Month: September 2024

Authored by Paul Tice via RealClearEnergy,

Reports of the impending death of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement have been greatly exaggerated.

While several sustainability-minded companies and Wall Street firms have recently adopted a lower ESG profile due to the public backlash, this is largely a tactical retreat until the government provides air cover. Financial regulators are now riding to the rescue, passing rules that make the entire climate-focused ESG system compulsory and prescriptive.

In March 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued final climate disclosure rules that require every large U.S. corporation to report in detail all the climate-related physical and transition risks faced by their businesses, along with the size of their carbon footprints.

The new SEC rules will force the management of all reporting companies to act as meteorologists and disclose every conceivable weather impact to their businesses over exceedingly long investment horizons, thereby reinforcing the climate change narrative. They will also discourage investment in the traditional energy sector by highlighting the outsize regulatory, litigation, contingent liability, and reputational risks now facing the industry due to government climate policies.

However, rather than de-risking the financial markets by improving disclosure for investors as promised by the SEC, the agency’s new rules will have the opposite effect. By imposing a climate test on all issuing and investing companies—basically, every financial market participant in the U.S.—the SEC’s goal is to help force the clean energy transition by stigmatizing carbon-emitting industries in general and specifically redirecting capital flows away from fossil fuel producers.

The SEC’s climate disclosure rules are part of the federal government’s coordinated climate plan and the latest piece in a sweeping regulatory attack on the oil and gas industry since President Biden took office. Defunding oil, gas, and coal companies arguably represents one of the most effective ways to shrink domestic hydrocarbon supply and cut national emissions.

Decarbonization, which the SEC’s rules will now abet and accelerate, is the real threat to the American economy and the U.S. financial markets. If the current administration succeeds in its goal of reducing U.S. net greenhouse gas emissions by 50%–52% by 2030 versus a 2005 baseline—on the way to net-zero emissions by 2050—the macroeconomic impact will be decidedly negative.

For starters, it will competitively hamstring the U.S. economy while doing nothing to solve the purported problem of global climate change since most developing countries—particularly China and India—are not playing by the same climate rules. Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, there is no global energy transition currently underway.  Since 1990, when the United Nations first started warning the world about the dangers of man-made global warming, annual global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by more than 50%, mainly due to the continued use of fossil fuels (especially coal) by developing countries.

Increased U.S. reliance on intermittent wind and solar power generation while simultaneously electrifying whole new swaths of the economy—starting with transportation—will strain and destabilize the American electricity grid and increase electricity prices across the board.

Constraining the domestic production of fossil fuels will lead to higher oil and gas prices, which will feed through the entire U.S. economy and raise the cost of almost everything, especially food. A regulatory-forced downsizing of the domestic oil and gas industry will also lead to significant job losses and shrink U.S. GDP, while the failure to maintain American energy independence will heighten national security risk for the country.

Germany’s recent economic woes show what lies in store for the U.S. if the Biden administration continues down its current climate policy path. Since embarking on its Climate Action Plan 2050 in 2016, Germany, the largest economy in Europe, has gone from the growth engine of the E.U. bloc to the “sick man of Europe” as climate-driven energy policy mismanagement has led to a downward spiral of deindustrialization and degrowth over the past decade.

There is no evidence that economic growth can be decoupled from emissions or fossil fuels. Aggressive emissions reduction during the current decade will result in a diminished U.S. economy by 2030, one marked by anemic growth, higher inflation, increased unemployment levels, and a hollowed-out domestic industrial base. It is difficult to see how such a macroeconomic backdrop would be constructive for Wall Street or Main Street.

Decarbonized financial markets will be, by definition, more volatile, riskier, and less diversified, with fewer investment choices for investors. Since energy-consuming industrial, utility, and technology companies represent the lion’s share of most benchmark U.S. stock and bond indexes, this will amplify the market’s exposure to fluctuating energy prices. Average U.S. corporate credit quality—especially for energy and other heavy industry—is also likely to trend lower by the end of the decade, with bankruptcy and debt default rates moving higher. By 2030, the U.S. may resemble an emerging country’s financial market more than a developed one.

