Month: December 2024

Submitted by Luke Eastwood,

Since central banks became a ‘thing’ back in the early 20th century, we have seen a massive decline in the national finances of most countries around the world. Of course, predating this was the formation of the Bank of England and its role in the financing of the British empire, but of more significance to our current situation is the rise of America, the formation of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and the World Bank Group (post Bretton Woods Conference) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

One could argue that all of these institutions exist not for the benefit of the world or humanity but to deprive nation states of their income and ownership of their resources, transferring both into the hands of private corporations and their shareholders. So today we are at a point in time where most countries are hideously in debt, many with debts far exceeding the dangerous 100% level of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio. While Japan has far exceeded this for decades (currently 260%+) and not totally collapsed, it has proven to be a massive drag on any country, with huge amounts of money being wasted on interest payments alone.

The USA is of course fast catching up with Japan, or at least appears to be trying to, in terms of increasing its debt ratio. By any metric such failures to address ever-increasing debt are destined to lead to an implosion eventually, with a contraction into ever decreasing circles. There is not enough income in the world to pay back all of the money that is owed, so more and more debt is issued to continue paying the ever-increasing interest on the ever-increasing debts.

This imbecilic mistake is the kind of financial mismanagement that 10-year-olds can comprehend, yet this is a worldwide phenomenon that only a few countries have avoided (Russia being a case in point with approx. 20% debt to GDP). However, this situation has been allowed to occur and persist for decades now. In personal finances the same situation has occurred for most people.

When I was in a child, in the 1970s, many people did not have a bank account, credit was limited to expensive white goods in some shops and a ‘slate’ with the local grocer, that had to be cleared or at least substantially reduced at the end of the month. The idea of accumulating debt of 3-10 times your annual household income was just not an option for most people. This changed with the arrival of ‘personal banking’ in the 1980s, eventually leading to the current situation, where most families live paycheck to paycheck because they have maxed-out their borrowing with banks and credit card companies – meaning that a massive portion of their incomes is wasted on debt payments and the interest accrued.

Of course, such situations cannot continue forever, which is why the World Economic Forum (WEF) came up with their heinous Great Reset plan, to deal with the inevitable ‘end of the road’ when the financial ‘can’ cannot be kicked any further and collapse is unavoidable. In fact, one might conclude the WEF plan includes an induced or controlled collapse, in preparation for their neo-feudal and totalitarian Great Reset to be rolled out across a largely unsuspecting world.

To believe that we can continue as we are indefinitely is pure foolishness and a reset of sorts is both essential and inevitable in an unsustainable situation such as the world’s financial decline. On all 3 levels – national, commercial and personal finance we have a zombie apocalypse in progress already, but one that is hardly recognized. In all three areas, the ‘walking dead’ continue to miraculously function, based on confidence alone I have concluded. However, over-leveraging is already at critical levels and eventually concealing the zombie state of finances will no longer be possible, that time is approaching very soon.

At this point we are left with few realistic options. 

To me, at least, the worst option is to accept the WEF Great Reset plan, due for implementation in full by 2030, this is no more than a wholesale theft of private equity and income and enforcement of a world-wide digital prison for the middle and working (or ex-working) classes. Successful implementation of the Great Reset is nothing short of a totalitarian pseudo-Communist dictatorship. This would be a neo-feudal, fascist world government and a total disaster for the bulk of humanity, for however long it survived before an inevitable revolt against the ‘Elites’ who seek to usher it in.

To do nothing, is an option, but given the attempts by the WEF, if their plan fails then we will still be in a hopeless situation of bankrupt countries, insolvent companies, insolvent/defunct financial institutions and vast numbers of individuals with almost none or no available income, or facing bankruptcy/insolvency.

While this may be less horrific than the Great Reset, it would be chaotic, destructive and probably horrific as well.

The only other sensible option I can see is a default/debt cancellation reset. While this would be a catastrophic situation for the BIS, the IMF and the World Bank Group and all their investors who would lose out of their continued income flows, it would be a reprieve for more-or-less everyone else. If one country defaults it can be a disaster for that country, but not always – as was the case for Iceland. If every indebted country defaulted at the same time, then it would bankrupt the BIS, World Bank, IBS and the owners of central banks and the Federal Reserve. However, if the entire system was reset to zero and money re-established based on some basket of assets or resources, then trade and commerce could resume. Resuming a gold-backed currency has been touted greatly, but perhaps currencies based on a wider selection of physical resources might be more relevant for today? An updated asset-backed form of finance might include precious metals, rare-earth elements, energy resources, etc. Once capital is re-established from a position of zero debt, with all previous debt erased, a more sensible model for borrowing and issuance of debt could be established – perhaps with simple instead of compound interest and strict limits on leverage levels and duration?

