Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

I’ve had an unsettled feeling about what is going on in this country and around the world for the last month. More unsettled than normal.

I know that is what has spurred me to write multiple short articles over the last couple weeks as my outlet for dealing with my increasing feeling of dread.

But I’ve also begun to take some action steps to be better prepared for whatever is coming.

I’m not a true doomstead prepper. I would say I’m more prepped than the average person, less prepped than many of the people who read TBP, and certainly not prepped enough to survive what could be headed our way. During the time frame from 2009 through 2012 I bought a significant amount of equipment, firearms, and food for what I thought was an imminent SHTF moment coming our way. As usual, my timing was off by a mile. But still, the supplies are in my storage area, awaiting the day that will come.

My location isn’t ideal, but it isn’t terrible. It is basically a suburban community nestled among numerous farms, far from any urban ghetto shithole. Most of my neighborhood is occupied by liberals, Karens, and vaccine supporters. I know of three or four neighbors who I could count on as support, if things go sideways. Two of them are engineers who have skills I do not have. I would trust them in a crisis situation.

I had a backup natural gas generator installed a couple years ago, which came in handy a few weeks ago when a transformer blew up the road.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been methodically taking small steps to get better prepared.

I’ve been withdrawing cash from my credit union.

My old propane grill has rusted away and ignition has been iffy for a while. I bought a new one last week.

In the near future, I’ll be getting rid of our 13 year old Honda Insight with 250,000 miles and replacing it with a used Honda HRV with under 40,000 miles. Converting fiat into useful things seems like a good idea at this point.

Yesterday we bought a new firearm and ammo. What a fascinating process. It is pretty clear to me that all gun dealer employees and their customers are of the same mindset as TBPers. We got to know the gentleman helping us select the gun pretty well because the goddamn state of PA makes it as difficult as possible to legally purchase a firearm. After filling out pages of paperwork and answering questions online, it took the state drones about an hour and half to approve the purchase, even though I’ve never had anything more than a speeding ticket in my entire life.

Not only did the guy selling us the gun have to triple check the paperwork, he had to get the owner’s wife to double check all of his work. I asked why they had to go through such a tedious process. They said the ATF is crawling up their butts and will shut them down in a split second if any paperwork is slightly off. He said they have been harassing every gun dealer in Bucks and Montgomery County with surprise audits, trying to put them out of business. So, Philly and every other urban shithole is experiencing massive gun violence from illegal guns used by black men, but the ATF harasses legal gun shops selling legal guns to white people for protection. This is how it rolls in Biden’s America.

I’m a little more prepared than I was a month ago, but surely not enough…

By Ye Xie and Amy Li, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategists

On Oct. 16, 2007, the Shanghai Composite Index hit a record high of 6,092. Exactly 16 years later, the benchmark closed 50% below that record. On Chinese social media, ridiculing the poor stock-market performance has become a national pastime.

Even the recent arrival of the National Team – state-backed entities such as a sovereign wealth fund and pension funds — did little to shore up sentiment. To be fair, though, their support has been half-hearted, at best.

Despite data showing the economy is stabilizing, the stock market has continued to trade poorly. The announcement that a sovereign wealth fund was buying bank stocks and reports that Beijing is considering a gigantic stabilization fund barely made any difference.

One headwind has been the relentless selling by foreign investors. They are on track to pull out from the northbound stock connect for a third consecutive month, which would mark the longest outflows since the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock connection debuted in 2016. In August, a record 90 billion yuan ($12 billion) of funds flew out the door.

Coincidentally, August also saw a record inflow of 143 billion yuan into Chinese equity ETFs trading on the mainland. That was quite an unusual splurge, almost double the previous record.

According to Goldman Sachs, the National Team — which collectively owns about 3.5% of the market value of local stocks — was largely behind the ETF purchases. The net inflows to the National Team’s top-five “favorite” ETFs surged by more than 90 billion yuan that month.

If that was the case, they have since become dormant. Investors added 23 billion yuan to ETFs in September, before withdrawing 6.5 billion yuan this month. If sustained, October would be only the second time on record when both ETFs and northbound connect registered net outflows.

It seems to suggest that support from the National Team was rather opportunistic and lukewarm. It steps in only when foreign outflows become sizable.

Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Over the past three years, Predator Poachers, a Texas-based group founded in 2020 by now-23-year-old Alex Rosen aimed at preventing child sexual abuse, has identified approximately 500 online child predators, resulting in nearly 300 arrests in 43 states.

Many cases are still pending and there have been convictions in more than half of the country—including a decades-long prison sentence for a former Virginia firefighter announced Sept. 20 by the Department of Justice.

A 2022 sting operation conducted by the group of independent journalists targeting Virginia-based Christopher Scott Jones, led law enforcement to uncover a trail of his underage victims.

Using a decoy pretending to be an 11-year-old girl, the group communicated with Mr. Jones for several months via social media platforms, text messaging, and phone and video calls before the discussion turned criminal, and the 40-year-old firefighter suggested meeting in person for nefarious reasons.

“It took months for him to get sexual … he’s very careful about the targets he’s choosing,” Mr. Rosen told The Epoch Times. “Our decoy Ashley did a tremendous job to convince him,” that she was real.

Instead of a young child, Mr. Jones was met by 6-foot, 4-inch tall, 300-pound Mr. Rosen and his crew of photographers ready to document the encounter.

After initially trying to avoid a conversation, the suspect eventually allowed Mr. Rosen and a cameraman into his truck, where he spent more than two hours denying the evidence before relenting and admitting why he was there.

“He was lawyer-speaking to me the whole time,” Mr. Rosen said. “It wasn’t until the end that he admitted that he wanted to have sex with the 11-year-old.”

Ultimately, Mr. Jones was arrested and charged with attempted rape of a child, upon which authorities discovered evidence of additional crimes.

After turning the information over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Norfolk, Virginia, three minors the suspect had previously sexually assaulted were identified, leading to further charges.

The defendant pleaded guilty in May “to using a communication facility to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity … [and] to receiving child pornography of his victim.” He is now serving a 33-year prison sentence, according to a justice department press release.

A spokesperson for the James City County Police Department told The Epoch Times by email Oct. 3 that the case was initiated due to the work of the Predator Poachers.

Before launching the group, Mr. Rosen played Division 1 college football for Texas Southern University. During summer break in 2019, he discovered the world of catching online child predators by watching videos on YouTube.

At the time, he was thinking about joining the police academy in Houston, but at 19, his age prevented him.

“Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a cop going after the bad guys,” Mr. Rosen said. “To learn that within 30 minutes of meeting online, these adults wanted to meet 15-year-olds in person was just jaw-dropping, and now we’re catching them into as young as infants—it’s just beyond my imagination.”

Initially, the team worked to expose child predators but did not involve law enforcement, as they were not aware it was an option, until a trip to another state opened their eyes to the possibility of sending pedophiles to prison.

In that instance, Jamie Lee Daniels, 48, was ultimately arrested in Nebraska, convicted of four felony crimes, and sentenced to a five-to-10-year prison sentence after the group caught him sending lewd photos and soliciting sex from a decoy pretending to be an eight-year-old girl.

“At first, I didn’t even know these guys could get arrested,” Mr. Rosen said. “But then, going to Nebraska in late 2020, that really just changed everything, because I realized they could be arrested, and we started focusing on prosecutions.”

Sporting a bushy red beard, with incriminating text messages printed out in hand, and readily firing off witty criticisms that often go unnoticed by those being interrogated, Mr. Rosen—who tells the suspects his name is Gordon Flowers—uses a combination of compassionate conversation, so-called mirroring techniques that interrogators use to instill trust—and hard evidence to convince child predators to admit to felony criminal activity.

After the suspect has confessed enough on camera to help prosecutors secure a conviction, Mr. Rosen then typically says he’s starving and asks his crew to order some “fried pickles”—a code to call the police.

When officers arrive, the rapport Mr. Rosen built with suspects generally pays off, with the individuals often admitting their crimes and incriminating themselves while in police presence and with body cameras rolling—thus providing further proof of their guilt.

“There’s nothing more fun for me than catching predators,” he said.

Not all catches go according to plan, though. In one situation where an individual was attempting to flee, Mr. Rosen faked a medical emergency that stalled the suspect until police arrived.

