Authored by Raushan Gross via The Mises Institute,

Just ignore the economists, says a recent article in The Atlantic.

Well, what about listening to economists concerning the devastating effects of price controls? If we ignore economists, then it would be easy to ignore market interventionists’ uncontrollable and intoxicating need to impose price floors and ceilings in marketplaces and the effects of these controls on society at large. What economists know that The Atlantic author does not know is that there are finite resources in this world, and everyone is out to get their share.

You want a car; I want a car; while this could be a zero-sum game, if car producers decide not to produce cars anymore, if they produce less, supply goes down, and prices rise. Simple enough. Scarcity, the first law of economics, is apparent in everyday life—goods are finite. The increased prices signal to entrepreneurs to make more goods. Finite jobs are also available. The problem is that those who see price controls as the right thing to do are misleading everyone else because they are under the allure of their good effects.

Price controls are akin to alcoholism. When drinking, it is easy to drink too much. Price controls and other interventions can similarly feel good at the beginning too.

For them, there is always the temptation to control prices, so they continue to control more prices in every sector of the economy. The control does not end with wage floors, price ceilings, interventions responding to shortages, and so on. Interventionists only perceive the good effects of imposing price controls, but little do they know that bad effects will result from later price controls and ani-price gouging policies.

Folks lamenting “price gouging” do not consider this simple economic law: with artificially-low prices, shortages occur; businesses may not survive selling products and or services at artificially-imposed price controls.

Less is supplied overall. As a result, producers no longer produce those products and services, and consumers go elsewhere.

The cure, however, is leaving market prices alone, which is difficult because the bad effects come first, and the good ones come later. The problem is that interventionists are intoxicated with the perceived good effects of policies related to price gouging, price floors, and price ceilings. Price intervention leads to more price intervention. However, price controllers—like alcoholics—tend to overdo the control of market pricing policies and want more good effects. But, as we know, the good effects of price ceilings and floors lead to scarcity, market inefficiency, decline in innovation, entrepreneurial scarcity, and scarcity of goods.

Historically, we have seen the cause and effect of price controls on food and many other economic goods. We know price controls have led to utter disasters in places such as Soviet Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and the French Revolution. With long lines waiting for food, famine resulted from price ceilings and floors. For example, manufacturers in Soviet Russia could not produce enough nails to construct new homes because of price control interventionists.

Keep in mind that unhampered market prices reflect what is supplied, what is demanded, and how sellers and buyers respond to market adjustments. While a casual shopper might be outraged by higher grocery prices, these price hikes signal to the buyer that other people are bidding for the same goods and/or that there might have been a decline in supply. It should be clear that there are never enough goods to satisfy all alternative wants, which natural prices reflect until controllers impose upon them. The only way for everyone to get what they want is for natural prices to emerge in the voluntary marketplace, a reliable and efficient system for resource allocation. This emphasis on natural prices should reassure us about the effectiveness of the market system in allocating resources.

The Atlantic and the rest of their ilk must be unaware of the simple fact that entrepreneurs cannot “set prices” at whatever rate they want, whenever they want; consumers do that, either by buying or not buying at a certain price point. Business owners establish prices based on consumer demand—consumers bidding for the same economic goods—and the market competitive pressure from other suppliers. Therefore, price controls are unpopular amongst economists because, while they legally control the price of a good, they do not add to the supply nor do the laws require anyone to supply any good. Price controls contribute to shortages. And, the fewer products or services available, the higher the price tends to rise. Also, producers and entrepreneurs alike may move out of price-controlled industries and go into others, further reducing supply.

Since there is no money helicopter that can equally spread money to everyone simultaneously, then control how that money is spent and when (which would only worsen the situation anyway), it should be obvious as to why price control policies do not work. When price controls are in effect, they force the business to sell goods at artificially-low prices, thus forcing products to be purchased below market value. Naturally, rising prices are understandably unpopular, but prices reflect real-time market realities.

If prices of goods rise unhampered, it signals the buyer to practice a bit of self-control, while a decline in price signals the buyer to buy more. However, let us put this logic on the back burner and assume economic goods are under price control. The logic of price controls rests upon the illusory magic of infinite amounts of goods for everyone to consume at the same time. Operating under this falsehood is destructive

Further, it is a tall order for an economy to keep inflation and wage rates up and force prices downward through the hand of price controls. So, The Atlantic says not to listen to economists, however, in the words of Ludwig von Mises on price controls:

If it fixes prices of all goods and services of all orders and obliges all people to continue producing and working at these prices and wage rates, it eliminates the market altogether. Then the planned economy, socialism of the German Zwangswirtschaft pattern, is substituted for the market economy.

