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We The People
Britain’s King Charles Diagnosed With Cancer
Britain’s King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment, according to a statement released Monday by Buckingham Palace. The statement does not detail what type of cancer the king has, but says it is a “separate issue of concern” that was discovered during a previously disclosed procedure for an enlarged prostate.
Charles is postponing “public-facing duties” while he undergoes treatment but will otherwise continue his “State business and official paperwork”, the statement said adding Charles “looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”
Charles was discharged from the hospital a week ago. A statement made January 17 by Buckingham Palace announcing the procedure for the king’s enlarged prostate said his condition was benign, the BBC reported.
Charles, 75, became king in 2022 upon the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II who passed away at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.
On Sunday, Charles made his first public appearance since his prostate procedure, attending church with wife Queen Camilla. Photos were posted on X Twitter by PA media’s Joe Giddens:
Statement by Buckingham Palace:
During The King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer.
His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties. Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual.
The King is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure. He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.
His Majesty has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.
The BBC reported Prince William, first in line of succession, is returning to royal duties this week after taking a break while his wife Princess Catherine recuperates at home after a two week hospital stay for abdominal surgery that was announced the same day as Charles’ prostate issue, January 17.
CBS News reported Charles’ estranged son Prince Harry is returning to he U.K. to be with his father.
-Kristinn Taylor, The Gateway Pundit
China Markets Slump to 5-Year Lows the Day After Trump Suggests 60% Tariffs on Chinese Imports
President Donald Trump joined Maria Bartiromo for an interview this weekend that aired yesterday on Sunday Morning Futures.
During the interview Trump suggested up to 60% tariffs on Chinese goods coming into America.
On Monday the China markets sunk to 5-year lows.
That didn’t take long!The Independent reported via Disclose TV:
Chineseshares gyrated on Monday, sinking to 5-year lows after market regulators sought to reassure jittery investors with a promise to crack down on stock price manipulation and “malicious short selling.”
Shares in Shanghai and the smaller market in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, swung between big losses and small gains throughout the day. The markets have languished on heavy selling of property shares, which are enduring a slump in the real estate market.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission held a meeting Sunday focused on stabilizing the markets, state-run Chinese media reported. A notice on its website appeared designed to reassure individual investors who account for more than half of trading volume.
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
House Speaker Johnson Declares Uniparty Border Deal ‘Dead on Arrival’ if Presented to House
Image Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
In a decisive blow to the uniparty effort to pass comprehensive border security legislation, House Speaker Mike Johnson declared the Senate’s proposed border deal ‘dead on arrival’ should it reach the floor of the House of Representatives.
Senate leaders unveiled the details of the long-awaited border security bill on Sunday, which also encompasses a significant foreign aid package. The negotiations were spearheaded by Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Chris Murphy (D-CT).
According to Democrat Senator Patty Murray, the $118.28 billion national security supplemental package includes:
Foreign Aid Commitments:
$60.06 billion in support for Ukraine amidst Russian aggression
$14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel
$2.44 billion to address U.S. Central Command operations and conflict-related expenses in the Red Sea
$10 billion in global humanitarian assistance
$4.83 billion to support Indo-Pacific allies against Chinese encroachment
$2.33 billion for displaced Ukrainians and other refugees worldwide
Border Security and Immigration Provisions:
$20.23 billion for border operations, policy enforcement, and narcotics interdiction
Introduction of the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act
$400 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program
Provisions for government intervention at varying thresholds of border encounters
Work authorizations for illegal aliens
Speaker Johnson has shown no sign of backing down from his stance.
In a tweet on Sunday, he voiced his concerns about the bill’s implications for border security and immigration policy, stating that the bill would exacerbate the existing border crisis.
“I’ve seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, “the border never closes.” If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival.”
A joint statement was also released by Speaker Johnson, including GOP Majority Whip Steve Scalise and Representative Elise Stefanik, denouncing the Senate immigration bill for its inability to secure the border and its potential to encourage illegal immigration.
House Republicans oppose the Senate immigration bill because it fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration.
Among its many flaws, the bill expands work authorizations for illegal aliens while failing to include critical asylum reforms. Even worse, its language allowing illegals to be ‘released from physical custody’ would effectively endorse the Biden ‘catch and release’ policy.
The so-called ‘shutdown’ authority in the bill is anything but, riddled with loopholes that grant far too much discretionary authority to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – who has proven he will exploit every measure possible, in defiance of the law, to keep the border open.
The bill also fails to adequately stop the President’s abuse of parole authority and provides for taxpayer funds to fly and house illegal immigrants in hotels through the FEMA Shelter and Services Program.
