Previously we described how what’s been dubbed “poor man’s cocaine” at as little as $3 a pill is threatening to proliferate across the Middle East and into Europe. The synthetic stimulant Captagon has been popular for years in parts of the Middle East and North Africa, and was big during ‘Arab Spring’ protests, but mainstream media of late has blamed the Assad government and allied militias for its now rapid spread.

Gulf countries and allies have especially stepped up the pressure on Damascus of late, accusing it of being behind state-backed trafficking which also allegedly involves Lebanese Hezbollah. On Thursday, Jordan appears to have taken the most drastic move yet to tap down on the Captagon trade, sending its air force to bomb an alleged drug factory in southern Syria, in a rare cross-border raid.

The large strike was in the village of Um Rumman, and no casualties were reported, with The Associated Press citing anti-Assad opposition activists to say a Captagon production plant was destroyed.

Syrian state media said that only a farm was blown up, thus denying the allegation it was a drug factory, while others said “the target was also used as a narcotics warehouse where smugglers would prepare and package illegal drugs before smuggling them across the southern border into Jordan.”

The village near where the strike to place is just near the Jordanian border. Apparently drug smugglers have frequently used the area for their drug trade logistics operations.

The Jordanians have seen the southern Syrian region of Sweida as a big problem, particularly ever since the Assad government put down the decade-long rebellion which put the country in the grips of war and instability, as the AP details of a prior incident:

In May, an airstrike over a village in the southern Sweida province killed a well-known Syrian drug kingpin and his family, which activists believe was conducted by the Jordanians. Amman has been concerned by militias’ drug smuggling across the Syrian border into the kingdom, most notably highly addictive Captagon amphetamines, which have turned into an estimated multi-billion-dollar industry in war-torn Syria.

Saudi Arabia and Gulf nations have reportedly been urging President Assad to stem the flow of Captagon from Syria as part of restored diplomatic ties, also at a moment Damascus has been re-embraced by the Arab League. 

The drug was produced in the 1960s in the Germany, and in its medical form typically treats ailments like attention deficit disorders and narcolepsy. 

It is certainly ironic and dubious that the West now widely blames the Assad government for the proliferation of Captagon, given that for much of the last decade it was anti-government insurgents known to be the heaviest users. At one point the pill even became known as “the drug of jihad”.

Jordan strikes Iran-linked drugs factory in southern Syria | Reuters
📍 Jordan carried out 2 raids on 2 drug sites in southern Syria
📍 The first raid targeted a Captagon factory in Daraa
📍 The 2nd raid killed the most wanted drug smuggler Marai AlRamthan who is closely related… pic.twitter.com/0kF4mfD3KZ

— Ayman Abdel Nour (@aabnour) May 8, 2023

Reuters has previously detailed, “It was discontinued but an illicit version of the drug continued to be produced in eastern Europe and later in the Arab region, becoming prominent in the conflict that erupted in Syria following anti-government protests in 2011.”

The same report noted its prominence on the anti-Assad or “rebel” side. “The illicit version – also nicknamed ‘the drug of jihad’ or ‘poor man’s cocaine’ – is thought to be made of a mix of fenethylline, caffeine and other fillers. It generates focus and staves off sleep and hunger,” Reuters wrote. But now blame and pressure has been ramped up on the Syrians, as well as ‘pro-Iranian’ groups including Hezbollah.

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of working with Big Tech to censor his social media posts about COVID-19 vaccines.

In an Aug. 28 letter to CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen, the Republican lawmaker said he is continuing to review the health agency’s alleged efforts to “coordinate with social media companies to censor COVID-19 vaccine information.”

Mr. Johnson stated that, based on information he has allegedly received from Elon Musk’s X Corp., along with documents made public through the discovery process of state-led lawsuits against the Biden administration, “it is clear that CDC abused its authority by engaging in a censorship campaign to suppress and discredit certain viewpoints it labeled as ‘misinformation.'”

The Wisconsin senator, who has been a vocal advocate for people who claim to have been injured by COVID-19 vaccines, went on to cite the censorship of his own Jan. 3, 2022 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he highlighted data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS) database.

In that post, Mr. Johnson wrote: “Sadly, we passed two milestones on VAERS. Over 1 million advisers events and over 21,000 deaths, 30 percent of those deaths occurred on day 0, 1, or 2 following vaccination.

“When will federal agencies start being transparent with Americans? Why do they continue to ignore early treatment?” he concluded.

