Zerohedge

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Politicians in Europe are using the JD Vance and Trump external enemy excuse to disguise the existential problem of a system that is crumbling. The statist nightmare built around what politicians call “welfare state” has proven to be a subterfuge to multiply bureaucracy and create a dependent subclass.

The welfare state was never sustainable but was created as an affordable luxury that rich economies could finance with strong economic growth and a solid productive sector. However, European governments overlooked the necessity of fostering economic growth and productivity to finance the welfare state.

Furthermore, as left-wing populism permeated all segments of the European political landscape, politicians started to include more and more so-called “rights,” which became entitlement costs and subsidies, in a trend that led Europe to forget to create wealth and focus entirely on extractive and confiscatory policies.

We have seen a gradual destruction of the productive sector, asphyxiated by constantly raising taxes and bureaucratic and regulatory limitations, while government budgets expanded without control.

The economy of the European Union operates on an inverted economic model. It puts entitlement spending as its pillar, instead of seeing that the welfare state is, at best, a consequence of wealth creation, not a cause. Without a thriving private sector, there is no welfare. Politicians should understand that you cannot provide citizens with social programs if the productive economy is weakened by political design.

In the latest Eurostat estimates, the ratio of social insurance pension entitlements to GDP was between 200% and 400% in European economies. Unfunded financial commitments are so large they will only be paid in a massively weakened currency if the current economic policies continue.

France is the prime example of this “upside down” approach to the economy. Putting entitlement spending at the forefront of economic policies has led to decades of stagnation, high debt and deficit, and social discontent. Taxpayers are tired, and recipients of entitlements are relegated to a dependent subclass.

The trick is the following: Government spending soars, and everything spent is justified under the banner of “social spending”. 

Deficit and debt rise, so the government increases taxes to balance the budget.

If the economy grows, spending grows faster, and if the economy enters recession, the government spends even more to “protect” citizens. Thus, taxes rise even faster.

The constant process of expropriation of productive wealth becomes a burden on growth, investment, and productivity. Furthermore, more taxes generate lower incremental revenues and a demotivated business and workforce community that finds it impossible to thrive alongside the burden of bureaucracy and taxation.

Macron says that Europe is “underleveraged.”. The statement is incorrect, of course, but it is even less believable when we look at all the unfunded commitments.

Europe needs to abandon the current high taxes and bureaucracy and cut unnecessary spending so the pension and healthcare systems remain viable. This means slashing budgets and eliminating political spending. However, no political party wants to do it because thousands of their members depend on government jobs. The situation is so desperate that European nations cannot even increase the much-needed defense budget despite acknowledging the urgency of improving investment in security.

Europe’s welfare state became the welfare of the state at the expense of its businesses and taxpayers. The European Union has human capital, great businesspeople, and entrepreneurs. However, it is being destroyed from the inside by a political class that would rather see high inflation and a weaker currency than reduce its grip on the economy.

Authored by Timothy Geoglein via The Epoch Times,

One of our current cultural mantras is “you do you” – putting your personal desires over the greater good of others and society. In other words, living selfishly instead of selflessly.

The manifestation of such a philosophy and its implications for our society is particularly acute when it comes to the institutions of marriage and family.

As the late James Q. Wilson, former professor of government at Harvard University, wrote in his book, “The Marriage Problem”: “It is not money, but the family that is the foundation of public life. As it has become weaker, every structure built upon that foundation has become weaker.”

I pondered this after I read last month about the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releasing troubling new numbers regarding current fertility rates in the United States.

While numerous articles have been written about the “birth dearth” over the past few years and its implications for our future, this report clearly illustrates that what was once a matter of concern is rapidly becoming a full-blown crisis as the CBO forecasts significantly lower population growth over the next three decades.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Paul Kiernan states:

“As a result of these changes, deaths are expected to exceed births in 2033, seven years earlier than the nonpartisan agency projected a year ago.”

The report shows the population receiving Social Security will grow from its current total of 342 million to 383 million by 2054. The current ratio of people aged 25–64 compared to those over 65 is 2.9-1. By 2054, it will be 2.2-1.

While better health care has resulted in longer life expectancies, thus increasing this ratio, the nation’s current population growth rate is 0.2 percent, with much of that driven by immigration rather than births. In fact, the CBO projects that the fertility rate will be approximately 1.70 percent, below the replacement level of 2.1.

So, while people living longer is one contributing factor, it is just that: one factor. There are more and greater factors in play. Perhaps the most important one is this: Americans are not getting married or forming families, or if they are, it happens later in a woman’s prime childbearing years.

For instance, in 1970, married couples made up 71 percent of all American households. By 2022, that percentage had decreased to just 47 percent. In 1962, 90 percent of all 30-year-olds were married, with that percentage dropping to 51 percent in 2019.

