Who's In Favor Of A Potential TikTok Ban?

As part of a larger national security and foreign aid package, President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law legislation that forces TikTok parent ByteDance to divest the U.S. arm of its popular social media platform within 270 days or be banned from operating in the United States. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” seeks to cut any ties between TikTok, its current parent company and the Chinese government, which allegedly abuses the platform to “surveil and influence the American public” in a way that poses a threat to national security.

As Statista's Felix Richter reports, compared to an earlier standalone bill that had passed the House in March but then failed to gain traction in the Senate, the newly passed bill extends the time given to ByteDance from 180 to 270 days, with the possibility of a 90-day extension if the president finds that significant progress towards a “qualified divesture” has been made. This means that TikTok’s Chinese owner now has until after the U.S. presidential election to find a suitable buyer, turning the question of whether or not TikTok should be divested or banned into a potential election issue.

Sure enough, former president Donald Trump told young voters to remember that “crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok,” when they vote in November, omitting the fact that he tried to ban TikTok himself during his time in office.

And while Trump was right in his view that young Americans would be more likely to oppose legislation against TikTok, he ignored the fact that the vast majority of Republican voters is in favor of a potential ban. According to a recent YouGov/The Economist survey, two thirds of Republicans strongly or somewhat approve the forced divesture/potential ban of TikTok versus just 20 percent who oppose such legislation. Democratic voters are almost evenly split on the issue, with 40 percent of respondents in favor of legislative action against TikTok and its parent company.

Looking at different age groups, the trend is clear: the younger the respondents the more likely they are to oppose a potential TikTok ban, which is easily explained by the fact that young people are much more likely to be TikTok users.

You will find more infographics at Statista

So what happens next?

If ByteDance fails to find a suitable buyer within the given timeframe, it would be unlawful for app stores and web hosting companies to distribute the app in the United States.

Finding a buyer will be hard though, as any company with an interest and deep-enough pockets to acquire a platform of TikTok's stature will almost certainly face intense scrutiny from the FTC for antitrust reasons.

It's also unlikely that ByteDance will go down without a fight.

"Rest assured, we aren't going anywhere," TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in a video posted on Wednesday, claiming that the ultimate goal of the legislation is to ban TikTok, not sell it.

"We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts," he said, addressing the platform's 170 million U.S. users directly.

Tyler Durden Mon, 04/29/2024 - 02:45

Ukraine's Top Five Challenges Are Unsolvable

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

It’s beginning to dawn on most Westerners that the US’ long-delayed aid to Ukraine isn’t all that it was hyped up to be and will only at most temporarily slow down the pace of Russia’s increasingly rapid advances. The conflict’s tempo has gradually intensified as Russia exploited Ukraine’s disastrous counteroffensive to regain the military-strategic initiative. Ukraine’s problems are immense and multifaceted, but they’re all connected one way or another to the five following factors:

1. Russia’s Military-Industrial Complex Continues Outproducing NATO’s

Russia won the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” with NATO long ago and that’s why it continued gaining ground over the past 18 months. The sanctions failed to bankrupt the Kremlin, required resources for production remain readily available, and sabotage had no impact on the assembly lines. Not only has NATO been unable to stop Russia’s military-industrial complex, but it couldn’t ramp up its own during this time either, thus creating an unbridgeable gap that weakens Ukraine more by the week.

2. Ukraine Is Struggling To Replenish Its Depleted Military Ranks

NATO’s loss in the abovementioned military-industrial competition with Russia, the consequent failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and Russia’s subsequent on-the-ground gains combined to scare Ukrainian men away from joining the armed forces and helping to replenish their depleted ranks. Without enough soldiers, Ukraine can’t confidently hold off Russia’s advances, thus risking an impending collapse along the front. At the end of the day, it’s just a numbers game, and Ukraine’s continue trending downward.

3. Less Equipment & Troops Mean More Difficulty Building New Defenses

The pace with which Russia has recently gained ground in Donbass is stressing Ukraine’s existing defensive lines like never before, thus compelling it to build newer ones further behind the front lines. Although Zelensky demanded this be done late last year, little progress has been made due to the lack of equipment and troops for holding off the Russian advance while simultaneously accomplishing this task. The breakthrough that the Ukrainian Intelligence Committee warned about is now more likely than ever.

4. Political Instability Is Still A Damocles’ Sword Hanging Over Ukraine

The Committee also warned in their same message from February that political unrest might explode next month around the time that Zelensky’s term expires on 21 May. They of course claimed that Russia would be behind it, which he also preconditioned his partners to falsely believe late last year, but this would actually be a genuine response to growing problems. Authoritarianism, corruption, forcible conscription, serious economic troubles, and the lack of a realistic endgame all enrage Ukrainians.

5. Ukraine Continues Thinking That It Knows Better Than The US

The Washington Post’s two-part post-mortem report on last summer’s failed counteroffensive revealed that one of the reasons why it flopped was because Ukraine refused to listen to the US’ advice. This problem is attributable to Zelensky and most recently took the form of him ordering his forces to attack Russian energy infrastructure in defiance of the US at the expense of more tactically significant targets. It’s actually the US’ own fault, though, since their media convinced him that he was a “god among men”.

*  *  *

These unsolvable challenges have converged to create a full-fledged crisis for Ukraine that Commander-in-Chief Syrsky is unable to resolve, which is why he candidly informed Ukraine’s partners that “the difficult operational and strategic situation…has a tendency to get worse.” Unless Ukraine agrees to demilitarize the regions still under its control east of the Dnieper and turn them into a buffer zone, the front might collapse by summertime, which could either lead to capitulation or a NATO intervention.

Tyler Durden Mon, 04/29/2024 - 02:00

US Space Force General Says China's Military Developing Space Assets At "Breathtaking Speed"

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, recently warned about China’s “breathtakingly fast” development of space military capabilities, following his trips to South Korea and Japan.

“We are seriously focused at U.S. Space Command on our pacing challenge, which is the People’s Republic of China,” Gen. Whiting told reporters during a call from Japan on April 24.

“The People’s Republic of China is moving at breathtaking speed in space, and they are rapidly developing a range of counter-space weapons to hold at risk our space capabilities,” he added.

“They’re also using space to make their terrestrial forces—their army, their navy, their marine corps, their air force—more precise, more lethal, and more far-ranging.”

Gen. Whiting was on his first Indo-Pacific trip after becoming the head of U.S. Space Command in January, succeeding Army Gen. James Dickinson. During his trip, he met with top military leaders from South Korea and Japan, including Adm. Kim Myung-Soo, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara.

One particular concern was the number of Chinese satellites in orbit, Gen. Whiting said.

“Over the last six years, they have tripled the number of intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance satellites on orbit, and they have used their space capabilities to improve the lethality, the precision, and the range of their terrestrial forces,” he said.

“And so that obviously is a cause for concern and something that we are watching a very, very closely.”

China’s satellite fleet stood at 359 systems as of January, according to his prepared remarks for a hearing of the Senate Armed Service Committee in February. He also noted that Beijing is developing hypersonic glide vehicles along with other advanced space weaponry to “overcome U.S. traditional missile warning and ballistic missile defense systems.”

China’s ambitions with regard to the Moon are also among Space Command’s concerns.

“We’ve seen the announcements of China’s ambitions to go to the Moon. And those appear to be exploratory and scientific on the surface, but the Chinese aren’t very transparent with what they do in space,” he said.

“And so we hope there’s not a military component to that, but we would certainly welcome more transparency.”

A U.S. military report published in January warned that China and Russia are putting up dual-use satellites in space while hiding their military applications. One example is a Chinese satellite equipped with a giant robotic arm, which could be used to grapple other satellites in the future.

China is aiming to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030. Pakistan, South Africa, Belarus, and Nicaragua are among a group of nations that have signed up for a planned moon base led by China and Russia. The moon project is officially known as the International Lunar Research Station.

Gen. Whiting said he visited Japan’s Space Operations Group and emphasized the importance of the two nations working together in space.

“Their focus on space domain awareness along with ours to keep track of those threats in space that we see—and many of those are emanating from China—has put an impetus on us developing improved space domain awareness capability,” he said.

Japan is working to bring on board a deep-space radar, Gen. Whiting said, adding that the radar will benefit both nations once it archives initial operational capability.

“We expect that will provide both of our countries an enhanced understanding of what China is doing in space,” he said.

Japan and the United States are also partners in launching new satellites that will be used to conduct space domain awareness missions, according to Gen. Whiting.

In November last year, the United States, Japan, and South Korea agreed on a mechanism to share missile warning data to better track North Korea’s missile launches. The mechanism went into effect in December.

“We need to continue the excellent work in the trilateral agreement between the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan to share missile warning information so that that all three countries fully understand anytime North Korea launches a missile where that missile is headed, and we can provide warning to our national leadership, to our military forces, and to our populations,” Gen. Whiting said.

