” of polling, though her final performance suggests that standard had long since tarnished. Her last Iowa poll—Harris+3—was a stunning 16 points off the actual result of Trump+13. Such a massive error doesn’t just undermine her credibility; it reflects a deeper problem with polling in general, especially those aligned with the leftist media narrative.

Pollsters today, with few exceptions, seem less interested in accurately gauging public opinion and more focused on shaping it. Many have become extensions of the legacy media, crafting polls designed to serve as self-fulfilling prophecies for leftist victories. These tactics, however, are crumbling under the weight of their own bias. Americans have grown wise to the manipulation, and the results of 2024 prove it: reality shattered the illusions pollsters tried to sell.

Selzer’s exit feels symbolic of a larger trend—trust in mainstream polling has hit rock bottom. As Trump secures overwhelming victories like his blowout win in Iowa, it’s clear that the era of using skewed polls to influence elections is over. The days of false narratives propped up by questionable polling are gone, replaced by an electorate that refuses to be gaslit.

Ann Selzer’s retirement marks the end of what was once considered the “gold standard” of polling, though her final performance suggests that standard had long since tarnished. Her last Iowa poll—Harris+3—was a stunning 16 points off the actual result of Trump+13. Such a massive… pic.twitter.com/tb3e6DpdN0

— Torsten Prochnow (@TorstenProchnow) November 17, 2024

Here’s some of our reporting on pollsters oversampling and attempting to shape outcomes for a potential Harris victory in the months before the election…

• Another Dem-Oversampled Poll Still Has Trump Beating Harris 48-45

• Harris Polls “Much Less Rosy” Than Reported, SuperPAC Admits

• Harris’ So-Called ‘Surge’ Is Thanks To Oversampling: Pollsters

Meanwhile, the odds favored Trump at the betting platform Polymarket, as financial markets are generally more efficient. Pollsters (and MSM) suffering from TDS doomed themselves in the past election cycle, and their credibility has completely collapsed. As a result, Polymarket and other betting platforms are poised to dominate in upcoming elections.

Authored by Brandon Smith

For the past several months I’ve been discussing the high probability of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Specifically, I have warned that the Biden/Harris Administration along with the Democrats have been using data manipulation to hide the growing threat of a stagflationary collapse within the U.S. within the next couple of years.

In my article Smoke and Mirrors: What Happens After Biden’s Economic Manipulations Disappear? published in September, I outlined the specific tricks Biden’s team has been using to obscure the decline in the labor market, hide the true inflation problem, marginalize the exploding national debt issue and manipulate the CPI while artificially propping up GDP with government spending. In that article I noted:

If someone was to ask me what I predict, I would have to say Trump will be president again. From all the evidence I’ve seen the Harris campaign is an astroturf movement with a limited voter base. She’s obviously not very bright and I don’t think the theatrical “joy” strategy is convincing very many people of her competency. Her economic policies (including price controls) are full bore communist and would be devastating to any form of U.S. recovery. Her fiscal plan will be even worse than Bidenomics has been…

I suspect that if Trump enters office once again there will be a multitude of changes to our economic data and they will happen quickly. Some of the rigging is already being exposed, just not on a level where the majority of the populace is aware of it…

Now that the election outcome has been decided and Trump is the clear winner by a landslide in the electoral college and the popular vote, we should keep in mind that the real fight for the future of America starts in 2025. We should also consider the fact that the fate of the conservative ideal (and perhaps the ideals of all western civilization) are now inexorably tied to the success or failure of the Trump Administration.

Meaning, when Trump enter office again the establishment will seek to blame every negative event not just on Trump, but on ALL conservative and liberty minded principles. This is a problem because Trump is about to inherit perhaps the worst economic time bomb in American history.

I call it a Catch-22 trap and I predicted this dangerous outcome back in 2021. Here’s how it works:

Because of dollar overprinting and government overspending the U.S. is now in a stagflationary death spiral. It took decades to produce this financial singularity, but it is finally upon U.S. and it will be very difficult to reverse.

When the government and the Federal Reserve were finally forced to acknowledge the stagflation crisis in 2022, the Fed had to be seen as at least trying to stop the bleeding. So, they launched interest rate hikes. The problem is, the U.S. is also suffering from exponential national debt and each rate hike greatly increases the amount of interest the nation has to pay per year. For now, the U.S. pays around $1 trillion in gross interest every three months. This means our national debt will skyrocket while rates are high.

