Hezbollah is vowing retaliation against Israel, which it holds “fully responsible” for the pager explosion attacks that left at least 300 people in critical condition. The death toll has risen to 12, with two among these children who were in the vicinity of exploding pagers. Some blasts went off inside homes. The Lebanese government is concerned about ‘all-out war’ breaking out with Israel.

After about 4pm Beirut time on Wednesday, Hezbollah announced that it has begun its first cross-border attacks on Israeli military border posts since the pager explosions. This could be the beginning of major retaliatory operations which slide into a third Lebanese war.

At least 2,750 people total were injured in the Tuesday pager attacks, including some civilians, while some reports dubiously claimed as many as 4,000 were wounded when on Tuesday pager devices widely used by the Lebanese paramilitary group blew up after apparently being triggered by an external signal sent by Israeli intelligence.

It is being widely assumed that most of the dead and injured are Hezbollah operatives who rely on low-tech telecoms to evade Israeli intelligence from sweeping up cell communications.

The Lebanese health ministry in fresh Wednesday statements put the actual number of wounded between 2,750 and 2,800. The number in critical condition has been revised upward to at least 300 – many of these in intensive care. The wounded are being treated across one hundred hospitals.

Lebanon’s Minister of Health Firass Abiad has in a press conference identified that among the dozen killed were four medical staff, an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy. 

In a press briefing in Beirut, Abiad also weighed on the conflicts in Gaza and in southern Lebanon, accusing Israel of “steering away from a diplomatic solution.” He added: “We have to be ready and alert.”

Initial Reports of a Direct Impact from a Hezbollah Rocket on the Town of Ein Ya’akov in Northwestern Israel. pic.twitter.com/Q5iwXLw727

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 18, 2024

This has prompted EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to condemn the “indiscriminate” nature of the covert operation. “Even if the attacks seem to have been targeted, they had heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians, including children among the victims.” Borrell said.

“I consider this situation extremely worrying. I can only condemn these attacks that endanger the security and stability of Lebanon, and increase the risk of escalation in the region,” while also warning of all-out war which would have “heavy consequences for the entire region and beyond.” The United Nations is also calling for accountability for the pager blasts.

🇱🇧 The U.S. State Dept says the U.S. was not involved in the pager explosions in Lebanon and was not aware of the incident beforehand.

In unrelated news, the American University of Beirut Medical Center replaced the pagers of their doctors and staff 2 weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/G5wwQ4tBlj

— Expat Vibes (@expatvibes) September 17, 2024

Meanwhile, there’s been several reports, including in the NY Times, which purport to have uncovered details of precisely how the pager attacks happened:

According to officials briefed on the matter who spoke with the New York Times, the thousands of encrypted pagers which exploded in Lebanon, resulting in hundreds of Hezbollah members killed or critically injured, were Imported into Lebanon by the Taiwanese-Based Pager Company, Gold Apollo… with the pagers having been boobytrapped by Israeli agents before reaching Lebanon, where roughly 1-2 ounces of explosive material was placed next to the device battery, alongside a trigger to allow remote detonation.

At 3:30PM earlier Tuesday, the Pagers received a Message that appeared to be coming from senior Hezbollah leadership, which then activated the explosive within the device, with the pagers being programmed to “beep” several times before exploding.

And some further interesting reports…

High level intel sources tell @gsdebinski and Tyler Huffman:
– TWO Hezbollah members found out about Israel’s hack, one was “neutralized”

– Decision to detonate pagers early took place before 2nd alerted superiors

Wild details as attack brings Israel-Lebanon to brink of war

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) September 17, 2024

Hezbollah on Wednesday has said it will continue “operations to support Gaza, its people, and its resistance.”

What exactly did this absurd pager attack achieve? It’s sort of a Rube Goldberg scheme to blow off testicles of low rank foot soldiers and/or civilians going about their daily lives. How is this a military achievement?

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) September 18, 2024

Many regional analysts say that the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah doesn’t want to see all of Lebanon dragged into a major war, but at this point anything is possible. For nearly a year there have been daily tit-for-tat exchanges of fire, but Israeli media has said that PM Netanyahu’s willingness to go into Lebanon to seek to eradicated Hezbollah has grown.

Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani has published a shocking report that could soon change the national discussion from Haitians and other migrants eating cats or dogs in Springfield, Ohio, to one that is more sinister: The hub of a complex “hidden human trafficking network” in the tiny rust belt town. 

“The story in this town is not about cats or dogs. It’s about mules. It’s a twin tragedy of migrant workers from Haiti exploited and locals from Springfield marginalized,” Nomani wrote in the Jewish Journal. 

She said, “Just about every week since 2019, First Diversity Staffing Group Inc. has shuttled vulnerable Haitian migrants in unmarked white Ford and Chevy vans from Florida to Ohio, where they are allegedly exploited for cheap labor by companies like Dole Food Company Inc.,” adding, “It is a secretive and sinister operation that has gone unchecked for more than five years.” 

NEW: Federal and State agents are reportedly investigating Springfield, Ohio for a potential human trafficking operation responsible for the importing and exploiting of Haitians run by a local business owner referred to as “King George.”

What is going on in Springfield?! pic.twitter.com/dce4yYYH8C

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 18, 2024

Nomani revealed FBI anti-trafficking agents and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost are now investigating allegations of human trafficking in Springfield.

What began as my efforts to track down a rumor about animal cruelty has turned into an investigation that reveals a malignant system of labor exploitation involving a local businessman, George Ten, whom Haitians and local residents call “King George,” the chief executive at First Diversity Staffing Group Inc., a Springfield company that has been the tip of the spear in the alleged trafficking operation of Haitians to the town.

***

This is a story of unchecked greed and cruelty, committed not by the immigrants, but to the immigrants, with local residents of Springfield also a casualty.

See the $1.35 million mansion where “King George” Ten lives and parks his luxury cars off a golf course. His dad, Miguel Ten, told me he didn’t know his son had the nickname of “King George.” And he also said he would never be engaged in trafficking because of how he was… pic.twitter.com/2MhXSvzvx9

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) September 18, 2024

Nomani provided an image of one of those vans owned by staffing companies that shuttles the migrants to factories. 

The ex-WSJ journo said ‘George Ten’, the alleged mastermind behind this scheme, lives in a mansion in rural Ohio. She continued, “His nickname is “King George” because of his opulent lifestyle of luxury cars, cash handouts, and fast talk. For years, he has operated his reign of alleged exploitation.” 

This is stunning, as Nomani noted: 

One Haitian man I interviewed asked to be anonymous for fear of retaliation and recalled how he was picked up by a driver for one of Ten’s vans on a street corner near a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Immokalee, Florida. After the long journey to Springfield, he was dropped off at a rundown home on Rice Street, infested with cockroaches. He soon found work through First Diversity at Jefferson Industries Corporation, earning $12.50 an hour; he didn’t know how much George skimmed off his wages. The home he lived in had no working heat, and he bought an electric heater to survive the cold Ohio winter, the heater barely heating his room.

What essentially began as an unverified claim by Trump about migrants eating pets has led to the disturbing truth of alleged labor trafficking and modern-day slavery in Springfield. The Haitians, here legally, are being exploited by mega corporations… 

🚨 EXCLUSIVE. MUST WATCH. MUST READ. My newest dispatch @JewishJournal @DPearlProject will blow your mind. It did mine. And reporting it breaks my heart but I persevere because this story is every city’s story of corruption, greed and power.

I came to Springfield, Ohio, on… pic.twitter.com/514h6fLsKF

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) September 18, 2024

In March, we previewed to readers…

Shadowy Network Of How NGO Supplies Mega-Corporations With Migrants To Exploit Cheap Labor https://t.co/HGt8C1E8iU

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 11, 2024

She said her reporting on this would “blow your mind.” 

🚨 EXCLUSIVE. MUST WATCH. MUST READ. My newest dispatch @JewishJournal @DPearlProject will blow your mind. It did mine. And reporting it breaks my heart but I persevere because this story is every city’s story of corruption, greed and power.

I came to Springfield, Ohio, on… pic.twitter.com/514h6fLsKF

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) September 18, 2024

What will also blow your mind is that this alleged labor trafficking network has possibly also surfaced in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. 

We cited a resident of the town, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. In a video, the resident revealed the complex network of staffing vans in a town that is 50% Haitian. The vans shuttle migrants back and forth to several food packaging plants.

