Month: December 2024

Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

With solar storms causing a geomagnetic storm on Earth, the northern lights or aurora borealis could extend beyond the Arctic Circle down into the northernmost U.S. states this New Year’s Eve, according to a Dec. 31 forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The moderate-strong G2-G3 geomagnetic storm, with a Kp index of 6-7, forecasted for Dec. 31 by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, means the aurora could be visible in New York and Idaho, and potentially as far south as Illinois and Oregon.

The Kp-index measures geomagnetic activity in the Earth’s atmosphere. “For Kp in the range 6 to 7, the aurora will move even further from the poles and will become quite bright and active,” according to NOAA.

A minor G1-level geomagnetic storm warning is also active from New Year’s Eve into Jan. 1. These storms typically produce auroras visible only from higher latitudes, in locations such as northern Michigan and Maine.

Multiple solar flares—two X-class solar flares and 17 M-class flares—erupted on the Sun within 24 hours on Dec. 29.

Two of the M-class flares released solar storms, or streams of electrically charged particles and plasma called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), toward Earth.

This prompted the Space Weather Prediction Center to issue two geomagnetic storm warnings ahead of the CMEs’ arrival.

Traveling 93 million miles, the CMEs are expected to reach Earth early in the mornings of Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

This is when the chance of seeing a turbo-charged aurora will be best.

The aurora, known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), occurs when charged particles released by the Sun during flares arrive at Earth. These particles are directed by Earth’s protective magnetosphere toward the poles, where they collide with gases in the atmosphere. This interaction releases excess energy as colorful glows of light, visible as the aurora.

The stronger the solar flare, the more energy arrives at Earth, and the brighter and more widespread the aurora.

When, Where to See the Aurora

Clear, night skies are best for being able to see the aurora.

The geomagnetic storm early New Year’s Eve morning and night (Eastern Time) may bring the colorful aurora to places above 50 degrees geomagnetic latitude, such as Alaska, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

If the geomagnetic storm is strong enough, parts of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa, and New York may also get a glimpse of the lights early Dec. 31 Eastern Time before the sun rises.

The CME from the first solar flare is forecast to arrive at Earth by midday UTC (7 a.m. ET) on Dec. 31, and the second flare near midday UTC (7 a.m. ET) on Jan. 1.

Those in the upper latitudes in the Eastern Hemisphere will have a chance of seeing a brighter-than-usual aurora on New Year’s Eve.

Updates to the forecast are available on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center website.

Uptick in Solar Activity

The recent uptick in strong geomagnetic storms, seen as strong auroras, marks a period of increased solar activity on the Sun.

The Sun’s activity has been observed to move through an 11-year solar cycle and has reached its solar maximum period.

In May, the Earth was hit by the strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years—a G5-level storm associated with an X8.7 solar flare—that saw reports of the aurora being visible as far south as Florida.

October saw an X1.8 solar flare and a resulting G3-level storm. X-class flares are the strongest category of solar flare and are 10 times the intensity of the preceding category, the M-class solar flare. They increase the risk of disturbances to satellite communications, power grids, and navigation systems.

The current solar maxima, which started in 2020, is expected to last at least into 2026.

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times,

President Ronald Reagan once said: “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the Marines don’t have that problem.”

The same might be said of 2024, which saw a number of firsts that left a lasting impression on the world.

Here are the defining moments of the year, presented in chronological order.

Harvard President Resigns

Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned on Jan. 2, about two months after she and other university administrators were questioned about anti-Semitism on their campuses.

Under questioning from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a Harvard alumna, Gay said that students calling for the genocide of Jews did not necessarily violate Harvard’s code of conduct.

Gay later apologized for the remarks.

The U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation in late November 2023 into Harvard in light of anti-Semitism on its campus.

Nearly 27 percent of Harvard students are Jewish.

The resignation was the third among Ivy League presidents who faced pressure from donors and lawmakers over their handling of campus protests regarding the Israel–Hamas war.

Claudine Gay (L), president of Harvard University, and other university administrators testify at a hearing to investigate anti-Semitism on college campuses, at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 5, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

McConnell Steps Down

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Feb. 28 that he would step down at the end of the year but remain in the Senate.

McConnell, 82, is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. He faced persistent opposition from some Republican senators who disagreed with his efforts to continue funding Ukraine in its war with Russia.

McConnell will be succeeded by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on Jan. 3, 2025.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) walks toward his office in Washington on Feb. 28, 2024. McConnell announced on this day that he will step down as Republican leader in November. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Terrorist Attack in Russia Kills 145

A terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow killed at least 145 people and injured 180 on March 22.

The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility, but Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged in a televised address that the perpetrators had attempted to flee to Ukraine.

On June 23, terrorists attacked two cities in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, striking two synagogues, two churches, and a police post. At least 21 people were killed and 46 were injured.

Mourners stand in a queue to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial after a massacre that killed 145 people, in front of the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, on March 24, 2024. Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

Ship Topples Key Bridge in Baltimore

A cargo ship collided with a supporting pillar of the 47-year-old Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, hurling steel, concrete, and people into the water. Six people died. Two were rescued.

The incident closed Baltimore Harbor for 11 weeks, causing a major disruption to U.S. shipping.

The bridge, which was part of Interstate 695, remains closed, causing some 31,000 vehicles per day to travel alternate routes.

The cargo ship, Dali, sits in the water after colliding into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Israel, Iran Trade Strikes

Iran launched more than 300 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones in its first direct attack on Israel on April 13.

Israel said that it intercepted 99 percent of the weapons with cooperation from the United States and other allied forces.

A few missiles got through the defenses and caused minor damage to an Israeli military installation.

The attack appeared to be in retaliation for an April 1 airstrike on the Iranian Embassy in Syria that killed two Iranian generals.

After an apparent Israeli airstrike on an Iranian air base on April 19, both sides downplayed the incident, temporarily easing tensions between the two nations.

People gather around the remains of one of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran earlier in the month and intercepted by Israel, that landed in an open area of the Negev desert near the city of Arad, Romania, on April 30, 2024. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

Pro-Palestinian Protesters Occupy Campuses

Protesters demanding an end to the war in the Gaza Strip and divestment from Israel staged demonstrations on more than 80 campuses in at least 30 states in April and May.

Some demonstrators occupied buildings, skirmished with counterprotesters, and created encampments in public spaces, resulting in hundreds of arrests.

The protests were the largest display of campus unrest since the anti-apartheid demonstrations of the 1980s.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside of New York University during an ongoing demonstration against their school’s investments and the administration’s views on Israel, in New York City on May 3, 2024. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Trump Convicted

Former President Donald Trump on May 30 became the first former president convicted of a crime.

A New York state jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, a crime normally prosecuted as a misdemeanor.

Trump maintained that this case, along with others against him, was politically motivated.

Shortly after the conviction was announced, he told reporters: “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. And they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here.”

Trump was a defendant in three other criminal cases in 2024.

A federal case in Washington related to alleged election interference was dropped after Trump won reelection.