Dr. Peter H. Schuck, professor emeritus at Yale Law School, perhaps put it best when he wrote in his book, “One Nation Undecided: Clear Thinking About Five Hard Issues That Divide Us”:

“The family is the essential core of any society, and the steady decline of two-parent households is probably the single most consequential social trend of the half-century.”

Decisions not to get married or have children are often driven by choices to pursue so-called “personal fulfillment,” such as money, travel, and a career.

Last year, the Pew Research Center reported that 57 percent of adults under 50 who say they’re unlikely to ever have kids say a major reason is they just don’t want to; 31 percent of those ages 50 and older without kids cite this as a reason they never had them.

The implications are ominous—the rapidly growing aging population that becomes dependent upon younger generations for their care will be like old Mother Hubbard, who goes to the cupboard and finds nothing more than a bone.

According to Pew, even those who have chosen not to marry or have children worry about what their lives will be like as they age, without children or younger generations to provide the financial and familial support they will need. In addition, this will only increase government dependence for the elderly.

But there are also other societal considerations beyond caring for an aging population. Across the nation, we are already seeing schools beginning to close because of decreased enrollment (down 5.5 percent by 2031). Businesses are having a much harder time finding young, skilled, able-bodied workers, and when there are less children it will likely mean a continued drop in fertility rates as there will be even fewer young adults getting married and having children in the future.

It is a death spiral as the lack of marriages and children continues to weaken our nation’s foundation. You can only remove so many bricks, in this case families and children, before the entire building comes tumbling down.

What is the solution? We need to become a society that once again emphasizes the importance of marriage and children, putting sacrifice over personal ambition and family over autonomy. Without such a reversal from our current societal philosophy of “you do you” and a return to these values, our birth dearth will become our societal death.

*  *  *

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

After two weeks of US Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft conducting multiple signals intelligence (SIGINT) operations along the US-Mexico border and in international waters off southern Baja California—areas controlled by heavily armed drug cartels—the Mexican Senate Commission has approved the deployment of US Special Forces operators to the country for “training missions.”

SOFREP’s Guy D. McCardle reports that the Mexican Senate Commission has already approved the US Army’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Green Berets to conduct training exercises at a naval facility in Campeche, a Mexican port city on the Gulf of Mexico. 

As of Monday, the exercise is underway and will last through the end of March in conjunction with the Mexican Navy’s Infantería de Marina. 

The training will take place at the Luis Carpizo naval facility in Campeche from February 17 to March 30, 2025. It has been officially approved by the Mexican Senate’s Naval Ministry Commission and will be conducted under the supervision of the Mexican Defense Ministry (SEDENA). This ensures that while the training benefits from US military expertise, it remains aligned with Mexico’s national defense priorities. -SOFREP

“It’s important to say the Green Berets’ role is going to be just that: Training,” Scott Stewart, vice president of intelligence for international security consultant TorchStone Global, told NewsNation, adding, “It’s not like they’re sending in the SEALs, the Delta (Force) or the (Army) Rangers. It’s not like we are seeing the deployment of combat troops or combat aircraft.”

LFG 🔥🔥🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/2WvCeOCau9

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025

Stewart suggested that the Mexican government likely permitted the USAF spy planes near cartel-controlled areas to collect SIGINT for law enforcement agencies.

“That may be an attempt to increase signals intelligence – that plane is a vacuum, it sucks up all communications – but I think it would be intelligence to pass to the Mexican marines and not necessarily in preparation for a US airstrike or something,” he noted.

As we previously reported:

• USAF Spy Plane Runs SIGINT Operation Near Cabo As US Preps For Potential Cartel Fight

• USAF Spy Jet Flies Second SIGINT Operation On US Border With Focus On Narco Hub

• Border Czar “Expects” Kinetic Warfare Between US Troops & Mexican Drug Cartels

Beyond training, this partnership comes as President Trump recently designated Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

When reporters asked Trump earlier this month whether he would consider deploying Special Forces operators to Mexico, he responded, “Could happen” and added, “Stranger things have happened.” 

ABC News asked Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan a few weeks ago whether the US military could get involved if cartels strike. Homan replied, “Yes, and we expect them to,” adding that US troops “need to protect themselves.”

Pres. Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan says the U.S. military could get involved in a conflict with the Mexican cartels.

“I think the cartels would be foolish to take on the military,” Homan said.https://t.co/2MHah30Ivj pic.twitter.com/Fi8ogjEfjM

— ABC News (@ABC) February 6, 2025

At the start of the month, in what appeared to be the shortest trade war in history, Mexico and Canada each committed 10,000 troops to their respective borders, while the US reinforced its southern border with thousands of soldiers in the last three weeks. 

