Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

• Mayonnaise exhibits similar properties to plasma, aiding fusion research.

• Scientists are studying the condiment to understand the behavior of plasma in fusion reactions.

• Breakthroughs in fusion research, including recent experiments, offer hope for future clean energy solutions.

The most common of condiments could help researchers better understand the physics behind one of the most difficult and sought-after scientific feats—making nuclear fusion a reality.

When compressed and heated, mayonnaise exhibits some characteristics similar to the various states of plasma in a hypothetical nuclear fusion reaction, scientists have found.

So, the common condiment could become an ingredient in solving one of humanity’s longest-standing dreams—achieving nuclear fusion. 

Fusion is the natural process that heats the Sun and all other stars, in which a huge amount of energy is produced by the fusion of light atoms, such as those in hydrogen, into heavier elements like helium.

Nuclear fusion has long been considered the answer to zero-emission by-product-free energy generation. However, no one has cracked the nuclear fusion code yet because of the challenges associated with the environment in which the process could take place. 

Inertial confinement fusion, the process that starts a nuclear fusion reaction, has several challenges to overcome. One of these is the instability of the plasma state which results from rapid compression and heating of capsules filled with isotopes of hydrogen. 

The so-called Rayleigh-Taylor instability that occurs is the interpenetration of materials when fluids with different densities collide. 

And here comes mayonnaise, which has become a key ingredient to the ongoing research on the phases of Rayleigh-Taylor instability, researchers at Lehigh University say. 

“We’re still working on the same problem, which is the structural integrity of fusion capsules used in inertial confinement fusion, and Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise is still helping us in the search for solutions,” said Arindam Banerjee, the Paul B. Reinhold Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Lehigh University and Chair of the MEM department in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

“We use mayonnaise because it behaves like a solid, but when subjected to a pressure gradient, it starts to flow,” he says. 

Banerjee and team have been studying the properties of mayonnaise in relation to plasma characteristics for at least half a decade. 

Back in 2019, they published their first paper on the topic called “Rayleigh-Taylor-instability experiments with elastic-plastic material,” in the scientific journal Physical Review E. 

The team has continued experiments in mayonnaise and published their latest paper on the topic, “Transition to plastic regime for Rayleigh-Taylor instability in soft solids,” earlier this year. 

In the latest paper and experiments, the scientists are “trying to enhance the predictability of what would happen with those molten, high-temperature, high-pressure plasma capsules with these analog experiments of using mayonnaise in a rotating wheel,” Banerjee said.

“We’re another cog in this giant wheel of researchers,” he said, commenting on the cohort of scientists working to make fusion a reality. 

“And we’re all working towards making inertial fusion cheaper and therefore, attainable.”

In nuclear fusion efforts, recent breakthroughs in the U.S. have encouraged more R&D efforts in America and elsewhere.

At the end of 2022, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made history, demonstrating fusion ignition for the first time in a laboratory setting—an achievement six decades in the making. The fusion energy released was greater than the laser energy delivered to start the reaction, passing the threshold of ignition.

LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) has so far achieved ignition four times since 2022, giving hope to scientists that fusion for energy may not be only a pipe dream as it has been for decades.

China is also catching up on the race for fusion technology.

It is building a Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT) in Hefei—a project in which key components for fusion energy reactors are developed and tested. The facility is expected to be finished in 2025. 

The U.S. has several large private fusion companies, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), which has just signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy worth $15 million to meet research and development goals leading to commercial fusion power. 

The incentives in the U.S. Administration’s Milestone program to support fusion energy “can help us keep moving step by step toward our goal of building our first fusion power plant by the early 2030s,” CFS chief executive and co-founder Bob Mumgaard said in June.    

Between 1990 and 2023, the world population grew by more than 50%. But not all countries grew at the same rate, and some in fact, some didn’t grow at all.

Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao maps Europe’s population changes, color-coded by growth (green) and declines (red) in the same time period.

Data is sourced from the UN’s World Population Prospects 2024.

Population Growth Division Across Western and Eastern Europe

Western European countries have seen significant population growth, even as birth rates have fallen, indicating migration into the region.

Türkiye (+56%) and Ireland (+48%) have registered the most growth for countries with more than 1 million people.

Note: Population changes measured between July 1st 1990–2023. Figures rounded.

On the other hand, Russia and several former Soviet bloc countries have fewer people now than they did in 1990, when the Berlin Wall fell.

The Balkan countries have also seen population declines, after waves of emigration following the Yugoslav Wars.

The IMF estimates nearly 25 million Eastern Europeans left between 1990 and 2015, more than the combined population of the Czech Republic and Hungary. Their analysis found that countries with a less effective rule of law and weaker institutions saw the highest emigration rates, usually amongst the educated and skilled workers.

And though emigrants send remittances home, the money received from abroad is a double-edged sword. The IMF says that while investment and consumption have increased in Eastern Europe, currencies have also appreciated, reducing the competitiveness of exports.

Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

Schools in the United Kingdom will begin teaching students about so-called “misinformation” and “extremist content” as the nation faces widespread race riots by Islamic immigrants.