Tyler Durden Mon, 04/29/2024 - 00:05

Relentless Chinese Bond Rally Hints at Yuan Challenge Ahead

By Charlie Zhu and Helen Sun, Bloomberg Markets Live reporters and strategists

Three things we learned last week:

1. China’s bond rally seems unstoppable amid a shortage of quality assets for investments. From government bonds to corporate debentures, traders keep hunting for yields in all maturities.

• After pushing the yield on 30-year sovereign debt to the lowest since 2005, investors flocked to the notes issued by local government financing vehicles, once deemed as the riskiest instrument in Asia. That helped to drive LGFV companies’ borrowing costs to record lows.

• In light of a decline in mortgage loans, long-term sovereign bonds become a good alternative for banks as long-term assets and provides support to the bond rally until the trend changes, said Becky Liu, head of Greater China macro strategy at Standard Chartered Plc.

• As the central bank warned the market again about the potential risks in long-term bonds and pointed to signs of stabilizing economic growth, funds rotated out of the back-end of the curve. The yield on two-year sovereign notes slid to the lowest level since mid-2020. That widened its gap with US Treasury to about 317 basis points, the biggest ever.

2. Market speculation about a devaluation of the yuan emerged. To investors onshore, this is an unlikely scenario given the authorities’ emphasis on maintaining stability, but some offshore traders see signs that the pressure is building.

• In addition to the record interest rate gap, China’s stockpiling of commodities including gold and copper has prompted conjecture that policymakers may weaken the yuan in a one-off move.

• The central bank has been using the daily reference rate to limit the depreciation of the yuan, effectively making it one of the best-performing emerging-market currencies this month. However, the steady fixing kept the spot exchange rate remain close to the 2% daily limit on the weaker side, spurring concerns over the sustainability of the strategy.

3. The US decision on TikTok may bring headwinds to stabilizing relations between Beijing and Washington. President Joe Biden has signed a bill forcing TikTok to find a new owner within a year or face a ban. The move, designed to cut off China’s access to the video app used by 170 million Americans, raised concerns that US firms with large exposure to China’s market, including Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc., may be retaliation targets.

• While China’s response was rather restrained compared with last year, Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned his US counterpart Antony Blinken Friday that “negative factors” were rising between the world’s biggest economies.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 23:40

Stablecoin Volumes Are Tracking A Record $15 Trillion On Ethereum Alone

By Marcel Kasumovich, Deputy CIO of Coinbase Asset Management

Crypto sparked a renaissance in real-time payments. Sleepy you say? Time for a wake-up call – payment solutions are at the cutting edge of crypto’s integration into the mainstream, and it has plenty of competition.

“You’re probably used to crypto transactions, expecting me to bring out another guest for an eight-minute commentary while we wait for confirmation. But that’s old crypto. Are you ready for the new crypto world? Watch very closely…don’t blink…and that’s it,” John Collison exclaimed while illustrating a transaction on crypto rails with Stripe, a leading payment network that he co-founded. It was a seamless user experience, unlike the company’s initial foray into bitcoin in 2014.

Both PayPal and Stripe are now harnessing the power of stablecoins into their familiar user interfaces. This strategic move effortlessly brings users onto the blockchain – point, click, and it’s done. It’s the new trend, too. Traditional companies are bringing users onchain. There’s the crypto we see in noisy headlines and those working quietly to monetize the technology, like PayPal and Stripe. And they combine for a staggering 62% share of online payment software processing.

Digital payments may not seem like the exciting promise of the future. Yet, they are at the cutting edge. Digital payments are taking a rising share of a rapidly growing market as the world moves away from cash. Global payments are measured in the hundreds of trillions, and the digital payment market has risen from a modest $10 billion in 2017 to a projected $200 billion in 2030. We all live it, and the bulk of the transactions are small value, a coffee here, a donut there.

The process is so seamless that we seldom pause to consider how it actually works. Poorly, as it happens. Users expect to be able to pay whenever it’s convenient. Settling your restaurant bill, you don’t care that it’s outside of banking hours. You just want a simple form of payment – and that’s not cash. During the time between you tapping your card and accounts being settled, a middleman provides credit to make sure it all clears. And it’s expensive at 2.3% of transaction value.

One man’s profit margin is another’s invitation to disrupt. The typical narrative of disruption involves a wildly successful company losing its innovation edge, and missing market inflection points. Polaroid made the first instant camera in 1948 and dominated markets from floppy disks to film. Revenue peaked in 1991 and the company was unable to pivot to the new digital era, declaring bankruptcy ten years later. Learning from such histories, companies are now more adaptive.

We see this clearly in payments. Efficiency is precisely what brought PayPal and Stripe back to crypto. Transaction speeds have improved exponentially, now clocking at milliseconds, and costs have plunged to fractions of a cent. It helps that crypto tech fails fast – revealing resilience and weakness quickly. For instance, the resilience of USDC is now supporting its entry into the mainstream while Bored Apes Yacht Club weakness persists, down 90% off previous cycle highs.

Why now? Why not! Stablecoins are demonstrating their prowess as payment tools. Transaction volumes are tracking new highs this month, running at ~$15 trillion annualized on Ethereum alone (Figure 1). The efficiency gain is clear – instant and final settlements mean that your late-night coffee and donut purchases bypass the need for credit intermediaries. The middleman is dead, although living vibrantly through tools like Stripe that deliver users a familiar experience.

Users don’t care that it’s crypto. They want a great experience. Businesses don’t care, either. They are optimizing operating efficiency for profit. As crypto matures, so too does its value proposition. Crypto is the protagonist of real time payments and like any great innovation, it fosters competition. What’s unique with payments is that the competition comes from both private and government organizations, with regulatory stagnation working in favor of both.

Look beyond regions traditionally seen as leaders in innovation. The United States remains a beacon of creative talent behind innovation. But users are moving slowly, lagging in fintech adoption. After all, US users are accustomed to fees, don’t mind the service, and paying for points on expensive intermediation is a pastime. Real-time settlement systems adopted, like FedNow, are for business applications, not for consumers. It’s new players like India at the cutting edge.

The Unified Payment Interface (UPI), India’s real-time payment solution, was developed by the central bank in 2016. It integrates peer-to-peer real-time payments, directly competing with crypto technologies. Last year, UPI integrated 522 commercial banks covering 300 million active users and 117 billion transactions. Different from developed regions, intermediaries were not disrupted as these are largely new users. Cash was disrupted at the expense of the central bank.

Payments stand at the cutting edge of crypto’s future. User experience is paramount. Integrating into the regulatory mainstream will accelerate users onchain, just as service providers did for the internet. Crypto unlocked the real-time settlement innovation, but will face competition. It is a world that argues for being chain-agnostic. The data between Ethereum, Bitcoin and UPI will integrate to the highest of standards and security. That’s the road to making onchain the new online.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 22:40

Is 10% The New 1%

By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the first lessons I was taught as a junior trader. We were warned that when something happens, say a piece of economic data comes out, and the market doesn’t respond as you expected, to cut positions and be very careful. It is a sign that “something” is wrong in how you are thinking.

On Friday, Treasuries rallied strongly on data that didn’t seem that great for rates. But the reality is (or so I believe) that Thursday’s sell-off was overdone, the “whisper” number was much worse than what came out, there are no longer term Treasury auctions, and the month-end index “extension” is usually good for bonds. So that doesn’t bother me much. What bothers me is that we had:

• NVDA, a $2.2 trillion market cap company, drop 10% last Friday.

• TSLA, a $500 billion market cap company, rise 10% on Wednesday.

• META, a $1.1 trillion market cap company, drop 10% on Thursday.

• GOOG, a $2.1 trillion market cap company, rise 10% on Friday.

Four "megacap" companies moved around 10% (or more) in a day!

I understand small cap companies do that. I understand that periodically something happens that is highly unusual – M&A, a scientific breakthrough, FDA approval, fraud, or something so unusual (but so profound) that a well-followed company gaps by that much. This was “just” earnings. Maybe I’m being overly dramatic? Maybe I haven’t adjusted my thought process to how large companies really are (probably part of the issue)? In any case it feels completely strange (even unnatural) for such large companies to move so much in a single session (let alone seeing it occur 4 times in 6 days)!

I am willing to believe that this is just my perception, and maybe it is more common than I perceive, but it is so different than how I’ve been thinking, that I have to respect it. As a “macro” strategist, I think about broad indices. Normally that is quite “macro,” but when some of the largest components of these indices (and associated ETFs) move so much more than I tend to think they can, then I need to question if it is still macro.

I can hear my first boss telling me that it is time to cut, sit back with less risk on the table, and think about what is going on. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe it is the new norm? Maybe 10% is the new 1%? Maybe moves close to 10% have always happened with market leaders and I just failed to notice that? I find it hard to believe, but knowing the T-Report audience, someone will likely send me a chart showing how common it is and that I need to “get over it.”

