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A Lack Of Solidarity Within NATO?

A Lack Of Solidarity Within NATO?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is making several countries in Europe reassess their military defenses.

Several members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have even said that they will be increasing their numbers of conscripted soldiers, the latest of which were Denmark (announced 13 March, 2024) and Norway (announced Tuesday).

But what are the sentiments of people living in NATO states on the topic?

As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, data from a NATO survey shows that while support is high when it comes to the question of relying on allies to come to their country’s aid, respondents were less sure of helping others to defend themselves

Infographic: Lack of Solidarity Within NATO? | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

For example, where 70 percent of respondents in the United States were of the opinion that the country should be defended by its allies in the event of an attack, 60 percent said that they thought that the country should answer the call of their allies.

Out of the member states selected for this chart, a lack of solidarity is particularly evident in southeastern Europe.

In Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and Montenegro, less than half of those surveyed agree that their home country should defend others, while 58 to 71 percent of survey participants want to be protected. Iceland has the biggest gap between the two questions: 78 percent think NATO should defend the island state, while only 47 percent support their backing of others. In the survey, Norwegians showed the strongest leaning towards solidarity.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/07/2024 – 07:35

More Cold War Era Treaties Collapse As Turkey Suspends EU Arms Limitation Deal

More Cold War Era Treaties Collapse As Turkey Suspends EU Arms Limitation Deal

Via The Cradle

Turkey has followed suit with its NATO allies and Russia in suspending an arms treaty that imposed limitations on conventional military equipment in Europe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on April 4 to suspend Ankara’s duties under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.

AFP/Getty Images

In November last year, Washington and NATO members withdrew from the European arms-limiting pact after Russia made the same move. 

“The CFE Treaty was concluded at the end of the Cold War, when the formation of a new architecture of global and European security based on cooperation seemed possible, and appropriate attempts were made,” Russia’s foreign ministry said, adding, “Even the formal preservation of the CFE Treaty has become unacceptable from the point of view of Russia’s fundamental security interests.”

The move by Ankara signals warming ties between Turkiye and the US before a planned meeting between Erdogan and US President Joe Biden in Washington next month.

Diplomacy between the US and Turkey has improved significantly since Ankara approved Sweden’s NATO entry, ending a more than 20-month wait period. This move by Turkey also saw the US sign off on a $23 billion sale of F-16 warplanes, missiles, and bombs.

“I think this is a moment of significant momentum for the U.S.-Turkey partnership,” U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said in February during a trip to Turkey following Sweden’s acceptance.

However, some NATO allies remain divided over issues including Turkey’s purchase of advanced Russian missile defense systems, as well as the US support for the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), both of whom Turkiye considers terrorist organizations.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 04/07/2024 – 07:00

America Is Hurtling Toward A Full-Blown Hot Civil War

America Is Hurtling Toward A Full-Blown Hot Civil War

Authored by Justin Smith via The Burning Platform blog,

It never ceases to amaze me at how little so many people in this country have done to train their minds to critically analyze information. They have eyes to see and ears to see, and yet, somehow the truth of any major issue still seems to evade them, or they simply refuse to recognize the truth with it standing right in front of them, slapping them in the face.

So many things are currently plumb damned fouled up by this Biden regime and going awry on their own through the dynamics set in motion by this anti-American, lawless regime, that it’s nearly impossible to properly address them all in a single commentary. But I’ve tried to give the Reader as comprehensive an assessment as I possibly can with this piece.

Michael Savage, a longtime renown radio host, was fond of noting that “liberalism is a mental disorder” and we’re witnessing the result of its heavy utilization for far too many years without being grounded in common sense and a certain amount of pragmatic realism. And so here we are, on the cusp of the final fall of America, short of a miracle from God or true patriots taking a firm stand with rifles in hand and refusing to give an inch of ground and any further movement towards the new world order desired by our amerikkan commies.

It might sound quaint and out of touch with what some have now accepted as “the new normal”, but I say we should all wrap ourselves in the American Flag and send out the clarion call for a rush of strong, capable men to come to the aid of their country, in a manner as never before.

~ J.O.S.

“I may be crazy. But it’s no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ~ Ivor Browne, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University College Dublin [2017]

In an ideal and perfect world, all Americans would be following a righteously guided conscience and their better angels, and they could trust that their elected leaders were doing likewise; but, we live in a far from perfect world or society, and the fools of the country have abandoned Christian kindness, the Golden Rule and humanity for the evil of trans-humanism. Heartwarming words advocating for true freedom and liberty are far and few between in today’s society and political arenas, in a manner not too unlike the years between 1850 and 1860 that led to the Civil War; and tho’ some on both side of the political aisle still exude goodness in a way that makes each day seem a bit brighter, by and large, the Democratic Party has been completely infiltrated by Marxist-Maoist Communists, who are driving the nation towards the darkest tyranny and bloodiest days ever witnessed in America, as they attempt to stamp out the tenderness and beauty in each person’s soul and reduce us all to mere mindless cogs in their authoritarian machine.

Look around. Half or more of America’s citizenry have lost their minds and are six steps or more removed from reality, either due to the mind-numbing communist indoctrination they have absorbed from their “education” in the public school system, something genetic or a trauma from their life, some new maniacal drug that has them hooked and out of their minds, or a combination of all three.

Some would suggest that we set about immediately reforming public education to promote and defend the ideas that originally built America, but we don’t have time to change hearts and minds to counter a movement that started over a hundred years ago and now sits on the cusp of being able to solidify its current stranglehold on America, if the tide swings its way in the 2024 Election or they are able to steal the election through current fraud facilitating mechanisms. Although we can still move to properly educate the next generation in a newly reformed education system or through homeschool, now is the time to organize and assemble those within the country who already know and hold to the truth of American principles and all the freedom and liberty that follow — time to gather our like-minded American patriots and those Lions of Liberty who have had enough of witnessing this America we love so well so sorely abused, put upon and assaulted.

It doesn’t help when we have self-serving, corrupt people in high office promising to save the gullible and ill-informed from their hell and the misery it brings, if only they will support more madness to be placed in U.S. code. Vote for more economy killing “climate change” change regulations and initiatives and “we’ll put more money on your EBT cards, courtesy of Uncle Sam and the American taxpayer”. “Help us make sure the government has the final say over everybody’s children and can kill babies as they exit the birthing canal, and we’ll make certain you get privilege over all other Americans”, one can almost hear Traitor Joe whispering in some dimly lit concert hall. “You can be a champion among champions”, they say — “Let us help you change your gender”.