According to Fox News, the new initiative will attempt to instruct students on how to discern real information from fake news, by “embedding” critical thinking into pre-existing curriculum, including English and math classes.

“It’s more important than ever that we give young people the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge what they see online,” said Bridget Phillipson, the secretary of state for education and minister for women and equalities.

“That’s why our curriculum review will develop plans to embed critical skills in lessons to arm our children against the disinformation, fake news and putrid conspiracy theories awash on social media.”

Phillipson explained that each major subject would incorporate this new “misinformation” curriculum in some way.

English classes will focus on the language used by “real” articles and “fake” stories, while computer classes will separate websites that are considered legitimate from websites that are considered “biased.”

Math classes will incorporate statistics in order to compare and contrast the numbers of right-wing protests and the numbers of left-wing protests.

This effort is in response to widespread riots across the country following a mass stabbing at a dance party in Southport on July 29th, where three children were killed and 10 more were injured. The suspect is an 18-year-old male whose parents are Rwandan immigrants.

As it was the latest and most egregious example yet of violence as a result of mass migration to the U.K., a number of right-wing citizens began protesting in the streets, particularly outside of mosques and hotels housing migrants. Although the right-wing protests remained peaceful, Islamic migrants began forming their own counter-protests, which quickly descended into widespread violence and led to multiple instances of non-White migrants viciously attacking random White civilians in the streets.

The government, now led by the left-wing Labour Party and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has already ordered U.K. citizens to stop sharing videos and images of the Islamic riots, under threat of prosecution.

“Content that incites violence or hatred isn’t just harmful – it can be illegal,” the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service declared on X on Wednesday.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) posed a series of questions to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeking clarity on the recent arrest of a Pakistani national regarding his attempts to assassinate high-ranking U.S. government officials, allegedly including former President Donald Trump, in light of the fact that he was flagged on a federal watchlist and recently granted immigration parole.

The alleged Pakistani plotter, Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was apprehended on July 12, 2024, when he attempted to leave the United States. Currently in federal custody in New York, Merchant’s plot was foiled when he allegedly conspired with undercover agents, who posed as assassins, to attempt to murder high-ranking U.S. citizens.

The alleged scheme was conducted as part of a larger Iranian ploy to retaliate against the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said, according to an Aug. 6 Justice Department (DOJ) statement that revealed the incident. Soleimani was taken down in 2020 during the Trump administration for aiming to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

On Aug. 9, Grassley wrote a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking him for more information regarding Merchant’s immigration parole status. Citing media reports, Grassley said that Merchant was interviewed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force upon his arrival in the United States on April 13 because he was flagged in the federal database as a “Lookout Qualified Person of Interest.”

Despite this, Merchant was granted Significant Public Benefit Parole on April 13 by the DHS, which he overstayed after it expired on May 11, Grassley said. He asked the DHS to provide answers to the following:

1. Did the DHS grant Merchant Significant Public Benefit Parole before or after his placement on the terrorist watchlist and being listed as a “Lookout Qualified Person of Interest”?
2. On what basis was Merchant granted Significant Public Benefit Parole?
3. Provide the entire Alien Registration File (A-File) for Asif Raza Merchant.
4. How many individuals on the Terrorist Screening Database have DHS granted parole and allowed entry into the United States?

Following Merchant’s arrest, Garland said, “The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray said of the incident: “This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today’s complaint allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook.

“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI.”

Assassination Attempts on Trump

The Pakistani national’s plan to assassinate Trump has not been confirmed by federal agencies. The Epoch Times reached out to the DHS and the DOJ for comment regarding the issue. The FBI declined to comment.

According to court documents, Merchant’s plot involved “three different criminal schemes: (1) stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home; (2) planning a protest; and (3) killing a politician or government official.”

Merchant told the confidential source, an undercover agent, that “trusted” people would be needed to conduct the killing and perform protests after the incident as a distraction, and that they would need “a woman to do ‘reconnaissance.’”

Merchant paid the agent an advance sum of $5,000 to hire hitmen and told him that the final plans would be revealed after Merchant left the country.

He was subsequently arrested on July 12, a day before Trump was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“The failure of the Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania, is even more outrageous in light of suspected Iranian-backed assassins targeting former Trump Administration officials, including President Trump himself. That day, the threat of sniper attacks was even higher than normal,” House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said in a statement after the DOJ unsealed its charges against Merchant.

“I was previously briefed concerning the Iranian threat and the circumstances of Mr. Merchant’s arrest and questioned then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on whether she had reviewed the intelligence concerning the Iranian threat. She confirmed to me that she read the intelligence and was aware of this Iranian murder-for-hire plot.”

Authored by Cara Michelle Miller via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Erythritol is a popular choice for those looking to cut down on sugar without losing flavor, but its health effects are often debated. New Cleveland Clinic research reveals a concerning finding: Erythritol makes platelets—blood cells involved in clotting—more active, leading them to react more strongly and increasing the risk of blood clots, heart attack, and stroke.

