Month: November 2024

Authored by James Hickman via SchiffSovereign.com,

It was early January 2020, and weird things were happening in the world…

Socialism was on the march in the Land of the Free. Conflict, it seemed, was exploding everywhere, both abroad (North Korea, Iran, Yemen) and at home.

And most notably, over in China, the Communist government was literally welding people into their homes to ‘keep them safe’ from a bizarre virus that was spreading rapidly.

It was only January, but 2020 was already looking pretty uncertain.

I wrote an article about preparing for uncertainty. And, with respect to finance, I wrote that gold was a very sensible asset to own in such times: “Frankly I don’t think anyone can credibly say that they have any idea what’s going to happen in the world in 2020. And that’s why I own gold.”

We soon found out. One of the most ridiculous hysterias in human history gripped the world. Countries were locked down. Governments and central banks conjured trillions of dollars out of thin air to pay people to stay home and not work.

Three months later, in mid-April, I wrote again that the Fed’s virtually unlimited money printing was going to be “very inflationary” and encouraged readers to consider gold once again (along with other real assets).

Quite predictably, the price of gold shot up, from $1560 in early January, to $1720 in April, to nearly $2000 in August.

At that point there was a lot of fickle, speculative capital flowing into the gold market. Gold ETFs were receiving huge inflows, pushing the price to (what was then) an all-time high.

So I wrote to our audience again on August 3rd stating that, “a short-term correction may be in order” for gold. The price peaked three days later, and then fell be several hundred dollars per ounce.

I started writing about gold again in earnest back in early 2023, a few months after the price had bottomed out. The fiscal trajectory of the United States under Joe Biden was painfully obvious at that point. The national debt was growing at an unprecedented peace-time pace, and other nations were lining up against the dollar as the global reserve currency.

Gold was a smart move. And by the end of the year I concluded that “we could easily see central banks around the world ditching their US dollars and loading up on gold as part of a new, de-dollarized global financial system.”

And that’s what started happening: fed up with dollar inflation, US government dysfunction, and America’s gargantuan national debt, foreign central banks began trading their dollars for gold.

The gold price soared as a result.

Even in March of this year, when gold was at its all time high of the time at $2,150, I wrote that gold was actually a contrarian investment with a lot more room to rise.

It went all the way up to almost $2,800.

Now, I’m not citing my own work to be boastful. Trust me, I’ve gotten plenty of things wrong.

My point is to illustrate that I AM NOT A GOLD BUG. I don’t hold a fanatical view about gold that it’s the only thing worth owning and is only going to go up.

Furthermore, I don’t think about gold strictly in terms of price; that’s way too one-dimensional.

Gold is a great insurance policy. It’s a hedge against systemic risks. It’s great for estate planning and asset protection. It holds its value over inflation over long periods of time. And, sometimes, it can also be a fantastic speculation.

The above examples demonstrate that I’m not shy about saying whether I think gold has been overbought, is too expensive, or too cheap. My assessment obviously changes when the information changes.

Right now one thing is clear: foreign central banks were the ones responsible for driving the price of gold to all-time highs throughout 2024, just as I suggested would be the case in 2023.

And that was happening at a time when most individual investors (plus ‘smart money’ hedge funds) were actually selling gold. So they were missing out on the boom.

But that started to change over the past few months.

Data from Gold ETFs around the world show that individual investors have been buy tons of gold. Problem is— that money tends to be very short-term… and fickle.

We can already see it; a lot of those same small investors have already yanked their money out of gold after the US election, which is why the price is down about 10% from its record high.

But, again, the real long-term driver of gold demand is central banks. And I think a lot of foreign central banks are sitting on the sidelines right now.

With gold already near its all-time high, they have paused their buying spree, and they’re now looking at this incoming administration to see what happens next.

Can Elon trim the federal budget? Will there be a US energy renaissance or AI-fueled productivity bonanza? Will the government become functional once again? Will America’s unparalleled military superiority be restored? Will sensible monetary policy reign in inflation?

Because if those things actually happen, then the dollar has a pretty good shot of continuing its reign as the dominant global reserve currency.

And I think a lot of central banks that have been buying so much gold are happy to wait for the next several months to see what happens. Hence gold could easily trade sideways for a while, or even fall.

All that said, gold is still worth owning… because there’s still long-term risk to the US and to the dollar.

Vladimir Putin recently made some comments that a lot of folks misinterpreted as “Russia and the BRICS nations will keep using the dollar. . .”

