# entry

guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330447
title: What “Very Brexity Things” in a police raid tells us
author: ;Niamh Uí Bhriain
link: https://gript.ie/what-very-brexity-things-in-a-police-raid-tells-us/
hash: ���; �>u�qe�
tags: #Comment Ireland #Featured #Brexit #Douglas Murray #Julian Foulkes #Kent Police #Police raid
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong>The footage of the raid on the home of a former British police officer, Julian Foulkes – who was being investigated for responding to a tweet and who was subsequently arrested and held in a cell for 8 hours – is at once completely bizarre and also, by now, wholly unsurprising. </strong></p>
<p>The retired policeman, who is now 71, was “arrested and handcuffed in his own home by six police officer armed with batons and pepper spray”,  the Daily Mail reports. He is now suing Kent Police, who have apologised and acknowledged that a caution should not have been issued to Mr Foulkes.</p>
<p>The Free Speech Union, who are <a href="https://freespeechunion.org/julian-foulkes-fundraiser/">supporting Mr Foulkes in taking legal action</a> against the police authorities – says that “someone complained about Julian’s tweet to the Met, and Metropolitan Police Intelligence Command – a specialist unit set up to deal with terrorism and extremism – referred it to Kent Police, citing “concerns around online content”. The following day, six police officers turned up at his home, ransacked the premises, arrested him, detained him for eight hours and gave him a caution.”</p>
<p>Six officers? That’s a absurd number of police sent to deal with one retired former colleague. It would be laughable if the intent to intimidate wasn’t so obvious. Ransacked his home? The bloody cheek of them: as if he was an arch-criminal or a drug dealer. Then they put the pensioner in handcuffs and held him for interrogation for 8 hours. That’s just nasty, but then again, haven’t we learned that all the #bekind and #StopHate initiatives are based on being horrible to ordinary human beings, in the cause of ruthlessly supressing dissent, even of the mildest kind.</p>
<p>The footage from the Kent Police body-cams shows one agent murmuring “Very Brexity things,” while looking through Mr Foulkes’ bookshelves. They also described a book on Britain joining the Common Market as “a little odd”. A tome by Douglas Murray – obviously highly suspect – is examined.</p>
<p>It’s like some ridiculous over-the-top parody with shaky, hand-held camera footage of ‘When tweet-policing goes mad’, but this actually happened and is now just another example of the deplorable state of free speech in Britain.</p>
<p>One could be forgiven for thinking that having ‘Brexity’ things indicated membership of a dangerous lunatic fringe, or an underground faction seeking to undermine social cohesion, instead of signalling support for a view expressed by a majority of Brits in a free and fair referendum.</p>
<p>But what’s sinister about the ‘Brexity’ comment is that it reveals the persistence of seething, petty, establishment anger at the extraordinary audacity of the proletariat in upsetting the EU project.</p>
<p>Brexit, you see, wasn’t like other instances of proles getting uppity: this couldn’t be sorted by throwing money at NGOs or dragging plebs in front of courts for protesting, this was a disruption of the established order on the magnitude of an earthquake.</p>
<p>Instead of accepting that democratic result, its evident that almost seven years later, the thinking that has filtered down to cops on the beat is that a view that is held by the majority of ordinary people must be treated as suspicious, to the point where a police officer – investigating a wholly legitimate tweet – is prompted to note ‘very Brexity things’ as something suspect.</p>
<p>In fact, I’d warrant that while much of the free speech disputes that capture the public’s attention might centre around gender issues or immigration, the establishment has never forgiven the ordinary British punter for Brexit.</p>
<p>It’s very much like the implication that MAGA supporters held unacceptable views or made invalid choices in 2016, even <strong>after</strong> those voters won the election. They weren’t just deplorables: their whole outlook was invalid, and therefore could not be tolerated.</p>
<p>Suppression of free speech is part and parcel of the intolerance of the tolerant liberals, and this especially applies to the self-serving, whiny, virtue-signalling establishment classes. Anyone who disagrees with them – especially if they are working-class or male or, God forbid, both – must be punished severely. That used to mean social death and cancellation and twitter mobs, but then, to the delight of said gated-community-dwellers with sensitive souls  and vindictive hearts, hate speech laws happily meant that the might of the Old Bill could also be employed to shackle the plebs in irons for mean tweets and bad thoughts.</p>
<p>Commentator Andrew Neil said that the whole sorry episode showed that the British police forced had gone from being one of the most-admired forces in any democracy in the world to being one of the most-despised. He’s right, but in fairness to the police, its worth remembering that they are only following orders, lame as that excuse may be. For all the complaints about Keir Starmer, this particular incident occurred in 2023 – when the Tories were in power.</p>
<p>“Very soon you’re going to be arrested, taken into jail and kept for eight hours, if you’ve got three books by Douglas Murray and a Michael Portillo train journey DVD set,” Neil said. I might be in trouble myself, though Portillo is absent from my shelves and I’d disagree with Murray on much of his current rhetoric.</p>
<p>Neil said that the problem was with the leadership, and certainly the focus on diversity and hate speech would come down from the top in each of the territorial police forces, where the notion that tweets need such heavy policing caught hold.</p>
<p>Britain is now being portrayed, in speeches by global figures like JD Vance, and in news reporting around the world, as a country that is hostile to free speech and actively practises “thought policing” as evidenced by the repeated arrests of pro-life witnesses for ‘praying in their heads’.</p>
<p>The Telegraph <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/10/retired-police-officer-arrested-over-thought-crime-tweet/">listed other egregious examples</a> from this year such as:</p>
<blockquote readability="18">
<p>In March, officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary arrested and detained the parents of a nine-year-old girl after they had complained about her school in a WhatsApp group, before concluding that no further action was required.</p>
<p>Ian Austin, a former Labour MP, has also been investigated for calling Hamas “Islamist”, while Julie Bindel, the feminist writer, was visited by police after a transgender man reported her gender-critical tweets as an alleged “hate crime”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition, the paper’s own Allison Pearson was visited by two police officers at her home, who told her she was being investigated over a tweet she had posted on X a year earlier. She is also suing that police force.</p>
<p>It seems that Kent Police came after Julian Foulkes partly on a misunderstanding – he was tweeting about anti-Semitism (suggesting that others might be just one step away from looking for Jewish arrivals to the country) but the complainant apparently believed he was saying that this was an action he would undertake  – and so the police investigated him for being “anti-Jewish”.  Surely, even a phone call would have sorted that out – not that it is the business of the police to monitor speech – but instead Mr Foulkes had to endure police officers rooting through his personal belongings and even searching his wife’s underwear drawer.</p>

<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/JF-574x480.jpg" alt width="574" height="480" data-sanitized-class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-330471"></p>
<p>“Free speech is clearly under attack,” Mr Foulkes told The Telegraph. “Nobody is really safe… the public needs to see what’s happening, and be shocked.”</p>
<p>“It was just so wrong – and especially painful because I’d spent 10 years working with these people for no remuneration. I did it because I believed in it and enjoyed it. I left with a certificate from the chief constable, thanking me for my service. Now, all those memories feel trashed,” he said.</p>
<p>“I saw Starmer in the White House telling Trump we’ve had it [free speech] in the UK for a very long time, and I thought, ‘Yeah, right.’ We can see what’s really going on.</p>
<p>“I never saw anything like this when I was in the force. But this woke mind virus infecting everything has definitely infected the police.”</p>
<p>He is suing Kent Police because, the Free Speech Union says, “the emotional fallout has been devastating”.</p>
<blockquote readability="11">
<p>Julian lost one of his daughters in a hit-and-run 15 years ago and his surviving daughter now lives in Australia. His greatest fear while he was being held in police custody was that a criminal record might prevent him from visiting her — which is why, despite having done nothing wrong, he felt compelled to accept a caution. “My life wouldn’t be worth living if I couldn’t see her,” he said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The British courts, which last month found that biological sex determines what is a woman and a man, are likely to defend Mr Foulkes’s free speech. But he shouldn’t have had to endure the ordeal in the first instance.</p>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885273
title: Habemus Papam Bob: Chicago’s left field Pope Leo XIV
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/habemus-papam-bob-chicago-left-field-pope-leo-xiv/
hash: �Ĉ��/�7�[�(�3
tags: #Europe #World #Christianity #Leo XIV #Religion #United States #Vatican
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><strong><em>Pope Bob is currently enjoying an American honeymoon as the Yankee media surf along on the goodwill tide his election brought to their shores.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Join us on </span><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a><span>, and</span> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a>.</strong></p>
</div>
<p><strong><span>Contact us:</span> </strong><a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u><strong>info@strategic-culture.su</strong></u></a></p>
<p>Pope Bob’s elevation from Chicago’s seemy south side to Rome’s See of Peter is certainly one for the books, and for the American TV crews, who have been scrambling all over the Windy City to write their glowing reports of Pope Leo XIV, to give Bob his official moniker.</p>
<p>I call His Holiness Bob as that is what half of Chicago call their fellow White Sox fan who, according to his two older brothers, knew he wanted to be a priest almost as soon as he could walk. While other kids swung bats, kicked ball or played cowboys and indians, Pope Bob played at being a priest. He has the lead role now.</p>
<p>And glowing testimonies from all those who knew him. These include not only his brothers, who seem as phlegmatic as Pope Bob is, but also, importantly in my book Sister Therese DelGenio, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ZDR-fq0S8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a nun who taught him</a> when his contemporaries would have been chasing skirt and downing Bud Lights. The elevation of Bob to the papacy is not only a feather in his own cap but it is an acknowledgement of the important role the Anglophonic world now plays in the Catholic Church and, if his Chicago mates are anything to go by, their mastery of the soundbite will be a blessing to Bob, to the whole Church and, hopefully, to the wider world as well.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.archchicago.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archdiocese of Chicago</a> is an interesting outpost as, with Munich and Cologne, it is the main funder of the Catholic Church. Without those three archdioceses, the Church would long ago have been bankrupt and the Beltway vultures would long ago have scooped up its assets.</p>
<p>Balancing the books is not the only hurdle Bob faces. There is also the not insignificant issue of child sexual abuse and its particular features with the Catholic Church, where teenage boys joined seminaries before going on the be priests and, in many cases, child sex abusers. If Pope Bob ever wants to get on top of that issue, he needs professional help and lots of it from psychiatrists, cops and many more.</p>
<p>Much the same applies within the American and wider Anglophonic Church where, thanks to the selfless work of earlier generations of largely unsung priests and nuns, the Catholic Church is largely a middle class, suburban phenomenon, with deep roots in the police forces and health services. For Pope Leo to solidify and expand out from that solid base will take a lot of brain power and professional help.</p>
<p>If His Holiness can solidify the Church in the Anglophonic world then, like Pope Leo XIII, he might be another <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-XIII" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leo the Great</a>, who died in 1903, a little before my time. That said, Leo the Great wrote <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_novarum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rerum Novarum</a>, the encyclical which is the cornerstone of all Catholic social teaching and which is one of my favourite books and, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadragesimo_anno" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quadragesimo Anno</a>, my favourite ever encyclical. I also like that Leo the Great was the first pope for centuries to encourage the Eastern Churches to be faithful to their life and traditions, and to really value the unique contribution the East brings to the universal Church’s life.</p>
<p>Add to that that Pope Bob is an Augustinian, so named after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">St Augustine</a>, one of the greatest thinkers (and carnal sinners) to ever live and Bob holds a strong hand. This hand is further strengthened by Bob’s missionary work in Peru, the home of the potato and the former stomping ground of the Shining Path lunatics. Although I never got to Peru or never even met Pope Bob, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Little_(bishop)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archbishop Frank Little</a> did <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2880409" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launch one of my books</a> in Melbourne, a point I mention as his cousin, Ossie nun <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_McCormack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sr Irene McCormack</a>, was one of 70,000 innocents the Shining Path psychos murdered.</p>
<p>The fact that Peru has always been virulently right wing, even by Latin America’s right wing standards, was never an excuse for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abimael_Guzm%C3%A1n" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chairman Gonzalo</a> and his fellow nutters to wreak havoc and it takes a particularly sick and selfish mind to say that Sr McCormack, or the <a href="https://www.maryknollsisters.org/40thanniversary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Maryknoll nuns</a> the CIA’s henchmen murdered in El Salvador around the same time they <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dispatched Archbishop Romero</a>, were the CIA running dogs.</p>
<p>If I were to generalise about those wonderful women and about Pope Bob and the very many great Oblate, Franciscan and Columban priests I have met in various Latin American, European, West Asian and South east Asian missions, I would say that most of them went as <a href="https://biblehub.com/matthew/10-16.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sheep among wolves </a>and, though many were clearly unsuited for the tasks at hand, their collective contribution to society’s evolution has been immense and has been concretised in hospitals, schools, clinics and very much more besides.</p>
<p>Although my opinion might not count for much, Pope Bob and his buddies, who have spent years at the same impoverished coal face, will be aware of the challenges <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacem_in_terris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pacem in Terris</a> faces not only in Peru but throughout all the Americas and Africa as well.</p>
<p>Though there is little doubt that Hollywood will churn out Pope Bob themed movies along the lines of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037536/?ref_=ls_t_18" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman</a>, Pope Bob’s world has been and will be a lot grittier than their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bells_of_St._Mary's" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Bells of St Mary’s</a> fare. Although child sex abuse and possible bankruptcy need immediate attention, so too do the myriad evils of the Beltway and its Hollywood and other media spin offs.</p>
<p>Although Washington’s wars of imperial conquest, together with its <a href="https://extremismterms.adl.org/glossary/frazzledrip" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frazzledrip</a> type depravity, must be tackled, so too must its underlying ideological war, which has been manifested in the mercenary screeds of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and their ilk who did not say anything that Thomas Paine did not say more eloquently well over two centuries ago.</p>
<p>If Harris and Dawkins served any CIA purpose, it was just to deflect from the debauchery Washington is synonymous with and that Frazzledrip and Jeffrey Epstein typify, no matter how true or untrue those particular allegations may be. Although I have no definite proof that Hillary Clinton and the Soros wench are Satanists, there is the old saying that, if they quack like a duck and behave like a dick, then they might well be ducks, dicks or Satanists in this case. Similarly, though I have no definite proof one way or the other as to the existence of an afterlife, I think it is a fair bet that Pope Bob is making bank in heaven. Indeed, when the late <a href="https://rip.ie/death-notice/condolences/sr-bridget-doody-fma-limerick-killeedy-530008?page=1&amp;records=60&amp;sortFields=a.createdAt&amp;sortDirection=DESC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sr Brigid Doody</a>, a lovely Irish Salesian nun in Syria, told me I was making bank in heaven by giving her bank for destitute mothers, I don’t know if the twinkle in her eye indicated she meant it or that she was thinking that a fool and his money are easily parted. For my part, there is no doubt that folk like her and the various Oblate, Franciscan and Columban priests I have met do God’s work and that is true, whether God exists or not.</p>
<p>And, though God may be in the Pope’s corner, that is not to say that the devil is out for the count in the opposite corner. He is not and the corpses stacked to the heavens in the killing fields of Syria, Palestine, the Congo, Ukraine and a thousand other heavens turned into hell on earth that rarely make the news attest to that.</p>
<p>They say that Pope Bob, who can be seen here singing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r4VOe1AkeRM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Feliz Navidad</a>, is a bridge builder, a peacemaker and a people person. And so, from the evidence, it seems he is and he will no doubt be well aware of the faith most Latinos put in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Our Lady of Guadalupe</a> who, for far too many of them, is their only hope for any solace this side of the grave. From my own time in Mexico and in Spain I have, I will admit, a soft spot for La Virgin de Gaudalupe, though I have also dabbled in the earthier works of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thomas Merton</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Roger">Roger Schutz</a> and even the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pascal</a> himself; more to the point and, without being maudlin about it, I have seen, in the Levant, in Mexico and in South East Asia the abject poverty Pope Leo and his colleagues were faced with not only in Peru but in countless other <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946" target="_blank" rel="noopener">countries turned into shitholes</a> by you-know-who as well, and I sincerely hope that the Holy Father can help build bridges to lead them from poverty to some semblance of peace and dignity this side of the hereafter.</p>
<p>Pope Bob is currently enjoying an American honeymoon as the Yankee media surf along on the goodwill tide his election brought to their shores. But the fact of the matter is the Trump, Clinton, Obama and Genocide Joe Biden families are into making serious bank from their partners in crime and I doubt that all the singing or crying Pope Bob might do will change them one iota.</p>
<p>Still, though he might not change them, if he can change those ordinary Americans they depend on, then Americans, Peruvians and very many more will have cause to give him and La Virgin de Gaudalupe thanks and those who follow him onto the seat of Peter will have good cause to proclaim him another Leo the Great.</p>
<p></p>


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2164468/budget-tnl-reglement-tabac-deficit
title: Le budget préélectoral de T.-N.-L. sauvé par les géants du tabac
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2164468/budget-tnl-reglement-tabac-deficit
hash: ��AJm2Y2���w�|l
content:
<p>Les libéraux ont comptabilisé d’un coup tous les revenus d’un règlement sur 20 ans avec trois cigarettiers.</p>

attributes:
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guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330469
title: Starmer has just dropped an immigration bomb on Ireland
author: ;John McGuirk
link: https://gript.ie/starmer-uk-immigration-speech/
hash: Y�/'G��>����S�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
[unable to retrieve full-text content]<p>The UK remains a larger and more powerful economy, and its domestic decisions continue to have enormous bearing on life in Ireland.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://gript.ie/starmer-uk-immigration-speech/">Starmer has just dropped an immigration bomb on Ireland</a> appeared first on <a href="https://gript.ie/">Gript</a>.</p>

tags:
#Comment Ireland #Comment World #Featured #Featured Picks #Highlights #Irish News #World News #European Union #Immigration #Ireland #Keir Starmer #UK


guid: 1029753 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: These Are America's Fastest-Growing Counties
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/these-are-americas-fastest-growing-counties
hash: �'�L�%+F�fG&�.
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">These Are America's Fastest-Growing Counties</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>On average, U.S. counties grew by 1,000 people from 2023 to 2024. </p>

<p>But the level of population growth varied widely from place to place. </p>

<p>This chart, <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/bg01-visualizing-the-fastest-growing-u-s-counties/">via Visual Capitalist's Jenna Ross,</a> in partnership with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7100087057724702720/?utm_source=digital&amp;utm_medium=visualcapitalist&amp;utm_campaign=websitetraffic&amp;utm_content=bgo_fastestgrowingcounties">BGO</a>, shows the fastest-growing counties. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Fastest-Growing-Counties-in-Amer.jpg?itok=7OuetEFD" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Fastest-Growing-Counties-in-Amer.jpg?itok=7OuetEFD"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b15a775f-fba7-448a-b223-ac5250885539" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="625" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Fastest-Growing-Counties-in-Amer.jpg?itok=7OuetEFD" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<h2>Ranking the Largest Population Increases in U.S. Counties</h2>

<p>Using the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, here are the counties that had the largest population growth measured in number of people.</p>

<table data-sanitized-id="tablepress-5594" data-sanitized-class="tablepress tablepress-id-5594"><thead><tr data-sanitized-class="row-1"><th data-sanitized-class="column-1">Rank</th>
			<th data-sanitized-class="column-2">County</th>
			<th data-sanitized-class="column-3">2023-2024 Population Change,<br>
			Number of People</th>
		</tr></thead><tbody data-sanitized-class="row-striping row-hover"><tr data-sanitized-class="row-2"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">1</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Harris County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">105,852</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-3"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">2</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Miami-Dade County, Florida</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">64,211</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-4"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">3</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Maricopa County, Arizona</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">57,471</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-5"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">4</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Collin County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">46,694</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-6"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">5</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Clark County, Nevada</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">44,586</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-7"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">6</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">King County, Washington</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">43,398</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-8"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">7</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Cook County, Illinois</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">40,095</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-9"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">8</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Broward County, Florida</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">34,686</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-10"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">9</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Montgomery County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">34,268</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-11"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">10</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Tarrant County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">32,793</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-12"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">11</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Orange County, Florida</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">32,381</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-13"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">12</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Denton County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">31,384</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-14"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">13</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Fort Bend County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">31,314</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-15"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">14</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Mecklenburg County, North Carolina</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">30,057</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-16"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">15</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Bexar County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">29,548</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-17"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">16</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Santa Clara County, California</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">29,188</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-18"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">17</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Wake County, North Carolina</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">29,050</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-19"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">18</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Polk County, Florida</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">28,706</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-20"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">19</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Pinal County, Arizona</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">27,467</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-21"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">20</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">New York County, New York</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">27,435</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-22"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">21</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Riverside County, California</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">26,384</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-23"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">22</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Williamson County, Texas</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">25,840</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-24"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">23</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Los Angeles County, California</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">25,342</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-25"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">24</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Kings County, New York</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">24,694</td>
		</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-26"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">25</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-2">Palm Beach County, Florida</td>
			<td data-sanitized-class="column-3">24,574</td>
		</tr></tbody></table><p>Harris County, which includes Houston and neighboring communities, had by far the biggest population growth. The primary driver of the county’s growth was international migration. On a domestic basis, more U.S. residents moved out of Harris County than those that moved into the area. </p>

<p>While international migration was the biggest contributor to population growth in most areas, some counties bucked the trend. <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-net-migration-between-states-in-2023/">Domestic migration</a> drove the bulk of population growth in Montgomery County, Denton County, and Williamson County in Texas, along with Polk County, Florida and Pinal County, Arizona.</p>

<p>The only county on the list to see a bigger boost from the natural change in population (births minus deaths) compared to net migration was Kings County, New York.</p>

<h2>Preparing for Larger Populations</h2>

<p>In general, population growth was concentrated in counties that already had large populations. One challenge of growing populations can be ensuring there is sufficient housing for all of the new residents. </p>

<p>To meet rising demand, BGO is expanding its investment in high-quality multi-family and build-to-rent communities across fast-growing Sunbelt and Western U.S. markets. This includes Phoenix in Maricopa County—now the third fastest-growing county in the country—as well as residential properties in other population growth hubs like Miami-Dade and King County.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T09:45:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 05:45</span>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885269
title: L’export cinese continua a correre nonostante i dazi degli Stati Uniti, che invocano un accordo
author: ;A A
hash: U���1k(�rA� 8x�
tags: #Italiano #China #Economy #Trade War #United States
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>La Cina può resistere all’assalto economico degli Stati Uniti? </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span><span><em>Segue nostro</em></span> <a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>.</span></a></span></strong></p>
<p>Nei giorni scorsi, una platea di 32 economisti <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-exports-likely-slowed-sharply-april-trump-tariffs-kick-2025-05-08/">interpellata</a> da «Reuters» ha espresso l’opinione che la guerra tariffaria scatenata all’inizio di aprile dall’amministrazione Trump, via via concentratasi – provvisoriamente – sulla sola Repubblica Popolare cinese, avrebbe prodotto un considerevole impatto sull’export cinese. Nello specifico, si riteneva che il valore complessivo delle vendite all’estero realizzato dall’ex Celeste Impero nel mese scorso sarebbe cresciuto dell’1,9% su base annua, a fronte di un aumento del 12,4% (9,1% verso gli Usa) conseguito a marzo per effetto dell’anticipazione sistematica delle spedizioni in vista dell’entrata in vigore dei dazi.</p>
<p>Secondo il punto di vista di questo gruppo di specialisti, la rilevanza rivestita dal mercato statunitense per l’economia cinese risulta decisamente sottostimata, come si evince dal contenuto dal rapporto <a href="https://www.nomuraconnects.com/focused-thinking-posts/impact-of-the-us-tariff-shock/">pubblicato</a> pochi giorni fa da Nomura Bank. Il documento sostiene che, includendo nel computo i flussi transitanti attraverso il canale “ufficioso” di Hong Kong e le intermediazioni realizzate tramite Paesi terzi (Vietnam, Messico, ecc.),  gli Stati Uniti abbiano in realtà assorbito il 20,6% delle esportazioni di beni totalizzate dalla Repubblica Popolare Cinese nel corso del 2024. Secondo lo studio, il 2,2% del Pil cinese sarebbe entrato direttamente nel mirino delle tariffe statunitensi, con conseguente dimezzamento potenziale del volume delle esportazioni. I contraccolpi in termini di mancata crescita sul breve termine sono stati quantificati dalla banca giapponese nell’1,1% del Pil. Il clima opprimente venutosi a creare per effetto dei dazi imposti dall’amministrazione Trump si è tradotto in un brusco <a href="https://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202505/t20250507_1959690.html">calo</a> del Purchasing Managers Index (Pmi) cinese, contrattosi a ritmi mai così rapidi da ben 16 mesi.</p>
<p>Contrariamente alle aspettative, i dati <a href="https://www.customs.gov.cn/customs/302249/zfxxgk/2799825/302274/302275/6502846/index.html">relativi</a> al conto cinese delle partite correnti per il mese di aprile attestano un aumento dell’export su base annua dell’8,1%, e una riduzione delle importazioni dello 0,2% – contro un calo previsto del 5,9%. Nel dettaglio, l’export verso gli Stati Uniti è crollato su base annua di più del 21%; l’import, del 14%. Nei primi quattro mesi del 2025, le esportazioni cinesi verso gli Stati Uniti erano diminuite su base annua del 2,5%: le importazioni, del 4,7%. Addirittura più sbilanciate risultano le relazioni commerciali con l’Unione Europea, con un aumento dell’export su base annua dell’8,3% eclissato da una caduta del 16,5% dell’import – a marzo, l’export era cresciuto del 10,3%; l’import era diminuito del 7,5%.</p>
<p>In compenso, l’export cinese verso l’Asean è cresciuto su base annua del 20,8%, a fronte di un aumento dell’11,6% registrato il mese precedente. Se Vietnam e Malesia figurano come destinazioni principali, un incremento decisamente consistente è stato capitalizzato anche nei confronti di Indonesia (37%) e Thailandia (28%). Segno che i Paesi dell’Asean, saldamente integrati nella catena del valore cinese, stanno approvvigionandosi a ritmo sospinto di materie prime e beni industriali per accelerare la produzione prima della scadenza della “tregua tariffaria” di 90 giorni annunciata da Trump a inizio aprile. Il trend positivo sembra quindi destinato a consolidarsi nel corso dei prossimi mesi, ma, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-exports-imports-beat-expectations-april-2025-05-09/">afferma</a> Dan Wang dell’Eurasia Group, «i dati commerciali potrebbero peggiorare rapidamente qualora i dazi del 145% nei confronti della Cina rimanessero in vigore e i colloqui dei Paesi dell’Asean con l’amministrazione Trump non registrassero progressi».</p>
<p>Per gli Stati Uniti, il cui deficit commerciale nei confronti del resto del mondo riflette un contesto di deindustrializzazione avanzata, i contraccolpi risulterebbero tuttavia di gran lunga più pesanti. Il mancato raggiungimento di un’intesa con la Cina e/o con i Paesi appartenenti alla sua “periferia fordista” si tradurrebbe inesorabilmente in un salasso per i consumatori statunitensi ed anche in una penuria di beni critici, stante l’impossibilità di reperirli altrove. L’amministrazione Trump ne è perfettamente consapevole, come testimoniato sia dalla decisione <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us-excludes-smartphones-computers-reciprocal-tariffs-2025-04-12/">assunta</a> già il 12 aprile di esonerare prodotti elettronici cinesi dalla campagna tariffaria, sia dai recenti segnali di apertura inviati all’indirizzo di Pechino.</p>
<p>Il presidente Trump, dal canto suo, ha <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-we-know-china-tariffs-will-come-down-145-percent-2025-05-08/">dichiarato</a> che le tariffe «scenderanno», mentre il segretario al Commercio Howard Lutnick ha <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-tariffs-trade-war-05-08-2025/card/lutnick-expects-de-escalation-with-china-before-trade-deal-6NXU3p7yWrpQOOqpnsUa">posto</a> l’accento sulla necessità tassativa di una <em>de-escalation</em> con la Cina. Nei prossimi giorni, il segretario al Tesoro Scott Bessent si incontrerà a Ginevra con il vicepremier cinese He Lifeng per definire un accomodamento da cui, secondo quanto <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-09/team-trump-seeks-china-tariff-de-escalation-in-weekend-talks">riportato</a> da «Bloomberg», Washington spera di ottenere sia la revoca della restrizioni introdotte di recente da Pechino sull’export di terre rare verso gli Stati Uniti, sia una riduzione rapida e reciproca dei dazi al di sotto della soglia del 60%.<br>
</p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/lexport-cinese-continua-a-correre-nonostante-i-dazi-degli-stati-uniti-che-invocano-un-accordo/


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885279
title: Key lessons from the Recent India-Pakistan escalation
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/key-lessons-from-the-recent-india-pakistan-escalation/
hash: �c��hԌ�wc�� �
tags: #Asia-Pacific #Security #War and Conflict #World #Diplomacy #India #Pakistan #War
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><strong><em>Indian decision-makers failed to handle the crisis properly, causing serious damage to the country.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Join us on </span><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a><span>, and</span> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a>.</strong></p>
</div>
<p><strong><span>Contact us:</span> </strong><a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u><strong>info@strategic-culture.su</strong></u></a></p>
<p>Recent developments in the India-Pakistan conflict indicate that New Delhi has suffered a significant military humiliation. Despite the ceasefire allegedly mediated by Washington, reports suggest that hostilities are ongoing — implying that the agreement was either never respected or was quickly broken by one of the parties.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether Islamabad abandoned the path of peace after gaining an advantage on the battlefield, or whether it was India that, unwilling to accept its military defeat, chose to resume offensive actions. The fact remains: tensions are far from resolved, and the international perception is that India severely underestimated Pakistan’s response capabilities.</p>
<p>It is remarkable, from any point of view, that Indian strategists acted as if they could launch strikes inside the territory of a nuclear power without facing serious retaliation. This is a major miscalculation, revealing political amateurism and serious failures in military intelligence.</p>
<p>Even more troubling is New Delhi’s diplomatic conduct at the height of the tension. Amid Iranian efforts to mediate — a country with which India maintains long-standing strategic relations — Indian officials went so far as to publicly insult the Iranian Foreign Minister, with a high-ranking military officer calling him a “pig” on national TV during his official visit to India’s capital. This behavior not only undermines key diplomatic ties but also highlights the disorientation and arrogance currently affecting some key segments of Indian society.</p>
<p>The broader context of this crisis becomes even more concerning when one considers the direct involvement of Israeli “experts” in India’s decision-making apparatus following the Pahalgam attack. The decision to call in military advisors from Israel is neither neutral nor effective. The recent history of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in dealing with asymmetric enemies is, at best, questionable: its repeated failures against Hezbollah, Hamas, and other supposedly “weaker” adversaries in the Middle East should have served as a warning to India.</p>
<p>It is unwise, to say the least, for a major power like India to entrust a substantial part of its national defense strategy to a foreign military doctrine whose effectiveness is increasingly problematic and doubtful. Israel’s obsession with disproportionate shows of strength, combined with a tendency to underestimate smaller adversaries, appears to have infected Indian strategic thinking in this recent episode.</p>
<p>New Delhi now faces a delicate situation: it seeks to maintain its image as a respectable regional power, yet it cannot conceal the operational and diplomatic failures of recent weeks. Pakistan’s response, by contrast, has been militarily effective and politically coordinated — something India has failed to do during the clash.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the international community watches with growing concern as tensions escalate between two nuclear powers. Fears of a larger, prolonged conflict are rising, and India’s unpreparedness in handling the crisis only deepens these anxieties.</p>
<p>This case should serve as a lesson. Military strategy requires sobriety, precision, and, above all, realism. Underestimating the enemy, insulting long-time allies, and importing failed military doctrines are a certain path to strategic disaster.</p>
<p>If India wishes to preserve its stability, sovereignty and international position, it must reevaluate not only its stance toward Pakistan but also its entire strategic decision-making framework — including the dangerous influence of foreign consultants who know more about propaganda than real victories.</p>
<p></p>


guid: 1029818 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: FBI Deputy Director Says Illegal Immigrant Criminals, Child Predators Are Top Priority
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: =)�{> 4 ���S�hR
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">FBI Deputy Director Says Illegal Immigrant Criminals, Child Predators Are Top Priority</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/fbi-deputy-director-says-illegal-immigrant-criminals-child-predators-are-top-priority-5856364?ea_src=frontpage&amp;ea_cnt=a&amp;ea_med=latest-news-posts-0">Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times</a> (emphasis ours),</em></p>

<p><strong>The FBI is prioritizing removing illegal immigrants with criminal records and arresting child predators,</strong> the deputy director said on May 10.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2819%29_0.jpg?itok=WssRvs8-" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2819%29_0.jpg?itok=WssRvs8-"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6914858a-2112-4b09-9116-3250c376cf00" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2819%29_0.jpg?itok=WssRvs8-" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>An FBI agent walks toward a crime scene, in this file photo. Mario Tama/Getty Images</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>“[The FBI] workforce has been working overtime on task force operations to remove dangerous illegal aliens from the country. The work continues,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, a former radio host, wrote in a lengthy <a href="https://x.com/FBIDDBongino/status/1921237184092295515">post</a> on social media platform X.</p>

<p>“<strong>If you came here illegally to prey on our citizens, your days here are numbered.</strong>”</p>

<p>Such efforts are likely to ramp up in the coming weeks, Bongino said in the post, which he described as an operational update. He also said the agency is increasing enforcement against individuals who prey on children.</p>

