Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

The world seems to be gripped by a really bad case of war fever.  National leaders all over the globe are rattling their sabers, and that should deeply alarm all of us.  The last time that there was a “world war”, tens of millions of people died.  This time around, it could be hundreds of millions or even billions of people.  Today, we literally possess the ability to destroy all of humanity.  So a worldwide conflict in which nuclear weapons are used should be avoided at all costs, but unfortunately those that are running things seem absolutely determined to push us toward such a conflict anyway.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been so many alarming developments.  The following are 11 signs that global conflict could soon spiral completely out of control…

#1 Russia just signed a deal to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus…

The defense ministers of Russia and Belarus on Thursday signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Defense Ministry of Belarus.

Russia will retain control over its non-strategic nuclear weapons stationed in neighboring Belarus, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a document-signing event with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin in Minsk.

“Russia will not transfer nuclear weapons to the Republic of Belarus: control over them and the decision to use them remains with the Russian side,” he said.

#2 U.S. and Taiwanese officials have reportedly been talking about bringing Taiwan under the “nuclear umbrella” of the United States.  Needless to say, such a move would make war with China much more likely…

There seems to be a growing demand for a US ‘nuclear umbrella’ in Taiwan amid increasing belligerence by China in the Asia Pacific region.

The desire for such a ‘nuclear umbrella’ against a potential invasion by China – which is already provided to Japan and South Korea by the United States (US) – has reportedly received support from defence experts in Taiwan.

The US ‘nuclear umbrella’ will not see the deployment of atomic weapons in Taiwan, but will see the world’s ‘sole superpower’ respond in kind to a nuclear attack by China during an invasion of the island nation.

#3 The Russians have just issued an arrest warrant for U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham…

Russia’s Interior Ministry on Monday issued an arrest warrant for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham following his comments related to the fighting in Ukraine.

In an edited video of his meeting on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that was released by Zelenskyy’s office, Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, noted that “the Russians are dying” and described the U.S. military assistance to the country as “the best money we’ve ever spent.”

#4 A senior Taliban commander is boasting that “we will conquer Iran soon”…

The Taliban threatened on Sunday that it could conquer Iran as tensions increase over water disputes between Afghanistan and Iran, leaving at least three people dead.

In a video released by the Taliban, a senior commander in the terrorist organization running Afghanistan warned that the Taliban would fight the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard “with more passion” than they fought the US forces. He added that the Taliban “will conquer Iran soon if the Taliban’s leaders give the green light.

#5 Israel has doubled the number of attacks on Iranian targets inside Syrian territory in recent months…

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said that he has “doubled the attacks on Iran in Syria” during his several months in office.

Gallant also revealed Tehran’s secret sea war against Israel, presenting new photographic evidence of five different ships it is using to establish another front against the Jewish state.

#6 Hezbollah just conducted major military exercises very close to the border with Israel…

The military exercise was unusual not only because it was made public — nearly 400 people attended, including Hezbollah supporters and several journalists — but also because it was conducted only 12 miles north of the Israeli border, just outside an area where militias are not allowed to operate under a UN Security Council resolution adopted in 2006.

#7 Most Americans don’t realize this, but U.S. troops will soon be deployed in Peru…

Unbeknown, it seems, to most people in Peru and the US (considering the paucity of media coverage in both countries), US military personnel will soon be landing in Peru. The plenary session of Peru’s Congress last Thursday (May 18) authorised the entry of US troops onto Peruvian soil with the ostensible purpose of carrying out “cooperation activities” with Peru’s armed forces and national police.

#8 Violent clashes in Kosovo have resulted in more than two dozen NATO troops being injured…

NATO-led troops and police clashed with protesters in Northern Kosovo Monday amid an ongoing standoff between ethnic Albanian authorities and local ethnic Serbs who ignored warnings not to seize municipality buildings.

The violence comes after Kosovo’s police raided Serb-dominated areas in the region’s north and seized local municipality buildings over the weekend. The demonstrations have led to injuries on both sides, which more than two dozen NATO troops injured.

#9 The U.S. military is building a brand new base in northern Syria.  Apparently the U.S. occupation of large portions of Syrian territory is not going to end any time soon…

The US-led anti-ISIS coalition is building a new military base in Syria’s northern province of Raqqa, The New Arab reported, citing a source close to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The US backs the SDF and keeps about 900 troops (officially at least) in eastern Syria, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syria’s territory. The report said there are currently about 24 US-led military sites spread throughout eastern Syria.

#10 North Korea is claiming that the U.S. and South Korea have just conducted an “invasion rehearsal”…

The South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.

The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire exercises through mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea typically reacts to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.