No one wants to encounter the bad effects of a “hangover,” so the cure never happens. Price controls have a long history and have been shown to bring disastrous effects to the market economy that only show up later. Artificially-imposed price controls lead to entrepreneurial decline. Selling goods at artificially-low or -high prices sends mixed messages to the producers.

What is the cure? Should economists be listened to or not? In other words, do we keep drinking to feel the good effects and avoid the hangover, or deal with the hangover by bringing about the bad effects?

Israeli warplanes are again pounding the Lebanese capital of Beirut, unleashing one of the heaviest daytime attacks yet on Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs.

Israel’s defense ministry has thus far ruled out a ceasefire, which has been backed by both the US and Russia, until its military goals are met. It also remains that Hezbollah has continued unrelenting missile fire into Israel’s north, and on Tuesday rockets targeted a base near Tel Aviv.

The efforts to strike Tel Aviv briefly resulted in a total halt in air traffic at Ben Gurion international airport. Sirens also sounded throughout central Israel towns and communities. The Shia group backed by Iran said it targeted an “air base south of Tel Aviv… with a salvo of quality missiles.”

Israeli media has detailed Tuesday that one of the drones sent by Hezbollah hit a kindergarten in the northern town of Nesher, which shattered windows and scattered debris in a playground area. No children or staff were hurt as they had all moved to a bomb shelter as a precaution.

But elsewhere there were casualties from the dozens of missiles launched from Lebanon, including two Israelis killed when missiles struck a residential building in Nahariya.

The casualties in Lebanon have remained much higher, with at least 44 people killed and 88 wounded in attacks across mainly the south of the country on Monday.

On Tuesday Israeli jets hit the capital hard:

Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, including command centers and weapons production sites.

At this point Israeli leaders have touted that the military has destroyed or degraded almost all of Hezbollah’s weapons production capabilities.

🚨URGENT🚨 Israel is in a vengeful mood this morning carrying out violent air raids on residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs. pic.twitter.com/hJq8F3upsF

— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) November 12, 2024

Most Lebanese civilians are believed to have fled the hard-hit southern suburbs of Beirut. Residential towers continue to be taken out by the Israelis, amid claims that Hezbollah keeps weapons storehouses under them.

According to more of the latest developments via Reuters:

An Israeli strike back across the border killed five people in the Lebanese village of Baalchmay southeast of Beirut, and five more were killed in a strike on the town of Tefahta in the south, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Another person was killed in a strike in Hermel in the northeast, it said.

Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 stories, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris.

The last week saw a number of international reports which said ‘progress’ has been made in reaching a US-backed ceasefire; however, those reports seem to have been premature.

Impact of Hezbollah rocket in Nahariya:

⚡️Impact on terrorists strongholds in Nahariya pic.twitter.com/tcs6oByKb2

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 12, 2024

This is especially as Israel’s new defense minister Israel Katz explained the following: 

“Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel’s right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon – disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes,” he said.

Hezbollah has in turn defended its right to defend Lebanese territory, and fears that ceding ground south of the Litani would give Israeli forces permanent control of Lebanese land. There are more rumors of a ceasefire being ‘close’ on Tuesday:

BIDEN ADVISER HOCHSTEIN SAYS HE THINKS ‘THERE IS A SHOT’ TO GET A CEASEFIRE DEAL IN LEBANON SOON -AXIOS

Neither side is in the mood for ceasefire, but civilians on either side continue to bear the brunt of the suffering, and whole swathes of northern Israel and south Lebanon remain evacuated.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Democracy appears to be losing its appeal on the left. After campaigning on panic politics and predicting the imminent death of democracy, some on the left are now calling to burn the system down in light of Republicans not only taking both houses and the White House but Trump likely winning the popular vote.

Some seem to believe that what happened on November 5th is a license to become a modern version of Guy Fawkes

(“Remember, remember, the 5th of November; Gunpowder, treason and plot; I see no reason; Why gunpowder treason; Should ever be forgot”).

Protesters after the election called for tearing down the system as a whole, insisting that “Trump is not an individual. He’s a figurehead of a system that’s rotten.”

Even before the election, law professors and law deans called for a break from the Constitution. Those voices will likely be amplified after the massive electoral loss by Democrats.

Others are seeking to evade the results of the election to still bring Harris to power.  CNN’s Bakari Sellers wants to pressure Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign and replace her with Harris. Former Harris aide Jamal Simmons wants Biden to resign to allow Harris to become president despite the vote of the majority.

It is an ironic twist after Democratic politicians and pundits repeated the mantra that, if we did not elect Harris, this might be our last election. After losing that election, democracy appears to be the problem. The majority of Americans voting for Trump have been called “anti-American” by Gov. Hochul. Other politicians and pundits have called them racists, misogynists, or weaklings seeking domination by strongmen and bullies.

