Authored by Stephen Katte via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Daily tabloid newspaper The New York Post has accused Harvard of using an “expensive law firm” to threaten them over an investigative journalism report into the university president’s alleged plagiarism.

According to the New York Post’s report, on Oct. 24, they made Harvard University aware of more than two dozen instances in which University President Claudine Gay’s words, phrases, or sentences appeared to closely resemble works already published by other academics.

After seeking comment, the Post claims they were first ignored, then sent a lengthy letter by a Virginia-based attorney with law firm Clare-Locke, who identified himself as defamation counsel for Harvard University and Ms. Gay. The entire contents of the letter have yet to be revealed publicly.

Ms. Gay has been accused of plagiarizing multiple sections of her Ph.D. thesis back in 1997, violating Harvard’s policies on academic integrity. According to the Post, two other works by the Harvard president have suspected instances of plagiarism.

The alleged plagiarism, combined with Ms. Gay’s controversial statements during the recent congressional hearing on antisemitism, has led to calls for Ms. Gay to resign. However, the university’s highest governing body announced on Dec. 12 that they fully support her “continued leadership of Harvard University.”

“Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing,” the board said in its public statement.

Internal Plagiarism Investigation Backs Gay

A university investigation has since backed Ms. Gay’s actions. According to the Harvard board, in late October, the university became aware of plagiarism allegations in three articles Ms. Gay had written. They claim, at her behest, “Fellows promptly initiated an independent review by distinguished political scientists and conducted a review of her published work.”

In a university context, a fellow can be a member of a highly ranked group of teachers or a governing body member. When the investigation results were revealed on Dec. 9, the fellows reportedly found instances of “inadequate citation” in Ms. Gays reviewed papers.

“While the analysis found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct, President Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications,” the board said.

“In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay. At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated.”

These findings directly contradict Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank, who alleges that Ms. Gay lifted an entire paragraph nearly verbatim from a 1990 paper by authors Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam. In his opinion, this directly violates Harvard’s plagiarism policy.

Harvard’s policy states, “When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source’s ideas in your own words. It’s not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Harvard University, The New York Post, and the attorney with law firm Clare-Locke for further comment.

Via The College Fix,

A transgender volleyball player and high school junior from California verbally committed to play for the University of Washington, which could make him the first known male recipient of a women’s Division 1 athletic scholarship.

If the university signs athlete Tate Drageset’s offer next fall, he will take one of 12 National Collegiate Athletic Association DI volleyball scholarships available for women at the school, Reduxx reported Wednesday.

An anonymous source whom Reduxx identified as “the parent of a minor player within the Southern California Volleyball Association (SCVA) community” expressed concerns to the outlet about “the steady escalation of Drageset’s participation in women’s volleyball,” according to the news outlet.

“As he got older, it became more obvious that something was off,” the source told Reduxx. “Anytime the subject of [Drageset] would come up EVERY PARENT from any SCVA team already knew about him. Parents look around before they speak in hushed tones. Some will wait to discuss until outside the gym.”

“Everyone is scared of how their child will be treated if they speak up,” according to the parent. “The stealing of positions and opportunities has been infuriating and so sad when you see how it affects the girls. There is no concern for their mental health or safety after being replaced.”

Former University of Kentucky swimmer and women’s sports activist Riley Gaines posted to social media about Drageset on Wednesday, writing that he is “stealing the already few opportunities for women at the collegiate level.”

Tuition at the University of Washington is $12,645 for state residents and $41,997 for non-residents for the 2023-24 academic year, according to the school’s admissions website.

The Los Angeles Daily News named Drageset, then a high school sophomore, in its “Daily News Girls Athlete of the Week” in November 2022. “Drageset had 23 kills, 10 digs and three aces for the Griffins in their first-ever appearance in the CIF State finals,” it reported.

Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, told Reduxx that her organization knows “many of the girls [Drageset]’s playing against do not know that they are competing against a male.”

“There has been no consideration from his family to tell female athletes or coaches the truth,” Smith said. “They have not been transparent, so girls are repeatedly and unknowingly put at a disadvantage and not given the chance to opt out over increased safety risks.”

Smith is also a former NCAA champion, according to her X bio.

She told Reduxx that “the NCAA guidelines and the upcoming Biden Administration’s Title IX reinterpretations incentivize male athletes and their families to hide their sex from women and girls.”

“The only solution to provide women with fair and safe sport is to have a female-protected category with no exceptions,” Smith said.

Here we go again…

In a hilarious repeat from 2016, ivory tower leftists are absolutely freaking out about the prospect of Donald Trump getting back into the White House, now that multiple polls show that Trump isn’t just on track to sweep the GOP primary field – but he’d smoke Biden if a malarkey-free 2024 election were held today.

In early December, several news outlets published articles warning that a second Trump term would turn America into a dictatorship.

They’re obviously green-lighting assassination. pic.twitter.com/rSocx7WFKc

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 4, 2023

And as Victor Davis Hanson noted earlier this week, the Left has gone hysterical, after experiencing a trifecta of frightening 2024 news.

• One, current polls in the primaries and in a general election for now show that Trump would win.
• Two, unequivocal evidence is mounting that the Bidens are one of the most corrupt political families in American presidential history
• Three, Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and feebleness have reached a point where he is one fall, one bad cold, or one long brain-freeze away from incapacity.