But that’s not what Putin said.

Putin said it was the US government’s weaponization of the dollar that pushed Russia and the BRICs nations away. And as long as that threat remains, the BRICS+ bloc is plowing ahead with developing an alternate financial system.

Many large economies have already started trading with one another in a currency other than the US dollar. And that trend is likely to continue, i.e. the dollar is going to have competition.

Not to mention, there’s still a ton of uncertainty in the world. The national debt is still way too high. The Leftists still want to storm to power and Make America California. Conflict might still break out.

These are all sensible reasons to own some gold.

But given that the key driver of the gold price, i.e. central banks, are probably going to sit on the sidelines over the next few months, I wouldn’t be buying right now on the expectation of a short-term price surge.

Non-fungible tokens saw a weekly sales volume of $181 million, fueled by significant gains in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets.

CoinTelegraph’s Exra Reguerra, reports that on Nov. 17, digital collectible data tracker CryptoSlam showed that NFTs recorded a sales volume of $181 million over the last seven days. The data shows a 94% increase compared to the week before when NFTs only had a $93 million weekly sales volume. 

Ethereum led all blockchains with $67 million in NFT sales for the week, a 111% increase from the previous week. Bitcoin followed closely, registering $60 million in NFT sales — a 115% week-over-week surge.

Meanwhile, Solana, Mythos Chain, Immutable, Polygon and BNB Chain collectively recorded a weekly sales volume of $45.5 million. 

In addition to rising sales volumes, the average value of an NFT transaction grew substantially. Over the past week, the average NFT sale was valued at $133.08, an 87% jump from the prior week’s $71.11.

NFTs continue sales momentum

The surge in weekly NFT sales volume comes as the market saw a resurgence, breaking its downturn in the monthly sales charts. 

In October, digital collectibles recorded $356 million in sales, up 18% from September when NFTs hit a record monthly low of about $300 million. This breaks a seven-month downturn for digital collectibles. 

Apart from sales volumes, NFT transactions also increased in October. The total transaction count for NFTs in the month reached 7.2 million, a 42% increase compared to the previous month.

NFT’s bullish momentum comes amid a crypto market surge

The surge in NFT sales volumes comes amid a bullish momentum in the broader crypto markets. In the days after the United States elections, crypto markets rallied, with Bitcoin leading the charge. 

On Nov. 13, Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $93,477. At the time of writing, the asset trades at around $91,000 with a market capitalization of $1.8 trillion. 

Where’s John Legere in a pink t-shirt when you need him?

Among the multiple stories over the last few weeks about Chinese intelligence and hackers either attempting to, or outright gaining access, to U.S. cell phone networks (with reports stating President Trump and his team were targeted), comes news of a hack of T-Mobile’s network. 

T-Mobile’s network was reportedly breached in a Chinese cyber-espionage campaign targeting multiple U.S. and international telecom companies, according to the NY Post, citing the Wall Street Journal.

Hackers tied to a Chinese intelligence agency accessed the network to spy on high-value intelligence targets, though the timing of the attack was not disclosed.

The NY Post, citing WSJ, wrote that the extent of data taken from T-Mobile customers remains unclear. 

The FBI and CISA recently revealed that China-linked hackers intercepted surveillance data meant for U.S. law enforcement after breaching several telecom firms.

Earlier reports indicated that Chinese hackers accessed networks of broadband providers, including Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen, extracting data from systems used for court-approved wiretapping.

“T-Mobile is closely monitoring this industry-wide attack,” a spokesperson for the company said. “At this time, T-Mobile systems and data have not been impacted in any significant way, and we have no evidence of impacts to customer information.”

Sure. 

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Hundreds of millions of people globally have become diabetic over the past 30 years, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to call for “urgent action” to deal with the health crisis.

The number of adults living with diabetes worldwide has more than quadrupled since 1990, the WHO said in a Nov. 13 statement citing the results of a recent study it supported. An estimated 828 million adults were living with the condition worldwide in 2022, an increase of 630 million from 1990.

The lowest prevalence of diabetes was in “Western Europe and East Africa for both sexes, and in Japan and Canada for women.” The highest prevalence was in Polynesia and Micronesia, certain nations in the Caribbean, North Africa, and the Middle East, as well as Pakistan and Malaysia.

In total, 14 percent of the world’s adults had diabetes in 2022, double the seven percent 30 years back.

