Salt Lake City officials are finding mysterious antennas across the foothills of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The first ones were discovered nearly a year ago, but more have been popping up in recent months. These devices appear to be relaying data across a wide area. 

As first reported by KSLTV 5 in Utah, the mysterious devices consist of a battery box, a solar panel, and an antenna.

“These towers have been bolted into different peaks and summits and ridges around the foothills,” Tyler Fonarow, the city’s recreational trails manager, explained, “and it started with one or two, and now it might be as much as a dozen.”

Salt Lake City public lands officials hiked up the snowy Twin Peaks trail today to remove a mysterious device (solar panel, antenna & locked battery box). They’re finding more in the foothills, with no explanation as to who’s putting them there — or why. Story on @KSL5TV at 6 pic.twitter.com/llfFXMOyLq

— Michael Locklear (@MichaelLocklear) January 5, 2023

Fonarow said whoever is installing these small fiberglass antennas doesn’t have a permit for authorization on public land. His department has been seizing the devices. They found one last week and plan to remove another later this month. 

More antennas have been found on property managed by the Forest Service and the University of Utah. 

A university spokesperson just released a statement about the mysterious antennas: 

“Since Salt Lake City leaders alerted the University of Utah to the unauthorized solar panel towers in the foothills northeast of the Avenues neighborhood, University of Utah representatives have been actively coordinating with City Public Lands officials to determine whether any member of our campus community is connected to the towers. As far as we know, the tower located on university property is not owned or operated by the university. We appreciate Salt Lake City’s collaboration and dedicated efforts to identify the owners.”

Fonarow speculated the devices could be part of a decentralized wireless connectivity platform:

“It might be related to cryptocurrency and relaying networks and being able to make money off that,” he said, “so that’s another reason we want to stop it now before it becomes a dumping ground for dozens and dozens of more antennas.”

Last week, a Salt Lake City Public Lands Facebook posted pictures of “unauthorized solar panel towers” found in the Foothills. 

Some people who replied to the Facebook post speculated the devices could be part of the Helium network. 

“Probably helium network like several have posted. Or some kind of mesh network repeaters? I don’t understand why they are being torn down and huge effort to take them off public lands, when if it is a mesh network repeater, can be used by the public, and is very important in emergency/communication failure situations,” one person said. 

“Those are very clearly off-grid Helium miners,” another person said. 

Someone asked: “Ham radio repeater?” 

If the speculation is correct, these mysterious antennas could be hotspots connecting to a wireless blockchain-based network for Helium. This entirely new incentive model allows people to set up hotspots that act as Helium miners and serve data to devices. People can earn money by simply buying a hotspot and plugging it in. 

Here’s what the Helium coverage looks like around Salt Lake City. 

There are nearly a million hotspots nationwide.

“Mining HNT is done by installing a simple device on your home or office window,” Helium wrote on their website, adding these “hotspots provide miles of wireless network coverage for millions of devices around you using Helium LongFi, and you are rewarded in HNT for doing this. And because of an innovative proof-of-work model (we call it “Proof-of-Coverage”), your Hotspot only uses 5W of energy.”

There’s no confirmation Helium hotspots are the devices being found by officials, but speculation indeed points to that. 

Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed an executive order to activate the National Guard in the state amid a major surge of illegal aliens arriving in the Florida Keys from places such as Cuba and other Caribbean countries.

“As the negative impacts of [President Joe] Biden’s lawless immigration policies continue unabated, the burden of the Biden administration’s failure falls on local law enforcement who lack the resources to deal with the crisis,” the Republican governor said in a statement.

“That is why I am activating the National Guard and directing state resources to help alleviate the strain on local resources. When Biden continues to ignore his legal responsibilities, we will step in to support our communities.”

The executive order (pdf) also directs state law enforcement agencies and other state agencies to “provide resources in support of local governments” responding to the influx of illegal immigrants in the Florida Keys, as well as “additional support toward efforts to prevent further migrant landings on Florida’s shores.”

A boat that was left along the shoreline after it was used recently to transport Cuban migrants from the communist island nation to America in Key West, Fla., on Jan. 6, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Florida’s state government is also set to deploy aircraft from the Florida National Guard, as well as support marine patrol from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to “support water interdictions and ensure the safety of migrants attempting to reach Florida through the Florida Straits.”