And if anyone stands in your way in the pursuit of any evil, it is they who will be called evil and fallen upon by the full weight of the U.S. Federal Government.

Oh yea. And as if that isn’t bad enough, Biden is now moving as fast as he can to forgive $144 billion more in student loans. He plans to announce this on Monday, April 8th 2024, and for anyone with eyes to see, this is simply corruption at its worst and Biden buying votes in the upcoming presidential election. What a slap in the face of Americans who couldn’t afford to go to college but now will be forced to bear the tax burden this move will bring.

I see the immorality growing every day, the people who revel in its evil, freaks from some futuristic sideshow that bodes ill and speaks to the destruction of humanity. and with each passing day, I find myself moving farther and farther away from those with whom I have little or nothing in common with, adrift from most of humanity too. Not in any manner that lends itself to any sadness over my situation, but rather as if to say “whew” in a realization of the relief that has come by way of my separation from those I despise most.

It’s sort of like I’m standing on the river bank watching the “ship of fools” sailing over the river falls in denial of their own mortality, thinking their crazy ideas will save them and hold them invincible, or worse, knowing they are going to die and not caring who they drag to Hell along with them. They think we’re crazy for defending America’s righteous and true founding principles and virtues and the liberty associated with them, and we think them mad for denying God, reality and the best mankind has to offer in exchange for an evil, unrestrained, immoral freedom that is no freedom at all, a bringer of Death.

Since 1965, the communists within the federal government, Congress and many state and local governments have essentially separated us and pitted us against one another as one aggrieved group or another, some special interest and through identity politics and racial hatred. They broke us into tribes and acted as if the represented each, all the while setting in place mechanisms that made us serfs to the government, The Leviathan, and reducing us all to poverty as they have gradually destroyed the bulk of the middle class in our country. The Constitution is so degraded and eroded now that any tyrant can impose his will by way of one flourish of a pen, which Traitor Joe has done through 118 executive orders, bypassing Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.

We have a national debt that’s rapidly approaching $35 trillion and counting, that to be sure rests on the shoulders of both parties, but it couldn’t have arrived to this abysmal point without both Marxist-Maoists and RINOs accepting the tenets of the Marxist-Keynesian Modern Monetary Theory and the notion that any one nation could print and borrow an endless supply of money forever without any terrible consequence, which is currently being proven wrong. Our people struggle to pay for food and rent and new high mortgage rates have put home ownership out of reach for this new Generation Z that is coming up and expecting a successful way of life to be attainable in some form or fashion, even tho’ many of them are a great part of the problem, some thirty percent claiming to be either queer themselves or supportive of the LGBTQ sickness running rampant through American society, advocating for every known sexual perversion and deviancy one might care to mention.

Several decades ago, I realized every government in the world was using a Keynesian debt-based system, printing money as if there was no end to real assets or backing for it. Basically, the world had gone mad, as the greed of its so-called “leaders” knew no bounds, and the various governments of the world basically accepted the use of monopoly money. The charade is ongoing and the casino open, that is, ’til those at the very top decide to call in their markers and usher in the final forced phase of The Great Reset.

In 2008, as I watched the near total collapse of our economic system and heard George [Bush] say that we had to temporarily abandon the free market capitalist system in order to save it, I received a strong sense that America may have peaked and was as good as it was going to get from there on out. I had a feeling that things were only going to continue to decline, especially as one major corporation after the next receive a taxpayer funded bailout after being deemed “too big to fail”.

In unbelievable fashion, when the largest economic collapse in U.S. history hit in March 2020, to be followed by the Covid Lockdowns, pushed and kept going for years by traitors to America, such as Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx, many of us saw it for the fraud it was. Still, whole swaths of our cultural freedoms and norms were very nearly destroyed, as a timid American people complied, by and large, because they couldn’t simply stand on their hind feet and tell the government despots “NO”. Even now, as many careers no longer exist and jobs are disappearing like cotton-candy on a rainy day, far too many, especially the communists among us, hold to the delusion that all is well and deny that out-of-control spending and massive national debt really do matter for the health of the nation’s economy.

Who could have possibly known at the time — other than those Deep State bad actors behind the curtain — that this was a dire harbinger of things to come and but one of the first precursors to a validation of this current system of economic fascism as the preeminent and defining feature of what everyone still mistakenly calls our “free market capitalist system”. Who knew that — if one believes Obama and now Biden — the cure for debt was more debt; the cure for greed was more greed, and that envy of the neighbors’ possessions was perfectly acceptable, even if one easily walked on over to take them by force, through armed robbery. And who could have foreseen that every Marxist-Maoist of the Democratic Party would become modern day Jezebels, condemning the innocent by way of one false accusation after another, paving the way for a vile new phenomena and way of life for the misguided youth of America.

But never in my wildest imagination did I expect to see every single government institution corrupted to its very core and heavily infiltrated by men and women seeking to destroy traditional America — to “transform America” — and bring great harm to all Americans in the process, as evil was called “good” and good was called “evil”, turning the world upside down as foretold in Isaiah 5:20, as we all witnessed in 2020, driven by the Democratic Party Communists and fascists and globalists of the country, for the most part. Never did I expect to see U.S. science so corrupted and in denial of real science, reality itself, as supposedly “educated” people were soon trying to convince the entire nation that men could really become women and women could become men — that men actually have periods and can have babies.

And as the American people continue to fail to mount a strong and passionate rejection or effective defense against the current climate change directives from the Biden regime, the Biden regime has just recently [January 26th] ordered our international export of natural gas and natural gas extraction to be placed on hold; and it’s still on hold as of this writing [April 5th], while its impact on the environment is further scrutinized. And in the meantime, the movement towards greater control over our society by way of a digital currency is gaining momentum.

I don’t think the Biden regime is going to be able to control much of anything once they completely destroy America’s energy infrastructure and our efficacy as an worldwide energy powerhouse, as we were under the Trump administration. It’s going to be damned difficult to control anything without electricity, fossil fuels or heat, and all hell will be unleashed once Americans start being forced to sit in the dark, shivering in the cold or sweltering in the heat.