“We have seen an alarming rise in diabetes over the past three decades, which reflects the increase in obesity, compounded by the impacts of the marketing of unhealthy food, a lack of physical activity, and economic hardship,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“To bring the global diabetes epidemic under control, countries must urgently take action. This starts with enacting policies that support healthy diets and physical activity, and, most importantly, health systems that provide prevention, early detection, and treatment.”

Nearly 450 million adults aged 30 and above with diabetes remained untreated in 2022. This represented 59 percent of all adults who have the condition, a 3.5-fold jump. Ninety percent of untreated adults were living in low- and middle-income countries.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 38 million Americans were living with diabetes in 2021, which was roughly one in 10 individuals. One in five didn’t know they had the condition. Nearly 100 million, or more than one in three Americans, suffered from pre-diabetes.

A bipartisan group of senators in June announced legislation aimed at improving the early detection and screening of type 1 diabetes, titled “Strengthening Collective Resources for Encouraging Education Needed (SCREEN) for Type 1 Diabetes Act.”

Early identification “can prevent life-threatening conditions like diabetic ketoacidosis and potentially allow for the use of therapeutics to delay the clinical onset of the condition, helping to improve patients’ quality of life and reliance on insulin,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Diabetes Burden in America

A report from the American Diabetes Association last year found that the country’s annual cost of the illness was nearly $413 billion in 2022, which included more than $306 billion in direct medical costs.

Out of every $4 in health care spending in the United States, $1 was used for people diagnosed with diabetes, it said.

“In addition to its enormous physical and health burden, diabetes also carries an untenable cost burden that is often disproportionately borne by vulnerable and underserved communities,” said Charles Henderson, CEO of the organization.

He pointed out that the medical costs for such people have risen by 35 percent over the previous decade. “Reducing the cost of diabetes is essential to improving the lives of all people with diabetes.”

Several studies have shown that certain lifestyle adjustments can go a long way in managing the condition. For instance, a large-scale study involving around 103,000 adults who were followed up for over a seven-year period found that the time of eating breakfast could influence diabetes risk.

Individuals who ate their breakfast after 9 a.m. were found to have a 59 percent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who regularly ate breakfast before 8 a.m.

Another study found that intermittent fasting may help control blood sugar better than popular diabetes medications.

This month, a group of senators wrote a letter to senate leaders, seeking reauthorization for the Special Diabetes Program (SDP). Funding for the nearly three-decade-old program is set to expire by the end of the year.

SDP funds research on the prevention and cure of type 1 diabetes. “Research funded by the SDP is leading directly to the development of new insights and therapies that are improving the lives of those with diabetes and accelerating progress toward curing and preventing the disease,” the lawmakers wrote.

Early last week several media reports and sources saud that the government of Qatar ordered the leaders of Hamas to leave the country, following pressure from Washington, kicking off speculation over where Hamas leadership would go.

A fresh Israeli media report alleged that Turkey is now hosting them. “Senior members of Hamas’s abroad leadership left Qatar last week for Turkey, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Sunday, after Doha said it was walking away from efforts to mediate an end to the war in Gaza,” the report said.

“The Arab diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, downplayed the significance of the move for the terror group, stressing that Hamas’s leadership abroad already spends much of its time in Turkey when they are not holding meetings in Qatar,” the report continued.

If accurate it would shine a spotlight on NATO member Turkey and its dealings with a group designated by the US and Europe, and many countries internationally, as a terrorist organization.

But this is a charge which Turkey is vehemently denying on Monday, per Reuters:

A Turkish diplomatic source dismissed on Monday reports that Hamas had moved its political office to Turkey from Qatar, adding that members of the Palestinian militant group only visited the country from time to time.

The diplomatic source said: “Hamas Political Bureau members visit Turkey from time to time. Claims that indicate the Hamas Political Bureau has moved to Turkey do not reflect the truth.”

Hamas also rejected the reports that its offices are being set up in Turkey as “rumors the (Israeli) occupation is trying to publish from time to time.”

But if the reports are true, Turkey and Hamas would have every incentive to lie about it – given Israeli spies have long waged a surveillance and assassination campaign targeting Hamas operatives living and working abroad.

Just days ago President Erdogan announced that Turkey has cut all ties with Israel. “We, as the State and Government of the Republic of Turkey, have cut off relations with Israel. We do not have any relationship with Israel at this point. Period,” he said.

He and other top Turkish officials have decried genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli military. Erdogan said further, “As you know, intense efforts are being made to keep the pressure on Israel alive and to take coercive measures against this country on the basis of international law We show it.”