But I don’t think in terms of megacaps moving like that. To me, it reduces the macro, and is highly relevant as we have some other megacaps reporting this week. Should I assume 10% in either direction is a valid range? MSFT, for example, followed a more “normal” pattern. Some wild swings post-earnings in the after-market and pre-market. Stops getting triggered. Options at play. Digesting the first headlines, reading the details, listening to the call. All things that have conditioned me to see reasonably large moves in after-hours sometimes continuing into the next day of trading, typically ending with a meaningful change, but not a 10% change – especially for megacaps.

If this T-Report sounds like a broken record fixating on something that maybe isn’t important, I apologize, but it is bothering me a lot.

China

For the past 3 months, the CSI 300 (one measure of Chinese stocks) is up 8.5% versus 3.5% for the S&P 500 and 2% for the Nasdaq Composite.

One could look at this and say that:

• The Chinese economy has turned the corner, helping stocks.

• If China is doing better, it should help the global economy and sales into China, which should be good for all markets.

I remain firmly in the camp that:

• Investors were too pessimistic on the Chinese market and positioning was too underweight or short. The unwind of structured notes sold to retail (that had leverage) was happening, but that has slowed.

• It hasn’t taken much on the economic side to help the stock market (and there are some direct intervention techniques being used to help the stock market, without doing much for the economy). Less about the market.

• Some of this is also linked to the performance of Chinese companies. Some are selling more products (Huawei phones in China, for example).

Since I think:

• The reasons for the Chinese market rise have little to do with the economy (and I have recommended to clients to cut exposure here to FXI/KWEB).

• The Threat of Made By China 2025 is real, so any rebound in China is not going to benefit global companies as much as it would have in prior years.

I have to caution against betting on global stocks because of what we are seeing in China.

Geopolitics

The pressure from global leaders calling on Israel to be cautious is mounting.

Iran, assuming they had hoped for a modicum of success with their 300+ missile and drone strike, is unlikely to do anything while they figure out why their attack was such a failure. See my base case in Should I Stay or Should I Go.

It would be a surprise if a geopolitical event caused problems for the markets this week, but then that is often the case. It is interesting that last weekend’s question of “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is as relevant as before, with some new factors added to the mix.

Bottom Line

Rates.

I am most comfortable with my view on rates.

• We will get some “soft” data and Powell won’t be hawkish enough to convince the market that we are only going to get 1 cut (basically what is currently priced in). I do not see how we get to 0 and think that we could see the case for 2 to 3 (what the dots had, depending on whether you use median or average). Buy 2s at 5% (or 4.98% as the case may be).

• While I expect fears of the deficit, supply, etc. to push us higher at some point, I like owning 10s above 4.6% and think that 4.45% is a reasonable near-term target. As mentioned earlier, there are a number of factors that could take us there as early as this week.

Equities

Since I’m bullish on Treasuries, should I in theory be bullish on equities? Maybe, but that correlation has been weak to nonexistent of late. We’ve addressed this in Changing Times Impacting Signals and Correlations and Rorschach Test. I’m hesitant to be bearish stocks, but bullish on Treasuries. More importantly, I’m reluctant to be too committed in any direction until I can make better sense of these large, single day moves for megacaps. When something is bothering me and I should have a better idea of what is going on (but I don’t), then it is prudent to be cautious.

So, I will remain bearish on equities and expect us to break the lows set on April 19th. It briefly looked like that was possible as recently as Thursday morning, but it seems less realistic now as the S&P gained 2.7% and the Nasdaq rallied 4.2%. I just cannot be too aggressive on this because I could easily see some additional 10% moves, which I’ve never really accounted for. Those moves could go in either direction.

The one thing that does make some sense about 10% moves is that if we really are on the cusp of a viable revolution in technology, the entire market seems cheap. But, if the cost/benefit ratio is not great right now (less than revolutionary improvements at rapidly rising prices), then we could move down rapidly. So maybe 10% moves, even in megacaps, is normal when we are at an inflection point in technology and potential valuations? That is plausible, though I’m not sure how to incorporate that into my framework, other than moving more and more into options to express long and short bets.

Credit.

Yawn. Not a lot of room to tighten. Can widen a bit more, but primarily as a function of stocks going down than any obvious change in fundamentals. With supply likely slowing, relative to cash earmarked for new issues, I’m biased to be mildly bullish credit spreads, even while moderately bearish equities.

May the stocks you own all go up 10% every day. I don’t completely understand it, but cannot ignore it, and might as well hope people benefit!

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 18:05

The Struggle For The Soul Of The GOP

Authored by Kevin Roberts via The Epoch Times,

The Republican establishment doesn’t know it yet, but last weekend was a watershed moment for their party.

On April 20, House Republican leadership facilitated passage of a foreign-aid package that sends roughly $60 billion to Ukraine, $26 billion to Israel and Gaza, $8 billion to Taiwan, and exactly zero dollars to the southern border. The bill has since passed the Democrat-led Senate and was signed by President Joe Biden.

The vote will be remembered for the choice Republican leadership made to brazenly reject its own voters in favor of the “uniparty” in Washington, DC.

In a move that can only be described as “McConnell-esque,” House Republican leadership teamed up with Democrats to overrule the position of their own conference, their voters, and the will of the American people. Democrats on the House Rules Committee made an unprecedented move by crossing the party line and overruling Republican opposition in committee, signaling an end to the typically Democrat versus Republican battle and the beginning of the conservative versus “uniparty” war.

The disconnect between the Swamp and small-town America could not be more profound. How can a political party be so tone-deaf to the plight of the everyday American suffering under inflation, crime, and societal rot? How can a Republican-led House prioritize the borders of another country over our own border, even as American citizens are killed by illegal immigrants? How can so-called fiscally responsible Republicans sign off on what is now $174 billion in direct Ukraine aid with a national debt of $34 trillion, more than $250,000 for every American household? And how can House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had pledged repeatedly that no foreign-aid legislation would advance without first securing the border, so quickly be steamrolled by the Establishment?

In their desire to send billions of dollars to a conflict that our commander-in-chief has still, to this day, offered no plan for winning, the GOP’s leadership not only spurned their party’s own supporters but overlooked an opportunity to appeal to independent Americans frustrated by both political parties.

According to recent polling that The Heritage Foundation conducted with RMG Research, an overwhelming three out of four swing voters opposed sending any additional aid to Ukraine without also allocating funds for our own border. A majority (56 percent) of swing voters in key battleground states thought that the $113 billion the United States had already committed to Ukraine was too much.

The entire Heritage enterprise fought for over a year and half on this issue. Heritage Action engaged our millions of grassroots members to voice their concerns to their representatives. Scholars at The Heritage Foundation presented a national security alternative package that included limited military aid to Ukraine but made border security the central focus. In an unprecedented move, we even issued a “key vote” on our legislative scorecard against Speaker Johnson’s convoluted rule, which was a gimmick that lowered the threshold to a simple majority (not a supermajority under suspension) and provided political cover for members to vote against individual pieces without jeopardizing the package.

Powerful interests were aligned against us, however, and we lost on the day. Though we lost this battle, all signs indicate that we are winning the war for the soul of the GOP. A majority (112) of Republicans voted against Ukraine aid on April 20. Younger and newer members are particularly fed up with leadership’s conciliatory approach and manipulative tactics that have led us to this point. The average age of the Senate Republicans who voted “nay” is 59, while the average age of those who voted “yea” is 66. The average “nay” vote has been in office since just 2016, while the average “yea” vote has been in Washington since 2010. The same dynamic was true with the recent $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill.

This generational shift can be ignored by the “uniparty,” but it’s not going away. Newer, younger representatives want a choice, not an echo, and increasingly they’re adopting a populist form of conservatism that champions “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” above all else. In other words, they want a GOP that puts America first, something a government in any healthy republic would do. They want a GOP that acknowledges the reality that America is a nation in decline but is not yet too late to save.

As Ronald Reagan said in his 1980 address accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, “For those who have abandoned hope, we'll restore hope and we’ll welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again!”

And that brings us to the importance of this year’s election.

In 2016, despite staunch opposition from the GOP leadership, Donald Trump rejected the Washington consensus and initiated a generational realignment in American politics. If the conservative movement leans into the politics and policies President Trump made successful, the American people will again have the opportunity this fall to accelerate a new consensus in Washington, DC. This is why I remain optimistic about the future of our great nation.

The GOP establishment’s actions this past week portend the end of the GOP establishment, not its survival. Conservatives will win the soul of the GOP and with it the hearts of the American people.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 17:30

NY Home Depot Hires Guards And Dogs To Combat Aggressive Parking Lot Migrants

A Home Depot in New York has hired armed security guards and K-9 units to protect shoppers from aggressive migrants and thieves in the parking lots, the NY Post reports.

According to City COuncilwoman Kristy Marmorato, "Everybody is well aware of the culture here at Home Depot, that we have day laborers just trying to make an honest living, and they just started to feel like it just started to become a little more aggressive."

"Where people are walking from the store with stuff in their cart, individuals were coming up to them and literally taking stuff out of their carts to help them and they just felt very concerned, very unsafe."

