Month: August 2023

As Niger’s military coup leadership doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, and with President Mohamed Bazoum still under detention despite Western calls for his restoration, the United States has begun pausing some foreign aid programs. This could pave the way for future sanctions on the junta.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Friday remarks sated, “As we have made clear since the outset of this situation, the provision of U.S. assistance to the government of Niger depends on democratic governance and respect for constitutional order.”

He made clear, however, that all humanitarian and food assistance will flow unabated into the destabilized country.

“We remain committed to supporting the people of Niger to help them preserve their hard-earned democracy and we reiterate our call for the immediate restoration of Niger’s democratically-elected government,” he said.

The day prior, President Biden had called for Bazoum’s immediate release and for the return to constitutional order, but noticeably Washington has yet to use to word “coup”.

“I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy,” Biden said. “The Nigerien people have the right to choose their leaders. They have expressed their will through free and fair elections — and that must be respected.”

He said this simultaneous to the American embassy in the capital Niamey being partially evacuated, though it is still functioning with senior diplomats. 

Meanwhile the regional bloc of Western-friendly countries known as ECOWAS is preparing potential military intervention which could trigger a much bigger conflict in West Africa.

West Africa’s regional bloc says a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger is a “the last resort” as Nigeria cuts electricity supplies to intensify pressure on the country’s coup leadershttps://t.co/b6eeGqCEEW pic.twitter.com/omjRvBB9XA

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 3, 2023

“As its meeting ended Friday in neighboring Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the region’s defense chiefs finalized a plan to use force against the Niger junta — needing approval by their political leaders — if Mohamed Bazoum is not reinstated as Niger’s president,” The Associated Press detailed of the emergency summit.

“An Economic Community of West African States delegation to Niger, led by Nigeria’s former head of state Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, had tried unsuccessfully to meet with the coup leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani,” it was reported.

As for Gen. Tchiani, he has warned that any external aggression against Niger “will see an immediate response and without warning.” The coup leaders have also called out France, alleging that Bazoum’s officials had issued legal permission for French military intervention to restore constitutional government. 

Any potential intervention by the West African nations would likely happen along Nigeria’s some 1,000-mile border with Niger.

Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

Sparks flew during a contentious public hearing in the Australian Parliament earlier this week as Representatives from Pfizer and Moderna gave unsatisfactory answers to multiple lawmakers’ questions.

The Australian Senate’s ‘Education and Employment Legislation Committee’  held a hearing Wednesday regarding the status of the COVID-19 vaccines, which included witnesses from Pfizer Australia, Moderna, and the Australia’s Theraputic Goods Administration (TGA).

Conservative lawmakers were outraged that at least half of all Australians got COVID after the country imposed some of the most draconian lockdowns and vaccine mandates in the world.

During the hearing, a Pfizer representative insisted that no one was forced to get the risky COVID-19 jabs in Australia, despite the county’s strict mandates.

Senator Pauline Hanson confronted Dr. Brian Hewitt, Pfizer Australia’s Head of Regulatory Sciences, about a comment he had made earlier in the hearing regarding the country’s vaccine mandates.

“You actually made a comment that no one was forced to have the vaccination,” Hanson said,  after initially attributing the comment to his colleague Dr. Krishan Thiru, Pfizer Australia’s Country Medical Director.

“You were in Australia during COVID-19 … you must have been fully aware that people—nurses, doctors, people—to keep their jobs, were forced to have the vaccination,” she said.

“Now, do you retract your statement that they were not forced?”

“Senator, no, I believe firmly that no one was forced to have a vaccine,” Hewitt responded.

“Mandates and vaccine requirements are determined by governments and health authorities. I believe everyone was offered an opportunity to get a vaccine or not get a vaccine and I don’t believe that anybody was forced to take the vaccine.”

“A lot of Australians will disagree with you on that one,” Hanson shot back.

Senator Alex Antic had cited statistics showing that cases of Myocarditis spiked precipitously in South Australia following introduction of the COVID injections.

“Now, we know that myocarditis and pericarditis are two heart inflammation conditions well associated with the COVID mRNA injections—even the Theraputic Goods Administration admits to that, Antic began.

“Yet despite this well-established fact, the injections were mandated to thousands of Australians and speaking out about these incursions on freedom got one labeled an anti-vaxxer or a peddler of dangerous disinformation,” the senator continued.

