Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Credit card provider Discover Financial Services will soon allow its network to track purchases made using payment cards at gun stores—triggering criticism that such activity leads to targeting gun owners.

In September, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) had launched a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for gun retailers. ISO is the organization responsible for classification of merchant categories used by payment cards. Discover told Reuters that it plans to implement the code beginning April. “We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders,” the company said.

Discover’s decision has attracted strong criticism online. “This is a MASSIVE problem Congress needs to address, IMMEDIATELY!” Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said in a March 3 tweet.

“Discover Card will begin tracking firearm purchases starting next month. There are more than 50 million Discover cards in use right now. They are coming for your guns little by little,” Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-Texas) said in a March 3 tweet.

“It’s called a Social Credit System. I have been warning ppl this is coming. This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said radio host Doll Arntzen.

Social Credit System is a national credit rating system used by Beijing that ranks and blacklists people in China based on criteria approved by the communist regime.

“American citizens should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of being tracked or discrimination against. We’re solving this in West Virginia with the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act. Congress needs to follow our lead,” said Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) in a tweet.

Intrusive Action

In a Feb. 27 post, the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) “lobbying” arm Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) pointed out that Discover’s statement to Reuters did not provide an explanation as to how the company will determine which purchases are suspicious enough to warrant reporting.

Discover also did not reveal whether customers will be provided with any information in case their purchases have triggered an alert.

“Use of the MCC can only inform a credit card company that a certain amount of money was spent at what is considered a firearm retailer. It cannot be used to track what was actually bought, much less determine why the purchase was made,” the post said.

“Thus, the program inherently poses a risk to consumers of needlessly intrusive and harassing consequences for completely lawful and innocent conduct.”

Tagging Gun Purchases, Legislation

A Discover company spokesperson told Reuters that other payment network firms have also decided to impose the new MCC code in April, without naming the firms. “We were following the industry for consistent implementation,” the spokesperson said.

Back in September, Mastercard, Visa, and American Express also announced that they will be assigning category codes for sales that take place at gun stores and on gun-related purchases from stores dealing in sporting goods.

Discover is a minor player in the U.S. credit and debit card industry, only accounting for 2 percent of the $9.56 trillion in purchases made through the payment methods last year. Visa had a 61 percent share, followed by Mastercard with 26 percent, and American Express with 11 percent.

Meanwhile, states are taking action to counter payment firms’ moves to track gun purchases. On Jan. 12, West Virginia introduced the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act which bars financial institutions from disclosing financial records “in a manner that singles out or discriminates against any person based on activity protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

The bill warned that the new MCC code for gun purchases will pave the way for “unprecedented surveillance” of individuals who abide by Second Amendment activity as well as “unprecedented information sharing” between the

In order to address the issue of shoplifting and retail theft, the final two Walmart stores in the city of Portland will shutter their doors in late March. 

FOX 12 Oregon reported that the Walmart locations at 1123 North Hayden Meadows Drive and 4200 Southeast 82nd Avenue at the Eastport Plaza would close on Mar. 24. 

“The decision to close these stores was made after a careful review of their overall performance. We consider many factors, including current and projected financial performance, location, population, customer needs, and the proximity of other nearby stores when making these difficult decisions. After we decide to move forward, our focus is on our associates and their transition, which is the case here,” a spokesperson with Walmart told the local media outlet.

All Portland Walmart stores to permanently close in late March

Story: https://t.co/eeYnnS751h pic.twitter.com/dTS1Y0pcfl

— FOX 12 Oregon (@fox12oregon) March 2, 2023

The announced closures come amid a wave of violent crime across the Portland metro area, which includes retail thefts, armed robberies, and homicides. The city has also seen a surge of violent protests from ANTIFA and BLM groups. 

Oregon Live reported that in 2022, Portland set a new record for homicides with 101 cases, surpassing the previous year’s record of 92. Meanwhile, a National Retail Federation report revealed that retailers experienced an average surge of 26.5% in organized retail crime (ORC) incidents in 2021 compared to the previous year.

