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More Classified Documents Found At Biden’s Delaware Home

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More Classified Documents Found At Biden’s Delaware Home

Another day, another report of President Biden having classified documents scattered all over the place – as opposed to a safe at Mar-a-Lago.

And of course as vice president when he took them, he had no authority to declassify – unlike a president.

In the latest ‘document-gate’ development, the New York Times reports that ‘additional pages of classified information’ were found at President Biden’s Delaware home on Thursday, hours after a White House statement acknowledging that a classified document was found in a storage area ‘adjacent to the garage’ of his Wilmington home, which Biden’s aides reportedly discovered the night before.

The news comes after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel this week to investigate Biden’s handling of classified materials.

The Biden camp has pushed back against accusations that their failure to disclose the document find the day before the 2022 midterms amounts to election interference.

They also defended their decision not to be fully forthcoming about the matter. The White House has been criticized over its public disclosures, including why it did not reveal the discoveries much earlier, and why, when it acknowledged on Monday that some classified files had been found at Mr. Biden’s office on Nov. 2, it had not indicated that more had been found at his house the next month.

Mr. Biden’s lead personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, said in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Biden’s legal team had tried to balance being transparent with “the established norms and limitations necessary to protect the investigation’s integrity.” -NYT

According to Biden’s lead lawyer, DOJ investigators needed ‘time’ to complete their inquiry, and revealing certain details publicly before more information emerged could cause earlier statements to be “incomplete.”

“That’s your version of events,” said White House spox Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday when asked if the White House did not disclose the original findings until they were reported by CBS News earlier this week. “Look, I want to very clear: There’s a process here, we are going to respect that process,” she added.

What a load of horseshit.

“The timing of the revelation of the document discovery is indeed curious,” said former Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA), a longtime Biden ally and former intelligence officer, per The Hill. “President Biden must be accountable and accept responsibility for this awkward episode. The most important thing here is not preventing political embarrassment, it’s protecting our nation’s security.”

“Look, this happened Nov. 2nd. Joe Biden said he would be the most transparent president in American history. Why are we just now learning this? CBS did a great job uncovering this or we would never know,” said Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) in a CBS interview earlier this week.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 12:25

Iran Executes Former High-Ranking Defense Official & Dual UK Citizen

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Iran Executes Former High-Ranking Defense Official & Dual UK Citizen

Amid its ongoing protest crackdown following months of ‘anti-hijab’ demonstrations which have resulted in hundreds of deaths, Iran has just executed a former high level official after he was convicted of spying for a foreign enemy nation.

The Islamic Republic’s former deputy defense minister Alireza Akbari was killed by hanging on Saturday, state media and the judiciary confirmed. He had been accused of spying for the United Kingdom for a period spanning years.

Iran’s former deputy defense minister Alireza Akbari.

Akbari’s arrest had only been revealed in recent weeks, even though he was reportedly detained all the way back in 2019, and his execution marks the first high profile, former top ranking government official (the country’s #2 defense chief) to be put to death in decades. He had also been an IRGC commander at one point.

What’s more is that he was a dual British citizen, which apparently brought him under suspicion of Tehran’s intelligence services. According to The New York Times

Iran’s intelligence ministry called Mr. Akbari a “super spy” for MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, and accused him of passing classified national security information to the agency and receiving a payment of over 2 million euros (about $2.2 million). Iran’s state news media and his family said he had been arrested and detained for four months in 2008 on suspicion of spying for Britain, and later released on bail. He then traveled to Austria, Spain and finally Britain.

The statement from the judiciary said that Mr. Akbari had spied for Britain from 2004 to 2009, as well as when he “fled the country” and moved to Britain. It said he had been recruited by British diplomats in Tehran under the guise of trade partnerships.

Iran is saying he confessed to spying, while his family maintains that the confession was given under extreme duress.

His obtaining British citizenship and a passport after reportedly completing business deals in the UK brought him under immediate Iranian government suspicion. Tehran says the UK passport was a reward for his spying services

Condemnation of the Akbari was quick to come in from world leaders. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “appalled” by the killing of the British-Iranian citizen. “This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people,” Sunak said. “My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family.” The UK foreign ministry also called it a “barbaric act”. 