But the Fed has entered a process of rate cuts, you say? Inflation is defeated, you say?

The whole calamity has been conveniently solved by Joe Biden and friends right before Trump takes over, you say?

No.

Inflation is still a problem (concealed by statistics)

The problem is that the inflation threat has not been solved, it has been hidden. CPI is not a measure of cumulative inflation, it is a measure of monthly inflation diluted by tens of thousands of goods and services, most of them not necessities. For the past couple years Biden has been dumping U.S. strategic oil reserves on the market in order to bring energy prices down and artificially reduce CPI, but this has not lowered cumulative inflation.

As the Fed cuts rates through 2025, the inflation panic will return.

And if the Fed keeps rates high to counter inflation, the national debt climbs to disastrous levels.

If they cut rates, then inflation returns and price increases will continue to spiral.

Damned if we do and damned if we don’t, and guess who gets the blame? That’s right, Trump and his cabinet.

And for those who argue that Americans won’t blame Trump because they’ll know that the decline was caused by Biden, I would note that public patience shrinks as quickly as their bank accounts. They will blame whoever is in power now, when the bomb goes off, regardless of who lit the fuse.

The Democrats already tried to blame Trump for the majority of the stagflation crisis and the covid crisis (even though it was Democrat states that attempted to keep lockdowns in place permanently). You know they’ll keep the propaganda pumping constantly for the next four years.

But what can the Trump Administration do to defuse the situation? I could write an entire book on this but here are the first few actions I would take if I were in his shoes:

#1 – Expose Biden’s data manipulation

The first thing Trump needs to do is set up an economic advisory board (Ron Paul would be a great candidate to lead such a project) and one of their primary tasks should be to expose how the Biden Admin has been hiding the real economic data from the nation at large.

The temptation will be to keep this data under wraps for fear that it will destroy the country should everyone know the facts. I think the country has voted in great numbers for an end to the status quo and that they want transparency. We can handle the truth.

If Trump doesn’t educate the public on how the Democrats and the establishment have been rigging the numbers, then the public will ultimately blame conservatives for any eventual crash. Also, when the public knows the truth, they will also understand why dramatic changes to policy need to be made.

#2 – Offset tariffs with incentives for domestic industry and manufacturing

A major pillar of Trump’s economic plan includes tariffs on foreign goods as a way to pay off the national debt, reduce taxes and fund the government. Leftists claim tariffs are actually a “tax on the American consumer” and will end in disaster as prices rise. They’re ignoring the fundamental point.

Tariffs cause an increase in prices on foreign-made goods, not American made products. We simply need to manufacture more in the U.S. Why does the U.S. need to remain stuck as a consumer country only? Why can’t we also produce?

First, tariffs are not just a tax, they are leverage. Europe is already talking about buying more commodities and goods from the U.S. so they can avoid high tariffs. China is likely to do the same. The U.S. is the biggest consumer market in the world with 30% of global share. No other nation comes close. Producer nations would face economic disaster without access to U.S. customers.

That said, it’s not enough. There needs to be a backstop of domestic production and I think this could also help reduce price increases. How? If the U.S. focuses on what I call the “quality economy” then prices will be higher for a time, but in the long run inflation will drop significantly. The key is that we produce goods with a high quality standard – products that last for many years and have a significant warranty attached.

If our goods are better than foreign products and they last longer, then people will buy less stuff over time. This means reduced spending, more savings, lower demand and ultimately lower prices.

There’s a number of ways Trump could subsidize this domestic manufacturing boom while also greatly increasing American wages and the standard of living. Biden pretended he was going to do this with his so-called Inflation Reduction Act and his green energy programs.

Trump could do it for real.

#3 – Issue government debt backed by gold or silver (and precious metals savings accounts)

Currently, the U.S. is facing rising costs on debt with declining foreign interest in “investing” in federal IOUs. In order to stop the death plunge of national debt and the explosion of debt service payments, radical measures need to be taken.

The inflation and debt issues are not going to solve themselves. The Federal Reserve does not have the tools to fix the situation even if they wanted to. However, Trump does have the power to issue special debt backed by the gold and silver reserves of the U.S. government. This allows him to bypass the Fed.

A maturity of around 5 years or more would be ideal to fund his short-term initiatives. He could set the payoff at maturity according to the true market price of gold and silver. (First, a federal investigation into gold and silver price manipulation by major banks would need to be pursued concluded.) At maturity, they’d be redeemable in dollars or physical gold or silver. That’s always been the #1 method of instilling trust in assets.

