Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The top court in New York state just declined to hear former President Donald Trump’s appeal of a gag order relating to his falsification of business records case.

In a decision list, the New York Court of Appeals wrote that former President Trump’s appeal of Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order was “dismissed without costs” and added that “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.” The court’s chief judge, Rowan D. Wilson, and Judge Caitlin J. Halligan did not partake in the decision.

It means that the gag order will remain in effect for former President Trump, meaning he still cannot make public comments on certain individuals connected to the case. Judge Merchan has not signaled when he will lift it.

Judge Merchan issued a gag order earlier this year against the former president, prohibiting him from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors, court staff, and others who are connected to the case, although he allowed President Trump to criticize both the judge and District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case. Later, the judge expanded his order to include members of his own family.

During the trial, which ultimately resulted in former President Trump being found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, Judge Merchan fined the former president $10,000 for what he said were violations of the gag order. He also warned the former president that he might have to jail him if he continued to do so.

On multiple occasions, former President Trump and his attorneys had asked Judge Merchan and other courts in New York to terminate the gag order, arguing that it violated his constitutional right to free speech as the leading Republican presidential candidate. In their appeal to the state Court of Appeals, the Trump attorneys argued that Judge Merchan’s order “restricts President Trump’s core political speech on matters of central importance” during the 2024 campaign.

“It violates the fundamental right of every American voter to hear from the leading candidate for President on matters of enormous public importance,” his attorneys wrote to the court.

Attorneys for Mr. Bragg’s office countered their arguments by urging the Court of Appeals to dismiss the former president’s appeal because he had made what they described as threatening and inflammatory comments about individuals connected to the trial.

A lower court in New York state similarly rejected former President Trump’s gag order appeal in mid-May, finding that Judge Merchan “properly determined that” the former president’s statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case.”

The judge “properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” the ruling added.

After the trial ended, prosecutors wrote to Judge Merchan that his gag order should remain in effect because the court “has an obligation to protect the integrity of these proceedings and the fair administration of justice at least through the sentencing hearing and the resolution of any post-trial motions.”

Trump attorney Todd Blance wrote in a letter to the judge that because the trial is over, “concerns articulated by the government and the court do not justify continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump—who remains the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election—and the American people.”

“The defense does not concede that there was ever a valid basis for the gag order and reserves the right to challenge the irreparable First Amendment harms caused by the order,” Mr. Blanche added in a note.

After a jury found the former president guilty on May 31, the judge set his sentencing date for July 11, four days from the start of the Republican National Convention that will likely see former President Trump nominated by Republicans for the 2024 general election.

In a post-trial news conference, Mr. Bragg did not say whether his office would seek a prison term for the former president. There has been rampant speculation from prominent legal analysts that the judge will either not hand down a prison term or will issue a delayed sentence.

Former President Trump, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges, said that he would appeal the conviction. He has also called on the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene before the sentencing date.

After the prior week’s surge to 10-month highs (on the back of California claims suddenly soaring after Newsom introduced his brilliant $20 min wage fast food gambit), analysts expected a small dip in claims last week… and they were right with initial claims falling from 243k (revised up) to 238k (worse than the 235k exp)…

Source: Bloomberg

Remember the prior week’s surge in claims was driven by California…

…well guess which state saw claims plunge last week…

Source: Bloomberg

Continuing claims rose once again, holding above the $1.8mm Maginot Line and back near the highest since Nov 2021. The trend (4wk ma) in initial claims is clear though…

Source: Bloomberg

Is this data just bad enough to help with The Fed’s case for Biden-enabling rate-cuts?

Despite ugly consumer confidence and soaring mortgage rates, analysts expected a small rebound in housing starts and building permits in May (after April’s disappointing misses). They were wrong… again… as both Starts and Permits plunged MoM (-5.5% MoM and -3.8% MoM respectively)…

Source: Bloomberg

That was the third monthly drop in permits (more forward looking) in a row. Worse still, April Housing Starts were revised lower (from +5.7% to +4.1%), making this miss even worse.