#11 Due to “security concerns”, dozens of “satellite phones for emergency communication” are being issued to members of the U.S. Senate…

Amid growing concerns of security risks to members of Congress, over 50 senators have been issued satellite phones for emergency communication, people familiar with the measures told CBS News. The devices are part of a series of new security measures being offered to senators by the Senate Sergeant at Arms, who took over shortly after the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The satellite phone technology has been offered to all 100 senators. CBS News has learned at least 50 have accepted the phones, which Senate administrative staff recommend senators keep in close proximity during their travels.

We have never seen such a dramatic measure ever be taken before.

Are they preparing for something?

I wish that I knew.

But what I do know is that we are certainly living during a time of “wars and rumors of wars”, and it definitely isn’t going to take much to push us over a line that will never be able to be uncrossed.

But for now, most people in the western world simply are not paying attention to what is going on.

Most of them just assume that our leaders are wise, competent and will be able to keep us out of any sort of nuclear conflict.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

China launched the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft with a crew of three astronauts to its newly built space station for the second in-orbit crew rotation, marking yet another advancement for the country’s space program — comes at a time when the US is waging a technology war against Beijing.

Bloomberg reported a Long March 2F rocket propelled three astronauts to the Tiangong space station on Tuesday morning from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. 

Liftoff of the Shenzhou 16 mission, carrying a crew of three Chinese astronauts to the Tiangong space station for a six-month expedition. https://t.co/lSqanlUHVy pic.twitter.com/qgaUXIGhO0

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) May 30, 2023

The crew – Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng, and Zhu Yangzhu will relieve Shenzhou-15 astronauts who have been orbiting the Earth in the Tiangong space station since November. State media said Shenzhou-16 astronauts are expected to arrive at the station later today.

Tuesday marks China’s fifth crewed mission to its T-shaped space station since 2021. The new station is a three-module structure and was constructed in orbit. 

China had a series of achievements in space, including being the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon in 2019, landing a rover on Mars in 2021, and constructing the Tiangong space station over the last few years. 

In its press conference Monday, China Manned Space Agency official Lin Xiqiang told reporters the country plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030.  

China has said it will open the Tiangong space station to all UN member states for “science experiments.” It hopes its station will outlast the International Space Station, which is set to be decommissioned in the early 2030s. Chinese astronauts are currently banned from the ISS. 

The US and China are locked in another race, this time in space. 

Authored by Jude Clemente via RealClear Wire,

Please note: this article was pulled down offline from Forbes. I will let you draw your own conclusions as to why. Factually, there was no justification for it. 

This list could be closer to 50 but let’s just stick to a handful of them. I literally live in this business every day, and I’m just so confused. 

1. In a world that is apparently getting both warmer and colder because of global warming, how is it that we can increasingly rely on non-dispatchable (i.e., intermittent, usually unavailable), weather-dependent electricity from wind and solar plants to displace, not just supplement, dispatchable (i.e., baseload, almost always available) coal, gas, and nuclear power? In other words, if our weather is becoming less predictable, how is it that a consuming economy like ours can, or should even try, predictably rely on weather-dependent resources? ERCOT exemplifies this: the Texas grid operator has around 31,000 MW of wind capacity but goes into winter expecting only 6,000 MW (just 20%) of wind farms to be available to generate electricity. Again, in the marketplace, the “alternatives” you keep hearing about are proving to be far more supplemental than alternative.

Further, good wind and solar spots are finite, based on geography, so new builds, naturally, will be forced into areas that are less windy and less sunny, lowering their already very low 35% capacity factors. And because they devour immense swaths of land, interrupting a whole host of things, that Renewable Rejection Database is mounting very quickly. If wind, solar, and electric cars too are as effective and low-cost as so many keep promising us, there would obviously be no need for government subsidies for broad adoption. Yet, there is, gigantically so. Huge amounts of taxpayer money going into this, what I call “the holy climate panacea triad,” are vulnerable to changing politics and bound to become politically untenable at some point: “Ford Is Losing $66,446 On Every EV It Sells.” Our limited financial resources are obviously very precious, so these NEVER CONSIDERED and wasted opportunity costs forcing wind, solar, and electric cars into the energy complex are truly catastrophic. Schools investing in electric buses over STEM? The $200 Billion Electric School Bus Bust. How can any of this be justified?  I’m so utterly confused. 

