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New York’s MTA Proposes $65.4 Billion In Upgrades With Cash It Doesn’t Have

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New York’s MTA Proposes $65.4 Billion In Upgrades With Cash It Doesn’t Have

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: in a state where taxes are 10% and some of the wealthiest people in the world live, the MTA is looking for more cash.

The neverending money pit that never seems to result in upgrades or better service, also known as New York City’s MTA, is one again looking for cash as it plans $65.4 billion of upgrades for areas like Grand Central Station and multiple subway locations. 

As turnstile jumpers and bus freeloaders continue to abuse public transit across the city, the MTA is seeking an additional $50 billion in cash and $10 billion in debt to cover the cost of said upgrades, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg notes that the nearly half of the proposed $33.4 billion budget lacks a funding source, and state lawmakers must also address a $15 billion shortfall after Governor Kathy Hochul delayed the congestion pricing initiative.

Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer, commented about city officials: “I am confident that going into that process that each of them recognizes the importance that transit and the MTA play and that they’re going to take this absolutely seriously.”

The MTA must submit its 2025–2029 plan to the state legislature by Oct. 1. Governor Hochul has pledged to address both the congestion pricing deficit and future funding needs, but efforts won’t begin until lawmakers reconvene in January, the report says. 

Despite the capital plan’s significant investments, the MTA faces massive challenges.

The Citizens Budget Commission estimates the system needs up to $115 billion for repairs and improvements over the next five years, excluding expansion projects. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli estimates total infrastructure needs, including expansion, at $92.2 billion.

Hochul commented: “We will review the MTA’s proposal for the upcoming five-year capital plan and fight to secure as much funding as possible. That includes pressuring Washington to deliver additional infrastructure dollars and working with our partners in the legislature and City Hall to determine priorities and capacity during the upcoming budget negotiations.”

Ah, yes. Pressuring Washington for those all important dollars we don’t have…one more line item to help run the nation’s debt off the sovereign collapse cliff as quickly as humanly possible. Good thinking, Governor. Democrat deep thinking in practice…

Jamie Torres-Springer, head of the MTA’s construction and development said: “If we don’t keep up with investment in state of good repair in a 100-year-old system that serves so many people, we cannot continue to provide safe and reliable service.”

Over 90% of the proposed budget will be dedicated to core infrastructure, prioritizing renovations of existing structures for safe and reliable service, Torres-Springer said.

The MTA board will vote on the capital plan on Sept. 25, with anticipated funding from federal sources, bond sales, and contributions from the state and city, leaving $33.4 billion still unfunded.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 21:20

When Vladimir Putin Was “Pootie-Poot”

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When Vladimir Putin Was “Pootie-Poot”

Authored by Adam Dick via The Ron Paul Institute,

United Sates President Joe Biden has spent most of his presidency refusing to talk with Russia President Vladimir Putin. This is despite — or maybe because of — the fact that such discourse could have led to an agreement ending the US government’s proxy war against Russia.

Instead of talking out a resolution to the fighting, Biden has kept pumping dollars, weapons, and intelligence to the Ukraine government, resulting in a rising death toll and expanding war. Also advanced has been the risk of drawing the US and Russia directly into a war against each other that could go nuclear.

Still, Biden will not pick up the phone or fly on a plane to talk things over with the president of Russia. “I have no good reason to talk to Putin right now,” said Biden on July 11, 2024 in response to a reporter’s question at one of Biden’s rare press conferences.

We know Biden loves his vacation time, but, really, isn’t ending the Ukraine War and preventing its further escalation a good enough reason to start chatting with Putin? How about putting in a little effort to give peace a chance?

Long, long ago, during the presidency of George W. Bush, a US president not only regularly talked with Putin, including in in-person meetings, he even had an affectionate nickname for the Russia president.

For Bush, Putin was Pootie-Poot. How things have changed.

Not every American president before Biden had a cute nickname for counterparts among the long line of Russia leaders, and Soviet leaders during the decades when Russia was subsumed in the Soviet Union.

Yet, they all were willing to talk. This includes Ronald Reagan who called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and pushed for increased US military spending to counter what he presented as a Soviet threat. Reagan met with and kept in regular contact with Soviet leader Michail Gorbachev, succeeding in putting in place arms control deals between the nations.

Other US presidents, while directly and by proxy militarily countering the “red spread” and “Soviet expansion,” kept in communication with Soviet leaders. They wanted to be dedicated cold warriors while minimizing the risk of outright war between the US and Soviet Union.

Biden should give Putin a call. And when Biden makes that call, why not give Putin a nice nickname too? Doing this may run counter to Biden’s nature, but it could be the first step down the path to peace.

Unfortunately, there is little indication that seeking peace is even a small component of the Biden administration’s agenda.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 20:55

Progressive Policy Backfire Turns Liberals Into Gun Owners 

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Progressive Policy Backfire Turns Liberals Into Gun Owners 

A long-running survey by NORC at the University of Chicago reveals a major shift among Democrats towards gun ownership – despite their party having spent decades, fueled by far-left corporate media and billionaire-funded anti-gun groups – to limit or prohibit law-abiding citizens from exercising their rights under the Second Amendment.