The whole current situation only became possible because of an insane desire for outrageous profits instead of substantial profits, which has led to a bizarre form of cannibalism of human society. Eventually when you have eaten everybody else you are forced to eat your own limbs and face your own inevitable death – but the ‘Elites’ who rigged up this whole Ponzi-scheme failed to see that they too would end up victims of their own success in the end. In ancient Babylon the debt problem was solved by debt cancellation on the installation of a new ruler to replace the dead king. This rather drastic measure was rather simplistic but as the timescale was relatively short, it did solve the problem of unsustainable lending and out of control debt obligations.

What I am suggesting has no-doubt been proposed by others – it is in effect a reset, perhaps a Humane Reset, rather than a Great Reset? It would seek to preserve the wealth, assets and financial viability of nations, commercial organisations and individuals, preventing a massive transfer of assets to a few individuals who own the Ponzi-scheme. In fact, the only real losers would be the owners of the BIS, IMF etc, who would no longer have any income on their balance sheets, only loans that have become defunct. It would be an opportunity to take stock, return to sound financial practices and enable commerce to recommence on a more equal, fair and truly sustainable footing. Surely, in the long-run, a more calibrated and reasonable financial system, with permanent fiscal checks and balances, is the only practical means of enabling human society to function in a beneficial, rather than ultimately self-destructive way?

We must ‘grasp the nettle’ regarding the impending financial collapse, that cannot be far away. If we do not come up with a viable alternative plan, and very soon, we will be faced with a choice of the Great Reset or an unpredictable and chaotic implosion. Neither of these choices is going to be good for human civilization, so a credible alternative must be formulated while there is still time to implement one!

What does it take to join the top 1% of income earners in America?

Well, it depends on where you live. In some states, your annual income needs to crack $1 million to be among the state’s income elite—in others, it takes less than half of that to make the cut.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, illustrates the income needed to be in the top 1% of earners in each state.

The data was compiled by SmartAsset as of June 2024.

SmartAsset analyzed 2021 IRS data for individual tax filers.

Figures were adjusted to June 2024 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average series for all items, not seasonally adjusted.

Key Takeaways

• Nationwide, it takes an income of $787,712 to be in the top 1% of earners.

• The median U.S. income is approximately $75,000, with half of Americans earning less.

• Earning over $1 million annually is required to join the top 1% in three states. Connecticut leads with the highest threshold at $1.2 million, followed by Massachusetts at $1.11 million, and California at $1.04 million. Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the threshold is almost a third of Connecticut’s at $420,000.

Rank	State	Income of the top 1%
1	Connecticut	$1,152,254
2	Massachusetts	$1,113,662
3	California	$1,035,673
4	Washington	$989,649
5	New Jersey	$975,645
6	New York	$965,645
7	Colorado	$865,700
8	Florida	$852,206
9	Wyoming	$843,121
10	New Hampshire	$811,098
11	Utah	$784,233
12	Illinois	$783,340
13	Nevada	$777,180
14	Texas	$762,090
15	Virginia	$760,610
16	Maryland	$741,501
17	Minnesota	$730,096
18	South Dakota	$727,168
19	Montana	$715,899
20	Idaho	$703,997
21	Georgia	$700,544
22	Pennsylvania	$696,192
23	Arizona	$688,934
24	North Dakota	$684,124
25	Oregon	$683,170
26	Tennessee	$678,956
27	North Carolina	$665,021
28	Kansas	$651,226
29	Rhode Island	$650,914
30	Nebraska	$629,413
31	Vermont	$623,244
32	Alaska	$620,783
33	Delaware	$618,488
34	South Carolina	$611,219
35	Wisconsin	$610,435
36	Hawaii	$609,846
37	Michigan	$603,834
38	Missouri	$590,001
39	Maine	$588,394
40	Louisiana	$587,399
41	Ohio	$581,161
42	Iowa	$571,730
43	Alabama	$557,334
44	Indiana	$552,877
45	Oklahoma	$540,879
46	Arkansas	$531,692
47	Kentucky	$513,865
48	New Mexico	$476,196
49	Mississippi	$440,744
50	West Virginia	$420,453

On a global basis, the average salary to hit the top 1% is quite a bit lower: an annual salary of about $65,000 does the trick.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out this graphic, which ranks the income a family needs to live comfortably in every U.S. state.