2. Climate change is a global issue, so how is it that we can claim climate benefits for unilateral climate policy. For example, U.S. gasoline cars constitute just 3% of global CO2 emissions, so how will getting rid of them impact climate change? But this dose of real science doesn’t stop California leaders, a state responsible for just 1% of global CO2 emissions, from telling us that energy policy in the nine-county region of Northern California alone is “responsible for protecting air quality and the global climate in the nine-county Bay Area.” No wonder then that a Biden administration official was incoherent when asked how $50 trillion in climate spending in the U.S. will lower any global temperature rise. Indeed, despite the Sierra Club in 2014 promising us that “China’s Thirst for Coal Is Drying Up,” the Chinese Communist Party approved two coal plants a week in 2022. But, don’t worry guys, China promises to be net-zero by 2060. On climate, you don’t matter nearly as much as some want you to think.

So, it becomes very obvious very quickly that no energy policy in northern California has any relevance in terms of changing the climate. The region could literally disappear and there would be no discernable impact on climate change. Even our climate czar John Kerry, loving the CO2-devouring life in a private jet and $250 million, has been forced to admit that the U.S. could even go to zero emissions and it would make no material impact on climate change. Talk about all pain, no gain. The real science is that incremental global emissions are “not here but over there” U.S. CO2 emissions are in structural decline regardless of what policies we pass (save 2021 and the rebound from Covid-19’s devastation in 2020). So, where is the climate benefit for Americans when it comes to U.S. climate policy? Because we’re continuously told to “believe science,” any positive answer to that question can only be deemed as anti-science. In fact, common sense and science itself tell us that unilateral climate policy can actually be really bad for climate change because it encourages carbon leakage (e.g., climate policy in the U.S. increases costs and just pushes a manufacturing firm to re-locate to coal-devouring China).

3. Back to electric vehicles. Even green-tinted but surely practical Bloomberg admits that more than 85% of Americans can’t afford an electric car, since they are well more than double the price of oil-based cars. How can a product bring racial justice for Black Americans when the vast majority of them can’t afford it? Worse then, huge and growing subsidies for electric cars are a “reverse Robin Hood,” taking money from poor taxpayers to give to the rich ones that are, actually, in the market to buy an electric car. Forcing electric equipment over natural gas? Sorry but “gas is four to six times cheaper than electricity.” Battery costs might be much higher than expected: 1) rising global demand, 2) rising costs and unavailability of their raw materials, 3) mining complications and environmental damage, and 4) China flexing its muscles since it controls the supply chains and uses hoarding as political leverage (see Covid-19 and medical supplies). Reality check, unlike what we keep hearing about “green energy,” no technology continues to decline in cost in perpetuity: “EV battery costs could spike 22% by 2026 as raw material shortages drag on.” 

And this one I’m really confused on. President Biden promotes his climate agenda as a way to create jobs. Besides lacking in economic literacy (i.e., jobs are costs not benefits), the truth is that electric cars, for instance, entail far less jobs because they, for one thing, have far less moving parts. And there’s all kinds of evidence that electric car life-cycle emissions could be way worse than advertised, mostly because of the massive amounts of mining required to make them. We all know about child labor and your electric car, but even pro-EV outlets are being forced to report on the mounting problems from mining, the latest on how bauxite for the aluminum needed is destroying the Amazon. And about our President’s we’ll need oil for “another decade” claim? The U.S. Department of Energy just modeled that our oil demand will actually slightly INCREASE, not decline, to over 21.1 million b/d by 2050. Reality check: planes, industry (petrochemicals), heavy trucking, and sheer Energy Inertia will have oil dominating way longer than you’re being told. 

4. How on Earth could anybody expect those in Africa and the other horrifically poor nations to “get off fossil fuels” when the rich countries haven’t come close to doing it. Germany and California, the world’s two greenest governments, are still overwhelming fossil fuel-based and overwhelmingly dependent on imports (dangerously so in Germany’s case). This comes despite decades of huge subsidies, scores of mandates, deploying the best engineering expertise, and having low population growth and thus low incremental energy needs, all giving them a huge advantage in “going green.” The energy stat to remember most? No U.S. state will ever “try to go green” like California has over the past 20 years, yet oil and gas still supply 70% of the state’s energy, even above the national average of 65%. 

Germany and California have shown us what these climate policies bring: Germany has the highest electricity prices in the world; and California’s are the highest in the continental U.S. and soaring out of control (Figure). How the heck can we push for “deep electrification” to fight climate change if we are going to follow policies that surge the price of electricity, while also lowering grid reliability? And rich Westerners, spare us the judgments, demands, and hypocrisy on climate change: Germany thrives on a GDP per capita per year of $51,200, compared to a horrifically sad $2,260 for India.