French President Emmanuel Macron of France also denounced the “despicable and barbaric” act, writing on Twitter that “His name adds to too long a list of victims of repression and the death penalty in Iran.” Macron added: “Solidarity with the UK. Solidarity with the Iranian people.”

Iran has also faced international scrutiny and condemnation for a series of protest-related executions, which stands at at least four known instances of people killed for alleged crimes related to the demonstrations. Dozens more are on death row.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 12:00

Bitcoin Rally To $21K Prompts Analysts To Ask Where BTC Price Will Go Next

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Bitcoin Rally To $21K Prompts Analysts To Ask Where BTC Price Will Go Next

After Bitcoin BTC  hit a yearly high of $21,095 on Jan. 13, reversing the entire FTX crash…

… where is it headed next? As CoinTelegraph writes, Bitcoin is currently witnessing an uptick in bullish momentum after the positively perceived CPI report was followed by a strong rally across the crypto market.

The recent rally in Bitcoin is creating increased volume levels and higher social engagement on whether the price is in a breakout of fakeout mode.

Is the Bitcoin bear market over?

While the market is still technically in a bear market compared to last week, investor sentiment is improving. According to the Fear and Greed Index, a crypto-specific metric that measures sentiment using five weighted sources, investors’ feelings about the market hit a monthly high.

Bitcoin price is now above the psychologically important $21,000 level and many analysts and traders are issuing their thoughts on where BTC price could head next.

Let’s explore a few of these perspectives.

Bitcoin trading volumes remain a concern

Bitcoin just barely recovered from its pre-FTX levels, rising above $21,000 on Jan. 13 for the first time since Nov. 8, 2022. Despite the strength of the recent rally, some analysts believe BTC price needs to remain above the $21,000 support before the current bullish trend can be sustained.

According to Glassnode analysis:

“A renewed bullish trend that started on January 1st drove bitcoin to the $18.6 – $18.9k level, yet a cross over to $19k is necessary to claim a new trading channel around $19-$21k. Resistance is expected around these levels as bitcoin faces a mid-term downward trend. If the price fails to break over the trend line, we expect a retrace toward the $16-$17k area.”

The lack of trading volume of around $18,000 shows the weakness in the current on-chain and centralized exchange (CEX) activity. The largest volumes and overall activity seem to surround the $16,000 level, suggesting that is a more solid floor than the current price range. With less volume surrounding levels higher than $21,000, Bitcoin’s rally could be capped at $21,095.

Is it just a bear market rally?

Bitcoin is still facing headwinds including massive exchange layoffs in a tightening macro economy, Gemini and Genesis legal issues and the potential establishment of a U.S. House crypto-focused subcommittee.

In addition, Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) is currently showing BTC as overbought. According to RSI analysis, a sharp downtrend may form as the price corrects.

The macro markets are also at major resistance levels. The United States Dollar index (DXY) is at key support which means risk assets like Bitcoin may start to see a sell-off if the index recovers. Bitcoin remains correlated to equities and the SPX mini futures index is also showing signs of a pullback.

TraderSZ explains below:

With Bitcoin investors taking profits as suggested by TraderSZ, it may be tough for BTC to reach higher levels.

Historical analysis points to a new Bitcoin bottom

Bitcoin is currently below its 200-week moving average and according to Rekt Capital, Bitcoin price may have already hit its macro bottom according to historical data. Historically the “Death Cross” level shows a $23,500 bottom.

While traders and technical analysts are not known for accurately predicting how long a bull or bear market might last, independent market analyst HornHairs cited historical data from 2015 to estimate how long it will take for Bitcoin to hit a new all-time high.

The bull market from 2015 to 2017 lasted for 1064 days, matching with the 2018 to 2021 bull market which lasted the same number of days. If traders match the bear market that followed between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to the current market, it would take 1,001 days until Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high.