The SEC has now stayed the implementation of its climate disclosure rules pending the resolution of the various lawsuits that are challenging the rulemaking on the grounds that it exceeds the agency’s statutory authority. Issuing climate disclosure rules as a backdoor means of changing the U.S. energy mix and restructuring the overall economy would seem to go well beyond the SEC’s role as the top cop for the U.S. financial markets.

Most egregiously, with these climate disclosure rules, the SEC will no longer be an objective market referee, at least when it comes to the ESG factor of climate change. The SEC will now become an active partisan player in the Biden administration’s drive to decarbonize the U.S. economy, in direct contravention of its regulatory mandate to remain impartial and simply ensure full disclosure and fair dealing across well-functioning financial markets. By mandating the integration of climate factors into both corporate policy and investment risk management, the agency will be supplanting the governance role of corporate executives, bank credit officers, and investment portfolio managers.

By attempting to achieve specific market outcomes based on an emissions litmus test, the SEC will also be picking corporate winners and losers and influencing asset pricing and financial market access by tilting the playing field away from traditional energy and other high-carbon-emitting sectors, which is an inversion—if not a perversion—of the SEC’s regulatory function.

Paul Tice is a senior fellow with the National Center for Energy Analytics and author of the new report “The SEC’s Climate Rules Will Wreak Havoc on U.S. Financial Markets.”

Authored by Kevin Spivak via RealClearPolitics,

Largely shedding Joe Biden’s canard that Trump must be defeated to save democracy, Kamala Harris’ conceit is that she prosecutes criminals and Donald Trump is one. “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she sneers.

As San Francisco district attorney and then California attorney general, Harris supported jailing parents of truants, suppressed evidence, keeping an innocent man on death row, repeatedly covered up misconduct, leading to the dismissal of more than 600 cases, incarcerated prisoners beyond their sentences, violated Federal laws that protect donor privacy, and failed to disclose conflicts of interest arising from her personal relationships. Her record of abusing prosecutorial power fits perfectly with Democrat lawfare against Trump and his advisers.

Now, following setbacks for prosecutors, Trump will have a reprieve in further substantive proceedings until after the election.

• Colorado, Maine, and Illinois declared Trump an “insurrectionist,” ineligible for the presidency under the 14th Up to 32 other states were considering doing the same. In Trump v. Anderson, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected this travesty. Among other failings, the states violated a requirement that Congress determine the process, and Trump has never been indicted for, let alone convicted of, insurrection.
• The left’s least favorite judge, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, dismissed the Mar-a-Lago classified records case, holding that Jack Smith’s appointment as special prosecutor violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution (Article II, § 2) and his use of a permanent indefinite appropriation violated the Appropriations Clause (Article I, § 9). The government refused a compromise that might have saved the case, and is appealing.
• In Trump v. United States, a 6-3 court held that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts, his motives cannot be questioned, and his official acts may not be used as evidence in a prosecution of his private acts. Smith has filed a superseding indictment that suffers many of the same defects as the initial indictment, including as to immunity, novel legal theories, and the First Amendment rights of free speech and petition. Despite U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin’s best efforts to move the case forward, she has bowed to reality and delayed the next hearing until after the election.
• In Fischer v. United States, the Supreme Court threw out federal prosecutors’ use of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) to prosecute Jan. 6 defendants for interfering in congressional proceedings, holding that the statute is limited to tampering with, or destroying, official records. That ruling also will narrow Trump’s election fraud case.
• A Georgia appeals court agreed to hear a challenge to Fani Willis’ right to remain as prosecutor, scheduling arguments too late for a trial this year. Even if Willis prevails, the immunity decision, First Amendment, and misapplication of the Georgia RICO statute likely will doom her case.
• A Nevada court dismissed an indictment against six Republicans accused of submitting certificates to Congress falsely declaring Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election.