Walmart has announced it will permanently close all its locations in Portland, Ore. Walmart has long been harshly criticized by the city’s left-wing politicians & residents, but this shutdown follows the consequences of the 2020 BLM-Antifa riots that normalized urban criminality.

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) March 3, 2023

Data from the Portland Police Bureau indicated that between January 2022 and January 2023, the city witnessed more than 6,000 burglary incidents. Additionally, the data revealed over 27,000 larceny offenses.

The epic failure of progressive city leadership pushing a failed ‘woke agenda’ has resulted in lawlessness in some parts of the metro area. Companies are losing money as thefts soar, and a breaking point has been reached. An exodus of businesses will only hurt low-income residents who need the pricing power at discount stores.

Recall a similar exodus with other retailers is happening in other progressive cities across the US, such as San Francisco.

Authored by Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Days after FBI Director Christopher Wray said the origin of the COVID pandemic is “most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” President Joe Biden abruptly walked away from the White House press corps when asked about whether he intends to hold China accountable.

On March 3, the president approached the waiting press corps on his way from the White House residence to Marine One.

As he came within earshot, a reporter asked him, “On COVID origin, will you hold China accountable?”

At the question, Biden “put both hands up in a shrug, seeming annoyed, and then turned and walked away toward Marine One,” according to a White House pool report.

BREAKING: President Biden @POTUS was going to speak but turned away upon hearing my question on #Covid origin and whether he’ll hold #China accountable. @NTDNews @ChinaInFocusNTD @capitolreport pic.twitter.com/jsbMTNPeYb

— Iris Tao (@IrisTaoTV) March 3, 2023

The president’s apparent reluctance to speak about the issue came after the recent revelation that the Department of Energy, which oversees 17 U.S. laboratories, believes as early as 2021 that COVID-19 most likely emerged from a lab leak.

The conclusion, reached with “low confidence,” was made in an updated classified intelligence report to the White House and key congressional members in 2021, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The FBI had previously arrived at the same conclusion earlier in 2021 with “moderate confidence.”

Wray confirmed in a Fox News appearance earlier this week that his agency still holds that view.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said.

Read more here…

For the latest evidence that woke academia is dragging Western society into madness, we present Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor Angel Jones, who argues that black university professors and staff should be allowed bereavement leave whenever any black person is victimized…anywhere.  

Writing at Times Higher Education, Jones accuses American colleges and universities of disregarding Black faculty and staff’s mental and emotional well-being in the aftermath of “societal events” involving a black person. Contrasting against the “bare minimum” response that’s offered to black students, Jones asks: 

“Where is the acknowledgment of our pain? Where are our counselling services? Where is our grace for missed meetings and deadlines while we mourn?“

Underscoring the broad range of qualifying events, Jones spotlights the example of Tyre Nichols, the black man savagely beaten to death in January by…five other black men with Memphis police badges.  

Jones, whose work is “grounded in Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Feminism,” ridicules the notion that, as a black woman, she would be “expected to return to ‘business as usual’ on Monday after seeing a member of my community murdered on Friday.” The SIU-E campus is more than 300 miles from Memphis, and Jones gives no indication of any personal relationship with Nichols. 

Returning to “business as usual” is a while privilege. Black people are in mourning after seeing ANOTHER member of our community brutally beaten and killed by the police. Expecting us to return to work/school unscathed is insensitive and unrealistic (1/9)

— Angel Jones, PhD (@AngelJonesPhD) January 30, 2023

In a fleeting moment of clarity, Jones recognizes that “some may have thought I was joking when I mentioned Black bereavement leave, but I wasn’t.“

As for how much of a free pass black faculty and staff should receive after a black person is victimized anywhere within range of the internet, Jones calls for “flexibility”: 

“Some may need a day off while others may just need to be able to work from home. Some may need a small extension on a deadline while others may need to have something removed from their plate completely.”