Last month, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had some strong words for drug cartels.

BREAKING: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just confirmed that the United States could now conduct special operations against Mexican cartels now that President Trump has declared them foreign terrorist organizations.

“All options will be on the table.” pic.twitter.com/UhCvRaGRvJ

— George (@BehizyTweets) January 31, 2025

As we’ve previously noted:

Dismantling Mexican drug cartels could be a very messy operation, which is why the Trump administration fortified the border with the military. The challenge, however, is that if US Special Forces operators kill cartel leaders, retaliatory attacks by cartel members could occur at Mexican beach resorts or, worse, on the streets of US cities. 

This move could mark the beginning of a broader deployment of US Special Forces in Mexico, aimed at dismantling drug cartels responsible for the drug death catastrophe of 100,000 Americans per year. Beyond military action, there is also the possibility that the Trump administration could launch financial hybrid warfare—applying pressure on Mexican banks to disrupt cartel operations. Additionally, Beijing may soon face more pressure from Trump in its role in subsidizing fentanyl precursor exports to Mexico. 

This is what ‘America First’ looks like. 

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 16 to allow it to fire the head of an agency that protects whistleblowers after lower courts said it could not.

Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, who heads the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, argues he may only be terminated for misconduct during his fixed-term appointment. Dellinger said a brief emailed notice he received Feb. 7 informed him he was being fired and did not explain why. New administrations routinely fire government officials without providing a reason.

Nominated by President Joe Biden, Dellinger was confirmed 49-47 for a five-year term by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 27, 2024.

The office describes itself as “an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency” whose “primary mission is to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), especially reprisal for whistleblowing.”

The Office of Special Counsel also enforces the Hatch Act, which prevents federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity, and safeguards the employment-related rights of military service members.

As the first appeal to the Supreme Court lodged by the new administration that took power on Jan. 20, the new emergency application in the case of Bessent v. Dellinger has not yet been docketed by the nation’s highest court, which means it does not yet appear in the court’s searchable online database. It may be docketed, or officially accepted for filing, on Feb. 18, the first business day after the Feb. 17 federal holiday.

The application says the government has a “very high” likelihood of succeeding on the merits. The Constitution “empowers the President to remove, at will, the single head of an agency, such as the Special Counsel,” the filing reads.

Federal district courts, like the one that temporarily blocked the removal of Dellinger, do not have the authority “to reinstate principal officers,” according to the filing.

The lower court has “erred in ways that threaten the separation of powers,” the document said, referring to a constitutional doctrine that divides the government into three branches to prevent any single branch from accumulating too much power.

The case goes back to Feb. 10, when Dellinger sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He argued he “has a clear entitlement to remain in his office” for his full five-year term and that the president may remove him only for “inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance in office.”

He said his tenure was guaranteed by Supreme Court precedents, including Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935).

Separately, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris informed Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in a Feb. 12 letter that the government is seeking to overturn the 80-year-old ruling stating that some federal officials may only be fired for cause. “The Department [DOJ] has concluded that those tenure protections are unconstitutional,” she wrote in the letter.

On Feb. 10, Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a temporary administrative stay through Feb. 13 blocking Dellinger’s termination. The next day, the government appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The circuit court denied the appeal on Feb. 12, saying it lacked jurisdiction, meaning it did not have legal authority to hear the case.

On Feb. 12, Jackson issued a temporary restraining order allowing Dellinger to remain in his position and forbidding the government from denying him “access to the resources or materials of that office” and from recognizing “the authority of any other person as Special Counsel.”

The government failed to justify “the President’s hasty, unexplained action, or … the immediate ejection of the Senate-confirmed Special Counsel while the legal issue is subject to calm and thorough deliberation,” she wrote.

On Feb. 13, the government appealed that order to the D.C. Circuit. On Feb. 15, the circuit court denied the appeal in a 2-1 opinion.

The D.C. Circuit’s majority opinion states that even though a temporary restraining order “ordinarily is not an appealable order,” the government requested a hearing on it because it said the order “works an extraordinary harm.”

“The relief requested by the government is a sharp departure from established procedures that balance and protect the interests of litigants, and ensure the orderly consideration of cases before the district court and this court.”

Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas dissented. He wrote that the president “is immune from injunctions directing the performance of his official duties, and Article II of the Constitution grants him the power to remove agency heads.”

Meanwhile, despite the Supreme Court appeal, the case remains pending before Judge Jackson.

On Feb. 15, Judge Jackson ordered Dellinger to file a reply to the government’s opposition to the restraining order by Feb. 20. The government is required to explain why it believes the court should dismiss Dellinger’s lawsuit in a filing that is due Feb. 21. The court will hold a hearing on Feb. 26 regarding Dellinger’s request to upgrade the temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction.

