Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

At a cost of $250 million, Millennium Challenge 2002 was the largest and most expensive war game in Pentagon history.

With over 13,500 participants, the US government took over two years to design it.

The exercise pitted Iran against the US military. Washington intended to show how the US military could defeat Iran with ease.

Paul Van Riper, a three-star general and 41-year veteran of the Marine Corps, led Iranian forces in the war game. His mission was to take on the full force of the US military, led by an aircraft carrier battle group and a large amphibious landing force in the Persian Gulf.

The results shocked everyone…

Van Riper waited for the US Navy to pass through the shallow and narrow Strait of Hormuz, which made them sitting ducks for Iran’s unconventional and asymmetric warfare techniques.

The idea is to level the playing field against a superior enemy with swarms of explosive-laden suicide speedboats, low-flying planes carrying anti-ship missiles, naval mines, and land-based anti-ship ballistic missiles, among other low-cost but highly effective measures.

In minutes, Van Riper emerged victorious over his superior opponent and sank all 19 ships. Had it been real life, 20,000 US sailors and marines would have died.

Millennium Challenge 2002 was a complete disaster for the Pentagon, which had spent a quarter of a billion dollars to set up the extensive war game. It produced the exact opposite outcome they wanted.

So what did the Pentagon do with these humbling results?

Like a child playing a video game, they hit the reset button. They then rigged and scripted the game so that the US was guaranteed to win.

After realizing the integrity of the war game had been compromised, a disgusted Van Riper walked out mid-game. He then said:

“Nothing was learned from this. And a culture not willing to think hard and test itself does not augur well for the future.”

The main lesson of Millennium Challenge 2002 is that aircraft carriers—the biggest and most expensive ships ever built—wouldn’t last a single day in combat against even a regional power like Iran. Russia and China would have an even easier time dispatching them. They are overpriced toys.

That means the US has wasted untold trillions on military hardware that could prove to be worthless in a serious conflict.

Nonetheless, the US government still parades aircraft carriers around the world from time to time to try to intimidate its enemies.

However, it’s a flawed strategy prone to catastrophic results if someone calls their bluff.

While Millennium Challenge 2002 occurred more than 20 years ago, it is of paramount importance today.

Iran has substantially improved its asymmetric and unconventional warfare capabilities. It’s doubtful the US military would fare much better today than 20 years ago.

In short, war with Iran today could be even more disastrous than the Millennium Challenge 2002 simulation.

Unfortunately, war with Iran is an increasingly probable outcome as tensions in the Middle East are at their highest point in generations and are trending higher.

Previously, I lived in Beirut, Lebanon, for several years while working for an investment bank. The experience was effectively an advanced training course in Middle East geopolitics. Today, it helps me see the big picture in the region… and unfortunately, it isn’t pretty.

I think the next big war in the Middle East is coming soon and could be the biggest one ever. It will focus on Iran.

The market doesn’t appreciate how close we are to a big war and the implications of it.

But this distortion in the market is a blessing. It’s handing us a golden opportunity.

First and foremost, I think there’s a huge opportunity to profit in the oil market right now.

I’m certainly not cheering for war. I despise war, which is the health of the State.

Regardless, a big war is highly likely, with significant investment implications that would be foolish to ignore.

In short, we are only one escalation away from potentially the biggest oil shock in history as the Middle East is on the verge of the largest regional war in generations.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to blindside you, your family, or your portfolio.

Quite the contrary.

That’s precisely why I just released an urgent new report with all the details, including what you must do to prepare. It’s called The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now. Click here to download the PDF now.

The republicans do what they always do best: fold like cheap lawn chairs.

Moments ago, in a 79-18 vote, the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a long-delayed $95.3 billion foreign-aid package sending $60.8 billion in ammunition and military equipment to Ukrainian soldiers, as well as billions of soon-to-be-embezzled dollars to the offshore real estate agents of Ukraine’s corrupt oligarchs while also fortifying Israel’s missile defense systems with $26.4 billion, and leaving $8 billion for Taiwan as if that will do anything to stop a Chinese invasion. Oh, and speaking of Chinese invasions, the Senate also just forced the sale of the China-owned TikTok in the U.S.

