Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Recently approved vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for older adults may be linked to a rare nervous system disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack its own nerves.

In a Feb. 29 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, health officials presented data that appears to show a slightly elevated rate of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) among people who received RSV vaccines by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

A data mining alert on Jan. 19 for disproportional reporting was detected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Pfizer’s Abrysvo RSV vaccine and GBS but has not been reported to date for GSK’s RSV vaccine Arexvy, according to Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC’s influenza division and former director of the CDC’s immunization safety office.

The FDA uses data mining to identify statistical associations between products and events in their respective safety databases. If there is disproportionate reporting of an event for a particular product, this could suggest a statistical association between the adverse event and the product.

According to data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) presented by Dr. Shimabukuro, data show 35 reports of GBS with 18 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine, Abrysvo, 16 cases attributed to GSK’s Arexvy, and one case that was not reported under either brand name.

The CDC verified 23 cases of GBS reported to VAERS as of Feb. 16—all occurring within 22 days of RSV vaccination. Of the 23 cases, 15 were attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine and eight to GSK’s vaccine. Fourteen males experienced the condition compared with nine females. There was one death reported in a 70-year-old man who developed GBS after receiving Arexvy.

“Certainly 23 cases of GBS within 22 [days] of RSV vaccination is not a ‘small signal’ given the woeful underreporting in VAERS,” Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense, who holds a doctorate in biochemical engineering, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“What is always missing with VAERS is a good denominator. Given that these vaccines have been distributed for less than a year (since May 31, 2023), I would expect the uptake to still be fairly low,” he added.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), underreporting is one of the main limitations of a passive surveillance system like VAERS. “The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events,” HHS states on its website. A November 2020 article published in Vaccine showed sensitivity for capturing GBS after three different vaccines ranged from 12 to 64 percent, suggesting more cases of GBS are occurring than are being captured.

Vaccine Safety Database Suggests ‘Potential’ for Increased Rate of GBS

The CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) suggests the “potential for an increased rate of GBS” following vaccination with GSK’s Arexvy RSV vaccine, but the agency said additional analyses are needed. There were insufficient doses of Pfizer’s Abrysvo used in the VSD to determine the risk of GBS following vaccination.

It is estimated that 10 people will experience GBS for every 1 million doses of Arexvy administered, compared with 25 cases of Abrysvo, the CDC’s vaccine advisors said during the meeting.

Due to the small number of GBS cases and the size of the prelicensure studies, Dr. Shimabukuro said it’s not known at this time whether the reported GBS cases or other neuroinflammatory events are random chance or whether RSV vaccination might increase the risk of these events. However, GBS is already included as an adverse event on both companies’ vaccine labels.

In prelicensure studies of Prizer’s RSV vaccine in adults 60 and older, two reported cases of GBS among 20,255 vaccine recipients were observed within 42 days of vaccination compared with one case during GSK’s study of 18,304 vaccine recipients.

“We’re still in the early uptake phase of these new RSV vaccines,” Dr. Shimabukuro told STAT in an interview after the meeting. “Some of these data and findings are based on small numbers of cases and relatively small numbers of doses administered,” he added. Due to “uncertainties and limitations” of early data, Dr. Shimabukuro said the agency can’t establish whether there’s an increased risk for GBS in individuals 60 and older following RSV vaccination, but better risk estimates would be forthcoming in the future.

During the meeting, Pfizer vice president Reema Mehta said the company believes its vaccine is safe but is committed to continuous monitoring and evaluation of Abrysvo’s safety to assess the possibility of vaccine-related GBS.

In an email to STAT, a spokesperson for GSK said the CDC analysis did not indicate an elevated rate of GBS among people who had received their company’s RSV vaccine, but it is designing a study to evaluate the risk of GBS after vaccination with Arexvy.

Mr. Hooker said what’s more shocking to him is the 34 deaths reported from RSV vaccine in a short period of time. The deaths were included in Dr. Shimabukuro’s presentation during the ACIP meeting.

“The swine flu vaccine was taken off of the market for fewer deaths,” Mr. Hooker told The Epoch Times. “It seems that with the advent of the horrific result of the COVID-19 vaccine, the bar has been severely lowered in terms of overall safety.”

The CDC said during the meeting that its risk-benefit analysis continues to support the use of both RSV vaccines in people over 60 due to the burden of RSV in that population.

GBS Reported After Other Vaccines

The FDA, in May 2023, licensed Pfizer and GSK’s RSV vaccines for adults 60 and older. The CDC signed off on a recommendation made by its advisory panel shortly thereafter recommending the vaccine for people 60 and older only if a healthcare provider thinks vaccination would be beneficial versus making it an annual vaccine. Some vaccine advisors proposed making a universal recommendation for RSV and requested more data at the upcoming meeting scheduled in June.

According to the CDC, RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Although most people recover in a week or two, it can be serious and is more commonly diagnosed in infants.

GBS is a rare neurological disorder that occurs when a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system—a network of nerves that carry signals from the brain and spinal cord to other areas of the body. The condition begins suddenly with weakness and tingling in the hands and feet and eventually spreads throughout the body, resulting in paralysis that can leave a person unable to breathe independently.

Although most people recover from GBS, some cases are severe and can be fatal. Recovery can take several years, and it may take six months or longer after symptoms start for an individual with GBS to walk again.

Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) and Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis (BBE) are two variants of GBS. MFS is a nerve disease that usually involves the lower cranial and facial nerves, and BBE involves altered consciousness, problems with muscle coordination, and impaired eye movements.

Other vaccines have also been linked to GBS, including COVID-19, recombinant zoster, and influenza vaccines. CDC studies based on data from the VSD and VAERS found an increased risk of GBS among adults 18 and older following COVID-19 vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot manufactured by Janssen. The FDA, in July 2021, announced revisions to the product fact sheets for J&J to include a warning related to the increased risk of GBS observed following vaccination.

Although the agency said it has not observed a similar signal with mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna, cases of GBS and its variants have been reported following vaccination with both vaccines to VAERS and by the scientific community.

Ironically, on a day when Fed Chair Powell spent a large portion of his time discussing the new regulatory threats from Basel Endgame rules – that force banks to hold more capital, less risk – BlackRock has published a report that is forecasting rapid growth for transactions that allow banks to shed risk in their loan portfolios.

The freshly re-branded Synthetic Risk Transfer (SRT) deals, are simply credit-linked notes (which have been relatively uncommon since the great financial crisis) offering high (mid-double-digit) yields for borrowers willing to accept the implied credit default swap (that effectively transfers the credit risk tied to a pool of loans – such as CREs).

Specifically, in SRT transactions, a bank earmarks a pool of assets on its balance sheet and buys credit default protection on the first 5% to 15% of the losses of that pool, so if losses materialize, the holders of the SRTs absorb the hit, according to BlackRock.

The renaissance of these vehicles is driven by a combination of higher rates (which are among the main factors that have crushed CRE loan values) and forthcoming Basel III regulations that will force banks to hold more capital to cover potential losses.

“With volatile interest rates and origination volumes, combined with increasing regulatory requirements, synthetic transactions are making more sense and are expected to pick up meaningfully in the near future,” said Chris Hentemann, chief investment officer and founder of hedge fund 400 Capital Management.

Bloomberg reports that last year banks around the world sold $25 billion of SRTs partially offloading the risk of $300 billion of loans, according to an estimate by Pemberton Asset Management.

While European banks have been the biggest users of such transactions in previous years, the big rise in SRT volumes will come from large Wall Street banks under pressure to boost their regulatory capital requirements, according to William Im, a director in BlackRock’s global opportunistic credit team.