<p>“Crimes against children are a priority for the workforce. Operation ‘Restoring Justice,’ where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning,” he said, referring to a recent operation announced by the FBI.</p>

<p>“<strong>We are going to take your freedom if you take away a child’s innocence</strong>.”</p>

<p>Hundreds of suspected child predators were arrested over a five-day period, and 115 children were rescued, the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/fbi-arrests-205-suspected-child-sex-predators-in-5-day-sweep-5853843">announced</a> on May 7.</p>

<p>Elsewhere in his post, Bongino said that the bureau would provide regular updates to Congress and is responding to high-profile cases that arose in recent years. These include the shooting at a congressional baseball game in 2017 that left Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) gravely injured, the 2023 Christian school shooting in Nashville, Crossfire Hurricane, the origins of COVID-19, and the release of files related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.</p>

<p>“<strong>There are voluminous amounts of downloaded child sexual abuse material that we are dealing with,”</strong> Bongino wrote in addressing the Epstein case. “There are also victims’ statements that are entitled to specific protections. We need to do this correctly, but I do understand the public’s desire to get the information out there.”</p>

<p>He also said that the FBI is doing its “best in the current budgetary environment to prioritize the mission, act as good fiscal stewards, find waste and inefficiencies, and to enact reforms while moving the FBI forward.”</p>

<p>FBI Director Kash Patel told Congress on May 8 that he would make the bureau’s mission “work on whatever budget we’re given,” a day after he said that he was seeking more funds than what the Trump administration had proposed.</p>

<p>The 2026 budget proposal released in early May calls for a funding cut of about $545 million for the FBI as part of what the White House said was a desire to “reform and streamline” the bureau and reduce “non-law enforcement missions that do not align” with President Donald Trump’s priorities.</p>

<p>“<strong>My view is that we agree with this budget as it stands and [will] make it work for the operational necessity of the FBI, and as the head of the FBI, I was simply asking for more funds because I can do more with more money</strong>,” Patel said in a Senate hearing.</p>

<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T10:30:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 06:30</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-deputy-director-says-illegal-immigrant-criminals-child-predators-are-top-priority


guid: 1029706 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Taliban Bans Chess In Afghanistan: 'Means Of Gambling'
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/taliban-bans-chess-afghanistan-means-gambling
hash: �K�t���YɒC�ܢ
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Taliban Bans Chess In Afghanistan: 'Means Of Gambling'</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>We weren't aware that the game of chess could lead to a raging gambling addiction, but apparently the Taliban thinks so...</p>

<p><strong>"The Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned chess until further notice due to fears the game is a source of gambling,"</strong> BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk24dz8ne5o">reports</a> Monday. "Officials said the game has been prohibited indefinitely until its compatibility with Islamic law can be determined."</p>

<p>"There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess," Atal Mashwani, the spokesman of the Taliban government's sports directorate, told AFP news agency. "Until these considerations are addressed, the sport of chess is suspended in Afghanistan."</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/chessafgh.jpg?itok=9b0hpGWQ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/chessafgh.jpg?itok=9b0hpGWQ"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3b91abff-4662-42eb-af4e-7edf154377ae" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/chessafgh.jpg?itok=9b0hpGWQ" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Via AFP</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>He explained that chess in Islamic sharia law is <strong>"considered a means of gambling"</strong> - but didn't explain further on how this might be so.</p>

<p>It is but the latest absurd, draconian move by Taliban authorities since seizing power again in August 2021, following a more than two decade war with occupying US-NATO forces.</p>

<p>Some cafe owners have been quoted in Western media reports as describing chess as one of the few positive and healthy activities young people in the country can engage in.</p>

<p>But with many sports and intellectual activities also restricted and deemed 'unIslamic' - there are fewer and fewer games and hobbies the population has access to, also amid ongoing economic collapse and suffering.</p>

<p>"<strong>Chess has been gaining popularity in Afghanistan</strong> in recent years, according to Khaama Press," Russia's TASS notes. "A few days before it became known about the ban, a group of activists has asked the government for funding to develop chess in the country."</p>

<p>According to a historical outline from <a href="https://www.chess.com/news/view/taliban-suspends-chess-in-afghanistan">Chess.com</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>The Taliban had also banned chess <strong>soon after coming into power in Afghanistan in 1996</strong>, but the game returned as a popular pastime in the country after the regime change in 2001. At the Batumi Olympiad in 2018, Afghanistan won the D Category with CM Khaiber Farazi, CM Habibullah Amini, Wais Abdul Khaliq, Ashrafi Sulaiman Ahmad, and Safy Kanz Ahmad in the team. The Taliban retook control of the country in 2021 and has now announced the suspension.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>But many Islamic countries and populations across the Mideast region routinely send chess players to international competitions and events. The Taliban has once again set itself apart as the 'most extreme' government in the region and the world.</p>

<p>Certainly, this 'pause' which is likely to lead to a more permanent ban on playing chess in Afghanistan won't help the Taliban's chances of getting international sanctions against it lifted.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">‼️ In connection with the situation with the ban on chess in Afghanistan, I have prepared an appeal to the Taliban leadership with a request to reconsider their decision. <a href="https://t.co/pP7qojbLJ6">pic.twitter.com/pP7qojbLJ6</a></p>
— Кирсан Илюмжинов (@Kirsan__) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kirsan__/status/1921634833438056464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The war-ravaged country's pre-Taliban population, for example <strong>back in the 1970s, was actually somewhat liberal, cosmopolitan and open</strong> - with women regularly wearing European fashions, and Islamic garb was rarely seen in the cities. </p>

<p><strong>All of that changed with the CIA's <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-26/who-michael-vickers-cias-afghan-jihad-architect-declares-war-trump">Operation Cyclone</a></strong>, which saw American and allied operatives (such as in Pakistan's ISI) arm, train, and equip radical Afghan and Arab mujahideen. These militants would later form the core of the Taliban and its terror allies.</p>
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<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T10:55:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 06:55</span>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885281
title: The MAGA revolution has come for Tesla
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/the-maga-revolution-has-come-for-tesla/
hash: ��e s�vrm��`�
tags: #Editor's Choice #DOGE #Elon Musk #United States #White House
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
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<p>When I flew into Washington DC at the start of March, I didn’t expect much in the way of excitement. Yet by coincidence, my arrival to give a talk for the Elliott School of International Affairs, at the George Washington University, would coincide with the start of a DOGE purge of one of the government bureaucracies: the General Services Administration (GSA). As I went to bed in my hotel near the mall, the “DOGE boys” were moving in just across the street.</p>
<p>The world of federal employment in America is almost a separate society. It has its own culture, its own acronyms, rules and concepts that appear foreign and opaque to those outside it. At a time of massive demographic shifts, of illegal immigration and the importation of guest workers — which have conspired to radically alter the workplace for both American blue- and white-collar workers — the federal workforce appears almost as an anachronism. Outside this walled garden, to be a worker or an employee in the year 2025 is to be an economic unit, a cog in a machine, one that can be replaced or fired at will. When a company in the private sector lays off its workforce and replaces it with foreigners, that is simply shrewd business management: it is replacing one human widget with a cheaper one in Bangalore. But even as these crass economic forces ravaged much of America, the federal workforce has managed to (mostly) stand apart.</p>
<p>Partly, the good fortune of federal workers comes down to the sheer inertia of the system and all the rules that protect them. But another factor is a matter of a widely held and genuine belief: a worker in the private sector may only be measured in terms of economic value, but in the public service things are different. To work in public service is to be a civil servant: it is to maintain and fulfil the grand republican experiment America started some 250 years ago.</p>
<p>Replacing an American coder with one from Bangalore is one thing; replacing an American civil servant with a foreigner or a computer is quite another. Once you reduce a society to numbers and cents, you no longer have a society. Among federal workers, this is the common refrain: you might not get paid nearly as much as somebody in the private sector, but you will be a part of something else, something you can’t really put a dollar value on. Until, that is, DOGE entered the picture.</p>
<p>When DOGE fires people, it deploys at least two distinct methods. The first is by its nature both wide and sweeping, with very little distinction made between useful workers and the “dead weight”. Essentially, it is the mass firing of those on probationary status, meaning that the usual job protections do not apply to them. In theory, these workers seem like a pretty natural place to start if one wants to “cut the fat”, but in practice it’s both awkward and destructive. It’s not just new workers who are on probation, but others too for various reasons — those who have been recently promoted, for example.</p>
<p>It is these untargeted mass firings — done simply because of a quirk of the legal system that regulates federal employment — that have led to the many cases where DOGE has had to apologise and walk back their decisions. Air traffic controllers weren’t fired by DOGE because they were all “woke”, or because they were all “unproductive” or surplus to requirements. They were fired, rather, because someone on the other side of the country hit a few buttons on a keyboard. No human judgement is applied: the useless woke DEI hire is arguably much more likely to be spared from DOGE than the Trump-voting hard working conservative, simply because the latter might have recently been promoted.</p>
<p>There is, however, another kind of DOGE activity, one that does have the personal touch. This I witnessed first-hand during my stay in Washington, over at the GSA, when the DOGE boys moved into the top floor of the building and did the cull in person. The entrance was covered up in police tape, and employees had to pass through a security checkpoint manned by a dozen armed guards, emptying out their coffee cups and putting their coats in trays for the x-ray machine, all ostensibly to prove they weren’t carrying bombs or other weapons. This was billed as a measure to protect DOGE as they went about their work, clearing out a fairly obscure agency staffed by accountants and legal clerks.</p>
<p>To grasp what makes DOGE’s “on-site” activities so peculiar, it’s useful to understand the basic laws and norms regulating mass layoffs inside the federal government. These layoffs fall under what is called a “RIF”: short for “Reduction In Force”. Under normal circumstances, agencies that are hit by an order to reduce their headcount by a certain number — say 30% — are supposed to list all their employees in a spreadsheet, where each employee is “scored” according to veteran status, length of employment and performance reviews. Once personnel has been listed, the agency heads then work up from the bottom until they reach the so-called “cut line”. If that’s our hypothetical 30%, that means that the worst-performing third of all employees must go. There are some quirks and exceptions — in some cases employees might be able to accept a reduction in salary rank in exchange for staying on — and departments will always try to make sure that institutional experience is still retained, avoiding situations where everyone with a certain function gets fired all at once.</p>
<p>In theory, RIF can accommodate even extremely large government cuts: it is designed to preserve talent and make it easy for the show to go on. But what DOGE has done at the GSA, the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) and other specific agencies where Elon Musk has taken a personal interest is quite different. Instead of caring too much about the total force reduction, DOGE has been firing all workers within particular areas of different departments. This can be done pretty easily by arbitrarily redefining people doing a certain job as being part of a discrete “competitive area”, and then setting the cut line at 100%.</p>
<p>This assault has almost nothing to do with the story that was sold about DOGE: getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse, and fighting the woke deep state. Indeed, the General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management both stand a decent shot of being the least woke agencies in Washington. They are both fairly obscure and concerned with boring, practical work; they also enjoy markedly low social status within the federal hierarchy, unlike the arrogant high-rollers in places like USAID.</p>
<p>So why pick the GSA rather than somewhere more “woke”, somewhere more traditionally associated with the so-called deep state? Well, because this is where one goes if one wants to asset-strip the federal government. Shortly after DOGE moved into the GSA, and started firing pretty much everyone, the GSA posted an extraordinary list of buildings they had supposedly identified as “non-critical”. This list (which was later revised, and then taken down entirely) actually included close to half of all properties owned by the federal government, including buildings like the FBI headquarters and the Department of Justice building. The GSA added that it was now open to “creative solutions” to go along with these sales, including the idea of leasing back these properties once they had been sold.</p>
<p>Of course, when DOGE itself wants to talk about its big accomplishments, this clumsy attempt at Yeltsin-style looting of public property is not even mentioned. Instead, its social media posts are filled with claims that it’s rationalising procurement.</p>
<p>The other departments that Musk has taken a personal interest in follow a similar pattern. Rather than homing in on targets that look “woke”, Musk and DOGE have been concerned with the most boring and least prestigious areas of the federal government, those that have to do with things like Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request processing and federal contracting. Musk’s interest in the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and his targeted firings of employees there coincided with a public attempt to try to get the Authority to assign a $2.7 billion contract — previously awarded to the telecom giant Verizon — to his own Starlink company. Similar controversies were reported involving federal contracts for Tesla-made cars, most bizarrely an attempt to get the State Department to spend some $400 million on bulletproof cybertrucks as consular vehicles. Given that the kinds of countries where bullet-proof consular cars are in demand tend to be located in the developing world, the idea of splurging on armoured electric vehicles is quite odd: Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo are not known for having many charging stations.</p>
<p>In most cases where DOGE has arrived in person to try to cajole or strong-arm people into looking the other way, the end result has ultimately been failure. The GSA had to dump its initial attempt to sell off good federal property at fire-sale prices; the FAA couldn’t just give a preexisting contract to Starlink; and the cybertruck deal was abandoned when journalists started getting hold of the story. And therein lies the problem: while it might be relatively easy to cut federal benefits for the elderly or the disabled, messing with federal contracts is a whole different ball game. The armed guards at the GSA building weren’t there to protect the DOGE employees, so much as to prevent fired people from returning to the building in order to transmit any sort of institutional knowledge to those that were still left. It looks like, in these instances, DOGE has waged a coordinated and surgical campaign against the accountants and white-collar janitors employed at the various agencies who control who gets the money and the contracts.</p>
<p>Elon Musk, though the world’s richest man, presides over a commercial empire that is sick and ailing. In this sense, he is just like so many others in the tech oligarchy that has become so central to Trump’s second term in office. Had the fire sale of federal property at GSA gone through, these are the people who would have bought all those federal buildings for cents on the dollar, lending them back to the government for a reliable permanent source of revenue. Tesla, Musk’s flagship company, is now in very serious trouble, and it’s an open question whether it even has a future if subjected to the pressures of the market. Tesla sales inside the EU are collapsing: a result of the rapid geopolitical polarisation that the Trump administration has leaned into with its various attacks on traditional US allies. At the same time, competitors in China are eager to gobble up its market share. Musk’s other companies — Starlink, the Boring Company, SpaceX — either have relatively low revenues or are structurally dependent on money from the US government.</p>
<p>With DOGE, Musk had a tool that could potentially not just save America from the “woke mind virus” and the “deep state”, but also leverage his position in government to help his own companies. Alas, things haven’t worked out quite how he might have hoped.</p>
<p>What became obvious as I talked to federal employees was the genuine reason they felt bewildered, angry or depressed — and it wasn’t really to do with people being fired. Bill Clinton fired people, Obama fired people; many of those I talked to even admitted to having been cautiously optimistic or even welcoming of DOGE. The federal government had problems, there was waste and fraud; anyone who lifted a finger to address these issues was welcome in their book. What people expected, even hoped for, was a painful but necessary spring cleaning of the federal government, firing the unnecessary and getting rid of the dead wood. But what people actually got was something akin to China’s cultural revolution.</p>
<p>“What people got was something akin to China’s cultural revolution.”</p>
<p>The advent of DOGE kicked off a period of chaos and uncertainty, the wilful destruction of old rules and norms. Emails would land in certain workplaces saying that everyone was fired; only to then say that nobody was fired; only for another email to arrive two hours later saying that everyone was fired after all. These emails usually wouldn’t even be signed; bosses would be just as ignorant as their workers. Orders would come, be countermanded, then counter-countermanded.</p>
<p>I interviewed one person who had, in his own words, “gotten out” — that is he had accepted the offer to quit in exchange for severance pay made in Musk’s “fork in the road email” sent to every federal employee. Working at the US Patent and Trademark Office, this person should have been the last person on the list to feel the wrath of DOGE: not only do USPTO workers in his position not get paid unless they do work (USPTO is funded entirely through user fees), the Office itself is often a net contributor to the federal budget. In other words, these people make money for the US government, so any “efficiency” initiative or “reducing the deficit” attempt shouldn’t have anything to do with them. Yet the mood among this person’s coworkers was the same as everyone else: fear and uncertainty, and a constant barrage of ominous, often anonymous messages, presumably from Washington, about how they were next on the chopping block and would possibly get fired in the near future as scroungers and traitors to the republic.</p>
<p>What this particular ex-employee found most galling, however, had very little to do with DOGE itself. Rather, it was the feeling that, on a dime, people who he thought were his friends and ideological compatriots on the American Right could just instantly turn on them as yet another “enemy”. Stories like this are now fairly common, with many posted daily to the r/fednews subreddit, a place that’s become an impromptu gathering place for bewildered civil servants. At first, the subreddit’s rhetoric involved people hoping that “fraud, waste and abuse” would be targeted. But as time went on, the radical project of slashing the government has escaped all such boundaries.</p>
<p>But if DOGE was once the focal point of these radical cuts to the federal government, today that is arguably no longer the case. More and more departments are now falling victim to “traditional” mass layoffs, handled by their department heads and supervisors rather than by the young men from DOGE. The US Department of Agriculture; the Department of Health and Human Services; the Department of Veterans Affairs — even the Internal Revenue Service is now threatened with mass layoffs. At the same time, the Republican Party is trying to fire the people who bring in tax revenue to the government, while also promoting massive tax cuts. All this is happening amid rising spending on the military. While destroying its own fiscal position at home, in other words, the Trump administration has also set out to destroy the entire postwar system abroad.</p>
<p>Like so many other revolutions before it, the one that is now happening in America is beginning to devour its own favourite children. Elon Musk may have thought he was saving both his country and his own business empire by throwing himself into these purges and mass firings. But these days, he too is on the way out. The revolution inside the federal bureaucracy that he helped to spark has been followed up with a total revolution in trade. Trump’s tariff war is likely to have huge consequences for the US economy. For Musk in particular, it might just spell doom for Tesla. Unsurprisingly, the billionaire has been out in public picking fights with members of the administration — especially Peter Navarro, the most hardline pro-tariff member of Trump’s team — and advocating for a tariff-free zone between the US and the EU. Trump, in turn, has gone from doing Tesla advertisements on the White House lawn to saying that he only keeps Musk around because he likes him; he certainly doesn’t need him. Navarro, for his part, has fired back at Musk, accusing him of being not a manufacturer of cars but a mere assembler. Tesla, because it still needs to import some components from outside America, is in danger of failing the purity test.</p>
<p>When I started interviewing federal workers back in March, my first impression was that Musk was a cynical thief, trying to loot the American state in order to shore up his own companies. But far from being some sort of mastermind, he increasingly looks like a naive, even tragic, victim of a social upheaval far bigger than anyone could have foreseen just six months ago. While Musk was useful for selling the idea of making the government more efficient, it’s increasingly clear that the firings inside the government have now abandoned that pretence. The amount of money DOGE hopes to save is now down to some $150 billion a year: barely enough to counter the announced boost to the Pentagon’s budget. At any rate, the fact that even the world’s richest man is not capable of shielding himself from the fallout of breakdown of the political order should be a warning to the rest of America.</p>
<p><em>Original article: </em><strong><a href="https://unherd.com/2025/05/doge-has-devoured-musk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UnHerd</a></strong></p>


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330457
title: Mr. Martin’s self-defeating attack on Hungary
author: ;John McGuirk
link: https://gript.ie/jmg-mm-hungary/
hash: �ܹS�u����)[#fp�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Micheal-Martin-FF-TD-e1747063028826.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Dear Reader,</strong></p>
<p>It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.</p>
<p>But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.</p>
<p>We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.</p>
<p>But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.</p>
<p>What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.</p>
<p>That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.</p>
<p>With gratitude,</p>
<p><strong>John</strong></p>

tags:
#Comment Ireland #Comment World #Featured #Featured Picks #Highlights #Irish News #Premium #World News #European Union #hungary #Micheal Martin #neutrality #Taxation #Ukraine #veto


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330484
title: Report: Ukrainians to be moved from State accommodation
author: ;Dr Matt Treacy
link: https://gript.ie/report-ukrainians-to-be-moved-from-state-accommodation/
hash: �х4Uᠰ���K�9r
tags: #Comment Ireland #Featured #Cabinet meetng #living in Irish state #Ukrainian accommodation
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong>It was reported yesterday that the Cabinet is to approve a decision to move thousands of Ukrainians out of direct accommodation over the Summer. This is being heralded as a move to free up hotel rooms which have been diverted from the hospitality sector and to return student accommodation to its former use before the new term begins at the end of August.</strong></p>
<p><span>While the piece by John Drennan quotes a government source who claimed that the number of Ukrainian refugees has fallen from</span> <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ie/politics/government/revealed-thousands-of-ukrainians-to-be-told-to-go-by-august/ar-AA1EAFNR?ocid=BingNewsSerp"><span>“114,000 to 80,000”</span></a> <span>that is out of line with the latest European Commission statistics on Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTP.)  </span></p>
<p><span>According to</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20250512-1"><span>Eurostat figures</span></a> <span>to the end of March, there were 111,770 Ukrainians living in the Irish state. That figure is very close to the total of new Personal Public Service numbers (PPSN) since Ukrainians began to arrive here in large numbers after the Russian invasion at the end of February 2022.</span></p>
<p><span>According to the</span> <a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-social-protection/collections/annual-allocations-pps-numbers/#ppsn-registrations-by-year-nuts-3-region-broad-nationality-age-and-sex"><span>Department of Social Protection</span></a> <span>111,855 PPS numbers were issued to Ukrainians up to April this year.  That would equate to the overall number of Ukrainian refugees who have been granted Temporary Protection but does not necessarily mean that all of those people are still here.</span></p>
<p><span>There have been various estimates of the numbers who have left the state, either to return home to Ukraine or to move to another EU state. One based on active PPS numbers – as measured by persons claiming social welfare or paying tax – put the figure at around 28,000.</span></p>
<p><span>Nonetheless the numbers of Ukrainians arriving here continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate.  There were 1,885 new PPS numbers issued to Ukrainians between January and April which would suggest that the total for the year will be close to the 10,238 Ukrainians who arrived in the state and were issued with a PPS number in 2024. </span></p>
<p><span>The overall number of refugees arriving has fallen sharply from more than 66,000 in 2022. According to figures supplied by</span> <a href="https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2025-04-29a.5257&amp;s=BOTPs#g5259.r"><span>Minister Norma Foley</span></a> <span>to a Parliamentary Question on April 29 a total of 109,976 Ukrainians had been granted Temporary Protection up to the end of last year. Which is very close to the number of PPS issues.</span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ukrainians.png" alt width="695" height="57" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-330486"></p>
<p><span>The number of Ukrainians in state accommodation has fallen from over 48,000 to 29,301.  The new Government decision will further reduce that by 4,000 it is claimed.  There are also anecdotal, and so far unsubstantiated, claims that those numbers are inflated and that there may be a discrepancy between the number of BOTPs who are supposed to be in state accommodation and the numbers who actually are in direct state care.</span></p>
<p><span>Gript understands that this has been raised by a number of people and that Government members are not only aware of this, but that this is one of the reasons why the state is changing its policy on accommodation and taking a more hands on approach to the contracting of premises, particularly in the hospitality sector, for the accommodation of Ukrainian BOTPs.</span></p>
<p><span>That follows earlier decisions which reflected criticism including from within Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael regarding the perception that the Irish state <a href="https://gript.ie/ireland-gives-highest-welfare-payments-in-eu-to-ukrainians/">was offering significantly more generous provisions to Ukrainians</a> than other EU member state.  Clearly this was acting as a pull factor and had contributed to the situation that the Irish state had, and still has one of the highest per capita numbers of Ukrainian BOTPs in Europe, matched and surpassed only by front line states with a land border with Ukraine.</span></p>

<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/BOTP-Ukrainians-Ireland-480x480.jpg" alt width="480" height="480" data-sanitized-class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-330487"></p>

<p><span>Not only that but as the map starkly illustrates, the Irish state has both a higher per capita level of Ukrainian refugees compared to much larger and indeed closer member states, such as France, but has twice as many actual Ukrainians under protection than France which had 56,300 at the end of March, although the French figure excludes minors. </span></p>
<p><span>In an effort to reduce the attraction of Ireland compared to other EU states, in January 2024 the Government slashed the payment for new arrivals from €232 a week to €38.80.  That would appear to have had a significant impact on numbers although unlike most other states, the numbers arriving are still increasing.</span></p>
<p><span>In her reply to Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West, Minister Norma Foley also stated that last year 420 contracts for the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees had been ended.  She claimed that this had freed up “around 15,000 beds, the majority of which returned to the tourism sector.”</span></p>
<p><span>We have yet to see proof of that, and the next release of payments from her Department may tell a tale.  However, it is the case that many of the contractors who had been or are providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees are changing over to International Protection applicants, and those numbers seeking accommodation continue to increase. </span></p>
<p><span>That fact, coupled with a whole new raft of applications for exemptions to change over to new IPAS centres, as illustrated here on almost a daily basis, will mean that the accommodation sector will continue to provide a headache for the state as it seeks to address community and business opposition. </span></p>


guid: 1029979 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: China Reverses Ban On Boeing Jet Deliveries After Trade Breakthrough With US
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: r3��քX�����-\
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<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">China Reverses Ban On Boeing Jet Deliveries After Trade Breakthrough With US</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>China lifted a month-long ban on Boeing jet deliveries for all domestic carriers just one day after a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-13/china-removes-ban-on-boeing-deliveries-after-us-trade-truce">Bloomberg</a> reports, citing people familiar with the matter.</p>

<p>Chinese officials instructed domestic carriers and government agencies at the start of the week that deliveries of US-made jets were allowed to resume. This decision coincides with a 90-day tariff truce, during which the U.S. slashed tariffs on <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-china-reach-agreement-lower-tariffs-90-day-cool-period">Chinese imports from 145% to 30%</a>, and China cut import duties on US goods from 125% to 10%. </p>

<p>In April, the tit-for-tat trade war between the Trump administration and China led to <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trade-war-turbulence-chinese-airline-delays-boeing-jet-delivery-possible-non-tariff">Beijing's non-tariff countermeasures</a>, including Juneyao Airlines that delayed the delivery of a 787-9 Dreamliner.  </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-08_07-30-07.png?itok=L5UaY82a" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-08_07-30-07.png?itok=L5UaY82a"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="66c93389-dce8-4774-9792-54d0d3cb4f3e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="324" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-08_07-30-07.png?itok=L5UaY82a" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Last week, ahead of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's weekend meeting with Chinese counterparts for the first round of trade talks in Switzerland, a Bloomberg report specified that China Airlines placed an order for more than a dozen 777 planes. At the time, we asked if this was a  "<a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/goodwill-gesture-trade-talks-china-airlines-places-order-14-boeing-777-jets">goodwill gesture</a>" by Beijing ahead of the trade talks. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_06-49-09.png?itok=j8VqmNar" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_06-49-09.png?itok=j8VqmNar"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="06509af9-9943-43de-ad91-e6542291a424" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="136" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-13_06-49-09.png?itok=j8VqmNar" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Trade talks have since de-escalated the tariff war. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed-1_51.png?itok=VpmnlxR5" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/unnamed-1_51.png?itok=VpmnlxR5"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6e1d0924-fba9-40f0-9ad3-19023416328b" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="354" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/unnamed-1_51.png?itok=VpmnlxR5" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Still, Goldman expects the overall effective tariff rate in the U.S. to be around 15% - a generational high dating back to the 1930s. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-12_21-49-01.png?itok=56NuaHTB" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-12_21-49-01.png?itok=56NuaHTB"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a030104a-34df-4a50-9aeb-1f1cc2f29991" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="275" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-12_21-49-01.png?itok=56NuaHTB" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>China's move to resume Boeing deliveries may provide a short-term boost for the sideways pattern shares have traded in for five years. Premarket activity in New York shows shares are up nearly 1%, trading around the $200 handle. Year-to-date, shares are up 12% as of Monday's close. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8b26e55d.png?itok=UrDHLdkj" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8b26e55d.png?itok=UrDHLdkj"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="717133c0-91da-4ec8-bd76-d60910b9762f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="276" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Snag_8b26e55d.png?itok=UrDHLdkj" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Great news for Boeing.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T11:20:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 07:20</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-reverses-ban-boeing-jet-deliveries-after-trade-breakthrough-us