Because President Biden has refused to utilize his broad executive authority to end the border catastrophe that he has created, the House led nine months ago with the passage of the Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2). That bill contains the necessary components to actually stem the flow of illegals and end the present crisis. The Senate must take it up immediately.
America’s sovereignty is at stake.
Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is DEAD on arrival in the House. We encourage the U.S. Senate to reject it.
On Monday, Elon Musk shared a retweet featuring a video clip from 2022 of Mike Johnson, where he succinctly exposes a scheme by Democrats to convert illegal immigrants into voters, effectively countering Jerry Nadler’s arguments in the discussion.
WATCH:
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
Here is the Full Roster of Senate Republicans Aiming to Block the Uniparty Bill Proposed by RINO Sen. Lankford
A coalition of Senate Republicans has firmly positioned themselves against a controversial piece of legislation spearheaded by Senator James Lankford (R-OK).
The bill, developed in collaboration with Senators Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), has ignited a firestorm of criticism from conservative ranks, as it failed to adequately secure the U.S. southern border while allocating excessive funds to foreign aid.
The comprehensive $118.28 billion national security supplemental package bill, totaling $118.28 billion, allocates a staggering $60.06 billion to Ukraine in response to Russia’s aggressive military actions.
In contrast, U.S. border security efforts are earmarked to receive $20.23 billion.
According to Democrat Senator Patty Murray, the $118.28 billion national security supplemental package includes:
$60.06 billion to support Ukraine as it fights back against Putin’s bloody invasion and protects its people and sovereignty.
$14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel.
$2.44 billion to support operations in the U.S. Central Command and address combat expenditures related to conflict in the Red Sea.
$10 billion in humanitarian assistance to provide food, water, shelter, medical care, and other essential services to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine, and other populations caught in conflict zones across the globe.
$4.83 billion to support key regional partners in the Indo-Pacific and deter aggression by the Chinese government.
$2.33 billion to continue support for Ukrainians displaced by Putin’s war of aggression and other refugees fleeing persecution.
The bipartisan border policy changes negotiated by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and James Lankford (R-OK).
$20.23 billion to address existing operational needs and expand capabilities at our nation’s borders, resource the new border policies included in the package, and help stop the flow of fentanyl and other narcotics.
The Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.
$400 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help nonprofits and places of worship make security enhancements.
The bill will also:
If, over a week, the average number of people showing up at the border without the right to enter is between 4,000 and 5,000 each day, the government can decide to use this special tool.
If the average number goes above 5,000 people per day, then the government has to use it.
Also, if on any single day more than 8,500 people show up without permission, the government must use this tool right away.
But there’s an exception: kids who come to the border alone from countries that are not next to the US don’t count in these numbers.
Bill will also give immediate work authorization to “asylum seeker”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has issued an ultimatum, suggesting that failure to pass the bill could lead to American involvement in war, a claim that has been met with criticism, especially given that Ukraine is not a NATO member and therefore not under U.S. protection.
While RINO Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly in favor of the bill, a cohort of Republican senators are stepping forward in opposition, determined to block the ‘uniparty bill.’
Below is the full list of these senators who are publicly committing to oppose the bill, so far:
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN)
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO)
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH)
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID)
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)
Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) just announced his opposition to the bill
The Republican opposition appears unified in its stance against the uniparty bill, signaling tough negotiations ahead as the legislation makes its way through the Senate.
We will update this post once more senators have publicly refused to vote on this bill.
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
Wild Winter Storm Hits SoCal: Flooding, Mudslides and Debris Flow Damage Homes in Hollywood Hills (VIDEO)
California was hit hard with a winter storm and record-breaking flooding on Sunday night into Monday.
LA Fire Department responded to over 130 flooding situations and almost 50 incidents involving mudslides or debris flow.
To make matters worse, there were several structure fires that the Fire Department had responded to. There were also numerous rescues for stranded motorists who were caught in flood zones.
LA Police have also been called to over 65 traffic accidents with some involving injury. This was according to Kristin M. Crowley, who is the LA Fire Department Chief.
LOS ANGELES — Fire officials have responded to over 130 flooding incidents and 49 mud and debris flows, extinguished half a dozen structure fires, and conducted several water rescues for stranded motorists since the storm began this weekend, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin M. Crowley said today.
Los Angeles police have also responded to over 65 traffic collisions resulting in injuries since the storm began, Crowley said.
She stressed that “the hazards of this storm have not passed” and said the city is anticipating “another wave of heavy rain this afternoon.”
Debris flow buried a large SUV on Beverly Drive
Watch:
A storm chaser posted video of damaged vehicles
WATCH:
The storm has affected numerous areas of California from Northern all the way down to Southern California. There are flood alerts for 38 million people within the state. There are over 400,000 homes and businesses that are experiencing power outages, mostly in Central and Northern California.