At the same time, establishment talking heads have taken to the air waves to ‘remind’ the American public what a threat Trumpus Julius Caesar is to the Republic (perhaps with Vivek Antony as VP?).

Tom Elliott of Grabian has put together a supercut of leftists and Rinos losing their minds over a Trump return. A few snippets:

“He cannot be the next president, because if he is…”

“You can’t imagine the things that he’s going to do. Mexico. Canada. We can’t go to Canada because eventually Canada will become annex to America.”

“He can shoot the first lady”

“We’re going to see violence, the likes of which we didn’t even see on January 6th”

“He will make himself into the fuhrer, and he will make everybody raise their hand and salute him.”

“Using Marshall Law against the American people.”

“Terminate the constitution.”

Watch:

SUPERCUT!

Media warn if Trump wins again every bad possible thing will happen pic.twitter.com/8u9PeFYoUV

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 12, 2023

Orange man Caesar!

1) These people seem certifiably insane. As in, needing serious psychological help. I’m not exaggerating here, they seem to have completely lost a relationship with reality.
2) I laughed multiple times in this Supercut. https://t.co/FY6eXuzqnb

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 15, 2023

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

A former diversity manager at Facebook has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company in what the Justice Department says was an elaborate scheme involving fake vendors and cash kickbacks.

Barbara Furlow-Smiles, who led Facebook’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for years, has pleaded guilty to defrauding the company of more than $4 million using fictitious charges and fraudulent invoices, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“This defendant abused a position of trust as a global diversity executive for Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of her DEI mission,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement.

Ms. Furlow-Smiles served as lead strategist and global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement at Facebook, which is now known as Meta.

From 2017 to 2021, she was responsible for developing and executing a range of DEI initiatives, operations, and engagement programs, with access to company credit cards and the authority to submit purchase orders and approve invoices.

Prosecutors said she abused her position at Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, which she used to live a luxury lifestyle in California and Georgia.

‘Elaborate Criminal Scheme’

Prosecutors said that, while in her role as a DEI executive, she devised a scheme that started with causing Facebook to onboard a number of vendors that were owned and operated by her friends and associates.

She approved purchase requisitions for these vendors to provide services to Facebook and then signed off on fraudulent and inflated invoices on the basis of which the company paid these vendors—who then gave her back most of the money.

“Motivated by greed, she used her time to orchestrate an elaborate criminal scheme in which fraudulent vendors paid her kickbacks in cash,” Mr. Buchanan said. “She even involved relatives, friends, and other associates in her crimes, all to fund a lavish lifestyle through fraud rather than hard and honest work.”

Some people Ms. Furlow-Smiles recruited to participate in her fraudulent scheme were interns from a prior job, nannies and babysitters, a hair stylist, and her university tutor.

Investigators said the fake vendors paid the DEI executive kickbacks both in cash (sometimes wrapped in T-shirts to conceal the ploy) and through transfers to accounts held in various people’s names, including her husband’s. In order to further hide the fraud, Ms. Furlow-Smiles also got the associates to pay one another or give funds to people to whom she owed money.

Most of the people she recruited for the scheme were unaware that the payments came from Facebook, as she linked PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards and used those accounts to funnel money to associates for services that were never provided.

She submitted fraudulent expense reports to Facebook, falsely claiming that the associates performed work for the company, such as providing marketing services.

Her sentencing is scheduled for March 2024, according to the DOJ.

DEI in Focus

In recent years, DEI has surged to prominence, with many businesses and colleges jumping on the trend—and drawing pushback from conservatives.

More than 60 percent of U.S. companies have a race- or gender-based DEI program, according to a 2022 Harvard Business Review survey.

A recent report from the Heritage Foundation shows that DEI initiatives were present at 81 percent of community colleges reviewed; a whopping 96 percent of those with more than 10,000 students boasted some DEI presence.

“Woke radicals are propagating the same racially focused, ideologically driven diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and training on community college campuses that have distracted four-year institutions from educating students,” wrote Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation and lead author of the report.

“DEI is a racist cultural movement that puts the radical ideas from critical race theory, gender theory, and queer theory into practice.”

The explosion of the DEI phenomenon has led some Republican-led states to stand up in opposition. For instance, the GOP governors of Florida and Texas have signed bills banning public funding of DEI in colleges and universities.

Some DEI initiatives may also conflict with the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision against racial preferences in college admissions.

The Supreme Court issued a decision in June that struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies at colleges and universities that receive federal money, ordering an end to the use of so-called affirmative action programs in higher education.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, state attorneys general from Tennessee, Kansas, and 11 other states put 100 of the largest U.S. corporations on notice “of the illegality of racial quotas and race-based preferences in employment and contracting practices.” They urged the firms to put an immediate halt to such policies.

In a July 13 letter to CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, the attorneys general wrote that the Supreme Court ruling “definitively” ends the legal use of race-based hiring and contracting practices.

“If your company previously resorted to racial preferences or naked quotas to offset its bigotry, that discriminatory path is now definitively closed,” the letter reads.