DeSantis’s office called the influx of illegal immigrants “alarming.”

It noted that about 300 illegal aliens on Jan. 1 unlawfully entered Dry Tortugas National Park, which is about 70 miles west of Key West. On the same day, another 45 illegal aliens entered Key West—an island that’s part of the Florida Keys archipelago.

8,000 Illegal Aliens Encountered in Waters Off Florida

“This massive influx of illegal immigrants caused the park to close to ensure the safety of visitors and staff and to provide the space necessary to attend to the illegal immigrants,” stated the governor’s office.

“Since August 2022, federal, state and local law enforcement have encountered more than 8,000 migrants in waters off the coast of Florida.”

Illegal aliens from Cuba line up to board a bus to be driven to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection station as they are processed in Marathon, Fla., on Jan. 5, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“Florida has a long history of helping refugees, including Cubans and others fleeing communist regimes, find support after they arrive in the United States, however, this has always involved support from the Federal Government and a large, coordinated effort amongst state, federal and local governments,” DeSantis’s office said.

But it is “particularly burdensome” for Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, which has 194 deputies, to manage hundreds of illegal immigrants while also trying to ensure public safety, his office noted. It called the Biden administration’s overall response to the influx of illegal aliens into the United States “inept,” adding that the federal government has failed to “provide the resources necessary to respond to the current mass migration event.”

“Instead, the burden falls on local law enforcement, which puts Floridians at risk.”

Meanwhile, the arrivals have been continuing.

Walter N. Slosar, the chief patrol agent of the Miami Sector headquarters, wrote on Twitter late Jan. 6: “During the past 24 hours, Border Patrol agents & [law enforcement] partners responded to 5 migrant landings & encountered 90 Cuban migrants in the Florida Keys. The migrants arrived on rustic vessels & residents notified local authorities.”

Read more here…

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (or WWE) shares jumped on Friday after the entertainment company announced founder Vince McMahon, who retired last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct, would return to the board as a possible sale is being explored. Then after markets closed on Friday evening, a report surfaced that the Saudi-backed sovereign fund behind the pro golf league LIV Golf could be a possible bidder for WWE if it decides to sell.

Michael McCarthy and A.J. Perez of “Front Office Sports” wrote, “Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is emerging as a possible bidder for WWE if the promotion puts itself up for sale. “

PIF, who owns LIV Golf — appears to have expanding interests in sports and entertainment. LightShed Partners analyst Brandon Ross told Front Office Sports:

“In the same way they did LIV, there’s an unlimited faucet of dollars there.

“The Saudis are already a decent part of the profitability of the company just on those two [Saudi-based WWE] events alone. They’re trying to be relevant in the entertainment world.” 

Last month, WSJ reported McMahon “told people that he intends to make a comeback at WWE,” and on Friday, it appears he has done just that, with the return to the board and finding a buyer for the company. 

Back to WWE and Saudi Arabia, Front Office Sports said the two have a “deep history” of holding events in the Middle Eastern country. WWE recently signed a deal to hold two events annually in the Kingdom through this decade. 

WWE shares closed up 17% to $84.27 on Friday after the news of McMahon returning to the board. 

We pointed out that WWE’s equity float as a percentage of short interest is about 20% — as the news of McMahon, possible sale, and rumor of interested PIF bidder sparked a squeeze. 

If Front Office Sports is correct, it appears the Saudis are preparing to expand their reach over several forms of entertainment, from golf to wrestling — and the big question: What’s next?.. XFL?

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in the Hill on the recent disclosure of efforts by Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Cal.) to pressure Twitter to censor critics, including a columnist. This effort occurred shortly after Schiff’s office objected to one of my columns accusing him of pressuring social media companies to censor those with opposing views. While publicly denying that he supports censorship, Schiff was secretly pressuring Twitter to censor an array of critics.

Here is the column:

“We don’t do this.”

That response from Twitter to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is a singular indictment, coming at the height of Twitter’s censorship operations. Apparently, there were some things that even Twitter’s censors refused to do.

One of those things was silencing critics of Schiff and his House committee.