A similar idea would be to create a savings account backed by U.S. gold and silver reserves. Make a term deposit of currency and, upon maturity, the account can be exchanged for physical gold and silver metals or dollars. Or a debit card, or even cryptocurrency could be issued for those savings.

I believe this could solve the national debt issue by reviving foreign enthusiasm for federal government debt. Furthermore, this would alleviate the inflation problem by offering all Americans easy access to inflation-resistant gold and silver to protect their savings from inflation (and making a little extra money on the side). The more people who participate, the higher the value of metals will go.

Americans can and should buy physical precious metals, but let’s be honest, gold coins and silver bars don’t spend easily in everyday transactions. We need an intermediary system that offers people liquidity. Shifting directly back to a gold standard would cause significant chaos in U.S. and global financial systems.

Let’s face it – we can’t go cold turkey on the Federal Reserve note. We need to wean the nation off unbacked, intrinsically-worthless currency. Opening up access to our nation’s gold reserves is a starting point.

I’m also sure there’s plenty of Keynesians out there that will claim that giving citizens access to gold and silver is impossible and it will destroy the economy. I tell you it’s Keynesian thinking that got us here in the first place.

What I’m proposing here is a middle ground option that could lead to a commodity backed currency system in the future. We must deal with our immediate debt crisis and inflation crisis, but it’s not impossible.

#4 – A moratorium on debt ceiling increases

The gold and silver savings account program and tariffs would allow the federal government to continue funding itself while also cutting taxes and putting a stop to deficit spending by cutting out waste.

Every time there’s a debate over the debt ceiling and conservatives call for a stop to the madness, Democrats (and neocons) accuse them of putting the country in peril. They hold the country hostage with tales of collapse until fiscal conservatives inevitably give in and the debt continues to rise.

No more.

We cannot keep consuming debt poison and expect our national health to improve.

When Elon Musk took on the ownership of Twitter he fired over 80% of the existing workforce. Leftists said the website would implode within months. They were wrong (again) and the site now functions better than ever despite far higher user traffic. The federal government is a lot like the old Twitter – It’s a bloated and obese bureaucracy loaded with self-serving dead weight that needs to be torched before it causes a systemic heart attack.

This is the only way things will get better, not just for us, but for our children and their children.

Ukraine’s national energy operator has announced significant power cuts for the Kyiv region and well as others areas in the east. This is after another major missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure coming from Russia, estimated at about 120 missiles and some 90 drones.

The massive combined air attack marked one of the largest of the war thus far, and killed and wounded several people. It appears to be in response to ongoing Ukrainian attacks on Russian military and naval sites and oil depots.

President Zelensky in a message claimed Ukraine anti-air forces were able to shoot down over 140 of the inbound Russian projectiles. But building fires and damage across the country point to many dozens of drone and missiles having got through to hit targets.

“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children,” Zelensky described.

Two others were reported killed in the Odessa region from the assault. A couple days ago, surreal footage of massive efforts to repel an aerial assault was captured and widely circulated:

Massive AAA engagement over Odesa last night, as Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners fought an incoming Russian attack drone wave. pic.twitter.com/j8o0XBNmY1

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) November 16, 2024

As for damage from this fresh weekend assault, Ukrainian private energy company DTEK has said a thermal power plant it operates was “seriously damaged”. Russia has targeted these thermal power facilities since the start of the war.

Russia in a statement said it hit energy resources used to supply Ukraine’s armed forces. The defense ministry detailed the following: “Operational-tactical aviation, unmanned fighting vehicles, missile forces and artillery of Russian Armed Forces’ groups inflicted damage on infrastructure of military airfields, gas production and energy facilities used for operation of Ukraine’s defense enterprises, a depot of drones, as well as the enemy’s troops and military equipment in 144 regions,” the ministry said.

According to more: “This morning the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation extensively attacked critical facilities of energy infrastructure that ensure the operation of Ukraine’s military and industrial complex and enterprises making military products, with high-precision strike systems.” The Russian military added that “all targeted goals were hit.”.

* * *

Calls from Western officials for direct NATO military intervention have continued:

Flight map of various missile and drone types during today’s mass attack by the russian Federation

Many could have been destroyed over western Ukraine – from safe NATO territory – but NATO is still discussing it – for almost a year. pic.twitter.com/zwKriSVWgh

— Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) November 17, 2024

Authored by Guy Bitchall via The Epoch Times,

New data has shown that permanent migration to richer countries hit a record high last year.