The prosecutor in a federal case in Florida related to Trump’s retention of classified documents withdrew his appeal of an earlier decision by the judge to toss the case.

A state case in Georgia alleging a scheme related to the 2020 election remains in jeopardy after an appeals court ruled in December that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office were disqualified from prosecuting the case against Trump. A judge had earlier ordered the special prosecutor removed from the case for conduct that created an appearance of impropriety.

The president-elect will be immune from prosecution during his term in office, which begins on Jan. 20.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York City on May 30, 2024. The former president on this day was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Trump Survives 2 Assassination Attempts

Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

A 20-year-old gunman gained access to a roof approximately 400 feet from Trump at an outdoor rally and fired four shots, one striking Trump in the right ear.

One bystander was killed and two others were wounded.

The gunman was killed by the Secret Service.

Trump dropped to the ground but soon rose, surrounded by Secret Service agents.

His ear bloodied and his fist raised, Trump shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The moment provided one of the most vivid images in presidential history and sparked bipartisan criticism of Kimberly Cheatle, Secret Service director, who resigned 10 days later.

On Sept. 16, another gunman was apprehended in Florida after allegedly lying in wait for the former president with a rifle at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach.

On Nov. 19, the FBI announced that it had foiled an assassination plot against Trump by the government of Iran.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump raises his fist after being shot, while Secret Service agents surround him, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Nvidia Becomes Largest US Company

Nvidia surpassed Apple on June 18 to become the world’s most valuable company.

Demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) chips fueled the surge in its stock price.

Lawmakers noted the company’s rise along with investors.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for an antitrust investigation of Nvidia, which she said controls about 90 percent of the high-end AI chip market and 98 percent of the graphics processing unit market.

The Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 5, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Biden Withdraws From Presidential Race

President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential campaign on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden made the decision barely three weeks after a poor debate performance with Trump, where he appeared to have difficulty remembering facts and completing sentences.

Following the debate, several prominent Democrats called for Biden to step aside.

The announcement upended what many observers called the most consequential presidential race in recent history just weeks before the election.

Harris was formally declared the replacement nominee on Aug. 2 after a virtual roll call of Democrat delegates. She introduced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Aug. 6.

No other presidential candidate has withdrawn from a reelection campaign that far into the race.

Lyndon Johnson ended his campaign on March 31, 1968.

Harry Truman withdrew from his reelection bid on March 29, 1952.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on, at the White House on July 14, 2024. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Israel Kills Top Leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah

Israel claimed responsibility on Aug. 1 for a July airstrike in the Gaza Strip that killed Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif.

The announcement was made a day after the apparent Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and not long after Israel’s killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “[We] will exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front.”

A woman walks near a billboard displaying portraits of Hamas leader Mohammed Deif (R) and Ismail Haniyeh with the slogan “assassinated” written in Hebrew, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 2, 2024. Oren Ziv/AFP via Getty Images

Prisoner Exchange Frees Americans in Russia

Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for espionage, was freed on Aug. 1 along with three others in a multinational prisoner exchange with Russia.

The U.S. government said Gershkovich’s trial was politically motivated.

Also freed were U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and Russian British journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Americans Evan Gershkovich (L), Alsu Kurmasheva (R), Paul Whelan (2nd R), and others aboard a plane following their release from Russian captivity, on Aug. 1, 2024. White House via AP

Ukraine Invades Russia

Two and a half years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian armed forces invaded the Kursk Oblast Region of Russia.

The Aug. 6 surprise attack marked a change of momentum in the war, which had become a grinding conflict that produced small territorial gains but significant numbers of casualties.

Ukrainian forces intended to use the attack to draw Russian troops out of the occupied Ukrainian territory of Donetsk. Ukraine claimed to control about 444 square miles of Kursk by Aug. 15.

The offensive raised morale in Ukraine, although Russia counterattacked weeks later and regained much of the territory.

Ukrainian servicemen operate a Soviet-made T-72 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on Aug. 12, 2024. Ukraine launched a surprise attack in the Russian border region of Kursk on Aug. 6, 2024. Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images

CCP Agent Arrested in New York State

The FBI arrested a former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 3 for spying on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Linda Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, were both charged with multiple crimes.

On Dec. 10, federal agents arrested a Chinese national suspected of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and taking photos of the SpaceX rocket pads on the day a contractor launched a national reconnaissance payload.

The arrests are the latest in a string of arrests of people suspected of espionage on behalf of the CCP.

Also in 2024, two Chinese nationals and two U.S. citizens pleaded guilty to federal charges related to spying for the CCP in three separate cases.

Linda Sun (R), a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and her husband, Chris Hu, exit the federal court in Brooklyn after Sun was charged with acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, in New York City on Sept. 3, 2024. Kent J. Edwards/Reuters

Exploding Pagers Kill, Injure Hezbollah Members

Pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in a series of incidents on Sept. 17 and 18, killing dozens and wounding thousands across Lebanon.

Hezbollah leaders said through an intermediary that members of various Hezbollah-aligned military units and political institutions were injured in the blasts.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sept. 22 that his country was not involved in the attacks.

However, two men who identified themselves as retired Israeli intelligence agents said in a “60 Minutes” interview on Dec. 22 that Israel had undertaken the operation, which was some 10 years in the making.

Smoke billows from a house after a reported explosion of a radio device, in Baalbek, Lebanon, on Sept. 18, 2024. -/AFP via Getty Images

Hurricane Helene Batters Southeast

Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26 to become the deadliest hurricane in the continental United States since Katrina in 2005.

Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, caused more than 150 direct fatalities, mostly in North Carolina and South Carolina. Helene also created storm surges and flooding in the Florida Gulf Coast and western North Carolina.

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season brought an above-average number of named storms at 18.

Named storms are organized cyclones with sustained winds of 39 mph or more.

Of the 18 storms, 11 were hurricanes, having sustained winds of at least 73 mph, and five were classified as major hurricanes, having sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

The average number of named storms per season is 14, including seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Damaged buildings in the aftermath of flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, in Bat Cave, N.C., on Oct. 8, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Settlement Allows College Athletes to Be Paid

A federal judge approved a preliminary legal settlement on Oct. 7 that will allow schools to pay college athletes.

The move is likely to transform college athletics by funneling millions of dollars to elite players.

If finalized in April 2025, the settlement will establish a pool of $21.5 million to be distributed among college athletes in the first year of the arrangement.

NCAA rules were changed in 2021 to allow college athletes to profit from licensing rights to their name, image, and likeness, although restrictions vary among states and universities.

Soccer players of the Dutch national team train in preparation for the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, at the KNVB Campus in Zeist, the Netherlands, on June 2, 2024. Vincent Jannink/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

SpaceX Catches Rocket

SpaceX caught a giant booster rocket, part of its Starship system, with a pair of mechanical arms as it arrived back at the launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, after propelling a craft toward space on Oct. 13.

The first-ever such landing was a milestone in the campaign to create a fully reusable rocket.

Starship, when fully tested, is intended for use in landing astronauts on the moon’s south pole, according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who sent congratulations.