Incredible footage revealing an operation in Charleroi, PA where Haitians are being bussed to and from food factories operated by Fourth Street Foods.

It’s estimated that 90% of workers are now made up of Haitians.

Kamala imported 2,000 Haitians into this town of 4,000 people… pic.twitter.com/6KrjecNdmh

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 17, 2024

Here’s the full video:

What the Trump team is discovering – the story from Springfield and possibly even Charleroi, is not about cats and dogs. It’s about the federal government, and maybe even a shadowy network of NGOs, that dumped the migrants into small towns nationwide. This cheap and exploited labor benefits mega corporations but crushes native blue-collar workers. 

At the end of the day, this is not ‘America First’ – terrible foreign policy by the radicals in the far-left Biden-Harris admin has sold out the blue-collar worker. 

Axios and regional media are reporting a new wave of blasts in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, including explosions in the south of the country.

Israel has reportedly detonated hand-held personal radios used by Hezbollah members, the emerging reports say. The prominent regional news source War Monitor writes “Communications devices that exploded across Lebanon moments ago are hand-held radios, different to pagers that exploded on Tuesday, Security sources informed me.”

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV is also confirming wireless devices exploded in the hands of those carrying them in several Lebanese areas. There are reports of at least nine new fatalities and over 300 injured in this second day of explosions. 

Several ambulances have been witnessed rushing to the scenes of multiple new blasts. It appears the Israeli covert operation to sow chaos within Hezbollah’s ranks is not over.

This comes after the group said it would be checking and inspecting all externally shipped-in electronic devices, considering it’s clear at this point the pagers were manipulated by Israeli intelligence.

#BREAKING
🚨‼️ Initial reports indicate that wireless devices have exploded again few minutes ago in several areas of the suburbs of #Beirut and in south of Lebanon.#LebanonUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/nhbtnF42cL

— Rula El Halabi (@Rulaelhalabi) September 18, 2024

Ironically, Hezbollah relied on encrypted pagers in the first place because older tech was considered immune from Israeli intercepts. Governments and intelligence services can more easily sweep up cell communications. However, it has become clear that Israel has deeply penetrated Hezbollah telecoms in a very direct way:

Jody Westby of Global Cyber Risk says Hezbollah relied on “old technology” because it thought it would make its members’ lines of communication more secure.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Washington, DC, Westby said Hezbollah used the pagers because they are more difficult to intercept and it is harder to trace the communications passed through them.

“This is digital warfare. What they did was take out a line of communication for Hezbollah. Clearly, it was planted, planned and it was effective. I wouldn’t call it a weapon of mass destruction. I would just call it an autonomous weapon, an executed military action,” she said.

Axios’ Barak Ravid is reporting Wednesday, “Israel blew up thousands of personal radios (Walkie-Talkies) which were used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon in a second wave of its intelligence operation which started on Tuesday with the explosions of Hezbollah pager devices, per two sources with knowledge.”

Footage purportedly shows the moment a Hezbollah walkie-talkie exploded during a funeral in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut. https://t.co/3Qpkdgcjcy pic.twitter.com/BfzeeYykfL

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 18, 2024

Below are more eyewitness reports from Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground in south Beirut:

We can confirm that there was at least one explosion in Dahiya neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut. We’re at Hamra, which is sometimes referred to as the hospital area – there are three hospitals very close to each other.

Now we are hearing a lot of ambulance activity in the area suggesting there may be well casualties coming here or other hospitals nearby,  possibly as a result of explosions within Beirut itself.

A car bomb has also reportedly gone off in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre.

Yaroslav Trofimov writes pretty much what everyone is thinking: “Blow up pagers, force the surviving Hezbollah cadres to rely on walkie talkies, and then blow up the much bigger explosive devices inside the walkie talkies. A TV spy series producers would rule out this twist plot as impossible to believe in.”

Simultaneous explosions are being reported in various devices, not just personal radios.

Multiple explosions can be heard in different apartments of this single residential building in Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/QvMVt5ZSX7

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) September 18, 2024

War correspondent Elijah Magnier says this appears a prelude to a major Israeli military operation in Lebanon: “Normally in every war, the first attack is on a command-control base, and here the Israelis are attacking the control, which is the communication. Crippling communication is vital in any war because it is the main spine of the [enemy] army.”

