Month: June 2022

Authored by Frank Miele via RealClearPolitics.com,

The deaths of 21 people, including 19 children, at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, are a nightmare that I can’t even fathom. It is pure evil.

Yet millions of Americans seem prepared to accept this nightmare as the new normal.

They don’t ask what could turn an 18-year-old boy into a monster who could look innocent children in the face and shoot them to death while dozens others were screaming, while blood splattered and puddled in the classrooms, while his own life ticked down to its final meaningless minute.

They just assume there are more like him – waiting, planning, marking time, ready to do the unthinkable.

And their proposed solution is to take guns away from law-abiding American citizens on the assumption that evil people will be deterred from doing evil if they can’t obtain (take your pick) either long guns or handguns (or both).

Why do I get the feeling these presumably well-intentioned people don’t know what evil is? Don’t they realize that mass murder is never normal? Perhaps more importantly, why do they think that the government can hinder evil by passing new laws that will restrict gun ownership?

The crisis isn’t that children kill other children with guns; the crisis is that children want to kill other children with guns. And more broadly, there is a moral crisis in our country because we teach children that right and wrong are no longer absolutes, that they are rather subjects for debate. And the more we debate right and wrong, the more that evil gains a foothold in our society.

But it is easier to talk about guns than it is to talk about evil. It is easier to blame guns than it is to blame our sick society for what happens to our children. If you want to prevent mass murder, the answer isn’t to take guns out of classrooms; it is to put God back in classrooms, and to fearlessly teach children about good and evil, about right and wrong, about the basis for our laws and our civilization. A society that is unwilling to acknowledge a higher power is unlikely to have any answers for children who question authority.

Even if we can’t reverse the secularization of America, there are steps that can be taken to improve public safety without restricting gun rights.

If you want to prevent psychotic teenagers from acting out their dreadful fantasies, for instance, try providing mental assistance when they make threats to kill people. Even better, don’t prescribe dangerous psychotropic drugs that can result in hallucinations, paranoid delusions, mood swings, depression, and “abnormal” thoughts. Those are all listed side effects for Adderall, one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for teenagers with behavioral problems.

Instead of taking guns away from people who have never even contemplated committing a crime, how about this? Pass laws that make it a felony to threaten violence against children or to threaten random violence in public places. Then prosecute those crimes and lock up the people who are deemed a threat by a jury of their peers. Don’t do what the California state Senate just did and vote to remove the requirement that police be notified when students make threats against a school official. That is just plumb crazy.

Of course, reliance on the police to solve all our problems is also crazy.

That is the logical fallacy at the heart of the argument of would-be do-gooders like Beto O’Rourke who want to grab your guns. Think about it. They are asking us to turn our safety (and our children’s safety) over to the care of law enforcement when it was law enforcement that let us down at Uvalde. From the video and testimonial evidence, it appears that police were called to the scene of the massacre quickly and then waited. Waited while children died. Waited while children were risking their lives by making 911 calls to beg for help. Waited. For more than an hour. Waited. Until finally Border Patrol officers took matters into their own hands and shot the demon.

Do you see the irony? The people of Uvalde trusted the government to protect their children, and children perished. But give one parent a gun at Uvalde and there’s at least a 50/50 chance he or she would have ambushed the shooter and killed him. And the more law-abiding people who have guns, the better off the rest of us will be when crazed shooters decide to go on a killing spree.

Unfortunately, too many people looking for easy solutions want to take guns out of the hands of citizens and put all the power for our protection in the hands of government. That goes against our lived experience, not just at Uvalde but in society overall.

In case after case, we the people have been conditioned to believe that the government is incapable of protecting us from criminals.

Consider the summer of 2020 when our cities were burning and mobs were rampaging in state after state. What did the government do to protect us? Nothing. They decided it was safer to let the mobs riot, to let the looters loot, to let the fires burn – perhaps because they were afraid they would be “defunded” if they actually fought to protect citizens from dangerous criminals. Gun owner Kyle Rittenhouse decided to try to protect Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he was arrested and charged with murder for his trouble.

Moreover, in city after city, Democratic prosecutors have decided it is easier to let criminals go than to send them to jail. This crusade against “mass incarceration” is also known as sweeping the dirt under the rug. The problem isn’t that too many people are in jail; the problem is that too many people commit crimes. Left-wing prosecutors like George Gascon in Los Angeles are adding fuel to the fire by releasing criminals back into society without punishment, thus giving them incentive to commit more crimes. Refusing to prosecute gun crimes guarantees that more guns will be used in crimes.