When I hear Rachel “Mad-Cow” Maddow and Chris “Cry-baby” Matthews talking about Republicans who support Trump being members of a cult with “crazy ideas”, I think how ironic, that they are perfectly describing themselves and their ilk. They are so insane that they don’t even recognize themselves in that description or what it is that they don’t know; they call themselves “the normal people” as their despot leader, Traitor Joe, dismantles and tears the American republic down around the shoulders of all Americans.

In listening to many proponents of the Democratic Party Communist platform and agenda — Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer for three in particular — I cannot help but wonder when did the wards for the mentally ill release all the inmates. And so here we are in America, where the inmates of mental institutions, federal prisons, Illegal Aliens, drug dealers and sexual deviants and child predators are running the country and the Oval Office today.

I have noted in several past articles, I do believe the “united States” is currently hurling down a path on a fast track to a full blown, hot civil war. What will emerge will either be a nation squashed under an iron-fisted communist government or a people united in freedom and liberty under a limited government, restrained from ever growing or overreaching as the current Federal System has allowed and the Biden regime has done, trampling on the entire Constitution and our Inalienable God-given Rights in the process.

Although I refuse to accept any excuse for the far-reaching, incredible and massive ignorance of so many of my countrymen in this day of the internet and information, with books aplenty in every public library too, there are an unbelievable number who accumulate scores, even hundreds, of bits and pieces of the bigger picture without the ability or the will to put them together to reach any worthwhile conclusion aimed at formulating a proper course of action to resist this current totalitarian-minded movement and save themselves, their families and communities and America herself. They do not currently seem to have any real sense of urgency, unless one looks at leadership in Texas and Florida and the current manufactured border crisis.

Twenty-five state governors stood alongside Governor Abbot of Texas in the border dispute with the Biden regime, and the Governor of South Carolina sent his own National Guardsmen to the border to assist the Texas National Guard and Texas’s various law enforcement agencies who are in this struggle for America’s survival. So although I was speaking of the average citizen in the preceding paragraph, there are some holding key positions who see the rapidly approaching existential threats to all America and are reacting with a high level of urgency and accordingly, using everything within their power to stop this one segment of the madness emanating from the Biden regime.

America has been cleaved into two separate and antithetical ideologies — two opposing worldviews — with the communists and radical takers of the country supporting a dark vision of tyranny and the conservatives and independent producers supporting the light of truth and a vision of freedom and liberty. They are both hanging in the balance and waiting for gravity or some monumental event to throw the lever that moves them to act and take the country by storm, with the Democrats willing to use every illegal means imaginable.

The heavy infiltration of Illegal Aliens from many foreign countries that are unfriendly or outright enemies of America is one more dynamic and issue of concern for all who love America, since they will certainly come down on the side which is trying to destroy America. No one should be oblivious to the fact that various “sleeper cells” of Hamas and Hezbollah have been in America for several decades now. Taken in conjunction with thousands of military aged Chinese men entering the country illegally the coming chaos will be Biblical in proportion to anything we have witnessed in all American history.

Nineteenth century French economist and writer, Frederic Bastiat could have been speaking of America today and the situation She currently finds Herself, as he once stated:

“When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe.”

Americans from all across the country have either been complicit in this current treason to “fundamentally transform America”, into something strange and foreign to the Founding, or they have simply been so complacent as to allow the country to fall to her enemies-from-within, in a manner that’s proving fairly damned tough to counter for the moment due to a litany of reasons, from lawfare against conservative and independent patriots to the outright targeting of American patriots by the FBI and the DOJ. But basically, the nation is just about to reap the full, terrible consequences of what was sown so many decades ago, and everyone had better prepare as best as they can.

We can’t stop what is headed down the road towards us, no matter if we stopped all unnecessary spending or the invasion at the border today — not if we outlawed all deviancy, abuse of children through gender assignment and men competing in women’s sports, or started drilling for oil and gas like crazy overnight. The die has been cast, and no one single man or woman, sitting in the Oval Office, can change what is coming, not Trump or RFK, JR or anyone else who wants to give it a try.

All good and decent Americans, who can still remember what America used to be or who have been well taught from childhood and know what a great nation — an exceptional nation — She has been in years gone by, will soon be forced to fight against enemies-from-within and foreign enemies supported by the World Economic Forum and the United Nations, so that our friends, families and communities can survive this period and freedom and liberty shall not perish in our land. And as we fight, we must pray and hope that our side emerges victoriously from the din and cacophony of the conflagration and chaos, in order that we may purge the land of those who hate America and restore Her to a land that truly understands what “equality under the law” actually means, to be governed in a manner that actually defends and protects the Inalienable God-given Rights for all, restoring America as something better than She has been in a long, long time.

This is the war that lays ahead of us, looming just over the horizon, and our very lives and the lives of our loved ones depend on our success. The death of America as She has stood is guaranteed, unless liberty-minded patriots rise from the ashes of the next civil war. That is the reality and the future we now must face.

Keep ringing the bell … the Liberty Bell and the sound of Freedom from sea to shining sea.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 23:20

Only 59% Of Americans Are ‘Satisified’ With Their Health

Only 59% Of Americans Are ‘Satisified’ With Their Health

Tomorrow, Sunday, marks World Health Day and the 75th anniversary of the World Health Organization.

The theme this year is: “My health, my right” and was chosen by the WHO to “champion the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to quality health services, education, and information, as well as safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent working and environmental conditions, and freedom from discrimination.”

With this in mind, Statista’s Anna Fleck looks at data to find out: how satisfied are we with our health?

Infographic: Where People Are Satisfied With Their Health | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

According to the Statista Consumer Insights macro-survey, respondents in Nigeria were particularly likely to say that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their general state of health in the last twelve months (85 percent).

By contrast, respondents in South Korea responded more negatively, with only 36 percent answering that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their health.

It’s worth noting here that this data does not necessarily mean that the inhabitants of South Korea are in worse health than those of Nigeria, for example, but that perceptions of health may differ.

