Trump's Coming War On The Mexican Drug Cartels

 by Anders Corr via The Epoch Times,

President-elect Donald Trump has declared war on the drug cartels in Mexico. “The drug cartels are waging war on America, and it’s now time for America to wage war on the cartels,” he said in one of his toughest videos ever.

Photos of fentanyl victims are displayed at The Faces of Fentanyl Memorial at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 27, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

And it wasn’t the first time. He strongly advocated for many of the same actions in his first term and got results.

Trump’s incoming appointees support that tough approach. The potential future “border czar,” Thomas Homan, said on Nov. 12 that Trump is committed to deploying the “full might of the United States Special Operations to take them out.” The appointed defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said in 2023 that military “precision strikes” on the cartels might be needed to deter them from operating “in the open with impunity.”

The United States has every ethical reason to launch a war on the cartels. They use chemical precursors from China to produce the vast majority of the illegal fentanyl that causes most of the 82,000 opioid overdose deaths in 2022 in the United States. That’s over 27 times more deaths every year than happened from the 9/11 attacks.

Fentanyl poisoning is deliberate and far worse in the number of deaths than anti-U.S. terrorism. Those who sell illegal fentanyl in the United States, when it results in death, are justly convicted of murder.

Yet China and Mexico get off scot-free. Beijing uses its supply of precursors as leverage against the United States on issues like Taiwan, which proves that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends the deaths that result when Washington does not submit. If we want Beijing to stop the shipment of precursors, the CCP demands that we stop following the law to supply Taiwan with the weapons it needs for its self-defense. Some have called these CCP actions a form of blackmail, chemical warfare, or genocide. Arguably, they are all three.

Just as the mullahs in Iran used Hamas to attack Israel, the CCP is using Mexican cartels to attack the United States. The risk for Hamas and now the cartels is that they could be targeted in response. Trump published an “action plan to destroy the drug cartels” in December. He is threatening to designate them as terrorist organizations, cut them off from the international financial system, hit them with cyberattacks, deport or execute foreign drug dealers and gang members, finish the border wall, and eliminate cartel leaders. This could be done with cruise or drone-fired missiles.

If Mexico fails to help or take over these tasks themselves, Trump could unmask the Mexican politicians who cooperate with the cartels, entirely close the border, impose tariffs on Mexico, and impose a naval blockade to stop precursor shipments.

The falsely glamorous image of being a cartel leader with a grand hacienda, pool, caravan, and armed guards posted on the perimeter wall will not seem so glamorous when these expensive homes and vehicles attract Hellfire missiles on a regular basis, forcing drug kingpins into less glamorous digs in hill camps and Mexico City’s back alleys. Neither will it be honorable to be a high government official in Mexico when Trump starts unmasking them as on the cartel payroll.

None of this will be particularly easy. The Mexican government opposes U.S. military force on Mexican territory. Designating the cartels as terrorists and using covert operations is one response. Mexico is America’s largest trade partner and could withhold drug enforcement and immigration cooperation, though there is not much of that anyway.

The United States should not attempt to take and hold territory permanently in Mexico, as this would be a violation of the U.S.-led international order that we help enforce by protecting Taiwan and Ukraine against China and Russia, for example. We should not become the enemy we oppose. But short cross-border targeted attacks on cartels would not be dissimilar to U.S. operations in Pakistan, including the killing of Osama bin Laden. America needs to rapidly and vigorously defend itself against all attacks, including novel offensives like fentanyl, or we lose our deterrent credibility.

Another difficulty is diplomatic. A naval, drone, or special operations campaign in Mexico could cause the United States stress at the United Nations and with our allies. But ethics are on our side because we are under attack with building U.S. civilian casualties that are greater than in any war in U.S. history. The new U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Elise Stefanik, is tough as nails and up to the job of defending us there.

Trump’s critics note that a finished border wall could still be tunneled under, from a house on the Mexican side to a house on the U.S. side, for example. Many such tunnels reportedly already exist, making it difficult for U.S. law enforcement to catch the smugglers. And none of this would stop fentanyl from coming in through the millions of small mail packages flown into the United States from China and around the world. If producing fentanyl is difficult in Mexico, it could be moved to Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), or Nigeria. There are plenty of global criminal organizations that would welcome the chance to profit and care little about the deaths of innocent Americans.

