“We Remain On Strike”: Boeing Union Rejects New Labor Contract
The union representing about 33,000 striking Boeing workers rejected a tentative labor contract on Wednesday night, prolonging the strike that threatens the struggling planemaker’s investment-grade credit rating status. This comes days after Boeing mulled over asset sales and filed a $25 billion shelf registration amid dwindling cash reserves. Hours earlier on Wednesday, Boeing reported a net loss of $6.17 billion for the third quarter.
About 64% of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union members rejected the new tentative agreement, which would’ve given them a 35% wage boost over a new four-year contract.
“We remain on strike,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden said moments after the vote, adding, “Our members deserve more and have spoken loudly.”
BREAKING: THE STRIKE WILL CONTINUE! @Boeing machinists REJECT deal that would’ve given them 35% pay raises over the next 4 years also provided $7k in signing bonuses. Vote was 64% to reject deal pic.twitter.com/SspVgn6O2n
Boeing shares in New York fell 2.5% in premarket trading. For the year, shares are down about 40%, on course for the worst annual decline since 2008.
Boeing’s latest contract offer increased from 25%. IAM workers are pressing the struggling planemaker to reinstate a defined-benefit pension plan.
Holden said, “The loss of the pension is still right at the heart of this for many union members,” adding, “We’re going to put all cards on the table” to see what Boeing can offer instead of the pension plan.
S&P Global Ratings recently noted that the strike costs Boeing about $1 billion a month. The failed vote extends the five-week strike that has halted commercial jet production across Seattle.
Also on Wednesday, Boeing reported a third-quarter net loss of $6.17 billion, bringing total losses in 2024 to a stunning $8 billion. Earlier this month, Boeing announced plans to shed its workforce by 10%, or about 17,000 jobs. It also disclosed in a filing about plans to raise $25 billion by selling debt or stock over the next three years.
Earlier, new CEO Kelly Ortberg told CNBC, “My focus is getting everybody looking forward, get them back to work, improve that relationship.”
Attention Cash-Strapped Americans: Goldman Reaffirms Walmart Offers Best Grocery Deals
Goldman analysts reveal that Walmart continues to lead retailers in offering consumers the most competitive grocery prices, while Whole Foods remains the most expensive option. The report also includes updates on holiday meal promotions at retailers and consumer insights from data firm HundredX.
The analysts were led by Leah Jordan and Kate McShane, who reviewed 38 SKUs in dairy, frozen goods, dry grocery, HPC, and produce categories at major retailers, including Kroger, Albertsons (under its banner Randalls), Walmart, Sprouts Farmers Market, Whole Foods, and Dollar General.
They found Walmart had the lowest prices:
As shown in Exhibit 1, WMT had the lowest prices at -14.0% vs. the group average (widened from -12.2% last month), followed by DG at -4.5% (vs -7.8% last month). WFM had the highest prices in the group at +10.1%, followed by ACI at +9.3%. KR had the highest SKU availability for the products surveyed at 37, followed by WMT and ACI at 36.
… and the lowest prices across all categories:
Looking by category (Exhibit 2), WMT had the lowest prices in dairy products (-18.1%), frozen foods (-14.0%), dry grocery (-11.7%), and produce (-12.2%), while DG had the lowest prices in HPC (-14.8%). On the other hand, WFM had the highest prices in dairy products (+11.3%) and frozen foods (+19.0%), while ACI had the highest prices in dry grocery (+9.1%), HPC (+6.1%), and produce (+10.8%).
Latest holiday meal deal promotions by retailers…
Analysts noted, “Consumer survey data from HundredX revealed the strongest net purchasing intent for large regional grocers, clubs, hard discounters, and specialty grocers across our selection of food retailers, while dollar stores and conventional grocers tracked on the lower end.”
In a separate but recent note, UBS analyst Michael Lasser said Dollar General and Dollar Tree faced “existential uncertainties” as cash-strapped consumers dialed back spending and shifted to Walmart.