In the latest tranche of “Twitter Files,” journalist Matt Taibbi revealed that Twitter balked at Schiff’s demand that Twitter suspend an array of posters or label their content as “misinformation” and “reduce the visibility” of them. Among those who Schiff secretly tried to censor was New York Post columnist Paul Sperry.

Sperry drew Schiff’s ire by writing about a conversation allegedly overheard by one of his sources. Sperry’s article, which appeared in RealClearInvestigations, cited two sources as overhearing two White House staffers discussing how to remove newly-elected President Trump from office. The article raised the possibility of bias on the part of an alleged key player in launching the first Trump impeachment, CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella. The sources reportedly said that Ciaramella was in a conversation with Sean Misko, a holdover from the Obama administration who later joined Schiff’s staff. The conversation — in Sperry’s words — showed that “just days after [Trump] was sworn in they were already trying to get rid of him.”

Rather than simply refute the allegation, Schiff wanted Sperry and other critics silenced. His office reportedly laid out steps to cleanse Twitter of their criticism, including an instruction to “remove any and all content about Mr. Misko and other Committee staff from its service — to include quotes, retweets, and reactions to that content.”

The date of Schiff’s non-public letter in November 2020 is notable: Earlier that year, I wrote a column for The Hill criticizing Schiff for pushing for censorship of misinformation in a letter that he sent to social media companies. His office promptly objected to the very suggestion that Schiff supported censorship.

We now know Schiff was actively seeking to censor specific critics on social media. These likely were viewed as more than “requests” since Schiff was sending public letters threatening possible legislative action against these same companies. He wanted his critics silenced on social media. After all, criticizing his investigations or staff must, by definition, be misinformation — right?

His office seems to have indicated they knew Twitter was using shadow-banning or other techniques to suppress certain disfavored writers. In the letter, his staff asked Twitter to “label and reduce the visibility of any content.”

Twitter, however, drew the line with Schiff; one of its employees simply wrote, “no, this isn’t feasible/we don’t do this.”

The “this” referred to in this case was raw political censorship. And even a company that maintained one of the largest censorship programs in history could not bring itself to do what Schiff was demanding — but the demand itself is telling.

Not only does it show how dishonest some politicians have been in denying censorship while secretly demanding it, it also shows the insatiable appetite created by censorship. The article in question, written by Sperry, is a good example. Sperry has denied ever supporting QAnon conspiracy theories, as Schiff’s office charged. Yet even if Sperry’s account about Schiff’s staffer was wildly untrue, that should make it easier to rebut publicly.

The move by Schiff to ban Sperry and others on Twitter — and to remove content — is highly ironic. Schiff has been criticized repeatedly for promoting “misinformation” and for relying on unidentified “sources” for his claims of Trump’s criminality. For example, Schiff pushed the false claim that the infamous Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation; he also was criticized for pushing false narratives of Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election.

Nevertheless, I would equally oppose any effort to ban Schiff from social media, although that is hardly likely given the demonstrated political bias of past censorship efforts.

As for Sperry, he was later permanently suspended by Twitter, which I also criticized.

Schiff is unlikely to be deterred by the release of these communications. He recently sent a letter to Facebook, warning it not to relax its censorship efforts. His letter, written with Reps. André Carson (D-Ind.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), reminded Facebook that some lawmakers are watching the company “as part of our ongoing oversight efforts” — and suggested they may be forced to exercise that oversight into any move by Facebook to “alter or rollback certain misinformation policies.”

Schiff’s actions embody the slippery slope of censorship. By labeling his critics as QAnon supporters or purveyors of “misinformation,” he sought to have allies in social media “disappear” critics like Sperry — yet he found that even those allies could not stomach his demands. Given Twitter’s censorship of even satirical sites, it was akin to being turned down by a Kanye West podcast as being too extreme.

With the disclosure of apparent FBI involvement in Twitter’s censorship program, the release of the Schiff files is another rare insight into how government officials attempted to enlist social media companies for censorship by surrogate or proxy. That is precisely why many in the media, political and business establishments have mobilized against Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter who has released these compromising files.

In a recent tweet, Schiff chastised Musk and demanded more answers from the Twitter CEO. While insisting that “I don’t support censorship,” Schiff asked Musk if he would “commit to providing the public with actual answers and data, not just tweets?” Well, Musk just did precisely that.