This survey does not offer a look at the level of health of the population, but a glimpse of how people in different countries perceive their general state of health.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 22:45

Climate-Con & The Media-Censorship Complex – Part 1

Climate-Con & The Media-Censorship Complex – Part 1

Authored by Jesse Smith via TruthUnmuted.org,

The gauntlet has been cast by the media-censorship complex. Just prior to this year’s annual globalist confab in Davos, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that misinformation and disinformation are currently the greatest threats to humanity, with the release of its Global Risks Report 2024.

From a list of 34 risks, the WEF report identifies mis- and disinformation as the top threats to global stability over the next two years and the fifth most dangerous threats over the next 10 years. Of particular concern is false information that could affect elections, democratic processes, and social cohesion in various countries worldwide, as well as sentiment contradicting the “consensus” narrative about climate change.

Echoing these same concerns, the United Nations (UN), its strategic partner in advancing the climate-focused 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, has previously stated much of the same.

In Information Integrity on Digital Platforms, a June 2023 UN policy brief recommending a code of conduct for digital platforms, Secretary-General António Guterres stated:

The ability to dissem­inate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an exis­tential risk to humanity (A/75/982, para. 26) and endangers democratic institutions and funda­mental human rights. These risks have further in­tensified because of rapid advancements in tech­nology, such as generative artificial intelligence. Across the world, the United Nations is monitor­ing how mis- and disinformation and hate speech can threaten progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It has become clear that business as usual is not an option.”

All the UN’s 2030 Agenda plans, activities, and expenditures are based on the belief that we face an existential climate crisis caused by human activity and dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). This conviction is clearly outlined in a fact sheet produced by Verified, a joint initiative of the United Nations and Purpose, launched in 2020 to respond to mis- and disinformation about “intersecting crises like COVID-19 and climate change.” The document states unequivocally that:

  1. Climate change is happening.

  2. Climate change is caused by human activity.

  3. Scientists agree that humans are responsible for climate change.

  4. Every fraction of a degree of warming matters.

  5. The climate is changing faster than humans, plants, and animals can adapt.

  6. Climate change is a major threat to people’s health.

  7. Natural gas is a fossil fuel, not a clean source of energy.

  8. Clean energy technologies produce far less carbon pollution than fossil fuels.

  9. Entire countries already rely 100 percent on renewable electricity.

  10. Renewable energy will soon be the world’s top source of electricity.

  11. Renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels.

  12. Solar panels and wind turbines make good use of land.

  13. The transition to clean energy will create millions of jobs.

By stating that disinformation is undermining these supposed scientific facts, Guterres rests his entire argument on the premise that each of the above statements is absolutely, indisputably, and undeniably true. Like Guterres, all who espouse this climate narrative have no tolerance for any opinion, theory, or evidence that runs contrary to this dogged notion.

Verified is backed by powerful globalist NGOs including the Rockefeller Foundation and Omidyar Network. It has an extensive list of major media collaborators such as Al Jazeera, Clear Channel, Facebook, Reddit, Spotify, TikTok, and Twitter. Melissa Fleming, Verified co-founder and current UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, has made it known that social media is a huge threat to climate science and other UN initiatives and is particularly bothered by Twitter/X for allowing rampant disinformation.

It is clear from these reports that any dissent from the established climate narrative threatens the advancement of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Now, urgent calls to extinguish these threats have been issued so they can proceed with transforming the world unimpeded.

While many of the issues expressed in the Information Integrity report are legitimate and concerning, the UN via the World Health Organization (WHO) participates in disinformation by continuing to promote COVID-19 vaccines as safe and effective, when they have largely been proven to be ineffective and cause much harm. Their stance regarding climate change could also qualify as disinformation to the thousands of scientists who oppose this view but are being discredited as mere conspiracy theorists.

The following statement from the report underscores their frustration with “climate deniers” and the platforms they use to oppose the UN’s agenda:

…mis- and disinformation about the cli­mate emergency are delaying urgently needed action to ensure a liveable future for the planet. Climate mis- and disinformation can be under­stood as false or misleading content that un­dercuts the scientifically agreed basis for the existence of human-induced climate change, its causes and impacts. Coordinated campaigns are seeking to deny, minimize or distract from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientific consensus and derail urgent action to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. A small but vocal minority of climate science de­nialists continue to reject the consensus po­sition and command an outsized presence on some digital platforms.”
(p. 12, emphasis added)

Globalists want conformity regarding climate change and will go to extreme lengths to marginalize, censor, and discredit dissenters. They talk a good game about enforcing universal freedom of expression, but on climate and other issues vital to their agenda, free speech is not tolerated. Though they readily acknowledge that controlling information may lead to greater levels of authoritarianism, surveillance, censorship, and the erosion of human rights, it seems they are willing to overlook these offenses to protect their precious climate agenda.

If they can successfully shut down debate about climate change, then soon any topic that threatens their aims will be off limits. The UN deems itself a protector of human rights but plays a major role in the media-censorship complex. Its attempts at crushing opposition to the climate narrative betrays their mission and reveals authoritarian tendencies.

COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE OR ADVOCATING SUPPRESSION?

recently released report issued by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) claims that new forms of climate denial have emerged. These new arguments don’t deny that the climate is changing and is caused by human activity, but instead contend that:

  • The impacts of global warming are beneficial or harmless.

  • Climate solutions won’t work.

  • Climate science and the climate movement are unreliable.

The basis for their report stems from use of “an AI based model called CARDS,” short for Computer-Assisted Recognition of Climate Change Denial and Skepticism. CARDS is designed to identify and categorize climate denialist claims in text. The researchers used CARDS to analyze YouTube video transcripts from 96 mostly right-wing, conservative leaning channels including prominent ones like BlazeTV, Jordan Peterson, and the Heartland Institute.

CCDH has a big gripe with social media companies they believe are not doing enough to stem the tide of rising climate denial. They want to eliminate the ability for any “climate denier” spreading “conspiracy theory statements” to financially benefit from their content, as evidenced in the following statements:

To support the global efforts to avert climate disaster, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X should all demonetize and de-amplify New Denial content. Demonetizing climate denial removes the economic incentives underpinning its creation and protects advertisers from bankrolling harmful content. Moreover, de-amplifying climate denial limits its reach and visibility, allowing time for fact-checking and other protective measures to be applied where content is clearly contrary to the well-established scientific consensus on climate change”
p. 34; emphasis added

CCDH polling on social media usage tested respondents’ agreement with conspiracy theory statements, including the statement: “Humans are not the main cause of global temperature increases.” CCDH found that 43% of adults and 56% of teenagers who report high activity on social media expressed agreement with that statement. This link between social media usage and conspiracist belief illustrates why urgent action is needed to prioritize information integrity on digital platforms in climate policymaking”
p. 34; emphasis added

Their demonetization and censorship recommendations come even after admitting that the CARDS model is only up to 78% accurate, could not perform any fact checks on the claims made in the transcripts, and that lack of punctuation caused results to be skewed.