And let’s not forget the most glaring example of the government abdicating its responsibility to protect the public from criminals – Joe Biden’s open border. How many millions of people have to enter our country illegally before you lose confidence in the government to do its job? Well, I’m well past that point. Like millions of other Americans, I don’t trust the government. Can you think of any reason why I should, when the Department of “Homeland Security” not only allows unvetted immigrants into the country illegally but then flies them to their preferred destination? It’s that same government, by the way, which says that people like me (i.e., Republicans) are domestic terrorists and would like nothing better than to lock us up just like King George wanted to lock up those unruly colonists who insisted on something called “liberty.”

Joe Biden wants to suspend the Constitution and deny American citizens the right to bear arms of their choice. Of course he does, because it is the easiest answer to a complicated problem, and because it would consolidate power in the hands of the government. Last week, Biden spoke earnestly and forcefully to a prime-time audience and told us that the shooting at Uvalde was enough, that no more innocent people need die if we just turn over our guns. Coincidentally, an hour before Biden spoke, I was watching an episode of the TV series “Alex Rider,” where these frightening words were spoken:

“From Facebook data to Internet oversight, what we can see is that if your message is strong enough, you can take away people’s liberties, and they will applaud you for doing it.”

Unfortunately, such a message is not just fiction. Consider yourself warned.

Restaurant chain Pizza Hut is the latest company meddling in divisive political issues, as they promote a children’s book this summer that features a young boy who dresses in drag. 

Since 1984, Pizza Hut has been running a reading program for PreK through sixth-grade classrooms called “BOOK IT!” incentivizing children to read a list of books to achieve awards, such as free pizza. 

In celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month, the fast-food chain owned by Yum! Brands added “Big Wig,” which tells the story of a young boy who competes in a neighborhood drag competition. 

The publishers, Simon and Schuster, said the book “celebrates the universal childhood experience of dressing up and the confidence that comes with putting on a costume.” 

“And it goes further than that, acknowledging that sometimes dressing differently from what might be expected is how we become our truest and best selves,” the publishers continued. 

The book’s author, Jonathan Hillman, who graduated from Hamline University in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program, tweeted about his book being featured in Pizza Hut’s book club for young kids. BOOK IT! ‘s website shows the book is for kids from Pre-K to 3yo. 

Hooray! Thank you @pizzahut for featuring BIG WIG (and for the MANY pizzas over the years 🍕). I grew up doing Book It!, so this is really special. And thank you @mychal3ts for sharing! 🌈 #Pride @LeviHastingsArt @SimonKIDS https://t.co/BgLBnwdqSQ

— Jonathan Hillman, BIG WIG author ✨ (@jhillmanbooks) June 3, 2022

Critics of the children’s book suggested a boycott over woke corporatism. 

Should we boycott @pizzahut? https://t.co/epZ8yaaYtK

— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) June 3, 2022

Boycott Pizza Hut, order from Papa John’s instead.

Better ingredients. Better pizza. No wokeness.

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) June 4, 2022

Time to BOYCOTT Pizza Hut they are pushing indoctrination vs education

— Patriot USA (@lorraine01640) June 4, 2022

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT:

Pizza Hut has gone woke, now they must go broke. Every single American must boycott woke pizza! pic.twitter.com/tkij2wa7XL

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) June 4, 2022

Hey, @pizzahut I’m switching to these guys. This is kindness and morality, not indoctrination. pic.twitter.com/mmjkZRBcin

— Coder (@WhiskeyCoder) June 4, 2022

Some pointed out this is a “plan to indoctrinate kids.” At such a young age, children’s brains are like sponges taking in everything around them…

I know their whole plan was indoctrination, but we went from drag queens reading with kids to drag queens are kids awfully fast. https://t.co/uj3dHpDp5O

— Texas GOP (@TexasGOP) June 3, 2022

Go woke, go broke. These companies need to understand they are not political entities, and if they wanna push crazy ideology promoting unhealthy indoctrination of our children they need to feel the mighty punch of the side that doesn’t believe those views. https://t.co/SMyXOKba87

— Rick Harrell (@RickHarrell21) June 5, 2022

It’s indoctrination plain and simple, I have no issue in a person being what they want in life but to force it is wrong. This is propaganda meant to lock step salute an extremists ideology. #Let kids be kids stop the brainwashing.

