Hezbollah Claims It Killed Over 70 Israeli Soldiers On Lebanese Soil During Clashes
Hezbollah in a new Wednesday statement claims that it has killed over 70 Israeli troopssince the IDF’s cross-border offensive began in southern Lebanon earlier this month.
“Hezbollah says its fighters killed more than 70 Israeli troops in its clashes with Israeli forces, updating a statement from last week saying 55 were killed since a ground invasion was launched earlier this month,” Reuters reports based on the statement.
Israel’s own casualty count significantly differs, as it says it has lost about 20 soldiers inside Lebanon during the offensive operations.
But over more than the past year of Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks, Israel says it has lost 30 more troops who were stationed in northern Israel.
The IDF has put the number of Hezbollah militants it has killed in the hundreds. This includes the latest high-value target which both sides have belatedly confirmed killed: Hashem Safieddine.
Safieddine was widely seen as taking over leadership of Hezbollah in the wake of Hasan Nasrallah’s death. Israel has reportedly killed at least seven high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials in recent weeks.
Hezbollah confirmed Safieddine’s death in a statement, saying “We pledge to our great martyr and his martyred brothers to continue the path of resistance and jihad until achieving its goals of freedom and victory.”
Israel has continued targeting Beirut alongside ground operations in south Lebanon, but the port city of Tyre has also been coming under heavy bombardment on Wednesday.
Both sides are touting successes. Al Jazeera reports on the Lebanese side as follows:
Hezbollah says it fired “precision missiles” and launched new types of attack drones for the first time in clashes with Israeli troops.
The Lebanese group said it was able to push back Israeli soldiers during battles in several border villages in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it forced Israeli troops to “retreat behind the frontier” after they attempted to infiltrate from the outskirts of the south Lebanon village of Aitaroun.
Wednesday also witnessed an attempted Hezbollah strike deep into Israel, on Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah has belatedly confirmed the death of the Shia cleric seen as stepping into Nasrallah’s place…
⚡️#BREAKING Hezb-Allah announces the “martyrdom of the head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hashem Safi al-Din” pic.twitter.com/v2wgnqCU07
“Two launches were intercepted by the air force, another launch fell in an open area, in addition, a fall was detected in the area. So far, no casualties have been reported,” the Israeli army said of the rocket launched at the city.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office has opened 51,000 cases of desertion through the first nine months of 2024. The number of soldiers abandoning their posts is likely to double last year’s total.
The Times of London reported data from the Ukrainian government showing that “51,000 criminal cases were initiated for desertion and abandonment of a military unit between January and September of this year.”
El Pais previously noted that 45,000 Ukrainians were being prosecuted for desertion from the start of the year through August. Al-Jazeera says the number is at least 30,000 desertions.
At the start of the year, Kiev was estimated to have between 500,000 and 800,000 active-duty soldiers and an additional 300,000 reservists.
The Ukrainians have also sustained casualties fighting to defend from Russian advances and amid Kiev’s Kursk invasion.
Kiev has struggled to fill its ranks with fresh soldiers, leading Ukraine to drop its conscription age from 27 to 25. As Kiev is still facing manpower shortages, American politicians are pushing Ukraine to drop draft age to 18. Responsible Statecraft has reported:
Despite no evidence of victory on the horizon, the Republican senator is urging Ukrainian lawmakers to pass a mobilization bill that would force more Ukrainian citizens to be drafted into the military. Currently, men under 27 are exempted from the draft. Graham has a problem with that.
…Graham told reporters, “I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe it’s at 27. You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27.”
“We need more people in the line,” he said.
Ukraine has also resorted to allowing prisoners to leave jail if they join the military.
One Ukrainian who deserted told the Times that prison was a better option than the military because “at least in prison, you know when you will be able to leave.”
It’s not just critics who say that US policy in Ukraine is to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.
Here’s @LindseyGrahamSC saying that as long as the US arms Ukraine, “they will fight to the last person.” And four months in, he says, “I like the structural path we’re on here.” pic.twitter.com/1fntZG7cjQ
The number of Ukrainians that Kiev is prosecuting for desertion has significantly increased throughout the war. In 2022, the number was 9,000, and it had more than doubled to 24,000 last year.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was founded on April 1st, 1979 under the Jimmy Carter Administration during the height of a nearly decade long stagflationary crisis and the Iranian oil crisis. Under Executive Order 12127, its stated goal was to centralize all disaster related efforts under a single top-down entity. Specifically, FEMA ended the more localized Civil Defense Agency, which was focused on community based emergency response, and it federalized all disaster coordination under a single top-down system controlled by the Oval Office.