The “actual answer” is that Schiff has long sought to silence his critics, and Musk has exposed the underbelly of censorship — which is where we found Adam Schiff.

A little over two years after China launched its billionaire “re-education” campaign by unexpectedly suspending the IPO of one of China’s most influential fintech companies, Ant Financial, in November 2020, a move aimed at humbling (if not crushing) China’s then-richest man Jack Ma, the campaign has come full circle on Saturday when Ant announced Jack Ma was giving up controlling rights of the fintech giant as the billionaire further retreats from his online empire following China’s unprecedented tech crackdown.

Ant Group said in an announcement on Saturday that Ma would no longer be the “control person” who holds 34 percent of the company’s shares. Instead, he would be one of 10 major shareholders. The move would “further enhance the stability of our corporate structure and sustainability of our long-term development,” according to the statement.

The announcement, which described the move as part of a “corporate governance optimization” plan, gave no details about when the changes would be finalized, and noted that they would not affect the company’s day-to-day operations. Under Ant Group’s current governance structure, Ma does not have a management role.

The company is offering 10 individuals, including the founder, management and staff, voting rights independently, effectively removing Ma’s control of Ant, according to an announcement on Saturday. The adjustment, however, will not change economic interests of any shareholders and Ma will still hold voting rights and economic interests in the company following the change. In a filing in July, affiliate Alibaba Group Holding reiterated that Ma “intends to reduce and thereafter limit his direct and indirect economic interest in Ant Group over time” to a percentage that doesn’t exceed 8.8%. Ma will have about 6.2% of the voting rights after the adjustment, Bloomberg calculated.

Ma’s retreat from the company he founded comes after the Chinese Communist Party waged an unprecedented crackdown on Big Tech and some of China’s richest oligarchs. Beijing had made Ma’s Ant Group and its sister company, e-commerce giant Alibaba, early targets in the campaign to curb the power of internet giants. After Beijing forced Ant Group to call off what would have been a blockbuster initial public offering in 2020 and later fined Alibaba a hefty $2.8 billion for abusing its dominance, Jack Ma effectively disappeared from public view and was last seen living in Japan. Last year, Ant Group said it would undertake a major government-ordered overhaul of its business to address regulators’ concerns about unfair competition and the amount of data it collects on users.  

Meanwhile, on Friday the Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand posted a picture of Ma on Instagram, where he appears to have just visited the restaurant. “Incredibly humble, we are honored to welcome you and your family to Jay Fai’s,” the caption on the post reads. According to Reuters, Ma was at the restaurant with Soopakij Chearavanont, the chair of the Charoen Pokphand Group

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by JAY FAI (เจ๊ไฝ)⭐️ (@jayfaibangkok)

According to Bloomberg, the change of control could mean that Ant will have to wait longer for a much anticipated resumption of its initial public offering. Companies can’t list domestically on the country’s so-called A-share market if they have had a controller change in the past three years — or in the past two years, if listing on Shanghai’s STAR market. For Hong Kong’s stock exchange, this waiting period is one year.

Ant’s consumer lending affiliate recently received regulatory approval for a capital injection of 10.5 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), signaling progress in its restructuring and removing a hurdle as it seeks to obtain a financial holding license. The company could issue about 400 billion yuan to 500 billion yuan of loans after the changes, based on Bloomberg calculations.

While Ma was once hailed in China as a model of success, but he faced increasing trouble with the Chinese government, especially after he criticized the nation’s banking regulators in late 2019. As the NYT notes, under Xi Jinping, Beijing had sought to exert greater state control over the economy in recent years, including by reining in the influence of tycoons who amassed enormous wealth but were seen to overstep their bounds.

The Chinese government’s multi-year crackdown has reined in breakneck growth for the entire internet sector, and left global investors feeling the shockwaves. It’s changed the playbook for the nation’s tech champions who once prioritized growth at all costs, introducing a new paradigm for the country’s private sector.

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The US is going to send Ukraine Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the first time in a new weapons package worth nearly $3 billion, US officials told The Associated Press late this week.

The $2.85 billion aid package was formally announced on Friday, and marks the single largest arms package for Ukraine the US has pledged at one time. The package will include 50 Bradleys, which are designed to transport infantry troops with armored protection that are equipped with a 25 mm gun.