— Richard W. Hampton (@rickywade321) June 5, 2022

@pizzahut encourages the Sexualization of Children by pushing these indoctrination books by the LGBTQRSTUV community of WOKENESS like “ Big Wig” unbelievable. Good bye Pizza Hut thank you I’ll teach my kids about sex after all I am the Parent.

— Larry kepple (@JohnQ_Hadenough) June 4, 2022

None of this woke activism comes as a surprise considering Pizza Hut is owned by Yum! Brands. Last month, Taco Bell, also owned by Yum!, introduced “Taco Bell Drag Brunch” at select Taco Bell Cantinas across the US.

Seems like Yum! ‘s out-of-touch executives are pushing woke activism through its fast-food chains. The consequences could be severe for Yum! as the saying goes, ‘get woke, go broke,’ as Americans are becoming increasingly outraged that such corporate and government messaging is being aimed at their children. 

Even former McDonald’s CEO Ed Rensi is fed up with woke corporate activism, recently saying: “Corporations have no business being on the right or the left because…their sole job is to build equity for the investors.”

Besides Pizza Hut, liberal-run Ben & Jerry’s launched a multi-state media campaign with billboards to combat anti-trans legislation in several states, such as Florida. Here’s an example of one of the billboards in Georgia. 

And it’s not just woke corporate America that is getting push-back. Kuwait’s government summoned a senior US diplomat at the US Embassy in Kuwait for tweeting a rainbow flag in celebration of Pride Month. 

How much is too much? Corporate America and the US government are hellbent on spreading an agenda of wokness. 

Podcaster Joe Rogan has called woke corporate execs and employees “mentally ill.” 

Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Amid the deluge of dire predictions that the human population will rise exponentially, deplete the earth’s resources, and overheat the planet, two recent demographic studies predict the opposite—that the number of people will peak within the next several decades and then begin a phase of steady, irreversible decline.

In some places, including Japan, Russia, South Korea, and most countries in Europe, that population collapse has already begun. China is not far behind.

The United Nations has predicted that humanity will continue its rapid expansion into the next century, growing from just under 8 billion today to more than 11 billion by 2100. An oft-repeated interpretation of this data is that people are having too many babies, and many of the models for climate change and environmental degradation are based on projections like these. In August, the U.N. declared a “code red for humanity” over climate change and overpopulation, and analysts at investment bank Morgan Stanley stated that the “movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing.”

However, a demographic study funded by the Gates Foundation and published in the Lancet, a medical journal, paints a much different picture. This study, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington, predicts that the global human population will peak at 9.7 billion within several decades, and then start to decline. “Once global population decline begins,” the authors write, “it will probably continue inexorably.”

The Lancet study projects that by the end of this century, China will have shrunk by 668 million people, losing almost half of its current population, and India will lose 290 million. Despite all efforts to reverse this trend in China, including eliminating the one-child policy and providing incentives for child-rearing, couples are not cooperating; China experienced its fifth consecutive record low birth rate in 2021.

Findings like these are the basis for Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s statement in May that “civilization is going to crumble” from the loss of so many people. Musk had previously declared at a speaking event in 2019 that “the biggest problem the world will face in 20 years is population collapse.” Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group, also present at the event, said, “I agree.”

Manoj Pradhan, economist and co-author of “The Great Demographic Reversal,” predicts that population loss will bring dramatic economic, political, and societal changes. “The future is going to look very, very different from the past,” he said. Some of the things we are experiencing today, such as high inflation, labor shortages, and the sacrifice of economic well-being to protect the elderly and the vulnerable, offer a “peek into the future.”

The most populous countries in the world today are China and India, both with about 1.4 billion people, together comprising one-third of the world’s population. The United States is a distant third, with 330 million. Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, and Japan round out the top 10.

According to the Lancet and other studies, populations will soon start to fall throughout Asia and South America, catching up with chronic declines that are already taking place in Europe. Simultaneously, Africa will be one of the few areas that continue to grow their population, though even in Africa growth rates are falling. Nigeria is projected to gain 585 million people by the end of this century, becoming the world’s second-most populated country after India, with China falling to third and the United States falling to fourth. Japan, Russia, and Brazil will soon drop out of the top 10 altogether.

The key discrepancy between those who project rapid expansion and those who predict decline centers on fertility rates. Dr. Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson, co-authors of “Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline,” combed through global fertility data and traveled across six continents speaking with people throughout Asia, Africa, South America, and the West. What they discovered concurs with the Lancet Study; both statistically and anecdotally, birth rates around the world are significantly below what the U.N. has projected.

