Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in the New York Post on the response of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to allegations that he was the original source for the Russian disinformation claim behind the Hunter Biden laptop. I wrote previously that Blinken is struggling to avoid the look of a “made man” who earned his bones in the Biden Administration.

Things are now likely to get worse after a U.S. senator added an alleged false statements charge to Blinken’s controversies.

Here is the column:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is claiming the political version of the immaculate conception.

In a Fox interview, Blinken suggests that he is free of blame in the creation of the 2020 letter from former intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story was likely Russian disinformation.

Despite the primary organizer of the letter naming him as the Biden campaign adviser who first raised the claim, Blinken insists that he remains without sin.

All of the letter signatories are taking the same position.

No one is at fault in one of the most calculated false stories ever planted in the midst of an election cycle.

That would be hard enough to believe, but it’s not even the only lie Blinken is accused of telling in relation to Hunter Biden.

Blinken is also facing questions over allegedly false statements made to Congress related to Hunter Biden.

He claims he never emailed Hunter, when messages on the president’s son’s laptop show he did.

Let’s start with the letter.

With an enabling media, Joe Biden was able to use it to dismiss the evidence of possible influence peddling and criminal conduct on the laptop.

During the presidential debate, an irate Biden cited the letter as proving that the laptop story was “garbage” and part of a “Russian plan.” He added that “nobody believes” that the laptop was real.

Media and social media companies then buried the story, including some like Twitter banning its discussion before the election.

In the close election, the false story worked to negate a damaging scandal of corruption involving millions of dollars from foreign sources, including some involving figures associated with foreign intelligence.

After the Republican takeover of the House, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell was called before Congress to give a statement.

When pressed on how this letter came about, Morell reportedly did not hesitate: Blinken.

He said Blinken was “the impetus” of the false claim.

Morell then organized dozens of ex-national security officials to sign the letter claiming that the Hunter laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

On Monday, Blinken told Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall that “with regard to that letter, I didn’t — it wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it. And I think the testimony that the former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morell, put forward confirms that.”

Morell called him the “impetus” for the letter. So perhaps Blinken is trying to dance on the semantic pinhead of being the “impetus” as opposed to the “solicitor”  of the claim. Morell did not appear to have any doubts or hesitation after speaking with Blinken and quickly assembled an array of experts to make the false claim. Morell admitted to Congress that one of his goals was “to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election.”

So it turns out no one is at fault. Not the “impetus,” not the organizer, not the signatories, not the media. Indeed, maybe it is the public for being chumps in buying this scam.

Blinken is facing a more serious question raised by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who declared that Blinken told “boldface” lies when he testified under oath to Congress in 2020 on the controversy. Johnson said that Blinken said he never emailed Hunter Biden.

Yet emails between the president’s son and Blinken were recently disclosed. They suggested that the two were in communication in 2015 while Blinken was working in the Obama administration and Hunter was on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.

Johnson stated on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that “we know that he lied boldface to Congress about never emailing Hunter Biden. My guess is he told a bunch of other lies.”

There are also emails that suggest that Hunter communicated through Blinken’s wife, Evan Ryan, who now serves as Biden’s cabinet secretary.

We still need more details on the underlying facts, but, if true, the allegations could constitute both criminal and impeachable offenses. Blinken reportedly made these statements as part of the process leading to his confirmation. If he lied, it could constitute making a “materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” to Congress under 18 US 1001.

If Blinken lied or committed perjury, it could also constitute an impeachable offense. One complicating issue is that this did not technically occur while in office but in pursuit of that office. Moreover, there may be other statements since becoming secretary of state.

Of course, during the Clinton impeachment, the question of whether perjury constitutes an impeachable offense was raised. When I testified at the impeachment hearing, I maintained that it clearly does meet the standard of a “high crime and misdemeanor.” In my view, it did not matter the subject matter.

Others, like Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, were equally certain that perjury did not meet that standard in the Clinton case.

The fact is that cabinet and high-ranking officers have often been accused of false statements without facing impeachment or even prosecution.