There will be, of course, no change to the invasion at the southern US border because here too Republicans keep folding like cheap lawn chairs to the Democrat ploy to flood the US with illegal aliens who will get free shit for life if only they keep voting for the blue team.

The bill had broad support in the Senate, with backing from almost all Democrats and a majority of Republicans. Several Republicans who had opposed an earlier iteration of the package, which came after a failed push to attach it to a border-policy overhaul, switched their vote to support Tuesday’s bill. The breakdown of the votes is as follows:

GOP NO VOTES:

• Barrasso
• Blackburn
• Braun
• Budd
• Cruz
• Hagerty
• Hawley
• Johnson
• Lee
• Lummis
• Marshall
• Rubio
• Scott (FL)
• Schmitt
• Vance  

DEM NO VOTES:

• Merkley
• Sanders
• Welch

The vote brought to a close months of pointless sound and fury, and endless debate over Ukraine, that allegedly split the Republican Party,  with rank-and-file members openly rebelling against their leaders, who succeeded in outdemocrating the democrats.

Biden, McConnell, Schumer, Johnson, and major media players are taking a victory lap over pushing through an additional $61 billion in funding from struggling taxpayers as year 3 of the Ukraine proxy war begins. They want to own this and absolutely should be forced to own this.

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 24, 2024

The theatrical “fight” also called into question both how far the US would go to defend Ukraine, now in the third year of trying to repel Russia’s invasion, as well as America’s leadership role in the world, once the latest rescue funding is exhausted in a few months, which it will be, with the Ukraine having made zero progress in its war with Russia.

The measure passed the House on Saturday and now goes to President Biden’s desk. Biden, who has been pushing for a big foreign-aid package since the fall, said he would quickly sign the measure into law Wednesday.

President Biden on Senate’s passage of $95 billion aid package with funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan: “I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week.” pic.twitter.com/eOAbtzNqWq

— Joey Garrison (@joeygarrison) April 24, 2024

As broken down below, the measure contains money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as humanitarian aid for Gaza—largely matching an earlier Senate bill—plus additions made by the House, such as sanctions on Russia and Iran and the TikTok provision. Leaders in the GOP-controlled House also changed roughly $9.5 billion in economic aid to Ukraine into forgivable loans rather than grants, to make it more politically palatable to Republicans, as if Ukraine will ever repay anything.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) credited the White House as well as Republicans who backed Ukraine for advancing the measure, noting that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) put his political future on the line when he moved forward with the package.

“In a resounding bipartisan vote, the relentless work of six long months has paid off,” Schumer said on the senate floor. In a statement, Biden thanked lawmakers of both parties, saying they answered “history’s call at this critical inflection point” by sending a message to allies and foes about American power.

And just like that the deeply embedded deep state operative formerly known as the House speaker has become the media’s darling overnight:

All it takes to get the media to change from mocking and reviling you to slobbering you with praise is to do what they want. It only takes $100B and the betrayal of your voters’ policy goals, but what are those silly things compared to praise from the media! https://t.co/id0VrzC77D

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 24, 2024

Of course, while superficially the bill says “aid to Ukraine” where the majority of the money is really going is to the US military industrial complex. As the WSJ reports, the proposal has roughly $60 billion for Ukraine, most of which would flow to the U.S. defense industry for additional weapons such as ammunition and rocket launchers. The new aid comes on top of the more than $100 billion spent on the Defense Industry Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022.

And while most muppets in the House and Senate are clearly in the pocket of the military-industrial complex and the deep state, a few holdouts remains.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.), who voted against the measure, called the support for Ukraine to defend its borders “an insult to the American people” while the U.S. struggles with an influx of migrants at its own border with Mexico.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called his opposition to the proposal’s advancement “one of the toughest votes I’ve cast during my years in the Senate,” saying he couldn’t overcome his concern that humanitarian aid would end up in the hands of terrorists, among other worries.

Others were more “malleable” in their ideological beliefs.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.), who switched from voting against the Senate’s aid package in February to supporting the revised version on Tuesday, said that the politics were complicated.   “Our approach this time was to make sure that the politics are set, meaning that President Trump was on board, it’s something that could be passable, it’s something that could be explained,” he said.

Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.), who also switched his vote, said he didn’t want to “punish Israel and Ukraine” over the lack of border provisions. Lankford had led a failed bipartisan effort to find a compromise on immigration, which was shot down by Republicans earlier this year as not tough enough.

Asked why some Senate Republicans were slow to support aid for Kyiv, 3000-year-old Senate mummy Mitch McConnell cited the “demonization of Ukraine” by conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson. “He had an enormous audience, which convinced a lot of rank and file Republicans that maybe this was a mistake,” McConnell said in a press conference. Carlson declined to comment.

Mummified Mitch also laid blame on former President Donald Trump, Democrats and the border crisis for the amount of time it took to get most Republican lawmakers to acquiesce in continuing to fund the Ukrainian war effort.

“I think the former president had sort of mixed views on it,” he said of Trump’s position on Ukraine aid. “We all felt that the border was a complete disaster, myself included,” McConnell continued, noting that the attempt earlier this year to attach border security provisions to Ukraine funding required senators to “deal with Democrats … and then a number of our members thought it wasn’t good enough.”

“And then our nominee for president didn’t seem to want us to do anything at all,” McConnell said. “That took months to work our way through it.”

Last but not least, the bill also starts the clock on TikTok’s Chinese-controlled owner ByteDance to find a new owner for the video app in the U.S. within a year, or risk a shutdown. But the matter is expected to be decided by the federal courts which means that it will quietly die on some bench in the corrupt US legal system. A court dispute would likely require judges to weigh the national security objectives of the ban against the First Amendment rights of TikTok and its users.

Last October, when we pointed out that China’s FX outflows had just hit a whopping $75BN – the single biggest monthly outflow since the 2015 currency devaluation – we concluded that the “unfavorable interest rate spread between China and the US will “likely imply persistent depreciation and outflow pressures in coming months”, or in other words, September’s biggest FX outflow in years is just the beginning, and very soon – in addition to geopolitics and central banks – the world will also be freaking out about the capital flight out of China… not to mention where all those billions in Chinese savings are going and which digital currency the Chinese are using to launder said outflows.”

We wrote that on October 20 when Bitcoin was trading just under $30,000, a level it had been for much of 2023. And, just as we correctly predicted at the time…

Clockwork: every time China FX outflows surge, bitcoin erupts.

From last Friday: China Capital Flight Panic Eruptshttps://t.co/j0eWLnbFMq

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 24, 2023

… following this surge in Chinese FX outflows, bitcoin – traditionally China’s preferred means to circumvent Beijing’s great capital firewall – promptly exploded more than 100% higher in the next 4 months.

And while conventional wisdom is that this surge in the price of the digital currency was largely due to the January launch of Bitcoin ETFs, what many missed was a Reuters story in January which confirmed our thesis from back in 2015, according to which much more than ETFs, and much more than rapidly shifting sentiment or frankly any day-to-day newsflow, it is China’s massive wall of inert capital that has been the biggest driver of bitcoin moves, and never more so than during periods of FX and capital outflows which usually precede some form of capital controls.

We bring all this up because six months after our first correct prediction that China’s spike in FX outflows would send bitcoin surging, it’s time to do it again.

One wouldn’t know if, however, if one merely looked at the official Chinese FX reserve data published by the PBOC, here nothing sticks out. In fact, at $3.246 trillion, reported Chinese reserves are now near the highest level in past four years, and monthly flows are very much stable as shown in the chart below.

The problem, of course, is that as we have explained previously China’s officially reported reserves are woefully (and perhaps purposefully) inaccurate of the bigger picture.

Instead if one uses our preferred gauge of FX flows, one which looks at i) onshore outright spot transactions; ii) freshly entered and canceled forward transactions, and iii) the SAFE dataset on “cross-border RMB flows, we find that China’s net outflows were $39bn in March, up from $11bn in February and the fastest pace of outflows since the September spike in FX outflows which we duly noted half a year ago.

How did we get this number? The portfolio investment channel showed net outflows in March. The Stock Connect channel showed net outflows of US$8bn vs. US$5bn inflows in February, and inflows to the bond market slowed in March (US$6bn, vs. US$11bn in February)…

… primarily on record net selling of central government bonds.

Finally, the current account channel showed also net outflows in March, mainly as services trade related outflows picked up.