Antic cited data he obtained through a Freedom of Information request from the South Australia Health Department that tracked cardiac related presentations in 15-year-olds to 44-year-olds going back to 2018.

The senator showed a chart indicating that the numbers remained steady at 1,100 a month from January 2018 until July of 2021 when it “drastically spiked.” By November of 2021, he said, the number of cases peaked at  2,172 per month, almost double the norm. The rise in cases, he noted, took place “just as these injections were rolled out.”

Antic noted that there was another spike in cardiac related presentations in February of 2023, “just when the boosters were being mandated.”

“These injections are harming, and in many cases, killing our young people,” Antic declared. “So what does SA Health have to say about this? Nothing. They continue to roll out the injections. They continue to push the injection narrative. This injection campaign is going to go down as the greatest scandal in medical history and none of you said a single thing.”

🚨BREAKING NEWS
💣Have a listen to Pfizer’s answer to @PaulineHansonOz question about whether any Australians were FORCED to choose between the jab or their job. @RWMaloneMD predicted their response two years ago 🤦‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/C5REL4dGRe

— 🇦🇺OurVoicesMatter (@OV_Matter) August 4, 2023

During the hearing, one of the Pfizer representatives admitted that during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer employees received a different shot than the general public.

“Your vaccine mandate was using your own batch of vaccine especially imported for Pfizer and not tested by the TGA?” conservative Senator Malcolm Roberts asked Dr. Hewitt.

“Pfizer undertook to import Pfizer vaccines specifically for the employee vaccination program and that was so that no vaccine would be taken from government stocks that were being delivered to clinics as needed,”  Dr. Hewitt replied,  in answer to a senator’s question.

“What we’ve seen during the COVID mismanagement and malfeasance was the largest transfer of wealth in our nation’s history from We the People to Big Pharma via Big Government that lied repeatedly during the COVID mismanagement,” Roberts said.

BOMBSHELL: Pfizer employees were given a *special batch*… different from what was forced into the general population 🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/CDww6wxFif

— Pelham (@Resist_05) August 4, 2023

Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick,  a member of the Liberal National Party, on Wednesday as asked the doctors whether they could explain how Pfizer’s mRNA COVID injections were causing heart disease.

As Antic had noted, even Australia’s Theraputic Goods Administration had confirmed the link between COVID vaccines and heart diseases such as myocarditis and pericarditis.

“Can you explain the process, why the vaccine causes myocarditis and pericarditis?” Sen. Rennick asked.

Dr. Thiru began by expressing his “confidence in the safety profile” of the vaccine, but was cut off by Sen. Rennick when it became apparent that the doctor was filibustering.

Calling for a point of order, he again asked the Pfizer doctors, “Do you understand why [Pfizer’s vaccine] causes myocarditis? I want you to explain to me why it causes myocarditis.”

Dr. Thiru said that Pfizer is “aware of very rare reports of myocarditis and pericarditis that have been temporarily associated with the vaccine,” before being interrupted again by Rennick to answer the question.

In response, Thiru again referred to the “small” number of reports around the world linking myocarditis to the Pfizer jab, before being interrupted for a third time by Rennick.

“I’m not referring to the number of reports,” the Queensland senator pressed.

“I want you to explain to me the mechanism of how the vaccine causes myocarditis. Do you or do you not understand the mechanism of why the vaccine causes myocarditis?”

“It looks to me like you don’t. And if you don’t understand it, why are you saying the vaccine is safe without qualifying the risks?” he asked.

The committee chair directed Dr. Thiru to “get to” Sen. Rennick’s question, but the Pfizer doctor insisted on talking about the mRNA product’s benefit-risk ratio, which he indicated was excellent.

Rennick tried one last time to get a straight answer from the Pfizer doc.

“The question that I asked was can you explain why the vaccine causes myocarditis. Yes or no?” he asked.

After Thiru tried to deflect one more time by citing the jabs’ allegedly  justifiable benefit-risk ratio, Rennick gave up.

“You clearly don’t understand the pathway, do you? Because you can’t explain it,” the senator said.

Thiru said he would have to “come back” to the committee with “whatever information we can provide” on the mechanism of how the vaccine causes myocarditis.