Despite the current conditions and the strength of the current price breakout, Bitcoin has proven many technical analysts wrong in the past. Risk-averse traders might consider keeping an eye out for increased trading volume at higher prices as an indicator of whether Bitcoin is finally back in a bull market.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 11:33

‘Lotto Madness’ Returns As Winning Ticket Of $1.35 Billion Mega Million Jackpot Sold In Maine

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‘Lotto Madness’ Returns As Winning Ticket Of $1.35 Billion Mega Million Jackpot Sold In Maine

A rising real wage allows the working class to achieve a higher standard of living. However, many Americans have endured 20 consecutive months of negative real wage growth as the cost of living soars above the income they bring home. Perhaps hopes and dreams of getting rich in these troublesome economic times are being plowed into lottery tickets. 

Two months after a record-breaking $2 billion jackpot, another billion-dollar Mega Million drawing was underway on Friday night. A ticket sold in Maine that matched the winning numbers of 30-43-45-46-61 with a Mega Ball of 14.

Lottery officials estimated the annuitized jackpot could be worth around $1.35 billion, while the potential lump sum cash payout is around $724.6 million. And all of that is before taxes. After federal taxes, the winner could choose between 30 annual payments of $28.4 million or an immediate cash payout of $456.5 million. 

Here’s how the math works out:

The odds of matching all six balls to win the jackpot are utterly insane, which is 1 in 302,575,350, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) that runs the lottery… You have better odds of being struck by lightning. 

But while inflation rips apart middle-class household finances, hopeful gamblers are plowing money into purchasing lottery tickets with the dream of becoming a billionaire … well, not quite, as we showed the math above. 

The popularity of lottery tickets is the hottest among “disproportionately male, lower income, less educated and non-White,” The Washington Post said, citing studies. 

 “The popularity of lottery tickets among African Americans is particularly notable,” WaPo continued. 

Google Trens shows’ lotto madness‘ has swept across this nation since the first billion-dollar jackpot in November. And the latest internet searches have gone absolutely parabolic. 

This week’s Mega Millions frenzy is a reminder that the MUSL preys on the working poor and conditions them with dreams of a new life if they win the jackpot, though the odds are astronomical, and most everyone will lose. 

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 11:00

Finland Teases Battle Tanks For Ukraine After Poland, UK Lead The Way

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Finland Teases Battle Tanks For Ukraine After Poland, UK Lead The Way

At a moment Sweden and Finland are attempting to become NATO’s newest members, though still blocked by Turkey’s objections, Finland – which shares a border with Russia – is teasing the possibility of sending Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on Thursday said following the country unveiling its 12th planned defense aid package for Ukraine over the weekend: “The number of tanks [to be sent to Ukraine] cannot be large, since Finland borders on Russia and is not part of NATO.” Finland is commonly estimated to posses some 200 Leopard 2 main battle tanks.

Ukraine has been urging for Western partners to transfer heavy Western-manufactured tanks, with its officials saying that it needs in total some 300 of them to defeat Russian forces. 

Leopard 2 battle tank, source: Bundeswehr 

Poland and the UK have led to the way on this, but with the US so far only committing only lighter infantry carriers. France has also pledged ‘light tanks’ – which some say are not tanks at all.

There’s growing pressure for other allies to follow Polish president Andrzej Duda, who first announced his country would send over a dozen German-built Leopards to Ukraine “as part of the building of an international coalition.”

But there are still potential hurdles related to German export controls on its manufactured weaponry, as Politico describes

There are certain restrictions imposed on the re-exporting of the German-made Leopard 2 tanks. Berlin has so far been reluctant to send heavy German weaponry to Kyiv, even if it comes from another EU member state, but there could be signs of a thaw in its position on the issue.

…In response to Duda’s comments, German Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck, who also oversees arms export controls, dismissed concerns that Germany might not allow this. He said that “Germany should not stand in the way when other countries make decisions to support Ukraine, regardless of what decision Germany makes.”

As for UK efforts to introduce ‘game-changing’ heavy tanks to Ukraine’s arsenal, the FT reports

Britain is preparing to send its Challenger 2, a highly capable main battle tank. It would be the first modern western tank to be sent to Ukraine, but most experts say Ukraine would be better served by the Leopard 2. Thirteen European governments operate some 2,000 Leopards, providing a much larger pool for Kyiv to draw on.