The New York cases are more problematic abuses by prosecutors who ran on platforms of “getting” Trump:

• There are at least a dozen reasons Trump’s conviction in New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s business records case should be reversed. Trial Judge Juan Merchan has delayed sentencing until Nov. 26, but he first must rule on whether to vacate the verdict because he allowed testimony by federal officials (Hopes Hicks and Trump’s assistant) about Trump’s official acts as president, now prohibited by the Supreme Court’s immunity decision. More damaging, in Erlinger v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a unanimous jury verdict is required for any factual finding that increases a potential sentence. Merchan did not require unanimity to identify the so-called “other crime” used to convert an expired business records misdemeanor into 34 felonies.
• Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ so-called civil fraud case for misstating asset values in loan applications, though the banks testified they did not rely on the statements, lost no money, and would continue to do business with Trump. Engoron ordered Trump to pay $455 million and forfeit his New York businesses. The New York appeals court stayed most of Engoron’s ruling and allowed Trump to post a reduced bond of $175 million for his appeal. The finding of liability may survive, but the penalties should be vacated as excessive under the 8th Amendment and Article I §5 of the New York Constitution, among other flaws.

If Trump is elected, he can order that the federal prosecutions against him end, or pardon himself, and the state cases likely will be delayed until he leaves office. If Harris wins, the Democrats can be expected to press forward. Though Trump’s legal team has carved back most of the cases and will continue to do so, a conviction still could mean jail time.

Democrats are doing better in their lawfare against Trump’s advisers, who have limited immunity defenses. Several are defendants in Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan. Rudy Guliani and John Eastman are being disbarred, and at least eight other Trump lawyers face disciplinary proceedings. Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were jailed for refusing to testify to the Jan. 6 Committee. The last time a recalcitrant congressional witness was jailed appears to be 1948.

But for Trump’s wealth and perseverance, he might now be in jail. Democrats financially destroyed or jailed his closest political advisers and are broadly threatening Republican party lawyers. Usually, Harris talks about the criminal justice system from the far left. But, like other progressives, when she is in pursuit mode, the Constitution, equal justice, and fundamental principles are mere affect.

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.

One might think that weeks of debate prep with an actor playing Donald Trump would prepare Vice President Kamala Harris for a simple post-debate interview. One would be wrong.

On Friday, Harris gave her first interview since last week’s debate – this time, instead of going with a major news network, she sat down with an ABC News affiliate in Philadelphia.

Despite several softball questions, Harris had absolutely no answer when reporter Brian Taft asked he about “one or two specific things” she’d do as president when it comes to “bringing down prices and making life more affordable for people.”

“Well, I’ll start with this,” Harris began. “I grew up a middle-class kid. My mother raised my sister and me. She worked very hard. She was able to finally save up enough money to buy our first house when I was a teenager. I grew up in a community of hardworking people. You know, construction workers and nurses and teachers. I try to explain to some people who might not have had the same experience, but a lot of people will relate to this.”

She then kept going – spitting word salad all over the place.

Watch:

Oh my goodness this is an absolute train wreck.

Reporter: What are your specific plans to bring down prices?

Kamala: “I grew up a middle class kid… I grew up in a neighborhood of folks who were very proud of their lawn. Ya know?”pic.twitter.com/lhOdWoygy2

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 13, 2024

Oh, and that’s not what the station even aired:

Just for the sake of clarity, the 1st clip came from the @TrumpWarRoom account, which I believe sourced it from WPVI’s website. The 2nd clip came from WPVI’s 6 PM broadcast, which my news-clipping service recorded live. WPVI aired portions of the interview from 4 PM – midnight…

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 14, 2024

As PJ Media notes further, the carnage didn’t stop there – as Harris was unable to articulate how she’s different from President Joe Biden.

“I wonder if there are one or two spots, policy areas or approaches, where you would say ‘I’m a different person,” Taft asked.

“Well, I’m obviously not Joe Biden,” replied Harris, nervously. “And, umm, you know, I offer a new generation of leadership, For example, thinking about developing and creating an opportunity economy where it’s about investing in areas that really need a lot of work and maybe focusing on, again, the aspirations and the dreams but also just recognizing that at this moment in time some of this stuff we could take for granted years ago, we can’t take for granted anymore.”

