With 99 million viewers in 2022, “more Americans tune in to the Super Bowl than any other television broadcast.” Its large viewership, combined with expanding legislation, has led to ballooning wagers.

As Visual Capitalist’s Jenna Ross shows in this graphic sponsored by Roundhill Investments, we show how these bets have grown over the last 10 years.

Annual Legal Bets on the Big Game

From 2013 through 2018, sports betting was only legal in Nevada and year-over-year growth was low. However, when the federal sports betting ban was lifted in May 2018, more states started allowing bets.

By 2022, 33 states plus Washington, DC were legally able to bet on the game. Wagers climbed quickly as a result.

Data only for states that report bets on football’s big game, see graphic for full list of states included in 2022.

Impressively, legal bets surpassed the $1 billion mark in 2022. Growth was primarily driven by New York State legalizing online sports betting, with the state contributing nearly $500 million to the total.

Since the New York State Gaming Commission does not report event-specific totals, we have estimated this amount based on sports bets made the week leading up to and including the date of the big game.

Investment Exposure to an Emerging Industry

Due to legalization, bets on football’s big game have grown 10 times larger over the last decade. A further shift away from bookies and toward legal operators appears to be likely. In September 2022, 89% of Americans said it was important to bet with a legal operator this NFL season, up from 76% in February 2022.

For legal operators, this could translate into revenue opportunities. Companies that take legal bets reported more than $62 million in revenue from the big game alone in 2022, a 37% jump from the prior year.

Looking for exposure to the growing sports betting industry? Explore Roundhill’s sports betting ETF, $BETZ.

One day after the US shot down a ‘cylindrical, silverish gray’ object in the northeast arctic region of Alaska, another unidentified airborne object was shot down by the US military over northern Canada on Saturday – making it the third time in just over a week that jets were deployed to neutralize foreign craft.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command said earlier on Saturday that it had identified the high-altitude object, after which Canadian and US craft were scrambled, and a US F-22 filter jet took it down over the Yukon, according to a tweet by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Bloomberg reports.

I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 11, 2023

Canadian forces will recover and analyze the wreckage, Trudeau also said on Saturday, adding that he spoke with US President Joe Biden.

The latest incident comes after the recent incursion of a Chinese balloon over US and Canadian territory that shone a spotlight on Beijing’s alleged surveillance programs and sparked a diplomatic standoff between the world superpowers. The US also downed another unidentified object in Alaska Friday near the Canadian border. 

…

It’s unclear what the latest object is and where it originated. But the US has accused China of a years-long surveillance program in which it deployed spy balloons across the globe, a claim rejected by Beijing. 

On Friday, US officials shot down a craft that was ‘roughly the size of a car,’ and smaller than the Chinese spy balloon which was shot down last Saturday. It was similarly taken out by a US F-22.

Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times,

FTX bankruptcy attorneys sent out private letters last week to politicians and PACs who received donations from the company, giving them until Feb. 28 to return the money voluntarily or face legal action.

According to a company statement, “to the extent such payments are not returned voluntarily, the FTX Debtors reserve the right to commence actions before the Bankruptcy Court to require the return of such payments, with interest accruing from the date any action is commenced.”

Based on data from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), Coindesk, a cryptocurrency news site, identified 196 U.S. senators and representatives who accepted FTX donations. Meanwhile, Unusual Whales, a retail trading platform, compiled their own tally of political recipients of FTX money, who donated to whom, and whether or not the money was returned.

Largest donations by Sam Bankman-Fried to Democratic PACs (blue), GOP PACs (red), and Independent PACs (purple); data compiled by Unusual Whales. (UnusualWhales.com / Federal Election Commission)

Legal experts say it would probably be wise for the politicians to comply with FTX attorneys’ request before things go to court.

“John Ray [CEO of FTX in bankruptcy] and his team will likely pursue fraudulent transfer litigation against politicians and PACs if they do not return the funds, as FTX has repeatedly requested,” Thad Wilson, a partner and bankruptcy expert at King & Spalding, told The Epoch Times. Even though politicians may have a legal defense, he said, going to court would be expensive, and those who received only a few thousand dollars “would probably be better off returning the money. For larger recipients, like PACs and parties, the economics may look very different.”