Authored by Ron Paul,

When the end of another year rolls around it is not a bad idea to think about how we might improve ourselves and perhaps even improve the lives of others given the clean slate of a New Year. Many people resolve to exercise more, eat better, spend more time with their families.

These are all worthy goals, but shouldn’t our elected officials and the bureaucrats who run DC be making some resolutions of their own?

Here are a few suggestions.

First up is Congress.

Next month the 119th US Congress will be sworn in, with Republican majorities in both Houses. With every opinion poll we see how the US public holds Congress in contempt. How about doing something about it? What about returning to the Constitution? That means no more 1,500 page omnibus spending bills which hide countless unconstitutional surveillance, censorship, and police state measures behind convoluted legislative language. Return to the normal legislative process and pass individual, clean appropriations bills with open rules that allow maximum participation from each Member or Senator.

Then spend the rest of the year renaming post offices, if you want. The American people will thank you for it.

Americans are rightly furious that President Biden has sent as much as $200 billion to fund Ukraine’s futile war with Russia, but where did Biden get that money? From Congress. The Founding Fathers gave Congress the ability to check the Executive branch’s foreign adventurism with the power of the purse. Every US foreign policy fiasco of the 21st century could have been prevented had Congress only had the courage to say “no” when the President and the military-industrial complex demanded money for a new overseas conflict.

Next, the Executive Branch.

On January 20th we will begin the second Trump Administration. Trump appealed to war-weary American voters by promising no new wars and an end to the current conflicts we are involved in overseas. A good place to start would be an announcement on day one that US troops would be removed from Syria. We learned only last week that the Biden Administration had been lying to us about the number of troops in Syria, but the real question is why do we have troops there at all? Trump rightly said it is not our war, so why not just march home?

Likewise, Ukraine. As a parting “gift” to the American people, President Biden just announced another six billion to Ukraine. Most of that money – like the billions before – will end up in the hands of the US military-industrial complex, with a few billion stolen by the corrupt Ukraine government. Even the US mainstream media admits that Ukraine has lost the war. So why are we draining the US treasury and draining the population of Ukraine for a lost cause?

President Trump: end the funding and end the war.

We should be cautiously optimistic that should Trump’s nominees to head the FBI and the Intelligence Community make it through the Senate we might finally be able to see the deep state lose its grip. That’s the best news possible. We need to rein in the CIA from overseas conflicts and end the FBI’s wars on our civil liberties at home.

Keeping just a few resolutions like these above will produce a more peaceful and prosperous New Year!

It’s been a long time since conservatives were treated like the “good guys” by Hollywood, largely because ESG initiatives and the over-representation of social justice cultism on social media convinced production companies that it was more lucrative to go woke.  However, this assumption turned out to be a massive error in calculation as “Get Woke, Go Broke” became the mantra that ultimately toppled the media industry and the Democratic Party.

Today, the majority of entertainment companies are struggling with failure after failure; most of their projects lose vast sums of money and producers have been unable to squeeze any blood from the classic franchises they used to rely on.  When corporations like Disney are actually losing money on Star Wars and Marvel, you know that audience boycotts are becoming effective.  

Well, it appear that someone in Tinsel Town is finally listening.  Paramount, another company known for a steady stream of woke disasters, saw some streaming series gold with the success of ‘Yellowstone’ – The Kevin Costner led show featured conservative Montana ranchers battling to maintain their legacy.  Though, the company could not help itself and started implanting woke messaging in the later seasons.

Yellowstone might have given Paramount a taste of that old-school era of big money entertainment, and they have doubled down on what can only be described as an ultra-MAGA series called ‘Landman’ starring Billy Bob Thornton.  Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a “crisis executive” or “fixer” for a small Texas oil company.  While the show does involve some extraordinary plot twists to keep the audience invested, each event ties back to very real problems related to the dangerous business of oil drilling, the open US border, Mexican drug cartels, government interference and disinformation from the environmental lobby.  

You might not find a more fair or factual depiction of the American oil industry in modern media.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Landman is that someone at Paramount had the stones to green light a show that speaks against the man-made climate change agenda and the fraudulent claims of the “sustainable” energy lobby.  It doesn’t glamorize oil, but it acknowledges that there are no practical alternatives. 

