Month: July 2024

In 2023, American Baby Boomers owned 52% of the country’s net wealth despite comprising only 20% of the population.

Based on Federal Reserve data, this graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, illustrates the distribution of wealth in the United States from 1990 to 2023 by generation.

Generations are defined by birth year:

• Silent Generation (born before 1946)

• Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)

• Gen Xers (born 1965-1980)

• Millennials (born 1981-1996)

Baby Boomers Own Over Half of the Wealth

Baby Boomers are often considered one of the luckier generations in terms of timing.

Most did not experience wars and benefited from strong economic growth driven by falling interest rates, a roaring stock market, global monetary expansion, and high earnings. Consequently, this group’s wealth grew from $4.5 trillion in 1990 to $76.2 trillion in 2023.

Meanwhile, Gen X’s share of American wealth rose from 15% in 2013 to 26% in 2023. In contrast, with most of the cohort over 80 years old, the Silent Generation saw its share of the national wealth total drop from 79% in 1990 to 13% in 2024.

Contrary to their ‘broke generation’ label, millennials have defied expectations. They saw their wealth reach historic highs after the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing more wealth by their 40s than previous generations. In a significant leap, millennials’ share of wealth in America increased from a modest 1.4% to a promising 9.2% between 1990 and 2023.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out this graphic, which shows the retirement savings that Americans currently hold.

Authored by Tad Dabrowski via Wirepoints.org,

The latest state-to-state migration numbers from the Internal Revenue Service confirm what Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker consistently denies: Illinois is bleeding people.

IRS data for the 2022 tax filing year released last week shows Illinois once again lost out in the battle for Americans as they migrate between states each year. In all, Illinois netted a loss of 87,000 residents, with 175,000 moving into Illinois from other states and 262,000 moving out. That loss was the third-largest in the country, with only California and New York netting bigger losses of residents. Wirepoints documented in detail last week who were the nation’s biggest winners and losers overall.

Not only did Illinois lose a net 87,000 residents, but the state also lost the incomes those residents took with them. Illinois gave up a net $9.8 billion in Adjusted Gross Incomes (AGI), with outgoing residents taking with them more than $19.3 billion in AGI, while those moving in only brought in $9.5 billion. The net loss of AGI was also the nation’s third largest.

In all, Illinois lost residents, on net, to 40 states, giving up a total 87,877 residents, while it netted a tiny gain of 632 residents from 7 states. Illinois broke even with Hawaii and Nebraska.

The full detail of Illinois vs. each state in the country is provided in the appendix below.

The IRS report of more Illinois resident losses piles on top of those already reported by the U.S. Census and a host of moving companies like United Van Lines. Illinois was one of only three states in the country to shrink during the last Census decennial count (2010-2020), while the last three years of Census estimates show another 240,000 in fresh population losses. The moving companies, meanwhile, have consistently reported in recent years Illinois as having the first or second most net outbound traffic in the country.

Illinois’ loss of population relative to the rest of the country has resulted in a major drop in Illinois representation in Congress. Whereas the state had 24 U.S. House Representatives after the 1970 Census, today the state has just 17. Illinois most recently dropped from 18 as a result of the 2020 decennial count.

The IRS data is particularly important because it is not based on surveys or statistical analysis. Instead, it is hard data based on actual tax returns. The IRS knows where each tax filer lives and if and when they move. It also knows each tax filer’s income and the number of dependents in each family. That makes it easy to calculate which states are attracting the most people and how incomes are shifting between the states. It also allows trends to be tracked.

A look at IRS data since 2010 shows Illinois has accumulated a net loss of more than 1 million people due to domestic outmigration to other states, only partially made up by births and international immigration. Those out-migration losses are among the worst in the country.

It’s important to note that the IRS data does not track the movement of people who do not file tax returns. That will become increasingly important as the record number of illegal immigrants flowing into the U.S. are eventually counted. Illinois’ population numbers in the 2030 decennial count could be significantly impacted by illegal immigration.

The big winners vs. Illinois

Unsurprisingly, Florida was the biggest net taker of Illinoisans and their wealth in 2022.