Driving the population collapse is what Bricker and Ibbitson call the “fertility trap.” For a country to sustain its population, women must have an average birth rate of 2.1 children. Once a country’s fertility rate falls below 2.1, it never comes back.

In 2020, the U.S. fertility rate was 1.6, the lowest rate in America’s history and a sharp decline from 3.7 in 1960. Europe’s average fertility rate is 1.5. Among other top-10 countries, the Lancet Study reports that Japan’s fertility rate is currently 1.3. China’s fertility rate ranges from 1.3 to 1.5, depending on the source, but some estimates put it as low as 1.15.

Russia’s fertility rate is 1.6. Deaths substantially outnumber births in Russia today, and it is projected to lose up to one-third of its population by 2050. A January Foreign Policy report stated that Russia’s loss of population means it will soon struggle to field enough soldiers for a major military conflict, likely a factor behind its recent threats to use nuclear weapons.

In 1960, the average woman worldwide had 5.2 children. Today that number has fallen to 2.4 and is projected to decline to 2.2 by 2050, barely at replacement level across the globe. By 2100, the Lancet predicts global fertility will be 1.66, taking into account current trends of urbanization, women’s education, workforce participation, and access to birth control.

Going from a birth rate of 5 to a birth rate below 2, writes Stanford University Economist Charles I. Jones, is the difference between “exponential growth in both population and living standards and an empty planet, in which incomes stagnate and the population vanishes.” Jones’ March 2022 report, titled “Consequences of a Declining Population,” describes what he calls the “empty planet result,” featuring not only a decline in human prosperity, but also a depletion of culture, ideas, and innovation. “Economic growth stagnates as the stock of knowledge and living standards settle down to constant values,” Jones writes. “Meanwhile, the population itself falls at a constant rate, gradually emptying the planet of people.”

For countries below the replacement rate, immigration can help sustain their population for a time, but there are few countries that allow significant immigration and even fewer that are managing it effectively. The global drop in fertility, however, means that even countries like the United States and Canada, which have been growing their populations through immigration, may soon hit their peaks as well.

While a future with fewer people may have environmental benefits, one demographic problem is that, as humanity shrinks, the composition of societies changes dramatically. Longevity is a key factor slowing the population collapse—the average human lifespan has increased from 51 years in 1960 to 73 years today. The Lancet predicts that by century’s end there will be 2.4 billion people older than 65, compared with only 1.7 billion under the age of 20. The median age worldwide has gone up from 22 years in 1960 to 30 years today, and is projected to increase to 41 years by 2100.

A large portion of the earth’s population will be older, beyond childbearing age, and more dependent on an ever-shrinking pool of productive young people to care for them in retirement. This inverse pyramid of the few supporting the many is most likely unsustainable. One phrase that is commonly used by researchers regarding countries like China is that they are “getting old before they are rich enough to get old.”

Urbanization

Demographers say there are several causes of declining fertility rates, but they point to one factor that seems to be driving the rest: urbanization. When people move from the countryside to cities, the economics of having children shifts.

In purely monetary terms, children are no longer a source of labor for farms, etc., but rather an expense. In the United States, the average cost of raising a child to adulthood, not including college expenses, is $267,000. Another consequence of urbanization is that women become educated, employed, independent, and have better access to contraception. Regardless of which country they’re in, women react the same way, by having fewer children and having them later in life.

According to the “Empty Planet” authors, fewer than a third of the world’s people lived in cities in 1960. Today, just over half of the world’s population are urban dwellers; by 2050, that number is expected to increase to more than two-thirds.

Africa is projected to increase from 44 percent urbanized today to 59 percent by 2050, Asia from 52 percent to 66 percent. The rest of the world’s population is already more than 80 percent urbanized. The U.N. study predicts that China will go from having been 16 percent urban in 1960 to 80 percent urban by 2050. And China’s demographic problems are exacerbated by the fact that its one-child policy, although officially ended in 2016, has created a shortage of women today. Currently, China has 34 million more males than females, leaving a large portion of its male population now reaching adulthood without the prospect of having a family.

Is Japan Our Future?

Some say that if you want to see your future, look at Japan today. Japan is 92 percent urbanized and its population is shrinking by about half a million people every year. It is a fairly homogenous society with little immigration, and its marriage and birth rates have declined steadily, leaving it a “super-aged” nation with 20 percent of its population now older than 65. As Japan ages and empties, its economy has stalled and asset values have fallen.