The most recent American lunar landing was 52 years ago.

Starship’s Super Heavy Booster is grappled at the launch pad in Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on Oct.13, 2024. SpaceX successfully “caught” the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company’s quest for rapid reusability. Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Defeats Harris, GOP Captures Senate, Keeps House

Trump defeated Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election, becoming just the second president to serve a nonconsecutive term.

The victory capped a historic political comeback by Trump after his loss in the 2020 election.

Republicans also gained control of the Senate and maintained a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

The outcome offers Trump a second chance at implementing his “America First” agenda, which focuses on border security, stimulating the economy by increasing domestic energy production, and increasing U.S. manufacturing through a system of tax incentives for domestic manufacturers and tariffs on imported goods.

President-elect Donald Trump and incoming First Lady Melania Trump during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 6, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

CCP Hacks US Telecom

Chinese regime-sponsored hackers breached several U.S. telecommunication providers and stole customer call records and private communications from people involved in government or political activity, federal officials announced on Nov. 13.

The joint statement by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency appeared to suggest that the breach may have targeted programs covered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The full extent of the breach is not yet known.

One of the hacker groups is believed to have breached AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon, and other telecom providers and to have targeted Trump and Harris.

The cyberattack has been in progress since at least 2021 and is ongoing.

A contract crew for Verizon conducts update work on a cell tower in Orem, Utah, on Dec. 10, 2019. A Beijing-sponsored hacker group is believed to have breached U.S. telecom providers. George Frey/AFP via Getty Images

Biden Pardons His Son

President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Dec. 1, sparing him jail time for tax evasion and firearms charges to which he had pleaded guilty.

The blanket pardon also covers any federal offenses Hunter Biden may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.

Before Hunter Biden’s conviction, President Biden said he would not grant his son a pardon.

Some Republicans and Democrats criticized Biden for abuse of the pardon power. Yet two other presidents have pardoned relatives or their extended family members.

In 2001 Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger Clinton, for 1985 convictions on drug charges.

Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, in 2020.

The elder Kushner was convicted on charges of fraud and retaliation against a witness in 2005.

On Dec. 23, Biden commuted the sentences of all but three federal convicts awaiting execution on death row.

Hunter Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Del., on June 3, 2024. President Joe Biden pardoned his son on Dec. 1, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Health Insurance CEO Gunned Down

The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down on a sidewalk in New York City on Dec. 4.

The killer lay in wait for Brian Thompson, 50, and apparently intended to use the killing to draw attention to perceived abuses in the health insurance industry.

Luigi Mangione, 26, has been arrested and charged with multiple state and federal offenses in connection with the crime.

The murder elicited both outrage over the brazen act of violence and a rash of caustic social media posts expressing contempt for health insurance companies over their perceived unfair treatment of customers.

Police respond as CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot as he prepared to enter the New York Hilton in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

Notre Dame Cathedral Reopens

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, nearly destroyed by fire in 2019, reopened on Dec. 7.

Trump was one of some 50 foreign leaders invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the ceremonies.

Trump and Macron were both in office when Notre Dame burned.

As the symbol of Paris reopened, Trump was poised to complete one of the most remarkable political comebacks in American history as his French counterpart struggled to retain power.

Trump met with Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris just before the reopening ceremonies.

The choir, clergy, and guests stand during a ceremony to mark the reopening of Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral in Paris on Dec. 7, 2024. After five years of restoration after a 2019 fire, the cathedral reopens its doors to the world in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and around 50 heads of state. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Notre-Dame de Paris

Assad Regime Falls

The Arab Spring, which began with popular protests across the Arab world in the early 2010s, bore fruit on Dec. 7 as Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad fled the country, with rebel groups closing in on Damascus.

Assad’s exit brought his 24 years in power to an end, although various rebel groups now occupy portions of the country.

Thousands gather in the streets after the fall of the Assad regime, in Damascus, Syria. on Dec. 13, 2024. Sami Boudra/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Trump said on Jan. 20 that Turkey, a NATO country, will hold the “key to Syria,” as most of the rebel groups controlling territory in Syria are “controlled by Turkey.”

French judges issued an international arrest warrant for Assad and other Syrian officials in November 2023 for the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the Syrian civil war.

Assad has been given sanctuary in Moscow.

Astrophysicist Adam Frank shared a bold vision of humanity’s future in space during his recent conversation with Lex Fridman, predicting that millions—possibly billions—of humans will one day inhabit the galaxy. This rapid expansion, he warns, will inevitably spark interplanetary conflict across the solar system.

LEX FRIDMAN: Do you think if humans colonize Mars, the dynamic between the civilization on Earth and Mars will be fundamentally different than the dynamic between individual nations on Earth right now? Like, that’s a thing to load into the simulation we’re talking about.

ADAM FRANK: If we settle Mars, it will very quickly want to become its own nation.

LEX FRIDMAN: Well, no, there’s already going to be nations on Mars—that’s guaranteed. Once you have a million people, there’s going to be two tribes and then they’re going to start fighting. Right? And the question is interplanetary fighting—how quickly does that happen and does it have a different nature to it because of the distances?

ADAM FRANK: Are you a fan of The Expanse? Have you watched The Expanse? Great show. Because it’s all about the—I highly recommend it to everybody. It’s based on a series of books that are excellent. It’s on Prime, six seasons, and it’s basically about the settled solar system. It takes place about 300 years from now, and the entire solar system is settled. And it is the best show about interplanetary politics. The first season, actually, Foreign Affairs said the best show on TV about politics that takes place is interplanetary.

I think human beings being human beings, yes, there will be warfare and there will be conflict. And I don’t think it’ll be necessarily all that different, you know, because really I think within a few hundred years we will have lots of people in the solar system, and it doesn’t even have to be on Mars. We did a paper where we looked—based on CU, I wanted to know about whether an idea in The Expanse was really possible. In The Expanse, the asteroid belt, what they’ve done is they’ve colonized the asteroid belt by hollowing out the asteroids and spinning them up and living on the inside because they have the Coriolis force.

And I thought, like, wow, what a cool idea, and when I ran the blog for NPR, I actually talked to the guys and said, ‘Did you guys calculate this, see whether it’s possible?’ Sadly, it’s not possible. The rock is just not strong enough. If you tried to spin it up to the speeds you need to get one-third gravity, which is, I think, the minimum you need for human beings, the rock would just fall apart, it would break.

But we came up with another idea, which was that if you take small asteroids, put a giant bag around them, a nanofiber bag, and spin those up, it would inflate the bag, and then even a small, couple-of-kilometer-wide asteroid would expand out to—you could get like a Manhattan’s worth of material inside. So forget about even colonizing Mars—space stations, right? Or space habitats with millions of people in them. So anyway, the point is that I think, you know, within a few hundred years, it is not unimaginable that there will be millions, if not billions, of people living in the solar system.

LEX FRIDMAN: And you think most of them will be in space habitats versus on Mars and on the planetary surface?