guid: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/?p=138988
title: How Our Country and Its History Were Stolen from Us
author: ;pcr3
link: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2025/05/13/how-our-country-and-its-history-were-stolen-from-us/
hash: ^�R���= o��^�
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<p><em>Dear Readers, this is one of the most brilliant essays<span data-sanitized-class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>that I have read in recent years.<span data-sanitized-class="Apple-converted-space">  </span></em><em>Donald Jeffries explains that the alienation of Western civilization from its heritage has resulted in the replacement of statues of identifiable historic figures, such as Thomas Jefferson, who played a significant role in the origin and development of a new nation, with statues of unidentifiable overweight black women. Thus is American history removed to make room for a fictional history in which we today live. The Democrat liberal-left have created a situation in which Americans no longer know who they are.</em></p>
<p><em>Western Civilization Has Been Reduced to a planet of statues of overweight black women. No one else, much less white people, ever trod in the Western World or left any mark.</em></p>
<h1><span>Recently, there has been a veritable epidemic of statues suddenly popping up all over the globe, depicting overweight Black females. This is decidedly odd, as the figures don’t represent a particular person of historical significance, but rather a modern “Woke” phenomenon of a </span><em>brand </em><span>of human being; the loud and proud Black woman.</span></h1>
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<p>One of these statues, incredibly enough, was erected in Italy. If anyone can tell me what significance any Black woman has had on Italian history, I’m willing to listen. Maybe the Italians covered up how the Black females in their society- cleverly hidden away from the eyes of the world- have manipulated things behind the scenes for eons. Kind of like an Illuminati of Color. I’m sure Michelangelo and Da Vinci would be proud. Maybe a fat Black woman invented spaghetti. Pizza. Lasagna. Why not? Any African American Studies course worth its salt will tell you how suppressed Black inventors came up with everything from the toaster to the stop light. Lemonade. And most cleverly of all, one magnificent genius invented the comb in the late 1800s. Or centuries after they were depicted in paintings from all over the world. I remember seeing Pocahantas’s comb at the Smithsonian. What a racist to be using a Black man’s invention without giving him credit. Somebody call Elizabeth Warren.</p>
<p>The Italian statue depicts the unknown Person of Color staring down at her cell phone. Surely, this was considered a unique, historical posture. Apparently, there were no available native born Italian girls- overweight or not- who stare robotically down at their cell phones. Not to be left out, the Netherlands put up a statue of a different, but just as insignificant overweight Black woman a few years back in Rotterdam. I guess it’s taken those of us still paying attention a few years to notice. Again, what exactly has any Black woman done to deserve a statue in the Netherlands? Sure, plenty of nonwhites have raped native born residents of the Netherlands, but they were all male and mostly Muslim migrants. They probably have a disproportionate number of Blacks on the Netherlands World Cup soccer team, but I’m not sure what Black women specifically have ever contributed to their society.</p>
<p>In New York City, there is now a twelve foot statue of an obese Black woman- sporting the distinctive hands on hip stance that has made them so beloved in America 2.0. The statue is nonsensically called “Grounded in the Stars.” As someone once said, if you want to gauge the health of a nation, look at its art. The statue provides a startling dose of “diversity,” in contrast to the statues of boring dead White guys Father Francis Duffy and songwriter George M. Cohan. This is the same New York City, of course, who over the past few years took down statues of Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. The message is; an anonymous Black woman is more culturally and historically significant to this country than the most brilliant of our Founding Fathers, who wrote the Declaration of Independence. If that isn’t a slap in the face to the millions who are still asleep, I don’t know what would be.</p>
<p>The first question that should be asked is; why this curious campaign to install statues of fictional Black women? Who started it? Who is behind it? I seriously doubt that leaders in Italy and the Netherlands abruptly determined, independent of each other, that homage should be paid to a demographic group that has zero historical ties to either country. Now, the motivation is obvious. To further promote Black people. Well, any Black people who aren’t questioning the disproportionate power of a certain ethnic/religious group, that is. And to further diminish the historical greatness of formerly hallowed White leaders. And what about the White women? Why doesn’t Pakistan erect a statue of a fictional girl in a bikini? You could have her staring at her cell phone if you want. Nonwhite countries need cultural “diversity,” too, don’t they? Where are the statues of antiwar icon Jeanette Rankin, our greatest historical figure who identified as female?</p>
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<p>It’s hard to tell how many Black female statues there are. A few years back, there were reports of them springing up in Roanoke, Virginia, and South Boston. There were already at least six statues of Harriet Tubman scattered across this country. I doubt that there are six statues of White women collectively in America. The most featured female on U.S. statues is the Indian squaw (yeah, I know- that’s probably “hate speech”) Sacagawea, who has an impressive sixteen of them. I guess statues are kind of like presidential candidates; only nonwhite women need apply. And yet White women can’t stop applauding. They may well like fat Black statues even more than transgender athletes. Roanoke, Virginia, which featured Virginia Dare, the first child born in America, vanished without a trace. The city still exists, and despite being on the edge of nearly all-White Appalachia, its only two statues are of Black figures.</p>
<p>The statue of Robert E. Lee that stood in the U.S. Capitol was scheduled to be replaced by a 2021 decree, in favor of a sixteen year old girl named Barbara Johns, who led a student walkout in Prince Edward County in 1951. It was something to do with racism, which they tell us was all the rage back then. One thing you know for sure is that Johns was Black. Virginia has a statue of Mary Todd Lincoln’s Black dressmaker Elizabeth Keckly, but not of Honest Abe’s overly emotional wife. So this explosion of Black female statues is not really new. They were already overrepresented. As one typically absurd “Woke” spokesperson put it, this is an effort to “confront preconceived notions of identity and representation.” It’s inevitable that one or more statues of Black women with suitably fat asses will pop up somewhere, to memorialize the fine art of twerking. We would not want future generations to forget that.</p>
<p>This well organized campaign comes on the heels of laughable propaganda that “Black women built this country.” What? I can’t think of any group that had <em>less</em> to do with building this country. Well, maybe Hispanics. After all, they weren’t here then. The very term had yet to be invented. Or Muslims. No, it was almost exclusively White males who built this country, backed by hearty and supportive frontier wives, mothers, and daughters. But it’s “racist” to even say that. And on top of that, there is the even more head shaking “Shut up! A Black woman is speaking!” This ridiculous expression is parroted most enthusiastically by self-loathing White women. This kind of insidious programming goes well beyond conventional Stockholm Syndrome. White women are not literally being held captive by Black women. This is just one of the reasons why I maintain at least 1/3 of White women today are clinically insane.</p>
<p>If they expand their horizons, there are plenty of worthy flesh and blood candidates to consider. Queen Latifah is certainly fat enough, and at least has displayed her lack of acting skills in a good number of IMDB credits. Stacy Abrams? She lost an election and is still complaining about it. And I don’t have to tell you that they don’t come any obesier in the Black community than her. Oprah? Imagine how excited the White women would be! Their “girlfriend,” who manipulated them to high ratings, and then dropped their racial and sexual comrade Hillary like a hot potato when Barack Obama declared for the presidency. It would take some skill to get the majesty and scope of Oprah’s giant behind just right, kind of like the Venus de Milo from a dark universe. And if you want to be inclusive of non-obese Black women, there’s Kamala. Perhaps Jasmine Crockett. And Michelle Obama can represent….well, you know.</p>
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<p>If this isn’t some kind of fractured, black humor (no pun intended), then what is it? No one can seriously suggest that we should be putting up statues of random unknown figures, who have accomplished nothing to be remembered for. I don’t want statues of hot naked fictional women showing up everywhere, either, with or without cell phones. This is Identity Politics writ large, on the world stage. Black men are promoted incessantly by the same usual suspects, but it is the Black woman who reigns supreme in America 2.0. Who gets to rake in millions with little or no qualifications, while skewering the English language. I’m not sure which is worse; not being recognized for great accomplishments, or being credited undeservedly for imaginary achievements. Obviously, too many Black women fall into the later category. I can hear them screaming “Excuse me!” as they read this.</p>
<p>Why not honor a strong Black woman who has done noteworthy things? I’m talking about my friend, ex-congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. She wrote blurbs for me, and honored me by asking me to write a blurb for her provocatively titled book <em>How the US Creates Sh*thole Countries. </em>McKinney had the courage no one else in Congress did, grilling Donald Rumsfeld about the $2.3 trillion missing from the Pentagon. Oh well, DOGE will probably find that and much more. They are still planning to audit the Pentagon, right? McKinney also stated that members of Congress are asked to sign an oath of loyalty to Israel, which she refused to do. McKinney suddenly started looking a lot less Black, and was quickly ousted from Congress. She’s a truly open minded, insightful individual, my favorite politician. Imagine being relegated from serving in Congress to communicating with the likes of Thought Criminals like me.</p>
<p>It’s odd that these dubious new statues come in the wake of all those which were torn down a few years ago by angry Black Lives Matter protesters. Sort of gives new meaning to the term “Great Replacement.” The “Woke” authoritarians are dancing a politically correct line between censoring any references to certain historical figures, and perpetually blasting them as racist. As I have said for years, at some point history itself will be declared racist. Maybe it already has been, and I missed it. And why not? Math is, as well as proper English. I’ve been lectured about how free speech is racist. Perhaps in the ultimate irony, freedom itself is racist. The slavery that entraps some 40 million people around the world today apparently isn’t racist enough to attract much condemnation. Brown people enslaving other Brown people can’t be virtue signaled. Apparently, all slave lives don’t matter.</p>
<p>Statues used to be exclusively for dead historical figures. Those obese Black women aren’t dead. To be fair, being fictitious, they aren’t really alive, either. A few years ago, the mayor of New Orleans unleashed a new statue, in honor of the ridiculous “Woke” holiday Juneteenth. It consisted of a giant Afro hair pick, with an upraised “Black Power” fist. I don’t know, but if I was Black, I think I’d be really offended by that. I mean, not that many Blacks even have Afros now, and that’s how you choose to honor them? For having kinky hair? I wouldn’t object to that memorial being called racist. This <em>was</em> New Orleans; how about a statue of Louis Armstrong? Do Black people see themselves as giant Afro picks? If that’s the case, maybe having some unreasonably proud fat Black women look appropriately combative makes sense. If only AI could get that neck bobbing thing down, then they’d really have some statues.</p>
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<p>This is really a logical extension of promoting ugly art and declaring it beautiful. We now know that the CIA was financing putrid “artists” like Jackson Pollock, and convinced the always malleable public that glorified finger painting was “modern art.” What do you see in that square? Just a completely devious agenda to destroy a culture. And they succeeded. Where are the real artists today? The ones that can do better than giant Afro picks and fat Black women? If we were to judge our civilization by its present art, we’d have to say we are no longer civilized. The same goes for architecture; aesthetically unpleasing, ugly eyesores littering the landscape. How could they have built far more beautiful buildings centuries ago? Why are we devolving in every aspect of our culture? When you don’t believe in God, there is no spiritual element in your art. The divine spark is what makes it special.</p>
<p>It’s not enjoyable to take these kinds of stances, which are instantaneously condemned as “racist.” But someone has to. Thankfully, these fat Black statues are fully dressed, but in a figurative sense, they aren’t wearing any clothes. I’m like the little boy in the fairy tale who points that out to the clueless and/or frightened crowd. Just how brainwashed do you have to be to want to excessively celebrate the contributions of the loudest, most arrogant, and least educated members of your society? What next- a memorial to them destroying a Popeye’s because they ran out of hot sauce? My observations are all based on reality, not propaganda. I don’t want Black women treated unfairly. I just don’t want them to be irrationally adored. Let’s laud the guy working two jobs to make ends meet. The mother struggling to raise six kids on a shoestring budget. Not an arrogant narcissist in love with herself.</p>
<p><a href="https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/planet-of-the-fat-black-statues?utm_source=post-email-title&amp;publication_id=344941&amp;post_id=163408980&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=dx5km&amp;triedRedirect=true&amp;utm_medium=email">https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/planet-of-the-fat-black-statues?utm_source=post-email-title&amp;publication_id=344941&amp;post_id=163408980&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=dx5km&amp;triedRedirect=true&amp;utm_medium=email </a></p>
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guid: 1029999 at https://www.zerohedge.com
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ��q�࿨ �(D:�1
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title:
Trump Torches Neocons &amp; Interventionists, Emphasizes 'Peace Through Strength' Deal-Making In Major Saudi Speech

content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Trump Torches Neocons &amp; Interventionists, Emphasizes 'Peace Through Strength' Deal-Making In Major Saudi Speech</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>Summary:</em></p>

<p>Some highlights of President Trump's lengthy speech before the US-Saudi Investment Forum, wherein he frequently praised his Saudi host crown prince Mohammad bin Salman and <strong>advanced</strong> <strong>peace through deal-making</strong>...</p>

<p><strong>Markets Rocking</strong></p>

<p>The stock market is “gonna go a lot higher." He said "People should have listened. We’ve never had anything like this," and he cited the "explosion of investment and jobs." Business executives "weren’t that happy when they saw me,” a month ago, but changed their tune as markets rose," Trump added.</p>

<p>"We are rocking: The United States is the hottest country, with the exception of your country," Trump said, pointing to MbS in the front row before him.</p>

<p><strong>Saudi Arabia as Global Business/Tech Hub</strong></p>

<p>“Mohammed do you sleep at night? How do you sleep?” he said, addressing the crown prince. "Critics doubted it was possible, what you’ve done, but over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong."</p>

<p>"...Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions and charting your own destinies in your own way."</p>

<p>Silence befell the crowd as Trump said that it was his "fervent wish" that Saudi Arabia "will soon be joining the Abraham Accords" - but he ultimately conceded that the kingdom will do it in "it's own time".</p>

<p>“It will be a special day in the Middle East, with the whole world watching, when Saudi Arabia joins us. And you’ll be greatly honoring me, and you’ll be greatly honoring all of those people that have fought so hard for the Middle East. And I really think it’s going to be something special — but you’ll do it in your own time. And that’s what I want, and that’s what you want, and that’s the way it’s going to be."</p>

<p><strong>Iran put on Notice</strong></p>

<aside data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="pull-quote" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/pull-quote/instances/cmamps47g000c3b6r20n5v6cy@published"><p data-editable="text">"In the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think. I don’t like permanent enemies. Sometimes you need enemies to do the job, and you have to do it right. Enemies get you motivated," Trump said.</p>
</aside><p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamplhcr00103b6r8ch0hksa@published">He continued, "I want to make a deal with Iran. I can make a deal with Iran. I’ll be very happy if we’re going to make your region and the world a safer place." He offered a "much brighter future" if Tehran will do a deal.</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamplhcr00103b6r8ch0hksa@published">"If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive, maximum pressure … and take all action required to stop the regime from ever having a nuclear weapon. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon," he said.</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamplhcr00103b6r8ch0hksa@published"><b>Lifting Sanctions on Syria</b></p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmampz0yb000a3b6r62d85ei0@published">"Syria, they’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing in many years. That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade," Trump said.</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">"The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important — really an important function — nevertheless, at the time. But now it’s their time to shine," he added. So I say, 'Good luck, Syria.' Show us something very special."</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Trump says he’s lifting sanction on Syria to “give them a chance at greatness.”<br><br>
As he gets a standing ovation, he adds of MBS, “Oh, what I do for the Crown Prince….” <a href="https://t.co/kNvRDtE025">pic.twitter.com/kNvRDtE025</a></p>
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1922328973645623481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">"Oh what I do for the crown prince," Trump said to wrap</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published"><strong>Blasted NeoCons &amp; Liberal Interventionists</strong></p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">"In the end, the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built—and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies they did not understand," Trump said.</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">"The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neo-cons, or liberal non-profits like those who spent trillions failing to develop Kabul and Baghdad."</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">"In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that we must all hope will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace."</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published"><strong>Gaza, Yemen</strong></p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">"The people of Gaza deserve a much better future," Trump said. "But that will or cannot occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political ends."</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">Trump also proclaimed that he ordered the cessation of US-Houthi hostilities in the Red Sea, after the Pentagon flexed its military might.</p>

<p data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cmamo6wua00013b6ranbejdcj@published">* * *</p>

<p><strong><u>Update(1005ET)</u>:</strong> Trump said to be moments away from speaking live from Riyadh after signing hundreds of billions of dollars in US-Saudi investment deals (watch below). "U.S. and Saudi Arabia sign largest defense sales agreement in history—nearly $142 billion, part of $600 billion investment package President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman signed in Riyadh bringing an infusion of cash to the United States," according to a White House correspondent. </p>

<p>"Today in Saudi Arabia, President Donald J. Trump announced Saudi Arabia’s $600-billion commitment to invest in the United States, building economic ties that will endure for generations to come," a fresh White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/05/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-secures-historic-600-billion-investment-commitment-in-saudi-arabia/">fact sheet begins</a>. "The first deals under the announcement strengthen our energy security, defense industry, technology leadership, and access to global infrastructure and critical minerals."</p>

<p>The following represent just a few of the many transformative deals secured in Saudi Arabia:</p>

<ul><li>Saudi Arabian DataVolt is moving forward with plans to invest $20 billion in AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States.</li>
	<li>Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber are committing to invest $80 billion in cutting-edge transformative technologies in both countries.</li>
	<li>Iconic American companies including Hill International, Jacobs, Parsons, and AECOM are building key infrastructure projects like King Salman International Airport, King Salman Park, The Vault, Qiddiya City, and much more totaling $2 billion in U.S. services exports.</li>
	<li>Additional major exports include GE Vernova’s gas turbines and energy solutions totaling $14.2 billion and Boeing 737-8 passenger aircraft for AviLease totaling $4.8 billion.</li>
	<li>In the healthcare sector, Shamekh IV Solutions, LLC will be investing $5.8 billion, including a plant in Michigan to launch a high-capacity IV fluid facility.</li>
	<li>Investment partnerships include several sector-specific funds with a strong emphasis on U.S. deployment—such as the $5 billion Energy Investment Fund, the $5 billion New Era Aerospace and Defense Technology Fund, and the $4 billion Enfield Sports Global Sports Fund—each channeling substantial capital into American industries, driving innovation, and creating high-quality jobs across the United States.</li>
</ul><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_RhtecNuO3Q?si=Z-dbv3rGvnoj5abX" title="YouTube video player" width="560" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe></p>

<p>* * *</p>

<p><strong>If there's one thing that's clear by now, it's that Saudi Arabia and the royal family loves President Donald J. Trump</strong>.</p>

<p>For example, in an unusual move and break with protocol, it was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) who rushed to greet Trump the moment the president stepped off Air Force One at the Royal Terminal on Tuesday.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/trumpmbsgreeting.jpg?itok=3BeL1aEs" data-link-option="0" href="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/trumpmbsgreeting.jpg?itok=3BeL1aEs"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="99ec1911-4234-42c0-b803-da2bf33993d1" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="341" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/trumpmbsgreeting.jpg?itok=3BeL1aEs" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Via Al Monitor</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>The greeting was typically lavish, as Trump was received at the Royal Terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, after which he and MbS walked a lavender carpet and sat down amid marble columns in navy-and-gold armchairs, as the <em>NYT Times</em> detailed.</p>

<p>"Trump lands in Saudi Arabia to a royal welcome from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman," Al-Monitor journalist Elizabeth Hagedorn pointed out. <strong>"Biden, by contrast, got the governor of Mecca."</strong></p>

<p>As Air Force One entered the kingdom's airspace earlier Tuesday, Saudi fighter jets escorted it while approaching the Saudi capital.</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="560" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Scenes from Saudi Arabia as Trump arrives for negotiations with leaders of the region.<br><br>
Huge week ahead. <a href="https://t.co/QsXeHccVzD">pic.twitter.com/QsXeHccVzD</a></p>
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) <a href="https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1922190410278981959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>And later, "The presidential limousine, nicknamed The Beast, was escorted by riders on Arabian horses as it drove to the royal court," NYT <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/13/us/trump-news-saudi-arabia">detailed</a>.</p>

<p>Among the first major events includes Trump speaking at an investment forum hosted by the Saudi government. Accompanying him are Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top officials.</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="560" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">The Beast pulls up to the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/NSxhzaFk5o">pic.twitter.com/NSxhzaFk5o</a></p>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1922220554259403074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The investment forum has also seen the <strong>Saudi crown prince greet Elon Musk</strong> as well as other important tech and silicon valley chief executives, including from BlackRock, Palantir, Nvidia, OpenAI, IMB, CitiBank, and others.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">⚡️OpenAI CEO Sam Altman with President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman inside the Saudi Royal Court. <a href="https://t.co/y6q46omFoQ">pic.twitter.com/y6q46omFoQ</a></p>
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) <a href="https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1922254880535707669?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Others eyeing potential investments from the Saudis, include billionaire medical entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of The Los Angeles Times.</p>

<p>The president said before cameras upon the start of bilateral talks,<strong> "MBS is a friend, we have a good relationship."</strong></p>

<p>"I really believe we like each other a lot," Trump added.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/muskksa.jpg?itok=UaNz_LiQ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/muskksa.jpg?itok=UaNz_LiQ"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="63ee6d76-c3e5-4e1c-890e-3054fa1d0770" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/muskksa.jpg?itok=UaNz_LiQ" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Via Reuters</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p><strong>Trump is hoping to secure a $1 trillion investment in US industry</strong> from the kingdom, significantly over and above the crown prince’s earlier investment pledge of $600bn, upon this first stop in his Gulf tour which will later include Qatar and UAE.</p>

<p>Importantly, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, was at the airport with MbS for Trump's grand greeting at the VIP Royal Terminal.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/elonandtr.jpg?itok=ycupHrRf" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/elonandtr.jpg?itok=ycupHrRf"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f561c4af-d8b3-4450-862a-532ad5caf0e4" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="276" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/elonandtr.jpg?itok=ycupHrRf" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p><em>Trump is more of a Diet Coke drinker, (or perhaps there was a remote fear in his mind of being poisoned?)...</em></p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">U.S. President Donald Trump doesn't drink the local coffee offered to him during his visit to Saudi Arabia.<br><br>
Ghahwa, a spiced Arabic coffee, is a staple of Saudi hospitality. <a href="https://t.co/UF0bdlxw9P">pic.twitter.com/UF0bdlxw9P</a></p>
— Clash Report (@clashreport) <a href="https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1922222925685326017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>President Trump salutes as the Saudis play the American National Anthem...</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="560" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">🚨🇺🇸🇸🇦 Trump salutes as the Saudis play the American National Anthem.<br><br>
Saudi Arabia love Trump it seems. Things are happening quickly. <a href="https://t.co/2FrPYBJ9At">pic.twitter.com/2FrPYBJ9At</a></p>
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1922222234350805256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p><em>developing...</em></p>

<p><em><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="083a1880-ea19-4d86-8542-2d849c13e4d4" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="129" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/beef%20initiative_1.jpg?itok=iJqbpuwE" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></em></p>
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      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-14T09:44:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed, 05/14/2025 - 05:44</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-trumps-lavish-welcome-saudi-arabia-mbs-breaks-protocol-greets-him-plane


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885283
title: ‘The concluding moves’: Israel launches Trump’s ‘final solution’ in Gaza
author: ;A A
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<p><strong><em>By Andre DAMON</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Join us on </span><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a><span>, and</span> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a>.</strong></p>
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<p>In February, US President Donald Trump declared that “The US will take over the Gaza Strip” and “level out” the remaining buildings and transfer the Palestinian population to “other countries.” At the time, both US and international media dismissed Trump’s plan as an “outlandish” scheme with no prospect of realization.</p>
<p>The Israeli government approached Trump’s plan with deadly seriousness. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s “bold vision” for an ethnically cleansed Gaza. “We’re working on it,” Trump said during a meeting in Washington last month.</p>
<p>On Monday, the Netanyahu government effectively announced the beginning of the final stage of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The plan includes a full military occupation of the entire Gaza Strip and the mass internment of the population in concentration camps under armed guard, as a prelude to forced marches through the desert or deportation by sea.</p>
<p>These concentration camps will be staffed by private US security contractors, with the Israel Defense Forces overseeing the distribution of starvation rations. According to a report this week by Reuters, the United States and Israel are actively discussing the formation of a “transitional government” headed by a US official to administer Gaza.</p>
<p>Echoing the “final solution,” the Nazi term for the genocide of Europe’s Jews, Netanyahu declared, “It’s time to launch the concluding moves.” The next day, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich explained the meaning of the Israeli government’s plan:</p>
<blockquote><p>Within a year, … Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to … the south to a humanitarian zone … and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries.</p></blockquote>
<p>The mechanism for the forcible displacement of the Palestinian people will be mass starvation. As National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made clear, “No electricity, and no other aid should be allowed—neither by the [Israeli military] nor by civil society.”</p>
<p>On March 2, Israel imposed a total blockade on all food, water and electricity entering the Gaza Strip. As a result, the majority of Gaza’s community kitchens have been forced to shut down due to a lack of supplies, and cases of acute malnutrition have surged by more than 80 percent. Harrowing images have circulated of emaciated, starving children—victims of a famine that is entirely man-made.</p>
<aside data-track-content="true" data-content-name="33% of article" data-content-piece="/en/articles/2025/05/10/msak-m10.html"></aside>
<aside data-sanitized-class="dn-p relative mv4 _bt _bb">
<div data-sanitized-class="">
<aside data-sanitized-class="ph3 ph4-m mb3 mb0-ns">As Lama Bastami, director of the Legal Department at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, explained:</aside>
</div>
</aside>
<blockquote><p>The crime of starvation in Gaza is fully-fledged and committed in broad daylight; it requires no investigation committees or judicial rulings to prove it. It is enough to note that Israel has closed all crossings into the devastated Strip for over two months, completely banning the entry of food, medicine, and goods – a well-established reality openly acknowledged by Israeli officials without fear of accountability. Gaza is filled with irrefutable evidence of the crime’s horror: the emaciated bodies of people and children, tens of thousands lining up daily at charity kitchens, and the escalating death toll from hunger, malnutrition, and associated diseases.</p></blockquote>
<p>The deliberate starvation of a population of two million people is being carried out with the full support not only of the Trump administration, but also of the Democratic Party. In April, Senate Democrats voted overwhelmingly against placing any restrictions on US arms shipments to Israel.</p>
<p>Bernie Sanders, often presented as a critic of the Netanyahu government, has repeatedly declared that “Israel has the right to defend itself.” He has denied that a genocide is taking place in Gaza, dismissively responding in February, “What genocide? You’ve got to be careful about that word.”</p>
<p>This week marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, marked by the surrender of Nazi Germany. As the Red Army advanced and liberated the concentration camps of Eastern Europe, it uncovered overwhelming evidence of a campaign of mass extermination—carried out in secret—that murdered six million European Jews.</p>
<p>Opening the prosecution of Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg Tribunal, Justice Robert Jackson declared that the crimes of the Third Reich were “so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.”</p>
<p>The undeniable reality is that similar crimes are once again being committed—this time in full view of the world. Unlike the Nazis, who sought to conceal the scale of their atrocities, Israel is acting openly, with the eyes of the world watching. And yet, none of the institutions of so-called “international law”—the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court—despite issuing vote after vote, ruling after ruling, have been able to stop it.</p>
<p>In recent decades, the imperialist powers have invoked allegations of war crimes to justify military interventions around the world—from the bombing of Yugoslavia to the denunciation of Russia in the Ukraine war. Today, however, the United States is openly sponsoring a genocide and campaign of ethnic cleansing on a scale far surpassing anything it has accused others of. It is pursuing a flagrantly criminal policy with complete impunity.</p>
<p>The open embrace of ethnic cleansing and mass starvation by the US and Israel has exposed the claim that protests against the Gaza genocide are driven by “antisemitism.” This monstrous lie has been used to criminalize protesters, who have been attacked by police and arrested en masse. Student visa holders have been disappeared in immigration facilities and been forced out of the country.</p>
<p>The Gaza genocide has been ongoing for one and a half years. During that time, millions of people have protested the criminal actions of the Netanyahu government and its imperialist backers. These protests, despite the heartfelt aspirations of its participants, have failed to shift policy.</p>
<p>Certain lessons must be drawn. The Gaza genocide is not an incidental event, caused by mistaken policy choices. It represents an open embrace by the imperialist powers of deliberate starvation, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder as part of the global eruption of imperialist war.</p>
<p>It is a component part of the creation of a “new Middle East,” to use the term Netanyahu borrowed from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, under imperialist domination, as a central component of US war preparations against China.</p>
<p>The Gaza genocide sets a precedent not only in foreign policy, but also in domestic policy. The Trump administration, along with governments worldwide, views the Netanyahu government’s strategy of mass killing, internment, torture, and unbridled brutality as a model for their own actions at home.</p>
<p>A new strategy is necessary. In recent months, millions have taken part in mass protests against the Trump administration’s attacks on the social and democratic rights of the working class. There is enormous opposition to the administration’s mass layoffs of more than 100,000 federal workers, its assault on Social Security, the dismantling of public education, and the stoking of a global trade war that threatens to devastate jobs and living standards across the country.</p>
<p>The struggle to defend the social and economic rights of the working class must be united with the struggle against imperialist war and barbarism. This requires the mobilization of the working class, uniting the struggle to oppose the Gaza genocide with the defense of the social rights of the working class.</p>
<p>As <em>World Socialist Web Site</em> writer Jean Shaoul <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/05/07/zztd-m07.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> at this year’s International May Day rally, “Millions have marched and rallied in defense of the Palestinians. But this cannot succeed through moral appeals to any imperialist power or capitalist government. There must be a turn to the working class and to the methods and politics of class struggle.”</p>
<p>Stopping the Gaza genocide is inextricably connected to the political offensive of the international working class against capitalism and for socialism.</p>
<p><em>Original article: </em><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/05/10/msak-m10.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>wsws</strong></a></p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/concluding-moves-israel-launches-trump-final-solution-in-gaza/


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330490
title: Irish buyers possibly affected by M&amp;S cyberattack
author: ;Jason Osborne
link: https://gript.ie/irish-buyers-possibly-affected-by-ms-cyberattack/
hash: �=�'#)u��$K��
tags: #Featured #Irish News #News #Cyberattack #data #Marks and Spencer
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/aleksandr-rebenkov-oMa40gZGYz0-unsplash-scaled.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Dear Reader,</strong></p>
<p>It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.</p>
<p>But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.</p>
<p>We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.</p>
<p>But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.</p>
<p>What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.</p>
<p>That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.</p>
<p>With gratitude,</p>
<p><strong>John</strong></p>


guid: yt:video:W_mEL4v9MVs
title: Trump Lands in Saudi Arabia
author: ;The LaRouche Organization
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_mEL4v9MVs
hash: ��8-�@�Fi�5+��w
attributes:
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guid: https://medium.com/p/053266e98682
title: Multiple Western Press Outlets Have Suddenly Pivoted Hard Against Israel
author: ;Caitlin Johnstone
hash: �=�������Y�n
tags: #media #israel #gaza #journalism #news
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*cR08WbiM4QUKiaPItbFbAw.png"></figure><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPxL4tysBvY"><em>Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley)</em></a>:</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FSPxL4tysBvY%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;display_name=YouTube&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSPxL4tysBvY&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FSPxL4tysBvY%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/0508b55bb3b49994717a783f62b94823/href">https://medium.com/media/0508b55bb3b49994717a783f62b94823/href</a></iframe><p>After a year and a half of genocidal atrocities, the editorial boards of numerous British press outlets have suddenly come out hard against Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.</p><p>The first drop of rain came last week from The Financial Times in a piece by the editorial board titled “<a href="https://archive.is/X6Rtz">The west’s shameful silence on Gaza</a>,” which denounces the US and Europe for having “issued barely a word of condemnation” of their ally’s criminality, saying they “should be ashamed of their silence, and stop enabling Netanyahu to act with impunity.”</p><p>Then came The Economist with a piece titled “<a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/05/08/the-war-in-gaza-must-end">The war in Gaza must end</a>,” which argues that Trump should pressure the Netanyahu regime for a ceasefire, saying that “The only people who benefit from continuing the war are Mr Netanyahu, who keeps his coalition intact, and his far-right allies, who dream of emptying Gaza and rebuilding Jewish settlements there.”</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//x.com/FT/status/1920135077448634492&amp;image=" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/50859ab1e058c89019a5aea206319691/href">https://medium.com/media/50859ab1e058c89019a5aea206319691/href</a></iframe><p>On Saturday came an editorial from The Independent titled “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/gaza-war-israel-netanyahu-aid-blockade-trump-b2747926.html">End the deafening silence on Gaza — it is time to speak up</a>,” arguing that British PM Keir Starmer “should be ashamed that he said nothing, especially since Mr Netanyahu has now announced new plans to expand the already devastating bombardment of Gaza,” and saying that “It is time for the world to wake up to what is happening and to demand an end to the suffering of the Palestinians trapped in the enclave.”</p><p>On Sunday The Guardian editorial board joined in with a write-up titled “<a href="https://archive.is/tquJa">The Guardian view on Israel and Gaza: Trump can stop this horror. The alternative is unthinkable</a>,” saying “The US president has the leverage to force through a ceasefire. If he does not, he will implicitly signal approval of what looks like a plan of total destruction.”</p><p>“What is this, if not genocidal?” The Guardian asks. “When will the US and its allies act to stop the horror, if not now?”</p><p>To be clear, these are editorials, not op-eds. This means that they are not the expression of one person’s opinion but the stated position of each outlet as a whole. We’ve been seeing the occasional op-ed which is critical of Israel’s actions throughout the Gaza holocaust in the mainstream western press, but to see the actual outlets come out aggressively denouncing Israel and its western backers all at once is a very new development.</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//x.com/NimerSultany/status/1921661916583203228&amp;image=" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/f4bc90a259469d4b5915e52dddbd7c7d/href">https://medium.com/media/f4bc90a259469d4b5915e52dddbd7c7d/href</a></iframe><p>Some longtime Israel supporters have unexpectedly begun changing their tune as individuals as well.</p><p>Conservative MP Mark Pritchard said at the House of Commons last week that he had supported Israel “at all costs” for decades, but said “I got it wrong” and publicly withdrew that support over Israel’s actions in Gaza.</p><p>“For many years — I’ve been in this House twenty years — I have supported Israel pretty much at all costs, quite frankly,” Pritchard said. “But today, I want to say that I got it wrong and I condemn Israel for what it is doing to the Palestinian people in Gaza and indeed in the West Bank, and I’d like to withdraw my support right now for the actions of Israel, what they are doing right now in Gaza.”</p><p>“I’m really concerned that this is a moment in history when people look back, where we’ve got it wrong as a country,” Pritchard added.</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//x.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1919824826715214159&amp;image=" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/ced748131ba2a32c7cf07c0714fd8e9c/href">https://medium.com/media/ced748131ba2a32c7cf07c0714fd8e9c/href</a></iframe><p>Pro-Israel pundit Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, who had been aggressively <a href="https://x.com/Daughterof481/status/1920340337857347717/photo/4">denouncing campus protesters</a> and accusing Israel’s critics of “<a href="https://x.com/academic_la/status/1731453738030940383">blood libel</a>” throughout the Gaza holocaust, has now come out and publicly admitted that Israel is committing a genocide which must be opposed.</p><p>“It took me a long time to get to this point, but it’s time to face it. Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Ephraim <a href="https://x.com/academic_la/status/1916676414797123669">tweeted</a> recently. “Between the indiscriminate bombing of hospitals, starvation of the population, plans for ethnic cleansing, slaughter of aid workers and cover ups, there is no escaping it. Israel is trying to eradicate the Palestinian people. We can’t stop it unless we admit it.”</p><p>It is odd that it has taken all these people a year and a half to get to this point. I myself have a much lower tolerance for genocide and the mass murder of children. If you’ve been riding the genocide train for nineteen months, it looks a bit weird to suddenly start screaming about how terrible it is and demanding to hit the brakes all of a sudden.</p><p>These people have not suddenly evolved a conscience, they’re just smelling what’s in the wind. Once the consensus shifts past a certain point there’s naturally going to be a mad rush to avoid being among the last to stand against it, because you know you’ll be wearing that mark for the rest of your life in public after history has had a clear look at what you did.</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//x.com/tparsi/status/1921745723734806966&amp;image=" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/1dad40cb14f14655f66bb2d1bfaa749b/href">https://medium.com/media/1dad40cb14f14655f66bb2d1bfaa749b/href</a></iframe><p>This is after all coming at a time when the Trump administration is beginning <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/disagreements-iran-gaza-straining-trump-netanyahu-relationship-rcna205985">to rub Netanyahu’s fur the wrong way</a>, recently prompting the Israeli prime minister to say “I think we’ll have to detox from US security assistance” when Washington went over Tel Aviv’s head and <a href="https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/hamas-and-us-reach-deal-i-think-well">negotiated directly with Hamas</a> to secure the release of an American hostage. The US is reportedly <a href="https://archive.is/kDs6R">leaving Israel out</a> of more and more of its negotiations on international affairs in places like Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Something is changing.</p><p>So if you’re still supporting Israel after all this time, my advice to you is to make a change while you still can. There’s still time to be the first among scoundrels in the mad rat race to avoid being the last to start acting like you always opposed the Gaza holocaust.</p><p>______________</p><p><em>My work is </em><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/05/24/my-experiments-with-hacking-capitalism/"><em>entirely reader-supported</em></a><em>, so if you enjoyed this piece </em><a href="https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/about"><em>here are some options</em></a><em> where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. </em><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/"><em>Click here for links for my mailing list, social media, books, merch, and audio/video versions of each article</em></a><em>. All my work is </em><a href="https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/reminder-all-my-work-may-be-freely"><em>free to bootleg and use</em></a><em> in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.</em></p><p>Bitcoin donations: 1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=053266e98682" width="1" height="1" alt="">

link:
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/multiple-western-press-outlets-have-suddenly-pivoted-hard-against-israel-053266e98682?source=rss-c40ec5bece47------2