5. But, perhaps I’m most confused about the whole air quality thing. The obsession over it gets attached to all energy policies. But there’s clearly a strawman to the “we need cleaner air now” demand. First, the air quality conversation in the U.S. reminds me of Voltaire’s “the perfect is the enemy of good.” Americans seem completely unaware how drastically our air quality has improved. Check data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), our criteria pollutants have been plummeting over the past many decades. The risks seem exaggerated. Let’s just take Los Angeles, which for a big city notoriously has the worst air quality in the country. Tell me, please, if air quality is such a problem and such a health concern for Americans, why is it that Angelinos have a life expectancy of 82 years, a hearty three years above the national average. Just think of all the coal that China has devoured since 2000 (I figure around 70 billion tonnes), yet the country’s life expectancy, apparently shockingly to so many, is up a very impressive six years to nearly 78 since then. Maybe it’s because Chinese GDP per capita per year has skyrocketed nearly 9-fold to over $18,500. Even for rising asthma rates in the U.S., smoking is way down, coal usage is way down, and criteria pollutants are way down. So what gives? 

“Better air quality and environment” are not free, as attaining government standards cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars per year. These costs are ultimately paid by Americans in the form of higher prices, lower wages, and less choices. And at some point, the cost of the regulation to achieve better air outweighs its benefit. We’ve won on water too: the water in your toilet is cleaner than what the vast majority of humans on Earth drink. For every time that we hear “environmental justice” we need to say “economic justice” 100 times. In this country for all Americans, Blacks and Hispanics/Latinos make 30% less money than Whites and Asians. Too many politicians focus on the endless pursuit of “better air quality” and other abstract, seemingly impossible to measure benefits because they have no clue on the real ways to help communities of color and other low-income Americans: help them get a better education, help them get a better job, and help them make more money. Career politicians love bottomless, money-devouring pits the most: “America’s $100 billion climate change flop.” And although its entire existence is based on never being able to declare victory (imagine a football game with no time and no keeping score), EPA should consider that it’s wealth that matters most for health equity. 

But, that’s not its business, is it?

Jude Clemente is the editor at RealClearEnergy. 

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The State Department has refused to say if it’s engaging with the Ukrainian government over American citizen Gonzalo Lira, who was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) due to his political views on the conflict with Russia.

Lira has a popular YouTube channel and a large following on Twitter and Telegram. He is also a writer who has contributed to several media outlets, including Business Insider. Lira was born in California and is a dual citizen of the US and Chile and had been living in Kharkiv, Ukraine, throughout the war.

Lira is a critic of the Ukrainian government and was arrested by the SBU on charges of justifying the Russian invasion. “After the start of the full-scale invasion, the blogger was one of the first to support the Russian invaders and glorify their war crimes,” the SBU said in a press release referring to Lira.

The SBU also accused Lira of “discrediting the top military and political leadership and the Defense Forces of our state.” He was charged under sections 2 and 3 of Article 436-2 of Ukraine’s criminal code, which outlaws the “distribution of materials” that justify Russia’s actions going back to 2014.

Epoch Times reporter Liam Cosgrove asked State Department spokesman Matthew Miller if the administration was aware of Lira’s detainment and how the US feels about Ukraine arresting an American for speech.

“So I will say in general that we’re aware of the report. We obviously support the exercise of freedom of speech anywhere in the world, and I’ll leave it at that,” Miller said.

When asked if the administration was working to secure Lira’s release, Miller said, “I’m going to leave my comments where I just left them.”

State Department refuses to say whether it will negotiate with Zelensky for the release of detained U.S. citizen Gonzalo Lira: pic.twitter.com/jTD58XjYnw

— Liam Cosgrove (@cosgrove_iv) May 28, 2023

Cosgrove also asked Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) about Lira’s detainment. Lieu said that he wasn’t aware of the case but said US citizens should “have the ability to express their thoughts and views” and that he would look into the arrest.

Responding to the news, Greene told Cosgrove: “America is providing weapons, equipment for the defense of their country, but the Ukrainian government is not going to defend any American’s freedom of speech, and that’s a real problem.”

Lira’s arrest received virtually no attention in Western media. One of the few outlets to cover it was the Daily Beast, which smeared the American instead of questioning the charges. According to the Beast, Lira is facing five to eight years in prison.

At a moment the US and Chinese militaries have halted all communications, a dangerous incident between the rival powers has occurred over the South China Sea.

It happened last Friday, but the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) only on Tuesday revealed the incident, alleging that a Chinese fighter jet engaged in an “unprofessional intercept” of an American spy plane flying in international airspace.

The US statement described that a Chinese PLA J-16 fighter flew just in front of the nose of a US RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, and INDOPACOM further published video of what it called an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver”. 

Based on video of the intercept, the J-16 passes so close to the RC-135 that the US aircraft’s cockpit appears to shake from the turbulence of the PLA plane’s wake.

“The RC-135 was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law,” INDOPACOM said. “The United States will continue to fly, sale and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows.”

“We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law,” the US military statement emphasized. 