The post, which included a screenshot of the data from VAERS, was labeled “misleading” in a note explaining that health officials consider COVID-19 vaccines to be “safe for most people.”

According to Mr. Johnson, who is the ranking member on the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, all replies, shares, or likes of the post were subsequently blocked.

The lawmaker claims he later questioned officials at Twitter—prior to Mr. Musk’s takeover—as to why his post had been labeled “misleading” but received no response.

He was later told by the platform’s new leadership that executive branch officials, particularly from the CDC, “communicated with social media companies, including Twitter, about ‘COVID vaccine misinformation.'”

Sen. Johnson Demands Answers

“The information Twitter provided showed a clear and concerted effort by the CDC to censor those who tweeted about VAERS data,” Mr. Johnson wrote.

Concluding his letter, the senator asked the CDC to hand over documents and information detailing interactions between all its employees and those at X—as well as other social media platforms including Facebook, and YouTube—regarding 10 specific people who expressed skepticism over the vaccines and lockdowns, starting Dec. 1, 2019.

The 10 individuals include Brianne Dressen, a former preschool teacher in Utah who was left severely injured after participating in AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical in November 2020, renowned Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., critical care physician Pierre Kory, Alabama-based Army surgeon Lt. Col. Theresa Long, Robert Malone, cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, professor of epidemiology Dr. Harvey Risch, and Aaron Siri, an attorney who has led multiple high-profile cases against vaccine manufacturers and federal health agencies since the pandemic began.

Mr. Johnson also asked that the CDC hand over any communications regarding him.

Additionally, the lawmaker requested all documents pertaining to CDC communications with both private sector companies and federal agencies regarding the censorship of online speech or COVID-19 misinformation policies, and a list of all the social media posts that were flagged by the CDC as “containing misinformation, disinformation, or generally disfavored speech.”

He gave the CDC until Sept. 11 to hand over the documents.

The Epoch Times has contacted the CDC for comment.

Earlier this month, Mr. Johnson raised concerns over the “alarming” decision by a small number of firms, hospitals, and schools to reinstate mask mandates again amid reports of several new COVID-19 variants, including one that the CDC believes could potentially evade vaccines.

Also this month, the senator urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general to launch an investigation into whether or not government scientists concealed critical information about COVID-19 from the public.

Austin-based online job search platform, “Indeed,” aims to ‘out woke’ corporate America by offering transgender employees or those with transgender children a $10,000 relocation payment. Both Bloomberg and Axios confirmed the relocation payment program. 

Before we discuss relocation payments, it’s important to note that Indeed proudly states on its website that it had the wokest corporate policies in America in 2018. It said its 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, score “received a perfect score of 100 percent.” 

For some context, CEI is administered by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ political lobbying group in the world. HRC has received millions of dollars in funding from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.

Indeed’s executives appear to have one objective in mind: rank the highest on the CEI index this year (we all remember earlier this year what happened to Bud Light when they tried that on TikTok). One way execs are attempting to achieve a high score is to offer a relocation program to trans workers, cutting them a $10,000 check to cover ‘travel-related expenses’ out of conservative states (or areas where they don’t feel comfortable) to safer grounds. 

“While Indeed introduced the program to its employees in July, until now, the company has not discussed it publicly,” Bloomberg said. 

Indeed provided further details about the program to Axios:

• It’s for US-based employees and immediate family members who seek gender-affirming care and live in a location where state laws or government-issued directives criminalize or restrict access to such medical care.

• It also applies to those who live in places that attempt to restrict support for children who are gender non-conforming, transgender or non-binary. 

• Eligible employees will receive approval to relocate to a state or jurisdiction where they will be able to access the care and support they need, as well as a $10,000 flat-rate benefit to support their relocation expenses.

None of this comes as a surprise given Indeed’s mission since 2018 has been to ‘out woke’ corporate America in its pursuit of a high CEI score. But why? 

Some netizens were confused by Indeed’s move considering the Bud Light backlash earlier this year after a white privileged liberal executive believed the brewer was time for a change. However, its customer base thought otherwise, nuking the beer as demand has since crashed. 

“Kinda weird that companies never did stuff like this for black people or disabled people,” one netizen asked. 

(Kinda weird that companies never did stuff like this for black people or disabled people.)