According to the NORC poll, gun ownership for Democrats bottomed between 2010 and 2016 to around 22.5% and 23.2% respectively. By 2022, however, 29.2% of Democrats reported owning guns – while Republican gun ownership hovered at 55% the same year.

Source: Wall Street Journal 

WSJ journos Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson attributed “Democrats rediscovering guns” to “street crime” and “right-wing extremists.” 

Or could it be… civil unrest from leftist rioting around the country in response to Donald Trump and various police incidents?

Recall…

In return, these riots sparked a series of gun-buying waves, as shown in NICS data (proxy data for gun demand) below.

In some instances, folks were waiting around the corner to buy a handgun. 

And now, which the data does not cover fully, the Biden-Harris administration’s migrant invasion with Venezuelan prison gangs running amok has spooked the hell out of Americans further.

Democrats are waking up to their own party’s failed domestic and foreign policies that have only resulted in more chaos in once-quiet neighborhoods.

The Harris-Walz campaign understands the importance of capturing the 2A vote. 

Yet, everyone knows the true VP Harris…

It only took a handful of disastrous policies from the Democratic Party to turn liberals into gun owners. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 20:30

It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Fake Presidential Race

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It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Fake Presidential Race

Authored by Donald Jefferies,

Don’t burn your popcorn…

I’ve been an observer of national politics since I was eleven years old. I cried when they killed Robert F. Kennedy. I was a die hard Democrat. I thought they were the good guys. Then I became an independent, and have grown more radical as I age. I know the process is rigged, and yet I continue to follow it, like a heroin addict.

Donald Trump was recently the victim of yet another assassination attempt. Apparently. The same people who believe the first attempt, in Butler Pennsylvania two months ago, was staged, naturally believe this one was fake, too. And they both might very well have been. After all, everything they do is seemingly scripted. No improvisation allowed. But the response is what really grabs my attention. As I’ve noted, those on the Left who are skeptical of the Trump assassination attempts aren’t skeptical about anything else. They believe in Russian collusion. They think “Climate Change” is a tremendous threat to us all. They accept the transgender lunacy. And despite the vast majority being White themselves, they are fully on board with the anti-White agenda. So they’re certainly predisposed to accept things at face value.

The alleged would-be assassin is supposedly one Ryan Wesley Routh. Another three namer- who could have predicted that? As you can see from the photo above, when Routh was apprehended, his shirt was oddly pulled up, revealing his A-cup man boobs, and his pants were pulled down lewdly, in big hair, rock star fashion. Did he do this himself? I don’t know, maybe that’s the latest fashion trend for potential patsies? It certainly is an attention grabber. Or did law enforcement pull his shirt up, and his pants down? That takes us into more bizarre territory. Perhaps their resistance got weak, and they absolutely had to see if this fifty eight year old had six pack abs. It’s a suppressed homosexuality thing, you wouldn’t understand. However you look at it, I don’t believe we’ve seen another arrest photo like it.

But Ryan Wesley Routh is far more than man boobs and almost exposed crotch. We are told that the FBI and Interpol were “warned” about him. We are told this, after the fact, about most of the accused perpetrators of high profile crimes. We understand how corrupt and incompetent the FBI has always been, so it makes sense that they would ignore “warnings” about any potentially dangerous individual. I suppose Interpol is no better. Maybe they can hire more people, with better lone nut detectors. The brave Secret Service detail was evidently denied the opportunity to stand down at Trump’s own golf course in Palm Beach, Florida. I feel confident they would have been exemplary once again, in not doing their job, if the patsy wearing the makeshift tank top had been able to get close enough to fire at Trump.

Routh is also an author. Just like me, and many others who have never fired shots at any politician. Or pulled our shirts up and pants down so provocatively in public. Routh’s self-published book Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the end of Humanity, is an impassioned plea for World War III. Wow- nobody ever tell me that the subtitles for my books are too wordy. He is documented as a fervent leftist, having formerly supported Bernie Sanders, and having contributed financially many times to ActBlue. He tried to recruit foreign soldiers to help Ukraine defeat Russia. You’d think that, with all this information, it would be obvious that Routh was motivated by the same kind of irrational hatred for Donald Trump that has infected millions of formerly rational Americans with TDS.

But instead of acknowledging this, and perhaps issuing one of their standard lectures to the insane “Woke” Left, the mainstream media, and high profile Democrats themselves, are telling Trump to “tone down” his rhetoric. If you just stop saying “hateful” things, no one will try to assassinate you! What is most remarkable about Routh is the fact that he was inexplicably interviewed by Newsweek in 2022. His only claim to fame was his self-published book, touting the official state controlled media line on Ukraine. People who write self-published books don’t usually get to be interviewed by huge media outlets like that. I have legitimate publishers, and I couldn’t get Newsweek to notice me, even if I walked into their headquarters with a “9/11 Wasn’t an Inside Job” tee shirt pulled up past my nipples. So the FBI not only knew about Routh, but Newsweek thought he was worth an interview, two years ago?

