Update(1105ET): Emerging news wire statements citing Prague emergency response services cite a much larger than expected death toll. Initially, vague police reports said several were dead and wounded, but there may have been at least 11 killed, including the gunman, and nine more seriously wounded. This means twenty or more people were struck by bullets, from a shooter who appeared to have taken up position sniper-style on a high rooftop:

• SHOOTING IN PRAGUE LEFT 11 PEOPLE DEAD,CTK CITES RESCUE SERVICE
• SHOOTING IN PRAGUE LEFT NINE PEOPLE SERIOUSLY WOUNDED, CTK SAYS

Police say the shooter has been killed, but likely there are still bystanders holed up in buildings:

An email sent to staff and students at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, seen by Reuters, had said a shooter was in one of its buildings and had told staff to “stay put”.

“Don’t go anywhere, if you’re in the offices, lock them and place furniture in front of the door, turn off the lights,” the email said. One X user posted a photo of a group of students, hiding crouched on a ledge of the building.

Students at the University of Prague climbed onto a ledge to hide from the gunman.

At least 11 dead including the suspect who fell from his rooftop position. pic.twitter.com/feofDoDTyy

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 21, 2023

The below unconfirmed image appears to show the shooter with a high-powered rifle with optics taking out people in the university square below…

Currently, reports are circulating that the alleged shooter has been identified David Kozak – which also say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

* * *

Multiple fatalities are being reported in an active situation amid a mass shooting in Prague, Czech Republic. Bystanders have been observed fleeing the grounds of Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague as a huge police response ensues.

One unverified report describes the developing scene as follows: “Prague According to media reports, the attacker used a long-barreled weapon with optics. There are reports of casualties and injuries. At the moment, the entire Jan Palach Square and the surrounding area are completely closed off.”

A police statement has confirmed that several are dead and wounded at the scene, and police soon after have announced that the Prague shooter has been “eliminated”.

The below bridge which people are fleeing across, the Charles Bridge (aka Karluv Most), is among the most popular central tourist attractions in Prague. 

BREAKING: Shooting with multiple fatalities at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague pic.twitter.com/Rs0u9RHsXi

— BNO News (@BNONews) December 21, 2023

The shooter with a rifle may have been on a roof of one of the university buildings, a newly emerged (but unverified) photo suggests.

According to the Associated Press:

Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan told Czech public television the person who opened fire was dead.

Rakusan said there’s no other shooter at the scene and there’s no imminent further danger, but he urged people to cooperate with police.

BREAKING: Photo of armed man on roof of Charles University Faculty of Arts following shooting in Prague that left multiple dead pic.twitter.com/MVFTKm4iLP

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) December 21, 2023

A scene inside a barricaded classroom at the university as police begin clearing and securing buildings:

Currently stuck inside my classroom in Prague. Shooter is dead, but we are waiting to be evacuated. Praying to make it out alive.

Locked the door before the shooter tried to open it. Fucking hell. pic.twitter.com/wYyhOe5U6p

— Jakob Weizman (@jakobweizman) December 21, 2023

And students and bystanders hiding out on the ledge of a roof, in a precarious situation…

developing…

The space race among billionaires for rocket launches intensified, with news Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Cerberus, a private equity firm headed by billionaire Stephen Feinberg, submitted buyout proposals to United Launch Alliance, an aerospace and defense manufacturing company. 

The Wall Street Journal broke the news Thursday morning that ULA has three buyout suitors, including Blue Origin, Cerberus, and aviation and defense manufacturer Textron.

People familiar with the situation could not determine each of the valuations placed by the three suitors. They noted valuing ULA is particularly challenging because historical performance is based on rockets that will be discontinued. 

ULA has lucrative launch contracts with the Pentagon and is equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed. It dominated space launches for decades until Elon Musk’s SpaceX ramped up launch activity in recent years. 

Musk posted on X earlier this month that his rockets launched over “80% of all Earth payload to orbit this year,” outpacing China, Russia, and ULA by a mile. 

Jefferies estimates that ULA could be sold for between $2 billion and $3 billion. In 2015, another bidder offered around $2 billion. 

ULA has completed 155 missions over the years. WSJ noted Boeing and Lockheed are selling ULA as it phases out the Delta and Atlas launch vehicles for a new rocket called Vulcan Centaur. 

“Blue Origin has a major relationship with ULA, winning a deal five years ago to build engines for ULA’s Vulcan rocket,” WSJ said, adding, “Cerberus and Textron would be new to the rocket-launch business.” 

The billionaire race for space accelerates with aims to compete with SpaceX, but Musk’s company is significantly more advanced than any competitor. 