But China is disputing this interpretation, given it regularly attempts to claim both maritime territory and airspace based on an expanse of manmade and other militarized islands in the South China Sea. Washington has rejected this interpretation of the contested territory, calling it international airspace.

Watch the Pentagon-released footage unveiled late Tuesday…

The US military has released footage of a Chinese fighter jet performing an ‘unnecessary aggressive’ manoeuvre, claiming the Chinese jet passed directly in front of the nose of the US Air Force plane during the intercept on 26 May.https://t.co/2lxGDKlyMP pic.twitter.com/iPS3UTAHes

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 30, 2023

There have been several of these ‘close call’ incidents in recent years, including a February intercept where a Chinese J-11 fighter approached about 500 feet off the wing of an American P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The Chinese jet shadowed the US patrol plane for more than an hour.

US planes have also received messages from nearby PLA jets of late such as “No approaching any more or you will pay full responsibility” – but so far there’s been no live fire or warning shot incidents, and yet these episodes remain highly dangerous for the potential of a direct clash.

Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

The Indian central bank has announced another round of demonetization with a plan to withdraw 2,000-rupee notes from circulation.

The announcement led to a big jump in gold bullion sales.

The 2,000-rupee note will remain legal tender, but they will have to be deposited or exchanged for smaller denominations by Sept. 30.

The 2,000 rupee note ($24.19) is the largest currency denomination in India. According to Reuters, they make up about 10.8% of the currency in circulation.

T.V Somanathan, the top official at the Indian Finance Ministry, said confiscation of the 2,000 rupee notes wouldn’t cause any disruptions “either in normal life or in the economy.”

His assurances fall flat given history.

We’ve seen this play before. The Indian government announced a surprise demonetization policy in the fall of 2016 meant to drive so-called black money out of the shadows and declared that all of the 1,000 and 500-rupee notes then in circulation would no longer be valid. The suddenly worthless notes made up 86% of the currency in circulation in the country at the time. The move made virtually all of the cash in India valueless.

The government produced new 500 and 2,000-rupee notes to replace the old currency.

Now the government is pulling those 2,000-rupee notes out of circulation.

The government policy announced in 2016 was meant to force Indians to trade in the old notes for new ones. But there was a catch. The government placed limits on the amount of currency Indians could exchange, but no limits on bank deposits until the end of the year. The idea was to push Indians into putting their hoarded cash in the bank – thus bringing it “out of the shadows.” The demonetization policy resulted in severe cash shortages. As many as 90% of ATMs in some regions of the country completely ran out of currency.

With more time to exchange notes this time around, the latest round of demonetization is not expected to be as disruptive.

War on Cash

The Indian government’s move was part of the broader war on cash. The goal was to bring “black money” out of the shadows so it can be tracked and taxed. The vast majority of transactions in India are in cash. It is an overwhelmingly cash economy and virtually every Indian has currency stashed away in their home.

Transactions using black money mean no taxes are collected. Government estimates show that only 1% of the Indian population pays any taxes at all. By making the 1,000 and 500 rupee notes valueless, government officials hoped to force the black money into the light so they could get their cut.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) justified eliminating the 2,000-rupee note, saying they are at the end of their useful life and citing evidence showing 2,000 rupee notes aren’t typically used in transactions. But the real motivation for this latest round of demonetization is likely the same as the first – to better track and tax transactions.

This war on cash isn’t isolated to India. The European Central Bank stopped producing and issuing 500-euro notes in 2018, and officials in the US have floated the idea of eliminating the $100 bill.

More recently, governments have experimented with central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a cash replacement.

There are also political motives for getting the 2,000-rupee notes out of circulation now.

The move comes ahead of elections in four Indian states and a national election next spring. According to Reuters, “Most of India’s political parties are believed to hoard cash in high denomination bills to fund election campaign expenses to get around tough spending limits imposed by the Election Commission.”

Forcing people to deposit the notes will also help boost bank deposits. Indian banks have struggled to maintain deposit levels large enough to support the country’s massive credit expansion.

Gold to the Rescue

When the government pulled 1,000 and 500-rupee notes out of circulation in 2016, Indians turned their “black money” into gold.

Tax officials attempting to track black money say gold jewelry sales spiked the night of Nov. 8, 2016, after the government announced the demonetization policy.

“Jewelers offered a platform to convert unreported cash into gold,” one official said.

To avoid reporting the transactions, sellers simply split single transactions into multiple sales in order to keep them below the Rs 2 lakh threshold that triggers reporting requirements in India.

After the RBI announced the elimination of 2,000-rupee notes earlier this month, local newspapers reported a similar rush to jewelry shops to exchange the notes for gold. The Hindustan Times reported a 10 to 20% increase in gold sales after the announcement.