Now I am fully aware that many are dubious about this attempt, just as they are about the incident in Pennsylvania. I am, too. Why would we believe anything that is reported, by a media that is simply regurgitating talking points from “authorities” that lie to us about everything? How did Routh know Trump was going to be at the golf course, the skeptics are asking. Good question. Initially, the New York Post went with a story that claimed two men had fired shots at each other, and it was all totally unrelated to Trump. Well, that sounds plausible. I used to golf regularly, very badly, back in the misty days of America 1.0. I guess I was lucky not to have encountered two men shooting at each other on any of the courses I played. Where else would you hold a gun battle, other than a golf course? Regardless, as in the Steve Scalise shooting, the victim’s motives are never political if he’s a leftist, only if he’s a right-wing extremist.

However real either or both Trump assassination attempts were, the response to them is even more telling. Trump has to be the only politician that survived at attempt on his life, and actually went down in the fake public opinion polls afterwards. You’d imagine that the second attempt would ensure his victory. But I think we can predict that he’ll plunge even further after the failed efforts of Ryan Wesley Routh. I’m sure the Republicuck leaders will leave no stone unturned in finding out the truth here. Sure, they haven’t managed to call a single one of the Secret Service agents who stood down completely in Butler, but these things take time. They’re still searching for photos of Thomas Matthew Crooks taken after he graduated from the eighth grade. That makes sense; few of us have our pictures taken after middle school. It’s all downhill from there.

And their task won’t be made easier by the fact that the Secret Service is unwilling to cooperate in any investigation. Well, to be fair, any real investigation would make the Secret Service look really bad. The Biden administration, Homeland Security, all of them, are urging the Secret Service not to comply with Congress. What is Congress going to do if they don’t? Remember Hunter Biden’s taunting press conference? Maybe if Peter Navarro was one of the Secret Service agents in question. And, in keeping with their appearance of upright honesty, the Secret Service is also rejecting Freedom of Information Act requests about the Butler incident. Nothing evokes innocence better than that. So we’ll never find anything out. If it was real, who was actually behind it? Or if it was staged, as millions believe, why it was staged, and by who? Was Trump in on it? Why stage a shooting, and then stop reporting on it?

Melania Trump, one of the least visible of modern political wives, recently put out a heartfelt video where she talked about the first assassination attempt, and supported the “conspiracy theorists” who feel there is more to it than a loner walking around for thirty minutes carrying a rifle, and then scaling the wall of a building, while witnesses tried in vain to get the attention of law enforcement. If only Crooks would have committed an illegal U-Turn; those cops would have apprehended him before he could U-Turn again. At any rate, Don Lemon, the gay White hater who is married to a White man, played Melania’s emotional video and ridiculed it. Made fun of it like a sixth grade bully. A gay, racist bully. Lemon can freely mock Mrs. Trumpenstein, and millions of Americans believe the Giant Orange Man is orchestrating the whole thing. I think it is all orchestrated, but Trump isn’t doing the orchestrating.

We used to have a saying, back in the smoke-filled 1970s, that bullets, not ballots, shouldn’t effect the outcome of elections. JFK’s death certainly effected the 1964 election, as did RFK’s in 1968. Then there was the George Wallace nonfatal shooting, which ended his campaign in 1972. In 1980, while Reagan was elected, his nonfatal shooting a few months later certainly seems to have impacted the way he governed. But until this year, we hadn’t seen any more bullets changing the outcome of our elections. Lots of character assassination, and false promotion of preferred establishment puppets, but no actual gunfire. As I keep saying, what makes the Trump assassination attempts so extraordinary is how quickly they are forgotten. Tossed down the memory hole. This would apply even if they were staged. They should be the big story of the 2024 presidential race. No investigation, move on to the next act.

The fact that Trump wasn’t asked a single question about the alleged attempt on his life, during the ridiculous debate with Harris, should tell us all we need to know. They don’t want any of these big events looked at honestly, whether they were fake or not. 9/11 or Sandy Hook- don’t ask questions! Why didn’t Trump’s Secret Service do their jobs? Mere incompetence cannot explain that. A volunteer group of elementary school safety patrols would have responded better. So, if you believe it really happened or not, that is what should be investigated first. Like JFK’s Secret Service detail in 1963, who failed to react at all to the sound of gunfire, Trumpenstein’s Secret Service detail failed to notice someone walking around openly brandishing a rifle, and then scaling the side of a building. Even when witnesses alerted them to it. No one is acting like these events were real, even in much of the alt media and the Trump campaign itself.

