Over 124 Pounds Of Cocaine And Fentanyl Seized In El Paso In 1 Week

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

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials in the El Paso region seized more than 124 pounds of fentanyl and cocaine last week in four separate incidents, amid criticism of lax border policies.

On April 30, officers working at the Bridge of the Americas seized cocaine totaling 42.5 pounds, according to a May 3 press release from the CBP.  The drugs were found to be concealed inside a Hyundai Elantra vehicle allegedly driven by a 48-year-old American citizen. “The seizure was made when CBP officers monitoring the Low Energy Portal inspection system spotted anomalies in the appearance of the vehicle and advised primary CBP officers,” the release noted.

“A canine sweep of the car was positive and a Z-Portal (X-ray) scan of the car also revealed anomalies. CBP officers removed 18 cocaine-filled bundles from the rocker panels of the car.”

On May 1, CBP officers at the El Paso Ysleta Port of Entry captured 11.2 pounds of fentanyl that were concealed in a Seat Ibiza vehicle. The drugs were allegedly being transported by a 26-year-old Mexican national. CBP seized the fentanyl during an enforcement operation.

The vehicle in question was selected for a secondary exam, following which bundles of fentanyl were discovered in the central console area. In total, 15 packages were removed from the compartment, according to CBP.

Last week, two more cocaine seizures were made by El Paso CBP officers totaling 70.8 pounds. The arrested individuals were handed over to federal authorities.

“The drugs seized by our CBP workforce will not cause harm in the communities we share,” Hector A. Mancha, CBP El Paso’s director of field operations, said. “We are hard at work every day utilizing multiple tools to identify and stop those who attempt to circumvent our inspection process.”

The CBP’s drug seizures come as former President Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration’s open border policies for fueling fatal drug overdoses in the United States.

“This is country-changing, it’s country-threatening, and it’s country-wrecking,” he said during an event last month. “They have wrecked our country. But I stand before you today to declare that Joe Biden’s border bloodbath ... it’s going to end on the day that I take office.”

On his campaign website, President Trump said he marshaled the full power of government during his administration to prevent the inflow of drugs into the country, driving down drug overdose deaths for the first time in three decades.

The former president “will impose a total naval embargo on cartels, order the Department of Defense to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership and operations, designate cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and choke off their access to the global financial system,” the Trump campaign said.

“President Trump will get the full cooperation of neighboring governments to dismantle the cartels, or else expose every bribe and kickback that allows these criminal networks to preserve their brutal reign. He will ask Congress to ensure that drug smugglers and traffickers can receive the Death Penalty.”

The Biden administration said it was taking steps to counter the drug issue. In February, two senior administration officials said the United States and Mexico will boost data sharing to curb the inflow of synthetic drugs into America.

The agreements are part of a wide effort “to facilitate action against criminal organizations that traffic people, guns, and illicit drugs, including fentanyl into our communities.”

In a factsheet released last November, the White House said, ”The U.S. government, alongside our partners, will continue our efforts to prevent the production and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs through multiple efforts, including the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, which has brought together over 100 countries to collectively address the scourge of fentanyl.”

Fentanyl, China

The fentanyl crisis facing the United States is problematic since it is not solely a drug issue but a geopolitical concern as well. Much of the fentanyl entering the United States comes from China. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) attributes 97 percent of illicit fentanyl coming into the United States to entities operating in China.

In April, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party published a report detailing how China is fueling the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

China “directly subsidizes the manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics through tax rebates,” it said. Beijing even gave “monetary grants and awards to companies openly trafficking” such drugs.

“There are even examples of some of these companies enjoying site visits from provincial PRC (People’s Republic of China) government officials who complimented them for their impact on the provincial economy.”

A review of seven Chinese e-commerce sites found more than 31,000 instances of Chinese firms selling illicit chemicals. China censors content about domestic drug sales “but leaves export-focused narcotics content untouched.”