People scrambled to buy gold and silver in bulk in bullion markets, leading to increase in prices, dealers in several states said.”

Gold was also a lifeline for Indians pummeled by the economic storm caused by the government response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Indians understand that gold tends to store value and that in the end gold is money. If they have gold, they know they will be able to get the goods and services they need – even in the event of an economic meltdown or a cash crunch.

Gold is not just a luxury in India. Even poor people buy gold in the Asian nation. According to an ICE 360 survey in 2018, one in every two households in India purchased gold within the last five years. Overall, 87% of households in the country own some amount of the yellow metal. Even households at the lowest income levels in India own some gold. According to the survey, more than 75% of families in the bottom 10% had managed to buy gold.

It’s no surprise that when faced with the possibility of another disruption to the cash system, Indians have turned to gold.

This Memorial Day weekend in Chicago was the deadliest the Democrat-run and crime-plagued city has seen in eight years, the Chicago Sun-Times has reported Tuesday.

One killing even happened close to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s own residence. Going back to Friday evening, “at least 11 people had been killed and another 46 wounded since early Friday evening” resulting in a death toll that was the “highest since 2015, when 12 people were killed,” according to the report. This marks 57 total casualties across the city from either shootings or knifings.

The newspaper records that the prior high came in 2016: “The total number shot, however, was still far below the 71 people wounded by gunfire over the 2016 holiday weekend,” it notes.

Last year’s Memorial Day weekend had marked a 5-year high. For the 2022 holiday weekend, 51 people total had ben reported shot, including 9 killed.

The eight-year high in deaths occurred despite that ahead of the weekend community activists had planned peace marches. The idea was that yellow-vested ‘peacekeepers’ would fan out and have a prominent presence in “hot spots” where violence is frequent in the south and west sides of the city. The marches and activism appeared to have little effect.

The initial Friday homicides reportedly happened within a few hours of each other, and included shootings and stabbings.

As for violent incidents which happened near the mayor’s home, the Sun-Times details: 

The homicide near the mayor’s Austin neighborhood home was discovered just after midnight Saturday in the 5700 block of West Chicago Avenue. A female, whose age was unknown, was stabbed to death and left in a nearby alley. And Monday evening, a shooting was reported about five blocks from the mayor’s home. A man, 36, was shot near the street around 7 p.m. in the 700 block of North Pine Avenue. He was hospitalized in good condition.

As for the peacekeeping initiative, it is actually part of a formal initiative which has state funding, and has included 500 people having been hired and undergone training in conflict de-escalation. Last week into the weekend they had a presence in 102 “hot spots” in 14 Chicago communities.

Never fear.

Once peacekeepers are deployed throughout the City of Chicago, hey presto, crime will vanish.

Video: @ChicagoCritter. pic.twitter.com/eFVP8No1vv

— Chicago Contrarian (@ChicagoContrar1) May 29, 2023

However, judging by the tragic weekend statistics – which not only matched but surpassed similar deadly weekends – there appears to have been a somewhat fruitless exercise in optics, at least for the warm holiday weekend. But other metrics suggest and the program leaders themselves say that in some locales the program has been effective.

Below: Total Chicago Homicides per year, via heyjackass.com

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in the New York Post on newly discovered exchanges within the Biden family over the collapsing fortunes of Hunter Biden in 2018.

As one of the primary conduits for influence peddling in the Biden family, Hunter appeared to be in a free fall and his Uncle Jim appeared to offer him a “safe harbor” and to guarantee “all the deals are still alive.”

Here is the column:

In 2018, Hunter Biden’s world was collapsing.

The New York Times had run a story on one of his shady deals with the Chinese and his father, then vice president, was pulled into the vortex.

It appears that Hunter was in a free fall and his uncle Jim Biden reached out in newly discovered messages to offer him a “safe harbor.”

The exchange is an insight into a train wreck of a life of the scion of one of the most powerful families in the country.

However, it is also insight into a world of influence peddling where millions simply evaporated in the coffers of the Biden family.

On their face, the messages seem to contradict public statements from President Biden on the foreign-influence peddling that used to fund Hunter’s drug-infused, self-destructive lifestyle.

The Times story caused a panic in the Biden family.

Despite a largely supportive media, the Bidens have long been known for influence peddling.

Jim Biden has been repeatedly criticized for marketing his access to his brother in pitches to clients.

Hunter knew that the Times story was only the tip of an iceberg.

There were deals all over the world with foreign figures worth millions and some of these figures had close ties to foreign intelligence or regimes.

As revealed recently by the House Oversight Committee, the Bidens constructed a labyrinth of corporations and accounts to transfer millions from these deals to a variety of Biden family members, including grandchildren.