And while Trump dodges real or fake bullets, Kamala Harris keeps cackling her way to a lead in the fake public opinion polls. Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance continues to be depicted as “weird,” despite never having ingested horse semen, or driven drunk while going nearly 100 mph. Both he and Trump have been blasted by the state controlled media for objecting to Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs. That’s not the “hate” that PETA represents! Vance continues to be haunted by his “childless cat lady” comments. Never have childless women been so proud. They’ve gone beyond the programming and firmly committed themselves to not reproducing. Don’t be fruitful or multiply! Trump hates dogs and cats because he says Haitians are eating them. That’s racist! And he keeps claiming that he’s been shot at. If they frame a Black three-namer patsy for one of these real or fake shootings, that will be racist, too.

While J.D. Vance’s “weirdness” comes primarily from an anecdote invented by his political opponents, about “humping” some sofa pillows, Tim Walz and his wife seem to fit much better into the “weird” category. At a recent Wisconsin rally, Walz gesticulated wildly, in the manner of the immortal Howard Dean, and even lifted his leg at one point. Maybe he was thinking of all those dogs in Ohio who definitely aren’t being eaten by Haitians. Gwen Walz is his perfect soul mate; her wild eyed, sometimes incomprehensible speech is the stuff most political trophy wives never master. She kept saying “bye-bye” for some reason. Gwen notably said, regarding the 2020 BLM riots, that she kept her windows open so she could keep smelling the burning tires. Well, who doesn’t like the scent of a burning tire? Both Walz and his wife were Minnesota public school teachers, so you know where they’re coming from.

A new rumor revolves around Donald Trump having an affair with 31 year old conservative personality Laura Loomer. Loomer has threatened to sue odious “comedian” Bill Maher for insinuating such a thing. Those with TDS accept this without reservations. As I’ve tried to point out to them, this kind of destroys their carefully crafted image of Trump, as a clown with a really, really small penis. Can’t emphasize that enough, because it’s so important to them. And he is 78 years old. Wouldn’t this mean he’s a stud, having an affair with someone young enough to be his granddaughter? I know what you’re saying; Laura Loomer is a worthless apologist for Israel. She’s really ugly; she ought to sue her plastic surgeon. She’s actually a man, Larry Loomer. Whatever, as the young girls say. I hate to see anyone ridiculed for their looks, so this brings out my chivalry. And I can’t stand Maher.

And there is the matter of the anonymous ABC whistleblower, who released an affidavit claiming that he had recordings proving that ABC agreed to “fact check” Donald Trump in advance, as well as not ask certain questions in the debate, as requested by the Harris campaign. Whether she really had an “audio earring” that was feeding her answers, Harris undeniably was given preferential treatment by the laughable moderators. One of them, Linsey Davis, was Harris’s college sorority sister, after all. Girlfriends have to stick together. There have been reports that the ABC whistleblower went on to die in a car crash, reminding us of the precarious shelf life of whistleblowers. This has been debunked, by the state controlled “fact checkers.” Since we don’t know the identity of the whistleblower, how can we know if he’s alive? Trust the Stupid Party in Congress to get to the bottom of it. They always do.

In 1976, I was as excited as a present day illegal immigrant to cast my first vote. I studied all the Democratic Party presidential candidates, and there were plenty of them. Only Senator Fred Harris publicly supported a new investigation into the assassination of JFK, which was of course my primary political issue at that point. Jimmy Carter, the obscure peanut farmer from Georgia, was my least favorite candidate. I noticed how the media chose Carter to focus on, and incessantly promote him as the “front runner” before a single primary vote had been cast. Needless to say, they have used this tactic repeatedly over the years, to marginalize good people like Dennis Kucinich and my friend Cynthia McKinney. While Jimmy’s sister Ruth Carter Stapleton openly questioned the official JFK narrative, the Trilateral Commission’s favorite candidate remained silent on the issue.

So, this is what I’m relegated to now. Analyzing distasteful reactions to what may have been fake assassination attempts. Determining which of the corrupt, incompetent, and insane candidates are the worst in each category. As far back as the 1980s, I was involved in Third Party politics. We obviously didn’t make any inroads, as we don’t have a single viable Third Party today. I fell in love with lots of renegade candidates. Ross Perot. Pat Buchanan. Ralph Nader, Ron Paul. I even had a fling with Lyndon Larouche. Perot got 19 percent of the vote in 1992, and 8 percent in 1996. I don’t think anyone else I liked ever made it over 1 percent. My political candidates are kind of like my sports teams; they never win. So when I voted for Trump in 2016, he became my second winner, alongside Jimmy Carter, for whom I less than enthusiastically cast my first vote as a starry-eyed radical with an ACLU membership card.

