Germany’s car manufacturing giant BMW is warning that an EU ban on the sale of gasoline and diesel cars from 2035 is “no longer realistic” amid slow EV sales as the European auto industry will see a “massive shrinking” with such a ban.
European carmakers are already struggling with their EV sales as subsidies in many countries are coming to an end and Chinese low-cost vehicle makers are gaining market share.
Last year, the EU member states approved an emissions regulation under which the bloc will end sales of new carbon dioxide-emitting cars and vans in 2035.
The rules target 55% CO2 emission reductions for new cars and 50% for new vans from 2030 to 2034 compared to 2021 levels, as well as 100% CO2 emission reductions for both new cars and vans from 2035.
Under the regulation, the European Commission will assess in 2026 the progress the EU has made in achieving the target. The Commission will decide whether the targets need to be reviewed.
But BMW’s chief executive Oliver Zipse said on Tuesday at the Paris Automotive Summit that the ban “could also threaten the European automotive industry in its heart.”
The current regulations will “with today’s assumptions, lead to a massive shrinking of the industry as a whole,” Zipse added, as carried by Bloomberg.
Electric vehicle sales in Europe have been suffering this year. Sales in Germany, for example, are plummeting as Berlin ended subsidies at the end of 2023.
Amid slowing sales of EVs, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, ACEA, last month called for urgent action to reverse this year’s trend of declining EV sales.
The European auto manufacturers united in ACEA, called on the EU institutions “to come forward with urgent relief measures before new CO2 targets for cars and vans come into effect in 2025.”
Europe’s automakers “are playing our part in this transition, but unfortunately, the other necessary elements for this systemic shift are not in place,” ACEA said.
Orange Juice Prices Near Record Highs Amid Fears Of Worst Florida Harvest In A Century
Frozen concentrated orange juice futures on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York are nearing new record highs. The squeeze in the physical markets may drastically worsen after a new citrus grove survey damage report across Florida following Hurricane Milton shows widespread damage.
Industry consultant Judy Ganes told Bloomberg that more than three million boxes of oranges may have been lost after Milton knocked fruit from branches and devastated citrus groves in the Sunshine State. She warned the next Florida harvest could be the worst since the late 1920s.
In recent years, Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, freezing conditions, and citrus greening disease have decimated citrus groves in the state. Milton has only exacerbated those problems. Some of the latest industry figures show that US orange production is set to reach its lowest level in more than a century.
OJ futures have surged to $5/lb, a staggering 433% jump from the Covid lows of around $1/lb. Worsening supply woes could push prices even higher.
Meanwhile, data from the US Department of Agriculture shows that OJ cold storage levels were at their lowest point since the early 1970s.
Brazil, the world’s top OJ producer, has ramped up OJ shipments to the US to offset sliding Florida production. But now, as we noted last month, Brazil has been hit by a devastating drought and widespread crop disease that has severely impacted yields across citrus groves.
Rabobank analyst Andrés Padilla warned that Brazil has slipped into the “worst drought in 50 years” and “there’s really been very, very little rain across the citrus belt in the last four months, which is an important period.”
Padilla said, “The smallest crop in 35 years, plus rising citrus greening disease, plus drought — it’s the perfect storm,” adding, “The market is really stressed.”
“There’s no juice in the market,” Padilla warned, explaining, “That’s why we’re back to record high prices.”
This only means OJ supermarket prices could scream higher from here. Global inflation jumped the most in 18 months in September.
Whoops.
VP Harris has offered a potential policy response of Communist-style price controls. This is a terrible idea because these types of policies create shortages.
Meanwhile, egg prices at the supermarket…
About a year ago, Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence, warned in a Bloomberg interview that the current global food crisis is ‘much worse than 2008’.
Just two months ago, the precious metals community was growing frustrated with gold after its choppy, lukewarm summer price action. At that time, I kept urging investors to stay patient as I believed that gold was about to break out in multiple non-U.S. currencies, which would result in a powerful surge. Sure enough, that’s exactly what unfolded, and I believe even more gains are ahead. Now, I’m noticing the same frustration with silver, as it has remained stagnant for the past five months. In this article, my goal is to encourage investors to remain patient with silver, as I believe it’s on the verge of a strong breakout, much like gold—once these key conditions are met.