Two men wearing MSA Security caps and bulletproof vests with a German shepherd in tow patrolled the Home Depot in New Rochelle on Tuesday.

“It’s more about omnipresence,” one guard said, explaining that the company was contracted a few weeks ago. “It’s not like we let them go bite anyone or anything.”

The guard said the store hired them for a number of reasons.

“It’s not just because of [migrants], but because of a myriad of other things too, like people breaking into cars, that kind of stuff,” he said.  -NY Post

A reporter for the Post observed at least 30 male migrants hovering near the doors of the Throggs Neck, Bronx location - with several day laborers aggressively confronting shoppers, trying to sell them fake Apple Airpods or trying to earn unsolicited tips for lifting items from shopping carts into cars. 

"You come out and you’re a woman by yourself, they literally leech onto your wagon, and you’re like, ‘No, I don’t need any help,'" said one employee. "And when they’re following you to your car, it’s unnerving."

The employee said that a female supervisor saw one of the men washing his dick and balls with a water bottle in the lot, and that several women have called Home Depot customer service to complain of being robbed by migrants.

"I came to work one day and there had to be 100 guys out here," she told the Post. "And I’m like, ‘Oh, my God!'"

A regular customer at the store, who asked to be identified only as Cheryl, said she and her husband had a frightening encounter last month.

A man “practically runs over and he goes to point like, ‘Can I take the stuff,’ and my husband said, ‘No, thank you,'” she recalled, noting that they only had a couple of boxes and a paint scraper.

“He’s still keeps following, like on top of us,” she said. “I said, ‘No, thank you.'” 

When her husband turned around to open the car door, the man “put his hand” on one of the boxes in their cart. “My husband said, ‘Don’t touch anything.'”

But the man didn’t stop. -NY Post

"It’s come to the point where they’re invading personal space, touching people’s belongings, just harassing," said Home Depot customer service employee, LaurieAnn Masciocco. "I get it, you’re trying to make a buck. But when it becomes aggressive and harassing, there’s a major issue."

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 16:55

NY Judge Claims '2nd Amendment Doesn't Exist In Her Courtroom' In Case Against Gunsmith

Dexter Taylor, a software engineer and resident of Brooklyn, NY, took on gunsmithing as a hobby during the Covid-19 lockdowns.  He was already familiar with machining and found himself fascinated by the project, so he set out to learn the skills needed.  Taylor researched ATF rules regarding the building of firearms and wanted to follow them carefully.  Sadly, however, the state of New York has its own laws which leftist governments believe supersede federal law and the Constitution.  

Because Taylor was apparently not officially licensed as a gunsmith in NY, authorities decided to raid his home and arrest him for possession of gun parts (including 80% lowers) which are legal federally but require a smithing certificate in the state (a legal gray area which is being contested).  Taylor was easy to find because he purchased all the parts with his own credit cards thinking he was protected under ATF rules.

ATF rules state that the building of guns for personal use including 80% lowers and related parts is legal as long as the person does not build those weapons to sell.     

Taylor's lawyer, Vinoo Varghese, noted that the case is a difficult one in New York, hinting at the leftist bias within NY courtrooms when it comes to the 2nd Amendment.  In fact, Varghese suggested that when Judge Abena Darkeh took over the case she was oddly hostile towards the defense.  He mentions that she interrupted his opening statements multiple times, claiming that he could not use 2nd Amendment arguments in her courtroom:

"She told us, ‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.'"

Of course, the 2nd Amendment and the Bill of Rights surpasses the authority of the State of New York and the courtroom of Judge Abena Darkeh.  New York progressives might like to think their state is a separate country from the US with its own rules, but it's not.  It's clear that this is a situation in which an activist judge is seeking to make an example out of a law abiding citizen with no previous criminal record.  The goal is to send a message that blue states are going to fabricate their own rules when it comes to gun rights regardless of constitutional precedent. 

Varghese hints in a recent interview that the Judge is married to the "biggest fundraiser" for the Brooklyn DA, which may present a conflict of interest.  Also, Joe Biden has made the issue of "Ghost Guns" a primary target for his administration the past few years.  To date, the use of ghost guns in criminal acts in the US is statistically negligible.  It's simply not a problem that needs the attention of the White House. 

NEW: Brooklyn man convicted over his gunsmithing hobby after the judge says that the 2nd Amendment 'doesn't exist in this courtroom'

‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.' - Judge… pic.twitter.com/cgfPO4ANnm

— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) April 23, 2024

The defense also asserted that the Judge pressured the jury to come back with a guilty verdict, which they did, convicting Taylor of a list of offenses including: 

Second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, violation of certificate of registration, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers.  Two lesser charges, including third-degree criminal possession of three or more firearms and third-degree possession of a weapon, were not voted on.

Keep in mind that in the vast majority of states in the US all of these charges sound ridiculous.  Possession of a loaded weapon?  Unlawful possession of pistol ammunition?  What?

Taylor now faces 10-18 years in prison and he awaits sentencing in Rikers Island, one of the worst prisons in the country.  The case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, where a number of gun cases involving 80% lowers are awaiting decision.  New York's habit of punishing good people while letting criminals go free is becoming an epidemic, and it's likely a primary reason why the state is now suffering a net loss of hundreds of thousands of residents every year.     

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 15:45

The Gloves Will Come Off In A Second Biden Term

Authored by David Keltz via American Greatness,

If you believe, correctly, that the entirety of Joe Biden’s presidency has been one unmitigated disaster after another - not only for the American citizenry, but for the United States’ standing on the world stage and for our allies around the globe who have embraced the cause of freedom and religious liberty - fasten your seatbelts, because you haven’t seen anything yet.

If you believe, correctly, that under Biden we are no longer a country that has any interest in securing our border, curbing inflationary spending and excessive taxation, bringing down the price of energy, ridding our institutions of disastrous DEI initiatives, and returning our education standards to one that embraces merit, respect for our Founding Fathers, and our Constitution - brace yourselves, because we may be nearing the point of no return if we aren’t already there.

If you believe, correctly, that in the first three and a half years of Biden’s presidency we have turned our back on America’s greatest ally in the Middle East, failed to come anywhere close to holding the Mullahs accountable for their belligerent behavior towards the U.S. and the Jewish state, and have done next to nothing to instill any sort of fear or deterrence to the nefarious grand visions of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping - just wait, because the current chaos we’re seeing across the world will seem rather tame for what may be in store in the not so distant future.

If, God forbid, Biden finds a way to end up back in the Oval Office come high noon on January 20, 2025, the gloves will be completely ripped off.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone who didn’t hate our country would deliberately continue to take us even further towards the path of self destruction.

But make no mistake: a potential second Biden administration, freed from the burden of having to win another election without having to pathetically pander to moderate and independent voters or pretending to support Israel and throwing a bone to leftist Jews every now and then, will not only double down on its ruinous policies that will have deleterious effects for years to come, but a potential second Biden administration will do so with impunity, without any regard for the consequences that the American people will be forced to reconcile with.

Take the border crisis.

Since Biden took office, there have been 9.2 million encounters with illegal immigrants nationwide—including more than 7.6 million encounters at the Southwest border. Nationwide encounters have now increased by 28 percent compared to March 2021. And this past March, it was reported that there were 107,298 border encounters by the Office of Field Operations (OFO), specifically at ports of entry—an increase of 375 percent compared to March of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.

This includes 113,742 encounters with single adults at the Southwest border. So no, contrary to the leftist myth, it is not merely mothers and children who are entering our country.

And as if those figures are not horrific enough, so far in FY24, 24,376 Chinese nationals have already tried to enter the country at the Southwest border. Encounters of Chinese nationals in March 2024 have now increased by a whopping 8,500 percent compared to March 2021, surpassing all of last fiscal year—just six months into FY24.

We do not know who these people are. We do not know if they have good intentions or not. We do not know if they love our country or if they want to assimilate. We do not know if they wish to cause harm to American citizens. What we do know is that they broke the law to come here and are overwhelming public resources across the country at taxpayers’ expense. We cannot afford to accommodate them, nor should we.

As horrendous as these border crossing numbers are now, in a second Biden term, these figures will only further be exacerbated as the Democrat Party looks to import millions of likely new voters without a care in the world for what it will do to our cities. The lack of respect that Biden and the Democrat Party have for the citizens of this country knows no bounds.

How about inflationary spending?

During Biden’s first three years, his administration has already accumulated $6.32 trillion in debt, including by spending $391 million on Green New Deal initiatives that will do virtually nothing to stop so-called “climate change” but will dramatically raise the cost of energy. Prices are now up by 19.4 percent since Biden took office. Gas is up more than 50 percent since January 2021, and inflation has been at or above 3 percent for 36 straight months.