After denying that people were coerced into taking their dangerous and ineffective mRNA injections, Pfizer executives get absolutely grilled by Australian senator, Gerard Rennick—forcing them to concede that they do not understand the mechanism by which their injections cause… pic.twitter.com/HqXE3AFIbV

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) August 4, 2023

Sen. Antic was similarly frustrated when he asked the doctors from Moderna to provide data on the rates of serious adverse events, which a recent medical journal report showed was occurring in one of 800 vax recipients.

He asked the Moderna representatives how their own internal adverse reaction numbers compared with that study.

Dr. Chris Clarke, Moderna’s Director, Scientific Leadership, told Antic that he had not seen the report.

“Do you think you should be aware of that?” Antic pressed. “This has been widely reported. You are a manufacturer of vaccines. I find it difficult to think that you wouldn’t be aware of this report.”

“You can’t tell me the rates of serious adverse events. You realize you’ve come to a Senate hearing today for the purposes of exactly that question. And you can’t tell me the rates of serious adverse reactions to your product, which I find extraordinary,” he said.

When Antic asked Clarke what Moderna’s overall rate of serious vaccine injury was for its COVID product, the doctor admitted that he doesn’t know “the actual rates of adverse events.”

“You don’t have the rates of adverse events in front of you?” Antic asked incredulously.

“What I can tell you is that the rates of serious adverse events in our very large, randomized control trial was actually in a similar range to what was observed in the placebo.”

“But you can’t tell me the rates of serious adverse events. You realize you came to a Senate hearing today for the purposes of exactly that question. And you can’t tell me the rates of serious adverse reactions to your product—which I find extraordinary,” Antic said.

What I can tell you is this: On the TGA website, it reports um that there are 1.2 reports that err..”

“That’s the TGA. I’m not asking about the TGA, I’m asking about Moderna,” Antic interjected.

“You must have information. You are a multi-national company. You are before a senate enquiry and you cannot tell me the rates the serious adverse.. I mean, it’s quite extraordinary what you’re telling me.”

Clarke again claimed that Moderna’s trials showed no safety concerns and “no imbalance of serious adverse events of special interest or deaths between the vaccine group and the placebo group.”

“I think we’re wasting our time here,” Antic responded in disgust.

During last night’s Senate hearing into our COVID 19 Vaccine Discrimination Bill representatives from Moderna couldn’t provide the numbers of serious adverse reactions from their COVID mRNA injection.

I was so stunned I literally dropped my pen!

Watch below: pic.twitter.com/P4COBxWk7w

— Senator Alex Antic (@SenatorAntic) August 4, 2023

Dr. Thiru also refused to give a straight answer to Sen. Matthew Canavan, when he was asked if Pfizer tested its COVID-19 vaccine prior to the rollout to see if it stopped or reduced transmission of the disease.

It’s getting hot FOR PFIZER Down Under. Australian Senate Committee kicked off its hearing asking Pfizer executives: “Did Pfizer test whether your Covid-19 vaccine could stop or reduce the transmission of the disease?” *non-answer*, *non-answer* — > after THREE tries, he gives… pic.twitter.com/dHDcuzoezq

— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) August 5, 2023

The Republican-led U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has not yet called any witnesses from Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, the CDC, FDA, Anthony Fauci, or Francis Collins to appear before the committee and has shown no interest in investigating the fraud that allegedly took place in the COVID vax clinical trials.

In January 2023, Joe Rogan spoke with former CIA officer Mike Baker, and reflected specifically on George Soros:

“I had a conversation with the governor of Texas about him, with Greg Abbott, where he was explaining to me what George Soros does,” Rogan said.

“And it’s fucking terrifying that he donates money to a very progressive, very leftist — whether it’s a DA or whatever, politician, and then funds someone who’s even further left than them to go against them,” Rogan added.

“And just keeps moving it along. So he’s playing like a global game. And that he enjoys doing it.”

“Yeah. He enjoys doing it. But it is, it’s telling right? He understood early on where you wanted to seize power,” Baker replied.

Early on, indeed.

And now, in an ironic twist, Patrick Bet-David explained this week – also to Joe Rogan – Soros has been acting out his ‘god-like’ plan since at least 2004.

No lesser media outlet than The LA Times wrote (in 2004) following an interview with USA Today:

The begin by noting that George Soros’ motto, “If I spend enough, I will make it right”, is the essence of his articulated ideas about changing society.

Then the ‘god complex’ conversation happens: (via The LA Times) (emphasis ours)

It seems that Soros believes he was anointed by God.

