Demolition of historic church planned

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Extinction Itself Authored by James George Jatras A version of this presentation was given to the Ron Paul Institute's Scholars Seminar on Sept. 1st in Washington, DC. Today it’s hard for anyone under the age of 50 to appreciate how genuine and pervasive was fear of a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War between the US- and Soviet-led blocs. Books, movies, and TV both reflected and stoked popular anxiety about the possible “end of civilization as we know it.” The heyday for this was in the 1950s and 1960s, with books like The Long Tomorrow(1955) and On the Beach (1957, with a 1959 film adaptation), and films like Fail Safe, Seven Days in May, Dr. Strangelove (all in 1964, while the real-life scare of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was fresh in people’s minds). There appeared to be a bit of a lull during the 1970s era of US-Soviet détente under Nixon, Ford, and Carter, perhaps also reflecting elite sympathy for socialism and an expected future convergence between the ideological groupings, which on a basic level shared the same globalist, materialist values. But nuclear terror returned with a vengeance in the 1980s – for example, The Day After (1983) and the animated When the Wind Blows (1986). And who can forget (certainly no male person!) the delightful Nena’s 1983 music video Neunundneunzig Luftballons. The Left, both in the United States and worldwide, was unanimous that Ronald Reagan, a self-confessed anti-communist, was a reckless cowboy who wanted to blow up the planet. As that great philosopher, Sting, put it in his 1985 song, “The Russians”: There is no historical precedent To put the words in the mouth of the president? There's no such thing as a winnable war It's a lie we don't believe anymore Mister Reagan says, "We will protect you" I don't subscribe to this point of view Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too The irony is that Reagan’s own views were hardly different from the ones the song sought to promote. As he stated jointly with Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev that very same year, 1985: “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” a view that prevailed until the USSR imploded just a few years later. We live in a very different world now, where the prospect of nuclear annihilation barely registers with anyone. Just as big earthquakes are often preceded by foreshocks, major wars are frequently heralded by smaller conflicts. Before World War One: the Franco-German Morocco crises (1906 and 1911), the Italo-Turkish War (1911-12), the two Balkan Wars (1912, 1913). Before World War Two: the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-37) and, the most famous pre-conflagration rumble of them all, the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Today, we are looking at a possible regional war in West Africa, centering on American and French demands that “democracy” be restored in Niger. (As one Indian publication put it, “Death follows Victoria Nuland”) Then, of course, there’s China/Taiwan. But the obvious Spanish Civil War-rank conflict of the moment is Ukraine. I don’t think we need to go into all the details of how we got here, but just in brief: Relentless NATO expansion after 1991; The 2014 US- and EU-backed coup that overthrew Victor Yanukovich, followed by the Russian annexation of Crimea and the new Kiev regime’s launch of a war to repress rebellions in the Russian-speaking east and south of the country;   The 2015 Minsk agreements, which provided for Ukraine’s neutrality and decentralization, and for reintegration of the rebellious areas with protections of their language and culture – agreements that both Ukrainian and European former officials have admitted they never intended to implement, seeing them only as a delaying ruse for building up a force capable of conquering the Donbas;   A relentless program of Ukraine’s NATO-ization in all but name under Obama, Trump, and Biden; and   Washington’s peremptory rejection of Moscow’s 2021 ultimata to the United States and NATO to resolve the conflict diplomatically, with the hope that Russia, baited into an incursion into Ukraine, would be bled white in an Afghanistan-style insurgency and by crushing sanctions that would “turn the ruble into rubble,” pancake Russia’s economy, and lead to regime change in Moscow. Oops. Russia’s expected ruin didn’t happen. Even the mainstream media cheerleaders of only a fortnight ago now admit that Ukraine is losing, assigning the blame not to the geniuses that thought up this strategy (if it can be called that) but to Ukraine’s being too “casualty averse” – even as that country is turning into one vast graveyard. There’s speculation that some in Washington and other western capitals are seeking an “off-ramp” – if for no other reason than the need to focus on the really big show, a looming war with China. Some suggest that in the end, we’ll just walk away, consigning Ukraine to the Memory Hole along with Afghanistan. All that’s left then is for GOP neocons to whine that the Biden Administration was too stingy with their aid and “lost Ukraine” while they gear up for the main event in the western Pacific. Personally, I don’t think that will happen. Nobody cares about Afghanistan but the Afghans, but if Washington walks away from Ukraine it’s effectively conceding that the US, through NATO, no longer is the security hegemon of Europe. That means the effective end of NATO, in fact if not in name; and where NATO goes, its concubine, the European Union, won’t be far behind. More to the point, though, the notion that this will soon end with a whimper misses the whole point. None of this is really about Ukraine, which is just an expendable tool to hurt Russia. (Maybe the Poles or Lithuanians or Romanians are eager to volunteer for the job once we’re fresh out of Ukrainians.) Ukraine is just a variable; the constant is Ruthenia delenda est. Russia must be destroyed. Gilbert Doctorow, a noted observer of Russian affairs, likens the current situation to that of Napoleon’s 1812 Russian campaign depicted by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace. Today as then, what happens next will be less due to this or that policymaker making this or that bad decision. Rather, “the precondition for war is the near universal acceptance of the logic of the coming war.” What is that logic today? It’s simple: the ruling circles in the United States (needless to add, with their sock puppets in western capitals) are utterly, unselfconsciously convinced that they are the living embodiment of all virtue, truth, and progress in what Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described as the “replication of the experience of Bolshevism and Trotskyism” – to cite Reagan, morphing ourselves into a new Evil Empire in place of the old one. As neocon kingpins William Kristol and Robert Kagan put it in their 1996 manifesto, the policy of the United States in the coming era must be one of “benevolent global hegemony” intended to last – well, forever. Its moral content is exemplified, on the one hand, by US support for subjugation of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and, on the other, the spectacle of a transgender US serviceperson acting as a PR official for the Ukrainian military declaring that “we’re human,” and the Russians “most definitely aren’t.” As I like to say: there’s no Transatlanticism without transgenderism. Unsurprisingly, regarding their alleged lack of human-ness, the Russians disagree. But who cares what they think? Our leaders see not only Putin but Russians in general as an obstacle to the radiant future, where every knee will bow before the sacred rainbow flag. Sun Tzu says “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” The Russians more or less know themselves. They kind of know us, but not as well as they think they do, with rather a tendency to project normalcy onto fundamentally abnormal people. On the other hand, our rulers – dangerous people whose levels of arrogance and ignorance defies description: monkeys with nuclear hand grenades – know neither themselves nor the Russians. On top of that, as Doctorow further observes, the mechanisms that lent some stability and restraint to the US-Soviet standoff are now all but gone, rendering the once-“unthinkable” of the 1950s’ nuke horror films all-too-thinkable today: ‘… no one wants war, neither Washington nor Moscow. However, the step-by-step dismantling of the channels of communication, of the symbolic projects for cooperation across a wide array of domains, and now dismantling of all the arms limitation agreements that took decades to negotiate and ratify, plus the incoming new weapons systems that leave both sides with under 10 minutes to decide how to respond to alarms of incoming missiles—all of this prepares the way for the Accident to end all Accidents.  Such false alarms occurred in the Cold War but some slight measure of mutual trust prompted restraint. That is all gone now and if something goes awry, we are all dead ducks.’ “No one wants war.” A similar thought was expressed by Hermann Göring, when he was on trial at Nuremberg: Of course the people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. … But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger. So I guess Doctorow is a bit off the mark in suggesting that “no one wants war.” Clearly, somebody wants war. A lot of very important “somebodies” wanted this war in Ukraine. They wanted war in the Balkans in the 1990s. They wanted war in Afghanistan, Iraq (twice!), Libya, Yemen, Syria, and a dozen places in Africa where we have almost no idea what’s going on. “All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked…” I can’t help but think of the meme with two blank-face NPCs, one wearing a pink knit hat mindlessly repeating “Russia! Russia! Russia!,” the other with a red MAGA hat chanting “China! China! China!” Between them is the seal of the CIA with the eagle saying, “Yes, yes, my pretties. That’s it. That’s it.” Here we are, 60 years after the fact, with the growing recognition by even the most spoon-fed normies that the CIA had something to do with the assassination of Jack Kennedy. In fact, we have here today perhaps the foremost authority on the topic, Mr. Jacob Hornberger. Yet doubting our rulers’ truthiness still is treated as a thought crime. A little while ago, Vivek Ramaswamy was the target of a media hate fest for (in the words of The New Republic) “spout[ing] conspiracy theories about January 6 and 9/11.” Oh no! “Conspiracy theories”! (Or, as they are known when they turn out to be true, “spoiler alerts.”) The heretic Ramaswamy evidently believes – shocking as this sounds – that our government has not been entirely honest about these matters. He must be a dupe for the Russians! Or for the Chinese! – which The New Republic also implies. You may have heard some people compare the “lawfare” being directed against Donald Trump, with the evident aim of eliminating the likely opponent next year of the desiccated-husk-of-Hunter-Biden’s-dad (assuming ol’ Joe will be the Democratic nominee, which I don’t), to the behavior of a banana republic. This is a gratuitous insult to the friendly spider-infested nations to our south! I recently suggested to a sober observer of public affairs that the strategic goal is keeping Trump off the ballot in one or more must-win states for him, like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, to which he responded: “That’s a recipe for civil war.” (I tried to imagine what Republicans taking to the streets would look like. A mob of decrepit Boomers rolling their motorized wheelchairs down to the corner and burning down the post office?) Anyway, taking him out via lawfare seems to be Plan A. If that fails – well, Plan B would get us into Mr. Hornberger’s area of expertise. The term “cold” civil war, a war that might possibly turn “hot,” has become a commonplace in American discourse. So has the expression “national divorce.” In 1861 Americans both North and South worshipped the same God, read the same Bible, honored the same Founding Fathers, claimed fidelity to the same Constitution. In today’s America, we can’t even agree on our pronouns or on what a “woman” is, much less on what it means to be an American. We are moral aliens to one another, indeed enemies. What actually holds the former American republic together? “Muh Constitution”? “Muh democracy”? Keep in mind, we’re not talking about a mere political crisis that will get solved in an election or two. Not even about political and constitutional collapse, or even a financial and economic calamity – that’s coming too, in part because of the impact of the Ukraine war on the dollar-denominated global system – but a fundamental challenge to the social fabric itself, and not just in the United States. A watershed was passed with covid and the measures – the lockdowns, the masks, social distancing and monitoring, the clot shot, censorship of dissent, all combined with a pervasive, inescapable external and internal panopticon: as the troubadour of transhumanism Yuval Harari writes, “we are seeing a change in the nature of surveillance from over the skin surveillance to under the skin surveillance” – supposedly intended to deal with a virus, accomplishing within a few short months what decades of climate hysteria could not, summed up under the moniker “the Great Reset” and its ubiquitous slogan “Build Back Better.”’ Taken together what we’re experiencing has all the appearance of a controlled demolition of all established human interactions in anticipation of their replacement by something we are assured by our betters will be an improvement. The contours of the “new normal” in the post-American America hurtling in our direction have already become so familiar as to need little elaboration: Infringement of traditional liberties based on “keeping us safe”;   “Cancel culture”;   Blurring of the lines between Big Government, Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big Data, etc., amounting to corporate state capture; and, not directly based on supposed anti-virus measures but closely tracking with them,   Joint government and corporate promulgation of socially destructive, historically counterfeit ideologies (“intersectionality,” LGBTQI+++, feminism, multiculturalism, “critical race theory,”), with principal targeting of children subject to sexualization and predation by those expressing what were once quaintly known as abnormal appetites and identities. These so-called “values” – which, remember, are effectively the official ideology of the West, which we seek “benevolently” to impose on the rest of the world, by force if necessary – in turn accelerate longstanding trends towards infertility and demographic collapse pointing to thinning the human herd and replacement via post-human society, transhumanism, and bio-engineering. This is not just “political” but a strike at the heart of human existence: the spiritual, moral, and even biological basis for marriage, family formation, and production of the next generation. In a word: depopulation. A few years ago, His Royal Highness, the late Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, perhaps half in jest delivered this thigh-slapper: “In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, to contribute something to solving overpopulation.” Some of you may have heard of groups like Extinction Rebellion and BirthStrike: “Are you terrified about the future that lies ahead for contemporary and future youth? Do you want to maximize your positive impact on the Climate Change Crisis? You can protect children while fighting climate change and systematic corruption by refusing to procreate!” Makes perfect sense: preserve a better planet for future generations by eliminating future generations. It reminds me of Otto von Bismarck’s comparing the idea of preventive war to committing suicide out of fear of death. (That’s not as abstract as it might sound. Recently a young woman in Canada seeking help for depression and suicidal ideation was advised by hospital staff that she might be interested in their tried and Trudeau-ed “Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)” euthanasia program. Tempted to kill yourself? Let us help you!)  