The first condition is straightforward yet largely overlooked by investors and has proven surprisingly challenging to achieve: the spot price of silver must close decisively above its $32.50 resistance level, backed by strong trading volume. The $32.50 resistance level was established at the May high, after which silver pulled back and remained stagnant over the summer. Silver recently attempted to break above that level on September 26th and October 4th, but both efforts fell short, leading to subsequent pullbacks. I believe the time is approaching, however, when silver will finally break through and close above that level, sparking a significant rally. Once that happens, I expect silver to surge rapidly to approximately $50.
The next condition is that silver, priced in euros, must close decisively above the €30 resistance level that formed at the May peak. This event would help confirm a close above $32.50, greatly reducing the chances of it being a false breakout. I find it valuable to analyze silver priced in euros, as this approach removes the impact of U.S. dollar fluctuations, offering a clearer view of silver’s intrinsic strength or weakness. Notably, silver priced in euros often respects round numbers like €26, €27, and €28, frequently establishing key support and resistance levels at these points. These levels are worth watching closely—take a look for yourself.
The final condition is more esoteric, but I believe it will significantly reduce the likelihood of an upcoming silver breakout being a false one: an index I developed, called the Synthetic Silver Price Index, must close above its key resistance zone between 2,560 and 2,640. This index represents the average of gold and copper prices, with copper’s price adjusted (multiplied by 540) to prevent gold’s higher price from disproportionately influencing the index (to learn more about this methodology, please watch a presentation I created). The price of copper is an often overlooked factor in silver’s performance and rivals the influence of gold. The index closely mirrors silver’s price movements, yet surprisingly, silver’s price itself isn’t even an input!
As I said earlier in this piece, there is a high probability that silver will quickly run to $50 once those three conditions are met. I’m focusing on $50 as a relatively short-term target because it’s a significant psychological level and the peak reached during both the 1980 and 2011 rallies. One of the reasons why I’m so bullish on silver is because its monthly chart reveals a recent breakout from a massive, two-decade-long triangle pattern. This breakout signals that silver is on the verge of a powerful bull market:
If that isn’t exciting enough, silver’s logarithmic chart, dating back to the 1960s, reveals a cup and handle pattern that suggests silver could reach several hundred dollars per ounce during this bull market. However, a close above the $50 resistance is necessary to confirm this scenario.
Although silver has already surged nearly 50% this year, there are plenty of reasons to believe it is just getting started. One reason is that the long-term gold-to-silver ratio chart shows silver is currently significantly undervalued compared to gold. If the ratio were to revert to its historical average of 52.8 since 1915, even without any increase in gold’s price, silver would be valued at a solid $50.36 per ounce.
Adjusting silver’s price for inflation further highlights how undervalued it is by historical standards. During the Hunt brothers-induced spike in 1980, silver reached an inflation-adjusted price of $143.54. In the 2011 bull market, driven by quantitative easing, it hit $68.04. Currently trading at just $31.60, silver has significant room to rise if it’s to catch up with these previous inflation-adjusted peaks.
Another way to assess whether silver is undervalued or overvalued is by comparing it to various money supply measures. The chart below shows the ratio of silver’s price to the U.S. M2 money supply, providing insight into whether silver is keeping pace with, outpacing, or lagging behind money supply growth. If silver’s price significantly outpaces money supply growth, the likelihood of a strong correction increases. Conversely, if silver lags behind money supply growth, it suggests a potential period of strength ahead. Since the mid-2010s, silver has slightly lagged behind M2 growth, which, combined with other factors discussed in this piece, could position it for a strong rally.
To summarize, silver is on the launch pad building up energy for a significant breakout. While investor frustration is understandable after months of stagnation, the technical and fundamental indicators suggest that silver is building momentum for an impressive move. The combination of breaking key resistance levels, both in U.S. dollars and euros, along with confirmation from the Synthetic Silver Price Index, will signal that the rally has officially begun. With historical trends and undervaluation further supporting this outlook, silver could be on the verge of a major run toward $50 and beyond.