There were mandatory evacuations in some areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara County for heavy rain and flooding. Tragically, at least two people have died from fallen trees.
The weather situation is changing so check for updates on local weather stations.
-David Greyson, The Gateway Pundit
Apple Vision Pro Turned the Real World Into a ‘Black Mirror’ Episode Overnight
Image Credit: SCREENGRABS: VICTOR_ABARCA VIA X, LENTINIDANTE VIA X, ALEXFINNX VIA X
The Vision Pro, Apple’s new VR and mixed-reality headset, generated a wealth of dystopian images as influencers took the premium device out for a spin in the real world after its launch on Friday.
Here are just a few examples: YouTubers Isaac Mosna and Patrick Tomasso went out for dinner while both wearing the $3,499 goggles; X user Dante wore the headset while in a self-driving Tesla, tapping at the air until the clip cuts to show him parked with police lights flashing in his rear window; a man wore his Vision Pro on the subway to work, which, again, to others looks like gesturing at nothing in the ether; Casey Neistat unsteadily climbed a set of stairs while responding to texts wearing the headset; and YouTuber Victor Abarca even held a dinner party where the guests clinked glasses while looking at each other through pass-through video feeds. In one clip, X user Alex Finn sits in his living room, surrounded by seven virtual screens showing sports and social media, before reaching for a sandwich (another clip, where he’s surrounded by TikTok videos, is even more disorienting).
While the creators behind many of these posts and videos lauded the Vision Pro—Neistat called it the “single greatest piece of tech I’ve ever used”—many observers pointed out that this is all just a little bit Black Mirror, and lamented a possible future where people walk around not looking at the real world with their real eyes, but a video feed. Even Tomasso, the YouTuber who went viral for eating out with the headset on, said there’s “something bizarre, something weird about having this buffer of technology between me and you” in his video, which is called “the sad reality of apple vision pro.”
The good news is that there’s very little chance of that sci-fi dystopian future coming to pass anytime soon. The viral content around the Vision Pro so far is just that: Content made by professional posters that is purposefully outlandish and provocative in order to get a reaction.
And the reaction, so far, has been highly reminiscent of the cold reception that Google Glass received a decade ago, when people who wore the smart glasses in public were labeled narcissistic “glassholes.” The Apple Vision Pro is an apparently very impressive piece of engineering, but one that is still clunky, massively anti-social, and, frankly, a target for opportunistic thieves.
There’s also the hefty price tag. The Vision Pro runs at $3,499 with the optional extra battery pack that lets you keep wearing it without being tethered costing an additional $199. This is not something that the majority of people are able to engage with, even if they wanted to.
The cost of entry into the Vision Pro’s so-called “spatial computing” experience is likely to come down, whether via Apple or the competition such as Meta, and the form-factor may improve. But until this can all be packed into a device as discreet as a regular pair of glasses, it seems unlikely that real-life Black Mirror will extend beyond people’s living rooms for a while yet.
-Jordan Pearson, Vice News
Watch:
Michigan city ramps up security after op-ed calls it ‘America’s jihad capital’
Image Credit: Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, D-Dearborn, speaks during a campaign rally for presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in Dearborn, Mich., March 7, 2020. Dearborn is ramping up its police presence in response to fallout from an opinion piece that described the city, which has the nation’s highest Muslim population per capita, as “America’s jihad capital.” Hammoud, who is now the mayor of Dearborn, tweeted on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, that city police increased security at places of worship and major infrastructure points as a “direct result” of the Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled, “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.” (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Dearborn, Michigan, is ramping up its police presence in response to fallout from an opinion piece that described the city, which has the nation’s highest Muslim population per capita, as “America’s jihad capital.”
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud on Friday tweeted that city police increased security at places of worship and major infrastructure points as a “direct result” of a Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled, “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.”
Hammoud posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, that the item published Friday “led to an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn.”
Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, who authored the opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he wanted to draw attention to protests in Michigan and elsewhere across the U.S. in which people have expressed support for Hamas since the start of the war with Israel.
More than 27,000 Palestinians, mostly women and minors, have been killed in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 more, mostly civilians, in the attack.“Nothing in my article was written to instigate any sort of hate,” Stalinsky said. “This is a moment for counterterrorism officials to be concerned.”
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond Sunday to requests for comment left by The Associated Press via email and voicemail. An email sent to a Dearborn spokeswoman also was not immediately returned Sunday.
In a tweet referencing Dearborn on Saturday, President Joe Biden condemned “hate in all forms.”