“I fancied myself as some kind of god …” he once wrote.

“If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble.”

When asked by Britain’s Independent newspaper to elaborate on that passage, Soros said, “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.”

Since I began to live it out.

Those unfamiliar with Soros would probably dismiss the statement out of hand. But for those who have followed his career and sociopolitical endeavors, it cannot be taken quite so lightly.

Soros has proved that with the vast resources of money at his command he has the ability to make the once unthinkable acceptable. His work as a self-professed “amoral” financial speculator has left millions in poverty when their national currencies were devaluated, and he pumped so much cash into shaping former Soviet republics to his liking that he has bragged that the former Soviet empire is now the “Soros Empire.”

Now he’s turned his eye on the internal affairs of the United States. Today’s U.S., he writes in his latest book, “The Bubble of American Supremacy,” is a “threat to the world,” run by a Republican Party that is the devil child of an unholy alliance between “market fundamentalists” and “religious fundamentalists.”

We have become a “supremacist” nation.

Can anyone imagine The LA Times writing anything like that today about The Open Society founder – protector of minorities, supporter of progressives, and general global anti-right chaos agent.

Worse still, this ‘god’ (with a small g) thinks he might be mad:

“Next to my fantasies about being God, I also have very strong fantasies of being mad,” Soros once confided on British television.

“In fact, my grandfather was actually paranoid. I have a lot of madness in my family. So far I have escaped it.”

Perhaps that explains his omnipresence at the loci of every chaos-engine-enabling event around the world.

The LA Times ends on a prophetic note:

In his book, “Soros on Soros,” he says: “I do not accept the rules imposed by others…. And in periods of regime change, the normal rules don’t apply.” Clearly, Soros considers himself to be someone who is able to determine when the “normal rules” should and shouldn’t apply.

He who buys the most DAs, makes the rules (or sows enough chaos to reflexively create new rules).

Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

We’ve all heard nonsense about cows presenting a danger to the continuance of life on earth – that methane gas from cow flatulence will bring on climate change faster than John Kerry’s jet.

Any thinking person (a sub-species of Homo sapiens that’s in decline but not yet endangered) would agree that the notion that an animal that’s existed in harmony with nature for over two million years could destroy the earth within fourteen years if they’re not exterminated is truly absurd.

And yet those whose ability to reason is on the decline are inclined to believe the claim. Presumably, these individuals are the same ones beginning to believe that men can have babies and that an individual can become something he or she is not simply by “identifying” as such.

But those of us who see the absurdity in such clearly nonsensical beliefs are disinclined to laugh as we observe that these concepts are being disseminated by globalist governments through a compliant media… and, worse, are being accepted by more than a few people.

As a case in point, recently, a publication – Natural News – did a piece entitled, “13 Nations agree to engineer global FAMINE by destroying agriculture, saying that producing food is BAD for the planet.”

In that article, they describe a conference led by US Climate Czar John Kerry, in which representatives from thirteen countries are stated to have committed to a diminished cow population worldwide to combat climate change.

Well, that conference did take place, and a topic of discussion was methane produced by cows, and thirteen attendees did agree that measures of some sort were needed.

But it is not the case that thirteen countries have enacted legislation to eliminate cows.

We might take a step back here and examine what actually occurred. In so doing, we may not only learn whether or not red meat will soon be eliminated globally; we might also gain some insight into how globalist governments seek to achieve their ends.

In most countries, the role of Minister for the Environment is a lowly ministerial position, given to a loyal party member as a token.

Most Ministers of the Environment pontificate a fair bit but rarely implement significant change. So, let’s follow the thread of what has taken place.

• John Kerry contacts the Environmental Ministers in a host of “lesser” countries around the world on the vague premise of “making a difference.” They’re pleased to take part, as Kerry gives them higher visibility and legitimizes their otherwise rather pointless jobs.

• A conference is held at a four-star hotel somewhere for a few days. Everybody listens to the speakers wringing their hands over the dangers of climate change, and each minister tries to get their photos taken with John Kerry.

• There’s very little in the text of the keynote presentation by Kerry – mostly vague comments about the dangers of methane and the need for each country to commit to making a difference.

• At the end of the conference, the attendees are proud to sign a document that’s devoid of detail but says that they’re all in agreement in hoping to make a difference.