Turkey even recently blocked an Israeli airplane carrying the Israeli president from traversing over its airspace, and so he wasn’t able to attend the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. Erdogan has long been known to cozy up to Hamas leaders, even in photographed, well-publicized events.

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

A new report from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) has sounded the alarm about escalating violence and discrimination faced by Christians across the continent.

In 2023, 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes were documented across 35 European countries. These crimes ranged from vandalism and arson to physical violence and restrictions on religious freedoms. The findings reveal a concerning trend that has left Christian communities feeling increasingly vulnerable.

The report published on Friday highlighted France, the U.K., and Germany as areas of particular concern. France recorded nearly 1,000 hate crimes last year, making it the most affected country. The incidents included the desecration of churches and cemeteries, with at least 84 direct attacks on individuals.

DISCRIMINATION:
OIDAC Europe’s report also found discrimination against Christians in the workplace and in public life in some European countries, leading to increasing self-censorship among Christians in Europe. pic.twitter.com/W8nPfZIX3W

— Observatory on Intolerance against Christians EU (@OIDACEurope) November 15, 2024

Meanwhile, the U.K. experienced over 700 incidents, a 15 percent increase compared to the previous year. One high-profile case involved the conviction of an individual for silently praying outside an abortion clinic, illustrating the growing tension around public expressions of faith.

In Germany, there was a concerning 105 percent increase in anti-Christian hate crimes, climbing from 135 in 2022 to 277 in 2023. Churches were frequent targets, with vandalism and property damage often unreported in official statistics, according to the report. Estimates suggest at least 2,000 cases of property damage against religious institutions went unnoticed due to the lack of a clear political motive.

The report outlines the various forms these attacks have taken. Vandalism accounts for the majority, making up 62 percent of incidents, followed by arson, threats, and physical violence. A small percentage of cases even involved attempted or completed murders.

‘I will rape Jesus!’ – Migrant shouts obscenities on video while smashing Swedish Catholic church windows with rocks. https://t.co/vbxw90EJG6

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 23, 2023

The growing self-censorship among Christians in Europe was also highlighted as an equally concerning issue. For the first time since records began in 1953, more Christians report feeling they must be cautious when speaking about their faith than those who feel free to express it openly. This shift marks a dramatic change from 1981 when 83 percent of Christians said they felt no barriers to discussing their beliefs. Now, only 40 percent feel the same way.

Compounding the issue are restrictions on religious freedoms imposed by some European governments. Beyond high-profile legal cases like the U.K. prayer conviction, bans on religious processions and other policies have disproportionately affected Christians.

The mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski has banned the display of religious symbols such as crosses in public buildings, making it the first city in Poland to do so. https://t.co/FpE9whq426

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) May 17, 2024

Moves to secularize traditional Christian holidays have also become more frequent, and despite falling under the threshold of a hate crime, it is indicative of a gradual move away from Christian values.

The move has sparked a backlash from parents and politicians who fear Austria’s customs are being sidelined for cultural sensitivity. https://t.co/8WeCan2Yqo

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 28, 2024

Experts warn that the real scale of the problem is far greater than official statistics suggest. Regina Polak, OSCE’s special representative for combating racism, xenophobia, and discrimination, described anti-Christian hate crimes as a “message of exclusion” that impacts not only the victims but society as a whole.

OIDAC Managing Director Anja Hoffmann echoed this concern, emphasizing the significant number of unreported cases.

She urged governments to take more proactive measures to protect Christian communities and ensure that hate crimes are accurately documented and addressed.

Read more here…

Authored by Josiah Lippincott via American Greatness,

Liberals who are in the throes of capitulation and despair after Donald Trump’s crushing electoral and popular vote win can lay blame for their disastrous loss at the feet of one man: Barack Hussein Obama.

Obama built the Trump wave. His failure to live up to the promises of his populist 2008 run has cursed the Democratic Party, probably for a generation. The Washington DC establishment in just two short months is going to get “scholonged” by an angry and vengeful Trump, ready to rain executive hellfire on the bureaucrats and institutions that have spent the last nine years fighting him tooth and nail.

All of this could have been prevented. In 2008, Obama swept into power with a crushing electoral college and popular vote majority. He won Iowa, Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina. He even won Indiana. Democrats swept into power in Congress with a 74-seat lead in the House, nearly 59% of seats, and were gifted with a magical 60-seat filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate.