Reporter: How are you different from Joe Biden?

Kamala: *Nervously repeats herself and fails to explain how she’s different from Joe Biden* pic.twitter.com/ALh0vE5aZh

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 13, 2024

More ‘problematic’ moments for Harris: 

Kamala uses a lot of words to say absolutely nothing:

“My focus is very much about what we need to do over the next 10-20 years to catch up to the 21st century around, again, capacity, but also challenges.” pic.twitter.com/8nEjI8kDpf

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 13, 2024

“What do you understand [President Trump’s] appeal to be and how do you speak to his voters?”

KAMALA: *word salad* pic.twitter.com/66jQazkjRo

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 13, 2024

This queen is not slaying…

Via Money Metals,

Sound money advocates are hailing their hard-fought victory today as New Jersey’s Senate Bill 721 was signed into law – thereby removing sales taxes on purchases of gold, silver, and other precious metals above $1,000 effective January 1, 2025.

The long-anticipated bill signing by Gov. Phil Murphy positions New Jersey alongside 44 other states that recognize the importance of exempting constitutional sound money from burdensome taxation.

Supported by the Sound Money Defense League, Money Metals Exchange, and in-state activists, Senate Bill 721 enjoyed unanimous support from both sides of the political aisle, including 13 Democrat and Republican formal sponsors.

“In 2024, New Jersey was one of seven states to have passed legislation that removes taxes on precious metals, reaffirms gold and silver as constitutional money, empowers state treasurers to invest in physical gold, and more,” reported Stefan Gleason, president of Money Metals and Chairman of the League.

“Our work isn’t done,” said Gleason. “With New Jersey reversing its policy, New Mexico, Maine, Vermont, Hawaii, and Kentucky are the only states that still charge sales tax on the metals. Those are our biggest targets moving forward.”

Eliminating sales taxes on the monetary metals is good public policy for many reasons:

• Levying sales taxes on precious metals is inappropriate. Sales taxes are typically levied on final consumer goods. Computers, shirts, and shoes carry sales taxes because the consumer is “consuming” the good. Precious metals are inherently held for resale, not “consumption,” making the application of sales taxes on precious metals inappropriate.

• Studies have shown that taxing precious metals is an inefficient form of revenue collection. The results of one study involving Michigan show that any sales tax proceeds a state collects on precious metals are likely surpassed by the state revenue lost from conventions, businesses, and economic activity that are driven out of the state.

• Taxing gold and silver harms in-state businesses. It’s a competitive marketplace, so buyers will take their business to neighboring states, thereby undermining in-state jobs. Investors can easily avoid paying $169 in sales taxes, for example, on a $2,550 purchase of a one-ounce gold bar.

• Taxing precious metals is unfair to certain savers and investors. Gold and silver are held as forms of savings and investment. New Jersey already does not tax the purchase of stocks, bonds, ETFs, currencies, and other financial instruments.

• Taxing precious metals is harmful to citizens attempting to protect their assets. Purchasers of precious metals aren’t fat-cat investors. Most who buy precious metals do so in small increments as a way of saving money. Precious metals investors are purchasing precious metals as a way to preserve their wealth against the damages of inflation. Inflation harms the poorest among us, including pensioners, New Jerseyans on fixed incomes, wage earners, savers, and more.

Executive director of the Sound Money Defense League, Jp Cortez, traveled to Trenton to testify in support of exemption before numerous Assembly and Senate committees. “The recent passage of S721 in New Jersey highlights the wave of support we are seeing in the states for sound money legislation.”

“This victory is a direct result of grassroots pressure from in-state advocates, persistent messaging and communication, and the growing awareness that taxing constitutional money is a backwards policy,” Cortez said.

There is a fly in the ointment, however. S721 ultimately included a “poor tax” provision that discriminates against small-time savers of precious metals who make purchases below $1,000 at a time.