• A press release is issued, showing all the ministers together, stating that methane is dangerous and that all the countries are in agreement regarding the concept of a worldwide methane control policy.

• The message received by the public is that all the experts agree on whatever they’re saying, although what they’re saying is still quite unclear.

• A publication such as Natural News publishes an article with a suitably alarming title.

• The perceived overstatement by Natural News is regarded as a provocation by controlled information sources such as Wikipedia to alert the public. Interestingly, whenever a publication, group, or individual is discredited by Wikipedia, they always do so in the very first line of their description, i.e.,

• “Natural News is a far-right, anti-vaccination conspiracy theory and fake news website known for promoting alternative medicine, pseudoscience, disinformation, and far-right extremism.”

That’s essentially the process that’s now consistently being utilized by globalists.

Wikipedia now divides all publications, pundits, and others as either truth tellers or far-right conspiracy advocates. The real issue here isn’t farting cows any more than it’s whether men can have babies. These are mere exercises.

So, if we take a step back and consider an overview of what this all means – why it’s so prevalent and why the process is being so consistently utilized – we might be conclude the following:

The issues are absurdly extreme for a reason. The objective is not the achievement of the issues themselves. It is the alteration of the psyche of the populace. 

Once the public has spent several years having their heads divided between “far-right extremism” and what’s approved by the Ministry of Truth, enough people will have been converted into non-thinking proles that a bill can be put forward with the broad and intentionally non-specific objective to outlaw far-right extremism in all its forms.

In order to assure the passage of the bill, a significant majority of people will have to have already reached the stage in their new thought process that they feel that the law is not only justified but essential. Those people who can still think will be expected to comply.

The goal is not the elimination of cows; it’s the elimination of thinking and dissent. If we keep the above in mind as a process rather than an intended outcome, we have a greater ability to focus on the critical issue.

To be sure, there are those entities that would like to eliminate red meat and feed people insects as a replacement. But that’s not the central issue here.

The core objective is nothing less than the elimination of individual thought and dissent. It’s essential in the creation of a fully collectivist state, and it’s at the very heart of the overall globalist objective.

*  *  *

Disturbing economic, political, and social trends are already in motion and now accelerating at breathtaking speed. The risks that lie ahead are too big and dangerous to ignore. That’s exactly why bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released a free report with all the details on how to survive an economic collapse. It will help you understand what is unfolding right before our eyes and what you should do so you don’t get caught in the crosshairs. Click here to download the PDF now.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is well underway. The group stage having come to a dramatic close on Thursday as two-time champions Germany suffered a shock early exit from the competition. Their exit now leaves a gap to be filled when it comes to the teams most favored to win the tournament.

At the top of the pile is currently England.

After a slow but winning start, the Lionesses won their group as one of only three teams in the tournament to have picked up maximum points – alongside Japan and Sweden.

You will find more infographics at Statista

As this chart based on average betting odds shows though, the bookmakers remain not totally convinced by these two teams’ chances to go all the way.

Behind England as joint second favorites are the United States and Spain. 

Four-time winners the U.S. have had a subdued World Cup by their standards so far, having picked up just one win and two draws before scraping out of their group won by the Netherlands.

The round of 16 got underway overnight, with Spain spanking Switzerland 5-1, and taking on Spain and Japan beating Norway 3-1.

USA plays Sweden tonight.

Joint hosts Australia, who won their group, play their first knockout game against Denmark on Monday.

Authored by Naveen Anthrapully via The Epoch Times,

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith on Aug. 4 requested the federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s case to issue a “protective order” in light of a social media post made by the former president.

The Aug. 4 Truth Social post by Mr. Trump said, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Following this, Mr. Smith urged U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to “enter a protective order governing or restricting discovery or inspection” of case details, essentially restricting Mr. Trump from sharing case and evidence details publicly.

“Such a restriction is particularly important in this case because the defendant has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him,” argued Mr. Smith in a filing (pdf), citing the Truth Social post.

“If the defendant were to begin issuing public posts using details—or, for example, grand jury transcripts—obtained in discovery here, it could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case,” he said, adding that such posts may influence jurors.

A spokesperson for Mr. Trump responded immediately to the filing implying that the post was not a retaliation against Mr. Smith’s charges.

“The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth,” said the brief statement.