ADAM FRANK: It’s a lot easier on some, on some level, right? It depends on how, like, with nanofabrication and such. But, you know, getting down a gravity well is hard, right? So, you know, there’s a certain way in which it’s a lot easier to build real estate out of the asteroids. But we’ll probably do both. I mean, I think what’ll happen is, you know, the next—should we make it through climate change and nuclear war and all the other things, and AI—the next thousand years of human history is the solar system, right?

 I think we’ll settle every nook and cranny we possibly can, and it’s, you know, it’s a beautiful—what I love about what’s hopeful about it is this idea you’re going to have all of these pockets, and, you know, I’m sure there’s going to be a Mormon space habitat. Like, you know, there’s going to be whatever you want, a Libertarian space habitat. Everybody’s going to be able to kind of create their—there’ll be lots of experiments in human flourishing, and those kinds of experiments will be really useful for us to sort of figure out better ways for us to interact and have maximum flourishing, maximum wellness, maximum democracy, maximum freedom.

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” – Frank Zappa

“Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” ― Frank Zappa

Are you not entertained by the never-ending bullshit, propaganda, false flags, threats, and revelations produced by those running the show and regurgitated by their captured media mouthpiece whores? The absolute tsunami of misinformation and political theatrics spewing over the airwaves is surely designed to distract the public from something more sinister, diabolical, and self-serving to the Deep State renegades who still wield the real power in this world. Nothing is as it seems. If ever there was a time to keep your hands upon the wheel and eyes upon the road, it is now. They have turned up the volume of misinformation and fear mongering to eleven.

Anyone who says they know how the next four years will play out is lying. The level of gaslighting and misleading the public about the true nature of our circumstances has reached historic levels. Half the country thinks everything done to Americans over the last four years in the name of a dementia ridden, child sniffing husk occupying the White House, was done in good faith, with their best interests at heart. The other half are ecstatic their savior will do what he said he’d do, even though he didn’t do what he said he would do the first time. Is it really possible to make America great again at this stage of our empire collapse?

The show will go on until the directors decide it is time to take down the scenery, pull back the curtains, and reveal the prison like walls they have constructed while you were being entertained by their theatrical production of America the Free. There has been no true freedom for Americans since at least the early 20th Century, before the Fed, the income tax, and women voting. And truthfully, probably very limited freedom since Lincoln’s expansion of Federal power during the Civil War.

The Uni-Party is pulling out all the stops to keep the ignorant masses on each side equally ignorant, keeping them: hopeful, fearful, angry, joyful, retribution seeking, denying culpability, utilizing lawfare, and distracted by whatever new plotline is dreamed up by the producers of this dystopian show of shows. Besides the daily venomous attacks on Trump’s cabinet nominees by the Deep State controlled media, the U.S. government now supports the terrorists running Syria and continues to condone the Greater Israel agenda of the murderous head of the Israeli state.

Biden’s controllers are sending tens of billions more to Zelensky, while allowing Americans to freeze in tents in NC and Georgia. In Biden’s waning days, pretending to be president, his controllers are attempting to maximize global chaos and implement traitorous domestic machinations to hurt Trump and the American people as much as humanly possible. He’s the Oprah of pardons and commutations for murderers, rapists, and pedophiles. You get a pardon; you get a pardon.

For two weeks, the latest fear invoking storyline was the mysterious drones swarming the northeastern U.S., while the federal government denied knowing anything, and at the same time leaked rumors about radioactivity being detected in ports on the east coast. Throw in further rumors they were Chinese or Iranian drones or UFOs, and you’ve got an excellent psy-op designed to distract the public from what is really happening. Now they are once again rolling out the discredited murderous plandemic “science experts” (Fauci, Birx, Wen) to hyperventilate about the dreaded bird flu that will kill us all, unless we begin mass testing and vaccinations. Oh, the horror!!!

This production of fear is designed to distract from the real issues. The true economic condition of the country is frighteningly unsustainable and propelling the nation towards a disastrous rendezvous with destiny. The lunatics in control of Biden, along with the supposed GOP fiscal conservatives in the House somehow managed to add $2.3 trillion to the national debt in the last fiscal year. They will add another $400 billion by the time Trump is inaugurated. The national debt stands at $36.1 trillion, up $8.4 trillion (30%) during Biden’s reign of error.

Interest on the existing debt will exceed $1 trillion this year, as interest rates continue to rise, even though the Fed has cut short-term rates by 1%, with inflation remaining above 3% and the economy supposedly growing strongly. None of this makes logical sense because all reported government figures are fake, manipulated, or massaged to achieve a happy ending. The government is siphoning more than enough in taxes from you and me. It is the insane level of government spending marking the death knell of this empire of debt.

This bloated pig of a government clearly was able to function while spending between $3 trillion and $4 trillion per year until the covid plandemic was rolled out in 2020. “Emergency” spending of $7 trillion to $8 trillion has never been reduced, because the real emergency started in September 2019 when the repo market revealed the gears of the financial system were seizing up, massive doses of new debt were necessary, and magically a global pandemic appeared out of thin air “requiring” an additional $4 trillion of spending and debt creation per year. The Fed is trapped, as the bond markets are ignoring their fruitless efforts at controlling interest rate markets and focusing on the disaster ahead.

The average American, whose retirement savings in 401ks and IRAs are allocated to S&P 500 index funds because stocks “always” rise in the long run, is oblivious to the enormous risk they are currently taking. No one on CNBC or in the financial industry will provide the truth regarding the markets. The top 10 stocks by market value now account for 40% of the S&P 500. These stocks (Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Tesla, Berkshire, Broadcom) have been manipulated by computer programs utilized by the Wall Street cabal to provide the appearance of a strong stock market, and by association, a strong economy.

It’s all a farce. The other 490 stocks in the S&P 500 aren’t doing so hot. Without $7 trillion of government spending, the economy would be in a deep recession. Anyone denying we are in the midst of the largest bubble of all-time is just denying reality because they are bought off or just plain ignorant of history. The 40% market value of the top 10 stocks is a full 50% higher than the Dotcom bubble in 2001 and 75% higher than the 2008 housing bubble top. Even a minor reversion to the mean would cause a stock market crash.

By every historic metric, the stock market is epically overvalued. The current PE ratio of the S&P 500 is 28, only 65% above the long-term median of 17. Robert Shiller’s CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted PE Ratio) sits at 38, only 135% above the long-term median of 16, and only exceeded once in history during the Dotcom bubble. These measures do not predict what the market will do tomorrow, but they are highly predictive of how the markets will perform over the next several years.

Any financial “advisor”, newsletter publisher, or Wall Street bank telling their customers, stocks will keep rising are lying, in their greedy self-interest to keep fee income rolling in. There is no rational argument for stocks, bitcoin and real estate to keep rising from their all-time highs, achieved through market manipulation and false narratives sold to the masses. The coming financial collapse can be initiated by a trigger event (tariffs, war, political event, terrorist event, another fake pandemic) or just by the weight of overvaluation and the herd coming to their senses one by one.