“Given greater acceptance of this as a tool and ongoing Basel III endgame regulatory pressures, there is a real world in which this market has a potential to grow at 30-to-40% each year for the next two years,” Im said.

The growth trajectory Im envisions “sounds like a stark number, but if you compare investor demand as well as bank demand that well may be the case,” he said.

In its paper, BlackRock cited the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and other regional banks as a factor driving growth in the market for regulatory capital securities.

Rising rates and increased risk weightings mean “it’s not easy to be a bank CEO right now,” Joel Holsinger, co-head of alternative credit at Ares, said.

“It is a truly transformational moment.”

However, it is notably that Chair Powell’s comments today on the Basel III endgame likely signal there’s little chance a rule is finalized this year. Bloomberg Intelligence senior government analyst Nathan Dean notes that with the elections coming closer and closer, it’s more likely the Fed hits the brakes on the proposal or re-proposes the rule. We currently ascertain a 60% chance of a re-proposal.

But, given the wave of marketing for SRTs, we suspect, the inevitability of higher capital requirements will do nothing to slow the growth of this trade.

We have seen this movie before though: of course, the quants have their models, perfectly calibrated to ‘synthetically transfer’ that risk at a premium that pays big bonuses, but after scraping away the copulas and the codependencies, this is nothing more than a game of hot-potato (who can hold the potato long enough to earn a decent yield before it permanently scars your ‘hand’).

Of course, there is always the embedded option of The Fed Put. Should the fecal matter truly strike the rotating object, let history be a lesson, Federal-Reserve-Backed SPVs will come to the rescue to re-collateralize the new TBTF market participants.

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

When we hear the word “discrimination” we often associate it with the concept of racial prejudice, the act of hate based purely on skin color or ethnicity. Multiple generations of westerners have been conditioned over the years to treat discrimination as an anathema to civilization – A net negative. But is all discrimination “unjust,” or is it sometimes necessary to keep civilization safe and intact?

Every person on Earth discriminates in one way or another because it’s a survival imperative, but let me clarify what I mean when I use the term. I argue that discrimination is simply the act of refusing to associate with another person or group, and this is often NOT based merely on skin color or differences in appearance. In reality, most discrimination is rooted in personal safety and cultural security.

Human beings are tribal, there’s no way around this biological imperative and it will never change. Tribalism is based on physical safety, but also ideological safety. Human beings form tribes and kingdoms and nations and borders because they have a particular set of values, religious beliefs and cultural norms that they want to maintain and protect. They have found a system that works for them and that keeps their society from imploding, and they want to ensure that there is no sabotage of that system from within.

Hence, the need for suspicion and discrimination when a tribe is faced with outsiders that champion a hostile or contrary ideal. The threat of being subsumed and destroyed by another tribe’s culture has been a motivator for discrimination since human history began.

Another factor is the discrimination of certain behaviors. Human tribes learned long ago that destructive people are sometimes born and no amount of social pressure can make them different. Psychopaths, some sociopaths, narcopaths, the severely mentally ill, etc. cannot be allowed to thrive within a tribe or they will eventually cause great harm. The tribe could even break apart and die out.

It’s not a white person thing, it’s not a western thing, it’s a reality for every group of humans on the planet.  We don’t all need to agree on one homogeneous civilization that embraces every person and all behaviors.  It’s okay for us to separate from each other and live differently (at least to a point). It’s okay to not want to associate with mentally unhinged or evil persons that create chaos within society, and it’s okay to reject the imposition of incompatible and alien philosophies.

Leftists and globalists, on the other hand, assert that ANY separation and lack of association between groups is unacceptable. There can be only one tribe and that tribe MUST follow progressive/socialist mandates. It’s the Tower of Babel all over again and the leftist ideal is decidedly intolerant of anyone that does not conform to centralization. A key part of this globalist philosophy is the demonization of discrimination.

Moral Decay Feeds Authoritarian Subterfuge

The woke religion relies on the leftist fallacy that all discrimination is a “social negative.” There are a few reasons why they push this narrative. Without discrimination there can be no moral judgment. Without the application of morals and standards of behavior, society cannot survive and it will eventually collapse. This is exactly what leftists want.

Once a society collapses it can be rebuilt with a certain authoritarian flexibility and in the image leftists prefer.  They will assert their own rules, their own taboos, their own mandates and their own vision. Specifically, they want to tear down western civilization and replace it with something rooted in moral relativism. In a morally relative world, all evil becomes permissible as long as the group doing evil controls the application of law.

We see this most distinctly in the spread of the trans movement and the invasion of woke politics in public schools. The blatant sexualization of children is happening right now across the west and it is supported by corporate interests, state governments and the current federal government.  This agenda includes the rationalization of some pretty heinous behaviors, like pedophilia.

Conservatives were once called “conspiracy theorists” for arguing that this was the end game for woke activism, and yet, here we are, fighting to keep pornography out of elementary school and middle-school libraries as academics argue that pedophiles should be treated as a protected sexual orientation.

There are even leftist politicians today openly admonishing discrimination of pedophiles as a brand of “hate speech” and laws are being passed in states like California to reduce punishments for such criminals. There is a clear program in motion to make something evil into something protected or even celebrated.

Cultural Sabotage Through Mass Immigration And Forced Association

Beyond the issue of necessary moral discrimination, there is the problem of cultural invasion. In Europe the danger is becoming existential, with at least 20 million migrants flooding into the EU in the past several years and more arriving everyday. Many of these migrants are from Islamic fundamentalist nations and they have no intention of assimilating into a western structure. Rather, they plan to change or deconstruct the west from within through something called “soft jihad.”

The bottom line? Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia Law are utterly incompatible with western principles and the two groups CANNOT exist peacefully in the same society. It is impossible. The rising calls by Europeans for the removal of migrants is not based in racism, it is driven by a cultural survival mechanism. Europeans can see the writing on the wall – In 10 to 20 years time their culture will no longer exist and they are acting to protect it.

In the US, the invasion is more political. Millions of migrants are being allowed to sneak into the US as Democrats continue to interfere with border security measures enforced by states like Texas. At the same time they are creating incentives for migrants to come here by offering welfare and subsidies, not to mention the potential for a general amnesty that would give them easy citizenship.

Most of these illegals come from socialist leaning countries and they have no concept whatsoever of what a Constitutional Republic is or what constitutional rights are. These migrants are a weapon being used by leftists to saturate the US. It is a strategy to erase conservative principles through attrition.

The Value Of Separation

Western civilization, western science, and free markets are perhaps the most profound accomplishments in the history of mankind, resulting in an extreme reduction in overall global poverty when compared to centuries past. In 1820, 94% of the global population was living in extreme poverty.  By 2015, that number dropped to 9.6% and the world’s population is vastly larger.

The moral foundations of the west, while not always adhered to as we might prefer, are still the bedrock for some of the most free and most prosperous people of any era. There are good reasons to protect the west from alien cultures that want to undermine it.

There also good reasons to discriminate against and expel leftists/globalists who grew up here but who are obsessed with deconstructing all remnants of the system because they think they know better. At no point have I ever heard a leftist group say: “Hey, we should all move to another place together and start a fresh new socialist experiment away from interference.”

No, they do not believe in separation. They want OUR culture. They want to stand on the ruins of our accomplishments and force everyone to accept their system, their beliefs and their moral relativism. Infestation, oppression and possession are the building blocks of their ideology.  The only solution is unapologetic and uncompromising discrimination against their kind. It’s okay to not invite cancer into your body.  It’s okay to not invite a vampire into your home.  It’s okay to not invite evil into your society. It’s good to discriminate.