Amid conservative efforts targeting transgender rights & gender-affirming care for minors, some companies are stepping up to offer support for their trans workershttps://t.co/0qy60PD3Pw

— DomPachino101 (@DomPachino101) August 30, 2023

Another asked, “Does Indeed offer any relocation money for women who live in particularly misogynistic states? Of course not. “

Does Indeed offer any relocation money for women who live in particularly misogynistic states? Of course not

— MeowTransBillyBragg🏁🦖🇺🇦#Corpse #GenderFree 🦜 (@MMMMeowwwwwww) August 31, 2023

Someone else pointed out:

We wonder if Indeed will have an increase in the number of trans workers trying to capitalize on the free money. 

Submitted by Gun Owners of America,

Concluding a years-long lawsuit, US Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave preliminary approval to a settlement agreement due to Washington DC’s mishandling of six different gun owners, all of whom were arrested between 2012 and 2014 on gun–related charges.

According to a report from the Washington Post, Lamberth had previously ruled in 2021 that DC arrested, jailed, prosecuted, and seized guns from six people “based on an unconstitutional set of laws” and violated their Second Amendment rights.

One of the examples cited in that same Washington Post report on the settlement details a Maryland resident who was commuting home from his job in Virginia with a gun locked in a safe in the trunk of his car. He was jailed for two nights on gun charges and lost his job as a result.

Oh? An anti-gun city is using taxpayer dollars to pay their fines for blatant anti-gun policies?👀

Talk about taxation without representation.💸 https://t.co/QsoiMxVLBc

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) August 30, 2023

Washington, DC, will now have to pay out 5.1 million dollars due to the lawsuit. With $300,000 each to the six plaintiffs and $1.9 million in attorney fees, the leftover $1.4 million will be set aside for a large number of people who are estimated to qualify for the class action suit.

DC’s gun laws have been the subject of multiple high-profile lawsuits. In 2008 the landmark gun rights case District of Colombia v. Heller (a GOA-backed case) affirmed that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, and no government could impose a ban on firearms within the home, as Washington DC had done prior to Dick Heller filing suit.

Then, in 2014, Palmer v. District of Colombia struck down DC’s ban on carrying handguns in public with a permit.

Finally, in 2017, Wrenn v. District of Colombia (another GOA case) struck down the district’s “good and substantial reason” clause in its permitting process. Fearing an outcome that could make a concealed carry permit easier to acquire nationwide, DC did not appeal Wrenn to the Supreme Court. Gun rights advocates would have to wait another five years for the landmark decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen to finally abolish anti-gun bans on concealed carry masquerading as “may-issue” permitting regimes.

So, what was the District of Colombia’s defense during the suit? Apparently, those arrested should have done their research on DC gun laws or attempted to license the firearms before passing through the district. But interestingly, the judge in the suit found that there were no actions that the plaintiffs could have taken during the time period in question that would have allowed them to legally carry a gun for self-defense in the District of Colombia.

We’re sure that Dick Heller, now Gun Owners of America’s Senior Policy Advisor, couldn’t be more pleased with this ruling.

*   *   *

We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now.

Significant rumors are once again swirling over the possible imminent sacking of Ukraine’s defense minister, with Bloomberg also reporting.

Defense chief Oleksiy Reznikov has overseen a series of embarrassing military corruption scandals at a time Kiev is trying to tout its democratic and corruption reform credentials. He could be dismissed from the top post as early as next week, and given a new role as ambassador to the United Kingdom.

But the decision is “not finalized” according to sources speaking to Kyiv Post, which names Rustem Umerov – currently head of the State Property Fund – as a likely candidate to replace Reznikov.

DM Reznikov has overseen Ukraine’s military and defense strategy since the start of the Feb. 2022 invasion, but the much-hyped counteroffensive launched at the start of the summer has been widely seen as a failure, despite tens of billions of dollars of Western aid and weaponry.

Reznikov is now front and center in an anti-graft probe, Bloomberg writes, citing local Ukrainian media:

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s anti-graft crackdown is fueling speculation that he may dismiss Ukraine’s defense minister following accusations of corruption linked to procuring military supplies.

The Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper, citing sources it didn’t name, said on Thursday Minister Oleksii Reznikov may be replaced as early as next week. The report followed accusations from anti-corruption activists and media that under his leadership the ministry has purchased food and uniforms at inflated prices. It also coincides with comments from a lawmaker that Reznikov may be shifted to the post of Kyiv’s ambassador to the UK.

Additionally, parliament’s People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, wrote in a Thursday Telegram post that “…Rustem Umerov will be nominated for the position of Minister of Defense.” 

