The Daily Dose Recap
Episode 582
Donald Trump put out a video honoring the patriots of D-Day from June 6, 1944. These brave men and women served and died for their brothers and sisters next to them and for their families and friends back at home. They did not necessarily fight for their country, more so they fought for people of that country. And our flag is a symbol of what this country represents, which is the heart and the will of the people.
I know that times are tough for people right now. And it does not make matters any easier with the threat of global war knocking at our door once again. And most people are oblivious to what is happening in the world. This machine just keeps on pushing forward. And it will not stop until enough good men and women turn and face that evil. It will not stop until enough people decide that it is time to defend the righteous and the free, and to defend liberty and justice.
And so, we move into the battle non kinetically with an open heart and hope that things will change, and the battle will be won. The future of our children and our grandchildren will not be at risk if we can stand up for what is right and true. We must keep our focus going forward, knowing that the men and women who came before us, who died fighting for our freedoms and opportunities, did not die in vain. This is an interesting time to be alive and we are all here for a reason.
RED ALERT: Pentagon mobilizing THOUSANDS of aircraft for WWIII confrontations with China, Russia
According to sources (see below), the Pentagon is now taking thousands of mothballed military aircraft and restoring them to full-service capability in an obvious run-up to World War III with both China and Russia. These aircraft reportedly include F-16s, C-130 transport planes, AWACS aircraft and more.
This intel has been related by John Moore, The Liberty Man, in his June 5, 2023 broadcast, available at the John Moore Show channel on Brighteon.com.
I called John Moore yesterday to ask for additional confirmation. He reiterated that his military-tied sources were observing (so far) hundreds of aircraft at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona being taken out of storage and restored to full-service capacity. This process has only been under way for a few weeks, and it appears to involve hundreds of military personnel.
Once restored, the aircraft are reportedly being sent to two destinations: 1) The Philippines (a staging area for war with China), and 2) Europe (most like Poland), a staging area for war with Russia. This indicates that the Pentagon is gearing up for kinetic conflict with both Russia and China in the near future.
Following the fall of Bakhmut and the failed counteroffensive that fizzled, Ukraine appears to have run out of steam (and men) to fight Russia. This means direct NATO engagement of Russia is likely not far away. The “proxy” stage of this war, in other words, is drawing to an end, and NATO forces will soon be fighting Russian forces directly.
This means the world will soon be engulfed in global war, and that war is likely to go nuclear. Russia, it turns out, has the most advanced nuclear ICBMs and nuclear-equipped hypersonic missiles in the world, and once NATO unambiguously enters the war, every American city will become a “legitimate” nuclear target in the eyes of Russia.
This is what corrupt fake president Joe Biden is attempting to achieve: The nuking of America by Russia. This is how Democrats and communists plan to destroy the United States of America while blaming it all on Russia.
-Mike Adams, Natural News
We all woke up and saw the news that there was a dam that had blown up in Ukraine. And it reminds us of the missile that flew into Poland, killing innocent civilians. It reminds us of the Nord Stream Pipeline, where we all watched the P8 fly into it from the United States. Seymour Hersh came out with an expose on the pipeline, saying that it was the CIA who did this and that they were running a clandestine operation. And now we are seeing reports that the US knew about it months in advance.
US Knew Ukraine Planned To Blow Up Nord Stream Pipeline 3 Months Before It Happened: WaPo
The Washington Post is reporting that an unnamed European intelligence service told the CIA that Ukraine's military was planning an attack on the Nord Stream pipelines a full three months before the September 26, 2022 sabotage blasts which disabled them.
The revelation is based on Pentagon and classified intelligence documents leaked by Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, or part of the so-called Discord leaks. The intelligence report in question was drafted in June 2022 and shared with the Biden administration, which means the White House has known all along that the "Putin did it" narrative which the West rallied around was false from the start. According to the new report published Tuesday:
Details about the plan, which have not been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022. They provide some of the most specific evidence to date linking the government of Ukraine to the eventual attack in the Baltic Sea, which U.S. and Western officials have called a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage on Europe’s energy infrastructure.
Among the more interesting aspects to the intelligence leak is that it says the Ukrainians conducting the sabotage operation reported directly the country’s top military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in order to avoid sharing it with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, likely for the sake of plausible deniability.
The US government reportedly saw the information as of enough importance or authenticity to share it with Germany and other European intelligence services. It appears to be based on a single source or asset in Ukraine: "The intelligence report was based on information obtained from an individual in Ukraine" - as the Post report indicates.
The intelligence describes a plot which is very similar to a theory which recently came to prominence as German investigators spent months attempting to uncover a culprit, which claimed that six individuals under false identifies utilizing a small boat conducted a deep diving operation in the Baltic Sea to plant the explosives on the pipeline.
The Washington Post writes in its Tuesday report, "The highly specific details, which include numbers of operatives and methods of attack, show that for nearly a year Western allies had a basis to suspect Kyiv in the sabotage."
"That assessment has only strengthened in recent months as German law enforcement investigators uncovered evidence about the bombing that bears striking similarities to what the European service said Ukraine was planning."
And WaPo offers the following verification that European intel services were briefed by the US on the information in its possession: "Officials in multiple countries confirmed that the intelligence summary posted on Discord accurately stated what the European service told the CIA."
The paper noted: "The Post agreed to withhold the name of the European country as well as some aspects of the suspected plan at the request of government officials, who said exposing the information would threaten sources and operations."
The timing of this revelation is interesting, as the WaPo report was published the same day as the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam was blown up. In fact, Russians are already seizing on the parallels...