[ZH: Judge Chutkan has asked for Trump to respond to the special counsel’s protective order request by 5pm Monday.]

Trump Indictments

The social media incident took place a day after Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him by Mr. Smith related to the 2020 presidential election.

He has been charged with four counts—Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding, Obstruction of an Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding, and Conspiracy Against Rights.

Former President Donald Trump holds an umbrella as he arrives at Reagan National Airport following an arraignment in a Washington court in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 3, 2023. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Political and legal pundits have voiced their opinion against the latest indictment calling it a political persecution of a former president.

“The corrupt federal police just won’t stop until they’ve achieved their mission: eliminate Trump. This is un-American & I commit to pardoning Trump for this indictment,” said 2024 presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy in a statement to The Epoch Times.

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said in a Fox News interview that the indictments do not carry merit, but added that Mr. Trump will likely get a conviction in Washington because of the region’s political leanings. “I’ve read the indictment very carefully,” he said. “There is no smoking gun.”

“I think he may lose in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but I think he will probably win in the United States Supreme Court, if they grant review, and they should grant review. When you have the president of the United States and his people going after his opponent in a political election, it has to be beyond reproach. It has to be without any problem. It has to be the strongest case in history,” Mr. Dershowitz said.

“This doesn’t meet that standard,” he said.

Mr. Trump has also raised concerns about not getting a fair trial in Washington.

The latest case “will hopefully be moved to an impartial Venue, such as the politically unbiased nearby State of West Virginia!” he said in a Truth Social post on Thursday.

In addition to concerns about the trial venue, Trump supporters are apprehensive about the Obama-appointed Judge Chutkan who worked at a firm previously in her career that also employed Hunter Biden.

Judge Chutkan also has dealt with cases involving Mr. Trump. In November 2021, she rejected the former president’s attempt to block the Jan. 6 House select committee from accessing hundreds of documents from the White House despite Mr. Trump’s claim of executive privilege.

The Latest Protective Order

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was turned against her former employer, said that Mr. Trump’s Truth Social post saying he will retaliate is similar to witness intimidation.

“I think it’s chilling,” Ms. Grisham said Friday in a CNN interview. 

“Legally it doesn’t seem like it’s very smart, but how is that not intimidation? What other people are going to take a message from that?”

In the latest filing, Mr. Smith states that the government is ready to share with Trump attorneys case details provided the court issues a “protective order.”

“The Government seeks to provide the defendant with discovery as soon as possible, including certain discovery to which the defendant is not entitled at this stage of the proceedings. The attached order would allow the Government to do so, while also protecting a large amount of sensitive and confidential material contained within the first production that the Government has prepared and will send as soon as the Court issues an order,” he argued in the court filing.

Mr. Smith argues that the proposal is not “overly restrictive” given the “sensitive” nature of the documents.

Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

The United States of America v. Donald J. Trump may be the trippiest read since Cat’s Cradle, and not in a good way.

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment is a case within a case, a prosecutorial enchilada filled with things for people of all political persuasions to hate. The outside is a shell of a conventional conspiracy prosecution, and these parts are genuinely damaging for Donald Trump. Inside, it’s a deranged authoritarian fantasy, at times reading more like a 45-page Louise Mensch tweet than an indictment.

This radical core is somehow scarier than the allegations against Trump and co-conspirators like Rudy Giuliani, John Eastment, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark, and Kenneth Cheeseboro. Despite early criticism describing the case as entirely about protected speech, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s case does focus on some overt acts, and these sections are buttressed by witnesses who could be convincing across the spectrum.

Former Arizona Speaker of the House and onetime Trump supporter Rusty Bowers will describe being asked not to certify the results by, among others, Trump and Giuliani. Ronna McDaniel, chair of the RNC, will say she was told votes by so-called “fraudulent electors” would only be deployed if election litigation was successful. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is rumored to be running for president and took instant advantage of indictment news Tuesday (see below), will testify Trump told him, “You’re too honest,” in response to prods to refuse to certify the outcome.

If Smith simply focused on those damaging episodes in states like Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia, or on Trump’s interactions with Pence, this prosecution would be an easier sell to the general population. Instead, Smith has tried to pen a Unified Field Theory of insurrection that would massively expand the meaning of concepts like incitement to include false statements, tweets, and other forms of protected speech, down to classic Trumpisms like “I don’t care about a link… I have a much better link,” and “I have a lot of friends in Detroit… Detroit is totally corrupt.”