Jones university biography reads something like the profile pages of woke-parody Twitter accounts:

• Expertise: “racial microaggressions, Racial Battle Fatigue, and gendered-racism”

• Research focus: “The impact of racism on the mental health of Black students at historically White institutions”

• Recent study: “How Black graduate women respond to and cope with gendered-racial microaggression”

• Next study: “Exploring the experiences of Afro-Latina students with Racial Battle Fatigue”

• Pronouns: “she/her/ella”

Jones and critical race scholars like her all across Western academia foster black fragility and interracial tension…but, hey, it’s a living, and one that’s divorced from rational market forces.  

Black women are often underpaid and undervalued, so receiving a message like this really made my heart smile. It is a beautiful reminder that WE get to determine our worth, not anyone else. pic.twitter.com/GG33TlzoGi

— Angel Jones, PhD (@AngelJonesPhD) February 24, 2023

House Democrats are livid that President Biden is going to nix a Washington DC crime bill that would reduce the penalties for violent crimes such as carjackings and robberies.

The bill, which was unanimously passed by the District of Columbia City Council in January, was vetoed by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.

The Council then overrode Bowser by a 12-1 vote, but because DC isn’t a state, this type of legislation must instead be approved by Congress – and then signed by the President, before it can become law.

Last month the GOP-controlled House threw a wrench in the Democrats’ plans, voting 250-173 for a Republican-sponsored resolution to overturn the DC crime bill. All but 31 Democrats voted for it, meaning most Democrats wanted to reduce the penalties for violent crimes in DC.

Licking their wounds from this expected loss, House Democrats then expected the Biden administration to veto the resolution overturning the original crime bill – which Democratic leadership told lawmakers Biden would do. The White House even issued a Statement of Administration Policy which opposed the resolution and backed the DC City Council.

But on Thursday, Biden announced that he would sign the resolution to block the DC bill – thus maintaining the status quo when it comes to penalizing crime in DC.

And Democrats are livid…

“The White House fucked this up royally,” one House Democrat told The Hill via text message.

“So a lot of us who are allies voted no in order to support what the White House wanted. And now we are being hung out to dry, the lawmaker continued. “FUCKING AMATEUR HOUR. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER THIS.”

The House Democrat told The Hill that several other lawmakers were “EXTREMELY pissed” about the situation.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the No. 3 House Democrat, issued a rare rebuke of the White House during a Punchbowl News event at the caucus’s retreat in Baltimore, saying that Biden’s move was “disappointing.”

“It’s disappointing for me and anybody who believes in home rule, honestly. I’m a former mayor of a city of 70,000 and I wouldn’t want the federal government coming in and telling me what city ordinances to pass. … So I think it’s disappointing in that context,” Aguilar said.  

“I voted against it, but I understand and respect the president’s position here,” Aguilar, the former mayor of Redlands, Calif., continued. “We’ll see, the Senate has to pass that, and I know that they’ve said they have the votes but all of those things have to happen. But it’s disappointing for those of us who believe in home rule.” -The Hill

“Home Rule” refers to allowing DC to make its own laws.

I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule – but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings.

If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did – I’ll sign it.

— President Biden (@POTUS) March 2, 2023

One House Democrat aide texted that the Democratic caucus is “a little shocked” by the White House’s decision.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that “One thing that the president believes in is making sure that the streets in America and communities across the country are safe, that includes in D.C. That does not change,” adding “When it comes to what this proposal brings forth, which is really lowering penalties for car-jacking, he doesn’t believe that’s going to keep our communities safe.”

Jean-Pierre also pointed out that the DC crime reforms reduce maximum sentences “for offenses like murders and other homicides, armed-home invasion, burglaries, armed carjackings … armed robberies, unlawful gun and some sexual assault offenses.”

Authored by Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities

Sometime during this 117th U.S. Congress, the long-proposed “Fair Tax” will likely receive its first-ever floor vote in the House. A national sales tax, it would replace not only personal and corporate income taxes, but Social Security, Medicare, estate and gift taxes too.

Though every tax scheme has its pitfalls and moral failings, the net impact of a switch from the income tax to a sales tax could be positive for the citizenry and the economy. While entrenched interests and the opportunity for misleading political attacks on Fair Tax proponents make its adoption in the near-term a long shot, it’s a concept worth keeping on the country’s collective back burner.