In other words, struggling consumers in an era of failed Bidenomics are just gravitating to the deals.
The sister of slain soldier Vanessa Guillén slammed The Atlantic after it used anonymous sources to allege that President Donald Trump disparaged her after discovering the funeral expenses.
Guillén’s death at the hands of a fellow soldier and his girlfriend became national news in 2020, with Trump comforting the grief-stricken family and extending death benefits. He also offered to cover the costs personally if the Army did not pay for the funeral expenses.
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, however, attempted to rewrite history on Tuesday, claiming that Trump was outraged when he learned that Guillén’s funeral, which included heightened security and closed streets, cost $60,000.
According to the magazine—relying on an anonymous source—Trump allegedly said, “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” and ordered then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to deny payment.
Guillén’s sister, Mayra, issued a viral statement on X, condemning The Atlantic’s distorted portrayal of her experience with Trump.
“I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members,” Mayra wrote on X, garnering over 3 million views.
“President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today,” Mayra added.
Wow.
I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members. President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today. https://t.co/o8cDrKOKBV
FOREVER 20
Happy heavenly birthday sister. You’d be 25 years old today. Time has passed by so unexpectedly, it feels like it was just yesterday that we were having breakfast….you now have a legacy that we have to fulfill in your honor. I love you & miss you very much sister. ❤️🩹 pic.twitter.com/sbVgIWvQXh
Meadows’s spokesperson, Ben Williamson, explicitly denied that Trump ever made the remarks in comments provided before publication.
The Atlantic omitted these comments, claiming that Williamson denied ever hearing such remarks.
On the left: I sent Atlantic a comment saying President Trump “absolutely did not say that,” referring to the alleged comments about Ms. Guillen they printed.
On the right: Atlantic translated that comment to “didn’t hear Trump say it.”
While most national attention is on the top-of-the-ticket race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, control of Congress will be equally consequential.
Republicans currently hold a narrow majority of eight seats in the House, meaning they can only spare three defections on big votes. Democrats, with four independents, hold a one-seat majority in the Senate and the tie-breaking vote.
While Republicans are favored to reclaim the Senate, the fate of the House remains more uncertain.
Whoever is president will need full control of Congress to get much done during their term.
House Republicans seek to grow their thin, ideologically divided majority and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has indicated his intention to seek reelection as speaker.
Democrats are seeking to reclaim the majority, which they controlled from 2019 to 2023, and to place House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in the speaker’s chair.
Of the 435 House races, there are around two dozen that are expected to ultimately determine control of the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress.
Each race listed here is rated by the Cook Political Report as a “toss-up,” making these races among the hardest to predict.
New York
Republican control of the House is largely due to the party’s victories in New York in 2022, when several Republicans won districts that had voted for candidate Joe Biden just two years prior.
While the expected red wave didn’t fully materialize nationwide, there was a notable Republican surge in New York.
The most surprising win was Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-N.Y.) defeat of incumbent Rep. Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the then-chair of the Democrats’ House campaign arm.
Lawler, whose district lies just north of New York City, won by a 0.6 percent margin in an upset that shocked even bullish Republicans.
This year, Lawler is leading his Democratic opponent, Mondaire Jones, by just one point, an Oct. 3 Emerson College poll shows.
Meanwhile, Reps. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) and Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.)—both of whom represent Biden-voting districts—are also seeking to hold onto their closely contested seats.
Molinaro won by just around a 1.6 percent margin, while D’Esposito enjoyed a more comfortable 3.6 percent.
Current polling results for both candidates lie in the margin of error: the most recent polling of each race has each trailing the Democrat candidate by three points.
However, other polling showed D’Esposito in a stronger position, leading earlier polling by six points.
Although the results in 2022 suggested New York could be trending Republican, it remains to be seen if the party can maintain that momentum in 2024.
Equally important to Republicans’ narrow reclamation of the House in 2022 was California, where Republicans also made gains in districts outside of the blue strongholds that dot the state’s coast.
Now, several GOP incumbents face tight reelection battles to hold on to those districts.