As I was writing this, rumors abound that there has been yet another attempt- the third- on Trump’s life. Alex Jones and others are reporting that some attendees who sat behind the stage at a recent Trump rally in Arizona reported experiencing eye pain. Were they collateral damage from a chemical attack directed at Trump? Or were they peddling “wild conspiracy theories,” as one of the few news outlets to report the story called it? A senior Trump campaign advisor released a public statement saying they were “collecting information” about the incident. Can this be real? As real as the other two acknowledged attempts, doubted by millions? Is Trump now just going to be the continuous, designated victim of attempted assassination, yet always surviving? If he really were assassinated, would that be fake, too? Would millions cheer?

I can hear some of you saying; why another piece on this fake presidential race? It’s all rigged, the candidates are selected, not elected. And you are right. It is all scripted. A completely rigged process. I’ve known for a long time that my vote isn’t being honestly counted. But I trudged to the polls, especially when my kids were little, to set a good example of civic duty. I didn’t think they would understand, or should know, how rotten everything was at such tender ages. But I’m still doing it. I’ll probably vote again. I do it for the same reason I still play fantasy football, despite knowing how corrupt and fixed all sports are, and how they discriminate against Whites just like every other part of America 2.0. I’m addicted. If I was a different sort of person, I’d start virtue signaling. It’s not my fault I pay so much attention to your phony bread and circuses- I’m the victim here! You sucked me in a young age, just like the tobacco companies. I quit cigarettes in 1989. I can’t seem to quit politics. Or sports.

I call it the Trumpenstein Project for a reason. I don’t take anything he says seriously. But the side he purports to oppose is unquestionably, indisputably evil. And utterly mad. As always, there is no one to vote for. It is much like betting on the Super Bowl, while knowing that it’s fixed. You still get a thrill out of “your” team winning. There will be no thrills in a Trump victory, should that be the way the script is written. But it will be must see TV, to watch all those deranged leftist “journalists” react. Maybe one or more of them will lose all control, unleashing a stream of ugly profanity, or perhaps they might assault each other. Rachel Maddow vs. Joy Reid. You might see an on air suicide. How could they go on with Orange Man Bad back in the White House? As I’ve noted, that may be the best any of us can expect from this tarnished, prostituted process. It certainly is the best that I can hope for.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 20:05

Visualizing Gold Consumption Vs. Domestic Supply

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Visualizing Gold Consumption Vs. Domestic Supply

While India and China dominate the demand for gold, both countries face different scenarios when comparing supply gaps.

With its huge jewelry industry, India’s consumption is 50 times higher than its domestic supply. Meanwhile, China produces more than one-third of the gold it demands.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, compares gold demand (in tonnes) versus domestic gold production in 10 selected countries.

The data comes from the World Gold Council and was compiled by The Gold Bullion Company as of 2023.

India’s Massive Gold Market

Gold holds a central role in India’s culture, considered a store of value, a symbol of wealth and status, and a fundamental part of many rituals. The metal is especially auspicious in Hindu and Jain cultures.

With a population of over a billion, India tops our ranking with substantial gold demand, primarily for jewelry and gold bars.

China ranks second, with demand driven primarily by gold’s role as a store of value, especially by the People’s Bank of China. Central banks seek gold as a hedge against inflation and currency devaluation. Since 2022, the People’s Bank of China has increased its gold reserves by 316 tonnes.

In third place for gold demand, the U.S. consumed 249 tonnes in 2023, against a domestic supply of 167 tonnes.

Turkey ranks fourth, with mine production in 2023 at 37 tonnes, which is five times lower than its demand of 202 tonnes.

To learn more about gold, check out this graphic that shows the value of gold bars in various sizes (as of Aug. 21, 2024).

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 19:40

“I Thank God”: Heroic Woman Saves Arkansas Trooper From Attack By Drunk Illegal Alien

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“I Thank God”: Heroic Woman Saves Arkansas Trooper From Attack By Drunk Illegal Alien

The Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous open southern border policies have imported the third world into the first world, with dire consequences unfolding across the nation.

The latest example occurred in Arkansas, where Arkansas State Police released a trooper’s dash camera footage on Wednesday from an incident on July 27 that showed a drunk illegal alien speeding on the highway. 

Benton County Prosecutor Joshua Robinson revealed that Trooper Alexandria Duncan’s use of deadly force was justified in Arkansas law after Angel Zapet-Alvarado, 26, of Guatemala, had a blood-alcohol level of twice the legal limit when he resisted arrest and assaulted the Trooper during a traffic stop on Interstate 49. 

Arkansas State Police provided details about the violent encounter with the trooper and the migrant:

At approximately 7:43 p.m., Trooper Duncan attempted to stop Zapet-Alvarado on I-49 southbound after he passed her marked patrol unit traveling 114 miles an hour in heavy traffic near the 83-mile marker. Zapet-Alvarado initially showed no signs of stopping, even after Trooper Duncan activated her emergency lights and sirens. After stopping his vehicle on the right shoulder, Trooper Duncan instructed Zapet-Alvarado to exit the vehicle. Trooper Duncan observed Zapet-Alvarado with his hand on the gearshift and stopped him from driving away in the vehicle by taking his keys. He ignored commands to exit the vehicle and resisted Trooper Duncan’s efforts to remove him. She deployed her taser when he refused to comply. Zapet-Alvarado wrestled the Trooper’s taser from her hands and threw it into interstate traffic. During the incident, Zapet-Alvarado kicked Trooper Duncan’s head multiple times.