“The fentanyl crisis has helped CCP-tied Chinese organized criminal groups become the world’s premier money launderers, enriched the PRC’s chemical industry, and had a devastating impact on Americans.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), synthetic opioids like fentanyl are the primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States.

Most of the illicit fentanyl in the United States is manufactured in Mexico from precursors bought from China, highlighting the importance of having full control over the border.

In an interview with The Epoch Times last year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that Mexican cartels “have 100 percent operational control over our southern border.”

This month, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wrote a letter to President Biden asking him to use his executive authority to shut down the southern border to deal with the issue of illegal immigrants and drugs.

“To fight the drug smugglers and the individuals deliberately avoiding Border Patrol detection, you should prohibit Border Patrol agents from performing non-mission humanitarian duties so they can do their jobs,” said the senator.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/over-124-pounds-cocaine-and-fentanyl-seized-el-paso-1-week

US to hold auctions to sell airline warrants received during COVID bailouts

 The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it planned to conduct a series of auctions to sell the warrants to purchase stock in U.S. airlines that it received after Congress approved $54 billion in COVID-19 air carrier assistance in 2020 and 2021.

Out of the $54 billion awarded, airlines were required to repay $14 billion. Treasury received warrants to purchase stock at the share price of the time of the government awards. Airlines accepting government assistance were prohibited from imposing furloughs or firing workers and faced limits on executive compensation and bans on stock buybacks and dividends that expired in September 2022.

American Airlines received $12.6 billion in government assistance, followed by Delta Air Lines at $11.9 billion, United Airlines at $10.9 billion, and Southwest Airlines at $7.2 billion.

Seven other airlines received smaller awards, including $2.2 billion for Alaska Airlines.

According to a Reuters calculation, the warrants are worth about $478 million at Friday's closing share prices. Many of the airline warrants are priced below the current trading prices of the carriers' stocks.

Treasury held a call with airlines to inform them of the plan, airline officials said.

The U.S. government also extended $25 billion in low-cost loans to airlines.

Treasury said "the proceeds of these sales will provide additional returns to the American taxpayer from the financial assistance and liquidity that Treasury provided to these airlines during the pandemic."

Delta and United declined to comment. The other major airlines did not immediately comment.

The auctions are expected to commence the week of June 3, and the warrants can only be purchased by qualified institutional buyers, Treasury said.

Many other countries' aviation COVID-19 assistance required a higher percentage of funds repayment, while other U.S. industries did not get the same government financial support.

The COVID crisis led to a historic collapse in air travel demand as U.S. air passenger travel fell by 60% in 2020 to the lowest level since 1984, down more than 550 million passengers, as airlines slashed costs and struggled to survive.

Since then, air travel has returned to pre-COVID levels and could hit a new record this year. 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-hold-auctions-sell-220948799.html

Egypt refuses to coordinate with Israel on entry of aid from Rafah crossing

 Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing due to Israel's "unacceptable escalation", Egypt's state affiliated Alqahera News satellite TV reported on Saturday, citing a senior official.

The official also said that Egypt held Israel responsible for the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip.

On May 7, Israeli forces seized the main border crossing at Rafah, closing a vital route for aid into the besieged enclave.

The United Nations and other international aid agencies said the closing of the two crossings into southern Gaza - Rafah and Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom - had virtually cut the enclave off from outside aid and very few stores were available inside.

Red Crescent sources in Egypt said shipments had completely halted.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/egypt-refuses-coordinate-israel-entry-155135542.html

US Postal Service wants 25% price hike for high-volume package shipping

 The U.S. Postal Service on Friday said it is seeking an average 25% price hike for high-volume shippers to enter packages for regional delivery through its Parcel Select service.

The price hike, which would take effect on July 14 and must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, is because USPS no longer intends give incentives for parties to aggregate mail volume from multiple shippers and bring such volume directly to the destination delivery unit.