The White House confirmed the US will be providing Ukraine with Bradleys in a statement on a phone call between President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The statement said that Berlin will be supplying Kyiv with a similar piece of equipment, the German-made Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

The announcement came the day after France said it would be giving Ukraine AMX-10 RC armored combat vehicles, which are similar to the Bradleys but have a bigger gun and are considered “light tanks.” A French official said it was the “first time that Western-made armored vehicles are being delivered in support of the Ukrainian army.”

While providing Ukraine with Western-made armored vehicles is a significant escalation in aid, it falls short of the heavier tanks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been seeking, such as US-made Abrams and German-made Leopards.

Zelensky was denied Abrams when he visited Washington DC, and a US official told The Washington Post the Biden administration is still ruling it out.

Zelensky described the new package as a “Christmas Present” in a Friday tweet…

The US officials speaking to AP said the $2.85 billion weapons package will also include HUMVEES, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, and a large number of missiles and other ammunition. The weapons will be paid for by funds already authorized by Congress to spend on the war, which at this point totals about $112 billion.

Authored by Grant Anderson via RealClear Wire,

The International Space Station (ISS) has proven to be a great example of human technological achievement and has existed as a platform for global connection, diplomacy, peace and cooperation.  It has played a valuable and noble role in supporting the peaceful scientific endeavors of multiple nations and communities for over two decades. But, as it continues into its final decade of life – NASA announced in January of 2022 that it plans to “de-orbit” the ISS in 2031 – it is definitely starting to show its limitations. All good things must come to an end, and in this regard, the ISS is no different than any other good thing.  

More broadly, these limitations, and the looming expiration of the ISS generally, reinforce the need for continuing the important pursuit of American independence in space. Certainly, the ISS has supported numerous international missions over the past twenty years, where astronauts from all backgrounds have worked together to advance human activity in space. 

That said, American access to the ISS has faced several complications over the years, a lesson that we should strive to heed moving forward. A few examples make the point. When the U.S. space shuttle program ended, America had to depend on the Russian Soyuz to travel to and return from the station – a situation that may have worked when relations between the U.S. and Russian Federation were amiable, but now problematic in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine. In fact, early in the war on Ukraine, Russian authorities threateningly hinted that they could leave an American stranded on the ISS.

And as contemptible as Russia’s pressures have been, other incidents remind of the need to keep pressing toward the goal of independence in space. Most recently in December, a major coolant leak occurred on the Soyuz spacecraft docked at the ISS, a challenge that, while not immediately life-threatening to personnel onboard, poses new problems for return flights to Earth. The Soyuz spacecraft is on station standing by as a “lifeboat” in the event of an emergency where ISS inhabitants need to evacuate.     

The cause of the leak remains unknown and investigations have yet to determine the origin of the malfunction. Thankfully, news reports on the leak and subsequent actions have indicated that both U.S. and Russia have been coordinating closely throughout the ordeal. However, the entire leak episode is another problematic example of American astronauts operating at the mercy of a foreign power’s capability, reliability and technology. It is all the more reason for why America can’t pull its foot off the gas in re-building our human spaceflight program, enhancing our space access platforms and capabilities, and ensuring that our own backup systems and assets are ready for any number of plausible contingency operations or needs.    

It is a testament to the shared values, mission focus and professionalism of the world’s astronaut corps that even in the most trying of political times, those in the universe above can work together and not let events on Earth get in the way of work on the ISS. Unfortunately, what happens in orbit is often determined by events on the global surface, and with that sobering thought in mind, anyone on the ISS could be impacted by events far outside of their control. With the war in Ukraine continuing to grind away, and relations between Russia and the West strained by the day, these types of incidents should serve as both a blinking warning light and a motivating incentive for us to keep our eye on the ball with our own civil space program. The last thing we would ever want is Americans left stranded.   

In times of strife, confusion, economic uncertainty and seemingly endless competing national priorities, the temptation to scale back our efforts in space can be alluring. We’ve seen the space program slashed before, most recently during the “great recession” of 2009-2011, when competing needs crowded out the argument to maintain a robust presence above the atmosphere. But the imperative for a committed and appropriately capitalized American space program now is strong and we need to stick to our goals. The world has changed, the competition is fierce, the technology is rapidly advancing, and our adversaries are working feverishly to establish their own space programs – often for purposes that run counter to the peaceful space ambitions of the past.  