Also watch the related video presentation I created:
If you enjoyed this article, please visit Jesse’s Substack for more content like this…
Louis Vuitton Owner LVMH Sinks As Luxury Demand Cools For Handbags, Wine, & Watches
The world’s largest luxury goods company reported third-quarter organic sales that missed the average analyst expectations tracked by Bloomberg. This signals a broader slowdown across luxury markets in China and the West. The results raise concerns about cost-conscious consumers as central banks reverse interest rate hiking cycles with interest rate cuts to prevent a hard economic landing in the global economy.
Paris-based LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, commonly known as LVMH, unexpectedly reported lower sales in the third quarter, primarily due to the pullback in Chinese luxury demand. It reported organic revenue of -3%, missing the Bloomberg Consensus of +.39%. Each division, from fashion to perfumes to watches to fine wine, missed analyst expectations. It reported revenue of 19.94 billion euros, which missed the 20.05 billion euro estimate.
Here’s a snapshot of LVMH’s third-quarter earnings (courtesy of Bloomberg):
LVMH’s outlook was a dismal one that only suggests consumers in its top markets remain under pressure through year-end:
In an uncertain economic and geopolitical environment, the Group remains confident and will maintain a strategy focused on continuously enhancing the desirability of its brands, drawing on the authenticity and quality of its products, excellence in distribution and agile organization.
After the earnings report, RBC Capital Markets analyst Piral Dadhania told clients that results “indicate a more pronounced slowdown than expected.”
The pandemic-era spending boom that drove luxury sales has run out of steam around the world. In the US, low/mid-tier consumers are cost-conscious and heavily indebted with depleted savings. The luxury behemoth is considered a bellwether for the entire sector.
In markets, LVMH ADRs dropped 6% late in the session, just 50bps from entering a bear market for the year.
As LVMH shares decline, Bernard Arnault’s luxury empire takes a hit, reducing his net worth by billions of dollars (according to Bloomberg data):
Rivals Ralph Lauren Corp., Estee Lauder Cos, and the ADRs of Gucci owner Kering SA also fell in New York as growing concerns mounted among traders that consumers were losing momentum.
From Starbucks to Red Bull to Coke, caffeine has become an energy bump for 75 percent of Americans who consume it on a daily basis. Many count it as the spark that ignites their brains and bodies to get through a long day.
However, not all caffeine presents itself the same, according to emerging research demonstrating that synthetic caffeine may accelerate aging while naturally occurring caffeine could slow age-related decline.
Does Synthetic Caffeine Accelerate Aging?
The type of caffeine in your coffee may play a role in its protective effect against aging.
About 60 percent of the caffeine consumed by Americans is synthesized in a lab, meaning it doesn’t come from natural sources such as coffee beans or tea plants. Synthetic caffeine is what popular companies such as Pepsi, Coke, and Red Bull add to their beverages to give their drinks an extra kick.
In a 2017 study published in Nutrition & Metabolism, higher caffeine intake was associated with shorter telomeres, a marker of cellular aging, in adults. However, increased coffee consumption was linked to longer telomeres. This suggests that compounds beyond caffeine may provide anti-aging effects.
“On the surface, it might be assumed that caffeine intake and coffee consumption are essentially the same variable,” the researchers wrote. “They are not.”
These findings echo earlier ones that greater coffee consumption was associated with longer telomeres among 4,780 female nurses in the United Kingdom.
However, a 2023 study published in Nutrients found instant coffee to be negatively associated with telomere length, potentially because of higher DNA-damaging mineral lead content. Standard filtered coffee showed no adverse effect.
Research also indicates that green tea could protect against telomere shortening, while synthetic caffeine indicated DNA damage. The authors of a study investigating green tea, coffee, and caffeine from soft drinks reported findings that might help inform drink choice.
“We suggest beneficial effects of green tea consumption and potentially disadvantageous effects of soft drink consumption on LTL [leukocyte telomere length] shortening, which may reflect accelerated biological aging,” they wrote.
Coffee and Tea’s Anti-Aging Secrets
Multiple antioxidant compounds present in coffee and tea likely contribute to their anti-aging effects, according to some research.
Studies show that coffee and tea protect DNA integrity and reduce oxidative damage. In one randomized controlled study involving 50 men and 50 women, dark roast coffee reduced DNA damage by 23 percent in just four weeks. Similar results were identified in a separate eight-week interventional study that included 96 adults.
