Authored by Patrick Maines via RealClear Wire,

In 1972, National Review magazine published a content analysis titled “Is it true what they say about the New York Times?”

The analysis and conclusion reached in that study was an unwelcome shock to many of the conservative magazine’s subscribers, as it held that the Times was editorially balanced in its news pages, in contrast to its editorial pages. NR founder William F. Buckley Jr. took a lot of heat from his supporters, as did the co-authors of the study. Not surprisingly, NYT Executive Editor Abe Rosenthal loved it and bought hundreds of copies of the issue.

Five decades later, in early January this year, another study was published that comes to a very different conclusion about the objectivity of the legacy media, particularly the New York Times. The subject of this inquiry was news coverage of “Russiagate.”

This examination, undertaken by Jeff Gerth, a decorated investigative journalist formerly with the Times, was published by Columbia Journalism Review. It’s a tour de force! Having taken a year and a half to research and write, and at a length of 24,000 words in four installments, Gerth utterly destroys whatever is left of the lie that Trump was in league with the Russians, and of the extraordinary lengths the media went to spread that smear.

Taken as a whole, this series strikes me as the most important media criticism in my lifetime. For one thing, Gerth mentions a number of media outlets by name rather than referring to them in the collective as “the media.” This kind of specificity is rarely found, especially in news stories about poll or survey results regarding the media.

But that is nothing compared to the fact that the news organization that is front and center in Gerth’s piece is the New York Times. The Times, and to a lesser extent the Washington Post, is to U.S. journalism what magnetic north is to compasses – the needle always points in their direction.

Broadcasters and other newspapers take their cues from them, especially regarding national and international issues. This partly explains why you rarely see stories on television you haven’t seen in the two papers, especially the Times. If the whole of the news industry were considered a single company, the New York Times would be the CEO of that company.

And then there is the shock of Columbia Journalism Review as the publisher. This small circulation magazine, published by the Columbia Journalism School, operates at the heart of the media establishment. More than this, both CJR and the journalism school have many ties with the Times. The current chairman of CJR, for instance, was until recently the deputy managing editor of the Times.

That CJR’s editor/publisher, Kyle Pope, would agree to publish such a study elevates him to a kind of hero status that few editors or publishers have attained. Pope’s contribution to the piece extends beyond his courage in publishing it. It includes his editor’s note, kicking off the series, part of which seems especially brave and wise:

No narrative did more to shape Trump’s relations with the press than Russiagate. The story, which included the Steele dossier and the Mueller report among other totemic moments, resulted in Pulitzer Prizes as well as embarrassing retractions and damaged careers. For Trump, the press’s pursuit of the Russia story convinced him that any sort of normal relationship with the press was impossible.

Ultimately, this study could prove to be a seminal document in recovering journalism’s lost soul. So far, only a few brave dissidents – reporter Matt Taibbi, podcaster Walter Kirn, and RealClearInvestigations’ editor Tom Kuntz, and a handful of others – have been willing to challenge the prevailing, and factually problematic, Russiagate narrative. Kirn says it is his hope that the Times is working on a mea culpa response to the CJR piece, like the Times’ published about its own Iraq coverage. Taibbi believes this is wishful thinking.

And given that neither the Washington Post nor the Times have publicly addressed the gaping hole Gerth’s reporting has torn in their credibility – and the muted reaction of most of the rest of the corporate media to Gerth’s exposé, we seem to have entered a new era. In today’s brave new journalism world, objectivity and even truth have been abandoned in favor of a journalism that simply reflects whatever political or ideological narrative is prevalent at the time.

*  *  *

Patrick Maines is the president emeritus of The Media Institute, a Washington-based think tank that in his time aggressively promoted free speech and journalistic excellence. He engineered the creation of an independent national celebration called Free Speech Week, now in its 20th year. 

Former President Donald Trump will visit East Palestine, Ohio, next week, tweeted his son, Donald Trump Jr. 

“Breaking News: Trump will visit East Palestine, Ohio next week.

“If our “leaders” are too afraid to actually lead real leaders will step up and fill the void,” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted. 

Breaking News: Trump will visit East Palestine, Ohio next week.
If our “leaders” are too afraid to actually lead real leaders will step up and fill the void.

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 18, 2023

The former president’s planned visit comes as the Biden administration, Ohio state officials, and many mainstream media outlets have downplayed the environmental disaster in the small blue-collar town after a train hauling toxic chemicals derailed two weeks ago. 

The botched response by the federal government, for instance, rejecting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance early this week to only U-turn last night, shows the awful response effort by the Biden administration. 

Trump wants to capitalize on what Legal Insurrection states, “Ohio’s toxic train derailment is Biden’s Katrina.” 

President Biden has barely mentioned the East Palestine chemical disaster. It took Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg nearly a week to respond publicly to the incident while reports of residents getting sick from the fumes flared up after a controlled burn of toxic chemical vinyl chloride. 