And as for Finland, if it follows through on sending Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, it could send tensions with Moscow soaring given already the ultra-sensitive issue of the country seeking NATO membership.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is really dialing up its propaganda on its tank request. What PR firm comes up with this stuff? 

Earlier in the conflict the Kremlin warned of a nuclear arms build-up in the Baltic region should Finland become increasingly militarized and integrated with NATO. This appeared to be a threat aimed at deterring Helsinki from getting more involved in Ukraine, but tanks for Kiev would certainly blow past Russia’s red lines.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 08:45

COVID Vaccines Are “Obviously Dangerous” And Should Be Halted Immediately, Say Senior Swedish Doctors

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COVID Vaccines Are “Obviously Dangerous” And Should Be Halted Immediately, Say Senior Swedish Doctors

Authored by Dr. Johan Eddebo via The Daily Sceptic,,

There follows a public statement by a group of five senior Swedish doctors who, in collaboration with Dr. Johan Eddebo, a researcher in digitalisation and human rights, are raising the alert about the Covid vaccines, which they describe as “obviously dangerous”. They say there should be an “immediate halt” to the mass vaccination pending “thorough investigations” of the true incidence and severity of adverse effects.

The true character and scope of the harm caused by the unprecedented mass vaccinations for COVID-19 is just now beginning to become clear. Leading scientific journals have finally begun publishing data corroborating what the underground research community has observed over the last two years, especially in relation to complex problems of immune suppression.

Truly concerning numbers pertaining to both births and mortality are also emerging.

At this moment in time, a new, allegedly super-infectious Omicron variant is all over the headlines. A sub-variant of XXB, this strain is said to possess immune escape capabilities of precisely the type that some independent researchers predicted would follow on the heels of the mass vaccinations’ narrow antigenic fixation. 

The WHO maintains that worldwide, 10,000 people still die due to Covid every single day, an implausible death toll more than ten times that of an average flu. It reiterates the urgent need for vaccinations, especially in light of China’s reopening and allegedly falsified data on mortality and infections.

The EU has even called an emergency summit in light of the purported Chinese “Covid chaos” that “calls to mind how everything began in Wuhan, three years ago”.

In Sweden, the Minister for Health and Social Affairs has said he cannot rule out new restrictions, and states that everyone must take “their three doses”, since “only” 85% of the population is ‘fully inoculated’.

That such an extensive vaccine coverage has not yielded better results after nearly two years is a remarkable fact. Even more so in light of some individuals receiving four or more repeated exposures to the same vaccine antigen, yet still contracting the disease they are supposedly immunised against.

At the same time, even more ominous warning signs abound.

One such warning sign is the fact that average mortality in many Western states is still at a remarkably high level, in spite of the direct effects of the coronavirus being marginal for more than a year. Data from EuroMOMO indicate a marked excess mortality in the EU for all of 2022, and the German Bureau of Statistics reports that the country’s mortality in October was more than 19% over the median value of the preceding years.

Is this due to Covid, as the WHO’s ’10 000 per day’ figure would seem to indicate?

Blame is placed at the feet of ‘Long Covid‘ as well as the regular acute infections, but according to the EuroMOMO and Our World in Data stats, the bulk of the excess deaths in Europe during 2022 are actually not due to clinically manifest coronavirus infections.

Moreover, we shouldn’t see continued excess deaths from a respiratory virus of this kind after three years of global exposure due to the inevitable consolidation of natural immunity.

If such a situation persists, the hypothetical connection to a vaccine-related immunity suppression that just now has come into focus becomes pertinent to investigate in detail. 

If, as has been argued, the vaccinations, and especially the boosters, alter the immune profile of recipients such that Covid infections get ‘tolerated’ by the immune system, it’s possible that vaccinated individuals will tend towards a situation of long-term, repeat infections that do not get cleared, and do not present with obvious symptoms, while still promoting systemic damage. 