Image: The New Climate Denial Report, Page 40

The CCDH is a sketchy, UK-based, advocacy group that has produced various reports inciting censorship against those they disagree with. Their efforts against “anti-vaxxers” culminated in several reports that led to the deplatforming, demonetizing, and discrediting of many individuals and organizations exposing pandemic-related fraud and COVID-19 vaccine falsehoods.

CCDH’s The New Climate Denial report has been promoted through mainstream outlets like CNN, MSN, Yahoo, and USA Today. It could impact the cited individuals and organizations the same way it affected those targeted in its Disinformation Dozen reports a few years ago. Though their stated mission is to “protect human rights and civil liberties online,” they practice the opposite by advocating the revocation of these rights for climate and vaccine narrative challengers.

HOW THE MEDIA-CENSORSHIP COMPLEX PLANS TO TACKLE CLIMATE DISSENT

Two things are very clear from the recent reports issued by the WEF, UN, and CCDH. One, is that climate skepticism is on the rise. The second, is that they are threatened by the very existence of those who dare to refute their narrative. Many strategies to stem the tide of climate cynicism have already been employed with new ones currently being tested.

If one dares to publicly question the science regarding climate change, one or more of the following tactics may be used to impede the effort:

In addition to Verified and CCDH, other organizations utilizing these methods to silence opposers include:

Each of these organizations are fueled and funded by many of the entities responsible for advancing the climate agenda, especially as it relates to the UN SDGs. This globalized amalgamation of media watchdogs, fact checkers, and disinformation regulators is powered by billion-dollar corporations, democratic and undemocratic governments, influential foundations, and powerful NGOs. The list includes The White HouseU.S. State DepartmentU.S. Department of DefenseU.S. Department of Homeland SecurityFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)The National Science FoundationUnited NationsPoynter InstituteNational Endowment for DemocracyOpen Society FoundationsOmidyar NetworkRockefeller FoundationRockefeller Family FundBill & Melinda Gates FoundationGoogleMetaMicrosoft, and many more.

A plethora of legacy and social media companies also utilize the services provided by these organizations. A small sampling includes Associated Press, NPR, NBC News, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, Twitch, and LinkedIn. A look at Covering Climate Now’s list of partners provides an even broader view of the media’s enforcement of the climate agenda.

As if governments, corporations, and organizations weren’t enough, universities such as Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, and University of Southern California also perpetuate the climate propaganda by training journalists in their institutions.

By treating climate change as a national security threat, the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence agencies have also been enlisted in the fight against mis- and disinformation.

In addition, individuals within both the left and right wings of the two-party paradigm collude to curtail free speech. It is a grave mistake to believe that calls for censorship from either side of the political spectrum are beneficial. They are both integral to perpetuating the media-censorship complex.

WHY HAS CLIMATE SCIENCE BECOME NONDEBATABLE?

If it wasn’t apparent before, it should now be crystal clear that there is a vast empire united against those questioning the climate narrative. They are determined to perpetuate the myth that there is universal consensus on the facts.

The truth is there is no real consensus on climate science. The UN and its network of public-private partnerships (PPP) just make it seem that way. In this regard, the UN climate stance is akin to Anthony Fauci’s claim that questioning him was like questioning science itself. Honest and open debate on the issue should be continued by allowing opponents opportunities to present their case without fear of censorship, harassment, exclusion, or cancellation. Instead, there is constant reinforcement of a fictional consensus while divergent opinions are labeled as dangerous conspiracies.

Climate consensus figures as high as 97 and even 99.9 percent have been touted by former US Presidents, researchers, and media outlets in the past. But is this claim true? If it were, then why would there be so much effort to silence a mere one to three percent who deviate from the scientific echo chamber? Would all these battles be worth the time, energy, and money being spent on just a few dissidents, as they claim?

Much of what qualifies as climate research is funded by institutions that have already bought into the doomsday mantra of impending man-made disaster. The industry is rigged to favor researchers who set out to prove “official” claims. Funding and publication are often withheld from those who do not toe this line. As a result, statistics are skewed to make it seem like there is universal consensus.

Past research has demonstrated claims of scientific consensus on climate change to be fraudulent. In a paper published in 2023, a team of researchers disproved the conclusions reached in a 2021 study claiming there was greater than 99% consensus on climate science in peer-reviewed scientific literature.

The claims were refuted by demonstrating that studies expressing neutral opinions were misclassified and papers communicating skepticism were ignored. This clear case of academic malfeasance is not the only example where scientists used falsified research and conspired to silence those contradicting the alleged consensus. Even if the 99% consensus assertions were valid, the notion of consensus-as-truth does not pass the test for authentic scientific validation. The majority can still be wrong.

A recent article posted by The Good Men Project, which “exposed” the climate deniers behind the recent farmer protests in Europe, proclaimed that “Scientific consensus on human-caused climate change is equivalent to that on evolution.” This statement came in response to a request from protest organizer James Melville for a national debate on climate and net zero policies. Never mind that evolution is not a proven fact. Equating climate change to evolution shows it is also unproven and can be argued against. Again, the majority can still be wrong!

Remember when Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson made claims that their COVID vaccines were all well over 90% effective in stopping transmission? As evidenced in the following video, those proclamations did not hold up very well, did they?

A massive army has been assembled to ensure that rival claims will not see the light of day for long. But why is it that the powers that be would rather falsify research, smear dissenters, and spend billions of dollars to silence critics rather than continuing to debate the issues?

An article written by Gregory Whitstone, Executive Director of the CO2 Coalition, presents a valid argument for continued scientific debate on climate change, stating:

You have likely heard that 97% of scientists agree on human-driven climate change. You may also have heard that those who don’t buy into the climate-apocalypse mantra are science-deniers. The truth is that a whole lot more than 3% of scientists are skeptical of the party line on climate. A whole lot more…

There are some scientific truths that are quantifiable and easily proven, and with which, I am confident, at least 97% of scientists agree. Here are two:

  • Carbon dioxide concentration has been increasing in recent years.