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

In his book Profiles of Courage, John F. Kennedy discussed figures who answered the call of history and how such defining moments are “an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to us all.” That moment will now be presented to nine justices of the United States Supreme Court after a divided decision of the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

The test for the U.S. Supreme Court is not just what they should do, but how they should do it.

As an institution, the Court is often called upon to seize such moments to bring unity and clarity on our core values. That is why this insidious opinion must not only be unequivocal but unanimous.

The Colorado decision to bar Donald Trump from the ballot will be overturned because it is wrong on the history and the language of the 14th Amendment.

Dead wrong.

The question is whether the US Supreme Court will speak with one voice, including the three liberal justices.

As with the three Democratic state justices who refused to sign off on the Colorado opinion, these federal justices can now bring a moment of unity not just for the court but the country in rejecting this shockingly anti-democratic theory.

For years, the disqualification theory has been treated like some abstract parlor game for law professors.

While Democrats called for the disqualification of 120 House members, it was treated as a fringe theory.

It has now lost its charm as a legal brain teaser.

As I have previously written, the disqualification of Trump is based on the use of a long-dormant provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

After the Civil War, House members were outraged to see Alexander Stephens, the Confederate vice president, seeking to take the oath with an array of other former Confederate senators and military officers.

They had all previously taken the same oath and then violated it to join a secession movement that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

That was a true rebellion.

January 6, 2021, was a riot.

That does not excuse those who committed crimes that day — but it was not an insurrection.

The majority on the Colorado Supreme Court adopted sweeping interpretations of every element of the decision to find that Trump not only incited an insurrection, but can be disqualified under this provision.

It does not matter that Trump has never been charged with even incitement or that he called for his supporters to go to the Capitol to protest “peacefully.”

In finding that Trump led an actual insurrection, the four justices used speeches going back to 2016 to show an effort to rebel before Trump was ever president.

There are ample grounds to summarily toss this opinion to the side.

However, that would not answer the call of this historic moment.

What these four justices did was a direct assault on our democratic process in seeking to bar the most popular candidate in the upcoming election.

Whatever the view of Trump, this is a decision that should rest with the voters.

No only are these four justices seeking to bar the votes of millions of voters (even barring the counting of write-in votes), but they are doing so in the name of democracy.

It is the ballot cleansing that is usually associated with authoritarian countries like Iran, where voters are protected from “unworthy” candidates.

Justice Robert Jackson once observed that he and his colleagues “are not final because we are infallible, we are infallible because we are final.”

A decision on Colorado could put this theory to rest by the sheer finality of the appeal.

However, it is not the finality that is needed at this moment. We need clarity. Clarity of purpose and principle.

The Supreme Court plays a unique role in our system at times like these.

It must at times defy us in rejecting racism as cases such as Brown v. Board of Education.

At other times, it has protected in rejecting government overreach as in cases such as Katz v. United States, demanding warrants to overcome the reasonable expectation of privacy.

This is a time where it can unify us.

The court holds the ultimate “bully pulpit” that can educate citizens on what defines us as a people.

Most people understand intuitively that what these four justices did in Colorado was wrong.

However, the court can speak as one — conservatives and liberals — in reaffirming the core values discarded by these state justices.

In that sense, it may be the greatest test of Chief Justice John Roberts.

Roberts once observed that “the most successful chief justices help their colleagues speak with one voice.”

Past chief justices from John Marshall to Earl Warren struggled to secure unanimous votes on fundamental cases to reaffirm such defining values.

The court could help unify this country in a way that may be unparalleled in its history.

It can show that justices who hold vastly different ideological views can be unified on core principles.

It can remind us that, as citizens, the Constitution is ultimately not a covenant with the government but with each other.

It is a leap of faith that, as a free people, we can decide our shared destiny and protect our shared identity.

The moment has come for nine justices to speak in one voice.

An American voice that transcends the personalities and divisions of our time.

It is a voice that speaks not to what divides us but what defines us as a people.

Normally the market could care less about data that is at least 3 months old, like for example today’s 3rd estimate of Q3 GDP for the quarter ended Sept 30 or, well, three months ago, but on days like today when algos are desperate for bad news to validate the Fed’s dovish pivot and extend on premarket gains, it appears that everyone ignored the very strong initial claims print which came in near record lows…

… and instead focused exclusively on both the GDP number, which at 4.9% (or 4.86% to be precise) was revised sharply lower from the 5.2% reported in the 2nd estimate (and below the 5.2% estimate), as well as the Core PCE Print which at 2.0% was a big drop from the 2.3% previously (and expected) and right in line with the Fed’s inflation target.