FEMA was eventually placed under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, creating even more centralization. The reason for FEMA according to the government is to aid Americans during and after a national level disaster event; anything from earthquakes to hurricanes to terrorist attacks.
That said, it should also be noted that FEMA was officially created on April Fool’s Day.
The true purpose of FEMA has long been obscured but some disturbing truths have been exposed in the past. The declassification of a program called Rex 84 (tied to Operation Garden Plot) revealed that FEMA was working directly with the Department of Defense on a hypothetical strategy to round up and detain large numbers of civilians considered a “threat to national security.” In other words, FEMA was to act as a tool for helping suppress civil disturbances, it was not necessarily designed to help Americans in times of need.
This was likely always the intent behind the founding of FEMA, but George H.W. Bush and Oliver North are cited as the men that truly militarized FEMA in the early 1980s. The goal to establish a mechanism for controlling domestic political dissent and suspending constitutional freedoms was exposed not long after FEMA’s founding. Oliver North was visibly enraged when the subject was broached in a congressional hearing during the Iran/Contra scandal.
It should be mentioned that the REX 84 documents do not list FEMA as a primary agency in control of civil disturbance response. This is where the accusations of “conspiracy theory” usually come from – FEMA is not the end-all-be-all agency in charge of locking down American rebellion. In fact, FEMA’s role is strangely ambiguous and is not clearly defined. All that is known is that they are indeed an element of Operation Garden Plot and have participated in REX exercises.
There’s no denying that the secrecy around civil disturbance programs is pernicious and suggests that there is far more going on than our own government cares to admit. To uncover FEMA’s real intent all we have to do is examine how they behave.
The recent Hurricane Helene disaster and FEMA’s handling of the response across the East Coast echos the agency’s crimes after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Their emergency “aid” is used as a cloak to hide efforts to actually STOP communities from helping each other and preventing outside civilian funded supplies from reaching affected residents in need.
Desperate residents during Katrina were treated like prisoners rather than citizens, gun confiscation took place in many areas and some people were shot for trying to leave locked down neighborhoods. (As a side note – this is why you should NEVER let anyone confiscate your firearms, especially if those people are sent by the government)
CNN reported in 2008 that FEMA confiscated at least $85 million in donated goods and prevented them from reaching Katrina disaster victims. This included clothing, bedding, food and medical supplies. They stored these materials for years and then GAVE AWAY the supplies long after Katrina was over. FEMA claimed the supplies were “in excess to their needs.” This report and all related articles now seem to be missing from CNN’s archives.
We just witnessed a repeat of this behavior from FEMA and the affiliated agencies within their oversight. We saw local EMS being advised to prevent civilians from helping their communities. Supplies were once agaun being blocked, people with drones were being told not to help find survivors, people with helicopters are were threatened for helping save survivors and little aid reached Helene victims for weeks. Elon Musk’s Starlink was even been prevented from providing satellite internet services to affected regions until the story went national and the Department of Transportation was forced to address the problem.
It’s Katrina all over again, and FEMA always seems to have excuses.
But why? You would think that with an election only weeks away Biden and Harris would be jumping at the chance to look competent and useful. Instead, they did nothing other that offer a $750 relief check to survivors (which might help people survive for a week) and then referred people to federal programs which take many months to benefit from.
I argue that this is all deliberate. FEMA and the federal government at large are still using Operation Garden Plot-like protocols with two goals in mind…
First, they are trying to acclimate the populace to the idea that civilians can’t help themselves and that they should do nothing. They do this by constantly interfering with civilian efforts and disrupting donations. If civilians are working on their own to save US communities from calamity then they might one day realize they don’t need the Federal Government for anything. The establishment NEEDS people to believe that they can’t survive without government aid and protection. Luckily, at least in the aftermath of Helene, it seems that many communities are working on their own to fix the situation.
If civilians start doing things for themselves, the establishment machine becomes obsolete.
Second, I suspect FEMA is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. Katrina was a clear beta-test for martial law disguised as an emergency response. Katrina was Garden Plot and Rex-84 realized. They want to see what Americans will put up with. Helene is yet another opportunity for these agencies to apply overt control and see if Americans will conform or rebel.