New Jersey is one of only seven states (CA, CT, FL, MD, MA, NY) that includes this regressive tax scheme while exempting all larger purchases of gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds. Its score is expected to rise sharply on the Sound Money Index, where it had languished in 49th place.

img credit: Nicolas Raymond/Flickr

The below is not a Russian state media headline. 

Ironically on the very day that the Biden administration declared a global war on Russian state media and pro-Moscow ‘influence campaigns’, Politico published a rare piece directly going after President Zelensky, saying he’s making terrible decisions and increasingly acting like an autocrat and power-hungry dictator. 

Of course, earlier in the war if any non-mainstream publication dared to issue similar warnings about what’s really going on in Kiev, they were immediately put on the receiving end of severe pushback complete with loud denunciations of being ‘pro-Kremlin’ and somehow standing against NATO and democracy etc. etc. etc…

But now in mid-September 2024 here is no other than the ultra-establishment Politico bluntly highlighting Zelensky’s “autocratic way of governing” while calling him “largely unaccountable” as he accrues an unprecedented level of power:

And unfortunately, the reshuffle is doing nothing to ease long-standing worries about Zelenskyy’s highly personalized and, according to some, autocratic way of governing — including his dependence on a clam-like inner circle of trusted friends and advisers within the presidential administration.

Accruing power and largely unaccountable, some of these individuals are unpaid and some have even been the focus of past graft probes.

Corruption in Ukraine? you don’t say…

These were things that only a short while ago you weren’t allowed to speak in public discourse, and when MSM publications did quietly take on the subject they typically cast US-backed Zelensky as some kind of crime-fighting anti-corruption hero who was going to clean the place up. It was the comforting narrative that the beltway echo chamber told itself while shoveling tens of billions of taxpayer money into Kiev’s coffers.

Politico further comments on how Zelensky has recently booted even officials who were highly trusted and favored by the West: “Kuleba’s departure in particular is seen as yet another example of how Zelenskyy’s coterie ejects outliers who are ready to question and challenge,” the publication writes.

“It’s in line with the earlier dismissal of armed forces commander General Valery Zaluzhny, who had clashed with Zelenskyy over war strategy and the need to mobilize many more to fight,” the report continues. “Zaluzhny’s high favorability ratings didn’t endear him to a watchful and jealous presidential administration either.”

But again, the ultimate irony in all this is that currently the world is being berated and lectured by a Biden administration which claims that if you ever say negative things about Ukraine or Zelensky, or anything so much as perceived as not being ‘fully supportive’ of the Zelensky government… then you must be some kind of paid Kremlin agent.

RT is one of the reasons the world has been not fully supportive of Ukraine – State Dept pic.twitter.com/PhvJYKwE87

— RT (@RT_com) September 13, 2024

Oops… more from Politico: “Zelenskyy’s defenders say war requires a firm hand, and there’s no time for democratic niceties when battling a Russian autocrat who wants to erase Ukraine and doesn’t believe it should exist as a state. But while agreeing that the clamor of democracy shouldn’t be allowed to adversely affect Ukraine’s defense, Zelenskyy’s critics note that other wartime leaders took a markedly different approach.” And of course, it’s well known that Zelensky has canceled all future elections on an indefinite basis, in the name of martial law.

When the gatekeepers themselves begin to turn on the narrative, it’s clear Washington has lost the plot. Perhaps that’s why the US administration has begun to look more desperate, for example with its newly announced global war on RT News.

A retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement official warned DailyMail in a new shocking interview that Venezuelan prison gangs are quickly setting up their network in preparation for all-out gang wars on America’s city streets and in neighborhoods. Just days ago, unclassified documents from the US Army North Division warned thousands of Tren de Aragua gang members, some of which are heavily armed, have spread across America. 

“Tren de Aragua has unleashed a crime wave from Miami to New York, but for the first time, law enforcement officials are revealing what TdA’s future plans are,” DailyMail said. 

Journos from DailyMail spoke with John Fabbricatore, retired ICE field office director for the Denver region, and he revealed, “There’s about to be a big gang war.”