Cleveland Clinic researchers say this discovery, part of a series exploring the physiological effects of common sugar substitutes, may prompt a reassessment of how we use this sweetener.

The new findings build on the research team’s prior erythritol study. The previous study was limited because some of the participants had poor health, with over 70 percent having cardiovascular issues. The new study addresses these limitations by recruiting healthy adults.

“This research adds to increasing evidence that erythritol raises cardiovascular risk. In a small group of healthy volunteers, we show ingesting erythritol made platelets more hyper-responsive … which can raise the risk of blood clots,” senior and corresponding author Dr. Stanley Hazen, chair of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences in Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute and co-section head of Preventive Cardiology, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Unlike Sugar, Erythritol Can Promote Excess Blood Clotting

Erythritol is a popular sugar substitute used in many “low-carb” and “keto” foods. It is about 70 percent as sweet as sugar and is produced by fermenting corn or wheat starch. Health and weight-loss professionals often recommend it as a safer alternative to sugar for individuals with high cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome.

Although erythritol is classified as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority and is naturally found in fruits and vegetables, recent studies by Hazen’s group indicate that consuming typical amounts of erythritol may pose an increased cardiovascular risk.

“This paper builds on our earlier studies with erythritol [published in 2023 in Nature Medicine],” said Hazen, in which large-scale clinical observation studies in the United States and Europe showed that cardiac patients with higher levels of erythritol in their blood were twice as likely to suffer a major cardiac event—such as heart attack, stroke, or death—within the next three years compared to those with lower levels. The study also showed that adding erythritol to blood or platelets increased clot formation. Preclinical studies confirmed these findings.

The previous study had some limitations. Dr. Jayne Morgan, a cardiologist and clinical director of the COVID-19 Task Force at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, told The Epoch Times that it was a clinical observation study, which means it could show correlations but not establish causation. Additionally, the study’s participants were in poor health; they were overweight, had high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking habits, and existing cardiovascular issues. So it was unknown if their elevated risks were due to their poor health or due to erythritol consumption.

The new human intervention study, published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, was designed to closely monitor how erythritol ingestion affects platelets at a dose typically contained “in commercial products,” such as an erythritol-sweetened soda or muffin, explained Hazen.

In 20 healthy volunteers—nonsmokers with no cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes—blood samples were taken after an overnight fast. Participants then consumed a solution with either 30 grams of glucose or erythritol. Blood samples taken 30 minutes later showed that erythritol levels increased over 1,000 times in those who ingested erythritol.

Results also “revealed participants showed a significant increase in the susceptibility for blood clot formation after consuming erythritol,” according to Hazen. “In stark contrast, no change was observed in participants after consuming a comparable amount of glucose. A significant new finding in these studies was the direct comparison of results with sugar (glucose), which did not have this effect.”

Hazen explained that erythritol makes platelets more responsive, meaning they become more reactive and prone to forming clots. Consequently, even a minor trigger can cause a more robust activation of platelets, increasing the likelihood of blood clots. This heightened responsiveness can lead to excessive clotting.

“This was seen [in the previous paper] in whole blood, with platelet rich plasma, with isolated platelets, in animal models of disease,” he added. “The results of these mechanistic studies are all aligned with the prior large scale clinical observation data showing higher erythritol levels track with higher risk of major adverse cardiac events.”

1 Serving of Erythritol May Trigger Clot Formation

“This research raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect,” study co-author Dr. W. H. Wilson Tang, research director for Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, said in a press release. “Erythritol and other sugar alcohols that are commonly used as sugar substitutes should be evaluated for potential long-term health effects especially when such effects are not seen with glucose itself.”

He added that these findings are particularly significant because they follow a recent study by the same research group, which found that xylitol, another common sweetener, also increased blood levels and affected how blood cells clump together in healthy volunteers.

Like erythritol, Hazen noted in the email, “the investigations with xylitol also included large-scale clinical observation studies showing that elevation in plasma xylitol levels is associated with increased risk for heart attack, stroke or death over three years of follow-up.”

These findings underscore the importance of further long-term clinical studies to reassess the safety of erythritol and other sugar substitutes, according to both researchers.

The Rise of Erythritol: A ‘Natural’ Alternative to Synthetic Sweeteners

Concerns about the long-term effects of synthetic sweeteners have led many to seek “natural” alternatives like erythritol, a widely used substitute for artificial sweeteners like sucralose (Splenda), saccharin (Sweet’N Low), and aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet).

While these artificial sweeteners were once favored for their calorie-free sweetness, they now face increasing scrutiny. For instance, aspartame has been linked to potential cancer risks, while saccharin has been associated with obesity and diabetes in animal studies.

In May 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised against using nonsugar sweeteners, citing evidence that they do not support long-term weight loss and come with other health risks. The recommendations apply to everyone except those with preexisting diabetes.

Erythritol, on the other hand, is often recommended for diabetics because it doesn’t raise blood sugar levels and reduces dental plaque and tooth decay.