Free fall

Nevertheless, Joe Biden repeatedly claimed as a presidential candidate and as president that he had no knowledge of any foreign dealings of his son.

Those denials now appear patently false.

The laptop includes pictures and appointments of Hunter’s foreign business associates with Joe Biden.

It also includes a recording concerning a Times report on Dec. 12, 2018, detailing Hunter’s dealings with Ye Jianming, the head of CEFC China Energy Company.

Ye would later be arrested for corruption.

As Biden associates pushed the Times to change aspects of the story, Joe Biden called to report on the results.

In his message, Biden ends his call to Hunter with the statement “I think you’re clear. And anyway if you get a chance, give me a call, I love you.”

The new messages indicate that the Bidens were worried that Hunter was in a free fall as these dealings were becoming known and revenue was declining.

Jim Biden appears to be rushing to get Hunter to work the problem with the family.

He assures him that they can find him “a safe harbor” and that “I can work with you[r] father alone!”

The messages may refer to the fact that Hunter’s past complaint that he was giving as much as half of his proceeds to his father and was now facing towering financial demands.

He appears to have cut off the family.

That is a dangerous development for a man who had a long struggle with drugs and alcohol.

Hunter blew through a fortune on narcotics and women, including allegations that he may have used a shared credit card with his father to pay off prostitutes.

Both Joe and Jim Biden were reaching out to Hunter to assure him that he was in the “clear” and that there is a “safe harbor.”

However, Jim pushed him to remain in contact and in the fold: “I cannot find you, believe it or not I have been looking. I [have] driven by Hallie’s, you fathers. Called texted you. . . . I want to help all the deals are still alive.”

Putting aside the genuine desire to protect a family member with a history of drug abuse, the unpredictable Hunter also represented a threat to the entire family.

A panicked Hunter threatened more than family harmony. There were millions that were being generated in countries like Ukraine, Romania, Russia and China.

The messages show that the Hunter was spinning out of control and needed money fast — a lot of money. He told Jim Biden that he could not even afford “food and gas,” including his monthly alimony to his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle.

He relays how President Biden was told that he “was in a real danger zone.”

Classic corruption

These messages highlight another inconvenient fact: Hunter was hardly a figure who generated confidence or cash.

In 2018, he was an utter mess at the very time that foreign figures were funneling money to him.

He was clearly noncommunicative with his family and still gushing money.

He had previously complained that the Russians had blackmail material on him. He was a danger not just to himself.

In his later book, Hunter admits that he was a crack addict and alcoholic: “drinking a quart of vodka a day by yourself in a room is absolutely, completely debilitating” as well as “smoking crack around the clock.”

Given these admissions, why were so many foreign figures rushing to give this human wrecking ball millions?

He not only lacked expertise in areas like energy or mining, but he was barely able to function, according to his own account.

The answer seems abundantly clear.

This was classic corruption. Indeed, influence peddling has long been the favorite form of corruption in Washington.

Yet, these latest messages add a particularly sad element to this scandal.

Joe and Jim Biden were propping up a man who was barely able to function.

However, Hunter was still the conduit for allegedly millions in foreign money.

He was the firebreak between the money and any scandal.This was made evident in a recent and rare sit-down interview; MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle delicately broached the scandals involving Hunter by emphasizing that it is a “personal” matter and assuring the president (and the viewers) that the still unknown charges involve “no ties to you.”

Hunter increasingly looks like the designated defendant of the Bidens; the sin-eater who may have to take one for the team in the form of a couple tax charges.

Yet, even now, to use Jim Biden’s words, “This can work.”

Hunter’s new “safe harbor” may be a limited indictment that conspicuously avoided charges as an unregistered agent.

Likewise, Attorney General Merrick Garland has seen to that by steadfastly refusing to appoint a special counsel despite references to the president getting a proposed cut of these deals and instructions to use code names for him like the “Big Guy” to conceal his role.

Most recently, an IRS whistleblower came forward to accuse the Justice Department of interfering with the tax investigation of Hunter by “slow walking” the investigation and making a series of decisions that worked to his advantage.

As made clear by Jim Biden, there is always a plan in the Biden family. Back in 2018, he assured his nephew that “as usual just need several months of [your father’s] help for this to work. Let’s talk about it. It makes perfect sense to me.” In the meantime, the message from Uncle Jim likely remains “stay calm and carry on.”

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Boston University recently made a new announcement that has rekindled concerns over the rising orthodoxy in our institutions of higher education. The University issued new guidelines for its mandatory writing program that will require all students to write papers with a “social justice emphasis” as a condition for graduation. The key faculty organizers celebrated the new policy and the hiring of non-white instructors as guaranteeing social justice results by making students a “captive audience” with no choice in the matter.