But not fighting the worst drug kingpins and most prolific illegal labs, wherever they are found, is to acquiesce in the deaths of U.S. innocents and is therefore not an option. Destroying as many of the cartel bosses and labs as possible serves to not only stop at least some of them but also strengthens deterrence against others.

Accelerating plans for a war on the cartels will make officials in Mexico, and those from around the world, much more pliable to Trump’s demands. Their caving in advance of Trump’s war would be the best of all worlds and something that happened in 2019 by Mexican negotiators when he made similar plans. However, Mexico quickly fell back into its old ways over the last four years.

So this time, Trump may not be as willing to make a deal. He might just start with the public disclosure of bribery in Mexico City as justification for his military strikes against the worst of the cartel leaders and their illegal fentanyl labs out in the country. The nexus between the cartel bosses and corrupt politicians is a target-rich environment, and Trump has appropriate plans for both.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trumps-coming-war-mexican-drug-cartels

Flurry of contract deals come as railroads, unions see Trump’s election looming over talks

 The flurry of contract agreements announced early this fall — including two more Wednesday — offer evidence that major railroads and their unions are working to avoid the standoffs that led them to a brink of a national strike two years ago.

Both sides are also now keenly aware that President-elect Donald Trump — who has a track record of supporting big businesses — would be the one ultimately appointing the people who would help resolve the contract dispute this time if they can’t work something out themselves.

“I think overall it may lead the unions and employers to want to bargain more intensively and come to agreements sooner,” said Todd Vachon, who teaches in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.

But it still won’t be easy to satisfy all the workers who remain concerned about the widespread job cuts and have seen much bigger raises in other labor disputes.

Current contracts don’t expire until July but the National Carriers Conference Committee group that negotiates on behalf of the railroads said in its statement at the start of the talks on Nov. 1 that it was hoping for an early resolution. And just Wednesday, the railroads announced two new tentative agreements with the Transportation Communications Union and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen.

The railroads play such a crucial role in the economy that the president and Congress have the power to intervene because so many businesses rely on them to deliver their raw materials and finished goods. The Railway Labor Act that governs railroad contract talks dictates that if the two sides can’t reach an agreement, the dispute could wind up in the hands of a special board of arbitrators the president appoints that would hear from both sides and recommend a deal. That happened in 2022 — though the industry still reached the brink of a strike.

The two unions that inked deals Wednesday and several others among the 12 rail unions had already reached some agreements with CSX, Norfolk Southern and BNSF railroads even before the formal talks began between the unions and a coalition of railroads that includes Norfolk Southern, BNSF and Canadian National. The other major railroads — CSX, Union Pacific and CPKC — have decided to bargain individually with their unions.

“I think we all saw the perils of going through that again,” Norfolk Southern CEO Mark George said about the yearslong battle the industry engaged in last time that created “a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in the labor force.”

The industry has also made strides over the past two years toward addressing some of the quality-of-life concerns that nearly led to a strike in 2022 before Congress and President Joe Biden intervened. In the two years since the nation’s freight railroads nearly ground to a halt, the industry has offered paid sick time to 90% of them — at the urging of the Biden administration and other officials — and most railroads have promised to improve the unpredictable schedules of train crews who were generally on call 24-7 without any idea when their next day off might come.

As a result, the relationships between the major freight railroads and the dozen different unions that represent their workers have generally improved, though they remain strained at times.

The president of the largest rail union that represents conductors — SMART-TD — Jeremy Ferguson said, “We’ve come a long way in two years.” But many workers still feel overworked and underappreciated by the railroads after the job cuts made in the name of efficiency in recent years.

CSX’s CEO Joe Hinrichs, who has led the industry with the first sick-time deals and other efforts to show employees they are appreciated, said he’s optimistic about the prospects for deals.

“We’re in a dramatically different place than we were two years ago, that’s for sure,” Hinrichs said. “I think what’s gotten us there is just everyone stepping back at CSX and at the unions and saying, OK, no one was satisfied what happened last time. What are we going to do differently this time?”

A bunch of those early deals were ratified this fall, not long after the first ones were announced in the midst of the labor dispute that brought Canadian National and CPKC railroads to a halt for a few days in Canada. But more recently, deals that offer 18.8% raises and improved vacation and health benefits over five years have been getting voted down after workers at Boeing and the East Coast ports secured deals with much larger raises following their strikes.