“Americans know that blaming a group of people based on the words of a small few is wrong,” Biden’s post read. “That’s exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town.”
-AP News
Texas Sheriff Jim Skinner Plays Video of Dallas Area Deputy in a Shoot Out with Cartel Driver Near Dallas – SHOCKING FOOTAGE
Via Ben Bergquam at RAV…
Sheriff Jim Skinner from Collin County, Texas, played video of a cartel driver caught in a shootout with a Texas Sheriff’s deputy. This was shocking video.
Sheriff Jim Skinner is a 32-year law-enforcement veteran who serves as the Collin County Sheriff in the northeast quadrant of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Sheriff Jim Skinner: What we have seen lately. Well, not lately. This has been going on now for hard for the past 18 months. But the level of violence that we’re encountering with the cartel operatives, the cartel soldiers, is ever increasing… Typically, we seize about $200,000 in cash a week. That’s southbound, along with guns and ammunition northbound. I can’t even begin to tell you, but tons of drugs…
…As the deputy approached the car the second time, after reloading and approached the window, this guy raised the pistol up at the deputy. So there was just no way he was going to surrender. And we see this more and more. And now on all these load vehicles that we’re stopping, we never, ever are stopping anybody that’s not on it.
And a new M.O. that we’re seeing, of course, I don’t know about everybody else, but the load vehicles now are these high performance cars. And they’re not putting them in traps anymore. They’re just putting it in Delta. Back on the back seat, they get lit, and they just run.
Ben Bergquam adds — It’s not just an invasion, this is a cartel insurgency being brought to you by the open border Democrats. Any Republican that votes with the Democrats to allow this to continue one more day it needs to be removed from office. Defund the NGO and prosecute the politicians that are behind this invasion/insurgency!
Via Ben Bergquam.
WATCH:
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
PBS Documentary Reveals J6 Committee Was All Publicity Stunt Meant to Manipulate Audience – An Assault on the American Conscience (VIDEO)
Wicked people.
The Biden regime is still using the FBI to round up, indict, harass, threaten, and ruin patriotic Americans who attended the Stop the Steal rally in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.The Biden DOJ is now arresting Americans who stood outside the building, committed no crimes, but were standing in the unidentified “restricted ground” around the US Capitol that day.
This photo shows the “restricted area” around the US Capitol on January 6 as labeled later by the US government. The media does not report that Trump supporters were gathering in this location because they had permits to hold rallies in this area.
Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in this area by the US Capitol because there were several Stop the Steal protests planned in this area. The rally organizers all had permits for their events.
Today there is video going viral from PBS where they January 6th Committee admits the entire thing was a publicity stunt meant to manipulate ordinary Americans.
This explains why they brought former ABC New President James Goldston on to create the vision for the grand production. Goldston envisioned the footage as a miniseries of propaganda.
Says James Goldston, “We knew how high the stakes were. We were either going to make people realize that this was important or once you’ve lost them you’ve lost them for good.”
Goldston and the crooked lawmakers who lied throughout the series and omitted critical evidence to exonerate conservative Americans feel no remorse for their actions.
From the production:
Adam Kinsinger: The one thing that we knew was the information that we have is compelling. The thing we needed to do was tell that to the american people in a compelling way. So that’s why we brought in a former president of ABC News.
James Goldston: Yeah, I got a call pretty much out of the blue from the January 6 committee. They wanted a storyteller, and while they were brilliant, they were brilliant lawyers. Storytelling for a mass audience is not what they do…
… When it came to that first hearing, we knew how high the stakes were… On the evening of June 9, doors opened. My heart was beating pretty fast on June 9, and it was a real question of, is this going to work or not?… We were either going to make people realize that this was important, or once you’ve lost them for good.
More James Goldston: I’m in this tiny control room right up the stairs from cannon caucus, and we count down to the start of the hearing. And at that point, what can you do?
Here is the video clip, via Eric Abbenante.
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
Meet Me in the Eternal City
I.
The international airport serving the capital of Montenegro has only two arrival gates, and last spring they were busier than usual. I was there for the same reason many others were: The tiny Balkan state had become the unlikely center of a mostly American social and political movement.
Specifically, I had come to observe Zuzalu, a two-month co-living experiment that had been organized—and to some extent paid for—by Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of the eco-friendly cryptocurrency ethereum. It was being hosted at a new resort and planned community on the Adriatic coast, not far from the village of Radovići. Part retreat and part conference, it was also a dry run for the more permanent relocation of tech-industry digital nomads to different parts of the world, where they could start their own societies and design them to their liking. Some 200 people had signed up for the full two months. Others, like me, popped in and out. The slate of talks for the days I was there was titled “New Cities and Network States.” European tourists smoked cigars on the promenade while Zuzalu attendees bounded around making plans for excursions and exercise and shuttles to a private Grimes show later on.
