Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

X owner Elon Musk hit back at leftists complaining that he is right wing by outlining his “centrist” political views, highlighting how far the Overton window has shifted.

Responding to a post noting how crazy it is that the man developing rocket ships to take the human race to another planet is being attacked, Musk declared that he is in “a battle to the death with the anti-civilizational woke mind virus.”

He then laid out a few key political stances he believes in, asking how they can possibly be perceived as “right wing.”

And, although it shouldn’t need to said, I believe in the Constitution and freedom of speech

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

In modernity world these things are now all right wing.

Anything that isn’t a non-stop drum circle calling for the elimination of all Jews is “far-right propaganda” to these people. https://t.co/TBW3JIXFbq

— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) March 21, 2024

They all loved Elon until they realized that Elon wasn’t woke and he purchased Twitter. Then he became their arch nemesis.

— General™️ (@TheGeneral_0) March 21, 2024

It’s not Elon Musk or any of the rest of us who have changed. Just a few years ago, Obama was calling for secure borders and a halt to unrestricted illegal immigration.

15 years ago, no. Even Obama wanted to secure the border and deported plenty of illegals. There was a time when both parties talked about balanced budgets, now just one does. Racism is the domain of the left. You said it best yourself with this meme: pic.twitter.com/Jx9EOV1kpA

— Military Arms (@MAC_Arms) March 21, 2024

You sound like Biden from 2007.

— MAZE (@mazemoore) March 21, 2024

These are pretty reasonable beliefs.

You and I both would have been considered liberals 20 years ago.

It’s not our fault the Dems have gone so far Left, they are unrecognizable.

— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) March 21, 2024

All eminently common sense.

And, just a few years ago, used to be a bipartisan consensus.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 21, 2024

Yeah

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

This platform was previously extremely biased, amplifying the left and suppressing the right.

Now both are free to speak.

No voice on the left has been suppressed to the best of my knowledge.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

This platform was previously extremely biased, amplifying the left and suppressing the right.

Now both are free to speak.

No voice on the left has been suppressed to the best of my knowledge.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

😂

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

None of these should even be considered political positions, they are rational positions.

— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) March 21, 2024

Anti-civilization is a side effect of the oldest battle in history. The fight between absolute truth and relativism

Civilized society is based upon a shared set of core values and the agreement that reality is absolute, not subjective

Relative truth erodes the societal fabric

— Carpe Donktum🔹 (@CarpeDonktum) March 21, 2024

“Right wing” has become a meaningless placeholder signifying everything that is good, healthy, and normal.

— Syd Steyerhart (@SydSteyerhart) March 21, 2024

Yes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2024

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Nike shares fell in premarket trading following the sportswear company’s announcement on Thursday that sales are expected to decrease to the low single digits during the first half of the fiscal year. This comes as the company makes efforts to adjust its product lineup to more closely align with consumer tastes. 

Shares of the retailer were down more than 6% in premarket trading in New York after a post-earnings conference call on Thursday evening, in which executives revealed Nike had lost market share in running shoes. 

Nike CFO Matt Friend told investors that reducing supplies of “classic” shoes, including Air Force 1 sneakers, was made to refocus efforts on new product development and upcoming launches. 

For the first half of the year, Nike forecasts revenue will fall to the low single digits beginning in June. Bloomberg data shows analysts had projected a 4% rise in the first quarter and a 6% gain in the second. 

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Poonam Goyal said the dismal outlook for the year’s first half “raises eyebrows” but expects innovation to continue at the world’s largest sportswear company. 

Despite the first-half slump, Nike expects revenue and earnings to grow next fiscal year, excluding the impact of an ongoing organizational restructuring plan amid weaker sneaker and apparel demand. 

“We know Nike’s not performing at our potential,” CEO John Donahoe told investors, adding, “It’s been clear that we need to make some important adjustments.”

RBC Capital Markets analysts downgraded their recommendation on Nike to sector perform, citing organizational restructuring and product transition will increase uncertainty and guidance risk.