This was a generational victory, a sign that voters were fed up with politics as usual and the failures of the GOP and the Washington and Wall Street establishment as such. This victory wasn’t just about electing the first Black president, though that was important: The policies and platform at stake appealed deeply to voters.

It is worth remembering what exactly those policies were.

Obama promised to end the war in Iraq, end the Afghanistan war with honor, help the economy by reducing health care costs (prioritizing “Main Street” over Wall Street), and bring about a new era of racial harmony. Moreover, Obama explicitly eschewed radical leftist politics. He explicitly defended traditional marriage. In his DNC nomination speech, he condemned employers who “undercut American wages by hiring illegal workers.”

Obama ran a campaign on bringing “change” to DC. He made much of his status as a newcomer who lacked the “typical pedigree” of a candidate for the nation’s highest office.

Put another way, Obama won a decisive victory in 2008 by campaigning as a Washington outsider bent on ending foreign wars, boosting the economy by helping ordinary people, and being a moderate on social issues like abortion and gay marriage. Does this message sound familiar? It should.

In broad measure, it is the same formula that brought Donald Trump to power in 2016 and has given him, like Obama, unified control over the executive and legislative branches after a crushing electoral and popular vote win.

Obama’s hubris is the reason the Democratic Party stands here today—powerless in the face of “Orange Hitler.”

Obama did not close Guantanamo Bay, he ended the Iraq War only to get sucked back in, killed Osama Bin Laden but kept troops in Afghanistan, started wars in Libya and Syria, and, most damningly, inflamed racial tensions when he had a chance to calm them.

Far from being a moderate on social issues, Obama was the president whose picks for the Supreme Court rammed gay marriage down Americans throats after it had suffered numerous state-level electoral setbacks, including in California of all places in the very election that brought Obama to power!

Obama’s pledge to reduce health care costs in 2008 did not come with an individual mandate to purchase health insurance. The final bill that snaked its way through Congress and was signed into law did contain such a penalty. Instead of lowering health care costs, Americans watched as their premiums went up.

Instead of fewer foreign wars, we got more. Instead of declaring victory after the death of the mastermind behind 9/11, we got eight more years of war. On every front, Obama didn’t just fail to follow through on his mandate, he actively worked for the opposite outcome.

Obama lacked the strength of character and will to follow through on his promises and to deliver the shake-up in Washington that he promised. He was more concerned with hanging out with celebrities and being cool than facing down his own Party’s bosses to deliver on the promises he made to the American people. Nancy Pelosi, 16 years later, still remains one of the most powerful figures in the Party.

Americans sent a refined, urbane, grassroots college professor to do their bidding in DC. When he failed, they decided to send their message in a language that no one could misunderstand. They sent Trump.

Trump is everything Obama is not: loud, dominating, and brash. There is none of Obama’s snark in his demeanor. And, unlike Obama, Trump has proven durable and faithful. Unlike Obama, Trump has built on his popular vote total with each successive election.

Nothing can stop him: not the GOP leadership class (compare Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi’s careers), not the bureaucracy, not the media, not even an assassin’s bullet. Trump is the avenging angel of American populist rage. The post-1945 world order—especially after the fall of the Soviet Union—was supposed to deliver peace and prosperity on an untold scale.

Instead, we’ve gotten more war, more debt, and more of our economy shipped overseas. Americans, even those who are successful, live in a world increasingly pockmarked by obesity, homelessness, crazed radicalism, and a flood of foreigners looking for a hand-out.

This was not what we were promised! Looking back on the last two decades of war in the Middle East, what can anyone say we won in these places? Peace? Stability? The region is as broken and violent as ever. The 9/11 hijackers all came in legally. No one has ever solved that problem or even acknowledged that it existed.

Moreover, the wars never end. Trump is the only president in my lifetime not to get us engaged in any new conflicts, but even he wasn’t able to bring the troops home from Afghanistan in his first term. Biden did, but then immediately hauled the nation back into war in Europe.

We are never allowed to be neutral, never allowed to focus on ourselves, never allowed to rest. Millions of migrants invade our southern border and flood our communities with drugs that kill more than a hundred thousand Americans yearly and not one politician in DC blinks. They care infinitely more about Ukraine’s border than our own. Americans are fed up with this attitude.