Some 6.5 million migrants upped stakes from less-well-off nations to relocate to wealthier nations in 2023, according to figures released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Around a third of the 38 OECD members experienced record-breaking arrival numbers last year, including Canada, France, Japan, Switzerland, and the UK.

However, this influx of poorer immigrants was not evenly split among the planet’s more affluent nations, with another third seeing a drop, including Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, and New Zealand.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said that “buoyant labor demand” has been the driving force behind this increase in movement from the world’s more deprived areas.

“Many OECD countries are facing widespread labor shortages and looming demographic changes and growing numbers of labor migrants have contributed to sustained economic growth,” he said.

“Increasing the accessibility and availability of labor migration channels contributes to addressing labor shortages and is essential to strengthening overall control of flows and managing irregular migration.”

Topping the table of countries listed in the figures was the UK, which saw 746,900 new permanent arrivals last year, up from 2022’s influx of 488,400.

This 52.9 percent year-on-year rise was by far the highest out of any member of the OECD, with only South Korea close in percentage terms with a 50.9 percent increase over 2022.

In terms of raw numbers, however, the nation’s respective inflows differed by orders of magnitude, with South Korea seeing just 87,100 last year, 659,800 fewer than the UK.

The UK has a population of 68.3 million, while South Korea has 51.7 million people.

The UK’s massive raw number of arrivals can be further illustrated by the fact it came second only to the United States, which accepted 1.2 million immigrants, despite having a population (334.9 million) five times larger than the UK.

Temporary Arrivals

Though the think tank put the number of people who permanently relocated at 6.5 million, that figure does not include illegal immigrants and temporary migrants.

The OECD typically defines “permanent-type” immigration as workers and their relatives, but not students or refugees, which it regards as temporary residents.

Discussing the temporary arrivals, the think tank said: “Not only have 6.5 million permanent migrants arrived in the last year, but the number of temporary migrants and asylum seekers has skyrocketed.

“These high flows have fuelled widespread concern about migrants’ impact on receiving countries’ economies and societies, putting migration management and border control at the top of political agendas and the center of voters’ interests in 2024 elections.”

All of this comes amidst a rising tide of anti-immigration feelings across the West, with voters flocking to support politicians and parties who have vowed to either cut, stop, or reverse the levels of illegal immigration.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States was in part predicated on his promise to control the illegal arrivals flooding across the southern border.

In Europe, immigration, both legal and illegal, has become a wedge issue, prompting many nations to introduce stricter controls and tougher policies and seeing anti-immigration parties make gains in elections across the continent.

Last month, a report from the University of Oxford’s Measuring Irregular Migration (MIrreM) project estimated that there are up to 3.2 million illegal immigrants living across 12 European countries.

This report also found that the UK was home to the most illegal immigrants of any country, with up to 745,000 illegal immigrants believed to be living in the country, accounting for one in 100 members of the population.

If Democrats today are known for anything, it’s their uncanny inability to read the room and listen to people when they say “No”.  It’s a typical trait of psychopaths; the assumption that when people refuse your ideals and your leadership they “don’t really mean it” and they “just”need a little more convincing”.  Sorry leftists, but no means no.

It doesn’t help that the most common argument coming from leftist pundits after their brutal election loss is that the only reason voters didn’t choose Kamala Harris and the woke cult is because most Americans are stupid.  The progressives think they know what’s best for everyone else.  They’re the smartest people in the room, after all…

Despite the supposedly incredible intellectual power of the progressive elites, they still lost the election in a landslide and common sense would dictate that they should reconsider their political philosophy and align more with the needs of the general public.  However, recent events suggest that’s not going to happen.  

Donald Trump’s cabinet process is well underway and some of his picks have the Democrats (and some Neo-Cons) truly terrified.  In particular, the establishment media machine is already pumping out endless propaganda in an attempt to undermine RFK Jr, Matt Gaetz, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Pete Hegseth, etc.  They are floating rumors of sexual misconduct, corruption, mental instability, conspiracy; desperately clamoring to stop these appointments no matter the cost.  Why?  Because these people will have the power to completely gut the status quo regime and they openly assert they will do so.

Trump faces perhaps the most aggressive opposition to his cabinet appointments of any president in recent history, and it’s a sure bet that most Democrats and a number of GOP RINOs in the Senate will work together to sabotage the appointment process.  But Trump has the ability to force the Senate into recess and make his appointments while lawmakers are out of session, which means Democrats and Neo-Cons might not have a choice in the matter.