The problem is now with young and minority voters.  Trump won white women voters by eight points at 53 percent. Harris actually fell slightly in the support of women overall. Conversely, roughly 43 percent of men voted for Harris. Forty percent of women under 30 voted for Trump. Even CNN reports that Trump’s performance was the best among young people (18-29 years old) in 20 years, Black voters in 48 years, and Hispanic voters in more than 50 years.

So, it appears that it is time to move on. The call for Biden to simply do what the public did not want to do (in making Harris president) is particularly ironic. Many voters were repulsed by the Democrats simply making Harris the nominee after all the primaries were over. This was the candidate who could not garner any appreciable votes in the prior presidential primaries before being made Vice President by Biden.

Now, the idea is that she would be elevated by the unilateral act of Biden.

Without a hint of self-awareness or recognition of the hypocrisy, Simmons insisted that this would “Fulfill [Biden’s] last promise — to be transitional.” Most people understood that to mean democratically transitional in opening the way for the election of new leadership. He did so after he was forced to step aside after winning every Democratic primary and tens of millions of votes.

Nevertheless, Simmons argued that “Democrats have to learn drama and transparency and doing things that the public wanna see is the time.” That would certainly be dramatic as well as anti-Democratic.  Yet, Simmons explained that “this is the moment for us to change the entire perspective of how Democrats operate.”

Indeed, it would. It would confirm that the Democratic Party is an effective oligarchy, the very thing that they just campaigned against.

Sellers is more modest.

He just wants Harris on the Supreme Court. At no point in history has anyone suggested that Harris was a leading legal mind. Nothing in her history suggests that she is a competent, let alone promising, candidate for the highest court.

Harris has previously suggested her support for possible radical changes on the Court, including court packing. She is also a decidedly anti-free speech figure in American politics.

None of that matters any more than the results of the election.

Harris would be put on the Court not due to any specific talents or skills but because it would be “consequential.” He wrapped up by saying “let Republicans go crazy, ape, I’m even mentioning that option.”

Others are not pushing Harris but are pushing Sotomayor to resign to allow for one of the fastest confirmations in history. Under this theory, a lame duck president would muscle through a confirmation before Trump could come into power.

Of course, that ignores the possibility that you could vacate the seat and then fall short in the sharply divided Senate. That includes the possible loss of senators who might balk at such a maneuver, including outgoing Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

The one option that does not appear to be popular is to listen to the voters and actually return the Democratic Party back toward the center of our politics. The problem is now the voters themselves.

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau once famously insisted that “War is too important to be left to the generals.” The Democrats appear to be working on a new view that democracy is too important to be left to the voters.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” 

After years of feminizing the US military through DEI initiatives, a new executive order under consideration by the Trump transition team would establish a “warrior board” of retired senior military personnel which would be granted the power to review three- and four-star officers and recommend any removals of those deemed unfit for leadership.

A draft review of the Executive Order seen by the Wall Street Journal could fast-track generals and admirals found to be “lacking in requisite leadership qualities,” given President-elect Donald Trump’s past vow to fire “woke generals” who have promoted diversity among the ranks at the expense of military readiness.

As commander in chief, Trump can fire any officer at will, but an outside board whose members he appoints would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotion system, signaling across the military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals. 

The draft order says it aims to establish a review that focuses “on leadership capability, strategic readiness, and commitment to military excellence.” The draft doesn’t specify what officers need to do or present to show if they meet those standards. The draft order originated with one of several outside policy groups collaborating with the transition team, and is one of numerous executive orders under review by Trump’s team, a transition official said. -WSJ

The board would be made up of retired generals and noncommissioned officers, who would send their recommendations to Trump. Those identified for removal would be retired at their current rank within 30 days. 

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman, who declined to directly comment on the potential executive order.

Trump has called for the purging of those he views as failed generals – including those involved in the Biden administration’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump has previously said he would ask all generals involved in the withdrawal to resign by “noon on Inauguration day.”

In October, Trump told an audience that he would create a task force to monitor the “woke generals” and to get rid of diversity training in the military.

One such woke general set for a purgin’ could be Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to two defense officials.

The EO would fit with plans by the Trump team for major reforms at the DoD, particularly when it comes to the size of the joint staff, according to the report.

“It’s gotten way too big,” said one person with knowledge of the transition. “Trump also expects that many of the generals, the three- and four-star generals that have been under performing will basically be retired.”

The draft executive order cites as precedent for the move Gen. George C. Marshall’s creation of a “plucking board” in 1940, led by retired general officers, to review the files of senior serving military officers and “remove from line promotion any officer for reasons deemed good and sufficient.” The goal of Marshall’s board was to make room to promote promising junior officers.