  • Temperatures, as measured by thermometers and satellites, have been generally increasing in fits and starts for more than 150 years.

What is impossible to quantify is the actual percentage of warming that is attributable to increased anthropogenic (human-caused) CO2. There is no scientific evidence or method that can determine how much of the warming we’ve had since 1900 that was directly caused by us.

We know that temperature has varied greatly over the millennia. We also know that for virtually all of that time, global warming and cooling were driven entirely by natural forces, which did not cease to operate at the beginning of the 20th century.

The claim that most modern warming is attributable to human activities is scientifically insupportable. The truth is that we do not know. We need to be able to separate what we do know from that which is only conjecture.

How can greenhouse gases, particularly CO2 be the sole agent causing rising temperatures when it is an essential element for all life forms? Given the growing world population, it seems that greater levels of CO2would lead to greater benefits. Plants need CO2 to thrive, yet the fight against it is accelerating.

Scientists have now stated that cow burps and farts and even human breathing are bad for the environment because they contribute to the emission of methane and nitrous oxide, both believed to contribute to global warming. This is beyond absurd!

We are on the slippery slope to a dystopian nightmare if the trend toward censorship and marginalization continues. There is no good reason why continued debate featuring those on all sides of the issue should not be occurring, unless of course there are other reasons for ramming this fear-based agenda down our throats.

We’ll examine the other reasons in Part 2 of this series.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 22:10

These Are The World’s Deadliest Behavioral Risk Factors

These Are The World’s Deadliest Behavioral Risk Factors

“Smoking kills” is but one of the slogans connected to anti-tobacco advocacy groups – and it’s quite true.

When looking at behavioral risks, meaning types of risk that can largely be avoided, especially in highly industrialized nations, smoking cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products is connected to a variety of diseases responsible for 7.7 million deaths worldwide.

As Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the chart below, based on data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows, no other behavioral risk factor comes close to the disease burden of smoking.

Infographic: The World's Deadliest Behavioral Risk Factors | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

Coming in second on a global level as well as in terms of risk-factor-associated deaths in the United States in 2019 is alcohol use with an estimated 2.4 million global and 137,000 U.S. deaths in 2019.

Roughly 57 and 30 percent of global deaths associated with risk factors and connected to substance abuse and digestive diseases, respectively, can be traced back to alcohol use.

While a high-sodium diet is connected to almost two million deaths on a global scale and therefore ranks third worldwide, the United States have a different problem: drug abuse.

In 2019, around 105,000 people were estimated to have died from diseases connected to drug use, which constitutes a four-percent share of the overall deaths connected to behavioral risks in the country.

This is especially striking compared to the same metric globally, where the share of deaths barely reaches one percent.

The total number of deaths from risk factors in the United States amounted to 1.8 million, while the global number stood at 35 million.

While the consumption of most drugs is illegal and often carries a social stigma, alcohol and tobacco are legal drugs permeating all levels of society. The risks of both are well-known and well-documented, with the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifying both as a group 1 carcinogen, which includes agents with “sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans [and] both strong evidence in exposed humans that the agent exhibits key characteristics of carcinogens and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals.”

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 21:35

Trump Accuses Biden Of Unfairly Targeting 71-Year-Old Jan. 6 ‘Hostage’

Trump Accuses Biden Of Unfairly Targeting 71-Year-Old Jan. 6 ‘Hostage’

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former President Donald Trump has criticized President Joe Biden and the Justice Department for “unfairly” targeting a 71-year-old woman dubbed the “J6 Praying Grandma” who entered the U.S. Capitol for around 10 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021.

Rebecca Lavrenz was convicted on April 4 on four federal misdemeanor charges, including entering and remaining in a restricted building, and disorderly and disruptive conduct. She faces up to a year in prison and $200,000 in fines, with her sentencing scheduled for Aug. 12.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald J. Trump speaks at a rally in Laconia, N.H., on Jan. 22, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

President Trump took to social media on Friday to denounce the conviction.

“Rebecca Lavrez, also known as the ‘J6 Praying Grandma,’ has been unfairly targeted by Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, and now faces up to 1 YEAR in prison for peacefully walking around the Capitol, and praying for our Failing Nation on January 6th!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

President Trump said that Ms. Lavrez, a 71-year-old grandmother and small business owner from Colorado, has now become “one of Joe Biden’s J6 HOSTAGES!!!”

President Trump has made the alleged mistreatment of Jan. 6 defendants a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, vowing to use executive power to issue pardons and free Jan. 6 “hostages” soon after taking office, if elected.

“Crooked Joe Biden spends more time prosecuting Patriots like Rebecca, AND ME, than Violent Criminals, Thugs, Murderers, and ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS who are destroying our Country. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE UP AGAINST,” President Trump added in his post.

President Biden has been sharply critical of President Trump’s statements about the Jan. 6 defendants, while Attorney General Merrick Garland has promised to press ahead with more Jan. 6 prosecutions—and to cast the Justice Department’s dragnet even more widely to include people who weren’t even present at the Capitol that day.

“As I said before, the Justice Department will hold all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law—whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” Mr. Garland said in a speech on Jan. 5.

More than 1,350 people have been charged with various crimes in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, ranging from misdemeanor offenses such as trespassing to felonies such as seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers.

Of these, roughly 800 have been sentenced, with nearly two-thirds receiving some time in prison.

‘I Went There To Pray’

Ms. Lavrenz, who calls herself the “J6 Praying Great-Grandma” in her X account bio, was convicted by a federal jury on April 4 on four criminal counts.

After nearly 26 hours of deliberation, a jury found her guilty of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

In an April 5 appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” program, Ms. Lavrenz said she only spent 10 minutes inside the Capitol and that she traveled to Washington on Jan. 6 to pray for America’s future.

I went there to pray,” Ms. Lavrenz told Mr. Bannon. She explained that she was in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 “because I love God, my country, and my family, and I knew that something wasn’t right in that 2020 election.”