As the IRS reported, 12, 521 Floridians moved to Illinois, but 31,620 Illinoisans moved to Florida. The net gain for Florida was 19,099 new residents from Illinois alone. That gain also came with a net of nearly $3.3 billion in new AGI for Florida. In all, a massive gain for Florida and a massive loss for Illinois.

That same dismal story for Illinois can be repeated several times over vis-à-vis Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, Wisconsin and more. The full data on people and income movement between Illinois and the nation’s other 49 states can be found in the appendix.

A particularly troubling fact is that every one of Illinois’ neighbors took people from the Prairie State. Indiana netted a gain of 9,196 residents vs. Illinois. Wisconsin picked up 6,323. Kentucky, 1,113.

In all, Illinois lost a net 21,050 residents to its six neighboring states.

Acknowledging a problem

Gov. Pritzker has repeatedly refused to acknowledge Illinois’ population and outmigration woes despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He’s even said that the IRS migration data “is not migration data.” The collapse in congressional representation alone should be a wake up call that Illinois is consistently losing the nationwide competition for people, their talents and their incomes.

That lack of acknowledgment means the governor and the state’s General Assembly continue to ignore the major woes facing Illinoisans. The nation’s highest property taxes. The country’s second-highest gas taxes. A six-year high in violent crimes in Chicago. Twelve years in a row in which Chicago has led the nation in total homicides. A massive prioritization of illegal immigrants over the state’s own residents. An educational system which many parents, in Chicago in particular, continue to flee. A lack of school choice because lawmakers last year killed off the state’s only small, tax-credit scholarship. The list could go on and on.

Increasingly, Illinoisans can’t see their future here. Until things change – and it starts with an acknowledgement of the problems – they’ll continue to flee.

Read more from Wirepoints:

• IRS migration data: Big blue states biggest losers of people, wealth. Big red states biggest winners. – A Wirepoints 50-state survey

• When it comes to population growth, there is no greater contrast than Illinois and Florida

• New Census data: 75% of Illinois cities shrank last year, Chicago population drop nation’s 3rd-worst

• The well-educated are fleeing Illinois, too

*  *  *

Appendix

Missile and drone attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have disrupted crucial maritime shipping routes, sparking supply chain snarls. Major shipping companies have been forced to reroute tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid conflict. As a result, shipping rates have surged, and a key measure of global sea transport is on track for its largest annual increase since 2010.

Bloomberg cites new data from shipbroker Clarksons Research that reveals shipping activity measured in ton-miles is set for the second-largest annual increase on record and the highest since 2010. This is primarily because of the instability around critical maritime chokepoints across the Middle East.

The gauge of global sea transport, which multiplies the volume of cargo transported by the distance it sails, is nearing an increase of 5.1% compared to 2023, or 3.2 trillion ton-miles. The jump in the index comes as vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, adding thousands of miles and weeks to a journey from Asia to Europe.

Attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have only worsened in recent weeks. Houthi rebels have launched boat drone attacks against commercial vessels linked to Western nations. 

Clarkson analyst Trevor Crowe said longer journeys have been disappointing in the aims of reducing global carbon emissions. Meanwhile, he said an “encouraging start to the year” in trade volumes is also driving up ton miles, indicating that the rise isn’t just due to extended journeys.

Bloomberg noted, “The impact of the Red Sea disruption on ton miles has been most acutely felt in container shipping, with about 690 ships currently sailing around the Cape of Good Hope,” adding, “Average seaborne trade hauls will rise by 2.8% this year compared with 1.8% a year earlier.” 

As we’ve noted, a more conventional supply shock is underway—nowhere near the nuclear-level hit by government-enforced lockdowns several years ago. This has put a strain on global containerized shipping capacity, sending rates for 40-foot boxes soaring in recent months. 

Rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East signal further supply chain snarls. This underscores the continued need to improve supply chain resilience by reshoring production.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Steve Bannon on July 1 reported to a federal prison in Connecticut to begin a four-month sentence for a contempt-of-Congress conviction.