But why stop at half measures? The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, VHEMT (pronounced “vehement,” according to their website): “We’re the only species evolved enough to consciously go extinct for the good of all life, or which needs to. Success would be humanity’s crowning achievement. May we live long and die out.” Maybe they’re on to something! In his landmark work The Socialist Phenomenon, the late Russian mathematician and student of history Igor Shafarevich took note of what he believed is a collective human death impulse: The idea of the death of mankind—not the death of specific people but literally the end of the human race—evokes a response in the human psyche. It arouses and attracts people, albeit with differing intensity in different epochs and in different individuals. The scope of influence of this idea causes us to suppose that every individual is affected by it to a greater or lesser degree and that it is a universal trait of the human psyche. This idea is not only manifested in the individual experience of a great number of specific persons, but is also capable of uniting people (in contrast to delirium, for example) i.e., it is a social force. The impulse toward self-destruction may be regarded as an element in the psyche of mankind as a whole. [ … ] In the Freudian view (first expressed in the article “Beyond the Pleasure Principle”), the human psyche can be reduced to a manifestation of two main instincts: the life instinct or Eros and the death instinct or Thanatos (or the Nirvana principle). Both are general biological categories, fundamental properties of living things in general. The death instinct is a manifestation of general “inertia” or a tendency of organic life to return to a more elementary state from which it had been aroused by an external disturbing force. [“Dust thou art, unto dust shalt thou return.”] The role of the life instinct is essentially to prevent a living organism from returning to the inorganic state by any path other than that which is immanent in it. Marcuse [Shafarevich refers here to Herbert Marcuse, theorist of the Frankfurt School, known for his adaptation of the theory of class conflict in classical Marxism to other social divides, notably in the area of sex, setting the stage for “intersectionality”] introduces a greater social factor into this scheme, asserting that the death instinct expresses itself in the desire to be liberated from tension, as an attempt to rid oneself of the suffering and discontent which are specifically engendered by social factors. With the failure of the Ukrainian offensive, Moscow now faces a dilemma. Do they move decisively to impose a military solution that ends the war, or do they continue to show restraint in the hopes that somebody, somewhere – Kiev, Washington, London, Brussels – decides it’s time to sue for peace? Keen not to take a precipitous step that might bring about a direct clash of NATO and Russian forces, so far they’ve opted for the latter – I repeat: so far. The West faces its own dilemma. Do our rulers concede defeat, which effectively means the end of the Global American Empire (the GAE)? Or do they drag things out as long as possible, hoping Moscow will fall for another Minsk-type ceasefire, with the Kremlin playing the part of Charlie Brown taking another run at kicking the football, having been promised that this time we’ll keep our word? Or, mistaking Russian restraint for weakness, do they push the envelope by inserting a “coalition of the willing” into western Ukraine, challenging Russian naval forces in the Black Sea, encouraging and equipping the Ukrainians to step up attacks on Moscow and other Russian cities, staging some sort of false flag of the type that has proved so effective in other conflicts? In other words, do we double down? That’s in addition to opening up other asymmetrical theaters in the Balkans, Syria, Iran, the Taiwan Strait, and elsewhere. In mistakenly projecting a rational actor mentality onto their opponents, the Russians seem to be acutely aware of the legitimate concern that decisive military action on the ground could panic NATO and trigger an uncontrolled escalation. They seem oblivious to the contrary concern, that, by holding back and waiting for a reasonable dialogue that will never take place, they are in effect encouraging their adversary to stage one reckless provocation after another – in the sustained belief that some deus ex machina can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat – resulting in the very uncontrolled escalation that Moscow seeks to avoid. Even these speculations assume that the miserable specimens of humanity calling the shots in Western capitals would only risk a direct conflict but would not deliberately choose it. But is that assumption correct? As Doctorow notes, the old Cold War restraints have broken down. Maybe demonstration of a teeny-tiny, low-yield nuke is just the thing to show that non-human Vladof Putler that the GAE is serious! What could possibly go wrong? Recently on his podcast Judge Andrew Napolitano showed part of a computer simulation of a US-Russia nuclear exchange in which the initial toll on the US population was only (“only”!) about nine percent, while on Russia it was around 62 percent. (Given that Russia has more warheads than we do, I don’t know how they came up with that, but I didn’t conduct the simulation.)  Is it so impossible that somewhere, somebody might look at those data and decide it’s a tolerable tradeoff? (Later on, the simulation has pretty much everyone on earth starving to death from nuclear winter, with agriculture in the northern hemisphere unviable for several years. Now there’s a way to resolve both global warming and supposed overpopulation with one stroke! Hey, VHEMT, have we got a concept for you!) Whether or not these dolts manage to kill us all, either by deliberate action or through sheer incompetence, it’s hard to escape the notion that we are approaching the edge of some profound historical moment that will have far-reaching, literally life and death consequences, both domestically and internationally. In the period preceding World War I how many Europeans suspected that their lives would soon be forever changed—and, for millions of them, ended? Who in the years, say, 1910 to 1913, could have imagined that the decades of peace, progress, and civilization in which they had grown up, and which seemingly would continue indefinitely, instead would soon descend into a horror of industrial-scale slaughter, revolution, and brutal ideologies? Which brings us to my parting admonitions to your predecessors in this seminar, which I see no need to change: My young friends, the impact any one of us can expect to have in the face of world-historic trends before which the fates of nations and empires fly like leaves in the autumn winds is vanishingly small. Already baked into the cake will be, I believe, hardships for you that we’ve become accustomed to think only happen to “other people” in “other countries” far away, not seen here since the Revolution and the Civil War, or maybe in isolated instances during the Great Depression: financial and economic disruption and, in some places, especially in urban areas, collapse; supply chains, utilities, and other aspects of basic infrastructure ceasing to function (what happens in major cities when food deliveries stop for a week?), even widespread hunger; rising levels of violence, both criminality and civil strife. These will be combined, paradoxically, with the remaining organs of authority, however discredited, desperately cracking down on the enemy within – no, not on murderers, robbers, and rapists, but on “science deniers,” “religious fanatics,” “haters,” “conspiracy theorists,” “insurrectionists,” “gun nuts,” “purveyors of “medical misinformation,” Russian or Chinese “stooges,” and, of course, “racists,” “sexists,” “homophobes,” and so forth. It’s the late Samuel Francis’ “anarcho-tyranny” nightmare come to life with a vengeance. Nevertheless, for what it is worth, I put before you three practical tasks for your consideration. Firstly, be vigilant against deception, in a day when assuredly evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. Admittedly, this is a tough one, given the ever-present lying that surrounds us and the suppression of dissent. Try to sift truth from falsehood but don’t become obsessed because, in many cases, you won’t be able to be sure anyway. Focus most on what’s proximate to you and on the people most important to you. … Be skeptical – about everyone. … There may be a cost. As Solzhenitsyn said, “He who chooses the lie as his principle inevitably chooses violence as his method.” Secondly, as stewards of every worldly charge placed on us by God and by other people—as fathers and mothers, as husbands and wives, as sons and daughters, as neighbors, as students, as workers, as citizens, as patriots—we must prudently care for those to whom we have a duty within the limited power and wisdom allotted to us. Start with yourselves. Be as self-sufficient as possible. Get involved in your community; that leftist slogan is actually a good one: think globally, act locally. Befriend your neighbors. Learn a real skill – electricity, plumbing, carpentry. Farm! Don’t go to law school, for goodness’ sake. Get in shape. Eat and sleep right. Have plenty of the essentials: food, fuel, gold, ammunition. Learn to shoot. Limit computer and phone time. Experience nature. Cultivate healthy personal relationships – real ones, not virtual ones. Marry young, have kids, lots of them – especially women, don’t get seduced by all that “career” nonsense. Nobody on his or her deathbed ever said, “Gosh, I wish I’d spent more time at the office.” Read old books. Cultivate virtue. Go to church. Simply being what used to be considered normal and leading a productive life is becoming the most revolutionary act one can perform. With that in mind, find the strength to be revolutionaries indeed! In the face of the culture of death and extinction, choose to affirm life. You’ve seen the meme: Hard times create strong men; Strong men create good times; Good times create weak men; Weak men create hard times. Well, take it from the weakling Boomer generation that brought them to you: the hard times, they is a-coming. But they won’t last forever. If you live through them – and some of you will not – we’ll see what possibilities, as of now literally unimaginable, might then exist. But you will need to be personally fit to take advantage of them. You will also need to be part of some kind of sustainable community of likeminded people. Thirdly, for those of you who are believers, particularly Christians, we must pray without ceasing, firm in faith that, through whatever hardships may lie ahead, even the very hairs of our head are all numbered, and the final triumph of Truth is never in doubt. Thank you, and good luck. You’re going to need it. Tyler Durden Wed, 09/06/2023 - 23:45.....»»

The historic Seiden's Fur building was on life support after Kansas City recently posted a notice that it would seek bids to demolish the 149-year-old structure. However, social media posts inspired a local developer to put the property under contract and explore a historic renovation......»»

"I know that when I finally sell the chapel and move out, I'll be clinging to the front door handle," Peggy Prendeville, the owner, told Insider. The main hall.Unique Property Company Interior designer Peggy Prendeville bought a historic London chapel in 1999 and spent 2 years renovating it. Now, she's putting the four-bedroom property on the market for £2.95 million, or $3.72 million. Prendeville says that it's time for her to downsize as she's getting older and her children are all grown up. In 1999, Peggy Prendeville was living in a converted warehouse in London. With two kids in tow, her family was outgrowing their home and she was looking for a new place to live.The exterior of the Camberwell Chapel.Unique Property Company"Since I was living in a converted warehouse with six-meter ceilings, I knew I wanted another unusual space with high ceilings," Prendeville, a 67-year-old interior designer, told Insider. "I didn't want to just buy an ordinary house or a flat."By coincidence, a neighbor had just sold her place and recommended Prendeville a real-estate agency."I told my realtor that I was looking for a school, a warehouse, a factory, a water tower, or even a church if he had one," Prendeville said. As it turned out, her realtor knew of two churches that were looking for new owners.She didn't like the first church they visited, but the second one was perfect. "My husband and I had planned to spend the whole summer looking for somewhere new to live, and we found it on day one," she added.Prendeville and her family have called the chapel home for the last 24 years. Now, she's putting the 3,196-square-foot property on the market for £2.95 million, or $3.72 million.The main hall.Unique Property CompanyThe chapel in Camberwell, South London, used to be a part of a teacher's training college in the early 1900s known as the St. Gabriels College, Prendeville said."In 1970s England, it was decided that there were too many teachers being trained for too few available jobs. Many teacher training colleges were closed down, including this one, so Goldsmiths College of Art took over the building," Prendeville said.The college remained on the premises up until the early '90s, she said. After it moved out, the property was sold to a developer who turned the building into an apartment complex known as St. Gabriels Manor."When they got to the chapel, they wanted to divide it into four flats. But English Heritage — an organization dedicated to building conservation — stopped them because of the building's historical significance," she said.In a twist of events, the lawyer that the developers hired to fight their case ended up buying the chapel from them instead — and he was the owner who eventually sold the property to her two years later, Prendeville added.Prendeville says that she was drawn to the chapel because it was still a "bare shell," which gave her the opportunity to design the home from scratch.Prendeville added a mezzanine floor to one end of the chapel to create an additional sitting area. She used glass balustrades to create a parapet without obstructing the view of the stained glass windows.Unique Property CompanyIn the UK, there are two main steps to buying a property, Prendeville said: The exchange of contracts — when a buyer puts down a deposit — and the completion, when the full payment is made to the seller and the property ownership transfers to the buyer.But there was a bit of a problem: Prendeville and her husband were having difficulty raising a big enough mortgage, and there were already a few other interested buyers."I needed the owner to know how much I wanted to buy the chapel, but you've got to complete all the legal stuff before it's really yours," she said. "So before I left the viewing, I told him I'd like to shake on it. And we did."Even though the owner ended up getting much higher offers on the property, he decided to honor their handshake. Prendeville preferred to keep the amount she paid for the chapel private."We