Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Top 10 Cheapest Beach Homes In America

 

at 5/28/23 6:30pm

Top 10 Cheapest Beach Homes In America The 30yr fixed mortgage rate is back above 7% for the first time since early March. Housing affordability is the worst in decades. Those still searching for a beach home but don't want to pay Hamptons or South Florida prices have other options that are still considered "affordable."  A new report via Realtor.com reveals the top ten most affordable beach towns for homebuyers this summer. To find these affordable homes, Realtor analysts used listing data for every home put on the market in the past year located within a one-mile radius of each beach."  "We then selected the most affordable beach towns by price per square foot. Only locations with at least 50 properties within a mile of the water in the past year were included," they said.  Topping the list as the most affordable beach home community in the US is Gulfport, Mississippi, with an average median home price of around $225,000 within 1 mile of the beach. The median price per square footage within 1 mile of the beach was $144.  Second on the list is Newport News, Virginia, with average home prices within 1 mile of a beach around $220,000 and the median price per square foot around $150.  "The city is perched on the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, where the James River meets the Chesapeake Bay near its mouth to the Atlantic Ocean," Realtor said.  The rest of the list includes: 3. New London, Conn. 4. Grand Isle, La. 5. Corpus Christi, Texas 6. Atlantic City, NJ. 7. Navarre, Fla. 8. North Beach, Md. 9. Crescent City, Calif. 10. Shirley, N.Y. Most of the affordable beach towns can be found in the South, Mid-Atlantic, or Northeast regions. However, Northern California also has one reasonably priced beach town.  Affordability challenges persist, with the mortgage rates back above 7%.  The beach towns listed above are gems of affordability.  Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 20:30

— Washington Doctor Facing Probe For Criticizing COVID Policies Wins Emergency Injunction

 

at 5/28/23 6:00pm

Washington Doctor Facing Probe For Criticizing COVID Policies Wins Emergency Injunction Authored by Caden Pearsen via The Epoch Times, A Washington state appeals court has granted an emergency injunction to a retired doctor facing disciplinary action from the Washington Medical Commission (WMC) over articles he wrote against the official COVID-19 narrative in 2021. Dr. Richard J. Eggleston, a retired ophthalmologist in Clarkston, Washington, faces disciplinary action over articles published in the Lewiston Tribune he wrote challenged the prevailing information and guidance regarding the pandemic. During the pandemic, doctors could be accused of spreading misinformation if they provided advice contrary to the official information. This included, for example, advocating or prescribing treatments such as ivermectin or disagreeing with the effectiveness of face masks and vaccines. The United States officially ended the pandemic emergency on May 11. The WMC filed charges against Dr. Eggleston, accusing him of unprofessional conduct, including spreading false information and misinformation about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its treatments. They assert that his actions violated state laws related to moral turpitude, misrepresentation, and interference with an investigation. In response to the charges, Dr. Eggleston has maintained his innocence and has argued that his articles are protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. He sought to have the disciplinary proceedings dismissed on the grounds that the statutes applied by the WMC infringed upon his constitutional rights. Despite a separate, initial motion to dismiss being previously denied, the recent emergency injunction granted by the appeals court now provides a temporary reprieve for Dr. Eggleston. The injunction halts the disciplinary proceedings while the court further examines the case. The WMC wants to carry out the fact-finding hearing, they say, to protect public health and fulfill its disciplinary responsibilities for the medical profession “and to resolve issues of fact and credibility that require the expertise of the Commission to resolve,” according to a court filing (pdf). Court Commissioner Hailey L. Landrus noted in her ruling that while putting a stay on the proceeding would inconvenience the commission—as lawyers for the WMC argued—it doesn’t demonstrate harm to the public. ‘Chilling Effect’ on Free Speech Dr. Eggleston, on the other hand, argued that he sought to halt the disciplinary proceedings to assert his First Amendment right to free speech. Landrus favored the retired doctor’s argument, saying public dialogue by professionals receives strong First Amendment protection, and the mere fact of prosecution can have a “chilling effect” on the exercise of these rights for Dr. Eggleston and other medical professionals. “Dr. Eggleston has a competing interest in enjoining the disciplinary proceedings in order to seek First Amendment protection for his speech, which is the reason for the administrative proceedings in the first place. Denying a stay would, according to Dr. Eggleston, violate his constitutional right to free speech,” Landrus said in her ruling. “Balancing the parties competing interests and hardships favors Dr. Eggleston,” the court commissioner added. She found that it would be more efficient to review the trial court’s decision on the injunction instead of proceeding with a lengthy administrative hearing. Granting the injunction could potentially resolve the entire proceedings, saving time and resources, she noted. The court’s decision to grant the emergency injunction comes as a significant development in Dr. Eggleston’s ongoing legal battle with the WMC. The granted stay of the proceedings will delay hearings scheduled to commence this week, Wednesday through Friday. This delay provides a short window of opportunity for the WMC to withdraw the charges against Dr. Eggleston. However, if the WMC chooses not to withdraw the charges, the legal process will proceed as planned. “I’m very happy to see that this part of the legal system understands this First Amendment issue and basic rights to get accurate information from a physician,” Dr. Eggleston told The Defender. The legal team representing Dr. Eggleston expressed their satisfaction with the court’s ruling to grant the stay of proceedings. Todd Richardson, one of Dr. Eggleston’s lawyers, emphasized the significance of protecting First Amendment rights. “As Americans, if we don’t conscientiously defend these foundational rights and freedoms, we may soon wake up to realize we have lost them,” he told The Defender. The Epoch Times contacted WMC for comment. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 20:00

— Lululemon Fires Two Store Employees For Calling Police On Masked Robbers

 

at 5/28/23 5:30pm

Lululemon Fires Two Store Employees For Calling Police On Masked Robbers America's descent toward lawlessness is most visible at retail stores in progressive metro areas. The latest incident occurred at a Lululemon store in Atlanta. Three masked men pillaged the store while two employees wearing overpriced yoga pants were fired by corporate for calling the police to report the robbery.  Local media outlet WXIA said Jennifer Ferguson, the former assistant manager of the Peachtree Corners Lululemon, and Rachel Rogers, a former employee at the store, encountered the men in "masks and hoodies" who "swiped" as much merchandise as they could before sprinting out the door. "No, no, no, you can march back out," Ferguson said in a video that caught the entire robbery. One of the robbers told her, "Chill, b-tch, shut your ass up."  New York Post said the thieves had robbed the store several times because Lululemon has a "zero-tolerance policy" on chasing or physically engaging with a robber. Although both employees did not physically try to stop the masked men, they called the police to report the theft.  "We are not supposed to get in the way. You kind of clear path for whatever they're going to do. "And then, after it's over, you scan a QR code. And that's that. We've been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We're not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it," Ferguson told WXIA.  In a Facebook post, the assistant manager's husband, Jason Ferguson, said, "My wife was terminated from her job at Lululemon for 'breaking employee handbook policy' of not interfering with a burglary." He continued: Lululemon representatives held a zoom call a few days after the incident to learn what Jenn knew about the policy. Then, a few days later, they scheduled a follow-up zoom call where they terminated her citing the company's "zero-tolerance policy" in these situations. No warning. No coaching. No additional training. Just. Fired. Georgia being an at-will employment state, employers can do that whenever they wish. That is their right. But it doesn't make it right. Especially in this situation. Jason Ferguson said the regional manager told his wife and the other former employee that calling the police would "look bad for Lululemon."  Lululemon appears to have an open-invite policy for thieves, which puts its employees in harm's way. Not intervening physically is probably smart because who wants to die over expensive yoga pants made in Southeast Asia? However, terminating employees for simply calling the police is upside-down clown world stuff. We hope Lululemon fixes these broken policies and puts more effort towards protecting employees and improving work conditions.  Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 19:30

— What A Difference A Real DA Makes

 

at 5/28/23 5:00pm

What A Difference A Real DA Makes Authored by Lloyd Billingsley via American Greatness, Chesa Boudin, named after cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, and son of Weather Underground terrorists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, was elected district attorney of San Francisco in November 2020. Criminals were happy with the outcome.  “Chesa Boudin threw a monkey wrench into the city’s criminal justice system,” recalls Richie Greenberg, San Francisco resident and business consultant. “Amid a series of high-profile cases, his promise to release repeat criminals and to allow quality of life crimes to go unpunished, San Francisco descended into a scofflaw paradise.”  Greenberg spearheaded a recall effort and in June 2022 voters booted Boudin by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin. Mayor London Breed then appointed University of Chicago law alum Brooke Jenkins, a prosecutor in the city’s homicide division.  Jenkins proceeded to fire 16 Boudin loyalists, part of “important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms.”  In November 2022, Jenkins prevailed over three rivals with approximately 54 percent of the vote. As the victor proclaimed. “I pledge that improving and promoting public safety will be my and our office’s top priority.”  The “scofflaw paradise” recently threw up a challenge.  On April 27, “black trans man” Banko Brown shoplifted items from a downtown Walgreens store. That drew the attention of security guard Michael Earl-Ray Anthony, who struggled with Brown. Anthony contended that Brown threatened to stab him and shot the shoplifter, who later died from the wound. No weapon was found on the decedent.  “Banko’s death is yet another testament to the dire need for increased advocacy for the safety of all trans people in this country, especially Black trans people,” said a statement from Tori Cooper of the Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative. “His death comes at a time of blatant hateful, xenophobic rhetoric and legislative measures which fuel violence against our community. We can’t continue to stand idle while this unfolds.”  Protesters also called for Anthony to be prosecuted for murder, but San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins took a different approach. “The killing of Mr. Banko Brown on April 27, 2023 was a tragedy and my heart breaks for his friends and family,” Jenkins said in a statement.  After careful review of all of the evidence gathered by the San Francisco Police Department in this case, my office will not be pursuing murder charges, at this time, in connection to the shooting. We reviewed witness statements, statements from the suspect, and video footage of the incident and it does not meet the People’s burden to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that the suspect is guilty of a crime. The evidence clearly shows that the suspect believed he was in mortal danger and acted in self-defense. We cannot bring forward charges when there is credible evidence of reasonable self-defense. Doing so would be unethical and create false hope for a successful prosecution. No matter the case, however, we must follow the law and the evidence, wherever it leads. We never make decisions based on emotions or what may be politically expedient. For Jenkins, “this wasn’t someone just walking out with an item. This is a shoplifting that became violent because Banko Brown initiated that aggressive contact with the security guard which turned this legally into a robbery.” The D.A. asked that “even in the midst of very intense heightened emotions that people look at the same evidence that we did, because that is what our decision is based on.” “We all share that we wish that this never happened,” Jenkins added, “but the facts are what they are and that is what we are limited to.” One fact missing from many reports was that Michael Earl-Ray Anthony is also black and something of a hardship case.  “I’ve really been on my own since I was a young teenager,” Anthony told the D.A.’s office. “Always moving, different places, different houses, different family, friends. My parents never really worked. I was the only one working. My stepdad—he was on drugs.”  Anthony spoke of working as a security guard since he was 18, and for a time as an armored truck driver, delivering bags of up to $600,000 to banks. The guard was distraught at killing someone and told detectives, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Local activists cast him as a murderer.  “If there was a crime that was committed in terms of stealing—that is if—there was a greater crime, which was murder.” That was Honey Mahogany, the first black trans chair of the local Democratic Party, in a May 17 protest outside the D.A.’s office.  “Banko Brown was not a danger to anyone,” according to Kevin Ortiz of the Latinx Democratic Club. “Brooke Jenkins needs to do her job—she must be held accountable for the families she’s failed. And that starts with Banko Brown.” The people of San Francisco might not think so.  California’s 2014 Proposition 47 changed felonies to misdemeanors and essentially legalized theft of property valued at less than $950. Car break-ins and property crime quickly surged, and in parts of the city, contrary to Tony Bennett, the stench of excrement filled the air. The pro-criminal Chesa Boudin made it all worse, and voters turned him out.  Brooke Jenkins, by contrast, has made public safety a top priority. She follows the law and the evidence and does not make decisions on what may be politically expedient. That is good advice for district attorneys in Los Angeles, New York, and across the country. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 19:00