Five California Republicans—Reps. John Duarte, David Valadao, Mike Garcia, Ken Calvert, and Michelle Steel—are in extremely close races. All but one of these districts voted for Biden in 2020, highlighting their competitive nature.
Duarte narrowly won his central California seat in 2022 with 50.2 percent to his Democratic opponent’s 49.8 percent, a difference of just 0.4 percent. Polling this cycle shows them neck and neck, with the latest poll giving the Democrat a 1-point edge.
Valadao, who won by a 3-point margin in 2022, faces a much closer race this time, with recent polling showing the race tied.
Garcia won by 6.4 points last cycle, but polling shows him trailing by two points in his northern Los Angeles district.
Calvert and Steel both won by more than four points in 2022. This time around, Steel is again ahead by four points, while Calvert is tied with his Democratic opponent.
Holding these seats is vital for the Republicans to maintain or grow their House majority in 2024.
While Republicans may be on the defensive in blue strongholds like New York and California, Democrats are similarly on the defensive in two of this election’s most crucial states: Michigan and Pennsylvania.
At the presidential level, these two states are expected to play a huge role in determining the ultimate victor in the election.
These states, along with Wisconsin, were once known as the “Blue Wall” for their long streak of backing Democrats and formed the backbone of their electoral strategy.
Since Trump, however, Republicans have seen a resurgence in the region as its many white working-class voters move over to the GOP camp.
In both 2016 and 2020, these three states, particularly Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, were decided by razor-thin margins.
In Michigan—generally considered the most liberal of the three—Republicans are vying to flip control of two open seats abandoned by Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).
While Slotkin won by 5 percent in 2022 and Kildee won by 10 percent, polling shows that the two races are on track to be far more competitive this time.
Republicans lead by four points in Slotkin’s 7th Congressional District, according to polling from early October, and by a single point margin in Kildee’s 8th Congressional District, according to polling from the beginning of August.
Picking up one or both of these seats would represent a major gain for Republicans, who stand to benefit from the loss of the two Democratic incumbents.
Over in Pennsylvania, considered the most consequential swing state this cycle, Reps. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) and Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) are seeking to hold their seats.
Wild, representing Allentown and its environs, won by a narrow two-point margin in 2022.
Recent polling suggests she’s on track to hold the seat, with the most recent poll ending Oct. 3 finding a six-point lead for Wild.
Cartwright, meanwhile, won with 51 percent to Republicans’ 48 percent in 2022. Polling this cycle shows a 3.1 percent lead for Cartwright, though low sample sizes in these polls mean the race is still within the margin of error.
Arizona
Arizona, another battleground state, is home to some of the most contested races in the 2024 cycle.
Two Republican incumbents, Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), face tough reelections in districts that narrowly voted for Biden in 2020.
Schweikert won his 1st Congressional District seat in 2022 by less than 1 percent of the vote after the district backed Biden by 1.5 percent in 2020.
Polling shows a slight edge for Democrats, who led by 1 percent in a poll that concluded on Aug. 13, though two earlier polls showed a tie. More recent polling isn’t available.
Ciscomani won his 6th district seat by similarly thin margins in 2022, securing 50 percent to Democrats’ 49 percent. Like Schweikert, his district backed Biden in 2020 by around 1.1 percent.
There’s no recent polling available for Ciscomani’s race.
Retaining the districts is crucial for Republicans to grow their House majority, with both expected to be decided by razor-thin margins in 2024.
The House China panel has called on the State Department and the Pentagon to take stronger action to address “problematic” Chinese research in the Arctic that could be used for both civilian and military applications, saying that these activities may pose significant security risks to the United States and its NATO allies.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outlined its concerns in an Oct. 16. letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“In recent years, the PRC has increased its effort to seek access to and exert influence in the Arctic, including expanding dual civil-military research efforts in the region,” Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chairman and ranking Democrat member of the panel, respectively, wrote in a letter, using the acronym of communist China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“The Arctic is critical to U.S. national security interests and the defense of our homeland, and we must work with our allies to preserve our defense treaty commitments.”