The literature now indicates an extensive substitution in the vaccinated of virus-neutralising antibodies for non-inflammatory ones, a ‘class switch’ from antibodies that work towards clearing the virus from our system, to a category of antibodies whose purpose is to desensitise us to irritants and allergens.

The net effect is that the inflammatory response to Covid infection gets down-regulated (reduced). This means that full-blown infections will present with milder symptoms, and that they won’t get cleared as effectively (partly since fever and inflammation are essential to your body getting rid of a pathogen).

That these developments alone aren’t cause for an immediate halt to the mass vaccinations, as well as thorough investigations, is astonishing.

There is of course another, and more well-known, potential partial explanation of the surprising excess mortality. We have indications of clotting disorders connected to the Covid vaccines, evident in a new major Nordic study, while repeated studies evidence a clear correlation between heart disease and Covid vaccination (see Le Vu et al., Karlstad et al. and Patone et al.).

A newly published Thai study moreover indicated that almost a third of the vaccinated youth enrolled exhibited cardiovascular manifestations, and a yet unpublished Swiss study suggests that as many as 3% of everyone vaccinated manifest heart muscle damage.

And as stated above, we also see signals pertaining to fertility disturbances connected to the Covid vaccines.

An Israeli study shows impaired motility and sperm concentrations after both Pfizer and Moderna vaccination. The safety committee of the European Medicines Agency has also affirmed that the vaccines may cause menstrual disturbances, and Pfizer’s own studies indicate that the lipid nanoparticles of the mRNA-vaccines cluster in the reproductive organs.

The hypothesis that COVID-19 vaccinations influence fertility is supported by a significant and unprecedented decline in the Swedish birth rate during the first months of 2022. According to Swedish demographers, the decline is ”surprising”.

There are similar data from many other Western countries, and to continue the mass vaccinations for low-risk groups such as children or pregnant women is utterly irresponsible – especially since the vaccinations do little or nothing to stop the spread as was initially promised, and is often still falsely maintained.

One hopes that the hypothesis of a decline in birth rates due to the vaccinations can be falsified through a thorough and independent investigation as soon as possible. The numbers are truly worrying.

Yet the fact that Pfizer’s data pertaining to fertility disturbances had been hidden away and needed to be discovered through a FOIA request is typical for the entire situation.

There’s almost no independent public debate on these issues, and critical perspectives are actively suppressed by the major digital platforms.

Public watchdogs such as the European Medicines Agency are funded by the pharmaceutical industry and often base their recommendations on Big Pharma’s in-house studies. The independence of our scientific and academic institutions is threatened, and we see a confluence between scientific research, private corporate interests and political and ideological objectives on every level.

To place a digital filter of censorship on top of all of this, where proprietary algorithms micromanage the flow of information and the public debate in accordance with the intentions of their owners, in practice means to abolish the open democratic society and independent scientific research.

Recent disclosures also show that the digital platforms have actively worked towards suppressing critical perspectives on the Covid policies and the mass vaccinations. Twitter has for this purpose developed clandestine censorship strategies and employed so-called ‘shadowbanning’ with the effect of an almost undetectable suppression of the visibility of posts and accounts connected to undesirable perspectives and analyses. Facebook took down more than seven million posts to influence the debate on Covid only during the second quarter of 2020. YouTube has banned publishing of video material that contains critical perspectives on the Covid vaccinations. Such content is designated ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ whether or not it is supported by relevant data.

These kinds of measures have very serious consequences. Digitalisation’s centralised control of the flow of information doesn’t just affect policy on the local and regional level, but also influences the way in which scientific and journalistic work can be designed and carried out. It creates structures that immediately repress heterodox views and silences critical voices through fear and indirect persecution.

Public trust in our common institutions will inevitably be eroded by this development.

The open society now desperately needs a renaissance. The democratic and scientific discourses must be rebuilt from the ground up, and in a way which respects the new and unique risks of our contemporary situation, and which protects and emphasises the responsibility of the individual citizen.