— Children's Hospital 'Health Hero' Award Given To Trans Democrat Pushing Child Sex Changes

 

at 5/28/23 4:30pm

Children's Hospital 'Health Hero' Award Given To Trans Democrat Pushing Child Sex Changes The Children's Minnesota hospital system awarded state Rep. Leigh Finke an award last week after authoring a bill designed to promote child sex changes, the Daily Caller reports. Screenshot/YouTube/Leigh Finke Finke, a transgender individual, authored Minnesota's HF146, the so-called "trans refuge" bill, which would prevent the enforcement of out-of-state laws that would remove a child from parents who cross state lines to administer transgender medical interventions, such as hormones or puberty blockers. "The law protects access to gender affirming care for Minnesotans and for those traveling to Minnesota from other states," said Children's Minnesota in a statement. The legislation was signed into law on April 27 by Gov. Tim Walz (D). Finke was also the author of a bill that would strip anti-pedophile language from the state’s existing anti-discrimination law. The law currently excludes sexual attraction to children from its list of legally protected sexual orientations, but Finke’s bill would remove language specifying that exclusion, which activists have argued could lead to pedophilia being interpreted as a protected sexual orientation. Republican state Rep. Harry Niska later proposed an amendment to the bill that would clarify that pedophilia is not a protected class, which was adopted unanimously. -Daily Caller We are pleased to announce that Rep. @leighfinke is this year’s recipient of the Children’s Health Hero award. Children’s Minnesota presents the award annually to legislators who champion child health issues at the Minnesota Capitol.https://t.co/lkzQHUjrDq — Children's Minnesota (@childrensmn) May 24, 2023 According to Children's Minnesota, it's "the only health system in the state that cares exclusively for children" via two hospitals and 25 other facilities for primary care. Meanwhile, similar "trans refuge" legislation has been passed in California, after states like Utah and Florida passed legislation to restrict sex change procedures on children. "I am extremely honored to be presented the Health Hero Award from Children’s Minnesota. At a time when young children are exploring who they are, and where they fit in society, we need to advocate and fight for their right to discover those identities with dignity and compassion," said Rep. Finke. Or maybe wait till they're 18, when society deems people to be adults capable of making major decisions for themselves? Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 18:30

— Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms Advances In California Senate

 

at 5/28/23 4:00pm

Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Mushrooms Advances In California Senate Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times, A bill to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms cleared the California Senate May 24, reaching the halfway point in the state’s effort to legalize the drug, despite increasing opposition by law enforcement and many citizens. Senate Bill 58 was introduced in December by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who said criminalizing drug use and possession does nothing but fill up prisons with people who are addicted. “We shouldn’t be criminalizing people for personal use of these non-addictive substances,” Wiener said in a May 24 statement. If passed, the bill would allow the cultivation, transfer, and transportation of fungi or other plant-based materials that can be used as ingredients for the drugs, according to the bill text. Psilocybin is found in a variety of mushrooms and can be produced synthetically. The bill would only allow plant-based psychedelic drugs for use by people 21 years old and older. Ingesting the drug can cause sensory perception changes, including auditory and visual hallucinations. The drug’s effects after ingestion can begin within 20 to 90 minutes and can last up to 12 hours in some cases, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Several law enforcement associations, local California governments, and organizations are opposed to legalizing the substance, including the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the City of Beverly Hills, the California State Sheriffs’ Association, California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Concerned Women for America, and many others. The California District Attorneys Association opposed the measure, expressing concern that legalizing the drugs for recreational use is not grounded in scientific evidence. “While we are sympathetic to proponents who argue that the veteran population might benefit therapeutically from exploration of these substances, these drugs are Schedule I controlled substances for a reason,” the association said, according to a Senate analysis of the bill. “They have no federally accepted medical use and have a high probability of misuse.” The California Contract Cities Association was also against legalization and was concerned about public safety risks associated with the cultivation and transportation of the materials. “This means that more hallucinogenic drugs would be able to move across local jurisdictions in far greater numbers with insufficient oversight or accountability from local agencies,” the cities association wrote in a Senate analysis. “This is very worrisome from the perspective of local decision-making authorities like our member cities.” Support for the bill includes the Hippie and a Veteran Foundation, Initiate Justice, the Alameda County Democratic Party, the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies, and the California Public Defenders Association. The cities of West Hollywood and Eureka are also in favor of the bill. Clinical trials are underway to study its use for treating depression and other mental health disorders, according to the American Psychiatric Association. The association determined in a 2020 study that while research is still preliminary, psychedelics show promise for treating conditions including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder but the drugs were not ready for use as a treatment. Psychedelic mushrooms are still illegal under U.S. federal law. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated psilocybin, the substance found in psychedelic mushrooms, as a “breakthrough therapy,” speeding up the development and review of the drug to treat serious conditions. Preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy in clinical studies, according to the FDA. Local measures to deprioritize the policing or prosecution of conduct related to hallucinogens have passed in Oakland and Santa Cruz. Ann Arbor, Michigan, Denver, and Washington, D.C., have also passed similar measures. Oregon and Colorado have passed similar measures to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for supervised use. The legislation is a stripped-down version of a bill proposed by the same senator in 2021. That bill, which would have legalized plant-based and synthetic psychedelics—such as MDMA, LSD, and ketamine—failed to pass. In Wiener’s San Francisco district, rampant drug use has contributed to runaway homelessness throughout the city. The city passed a motion in 2022 calling for law enforcement to deprioritize investigations and arrests of adults found in possession of psychedelics. Last month, dozens of residents and advocates protested at San Francisco City Hall against open-air drug markets and unsafe streets. Rally organizer Ricci Wynne told The Epoch Times data showed that the most prominent issues in San Francisco stem from drug use and drug dealing. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 18:00

— Vegas Group Accused Of Cheating Casino Out Of More Than $225,000 Playing Electronic Craps

 

at 5/28/23 3:30pm

Vegas Group Accused Of Cheating Casino Out Of More Than $225,000 Playing Electronic Craps A group that played digital craps in Las Vegas in November and December 2021 is being accused of cheating, allegedly racking up $200,000 in illicit winnings from what CBS/KLAS has called a "dice sliding scheme". The group reportedly played at The Cosmopolitan in November and December 2021 and went on a winning streak that cost the casino more than $225,000, the Nevada Gaming Control Board confirmed. The cheating took place on one of the newer, electronic craps tables, which have a smoother surface than traditional felt craps tables, and sometimes fewer dealers standing by to oversee the action.  According to the NGC, “the cheating involved multiple suspects and occurred on the Azure Roll to Win Electronic Craps table." Documents on the incident stated: “The cheating method involved dice sliding and sliding occurs when the shooter slides one or both dice across the table in order to prevent the cubes from rolling. The dice will be in the same position as they started, allowing the shooter to control the outcome of the game.” Investigators also believe cheating may have taken place at Resorts World.  The group “was observed both together on the table and away from it, during and after fraudulent dice sliding activities occurred," the CBS report says, citing case records. “Before illegally sliding the dice [one person whose name is redacted in court documents] would signal the other by placing single wagers in a circle motion around the main screen [wagers].” All four people involved now face "cheating-related charges" and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing in early June.  Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 17:30

— As Interest Rates Rise, The Era Of "Deficits Don't Matter" Is Over

 

at 5/28/23 3:00pm

As Interest Rates Rise, The Era Of "Deficits Don't Matter" Is Over Authored Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute, Back in 2002, then-Vice President Dick Cheney claimed "Reagan proved deficits don't matter" and went on to push for tax cuts combined with more federal spending. Indeed, the Bush administration would go on to push immense amounts of new spending, supporting a huge Medicare expansion and blowing hundreds of millions of dollars on costly and pointless occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The national debt grew by 70 percent during Bush's eight years, but no one in Washington—Republican or Democrat—really cared. After 2003, the economy seemed to be growing and after the 2008 financial crisis hit, all that really mattered was bailing out Wall Street to "save" the global economy.  In fact, for more than thirty years, stern warnings about the federal debt and annual deficits have come from wet-blanket curmudgeons who insisted that running up huge debts would become a problem. They were right, but the time frame has proven to be quite a bit longer than most anticipated. Many significant global political and economic changes intervened to ease the process of incurring an enormous national debt, even as the total debt exploded from $5.6 trillion to $22.5 trillion between 2000 and 2019. These changes included rising global productivity, a new globalized work force, and solid global demand for dollars—which fueled apparently limitless demand for for US government bonds. This ensured the debt remained easy enough to manage. For a time. Things are changing, however, and in the coming five years we'll begin to see how a newly accelerating debt, declining demand for dollars, and rising price inflation will finally reveal how and why deficits do matter, after all.  How Much Debt Are We Talking About? The US's national debt is now projected to exceed $32 trillion in 2023. That's up by nearly ten trillion dollars since January of 2020. Nearly eight trillion of that came in 2020 and 2021 alone. Since 2019, the rate at which the US government has taken on new debt has significantly accelerated beyond what was already a shocking rate of deficit spending. Back in 2019, I noted that the Trump administration had added nearly a trillion dollars to the deficit in a single year of what was considered an economic expansion. That was remarkable at the time. Of, cours, what happened under both Trump and Biden during the covid panic made a trillion dollars look like spare change.  Moreover, the debt has reached new post-World-War-II highs in proportion to the overall size of the economy. In 2020, total federal debt as a percentage of national GDP shot up to 120%. This puts the US at previously-unseen peacetime debt levels.  Comparing debt to GDP doesn't tell us much about the government's ability to pay and service its debt, however. A more realistic measure is total debt compared to federal revenues. By this measure, we also find debt has accelerated to peacetime highs. Total federal debt is now more than 6 times the size of annual federal receipts.  This Translates Into a Lot of Interest Payments  The problem with a large national debt isn't that it's big or difficult to pay off. An enormous debt can be sustained indefinitely by a government so long as it can manage paying the interest on the debt. For most of the past three decades, the US government had it very easy in this respect. It could run up huge annual deficits, incur trillions of dollars in new debt, yet interest payments on that debt remained remarkably stable and did not rise to "out of control" levels.  This was made possible by the fact that interest rates trended downward again and again for most of the past 35 years. If we look at the federal funds rate—which tends to trend with average interest levels paid on federal debt—we can see that debt levels surged at the same time that interest rates were falling. This fall in interest rates prevented interest payments from surging upward as well.  Why this rates fall? During much of the 1990s, the US grew to dominate the global economy in the wake of the end of the Cold War. This drove far greater need for dollars worldwide, and all those dollar holders put many of the dollars into buying US government debt. This pushed down the cost of issuing new federal debt considerably. Even after the rise of the euro after 1999, globalization helped sustain global demand for US debt, as did the eurodollar economy.  After 2008, interest rates on US debt were pushed down even further as the US central bank bought up nearly six trillion dollars worth of US bonds. As this artificial demand for federal bonds rose, the interest rate sank further. So, even as the federal government was adding trillions to the national debt after 2009, interest payments remained manageable. We can see how from 1998 to 2015, total debt service costs barely budged in spite of an ever growing national debt. This finally began to grow after 2017 with Trump's growing mega deficits and efforts at the Federal Reserve to finally allow interest rates to increase over fears of price inflation. After 2020, of course, interest payments on the debt then surged above half a trillion dollars, and are projected to increase further:  Interest Payments Will Gradually Consume the Federal Budget It is here where we begin to see the problem with such huge debt levels. An enormous debt makes total debt payments far more sensitive to movements in interest rates. In 2007, when the national debt was at a "mere" nine trillion dollars, the federal funds rate could rise above five percent without a resulting surge in interest payments. More than a decade later, with debt levels at $30 trillion, a similar increase in the federal funds rates leads to a much larger increased in debt service payments.  In practical terms, this means that a government with enormous debt levels likely cannot sustain any sizable increases in interest. Under these conditions, debt payments will gradually grow larger and larger until they consume much of the nation's federal spending.  We can see this in even the official federal projects for debt payments moving forward. For example, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the federal government will owe $660 billion in debt service in 2023. But this will increase to $960 billion by 2028, in five years. For comparison, we can note that the OMB also projects the entire defense budget in 2028 will be $966 billion.  The OMB's projections are rather conservative compared to forecasts in a February report from the Congressional Budget Office. According to the CBO report, interest payments will reach nearly a trillion dollars in 2028 and will continue to climb after that. In a decade, total interest payments will exceed $1.4 trillion and will be the third largest federal "program" behind Social Security and Medicaid. At that time, interest payments will exceed defense spending by $300 billion.  On a per-capita basis, this is not exactly trivial. In 2030, for example, the $1.4 trillion owned in interest payments will work out to approximately $4,000 per American adult of working age (adults between ages 18 and 65).  In other words, within six years, American taxpayers will be forced to pony up more than a trillion dollars every year to just to cover long-past federal spending on various lost wars and failed social programs. Baby Boomers will be mostly dead or in nursing homes, but young workers will be paying for the bill incurred by their elders decades ago.   Keep in mind, however, that this is all a "best case scenario." CBO and OMB estimates assume there will be no recessions in coming years, and they also assume relatively stable interest rates. The CBO estimates forecast interest on US federal debt will average about 2.7 percent in 2023, but will not increase significantly after that, rising only to 3.2 percent by 2031.  That's possible, of course, but current trends suggests the CBO is too optimistic. Geopolitical realities point to a relative decline in demand for the dollar—which will also lead to a decline in demand for US bonds. The US insists on isolating itself both politically and economically as it wages sanction wars—or threatens to do so—on many of the world's key economies. This will all drive up interest rates. As we've shown here on mises.org, the dollar is unlikely to disappear as an important global currency, but it is likely to face more competition. That will mean higher interest rates for federal debt as dollar demand wanes.  Another key development here is that the central bank no longer has the freedom to force down interest rates as it did a decade ago. Back then, the Fed could simply buy up new government debt to prop up demand and keep down interest rates. This has required the central bank to engage in large amounts of monetary inflation. For a time, that seemed to work, but then price inflation rose to 40-year highs and has remained stubbornly high.  The Fed can no longer simply print up an additional trillion dollars to buy up US government debt—and then just hope no price inflation appears. Rather, because price inflation is so politically unpopular, the Fed has to treat lightly on new monetary expansion. This ties the hands of Fed in how much it can intervene to keep interest rates low.  Thus, the very mild increases in interest rates predicted by the CBO may greatly understate the true risks.  Moreover, this all assumes that endless increases to debt service will be politically tenable ten years from now. Will voters really be convinced that they have to endure increasingly large cuts to popular government programs in order to keep paying money to bondholders forever and ever?  At some point, the voters are likely to say "enough" when it comes to escalating debt payments. And that's when a country gets either hyperinflation or a sovereign debt crisis. In the meantime, that interest bill is just going to keep getting bigger. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 17:00