This dragged the SAARs for starts and permits to their lowest since the trough of COVID…

Source: Bloomberg

With Multifamily starts falling back near COVID lockdown lows…

• Single-Family 982K SAAR, down 4.8% from 1,031K and the first sub-million print since October 2023

• Multi-Family 278K, down 13.7% from 322K and the lowest since March’s 245K (which was the lowest print since covid crash)

Source: Bloomberg

And multi-family permits cratering to their lowest since Oct 2018…

• Single-Family permits 949K SAAR, down 2.9% from 977K

• Multi-Family permits 382K SAAR, down 6.1% from 407K

And with rate-cut expectations holding near their lows, there is no sign of recovery in home-building yet…

Source: Bloomberg

It seems reality is starting to set in for homebuilders…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, where the f**k is the Biden administration finding their construction employment data? As housing starts plummet, jobs seem to keep growing to record highs…

Source: Bloomberg

Will any rate-cut actually move the dial here?

Unlike the SNB, which unexpectedly cut rates earlier this morning (full breakdown coming shortly), the Bank of England did not surprise markets and kept rates on hold at a 16 year high of 5.25%, even as it hinted that more policymakers may be close to backing interest rate cuts, keeping alive hopes of a loosening by the end of the summer.

The panel voted 7-2 in favor of no change for a second consecutive meeting, with Swati Dhingra and Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden both backing a cut again. However, there were divisions among the majority about the importance of recent data that showed surprisingly strong services inflation.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 7-2 to maintain #BankRate at 5.25%.
Find out more: https://t.co/1nN6lt3Feu pic.twitter.com/QfcBpmvXyT

— Bank of England (@bankofengland) June 20, 2024

Minutes of the meeting said the decision not to cut rates was “finely balanced” for some of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee; the minutes of the meeting showed that some members believed that recent data “did not alter significantly the disinflationary trajectory that the economy was on.” That would suggest BOE officials are increasingly comfortable that they can start to reduce rates, which the MPC says is weighing heavily on the economy. Indeed, according to BBC’s Feisal Islam, the decision was “finely balanced” for 3 holds, probably including Governor, which mean it was a close run thing not to cut. “Those 3 members playing down sticky services inflation… August cut very much on”…

🔥 NEW

– Bank of England holds at 5.25%, with a 7-2 vote against a cut

– BUT, decision “finely balanced” for 3 holds, probably including Governor, which mean it was a close run thing not to cut

– Those 3 members playing down sticky services inflation

– August cut very much on

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 20, 2024

… which would have political implications because with a lower services inflation print on the day Sunak called the election, “he may well have got a rate cut 2 weeks before polling day…”

According to Bloomberg, there were indications that some MPC members, possibly including Governor Andrew Bailey, may be close to cutting rates, which have been on hold since last September. While the formal guidance to investors was unchanged, the language from some rate-setters on the latest decision being on a knife-edge could lead to more backing a reduction in August. Others noted the risks from stubborn domestic price pressures in the services sector despite headline inflation falling to the BOE’s 2% target for the first time in almost three years in May.

Bailey said in comments released alongside the minutes that the drop in inflation to 2% is “good news.”

“We need to be sure that inflation will stay low and that’s why we’ve decided to hold rates at 5.25% for now,” he said. It was the only comment from a BOE policy maker since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called an election for July 4. BOE rate-setters have been silent during the campaign, meaning investors went into the June meeting with little insight from officials about how recent data surprises are affecting thinking on Threadneedle Street.

“This is clearly a dovish hold,” said Neil Jones, a foreign-exchange salesperson to financial institutions at TJM Europe. “The narrative from Bailey suggests for some, they are close to cutting.”

The BOE said it expects GDP growth to much stronger in the second quarter after the sharp rebound from last year’s recession. It now forecasts growth of 0.5% in the second quarter, up from its May forecast of 0.2%, continuing the strong start to the year. That upgrade is based on business surveys. While the UK economy bounced back from last year’s recession in the first quarter with solid growth of 0.6%, data for April showed the recovery grinding to a halt. Private sector forecasters expect a pick-up from the 0.1% growth in 2023 to a still-anaemic 0.7%.

While inflation fell to the BOE’s 2% target, market bets on rate cuts in 2024 have retreated in recent months after stickiness in wages and services prices — key indicators being watched by policymakers.