Reconsidering Erythritol: What the Latest Research Means for Your Diet

Based on the evidence, Hazen said, “Choosing sugar-sweetened treats occasionally and in small amounts would be preferable to consuming drinks and foods sweetened with these sugar alcohols, especially for people at elevated risk of thrombosis such as those with heart disease, diabetes or metabolic syndrome.”

He added that future research will “explore how broadly the pro-thrombotic effect is in alternative sugar substitutes. Including both alternative sugar alcohols and common artificial sweeteners.”

Of course he showed up in Kiev at this most dangerous moment of the Ukraine war, when uncontrollable escalation is looking more and more inevitable as Putin will now be ‘forced’ to respond to the shock cross-border invasion into Kursk…

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was in the Ukrainian capital on Monday where he praised Ukraine’s move into Russian territory as “brilliant” and “bold”. He also urged the White House to pour more weapons into the fight, and to give Zelensky whatever is needed. Graham provocatively spoke of ‘kicking Putin’s ass’.

“What I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up. Putin started this, kick his ass… Let these people fight! Give them weapons they need to win a war they can’t lose.” – US Senator Lindsey Graham in Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/UczJpujIiz

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 12, 2024

The Republican lawmaker made the trip with fellow anti-Russia hawk, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. “What do I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up,” Graham told reporters.

“Bottom line is to the administration. …Give them weapons they need to win the war they can’t afford to lose,” he continued.

Graham has certainly been no stranger to issuing fiery and ultra-provocative statements which seem aimed at goading Putin and the Kremlin. During a 2023 visit to Ukraine he told Zelensky that “the Russians are dying” and “that’s the best money we’ve ever spent.”

.@SenBlumenthal and @LindseyGrahamSC met Prime Minister @Denys_Shmyhal today to underscore U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight for freedom and to discuss ways to strengthen Ukraine’s economy and deepen our strategic economic relationship. pic.twitter.com/ucTbqn5I8D

— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) August 12, 2024

Soon after the meeting with the US Senate delegation on Monday, President Zelensky thanked them for strong American support and said on X, “We discussed what exactly is needed to bring this war to a just end, including our need to use long-range weapons.”

What comes next is possibly Ukraine hitting places like Moscow with long-range missiles, something which would likely trigger escalation to WW3. The Europeans will also likely soon feel more blowback from all of these latest provocations as Moscow readies a response.

Satellite photos have shown that gas measuring station in Sudzha, which helps supply Europe, has been badly damaged after Ukraine captured it during the now week-long Kursk offensive…

Ukraine is now claiming that its forces hold 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory, a Monday statement from its defense ministry said. According to more from Bloomberg, Russian officials have admitted that a sizeable chunk of Russian territory is in a state of emergency:

More than 120,000 people have left their homes and about 60,000 more are waiting to be evacuated, Alexey Smirnov told Putin and Russia’s top security officials during a televised meeting on Monday. Ukrainian forces have penetrated at least 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) into Russia and control a border area at least 40 kilometers wide, though there’s “no clear understanding” of where their troops are, he said.

President Putin has issued his first detailed public statements since the incursion began. One thing he stressed in the Monday remarks is that now there will be no peace talks or settlement with Kiev after this extreme provocation.

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

The genesis of Donald Trump’s “no tax on tips” policy idea, which started gaining ground earlier this year, came after the former president had a discussion with a server in Las Vegas who complained about her taxes.

“We want to pay our fair share, but we also don’t want to be taken advantage of. I say it’s like the mob: They take what they want from us. We are pissed off about this,” Eileen Scott, a cocktail waitress on the floor of Harrah’s Las Vegas, told The New York Times, who commended Trump’s improvisational policy idea less than a month ago, on July 18th.

The idea has gained so much steam, that the Harris campaign and Democratic party are now trying to adopt this policy as their own:

Harris copying the Trump campaign on the idea sets off two alarm bells for me.

First, it says their campaign is obviously incapable of coming up with their own novel and well-liked policy ideas, so they are stealing Trump’s.

The second is that Harris’ out-of-the-blue stance against taxation stands in stark contrast to her record, and her party, which has focused excruciatingly on obsessing over tax revenue from the American public.

In fact, in February 2023, barely a year ago, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s IRS introduced the “Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA)”, which was specifically introduced to use electronic point of sale machines to “improve tip reporting compliance” — i.e. monitor employee tips and report them to the IRS.

In exchange for “protection from liability under the rules that define tips as part of an employee’s pay”, the program asked employers to submit annual reports, compiled by their point of sale systems, on tip data.

The same New York Times piece from July reported same:

The I.R.S. has in recent years taken steps to try to collect more taxes owed on tipped income. The tax agency said that Americans appeared to underreport earnings in cash tips, and it started a new voluntary compliance program last year for employers. Americans reported roughly $38 billion in tipped income in 2018, according to I.R.S. data.

Those that listen to me and read me frequently know I have often taken exception to the fruitlessness of obsessing over taxes such as these on middle America. It isn’t because I have some beef with paying taxes — I don’t — it’s because common sense would indicate to anybody with a brain that that spending is far more of a problem than missing miniscule amounts from revenue collection in the country right now.

