Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Republican secretary of state sent a letter this week to the Department of Justice (DOJ) alerting it to an executive order signed in 2021 that he says will allow felons and illegal aliens to register to vote in elections.

In the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Republican Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson wrote that a Biden-signed executive order has led to agencies under Mr. Garland’s charge “attempting to register people to vote, including potentially ineligible felons and to co-opt state and local officials into accomplishing this goal.”

The order, which the White House described as an effort to promote “access to voting,” suggested that it was designed to eliminate racial discrimination at the polls. It told federal agencies, including the DOJ, to “consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.”

Mr. Watson took issue with one provision that directed the DOJ to ensure that the U.S. Marshals Service change jail and “intergovernmental agreements” to mandate that the facilities “provide educational materials related to voter registration and voting,” and “facilitate voting by mail, to the extent practicable and appropriate.”

The problem, according to Mr. Watson, is that those materials may be given to people who can’t vote such as felons and illegal aliens. State officials are also essentially being forced to comply with the rules, he said.

“Our understanding is that everyone in the Marshals’ custody is given a form advising them of their right to register and vote,” his letter said, according to Fox News. “Providing ineligible non-citizens with information on how to register to vote undoubtedly encourages them to illegally register to vote, exposing them to legal jeopardy beyond their immigration status.”

The letter said that the secretary of state’s office believes that providing a form to illegal immigrants who are jailed to advise them of their right to vote “undoubtedly encourages them to illegally” do so and exposes them to “legal jeopardy.”

It also noted that some individuals in jail custody “only have fleeting ties to Mississippi and do not meet the residency requirements necessary to be a Mississippi voter.”

“Many outside groups performing voter registration and vote harvesting services are partisan entities with a history of being unreliable. There have been documented instances of these groups providing incorrect directions to voters,” the Republican official warned. “It is not proper for the Federal government to push partisan groups into the voting process in Mississippi or any other state.”

The Epoch Times contacted the DOJ for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time.

Speaking to Fox News, Mr. Watson said the issue should be immediately considered because the 2024 election is just months away. Citing the significant number of illegal border crossings in recent years, the secretary said they could try to register to vote and cast ballots in the coming months, while other Republican officials in recent years have warned that illegal immigrants could register to vote and cast ballots in favor of Democratic candidates.

“If you look at what’s going on at the border when you’ve got so many illegal aliens pouring into our country, imagine the efforts used to get them to register to vote and that’s what this is all about,” he told the outlet on March 11. “It’s about control, it’s about continuing their power, and unfortunately that puts our country in a terrible position, so it’s immediate and it’s something where we hope they will respect our request to stop the program.”

With just eight months to go before the November election, illegal immigration has increasingly become a focus among American voters, according to recent opinion polls. A poll released in late February showed that about six in 10 Americans believe illegal immigration is now a serious problem and a majority now back the construction of a border wall, which former President Donald Trump has championed.

During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech to Congress, he made reference to an illegal immigrant who allegedly murdered a college student, using the term “illegal” to describe the individual.

But he later retracted his comments over the weekend, telling MSNBC that he “shouldn’t have used the term illegal.” Instead, the president said he would use the term “undocumented” immigrant—a term that has risen to prominence among Democratic politicians and legacy news outlets in recent years.

When asked the same question last week, the president replied, “Technically, he’s not supposed to be” in the United States.

The president also said on March 9 that “they built the country,” referring to illegal immigrants. “The reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and more orderly flow,” he said.

Just 13 months into her tenure at Under Armour, Linnartz is already out as CEO. The Marriott veteran took over in 2023 less than a year after former CEO Patrik Frisk was ousted (Frisk himself had only run the business for two years). Disgraced founder Kevin Plank – who used then Bloomberg’s Stephanie Ruhle as both a private PR adviser and alleged love interest – will take the reins from her on April 1, according to a company press release.

Plank, currently executive chair of the board, will return to the CEO job April 1, Under Armour said Wednesday. Linnartz will remain an adviser to the company through April 30, while a familiar name on Wall Street, lead director Mohamed El-Erian, will succeed Plank as non-executive chairman.

Plank thanked Linnartz for her efforts and said in a statement that he looks forward to “seizing the opportunities ahead” for Under Armour.

“During her tenure, [Linnartz] strengthened the leadership team with executive hires in critical areas, including product, design, supply chain, consumer connectivity, and regional management,” Plank said in a statement. “Her prior experience leading major brands was instrumental in focusing our consumer strategy, including the launch of the U.S. loyalty program, UA Rewards. Her efforts have helped set us on the right path, and we wish her success in her future endeavors.”