guid: https://medium.com/p/75fed45629f8
title: How To Make Your Mind Harder For The Propagandists To Manipulate
author: ;Caitlin Johnstone
hash: ��̻�Ēƃ�A�$3
tags: #gaza #media-criticism #israel-palestine-conflict #propaganda #israel
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Zd-j1GemPmWyCNUkBFmT_g.png"></figure><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hClm5nFQ798"><em>Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley)</em></a>:</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FhClm5nFQ798%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;display_name=YouTube&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhClm5nFQ798&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FhClm5nFQ798%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/88016f41812cfbcc279fbda859da5b88/href">https://medium.com/media/88016f41812cfbcc279fbda859da5b88/href</a></iframe><p>The worst mistake you can make when reading the news is to assume there’s a good reason why the mass media report on something in the way that they do. That there’s a good reason why Israel-Palestine gets framed as a complex and morally ambiguous issue with no clear path forward, even though it all looks pretty self-evident to you. That there must be a valid and legitimate reason why one story gets more coverage than a seemingly far more important story, like how the release of <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-edan-alexander-release-intl">one Israeli-American hostage</a> is currently getting far more news media coverage than the deliberate starvation of an entire enclave full of civilians.</p><p>In reality there is no valid and legitimate reason why such things are covered the way they are. The coverage happens in the way that it happens because it serves the information interests of Israel and the western empire, and for no other reason.</p><p>So much western ignorance is facilitated by the manipulative way the imperial media report on what’s going on in the world. People assume that because they’re not hearing about a given issue all the time or in a particularly urgent tone of reporting, it must not be an especially important matter that needs their attention. They assume that if one side of a conflict isn’t framed as being clearly in the wrong, then it must not be.</p><p>Westerners assume that if the world were experiencing another Holocaust, another Transatlantic Slave Trade, another Cuban Missile Crisis, they would hear about it in the news at an appropriate level of urgency. But that simply isn’t how it works. The only reason the western public is ever told about anything bad that happens at a high level of frequency and urgency is when it is convenient for the western empire, like when Russia invaded Ukraine. When that happened it was the main story in every western outlet for ages, and Russia was clearly framed as the evil aggressor, with all the NATO aggressions which <a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/09/07/if-everyone-understood-that-the-us-deliberately-provoked-this-war/">provoked the invasion</a> going completely unmentioned.</p><p>When people hear the word “propaganda” they tend to think it means the same thing as “lies”, but that’s not accurate. The domestic propaganda that <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2023/06/05/caitlin-johnstone-15-reasons-why-media-dont-do-journalism/">westerners are fed by the powerful</a> does not typically consist of whole-cloth fabrications, but rather of distortions, half-truths, manipulated emphasis, and lies by omission.</p><p>Most of the worst things the US and its allies are doing in the world are reported accurately by the western press at certain times and in certain publications, but they simply are not given any emphasis and amplification after those brief mentions. If you look at the hyperlinks I cite in my articles to describe the criminality of the empire it’s usually either straight out of the mainstream press or some other independent author who’s citing mainstream news reporting. The difference is that I regularly spotlight those admissions, while the imperial media will mention them once halfway down an article somewhere and then let the daily news churn carry it away down the memory hole.</p><p>Western propaganda doesn’t consist so much of manipulating <strong><em>what</em></strong> gets reported but <strong><em>how</em></strong> it gets reported. How often something gets mentioned. How often the perpetrator of an abuse is explicitly named. The type of language used to describe a given offense. These adjustments might sound insignificant when they are described, but when put into practice across the board they are extremely effective at shaping public perception of world affairs.</p><p>The only way to get around this is to maintain an acute awareness of what’s being reported while ignoring distorting factors like frequency, emphasis and tone. You have to just focus on the raw data of what’s being reported about what the empire is up to from day to day without allowing your perception to be colored by the way in which that data is reported. If you come across a key piece of information about the empire’s criminality you’ve got to hold onto it and remember its significance for yourself, because the imperial press sure aren’t going to remind you. They’re going to be acting like it never happened by next week.</p><p>It’s bizarre once you start noticing how much of a disconnect there is between reality and the mass media’s reporting on world events. They’ll occasionally mention actual important things, but there’s no accurate sense of proportionality to any of it. It’s like if you were at a restaurant with a friend and a waiter’s uniform caught fire, and your friend just casually mentioned “Oh that guy’s on fire” before going back to talking about the meal for the rest of the conversation while the guy burned to death at the other end of the room. It is utterly surreal.</p><p>So one of the most important things you need to do to maintain a truth-based worldview is to take complete control over your own understanding of the importance of the pieces of information which come across your field of vision. You can’t rely on others to tell you how important they are, because all the most amplified and influential voices in our society are working to manipulate your understanding of their importance, and most ordinary people you’ll interact with are being manipulated by those voices to some extent. Public political discourse is overwhelmingly dominated by these distortions.</p><p>You’ve got to interpret the urgency and importance of information for yourself. By standing on your own two feet and looking at the raw data with fresh eyes before it gets jumbled around by the imperial spin machine, you make your mind much harder to bend to the will of the empire.</p><p>_______________</p><p><em>My work is </em><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/05/24/my-experiments-with-hacking-capitalism/"><em>entirely reader-supported</em></a><em>, so if you enjoyed this piece </em><a href="https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/about"><em>here are some options</em></a><em> where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. </em><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/"><em>Click here for links for my mailing list, social media, books, merch, and audio/video versions of each article</em></a><em>. All my work is </em><a href="https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/reminder-all-my-work-may-be-freely"><em>free to bootleg and use</em></a><em> in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.</em></p><p>Bitcoin donations: 1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2</p><p>Feature image via Adobe Stock.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=75fed45629f8" width="1" height="1" alt="">

link:
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/how-to-make-your-mind-harder-for-the-propagandists-to-manipulate-75fed45629f8?source=rss-c40ec5bece47------2


guid: 1030022 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Futures Dip As Torrid Squeeze Pauses Ahead Of CPI Report
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/market-recaps/futures-dip-torrid-squeeze-pauses-ahead-cpi
hash: ,��,߭���=j�0+q
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Futures Dip As Torrid Squeeze Pauses Ahead Of CPI Report</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>US equity futures are modestly lower ahead of today's CPI report, but well off session lows, as markets take a slight pause following yesterday’s surge and as trade war truce euphoria gives way to lingering concerns about inflation and economic growth. As of 8:00am ET, S&amp;P and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.2% with Mag7 and Semis names weaker pre-mkt, pulling the index lower. UnitedHealth Group sank 10% in pre-market trading after suspending its 2025 outlook. In the latest trade war news,  US reduced the tariff on ‘<em>de minimis</em>’ shipments from China, per Reuters, from 120% to 54%, while China reversed its ban on Boeing jets. Appetite for safer assets picked up again, with Treasury yields falling and gold prices on the rise. The dollar slipped after gaining more than 1.4% yesterday, its strongest day since Nov 6, 2024, the day after the election. Today’s macro data focus is on CPI where the YoY numbers are expected to remain flat MoM despite an acceleration in the MoM prints. Earnings prints are not expected to be market moving today.</p>

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<p>In premarket trading, Magnificent Seven stocks were mostly lower with the exception of NVDA (Tesla -0.3%, Meta Platforms -0.2%, Microsoft -0.3%, Apple -0.3%, Alphabet -0.2%, Amazon +0.02%, Nvidia +0.2%). Coinbase Global (COIN) climbs 9% after S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices said the company will join the S&amp;P 500 Index before trading opens May 19. UnitedHealth Group shares drop 10% after the health insurer suspended its 2025 outlook and said CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for personal reasons, effective immediately. Here are some more notable premarket movers:</p>

<ul><li>3D Systems (DDD) sinks 22% after the 3D-printer maker reported products revenue for the first quarter that missed the average analyst estimate.</li>
	<li>Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) climbs 6% after the drug developer reported earnings per share for the second quarter that was ahead of Wall Street’s expectations.</li>
	<li>Enphase Energy (ENPH) drops 5% after BMO cut its recommendation on the solar energy equipment manufacturer to underperform, citing planned Federal Government tax changes as a headwind for residential solar.</li>
	<li>On Holding (ONON) rises 5% after the company nudged its sales growth forecast higher as demand for the Swiss sneaker maker’s high-priced footwear remained strong despite economic uncertainty.</li>
	<li>Pinterest (PINS) declines 2% after the Information reported Google may unveil next week a feature that shows images designed to give people ideas for fashion and other types of designs, citing a person familiar with the matter</li>
	<li>Rigetti Computing Inc. (RGTI) tumbles 11% postmarket after the quantum computing firm’s 1Q revenue missed expectations.</li>
	<li>Other quantum computing stocks are down: Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) -3%, D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) -3%</li>
</ul><p>The powerful surge in stocks following the US-China trade truce, which sent the S&amp;P 3.3% higher and erasing all post-Liberation day losses, caught out bearish investors who are now left chasing the rally, as well as hedge funds that were mostly short US equities, according to strategists. Bank of America’s latest fund manager survey — conducted before the US-China trade breakthrough — is “bearish enough to suggest pain trade modestly higher,” Michael Hartnett said. BBVA strategists said that hedge funds’ net leverage is near five-year lows and mostly short US equities, adding to the squeeze.</p>

<p>“Yesterday’s move was warranted,” said Andrea Gabellone, analyst at KBC Securities. “But I need more to get more fundamentally constructive.”</p>

<p>Still, Tuesday’s slight pullback suggests trade and economic concerns are lingering, despite the US-China truce. The dollar is a bit weaker, and gold is higher, as investors await April’s CPI number for a sense of whether Trump’s tariff back-and-forth is fueling inflation. Boeing will be in focus after China removed a ban on airlines taking delivery of its planes.</p>

<p>“<strong>The challenges are not over</strong>,” said Frederique Carrier, investment strategy head at RBC Wealth Management.<strong> “The de-escalation was a lot stronger than even the best hopes, but you have to remember that the US economy still faces average effective tariffs of more than 13%.”</strong></p>

<p>There’s also plenty from strategists to digest. Goldman’s David Kostin raised his 12-month target for the S&amp;P 500 to 6,500 from 6,200, implying a gain of about 11%. But he’s still somewhat cautious, seeing an “impending slowdown in economic and earnings growth.” Meanwhile, the market rebound prompted Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, to cut US stocks to neutral from attractive, saying the risk-reward was now more balanced. Uncertainty is still high, he wrote in a note on Tuesday, and investors will focus on whether a lasting trade agreement can be forged between the two countries.</p>

<p>In Europe, the Stoxx 600 rises 0.2%. Health care stocks are among the biggest gainers, with Bayer shares rising 8% after earnings beat expectations. Insurance names provide a drag after disappointing numbers from Munich Re.  Here are the biggest movers Tuesday: </p>

<ul><li>Renewable energy stocks rally in Europe on Tuesday after US House Republicans proposed a phase-out of incentives to develop clean-energy projects that was better than feared, according to analysts</li>
	<li>Bayer shares jump as much as 10%, the most since August, after the German conglomerate reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the first quarter</li>
	<li>Grifols gains as much as 6.5% after the the Spanish blood-plasma company delivers results above expectations in the first quarter and maintains its full-year guidance</li>
	<li>Entain rises as much as 6.3% in London after UBS raised its recommendation to buy, saying the bookmaker has been steadily progressing operationally over the past year, yet the shares have underperformed the sector</li>
	<li>RS Group rises as much as 7.5% as BofA Global Research raises its recommendation on the electronics distributor to buy due to an automation recovery and cost savings that support margins</li>
	<li>Munich Re falls as much as 5.4% after first-quarter profit slumped because of claims linked to the Los Angeles wildfires and prices for renewals declined</li>
	<li>Hannover Re shares declined 3.8%, the second-worst performer on the Stoxx 600 Insurance Index, after the German reinsurer reported what JPMorgan says are “not a particularly pretty set of numbers”</li>
	<li>DCC shares drop as much as 4.9%, the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index, after the conglomerate’s earnings fell short of expectations, with analysts pointing to weakness in its technology business due to weak demand</li>
	<li>GEA Group drops as much as as 3.6% following a double-downgrade to underperform from buy at BofA, which cites a full valuation and weaker food and beverage capex cycle in the firm’s major markets</li>
	<li>Fraport shares fall as much as 4.7%, the most in five weeks. Higher costs in Aviation and a one-off impact from security drove a miss on Ebitda in the first quarter for the operator of Frankfurt Airport</li>
	<li>Alfen slumps as much as 26%, the most since June 2024, after the energy equipment company warned that its full-year revenue is likely to come in at the lower end of the current guidance range</li>
</ul><p>Earlier in the session, Asian stocks eked out gains, with sentiment getting a boost after the world’s two largest economies agreed to a trade truce. Meanwhile, shares in Hong Kong fell after a rally on Monday. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index jumped as much as 1%, before trimming its gains to 0.2%. TSMC, Recruit and Toyota were major contributors to the gauge’s gains. Japanese shares were among the biggest gainers in the region, with the Topix index posting its longest winning streak in nearly 16 years. Benchmarks also advanced in Taiwan and Malaysia. Still, shares fell in Hong Kong as the trade agreement is seen as reducing Beijing’s need to announce any large stimulus. Stocks in mainland China pared early gains to trade little changed. Meanwhile, gauges in India also fell as the tech sector’s rally cooled. </p>

<p>In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped as much as 0.3% as positioning in the options market continued to lean against the currency. Kristoffer Kjaer Lomholt, head of FX and corporate research at Danske Bank A/S, said the greenback’s 1% surge on Monday was “all about the unwind of the post-Liberation day trades” even though unlike other assets which have recovered all losses since Liberation Day, <strong>the dollar remains the only major asset class that is decidedly lower.</strong>  The Swiss franc, Swedish krona and Aussie dollar are the best performing G-10 currencies. The Canadian dollar lags with a 0.1% fall against the greenback.</p>

<p>Treasuries also reversed some of the Monday moves. The policy-sensitive US two-year yield fell three basis points after surging 12 basis points amid speculation the tariff truce would bolster the world’s biggest economy. 10-year yields dropped 3 bps to 4.45% and again reversing some of Monday’s move. Bunds fall, with German 10-year yields rising 3 bps. UK 10-year borrowing costs add 2 bps but short end yields are lower after British businesses cut jobs for a third straight month in April. </p>

<p>In commodities, US crude WTI futures rise 0.5% to $62.25. Spot gold has also pared some of Monday’s fall, rising $18 to around $3,254/oz.</p>

<p>Looking to the day ahead now, and the main highlight will be the US CPI release for April. Otherwise, we also got UK unemployment for March and the German ZEW survey for May. From central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Escriva, Makhlouf and Knot, along with BoE Governor Bailey and the BoE’s Pill.</p>

<p><strong>Market Snapshot</strong></p>

<ul><li>S&amp;P 500 mini -0.2%, </li>
	<li>Nasdaq 100 mini -0.2%, </li>
	<li>Russell 2000 mini -0.1%</li>
	<li>Stoxx Europe 600 +0.2%</li>
	<li>DAX little changed</li>
	<li>CAC 40 +0.2%</li>
	<li>10-year Treasury yield -2 basis points at 4.45%</li>
	<li>VIX +0.3 points at 18.72</li>
	<li>Bloomberg Dollar Index -0.2% at 123</li>
</ul><p><strong>Top Overnight News</strong></p>

<ul><li>US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the European Union suffers from a “collective action problem” that’s hampering trade negotiations, downplaying the possibility of a quick agreement with the US’s largest trading relationship. “I think the US and Europe may be a bit slower,” said Bessent. BBG</li>
	<li>The US imported a record $53bn of products used in the pharmaceuticals and medical industry in March as companies rushed to build stockpiles in case Trump hits the sector with tariffs. Imports of pharma products soared around 160% in March from the same month the previous year, and almost doubled from Feb, reaching the highest on Census Bureau records stretching back to 2002.  FT</li>
	<li>A House Republican tax bill would raise the SALT cap to $30,000 without increasing taxes on the wealthy. It needs almost unanimous party support to pass. The plan proposes to significantly increase taxes on the richest US universities. BBG</li>
	<li>China removed a month-long ban on Boeing deliveries by airlines, people familiar said, after the trade-talk breakthrough with the US. Officials have started to tell local carriers and government agencies that the restrictions no longer apply. BBG</li>
	<li>White House Executive Order said US will cut the minimum tariff on China shipments from 120% to 54%, and a minimum flat fee of USD 100 is to remain: RTRS</li>
	<li>India proposed tariffs on some American goods in its first retaliation against Trump’s duties on steel and aluminum, even as trade talks continue. BBG</li>
	<li>British businesses cut jobs for a third straight month in April. Wage growth, excluding bonuses, slowed to 5.6% in the first quarter, while the unemployment rate ticked higher. BBG</li>
	<li>The  U.S. Court of International Trade is hearing oral arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping new tariffs last month, before suspending the highest ones on about 60 trading partners for 90 days. Politico</li>
	<li>U.S. new-vehicle prices surged in April, data released on Monday showed, a sign that the effects of President Donald Trump's auto-tariff measures are rippling through the car market. RTRS</li>
	<li>BofA Fund Manager Survey (pre-US/China trade update): Global fund managers most underweight US dollars in May since 2006 61% of fund managers see soft landing for the economy versus 37% in April; 26% see hard landing, down from 49% in April. Prior to US/China Geneva talks, fund managers saw US tariffs on China goods at 37%. "Positive US-China trade war ceasefire prevents recession/credit event": BofA</li>
</ul><p><strong>Trade/Tariffs</strong></p>

<ul><li>White House Executive Order said US will cut the minimum tariff on China shipments from 120% to 54%, and a minimum flat fee of USD 100 is to remain.</li>
	<li>USTR Greer said the outcome of US-China tariffs talks was seen as pragmatic, while he added China has agreed to remove countermeasures and noted if things don't work out, China tariffs can go back up.</li>
	<li>Chinese President Xi said there are no winners in tariff wars and trade wars, while he added that only when various countries work together can they maintain world peace, stability and promote global development. Xi said bullying and tyranny will only isolate oneself, as well as noted that China supports Latin America and the Caribbean in expanding their influence in the multilateral arena with China willing to deepen cooperation with Latin America in infrastructure, agriculture, food, energy and minerals.</li>
	<li>China's Foreign Ministry, on US fentanyl tariffs, says China has repeatedly said it is a US issue. US is ignoring China's good will. Responsibility lies with the US.</li>
	<li>US Treasury Secretary Bessent says talks with China in Geneva resulted in a mechanism to avoid escalation; can proceed from here and have a very good framework. When asked if he feels good about the progress of other deals, he responds "yes"; references Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan. Thinks the US-Europe deal may be a bit slower, cites regional divides among the EU.</li>
	<li>Canadian PM Carney and UK PM Starmer agreed to strengthen trade, commercial and defence ties in a phone call, according to a statement from Canada.</li>
	<li>China removes ban on Boeing (BA) deliveries after US trade truce, via Bloomberg.</li>
</ul><p><em>A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk</em></p>

<p><strong>APAC stocks traded mostly higher following the rally on Wall St owing to the US-China trade war de-escalation after both sides agreed to cut tariffs by 115ppts for an initial period of 90 days, although some of the gains were capped as the euphoria began to moderate. </strong>ASX 200 edged higher amid outperformance in tech and energy but with further advances contained by weakness in defensives and gold miners. Nikkei 225 rallied to above the 38,000 level following the cooling in US-China trade tensions but with the index off intraday highs amid some profit-taking and a slight pullback in USD/JPY, while BoJ rhetoric continued to signal future hikes if prices and the economy improved. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp lagged despite the de-escalation in the US-China trade war which the Hong Kong benchmark already had its opportunity to react to yesterday, while questions lingered on what will happen during the 90-day reprieve as the trade deficit remains and the current 30% tariff on Chinese goods still a relatively high level.</p>

<p><em>Top Asian News</em></p>

<ul><li>BoJ Summary of Opinions from the April 30th-May 1st meeting stated that one member said the central bank is likely to continue raising interest rates in line with improvements in the economy and prices, while a member said the BoJ must make policy decisions without preconception as uncertainty over the outlook is very high. There was also the opinion of no change to the BoJ's rate-hike stance as real interest rates are deeply negative, but risks must be scrutinised and the BoJ has little choice but to take a wait-and-see stance until developments surrounding US trade policy stabilise to some extent. Furthermore, a member said that uncertainty surrounding economy and price outlook is high and the likelihood of achieving price goal is not as high as in the past, while it was stated that the BoJ will enter a temporary pause in rate hikes but shouldn't slide into excessive pessimism and must guide policy nimbly and flexibly.</li>
	<li>Nissan (7201 JT) 2024/2025 (JPY): operating profit 69.8bln (-87.7%), net -670.90bln (prev. 426.65bln), Revenue 12.63tln (prev. 12.69tln); withholds FY guidance due to tariffs, will consolidate production plants to 10 from 17. Nissan impact on Renault (RNO FP) Q1 net estimated at EUR 2.2bln loss.</li>
	<li><a href="http://jd.com/">JD.com</a> (JD/9618 HK) Q1 (USD): EPS 1.16 (exp. 1.05), Revenue 41.5bln (exp. 40.2bln); Co. notes of improving consumer sentiment.</li>
</ul><p><strong>European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.2%) are mostly, but modestly firmer as markets cool a touch from the significant upside seen in the prior session. Price action this morning has been relatively rangebound, given the lack of fresh catalysts thus far. </strong>European sectors hold a slight positive bias, but with the breadth of the market fairly narrow. Basic Resources leads,  followed closely by Retail and Travel &amp; Leisure to complete the top three. US equity futures (ES -0.4%, NQ -0.5%, RTY -0.5%) are modestly in negative territory, as the complex gives back some of the prior day’s US-China induced upside. Focus this morning has been on Bloomberg reporting which suggests China is lifting its ban on Boeing (BA) deliveries after the US-China tariff pause. BlackRock (BLK) CEO said it still sees global investors overweighting the US; adds that US deficits are still an issue.</p>

<p><em>Top European News</em></p>

<ul><li>Barclaycard UK April Consumer Spending rose 4.5% Y/Y, which was the biggest increase since June 2023.</li>
	<li>ECB strategy review will largely endorse past policies, including QE, despite some policymakers’ criticisms, while the ECB is to keep reference to ‘forceful action’ when rates and inflation are low following the review, according to sources cited by Reuters.</li>
	<li>ECB's Makhlouf says given effects of size, scale and more persistent nature of fragmentation-induced shocks, and their impact on prices, monetary policy responses will need careful calibration.</li>
	<li>BoE's Chief Economist Pill says should not assume that latest MPR forecasts is a direct endorsement of market interest rate curve; worried about potential risks to inflation He does see risk of second round effects. Remain concerned that they've seen a structural change in price and wage setting within the UK. The response of monetary policy to ensure they get inflation back to target may need to be more persistent.</li>
</ul><p><strong>FX</strong></p>

<ul><li>DXY gives back some of Monday's trade-induced gains. Desks flag the uncertainty rising from the 90-day period in which both the US and China slashed their respective retaliatory tariffs by 115 bps each. Elsewhere on the docket, the highlight will be US CPI, whereby analysts expect US headline CPI to rise +0.3% M/M in April (prev. -0.1%). DXY currently resides in a narrow 101.46-101.73 range, well within yesterday's range, with the 50 DMA today at 101.86.</li>
	<li>EUR is relatively stable and moving in tandem with the Dollar with little action seen on ECB commentary in which ECB's Makhlouf said given effects of size, scale and more persistent nature of fragmentation-induced shocks, and their impact on prices, monetary policy responses will need careful calibration, meanwhile, ECB's Escriva said they must be humble in assessing the current situation, and ECB's Nagel said they shouldn't overreact to individual announcements. Reuters sources overnight suggested the ECB strategy review will largely endorse past policies, including QE, despite some policymakers’ criticisms, while the ECB is to keep reference to ‘forceful action’ when rates and inflation are low following the review. On the data front, May ZEW survey for Germany saw a jump in economic sentiment but an unexpected fall in current conditions - but no real follow through to the EUR.</li>
	<li>Haven FX are clawing back some lost ground as markets take a breather following yesterday's US-China euphoria, and following the aforementioned punchier language from Chian this morning coupled with the accompanying uncertainty provided by the 90-day de-escalation. USD/JPY resides towards the bottom of a 147.65-148.48 range, with the 50 DMA seen at 146.27 today.</li>
	<li>GBP is buoyed by the softer Dollar, with FX markets gaining some composure after Monday's surge in the Buck. UK jobs data this morning did little to shift the dial, with no reaction seen post-release: overall, the labour market continues to soften but at a relatively moderate rate. GBP/USD currently trades in a 1.3166-1.3216 range, well within Monday's 1.3137-1.3299 parameter.</li>
	<li>Antipodeans benefit from the broadly softer Dollar despite a more cautious risk tone across the markets.</li>
	<li>PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1991 vs exp. 7.2188 (Prev. 7.2066).</li>
</ul><p><strong>Fixed Income</strong></p>

<ul><li>USTs are slightly firmer with the risk tone tepid and fixed easing from the lows seen on Monday as the dust settles following tariff announcements between the US and China. At the top-end of a 110-02 to 110-08 band. Attention for USTs is firmly on the April CPI print. A release that is perhaps slightly less pertinent given the recent US-China progress; however, it will still be scrutinised for insight into the Fed’s deliberations. After the data we have remarks from President Trump at 15:00BST in the Middle East. Reports in Axios on Monday suggested he was aiming to return with over a USD 1tln worth of deals.</li>
	<li>Bunds are a touch softer and, in contrast to USTs, has eked out a marginal new WTD trough at 129.43. However, despite this, the narrative is much the same as the benchmark consolidates from Monday’s marked sell off and await fresh insight on EU-US talks. On that, US Treasury Secretary Bessent was out this morning with the same type of language on the EU, describing the progress as being a little slower. On the data front, May ZEW survey for Germany saw a jump in economic sentiment but an unexpected fall in current conditions - but no real follow through to Bund price action.</li>
	<li>Gilts are the marginal underperformer, and in a similar fashion to Bunds the benchmark has made a new WTD low at 91.51 vs 91.63 on Monday. Gapped lower by 13 ticks at the open and then slipped a bit further to the above base. An open that followed the latest UK jobs data which, in summary, showed that the labour market continues to cool but at a gradual pace with the rate of wage growth slowing but still at a level that the MPC is unlikely to regard as being consistent with the inflation target.</li>
	<li>Netherlands sells EUR 1.98bln vs exp. EUR 1.0-2.0bln 2.00% 2054 DSL: average yield 3.228%.</li>
	<li>UK sells GBP 1bln 0.625% 2045 I/L Gilt: b/c 3.19x (prev. 3.48x) &amp; real yield 2.23% (prev. 1.732%).</li>
	<li>Italy sells EUR 7.5bln vs exp. EUR 6.0-7.50bln 2.65% 2028, 3.25% 2032 &amp; 4.45% 2043 BTP.</li>
	<li>Germany sells EUR 3.401bln vs exp. EUR 4.5bln 1.70% 2027 Schatz: b/c 2.2x (prev. 1.7x), average yield 1.94% (prev. 1.67%), retention 24.42% (prev. 23.72%).</li>
</ul><p><strong>Commodities</strong></p>

<ul><li>Crude has traded choppily, and off the highs seen following the US-China trade deal announcement. Currently WTI &amp; Brent are higher by around USD 0.20/bbl as traders await US CPI and updates from US President Trump who is set to give some remarks at 15:00 BST / 10:00 EDT. Brent Jul'25 sat in a busy USD 64.63-65.12/bbl range for most of the European morning, but has recently climbed out of the top-end of that range to print a peak at USD 65.35/bbl.</li>
	<li>Precious metals are firmer across the board, with some outperformance in spot silver as the complex benefits from the softer Dollar. Spot gold is currently higher by around USD 18/oz, and trades in a USD 3,216.06-3,265.51/oz range.</li>
	<li>Base metals are broadly in positive territory, benefiting from the relatively softer Dollar and mostly positive risk-tone overnight. 3M LME Copper currently trades in a USD 9,488.3-9,572.45/t range.</li>
	<li>China crude oil supply to China set to hold steady at around 47.5mln barrels in June, via Reuters citing sources.</li>
</ul><p><strong>Geopolitics: Middle East</strong></p>

<ul><li>US Secretary of State Rubio said the State Department is sanctioning three Iranian nationals and one Iranian entity with ties to Iran's organisation of defensive innovation and research.</li>
</ul><p><strong>Geopolitics: Ukraine</strong></p>

<ul><li>Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov discussed with his Turkish counterpart issues related to May 15th direct talks with Ukraine.</li>
	<li>US State Department said Secretary of State Rubio discussed a path to peace and a ceasefire in Ukraine with French, German, Polish and Ukrainian foreign ministers as well as the EU High Representative.</li>
	<li>Senior Kyiv Official says Ukrainian President Zelensky will meet Russian President Putin, and not other members of the Russian delegation on Thursday in Turkey.</li>
</ul><p><strong>US Event Calendar</strong></p>

<ul><li>6:00 am: Apr NFIB Small Business Optimism 95.8, est. 95, prior 97.4</li>
	<li>8:30 am: Apr CPI MoM, est. 0.3%, prior -0.1%</li>
	<li>8:30 am: Apr CPI Ex Food and Energy MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.1%</li>
	<li>8:30 am: Apr CPI YoY, est. 2.4%, prior 2.4%</li>
	<li>8:30 am: Apr CPI Ex Food and Energy YoY, est. 2.8%, prior 2.8%</li>
	<li>8:30 am: Apr CPI Index NSA, est. 320.91, prior 319.8</li>
	<li>8:30 am: Apr CPI Core Index SA, est. 326.63, prior 325.66</li>
</ul><p><strong>DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap</strong></p>

<p>Good evening from the West Coast of the US. A lot of miles have been travelled for me and for markets in the last 24 hours, and as I questioned in yesterday’s CoTD (link here), will the last 6 weeks go down in the annals the same way as series 9 of Dallas back in the mid-1980s? This series was expunged from memories as a dream sequence of Pam Ewing, rendering the death of husband Bobby Ewing as just a nightmare. With both the US and China slashing their tariff rates by 115 percentage points, with the US rate on China down from 145% to 30% and China’s rate on the US falling from 125% to 10%, we’re almost back to pre-Liberation Day levels. And if you include the fact that 20pp of the 30% US levy is around fentanyl, and could surely be negotiated down with the current momentum, China is now back in the pack with regards to pure trade tariffs on other countries.</p>

<p>The dramatic reduction in tariffs is only a temporary one for 90 days, but as far as markets are concerned, there’s now a belief that the worst of the trade war has passed, and that the trend is now towards de-escalation. So that unleashed a phenomenal rally across multiple asset classes, with the S&amp;P 500 (+3.26%) building on its recent run as investors priced out the chance of a downturn, with 2 and 10yr US yields up +12.0bps and +9.3bps respectively.</p>

<p>There’s little doubt about how positive this news is, but the US is not out of the woods yet. Our US economists had already assumed a decent amount of de-escalation into their most recent assumptions, with an effective tariff rate of 15%. So that's still not far from where we might net out given all we know after yesterday. Such an effective rate was consistent with a subdued, barely positive, level of US growth in H2. However, if the direction of travel is further tariff cuts then the risks are clearly back to the upside. For inflation, our economists suggest there is now some downside risks to our 3.6% core PCE forecast for this year. However, upside risks remain from sectoral tariffs and greater passthrough from tariffs to consumer prices in response to the broader weakening in the dollar. We maintain our view that the Fed will find it hard to ease in the near term and the first cut pencilled in for December remains the base case. See our US economists reaction to the news yesterday and how it might change their views here.</p>

<p>Yesterday's announcement came around 8am London time, just as European markets were opening, and there was an immediate reaction in response. To be fair, futures were already positive thanks to the weekend newsflow. But there was then a fresh leap higher as the tariff reductions were well above market expectations. Indeed, Trump himself had said on Friday that “80% Tariff on China seems right!”, and he’d been talking about a 60% rate on the campaign trail. So the fact it was only 30% was greeted with a huge sigh of relief. The reversal came with few immediate concessions by China, beyond reversing retaliatory measures imposed since Liberation Day. However, Trump said that China agreed to “suspend and remove all of its non-monetary barriers” without offering specifics.</p>

<p>Looking forward, the mood music around the discussions also sounded very positive, and came in at the upside of market expectations. For instance, Treasury Secretary Bessent said that both sides agreed that they “do not want a generalized decoupling”, and that “as long as there is good faith effort, engagement and constructive dialog, then we will keep moving forward”. So that sounded a long way from the rhetoric of recent weeks, when tariffs moved above 100% and there were fears of a wider trade breakdown, with China describing the US’s tariff moves as a “joke”. Later on in the day, President Trump himself said “I’ll speak to President Xi, maybe at the end of the week”, so that again kept the door open to further communications.</p>

<p>Those headlines led to a continued unwind of the moves since Liberation Day, with the S&amp;P 500 surging another +3.26%, its best daily performance since the original 90-day reciprocal tariff extension was announced on April 9 and its third best day in the last 5 years. The move means the index is now +3.05% above its level on Liberation Day, and only -4.88% beneath its all-time high from mid-February, which is remarkable given everything that’s happened in that time. Moreover, the latest advance leaves the index up more than +17% in just over a month, which is a pace we haven’t seen since Q2 2020 as markets were bouncing back from the aggressive Covid slump. That was supported by a huge rally for the Magnificent 7 (+5.67%). The NASDAQ (+4.35%) is now back in bull market territory and up +22.5% from its lows. And with equities surging back, the VIX index of volatility closed beneath 20pts for the first time since March.</p>

<p>This move back into US assets was clear on several metrics. In particular, the dollar index (+1.44%) posted its best daily performance since November, back when investors were reacting to the news of Trump’s election victory. Moreover, the rally in US equities was much more pronounced than elsewhere, with Europe’s STOXX 600 “only” up +1.21% on the day. And US credit spreads also tightened more aggressively than their European counterparts, with US HY spreads down -38bps on the day, whereas those in Europe were down -22bps. That now leaves US HY spreads at 305bps, clearly beneath their Liberation Day level of 334bps.</p>