Some tense moments have occurred—with one man cutting his wrists in a futile suicide attempt in September, another pulling a machete out of his vehicle, and a predator becoming enraged in Medford, Oregon, after being confronted and pointing a gun at the crew and several passersby.

The latter is the most dangerous situation the team has encountered, according to Mr. Rosen—though nerves are on edge following the murder of fellow child predator investigator Robert Wayne Lee, better known by his internet alias Boopac Shakur in Pontiac, Michigan on Sept. 29.

Mr. Lee approached an individual—the second such time he had caught the same person—in a restaurant in Pontiac around 10:30 p.m. to confront him about soliciting a 15-year-old girl on the internet for sex. The argument escalated quickly, with the individual pulling a knife and his companion drawing a firearm—which he used to fatally shoot Mr. Lee three times in the chest.

Two suspects, aged 17 and 18, were arrested Sept. 30 and are facing murder charges, according to Michigan’s Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.

In a statement released Sept. 30, Sheriff Michael Bouchard spoke about the work Mr. Lee had done to help protect the community, saying that his efforts resulted in multiple arrests and convictions. But he warned others about attempting to do the same, as criminals tend to react violently when approached.

“While we certainly understand his desire to hold child predators accountable, many times well-intentioned individuals … often underestimate the potential for violence confronting a suspected predator,” Mr. Bouchard said in a press release. “They feel trapped and often lash out violently. When we have arrested predators in such circumstances, they have rammed police cars and exhibited other violent behavior in attempts to escape.”

While both Mr. Lee and Mr. Rosen’s work includes exposing child predators, Mr. Lee took a different, much more aggressive approach. He liked to slash the tires of those he caught preying on children.

Aware of the dangers inherent in his unique line of work, Mr. Rosen said the killing of Mr. Lee might make him more cautious, but he’s even more dedicated to stopping criminals.

His genre of crime-stopping was made famous by Chris Hansen’s “To Catch a Predator” series on NBC’s Dateline, which featured similar decoy ploys to catch adults preying on children online.

The show ended following an encounter with Bill Conradt—an assistant district attorney in Dallas, Texas—who committed suicide in 2007 after being caught by the crew. His family sued for $105 million the same year, and an undisclosed settlement was agreed to in 2008.

Read more here…

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

The Biden administration has warned U.S. banks and other financial institutions that they can’t reject illegal immigrants’ credit applications based solely or predominantly on their immigration status.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in a recent statement that rejecting illegal immigrants for credit cards and various types of loans just because they are noncitizens is unlawful.

The two agencies stated that they were issuing the warning “because consumers have reported being rejected for credit cards as well as for auto, student, personal and equipment loans because of their immigration status, even when they have strong credit histories and ties to the United States and are otherwise qualified to receive the loans.”

Specifically, the agencies cited the provisions of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which protects credit applicants from discrimination based on such characteristics as race, religion, sexual orientation, and national origin.

The agencies argue that protections afforded by ECOA and other laws extend to alienage, so banks that have blanket policies to deny loans to illegal immigrants may be breaking the law.

“Lenders should not deny people the opportunity to take out a loan to buy a home, build their businesses or otherwise pursue their financial goals because of unlawful bias and without regard to their actual ability to repay,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

“Fair access to credit is crucially important for building wealth and strengthening household financial stability,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “The CFPB will not allow companies to use immigration status as an excuse for illegal discrimination.”

Bud Cummins, a former U.S. attorney, objected to the agencies’ warning to banks and other financial institutions.

“DOJ and CFPB tell banks it might be illegal to refuse to loan money to people [who] broke federal law to reach the bank. You gotta be kidding me. The invasion of illegal immigrants is intentional and must be stopped,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, there were roughly 11.35 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States as of January 2022.

Some financial institutions have maintained blanket policies denying people credit based on their immigration status, without regard for their ability to repay, interpreting ECOA in a way that they believe shields them from liability, according to the agencies, which added that this is incorrect.

“A creditor may consider an applicant’s immigration status when necessary to ascertain the creditor’s rights regarding repayment,” the agencies said, explaining that Regulation B, a rule that implements ECOA, expressly states that the only conditions under which immigration status may be considered is only to determine creditors’ “rights and remedies regarding repayment” of a loan.