The network state is a concept first advanced by Balaji Srinivasan, a bitcoin advocate who is influential in tech circles. As he describes it in his book, The Network State, self-published in 2022 on the Fourth of July, a network state starts with an online community of like-minded people, then moves into the offline world by crowdfunding the purchase of land and inhabiting it intensively enough that “at least one pre-existing government” is moved to offer diplomatic recognition. There isn’t necessarily any voting; the best way to vote is by either staying put or “exiting” for another network state you like better.
Other than that, the model is choose your own adventure. Hypothetically, Srinivasan suggests network states for people who eat specific diets (kosher, keto), for people who don’t like FDA regulation, for people who don’t like cancel culture, for people who want to live like Benedictine monks, for people who might want to limit internet use by putting public buildings in Faraday cages. It doesn’t matter what the state is based on, but it has to be based on something—a “moral innovation” or a “one commandment.”
So, in Montenegro, inside a geodesic dome, presenters gave pitches for an array of proposed societies. The talks were of the friendly “no bad ideas in brainstorming” variety—propositions with enormous stakes presented one after another in an hour or less. Beginning as online communities, or as “decentralized autonomous organizations,” some would be built from scratch by people with a shared cause. Others would be start-ups in a more traditional sense—instigated by founders and run like businesses. For instance, Titus Gebel, a German entrepreneur, proposes the establishment of “free private cities,” where citizens are customers who pay only for the government services they intend to use personally. A city operator and a small governing board would make every important decision. “The current Western legacy systems are not reformable,” Gebel said during a presentation. “They’re not really serving people’s needs any longer.”
Later, I listened to a Q&A with Dryden Brown, the 20-something CEO and co-founder of Praxis, a venture-capital-funded group bent on escaping American democracy and all its flaws by building a new “eternal city,” also called Praxis, somewhere in the Mediterranean region. On the internet, Brown is combative and self-aggrandizing, but in person, he has the reflexive politeness of someone who is used to older adults referring to him as a “nice young man.” When he was in his early 20s, he posted a meme on Facebook identifying himself as “fiscally conservative and socially awkward.” He’d been avoiding me in New York, but when I appeared in Montenegro, he received me with surprising warmth (“You made it!” he said, after I sneaked into the Grimes show).
During his Q&A, he stuck mostly to oft-repeated talking points. His family fought in the Revolutionary War; he has wanted to start a new city since he was 15 or 16 years old; the important thing to know about Praxis is that everyone who lives there will be amazing. “If you’re able to get the next Elon to move to the city, that’s where the returns come from,” he said. Brown acknowledged the need to “attract and retain people who have that risk tolerance, that are talented, that have that high IQ.” He said the “high IQ” part twice.
On the second day of presentations, I had lunch with a biotech investor named Sebastian Brunemeier. (But he was fasting, so we only drank water.) Brunemeier, remarkably friendly and forthcoming, is a “longevity maximalist” who co-founded a venture-capital fund in 2021 to invest in something called LongBio. Now, he explained, he’s supporting a longevity-specific network state that would advance a cause he and others call “vitalism.” Death, they argue, is an option, not an inevitability. “The basic premise is: Well, if life is good and health is good, death and disease are bad,” Brunemeier explained. Citizens of this network state will be free to pursue a goal of longer, healthier lives outside the reach of U.S. regulation and its byzantine restrictions on medical experimentation. (Outside the reach of the U.S. tax code, too.) To start, they’re hosting a two-month pop-up city called Vitalia on an island off Honduras.
A smattering of other network-state-inspired projects are under way. There’s Itana, a new city in Nigeria marketed to entrepreneurs, which entices foreign business owners with tax incentives. The island off Honduras where the vitalism people are headed is home to an existing community called Próspera, whose settlers are already offering experimental gene therapy. The venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, a co-founder of Hyperloop One, is building what he calls a “smart island,” in the Bahamas. So far it sounds like a planned community with its own airport, but Pishevar has promised that his ambitions are much larger. “One of our next projects is an island that is bigger than Manhattan,” he said at a Srinivasan-led network-state conference in Amsterdam this past October. He didn’t name the location, but said he is negotiating a “treaty, essentially,” a 99-year lease with a host government.
These projects are pitched with a sense of grandiosity and grievance: The twisted bureaucracy of democratic governance is constraining humanity. Decades ago, we went to the moon; why don’t we have flying cars? Centuries ago, we praised frontiersmen and pioneers; why are they vilified now? Why all this disdain for the doers and the builders? Why all this red tape in the way of the best and the brightest?