— Bud Light Offers $2.99 18-Pack After Sales Tumble Accelerates

 

at 5/28/23 2:30pm

Bud Light Offers $2.99 18-Pack After Sales Tumble Accelerates Bud Light is offering a massive Memorial Day weekend discount: $2.99 for an 18-pack of Bud Light or Budweiser, bringing the price per can down to just pennies. This aggressive pricing strategy is an attempt by the brewer to stimulate demand as an ongoing boycott dents sales for the sixth consecutive week.  Twitter handle Ramp Capital spotted the promotion on Saturday that reads, "Easy To Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend ... Get Up To $15 Back Via Rebate On The Purchase Of One (1) Budweiser, Bud Light, Budweiser Select, Or Budweiser Selection 55' 15-Pack Or Larger."  Before taxes plus the rebate, an 18-pack of beer costs around 17 cents per can. Ramp Capital said, "17 cents per beer is cheaper than water."  The rebate follows Anheuser-Busch's disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney which sparked a boycott by conservatives. Then when Anheuser-Busch pulled support from Mulvaney, it unleashed a boycott among the trans community. According to Fox News, citing new data from trade publication Beer Business Daily, Bud Light sales volumes for the week ending May 13 plunged 28.4%, following a 27.7% decline the week before.  The boycott hasn't been limited to just Bud Light. Other Anheuser-Busch products, such as Budweiser Red, recorded a 14.9% decline for that week, and Michelob Ultra fell 6.8%.  On the flip side, Business Daily said beer drinkers gravitated to Bud Light's competitors, sending sales of Coors Light up 16.9% and Miller Lite up 15.1%.  Beer Business Daily analysts pointed out more discounting is likely throughout the summer as Bud Light and Budweiser sales stumble and wholesalers are left with rising inventories due to lackluster demand.  "This could be a promotional summer the likes we haven't seen since after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where there was so much beer inventory backed up in the trade that it initiated the price war of all price wars," Beer Business Daily said. Since Bud Light's promotion with Mulvaney on TikTok and the resulting boycott, investors have penalized Anheuser-Busch with a $19 billion wipeout in market cap.   Bud Light's marketing blunder isn't ending anytime soon. And along the way, other companies like Target and North Face have yet to learn from Bud Light. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 16:30

— "What's More Tragic Is Capitalism": BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros

 

at 5/28/23 2:00pm

"What's More Tragic Is Capitalism": BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros Authored by Jonathan Turley, Two years ago, I wrote columns about companies pouring money into Black Lives Matter to establish their bona fides as “antiracist” corporations. The money continued to flow despite serious questions raised about BLM’s management and accounting. Democratic prosecutors like New York Attorney General Letitia James showed little interest in these allegations even as James sought to disband the National Rifle Association (NRA) over similar allegations. At the same time, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors cashed in with companies like Warner Bros. eager to give her massive contracts to signal their own reformed status. It now appears that BLM is facing bankruptcy after burning through tens of millions and Warner Bros. cut ties with Cullors after the contract produced no — zero — new programming. Some states belatedly investigated BLM as founders like Cullors seemed to scatter to the winds. Gone are tens of millions of dollars, including millions spent on luxury mansions and windfalls for close associates of BLM leaders. The usual suspects gathered around the activists like former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias, who later removed himself from his “key role” as the scandals grew. When questions were raised about the lack of accounting and questionable spending, BLM attacked critics as “white supremacists.” Warner Bros. was one of the companies eager to grab its own piece of Cullors to signal its own anti-racist virtues.  It gave Cullors a lucrative contract to guide the company in the creation of both scripted and non-scripted content, focusing on reparations and other forms of social justice. It launched a publicity campaign for everyone to know that it established a “wide-ranging content partnership” with Cullors who would now help guide the massive corporation’s new programming. Calling Cullors “one of the most influential thought leaders in American public life,” Warner Bros. announced that she was going to create a wide array of new programming, including “but not limited to live-action scripted drama and comedy series; longform/event series; unscripted docuseries; animated programming for co-viewing among kids, young adults and families; and original digital content.” Some are now wondering if Warner Bros. ever intended for this contract to produce anything other than a public relations pitch or whether Cullors took the money and ran without producing even a trailer for an actual product. Indeed, both explanations may be true. Paying money to Cullors was likely viewed as a type of insurance to protect the company from accusations of racial insensitive. After all, the company was giving creative powers to a person who had no prior experience or demonstrated talent in the area. Yet, Cullors would be developing programming for one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world. One can hardly blame Cullors despite criticizism by some on the left for going on a buying spree of luxury properties. After all, Cullors was previously open about her lack of interest in working with “capitalist” elements. Nevertheless, BLM was run like a Trotskyite study group as the media and corporations poured in support and revenue. It was glaringly ironic to see companies like Warner Bros. falling over each other to grab their own front person as the group continued boycotts of white-owned businesses. Indeed, if you did not want to be on the wrong end of one of those boycotts, you needed to get Cullors on your payroll. Much has now changed as companies like Bud Light have been rocked by boycotts over what some view as heavy handed virtue signaling campaigns. It was quite a change for Cullors and her BLM co-founder, who previously proclaimed “[we] are trained Marxists. We are super versed on, sort of, ideological theories.” She denounced capitalism as worse than COVID-19. Yet, companies like Lululemon rushed to find their own “social justice warrior” while selling leggings for $120 apiece. When some began to raise questions about Cullors buying luxury homes, Facebook and Twitter censored them. With increasing concerns over the loss of millions, Cullors eventually stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, as others resigned.  At the same time, the New York Post was revealing that BLM Global Network transferred $6.3 million to Cullors’ spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2021. According to The Washington Examiner, BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group paid Cullors $20,000 a month. It also spent nearly $26,000 on meetings at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019. Reform LA Jails, chaired by Cullors, received $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to the consulting firm owned by Cullors and her spouse, according to New York magazine. Once again, while figures like James have spent huge amounts of money and effort to disband the NRA over such accounting and spending controversies, there has been only limited efforts directed against BLM in New York and most states. Cullors once declared that “while the COVID-19 illness is tragic, what’s more tragic is capitalism.” These companies seem to be trying to prove her point. Yet, at least for Cullors, Warner Bros. fulfilled its slogan that this is all “The stuff that dreams are made of.” Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 16:00

— Under Pressure From Fat Activists, NYC Bans Weight Discrimination

 

at 5/28/23 1:30pm

Under Pressure From Fat Activists, NYC Bans Weight Discrimination Discriminating against fat people is now illegal in New York City, after Mayor Eric Adams on Friday signed off on a ban that will affect not only employment, but also housing and access to public accommodations -- a term that encompasses most businesses.  We're in safe company using the word "fat," as champions of the cause refer to themselves as "fat activists." With the mayor's signature, two more categories -- both weight and height -- are added to New York City's list of protected personal attributes, which already included race, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation.  As Mayor Adams signs the law, self-described (and everyone else-described) fat activist Tigress Osborn consumes more than her share of the backdrop (James Messerschmidt for NY Post) Embracing one of 2023's innumerable strains of Orwellian brainwashing, Adams declared, "Science has shown that body type is not a connection to if you’re healthy or unhealthy. I think that’s a misnomer that we’re really dispelling.” Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say obesity is an invitation to a host of maladies, including to high blood pressure Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, many types of cancer, mental illness and difficulty with physical functioning.  “Size discrimination is a social justice issue and a public health threat," said Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who introduced the measure. "People with different body types are denied access to job opportunities and equal wages — and they have had no legal recourse to contest it," said Abreu. "Worse yet, millions are taught to hate their bodies."  A full 69% of American adults are overweight or obese, but our woke overlords would have us believe the real "public health threat" is a nice restaurant that doesn't want Two-Ton Tessie working the reception desk, or a landlord who's leary of a 400-pound man breaking a toilet seat or collapsing a porch.   The enticingly-named Tigress Osborn, who chairs the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, said New York's ban "will ripple across the globe" -- perhaps something like what would happen if the hefty Smith College Africana Studies graduate were dropped into a swimming pool.   Councilmember Shaun Abreu said he gained 40 pounds during the pandemic lockdowns and noticed people treated him differently The New York Times reports that witnesses who testified as the measure was under consideration included "a student at New York University said that desks in classrooms were too small for her [and] a soprano at the Metropolitan Opera [who] said she had faced body shaming and pressure to develop an eating disorder."  Some have dared to speak out against the measure. “This is another mandate where enforcement will be primarily through litigation, which imposes a burden on employers, regulators and the courts,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, speaking in April.  Implicitly putting the weight ordinance in the same category as Brown vs Board of Education, Abrue said, “Today is a monumental advancement for civil rights, size freedom and body positivity and while our laws are only now catching up to our culture, it is a victory that I hope will cause more cities, states and one day the federal government to follow suit.”  Taking effect in six months, the law has an exemption for employers "needing to consider height or weight in employment decisions" -- but "only where required by federal, state, or local laws or regulations or where the Commission on Human Rights permits such considerations because height or weight may prevent a person from performing essential requirements of a job."  We pray there's a federal exemption for employers of strippers and lap dancers.  Think we're joking? We remind you that the chair of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is named "Tigress" -- and this is her Twitter profile banner photo: via Tigress @iofthetigress Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 15:30