Both services inflation and wage growth are running at levels seen as too high for the central bank to hold price growth at target sustainably. In its most recent forecasts, the BOE had expected services inflation to have eased to 5.3% by May but data on Wednesday showed it at 5.7%. As a result, investors had reined in bets on rate cuts over the summer and now expect just one in 2024, down from as many as six at the start of the year.

Traders saw the statement as a signal that the BOE was willing to cut in coming months and moved to price more than a 50% chance of a reduction in August, from 32% before the meeting. Markets also increased the amount of easing expected for the year to 48 basis points from 43 basis points previously. Gilts gained and the pound slipped.

“We expect the MPC to cut rates in August, but this is not a done deal,” said Alpesh Paleja, interim deputy chief economist at the CBI. “They remain very data-driven, so the evolution of key indicators over the coming month will be key. Furthermore, the pace of any rate cuts beyond August is likely to be gradual.”

Authored by Maggie Miller via RealClearPolicy,

“What if it were your child?”

You’ve heard it before. What if it were your kid who got chosen last on the playground or who was bullied? But when asked in the context of human trafficking, this question takes on a far deeper and more harrowing meaning. What if it were your child?

This simple yet poignant question leads to heartbreaking reflection for any parent.

“That’s something I can’t even answer, I can’t imagine,” said Aneudy Vargas.

Aneudy Vargas was one of the Good Greek Moving and Storage team members who participated in an inaugural class aimed at combatting human trafficking. Good Greek, in partnership with the leading anti-trafficking organization Place of Hope, is taking a bold step to address this issue. Good Greek’s over 600 truckers and movers are becoming a force to fight human trafficking by learning how to spot the hidden epidemic that often occurs in plain sight. 

Through their Superhero Movers Academy in West Palm Beach, these movers are learning not just to uphold high standards on the job, but also to become real-life heroes for those in need.

Human trafficking is a national crisis that has been made worse by border issues, and addressing it requires a vigilant “see something, say something” approach.

“One person recognizing something that looks wrong and calling for help can save someone’s life,” said Jamie Bond Ciancio, a human trafficking expert at Place of Hope.

Though human trafficking is an international problem, it hits close to home as well. Florida ranks third in the nation for human trafficking reports, with Palm Beach County ranking third in the state and Miami topping the list. This makes the involvement of a moving company with a widespread reach particularly significant. They have unprecedented access to truckstops and to the families and communities they serve every day.

“Good Greek moving is in and out of people’s homes, we’re traveling through the country we’re at truck stops and rest areas and quite often these are areas where victims can be trafficked,” explains Spero Georgedakis,the Founder and CEO of Good Greek Moving & Storage. “We need to be vigilant and be able to identify these situations where we can call 911 or the authorities.”

As a former police officer, Spero Georgedakis understands the importance of viewing communities through an educated lens. Recognizing signs of trafficking, though challenging, is crucial. According to Place of Hope, education is the most powerful tool in preventing trafficking. Some signs include branding with tattoos, locks on the outside of internal doors, and windowless bedrooms. In hotels, watch for numerous people entering and exiting a single room.

Data shows 56% of trafficked individuals are U.S. citizens. According to a report by the Florida Department of Children and Families, in 2023 1,627 out of nearly 2,100 reported cases involved children. 

“One of the survivors that we work with was trafficked from 11 years old to 26 years old,” Ciancio shares. “If someone would have picked up the phone and called, a teacher, a guidance counselor, someone that had a relationship with her. They could have alerted someone that something just wasn’t right that girl could have been saved from years and years and years of trauma.” 

Safety remains paramount. Movers are trained not to attempt rescues themselves. Instead, they are instructed to contact their supervisor or call the police if they observe suspicious circumstances.

The training is just the first step. Good Greek and Place of Hope aim to raise broader awareness about the issue. Plans include wrapping a truck with QR codes for reporting human trafficking and placing billboards across Florida with awareness messages.

Place of Hope calls on other businesses and organizations to join this fight. For more information on recognizing the signs of human trafficking or to get involved, please visit placeofhope.com. If you want to follow Good Greek’s leading example call to report human trafficking at the Florida Hotline at 1-855-FLA-SAFE or CRIME STOPPERS at 1-800-458-8477.

Maggie Miller is a writer and contributor for RealClearPolicy.