According to the BEA, “the increase in the third quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending and inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.”

The update from the “second” estimate reflected downward revisions to consumer spending, inventory investment, and exports that were partly offset by upward revisions to state and local government, business investment, housing investment, and federal government spending. Here are some more details:

• Personal consumption was revised down to 2.11% of the bottom line GDP print, from 2.44% in the second estimate and 2.69% in the first. So par for the course for the Obama 3.0 Biden admin.
• Fixed Investment was 0.46% of GDP, up from 0.42%
• Change to Private Inventories added 1.27%, down from 1.40% previously
• Net exports were a tiny contribution of 0.03% (0.59% exports vs -0.56% imports), a flip from the modest drag of -0.04% in the second estimate
• Government consumption added 0.99%, up from 0.94% in the second estimate

Visually, the data looked like this:

In Q3, the value added of private goods-producing industries increased 10.2 percent, private services-producing industries increased 4.1 percent, and government increased 2.0 percent. Overall, 14 of 22 industry groups contributed to the third-quarter increase in real GDP.

• Within private goods-producing industries, the increase was led by nondurable goods manufacturing and construction.
• Within private services-producing industries, the increase was led by retail trade, information, and finance and insurance. Partly offsetting these increases was a decrease in utilities.
• The increase in government reflected an increase in state and local government that was partly offset by a decrease in federal government.

But even more important than the (meaningless) GDP components was the price data, which came far weaker than expected and was a notable drop from the previous estimate, to wit:

• GDP Price Deflator 3.3%, Exp. 3.6%, Last 3.6%
• PCE Prices 2.6%, Last 2.8%
• Core PCE Price Deflator 2.0%, Exp. 2.3%, Last 2.3%

Translation: three months ago, when the Fed was still pointing to more rate hikes in 2023, core PCE had already fallen to the Fed’s target and only the lack of “accurate” data is what apparently prevented the Fed from turning more dovish. Of course, the same lagged effect of accurate data is why the Fed’s rate cuts will be coming just as inflation is once again starting to run away to the upside, guaranteeing a catastrophic repeat of the 1970s Arthur Burns Fed.

The Philly Fed’s latest survey shows that manufacturing activity in the region continued to decline overall in December, printing -10.5, will below the -3.0 expected and -5.9 in November.

Source: Bloomberg

That is the 17th monthly decline of the last 19 months – as long a contractionary period as was seen during the GFC.

But, the picture from the Philly Fed is even more troubling as new orders tumbled dramatically (into contraction from +1.3 to -25.6) while prices paid accelerated (more than 33 percent of the firms reported increases in input prices, while 8 percent reported decreases). Employment also fell into contraction.

Source: Bloomberg

We love the smell of stagflation in the morning.

“Great” news America… economic growth in the 3rd quarter was not quite as hot as the government had previously guessed.

‘Worser-er’ data suddenly supports the goldilocks scenario as the algos appeared to completely ignore the current initial claims data which is practically at record lows.

Stocks soared higher…

Treasury yields puked…

Gold spiked…

As the dollar dumped…

And March rate-cut odds jumped back above 80%…

Oh dear, Mr.Powell, what have you done.

In a post on X, Sao Paulo-based ‘Dr. Simon Goddek‘ announced, “I am going to red-pill you about vegetable oils.” In a detailed bullet point list, he outlined the potential health risks of cooking with vegetable oils.

To summarize Goddek’s list, he noted that the extraction process for vegetable oils like canola, soybean, and corn oil involves unnatural methods such as high heat and chemical solvents, leading to oxidation and trans fats. These oils, a modern dietary phenomenon, have seen tremendous use since the early 1990s, paralleling the increase in chronic health issues.

He pointed out that Omega-6 fatty acids can cause chronic inflammation and are linked to autoimmune diseases due to an imbalance with Omega-3. Studies link diets high in vegetable oils to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, genetic damage, and an increased risk of cancer and heart disease.

Goddek provided two notable studies that found significantly higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths in groups consuming high amounts of these oils.

Here’s the list:

1. Unnatural Extraction Process: Unlike coconut or olive oil, which can be extracted through pressing, seed oils like canola, soybean, and corn oil require unnatural methods for extraction. They undergo processes involving high heat and chemical solvents like petroleum, leading to oxidation and the formation of trans fats even before they reach your kitchen​.

2. ​A Modern Dietary Addition: Industrial seed oils are a recent addition to our diet, exploding in consumption from virtually zero in the early 1900s to 70 lbs per year per person today. This dramatic increase corresponds with a surge in chronic health issues, suggesting a link between seed oil consumption and modern diseases.