Fair Tax Basics

HR25, the “Fair Tax Act of 2023,” advances a national sales tax “on the use or consumption in the United States of taxable property or services in lieu of the current income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate and gift taxes.” The Internal Revenue Service would be sent into history’s dustbin, while a much smaller federal tax bureaucracy would administer the sales tax.

The federal tax rate would be a whopping 30%. The bill and many FairTax advocates describe it a 23% “tax-inclusive” rate, which means they arrive at by expressing the tax as a percent of the total outlay — including the tax itself.

While there’s actually some financial logic to that methodology when comparing it to income taxes, Fair Tax proponents should abandon the practice. Everyday Americans are fully accustomed to state and local sales taxes being expressed as a percent of the purchase price, and will never grasp the arcane reasoning that leads to 23%. They should emphasize the fact that paychecks would have no more federal income tax or payroll tax deductions and make the case for the 30% rate.

Opponents are quick to decry sales taxes’ lack of progressiveness. Setting aside the question of whether it’s actually just for governments to confiscate a higher proportion of money from those who earn or spend more of it, the proposed Fair Tax does include a “prebate” — money sent to every household that effectively negates federal sales tax for spending up to the poverty level.

For 2023, it would be about $6,900 a year for a family of four. It should be noted that the least prosperous Americans currently receive money through the income tax system, via “refundable” credits. If Congress wants to replace that largesse, it will have to create new entitlements.

Ridding America of The Income Tax’s Worst Traits

A federal sales tax would addresses the worst evils of the income tax, which include:

Complexity. Even for the financially astute, the income tax code is mind-numbing. Congress and the IRS create a wickedly complex maze, and then — with threats of penalties and jail time — put the burden of navigating it on people and businesses.

Wasted time and money. Americans spent an estimated 6.5 billion hours and more than $200 billion to comply with IRS filing and reporting requirements in 2022. While tax preparation fees and effort are top-of-mind, the income tax is a weed that drains time, money and energy throughout our economy — from all the record-keeping required by financial institutions, to the legions of lawyers and financial advisors straining to find loopholes for corporate and individual clients.

Intrusiveness. The income tax requires individuals and businesses to disclose an enormous amount of information — and to be prepared to share much more if the IRS comes knocking. With a sales tax, the government doesn’t need to know about your choice of charities, your marital status, how many nights you slept in your vacation home, how much alimony you paid, which investments you sold and how much you paid for them.

A magnet drawing money into politics. A sales tax would certainly invite corporate lobbying and political contributions aimed at exempting certain goods and services from the tax, but the scale of that effort would be a fraction of what’s goes on vis-a-vis the income tax.

Tax-free criminals and illegal residents. Sales taxes reach those whose income is derived from illegal commerce or otherwise hidden from the government, from drug dealers and illegal immigrants to “under-the-counter” employees. Regardless of its origin, when money is spent, it’s taxed.

No tax system achieves 100% compliance and each one invites evasion, but it seems safe to say sales taxes outperform income taxes on those fronts.

Hiding the cost of federal government. That cost is obscured by the tax code’s complexity, and Americans’ obliviousness to the fact that businesses’ taxes and tax-compliance costs are largely passed on to them in the prices they pay. With a sales tax, the cost of government is printed on every receipt.

Seeking to collect about the same amount of total tax as the array of taxes it would replace, the Fair Tax would be set at 30%. For people used to state and local taxes of say, 4 to 8%, that’s a jarring figure — and that sticker shock is one of the best aspects of a national sales tax: forcing people to directly confront the cost of our enormous federal government and its sprawling military empire.

The rate would initially be set at 30%, but politicians would certainly run on promises to cut it. That, in turn, might make politicians more amenable to actually reducing the growth rate of the federal budget.

On the downside, politicians may seek to exempt certain classes of individuals from the sales tax.

Resetting Americans’ Understanding of Social Security, Medicare

The income tax isn’t the only problematic tax that the Fair Tax would abolish. For example, doing away with Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes would go a long way toward curing Americans of the false belief that Social Security taxes are “contributions” that fund individual “accounts.”