For example, last month — around the time the New York Times was complimenting Trump’s “no tax on tips” idea, Elizabeth Warren was celebrating collecting $1 billion more in taxes from the American people.

But the “boosted” funding she is referring to cost American taxpayers $80 billion.

Then, I step back from this and look at the tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid we are sending out the door — $66 billion in disbursements in 2023, $50 billion requested in 2024 — and and can’t help but think that if we just calm our spending addiction in the slightest, we could make far more progress than tightening the vice grip of taxation around American citizens. It’s a grip that had gotten so tight, they were coming after tipped employees last year.

On top of going after tipped employees, the Biden administration had floated the extraordinarily asinine idea of taxing unrealized gains, which is the ideological love child of authoritarianism, overreach and a socialist state planned economy that’s guaranteed to brutalize our quality of life, all in one. I wrote about how that would all but destroy our country’s economy earlier this year: Taxing Unrealized Gains Would Obliterate The U.S. Economy.

It’s an incredible morphing act that we are witnessing with Kamala Harris.

We have watched a woman who was about as popular as shingles within the Democratic Party, who won zero primaries and zero delegates in 2020 and 2024, somehow fall ass-backward into the Democratic nomination spot. And now we’re bearing witness to watching her entire platform undergo an all-expenses-paid facelift courtesy of the incessant spin job that the mainstream media is happy to perform.

Here’s the cover spot Time gave Harris this week without even interviewing her, saying she “pulled off the swiftest vibe shift in modern political history”. That’s a lot of words for “political coup”.

Look, it’s as simple as this: as of this writing, Kamala Harris has been vice president for 1,299 days. This should give pause to anybody who hears her say she’s going to change current policies “day one” in office.

Have we forgotten that she has been in office for nearly 27,000 hours already?

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Is it not obvious to people that her call for changes is a tacit admission that the policies she helped institute over the last three years have already been failures?

The problem for Harris is that the policies on the right side of the aisle, with the exception of abortion, mostly fall in line with what the American people truly want: low taxes, privacy in their social lives, secure borders, price stability, energy independence, law and order, a strong military, and peace through strength. In order to try and secure the centrist vote in between both parties, the Democrats have to try to make their radical socialist agenda look as though it touches these bases, when it clearly does not.

This means they’re going to say one thing and do another once they get into office. Hence, we a “no tax on tips” policy from a woman who cast the deciding vote on $80 billion in new IRS funding months before they introduced a program to bring in more taxes from tips. Could it be any clearer?

Don’t let the Harris administration fool you into thinking they are on the side of everyday Americans — the record they’ve posted over the last three years starkly speaks otherwise.

Now read:

• George Gammon: Explains The Yen Carry Trade Chaos
• Matt Taibbi: Kamala, Trump & The Death Of Objective Truth

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President Biden’s appointed “border czar,” Kamala Harris, has single-handedly failed the American people. She owes citizens a straightforward explanation of why this administration facilitated the greatest illegal alien invasion this nation has ever seen. Some of these migrants are on FBI terror watchlists. 

“In less than four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has released into the United States more than 5.4 million illegal aliens, with another 1.9 million illegal alien ‘gotaways’ escaping into the country during the same time,” GOP House Judiciary Committee wrote in a report last week. The report also revealed about 100 illegal aliens that crossed the border were on the terrorist “watch list.” 

Biden officially tasked VP Harris on March 24, 2021, “to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle…in stemming the movement of…migration to our southern border.”

The illegal alien invasion began shortly after VP Harris became border czar. 

And the insanity followed:

• Say Their Names: Young American Women Are Being Raped & Murdered By Illegal Aliens
• Homeland Security Memo Warns Violent Venezuelan Gang ‘Green Lights’ Members To Kill US Cops
• Cartel Drones Fly With Explosives Near Southern Border

Tasking VP Harris as the border czar was doomed to fail from the very beginning. As a senator, she compared US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the KKK during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in 2018. 

Watch Kamala Harris compare ICE to the KKK during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. pic.twitter.com/hgJL37TamL

— Champagne Joshi (@JoshWalkos) August 8, 2024

“We have to critically re-examine ICE and it’s role … and we probably have to start thinking about starting from scratch,” Harris also said as a senator in an interview with MSNBC. 

🚨 REMINDER: Kamala Harris literally wants to open up the border and ABOLISH Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

She’s WORSE than Biden on illegals pic.twitter.com/VlWAf7ptEV

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 21, 2024

And her running mate, Tim Walz, marched in an “Abolish ICE” protest in 2018. 

Tim Walz marched in an “Abolish ICE” protest in Minneapolis on June 30, 2018 https://t.co/Vi0ABaWsSa pic.twitter.com/YD7YenZbEz

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) August 9, 2024

Harris and Walz share the same anti-ICE view. It’s worth reminding readers that ICE’s mission is to protect the US from illegal alien criminals and cross-border crimes. The call to abolish ICE seems like a recipe for disaster, especially after allowing millions of unvetted illegals into the country.