The Trump administration has met a series of legal challenges to its policies. Several lower courts have granted temporary restraining orders preventing the administration from taking various actions, such as ending birthright citizenship for children born to noncitizens on U.S. soil, and blocking funding for some medical procedures for transgender-identifying minors.

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the DOJ and Dellinger’s attorneys at Hecker Fink in Washington. No replies were received by publication time.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

European defense stocks exploded this morning, surging to an all time high and helping also push the broader Euro Stoxx 600 index to a fresh record, after it emerged that Europe will have to fund its own defense after VP JD Vance effectively pulled the US out of NATO on Friday.

There is just one problem with this newfound euphoria: while the market is already reaping the benefits of Europe’s rearmament, the question – which we asked last Thursday well before Vance’s speech, is just who gets to pay for this surge in defense stocks…. and for Europe’s general rearming as the continent is forced to boost its military spending from 2% of GDP to 5% (where it should have been decades ago).

Has the market decided yet how Europe (and likely Japan) get the funding to boost military spending to 5% of GDP?

We are talking massive debt issuance, just as massive QE here.

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 13, 2025

This morning others also asked this ($8) trillion question, and the result was a broad-based selloff in European bonds this morning as a growing number realized that Europe – which already is drowning in excess debt – will have even more debt to drown in.

“The goalposts are shifting, and the EU is realizing they can rely less and less on the US for protecting their borders. In lockstep, we’re going to have to see European countries spend more on defense,” said Aneeka Gupta, head of macro research at Wisdomtree UK Ltd. “That does warrant a bit more caution on bonds.”

As Bloomberg also notes (almost a week after us), the view is finally becoming accepted that debt sales will need to increase as European nations shoulder the cost of a lasting peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. And according to Bloomberg calculations, upgrading defense and protecting Ukraine may cost Europe’s major powers (or not so major as the case may be) an additional $3.1 trillion over 10 years.

Bottom line, lots of numbers being thrown around and nobody willing to pay them. Understandably, as Bloomberg reports separately, discussions are (begrudgingly) gathering pace in the European Union on how to increase defense spending, with joint financing becoming a realistic option for a growing list of leaders.

The topic will likely be raised informally at a meeting French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting in Paris Monday with other leaders including the UK’s Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Repeat warnings by top US officials that they’ll move forward with decisions on the future of Ukraine that will alter Europe’s security architecture for years to come – without input from the European capitals – has focused the minds of leaders in Europe, who have indicated a willingness to contemplate bold action to ensure it has a say in its own defense, including the controversial topic of joint bonds. What is remarkable is that it took this long before said minds were “focused.”

“In the face of this emergency, I think it is time to take historic decisions,” French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said in an interview with Bloomberg. “And indeed, the question of eurobonds, for instance, is one of the mechanisms that we should be talking about.”

And even though we warned last Thursday that a flood of new debt issuance (followed by an even bigger flood of QE to monetize said issuance) is coming, it took days before German, French and Italian bonds all slipped, with 10-year bund yields — the benchmark borrowing rate for the euro area — reaching the highest in more than two weeks (see above) as the “efficient market” finally grasped what was obvious to others for a long, long time.

What is the cost? According to NATO planners, the alliance will need to spend as much as 3.7% of GDP on defense, with Bloomberg calculating that the bottom line will be about $3.1 trillion over the next 10 years. Indicatively, just 23 out of the 32 North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries met the 2% spending target as of last year.

Among the funding options being discussed include triggering an escape clause to the EU’s fiscal rules to allow countries to boost funding without running afoul of the bloc’s regulations. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed activating that mechanism for defense investments last week in a speech at the Munich Security Conference.

The EU’s economy chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, emphasized that the bloc will find ways to support national spending. “We are currently looking in more flexibility as regards European fiscal rules for defense and looking how to apply the escape clause, which we have in our legislation,” he told reporters Monday in Brussels.

Other options available include re-purposing existing funds, including those in the pandemic recovery fund, to use for defense spending. There are also talks of a smaller group of countries moving forward rather than all 27 member states, to avoid lengthy discussions and to have more flexibility in setting up instruments to issue common debt.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock signaled over the weekend that a significant plan for building strong defenses is in the works, saying “similar to the euro or the corona crisis, there is now a financial package for security in Europe.”

“That will come in the near future,” she said, without giving additional details.

Hilariously, Europe – which suddenly finds itself in deep financial trouble after JD Vance slammed its censorship and lack of free speech as the root cause for US withdrawal from funding arrangements – plans to do more of just that. According to Bloomberg, the new spending plans – which will be in the trillions in debt – won’t be unveiled until after the German election on Sunday in order to avoid stirring up controversy before the vote. 