If FEMA is truly sincere in their efforts to help Americans they certainly don’t act like it. The criticism surrounding Helene is ramping up and FEMA’s indignant attitude towards their own failures in unacceptable. They should be punished for failing in their duties. That is assuming they are actually failing.
Maybe they consider the tragedy of government inaction surrounding Helene a success? The underlying point is, when disaster comes your way, it’s not enough to merely count FEMA out as a source of aid. That’s obvious. But you will also have to consider the possibility that the agency will work directly against you and your neighbors should you try to help yourselves.
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China’s Xi & India’s Modi Cement Border Peace Deal After Years Of Friction
The India-China troop clash of 2020 along the largely unmarked frontier of Ladakh in a disputed border area in the Western Himalayas resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. It was the deadliest border incident between the two nuclear-armed nations in memory.
Since then, other more minor skirmishes and tense incidents have followed, leading to several military-to-military talks and efforts at dialogue trying to diffuse the situation. Both countries have feared there could be another deadly blow-up, as the rival armies jockey to claim territory in the high altitude no man’s land.
But it appears the lengthy dispute may have permanently come to an end, and without further bloodshed. The two countries have reportedly struck a major peace deal in connection with the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan this week.
The last time President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral summit was all the way back in October 2019, in southern India. Since then, the relationship has been marred by the border tensions.
China has since developed a high-altitude air force base and infantry encampments in the Ladakh border region.
But the two leaders met and shook hands on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Wednesday…
“Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums, and as a result of these discussions, [an] agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi just as the BRICS summit kicked off in Russia.
The agreement has led to “disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,” the top Indian diplomat added.
China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday that “China and India, through diplomatic and military channels, maintained close communication recently over border-related issues. The two sides have now reached a solution.”
It was soon after the agreement was made public that Xi and Modi met in Kazan. President Xi said the two countries “should carefully handle differences and disagreements and facilitate each other’s pursuit of development aspirations.”
“It’s important for both sides to shoulder our international responsibilities, set an example for boosting the strength and unity of the developing countries, and contribute to promoting multi-polarization and democracy in international relations,” Xi continued.
And India’s Foreign Ministry said in follow-up: “The two leaders affirmed that stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbors and the two largest nations on earth, will have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity.”
Without doubt, Russian and Asian regional media will hold up this historic moment as displaying the benefits of the BRICS alliance, and of Putin as the peacemaking host.
Putin is the geopolitical glue between Xi Jinping and Modi for the two Asian giants to manage their strategic rivalry with pragmatism while avoiding big escalation. #RIC#BRICS2024#geopoliticspic.twitter.com/iVjCyWPbmM
Recent advancements in Alzheimer’s disease research show a promising shift in the understanding of the memory-robbing disorder, suggesting that crucial brain changes can occur decades before symptoms manifest.
A recent study has identified a two-phase progression of Alzheimer’s, highlighting a silent phase marked by subtle brain changes long before cognitive decline becomes apparent.
Alzheimer’s disease has a long pre-symptomatic period, with related changes taking place in the brain “10, 15, even 20 years before the onset of memory and thinking symptoms,” Igor Camargo Fontana, Alzheimer’s Association director of scientific conference programming, told The Epoch Times.
This research could also open new avenues for earlier detection and targeted treatments.
“One of the challenges to diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s is that much of the damage to the brain happens well before symptoms occur,” Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the NIH National Institute on Aging, said in a statement. “The ability to detect these early changes means that, for the first time, we can see what is happening to a person’s brain during the earliest periods of the disease.”
The Early Phase: Silent and Gradual Damage
A recent National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study provided new insights into the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, potentially paving the way for earlier detection and treatment options.
The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, say that Alzheimer’s affects the brain in two distinct phases: an early, silent phase characterized by subtle changes, and a later, symptomatic phase marked by widespread damage and the accumulation of amyloid plaques, long associated with the disorder.
Researchers have found that the initial phase of Alzheimer’s is insidious, unfolding slowly over time and occurring well before noticeable memory problems arise. During this phase, a gradual buildup of beta-amyloid plaques and tangles—hallmarks of Alzheimer’s—can be observed.
This early “quiet” phase is marked by subtle changes in brain cells, particularly inhibitory neurons, which may be among the first to become vulnerable, disrupting communication between brain cells, according to Fontana. These cells are mostly located in a brain region that is associated with memory, vision, and language.