Many are now calling it the new Nord Stream sabotage mystery, as just like with the pipeline attack both the Russian and Ukrainian sides are quickly pointing the finger at the other.
One thing is clear in the wake of Tuesday's Washington Post Nord Stream reporting: the White House is lying about major, war-shaping events related to Ukraine. The US is lying about the conflict, and the US has been lying for a long time.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
Whether this is real or not, I do believe that it was not just Ukraine who did this and that the United States was involved. The reason is because they want a distraction so large that nobody can ignore it. They want to ship off all able-bodied men and women out of this country and they need a reason to do that. And that reason is World War 3. They need to blame Russia for some form of attack on a NATO nation or on innocent civilians in order to get this war started.
So, what are some things that we know about this dam? It is a hydro-electric power plant in the city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region of Ukraine. But this area is actually occupied by Russia. This dam supplies energy to Crimea, and it was Russia who built it. So strategically, there is no reason for Russia to take out this dam. They have no benefit to gain from this and the threat that it brings is nuclear meltdown and loss of innocent lives.
And I believe that this was just another false flag operation done by Ukraine and the United States to further instigate a war. We are seeing US politicians crying out that Russia had destroyed the dam, without any evidence to validate what they were saying. And this is how you know, when the accusations start flying directly after the event.
Watch here:
Tucker reappeared to broadcasting with his first 10-minute expose on Twitter, and he held nothing back. He has been off the air for about a month now. But now he has come to Twitter, unhinged, with his own production team. He is his own boss. And I think that we can expect to see Tucker start to ask the hard questions, especially when he has guests on.
Netanyahu Threatens Iran, Slams IAEA Amid Major War Drills
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ramped up his threats of war against Iran and slammed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, for cooperating with Tehran on Sunday.
Netanyahu’s warning was included as part of a video statement recorded from Tel Aviv’s underground command bunker – at Israel’s military headquarters – where a rare cabinet war drill was convened. The Israeli leader reemphasized his willingness to launch a preemptive war, including bombing the country’s nuclear facilities, if international diplomacy fails with Iran.
"We are committed to acting against Iran’s nuclear [drive], against missile attacks on Israel and the possibility of these fronts joining up," Netanyahu said. The stepped-up threats come as Israel is carrying out a two-week series of military exercises dubbed "Firm Hand." The drills are eyeing a war on multiple fronts with Lebanese Hezbollah, Syria, as well as Iran, simulating "multi-arena combat" across the "air, sea, land, electromagnetic spectrum, and in the cyber arena."
Since taking power last December, the current regime in Israel has waged a brutal bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip which has killed 33 people, doubled the number of air raids in Syria, conducted strikes in Lebanon, as well as drone attacks in Iran. Additionally, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 119 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem so far this year.
While flanked by his security cabinet ministers and defense chiefs, Netanyahu warned that the possibility of a multi-front war means Israeli leadership must "consider, if possible, consider ahead of time," major decisions.
Earlier, Netanyahu also took aim at the IAEA, after the Vienna-based org reportedly resolved some outstanding inquiries with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear energy program. The concerns put to rest pertained to one of three so-called "undeclared" nuclear sites, where trace particles of unprocessed uranium had been found previously, as well as some recently discovered highly enriched uranium particles.
Netanyahu blasted the IAEA’s success with Tehran, including re-installing some monitoring equipment originally put in place under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal which the US illegally exited. The Israeli leader declared "Iran is continuing to lie to the International Atomic Energy Agency," insisting the "agency’s capitulation to Iranian pressure is a black stain on its record."
Without providing evidence to support his claims, Netanyahu said Iran’s explanations are "technically impossible," and that the agency is politicizing the issue and endangering its own credibility. However, coming under pressure from the US and Israel in recent years, the watchdog group has been increasingly politicized against Tehran.
The issue of the unprocessed uranium traces found at what have long been dubbed the "undeclared sites," an allegation which originated in Israel, is highly controversial. This is because the trace particles themselves never posed any proliferation risk, but the allegation has long been used by Washington and Tel Aviv to thwart diplomatic progress on saving the JCPOA. Iran provided the IAEA with full documentation on these inquiries last year and allowed inspectors to access to the sites as well. Only now is the Islamic Republic’s cooperation being officially recognized, something which the White House had actively opposed.
For their part, the Israelis have railed against the JCPOA, hailed the US "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign, and called for a credible military threat against Iran. If Israel was truly concerned about Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, Netanyahu would support the JCPOA, which mandates the most comprehensive international inspections regime ever implemented.
In any case, both the Pentagon and the CIA have repeatedly denied Israel’s accusations that Iran is seeking a nuclear bomb and the country has been a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for more than 50 years. Israel has never signed the NPT due to its open-secret nuclear arsenal thought to contain hundreds of warheads – technically making decades of American aid to Tel Aviv illegal under US foreign assistance laws.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
I have been talking about this for a while. That once Iran is confirmed to have the nuclear weapons, Israel is going to launch a nuclear assault on their facilities. And this would be the beginning of World War 3.
SEC Files Motion to Freeze Crypto Held by Binance.US
The SEC is filing a motion to freeze all crypto held by the Binance exchange. The Security Exchange Commission is hoping to freeze all assets related to Binance with a temporary restraining order.
A court filing made in the D.C. District Court asks for approval to freeze assets tied to BAM Management US Holdings and BAM Trading Services. These are the holding and operating firms for Binance.US. This is following the SEC’s official lawsuit against Binance, which was filed on Monday.