Ironically, the letter includes one notable example.

Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper during the Obama administration was accused of perjury before the Senate but was not sanctioned by the Democrat-controlled Senate or the Obama Justice Department.

He later signed the Hunter Biden letter.

That history may be reassuring for Blinken.

However, whatever the outcome, Blinken has some explaining to do and one thing is clear: There is nothing immaculate about the Hunter Biden scandal.

As China beefs up its military to focus on “preparations for war” (per the US State Department-funded Radio Free Asia), Beijing is also ramping up restrictions on corporate information provided to overseas clients, as well as exit bans on corporate executives who simply want to leave the country.

In recent months, Chinese financial data providers have stopped providing detailed information on the nation’s companies to outsiders, Bloomberg reports.

Wind Information Co. in recent months ended allowing clients using its platform outside mainland China from accessing its corporate registry database, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The change is due to regulatory requirements, and other parts of their service are continuing as normal, they said, declining to be identified because the matter is sensitive.

Investors operating in China are facing a more challenging environment despite Beijing’s push to improve ties globally. US consultancy firms are under the spotlight in particular, with authorities in recent weeks targeting the China offices of Bain & Company, Mintz Group and Capvision, according to media reports. The government last month passed a new counter-espionage law that expanded the list of activities that could be considered spying, intensifying the risks for foreign firms. -Bloomberg

According to George Magnus, the move “underscores” the CCP’s construction of a new wall to the rest of the world.

“In decades of private sector and academic research, I’ve stumbled into occasional publishing problems with sensitive governments, but never come across sensitive governments shutting down or restricting access to domestic data sources,” he said.

Wind Information Co. collects data on over 200 million enterprises as well as 270 million legal representatives and executives, according to its website. The information includes shareholder and affiliate data, as well as fundraising and investing activities, legal disputes and operation risks.

Meanwhile, Beijing is also implementing exit bans – barring people from leaving the country, including foreign executives, Reuters reports.

Scores of Chinese and foreigners have been ensnared by exit bans, according to a new report by the rights group Safeguard Defenders, while a Reuters analysis has found an apparent surge of court cases involving such bans in recent years, and foreign business lobbies are voicing concern about the trend.

“Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal justification,” according to a report from Safeguard Defenders.

“Between 2018 and July of this year, no less than five new or amended (Chinese) laws provide for the use of exit bans, for a total today of 15 laws,” said the group’s campaign director, Laura Harth.

According to the group, which cites a 2022 academic paper which found 128 cases between 1995 and 2019, “tens of thousands” of Chinese are being banned from exit at any given time – a huge escalation assuming this is accurate. Reuters, having analyzed records on exit bans, reports an eight-fold increase in cases between 2016 and 2022.

One such person prevented from leaving China earlier this year is Singaporean executive at the US due-diligence firm Mintz Group, which said in late March that authorities had raided the firm’s China office and detained five local staff under suspicion of engaging in unlawful business operations. CCP police also visited Bain & Co’s Shanghai office and questioned the staff.

“Because of rising tensions between the U.S. and China, the salience of this (exit ban) risk has risen,” said Lester Ross, a veteran lawyer in China who has handled exit ban cases.

“I’ve seen a rise in companies and entities being concerned about this and asking for our advice on how to prepare and reduce risks” of exit bans, Ross said.

Authored by Katie Hutton via TheMindUnleashed.com,

When you’re working on the production line at a factory and trying to fulfill ever-changing deadlines, being a busy robot might make life challenging.

It is even more gruesome when you consider that the robot in question was designed to last for the longest amount of time possible.

Meet Digit. The motorized moving mess of bolts and wires known as Digit was the subject of the evaluation. And to be honest, throughout the twenty hours that it was working hard, Digit put in quite the effort and exhibited all of its nifty tricks and circuitry sorcery to all who were there.

Those unfortunate enough to have witnessed the tail end of Digit’s demos definitely had at least one or two eyebrows raised.