Kyiv Post has detailed the latest scandal as follows:

The latest scandal was exposed by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Nikolov who, citing sources at the State Customs Service of Ukraine, reported that the Ministry of Defense had acquired 233,000 winter jackets for $20 million from a Turkish firm.

Documentation from customs regarding one shipment unveiled a startling increase in cost for a batch of 4,900 jackets en route from Turkey to Ukraine.

The price had tripled, soaring from $142,000 to $421,000 (a per-unit rise from $29 to $86). Furthermore, it was revealed that the jackets, despite being marketed as winter wear, turned out to be lightweight.

Ukraine Rocked By Corruption Scandal, Wave Of Top Officials Resign: Sports Cars, Mansions & Luxury Vacations As People Suffered https://t.co/5gvsXbIkNx

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 24, 2023

High-ranking military officers and Kiev officials have for months come under scrutiny for driving expensive luxury cars and acquiring expensive villas. 

The Ministry of Agriculture has also recently been under fore for inflated pasta purchases, which caused a reported loss for state coffers of at least $1.7 million, and triggering suspicions that corrupt officials lined their pockets.

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

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused “left-wing lunatics” of fear-mongering about new COVID-19 variants in order to justify the reintroduction of their left-wing lockdown and mandate policies, which included the use of drop boxes and mail-in ballots in 2020, in a bid to rig the 2024 election.

President Trump made the remarks in a video posted on Aug. 30 on Truth Social, saying that his message should serve as a warning to every COVID-19 “tyrant” who not only wants to “take away our freedom” but who would be playing into the hands of those wanting to exploit COVID-19 restrictions to interfere in next year’s election.

“The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fear-mongering about the new variants that are coming,” President Trump said in the video.

Recently, there’s been a torrent of media reports about a new COVID-19 variant circulating, while President Joe Biden said last week that all Americans would likely be advised to get another booster.

In his video message, President Trump said that his political opponents are eager to leverage COVID-19 “hysteria” for political ends.

“They want to restart the COVID hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal drop boxes, more mail-in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election,” the former president said.

He charged that “they rigged the 2020 election and now they’re trying to do the same thing all over again by rigging the most important election in the history of our country, the 2024 election, even if it means trying to bring back COVID.”

President Trump has maintained that he believes he was was robbed of victory in 2020, due in part to last-minute changes to election rules that removed some guardrails for mail-in ballots and, at least in theory, made it easier to cheat.

While the former president lost nearly all of his election-related lawsuits, many were dismissed not on merit but on technicalities like the doctrine of laches, which basically says that a legal challenge was brought too late and prejudiced the defendant.

‘We Will Not Comply’

A number of conservative commentators have pointed to the sharp rise of COVID-19-related media reporting in recent weeks, while pointing to the threat of renewed restrictions for civil liberties—and the upcoming election.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has claimed there’s a plot to push “COVIDian tyranny” and “lock you down again just in time for the election” and facilitate the launch of a “Marxist-type revolution.”

Former member of Congress Ron Paul penned an op-ed on LewRockwell.com saying that the threat supposedly posed by the new COVID-19 variant is being amplified across media platforms “just in time for election season.”

“Why are they coming back around for another round of Covid tyranny?” Mr. Paul wrote. “Fear is a weapon to gain control.”

“Last time around, they generated fear to radically change how America voted. Suddenly, everyone was mailed ballots. How closely were they checked? No one knew and no one dared ask. The people who did ask about the election are now facing jail terms,” Mr. Paul wrote, presumably referring to some Jan. 6 defendants.

“They want us to shut up while they do it again. Will we?” Mr. Paul asked.

In his message, President Trump delivered a forceful response to this question, which has been expressed in one form or another by numerous conservative commentators.

“Don’t even think about it,” President Trump said, addressing his remarks to “every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom.”

“Hear these words: We will not comply!” the former president continued. “We will not shut down our schools, we will not accept your lockdowns, we will not abide by your mask mandates, and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.”

The former president then said that if elected president in 2024, he would use every available authority to push back on mask and vaccine mandates, giving as an example cutting federal funding to any college or airline that imposes such mandates.

“They will fail because I will not let it happen,” the former president said.

‘Likely To Be Recommended’

President Trump’s remarks comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise across the country, with three new variants of the disease said to be spreading.

Multiple drug companies, including Pfizer, Novavax, and Moderna, have introduced new vaccines they say will be effective to protect against the COVID-19 variant of interest EG.5, or Eris—although the vaccines do not protect against transmission.