Most of these projects are not yet real to the point of treaties and cement, but they are real enough in the minds of people who wield influence in a powerful, tight-knit industry. These people are energetic, creative, and sometimes charming. And they have their hearts set on a future that belongs to them alone.
II.
The idea of the network state is not a totally original one. The United States has a long history of secessionist yearning, and the specific dream of libertarian settlements populated by Americans has been in the air since at least the 1970s, when the reactionary Nevada millionaire Michael Oliver determined that “the real cure for this country is for the productive people to leave, and let the moochers tax each other.” As recounted in Raymond B. Craib’s recent book, Adventure Capitalism, Oliver first thought of building an artificial island in the South Pacific; his later schemes included invading some islands in the Bahamas and funding a right-wing separatist movement in Portugal.
The network-state idea also sounds a lot like the Patchwork concept proposed 15 years ago by Curtis Yarvin, a tech-world personality who is regarded as the father of neo-reactionary thought. In 2008, on his blog Unqualified Reservations, he wrote:
“The basic idea of Patchwork is that, as the crappy governments we inherited from history are smashed, they should be replaced by a global spiderweb of tens, even hundreds, of thousands of sovereign and independent mini-countries, each governed by its own joint-stock corporation without regard to the residents’ opinions. If residents don’t like their government, they can and should move.”
Like much of Yarvin’s writing, this post was heavily sarcastic and full of what one would hope is hyperbole. To rid San Francisco of the poor, he suggested “a little aerial bombing.” His tone could be why the idea languished for so long; that, and some of the things you’ll find in his Wikipedia entry under the headings “Alt-right” and “Views on Race.” Now, however, people who are tired of the messy reality of the United States are returning to Yarvin’s work with fresh appreciation. “He was just so early,” William Ball, a co-founder of the venture-capital firm Assembly Capital, said in a podcast interview.
In hindsight, the network state is clearly the dream that Silicon Valley has been building toward since the very beginning. In a famous 1995 essay, “The Californian Ideology,” the British academics Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron explained that the technologists of Silicon Valley looked forward to a future in which “existing social, political, and legal power structures will wither away to be replaced by unfettered interactions between autonomous individuals and their software.” The authors also observed, dryly, that California’s highways, universities, and extensive public infrastructure had all been built by complex bureaucracies and funded by taxes.
Two years later, the tech world produced its own version of the same thesis, without the analytical distance. The Sovereign Individual, by the American investor James Dale Davidson and the British journalist Lord William Rees-Mogg, was published just as the tech industry in California was rising to power. It was a manifesto for the concept of “self-ownership,” and displayed utter disdain for any kind of reciprocal relationship with government. Davidson and Rees-Mogg at times make their case with metaphors so distracting that the impact is somewhat muted. (“The state has grown used to treating its taxpayers as a farmer treats his cows, keeping them in a field to be milked. Soon, the cow will have wings.”) But the book is still read today—Peter Thiel wrote a new introduction for a 2020 reprint—because it predicted the development of cryptocurrency. It also predicted that, as nation-states became unwieldy, the most stable mode of government might become the city-state—“the old Venetian model.”
-Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic
Young adults are having heart attacks more often — What’s causing it?
Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. In the last few decades, though, with advances in the prevention and management of coronary artery disease, the occurrence of heart attacks in older adults has been declining.
Alarmingly, the occurrence of heart attacks and other forms of heart disease among younger adults (ages 20 to 50) is increasing. The increase in cardiovascular problems in this group, in 2020 and 2021, was so great that it contributed to declines in life expectancy.
So, what’s causing this disturbing trend? There’s evidence that these heart conditions are the consequences of poor food choices and lack of exercise. Here’s what to know about the signs of heart disease, what to look for, and what to do to avoid the largely preventable fallout resulting from unhealthy habits:
Heart attacks (myocardial infarctions) occur when the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen. Usually, the cause is partial or complete blockage of blood supply to some part of the heart. Symptoms in younger adults are the same as those in older adults, including chest pain or discomfort, which may radiate into the arms, jaw, neck, or back, shortness of breath, and weakness or feeling faint.
Other forms of heart disease include cardiomyopathy (thickened heart muscle), irregular, abnormal heart rhythms, and heart failure.
Heart illustration with magnification of the artery. Heart attacks (myocardial infarctions) occur when the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen. (credit: American Heart Association)
Research published in the American Journal of Medicine in 2019 assessed more than 2,000 young adults hospitalized for heart attacks from 2000 through 2016. The study found that 20 percent (1 in 5 people) occurred in patients 40 years-old or younger. These patients had the same risk as older adults to die from another heart attack, stroke, or other condition.