Japan’s Nikkei stock market index crashed during the 1990s from a high of 39,000 to 20,000, marking the “start of a long adaption from a young, fast-growing economy to an aging, slow-growth new normal,” explained economist Martin Schultz. Japanese stocks never fully recovered; three decades later, the Nikkei index is currently at 27,000.

After rising dramatically for decades, Japan’s per capita GDP flatlined in 1995 and has not grown significantly since. With an aging and declining population, sales of adult diapers in Japan now exceed that of infant diapers, and some of the emptier places in Japan have even taken to posing life-sized dolls in public places to make these locations feel less deserted.

Asked if Japan was our future, Pradhan said “sadly, no, because that would’ve been quite comforting. Japan had its demography turning negative while the rest of the world was swimming in labor.” Japanese companies were able to prosper through the decline by shifting labor to places with abundant populations, while workers at home developed automation to increase their productivity. Consequently, Japan so far has avoided the inflation and debt levels that shrinking and aging populations will bring.

As countries produce less and dedicate more and more resources to caring for the elderly, Pradhan said, “we’re going to see an increase in debt-to-GDP ratios to the extent that no one has ever imagined.” This will lead to lower growth and chronic inflation. Stagflation could become a permanent feature.

On the positive side, labor shortages will likely lead to higher wages and greater equality among working-age people. And there will be great demand for technologies to replace the more rudimentary tasks and free up human labor.

Pradhan cited the example of the Japanese government providing subsidies for nursing homes to buy robots to carry out the simpler aspects of elderly care. “Japan’s productivity is one source of hope for all of us.” It is also possible that medical breakthroughs could improve the health of the elderly and extend peoples’ productive years, allowing retirement to be pushed later in life.

Another thing that will be in high demand is empathy in taking care of others, which families traditionally had done for parents and grandparents. “I think that’s something that in a mechanized society, we’ve lost,” Pradhan said.

Taser-maker Axon Enterprise Inc. says it will “pause” stun-gun-equipped drone development for schools after some members of its ethics advisory board resigned. 

Last Thursday, Axon announced stun-gun-equipped drones and artificial intelligence-powered surveillance systems for schools following the tragic May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Hours after the release, the company’s AI Ethics Advisory Board released a statement specifying it instructed the company to limit a pilot program for the taser drone, only to be used by police. The board said a majority voted against moving forward with the project. 

“However, in light of feedback, we are pausing work on this project and refocusing to further engage with key constituencies to fully explore the best path forward,” Chief Executive Rick Smith said in a press release on Sunday. 

“It is unfortunate that some members of Axon’s ethics advisory panel have chosen to withdraw from directly engaging on these issues before we heard or had a chance to address their technical questions. We respect their choice and will continue to seek diverse perspectives to challenge our thinking and help guide other technology options that we should be considering,” Smith continued.

One of the ethics board members, Wael Abd-Almageed, told Reuters he and eight members resigned from the 12-member panel. He said many on the board had significant concerns the drone could be used beyond schools and “exacerbate racial injustice, undermine privacy through surveillance and become more lethal if other weapons were added.”

“What we have right now is just dangerous and irresponsible, and it’s not very well thought of and it will have negative societal consequences,” he said.

Axon, formerly known as Taser, sells body-worn cameras and policing software to most police departments across the country. 

As for now, Axon appears to have shelved the taser drone but shows the dystopic technology coming down the pipe that could be misused by law enforcement and or government agencies against the American people. 

Authored by Cara Ding via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Three prosecutors at the forefront of the progressive movement in California will be put to the test on June 7.

Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s chief prosecutor, faces a recall election in the primary. Polls suggest there is a good chance that he will lose.

Diana Becton and Tori Berber Salazar, chief prosecutors of two counties just east of San Francisco, face uphill reelection bids against career prosecutor challengers.

All three are founding members of the Prosecutors Alliance, a first-of-its-kind prosecutor organization pushing progressive changes in the California criminal justice system. The fourth founding member, George Gascón, is also mired by a robust recall campaign in Los Angeles.

Boudin, a former public defender and son of incarcerated parents, was elected in 2019 on a progressive platform. He set out policies to restrict cash bail and sentencing enhancements for offenders, while ramping up criminal prosecutions against police officers.

His term, coinciding with the pandemic years, has been marked by an uptick in property crimes and homicides, according to San Francisco police data.