Meanwhile, UN and other international/western entities are reportedly coming under attack on suspicion of spying on behalf of Israel…

#BREAKING

A UNIFIL patrol vehicle is attacked by civilians in Tyre, Lebanon pic.twitter.com/JinO8v567i

— Brian’s Breaking News and Intel (@intelFromBrian) September 18, 2024

developing…

Police in Nassau County, New York are investigating a possible security breach after a reported discovery of explosives near the site of former President Donald Trump’s rally on Long Island, just hours before his scheduled speech Wednesday evening.

Sources within the Nassau County Police Department allegedly told One America News Network (OANN) journalist James Lalino that officers conducting a routine K9 sweep discovered an explosive device in a vehicle parked near the rally venue. The report comes just three days after a would-be assassin was arrested at Trump’s Palm Beach golf club.

According to the Daily Mail, the driver of the car with explosives ran into the woods. According to Lalino’s report on X, the suspect bolted from the car, leaving law enforcement scrambling to locate him.

Sources in the Nassau County Police Department just told me that “the perimeter was breached and a blue barrel was removed” from the area surrounding tonight’s Trump rally site.

Source said “During K9, doing their checks, they found an explosive device in one of the vehicles and…

— James Lalino (@JamesLalino) September 18, 2024

“No one saw if he had anything on him, they just saw him take off running,” one source reportedly told Lalino. “A lot of cars are now parking, they’re lining up on Hempstead Turnpike, just parking on the grass. Even over at Eisenhower Park, they’re just parking over there.”

The bomb scare comes as Trump continues to face heightened security threats. He has largely shifted to indoor venues since an attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, when a would-be attacker was apprehended before getting close to the former president.

Trump has largely moved to indoor events since the first attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. 

He was shot in the right ear by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks as shots rang out at his mid-summer rally. 

Two months later, a gunman pointed an AK-47 at the former president while he was playing at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach on Sunday just after 1pm. 

The Republican nominee was rushed to safety as Secret Service agents opened fire on the suspect who had a GoPro camera and backpack, along with his rife. -Daily Mail

If confirmed, the presence of explosives at Wednesday’s event would mark a chilling escalation in the threats surrounding Trump’s public appearances as he continues to campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination. Law enforcement officials have not yet released an official statement, but the incident has put the rally site on high alert.

BREAKING: Police find “explosives” in a car near Donald Trump’s rally site on Long Island where he is speaking this evening according to @JamesLalino

Lalino reports that the rally site’s “perimeter was breached and a blue barrel was removed.”

The Nassau County Police… pic.twitter.com/fNxUehL9Zt

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 18, 2024

Nassau County police are reportedly working to secure the area while the search for the suspect continues.

Developing…

oil prices continued their recent rally off three-year lows this morning (rebounding from weakness overnight following the unexpected crude build reported by API) ahead of today’s FOMC decision and pushed higher by re-awoken geopolitical risk premium after Israel’s pager-op on Hezbollah prompted the start of retaliations.

The weak preliminary inventory data from API and recent trends in product spreads are adding to concerns about demand in the US, said Robert Yawger, director of the energy futures division at Mizuho Securities USA.

“If you don’t need the product, you don’t need the crude oil to make the product,” Yawger said.

“That is the most important math in energy — everything else is noise.”

The big question is will the official US crude stockpile data confirm API’s.

API

• Crude +1.96MM (Exp. -0.5MM)

• Cushing -1.4MM

• Gasoline +2.34MM

• Distillates +2.3MM

DOE

• Crude -1.63MM (Exp. -0.5MM)

• Cushing -1.979MM – biggest draw since Jan

• Gasoline +69k

• Distillates +125k

The official data contradicted API with a 1.63mm barrel draw and Cushing saw stockpiles tumble 1.979mm barrels – the biggest draw since January…

Source: Bloomberg

The big draw at Cushing pushed stockpiles near ‘tank bottoms’…

Source: Bloomberg

Total crude stocks (ex-SPR) dropped to their lowest in a year as the battle between physical-demand and paper-punting continues…

Source: Bloomberg

Who could have seen that coming?