Mr. Bannon, 70, was sentenced in 2022 but his start date was pushed back as he appealed the conviction, arguing that he was following advice of counsel when he defied subpoenas from a U.S. House of Representatives committee.

A judge recently ordered him to report to prison on July 1, though, and attempts to overturn the order were rejected by an appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I’m proud of going to prison today,” Mr. Bannon said outside Federal Correctional Institution Danbury.

“If this is what it takes to stand up to tyranny … I’m proud to do it.”

Mr. Bannon, a one-time adviser to President Donald Trump, declined to cooperate with a House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. The House voted to recommend prosecution, and the U.S. Department of Justice brought contempt charges. Jurors convicted Mr. Bannon of two counts—one for not sitting for testimony and another for not providing documents the House sought.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said after he handed down the four-month sentence that Mr. Bannon in his appeal was bringing up serious issues that could result in the conviction being overturned, and said Mr. Bannon could remain free as the appeal was considered by the courts.

Mr. Bannon and his lawyers said the key question centered on the word “willfully” in federal law. The law in question bars willfully defying congressional subpoenas.

“Mr. Bannon believed his actions were in compliance with the law,” his lawyers said in a filing to the Supreme Court, highlighting how Mr. Bannon’s representatives had instructed him to not comply with the subpoenas until issues surrounding executive privilege, or privilege exerted by the president, were resolved.

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel in May rejected the appeal, finding that “‘willfully’ in Section 192 means only that the defendant deliberately and intentionally refused to comply with a congressional subpoena, and that this exact ‘advice of counsel’ defense is no defense at all.”

Judge Nichols said because of the ruling, a substantial question no longer remained and that Mr. Bannon must report to prison.

A last-ditch appeal to Supreme Court justices to pause that order was turned down by the court on June 28. None of the justices commented on the decision.

The case is still ongoing and could ultimately result in a ruling for Mr. Bannon, which was one reason his lawyers said justices should step in.

“If Mr. Bannon is denied release, he will be forced to serve his prison sentence before this court has a chance to consider a petition for a writ of certiorari, given the court’s upcoming summer recess,” the lawyers told the court.

Federal officials opposed the effort, saying Mr. Bannon should surrender and start his sentence in light of the appeals court ruling.

The House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted 3–2 to lodge a filing in Mr. Bannon’s case, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said, although the filing will not be submitted until after Mr. Bannon formally asks the full appeals court to consider his case.

The amicus brief “will be in support of neither party,” Mr. Johnson said. He said it “will withdraw certain arguments made by the House earlier in the litigation about the organization of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol during the prior Congress.”

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, told the Supreme Court in a brief that the subpoenas were flawed because the committee was not in compliance with House regulations since it did not have a ranking member appointed by the Republican minority.

Tens of millions of Americans will be firing up the barbecue grills this week, especially on July 4, to celebrate Independence Day with burgers, pork sausages, and chicken breasts. However, don’t expect any tremendous price discounts this week, mainly because of persistent inflationary pressures on food.

“Many Americans will be firing up the barbecue on July 4 to celebrate Independence Day, with hamburgers, pork sausages and chicken breasts among the perennial favorites for the summer holiday,” Bloomberg wrote in a commodity wrap on Sunday. 

The note continued, “Poultry fans may be in for a bit of sticker shock, though: wholesale boneless chicken breasts have soared 67% this year, more than quadruple beef and pork prices. Wholesale prices offer a leading indicator for what shoppers will eventually pay at the supermarket.” 

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost of a cookout for ten people will be around $71 this summer, up 5% from a year ago and up more than 30% from five years ago. 