As we begin the New Year, our policies and budgets should continue to support the programs, capabilities and technological development that will allow us to keep moving toward our goals beyond Earth. At the same time, this recent leak aboard the Soyuz and wider related concerns about the reliability and dependability of Russia should only reinforce the need to swiftly establish and secure American independence in space. 

The Biden administration had no problems aggressively draining the SPR by 1mmb/d at market prices in the immediate aftermath of the Ukraine war, in hopes of lowering the price of gasoline ahead of November’s elections and avoiding an inflationary midterm rout. However, when it comes to refilling the SPR, now that US emergency inventories are down to the lowest level since November 1983 and not too far from an all time low which threatens the structural integrity of the salt caverns the oil is deposited in…

… the White House has “unexpectedly” gotten cold feet.

One month after the White House said it will start refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and made an initial order of 3mm barrels of sour crude (a tiny fraction of the 200 million released in 2022), in what it said was a clear message to oil companies that they can freely invest capital in boosting output cause, well, Biden’s got their backs, overnight we learned that there was a rather sizable caveat in the White House’s brilliant plan.

According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration has delayed the replenishment of the nation’s emergency oil reserve after deciding the offers it received were either too expensive or didn’t meet the required specifications.  Citing “people familiar” the report adds that “the Department of Energy rejected the several offers it got for a potential purchase in February.” In other words, absent a brutal US or global recession which drags oil far lower – courtesy of the Fed which is doing Biden’s bidding of containing inflation by crushing the US economy with the highest interest rates in a generation – the SPR won’t get any more oil.

While the DOE will put off the purchase it had originally planned for next month, the proposed program, which used a new approach that accepts fixed-price offers, will continue, one of the people said. Of course, it will “continue” only as long as oil is below a certain White House mandated threshold, anything above that – as we now can see – means no refills. As a reminder, last year there were reports that the Biden administration had planned to start buying crude when it dropped around $70 a barrel; and while oil fell during the fourth quarter and US benchmark prices fell close to those levels last month, they have since rebounded, with the SPR refill price serving as a market support level.

“DOE has put forth a long term plan to transition from release to replenishment, and we’re committed to doing so in a manner that provides a fair deal for taxpayers,” the department said in a statement Friday.

“DOE will only select bids that meet the required crude specifications and that are at a price that is a good deal for taxpayers,” it said. “Following review of the initial submission, DOE will not be making any award selections for the February delivery window.”

What this means is that, as we noted yesterday, either the White House – in all its infinite wisdom – will start having to chase the price of oil even higher in hopes of catching up to the offer now that it has set a firm floor for oil prices thereby shooting itself in the foot…

The Department of Energy rejected the several offers it got for a potential SPR purchase in February: BBG

Well it will just have to raise its bid then

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 7, 2023

… or the SPR will not see even one more drop of new oil, and the 372 million barrels currently there, just under 20 days of dometic consumption, will be the total SPR inventory at the time when China inevitably invades Taiwan – a far bigger emergency than a democrat loss in the elections. At that point only that legendary energy guru, Hunter Biden, who was paid so handsomely for his energy insight by Ukraine’s energy giant Burisma…

… will be able to save the US.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A West Virginia law that prohibits people from participating on single-sex sports teams that don’t match their biological sex is constitutional, a judge ruled on Jan. 5.

West Virginia House Bill 3293 (pdf), or the Save Women’s Sports Bill, was passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Jim Justice in 2021. The bill states that there are “inherent differences between biological males and biological females” and that “biological males would displace females to a substantial extent if permitted to compete on teams designated for biological females, as recognized in Clark v. Ariz. Interscholastic Ass’n (9th Cir. 1982).”

The bill says that a person born male cannot participate in female sports, and vice versa.

A biological male child with the initials B.P.J., who was 11 at the time, filed a lawsuit after the law’s passage. B.P.J. identifies as female and wanted to participate in female sports at a middle school, but administrators cited the new law in blocking the youth from doing so.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in West Virginia, claimed that biological male children who identify as female are being discriminated against “on the basis of sex and transgender status” in violation of the U.S. Constitution and Title IX, including the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which says that no state may deny a person within its jurisdiction “equal protection of the laws.”