<p>With investors pricing out a recession, the announcement also saw investors dial back their rate cut expectations over the rest of the year. For instance, futures moved to price just 56bps of Fed rate cuts by the December meeting, down -9.8bps on the day, and the fewest since February. We were at 131bps at the intraday low on April 7, shortly before the initial 90-day extension. In turn, that led to a big move higher for sovereign bond yields, with the 2yr Treasury (+12.0bps to 4.01%) closing above 4% for the first time since March. Meanwhile, the 10yr yield (+9.3bps) moved up by a smaller amount to 4.47%. Those moves were similar in Europe, where yields on 10yr bunds (+8.6bps), OATs (+6.1bps) and BTPs (+6.8bps) all moved higher.</p>

<p>This shift was also echoed in commodity markets, where oil prices built on last week’s rebound as hopes grew for stronger global trade flows. For instance, Brent crude oil prices (+1.64%) were back up to $64.96/bbl, having closed at a 4-year low ($60.23) just a week earlier. In the meantime, gold prices (-2.66%) fell back to $3,236/oz, which came as the lower tariffs helped to reassure investors about inflationary pressures. Indeed, the 1yr US inflation swap plummeted by a huge -25.2bps on the day to 3.16%, which is the biggest daily decline since November 2022.</p>

<p>Looking forward, inflation will remain in the spotlight today, as we’ve got the US CPI release for April coming out. That’s the first to cover the period since Liberation Day, so it’ll be a good insight into how the tariffs are impacting consumer prices so far. However, the baseline expectations from our US economists is that the April tariffs won’t start showing up in consumer prices until June and the subsequent months. In terms of what to expect today, they forecast that headline CPI will come in at +0.26% on the month, with core CPI only a little bit higher at +0.29%. If realised, that would leave the year-on-year headline rate at +2.4%, and leave core CPI at +2.8%. Click here for more details and to sign up to their subsequent webinar.</p>

<p>Today should also see attention focus on US fiscal news, after Republicans unveiled a draft version of their tax bill yesterday. The House Ways and Means Committee are set to begin debating it today, and Trump yesterday called on Republicans to unify behind “THE ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL”.</p>

<p>Overnight in Asia, there’s been a mixed performance as they react to the pause in the US-China trade conflict, with the risk-on move losing a bit of momentum. Japanese equities are doing particularly well, with the Nikkei (+1.78%) and the TOPIX (+1.28%) both advancing. Indeed, for the TOPIX, it marks a 13th consecutive increase for the first time since August 2009. Otherwise however, the gains have been more muted, with Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 (+0.42%) seeing a smaller increase, whilst in mainland China, the Shanghai Comp (+0.08%) and the CSI 300 (+0.03%) have only posted a modest advance. Meanwhile, there’ve been some more negative performances, with the KOSPI down -0.18%), and the Hang Seng is down -1.67%, which would end a run of 8 consecutive daily gains. The more risk-off tone has also been evident in the US, where futures on the S&amp;P 500 have fallen -0.41% this morning, and 10yr Treasury yields (-2.0bps) are back down to 4.45%.</p>

<p>To the day ahead now, and the main highlight will be the US CPI release for April. Otherwise, we’ll get UK unemployment for March and the German ZEW survey for May. From central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Escriva, Makhlouf and Knot, along with BoE Governor Bailey and the BoE’s Pill.</p>
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      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T12:24:47+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 08:24</span>


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<p>Dans un rapport faisant état de ses recettes fiscales, l'entreprise dit qu'elle reporte ses investissements. </p>

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title: Despite Mainstream Panic, US Consumer Price Inflation Tumbles To Lowest In Over 4 Years
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<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Despite Mainstream Panic, US Consumer Price Inflation Tumbles To Lowest In Over 4 Years</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>While today's CPI will be <strong>far less relevant now that the entire macro picture has been reset </strong>after this weekend's trade war truce - which cut tariffs between US and China by 115% for 90 days...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/hQLwTxaogAAAABJRU5ErkJggg.jpg?itok=gnokQG0H" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/hQLwTxaogAAAABJRU5ErkJggg.jpg?itok=gnokQG0H"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3b5ab922-947e-4b0a-a384-60c6317d0cbb" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="408" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/hQLwTxaogAAAABJRU5ErkJggg.jpg?itok=gnokQG0H" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p><strong>...thus making any pre/post CPI number comparisons meaningless apples to oranges,</strong> the machines will certainly be reacting to what Bloomberg prints in the flashing red headline at 8:30am ET.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/treasuries-face-another-price-shock-tariff-inflation">As we detailed here,</a> higher-than expected inflation data is likely to accelerate the increase in yields spurred by the easing in trade tensions with China. </p>

<p>As Bloomberg's Alyce Andres notes, <strong>survey data ahead of Tuesday’s April CPI report sends a clear message that firms passed rising tariff-linked costs on to consumers. </strong></p>

<h2><strong>Higher Prices</strong></h2>

<ul><li>
	<p>ISM Manufacturing prices expanded to 69.8, the highest since June 2022.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>ISM Services ticked up to 65.1 in April, the highest since January 2023.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>S&amp;P Global US Manufacturing firms increased their output prices by the greatest degree since early 2023.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>S&amp;P Global US Services prices advanced.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Richmond Fed manufacturing showed prices received rose to 2.65 from 2.34 in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>New York Fed manufacturing prices received edged up to 28.7 from 22.4 in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Philadelphia Fed manufacturing report showed prices received gained to 30.7 compared to 29.8 in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Kansas City Fed manufacturing prices received surged to 29, up from 15 in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Kansas City Fed non-manufacturing showed selling prices rose in April.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Dallas Fed manufacturing outlook report showed prices received for finished goods advanced to 14.9, up from 6.3 in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Dallas Fed services selling prices rose to 8.4 from 5.2 in the prior month.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Chicago PMI showed prices expanded at a faster pace in April.</p>
	</li>
</ul><h2><strong>Lower Prices:</strong></h2>

<ul><li>
	<p>New York Fed services report showed prices received declined to 26.0 from 28.7 in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing data reflected a plunge in prices received to -0.1 from 8.4 in in the prior month.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>Richmond Services prices received nudged down to 3.03 compared to 3.68 in March.</p>
	</li>
</ul><p>Optically, inflation indicators (hard, not soft survey) have notably deflated in the last month...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm1D2E_0.jpg?itok=JbVaD6-j" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm1D2E_0.jpg?itok=JbVaD6-j"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e5933140-7322-45d3-a84b-d43dfe65ba47" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="284" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm1D2E_0.jpg?itok=JbVaD6-j" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>So, what did we get - did the 'soft' survey data once again completely decouple from the reality of 'hard' actual data?</p>

<p>SHOCKER - Despite the panic from the establishment, headline CPI disappointed, rising 0.2% MoM (below the +0.3% exp), <strong>pulling the headline down to +2.3% YoY (below the 2.4% exp) - the lowest since February 2021...</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm9D81.jpg?itok=mke2buxv" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm9D81.jpg?itok=mke2buxv"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="21752bfe-593e-4434-b37c-a5ff638aeba1" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="285" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm9D81.jpg?itok=mke2buxv" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>That's quite a difference from the Democrat-sponsored surge in UMich inflation expectations (something it appears Democrats were unable to see or fear in 2021/2022 when President Biden was printing trillions in stimmies to save his base from actually working for a living)...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm636_0.jpg?itok=57US5VLQ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm636_0.jpg?itok=57US5VLQ"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="87cb5dff-3846-47d5-9a49-a223c6162680" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="290" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm636_0.jpg?itok=57US5VLQ" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>Under the hood, commodity prices just inched back into inflation (+0.1% YoY) while Services inflation continues to slide...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm986D.jpg?itok=u6dVM6ER" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm986D.jpg?itok=u6dVM6ER"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="68bfb190-f507-4558-a37e-d57ef8d02d04" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="287" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm986D.jpg?itok=u6dVM6ER" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p><strong>Headline CPI 0.2% MoM. </strong>Here are the details:</p>

<ul><li>
	<p>The index for shelter rose 0.3 percent in April, accounting for more than half of the all items monthly increase.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The energy index also increased over the month, rising 0.7 percent as increases in the natural gas index and the electricity index more than offset a decline in the gasoline index.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The index for food, in contrast, fell 0.1 percent in April as the food at home index decreased 0.4 percent and the food away from home index rose 0.4 percent over the month.</p>
	</li>
</ul><p>But Core Services rose MoM...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2825%29_0.jpg?itok=aFAKt8h8" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2825%29_0.jpg?itok=aFAKt8h8"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9139ac70-5567-4cc0-a3e8-5dbbc3321f49" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="569" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2825%29_0.jpg?itok=aFAKt8h8" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p><strong>Egg prices - so much in focus during Trump's first few weeks after Biden's shitshow - plunged 12.7% MoM... the biggest MoM drop since March 1984...</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm734D_0.jpg?itok=LAZjcwZf" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm734D_0.jpg?itok=LAZjcwZf"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="800d6648-2aa2-434c-81d4-791c0ec8ce46" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="283" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm734D_0.jpg?itok=LAZjcwZf" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>Core CPI also rose 0.2% MoM (below the 0.3% exp) leaving it up 2.8% YoY as expected (lowest since April 2021)...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm62EC.jpg?itok=oVf2_ieB" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm62EC.jpg?itok=oVf2_ieB"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="daa37a8c-4698-4aee-a47a-ffc27a56d88c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="286" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm62EC.jpg?itok=oVf2_ieB" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2826%29_0.jpg?itok=s5gjum5t" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2826%29_0.jpg?itok=s5gjum5t"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3344a46d-0ab0-4400-8a29-57220804ec75" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="570" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2826%29_0.jpg?itok=s5gjum5t" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p><strong>Core CPI +0.2% MoM. </strong>Indexes that increased over the month include household furnishings and operations, medical care, motor vehicle insurance, education, and personal care. The indexes for airline fares, used cars and trucks, communication, and apparel were among the major indexes that decreased in April. Here are the details:</p>

<ul><li>
	<p>The shelter index increased 0.3 percent over the month.</p>

	<ul><li>
		<p>The index for owners’ equivalent rent rose 0.4 percent in April and the index for rent increased 0.3 percent.</p>
		</li>
		<li>
		<p>The lodging away from home index fell 0.1 percent in April.</p>
		</li>
		<li>
		<p><strong>Shelter inflation 0.34% MoM, and 3.99% YoY, unch from a month ago and the lowest since Nov 2021</strong></p>
		</li>
		<li>
		<p><strong>Rent inflation 0.27% MoM, and 3.98% YoY, down from 3.99% in March and the lowest since Jan 2022</strong></p>
		</li>
		<li>
		<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2829%29.jpg?itok=qJOZzLuS" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2829%29.jpg?itok=qJOZzLuS"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="580a40a0-b19f-43c3-9d97-41174a141ecd" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="306" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2829%29.jpg?itok=qJOZzLuS" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
		</li>
	</ul></li>
	<li>
	<p>The index for household furnishings and operations increased 1.0 percent in April, after being unchanged in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The motor vehicle insurance index rose 0.6 percent in April.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The index for education increased 0.1 percent over the month, as did the index for personal care.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>In contrast, the airline fares index fell 2.8 percent in April, after declining 5.3 percent in March.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The index for used cars and trucks fell 0.5 percent over the month, and the indexes for communication and apparel also declined.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The new vehicles index and the recreation index were unchanged in April.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The medical care index increased 0.5 percent over the month.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The index for hospital services increased 0.6 percent in April and the index for physicians’ services rose 0.3 percent over the month.</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>The prescription drugs index rose 0.4 percent in April.</p>
	</li>
</ul><p>And drilling down even more, the so-called <strong>SuperCore CPI (Services Ex Shelter) dropped to +3.01% YoY - the lowest since Dec 2021...</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfmEA0E.jpg?itok=__wOydbN" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmEA0E.jpg?itok=__wOydbN"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="963caae6-c7e6-4df2-a16e-33fb099de56b" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="286" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfmEA0E.jpg?itok=__wOydbN" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>Recreation Services and Education costs are deflating...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2827%29_0.jpg?itok=z1yT5HFF" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2827%29_0.jpg?itok=z1yT5HFF"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="88a62f30-08b6-4d71-a484-a32233ea6c32" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="570" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2827%29_0.jpg?itok=z1yT5HFF" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>Finally, as Goldman noted ahead of the print, <strong>whatever we do learn about tariff-related inflation today lags the rapidly-changing policy reality</strong>... so choose the size of the salt crystal to take as you react to the algos initial reaction to this data.</p>

<p>Is the inevitable trajectory of CPI higher given the recent surge in M2...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfmAA3E.jpg?itok=vKXuGYS_" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmAA3E.jpg?itok=vKXuGYS_"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="916b25d9-fd46-43b0-af36-4f4724eb3163" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="289" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfmAA3E.jpg?itok=vKXuGYS_" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p><strong>Real average weekly earnings rose 1.7% YoY - the best growth in wages since March 2021...</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfmE277.jpg?itok=WJFHtFKh" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmE277.jpg?itok=WJFHtFKh"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f82455e3-1f01-462b-834f-e3f5aa8878a0" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="292" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfmE277.jpg?itok=WJFHtFKh" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Source: Bloomberg</p>

<p>Brace for an avalanche of this statement repeated ad nauseum all day from establishment economists - <em><strong>"...we're sure the inflation from tariffs will hit next month..."</strong></em></p>

<p><em><strong><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2828%29.jpg?itok=QPrbMWm5" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2828%29.jpg?itok=QPrbMWm5"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="43d9a929-3cfa-4d8b-81b2-35cbb41aaaa5" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="349" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/get_attachment_url%20%2828%29.jpg?itok=QPrbMWm5" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></em></p>

<p>The new narrative:<em><strong> "lack of tariff inflation is transitory"</strong></em></p>

<p><em><strong><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-walnut-curvetooth" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-walnut-curvetooth" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-walnut-curvetooth"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a3ba3736-0081-445d-8d35-433b85c9a8cf" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="319" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/zh%20store%20curvetooth_7.JPG?itok=2kph0Jww" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T15:15:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 11:15</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/despite-mainstream-panic-us-consumer-price-inflation-tumbles-lowest-over-4-years


guid: 1030043 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: UnitedHealth Group Shares Plunge On Abrupt CEO Exit, Suspends 2025 Outlook
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: �mC �#?�v���q�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">UnitedHealth Group Shares Plunge On Abrupt CEO Exit, Suspends 2025 Outlook</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Shares of UnitedHealth Group tumbled in premarket trading after the insurer announced the sudden resignation of CEO Andrew Witty and the suspension of its 2025 financial outlook.</p>

<p>UnitedHealth Group appointed Stephen Hemsley, its board chairman and former CEO (2006-2017), as its new CEO, replacing Andrew Witty, who stepped down for personal reasons. </p>

<p>"We are grateful for Andrew's stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced," Hemsley <a href="https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/newsroom/2025/2025-05-13-uhg-announces-leadership-transition.html">said</a>, adding, "The Board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best." </p>

<p>The major health insurer also suspended its 2025 financial outlook, citing higher-than-expected medical expenditures:</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>Additionally, the company suspended its 2025 outlook as care activity continued to accelerate while also broadening to more types of benefit offerings than seen in the first quarter, and the medical costs of many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare remained higher than expected.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>In April, UnitedHealth Group reported <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/unitedhealth-stock-dumps-earnings-miss-outlook-downgrade">weaker-than-expected</a> Q1 results and issued a significant downward revision to its full-year guidance, citing higher-than-expected Medicare needs. This was the insurer's first earnings miss in over a decade. </p>

<p>UnitedHealth Group expects to return to growth in 2026...</p>

<p>"UnitedHealth Group has tremendous opportunities to grow as we continue to help improve health care and to perform to our potential — and, in so doing, return to our long-term growth objective of 13 to 16 percent," the new CEO said. </p>

<p>As of Monday's close, UnitedHealth Group shares are locked in a bear market, down 25% for the year. News of the sudden CEO resignation and suspended outlook pushed the stock down another 10% in premarket trading—sending shares to a four-year low if losses hold into the cash session.</p>

<p><strong>Just to clarify</strong>: UnitedHealthcare is the health benefits business of UnitedHealth Group. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8b865ea6_0.png?itok=Z-28krbc" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8b865ea6_0.png?itok=Z-28krbc"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b9085d90-ca07-44ab-acb5-17972e6b5c82" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="273" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Snag_8b865ea6_0.png?itok=Z-28krbc" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>In premarket trading, the shares of peers Elevance Health, CVS Health, and Humana all fell between 2 and 4%. Cigna and Centene fell between 1% and 2%. </p>

<p>Here are the first takes on the news via Wall Street banks (courtesy of Bloomberg):</p>

<p><strong>Mizuho, Ann Hynes (outperform)</strong></p>

<ul><li>
	<p><em>Says the suspension of the guidance is surprising</em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em>"Given the recent challenges the company has faced, a change in management was expected"</em></p>
	</li>
</ul><p><strong>Leerink Partners, Whit Mayo (outperform) </strong></p>

<ul><li>
	<p><em>Says the suspension of the 2025 guide due to a continuation of excessively high care activity "is more concerning and likely to weigh considerably on forward forecasts and the valuation" </em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em>Adds that the CEO transition to former head Stephen Hemsley "doesn't strike us terribly surprising in light of recent business developments and deterioration in investor trust"</em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em>"Perhaps the suspended guide is simply for Mr. Hemsley to settle into the role, figure out trend, and begin the process of reestablishing some credibility with the investor community"</em></p>
	</li>
</ul><p><strong>Bloomberg Intelligence, Glen Losev</strong></p>

<ul><li><em>Says the outlook suspension is "is puzzling but is likely a part of a broader effort to turn the page"</em></li>
</ul><p><strong>RBC Capital Markets, Ben Hendrix (neutral)</strong></p>

<ul><li><em>"While UNH cites personal reasons for Witty's departure, we are not overly surprised to see a change in guard amid weaker Medicare Advantage performance and critical press headlines emerging late last year"</em></li>
</ul><p>On Monday, President Trump pushed ahead with his pledge to <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/trump-announces-order-reduce-prescription-drug-prices?ref=rawdiary.com">eliminate drug industry middlemen</a>, which sent shares of Cigna, CVS Health, and UNH lower. </p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">The new NPC narrative <a href="https://t.co/NadxAuiYj5">pic.twitter.com/NadxAuiYj5</a></p>
— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) <a href="https://twitter.com/PlanetOfMemes/status/1921948255186780161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Rough times for the healthcare industry... </p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T12:55:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 08:55</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/unitedhealth-group-shares-plunge-abrupt-ceo-exit-suspends-2025-outlook


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885285
title: Ranked: Countries with the most and least carbon-intensive power grids
author: ;A A
hash: 4�⎄{%r&س�X��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><em><strong>This infographic shows the countries which get their electricity in the most and least carbon-intensive ways. </strong></em></p>
<p><strong><span>Join us on </span><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a><span>, and</span> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a>.</strong></p>
</div>
<p><strong><span>Contact us:</span> </strong><a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u><strong>info@strategic-culture.su</strong></u></a></p>
<p><strong><em>(Click on the image to enlarge)</em></strong></p>
<p><a href="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/inf227_carbon-scaled.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/inf227_carbon-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="1205" height="2560" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-885286 size-full"></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/ranked-countries-with-the-most-and-least-carbon-intensive-power-grids/

tags:
#INFOGRAPHICS #Bhutan #Botswana #Central African Republic #Congo #Costa Rica #Energy #Ethiopia #Iceland #India #Kazakhstan #Kosovo #Libya #Mongolia #Nepal #Norway #Paraguay #Poland #Saudi Arabia #Sierra Leone #South Africa #Sweden #Switzerland #Syria #Turkmenistan #Uganda #Uzbekistan


guid: 1030014 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Netanyahu Blasts Media 'Spin', Says Trump Ties 'Excellent' - Dispatches Hostage Negotiators
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ݭ๳�,�2�9�G}
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Netanyahu Blasts Media 'Spin', Says Trump Ties 'Excellent' - Dispatches Hostage Negotiators </span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/netanyahu-sends-delegation-to-qatar-for-prisoner-exchange-talks-claims-trump-ties-excellent"><em>Via The Cradle</em></a></p>

<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/after-call-with-trump-and-meeting-with-witkoff-netanyahu-says-hell-send-delegation-to-doha-hostage-talks-tuesday/">announced</a> on Monday that he has approved a negotiating delegation to travel to Qatar on Tuesday to <strong>participate in US-led prisoner exchange talks</strong>.</p>

<p>The decision was announced after the embattled premier met with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador Mike Huckabee earlier in the day and spoke over the phone with US President Donald Trump.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bibiplane.jpg?itok=bp_fV4Fh" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bibiplane.jpg?itok=bp_fV4Fh"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e3e4b9d1-73ac-45e2-ab42-98af0b96c792" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bibiplane.jpg?itok=bp_fV4Fh" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>"I thanked President Trump for his assistance in the release of IDF soldier Edan Alexander. President Trump, for his part, reiterated his commitment to Israel and <strong>his desire to continue close cooperation with me</strong>," Netanyahu wrote on social media.</p>

<p>"In my meeting with Envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee, we discussed the last-ditch effort to implement the outline for the release of the hostages presented by Witkoff, before the fighting escalates. To this end, I have instructed that a negotiating delegation be sent to Doha tomorrow," Netanyahu added.</p>

<p>He also said he had informed his US allies <strong>"that negotiations would only take place under fire."</strong></p>

<p>Netanyahu's announcement came a few hours after he rejected reports that a <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/trump-losing-patience-with-netanyahu-advances-us-plans-without-israeli-involvement-report">rift</a> exists between him and Trump, calling his relationship with the US president "<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-insists-ties-with-trump-are-excellent-amid-reports-of-growing-rift/">excellent</a>."</p>

<p>"These <strong>spins</strong> – most of them are born here [in Israel.] They’re born in a certain media outlet that’s trying to promote a certain candidate. And in order to promote him, they need to say: <strong><em>'Trump and Netanyahu are no longer,'</em></strong>" Netanyahu said in a video posted on his X account.</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="560" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Edan Alexander’s mom takes the phone from White House envoy <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveWitkoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SteveWitkoff</a> and speaks to her son after he was released. Watch here: <a href="https://t.co/VhGKCRJZ9y">pic.twitter.com/VhGKCRJZ9y</a></p>
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1921990853540696358?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>This comes as Israeli-US captive Edan Alexander was released by Hamas on Monday evening. <strong>Officials from Washington reportedly informed Tel Aviv that his release will kickstart a new round of prisoner exchange talks</strong>.</p>

<p>Alexander's release reportedly prompted a partial stop in Israeli army operations inside Gaza.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">🚨BREAKING: Over 550 retired senior Israeli security officials—including the former Head of Mossad, former Head of the Shin Bet, and former Deputy Chief of the Israeli army—have sent a letter to President Trump urging him not to listen to Netanyahu on the war in Gaza.<br><br>
They… <a href="https://t.co/91JxpeG6qn">pic.twitter.com/91JxpeG6qn</a></p>
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) <a href="https://twitter.com/IhabHassane/status/1922014395682488515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>"A significant number of military operations have indeed been halted. There are no airstrikes in Gaza, aside from a few attacks, and no drone reconnaissance flights over the Gaza Strip," Israeli Army Radio had reported Monday morning.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T13:10:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 09:10</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/netanyahu-blasts-media-spin-says-trump-ties-excellent-dispatches-hostage-negotiators


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330482
title: 31% of Jobseekers Allowance payments to non-nationals
author: ;Dr Matt Treacy
link: https://gript.ie/31-of-jobseekers-allowance-payments-to-non-nationals/
hash: 26)��;f���L(�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Department-of-Social-Protection-e1747140434278.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Dear Reader,</strong></p>
<p>It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.</p>
<p>But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.</p>
<p>We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.</p>
<p>But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.</p>
<p>What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.</p>
<p>That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.</p>
<p>With gratitude,</p>
<p><strong>John</strong></p>

tags:
#Comment Ireland #Featured #31% non-nationals #Dept of Social Protection #jobseekers allowance #Jobseekers Benefit #payments #Unemployed


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330500
title: Drug user broke man’s jaw in two places
author: ;Fatima Gunning
link: https://gript.ie/drug-user-broke-mans-jaw-in-two-places/
hash: `m��N��D'���x�cs
tags: #Featured #Irish News #Premium #Assault #Courts #Crime
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Harcourt-St.--e1747140075105.jpeg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Dear Reader,</strong></p>
<p>It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.</p>
<p>But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.</p>
<p>We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.</p>
<p>But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.</p>
<p>What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.</p>
<p>That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.</p>
<p>With gratitude,</p>
<p><strong>John</strong></p>


guid: yt:video:ckXwSf0Iu4E
title: Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes an announcement in Pickering – May 13, 2025
author: ;cpac
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckXwSf0Iu4E
hash: ���1F�B%K4��
attributes:
{"enclosures":[{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/v/ckXwSf0Iu4E?version=3","title":"Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes an announcement in Pickering – May 13, 2025","description":"Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes an announcement and takes questions from reporters in Pickering. \n\nHe is joined by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, and Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce.","type":"application/x-shockwave-flash","height":390,"width":640,"thumbnails":["https://i4.ytimg.com/vi/ckXwSf0Iu4E/hqdefault.jpg"]}]}


guid: 1030039 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: TikTok Illegally Sent Europeans' Personal Data To China, EU Regulators Claim
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ���z����PM8��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">TikTok Illegally Sent Europeans' Personal Data To China, EU Regulators Claim</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Color us <em>not </em>surprised...</p>

<p><strong>TikTok has been fined €530 million by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) for illegally transferring Europeans’ personal data to China</strong> and failing to be transparent with users, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/tiktok-sent-europeans-personal-data-to-china-hiding-transfers-from-users-eu-regulators-say/">according to the Free Beacon</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/tiktok-hit-with-e530m-privacy-fine-ireland-china-data/">Politico</a>. </p>

<p>In its first ruling on data transfers to China, the DPC said TikTok failed to properly assess how Chinese surveillance laws could impact the safety of European user data and couldn’t ensure adequate protection once the data was transferred.</p>

<article data-scroll-anchor="true" data-testid="conversation-turn-8" dir="auto"><p data-end="542" data-start="353">This is the third-largest fine ever imposed under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As TikTok’s EU headquarters are in Ireland, the Irish DPC serves as its lead regulator.</p>

<p data-end="918" data-start="544">During the inquiry, TikTok admitted that Chinese surveillance laws—giving authorities broad powers to demand data access—“materially diverge from EU standards.” Despite previously claiming it did not store European or U.S. user data in China, TikTok informed the DPC in April that it had discovered in February that “limited EEA User Data” had, in fact, been stored there.</p>

<p data-end="918" data-start="544"><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-05-13%20at%208.44.04%E2%80%AFAM.jpg?itok=fU6lRynv" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-05-13%20at%208.44.04%E2%80%AFAM.jpg?itok=fU6lRynv"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7a82802b-a198-48c5-8bfb-e574896e04d8" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="347" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-05-13%20at%208.44.04%E2%80%AFAM.jpg?itok=fU6lRynv" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p data-end="1192" data-start="920">Irish DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said the regulator was taking this discovery “very seriously.” Although TikTok claims it has since deleted the data from Chinese servers, Doyle noted the DPC is still considering “what further regulatory action may be warranted.”</p>

<p data-end="1336" data-start="1194">Politico <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/tiktok-hit-with-e530m-privacy-fine-ireland-china-data/">says</a> that TikTok now has six months to either bring its data practices into full compliance with EU privacy laws or suspend all data transfers to China. TikTok said it “strongly contest[s]” the DPC’s findings and plans a full appeal.</p>

<p data-end="1782" data-start="1422">“Beyond the DPC’s failure to substantively consider the extensive safeguards [already implemented by TikTok], we are disappointed to have been singled out despite relying on the same legal mechanism employed by thousands of other companies providing services in Europe,” said Christine Grahn, TikTok’s head of public policy and government relations for Europe.</p>

<p data-end="1954" data-start="1784">Grahn also emphasized that TikTok has “never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and has never provided European user data to them.”</p>

<p data-end="2181" data-start="1956">She warned the ruling “risks setting a precedent with far-reaching consequences for companies and entire industries across Europe that operate on a global scale,” and “delivers a blow to the European Union’s competitiveness.”</p>

<p data-end="2454" data-start="2183">TikTok highlighted its €12 billion investment in Project Clover, which includes building data centers in Europe to store data locally and implementing additional privacy safeguards. While the DPC acknowledged this effort, it said it was not enough to change its decision.</p>

<p data-end="2454" data-start="2183">The <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/tiktok-sent-europeans-personal-data-to-china-hiding-transfers-from-users-eu-regulators-say/">Free Beacon writes</a> that DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said: <strong>"TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of [European] users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU."</strong></p>
</article></div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T13:31:29+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 09:31</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tiktok-illegally-sent-europeans-personal-data-china-eu-regulators-claim


guid: yt:video:YMH5FoCsbPM
title: PM Mark Carney unveils cabinet – In-depth coverage
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link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMH5FoCsbPM
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guid: yt:video:9uszXeL4OfM
title: Le PM Mark Carney dévoile son cabinet – couverture spéciale
author: ;cpac
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guid: 1029846 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Court Order Blocking Trump From Targeting Perkins Coie Is Overreach
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/court-order-blocking-trump-targeting-perkins-coie-overreach
hash: 穋ۍ A㖕U6���
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Court Order Blocking Trump From Targeting Perkins Coie Is Overreach</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/05/10/court_order_blocking_trump_from_targeting_perkins_coie_is_overreach_152775.html">Authored by Kenin Spivak via RealClearPolitics</a>,</em></p>

<p><strong>Federal District Court Judge Beryl Howell’s <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25929356-govuscourtsdcd2782901840/">injunction</a> prohibiting the implementation of Donald Trump’s executive order restricting the Perkins Coie law firm spoils a righteous core with judicial activism</strong>.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/686401_jpg_92.jpg?itok=Dh5vUBTb" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/686401_jpg_92.jpg?itok=Dh5vUBTb"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0b6729a1-8c0e-4324-81f7-fdb48450eb06" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="332" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/686401_jpg_92.jpg?itok=Dh5vUBTb" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>On March 6, Trump issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/addressing-risks-from-perkins-coie-llp/">executive order</a> asserting that “the dishonest and dangerous activity of…Perkins Coie has affected this country for decades. <strong>Notably, in 2016 while representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false “dossier” designed to steal an election</strong>…. Perkins Coie has worked with activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws….”</p>

<p>The order also accused Perkins Coie of racial discrimination, citing its “publicly announced percentage quotas in 2019 for hiring and promotion on the basis of race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws.”</p>

<p>The order suspended security clearances for the firm’s lawyers and barred them from federal buildings, prohibited the government from engaging the firm, directed federal contractors to disclose if they use the firm’s services, and referred the firm to be investigated for violating civil rights laws. The order was one of several similar orders issued, or contemplated, against leading law firms.</p>

<p><strong>Howell, an Obama appointee, previously served as chief judge for the District of Columbia, in which capacity she was a strong supporter of Jack Smith’s Trump prosecution.</strong> Her 120-page <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25929359-govuscourtsdcd2782901850/">opinion</a> excoriated the administration for disregarding the First Amendment and failing to comply with her orders. She criticized the content and formatting of the Justice Department’s memoranda, averred that the government had no credible evidence of racial discrimination or other wrongdoing by Perkins Coie, and rejected all of its arguments.</p>

<p>Howell is right that the First Amendment and principles of American justice mandate that lawyers be able to deliver candid advice and zealous advocacy to their clients. But,<strong> she goes too far by ignoring the compelling case that Perkins Coie conspired with Hillary Clinton and Fusion GPS</strong> to improperly influence the 2016 election and destabilize the Trump presidency by developing the fraudulent Steele dossier (which falsely accused Trump of being a Russian agent), and then misleading government investigators about its provenance.</p>

<p>She began her decision by quoting Shakespeare’s admonition to “kill all the lawyers” to make it easier to seize power, and Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote that the legal profession “is the most powerful existing security against the excesses of democracy.” Howell then held that “using the powers of the federal government to target lawyers for their representation of clients and avowed progressive employment policies in an overt attempt to suppress and punish certain viewpoints…, is contrary to the Constitution, which requires that the government respond to dissenting or unpopular speech or ideas with tolerance, not coercion…. Simply put, government officials cannot... use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.”</p>

<p><strong>Access to unvarnished legal advice is sacrosanct, but Howell goes off the rails. </strong>She never acknowledges that much of Perkins Coie’s wrongdoing had nothing to do with its legal advice, but came in its capacity as a political kingpin. She bewilderingly asserts that using the firm’s admissions of racial discrimination violates its First Amendment rights. Her related attack on the administration’s opposition to diversity programs reveals her motives for this bizarre conclusion.</p>

<p>She never discusses the constitutional infirmities of requiring a client to hire a lawyer in whom they lack trust. <strong>Perkins Coie sought to destroy Trump personally and politically</strong>. Its beliefs differ from his. That is more than sufficient reason under Article II and the Fifth and Sixth Amendments that the president, who is the executive branch of government, may choose not to work with it.</p>

<p>On the other hand, Trump may not target Perkins Coie because its lawyers provide legal services to litigants whose positions are adverse to his administration, bar the firm from federal buildings, or require federal contractors to disclose their law firms.</p>

<p><strong>The question of whether the security clearances granted to Perkins Coie lawyers may be limited is a close one,</strong> given the firm’s fraudulent manipulation of Congress and the FBI. The firm’s defenders are fixated on the fact that the partners who led its fraudulent services have moved on. So what. The firm is organized on a partnership model. Partners still at the firm likely were involved in, and benefited from, the fraud.</p>