With a 99% success rate over about 20 hours of live demos, Digit still took a couple of falls at ProMat.

We have no proof, but we think our sales team orchestrated it so they could talk about Digits quick-change limbs and durability. #ConspiracyTheories pic.twitter.com/aqC5rhvBTj

— Agility Robotics (@agilityrobotics) April 6, 2023

AFTER ALL, DIGIT DID EXPERIENCE SOME DEGREE OF FAILURE. AS IN, HE WAS OUT OF THE RUNNING FOR THE TIME BEING AFTER ITS COLLAPSE. THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COMPANY, ON THE OTHER HAND, BRAGGED OF A PHENOMENAL SUCCESS RATE OF 99.99 PERCENT FOR JOBS COMPLETED BY WAREHOUSE BOTS.

“We started with scientific breakthroughs and layered on top of that world-class engineering,” they said in a press release.

“We approach everything with a focus on function. Our robots were designed from day one to do work and get the job done,” they add.

In April, Agility Robotics posted the video, announcing that the hard-working bot has successfully completed over nearly 20 hours of live demonstrations despite suffering a few “scrapes and bruises” while doing its responsibilities.

Liz Clinkenbeard, vice president of communications at Agility Robotics, disclosed to the Associated Press that the company wants to show how a cool robot like Digit can pick itself up and move on when things are going badly for it.

“We wanted to show that Digit did fall a couple times, that it’s a normal part of any new technology, and it’s not a big deal,” she said. When Digit drops, it is often because of a fault in the program or with the sensor.

Is this stability testing or an excuse to take Digit out on a nice spring day? Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference. ☀️ pic.twitter.com/yFk6NSgsBb

— Agility Robotics (@agilityrobotics) April 28, 2023

“SOMETIMES IT MAY NEED A REPAIR; RARELY SOMETHING THAT TAKES MORE THAN 15-20 MINUTES,” SHE ADDED. “WE DO WANT TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT NOT OVER-HUMANIZING A MACHINE OR ASCRIBING INTENT.
WHILE DIGIT LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE A PERSON, IN REALITY IT IS A COMPUTER THAT CAN DO PHYSICAL WORK, AND IT’S FOLLOWING A PROGRAM.”

Since then, the footage of Digit falling over has been posted across many social media platforms. The footage has resulted in some quite obscene jokes being made concerning the well-being of the robot.

Some of the comments made on social media about Digit hinted that the hard-working AI may have offed itself because of the menial tasks it was forced to perform for little pay.

In the event of a societal collapse or a banking crisis escalating into a financial meltdown akin to 2008, some billionaires own vast amounts of farmland around the world, which serves not only as a hedge but also provides spacious retreats for them to take refuge. 

Despite a US housing market that has frozen for average folks after a record-breaking run in mortgage rates and home prices still at elevated levels, triggering the worst affordability in a generation, billionaires are still making moves. 

The latest is billionaire industrialist Steven Rales, who recently purchased “Diamond G Ranch,” a property that spans 5,000 acres and is located 90 minutes east of Jackson Hole, for a whopping $71 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing property records. 

The property has everything one needs to escape the apocalypse. And or, if that doesn’t happen, have valuable land that will only appreciate. 

“It has an estimated 5 miles of the Dunoir River on private land with immediate access to 2.5 more miles on public land that is rarely accessed by the public. The Dunoir is a world-class trout fishery with trout in the 20 plus inch category. Wildlife – Bear, elk, moose, antelope, mountain lion, coyote, wolverine, multiple bird species, and both bighorn sheep and mountain goats are often seen in the adjacent national forest. It is one of the richest, wildest places for wildlife we have ever seen,” said real estate firm Hall and Hall, who brokered the deal late last year. 

In recent years, the list of billionaires, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffet, purchasing farmland has been increasing. And we’ve shown readers that farmland is an excellent hedge in economic downcycles: “US Farmland Bucks Real Estate Downturn.”