The political committee that is most active in the recall campaign, San Franciscans for Public Safety Supporting the Recall of Chesa Boudin, spent nearly $4.5 million in 2022, according to the latest campaign finance disclosures published by the San Francisco Ethics Commission. The treasurer of the committee is Mary Jung, former San Francisco Democratic Party chair.

Four committees opposing the recall spent a combined $2.1 million in 2022. Among them, a committee set up by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California spent $263,171.

A San Francisco Examiner poll conducted a week ago finds 56 percent of San Francisco voters in favor of recalling Boudin, 32 percent opposing the recall, and 12 percent undecided. Another poll commissioned by the Boudin campaign finds likely voters evenly split on the recall.

Contra Costa County

In Contra Costa County, incumbent Diana Becton faces a reelection bid against career prosecutor Mary Knox.

Becton, a former judge, was first elected in 2018 on a progressive platform. During her term, she stopped prosecuting certain drug possession cases, piloted a resentencing program to reduce sentencing lengths, and started a data collection project to identify racial disparities within the system.

Knox told The Epoch Times that she disagreed with Becton’s policy to stop prosecuting a wide range of drug possession cases. Prosecuting the cases incentivizes people with serious addictions to get court-ordered treatment and reigns in drug-fueled crimes such as thefts, robberies, and burglaries, she said.

“I think the crime will only increase until we start enforcing our laws the way they are written. It is the district attorney’s ethical duty to file charges when the facts prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a crime was committed and not let your own personal beliefs get in the way,” Knox said.

Becton told The Epoch Times in a statement that her office focuses resources on prosecuting violent crimes.

Knox also finds fault with the way Becton handled organized retail thefts at high-end stores. During the pandemic, Becton set a higher standard for prosecutors to charge looters, which emboldened the thieves, Knox said.

Becton said that her office continues to file charges in organized retail thefts.

Knox raised $385,978 this year, out-raising Becton by about $143,000, according to the latest campaign finance disclosures published by Contra Costa County’s election office.

However, far more money was spent by super PACs that have chosen to get support Becton’s campaign. These super PACs can raise and spend as much as they like, but they are prohibited from coordinating directly with any candidates.

California Justice and Republic Safety PAC spent a whopping $963,884 on TV ads, digital ads, mailers, etc. in supporting Becton and opposing Knox in 2022, according to the latest data.

George Soros, who has a record of supporting progressive prosecutor candidates, chipped in at least $652,000 into the PAC. Smart Justice California Action Fund put in $300,000.

Lift Up Contra Costa Action PAC, affiliated with Tides Advocacy, also spent tens of thousands in supporting Becton.

In support of Knox, Contra Costans for Progress and Justice, a PAC formed by a coalition of local organizations and individuals spent $228,548 in 2022. Contra Costa Deputy Sheriff’s Association is the largest donor to the PAC, contributing $190,000.

In 2020, Knox and four other prosecutors filed a federal lawsuit accusing Becton of discriminative promotion practices. In 2019, Knox filed an unfair workplace treatment complaint alleging that Becton demoted her after she supported Becton’s challenger in the 2018 election.

San Joaquin County

In San Joaquin County, incumbent Tori Verber Salazar faces a reelection bid against career prosecutor Ron Freitas.

Salazar, a Republican career prosecutor who worked at the gang and homicide unit, was first elected in 2014 and re-elected in an uncontested race in 2018.

In 2020, Salazar joined Boudin, Gascón, and Becton to form Prosecutors Alliance. The alliance follows the 21 principles for progressive prosecutors developed by Fair and Just Prosecution, Brennan Center for Justice, and Justice Collaborative, including ending cash bail, stopping prosecuting misdemeanors, holding police accountable, expunging criminal records, and ending the death penalty.

In April, the District Attorney’s portion of the San Joaquin County Attorney’s Association concluded a vote of no confidence in Salazar’s ability to effectively manage the office.

Freitas told The Epoch Times that he disagrees with the direction set forth by the Prosecutors Alliance. For instance, he thinks stopping prosecuting misdemeanors will embolden the criminals and give rise to more violent crime.

Freitas raised $222,287 in 2022, outraising Becton by two times, according to the latest campaign finance disclosures published by San Joaquin County.