ended up doing the exchange of contracts within two weeks, on the condition that the completion would be three months later," she added. This arrangement gave her time to make up for the shortfall by working all summer.Due to the ceiling height, Prendeville was able to add additional levels to the chapel to create more floor space for all the rooms she needed.Prendeville added a third level above the existing mezzanine on the other end of the main hall. The mezzanine is where one bedroom and the study are, while the master suite occupies the entire third level.Unique Property CompanyOn one end of the chapel, Prendeville created another floor above the existing mezzanine. She put one bedroom and the study on the mezzanine floor, and used the entire third level for the master bedroom.At the other end of the chapel, she created a new mezzanine level to make space for a sitting room with a TV.Instead of using typical balustrades, Prendeville opted for glass panels so that the overall view of the chapel isn't obstructed by unsightly pillars."When you first come in, you'll see the whole triple glass window with no obstruction, and I did that by putting an invisible glass balustrade — without a rail on the top — across the whole floor," she said.Since the chapel is a Grade II listed building in the UK, which means it is of special architectural and historic interest, there were limits to what Prendeville could do in her renovation.The study.Unique Property CompanyPrendeville had to consult the chief planning officer of her area as well as English Heritage before making any modifications to the building."They made me realize that whatever I put in needed to be easily reversible, with minimal damage, if it ever needed to be reinstated to a chapel," she said. "So all of the internal walls are made out of cupboards, open shelving, or glass."Not only were the partition walls easy to remove, but they also provided her with extra storage space, she added.Prendeville says that she's managed to create an eclectic interior decor style by mixing the chapel's original features with modern aesthetics.The altar has been transformed into a kitchen.Unique Property Company"Here we are in a Victorian chapel, but I've mixed it with glass and polished stainless steel," Prendeville said. Even the altar has been turned into a kitchen with shiny, metallic appliances to create a contrasting look, she added. Prendeville also designed the sofas that were in the chapel and had them custom-made to match the chapel's high ceilings, large altar, and oversized church pews."If I put in normal-height sofas, they would've looked silly," she said.Other items in the home include vintage furniture that she amassed from her travels, such as a Chinese wedding bed and decorative cabinets, she added.The chapel comes with four bedrooms, including a master suite with a freestanding bathtub that takes up the entire top floor.The master bedroom. There is a freestanding bathtub towards the side of the room (in the back of the photo).Unique Property Company"I installed the freestanding bath there so I could start each day by having a bath with the glorious view of the triple stained glass windows on the opposite end of the chapel," Prendeville said.But part of the reason why she couldn't have an enclosed bathroom there was that it would have obstructed the view of the original Latin frieze on the wall, which she told English Heritage that she wouldn't do. The chapel is in the SE5 postal code district in London, per the listing. Detached properties in the area sold for an average price of £1.745 million over the last year, per data from UK real-estate platform Rightmove."The original fixed items will stay with the chapel but if people were keen on the furniture, they would need to negotiate separately for this," Simon Stone, the listing agent with Unique Property Company, told Insider.There are four bathrooms in the chapel, and they all have a modern look that contrasts with the rest of the building.One of the bathrooms in the home. This bathroom is located directly below the freestanding tub in Prendeville's master bedroom.Unique Property Company"English Heritage wanted anything I added to contrast in style from the original so that you could easily decipher the old from the new," Prendeville said.The freestanding bathtub in the master bedroom is also located directly above another bathroom, which makes plumbing easy, she added.Looking back, Prendeville says that the renovation process was difficult because of its scale and the fact that she oversaw the entire project on her own.One of the living spaces in the house.Unique Property Company"I couldn't afford to get a building contractor to do the whole renovation, so I organized all of the tradespeople myself. I was the full-time site manager and bought all the building materials too," Prendeville said. Prendeville and her family lived with her mother on the other side of London during the renovation, she said. Every morning for two years, she would drive to the chapel at 6 a.m. to oversee the contractors. Her family ended up moving into the chapel even before the renovation was completed."After nine months, the major building work was complete but we still had a lot to do," she added. "Most of the joinery work hadn't been installed yet, which meant that my 10-year-old son had to move into a bedroom with only two walls."Prendeville is selling the chapel now because she wants to downsize. She's getting on in age and her children have all grown up.One of the bedrooms in the house.Unique Property Company"I know that when I finally sell the chapel and move out, I'll be clinging to the front door handle. I'll have to be dragged away, screaming, because I created this home myself and it's a part of me," Prendeville said. "But on the other hand, a house is only a possession in the end, and one should be able to let go of material things," she added. "I've lived in it long enough — I've had years to enjoy what I did."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Happisburgh, England, has had 34 homes fall into the sea in past 20 years. Million-year-old human footprints once found there have also washed away. The end of a tarmac road shows the devastation caused by coastal erosion of the cliff face in the village of Happisburgh on November 6, 2019.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Happisburgh, located in England's Norfolk county, has been crumbling into the sea. Coastal erosion has plagued the village for decades, and could be worsened by increasing storms. Million-year-old human footprints were once discovered in the historic village, but they washed away. A small English village on the North Sea coast with thousands of years of history has been crumbling into the sea due to decades of coastal erosion.Happisburgh, located in Norfolk County, has seen dozens of homes wash away to sea as the cliff face edges closer and closer to its remaining residents.Photos show how the sea could soon swallow more of the historic town if the coastal erosion continues.Happisburgh, pronounced "haze-bruh," is home to about 1,400 people and about 600 homes.Aerial view of Happisburgh, Norfolk, England, in 2021.Historic England Archive/Heritage Images/Getty ImagesSource: British Geological SurveyThough Happisburgh is currently a seaside town, it was previously further from shore. Records suggest more than 820 feet of land was swept away between 1600 to 1850.Village sign and houses in Happisburgh, Norfolk, England.Geography Photos/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesSource: British Geological SurveyAn increase in storms that are linked to climate change may be exacerbating the erosion of the sandy shoreline. Storm surges cause raised water levels that batter the shore, causing more erosion.Eroded shoreline at Happisburgh, Norfolk, United Kingdom, pictured in 2006.Tim Graham/Getty ImagesSource: BBCBryony Nierop-Reading, 77, refused an offer of about $65,800 in 2013 to evacuate her home before it ultimately fell into the sea in 2013 during a storm.A house on the edge of a cliff after erosion from a North Sea storm surge, pictured on December 5, 2013, in Happisburgh, Norfolk, UK.David Tipling/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesSource: BBCOne Happisburgh resident told the BBC when she purchased her home 18 years ago, it was in the middle of a street. Now, her house is the last one before the cliff's edge.A road in Happisburgh, England, now falls straight off a sea cliff as a result of coastal erosion.Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesSource: BBCMany others in Happisburgh have already been forced to evacuate, with 34 homes getting swallowed by the sea over the past 20 years.A general view of erosion to the cliff face in the village of Happisburgh on on November 06, 2019, in Great Yarmouth, England.Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesSource: BBC"It's changed unbelievably. You just don't recognize the place," a Happisburgh resident told Bloomberg. "Houses, friends that have lived in those houses, have all gone. It's all gone.'"Houses abandoned and derelict awaiting demolition because of coastal erosion, Happisburgh, Norfolk, England, pictured in 2006.Geography Photos/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesSource: BloombergAlong with homes, the situation in Happisburgh is also washing away history, which has contributed to the village being a tourist attraction.Former beach access stairs standing alone after the cliff receded due to coastal erosion in Happisburgh, Norfolk, England, pictured in 2006.Geography Photos/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesScientists in 2014 discovered human footprints in Happisburgh that they said were 800,000 to 1 million years old, the most ancient ever found outside of Africa and the earliest sign of humans in Europe.A general view of erosion to the cliff face and the scarred landscape of a former caravan site in the village of Happisburgh on November 06, 2019.Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesSource: Associated PressBut the million-years-old footprints washed away just two weeks after they were discovered.People walk past a recent landslip on the cliff edge and beach in the village of Happisburgh on January 27, 2021, in Happisburgh, England.Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesSource: Associated PressHappisburgh is also home to St. Mary's, a still-standing 14th-century church.The end of a tarmac road shows the devastation caused by coastal erosion of the cliff face in the village of Happisburgh on November 06, 2019.Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe red-and-white-striped Happisburgh Lighthouse, built in 1790, is the only independently run lighthouse in Great Britain.Happisburgh Lighthouse, Norfolk, 2021.Historic England Archive/Heritage Images/Getty ImagesSource: Happisburgh VillageCoastal defenses were put in place decades ago to help avoid coastal erosion, but those have been weakened over the years by the sea.Waves crash against destroyed sea defenses in the coastal village of Happisburgh on January 16, 2020 in Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom.Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe government is still working on solutions to address the situation, with many residents wishing officials would do more to defend the community.—Kira Bindrim (@KiraBind) April 5, 2023Source: BBCHave a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The 147-year-old building is part of a four-plot teardown by developer LTNG.....»»

"He's what America used to be," a supporter said of Mastriano after the event in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Governor Doug Mastriano, with his wife Rebecca, and (R) Republican candidate for Lt. Governor Carrie DelRosso after a rally in Manheim, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2022.Mark Makela/Getty Images A Doug Mastriano rally in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, featured praying and wading into culture wars. The Republican candidate for governor is widely expected to lose on Election Day.  But his campaign and his supporters predict a victory.  FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, Pennsylvania – On a crisp fall afternoon, around 100 supporters waited eagerly inside a banquet hall, with bedazzled campaign buttons for the Republican nominee for governor pinned on their T-shirts. In their hands were red rally towels emblazoned with his name, Doug Mastriano.As Mastriano arrived, wearing a camouflage cap that read "Desert Storm Veteran" with the American flag printed on its bill, the crowd rose to its feet and swirled the towels in the air. Their hollers, whistles and applause drowned out the blaring of a Christian gospel song, Steven Curtis Chapman's "The Great Adventure," from a speaker.Less than three minutes later, the room quickly fell silent as attendees – mostly older adults but some young, and mostly white but a handful of people of color – took their seats and bowed their heads in a prayer led by David Parker, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army's Medical Service Corps and now a part-time host at a local Catholic radio station."Let us walk assiduously, ladies and gentlemen," Parker said, "In these crucial last days for the campaign with God's help to restore Pennsylvania and our great nation to how our founding fathers established it, so we may walk as free people again."Once more they all stood, right hands on their hearts, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Then they sang the "Star-Spangled Banner."After a slate of local officials and candidates expressed their support for Mastriano, a state senator since 2019, his wife, Rebecca, introduced him."He's going to be the hardest fighter for you that you probably have ever seen in the governor's seat," she told the audience. "And I truly, truly believe that God has given everybody in this state a wake-up call."Mastriano then took the stage for more than half an hour. He spoke comfortably, throwing out a mixture of historical references and jokes, as he condemned COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates, attacked transgender youth, and called for election integrity and reform following the 2020 results. He vowed to expel gender "indoctrination" in classrooms, berated his Democratic opponent as soft on crime, pledged to make the state a net exporter of energy and blamed President Joe Biden for inflation. "This is our hour, this is our day, this is our moment," Mastriano said as he wrapped up his remarks. "Let us seize this opportunity to take back our state and ensure that our kids and grandkids have the same freedoms and opportunities that you and I grew up with." The October 27 rally in battleground Bucks County, roughly 22 miles north of Philadelphia, was just one stop on Mastriano's "Restore Freedom Tour" across Pennsylvania, where he's been delivering stump speeches to voters in an unconventional, long-shot bid for the state's highest office.Polls show Mastriano lagging behind his rival, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, by double digits. National and state Republican donors and groups have offered little support to his candidacy. He's rejected the news media. Critics have cast him as a far-right extremist, which he's repudiated. Strategists and pollsters deem it unlikely he'll win."Mastriano doesn't have much of a campaign to speak of," said Kyle Kondik, managing editor for Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "And so if Mastriano were to win, it would be entirely because the environment got so bad for Democrats."But Mastriano's base is holding out hope, and Democrats aren't taking their lead for granted."Mastriano is basically – he's what