There it is: record shorting by funds/CTAs despite stable physical demand. Tank bottoms coming up https://t.co/AB1OobZVQE pic.twitter.com/BDD3fq58MH

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 10, 2024

The Biden admin added 655k barrels to the SPR last week…

Source: Bloomberg

US Crude production dipped to 132.mm barrels…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI had bounced back above $71 ahead of the official data.

Crude remains markedly lower year-to-date, reflecting China’s dour demand outlook and plans by OPEC+ to eventually restore some shuttered output. The headwinds have been partially countered by supply disruptions in Libya and the US and prospects for monetary easing, with investors expecting the Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates.

In the Middle East, Iran-backed Hezbollah accused Israel of orchestrating an attack in Lebanon involving the explosion of pagers, which left a number of people dead and wounded thousands. The incident raised fears of an all-out war in the region, and buoyed prices on Tuesday.

Yet on the demand side, lackluster consumption has seen some refineries in Europe reduce processing rates. Meanwhile in China, the world’s largest oil-importing nation, poor margins have led to the bankruptcy of two small plants.

By Michael Every of Rabobank

2750 Beeps

The market is waiting for the Fed to cut rates today for the first time in years: the economist Bloomberg survey expects 25bps; markets are split between pricing 25bps and 50bps, with the most speculation in Fed Funds futures since they began trading in 1988; some joke the Fed should cut 37.5bps to please everyone; others are shifting ”50-50” to mean “fifty then fifty”, i.e., rates can keep being slashed as in crashes and recessions; and Democratic senators want 75bps.

There were hopes US retail sales data could make the case for 25 or 50bps, but they didn’t. The headline was stronger than consensus, but the ex-autos figure was weaker. That said, industrial production soared 0.8% m-o-m vs. 0.2% expected. Yet it would be ironic if that series, a sector neither the Fed nor financial markets have any interest in, derails interest rates falling as fast as they had hoped. Likewise, the Atlanta Fed GDP survey put its current Q3 estimate at 3.0% with only two weeks left of data before end-quarter, when trend US growth is 2%: either that Fed series is unconnected to the real economy, or the FOMC are, or markets are, or all three. Moreover, concerns grow that east coast US ports might see a crippling strike next month. We already had a report of Asia-East Coast routes commanding a $1,500 premium, working against a general softening of freight rates of late.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East we just got 2,750 beeps (Saudi media reporting as many as 4,000). A killer call triggered the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers held by members of Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist militia Hezbollah, choking hospitals with men losing fingers, eyes, and other key anatomy. Even the Iranian ambassador was reported to have been lightly injured – though why did he have a Hezbollah pager? The Middle East is on a knife-edge. However, that obvious analysis aside, there are several key facts to draw from this episode, which rightly takes the main headline in the Financial Times today online ahead of the Fed.

First, both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attack, the latter promising revenge – and not by email.

Second, the US took its now-usual step of denying any involvement. I’m sure that’s correct as nowadays US allies don’t tell it what they want to do ahead of time, given they never want to do anything: it’s far easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. To a Machiavellian, saying ‘non mea culpa’ does not make the US appear an honest broker, but reduces its perceived power – silence was the better option. That this has to be said partly explains why geopolitical tensions are so high, which matters to markets given the FT saying national security is reshaping economic policy.

Third, Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility, but has dealt Hezbollah a hammer blow. The militia had recently switched to low-tech pagers to avoid interceptions of its comms and GPS locations. This has backfired badly, badly injuring thousands of its men, and now leaving it unable to communicate as rumors swirl of a potential Israeli ground incursion ahead.

Fourth, is how this ‘Mission Impossible’ was achieved. Some say the encrypted pagers ordered from Taiwan –bringing in another geopolitical angle– were interdicted, Mossad injecting a compound into their lithium batteries to allow them to be hacked remotely to then overheat. However, lithium burns and videos show detonations with no flame, suggesting the replacement of some parts with plastic explosives, a far larger supply-chain feat.

This matters for more than the Middle East or pagers. Many of us worry about phone addiction. Others worry about our phones being listened to. Some are pushing for children not to be allowed phones in schools. From now on, we’ll have to be concerned about our devices exploding in our hands or pockets. This will seriously change how some serious business is done.