“I believe that they’re setting up their network right now. These guys are setting up faster than MS-13 did. They’re getting into these apartment complexes and what they’re doing is they’re starting with prostitution,” Fabbricatore said. 

Days ago, in the northern Denver suburb of Aurora, the local police department arrested ten TdA members.

Aurora Police Identifies Known Tren de Aragua Members

The Aurora Police Department has been actively investigating reports that members of a Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua, have been living in Aurora and committing acts of violence against members of the migrant… pic.twitter.com/U42ldlOGr7

— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) September 11, 2024

Don’t worry because the police department previously denied there was a Venezuelan prison gang problem. 

APD officers have been proactively patrolling areas where there is suspected TdA activity.

Today, Interim Chief Heather Morris and several officers connected with residents at The Edge at Lowry apartments at Dallas Street and 12th Avenue to offer reassurances, provide updates… pic.twitter.com/sOYSWW8aHk

— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) August 31, 2024

TdA has taken over at least three apartment buildings, exploiting and unleashing chaos in the community that appears to be spreading. More from DailyMail: 

A bombshell report by a law firm that represents one of the apartment management companies assaults, threats of murder, extortion and even child prostitution.

Nothing to see here…

JUST IN: Former Colorado ICE director says Venezuelan gangs are setting up their network to launch all-out gang wars.

John Fabbricatore is sounding the alarm, saying the Tren de Aragua gang has set up operation in the U.S. much “faster than MS-13 did.”

“There’s about to be a… pic.twitter.com/uun6HOGvbc

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 14, 2024

The former ICE official said, “Prostitution is a big money-maker, and the thing with prostitution is that it brings guys in that they can then sell dope to.” 

He warned that Tda is rapidly expanding and buying weapons on the black market in an area that Bloods, Crips, and Sureños have controlled for years. This creates turf war risks.

“These gangs already set up their networks. They’ve been dealing dope in those areas. They control prostitution in that area. So Tren de Aragua comes in and they start to try put their girls on the street, and they start to move dope in the area, you’re going to see push back. We’ve haven’t seen it yet, but I believe it’s about to happen,” Fabbricatore warned. 

In a separate interview, retired FBI agent Dan Brunner told DailyMail, “TdA is MS-13 on steroids.” In other words, the Venezuelan prison gang is way more organized as a transnational criminal organization. 

Recall that US Army documents warned about TdA expanding across the nation. 

This was only made possible by… 

Since January 2021, the Biden-Harris-Mayorkas trio destroyed whatever border security the Trump administration built and facilitated the greatest migrant invasion this nation has ever seen, flooding cities and counties with millions of unvetted migrants, some of which have been confirmed as criminals and terrorists.

The breadth and depth of the migrant storm is only beginning to be realized as once-peaceful neighborhoods across the US, from New York City to Chicago to Denver to some West Coast cities, are being subjected to third-world-esque chaos.

Some municipalities, such as Springfield, Ohio, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania, are being overrun by illegal aliens as local resources are quickly dwindling. It seems as if the Biden-Harris team precision dumped illegal aliens in specific towns.

Flooding the nation with ten million illegal aliens, some of which are armed prison gangs, and overwhelming small towns and suburbia with migrants begs the question of whether the radical left deployed an intentional strategy to overload the current system, a move that has been referred to as the Cloward-Piven strategy.

The Cloward-Piven Strategy | @ConceptualJames with @JoeRogan pic.twitter.com/o43CQnAT8L

— New Discourses (@NewDiscourses) March 28, 2024

If so, what comes next is more chaos. 

Via The Cradle

The US Department of Defense is building aircraft facilities in Israel to accommodate new US-made KC-46A Pegasus refueling tanker planes that could assist in an attack on Iran, The Intercept reported Friday.

Army Corps of Engineers documents show new buildings will be constructed and existing buildings will be upgraded, including hangars, warehouses, and storage facilities, at a military base in the south of Israel. 

The project includes “establishing and adapting aviation and maintenance infrastructure for the KC-46,” including the construction of five new concrete and steel structures, the documents show.