Student will now have to choose among such choices as “Linguistic Justice…Who Cares?: Domestic Labor and the Commodification of Care,” “Asians Are People of Color: Exploring the Controversy and Identity Politics,” “Deconstructing Narratives: Stories of Race and Racism in American Cultural Memory” and “Writing Environmental Justice.”

Gwen Kordonowy, the Writing Program’s associate director, said that the problem in the past was that students had a choice and some did not want to be forced into writing for social justice issues. Instructors and classes could be avoided. Now, they have solved the problem by removing all choice.

She heralded the hiring of non-white faculty to teach the social justice courses, using the first-year requirement to “reach every student at BU.”

With that, she explained, “we have a captive audience. We never worry about enrollment.”

Writing Program Director Sarah Hardy said that the “cluster hiring” of minority faculty and the mandatory course requirements are meant to finally end the “predominance of white faculty in academia” by limiting the choices of students.

The BU announcement includes a statement from instructor Swati Rani that she will be teaching students to apply the “language around anti-racism”  and emphasized that “all of my students are required to develop a voice of advocacy in their final papers and projects that are directly connected to their intersectional lives at BU.”

There is every reason to celebrate classes that add different perspectives and subjects to the curriculum. It is the mandatory element that is troubling if students will be required to write in favor of approved social justice causes.

What happens to students in this “captive audience” who do not support social justice causes? These are subjects that touch on deep religious, social, and political values in our society.

While many of us have objected to the orthodoxy and viewpoint intolerance on our campuses, there remains some element of choice at most schools that allows students to avoid such classes. The BU program raises the question of whether political orthodoxy among faculty becomes political indoctrination through mandatory graduation requirements.

It is certainly true that students are a captive audience in the sense of having to meet basic requirements for graduation. However, most universities have guaranteed a degree of intellectual and curricular diversity among their course offerings. Indeed, some like University of Chicago focused on the “core curriculum” to lay a uniform foundation in classic subject matters while allowing students to tailor their courses to their interests after the first-year.  The thrust was to teach analytical and writing skills separate from political or cultural viewpoints. BU seems to be erasing the distinction between skills and viewpoint development.

Rani explains that in her course “we call out performative wokeness culture by asking ourselves what solutions we have to problems of injustice.” What if a student does not believe that there is “linguistic injustice” or rejects the cited “problems of injustice” in these courses? What if they reject not just “performative” but any form of wokeness?

Once again, some of these courses seem very interesting and I expect would be a draw for many students. However, by making these courses mandatory, BU could be making viewpoint compliance a condition for graduation.

For some of us, it was the reference to students as captives to these courses that was the most jarring.

The university has an obligation, in my view, to assure students and faculty that students are not reduced to mere captives to a type of viewpoint indoctrination. That can be achieved by guaranteeing the students are not being graded on their ability to mouth the social justice priorities of instructors.

A shocking video out of California, where Democrats have failed to enforce law and order, shows a rogue pack of teenagers assaulting at least two Marines. 

Hunter Antonino, one of the victims who self-identified as a Marine, told local media KCAL-TV that he and two other Marines asked a large group of “belligerent” teenagers to stop lighting off fireworks at San Clemente Pier Bowl area on Friday evening because debris hit him in the face. He said the teens also annoyed other beachgoers. 

Antonino said he politely asked the teens to leave, and that’s when the wild pack attacked him and his buddies. The shocking video shows at least two Marines in the fetal position on the ground while they were kicked and stomped. 

2 Marines jumped by 50 “high schoolers” in San Clemente in California.
Article https://t.co/1dnyUJNVDx pic.twitter.com/BsXfgxzHBA

— MRS WILKES PATTERN RECOGNITION LAB (@ItsMrsWilkes) May 29, 2023

“This is considered an assault with a deadly weapon because of the amount of suspects we are investigating,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Frank Gonzalez. 

Sgt. Mike Woodroof, an OCSD public information officer, said the Marines were treated for numerous injuries at the scene but refused to be hospitalized for additional treatment. 

“The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will continue investigating this matter until all individuals responsible are identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” OCSD said in a social media post.

San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan told KCAL, “Marines are always welcome here, always gonna be celebrated, always be taken care of. And that’s why this is so particularly tragic.” 

Instances of wild packs of teens wreaking havoc have been spotted in other liberal states this spring, where progressive lawmakers fail to enforce law and order. This has been seen in San Francisco, Chicago, and Baltimore. 

Out-of-control teenagers have been such a problem in Baltimore City that the mayor just enforced a curfew for kids. 

Americans who would like law and order restored need to vote out progressives in the next election cycle who have caused nothing but chaos across major metro areas with backfiring social justice reforms.