The weaponisation of common devices within a supply chain opens a Pandora’s box. The US is already trying to remove Chinese technology like Huawei’s 5G as a security threat, and that EVs record all we do is well-known by many. Yet how long will it now be until more banal made-in-China consumer products are also seen as being potentially too risky? If I can make those connections, others paid to worry about such things, and politicians who make money in doing so, will be front-running further national-security onshoring in the near future.

Paging the Fed: that deep China supply-chain deflation helping you consider a 50bps move today may not last long. Things could really overheat at that point. If you think we’ve seen market volatility in the past few years (and weeks on USD/JPY!), imagine normalising 75bps Fed hikes against rising inflation, then 50bps cuts in a fair economy… and then getting that call structurally wrong, and having to U-turn again.

Ironically, as the Fed is considering cutting bigly while some US data looks good, the ECB is playing its hand more cautiously even as the German ZEW survey collapsed like VW’s self-confidence. Relatedly, as the Financial Times editorial says, “Draghi is trying to save Europe from itself”, EU Commission President von der Leyen just named her new team to do that saving. The key thing to note is countries who favour dirigiste market intervention (i.e., France, Spain, and Italy) claimed prime posts like anti-trust, state aid, EU spending, and industrial policy. The outgoing free-market competition commissioner powerlessly warned of allowing pan-EU champions to emerge, as this would also be a “Pandora’s box” for Europe. Just a less explosive one than what we’ve seen in the Middle East; except to free-market purists who don’t understand that violent reality is what much of the world outside their happy bubble looks like.

In Australia, the government and RBA are still at daggers drawn, as a former senior Reserve Bank manager says reform of its board is needed to avoid groupthink: yes, but all the establishment and most of the population daily echo the Aussie TV advert that screamed, “I JUST WANNA SELL RUGS!” (Where for “rugs!”, read “rate cuts!”; or for “sell” read “buy”, and for “rugs!” read “houses!”) The RBA is also going to play with a wholesale banking CBDC for the next three years to try to streamline settlements processes. Nothing for retail or the government yet. But if you want to imagine something truly explosive on the device in your pocket, how about a central-bank controlled digital currency it can print or delete at will as part of an it’s-not-central-planning-when-we-do-it economy. Luckily, one of the last to try and plan the economy will be Australia, we can assume – unless it involves housing.

So, back to waiting for the Fed. Or the next geopolitical bang.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has spoken out about how ashamed he feels at the media for pushing the narrative that Donald Trump only has himself to blame for deranged lunatics trying to assassinate him.

Cuomo, now with News Nation, stated that he called Trump personally after the second assassination attempt to say he’s “really sorry that this is going on and it’s being dealt with this way.”

“I called him today because I am ashamed of how we are responding and not responding to the threats on him,” Cuomo said.

He continued, “And I feel for his family, and I know you can roll your eyes and say, ‘Oh yeah, he asked for it.’ Listen, that’s your choice, and I think it’s a wrong choice. Okay? We got to get out of the judgment business, unless it’s judging ourselves, and you’ve got to start rewarding things that are better.”

“And I got to tell you, I don’t know how he stays in the race,” Cuomo further noted, adding “I don’t know how he got up after being shot in the head. And you people who try to mitigate that, you need to check yourself. He gets up, pumping his fist, stays in the race, barely even talks about it.”

While qualifying that he is not a Trump supporter, Cuomo urged “I am worried about us. I am ashamed of what’s happening around us right now, and the relative lack of concern about it. I just don’t see how we get anywhere better than where we are right now.”

Chris Cuomo called Donald Trump after second assassination attempt: “I am ashamed of what’s happening”

pic.twitter.com/4emsQ1Ke3g

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 17, 2024

Trump “doesn’t deserve this. A guy pointing an AK-47 at him while he’s playing golf?” Cuomo asserted, adding “And we take solace in the fact that the guy didn’t get any rounds off? That does not work for me.”

He continued, “If I had been through what that guy’s been through in the last two months, you would not know where I am. You would never see me on TV again. No way I would do that. I don’t know how he does it.”

“He’s got kids, they’re adults, but he’s got grandkids. He’s got a wife. People giving crap to Melania Trump, worrying about whether or not there was a plot around her husband. How could she not?” Cuomo further proclaimed in a clear reference to his former colleague at CNN Don Lemon, who created and later deleted a ‘reaction video’ in which he rolled his eyes and acted exasperated at Melania Trump for sharing concerns about her husband being targeted.