US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. is racing to expand the manufacturing capacity of its lucrative new class of diabetes and weight-loss drug Zepbound. This comes as rival Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster appetite suppressant Wegovy drug is being rolled out across the West to capitalize on the obesity crisis. 

In November, Zepbound, featuring the active ingredient tirzepatide, also used in diabetes drug Mounjaro, was approved for weight-loss use in the US in Novemeber, making it the first drug to compete against Wegovy.

Since the rollout, the Indianapolis-based company has signed multiple deals with US government-backed manufacturer National Resilience and Italian producer BSP to expand manufacturing capacity, according to the Financial Times. 

“There was a lot of investment in high-speed, large-capacity fill lines during Covid and there were questions about how that capacity is going to be used going forward, and then the GLP-1s came along and now the problem is almost the opposite,” said Jim Miller, a consultant who advises drugmakers on manufacturing strategy.

Even as Zepbound production is set to increase and sales are projected to be in the billions of dollars this year, according to projections by research group GlobalData, there is growing concern that demand won’t be met. 

On Wednesday, Lilly CFO Anat Ashkenazi warned investors at the TD Cowen annual healthcare conference that it might be unable to keep up with demand through 2025. 

Ashkenazi said that Lilly is undertaking the most ambitious expansion agenda in its history but that production capacity will be strained for some time. 

Last month, Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen warned: “There’ll be a demand that outgrows what can be produced by us, and probably also competition.”

Lilly’s and Novo’s shares have surged several hundred percent since 2021. 

The shift in investor euphoria around GLP-1s began around the first half of 2023. This was noticeable in the Goldman Sachs Global HLC GLP Risk Index versus Goldman’s GLP-1 Obesity drug basket to capitalize on slimming down Americans. 

Besides slimming down the West, investors piled into big tech, artificial intelligence, and crypto. 

Instead of overweight Americans rushing to weight loss drugs, why not change diets and go outside and exercise? Or better yet, demand change from the food-industrial complex that continues pushing unhealthy crap on consumers. 

Authored by Donald Jeffries via “I Protest,”

I’m the guy who coined the term The Trumpenstein Project. My good friend John Barbour came up with Trump Agnostic to describe how we felt about the former Reality TV star. Trump, I mean, not John Barbour, who has been described as the Godfather of Reality Television.

I may very well be the last Trump Agnostic standing. It’s not only the smallest minority group in the world, but I’m not even sure who any other members are at this point. My Trumpenstein thesis is that the elite recruited the most bombastic and obnoxious personality they could, and inserted him into the presidential campaign. They assigned him the role of populist outsider, and wrote some alluring rhetoric for him, which was often revolutionary. He wooed millions, including me. Millions of others instantly hated him. That’s how programming works. I didn’t think he could possibly be sincere, but I couldn’t completely discount the notion that a billionaire could theoretically become fed up with what he’d witnessed behind the scenes. At any rate, once Trump selected his cabinet, the psyop became obvious.

Choosing Mike Pence as his running mate gained him nothing politically. Were the evangelicals going to vote for Hillary without Pence on the ticket? He also lost how ever many gay votes he was going to get. For whatever reason, gays hate Pence like no other politician. Trump redeemed himself a bit with his inaugural address, which was the best since JFK’s in my opinion. But as he announced the choices for his cabinet, each one brought an additional shake of the head, and an additional dose of disillusionment. Nikki Haley had been one of the loudest Never Trumpers. Trump, nevertheless, first offered her the prestigious position of Secretary of State, and she ultimately became his U.N. ambassador.

Jeff Sessions seemed like a decent choice as Attorney General, given his strong stance on immigration. But his lust for our militarized police forces came through loud and clear. He actually wanted to bolster the odious asset forfeiture laws, which are the foundation of the corrupt policing for profit system. He also inexplicably recused himself from any potential prosecution of Hillary Clinton. You know, Crooked Hillary, “Lock her up!” and all that. But Trump let his supporters know there was going to be no prosecution of his old friend, when he began complimenting her during his speech declaring victory. He declared she was “good people,” and didn’t want to prosecute her. Which he promised to do countless times during his 2016 campaign. His second Attorney General, William Barr, was even worse, prosecuting only Trump supporters.

We now know that Hillary was scheming to orchestrate the “Russia! Russia! Russia!” psyop before the 2016 election. This was revealed not by some lowly Thought Criminal like me, but by beloved former CIA director John Brennan. They don’t come any more reliable than CIA officials, as our “free press” regularly reminds us. So, yes, along with the ridiculous Steele Dossier, Trump was indeed under attack by the Swamp he vowed to drain, during his entire four years in office. This is invariably the excuse given by his adoring fans. But they never explain why, as he was under such an unprecedented assault, he never attempted to fight back. Never used the considerable powers of his office. Instead, he produced a steady stream of often juvenile tweets.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed to his position by Trump. That’s right, this maverick outsider chose an undisguised Never Trumper to head the Bureau that would have been instrumental in an investigation of Hillary or any other villain from the Swamp. So naturally Wray concentrated, from the very beginning of his tenure in office, on following the deluded “Russiagate” fantasies, instead of focusing on those who were attacking Trump unfairly. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller was chosen not to investigate Hillary’s destruction of emails and a laptop, or her scheme to tie Trump to Russian “collusion,” but Donald Trump himself. Mueller and William Barr, Trump’s second Attorney General, just happened to be best friends. No one said the Trumpenstein Project had to be believable.

Trump wasn’t playing “4D chess.” He wasn’t following the old adage of “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” And I don’t believe he’s actually as stupid as he usually sounds. “Covfefe” and “hamberders” weren’t some mystical code that mere mortals couldn’t fathom. But I do think they were part of the act. Covfefe, by the way, is now an accepted word. It has its own Wikipedia page. Which some of us don’t. The absurd misspellings and grammatical errors, the repeating of the same word or phrase ad nauseum, all just exacerbated the hatred that millions felt for him. And endeared him to millions of others. Some inferred that Trump didn’t know how to read, that he was illiterate. Like all those athletes we are supposed to believe are college graduates. Maybe Trump was just a One Percent version of an Affirmative Action project.

QAnon was a necessary invention of some intelligence agency. There had to be a way to explain to the MAGA faithful why Trump was surrounding himself with Never Trumpers and not even attempting to fulfill any of his many campaign promises. So millions became disciples of “Q drops,” and never blinked when the continuous predictions never came true. They actually believed the military- exemplified by Trump hater General Mark Milley (who was, naturally, appointed by Trump)- was in charge behind the scenes. They claimed child sex traffickers were being rounded up. There were secret trials of Hillary and other Deep State criminals being held at Guantanamo Bay. I read recently where Oprah Winfrey is secretly on trial now. These “White Hats” behave as inconspicuously as the “White Supremacists” do.

At any rate, Trump never kept any of his promises. To American citizens. He was so loyal to Israel that they named streets for him there. He didn’t try to end birthright citizenship. Or the foreign visa worker programs. Or sanctuary cities. Or DACA. He somehow managed to deport fewer illegals than Barack Obama. That couldn’t have been easy, so give him some credit. He let statues be torn down, cities burn and looters run wild during the summer of 2020. He did tweet a lot. Never sent the National Guard in. Like the Republican governor of Massachusetts did when Ron DeSantis shipped a handful of migrants to the entitled community of Martha’s Vineyard.