Here’s what Wall Street analysts are saying (list courtesy of Bloomberg): 

RBC Capital Markets, Piral Dadhania (cuts to sector perform from outperform)

• “Nike’s unexpected first glance guide for 1H25E implies no revenue growth for cal 2024, which leaves little to play for in the near term”
• Sees the organizational restructuring and product transition over next few quarters adding further uncertainty and guidance risk
• There is no doubt Nike will emerge a better company in a better phase of its business cycle, but Dadhania prefers outperform-rated Adidas
• PT cut to $100 from $110

Piper Sandler, Abbie Zvejnieks (neutral)

• Near-term sales will be pressured by product lifestyle management as the company refocuses on product innovation and wholesale reinvestment
• “A lack of precedence on new product gives us limited conviction on what NKE’s growth rate will look like exiting this transition period”
• Notes that reinvestment in wholesale channel will likely pressure high-teens operating margin targets
• PT lowered to $98 from $107

Morgan Stanley, Alex Straton (overweight)

• Guidance for 4Q and 1H both disappointed, and pushed the catalyst path of the stock out
• Nike’s strategy “seems to be evolving in unexpected ways each quarter, lending credence to the market view that it feels reactive”
• Straton remains overweight on a near-term basis and still sees positive EPS revisions being possible in 2H, but she is “incrementally less constructive following the print”

TD Cowen, John Kernan (market perform)

• Revenue declines in 1H should put pressure on valuation as well as consensus estimates; Kernan’s new FY25 EPS forecast is below consensus
• “Competitive environment and channel dynamics are more challenging than we can remember”
• PT cut to $91 from $104

Separately, Lululemon said Thursday that visits to US stores slowed and expects lower-than-expected sales outlook for the first quarter and full year. 

Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald told analysts on an earnings call that US consumers “are a little soft coming into the year.” However, he pointed out that “all international markets, including Canada, are continuing their strong momentum.”

Also, on Thursday, Darden Restaurants warned investors that low-income customers were quickly reducing their spending. Just weeks ago, budget retailer Dollar Tree warned of declining ticket prices. 

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A major study published in scientific journal The Lancet has found that the global population will start to fall within decades due to vastly reduced fertility rates and may never recover.

The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, found that by the year 2050, 155 of 204 countries are on course to have birth rates lower than required to sustain the population level.

It notes that as of 2021, the “total fertility rate” worldwide was 2.23, hovering only just above the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain population growth.

That figure has fallen from 4.84 in 1950, with researchers predicting it will decrease to 1.83 in 2050 and go as low as 1.59 by 2100.

Dramatic declines in global fertility rates set to transform global population patterns by 2100, new GBD Capstone study suggests.

Explore the data ➡️ https://t.co/Mvc1PyR4F4 pic.twitter.com/xdpSjVLrQJ

— The Lancet (@TheLancet) March 20, 2024

The study notes that by that time only 26 countries will have birth rates that outpace the number of people dying, with “most of the world transitioning into natural population decline”.

A fall in population would mark the first time in seven centuries such an occurrence has taken place.

The last time it happened was after the Black Death bubonic plague pandemic killed as many as 50 million people in the mid-1300s, reducing the global population from 400 million to 350 million.

Commenting on the study, it’s co-author Dr Natalia Bhattacharjee said declining fertility rates “will completely reconfigure the global economy and the international balance of power and will necessitate reorganising societies”.

Bhattacharjee, lead research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, also noted that a major consequence will be increased immigration from countries where there is still a “baby boom,” such as sub-Saharan Africa, in order to make up workforce shortages in nations with aging populations.

Professor Stein Emil Vollset, senior author from IHME, also noted that the world is “facing staggering social change through the 21st century” due to population decline.

The findings are exactly what the likes of Elon Musk have been warning of for years, describing population decline as a ‘civilisational threat’ and urging that humanity is literally going to disappear if something is not done to reverse the trend.

While Eco loons rage about ‘moral issues’ with having children, the potential causes of fertility decline, such as plastics and chemical shrinking penises and sperm counts, are relatively ignored.

The stark reality is that birth rates globally are collapsing and almost every country is on course to have shrinking populations by the end of the century. 

In countries like South Korea and Japan, there are twice as many people are dying as there are being born. You don’t have to be a mathematic genius to do the calculations on what’s going to happen very soon.

These countries are already considering embracing mass migration, with South Korea’s Justice Minister recently declaring the country faces a “demographic catastrophe” and potential extinction otherwise.