A filing by the SEC reads:
“The SEC respectfully submits that this relief is necessary on an expedited basis to ensure the safety of customer assets and prevent the dissipation of available assets for any judgment, given the Defendants’ years of violative conduct, disregard of the laws of the United States, evasion of regulatory oversight, and open questions about various financial transfers and the custody and control of Customer Assets – including by Defendants who claim they are not subject to the Court’s jurisdiction – as described in the Complaint, Memorandum of Law, and supporting materials.”
If the order is granted by the court, Binance will have to ensure that only Binance.US have access to customer funds within the next five days. Within 30 days, all customer assets would be transferred to new wallets that only Binance.US can access.
Neither Binance nor CEO Changpeng Zhao have yet to comment on the latest filing to freeze all crypto held on the site by the SEC.
-Michael Grullon, Watcher Guru
If you have a Binance account and you have crypto on there, I would highly recommend getting it off. This is really similar to what I have been talking about when it comes to the seizing of bank assets.
JUST-IN: Mel Gibson and Tim Ballard Reportedly Involved in 4-Part Docuseries on Global Child Sex Trafficking in Ukraine and Elsewhere
Rumors are swirling on social media that Mel Gibson is involved in a four-part docuseries with Operation Underground Railroad founder Tim Ballard exposing child sex trafficking in Ukraine and worldwide.
Leading Report tweeted about the upcoming docuseries on Tuesday.
Kari Lake later tweeted a photo of her with Gibson saying, “We talked about the tragedy at our border and the horrific child trafficking that’s happening the day this photo was taken. Mel Gibson’s heart and soul are in the right place. We are praying for you and rooting for you. God bless you Mel!”
News Week reports,
Despite the founder of O.U.R., Tim Ballard suggesting in January 2023 that Gibson was involved in his upcoming four-part docuseries, Gibson’s representative has told Newsweek that none of the reports are accurate.
Several links are being made between Gibson and the nonprofit O.U.R., which was founded and run by former CIA member Ballard. A picture of Gibson wearing an O.U.R. branded hat was shared online, suggesting an announcement was coming soon from Ballard, but the picture was originally posted online in July 2022 as evidenced by a Reddit thread.
Ballard, the founder of O.U.R., spoke at a conference in Utah in January 2023 and detailed his relationship with Gibson, revealing the actor’s passion for his charity.
Though he’s not credited on IMDb, Ballard claims Gibson did the final edit for his movie Sound of Freedom. Through this relationship, Ballard claims Gibson rang him at the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 and asked him to help rescue children from the country.
It is possible that Gibson is keeping the film quiet for his own safety.
Tim Ballard of Operation Underground Railroad told the crowd at the Utah Eagle Forum 2023 Annual Convention in January that a four-part docuseries, executive produced by Tony Robbins, was already in the works and suggested that Gibson was involved.
Ballard: I got a phone call from Mel Gibson… This was hours after the invasion, and he said he supports a bunch of orphans in Ukraine, and he was worried about them, and he asked if I could help get them out. So, now I’ve got 12 from my wife, and about 13 others from Mel Gibson. And I’m thinking, okay, I got this list of kids, I gotta get out. I told Mel, I said, you gotta help me this is gonna be expensive. I won’t ask you for a direct donation, but can you help me film this? You know this film was happening so we can get people to understand, and they can support us. He said no problem. He helped us get set up and started filming. Four months later, what I thought was going to be maybe a documentary about Ukraine ends up being a four-part docuseries. It’s almost done. It’s being produced by DNA films. and executive produced by Tony Robbins. That’s how crazy it got and how prophetic my wife was. When I showed up in Ukraine with a list of, I think, 20 names, the Ukrainians countered me and gave me over 10,000 names of orphans that they didn’t know where they were because of the chaos caused by war. And more importantly, and more frightening to me, was the fact that I know that human trafficking is a $32 billion-a-year business. It’s the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, and I also know how kids get forced into that market. And it’s through vulnerable situations, like in the aftermath of a hurricane, mostly in a developed country or an earthquake, or in this case, a war. And so, the traffickers call it harvest time, and that was the intel we were getting. And so, we weren’t just there to extract those kids but look for leads. And it really was a miracle what happened, you know, it’s one of these things that, you know, faith precedes the miracle.
-Jordan Conradson, Gateway Pundit
What Are Older Office Towers Worth in the New Era? Second San Francisco Office Tower Sells for 70% Off Original Listing Price
The burning question arose over the past two years what these largely empty older office towers in San Francisco are worth.
The market had frozen over. There were no transactions because no one knew what anything was worth as San Francisco’s office market has morphed in just a few years from being one of the hottest office markets in the US with a vacancy rate of 7% in 2019 and some of the highest rents in the US, to being put on ice by working-from-home. About 33% of all office space is now on the market for lease – worse even than Houston, which was for years the worst office market in the US.
So now there’s the second deal in about a month — though the sale hasn’t closed yet. Wells Fargo found a buyer for one of its office towers in San Francisco, the 13-story 355,000-square-foot 1960s-era tower at 550 California, across the street and around the corner from its headquarters tower on Montgomery.
Wells Fargo had purchased the tower in 2005 for $108 million. It is vacating the building. Last year, it listed it for $160 million, but then pulled the listing after receiving bids reportedly below $40 million. Earlier this year, it engaged real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured to relist the tower.
And it has now made a deal – the name of the buyer has not been disclosed – for about $42.6 million to $46 million ($120 to $130 per square foot), according to sources cited by the San Francisco Business Times. That would be 71% below the original asking price and nearly 60% below the purchase price in 2005.