The president has the power to fire generals but rarely does so for political reasons. President Harry Truman fired Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur for publicly challenging the administration’s Asia security strategy. President Obama fired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal as his Afghanistan commander after the military leader’s subordinates were quoted as criticizing the administration in a magazine article. -WSJ

The new order also puts Army Gen. Mark Milley in the crosshairs – however we don’t think the board will be necessary for that purge. Milley notably told ‘journalist’ Bob Woodward that Trump was a “total fascist.” 

Trump calls Gen. Mark Milley “a stupid person” and Gen. John Kelly “one of the dumbest people” he’s ever met.

This is how Donald Trump talks about people who are more loyal to the United States of America than they are to him. pic.twitter.com/OS5vtMrQ8C

— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) August 26, 2024

Authored by Brian Robertson via American Greatness,

“Trump really could empower RFK Jr. to wreck public health” proclaims the headline in Vox.

“RFK Jr. Wants to Reshape US Health Policy. Good Luck With That” mocks a banner in Wired.

Likewise, the Wall Street Journal joined the frenzy, noting that “industry, doctors, and their supporters in Congress probably will resist Kennedy’s unconventional health ideas.”

The alarmist reporting exposes the strategy to discredit Kennedy, claiming he’s a “conspiracy theorist and vaccine skeptic” who supports “dubious and unproven therapies,” and if Trump follows his dangerous agenda, “preventable diseases like measles and polio could make a comeback.”

These hit pieces, the first two dropping a week before Trump’s victory, were a red light flashing the abject fear of the revolving-door lobbyists and their corporate media allies over the prospect of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ending the K-Street scam that has led to the capture of our federal agencies by the very industries they are supposed to be regulating.

The palpable fear crosses party lines.

As the Washington Post notes: “The prospect of Kennedy holding any senior administration role has increasingly alarmed public health leaders and federal workers who say that he should not be allowed anywhere near the nation’s public health infrastructure.” The reason for the dread: Kennedy’s goal of liberating the federal agencies from the grip that corporate and financial interests, from Big Pharma to Big Food, have exerted over them for decades. He’s Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of the lobbyists and bureaucrats who have been complicit in the continuing degradation of American health.

Kennedy has insisted that he would do nothing to prevent access to vaccines; he only pledged to carry out the safety studies that the pharmaceutical industry has prevented the health agencies from conducting with objectivity. Thus, armed with “informed consent,” Americans could weigh the risks and make the decisions for themselves and their children without compulsion. That’s a welcomed change from the current regime of a federally decreed vaccine schedule for children, enforced via hospital and school mandates.

Ironically, the same health establishment—sounding alarms about potential harms resulting from Trump giving RFK Jr. a central role in ending the conflicts of interest determining health policy in the United States—remains utterly silent about exploding autism rates among children in recent decades, the mental health crisis and soaring rates of teens on mood-altering prescription drugs, and a new USDA study revealing that a shocking 38 percent of teens now suffer from pre-diabetes. The same crowd panicking over the alleged dangers to public health were RFK Jr. able to remove conflicts of interest in the system show absolutely no interest in determining the cause of our epidemic of chronic childhood disease in this country.

While skepticism about the oversized influence of the pharmaceutical industry used to be standard on the political left, the Democratic Party is now the locus of pro-Big Pharma propagandizing. The COVID pandemic, coupled with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, seemed to change that skeptical attitude virtually overnight, to the point that today we take it for granted that the most enthusiastic cheerleaders for the latest unsafe and ineffective Pharma product will be found on the left.

We should therefore not be surprised by liberals taking potshots at RFK Jr.’s planned reforms. Zeke Emanuel, a key architect of Obamacare and COVID lockdown advocate, warns that “appointing RFK Jr. to a major public health leadership role could have serious and damaging consequences…making him a disastrous choice.” Dr. Paul Offit, a critic of Kennedy’s who had a leading role in amplifying Dr. Fauci’s COVID measures, cautions that “his science denialism makes him the wrong person for any kind of progress.”

But the Republican Party establishment forms a more insidious political opposition. Many in the old guard with strong ties to Big Pharma exerted an outsize role in the first Trump administration—they have much to lose in a disruption of the dysfunctional status quo. Now they are preemptively calling wolf: “It will be hard for a Trump administration to focus on other priorities, if government agencies are busy dealing with resource intensive and preventable measles and polio outbreaks” claims former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, echoing the scaremongering on the pro-Pharma left. RFK Jr. shaping health policies raises “concerns about misinformation and harm,” he warns. Other GOP players are anonymously quoted in the Washington Post article urging “the Trump transition team to consider more traditional options to lead federal health agencies,” naming several options who toed the Big Pharma line in the first term.