Fertility rates globally are collapsing and almost every country is on course to have shrinking populations by the end of the century. This is why @elonmusk and others are sounding the alarm. Report here: https://t.co/I3vfVi3M3Q pic.twitter.com/0enKUksxk2

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) January 30, 2024

Despite this horrifying reality, it is now commonplace in modern culture for young people to genuinely believe they need to abandon their human instincts to reproduce, all for the greater good:

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One of the world’s largest cocoa processors is scouring the globe for beans as weather and disease spark massive crop failures across West Africa and catapult prices in New York to record highs. 

“Everybody is panicking,” said Brandon Tay Hoe Lian, chief executive officer of Guan Chong Bhd. He said the company is attempting to procure beans from minor growing countries, including Ecuador, Peru, and Indonesia. 

The CEO of the Kuala Lumpur-listed company said prices are soaring weekly as coca beans become harder and harder to find: “We not only have to fight for beans, we’re also paying premiums.”

Guan Chong’s processing plant is still operating normally despite the world heading for a third year of supply deficits primarily due to crop failures across West Africa.

Tay warned: 

“We are quite skeptical about selling a lot because we’re worried whether the beans will be delivered.

“I rather sell the minimum, just in case, as long as my cashflows are healthy. I don’t want to commit to something that I cannot deliver.”

As of Thursday morning, the most active cocoa contract in New York hit a new record high of $8,600 per ton. He warned the rally is far from over: “There’s a lot more room to go higher.”

Citi Research analysts recently advised clients that prices could reach as high as $10,000 a ton and stay in record-high territory through the second half of 2025. 

Meanwhile, US chocolate maker Hershey Company warned last month: “Historic cocoa prices are expected to limit earnings growth this year.”

Bad news for those of us with a sweet tooth… 

It’s only a matter of time before Biden’s PR team of woke college grads blames Putin for candyflation. 

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

As a way to create jobs, EC President Charles Michel promotes a war economy.

Where that would lead is obvious. I suggest putting Michel on the front line with Senator Lindsey Graham.

Michel’s Rosy War Economy

Eurointelligence discusses Michel’s Rosy War Economy

What Michel wants concretely is EU targets to buy twice as much weapons from European defence producers by 2030; to use the profits from Russian frozen assets to finance weapons purchases for Ukraine; to facilitate financial access for European defence industry, including by issuing a European defence bond and getting the European Investment Bank to add defence purposes to its lending criteria. Michel sells it to us as a way to create jobs and growth. It is to provide more clarity to companies with multi-annual defence contracts to increase their capacities. And by investing in defence industry, the EU is boosting its technology and innovation, a confident Michel reassures us.

What Michel talks about is not a European Union we recognise any more – nor one that would work in practice. Perhaps that will be Vladimir Putin’s greatest triumph that he changed the DNA of our union. 

The attempt to base economic integration and economic stimulus on defence creates precedents. If we build up a defence industry, we need conflicts to feed them. Beyond Ukraine, will we do the same for Georgia? Would we want our economy to depend on wars in Africa to prop up our GDP growth data? If the US decides to retreat, does that mean we need to pick up where the US left?

Michel wants a geopolitical Europe, and finishes his letter with the familiar cold war phrase that if you want peace you need to prepare for war. This is not a cold war but a hot war in Ukraine. Are those weapons in Michel’s war economy to speak for our failures in diplomacy? What is our historic contribution to this conflict? Should we not start from there?

The language Michel uses is dramatic and dangerous. Some of our older citizens still remember what it means to live in a war economy. Michel’s loose talk is disrespectful. And it is insincere to suggest that we need a war economy to help Ukraine. He focusses on the bright side of this war, the solidarity the EU shows with Ukraine and the economic growth that could come from an increasingly thriving defence economy. Michel is deliberately ignoring the dark side of this war, with the many tough life-and-death decisions to be taken. Just look at Israel to see where this has gone.

Is Michel acting alone, or is he building a case for leaders like Emmanuel Macron or the next European parliament? Macron recently talked about European troops in Ukraine and a defence union. We think this loose and un-coordinated talk is careless. It gives rise to fear narratives that the public is not in the position to judge within a rational framework. It does not solve the more fundamental disagreements amongst European countries either. Then there is the European Parliament which is expected to swing further to the right after the elections in June. We have to resist the temptation to reduce our policy options to defence-only. Europe will need to a lot more, in terms of diplomacy especially, to become a geopolitical player in its own right.