The AFBF provided a price breakdown in year-over-year changes compared with 2023 prices for typical BBQ foods (list courtesy of CNBC):

• 2 pounds of ground beef, $12.77 (+11% vs. 2023)

• 2 pounds of chicken breasts, $7.83 (-4%)

• 3 pounds of pork chops, $15.49 (+8%)

• 1 pound of cheese, $3.57 (+1%)

• 1 package of hamburger buns, $2.41 (+7%)

• 2½ pounds of homemade potato salad, $3.32 (-4%)

• 32 ounces of pork and beans, $2.49 (+2%)

• 16 ounces of potato chips, $4.90 (+8%)

• 13-ounce package of chocolate chip cookies, $3.99 (+2%)

• ½ gallon of ice cream, $5.65 (+7%)

• 2 pints of strawberries, $4.61 (+1%)

• 2½ quarts of lemonade, $4.19 (+12%)

While Wells Fargo agricultural analysts recently noted that the worst food inflation is “in the rearview mirror,” food prices remain sky-high at home and away. 

Let’s remind readers about out-of-control food inflation under Bidenomics. 

A man reorders his identical Walmart shopping list from 2022 for 45 items.

2022: $126
2024: $414

The same basket of goods nearly quadrupled in price in just two years!!

We need more people to run this same exercise and share your videos. pic.twitter.com/PqubvdV7vS

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 27, 2024

In recent weeks, Goldman has advised clients that the best deals on food can be found at Walmart.

Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via RealClearInvestigations,

Topline: Under new rules passed with bipartisan support last July, federal lawmakers can charge their food and housing to taxpayers based on self-reported numbers. What could go wrong?

House members reimbursed themselves $5.2 million last year under the rules that critics say rely on the “honor system” instead of receipts, according to a new report from The Washington Post.

Key facts: Federal politicians are now “strongly encouraged,” but not required, to keep receipts of their reimbursable expenses. This helps to “reduce burdens” on the lawmakers, according to draft legislation from the House chief administrative officer.

Lawmakers do not have to publicly disclose what they’re being reimbursed for. 

The system is supposed to help legislators afford housing in Washington D.C. and in their home state. Politicians can’t be reimbursed for their mortgages, but they can bill taxpayers for insurance, utilities, maintenance and more. They can also spend $79 on food each day they’re on the Hill and less while traveling, per Politico.

The program dispersed cash to 319 of the 435 House members last year, split almost evenly among party lines according to the Post.

Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) were the top two spenders, each collecting over $40,000 for food and housing.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) billed taxpayers as much as $3,000 per month to cover expenses at her $1.6 million private residence. An anonymous source showed the Post a document listing Mace’s expenses at $1,726 per month and claimed that Mace’s staff was told to collect the maximum possible reimbursement. Mace denied the allegations.

Kedric Payne, former counselor at the Office of Congressional Ethics, told the Post that anyone who misuses the program could face corruption charges.

The program was created partially to avoid raising lawmakers’ salaries, which Congress members fear could create public backlash. House and Senate members make $174,000 and haven’t raised their pay since 2009.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Summary: Federal spending should be subject to strict limits and rigorous oversight, not a Congressman’s pinky promise.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Surprise, Surprise!

“Joe Biden is the walking embodiment of the exhausted American Establishment. More and more people have simply lost their faith in our Ruling Class. You could scarcely have a more potent symbol of its impotence.”

– Rod Dreher

Just before the weekend, a political prairie fire raced across a nation buffaloed, blind-sided, and buried deeply in bullshit, and the little critters who inhabit the landscape are still running around with their fur smoldering. What a surprise that “Joe Biden,” the mentally-disabled pretend-president, fell apart in the debate spotlight for all to see, like Captain Queeg in his fateful witness chair, or William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial (1925), or the Wizard of Oz when little Toto drew the curtain back — a brutal revelation of stark truth about how things actually are.

Since his hiding-in-the-basement campaign in 2020 “Joe Biden’s” Party of Chaos has pretended that he is fit and alert for the job and now all of sudden they pretend to be shocked to see how far gone in the head he really is. The bullshit shovelers of the mainstream news media were especially rocked, not by the truth of the situation per se, but at being unmasked as the contemptible, confabulating tools that they’ve become. The New York Times wheeled around on a dime from their servile lionizing of the presidential hologram they helped create to its editorial board abjectly yelling for him to drop out and get gone. They were joined instantly by a long list of other opinion-shapers, campaign donors, political celebs, and Beltway players.