USPS is not proposing to hike prices for its USPS Ground Advantage package shipping.

Last month, USPS said it plans to raise the price of first-class mail stamps to 73 cents from 68 cents effective July 14. The hike, which must be approved by the postal commission, would raise mailing services product prices by 7.8%.

Stamp prices are up 36% since early 2019.

USPS in November reported a $6.5 billion net loss for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968. USPS on Thursday reported a second quarter net loss of $1.5 billion.

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 26 U.S. senators urged USPS to pause planned further consolidation to its processing and delivery network, warning it could slow mail deliveries.

USPS has been aggressively hiking stamp prices and is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring plan designed to cut $160 billion in forecasted red ink.

On Thursday, U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy said "this massive and complex evolution includes correcting for decades of haphazard decision making and neglect to our physical infrastructure network."

He added USPS knows it must make improvements "within the time limits we have for survival."

USPS has been raising stamp prices twice yearly and has said it expects its "new pricing policy to generate $44 billion in additional revenue" by 2031.

In April 2022, President Joe Biden signed legislation providing USPS with about $50 billion in financial relief over a decade.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-postal-wants-25-price-222737397.html

Secret to Republican victory in 2024 is early voting

 Many Republicans will be shocked to learn that Election Day 2024 happens long before Nov. 5.

In fact, it hurts the Republican cause – and the elections of President Donald Trump and House and Senate Republicans – to focus narrowly on Nov. 5.

The first election dates are Sept. 16 in Pennsylvania and then Sept. 20 in Minnesota and South Dakota. The next election days are Sept. 23 in Mississippi, and Sept. 24 in Missouri. There are 43 other states and the District of Columbia that follow with their early voting dates. Only Alabama and New Hampshire do not have early voting.

Here's an example of why this matters: In 2022, the Republican Senate campaign in Pennsylvania was focused on Election Day in November. The campaign did not begin advertising until long after early voting had started. As a result, 40% of Pennsylvanians had already cast their ballots before the first major Republican ad had aired. 

This pattern was not unique to that race.

Republicans have a history of failing to get the vote out early. This has a compounding negative effect. 

First, it means Republican turnout on Election Day must be dramatically higher to make up for the number of Democratic votes already in the ballot box. Second, and probably more important, it means that Republican candidates have not been able to focus on the low propensity voters – those who are least likely to turn out.

The Democrats have focused on early voting in large part because they want to be able to identify everyone who has not yet turned out. That way, they can focus on phone calls, direct mail, text messages, and even visits to remind those voters that they should vote. They keep it going until the people vote, and their name comes off the list.

This long campaign approach has proven for the last decade that it is more likely to win close elections than the focus on the federally designated official Election Day.

Shifting Republicans from their focus on Election Day – and their reluctance to vote early – is a major job. Getting it done in one year will require a really focused, determined, and enthusiastic effort. 

The fact is that, despite all the talk about "Bank the Vote," it had no discernible impact on the special election for New York’s 3rd District. Republicans lost the early voting decisively and simply could not make it up on Election Day. It wasn’t due to any conspiracy. There was a big snowstorm on Election Day which reduced turnout. The Democrats already had a head start on ballots, so they were fine.

Turning around the Republican attitude, getting people to vote early, and creating a new commitment to win the vote throughout the campaign will require new focus and determination.

As my friend and former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Randy Evans suggested in a recent paper, Republicans should start by focusing on "winning day one of voting."

As Evans wrote: "This means identifying the first day of voting of every kind in each State and D.C.; educate GOP voters of that day with an explanation of how to vote that day; set as an objective to win the voting on that day with commitments by Republican voters to show up and win beginning on day one."

Evans then suggested that Republicans should then continue to build momentum by focusing on "winning week one of voting." 

As he put it, "To generate momentum this requires full follow-up to all who commit to vote on Day One who fail to do so that we can win Week One. It also involves pushing hard to create a sustainable push throughout early and absentee voting beyond Day One and Week One."