Authored by Michael Shellenberger and Alex Gutentag via ‘Public’ substack,

Media blackout as politicians in EU, US, UK, Brazil, Ireland, Canada, and Australia seek to jail citizens for wrongthink under the cover of a Big Lie about “hate speech”…

The Twitter Files gave us a window into how government agencies, civil society, and tech companies work together to censor social media users. Now, key nations are attempting to enshrine this coordination into law explicitly.

Around the world, politicians have either just passed or are on the cusp of passing sweeping new laws, which would allow governments to censor ordinary citizens on social media and other Internet platforms.

Under the guise of preventing “harm” and holding large tech companies accountable, several countries are establishing a vast and interlinked censorship apparatus, a new investigation by Public finds.

Politicians, NGOs, and their enablers in the news media claim that their goal is merely to protect the public from “disinformation.” But vague definitions and loopholes in new laws will create avenues for broad application, overreach, and abuse.

In Ireland, for example, the government may soon be able to imprison citizens simply for possessing material that officials decide is “hateful.” Under the RESTRICT Act in the US, the government may soon have the authority to monitor the Internet activity of any American deemed a security risk.

Governments aim for total control. In Canada, a state agency can filter and manipulate what Canadians see online. In Australia, a single government official can compel social media companies to remove posts.

Governments and allied NGOs intend to force tech companies to comply with their rules. UK lawmakers have threatened to imprison social media managers who don’t censor enough content. And Brazil has introduced severe penalties for platforms that fail to remove “fake news.”

The key area of action is the European Union. It is seeking sweeping new powers to regulate social media companies. And if it acts, it may change how social media companies operate worldwide, given the EU’s economic power and influence globally.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, large tech companies must share their data with “vetted researchers” from non-profits and academia, which would cede content moderation to NGOs and their state sponsors.

The US’s RESTRICT Act, sponsored by Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), threatens 20 years in prison or a $250,000 fine for accessing blacklisted websites through “virtual private networks,” or VPNs, which are ways to create a private connection between a computer or phone and the Internet.

There has been no moment similar to this one in the roughly 30 years of widespread public Internet usage in Western societies.

Officials have introduced these policies mostly in the dead of night with little publicity or outcry. There has been a virtual blackout of what’s happening by mainstream news media corporations, with many appearing to support the new laws.

As shown with the Twitter Files, the Censorship Industrial Complex is as much about discrediting accurate facts, true narratives, and content creators who threaten its power while boosting the ones that do.

We are thus witnessing the emergence of a governmental apparatus with the power to control the information environment in ways that determine what people believe to be true and what is false.

As such, it is no exaggeration to say that the West is on the cusp of a new and much more powerful form of totalitarianism than either Communism or Fascism, which were limited in their reach by geography.

If we are to defeat it, we must understand it.

Why are governments seeking to crack down on freedom of speech from New Zealand to the Netherlands and Brazil to Canada? Why now? And why are they getting away with it?

Inside The Plot To Censor The Planet

RESTRICT Act sponsor Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) (center) with United Kingdom MP Damian Collins (L) and Ukrainian MP Hanna Hopko (R) at a press conference by government-funded censorship advocacy NGO called “The Atlantic Council” on July 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

The timing of the global crackdown on free speech does not appear to be coincidental.

What’s happening now appears to represent the re-grouping of censorship advocacy that occurred after that defeat. With some notable exceptions, the demand for censorship is being driven by center-Left parties, with NGOs playing a subservient role.

…

Politicians are invoking a Woke defense of “preventing harm” that is very different from the older pretext for censorship, national security. The push is race-based, immigration-based (e.g., Ireland), trans-based (e.g., Ireland and Australia), and safety- or health-based (e.g., the EU).

…

Meanwhile, there is no evidence of an increase in the killing of trans people or even that trans people are killed at a rate higher than the average person. In truth, no minority group in history has gone from stigmatized to celebrated faster than trans people.

…

Why now?

The election of Biden, the failure of the Department of Homeland Security’s “Disinformation Governance Board,” and the release of the Twitter Files all appear to have forced censorship advocacy to move from the U.S. to other nations, particularly Europe, in order to censor Americans and the rest of the world through the back door.