In fact, if rumors are true and the four counts filed by Smith this week are later complemented by a superseding indictment, this document may end up expanding the definition of “seditious conspiracy” to include those things as well. As Adam Kinzinger said this week, he hoped additional counts will hold Trump “accountable” for all the actions of January 6th.

It’s not hard to read this and see the framework of an argument that Trump’s ideas, tweets and “knowingly false statements” were elements of the same conspiracy to “violently disrupt” the election for which people like Oath Keepers Elmer Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs have already been convicted and sentenced to 18 and 12 years in prison, respectively. A successful prosecution would fold space and time to make legal speech felony violence.

Subscribers to Racket News can read the rest here…

In the United States, there were about 75 workers available for every 100 job openings as of July 2023. This means there is a significant gap between labor and jobs available, but also many opportunities present in some states for potential job seekers.

In the map below, using data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop and Bhabna Banerjee showcase the number of available workers per 100 job openings in each U.S. state.

Note: Available workers are unemployed workers who are in the labor force but do not have a job, have looked for one in the previous four weeks, and are currently able and available to work. Job openings are simply all unfulfilled positions that offer available work.

Workers and Job Openings by State

The below table lists out the number of unemployed workers per 100 jobs in every state.

Higher ratios, such as 110 workers per 100 job openings, mean there is more competition for each job opening in that state. Lower ratios suggest that it is harder to find workers in a given state.

Rank	State	Available Workers per 100 Job Openings
#T1	California	110.0
#T1	New York	110.0
#3	New Jersey	108.0
#4	Connecticut	102.0
#5	Washington	101.0
#6	Nevada	98.0
#7	Texas	89.0
#8	Pennsylvania	88.0
#9	Michigan	85.0
#10	Hawaii	79.0
#11	Oregon	77.0
#12	Arizona	76.0
#13	Illinois	75.0
#T14	Indiana	74.0
#T14	Rhode Island	74.0
#16	Delaware	72.0
#17	Kentucky	66.0
#18	Ohio	65.0
#T19	Alaska	63.0
#T19	New Mexico	63.0
#21	Wyoming	61.0
#22	Louisiana	60.0
#T23	Florida	59.0
#T23	Kansas	59.0
#T25	Missouri	58.0
#T25	West Virginia	58.0
#T27	Georgia	57.0
#T27	Iowa	57.0
#T29	Idaho	56.0
#T29	Tennessee	56.0
#T31	District of Columbia	55.0
#T31	Mississippi	55.0
#T31	North Carolina	55.0
#T34	Colorado	54.0
#T34	Minnesota	54.0
#36	South Carolina	53.0
#37	Wisconsin	52.0
#38	Virginia	51.0
#T39	Maine	50.0
#T39	Oklahoma	50.0
#41	Utah	48.0
#42	Montana	46.0
#43	Alabama	45.0
#T44	Arkansas	44.0
#T44	Massachusetts	44.0
#T44	Vermont	44.0
#47	New Hampshire	41.0
#48	Maryland	40.0
#49	Nebraska	40.0
#50	North Dakota	35.0
#51	South Dakota	35.0
U.S. Total		75.0

While states like New Jersey and California have more workers that they know what to do with, states like North Dakota have a 0.35 ratio of people to jobs, potentially tipping the balance of power to job seekers.

Over the last three years, job openings have increased the most in the state of Georgia, where there were only 0.57 people available for every open role in July. But despite growth in open positions, unemployment has hardly changed over the last year, wavering around 3%.

The Reason for the Gap

“If every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have 4 million open jobs.”

– U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the main driver of the current labor shortage was the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing more than 100,000 businesses to close temporarily and resulting in millions losing their jobs.

Subsequent government support for those who lost work and other subsidies made it easier for people to stay home and out of the workforce. A Chamber of Commerce survey found that 1-in-5 people have changed their work style since the pandemic, with 17% having retired, 19% having transitioned to a homemaker role, and another 14% working only part time.

The industries with the highest unemployment rates are also those that have added the most jobs, with leisure and hospitality experiencing the highest rates (5.1%) just ahead of wholesale and retail trade (4.4%).

Overall, though the job marker has started to cool somewhat, hiring is still outpacing quit rates. The national quit rate in July 2023 was 3.8%, compared to a hiring rate of 4%. And with 9.8 million job openings in the U.S., there should be ample opportunities for job seekers.