President Biden told reporters in South Lake Tahoe, California, on Aug. 25 that he had asked for more funding for a new COVID vaccine.

“I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress, a request for additional funding for a new vaccine—that is necessary, that works,” President Biden said.

“And tentatively, not decided finally yet, tentatively it is recommended—it is likely to be recommended—that everybody get it, no matter whether they got it before,” he added.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials recently told reporters that the vaccines are expected to become available to the public in mid-September, though they are still pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

An independent CDC advisory committee is scheduled to meet on Sept. 12 to vote on recommended guidelines for eligibility for the new COVID-19 shots.

Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times,

We are living through the largest pillaging of the American middle class in a half-century. It’s not in the headlines. This is extremely strange. In fact, this might be the first and only article you have read about it. This could be for a reason. If people knew what was happening to them, they would begin to feel very restless, even furious. Some people among the ruling class do not want that.

The Biden administration trumpets its economic achievements. It’s mind-boggling. Call it trolling. Call it gaslighting. Call it whatever you want but you know it is untrue.

Let’s look at the facts.

What do you spend money on month-to-month? It’s rent or your mortgage, food at home or out, utilities, and gas. Those are the basic categories. The Consumer Price Index includes far more than that, some items you do not purchase and some that are going up far less than others. So let’s look at government numbers on what you actually purchase; that is, the items and services that you consume that dominate part of your income. And let’s stretch that back three years.

Everything is going up and up and has been for three years. Looking at the items on which you actually spend money, we find increases between 18-plus percent to 22-plus percent. Let’s say we average it all out at 20 percent.

Now let’s look at real disposable income, which is income left over after expenses adjusted for inflation. That result is an increase of a pathetic 3 percent compared with three years ago. The stimulus payments felt great at the time but those are long gone, essentially a head fake. So your income demands are up 20 percent whereas your leftover cash is barely up at all. That’s essentially a disaster for your standard of living.

In short, you have been robbed.

The causal reasons are many but mainly trace to the 43 percent increase in the money supply in the same period, which ate the value of the dollar with a lag. On top of that, supply chains broke, industry was consolidated, commercial freedom wrecked, and labor markets were forcibly disrupted.

Now, let’s compare this to what everyone recognizes as the great inflationary disaster of the postwar period, which is 1978 to 1982. These were the times when the Fed and government pillaged the public, drained away the value of savings and capital, and forced a reorganization of family life. At the end of this period, the average American household went from living off of one income—realizing the American dream—to having two incomes in the household. That happened in 1985 when two-income households became the norm.

At the time, this was called emancipation of women but, looking back, we can see that this was clearly propaganda to cover up an economic disaster. Gender discrimination in the workplace hasn’t really been a major issue for most of the 20th century. Back in the mid-1920s, if you look at unmarried women without children after the age of 18, the employment rate in the city was generally 80 percent. These women left the workforce upon marriage to focus on children and the household whereas the men bore the obligation of providing for the whole.

That was the way we lived until the great inflation. That’s what changed everything. After that, households had to have two incomes to live well instead of one, meaning that one partner had to go to the office rather than tend to the household or otherwise pursue the good life. That the ruling class was able to fob this off as some kind of new liberty (for women) is a tribute to the power of ideologically driven lies.

How do our times compare to then? Well, in three years, we’ve seen the value of the dollar fall 20 percent in terms of what you actually spend money on while income has barely gone up at all. During the great disaster of 43 years ago, this exact same phenomenon occurred over two years rather than three like our own times. In other words, the mass thievery in our times is taking place 50 percent slower than it happened last time. But it is happening nonetheless.

Is it any better if the bus rolls over you slowly or more quickly? It happens either way. That you lose 17 percent of your income in three years or two, what does it really matter? It is only valuable to our ruling-class masters in terms of the extent to which the public complains. A population pillaged slowly—like the frog boiling slowly—is very liable to complain a bit less. Still, the reality is the same.

The great inflation fundamentally changed life in America. We were never the same, economically or culturally. And that raises the real question: what is the current round of thievery going to do to this generation? I wish I had the answers. I don’t really know but we are seeing population-wide demoralization, ill-health, lack of ambition, substance abuse, and widespread despair. However this ends, it’s not going to be good.