At the time when FX outflows were re-acclererating, the broad USD strengthened further in March, and USD/CNY spot drifted higher, as one would expect when there is capital flight... Oh, and Bitcoin hit a record high above $70K.

And while Chinese policymakers are still keen on maintaining FX stability – the countercyclical factors in the daily CNY fixing remained deeply negative and front-end CNH liquidity tightened notably in recent weeks – the reality is that with China desperate to boost its exports at a time when its great mercantilist competitor, Japan, has hammered the yen to the lowest level in 3 decades, it is only a matter of time before the currency devaluation advocates win, as they did in 2015. 

We hope that we don’t have to remind readers that the first big trigger for bitcoin’s unprecedented eruption higher starting in 2015 was – you guessed it – China’s August 2015 FX devaluation.

So don’t be surprised if in the next 6 months Bitcoin doubles again, and the move has nothing to do with ETF inflows, the halving, or frankly anything else taking place in the US… and instead is entirely driven by China’s massive wall of money which at last check was almost 3x bigger than the US.

By Tom Ozimek of The Epoch Times

The Biden administration has agreed to pay over $138 million to victims of convicted sex abuser Larry Nassar while acknowledging the FBI’s failures to properly investigate warnings that the sports physician was exploiting his position to molest young girls under the guise of treatment.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in an April 23 statement that it had settled 139 civil claims arising from allegations of sexual abuse committed by Mr. Nassar, who was earlier found guilty of having abused hundreds of victims under the pretext of performing medical treatments.

The settlements—which total $138.7 million—resolve administrative claims made against the DOJ alleging that the FBI failed to carry out an adequate investigation into Mr. Nassar’s actions.

A DOJ watchdog found in July 2021 that parts of the FBI’s response to allegations against Mr. Nassar, as well as the agency’s investigation into his actions, were inadequate.

The “FBI failed to conduct an adequate investigation of Nassar’s conduct,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement.

“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision while skirting accountability,” he continued.

“These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset. While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing,” Mr. Mizer added.

The $138.7 million will be distributed to the claimants.

There have been other settlements involving Mr. Nassar, who was the U.S. women’s gymnastics team doctor.

Further, the report found that two FBI officials lied during their interviews to cover up or minimize their errors. One of the agents also made a false statement to the media in 2017 and 2018 about how his office handled the Nassar case.

That agent also violated the FBI’s conflict of interest policy by discussing a possible job with the U.S. Olympic Committee while he was involved with the Nassar investigation.

The watchdog noted the seriousness of the former agents lying during the investigation into their conduct in the years after the events but said there wasn’t enough to bring a federal criminal case.

The Justice Department has acknowledged that it failed to step in. For more than a year, FBI agents in Indianapolis and Los Angeles had knowledge of allegations against him but apparently took no action, an internal investigation found.

FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke to survivors of Mr. Nassar’s abuse at a Senate hearing in 2021, expressing contrition for the agency’s failures. The assault survivors include decorated Olympians Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney.

“I’m sorry that so many different people let you down, over and over again,” Mr. Wray said. “And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.”

After a search, investigators said in 2016 that they had found images of child sex abuse and followed up with federal charges against Mr. Nassar.

Continue reading at the Epoch Times

One of the biggest questions of our time is whether China and the United States can escape Thucydides’s Trap. It seems that, in the short term, the US will likely avoid direct conflict with China, but in the long term, there will be a slow march toward conflict in the Indo-Pacific region. 

On Tuesday, Admiral John Aquilino, the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), told reporters in Tokyo that China has become increasingly aggressive across Asia. 

“We all need to understand that it’s moving very fast,” Aquilino said, as quoted by Bloomberg. 

He said, “The buildup of military power despite a bad economy, the increased narrative of all things inside the 10-dash line are Chinese sovereign territory, then the actions that are going toward enforcement.”

After serving three years as the head of INDOPACOM, Aquilino will step down. He oversees 380,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, guardians, Coast Guardsmen, and Department of Defense civilians. 

He warned about rising tensions near the Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines has held the line since World War II. A recent incident of Chinese vessels using water cannons to block Philippine military vessels has been an ominous sign for some military observers. 

Aquilino also spoke about China’s economy, indicating the world’s second-largest economy “has drastically been reduced” because of a “real-estate market crash.”