In preparation for this outcome, some Democrats are calling for the creation of what they call a ‘Shadow Government’ or ‘Shadow Cabinet’.  Democrat Wiley Nicol from North Carolina cites a similar dynamic used by the UK government; a kind of counter-body of political leaders that hound elected officials with policy criticism while offering their own policies as a better option. 

Democrats are legitimately proposing the formation of an unelected government in the form of a Shadow Cabinet to oppose Trump’s agenda and policies. pic.twitter.com/sH4iTvKri8

— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) November 15, 2024

The idea is rather tone deaf.  For Americans, the phrase “shadow government” has numerous negative connotations and inspires suspicions of corruption.  In the UK it’s a bit more innocuous – Members of a shadow cabinet have no executive power. It is the shadow cabinet’s responsibility to apply scrutiny to the policies and actions of the sitting government, which doesn’t sound much different from what opposing politicians already do. 

That said, a shadow government also represents a false alternative.  It’s the government that the Democrats think should be in power instead of the government that the public actually voted for.  It should be noted that the UK’s socialist system have become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, with punishments for thought crimes now widely enforced.  There is no true opposition party to the globalist establishment in the UK, they barely know what a legitimate conservative is. 

All parties essentially hover around the center left, and with each passing year the center left moves further to the extreme left.  The idea that UK or European government methods should be emulated by the US shows just how detached from the American people Democrats have become.  

Holy Shyt‼️ 👀

CNN is now Promoting Democrats running a Shadow Government while Trump is in Office — The UK Does it, Why can’t we? 🤦🏻‍♂️

They suggest Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer should appoint the shadow government…

“They put Elise Stefanik at the UN… we should have… https://t.co/Y8w3tlp76w pic.twitter.com/OrCOj5gwKR

— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) November 15, 2024

At best, this concept represents a sad attempt by Democrats to cling to the illusion of importance.  The Dems can pretend like people are listening to them as they tell the world how they would would do each cabinet job better, but they never really do much beyond talk.  At worst, the shadow government could be used as an alternative contact point for foreign governments, NGOs and other institutions that prefer not to engage with the Trump Administration and face the music.  

If the latter is the ultimate goal, then it is utterly contrary to the constitution.  There is no allowance for a “shadow cabinet”, it doesn’t exist as a legal edifice in the US for good reason.  There is only one government, which Americans voted into office.  No one wants to hear from Democrats on how they would govern; they had their chance and they blew it.   

Anyone who understands progressive government knows that their system is designed only to eat more and grow bigger.  It’s not designed to shrink, or to give up power.  What the Democrats greatly fear is a substantial downsizing of the bureaucracy.  That is where they derive their true influence.  A shadow cabinet might be the beginnings of an effort by leftists to pretend as if they still have a say in the overall course of the country.          

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

Few people understand what the war in Ukraine means for big business – namely, opportunity. It’s not just the weapons and reconstruction contracts. Ukraine’s vast agricultural lands – among the most fertile in the world – are up for grabs, and American companies like BlackRock are at the front of the line. RFK Jr. Deftly and clearly explains.

JP Morgan and BlackRock — From Financiers of Destruction to Half-Trillion Dollar ‘Heroes’ of Reconstruction – The Hypocrisy of Reconstruction of Ukraine by the Same Corporations that Profited from the War

JP Morgan and BlackRock, along with consultancy McKinsey & Company, are collaborating with the Ukrainian government to establish a reconstruction fund. The objective of this fund is to attract significant investments for the country’s reconstruction, which could cost between $400 billion and $1 trillion, depending on estimates. This fund, known as the Fund for the Development of Ukraine, will use a “blended finance” approach to mobilize both public and private capital, targeting priority sectors such as infrastructure, climate and agriculture.

BlackRock and JP Morgan offered their services pro bono to manage this fund, leveraging their expertise in financial markets and debt management. The intention is that this fund can begin to operate fully once the war ends, although planning is already underway and has been discussed at recent international conferences.

The recent partnership between JP Morgan, BlackRock and McKinsey & Company to rebuild Ukraine highlights the bitter irony of the current geopolitical situation. In a deal that aims to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for the reconstruction of war-torn Ukraine, these American financial giants now position themselves as the economic saviors of a country whose destruction, in part, was facilitated by policies and actions in financial markets that they themselves dominated and shaped.