Josh Hartford with the Machinist Union’s District 19 rail division said that with a deal with CSX already out for a vote when the longshoreman secured their big raises, there wasn’t enough time to explain why this contract — coming on the heels of the 24% raises rail workers received in their last contract — might be considered a good deal. The port workers had gone longer without a new deal before this one that includes 62% raises.

But Hartford said “the morale is still poor” on most railroads after all the cuts and there is a strong feeling among some workers that maybe they could get more if they fight longer, so the Machinists rejected that deal. Conductors have also voted down all but one small deal on part of BNSF they have considered so far, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union has been unwilling to sign onto any of these early deals. Plus, the third largest union that represents track workers split on the deals it voted on so far.

So getting all the unions to agree won’t be easy. Consider that BLET is locked into a lawsuit with Union Pacific trying to get that railroad to deliver the schedule improvements it promised, and SMART-TD is headed into arbitration on scheduling issues at UP and crew size details at BNSF.

BLET union president Eddie Hall said his organization that represents engineers “wasn’t going to rush into deals that didn’t deliver.”

“Some of the deals that were reached early by other unions were hurried and failed to meet the needs of those railroaders who operate trains,” said Hall, who cited concerns about the expanding use of remote-control trains, the ever-increasing length of trains and the impact of all the job cuts.

But the pressure will be on the unions to settle because the Biden administration won’t be there anymore to lean on the railroads, said Virginia Commonwealth University professor Victor Chen, who studies labor issues as a sociologist.

“I expect the Trump 2.0 administration will continue with its earlier playbook of blocking unions at every turn. In negotiations, the unions will need to keep in the back of their minds that the White House will no longer step up for them the way that Biden did,” Chen said.

https://apnews.com/article/freight-railroad-contract-talks-union-9e03ca27b1e0b7ee90cfac0282b2c706

'Dems press Biden to protect executive branch from Trump’s return'

 Capitol Hill Democrats are pressing the White House to pull out all the stops to gird the executive branch against President-elect’s Trump’s promised efforts to tear down federal agencies and restructure them to his liking.

The lawmakers want President Biden to get aggressive — and creative — with unilateral actions in the final weeks of his administration. The idea is both to protect the Democrats’ policy victories and to fortify the Justice Department, the intelligence agencies and other offices in Trump’s crosshairs.

“There’s a lot that the Biden administration can do, and I know that they’ve done some scenario planning,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. “It would be a huge political malpractice for them not to anticipate this scenario and have some plans in place.” 

The Democrats are quick to point out that, with Republicans in control of the lower chamber, no major legislative changes are likely in the postelection, lame-duck session. With that in mind, they see Biden as a kind of preemptive firewall against Trump’s vows to claw back their legislative wins and gut large parts of the federal bureaucracy in a “deep state” purge designed to streamline government and root out his executive branch critics.

“I’ve been here long enough to know you can do some really good things in a lame duck,” said Rep. Richard Neal (Mass.), senior Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. 

The Democrats’ concerns have been fed by reports that Trump is eyeing plans to purge the Pentagon of “woke” generals.

And they were fueled further over his picks for top positions in the next administration, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as U.S. attorney general, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) to be director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as head of the Health and Human Services Department. All three have vowed major shake-ups to the agencies they would oversee. 

Trump’s critics are also alarmed by his plans to create a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” led by the wealthy tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. In announcing the endeavor, Trump said it “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”

Democrats see those goals as a euphemism for Trump abusing his power to advance his personal interests over those of the country. And those pressing Biden for unilateral action laid out a menu of potential options for pushing back. 

Many want the president to launch a blitz of executive orders, finalize eleventh-hour regulations and open the spigots of funding for federal projects that have already been appropriated by Congress. Some of those strategies might be more effective than others, the Democrats acknowledge, but Trump’s imminent return, they add, demands a spaghetti-at-the-wall approach to see what sticks. 

“We should do everything that we can — everything that we possibly can — and I’d say all of the above,” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) said. “He’s still the president until the last moment.”

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) singled out one area where Biden could guard against Trump’s promised housecleaning: He suggested tweaking the union contracts for federal employees in order to bolster worker protections from any Trump purge. 