“You go ask any economist if the Chinese are going to deliver 5.3% growth, and they will tell you, ‘No way,'” Aquilino said.

Aquilino also called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime “disgusting” for spending large sums of money on the military while a food shortage ripples through the country. 

Aquilino’s comment comes days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to China. He is expected to convey Washington’s “deep concerns” about Beijing’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base.

“We’re prepared to take steps when we believe necessary against firms that … severely undermine security in both Ukraine and Europe,” Blinken told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s trip. 

David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, commented on Aquilino’s remarks by stating:

“Admiral Aquilino has been a forward-thinking, leaning, and acting US Combatant Commander in the Indo-Pacific. But the facts on the ground and sea have been allowed to strategically favor Communist China which has fortified coral reefs and atolls across the South China Sea and fan its naval forces across the region from the seas surrounding Japan to Taiwan to the Philippines and Vietnam. 

“China’s relentless expansionism has been largely unopposed. Beijing cannot be allowed to continue its expansionist wave. It’s time for the US, Japan, and Australia to link up and provide active protection to the Philippines and start to begin freedom of navigation missions to Taiwan. Incoming Commander Admiral Sam Paparo will have a lot on his plate.” 

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and soaring turmoil in the Middle East, including Israel and Iran, with risks of conflicts flaring up in the Indo-Pacific region, are all confirmations that a multipolar world has emerged. 

That said, we have noted that defense spending worldwide has surged, pushing the defense industry into a bull market:

• World Stumbles Into “More Dangerous Decade” As Defense Spending Soars, Says Military Think Tank

• Germany Reportedly Goes On Military Spending Spree To Hit NATO Spending Minimums For First Time

• Lockheed Martin Wins $17BN Interceptor Contract To Protect US Homeland

• German Tank Builder Says “New Decade Of Security Policy Begins” As Defense Bull Market Roars

• SAAB CEO Says Rising War Risk Drives Defense Spending; Missile Stocks In Bull Market

• Global Military Spending Hits All-Time High Of $2.4 Trillion

There’s a bull market in global defense stocks. 

The multipolar world will only bring more chaos and destruction. 

Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

As a general rule, rebels without a cause will eventually latch onto the nearest cause of opportunity.  It really doesn’t matter what it is, for activists with ample time on their hands and plenty of trust fund money these protests fill the void and make them feel like they have meaning.

Such is the case with the political left and their infatuation with Gaza (or any movement rooted in Islam).  It’s been noted by many commentators that the relationship between Islamic fundamentalists and the far-left is a bizarre one.  After all, almost every element of Sharia Law is completely antithetical to the proclaimed values of progressives including equal rights for women, equal rights for gays and the leftist penchant for atheism.  All of these beliefs might get a person executed in a host of Muslim governed countries, but for some reason the leftist mob wants in on the Islamic bandwagon.  

Whatever your opinion is on the war or the governments involved it’s clear that it has nothing to do with woke activists in the western world.  The war is simply a vehicle which they hope they can hijack and attach their own agendas to.  Primarily, progressives view Israel as a symbol of western “colonialism” and in their minds anything colonial must be destroyed.  Their concerns for Palestinians are peripheral, if their concerns exist at all.  This is about visibility and a chance to create chaos.

If you believe in “karma” then you might suggest that the Israelis have been setting themselves up for this reaction for a long time.  Israeli tied propaganda organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have been fomenting leftist insanity for decades and defending every aspect of the social justice religion.  They helped create a golem that they can’t control and now it’s turning on them.

Of course, it’s not the Israeli government that’s suffering any real consequences; rather, it’s conservatives abroad as well as Jewish students attending western universities.  After many years of the ADL crying wolf (racism and antisemitism) over secret Nazis that didn’t really exist, now they finally have something legitimate to complain about.

Woke protesters marched out in tandem within multiple universities across the US in a relatively well coordinated disruption action.  New York University, Columbia, Yale and Berkeley were all involved but much of the media focus was on NYU and Columbia.  Activists linked arms and allegedly blocked Jewish students from entering campus facilities.  The atmosphere has become so volatile that Jewish religious leaders are calling on students to leave such institutions for their own safety.   