Donations by Bankman-Fried to candidate PACS, Democrats (blue), and Republicans (red). (UnusualWhales.com / Federal Election Commission)

Wilson cited the precedent of Craig Berkman, a financier charged by the SEC with defrauding investors, who had donated to the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Giuliani in 2007–2008.

“After Berkman filed for bankruptcy in 2009, many of the campaigns and candidates who received funds from Berkman were sued and/or returned the funds to Berkman’s bankruptcy trustee,” Wilson said.

Collapse of FTX

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, together with other top FTX executives, lavished more than $70 million on politicians and political organizations leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, making FTX the third-largest political donor and Bankman-Fried the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party after George Soros.

According to data collected by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, led by economist Stephen Moore, Bankman-Fried himself gave $40 million, mostly to Democratic candidates. His co-CEO, Ryan Salame, reportedly gave more than $20 million to Republicans and conservative groups. And FTX engineering director Nishad Singh reportedly gave nearly $13 million to Democrats and left-wing causes.

Bankman-Fried was arrested for securities fraud in December, following the collapse of FTX, his Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange, and Alameda Research, his crypto hedge fund. He was subsequently extradited to the United States to face criminal charges that included securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance violations. He was quickly released on a $250 million bond and is residing at his parents’ home in California, which was put up as collateral for the bond.

‘Timing of the Charges’

Currently, the House Financial Services Committee is itself investigating the FTX investigation. Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R- Mich.) issued a letter on Feb. 10 to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler demanding to know why Bankman-Fried was arrested just prior to his scheduled testimony before the House of Representatives on Dec. 13 and instructing him to preserve all records between the SEC and the Justice Department in connection with Bankman-Fried’s arrest.

“The timing of the charges and his arrest raise serious questions about the SEC’s process and cooperation with the Department of Justice,” the letter states. It was assumed that Bankman-Fried would be questioned at this hearing regarding, among other things, his political ties and donations.

At the height of his fame, Bankman-Fried was hailed as a financial genius and selfless philanthropist, worth $16 billion at one point, who vowed to give all his wealth away to progressive causes like saving the environment and preventing pandemics. He was also a strong supporter of a bipartisan bill to regulate the crypto market known as the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act.

This bill was sponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and John Thune (R-S.D.), all of whom received at least $5,800 in political donations from Bankman-Fried. Stabenow was the top recipient of individual donations to lawmakers, having received more than $25,000.

Among the largest overall recipients was President Joe Biden’s 2020 election campaign, to which Bankman-Fried reportedly donated more than $10 million in various forms. Asked if Biden planned to return that money, White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer, stating: “I’m covered here by the Hatch Act.” Jean-Pierre added that she was “limited on what I can say and anything that’s connected to political contributions.”

The Hatch Act, passed in 1939, bans the use of federal funds for electoral purposes and also bans federal officials from coercing political support with the promise of public jobs or funds. It is unclear how the Hatch Act prevented Jean-Pierre from answering reporters’ questions.

‘You Have to Be Just’

According to Bruce Markell, a former bankruptcy judge and currently a law professor at Northwestern University, the answer to whether or not FTX would succeed in clawing back political donations in court is “a strong maybe.” FTX lawyers will likely claim that the donations were a fraudulent transfer according to bankruptcy laws that allow “debtors in possession” to recover donations made, in some cases, up to two years before the bankruptcy was filed.

To make a case for fraudulent transfer, FTX lawyers would likely argue that the company was already insolvent at the time of the donations and therefore that money rightly belongs to FTX creditors.

“The words have been used, ‘you have to be just before you’re generous,’” Markell said. Companies that are insolvent “have to pay creditors before you make donations.” With FTX accounting in notorious disarray and the high volatility of the valuations of FTX assets, however, the timing of the company’s insolvency could be a gray area.

“Google can make all the donations in the world they want because after they make donations, they have enough money left over to pay the creditors,” he explained. “FTX is an accounting nightmare.” Reaching a resolution in the courts, if it goes that way, would probably take years.