Obama’s failures on race were the most striking feature of his presidency and have done the most lasting damage. Race relations have hit an all-time low. Obama could have put a lot of the turmoil to rest, using his position as the first Black president as a way to shore up confidence in our institutions. He could have brought the Civil Rights movement to an end, insisting that our work now was not to gain equality but to preserve the hard and painful work we’d already accomplished. But no. Instead we got George Floyd and the 2020 Summer of Love, in which a dozen major American cities burned because a career criminal died in police custody from an overdose.

And every year, some new cause gets added to the pantheon of aggrieved minorities demanding social justice. First, it was gay marriage; now it is transgenderism. God only knows what will come next. Furries? Polycules? Worse? With each new wave of leftist radicalism has come vicious shrieking from activists aimed at ordinary Americans. The latest cause—the post-COVID explosion of transgenderism—has touched ordinary Americans’ lives in a way that even homosexuality did not.

The LGBT wave has finally hit upon children and teens with its full force. The loss of community and the social upheaval of the COVID period has resulted in a generation of youth particularly susceptible to the promises of transgender identity.

Speaking of COVID, the American medical establishment worked for two whole years to end normal life, destroy free association, and impose draconian measures on the population.

Once the COVID paranoia died down, the regime immediately turned to trying to put the opposition leader into prison for made-up crimes. That all-out media and legal blitz ended with two attempted assassination attempts, one that nearly blew the president’s head off on live television.

The supposedly “apolitical” military, medical, media and legal establishments have shorn themselves of any pretense of neutrality. They have thrown their lot in with the Democratic Party and its most radical wing.

None of this had to happen.

Obama had a golden chance in 2008 to lock in Democratic rule for a generation. All he had to do was follow through. He had to keep his word and he needed to stand up to his own party when they sought to drag him back into their moribund consensus. But Obama chose wealth and respectability over doing the right thing.

He chose to divide the country further instead of rallying it around a new multi-racial coalition dedicated to peace abroad and prosperity at home. Trump has inherited that mantle. Here, in his second term, Trump finally has the full, unquestionable mandate that once rested on Obama’s shoulders.

If he succeeds, the GOP can expect decades of political and cultural dominance. The Trump era will last far beyond Trump’s actual death. There is reason to hope, as well. Trump’s first term and his years in the wilderness have armed him with a better knowledge of DC and a clearer understanding of the qualities and allies he needs to advance his goals.

His slate of cabinet picks is hated by the DC chatterati. This bodes well. Clean house. Go to war. Trump has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

All he needs to do is deliver. He needs to give the voters what he promised them: mass deportations, increased election security, and no new wars. Do those things on Day 1 and the Republicans have 2026 sewn up. Get us out of Ukraine and deliver real economic growth and JD Vance is a lock for 2028. It really is that simple.

Trump has everything he needs. Now all that remains is to act.

President-elect Trump is set to steamroll Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s ‘red lines’ communicated to President Biden this weekend, likely to be on display from day one after he enters the Oval Office for the second time on Jan. 20. This is especially given his campaign promises impose a blanket 60% tariff on Chinese goods, touted as key to a package of “America First” trade measures.

Xi conveyed that he’s willing and ready to work with the incoming Trump administration, during the meeting with Biden that took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru. 

Xi told Biden: “The United States has recently concluded its elections. China’s goal of a stable, healthy, and sustainable China–U.S. relationship remains unchanged.” But the optics at the Peru summit strongly suggest lame-duck Biden had long already taken a backseat in terms of assertiveness over US-China relations…

WATCH: Biden takes a back seat to other world leaders during an international trip, relegated to a corner spot in the traditional family photo of the world’s most powerful figures, while China’s president takes the prominent front-and-center position. pic.twitter.com/dyOkaPwqNW

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 17, 2024

“China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation, and manage differences, so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi additionally conveyed to Biden. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in follow-up emphasized of the “candid” and “constructive” talks–sure to be the last held face to face of the Biden presidency, that Biden “has worked hard to responsibly manage the competition” with China over four years to prevent things from spiraling into conflict.

The some two-hour weekend meeting included what’s being described as an olive branch from Xi, but more importantly a series of ‘red lines’ if Washington wishes to avoid a “new Cold War”.

“A new Cold War should not be fought and cannot be won. Containing China is unwise, unacceptable and bound to fail,” Xi told the American president.

President Xi broadly laid out four red lines as follows:

“The Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, China’s path and system, and China’s development right are four red lines for China,” Xi was quoted as saying.

“They must not be challenged. These are the most important guardrails and safety nets for China-US relations.”