By the grace of God, a motorist, Kylie Sutton, 31, witnessed the altercation and assisted the trooper. Sutton was able to hand the trooper her service weapon, wounding Zapet-Alvarado in his right temple. The trooper then arrested the migrant. 

“I thank God that He gave Alex the strength to survive that encounter, and that He put Kylie by her side when she needed support the most. I’m so proud of them both,” Col. Mike Hagar wrote in a statement. 

X account Border Hawk first reported the incident. The account noted that Zapet-Alvarado is an illegal alien. 

“Zapet-Alvarado was hit with a slew of charges, along with an ICE detainer, and is currently being held at Benton County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center on $350,000 surety bond,” Border Hawk said. 

The big takeaway is that there will be many more incidents like this by illegal aliens because of the Biden-Harris’ disastrous open southern border policies that flooded the nation with millions of unvetted illegals.

Meanwhile, former San Diego Sector Border Patrol Chief Aaron Heitke dropped a bombshell this week in front of Congress, “I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs [Special Interest Aliens (SIAs) — individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism],” adding, “The administration was trying to convince the public there was no threat at the border.”

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 18:50

Federal Judge Extends Freeze On Biden Admin’s Newest Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

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Federal Judge Extends Freeze On Biden Admin’s Newest Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge has extended the restraining order blocking the Biden administration’s latest student loan forgiveness initiative, referred to in court filings as the “Third Mass Cancellation Rule.”

This extension follows allegations from a coalition of states claiming that the program is being implemented secretly without proper public notice or approval.

In the ongoing lawsuit led by Missouri against the Department of Education, U.S. District Judge Randal Hall ruled on Sept. 19 that there was “good cause” to prolong the temporary restraining order—which he initially issued earlier in the month—by an additional 14 days.

The extension follows a hearing where both sides presented arguments on competing motions—the plaintiffs seeking a preliminary injunction and the defendants pushing for the case’s dismissal.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called the decision a “huge win” in a Sept. 18 social media post following the judge’s in-court decision, which was formalized in the order issued the following day.

In his written order, the judge explained that the extension allows the court time to thoroughly review the arguments presented in briefs and oral submissions before ruling on the broader motions.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed on Sept. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia by seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio.

The complaint names Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, the Department of Education, and President Joe Biden as defendants. The states allege that documents reveal Cardona is “unlawfully trying to mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars” in student loans and has “quietly” instructed federal contractors to start the cancellation process as early as Sept. 7, potentially wiping out as much as $73 billion overnight, with further cancellations to follow.

The complaint further alleges that the real cost of the “Third Mass Cancellation Rule” program could reach $146.9 billion, adding to the $475 billion estimated cost of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program that Cardona first proposed in August 2022.

“This is the third time the Secretary has unlawfully tried to mass cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in loans,“ the states’ complaint reads.

”Courts stopped him the first two times, when he tried to do so openly. So now he is trying to do so through cloak and dagger.”

The plaintiffs allege that Cardona’s third attempt at loan forgiveness is both the most aggressive and the least legally defensible.

Unlike prior attempts—such as with the SAVE plan, in which there was at least some transparency and litigation pauses—this latest move allegedly bypasses legal requirements, such as the 60-day notice rule, according to the complaint.

The Biden administration’s first attempt to cancel student loans was blocked when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against using the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act to authorize debt forgiveness.

The second attempt, related to the SAVE Plan, was halted by an Aug. 9 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which the Supreme Court declined to overturn later in August.

The SAVE program aims to reduce monthly payments for millions of eligible borrowers based on their income levels and to accelerate student loan forgiveness. An estimated 8 million borrowers signed up for the program. Under SAVE, borrowers with lower incomes could qualify for significantly reduced or even zero monthly payments, while accrued interest on these loans would no longer be charged.

However, the Eighth Circuit found that Missouri and the other states challenging the program are likely to succeed in their claim that the SAVE plan violates the major questions doctrine. This legal principle requires courts to assume that government agencies cannot make significant policy decisions—especially those with far-reaching economic impacts—without clear authorization from Congress.

As a result, the Eighth Circuit issued a temporary, nationwide injunction that halts the federal government’s ability to forgive student loan principal or interest under the SAVE plan. The injunction also suspends the provisions that prevent interest from accruing on loans and those that allow borrowers to make reduced or zero payments based on their income.

The Supreme Court declined to reinstate the SAVE plan, leaving the case to proceed in the lower court, where the case remains pending. Most recently, on Sept. 10, the court granted the solicitor general of Missouri more time to file briefs in the case.