Earlier today we reported that the biggest oil bears among the big banks, Citi and Barclays, just capitulated on their downbeat forecasts – having seen crude steamroll any and every downside catalyst thrown at it and hitting 3 month highs – and were forced to hike their price targets. Of course, their views don’t matter since anyone who had traded based on their reco to short oil is now looking for a new career; but with them out of the way, the big boys are now coming out with a new round of aggressive price hikes. To wit, late on Monday, Goldman published a report in which it again revised its price outlook (higher), saying that structural shortages remain unresolved to this day (despite a brief period in which the oil market enjoyed its first surplus since June 2020), and the bank is raising its peak summer oil price target from $125 to $140, while also hiking it oil prices targets for the rest of 2022 and 2022 by $10 higher than before.

We excerpt some more details below.

As Goldman’s Damien Courvalin writes in the note (available to professional subs), with fundamentals weakening in April-May, due to modest declines in Russian exports, record large SPR sales and severe Chinese lockdowns, the oil market to saw its first surplus since June 2020. However, this politically created surplus is already ending (even with the SPR still pumping a cool million every single day until the Democrats are swept out of Congress this November), driven by the ongoing recovery in Chinese demand…

… with an 0.5 mb/d expected further decline in Russian production following the European ban.

As such, oil’s structural deficit remains unresolved, with in fact an even tighter oil market through April than the Goldman analyst had expected. Supply remains inelastic to higher prices with core-OPEC (higher) and exempt countries (lower) production shifts broadly offsetting.

On the demand side, the negative global growth impulse remains insufficient to rebalance inventories at current prices.

As a result, Goldman believes that oil prices need to rally further to normalize the unsustainably low levels of global oil inventories, as well as OPEC and refining spare capacities.

Warning that with structural shortages unresolved, Courvalin writes that the rising long-term shortages will require near-term surpluses, and that given both record low inventories and OPEC spare capacity, “the market will solve to balance in the short-term and recreate the necessary buffers in the coming year.”

Forcing the market to balance in the short-run and create excess inventories next year therefore requires a higher oil price forecast over both periods. Based on Goldman’s estimated 3% demand elasticity and bottom-up estimated shale elasticity, as well as  accounting for the retail vs. Brent price disconnect, the bank forecasts that oil prices will need to average $135/bbl in 2H22 and $125/bbl in 2023, $10/bbl higher than previously. On a monthly basis, this points to a peak summer Brent price of $140/bbl with Goldman’s consumer Brent price expected to reach over $160/bbl.

Finally, how is Goldman trading this upside? The bank has identified three opportunities to express this bullish view and overcome then near-term fundamental uncertainties.

• First, long Dec-22 Gasoil, a trade that will perform even if US foreign policy leads to higher OPEC crude supply and that positions for a potential surge in prices this summer.
• Second, Goldman reiterates its long Dec-23 Brent Top Trade recommendation (and its corollary that energy equities continue to outperform the broader market), as the multi-year supply response has yet to be triggered.
• Third, the bank reiterates its bullish crude timespread near-term view as refinery runs ramp-up by more than the risks to Russian production and Chinese demand.

More in the full note available only to pro subs.

Authored by Sophia Lam via The Epoch Times,

China’s top disciplinary watchdog announced on May 31 that it has removed a former top official in eastern Jiangsu Province from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the regime’s public office.

Zhang Jinghua, former deputy CCP chief of Jiangsu, was accused of “faking economic figures for personal promotion and meddling in market activities in violation of relevant rules,” among other charges of corruption, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in a notice on May 31. It did not provide any specifics for the accusation.

Zhang is one of the most recent CCP members of the 19th central committee—the CCP’s top governing body—to fall.

One day prior, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) held a virtual meeting in which its director, Kang Yi, said that the problem of statistical falsification still exists in China.

On May 27, the NBS stated that 126 lower-level officials in Hebei, Henan, and Guizhou provinces had been punished for fabricating statistical data.

This wave of purging data fabrication began in March when the CCDI wrote on its website that some local officials had falsified data to create an illusion of development and manipulated statistical data by “reminding” and ordering relevant departments to make the necessary changes.

Foreign investment banks have already cut their China growth forecasts after the regime’s COVID-19 lockdowns hit the economy of Shanghai hard, with Nomura predicting growth of 3.9 percent.

Statistics to Suit Party’s Political Needs

For the CCP, statistics have three functions, according to Wang He, a China current affairs commentator in a recent interview with the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times: to support decision-making, to serve politics, and to brainwash the people. But the first function is nominal, he said.

“To effectively support decision-making, the authenticity, timeliness, and completeness of statistical data must be of top priority,” Wang said.