In terms of story, Thornton’s character is great at his job, but terrible at raising his family.  This leads to some hilarious discomfort as his histrionic ex-wife, impulsive teenage daughter and strong-headed 20-something son come back into his life and collide.  Though highly flawed, Thornton’s sharp Texas wit keeps you laughing at his domestic mistakes and misfortunes.

Keep in mind, Landman is definitely not a family show.

Conservatives will probably gravitate to the straightforward depiction of the working man’s world and the dangers involved in resource industries like oil. These are the vital jobs and men that keep the world running, and many of them die while trying to earn a paycheck.  Landman makes no attempt to demean or belittle blue collar workers and its simple exploration of their daily lives comes off as shockingly empathetic. 

Appealing to the working man in media without pandering is a tough balance, but Landman does it well. There’s also no absurd melodrama or unrealistic character changes to artificially drive the plot forward.  What you see is what you get, which is incredibly refreshing these days.  

Overall, Landman is definitely worth a watch.  It’s important to encourage entertainment companies by rewarding them when they abandon woke messaging and make something intelligent.  This is not to say that they won’t screw up the show by adding leftist propaganda in later seasons (we all know liberal executives can’t control themselves), but the first season of Landman is a win.  

Authored by Lily Zhou via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

AT&T and Verizon were targeted by China-backed hacking group Salt Typhoon, but their networks are now secure, the telecommunications companies said on Saturday in their first acknowledgement of the hacking.

Meanwhile, Lumen Technologies, which owns CenturyLink, said on Sunday that it has no evidence of Chinese actors in its network.

It comes after the White House said on Friday that it had identified a ninth U.S. telecom network that had been compromised by the wide-ranging espionage campaign, which began 2022, and that they are still accessing the scope of the breach.

Officials didn’t provide a full list of the compromised networks. Earlier this month, the FBI said malware from Salt Typhoon and two other Beijing-backed hacking groups, dubbed by Microsoft as Flax Typhoon and Volt Typhoon, were still embedded in some U.S. systems.

Verizon said in a statement to The Epoch Times that it has notified “a small number of high-profile customers in government and politics” who were targeted by the hackers.

The company said it has contained the threat, and that “an independent and highly respected cyber security firm” had confirmed the containment.

“Immediately upon learning of this incident, Verizon took several key actions to protect its customers and its network including partnering with federal law enforcement and national security agencies, industry partners, and private cybersecurity firms,” Verizon’s Chief Legal Officer Vandana Venkatesh said in a statement.

“We have not detected threat actor activity in Verizon’s network for some time, and after considerable work addressing this incident, we can report that Verizon has contained the activities associated with this particular incident.”

On Saturday, an AT&T spokesperson told Reuters the company detected “no activity by nation-state actors in our networks at this time.”

“Based on our current investigation of this attack, the People’s Republic of China targeted a small number of individuals of foreign intelligence interest,” the spokesperson said.

While only a few cases of compromised information were identified, AT&T was monitoring and remediating its networks to protect customers’ data and continues to work with authorities to assess and mitigate the threat, the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Lumen Technologies told The Epoch Times there’s no evidence of Chinese actors in its network.

“An independent forensics firm has confirmed Salt Typhoon is no longer in our network. In addition, our federal partners have not shared any information that would suggest otherwise. To date, there is no evidence that customer data was accessed on our network,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s Chief Security Officer Jeff Simon said in a blog published on Friday that the operator stopped attempts to infiltrate its systems “within the last few weeks,” but could not definitively identify the attacker’s identity.

Government officials have previously said Salt Typhoon targeted a limited number of high-profile officials and politicians over a long time. Simon said that is “not the case at T-Mobile.”

Chinese officials have previously described the allegations as disinformation and said Beijing “firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms.”

The FBI and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed in October that they were investigating cyber threats linked to the Chinese regime following media reports of Salt Typhoon’s operation.

In November, the FBI and the CISA issued a joint statement, saying Chinese hackers had targeted commercial telecommunications infrastructure in a “broad and significant cyber espionage campaign,” in which they stole customer call records data, compromised private communications of government officials and politicians, and copied information “that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders.”

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters on Dec. 7 that the hackers had stolen a large volume of Americans’ metadata while targeting some “very senior political individuals.”