Looks like @EPA, @fema, @nscorp, @MikeDeWine, @potus, and @PeteButtigieg are throwing East Palestine to the wolves. They’re not going to help. They’re just hoping it goes away & the locals will just shut up & drink the contaminated water.

These citizens need to get ANGRY. https://t.co/n3ubnTGWVr pic.twitter.com/z2a7kmr2rs

— Jack Cochran (@TheJackCochran) February 17, 2023

Trump is taking advantage of Biden’s response failure to civic catastrophe. We call this the ‘Katrina play’ as the former president will rile up his base next week about how lousy the Biden administration has been in assisting blue-collar Americans.

If this works, Trump might score political points ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle. Americans just want answers about the chemical disaster that the government and media have kept so many in the dark. 

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

Retail stocks are exposed to tighter credit and consumers facing rising non-discretionary costs. Their expected underperfomance also makes them a candidate as a portfolio hedge for an increasingly likely equity-market correction.

(Nominal) retail sales were released this week, with January showing an improvement on December’s data. However, this should not detract from the strong downward trend leading indicators anticipate for retail consumption.

As the Fed’s rate hikes increasingly bite, credit conditions are tightening. A key demand support for consumption comes from consumer credit. But banks are tightening lending conditions across the board, from company loans to consumer credit. Fewer banks are willing to make consumer loans, which points to much weaker retail sales through this year.

Consumers are also having to tighten their belts. Inflation has ensured the cost of virtually all goods and services has risen over the past two years. Wages are not keeping pace with price rises, and certain essential outlays, such as rent and mortgage payments, cannot be readily cut.

Therefore discretionary consumption, which retail sales mainly captures, suffers.

My self-explanatory (but not catchily titled) Consumer Non-Retail Essentials Index shows that retail sales are going to face continued headwinds this year from consumer retrenchment.

The index is a little off its highs (brown line in the chart above; NB it is reversed), but the costs of essential services remains very high, and this will continue to force consumers to prioritize their spending.

This leaves retail stocks exposed. Retail is one of the most cyclical sectors, and as growth continues to weaken (as multiple leading indicators point towards), the sector will face increasing resistance.

After being one of the best sectors year-to-date thus far, retail is likely to soon begin underperforming as it becomes apparent discretionary consumption will weaken more.

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

There’s an excellent chance governments worldwide will soon force their citizens to use central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

CBDCs enable all sorts of horrible, totalitarian things.

They allow governments to track and control every penny you earn, save, and spend. They are a powerful tool for politicians to confiscate and redistribute wealth as they see fit.

CBDCs will make it possible for central banks to impose deeply negative interest rates, which are really just a euphemism for a tax on saving money.

Governments could program CBDCs to have an expiration date—like some airline frequent flyer miles—forcing people to spend them, for example, before the end of the month when they’d become worthless.

CBDCs will enable devious social engineering by allowing governments to punish and reward people in ways they previously couldn’t.

Suppose governments impose lockdowns again for flu season, so-called “climate change,” or whatever pretext they find convenient. CBDCs could be programmed to only work in a geographic area. For example, your payments could be denied if you travel more than a mile from your home during a lockdown.

Suppose the people in charge want to encourage people to take a pharmaceutical product. With CBDCs, they could easily deposit money into the accounts of those who complied and deduct it from those who didn’t.

Undoubtedly, CBDCs will be paired with a sort of social credit system. Such a system is already in place in China today. In the West, it’s likely to come in a different flavor. Perhaps CBDCs will be paired with an ESG score.

Did you commit a thought crime on social media? Or perhaps you read too many politically incorrect articles online? Did you exceed your monthly meat consumption allowance? Then expect some financial punishment thanks to the CBDCs.

CBDCs are, without a doubt, an instrument of enslavement. They represent a quantum leap backward in human freedom.

Unfortunately, they’re coming soon.

Governments will probably mandate CBDCs as a “solution” when the next real or contrived crisis hits—which is likely not far off.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that CBDCs are destined to fail.

Despite all the hype, CBDCs are nothing but the same fiat currency scam on steroids.

It’s doubtful CBDCs can save otherwise fundamentally unsound currencies—as I believe all fiat currencies are.

If the current fiat system is not viable, then CBDCs are even less viable as they enable the government to engage in even more currency debasement.

Would a CBDC have saved the Zimbabwe dollar, the Venezuelan bolivar, the Argentine peso, or the Lebanese lira?

I don’t think so. And a CBDC won’t save the US dollar or the euro either.

But that doesn’t mean governments won’t try implementing CBDCs… with immensely destructive consequences for many people.

While I believe CBDCs will inevitably self-destruct, nobody knows how long it will take for that to happen. Communism was also destined to self-destruct, but it took generations. I don’t think it will take nearly that long for CBDCs to fail, but that’s just my guess.

Therefore, the big question everyone should be asking is this… 

What will you do when the government forces everyone to use CBDCs?