The first tower to find a buyer in the new era of working-from-home and office-footprint reduction had been the Union Bank headquarters tower at 350 California, which changed hands in early May at 75% off the original listing price in 2020, at around $200 to $225 per square foot. But it had undergone $41 million in seismic upgrades and renovations recently.
The price of the Wells Fargo tower ($120 to $130 per square foot) and the price of the Union Bank tower ($200 to $225 per square foot) now serve as benchmark for other older office towers. It seems, as price discovery is beginning to take place, the door has been opened to more deals.
And maybe the buyers, who will have a much lower cost basis, can figure out what to do with those towers, such as leasing office space at lower rents that are attractive to potential tenants, which could then start bringing down the prohibitive office rents in the city.
Office-to-residential conversions are now a hot topic in San Francisco. Everyone knows that if it can happen, it should happen. Earlier this year, the mayor’s office introduced legislation that would amend the planning codes to make conversions easier. So, we’re off to the political races. But a conversion, if it even makes economic sense, will take years.
Neither the Wells Fargo tower nor the Union Bank tower involve defaults, foreclosure sales, and huge losses for creditors. There are no hapless CMBS holders involved that would lose their shirts. The towers did not serve as collateral for debt. Both properties have been owned by banks for many years to use as their offices. But the banks – like most other major companies in the area – are shrinking their office footprint. And in doing so, they’re now establishing benchmark prices.
-Wolf Richter, Wolf Street
Commercial real estate is where it starts.
Target shares plunge 2% as market cap down over $13 billion amid Pride backlash
Target shareholders continue to bear the brunt of the big-box retailer’s Pride merchandising controversy, as the company fell another 2.03% on Monday.
Since the backlash, Target's market value has fallen over $13 billion to $60.24 billion as of Monday's closing price. Target’s market value was over $74 billion before the polarizing Pride displays made national news. Target initially irked conservatives with over-the-top Pride displays that featured a plethora of children’s items, but outraged the LGBTQ community when the displays were dialed back ahead of Pride month.
Monday’s decline leaves shares at $130.52 per share. The retailer recently suffered nine-straight days of losses on the heels of backlash from both sides of the issue.
KeyBanc Capital Markets, on Monday, cut the retailer's shares to "sector weight" from "overweight" as the resumption of student loan payments stipulated by Congress' debt ceiling agreement poses a sizable headwind for discretionary spending for shoppers, which has an elevated discretionary sales mix and a younger, college-educated core consumer demographic.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Target stock last week from "overweight" to "neutral," with analysts citing the possibility of a decline in sales due to consumers pulling back spending amid persistent inflation.
Target shares have fallen over 20% during the quarter as the retailer deals with the fallout from its Pride merchandising displays.
Last month, Target confirmed "adjustments" to the Pride merchandising plans were underway after Fox News Digital learned it rolled back displays at some of its locations. A Target insider told Fox News Digital that some Southern stores were forced by the corporation to move LGBTQ Pride merchandise away from the front of their locations after customer outrage to avoid a "Bud Light situation."
The Pride merchandise continued to cause problems for Target when many LGBTQ advocates slammed the company for moving the merchandise. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom even accused Target of participating in a "systematic attack" on LGBTQ communities across the country.
LGBTQ advocate Heather Hester scolded Target’s "rainbow capitalism" last week.
"Really what Target ultimately did was show that they were in this just for the money," Hester told Fox News Digital.
"Rainbow capitalism is essentially, you know, selling Pride products for profit and not necessarily standing behind the community with support," Hester continued. "That's what happened, right? There are a lot of things that go into that, but that is what happened at the end of the day."
The retailer, which has supported LGBTQ Pride for years, this season offered merchandise that included female-style swimsuits that have the option to "tuck" male genitalia. Other products were labeled as "Thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions." Target also sold a "Gender Fluid" mug, a variety of adult clothing with slogans such as "Super Queer" and a "Grow at Your Own Pace" saucer planter in addition to controversial items for kids including a coloring book that features same-sex couples kissing.
Separately, the retailer's Pride collection has been linked to controversial designer Erik Carnell of Abprallen, who is an outspoken Satanist whose brand features occult imagery and messages like "Satan respects pronouns" on brand apparel.
The organization, GLSEN, has received at least $2.1 million in donations from Target, which offers districts and students guidance on how to hide gender transitions from parents.
-Brian Flood, Fox News
America First Legal Demands Target Corporation Produce its Books and Records Regarding its Reckless LGBT Political Agenda and the Corporation’s $12 Billion Loss in Market Valuation
Today, America First Legal (AFL), on behalf of its client, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), served the Target Corporation with a formal demand for the production of corporate books and records, seeking transparency regarding its management’s radical LGBT political agenda that has apparently cost the corporation over $12 billion in market valuation since mid-May 2023. NCPPR is a Target shareholder.
Target’s 2022 annual report acknowledges that the corporation’s core customer base is made up of “families.” It further recognizes the serious risk to Target’s company’s financial prospects if that core customer base sours on the corporation: “Our continued success is dependent on positive perceptions of Target which, if eroded, could adversely affect our business and our relationships with our guests and team members.”
Nevertheless, the evidence is that Target’s management has recklessly bent the knee to the radical left. Serving “stakeholders,” not shareholders, Target’s management has:
Donated millions to “GLSEN,” an organization that “Promotes LGBT Activism in Schools.” Among other things, GLSEN’s mission includes undermining parents’ federal and state constitutional and statutory rights by directing public schools to withhold “any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity to others, including [to] parents or guardians.” Target’s management apparently supports this mission because funding GLSEN is knowingly, or with reckless disregard, subsidizing GLSEN’s policy of violating parents’ rights and promoting secret gender transitions for kids.