The NYPD has responded with a blitz on the protests.  Encampments have been torn down and mass arrests have ensued.  Police could not immediately share how many people had been arrested or issued with summonses because the situation was ongoing.  Faculty members were among those arrested, an NYPD spokesperson told CNN.  

NYPD have torn down the encampments and made mass arrests at Columbia. pic.twitter.com/TRR68DU2ry

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 23, 2024

These developments have some interesting implications for the US going forward.  In particular, polls show that Joe Biden is gradually losing favor among young voters because of his continued military and monetary support of Israel.  His most rabid base is turning on him, which means the November election is looking better and better for Donald Trump.  

That said, there is the continuing problem of fabricated rationales.  Just as the death of George Floyd was shamelessly exploited by the left and Democrats as a radicalization moment, Gaza is also being used erroneously as a foil for increasingly aggressive mobilizations of people that, frankly, just want a reason to burn stuff. It’s likely that as the conflict continues to escalate western countries will see larger and more violent protests in major cities.

Does anyone in the Middle East care what a bunch of college kids in the US have to say about Gaza?  No, why would they?  Can the US government influence the developing war for the better?  Maybe, but they aren’t going to.  But stopping the war is not necessarily the goal of US based activists.    

Donald Trump has loudly voiced his own political support for Israel on a number of occasions so a change in White House leadership probably won’t lead to the economic or strategic isolation of Israel.  Unless the war ends soon, which is improbable now that Iran is involved, we may be seeing nationwide protests and riots yet again.  Different excuse, same results. 

*  *  *

The views expressed above do not necessarily represent those of ZeroHedge.

Does your state support your 2nd Amendment rights or make it exceedingly difficult to keep and bear arms?

Ammo.com has ranked the worst states to be a gun owner below…

How?

By analyzing each state’s current laws, upcoming laws, concealed carry guidelines, self-defense statutes, and 2A-centric taxes in order to identify the worst states for gun owners in 2024.

Report Highlights

• Hawaii is the #1 worst state for gun owners due to strict purchasing and carry laws, as well as defying the Supreme Court on the individual’s right to carry.

• California is the #2 worst state for gun owners due to its permit-to-purchase and reciprocity laws.

• New York, Illinois, and New Jersey take the #3, #4, and #5 spot in our list of worst states for gun ownership due to strict purchasing and carrying requirements.

• North Carolina, Maine, and Ohio fall into spots #25, #24, and #23 due to new restrictive legislation with some relaxed carry laws.

• Some states rank lower than others due to excessive infringements, additional taxes, and the current Governor’s 2A statements.

• State and local laws defining Stand Your Ground vs. Duty to Retreat vary and should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Jump to a state: AL | AK | AZ | AR | CA | CO | CT | DE | FL | GA | HI | ID | IL | IN | IA | KS | KY | LA | ME | MD | MA | MI | MN | MS | MO | MT | NE | NV | NH | NJ | NM | NY | NC | ND | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SC | SD | TN | TX | UT | VT | VA | WA | WV | WI | WY

Read the full report on the worst states to be a gun owner in 2024 at Ammo.com.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Scientific American has published a piece claiming that “misinformation,” such as the notion that there are only two sexes, is “being used against transgender people” and in order to target “gender-affirming medical care.”

The article states that there are three types of “misinformation,” and they are “oversimplifying scientific knowledge, fabricating and misinterpreting research, and promoting false equivalences.”

Three types of misinformation are being used against transgender people: oversimplifying scientific knowledge, fabricating and misinterpreting research, and promoting false equivalences. https://t.co/1AOp6Bk6A2

— Scientific American (@sciam) April 20, 2024

The piece asserts that “Many of the arguments against trans rights center on the idea that transness itself is not legitimate – that there are just two sexes, period.”

There are only two sexes though.

It then turns to ‘scientist’ Simón(e) Sun, a self described trans(sexual) ándrógýne (neuro)biologist, pronouns in bio person and notes “You describe this idea as ‘sex essentialism.’ Can you explain that term, and talk about how it shapes the debate.”

They/she then states “Essentialism is the idea that you can take any phenomenon that is complex and distill it down to a particular set of traits. In the case of sex essentialism, the idea is that you can sufficiently describe sex by a few particular characteristics. In this debate, it used to be chromosomes, now it’s gametes (egg and sperm cells).”