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The leadership of a conservative county in northwest Arizona voted down a proposal that would have required a hand count of ballots in the 2024 election.

The Mohave County Board of Supervisors rejected the proposal by a vote of 3-2 after the local elections director argued against the proposal due to its high costs and labor demand.

Ron Gould and Hildy Angius voted in favor, while the other three supervisors, including board chairman Travis Lingenfelter, voted against.

Mr. Lingenfelter defended his vote by citing the county’s existing budget deficit.

“It’s a really stark situation because when you look at Mohave County’s budget, it’s a conservative budget,” Mr. Lingenfelter said.

“But the first thing that we have to do in Mohave County, in good conscience, is to balance the budget,” he continued.

“You can’t talk about spending when you have [an] $18-to-$20million deficit. I mean, that’s irresponsible.”

Before the vote, Allen Tempert, the director of elections in Mohave County, spoke on the need to keep the hand-counting process private, timely, accurate, and affordable.

According to the analysis done by Mr. Tempert, the county would have to pay more than $1.1 million to have the ballots counted and conduct recounts, plus an additional $31,360.

Mr. Tempest voiced some reservations about the secrecy of the hand-counting method. “It’s obviously impossible to get hundreds of people to do hand tallying,” he said.

“And for them not to go home and tell their husband or their wife or their best friend or something or another what they have seen, what’s been going on all day long.”

Timing Concerns

If ballots are to be counted within 14 days of the primary election and 20 days of the general election, as is required, Mr. Tempert contended, that would “really be pushing it.”

Given that 105,000 ballots were cast in the 2020 general election, “it’s an awful lot of work that has to be done in a short amount of time,” Tempert remarked.

Reports that hand counting is more accurate than machine counting were refuted by Mr. Tempert, who asserted that idea was “not true.”

According to his analysis, staff members committed 46 mistakes during the course of a three-day test hand count of 850 votes.

GOP members claimed voters were disenfranchised in the 2022 election, causing ballot certifications in Mohave and Cochise counties to be delayed.

Some elected officials, activists, and voters—who distrust U.S. elections—voiced concerns about the electronic tabulation and favored prospect of manually counting ballots.

Mohave County is among the jurisdictions in the United States that have considered tabulating ballots manually.

Prior to the general election in 2022, rural Cochise County in southeast Arizona pursued a manual count until a judge halted the process.

Last year, a similar effort in Nye County, Nevada, was also litigated.

Mr. Lingenfelter stated that Mohave County began investigating manual tabulations after receiving a letter in May from Republican Arizona Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli demanding that no electronic voting systems be used as the primary tabulators in federal elections.

Mr. Borrelli sent identical letters to the other counties in Arizona.

In June, the board instructed Mr. Tempert to develop a plan for hand-counting ballots in the 2024 election cycle, prompting Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to state publicly that such a move would place Mohave County in “serious legal jeopardy.”

During Aug. 1’s meeting, Mr. Borrelli defended the proposal as a national security issue.

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake also questioned the accuracy of the last election in Arizona, filing an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court on July 14, claiming thousands of the state’s ballots weren’t configured properly.

Election Official Resigns

Elsewhere in Arizona, a county elections director resigned from her position late in June, accusing other officials of politicizing the elections and creating a harmful work environment.

The government of Pinal County announced the resignation of Elections Director Geraldine Roll, who assumed the position of supervising the recount process following the midterm election of 2022.

The resignation of Ms. Roll comes amid ongoing scrutiny and partisan tension surrounding election administration in multiple Arizona counties.

In her resignation, the former official highlighted what she perceived to be problems within the agency, emphasizing her belief that the Elections Department “should not be politicized.”

She also accused the county manager and the Board of Supervisors of prioritizing “irrational, extremist political party views and rhetoric” over “impartiality, common sense, and dedicated work.”

“It is a far reach to see how you will deliver clean elections when you bend to a faction of the Republican party,” Ms. Roll wrote in her resignation email.

“Clearly, politics are the value this administration desires in a place where politics have no place: elections administration.”

Ms. Roll, who had been a member of Pinal County since 2013, previously served as a deputy county attorney and during her employment as the county attorney, provided legal counsel and guidance in a number of departments, including the Recorder’s Office and Elections Department.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.