If financial institutions consider immigration status for any other reason, the agencies said they’re probably breaking the law.

“Creditors should be aware that unnecessary or overbroad reliance on immigration status in the credit decisioning process, including when that reliance is based on bias, may run afoul of ECOA’s antidiscrimination provisions and could also violate other laws,” the agencies said.

The “other laws” mentioned could refer to the 1866 Civil Rights Act, also known as Section 1981, which the agencies said in their joint statement “has long been construed to prohibit discrimination based on alienage.”

They said that courts have found that “ECOA’s prohibition of national origin discrimination and Section 1981’s prohibitions complement one another and that discrimination that arises from overbroad restrictions on lending to noncitizens may violate either or both statutes.”

It’s unclear whether any banks or financial institutions intend to challenge the DOJ and CFPB’s interpretation of the law regarding the provision of loans to illegal immigrants.

Authored by Benjamin Kew via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

New York’s Supreme Court has upheld its previous ruling invalidating the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, a decision that will have ramifications on the power of the state’s executive.

The ruling came from the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Fourth Department, which dismissed the state’s appeal to have the mandate reinstated.

“4th Dept dismissed state’s appeal as moot, and declined to vacate lower court win,” attorney Sujata Gibson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The mandate is over and declared unconstitutional,” she continued. “[Thank you] [Children’s Health Defense], [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.], and [Medical Professionals For Informed Consent], and everyone who helped in this fight.

“Doesn’t make up for the harm [New York] Inflicted, but will help protect us from more.”

The health care worker vaccine mandate was first implemented in September 2021, resulting in the departure or termination of about 34,000 medical professionals from their positions.

That mandate was originally struck down by the state’s Supreme Court in January, although the state’s executive branch chose to appeal the decision.

In his opinion in Medical Professionals for Informed Consent vs. Bassett, Justice Gerard Neri wrote that the state’s Department of Health was “clearly prohibited from mandating any vaccination outside of those specifically authorized by the legislature” and that it had “blatantly violated the boundaries of its authority as set forth by the legislature.”

Justice Neri added that the mandate was “arbitrary and capricious” given that the COVID-19 vaccines failed to prevent transmission of the virus, meaning the policy had no rational basis.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, had previously explained her opposition to rehiring health care workers who lost their jobs as a result of the vaccine, saying that this was “not the right answer.”

“I think everybody who goes into a health care facility or a nursing home should have the assurance and their family member should know that we have taken all steps to protect the public health,” she said at the time. “And that includes making sure those who come in contact with them at their time of most vulnerability, when they are sick or elderly, will not pass on the virus.”

In April, the state agreed to unilaterally drop the mandate of its own accord, although it still contested the decision for the sake of maintaining executive authority.

“Due to the changing landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving vaccine recommendations, the New York State Department of Health has begun the process of repealing the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for workers at regulated health care facilities,” the state health department stated.

Last October, the New York Supreme Court also struck down a mandate enforced specifically by New York City on all public employees, with Justice Ralph Porzio arguing there was no evidence to “support the rationality of keeping a vaccination mandate for public employees, while vacating the mandate for private sector employees or creating a carveout for certain professions, like athletes, artists, and performers.”

In January 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court similarly blocked an attempt by President Joe Biden to enforce a mandate on large private companies that their employees either get the vaccine or face regular testing. However, it did allow the mandate to continue in medical facilities that took funding from Medicare and Medicaid.

“Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,” the court wrote in its unsigned opinion. “Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category.”

Margaret Florini, a spokesperson for Medical Professionals for Informed Consent, told The Defender that the latest decision was a “historic” win that would help prevent such abuses of power in the future.

“I think we will see many new lawsuits come about because of this historic win,” Ms. Florini said. “There is still plenty of work to be done. We lost so much, not just money but relationships, marriages, friends, and homes. We cannot forget what was done to us, and we must continue to shed light on it and make impactful changes that will truly prevent this from happening again.”

On Monday evening, the Supreme Court directed two “ghost gun” manufacturers, BlackHawk Manufacturing Group and Defense Distributed, to comply with a Biden administration rule that mandates the serialization of unfinished gun parts, like a lower receiver for an AR-15 or the frame of a handgun. 