That’s right: to prevent an outcome that Europe is terrified of, namely an AfD avalanche in next Sunday’s German election (full preview here), Europe will not even mention the vast numbers that will be required, and which may even ensure an AfD victory if the voting population knew what was coming! As a reminder, Germany and the Netherlands have traditionally been against joint borrowing; it will be up to them however to fund the bulk of European defense in a world where the US no longer funds NATO.

Deutsche Bank economists estimate that the EU has about €400 billion ($419 billion) of defense funding available through national fiscal space, the bloc’s cohesion funds and from re-purposing money in existing programs, such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the European Stability Mechanism.

“If spending needs exceed this, new EU solutions may be required,” the economists wrote in a Monday report.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has also been supportive of increasing the bloc’s fiscal capacity to finance common goods like security, saying last year: “common financing is desirable, whether by way of an increased fiscal capacity or by way of joint debt.”

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said there’s been a big shift in perception among European allies on EU budget rules and joint borrowing after the past four days in Brussels and Munich.

“Regarding joint European instruments, solidarity instruments like we used during pandemics or like we used for the green course — these need to be set up immediately,” Sakaliene said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Monday. “I think everybody or almost everybody is on board.”

Denmark has traditionally maintained a cautious stance toward joint EU debt issuance as it’s advocated fiscal responsibility and preference for individual member states managing their own debts. But during Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Danish government has increasingly opened up for using such measures, and Denmark along with other countries are now pushing to ease the EU budget rules to boost military spending.

“We must increase military support for Ukraine, we must produce more, and we must do it faster,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who attended the Paris meeting, said in a Monday statement. “I sense a new European determination, a seriousness, and a decisiveness that are needed.”

Actually what is really needed is money, and Europe, a continent that has been on the edge of recession for years, has none, and thanks to its staggering debt to GDP ratio, second only to Japan, it can’t even issue debt.

But it will have to, and – as usual – we will be right, because one way or another more QE is coming. The only question is what does the ECB do before it is forced to monetize another several trillion in debt. Its options, according to Goldman strategist Alberto Bacis, are: 

• lean against it with higher rates, delivering an ortogonal monetary policy that will enhance the higher rates dynamics…or 
• facilitate it, with lower borrowing costs in the front end and ultimately forcing steeper curve?

We’ll find out soon enough, although probably not soon enough to keep Zelenskyy in the Kiev presidency.

Meanwhile, those expecting the market’s honeymoon to persist, will be disappointed. As Bacis concludes, “markets are trading the emotional part of the risk. We will get to the detailed part in coming sessions but not now. Too soon to trade the details for now but will ultimately get there: we are trading the “will you marry me? Yes” phase: the emotional bit….in coming days post announcement we will get to the “marital agreement” (=the Detailed phase) and things we will get more interesting and less romantic.”

Full Goldman note available to pro subs in the usual place.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Hold on to your hat during this one… literally.

During an event in Portland, Oregon where GOP Senator Ron Wyden was speaking, conservative influencer David Medina triggered an angry leftist Karen into a complete meltdown by saying he liked Elon Musk.

The woman also took offense to Medina’s hat, which was a hunting beanie with Elk and geese on it in the style of the US flag.

She screeched about her parents being in World War Two, whatever that has to do with a hat. 

The woman was also triggered into oblivion by Medina’s dislike of Anthony Fauci.

She even seemed to find it amusing when Medina told her his mother passed away recently after the Karen demanded “call me mommy.”

Here is the footage. Whatever you do, don’t call her ma’am.

Anti-@elonmusk, anti-Trump Portland lady goes on unhinged tirade over my US flag, hunter hat.

There’s just some people you can’t get through to.😂 #orpol #oregon #elonmusk pic.twitter.com/hIQrVFKdLl

— David Medina 🦫🇺🇸 (@davidmedinapdx) February 16, 2025

PART 2: I insulted her god Anthony Fauci and this is what happened. Complete meltdown in Oregon today 😂@elonmusk you have some big fans in Portland, Oregon LOL pic.twitter.com/Gd3oShQCSO

— David Medina 🦫🇺🇸 (@davidmedinapdx) February 16, 2025

UNHINGED ANTI-ELON LADY FINAL PART: Elon Derangement Syndrome was born today and it chose Portland, Oregon as its birthing place. #orpol #oregon @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/SSBUOcplen

— David Medina 🦫🇺🇸 (@davidmedinapdx) February 16, 2025

Holy hell, she is out there.