“Caffeine that is found in coffee or tea exists in a matrix of over 1,000 other chemical compounds, most notably polyphenolic compounds that have potent antioxidant effects,” David Wiss, who holds a doctorate in public health and is a registered dietitian nutritionist, told The Epoch Times. Polyphenols are known to reduce oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals that can cause cellular damage, he added. For this reason, he said, both coffee and tea have anti-inflammatory properties that “isolated caffeine does not offer.”
Although coffee and tea have demonstrated protective effects against neurogenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, some research shows that isolated caffeine fails to protect against neurodegeneration. Coffee may still be the best source of caffeine to protect against Alzheimer’s disease because of a component in it that synergizes with caffeine to enhance protection against disease progression.
How Much Is Too Much Caffeine?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends consuming no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine, the amount in four to five cups of coffee, daily.
Whereas a naturally caffeinated food such as chocolate contains about 12 milligrams of caffeine, and beverages such as coffee and tea contain up to 95 milligrams of natural caffeine per serving, energy drinks can contain as much as 300 grams of synthetic caffeine per serving.
This spike in caffeine content has been associated with heart attacks in young people, but some studies show that coffee and tea have cardioprotective effects.
But even with these reported benefits from coffee and tea, some experts advise caution.
The United States’ dependence on caffeine—both natural and synthetic—reflects an “addiction crisis” that is problematic, according to Mr. Wiss. “Our society is too reliant on caffeine as a stimulant,” he said.
He recommends eating breakfast before ingesting caffeine and waiting 60 to 90 minutes after waking before indulging in caffeinated beverages or other sources of caffeine.
“My other recommendation is to take a three-day (or longer) break from caffeine every three to six months,” he said.
As Morale Hits Rock Bottom, UK Police Exodus Throws Planned Expansion Into Disarray
Britain’s Labour party’s ambitious plan to put 13,000 extra police officers on the streets is “unobtainable” – as officers are quitting in record numbers, The Telegraph reports.
According to Tiff Lynch, the acting chairwoman of the Police Federation, the situation is dire – with Home Office figures showing that voluntary resignations among police officers have hit an all-time high, with more than 5,000 quitting last year – 3.4% of the workforce, which is more than double the rate of just four years ago. What’s worse, a Federation survey found that 20% of officers are planning to leave within the next two years or sooner, adding up to nearly 29,000 officers ready to walk out.
“They have suffered an almost 20 per cent pay cut in real terms since 2010. How can this be fair?” said Lynch,” who notes that this year’s 4.75% pay rise was far below the 6% recommended by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Further deepening resentment is the fact that millions of other public sector workers received more generous raises.
“The Government has made very clear its current policing priority is taking back our streets, through investment in extra neighbourhood police officers, to drive down the crimes blighting our local communities including antisocial behaviour and shocking levels of shoplifting,” said Lynch.
“In its own words, ‘victims are being let down’. The only way to achieve this is through a sustained recruitment and retention programme. But I am concerned with the current track record in attrition rates, it seems unattainable.“
The federation – which represents grassroots officers up to the rank of chief inspector, is demanding the reinstatement of collective pay bargaining, a system that allowed officers to negotiate pay directly with their employers. Instead, since 2014, the Police Remuneration Review Body has set pay levels with no means for officers to negotiate or even arbitrate when disputes arise. The Federation has boycotted this body since 2021. Lynch has warned that if the government doesn’t agree to reinstate collective bargaining, the Federation will ballot its 150,000 members on whether they want to seek the right to take industrial action.
The consequences of this pay dispute are already evident. In the year leading up to March 2024, 9,080 officers left the force – 6.2% of the workforce, and the second highest on record. While recruitment efforts have so far managed to offset some of these losses, with overall police numbers rising by 0.2% to 147,746, Lynch says that without a sustained recruitment-and-retention strategy, Labour’s target of 13,000 extra neighborhood police is simply unattainable.
According to the report, morale is at rock bottom.
A Home Office spokesman responded by saying that “This Government will work collaboratively with policing to address challenges and ensure officers have the right support, resources and recognition – and to improve standards.
“As part of our mission to deliver safer streets, we will restore neighbourhood policing and support forces to rebuild relationships with their local communities.”