The research specifically identified the death of somatostatin inhibitory neurons, a group previously underestimated in their role within Alzheimer’s pathology. This finding challenges the prevailing notion that the disease primarily harms excitatory neurons responsible for facilitating brain cell communication.
The Late Phase: Rapid Deterioration and Symptoms
The second phase of Alzheimer’s disease is starkly different. It’s characterized by rapid accumulation of amyloid plaques and tangles, significant neural damage, and cognitive decline symptoms such as memory loss and confusion, alongside increased levels of inflammation and cell death. Researchers have found that this deterioration occurs as part of a complex interplay of changes within neural circuitry.
Using advanced genetic analysis tools, researchers created a comprehensive map of the changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s. They specifically targeted the middle temporal gyrus, a region in the brain vital for language, memory, and visual processing, to illustrate its susceptibility to Alzheimer’s-induced damage.
The study suggests that in this later phase of the disease, other cells associated with inflammation—microglia and astrocytes—begin counteracting initial changes by releasing molecules or altering their structures, according to Fontana.
“Alterations in inflammatory cells and inhibitory neurons slowly evolve to demonstrate the well-known biological changes of Alzheimer’s,” he said, “including the accumulation of amyloid plaques and formation of tau tangle pathology, culminating in a terminal state.”
Implications for Diagnostics and Treatment
The study can have significant implications for early diagnosis and targeted treatments.
The results fundamentally alter scientists’ understanding of how Alzheimer’s harms the brain and will guide the development of new treatments for this devastating disorder, Hodes noted in a statement.
By recognizing distinct phases of the disease, researchers can better tailor diagnostics and therapeutics to the specific cellular changes taking place at various stages. This discovery may also facilitate earlier interventions and improve patient outcomes.
The “bigger picture” is that Alzheimer’s long pre-symptomatic period presents opportunities for early detection and intervention to prevent the onset of dementia symptoms, Fontana said. “If the findings in this new paper are confirmed by other labs,” he added, “it raises the question of whether effectively addressing the brain changes that happen in what the authors call the first ‘quiet’ phase can slow, delay or prevent the second, more destructive phase.”
Fontana stressed the importance of evaluating this “quiet” phase using a combination of diagnostic tools and investigating its associations with Alzheimer’s biomarkers, such as amyloid and tau.
Looking ahead, the study establishes a foundation for future research on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. By examining the relationships between different cell types and their roles in disease progression, scientists aim to identify protective factors and resilience mechanisms for potential therapies. Fontana noted that the Alzheimer’s Association is fundingrelated research studies.
These Are All The US States Paying More Than The Federal Minimum-Wage
The real value of the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour) has declined steadily since it was last raised 15 years ago.
As discussions around increasing it continue, several states have taken matters into their own hands – by implementing and raising state minimum wages.
Data for this graphic is sourced from the Federal Reserve, as of 2024.
Ranked: State Minimum Wages
Thirty states have a minimum wage that’s higher than the federal minimum of $7.25/hour.
Of them, Washington ($16.28/hr) and California ($16.00/hr ) are the highest. Both states are expensive to live in, as evidenced by how far $100 will take you (not very) in each.
However, the country-wide crown goes to Washington D.C., ($17.50/hr) where the minimum is tied to inflation.
Eighteen states either match the federal benchmark, or don’t have a state minimum at all (which makes the federal minimum applicable).
Two states—Wyoming and Georgia—have a state minimum wage that’s below $7.25/hour but in this case the federal wage takes effect.
What is the Minimum Wage Discourse?
The minimum wage debate in the U.S. involves two main opposing viewpoints. Proponents argue that raising the minimum wage is necessary to boost living standards for low-wage workers, reduce poverty, and narrow income inequality. They say that moderate increases have minimal impact on employment and can stimulate consumer spending.
Key to their argument is that this is also the longest time the federal minimum has not seen an increase, since its inception in 1938.
Year
Nominal value
($/hour)
1940
0.30
1945
0.40
1950
0.75
1955
0.75
1960
1.00
1965
1.25
1970
1.60
1975
2.10
1980
3.10
1985
3.35
1990
3.80
1995
4.25
2000
5.15
2005
5.15
2010
7.25
2015
7.25
2018
7.25
2019
7.25
2020
7.25
2021
7.25
2022
7.25
2023
7.25
On the other hand, opponents claim that significant minimum wage hikes could lead to job losses, particularly for low-skilled and young workers. This could potentially increasing poverty rates for some groups.