<p>When progressives applaud as conservative lawyers like John Eastman are indicted and unconstitutionally subjected to disbarment for giving legal advice to President Trump on the 2020 election, it is difficult to sympathize with a law firm that engaged in a conspiracy to steal an election and topple a sitting president. Nonetheless, in a free society, government officials do not use their power to punish lawyers because of their clients or advice, while also recognizing that being a lawyer is not a free pass to commit fraud or override the constitutional powers of the president.</p>

<p><em>Kenin M. Spivak is founder and chairman of SMI Group LLC, an international consulting firm and investment bank. He is the author of fiction and non-fiction books and a frequent speaker and contributor to media, including The American Mind, National Review, the National Association of Scholars, television, radio, and podcasts.</em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T13:50:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 09:50</span>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885288
title: Agentes israelíes persiguen a diplomática brasileña por denunciar el genocidio en Gaza
author: ;A A
hash: V9�݌����f�c���
tags: #Español #Brazil #Gaza Strip #Israel #Lobby #Palestine
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>La diplomática Cláudia Assaf ha sufrido persecución política en redes sociales y acoso judicial por parte de agentes del lobby sionista en Brasil.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Únete a nosotros en </span><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Spanish" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram </a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Spanish" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25"></a> <span>y </span><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25"></a>.</strong></p>
<p><span><strong>Escríbenos: </strong></span><a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su"><strong>info@strategic-culture.su</strong></a></p>
<p>La diplomática Cláudia Assaf ha sufrido persecución política en redes sociales y acoso judicial por parte de agentes del lobby sionista en Brasil, al servicio del Estado de Israel. Se trata de ataques bajos promovidos por perfiles anónimos e figuras influyentes, además de dos procesos judiciales.</p>
<p>Tras las represalias de la Resistencia Palestina el 7 de octubre de 2023 contra la colonización genocida que continúa desde 1947, Cláudia ha sido hostigada por producir contenido en su canal de YouTube y su perfil de Instagram —independientes de su labor en el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores—, donde denuncia el exterminio de palestinos por la maquinaria bélica israelí: más de 50 mil ciudadanos de Gaza han sido asesinados en poco más de un año y medio.</p>
<p>Diplomática de carrera desde 2006 y actualmente destinada en Uagadugú (Burkina Faso), lleva cerca de 30 años —desde su época trabajando en el sector de aviación— relacionándose con musulmanes, judíos y cristianos de Oriente Medio. En 2013, ante el prejuicio generalizado contra árabes y musulmanes, decidió impartir clases voluntarias a estudiantes pobres que aspiraban a ingresar en la carrera diplomática. Más tarde, inició otra actividad voluntaria, paralela a su cargo en Itamaraty, creando un canal donde enseña árabe y que la dio a conocer ante el público brasileño.</p>
<p>Así, también se hizo conocida por los agentes israelíes. Varios perfiles comenzaron a atacarla con insultos y difamaciones en línea, exigiendo su cabeza al Ministerio de Exteriores. Figuras conocidas del lobby sionista, como Alexandre Schwartsman, uno de los editores del diario Folha de S.Paulo, también la han atacado. Sin embargo, al parecer, Itamaraty tiene cosas más importantes que hacer y no ha hecho caso al llanto del lobby sionista. Después de todo, como afirma Cláudia a SCF, ella no habla en nombre de Itamaraty, que respeta la libertad de expresión, opinión y creencia de sus funcionarios.</p>
<p>Dos meses después del inicio de la nueva fase de exterminio israelí contra los palestinos, en diciembre de 2023, comenzó el acoso judicial contra la diplomática. La Confederación Israelita de Brasil (Conib) presentó una denuncia ante el Ministerio Público Federal (MPF), utilizando capturas de sus publicaciones en redes como supuestas pruebas de antisemitismo. Sin embargo, el caso fue archivado por considerarse un intento de censurar su opinión. El proceso pasó a la Justicia Federal, que confirmó el archivo. La Conib apeló, el caso volvió al MPF, que rechazó el recurso, y la Justicia Federal respaldó la decisión. Así, el caso quedó cerrado. Cláudia venció al lobby sionista en los tribunales.</p>
<p>Pero los agentes israelíes no se detuvieron. En febrero de 2024, Cláudia publicó un video contra una de las figuras más conocidas del lobby proisraelí en Brasil: André Lajst, líder de la filial brasileña de la organización sionista Stand With Us, después de que este fuera grabado arrugando una bandera palestina de papel y arrojándola al suelo. En el video, Cláudia lo llamó “lobo con piel de cordero”, ya que, en una entrevista, el agente sionista había afirmado que defendía los derechos de los palestinos.</p>
<p>El mismo abogado que representó a la Conib en el primer proceso también llevó a Cláudia a juicio por el video contra Lajst. El caso comenzó en lo penal y pasó a una audiencia de conciliación: si Cláudia leía en su canal un texto escrito por Stand With Us Brasil defendiendo al sionismo, Lajst retiraría la demanda. Ella rechazó el intento de humillación. Así, se convirtió en acusada en un proceso penal, pero fue absuelta en primera instancia. Lajst apeló a segunda y tercera instancia, sin éxito.</p>
<p>En declaraciones a SCF, la diplomática —una de las pocas funcionarias del Itamaraty con fluidez en árabe— denuncia la persecución que sufre, la cual considera también de carácter machista, misógino, xenófobo e islamófobo. Sin embargo, afirma que estos ataques no la intimidarán y, al contrario, la motivan a seguir defendiendo lo que cree: justicia y solidaridad con los oprimidos.</p>
<p>“Mi objetivo de vida, desde el 7 de octubre, es dar voz al pueblo palestino, que no puede defenderse y está siendo exterminado”, dice. “Soy diplomática y hasta me pregunto qué es la diplomacia en este mundo, si es incapaz de llevar comida para saciar el hambre de alguien”. Es una práctica habitual de Israel bloquear el envío de ayuda humanitaria, incluidos alimentos, a la Franja de Gaza. En este momento, tras reanudar unilateralmente las operaciones después del cese al fuego con la Resistencia Palestina, Israel mantiene un bloqueo que está matando de hambre a niños y mujeres en Gaza. En los últimos meses, Israel también ha secuestrado a una decena de palestinos de Cisjordania con ciudadanía brasileña —<a href="https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/05/brasileno-muerto-en-prision-de-israel-sufrio-malos-tratos-hambre-y-enfermedades/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">uno murió tras pasar hambre en prisión</a>, y otro <a href="https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/10/brasileno-muestra-signos-de-desnutricion-y-maltrato-en-prision-israeli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sigue vivo a pesar del hambre y los malos tratos</a>.</p>
<p>Indignada por la inacción de la comunidad internacional ante el mayor crimen de este siglo, cuestiona: “¿Para qué sirve la diplomacia en el concierto de las naciones?”.</p>
<p>Cláudia Assaf también ha comenzado a emprender acciones legales contra sus agresores. Está demandando a otro miembro de Stand With Us Brasil por daños morales. Ya ganó el caso en lo civil, y ahora el proceso pasa a lo penal. Asegura que irá tras todos los sionistas que la acosan en redes sociales. Todas las indemnizaciones que obtenga las usará para cubrir los gastos judiciales, y el dinero restante lo donará a la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados Palestinos (UNRWA), una organización cuyo trabajo está siendo prácticamente impedido por los ataques de la maquinaria bélica y propagandística israelí.</p>
<p></p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/agentes-israelies-persiguen-a-diplomatica-brasilena-por-denunciar-el-genocidio-en-gaza/


guid: 1029894 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Democrats Attempt To Blockade ICE Detention Center In New Jersey
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-attempt-blockade-ice-detention-center-new-jersey
hash: <�H2D=���[�$�&|�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Democrats Attempt To Blockade ICE Detention Center In New Jersey</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>When are Democrats finally going to accept that illegal immigration is not a winning issue for them? </strong></p>

<p>Their position only becomes more untenable as time passes.  Without federal dollars from agencies like USAID flowing into NGOs and by extension into far-left activist groups, the Democrat response to ICE deportations across the country has been limited.  No substantial mass marches, no big riots, no mobs at the border trying to throw the gates open.  </p>

<p>"Charity" programs designed to make it easier for migrants to enter the US and access welfare subsidies are fading out because there's no more government cash for these charities to skim.  Once bustling villages on the Mexico side of the southern border are ghost towns.  Border crossings have plunged by 95% since Donald Trump took office.  The Cloward-Piven game is over - Conservatives won.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/ICEblock1.jpeg?itok=Sk6PpK8O" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/ICEblock1.jpeg?itok=Sk6PpK8O"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2252b82c-c340-4b3f-ae52-d564a5d18fc6" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/ICEblock1.jpeg?itok=Sk6PpK8O" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Democrat Party leaders, however, haven't received the memo.  With their now limited resources they are attempting to create artificial drama to draw public attention and lure volunteer protesters to their cause.  They can't keep the borders open anymore, but they can try to stop the deportations of the millions of illegals already in the US.</p>

<p>Progressive political leaders are taking to throwing themselves upon the ramparts of ICE detention facilities to disrupt prisoner transfers.  The situation has escalated after Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for trespassing at an ICE center in New Jersey.  Baraka arrived at the facility with a cadre of protesters and Democrat representatives.  He is seen in bodycam in an argument with officers and apparently refusing to leave the area, at least initially.  The details of the arrest are not yet clear, but the establishment media is running with the narrative that this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/11/trump-officials-newark-mayor-arrest">is political persecution</a> on the part of the Trump Administration.</p>

<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DQ28ZVf2S-U" width="640" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe></p>

<p>The arrest led to an angry flurry by protesters including at least one Dem representative who seemed to physically attack officers.  Democratic representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez visited the center known as Delaney Hall on Friday saying they wanted to "inspect" the facility.  Their posture became confrontational when they were apparently denied entry.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">See the woman in the red jacket in that video?<br><br>
That’s Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver.<br><br>
She broke into a New Jersey ICE facility and assaulted multiple law enforcement officers—violating federal law under 18 U.S. Code § 111.<br><br>
Expel her from Congress. Lock her up. <a href="https://t.co/qG3aMgpAKx">pic.twitter.com/qG3aMgpAKx</a></p>
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1920937556805390816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Footage circulating on social media better illustrates what ICE officers have been dealing with; leftists have been using sit-down tactics and human chains in an effort to prevent arrested illegals from entering or leaving the federal building.  It's hard to say how this will stop mass deportations but it does put the spotlight on Dem politicians, which is what they care about the most.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Democrats are trying to block the entrance of the ICE facility in New Jersey. <a href="https://t.co/xlH3ozLsFM">pic.twitter.com/xlH3ozLsFM</a></p>
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1922071887078699327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>DHS officials have called the actions "a bizarre political stunt".  Democrats claim they were only there for an oversight visit, but the event was clearly a planned protest.  The Trump administration is now warning that the three congressional reps involved in the incident may also be arrested for assault and interfering with federal agents.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">BREAKING 🅱️<br><br>
The Trump administration is warning that it may ARREST three House Democrats, who brutaIIy assauIted ICE agents.<br><br>
Should they be arrested over this? <a href="https://t.co/qqNGjx5qLQ">pic.twitter.com/qqNGjx5qLQ</a></p>
— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) <a href="https://twitter.com/iAnonPatriot/status/1921982671317557462?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The hysterical fervor of progressives has grown stale and is not being met with the same oppositional apathy as it was during the BLM riots and the pro-Gaza protests.  It's unlikely that continuing such tactics will bear fruit for them.  The Democrat argument is essentially that illegals must be awarded the same due process as legal citizens; meaning, it takes them two seconds to cross the border but two years or more to deport them.  This is not federal law and it's certainly not going to get much support from the American public.</p>

<p><strong>The Overton Window on immigration was pushed so far to the left during the Biden Administration that Democrats simply came to assume that mass deportations were impossible.  </strong></p>

<p>And, as usual, when leftists don't get their way they throw the biggest and loudest tantrum they can.  </p>

<p><strong>Maybe the country will become so embarrassed by their wailing and flailing that it will give them what they want just to shut them up?  </strong></p>
</div>
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<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T14:05:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 10:05</span>


guid: 1030085 at https://www.zerohedge.com
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/aaaaand-its-gone
hash: �Uf �>�{��v�M�e
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
title:
China Sent Secret Delegation To Washington To Negotiate Trade Deal While Vowing It Would "Never Talk To Trump"

content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">China Sent Secret Delegation To Washington To Negotiate Trade Deal While Vowing It Would "Never Talk To Trump"</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Following yet another decline in CPI (but... but... but... tariffs are inflationary... or maybe just the "<em>lack of inflation from tariffs is transitory"</em>),<strong> the S&amp;P joined the Nasdaq 100 in the green year-to-date, </strong>erasing all of the panic-puke, 'end of the world' prognostication from the mainstream media and establishment.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfmC3E8.jpg?itok=iOPF9WoY" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmC3E8.jpg?itok=iOPF9WoY"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b9a98e39-eb1c-461c-8977-fa2f966ddbbd" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="292" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfmC3E8.jpg?itok=iOPF9WoY" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>It's different this time - ish...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm4510.jpg?itok=0WVhirIp" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm4510.jpg?itok=0WVhirIp"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="92e259a5-54b2-4ca6-b316-84a555f3d345" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="288" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm4510.jpg?itok=0WVhirIp" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The reflexive nature of global market pain leading to geopolitical negotiations appears to have won out once again as<strong> "Uncertainty" around US trade policy has plunged</strong> ...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm74F5_0.jpg?itok=_rdAkFaz" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm74F5_0.jpg?itok=_rdAkFaz"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1c638e0b-6ad2-44b6-a868-511dfb91fa1a" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="290" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm74F5_0.jpg?itok=_rdAkFaz" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>...erasing all of the post-Liberation Day spike.</p>

<p>So what will happen to all those CEOs whose sentiment had collapsed to a lower level than at the peak (trough) of COVID (while not firing anyone)? With uncertainty evaporating, will they all be exuberant in a few days?</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm8101.jpg?itok=VeB4QH71" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm8101.jpg?itok=VeB4QH71"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9bc92875-2853-465e-9c26-54e635a45733" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="290" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm8101.jpg?itok=VeB4QH71" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Maybe, just maybe, it's time to ignore the sentiment surveys (and their clear implicit bias), <strong>ignore the propaganda being pumped out non-stop, and watch the hard data.</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfmB718_1.jpg?itok=yR0hhzB5" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfmB718_1.jpg?itok=yR0hhzB5"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="96e414eb-4e99-4136-924d-756b427ccf20" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="306" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfmB718_1.jpg?itok=yR0hhzB5" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>And now, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a541bd15-86b2-4e20-868b-c9ecca57ec09">thanks to the FT </a>we learn that we have China's capitulation to thank for all of this. </p>

<p>Recall that on April 25 we reported something which <strong>no other US media outlet carried</strong>, namely that a <strong>"<em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinese-delegation-spotted-entering-treasury-department-demands-photos-be-deleted-report">Chinese Delegation Spotted Entering Treasury Department" </a></em></strong>in a meeting shrouded in secrecy as China "<strong><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinese-delegation-spotted-entering-treasury-department-demands-photos-be-deleted-report">Demanded All Photos Be Deleted</a>." </em></strong></p>

<p>All except for the one below:</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/China%20delegation.jpg?itok=xdQ3zx5r" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/China%20delegation.jpg?itok=xdQ3zx5r"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2d54cfcc-45f8-4a65-bac7-e339822eac35" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="306" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/China%20delegation.jpg?itok=xdQ3zx5r" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Naturally, we suggested that this was an overture to China offering an <em><strong>olive branch to the Trump admin on US soil</strong></em> in hopes of reaching a trade deal, a speculation which the TDS-crowd fumed over.</p>

<p>It turns out we were right, and as the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a541bd15-86b2-4e20-868b-c9ecca57ec09">FT writes</a>, "<strong>the first meeting to break the US-China trade deadlock was held almost three weeks ago in the basement of the IMF headquarters, arranged under cover of secrecy."</strong></p>

<blockquote>
<p>US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who was attending the IMF spring meetings in Washington, met China’s finance minister Lan Fo’an to discuss the near complete breakdown in trade between the world’s two biggest economies, according to people familiar with the matter.</p>

<p>The previously unreported encounter was the first high-level meeting between US and Chinese officials since Donald Trump’s inauguration and the launch of his tariff war. The Treasury declined to comment on the secret meeting.</p>

<p>The talks culminated this weekend in Geneva with Bessent and He Lifeng, China’s vice-premier, agreeing a ceasefire that would slash respective tariffs by 115 percentage points for 90 days.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>All of the above is correct, except that the encounter was <em><strong>"previously unreported" </strong>- </em>we <strong>reported here first </strong>on April 25 that on April 24 the Chinese were seen entering the Treasury department under a shroud of secrecy. :</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Chinese Delegation Spotted Entering Treasury Department, Demands Photos Be Deleted: Report <a href="https://t.co/CRh07l2K1Z">https://t.co/CRh07l2K1Z</a></p>
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) <a href="https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1915843784291582235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The date April 24 is interesting for another reason: that's the day Chinese state media vowed that it <strong>would not engage in trade talks without complete tariff surrender, </strong>with Yahoo News reporting that "<em><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-slams-door-trump-no-161335053.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACH-WnBNJO_n4Hji0up9OBVwZYX-AkgyNSzeiO7R4xjpeebO8T45WtRDPlEttWpwiBMPN2jJJr_y-M0OXWjRxWb28-fRFSXQpdswC8sPAk5fdNSDIywx6Wp_35qOTzSx4-Z7oWeN6kFrnPyuSijBsjK9fDAxeVxzE1Srk6A6E55F"><strong>China Slams the Door on Trump: No Trade Talks Without Total Tariff Surrender</strong></a>."</em></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_07-31-52_0.jpg?itok=9_UaNrCs" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_07-31-52_0.jpg?itok=9_UaNrCs"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5eb35c11-256b-4231-9390-c1cd85e1b448" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="519" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-13_07-31-52_0.jpg?itok=9_UaNrCs" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>... and at the same time also lying that there are "<strong>no negotiations with the Trump administration over tariffs"</strong>:</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_07-33-55.jpg?itok=ZTzYjX6u" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_07-33-55.jpg?itok=ZTzYjX6u"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a8c72fd0-18e3-494e-ab6b-db4a21cc4cb4" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="550" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-13_07-33-55.jpg?itok=ZTzYjX6u" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<blockquote></blockquote>

<p>And yet, amid all this propaganda, Beijing was <strong>secretly negotiating with the US just a few hundred feet from the White House</strong>, and the outcome would be the Geneva tariff deal which sent stocks soaring.... although anyone who had read our report and had put on a bullish trade long ago, would have made an absolute killing.</p>

<p>Then again, one didn't need the FT to confirm what we first reported <strong>three weeks ago</strong>: we could just listen to Chuck Schumer's latest installment in his endless tirade of lies, and flip it...</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Chuck Schumer claims Trump caved to the CCP, and China has "gotten the better of Donald Trump."<br><br>
America is winning. Cope harder, Chuck. <a href="https://t.co/tp4ZTvXx8m">pic.twitter.com/tp4ZTvXx8m</a></p>
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jules31415/status/1922125798414147706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>

<p>... to get the truth.</p>

<p>*  *  *</p>

<p><em>This is our <a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/swat-micarta-blued">absolute favorite</a> Anza knife... Lifetime warranty. </em></p>
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<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T17:35:32+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 13:35</span>


title: Procès des hockeyeurs : la plaignante essaie de « consolider un récit », selon la défense
hash: ���/֕m�Zr�_
guid:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2164712/proces-hockey-canada-london-contre-interrogatoire-presumee-victime-em-julianna-greenspan

content:
<p>L'avocate de Cat Foote, l'un des accusés, suggère qu'E. M. « invente » des parties de sa version des faits.</p>

link:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2164712/proces-hockey-canada-london-contre-interrogatoire-presumee-victime-em-julianna-greenspan

attributes:
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guid: 1029819 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Hollywood Unions Cautiously Welcome Trump's Movie Tariff Proposal
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ��`�y�X�����R
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Hollywood Unions Cautiously Welcome Trump's Movie Tariff Proposal</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/hollywood-unions-cautiously-welcome-trumps-movie-tariff-proposal-5854140?ea_src=frontpage&amp;ea_cnt=a&amp;ea_med=top-news-4-special-report-top-news-top-news-4-special-report-0-title-0">Authored by Beige Luciano-Adams via The Epoch Times</a> (emphasis ours),</em></p>

<p>After the initial shockwaves subsided over President Donald Trump’s May 5 <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114452117143235155">announcement</a> that he intends to implement a 100 percent levy on all foreign-made films, <strong>Hollywood labor unions ventured cautious optimism at the idea that at least someone in Washington might be paying attention to the plight of the industry’s rank-and-file workers.</strong></p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2820%29a.jpg?itok=PFvbdDRp" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2820%29a.jpg?itok=PFvbdDRp"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ecb6829b-1f2a-4f8d-be9f-9671f8a07e7e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="340" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2820%29a.jpg?itok=PFvbdDRp" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>“<strong>President Trump has correctly recognized that the American film and television industry faces an urgent threat from international competition</strong>,” leaders of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), one of the largest and most powerful entertainment unions, said in a <a href="https://iatse.net/iatse-on-president-trump-movie-tariff-announcement-u-s-needs-balanced-federal-response-to-return-film-and-tv-jobs/">statement</a>.</p>

<p>“Foreign governments have successfully lured film and television productions, and the multitude of jobs they create, away from the United States with aggressive tax incentives and subsidies. Films intended for initial release in the U.S. are increasingly being shot overseas—and American workers and our economy are paying the price.”</p>

<p><strong>The entertainment industry has taken an unrelenting beating over the past several years</strong>—streaming wars, the pandemic, mergers and layoffs, strikes, and accelerating runaway production have gutted the industry, leaving record numbers without work and little hope of a rebound. Runaway productions generally refer to productions intended for release or broadcast in the United States but actually filmed in another country, or those made by L.A.-based studios that shoot in other states in order to take advantage of competitive tax incentives or other economic benefits.</p>

<p>Calling incentives offered to lure production overseas a “concerted effort” by other nations and thus a national security threat, <strong>the president said he was authorizing the Department of Commerce and the U.S. trade representative to immediately begin instituting 100 percent tariffs on “any and all movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”</strong></p>

<p>How exactly tariffs on foreign films would work—or really what even constitutes an American-made or foreign-made film in the age of streaming, co-production and globalized post-production—is yet to be determined.</p>

<p>Unlike most of Trump’s trade-related actions thus far, this latest salvo targets not physical goods that come through U.S. ports, but digitally transmitted services that rely on an increasingly international supply chain.</p>

<p>There are also questions surrounding the legality of imposing tariffs on film and television under what appears to be Trump’s <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45618">invocation</a> of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which offers broad powers to regulate economic transactions such as sanctions and tariffs during national emergencies, but protects the exchange of published information or informational materials, including films.</p>

<p><strong>The impulse, at least, was appreciated among representatives of Hollywood’s beleaguered workforce.</strong></p>

<p>In a <a href="https://teamster.org/2025/05/teamsters-statement-on-president-trumps-union-job-protecting-film-tariffs/">statement</a>, the Teamsters applauded the apparent intent to push back against the years-long hollowing out of the industry, which the union blamed on studios that follow “Corporate America’s crooked playbook” of outsourcing union jobs.</p>

<p>“Studios chase cheap production costs overseas while gutting the American workforce that built the film and TV industry. These gigantic corporations line their pockets by relentlessly cutting corners, abandoning American crews, and exploiting tax loopholes,” Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien and Motion Picture Division Director Lindsey Dougherty said in the statement.</p>

<p>The union’s motion picture and theatrical division represents drivers and transportation professionals, as well as casting directors, animal wranglers, and other crafts.</p>

<p>“<strong>We thank President Trump for boldly supporting good union jobs when others have turned their heads. This is a strong step toward finally reining in the studios’ un-American addiction to outsourcing our members’ work.</strong> The Teamsters applaud any elected official—Republican, Democrat, Independent—who’s willing to fight for American workers,” they said.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2823%29_0.jpg?itok=FiXkdstX" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2823%29_0.jpg?itok=FiXkdstX"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="18f6d781-6bc5-4c0a-816c-449671058f2f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="315" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2823%29_0.jpg?itok=FiXkdstX" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Teamsters Union members join striking Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild members outside Amazon Studios in Culver City, Calif., on July 19, 2023. Years of streaming wars, the pandemic, mergers, strikes, layoffs, and runaway production have battered the entertainment industry, leaving record job losses and dim prospects for recovery. Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>The president’s missive appeared to address the fact that an increasing number of American studio films are shot abroad—primarily in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and European countries such as Hungary, which offer competitive subsidies and tax breaks, easy regulatory environments, and lower labor costs for producers trying to deliver a project on budget.</p>

<p><strong>IATSE, which represents members in the United States and Canada, also struck a cautious tone, saying it supports all policy measures “that can be implemented to return and maintain U.S. film and television jobs, while not disadvantaging our Canadian members.”</strong></p>

<p>IATSE urged federal policymakers to level the playing field for U.S. productions, including with a federal film production tax incentive, but said it would await further information about the administration’s proposed tariff plan. “We continue to stand firm in our conviction that any eventual trade policy must do no harm to our Canadian members—nor the industry overall.”</p>

<p>In a recent <a href="https://prodpro.com/blog/2025-tv-film-outlook-report/">survey</a> by industry analyst ProdPro, studio executives named their top five preferred locations for 2025–26, and none of them were in the United States.</p>

<p>Toronto, the U.K, Vancouver, Central Europe, and Australia dominated the list, with U.S. hubs California, Georgia, and New Jersey ranked below them.</p>

<p>“<strong>Key factors influencing these preferences include favorable tax incentives, infrastructure, available skilled crew, and currency exchange rate</strong>,” the report said, noting an increasingly competitive market of tax incentive schemes will likely shape geographic distribution for years to come.</p>

<p>The company’s 2024 Second Quarter Global Production Report shows the total <a href="https://prodpro.com/blog/q2-2024-global-production-report/#:~:text=ProdPro%20reported%20344%20scripted%20productions,the%20same%20period%20last%20year.">number</a> of productions filming globally last year was still 16 percent lower than in 2022, and 37 percent lower in the United States.</p>

<p>“The lower volumes are here to stay,” the report notes, showing the number of U.S. productions that started principal photography in the second quarter of 2024 fell nearly 40 percent from 2022 levels, compared with a 20 percent global dip.</p>

<p>Amid this ongoing global decline and sharp competition, filming in Los Angeles, the industry’s historic center, continued to tumble through the first quarter of this year. According to FilmLA, a nonprofit and the official film office of L.A. City and County, on-location production in the Greater Los Angeles area <a href="https://filmla.com/la-on-location-filming-falls-in-first-quarter/">dropped</a> by 22 percent in the first quarter of this year, with feature production declining about 29 percent.</p>

<p>“<strong>Each drop reflected the impact of global production cutbacks and California’s ongoing loss of work to rival territories</strong>,” the organization said in an April statement.</p>

<p>There is no central database or reliable way to track runaway production, which has been a subject of concern for Hollywood unions for at least the past two decades. But in the industry, many observe it has accelerated over the past five or so years at an unprecedented rate.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2822%29_0.jpg?itok=a3sjOZaM" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2822%29_0.jpg?itok=a3sjOZaM"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fd7838fc-a71a-4dbb-85a1-a519096e3e13" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="329" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2822%29_0.jpg?itok=a3sjOZaM" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>A pedestrian crosses a street in front of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles on Oct. 7, 2021. Calling foreign film production incentives a “concerted effort” and national security threat, President Donald Trump said on May 4 he would authorize 100 percent tariffs on all movies made abroad. Mario Tama/Getty Images</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<h2>‘Built by the Middle Class’</h2>

<p>Other union leaders cautioned against a blanket tariff that fails to account for the realities of the industry.</p>

<p>“If this tariff policy is just a headline reaction to productions leaving the U.S., it’s not a solution, it’s sabotage,” David Graves, an executive board member with IATSE Local 728, which represents studio electrical lighting technicians, told The Epoch Times in a text message.</p>

<p>Stressing that the film industry doesn’t run on the same timeline or structure as a brick-and-mortar business, Graves said a one-size-fits-all approach may do more harm than good unless informed by people who work in the industry.</p>

<p>“<strong>If the administration truly wants to understand how to apply tariffs to the American film industry, they need to talk to electricians, grips, camera operators, and wardrobe, not just A-list actors who are disconnected from the realities of payroll taxes, foreign incentives, and what economic contraction looks like on the ground,</strong>” Graves said.</p>

<p>Big-name producers and celebrity voices, he said, “don’t speak for the working-class crews who are watching their livelihoods disappear with no transition plan, no retraining support, and no safety net.”</p>

<p>A day after Trump’s tariff announcement, Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, whom Trump previously named a “special ambassador” to Hollywood, said in a video posted to social media platform X that he submitted a detailed plan to the president at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida outlining “certain tax provisions” that would help both movie and TV production.</p>

<p>“Our industry recently has suffered greatly. ... Many Americans have lost jobs to productions gone overseas. People have lost their homes, can’t feed their families,” Voight said.</p>

<p>The same day, Deadline, an industry publication based in Los Angeles, published a <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/05/jon-voight-hollywood-plan-read-in-full-trump-tariffs-1236387042/">draft</a> of Voight’s “Make Hollywood Great Again” proposal, which includes a 10 percent to 20 percent federal tax credit that would be “stackable” on top of available state incentives already provided by states like New York and Georgia.</p>

<p>In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times,<strong> Steven Paul, an advisor to Voight and CEO of SP Media Group, said the document published by Deadline was “part of a private discussion and was never intended for public consumption.”</strong></p>

<p>The proposal was crafted “solely for the purpose of discussion,” Paul said, and didn’t reflect any formal policy or position. And while the ideas listed were gathered from exploratory conversations Voight and Paul had with a broad range of industry stakeholders, including unions, studios and streaming platforms, Paul said the leaked proposal “does not claim to represent the collective views of the participating film and television organizations.”</p>

<p>Voight’s draft plan requires that 75 percent of physical production and post-production take place in the United States in order to qualify for the federal incentive, and must meet a minimum threshold “American ‘Cultural Test’ similar to that currently<a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/apply-british-certification-expenditure-credits/cultural-test-film"> used</a> in the U.K.’”</p>

<p>All of this would apply to content across the board, including for theatrical distribution, broadcast networks and cable, as well as streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, and digital platforms such as YouTube.</p>

<p><em>Read the rest <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/hollywood-unions-cautiously-welcome-trumps-movie-tariff-proposal-5854140?ea_src=frontpage&amp;ea_cnt=a&amp;ea_med=top-news-4-special-report-top-news-top-news-4-special-report-0-title-0"><strong>here...</strong></a></em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T14:45:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 10:45</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hollywood-unions-cautiously-welcome-trumps-movie-tariff-proposal


guid: https://www.whitehouse.gov/?p=12140
title: FOUR-YEAR LOW: Prices for Essentials Fall as Workers See Relief in President Trump’s Economy
author: ;The White House
hash: ���� D �B�\~�
tags: #Articles
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/WH47-Social-Share-Card.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p>Inflation has fallen to the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/05/13/cpi-report-april-2025-tariffs-inflation-data/83584397007/">lowest level</a> in more than four years as April’s Consumer Price Index smashes expectations for the third straight month in President Donald J. Trump’s Golden Age.</p>
<p><strong>Here’s what you need to know:</strong></p>
<ul data-sanitized-class="wp-block-list"><li>Grocery prices saw their largest decline in nearly five years.</li>
<li>Gas prices fell for the third month in a row.</li>
<li>Egg prices saw the largest one-month decline in more than four decades.</li>
<li>Workers’ real wages are up 1.9%, increasing each of the last three months.</li>
<li>Prices for airfare, energy, hotels, and used vehicles are all <a href="https://x.com/jackikotkiewicz/status/1922282683507281961">down</a> compared to last year.</li>
</ul><p><strong>Here’s what they’re saying:</strong></p>
<ul data-sanitized-class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-13/us-inflation-comes-in-softer-than-forecast-for-another-month"><strong>Bloomberg’s Augusta Saraiva</strong></a><strong>:</strong> “US inflation rose by less than forecast in April amid tame prices for clothing and new cars, suggesting little urgency so far by companies to pass along the cost of higher tariffs to consumers.”</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/april-consumer-price-index-report-shows-inflation-dropped-to-slowest-pace-since-2021-239451717893"><strong>Investopedia Editor-in-Chief Caleb Silver</strong></a><strong>:</strong> “The smoke was much worse than the fire … A big part of that was the drop in gasoline prices. This is very significant for households … That drop in gasoline and energy prices — a big deal.”</li>
<li><a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1922277906048295211"><strong>Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo</strong></a><strong>:</strong> “Oil is down, eggs are down, food is down. We’re seeing that reflected, so all that hysteria over tariffs is not showing up in these numbers.”</li>
<li><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/05/13/cpi-report-april-2025-tariffs-inflation-data/83584397007/"><strong><em>USA TODAY</em></strong></a><strong>:</strong> Inflation eased to 4-year low in April as Trump’s tariffs took effect, CPI report shows
<ul data-sanitized-class="wp-block-list"><li>“Prices for groceries, including eggs, used cars and airfares all fell sharply.”</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2025-05-13/us-cpi-report-for-april"><strong>Bloomberg</strong></a><strong>:</strong> US Consumer Prices Rose Less Than Expected in April<br><ul><li>“The pace is the slowest since the sprinsg of 2021 when inflation broke out in earnest.”</li>
</ul><ul data-sanitized-class="wp-block-list"><li>“Grocery prices were down 0.4% on the month, and eggs fell 12.7%, the most since 1984, validating some of President Donald Trump’s messaging.”</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/april-consumer-price-index-report-shows-inflation-dropped-to-slowest-pace-since-2021-239451717893"><strong>NBC News</strong></a><strong>:</strong> April consumer price index report shows inflation dropped to slowest pace since 2021
</li>
</ul>

link:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/05/four-year-low-prices-for-essentials-fall-as-workers-see-relief-in-president-trumps-economy/