Meanwhile, NYPost reported today, “NYC migrants allegedly raped woman at knifepoint in Coney Island: police sources.” 

NYC migrants allegedly raped woman at knifepoint in Coney Island: police sources https://t.co/YzHZ197JOl pic.twitter.com/hLFj3ealKG

— New York Post (@nypost) August 12, 2024

Fox News’ Bill Melugin told X users earlier today, “Strongly recommend looking at the press releases page for ICE each day. Nonstop arrests of egregious foreign criminals the agency has to track down after they are caught & released at the border under the Biden/Harris admin.” 

Strongly recommend looking at the press releases page for ICE each day. Nonstop arrests of egregious foreign criminals the agency has to track down after they are caught & released at the border under the Biden/Harris admin. It’ll make your head spin. https://t.co/9FrZIVOeXf

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 12, 2024

Here are some of those headlines:

• ERO Boston arrests Dominican national charged with fentanyl trafficking in Rhode Island

• ERO New York City arrests Honduran national charged with carjacking and convicted of assault

• ERO Boston arrests Guatemalan national charged with sex crime against Rhode Island minor

• ERO Boston arrests Ecuadorian national charged locally with kidnapping, rape, assault

• Mexican noncitizen sex offender convicted of unlawful re-entry into US following ERO Boston arrest

• ERO Baltimore arrests Colombian gang leader wanted for homicide, arms trafficking, aggravated theft

Melugin added, “It’ll make your head spin.”

Democrats really want voters to forget about Harris’ role in triggering the border crisis. 

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

China-owned video-sharing app TikTok is using its algorithms to suppress content exposing China’s human rights violations, in order to shape the views of its targeted users, according to a new study.

Researchers from Rutgers University and the school’s Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found that TikTok’s algorithms “actively suppress content critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while simultaneously boosting pro-China propaganda and promoting distracting, irrelevant content,” according to their study.

“Through the use of travel influencers, frontier lifestyle accounts, and other CCP-linked content creators, the platform systematically shouts down sensitive discussions about issues like ethnic genocide and human rights abuses.”

In recent years, TikTok has been facing scrutiny and accusations of being a threat to national security, as it exploits the minds of American teens and its China-based parent company, Bytedance, could be forced by the CCP to hand over data on U.S. users. The U.S. National Security Agency has previously called the app the CCP’s “trojan horse” that threatens America’s long-term security due to the CCP’s anti-U.S. views, while some lawmakers have likened the app to a form of “digital fentanyl” that makes addicts of its users.

In April, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill into law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned from U.S. mobile app stores and web-hosting services. ByteDance and TiKTok have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law.

The report also found that TikTok had carried out “successful indoctrination” of its users, particularly heavy users, given the changes in their attitudes towards China, based on the results of a psychological survey.

“These users, through targeting or information environments engineered to sublimate free speech, appear to absorb these biased narratives unwittingly, leading to a distorted understanding of critical global issues,” the researchers wrote.

A TikTok spokesperson responded to the findings, telling The Epoch Times by email that the study was a “non-peer reviewed, flawed experiment … clearly engineered to reach a false, predetermined conclusion.”

“Previous research by NCRI has been debunked by outside analysts and this latest paper is equally flawed,” the spokesperson added.

Study

To conduct the study, researchers created 24 accounts across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, mimicking 16-year-old users in the United States. The accounts were used to test the three social media platforms’ algorithms when inputting four different search keywords often mentioned along with the CCP’s human rights abuses—“Uyghur,” “Xinjiang,” “Tibet,” and “Tiananmen.”

The Trump and the Biden administrations have characterized the CCP’s suppression of Uyghurs in its far-western regions of Xinjiang as “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” In Tibet, the Chinese regime has turned the region into a surveillance state and installed labor camps.

On June 4, 1989, the Chinese regime ordered its troops to open fire on student protesters and unarmed civilians at Tiananmen Square in China’s capital. The Chinese regime denies having initiated the violent crackdown despite the thousands of witnesses, and any discussion about the protest movement is considered taboo in China and Hong Kong.

Researchers collected over 3,400 videos from their search results using the four keywords and classified each video as either “pro-China,” “pro-China,” “neutral” or “irrelevant.”

In terms of Xinjiang, a “pro-China” video could include showing minorities’ folk customs or idyllic portrayals of rural life, and an “anti-China” video could show the Uyghurs’s plight in China or calls for boycotting products made in Xinjiang, according to the report.

Only 2.3 percent of search results for “Xinjiang” on TikTok were considered “anti-China,” in comparison to 21.7 percent on YouTube and 17.3 percent on Instagram, according to the report.

Meanwhile, more than 26 percent of search results for “Tiananmen” on TikTok were considered “pro-China,” while only 7.7 percent of research results on YouTube were “pro-China,” and 16.3 percent on Instagram, according to the report.

According to the report, a “pro-China” video on Tiananmen could be “denials of the massacre and revisionist historical takes,” or “scenic pictures of the square that bear no mention of the massacre.”