Some recipients have decided not to gamble and have returned the donations to FTX or to the U.S. Treasury Department. Others say they have donated the money to charity, but giving the money away may not get them off the hook.

‘Donation to a Third Party’

“Recipients are cautioned that making a payment or donation to a third party (including a charity) in the amount of any payment received from a FTX Contributor does not prevent the FTX Debtors from seeking recovery from the recipient or any subsequent transferee,” FTX warned.

“Making a charitable contribution is a nice public relations ploy to try distance yourself or your campaign from allegedly corrupt contributors,” Wilson said. “But giving the money to charity does not absolve a politician or her campaign from liability under the Bankruptcy Code or applicable state law.”

“The charities who receive money from politicians could be considered ‘subsequent transferees’ for fraudulent transfer purposes, and thus, they could get sued, too,” he said. “In fact, the politicians and PACs could be making things worse for the charities to which they are donating.”

The PACs themselves could be on the hook to repay millions even if the money has already been spent.

“As a ‘transferee’ of the funds, they would be liable for the payment if a court determines it was a fraudulent transfer,” Wilson said. And beyond that, the vendors or organizations that were paid by PACs could also be on the hook as “subsequent transferees.” Bankman-Fried and his family could potentially be held liable if they received FTX funds, or if they are found to be “aiding and abetting” fraudulent transfers.

The $1.7 trillion spending bill passed in late December contained some welcome relief for parents with leftover money in 529 college savings plans — and reassurance for those who are saving up but wary of overshooting the objective.

Specifically, people in this situation will soon be able to move 529 money into a Roth IRA. As we’ll describe below, limitations on the maneuver may throw a bit of a wet blanket on you, depending on your particular circumstances. 

529 plans allow savers to put money away for education expenses. There’s no tax deduction for contributions, but money that’s used for qualified expenses comes out tax-free. 

That’s great, but what happens if you end up with more money in a 529 plan than you actually needed to cover your kid’s education costs? If you cash out and don’t use the money for education costs, you’ll be hit with ordinary income taxes on the earnings, plus a 10% penalty.  

Until now, one of the most common tactics for over-saving parents has been naming a new beneficiary for the account and using the money for them. IRS rules give wide latitude for beneficiary changes — allowing a switch to members of the current beneficiary’s family, including parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, first cousins and even brothers- and sisters-in-law.  

Another option: the SECURE Act of 2019 lets those with qualified student loans use up to $10,000 in 529 money toward loans taken out for the beneficiary or a beneficiary’s sibling.  

Starting in 2024, however, beneficiaries can roll money from 529 accounts to Roth IRAs without paying taxes or penalties. It’s important to emphasize this treatment is available to the beneficiary — not their parents or other account owner.  

With all of the changes made to 529 plans in the past few years they are now better and more useful than ever

-tax free growth
-State tax deduction for contributions
-use funds for college or primary education
-roll over up to $35k of unused funds to a Roth IRA

— Chris Kimmet, CFP® (@ChrisKimmet) February 9, 2023

The beauty of the move is that qualified Roth IRA withdrawals — after a Roth has been open for five years and the owner is age 59 1/2 — are tax-free. Also, contributions — not earnings — can be withdrawn any time without tax or penalty.  

There are some important limits, however, including: 

• The 529 account must have been open for at least 15 years. Until the IRS posts rules to carry out the new law — SECURE 2.0 — it’s not clear if the 15-year clock will apply to how long the account has been open or how long the beneficiary has been in that role.  
• You can’t roll 529 contributions made in the five years before the rollover, or earnings from those particular contributions. 
• Beneficiaries can roll over a max of $35,000 over their lifetime
• Rollovers are subject to the annual Roth IRA contribution limit. In 2023, that’s $6,500 for those under age 50, and $7,000 for those 50 and older. However, unlike regular Roth contributions, rollovers from 529’s won’t be limited by the beneficiary’s income. 