If Trump had been a real outsider, you would have seen people like Ron and/or Rand Paul, Paul Craig Roberts, Pat Buchanan, Dinesh D’Souza, maybe even Alex Jones, named to key positions in his administration. I know the response to that is, “He had to name those insiders. They would never have approved those others.” Well, Trump should have at least tried. Historically, some nominees have been rejected by Congress. For instance, Jimmy Carter, in his best attempted move, tried to get JFK’s speechwriter Ted Sorenson approved as CIA director. I don’t think Trump had a single nominee rejected. And considering how much he was despised by both parties, that ought to really tell you something. Trump selected nothing but Swamp creatures.

But despite Trump rescuing a Black rapper from Sweden, and engineering the release of an unfairly convicted Black woman from prison, at the behest of Kim Kardashian no less, millions declared that he was a “racist.” Period. In all reality, those moves on behalf of Black citizens were two of the few actions Trump was responsible for in his entire presidential term. The closest he came to being a “racist” was very reasonably saying there were “good people” on both sides during the Charlottesville protests. He never mentioned the word “White” in reference to Caucasians in four years as president. He certainly never uttered the words “Great Replacement.” He did brag incessantly about how low Black unemployment was, though. Actually, he called it African-American unemployment. It’s a White cuck thing, you wouldn’t understand.

But enough about how different Trump’s rhetoric was from his record. He definitely had, and still has, the right enemies. All the worst people in the world, the modern doorkeepers of Satan, hate him with a fervor that even Adolph Hitler couldn’t match. Of course, “Russiagate” was a joke. And it was documented to have been the illegitimate brainchild of Hillary Clinton. Who not only wasn’t prosecuted (by the Trump justice department), but continues to rant about how the 2016 election was stolen from her. Almost like Trump does about the 2020 election. Only Trump is being prosecuted for complaining about his election. Some allegations of electoral fraud are more equal than others.

Trump was the subject of more obscene and distasteful public comments and media ridicule than any other American in history. More than Huey Long. More than Richard Nixon. More than Jim Garrison. There was a play running for months in New York, that celebrated the mock assassination of Donald Trump. Upstanding America 2.0 celebrity Snoop Dogg also depicted the assassination of Trump in a video. Trump would repay the venerable Snoop by pardoning his friend, the president of Death Row Records, and not Julian Assange, as he left office. Trump was certainly a strange sort of “racist.” Kind of like all those “White Supremacists,” who remain in the shadows, overseeing the Great Replacement.

Celebrities showed absolute disdain for Trump in their intellectual offerings on Twitter. So did virtually every “journalist” in our state controlled media. Indeed, Trump’s one enduring legacy may be to have popularized the phrase “fake news,” and inadvertently exposed just how bad our “free press” really is. No matter how many Black rappers he rescued, or how few illegal immigrants he actually deported, the constant refrain was that Trump was a hopeless “racist.” In fact, he came to define the term. And, of course, everyone who supported him were “racists” too. Trump actually instituting the unconstitutional lockdown (proving that he could do something after all), and claiming credit for, and praising the dangerous “warp speed” vaccine didn’t matter. He was still a “racist.” And responsible for all the incorrigible anti-vaxxers.

Trump’s three nominees to the Supreme Court were attacked viciously by the usual suspects. And his loyalists, when confronted with the stark evidence of his inactivity as president, invariably point to them as his greatest accomplishment. Except that one of them, Amy Coney Barrett, votes against him every time. Brett Kavanaugh is hit or miss. Only Neil Gorsuch has been pretty decent. And yet, those with Trump Derangement syndrome (and it is a very real mental disorder) continue to portray them as right-wing extremists. White Supremacists. Perhaps “insurrectionists.” Like Trump, they are guilty of Thought Crimes they never committed. We’ll see how they rule on his politicized prosecutions and remaining electoral disputes. So far, their track record doesn’t give much hope to MAGA loyalists.

So let’s look at these Trump show trials. I don’t know what the Soviet legal process really was like, before they sent dissidents off to Siberia, but how much more corrupt could it have been? Trump was convicted, and forced to pay millions, to a certifiable lunatic, who paints her trees blue and named her cat vagina. For sexually assaulting her in a crowded department store dressing room, at some point in the 1990s. She couldn’t recall the exact year. Seriously. And she is on the record having joked about having sex with Donald Trump on social media. She is the poster child for uncredible witnesses. But a jury, and one of the endless biased judges assigned to Trump’s cases, ruled in her favor. As the “Woke” White women say, “I believe her!”

Trump just lost again (he always loses, this is part of the Trumpenstein Project), in a ridiculous case where he “defrauded” well…not sure who, exactly, but his “crime” was exaggerating the value of his assets. You know, something pretty much everyone has done. Those who loaned him the money said he paid them back properly. In other words, they were witnesses for him. But Judge Nosferatu (and there is really no more appropriate name for him) ruled against him anyway and ordered him to pay an Alex Jones-like $400 million. Since there was no party claiming to have been injured or defrauded, it’s unclear where that money is going. But the millions who hate him are overjoyed. Well, not exactly. They won’t be satisfied until he’s hung in Times Square. Do it on New Year’s Eve and have him swing along with the giant ball.

In Georgia, Trump is being prosecuted for trying to “overturn” an election. By “overturn,” the “Woke” authoritarians mean legally attempting to get the courts to act on what Trump and his team believe is clear electoral fraud. In the same state, the lovely Stacy Abrams continues to insist she was robbed in her race for governor. Somehow, this is not an attempt to “overturn” an election. I’m sure Rachel Maddow could explain the distinction. And the even more lovely Fani Willis is large and in charge here. If Trump really is a racist, he must be feeling like unreconstructed southerners felt in the late 1860s, on being “represented” in Congress by illiterate former slaves. If he ever were to utter a racial epithet, now would be the time.

TDS has claimed millions of victims. It’s nonfatal in physical terms, but it is absolutely lethal to the intellect. I’ve seen many a friend fall victim to it. It causes one to lose all sense of perspective. The victim begins to believe that the intelligence agencies, the military industrial complex, and the mainstream media are all fine and worthwhile institutions. They actually believe that Trumpenstein opposes these forces, which represent the Deep State he talked about. The Swamp he vowed to drain. And so George W. Bush is now a hero. He opposed Trump! Demonic Dick Cheney’s vile offspring Liz is now the sexiest thing since Michelle Obama. Forget about the dead intern in Joe Scarborough’s old congressional office. He hates Trump!

To those with TDS, all politics is viewed through the prism of Trumpenstein. Because Trump spoke out against the “senseless wars,” those who hate him have to be in favor of war. See “I stand with Ukraine.” Because Trump criticized our Third World infrastructure, those who hate him want the roads, bridges, and power grids to remain in their present laughable state. Except for getting rid of any “racist” roads. And rest assured that the saintly Joe Biden will see to that. He’ll be on it like it was a little girl with the fresh scent of No More Tangles in her hair. Since Trump often hinted at conspiratorial thinking, those with TDS can no longer believe in any conspiracies. Well, except “Russiagate.” And the Trump-directed January 6 “insurrection.”

The only issue where they face a real dilemma is the COVID vaccine. Despite 90+ percent of his supporters being skeptical about it, Trump continues to tirelessly promote it. And yet, while all those with TDS enthusiastically embrace the vaccine, they curiously manage to ignore the fact that their sworn enemy claims credit for it. While Trump threw the January 6 protesters under the bus by not marching with them as he promised, didn’t pardon them before leaving office, and rarely mentions them in his circus barker rallies, he is still blasted for orchestrating the entire thing. His speech proves he didn’t “incite” anyone (he told them to march “peacefully and patriotically”), yet the media, and all those with TDS, insist he did. To them, the worst overreaction to a protest in history becomes “an attempt to overthrow democracy.”