“I don’t think she’s right, but I totally get why she feels that way,” Cuomo stated, adding “People mock her? And then her husband has a guy pointed with an AK-47 where are those people apologizing?”

“That’s what it’s time for. ‘I should not have come at you, Melania Trump, for suggesting that maybe there was something more afoot I get your, paranoia, I get your feelings, you have a right to that,’” Cuomo added.

“There’s nothing wrong with saying that,” Cuomo further proclaimed, “with being a basic, decent human being, it has gotten too out of control, too far from where we need to be and how we need to be, and I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know.”

He’s got a way to go to make up for the establishment hackery he engaged in for years at CNN, particularly as regards Trump, but this is a start at least.

Lets see if he sticks to it.

* * *

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.

This week U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its latest statistics showing at least 530,000 migrants flew into the U.S. and were paroled into the country as part of the Biden administration’s controversial mass parole program for those migrating from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (the CHNV program).  The program essentially expedites the transfer of migrants from these countries with minimal vetting under refugee laws and allows them to stay in the US for at least two years with a work visa. 

The CBP also notes that at least 800,000 more migrants have applied for the program at US ports of entry, meaning they are likely already in the country.  The numbers are not counted as illegal border crossings. The CBP has warned that once the two-year work period ends they do not have the manpower to track down those migrants that refuse to leave voluntarily.

Concerns over this immigration agenda are being raised after presidential candidate Donald Trump highlighted the flood of 20,000 Haitians into Springfield, Ohio (a city of only 60,000 people) during his recent debate with Kamala Harris.  Reports are mounting and suggest this issue is not limited to Ohio; small towns across the US are being inundated with third-world immigrants.  Native-born residents feel powerless as their communities are trampled by decisions made at the federal level.

One such town is Sylacauga in Alabama with a tiny population of 12,236 people southeast of Birmingham.  Reports indicate at least 2000 Haitian migrants have been dumped into the area with little or no communication with the locals. 

Sylacauga city council member Laura Barlow Heath says she’s worried Sylacauga will become the next Springfield.  She criticized her colleagues after they abruptly shut down a council meeting when residents raised concerns over the overwhelming influx of migrants and worries ‘civil unrest’ may be the result.  

Citizens continued to approach council members after the meeting, and many of the exchanges became heated.

Mayor Jim Heigl confirms that the immigrants were brought in “legally” for employment. He said they have been “model citizens,” and there are no issues with the current number of immigrants living in the city.  However, this is the same rhetoric from the leadership in Springfield, Ohio, and reports from native resident conflict dramatically with the claims made by local politicians.  They say crime is on the rise, and of course, pets are disappearing. 

Evidence is rising that animal abuse is indeed an issue.  After the media claimed the accusations have been “debunked”, police reports have been exposed and confirmed recordings of migrants in Ohio cooking cats have surfaced. A video of the Springfield City Manager Ryan Heck from March of this year show him discussing migrants doing “horrible things to domesticated animals” while council members argued that the events are not confirmed.

NEW: African migrants in Dayton, Ohio caught grilling cats.

The footage was obtained by @realchrisrufo who interviewed the man who took the video.

“It was some Africans that stay right next door. This African dude next door had the damn cat on the grill”https://t.co/YmmV79TKOn

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 14, 2024

Now we have the Springfield City Manager acknowledging on video that they’ve heard of complaints of domestic animals being eaten back in March.

We also have a call report showing this.

Why would they lie about there not being complaints?

Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/ejktkvxIRo

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) September 17, 2024

SHOCKING report from Rebel News’ @TheMenzoid, who visited Springfield, Ohio, reveals local residents sharing their stories of Haitian migrants killing pets and causing chaos in their city.

“They did kill my daughter’s cat.”

“My neighbor’s neighbor went over to his house crying… pic.twitter.com/5qBOsklaIe

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) September 13, 2024

Democrats assert that these communities have no say in the process of immigration and that however many foreigners arrive and where they come from is none of their business.  But maybe it should be their business.  Laura Heath of Sylacauga gets to the root of the problem:

“When is enough enough? When do they stop coming in? How many are there going to be? There’s no answers. We have none. The unknown and uncertainty is scary. We have 12,236 people in our community, and we just do not have the adequate resources to handle an influx of migrants. It’s going to take away from resources that are already struggling here.”  