— DeSantis Says He Would Sign Legislation To Defund "Corrupt" IRS

 

at 5/28/23 1:00pm

DeSantis Says He Would Sign Legislation To Defund "Corrupt" IRS Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called IRS a “corrupt organization” and said he would welcome a bill abolishing the agency if elected president in 2024. DeSantis made the comments during an interview with conservative radio host Dana Loesch on May 25, a day after the governor announced his White House bid on Twitter. “If Congress defunded the IRS and sent such a bill like that to your desk, number one, would you sign it?” Loesch asked. “And then what would you replace the system with? Are you for like a fair tax? A flat tax? Where do you stand on that?” “So, the answer’s yes,” DeSantis said in response. “I think the IRS is a corrupt organization and I think it’s not a friend to the average citizen or taxpayer. And so we need something totally different.” “I’ve supported all of the single rate proposals, I think they would be a huge improvement over the current system,” the governor added. “And I would be welcoming to take this tax system, chunk it out the window, and do something that’s more favorable to the average folks.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Heritage Foundation’s Leadership Summit in National Harbor, Md., on April 20, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times) DeSantis The governor has long spoken favorably of a flat tax system. In a Q&A published by Palm Coast Observer in 2012, months before DeSantis won his first term as a House lawmaker from Florida, DeSantis said he believed the federal tax code should be overhauled. “I think the federal tax code is an affront to a free society in the sense that it’s 70,000 pages,” DeSantis stated. “I am in favor of a complete overhaul; my principle is that consumed income should be taxed one time at a low, single, flat rate. He added, “Now whether that’s at the point of after savings and investment income on a flat tax, or on the point of consumption which people talked about a fair tax, I think you need to repeal the 16th Amendment for that because I don’t think you want a sales and an income tax.” Last year, DeSantis criticized the Biden administration’s nearly $80 billion in funding for the IRS, which Republicans argue would pave the way for the hiring of 87,000 tax agents, as giving  a “middle finger to the American public.” The funding to the IRS was part of the Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022. “I think of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top,” DeSantis said at the time. “I think it was basically just a middle finger to the American public that this is what they think of you.” He continued, “All these problems we have to deal with, and they think the way is to do 87,000 IRS agents. There’s going to be more people in the IRS than in a lot of these other agencies combined now.” “They are going to go after independent contractors. They’re going to go after small-business people. They’re going to go after someone that may be driving an Uber or a handyman or all these things,” DeSantis added. “Why would they do that? Because you’re not going to be able to contend with the audit—so they’re going to crush a lot of people by doing that.” In January, the House passed the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R.23) on party lines with a 221–210 vote, with the aim to rescind the administration’s new funding for the IRS. The legislation is unlikely to advance in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Former President Donald Trump speaks during an event at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Fla., on April 4, 2023. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) 2024 Race The 2024 race for the Republican presidential nomination now includes former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative radio host Larry Elder, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and DeSantis. Trump currently holds a sizable lead over other GOP presidential hopefuls, according to poll results. According to a new survey by Echelon Insights that queried 390 likely GOP primary voters between May 22 and May 25, Trump garnered 49 percent support, leading DeSantis by 30 percentage points. Former Vice President Mike Pence finished third with nine percent support, followed by Ramaswamy (eight percent), Haley (five percent), Scott (2 percent), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (one percent), and Elder (one percent). In a hypothetical two-way matchup, Trump picked up 59 percent of support, with DeSantis trailing with 34 percent of support. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 15:00

— Jamie Dimon Denies Involvement With Epstein In Lengthy Deposition As Erdoes Admits She Was Alerted Of Sex Crimes

 

at 5/28/23 12:30pm

Jamie Dimon Denies Involvement With Epstein In Lengthy Deposition As Erdoes Admits She Was Alerted Of Sex Crimes Jeffrey Epstein may (not) have killed himself but the questions surrounding his life (and death) continue to swirl and on Friday, none other than billionaire JPM CEO Jamie "That's why i'm richer than you" Dimon was questioned under oath for hours by lawyers in two lawsuits in which the largest US bank was accused of knowingly benefiting from Epstein’s sex-trafficking; Dimon, of course, denied any involvement with the financier’s accounts. According to Bloomberg, Dimon finished his deposition Friday and the deposition will not continue into a second day. JPM spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said Dimon repeatedly confirmed that he never met or emailed Epstein and was not involved in decisions about his account. “There are millions and millions of emails and other documents that have been produced in this case and not one comes close to even suggesting that he had any role in decisions about Epstein’s accounts,” Wexler said. Despite the bank downplaying Dimon's involvement, JPMorgan had insisted that details of the deposition not be made public, Doe’s lawyer Brad Edwards said. Since the bank commented, he challenged it to release the full transcript of the testimony “rather than mislead anyone.” “Then, the world can put their comment in context and decide for themselves what they thought of Mr. Dimon’s testimony as a whole,” he said. While the bank’s lawyers had previously fought efforts to have Dimon questionedd, arguing he had no involvement in Epstein’s 15-year relationship with JPMorgan, the failed. Lawyers for Jane Doe and the US Virgin Islands, who are suing the bank separately for aiding Epstein’s sex trafficking, had the option of asking a federal court judge to extend Dimon’s deposition into Saturday. JPMorgan has denied claims it knew of Epstein’s sex trafficking but decided to keep him on as a client anyway between 1998 and 2013. It has filed its own lawsuit against former executive Jes Staley, claiming he should be held liable for any damages awarded against the bank as he vouched for Epstein. The nearly nine-hour deposition of JPMorgan's Mary Erdoes which took place two months ago, and whose details were finally revealed, delivered more fireworks. When Erdoes, who leads the bank’s asset and wealth management division, learned a court had affirmed Jeffrey Epstein’s status as a sex offender likely to harm more victims, she had a terse response. “Oh boy,” Mary Erdoes wrote in a 2011 email to a fellow executive at JPMorgan Chase, where Epstein was a client for 15 years. It was at least the sixth time Erdoes had been alerted to Epstein’s criminal or civil legal trouble for sex crimes, according to the WaPo. She had also been informed as early as 2006 that JPMorgan flagged suspicious activity on his accounts. Erdoes’s statements shed new light on the actions of JPMorgan’s highest-ranking officials while Epstein’s conduct faced legal and public scrutiny. The Washington Post obtained the transcript of the deposition, much of which has been unreported until now. Officials from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private island and gaudy mansion, and attorneys for his victims claim the bank was complicit in funding Epstein’s long history of abuse and child sex trafficking. A complaint filed last month by the U.S. Virgin Islands cites Erdoes’s deposition as evidence that JPMorgan knew of accusations against Epstein years before the bank severed ties with him. Not until 2013 did the bank end its business relationship with Epstein, identifying the financier’s routine and massive cash withdrawals as the reason for terminating the relationship. JPMorgan has rejected the allegations in the lawsuit and expressed regret for its past association with Epstein. “We all now understand that Epstein’s behavior was monstrous, and his victims deserve justice — but these suits are misplaced as we did not help him commit his heinous crimes,” JPMorgan spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said in a statement. He is, of course, a monster now that he is dead and can't reveal who else may be a monster. Previously he was just a well-paying client. The deposition transcript shows Erdoes said she had been made aware of Epstein’s convictions for sexual offenses, his status as a high-risk sex offender, and public allegations of abuse of minors and human trafficking. But she said she didn’t think it was her responsibility to remove him as a client, launch an inquiry into his accounts or refer them to compliance officials. JPMorgan has a separate process for dealing with client-related legal issues, she said. Jes Staley, Erdoes’s supervisor and one of Epstein’s close friends, did investigate the allegations against Epstein by asking the financier about them, according to records read during the deposition. JPMorgan in a statement said it was “unfair for The Post to draw these kinds of conclusions without context for the relevant processes at JPMorgan, the tens of millions of clients, and the many professionals involved.” U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. is set to give a deposition on June 6. JPMorgan in a filing Thursday accused government officials on the islands of shielding Epstein from law enforcement officials in exchange for political donations. Attorneys for the U.S. Virgin Islands called the claim “an obvious attempt to shift blame away from JPMorgan Chase.” Deutsche Bank, where Epstein took much of his wealth after leaving JPMorgan in 2013, recently agreed to pay $75 million to settle a similar suit. The lawsuits against the investment banks concern the extent to which various people in Epstein’s orbit are accused of enabling the sprawling sex trafficking operation that led to his arrest in 2019, or at least looking the other way — and profiting — when they should have intervened (although how would they when Epstein had sexual dirt on everyone).  U.S. Virgin Islands attorneys say JPMorgan “knowingly facilitated, sustained, and concealed” Epstein’s human trafficking network, while profiting from deals and clients Epstein brought into the bank. Of course, JPMorgan has denied any wrongdoing and said the claims in the U.S. Virgin Islands complaint are meritless. The company has also sued Staley, accusing him of acting on his own to advance Epstein’s interests. In her deposition, Erdoes said that it was the responsibility of the bank’s legal team to exert controls on Epstein’s accounts and that Staley communicated with him about the bank’s periodic concerns. “The process by which those things work is that legal risk, compliance, including supervisory management … have a natural process they go to when they have things like this that get alerted to them,” she said, only in this case clearly every single process failed. That is a fair description of how most major banks’ compliance systems should work, said Eric Chaffee, a professor at the University of Toledo College of Law. But he added that after repeated unexplained suspicious transactions and public reports of criminal behavior, bank officials have a legal responsibility to step in. “When you have a lot of red flags come up, it’s one of those things where the senior executives certainly have some obligation to be talking to each other and figuring out what’s going on,” Chaffee said. “Ultimately, there does come a point where the bank, the financial institution, becomes outright complicit in regard to the crime.” Especially when the "client" has dirt on the highest ranking people in said financial institution, and all others for that matter. Going back to Erdoes deposition, on more than 100 occasions she said she did not recall details of her role helping supervise Epstein’s accounts, some of which date back two decades. She described Epstein’s crimes as “allegations” even though he pleaded guilty to procuring a child prostitute in 2008 and was declared a Level 3 sex offender — the most serious designation — by a New York state appeals court in 2011. Asked in the March 15 deposition whether she believed Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019, was engaged in sex trafficking, Erdoes said, “I don’t know what to believe.” Epstein first opened accounts at JPMorgan in 1998, and became one of the bank's most important clients. Through his own accounts and the ones he managed for former Victoria’s Secret CEO Leslie Wexner, Epstein “generate[d] one of the largest annual revenue flows of private clients in the private bank,” reads a JPMorgan due diligence report from 2003, when the private bank was considerably smaller, cited in the deposition. (Wexner severed ties with Epstein in 2008, and later said Epstein misappropriated $46 million of the Wexner family’s money.) A 2006 internal bank report referenced Epstein’s routine cash withdrawals several times a month in amounts ranging from $40,000 to $80,000, adding up to more than $750,000 a year. By 2008, Epstein had $121 million in accounts with JPMorgan, records read during the deposition show. But Epstein, a self-described money manager, sought to bring the bank more business, according to legal filings, and profit from fees associated with the work. Throughout that period, according to filings, Epstein benefited from the friendship and internal advocacy of Staley, who preceded Erdoes as head of JPMorgan’s wealth management unit. Staley, who became the head of British bank Barclays in 2015, described a “profound” friendship with Epstein, according to court records. He resigned from Barclays in 2021 after U.K. regulators launched an investigation into his relationship with Epstein. Why was he "profoundly" friendly with Epstein? Simple: text messages and emails entered into evidence by the U.S. Virgin Islands suggest “albeit cryptically, that Mr. Staley had sexual encounters” with Epstein’s trafficking victims, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York wrote in a May order in the U.S. Virgin Islands case. In a 2006 email exchange with Staley that was read during the deposition, Erdoes described a Palm Beach Post article about Epstein being accused of soliciting minors as “so painful to read.” Staley responded: “I went and saw him last night. I’ve never seen him so shaken. He adamantly denies the ages.” Not the charges... the ages. Because one can obviously confuse a 14-year-old with a 34-year-old. Staley’s departure from JPMorgan in 2013 allowed Erdoes to end the bank’s relationship with Epstein, she said in the deposition. “There was no one there to vouch for Mr. Epstein,” Erdoes said. Meanwhile, in a legal filing last month, Staley’s attorneys said JPMorgan’s claims amount to “provocative media fodder,” but “never explain how an employee [Staley] who is not alleged to have had decision-making authority over Epstein’s accounts — and who is not alleged to have seen any of the suspicious account activity that other JPMorgan employees ignored — caused the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries.” Around that time, she said, she became aware that Epstein’s regular withdrawals were in cash. At the time, Erdoes said, she did not see Epstein’s criminal history and the withdrawals as related. “Never at the time was that something that I was connecting in my mind with anything to do with any of the allegations of what he may or may not have done,” she said, because of course it wasn't her - or anyone's job - to connect the dots as long as the pedophile client kept paying millions in fees and being vouched for by the largest US bank . Wexler said the firm “did not know that such transactions could have had anything to do with a sex trafficking operation.” And yet they did. During the deposition, Erdoes also said that it was not her responsibility to initiate internal investigations or flag concerns about Epstein’s behavior that arose from legal developments or news reports about his convictions or suspected trafficking. Instead, she said repeatedly that it was the job of the bank’s legal and compliance officers to vet the information. “My responsibility is not to do something with every piece of news media that comes out on our client base,” she said later. Internal JPMorgan records referenced in the U.S. Virgin Islands complaint show that bank employees flagged Epstein’s copious cash withdrawals as early as 2006. In a 2010 internal email also cited in the complaint, risk management officials surfaced “allegations of an investigation related to child trafficking.” In 2011, according to the filings, JPMorgan’s anti-money-laundering compliance director requested re-approval from JPMorgan’s general counsel of the bank’s relationship with Epstein “in light of the new allegations of human trafficking.” Erdoes later in the deposition appeared to say the bank’s policies were hazy when encountering a client accused but not convicted of certain crimes. “I don’t know what the proper process is when it’s an allegation,” she said. Only it wasn't merely an "allegation", as everyone knows by now. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 14:30