Until the Chinese government introduces more robust stimulus packages to counter soft economic data and exporters in the world’s second-largest economy ease up on flooding global markets with copper, prices of the base metal—crucial for power lines and AI data centers—are expected to remain under pressure.

The latest customs data from Bloomberg shows that Chinese exports of unwrought copper and other products in May doubled from last year to roughly 150,000 tons, exceeding the previous high in 2012. This comes as copper prices hit a record high of more than $5.10/lb on COMEX.  

In late May, copper hit a record of $5.10/lb, as traders panicked and bought the red metal on the ‘Next AI Trade’ theme, primarily because of tightening supplies and rising demand from electric vehicles, AI data centers, reshoring, and power grid upgrades.

However, as Bloomberg explained: 

“Producers have been locked in deflation for much of the past two years due to a tepid economy, opening up opportunities abroad where prices are higher…” 

In other words, Chinese exporters have been exporting deflation via the red metal as domestic economic activity remains in a slump.

“We believe copper prices will likely remain under pressure in the short-term, unless the Chinese government unveils sustained stimulus measures, or we see Chinese smelters cutting output,” analysts at ING wrote in a note. 

Traders have also been watching for signs of recent price declines stimulating buying from manufacturers. But traders and analysts remain doubtful that demand will rebound meaningfully.

“With Chinese smelters still delivering cathode into bonded warehouses owing to the open export arbitrage, it still feels too early to say we are at the bottom of the current copper price cycle,” Colin Hamilton, managing director for commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note to clients.

Last week, Trafigura Chief Economist Saad Rahim, one of copper’s biggest bulls, called the recent copper price surge unjustified due to real-world supply:

“Prices of non-ferrous metals have moved much higher than fundamentals in the physical spot market might indicate or justify, especially for copper.” 

At the end of last week, Goldman’s James McGeoch pointed out to clients that the multi-month trend line supporting prices has been broken. 

There is some good news for bottom watchers, as Bloomberg noted:

“China’s smelters are at least starting to pare their production of refined copper from the record levels seen in recent months, according to the latest output figures for May, although the decline is more likely linked to a global shortfall in raw materials rather than a response to weak demand.”

Now, the copper bull market is at crossroads. Bulls need supply to continue tightening, and China needs to stop dumping supply for the ‘Next AI Trade’ to play out. 

A mere year ago, there was already ample evidence that Ukrainian recruitment officers were using brutal and desperate tactics to ensure a steady supply of young soldiers for the front lines in the fight against Russia. This is a trend which has only grown, as the tragic situation of masses of casualties persists, and also amid the Zelensky government’s refusal to even attempt to negotiate a peaceful end to the war.

But earlier in the conflict, any Western outlet or pundit who highlighted and condemned scenes of young men being beaten and harshly seized off Ukraine’a streets by military recruiters would have been dismissed as a ‘pro-Russian propagandist’. Yet now this trend has long been impossible to deny, and only very belatedly mainstream media sources are covering it. For example, on Sunday The Washington Post highlighted that Ukraine has resorted to releasing nearly 3,000 hardened criminals and convicts from prisons to serve in the military. The plan has immediately been met with pushback and controversy. “No one has trust in this, but we need it,” one military official involved in the policy told WaPo. However, the official admitted while describing the likelihood that this will cause disorder on the frontlines: “They’re all going to run like Forrest Gump.”

The report detailed that many of the newly released convicts were “jailed for dealing drugs, stealing phones and committing armed assaults and murders, among other serious crimes.“ However, Ukrainian Justice Minister Denis Malyuska was cited in the report as claiming “the motivation of our inmates is stronger than our ordinary soldiers,” and insisted that ultimately they “want to protect their country and they want to turn the page.” Washington Post isn’t the only outlet which has begrudgingly shifted from its fawning and overly idealist coverage of Ukraine’s armed forces and the dire battlefield situation, but BBC too has this week issued some devastating footage portraying the severe manpower crisis (and here’s a similar one from CNN days ago). Watch the BBC’s surprisingly blunt reporting below:

The BBC reports on the brutal “recruitment” of Ukrainians.
– This was until recently dismissed as “Russian propaganda” as it interferes with the war narrative, although reality eventually catches up pic.twitter.com/ow2EIsgAps

— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) June 18, 2024

Amid widespread reports and statements that Israel and Hezbollah are on the brink of full-scale war, the Shia paramilitary group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” if Israeli forces launch an offensive in Lebanon.