Loose, Uncoordinated, Careless, and Cheered

Macron is going to get his ass kicked over this. That’s what will happen. It will show up in the European Parliament vote coming right up.

— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) March 15, 2024

Asinine Comment Department

Zelensky: “The war will not be over as long as Crimea is occupied.”

The CIA has always been behind this entire fiasco. Listen to what Zelensky said about how he works hand in hand with the intelligence agencies to anex Crimea. This is a chess game where human lives are being sacrificed en masse.

Zelensky: “We don’t have any secrets from the CIA… pic.twitter.com/LhJZwV2rwr

— Green Lives Matter (@Ultrafrog17) February 26, 2024

How many more Ukrainians will die as a result of Zelensky’s asinine policy statement.

The war will end when people decide enough is enough. And it will not be with Ukraine controlling Crimea.

A negotiated settlement is political and economic reality. Neither side will win. This has nothing to do with liking Putin, and I don’t.

With that, let’s return to reality.

European Parliament Polls in France

EP France Polls from Wikipedia

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is clobbering Renew/Modem by a whopping 12 percentage points, 30-18. This is France only, not the entire parliament, but it reflects on Macron’s sinking popularity and the sinking centrists in general.

Composition of French Seats

Renew and the greens are going to get clobbered in France. The winner will be National Rally. The Greens will get clobbered everywhere.

Solidarity With Ukraine

Solidarity with Ukraine is drying up everywhere. Support is “so deep” that in the EU it died over wheat. Seriously.

How Ukraine Overcame Russia’s Grain Blockade

On February 27, 2024, the Council on Foreign Affairs explained How Ukraine Overcame Russia’s Grain Blockade

One might have thought that would lead to cheers everywhere. But something else happened.

Grain Sabotage by Polish Farmers

Please consider Ukraine Grain Tensions Rise After Sabotage by Polish Farmers.

A backlash against cheap imports has resulted in 160 tonnes of Ukrainian grain being deliberately spilt in Poland amid large-scale protests in the country against what farmers describe as unfair competition.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, described Sunday’s destruction of the corn near a Polish railway station – the fourth such incident in recent months – as an act of “impunity and irresponsibility”.

Sharing pictures of mounds of grain spilt from train wagons, he wrote on X: “These pictures show 160 tonnes of destroyed Ukrainian grain. The grain was in transit to the port of Gdansk and then to other countries.

“The fourth case of vandalism at Polish railway stations. The fourth case of impunity and irresponsibility.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later warned: “If steps to solve the problem with Poland at the border are not found, we will protect our business.”

Solidarity with Ukraine is so deep that Zelenskyy is warning Poland “we will protect our business.”

It’s not just Poland. Farmers across the EU are hopping mad over Ukrainian wheat and corn.

Europe’s Support for Ukrainian Wheat Gets Farmers Even Angrier

Bloomberg reports Europe’s Support for Ukrainian Wheat Gets Farmers Even Angrier

A move by the EU this week to extend free trade measures with Ukraine has poured fuel on the already growing frustration among grain producers from Poland to France. A provisional deal early on March 20 to suspend duties and quotas for another year means Ukraine would be able to continue to sell wheat in the common market of 27 European countries.

Ukraine is only one of the worries for European farmers, and the country isn’t to blame for the tumble in wheat prices. Imports, though, have become a rallying point. The disquiet presents a challenge for politicians as they balance priorities at home with support for Kyiv against Russia’s invasion.

Poland, where farmers blocked more than 500 roads again this week, threatened to extend its grain ban and even halt flows of wheat to other countries in the EU. “We are flooded by Ukrainian grains, and the government needs to find a solution,” said OPZZ farming union leader Slawomir Izdebski.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron has made support for Ukraine central to his campaign to thwart the rise of the far right at European elections in June. His government has been working to appease farmers, rolling out concessions ranging from fuel costs to pesticides and green rules.

It appears Macron’s Green principles go as far as the European elections in June.

His appeasement is far too little and far too late.