…

We believe elites have overreached. If they felt secure in their censorship agenda, they wouldn’t be hiding and rushing it through legislatures worldwide or trying to sneak censorship on the U.S. through the European Union.

*  *  *

Public is building an international movement to defend freedom of speech. We can’t do it without you… Subscribers can read the full story here…

China rolled out a new recruitment policy this week, including an update to its military conscription law, which came into force Monday after being approved by the State Council and Central Military Commission.

The effort is aimed at creating a more high-tech and cyberwarfare capable army involving highly skilled personnel. The new guidelines explicitly say the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should “focus on preparations for war” and needs more soldiers utilizing high-tech weaponry.

The guidelines expand the military’s ability for short-notice enlistments in instances of highly qualified recruits, as well as prior service personnel, and even college students who have knowledge of space and cyberwar domains. 

According to some of the updated policy and rules: 

The amended rules require the recruitment of “high-quality soldiers” in a “lawful, precise and efficient manner.”

There is scope for wider mobilization of the population in the event of war, including the recruitment of women to active service if numbers require it, as well as previously demobilized soldiers, who may return to their old posts and rank “if they meet the requirements.”

“During wartime, the State Council and the Central Military Commission may adjust the requirements and methods used to enlist citizens to active service,” according to one of rules published in state news agency Xinhua.

This came the same week as an Axios report which reviews how each allied US country in the Pacific is nervously preparing for possible showdown over Taiwan.

“A war between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would be a nightmare scenario for America’s allies in the Pacific, but it’s becoming increasingly clear what roles they might play if one breaks out,” wrote Axios.

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Days after an embattled prosecutor vowed she would never resign from office, a judge ruled that removal proceedings against her would continue.

On May 2, Visiting Judge John Torbitzky ordered seven out of 10 claims against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to move forward. He denied her lawyers’ request to throw out all of the accusations.

Torbitzky has been presiding over the case that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey brought against Gardner, a Democrat.

Gardner has accused Republican Bailey of playing politics.

Bailey filed a petition alleging that Gardner shirked her responsibilities and should forfeit her elected office. Her lawyers say Gardner committed no intentional acts that would warrant her removal.

Torbitzky said he made “reasonable inferences” that Gardner willfully failed to  “prosecute cases, make charging decisions, keep victims informed, and ensure defendants and victims receive a speedy trial,” as Bailey alleges.

The judge dismissed three allegations that didn’t fit the type of conduct that could lead to an officeholder’s removal.

Gardner also faces other accusations. Last week, a separate judge found that her office’s no-shows at court proceedings warranted an allegation of “indirect criminal contempt.” A hearing in the contempt case is set for May 30.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that an assistant prosecutor involved in that case has resigned, as did a second assistant who avoided a contempt citation.

The recent departures are adding to judges’ concerns about Gardner’s office being understaffed, a court spokesman said.

‘Witch Hunt’ Alleged

During a public meeting at a local church on April 29, Gardner said her enemies “want to capture every word I’m saying, so they can use this as a soundbite for criminal contempt or a vehicle to try to take me out of office.”

“What you’re seeing is a witch hunt,” she said in the meeting recorded by  KSDK News and posted on YouTube.

Gardner declared emphatically: “I’m not leavin’. I’m not resigning. I’m not doing nothing. [sic] You will have to remove me.”

And, at one point, she said, “You can’t take me out, because I’m not afraid of none of this [sic].”

Gardner, seeking reelection in 2024, is among many progressive prosecutors who received backing from funds from billionaire George Soros. According to The Missouri Times, Gardner’s campaign benefited from Soros’s largesse. Several Soros-backed prosecutors have been accused of being soft on crime.

‘Change of Judge’

In the removal case, Torbitzky’s ruling followed an April 18 hearing where he heard arguments from both sides.

The state Supreme Court, which appointed Torbitzky, will need to select another judge to hear the case.  Torbitzky had no choice but to grant Gardner’s lawyers’ request that he be replaced.