On Friday, Neuberger said it’s believed the hackers geolocated a large number of individuals in the Washington DC, Virginia area, and targeted “probably less than 100 on the actual individuals.”

Earlier this month, the CISA issued a guidance for “highly targeted” senior government officials and politicians, urging them to “use only end-to-end encrypted communications” and to adopt other measures to mitigate risks posed by Chinese hackers.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Rare positive news has come out of the Ukraine war on Tuesday, the last day of 2024. Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners in a deal brokered the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Russia’s defense ministry has confirmed it swapped 150 Ukrainian POWs for the same number of Russian troops. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy has said that 189 Ukrainians had returned home as a result. It’s unclear why there is a discrepancy in the numbers.

“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days: our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” Zelensky announced on Telegram.

Among the released included “defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol” – according to his words. Zelensky has vowed to “continue working to free every single person from Russian captivity.

“This is our goal, and we will not forget anyone. I thank the team that is doing everything to bring our people home,” he continued. 

On the Russian side, a video posted the country’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova featured freed soldiers receiving care and aid.

“Very soon our guys will hug their families and friends and celebrate the New Year on their native land,” she said.

According to one summary of the number of successful prisoner exchanges since the war’s start, and after nearly three years:

There have been 60 different prisoner exchanges since the war began in February 2022. The last exchange took place in mid-October when the two countries swapped 95 POWs each.

Ukraine said on Monday that Moscow had released a total of 3,956 people – soldiers and civilians – in deals with Kyiv since the start of the conflict. Zelenskyy promised to continue pushing for the remaining POWs to be freed.

This new large-scale swap also confirms that both sides are at least keeping up negotiations or some level of communications indirectly, via third party mediating countries. Zelensky has consistently refused to enter any negotiations which would result in Ukraine ceding territory; however, Ukraine is having a severe manpower and ammo shortage crisis.

Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner swap, bringing home over 300 captives. The swap, mediated by the United Arab Emirates and others, is the 59th exchange since Feb. 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine https://t.co/RUWa68YvGr pic.twitter.com/GDhB8YTcnY

— Reuters (@Reuters) December 31, 2024

Because of this, most analysts see an eventual negotiated settlement as inevitable. But Kiev wants better leverage, and is still holding out hopes of receiving more defense funding and advanced weaponry from the West via Biden’s ongoing ‘surge’ before Trump takes office.

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Ground observers across an increasing number of U.S. states are reporting aircraft in the sky that appear to be unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones, leaving the public on edge.

With no definitive answers available, aviation experts—perplexed by the federal government’s limited response—suggest multiple origins for the unidentified aircraft.

During weeks of sightings pooling out of states such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, California, Ohio, and Utah, some observers reported seeing aircraft as large as SUVs.

Now, state and local officials are demanding answers from Washington.

A Dec. 17 joint statement released by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Department of Defense confirmed more than 5,000 reported drone sightings in the past few weeks, “with approximately 100 leads generated.”

These reports consist of a “combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones” with nothing yet identified as anomalous, the government wrote, denying any national security or public safety risk.

The Epoch Times reached out to commercial pilots, aviation safety experts, and a leading counter-UAS company, who said that not only do these purported drones present a serious public safety and national security risk, but also, they may be privately owned, U.S. military assets, or weapons of foreign adversaries.

Shawn Pruchnicki, an aviation safety expert and assistant professor at Ohio State University’s Center for Aviation Studies, told The Epoch Times that until one of the aerial objects is brought down and further analyzed, no one can be sure whether all sightings are of actual drones or UAS and not other unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).

“I think one of the problems is that individuals, the government … the way the media is talking, is they’re already being labeled as drones. The term drones is a specific description of a certain type of vehicle, and that already is an explanation,” Pruchnicki said.

“Technically, they’re UAPs. We don’t know what they are.”

Even before reports of purported drones began coming out of New Jersey in November, ground observers had reported large numbers of unidentified aircraft that appeared to be drones over the past several years.

One drone swarm bearing a striking similarity to the current one was reported in 2020 over Colorado and Nebraska, including near a storage site for some of the United States’ Minuteman III nuclear missiles.

Although the FBI and FAA never identified who was operating those aircraft, the federal government suggested that the reports could be attributed to hobby drones and misidentified planets and stars.

There was also reportedly an unidentified drone incursion in the restricted airspace around Langley Air Force Base in Virginia throughout several nights in 2023.