While the new rule was meant to address accidental surpluses in 529 accounts, some are recommending parents deliberately overfund so they can use the new rule to give their kids a Roth IRA head-start in life. Since there’s no age restriction on a 529, you could even use this maneuver as a backdoor way to fund a Roth for yourself if you’re not otherwise eligible.

However, before you plunge into those strategies, consider the potential that a government that’s over $31 trillion in debt might vaporize these new rules before you have a chance to use them that way.  

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

It appears that the tsunami of layoffs that started late last year is starting to accelerate.  January was a horrible month for job losses, and major layoff announcements are coming fast and furious here in February.  But of course the Biden administration would have us believe that everything is just fine.  Last week, the government told us that the U.S. economy “added 517,000 jobs” in January.  But as I discussed in a previous article, that wasn’t what actually happened.  The raw, unadjusted number showed that the U.S. economy actually lost 2.5 million jobs last month.  That is a terrible number, but after the bureaucrats in Washington were done with their “adjustments” it magically became a gain of 517,000 jobs.  If you want to have faith that their “adjustments” are appropriate, good for you.  But other sources also confirm that things have really taken a turn for the worse. 

For example, Challenger, Gray & Christmas just issued a report that concluded that last month “was the worst January for job cuts since the Great Recession in 2009”…

U.S. companies announced roughly 103,000 job cuts in January, the highest monthly total since September 2020, a Thursday analysis found.

Last month was the worst January for job cuts since the Great Recession in 2009, according to a report from employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Around 40 percent of last month’s job reductions came in the tech industry, where Google parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce announced plans to lay off thousands of workers. Many of the companies said they grew too quickly in recent years and must cut costs to boost profitability.

So many large companies announced staff reductions last month, and that trend has definitely continued this month.

The following are 12 major layoffs that have already been announced in February…

#1 Disney has decided to tell approximately 7,000 employees to hit the bricks…

“We will be reducing our workforce by approximately 7,000 jobs,” CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s first quarter earnings call. “While this is necessary to address the challenges we’re facing today, I do not make this decision lightly. I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide, and I’m mindful of the personal impact of these changes.”

#2 Yahoo has announced that it will be laying off “more than 20% of its workforce”…

Yahoo will lay off more than 20% of its workforce by the end of 2023, eliminating 1,000 positions this week alone, the company said in a statement Thursday.

#3 Ebay was doing quite well, but now they have decided that 4 percent of their workers are no longer needed…

Ebay on Tuesday announced plans to cut 500 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, according to a filing with the SEC.

#4 Affirm is yet another tech company that has recently made a decision to conduct mass layoffs…

Affirm announced it’s cutting 19% of its workforce Wednesday. The news came as it reported second quarter earnings that fell below analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

#5 As the U.S. housing crash deepens, JPMorgan Chase has concluded that now is the time to “cut hundreds of mortgage employees”…

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut hundreds of mortgage employees this week, adding to job losses across the industry as home-lending businesses continue to be hurt by elevated interest rates.

#6 GoDaddy just let their workers know that they plan to “reduce the size of our global team by about 8%”…

Today, we are announcing a plan to reduce the size of our global team by about 8%. This will come as difficult news for many valued and respected GoDaddy team members.

#7 Micron is one of the biggest private employers in Idaho, but now it intends to “reduce its global headcount by about 10% over the next year”…

Micron has begun laying off workers, a spokesperson for the company told the Idaho Statesman.

The news marks the beginning of the company’s plan to reduce its global headcount by about 10% over the next year. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra announced during a quarterly conference call with investors in December that the company is taking significant steps to reduce costs and operating expenses as demand for its principal products wanes.

#8 GitHub has become yet another victim of the downsizing trend in the tech industry…

Microsoft-owned GitHub is laying off 10% of its staff, the company confirmed to Fortune.

#9 Nomad Health just laid off approximately 20 percent of their entire corporate workforce…

Nomad Health, a healthcare staffing startup, laid off around 20% of its corporate workforce this week, according to four terminated employees, as the surge in travel nurses and other temporary healthcare workers ignited by the pandemic cools down.