Target’s website currently lists over 100 products under the category “LGBT Pride: Kids’ Clothing,” which are often modeled by very young children and almost always feature themes designed to attract and interest them, like rainbow Mickey Mouse symbols. These products include LGBT-themed onesies, bibs, and overalls aimed at newborn babies and toddlers, and “tuck-friendly” bathing suits marketed towards “transgender women.”
Target also knowingly stocked merchandise by “Satanist-Inspired” brand Abprallen for its pride collection. Abprallen is known for designs that glorify violence, such as designs showing the phrases “We Bash Back” with a heart-shaped mace in the trans-flag colors, “Transphobe Collector” with a skull, and ‘Homophobe Headrest’ with skulls beside a pastel guillotine.
As reported by Fox News, Target has lost $12 billion in market valuation due to backlash over management’s extreme political agenda. This dramatic and sudden loss to shareholders is a direct and predictable result of management’s calculated efforts to please its extreme leftist “stakeholders,” almost none of whom shop at Target, and evidence contempt for the corporation’s core customers.
America First Legal, on behalf of the NCPPR–a shareholder of Target stock–is demanding records related to the reckless promotion of LGBT products and the subsequent decline in market value. Target and its Board of Directors have failed to uphold their fiduciary duties and should be prepared to explain to their shareholders exactly why they put ideology over shareholder interests.
-America First Legal
Boeing Sinks After New 'Glitch' Delays 787 Deliveries
Bloomberg reports that Boeing will delay deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft after uncovering flawed parts during production, a setback as the plane maker works to meet soaring demand for its long-range aircraft.
The flaw may affect about 90 already-built Dreamliners that the company has not yet delivered, Boeing said on Tuesday.
It will inspect each plane for improperly sized gap-fillers within the horizontal stabilizer, a tiny wing attached to a jet’s tail.
“We are inspecting 787s in our inventory for a nonconforming condition related to a fitting on the horizontal stabilizer,” Boeing said in a statement.
“Airplanes found to have a nonconforming condition will be reworked prior to ticket and delivery.”
BA shares were down around 4% on the news...
As a reminder, Boeing is also contending with a supplier defect affecting hundreds of its 737 Max jets and is only just recovering from tiny structural defects that halted Dreamliner shipments during 2021 and 2022.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
Yet Another Month Of Questionable Federal Jobs Data As 310,000 Fewer People Report Having Jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released new jobs data on Friday. According to the report, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs rose 339,000 jobs in May, well above forecasts. The unemployment rate rose slightly from 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent (month over month).
Headlines in the mainstream media declared the headline employment data to be evidence of very strong job growth and economic success. According to Politico, the latest jobs numbers are evidence of a "remarkable resilience of President Joe Biden's economy" and NPR declared the job market to be "sizzling hot."
Yet, May appears to be yet another month in which it seems nearly every economic indicator except the payroll jobs data points to an economic slowdown. The Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index is in recession territory. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey is, too.
The Leading Indicators index keeps looking worse. The yield curve points to recession. Even Federal Reserve staffers, who generally take an implausibly rosy view of the economy, predict a recession in 2023. Individual bankruptcy filings were up 23 percent in May. Temp jobs were down, year-over-year, which often indicates an approaching recession.
So how do we square all this with yet another jobs report that claims to tell us that the job market is the best it's been in decades?
Well, a lot of the jobs data isn't actually very good. The headlines have focused on the so-called Establishment Survey, which is a survey of employers and shows only the number of positions, not the number of employed persons. The Household survey, on the other hand, surveys people.
The Household survey over the past two years has not shown nearly as much job growth as the Establishment Survey.
Specifically, we find that since 2022, the Establishment Survey and the Household Survey have ceased to follow a similar trend, with a sizable gap forming between the two surveys. In fact, over the past two years, the two surveys show a gap of 2.2 million.
Moreover, in May, while the Establishment Survey showed a gain of 339,000 jobs month-over-month, the Household Survey showed a loss of 310,000 employed persons. That's a gap of more than 600,000. Looking at month-to-month changes, we can also see how the two surveys have diverged since April 2022.
-Ryan McMaken, Seeking Alpha
For everyone wondering what the scam is, the scam is that these businesses put out jobs listings and the government counts those posts as jobs created. But most businesses do not actually fill those positions, and many of those businesses keep the listings up for government numbers. The actual job numbers are down significantly and are showing that we are in a recession.
'Night Fury': Documents Detail DHS Project to Give 'Risk Scores' to Social Media Users
The Department of Homeland Security contracted the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2018 to design methods for assigning a “risk score” to potential pro-terrorist’s accounts on social media, as well as identifying information of interest regarding illegal opioid supply chain and disinformation efforts, according to internal DHS documents reviewed by Motherboard. The project is dubbed “Night Fury,” according to a report from the DHS Inspector General.
“The Contractor shall develop these attributes to create a methodology for developing a ranking, or ‘Risk Score,’ associated with the identified accounts. The Contractor shall develop tools to automate the identification process, documenting performance measures and metrics related to automating the identification process,” one of the documents reads. DHS said it stopped work on the project in 2019.
The news signals DHS’ continued focus on analyzing social media for a variety of purposes. These new documents come after Motherboard reported Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was using an AI-powered tool called Babel X to analyze travelers’ social media at the U.S. border.
Do you know anything else about government agencies’ surveillance of social media? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.
The Brennan Center for Justice obtained the new documents under a public records request and shared them with Motherboard. They include Privacy Threshold Analyses of the project and contracts. The research planned to involve CBP, ICE, TSA, and USCIS which would provide “cross-mission operational context,” one document reads.