Four Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft will be delivered to Israel in 2026 to replace its fleet of aging Boeing 707 passenger planes that the Israeli Air Force currently uses for midair refueling of fighter aircraft. 

Israel will purchase the planes from Boeing at a cost of 1$ billion using funds provided by the US Congress to buy US-made weapons.

The Intercept notes that the “purchase of the KC-46As was seen as a signal of Israel’s determination to increase its capacity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.”

On Thursday, the US Statement Department announced it approved an additional $165 million in weapons sales to Israel to fund heavy-duty tank trailers, the AP reported.

The systems include spare and repair parts, tool kits and technical and logistics support to be delivered in 2027.

Earlier this year, the US announced a massive $20 billion weapons support package for Israel, which will include F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs, 120 mm tank ammunition, and high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles.

The first delivery of the weapons included in the packages is not expected until 2026. Washington’s support for Tel Aviv has remained unshakable since the beginning of Israel war on Gaza in October last year.

Israel’s horrific bombing and siege of Gaza has killed a reported over 40,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to local health sources.

In addition to the vast death toll, more than 22,500 people in Gaza have suffered life-changing injuries requiring rehabilitation services “now and for years to come,” the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday. These include severe limb injuries, amputations, spinal cord trauma, traumatic brain injuries, and major burns.

The Kremlin has issued yet more warnings following reports that the Biden administration could soon greenlight long-range attacks by Kiev forces on Russian territory using US-supplied arms.

Both the UK and Canada are on board, we reported earlier, and British Prime Minister Ken Starmer is visiting Washington where he’s directly lobbying Biden to jump on board and grant Zelensky’s urgent request to lift all restrictions on Western weaponry.

However, The New York Times suggests that saner minds are prevailing at this point. “President Biden’s deliberations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain about whether to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range Western weapons were fresh evidence that the president remains deeply fearful of setting off a dangerous, wider conflict,” the publication writes.

Let’s hope this is the case, given this is arguably the most dangerous moment and decision-point of the war to date. Pentagon leadership has recently stressed that granting the permission for long-range strikes will do little strategically to change the battlefield, where Russian momentum has continually gained in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov on Friday added to prior Kremlin warnings, telling Rossiya 24 channel that he fears American leadership and the people are under “illusion”.

He said they seem to think that “if there is a conflict, it will not spread to the territory of the United States of America.”

Antonov continued by stressing that Americans can’t hide from nuclear war if this unthinkable happens. “I am constantly trying to convey to them one thesis that the Americans will not be able to sit it out behind the waters of this ocean. This war will affect everyone, so we constantly say – do not play with this rhetoric,” Antonov stated according to state media translation. 

As for UK PM Starmer’s visit to Washington, The Wall Street Journal had earlier previewed that “While the final decision on Storm Shadow will be made by the U.K. government, British officials will ask for the Biden administration to weigh in because some components of the missiles are made in the U.S.”

But based on NSC spokesman John Kirby’s words as of Friday afternoon, Washington’s policy has not changed and no permission has yet been given to Ukraine.

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov:

“We have said a hundred times that there can be no nuclear war between nuclear states, especially between the United States and Russia. And there will be no winners. But there is some kind of illusion here that if there is a… pic.twitter.com/fmeC6rCQPH

— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) September 14, 2024

So far, Ukraine forces have pummeled sights across Russia with drones, but unleashing missiles in the area of Moscow oblast for example would take the war to a whole new level.

President Putin has warned that Russia would make no distinction between Ukraine forces and their NATO suppliers at that point. It won’t matter which pulled the trigger.

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former President Donald Trump has said he plans to end taxes on overtime wages for individuals who work more than 40 hours a week if he is elected to the White House again.

Trump made the comments during a campaign rally in Tucson, Arizona on Sept. 12, telling the crowd that working class Americans deserve to “catch a break.”

“Today, I’m also announcing that as part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all taxes on overtime. You know what that means? Think of that,” the Republican said. “That gives people more of an incentive to work, it gives the companies a lot, it’s a lot easier to get the people.”

Trump said ending taxes on overtime wages would potentially generate a “whole new workforce” in the United States.