Can this be turned around? Yes, but it won’t be easy. It will require massive changes in public administration the likes of which we’ve never experienced. No candidate for office at any level is prepared for what is necessary to reduce the debt, contain the Fed, defang the administrative bureaucracy, reduce the tax burden, and make the American dream affordable again. We are nowhere near speaking the truth at this point.

The emergency, however, is real. A people dealing with growing and relentless improvement, from powers out of their control, can be unpredictable. At a very minimum, it means more crime, more cultural anomie, more distrust, and growing anger. Some leader needs to channel this into a positive and constructive direction else we are doomed to suffer another round that will make the great inflation of the late 1970s look like a mere foreshadowing.

A popular Australian rapper, Iggy Azalea, is being accused by Saudi clerics and authorities of “blasphemy” for a concert she performed last Friday in the capital of Riyadh.

The occasion was the Gamers8 Esports tournament for which she was invited as a special performer. Controversial songs included Goddess, in which she asked the audience to “bow down to a goddess” – and also there was the moment she exclaimed “Ladies, make some noise, it’s a woman’s world!”

Of course, this is ultra-male dominated Saudi society, where women are told by Islamic law they must wear the full Muslim veil and that unmarried women shouldn’t go out without a male family escort—all of his enforced by Sharia law courts and ‘morality police’.

The whole performance is being accused of being anti-Islamic, especially for lines from her lyrics which seemed directed at Islam or monotheistic religions in general like “…preaching about prophets, it ain’t no one man can stop us, bow down to a goddess.”

But given these song lyrics, and the full set, was already known in advance – it’s a wonder that Iggy was invited to give a concert in the ultra-conservative kingdom in the first place. 

At one point, quite ironically, there was even a wardrobe malfunction wherein she exposed more flesh than what the kingdom allows. It was merely her pantleg that ripped, exposing her… (gasp!) leg, up to part of her thigh, during which time a staffer frantically tried to toss her a towel to cover it up.

Showing a little leg: watch the wardrobe malfunction which temporarily stopped the show…

Iggy Azalea kicked off stage as wardrobe malfunction upsets Saudi Arabia authorities https://t.co/52WCdDsvQr pic.twitter.com/I0TldL9iLW

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) August 27, 2023

As Middle East Eye points out, both the host country and performer should have understood the “risks” involved in Iggy performing in Riyad: 

On X, Azalea revealed that despite the fact she changed her outfit, Saudi authorities halted the concert due to her lyrics, which, she said, sent them “over the edge”.

Social media users were quick to criticise not just the organizers of the concert, but those attending too.

One user stated “this is kufr [unbelief], blatant shirk [idolatry] being said on stage, and the Muslims were repeating it in the audience”. 

Users also noted that Azalea and her team should have known the extent and danger of the repercussions of performing in Saudi Arabia.

Most of the hate directed at the rapper came from conservative Muslims and anonymous Saudi accounts online, which charged her with ‘prostitution’ and ‘blasphemy’. Another post said the following:

Saudi Arabia just sentenced the user of an anonymous Twitter account with 10 followers to death for criticizing Mohammed Bin Salman. Meanwhile, Iggy Azalea performed a concert in Riyadh where she mocked Allah and his Prophets in front of thousands. It seems as though Madkhalis…

— Mr. Popalzai (@JournalismPopal) August 30, 2023

One wonders what would have happened if her relatively minor clothing mishap had been on the level of Janet Jackson’s during that infamous Super Bowl halftime performance.

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

It turns out society isn’t just the sum total of the Fed goosing “maximizing shareholder value.” People actually have to live in the corrupt, bifurcated, distorted ghetto the Fed and “maximizing shareholder value” have created.

It’s an old story, manifesting now in new ways. The rich, buoyed by inherited wealth and access to credit, find a locale with the qualities they desire, and buy the choicest properties for their own use, and a surrounding band of nearby properties so they won’t be bothered by the bottom 99%.

This story has a new far more destructive chapter, generated by the boom in STVRs–short-term vacation rentals. The uber-wealthy don’t need more money but they’re trained, like hamsters in a lab, to seek ways to maximize their income and capital gains. STVRs–Airbnb et al.–are highly attractive investments to the wealthy and their money-managers–the hedge funds, private equity managers, family-wealth advisors, et al.

Residential real estate that can be converted to STVRs is well within reach of the top 10% households, who own between 80% and 90% of all income-producing assets such as housing rentals, stocks, bonds and business equity.