But for many frontline officers, these promises feel like too little, too late. Unless real change comes soon, the exodus of officers will continue – and with it, the hopes of restoring neighborhood policing may slip further out of reach.
Berlin’s public schools are facing a budget freeze that has halted spending on key activities, including school trips, as the city contends with major financial challenges.
The freeze follows the Berlin House of Representatives’ decision to allocate an additional €1.3 billion for the accommodation of migrants, raising concerns about the city’s spending priorities.
In a letter issued on Wednesday, Education State Secretary Christina Henke (CDU) informed school administrators that they are no longer allowed to enter into “financially effective” contracts that extend into the next financial year. According to Tagesspiegel, this restriction includes school trips, where teachers’ travel expenses — typically reimbursed by the state — will no longer be covered.
Sven Zimmerschied, head of Friedensburg High School in Charlottenburg and board member of the Berlin Secondary School Heads’ Association, expressed his concerns over the sudden halt.
“On Monday I signed the leasing contract for a new copier,” he said, ahead of the ban.
The budget freeze, he explained, will disrupt many routine activities, though he noted that exceptions could be made in cases of “indispensability and urgency.”
The move comes as the city struggles to balance its budget following the House of Representatives’ decision in June to spend an additional €1.3 billion on the accommodation of asylum seekers. This includes expanding tent cities at former airports in Tegel and Tempelhof, renting more hotel space, and setting up 16 new locations for container housing.
During the summer, Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) warned that Berlin’s capacity to accommodate more refugees was nearing its limit.
“The pressure is increasing. We already have no places,” Wegner said.
The billions set aside have funded new emergency housing but at the cost of cuts to other areas, including education.
The budget freeze has drawn criticism, with many wondering why funds are available for migrant accommodation but not for school activities.
For now, schools must seek special approval for any expense through a written request to education authorities. Essential programs like school trips remain uncertain.
As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) carries out widely-criticized responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, officials say the agency’s Disaster Recovery Fund is incapable of handling a third major storm. While some are circulating false accusations that disaster funds have been diverted to immigrants or poured into the proxy war in Ukraine, a review of the agency’s 2024 outlays reveals a different, ongoing drain on FEMA’s coffers: Long after the end of the declared Covid-19 emergency, FEMA is still pumping out billions of dollars to pay for pandemic expenses — including, believe it or not, up to $9,000 each for funerals.
As previously detailed here at Stark Realities, governments’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic was disastrous on many fronts. While the Pandora’s box of collateral damage included widespread harm to the physical and mental health of individuals, it also dealt a blow to the nation’s fiscal well-being, as the federal government recklessly showered trillions of dollars it didn’t have on people, businesses and state and local governments — with much of that money intended to offset the effects of government’s own tyrannical and counterproductive policies.
While all but the most diehard Branch Covidians have moved on from that dark chapter, the federal government has a distinct version of “long Covid.” Though it’s not clear where all the money is going, FEMA is paying up to $9,000 each to reimburse funeral expenses for those who die from Covid.
That’s an especially odd example of government picking winners and losers. As Stanford University School of Medicine professor and prominent Covid-regime critic Jay Bhattacharya said in a social media post that drew my attention to this giveaway program and its hyper-longevity, “There are apparently more and less worthy ways to die in the US.”
Indeed: Why is the family of someone who dies from Covid more deserving of a government-paid funeral than the family of someone who dies from cancer, cardiac arrest or a car accident? It bears emphasis that this question was every bit as relevant in 2020 as it is today.
The favoring of one cause of death over another isn’t the only winners-and-losers dimension of the funeral program: There’s no reimbursement for those who’d planned ahead via pre-paid funerals. Echoing the grievances of people who saved up to pay for college only to see their neighbor’s student loans forgiven by vote-buying politicians, some families say they feel like they’re being punished for having planned for the future.
This isn’t FEMA’s first funereal foray, but it’s the largest by orders of magnitude. In the 10 years before the pandemic, FEMA received about 6,000 applications for funeral assistance for various natural disasters. As of Jan. 1, 2024, FEMA had approved more than 300,000 for Covid-19, shelling out $3.15 billionto cover an expense that, whether caused by a pandemic or something else, is universally inevitable.