“Your company must overcome its underlying bias and treat all employees, all applicants, and all contractors equally, without regard for race.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

The Biden Administration is directing Federal agencies to prioritize the use of sustainable transportation such as electric vehicles and trains for official travel, as part of efforts to build a clean transportation future, the White House said in new guidelines.  

As the Administration announced new public and private commitments to boost access to EVs, save taxpayer dollars, and tackle the climate crisis, it says it would lead by example with the release of new Federal employee travel guidelines.

“As the Nation’s largest employer and with an annual business travel purchasing power of $2.8 billion, the Federal Government is leading by example by shifting to cleaner transportation options, including American-made electric vehicles and charging infrastructure,” the White House said.

Last year, federal employees took more than 2.8 million flights, 2.3 million vehicle rentals, and 33,000 rail trips, the Administration added.

The prioritization of cleaner transportation includes guidelines that federal employees will rent an EV on official travel when the cost of the EV is less than or equal to the most affordable comparable vehicle available. Employees will also opt for cost-competitive EV options where available when using taxis and ride-share platforms.

In addition, federal agencies are directed to tell employees they will use rail for trips less than 250 miles when cost-effective and available, instead of taking an airplane or vehicle. Federal employees will also use more public transit when conducting local travel or upon arrival at the official travel location, the Biden Administration said.

As early as in 2021, President Joe Biden vowed to replace the almost 650,000-strong federal vehicle fleet with electric cars as part of his climate agenda.

The Administration aims for EVs to make up at least 50% of new car sales in the United States by 2030.

But last month, a group of U.S. car deals known as EV Voice of the Customer warned the Biden Administration that most U.S. car buyers aren’t interested in purchasing electric vehicles, incentives or not.   

The weather blog Severe Weather Europe provides an in-depth analysis of “cold anomalies across much of the central, southern, and eastern United States” after the start of the new year.

The influence of the El Nino continues to grow, helping to create a strong Jet Stream pattern over the Pacific Ocean, bringing warmth into North America. But a pattern change is still on course for January.https://t.co/iD0a8DTm2e

— severe-weather.EU (@severeweatherEU) December 14, 2023

This news should excite our US readers since many of them have been experiencing higher-than-average temperatures due to El Niño.

*    *   * 

Authored by Andrej Flis of Severe Weather Europe, 

Winter 2023/2024 has begun in a very dynamic way. Currently, we have a strong train of pressure waves across the Pacific and into North America. That will evolve into a strong low-pressure system, driving a powerful jet stream and warmer air over the United States, just to be replaced in early 2024 by a big cold weather pattern change.

A low-pressure area is forecast to develop over the North Pacific in the next few days and will produce a strong jet stream pattern that will push the mild ocean air into North America. But it is not forecast to last long, as proper winter is currently scheduled to arrive in January.

We will first look at the latest weather patterns and the unusual jet stream development forecast. You will also see how Winter is forecast to arrive in January, and we will also look at what is driving the atmosphere from one extreme to the other.

WAVES IN THE ATMOSPHERE

The current weather pattern across the North Pacific and North America is very dynamic. In the image below, you can see the latest pressure anomalies in a wave-like pattern. Such pressure waves are an attempt of the atmosphere to balance out the temperature difference between the cold poles and the warm tropics.

These pairs of pressure systems are also known as Rossby Waves. You can see an example of Rossby waves in the image below by NOAA. As you can see, the current pattern above is quite a textbook example of a Rossby wave train from the Pacific into North America.

The violet line connecting these pressure systems is the jet stream. It drives and interacts with the pressure systems, thus helping to directly influence our daily weather. That is why any changes in the jet stream are very important to monitor.

The term jet stream is behind extreme events, from cold spells and flooding to heatwaves and droughts. It is a fast, narrow current of air flowing from west to east that surrounds the globe. In the image below, you can see an example of the global jet stream in a NOAA analysis.

This all comes together if we look at the latest temperature anomalies across the Pacific and North America. Just like with pressure anomalies, you can see the temperature waves of warm and cold zones. As a warm anomaly is present over the northern United States and Canada, a colder-than-normal anomaly is over the northeastern United States.

These temperature patterns directly correspond to the high and low-pressure systems and the jet stream that connects them. The strongest cold is usually found when the jet stream is wavy, and these pressure waves are strong, and the low-pressure area of the wave is directly over the United States.

But there is a reason why we are looking at the current pattern and learning about pressure waves and the jet stream.

In the coming days, the dynamic waves in the North Pacific will be replaced by a large and strong low-pressure area, creating a more linear jet stream and having a strong weather impact over the United States and Canada.

AS THE PRESSURE DROPS

During winter, the pressure systems tend to be stronger, especially lows. As there is a lot of energy involved, the weather systems are constantly in motion and interacting with each other. This can bring along pattern changes on a larger scale, one like we are about to see unfold in the second half of December.

The graphics below show the ensemble forecast from the ECMWF data, openly available by the Copernicus data hub. Images are provided by weathermodels.com, using a commercial license.

Looking 10 days ahead, you can see in the forecast below that a broad low-pressure area is forecast to develop over the Aleutians. This will replace the usual train of shorter pressure waves and produce a more linear pattern.

This longer wave pattern can be seen in the forecast below for the holidays. You can see a broad low-pressure area over the ocean and a large high-pressure area over North America. This is the same Rossby wave pattern as you saw in the beginning, but in a longer form.

