13th Oregon County Votes To Secede And Join 'Greater Idaho'

 The "Greater Idaho" movement notched another victory this week, as Oregon's Crook County became the 13th county to vote to secede from leftist domination and join its more like-minded neighbors to the east. About 53% of voters approved a referendum recommending that county leaders engage in "continued negotiations regarding a potential relocation of the Oregon-Idaho border to include Crook County." 

"The voters of eastern Oregon have spoken loudly and clearly about their desire to see border talks move forward," said Greater Idaho executive director Matt McCaw. "With this latest result in Crook County, there's no excuse left for the Legislature and Governor to continue to ignore the people's wishes."

The yellow line marks the border that the Greater Idaho organization aspires to achieve (via Greater Idaho)

The group said the final tally was only as close as it was due to spending by Western State Strategies, which it described as a "social justice non-profit based in Portland." On its own site, Western State Strategies has accused Greater Idaho of "writing the most recent chapter in a long history of dangerous secessionist movements that appeal to bigotry to fuel division." 

Greater Idaho sees things differently. "Northwestern Oregon is embarking on social experiments: a cultural revolution that rural counties want no part of," the group writes on its website. "Eastern Oregon has a different culture and values." The group notes that 80% of Idaho's legislature is Republican, and that it "govern[s] according to the concerns and priorities of rural counties."

Greater Idaho's ultimate goal would see 13 entire counties leave Oregon, along with portions of four more. One of the counties targeted for a split is Deschutes County, which would be cleaved east of Bend, an outdoor mecca in Oregon's high desert that has been spiraling deeper into blue depths, prompting some to flee. Crook County joins Jackson, Klamath, Lake, Harney, Malheur, Baker, Grant, Wheeler, Jefferson, Wallowa, Union and Morrow counties, which have previously approved measures to negotiate an exit.   

If the group's goal comes to full fruition, Oregon would end up 62% smaller by size, but only 9% smaller by population. That math that underscores the contrast between the sparsely populated, rural eastern region and the more densely-populated coastal areas. It also highlights the eastern counties' lack of political strength in influencing statewide decisions.

"Oregon politicians don’t understand how we make a living," argues Greater Idaho. "Their decisions damage industries like timber, mining, trucking, ranching and farming. They want to remake the Oregon we’ve known our whole lives. We want to preserve the values and way of life of old Oregon as a part of Idaho."

While the group's momentum is undeniable, there are daunting hurdles ahead. For the border to move, the Oregon and Idaho legislatures must approve it, along with the US Congress. In 2023, the Idaho house passed a measure to pursue discussions of a border change, but it stalled in the Idaho senate. 

The Greater Idaho movement is fully consistent with American values rooted in the principal of self-determination and government by consent. While leftist opponents of the movement call it "dangerous," a calmly-negotiated border move is certainly the least dangerous path to a new governing arrangement that eastern Oregonians are entitled to.  

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/13th-oregon-county-votes-secede-and-join-greater-idaho

Average US Vehicle Age Hits 12.6 Years As Inflation Takes Toll

 Cars, trucks, and SUVs across the U.S. are getting older, with the average vehicle age now at a record 12.6 years. According to S&P Global Mobility, which monitors state vehicle registration data, high prices for new cars and massive economic pressures on buyers account for the trend, ABC News reports.

Despite a small recovery in new vehicle sales and a recent drop in prices — the average new car cost just over $45,000 last month, down from a peak in December 2022 — many people still find new cars too expensive. "It’s prohibitively high for a lot of households now," said Todd Campau, aftermarket leader at S&P Global Mobility. "So I think consumers are being painted into the corner of having to keep the vehicle on the road longer."

In April of 2019, the average car cost $33,695.

Another possible factor is that people are hesitating on vehicle purchasing decisions due to uncertainty about whether to choose an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid, or stick with gasoline - as many are concerned that the availability of EV charging stations (VW recently stepped away from plans to go all-electric). However, Campau notes that cars are better made now and last longer, which is good news for car owners.

That said, new car sales are picking up, while around 16 million new vehicles are projected to be sold this year, which would be an increase over last year.

As new car sales increase, the fleet of aging vehicles, which currently stands at 286 million passenger vehicles in the nation, should see its average age stabilize. Increased sales of lower-cost vehicles might also help reduce the average price of new cars, making them more accessible.