• SUPREME COURT BOLSTERS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION `GHOST GUN’ RULE
• TOP COURT BLOCKS EXEMPTIONS FOR TWO `GHOST GUN’ MANUFACTURERS

“The justices, without any public dissents, granted a request from the administration, which said two lower courts had “effectively countermanded” an Aug. 8 Supreme Court order that allowed the regulations for the time being,” according to Bloomberg. 

After the Supreme Court’s first ruling on Aug. 8, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas permitted both manufacturers to sell ghost gun kits. The court asserted that the justices had left open the option of any relief for individual businesses. 

The regulation does not ban ghost gun kits. Instead, manufacturers and sellers must obtain licenses, serialize each kit, and require background checks. 

Biden administration alleges that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’s ghost gun rule will counter the flood of untraceable firearms pouring into cities. 

The rule will be effective while the administration appeals the judge’s ruling to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans – and potentially the Supreme Court. 

However, Defense Distributed saw this day coming and pivoted from 80% frames and receivers to 0% kits (read: here & here).

That means DD’s Ghost Gunner 3, a 3-axis CNC machine, can take a metal block and create a lower receiver or frame. 

DD is years ahead of Biden’s rogue ATF. The recent Supreme Court decision shows the government’s discomfort with at-home gun kits, which have been available for many years.

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

U.S. lawmakers appear split over calls for the United States to accept refugees from Gaza displaced by the Israel–Hamas war, as experts are predicting that a million individuals might flee the region.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a member of the left-wing “Squad” in Congress, was cited by the New York Post as calling for the United States to “welcome refugees from Palestine,” while Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) has introduced legislation that would block people with Palestinian passports from being admitted into the country.

“We can’t let President Biden abuse our parole and visa rules to bring unvetted Palestinians into American communities the way he did with thousands of unvetted Afghans,” Mr. Tiffany said in a statement posted on X, referring to the Biden administration’s decision to let 76,000 unvetted Afghan refugees come to the United States following the U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover of the country.

“I introduced the GAZA Act to protect America’s national security.”

He also shared the contents of the Guaranteeing Aggressors Zero Admission (GAZA) Act exclusively with Breitbart.

The proposal would block the Biden administration’s use of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) parole mechanism from letting Palestinians settle in the United States, according to the text of the measure, as cited by Breitbart.

While Mr. Bowman has called for the admission of Gaza refugees to the United States, he said they should be vetted prior to being allowed in.

“Fifty percent of the population in Gaza are children,” he said. “The international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas.”

Like Mr. Tiffany, other Republicans have expressed opposition to opening the door to Gaza refugees.

“The U.S. is the most generous nation in the world, but we are in no position to accept additional refugees, especially from a region with as high a risk of terrorism, given our nation’s inability to secure our own border or vet those who are already here,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told the NY Post.

Likewise, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said on Oct. 14 that the United States “cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees,” saying that neighboring Arab nations should “open their borders” and take them in.

Israel has called for a mass evacuation of Gaza ahead of a planned offensive to destroy Hamas and rescue hostages—if they’re still alive.

That came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised further actions in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis, in which terrorists killed at least 1,300 Israelis, mainly civilians, and seized hostages.

The Hamas terror group, which is known for its reckless disregard for civilian lives and using human shields, has told people to ignore Israeli calls to evacuate from northern Gaza, according to the Associated Press.

The United Nations has estimated that roughly 423,000 people have been displaced in Gaza, while U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it would be impossible to stage such a large evacuation without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

Mariana Dahan, founder of the World Identity Network (WIN) Foundation, told the NY Post that the Israel–Hamas conflict “may add over 1 million people to the already staggering number of 6 million Palestinian refugees in the world.”

The Israeli military stated that Hamas has set up roadblocks and is “forcefully preventing their civilians from relocating to southern Gaza for their own safety.”

Progressive Democrats in the House on Oct. 13 called on the Biden administration to take steps to limit civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.

In a letter addressed to President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, signed by 55 House members, the lawmakers expressed their concerns about the “unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza” as Israel responds to the terrorist attack by Hamas.