What this does is two things. First, it creates a strong pressure difference. And strong pressure difference means strong winds. This brings strong westerly and southwesterly low-level winds into the western United States and western Canada and, with it, milder ocean air.

Second, it creates a very strong jet stream in the upper levels. You can see it in the graphic below, showing the wind speed at the 200mb level (12km/7.4 miles). This helps to bring much warmer air mass into the United States, along with moisture.

To put that into perspective, you can see the temperature anomalies on the 10-day forecast below. The warmer ocean air will create a very strong temperature anomaly over much of North America. This also means that the holiday season is going to be warmer than normal across much of the United States.

WEATHER FROM THE WEST

As said, the strong westerly flow brings warmer anomalies over the North American continent. Looking closer at the United States, you can see the temperature anomaly in the lower levels. Pretty much the entire country will be under warmer-than-normal temperatures over the holidays.

Looking specifically at surface temperatures, you can see the daily temperatures not dropping to freezing levels. The exception is the far northern United States and higher elevations over the Rockies. Of course, Canada is still expected to have below-freezing temperatures, despite the strong warm anomalies, due to its northern location.

A similar pattern is also seen over Europe, where a low-pressure system over the northern regions drives a milder westerly flow from the Atlantic as it spins counter-clockwise.

The temperature anomaly forecast over Europe is not as strongly warmer as over the United States and Canada, but you can see that it does prevent any major cold air outbreaks or long-lasting northerly flows into the mainland.

The NOAA 8-14 day temperature outlook sums up this forecast period for the United States. Warmer than normal weather is predicted over much of the country, leading into the final week of December.

A strong jet stream also brings a lot of moisture from the ocean into the United States. In the NOAA precipitation forecast below for the same period, you can see much above-normal precipitation over the western and southern parts of the United States.

But if you like winter and snow, and these images make you feel sad, don’t worry. There is more winter still to come, both on the calendar and, as you will see, also in the atmosphere.

WINTER CHANGE IN JANUARY

Looking at the ensemble forecast, we can see changes in the weather patterns starting around the new year. In the image below, you can see the North Pacific low-pressure area pulling up to the north, allowing the high-pressure area over Canada to back off to the west and north.

That enables the low-pressure area to take over the central and eastern United States, like an undercut below the high-pressure area. It is still just waves of pressure anomalies, like we showed you in the beginning, interacting with each other.

The major changes are then indicated for the second week of January, as seen in the image below. This pressure pattern from the extended ECMWF forecast brings along completely different daily weather. You can see a broad low-pressure area covering much of the United States.

The temperature forecast below, for the same period, shows broad cold anomalies across much of the central, southern, and eastern United States. This indicates the westerly flow is being replaced by a colder northerly flow. Compared to what we will see in the next two weeks, such pattern change would be very welcome in early 2024 if you wish for colder weather and some snowfall.

Looking at the GEFS model for the same period, it shows the exact same temperature pattern. It is perhaps a bit earlier with the colder air than the ECMWF, but at this extended range, the main point is that both (different) models agree on the same outcome, which is a rare sight.

A similar agreement of different models is also seen in the monthly/seasonal forecast, which is an even bigger feat.

JANUARY MONTHLY FORECAST

These pressure changes were already indicated in the monthly January pressure forecast last week. Below, you can see a broad low-pressure system across the eastern and central United States. This is in pairing with a high-pressure zone over southern Canada and a ridge over the western United States.

In the January temperature forecast, you can see the cold air anomaly over the central Plains, upper Midwest, and much of the eastern United States. Southern Canada and the western United States are warmer than normal due to the high-pressure influence.

Another model that agrees with this solution is the UKMO. Below is its pressure anomaly forecast for January over North America. It also shows a broader low-pressure area over the eastern United States and Canada, enabling a more northerly airflow.

This is reflected in the lower atmosphere temperature anomaly forecast for January, which shows the main colder-than-normal area over the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Just like in the ECMWF, the warmer anomalies remain over the west, under the high-pressure ridge area.

These forecasts are a monthly average, so unlike the weekly forecast above, they cannot show as many extremes. But to see such a pattern change on a monthly average is a very good sign for the weather patterns to actually flip in early 2024.

A change is also seen for Europe as we enter January. The weekly pressure anomaly forecast shows a low-pressure area dropping into the central parts. This would at least temporarily weaken the westerly flow and increase the snowfall potential over the central and northern parts.

Looking at the temperature forecast, that cold anomaly is nowhere to be found except for the far northern parts. This is interesting and is not really consistent with what the pressure pattern suggests.

We do have to add that forecasts for Europe do tend to have some irregularities in the extended range, as the drivers behind the weather patterns tend to have a less direct impact than over North America.

But who are these “drivers,” and why do we even have such large swings from red-hot forecast maps to sudden changes into colder patterns?

The answer is not so simple, as we have ocean anomalies, the Polar Vortex, MJO, etc… But there is one major factor this winter that has an important influence on the jet stream and, thus, on the daily weather over the United States and Canada.

As you have probably heard before, that is the strong El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean. We will look at El Niño in this article, as it is directly related to the upcoming jet stream development.