The aircraft flew in formation and included fixed-wing drones and quadcopters.

In January, Shi Fengyun, a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota, was arrested in California before boarding a one-way flight to China. In July, Shi pleaded guilty to flying a drone to photograph U.S. military vessels over a classified naval installation in Norfolk, Virginia.

In December, federal authorities arrested Chinese citizen Yinpiao Zhou, 39, of Brentwood, California, as he was preparing to board a flight to China. Zhou allegedly flew a drone over and took photos of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The alleged incident took place on Nov. 30, and federal agents found several aerial photographs of the base after searching Zhou’s drone.

Mary-Lou Smulders, chief marketing officer at Dedrone, one of the largest airspace security and counter-UAS firms in the world, contracting with 32 different countries, told The Epoch Times that her company has tracked more than 1 million drone violations over U.S. airspace in the past year alone.

That amounts to roughly 1,000 daily.

“I think the real overarching hidden message here is it’s happening every single day, and not just three or four a day, but over 1,000 a day,” Smulders said.

“And to date, despite bipartisan efforts, the government hasn’t done what they really need to do.”

Drones Flouting FAA Regulations

More than 700,000 of the year-to-date drone violations tracked by Dedrone involved drones flying at elevations higher than 400 feet, which is a violation of FAA regulations.

The FAA states that drones may not fly higher than 400 feet above ground unless they are flown within a 400-foot radius of a structure, and then cannot fly higher than 400 feet beyond that “structure’s immediate uppermost limit.”

Drones must also be “flown within the visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft” and must weigh less than 55 pounds unless the operator has special approval from the FAA for specific use situations.

“Many of these drone sightings … appear to be these larger drones operating autonomously. So they are not working within line of sight. They are instead following a pre-programmed GPS flight plan,” Juan Browne, a commercial pilot for one of the major U.S. airlines, told The Epoch Times.

“That’s not legal. … unless somebody knows about it and has approved it.”

Browne explained that larger drones are usually “too big and too expensive” to be hobbyist drones and are rated as commercial aircraft, which are sometimes used in the agricultural industry or for carrying Hollywood-style cameras.

Drone operators must also comply with all airspace and flight restrictions, including “special use airspace designation and temporary flight restrictions,” government regulations state.

The purported drones flying near and around airports in the northeast are flouting FAA regulations.

The FAA has also recently introduced a new tracking system for drones called remote identification, which is the “ability of a drone in flight to provide identification and location information that can be received by other parties through a broadcast signal” through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Generally, any drones that are required to be registered, “including those flown for recreation, business, or public safety,” must use remote ID unless explicitly flown within line of sight of the operator in a special FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA).

FRIAs are defined geographical areas where drones without remote ID can be flown legally.

One pilot for a commercial airline who asked to remain anonymous told The Epoch Times that if Air Traffic Control (ATC) can’t track or locate these drone operators, they’re likely defying the FAA’s remote ID rules.

“[Remote ID] is a way of telling air traffic control and other aircraft that you’re out there. ‘I’m at this altitude for collision avoidance purposes.’ Clearly, that’s not being complied with because ATC doesn’t know anything about it,” he said.

“So if you have large drones in airspace that they shouldn’t be in, and ATC doesn’t know about it, it’s an illegal operation.”

However, remote ID does not always work so easily, according to Browne.

Read the rest here…

Washington D.C. is scrambling to remove several advertisements which refer to Trump supporters as “trash.”

The ad, which features a depiction of a MAGA hat wearer holding a ‘project 2025’ book and a caption that reads: “Keep DC trash free,” has sparked significant backlash and prompted quick action from city officials.

This is Washington, D.C., where posters calling President Trump and MAGA supporters “trash” are plastered across the district — with the D.C. government’s logo at the bottom.@MayorBowser denies involvement, but you have to wonder… pic.twitter.com/WugDbSUbNd

— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 29, 2024

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) was quick to distance itself from the contentious ad. “This image was not created, funded, or authorized by the DC government, and our teams are currently working to remove them,” DDOT DC stated on X in response to a post by Caleb Morell, a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church who first spotted the ad.

The ad also incorrectly displayed logos for the District of Columbia Department of Public Works and the Mayor’s Office of the Clean City program, misleading viewers about its origins. The city has denied any involvement, emphasizing that the installation of the ad was unauthorized. “If you see additional images like this, we encourage you to report them to 311,” the DDOT added.