Right after the debate, First lady Dr. Jill led a cheerleading session before a roomful of partisans that went beyond cringeworthy into uncharted territory of mortification. (“You were great, Joe! You answered all the questions!”). By the time the entourage moved to a pre-planned event at a nearby Atlanta Waffle House, “JB” had gone full-on zombie. If all that was intended to be reassuring, the effect was the opposite. Someone handed the blank-faced old grifter a milkshake and they beat it out of there.

Dr. Jill roaring in support of President “Joe Biden.”

The Bidens flew off to the Hamptons Saturday to milk the showbiz cows and hedge-funders for a campaign that might not still exist.

“Everyone paid in advance. . .so it could be an opportunity to encourage him to drop out,” an invited guest told a New York Post reporter.

“I wanted to go and see the train wreck,” another donor said.

“I’d rather choose someone from a phone book than have Biden.”

That was generally the tone among the woke-gay-communist echelons all over the land — surprisingly vehement, considering that just forty-eight hours before they were all in on re-election. Some could probably see their lucrative hustles whirling around the drain, and others might fret about just how far and wide prosecutions under a Trump Attorney General might loom.

“JB” and his family circle attempted to regroup over the weekend at Camp David where first son, Hunter (“the smartest man I know,” the president often says), led the buoying-up session, perhaps mindful of the many bank accounts set up by his lawyers in the name of Biden family members (including little grandchildren) for receipt of influence-peddling revenue gathered sedulously from entities abroad during “Joe Biden’s” post-veep high-earning years. The family emerged from that meet-up triumphantly, ready to forget the one bad evening and jump back into the election game.

Next, the biggest Dem dawgs — Obama, Schumer, Pelosi — stepped up with fulsome support for “Joe Biden” continuing to steer the party’s war canoe straight over Niagara Falls on November 5th. What possesses them? Misguided love for the monster they created? Fear of being called out as traitorous liars? Desperation to preserve the gigantic racketeering operation of the party they lead, with consideration for their big cuts of the action? Or are they just determined to complete the job of wrecking our country?

And where was She-Whose-Turn-It-Is, HRC, the only possible replacement candidate with name-recognition and no ruined state hanging over her as is the case with Newsom, Pritzker, and Whitmer (California, Illinois, Michigan)?  Mrs. Clinton has so far stayed out of it, laying low, probably thinking that the party poohbahs will eventually have to come around to seeing she’s the obvious viable alternative. Since the Clinton Foundation bought and paid for the DNC some time ago, she might be able to get the nominating machinery lined up in her direction. There are myriad problems, for sure, with many state election laws that discourage switching-out a nominee who has already captured a winning share of party convention delegates — but Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, and the Lawfare gang are already tasked to that set of problems now that their work is done cobbling together all those janky court cases to hamstring Mr. Trump.

We enter high summer with countless consequential things afoot. A grand new momentum is expressing itself throughout Western Civ against the Globalist insanity.

Sunday, Marine LePen’s National Rally (RN) thrashed President Macron’s Renaissance Party, a shock equal to the “Joe Biden” debate fiasco here. British elections follow Thursday July 4, with PM Rishi Sunak sucking wind and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party ascending rapidly. Sunday July 7 France’s runoff election happens. A widened war threatens the Middle East as Iran and Turkey line up with Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel. Ukraine cries for a negotiated settlement with no help from our own State Department. ISIS terrorists (among many other dangerous cadres) circulate on-the-loose around the USA, ready and able to perp atrocities.

Still hanging over the “Joe Biden” crisis — and it is a crisis — is the question as to how somebody no longer capable of leading a party in an election can also be capable of leading the executive branch of the USA as Commander-in-Chief. That quandary has been shoved aside for the moment but it still lurks ominously in the background.

*  *  *

Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack

Politics and macro data dominated flows/technicals today as weak macro weighed on stocks but political ‘wins’ for Trump/Republicans weighed on bonds.