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, disagreed, ruling Thursday that “acting to prevent transgender girls, along with all other biological males, from playing on girls’ teams is not unconstitutional if the classification is substantially related to an important government interest.”

Goodwin later noted that males are generally better at sports due to “inherent physical differences between the sexes” related in part to males having higher levels of testosterone beginning with puberty, which B.P.J.’s filings recognized.

“This is not an overbroad generalization, but rather a general principle that realistically reflects the average physical differences between the sexes,” the judge wrote in his 23-page ruling, which threw out the case. “Given B.P.J.’s concession that circulating testosterone in males creates a biological difference in athletic performance, I do not see how I could find that the state’s classification based on biological sex is not substantially related to its interest in providing equal athletic opportunities for females.”

B.P.J. started taking puberty blockers, a drug that halts puberty, once signs of male puberty began showing. But not all transgender girls have taken the blockers, the judge said.

“The fact is … that a transgender girl is biologically male and, barring medical intervention, would undergo male puberty like other biological males. And biological males generally outperform females athletically. The state is permitted to legislate sports rules on this basis because sex, and the physical characteristics that flow from it, are substantially related to athletic performance and fairness in sports,” Goodwin said.

The judge opined that the state could adopt a “more inclusive policy” that would let transgender children play on a team different from their biological sex but said it fell outside the judiciary to impose such a requirement.

The law also does not violate Title IX because it still lets B.P.J. and other children play on teams matching their biological sex, the judge said.

Read more here…

Putin’s short-lived Christmas ceasefire has already come and gone, perhaps lasting but a few hours on Friday. On Saturday, Christmas day for Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox, widespread shelling along the line of contact has reportedly resumed. 

“Artillery exchanges pounded war-scarred cities in eastern Ukraine on Friday despite Russian leader Vladimir Putin unilaterally ordering his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas,” AFP reports.

Some eyewitnesses are saying there was sporadic shelling from the very start of what was supposed to be a pause in fighting: “But AFP journalists heard both outgoing and incoming shelling in the frontline city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine after the time when the Russian ceasefire was supposed to have begun.”

In particular Kreminna and other places in hotspots across Donetsk and Luhansk have witnessed exchanges of fire, also with Al Jazeera, Sky News, Reuters and other international outlets that have been closely following Ukraine battlefield developments reporting the same.

Ukrainian authorities in Kherson have reported multiple civilians wounded and an emergency worker killed, while Bakhmut and nearby Krasna have reported casualties. Fighting has resumed in Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia, reports Sky News.

Major Western media outlets on Saturday are uniform in blaming Putin for his forces breaking the ordered unilateral ceasefire. But importantly, it should be noted that these same outlets typically have relied almost entirely on the perspective and claims of Ukrainian officials and military commanders.

From the start of when the Christmas ceasefire was announced on Thursday, it was treated with widespread skepticism by Ukraine’s Western allies. Kiev authorities rejected it as a “cynical ploy” and a “trap” in order for Russian forces to regroup and buy more time against the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukraine vowed to not observe it from the very start, which makes current claims that it is Russia breaking the ceasefire suspect at best.

Unlike previously when he attended large cathedral services, Putin observed Christmas services alone this year in the presence of Russian Orthodox clergy…

1. Putin is still a great master of signs and symbols. And yesterday’s visit to the Christmas service in the Kremlin’s Annunciation Cathedral is yet another proof of this.
This temple is the home church of all the great princes, kings who lived in the Kremlin and one of the pic.twitter.com/ic3sK3nEPX

— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop555) January 7, 2023

The Biden administration and Pentagon also suggested it was fake and a ruse. But it remains for multiple hours on Friday there were no major battlefield incidents or large-scale strikes, despite claims of sporadic shelling.

It seems the ceasefire attempt was treated as essentially ‘dead on arrival’ by the West simply because it was Putin proposing it. And yet, the very same countries have urged for Russia to silence its weapons and halt the advance of its forces from the beginning. One thing this holiday ceasefire attempt did highlight is that the possibility for a more permanent peace now seems more distant than ever. It demonstrated also that given the opportunity, the West didn’t treat the idea of a pause in fighting seriously at all; it wasn’t even so much as considered an ‘opening’ for dialogue.