We have seen several states take another unprecedented step, in voting to bar Donald Trump, a former president and current frontrunner in the polls, from their ballots. To their credit, the Supreme Court just voted 9-0 in Trump’s favor on this question. But the attempt illustrates the role of this scripted spectacle. All’s fair in the Trumpenstein Project. Politicized prosecutions. Efforts to prevent him from running again. The leadership of the Republicucks- his own supposed party- continues to be repelled by even the possibility of Making American Great Again, let alone emphasizing America First. Yes, Trump never says “America First” any longer. But it’s still an ominous prospect for those suffering with TDS. Can you imagine the horror of putting your own country’s interests first?

People in Donald Trump’s social and financial class, even if they aren’t ex-presidents of the United States, don’t get prosecuted. They are unequivocally above the law. The courts are primarily for convicting poor and working-class defendants who are often innocent. You can scour the huge prison system in this country, and you won’t find any former One Percenters incarcerated there. The system is designed to protect them, in the extremely rare instances where they are actually charged with a crime. Those with Trump’s resources should have a “Dream Team” of legal representatives that puts O.J.’s lawyers to shame. Instead, Trump’s lawyers have all been laughingstocks, the kind a ghetto denizen might get assigned to him. And unlike every wealthy man before him, Trump cannot seem to win in any courtroom.

This should give the Trumpenstein Project away. It’s designed for Trump to lose consistently. While he and his supporters continue to nonsensically claim he’s “winning.” The script calls for the Giant Orange Man- representing the last gasp of White alpha masculinity- to be defeated over and over again, usually at the hands of arrogant, ignorant Affirmative Action hires like Fani Willis and company. Like the Stupid Party he represents, Trump is basically the Washington Generals, being defeated in every game, by the lovable all-Black Harlem Globetrotters. Who openly cheat, and always have the referees on their side. It’s somewhat of an allegory for life in America 2.0, as far as average White Americans are concerned.

Trumpenstein has destroyed traditional American politics. The childish, cafeteria food fights on social media. The immature nicknames. Trump’s penis size even made it into a 2016 presidential debate, when he insisted he didn’t have small hands, and that “trust me,” the other thing wasn’t small, either. The more extreme TDS patients call him “micro-penis.” If things devolve logically, perhaps Trump will just whip it out at the next presidential debate. You can bet his fans would cheer it on. If it looks big, expect his millions of haters to call it “fake news.” Despite the term originating with Trump, everyone uses it now, to dismiss something they don’t like. They even denigrated the looks of Melania Trump, the most beautiful First Lady in history.

The Trumpenstein Project was designed to tap into the widespread populist sentiment in the country, and control it with this larger than life contrived personality. The political show trials are symbolic prosecutions of any real potential dissent. The independent political movement was destroyed by Trump. RFK, Jr. claims to still be polling at over twenty percent. If so, by their own debate rules, they have to let him participate. I just don’t see them allowing that. Any halfway competent individual would expose Joe Biden’s dementia in a debate. But not Trumpenstein. He can be counted on to bluster and bully, and make the helpless old codger-in-chief look sympathetic. That’s the Trumpenstein Project.

Thanks to this giant psyop, there will never be a viable Third Party movement in this country. Not that there was much of a chance before, but now virtually all Americans, having been subjected to this intensive programming, are back mired in the two disastrous “choices” or Democrat or Republican. Evil vs. stupid. The millions afflicted with TDS must vote for the putrid Democrats, regardless of wars, censorship, and massive inflation. Because Trump. The millions who cling naively to Trump will vote Republican Because Trump as well. Both parties “care about the children.” Both insist on a “strong defense.” Support the troops. Respect the police. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Unless you’re a billionaire or an illegal immigrant. “Hate Speech” isn’t free speech. Say “African-American” three times and click your heels.

In the days before Trump, things were awful. There was never any one worth voting for. Thus, the popularity of choosing “the lesser of two evils.” It was accepted by all that two evils would always be the choice. To be fair, Trump has at least made politics more exciting. When he’s attacking the unspeakably evil Democrats, or their insufferable mouthpieces in the media, it’s hard not to applaud. Or at least laugh. I am rooting for Trump to be selected as president again this year. Not because I think he’ll do anything good. But for the sheer entertainment value. CNN and MSNBC would become must-watch TV. It’s surely a sad commentary on the “world’s greatest democracy” that this is the best we can hope for.

Ukraine’s key southern port city of Odesa has been coming under increased Russian drone and rocket attack of late, resulting in fears that Moscow could possibly be eyeing its takeover next. 

It is perhaps for this reason that President Volodymyr Zelensky made a visit Wednesday to the Black Sea hub. In a bit of risky move, the Ukrainian leader also brought along Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the official visit. Russia reportedly sent missiles or drones against the city at the very moment of their visit.

Zelensky and Mitsotakis said explosions rang out while they toured Odesa. “We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us. We did not have time to get to a shelter,” Mitsotakis told reporters. There are emerging reports and allegations that this was a targeted assassination attempt.

“It is a very intense experience… It’s really different to read about the war in newspapers, and to hear it with your own ears, see it with your own eyes,” Mitsotakis said of the strikes that reportedly hit close.

Zelensky in turn said before a press conference that he’s heard initial reports of “dead and wounded” from Wednesday’s fresh Russian strike on Odesa. “You can see who we are facing. They don’t care where they strike,” he told reporters.

Some online pundits are going so far as to call it an ‘assassination attempt’ targeting Zelensky, given some reports say at least one of the strikes hit very near where the pair were visiting. According to Politico: 

An explosion rocked the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday during a top-secret visit there by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The blast, caused by a ballistic missile, took place a few hundred meters away from the leaders’ motorcade, a Greek official who was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to POLITICO.

Greek State Minister Stavros Papastavrou, a top aide to Mitsotakis, confirmed to domestic media that there are no injuries among the Greek delegation following the explosion.

And The Washington Post has bluntly stated, “A Russian missile strike appeared to target Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, landing near his motorcade in the Black Sea port city of Odessa, where the president was meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.”

While it could be that Zelensky is playing up the incident for greater drama and sympathy, PM Mitsotakis appeared to confirm that the explosion was close. “Shortly afterwards, as we were getting into our cars, we heard a big explosion,” he said. Greek officials told the Protothema news outlet that a missile landed and exploded merely about 500 feet away.

Though perhaps a premature conclusion, this is what some pundits are saying in the wake of the new Odesa attack…

🚨🇺🇦BREAKING: ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON ZELENSKY

Russian forces allegedly launched missiles at Zelenskyy’s convoy, reportedly missing their target by approximately 150 meters.

He allegedly was en route to a meeting with the PM of Greece when the attack unfolded.

This is… pic.twitter.com/wnwB1mr1GY

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 6, 2024

As for Zelensky, there’s as yet no official indication from his office that he was targeted by Russia in an assassination attempt, but he has condemned the strikes, especially given it happened at a moment the two heads of state were physically there. Zelensky was not harmed, nor were any staff members in either delegation.

Zelensky in the aftermath said of Russian forces, “They have either completely lost their minds or just don’t control what their army is doing. This is why we need protection. Air defense systems are the best way.” Kiev has been urging the West to immediately send more anti-air systems after a series of deadly attacks on Odesa. On Saturday a wave of Russian drone and artillery strikes reportedly killed at least 11 people in Odesa, some of them women and children.

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

Total war between the world’s largest powers that reshuffled the international order defined the previous world wars.

Total war between the largest powers today—Russia, China, and the US—means a nuclear Armageddon where there are no winners and only losers.

That could still happen despite nobody wanting it, but it’s not the most likely outcome.