Indeed, Linnartz was in the midst of overhauling Under Armour’s C-suite, which recently saw the exit of Browne, Chief Product Officer Lisa Collier and other roles. During her last earnings call, Linnartz highlighted that in addition to a new chief of product and head of the Americas, named in January, Under Armour over the months had also brought on a new: chief consumer officer, chief communications officer, chief design officer, chief supply chain officer, leader for the EMEA region and senior vice president of DTC in the Americas. The business is also in the middle of a pivot to a more athleisure-focused offering.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Poonam Goyal said the CEO change was a surprise because there were early signs that Linnartz’s turnaround plan was taking hold. Plank’s return “might raise eyebrows, given his resignation amid workplace controversies,” Goyal wrote in a note, eyeing former co-worker Stephanie Ruhle.

Plank stepped down as CEO of Under Armour in 2020 after a series of scandals, including a Wall Street Journal story that reported the company had a culture of inappropriate behavior toward women. Not only that, but details emerged that the billionaire had developed close ties with MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, who had traveled with Plank and Under Armour staff on his private jet, while “advising” the CEO her input on a range of business matters.

Ruhle’s involvement at the Baltimore company was unusual and problematic, the WSJ reported, and left employees unsure how to handle her feedback because “many people believed she was romantically involved with Plank.” Both Mr. Plank and Ms. Ruhle are married.

Linnartz outlined a three-year plan in 2023 to grow the brand through womenswear, footwear and “sports style” by pushing into more design collaborations and bolstering its presence in sneaker culture. She called her first year a “building year” for Under Armour as she moved to reset inventory levels and realign the business around the new strategic priorities.

A former executive at Marriott International Inc., Linnartz is a polished leader who oversaw the hotel chain’s rewards program and forged partnerships with entities like the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association before taking the top job at Under Armour.

During her tenure at Baltimore-based Under Armour, Linnartz started the athletic-wear company’s own rewards program and brought in many new senior managers across divisions, including heads of product and branding, to help execute the turnaround plan.

“Her efforts have helped set us on the right path,” Plank, who founded Under Armour in 1996, said in the company’s statement Wednesday.

Under Armour raised its outlook for full-year earnings in February, with cost-cutting efforts overcoming a continued decline in revenue, particularly in its home market. Still, North American revenue was down 12% in the most recent quarter and the stock is a mere fraction of where it traded over the past decade.

Credit card debt carries a hefty bill in America, and falling behind on payments can be extremely costly for cardholders.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu, shows credit card delinquency rates across 50 U.S. states, as of Q3 2023. This data comes from a WalletHub study published in January 2024.

Which States Have the Lowest and Highest Delinquency Rates?

Credit card delinquency is when a cardholder falls behind on required monthly payments. Credit agencies are often notified after two months of delinquent payments.

WalletHub examined proprietary user data on the average number of delinquent credit card tradelines—also known as credit accounts—across states. Here they are from lowest to highest:

No state had credit delinquency rates of less than 10%, with Iowa coming the closest at 12.9%.

That puts Iowa ahead of wealthier states like Massachusetts (13.9%), Washington (14.7%), and New Hampshire (15.5%).

At the bottom end was Mississippi, which had 39% credit delinquency rates to end 2023. That’s well ahead of the next-lowest states Louisiana (31.7%) and Alabama (30.5%).

It’s notable that the American South had higher rates of delinquency almost across the board. The five states with the highest rates of credit card delinquency are all located in the southeastern region of the country, and Texas had a higher delinquency rate (25%) than other majorly populated states like Florida (14.8%) and New York (14.9%).

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Officials in New Mexico confirmed that a resident died from the plague in the United States’ first fatal case in several years.

The New Mexico Department of Health, in a statement, said that a man in Lincoln County “succumbed to the plague.” The man, who was not identified, was hospitalized before his death, officials said.

They further noted that it is the first human case of plague in New Mexico since 2021 and also the first death since 2020, according to the statement. No other details were provided, including how the disease spread to the man.

The agency is now doing outreach in Lincoln County, while “an environmental assessment will also be conducted in the community to look for ongoing risk,” the statement continued.

“This tragic incident serves as a clear reminder of the threat posed by this ancient disease and emphasizes the need for heightened community awareness and proactive measures to prevent its spread,” the agency said.

A bacterial disease that spreads via rodents, it is generally spread to people through the bites of infected fleas. The plague, known as the black death or the bubonic plague, can spread by contact with infected animals such as rodents, pets, or wildlife.

The New Mexico Health Department statement said that pets such as dogs and cats that roam and hunt can bring infected fleas back into homes and put residents at risk.

Officials warned people in the area to “avoid sick or dead rodents and rabbits, and their nests and burrows” and to “prevent pets from roaming and hunting.”

“Talk to your veterinarian about using an appropriate flea control product on your pets as not all products are safe for cats, dogs or your children” and “have sick pets examined promptly by a veterinarian,” it added.

“See your doctor about any unexplained illness involving a sudden and severe fever, the statement continued, adding that locals should clean areas around their home that could house rodents like wood piles, junk piles, old vehicles, and brush piles.