The lawmakers pointed out that China’s “access to the Arctic for satellite communication ground stations and scientific research greatly expands the operational effectiveness of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and furthers the PRC’s global ambitions.”
The bipartisan panel wants to know, among other things, how the U.S. government evaluates the threats posed by Chinese research involvement in the Arctic, especially “in terms of missile defense, submarine detection, and satellite tracking capabilities.”
The lawmakers requested a response by Nov. 15.
China has teamed up with Russia to expand its military and coast guard presence in the Arctic region, which harbors an estimated 13 percent of the planet’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas reserves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Earlier this month, China announced that its coast guard vessels had ventured into the Arctic Ocean for the first time, conducting patrols alongside Russian ships in waters where the CCP had long sought to exert its influence.
Despite being 900 miles away from the Arctic Circle, China has declared itself a “near-Arctic” state and has added the “Polar Silk Road” to its Belt and Road Initiative, a multibillion-dollar project aimed at bolstering Beijing’s geopolitical sway by building ports, railways, and other infrastructure worldwide.
China’s Research Stations in NATO Allies
Norway’s Svalbard archipelago is a crucial location for the CCP’s Arctic ambitions, the lawmakers pointed out in the letter.
The first Chinese research station, the Arctic Yellow River Station, was established in Svalbard in 2004. Among the organizations operating at the station is the China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation (CRIRP), a unit of China Electronics Technology Group Corp., which the Pentagon designated as a military-controlled company.
The lawmakers said that some CRIRP projects in Svalbard, as registered at the Norwegian government’s Research in Svalbard portal, could have “significant military uses.”
“CRIRP replicated these projects in its research collocation with PLA units, enhancing the PRC’s military capabilities, particularly in areas such as missile guidance, over-the-horizon radar detection, satellite communications, space object tracking, early warning systems, electronic warfare, submarine detection, and strategic communication and control in polar regions,” LJ Eads, who founded the Data Abyss, an open-source intelligence platform funded by the Pentagon, was quoted as saying in the letter.
In addition to Norway, China also operates research centers in another NATO member state, Iceland.
The China–Iceland Arctic Science Observatory (CIAO) was formally established in 2018, but according to lawmakers, data collection began in 2013, a year after the Polar Research Institute of China and the University of Iceland signed an agreement to establish CIAO.
According to the letter, data collected by CIAO have never been made publicly available despite assurances of open access.
The lawmakers expressed concern that China could use this data to improve the “accuracy of its radar systems that detect submarines, ships, and aircraft across long distances, thereby improving military surveillance and target tracking.”
The letter cited a 2021 research paper, stating that the riometer and antenna system deployed at CIAO “covers a large area in the Denmark Strait.”
Gregory Falco, a professor of systems engineering at Cornell University, told the House panel that this system can monitor the strategic submarine traffic of the U.S. and NATO through the GIUK Gap, the naval choke point encompassing the seas between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK.
Lawmakers also noted that by 2023, the Polar Research Institute of China, a subordinate directly under China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, had poured approximately $5 million into the observatory, covering almost all of its expenses.
“Although some Icelandic stakeholders raised concerns regarding the security implications of the research conducted and planned at CIAO, no formal security review has taken place,” the letter reads. “Icelandic law currently lacks specific provisions for national security-related review in such cases.”
Iceland has no military, and under a 1951 defense treaty, the United States is responsible for the island nation’s defense under the NATO umbrella.
The lawmakers urged Washington to support Iceland in conducting a national security review of research activities carried out by Chinese scientists and to halt any Chinese research used for military purposes on Icelandic territory.
The State Department said it doesn’t comment on congressional correspondence but highlighted the U.S. concerns about the CCP’s growing presence in the Arctic region.
“We have growing concerns about the PRC’s increased activities and presence in the Arctic, including dual-use capable scientific research, which could be used for future military operations,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.