By the way, have any of these solidarity candidates thought through the idea of allowing Ukraine in the EU where it would be able to sell wheat freely?

Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is refusing to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

On March 16, I commented Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy

SPD Now Openly Supports Partition of Ukraine

I do no not have details of that because it’s behind a paywall. But it is from Eurointelligence, a source I trust for accuracy, but not philosophically. The latter because it is very pro-EU, and I am not.

The political reality in the west is that political support for Ukraine aid is falling. In Germany barely half of the population supports weapon deliveries according to a recent poll. In Italy, support is even lower. With the return of fiscal austerity, support for Ukraine is starting to compete with domestic policies.

You might call the Congressional Republicans irresponsible. But they would not be doing this if a large majority of the US electorate supported Ukraine.

When total victory is no longer a realistic option, the second-best outcome is to avoid defeat.

There’s Solidarity, Then There’s Solidarity

Poll after poll shows support for Ukraine. Every one of then is flawed because they fail to ask “how much are you willing to pay.”

There’s solidarity in the EU, but it stops with wheat and weapons.

In the US, Biden is desperate for the war to go on. But he still has no goal. Is Biden’s goal the same as Zelensky’s: “The war will not be over as long as Crimea is occupied.”

We don’t know because Biden won’t say. Biden also will not say how much he is willing to commit. Is it another $150 billion or is it $1 trillion or more?

Lindsey Graham Tells Ukraine to Force More Young Men Into War With Russia

Political jackass Lindsey Graham travels to Kyiv and tells Ukraine to Force More Young Men Into War With Russia

Senator Graham visited Ukraine and made an ass of himself, proving he do so on multiple continents.

I have a suggestion that would fix the problem: Lindsey Graham should lead the charge along with EC President Charles Michel.

Meanwhile, prepare for carnage of the center, Greens, and warmongers in the next European Parliament elections.

Authored by John Cody via ReMix News,

Europe’s illegal immigration crisis shows no signs of slowing, with the first two months of 2024 showing 31,200 irregular border crossings, which is the same level as last year’s near-record numbers, according to data from Frontex, the EU’s external border agency.

One of the standout data points was the explosive growth along the Western African route into Europe, which jumped 541 percent in the last two months.

“The Western African route remained the busiest migratory route in the EU, with arrivals in January and February reaching nearly 12,100. This was the highest total for these two months since Frontex began collecting data in 2011,” wrote the agency.

In recent months, criminal groups based in Mauritania that focus on human trafficking have been sending sub-Saharan migrants transiting through the country to the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain but lay off the coast of Africa. People smugglers cram these people in ever greater numbers into “cayuco” boats, representing a serious threat to their lives but higher profit margins for the gangs.

Other routes also saw big jumps, including the Eastern Mediterranean route, which saw a 117 percent increase. Meanwhile, the Central Mediterranean route, which saw the largest number of irregular crossings in 2023, “continued to show a downward trend from the recent months, with a year-on-year drop of 70 percent to slightly above 4,300. In January, there were around 2,000 detections on the route.”

Last year saw an immigration tsunami, with more illegal immigrants arriving in Europe than any year since the records set in 2016.

The new numbers are sure to sow worries that the EU will continue to refuse to enforce its borders, especially with the new Frontex chief, Hans Leutens, arguing that immigration is unstoppable. As Remix News reported in January of this year, he said: “Migration is a reality. Nothing can stop people from crossing a border. No wall, no fence, no sea, no river.”

What an interesting approach to border protection from the leader of the European Union’s border agency, Frontex. pic.twitter.com/vpoSYBPc4Y

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 23, 2024

Read more here…

Investors didn’t expect 2023 to be the bumper year for returns it ended up being. Despite tightening monetary policies and surging bond yields, equities continued their strong performance (helped hugely by enthusiasm around the potential of artificial intelligence).

This has boosted wealth creation, and the growth of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the world.

In the following graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Omri Wallach maps out where the 600,000+ UHNWIs reside, as of the end 2023. To be categorized as such, a person’s net worth needs to be higher than $30 million. This map uses data from the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2024.

It’s worth noting that some countries that are known hotspots for the wealthy—including Belgium, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Russia—do not have specified numbers in the source report and have not been covered in this map and article.