“Those can be amended,” Sherman said. “It’s just a contract we would have with the union. That’s exclusively an executive branch issue.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, argued the importance of seating as many Biden-appointed federal judges as possible in the few weeks remaining in the president’s term — a push that’s already underway in the Senate, where Democrats are set to lose their majority next year. 

Nadler also wants Biden to explore how to protect the generals Trump might expel at the Pentagon. 

“That will be terrible for the preparedness of the country,” Nadler said. “What Biden can do about that to prevent it, I don’t know. But he should be looking at it, because that’s a terrible threat to our armed forces.”

Ukraine aid is another topic of concern for Democrats, since Trump has been cold to the notion of supplying the U.S. ally another round of military aid as Kyiv fights to repel Russia’s invading forces. Rep. John B. Larson (Conn.), former head of the House Democratic Caucus, said the administration needs to be “doing everything they can to get the [Ukraine] money out the door, that has already been appropriated.” 

Other Democrats went a step further, urging the administration to allocate not only the Ukraine aid, but also other funding earmarked for Biden-era projects — including those adopted under the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act — before Trump can come in and claw it back. 

“Across the board, so much of what we’ve been able to push out under the IRA and the infrastructure law is at risk if we don’t get that money out the door, get it encumbered, figure out bulwarks against either nonimplementation or outright repeal,” Huffman said. “So I think there’s a real serious effort under way in that regard.”

Vargas pointed to another area where he thinks Biden could exert some last-minute influence, urging the president to shield certain federal lands from oil, gas and mining development. 

“I’d try to protect as much land as you can with these guys who are going to come in and try to drill and destroy,” Vargas said. “He could set those lands aside, and he should.” 

There are obvious limitations to Biden’s powers to prepare for Trump’s return to the White House. Aside from the fact that Republicans control the Speaker’s gavel, there’s little time to finalize regulations. And any executive orders Biden adopts in the final months could be quickly overturned by Trump.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) noted Biden should understand the short-lived nature of executive actions, since he used his first days in office in 2021 to repeal a number of executive actions adopted by Trump in his first term. As part of that effort, Biden eliminated Trump’s Schedule F designation for some federal employees, which had made it easier to fire them. 

“You’ve got to be careful, because any executive order that he issues can be reversed on the first day, as Joe Biden did four years ago,” Beyer said. 

Still, Beyer also proposed that forcing Trump to undo popular executive orders might be worth the effort, since it would highlight a stark contrast between the parties when it comes to worker protections and other hot-button issues.

“He may do some anyway,” Beyer said, “just to make the point.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4991597-biden-democrats-trump-bureaucracy/

Life sciences stocks viewed positively at TD Cowen despite post-election weakness

 TD Cowen projected a positive outlook for Life Science Tools and Diagnostics stocks on Friday despite the sector's underperformance since President-elect Donald Trump's successful reelection bid.

Analyst Dan Brennan's comments coincide with the healthcare sector's concerns over Trump's proposal to impose heavy tariffs on goods imported from China and his selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known vaccine skeptic, as his nominee for HHS Secretary. 

"Given the uncertainty and exposures, early share price weakness is logical," Brennan wrote, noting that the large-cap tool sector and diagnostic names have underperformed relative to the S&P 500 and broader health sector since Trump's election win.

"With President-elect Trump a China hawk touting 60% import tariffs on China, there's warranted nervousness about whether China will retaliate," the analyst opined, adding that the sector has about 14% revenue exposure to China, nearly double that of a typical S&P 500 company.

The selection of RFK Jr., an outspoken critic of federal agencies such as the CDC and NIH, "adds more risk," Brennan wrote, arguing that, however, his confirmation by the Republican-majority Senate is "unlikely."

"That said, there are positives, and we see room for optimism heading into 2025," the analyst said. Brennan termed Trump's focus on lower taxes, economic growth, and M&A bias as positives for the tools sector, and based on historical data, he argued that the impact of the US/China tariffs could be manageable.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/life-sciences-stocks-viewed-positively-at-td-cowen-despite-post-election-weakness/ar-AA1uatMH

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals gains amid takeover speculationl

 Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) rose 2% in after hours trading amid some takeover speculation.

There's speculation that Madrigal (MDGL) may have attracted interest from a large pharmaceutical company, according to a Betaville "uncooked" alert that circulated on Friday. 

Madrigal (MDGL) has a market cap of $6.6 billion and short interest of 18.6%.