America used to be," Parker told Insider after the event. "That's why he's resonating with so many people because he wants to restore how things used to be: civility, common sense – everything he said."Former President Donald Trump with Mastriano on stage at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on September 3, 2022.AP Photo/Mary AltafferMastriano's controversial stancesMastriano started growing his loyal following in March 2020, when the raging pandemic forced Pennsylvania and the rest of the country to shut down. Almost nightly, he would lives-stream on Facebook in front of his living room's fireplace, decrying the state's quarantine and "stay at home" orders. The "fireside chats" soon found an audience of Keystone State residents, transforming the previously obscure state senator into a revered figure in conservative circles."He's just been there the whole time," a Mastriano voter in Bucks County who only identified himself as Jeremy, told Insider. "He's stood firm and he has stood for values, and that's something we've lost."Still, it wasn't until after the 2020 election that Mastriano's prominence ballooned. He elevated former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud and spearheaded efforts to challenge Biden's victory in the commonwealth. That culminated in him spending leftover state Senate campaign funds to bus protestors to Washington, DC, for the "Save America" rally on January 6, 2021. Mastriano was also there but says he did not break into the Capitol as throngs of Trump supporters violently had.Staunch devotion to Trump eventually secured Mastriano a coveted endorsement from the former president, days before Pennsylvania's gubernatorial Republican primary. He prevailed over a crowded field with nearly 42% of the vote.But Mastriano has since drawn concerns that he's unelectable. He came under fire over his spreading of 2020 falsehoods, his past peddling of other conspiracy theories, and his association with far-right activists. He's promoted Pizzagate, which alleged that 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton ran a child-sex ring out of a pizzeria, and QAnon, which purports that Trump is fighting to defeat a Satanic cabal of pedophilic elites.Mastriano's faith-infused campaign has also been criticized as Christian nationalism, the belief that America was founded as a Christian nation and should therefore govern as one. Though he dismisses that characterization, Mastriano has previously said the separation of church and state was a "myth" and claimed that Islam is incompatible with the US Constitution. Following immense bipartisan criticism over his ties to Andrew Torba, the founder of the far-right social media platform Gab that's become a hub for espousing antisemitism, Mastriano sought to distance himself.Observers say that Mastriano's outlandish views have alienated traditionally conservative and independent voters in a purple state like Pennsylvania. To win a statewide race, from the rust-belt towns to the suburbs, a "big tent" approach is usually the path to success. "Who he is has cost him support of a broader coalition because he is, on many issues, farther out than the moderate voter or the middle-of-the-road voter," Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, told Insider.Some local Republicans, however, have flocked to Mastriano's side, disputing that he's a divisive candidate who's driven away swing voters. "I find that hilarious," Glenn Geissinger, chairman of Northampton County's GOP, a bellwether in the state, said. "What has he done that's polarizing?"  Mastriano speaks at an event in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, on October 27, 2022.Oma Seddiq/InsiderA 'grassroots' campaignAlong with his statewide tour, Mastriano is fueling his so-called grassroots operation by relying heavily on social media to get his name out, posting repeatedly to Facebook and Twitter. He's rejected media interviews with national, state and local outlets, opting instead to speak to friendly hosts on Fox News and Newsmax. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.While the strategy has certainly energized his base, experts say that's not enough to amass support from among the state's more than 8 million registered voters.Shapiro, with $11 million still in the bank, has significantly outraised Mastriano, who has $2.6 million cash-on-hand as of late September. The Democratic nominee has spent chunks of money launching negative TV and digital ad blitz targeting Mastriano, who's failed to do the same."You can't get your message out one-on-one to voters," Josh Novotney, a Pennsylvania GOP strategist, told Insider. "You need to be up with massive ad buys and also trying to control the media and the news. I haven't seen much of either of that."Mastriano's hyper-focus on culture wars, such as stoking anger over pandemic lockdowns when the nation has largely opened up, is also a losing tactic, according to political consultants. "He has not done a good job at making the conversation about the bread-and-butter winning issues that every other Republican in the country is talking about that is in a competitive race – and that's crime and inflation," Novotney said. "He may have talked about it a little bit," he added, but he "doesn't have the message discipline that I've seen to really make the race about that."Yet Mastriano is banking on his word-of-mouth technique to propel him to a victory on November 8. During the late October event, his campaign repeatedly urged the crowd to talk to their neighbors, knock on doors, and make phone calls to "spread the good word."Campaign signs for Mastriano are displayed in Danville, Pennsylvania.Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesUnperturbed by the polls and the punditryShapiro, Pennsylvania's attorney general since 2017, won his 2020 reelection with 3,461,472 votes – more than any other candidate on the ballot, including Biden. His lengthy list of endorsements includes state law-enforcement officials, labor unions, and advocacy groups. Billboards along Pennsylvania's highways tout his backing from Republican voters. But for all the political machinery on their side, Democrats remain worried about a surprise Mastriano upset.  "Voters are anxious and enthusiastic, but I'm concerned, especially on the Democrat side, that we need to make sure we don't take it for granted," Rogette Harris, chairwoman of Dauphin County's Democratic Party, told Insider in her Harrisburg office.She pointed to a map on the wall – a sea of red – depicting Trump's stunning 2016 victory in Pennsylvania. "My goal as chair is to campaign like we're losing, regardless of what the polls say so that people still vote," Harris said.Republicans have the wind at their backs in this year's midterms, so it's possible Mastriano could become the state's next governor. But pollsters say it's a remote possibility.Besides "Mastriano wearing an R," there's nothing else working in his favor, Borick said. "It's gotta be just an absolute, historic Republican wave to carry someone like Doug Mastriano over the line in this cycle."Mastriano and his allies are unperturbed by the polls and the punditry. In the final stretch of the race, his social media messaging is persistent, and he's planned several campaign events, including one with Trump and Republican Senate nominee Mehmet Oz on Saturday."It's a different tactic and I pray it works," Joe Vichot, chairman of Lehigh County's GOP, told Insider. "I'm getting more and more confident every day that it will."Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The Howard Hughes Corporation® (NYSE: HHC) and Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten celebrated the opening yesterday of the Tin Building by Jean-Georges—a 53,000-square-foot culinary marketplace at Pier 17 at the Seaport on the site of the former Fulton Fish Market—which features an extensive offering of international food experiences at an iconic New York City waterfront... The post New York City Celebrates Opening Of Tin Building By Jean-Georges As The Seaport Welcomes City’s New Culinary Marketplace And Global Destination appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. The Howard Hughes Corporation® (NYSE: HHC) and Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten celebrated the opening yesterday of the Tin Building by Jean-Georges—a 53,000-square-foot culinary marketplace at Pier 17 at the Seaport on the site of the former Fulton Fish Market—which features an extensive offering of international food experiences at an iconic New York City waterfront location. The opening of the reconstructed Tin Building at its historic Seaport location marks a major milestone in the revitalization of the Lower Manhattan neighborhood and creates a destination unlike any other in the city. The expansive new marketplace—with every product and menu item personally curated by acclaimed chef Jean-Georges—reinforces the Seaport’s reputation as New York City’s new culinary epicenter. With two levels offering over 20 new restaurants, bars, grocery markets, retail, and private dining experiences all under one roof, the highly anticipated new Tin Building is the largest culinary experience to open in Lower Manhattan in recent years, bringing over 700 new jobs to the community and driving significant economic benefit to the area. “New York City and our central business districts are coming back, thanks in part to creative new projects like this one,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “A true culinary destination, the reconstructed Tin Building combines so many of the ingredients we need to revitalize Lower Manhattan, and offers wide-ranging and high-quality offerings, especially from a chef who appreciates plant-based food. The Tin Building will not only create jobs, but also attract New Yorkers and tourists—helping to keep this neighborhood vibrant for years to come. I applaud all of the partners for reimagining this site in a way that honors its history, while helping to bring this neighborhood into a new era.” The Tin Building by Jean-Georges is the first project completed by The Howard Hughes Corporation and Jean-Georges since HHC acquired a minority stake in the celebrated global restauranteur’s company earlier this year. “With the opening of the Tin Building by Jean-Georges, The Howard Hughes Corporation brings our commitment to creating best-in-class customer experiences to a uniquely immersive culinary destination at the Seaport,” said David R. O’Reilly, Chief Executive Officer of The Howard Hughes Corporation. “As we continue to work in close partnership with Chef Jean-Georges, we are excited for the many opportunities ahead for the expansion of Jean-Georges Restaurants across our national portfolio that will continue to set the standard for hospitality today.”  “The market at the Seaport was one of the first places I visited when I first came to New York City in 1985, and it has continued to be a consistent part of my culinary inspiration ever since,” said Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. “It has been a great privilege to have this opportunity to bring back the Tin Building and reinvent such an iconic New York staple in a new and authentic way—honoring and inspired by the Seaport’s rich history and continuing the legacy of providing a one-of-a-kind experience that pays tribute to the global influences found in New York City.” Culinary ExperienceThe Tin Building incorporates a wide range of culinary experiences into an authentic New York environment and includes aspects of favorite dining and retail experiences from around the world including a French brasserie, a seafood restaurant, an Asian speakeasy, a breakfast counter, several vegetarian options, a bakery, a coffee shop, and much more. The unique offerings are anchored by an expansive central marketplace at the building’s core featuring daily rotations of locally and sustainably sourced meats, seafood, cheeses, produce and ready-to-eat items. The Tin Building’s specialty food program offers a select, premium variety of Jean-Georges branded items such as sauces, oils, and marinades as well as candy, chocolate, and gifts—each hand-picked by Chef Jean-Georges. Reconstruction and Resiliency Before the reconstruction of the Tin Building began—a process which involved the meticulous cataloging, storage, repair, and refurbishment of roughly 300 items from the original building for historical reference and reuse—The Howard Hughes Corporation elected to undertake the extensive process of rebuilding the pier on which the Tin Building sits, including the demolition and reconstruction of the pier structures using new concrete and steel piles beneath the water. Once the pier was fully rebuilt, HHC elevated the building structure six feet to its current height of one foot above the FEMA 100-year floodplain to ensure long-term coastal resiliency. Over the past ten years HHC has spent $789 million on the development of Pier 17, the Tin Building, and the historic Seaport neighborhood, including rebuilding the piers and infrastructure along the waterfront, helping to drive the development of a more resilient Seaport community. Design The reconstructed Tin Building reflects and pays homage to the Seaport’s storied past. After the Tin Building was meticulously disassembled and recreated, Roman and Williams Buildings and Interiors took direction from the 1920s and 1930s to honor the history of the site, creating a beautiful, utilitarian feel within a contemporary context. The space is punctuated by restaurants and retail, each with their own distinct identity and design. The building’s central marketplace, which maintains the original Fish Market as its foundation, welcomes visitors upon entering the building with a feast for the senses. Throughout the building, ribbons of brass, details of turned wood, marble surfaces, and handmade tiles in maritime blues and greens channel Jean-Georges’ nostalgia for the original Tin Building, built in 1907. “The beauty of designing something like the Tin Building is that it comes alive when it’s in use—the way food comes alive when shared,” said Robin Standefer, principal and co-founder of Roman and Williams. “And we are so excited to see these spectacular spaces and historic walls buzzing with the excitement of their heyday once again.” The lighting concept throughout the entire Tin Building, designed by acclaimed lighting design firm L’Observatoire International, further reinforces the marketplace’s historical character and invites a cohesive journey through the building. The Tin Building exhibits numerous items and artifacts from the building’s history that were painstakingly preserved during the building’s reconstruction. A gallery wall of black and white photographs by fine art photographer Barbara Mensch captures the unique history, allure, and authentic character of the Seaport’s Lower Manhattan waterfront, reflecting the artist’s decades-long commitment to the neighborhood where she has lived since the early 1980s. In addition to honoring its past, the new Tin Building is designed for future innovation. A second-floor dining room and reception space also serves as The Tasting Studio—the Tin Building’s broadcast studio for the production of cooking segments and the recording of a daily Tin Building podcast. “Throughout our development at the Seaport, we have engaged in a collaborative dialogue with our local community to help revitalize Lower Manhattan and ensure a bright future for our Seaport neighborhood that reflects the incredible diversity of New York City,” said Saul Scherl, President of the New York Region for The Howard Hughes Corporation. “The reconstruction of the Tin Building further establishes the Seaport as a community anchor and gathering place. With locally and globally sourced foods, exciting programming, and the addition of new jobs, this revitalization is a testament to the Seaport’s enduring legacy as a thriving hub of opportunity and innovation.”  