World War 3 is unlikely to be a direct kinetic war between the US, Russia, and China.

Instead, the conflict will play out on different levels—proxy wars, economic wars, financial wars, cyber wars, biological wars, deniable sabotage, and information wars.

In that sense, World War 3 is already well underway, even though most don’t recognize it.

Below, I’ll look at the seven domains World War 3 is playing out on and analyze which side has an advantage.

Domain #1: Financial Warfare

Financial warfare refers to the use of financial methods as a strategy to achieve military or political objectives.

One common tool of financial warfare is the imposition of sanctions or embargoes. This can involve freezing assets, restricting trade, or limiting access to international financial systems. The goal is to damage the target’s economy, weakening its ability to pursue certain policies or actions.

Imposing controls on the movement of capital and investments can also serve as a weapon in financial warfare. This could involve restricting foreign investments in specific sectors or limiting the ability of foreign investors to withdraw their funds.

Take, for example, the US government’s actions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The US government launched its most aggressive financial warfare campaign ever.

Exceeding even Iran and North Korea, Russia is now the most sanctioned nation in the world.

“This is financial nuclear war and the largest sanctions event in history,” a former Treasury Department official said.

He went on to say, “Russia went from being part of the global economy to the single largest target of global sanctions and a financial pariah in less than two weeks.”

Here’s a brief rundown of what has happened.

The US and European governments froze Russia’s US dollar and euro reserves—the accumulated savings of the nation—worth around $300 billion.

They kicked Russian banks out of SWIFT, the system for sending international wire transfers.

A stampede of Western companies left Russia and banned average Russian citizens from using their platforms.

Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase blocked over 25,000 accounts linked to Russia.

Visa, MasterCard, and American Express have removed Russia from their networks.

These are just a few examples of how NATO & Friends cut Russia off from the US-dominated global financial system.

While BRICS+ countries are trying to build a parallel international financial system, it is not yet ready for prime time.

In financial warfare, NATO & Friends have a clear advantage today, though BRICS+ is eroding it.

Result: Advantage NATO & Friends

Domain #2: Economic Warfare

Countries can engage in economic warfare by controlling access to strategic commodities like oil, gas, rare earth elements (REEs), and major trade routes. A country can exert economic pressure on others by limiting access to these resources or influencing their prices.

BRICS+ dominates strategic commodities.

Take Russia, for example.

Politicians and the media in the US often ridicule Russia as nothing more than “a gas station with nuclear weapons,” an inaccurate cartoonish depiction.

Russia is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, lumber, wheat, fertilizer, and palladium (a crucial car component).

It is the second-largest exporter of oil and aluminum and the third-largest exporter of nickel and coal.

Russia is a major producer and processor of uranium for nuclear power plants. Enriched uranium from Russia and its allies provides electricity to 20% of the homes in the US.

Aside from China, Russia produces more gold than any other country, accounting for more than 10% of global production.

These are just a handful of examples. There are many strategic commodities that Russia dominates.

In short, Russia is not just an oil and gas powerhouse but a commodity powerhouse.

Then there are REEs.

Many are unfamiliar with REEs, a collection of 17 obscure elements on the Periodic Table, despite their indispensable role in modern life.

In short, the US military and American consumers depend entirely on these obscure elements.

China controls around 60% of REE production and 95% of REE processing. Beijing also consumes about 67% of the worldwide REE supply.

Nobody can seriously challenge China’s REE monopoly, as it can maintain lower prices longer than any competitor can remain solvent.

Then there is Iran, which dominates the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most crucial energy corridor.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, each day, more than 40% of global oil exports (around 21 million barrels) transit the Strait.

Thanks to its commanding geography and expertise in unconventional and asymmetric warfare, Iran can shut down the Strait, and there’s not much anyone can do about it.

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

Analysts believe it would take weeks for the US military to reopen it, but nobody knows if they would succeed.

Military strategists have known about this situation for decades. But no one has found a realistic way to neutralize Iran’s power over the Strait. It’s Iran’s geopolitical trump card.

In the Red Sea, Iran’s allies in the Houthi movement in Yemen have recently shut down shipping in this vital economic corridor to all Israeli, American, and British vessels.

When you put it all together, BRICS+ has the edge in economic warfare.

Result: Advantage BRICS +

Domain #3: Cyber Warfare

Cyber warfare refers to the use of digital attacks by one nation to disrupt the computer systems of another, often aiming to cause damage, disruption, or fear.

These attacks can target various sectors, including government networks, financial systems, and utility services like electricity and water supply. For example, a successful cyber attack on a power grid could leave millions without electricity or clean water.

Attacking a nation’s financial infrastructure, like banks or stock exchanges, through cyber means is another form of cyber warfare. Such attacks can disrupt economic stability, create uncertainty, and potentially lead to significant financial losses.

The goals of cyber warfare can vary from stealing sensitive information, causing economic damage, disrupting essential services, or creating chaos and panic among the population.

Cyber warfare can be just as damaging as traditional warfare but is often cheaper, less risky, and can be conducted anonymously and remotely. This makes it an attractive option for nations wanting to cause harm while minimizing the risk of direct confrontation.

I expect cyber warfare to be prominent as World War 3 evolves.

NATO & Friends and BRICS+ are skilled at cyber warfare. However, I don’t see either side having a decisive advantage.

Result: Uncertain

Domain #4: Information Warfare

Information warfare encompasses a range of tactics aimed at influencing, disrupting, or corrupting the information landscape to affect an adversary’s decision-making process, undermine trust in institutions, or sway public opinion. It aims to influence outcomes both on the battlefield and in public opinion.

This type of warfare leverages the spread of false and misleading narratives, propaganda, and psychological operations to create confusion, sow discord, and manipulate perceptions.

Information warfare can influence elections, shape public opinion on critical issues, and even incite violence or social unrest. The objective is often to destabilize an opponent from within.

With the growing reliance on social media and other digital platforms, the role of information warfare is likely to become even more significant in shaping both military and geopolitical landscapes.

The US has enormous influence over the global mainstream media, entertainment industry, and Big Tech platforms. That gives it widespread worldwide reach in a way that Russia and China do not have.

As a result, NATO & Friends have the advantage in information warfare.

Result: Advantage NATO & Friends

Domain #5: Deniable Sabotage

Sabotage refers to deliberately damaging, destroying, or hindering vital property.

Deniable sabotage is a hostile action carried out so that the perpetrator cannot be conclusively identified or linked to the attack. The identity of the aggressor remains hidden, or there is plausible deniability.

It means that although there might be suspicions or even circumstantial evidence about who is responsible for an attack, there is no concrete proof. As a result, the alleged perpetrator can credibly deny involvement.

Typical targets for sabotage include infrastructure like bridges and railways, communication systems, supply depots, ammunition stores, and essential utilities like power and water supply systems.

The destruction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the cutting of undersea fiber optic cables around Norway are likely examples of recent deniable sabotage.

NATO & Friends and BRICS+ are skilled at deniable sabotage. However, I don’t see either side having a decisive advantage.

Result: Uncertain

Domain #6: Biological Warfare

Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi to incapacitate or kill humans, animals, or plants.

The disease-causing agents can be spread through air, water, or food sources and are often difficult to trace.

The use of biological weapons dates back centuries. In medieval times, besieging armies would catapult diseased corpses over city walls.

Today, the US, China, and Russia have all signed the Biological Weapons Convention, which is supposed to prohibit biological warfare. However, I don’t expect that will prevent biological warfare as World War 3 escalates.

The Covid hysteria could have been due to an act of biological warfare.