It as especially on the Taiwan question that Xi spoke with firmness, and specifics, at one point mentioning Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te by name (a rarity). He reiterated that Beijing views Taiwan as an integral part of the country and thus that Mr. Lai based on his articulated policies is a “separatist”. Xi further warned that the US “should not get involved in bilateral disputes over the relevant islands” in the South China Sea.

Xi said of his four red lines and the future of relations with the US, “Words must be trustworthy and actions must be fruitful. A person cannot stand without credibility. China always follows through on its words, but if the US side always says one thing and does another, it is very detrimental to America’s image and damages mutual trust.”

Again, these are the four red lines, which the Chinese leader urged Washington to avoid crossing, no matter the administration: 

1) Supporting Taiwan independence.

2) Interfering in China’s democracy and human rights

3) Stifling China’s development path, e.g. by sanctions and trade restrictions.

4) Restricting China’s rights to advancement and development.

Below are more translated details of Xi’s words, with some commentary by regional watcher and analyst Arnaud Bertrand.

* * *

According to the Chinese readout (https://guancha.cn/internation/2024_11_17_755645.shtml…) here’s what he told Biden were the 7 “lessons of the past 4 years that need to be remembered”:

1) “There must be correct strategic understanding. The ‘Thucydides Trap’ is not historical destiny, a ‘new Cold War’ cannot and should not be fought, containment of China is unwise, undesirable, and will not succeed.”

2) “Words must be trustworthy and actions must be fruitful. A person cannot stand without credibility. China always follows through on its words, but if the U.S. side always says one thing and does another, it is very detrimental to America’s image and damages mutual trust.”

3) “Treat each other as equals. In exchanges between two major countries like China and the United States, neither side can reshape the other according to their own wishes, nor can they suppress the other based on so-called ‘position of strength,’ let alone deprive the other of legitimate development rights to maintain their own leading position.”

4) “Red lines and bottom lines cannot be challenged. As two major countries, China and the United States inevitably have some contradictions and differences, but they cannot harm each other’s core interests, let alone engage in conflict and confrontation. The One China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués are the political foundation of bilateral relations and must be strictly observed. Taiwan issue, democracy and human rights, development path, and development rights are China’s four red lines, which cannot be challenged. [Note: Bold text in the original] These are the most important guardrails and safety nets for China-US relations.”

5) “There should be more dialogue and cooperation. Under current circumstances, the common interests between China and the United States have not decreased but increased. Whether in areas of economy and trade, agriculture, drug control, law enforcement, public health, or in facing global challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence, as well as international hotspot issues, China-US cooperation is needed. Both sides should extend the list of cooperation, make the cooperation cake bigger, and achieve win-win cooperation.”

6) “Respond to people’s expectations. The development of China-US relations should always focus on the wellbeing of both peoples and gather the strength of both peoples. Both sides should build bridges for personnel exchanges and cultural communication, and also remove interference and obstacles, not artificially create a ‘chilling effect.'”

7) “Demonstrate great power responsibility. China and the United States should always consider the future and destiny of humanity, take responsibility for world peace, provide public goods for the world, and play a positive role in world unity, including engaging in positive interaction, avoiding mutual consumption, and not coercing other countries to take sides.”

Funnily, all this is summarized in the official US readout (https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-meeting-with-president-xi-jinping-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-3/…) with this short sentence: “The two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship over the past four years”. Talk about an understatement  The language compared to the readout of the last Xi-Biden meeting in San Francisco one year ago is noticeably more forthright, especially on the U.S.’s lack of trustworthiness (“if the U.S. side always says one thing and does another…”). Looks like he’s getting very frustrated with U.S. duplicity.

The Pentagon has made deeper, permanent inroads into southeast Asia, on Monday announcing a major new deal inked by the US and Philippine defense chiefs to share classified military information and technology.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro kicked off Austin’s visit to Manila this week with the signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement. Monday’s events also included a closed-door meeting between the Pentagon chief and President Ferdinand Marcos.

The deal has been described as allowing the Philippines access to “higher capabilities and big-ticket items” from the US and “open opportunities to pursue similar agreements with like-minded nations,” according to Philippine Assistant Defense Secretary Arsenio Andolong.

Beijing is sure to also take note of the newly opened combined command and coordination center inside the Philippine military’s headquarters in the capital. Teodoro and Austin formally inaugurated it on Monday.