3. Omega-6 and Inflammation: Vegetable oils are high in Omega-6 fatty acids, especially linoleic acid, which is a precursor to pro-inflammatory eicosanoids. These molecules can cause chronic inflammation and contribute to autoimmune diseases. The excessive consumption of Omega-6, without the balance of Omega-3, exacerbates these health issues.

4. Oxidative Stress and Cancer: Studies have shown that diets high in vegetable oils, particularly linoleic acid, lead to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and genetic damage. These factors are instrumental in promoting cancer, with some studies revealing a fourfold increase in metastasis in diets high in these oils​.

5. Heart Disease Risk: The Minnesota Coronary Experiment found that participants who increased their intake of corn oil and margarine had an 86% higher incidence of heart attacks. Despite lower cholesterol levels, the vegetable oil group had a significantly higher mortality rate from heart attacks.

6. Cardiovascular Deaths: The MARGARIN Study revealed that the group consuming margarine high in linoleic acid from vegetable oils had a 700% higher rate of strokes, heart attacks, and cardiovascular deaths compared to a group consuming Omega-3-rich fish oil. This stark difference underscores the health risks of high vegetable oil consumption​.

“Remember, the key to a healthier life is understanding what you’re putting into your body. Rethink your oil choices and opt for natural, minimally processed fats,” Goddek concluded in the post that has gone viral. 

Today, I am going to red-pill you about vegetable oils. Make sure you bookmark and share this post:

1. Unnatural Extraction Process: Unlike coconut or olive oil, which can be extracted through pressing, seed oils like canola, soybean, and corn oil require unnatural methods for… pic.twitter.com/2Y1bZ5vKvM

— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) December 19, 2023

Attached to Goddek’s post is an image titled “The Hateful Eight”: 

Americans should be aware that mega-corporations controlling the nation’s food supply have been force-feeding folks with junk food, one of the main contributors to the obesity crisis. This also impacts public health and is considered a national security threat, particularly regarding military readiness. 

Folks need to ditch crime-ridden urban areas for rural communities and become their own food producer to break away from the government and mega-corporations that control the food supply. 

Authored by Pete Colan via AmericanThinker.com,

As if we aren’t already incredibly weary of climate hysteria where everything is to blame from cow farts to your lawnmower, spoiler alert:  they’re not done yet. 

Not until the earth is completely sanitized with Globalist Elite brand disinfectant will we stop hearing about all the amazing ways we humans are destroying the earth. 

But now it seems the Global Warming Train has entered the station and can go no further, because alas, human breathing is now to blame.  Yes friends, your mere existence, and not just what car you drive, is an existential threat to the earth’s climate.

Oh, and it’s not the CO2 you exhale, it’s something far more sinister. 

A recent peer-reviewed study from the UK has determined “…that exhaled human breath can contain the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) both of which have a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide (CO2).”

But, thankfully, not all people are climate destroyers.  

Oddly, only 31% of people reach their threshold of, as the cited study claims, “Methane Producers” or MPs. 

Older people and females were more likely to be MPs. They don’t know why. 

Curiously, the researchers also found no statistically relevant correlation between the levels of human greenhouse gas emissions and diet, so fear not; this isn’t immediate affirmation of “thou shalt eat bugs from now on” (yet).  Instead, they insist more research be done. 

 “Converting from high meat and protein content diets to higher fibre vegetarian options to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases from meat production (farm animals) potentially results in higher production of gases in the human gut, and an element of pollution swapping could occur.”

The study does not dismiss the human breath contribution to global warming as insignificant, which is the scary part.

“In terms of magnitude, these values are approximately 0.05% and 0.1% of the total emissions of CH4 and N2O reported in the UK national greenhouse gas inventories.”

So, if they’re coming after your gas stove, they might just come after all you MPs out there.

Soon they’ll be handing out MP test kits like they were handing out COVID tests.

Don’t laugh; as you all know the silliest conspiracy theories of the last decade have almost all come true. Watch your back.

The Volkswagen Group announced its brands, VW, Audi, and Porsche, will be integrating Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug into electric vehicles beginning in 2025, signifying yet another major automaker adopting NACS, which is becoming the de facto EV plug in North America. 

VW abandoning the Combined Charging System (CCS) charging port for NACS comes as no surprise, considering nearly every other major automaker (except Stellantis) has made the move to Tesla plugs that will allow vehicles to tap into the massive Tesla Supercharger network. 

“This is great news for our electric vehicle customers in the North American Region,” said Pablo Di Si, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America.