It should be noted that many of these migrants have been suspiciously relocated to deep red conservative districts and, as we recently witnessed in Oregon, some states are “accidentally” giving migrants voter status when they get their state IDs and drivers licenses. 

Employers are incentivized to hire migrants because of lower wages, but they can also get tax subsidies for every refugee under a lesser known provision of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).  In other words, companies are getting extra-cheap labor the more they add refugees to the payroll.  This is why we often see corporate CEOs in places like Springfield, OH avidly defending mass immigration and denying any problems exist.  

While the pet eating question has drawn national scrutiny to the issue, an even greater problem is the affordable housing shortage.  With tens of millions of migrants entering the US in the past three years, demand has exploded and rent prices have skyrocketed.  The gaslighting of the public continues, but the truth is slowly and surely rising to the surface.

Lazard Chief Executive Officer Peter Orszag doesn’t seem to be bothered by recent complaints of junior bankers being overworked on Wall Street. As a matter of fact, he took to Bloomberg yesterday to proclaim his young bankers are actually asking for longer hours, providing the work is interesting.

Whether its just PR spin aside, Orszag’s comments come days after we reported that JPMorgan is now capping junior bankers’ hours at 80 per week, while Bank of America is rolling out a tool requiring detailed time tracking. 

Those moves come years after the infamous Goldman Sachs slide deck, wherein junior bankers complained about working long hours on…of all places, Wall Street. Despite this, we wrote back in July that junior bankers were working 100 hour weeks again

Orszag said in an interview this week: “There are many, many people who would rather work whatever number of hours per week on interesting, important things rather than fewer hours on things that are not that interesting. And that’s what we’re looking for. That’s the trade-off.”

The Bloomberg report says Orszag attributes his ability to ask for 80-90 hour weeks to giving remote work two days a week and offering “flexibility to ensure staff still have the agency to focus on other important things in their lives”. 

Employers must offer junior bankers more meaningful work, not just “make-work,” said Orszag, though professions do require effort at the end of the day.

As we noted last week, the debate over junior bankers’ hours resurfaced after Bank of America associate Leo Lukenas died in May, with complaints that hours were exceeding 100 a week despite prior commitments to protect worker health.

Orszag concluded by hailing the company’s diversity as its strength: “The evidence is clear that more diverse teams produce better outcomes when the problems are not routine. We’re going to be better on behalf of our clients as a result.”

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

The price of the U.S. WTI crude oil has finally stayed in the low $70s per barrel for a sustainable period of time, allowing the Biden Administration to ramp up the refill of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which it had said would do at prices of $79 a barrel or below.

WTI Crude is now at $70 per barrel as of Tuesday morning, after spending days below that threshold.

But the Energy Department has just $841 million left to buy crude for the SPR, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing an estimate by ClearView Energy Partners, a consulting firm. That money would be enough to buy only around 12 million barrels of crude at today’s prices, per Bloomberg’s calculations.

This would be a drop in the ocean, considering that the SPR is only just over half full compared to its capacity of 700 million barrels.

DOE’s Office of Petroleum Reserves has recently announced a call for bids to supply up to 1.5 million barrels of oil to the Bayou Choctaw site in January 2025. An additional solicitation will follow on August 12, 2024, for another 2 million barrels destined for the Bryan Mound site, also for delivery in January 2025.

The replenishment strategy comes in the wake of the SPR’s critical role in stabilizing the market during global supply disruptions, notably the release of more than 180 million barrels of oil from the SPR starting in 2021, as gasoline prices remained high. The Department of Treasury claims that these releases, along with coordinated international efforts, helped reduce gasoline prices by up to 40 cents per gallon in 2022.

The SPR currently houses 375 million barrels of crude—a figure that is 263 million barrels less than oil in the SPR at the beginning of President Joe Biden’s term in office. The SPR, capable of storing as many as 714 million barrels of crude oil, is kept in underground salt caverns at four sites in Texas and Louisiana and was designed to protect the economy and American livelihoods during oil shortages.