A Missouri procedural rule allows “a change of judge” once in every civil case, no questions asked. When they filed a motion under that rule, Gardner’s lawyers gave no reasons for seeking a replacement judge.

Meanwhile, Bailey is accusing Gardner’s lawyers of stonewalling requests for records and stalling the proceedings.

Read more here…

And the Department of Defense wonders why multiple military branches are projected to miss their recruitment goals this year?  The Navy expects to fall short by over 6000 sailors in 2023, while the military struggles with a growing lack of interest, not to mention a lack of physically viable candidates.  So, they have embarked on a new strategy, giving their marketing the Bud Light treatment. 

That’s right, the Navy has recruited a squadron administrator and drag queen using the name “Harpy Daniels” to be their new “Digital Ambassador.”  The post is designed to inspire more civilians to join the Navy.

The U.S. Navy hired this non-binary drag queen as a “digital ambassador” to try to recruit people pic.twitter.com/l3LIEtndVD

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 2, 2023

The attempted “woke-ification” of the US armed forces is a growing trend, with military brass defending the teaching of CRT (Critical Race Theory) among officers and numerous recruitment ads depicting far-left concepts.  Here is a training video from the Navy featuring two engineers from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center explaining the use of pronouns, gender neutral language and how to be a “good ally” to the LGBT community.

And who can forget this social justice advertising gem from the US Army:

For good measure, let’s not forget the woke and narcissistic messaging of recent CIA recruitment ads:

The Navy claims that DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives are not hurting recruitment, yet interest in military service continues to plummet in the face of the woke shift. 

The repellent nature of leftist branding efforts in the military should be obvious.  In the past, the majority of those volunteering for military service have always been politically conservative or independent, with only 29% of current serving identifying as Democrats.  Leftists have long been widely opposed to military participation in general, even though, ironically, the Democrats are now becoming the preeminent party of war when it comes to Russia and the Ukraine situation. 

They want America to go to war, they just don’t want to be forced to fight those wars themselves.  War is an ugly business replete with unfairness and inequity. Trying to appeal to progressives within Gen Z is not going to work out well for the DoD.

Another factor is the mindset of the average leftist – It is a philosophy that lends itself to weakness, entitlement and often mental illness, making training goals difficult or impossible.  Over 42% of Gen Z has been diagnosed with at least one mental health condition.  This is why many businesses are now more likely to reject applications from job seekers that use preferred pronouns in their resumes.  These people are far more trouble than they’re worth.

The only recourse for a woke military would be to dramatically lower training standards and turn the basic training into a day care, which is exactly what they have been doing incrementally over the past several years.  The question is if this is delusional or deliberate self sabotage.  Is the US military being deconstructed from within?  Or, are these people simply inept?    

Stick a fork in San Francisco: the city seems to be beyond repair.

After 35 years, Nordstrom is closing its downtown San Francisco stores, citing “the deteriorating situation” in the city plagued by crime and governed by mindless progressives. 

According to ABC7 News, the Nordstrom Rack on Market Street will close on July 1, and Nordstrom inside Westfield Mall will close in August. 

Jamie Nordstrom, Chief Stores Officer, sent a letter to impacted workers of both stores and explained that “the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.”

The impending exodus of Nordstrom comes as several other retailers, such as Office Depot, The Container Store, Anthropologie, Whole Foods, and Saks Off 5th, have all recently announced store closures. The reason for the closures is that cost of operation for retailers is soaring as progressive city officials won’t address out-of-control thefts and street crime. 

Since 2020, twenty retailers have closed their stores in San Francisco’s Union Square, as the San Francisco Standard reported. All have pointed to theft. In other areas, CVS and Walgreens have shuttered stores. 

As for the retailers who remain in the city, such as Target, they’ve had to lock entire aisles behind safety glass to prevent shoplifting. 