But don’t expect Biden to change his drunken spending habits with our money anytime soon. The best we can do is stop complaining about the price at the pump and buy an electric vehicle, says Pete Buttigieg.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in the final year of his first term, Biden will rack up another $1.582 trillion in debt, meaning our total debt will reach $7.902 trillion by the end of his first four years in office. Only President Barack Obama, who oversaw a debt increase of more than $9.5 trillion during his two terms, dug us into a deeper hole.

In a second Biden term, without any constraints towards continuing to deceive the public about the illusion of fiscal sanity, Biden will likely blow Obama’s figures out of the water as he looks to fully enact his progressive wish list—so that his favorite historians can compare him to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

How about Biden’s proposed tax plan for his second term?

If implemented, it would impose a corporate tax burden on businesses that would be among the highest in the world. This includes a $5.5 trillion tax increase on the wealthy and corporations, while spending $7.3 trillion on defense and much of the rest on federal entitlement programs, including affordable housing and student debt cancellation.

If Biden returns to the White House, he intends to let the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expire at the end of 2025. This would cause a family of five earning $90,000 to see its marginal tax rate jump from 12 percent to 15 percent and would cause its $6,000 in tax credits to fall to $3,000 under the Biden plan.

A second Biden term will not only constitute a tax increase for the rich; it will apply to the middle class as well. But the concerns of working class families are no longer of any importance to Biden or the Democrat Party—and they haven’t been for quite some time.

Look at Biden and the left’s support for DEI.

If he serves a second term, he will continue his war against white America—including when he unconstitutionally chose to exclude billions of dollars from white business owners and farmers regardless of need. Never mind that a federal appellate court and the United States Supreme Court already issued an injunction against the measure—but that won’t stop Biden from trying to enact similar discriminatory policies in the future, because, as we have already learned, he is the divider in chief.

Finally, look at Biden’s betrayal of Israel. Biden and his ilk, including Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, keep prefacing every public comment with the hollow perfunctory statement that the Jewish state has a right to defend itself, and yet, apparently killing Hamas terrorists, who seek its destruction and use its citizens as human shields, is crossing a line—so they’re calling for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Democratically elected leader of Israel, to be ousted. Never mind that 62 percent of the Israeli public supports Netanyahu’s plan for achieving victory in Gaza, while just 16 percent oppose his plan.

If Biden really supported Israel, he would keep his mouth shut and allow Netanyahu to do his job - and he wouldn’t keep funding the terrorist Iranian regime. Just wait and see what happens in a second Biden term, when the Jewish vote no longer matters to Biden.

Instead of Biden working on strengthening our relationship with our strongest allies, he undermines them. Meanwhile, China and Russia are watching closely because they know we have a weak president who is unlikely to make good on any of his threats in response to continued acts of aggression towards our allies, including when he repeatedly tells Iran, “Don’t.” A second Biden term will only further embolden our enemies to do whatever they want.

So what can be done?

To all those who decided to vote for Biden the first go around because they wrongly believed that he would resemble a “return to normalcy” and would supposedly govern as a moderate, what more evidence do you need in order to not vote for him? How many more catastrophes and physical and mental gaffes need to happen before people connect the dots and say this man cannot and should not serve again?

We are led by unserious people who cannot even keep the peace and figure out how to protect Jewish students on college campuses - but these are the people who could be dictating our foreign and domestic policy for the next five years.

Unless, of course, the American people have finally decided that, come November 5, enough is enough.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 14:00

China Expanding New Outpost In Antigua & Barbuda, Alarming The Pentagon

US officials are deeply alarmed at new reports that China is greatly expanding its economic, diplomatic, and possibly even military presence in the island paradise region of the Caribbean, just off America's doorstep. 

Newsweek says it has in its possession leaked documents which show China has established a sprawling economic zone and outpost on Antigua and Barbuda, and has "secured privileges that resemble those of a small state."

This means that from this location lying just 220 miles from the US Virgin Islands, Beijing could expand its espionage capabilities, akin to what is already happening in nearby Cuba, where China is in negotiations with the Cuban government to establish a new joint military training facility on the island.

Image via US State Department

United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which is based in Doral, Florida (near Miami) and oversees US operations and security in Central and South America and the Caribbean, says that China is likely using its state-owned enterprises to conduct intelligence-gathering, just as in other parts of the world.

"Given the breadth of investment into logistics infrastructure China has made in the Caribbean, we are concerned that China could task its state-owned enterprises and diaspora to conduct intelligence or influence operations against the U.S. and our partners in the region for military purposes," SOUTHCOM said in a statement.

"Those concerns are further heightened when you consider the Chinese Communist Party's practice of targeting, recruiting and bribing officials," it continued.

The leaked corporate documents reviewed by Newsweek indicate the following:

This natural paradise on the island of Antigua, where officials will study the thoughts of Xi Jinping, is about to be razed for a Chinese-run special economic zone. According to documents reviewed by Newsweek it will have its own customs and immigration formalities, a shipping port and a dedicated airline and will be able to issue passports. It will establish businesses offering everything from logistics to cryptocurrencies, facial surgery to "virology."

Already this has had a chilling effect in some places locally:

Increasingly, people were afraid to speak out about the flourishing relationship especially if they did business through the China-built shipping port in St. John's, she told Newsweek: "Everybody feels like their testicles are in a vise; that if you say the wrong thing, if you align yourself the wrong way, you're putting yourself in danger," Isaac said. "At night, I switch on my alarm and say my prayers."

"China, its state-owned companies and aligned private businesses are expanding rapidly in the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and in other Caribbean countries in this strategic region long known as 'America’s third border,' according to a Newsweek investigation of government and corporate documents as well as interviews with Antiguan leaders," the publication continued.

PM Gaston Browne of Antigua meets with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, January 2024. handout

But Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne has rejected Newsweek's reporting as follows: "This cold war rhetoric going back to the relationship between the USSR and the USA, they are now trying to create and trying to use this sensational speculation that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is now trying to use Antigua and Barbuda as a base.

"This is utter nonsense,” Browne continued while emphasizing "we will never ever enter into any arrangement with any country to hurt another. Much less to hurt a country like the United States in which we are so dependent on their tourism, we are dependent on their trade and investment." He added: "It will be like hurting ourselves. So protecting the US is protecting our own national interest."

Some analysts have speculated that China's interest in the Caribbean is related to the standoff over Taiwan and that Beijing wishes to counterbalance the global geopolitical chessboard. For example, the level of US military and intelligence infrastructure in place across the South China Sea and among Washington's regional allies not far off China's coast, even firmly entrenched on the island of Taiwan, are already immense and growing. For American national security officials, Monroe Doctrine assumptions are still alive and well, and deeply ingrained. It appears Beijing is significantly challenging that.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 13:25

Man Who Filmed Ashli Babbitt Killing Sentenced To 6 Years In Prison

Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

John Earle Sullivan, the onetime racial-justice activist and provocateur who filmed the deadly shooting of Ashli Babbitt at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to six years in federal prison by a judge in Washington D.C.

Activist John Earle Sullivan reacts to the shooting of Ashli Babbitt that he filmed outside the Speaker's Lobby at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Sam Montoya/Special to The Epoch Times)

Mr. Sullivan, 29, of Tooele, Utah, did not receive the 87 months recommended by federal prosecutors for his role on Jan. 6. But his 72-month sentence was well beyond the 30 months his defense attorney recommended.

The sentence meted out on April 26 by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth brought to a close the more than three-year prosecution of Mr. Sullivan, one of the most recognizable Jan. 6 figures. He was arrested on Jan. 14, 2021—one of the first Jan. 6 suspects taken into custody by the FBI.

Judge Lamberth sentenced Mr. Sullivan to serve two years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay $2,520 in restitution and special assessments.

Mr. Sullivan came to the Jan. 6 events in Washington trailed by filmmaker Jade Sacker, who has since published a documentary about the liberal Mr. Sullivan and his conservative activist brother James.

Although media continue to report that Mr. Sullivan dressed as a Trump supporter on Jan. 6, that wasn’t true. On Jan. 5, he posted a widely shared photo of himself to social media donned in a Trump ball cap. He did not wear Trump gear on Jan. 6.

Mr. Sullivan was found guilty by a District of Columbia jury in November 2023 of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder and aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds, disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Judge Lamberth denied Mr. Sullivan’s motion for release from jail pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision on the constitutionality of the felony obstruction of an official proceeding charge used against at least 353 Jan. 6 defendants.

The High Court heard oral arguments in that case on April 16 and is expected to rule by late June.

‘I’ve Got a Knife’

The weapon that brought Mr. Sullivan enhanced felony charges was a retractable dual-edge Smith & Wesson M&P tactical knife—something Mr. Sullivan boasted about to the crowd outside the Speaker’s Lobby, where Ms. Babbitt was shot at 2:44 p.m.

“Let me through, I’ve got a knife,” Mr. Sullivan said as he moved through the dense crowd, according to his video. “I’ve got a knife.”

Once he reached the left side of the Speaker’s Lobby entrance, Mr. Sullivan lobbied Capitol Police Officer Kyle Yetter to abandon his post—for his own safety.