The plague, which is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, famously caused the deaths of an estimated hundreds of millions of Europeans in the 14th and 15th centuries following the Mongol invasions. In that pandemic, the bacteria spread via fleas on black rats, which historians say was not known by the people at the time.

Other outbreaks of the plague, such as the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century, are also believed to have killed about one-fifth of the population of the Byzantine Empire, according to historical records and accounts. In 2013, researchers said the Justinian plague was also caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria.

But in the United States, it is considered a rare disease and usually occurs only in several countries worldwide. Generally, according to the Mayo Clinic, the bacteria affects only a few people in U.S. rural areas in Western states.

Recent cases have occurred mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Countries with frequent plague cases include Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru, the clinic says. There were multiple cases of plague reported in Inner Mongolia, China, in recent years, too.

Symptoms

Symptoms of a bubonic plague infection include headache, chills, fever, and weakness. Health officials say it can usually cause a painful swelling of lymph nodes in the groin, armpit, or neck areas. The swelling usually occurs within about two to eight days.

The disease can generally be treated with antibiotics, but it is usually deadly when not treated, the Mayo Clinic website says.

“Plague is considered a potential bioweapon. The U.S. government has plans and treatments in place if the disease is used as a weapon,” the website also says.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the last time that plague deaths were reported in the United States was in 2020 when two people died.

India this week unveiled the maidan flight test of a new ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, with an eye on its nuclear-armed neighbors China and India.

Only a handful of countries in the world possess this technology, which features MIRV technology, or “multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles” for the deployment of nuclear warheads. This makes the missile capable of of multiple attacks across different locations based on a single missile launch.

Named the Agni-5, which is Sanskrit for “fire”, the intercontinental ballistic missile being touted as being able to reach targets more than 3,100 miles (or 5,000km) away.

The Wall Street Journal has observed of the significance that “this puts Beijing and its neighborhood within the direct target range of India’s Strategic Forces Command, the dedicated tri-services nuclear force under the direct control of the prime minister, said New Delhi-based defense analyst N.C. Bipindra.”

But this also enables India to strike anywhere in its archrival Pakistan’s territory, which New Delhi has fought no less than three wars with in the last century.

The nuclear watchdog Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has issued the following further details…

Reports have circulated for two decades about the Indian defense industry working on MIRV technology. Some have suggested that a MIRV capability might exist for the Agni-3 medium-range missile, which is currently being fielded with the Indian army, but this has not yet been confirmed. Unconfirmed press reports also said that an Agni-P medium-range missile test in December 2021 carried two reentry vehicles to simulate MIRV capability.

The Indian government says that the latest Agni-5 test––named Mission Divyastra––was the first time that this missile had successfully demonstrated MIRV technology. If so, it will likely take several additional flight tests to complete the development of an operational MIRV capability for the Agni-5. Yet the test-launch demonstration of MIRV capability on the Agni-5 with a significantly modified payload section marks a significant development for India’s nuclear posture, and faster than we anticipated just a few years ago.

First images of India’s latest Agni-V test — the first of the A5 with MIRV warheads. pic.twitter.com/KJo6zyvbQm

— Livefist (@livefist) March 11, 2024

This first successful test flight has come after many years of rumors that India was on the cusp of achieving MIRV technology, which so far is only possessed by the US, Russia, China and France. According to more from FAS:

Reports have circulated for two decades about the Indian defense industry working on MIRV technology. Some have suggested that a MIRV capability might exist for the Agni-3 medium-range missile, which is currently being fielded with the Indian army, but this has not yet been confirmed. Unconfirmed press reports also said that an Agni-P medium-range missile test in December 2021 carried two reentry vehicles to simulate MIRV capability.

The Indian government says that the latest Agni-5 test––named Mission Divyastra––was the first time that this missile had successfully demonstrated MIRV technology. If so, it will likely take several additional flight tests to complete the development of an operational MIRV capability for the Agni-5. Yet the test-launch demonstration of MIRV capability on the Agni-5 with a significantly modified payload section marks a significant development for India’s nuclear posture, and faster than we anticipated just a few years ago.

India of course has long had intense border and territorial disputes with both China and Pakistan, and also regularly enters into religiously inspired verbal altercations with Pakistan officials (Hindus vs. Muslims), with latter being concerned over India’s treatment of its sizeable Muslim population.

Authored by Roger L. Simon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It remains to be seen to what extent New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron put a stake in the heart of the once-great, now-beleaguered, city of New York, but he certainly didn’t help when he issued his draconian judgment against Donald J. Trump, ruling that the former president and his family must pay a staggering $350 million-plus in penalties and forbidding them from doing business in the state for several years.

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary for President George W. Bush, was the first I heard to acknowledge the disastrous protentional economic repercussions on cable news, but I imagine that businessmen across the city and state had anticipated this and have been making plans to exit New York for some time.