Di Si continued, “This potentially provides them with access to more than 15,000 additional charging points as well as the current near-4,000 DC fast charging outlets operated by Electrify America. It would mean that customers of our fast-selling electric vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.4 will have access to an extensive and growing charging network.”

Tesla Supercharger Map of North America

The transition from CCS to NACS is happening quickly: Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, BMW, Fisker, Genesis, Rivian, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Lexus, Lucid, Mini, Nissan, Polestar/Volvo, Rolls Royce, and Toyota have announced a CCS to NACS migration. 

Earlier in the year, SAE International, previously known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, declared NACS as the new industry standard. This week, NACS received an unlikely endorsement from progressive radicals in the White House, further supporting the adoption of the Tesla plug.

Authored by András László via ReMix News,

Additional funding for Ukraine has been delayed both on behalf of the U.S. and the EU. However, too many experts and commentators are focusing on a lack of funding and too few on strategy and the political challenges facing the war-torn nation.

This is the state of play on aid to Ukraine after the European Council meeting and President Zelensky’s recent visit to Washington.

The situation in the U.S. is complex.

It’s a mixture of a shift in public opinion, partisan politics ahead of an election year, and accountability for aid already provided to Ukraine.

Currently, further aid to Ukraine is being blocked in Congress. Republicans want to know how U.S. aid has been used so far and why military and financial support has delivered little results. Congress is also concerned about corruption in Ukraine. With 2024 being an election year, President Biden and Democrats are worrying about pushing for more aid to Ukraine which is unpopular among Americans.

The situation in the EU is even more difficult.

EU countries cannot deliver the promised 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine, an admission made a few weeks ago by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. National governments also cannot or do not want to give money to Ukraine out of their own pockets. Similarly to the U.S., the EU’s largest economy, Germany, is facing a budgetary deadlock. Therefore, national governments want a “European solution”: more EU debt instead of more national debt. That way they do not need to convince their own electorate that taking on more national debt is the correct move, and do not need to overcome legal limitations to acquire further capital.

The problem at EU level is that Brussels has already run out of money and new debt is necessary not only to fund Ukraine but also to beef up the entire budget of the EU.

In these circumstances, American and European considerations differ. The Biden administration’s interest is to convince the EU to play a larger role in helping Ukraine which could include taking over the entire financial burden of funding Ukraine. After an unsuccessful Ukrainian counteroffensive this year and tension growing in other conflict zones around the world, it would also be convenient for the Biden administration to shift responsibility for the outcome of the war to European allies. This would also allow the Biden administration to avoid responsibility for another Afghanistan-like disaster should Ukraine collapse.

European leaders on the other hand have no strategy and cannot see the end of the war (and war spending) yet. Nor can they decide if the U.S. deadlock in supporting Ukraine will be unlocked or if it will really be up to Europeans to carry the entire burden of supporting Ukraine. Their interest is to keep the U.S. actively involved and therefore to delay, as long as possible, a European decision to fund Ukraine. If they were to step up their efforts without a clear indication of what role the U.S. can or will play in supporting Ukraine in 2024, the EU would take over the entire burden and responsibility and pave the way for the U.S. to pull out.

Leaders at the European Council summit last week decided to divert attention away from funding Ukraine and instead chose to celebrate opening accession talks with Ukraine.

That doesn’t cost anything and leaders can play it like they have done something meaningful. They also didn’t miss the opportunity to use Viktor Orbán for scapegoating.

The Hungarian prime minister is raising very similar issues to that of Republicans in the U.S.: what is the strategy to end this war? How will the money be used? Essentially, how to avoid pouring money into a bottomless pit?

Some leaders definitely took the promise of “supporting Ukraine as long as it takes” seriously and their fear of Russia and their determination to help Ukraine is genuine (Poland and the Baltic states for example), while others merely wanted to please or at least not go against Biden’s policy.

Ukraine is now a hostage of this Western hypocrisy and the overly ambitious goals President Zelensky had communicated for 18 months about recapturing all occupied territory. He pulled out of a signed peace deal with Russia because Western powers promised to help its war effort for as long as it took. Now, negotiating and compromise with Russia would be unacceptable to the majority of the Ukrainian public and therefore political suicide for Zelensky.

Simply throwing money at Ukraine will not solve the problems the West and Ukraine are facing. People in both Washington and Brussels are trying to dodge responsibility for the failed strategies. To avoid another Afghanistan-like scenario, the West needs a new Ukraine strategy and allocated funding to support that strategy. One that involves a negotiated peace with Russia and a face-saving option for Zelensky. Where is leadership when you need it?

Read more here…