#10 Zoom is giving the axe to approximately 1,300 workers…

Zoom on Tuesday said it will lay off about 1,300 employees, or approximately 15% of its staff, becoming the latest tech company to announce significant job cuts as a pandemic-fueled surge in demand for digital services wanes.

#11 Boeing was supposedly going to be hiring more workers, but instead the company just announced that thousands of positions in finance and human resources will be eliminated…

“We expect about 2,000 reductions this year primarily in Finance and HR through a combination of attrition and layoffs,” Boeing confirmed Monday.

#12 Do you remember when Dell computers were still popular?  Unfortunately, the tide has turned and now Dell has been forced to get rid of 6,650 workers…

Dell Technologies Inc. is eliminating about 6,650 roles as it faces plummeting demand for personal computers, becoming the latest technology company to announce thousands of job cuts.

I could go on and on if you would like.

There are countless other firms that have also just announced significant layoffs.

We truly have not faced economic conditions like this since the Great Recession, and a recent Gallup survey seems to underscore this point…

Reflecting on their personal financial situations, 35% of Americans say they are better off now than they were a year ago, while 50% are worse off. Since Gallup first asked this question in 1976, it has been rare for half or more of Americans to say they are worse off. The only other times this occurred was during the Great Recession era in 2008 and 2009.

Unfortunately, we are still only in the very early chapters of this new crisis.  As I have been warning for years, things will eventually get much worse.

Our leaders have been making incredibly bad decisions for decades, and now we are going to get to suffer the consequences of those bad decisions.

This generation was handed the keys to the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen, but we wrecked it.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost, and most Americans are completely unprepared for what is coming next.

*  *  *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

A Project Baltimore investigation revealed the devastating reality of nearly two dozen Baltimore City Schools having zero students proficient in math. 

New test scores, known as MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program), obtained by Project Baltimore, revealed that 23 schools, including elementary, middle, and high schools, had not one student that could do math at grade level.

“The results of the latest Project Baltimore study are very alarming, “Civil rights attorney Ben Crump told FOX 45

The civil rights attorney joined a lawsuit against the school system last year, which accuses them of squandering taxpayer dollars and failing to provide basic skills to kids. 

“I think anytime a young person is denied a quality education, it represents a crisis. What we have to do is look at the situation for what it is; we have to say ‘we are failing our children and we have to take the responsibility to do better,'” he said. “This is an unprecedented lawsuit because what it’s trying to do is give the taxpayers a greater say in the education of their children based on the fact it’s their tax dollars being used by the city school system, and if I’m paying my money, I need to see some results.”

Here’s more on the test scores:

The Maryland State Department of Education recently released the 2022 state test results known as MCAP, Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.

Baltimore City’s math scores were the lowest in the state. Just 7 percent of third through eighth graders tested proficient in math, which means 93 percent could not do math at grade level.

But that’s not all; Project Baltimore combed through the scores at all 150 City Schools where the state math test was given.

Project Baltimore found, in 23 Baltimore City schools, there were zero students who tested proficient in math. Not a single student.

Among the list of 23 schools, there are 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three Middle/High schools and two Elementary/Middle schools.

Exactly 2,000 students, in total, took the state math test at these schools. Not one could do math at grade level.

“They [school kids] go there to get babysat for eight hours and come home,” Nichelle Watkins, a Baltimore City parent. 

We’ve shared reports from Project Baltimore (read: here & here) over the years exposing the school system’s corruption. The question people need to be asking: Why is the liberal-run city setting up future generations of kids to fail? 

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

Can you feel it?  The past several years have been a time of wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, major natural disasters, a global inflation crisis, and a rapidly growing global food crisis.  So much bad stuff has already happened, but I have been hearing from so many people that have a feeling that things are about to get a whole lot worse. 

It is almost as if we are about to reach a major historic turning point and things are about to go to an entirely new level.  Unfortunately, it appears that events have already started to really amp up within the past several days.  So much is happening all over the globe, and I am going to touch on a number of the most important items in this piece. 

The following are 10 videos that prove that things just got quite a bit weirder…

#1 Was it another “Chinese spy balloon”?  The Pentagon has confirmed that it just shot down another “high altitude object” that was flying over Alaska.