“As the PRC engages in the Arctic, we encourage it to uphold international standards of transparency, rule of law, and accountability and to abide by its international legal obligations.”
The Pentagon didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.
Hezbollah Claims It Killed Over 70 Israeli Soldiers On Lebanese Soil During Clashes
Hezbollah in a new Wednesday statement claims that it has killed over 70 Israeli troopssince the IDF’s cross-border offensive began in southern Lebanon earlier this month.
“Hezbollah says its fighters killed more than 70 Israeli troops in its clashes with Israeli forces, updating a statement from last week saying 55 were killed since a ground invasion was launched earlier this month,” Reuters reports based on the statement.
Israel’s own casualty count significantly differs, as it says it has lost about 20 soldiers inside Lebanon during the offensive operations.
But over more than the past year of Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks, Israel says it has lost 30 more troops who were stationed in northern Israel.
The IDF has put the number of Hezbollah militants it has killed in the hundreds. This includes the latest high-value target which both sides have belatedly confirmed killed: Hashem Safieddine.
Safieddine was widely seen as taking over leadership of Hezbollah in the wake of Hasan Nasrallah’s death. Israel has reportedly killed at least seven high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials in recent weeks.
Hezbollah confirmed Safieddine’s death in a statement, saying “We pledge to our great martyr and his martyred brothers to continue the path of resistance and jihad until achieving its goals of freedom and victory.”
Israel has continued targeting Beirut alongside ground operations in south Lebanon, but the port city of Tyre has also been coming under heavy bombardment on Wednesday.
Both sides are touting successes. Al Jazeera reports on the Lebanese side as follows:
Hezbollah says it fired “precision missiles” and launched new types of attack drones for the first time in clashes with Israeli troops.
The Lebanese group said it was able to push back Israeli soldiers during battles in several border villages in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it forced Israeli troops to “retreat behind the frontier” after they attempted to infiltrate from the outskirts of the south Lebanon village of Aitaroun.
Wednesday also witnessed an attempted Hezbollah strike deep into Israel, on Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah has belatedly confirmed the death of the Shia cleric seen as stepping into Nasrallah’s place…
⚡️#BREAKING Hezb-Allah announces the “martyrdom of the head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hashem Safi al-Din” pic.twitter.com/v2wgnqCU07
“Two launches were intercepted by the air force, another launch fell in an open area, in addition, a fall was detected in the area. So far, no casualties have been reported,” the Israeli army said of the rocket launched at the city.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office has opened 51,000 cases of desertion through the first nine months of 2024. The number of soldiers abandoning their posts is likely to double last year’s total.
The Times of London reported data from the Ukrainian government showing that “51,000 criminal cases were initiated for desertion and abandonment of a military unit between January and September of this year.”
El Pais previously noted that 45,000 Ukrainians were being prosecuted for desertion from the start of the year through August. Al-Jazeera says the number is at least 30,000 desertions.
At the start of the year, Kiev was estimated to have between 500,000 and 800,000 active-duty soldiers and an additional 300,000 reservists.
The Ukrainians have also sustained casualties fighting to defend from Russian advances and amid Kiev’s Kursk invasion.
Kiev has struggled to fill its ranks with fresh soldiers, leading Ukraine to drop its conscription age from 27 to 25. As Kiev is still facing manpower shortages, American politicians are pushing Ukraine to drop draft age to 18. Responsible Statecraft has reported:
Despite no evidence of victory on the horizon, the Republican senator is urging Ukrainian lawmakers to pass a mobilization bill that would force more Ukrainian citizens to be drafted into the military. Currently, men under 27 are exempted from the draft. Graham has a problem with that.
…Graham told reporters, “I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe it’s at 27. You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27.”
“We need more people in the line,” he said.
Ukraine has also resorted to allowing prisoners to leave jail if they join the military.
One Ukrainian who deserted told the Times that prison was a better option than the military because “at least in prison, you know when you will be able to leave.”
It’s not just critics who say that US policy in Ukraine is to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.