The ISM manufacturing index declined in June, against expectations for a modest increase. The composition of the report was mixed, with an increase in the new orders component but declines in the production and employment components. Construction spending decreased 0.1% in May, somewhat below expectations for a small increase, while growth was revised up in March and April.

So ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ data disappointed and the collapse of the latter continues unabated…

Source: Bloomberg

…which dragged down the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNOW forecast for Q2 GDP to 1.7% (it was 4.3% a month ago!)…

Source: Bloomberg

but against that shitty backdrop, yields on USTs soared today… as it appears Biden will keep running and Trump won his immunity ruling at SCOTUS…

Source: Bloomberg

The long-end of the curve underperformed bigly today (10Y +10bps, 2Y +3bps), extending its post-debate weakness…

Source: Bloomberg

With the last few days seeing a massive bear steepening in the curve…

Source: Bloomberg

The surge in yields weighed on stocks – but not as much as one might expect (for similar Trumpian reasons we suspect)…

Source: Bloomberg

As UBS notes, the first day of a new quarter and no shortage of questions given the choppy start to Monday.

Many investors are out of seats, so the lack of liquidity is also exacerbating things under the hood, but many of these single stock dislocations cannot be explained by fundamentals.

There are a lot of cross currents within Mega Cap Tech, which is holding up (AMZN, MSFT, AAPL – cloud names supported by positive 3PP data) while anything tied to consumer or rates is getting hit right now, suggesting investors are playing the growing headwinds for US consumers.

Torsten Sippel notes that flows wise, it feels there is a de-risking in semis/internet/rideshare/online travel agents while investors continue to look more favorably on SW, adding incrementally in Large Cap names and Consumption (MSFT positive 3PP data and SNOW added to conviction list among the highlights propelling outperformance in subgroups).

Simply put, this confirms the theme we noted over the weekend – hedgies dumping and retail still buying (but that demand is fading fast).

Small Caps were the day’s biggest losers as Nasdaq outperformed with The Dow and S&P clinging to unch. A very late day buying panic put some lipstick on the pigs…

“Most Shorted” stocks followed a very similar trajectory to Friday – early punchy squeeze followed by slow bleed lower

Source: Bloomberg

Mag7 stocks rallied back after a not-so-pretty start (driven by NVDA’s regulatory scare HL)

Source: Bloomberg

Dispersion remains crazy as implied correlation crashed further today to new record lows (index vols ‘low’ relative to single-stock ‘vols’)…

…as breadth is off the charts decoupled from the market…

The S&P has traded up on low breadth and down on high breadth for 5 days in a row (a streak that ended Thursday), the longest stretch on record.

The distribution phase is almost finished pic.twitter.com/8kOMAOv4wx

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 1, 2024

Crypto rallied strongly over the weekend and held the gains today, erasing most of the post-Mt.Gox plunge losses from last week. Is this another pro-Trump reaction?…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold was pretty much flat on the day (very modest gains)…

Source: Bloomberg

Crude prices shot higher, with WTI topping $83.50 for the first time since mid-April..

Source: Bloomberg

Oil’s move is dragging wholesale gasoline prices higher and pump prices are starting to turn as the lags start to hit the supply chain…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar rallied on the day, spiking higher around 10am (ISM and Trump immunity)

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, NVDA faded on anti-trust news from France this morning, but bounced back. However, it’s still looking very head-and-shoulder on a longer-term chart…

Source: Bloomberg

But remember, it’s different this time…

Source: Bloomberg

With vols so low, now seems like a good time (with payrolls imminent on an extremely illiquid Friday) to lock in some gains and protect downside.

Source: Bloomberg

While this next two weeks is historically the best ‘seasonal’ for stock gains of the year, Washington seems to be doing its best to mess that pattern up.

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The Supreme Court on July 1 sent legal challenges to laws in Florida and Texas that regulate how social media platforms moderate content back to lower courts, finding that they failed to carry out proper analyses of the two cases.

The court’s unanimous decision was written by Justice Elena Kagan.

Despite the 9-0 vote on the judgment, not all justices agreed with the reasoning behind it.