The words were given in response to Israel’s top generals the day prior announcing that battle plans have been approved for a Lebanon offensive and widening of the war. The IDF statement said it is preparing to “accelerate readiness in the field.”

“The enemy must wait for us by air, land, and sea. We repeat: If war is imposed on Lebanon, the resistance will fight without rules, controls, or ceilings,” Nasrallah responded Tuesday.

“Storming the Galilee is a possibility that remains present within the framework of any war that the occupation may launch against Lebanon,” Hezbollah’s Secretary-General continued.

And that’s when he for the first time of the conflict which began in wake of Oct.7 issued a warning against Cyprus, given that the Greek-speaking island-nation currently has a bilateral defense cooperation agreement with Israel.

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” Nasrallah said.

He further warned that targets in the Mediterranean would also come under attack. In 2006 the Israeli Navy’s INS Hanit warship suffered a direct hit from a Hezbollah anti-ship missile (likely made by Iran), killing four soldiers.

His fresh words are also being interpreted by Israeli media to say gas fields in the Mediterranean and energy platforms could also be attacked:

Israel “knows that what also awaits it in the Mediterranean is very big,” Nasrallah added, without elaborating, possibly insinuating the group could attack its offshore gas rigs.

While Israel is not known to have any bases or ports in Cyprus, it has on occasion conducted joint military drills with Cypriot forces.

More likely is a scenario where Israeli jets would take off from Cypriot bases – or else one of the two British bases maintained on Cyprus. Any bigger Israeli anti-Hezbollah operation in Lebanon would without doubt involve a ratcheting air war over southern Lebanon.

This is insane. Hezbollah drones are out there screenshotting all sensitive Israeli positions, chemical and oil storages and the entire port of Haifa while the Iron Dome is clueless. Hezbollah will destroy the port if Israel attacks Lebanonpic.twitter.com/4YhXnoUHQJ

— Hadi (@HadiNasrallah) June 18, 2024

Nasrallah in his Tuesday statement warned further, “We developed some of our weapons and used new weapons that we had not used previously.” Israeli leaders are concerned about recent drone image Hezbollah was able to capture over Haifa, which is Israel’s third largest city.

Authored by Pepe Escobar,

The Swiss “peace” kabuki came and went – and the winner was Vladimir Putin. He didn’t even have to show up…

None of the Big Players did. Or in case they sent their emissaries, there was significant refusal to sign the vacuous final declaration – as in BRICS members Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE and South Africa.

Without BRICS, there’s absolutely nothing the collective West – as in The Hegemon and assorted vassals – can do to alter the proxy war chessboard in Ukraine.

In his carefully calibrated speech to diplomats and the leadership of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Putin delineated an incredibly restrained and strategic approach to solve the Ukraine problem. In the context of the Hegemon’s escalatory green light – actually in practice for several months now – for Kiev to attack deeper into the Russian Federation, Putin’s offer was extremely generous.

That is a direct offer to the Hegemon and the collective West – as the sweaty T-shirt actor in Kiev, apart from illegitimate, is beyond irrelevant.

Predictably, NATO – via that epileptic slab of Norwegian wood – already proclaimed its refusal to negotiate, even as some relatively awake members of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) started discussing the offer, according to Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin.

Moscow sees the Verkhovna Rada as the only legitimate entity in Ukraine – and the only one with which would be possible to reach an agreement.

Russian UN representative Vasily Nebenzya cut to the chase – diplomatically: if the generous proposal is refused, next time conditions for starting negotiations will be “different”. And “far more unfavorable”, according to Duma Defense Committee head Andrei Kartapolov.

As Nebenzya stressed that in case of a refusal the collective West will bear full responsibility for further bloodshed, Kartapolov elaborated on the Big Picture: Russia’s real target is to create a whole new security system for the Eurasian space.

And that, of course, is anathema to the Hegemon’s elites.

Putin’s security vision for Eurasia harks back to this legendary speech at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. Now, with the steady advance of an irreversible multi-nodal (italics mine) and multi-centric new system of international relations, the Kremlin is pressing for an urgent solution – considering the extremely dangerous escalation of these past few months.