Auto repair shops are loving America's aging fleet - of which around 70% of vehicles on the road are over six years old and no longer under manufacturer warranty.

Overall, while the high cost of new vehicles continues to influence consumer choices, the improved quality and durability of cars are helping Americans manage by keeping their older vehicles on the road longer.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/average-us-vehicle-age-hits-126-years-inflation-takes-toll

Inflation To The Nines

 By Peter C. Earle of the American Institute for Economic Research

Twice in the past few weeks President Joe Biden has claimed that when he took office in January 2021 inflation was “over nine percent.” First on CNN’s OutFront with Erin Burnett on May 8 and again on May 14 in a Yahoo! Finance interview, the bizarre comment was made. And as has become a routine with the gaffe-prone chief executive, White House staffers added shamelessness to what could have been limited to embarrassment by issuing a statement: “The President was making the point that the factors that caused inflation were in place when he took office. The pandemic caused inflation around the world by disrupting our economy and breaking our supply chains.”

Americans will have to decide for themselves if the claim made by Biden was a lie intended to mislead anyone not familiar with the trajectory of prices over the past several years, or an innocent error. It is a choice US citizens have been confronted with frequently, in particular where assertions regarding the health of the economy have been made. 

If an honest mistake, it simply may be that the President confused the January 2021 inflation number with a number of other price statistics beginning with the number nine in the month of his inauguration. Below are several possibilities.

• In January 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in their consumer prices summary that the average price of a boneless sirloin steak was $9.418. By April 2024 that price had risen 27.5 percent to $11.662. 

• In January 2021, fifteen subindices of CPI began with the number nine. Their levels in that month, in the April 2024 report, and the percent change are shown below.

Alternatively, Mr. Biden may have mistaken a different January 2021 economic statistic with the July 2022 year-over-year headline CPI number.

• The spread between the 1-year US Treasury bill and the 10-year US Treasury note was 97.9 basis points (0.98 percent) in mid-January 2021. That spread inverted in mid-2022, about the time that headline CPI year-over-year actually reached 9.1 percent. A normal yield curve slopes upward, with a positive spread showing that longer-term bonds yield more than shorter-term ones, typically reflecting expectations of economic growth and rising future interest rates. An inverted yield curve slopes downward with a negative spread as shorter-term bonds yield more than longer-term ones. Those conditions are often considered a predictor of an economic recession. As of May 2024, the 1-to-10 year spread has been negative for over 600 days.

1-year Treasury bill 10-year Treasury note spread (Jan 2021 – present)

• The Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production (IP) Index was at 98.8 in January 2021. Owing to lockdowns and other pandemic policies, the index plummeted to a low of 84.6 in April 2020 and was recovering early in 2021. But despite hitting a post-pandemic high of 103.5 in September 2022, the IP Index hasn’t yet recovered its September 2018 all-time high of 104.1. Since the start of 2024, the index has declined, currently oscillating between 101.8 and 102.8.

Industrial Production (2014 – present), with all-time high (red dotted line), and January 2021 (black vertical line) indicated 

It’s possible that Mr. Biden has once again fumbled details accidentally. Yet the consistency of those blundered messages, each absolving his administration of responsibility for declining economic conditions, is simply not consistent with randomness. American citizens have been told that corporate profits, Vladimir Putin, owners of gas stations, and ocean shippers are responsible for the huge surge in prices. Month-to-month and year-to-year price change data has been conflated misleadingly, as have statistics regarding how the US inflationary surge compares to those in other nations.

Whatever the specific reasons, the desperate evasiveness is glaring. Knowing that the CPI was not “over 9 percent” in January 2021, but rather 1.4 percent, hitting 9.1 percent in July 2022, is one thing. Recognizing that the administration of monetary policy has become a third-rail issue to be evaded at all costs is another, more pressing, matter. Instead of properly attributing the increase in prices to expansionary monetary policies (and to a lesser extent, massive debt and deficits), many in the political establishment prefer to tell ham handed-lies which further erode an already ramshackle credibility.

It may be that the political establishment believes that the American public is not sophisticated enough to understand the Fed. More likely, the ability of the Fed to provide a swift economic boost during crises (without the lengthy process that fiscal stimuli require) is deemed too important to endanger by drawing attention to: even the staunchly anti-high finance Elizabeth Warren voted against auditing the Fed in 2016. The bipartisan inclination to keep the US central bank out of critical discussions is one which, whether inflation subsides or the Fed heeds calls to normalize at the 3-percent level, demands closer scrutiny.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/inflation-nines

Biden's $320M Gaza Pier Has Detached & Drifted Onto Israeli Beach

 A section of the $320 million floating pier built and erected off Gaza's coast has broken off and floated onto an Israeli beach. The Saturday mishap is the latest setback for the US humanitarian aid project, after three US troops were reported injured aboard the pier two days prior, including one critically.