This was the first time the nation’s highest court had reviewed state laws that deem social media companies “common carriers,” a status that might allow states to impose utility-style regulations on platforms and forbid them from discriminating against users based on their political viewpoints.

Observers and activists on the left and right had been closely watching the cases.

At stake was the right of individual Americans to freely express themselves online and the right of social media platforms to make editorial decisions about the content they host. These competing rights are both protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Republicans and conservatives were outraged when platforms acted in concert to ban President Donald Trump in January 2021, blocked a potentially election-altering New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020, and silenced dissenting opinions about the origins of the COVID-19 virus, the treatments for the disease it causes, and the vaccines. They say that social media platforms have become the new town square and that users’ speech, therefore, enjoys constitutional protection.

Democrats and liberals, on the other hand, claim that the platforms don’t do enough to weed out so-called hate speech and alleged misinformation, which they consider to be pressing social problems.

The challenge to the Florida statute is Moody v. NetChoice LLC; the challenge to the Texas law is NetChoice LLC v. Paxton. On Feb. 26, the justices heard nearly four hours of oral arguments.

NetChoice, a coalition of trade associations representing social media companies and e-commerce businesses, sued over a Florida law that makes it a violation for a social media platform to deplatform a political candidate, punishable by a $ 250,000-per-day fine. The law also establishes restrictions on deplatforming other users and requires consistent application of moderation rules. Deplatforming refers to removing or banning a person or group from a social media plaform.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit halted part of the law, and Florida appealed to the Supreme Court. The circuit court struck down part of the Florida statute, finding that “with minor exceptions, the government can’t tell a private person or entity what to say or how to say it.”

Even the “biggest” platforms are “private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects … [and] their so-called content-moderation decisions constitute protected exercises of editorial judgment.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit took the opposite tack, finding a Texas anti-deplatforming law constitutional and rejecting the “idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say.”

Both state laws require platforms to explain their content moderation decisions, a mandate the platforms consider to be overly burdensome.

Ukraine has revived its talking point and demand that NATO ‘close the skies’ over Ukraine, which was first featured heavily in the wake of the February 2022 Russian invasion. When this was initially suggested, the idea was that Western jets would intervene or else US anti-air systems would be set up across Ukraine.

But now Ukrainian officials have shifted their request, to involve the establishment of US Patriot systems along Ukraine’s Western border from where they would provide protection. Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Goncharenko told AFP, “I don’t understand why NATO doesn’t deploy Patriot systems along the Polish border.”

“After all, Russian missiles have already entered Polish and Romanian airspace. This would protect the borders of Poland and Romania, and this would create a safe zone in the west and south of Ukraine,” he added.

Ukraine’s industry and energy infrastructure is being decimated by daily and weekly large-scale drone and missile attacks, to the point that rolling blackouts have had to be introduced nationwide.

However, even if the defense systems were established near the border, the scenario would still involve NATO-manned equipment shooting down Russian jets. It would obviously constitute direct NATO intervention against Russia, setting up for bigger war.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has of course been on board, recently renewing his call for a ‘no fly zone’ backed by the West.

He said in May: “So my question is, what’s the problem? Why can’t we shoot them down? Is it defense? Yes. Is it an attack on Russia? No. Are you shooting down Russian planes and killing Russian pilots? No. So, what’s the issue with involving NATO countries in the war? There is no such issue,” as cited in The New York Times.

And during that same month, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed that there remains “no legal, security or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory.”

Worrisomely, NATO officials are actually contemplating the idea of at least a partial no fly zone over Ukraine. According to more from AFP: 

“In the energy sector, the situation is really hard,” said a senior Ukrainian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding he fears it will deteriorate further as winter approaches.

The official said talks were “in progress” with Western allies on a no-fly zone over western Ukraine using Patriot systems in Poland or Romania, “but that is not a simple decision.”

NATO’s escalation has come piecemeal, even as there has been little serious effort toward getting the two warring sides to the negotiating table. Only in the last several weeks have there been murmurings out of Kiev that it’s time for some kind of negotiations, given how poorly Ukraine forces are fairing on the front lines.