— Erdogan Wins Reelection To 5-Year Term As President After 20 Years In Power

 

at 5/28/23 12:24pm

Erdogan Wins Reelection To 5-Year Term As President After 20 Years In Power Update(1424ET): It's official, according to state media--Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been re-elected as Turkey's president after passing the 50% threshold required for victory over his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu. With 97 percent of ballot boxes opened, Erdogan has captured 52.1 percent of votes over Kilicdaroglu with 47.9 percent. He is Turkey's longest running president in history, already long surpassing the rule of the Republic of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. * * * By Sunday's end Turkey is expected to have a clear winner in the election runoff and what marks a historic first of a vote which went to a second, final round to decide the nation's president. Earlier in the day incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast his vote in Istanbul, while main challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu voted in Ankara. The likely result is expected to be Erdogan securing a third term in office, given his performance in the first round, and crucially given Turkish nationalist candidate Sinan Ogan - who faired better than expected among the opposition - has now endorsed Erdogan for president. A by many accounts low turnout and lack of general enthusiasm for this second round is also a climate that favors incumbent Erdogan. Getty Images The May 14 first round vote saw Erdogan finish with a nearly five-point lead, but barely short of the 50% threshold required to win. On Sunday Erdogan said, "This is a first in Turkish democratic history" while casting his ballot. "Turkey, with nearly 90% participation in the last round, showed its democratic struggle beautifully and I believe it will do the same again today," he added. Through the opening hours of voting there were accusations of irregularities and issues in various places, which is not unusual in a Turkish national election. Some local reports have claimed attacks on ballot observers, and one report of a deceased person listed as eligible to vote. Additionally, Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor has announced an investigation into social media accounts spreading 'disinformation' just ahead of polls opening.  Turkish TV channel provides voting instructions in a humorous way, depicting Erdogan on one side and a faceless candidate on the other, highlighting the importance of free and fair elections Erdogan Elections start in Turkey! ? pic.twitter.com/RaYh09sAso — Russian Market (@runews) May 28, 2023 While more than 60 million people are registered to vote, one regional outlet - Middle East Eye - has observed turnout appears low and slow so far. This favors the incumbent.  Kilicdaroglu's team has picked up on this, with the candidate tweeting for those who haven't voted to "go to the ballot box" and not be "lazy". He said the country's future is on the line and is "as close as walking distance".  #Turkish Prez #Erdogan casts his vote in decisive runoff presidential elections. Opposition leader Kilicdaroglu has boldly claimed voting for Turkish Prez is “a sin”, and sincere Muslims wouldn’t commit such an act. - IntelRepublic pic.twitter.com/rKjIspNFSv — Arthur Morgan (@ArthurM40330824) May 28, 2023 * * * Below is a quick primer and timetable of what to expect Sunday, compiled by Al Jazeera: Incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 69, seeks to extend his 20 years in power by a further five years. He faces 74-year-old Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main opposition candidate. In the first round on May 14, Erdogan won nearly 50 percent of the vote, followed by Kilicdaroglu at about 45 percent. Sinan Ogan, an ultranationalist who was eliminated from the race after coming third in the first round with 5.2 percent of the vote, has thrown his support behind Erdogan. Sunday is the first time Turkish voters have ever had to go to the ballot box for a second time to pick their next president. 74-year-old Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Via AFP Turkey polls open The polls opened at 8am (05:00 GMT) and will close at 5pm (14:00 GMT). Turnout has been strong since the opening of the polls, and observers expect voter participation to be high. Turnout was 89 percent in the first round. As on May 14, Turkish citizens living abroad cast their ballots before election day. About 1.9 million voted in 73 countries and at border gates. Both Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu have voted, the former in Istanbul and the later in Ankara. With just two candidates facing off, it is widely expected that results will be available sooner than the first round – possibly in the evening. Turkish electoral agenda The voting has so far gone off without any problems, according to electoral officials. In the lead-up to the first round, the campaign was largely centred on the state of the Turkish economy and the response to February’s devastating earthquakes, which killed tens of thousands of people in the south. The campaign shifted notably after the first round with the fate of refugees in Turkey and “terrorism” dominating. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) along with its allies secured a majority in parliament in the polls held two weeks ago. The AK Party came first in 10 of the 11 provinces struck by the earthquakes despite being criticised for a slow initial response to the disaster. In the run-off, the number of voters has risen by more than 47,500 people who turned 18 over the past two weeks, taking the electorate in Turkey to almost 60.8 million. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 14:24

— The Dodgers Have A Groomer Problem

 

at 5/28/23 12:00pm

The Dodgers Have A Groomer Problem Authored by Techno Fog via The Reactionary, For years, the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco has been a venue for public debauchery. Billed as “the world’s largest celebration of kink, leather, and alternative sexualities,” it brings together a perverse crowd to browse “exhibitors showcasing their kinky wares and ample live BDSM demonstrations over 13 blocks of historic Folsom Street.” Its current policy allows for public nudity and disallows public sex acts. But that wasn’t always the case. In the 2000s (and really up until recently), the Folsom Street Fair was notorious for allowing public sex acts (couples, solo, etc.), urination, and more extreme displays of bondage and fetishes. Nearly everything was allowed on the city street. I won’t go into further details on the acts themselves, but you can view the work of a photojournalist who was there. (Warning - it’s graphic.) And the public was there to see it all. Including children. In fact, until relatively recently, the event’s organizers welcomed children. Even kids in strollers. There were no age restrictions. The event’s executive director commented that he had seen “a thousand doting aunts and uncles, and a kid having the time of his life.” They disclaimed any duty to protect children from witnessing nightmare-inducing lude acts, saying “parents were responsible for determining whether the fair was suitable for kids.” One 2005 East Bay Times article described the story of “unlikely attendees” to the “kinky leather fetish festival.” Were they referring to celebrities? VIPs? Wrong. It was toddlers: “Two-year-olds Zola and Veronica Kruschel waddled through the Folsom Street Fair surrounded by strangers in fishnets and leather crotch pouches, semi and fully nude men.” Two year-old girls “surrounded” by nude men. The author didn’t disclose what those “semi and fully nude men” were doing to/with each other, but I promise you it wasn’t good. Local children who lived in the area had no choice but to look at the degeneracy in horror. One nearby resident, a 10 year-old boy, had the unfortunate luck of witnessing the Folsom Street Fair since he was 6. He described it as “pretty nasty because a lot of people here are naked.” Not all participants in the Folsom Street Fair thought it was wise to have children around. The presence of kids was too much for one solo performer: “‘Why do (these people) bring kids here? This is a leather fair for god’s sake,’ said Bahran Aliassa, who was masturbating in public. He has been doing it annually for the past six years.” When you’ve lost the public masturbator… All this leads to an important question: Who let the kids into the venue? The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. According to reporting from 2019, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence had “manned the gates” of the Folsom Street Fair for over 25 years. The group was a familiar sight to visitors: “Longtime attendees of the Folsom Street Fair are used to their first sight at the annual leather and fetish jamboree being the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, working the gates.” Photographic evidence proves their words to be true. As the group in charge of the gates, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence welcomed the toddlers, the 10 year-olds, the babies in strollers – many of whom would be subjected to men having oral sex. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence allowed entry for thousands of children who would be forced to watch grown men masturbate in public. Then there were the vendors that targeted children. In 2009, the Folsom Street Fair allowed for vendors that sold bondage gear for children. You can see an example of the display here and here. According to one now-defunct San Francisco blog: The booth was for a company called “Fetish Tots,” which makes custom leather fetish gear for kids. Their slogan is “Kinky couture for little people.” They had some little-kid-sized mannequins in baby blue and girly pink leather hoods, gas masks, and, of course, pacifier ball gags. That year, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were there at the gates, as usual, taking the entrance fees (some of which would go back into its pockets) so participants - some of whom were undoubtedly children - could take a look at fetish gear for 3 year-olds. And on June 16, the Los Angeles Dodgers will honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with the Community Hero Award and “stand in solidarity with them at Pride Night.” We’ve reached out to two individuals with the Dodgers press office for comment via email. They haven’t responded. Subscribe to The Reactionary here... Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 14:00