Yeah, that is biology 101 and no matter how many times they/she says it’s changed and that anyone who doesn’t agree is a ‘transphobe’, it hasn’t.

Few things better demonstrate how reliant anti-trans advocates are on pseudoscientific disinformation than the desperate replies to this post. https://t.co/o1mSsWNgy5

— Simón(e) Sun, PhD simonesun.bsky.social (@simonedsun) April 21, 2024

They/she continues, “The target is always moving, because if you want to make something binary, then you need to find the most binary characteristic. Today, sex essentialism boils all of sex down to the gametes that a person produces.”

Again, biology 101.

“But biology is just not that simple,” Sun continues, adding “The sex essentialist perspective is completely wrong about the biology of how sex characteristics arise.”

It is that simple though.

The piece goes on in this vein, throws in ‘hate’ and ‘prejudice’ and climate change and Donald Trump, all to push the ideological agenda that life-altering drugs and surgeries shouldn’t be challenged.

Men can’t be lesbians and gay kids don’t need to be chemically castrated.

— Chris {∜} (@ChrisFourOhFour) April 21, 2024

How are you not bankrupt yet?

I mean financially, we can all see how ethically bankrupt you are.

— Billy Bragg (@Serena_Partrick) April 21, 2024

No. We just know it’s impossible to change sex. That’s all. Now, be off with you.

— Dr P (@Psychgirl211) April 21, 2024

Oh dear. Your magazine doesn’t merit its title.

— Clive Simpson (@QueensSpeechUK) April 21, 2024

Oh look at you, using all three of those “misinformation” techniques to push a completely false ideology

— Dr Alan Bleaching. PpDc DPhil(a) (@alanbleaching) April 21, 2024

This publication is ideologically captured.

— EvanC137 (@EvanC137) April 20, 2024

There was a time when Scientific American was focused on science, and not ideologically-driven spin in the name of social justice.

Can we get that back please?

— Kevin in Canada (@kjbrosha) April 20, 2024

Modern science — in the name of progress — has gone from trying to understand reality to denying it altogether.

Scientific progressivism is a religion. Don’t be fooled by the fact that its priests wear lab coats. https://t.co/7VQnvuW2JQ

— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) April 20, 2024

@sciam is ideologically captured thus is not a serious publication. “Misinformation” is a label given by the ideologically captured for opinions they don’t like.

— JLRed (@JLRed5) April 20, 2024

Maybe you guys should check out alchemy and do an article or two about how awesome and scientifically accurate it is.

Horoscopes too.

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) April 21, 2024

One type of misinformation is being used to prop up transgender ideology: Denial of the fact that there are only two biological sexes.

You’re complicit in the erasure of women. Congratulations.

— Pardon My Mess (@PardonMyMess) April 20, 2024

I got to:
“The sex essentialist perspective is completely wrong about the biology of how sex characteristics arise,” realised your entire article is based on making statements while offering zero counter argument facts and decided not to waste my time.@scisci is a joke.🤡

— Heavy Lies The Crown (@CrownOnMyFrown) April 21, 2024

A tactic trans ideologues use is pretending a pseudoscience is “elevated science” people just “don’t understand.” Science uses categories and classifications, like sex, to organize. Human sex is binary and immutable. Science does not mean something must be difficult to categorize

— Two Genders One Truth (@2genders1truth) April 21, 2024

All of this comes in the wake of a major long term study in the UK that concluded that treatment gender-confused children have been offered was built entirely on “shaky foundations” and that there is “no good evidence to support the global clinical practice of prescribing hormones to under-18s to pause puberty or transition to the opposite sex.”

The author of the review, retired consultant paediatrician Dr Cass, formerly the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, called the evidence for life altering drugs “remarkably weak” and warned that transgender activists are the ones “deliberately spread(ing) misinformation.”

Since the review was published, Cass has been subject to abuse and cannot use public transport over fears for her safety.

Gender report author cannot travel on public transport over safety fears

Full story ⬇️https://t.co/FpfxdP3FX4

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 20, 2024

Meanwhile, trans activist groups continue to push their propaganda on children, encouraging teachers and school officials to keep it hidden from the parents:

*  *  *

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A mistrial was declared in the case of an Arizona rancher accused of fatally shooting an illegal immigrant on his property near the US-Mexico border, after the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision following two full days of deliberation.