EL NINO WEATHER GAMES

El Niño Southern Oscillation (or ENSO) is a region of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that periodically changes between warm and cold phases. Typically, there is a change around every 1-3 years from one phase to another.

We are currently in a warm phase called El Niño, which is expected to last into Spring 2024.

Below is also an ocean surface anomaly forecast for the January-March period. You can see the El Niño anomaly marked in the tropical Pacific. The forecast shows a basin-wide event of a strong magnitude.

This development is important because changes in ocean temperatures also bring along changes in pressure and precipitation patterns in the tropics. And through those changes, the impact of the El Niño event is distributed into the global circulation.

Below, you can see the average El Niño winter pressure anomalies. Notice the strong low-pressure anomaly in the North Pacific, exactly like we have seen in the forecast for the rest of December. Also, you can see the high-pressure area over Canada and the northern United States

This shows with confidence that the upcoming warm pattern is to be expected in El Niño winters. That is also evident when you see the image below, which shows the typical jet stream pattern in such winters. You can see an amplified subtropical jet stream. This is the same pattern that will impact the weather over North America in the next two weeks.

We can see all this info combined in the next NOAA image below, indicating the average weather during the El Niño winter season.

You can see the strong and persistent low-pressure area in the North Pacific. That pushes the polar jet stream further north, bringing warmer-than-normal temperatures to the northern United States and western Canada.

The southerly Pacific jet stream is extended and amplified during an, bringing low pressure and storms with lots of precipitation and cooler weather to the southern and southeastern United States.

This is slightly different than what we will see in the next weeks, but notice that the image above is a seasonal average. It shows data from 3 months or more.

If you consider the change to a colder weather pattern in January, the overall long-term average might end up looking very close to the typical El Niño winter.

Below is the temperature analysis by NOAA, which shows the number of past El Niño events that were more often warmer or colder. It reveals that during these events, the winters are more often colder than average across the southern half of the United States and up into the northeast.

This shows the 3-month average, which means that there is an overall tendency to have periods of colder weather across the eastern and northeastern United States. And also colder than normal conditions over the southern states.

So, as December ends much warmer than normal, it is very much likely for January and February to fix the seasonal average back to normal with some cold.

You can learn more about the expected winter weather and pressure changes for January and February 2024 in our latest seasonal outlook article:

A long-lasting Winter shift in January and February is now seen across the eastern United States in the latest long-range forecast data

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

Recently, we’ve heard powerful bankers and politicians expressing their desire to ban Bitcoin.

The notion that the US government will ban Bitcoin is popular for a good reason.

Bitcoin threatens a significant source of the government’s power—the power to create fake money out of thin air and force everyone to use it.

That’s because Bitcoin can give monetary sovereignty to the individual and render central banks obsolete—along with their confetti currencies.

That’s no small accomplishment.

It’s a historical development that profoundly alters the status quo between the rulers and the ruled. It’s similar to the invention of gunpowder, the printing press, and the Internet.

There’s no question the US government would want to protect their racket from an encroaching monetary competitor in the same way the mafia does when a rival encroaches on their turf.

The $64,000 question is whether they’ll be successful.

Friedrich Hayek, the great free-market Austrian economist, once said:

“I don’t believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government, that is, we can’t take it violently out of the hands of government, all we can do is by some sly roundabout way introduce something that they can’t stop.”

Hayek is right.

By their very nature, governments never peacefully relinquish power. And if forcefully taking power out of their hands is out of the question, then the only way to do it is through “some sly, roundabout way introduce something they can’t stop.”

Is Bitcoin that solution?

Many people think the answer is “no” because the government will shut it down.

Can Anyone Shut Bitcoin Down?

Bitcoin has no central authority and no single point of failure.

Instead, it runs on a decentralized, voluntary, and growing worldwide network of over 17,300 computers in nearly 100 countries.

Any desktop, laptop, Raspberry Pi—and even some cell phones—have the potential to run the full Bitcoin software. Furthermore, as technology advances, running Bitcoin will become even more widespread.

Many of these computers are cleverly hidden with Tor, which stands for “The Onion Router.” It encrypts your internet traffic and then hides it by bouncing through a series of computers worldwide to obfuscate your IP address and physical location.

In any case, with Bitcoin, there’s no central location for a SWAT team to raid. There’s no CEO to arrest. The best that governments can do is play an endless game of global whack-a-mole.

Even if the US and Russia engaged in an all-out nuclear war, destroying most of the Northern Hemisphere, Bitcoin wouldn’t miss a beat in the Southern Hemisphere.

To even have a chance to stop Bitcoin, every government in the world would have to successfully coordinate simultaneously to shut down the entire Internet everywhere and then keep it off forever.

Even in that improbable scenario, the Bitcoin network can be communicated over radio signals and mesh networks. At the same time, small portable solar panels can power the computers running the network if the regular grid is unavailable.

Further, a network of satellites is constantly beaming the Bitcoin network down to Earth.

In short, all aspects of Bitcoin are genuinely decentralized and robust.

Barring an inescapable, global return to the Stone Age, Bitcoin appears unstoppable.

The cat is out of the bag. Bitcoin is bigger than any government.

If They Can’t Shut It Down, Won’t They Ban It?

Many countries have already tried to ban Bitcoin.

Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, and numerous others have tried to ban Bitcoin. However, they all failed miserably as adoption in those countries kept rising.

Even the mighty Chinese government has banned Bitcoin numerous times with little to no long-term effects. Bitcoin didn’t just survive an attack by a global superpower but emerged stronger and more resilient than ever.

Despite all of this, could the US government still try to outlaw Bitcoin?

It is certainly possible that the US President could issue an Executive Order banning Bitcoin. Remember, Executive Order 6102 outlawed gold ownership for American citizens from 1933 until it was repealed in 1974.

However, that outcome is unlikely for four reasons.

Reason #1: Code Is Protected Speech

Bitcoin is simply open-source computer code that is available to anyone.

In the Bernstein v. the US Department of State case, US federal courts have ruled that computer code is equivalent to speech protected by the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution.

On the other hand, the Constitution is not a reliable protector of rights, as the Covid hysteria, the War on Terror, and the War on Drugs have all proven. So, I wouldn’t exclusively count on the US Constitution to protect Bitcoin.

Nonetheless, the previous strong precedents ruling code as equivalent to protected speech complicates any attempts to ban it.

Reason #2: Regulatory Clarity Already Exists

Given their statements, it’s clear that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) views almost all cryptocurrencies as unregistered securities, making them vulnerable to enforcement actions.

That has led many to incorrectly believe that the SEC will go after Bitcoin.

The reality is that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that is unambiguously NOT a security.

The US government has been clear that it views Bitcoin as a commodity—a much more favorable designation—under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Commodity Exchange Act.

Bitcoin is a commodity because it is an asset without an issuer.

Similarly, gold, silver, copper, wheat, corn, and other commodities have producers but do not have issuers.

Every other cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin has an issuer. They also have identifiable founders, central foundations, marketing teams, and insiders who can exercise undue control.

On the other hand, Bitcoin has none of these things—just as copper or nickel has no marketing department or founder.

The SEC couldn’t go after Bitcoin even if it wanted to because there’s nobody to go after. There’s no Bitcoin headquarters. Bitcoin has no CEO, no marketing department, and no employees.

But presuming the SEC could go after Bitcoin, they won’t because even they admit Bitcoin is not a security and thus not under their purview.

Here’s the bottom line.

The IRS, the SEC, the CFTC, and other federal agencies have already given Bitcoin clear regulatory and tax frameworks.

That’s helped many large US businesses, including many large financial institutions, get into Bitcoin. Reversing these guidelines, which have been established for many years, and banning Bitcoin would generate significant pushback and be challenging.

Reason #3: Banning Bitcoin Is Impractical

Government bans may restrict something, but they cannot make something valuable and desired by many people go away by passing a law.

Consider governments in Argentina, Venezuela, and numerous other countries with laws restricting citizens from accessing US dollars.

However, these laws have little effect on their citizens’ desire and ability to use them. Instead, these actions create a thriving black market or, more accurately, a free market.

Similarly, consider how successful governments have been in prohibiting cannabis over the decades. Despite their best efforts, cannabis has always been available in most big cities.

Trying to enforce a prohibition on something digital and borderless like Bitcoin is entirely impractical. Bitcoin would be far more challenging for governments to ban than US dollars or a plant.

Further, many popular Bitcoin wallets use a 12-word phrase as a way to recover your funds. If you can memorize the 12-word phrase, you can potentially store billions of dollars worth of value just in your head with nothing else.

Try banning that.

It’s like trying to ban mathematics.

Even if it were practical to ban Bitcoin, it’s already too late.

There’s a critical mass of Bitcoin advocates among large corporations, politicians, and regular people.

They bring all of their lawyers, lobbyists, and political connections to advocate for Bitcoin potentially. That’s a lot of political firepower. And their numbers are only growing.

According to a survey from NYDIG, 46 million Americans own Bitcoin. That’s around 22% of all adults in the US.

Supporting a ban on Bitcoin means going against tens of millions of Americans—many of whom are wealthy, powerful, and well-connected.

In short, outlawing Bitcoin will not help anyone win an election.

Bitcoin has already reached escape velocity. In other words, it’s too politically popular to outlaw, and every day, it gets stronger as adoption grows.

Reason #4: Banning Bitcoin Will Benefit US Rivals

If the US government was foolish enough to ban Bitcoin despite all of this, it would only give Russia, China, and its other rivals a golden opportunity to be at the forefront of a lucrative new industry and the future of money.

Banning Bitcoin would be a financial and geopolitical blunder of the highest order.

The Bottom Line

The US government doesn’t like Bitcoin.

Even though banning it would be politically unpopular and unconstitutional, it still might consider the move if it could do so effectively without giving an edge to its rivals.

But it can’t, so it won’t.

So, I think the US government will have to adapt to that reality, and it already has been by giving Bitcoin a clear regulatory framework for businesses and investors.

When you put it all together, you have an unstoppable superior form of money conquering the world.

It’s not hard to see where this trend is going. It’s a monetary revolution.

Yet, many people still believe the government will shut Bitcoin down or otherwise ban it.

That perception gap is a blessing, allowing us to capitalize on this information asymmetry with investments that tap into this powerful trend.

However, the opportunity could be gone soon.