The Department of Education did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 18:25

Woke Panic: Civil Rights Groups Demand That Corporations Stop Cutting DEI Programs

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Woke Panic: Civil Rights Groups Demand That Corporations Stop Cutting DEI Programs

The invasion of woke ideology and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies into every facet of American life seemed to happen out of the blue starting in 2015-2016, but in reality the agenda had been quietly and insidiously slithering into western institutions for decades prior. 

Establishment controlled NGOs like the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation had been pumping billions of dollars into US universities since at least the 1960s, launching social justice  programs and placing propagandists into teaching positions with the intent of “manufacturing consent” as Noam Chomsky once dubbed it.

The effort was to control the thinking of a top percentage of American professionals, turn them into rabid adherents of Cultural Marxism and globalism and then send them out into the world to create a progressive trickle-down effect in every major corporate and political institution.  In other words, the establishment believed that if they could dominate the professional class with their suits and lab coats and specialized degrees the rest of the public would blindly follow along due to “expert bias.”.

As it turns out, they were wrong.

It took almost ten years to root out this tiny contingent of cult manipulators, but today the woke movement is well and thoroughly exposed.  Woke organizations and DEI departments are now in fast decline and even the activists are beginning to admit they’re losing the battle for the minds of the masses.  Let’s not forget, only a few years ago the political left denied the DEI agenda even existed and called anyone talking about it a “conspiracy theorist.”

Big Tech companies like Meta and Google made cuts to DEI staffers and resource officers in 2023.  Dozens of major corporations are completely dropping their DEI initiatives in 2024.  The Hollywood Reporter recently published an article lamenting the fall of DEI in Hollywood, spotlighting a list of DEI producers in an effort to assert that leftist activists still have power in Tinsel Town despite their failing ideology.  Gay activist group GLAAD has complained that “LGBT representation” has started to decline in popular entertainment, with only 27% of films and television promoting gay and trans characters (given these people make up less than 3% of the global population, this level of representation is still far too high).

The reason for this precipitous collapse of DEI programs is three-fold: 

First, after central banks hiked interest rates and ended QE programs the floodgates of ESG money closed and dried up.  Venture capital disappeared and woke companies then had to rely on pure profits to stay afloat. 

Second, the mass boycotting of woke companies proved beyond a doubt that there is no market for products that cater to DEI.  For many years we have been told that woke is the majority, and anti-woke is a fringe minority.  The truth is the exact opposite.  

Third, lawsuits over DEI hiring programs are forcing companies to admit there is an element of ant-white and anti-straight prejudice involved in their employment practices.  They are beginning to fear the backlash in civil courts, not to mention, hiring poorly qualified employees simply to check diversity boxes is a recipe for financial disaster. 

There’s a good reason why the corporate media loses their minds every time there’s a successful boycott of a product like Bud Light or a progressive series like Star Wars: The Acolyte – Each time this happens the event stands as proof that the political left is a paper tiger, a tiny minority with no power or influence beyond their ties to corporations and governments.  They are an astroturf movement created by psychopathic billionaires and politicians.

Consumers and the free market have spoken – They don’t like DEI and will not buy DEI products.  But leftists insist the public is being “misled” by the right wing.  The only way they can keep the farce going is to continue to maintain DEI programs across the board despite public refusal to participate.  If corporate programs start to shut down then the entire facade is shattered.  DEI finally dies.

This is probably the motivation behind a recent push by the NAACP, the National Organization for Woman and other “civil rights” activist organizations to pressure companies to keep DEI departments in place.  At least 19 of these groups penned and published an open letter to corporate leaders of Fortune 1000 companies demanding that they stop cutting woke programs.

The groups claim that “companies that abandon their DEI programs are shirking their fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers and shareholders.” 

Their statement reads: 

“Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, policies, and practices make business-sense and they’re broadly popular among the public, consumers, and employees…But a small, well-funded, and extreme group of right-wing activists is attempting to pressure companies into abandoning their DEI programs…”

Leftists always gaslight by accusing their political opponents of engaging in the same kind of sabotage they engage in all the time.  In fact, these businesses only have a duty to their shareholders, and their shareholders are tired of losing money.  The “corporate citizen” narrative is not going to fly anymore in 2024. 

If there was a market for DEI then it wouldn’t matter if conservatives were boycotting these companies.  If woke activists were anything other than an insignificant portion of the population then they would be buying up woke products like crazy and proving conservatives wrong.  But, they don’t because they can’t. 

In their letter, the civil rights organizations, which also included UnidosUS, the Urban League, Advocates for Trans Equality, the National Women’s Law Center and the American Association of People with Disabilities, said divesting from DEI would alienate a wide range of consumers.  Again, the opposite is true.  DEI propaganda and hiring practices have greatly degraded company performance, product quality and they have politicized consumer markets in a way that has angered Americans.  Get woke, go broke.