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885271
title: Cosa hanno in comune un pranzo in taverna e la battaglia per la Palestina
author: ;A A
hash: A�[��1ipџ��� ��
tags: #Italiano #Israel #Middle East #Palestine #Society #Zionism
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>Nessuna battaglia di liberazione è mai cominciata senza un popolo che ci credesse. Liberarsi dal gioco ideologico del sionismo è sempre più un imperativo per i popoli europei.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span><span><em>Segue nostro</em></span> <a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>.</span></a></span></strong></p>
<p><strong>A pranzo in taverna</strong></p>
<p>Sui social è diventato virale il video che riprende il litigio tra una coppia israeliana in vacanza a Napoli e la titolare della trattoria della Taverna Santa Chiara a Spaccanapoli, a due passi dallo storico monastero. I toni sono molto duri e dal dialogo si capisce chiaramente quale sia il motivo. Lasciando il locale, la donna israeliana accusa la proprietaria Nives Monda di essere “antisemita” e di appoggiare “il terrorismo”. La titolare della trattoria replica: “Non voglio i tuoi soldi, i sionisti hanno ucciso più di 50mila persone”.</p>
<p>L’evento ha suscitato scalpore ed è subito diventato virale sui social media, in un momento molto delicato nella narrativa sionista in Italia, supportata dal Governo e divenuta oggetto di censura e discriminazione per tutti coloro che supportano la Palestina e non accettano il diktat di Israele.</p>
<p>I responsabili del locale, da sempre attenti ai diritti umani e impegnati nella promozione di uno spazio inclusivo, hanno espresso il loro dissenso, dichiarando la loro condanna verso quello che ritengono essere un genocidio in corso contro la popolazione palestinese, qualificabile come crimine contro l’umanità.</p>
<p>La cliente, a quel punto, ha accusato i gestori di antisemitismo, sostenendo che il sostegno alla causa palestinese equivalesse a una complicità con il terrorismo. Ha inoltre iniziato a filmare i titolari, lo staff e altri clienti – inclusi minori – senza il consenso delle persone riprese. I video sono stati poi diffusi online, accompagnati da gravi dichiarazioni diffamatorie, con accuse infondate di antisemitismo e di sostegno al terrorismo, contribuendo ad alimentare una campagna d’odio.</p>
<p>Da quel momento, l’esercizio ha iniziato a ricevere messaggi anonimi contenenti minacce di aggressioni organizzate, distruzione del locale, violenze fisiche contro la titolare e i dipendenti, incitamenti allo stupro nei confronti della proprietaria. Tali condotte, oltre a essere moralmente gravi, costituiscono veri e propri reati.</p>
<p>I gestori ribadiscono che la loro unica responsabilità è quella di aver aderito alla campagna per gli Spazi Liberi dall’apartheid israeliano, dichiarando la propria opposizione alle violazioni dei diritti umani in Palestina. Il locale in questione, che da sempre accoglie persone di ogni nazionalità, fede ed etnia, ribadisce la propria totale contrarietà a qualsiasi forma di razzismo o discriminazione, inclusi antisemitismo, islamofobia e razzismo antipalestinese, riaffermando il proprio impegno a mantenere uno spazio rispettoso e sicuro per tutti, come hanno specificato nel comunicato stampa emanato dopo l’accaduto.</p>
<p><strong>La violenza del sionismo</strong></p>
<p>Il sionismo non è una etnia, una religione, una nazionalità o un gruppo sociale. Il sionismo è un’ideologia politica, intrinsecamente violenta, suprematista, razzista, antidemocratica ed antisemita (gli unici veri semiti oggi in Israele, o meglio nella Palestina occupata, sono proprio i palestinesi vittime di genocidio).</p>
<p>Eventi come quello raccontato sono solo la punta dell’iceberg.</p>
<p>In Italia, infatti, <a href="https://www.governo.it/sites/governo.it/files/Strategia_nazionale_rev_20250218.pdf.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">è stato emanato a marzo il programma nazionale sull’antisemitismo</a>, che introduce novità in merito alla sorveglianza totalitaria applicata contro gli italiani. La definizione di antisemitismo adottata è la medesima del 2020, cioè quella <a href="https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prodotta dall’IHRA</a>  e riportata a pp. 10 del documento dove viene espressa in 11 punti, in breve qualsiasi forma di critica nei confronti degli ebrei o di Israele costituisce una forma di antisemitismo, anche il semplice riconoscere la loro sovrarappresentazione nei centri di potere, nell’industria farmaceutica, nella finanza e nel centri di controllo dell’informazione. Anche le critiche ad Israele in quanto stato ebraico e disconoscerne la legittimità in quanto Stato secondo questa definizione sono antisemitismo. A pp. 14 viene riportato che la questione palestinese ha portato in Italia ad un’acutizzazione dell’antisemitismo, e come prova <a href="https://www.cdec.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Relazione_Annuale_2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">citano la relazione annuale</a> sull’antisemitismo del 2024. Considerano come forma di antisemitismo anche la negazione della Shoah o un suo ridimensionamento (p. 17), così da far passare delle posizioni adottate in merito alla storia come posizioni contro un gruppo di persone, in questo modo si può inflazionare il numero di antisemiti presenti in Italia.</p>
<p>Siffatta definizione così ampia di antisemitismo serve per poter giustificare l’applicazione di alcune misure di sorveglianza.</p>
<p>La prima linea d’attacco è una massiccia raccolta dati (pp. 21) fornita da vari enti elencati a pp. 22-23. Il nuovo piano introduce un sistema di analisi centralizzato (p. 23) che farà uso dell’IA (p. 25) per raccogliere e analizzare dati come aggressioni contro gli ebrei, atti di vandalismo, scritte contro gli ebrei sui muri, ma anche i commenti sulla rete: i social, le piattaforme pubbliche, ma anche la rete onion, saranno scandagliate per cercare dati sull’antisemitismo e segnalarli automaticamente alla polizia postale. Tutta l’ultima sezione (pp. 44-50) del documento è dedicata proprio alla lotta all’antisemitismo online, dove i gruppi di controinformazione vengono definiti delle sette. Le misure sono la censura verso qualsiasi contenuto antisemita <a href="https://t.me/dereinzigeitalia/738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tramite DSA</a>, provare a perseguire penalmente gli autori e l’uso dell’IA e dei giornalisti per attaccare i “complottisti” (pp. 48).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eventi.news/carioti-il-governo-riscrive-il-piano-contro-lantisemitismo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sul territorio rafforzeranno</a> la sicurezza di sinagoghe e quartieri ebraici e ostacoleranno proteste e manifestazioni che secondo loro hanno carattere antisemita (pp. 40-41).</p>
<p>La seconda linea di intervento è la propaganda, che loro <a href="https://www.lascuolaoggi.it/nuovo-piano-nazionale-lotta-antisemitismo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chiamano “formazione”</a>  (pp. 28). Nelle scuole, università, etc. bisogna insegnare il “valore e la ricchezza dell’apporto che le comunità ebraiche hanno dato alle società contemporanee” (pp. 29), creando una narrativa completamente opposta alla realtà dove gli ebrei sono esaltati come i salvatori e i campioni della civiltà occidentale. A pp. 33 si legge che vogliono far entrare degli ebrei nelle scuole per insegnare la religione dell’ebraismo ai bambini in nome della “tolleranza religiosa”. A livello universitario vogliono<a href="https://www.jewish-studies.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> istituire il corso di laurea in Jewish studies</a> dove formano propagandisti antifascisti e pro ebrei (p. 31) e dei corsi di dottorato sulla lotta all’antisemitismo. Verranno, inoltre, promossi musei, mostre, spettacoli e film dove viene esaltata la cultura ebraica e dichiarano esplicitamente che utilizzeranno i media nazionali per indottrinare contro l’antisemitismo (pp. 38-39).</p>
<p>È così che nel giro di pochi mesi si potrebbe assistere ad esempi di violenza sociale, motivati dalla insofferenza di coloro che non accettano di essere discriminati secondo criteri arbitrari e ideologici. L’invenzione dell’anti-semitismo come sorta di “peccato originale” del mondo intero dopo il 1945, è stata una delle mosse più accurate della leadership sionista.</p>
<p>L’immane tragedia che l’Olocausto ha rappresentato per la nostra civiltà è paragonabile a un autentico cataclisma naturale. Ma l’Olocausto è ormai diventato altro, qualcosa che non ha nulla a che fare con la memoria e il rispetto delle vittime ebree: una strumentalizzazione della sofferenza e un’arma ideologica per fini politici.</p>
<p>Cosa hanno, dunque, in comune un pranzo in una taverna napoletana e la battaglia per la Palestina, per Gaza? Sono proprio i luoghi semplici e quotidiani quelli in cui c’è la possibilità di esercitare ancora un potere veramente politico, popolare, costruito dalla gente.</p>
<p>Nessuna battaglia di liberazione è mai cominciata senza un popolo che ci credesse. Liberarsi dal gioco ideologico del sionismo è sempre più un imperativo per i popoli europei.<br>
</p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/cosa-hanno-comune-un-pranzo-taverna-battaglia-per-palestina/


guid: 1030098 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Microsoft Reportedly Slashing 3% Of Global Workforce
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/microsoft-reportedly-slashing-3-global-workforce
hash: ��'��]~)B��&��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Microsoft Reportedly Slashing 3% Of Global Workforce</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A new report hit the wires late Tuesday morning in New York, revealing that Microsoft plans to implement "<strong>organizational changes</strong>" impacting about <strong>3% of its global workforce</strong>, spanning all levels, teams, and regions.</p>

<p>"<strong>We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace</strong>," a Microsoft spokesperson told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/13/microsoft-is-cutting-3percent-of-workers-across-the-software-company.html">CNBC</a> in a statement. </p>

<p>The Microsoft spokesperson did not specify the number of job cuts or the timing of the changes.</p>

<p>Data from Bloomberg shows <strong>Microsoft employed about 228,000</strong> employees worldwide at the end of 2024, <strong>implying total cuts could top 7,000</strong>. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8c03f1be.png?itok=pGmEx6Zc" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8c03f1be.png?itok=pGmEx6Zc"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5960e354-68f5-4579-bc15-f231fdf448ea" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="335" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Snag_8c03f1be.png?itok=pGmEx6Zc" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The report is puzzling since Microsoft reported <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/microsoft-surges-after-top-bottom-line-beat-aicloud-growth-accelerates">better-than-expected third-quarter results</a>, which ended on March 31, driven by its Azure cloud business, and issued strong guidance. </p>

<p>MSFT beat on everything...</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-04-30_13-30-28.jpg?itok=fa-96_8p" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-04-30_13-30-28.jpg?itok=fa-96_8p"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cdddd391-2740-43a9-baf6-b00f19e9d321" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="500" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-04-30_13-30-28.jpg?itok=fa-96_8p" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>However, in the first three months of 2025, Microsoft spent $21.4 billion on <strong>Capital expenditures</strong>, including assets acquired under finance leases, down more than $1 billion from the previous quarter (and below the $22.56 billion consensus).</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/bfm549.jpg?itok=ee20LzFs" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/bfm549.jpg?itok=ee20LzFs"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9b8d2f57-6312-44d1-aa14-514f03461fcd" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="364" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/bfm549.jpg?itok=ee20LzFs" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The spokesperson told CNBC that the <strong>latest round of proposed job cuts is unrelated to performance</strong>. </p>

<p>In early 2023, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees. <strong>Total workforce growth has stalled</strong> since 2022 after exploding every year since 2016. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, MSFT shares are back at record highs ....</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8c03a6ca.png?itok=QI2GHazv" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_8c03a6ca.png?itok=QI2GHazv"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="49991dcd-678a-4704-bcc3-6cf6870e0793" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="276" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Snag_8c03a6ca.png?itok=QI2GHazv" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Several reports have <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/microsoft-scales-back-ai-data-center-projects-us-australia-uk">suggested</a> that Microsoft is scaling back on data center projects, yet the big tech firm has rejected those reports.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T15:05:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 11:05</span>


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2164714/tourisme-montreal-saison-2025-previsions
title: Moins d’Américains attendus cet été à Montréal, mais plus de touristes internationaux
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2164714/tourisme-montreal-saison-2025-previsions
hash: �u����._��7g
content:
<p>Davantage d'Européens pourraient bouder les États-Unis au profit du Canada, croit Tourisme Montréal.</p>

attributes:
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guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885290
title: A Rússia, os EUA e as novas cisões políticas nacionais
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/13/a-russia-os-eua-e-as-novas-cisoes-politicas-nacionais/
hash: �v�bd�E��=�r�r�
tags: #Português #Diplomacy #New World Order #Russia #United States #Victory Day
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>A comemoração russa do Dia da Vitória sobre os nazistas, celebrada dia 9 de maio em Moscou, servirá para iluminar as reais divisões políticas no planeta.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Junte-se a nós no</span> <a href="https://t.me/SCF_Portuguese" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u>Telegram</u></a></strong><strong><u><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Portuguese" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a></u>, <u><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a></u><span>e </span></strong><strong><u><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a></u>.</strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Escreva para nós:</span> <a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u>info@strategic-culture.su</u></a></strong></p>
<p>Como a maioria da população ocidental está acostumada a dividir sua política entre esquerda e direita, a comemoração russa do Dia da Vitória sobre os nazistas, celebrada dia 9 de maio em Moscou, servirá para iluminar as reais divisões políticas no planeta.</p>
<p>O fato mais significativo da comemoração dos 80 anos da derrota do nazismo é, sem dúvida, o banimento da Rússia pela Europa Ocidental. Já que a propaganda decretou que Putin é o novo Hitler, a própria Rússia deve ser cancelada, mesmo tendo desempenhado um papel crucial na vitória contra o Eixo, e mesmo que a guerra tenha custado aos soviéticos uma quantidade incomparável de soldados. Se <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/mar/23/russia-protests-vodka-mustard-poutine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">até Dostoiévski</a> foi cancelado na Europa Ocidental, cancelar o feito de Stalin é café pequeno. Nesse quintal VIP dos EUA que é a Europa Ocidental, o caráter geopolítico da nova divisão é mais visível: de um lado estão os europeístas de Bruxelas, que querem de volta os EUA de Biden, e de outro a Rússia e qualquer coisa que lhe seja minimamente simpática (o que inclui os BRICS, a despeito de todas as inconsistências internas).</p>
<p>Já o caráter político interno dessa divisão é mais difícil de identificar, tendo-se a Europa Ocidental em vista. A principal pauta dos anti-UE é o fim da imigração irrestrita. Ser “extrema-direita”, “antidemocrático” e, quiçá, “agente russo”, é ser anti-imigração. Não obstante, a pauta de costumes, que mobiliza muito as Américas, é deixada de lado pela “extrema-direita” europeia. A AfD é liderada por uma lésbica em união estável com uma imigrante, e não parece haver vivalma que se incomode com isso. Nas Américas, é inimaginável uma liderança antissistema com esse perfil (exceto, talvez, na Argentina, que é bem europeia nesse quesito). Pode-se dizer, então, que a Europa se liberalizou muito nos costumes, de modo que o conservadorismo social não é pauta relevante no cenário político-partidário.</p>
<p>Aquilo em que a Europa não se liberalizou muito é no gasto social. A Europa ainda tem Estados de Bem Estar. Como Estados de Bem Estar são difíceis de se manter numa economia cada vez mais desindustrializada, com natalidade colapsante e sem moeda nacional, não é difícil entender que um discurso à Milei encontre espaço na Europa. Ademais, a Argentina ensina que um Estado estúpido, cuja burocracia impõe wokismo, pode gerar um sentimento anarquista. Não é de admirar, então, que partidos anti-imigração de “extrema-direita” não raro sejam liberais na economia, como o português Chega. Por outro lado, a esquerda europeia se liberalizou tanto, que são pequenas ou periféricas as tentativas de construir uma alternativa econômica. O importante partido Tsipras é da enfraquecida Grécia; na poderosa Alemanha, Sahra Wagenknecht fundou seu próprio partido e não se reelegeu.</p>
<p>O Estado “grande” da esquerda<em> woke</em>, que gasta com cracudos na rua e imigrantes ilegais, está a serviço do neoliberalismo: por um lado, quanto maior o gasto estatal, maior o endividamento; e, por conseguinte, maior o controle por organismos supranacionais controlados por financistas. Por outro lado, quanto mais imigrantes, maior a oferta de trabalho barato. Assim o Estado fica enfraquecido, gastando mal e sendo odiado, enquanto um seleto setor privado ganha dinheiro com suas dívidas e com o trabalho barato.</p>
<p>Vamos agora a outro quintal dos EUA, o meu Brasil. Creio que daqui se possa ver com mais facilidade que a divisão entre esquerda e direita está colapsando – e, outra vez, nada melhor que a Rússia para dividir as águas.</p>
<p>Lula decidiu ir a Moscou participar dos festejos do Dia da Vitória. Foi o suficiente para que veículos liberais de direita o considerassem uma vergonha para a diplomacia.</p>
<p>No Brasil, ser de direita em geral significa ser antipetista, de modo que há muito espaço para repetir as mesmas ideias de um Macron e ser considerado de “direita democrática”. Basta xingar o PT e condenar a corrupção. A direita liberal no Brasil apoia Israel e a Ucrânia incondicionalmente. Quando a Rússia entrou na Ucrânia, Bolsonaro ainda estava no poder – e a direita liberal fez um escândalo porque ele não quis sancionar a Rússia, cujos fertilizantes são fundamentais para a agricultura brasileira. Embora Bolsonaro tenha dado muito poder a um banqueiro abertamente liberal, que foi seu ministro da Economia, os liberais mesmo assim o condenavam por ser um líder populista. Às vezes acho que falta de carisma é um requisito essencial para o liberalismo.</p>
<p>Lula também entrega tudo e mais um pouco aos liberais. Sua rebeldia até então consistiu na referida viagem a Moscou e em uma declaração contra Netanyahu destituída de consequências práticas (ele bem poderia tirar o Brasil da condição de membro observador da IHRA, que faz <em>lobby</em> pela censura dos críticos do sionismo). No entanto, as ações do governo Lula têm desapontado muitíssimo seus vizinhos bolivarianos. O Brasil vetou o ingresso da Venezuela nos BRICS, exigiu atas para reconhecer a reeleição de Maduro (que é abertamente pró Rússia e anti-EUA) e reconheceu prontamente a reeleição de Daniel Noboa no Equador, não obstantes as denúncias de fraude pela candidata de esquerda. Tal como os europeístas de Bruxelas, Lula é um saudosista da Era Biden. Ficou para trás o tempo em que ele era um queridinho de Caracas.</p>
<p>Tanto a direita como a esquerda estão rachadas. De um lado, Bolsonaro é perseguido pelo <em>establishment</em> sem contar com o apoio de muitos políticos liberais de direita que ele ajudou a eleger. De outro, a esquerda racha por questões globais. A política externa de Lula tem sido, em geral, uma política mais pró-EUA que pró-BRICS. No âmbito interno, a esquerda <em>woke</em>, que é largamente financiada por ONGs e fundações do Atlântico Norte, preferiu silenciar-se quanto à questão palestina. Esse fato desmoralizador, somado aos cortes orçamentários do NED e da USAID, fez com que a crítica ao wokismo voltasse a ser feita dentro da esquerda em alto e bom som, depois de uns dez anos de autocensura. No presente momento, o partido de Lula está para escolher o seu presidente: o candidato favorito foi à embaixada dos EUA; outro, para contrapor-se, <a href="https://www.metropoles.com/brasil/disputa-no-pt-falcao-visita-embaixada-palestina-edinho-foi-a-dos-eua" target="_blank" rel="noopener">foi à da Palestina</a>.</p>
<p>Além dos ongueiros <em>woke</em>, no Brasil há os ongueiros de direita, cujo ícone mais popular é o finado líder de seita Olavo de Carvalho (já expliquei aqui <a href="https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/10/18/o-que-e-o-olavismo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">o que é o olavismo</a>, movimento que inclui a difusão de propaganda <em>neocon</em>). Esse grupo ganhou cargos no governo Bolsonaro, mas foi, em geral, incapaz de governar, e se dedica a achincalhar o próprio Bolsonaro – ação que, indiretamente, contribui para a eleição de nomes da direita liberal.</p>
<p>No Brasil, há um cenário propício para trocar a divisão <em>esquerda X direita</em> pela divisão <em>liberalismo pró OTAN X nacionalismo pró BRICS</em>. A postura dos liberais de direita e esquerda em relação à Rússia é especialmente reveladora. Num debate com Dugin em 2011, o líder de seita Olavo de Carvalho defendeu a teoria maluca de que a Rússia estava mancomunada com os outros “metacapitalistas” ocidentais (classe que inclui Soros) e isso poderia ficar evidente no futuro. Longe de aceitarem o desmentido da realidade, os seguidores da seita repetem isso como realidade em incontáveis programas de Youtube. Já do lado esquerdo, um veículo midiático cujos quadros se confundem com o da <a href="https://iclnoticias.com.br/1o-capitulo-do-livro-de-navalny-ativista-russo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TV Brasil</a> no governo Lula, divulga-se a tradução do livro de Navalny, tratando esse supremacista étnico como um guerreiro da liberdade.</p>
<p>Dado que na Europa a esquerda e a direita são muito liberais nos costumes, e que só uma parcela minoritária ou periférica da esquerda tem apresentado uma reação ao liberalismo econômico, creio que o cenário seja menos propenso a reviravoltas políticas do que o Brasil.</p>
<p></p>


guid: 1030111 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: The Merch-Can-'Til-Lists
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/merch-can-til-lists
hash: �x����^�����08�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Merch-Can-'Til-Lists</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>By Michael Every of Rabobank</em></p>

<h3>The Merch-Can-'Til-Lists</h3>

<p>Equity markets soared, as did bond yields and the US dollar, while gold and Bitcoin dropped following the US and China taking down their tariffs by 115 percentage points to 30% for the US (on top of legacy 25% Trump 1/Biden tariffs on 2/3rds of Chinese goods and 25% sectoral tariffs) and to 10% for China for 90 days.</p>

<p>Some say President Trump folded, “because markets.” Or “because neo-mercantilism” as there is nothing market-like in China’s dominance of the production and the staggering trade surpluses it runs. Yet there’s certainly dotted lines being drawn on things to show where folds could go.</p>

<p>On the other hand, markets soared despite tariffs that were unthinkable six months ago. Moreover, Trump claimed China has agreed to remove all non-tariff barriers -- like massive direct and indirect state subsidies and infrastructure -- and underlined that tariffs can go back up again, if not to 145%, if a deal isn’t done by 10 August.</p>

<p>Yet trade partners just saw pushing back at the US can work: why rush to sign a deal like the UK’s --<em>which aims to freeze China out of supply chains</em>-- to then see the US say it doesn’t want to decouple from Beijing, or only in key sectors? That suggests the White House is going to have to breathe fire at someone to make their point. The candidate who fits that bill best might be the EU --if Japan, South Korea, or Canada don’t get there first-- and now the US will be forcing its prescription drug prices down by executive order, with parties like Europe facing higher prices as a result, there are even more issues to clash over<strong>. In short, the trade war isn’t over.</strong></p>

<p>At the meta level, we just published a report on <a href="https://public-eur.mkt.dynamics.com/api/orgs/285245b1-7c6f-ef11-a66d-000d3a4b6c6a/r/3PCvZnwuDEOIOz0ECy0DAAAAAAA?target=%7B%22TargetUrl%22%3A%22https%253A%252F%252Fmedia.rabobank.com%252Fm%252F196401aa2a27dda2%252Foriginal%252Fglobal_strategy_list-ing_the_cans_of_mercantilism.pdf%253Futm_medium%253Demail%2526utm_term%253DN%25252FA%2526utm_source%253Ddynamics-rr%2526utm_campaign%253D1%2523msdynmkt_trackingcontext%253De013cec8-444b-48c0-b819-ee42ce3e0300%22%2C%22RedirectOptions%22%3A%7B%225%22%3Anull%2C%220%22%3Anull%2C%222%22%3A%7B%22utm_medium%22%3A%22email%22%2C%22utm_term%22%3A%22N%2FA%22%2C%22utm_source%22%3A%22dynamics-rr%22%2C%22utm_campaign%22%3A%221%22%7D%7D%7D&amp;digest=fCDBEct55PCc%2BmMNWAt90k6gytbUXNDdrm8rpeBYppc%3D&amp;secretVersion=7c13c22c20aa46a1b2fc8b71fde4d19a"><strong>neo-mercantilist ideology</strong></a>, which includes both China and Trumpism. Markets are caught between ‘<em>Merch-can-‘til-Lists</em>’, as <strong>China cementing itself into supply chains and de-risking from the West remains its grand macro strategy</strong>, and acting against it is the US equivalent. Indeed, <strong>markets cheering the victory of a non-market economy over a market-driven one, because the latter was mirroring the former, fail to see what’s happening.</strong></p>

<p>The Financial Times reports US Treasury Secretary Bessent secretly met China’s Finance Minister Lan Fo’an in a basement after the IMF meeting three weeks ago: recall laughter at the US claiming to have made contact with China? Apologise if you were one of them.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Chinese Delegation Spotted Entering Treasury Department, Demands Photos Be Deleted: Report <a href="https://t.co/CRh07l2K1Z">https://t.co/CRh07l2K1Z</a></p>
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) <a href="https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1915843784291582235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Oren Cass, also in the FT, <strong>underlines <em>liberal</em> neo-mercantilists think the US needs tariffs to push back against state-backed champions supported by <em>illiberal</em> neo-mercantilists</strong>: “Perhaps the free-traders are betting on the latter, and would abandon American-style capitalism altogether before allowing so blasphemous a word as “protection” to pass their lips. What they cannot have, in the modern world, no matter how ideal in theory, is free trade and a free market at the same time.” Echoing @izakaminska, he says if the US wins this trade war, we might get free and fair trade in places; and if it loses, we won’t get it anywhere. <strong>That markets either don’t see this or don’t care, “because cheap stuff/asset prices” is worth thinking about. <em>A lot.</em></strong></p>

<p>At the macro level China is accelerating efforts to strip foreign firms from its supply chains. <strong>US bookings for Chinese cargo just leaped 35% and firms will surge inventor</strong>y; but all will be looking for alternative supply to ensure there’s no repeat of the recent de facto embargo. Taiwan’s president just proposed a global “non-Red” supply chain ex-China: but has he looked at his own recently?</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Our ocean freight bookings from China to US increased 35% in the first day since the trade deal. A big backlog is looming, soon the ships will be sold out.</p>
— Ryan Petersen (@typesfast) <a href="https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/1922075631270953226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p><strong>In short, a 90-day trade ceasefire is likely to restock/rearm and prepare for round 2: just like the Russia-Ukraine version will be.</strong></p>

<p>On which note, Trump says he may join the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks to be held Thursday in Istanbul…if he’s wanted there more than he is between India and Pakistan, where both sides have claimed victory in their recent military clashes, but the former has clearly set new rules of engagement and things remain tense.</p>

<p>Trump is in Riyadh today. Rumors are he may meet Syria’s ex-Islamist president, whom the US designates a terrorist, and who’s reportedly offering to build a Trump Tower in Damascus - if tall enough, it might be visible from the outer suburbs where government attacks against ethnic minorities are taking place. What other headline-grabbing moves will be made, with what market impact? One thing is for sure: <strong>it will be all about geopolitics, realpolitik, and fossil fuels rather than the ‘Liberal World Order’ (LWO) and all things green.</strong></p>

<p>Nearby, the New York Times explains ‘Why Trump Suddenly Declared Victory Over the Houthi Militia’, claiming the Pentagon spent $1bn in 30 days, lost two F-18A fighter jets and seven $30m drones, almost shot down an F-35, and used so many precision munitions it was worrying contingency planners, with CENTCOM’s metric of success being “bombs dropped.” This is an institutional mindset that assumes infinite supply chains and budget deficit and debt limits as if we were still had vintage LWO QE, negative rates, and either total US integration with the Chinese economy or a totally different US economy. The fact we have none of them --and that the US couldn’t defeat the modern equivalent of the Barbary Pirates, whom the infinitely less powerful early 19th-century US could-- should worry markets vastly more than it seems to be doing.     </p>

<p>As another indicator of the shift away from the LWO, the UK Labour Party’s PM Starmer yesterday stated mass immigration has failed economically and politically, with declining GDP per capita, lower productivity, and a greater net strain on state finances, while threatening to make Britain “an island of strangers.” This obviously copies rhetoric from the anti-immigration Reform Party now leading the opinion polls. However, the rules and legislation Starmer is proposing will only slow the pace of British net immigration to a still-high level while infuriating left-wing voters, his own MPs, and UK industries from care homes to universities. <strong>Meanwhile, counter-terror police are investigating three potential cases of arson linked to Starmer: at his London home, which is let out; another property linked to him; and on in his old car.</strong></p>

<p>Simultaneously, UK pension funds are to unlock up to £50bn of investments, with half reserved for UK firms, under a new “Mansion House accord” with the government. Expect to see a lot more of this “<em>what is GDP *for*?</em>” state leaning on private capital ahead: as our report on neo-mercantilism shows, it’s as much a part of that ideology as tariffs.</p>

<p>There’s less sign of that in the US budget bill emerging from Congress, however, or at least how to pay for it. So far, it seems to be rejecting higher taxes for the wealthy and removing the carried interest loophole “because lobbyists”, while adding no tax on tips and overtime and social security, plus more defense spending, <strong>meaning around $1.5 - 2 trillion on top of US fiscal deficits over the next decade.</strong></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T15:25:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 11:25</span>


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330521
title: Bill seeks to ban sale of energy drinks to under 18s
author: ;Maria Maynes
link: https://gript.ie/bill-seeks-to-ban-sale-of-energy-drinks-to-under-18s/
hash: k�p�Ę�Ѭ���y�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_2486.jpeg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>A Private Member’s Bill seeking to ban the sale of high energy drinks to those aged under 18 will be debated in the Seanad on Wednesday.</strong></p>
<p>The Public Health (Restriction on Sale of Stimulant Drinks to Children) Bill 2025 would regulate the sale, advertisement or promotion of the use of stimulant drinks to children, prohibiting the sale of stimulant drinks to under-18s.</p>
<p>The Bill would also provide for health warnings on drink labelling to the general public on the effect to a person’s health of the excessive consumption or use of stimulant drink products and to provide for related matters.</p>
<p>The Bill, by Independent Senator Sharon Keogan, is co-signed by Aontú Senator Sarah O’Reilly, and Senators Diarmuid Wilson and Rónán Mullen.</p>
<p>Sponsors say that the Bill “addresses growing public concern around” the sale of the popular drinks to young people and the health risks associated with them. Speaking this month in the Seanad, Senator Sharon Keogan said that such drinks are high in caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants such as taurine, wish she said had been linked to adverse health effects, including sleep disturbance, increased anxiety and cardiovascular issues in young people.</p>
<blockquote readability="15">
<p>“Among other things, the Bill sets out to prohibit the sale of stimulant drinks to individuals under 18 years of age, with appropriate penalties for non-compliance. It also seeks to restrict advertising targeted at children, in particular in proximity to schools, youth clubs and other venues frequented by minors. In addition, it seeks to mandate clear health warnings on packaging and at points of sale, informing consumers of potential health risks associated with excessive consumption,” Keogan said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similar plans, including banning junk food ads and attempting to stop children buying high-caffeine energy drinks were among proposals put forward by Labour Ministers. While Keir Starmer’s Labour party faced criticism over nanny statism over the proposals, Starmer maintained that such measures would ease pressure on the NHS and reduce illnesses. The measures are to come into force in Britain in the coming months, as part of “radical” measures to tackle childhood obesity.</p>
<p>Senator Keogan said that the Bill mirrors proposals which have been accepted in Hungary.</p>
<p>The Hungarian parliament, a fortnight ago, adopted a new law making it illegal to sell energy drinks to under 18s, with MPs in Budapest unanimously approving the ban, which is set to come into force within weeks.</p>
<p>Hungary is not the first EU country to introduce such restrictions, with Lithuania having banned sales of energy drinks to under-18s in 2014, followed by Latvia in 2016. Poland enforced a similar ban last year.</p>
<blockquote readability="12">
<p>“This initiative aligns with our commitment to safeguarding the health and well-being of our younger population. We will be following other European nations such as Hungary, which banned the sale of such drinks to minors last week, as well as Poland and Lithuania, where similar bans have resulted in major drops in the consumption of stimulant drinks among minors. I hope the House will grant leave to introduce the Bill. I look forward to engaging in a constructive debate on its provisions in due course,” Keogan said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Senator O’Reilly of Aontú, commenting on the Bill, said: “High energy drinks are a multi-million-euro industry, and they are heavily marketed and promoted to young consumers. Look at any shelf in our supermarkets; they are absolutely laden down with these drinks. There’s almost 40 different brands on sale in this country at the moment which contrasts sharply with the range available in past years. Young people are attracted to them due to their promise of energy giving properties and believe they help in their quest for fitness.</p>
<blockquote readability="10">
<p>“Crucially however the long-term health consequences of imbibing them are not so clear. These stimulant drinks have high levels of caffeine and sugar which are linked to adverse health effects, including insomnia, increased anxiety and digestive issues all of which are deeply disturbing. As adults we all know the effects of consuming too much caffeine for instance so it absolutely stands to reason that young people can be even more impacted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Bill aims to prohibit the sale of stimulant drinks to young people under the age of 18 as well as restricting advertising to this cohort, while ordering that clear health warnings on any potential health risks caused by excessive consumption be clearly visible on their packaging at points of sale.”</p>
<p>Senator O’Reilly pointed to other European countries, including Hungary, Poland and Lithuania “all of which have similar Bills restricting the sale of these high energy drinks to minors”.</p>
<p>The general principles of the Bill will be debated on Wednesday (14th May) as it progresses to the second stage.</p>

tags:
#Irish News #Uncategorised #Children #energy drinks #energy drinks bill #Health #Senator Sarah O'Reilly #Senator Sharon Keogan