“The use of automated processes to analyze social media to determine the likelihood that someone is ‘pro-terrorist’ and to assign a ‘risk score’ to individuals and groups online has echoes of a discredited Trump administration proposal called the Extreme Vetting Initiative, which would have monitored social media and the rest of the open internet to automatically flag people for deportation or visa denial based on whether they would be a ‘positively contributing member of society’ or ‘contribute to the national interests,’ as well as whether they ‘intend to commit’ a crime or act of terrorism,’ Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Managing Director, Liberty & National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told Motherboard in an email.
“As a number of experts in machine learning and automated decision-making told DHS less than a year before the Night Fury contract was signed, attempting to make automated judgments about these matters is both impossible and likely to be infected with bias, as these characteristics have no concrete definition, much as there is no definition of being ‘pro-terrorist,’” she added.
One of the Privacy Threshold Analyses says UAB’s work will initially be focused on “counterterrorism, illegal opioid supply chain, transnational crime, and understanding/characterizing/identifying the spread of disinformation by foreign entities, including the study of bot detection,” but that the methods should “scale to other DHS domains.”
Another document says the researchers will “build next generation capabilities.” This includes developing training data sets, algorithms, and methodologies, the document adds.
More specifically, the project planned to develop methods that could identify a location without GPS metadata, such as looking for certain keywords, the document reads. The researcher also planned to track threats beyond mainstream social networks like Facebook and Twitter to other communities. DHS planned to test the methods against live events unfolding in real-time, such as a hurricane scenario, the document adds.
Another task was to create a “Facebook Group Expander,” which would automatically identify potential pro-terrorist social media accounts and Facebook Groups where pro-terrorist groups interact, one document reads. UAB would then constantly deliver lists of these accounts and related posts to DHS. UAB was tasked with doing a similar thing on Twitter, the document reads.
-Joseph Cox, Vice News
Trump Invites Children’s Choir To Rally After Its National Anthem Interrupted By Capitol Police
A South Carolina children’s choir that was interrupted while singing “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Capitol last month by Capitol Police has been invited by former President Donald Trump to perform at a campaign rally in the Palmetto State.
The Rushingbrook Children’s Choir out of Greenville visited the Capitol on May 26 and performed the first three verses of the national anthem in Statuary Hall when a Capitol Police officer instructed a congressional staffer to inform the choir director to stop the singing. In a Tuesday video message posted to Truth Social, Trump extended an invitation to the children.
“It’s a really, it’s a serious thing to have an event like that — such a beautiful time in your lives and such an important time in your lives — to be interrupted in such a way,” Trump said. “But we are going to have you in South Carolina, and you’re going to sing in a rally for us in front of tens of thousands of people. And we’re all going to have a great time together.”
“We love our country. We’re going to take care of our country, and we’re going to pay respect to those people that love it. And nobody loves it more than you,” the former president added.
David Rasbach, the choir’s director, called Trump’s invitation an “honor” and said he “wouldn’t even think of turning him down,” according to The Post and Courier.”
Video of the children being interrupted garnered millions of views and prompted outrage from many on social media. The Capitol Police claims the incident stemmed from a “miscommunication.” In an initial statement, police said they allowed the choir to continue the performance after being interrupted, according to The Daily Signal. Micah Rea, the man who organized the trip, disputes the claim that the children were allowed to finish the anthem.
“Although popup demonstrations and musical performances are not allowed in the U.S. Capitol without the proper approval, due to a miscommunication, the U.S. Capitol Police were not aware that the Speaker’s Office had approved this performance,” a follow-up statement said.
In a joint statement, Speaker McCarthy (R-CA), along with Republican South Carolina Reps. Joe Wilson, Russell Fry, and William Timmons said, “These children were welcomed by the Speaker’s office to joyfully express their love of this Nation while visiting the Capitol, and we are all very disappointed to learn their celebration was cut short.”
-Ben Whitehead, Daily Wire
Gaetz to propose contempt of Congress against NYC prosecutor who lobbied for Trump indictment
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is introducing a resolution on Tuesday to hold lawyer Mark Pomerantz in contempt of Congress for his "frivolous" behavior before the GOP-run House subcommittee on government weaponization.
Pomerantz was one of the lawyers investigating former President Donald Trump under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, though he left the investigation more than a year ago and wrote in his resignation letter, "The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did."
The House Judiciary Committee grilled him last month for roughly six hours amid their oversight probe into Bragg’s investigation – though Republicans fumed over his refusal to answer any substantive questions.
"He lobbied his way onto a prosecutorial team as a private lawyer. He did all he could to gaslight charges against Donald Trump. When the evidence didn't support those charges, he initially got miffed and quit the team and wrote a book about it," Gaetz told Fox News Digital. "Now, he has the nerve to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege over these matters when he has clearly explicitly and repeatedly waived that privilege. Contempt is proper where someone refuses to answer Congress's questions under a frivolous assertion."
Asked about whether House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is supportive of the contempt resolution, Gaetz appeared to reference that McCarthy agreed to a one-member motion-to-vacate threshold in order to win his gavel earlier this year.
"I think right now his principal goal is to remain Speaker," Gaetz said. "Speaker McCarthy has been really strong on oversight matters to date, and I hope and expect it to continue."
Bragg’s probe saw Trump indicted on 34 felony counts linked to hush money payments made out to porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she had an extramarital affair with the former president in 2006, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump’s Republican allies in Congress have decried the investigation as a political hit job, even going so far as to travel to New York City for a hearing on violent crime to make a point about Bragg’s priorities as a prosecutor.