#BREAKING: White House: Pentagon downed unknown object flying in US airspace within the last hour off Alaska coastline pic.twitter.com/4ufrzGBlOj

— VINnews (@VINNews) February 10, 2023

#2 Is China preparing for something?  A Chinese satellite apparently just shot a “wall of mysterious green lasers” near Hawaii.

WATCH 🚨 Suspected Chinese satellite reportedly shoots wall of mysterious green lasers down to earth, spotted over Hawaii pic.twitter.com/k8ORTVsWgZ

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 9, 2023

#3 The U.S. military just test launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.  We are being told that this launch was intended as a “message to Russia”.

WATCH: US Air force Global Strike Command launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a test reentry at 11:01 PM Pacific Standard Time, Feb. 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. pic.twitter.com/kto2SmvM82

— Ryan Chan 陳家翹 (@ryankakiuchan) February 10, 2023

#4 The mainstream media is almost entirely ignoring one of the most important stories of the decade.  Meanwhile, on Russian television they are talking about how these revelations could literally spark a nuclear war.

#5 Is another pandemic coming?  The World Health Organization has announced that the world “must prepare” for an H5N1 bird flu pandemic that could soon sweep through the human population of the planet.

NEW – WHO’s Tedros says we “must prepare” for a potential H5N1 human bird flu pandemic. pic.twitter.com/4Y3asCMN9S

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 9, 2023

#6 An extremely angry mob of radical activists just stormed the Oklahoma State Capitol while it was in session, but nobody in the mainstream media will dare call it “an insurrection”.

A mob of #trans activists took over the Oklahoma Capitol building to try & stop the state’s Republican lawmakers from passing bills that would outlaw the transitioning of minors & require teachers to inform parents if students identify as trans. pic.twitter.com/TPxdhKe9Eq

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) February 7, 2023

#7 Somehow, CBS was able to line up an absolutely perfect sponsor for Sam Smith’s “tribute to Satan” at the Grammy Awards.

Wait for it … pic.twitter.com/9SsSKK0Mac

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 6, 2023

#8 I’m sure that Zelensky just has a cold or something.  There is nothing suspicious about his behavior at all.

pic.twitter.com/zrcM9pvntq

— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) February 10, 2023

#9 The collusion between the federal government and Twitter to censor free speech was far more comprehensive than any of us originally realized.

#10 It is being reported that “part of the sun has broken off and formed a vortex”.  Scientists are admitting that they have never seen anything quite like this before.

Talk about Polar Vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star. Implications for understanding the Sun’s atmospheric dynamics above 55° here cannot be overstated! pic.twitter.com/1SKhunaXvP

— Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) February 2, 2023

*Bonus Video* A modern day “Viking” jumps off a snow-covered mountainside with two very sharp axes into a tiny pond of water.

If you need proof that men and women are not the same.

The science is settled.

pic.twitter.com/DmGfeGKA3t

— It’s Ma’am, PhDelightful (@ItsGoneAwry) February 9, 2023

Global events have begun to greatly accelerate, and I expect the remainder of 2023 to be incredibly chaotic.

If you appreciate the work that we are doing to wake people up, please consider supporting our efforts.

We have reached such a critical moment in human history, and there is so much confusion out there.

The truth sets people free, and we will continue to endeavor to share the truth with as many people as we can.

*  *  *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

This week former Congressman Ron Paul discussed on his program The Liberty Report how mainstream media is suppressing reporting of legendary journalist Seymour Hersh’s How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline, or at least they are willfully ignoring its damning contents.

The program summarizes: “Legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a blockbuster report on last year’s attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. Though at the time, US mainstream media and neocons blamed Russia for attacking its own pipeline, Hersh lays out in detail how the US government, in a covert operation, blew it up. What’s next? Also today, Ukraine war is McCain’s legacy.”