As the Federal Reserve has distorted credit markets with historically unprecedented low interest rates and “excess liquidity,” the resulting asset bubbles widened the income-wealth gap between the top 10% who already owned most of the assets soaring in value and the bottom 90% who at best owned a family home with a mortgage.

The top 10% saw super-low mortgage rates and the plump returns on STVRs and rushed to snap up any properties that could be converted from long-term rentals to short-term vacation rentals to get their share of the post-pandemic price-insensitive “revenge spending” we-need-a-vacation bonanza.

This mass conversion of long-term rentals for workers into vacation rentals has social and economic consequences. It’s bifurcated America’s desirable towns into luxe enclaves for the “haves” and ghettos for the working “have-nots.” It was all fun and games seeking to “maximize shareholder value” and ride the next bubble to ever greater wealth and income, but the consequence is the destruction of the nation’s social and economic fabric.

I asked longtime correspondent W.S., who has witnessed the transformation in Colorado over the decades, to describe the reality generated by the mass conversion of long-term rentals to STVRs. Here is his account:

“Airbnb has devastated Colorado’s resort towns.

It’s always been expensive to live in places that wealthy people decided they wanted to visit regularly.

Real estate speculators figure out where the money is quickly enough, buy up property, subdivide it and sell lots to their friends, who build second homes, like the single family castles in Beaver Creek and Vail. They build condos and duplexes and sell them to less wealthy folks who want to live in these places and to small investors who rent them to the people who do the actual work in these communities; our teachers, police and fire fighters, hotel and restaurant and small business operators and their staff, the ‘essential services’ folks that nobody thinks much about until one day, a pandemic comes along.

In Colorado, the attraction for the past 50 years has been downhill skiing and while rents always were higher than most places, the folks that moved up to the mountains and worked at the skico and surrounding small businesses generally skied for free – a season pass was a more common benefit than a healthcare plan – and the ‘locals’ lived to ride. Snowboards. Skis. It was a worthwhile trade off.

That era ended completely with AirBnb.

Over the past few years virtually all of the ‘locals’ housing in Vail, the duplexes in nearby Eagle Vail, the houses in Edwards – everything in the upper Eagle River Valley where locals lived – has been purchased – often sight unseen – by hedge funds, private capital and wealthy full and part time homeowners. It has all immediately been turned into short term rental properties (STVRs) – Airbnb, VRBO, etc.

Why rent a two bedroom apartment to a teacher for $1,500 a month when you can Airbnb the same 40 year old unit for $2,500 a week?

Except now, there are literally no housing units available.

Ok, a few pop up now and then but for $3,750 to $4,000 a month, since the work at home class has bid up the price of everything in resort towns with fast internet, and all of them have it. Even if they don’t, Starlink is $120 a month for 50-200 MBPS connectivity. (I have it, it’s flawless.)

Local teachers with masters degrees start at $45,000 a year, fresh out of school.

A $3,750 per month rental requires about $11,000 to move in, first and last plus the security deposit. The annual rent comes to $45,000. Thats the gross pay for new hires, which we need annually as our experienced educators retire, or sell their homes they bought a few years ago for huge gains and move elsewhere.

We can’t hire teachers.

We can’t hire snow plow operators, who are sort of essential in the high country.

Can’t hire substitute teachers at $100 a day.

Can’t hire bus drivers.

Nobody making under $250,000 can buy a house and live here anymore. Wendy’s pays $19 an hour to start – but you can’t work there unless you live with your folks or 4 roommates (maybe).

It’s so bad in Eagle County that the school district is bringing new teachers, fresh graduates from the Philippines. The district is building 37 apartments for them to live in, dorm style. Teaching has become a job only workers imported from other countries can afford to do here, like picking vegetables.

Sure, house prices have gone up a lot because of the influx of work at homers. They’ll probably stay, as heat refugees from the southwest begin to migrate to higher altitudes. But the 20-30 year old former rental units the locals started off in? Sorry. They’re Airbnb.

With no working people to staff the grocery stores, these mountain towns might not be the refuge the heat refugees seek.”

Thank you, W.S., for this insightful on-the-ground report. 

Is it really that surprising that those who still have to work for a living resent being crammed into ghettos while America’s elite class enjoys their Fed-bubble generated wealth and soaring income?

Is it really that surprising that towns swamped with an influx of visitors and wealthy owners are being fouled as their infrastructure is overwhelmed and their natural wealth exploited / stripmined to “maximize shareholder value”?