“Bro, I’ve seen people out there get hurt,” Mr. Sullivan said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

As soon as Mr. Yetter, Capitol Police Sgt. Timothy Lively, and Officer Christopher Lanciano moved away from the door that they had been guarding, Mr. Sullivan urged the men around him, “Go! Go! Let’s go! Get this [expletive],” according to his video.

A short time later, Mr. Sullivan was the first to call out the presence of Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who crept along the other side of the entrance with his Glock pistol pointed toward the crowded hallway.

“There’s a gun! There’s a gun! There’s a gun!” Mr. Sullivan shouted as the service weapon became visible on his video screen.

The exact moment Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd fired his Glock 22 pistol at Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (JaydenX/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Mr. Sullivan’s video showed Mr. Byrd repeatedly placing his finger on the trigger of his gun and removing it before he lunged forward and fired the weapon at Ms. Babbitt, who had just begun climbing into a broken outside window of the doorway.

In an interview filmed moments later by Infowars employee Sam Montoya, a highly agitated Mr. Sullivan said he believed he saw Ms. Babbitt die.

‘I Have the Video’

“She climbed in the window and then she got shot right here in the neck,” Mr. Sullivan told Mr. Montoya. “I got it all. I’ll post the video. I have the video. I have the video of the guy with the gun and then shoot her. …I have it all. I was right at the door.”

As it turned out, Ms. Babbitt was still alive as Capitol Police officers carried her head-first to the ground floor of the Capitol. Even as she was loaded into an ambulance, Ms. Babbitt bled profusely from the upper chest wound caused by Mr. Byrd’s bullet. She was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m. at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Mr. Sullivan was paid $90,000 by several media outlets for the use of his Jan. 6 video, money that was seized by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Mr. Sullivan’s Jan. 6 conduct was a continuation of the violent rhetoric he expressed during the civil unrest in 2020 after the controversial death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Mr. Sullivan dubbed himself “Jayden X” and “Activist John,” and operated a website called “Insurgence USA.”

“Going into winter of 2020, Sullivan began to advocate for a violent dismantling of the government,” prosecutors wrote in their 45-page sentencing memorandum. “In one Instagram post, Sullivan posted, ‘We will have live updates on the location for tonight’s purge. Spread the message. Let the electoral purge commence.’

“In December 2020, Sullivan tweeted, ‘Riots are meant to bring change, so purge the world with fire,’ and, ‘An armed revolution is the only way to bring about change effectively.’”

Mr. Sullivan’s sentencing memo said his behavior on Jan. 6 was not reflective of the kind of man he is.

“Those who know him from church, from social interactions, and from his supportive family all enthusiastically commend him as a decent, honest man of integrity, good faith and devotion to those in his world,” defense attorney Steven Kiersh wrote.

“John Sullivan’s conduct on January 6, 2021, was clearly a deviation from the person that is reflected in his background,” Mr. Kiersh wrote. “His conduct on that day is not reflective of the totality of the kind, decent and generous man that he is.”

Mr. Kiersh said his client’s mental health has markedly declined since he was jailed following his jury trial. He asked Judge Lamberth to take that into consideration when crafting a sentence.

“Mr. Sullivan has been held in protective custody and in virtual isolation throughout the duration of his incarceration,” Mr. Kiersh wrote. “Undersigned counsel meets with defendant regularly at the D.C. Jail and has seen a dramatic decrease in his mental stability and his overall physical presence.

Jan. 6 defendant John Sullivan shares a kiss with filmmaker Jade Sacker in the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021. She shot Jan. 6 footage of Mr. Sullivan for a documentary. (U.S. Capitol Police/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

“Counsel has repeatedly spoken with the D.C. Jail’s legal counsel regarding defendant’s status but has been told there is nothing that can be done to remove his protective custody housing status due to concern for his physical safety,” Mr. Kiersh said.

Mr. Sullivan was born in Galax, Virginia, in July 1994 and adopted by an Army lieutenant colonel and his wife. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout before graduating from high school in Stafford, Virginia.

He moved to Kearns, Utah, in order to pursue his dream of becoming an Olympic speed skater, according to court records. Injuries forced him to abandon his quest for the Winter Olympics.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 12:50

Justice Kavanaugh Warns Of Vicious Cycle Of Malicious Prosecutions That Could End Presidency

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

During Thursday’s deliberations at the U.S. Supreme Court on former President Donald Trump’s immunity claim, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned that a decision in the case has future implications for whether future presidents are shielded from vicious cycles of malicious prosecution that could effectively end the presidency as we know it.

In the course of two-and-a-half hours of oral arguments on April 25, justices on the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of a ruling by a federal appeals court that rejected President Trump’s claim that he has absolute immunity from criminal charges based on his official acts as president.

President Trump was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith in August 2023 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Pleading not guilty, the former president has argued that he should receive absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts that fell within the scope of his official duties. The exception to this immunity, he has argued, is if Congress impeaches and convicts him on charges.

A federal appeals court rejected that argument, claiming that presidents must face prosecution for alleged criminal wrongdoing.

The question that is now before the Supreme Court is: “Whether and if so to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office?”

During Thursday’s deliberations, the justices weighed the claim of absolute immunity that, if adopted, would stop Mr. Smith’s prosecution of the former president dead in its tracks.

Several conservative justices suggested they favor imposing limits on the prosecution of former presidents, while highlighting the importance of the case for the future.

Justice Kavanaugh said that when presidents are subject to prosecution, history shows that it’s not going to stop.

“It’s going to cycle back and be used against the current president or the next president ... and the next president and the next president after that.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who said that the court is “writing a rule for the ages,” along with Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Kavanaugh all said that their concern was not so much the case against President Trump, but rather the effect of the ruling on future presidencies.

“This case has huge implications for the presidency, for the future of the presidency, for the future of the country,” Justice Kavanaugh said.

‘Rule for the Ages’

Former Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben, who argued for Mr. Smith, said that the framers of the U.S. Constitution never intended for presidents to be above the law.

Mr. Dreeben also said that the crimes President Trump is charged with—including allegedly participating in a scheme to enlist dueling electors in battleground states won by President Joe Biden to cast alternate slates of electoral votes for him—weren’t a part of the president’s official duties.

Attorney D. John Sauer, who argued for President Trump, told the justices that without presidential immunity from criminal charges, the “presidency as we know it” will be changed, contending that the looming threat is that a decision to deny immunity would “destroy” presidential decisionmaking at a time in the nation’s history when it needs to be bold.

Mr. Sauer argued that the impact of the case would have implications far beyond the question at hand, raising the hypothetical prospect of President Biden facing charges of encouraging illegal immigration with his border policies.

Justice Kavanaugh expressed concern about the future implications of the case, warning of the prospect of a vicious cycle of malicious prosecutions that could hamper presidents for years to come.

Mr. Drebeen contended that the laws currently on the books have not shown they are prone to abuse, telling the high court that “we’ve lived from Watergate through the present, through the independent counsel era with all of its flaws, without these prosecutions having gone off on a runaway train.”

Justice Kavanaugh argued that the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton presidencies were all “hampered” by investigations, while suggesting that holding a president accountable is less important than protecting the functioning of the presidency.

He raised the question of the “risk” of a “creative prosecutor” using “vague” statutes against a commander-in-chief, telling Mr. Dreeben that this case has “huge implications” for the presidency, and that he was “very concerned about the future.”

Justice Kavanaugh cited the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Morrison v. Olson, which upheld the constitutionality of the independent counsel statute, as “one of the Court’s biggest mistakes” because it “hampered” presidential administrations. He argued that when former presidents are subjected to prosecution, this risks triggering a vicious cycle of vindictive prosecutions.

“What would the reaction be if, in an area not covered by this statute, the Justice Department posted a public notice inviting applicants to assist in an investigation and possible prosecution of a certain prominent person?” he asked.

“Does this not invite what Justice Jackson described as picking the man and then searching the law books or putting investigators to work to pin some offense on him?”

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 11:40

"Wasted Protest Vote": Trump Says He'd Take Biden Over RFK Jr.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

Former President Donald Trump criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for presidency in the 2024 elections, pointing out his progressive stances on climate, guns, border, and energy.

“RFK Jr. is a Democrat ‘Plant,’ a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected,” President Trump wrote in an April 26 Truth Social post.

“A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him. Junior' is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet...”

“I lived with RFK Jr. in New York and watched him convince Governor Cuomo to make Environmental moves that were outright NASTY,” he wrote in another post.

“Upstate New York was not allowed to drill or frack as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and others ripped off New York Energy. Because of this, prices have skyrocketed all over that part of the Country, but especially Upstate New York and New England.”

The former president pointed out that New York’s energy costs are the “highest in the U.S.” except for California. President Trump insisted he prefers President Biden over Mr. Kennedy as the United States “would last a year or two longer prior to collapse - But it would be dead either way.”

“I’d even take Biden over Junior,” Mr. Trump added.