Key to this in our current predicament is to press on with critical questions pertaining to the obviously dangerous mass vaccinations and to investigate the corruption of our political and scientific institutions that the Covid situation has shed light on. 

It is critical that we immediately begin to remedy the significant damage that has been rendered to global public health, and to the open society as such. 

Johan Eddebo, Ph.D, researcher in digitalisation and human rights

Sture Blomberg, MD, Ph.D, Associate Professor in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care and former senior physician

Ragnar Hultborn, Professor Emeritus, specialist in oncology

Sven Román, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, since 2015 Consultant Psychiatrist working in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry throughout Sweden

Lilian Weiss, Associate Professor, specialist in surgery

Nils Littorin, resident in psychiatry, MD in clinical microbiology

The authors are members of the bio-medico-legal network of Läkaruppropet. They are organising a conference in Stockholm on January 21st-22nd in conjunction with the Swedish Doctors’ Appeal network. Its main focus will be on the consequences of the global COVID-19 politics and the effects of the Covid vaccines.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 08:10

Siberia Records Minus-80 Degrees As Talk Of Polar Vortex Grows

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Siberia Records Minus-80 Degrees As Talk Of Polar Vortex Grows

Several weeks after the Christmas Arctic blast, much of the US and Europe have enjoyed record warmth. Recall on Dec. 27, we noted the cold air mass from Siberia that spread across the continental US would dissipate into the new year. So far, this is correct, as three weeks of above-average weather has staved off an energy crisis in the Northern Hemisphere. But just north, in Siberia, temperatures are sinking to near-record lows. And it could only be a matter of time before the giant cold air mass swirling in the North Pole becomes unstable, breaks down, and begins pouring into the US and Europe. 

Global warming alarmists who called for an imminent climate disaster last summer are scratching their heads as the rural northern Siberian town of Zhilinda just recorded temperatures of minus-79.8 degrees, according to climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks extreme temperatures across the globe.

Herrera told The Washington Post that Zhilinda was just a few degrees off from breaking its record low of minus-82.3 degrees. The all-time low for the Northern Hemisphere was set in Russia in 1933 at minus-89.9 degrees.

Earlier this week, Arcfield Weather’s Paul Dorian said winter isn’t over and called for a significant change in North American weather “in about ten days or so.” Like anything, nothing is ever constant, and the warm spell could give way to colder temps later this month or early February. 

“Sometimes, exceptionally cold air that builds over Siberia spills into the eastern United States,” WaPo explained, adding:

“Although the eastern United States has had very mild weather since that late December cold blast, there is the potential for a significant pattern change toward the end of January.”

For a polar vortex to flow into the US or Europe, there first needs warming in the Arctic stratosphere that pushes cold air lower. As explained by Michigan Weather Forecast:

This begins with the warming in the Arctic stratosphere which pushes the cold air south (simply put). The GFS, GEFS, ECMWS, and GEM models are displaying similar model runs. This is more of a heads-up than anything else. Do with it as you will, it is my humble opinion that winter in the sense of cold and snow isn’t over yet. We will see if the CPC comes on board with this.

And on Twitter, many folks are posting models predicting winter isn’t over and all that cold air trapped in the Arctic could pour into Europe and the US in the coming weeks. 

And maybe there’s some validity in the models above as the Climate Prediction Center’s 8-14 day temperature outlook has increasingly shown over the last week of colder weather slated for the end of the month. 

So if the models are correct. Winter was just delayed. 

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 07:35

A Big Green Mess In Germany With Coal A Stunning 31% Of Electricity Production

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A Big Green Mess In Germany With Coal A Stunning 31% Of Electricity Production

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Coal provides a staggering 31% of German electricity production, up from 8% in 2015…

Hoot of the Day

The Greens forced a shutdown of nuclear power under Angela Merkel. Now they are both for and against coal, the dirtiest of all electrical power sources. 

Police Start Clearing German Village Condemned for Coal Mine

The Associated Press reports Police Start Clearing German Village Condemned for Coal Mine

Police in riot gear began evicting climate activists Wednesday from a condemned village in western Germany that is due to be demolished for the expansion of a coal mine.