Of course, the magnitude of that inevitable expense isn’t fixed, and the mere presence of a government subsidy reliably results in higher costs. Knowing they can spend up to of $9,000 of other people’s money on their Covid-19 funeral, it’s safe to assume many affected families have made more expensive choices than they otherwise would — bolstering the profits of funeral homes, casket producers and other associated businesses.
Unsurprisingly, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), a trade group and principal lobbyist for the industry, hailed the passage of the COVID 19 Relief Package/Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020. The legislation not only funded Covid funeral reimbursements, NFDA enthused, but also funeral payments “for any subsequent major disaster declared by the President,” an expansion the group had been lobbying for.
To qualify for reimbursement under the funeral assistance program, the death certificate must either indicate the death was caused by Covid-19 — or that it merely may have been caused by Covid-19 or “Covid-19-like symptoms.”
As is increasingly the case with government handouts, there’s no requirement of US citizenship, for either the decedent or the person paying the funeral expenses. A family’s ability to pay for the funeral is likewise irrelevant — there are no income or wealth criteria.
There’s more to the cost of this program than the reimbursements themselves — there’s also significant overhead. Pressed to implement the program as soon as possible, FEMA opted against creating a website to receive applications for reimbursement, choosing to instead require that all claims be submitted via 20-minute phone conversations, necessitating the creation of a huge call center operation staffed by 5,000 phone agents, all of whom would require training and support.
While you might think word-of-mouth would be sufficient to encourage widespread use of a handout program, still more money was spent on advertising. In a 2022 report lamenting that many eligible people hadn’t cashed in yet, NPR’s Blake Farmer — blissfully oblivious to the federal government’s relentless march to insolvency — cheerfully said “FEMA is launching an outreach campaign to promote the program, since there’s plenty of money left.”
Fittingly, NPR found the national leader in funeral reimbursement claims at the time was Washington DC, with applications amounting to 77% of Covid-19 fatalities.
Whether a government handout program takes the form of cash reimbursement, tax credit or subsidy, it inevitably has another cost dimension: so-called “improper payments,” a term encompassing both fraud and errors made by applicants and administrators.
On that score, FEMA’s Covid-19 funeral-funding program has come under repeated criticism from government watchdogs. In 2022, the General Accountability Office (GAO) identified “several gaps in FEMA’s internal controls meant to prevent improper or fraudulent payments” — such as double-payments when two different parties applied for reimbursement for the same funeral, or payments made to applicants who didn’t meet program requirements.
That same year, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent an “urgent” alert to FEMA, saying its audit found the agency “regularly reimburses applicants for expenses expressly excluded from funeral assistance” by the agency’s own policy guide that serves as its interpretation of regulations.
Reimbursable expenses include funeral services, cremation, caskets, urns burial plots, ceremony costs, headstones and clergy compensation. Among the unauthorized expenses are catering, gratuities, flowers and transportation. The OIG learned that, rather than directing claims processors to scrutinize claims to ferret out unauthorized expenses, FEMA told them to “accept for reimbursement all verifiable funeral expenses…listed on expense documents from a funeral home.” Thus, if flowers, for example, were listed on a funeral home bill, reimbursement was approved regardless of FEMA’s standing rule against covering that cost.
The OIG found that 59% of approved applications included ineligible expenses. In one case, FEMA’s loose approach led to an improper reimbursement for $3,760 for transportation that included “two lead escort vehicles, a limousine, and a horse and carriage.”
FEMA admitted its lawyers hadn’t even reviewed its Covid operating procedures. Worse, FEMA resisted the OIG’s post-inquiry recommendations, exasperatingly arguing that if the agency started applying the rules correctly, it “would create inequalities to the detriment of future applicants, who would qualify for less assistance for fewer eligible expenses.” GAO rightly countered that FEMA was itself creating inequalities — by reimbursing funeral expenses that it hadn’t reimbursed for previous disasters and shouldn’t reimburse for future ones.
While it serves as a vivid illustration of irrational, wasteful and persistent spending that accompanies both bona fide and contrived crises, the funeral reimbursement program represents just a small share of ongoing Covid-related government outlays: In the fiscal year that ended September 30, FEMA tallied $15 billion in Covid-19 commitments, accounting for a startling 39% of all FEMA disaster relief obligations.