The GOP opposition also includes members of the “conservative” punditry who hearken back to a pre-Trump brand of Republicanism. The institutionalist Right, already hostile to Trump for his apostasy from the post-Reagan “conservative” consensus in favor of mass immigration, globalist trade schemes that subsidized the mass movement of U.S. manufacturing overseas coupled with the easy importation of cheap foreign goods and labor, and interventionist adventurism abroad. Add to that a Make America Healthy Again agenda of directly tackling the corporate capture of government, and these self-appointed gatekeepers start seeing red more than they would at a MAGA rally. Curbing Big Pharma in setting policy and in buying off any potentially critical news coverage (through the intimidation factor of their enormous investment in advertising) is characterized as an attack on the sanctity of the Free Market.

While these political fossils may be failing to read the populist room after the electoral victory for MAGA and MAHA last week, no one should underestimate the ability of Big Food and Big Pharma – and their allies in the corporate-backed think tanks and media outlets – to gin up opposition to the very health agenda Kennedy has been given the mandate to advance. But the campaign may fail to gain political traction in the wake of the collapse in public trust for the healthcare establishment after the COVID debacle. Appeals to credentialed health experts no longer carry much weight with a public that was lied to and manipulated by this same crowd over the last four years. Many Americans are waking up to the fact that blind faith in medical and scientific experts lies at the very root of the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our once-healthy nation.

The time is opportune for a radical revamping of our corrupt health establishment, and RFK Jr. is just the right person at the right time under Trump to pull it off.

*  *  *

Brian Robertson served for over a decade in the U.S. Senate as a senior policy advisor and worked for the Trump administration at both HHS and the Department of State.

Earlier this month Ukraine’s military achieved a significant first, and one which was surely noticed by Russia as cause for deep alarm. On November 6, a large Ukrainian kamikaze drone struck Russian warships in the Caspian Sea, at a huge distance from the front lines of the war.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence service said at least two targets were hit, likely a pair of missile patrol ships moored closely together at the Russian naval base in the city of Kaspiysk. This is an astounding more than 900 miles (1500km) from the border with Ukraine.

The port city, located in the Republic of Dagestan, has seen an increase of Russian ships off its coast of late, given much of the Black Sea fleet has been relocated to the Caspian in order to protect these valuable military assets from drone and missile attacks out of Ukraine, especially while they are moored and inactive.

“Ukraine has repeatedly attacked the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet with drone boats and missile strikes, and it has effectively driven Russian surface combatants and submarines out of the Crimean peninsula,” The Maritime Executive writes.

“The majority of the fleet is now homeported in Novorossiysk, in the northeastern corner of the Black Sea, to avoid the risk of further attacks,” the report continues. “Strikes on the distant Caspian Flotilla – which Russia has used repeatedly to launch cruise missiles – indicate that Ukraine’s reach has grown.”

Since the start of the war Ukraine has achieved at least a dozen successful major strikes damaging Russian naval assets at the Black Sea Crimean port of Sevastopol.

But if Ukraine has demonstrated that its drones can reach all the way into the Caspian, this means Russia will have to take further measures in keeping its fleet safe. There appears to be a media blackout of the Caspian Sea drone incident, per regional media:

Despite the head of Dagestan’s call not to post photos and videos of the incident, channels from Dagestan and across Russia are full of videos of the drone’s flight and impact from different angles.

The incident is also being hotly discussed on local social media. During the attempt to shoot down the drone, the Russian military spared no bullets, and as a result, some of them hit the homes of the Caspian people. Bloggers complain that despite the allocation of 550 million rubles ($5,640,000) of state funds for the Safe City system, neither the Emergency Situations Ministry’s warning nor the civil defense systems worked. The mayor of Kaspiysk announced after the strike that street lighting will be turned off between 1 and 8AM “to minimize the presence of people on the streets at night.”

This morning, Ukrainian attack drones successfully struck Russia’s Caspian Sea flotilla in the port of Kaspiysk, over 1000 km behind the frontline.

Seen here, a Ukrainian drone flies low over the harbor and slams into a row of docked Russian warships. pic.twitter.com/06vbjUfblQ

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) November 6, 2024

Speculation over the drone used in the attack has focused on the Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat aircraft. It is a tiny plane that resembles a Cessna which has been converted into a kamikaze drone.

One industry website says that the small two-seater would have to undergo extensive modifications for drone use:

For the kamikaze operation, the aircraft had to be configured to carry an explosive payload. A designated compartment could be engineered within the aircraft to securely contain the explosives, designed for safe transport and effective detonation at the target. An activation mechanism might be developed to detonate the payload either remotely or upon impact with the target.

An eyewitness account has been provided by Forbes as follows:

As Russian sailors dove for cover, one of the Aeroprakt A-22s—apparently operated by the Ukrainian intelligence directorate—plowed into a clutch of warships moored side-by-side along a pier.