He then suggested systematically following up with voters in each state up to their official election days. By Evans’ theory, the cumulative effect of this focus on winning early voting should culminate in winning all the pre-election day activity and, of course, election day voting (which should be a simple cleanup day).

The Republican National Committee should establish a set of 51 Election Day countdown clocks that include early voting-to-election day periods for each state and the District of Columbia. 

President Trump and all the Republican candidates should begin emphasizing early voting.

The party and campaign systems should focus on winning the first day of early voting, because it will give them the organization and momentum to continue executing on turnout.

Conservative radio and TV hosts and key activists should be encouraged to quit focusing on Election Day and instead focus on winning the early vote in every state. Every time we focus on Election Day, we undermine and weaken our chances of winning the early vote.

A serious win from day one approach will significantly increase the likelihood of Republican victories in 2024. And it is the right response to the campaign world the Democrats have built.

The time to change is now.

Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995-1999 and a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He is chairman of Gingrich 360.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/secret-republican-victory-2024-hiding-plain-sight

'Most Americans don’t expect to work into their mid-60s'

 Among young workers who see getting on the hamster wheel of buying a home, saving some money, building some wealth, and retiring as an increasingly distant goal, one meme endures: I will never be able to stop working.

But new data from the New York Fed published this week showed the number of workers expecting to work beyond age 62 has plummeted.

Our Chart of the Week below shows the number of respondents to the New York Fed’s survey who expect to work beyond 62 fell to 45.8% in March, down from 55.4% four years ago. And just 31.2% of workers expect to work beyond 67 years old, down from 36.2% four years ago.

New York Fed economists found these expectations were represented broadly across age, education, and income demographics, though they were especially pronounced among women.

The New York Fed doesn’t know why this change has happened. But the bank’s economists cite potential preferences to part-time or freelance employment, wealth, future earnings, and economic confidence, or — on the other side of the optimism ledger — a lack of confidence about making it to an expected age as factors influencing these results.

That the reasons can be both “YOLO” and its forward-thinking direct opposite only adds to the broader adoption of these expectations. But it also highlights the future’s complete opacity, especially in the face of a potential paradigm shift in work brought on by AI and automation across sectors. Innovations that could give us a 10-hour work week, or make us hungry.

Almost every chart mapping the labor market’s trajectory over the past five years is clearly shaped by the pandemic.

We saw a surge of joblessness and healing as businesses shut down and reopened. Then came “The Great Resignation,” when more people than usual decided to quit their jobs amid a post-pandemic hiring frenzy.

Both sides of this supply and demand reversal linger as contributors to the inflation conversation that defines this economic moment. And this precipitous shift in people’s retirement expectations could also reshape economic trends and recast known challenges into big problems.

“To the extent that these expectations signal actual future retirement behavior, they also have implications for future decisions by consumers about the timing of claims for social security benefits and the receipt of those benefits,” the New York Fed wrote.

A measured way to say that millions of people leaving the workforce earlier than expected will have a cost. And the bill may be due sooner than we think.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/most-americans-dont-expect-to-work-into-their-mid-60s-chart-of-the-week-100010938.html

Musk's Starlink Satellites Disrupted by Major Solar Storm

 Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk's SpaceX, warned on Saturday of a "degraded service" as the Earth is battered by the biggest geomagnetic storm due to solar activity in two decades.

Starlink owns around 60% of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet.

Musk said earlier in a post on X that Starlink satellites were under a lot of pressure due to the geomagnetic storm, but were holding up so far.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said the storm is the biggest since October 2003 and likely to persist over the weekend, posing risks to navigation systems, power grids, and satellite navigation, among other services.

The thousands of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit use inter-satellite laser links to pass data between one another in space at the speed of light, allowing the network to offer internet coverage around the world.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-05-11/starlink-experiencing-degraded-service-musk-says-satellites-under-pressure