He went on to praise the hard work of police officers, nurses, factory workers, construction workers, truck drivers, and machine operators.

“The people who work overtime are among the hardest working citizens in our country, and for too long no one in Washington has been looking out for them,” he continued.

Trump did not provide further details as to how the tax policy would work.

Currently, overtime income—which is defined as nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act—is taxed at the same rate as standard income, and any change to the tax law requires an act of Congress.

Elsewhere during the rally in Tucson, Trump repeated his promise to end taxes on tipped wages and eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits.

The Republican has said on multiple occasions that he plans to scrap both taxes immediately after taking office if he were to win the presidential election in November.

Impact of Harris, Trump Tax Policies

Under current law, tips are considered normal income and subject to standard income tax law.

Meanwhile, around 40 percent of Americans who receive Social Security payments have to pay federal income taxes on those benefits, according to the Social Security Administration.

This typically happens for Americans who have “other substantial income” in addition to their monthly benefits, including wages, earnings from self-employment, interest, dividends, and other taxable income, according to the agency.

Currently, under federal law, retired individuals who earn less than $25,000 per year, or $32,000 for married couples, pay no taxes on their Social Security payments.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has also called for similar proposals such as scrapping taxes on tips and Social Security benefits in recent months.

According to a Sept. 10 analysis from the Tax Foundation, Harris’s tax policies would raise $2.2 trillion of tax revenue from corporations and $1.2 trillion from individuals from 2025 through 2034.

The “economic harm from Harris’s tax hikes would also greatly reduce the ability to address an emerging debt crisis,” according to the Tax Foundation.

The same foundation noted that Trump is yet to release a fully detailed plan regarding his tax proposals but has “floated several tax policy ideas.”

His proposed tax cuts would decrease federal tax revenue over the 10-year budget window by $6.1 trillion on a conventional basis and by $5.3 trillion on a dynamic basis, according to the non-profit.

“Overall, Trump’s policies would reduce distortions in one part of the tax system, namely income taxes, only to replace them with new distortions in another part of the tax system, namely tariffs,” the foundation wrote. “The combination of policies under consideration risks shrinking the economy and growing the debt.”

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has lauded North Korea’s rapidly developing relations with Moscow during a meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu in Pyongyang on Friday.

The two hailed deepening ties on the political, economic, cultural, and security fronts. This as Washington has long accused North Korea of supplying Russia’s armed forces for the war in Ukraine, especially with alleged train-loads of hundreds of thousands of vital mortar shells.

“Comrade Kim Jong Un stated that, in line with agreements reached at a summit in Pyongyang in June, relations between the two countries have been developing rapidly in various spheres, including politics, economy and culture,” state-run Voice of Korea said.

“He gave his assurances that the North Korean government will continue to expand cooperation with Russia in the spirit of a comprehensive strategic partnership,” the broadcaster continued.

Shoigu conveyed greetings from President Putin, with the two sides vowing to deepen strategic dialogue toward the protection of key security interests. The Russian side said the following:

“As part of the ongoing strategic dialogue between our countries, a substantive exchange of views took place with Korean colleagues on a wide range of issues on the bilateral and international agenda,” state news agency RIA quoted the Security Council as saying.

It said the meetings took place in an “exceptionally trusting, friendly atmosphere” and would make an important contribution to the implementation of agreements reached between Putin and Kim at their summit three months ago.

Importantly, Kim extended wishes of “winning a victory, wealth” to the Russian people at a moment the war in Ukraine is more than two-and-a-half years in. Currently Moscow is also in a showdown with NATO, warning the Western alliance that it risks direct war if it approves Ukraine using long-range arms to attack Russian territory.

Pyongyang has been engaged in a showdown with Washington of its own of late, with Kim calling for exponential development of the country’s nuclear arsenal due to the the “reckless expansion” the United States-led military bloc in the region.

Kim has been outraged over a new US-South Korean defense agreement signed in July. The new agreement allows for the integration of US nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons to defend the peninsula from the nuclear-armed north if need be.