Ranked: Countries By Number of Ultra Wealthy Individuals

At the top of the ranks, accounting for more than one-third of the wealthiest in the world, the U.S. is home to 225,000 UHNWIs, more than double the number of 99,000 UHNWIs in China.

Together, the world’s two largest economies are home to 50% of the world’s wealthiest.

Note: The organization uses a dynamic proprietary wealth-sizing model created by their data engineering team to arrive at these figures. Exact numbers may change between different editions of this report.

Ranked third, Germany, has close to 30,000 UHNWIs, following the pattern of the biggest economic powerhouses having the highest share of the wealthy.

This correlation remains generally constant outside the top three as well, even if exact positions aren’t quite maintained:

• Canada, 10th largest economy, 4th in share of wealthiest people.

• Australia, 14th largest economy, 9th in wealthiest people.

• Switzerland, 20th largest economy, 10th in wealthiest people.

• India, 6th largest economy, 11th in wealthiest people.

Together, these top countries by share of UHNWIs account for 92% of all individuals with a net worth greater than $30 million.

Other countries, not specifically mentioned in the report, have 59,039 UHNWIs, or 8.1% of the world’s total.

Ranked: Regions By Number of Ultra Wealthy Individuals

Unsurprisingly, buoyed by the U.S. and China, North America and Asia are the top two regions by wealthiest individuals.

Europe is close behind Asia however; a reminder of the region’s collective economic might.

The oil-rich Middle East also outperforms on the wealthy individuals metric and saw the highest YoY growth in the ultra-wealthy after North America.

The world as a whole grew its UHNWI population by 4.2% and only South America saw a contraction in numbers between 2022 and 2023.

Via The European Conservative,

The government may be forced to limit the available choices for citizens in order to battle predicted ‘devastating consequences’ of climate change. That’s the message in an opinion titled “Climate Justice,” published on March 13th by the German Ethics Council.

In the opinion, the Ethics Council—a board of expert advisors established by German law—recommends actions to be taken by corporations, individuals, and the government to ensure the effects of climate change do not unjustly burden “those who are not so well-off.” 

Primarily, the Ethics Council says, this should be done on a voluntary basis—through individual ”self-commitment as an expression of one’s individual freedom”—by, for example, “voluntarily abandoning certain vacation, consumption, or mobility practices.”

However, the Council’s statement continues (emphasis added),

On grounds of justice, it can be morally required to contribute to measures to tackle climate change. If one’s own exercise of freedom interferes in an unjust manner with the freedom and welfare of others or of future generations, for example through consumption that is harmful to the climate, the authorities may intervene with restrictions of freedom. 

In other words: If you cannot be shamed into behaving in a way deemed morally correct by the elite, the government may simply have to force you. Flugscham, from the original Swedish flygskam, meaning “flight shame”—guilt about flying experienced by environmentally conscious travelers—is now an established word in the German vocabulary.

While the opinion states that the Ethics Council is opposed to suspending “democratic freedoms and processes” to reach the desired climate goals, the group says it largely falls to the government to provide the “supportive framework conditions” under which individuals can—as we say to the kids—make good choices. 

These framework conditions, the opinion says, should among other things include lowered speed limits, increased “electromobility,” and increased CO2 taxes. The Council suggests a personal emissions limit that cannot be exceeded, and even “the ban on particularly climate-damaging products or services”—or, as Apollo News puts it: “a regulation as to who can buy what and to what extent.”

Defining climate change as a man-made (“due to, among other factors, the combustion of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests and moors since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution”) phenomenon, the organization also says Germany needs to take into account “the long history of colonialism and industrialisation” as well as “ongoing neo-colonial dependencies,” meaning

a distinction must be made between growth in countries of the global South that are catching up on development, and further growth of consumption and resource use in industrialised countries, and appropriate compensatory payments must be negotiated.

At a time when the former European industrial powerhouse barely has its nose above water, it’s questionable whether “compensatory payments” to the Global South is on the traffic light coalition’s radar, regardless of Ethics Council recommendations. 