— Texas High School Delays Graduation After 85% Of Class Failed Requirements

 

at 5/28/23 11:30am

Texas High School Delays Graduation After 85% Of Class Failed Requirements A Texas school district has postponed graduation after 85% of students failed to meet the requirements to receive their diploma. KWTX Students at Marlin High School took a 'victory' lap on Wednesday and had been preparing for graduation later in the week, when Marlin ISD Superintendent Darryl Henson announced that just five out of 33 students would be eligible to pass following an internal audit of attendance, grades and credits. Seniors in the school's alternative education program were not included in the tally, NPR reports. School officials worked with students over the weekend and this week to help an additional 12 students resolve missing credits and other issues as of Wednesday evening, Henson said. But the district opted to call off the ceremony until more than those 17 students can graduate. The announcement was made via the school's Facebook page on Wednesday. According to GreatSchools.org, Marlin High School has a 2/10 rating. Just 12% of low-income and underserved students graduate prepared for college, while 37% of all other students are considered 'ready.' "It's emotional" for the affected students, said one parent during a Wednesday meeting with administrators in the school auditorium. "They get their hopes up: 'I'm graduating next week! I'm at Six Flags!'" she added, referring to the senior trip from the previous Friday. The school's director of human resources, Jesse Bustamante, told parents that "the support was there" - a statement which students disagreed with. One student said that when she was told she needed to do "credit recovery" for an online class earlier this year, it took three months — and repeated email requests — for the school to make the class available to her. -NPR The school's deal of instruction, William Ealy, said the school notified parents that senior students weren't on track to finish on time - and that they had held an open meeting, called parents, mailed a notice and offered to host meetings. "Let this be a lesson learned for all," tweeted superintendent Henson. "As we continue to go through our annual graduation audit, it's our obligation to ensure that all students have met all requirements." "Students in Marlin ISD will be held to the same high standard as any other student in Texas," he added. Our district will grow from this setback. Let this be a lesson learned for all. As we continue to go through our annual graduation audit, it’s our obligation to ensure that all students have met all requirements. Support, accountability, & integrity will remain at the forefront. pic.twitter.com/Pm1B2m1W9Y — Dr. Darryl J. Henson (@DrHenson2) May 25, 2023 According to the district, changes are coming to Marlin, as the school will convert to a four-day schedule next year in what the district's chief academic officer, Nikisha Edwards, says should reduce absentee rates. Can't be absent when you get the day off! Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 13:30

— Mr. Market Is Still In Denial Over TINA's Passing

 

at 5/28/23 11:00am

Mr. Market Is Still In Denial Over TINA's Passing Authored by Jesse Felder via TheFelderReport.com, Despite the stock market rally so far in 2023, the S&P 500 Index has not come close to regaining its all-time high put in early last year. What has soared to new highs, however, is the stock/bond ratio. In fact, its ascent has been so strong that, over the past two decades, the SPY-to-TLT ratio has only been as overbought (as measured by quarterly RSI) as it is today at the 2007 top heading into the GFC. It came close back in late 2018, just before the steep fourth quarter selloff that year, but didn’t quite manage to reach the level we see currently. So it would appear that stocks need bonds to rally hard and soon in order to justify current levels. However, if bonds rally because the economy weakens significantly, that would likely not be bullish for equities subject to significant earnings downgrades. And if bonds can’t rally, whether the economy falters in a meaningful way or not, that too could prove problematic for a stock market that appears far out of equilibrium with competing financial assets. In short, it looks like Mr. Market is still in denial over TINA’s passing. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 13:00

— Target Stores Hit With Bomb Threat After 'Turning Its Back' On LGBTQ+ Community

 

at 5/28/23 10:30am

Target Stores Hit With Bomb Threat After 'Turning Its Back' On LGBTQ+ Community At least five Targets in multiple states received bomb threats Friday over company executives pulling the Pride collection section because of mounting boycotts, leading to multiple stores being evacuated as police and the FBI searched for explosive devices. "Target is full of [redacted] cowards who turned their back on the LGBT community and decided to cater to homophobic right wing, redneck, bigots, who protested and vandalized their store," reads a threatening email sent to several Target locations in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania, Cleveland 19 News reports. "We won't stand idly by as the far right continues to hunt us down. We are sending you a message, we placed a bomb in the following Targets. We will continue to bomb your Targets until you stop cowering and bring back your LBGT merchandise. " One shopper told 19 News, "I know a lot of people around here are not a fan of LGBT that kind of stuff me personally I mean it's whatever. I never thought someone would go as far as a bomb threat."  In Utah, local media outlet KUTV said, "Bomb threats were made to Target stores in Layton, Salt Lake, Taylorsville, and Provo."  On Thursday, one day before the bomb threat was made, we reported a Fox News insider confirmed Target stores across the South and rural America removed controversial LGBT-themed products ahead of June Pride month to avoid further backlash. Some products ranged from "tuck-friendly" swimsuits for transgender people to gender-fluid coffee mugs. The insider said the reasoning behind such an abrupt move is "to avoid the kind of backlash Bud Light has received in recent weeks." As we noted last week... Corporations have freedom of speech under the First Amendment but have to understand if their political ideologies don't align with customers, then the people also have freedom of speech to voice their opinion. That's why corporations should probably stay out of identity politics or risk pissing off both sides, because what Target did by moving pride products to the back and scaling down the section will likely spark outrage in the trans community.  And the Target bomb threat comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a diehard progressive, tweeted, "CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage." "This isn't just a couple of stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country," Newsom said.  CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage. This isn’t just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country. Wake up America. This doesn’t stop here.… https://t.co/1vRgukaT0g — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 24, 2023 Did Newsom's tweet incite the radical left's attack on Target?  And congrats to Target's executives who have managed to anger conservatives and progressives.  Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 12:30

— Can A Soldier Come Home From War?

 

at 5/28/23 10:00am

Can A Soldier Come Home From War? Authored by John Waters via RealClear Wire, It has been said that a lifestyle arose after 20 years of the war on terror. People lived in the war long enough that it became an alternative to everything else. Better than a video game. Better than boredom. Going to war “was the only thing for a man to do, easily and naturally, when he might have done something else,” as Hemingway wrote. But the portal to war’s mystery closed once the fighting stopped. You feel the need to talk but there's no one who can listen. People have heard “too many atrocity stories" to be entertained by the simple truth that you liked it, that war magnified who you were. Once you lose the quality that made you vital, you discover the hardest part of going to war is coming home to face yourself. For combat veterans, the process of resuming normal life has meant a series of abstract labels and diagnoses. It began with post-traumatic stress disorder. Then came anxiety disorders. "Moral injury," discussed among mental health professionals if not operationalized for diagnosis, appeared somewhere along the way, but there have been many others. Daniel Swift, a Navy SEAL who died fighting in Ukraine earlier this year, had been diagnosed with something called "adjustment disorder." Evidently, it's a term encompassing feelings of hopelessness and anxiety experienced after a complex, stressful life event. For Swift, that event was coming home from war and attempting re-entry into civilian life.  Though war is among the hardest things a person can survive, it's not the only hard thing. Countless events unrelated to combat trauma can trigger dark feelings. Love, loss, and death form parts of everyone's experience, and the totality of their effect on our psychology and behavior can change who we are. When combat infantryman Bill Bee wrote about holding a Marine's hand as he died of a gunshot wound to the head during a tour in Helmand, most of us could imagine how it might feel (or remember how it felt) to be similarly helpless, holding a parent's hand as life fades away.   In her new book Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods (Princeton, 2023), philosophy professor Mariana Alessandri argues persuasively that so-called "dark moods" should not be shamed and covered in stigma. She frames these moods as natural responses to the skin-of-your-teeth, emotionally rich experience of living. "[In life], I don't think suffering is optional," she told me by telephone. Life, especially one that includes combat, will inevitably agitate and stir our "arsenal of feelings," and wanting constant positivity and success creates unhealthy expectations. Though her book does not contemplate how and why veterans deal with "dark moods" as they reassimilate to life after war, Alessandri was quick to acknowledge how cold the world can feel when a person is open about sadness, grief, and suffering. Perhaps medical health professionals and "superstar bloggers" have claimed too much responsibility for "narrating our psychic lives," she writes. It is okay to feel sad; the world has always been full of tragedy. We spoke about her book and inspiration, and how this brand of philosophy might apply to combat veterans. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Why did you write Night Vision? My book is getting categorized as self-help but that’s not my cause. I want to reserve a space to let people be themselves. I want to help people create spaces to allow one another to be truthful in their moods. I’m not telling people that you need to share your pain, but I am saying that if you want to share the pain, it gives other people an opportunity to love you. We’re not yet in a world of “night vision,” and so people might squander that opportunity and make it worse. Personally, my father passed away three months ago. Instead of hiding it, I just emailed all of my colleagues and told them my father passed away. It was a low-stakes touch. I saw the most beautiful outpouring of love from colleagues. People were volunteering themselves to me in ways that were beautiful and also surprising. When we choose to share (with eyes open, of course), we might find that people are waiting for an opportunity to care and respond well. It’s totally the individual’s choice. Do you believe we've developed a formula for living badly? We’ve developed a formula for living emotionally impoverished lives. In terms of how we treat ourselves and how we treat our emotions, and how we treat others, too. There is an emotional anemia. Emotional nyctophobia. I don’t think we’re good at handling people’s darker moods. We have been trained to celebrate being well, and we treat people better when everyone is doing well. As a philosopher, I’m very influenced by Plato’s Cave. I think the world is full of walls, that society is just walls with writing on them. The posters, pillows, coffee mugs—they all tell us messages. I’m getting my ideas from reading the world. I think philosophers ought to look closely at the world and read what it’s telling us. For example, my son’s soccer coach has a t-shirt that says #NoBadDays. Or, consider the poster in my local airport that shows a man in a dark tunnel with a small light at the end. The poster reads “It will get better.” You see book titles like “Eliminate Anxiety.” For all these signs, I read them and think: “Well, people must believe that these things are actually possible.” And so, though it’s well-intentioned, there is a focus on the bright side and not knowing what to do when we’re dark. The word “toxic positivity” is being used and it’s quite helpful. You write that “sooner or later, we pay the price of living […] No medicine is so powerful it can turn off pain.” How does the price manifest? The price manifests in suffering. Loving is the number one thing that invites suffering. Because everything you love will die or end, and that attachment when it breaks is what causes disappointment and pain. I don’t think suffering is optional. There is no getting rid of suffering, and my point in the book about pharmaceuticals is saying that there’s no way to get rid of something that is a part of the human condition. My idea is that we have to live with suffering in a way that honors the pain and honors the person or the love behind the pain. But you say the pain manifests in particular moods, no? Grief. Depression. Anxiety. Tell me about them. Yes, and some of the moods run into each other. For my purposes, grief is when a loved one has died and depression is taken to be a state without a cause, like an uncaused grief. I’m dubious of that explanation because we might be looking for causes when depression might be caused by a big success, such as when the author William Styron won a literary award and then fell into a state of depression. The point in the chapter on depression is that we don’t have to only medicalize these moods. I’m not trying to redeem the mood of depression or grief, but I’m trying to redeem the person. I don’t think you’re broken because you suffer depression. Anxiety, meanwhile, is a different beast. It’s the voice that will not stop. It’s so loud that you cannot stop hearing it. I’ll note that I use other languages in the book because using English only elicits reactions. Pain doesn’t just mean skinning your knee. There is pain of the heart, too. English-speaking readers might get hung up on the word itself and what they think it means when I want the thing to mean more. I find readers are more passive and open to listening when I use dolor or another word from a foreign language—it frees them up to understand. Are your views on dealing with grief, depression, and anxiety at odds with those of the medical community? I think before writing this book, I was leaning more on the side of being super suspicious of the medical-industrial complex that makes so much money off the suffering of others. But it’s a difficult question to answer. Therapies, diagnoses, medical treatments—they do a lot of good. Depression is the one that makes it very, very challenging to say “go on without medication,” though. The book Noonday Demon was a very good book on this. It’s dangerous to be completely anti-medical—depression can be a real force. But even medicated people are still living with depression, and so we need to understand the underlying emotion without casting ourselves or others as broken. There was a book in the 80’s called “Plato, not Prozac.” I would be happy if my book were called “Plato and Prozac.” My book is about seeing these moods and understanding them, rather than how to resolve them or treat them. Military experience teaches us that life is going to be hard. Troops train so rigorously to prepare themselves for inevitable hardships. Then, once service ends, we send them back home as civilians to lead lives that society says should be fun, happy, effortless, and free of inconvenience. When life isn’t immediately any of those things, there is confusion and suffering. What is this suffering trying to teach us? I’m struck that veterans have a potential understanding with each other that goes beyond the rest of society. If you can assume that people in your position have experienced something similar to you, then you don’t have to pretend. The world you come back to might be too light to understand you, and people want you to leave that behind and not have that hardship or combat continue to be a part of your life. I can imagine that the sort of connection among veterans can be profound. The Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno writes that suffering can unite us in a way that is joyous. Bodies are joined by pleasure but souls are joined by pain. Instead of trying to cheer each other up, people who share pain together have an ability to connect with one another that others cannot really touch. We don’t get to choose whether we do or don’t have suffering, but the suffering allows us to see other people in a new, profound way.    Your passages on anxiety made me think about how veterans struggle to find a new mission. Sometimes this struggle plays out in dramatic changes to their personal lives or professions. Divorce. Job-hopping. Is it possible that we have too many choices to make? Maybe. Classic existentialists think that we spend a lot of our time denying death. Kierkegaard calls anxiety a feeling of dizziness. When you tell a young person that they can do anything, you may think that you’re giving them hope and possibility but you’re also messing up their life. Freedom is a double-edged sword because it means you have the freedom to mess up your life. We take measures to tie ourselves down to reduce the options. For example, think about the midlife crisis. The midlife crisis is the time at which our bodies stop letting us fool ourselves and say, “Could it actually be different?” I see my students with their heads down and gently try to suggest that they’re not always going to be able to stay inside there, that something will eventually give. Psychologists call it drift, going with the non-controversial or least difficult option rather than sitting with it and figuring out what you want, probably trying different things. Why would we want to go through life sleeping? It’s easier, yes, but we don’t really stay asleep. I believe that philosophy is a discipline of awakening, not letting people sleep through life.  Intense experiences have a way of stretching our emotions. Many combat veterans relate experiencing extreme emotions after returning home from war, and how the expression of these emotions shocked their family, friends, or co-workers. Has it become unacceptable to express chaotic emotions? I don’t know. Some of my students tell me there’s funny social media outlets where they try to cry or look like they’re crying, like a feigned emotion. That seems strange to me, but professional society is different because the goal is not to look chaotic. I would love for the world to go down a few notches and not panic. It’s not cause for alarm. I think the more pressure we have to keep it under, the more harm that’s done to ourselves and the more opportunities are missed. Do you think a soldier ever comes home from war? The metaphor of coming home is very beautiful, but it’s not like home doesn’t have suffering, too, and so a lot depends on people’s attitudes. You cannot just advise people coming home from war to leave themselves behind. You will have grief with you and you need to be allowed to keep that. You have to have a family or community that’s willing to take you as you are, people who are not demanding that you just be happy already. I find that the phrase “adjustment disorder” is really funny. It shows that the adjustment is about how you need to adjust to the world, that the world doesn’t adjust to you, that society is fixed and unbending and that you’re going to have to change yourself to live here. But who should adjust to whom? Ultimately, I think the answer to your question depends on who is around him. I can picture it going very well or very badly. John Waters is a writer in Nebraska. His novel River City One publishes this fall.  Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 12:00