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” – Charles Mackay

I believe Trump’s Deep State enemies would like nothing more than a financial and stock market collapse during his reign, in an effort to undermine his presidency. This outcome is highly likely, even if it is not purposely engineered by the Deep State. The other potential trigger is the housing market. Again, the narrative sold to the public is this is the best time to buy, because real estate prices always rise. That was the narrative from 2000 until 2006, then home prices fell for six straight years, until the Federal government colluded with Wall Street hedge funds and the Federal Reserve to produce the current property bubble, with existing home sales prices reaching an all-time high of $427,000 in June 2024, up $197,000 from the 2006 bubble high of $230,000 – an 85% increase engineered by the financial interests benefiting from this bubble.

The reality is 2024 existing home sales are the lowest in 29 years (have you heard that fact on any regime media outlet?), as 30-year mortgage rates have soared from 2.75% in 2021 to over 7% today. Sales are lower than during the 2006 – 2012 crash, but prices are near all-time highs. Something has to give, and this foundation, built on sand, is crumbling.

Prices are down 10% in the last six months. Rental vacancy rates bottomed out at an all-time low below 4% in 2022 and have soared to 6.8% today – and rising. Supply and demand are always balanced through prices. Once the avalanche of price decreases begins, with an undeniable recession and rising unemployment, more and more people will be underwater on their mortgages and unable to service their debt.

Reversion to the mean will devastate the delusions of debt propping up this failing empire. Extending and pretending is not a strategy; it is a desperate last-ditch measure to delay the banquet of consequences which must be faced. The popping of this everything bubble will be written about in history books, like the South Sea Bubble, Tulip Mania Bubble, The Mississippi Bubble, 1920s Stock Market Bubble, and Dotcom Bubble.

While the controllers continue to pump the stock and crypto markets, luring more suckers in at all-time highs, in the real-world average Americans are in deep trouble, as the fake pandemic savings have evaporated and trying to sustain themselves, amidst Biden’s 20% to 40% inflation, on credit cards has run its course, with default rates now at fourteen-year highs. Does that happen in a strong economy?

Auto loan delinquencies are now back to pandemic levels and rising. Shocking when the average auto price now exceeding $48,000, average non-prime auto loan rates of 10% to 15%, and six-year loans putting the average car “owner” underwater when they drive off the lot. Mortgage delinquency rates have been steadily rising for three years, tripling from 0.6% to 1.8% during a supposedly strong economy. All indicators point to increased stress on households just trying to survive from month to month.

As self-serving pundits and regime media whores bloviate about our glorious future and Trump making America great again in 2025, the reality of our situation worsens by the day. Adding $5 to $6 billion of debt per day doesn’t just sound unsustainable – it is unsustainable. The bond market sending 10-year rates up 1%, while the Fed cut short term rates by 1%, is a sure sign the smart money is exiting stage left, while pumping up stocks, and leaving the ignorant masses holding the bag when it all implodes.

I do not think 2025 is going to be very enjoyable for anyone, no matter which branch of the Uniparty you support. Of course, my annual prediction for economic disaster has been wrong for the last fourteen years, so don’t go jumping off a bridge just yet.

I like a number of Trump cabinet nominees (RFK Jr., Tulsi, Hegseth, Patel and Ratcliff) and I agree with his positions on the border, war, and government waste. It will be easy for the DOGE boys to come up with a list of $2 trillion in government expenditure cuts, but none of the Trump fanboys will admit cutting that amount of spending and firing hundreds of thousands of government drones will instantaneously produce the recession that has been delayed by the $3 trillion of annual excess government spending over the last four years. Doing the right thing will create the recession/depression which has been delayed for a decade by QE and doubling the national debt.

So, Trump will either balk at actually reducing the size of government, and our debt death spiral will accelerate, or he will prove to have tougher skin than during his first term and accept a deep recession as necessary to try and steer the nation back towards sustainability. The recession would be a trigger for the stock market and housing market collapse. There is nothing Trump and his minions can do to avoid the ultimate failure of financial system created by decades of bad choices, massive corruption, and capture by corporate special interests in the military, pharmaceutical, and banking industries.

At this point, there are no good choices. We will either experience a deflationary depression or a hyperinflationary depression. The powers that be would prefer hyperinflation, where they position themselves to benefit, while allowing the masses to beg the government to save them. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to decipher the goals of the ruling oligarchs. They want more power, control and wealth, using any means necessary to achieve their diabolical ends.

Their methods are: engineered crisis, invoking fear in the masses, and using their control over media outlets to propagate whatever narrative maximizes their profits. A financial and economic collapse, leaving the masses in dire straits, would be their perfect opportunity to roll out their CBDCs as a means to gain control over every aspect of our lives. Their Great Taking scheme of siphoning the wealth of the masses directly from their bank accounts and 401ks as an “emergency measure” (already done by FDR in 1933 and Cyprus in 2012) to “save” the financial system is already written into legal documents unknown to depositors.

The upcoming confirmation hearings for Trump’s cabinet selections will reveal the true strength of his Deep State enemies and the entrenched DC blob. Will his agenda be de-fanged before it has a chance to take a bite out of this bloated pig of a crumbling empire. We shall see. The road ahead will be rocky, dangerous, and potentially lethal. I don’t pretend to know what portends in 2025 and beyond, but examining the facts and reality of our current situation leaves me uncertain about the future, knowing the end is always near. Good luck to all as this Fourth Turning accelerates towards an unknown climax and resolution.

Authored by Julianna Frieman via Headline USA,

John Morgan, who donated to Democrats for years, called President-elect Donald Trump a “f**king genius” for defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

The Florida-based fundraiser for President Joe Biden told Politico in an interview published Sunday that although he is not sure if Trump is “stable,” he was impressed by the Republican’s populist appeal and reformation of the party.

BREAKING: President-elect Donald Trump is a ‘f*cking genius,’ says Biden campaign donor John Morgan. pic.twitter.com/pmcHldta40

— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) December 30, 2024

“I don’t know if Trump is a stable genius, but he’s a f**king genius,” Morgan told the outlet. “He tapped into something Republicans never saw, which was anger and populism on that side.”

Trump did not only win the Electoral College; for the first time, the president-elect won the popular vote along with all seven battleground states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Morgan previously stopped identifying himself with the Democratic Party but still supported Democrat candidates since distancing himself from the party label.

The attorney dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Democrat campaign, including the Harris campaign, through his law firm Morgan & Morgan, according to Open Secrets.

In November, Morgan said Harris should be “disqualified forever” for running for office after her campaign mismanaged roughly $1.5 billion and suffered a historic loss—both electorally and financially.

“Remember the movie Mad Max when the everybody just doing whatever they wanted, end of the world?” Morgan told NewsNation his Chris Cuomo. “That’s what happened here. All of a sudden, everybody’s got the keys to the candy store, ad buyers, talent, consultants. There’s 100 days to do it, and the money started pouring in, pouring in.”

The Biden donor added, “Remember this, Chris, it wasn’t pouring in for Harris. It was pouring in against Trump. Everybody that was voting and supporting Harris was really voting against Trump.”