In any case, the US, Russia, and China all maintain robust and secretive biological weapons programs. However, I don’t see any side having a decisive advantage.

Result: Uncertain

Domain #7: Proxy Warfare

Proxy wars are a method by which major powers fight their battles indirectly, using smaller nations or groups as stand-ins rather than confronting each other directly.

Major powers support, equip, and finance smaller groups or nations in a proxy war to fight against a common adversary. This support can include military training, weapons, funding, and other resources. The critical point is that the major powers do not engage directly in combat.

I expect proxy wars will be a decisive factor in who will win World War 3.

There are numerous ongoing proxy wars. However, there are three that I believe will be key in determining which side has the overall advantage.

Proxy War #1: Ukraine

Ukraine has been the arena of choice for NATO & Friends to confront Russia.

As I write this, at the beginning of 2024, the conflict in Ukraine appears to be winding down.

Ukraine has suffered serious battlefield setbacks as its much-touted 2023 counteroffensive has utterly failed.

Further weapons shipments from NATO nations are not going to deliver victory to Ukraine. At best, it will only prolong the conflict without changing the ultimate outcome while depleting NATO inventories.

US funding is also drying up. American and European voters are growing increasingly tired of the war.

When you put it all together, I suspect we will see serious movement toward a settlement this year that will largely be favorable to Russia.

Result: Advantage BRICS +

Proxy War #2: The Middle East

The Middle East is on the precipice of the biggest regional war in over 50 years.

The region is roughly divided into two different geopolitical groups.

The first is the US and its allies—Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and others.

The second group describes itself as the Axis of Resistance. It consists of Iran, Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, several Palestinian groups, including Hamas, and an assortment of militias in Iraq. Russia and China are standing behind the Axis of Resistance.

In the context of World War 3 and the global geopolitical situation, the US and its allies represent the interests of NATO & Friends, and the Axis of Resistance represents BRICS+.

If there is a regional war in the Middle East, it will undoubtedly be between these two groups.

Short of a regional war, there will likely be continued geopolitical competition and low-intensity conflict in the Middle East.

When you take a step back and put it all together, it seems clear that the geopolitical momentum is with the Axis of Resistance in the Middle East.

However, a large regional war could turn things around for the US, Israel, and its allies. NATO & Friends might try a full-scale war with Iran as a last-ditch attempt to scuttle the emergence of a multipolar world order.

It’s also more likely, though, that a full-scale war with Iran and the Axis of Resistance would end in disaster for the US and its allies. That’s probably a big reason it hasn’t happened yet, despite no shortage of hostile intentions.

In the meantime, the advantage in the Middle East goes to BRICS+.

Result: Advantage BRICS +

Proxy War #3: Taiwan

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has vowed to reunify it with the mainland by force if necessary.

Recently, Xi privately warned Biden that China will reunify Taiwan but that the timing has not yet been decided.

While not explicitly committing to Taiwan’s defense, the US has been a significant supplier of military equipment to Taiwan. A Chinese invasion could trigger a response from the US, though the extent and nature of this response are uncertain.

China has one of the world’s largest and increasingly modern militaries. Taiwan has a well-trained military, though smaller and less equipped than China’s.

It seems to me that time is on China’s side. All Beijing has to do is wait; eventually, it will be able to compel Taiwan to reunify peacefully.

In the case of a military conflict, it seems to me China has the advantage. The only way Taiwan would have a prayer is if the US directly joined the conflict. However, the US is unlikely to risk a full-scale war with China because of MAD.

When you put it all together, it seems China has the advantage.

Result: Advantage BRICS+

There will likely be other proxy wars as World War 3 progresses, but the ones I believe will prove decisive will be in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Taiwan. The other proxy wars are peripheral in comparison.

All three decisive proxy wars are trending toward a defeat for NATO & Friends. Therefore, the advantage in the overall proxy war domain—which I believe will be the most decisive domain in World War 3—is with BRICS+.

Result: Advantage BRICS+

*  *  *

Did you know there’s an excellent chance a historical crisis is coming soon? Fortunately, it doesn’t have to blindside you, your family, or your portfolio. Quite the contrary. That’s exactly why I just released an urgent new report with all the details, including what you must do to prepare. Click here to download the PDF now.

In 2021, when it was still very politically risky to do so, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson gave a fiery speech decrying transgender ideology.

“Here’s something else I’m not supposed to say, there ain’t but two genders. Ain’t nothing but men and women.”

Mark Robinson appears poised to win the North Carolina GOP primary, so it’s only right that we revisit his famous 2021 speech on gender ideology.

Name another Republican alive with this kind of stage presence: https://t.co/cHCmEg6jl5 pic.twitter.com/8ug02L8njd

— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) March 6, 2024

Last night, Robinson – a pastor from Greensboro who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump – won the Republican primary for governor of North Carolina.

Robinson, a 2nd Amendment champion who Trump recently referred to as “Martin Luther King on steroids,” has faced intense criticism from the left over past comments about women, Jews, the Holocaust, and LGBTQ people.

👀 pic.twitter.com/eCfWkmCQ8o

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) March 6, 2024

Robinson faces off against NC Attorney General Josh Stein, who won the Democratic nod Tuesday, and would become North Carolina’s first Jewish Governor. Stein and Robinson will compete to replace term-limited Gov. Roy Cooper.

“Robinson is an abortion-banning, election denying, social media conspiracy theorist and come November every voter in the state will know exactly who the real Mark Robinson is,” texted Morgan Jackson, a senior Stein adviser, to Politico.

Robinson, meanwhile, is on a quest to defend America against people “who want to destroy it.”

Mark Robinson coming in hot:

“The people in America who want to destroy it, I send you a message today: There are warriors in your path, and you’ll have to defeat us to take this nation down! What God has blessed us with will not go easy into the night.” pic.twitter.com/G8dlLPN2rS

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 23, 2023

Last week, former President Trump endorsed Robinson, to which Robinson said in a statement: “I am humbled to have his endorsement. The failed Biden-Stein agenda of the Democrat Party has brought our country to crisis.”

Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via RealClear Wire,

Topline: The National Institutes of Health is paying $214,000 for three researchers to create a “transgender voice training” app, according to Fox News.

Key facts: The study aims to address “voice dysphoria,” which researchers say causes lower quality of life when a person’s voice does not match their gender identity.

Researchers will coach 40 trans women to help change the pitch and resonance of their voice to sound more feminine.

The participants will meet once a week with a speech-language pathologist. Half of them will use a generic voice training software and half will use the app specifically made for transgender people, so that results can be compared.

If tests are successful, the software will be released to the public for free.

The researchers — a professor from the University of Cincinnati and two speech scientists from New York University — have each already received taxpayer money for similar voice dysphoria studies, according to the College Fix.

Background: The study focuses on “gender-affirming voice and communication training,” a service that is already dipping into taxpayers’ wallets. As of 2022, 13 states’ Medicaid covered the training, with 18 more having no clear policy on the coverage.

The 2024 research grant comes from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, an agency of the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, which sent paychecks to almost 90,000 people in 2022, according to auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

There were 2,646 employees who earned more than $214,000, the grant amount for the voice training app.

Supporting quote: “Some trans people can be negatively impacted if their voice is perceived as incongruous with their gender identity, and they may choose to work with a speech pathologist to achieve a vocal presentation that is comfortable for them,” said Tara McAllister, one of the three study leaders.

“The staRt software allows learners to visualize the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract, which could make it easier to adjust them to match a target that is appropriate for their personal speech goals.”