— 'Kevin Caved': McCarthy Savaged Over Debt Ceiling Deal

 

at 5/28/23 9:30am

'Kevin Caved': McCarthy Savaged Over Debt Ceiling Deal Update (1345ET): The hits just keep coming for Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as angry Republicans have been outright rejecting the debt ceiling deal which raises it by roughly $4 trillion for two years, doesn't provide sticking points sought by the GOP. In short, Kevin caved according to his detractors. BTW, were your voters clamoring for a $88 billion hike in the defense budget as part of a debt deal? What about affirming 97.6% of the $80 billion for the IRS; 4 months after the Clown House Vote to repeal the $80? Maybe you have polling that I don't have. I am just asking. — Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) May 28, 2023 Caved pic.twitter.com/ZRrwvCkgE4 — VK (@vjeannek) May 28, 2023 pic.twitter.com/4G4DgPHjte — #NeverForget911 (@TweepleBug) May 28, 2023 someone should come up with a saying for that https://t.co/NkdPJkebxD — Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) May 28, 2023 With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats? https://t.co/EFpSkh2N8q — Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 28, 2023 “McCarthy called the deal a ‘big win,’ claiming Democrats didn’t get “one thing” that they wanted out of the negotiations.” … except increasing debt another $4 trillion … … and to bear no responsibility for it in the 2024 election season. Except for those little things. pic.twitter.com/MmG3LNuAnr — Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) May 28, 2023 Some Democrats aren't exactly pleased either. "None of the things in the bill are Democratic priorities," Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told Fox News Sunday. "That's not a surprise, given that we're now in the minority. But the obvious point here, and the speaker didn't say this, the reason it may have some traction with some Democrats is that it's a very small bill." “None of the things in the bill are Democrat priorities.” —Democrat Rep. Jim Himes pic.twitter.com/WwJUepNhBg — Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) May 28, 2023 *  *  * After President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) struck a Saturday night deal to raise the debt ceiling, several Republicans outright rejected it before it could even be codified into a bill. Here's what's in it; The deal raises the debt ceiling by roughly $4 trillion for two years, and is consistent with the structure of budget deals struck in 2015, 2018 and 2019 which simultaneously raised the debt limit. According to a GOP one-pager on the deal, it includes a rollback of non-defense discretionary spending to FY2022 levels, while capping topline federal spending to 1% annual growth for six years. After 2025 there are no budget caps, only "non-enforceable appropriations targets." Defense spending would be in-line with what Biden requested in his 2024 budget proposal - roughly $900 billion. The deal fully funds medical care for veterans, including the Toxic Exposure Fund through the bipartisan PACT Act. The agreement increases the age for which food stamp recipients must seek work to be eligible, from 49 to 54, but also includes reforms to expand who is eligible. Claws back "tens of billions" in unspent COVID-19 funds Cuts IRS funding 'without nixing the full $80 billion' approved last year. According to the GOP, the deal will "nix the total FY23 staffing funding request for new IRS agents." The deal includes energy permitting reform demanded by Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) No new taxes, according to McCarthy. Here's McCarthy acting like it's not DOA: In the negotiations, Republicans fought for and achieved the most consequential work requirements in a generation. This is a win for taxpayers → we are no longer going to borrow money from China to pay a work-capable adult without any dependents to sit at home on their couch. pic.twitter.com/9Qyw0UKTQa — Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 28, 2023 Yet, Republicans who demanded deep cuts aren't having it. "A $4 trillion debt ceiling increase?" tweeted Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA). "With virtually none of the key fiscally responsible policies passed in the Limit, Save, Grow Act kept intact?" "Hard pass. Hold the line." A $4 trillion debt ceiling increase? With virtually none of the key fiscally responsible policies passed in the Limit, Save, Grow Act kept intact? Hard pass. Hold the line. — Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) May 27, 2023 "Hold the line... No swamp deals," tweeted Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) Hold the line. No swamp deals. #ShrinkWashingtonGrowAmerica pic.twitter.com/VPBPeq5z0i — Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) May 27, 2023 "A $4 TRILLION debt ceiling increase?! That's what the Speaker's negotiators are going to bring back to us?" tweeted Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC). "Moving the issue of unsustainable debt beyond the presidential election, even though 60% of Americans are with the GOP on it?" A $4 TRILLION debt ceiling increase?! That's what the Speaker's negotiators are going to bring back to us? Moving the issue of unsustainable debt beyond the presidential election, even though 60% of Americans are with the GOP on it? That must be a false rumor. — Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) May 27, 2023 Rep. Keith Self tweeted a letter from 34 fellow House GOP members who are committing to "#HoldTheLine for America" against the deal. I’m proud to stand with 34 of my House GOP Members as we #HoldTheLine for America! ?? pic.twitter.com/yftLnm90vG — Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) May 25, 2023 "Nothing like partying like it’s 1996. Good grief," tweeted Russ Vought, President of the Center for Renewing America and former Trump OMB director. Nothing like partying like it’s 1996. Good grief. https://t.co/7QuzHx07Kk — Russ Vought (@russvought) May 27, 2023 The deal adds $4 trillion to the debt, hands away all leverage to the Biden admin for rest of his term, in exchange for freezing/then growing the current woke & weaponized regime, with only 2 yrs of caps designed to fail. Conservatives should fight it with all their might. — Russ Vought (@russvought) May 28, 2023 In short: Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 11:30

— "Hard Pass": Here's What's In The Debt Ceiling Deal Republicans Are About To Nuke

 

at 5/28/23 9:30am

"Hard Pass": Here's What's In The Debt Ceiling Deal Republicans Are About To Nuke After President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) struck a Saturday night deal to raise the debt ceiling, several Republicans outright rejected it before it could even be codified into a bill. Here's what's in it; The deal raises the debt ceiling by roughly $4 trillion for two years, and is consistent with the structure of budget deals struck in 2015, 2018 and 2019 which simultaneously raised the debt limit. According to a GOP one-pager on the deal, it includes a rollback of non-defense discretionary spending to FY2022 levels, while capping topline federal spending to 1% annual growth for six years. After 2025 there are no budget caps, only "non-enforceable appropriations targets." Defense spending would be in-line with what Biden requested in his 2024 budget proposal - roughly $900 billion. The deal fully funds medical care for veterans, including the Toxic Exposure Fund through the bipartisan PACT Act. The agreement increases the age for which food stamp recipients must seek work to be eligible, from 49 to 54, but also includes reforms to expand who is eligible. Claws back "tens of billions" in unspent COVID-19 funds Cuts IRS funding 'without nixing the full $80 billion' approved last year. According to the GOP, the deal will "nix the total FY23 staffing funding request for new IRS agents." The deal includes energy permitting reform demanded by Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) No new taxes, according to McCarthy. Here's McCarthy acting like it's not DOA: In the negotiations, Republicans fought for and achieved the most consequential work requirements in a generation. This is a win for taxpayers → we are no longer going to borrow money from China to pay a work-capable adult without any dependents to sit at home on their couch. pic.twitter.com/9Qyw0UKTQa — Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 28, 2023 Yet, Republicans who demanded deep cuts aren't having it. "A $4 trillion debt ceiling increase?" tweeted Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA). "With virtually none of the key fiscally responsible policies passed in the Limit, Save, Grow Act kept intact?" "Hard pass. Hold the line." A $4 trillion debt ceiling increase? With virtually none of the key fiscally responsible policies passed in the Limit, Save, Grow Act kept intact? Hard pass. Hold the line. — Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) May 27, 2023 "Hold the line... No swamp deals," tweeted Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) Hold the line. No swamp deals. #ShrinkWashingtonGrowAmerica pic.twitter.com/VPBPeq5z0i — Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) May 27, 2023 "A $4 TRILLION debt ceiling increase?! That's what the Speaker's negotiators are going to bring back to us?" tweeted Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC). "Moving the issue of unsustainable debt beyond the presidential election, even though 60% of Americans are with the GOP on it?" A $4 TRILLION debt ceiling increase?! That's what the Speaker's negotiators are going to bring back to us? Moving the issue of unsustainable debt beyond the presidential election, even though 60% of Americans are with the GOP on it? That must be a false rumor. — Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) May 27, 2023 Rep. Keith Self tweeted a letter from 34 fellow House GOP members who are committing to "#HoldTheLine for America" against the deal. I’m proud to stand with 34 of my House GOP Members as we #HoldTheLine for America! ?? pic.twitter.com/yftLnm90vG — Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) May 25, 2023 "Nothing like partying like it’s 1996. Good grief," tweeted Russ Vought, President of the Center for Renewing America and former Trump OMB director. Nothing like partying like it’s 1996. Good grief. https://t.co/7QuzHx07Kk — Russ Vought (@russvought) May 27, 2023 The deal adds $4 trillion to the debt, hands away all leverage to the Biden admin for rest of his term, in exchange for freezing/then growing the current woke & weaponized regime, with only 2 yrs of caps designed to fail. Conservatives should fight it with all their might. — Russ Vought (@russvought) May 28, 2023 In short: Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 11:30