The increasing prevalence of heart disease is greater in young women than in young men. The women are more often Black, and have a history of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure, or a previous stroke.
Research shows that healthcare providers are prone to not taking the signs of heart disease in women as seriously as in men. They often pay less attention to managing risk factors, especially by prescribing fewer risk-reducing medications, according to a 2019 study in the journal Circulation.
The biggest risk factors for young adults
People are developing risk factors for heart disease earlier in life. Most younger adults who developed heart problems were thought to be in generally good health before their heart attacks. They were found, however, to have at least one condition which had put them at risk for a cardiac event. The greatest risk factors are:
There may be some genetic influences contributing to these conditions. Most, however, are the consequences of harmful lifestyle habits, which often start during childhood, says Eugene Yang, chair of the American College of Cardiology Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases Council. Tobacco, cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol use also increase the risk of heart attacks in younger adults.
COVID-19 has its own way of contributing to heart disease. It triggers the body’s inflammatory response, making blood thicker and stickier. Blood clots can form, clogging arteries and causing heart attacks. In 2022, The Journal of Medical Virology reported that heart attack deaths rose 14 percent during the first year of the pandemic. The greatest increase occurred in patients between the ages of 25 and 44. Why there was such a change in this age group is still unknown.
Research shows that about half of people under age 45 don’t think they could be at risk for heart disease. It can be a tough job to convince younger adults about heart disease and risk factors when they’re still focused on building careers and establishing families.
Life’s Essential 8 can save young adults
The three “P”s for reducing heart disease in younger adults are prevention, prevention, and prevention. The American Heart Association recommends following eight lifestyle habits they call “Life’s Essential 8”:
Healthy diet
No tobacco
Regular exercise
Sufficient sleep
Weight management
Watch cholesterol levels
Monitor blood pressure
Follow blood sugar levels
So, young readers, make having a primary healthcare provider one of the features of the map you’re creating to navigate life. Check in with that provider at least once a year, or as recommended for you individually. A family medicine provider can care for everyone in the family.
-Dr. Faith Coleman, Study Finds
Trump believes Supreme Court arguments to keep him on the ballot were 'very strong' and says January 6 was an 'insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi'
Minutes after his lawyers finishing battling to keep him on the ballot, former President Donald Trump stepped out of his Mar-a-Lago home and declared he was delighted with the morning's hearing at the Supreme Court.
He cut a relaxed figure on the steps of his Florida club as he said it had been a 'beautiful' thing to hear.
His lawyers had made 'strong' arguments,' he added, about the potential dangers of striking the 2024 frontrunner from the ballot.
But as he discussed the hearing, he turned angry at the way he said he his words on Jan. 6, 2021 had been misrepresented and he momentarily seemed to suggest the events did amount to an insurrection, before correcting himself.
'I heard and I watch and the one thing I'll say is they kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,' he said.
'Because think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi.
'This was an insurrection ... if it was an insurrection because there were, there was no anything ... except for the fact they shot Ashley Babbitt.'
Babbitt was a Trump supporter who joined the crowd that invaded the Capitol before being shot dead by a police officer.
On Thursday, Trump supporters lined up overnight to secure seats inside the Supreme Court to hear arguments that picked over some of the events of that day and once again highlighted the unprecedented nature of the former president's campaign.
And it is exactly the sort of case that justices prefer to avoid, setting the nation's highest court as the final decider in a political dispute.
The stakes could not be higher for the former president.
Last year the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump incited the attack on the U.S. Capitol, 'an insurrection,' making him ineligible to be on the state's primary.
On Thursday, the justices appeared skeptical about the arguments made by the Colorado lawyers.
Which was all good news for Trump, as he prepared to travel to Nevada where he is on course to win the Republican caucuses by a huge margin.
He emerged from his Florida headquarters minutes after the arguments had ended.
'I'm a believer in the Supreme Court,' he told DailyMail.com 'I listened today. Our arguments were very, very strong.
'An argument that is very important is the fact that you're leading in every race, you're leading in every state.
'You're leading in the country against both Republican and Democrats and Biden.'
'And can you take the person that's leading everywhere and say, Hey, we're not gonna let you run? You know, I think that's pretty tough to do.'
His warm words struck a contrast with his frequent appearances outside other courthouses. There, as he battles four criminal indictments, he has railed against judges, court staff and prosecutors who he says are embarked on a witch hunt against him.
In the case of the Supreme Court, he has the comfort of knowing three of the justices owe their position to him.
And his favorable assessment reflected the consensus view that the nine justices appeared poised to keep him on the ballot, reversing the ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court.