The origin of the ad remains a mystery, marking yet another instance in a series of dubious political ads that have appeared across U.S. cities. Similar incidents have been reported previously, such as an artist admitting to creating misleading artwork that depicted the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

This incident comes amidst heightened political tensions in the U.S., notably reflected in President Biden’s controversial remarks during the 2024 election campaign. In a webcast with Voto Latino, Biden responded to a comedian’s joke about US territory by saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.” The White House later clarified that Biden was condemning the comedian’s hateful rhetoric, not Trump supporters broadly.

Here’s the Democrats CLINTON “DEPLORABLE” PART 2

President Biden said out loud what all radical Dems are saying behind closed doors.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” said Biden about Trump supporters (By the way, that’s more than half our nation.)… pic.twitter.com/nF43yd1v3o

— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) October 30, 2024

Too late, jackass.

Authored by Phil Rosen via Opening Bell Daily,

It’s true that stocks usually go up most of the time, but the market’s latest two-year run makes any cliché sound like an understatement. 

Since bottoming in October 2022, the S&P 500 has returned roughly 66%.

The index is on track for back-to-back annual returns of more than 20% for the first time in over two decades, handily outpacing the 10% gain seen in an average year.

As you might guess, no one on Wall Street expects stocks to fall in 2025. 

Among the 16 firms tracked by Opening Bell Daily, S&P 500 forecasts for the new year range between a 7% and 19% annual return from Friday’s closing price. 

UBS holds the most bearish view with a year-end price target of 6,400, while Oppenheimer is the most optimistic at 7,100.

Traders on the prediction market Kalshi, meanwhile, see 17% odds the S&P 500 ends 2025 between 6,400 and 6,599, which lands in the middle of Wall Street’s forecasts.

Depending who you ask, the combination of Trump 2.0, hawkish Fed policy, inflation and fluctuations in the AI trade will provide either a tailwind or roadblock for equities. 

It’s worth noting that Wall Street effectively never predicts a down year.

Even the weakest year-ahead forecasts of the last several decades have afforded stocks marginal gains. Those predictions don’t always hold — the S&P 500 has notched 13 losing years in the last 50 — but it’s rare to find a formal expectation for a loss. 

Notably, over the last 24 years, forecasters’ price targets have actually missed the mark by 14% on average, according to Bespoke Investment Research. 

Of course, even the most paltry track record won’t deter well-paid strategists from publishing their next prediction.  

In any case, historical data favors the optimists. Across any 12-month stretch, stocks have finished higher three in four times.

Expand that time frame to five years and stocks trade higher nearly 90% of the time. 

“We believe 2025 will see another year of healthy stock market returns, but with more volatility as investors return to reading every Federal Reserve tea leave and as we start to parse policy action out of Washington, especially when it comes to tariffs and taxes,” said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist for BMO Private Wealth. 

Comments or feedback? Let me know on X @philrosenn.

By Dylan Malysasov of Defence-Blog.com

China has reportedly constructed new military outposts in the Tawang Valley, according to an analysis of high-resolution satellite images from December 19 obtained by open-source intelligence teams.

The images, sourced from Maxar Technologies, reveal the rapid establishment of new structures following the disengagement of Chinese and Indian troops in the region.

The satellite analysis indicates the presence of three new outposts in the region. These positions are strategically located to restrict Indian patrol routes in three directions, effectively reducing the extent of patrol areas claimed by Indian forces.

The satellite imagery underscores China’s swift construction efforts in the aftermath of the troop disengagement. Observers note that the development aligns with Beijing’s strategy to reinforce its presence along disputed border areas while adhering to negotiated terms.

The Tawang Valley has long been a flashpoint in the broader Sino-Indian border dispute. Located near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), it has been a site of frequent tensions and standoffs between the two countries’ militaries. Both sides agreed to disengage following heightened tensions earlier in the year, with each withdrawing troops from forward positions.

However, the latest developments indicate that China has leveraged the disengagement period to fortify positions behind the LAC. Analysts believe these outposts are designed to provide a tactical advantage by monitoring and restricting Indian troop movements in the area.

China’s rapid construction of infrastructure along disputed borders is not new. Over the years, it has developed roads, airstrips, and bases in contested areas to assert its claims and improve its logistical capabilities. In Tawang Valley, these new outposts appear to follow a similar pattern, enabling Beijing to maintain control over the region despite agreements to scale back military presence.