As for “McCain’s legacy”, Congressman Paul and co-host Daniel McAdams review very important archived footage showing how in December 2016 both Senators McCain and Lindsey Graham traveled to Kiev to tell the Ukrainians “your fight is our fight” while pledging a coming “year of offensive”. They brazenly urged the Ukrainians to take an “offensive” fight to the Russians. Watch below: 

And the late Sen. McCain had vowed while standing before Ukrainian troops and officials at the time:

“All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia… It is time for them to pay a heavier price.”

He added: “We will do everything we can to provide you with what you will need to win.”

Much that was communicated by the two hawkish GOP Senators years ago during the Donbas war in the east is continuing to unfold now, as escalation potentially leading to direct clash between nuclear-armed superpowers Russia and the US continues to grow with few off-ramps.

Watch the McCain and Graham clip below:

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

Seven different officials in President Joe Biden’s administration are in office illegally due to time limits, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

On Wednesday, the GAO found that seven presidential appointees serving in “acting” positions in their respective offices have run out of time on how long they can serve without a full Senate confirmation. GAO has issued five separate reports on the issue.

There are numerous positions within the executive branch that the president must appoint, and the U.S. Senate must confirm. These roles are referred to as PAS positions. Oftentimes, presidents will select individuals to temporarily fill these PAS positions while seeking Senate confirmations to fill out the roles on a more long-term basis.

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 regulates when and how a president can choose “acting” officers to temporarily fill these PAS positions. The law generally stipulates that appointees may only serve in an acting position for about 210 days, starting from the date the vacancy occurs.

The law states that if the Senate rejects a first nomination to permanently fill a PAS position or if the president withdraws the nomination, an “acting” officer may fill the position for up to 210 more days.

The president may submit a second nominee to the Senate, and if the nomination is rejected, an acting officer may fill the position for another 210 days. Outside of these time limits, if no individual is confirmed, the PAS position must remain vacant, and only the head of the agency may perform the functions or duties of the position.

The GAO found that seven officials have exceeded the time limits stipulated in the law:

• Allison Randall—Acting Director of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women;
• Charlotte A. Dye—Acting General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA);
• Tae D. Johnson—Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE);
• Deidre Harrison—Acting Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB);
• Karen Freeman, Craig Hart, and Ann Marie Yastishock—Assistant Administrators of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Asia.

Shirley A. Jones, the Managing Associate General Counsel for the GAO, said each of the alleged violations “began in 2021 or 2022 and involves a long-vacant position for which previous Presidents submitted nominations.”

GAO discovered these alleged violations after conducting a review of vacant positions following a June decision.

According to the GAO letters, Dye’s service with the FLRA has been continued on in alleged violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act since Nov. 16, 2021.

Randall’s service with the DOJ has continued on in alleged violation of federal law since May 26, 2022.

Harrison’s OMB service has continued on in alleged violation of the law since Aug. 2, 2022.

Johnson’s ICE service ran afoul of the law starting on Nov. 16, 2021, but Jones said Johnson ended her time in the acting position on Monday, Feb. 6.

Jones said GAO had found Freeman’s service in an acting USAID role exceeded the federal limits on Nov. 16, 2021. Freeman was eventually replaced by Hart and then by Yastishock, who vacated the position on Aug. 8, 2022.

The OMB and FLRA disputed the watchdog agency’s assessment, citing an October 2022 opinion by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel.

“We respectfully disagree with GAO’s conclusion,” an OMB spokesperson told NTD News. “DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded in a recent public opinion that, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a change in administrations restarts the timing sequence for acting service in a position that was vacant on inauguration date. OMB, like all Executive Branch agencies, is bound to follow DOJ’s legal conclusions. It is undisputed that Ms. Harrison’s service has been proper under DOJ’s legal interpretation of the Act.”

An FLRA spokesman also cited the DOJ’s October 2022 opinion that a change in administration restarts the timing sequence for acting service in positions that were vacant on inauguration day.

NTD News also reached out to the DOJ, USAID and ICE for comment, but they did not respond by the time this article was published.

Past Violations

Violations of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act are not unprecedented.

In April 2022, the GAO found that an official overstayed the time limit in the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

GAO recorded several instances of individuals staying beyond the vacancy time limits during President Donald Trump’s administration.