About Tin Building by Jean-Georges The Tin Building by Jean-Georges is an exciting new 53,000-square-foot culinary destination located at Pier 17 at the Seaport on the former site of the Fulton Fish Market. Inspired by New York City’s history as a bustling commercial and maritime hub, the Tin Building marketplace has been meticulously reconstructed and transformed into a multi-sensory culinary journey of global food & beverage experiences.  In partnership with The Howard Hughes Corporation®, the Tin Building by Jean-Georges features six new full-service restaurant concepts, six fast-casual counters, as well as bars focused on wine, craft cocktails and craft beers—all anchored by a central marketplace featuring a locally sourced, curated selection of seafood, meats, cheese, produce, plus three specialty retail markets. The building features interiors designed by acclaimed design studio Roman and Williams and lighting by L’Observatoire International. For more information guests can visit TinBuilding.com and media inquiries can be directed to TinBuilding@magrinopr.com. About The Howard Hughes Corporation® The Howard Hughes Corporation owns, manages and develops commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate throughout the U.S. Its award-winning assets include the country’s preeminent portfolio of large-scale, mixed use master planned communities, as well as operating properties and development opportunities including: the Seaport in New York City; Downtown Columbia®, Maryland; The Woodlands®, The Woodlands Hills®, and Bridgeland® in the Greater Houston, Texas area; Summerlin® in Las Vegas, Nevada; Ward Village® in Honolulu, Hawai‘i; and Douglas Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. The Howard Hughes Corporation’s portfolio is strategically positioned to meet and accelerate development based on market demand, resulting in one of the strongest real estate platforms in the country. Dedicated to innovative placemaking, the company is recognized for its ongoing commitment to design excellence and to the cultural life of its communities. The Howard Hughes Corporation is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as HHC. For additional information visit www.howardhughes.com. Safe Harbor Statement Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts, including statements accompanied by words such as “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “enables,” “realize,” “plan,” “intend,” “assume,” “transform” and other words of similar expression, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s expectations, estimates, assumptions, and projections as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth as risk factors in The Howard Hughes Corporation’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly and Annual Reports. The Howard Hughes Corporation cautions you not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The Howard Hughes Corporation does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release. The post New York City Celebrates Opening Of Tin Building By Jean-Georges As The Seaport Welcomes City’s New Culinary Marketplace And Global Destination appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

Victor Davis Hanson: Does GOP Get To Play By Radical Left's New Rules? Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com, Are the New Progressive Rules Reciprocal? Are today’s norms tomorrow’s norms?  In the era of peak woke we are supposed to accept any radical departure from long-held custom and tradition as the new normal. Perhaps. But if so, is the improved new code of behavior at least reciprocal? Will the radical Left really wish to live by its own novel normality when it loses power?  Have leftists ever read Thucydides on the stasis at Corcyra and his warning that zealots who destroy laws, customs, and traditions for short-term gain, soon rue the day they began making such changes when, in vain, they seek refuge in the very sanctuaries of behavior that they have destroyed?   Or will they just plead that their own rules do not apply to themselves given their innate moral superiority? Will they employ the John Kerry defense that one must bomb the upper atmosphere with private-jet carbon emissions in order to do the important work of flying around the globe to stop carbon emissions?  The Supreme Court How about the new protocols regarding the Supreme Court?  Should conservatives mass at the home of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, decrying her radical nihilist abortionist ideology? Is that an understandable cri de coeur? Would such intimidation in the future moderate her extremism? Is that now an acceptable strategy?  Should Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) now lead a throng of screaming, right-wing protestors to the very doors of the Supreme Court? Should he egg them on by calling out by name Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sotomayor, warning that they have sown the “wind” and will soon reap the “whirlwind,” as they will have no idea what “hit” them?   Is that moral courage? Would the New York Times and NPR nod approval to such “grassroots” anguish? Will anyone define what the incendiary “hit them” means?  When the Republicans gain the presidency and Congress, should they pack the court to 15 justices, on the cue of current progressive efforts?  Is the new norm that right-wing goons should dog Justice Jackson while eating at restaurants, throng her—and then be contextualized and excused by conservative cabinet members, media, and politicians? Is that our new normal reaction to rulings with which we disagree?  Should the next president trash the rulings of liberal justices when abroad before his foreign hosts? Should the conservative world keep mum when a crazy right-winger shows up fully armed near the homes of left-wing Supreme Court justices?   Should the Left one day achieve a 5-4 majority, would major conservative politicians then claim that their rulings are “illegitimate” and seek to find ways to nullify them?  Should conservative clerks leak controversial drafts of left-wing opinions to the media in hopes of mobilizing preemptive opposition to and strategies against subsequent progressive rulings? Are the Left’s new Supreme Court protocols the new normal that the Right, when in power, should duplicate?  The Congress  If the Republicans enjoy a Senate majority in 2023, should they follow the left-wing cue of Barack Obama—to end the “Jim-Crow-era” and “racist” filibuster, and thereby end “obstructionist” ideologues who prefer “gridlock”?  Should right-wingers designate 550 sanctuary jurisdictions in which overreaching federal environmental law simply does not fully apply? Are there to be cities and counties where federal gun registration is de facto dropped—on the principle of a higher allegiance to the Constitution?  When Republicans take over the House in 2023, should they immediately start impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden, for destroying the border and ignoring his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws?  Will they also appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the “Big Guy” to find how much of son Hunter Biden’s cash he received and whether he fully reported such income to the IRS—all to impeach Biden a second time as a private citizen once he leaves office? Is that the Left’s congressional legacy?  Or should they call in Ivy League psychiatrists right now to tele-diagnose Biden as demented and deserving of an “intervention” under the 25th Amendment? Should they subpoena transcripts of all Biden’s private calls with foreign heads of state, or bring in those on the national security council to testify to what Biden said privately to foreign leaders, to ferret out any sign of senility or reference to Biden family skullduggery?  Should a newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tear up on national television the next misleading and factually inaccurate State of the Union address by Joe Biden? Will the nation then voice support for his adherence to the Nancy Pelosi norm?   Will there soon be a return of the January 6 committee in which Speaker McCarthy appoints only those Democratic members who voted in 2023 to impeach Joe Biden and were political lame ducks? Will he announce that any members of “the squad” will not be serving on any congressional committees in 2023?  Should the selectively packed committee examine the 120 days of 2020 rioting, the planned attempt to storm the White House grounds on May 31, 2020, the burning of a historic church or of a federal courthouse, and the Black Lives Matter/Antifa conspiracy to riot, loot, and destroy that was coordinated on social media?  Will they call in an “insurrectionary abettor,” Vice President Kamala Harris, to ask why in the violent aftermath of an attack on the White House grounds did she as a vice presidential candidate boast that “protests” such as those would and should continue?  Should “insurrectionist” Stacey Abrams be compelled to testify about her prior year-long efforts to “nullify” the Georgia gubernatorial vote?  Will the new Congress investigate all the House and Senate members who tried to reject the Ohio vote of 2004, or who sought to pressure electors to reject their constitutional obligations in 2016, or all the senior left-wing politicians who claimed that the president in 2017 was “illegitimate,” the vote of 2016 was “rigged,” and Joe Biden should not honor the count in 2020 if it did not go his way?  Will there be a new committee to investigate “left-wing rage,” to ascertain why political attackers, mass shooters, and attempted assassins serially target conservative congressmen, senators, Supreme Court justices, and gubernatorial candidates? Do they use social media to plan their nefarious plots?  Was such unaddressed and ignored congressional rejectionism in the past “reckless” or even “insurrectionist”?  The Military  What will be the new norm should a new Republican-appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs or defense secretary vow before Congress, without supporting documentation, that he is rooting out dangerous BLM and Antifa sympathizers in the military as likely insurrectionists?  Will he express worry about “black rage” that is reflected in inordinate proportional representation in spiking violent crime, and especially disturbing new asymmetrical hate-crime statistics? Will he worry that white males are vastly “overrepresented” in combat units and die on the front lines at twice their numbers in the general population? Is that a de facto violation to the most existential degree of equity and inclusion or diversity?  What will be the reaction if the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs calls up his Chinese Communist counterpart to warn him that Joe Biden is senile and talks recklessly about “removing” Putin, and thus China or Russia must be warned should Biden suggest something dangerous? Do new military norms accept the chairman now has operational authority and can simply abort the chain of command when he sees fit, regardless of the statutory link between the president and defense secretary and their theater commanders?  What will happen if a slew of conservative retired generals now senses a new normal and will thus publicly decry Joe Biden as a fascist, a Nazi-like failure, a veritable architect of Auschwitz border cages, a liar, a cheat, and deserving of removal the sooner the better? Will that be OK?  Will there follow applause or at least exemption under the new normal, or will an unhinged liberal voice in the wilderness vainly suggest such invective is improper if not illegal under the Uniform Code of Military Justice?  What would happen should the new military demand mandatory conservative and traditional civic education among the ranks, banish the current woke diversity-equity-inclusion industry—and thus see recruitment crash? Would the Left stay silent or scream as the army struggles to achieve just 40 percent of its recruitment goals?  The FBI and CIA  What about the new normal at the FBI? Will it stay a retrieval service, but this time around for a Republican president in 2025—should an addled first family member lose a feloniously incriminating laptop, a sexually embarrassing diary, an unlawfully and deceitfully registered handgun, or a wayward crack pipe?  Will the next FBI director preposterously open an investigation during the 2024 election, on rumors that the activities of the Biden family, of General Mark Milley, of Anthony Fauci, of key senators with Chinese financial interests all constitute a sort-of-kind-of “collusion” conspiracy with China, aimed at advancing a self-enriching and mutual left-wing agenda in the presidential election?  Will the FBI director claim 245 times under oath before Congress he has no memory of what he has ordered? Will it be a slap-on-the-wrist, reduced-sentence tacit approval that an FBI lawyer altered a court document to ensure we get to the bottom of “Chinese collusion”? Is it alright if we learn that a Republican presidential candidate hired a foreign ex-spy, and hid his pay behind three walls, to find dirt on his opponents?  Will Congress bring in some old right-wing FBI retired bulldog to compile a “dream team” of Federalist Society legal zealots to hunt for “Chinese collusion” among Democratic grandees?  Will the FBI investigate Mark Zuckerberg, following his $419 million dark-money trail to see how many state registrars were absorbed by Zuck-bucks cash in conspiratorial fashion?  Will an enterprising conservative ex-spy compile a fantasy “dossier” of alleged Biden family shenanigans, in lurid sexual detail, with the Chinese, and then peddle it to right-wing blogs on the eve of an election, all while being paid by the FBI?  In answer to the “Access Hollywood” and various lawsuits and investigations of Donald Trump,  will Congress form a committee equally to ferret out the apparent pandemic of left-wing sexual harassment, illicit romances, and dangerous liaisons, as they call in the Cuomo brothers, Andrew Gillum, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)—and Joe Biden?  Will the FBI in 2025 be dispatched to school board meetings to monitor whether left-wing activists are too intimidating to board members? Will they bring in SWAT teams to arrest leftist political operatives whom the Republican Justice Department finds possibly indictable?  Will they put in chains prominent ex-Democratic advisors who refuse a Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoena to appear before his new Hunter Biden committee? Will they roust out in their underwear, leftist reporters who are rumored to be in possession of a Republican president’s daughter’s diary, intimating she took inappropriate showers with her dad?  Will 50 prominent conservative ex-CIA operatives and other intelligence officers swear in 2024 that a lost Republican laptop outlining payoffs from foreign sources was a product of Chinese disinformation? Will former conservative CIA directors or directors of national intelligence lie under oath to Congress with impunity?  In sum, are today’s norms tomorrow’s norms?  Or were they simply transitory and necessary in the age of the dreaded Trump—as one-time leftist means to achieve noble ends, and thus should never be institutionalized much less boomeranged?  If so, will they reappear whenever the Left returns to power?  Or should they be applied equally to the Left right now to ensure that outrage and disgust with such immoral and illegal machinations prohibit their use in the future? Tyler Durden Mon, 08/01/2022 - 22:20.....»»