The United States, through its foreign policies and interventions, has a long history of fomenting instability in various regions of the world. In the case of Ukraine, the situation is no different. From the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, American interests were clear: to weaken Russia and expand the Western sphere of influence. The irony becomes even more evident when we consider that many of the same financial institutions now being called upon to rebuild Ukraine are those that have profited immensely from armed conflicts and the destabilization of global markets.

JP Morgan and BlackRock are entities deeply rooted in the global financial system, and both have a history of financing military industries and governments that perpetuate conflict. JP Morgan, for example, has a long history of involvement in financing wars and authoritarian regimes around the world. BlackRock, in turn, as the largest asset manager in the world, has stakes in practically all major defense companies, which profit directly from the manufacture of weapons used in conflicts such as Ukraine.

This dichotomy is alarming: the same institutions that financed destruction are now celebrated as leaders of reconstruction. The “fund of reconstruction” proposed for Ukraine is not just a humanitarian effort; it is also a strategic maneuver to ensure that Western capital has control over the country’s future assets and economic infrastructure. The reconstruction of Ukraine, costing up to a trillion dollars, presents a lucrative opportunity for these companies, which are now seen as saviors.

Furthermore, McKinsey & Company’s presence on the project adds an additional layer of criticism, as the consulting firm has frequently been accused of unethical practices and collusion with corrupt regimes. McKinsey’s lack of transparency and controversial practices call into question the integrity of the reconstruction process.

It looks like experts are starting to realize that the litany of global ‘climate summits’, where participants fly in on private jets to wax poetic about the virtues of attempting to change thousand-year cooling and warming cycles on Earth, could need some reform.

Leading climate experts, including Ban Ki-moon, Mary Robinson, Christiana Figueres, and Johan Rockström, are calling for significant changes to UN climate summits, according to a new report from The Guardian.

They argue future conferences should only be hosted by nations demonstrating strong climate action and advocate for stricter controls on fossil fuel lobbyists. Over 1,700 industry lobbyists attended Cop29, raising concerns about undue influence.  

The group has urged the UN to streamline the annual summits, amplify the voices of developing countries, and increase meeting frequency to better address the climate crisis.

“It is now clear that the Cop is no longer fit for purpose. We need a shift from negotiation to implementation,” they wrote. 

“We need strict eligibility criteria to exclude countries who do not support the phase-out/transition away from fossil energy. Host countries must demonstrate their high level of ambition to uphold the goals of the Paris agreement,” they said. 

Cop29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, is nearing its halfway point amid controversy. Azerbaijan, a major fossil fuel producer with oil and gas comprising half its exports, follows last year’s host, the UAE—a petrostate led by Sultan Al Jaber, who retained his role as head of Adnoc during the conference.

At Cop29 in Baku, controversy surrounds the presence of 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists, more than any nation except Azerbaijan, Brazil, and Turkey, and far exceeding the 1,033 delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations.

The Guardian wrote that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore criticized the fossil fuel industry’s influence and called for reforms in choosing host countries. Talks center on securing $1 trillion annually by 2030 to help poorer nations address climate challenges, but progress is slow, with disagreements over contributions from developed nations and emerging economies like China.

Campaigners demand polluters pay, while a report suggests innovative funding options, including levies on cryptocurrencies, plastics, and air travel, or a 2% wealth tax, to bridge finance gaps. Negotiations will continue into next week.

Recall, just days ago we wrote about a how a senior COP29 official in Azerbaijan reportedly used his role as heading up the fight on climate change…to secure meetings with potential investors in the country’s oil and gas sectors.

Energy production drives 60% of Azerbaijan’s economy. Elnur Soltanov, Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister and COP29 chief, was covertly recorded discussing investment opportunities in the state-owned SOCAR, according to PJ Media.

“SOCAR Trading is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia. To me, these are the possibilities to explore. But in any case this is something that you need to be talking to SOCAR, and I would be happy to create a contact between yourself and them,” he was caught on tape saying. 

He added: “We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed.”

The PJ Media report says that SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state oil company, reportedly responded to a fake investment group, indicating interest in meeting, according to Global Witness.

In the meeting, COP29 head and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Energy Minister Elnur Soltanov discussed the event’s goals, stating that COP aims to “solve the climate crisis” by “transitioning away from hydrocarbons.”

Still, he expressed openness to oil and gas investments, pointing to Azerbaijan’s gas expansion plans and new pipeline infrastructure. This marks the second year a petro-state has used its COP presidency to promote fossil fuel interests, raising questions for the UN on oversight.