Summary: Three researchers are getting an additional $214,000 the federal government to study gender-affirming voice therapy — from an agency that’s supposed to focus on deafness and other communication disorders — on top of past funding they’ve already received.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

One month after the lukewarm January Beige Book found “little or no change” In US economic activity, which in turn followed the fare more downbeat November Beige Book found which economic activity was “slowing“, moments ago the Fed released the latest, March, Beige Book in which we find more green shoots glimmers as economic activity “increased slightly”, on balance, since early January, with eight Districts reporting slight to modest growth in activity, three others reporting no change, and one District noting a slight softening. Oddly enough, the Fed found a modest acceleration in economic activity even though “consumer spending, particularly on retail goods, inched down in recent weeks.” To justify this assessment, the Fed mentioned several reports which cited heightened price sensitivity by consumers and noted that households continued to trade down and to shift spending away from discretionary goods.

Taking a closer look at various economic segments, we find the following notable recent developments:

• Activity in the leisure and hospitality sector varied by District and segment; while air travel was robust overall, demand for restaurants, hotels, and other establishments softened due to elevated prices, as well as to unusual weather conditions in certain regions.
• Manufacturing activity was largely unchanged, and supply bottlenecks normalized further. Nevertheless, delivery delays for electrical components continued.
• Ongoing shipping disruptions in the Red Sea and Panama Canal did not generally have a notable impact on businesses during the reporting period, although some contacts reported rising pressures on international shipping costs.
• Several reports highlighted a pickup in demand for residential real estate in recent weeks, largely owing to some moderation in mortgage rates, but noted that limited inventories hindered actual home sales. 
• Commercial real estate activity was weak, particularly for office space, although there were reports of robust demand for new data centers, industrial and manufacturing spaces, and large infrastructure projects.
• Loan demand was stable to down, and credit quality was generally healthy despite a few reports of rising delinquencies.

Unlike the recent ISM reports, both mfg and services, the Fed found that employment “rose at a slight to modest pace in most Districts” while labor market tightness eased further, with nearly all Districts highlighting some improvement in labor availability and employee retention. Some more labor market details:

• Businesses generally found it easier to fill open positions and to find qualified applicants, although difficulties persisted attracting workers for highly skilled positions, including health-care professionals, engineers, and skilled trades specialists such as welders and mechanics.
• Wages grew further across Districts, although several reports indicated a slower pace of increase. Employee expectations of pay adjustments were reportedly more in line with historical averages

And in bad news for those expecting a soft landing, the Fed cautioned that price pressures persisted during the reporting period, although several Districts reported some degree of moderation in inflation. Furthermore, while contacts highlighted increases in freight costs and several insurance categories, including employer-sponsored health insurance, businesses found it harder to pass through higher costs to their customers, who became increasingly sensitive to price changes. The good news is that the cost of many manufacturing and construction inputs, such as steel, cement, paper, and fuel, reportedly fell in recent weeks. 

Looking ahead, the Fed said that “the outlook for future economic growth remained generally positive, with contacts noting expectations for stronger demand and less restrictive financial conditions over the next 6 to 12 months.” Boy are they in for a surprise.

Turning to the specific regional Feds, we found these summaries notable:

• Boston: Economic activity increased at a slow pace, and employment gains were modest. Output prices increased slightly, and wage growth held steady at a moderate pace. Residential realtors expressed growing optimism as both property listings and pending home sales increased. Uncertainty persisted concerning the fate of maturing office property loans, but the outlook for the sector did not worsen.
• New York: Regional economic activity flattened after a period of sustained weakness. Labor market conditions remained solid as employment grew slightly and wage growth picked up to a moderate pace. Labor demand and labor supply continued to come into better balance. Consumer spending declined modestly. The pace of selling price increases remained modest.
• Philadelphia: Business activity resumed a slight decline during the current Beige Book period—as it had for most of 2023. Employment grew slightly, and labor availability improved. Wage and price inflation subsided further, but housing affordability continues to squeeze consumers, especially those in lower-income households. Generally, sentiment improved, but firms remained cautious with subdued expectations for future growth.
• Cleveland: District business activity increased slightly. Some firms noted increased labor availability, reduced turnover, and easing wage pressures. Cost and price pressures changed little. Some manufacturers raised prices to cover higher costs, while some restauranteurs planned to absorb them. Business services firms continued to raise rates based on market conditions.
• Richmond: The regional economy saw little growth, overall. Consumer spending softened slightly as poor weather conditions over the last several weeks led to reduced sales. Imports and shipments of consumer goods picked up as retailers replenished inventories. Domestic manufacturing softened, however. Real estate market activity improved slightly. Nonfinancial service demand was unchanged. Employment rose and price growth was unchanged, keeping inflation moderately elevated.
• Atlanta: Economic activity was little changed. Labor markets and wage pressures eased. Nonlabor costs moderated, on balance. Consumers remained cost conscious, and higher prices squeezed household budgets. Travel and tourism remained strong. Home sales declined. Commercial real estate conditions slowed. Transportation activity was mixed. Manufacturing slowed somewhat. Overall loan demand declined.
• Chicago: Economic activity increased modestly. Employment increased modestly; nonbusiness contacts saw a modest increase in activity; business spending increased slightly; manufacturing activity was flat; and construction and real estate and consumer spending declined slightly. Prices and wages rose moderately, while financial conditions tightened modestly. Prospects for 2024 farm income deteriorated some.
• St. Louis: Economic activity has increased slightly since our previous report. Contacts reported that consumer demand slowed beyond seasonal norms. While labor markets remain tight overall, an increasing number of firms reported being fully staffed or overstaffed relative to consumer demand. Price growth has slowed in recent months. Contacts reported a mixed outlook for the coming year, although the outlook has improved since mid-December.
• Minneapolis: District economic activity was up slightly. Employment grew some, but labor demand softened. Wage pressures continued to moderate, and prices rose modestly. Consumer spending declined slightly, thanks to slow winter tourism. Commercial construction remained slow, but some markets saw single-family activity improve. Manufacturing, mining, and energy activity increased.
• Kansas City: Economic activity in the Tenth District was stable. Job gains were modest, and wage growth, while elevated, was tied closer to worker performance. Price sensitivity rose among consumers, even as prices rose moderately. Commercial real estate contacts indicated skepticism around recent appraisals of property valuation, not wanting to be in a position of trying to “catch a falling knife.”
• Dallas: Economic activity expanded modestly, with most sectors holding steady or experiencing slight to modest growth. Wage growth was moderate, and input cost and selling price growth was generally at or below average. Texas firms were more bullish on demand expectations than late last year, with more than half of the firms’ expecting increases over the next six months. Outlooks overall were less pessimistic.
• San Francisco: Economic activity grew slightly, employment levels rose slightly, and price and wage growth eased. Retail sales were stable, and demand for services grew modestly. Demand for manufactured products changed little, and conditions in agriculture were stable. Real estate activity rose slightly overall. Financial sector conditions were little changed.

One particular highlight: The Atlanta Fed notes said that “commercial real estate conditions slowed”, while the Kansas City Fed said that “Commercial real estate contacts indicated skepticism around recent appraisals of property valuation, not wanting to be in a position of trying to “catch a falling knife.”

Finally, taking a visual approach to the data, we find that after mentions of inflation dropped to 10, or the lowest since Jan 2022 in November, before rebounding in January to 15, in March the number of mentions dipped again, this time to 12, suggesting that prices may indeed be resuming their grind lower.

And speaking of commercial real estate, while Powell is doing his best to pretend that there is nothing to worry about, today’s bailout of NYCB notwithstanding, the Fed itself is clearly worried as shown in the chart below which summarizes all mentions of “commercial real estate” and “CRE” in the latest beige book.

More in the full Beige Book (link).