Wow dude! Hats off to you. How you dealt with this deranged woman is truly admirable. You treated her nicely, you tried to communicate with her with respect and compassion despite her insults and patronizing you, and yet still…. crazy gonna be crazy. Mental illness is real and…

— Truth Lover (@TruthLover94121) February 16, 2025

I think the people that suffer from this should be referred to as “Special EDS”.

— 🇺🇸🇺🇸Uncle Sam 🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@UncleSamIdaho) February 16, 2025

She belongs in a psych ward. I feel sorry for her. Imagine going through life with that kind of anger and delusion. Also, she fully embodies the party of corruption, gaslighting, and full on nonsense; the Democrats.

— American Mom (@AmericanMo57897) February 16, 2025

Her fully vaxxed and triple boosted heart will explode soon enough.

— TΞNΞBRINI (@tenebrini) February 16, 2025

TDS and EDS.. same same. T-EDS.

— Birdvvoman (@Birdvvoman) February 16, 2025

One of my fav comments 😂

Thanks for the share, brother! pic.twitter.com/oQCeb5pL4A

— David Medina 🦫🇺🇸 (@davidmedinapdx) February 16, 2025

Don’t waste a precious minute trying to reason with these liberal lunatics. Get away from them. They are unhinged and dangerous.

— Jessa G. (@SweetGaelicGirl) February 16, 2025

The proper response, since this man’s polite words are having no effect: F*ck off, Karen. https://t.co/oSmrC8mG8d

— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) February 16, 2025

Liberal women, behind the guise of moral virtue and tolerance, are some of the most unpleasant, ignorant, and annoying people in the world. https://t.co/x8TAB28fCR

— Parody Platypus (@ParodyPlatypus) February 16, 2025

As we highlighted last week, mental health experts say they are already seeing a huge increase in patients who are Democrat voters complaining of “despair and burn out” in the wake of President Trump winning the election and taking office for the second time.

Pollster Mark Halperin previously predicted that America will experience the biggest mental health crisis in its history during a second Trump term.

Halperin urged that Trump has been so demonised for years that for tens of millions of Americans, Trump now becoming President again is “so traumatic” that it will become “impossible for even the most mentally healthy person to truly process and incorporate in the daily life.”

“They think that their fellow citizens supporting Trump is a sign of fundamental evil at the heart of their fellow citizens and of the nation,” concluded Halperin.

We’re already seeing Democrats completely losing it, screeching about Elon Musk being a Neo-Nazi and one State Rep. even saying she has sterilised herself as a protest against Trump.

*  *  *

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Smugglers are brazenly using TikTok to advertise illegal crossings at the Canada-US border, complicating Canada’s trade and security talks with the U.S.,, according to a new report from the New York Post.

For nearly a year, Canadian traffickers, primarily targeting Indian nationals, have charged up to $5,000 for a seamless journey into the U.S., quickly replacing banned accounts with new ones. Their posts, often featuring a U.S. flag over a wooded border with Indian music, invite migrants to message for details.

“$4,000 cheapest in market,” says one post. “Payment after reach,” another says. 

The New York Post writes that Northern border crossings by Indian nationals have dropped from 4,500 per month before Trump’s presidency to 2,900 since, per U.S. Customs data. Yet, The Post found at least six coyote accounts still active on TikTok.

Smugglers operate from Montreal, Brampton, and Surrey, transporting migrants to New York or Washington, per TikTok accounts reviewed by The Post. The New York route includes a two-hour drive and a 25-minute forest trek across an unguarded border near Champlain and Mooers, NY, with migrants given maps to navigate.

Groups of up to five cross at a time, a smuggler told The Post. Like a business, these accounts feature Punjabi testimonials from “satisfied customers” praising the journey as “easy” and “comfortable.”

 

Smugglers see the Canada-US border as an easy target. Unlike the US-Mexico border, much of it is unguarded wilderness. “They call it a border, but you can cross anytime you want,” said political scientist Shinder Purewal. “It’s really an undefended border.”

Meanwhile, illegal crossings at the southern border have plummeted, with daily apprehensions down over 90% from last year.

Recall, just days ago we wrote about an influx of Romanian immigrants coming from Canada, into Maine. 

Although Romanians accounted for less than 1% of nationwide border encounters last year, they make up a growing share in Maine’s Houlton Sector.

According to CBP data, Romanian encounters in the sector rose from 4% (13 of 303) in the 2023 fiscal year to 12% (40 of 344) last year and now stand at 13% (9 of 70) this fiscal year. While agents have encountered individuals from over a dozen countries, only Mexicans had a slightly higher share.

The Bangor Daily News report says that the reasons behind the increase remain unclear, as U.S. and Canadian officials note that shifts in migration patterns are difficult to explain.

Karine Martel, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said: “The Canada Border Services Agency cannot speculate on why a certain percentage of Romanians try to enter illegally both in Canada and the United States.”