The Times of Isreal's military correspondent Emanuel Fabian has reported that "An American vessel used to unload humanitarian aid from ships into the Gaza Strip via a floating pier disconnected from a small boat tugging it this morning due to stormy seas, leading it to get stuck on the coast of Ashdod, eyewitnesses say."

The recovery operation has not gone well either, as "Another ship was then sent to try and extract the stuck vessel, but also got beached," Fabian writes.

And yet a second US Army vessel also got stuck in shallow waters while trying to rescue the pier section. Overnight US ships had been moving two pieces of the floating pier to the Port of Ashdod in southern Israel when the now beached section detached and drifted away. American troops can be seen in footage standing helplessly on the beach.

An official US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement says the following:

This morning four U.S. Army vessels supporting the maritime humanitarian aid mission in Gaza were affected by heavy sea states. The vessels broke free from their moorings and two vessels are now anchored on the beach near the pier.

The third and fourth vessels are beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon. Efforts to recover the vessels are under way with assistance from the Israeli Navy.

The pier operation was already last week off to a rough start -- and was paused for two days -- after desperate Palestinians mobbed and ransacked the first trucks transporting aid unloaded from the pier before they could reach a distribution warehouse managed by the World Food Programme.   

The pier has been center of controversy, given a number of land routes for aid into Gaza are possible, but have been blocked by Israel's military.

Now, to mitigate that devastation amid reports of famine the US government has spent $320 million to build a pier to bypass its own beneficiary's land-route blockade. But operating it has proven tricky especially due to inclement conditions in the eastern Mediterranean. 

At best, the pier will only put a dent in the daunting humanitarian challenge. "I just want to be clear that this humanitarian maritime corridor alone is not enough to meet the staggering needs in Gaza, but it is an important addition," said USAID Levant response management team director Daniel Dieckhaus. "It is meant to augment, not replace or substitute for land crossings into Gaza."    

At this point, with a section of the pier stuck on an Israel beach, and coming over two months after President Biden first unveiled the ambitious project, the whole initiative is becoming a bit of an embarrassment involving setback after setback.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bidens-320m-gaza-pier-has-detached-drifted-israeli-beach

Vera: Stabilization and Rapid Hematuria Improvement in Phase 2b ORIGIN Study

 

• 72-week data consistent with disease modification in IgAN, selected as a best-ranked abstract;
• Rapid and sustained improvements in hematuria over 36 weeks, with resolution in significantly greater percentage of participants than placebo;

Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERA), a late clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing transformative treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases, today announced data presentations from its Phase 2b ORIGIN trial of atacicept in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), showing that atacicept stabilized kidney function through 72 weeks and led to rapid improvements in hematuria. These data were presented at the 61st European Renal Association Congress (ERA24) being held in Stockholm.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/05/25/2888237/0/en/Vera-Therapeutics-Presents-72-week-eGFR-Stabilization-and-Rapid-Hematuria-Improvement-in-Phase-2b-ORIGIN-Study-of-Atacicept-in-IgAN-at-the-61st-European-Renal-Association-Congress.html

Putin Decree Allows Seizure Of US Property & Assets If Russian Funds Taken By West

 On Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree which paves the way for the government to conduct legal seizure of any US assets in Russia, including property and real estate.

This in retaliation and in order to compensate for any Russian assets that are taken by the US, at a moment Washington is forging ahead with a joint plan with the EU to generate profits for Ukraine and its defense, utilizing frozen Russian assets.

However, this new initiative by the Kremlin is reportedly only being prepared in the instance that the US and Europe outright steals (or fully seizes) the currently frozen funds.

In preparation for initiating the retaliatory measure, the government has moved many of the assets of foreign investors to special accounts from which funds cannot be moved outside of Russia without direct Kremlin approval.

According to the announcement in state media:

As part of the move, movable and immovable property of the United States, American companies and citizens on the territory of Russia, as well as securities owned by them, shares in the authorized capital of Russian companies and other property rights of the United States and Americans in the country will be subject to seizure.