I believe it’s incumbent on free individuals to reject CBDCs. It will be challenging, but the reward—maintaining your sovereignty—will be priceless.

Below I discuss five ways you can do just that.

It’s important to remember the wise words of Ron Paul:

“What none of them (politicians) will admit is that the market is more powerful than the central banks and all the economic planners put together. Although it may take time, the market always wins.”

No matter what edicts, decrees, or laws that politicians pass, they will never be able to fully extinguish the desire of people to use alternatives to CBDCs. That cracks the door open to other options.

For example, consider that Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Lebanon, and many other countries restrict the use of US dollars today. However, all that does is create a thriving black market—or, more accurately, a free market—for US dollars and a parallel financial system.

We can expect the same kind of dynamic if governments impose CBDCs. I have no doubt significant parallel systems and underground markets will naturally emerge.

Anyone who wants to avoid CBDC enslavement must learn to swim in those waters.

Below are five steps anyone can take to opt out of this dystopia.

Step #1: Use Physical Gold and Silver

Avoiding CBDCs means using alternative forms of money.

Although people use money every day, few consider what it actually is or what makes for a good money.

Asking people, “what is money?” is like asking a fish, “what is water?”

The fish probably doesn’t even notice the water unless it becomes polluted or something is wrong.

Money is a good, just like any other in an economy. And it isn’t a complex notion to grasp. It doesn’t require you to understand convoluted math formulas and complicated theories—as the gatekeepers in academia, media, and government mislead many folks into believing.

Understanding money is intuitive and straightforward. Money is simply something useful for storing and exchanging value. That’s it.

Think of money as a claim on human time. It’s like stored life or energy.

Unfortunately, today most of humanity thoughtlessly accepts whatever their government gives them as money. However, money does not need to come from the government. That’s a total misnomer that the average person has been hoodwinked into believing.

It would be similar to transporting yourself back in time and asking the average person in the Soviet Union, “Where do shoes come from?”

They would say, “Well, the government makes the shoes. Where else could they come from? Who else could make the shoes?”

It’s the same mentality here regarding money today—except it’s much more widespread.

The truth is money doesn’t need to come from the government any more than shoes do.

People have used stones, glass beads, salt, cattle, seashells, gold, silver, and other commodities as money at different times.

However, for over 2,500 years, gold has been mankind’s most enduring form of money.

Gold didn’t become money by accident or because some politicians decreed it. Instead, it became money because countless individuals throughout history and across many different civilizations subjectively came to the same conclusion: gold is money.

It resulted from a market process of people looking for the best way to store and exchange value.

So, why did they go to gold? What makes gold attractive as money?

Here’s why.

Gold has a set of unique characteristics that make it suitable as money.

Gold is durable, divisible, consistent, convenient, scarce, and most importantly, the “hardest” of all physical commodities. In other words, gold is “hard to produce” relative to existing stockpiles and is the one physical commodity most resistant to inflation of its supply. That’s what gives gold its monetary properties.

Anyone can opt-out of CBDCs by using physical gold and silver to store and exchange value.

Physical gold is optimal for long-term savings and large transactions. The best way to do that is with widely recognized gold bullion coins, like the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf or the American Gold Eagle.

However, gold coins are generally inconvenient to use for small transactions. Silver coins are more practical here.

Step #2: Obtain Financial Sovereignty With Bitcoin

CBDCs and Bitcoin share some characteristics. For example, they are both digital and facilitate fast payments from a mobile phone. But that is where the similarities end.

The reality is that CBDCs and Bitcoin are entirely different in the most fundamental ways.

You need the government’s permission and blessing to use a CBDC, whereas Bitcoin is permissionless.

Governments can (and will) create as many CBDC currency units as they want. With Bitcoin, there can never be more than 21 million, and there is nothing anyone can do to inflate the supply more than the predetermined amount in the protocol.

CBDCs are centralized. Bitcoin is decentralized.

Governments can censor transactions and freeze and confiscate CBDC units. Bitcoin is censorship-resistant. No country’s laws can affect the protocol.

There is no privacy with CBDCs. However, if you take specific steps with Bitcoin, it is possible to maintain reasonable privacy.

CBDCs are government money that are easy to produce and give politicians a terrifying amount of control over people’s lives. On the other hand, Bitcoin is non-state hard money that helps liberate individuals from government control.

Bitcoin enables anyone to be their own bank. Bitcoin allows you to send and receive value from anyone anywhere without relying on third parties.

If you avoid CBDCs, that will almost certainly mean avoiding the traditional financial system.

Knowing how to use Bitcoin in the most sovereign way possible will be essential.

Step #3: Get Organized Locally

Get to know the people in your local community.

If you avoid CBDCs, many of the conveniences of society will become unavailable.

You will probably be unable to shop at Walmart and large stores of any kind, as they will all be roped into the CBDC system.

You will have to become self-sufficient and rely on your local community to obtain what you need. And that starts with knowing who can provide you with the things you want and need.