Some stones and fireworks were thrown as officers entered the tiny hamlet of Luetzerath, which has become a flashpoint of debate over the country’s climate efforts, on Wednesday morning. 

Police spokesman Andreas Mueller said the attacks on officers were “not nice” but noted that most of the protest so far had been peaceful.

By Wednesday afternoon dozens of activists remained camped out in Luetzerath, some in elaborate tree houses, as police slowly moved through the village clearing barricades and a communal soup kitchen.

Environmentalists say bulldozing the village to expand the nearby Garzweiler coal mine would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The government and utility company RWE argue the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security.

Some activists expressed particular anger at the environmentalist Green party, which is part of both the regional and national governments that reached a deal with RWE last year allowing it to destroy the village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green who is Germany’s economy and climate minister, defended the agreement as “a good decision for climate protection” that fulfills many of the environmentalists’ demands and saves five other villages from demolition.

Let Me Be Coal-free, But Not Just Yet

Eurointelligence has an amusing writeup Let Me Be Coal-free, But Not Just Yet.

Yesterday’s pictures of police marching in on protesters trying to protect a lignite field is symptomatic of the many contradictions of German energy policy. Here you have Green ministers, Robert Habeck among them, defending police action against protesters, most of whom are members or at least voters of the Green party. The lignite deal was negotiated by the Greens themselves. We are now observers of the absurd spectacle of the Greens defending the dirtiest version of coal.

The reasons this has became necessary is because the Green party has pushed the entire political class, Angela Merkel in particular, into an early exit from nuclear power. It is not just about the three power stations due to go offline on April 15. It is an entire industry that has been phased out. Coal constitutes a staggering 31% of German electricity production. In 2015, it was only 8%.

The official exit date for coal-fired power in Germany has been brought forward from 2038 to 2030, but that happened before the Ukraine war. We would not be betting on this timetable. The cheap Russian gas is gone, and will never return. Nuclear will be gone in April. Betting on the 2030 exit date is betting on the absence of shocks.

This Saturday, Greta Thunberg will appear in Lützerath, and will possibly remind the Greens of the many contradictions of their own energy policy. Now with the Greens firmly entrenched in government, energy policy is getting deeper and deeper into an unbelievable mess.

Protest Videos

Really Gross Stuff

“Aside from the directly visible destruction of the land, these are often mines for “brown coal” or Lignite which is often far dirtier than traditional black coal in terms of emissions. It’s some gross stuff:”

“The soil there is extremely rich in lignite, a brown, soft type of coal, which is known for being the most polluting fossil fuel out there.” 

Coal Irony

We have to destroy the village and mine the dirtiest coal type to save the environment.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green who is Germany’s economy and climate minister, defended the agreement as “a good decision for climate protection” that fulfills many of the environmentalists’ demands and saves five other villages from demolition.

What a hoot! (And Thank You Angela Merkel)

EU Imposes the World’s Largest Carbon Tax Scheme, Inflationary Madness Sets In

Meanwhile, while Germany is tearing up towns to mine Lignite, the EU Imposes the World’s Largest Carbon Tax Scheme labeled CBAM

CBAM stands for Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. It is a tax on imports from countries that do things like burn coal to produce goods. 

CBAM will cover iron and steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizers and electricity,

A Mad Rush to Build More EV Factories, But Where are the Minerals?

In the US, there’s a Mad Rush to Build More EV Factories, But Where are the Minerals?

Where we get the Lithium, nickel, cobalt, Manganese, and graphite to build all the batteries for the EVs without driving up the cost is a mystery. 

As an added bonus, Biden’s IRA is a Flagrant Violation of WTO Rules due to subsidies that push US only solutions.

This is not only inflationary madness, it’s environmental madness as well.

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/14/2023 – 07:00

Nixon Threatened To Reveal CIA’s Involvement In Kennedy Assassination, Roger Stone Claims

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Nixon Threatened To Reveal CIA’s Involvement In Kennedy Assassination, Roger Stone Claims

Authored by Roger Stone via Stone Cold Truth with Roger Stone,

A stunning, long-overlooked Nixon Watergate-era tape shows Richard Nixon warning CIA Director Richard Helms that he knows of CIA involvement in the murder of John F. Kennedy- “I know who shot John.” 