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

All over America, our core urban areas are teeming with tent cities, hordes of homeless drug addicts, and vast throngs of newly arrived migrants that don’t have anywhere to go.  When I wrote about this topic one year ago, homelessness in the U.S. was at an all-time record high, and it was increasing at the fastest pace ever recorded.  It was going to be hard to top that, but somehow we did.  Fast forward to today, and homelessness in the U.S. has reached another all-time record high, and it is increasing at an even faster pace.  We are literally in the midst of the worst homelessness crisis that our federal government has ever measured, and there is no end in sight.

When the rest of us discuss the economic pain that we are experiencing, many on the high end of the economic spectrum wonder what all the fuss is about because things still seem pretty good to them.

But for many of those on the low end of the economic spectrum, it feels like a full-blown economic collapse has already begun.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development revealed that the homeless population in the U.S. jumped 18 percent in just one year…

Homelessness in the United States soared to the highest level on record, according to government data released Friday.

More than 770,000 people experienced homelessness in 2024, an 18% increase from 2023, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development reported. It was the largest annual increase since HUD began collecting the data in 2007 (excluding the jump from 2021 to 2022, when the agency didn’t conduct a full count due to the Covid-19 pandemic).

If homelessness is at the highest level ever and it is rising at the fastest rate ever, your economy is not okay.

Let’s just be real for a moment.

I am so sick and tired of the Biden administration and the mainstream media telling us that everything is just fine.

More than three-quarters of a million Americans are homeless, and that is just the ones that they are able to find and count.

The true number is certainly far higher.

We are being told that the spike in homelessness is happening because we don’t have enough affordable housing and because we are not able to absorb all of the migrants that have been pouring over our borders.

In fact, in 13 communities that have been heavily impacted by migration, “family homelessness more than doubled”…

Migration had a particularly notable impact on family homelessness, which rose 39% from 2023 to 2024, according to the report. In the 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled.

When we think of the homeless, we tend to think of older men with addiction problems.

But the truth is that approximately 150,000 children are living in the streets at this point…

Massively concerning is that 150,000 children experienced homelessness, a 33% jump in 2024 when compared to the prior year.

What is wrong with us?

Why can’t we get this crisis under control?

Our politicians like to give speeches about affordable housing, but housing just continues to become more unaffordable…

Rents have continued climbing since briefly dipping lower during the pandemic, as well. As of 2023, nearly half of renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, qualifying them as cost-burdened, according to the US Census Bureau.

Every day, more precious people on the low end of the economic spectrum are being evicted from their homes.

Every day, the homeless population in this country just gets even bigger.

And now we have entered a time when finding a decent job is going to be quite a bit more difficult…

US private sector full-time jobs have DROPPED by nearly 2 MILLION over the past year.

Such a drop has never happened outside of recessions.

The only gain in full-time jobs has been in the government sector.

We aren’t buying the propaganda any longer.

They keep trying to convince us that everything is just fine, but that clearly isn’t the truth.

When Don Lemon tried to convince a random man that he was interviewing that the economy “is actually better under Biden”, the man responded with a “hearty laugh”…

“Four years ago it was a lot better. I made a lot more money than I do now,” the man said.

Incredibly, rather than try to understand the man’s perspective, Lemon argued with him.

“I know you feel that way, but that’s not actually what the record shows,” Lemon said. “The economy is actually better under Biden.”

That prompted a hearty laugh from the interviewee.

We can see the tent cities that are popping up like mushrooms all over our major cities.

We can see the hordes of people that are sleeping in their vehicles in retail parking lots at night.

And we can see that prices at the grocery store are far, far higher than they used to be.

According to a national survey that was just released, approximately 70 percent of U.S. adults believe that the U.S. economy is in poor condition right now…

About 7 in 10 U.S. adults rate the country’s economic state as very or somewhat poor, up slightly from about 6 in 10 in October. Self-identified Democrats are primarily driving the recent negativity. About 6 in 10 Democrats described the U.S. economy as “good” in October. With Republicans on the verge of controlling the executive and legislative branches, only about half of Democrats say that now.

That same survey also discovered that about a third of all U.S. adults are either “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to “afford groceries over the next few months”…

The new AP-NORC poll shows about one-third of Americans say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their ability to afford groceries over the next few months. About 3 in 10 are highly worried about being able to afford holiday gifts, gas or electricity.

There are tens of millions of Americans that are barely holding on from month to month.

Next month, more of them will lose their grip.

We really are in the midst of a slow-motion economic collapse, and poverty and hunger really are growing all around us.

But for now, those on the high end of the economic spectrum are still living the high life, but it is just a matter of time before they experience severe economic pain too.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Via SchiffGold.com,

The world has watched for decades as U.S. ports have lagged behind their international counterparts. As they have become increasingly plagued by congestion, delays, and rising costs, it becomes increasingly clear that the publicly-owned port authorities are failing to meet the demands of modern global trade. The solution lies in privatization, a much-needed approach that could revitalize our failing ports.

The importance of ports to the U.S. cannot be overstated, as demonstrated by the sheer volume of trade passing through American ports. In 2023, over $2.1 trillion worth of goods, more than 40% of all goods entering or leaving the United States, passed through a port.

However, despite the importance, American ports continue to lack efficiency. This inefficiency manifests in longer vessel turnaround times, lower crane productivity, poor infrastructure management, and limited use of automation. These issues result in supply chain disruptions and thus increased costs for businesses and consumers.

The inefficiency of U.S. ports is illustrated by their poor performance in global rankings. According to the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), which measures global port efficiency based on various factors, U.S. ports consistently lag behind other developed countries. This inefficiency is particularly evident when examining specific port rankings. For instance, the Port of Houston, which handled over 293 million tons of cargo in 2022, ranked a dismal 327th in the 2023 CPPI. The Port of Los Angeles, one of the busiest ports in the country, ranked 378th, while the Port of Savannah came in at 398th.

These low rankings translate into inefficiencies that impact the entire supply chain. U.S. ports experience longer vessel turnaround times and lower crane productivity compared to global competitors, particularly those in East Asia. This inefficiency is further exacerbated by the limited use of automation in U.S. ports. While automation has been widely adopted in ports around the world, U.S. ports have been slow to embrace this technology, resulting in increased costs.

This inefficiency is due to the inherent flaws of the publicly-owned port authority model. Under the government’s port authority, political considerations often override commercial criteria, leading to poor investment decisions. Insufficient or misplaced investments result in underutilization of existing port assets. Limited competition among ports reduces incentives for efficiency improvements.

Privatizing port operations can introduce much-needed efficiency and competitiveness. Private operators have stronger incentives to streamline processes. They are more likely to make timely and appropriate investments in port infrastructure and technology. Competition among private companies can lead to more competitive pricing and reduced costs for port users, addressing a key factor in U.S. port inefficiency.