Ms. Lavrenz was captured on video surveillance entering the Capitol building through the East Rotunda doors, walking around the building, and speaking briefly with a police officer before exiting the building, according to charging documents.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged in the complaint against her that Ms. Lavrenz volunteered photos of herself at the Capitol on the day of the breach to FBI agents. The complaint says the Falcon, Colorado, resident “admitted traveling to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 to attend the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally on the mall and ‘following the crowd to the U.S. Capitol building.’”

In its statement of facts against Ms. Lavrenz, the DOJ said the grandmother of seven entered the building despite seeing physical barriers “indicating the U.S. Capitol building grounds were a restricted area.”

The filing also states that she “observed people getting into physical confrontations with police” and that she “saw a woman get injured in the exchange.” Video evidence confirmed Ms. Lavrenz’s statement that she was inside the building for only 10 minutes, per the court filings.

Demonstrators are seen at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)

Several days before the start of her trial, Ms. Lavrenz posted a video of herself online as she entered the Capitol grounds for the first time since Jan. 6, 2021.

My own country is treating me like a criminal just because I believe that my—they stole my rightful president, and just standing up for my country makes me a criminal,” she said in the video. “It’s not right. It feels so weird to be here.”

A retired register nurse, Ms. Lavrenz also owns and operates a bed and breakfast near the Rocky Mountains in Falcon, Colorado.

She has set up a GiveSendGo crowdfunding page to help pay for her legal bills and as of Saturday had received over $82,000 in donations.

Alice Giordano contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 21:00

Democrat Division Intensifies As Ex-Speaker Pelosi Joins Call For Biden To Stop Arming Israel

Democrat Division Intensifies As Ex-Speaker Pelosi Joins Call For Biden To Stop Arming Israel

A divide among Democrats over whether to halt defense aid to Israel is growing more fierce, causing a crisis and headache for Biden strategists ahead of the presidential election, which has only intensified in the wake of last week’s Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza, which left seven international workers dead, including an American.

This intensifying fragmentation of Biden’s base has been on display this weekend also given former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – still very influential among Dems – has publicly come out against Biden’s policy to continue arming Israel. The issue is entering the heart of the Democratic establishment, threatening unity.

Axios reports that she “signed onto a call by progressive members of Congress for the U.S. to stop transferring weapons to Israel over a strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza.”

Via AFP

The letter she signed, and which was led by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), included the signatures of some 40 Democrats.

“In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers,” the lawmakers stated in the letter addressed to President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“If this strike is found to have violated U.S. or international law, we urge you to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable,” the lawmakers wrote.

However, a follow-up statement from a Pelosi representative to Axios has this to say: “Speaker Pelosi knows President Biden’s support for Israel and empathy with the innocent civilians in Gaza, and she respects his judgment in how to proceed.”

This trend of the Gaza war becoming a bright red dividing line among Democrats is also on display with recent stories like the following from Epoch Times— Pro-Israel Democrat Group Endorses ‘Squad’ Primary Opponents:

A Democrat pro-Israel group has endorsed candidates challenging incumbents who are members of the far-left congressional group “The Squad.”

Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) announced on April 3 its backing of Westchester County Executive George Latimer and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.

DMFI did not state its reasons for backing the two other than through announcing a slate of endorsements.

So now the ‘fight’ is on and it’s becoming a real issue with campaign money lining up on either side. Still, those voters who put the Squad members in office in the first place are more than likely to come down on the anti-Israel side. 

Another indicator that the internal Democrat divide is accelerating is that the controversy has completely altered a long-standing White House tradition. Muslim leaders are boycotting an annual White House Ramadan gathering which marks the end of the Muslim season of fasting:  

The Biden administration is hosting a scaled-down Ramadan gathering for Muslim and Arab Americans after several community leaders declined the invite over the unrelenting and steadfast nature of US support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

The event scheduled for Tuesday will be in stark contrast to previous Muslim celebrations and gatherings under the Biden administration, which have seen packed ballrooms of Muslims from all over the country joining the White House festivities. 

This year, the iftar will be confined to staffers only, and a separate gathering will take place for Muslim community members.

One such Muslim community leader and activist told Middle East Eye that Palestinian-Americans are “vehemently opposed to any Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, or any person who has an ounce of humanity” attending the event.

All of this is of course a plus for Trump’s chances of retaking the White House going into November, also given the Israel-Gaza issue is much less of a divisive flashpoint issue for Republican voters.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 20:25

“West Point Mafia” Has “Systematically Destroyed The Nation’s Maritime Strength” 

“West Point Mafia” Has “Systematically Destroyed The Nation’s Maritime Strength” 

Captain John Konrad, CEO of gCaptain, a website specializing in tracking the shipping industry, blames the “West Point Mafia” and decades of land wars in the Middle East for a hollowed-out US Navy that was entirely “unprepared” for the salvage operation of the collapsed 1.6-mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Konrad explained, “Truth is bridges are an Army Corps of Engineers responsibility but they are so unprepared they gave the job to Navy Salvage to lead. Navy salvage is so broken they had to outsource it to the US subsidiary/partner of a European firm which is chartering equipment from private companies at great expense.”

“And it’s the Army’s own fault. The West Point Mafia has systematically destroyed our nation’s maritime strength,” he said, adding that China would’ve had the Baltimore shipping channel “fully cleared in weeks,” not months (read more about the reopening timeline here). 

Here’s more from Konrad on X and his epic rant against the “West Point Mafia”: 

China could have the Baltimore ship channel fully cleared in weeks but yesterday @POTUS said yesterday for the Army Corps of Engineers it will take months.

I blame the West Point Mafia and their budget demon. Please let me explain…

Truth is bridges are an Army Corps of Engineers responsibility but they are so unprepared they gave the job to Navy Salvage to lead. Navy salvage is so broken they had to outsource it to the US subsidiary/partner of a European firm which is chartering equipment from private companies at great expense. Equipment that’s weak & small compared to what the European parent has overseas.

And it’s the Army’s own fault. The West Point Mafia has systematically destroyed our nation’s maritime strength. 

When I was 10 Vinzzini taught me the first lesson of war “You’ve fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Never get involved in a land war in Asia” 

Yet in my adult life the United States fought not one but two wars in Asia. 

How did we pay for those? By gutting our maritime capabilities. 