According to Anton Gerashchenko, a former advisor to the interior ministry in Kyiv, the explosion damaged three ships, including two Gepard-class frigates—the fleet’s biggest ships—as well as a smaller Buyan corvette. The damaged vessels may account for nearly a third of the Caspian Fleet’s strength.

UAV strikes the port of Kaspiysk, where Russian naval ships. Local sources confirm that the drone targeted the base of the Russian Navy’s Caspian Flotilla, a site that hosts strategic assets like a missile division. pic.twitter.com/oUYUrZifhQ

— Bandera Fella *-^ (@banderafella) November 6, 2024

For such a great distance as over 1,000km – the aircraft would also have to undergo significant upgrades to increase fuel capacity or improve fuel efficiency. Some of Ukraine’s most significant strikes on Russian territory of late have especially focused on taking out fuel depots and energy transit points, many which are deep into Russia.

Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,

The Justice Department has released statistics on the number of J6 protestors arrested since the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising – showing that prosecutors were busy arresting dozens of new targets in the run-up to Election Day.

According to the DOJ, approximately 1,561 J6ers have been charged criminally in federal court – up more than 100 cases from the 1,457 arrests as of June.

The latest DOJ stats – released on Election Day – show that the federal government’s furious pace of arrests continued throughout this year.

The DOJ charged 725 from January 2021 to January 2022; more than 200 in 2022; about 225 last year; and another 419 through nearly the first half of 2024.

The uptick in charges and arrests this year followed a letter from the “Sedition Hunters” to Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves – urging them to arrest thousands of additional J6 protestors before the 2024 election.

The Sedition Hunters is a shadowy group of online sleuths that use controversial facial recognition technology to help the FBI track down Jan. 6 protestors.

“It appears that the department and the FBI are not on pace to arrest an alarmingly large percentage [of those] who committed crimes at the Capitol on January 6 but have not been charged yet,” the Sedition Hunters’ April letter said.

“These people have already committed political violence once, and for the more violent offenders to remain un-arrested and face no accountability is a concern to me because it’s an election year — and what’s to stop them from committing political violence again this year?” the letter said.

According to the letter, 3,900 people committing crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6. That includes people who breached the Capitol and those who engaged in violence on the grounds, but not the people who were on the Capitol grounds—itself a crime—but otherwise didn’t violate any laws.

“About 626 people have been charged with assaulting law enforcement and media, or entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon,” Raw Story reported in April.

“Based on those numbers, the arrest rate for violent offenders would need to pick up the pace from about 16 per month to 26 per month in order to meet the deadline before the statute of limitations runs out on Jan. 6, 2026.”

Update (1445ET):

The epic meltdown of far-left corporate media following the presidential election continues to gain momentum as CNN and MSNBC viewerships implode. Next up: layoffs.

Puck’s Dylan Byers reports that CNN newsroom will likely be hit with another round of layoffs over the next few months. This time, as Byers noted, big talent could be on the chopping block:

In the next few months, I’m told, CNN will implement another round of layoffs that will impact hundreds of employees across the organization, including those whose TV production talents won’t necessarily be needed in the new digital-first landscape. Reporters and correspondents will be asked to assume more of the responsibilities once handled by teams of producers and production assistants, redundant assignments will be nixed, and various divisions will be reduced or even eliminated. Some of the on-air talent are also likely to be affected.

It’s unclear at the moment if top talent such as Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer, John Berman, and or Kaitlan Collins will be axed.  

The NYPost noted about a month ago that CNN’s Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer were reportedly denied salary raises while Chris Wallace may be forced to take a pay cut. 

CNN currently has 92 people as on-air “reporters and correspondents.”

While X and alternative media were very impactful this election cycle, outgunning legacy media in an all-out info war, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei had a meltdown over Elon Musk’s “you are the media” comments:

On X, “Musk is proclaiming that ‘you are the media.’ No, you’re not. I mean, maybe you’re somebody who’s popping off on X, but it’s different than being a reporter… I could take your temperature… If you had a wound, I could put a bandaid on it. It doesn’t make me a fucking doctor.” 

On X, “Musk is proclaiming that ‘you are the media.’ No, you’re not. I mean, maybe you’re somebody who’s popping off on X, but it’s different than being a reporter… I could take your temperature… If you had a wound, I could put a bandaid on it. It doesn’t make me a fucking… https://t.co/Q3XNiN8cxF

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) November 12, 2024

Well, legacy media, if you had done your job correctly and refrained from calling Trump and over half the country “Nazis” and “Hitler” 24/7 for the better part of a decade…

… there would have been no need to reform legacy media by pushing new, innovative ways to convey news truthfully (without gov’t far-left propaganda) through X and alternative media.