The Amish are incredibly successful in this regard.

I am not saying you must go 100% Amish to avoid CBDCs. But we can learn how their societies work outside the traditional system and emulate the areas that make sense in our local communities.

Step #4: Exchange Value for Value

Humans invented money to solve the difficulties of barter.

But with CBDCs, governments will have perverted money from a technology that facilities economic exchange into a tool of enslavement. With CBDCs, barter doesn’t look all that bad.

The key is understanding what value you can provide to others in your local community and how you can exchange that for something you want.

That might mean performing some landscaping work for your dentist in exchange for getting a cavity filled or washing the car of your butcher in exchange for some ground beef.

Step #5: Become a Prepper

To minimize the inconvenience of barter, it’s ideal to become as self-sufficient in as many areas as possible. That includes stockpiling supplies and gaining survival knowledge and skills.

If you already have what you need—or can produce it yourself—that reduces the need to get it from others.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, CBDCs—and all the terrible things that go along with them—are probably coming soon.

To summarize, here are five steps anyone can take to opt-out of this terrible system.

• Step #1: Use Physical Gold and Silver

• Step #2: Obtain Financial Sovereignty With Bitcoin

• Step #3: Get Organized Locally

• Step #4: Exchange Value for Value

• Step #5: Become a Prepper

*  *  *

The economic trajectory is troubling. Unfortunately, there’s little any individual can practically do to change the course of these trends in motion. The best you can and should do is to stay informed so that you can protect yourself in the best way possible, and even profit from the situation. That’s precisely why bestselling author Doug Casey and his colleagues just released an urgent new PDF report that explains what could come next and what you can do about it. Click here to download it now.

The tech sector layoffs continue. Tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have fired tens of thousands of workers. Now there’s word that Apple has quietly reduced its headcount of ‘contractors,’ according to NYPost, citing people with direct knowledge. 

NYPost said Apple fired hundreds of contractors last week. These workers are employed by outside companies but work alongside Apple employees on projects. It appears Apple is reducing headcount as the macroeconomic environment remains challenging. 

Here’s what one of the NYPost’s sources said:

Instead of waiting for contracts that are typically renewed every 12 to 15 months to expire, Apple is firing contractors outright, sources said. One contractor claimed to have been blindsided, saying Apple management had assured him that all jobs were safe. Only a few weeks earlier, some had been gloating that Apple hadn’t overhired like other tech companies, the source added.

The news comes after 1,045 tech companies last year fired 161,000 employees in 2022. So far this year, 380 companies have fired 108,000 workers, according to the jobs tracking website Layoffs.fyi. 

Despite all the layoffs, technology-heavy Nasdaq had one of its best months in the last two decades. 

We pointed out tech layoffs are accelerating through the first quarter. Here are the latest tech layoffs over the last 12 months. 

Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said layoffs are a “last resort kind of thing.” But sources said the firing of contractors is not firing employees. This means Apple doesn’t have to pay severance or face potential litigation from ex-employees. 

Here’s what people are saying on the anonymous job website Blind about Apple’s move to axe contractors:

“Gotta say it’s a real dick move to cancel a contract BEFORE it’s expiration date. They can’t afford to wait a couple months? What’s even the point of taking a job-insecure contract with Apple if they can’t guarantee you’ll actually stay for the duration of the contract, performance problems excluded?” one person said. 

“I’ve been offered contract positions at apple and they were never more than what a FTE makes, usually $180k and you get worse benefits from the agency. Maybe it was org specific?” someone else said. 

Another said: “Still not layoff, contractors are meant to be short term. They know what they are getting into.” 

This person said: “I know, the real layoffs will be later.” 

… and it’s only a matter of time before Apple trims the real fat. 

Via The Cradle,

Since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on 6 February, killing over 40,000 thousand people and leaving millions homeless, western media has placed a disproportionate emphasis on how the government in Damascus will presumably use the crisis to “rehabilitate” its image on the international stage.

With headlines ranging from “Syria’s Assad Uses Disaster Diplomacy to Inch Back Onto World Stage” to “Bashar al-Assad does not want to let a calamity go to waste,” western media outlets have joined hands in making claims that the devastating quake is somehow beneficial for the Syrian government.

“A powerful earthquake last week catapulted Syria’s authoritarian president, Bashar al-Assad, into the global spotlight, creating an opportunity for him to inch further back onto the international stage through disaster diplomacy,” writes Declan Walsh for the New York Times (NYT), before lamenting how the Syrian leader “received a steady flow of sympathy, aid, and attention from other countries.”

“A tragedy for Syrians is a boon for Assad because nobody else wants to manage this mess,” an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London told the NYT.

Similarly, Washington Post writer Ishaan Tharoor warns that “natural sympathy for the Syrian plight may lead to a regime once ostracized by much of the international community coming out of the cold” before citing members of US and UK-based think tanks who claim Bashar al-Assad is “exploiting” the catastrophe to “rehabilitate his image.”