They argue that it may price low-skilled workers out of the job market and harm small businesses with slim profit margins. Both sides cite economic studies to support their positions, but the debate ultimately reflects deeper societal values about fairness, opportunity, and the role of government in the economy.
Since 2017, the Raise the Wage Act has been introduced to Congress every year in an effort to increase the federal minimum. All the bills have not passed the legislature so far.
Current “Raise the Wage” proposals look to increase the minimum to $17/hour. In the Share of Workers Earning Less Than $17/Hour we map out which states would see the most changes.
Hey Pilots, FAA Issues Final Rule For “Powered-Lift” Rating, Paves Way For Air Taxis Over US Cities
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced a new rule establishing a “powered-lift” aircraft category for pilot training, marking the first new category for pilot certification since helicopters were introduced in the 1940s. This new category paves the way for aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters but fly like fixed-wing planes, commonly known as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to fly in controlled airspace across America.
Here’s more from the FAA:
The agency today issued a final rule for the qualifications and training that instructors and pilots must have to fly aircraft in this “powered-lift” category, which have characteristics of both airplanes and helicopters. The rule also addresses their operational requirements, including minimum safe altitudes and required visibility. The rule is the final piece in the puzzle for safely introducing these aircraft in the near term.
On X, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker wrote, “An extraordinary moment for aviation! Our rule for training and certificating pilots to fly powered lift is the final piece of the puzzle to get these revolutionary aircraft flying safely in our skies”
An extraordinary moment for aviation! Our rule for training and certificating pilots to fly powered lift is the final piece of the puzzle to get these revolutionary aircraft flying safely in our skies. https://t.co/96Q7TQZfkMpic.twitter.com/7RvSqbdGT8
Makes changes to numerous existing regulations and establishes a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) with new requirements to facilitate instructor and pilot certification and training.
Applies helicopter operating requirements to some phases of flight and adopts a performance-based approach to certain operating rules.
Allows pilots to train in powered-lift with a single set of flight controls; legacy rules require two flight controls – one for the student and one for the instructor.
“The regulation published today will ensure the U.S. continues to play a global leadership role in the development and adoption of clean flight,” JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of air taxi company Joby Aviation, told Fast Company, adding, “Delivering the rules ahead of schedule is a testament to the dedication, coordination, and hard work of the rulemaking team.”
It’s not hard to figure out that flying cars must be done under the FAA’s Visual Flight Rules (VRF) or Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). In other words, the pilot in control will need a pilot license and be rated in the powered lift category.
Gone are the days where the biggest concern is students drawing alien ears on their science teacher or printing images of a friend’s face connected to a four-legged body with scales and a tail.
That was 30-something years ago. Now, schools are being forced to develop emergency response plans in case sexually explicit images of students or teachers generated by artificial intelligence (AI) pop up on social media.
In two separate cases, school principals were seen or heard spewing racist, violent language against black students. Both were AI-generated deepfakes—one was produced by students and the other was made by a disgruntled athletic director who later was arrested.
Deepfakes are defined as “non-consensually AI-generated voices, images, or videos that are created to produce sexual imagery, commit fraud, or spread misinformation,” according to a nonprofit group focused on AI regulation.
As education leaders scramble to set policy to mitigate the damage of deepfakes—and as state legislators work to criminalize such malicious acts specific to schools or children—the technology to combat AI tools that can replicate a person’s image and voice doesn’t yet exist, says Andrew Buher, founder and managing director of the Opportunity Labs nonprofit research organization.
“There is a lot of work to do, both with prevention and incident response,” he said during a virtual panel discussion held by Education Week last month on teaching digital and media literacy in the age of AI. “This is about social norming [because] the technical mitigation is quite a ways away.”
Legislation Targets Deepfakes
On Sept. 29, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill criminalizing AI-generated child porn. It’s now a felony in the Golden State to possess, publish, or pass along images of individuals under the age of 18 simulating sexual conduct.
At the national level, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has proposed the Take It Down Act, which would criminalize the “intentional disclosure of nonconsensual intimate visual depictions.”
The federal bill defines a deepfake as “a video or image that is generated or substantially modified using machine-learning techniques or any other computer-generated or machine-generated means to falsely depict an individual’s appearance or conduct within an intimate visual depiction.”
School districts, meanwhile, seek guidance on an emerging problem that threatens not just students, but also staff.
At Maryland’s Pikesville High School in January, a fake audio recording was made of the principal. School officials enlisted the help of local police agencies and the FBI.