That state already has the biggest population outflow, outnumbering even California’s.

The mind-blowing size of Justice Engoron’s decision was just rancid icing on an already unpalatable cake.

But it was enough to inspire the ire of truckers across the United States who, like their peers in Canada and farmers in Europe, had had enough nonsense from the Engorons of the world.

We can only wish them well because they are the allies of freedom.

Meanwhile, what businessperson—high or low—wants to incorporate in a state where a wanton judge can suddenly decree his or her estimates of their real estate valuations to obtain a loan to be inflated, impose ridiculous fines, and then shut them down—possibly forever?

In President Trump’s case, as those same businesspersons surely noted, not a soul had been damaged by the former president’s estimates, inflated or not. All the loans had been repaid and the banks involved, of course, made money. There were no victims.

As the late Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn would say, “No harm. No foul.”

Except to the likes of Justice Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, for whom Trump Derangement Syndrome is an illness more irreversible than pancreatic cancer.

Whether President Trump succeeds in overturning the absurd decision is in some senses irrelevant because the damage is already done.

Welcome to Florida, Texas, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and so forth, Mr. and Mrs. New York.

I should be grateful to Justice Engoron and Ms. James for selling copies of my new book on the exodus to red states from blue states, “American Refugees,” as a guide for where to move, but I’m not.

I would prefer such people go away because I love New York, the city I grew up in, and they are destroying it in the most reactionary manner, although they think of themselves as “progressives.” Go figure.

The onslaught on the business community means fewer jobs for the working class, including minorities, all classes actually, not that that has ever deterred the new Democratic Party that seems to care little for working men and women.

Although many remain oblivious, this has tremendous ramifications for what is nauseatingly termed “elitist” liberal and progressive Democrats who love, as I do, the magnificent cultural benefits that New York has always offered.

But with the economic base fleeing, with manufacturing nearly a thing of the past, who will pay for all the monumental museums, the Lincoln Center, the theater on and off Broadway, the many parks, the Bronx Zoo, and so forth, not to mention the plethora of world-class restaurants in any cuisine imaginable that depend on a well-to-do clientele?

The state?

As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it so succinctly years ago, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Not that that would mean much to Justice Engoron or Ms. James, so lost in their lust to destroy Donald Trump that the fate of any of the classes in the city of New York, even the outside world itself, is of little consequence to them.

This is par for the course for much of the Democratic Party these days, with the exception of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose intelligence and good sense they can no longer countenance.

They have switched roles with the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, composed of actual everyday, hardworking Americans, whom they disdain.

In a sense, the two parties are in the midst of what could be termed a political sex change operation. They are having a form of gender reassignment surgery.

This particular episode led me to consider, not for the first time, of course, why people such as Justice Engoron think the way they do.

That they have replaced religious faith with unquestioning leftist politics has become a cliché, but like many clichés, there’s some, in this case considerable, truth to it.

But other things are at work.

I have been rereading Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” It’s all about race, greed, and the justice system in New York in those days.

One thing that struck me is how pathetic the justice system was, as portrayed by Wolfe, and how its denizens were rife with jealousy of characters such as the book’s principal protagonist, Wall Street bond trader Sherman McCoy, even though McCoy gets his comeuppance in the story.

This made me think of the way that Justice Engoron must regard President Trump. Justice Engoron, though he is a Manhattan Supreme Court justice, is basically a lowly civil servant and inhabits what was in essence the lower ranks of the Manhattan hierarchy, especially as compared to real estate magnates, hedge fund managers, CEOs, media giants, successful entertainers, and even doctors and lawyers.

No wonder he despises President Trump, who is a genuine “Master of the Universe,” as Wolfe characterized it, albeit a truly successful one, unlike Wolfe’s protagonist.

No wonder Justice Engoron wants nothing more than to bring President Trump down and is highly offended, or claims he is, when President Trump talks back to him.

As we all know, older—way older than the Democratic or Republican parties—is that document, chiseled in stone from on high, known as the Ten Commandments.

Number 10 is, of course, “Thou shalt not covet.” More completely: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).

How much coveting has been going on in our culture, do you think, lately—not just in obvious places such as Justice Engoron’s courtroom? I would say an incomprehensible amount.

On top of all that, Justice Engoron as well as Ms. James are both tried-and-true members of the judicial division within the government.

If Mr. Trump succeeds in November’s election, it’s their jobs—not those of the working class and the populace in general—that will be in jeopardy.

One of the benefits of believing in leftist politics, despite its notoriously failed efficacy and historical danger to human life in several continents, is that, by atheistically replacing religious faith with political ideology, you are free to covet anything you want and destroy anybody in the process.

I think, however, to President Trump, Justice Engoron’s covetous decision, in the end, will be no more than a glancing blow.