Under the decree, the Russian copyright holder (in this case - Russian government or the Central Bank) has the right to "apply to the court… with a claim to establish the fact of unjustified deprivation of his rights to property due to a decision by a US state or judicial authority and to receive compensation for said damage."

More details in Russian media say "Putin’s decree gives the government four months to prepare the legal framework for the mechanism and submit the relevant proposals to parliament for consideration."

Additionally, "The court will be able to grant compensation in the form of property physically present in Russia, shares in Russia-registered businesses and property rights. A governmental commission will be responsible for compiling the list of those who could be targeted for compensation." Already, most major US companies fled Russia during the opening months following the February 2022 invasion.

This week President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen issued a revealing statement on where the West's economic policy stands with Russia. She spoke primarily of China, but also asserted... "I don't think that we are in a trade war. I have the motto: 'de-risk not decouple', and I think here it's very clear we are in the category of de-risking from China. We have decoupled from Russia."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-decree-allows-seizure-us-property-assets-if-russian-funds-taken-west

US More Openly Lets Ukraine Use Its Arms To Strike Inside Russia

 by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

One of the worst-kept secrets of the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine is that the US allows its client state to use American arms for striking inside of Russia despite officially prohibiting it from doing so. Sergey Poletaev explained the pseudo-“legal” means through which this happens in his latest piece for RT, but now Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally decided to drop the charade and more openly allow Ukraine to do so without going through these largely symbolic workarounds.

He responded to Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul’s criticism of these operational restrictions during a hearing by declaring that “Ukraine will have to make and will make its own decisions” on the use of these arms even though the US doesn’t endorse attacks inside of Russia. The New York Times then reported on the same day that the Biden Administration is deliberating whether to formalize this new unofficial policy, though that debate is now moot and just a distraction.

The reality is that the US has always tacitly approved Ukraine’s use of these weapons for striking inside of Russia, it’s just now more openly allowing this as a morale-booster amidst Russia’s fresh push into Kharkov Region, which is re-entered without any resistance due to unbuilt border fortifications. Nevertheless, seeing as how this coincides with talk of formalizing some NATO countries’ unofficial training missions inside that country, it’s clear that the West is escalating its involvement in the conflict.

Keeping the aforesaid two policies an open secret enables these two to “save face” to an extent, thus facilitating the management of their security dilemma by reducing the odds of either side “overreacting” such as when Ukraine strikes Russia with Western arms and Russia kills NATO trainers. If either was formally acknowledged upon totally doing away with this charade, then there’d be lots of pressure from hawkish policymakers and members of society to reciprocally respond, which would risk World War III.

These two latest Ukrainian-pressured examples of “mission creep” – solely with respect to their optics since these policies have already been in effect for some time – are therefore obviously intended to bring NATO and Russia to the brink of a direct conflict. This is exactly what Russian Ambassador to America Anatoly Antonov assessed when reacting to the recent congressional hearing when Blinken signaled that his country will more openly allow Ukraine to use its arms to strike inside of Russia.

Russia seemingly anticipated this development and that’s likely why it announced tactical nuclear weapons exercises earlier this month as was explained here at the time, with the primary intent being to deter a full-fledged NATO invasion, especially one that approaches or crosses the Dnieper. In the last-mentioned scenario, Russia might resort to the use of tactical nukes in self-defense per its doctrine in order to preemptively stop an imminent NATO invasion of its newly unified formerly Ukrainian regions.

It's imperative that this red line isn’t approached, let alone crossed, otherwise World War III could easily break out by miscalculation given Russia’s national security perceptions that were just explained. With that in mind, it’s best to asymmetrically partition Ukraine via the model that was shared here earlier this spring, which includes a demilitarized buffer zone in the Kiev-controlled regions east of the Dnieper. Regrettably, the US hasn’t expressed any interest in this scenario, hence why it continues escalating.

That being the case, it can’t be ruled out that the two latest Ukrainian-pressured examples of “mission creep” will prompt Russia to escalate in response, thus climbing the escalation ladder and bringing the world closer to the brink through no fault of its own since it has the right to do so in self-defense. If this vicious cycle isn’t soon stopped through a creative diplomatic solution for ending the conflict, then a conventional NATO intervention might be inevitable with all that entails for bringing about World War III.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-now-more-openly-allowing-ukraine-use-its-arms-strike-inside-russia