This is what Target in San Francisco looks like pic.twitter.com/7mVnnbO8cK

— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) April 21, 2023

The retail departures are yet another blow for the city as the tech downturn worsens, coupled with the regional banking crisis, which has spread into commercial real estate, mainly the office space segment. 

The gold-standard measure of office occupancy trends is the card-swipe data provided by Kastle Systems. The average office occupancy in San Fran is around 45%, still well off the highs from pre-pandemic levels.

This means that workers have been slow to return to the office, which is evident as Salesforce, Meta Platforms, and other tech companies are hemorrhaging office space, hurting the local economy. 

Other stores in the crime-ridden city may also be leaving soon due to approaching lease end dates. 

*   *   * 

Jamie Nordstrom, Chief Stores Officer, sent the following message to employees:

“Today we announced that we’ve made the difficult decision not to renew our leases at the San Francisco Centre Nordstrom store and our Market Street Rack store across the street. Market Street Rack’s last day of business will be July 1 and we intend to close San Francisco Centre at the end of August.

Decisions like this are never easy, and this one has been especially difficult. We’ve spent more than 35 years serving customers in downtown San Francisco, building relationships with them and investing in the local community. But as many of you know, the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully. With both leases set to expire, and after looking closely at our opportunities in the region, we believe we can better serve our customers there by focusing on our 16 nearby Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack locations, as well as online.

I want to be really clear that this decision had nothing to do with our team’s hard work. They should be proud of everything they’ve achieved together and the way they’ve shown up and served the community. We’re working with each impacted employee to support them through this transition and find new roles within the company wherever possible.

Stores continue to play a critical part in delivering our Closer to You strategy, and we continue to be opportunistic about new store locations, relocations and concepts. In fact, we have 20 new Rack store openings planned this year, with more to come in 2024. We also remain committed to the Bay Area market and have made significant investments in our stores there over the past several years. We recently announced a new Nordstrom Rack store will open in Pinole, CA, and completed a remodel at our Valley Fair Nordstrom store.”

Read the full statement from Westfield Mall below:

“The planned closure of Nordstrom underscores the deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco. A growing number of retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area.

URW has actively engaged with City leaders for many years to express our serious concerns, which are shared by our customers and retailers. We have urged the City to find solutions to the key issues and lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity.

The current environment is not sustainable for the community, or businesses, and we are hopeful the City will implement the changes that are so urgently needed.”

Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness,

Anew watchdog report reveals that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been stockpiling $10 million worth of weapons, ammunition, and combat gear since 2020.

The New York Post reports that the findings, released by the group OpenTheBooks, show the IRS spending $5 million in 2021 alone as the agency ramped up the militarization of its agents. In the last three years, the IRS has spent a total of $2.3 million on ammunition, $1.2 million on ballistic shields, $474,000 on Smith & Wesson rifles, $463,000 on Beretta tactical shotguns, and $243,000 on body armor.

In addition to these purchases, the IRS’ expenditures include an additional $1.3 million that was spent on “various other gear for criminal investigation agents,” without any specifics as to what this “other gear” may entail.

The slew of new purchases build off of an arsenal that was already well-stocked prior to 2020, with the IRS already having in its possession roughly 5 million rounds of ammunition designated for its 2,159 special agents. Before 2020, the IRS owned 4,500 firearms, which included 621 shotguns, 539 semi-automatic rifles, and 15 submachine guns.

In conjunction with the spike in weapons purchases, the IRS has been hiring significantly more agents in all 50 states. In the job listing for new applicants, the agency notes that any potential applicants must be willing to “carry a firearm; must be prepared to protect him/herself or others from physical attacks at any time and without warning and use firearms in life-threatening situations; must be willing to use force up to and including the use of deadly force.”

The weapon stockpiling and additional hiring comes after the IRS was given over $80 billion in new funding as a result of the highly-partisan Inflation Reduction Act, which was worth $739 billion overall.

The agency has since claimed that the $80 billion was necessary in order to hire nearly 87,000 new agents across the country over the next 10 years, which has raised concerns among Republicans about the weaponization of an agency that has already been used to target conservatives in the past.