To the city of New York, however, one of the monuments of Western civilization, it could prove yet one more step, and perhaps a fatal one, in a rapid decline that we have been witnessing for several years now—or, thanks to the truckers and other freedom lovers, an actual, long-awaited wake-up call.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre or surreal, the Boeing story did just that.

As previously reported, the aerospace giant has been under regulatory scrutiny following a string of safety-related incidents since the beginning of the year (really, since 2019 when two of its 737 MAXes fell out of the sky like overpriced deadly paperweight, but let’s just skip to the latest snafu), starting with a door blowing off a flight and continuing with multiple other incidents, including a cracked cockpit window, bolts missing on a wing, various wheels falling off during takeoff in at least two incidents and several engine fires/failures.  

And as the pressure ratchets up on Boeing, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that management is running the same type of interference it did during the infamous MCAS scandal and ensuing cover-up attempt which cost former CEO Muilenburg his job. Sure enough, on Wednesday we learned that Boeing – in a pure coincidence that Jeffrey Epstein would approve of – “overwrote”, i.e. deleted, security camera footage showing work being done on a door that blew out on the Alaska Airlines MAX jet in January.

It’s not just the footage however: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said it is unclear “who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” as Boeing is “unable to find the records documenting this work.” In Homendy’s letter, she writes that despite requests to Boeing and interviews at the Renton, Washington factory where the panel was removed, the identity of the crew member that worked on the panel remains unknown and has would be unable to “provide a statement or interview to NTSB due to medical issues.“

It gets crazier: in her letter, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said she directly appealed to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun for information on who worked on the faulty door plug, expressing frustration over Boeing’s claim of missing records and security footage. Even then, Boeing merely stonewalled and said it was “unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed.”

Finally, the epic culmination – at least so far – of the shitstorm that has engulfed Boeing, we noted yesterday that a key whistleblower, a former quality control manager at the company who raised concerns about the firm’s production standards, was found dead from an apparent suicide. 

John Barnett, a former veteran Boeing employee of 32 years, passed away from a self-inflicted wound on March 9, the BBC reported on Monday evening. Barnett was involved in a whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing, alleging serious safety concerns at the North Charleston plant, where he managed quality for the 787 Dreamliner production. Boeing was in Charleston for legal interviews related to the lawsuit when he was found dead. 

He claimed the push for speed compromised safety, with sub-standard parts being used and a significant failure rate in emergency oxygen systems. Despite raising these issues, he felt his concerns were disregarded, leading to legal action against Boeing, alleging career damage due to his whistleblowing.

Meanwhile, what would a catastrophe in a company near and dear to the government – and of course, the deep state – be without questionable trading surrounding the incident in Congress? In filings reported on Wednesday, it was revealed that Congressman William R. Keating sold somewhere between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of Boeing shares on February 28.

He’s the latest Congress critter to have “excellent timing” when it comes to stock trades: while it isn’t Fed Governor Raphael Bostic selling massive S&P futures lots ahead of Fed minutes dropping, the sale took place the day before it was announced that the DOJ was investigating Boeing.  Recall, on February 29, Bloomberg wrote that the DOJ was “looking into” the Boeing door plug blowout that took place earlier that month. Since his sale, Boeing’s stock value has tumbled by about 11%. 

In any case, between Barnett who “suicided” himself, and now the video footage which also also apparently was “accidentally” snuffed out, we wonder just who is next on the Epstein escalator of “not suiciding themselves” at Boeing?

My, my my…how quickly we go from a couple kids just looting to feed their families to “organized crime rings plaguing retailers”. Seems like we made the transition in just a couple of years and no Soro-appointed DA even noticed!

But alas these crime rings were the topic of a new CNBC report which spent 8 months investigating organized retail crime rings. 

Organized retail theft has emerged as a significant concern for both large and small retailers, contributing to reduced profits, staffing challenges, and a diminished shopping experience. This issue has also garnered bipartisan public frustration over increased security measures, such as locking products behind glass, the report notes. 

The rise of such crime is debated, with retailers like Target, Foot Locker, Walgreens, and Ulta reporting escalating theft issues, though specifics on frequency and financial impact are often not disclosed. This has led to suspicions that retailers might be attributing operational shortcomings to crime, as we have alluded to numerous times here on Zero Hedge and on our X account. 

According to the National Retail Federation, $40.5 billion was lost to external theft in 2022, accounting for 36% of inventory losses, a slight decrease from the previous year. Despite debates on its direct impact on profits, the perceived threat to employee and customer safety is clear.

Adam Parks, an assistant special agent in charge at HSI, which is the main federal agency investigating retail crime, told CNBC: “We’re talking about operations that have fleets of trucks, 18-wheelers that have palletized loads of stolen goods, that have cleaning crews that actually clean the goods to make them look brand new.”

“Just like any business, they’ve invested their capital into business assets like shrink wrap machines, forklifts. That is what organized theft looks like, and it actually is indistinguishable from other e-commerce distribution centers,” he continued. 