Not coincidentally, FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund is repeatedly running on empty, prompting additional, multi-billion-dollar infusions from Congress. Seeking still more money Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month told reporters that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through [hurricane] season.”
His warning prompted a false narrative to erupt along the American right — specifically, that the Disaster Relief Fund has been depleted by $650 million spent on migrants in the 2024 fiscal year. While one can challenge the propriety and constitutionality of that spending, the $650 million didn’t come from the Disaster Relief Fund, but from a separate, congressionally-appropriated program and account.
Rather than parroting false narratives, conservatives should be asking why the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is still being hammered by Covid payouts to state, local and tribal governments, hospitals, non-profits and others. At least one federal legislator is already on the case — on Friday, Texas Rep. Chip Roy sent a letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, spotlighting the troubling state of affairs:
“The depletion of the DRF is of particular concern considering the sheer amount of funding that has gone to COVID-19 projects nearly a year and a half after the COVID-19 emergency – which should have been terminated much earlier – was terminated.
According to a FEMA document, as of October 4, 2024, nearly $4 billion – or 45% – of the DRF funding that was delayed … was for COVID-19 projects. About $1.2 billion of that COVID-19 funding would go to the state of California alone.”
In addition to requesting a full accounting of Covid and non-Covid spending, Roy asked Criswell to explain how her agency would prevent Covid-19 projects from continuing to “jeopardize FEMA’s ability to use the DRF in the future to respond to disasters, absent a massive increase in congressional appropriations.”
Barring an extension, FEMA will finally stop accepting Covid-funeral reimbursement applications on September 30, 2025. However, as of now, the agency plans on tapping its disaster fund for other Covid-19 outlays for four more years—to the tune of another $22.2 billion between now and September 2028.
That’s assuming FEMA’s estimate is accurate, but cost estimations are another recurring weakness of the organization. Indeed, FEMA originally estimated $17.6 billion in total Covid-19 outlays over the duration of the emergency. By March of this year, its estimate had soared to $171.6 billion.
* * *
Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
Canada expelled six top Indian diplomats and consular officials on Monday, including India’s high commissioner, citing them as “persons of interest” in the murder of Sikh separatist figure, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In June 2023 Nijjar was assassinated by masked gunmen in Vancouver, British Columbia, after which three Indian nationals were arrested and charged for the crime. The investigation triggered a diplomatic spat in September when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government was involved in the killing.
New Delhi denies the allegations. On Monday, Canadian law enforcement authorities accused the Indian government of running a wide-ranging criminal network to intimidate and target Canadian Sikh separatists.
India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma was declared persona non grata by the Canadian government along with a number of other officials for their alleged roles in criminal activity, extortion and homicide.
“The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The development marks a new low between India and Canada, with the potential to rupture ties between the two Commonwealth nations. The Indian government accused Trudeau of making the decision based on a “political agenda” and said it was pulling its diplomats out of Canada.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
On Monday New Delhi also announced that it, too, would be expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the Canadian embassy’s second-highest ranking diplomat, Stewart Wheeler, the charge d’affaires.
Canada’s law enforcement authorities have a “significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India in consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” the RCMP said in a statement.
The law enforcement agency said the government of India is linked to homicides and extortion and used organized crime to target the South Asian community in Canada and interfere in democratic processes.
The Indian government says that Canada has yet to provide any evidence of its investigation into Nijjar’s killing or India’s involvement in the assassination. “This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” India’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
Later on Monday Prime Minister Trudeau released a statement defending Canada’s actions, saying that India’s response to the allegations has been denial, obfuscation, and personal attacks. “[It] is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil. “We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada accused the Indian government of homicide and extortion intended to silence critics of India living in Canada, escalating a bitter dispute that began last year with the assassination of a Sikh activist. https://t.co/AXyfmvJhiRpic.twitter.com/YjIgQ1Nkoi
Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence. Canada is host to one of the largest Indian diaspora communities in the world with a population of just under two million, with Sikhs dominating the community at 36 percent compared to Hindus as 32 percent of the diaspora. The majority of the diaspora is concentrated in Ontario and British Columbia.