With Chinese military capability growing exponentially, how do you win a war in Asia? The same way we did in WW2: with ships & marines with the Army and Air Force serving a support role 

Except there is a problem, the current and last Secretaries of Defense are West Pointers. The SECDEF before that was a marine but he was forced out after a disagreement with the Secretary of State who was a West Pointer 

Two decades of Land Wars in asia have decimated our Maritime capabilities as trillions was rerouted into Army coffers by the West Point mafia demon in DC 

And now that the land wars are over is the Army Corps of Engineers helping rebuild shipyards and bridges? Is the Army rebuilding its once mighty fleet of dredges? Is it working jointly with the SeaBees and Merchant Marine? Is it rebuilding watercraft? 

No today’s West Point mafia leader Jack Reed controls the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee & has blocked the Future of the Navy Commission That Congress created to develop a Naval rebuilding strategy 

Now under General Lloyd Austin & Reed EVERY SINGLE navy shipbuilding project is delayed. 

The West Point Mafia has gutted every Maritime service: 

Navy National Guard (Naval Militia): now only a boat service in a small handful of states 

United States Navy Armed Guard: gone 

US Navy Reserve: zero ships in inventory 

USCG Icebreaker fleet: down to one ship 

US Navy salvage fleet: mostly gone 

Seabees: cut to 7,000 active personnel 

Merchant Marine: now less than 80 ships in international service 

MARAD Ready Reserve Fleet: small & on average age a half century old 

US Maritime Service: just a handful of officers at the US Merchant Marine academy 

Marine Hospital Service; gone except the uniforms 

NOAA Officer Corps: down to 330 officers 

Army Corps of Engineers dredge fleet: includes ancient hulls like the 57-year-old dredge McFarland 

Army Corps of Engineers salvage: the last SECDEF, @EsperDoD sold all Army salvage vessels in Baltimore

Army Watercraft: gutted by at action by Esper 

USCG: forced to cut 10 cutters this year alone 

I could go on but I have something more important to say: 

🚨 NOW THEY ARE COMING FOR THE CARRIERS AND SUBMARINES🚨

(I will post the details of the carrier and sub delays in post 2 of the thread) 

If Jack Reed & the West Point Mafia wins the next war in Asia will be lost. 

Problem is there is nobody to stop them because the think tanks, defense contractors and DoD civil servants know who wields the power and nobody in Navy or Coast Guard uniform has the moral courage to ruin their career by calling out Jack Reed & General Austin in the media or during a senate hearing. 

PS why am I using quotes from the Princess Bride & making light of the problem by creating the West Point Mafia Demon meme? Because it doesn’t require a PhD to see what is happening. 

The gutting of every critical maritime capability to pour money into Land Wars is something any 10 year can see is idiotic.

Konrad asks: “Why am I able to call out the Jack Reed and General Austin when NOBODY else in DC or the DOD is?”

Konrad describes a colossal mismanagement of the US Armed Forces despite record defense spending. 

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 19:15

‘Animal Spirits’ Update (Or Reflections On Another Fake Unemployment Report)

‘Animal Spirits’ Update (Or Reflections On Another Fake Unemployment Report)

Authored by Elliott Middleton via ‘End Times Meditation’ Substack,

The BLS is reporting the March unemployment rate down slightly to 3.8 percent, nowhere near the 4.5 percent that it will take to trigger a collapse of confidence

ZeroHedge has detailed how fake the BLS’s numbers have become in a series of recent posts (yesterday’s highlights are here and here).

When I was in academics, my research program was on the application of psychology to economics, especially the fundamental psychological law of sensitivity to adaptation level.

Back in the 1990s, I was featured in a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal on “animal spirits” or confidence levels.

I discovered that when the unemployment level rises above a 4-year exponential moving average of the unemployment rate (in which more recent observations are weighted more heavily), confidence collapses, the unemployment rate skyrockets upward, and economic activity contracts sharply.

This event marks the end of the business cycle.

While the economy has been stagnating for most people recently, we have not experienced this signal event, the collapse of confidence that occurs when the recession begins.

The post below describes my intellectual journey and was published in ZeroHedge on June 21, 2022, and is highly recommended if you haven’t read it already.

Read full story…

We can expect laughable unemployment reports for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, private industry sources keep track of announced layoffs.

Via intellizence.com:

Leading Companies Announcing Layoffs And Hiring Freezes in 2024

The following is the list of major layoffs, job cuts, and hiring freezes announced by leading companies in 2024.

Since January 1st, 2024, 151,943+ companies have announced mass layoffs.

[Last update: April 01, 2024]. [emphasis added]

The Biden administration is aware of my work and apparently will do anything to prevent the reported unemployment number from climbing to 4.5 percent before the election, which would trigger a collapse of confidence.

The adaptation level is currently at 4.53 percent. Look at the graph below.

There is still a gap of 4.53 – 3.8 = 0.73 unemployment percentage points, too wide for people to feel that “things are getting worse than what we’re used to.”

The difference between the unemployment rate and the adaptation level can be flipped to be presented as a confidence level. By this metric, confidence is still quite high (though trending lower).

Real per capita personal income is almost exactly on trend for the past 30 years.

Consumers may have a lingering COVID-bubble-stimmy-checks-induced feeling of wealth as well, having recovered from a dip in 2022.

The recent experience has been nothing like the years following the Great Financial Crisis.

Unfortunately, more fake data from the BLS coming on top of all the fake data from the FDA and CDC over the past four years will only further extinguish any confidence the American people have in their government’s statistical releases. Or in their government in general.

Perhaps the BLS will simply stop reporting an unemployment number. This is what the Chinese did with their youth unemployment series.

Or perhaps they’ll issue a report with all the data redacted like the FDA did with their myocarditis analysis. Every page was redacted.

The “strong” report this morning suggests that rates will stay higher for longer than many expect. Note in the chart below, showing the inflation rate and the 3-month T-bill rate, that the peak in short-term interest rates came a year after the peak in inflation, the last time the Fed was battling with inflation during the 1980-1982 recessions.

With the WEF Cabal pursuing their goal of global famine by destabilizing oil production in the Middle East, thereby especially starving China of the means to run its economy and feed its population, a global oil shock appears to be in the making.

Crunch coming. Will there even be an election?

We are approaching maximum uncertainty.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/06/2024 – 18:40