Tarrio hopes to be sprung on $1 million bail. On Wednesday, a judge called the ex-Proud Boys leader's "We did this" boast "strong" evidence for keeping him in jail. Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio wears a hat that says "The War Boys" during a rally in Portland, Ore., on September 26, 2020.Allison Dinner/AP A DC judge is weighing ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio's bid to be let out of jail pending trial on Jan. 6 conspiracy charges.  At a hearing Wednesday, the judge said Tarrio's 'We did this' boast is 'strong' evidence for keeping him jailed. Tarrio is accused of leading the far-right extremist group's attack on the Capitol; more than 40 members are charged. Ex-Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio hopes to be released on $1 million bail as he awaits trial on his January 6, 2021, conspiracy case — but a DC judge said Wednesday that the former extremist group leader's "We did this" boast is strong evidence for keeping him jailed.Tarrio had made the boast to his top Proud Boys lieutenants on an encrypted chat channel, minutes after Rochester, New York, chapter leader Dominic Pezzola allegedly broke the first Capitol window with a riot shield forcibly stolen from an officer."Take Mr. Tarrio at his own words," a federal prosecutor, Jason McCullough, argued Wednesday in opposing Tarrio's bid for bail."At 2:24 [p.m.], he says, 'Make no mistake. We did this,'" McCullough told Judge Timothy Kelly in DC District Court."Later, in the 4 o'clock hour, he says — when he's asked what should we do — he says, 'Do it again.'"The prosecutor pointed out that the day before the Capitol breach, Tarrio was released on bail for burning a BLM banner stolen from a historic DC church.As a condition of that bail, Tarrio had to stay out of DC on January 6, 2021. But prosecutors contend that he directed his Proud Boys troops anyway, from a hotel room in Baltimore.And Tarrio's men "were the tip of the spear on January 6th," the prosecutor told the judge of the successful effort to disrupt Congress as it certified Joe Biden's presidential win. "Mr. Tarrio is in celebration of it publicly and most importantly in private, taking responsibility for it," the prosecutor said."As rioters are 11 minutes into the building, Mr. Tarrio is on private encrypted chat with that same group saying, 'Make no mistake. We did this.' He's asked also, in the same chat, 'Are we a militia yet?' To which he responds, 'Yup.'"Mr. Tarrio is exercising control over these men," even from Baltimore, the prosecutor said. "And he is aware of what they have done."  Defense lawyer Nayib Hassan argued that Tarrio always respected bail conditions when released after two previous arrests and is not a flight risk now. Tarrio's entire family lives in South Florida and is ready to post a $1 million bond secured by the homes of his grandfather and aunt, and would agree to home confinement at his mother's house in Miami, his lawyer said."It goes without words that Mr. Tarrio has renounced his position as chairman of the Proud Boys. I think that's common knowledge," the lawyer noted."He is not chairman of the Proud Boys anymore," the lawyer added. "He hasn't done anything whatsoever, communicated whatsoever, with the Proud Boys since January 6."And as for the Proud Boys, Hassan insisted it was "just a group of friends that talk and discuss but never planned anything per se."The two sides also gave opposing accounts of a January 5, 2021, meeting, in a DC parking garage, between Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, the now-indicted leader of the Oath Keepers.Hassan said Tarrio's only purpose in going to the garage was to meet with a lawyer, Kellye SoRelle, who represented Oath Keepers and Latinos for Trump.Tarrio was interested in SoRelle representing him, Hassan said, and in fact, can be heard in video filmed prior to the meeting saying "I just need to talk to her." McCullough countered that Tarrio's agenda upon being released from bail went beyond an innocent legal consultation and that Tarrio, whose phone had been confiscated by law enforcement, can be heard in the same tape saying, "I need a communication device" and "I need access to my Telegram." His co-defendants, meanwhile, were communicating themselves about Tarrio and his "plan" for the riot, prosecutors said."The fundamental point here is that Mr. Tarrio on release was focused on and engaged in regaining control and regaining communication for the command and control structure that he had put in place for January 6," the prosecutor said.The judge did not say when he would rule on Tarrio's bail request, only that it would be "shortly." All five Proud Boy conspiracy defendants are back before the judge on Thursday.Of his bail decision, the judge said, "I think it comes down largely to the strength of the evidence," rather than anything to do with the garage meeting, or Tarrio's criminal record and community ties."And I take many of your points, Mr. Hassan, that there's a lot of circumstantial evidence," the judge continued. "There's a lot of evidence here, and some of it connects to your client stronger — like when he directly said, 'Make no mistake. We did this.' And some of it connects to your client very deeply. And I will sort it all out." Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Construction has begun on the new Princeton University Art Museum, a new building on the site of the former Museum in the Princeton campus. Roughly doubling the square footage of the existing facility, the 144,000 s/f facility significantly increases spaces for display, learning and visitor amenities. The Museum, which will... The post Construction starts on Adjaye-designed Princeton University Art Museum appeared first on Real Estate Weekly. Construction has begun on the new Princeton University Art Museum, a new building on the site of the former Museum in the Princeton campus. Roughly doubling the square footage of the existing facility, the 144,000 s/f facility significantly increases spaces for display, learning and visitor amenities. The Museum, which will occupy three stories, will insert itself dynamically into campus life with key pedestrian pathways flowing into and through the building via two “art walks” — thoroughfares that function as the new building’s circulatory spine.  A grid of nine pavilions breaks down the scale of the complex into more intimate modules and allows for deeply varied gallery experiences. The building’s exterior will be characterized by rough and polished stone surfaces responding to the campus surroundings, as well as signature bronze details throughout, alternating solid elements with more transparent features that speak both to the present moment and to the historical Princeton context. SIRE DAVID ADJAYE  The architect Sir David Adjaye, whose firm, Adjaye Associates, is best known for its design of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, was selected as the project architect in 2018. Cooper Robertson is the executive architect. With expansive and growing collections of more than 112,000 globe-spanning works of art from antiquity to today, the Princeton University Art Museum is a major center for the study of the humanities and the visual arts in the United States. The new facility will also house Princeton’s Department of Art and Archaeology and Marquand Library; together, the three units will continue to function as a leading site for research and teaching.  The design overcomes multiple historical barriers to participation, making the visual arts an essential part of the University experience for all Princeton students and an accessible home of democratic engagement for community members and visitors. Contracts were awarded in June 2021, and over the summer demolition began on the former Museum complex, most of which dated to periods of construction in the 1920s, 1960s and 1980s.  “David Adjaye’s design for Princeton reflects our deep commitment to the values of openness, transparency and interconnectedness for our campus constituents, local communities and global audiences,” said James Steward, the Museum’s Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, director. “It’s a remarkable opportunity both to build on the past and to shape a new museum at this particular historical moment, and in doing so to make clear the important role museums can continue to play in an ever more complex world.” Princeton’s art collections date nearly to the University’s founding in 1746 — the first work of art was acquired in 1755 — making Princeton one of the oldest collecting institutions in North America. Working closely with Adjaye Associates, James Corner Field Operations has developed the landscape design for the site, preserving the nearby historically important Prospect Garden, as well as the mature canopy of elms and beeches along McCosh Walk, on the north edge of the site. A number of historically important or specimen trees are being preserved — including a 100-year-old dawn redwood — while other rare trees have been relocated to different locations on the Princeton campus. Those trees that had to be felled will be repurposed by regional artisans into furniture or household furnishings that will be sold through the Museum Store. The landscape features native species and drought-resistant plantings for year-round interest. With demolition expected to be complete this month, concrete foundations to be poured starting this month and construction continuing into early 2024, the Museum has undertaken a number of strategies to maintain its scholarly and public impact during the years of disruption.  It is operating two gallery spaces in downtown Princeton within walking distance of the campus: Art@Bainbridge, a project space privileging installation work by emerging and early-career artists in an historic Revolutionary-era building, and Art on Hulfish, a larger gallery space of a more industrial character. Two outdoor exhibitions are also planned, beginning with the video work of the artist Doug Aitken. In addition, the Museum will be touring four exhibitions to museums across the United States and Mexico while construction is carried out. The post Construction starts on Adjaye-designed Princeton University Art Museum appeared first on Real Estate Weekly......»»

According to Amazon's book editors, the best new books to read in October include picks from Jonathan Franzen, Jane Goodall, and Chibundu Onuzo. According to Amazon's book editors, the best new books to read in October include picks from Jonathan Franzen, Jane Goodall, and Chibundu Onuzo. Amazon; Rachel Mendelson/Insider When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more. Amazon's book editors have picked their top 10 new books to read in October 2021. This month's books include a look at Anthony Bourdain's life and a memoir from a PepsiCo CEO. For more book recommendations, check out the best new books of 2021 so far, according to Goodreads. October is here, which means that Amazon's book editors have 12 newly released books for you to dig into this month.Their top choice is "Sankofa" by Chibundu Onuzo, a novel about a woman who discovers that the father she's never met is actually the president of a nation in Africa. Other recommended books include a book co-written by Jane Goodall, an in-depth look at Anthony Bourdain's life on the road, and Jonathan Franzen's latest novel.Here are the 12 best titles new in October, according to Amazon's editors:Descriptions are provided by Amazon and edited lightly for clarity. 'Sankofa' by Chibundu Onuzo Amazon A grieving woman living in London discovers the diary of the father she never met and yearns to meet him. The twist? He was the president of a country in Africa — determined to liberate and bring prosperity to the people, no matter the cost.Cue the trip of a lifetime. Taking on questions of race, belonging, and heritage, Onuzo writes with gusto and beautifully illuminates what Sankofa means: "A mythical bird…it flies forward with its head facing back." — Al Woodworth, Amazon Editorby Chibundu Onuzo (button) 'In the Weeds' by Tom Vitale Amazon Fans of Anthony Bourdain's shows will at last get what we have long desired: A behind-the-scenes view of life on the crew, traveling to faraway places, and working directly with Bourdain.Written by his long-time director and producer, "In the Weeds" is the affectionate but unvarnished story of their years together, revealing just how tremendously complicated shooting the show really was, and Bourdain's love/hate relationship with "The TV machine." —Seira Wilson, Amazon EditorAround the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain (button) 'The Lincoln Highway' by Amor Towles Amazon Towles' ("A Gentleman in Moscow") latest feat of storytelling finds four boys in search of a fresh start: Emmett and Billy want to find their mother who left them when they were young, and Duchess and Woolly are on the hunt for a stashed wad of cash.There's train hopping and car stealing, and with that comes the inevitability of trouble sparked from both good and bad intentions. Each of these young men is chasing their dreams, but their pasts — whether violent or sad — are never far behind. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor: A Novel (button) 'Crossroads' by Jonathan Franzen Amazon It's 1971 and the Hildebrant family is at a crossroads, if you will. Russ, the patriarch and associate pastor at his church, has recently fallen from grace in a scandal concerning the church's youth group. Meanwhile, his wife and four children are wrestling with issues of their own.The first in a planned trilogy, "Crossroads" proves, yet again, Franzen's prowess at writing riveting dysfunctional family sagas. It's his most commercial work since 2001's "The Corrections." — Sarah Gelman, Amazon EditorA Novel (button) 'We Are Not Like Them' by Christine Pride Amazon When a woman's husband, a police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager, and a friend covers the story for a Philadelphia TV station, their bond is tested as both deal with the tragedy in very different and personal ways.Co-written by two authors — one of whom is Black and one of whom is white — "We Are Not Like Them" tackles tough issues like race, brutality, and class with unflinching honesty and empathy, and will be a big hit with book clubs. — Sarah Gelman, Amazon EditorA Novel (button) 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' by Anthony Doerr Amazon In a novel reminiscent of the mind-bending worlds of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" and "The Bone Clocks," Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthony Doerr ("All the Light We Cannot See") traces the lives of multiple characters and how they intersect over the fate of a single story.Expansive, transporting, and full of emotion and adventure, "Cloud Cuckoo Land" conjures an entirely new definition of brilliant literary magic. — Al Woodworth, Amazon Editorby Anthony Doerr (button) 'No One Will Miss Her' by Kat Rosenfield Amazon "No One Will Miss Her" begins with the discovery of a young woman's body — Lizzie, the pariah of Copper Falls, Maine — a poor, lower-class young woman looked down on both by the police at the murder scene and even by the man she married.Lizzie narrates from beyond the grave as Detective Ian Bird starts investigating everything, from Lizzie's dad to her missing husband to what business Adrienne Richards — a trophy wife who's been renting Lizzie's lakeside house — had in a dump like Copper Falls. You won't want to miss this dark, tart, and pacy mystery. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon EditorA Novel (button) 'What Storm, What Thunder' by Myriam Chancy Amazon This is one of the best books I have read this year. The novel begins by introducing Ma Lou, a woman working in a market in Port-au-Prince when Haiti was hit by the devastating 2010 earthquake.From there, author Myriam J. A. Chancy introduces additional characters and storylines that somehow add to the story without splitting the reader's attention. It is rare that a novel is able to become the defining work about a historic event, but "What Storm, What Thunder" feels like one of those books. — Chris Schluep, Amazon Books Editorby Myriam J A Chancy (button) 'The Book of Hope' by Jane Goodall and Doug Abrams Amazon "We still have a window of time," explains famed naturalist Jane Goodall to writer Doug Abrams. "There really is reason to hope we can succeed."Through several interviews in Tanzania, the Netherlands, and England, Abrams asks Goodall to delve into her keen commitment to hope, much as he movingly did in "The Book of Joy" with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Goodall's words and wisdom will resonate in your heart and soul, inspiring action, change, and, yes, hope. — Adrian Liang, Amazon EditorA Survival Guide for Trying Times (Global Icons Series) (button) 'The Man Who Died Twice' by Richard Osman Amazon Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim — the Thursday Murder Club — get very little time to bask in the glow of solving their first murder case when Douglas, Elizabeth's ex-husband, pops up with a wild tale that involves being on the run and £20M of uncut diamonds.Faster than you can say "tea and scones" someone is murdered, and the Thursday Murder Club must catch a killer before he eliminates them. This clever, funny mystery is a must-read for anyone with even a mild case of Anglophilia. — Vannessa Cronin, Amazon EditorA Thursday Murder Club Mystery (button) 'The Brides of Maracoor' by Gregory Maguire Amazon After nearly drowning, Elphaba's granddaughter Rain wakes up with no memory on an island that is home to only seven female "brides" ranging in age from 10 to 80. The brides spend their days keeping time in check for all of Maracoor, and Rain — accompanied by a talking goose with a wicked sense of humor — begins to learn about this strange land, all the while hoping her memory will return.Details from Maguire's earlier Oz books are a delight to encounter in a tale, the first in a trilogy, that strikes the perfect balance between fantasy and topics of agency, xenophobia, and justice. — Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor: A Novel (Another Day Book 1) (button) 'My Life in Full' by Indra Nooyi Amazon Reading Indra Nooyi's "My Life in Full", you can't help but like her. Sure, she's tough and driven enough to have made it to the top of PepsiCo — the first woman of color and immigrant to run a Fortune 50 company — but she is family-oriented and cares about people as more than just potential customers.Nooyi writes that a leader's fundamental goal should be to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and the future she envisions includes a world where people have room to both make a living and to live their lives. — Chris Schluep, Amazon EditorWork, Family, and Our Future (button) Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