Here’s @LindseyGrahamSC saying that as long as the US arms Ukraine, “they will fight to the last person.” And four months in, he says, “I like the structural path we’re on here.” pic.twitter.com/1fntZG7cjQ
The number of Ukrainians that Kiev is prosecuting for desertion has significantly increased throughout the war. In 2022, the number was 9,000, and it had more than doubled to 24,000 last year.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was founded on April 1st, 1979 under the Jimmy Carter Administration during the height of a nearly decade long stagflationary crisis and the Iranian oil crisis. Under Executive Order 12127, its stated goal was to centralize all disaster related efforts under a single top-down entity. Specifically, FEMA ended the more localized Civil Defense Agency, which was focused on community based emergency response, and it federalized all disaster coordination under a single top-down system controlled by the Oval Office.
FEMA was eventually placed under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, creating even more centralization. The reason for FEMA according to the government is to aid Americans during and after a national level disaster event; anything from earthquakes to hurricanes to terrorist attacks.
That said, it should also be noted that FEMA was officially created on April Fool’s Day.
The true purpose of FEMA has long been obscured but some disturbing truths have been exposed in the past. The declassification of a program called Rex 84 (tied to Operation Garden Plot) revealed that FEMA was working directly with the Department of Defense on a hypothetical strategy to round up and detain large numbers of civilians considered a “threat to national security.” In other words, FEMA was to act as a tool for helping suppress civil disturbances, it was not necessarily designed to help Americans in times of need.
This was likely always the intent behind the founding of FEMA, but George H.W. Bush and Oliver North are cited as the men that truly militarized FEMA in the early 1980s. The goal to establish a mechanism for controlling domestic political dissent and suspending constitutional freedoms was exposed not long after FEMA’s founding. Oliver North was visibly enraged when the subject was broached in a congressional hearing during the Iran/Contra scandal.
It should be mentioned that the REX 84 documents do not list FEMA as a primary agency in control of civil disturbance response. This is where the accusations of “conspiracy theory” usually come from – FEMA is not the end-all-be-all agency in charge of locking down American rebellion. In fact, FEMA’s role is strangely ambiguous and is not clearly defined. All that is known is that they are indeed an element of Operation Garden Plot and have participated in REX exercises.
There’s no denying that the secrecy around civil disturbance programs is pernicious and suggests that there is far more going on than our own government cares to admit. To uncover FEMA’s real intent all we have to do is examine how they behave.
The recent Hurricane Helene disaster and FEMA’s handling of the response across the East Coast echos the agency’s crimes after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Their emergency “aid” is used as a cloak to hide efforts to actually STOP communities from helping each other and preventing outside civilian funded supplies from reaching affected residents in need.
Desperate residents during Katrina were treated like prisoners rather than citizens, gun confiscation took place in many areas and some people were shot for trying to leave locked down neighborhoods. (As a side note – this is why you should NEVER let anyone confiscate your firearms, especially if those people are sent by the government)
CNN reported in 2008 that FEMA confiscated at least $85 million in donated goods and prevented them from reaching Katrina disaster victims. This included clothing, bedding, food and medical supplies. They stored these materials for years and then GAVE AWAY the supplies long after Katrina was over. FEMA claimed the supplies were “in excess to their needs.” This report and all related articles now seem to be missing from CNN’s archives.
We just witnessed a repeat of this behavior from FEMA and the affiliated agencies within their oversight. We saw local EMS being advised to prevent civilians from helping their communities. Supplies were once agaun being blocked, people with drones were being told not to help find survivors, people with helicopters are were threatened for helping save survivors and little aid reached Helene victims for weeks. Elon Musk’s Starlink was even been prevented from providing satellite internet services to affected regions until the story went national and the Department of Transportation was forced to address the problem.
It’s Katrina all over again, and FEMA always seems to have excuses.
But why? You would think that with an election only weeks away Biden and Harris would be jumping at the chance to look competent and useful. Instead, they did nothing other that offer a $750 relief check to survivors (which might help people survive for a week) and then referred people to federal programs which take many months to benefit from.