Putin once again had to remind the deaf, dumb and blind of the obvious:

“Calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, which has the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, demonstrate the extreme adventurism of Western politicians. They either do not understand the scale of the threat they themselves create, or they are simply obsessed with the belief in their own immunity and their own exclusivity. Both can turn into a tragedy”.

They remain deaf, dumb and blind.

A proposal that does not solve anything?

A fiery debate is raging in informed circles in Russia about Putin’s proposal. Critics blast it as a capitulation – forced by selected oligarchs and influential business circles, adverse to an “almost war” (the preferred motto) that keeps postponing the inevitable decapitation strike.

Critics argue that the military strategy is totally subordinated to a political strategy. And that would explain the serious problems in the Black Sea and in Transnistria: the political center of power refuses to conquer the number one economic/military target, which is Odessa.

Additionally, Ukraine’s weapon supply chains are not being properly interrupted.

The key critical point is “this is taking too long”. One just needs to look at the example of Mariupol.

In 2014, Mariupol was left in the control of nazi-banderista gangs as part of a financial deal with Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of the Azovstal works. That’s a classic case of oligarchs and financiers prevailing over military objectives.

Putin’s generosity, visible in this latest peace offer, also elicits a parallel with what happened in Dara’a in Syria: Russia also negotiated what looked at first like a peace deal. Yet Dara’a remains a mess, extremely violent, with Syrian and Russian soldiers at risk.

It gets really tricky when the current proposal only asks NATO not to be encroached in Kiev; but at the same time Kiev will be allowed to have an army, based on the (aborted) April 2022 negotiations in Istanbul.

Critics also argue that Putin seems to believe that this proposal will solve the war. Not really. A real de-nazification campaign is an affair of decades – involving everything from full demilitarization to eradicating focuses of extremist ideology. A real cultural revolution.

The current escalation already is in tune with the orders given by the rarefied plutocracy who really runs the show to messengers – and operatives: nazi-banderista gangs will unleash a War of Terror inside Russia for years. From Ukraine territory. Just like Idlib in Syria remains a terror-friendly environment.

The Odessa file

Putin’s strategy may be on to something that escapes his critics. His wish for a return of peace and the re-establishment of sound relations with Kiev and the West has got to be a ruse – as he’s the first to know that’s not gonna happen.

It’s clear that Kiev will not willingly cede territory: these will have to be conquered in the battlefield. Moreover NATO simply cannot sign its cosmic humiliation on the dotted line, accepting that Russia will get what it is demanding since February 2022.

Putin’s first – diplomatic – objective though has already been met. He has clearly demonstrated to the Global Majority he’s open to solve the dilemma in a serene atmosphere, while discombobulated NATO keeps shrieking “War!” every other minute.

The Hegemon wants war? So war it will be – to the last Ukrainian.

And that brings us to the Odessa file.

Putin, crucially, did not say anything about Odessa. This is Kiev’s last chance saloon to keep Odessa. If the peace proposal is rejected for good, Odessa will feature in the next list of non-negotiables.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, once again, nailed it: “Putin is patient. Those with ears will hear, those with brains will understand”.

No one should expect working brains popping up across the West. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has confirmed how NATO is planning massive installations in Poland, Romania and Slovakia to “coordinate transfer of weapons to Ukraine”.

Add to it the epileptic slab of Norwegian wood stating that NATO is “discussing” bringing their nuclear weapons to a state of combat readiness “in the face of the growing threat from Russia and China”.

Once again Old Stolty gives away the game: note this is all about the Hegemon’s paranoia with the top two “existential threats”, the

Russia-China strategic partnership. That is, the leaders of BRICS coordinating the drive towards a multipolar, multi-nodal (italics mine), “harmonic” (Putin’s terminology) world.

Stealing Russian money is legal

Then there’s the blatant theft of Russian financial assets.

At their sorry spectacle in Puglia, in southern Italy, the G7 – in the presence of the illegitimate sweaty T-shirt actor – agreed to shove an extra $50 billion in loans to Ukraine, funded by the interest on Russia’s frozen and for all practical purposes stolen assets.

With impeccably twisted logic, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – whose hairdressing and wardrobe revamp conclusively did not apply to her brains – said that the G7 “will not confiscate frozen assets of the Russian Federation”; “we are talking about the interest that they accumulate over time.”