President Trump had criticized Mr. Kennedy in March along similar lines, calling him the “most Radical Left Candidate in the race” late last month. Calling RFK Jr. a “big fan of the Green New Scam, and other economy killing disasters,” he suggested Mr. Kennedy could take away votes from President Biden.

Mr. Kennedy initially wanted to challenge President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination. However, he alleged that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was “rigging the primary” by not allowing any challenge against the current administration. In October last year, he announced running for the 2024 presidential race as an independent.

RFK Jr. claimed in a social media post that the DNC attacked him as they feared he would be a “spoiler candidate” in the election. He said Democrats were spending “millions” to take down his campaign and that they “never expected” his movement to gain the momentum it has.

Stefanie Spear, the Kennedy campaign’s press secretary, says both Republican and Democrat parties are unable to “understand a candidate who does not fit into conventional political categories.”

“We are neither right nor left, neither liberal nor conservative,” she said in a statement to The Epoch Times. RFK Jr.’s key policy positions “defy those categories. Is ending the forever wars liberal, or conservative? How about freeing agencies from corporate capture? Ending the chronic disease epidemic? Protecting free speech?”

“The DNC and GOP try to pigeonhole our candidates as liberals or conservatives, which perpetuates the divisiveness that has paralyzed our political system. Both are screaming, ‘He’s one of THEM!’ Our ticket represents the broad majority who have unsubscribed from the right-left paradigm.”

Kennedy’s Policy Positions

In a Truth Social post, President Trump also criticized RFK Jr.’s vice president pick, Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan.

Ms. Shanahan, 38, was formerly married to Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. She helped fund Mr. Kennedy’s Super Bowl ad campaign which cost $7 million. A day after Mr. Kennedy announced Ms. Shanahan as his running mate, she sent $2 million to the Kennedy campaign as a contribution.

"His Chief ‘Funder’ is the V.P. Candidate that nobody ever heard of, except her ex-husband, who’s been stripped of a big chunk of cash,” President Trump wrote in the post.

“She puts herself down as a businesswoman, or maybe a doctor, and actually, I guess you could say that she’s right. Her business was doing surgery on her husband’s wallet! She’s more Liberal than Junior’ by far, not a serious person, and only a Pot of Cash to help get her No Chance Candidate on the Ballot.”

Among the several policy issues raised by Mr. Kennedy, the Independent candidate recently said he is going to file a lawsuit challenging the potential ban of TikTok in the United States.

President Joe Biden recently signed a bill requiring Beijing-based ByteDance to sell off its TikTok business. If the company fails to do so, the app will be banned from U.S. app stores and web-hosting services.

“Don’t be fooled—the TikTok ban is not about China harvesting your data. That’s a smoke screen. Intelligence agencies from lots of countries, especially ours, are harvesting your data from everywhere all the time,” RFK Jr. said in an April 26 post.

President Biden has won endorsement from members of the Kennedy family including Rory Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy’s sister, who raised concerns that RFK Jr.’s campaign could end up siphoning off votes from President Biden in the upcoming elections.

In another X post, he slammed the DNC for treating him “as if I am President Biden’s big challenge.” However, “his real problem is not me.”

President Biden’s “real problem is $4 milk, $4 gas, $6 loaf of bread, and the fact that this generation of American kids are never going to own their own home,” he said.

According to a recent The Economist/YouGov poll, both President Trump and President Biden garnered 43 percent support each from likely voters for the presidential race. RFK Jr. is lagging behind with just three percent support.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 10:30

California Homeowners: Insured No More Amid Fire Danger

America's largest and, for some owners, only option for a home insurer is pulling back its operations in the state of California, leaving many with no more options to secure their property's value amid wildfire danger in the state reaching new heights.

As Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, after saying in May of last year that it wasn't giving out any new California contracts, news broke in March that 72,000 State Farm policies in the state would not be renewed.

Now, a filing shows which zip codes these homes are in.

In many affected places, State Farm had been the only or only major insurer still operating, according to reporting by CBS. Most companies had already deemed the locations uninsurable due to the danger of wildfires whose flames have been fanned by climate change.

Among the zip codes in question are many wealthy neighborhoods in the hillsides in or near Los Angeles, for example Pacific Palisades, Bel Air or Calabasas. Others, like Brentwood or Tarzana, also include more modest stretches.

However, the policies most likely to be discontinued are for those homes in hilly areas more likely to come at a premium in or near big metros but also more likely to fall victim to a fire.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Still, State Farm's move speaks volumes to homes in wooded areas of California now being considered so likely to be destroyed that the usual calculations of insurance companies have stopped working out - at least for those high-end properties that are now having their contracts discontinued.

Home insurance policies are usually renewed every year. In the L.A. zip codes with the biggest shares of contracts that will not be rolling over, between 542 (in Tarzana) and 1,626 policies (in Pacific Palisades) are now running out.

The highest absolute number, however, is in the 94563 zip code of Orinda near Oakland. Other highly affected zip codes are near San Diego as well as in Santa Marta north of the Bay Area.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 09:55

What's Really Behind Poland's Interest In Deporting Ukrainian Draft-Dodgers?

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz expressed support in an interview for Ukraine’s latest conscription-related policy of refusing consular services for draft-aged men aged 18-60. The form of assistance that Warsaw provides Kiev in returning these draft-dodgers depends on the regime, but he implied that his country might hunt down and deport them. This reading is predicated on him calling their service a “civic duty” and saying that Poles are “outraged” seeing these men hanging out in cafes.

Late last year, “WaPo Amplified The Arguments Of Ukrainian Draft Dodgers Right As Zelensky Wants More Conscripts”, which suggested some sympathy for their plight in being forced to fight. Meanwhile, this piece here from around the same time analyzed the dilemma that EU countries would face if Ukraine requested that they deport these draft-dodgers, some of whom have refugee status, while these two surveys in March and April show that mutual Polish-Ukrainian perceptions are worsening.

Accordingly, Poland could come under some foreign media pressure if it forcibly deports those Ukrainian men within its territory who Kiev calls up to serve after previously allowing them to live in the country, including as refugees.

Additionally, average Ukrainians might begin to hate Poles if they interpret this move as being driven by a nationalist desire to punish them for changing the country’s demographics.

The end result could be that Poland ruins its reputation in the West and Ukraine just to fuel this doomed conflict.

About that, the country’s new coalition government is liberal-globalist and thus earned applause from their fellow travelers who currently control most of the West, but some factions among the latter might strongly disagree in principle with deporting Ukrainians (including refugees) to the front. Likewise, this same government wanted to improve ties with Ukraine that soured at the end of their conservative-nationalist predecessor’s tenure, but this would only benefit the regime at the expense of its people.

“The US’ Long-Delayed Aid To Ukraine Might Prevent Its Collapse But Won’t Push Russia Back”, and no amount of draft refugee meat that Poland or whoever else throws into the grinder will change that.

The military-strategic dynamics decisively favor Russia due to its victory in the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” with NATO. It therefore wouldn’t make a difference even in the impossible event that all estimated 860,000 adult Ukrainian men living in the EU were deported to the front.

The only potential benefit to this policy is if the conservative-nationalist opposition relieves some of their pressure upon Tusk’s liberal-globalist government if he deports all Ukrainian draft-dodgers from Poland.

He’d risk some foreign media pressure and further worsening average Ukrainians’ views of Poles, but he might gamble that this is worth it, especially if it’s positively spun by some of his liberal-globalist peers abroad as “solidarity with the cause” of defeating Russia. Tusk might then gain more than he’d lose.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 09:20

How Skeptical Are Europeans About Vaccinations?

31 percent of people surveyed in Poland as part of Statista’s Consumer Insights survey say they have little confidence in the safety of vaccinations.

The low influenza vaccination rate among older individuals in Poland points to the potential practical consequences of such attitudes - although the data does not conclusively demonstrate a causal relationship.

As Statista's Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, there is a lack of trust in the safety of immunizations across several countries in Europe.

You will find more infographics at Statista

In Austria and France, around a quarter of those surveyed expressed doubt about the safety of vaccinations, while in Germany just over one in five said the same.

According to these figures, confidence in the safety of vaccines is more pronounced in Spain and the United Kingdom.

In the UK, vaccines continue to be monitored even after their approval. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) plays a key role in this process, continuously collecting and analyzing vaccine safety data and investigating reported adverse events. Further information on vaccines and their potential side effects can be obtained from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 08:45

PM Orbán At CPAC: The 5 Methods Of Oppression Liberals Use To Silence Conservatives

Authored by John Cody via ReMix News,

In the run-up to major elections across the West, including the U.S. presidential election and the EU parliament elections in June, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that conservatives face unprecedented pressure from liberals, who are lashing out over fears they may lose power.

During his speech at the third annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest, Hungary, Orbán described five methods of oppression being deployed by liberals to silence the opposition, with the Hungarian prime minister noting that some of the most advanced forms of oppression, including court action and intelligence service spying, are already being deployed against conservatives across the West.