“As President Biden has previously stated, Israel has the right to defend its people and respond to these vicious attacks,” they wrote.

“We strongly believe that Israel’s response must take into account the millions of innocent civilians in Gaza who themselves are victims of Hamas and are suffering the consequences of their terror campaign.”

The Israeli military, for its part, has said it’ll “make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians” while it carries out operations in Gaza in the coming days.

Caden Pearson contributed to this report.

The Pentagon says it has selected 2,000 troops it is readying for potential deployment in support of Israel as it battles Hamas in Gaza and potentially Hezbollah across its northern border.

Based on US officials speaking to The Wall Street Journal, American troops are not expected to serve in any combat roles, but only in advisory capacities or missions like medical support. 

“The troops are currently stationed both inside the Middle East and outside, including Europe, the officials said,” WSJ writes. “It isn’t clear under what circumstances the U.S. could deploy the troops or to where, but the Pentagon decision signaled it is preparing to support Israeli troops should Israel launch a ground incursion into Gaza.”

Already US Marines have been moved from Kuwait in preparation for potential greater support roles related to Israel. The Biden administration has dispatched two carrier strike groups to the general region, likely expected to enter the eastern Mediterranean at some point soon.

Separately, a defense official told the AP that the troops would “not be sent to Israel but could be sent to countries in the region.”

The situation remains highly fluid and unpredictable, as there have been reports that Israel’s ground invasion is “imminent” for the past three days. There are signs Israeli leaders could be delaying not only out of concern for the some 200 hostages Hamas has, but due to the threat of Hezbollah opening all-out war in the north. Iran’s threats have also been increasing. 

The US is also assisting Israel with intelligence, particularly related to the captives, among them Americans. However, so far the Pentagon has ruled out the idea of sending US commandos as part of rescue efforts. 

Of course, given the population density of Gaza, and given the difficult urban warfare environment, any military rescue mission might be a ‘mission impossible’ kind of scenario – even if intelligence could pinpoint their exact locations, which is unlikely.

If Israel does go into the strip with full force, but without knowing the exact locations of the hostages, it could be highly dangerous for the captives.

Authored by Anthony Davies via The American Institute for Economic Research,

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed an experiment in which it will provide additional benefits to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who purchase more fruits and vegetables.

Named the Electronic Healthy Incentive Projects (eHip), the well-meaning programs are intended to encourage people on low-incomes to eat more healthy foods (MHFs).

(No, I made that last one up.)

As almost every endeavor undertaken by the government will demonstrate, well-meaning intentions that are funded via the force of law often go amiss — at best, achieving less than hoped, and at worst, achieving the opposite of what was intended.

One of the major forces that perverts well-intended government programs is regulatory capture. Once the government commits taxpayer money to an endeavor, entrepreneurs and established businesses come out of the woodwork to grab a piece of the pie. eHip will cause food producers to throw a token amount of fruits or vegetables into their existing products, thus qualifying their products for the “fruit and vegetable” subsidy. Bet on it.

To many this may seem like a good idea.

After all, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is essential for maintaining good health. Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that this proposal is a classic example of government overreach and is likely to do more harm than good.

The first problem with the USDA’s proposal is that it is based on the faulty assumption that people will make healthier food choices if they are paid to do so. But this is not how human behavior works. People make food choices based on a variety of factors, including taste, convenience, and price. Simply paying people to eat more fruits and vegetables is unlikely to change these underlying factors.

But on whose behalf is the government overreaching, anyway? This seems like yet another version of the government’s “helping people to make healthy decisions” story, but the USDA is tasked with promoting the interests of American farmers. Could we be seeing yet another vested interest manifest in government?

It’s also important to consider the USDA’s track record when it comes to providing dietary advice. The food pyramid is a perfect example of how the USDA’s dietary advice can be influenced by special interests.

The food pyramid recommended a diet that was high in carbohydrates, you might recall.

Cue the obesity and diabetes.

Beyond all this, the USDA’s proposal is self-contradictory.

The USDA’s mission statement is to “provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.”

Paying people to eat more fruits and vegetables is well out of line with this. It is not sound public policy, it is not based on the best available science, and it is not efficient management.

And it’s stupid, but let’s not quibble.