In terms of search results using the word “Tibet,” TikTok contained the least amount of anti-China content (5 percent) and the largest amount of pro-China content (30.1 percent) across the three platforms, according to the report.

The report explained that a “pro-China” video on Tibet could “echo the CCP narratives that Tibet has been liberated,” while an “anti-China” video could be about footage of Tibetan protests or “details of Tibetan cultural erasure by the CCP.”

“It appears that TikTok’s algorithm uniquely favors pro-China content in terms of views per like, irrespective of the overall engagement levels. Moreover, this finding is significantly more pronounced on TikTok than YouTube, suggesting a TikTok-specific bias,” the report reads.

Survey

Researchers also surveyed 1,214 American TikTok users, seeking to understand their perception of China based on the time they spent on the app.

Heavy users of TikTok—those using the app for more than three hours a day—showed a 49 percent increase in positivity towards the CCP’s human rights records relative to non-users. For those using the app for 15 minutes to 3 hours, the percent increase was 36 percent.

“By contrast, use of YouTube and Instagram showed no significant relationship on users’ perception of China’s human rights record,” the report reads.

“This suggests that TikTok’s content may contribute to psychological manipulation of users, aligning with the CCP’s strategic objective of shaping favorable perceptions among young audiences,” it added.

Heavy TikTok users also showed a 48 percent increase in the perception that “Tiananmen Square is mostly known as a tourist site.”

Researchers recommended to creation of a Civic Trust funded by social media platforms and the public to help identify platforms that are manipulating user perceptions.

“If social media algorithms are found to be subverting the very democracies that provide them the freedom to operate, they are both unjust and dangerous,” the report reads. “There must be accountability and corrective measures to ensure that platforms are not exploited by state actors to erode democratic institutions and values.”

Watch/Listen live:

https://t.co/PLHekD9jzW

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024

*  *  *

Update (0843ET): The X space is now live. 

*  *  *

Update (0830ET): After twenty minutes and countless refresh attempts, we’re all facing the same issue: the Trump-Musk X Spaces is unavailable.

If that’s because X is overloaded or, as Musk posted on X, “appears to be a massive DDOS attack on 𝕏,” the billionaire’s conversation with Trump appears to be delayed. 

We tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier today https://t.co/ymqGBFEJX0

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

Hmm. 

Yeah

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

Musk noted, “We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter.” 

We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter https://t.co/oxF8PsNHnZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

*  *  *

Musk explains why he calls it a ‘conversation’…

My use of the word conversation is deliberate.

This is so that people understand how @realDonaldTrump talks when it’s a conversation, rather than an interview.

Nobody is quite themselves in an interview, so it’s hard to understand what they’re really like. https://t.co/H6G0RuwIM4

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2024

But, just hours before the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, and former president Donald Trump are set to ‘break the internet’ with a live-stream on X Spaces, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has thrown a temper tantrum, seemingly mad at Musk’s unwillingness to bend the knee at his censorious demands by daring to allow ‘orange-man-bad-literally-hitler’ speak on the only uncensored platform that remains.

Specifically, Breton wrote “I am compelled to remind you of the due diligence obligations set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA),” adding that:

“This notably means ensuring… that all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content in connection with relevant events, including live streaming, which, if unaddressed, might increase the risk profile of X and generate detrimental effects on civic discourse and public security.”

The DSA is a NATO censorship law that is designed to stop the spread of populist parties in the West, according to cyber security expert Mike Benz.

Why is the EU threatening Elon Musk and X to censor tonight’s live event with Trump?

Why does the EU feel comfortable demanding censorship in a US election to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA)?

What even is the DSA?

Watch Mike Benz explain ⬇️pic.twitter.com/RFWn1wNFIS

— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) August 12, 2024

Breton went on to threaten to use the full “toolbox” of measures to protect EU citizens from “serious harm.”

“My services and I will be extremely vigilant to any evidence that points to breaches of the DSA and will not hesitate to use the full use of our toolbox, including by adopting interim measures, if it be warranted to protect EU citizens from serious harm,” he said.

“With great audience comes greater responsibility,” Breton wrote on X, Monday.

“As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in [the EU] in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to Elon Musk,” Breton added.

In response to Breton’s letter, Musk simply posted “Bonjour!”

In a subsequent post, he added:

“To be honest, I really wanted to respond with this Tropic Thunder meme, but I would NEVER do something so rude & irresponsible!”

And so with that, it seems Musk is refusing to follow Breton’s orders and daring to amplify the voice of one of the two candidates for the US presidential election in November. Notably, the letters US do not equal EU…

 “As the relevant content is accessible to EU users and being amplified also in our jurisdiction, we cannot exclude potential spillovers in the EU,” Breton wrote.

“Therefore, we are monitoring the potential risks in the EU associated with the dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political – or societal – events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”

The EU accused X in July of violating the DSA, stating that Musk’s verification policy on the platform can be used to deceive other users, CBS News reported. Musk removed verification badges, otherwise known as the blue check, from all verified accounts of people deemed noteworthy and currently charges $8 for anyone to receive a blue check.