I argue that this is all deliberate. FEMA and the federal government at large are still using Operation Garden Plot-like protocols with two goals in mind…
First, they are trying to acclimate the populace to the idea that civilians can’t help themselves and that they should do nothing. They do this by constantly interfering with civilian efforts and disrupting donations. If civilians are working on their own to save US communities from calamity then they might one day realize they don’t need the Federal Government for anything. The establishment NEEDS people to believe that they can’t survive without government aid and protection. Luckily, at least in the aftermath of Helene, it seems that many communities are working on their own to fix the situation.
If civilians start doing things for themselves, the establishment machine becomes obsolete.
Second, I suspect FEMA is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. Katrina was a clear beta-test for martial law disguised as an emergency response. Katrina was Garden Plot and Rex-84 realized. They want to see what Americans will put up with. Helene is yet another opportunity for these agencies to apply overt control and see if Americans will conform or rebel.
If FEMA is truly sincere in their efforts to help Americans they certainly don’t act like it. The criticism surrounding Helene is ramping up and FEMA’s indignant attitude towards their own failures in unacceptable. They should be punished for failing in their duties. That is assuming they are actually failing.
Maybe they consider the tragedy of government inaction surrounding Helene a success? The underlying point is, when disaster comes your way, it’s not enough to merely count FEMA out as a source of aid. That’s obvious. But you will also have to consider the possibility that the agency will work directly against you and your neighbors should you try to help yourselves.
* * *
If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch. Learn more about it HERE.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
China’s Xi & India’s Modi Cement Border Peace Deal After Years Of Friction
The India-China troop clash of 2020 along the largely unmarked frontier of Ladakh in a disputed border area in the Western Himalayas resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. It was the deadliest border incident between the two nuclear-armed nations in memory.
Since then, other more minor skirmishes and tense incidents have followed, leading to several military-to-military talks and efforts at dialogue trying to diffuse the situation. Both countries have feared there could be another deadly blow-up, as the rival armies jockey to claim territory in the high altitude no man’s land.
But it appears the lengthy dispute may have permanently come to an end, and without further bloodshed. The two countries have reportedly struck a major peace deal in connection with the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan this week.
The last time President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral summit was all the way back in October 2019, in southern India. Since then, the relationship has been marred by the border tensions.
China has since developed a high-altitude air force base and infantry encampments in the Ladakh border region.
But the two leaders met and shook hands on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Wednesday…
“Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums, and as a result of these discussions, [an] agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi just as the BRICS summit kicked off in Russia.
The agreement has led to “disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,” the top Indian diplomat added.
China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday that “China and India, through diplomatic and military channels, maintained close communication recently over border-related issues. The two sides have now reached a solution.”
It was soon after the agreement was made public that Xi and Modi met in Kazan. President Xi said the two countries “should carefully handle differences and disagreements and facilitate each other’s pursuit of development aspirations.”
“It’s important for both sides to shoulder our international responsibilities, set an example for boosting the strength and unity of the developing countries, and contribute to promoting multi-polarization and democracy in international relations,” Xi continued.
And India’s Foreign Ministry said in follow-up: “The two leaders affirmed that stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbors and the two largest nations on earth, will have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity.”
Without doubt, Russian and Asian regional media will hold up this historic moment as displaying the benefits of the BRICS alliance, and of Putin as the peacemaking host.
Putin is the geopolitical glue between Xi Jinping and Modi for the two Asian giants to manage their strategic rivalry with pragmatism while avoiding big escalation. #RIC#BRICS2024#geopoliticspic.twitter.com/iVjCyWPbmM
Recent advancements in Alzheimer’s disease research show a promising shift in the understanding of the memory-robbing disorder, suggesting that crucial brain changes can occur decades before symptoms manifest.
A recent study has identified a two-phase progression of Alzheimer’s, highlighting a silent phase marked by subtle brain changes long before cognitive decline becomes apparent.