Legacy media tried to destroy Trump. He destroyed them instead. https://t.co/PIIpwltnRw

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) November 12, 2024

MSM nuked their own brands by promoting around-the-clock misinformation and disinformation, from Hunter Biden’s laptop to Covid origins to endless wars to inflation to border crisis to Biden’s mental acuity to cheerleading Kamala Harris as the next messiah.

*   *   * 

Mainstream propaganda outlets MSNBC and CNN have seen an absolute collapse in viewership following the 2024 presidential election.

According to Neilsen data, last Thursday’s total views on Fox News came in at 2.6 million – of which 375,000 were in the coveted 25-54 age demographic, Mediaite reports. In comparison, MSNBC only had 596,000 / 71,000 25-54 viewers and CNN brought in 419,000 / 91,000 25-54.

Fox News was up some 60 percent year over year for the day, while MSNBC and CNN were down 23 and 40 percent – respectively. In prime time the news was even more bleak for CNN and MSNBC as they shed 30 percent and 54 percent of their viewers, respectively, compared to the same day last year. MSNBC host Alex Wagner had her lowest-rated show ever in terms of total viewers, while Chris Hayes’s show brought in its worst numbers since May of 2016.

On Friday, seven MSNBC shows recorded their lowest Friday ratings for the year. While Fox averaged 4.4M viewers Wed-Fri in prime time and 701,000 in that key demographic, MSNBC had just 808,000 total viewers for the same period (90k in demo), and CNN had 611,000 total average prime time viewers (159k in demo).

No wonder CNN’s Chris Wallace is about to explore podcasting.

Fox‘s Elizabeth MacDonald breaks down the carnage at MSNBC by time slot between Oct. 30 and Nov. 8:

• Morning Joe 1st hour – down 39.6%
• Morning Joe 2d hour – down 36.9%
• Andrea Mitchell – down 39.7%
• Ari Melber – down 49.6%
• Joy Reid’s Reidout – down 54.6%
• All-in w Chris Hayes – down 47.2%
• Alex Wagner Tonight- down 53.6%
• Lawrence O’Donnell – down 60.6%
• Stephanie Ruhle – down 67%

Three weeks ago Axios, citing Gallup, pointed out that Americans’ trust in media has plummeted to a historic low…

What’s interesting is that Democrats have the highest trust in mass media, yet their networks are ghost towns.

As Outkick.com reports further;

CNN and MSNBC’s futures are bleak. 

The two networks maintained relevancy during Trump’s first term by aggressively promoting the Russia hoax. Though the networks could try to manufacture another phony scandal, who would believe them?

Trump’s decisive victory demonstrated that the left-wing cable news networks have lost their influence. CNN and MSNBC exhausted every resource at their disposal to stop Donald Trump from achieving victory, eventually stooping to a plot to depict him as the second coming of Adolf Hitler, the most ruthless dictator in modern world history.

It didn’t work. The lies, the hysteria, and the besmirchment only made Trump more popular and sunk CNN and MSNBC deeper.

Here is how race lady Joy Reid is handling the results:

Joy Reid will now prioritize “black interests” over America because she’s given up on all the whites and Latinos in the country. pic.twitter.com/LGzUi8A486

— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) November 11, 2024

“Don’t talk to your family members who Voted for Trump during The Holidays…” 🇺🇲

~ Joy Reid & Amanda Joypic.twitter.com/VAP060yuTt

— TPB 🇺🇲 (@TheClassicPhil) November 10, 2024

*  *  *

NEW: Joy Reid accuses black and latino men that voted for Trump of “anti-blackness” and “identifying with whiteness.”

In the wake of a crushing repudiation of woke, divisive identity politics — legacy media continues to double down.

This is why they’ll continue to lose. pic.twitter.com/DnqlSTKRNq

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 7, 2024

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Old School lefty strategist James Carville is still raking Democrats across the coals for doing everything wrong and becoming an obsolete political force.

In another rant, Carville, the former lead strategist in Bill Clinton’s winning 1992 Presidential campaign, noted “We have no legislative power, we have no executive power, we have no judicial power. So when you’re out of power, you’re an opposition party. And go and tell all the people that are sending you and asking you for money, justify what you did, justify what you did wrong, and tell us what you’re going to do different.”

He continued, “what you’ve done ain’t worth a shit. Get your head around that. And all of the Washington-based Democrats farting around, going to wine and cheese parties, and talking about how misogynistic the race is, get your ass out of Washington, and go work on a 2026 campaign and do penance to make up for your goddamn arrogance and stupidity.”

Oof.

Carville then referenced woke identity politics, which was disastrously embraced by the Democrats, urging “we’re going to say we told you so. We told you this identity shit was disaster. We told you to get out in front of public safety issues. You didn’t.”

He further declared, “we got caught in the grip of the stupid God damn identitarian mission. Defund the police. The entire era of Jackassery.”