It would be brand suicide to continue on this path, which is why so many companies are finally backing away.  However, is it too late?  Did corporations flirt with leftist ideology for too long and lose their customers forever?  Only time will tell.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 18:00

Harris Allies Continue Calling Trump “Threat To Democracy”

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Harris Allies Continue Calling Trump “Threat To Democracy”

Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics.com,

Two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump have not clarified the Democratic position on whether that Republican represents an existential threat to democracy. The White House still calls him a threat. Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has mostly discarded that talking point.

Trump wants it to stop either way. At least, when directed towards him.

“It is time to stop the lies, stop the hoaxes, stop the smears, stop the lawfare or the fake lawsuits against me, and stop claiming your opponents will turn America into a dictatorship. Give me a break,” the Republican nominee said at a Wednesday rally in New York.

“Because the fact is that I’m not a threat to democracy,” he continued, before turning around and using the rhetoric he just condemned against his opponents. “They are.”

The problem for Trump: Harris has moved on from that rhetoric after the first assassination attempt. She did not use any of the democracy boilerplate during her debut rally in Milwaukee in July, and when she accepted the nomination in Chicago last month, she spoke in broad terms about “freedom.”

This was a sudden change, as Harris was in the habit of denouncing Trump as “a threat to our democracy.” She used that exact phrase numerous times while Biden was still on the ticket, most recently on July 13, which was coincidentally the day of the first assassination attempt.

It took Gov. Tim Walz a little longer. While he won national headlines for branding Republicans “weird,” the Minnesota Democrat also called Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, “fascists.”

“Are they a threat to democracy? Yes. Are they going to take our rights away? Yes. Are they going to put people’s lives in danger? Yes. Are they going to endanger the planet by not dealing with climate change? Yes,” Walz said at a press conference two weeks after the first attack on Trump.

All the same, the change has been complete. And since joining the ticket, Walz has followed the lead of Harris. During the ABC News debate, for instance, she pointed to the Jan. 6 riot, and she took Trump’s “bloodbath” comment out of context. The vice president did not, however, repeat claims that Biden first popularized by saying that democracy itself would end under a second Trump term.

The problem for Harris: The Democrats working the hardest to put her in the Oval Office still argue that Trump could end democracy itself.

Biden explained at the Democratic National Convention that he was leaving the ticket because “that threat is still very much alive.”

He loved the job, the outgoing president said on stage, before adding, “I love my country more, and we need to preserve our democracy.”

Sitting in the crowd, Harris beamed.

The remarks came little more than one month after the first attempt on Trump’s life.

The second assassination attempt, this one in Florida last week and thwarted by the Secret Service before the shooter could open fire, did not change White House rhetoric.

When pressed on whether it was appropriate to still describe Trump as a threat, an exasperated Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was “not just saying that to say it.” Instead, the Biden spokeswoman replied, they were “using examples,” namely the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol which she referenced more than a dozen times Tuesday.

Insinuating that Biden had fanned the flames with his rhetoric, an assertion held by Trump and nearly every elected Republican, she said was “dangerous.” 

The press secretary repeatedly pointed out that “the president and the vice president have always forcefully condemned violence in all forms, including political violence.”

And the condemnation of violence has indeed been universal. The switch from the old “threat to democracy” framework, however, has not. While Harris has turned the page on calling Trump a threat, Democratic allies are following Biden’s lead, not hers.

During a Thursday interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returned easily and quickly to existential rhetoric.

“At the end of the day, this is a contest between freedom and oppression, between democracy and autocracy, between bringing people together and further dividing us,” said Clinton, who hit similar themes at the Democratic convention.

That exact message – one Harris has shied away from delivering – Clinton continued, “has to be communicated every single day between now and the election.”

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 17:40

Bank Deposits & Money-Market Funds See Sizable Outflows As Stocks Surge

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Bank Deposits & Money-Market Funds See Sizable Outflows As Stocks Surge

For the first time in seven weeks, money market funds saw net outflows last week (-$20BN) – the largest weekly outflow since June…

Source: Bloomberg

The outflow was dominated by a major institutional drawdown (-$25BN) as Retail funds saw inflows yet again…

Source: Bloomberg

US Bank Deposits (seasonally-adjusted) also saw outflows in the week ending 09/11 (-$9.3BN), the first weekly outflow in five weeks…

Source: Bloomberg

On a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, US Bank Deposits also fell (-$15BN), backing off from April highs…

Source: Bloomberg

Excluding foreign deposits, domestic banks saw outflows (both SA -$34BN and NSA -$41BN) in the week ending 9/11 (before The Fed rate-cut), with Large Banks dominating the outflows (SA -$24BN and NSA -$32BN)…

Source: Bloomberg

On the other side of the ledger, loan volumes increased despite the deposit shrinkage with Small bank loans rising $4.1BN and Large bank loans rising $1.2BN…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, US equity market capitalization surged back up towards all-time highs this week (after The Fed unleashed hell with a 50bps cut)…

Source: Bloomberg

…meanwhile, bank reserves at The Fed suggest stocks could be significantly lower.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 09/20/2024 – 17:20