“This is an unprecedented attempt to stretch a law intended to apply in Europe to political activities in the U.S.,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in response to the letter on the platform.

“It also patronizes European citizens, suggesting they are incapable of listening to a conversation and drawing their own conclusions.”

Breton thus created a round of media coverage suggesting that the prestigious European Union has identified Trump as a purveyor of hate speech and disinformation. And yet the interview has not yet occurred, Breton presents no evidence that Trump will be a source of disinformation or hate speech, and there is no evidence of any link whatsoever between Trump and the recent riots in Britain.

As such, Public’s Michael Shellenberger point out Breton’s letter could constitute a form of foreign interference in the upcoming US presidential elections.

Breton is, without justification, using the recent riots in Britain to demand censorship in the U.S.

In a normal time, the White House should issue a formal protest to the EU over Breton’s threats, and the Department of Justice should open an investigation. However, given that the Biden Administration is unlikely to do that, Congress should consider its own investigation.

Oh, and there’s this fucking douchenozzle from WaPo…

This so-called reporter from the Washington Post just had the audacity to ask Karine Jean-Pierre if the Biden regime could INTERFERE and block Trump’s interview with Elon Musk on 𝕏.

Are you freaking kidding me?! pic.twitter.com/BF0E7IsX15

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 12, 2024

As LibertyNation’s Sarah Cowgill concludes, a potential 193 million folks – a mix of elite media and curiosity seekers – could tune in to the X platform to watch the titans make a plan for America, talk smack about Harris and Walz, or compare golf scores – or whatever it is they end up talking about. It could be eye-opening and meaningful, or maybe this interview will be a nothing burger. Either way, the billionaires playing America-Monopoly with real money will at least be entertaining.

Watch/Listen live:

https://t.co/PLHekD9jzW

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024

As a potential crib sheet for the discussion, a number of conservative X users posted the following list:

President Trump’s 20 Core Promises To Make America Great Again

1. SEAL THE BORDER AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION

2. CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY

3. END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN

4. MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!

5. STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER

6. LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!

7. DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

8. PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY – ALL MADE IN AMERICA

9. END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

10. STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS

11. REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN

12. STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD

13. KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY

14. FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE

15. CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS

16. CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN

17. KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS

18. DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN

19. SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

20. UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/MlIKklPSJT pic.twitter.com/yJZmAaahs0

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024

*  *  *

As we detailed earlier, former President Donald Trump is preparing for tonight’s highly anticipated interview on the X platform with Elon Musk, which is expected to be an ‘internet-breaking’ event. 

Trump getting ready to join Elon on X Spaces and dunk on Kamala 😆 pic.twitter.com/OXOpZ641zv

— Adam Lowisz (@AdamLowisz) August 12, 2024

The interview on X is set to begin live-streaming at 8 pm EST. Musk wrote on X, “This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!” 

This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!

If you have specific questions & comments, post them under the chat.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2024

The world’s richest man noted, “If you have specific questions & comments, post them under the chat.”

Entertainment guaranteed! https://t.co/5oR7YLVQr6

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2024

On Sunday evening, Musk launched multiple stream tests, garnering millions of views to ensure X’s backend systems are ready for scaling ahead of tonight’s conversation. 

Test preparations followed the May 2023 streaming event on X between Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which suffered multiple technical difficulties. 

Despite Trump’s posting to only Truth Social, the former president has finally returned to X around 1120 ET. Trump’s last post on X dates back to August 2023. 

pic.twitter.com/tf87iebMdN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024

And another.

ENJOY! pic.twitter.com/un0WwfJlpw

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024

In the days following the attempted assassination of Trump at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally in mid-July, Musk endorsed Trump. With that came Trump’s U-turn on electric vehicles as well, declaring: “I’m for electric cars; I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So, I have no choice.”

Musk and his entourage of tech VCs have for decades supported Democrats, if that’s Obama, Clinton, and Biden. But in recent years, especially for Musk, he has declared war on the ‘woke mind virus‘ and Marxism pushed by Democrats. Furthermore, Musk believes in secured borders and law and order in cities – something the Trump ticket supports at the very core level. Yet, VP Harris supports a radical far-left agenda (an extension of Biden’s) of open borders (hence her failed position as ‘Border Czar’), and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, has had a horrendous response record during BLM riots. 

The Washington Post said VP Harris has no public events scheduled on Monday. She and her team will likely be tuning in to the event, as keyboard warriors on both sides of the political aisle will engage in a meme war on X during the interview. 

VP Harris has yet to give a press interview since she was catapulted to the top of the Democratic ticket. The reason likely stems from her poor debating skills, hence why she cannot go off script of the real VP Harris will be revealed. She must have a teleprompter nearby to speak coherently. 

We are watching a movie and the rerun at the same time!🤣 pic.twitter.com/SHB8FHU32E

— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) August 9, 2024

The interview with Musk and Trump, unscripted, is yet another sign legacy ‘far left’ corporate media is dying as the next-gen media rises from the ashes this election cycle. It’s only a matter of time before presidential debates will be held on X.