Alzheimer’s disease has a long pre-symptomatic period, with related changes taking place in the brain “10, 15, even 20 years before the onset of memory and thinking symptoms,” Igor Camargo Fontana, Alzheimer’s Association director of scientific conference programming, told The Epoch Times.
This research could also open new avenues for earlier detection and targeted treatments.
“One of the challenges to diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s is that much of the damage to the brain happens well before symptoms occur,” Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the NIH National Institute on Aging, said in a statement. “The ability to detect these early changes means that, for the first time, we can see what is happening to a person’s brain during the earliest periods of the disease.”
The Early Phase: Silent and Gradual Damage
A recent National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study provided new insights into the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, potentially paving the way for earlier detection and treatment options.
The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, say that Alzheimer’s affects the brain in two distinct phases: an early, silent phase characterized by subtle changes, and a later, symptomatic phase marked by widespread damage and the accumulation of amyloid plaques, long associated with the disorder.
Researchers have found that the initial phase of Alzheimer’s is insidious, unfolding slowly over time and occurring well before noticeable memory problems arise. During this phase, a gradual buildup of beta-amyloid plaques and tangles—hallmarks of Alzheimer’s—can be observed.
This early “quiet” phase is marked by subtle changes in brain cells, particularly inhibitory neurons, which may be among the first to become vulnerable, disrupting communication between brain cells, according to Fontana. These cells are mostly located in a brain region that is associated with memory, vision, and language.
The research specifically identified the death of somatostatin inhibitory neurons, a group previously underestimated in their role within Alzheimer’s pathology. This finding challenges the prevailing notion that the disease primarily harms excitatory neurons responsible for facilitating brain cell communication.
The Late Phase: Rapid Deterioration and Symptoms
The second phase of Alzheimer’s disease is starkly different. It’s characterized by rapid accumulation of amyloid plaques and tangles, significant neural damage, and cognitive decline symptoms such as memory loss and confusion, alongside increased levels of inflammation and cell death. Researchers have found that this deterioration occurs as part of a complex interplay of changes within neural circuitry.
Using advanced genetic analysis tools, researchers created a comprehensive map of the changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s. They specifically targeted the middle temporal gyrus, a region in the brain vital for language, memory, and visual processing, to illustrate its susceptibility to Alzheimer’s-induced damage.
The study suggests that in this later phase of the disease, other cells associated with inflammation—microglia and astrocytes—begin counteracting initial changes by releasing molecules or altering their structures, according to Fontana.
“Alterations in inflammatory cells and inhibitory neurons slowly evolve to demonstrate the well-known biological changes of Alzheimer’s,” he said, “including the accumulation of amyloid plaques and formation of tau tangle pathology, culminating in a terminal state.”
Implications for Diagnostics and Treatment
The study can have significant implications for early diagnosis and targeted treatments.
The results fundamentally alter scientists’ understanding of how Alzheimer’s harms the brain and will guide the development of new treatments for this devastating disorder, Hodes noted in a statement.
By recognizing distinct phases of the disease, researchers can better tailor diagnostics and therapeutics to the specific cellular changes taking place at various stages. This discovery may also facilitate earlier interventions and improve patient outcomes.
The “bigger picture” is that Alzheimer’s long pre-symptomatic period presents opportunities for early detection and intervention to prevent the onset of dementia symptoms, Fontana said. “If the findings in this new paper are confirmed by other labs,” he added, “it raises the question of whether effectively addressing the brain changes that happen in what the authors call the first ‘quiet’ phase can slow, delay or prevent the second, more destructive phase.”
Fontana stressed the importance of evaluating this “quiet” phase using a combination of diagnostic tools and investigating its associations with Alzheimer’s biomarkers, such as amyloid and tau.
Looking ahead, the study establishes a foundation for future research on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. By examining the relationships between different cell types and their roles in disease progression, scientists aim to identify protective factors and resilience mechanisms for potential therapies. Fontana noted that the Alzheimer’s Association is fundingrelated research studies.