As financial scams go, this one is a thing of beauty.

Essentially, the main customer (the Hegemon) and its instrument (the EU) are trying to mask the actual theft of those “frozen” Russian sovereign assets as if this was a legal transaction.

The EU will transfer the “frozen” assets – something around $260 billion – to the status of collateral for the American loan. That’s the whole thing – because only the income deriving from the assets would not be enough as collateral to secure the loan.

It gets even dicier. These funds will not leave Washington for Kiev; they will remain in town to the benefit of the industrial-military complex churning out more weapons.

So the EU steals the assets, under a flimsy legalese pretext (Janet Yellen already said it’s OK) and transfers them to the U.S. Washington is immune if everything goes wrong – as it will.

Only a fool would believe that the Americans would give a sizable loan to a de facto country 404 with a sovereign debt rating in the abyss. The dirty job is assigned to the Europeans: it’s up to the EU to change the status of Russia’s stolen/”frozen” assets to collateral.

And wait for the ultimate dicey gambit. The whole scheme concerns Euroclear, in Belgium – where the largest amount of Russian funds is parked. Yet the decision on this money-laundering scam was not taken by Belgium, and not even by the EUrocrats.

This was a Hegemon-imposed G7 decision.

Belgium is not even part of the G7. Yet in the end, it will be the EU’s “credibility” as a whole that will go down the drain across the whole Global Majority.

And the deaf, dumb and blind, predictably, are not even aware of it.

Authored by Ross Pomeroy via RealClearScience,

A Google search for “Frio Cave” makes the Uvalde County, Texas destination look like a tourists’ dream. One quickly learns that the cave is home to tens of millions of Mexican free-tailed bats, and that you can sometimes witness the flapping horde streaming out of their dark, dank home just before sunset, clouding the sky in a “once in a lifetime experience.”

But Frio Cave has a darker history that visitors websites don’t mention. More than fifty years ago, two humans contracted rabies while spelunking there.

That humans would get infected with rabies while visiting a bat-infested cave isn’t altogether surprising. Bats are a reservoir for the terrifying disease – 99% fatal to humans once symptoms – like hyperactivity, hallucinations, seizures, and fear of water – develop. A simple bite from one of the millions of bats could have transmitted a lyssavirus that triggers rabies. However, in this instance, the spelunkers apparently weren’t bitten. Rather, it seems they caught the virus from the air itself.

A team of scientists subsequently investigated. They found that rabies virus could be transmitted to animals housed in empty cages within the cave, apparently just via the atmosphere itself. Moreover, the virus was isolated from samples collected via air condensation techniques.

The episode raised a disturbing prospect. Had rabies, the deadliest virus for humankind, gone airborne?

To be clear, it had not, at least not in a manner that would result in ultra-contagious, human-to-human spread. The sheer number of rabies-carrying bats in the cave likely transformed it into a “hot-box” of infection. Rabies remains transmitted almost entirely through bites and scratches from infected animals, and it is rapidly inactivated by sunlight and heat. However, for safety, members of the general public are now only allowed to enter Frio Cave on guided tours that remain near the mouth of the cave.

That doesn’t mean that rabies virus couldn’t mutate to become transmitted through the air. It’s an RNA virus, and these are known to have high mutation rates. Indeed, scientists have found “a vast array of antigenic variants of this pathogen in a wide range of animal hosts and geographic locations.”

Moreover, as two Italian scientists wrote in a 2021 article, “Even single amino acid mutations in the proteins of Rabies virus can considerably alter its biological characteristics, for example increasing its pathogenicity and viral spread in humans, thus making the mutated virus a tangible menace for the entire mankind.”

Another possible route for this to occur would be through a “gain-of-function” experiment, in which researchers employ gene-editing to tweak the rabies virus, making it evade current vaccines and endowing it with the ability to spread through the air like measles or influenza. Gain-of-function research has earned increased public scrutiny of late as there’s a small, outside chance it may have produced SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Paul Offit, a professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, commented on the potential to augment rabies through gain-of-function in a recent Substack post.

“In the absence of an effective vaccine, it could eliminate humans from the face of the earth. The good news is that no one has tried to make rabies virus more contagious. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible or that no one would be willing to try.”