Rather, these programs that are hurtling toward insolvency would be seen for what they are: entitlement programs that redistribute money among Americans. Viewing them in their true light would help foster support for changes that will prevent their ballooning costs from turning into a higher sales tax rate at the register.

Tax-Code Profiteers Will Resist

Any effort to bring about major change must confront the tyranny of the status quo, as those who benefit from the current arrangement rise to preserve it.

Enactment of the Fair Tax would, overnight, render obsolete a great many American businesses and professions. Intuit — the maker of TurboTax — already has a history of lobbying against efforts to make federal income-tax filing simpler and free.

Income tax repeal doesn’t just threaten tax preparation outfits, accountants and tax lawyers. For just one example, consider that repeal of the income tax means no more investment taxes — rendering 401(k) custodians irrelevant too.

There’s a huge political headwind as well: An incumbent’s vote for the Fair Tax is a huge gift to any challenger. As has been already demonstrated, challengers will run alarming ads proclaiming the incumbent supported a new, 30% sales tax, conveniently neglecting to disclose that the tax would replace all the other federal taxes, allowing Americans to keep every penny of their employment and investment income.

Buyer Beware

Even among the most impassioned opponents of the income tax, you’ll find strong resistance to a national sales tax, over fear we’ll end up with the current array of taxes and a new federal sales tax too.

The Fair Tax Act would do away with the income, payroll, estate and gift taxes and the IRS, but with no guarantee against their return. It’s therefore essential that adoption of a federal sales tax be accompanied by simultaneous repeal of the 16th Amendment, which cursed the country with the federal income tax in 1913.

Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more, comment and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com

Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey: Invigoratingly unorthodox perspectives for intellectually honest readers 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has lashed out at recent controversial remarks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during her Friday speech before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

She addressed the Ukrainian leader by name, telling him to keep his “hands off of our sons and daughters” over the Russian invasion in Ukraine, after last month he had issued an appeal to the American public in which he chastised and berated those either unsupportive or on the fence about continuing massive defense aid.

Zelensky had uttered the words in a late February press conference when asked by a reporter about growing ‘Ukraine fatigue’ among the US public. He began his response by saying, “If they do not change their opinion…they will lose NATO, they will lose the clout of the United States, they will lose the leadership position they are enjoying in the world.”

He then quickly pivoted to saying that if Russia is not stopped in Ukraine, it will expand the invasion to other European nations. The Russian army will “enter the Baltic states, NATO member states,” Zelensky claimed, before saying, “then the US will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the way as we are sending their [sic] sons and daughters to war.”

Rep. Greene in her Friday speech blasted Zelensky’s claim in the following: 

Greene on Friday told the CPAC crowd that she was still “committed to saying no money to Ukraine, and that country needs to find peace, not war.”  

“And while I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelensky, you’d better leave your hands off of our sons and daughters because they’re not dying over there,” she continued. 

MTG:

“I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelensky you better leave your hands off our sons and daughters, because they’re not dying over there.” pic.twitter.com/RBBmnw5gBA

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 3, 2023

While MTG’s scathing criticism is predictably being greeted with outrage among staunch Kiev supporters, who will likely argue that the White House has ruled out sending American troops to fight in Ukraine, the ‘mission creep’ on display of the last many months has become obvious.

Among many examples, Pentagon ‘advisers’ and weapons trackers have been sent into Ukraine, and more recently tanks and longer-range rockets have been approved, with F-16 jets now entering the Washington debate. But a small group of GOP outliers in Congress – especially MTG and Matt Gaetz – have lately pushed to halt the unaccountable billions flowing into Kiev’s coffers, regardless of how unpopular that position remains in D.C.

At the #SOTU tomorrow, Joe Biden will tell us how much more we must do for Ukraine.

But why should we do more for a country that just rounded up dozens of its senior officials over overt corruption?

The answer is as simple as Hunter Biden’s life motto: a grifter’s gotta grift. pic.twitter.com/gYrZLUjGVN

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) February 6, 2023

Reps Greene and Gaetz’s stances are rare also given the vast majority of Congressional leaders treat Zelensky with rock star status, which was on display when he received long, enthusiastic standing ovations during his in-person speech before Congress last December. 