Pomerantz called the GOP’s interest in the matter "an act of political theater" when he appeared before House lawmakers last month.
He reportedly invoked the Fifth Amendment in order to not violate any rules on confidential information. But the testimony came months after Pomerantz released a tell-all book about his time in Bragg’s office titled, "People Vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account."
According to the contempt resolution text obtained by Fox News Digital, Gaetz noted that Pomerantz pleaded the fifth for questions such as "Do you respect Alvin Bragg?"
Gaetz’s text also claims Pomerantz waived his right to the Fifth when he asserted to GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., also a member of the committee, that the contents of his tell-all book were true.
-Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News
Rep. Luna Files $16M Fine & Censure Motion Against Adam Schiff.
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has filed a motion to censure, condemn, and even fine her colleague Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for his role in peddling the debunked Russia collusion hoax.
Tweeting on Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Luna said: “I just filed a privileged resolution, H. Res. 437, to censure, condemn, & fine Rep. Adam Schiff $16 million (1/2 the cost of Russia investigation) for his egregious abuse of trust. I, with my GOP colleagues, look forward to an imminent vote to hold this feckless man accountable.”
The text of the motion (in full, below) establishes that Rep. Schiff abused his position to lend credence to the Steele dossier, falsely prompted a FISA warrant application, encouraged surveillance of Americans, and cost the taxpayer in excess of $32 million on the investigations that followed.
The Congressional Research Services notes that fining a member has precedent in the House of Representatives, with Deschler’s Precedents stating that under the constitutional authority of the House at Article I, Section 5, clause 2: “A fine may be levied by the House against a Member pursuant to its constitutional authority to punish its Members.”
It goes on to establish that the ability has been backed by the Supreme Court (Kilbourn v. Thompson) and precedents “appear to involve the repayment or restitution of funds misused or wrongfully received, as opposed to fines merely or strictly for ‘punishment’.”
Ethics Committee rules state that the House “sets forth general guidelines and does not limit the authority of the Committee to recommend other sanctions.”
-National Pulse
Hillary Gets Terrible News After Judge Makes Ruling In IRS Whistleblower Case Against The Clinton Foundation
Judge David Gustafson, who presides over a U.S. tax court, has once more refused to dismiss an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower case alleging wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation and postponed the decision, according to Just the News.
The judge previously denied a similar request by the IRS to dismiss the case that has dragged on since 2017 and in 2020 ordered the IRS to reveal if it conducted a criminal investigation into the Clinton Foundation citing a gap in their record keeping.
The judge in his ruling gave the whistleblowers, John Moynihan and Larry Doyle, time to update their case before the court prior to June 30 and mandated that the IRS has the opportunity to respond by July 28. The judge observed that the IRS has not yet responded despite requests to update the court with fresh evidence.
Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Doyle, two forensic financial auditors, allege and have testified in Congress that they had reason to believe that the Clinton Foundation was a front for unlisted foreign lobbying. They accuse the foundation of "began acting as an agent of foreign governments early in its life and throughout its existence...As such, the foundation should've registered under FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act). Ultimately, the foundation and its auditors conceded in formal submissions that it did operate as a (foreign) agent, therefore the foundation is not entitled to its 501c3 tax-exempt privileges as outlined in IRS 170 (c)2."
The Clinton Foundation has for its part acknowledged that past audits have revealed their share of problems but insist that they have always tried to follow the law and disputed the whistleblower's allegations. Judge Gustafson nevertheless allowed the case to proceed and cited nonpublic evidence that the FBI and IRS may have worked in tandem on a criminal investigation of the Clinton Foundation and thought that it was possible that the Foundation did not disclose this with the court.
Ironically, Durham's report contained some details of the FBI's four investigations into the Clinton business model. Last week the judge ruled again on the whistleblowers' side. His ruling read, "Whistleblowers may be granted limited discovery if they make a significant showing that there is material in the IRS’s possession indicative of bad faith on the IRS’s part in connection with the case or of an incomplete administrative record compiled by the IRS."
This may turn out poorly still for Hillary Clinton. The IRS has come under fire for its alleged politicization in how it has handled Hunter Biden's tax investigation. An IRS whistleblower told CBS that "There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice...When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I've experienced in the past." McCarthy's compromise package deal with President Biden would cut off $21 billion in funding to the IRS and leaves the number of tax agents stable.
-Ilan Hulkower, DC Enquirer
So, the Clinton Foundation could be in hot water. I would like to see those tax records and donation records. And I would like to see who was given that money.
FDA’s ‘Rumor Control’ Hub Encourages Public to ‘Snitch’ on ‘Misinformation Spreaders’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an updated “Rumor Control” hub aimed at enlisting the public to help stop the spread of “misinformation.”
The updated webpage, first launched in August 2022, includes a new video that defines misinformation as information that is “false, inaccurate, or misleading … spreading intentionally and unintentionally.”
The agency said its Rumor Control hub provides the public with tools to identify and report on “misinformation.”
“Some individuals and organizations promote opinions online disguised as fact,” the FDA site says, adding that misinformation spreads “six times faster than facts.”
The video warns that people may be misled by headlines or out-of-context statements, particularly when they are shared by a trusted person.
But, according to the video, people can determine whether something is actually true by getting the information from three types of “authoritative” sources that can be trusted to provide real facts: medical journals, a nonprofit “fact checker” or a government website.
“The FDA is concerned ‘health misinformation’ is negatively impacting the public’s health,” the agency said. The FDA tweeted the video to promote the hub.