The Wealthy Are Not Like You and Me–Our Terminally Stratified Society (8/3/23)

Development In A Wealthy Montana Boom Town Is Fouling A World-Class Trout River

There’s Gonna be a War in Montana

It turns out society isn’t just the sum total of the Fed goosing “maximizing shareholder value.” People actually have to live in the corrupt, bifurcated, distorted ghetto the Fed and “maximizing shareholder value” have created.

*  *  *

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A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Proud Boys leader Joseph Randall Biggs to 17 years in prison – more than a lot of murderers receive – after calling the destruction of a fence on US Capitol property during the January 6, 2001 Capitol breach an act of terrorism.

The 39-year-old Biggs is the first of the Proud Boys leaders sentenced after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy in May along with five other charges related to the event.

Which reminds us – instigator Ray Epps, who’s totally not a fed, remains free to this day.

Biggs was also convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to use force, intimidation, or threats to prevent officers of the United States from discharging their duties, interference with law enforcement during civil disorder, and destruction of government property.

The sentence, handed down by US District Judge Timothy Kelly, followed the DOJ’s recommendation to add a terrorism enhancement, which greatly increased his potential prison time. That said, Kelly opted for roughly half the prison time the DOJ had sought.

“I know that I messed up that day. But I’m not a terrorist. I know I have to be punished, and I understand,” said Biggs in an emotional statement to Kelly.

According to Kelly, Biggs and the other Proud Boys were part of a “mob that brought an entire government branch to heel” on January 6th.

More via the Epoch Times,

In a sentencing memo filed with the court on Aug. 17, defense attorney Norman Pattis anticipated the terrorism-enhanced sentence, although in court he described it as “shocking” and a “grotesque overreach” that is designed to chill dissent.

‘Not Terrorists’

“The defendants are not terrorists,” Mr. Pattis wrote. “Whatever excesses of zeal they demonstrated on January 6, 2021, and no matter how grave the potential interference with the orderly transfer of power due to the events of that day, a decade or more behind bars is an excessive punishment.”

Addressing Judge Kelly on Aug. 31, Mr. Pattis said: “The conundrum is often speech is used to explain the crime. In this case, the crime was used to explain the speech.”

Mr. Pattis said Mr. Biggs’s destruction of a $32,000 Capitol fence shouldn’t be considered terrorism because the fence was a “means to an end,” not an attempt to influence the government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough defended the government’s recommended 33-year prison sentence.

“It is justified,” Mr. McCullough said. “These are very serious crimes.”

In its sentencing memorandum for Mr. Biggs, prosecutors called him “a vocal leader and influential proponent of the group’s shift toward political violence.”

“More than perhaps any other, Biggs appreciated the tactical advantage that his force had that day, and he understood the significance of his actions against his own government,” prosecutors wrote. “Biggs understood that the outnumbered forces attempting to hold the Capitol would be powerless due to his side’s overwhelming numbers.”

“Biggs’s guidelines range—after the application of the adjustment for Biggs’s crime of terrorism—rightly reflects the seriousness of his assault on our government and Biggs’s leading role in it,” prosecutors wrote. “Biggs’s conduct warrants a sentence of 33 years of incarceration.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Biggs and his co-defendants felt they were leading a second American revolution.

“Biggs arrived at the Capitol to lead a revolution against a government that he viewed as illegitimate,” prosecutors wrote. “Like [Enrique] Tarrio and [Ethan] Nordean, Biggs viewed himself and his movement as a second American revolution where he and the other ‘patriots’ would retake the government by force.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Biggs—perhaps more than any other defendant—”promoted the use of force against the government.”

“Beginning in the days after the election, Biggs declared that the country could face ‘civil war’ because the ‘left’ was ‘radicalizing people by stealing [the] election,’” prosecutors wrote. “Biggs told his followers that it was ‘time for [expletive] War if they steal this [expletive].’ … Biggs steadily escalated his calls for political violence.”

Judge Kelly’s sentence continued a trend that started with Oath Keepers defendants by doling out prison terms far short of those sought by the DOJ. In July, federal prosecutors appealed eight sentences given out by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio had been scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 30, but his sentencing hearing was moved to Sept. 5 when Judge Kelly became ill.

The sentencing of Proud Boys defendant Ethan Nordean was moved to Sept. 1 in Judge Kelly’s courtroom. Zachary Rehl was set for an Aug. 31 sentencing, and defendant Dominic Pezzola will be sentenced on Sept. 1.