As for MTG’s words at CPAC, the crowd appeared to be on her side, given they loudly cheered her rebuke of Biden’s Ukraine policy, while also at one point booing Zelensky’s name.

Watch her full speech below…

Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

There is far more to the current multi-modal geopolitical war than just what’s happening in Ukraine. This conflict has led to a myriad of downstream effects and moves which are just as important as what the encirclement of Bakhmut means.

For years the wildcard in the BRICS Alliance has been India. India’s rivalry with China as well as its complicated relationships with both Russia and the West have always served as wedge issues to drive the alliance apart.

During the Trump years the “I” in BRICS, India, was slowly working its way under Prime Minister Narendra Modi back into the West’s orbit. It led to me thinking that that “I” had been replaced by Iran, especially pre-COVID-19.

Today with the ascendence of Lula to the presidency in Brazil, the BRICS have, for now, lost the “B” in their alliance. So, with all of the talk about the BRICS coming into their own as a global economic and political force the situation is far from settled because the West and Davos are simply not going to let this just happen without a fight.

The relationship between Russia and China is dominating the headlines with major US officials making significant threats to China, in particular, about supporting Russia. These threats are, of course, very real, coming from people like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

At the same time, they are also not overtures to real negotiations. Making demands that only promise the abeyance of the stick with no carrot is not an opening offer, it’s a closing offer. So, while Yellen travels to Kiev to pledge Zelenskyy unlimited support of US taxpayer funds while the “Biden” administration dithers over how to deal with the situation in E. Palastine, Ohio, tells us where the priorities of our leadership is.

Winning the geopolitical war must take precedence over everything else, even if there is no real ‘country’ left after the war is over.

There is a saying by Sun Tsu making the rounds today in social media that is wholly appropriate here:

“An evil enemy will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.” – Sun Tzu

This describes the actions of Yellen, Blinken and their fellow travelers in Europe perfectly. Now, I know this is not news to anyone who’s read my work for the past few years. You know I view them as vandals, not incompetents, but it’s important to keep this in mind at every step in this march towards global conflict.

Because this is the way most of the BRICS nations and their growing list of sympathizers also view the situation. Russia has made this very clear. Vladimir Putin, his Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov, and former Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, have all expressed this.

The longer this conflict goes on the more adamant about these points they become. The same can be said for China and its leadership.

China says less than the Russians do, but does more with who they choose to talk to and when. Foreign Minister Wang Xi’s recent visits to Moscow and Tehran further cemented a triangular foundation of support. These visits were contemporaneous to the convocation of warmongers in Munich two weeks ago. That was not an accident.

Neither was Premier Xi’s visit to Riyadh and the major Arab summits where he made sincere overtures to welcome them into the forming pan-Asian economic sphere. Don’t think for a second these events don’t have knock-on effects and reverberate in national capitols all over the world.

We’ve seen a spate of major announcements further underscore just how far along the entire BRICS project, with or without Brazil, is.

This brings me back to India as the wildcard. Modi’s journey from a guy with one foot on two islands (East v. West) to planting his feet firmly with the East has been an interesting and vital one.

If we’ve learned nothing else over the past year of war in Ukraine it is that most of the world is unphased by threats by the US by the countries I’ve just discussed. Iran clearly doesn’t care. China understands that if Russia falls militarily, China is next. Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC+ understand who their future trade partners really are.

This is why India is now in the crosshairs of Davos. They are the last major power in the region left to stymie Asian integration.

Reports circulated the same weekend as the Munich Security Conference that none other than George Soros was behind the attacks on PM Modi through a report from Hindenberg Research. They targeted one of Modi’s big financial supporters, Guatam Adani William Engdahl covered this in detail.

In January Hindenburg targeted an Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani, head of the Adani Group and at the time reportedly the richest man in Asia. Adani also happens to be the major financial backer of Modi. Adani’s fortune has multiplied hugely since Modi became Prime Minister, often on ventures tied to Modi’s economic agenda.