Assassination plot in US
US prosecutors in New York in November charged an Indian national with a failed attempt to assassinate an American citizen on US soil, according to an indictment.
Authorities say that an unnamed Indian government official recruited 52-year-old Nikhil Gupta, who went on to contact someone he believed to be a hitman, to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Pannun is a prominent Sikh activist and New York-based lawyer for the Punjabi secessionist group, Sikhs for Justice.
The individual Gupta contacted was, however, not a hit man but an undercover officer working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). According to Wednesday’s indictment, Gupta had brokered a deal in which the unnamed Indian government employee would pay the hitman $100,000 for the killing.
The indictment did not name Pannun as the victim. However, Biden administration officials later said that the target of the failed assassination was the Sikh activist.
“The dedicated law enforcement agents and prosecutors in this case foiled and exposed a dangerous plot to assassinate a US citizen on US soil,” assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will be relentless in using the full reach of our authorities to pursue accountability for lethal plotting emanating from overseas.”
The indictment said that the plot to assassinate Pannun took place in June, around the same time that Nijjar was assassinated. Gupta was arrested that same month while in the Czech Republic, which has a bilateral extradition treaty with the US. He faces charges that could land him a sentence of 10 years in jail.
Two hurricanes have barreled through the Southeast in just two weeks. Hurricane Helene thrashed North Carolina, while Hurricane Milton—the most destructive storm to hit the Tampa area in a century—left more than 3 million without power and at least 10 people dead in Florida.
“[We] were not expecting a one-in-1,000 event,” one resident told our photographer and editor Richard Moore amid the wreckage. Motel operator Sharon Parton said: “My son and his wife lost everything. My mother-in-law lost everything.”
Such major storms display nature’s unpredictable force, exposing how vulnerable our communities truly are.
“It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ such events will occur,” Creek Stewart, an author of more than 40 books on survival, told The Epoch Times. Being ready to face adversity is a responsibility that each family must accept and embrace.
Prepping doesn’t have to be daunting. “Preparedness is very simple,” Stewart said, “but without a proper guide, you are going to become overwhelmed.”
In this guide, we streamline the process by outlining the essential items recommended by survival experts.
“Think of preparedness as an insurance policy,” preparedness expert Paul Martin told The Epoch Times. “None of us like paying insurance premiums, but we do it in order to transfer the risk of loss.”
A robust preparedness plan has three core elements: family communication, evacuation, and sheltering in place.
Family Communication
The cornerstone of any disaster plan is effective family communication. This involves establishing clear meeting points and alternative methods of staying in touch. “Know where to meet, how to get in touch, and how to get there … so that there’s no guessing,” Stewart said.
Establish an Out-of-Town Contact: Select a trusted friend or relative outside your immediate area whom all family members can contact.
Memorize Important Numbers: Ensure everyone knows key phone numbers in case cell phones are lost or not working.
Designate Meeting Places: Select one near your home, such as a neighbor’s front porch, and one outside the neighborhood, in case you can’t return home, such as a library or community center.
To create a comprehensive family plan, you can use online templates such as the Department of Homeland Security’s form.
Evacuation Plan
An evacuation plan involves deciding well ahead of time what to take with you and where you will go if evacuation becomes necessary. Identify and practice evacuation routes.
Having a well-stocked “bug-out bag” ready is crucial. Stewart suggests preparing for the possibility of returning to a home that’s no longer there. This means packing for at least 72 hours of self-sufficiency for your entire family. Essential items include shelter, water, fire-starting tools, food, first-aid supplies, and important documents.
Additionally, you should consider the items recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a basic emergency kit:
Battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA weather radio with tone alerts
Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery
Flashlight
First-aid kit
Extra batteries
Whistle (to signal for help)
Dust mask (to help filter contaminated air)
Plastic sheeting, scissors, and duct tape (to shelter in place)
Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties (for personal sanitation)
Wrench or pliers (to turn off utilities)
Manual can opener (for food)
Local maps
Shelter-in-Place Plan
The most likely scenario involves focusing on surviving comfortably at home. “Execute the basics well,” Martin said. This entails having a two-week supply of nonperishable food, ample water, and off-grid solutions for cooking and heating. This topic will be covered in-depth in the infographic below, providing you with detailed guidance on how to effectively shelter in place.