The Economist posits that the choice between helping Syrians or leaving them to continue suffering from the effects of western sanctions is a “horrible dilemma.”

“Western governments are loth to channel money to Mr. Assad to help him rebuild; they are also anxious to avoid blocking that rebuilding entirely. In working out how to help the people living amid the devastation of Syria while not rehabilitating a blood-soaked regime, there are no easy answers,” the historically pro-war outlet concludes.

The editorial line adopted by these and several other western outlets is indistinguishable from the official stance of the US government.

When asked last week why the White House wasn’t contacting Damascus or considering lifting sanctions, State Department spokesman Ned Price brushed off the suggestions and said that “it would be quite ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalized its people.”

But days later, Washington had to relent and offer a 180-day sanctions waiver to allow humanitarian assistance to enter Syria. Despite being forced to do this, US officials continue to allege crushing sanctions have had “no effect” on the civilian population of Syria.

“The goal is … to punish the people, and to push them to the abyss to the extent that they would revolt against their government.”

Kevork Almassian, the founder of Syriana Analysis, explains how US sanctions have undermined Syria’s ability to rebuild after recent earthquakes. pic.twitter.com/xCbzM0xPR0

— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) February 15, 2023

“As you saw, we did execute a general license a week ago that will allow even more humanitarian assistance to flow, not that the humanitarian assistance wasn’t flowing already, even with the sanctions in place. When people are dying, and when people are in need, the United States will answer that need,” National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on 16 February.

Despite these claims, countless reports have shown that sanctions negatively affect all vital sectors of Syria’s economy, from medicine to education, energy, communications, agriculture, and industry. On top of this, Washington’s military occupation of Syria has crippled the nation’s economy and undermined its ability to respond to major natural disasters.

For those that haven’t witnessed the latest deep thoughts to emerge out of the brain of CNN’s recently demoted Don Lemon, look no further than this past week. The 57 year old Lemon was widely criticized late last week after he said that Presidential candidate Nikki Haley was “past her prime” because she was in her 50s. 

The comments have reportedly led to the next stage in a rift between Lemon and his co-hosts – who reportedly weren’t getting along to begin with – wherein they “stormed off the set” after his brilliant commentary, according to the Daily Mail. 

Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins reportedly both took a “well timed bathroom break” after Lemon’s comments, before coming back to finish the show. 

The Mail wrote that “the comments were the last straw in an already deteriorating relationship between the news professionals, with Collins and Harlow increasingly fed up with Lemon’s behavior since coming on board.”

Despite the comments, CNN’s Chris Licht doesn’t seem keen on letting Lemon go from the network just yet. One source told the Mail:

‘Licht isn’t doing anything about it,’ the source told the paper, adding that the trio’s relationship had already ‘been smoldering for months’ amid a series of eye-brow raising incidents involving the longtime anchor.

Another person familiar with the matter offered valuable insight to how Licht, who has struggled to right the sinking CNN ship since being brought on last February, might react to the highly publicized ordeal. 

“People say stupid things. And that if it’s a trend then there’s recourse,” Licht reportedly said at a staff meeting. 

“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon said in a broadcast early last week. When his morning show co-host, Poppy Harlow, pushed back on the claim, Lemon told her and the CNN audience to “Google it”. 

The comments sparked outrage from sources across the political spectrum, including the likes NPR, who referred to the comments as “sexist”. 

The incident appears to us to be the final swirl of Don Lemon’s TV career down the toilet, following the likes of Chris Cuomo and Brian Stelter. 

Recall, back in September 2022 we wrote about Lemon’s obvious demotion from primetime to mornings on CNN. At the time, he said: “For all those who are out there saying, ‘Oh, he moved me and without my —,’ he asked me and I said yes. I could have said no. This is my show, I have a contract for this show, I decided I would take him up on that and take this journey with him. This is not someone moving me.”

Lemon exclaimed back in September: “I was not demoted. None of that. This is an opportunity. This is a promotion. This is an opportunity for me to create something around me and I get to work with two great ladies [Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins] who you know.”

How’s that working out now, Don?

Earlier this week, the leader of a medical watchdog organization called out Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of North Carolina over a racist grant program which only applied to organizations run by non-whites.

“If ever there was a bad idea, the notion that we should start to separate our country along racial lines is amongst the worst,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a former associate dean for curriculum at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The $300,000 grant program, called “Advancing Healthy Food Equity” (AHFE), disqualified any organization with a white CEO from participating, while the community directly served by the program must also not be white.

“This opportunity is specifically designed to support community-rooted organizations that are led by, serving, and accountable to American Indians, Black, Latino, other People of Color, and members of immigrant communities, to increase their ability to engage in advocacy to address the root causes of inequitable access to healthy food,” said a spokesperson for the grant in a promotional video.