Since the January 24 Hindenburg report alleging improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation, Adani Group companies have lost over $120 billion in market value. Adani Group is the second largest conglomerate in India. Opposition parties have made a point that Modi is tied to Adani. Both are long-term friends from Gujarat in the same part of India.

But Engdahl doesn’t stop there. He very smartly ties this to George Soros’ speech at Munich, you know, the one he skipped this year’s WEF conference in Davos to give. Soros called out Modi directly saying his days were numbered and he’s no ‘democrat.’

Soros is beyond being coy about these things anymore. He’s telling you what he’s doing.

RT ran a similar story, much more focused on Soros and the Indian Foreign Minister’s response to him the same day as Engdahl’s article:

Soros said during the Munich Security Conference on Thursday that fraud allegations against the multinational conglomerate, headed by the PM’s long-time associate Gautam Adani, would “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government… I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India.”

Those comments didn’t go unnoticed in New Delhi, with Jaishankar firing back on Saturday at the 92-year-old billionaire and neo-liberal political activist. The foreign minister described Soros as “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous” because he’s willing to invest his money in “shaping narratives.”

“People like him think an election is good if the person they want to see wins and, if the election throws up a different outcome, then they will say it is a flawed democracy,” he added.

For another take on the same subject I recommend you read Andrew Korybko’s piece from the same day on this subject, digging up the building propaganda campaign against Modi starting with the NY Times, passing next through the BBC documentary and ending with Soros’ Munich speech.

The need to cleave India from the BRICS is now acute. The war in Ukraine is reaching the next phase as Russia forces what’s left of the Ukrainian army from Bakhmut clearing the way for Russia to establish logistical dominion in the center of the Donbass.

Because of this there is an even greater sense of urgency within Davos to upgrade not just Ukraine but also pick a new fight with China. The clock is ticking down on the old financial system. The end of LIBOR is nigh.

The bodies are piling up in the Fed’s war on leverage as high as the ones on the battlefield in the Donbass. Malign actors like Soros may still they have the ability to avoid these things but, in the end, they are fronting strength while privately they are freaking out.

Moreover, global opinion of the West’s potency as seen through the lens of Russian potency has shifted in a way that make the decisions of Asia’s leadership that much easier.

https://t.co/ROXleR4gBe pic.twitter.com/Ug1YRqEjXb

— Regina (@ReginaMourad) February 26, 2023

These results are themselves revelatory of the biases within the populations polled, especially in the heavily propagandized West. But those from both Turkey and India are eye-popping and confirm my long-held belief that once someone finally stood up to the US and Europe and survived it would radically change the psychology of the geopolitical game board.

One only need to look at how brazen Davos’ moves are, how heavily they are flooding the zone with headlines, emerging crises, and easily-debunked lies to see what’s really going on.

In light of that it should be noted just how ineffectual Davos’ moves against Modi and India have been. The recent regional elections in three important Indian provinces left the clear impression that Modi’s influence over electoral politics is still very much intact.

Modi has made it a point to engage the northeastern provinces, normally ignored by Indian politics, to entrench his hold on power in India. This is clearly his counter-move to anything the West would attempt to throw at him.

I’m no expert on Indian politics, but from the commentary I’ve seen, this opens up the possibility of Modi gaining a super-majority in next year’s elections. Regardless of whether that is true or not, what we know now is that the next year will be a minefield as Davos throws its weight around to topple another government it does not control.

The question I leave you with is will this be another Hungary, where polls had Viktor Orban in a tight race with Davos’ Anyone-But-Orban coalition only to see Orban cruise to his biggest victory ever, or will it Brazil, where the campaign against Bolsonaro was just strong enough to remove him from power.

Game on, George.

*  *  *

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In a CNN panel last week, the head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power issued some very revealing words on the Russia-Ukraine war, wherein she admitted that the US is at war with Russia but that it’s “Ukrainians doing the fighting”. 

Her words came during a CNN ‘town hall’ event, which also featured Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan, marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. She had specifically responded to a question from an audience member, who asked: “What vital interest does to the US have in Ukraine?” At one point in forming a response she actually gave what ranks among the most ridiculously simplistic clichés sometimes uttered by D.C. policymakers – that America stands up to “bullies”. 