“This center will enable real-time information sharing for a common operating picture. It will help boost interoperability for many, many years to come,” Austin said at the ceremony. “It will be a place where our forces can work side by side to respond to regional challenges,” he added.

Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner hailed the establishment of the joint command center, saying it will “enhance our ability to collaborate during crises, fostering an environment where our strengths combine to safeguard peace and security in our region.”

As expected, China blasted the development, with its foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian responding by warning any military agreement or security arrangement must not target “any third party or harm a third party’s interests – let alone undermine regional peace, exacerbate regional tensions.”

Of course, the US and the Philippines are already defense treaty partners, which has long injected extra tensions as rival patrols in regional waters come up against each other:

China has brushed aside an international ruling that its claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis, and has deployed navy and coast guard vessels that Manila says harass its vessels and stop them accessing some reefs and islands in the waters.

This has led to violent confrontations that have resulted in injuries to Filipino personnel and damage to their vessels in the past 18 months.

That has sparked concern the United States could be drawn into an armed conflict due to its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines.

This new military intelligence and defense tech sharing agreement, along with the inaugurated command center, further solidifies Washington’s presence in the region.

Dramatic scenes like the below have been on the increase of late:

WATCH: Two China Coast Guard ships use their water cannons on the much smaller Philippine Navy-contracted Unaizah May 4 during a March 5 resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal. The Philippines says the water cannons shattered the wind shield of the resupply ship, injuring four on… pic.twitter.com/6d28CMFwuj

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) March 5, 2024

On the other side of the globe, China seems bent on teaching the US a lesson, in expanding its own intelligence and military presence in places like Cuba, not far off America’s coast. Beijing without doubt sees its inroads into Latin America as a necessary response to America’s expanding Pacific presence. 

Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

We’ve talked before about the mental health effects suffered by some Harris supporters after mainstream media convinced them that there was no way Trump could win. Now, as the truth settles in that he, in fact, will be the 47th president, threats of violence against Trump voters have absolutely surged.

It’s getting to the point where I find it difficult to imagine that this violence will carry over into the real world.

Reddit is a hotbed of extremism.

I’ve had an anonymous Reddit account for years because it’s nice to chat and see the opinions of others about all manner of things. I have honestly learned a lot from the site. But as it became more and more radical, I stopped posting completely.

For example, Gateway Pundit reports that a radical man who claims to be employed by the United States Secret Service – yeah, the one who is tasked with the responsibility of Trump’s safety – has been posting disturbing, venomous commentary from his “insider view.”

Counter-extremism researchers with the Justice Report say they have discovered that a lifelong anarchist, left-wing extremist, and devout follower of Anfifa is working as a Secret Service agent. Moreover, the individual reportedly has made a series of disgusting comments regarding Trump.

The Gateway Pundit will NOT be naming the alleged Secret Service agent until we confirm the person’s identity.

The supposed agent has a series of ugly posts under the since-deleted account /u/endon40 on the leftist social media forum Reddit where he calls the American electorate “chodes” and Nazis who voted for a man with “Nazi-a** policies.”

“These chodes are cowards and won’t win, no matter how long it takes to pry them from power if they manage to cheat their way back to it,” the Anifa sympathizer wrote. “The survival rate of fascist dictatorships trends towards zero.”

“They voted for a dude who has Nazi-a**policies and who surrounds himself with people who do, including actual neo-Nazis,” he added, “When you’re willing to (vote Trump) and support a guy who has policies mirroring the Third Reich and again, had actual neo nazis around him, you’re a Nazi.

But that is far from the worst of it.

The X account Reddit_Lies has collected tons of horrifying comments from Reddit that suggest outright violence against Trump supporters. Here’s a collage of concerning posts. (Warning – some of these posts contain threats of graphic violence and foul language.)

I don’t foresee this calming down.

The rhetoric is outright insane, as discussed before.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop since the election. I was surprised that there was very little civil unrest after Trump was announced the winner.

But I don’t think we should get too comfortable.

People like the ones above feel completely justified in assassinating the president, physically harming anyone they assume voted for him, and cutting off loved ones who voted for Trump.

If you don’t have it already, check out our paperback anthology, How to Survive During Dangerous Times.

Your situational awareness is invaluable right now. When people are afraid, sometimes they launch an attack offensively. I think it’s only a matter of time before bad things start happening in the real world. What do you think?

Do you expect an uptick in unwarranted violence? Have you seen or heard of anything happening yet? Do you think that plans are being made?