In response, both local and federal law enforcement efforts against organized retail crime have intensified. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) significantly increased its actions, with cases and arrests rising sharply between 2021 and 2023. The California Highway Patrol reported a 170% increase in arrests for organized theft in 2023 compared to 2022, though it remains uncertain if this reflects a genuine spike in theft or enhanced enforcement efforts driven by increased public and industry pressure.

Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell said: “The financial impact is real, but way more important is the human impact, the impact it has to our associates, the impact it has to our guests.”

“It also impacts the communities in which we live. If people don’t feel safe going in to shop in certain areas of a community, it really has an impact and can change neighborhoods and change communities over time,” he continued. 

In New Orleans, the investigation unearthed security video that captured a man walking into a Walgreens, going straight to the cosmetics section, and filling a plastic bag hidden in his pants with 17 nail polish jars, worth about $200. He then proceeded to the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library, about half a mile away, and sold the stolen items to a security guard, according to police.

In San Jose, the California Highway Patrol discovered a vast array of new merchandise, including detergents like Gain, Tide, and Downy, Gillette razors, Olay moisturizer, Allegra allergy pills, and sparkly silver boots with T.J. Maxx tags, in a home and storage unit linked to a suspected organized retail theft ring.

In total, nearly 20,000 items, worth over $550,000 and believed to be stolen from T.J. Maxx and various drugstores and grocery stores in the Bay Area, were found at five locations associated with the group.

In San Diego, police uncovered “a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme” involving shoplifting and then selling the items on Amazon. One scheme participant texted back in January 2023: “I’m not stealing regular I’m going to start filling up my bag quick. So I want to know stuff I can grab in bulks too.”

After that, the suspect committed at least 10 thefts at Ulta stores across California. But don’t worry – AOC says these shoplifters are just ‘hungry’ people seeking bread to feed their family with. 

You can read CNBC’s full investigation, including details of thefts in individual cities, here.

Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

As daylight begins to fade at an abandoned illegal immigrant camp at the border wall near Jacumba, in California’s San Diego County, a couple of Mexican soldiers armed with assault rifles patrol the rocky terrain in the hills above.

Below them, white tents along the Mexican side of the border wall signal the army presence as Mexican national guard (Guardia Nacional) troops pull up in a truck. They set up camp here in early February.

On Feb. 29, a Mexican soldier hides behind a rock as he realizes reporters have seen him on the U.S. side of the border. Several moments later, he ducks back under the barbed wire fence into Mexico.

Manny Bayon, a National Border Patrol Council spokesman in San Diego, said usually any incursion by the Mexican military is directly reported to headquarters and the White House is notified.

After watching an Epoch Times video of the Mexican soldier in the hills above the San Judas break, Mr. Bayon said it’s obvious that the soldier was on U.S. soil.

“They should know better,” he told The Epoch Times. “There’s a boundary marker on top of that hill. I’ve been up there. I’ve seen it.”

Any incursion presents a risk to the safety of Border Patrol agents, Mr. Bayon said.

“When you have somebody with an automatic weapon coming into the U.S., it’s concerning. I mean, they’re not coming here with flowers or to make things better,” he said. “It’s concerning because they do counter surveillance on us.”

And, just because someone wearing a uniform appears to be Mexican military, doesn’t necessarily mean they are, Mr. Bayon said.

“The cartels have also used military uniforms to make it look like they are military—but they’re actually cartel,” he said.

A Border Patrol agent in Arizona, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, told The Epoch Times that no incursions go unanswered.

“Any time Mexican military comes on our side, we’re always notified. It’s a big deal,” he said. “We have guys that are liaisons with the south side, so they’re going to be notified, and there is definitely going to be phone calls made immediately.”

Sometimes, he said, it’s Mexican soldiers not knowing where the boundary is or they get lost, especially in remote areas where it’s not as cut and dry, he said.

“But then there are certain areas where it’s very clear,” he said. “We try to play nice with them, because for the most part they’re the same with us.”

“We don’t come in like guns blazing. Typically, we try to defuse the situation and their chain of command is notified. It’s not something that we just allow to happen. There’s definitely people notified immediately. It’s always a big deal if they come over onto the U.S. side and vice-versa.”

Less than three months ago, the gap at the end of this border wall where the military tents now sit, was a pedestrian highway for thousands of foreign nationals entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico.

Mexican smugglers routinely dropped off their human cargo at a footpath leading to the narrow gap, called the San Judas break, where the 30-foot border wall ends at the steep hillside.

In February, Kate Monroe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Republican congressional candidate in District 49 who lost in the March 5 primary election, bought a 400-foot coil of razor wire off Amazon and blocked the gap. The razor wire is still there.