The Ethics Council is a 26-member independent organization representing diverse “scientific, medical, theological, philosophical, ethical, social, economic and legal concerns” intended to provide guidance for dealing with societal changes, “particularly in the field of life sciences and their application to humans.” Established in German law, the Ethics Council is tasked with, among other things, developing “statements and recommendations for political and legislative action,” and prepares its opinions based on its own decision, “on behalf of the German Bundestag or on behalf of the Federal Government.”

Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A member of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah was caught entering the country illegally at the Texas border, where he told agents he was plotting to make a bomb once settled in the country, according to a March 19 federal court document.

Basel Bassel Ebbadi, a Lebanese national, told a Texas border agent that he was “here to make a bomb” and that he spent several years training with the Hizballah terrorist group, an alternate name for Hezbollah, and he “was taught to kill people who were not Muslim.”

The group’s main operations are in Lebanon, Mr. Ebbadi’s native country.

Mr. Ebbadi, who is listed as being 22 years old, was transferred to the El Paso Sectors Human Intelligence Unit for further questioning, according to the criminal complaint filed by Border Patrol agent Jose L. Benitez-Medina in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Mr. Benitez-Medina wrote in his complaint that Mr. Ebbadi entered the United States on March 9 by crossing the Rio Grande in an area of Texas that is not a designated port of entry for migrants.

Instead, he crossed into the United States about four miles from the Bridge of The Americas Port of Entry in El Paso. According the court document, the border agent indicated that Mr. Ebbadi volunteered his ties to Hezbollah and was initially processed for entry.

Mr. Ebbadi is currently being held at the El Paso Hardened Facility.

Past Terror Against US

As part of his court complaint, the border patrol agent noted that on Oct. 8, 1997, the United States designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization and that in 2017, officials added “Lebanese Hizballah” as an alias for Hezbollah. He also listed several other aliases for Hezbollah, including Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad, Organization of Right Against Wrong, Followers of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Revolutionary Justice Organization.

The terrorist group has been found responsible for a number of large-scale terrorist attacks against the United States, including the deadly 1983 suicide truck bombings of the American Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. It has also planted bombs on buses and hijacked passenger airplanes around the world.

In 1994, 85 people were killed when the group detonated bombs at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) levied terrorism charges against a Hezbollah member found to be plotting attacks against U.S. embassies.

In 2004, the national commission appointed to study 9/11 and other terrorist attacks released a 585-page report that concluded that Hezbollah was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The 9/11 Commission also linked the group to Hamas, the radical militia group that carried out the recently grisly attacks on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. Hezbollah leaders praised the attack.

In 2008, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) started Project Cassandra as a way to stymie Hezbollah drug and weapons trafficking operations and money laundering activity in the United States.

However, the DEA initiative was ended by President Barack Obama soon after he took office in 2009.

In 2015, Defense Department financial crimes analyst David Asher, who helped start Project Cassandra, told Politico that the Obama administration expressed concerns the project would lead to alienating Iranian officials.

“They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down,” Mr. Asher said.

In May 2023, the DOJ seized 13 website domains it said Hezbollah was using to plot future terrorist attacks, including against the United States.

“Today’s web domain seizures deny terrorist organizations and affiliates significant sources of support and make clear we will not allow these groups to use U.S. infrastructure to threaten the American people,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement about the Hezbollah domains.

Suspected Terrorists Living in the US

Earlier this week, the New York Post reported it had obtained internal documents from the agency showing a Hezbollah member had been nabbed at the border in El Paso.

ICE’s El Paso Enforcement and Removal Office declined repeated requests by The Epoch Times to confirm Mr. Ebbadi’s detention.

After several requests made over the course of two days about Mr. Ebbadi, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol finally responded on March 18 with an email indicating only that “the individual referenced is in U.S. custody.”

Media outlets all over the world, including The Jerusalem Post and Hindustan Times, reported on the news that a Hezbollah terrorist was found to have crossed illegally into the United States.

Members of other known terrorist organizations have been living illegally in the United States.

In February, Patrick Lechleitner, President Joe Biden’s acting ICE director, said that in 2023, a Somali terrorist from the Islamic military group al-Shabaab was released into the United States after illegally crossing the U.S. border, The Daily Caller reported. He had been freely roaming until his arrest on Jan. 20 in Minneapolis, according to ICE records.

Al-Shabaab is known to have ties with the al-Qaeda terrorist group, which was linked to the 9/11 attacks.