Historically, Bitcoin’s biggest moves to the upside happen very quickly… especially amid a financial crisis.

With multiple crises unfolding right now, the next big move could happen imminently.

That’s why I just released an urgent PDF report, it’s called: The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now. It details how it could all unfold soon… and what you can do about it. Click here to download the PDF now.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The Pentagram adorned Baphomet Satanic Christmas display that had been installed in Iowa’s State Capitol building has been destroyed by a Christian military veteran.

Here’s the backstory:

The Republican Sentinel reports that the veteran, named Michael Cassidy, ‘beheaded’ the caped goat thing and threw the skull in a bin:

BREAKING: @RepubSentinel can reveal that Michael Cassidy, a Christian and former military officer, tore down and beheaded the Satan altar in the Iowa Capitol:https://t.co/rIYIdZOzee pic.twitter.com/tZDsmKM5Pm

— The Sentinel (@RepubSentinel) December 14, 2023

Cassidy was quoted as stating that he took the action to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.”

“The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan, but none of the founders would have considered government sanction of Satanic altars inside Capitol buildings as protected by the First Amendment,” he added.

The Satanic Temple of Iowa issued a statement acknowledging that the display was “destroyed beyond repair,” but adding “We are proud to continue our holiday display for the next few days that we have been allotted. We ask that for safety, visitors travel together and use the 7 Tenets as a reminder for empathy, in the knowledge that justice is being pursued the correct way, through legal means.”

They signed off the statement with “Hail Satan!”

Video was posted of the destroyed display:

Full Statement from Satanic Temple of Iowa pic.twitter.com/CaIvidKr2Y

— The Triune Times (@TriuneTimes) December 14, 2023

What a shocker, people are not keen on Satanic shit being proudly on show in public government buildings.

This is Michael Cassidy. He is a devout Christian and former military officer.

Michael just tore down and beheaded the Satan idol that was erected in the Iowa Capitol.

Not all heroes wear capes. pic.twitter.com/8j9z31lxop

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 14, 2023

Love to see it. Now throw it out in the trash where it belongs.

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 15, 2023

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch.

There’s been yet another Houthi attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, in at least the third serious incident this week, prompting container shipping giant Maersk to order any of its vessels near the southern entrance of the Red Sea to immediately halt their voyages.

“Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice,“ the Danish international liner confirmed Friday, per Bloomberg.

In this latest incident, ballistic missiles and a drone were fired from Houthi held territory in Yemen and struck a Liberian-flagged cargo ship near the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, according to a Pentagon official. A second vessel in the same area also came under attack close in time to the first.

According to breaking details relayed in Reuters:

Attacks from Houthi-controlled Yemen struck two Liberian-flagged ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Friday, a U.S. defense official said, underlining the threat to vessels in shipping lanes being targeted by the Iran-aligned group.

A projectile, believed to be a drone, struck one of the vessels, the German-owned Al Jasrah, causing a fire but no injuries, the official said.

Two ballistic missiles were fired in the second attack, one of which struck a vessel, causing a fire which the crew was working to extinguish, the official said.

A Houthi statement subsequently identified that the MSC Alanya and MSC Palatium III were the targeted vessels in the attack. It’s unclear whether they are Israeli-linked, however it is clear that the vessels were sailing the direction of Israeli ports when they were struck. US Navy and other coalition warships are reportedly en route to assist the damaged ships – with potential casualties unknown at this point.

The impact of this fresh pair of attacks has been felt immediately by markets (note: rerouting of traditional routes means chaos as buyers need to scramble to ensure they have priority to new routes, and this in turn leads to surge in charter rates and boost to shipper revenues), per Bloomberg:

• Shipping stocks extend their surge as Maersk tells its vessels in the Red Sea area to pause their journeys, following recent militant attacks on merchant ships. The attacks have raised fears of disruptions to container shipping.
• AP Moller-Maersk rises as much as 8.8%, Hapag-Lloyd 18%, ZIM Integrated Shipping +13%

Unconfirmed video from one of the new attacks:

BREAKING: YEMENI HOUTHI FORCES ATTACKS ISRAEL BOUND SHIP IN RED SEA pic.twitter.com/8dUXeZiHIc

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) December 15, 2023

Crucially, Maersk has now confirmed that its tankers will avoid the Red Sea altogether. This directive has reportedly already been sent out. As of late last month, the Maersk exodus had already begun:

Ships with links to Israel are diverting in greater numbers from the Red and Arabian Seas following a series of attacks over the past 11 days by Houthis, Iranians and Somalis.

Danish liner giant Maersk became the latest big name to announce that a pair of its ships on charter – Lisa and Maersk Pagani – will be diverted with cargoes discharged in the United Arab Emirates resulting in delays of more than a week.

“This decision has been made with careful consideration of various factors, prioritizing the safety of crew, the vessel, and your cargo,” Maersk stated in an advisory to clients.

Iran is meanwhile warning against a Western naval coalition in the Red Sea. But already US and other warships have increased their presence in regional waters, with the US Navy especially directly engaging Houthi projectiles. The incidents are becoming more frequent, as the several significant hostile encounters this week. Indeed the threats to international shipping are becoming daily.