A few hundred yards away on the American side at a site known as Willow camp to the U.S. Border Patrol agents, little remains of the dozens of firepits and makeshift shelters where hundreds of illegal immigrants waited to be transported and processed after surrendering to agents in December 2023.

Two other sites—known as Moon and 177 camps—close to known illegal crossing sites near the small towns of Jacumba and Boulevard on the southeastern fringe of the county, are also now patrolled by the Mexican military, according to the Border Patrol.

For all the military presence, illegal crossings haven’t substantially dipped in the area. On March 6, 1,132 illegal immigrants were apprehended in the San Diego sector, which is within the average daily range over the last several weeks, according to Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council.

“We have not seen a drop in total arrests,” he told The Epoch Times.

A Deal with Mexico?

Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies and former counterterrorism intelligence officer, told The Epoch Times that according to Mexican soldiers he interviewed, they’re rounding up migrants near the U.S. border and moving them south.

“They said their orders are to hunt down all immigrants and give them to Mexican immigration for deportation to their southern provinces. They also told me their deployments are open ended,” Mr. Bensman said.

The increased Mexican military presence along the border coincides with a flurry of bilateral talks.

President Biden hosted bilateral meetings with his Mexican counterpart on Nov. 17, 2023, and spoke with him over the phone on Dec. 22, 2023, which led to a Dec.. 27, 2023, meeting between the Mexican president and a U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, preceding President Biden’s trip to Mexico City on Jan. 9.

“Secretary Blinken will discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges,” said a State Department spokesman prior to the meeting.

The spokesman also said Mr. Blinken would reaffirm U.S. commitment to the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection, and “underscore the urgent need for lawful pathways and additional enforcement actions by partners throughout the region.”

After their return, Mexico “mounted one of the most epic domestic anti-illegal-immigration operations in recent memory,” Mr. Bensman wrote.

He surmised the Biden administration may have “cut a deal” with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to crackdown on illegal immigrants headed northward. Both presidents have elections this year.

“The Mexican army is all over the northern border now doing different kinds of interdiction across from Texas, they’re hunting down immigrants aggressively. And when they find them, they force them onto buses and ship them south,” Mr. Bensman said.

“They are interdicting the traffic on top of the freight trains, blocking access to the rail yards, and pulling immigrants off the trains,” he said. “This is all part of a Biden-inspired and directed Mexican crackdown that is nationwide for Mexico.”

In January, Border Patrol agents apprehended 124,220 illegal immigrants along the southern border, CBP data show. It’s a 50-percent decrease from the record surge of 249,735 in December 2023.

American news outlets have essentially ignored Mexico’s actions while “the Mexican media has been all over this,” Mr. Bensman said.

One Mexican newspaper reported the Mexican government is “under U.S. pressure” to step up its military operations in Tijuana, Juarez, and Matamoros—cities across from San Diego, El Paso, and Brownsville, respectively. In Matamoros, the military recently bulldozed a massive migrant camp and dug anti-pedestrian trenches.

Read more here…

Ethereum’s much-anticipated Dencun upgrade (portmanteau of two upgrades, ‘Deneb’ and ‘Cancun’), which allows for the reduction of gas fees on layer-2 solutions through proto-danksharding, went live earlier today, March 13, drawing both applause and doubts from speculators. 

The Dencun upgrade brings enhancements that boost Ethereum’s efficiency and scalability, among other improvements to the network. The most noticeable benefit of Dencun will be the reduced costs for L2s to post data on Ethereum. This will result in significantly lower gas fees on L2s, potentially up to 90% cheaper based on current activity levels.

To illustrate the impact, let’s look at a comparison of projected gas costs for a DEX swap on major L2s before and after the Dencun upgrade:

For those unfamiliar, the Dencun upgrade is centered around EIP-4844, known as “proto-danksharding.” As Bankless explains, this proposal is named after Ethereum researchers Protolambda and Dankrad Feist, and its main aim is to support the rollup-centric roadmap of Ethereum. It fundamentally changes the structure of Ethereum as a modular blockchain and makes it a more efficient data availability layer for its L2s. 

EIP-4844 introduces a new transaction type that carries “blobs,” which are large packets of raw data that L2s post on Ethereum. With the Dencun Upgrade, Ethereum now processes two main types of transactions:

• Regular transactions — these are the standard transactions we’re familiar with, covering actions like ETH transfers and interactions with smart contracts on the mainnet. These transactions are processed and executed by the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and are stored permanently on the Ethereum blockchain, consuming significant amounts of blockspace. They currently account for about 90% of Ethereum’s gas usage and storage, with the remainder being transaction data posted by L2s.
• Blob-carrying ‘data transactions’ — introduced by EIP-4844, these transactions provide L2s with a more efficient way to post large amounts of their data on Ethereum by storing them in blobs. Unlike regular transactions, they don’t need to be executed by the EVM and are stored on Ethereum temporarily, around 18 days (or 4096 epochs), rather than permanently.