Carville also noted how the coup of Biden and the anointment of Harris was a grave error for Democrats.

“We told you to have an open process and demonstrate the magnificent and staggering and deep talent that exists in the modern Democratic Party. You didn’t. We told you to differentiate yourself from Biden. You didn’t,” he urged.

“I hate to be some fucking know-it-all, but all of these things are part of the record,” Carville proclaimed.

Carville also again pointed to Kamala’s awful appearance on The View, where she couldn’t think of a single thing to say when asked what she would do different to Biden.

“We got fucked because on the single money question, the single thing that it boils down to is what would you do different? That was the fattest softest pitch you could possibly get, but you missed it. I mean, you didn’t just miss it. You missed it by four feet,” Carville blasted.

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced his nomination for the important post of US Ambassador to Israel, at a moment the Middle East stands on the brink, with wars raging in Gaza and Lebanon, and with tensions boiling between Tehran and Tel Aviv.

“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be The United States Ambassador to Israel,” an official statement from the Trump transition team says.

The statement released early Tuesday afternoon continues, “Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!

If Israel is ‘loved’ by the Israeli people, we doubt the Palestinians feel the same, given that throughout his career – both as governor of Arkansas, and as a FOX News and talk radio pundit – he has been a staunch supporter of the Jewish state and simultaneously an Iran hawk.

At this moment, Biden’s special envoy to the Middle East has said there is a “shot” to achieve ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, even as missile exchanges and bombings on either side of the border ramp up.

The prospect of a Gaza peace and hostage deal looks more remote than ever, and there’s almost no chance of a deal being achieved in the Gaza Strip during the rest of Biden’s term.

Huckabee in the post of US ambassador to Israel will no doubt be greeted with joy among Netanyahu government officials. The appointment also surely satisfies the Fox-watching and conservative talk radio demographic among Americans.

Regardless, Huckabee is set to take over the embassy in Jerusalem which is at the heart of several warring fronts. Netanyahu officials on Tuesday have gone so far as to say now is not the time for ceasefire in Lebanon, until the military’s goals are achieved. Huckabee is likely to agree.

The Israeli lobby in the US is also going to be quite happy at this development, along with other picks being revealed this week:

Trump has selected AIPAC-approved Rep. Mike Waltz to serve as his national security advisor. pic.twitter.com/rTBxRycbhL

— AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) November 12, 2024

Below is his full bio, by the National Governors Association 

* * *

MIKE HUCKABEE was born in Hope, Arkansas, and graduated from Ouachita Baptist University. Huckabee served as Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas from 1993 until July 1996 when he became Governor after his predecessor resigned, becoming one of the youngest governors in the country at the time. Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term as governor in 1998 and was reelected in November 2002. He pushed through education reforms in Arkansas that significantly expanded the availability of college scholarships, increased the number of charter schools, and established new approaches to workforce education. His Smart Start and Smart Step initiatives placed a heavy emphasis on reading and mathematics for students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, and since their creation student scores on standardized tests have risen steadily. Huckabee was also a leader in improving health care, creating the ARKids First program to extend health insurance coverage to tens of thousands of children, and leading a ballot initiative that devoted all of the state’s tobacco settlement money to improving the health of Arkansans. He led the Healthy Arkansas campaign, which received nationwide attention for its emphasis on changing the unhealthy behaviors of Arkansas residents.

In 1996, Huckabee led the fight for Amendment 75 to the Arkansas Constitution, which created a sales tax that funded one of the finest systems of state parks in the country and a system of state-of-the-art nature centers. Known as the “highway governor,” he led the campaign for a 1999 bond issue to rehabilitate the state’s system of crumbling interstate highways. Huckabee also won passage of the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history; led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights; and created a welfare reform program that reduced the welfare rolls in the state by almost 50 percent. He is a former chairman of the Southern Governors’ Association, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Technology Council and the Southern International Trade Council. Huckabee chairs the Education Commission of the States and is the immediate past president of the Council of State Governments. Huckabee served as chair of the National Governors Association from 2005 to 2006, overseeing the initiative “Healthy America: Wellness Where We Live, Work and Learn.”

Mike Huckabee is fed up with Nikki Haley:

“She blames Donald Trump for the chaos. It’s not Donald Trump that created the chaos.”pic.twitter.com/O8RQHnmKDl

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 2, 2024

He and his wife, Janet, have three grown children: John Mark, David, and Sarah. After attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, Huckabee was a Baptist minister at several churches in Arkansas.  After serving as Governor, Huckabee ran for U.S. President in 2008 and 2016. Huckabee provided political commentary to the Fox News channel and was given his own weekend talk show, Huckabee, which first aired on Fox News in 2007. He has also hosted several talk-radio shows. Huckabee enjoys hunting, fishing and reading.