The suspect, Dazhon Darien, 31, an athletic director, was charged with theft, stalking, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness.
He allegedly made the recording to retaliate against the principal, who was investigating Darien’s alleged mishandling of school funds, according to an April 25 news release on the Baltimore County Government website.
Jim Siegl, a senior technologist with the Future of Privacy Forum, said during the Education Week panel discussion that investigators in the Baltimore case were able to link the suspect to the crime by reviewing “old school computer access logs.”
But as AI technology continues to evolve, he said, it may be necessary to develop a watermarking system for generated audio or video to replace outdated systems for monitoring and safeguarding school computer use.
In February 2023, high school students in Carmel, New York, used AI to impersonate a middle school principal. The deepfakes were posted on TikTok. Investigators were able to link the students’ activities to their accounts. They were disciplined under school code of conduct guidelines but not charged criminally, according to a statement released on the district’s Facebook page.
“As an organization committed to diversity and inclusion,” the statement said, “the Carmel Central School District Board of Education is appalled at, and condemns, these recent videos, along with the blatant racism, hatred, and disregard for humanity displayed in some of them.”
A parent, Abigail Lyons, said a co-worker who also has children in the district showed her a text containing seven different videos.
“I basically fell to the floor,” said Lyons, who is biracial. “It was horrific. It looked so real.”
They re-watched the videos and noticed that the lip movement and body language were a bit off from the sound. Lyons said most parents in the district had already seen or heard about the videos and probably knew they were deepfakes before Carmel school officials publicly acknowledged the incident and declared there “was no threat.”
Lyons said the event scared her daughter, and that events like school lockdowns or emergency drills still trigger anxiety and fear stemming from the 2023 deepfake.
“Seventh graders should not have to worry about these things,” she told The Epoch Times.
Lyons said she is unaware of any deepfake incidents so far this semester, but students have threatened each other on social media, including one threat that led to a two-hour building lockdown.
“We still don’t know what it [lockdown] was for,” she said. “The transparency still isn’t there.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the district offices in Carmel, New York, and Baltimore County, Maryland, but didn’t receive a response.
California’s new law was prompted by several deepfake incidents that victimized students.
Denny’s needs to close about a tenth of its stores before it can fully harness a comprehensive comeback plan that’s yielded encouraging early results, management informed Wall Street during the 71-year-old chain’s investor’s conference Tuesday.
Executives said they’ve tagged about 150 stores whose weak financial performance is sapping the whole system’s vitality. About half those units will be shut by the end of this year, with the rest slated to fire down their grills for good in 2025.
“We believe this is absolutely the right thing to do to make our system stronger,” company CEO Kelli Valade said in opening the daylong meeting with investors.
She spoke after the franchisor reported a 0.1% decrease in same-store sales for the Denny’s brand in the third quarter. Included in the results was an indication that Denny’s franchisees shut 18 units during the period, leaving the 1,590-unit system 53 restaurants smaller than it was at the end of the year-ago quarter.
Valade said the closings were necessary to realize headquarters’ goals of raising Denny’s average annual unit volume to $2.2 million and putting a fresh face on the brand.
She did not reveal how pricing or traffic levels figured into the quarterly results, though she acknowledged that guest counts were down. “Everyone has lost traffic. Everyone,” Valade commented.
She cited research showing sales for all of family dining are down about 20%, the steepest decline for any major industry segment.
The presentation from management also touched on how many of the chains in family dining, one of the restaurant business’ oldest sectors, are similarly shutting stores.
“We’ve contracted most since Covid, that’s a fact,” Valade said.
Steve Dunn, Denny’s chief development officer, said the home office had reviewed every domestic unit of the chain to assess its financial strength. It found that the fifth of the system with the weakest performance was hurting the rest of the system because the stores were often old and located in markets whose consumer dynamics had changed. The decision was made, he said, to prune those stores for the benefit of the survivors.
Valade said the systemwide evaluation also revealed the brand’s “Achilles heel,” a significant variation in the look of units from market to market.
Dunn indicated the inconsistency and aged look of some stores will be addressed in a comprehensive renovation program called Diner 2.0. It includes several financial incentives for franchisees to make the needed investments, including a grant of $100,000 to operators who opt to update. In exchange for the cash, participants agree to pay what management characterized as a slightly higher royalty fee, though it did not specify how much of an increase there would be.