Now, BCBS has backpedaled – and has changed its policy of excluding white-run organizations from applying for a new grant program.

According to Laura Morgan, program manager for Do No Harm (DNH)—an organization that investigates and spotlights discriminatory practices in medical institutions, BCBS “got caught red-handed when they tried to inject ugly racial politics into their grant-making process,” the Epoch Times reports.

“Discrimination should have no place in our society, yet they were prepared to reject grant applications from nonprofits led by white CEOs just because of their skin color,” Morgan continued. “Do No Harm, along with BCBS customers and North Carolina state policymakers, will be watching very closely how the foundation updates the grant’s eligibility criteria.”

More via the Epoch Times,

Policy Change

Do No Harm’s report led to media coverage, after which the foundation issued an update on its website in which it stated that it would expand its eligibility criteria.

“Since we released this funding opportunity in early January, we have received inquiries from potential applicants and others working in the community whose work aligns with the goals of this opportunity, yet whose organizations don’t quite match all aspects of the stated eligibility criteria,” BCBS said. “After careful consideration, we have decided to expand both the number of organizations being supported by this grant funding, as well as the eligibility criteria for those seeking an award.”

According to its new criteria, the number of funded organizations is being extended from 10 to 14, the eligibility is being expanded to include a focus on rural communities, and the eligibility requirement that the organization’s CEO is a member of the community being served has also been waived.

“We are excited about this opportunity to broaden the impact of this work and look forward to partnering with many great organizations as we work together to expand access to healthy food across the state,” the foundation said.

Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

Sometimes things must get worse before they get better.  To completely remodel a kitchen, for instance, you must first demo and gut the old one.  These initial steps backward can be demoralizing.

But there’s no way around it.  And with perseverance and an ample budget, the ultimate result is usually a big improvement.

Similarly, remodeling a tired company requires making short term sacrifices for long term gains.  The initial efforts can produce ugliness.  And with the lives and livelihoods of employees on the line, the decisions can be emotional.  Yet sometimes it must be done.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told investors that 2023 will be the “year of efficiency.”  If you recall, the company RIFed 11,000 workers in November 2022.  The scuttlebutt is that more layoffs are coming.

Currently, the prospect of imminent layoffs is triggering uncertainty about what projects will go forward, what will be cancelled, and who will be working on them.  This has created an interim situation where some Meta employees are getting paid to do zero work.  Strangely, for Meta to become more efficient, it must first be less efficient.

Still, Zuckerberg is clear on his objective.  In Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings call on February 1, the CEO noted:

“We’re working on flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive.”

And in a recent all-hands meeting, Zuckerberg – again – put middle managers on notice:

“I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work.”

Perhaps this is harsh.  But it’s true.

Moreover, when you get down to it, Zuckerberg is a real technology geek.  And he’s recognized that many of his cohorts, in the company he founded, are something else.

Real Technology Geeks

Real technology geeks, if you’ve ever met one, don’t care about days off or benefits or what the latest social justice cause is.  They care about programming and coding new applications and platforms that create something cool and elegant.

Real technology geeks, compelled by an idea, are on a mission.  With singleness of purpose, they close the blinds, turn off the lights, pull up their hoodies, and get wired in.  Then they crunch and code for 72 hours straight, pausing only to chug Red Bull energy drinks.

Real technology geeks are who created Apple, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft, Samsung, Tesla, Salesforce, Oracle, and others.  They’ve left their fingerprints on all aspects of modern life.  Good and bad.

But like any growth industry, be it the auto industry of the mid-20th century or the technology industry today, at some point the growth overshoots the future value.  The point of overshoot, however, isn’t discernable when it first happens.  The momentum and rush for market share obscures it.  Sometimes it can be obscured for decades.

During the latent overshoot period, the industry becomes occupied by pretenders.  Over the last decade, for example, technology companies were unwittingly filled with fake technology geeks who demanded free lunches and fat paychecks.  Rather than driving technology into the next frontier, they occupied their time posting memes and feigning outrage on social media.

These fake technology geeks concentrated into middle management positions.  There, they didn’t have to do work of any meaningful value.  Instead, they made staffing plans and delivered performance reports up the management chain.

It was a lot of fun while it lasted.  Nonetheless, the techno poser era is over.  In fact, it has been over since mid-2022.

Techno Posers

Zuckerberg marked the end of the techno poser era during a June 30, 2022, remote meeting.  There he announced he wanted to remove Meta employees who are “coasting” or low performers.  “Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” he remarked.

Many of Zuckerberg’s employees – particularly, the techno posers – thought this was a real hoot.  New memes soon appeared on Workplace, including: “Coast, Coasters, Me,” a play on Meta’s “Meta, Metamates, Me” mantra.

Other enterprising employees created posters for the walls at Meta’s headquarters asking, “Should you be here?” in bold, all-caps red letters.  “Look at this dude coasting,” wrote one employee above a picture of Zuckerberg hydro-foiling on a lake while holding the American flag.