1. Change the meaning of words

The first step Orbán describes is liberal actions designed to change the meaning of words and phrases in order to mislead the people, with the issue of migration being the most substantial example of this trend.

“The first step of progressive liberals, their oppression, is to make normal mean the exact opposite. War is peace. That is what progressives still say today. The Peace Facility. That’s the name of the Brussels financial fund from which the most destructive weapons are sent to the front. Migration is a resource, they say, while crime is rising, the threat of terror is increasing and trust is being drained from our societies,” said Orbán.

Orban noted that Hungary has been able to withstand this sea change, making it a “unique location in all of Europe.”

“It is the fact that, while the whole of Europe is being swamped by an ocean of progressive liberalism, a conservative island has survived (in Hungary), an Island of Deference, defying the liberal tide, the Brussels blast, and the Washington hurricane. Not only defying but surviving, even thriving, even succeeding, even triumphing and triumphing again and again.”

2. Invert everything that is normal

The second step on the path to liberals maintaining power is to invert everything that is normal, including sexuality, education, family life, love of country, and ethnic homogeneity.

“The second step is to start spreading this inverted normality by state means. Anyone who thinks otherwise is problematic. There is something wrong with that. Anyone who disagrees is either ignorant or insane. The perception must be that listening to them would lead to some fatal disaster,” said Orbán.

This method helps tear families apart, mock cultural and national traditions, and normalize behavior that up until just a few decades ago was considered beyond the pale, Orbán told the conference, adding that liberal subversion had led to “crashing birthrates, soaring divorces, broken families, and a failing education system that focuses more on ideology than academic greatness.”

“All of this is fertile breeding ground for left-wing parties to thrive and paint conservatives and the right as “backward” and deserving of political suppression and even outright violence,” he said.

3. Make the right into a “security threat”

The next step is to create an aura of “danger” around right-wing and conservative views, which will help the state justify any action taken against conservatives. In the United States, this includes, for example, portraying supporters of Donald Trump as terrorists, or equating any right-wing view as “Nazi.”

“You are made to believe that you hold dangerous views and that you are also a security risk. They send some kind of democracy watchdog at you, which then finds out that you do not share the views of normality they preach, and are therefore a radical whose freedom of speech can be safely restricted,” Orban said.

This particular step has played out across social media, where conservatives and the right face enormous censorship. However, NGOs and organizations, many of whom are lavishly funded by governments, corporations, and billionaire oligarchs such as George Soros, are actively working to silence and persecute conservatives. As Remix News has reported, they are deeply embedded in the major social media networks, and work to police conservative thought and views.

Demonizing conservatives was also evident just last week in Brussels after another conservative conference in which Orbán and many other high-profile politicians from Europe were speaking, was shut down by the local mayor citing public safety concerns.

It took the lawyers of the National Conservatism conference to file last-minute motions in Belgium’s top administrative court to ensure the conference could continue for its second day.

4. The press goes on the attack

In the fourth step, the liberal press targets you, often personally, while the state turns civilians into a mob of informers, Orbán warned.

“They deploy activists who use legal means to silence you. Then, the often anonymous profiles on the internet come to denounce you on social media, while a plethora of civilians bombard the courts and state bodies with complaints and denunciations,” he added.

5. Send the authorities in

“And if you still have the stomach for it, and if you’re still standing, the fifth step is for the public authorities to spring into action. They receive so many complaints and denunciations that they are obliged to investigate you, unfortunately, so they become the private institutions of the progressives,” the Hungarian prime minister explained.

“They will find that the accusations of the press, the concerns of the watchdogs, are well founded, they will prosecute yo,u and you will eventually be silenced by state means. That is what they do to Hungary in Brussels, and that is what they do to conservatives in progressive, liberal European capitals.”

Orbán noted that the same thing was happening in the United States where the judiciary was being utilized in an attempt to get President Trump off the ballot for the upcoming presidential election.

He also pointed to the German government’s actions against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Due unique laws in Germany, the authorities have been able to label the AfD a “definite case of right-wing extremism” in key eastern states. In turn, this gives intelligence services authority to monitor communications, including phone calls, messages, and emails, between AfD politicians and members — all without a warrant.

“This is what happened in the European Union when they tried to ban Tucker Carlson by administrative means. It is happening in Germany, where political parties are being monitored by the secret services. And it happened in Finland when they wanted to condemn a politician and a bishop for quoting Scripture. Ladies and gentlemen, that is where we are.”

A new era for Europe

The Hungarian leader expressed hope, however, that the tide could turn should the people desire it at the forthcoming polls across the West, including the European Parliamentary elections in June.

He said the elections could help “end an inglorious era of Western civilization” and help defeat a “progressive liberal hegemony” that has only served to bring “war, chaos, and unrest” to Europe, as well as a collapsing economy and confusion to the world.

Instead, the European electorate could vote in favor of a new “world spirit” that promotes nation-state sovereignty as its core principle.

“In that world, national interest will determine the movement of states, and each independent nation will act in its own national interest. I also believe that in a sovereign world order, the real sovereign is the people, as our guests would say, popular sovereignty.

“I hope that it will no longer be NGOs of all kinds, big business, media outlets, dubious experts, and out-of-touch academics who tell us what is right and what should be done, but elected representatives and politicians elected by the people.”

In a rallying cry to fellow conservatives, Orbán urged them to “saddle up, arm up, take to the battlefield, and let the electoral battle begin,” calling for a “return to the peaceful and secure path that made the West great.”

“Make America Great Again, Make Europe Great Again. Go, Donald Trump! Go, European sovereignists!”

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 08:10

Majority Of British Public Does Not Back 'Rwanda Plan'

A survey by YouGov conducted on April 24 has found that six in ten people in the United Kingdom think that the Rwanda plan will not be effective in stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel between France and the UK.

As Statista's Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, this figure rises to over seven in ten respondents among Labour voters and Lib Dem voters.

While Conservatives were more tied, only a third of the party's politically-aligned respondents said that they thought the Rwanda plan would be effective.

You will find more infographics at Statista

In a different survey, carried out by think tank British Futures in collaboration with Focaldata, respondents were asked what would be needed in order for the Rwanda scheme to count as a success.

Four in ten respondents said that they would need to see small boat arrivals at least halve and evidence that people were deterred by the threat of removal to Rwanda to consider the plan successful.

Only a quarter of respondents said that getting a plane to take off carrying migrants from the UK to Rwanda would be their idea of success, while another quarter of respondents said that they were opposed to the Rwanda scheme and could not envisage a successful outcome from it.

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 07:35

Ukraine Withdraws Abrams Tanks From Frontlines After Russian Drone Attacks

Authored by Will Porter via The Libertarian Institute,

The Ukrainian military has opted to withdraw its US-supplied M1 Abrams main battle tanks from the front lines due to the threat posed by Russian drones, American officials told the Associated Press. Kiev has reportedly lost several of the tanks since their long-delayed deployment in February.

The decision came as Moscow increasingly relies on UAVs for round-the-clock surveillance and air strikes, making the Abrams "too difficult… to operate without detection or coming under attack," the AP reported on Thursday. The tanks have been removed from the fight for an unspecified period as Kiev and Washington work to "reset tactics," Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Adm. Christopher Grady told the outlet.

Photo published by the Russian military reportedly shows a US-made Abrams main battle tank after it was crippled during fighting near the city of Avdeevka.

"When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armor in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk," Grady added. "Now, there is a way to do it. We’ll work with our Ukrainian partners, and other partners on the ground, to help them think through how they might use that, in that kind of changed environment now, where everything is seen immediately."

Though the United States agreed to provide 31 Abrams in January 2023, the armor took months to arrive, and even longer before they first saw combat in February. Ukraine has so far lost at least five of the tanks, according to the AP, with Russian forces claiming several kills since the Abrams was first spotted on the battlefield. At least one of the tanks was reportedly crippled with a cheaply made kamikaze drone, part of Moscow’s growing fleet of surveillance and armed UAVs.

The ubiquity of drones in the conflict has meant "there isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection," another senior defense official told the AP, explaining the decision to sideline the Abrams. 

The move comes as Washington steps up assistance to Ukrainian troops following a lull in support, with Congress passing a massive $61 billion military aid package last weekend after months of gridlock in the House.

The Pentagon immediately approved a $1 billion shipment on Wednesday, including artillery rounds, air defense missiles, infantry fighting vehicles and a long list of other gear – the largest round of US aid in several months. Another $6 billion weapons package was announced on Friday which is to include munitions for the US-made Patriot air defense system.

Following a failed counteroffensive last summer, Kiev has repeatedly urged for additional weapons from its NATO sponsors, warning it would continue to lose ground to Russian forces without Western-made aircraft, armor and long-range missiles.

On Wednesday, the US State Department revealed it had already sent Ukraine its first shipment of longer-range ATACMS missiles last month, saying the decision was not announced “in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at their request.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 04/28/2024 - 07:00