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330520
title: A direct response to Deputies Coppinger and Murphy
author: ;John McGuirk
link: https://gript.ie/a-direct-response-to-deputies-coppinger-and-murphy/
hash: yX�2c5�0�XK��@n
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
[unable to retrieve full-text content]<p>Thoughts on a long, and strange, press conference.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://gript.ie/a-direct-response-to-deputies-coppinger-and-murphy/">A direct response to Deputies Coppinger and Murphy</a> appeared first on <a href="https://gript.ie/">Gript</a>.</p>

tags:
#Comment Ireland #Comment World #Featured #Featured Picks #Highlights #Irish News #Ben Scallan #Media #Paul Murphy #People Before Profit #Ruth Coppinger #Socialist Party


guid: 1030026 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Trump Not Going To Istanbul, As Kremlin Downplays 'Direct' Ukraine Peace Talks
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: up&�MUo�ҩm�WL�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Trump Not Going To Istanbul, As Kremlin Downplays 'Direct' Ukraine Peace Talks</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Kremlin on Tuesday affirmed that "the Russian side continues to prepare for the negotiations that are scheduled to take place on Thursday." This after on Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to resume direct negotiations with Kiev, and proposed the Istanbul talks.</p>

<p>Ukrainian President Zelensky then made a<strong> performative gesture</strong> - likely more meant to prove to the White House that he's 'willing' - saying he's <strong>ready to fly to Istanbul in person and urged Putin to do the same</strong>.</p>

<p>Putin spokesman Dimitry Peskov when grilled by reporters on Tuesday <strong>downplayed the whole event</strong>, describing that direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul later this week are merely "still possible".</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/putintrumpsillouette_0.jpg?itok=jYXxgRbG" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/putintrumpsillouette_0.jpg?itok=jYXxgRbG"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="72783fd3-af34-434a-8751-65da2b15d4cb" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/putintrumpsillouette_0.jpg?itok=jYXxgRbG" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>As for revealing the line-up for the Russian delegation, and who is expected lead, Peskov said "we will announce it as soon as the president [Putin] deems it necessary."</p>

<p>Despite some sensational recent headlines and statements, one thing we can be sure <em>will not</em> happen is President Putin's personal presence. And per the latest from Reuters, <strong>President Trump is not going to be there in Turkey either</strong> (after on Monday he actually <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-turkey-president-floats-joining-russia-ukraine-peace-talks">floated the possibility</a>):</p>

<ul><li>KELLOGG, WITKOFF ARE HEADING TO ISTANBUL THIS WEEK: REUTERS</li>
	<li>FORMAT OF TALKS IN TURKEY WITH KELLOGG, WITKOFF UNCLEAR: REUTERS</li>
</ul><p>"All of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Turkey. This is the right idea. We can change a lot," Zelensky had said.</p>

<p>And Trump had responded by saying he was <strong>"thinking about actually flying over" </strong>– which would have to happen immediately on the heels of his big Gulf visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE.</p>

<p>Zelensky has meanwhile insisted that any talks should be <strong>preceded by the start of a 30-day ceasefire</strong> – which Washington appears to be backing, but which the Kremlin has already rejected.</p>

<p><em>Really, all the talk of pushing to get Putin in Istanbul to negotiate in person was about generating mainstream media headlines like the following:</em></p>

<p><em><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/trumpistanbultalks.jpg?itok=gmXpqi6y" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/trumpistanbultalks.jpg?itok=gmXpqi6y"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c8c898eb-6260-4b0d-bf16-60271e40cac3" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="438" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/trumpistanbultalks.jpg?itok=gmXpqi6y" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></em></p>

<p>Moscow worries that such a lengthy pause in fighting would only be used by Ukrainian forces to rearm and regroup along the front lines, at a moment they are exhausted and steadily losing ground.</p>

<p>Peskov told reporters further, "[Western] Europe is, after all, entirely on Ukraine’s side. It cannot claim to have an unbiased approach… Its approach is not balanced, it is rather pro-war, aimed at continuing the fighting, which is in sharp contrast to the approach demonstrated, for example, by Moscow or Washington," <a href="https://www.rt.com/russia/617461-kremlin-ukraine-talks-peskov/">according</a> to Russian media.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T15:45:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 11:45</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-not-going-istanbul-kremlin-downplays-istanbul-talks-ukraine


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330531
title: PBP accused of hypocrisy
author: ;Gript Video
link: https://gript.ie/pbp-accused-of-hypocrisy/
hash: �W�,�T�KU��7[/
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/THUMBNAIL_-copy-3.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Dear Reader,</strong></p>
<p>It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.</p>
<p>But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.</p>
<p>We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.</p>
<p>But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.</p>
<p>What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.</p>
<p>That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.</p>
<p>With gratitude,</p>
<p><strong>John</strong></p>

tags:
#Irish News #Videos #Ben Scallan #Jack Horgan-Jones #Louise Burne #People Before Profit #Plinth #Ruth Coppinger


guid: 1030108 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: "It's As If God Has A Sense Of Humor..."
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/its-if-god-has-sense-humor
hash: [nK��?��Z"�U���
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">"It's As If God Has A Sense Of Humor..."</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/05/get_a_load_of_the_pope_s_brothers.html"><em>Authored by Monica Showalter via AmericanThinker.com,</em></a></p>

<h2>Get a load of the pope's brothers...</h2>

<p>It's as if God has a sense of humor.</p>

<p>Imagine getting elected to the 2,000-year-old Chair of St. Peter. You'd become the head of state of an unbroken succession of popes as well as the leader of the world's largest religion, one watched and followed closely by others, every word you said dissected closely. Your blessings would be sought, you'd deliver the global pieties, you'd avoid grubby politics, focusing on the tenets of your faith.</p>

<p>But then, you have these guys behind you, your two brothers, at  least one of whom loves himself some Trump.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">“When he switched to speaking Spanish, I said to myself: ‘quit showing off, you little jerk.’” — Pope Leo’s oldest brother Louis <a href="https://t.co/o3ATbsvSRa">pic.twitter.com/o3ATbsvSRa</a></p>
— Christopher Hale (@chrisjollyhale) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisjollyhale/status/1921633317863952697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>It's pretty fun, actually, given that the pope is trying to keep himself a bit of a mystery, a man for all people, a man above the political fray.</p>

<p>Here are some of older brother Lou's tweets:</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">The new pope’s brother is based <a href="https://t.co/o50Q5vsFKG">pic.twitter.com/o50Q5vsFKG</a></p>
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) <a href="https://twitter.com/Richard_Harambe/status/1921632972467310745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Pope Leo's eldest brother Lou is a based Facebook boomer that lives in Florida.<br><br>
We are so back. <a href="https://t.co/Dedzlvl9wi">pic.twitter.com/Dedzlvl9wi</a></p>
— Conor Coutts (@_CCoutts_) <a href="https://twitter.com/_CCoutts_/status/1921658093139841199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Pope Leo’s brother is a big J.D. Vance fan.<br><br>
Awesome. <a href="https://t.co/nV3LiXCoSW">pic.twitter.com/nV3LiXCoSW</a></p>
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) <a href="https://twitter.com/GrageDustin/status/1921363115146412284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Pope’s brother <a href="https://t.co/gdcfeXU8Jl">pic.twitter.com/gdcfeXU8Jl</a></p>
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1921321755123056803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">from rhe Pope's brother's facebook <a href="https://t.co/4GeBZFILYx">pic.twitter.com/4GeBZFILYx</a></p>
— chem (@ObamaChemtrail) <a href="https://twitter.com/ObamaChemtrail/status/1921686206254928313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">This is the new Pope's brother, Lou Prevost. <a href="https://t.co/GoePslCnMX">pic.twitter.com/GoePslCnMX</a></p>
— Lisa Whicker (@Providential) <a href="https://twitter.com/Providential/status/1921330536972181687?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">The new POPE's brother knows the truth about Nixon and Watergate Nixon!<br><br>
In fact the new Pope's brother is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MAGA</a>! <a href="https://t.co/pue8aBMx6h">pic.twitter.com/pue8aBMx6h</a></p>
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/1921626907512074570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Turns out the Pope’s brother in Florida is a massive Trump-supporting patriot <a href="https://t.co/RLvxGrq2Yw">pic.twitter.com/RLvxGrq2Yw</a></p>
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1921313780505395329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>So he's totally normal, working class American, just like the rest of us, part of the Catholic majority here who obviously voted for President Trump. And the fact that the brothers seem to be fairly close as family members pretty well confirms to us normals also that that is the kind of talk the new pope heard around his house growing up. He wasn't a rarified intellectual, he knew very well what the smell of the sheep was, because he had his brothers.</p>

<p>Here's one of the funnier vignettes from his election, on the phone with his brother John trying to tell him he's now the pope:</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Hearing the actual Pope Leo XIV say "Why didn't you answer your phone" in the most annoyed brother tone ever really humanized that position and makes me feel closer to the church <a href="https://t.co/y3akbyf1rT">pic.twitter.com/y3akbyf1rT</a></p>
— Bruno ◢ ◤ (@Brunazzooo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brunazzooo/status/1921215573016351147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>When Pope Leo XIV was first elected, I expressed hope that his exposure to the ordinary people of Peru would probably ensure that he wasn't a leftist wokester of the liberation theology stripe, because ordinary Peruvians often can sound like Trump voters.</p>

<p>As it happens, he didn't need to go that far, they were right there in his own family. While I doubt he is as conservative as Lou is, he's probably more conservative than he lets on, given the wokester atmosphere of the Vatican during the time of Pope Francis, where it would not have been tolerated, and he least knows and understands conservatives, which seemed to be a big problem for Pope Francis, who didn't seem to have ever been exposed to them. There are reports that he, too, was a registered Republican, and voted in the last election.</p>

<p>The brothers, while chatty with the press, are pretty careful to protect him. Being conservatives, they clearly know what the mainstream media is about and do not give them anything they can hang on him, which is what they are looking for.</p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="337" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qXOGP9pr-Ik" title="Pope Leo XIV's brothers describe growing up with new pontiff, his path to papacy" width="600" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe></p>

<p>Brother Lou said he hadn't heard from his brother, and actually wondered if based on his new position, he would ever get to talk with him again. If the pope is distancing himself from his brother because of his tweets, that won't be a good thing. But if he eventually talks to him, away from the press, which was what interrupted the first call, it will be all good for the rest of us.</p>

<p>I think he will. And if so, it's a reassuring thing for those of us in the U.S. that he's not a crazed Trump-hater and has actually been around conservatives, which is a lot more than a lot of them can say.</p>

<p>Fox New host Raymond Arroyo predicts that Pope Leo XIV will probably get along better with President Trump than anyone can imagine, and with brothers like that, the rest of us have ample reason for reassurance that he's not in that little leftist bubble so many of them are, based on we have seen in the past several years. Trump might even contact the brothers for the best advice on how to deal with the new pope. Who would be better?</p>

<p><strong>Yes, it seems God has a sense of humor.</strong></p>

<p><strong><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="07a6134d-d70d-4784-9494-6d8fcf0cee5f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="389" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/zh%20beef%20init.JPG?itok=Sa-VniFy" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></p>
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<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T16:05:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 12:05</span>


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330539
title: ‘Daffodil man’ jailed for abuse of boys
author: ;Fatima Gunning
link: https://gript.ie/daffodil-man-jailed-for-abuse-of-boys/
hash: Q<`�M��b���LnӘ
tags: #Featured #Irish News #child sex abuse #Courts #Crime
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Daff-man-e1747166999200.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>A man with a long history of volunteer work who was formerly a sacristan at White Friar Street Church has been jailed for two years for the historic sexual abuse of three young boys. </strong></p>
<p><span>The Circuit Criminal Court heard how James Gilleran,</span> <span>of Parkview Court, Blackhorse Avenue, Cabra, Dublin 7</span><span>, would go around the Iveagh Trust flats on a bike recruiting young boys to be part of the 117th Francis St. Scouts, and how he “abused” this “position of trust” in order to get close to the children. </span></p>
<p><span>Although he was arrested in 2022 after the victims spotted him on the Late Late Show in 2021 where he appeared as part of his volunteer work as “Daffodil man’ for the Irish Cancer Society, the abuse dates back to the 1980s. </span></p>
<p><iframe title="Daff Man, James Gilleran, more than 25 years volunteering" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aysnLwBBwSE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin">[embedded content]</iframe></p>
<p><span>The RTÉ appearance triggered a “series of communication” between the victims who made statements to an Garda Síochána which resulted in an investigation being launched by the Divisional Protective Service Unit at Kevin Street Garda Station.</span></p>
<p><span>All three abuse survivors expressed a wish that they be named to raise awareness surrounding child sexual abuse. </span></p>
<p><strong>Child  abused in boiler room of White Friar Street church. </strong></p>
<p><span>The first victim, Rory Patchell, described Gilleran as being “very generous” at first and described how he used to buy him gifts when he was 10- 15 years of age. One of the gifts was a basketball, and another was some arrows for a bow the child had. </span></p>
<p><span>Gilleran lived in a bedsit in Sundrive Park, Kimmage where he invited the child and proceeded to show him porn magazines featuring pictures of naked women which were produced from under a mattress. </span></p>
<p><span>Patchell described being brought to the boiler room of White Friar Street Church, where Gilleran was a sacristan at the time, where his private parts were touched over his trousers before Gilleran “masturbated himself”. </span></p>
<p><span>The victim expressed that he wasn’t sure what age he was when this happened to him. </span></p>
<p><span>On another occasion in 1985 on the day of a boxing match of Barry McGuigan, the Patchell went to stay the night at a hall where there was an event where children had been invited to sleep over. </span></p>
<p><span>The young boy said he went to make tea in the kitchen and that Gilleran had touched his genitals again, also over his trousers. He said he didn’t recall how this encounter had ended, but that he was 12 years of age at the time. </span></p>
<p><span>During a sponsored cycle to Longford, Gilleran had been invited to stay the night at the Patchell family home. The victim said that Gilleran had come into his room and touched his face “and stuff” on this occasion, the court heard. </span></p>
<p><span>Patchell delivered a short victim impact statement to the court in which he said he had been “groomed and sexually abused” at a time when there was “no counsellor and nobody to talk to”.</span></p>
<p><span>He said he had “suppressed the memories” and “survived” until “I saw him on national television”. </span></p>
<p><span>“I stand here as a survivor with all my life ahead of me with my loving wife and children, and you have nothing.” he said, addressing Gilleran in the dock. </span></p>
<p><strong>Child pushed onto bed and assaulted. </strong></p>
<p><span>The second victim of abuse at the hands of Gilleran was Stephen Devlin who also came into contact with him at the Iveagh Trust flats.</span></p>
<p><span>Devlin reported that Gilleran had licked his face amid which he had taken out his false teeth when the pair was at his flat.  Gilleran pushed the child onto the bed and touched his backside on this occasion. </span></p>
<p><span>He asked the child to touch his penis, with Devlin saying that he could see it was erect but refused to touch it. </span></p>
<p><span>Devlin had joined the scouts at the age of 13. </span></p>
<p><span>Reading his victim impact statement before the court he said that Gilleran was “trusted “ and a “leader”. </span></p>
<p><span>“I trusted him completely, as did my mother,” he said, adding that she had believed that the abuser would provide  “guidance and safety”.</span></p>
<p><span>“James approached me with a warm smile,” he said, adding that Gilleran was “ like the Pied Piper of the 117th scouts.”</span></p>
<p><span>He said Gilleran had “fooled” him and his parents by “presenting as someone who cared for boys”. </span></p>
<p><span>“The effects of his betrayal have had lifelong consequences,” he said, which have meant that “moments of joy and innocence” in his life have been “overshadowed by what happened”. </span></p>
<p><span>He said that he had realised that the abuse was not his fault as he got older, but that his trust in people “has been shattered”. </span></p>
<p><span>He said that he questions if his own children are “safe and secure”, and recalled how his own mother had to live with “knowing that her trust in the scouts” had led to her son “being damaged”. </span></p>
<p><strong>Child given pornographic magazines and beer at flat of abuser. </strong></p>
<p><span>The third victim, Greg Stafford, was 11 years old when his abuse took place. </span></p>
<p><span>The court heard that Gilleran had taken him to the cinema to see Splash and that he had bought the child drinks and popcorn. </span></p>
<p><span>After this he went to Gilleran’s flat where he was given a can of beer and pornographic magazines to look at. </span></p>
<p><span>The victim recalled that Gilleran had asked him to tell him what he thought of the magazines, but that he had only been interested in the football that was on the television. </span></p>
<p><span>He described how Gilleran had stood up and held the boy’s hand on his crotch area before putting his own hand on the victim’s crotch and began to breathe into his ear and lick his face. </span></p>
<p><span>“It’s ok, all the lads do this,” he told the child. </span></p>
<p><span>The evidence read before the court said that the victim went to the door and said he wanted to go home, and that Gilleran had walked him to the bus stop where he left him alone. </span></p>
<p><span>Stafford said that he could still feel his abuser’s breath on his face “all those years later”, and that he had “gone home and cried his eyes out”. </span></p>
<p><span>In his victim impact statement, Stafford described how he hid the abuse from his mother as he thought she would be “disappointed” in him, but that “trying to keep it secret” caused him mental health problems.</span></p>
<p><span>He recalled being an innocent child who was “left at a bus stop to find my way home crying,”. </span></p>
<p><span>explaining how the abuse, “never leaves you”, he recalled attempts on his own life and that he had been committed to St. Brendan’s after putting his family “through hell” and that</span> <span>his own four kids are not allowed to join or be part of clubs,.</span></p>
<p><span>He recalled how his mother had “blamed herself for the remainder of her life,” adding, </span><span>“It literally broke her heart,”. </span></p>
<p><span>“Our last conversation was her still telling me she was sorry” and him  telling her it was neither of their fault, he said. </span></p>
<p><span>“Even though it was one day of abuse, a person’s life is destroyed in many different ways,” he said. </span></p>
<p><span>“The pain is so real that it ruins lives”</span></p>
<p><strong>Arrest and interview at Kevin St. Garda Station.</strong></p>
<p><span>Gilleran was arrested on the 6th of July 2022 arrested and taken to Kevin St. where he did not accept any wrongdoing, the court heard. </span></p>
<p><span>He has one previous conviction for a sexual assault contrary to section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, 1990 which dates back to 1994 when he received a 4 year prison sentence which was reduced to 2 years on appeal, of which one and a half years was actually served in jail. </span></p>
<p><span>This assault involved an individual who was attending a Cerebral palsy clinic who Gilleran had helped to the bathroom, and in doing so kissed the victim on the mouth and touched his penis outside his trousers. </span></p>
<p><span>Gilleran’s defending counsel said that his client  is a gay man but hid his sexuality before entering into a civil partnership with a man named Tony in 2011, who has since passed away. He has a range of medical issues and experienced a “significant cardiac event”. </span></p>
<p><span>He now accepts his wrongdoing and has written a letter of remorse. </span></p>
<p><span>Gilleran entered into a psychiatric  ward in 1987 for a period, the court heard. </span></p>
<p><strong>Sentence </strong></p>
<p><span>Judge Orla Crowe said that all of the children Gilleran abused had been “entrusted to his care” and that they were “young and innocent”. </span></p>
<p><span>She said that the impact “clearly has had ramifications through the lives of those people” even if abuse was one day calling it a “gross violation of children”, and of their “bodily autonomy”. </span></p>
<p><span>The abuse was also a violation of their “trust” and “happiness”, she said. </span></p>
<p><span>“They were children, they were small, they were innocent,” she said. </span></p>
<p><span>She said that the abuse was “very predatory and included the  use of alcohol and porn”, and that the offending was “inherently serious” and “must be marked with a custodial sentence”. </span></p>
<p><span>She pointed to the previous sexual assault conviction as an aggravating factor, while taking into consideration his age, that he had ultimately pleaded guilty, his remorse, and his “considerable medical difficulties” as mitigation. </span></p>
<p><span>Noting that the maximum sentence for the offending imposed on counts  1,2,3,4,and 6, of the indictment, she set a headline sentence of 4 years before sentencing Gilleran to 2 year sentences for the offending to run concurrently.</span></p>


guid: 1030088 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Aimed At Pressuring Big Pharma; Goldman Says Trump's Drug Exec. Order "Symbolic, Not Substantial"
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: q�LC�󟤰^,�Cg#
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Aimed At Pressuring Big Pharma; Goldman Says Trump's Drug Exec. Order "Symbolic, Not Substantial"</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>On Monday, President Donald Trump signed the <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/trump-announces-order-reduce-prescription-drug-prices">Most Favored Nation</a> (MFN) Executive Order on drug pricing, aiming to pressure the pharmaceutical industry to lower prices by linking them to those paid in other developed countries. The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to communicate these international price benchmarks to drug manufacturers. If significant progress isn't achieved within several months, HHS is instructed to initiate a rulemaking process to enforce MFN-based pricing.</p>

<p>Following the MFN EO on drug pricing, Goldman analysts Asad Haider and team noted that stocks most exposed to the EO—such as Regeneron and Merck—rallied sharply, as both the text of the order and the subsequent press briefing alleviated worst-case fears priced into pharma stocks. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_10-17-05.png?itok=hWHayGcO" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-13_10-17-05.png?itok=hWHayGcO"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="565a835a-e645-41e9-99e1-0c311a01fe7c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="119" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-13_10-17-05.png?itok=hWHayGcO" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>According to Goldman's political economist Alec Phillips, the<strong> EO appears more designed to increase the Trump administration's negotiation leverage than to implement sweeping reforms immediately</strong>. The analyst expects the HHS to impose MFN-based pricing if no "significant progress" is made within several months.</p>

<p>The EO's language is legally cautious. It repeatedly cites the need to act "consistent with law" and lacks clarity on scope—such as whether it applies to Medicare Part B, D, or both.</p>

<p>"<strong>Overall, while the EO appears intended to create leverage for negotiation</strong> with the industry and is likely to increase pressure on companies to announce some concessions, our political economist notes that the process appears to be in early stages and does not expect near-term implementation of the measures contemplated in the EO," Haider told clients on Tuesday.</p>

<p>Haider continued, "<strong>Our net takeaway is that while the EO removes a potential worst-case scenario</strong>, we expect drug pricing to remain a focus and note that clarity across other policy, regulatory, and tariff-related vectors is needed for large-cap biopharma to see a sustained recovery." </p>

<p>Here's Alec Phillips' first-take </p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>President Trump's executive order (EO) on "most favored nation" (MFN) drug pricing </em><strong><em>could lead to discussions with pharmaceutical companies regarding potential price concessions but does not look likely to lead to substantial near-term policy changes</em></strong><em>. It orders the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) to communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers based on prices paid in other developed economies. </em><strong><em>If "significant progress" has not been achieved on drug pricing after an unspecified period of time—we would expect the White House to give the industry at least several months—the order instructs HHS to propose a "rulemaking plan" to impose MFN pricing</em></strong><em>. The EO is unclear on whether this would apply only to drugs covered under Medicare and, if so, whether it would apply to all drugs and whether it would apply to Medicare Part B, D or both. In the event "significant progress" is not made, the EO also instructs: (1) HHS to certify safety of drug reimportation, (2) FTC and DOJ to take enforcement action against anti-competitive practices, (3) the Dept. of Commerce to "review and consider" exports of pharmaceuticals, and (4) FDA to "review and potentially modify or revoke" drug approvals. The order also instructs US Trade Representative to guard against "unreasonable or discriminatory" practices in other countries that raise prices in the US, including foreign price controls, and tells HHS to "consider" a program to sell direct to consumer at MFN prices.</em></p>

<p><em>Overall, the </em><strong><em>EO appears intended to create leverage for negotiation with the industry and is likely to increase pressure on companies to announce some concessions</em></strong><em>. That said, this process appears to be in early stages and </em><strong><em>we would not expect near-term implementation of any of the measures contemplated in the EO</em></strong><em>. Later this year, the main question will be whether the administration has authority to implement these kinds of changes unilaterally. With regard to Medicare, the administration has authority to negotiate discounts on 15 drugs this year under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and could potentially pursue broader price concessions as part of a CMMI demonstration. However, Medicaid pricing (rebates) is set in statute, and the administration has limited ability to constrain prices in the private market. In theory, Congress could affect these areas, but for now neither looks likely to be included in the House's budget reconciliation package.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Overall, analysts view the EO as <strong>primarily a negotiation tool rather than a blueprint for immediate reform</strong>. The goal is to bring big pharma to the table to negotiate lower drug prices, allowing the Trump administration to advance its price reduction agenda.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-13T16:25:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 05/13/2025 - 12:25</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/goldman-trump-drug-exec-order-symbolic-not-substantial-aimed-pressuring-big-pharma


guid: https://karlof1.substack.com/p/the-14th-arctic-council-session
title: The 14th Arctic Council Session
author: ;Karl Sanchez
link: https://karlof1.substack.com/p/the-14th-arctic-council-session
hash: D<޽?�efQS����J
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cb54df-6d42-43fc-b811-6c649e797b6b_720x405.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" data-sanitized-class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"><div data-sanitized-class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cb54df-6d42-43fc-b811-6c649e797b6b_720x405.webp" width="720" height="405" data-attrs='{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/11cb54df-6d42-43fc-b811-6c649e797b6b_720x405.webp","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":405,"width":720,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false,"align":null}' alt="" fetchpriority="high" data-sanitized-class="sizing-normal"></picture><div data-sanitized-class="image-link-expand"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container restack-image"><path d="M3 12a9 9 0 0 1 9-9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1 6.74 2.74L21 8"></path><path d="M21 3v5h-5"></path><path d="M21 12a9 9 0 0 1-9 9 9.75 9.75 0 0 1-6.74-2.74L3 16"></path><path d="M8 16H3v5"></path></div><div data-sanitized-class="pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></div></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>First place Landscapes photo by: Karli Zschogner: In connection with the launch of the second edition of <em>Pathways</em>, the Arctic Council Magazine, the Council hosted a photo contest, inviting people across the Arctic and beyond to share what the Arctic looks like through their lens. </p><p>Several Gym members expressed interest in what’s happening up North with the Arctic Council given the hostility towards Russia. It’s still alive and in better health than most assume primarily because of the power Russia exerts—hard and soft—in the Arctic. Today two items were published by the MFA, <a href="https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/2016971/">a PR</a> about the session and <a href="https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/2016976/">the speech</a> delivered by Russia’s representative, Vladimir Maslennikov. First we’ll look at the Press Release:</p><blockquote><p>On May 12, the 14th session <a href="https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/rso/arkticeskij-sovet/">of the Arctic Council</a> (AC) was held via videoconferencing, during which the chairmanship of the Arctic Council for 2025–2027 passed from Norway to Denmark.</p><p>Following the meeting, a joint statement was adopted <em><strong>reaffirming the commitment of the Arctic states to peace, stability and cooperation in high latitudes,</strong></em> and the main areas of further cooperation within the framework of the Arctic Council for sustainable development, environmental protection and the interests of indigenous peoples were identified. <em><strong>Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of strengthening the potential of the Council, a key multilateral platform that is in demand for developing effective collective decisions on the most pressing issues on the Arctic agenda.</strong></em></p><p>In <a href="https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/2016976/">his speech</a>, the head of the Russian delegation, Director of the Department of European Problems of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Senior Official in the Arctic Council Vladimir Maslennikov emphasised the strategic importance of the Arctic for the Russian Federation, noted the readiness for equal cooperation with all responsible partners and the need to resume the Council's full-scale work.</p><p>The materials of the session are available on the Arctic Council website (<a href="https://arctic-council.org/">arctic-council.org</a>). [My Emphasis]</p></blockquote><p>Very positive outcome. Now for the speech that provides specifics:</p><blockquote><p>Mr Chairman,</p><p>Heads of Delegation of the <a href="https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/rso/arkticeskij-sovet/">Arctic Council</a> Member States and Permanent Participants,</p><p>I am glad to see all the participants of the Arctic Council at the 14th meeting of our organisation.</p><p>The importance of the Arctic for the strategic interests of our country is enshrined in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, updated in March 2023. As the largest Arctic power, Russia is invariably interested in maintaining peace, stability and constructive cooperation in the Arctic, balanced socio-economic development of the region in the interests of improving the quality of life in the North. <em><strong>Other priority areas that guided Russia's chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023 include preserving the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, protecting biodiversity and the unique Arctic environment, climate issues, responding to emergencies, and promoting scientific research in high latitudes.</strong></em></p><p>The past three years have not been easy for multilateral cooperation in the Arctic. As confrontation has escalated in the high latitudes, <em><strong>which were once a territory of exclusively peaceful cooperation, most regional formats of cooperation have degraded. The Arctic Council, in fact, remains the only surviving structure, but it does not work at full capacity.</strong></em></p><p>The final document of today's event will be the Joint Statement of the Arctic Council member states and its "permanent participants". The document is a compromise, but this does not diminish its importance.<em><strong> It is important that we were able to reaffirm our common desire to strengthen the role of the Arctic Council as a key body both for multilateral cooperation in the Arctic and for the preservation of peace and dialogue in high latitudes. In the current conditions, this is already a lot.</strong></em></p><p>Next year we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Arctic Council. The results of this round date depend on all of us.<em><strong> We are convinced that the interests of all residents of the North, as well as the international community as a whole, correspond to the early resumption of the Council's full-scale work on an equal and non-politicised basis.</strong></em> Without regular meetings of the Committee of Senior Officials, plenary meetings of the Council, and the restoration of political dialogue, it is hardly possible to imagine the organisation effectively fulfilling its mandate enshrined in the 1996 Ottawa Founding Declaration and its other fundamental documents. The activities of the Arctic Council's working and expert groups will remain suppressed and virtually "invisible" to the international community. The implementation of the organisation's projects and initiatives that are in demand will be constantly postponed.</p><p><em><strong>It is not in the interests of the organization itself to continue the functioning of the Arctic Council in this interim state. Failure to resume its full-fledged work in the foreseeable future will not only undermine the international authority and credibility of the Arctic Council, but will also inevitably raise the question of its "added value" as a whole.</strong></em> We hope that we will approach the transfer of the Danish chairmanship to our Swedish colleagues in May 2027 with more significant developments than today.</p><p>As President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the 6th 'Arctic: Territory of Dialogue' International Arctic Forum on March 27 in Murmansk, "Russia has been and continues to be in favour of equal cooperation in the region, and is ready to work together not only with the Arctic states, but also with all those who, like us, share responsibility for a stable and sustainable future and are able to make balanced decisions."</p><p><em><strong>We are convinced that the Arctic Council still has the potential to restore the "spirit of cooperation." The Arctic countries bear the main responsibility for the present and future of the Arctic, and many of the region's challenges require collective and balanced solutions.</strong></em></p><p>The next two years of Denmark's chairmanship of the Arctic Council will be truly decisive for its future prospects. We sincerely wish our Danish colleagues strength and good luck in this area.</p><p>Norway's outgoing "watch" in the Council has done an impressive amount of work, which needs to be increased. Thank you, Norway, and we thank Oslo and the Arctic Council Secretariat for these efforts.</p><p>I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory over Nazism, a truly important date for all progressive humanity.</p><p>Thank you for your attention. [My Emphasis]</p></blockquote><p>The future of the Arctic Council will be significantly tested with ultra Russophobic Denmark being its Chair over the next two years. There is also the challenge to the region’s peace by the Outlaw US Empire’s lust for acquiring Greenland regardless of how its residents feel about the matter—the last poll I saw showed 85% wanting independence, not annexation by the Empire. At the end of the PR is a link to the Arctic Council’s website which has a great deal of information plus a new edition of its magazine. Readers curious about the Arctic should give it a look and save it to your favorites. Oh, and it’s in English with a Russian option.</p><p>*<br>*<br>*<br><em>Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a <strong>monthly/yearly pledge</strong> to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!</em></p><p></p><p data-attrs='{"url":"https://karlof1.substack.com/subscribe?","text":"Subscribe now","action":null,"class":null}' data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton" data-sanitized-class="button-wrapper"><a href="https://karlof1.substack.com/subscribe?" data-sanitized-class="button primary"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>

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guid: yt:video:_dk593Otnes
title: Pierre Poilievre reacts to PM Mark Carney’s cabinet – May 13, 2025
author: ;cpac
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dk593Otnes
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