The benefits of privatization are not merely theoretical. Evidence from successful port privatizations around the world demonstrates the potential for significant improvements. For instance, the privatization of the Port of Brisbane in Australia, completed in 2010 for 2.1 billion AUD, successfully achieved the Queensland Government’s objectives and overcame challenges associated with transitioning a government-owned monopolistic asset to the private sector.

A study published in the NBER Digest found that when private equity funds acquire airports from governments, key performance metrics improve significantly. While airports and seaports are different, this study suggests that private ownership can lead to improved infrastructure management and operational efficiency in transportation hubs.

Privatization does not necessarily mean a complete absence of government oversight. Various models of privatization, such as public-private partnerships, can maintain a degree of public involvement while harnessing the efficiency of private sector management.

In conclusion, the inefficiency of U.S. ports under public ownership is a significant drag on the nation’s economy and competitiveness. By embracing privatization, we can unlock the potential of our ports, bringing them in line with global standards of efficiency and productivity. Simply by creating a more competitive port system that benefits businesses and consumers, we can provide a boost to American economic growth, reduce supply chain bottlenecks, and strengthen our position in the global market.

One day in the near future people will look back on this era as the moment that America snatched common sense back from the jaws of unmitigated insanity.  Get Woke, Go Broke is becoming a cleansing wind as thousands of companies across the US abandon DEI and social justice programs in an effort to avoid total financial collapse.  That said, the last organizations you probably expected to see dumping their woke initiatives are colleges and universities.  After all, these “institutions of higher learning” have been ground zero for the woke mind virus for decades.

Surprisingly, even universities are now accepting the reality that social justice is a dead ideology walking.  The University of Iowa is following this trend after recently announced that it will be shutting down two social justice related departments and it will eliminate its social justice major as part of an effort to streamline and restructure some humanities offerings.

Under the proposed plan, the college would close the departments of American Studies and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, as well as the current majors in American Studies and in Social Justice, which have fewer than 60 students combined.  Administrators will centralize their remaining programs into one program, ostensibly due to lack of interest.

The decision comes as Iowa passes a ban on DEI in public schools.  It is one of six states so far to do so, though it is unclear how much this applies to colleges and social justice related curriculum.  So far, it looks as if the University of Iowa is getting ahead of the coming changes.  Of course, progressive activists and leftist faculty of the school are not happy about this development.

Numerous colleges have been quickly dropping DEI policies and programs in an effort to avoid public backlash (and lawsuits).  For example, the University of Michigan is rolling back multiple DEI initiatives including the practice of legally precarious “Diversity Statements” for anyone applying for a faculty position. The statements, which require a declaration from potential hires on how they will maintain DEI, are solicited from university employers on a case-by-case basis. (Michigan does not have a university-wide policy, but they do not admonish the practice either.)

Diversity statements are used when weighing candidates for hiring, promotion or tenure, and represent a declaration of political fealty.  Those who refuse to provide a statement are unlikely to get a job or a promotion.   

Michigan’s DEI programs have come under scrutiny after a Times investigation found that the university had spent a quarter of a billion dollars since 2016 on DEI efforts, 56% of which went to salaries and benefits for DEI staff. But Black student enrollment, for instance, has hovered near 5% for nearly a decade (it’s currently at 6.1%).

Michigan’s regents have since publicly stated that they plan to reassess DEI efforts, including budgetary commitment. The eight-person regents board, made up of mostly Democrats, makes decisions on the university’s finances and policies.

This kine of policy upheaval in academia was thought impossible only a couple years ago.  A landslide of anti-woke sentiment among the wider public has accelerated the shift way from what many consider to be a political refuge for zealots, degenerates and the mentally ill.  Though there is still much work to be done, the woke movement continues to die a well deserved death.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

On this New Year’s Eve, billions of people will gather with friends to ring in 2025 with the hope of a better year to come.  For the first time in many years, free-speech advocates have a reason to celebrate.

With 2024, we will say goodbye to one of the most reviled offices in the Biden Administration: The Global Engagement Center. I discuss the Center in my recent book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage as one of the most active components in the massive censorship system funded by the Biden Administration.  The demise of the GEC is a good start. However, like weight loss resolutions, it will take much more of a commitment if we are going to restore free speech in the United States.  It is time to make the ultimate resolution to rip out the censorship root and stem from our government.

This month, the Biden Administration fought to keep the GEC funded, but Republicans refused to include it in the continuing resolution for the budget.  However, even with the closure of this one office, Biden will leave behind the most comprehensive censorship system in the history of the United States.

Over the last three years, many of us have detailed a comprehensive system of grants to academic and third party organizations to create blacklists or to pressure advertisers to withdraw support for targeted sites. The subjects for censorship ranged from election fraud to social justice to climate change.

I testified at the first hearing by the special committee investigating the censorship system funded or coordinated by the Biden Administration. It is an unprecedented alliance of corporate, government, and academic groups against free speech in the United States. The Biden Administration established the most anti-free speech record since the Adams Administration.

House investigations showed the critical role played by government officials in “switchboarding,” or channeling demands for removal or bans in social media.  Officials evaded the limits of the First Amendment by using these groups as surrogates for censorship.

Even with the elimination of the GEC, other offices remain in various agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the Department of Homeland Security, which emerged as one of the critical control centers in this system.

CISA head Jen Easterly declared that her agency’s mandate over critical infrastructure would be extended to include “our cognitive infrastructure.” That includes not just “disinformation” and “misinformation,”
but combating “malinformation” – described as information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

These groups form a censorship consortium where the suppression of speech attracts millions in federal dollars.  Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) was created in association with Stanford University “at the request of DHS/CISA.”

EIP supplied a “centralized reporting system” to process what were known as “Jira tickets” targeting unacceptable views. It would include not only politicians but commentators and pundits as well as the satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Stanford’s Virality Project pushed to censor even true facts since “true stories … could fuel hesitancy” over taking the vaccine or other measures. Emails show government officials stressing that they could not be seen as “openly endors[ing]” censorship while other groups sought to minimize public scrutiny of their work.

For example, one article featured the work of Kate Starbird, director and co-founder of the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public. In one communication, Starbird cautioned against giving examples of disinformation to keep them from being used by critics, adding “since everything is politicized and disinformation inherently political, every example is bait.”

Likewise, University of Michigan’s James Park is shown pitching that school’s WiseDex First Pitch program, promising that “our misinformation service helps policy makers at platforms who want to . . . push responsibility for difficult judgments to someone outside the company . . . by externalizing the difficult responsibility of censorship.”

The system has layers of interconnected grants and systems. For example, the EIP worked with the Global Engagement Center that contracted with the Atlantic Council in censorship efforts.

The censorship system included scoring groups through a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to the British-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI). The index targeted ten conservative and libertarian sites as the most dangerous sources of disinformation, including sites like Reason which publishes conservative legal analysis. Conversely, some of the most liberal sites were ranked as the most trustworthy for advertisers.

The system is still in place, but on December 23, 2024, the GEC will close its doors. That is something to celebrate but not something to take as great comfort. This is a redundant and overlapping system created precisely to allow for such attrition.