“I think Americans understand bullies and the importance of standing up to bullies,” she said. But here’s where she said the quiet part out loud, letting it slip that in some sense the US sees Ukraine as a pawn in the greater geostrategic game of ultimately defeating Russia: She explained the need for a broad coalition of countries in order to show “This isn’t just the United States and Russia, this in fact is Ukrainians on the front lines, Ukrainians doing the fighting…” The set of assumptions behind this statement by a top Biden admin official is very revealing, however casually she may have slipped it in. Watch the clip below:

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺Samantha Power, the head of USAID, admits that the US is at war with Russia with the hands of Ukrainians.

“Ukrainians doing the fighting” – Samantha Power pic.twitter.com/cNWsYiuF8m

— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) February 28, 2023

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Millions of dollars in pandemic-era relief spending that went to K-12 public education and universities was misspent, according to federal and state audits.

As COVID-19 spread around the world in 2020, federal, state, and local officials encouraged or ordered policies that led to the closures of businesses and schools around the United States. Between 2020 and 2021, Congress appropriated about $7 trillion in economic stimulus spending, including about $280 billion for states, K–12 schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education.

The U.S. Department of Education’s (DoE) Office of Inspector General has compiled audit reports from several states, at times finding state governments had insufficient procedures for distributing pandemic-era funds given to them by the federal government.

For example, a DoE audit of funds (pdf) given to Oklahoma through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund found that the state lacked assurances that $31 million, out of the $40 million appropriated to the state, was used appropriately. An audit of Michigan’s GEER-related spending (pdf) found potentially insufficient assurances that $5.4 million, of the $89.4 million the state received, was used properly.

In a comment to the Wall Street Journal, Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt blamed the lack of accounting for pandemic-relief money in part on pressure from the federal government to quickly disburse education relief money without clear guidance on how it was to be awarded.

“That’s what happens when big government goes out just throwing money around,” Stitt told the publication.

A DoE audit of pandemic relief money for the University of Cincinnati (pdf) determined the university “did not provide complete and accurate student eligibility and financial data to support 3,297 (totaling $3.4 million), or 6 percent, of its award determinations.”

Local officials have also uncovered evidence of mishandled COVID relief. In February, California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) published a report (pdf) faulting the  Stockton Unified School District for awarding a $6.6 million contract to install air purification systems in schools to an out-of-state firm without a competitive bidding process.

Fraud and Scams

While the DoE found some states and schools lacked a sufficient documentary process to ensure the eligibility of their pandemic-era relief fund awards, some individuals have been charged with outright fraud in their handling of education relief money.

In January, a Louisiana man was sentenced to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of millions of dollars. Prosecutors alleged the man, who ran an education consulting firm, used the information of 180 of his student clients to enrol them in education programs that received pandemic-era relief funding; and instead, directed all of that funding to his personal bank account. The Louisiana man received $1,468,239 in pandemic-era federal student aid loans through this scheme.

The DoE has issued a warning that the pandemic-era scams “can take many shapes, like missing school funds or property, irregularities in contracts or undue influence by people in decision-making positions, identity theft and fraudsters posing as students to steal student aid, or scammers targeting student loan borrowers offering to provide services related to coronavirus student loan relief for a fee.”

Even without being able to directly defraud education relief spending programs, fraudsters have appeared to take advantage of the confusion surrounding pandemic education relief to scam students out of their money.

In September, the Central Connecticut State University Police Department warned students of a scam in which the perpetrator would contact individual students, telling them that they were eligible for financial aid through a “Covid Relief Fund.” Victims would receive a check and believe it to be real, only for the fraudsters to claim that there was an error and request that the money be returned. The victim student would repay out of their own funds only to see the original check they had been issued bounce, leaving them short the amount of money they originally believed they had been awarded. The university warned that one student had already fallen victim to the scam.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden’s administration joined calls for Congress to approve more funding and resources and extend statutes of limitations to investigate and prosecute pandemic-era fraud.