By John Kingston of FreighWaves

Christopher Lee Carroll, the Missouri man who set up a trucking company as part of a broader scheme to fraudulently obtain loans under the pandemic-driven Paycheck Protection Plan, has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison.

A jury convicted Carroll in September of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, 13 violations of the Clean Air Act and two counts of threatening a witness.

Carroll was convicted and sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $3 million.

Carroll and business partner George Reed owned a timeshare exit company, Square One Group. They submitted their request for a $1.2 million PPP loan, claiming in it that Square One was owned not by Carroll and Reed but by their spouses, according to a recap of the case released by the U.S. attorney’s office. As a convicted felon for earlier activities, Carroll would not have been eligible for a PPP loan.

Carroll used the money to set up a trucking company, Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC. 

With the company established, the U.S. attorney said, Carroll and Reed applied for loan forgiveness, “claiming they’d spent the money on payroll and other permitted expenses.”

The pair applied for a second loan of $1.6 million. It was approved and they took $660,000 in what the U.S. attorney referred to as “owner draws.”

The charges of violating the Clean Air Act came from Carroll’s plan to disable emission-control equipment to increase the vehicles’ mileage.  

“Carroll asked one employee to ‘take the fall’ for his crimes and told another that he would stop paying for the employee’s lawyer if he talked to federal agents, evidence and testimony showed,” according to the U.S. attorney. “Carroll did stop paying for the lawyer.”

In the sentencing memo, the U.S. attorney called Carroll a “consummate fraudster.” Previous convictions were for felonious restraint and forcible sodomy. 

Unlike Carroll, who went to trial, Reed, 70, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to the charges lodged against him. His sentence at the time was for time served.

It seems like every time we get close to liking Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) for having the occasional rational thought, he gets ‘handled’ and starts toeing the party line.

Well, it happened again. On Monday, Fetterman regurgitated the new deep state talking point that Elon Musk’s DOGE team is full of bad actors who are going to steal our personal data after the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency was going to audit the IRS (which Chinese hackers breached in December in a ‘major incident‘ Democrats didn’t give two shits about).

“I want to save billions of your money and make our government more efficient,” Fetterman said on X, along with a screenshot of a Politico article fear mongering over Musk and team – adding. “Rummaging through your personal shit is *not* that.“

I want to save billions of your money and make our government more efficient.

Rummaging through your personal shit is *not* that.

A party of chaos loses—always. pic.twitter.com/vMvNtnHqrr

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) February 17, 2025

To which Musk replied: “Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal shit, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello???“

“Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem,” referring to what appears to be massive fraud within the US Social Security system that Fetterman apparently doesn’t think is a big deal. 

“Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second …”

Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal shit, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello???

Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem.

Obviously.

Some of these people would have been alive… https://t.co/L17rSBR1Tb pic.twitter.com/6hBqAJ5TbF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025

Let’s see if Fetterman gets another tap on the shoulder.

🤣

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025

True pic.twitter.com/M3DRjhzjBd

— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) February 17, 2025

In their defense, some of them don’t look a day over 125

— CloudStride Guy™ (@cloudstridetech) February 17, 2025

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

Krakatoa Blows

“’Save democracy’ is code phrase for a club of delusional people who belong to a delusional group that does delusional things to justify their delusions.” 

– Wendy Williamson

You’ve got to wonder who at CBS-News thinks it’s a good idea to quadruple down on mendacious grandstanding when the network faces a $20-billion lawsuit from Donald Trump — for assisting Kamala Harris’s campaign (aka election interference) — while the FCC under new Commissioner Brendan Carr questions the network’s license to operate on the grounds of “news distortion” and violation of the broadcast news fairness doctrine.

So, on Sunday night February 16, CBS’s flagship news show, 60-Minutes, pitched a doubleheader of knowingly faked-up feature pieces intended to scramble American minds to benefit the Party of Chaos and its manager, the US Intel Blob. 

The first piece was a sob-story on how sad and unjust DOGE’s deconstruction of the USAID money-laundering operation is. Yeah, boo-hoo. They interviewed several part-timers and consultants pretending to be long-term employees of the outfit. Complete horse-shit, and they knew it. What really matters is that a whole lot of bureaucrat grifters (and politicians) won’t get paid anymore. . . and the Blob won’t be able to soften-up faraway nations for plunder with its color revolutions and other hijinks.

The second piece was a ringing endorsement of Germany’s current censorship campaign, arresting ordinary citizens for mean tweets. Their camera crew followed the German Gedankenpolizei entering apartments and seizing cell phones. The viewing audience was asked to shed tears for German Green Party politician, Renate Künast, who got dissed on “X” (“misogynist comments” and insults) — the same week that an Islamic immigrant maniac drove a car into a Munich crowd on-purpose, injuring 39 people, including two dead (one, a child). No mention of that incident on 60-Minutes, or, more generally, that illegal immigration is the big taboo subject behind all the censorship.