But the norm in CCP officialdom, Wang said, is to use data to serve the party’s political purposes. He noted that fake data assists CCP officials in their promotion through the ranks, which in turn spurs them to continue forging data for further promotion.

“The CCP uses false data to fool the people that the situation in China is always great, as lies are a basic element of the CCP’s rule,” Wang said.

The recent purging of false data by the CCP now is again for political reasons, Wang added, rather than motivated by economic transparency, as the regime is in the critical months before the CCP’s 20th national congress to be held in autumn for political reshuffling.

China’s GDP Figures ‘Man-made,’ Unreliable: Premier

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang participates in a press conference at Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, China, on Nov. 21, 2019. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

The Chinese regime has long been criticized for massaging its economic data, including GDP figures, population, and other indicators.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang, then party secretary of northeastern Liaoning Province, reportedly said to Clark T. Randt, Jr., former U.S. ambassador to China, that China’s “GDP figures are ‘man-made’ and therefore unreliable,” over dinner on March 12, 2007, as disclosed by Wikileaks.

He also acknowledged the economic crisis facing China in 2020 when he told reporters at a presser on May 28 that “there are 600 million people whose monthly income is only 1,000 yuan ($140).”

China’s population is 1.439 billion; 600 million people is roughly 41.7 percent of the total population.

In January 2017, Chen Qiufa, then governor of Liaoning Province, confirmed at the provincial people’s congress that the cities and counties of Liaoning had problems with falsifying financial data from 2011 to 2014, as reported by the CCP’s mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency.

In January 2018, Inner Mongolia revealed that its economic data was substantially falsified—its 2016 industrial output was substantially inflated by 40 percent and that fake growth amounted to 290 billion yuan (roughly $43.5 billion).

In addition to Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, Jilin Province and Tianjin City were forced to revise their data after they were found to have inflated or manipulated economic statistics over the past few years, according to a Bloomberg report.

Last week President Biden insisted that “more Americans feel financially comfortable” since he took office.

Yet, according to a new poll, 83% of Americans are pessimistic about the US economy – describing it as “poor or not so good,” while 35% say they aren’t satisfied with their financial situation – the highest level of dissatisfaction in the 50 years since the Wall Street Journal-NORC (University of Chicago) poll began.

The survey found Americans in a sour mood and registering some of the highest levels of economic dissatisfaction in years. The pessimism extended beyond the current economy to include doubts about the nation’s political system, its role as a global leader and its ability to help most people achieve the American dream. –WSJ

The Journal frames sentiment as “deeply pessimistic,” and says Americans view the nation as sharply divided over its most important values.

Only 27% of the 1,071 adults polled say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living – a 20% drop from last year, while 46% said they don’t.

Meanwhile, 38% said their financial situation had gotten worse in the past few years – marking the second time since the 2007-2009 recession that more than 30% of respondents said their finances were worse off, according to 50 years of data.

Some 60% said they were pessimistic about the ability for most people to achieve the American dream.

“The promise was this was a place where what you were born into did not determine who you could be. But I think we’ve failed deeply at that,” said Julie Olsen Edwards, an 83-year-old Soquel, Calif., retired community college teacher. “I find myself choking up saying it.”

What’s driving the results? Inflation, of course.

The survey results show that high inflation in particular is driving the dim economic outlook, said Jennifer Benz, vice president of public affairs and media research at NORC. Inflation is running at close to its fastest pace in four decades, at an 8.3% annual rate in April, one of several factors weighing on consumers. Households are digging into savings to support their spending, the Commerce Department has said, and the S&P 500 nearly closed in bear territory recently. -WSJ

The poll does have a bright spot – namely the labor market, with the unemployment rate close to a multi-decade low at 3.6%. Around 2/3 of those polled said it would be ‘somewhat or very easy’ to find a new job with around the same income and benefits – the highest % since 1977.

That said, the overall results of the poll suggest that Democrats ‘face a dispirited electorate heading into November’s elections,’ as respondents’ despondent view of things suggests that ‘a connective tissue of pessimism underlies Americans’ economic and social attitudes.”

According to the poll, 86% said that Americans are ‘greatly divided’ when it comes to key values, while over half said they expect the divisions to worsen over the next five years.

“I’m angry,” said Robert Benda, a 69-year-old retired telecommunications worker who lives in Berthoud, Colo., who says freedom is the most important American value, which Democrats controlling Washington are trying to take away. “Our government is doing what’s right for their special-interest groups, and everybody else be damned.”