Year ago, some of us wrote about the creation of the infamous Disinformation Governance Board at Homeland Security under its so-called “Disinformation Nanny,” Nina Jankowicz. When the Biden administration caved to public outcry and disbanded the Board, many celebrated. However, as I previously testified), the Biden Administration never told the public about a far larger censorship effort in other agencies, including an estimated 80 FBI agents secretly targeting citizens and groups for disinformation.

The system has functioned like a multiheaded hydra where cutting off one head only allows two more to grow back. These censors will not simply walk away and become dentists or bartenders. They have a skill set for censorship and this is now a profitable industry supporting scores of people who now market themselves as “disinformation specialists.”

Shutting down the GEC will eliminate a $61 million budget and 120 employees. However, these employees will find ample opportunities not just in other agencies but in academia and state agencies. There are also pro-censorship sites like BlueSky, which are becoming safe spaces for liberals who do not want to be “triggered” by opposing views . (Notably, BlueSky hired a former Twitter employee who was fired after Musk cleaned out at what is now X).

They are not going anywhere unless the Trump Administration and the Congress makes free speech a priority in eliminating each of these funding sources.

As I wrote in the book, we need to get the United States out of the censorship business by passing a law barring any federal funds for the use of censorship, including grants to academic and NGO groups.

Rooting out this censorship system will require a comprehensive effort by the new Trump Administration. So here is a resolution that I hope many in the Trump Administration will share: let’s get the United States out of the censorship business in 2025.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

It is once again that time of year where I lay out what I believe will be the broader themes in the market for the year to come and identify the names I’ll be watching in particular in the year to come.

Once again, last year, my stocks to watch finished in the positive on an equal-weighted basis but failed to keep pace with the S&P 500, which is basically now made up of just the Magnificent Seven stocks. My 24 names I was watching for 2024 finished the year up 18.5% on an equal weighed basis versus 25.8% for the S&P 500, as of market close 12/27/2024. You can view these names here. (Disclaimer: I am terrible at math and didn’t double check these numbers at all.)

The three names I added in August, on an equal weighted basis, outperformed the S&P by 63.3% and were up on average 71% in a few short months.

The vibe going into 2025 is interesting. For those who have been paying attention, market breadth over the last two weeks has been awful, with decliners outpacing advancers for something like 10 or 11 days in a row. The top 10 S&P 500 names are the only stocks driving the market gains. 

Thanks to our friends at Zero Hedge, we have Morgan Stanley equity strategist Michael Wilson’s take on breadth. He wrote last week:

One of the key technical factors I’ve used over time to gauge the health of equity markets is the breadth of participation by the underlying stocks.

Recently, we have fielded many questions from clients about breadth, as many have noted that December has exhibited some of the worst breadth in history while stock indices have remained near all-time highs. This anomaly is unusual, but some have concluded that breadth may not matter as much as in the past as a signal for price.

In my experience, ignoring breadth is usually a bad idea, and this past week suggests that breadth has anticipated what we learned on Wednesday – i.e., the Fed may not be able to deliver as much accommodation as markets were expecting.

Ergo, bonds are signaling something is “out of whack” in markets. Zero Hedge again notes that this is “the first time in history when 100bps of rate cuts raised 10Y yields by 100bps” (generally, the two move together directionally, as you can see in the chart).

Meanwhile, in terms of quelling euphoria, fund managers are underweight cash and expectations have never been higher for markets:

To me, this bodes like a rocky year for the market. Heading into 2024, I felt pretty confident about what the geopolitical risks were and what the macro risks were heading into the year. 2025 could surprise some people, in my opinion. I think many people are automatically expecting another 30% upside year for the S&P 500 just because President Trump is in office, and he has guaranteed to deregulate and lower taxes. After all, this is what happened during Trump’s first term as President, up until COVID, so why would anybody expect differently?

But this year, the Trump tailwind is going to have to face off with several headwinds rooted in reality. The first of those headwinds is that the Fed has not solved the inflation problem—something I laid out and talked about in this article last week. One of my favorite analysts, Charlie Bilello, notes that “US Core CPI has been above 3% for 43 straight month[s], the longest period of elevated inflation in the US since the early 1990s.”

(Charts from Charlie Bilello on X — a great follow for financial & macro charts).

 

At this point, it still looks like there’s two options: the Fed is going to have to surrender to higher inflation rates or allow an deflationary depression to take place.

I think a little bit of both will happen. Put simply, I think we’re going to see a significant amount of volatility this year in markets at some point, and then I think Trump will urge the Fed to cut rates rapidly, which they will do, at which point inflation will once again start to move higher, causing the Fed to capitulate to the fact that 2% is no longer going to be the inflation target. This is a series of events I predicted a couple of years ago when the first Fed started hiking during an appearance on Palisades Gold Radio.

The main risk I see heading into the new year is nothing more than just math. We simply can’t continue to have positive real rates until further notice without there being a larger shock to the financial system at some point. It is true that we have survived this long with rates at high levels when compared to recent rates, but this will not—and cannot—last, in my opinion.

As you read this heading into 2025, the gears of the economy continue to slow, with unemployment numbers slowly ticking higher, delinquencies in all types of credit still rising, and personal savings getting zapped as Americans continue to borrow to fund discretionary purchases.

 

BLS Unemployment Rate

There is no doubt in my mind that as long as interest rates stay on this path, we are going to run into a very large iceberg at some point, triggering a change in market psychology that will begin a nationwide deleveraging.

Sure, there was a lot of talk about a “soft landing” this year, but can it really be considered a soft landing when inflation is still at 2.7%?

We all thought a soft landing was 2.0% inflation, not 2.7% inflation, with the economy then returning to normal.

Anything but has happened. The economy is slowing, but inflation is staying persistently high. This is a bona fide prescription to wind up between a monetary policy rock and an economic reality hard place in the upcoming year. Remember, the market is extremely overvalued, in my opinion.

As I pointed out (for the millionth time) last week, the Buffett Indicator (market cap/GDP) is nearing all time highs.

The good news for the upcoming year is that I see geopolitical tensions cooling off a little. With Trump at the helm, I believe there will be a rejiggering of diplomacy globally, and that a lot of the geopolitical risk we saw with Joe Biden in office — and that I highlighted as key risk heading into 2024 — will start to cool heading into the new year.

This may act as a tailwind for the broader market, but I’m generally focused on it as it relates to the same defense stocks I liked for 2024, which I am not as excited about heading into the new year. Between geopolitical tensions cooling and this government supposedly looking for ways to cut spending, I can’t envision defense stocks having as great of a year as they had last year—so you won’t see them on my list this year.

As I said last week, this market is so overvalued and hyperextended that I would be watching cryptocurrencies as the first canary in the coal mine for a potential pullback. In my opinion, they will lead the way.

Keeping these macro trends in mind, it wasn’t as easy to find ideas I’d like to watch for the upcoming year. But, as I always do, I gave it my best…(CLICK HERE TO READ ALL 25 NAMES I’M WATCHING FOR 2025).

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