CBS actually preceded that gaslighting job with a bit of Sunday morning constructed Orwellian fake syllogistic idiocy by Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, who said that free speech caused the Holocaust against the Jews. Her reasoning: free speech allowed the Nazis to gain power, therefore. . . Auschwitz . . . therefore, free speech is bad. Guest, Sec’y of State Marco Rubio, told her that he could not associate himself with her thesis. In fact, once in power, the Nazis totally controlled speech and news and did not permit other political parties to even exist. All of this, you understand, is just deliberate Gramscian distortion-and-perversion of language — black is white, up is down — to defeat any attempt at coherent public debate today.

The conclusion you might draw from all this is that CBS is terrified of free speech, and is trying desperately to hide the Blob’s long-running criminal racketeering activity — which they have aided and abetted for years and deserve to lose their license over, plus pay billions in penalties, and go out of business — a rather existential predicament.

Reality distortion is no longer working so well with Mr. Trump in the White House. 

Here is what’s behind the USAID brouhaha and why it matters. 

By 2016, the Blob had become a fullblown, independent, parasitical organism on US governance. It had several purposes: 

1) to keep itself in perpetual power by paying off its voting blocs of “the poor and marginalized,” 

2) to pay its corps of bureaucrat managers (of the “poor and marginalized”) handsome salaries to win their everlasting allegiance, and 

3) to pay-off elected officials to keep voting the money flows for all that. All this created a massive class of Democratic Party activists dedicated to overthrowing the republic so as to usher-in their social equity nirvana. 

And all that was sheer hubris. More recently, nemesis arrived on the scene and all this institutional Blob power had to be diverted to a massive ass-covering operation, now in full, florid failure. And, worst of all for the Blobists, evidence of actual crime is accruing at a frightful, fast pace.

With the confirmation of Kash Patel later this week, Mr. Trump’s agency team will be complete. What follows will be a Krakatoa of revelation, drastically altering the climate of US politics for years to come. You should learn exactly how many FBI and CIA agents were moiling and roiling in the J-6 mob. You’ll find out what the J-6 DNC pipe bomb caper was all about. You’ll find out why RussiaGate was never properly investigated or adjudicated. . . how the Adam Schiff / Alexander Vindman / Eric Ciaramella impeachment op worked. . . how the Clinton Foundation made a zillion dollars . . . where all the money went that got poured into Ukraine. . . and much much more.

You will also soon start getting some actually reliable information out of CDC, FDA, NIH, and other public health agencies. Do you suppose that Tony Fauci is the only person who must answer for Covid-19?

I expect many of the following persons who were high-ranking officials — nearly all of them completely obscure to the public — to be asked under oath what they thought they were doing:

• Robert R. Redfield, M.D. — Director of the CDC

• H. Clifford Lane, M.D. — Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects, Clinical Director, NIAID

• Sarah W. Read, M.D., M.H.S. — NIAID Principal Deputy Director

• Jill R. Harper, Ph.D. — NIAID Deputy Director, Science Management

• Carl W. Dieffenbach, Ph.D. — Director, Division of AIDS

• Daniel Rotrosen, M.D. — Director, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation

• Emily Erbelding, M.D., M.P.H. — Director, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

• Anne Schuchat, M.D. — Principal Deputy Director, CDC

• Sherri A. Berger, Ph.D. — Chief Operating Officer, CDC

• Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H. — Acting Director, CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

• Nancy Messonnier, M.D. — Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases

• Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. — Director, NIH

• John Jernigan, M.D., M.S. — Director, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion

• Ruth J. Etzel, M.D., Ph.D. —Director, National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

• Dana Meaney-Delman, M.D. — Acting Director, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response

• Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. — Principal Deputy Director, NIH

• Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. — Director, National Institute of Mental Health

• Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D. — Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

• Gary H. Gibbons, M.D. — Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

• Richard J. Hodes, M.D. — Director, National Institute on Aging

• Shannon N. Zenk, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N. — Director, National Institute of Nursing Research

I’m sure many more names can be added to the list. 

They must have known, and found out early on, that Covid-19 was created with US Government grants (possibly through DARPA), that the mRNA vaccines were ineffective and harmful, that the lockdowns were shuck and jive, and that public health officials were paid a lot of money in royalties while all this was going on.

If they haven’t shredded or deleted the info — and it’s still possible that Tulsi Gabbard can find it, anyway — the gaslight will finally get turned off and the sunlight will shine in. You know this is going to happen.