In addition, management has worked with a third party to create a $25 million loan pool to fund the updates.
Restaurants given a facelift tend to see a $400,000 uplift in sales, according to Dunn. Experience has shown that the rejuvenated stores can expect a sales boost of 6.4% and a traffic upswing of 6.5%.
A signature Denny’s feature that could be dropped from those stores is a requirement that they remain open around the clock. Valade revealed that about 25% of the system has opted not to operate through the night and suggested the chain will not aim for its pre-pandemic goal of every unit being open 24/7.
Executives of the company reviewed their previously disclosed plan for reinvigorating Denny’s operations and sharpening the brand’s appeal to new and lapsed customers. That strategy pivots on value.
Valade revealed that some customers are bringing down their tabs in part by ordering Denny’s kids meals more regularly.
Other executives stressed that virtual concepts will remain a key part of the strategy. Denny’s currently boasts three digital brands: Burger Den, the Meltdown and its newest venture, Banda Burritos, which is now available featured in 1,000 Denny’s units. The three have generated $77 million in sales to date, according to Patty Trevino, the diner chain’s new chief brand officer.
She revealed that Banda Burritos intends to steal a trick from its parent company’s playbook. The venture is currently eying the rollout of a product called the Grand Slam Burrito, a clear reference to Denny’s signature breakfast platter.
Trevino stressed that Denny’s will continue to evolve its menu, not only through additions but by upgrading what’s already on the bill of fare. She noted, for instance, that the company has spent $8 million to improve its bacon.
Keke’s gets some attention
Management focused more on Denny’s young sister brand, Keke’s Breakfast Café, than executives typically have during their quarterly calls with financial analysts.
Same-store sales for the still-regional operation slid 1% during the third quarter, said concept President Dave Schmidt.
He revealed that the concept has been and will continue to be tweaked in preparation for rapid expansion. Development agreements have been signed for 140 stores, off the current base of 61 units. Much of that commitment has come from Denny’s franchisees, Schmidt indicated.
Apple “Might Wind Down” Vision Pro Production Next Month Due To “Weak Demand”
A new report from The Information suggests Apple might suspend production of its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset as early as next month due to very weak demand. Some Asian suppliers have already reduced or stopped producing headset components since the summer. Additionally, the development of the next Vision Pro model has been delayed, while a more affordable headset is slated for the retail market by the end of 2025.
The first version has met weak demand, a result of its high price and the lack of apps available on it. Employees at three Vision Pro suppliers that supply a range of electrical and mechanical components told The Information they have so far built enough components for between 500,000 and 600,000 headsets.
One of the employees said their factory suspended production of Vision Pro components in May based on Apple’s weak forecasts, and their warehouse remains filled with tens of thousands of undelivered parts.
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In recent weeks, Apple has told Luxshare, which is responsible for the Vision Pro’s final assembly, that it might need to wind down its manufacturing in November, according to an employee at the Chinese manufacturer. Luxshare is making around 1,000 Vision Pro units a day, down from a peak of around 2,000 units a day, the employee said. It has assembled a total of between 500,000 and 600,000 headsets since production began last year ahead of its February release in the U.S., the employee said.
Apple’s move into the mixed-reality headset market with its $3,500 Vision Pro seems poorly timed, given the financial strain on many low- to mid-tier consumers. High inflation and elevated interest rates, primarily attributed to failed Bidenomics, have left millions of cash-strapped Americans in financial misery as they struggle to cover basic expenses like rent, groceries, car payments, insurance, and phone bills.
The Vision Pro flop is nothing new to readers. We commented on a WSJ note earlier this month that showed the dismal demand for the headset means no ‘killer app’ anytime soon:
There has been a significant slowdown in new apps coming to the Vision Pro every month. Only 10 apps were introduced to the Vision App Store in September, down from the hundreds released in the first two months of the device’s launch, according to analytics firm Appfigures.
It has counted around 1,770 apps available for the Vision Pro in the App Store as of September. Only 34% of those apps are built specifically for the Vision Pro, while the rest are versions of existing Apple apps that have additional Vision Pro functionality, Appfigures said.
Apple said in August that there are more than 2,500 apps built for the Vision Pro. Appfigures said the discrepancy between these two figures could be, in part, because some apps aren’t used enough to register on usage charts, making them difficult for the analytics firm to detect.
A visualization from WSJ shows a considerable decline in the number of new apps released for Vision Pro every month since its launch.