The Rumor Control site includes links for reporting misinformation on all major social media sites. By following the links, users can find instructions to mark posts as “false news,” “false information” or “inappropriate content,” depending on the website.
“Bernie’s Tweets” on Twitter called the website the FDA’s “‘snitch’ page.”
“The federal government continues to try and fool the public into thinking misinformation is a dire problem and a crime,” Dr. Meryl Nass wrote on her Substack. “Misinformation is whatever the government does not want you to know.”
Nass added, “Clearly, the feds are getting nervous that their cons on the people are being recognized.”
The hub provides a poster that explains what misinformation is and how to address it “in language even a third grader can understand,” Nass wrote.
It explains that trusted authorities’ recommendations may change because science changes, but people should always “trust science.”
The site includes FDA-approved facts about COVID-19, sunscreen and supplements.
Since FDA Commissioner Robert Califf began his second tenure as the agency’s head in February 2022, he has made combating “misinformation” one of his top priorities, arguing it is “a leading cause of preventable death in America now” — though “this cannot be proved,” he said.
In an Aug. 22, 2022, article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Califf wrote that “the global information environment has been contaminated by misinformation and disinformation.” He added:
“The FDA must be more proactive in preempting and countering misinformation [but there is a need for] collaboration across sectors to create an information environment in which decisions [by] consumers, patients, and clinicians are more likely to be informed by reliable information based on high-quality evidence from trustworthy sources.”
The Rumor Control initiative is one of several such initiatives launched during Califf’s tenure.
-Brenda Baletti, The Defender
Here’s the problem. The people, through the Constitution, gave no power whatsoever to the federal government to be the bearers, the dictators, or the determiners of truth. And that is why we have the first amendment.
Breaking: MASS SHOOTING at Virginia Commonwealth University During High School Graduation Ceremony – At Least 5 Shooting Victims
There was a shooting on Tuesday at Virginia Commonwealth University during a high school graduation ceremony.
At least four people were injured.
The graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School had just taken place outside of the Altria Theater – via WTVR.
WTVR has more.
At least five people were shot and two people were taken into custody after a shooting following Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony outside the Altria Theater in Richmond, Virginia, Crime Insider sources told Jon Burkett.
“I’ve now been told by multiple sources that there 10 victims, five of them are gunshot victims,” Burkett reported on CBS 6 News. “The other five are those that were hurt running back inside to the Altria Theater when shots rang out.”
Burkett’s sources said at least three of the shooting victims suffered life-threatening injuries.
-Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit
Watch here:
This is just another reason for why Americans need to be armed.
WHO Gets 20% Budget Increase to Help Address ‘Disease X’ and ‘Emergencies of all Kinds’
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) wrapped up last week without members coming to a final agreement on the pandemic treaty or amendments to the international health regulations (IHR).
However, there were significant developments, including:
Approval by member states of a large budget increase for the WHO.
The launch of new fundraising initiatives.
Warnings about a future pandemic or deadly new “Disease X.”
A new collaboration between the WHO and the Rockefeller Foundation to promote new vaccines.
The new developments were in addition to those The Defender reported on last week, including the release of a new bureau’s text of the draft pandemic treaty and new proposals to limit free speech and personal liberties.
More pandemics coming — but they aren’t the only threat, WHO says
Addressing the WHA on May 22, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said his recent declaration to end the COVID-19 as a global health emergency is “not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat.”
Tedros told WHA member states:
“The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains. And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains … When the next pandemic comes knocking — and it will — we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably.”
Future pandemics aren’t the only threat humanity faces or that the WHO must be ready to respond to, Tedros said.
“Pandemics are far from the only threat we face,” he said. “In a world of overlapping and converging crises, an effective architecture for health emergency preparedness and response must address emergencies of all kinds.”
This statement comes as the U.N. General Assembly is discussing its Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention and Response initiative, which will empower the U.N. secretary-general to quickly respond to “global shocks” related to pandemics, the climate, biological warfare, cyberspace or supply chain disruptions, an “event in outer space” or an “unforeseen black swan event.”
Tedros used this threat to urge the WHO member states to successfully complete negotiations regarding the pandemic treaty and IHR amendments, “so the world will never again have to face the devastation of a pandemic like COVID-19.”
“We cannot kick this can down the road,” he said. “If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?”
Tedros does not appear to use the phrase by name when addressing the WHA, but several press reports referenced “Disease X” — the WHO’s placeholder name for a disease that is currently unknown or not in existence, with the potential to be devastating for humanity.
“Disease X,” included on the WHO’s list of “priority diseases” likely to cause the next pandemic, is not a new concept — it was first named in 2018, by Dr. Richard Hatchett of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness. According to the New York Post, Hatchett said, “This isn’t the stuff of science fiction. This is a scenario we have to prepare for. This is Disease X.”
$6.83 billion budget includes ‘historical 20% increase’
The WHA approved a 20% budget increase for the WHO, alongside the launch of a new “replenishment” initiative to raise more funds for the agency.
According to Dr. David Bell, a public health physician and biotech consultant and former director of Global Health Technologies at Intellectual Ventures Global Good Fund, the approval of more funds “illustrates that global health as a discipline has completely lost the plot and been taken over by people interested in making profit.”
On May 22, WHO member states agreed to a $6.83 billion budget for the WHO in 2024-2025, including “a historical 20% increase of assessed contributions (or membership fees).” Member states will contribute $1.15 billion via their membership fees, another $5.69 billion will come from “voluntary contributions” from “member states and other contributors.”
-Michael Nevradakis, The Defender