Apparently, Meta’s vast collection of techno posers had not the faintest inkling of what was going on.  This was best characterized during the Q&A part of the meeting.  Here, The Verge fills in the details:

“‘Hi there,’ the first prerecorded employee question started.  ‘I’m Gary, and I’m located in Chicago.’  His question: would Meta Days — extra days off introduced during the pandemic — continue in 2023?

“Zuckerberg appeared visibly frustrated.  ‘Um… all right,’ he stammered.  He’d just explained that he thought the economy was headed for one of the ‘worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.’  He’d already frozen hiring in many areas.  TikTok was eating their lunch, and it would take over a year and a half before they had ‘line of sight’ to overtaking it.

“And Gary from Chicago was asking about extra vacation days?

“‘Given my tone in the rest of the Q&A, you can probably imagine what my reaction to this is,’ Zuckerberg said.  After this year [2022], Meta Days were canceled.”

Do Techno Posers Have the Skills to Pay the Bills?

Gary from Chicago, no doubt, is a techno poser.  Rather than digging deep and doing something rad, he’s counting his vacation days.  We don’t know if Gary from Chicago is still employed at Meta.  Regardless, we do know that many of his techno poser associates are now out of work.

They’ve gone from coasting at coddled, well-paying jobs, to coasting on their living room couch.  Technology companies are hemorrhaging jobs.  So, it is unlikely many of these techno posers will find a new job at a technology company.

There’s nothing wrong with going where the money is.  And over the last decade the technology industry was a well-funded place to be.  To their credit, many smart and ambitious minds were able to ride the wave and enjoy a very comfortable living.

However, now that the technology wave has crashed, what’s next?

Real technology geeks will do what they do best.  They’ll bootstrap new start-ups that innovate and propel the next great big technology wave.  Others will remain with the remodeled, more efficient versions of their employers and will push for the next big profit-generating breakthroughs.

There are also intelligent and productive programmers that will have to take their talents outside the technology industry.  Maybe they’ll find gainful employment overseeing the billing platform for a local utility.  Others could manage the patient record applications at Kaiser Permanente.

As for the terminated techno posers, do they have the skills to pay the bills?

One techno poser, Bailey, has started a side hustle flipping real estate.  She says she only has to work one to two hours a week to make money.  Impressive.  Maybe it will work out for her.

But what about the other techno posers?  The one’s that like to tell others what to do rather than do real work themselves.  What will they do?

Naturally, there’s only one thing they can do.  They’ll go into government work.  There they can get paid for telling other people – including you – what to do.  And they can feel good about doing it.

*  *  *

Techno posers aren’t all bad.  And many good people now finding themselves collateral damage of broad RIFs.  Maybe you’re one of them or you know someone who is.  Regardless, there’s no time like the present to prepare your finances for the madness that’s coming.  In fact, there are things you can do.  If you’re interested in discovering several ideas, take a look at my Financial First Aid Kit.]

One day after the Biden administration rejected Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s request for federal assistance in the aftermath of a derailment of a train hauling toxic chemicals, the governor tweeted late Friday evening that the Feds have reversed course in their decision and will deploy resources to East Palestine as soon as Saturday. 

“Following further discussions with FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] tonight, they will be deploying federal resources to East Palestine,” Gov. DeWine tweeted. 

The governor and FEMA released this joint statement:

“FEMA and the State of Ohio have been in constant contact regarding emergency operations in East Palestine. U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA have been working together since day one. Tomorrow, FEMA will supplement federal efforts by deploying a Senior Response Official along with a Regional Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) to support ongoing operations, including incident coordination and ongoing assessments of potential long term recovery needs.”

The U-turn comes as FEMA Ohio told the state government on Thursday that Palestine wasn’t eligible for disaster assistance to help with the clean-up effort in the toxic spill and controlled burn-off that has resulted in an environmental disaster. 

The train crash in Palestine, Ohio is an ECOLOGICAL atom bomb. Why are details being hidden? Why are they LYING to people?

We got to talk to @nicksorter who is currently in Ohio covering the story. Follow him for updates.

Do you have updates or news to share? Post it below so… https://t.co/4b9c1e3vcw pic.twitter.com/cHfjlexZdy

— Redacted (@TheRedactedInc) February 18, 2023

Both Ohio’s senators, J.D. Vance (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), separately asked DeWine to declare a disaster in the small blue-collar town. Vance emphasized Norfolk Southern must be held accountable for any damage. 

Vance visited the small town days ago. He went to a small creek bed and filmed what appeared to be toxic chemicals from the railcars. Meanwhile, other officials have ensured the public that the ‘air is clean and water is fine.’ 

Visited a local creek in East Palestine today. These waterways are still very polluted. It’s time for Norfolk Southern to finish the cleanup. Check this video out: pic.twitter.com/4lsHBmrMJj

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) February 16, 2023

What’s troubling is the incoherent response by the federal, state, and local governments after the derailment. What’s even more alarming is the decision by the officials to burn off railcars of vinyl chloride that some say ‘chem-nuked’ the town and surrounding communities. 