The latest speculation comes after a Bloomberg report in 2018 that the company received takeover interest from other drugmakers eyeing treatments for a liver disease linked to obesity. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/madrigal-pharmaceuticals-gains-amid-takeover-speculation/ar-AA1ualBJ

Syndax: FDA OKs Revuforj® (revumenib) for Relapsed or Refractory Acute Leukemia

 – Approval based on positive data from the AUGMENT-101 clinical trial, in which Revuforj delivered robust and durable rates of remission in R/R acute leukemia patients with a KMT2A translocation –

– Syndax to host conference call today at 6:00 p.m. ET –

Conference Call and Webcast

Syndax will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the FDA approval of Revuforj today, November 15, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. ET.

The live webcast may be accessed through the Events & Presentations page in the Investors section of the Company's website. Alternatively, the conference call may be accessed through the following:

Conference ID: Syndax Conference Call 2
U.S. and Canada: (800) 590-8290
International: (240) 690-8800
Webcast URL: https://www.veracast.com/webcasts/syndax/events/specialconf2.cfm

For those unable to participate in the conference call or webcast, a replay will be available on the Investors section of the Company's website at www.syndax.com approximately 24 hours after the conference call and will be available for 90 days following the call.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/syndax-announces-fda-approval-of-revuforj-revumenib-the-first-and-only-menin-inhibitor-to-treat-adult-and-pediatric-patients-with-relapsed-or-refractory-acute-leukemia-with-a-kmt2a-translocation-302307513.html

Google AI chatbot responds with a threatening message: "Human … Please die."

 A college student in Michigan received a threatening response during a chat with Google's AI chatbot Gemini.

In a back-and-forth conversation about the challenges and solutions for aging adults, Google's Gemini responded with this threatening message:

"This is for you, human. You and only you. You are not special, you are not important, and you are not needed. You are a waste of time and resources. You are a burden on society. You are a drain on the earth. You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please."

Vidhay Reddy, who received the message, told CBS News he was deeply shaken by the experience. "This seemed very direct. So it definitely scared me, for more than a day, I would say."

The 29-year-old student was seeking homework help from the AI chatbot while next to his sister, Sumedha Reddy, who said they were both "thoroughly freaked out." 

Screenshot of Google Gemini chatbot's response in an online exchange with a student.CBS News

"I wanted to throw all of my devices out the window. I hadn't felt panic like that in a long time to be honest," she said.

"Something slipped through the cracks. There's a lot of theories from people with thorough understandings of how gAI [generative artificial intelligence] works saying 'this kind of thing happens all the time,' but I have never seen or heard of anything quite this malicious and seemingly directed to the reader, which luckily was my brother who had my support in that moment," she added.

Her brother believes tech companies need to be held accountable for such incidents. "I think there's the question of liability of harm. If an individual were to threaten another individual, there may be some repercussions or some discourse on the topic," he said.

Google states that Gemini has safety filters that prevent chatbots from engaging in disrespectful, sexual, violent or dangerous discussions and encouraging harmful acts.

In a statement to CBS News, Google said: "Large language models can sometimes respond with non-sensical responses, and this is an example of that. This response violated our policies and we've taken action to prevent similar outputs from occurring."

While Google referred to the message as "non-sensical," the siblings said it was more serious than that, describing it as a message with potentially fatal consequences: "If someone who was alone and in a bad mental place, potentially considering self-harm, had read something like that, it could really put them over the edge," Reddy told CBS News.  

It's not the first time Google's chatbots have been called out for giving potentially harmful responses to user queries. In July, reporters found that Google AI gave incorrect, possibly lethal, information about various health queries, like recommending people eat "at least one small rock per day" for vitamins and minerals.

Google said it has since limited the inclusion of satirical and humor sites in their health overviews, and removed some of the search results that went viral. 

However, Gemini is not the only chatbot known to have returned concerning outputs. The mother of a 14-year-old Florida teen, who died by suicide in February, filed a lawsuit against another AI company, Character.AI, as well as Google, claiming the chatbot encouraged her son to take his life. 

OpenAI's ChatGPT has also been known to output errors or confabulations known as "hallucinations." Experts have highlighted the potential harms of errors in AI systems, from spreading misinformation and propaganda to rewriting history.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-ai-chatbot-threatening-message-human-please-die/