🚨 JUST IN: Shipping Giant Halts Red Sea Voyages Amid Heightened Security Risks from Houthis

– A.P. Moller-Maersk instructs ships to cease voyages through the southern entrance of the Red Sea

– Decision follows an attack on one of Maersk’s vessels and escalating risks from… pic.twitter.com/wdNP1GpKvh

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 15, 2023

Robabank comments on the rapidly escalating situation in Mideast regional waters as follows…

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, it’s oil and water which matter. Especially as Yemen’s Houthis have officially announced they will attack Israeli vessels and any ships carrying cargo to or from Israel via the Red Sea or Arabian Gulf. Welcome to how the world used to work before British, then US, naval supremacy. This is what a multipolar world is going to look like, if we see one.

We are likely to get a US naval reaction. Combined Task Force 153 Operations was set up in 2022 to stop Red Sea piracy, but will need to be expanded from the US and Egypt: France already helped out last weekend by shooting down Yemeni drones aimed at Israel. Yet it’s still only reactive to attacks on shipping, not proactive at the source.

That maintains the risk shipping diverts from Suez round the Cape of Good Hope: if so, global carriers would only be able to make 3-4 Asia-Europe roundtrips per year, not 4-5, a massive structural drop in supply capacity. The Financial Times warns ‘Global pre-Christmas Trade at risk from twin Canal crises’, including the drought in Panama cutting passages there. But it’s far more than just pre-Christmas trade at risk.

Indeed, we are likely to get an Israeli reaction to this Yemeni (slash Iranian) casus belli to stop it at source; and Israel is also close to establishing a fixed deadline for Hezbollah to retreat north of the Litani river, after which it will attack them south of it. In short, key dominoes could yet topple towards a regional escalation impacting both the Suez Canal and energy markets.

Meanwhile, in a sign of a likely coming Iran-US naval clash…

By Philip Marey, Senior US Strategist at Rabobank

The pivot trains are lining up at Central Bank Central

US stock markets rose further and the 10 year US treasury yield briefly fell below 3.90%. The day after the Fed effectively pivoted by not pushing back against market expectations of early rate cuts, it was decision day for a number of European central banks. The three major central banks that we follow are lining up for the cutting cycle in clear order. In contrast to the Fed, the ECB pushed back against expectations of early rate cuts a little, but the Bank of England was the most forceful. We expect the first rate cut for the Fed in June, followed by the ECB in September and finally the Bank of England in November.

The Norges Bank hiked rates yesterday by 25 bps to 4.5%. As our Jane Foley noted, although the consensus was centred on a steady policy outcome, 40% of respondents in the Bloomberg survey were anticipating a hike. The Norges Bank left the door wide open for a move at the previous meeting on November 1, though mixed economic data had created the debate about whether another move was necessary. The Norges Bank have been worried about the inflationary implications of the weak NOK, so yesterday’s surge will be welcome. The central bank has signalled that rates could stay at 4.5% until autumn 2024.

As expected the SNB left rates on hold at yesterday’s policy meeting. Jane Foley noted that the language around inflation remained cautious. CPI inflation came in lower than expected at 1.4% y/y in Nov and the SNB said that ” inflation is likely to increase again somewhat in the coming months due to higher electricity prices and rents, as well as the rise in VAT.” However, the latest SNB forecast shows a lower trajectory for inflation relative to September. Notable is the language around the FX intervention policy. This has changed with the SNB no longer stating that the focus of this policy was on selling foreign currency.

The Bank of England kept its policy rate unchanged at 5.25%. This was as expected. The 6-3 hawkish vote split was the same as in November. Our Stefan Koopman noted that the central bank also retained the same wording in its guidance, despite the slowdown in both inflation and economic activity since November. This indicates a stronger pushback against market expectations of early rate cuts. Governor Bailey wrote that the Bank will keep interest rates high enough for long enough. As long as UK inflation looks to have some deep domestic roots, the Bank of England will resist being sucked into the Fed’s gravitational pull. Our view is that the Bank of England will be fashionably late to the pivot party, and see a series of rate cuts starting from November 2024 onwards.

The ECB kept rates on hold, leaving the deposit facility rate at 4.00% and the refi rate at 4.50%. PEPP reinvestments will be slowed in 2024H2. Monthly redemptions will average €7.5 billion in the second half of the year, with the remainder still being reinvested. The ECB intends to discontinue reinvestments of PEPP at the end of 2024. Our Bas van Geffen noted that Lagarde gave a little pushback against current market pricing. She strongly hinted that market pricing is quite unlikely, both in terms of a cutting cycle starting in March, as well as the total of six rate cuts that was priced in as the press conference started. Early termination of PEPP reinvestments may reinforce this message, but the ECB does not intend to make its asset portfolios the main policy instrument again. Based on our own inflation forecast we see a first rate cut in September, but the ECB’s latest projections hint at the risk that a first cut materialises in June already.

Meanwhile in the US, retail sales surprised to the upside with 0.3% MoM in November. At the same time, October was revised downward to -0.2% (from-0.1%). A similar pattern emerged for the retail sales control group (which is most relevant for the calculation of PCE). In real terms (using CPI), these core retail sales were flat in October, but grew by 0.3% in Nov. Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to 202K in the week ending on December 9, from 221K a week earlier. Therefore it seems both consumer demand and labor demand were strong recently.