Judges there decided that Section 3 of the 14th amendment ruled him out. But it is the first time that part of the Constitution, initially added to keep Confederate leaders from taking up official roles after the Civil War, had been applied to a presidential candidate.
Although it applies only to Colorado, any decision will have an impact nationally, with other states likely to follow the precedent, derailing Trump's election hopes.
His lawyers are deploying a range of arguments to say the law was incorrectly applied.
They say the Jan. 6 attack was not an insurrection. And even if it was, Trump did not take part. He even used the word 'peacefully' on the day as he called on supporters to protest.
They also say that the wording of the relevant clause is designed to apply to 'officers' who take an oath - not presidents or candidates to be president.
On top of all that, Colorado does not have the power to disqualify Trump. Congress needs to implement procedures governing the process.
In the meantime, the case has allowed Trump to raise campaign money.
'Arguments have already begun,' he said in an emailed appeal on Thursday morning. 'So at this very moment, I’m calling on EVERY pro-Trump patriot to chip in and proudly say: KEEP PRESIDENT TRUMP ON MY BALLOT!'
-Rob Crilly, The Daily Mail
Iran retaliates for Gen. Soleimani's killing by firing missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq
Iran retaliated for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi air bases housing U.S. forces on Wednesday local time.
Washington and Tehran both confirmed that Iran was the source of the missiles. The extent the damage was unclear.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the strikes were a "slap in the face" to the U.S. and not sufficient retaliation for the killing of Soleimani, a top general, last week.
In a White House address, President Donald Trump said: "No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties. Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down."
He had earlier tweeted "all is well!" and "so far, so good!"
The attacks at 1:20 a.m. local time (5:30 p.m. ET Tuesday) came after Iranian leaders had promised "revenge" and "harsh retaliation" for Soleimani's death in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad airport.
A spokesman for Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said the timing of Wednesday's strikes was symbolic, coming at roughly the same time that Soleimani died, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said Wednesday his country did not "seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression."
The missiles targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. and coalition forces, the Department of Defense said in a statement.
One of these was the Ain al-Asad air base, which is around 100 miles northwest of Baghdad and which Trump visited in 2018. The Pentagon did not directly name the second base but said it was in or around Irbil, in the Kurdish-run north of the country.
NATO said in an emailed statement that there were no causalities among its mission in Iraq, which comprises about 500 trainers, advisers and supporting personnel from the U.S. and elsewhere. On Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had suspended training operations in the country.
U.S. forces at Iraqi bases most likely had some warning before the missiles struck, thanks to a facility devoted to detecting and providing alerts about launches anywhere in the world, according to public documents and a former senior intelligence official.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said in a statement he was warned by Iran shortly before midnight that the attack "had begun or would begin shortly."
Mahdi said he was told "the strike would be limited to the locations of the U.S. military in Iraq" and he "alerted the Iraqi forces and military commanders to take necessary precautions."
Mahdi said he had not received any reports of casualties among the Iraqi or U.S.-led coalition forces.
On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated that classified U.S. intelligence showed Soleimani was involved in planning attacks on Americans in the region.
The U.S. blames Soleimani for a spate of rocket attacks in recent months, including one that killed a U.S. contractor in late December.
Soleimani was one of the most influential figures in the Middle East, having developed a network of powerful militia groups whose clandestine reach stretched into Iraq, Syria and beyond.
The attacks are the latest development in the United States' rapidly deteriorating relations with Iran. Tensions began simmering after Trump unilaterally withdrew from a nuclear deal between Iran and several world powers in May 2018.
Source: Natural Earth - Graphic: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News
European allies have tried to salvage the deal, which restricted nuclear development in exchange for the easing of crippling economic sanctions. The agreement limited Tehran's uranium enrichment and the amount of enriched uranium it could stockpile, as well as its nuclear research and development.
Iran announced Sunday that it would no longer abide by the agreement and that recent events meant it would take an even bigger step away from the deal than it had initially planned, with no further limits on uranium enrichment.
Zarif said there "will no longer be any restriction on number of centrifuges."
Trump's decision to target Soleimani was met with mixed reactions, as some feared that the general's death would lead to another war in the Middle East.
Trump warned Saturday that the United States had 52 potential targets "very important to Iran & the Iranian culture" if Iran planned a retaliatory attack. The figure symbolizes the number of hostages held by Iran in 1979, when 52 U.S. diplomats and citizens were seized and held for 444 days.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted Tuesday that the U.S. and the world "cannot afford war."
"Closely monitoring the situation following bombings targeting U.S. troops in Iraq. We must ensure the safety of our service members, including ending needless provocations from the Administration and demanding that Iran cease its violence. America & world cannot afford war," she said.
-Courtney Kube and Doha Madani, NBC News