I am only reporting from here.. I don’t live here. These people do. This is their reality in East Palestine Ohio after the train derailment and the calculated decision to burn the toxic chemicals in the train cars. @FOX19 pic.twitter.com/xPN0dtEoK4

— Tricia Macke (@FOX19Tricia) February 18, 2023

…🇺🇸…US Environmental Protection Agency conducts tests in East Palestine, Ohio, to detect release of hazardous chemicals as locals report headaches, odours and dead fish in creeks #OhioChemicalDisaster #OhioChernobyl #Ohio #OhioTrainDisaster #OhioTrain pic.twitter.com/Kw5Q14K8qe

— Vũ thế Hưng (@vuthehung_1995) February 18, 2023

As for the slow response by federal officials and media downplaying the chemical disaster, Legal Insurrection asks: 

“Is the Ohio Toxic Train Derailment the Biden Administration’s Hurricane Katrina?” 

Here’s more from Legal Insurrection:

For over a week, the Biden administration, Ohio state officials, and most of the American media has been downplaying the magnitude of the environmental disaster that has arisen due to the response to the train derailment near East Palestine.

However, in the post-covid era, Americans are no longer willing to blindly believe what “experts” assert about the “science.” This is especially true when the realities run counter to the official narrative.

The EPA, with the Ohio National Guard and a Norfolk Southern contractor, also has collected air samples – checking for vinyl chloride, hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, phosgene and other compounds – in the East Palestine community, it had said. Air monitoring results posted Tuesday at the EPA’s website include more than a dozen instruments, each with four types of measures – and each stating its “screening level” had not been exceeded.

But when Velez returned Monday for a short visit to the neighborhood where his family has lived since 2014 to check his home and his business, he developed a nagging headache that, he said, stayed with him through the night – and left him with a nagging fear.

“If it’s safe and habitable, then why does it hurt?” he told CNN. “Why does it hurt me to breathe?”

Air contamination isn’t the only concern. There is plenty of evidence, based on 3,500 dead fish that the water is polluted with the by-products of igniting several industrial chemicals in the response. Towns downstream of East Palestine are monitoring their water…and are offering their own assurances about the safety levels.

But officials with the Louisville Water Co. and Air Pollution Control District say they are monitoring the situation and don’t anticipate any danger to local residents.

The violent 50-car Norfolk Southern train crash triggered evacuations for the small Ohio town on Feb. 3, as large quantities of vinyl chloride and other contaminants entered the environment. Since then, authorities have assured people near the crash site that it’s safe to return to their homes. A federal lawsuit has already been filed by residents over the event.

The lack of a cohesive, effective response to civic catastrophe calls to mind the criticism of former President George W. Bush and his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. Many Legal Insurrection readers may recall Bush and his officials were criticized for being disinterested, slow, and needlessly unprepared for the Category 5 storm and its impact on New Orleans.

It was the “flood that sank Bush.”

We can now consider that Ohio’s toxic train derailment is Biden’s Katrina.

Clearly, Biden has not been mentioned as acting in any significant capacity for Americans dealing with this disaster. Even though the citizens of this region voted in significant numbers for President Donald Trump, they are still suffering a disaster that is truly worthy of full emergency management support.

Secretary of State Pete Buttigieg has been criticized for his tone-deaf response to the train derailment. In fact, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has just called for Buttigieg’s resignation.

Buttigieg addressed the disaster Monday, over a week after the crash occurred on Feb. 3. Residents living in areas surrounding East Palestine, Ohio, were instructed to evacuate after 50 train cars derailed and subsequently caught fire, spewing vinyl chloride, phosgene, hydrogen chloride, and other gases into the air and water.

Biggs said the acknowledgment came “10 days too late,” echoing other Republicans such as Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) who were critical of the delay.

But I would like to draw some attention to the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, who hasn’t gotten the scrutiny I think he deserves richly. Given the devastating environmental impact shown in videos, social media messages, and some serious reports by a few responsible journalists, you would think the EPA head would be front-and-center in the response.

However, Regan is showing up 13 days too late….and his officials are the ones who should be selecting the proper tests, conducting the complete analysis, and creating the mitigation plans.

Michael Regan, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will visit East Palestine Thursday, 13 days after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire in the village.

Regan announced the visit in a tweet on Wednesday, and shared a video from his interview with Fox News. Regan said he will hear from East Palestine residents in their homes, visit the derailment site and meet with emergency responders.

Regan was probably too busy pushing environmental justice programs.

And let’s not forget the EPA’s disastrous handling of the Animas River contamination, which resulted from that agency’s decisions regarding handling a mine’s waste stream.

Americans are clearly in no mood to trust “experts,” especially ones clearly not interested in anything that doesn’t push their narratives or agendas.