Traditionally, L2s post batches of regular transactions on the mainnet. These transactions are more expensive because they include call data. Call data provides granular details about each transaction – for instance, when transferring tokens, it includes the transfer function’s arguments and other transaction parameters. This level of detail enlarges the transaction size and, consequently, the gas required, as the EVM must read and execute it. While this is necessary for transactions directly on the mainnet, it’s superfluous for L2s that only need Ethereum for data availability.

With EIP-4844 and blob-carrying transactions, the data posted by L2s only includes important details of L2 transactions required for the data availability needs of the chain. These include raw data of the transactions in the form of blobs as well as references or pointers to the blobs within the transaction.

Ultimately, blob-carrying transactions make it drastically cheaper for L2s to post data on Ethereum mainnet. Since blob data doesn’t require re-execution on Ethereum, it’s cheaper to post. This cost-effectiveness is their key advantage when compared to regular transactions. 

To summarize, EIP-4844 and blob-carrying transactions introduce several key enhancements:

• Enhanced scalability for Ethereum —  Given the constraints on the number of transactions Ethereum can process per block, EIP-4844 and blob-carrying transactions enable a more efficient use of blockspace compared to existing methods.
• Lower fees on L2s via more efficient data availability — With blobs, L2s now have a cheaper way to post data on Ethereum Mainnet. This reduction in costs can be passed on to users, making transactions on L2s much cheaper. Moreover, since blobs are a different type of transaction altogether, they have their own fee market and remain unaffected by any increased activity of regular transactions on Ethereum Mainnet. Lower gas fees are a big part of every L2’s roadmap and vision for onchain adoption, and we are seeing proactive initiatives from all L2 teams to integrate these fee reductions into their ecosystems promptly following the Dencun Upgrade.
• Foundation for harding —  Proto-danksharding is an incremental step that introduces some of the concepts of sharding without fully implementing it. For instance, EIP-4844’s blobs will be a crucial part of full sharding. The Dencun Upgrade’s activation of blob transactions allows the community to test Ethereum network’s capacity to handle increased data loads live in production and prepare for the full sharding upgrade.

So what do industry insiders and veterans think of today’s long-awaited upgrade?

Speaking to CoinTelegraph, Ruslan Lienkha, chief of markets at crypto wallet provider YouHodler, said “I don’t think this upgrade will significantly impact ETH’s price in the short term,” “But we may notice an increase in activity on the blockchain. At the same time, I expect ETH’s price to grow in the long term because the upgrade will make ETH much more valuable in the growing competition of new innovative layer 1 blockchain projects.”

But for Mara Schmiedt, CEO of liquid staking development firm Alluvial, the implications of the Dencun upgrade are bullish, even in the short term. “In light of Bitcoin’s recent institutional surge enabled by recent ETF spot market approvals and total value locked in Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem close to scratching the $100 billion mark, this scalability-focused upgrade is much anticipated,” Schmiedt told Cointelegraph, adding: “Ethereum has faced scalability issues that have acted as a blocker to mainstream adoption and accommodating the growing number of users and transactions.”

For Onno Sterk, chief operating officer of crypto exchange OSL, the Duncun upgrade is nothing short of significant, as it allows Ethereum to fix critical issues that have hindered the network’s development for years. “The digital asset space, while revolutionary, has been marred by issues of high transaction fees and limited scalability,” Sterk told Cointelegraph. “These challenges have not only stifled innovation but also restricted the wider adoption of blockchain technology across various sectors.” He further stated:

“At its core, the Dencun upgrade is centered around proto-danksharding, an innovative approach aimed at drastically reducing transaction fees while simultaneously increasing the network’s processing speed. This development is monumental, as it enables Ethereum to serve as an effective database for other blockchains, thereby facilitating a more interconnected and efficient digital asset ecosystem.”

Over the past year, Ether has seen a 141% return due to a combination of Dencun upgrade optimism, speculation on the approval of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and a broader crypto market recovery, although the asset has somewhat underperformed Bitcoin’s 198% return during the same period. Although crypto enthusiasts are anticipating a favorable decision on Ether ETFs by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in May, not all share the sentiment.

“From my viewpoint, the SEC will use any excuse to postpone the decision,” said Lienkha, “which is why I am not expecting approvals this spring. However, I think the probability of a final positive decision is quite high.”

Recently, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, also warned that the odds of an Ether ETF approval in May are not as rosy as one may expect.

Meanwhile, Alluvial’s Schmiedt emphasized that in order for Ethereum to reach meaningful adoption, “institutional adoption, widespread accessibility, and clear regulatory frameworks” are all necessary factors. “The success of Ethereum relies on the active participation of its community members, and I‘d encourage everyone — whether you are a developer, user or investor — to continue contributing your expertise and perspective to help shape the future of Ethereum,” she stated.