— EU Official Threatens Twitter For Pulling Out Of Anti-Disinfo Pact

 

at 5/28/23 6:45am

EU Official Threatens Twitter For Pulling Out Of Anti-Disinfo Pact EU officials have been mega-triggered after Twitter decided to abandon the bloc's voluntary disinformation "code of practice" that other major platforms have pledged to support. "You can run but you can’t hide," European Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted, ominously. EU Sith Lord Thierry Breton (L), Elon Musk (R) Twitter will be legally required to 'fight disinformation' in the EU beginning August 25th, referring to the Digital Services Act - a set of new social media rules that include fines of up to 6% of a company's annual revenue. Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide. Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement. — Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) May 26, 2023 The code of practice on disinfo is a voluntary set of rules that includes the tracking of political advertising, stopping the monetization of disinformation (like Covid originating in a lab? Questions over vaccine efficacy? Hunter Biden's laptop? Masks? Joe Biden having 'probably inappropriate' showers with his daughter?). Twitter is one of eight social media platforms which falls under the scope of the DSA - which includes Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Snapchat. Breton has threatened to personally hold Musk to account for failure to comply. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 08:45

— US Builds New Base In Northern Syria, Signaling Indefinite Occupation

 

at 5/28/23 6:10am

US Builds New Base In Northern Syria, Signaling Indefinite Occupation Via AntiWar.com, The US-led anti-ISIS coalition is building a new military base in Syria’s northern province of Raqqa, The New Arab reported, citing a source close to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The US backs the SDF and keeps about 900 troops (officially at least) in eastern Syria, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syria’s territory. The report said there are currently about 24 US-led military sites spread throughout eastern Syria. While the US says it’s in Syria to fight ISIS, the presence is part of Washington’s economic war against Damascus, which includes crippling economic sanctions. ISIS also holds no significant territory, and the Syrian government and its allies would continue to fight the remnants of the terror group if the US withdrew. But the construction of a new base demonstrates the US plans to continue the occupation indefinitely. In March, the House voted down a resolution introduced by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) that would have ordered President Biden to withdraw from Syria. The legislation failed in a vote of 103-321, with 56 Democrats and 47 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. The House also recently voted to maintain sanctions on Syria after an earthquake killed thousands of Syrians. Only two members of Congress voted against the legislation. The US could come under pressure to withdraw from Syria and lift sanctions on the country as more and more regional countries are normalizing ties with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Matt Gaetz speaks his mind on Syria: "900 Americans were sent to this hellscape with no definition of victory, with no clear objective, and purely existing as a vestige to the regime change, failed foreign policies of multiple former presidents." pic.twitter.com/Jc7UAYcaPq — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 8, 2023 Saudi Arabia spearheaded an effort to bring Syria back into the Arab League despite US objection. Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 08:10

— Gingrich: Where Are Woodward And Bernstein When We Need Them

 

at 5/27/23 9:30pm

Gingrich: Where Are Woodward And Bernstein When We Need Them Authored by Newt Gingrich via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The conspiracy between a corrupt set of bureaucracies (including the Justice Department, the IRS, and the intelligence community) and an equally corrupt and enabling elite media is astonishing. The Durham Report is just one more confirmation of the devastating level of dishonesty and manipulation which have characterized the last few years. The Department of Justice emblem at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in downtown Miami is pictured on Jan. 25, 2023. (D.A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP) Some analysts believe the open corruption can be traced back to Lois Lerner and the IRS scandal, in which she clearly stonewalled conservative organizations from getting tax status. When she was found to be in contempt of Congress, the Obama Justice Department spent two years ignoring the congressional contempt charge and then decided not to prosecute her. As Congressman Jim Jordan said at the time, U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen was “us[ing] his power as a political weapon to undermine the rule of law.” Jordan went on “Mr. Machen … unilaterally decided to ignore the will of the House of Representatives. He and the Justice Department have given Lois Lerner cover for her failure to account for her actions at the IRS.” The signal had been sent that protecting the left would itself be protected. This lesson was reinforced in the cover up about the terrorist attack at Benghazi. The Obama administration was worried that the killing of an American ambassador—despite his consistent appeals to the State Department for more security—would hurt the president’s reelection campaign. So, the administration adopted a strategy of simply lying to the American people. This began the week of the attack when the administration did everything it could to avoid responsibility for a terrorist killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens. In fact, the Obama White House immediately sent former United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice on five network shows to blame an American-made anti-Muslim video for causing the supposed unrest. It was exactly what Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick had warned against in her famous “Blame America First” description of liberals. We now know that the entire story was a falsehood, and no one in Benghazi was motivated by a film they had never seen. When then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before Congress, she dismissed the whole question of responsibility for the failure to protect Stevens. She even failed to be honest about his murder famously saying: “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?” The leftists in the national bureaucracies learned a big lesson from Lerner and Clinton. Whatever you need to do to defeat the right or protect the left is OK. You can get away with it. There is no responsibility for your actions if you are protecting the corrupt system. That lesson was publicly driven home in late June 2016, when former President Bill Clinton walked uninvited onto the airplane of Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the Phoenix airport. The FBI was investigating the former president’s wife (and Democratic presidential candidate) for a variety of charges including deleting more than 33,000 government emails and having staff destroy computer hard drives with a hammer. It is hard to imagine anything more inappropriate than a former president visiting an attorney general while his wife (and presidential candidate) was being actively investigated by the FBI. As then-candidate Donald Trump described in a tweet “Take a look at what happened w/ Bill Clinton. The system is totally rigged. Does anybody really believe that meeting was just a coincidence?” We now know from the Durham Report—and the reports from Chairman James Comer and the House Oversight Committee—that candidate and then-President Trump has been consistently smeared and defamed by corrupt elements of the Washington bureaucracy on a scale which makes Watergate look trivial. At the same time, the corrupt system was working overtime to protect Joe Biden and his family. The stunning dual nature of the corruption makes the present moment so dangerous for the future of the rule of law—and the entire constitutional process which has protected American freedom for more than 200 years. As deeply and persuasively corrupt as the bureaucracy has become, the other great decay since Watergate has been the corruption of the elite media. The New York Post, Fox News, and a few others have attempted some sense of honest coverage. Smaller conservative publications, podcasts, and social media have called out the big media systems for being active allies of the corrupt bureaucracy. Still, when needed, the elite corporate media have eagerly smeared President Trump and enthusiastically lied to protect the Bidens. There are no Bob Woodwards or Carl Bernsteins courageously working to uncover the truth and get it published. (Indeed, Woodward has reinvented himself into a chief Trump smear-monger.) There are no courageous editors like Ben Bradley backing up the reporters. There are no fearless publishers like Katharine Graham willing to risk lawsuits and withstand the anger of the government. Today, there is only a corrupt media protecting a corrupt establishment. The challenge to the American people to get at the truth is far more difficult than it was when Richard Nixon was under attack. The establishment rot threatens our survival as a free people, and it is increasingly difficult to uproot. Where are the Woodwards and Bernsteins when we need them most? Tyler Durden Sat, 05/27/2023 - 23:30

— Black Americans Embrace Florida

 

at 5/27/23 7:30pm

Black Americans Embrace Florida Authored by Jeffrey Anderson via American Greatness, Governor Ron DeSantis is standing up for everyday Americans, which helps explain why people of all races are moving to Florida in droves... These days headlines read like parodies, which is certainly the case with the NAACP’s recent announcement that it has issued “a formal travel advisory for the state of Florida.” That’s right: The NAACP isn’t particularly worried about black people visiting North Korea, Iran, or inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago. It’s worried about them heading to Florida’s beaches or amusement parks. Why? Because Governor Ron DeSantis has led “unrelenting attacks on fundamental freedoms” such as the freedom to teach critical race theory and other divisive racial and transgender propaganda, in the state’s public schools at taxpayer expense. In truth, Florida has led the nation in ensuring Americans’ freedoms, and black Americans have taken notice. During COVID, while 40 states issued mask mandates, DeSantis led the resistance against the public-health cabal and ensured Floridians could live their lives as freedom-loving citizens, rather than as masked subjects. As a result of this and other sensible and freedom-promoting policies, black Americans have not only traveled to Florida but have moved there in large numbers.  Indeed, based on statistics from the Florida Department of Health, the number of black people who live in Florida rose 5.5 percent from 2018 (the year DeSantis was first elected as governor) to 2021 (the most recent figures available). That’s even more than the 4.5 percent increase in the state’s white population over that span. And it’s more than three times the 1.6 percent increase in the overall U.S. population across that three-year period.  Since DeSantis was elected, roughly a quarter of a million black Americans have freely chosen to move to the Sunshine State. The disconnect between the views of most black Americans and the views of the modern-day NAACP could hardly be more pronounced.  The NAACP has chosen to ally itself with LGBT activists, decreeing that “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.” This “hostility,” the NAACP reports, is evidenced by DeSantis’ opposition to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group, issued a parallel travel advisory, claiming that Florida is “hostile” to gay and trans people, while also objecting to Florida’s newly passed pro-life legislation, which protects developing children in the womb against the abortion lobby.  Another LGBT group, Equality Florida, suggests Florida’s duly passed laws pose too much of a “risk” for gay travelers to brave the Sunshine State. It writes, “Taken in their totality, Florida’s slate of laws and policies targeting basic freedoms and rights pose a serious risk to the health and safety of those traveling to the state.” Amazingly, the NAACP accuses DeSantis of trying to “appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority” in opposing critical-race theory (CRT) and DEI programs. In truth, CRT and DEI are pushed by aggressive, well-funded leftist activists who are themselves a dangerous, extremist minority. In opposing their efforts, DeSantis is standing up for everyday Americans. Indeed, he has been a model for doing so, which helps explain why people of all races are moving to Florida in droves. Based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022, Florida led the nation in net domestic migration (which measures how many people moved to a given state from other states, minus the number who moved the other direction). Over that span, Florida added 563,000 residents in net domestic migration—more than the population of Miami. And it can’t just be the weather. Over that same span, California lost 802,000 residents in net domestic migration—nearly equal to the size of San Francisco.  The NAACP also preposterously claims that DeSantis is trying to “erase [b]lack history.” Perhaps the NAACP should limit its travel advisory to Walt Disney World, where a beloved ride based on slave folktales—Splash Mountain—was just canceled in an example of just the sort of wokeness that DeSantis is committed to fighting. Tyler Durden Sat, 05/27/2023 - 21:30

As of 5/28/23 7:55pm. Last new 5/28/23 6:50pm.