This shocking new tape depicts Nixon increasingly besieged by Watergate but unaware that at least four of the Watergate burglars were still on the CIA payroll at the time of the break-in, and that the CIA had thus infiltrated the burglary team. Recently declassified documents reveal that Watergate Special Prosecutor Nick Akerman was aware of both the CIA’s advance knowledge and involvement in the break-in — but said and did nothing.

Senator Howard Baker, the Republican Leader on the Senate Watergate Committee and his counsel Fred Thompson himself, a future U.S. Senator from Tennessee, like Baker, stumbled on the CIA’s deep advanced knowledge and direct involvement in the Watergate break-in. Baker and Thompson both knew that at least four of the Watergate burglars were on the CIA payroll at the time of the break-in and that through CREEP Security Director James McCord, had infiltrated the burglary team. Senate Watergate Committee Chairman Sam Ervin stoutly refused to allow Baker and the Committee Republicans including Edward J. Gurney of Florida the right to publish a Minority Report which noted this stunning information regarding the CIA.

Nixon deeply distrusted the CIA because he knew that President Eisenhower had ordered the agency to give top secret briefings to both Nixon and Kennedy after both were the certain nominees of their parties. Nixon was sore that Kennedy utilized the information in their debates, attacking Nixon for being “soft” on communist Cuba, knowing full well that Nixon had chaired a working group as Vice President overseeing preparations for the “Bay of Pigs” invasion. Nixon, of course, could not reveal this upcoming attempt to topple Castro in the details.

White House Domestic Policy Chief John Ehrlichman wrote that when he served as the White House Legal Counsel, Nixon ordered him to request that the CIA hand over all documents pertaining to John Kennedy’s murder. Nixon was furious when Richard Helms, the CIA Director, refused his presidential order to hand them over.

This stunning new Watergate-era tape captures an increasingly besieged Nixon desperately seeking to mobilize the CIA in his defense by threatening to expose their greatest secrets. Nixon also knew that Congressman Gerald Ford, as a member of the Warren Commission, had, at the explicit direction of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI Director, altered the official autopsy diagram for President John F. Kennedy; moving the marking from a bullet in his upper back to his neck in order to accommodate the single-bullet theory and to conceal the fact that Kennedy had been hit with more than the reported three shots.

Nixon was acutely aware of Ford’s act of treachery in concealing the truth about Kennedy’s murder and the CIA’s involvement in it.

White House Chief of Staff General Alexander Haig told me in an interview that “Nixon had Ford by the balls.”

The five-star General said, “Nixon had me tell Ford that is he (Nixon) was going down, he was taking everybody with him.”

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Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/13/2023 – 23:40

The Vinyl Comeback Continues

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The Vinyl Comeback Continues

Continuing one of the more surprising comebacks of the digital age, vinyl album sales in the United States have grown for the 17th consecutive year.

As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, according to Luminate, 43.5 million LPs were sold in the U.S. last year, up more than 48-fold compared to 2006 when the vinyl comeback began.

Infographic: The Vinyl Comeback Continues | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

So how big is vinyl’s comeback really?

Should we all dust off our old record players to prepare for the analog future of music?

According to Luminate’s 2022 Year-End Music Report, LPs accounted for 43 percent of album sales in the United States last year, which is quite substantial.

Factoring in streaming and downloads of single tracks, however, that number drops to less than 5 percent of album equivalent music consumption, which puts things in perspective.

However big or small the impact of rising LP sales on the music industry’s bottom line may be, it’s fascinating to witness a hundred year-old technology come back from near extinction. Physical goods, it appears, still hold value for many people, even in the digital age.

Interestingly, vinyl LPs appear to have become a bit of collectors’ item for fans, who listen to music digitally but still want to own a physical object: according to Luminate, only 50 percent of vinyl buyers actually have a record player.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/13/2023 – 23:20