George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023 shooting of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who was in the United States illegally.

“Based upon the jury’s inability to reach a verdict on any count,” said Arizona Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink, adding “This case is in mistrial.“

According to one of Kelly’s defense attorneys, Kathy Lowthorp, just one juror was voting ‘guilty,’ which is why their legal team pushed for deliberations to continue.

“There was one hold out for guilt, the rest were not guilty. So seven not guilty, one guilty,” said Lowthorp. “We believe in our gut that there was no way the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”

George Alan Kelly’s defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp says the mistrial was caused by one holdout juror who believed Kelly to be guilty. She says the other 7 wanted to vote for acquittal. pic.twitter.com/BvS88AupcX

— Adam Klepp (@AdamKleppAZ) April 23, 2024

The Santa Cruz County Attorney’s office can still retry Kelly for any charge, or drop the case. 

Prosecutors accused Kelly of recklessly firing nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men who were trespassing on his cattle ranch after running from Border Patrol agents, roughly 115 yeards away. He was also accused of providing inconsistent statements throughout the investigation – initially failing to tell officials that he had fired his weapon, and then allegedly claiming that the illegal immigrants were part of a group of 10-15 people armed with AR-style rifles – and that he’d heard gunshots.

Kelly’s attorney said that he had fired “warning shots.”

“He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death,” she said at the time. “All the shooting that Mr. Kelly did on the date of the incident was in self-defense and justified.

After Monday’s ruling, Consul General Marcos Moreno Baez of the Mexican consulate in Nogales, Arizona, said he would wait with Cuen-Buitimea’s two adult daughters on Monday evening to meet with prosecutors from Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office to learn about the implications of a mistrial.

“Mexico will continue to follow the case and continue to accompany the family, which wants justice.” said Moreno. “We hope for a very fair outcome.“

Kelly’s defense attorney Brenna Larkin did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment after the ruling was issued. Larkin had asked Fink to have jurors keep deliberating another day. –CBS News

Following the mistrial, Kelly said: “Let me go home, okay? That alright with y’all? It is what it is and it will be what it will be. I will keep fighting forever. I won’t stop.”

“Let me go home,” George Alan Kelly speaks after the mistrial was declared. The Mexican Consulate said they hope the state will re-try the case and justice will be served. pic.twitter.com/IDYpaM806C

— Adam Klepp (@AdamKleppAZ) April 23, 2024

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw salvo launches of the country’s “super-large” multiple rocket launchers in what state media presented as simulation drills of a nuclear counterattack against enemy targets, state media revealed Tuesday.

The day prior, the South Korean and Japanese militaries reported suspected launches of artillery and ballistic missiles from the north. Pyongyang subsequently confirmed it tested new systems including 600mm multiple rocket launchers, said to be capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads.

State media referred to the United States and South Korea, which have been conducting a series of joint military exercises over many months, as “warmongers” while describing the necessity of exercises focused on nuclear counterattack.

Kim has described that the north’s new rocket launchers are as accurate as a “sniper’s rifle”. Kim observed the exercises from an observation post, a new set of photos released by KCNA shows.

According to a state media description, as cited in AP:

It said the rockets flew 352 kilometers (218 miles) before accurately hitting an island target and that the drill verified the reliability of the “system of command, management, control and operation of the whole nuclear force.”

Part of the drill included a salvo of missiles sent toward “the potential enemy” which included targets on and outlying island with a range of just over 350km.

US officials have previously indicated the recent spate of more aggressive statements from Kim should be taken seriously.

“While the officials added that they did not see an imminent risk of a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Kim could carry out strikes in a way that he thinks would avoid rapid escalation,” a NY Times report issued early this year said.

Watch: Images released by the North Korean state media show what it says is the leader Kim Jon Un overseeing a “nuclear counterattack” drill.#NorthKorea

Read more: https://t.co/NZnJKkBPhN pic.twitter.com/bBIwoqwLg4

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) April 23, 2024

All of this is said to be part of Kim’s new policy of “open hostility” in response to US provocations on the peninsula, including starting last summer the docking of a US nuclear submarine at a South Korean port.