"We want this center to be more than a static museum," the former president said. "It won't just be an exercise in nostalgia … we want this to be a thriving home." Barack and Michelle Obama. Jim Young/AFP/Getty The Obamas on Tuesday oversaw the groundbreaking of the former president's presidential library in Chicago. The library will be built in Chicago's Jackson Park, located on the city's South Side. After a series of construction delays, the library site will soon be buzzing with activity. See more stories on Insider's business page. Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday kicked off the groundbreaking of his presidential library in Chicago, returning to the city that launched his stratospheric rise from the Illinois legislature to the White House.While standing in the city's historic Jackson Park, the location of the Obama Presidential Center, the former president and former First Lady Michelle Obama exalted in the momentous occasion, alongside a small number of guests that included Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.The Obamas remarked on the significance of the library being built in Chicago.The former president emphasized how he received his first taste of public service in the city in the 1980s, pushing to enact change by "knocking on doors and organizing in church basements," while also reminiscing that it was the place where he started a family."It was in neighborhoods not far from here that I began working with church groups in the shadow of closed steel mills," he said.The former president then said that while the library will explore his years in the White House, the focus will be on fostering ideas and training future leaders across all disciplines."We want this center to be more than a static museum or a source of archival research," he said. "It won't just be an exercise in nostalgia … we want this to be a living, thriving home."The former first lady, a native of the South Side of Chicago, leaned into her deep roots in the surrounding area."No matter what I've accomplished or who I met or where I've gone, one of my greatest honors is being a proud Chicagoan and a daughter of the South Side," she said at the ceremony. "I wear it boldly and proudly like a crown. This city, this neighborhood, courses through my veins. It makes me who I am."In 2016, the former president selected Jackson Park as the site of his presidential library, a development that has energized the South Side with a hope for increased economic opportunities.The former first couple envision that the complex, which is expected to cost roughly $830 million and take about five years to build, will be a dynamic cultural center, with event spaces, recording studios, play spaces, and a Chicago Public Library branch, among other amenities planned for the site. Construction on the library commenced in August after a series of delays.A nonprofit organization called Protect Our Parks, which opposed the library being built in the park and wanted it constructed on a nearby site to the west, in August filed an emergency motion asking that the Supreme Court temporarily bar construction.The applicants argued that the groundbreaking should have been halted because the trees in Jackson Park, designed in 1871 by the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, are important for migratory birds, in addition to raising concerns about noise and air pollution.Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is assigned to handle cases for much of the Midwest, denied the motion, allowing for construction to proceed.Obama, who served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2005, was elected to the US Senate in 2004 before launching a nascent presidential bid in 2007.In 2008, he became the first Black American elected to the presidency in US history, and was reelected in 2012.After leaving the White House, the Obamas have devoted their time to a range of causes, including their work with the Obama Foundation, as well as launching a production company, Higher Ground Productions, which has created content for Netflix.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

In a statement announcing the federal government’s fiscal 2023 budget, President Joe Biden quoted his father, saying: “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” And, as has been the case for decades, this year’s budget unambiguously positions the military near the top of the hierarchy […] The post The US Military’s Biggest Weapons Programs appeared first on 24/7 Wall St.. In a statement announcing the federal government’s fiscal 2023 budget, President Joe Biden quoted his father, saying: “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” And, as has been the case for decades, this year’s budget unambiguously positions the military near the top of the hierarchy of American values.  At $857.9 billion in fiscal 2023, the U.S. defense budget surpasses that of the next 10 highest-spending countries combined – including China, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. While the bulk of the U.S. military budget goes toward immediate needs – such as operations, maintenance, and personnel – a significant portion is allocated to more forward-looking initiatives. In anticipation of future challenges, and to better ensure America’s continued global military dominance, the Department of Defense spent $276.0 billion in the 2023 fiscal year researching, developing, testing, evaluating, and procuring weapons systems. This funding included a historic level of investment in space-based weapons, as well as significant year-over-year increases in spending on missile defense technology, shipbuilding, and munitions and missile procurement. (Here is a look at the 20 most lethal weapons in modern warfare.) Using data from the Department of Defense’s April 2023 Program Acquisition Cost By Weapon System report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the U.S. military’s biggest weapons programs. Weapons systems were ranked based on total funding — a composite of research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) and procurement costs — for the 2023 fiscal year. Data used to calculate the percentage change in funding from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2023, as well as data on primary contractors by weapons system, are also from the report. Driven by a more than $26 billion investment in shipbuilding and maritime systems, the U.S. Navy was by far the largest recipient of RDT&E and procurement spending in 2023. Much of this money was spent on the Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine and Virginia Class Submarine programs.  The Air Force received the second largest share of funding, driven by $5.0 billion in investments in the B-21 Raider stealth bomber program, $3.6 billion on ground-based strategic deterrent missiles, and $3.5 billion on F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft. (Here is a look at the 26 military aircraft of the future.) Across all service branches, the DOD spent $24.7 billion on missiles and munitions and $12.3 billion on missile defense, more than in any year since at least 2010. The Pentagon has also been aggressively integrating the Space Force into America’s national security strategy over the last three years, and for the first time, annual Space Force RDT&E and procurement spending topped $20 billion in 2023.  Here are the biggest weapons programs of the U.S. military. 50. LRASM Long Range Anti-Ship Missile FY 2023 budget: $464.3 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +100.1% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control 49. PrSM Precision Strike Missile FY 2023 budget: $472.7 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +33.3% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control 48. VC-25B Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization FY 2023 budget: $492.9 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -24.8% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: The Boeing Company 47. MQ-9 Reaper FY 2023 budget: $496.9 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -32.2% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Aeronautical Systems Incorporated 46. V-22 Osprey FY 2023 budget: $615.1 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -65.5% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Bell Helicopter Textron, Incorporated 45. PIM Paladin Integrated Management FY 2023 budget: $629.7 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -24.9% Weapons category: Ground Systems Prime contractors: BAE Systems 44. ACV Amphibious Combat Vehicle FY 2023 budget: $631.2 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +6.2% Weapons category: Ground Systems Prime contractors: BAE Systems 43. M-1 Abrams Tank Modification/Upgrades FY 2023 budget: $717.6 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -43.1% Weapons category: Ground Systems Prime contractors: General Dynamics Land Systems 42. CVN Refueling Complex Overhaul FY 2023 budget: $718.5 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -72.9% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: Huntington Ingalls Industries 41. HMS Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit Radios FY 2023 budget: $732.9 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -2.7% Weapons category: C4I Systems Prime contractors: L3Harris Radio Corporation 40. AMRAAM Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile FY 2023 budget: $739.6 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +148.3% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Raytheon Missile & Defense 39. Stryker Stryker Family of Armored Vehicles FY 2023 budget: $742.4 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -33.3% Weapons category: Ground Systems Prime contractors: General Dynamics Corporation 38. HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter FY 2023 budget: $769.1 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -4.6% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation 37. PATRIOT/PAC–3 PATRIOT Advanced Capability FY 2023 budget: $788.1 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +25.3% Weapons category: Missile Defense Programs Prime contractors: Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems 36. AH-64E Apache: Remanufacture/New Build FY 2023 budget: $790.0 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -33.2% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: The Boeing Company 35. Standard Standard Missile-6 FY 2023 budget: $809.1 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -10.5% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Raytheon Missiles & Defense 34. Tomahawk Tactical Tomahawk Cruise Missile FY 2023 budget: $867.1 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +63.2% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Raytheon Missiles & Defense 33. UH-60 Black Hawk FY 2023 budget: $897.2 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -23.2% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company 32. JASSM Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile FY 2023 budget: $960.7 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +16.0% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control 31. T-AO 205 John Lewis Class Fleet Replenishment Oiler FY 2023 budget: $970.5 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -38.3% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: General Dynamics, National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. 30. LRSO Long Range Stand-Off Weapon FY 2023 budget: $980.8 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +63.7% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Raytheon Company 29. GMLRS Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System FY 2023 budget: $999.8 million Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -11.3% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Corporation 28. PAC-3/MSE PAC-3/Missile Segment Enhancement FY 2023 budget: $1.0 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +34.4% Weapons category: Missile Defense Programs Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control 27. MQ-4C/RQ-4 Triton/Global Hawk/NATO AGS FY 2023 budget: $1.0 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +36.3% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Northrop Grumman 26. JLTV Joint Light Tactical Vehicle FY 2023 budget: $1.1 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +1.0% Weapons category: Ground Systems Prime contractors: Oshkosh Defense, LLC 25. Chem-Demil Chemical Demilitarization FY 2023 budget: $1.1 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -3.1% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Bechtel National Incorporated 24. C-130J Hercules FY 2023 budget: $1.1 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -71.0% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Corporation 23. MQ-25 Stingray FY 2023 budget: $1.2 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +205.4% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Boeing 22. B-1, B-2, B-52 Bombers FY 2023 budget: $1.2 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +22.3% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems 21. FFG(X) Constellation Class Guided Missile Frigate FY 2023 budget: $1.3 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +7.4% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: Fincantieri Marinette Marine 20. F-22 Raptor FY 2023 budget: $1.3 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +25.5% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin 19. E-2D Advanced Hawkeye FY 2023 budget: $1.3 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +10.6% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Northrop Grumman Corporation 18. NSSL & RSLP Launch Enterprise FY 2023 budget: $1.6 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -9.4% Weapons category: Space Based Systems Prime contractors: SpaceX 17. SATCOM Projects Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Projects FY 2023 budget: $1.6 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +58.6% Weapons category: Space Based Systems Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Corporation 16. Aegis Sea-Based Weapons System FY 2023 budget: $1.6 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -4.3% Weapons category: Missile Defense Programs Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Corporation 15. Trident II Trident II Ballistic Missile Modifications FY 2023 budget: $1.7 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +7.1% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Corporation 14. GPS III & Projects Global Positioning System Enterprise FY 2023 budget: $1.8 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -9.5% Weapons category: Space Based Systems Prime contractors: Raytheon Company 13. CH-53K Heavy Lift Replacement Helicopter FY 2023 budget: $2.3 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +12.4% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation 12. GMD Ground-based Midcourse Defense FY 2023 budget: $2.6 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +55.5% Weapons category: Missile Defense Programs Prime contractors: Boeing Defense and Space 11. KC-46A Tanker FY 2023 budget: $2.9 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +22.3% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: The Boeing Company 10. CVN 78 Gerald R. Ford Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier FY 2023 budget: $3.2 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +13.2% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: Huntington Ingalls Industries 9. Cyberspace Cyberspace Activities FY 2023 budget: $3.4 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +5.7% Weapons category: C4I Systems Prime contractors: Various 8. F-15 Eagle FY 2023 budget: $3.5 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +71.8% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Boeing 7. GBSD Ground Based Strategic Deterrent FY 2023 budget: $3.6 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +41.1% Weapons category: Missiles and Munitions Prime contractors: Northrop Grumman Corporation 6. OPIR Space Based Missile Warning Systems FY 2023 budget: $4.7 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +86.8% Weapons category: Space Based Systems Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin 5. B-21 Raider FY 2023 budget: $5.0 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +69.1% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Northrop Grumman Corporation 4. DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer FY 2023 budget: $5.6 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +32.2% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: General Dynamics Corporation 3. SSBN 826 Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine FY 2023 budget: $6.3 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +21.1% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: General Dynamics 2. SSN 774 Virginia Class Submarine FY 2023 budget: $7.3 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: +5.2% Weapons category: Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems Prime contractors: General Dynamics Corporation 1. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter FY 2023 budget: $11.0 billion Change in funding, FY 2022 to FY 2023: -7.7% Weapons category: Aircraft and Related Systems Prime contractors: Lockheed Martin Corporation Sponsored: Want to Retire Early? Here’s a Great First Step Want retirement to come a few years earlier than you’d planned? Or are you ready to retire now, but want an extra set of eyes on your finances? Now you can speak with up to 3 financial experts in your area for FREE. 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World War II is said to have been the most destructive war in history. By the end of the war, much of Europe, Asia, and even areas in Africa, were reduced to ruins, whether by the Allies or the Axis Powers. Air raids and ground battles leveled cities and towns, devastating what were once thriving […] The post The 42 Cities America Obliterated in WWII appeared first on 24/7 Wall St.. World War II is said to have been the most destructive war in history. By the end of the war, much of Europe, Asia, and even areas in Africa, were reduced to ruins, whether by the Allies or the Axis Powers. Air raids and ground battles leveled cities and towns, devastating what were once thriving metropolises. Infrastructure was also destroyed, as many roads and bridges were wiped out. One of the most notorious and horrific events of the Second World War was the bombing of Dresden. In February 1945, the Allied bombing of the city wiped out the thriving cultural center that held little military significance. Joint Allied forces dropped thousands of tons of incendiary and explosive bombs, creating a firestorm that killed approximately 25,000 people and laid waste to a significant portion of the city. (Here are WWII bombings that involved the most planes.) Perhaps the most famous bombings from this era took place in August 1945 when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This would catapult the world into the Atomic Age. Hiroshima became the first target on Aug. 6, followed by Nagasaki on Aug. 9. The bombs, nicknamed “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” caused unprecedented destruction, triggering ethical questions surrounding the use of nuclear weapons in war. (These are the most powerful nuclear explosions in history, ranked.) 24/7 Wall St. used a variety of historical sources to identify the cities destroyed by the United States during WWII. This data was used to confirm the dates, locations, and affected areas of the cities most devastated by the bombing campaigns of the United States and the other Allied nations. We considered cities where over 50% of the city was destroyed or that had significant reported casualties. Here is a look at the cities destroyed by the United States in World War II. 42. Tokyo, Japan Share of city destroyed: 51.0% Date of attack: March 9-10, 1945 Casualties: 124,711 Japan’s capital, with a population of about the size of New York City’s at the time, was firebombed on March 9-10, 1945. More than half of the city was destroyed. 41. Frankfurt, Germany Share of city destroyed: 52.0% Date of attack: March 26-29, 1945 Casualties: 5,500 The bombing of Frankfurt am Main by the Allies — first the Royal Air Force and then the U.S. — killed about 5,500 residents and wiped out the largest medieval city center in Germany. 40. Kumagaya, Japan Share of city destroyed: 55.1% Date of attack: August 14, 1945 Casualties: 266 Seventy-seven B-29s dropped incendiary bombs on the city where aircraft components were made and the Japanese Army’s air academy was located. As of the 1940 census, 45,000 people lived in Kumagaya. 39. Kōchi, Japan Share of city destroyed: 55.2% Date of attack: July 3, 1945 Casualties: N/A This Japanese city on the island of Shikoku, roughly the size of Sacramento, was devastated by an American air raid in July 1945. 38. Kobe, Japan Share of city destroyed: 55.7% Date of attack: March 16-17, 1945 Casualties: 8,841 Kobe, about the size of Baltimore, was chosen for attack because it was the sixth largest city in Japan at the time, with a population of around a million. It also was Japan’s biggest port, with large shipbuilding and marine-engine manufacturing facilities. The city’s houses were mostly flimsy and highly flammable, so the damage was extensive. 37. Ichinomiya, Japan Share of city destroyed: 56.3% Date of attack: July 12, 1945 Casualties: N/A Ichinomiya, on the eastern coast of Japan, is a city that was about the size of Springfield, Ohio, when it was bombed in July 1945 as part of the wider strategic bombing plan by the U.S. 36. Isesaki, Japan Share of city destroyed: 56.7% Date of attack: August 14-15, 1945 Casualties: N/A Isesaki, a city with a population of more than 213,000 today, is located 59 miles from Tokyo, in the center of the country. It was attacked on Aug.14-15, 1945, five days after Nagasaki sustained the world’s second nuclear bomb strike. 35. Yokohama, Japan Share of city destroyed: 58.0% Date of attack: May 29, 1945 Casualties: 14,157 Yokohama, a city about the same size as Cleveland, was attacked with incendiary bombs dropped by 517 B-29s, burning out 6.9 square miles. The city had been attacked earlier by the U.S. on April 18, 1942, in the so-called Doolittle Raid, retaliating for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 34. Dresden, Germany Share of city destroyed: 59.0% Date of attack: February 13-15, 1945 Casualties: 25,000 This city in Saxony, famed for its medieval history and architecture and not considered vital to the German war effort, was severely damaged by U.S. planes in 1945. In four raids in mid-February, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosives and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres of the city’s center. 33. Bremen, Germany Share of city destroyed: 60.0% Date of attack: May 1940 – April 22, 1945 Casualties: 4,000 The German port city of Bremen was a frequent target of Allied bombing, attacked 173 times during the course of the war. The heaviest air raid hit the city on the night of Aug. 22, 1944. In 34 minutes, 274 aircraft dropped 1,120 tons of bombs on the western portion of the city, killing 1,059 people, destroying 8,248 residential buildings, and leaving 50,000 homeless. 32. Hamamatsu, Japan Share of city destroyed: 60.3% Date of attack: February 15, 1945 Casualties: 150 Hamamatsu was a major transportation hub connecting Tokyo with Osaka, with a population of 166,346. It also was the site of armaments factories and a flight school for the Japanese Army Air Force and was on the main flight route from Saipan to both Nagoya and Tokyo. A coastal city, it was both attacked by bombers and shelled by American and British battleships. 31. Toyohashi, Japan Share of city destroyed: 61.9% Date of attack: June 19, 1945 Casualties: 624 Toyohashi is located about halfway between Osaka and Tokyo, along the Pacific coastline in Aichi prefecture. Once known for silk making, it became a so-called military city in the early 20th century, manufacturing cannon and machine guns. The U.S. incendiary bombed Toyohashi on the evening of June 19-20, 1945, killing 624 people. 30. Heilbronn, Germany Share of city destroyed: 62.0% Date of attack: December 4, 1944 Casualties: 7,000 Heilbronn, in southwestern Germany along the Neckar River, was attacked many times by the Allies. The most lethal attack occurred on Dec. 4, 1944. Between Dec. 27, 1944, and March 31, 1945, 13 air raids hit Heilbronn. 29. Kagoshima, Japan Share of city destroyed: 63.4% Date of attack: April 8 and 16, 1945 Casualties: N/A Kagoshima, located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, was targeted by the U.S. because of its expanded naval port as well as its position as a railway terminus. 28. Gifu, Japan Share of city destroyed: 63.6% Date of attack: July 9, 1945 Casualties: 818 On July 9, 1945, 131 American aircraft dropped 907 tons of firebombs on the central Japanese city of Gifu, igniting an inferno that torched a two-mile radius in the city center. More than 800 people died, 1,200 were injured, and 100,000 were left homeless. 27. Imabari, Japan Share of city destroyed: 63.9% Date of attack: August 5, 1945 Casualties: N/A Imabari, a shipbuilding center in southwestern Japan, had been attacked earlier in 1945 by Allied bombers before a lethal attack occurred on Aug. 5, 1945, the day before an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. 26. Matsuyama, Japan Share of city destroyed: 64.0% Date of attack: August 12, 1945 Casualties: 251 Matsuyama, the largest city on the island of Shikoku, was attacked multiple times, including by a raid just days before Japan surrendered to the Allies. 25. Maebashi, Japan Share of city destroyed: 64.2% Date of attack: August 5, 1945 Casualties: N/A A day before the U.S. ushered in the atomic age by dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, America continued with its conventional bombing strategy by attacking Maebashi. The city, in the center of Japan, was largely destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Still, it recovered and developed into an industrial and communications center after the war. 24. Nagaoka, Japan Share of city destroyed: 64.9% Date of attack: August 1, 1945 Casualties: 1,486 Nagaoka was a commercial center and home to one of the laboratories of Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. It also was the hometown of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. On Aug 1, 1945, 125 B-29s struck the city with an estimated 163,000 incendiary bombs totaling 925 tons. The raid lasted for 1 hour and 40 minutes. 23. Hachiōji, Japan Share of city destroyed: 65.0% Date of attack: February 9, 1945 Casualties: N/A Hachiōji is in the foothills of the Okutama Mountains, which surround it on three sides, about 25 miles west of Tokyo. It was heavily damaged in early February 1945, and attacked on other occasions during the war, but was rebuilt and grew as a Tokyo suburb. 22. Tsuruga, Japan Share of city destroyed: 65.1% Date of attack: July 12, 1945 Casualties: N/A Tsuruga became the first city on the Sea of Japan coast to be targeted by air raids on the night of July 12, 1945. The city’s defenses were inadequate, and more than 65% of Tsuruga was razed by incendiary bombs. 21. Shizuoka, Japan Share of city destroyed: 66.1% Date of attack: June 19, 1945 Casualties: 1,952 Shizuoka, which was of limited strategic value to the Allies, was bombed 10 times during WWII. After several tactical raids against a defunct Mitsubishi aircraft engine plant earlier in 1945, the U.S. launched a firebombing attack of 137 B-29 bombers on June 19. The bombers attacked from the west and the east to trap the population within the city center, between the mountains and the sea. Two-thirds of the city was destroyed. 20. Takamatsu, Japan Share of city destroyed: 67.5% Date of attack: July 3, 1945 Casualties: N/A Takamatsu, a city on the island of Shikoku, was chosen as a target by the Allies because it was considered to be a focal point of Shikoku’s rail and road transit systems and was the home of some industries essential to the war effort. On July 3, 1945, 128 B-29s dropped more than 800 tons of incendiary bombs on Takamatsu, destroying most of the city. 19. Mito, Japan Share of city destroyed: 68.9% Date of attack: August 1, 1945 Casualties: N/A With the war winding down, the city of Mito was attacked on Aug. 1, 1945, and almost 70% of the city was destroyed. Mito was about the size of Pontiac, Michigan. The attack was part of a larger raid involving 830 B-29s. 18. Okayama, Japan Share of city destroyed: 68.9% Date of attack: June 29, 1945 Casualties: 1,700 Okayama became one of the most important areas in western Japan for transportation and education before WWII. When the war began, an army base camp was established there. The city was attacked on June 29, 1945, by U.S. bombers carrying incendiary bombs that killed 1,700 people and destroyed almost 70% of the city. 17. Kassel, Germany Share of city destroyed: 69.0% Date of attack: February 1942 – March 1945 Casualties: 10,000 The site of aircraft and tank plants and other critical German industrial targets, this city in central/western Germany was bombed more than 20 times during the war. A raid on Oct. 22-23, 1943 resulted in a firestorm. The fire of the most severe air raid burned for seven days, at least 10,000 people died, 150,000 inhabitants were bombed out, and the vast majority of the city center was destroyed. 16. Nara, Japan Share of city destroyed: 69.3% Date of attack: June 9, 1945 Casualties: N/A Nara was known for its temples and was a great cultural center in Japan. Almost 70% of the city — about the size of Boston — was destroyed. 15. Tsu, Japan Share of city destroyed: 69.3% Date of attack: July 28, 1945 Casualties: N/A Tsu, about the size of Topeka, Kansas, is on the island of Honshu. Almost 70% damage on July 28, 1945. Tsu was one of six Japanese cities attacked on July 28. 14. Hitachi, Japan Share of city destroyed: 72.0% Date of attack: July 19, 1945 Casualties: N/A Hitachi is on the island of Honshu on the Pacific Coast. The city, about the size of Little Rock, sustained damage of 72%. Besides attacks from the air, Hitachi, an important center for electrical equipment, was attacked by U.S. battleships on July 19. They failed to hit factories but killed civilians. 13. Hamburg, Germany Share of city destroyed: 75.0% Date of attack: July 24-31, 1943 Casualties: 37,000 Code-named Operation Gomorrah, a week-long combined U.S. and U.K. air attack on this major German industrial city — home to shipyards, oil refineries, and other operations critical to the Nazi war effort — produced one of the largest firestorms of the war, killing about 37,000 and wounding another 180,000 and leaving the city in ruins. 12. Kuwana, Japan Share of city destroyed: 75.0% Date of attack: July 16, 1945 Casualties: N/A Kuwana, in the central part of the island of Honshu, is approximately equivalent in size to Tucson and was attacked on July 16, 1945. 75% of the city was destroyed. 11. Koblenz, Germany Share of city destroyed: 80.0% Date of attack: November 16, 1944 Casualties: N/A Koblenz, on the banks of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, hosted the command of German Army Group B, and as such it was a target of Allied bombing. The city suffered severe aerial bombardment leading to the loss of much of its historic heritage. 10. Fukuyama, Japan Share of city destroyed: 80.9% Date of attack: August 8, 1945 Casualties: N/A Fukuyama, the largest city in the Hiroshima Prefecture after Hiroshima itself, was known for its 17th-century castle. The city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing two days after the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. The attack largely destroyed the castle, but it was restored when the city industrialized after the war. 9. Fukui, Japan Share of city destroyed: 84.8% Date of attack: July 19, 1945 Casualties: 1,576 On July 19, 1945, 133 Boeing B-29s launched from Tinian in the Marianas dropped incendiary bombs in a spiral pattern with a radius of almost a mile around the northwest of the city, leaving it in ruins. A firestorm resulted and destroyed most of the city. 8. Tokushima, Japan Share of city destroyed: 85.2% Date of attack: July 3, 1945 Casualties: 1,000 The bombing of Tokushima, the capital city of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku Island, began on the eve of American Independence Day. Incendiary bombs from American B-29s destroyed more than 85% of the city, and 1,000 people were killed. 7. Manila, Philippines Share of city destroyed: 90.0% Date of attack: February 3 – March 3, 1945 Casualties: 140,000 In a rare instance in WWII of a city destroyed by other than aerial bombing, artillery, and cannon fire from tanks destroyed the old city of Manila, the site of extensive urban combat in 1945, as American and Filipino troops expelled the Japanese from the Philippines capital. 6. Nuremberg, Germany Share of city destroyed: 90.0% Date of attack: January 2, 1945 Casualties: 1,800 The bombing of Nuremberg was a series of air raids carried out by allied forces of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces that caused heavy damage throughout the city from 1940 through 1945. Nuremberg was a vital economic and infrastructural hub and also held symbolic importance as the seat of Nazism and the site of major Nazi rallies. 5. Saint-Lô, France Share of city destroyed: 95.0% Date of attack: July 7-19, 1944 Casualties: 1,000 The French city of Saint-Lô, strategically important as a crossroads, was heavily damaged by American planes during and after the Normandy invasion in 1944 as the Allies tried to enlarge their toehold on the beaches of Normandy. German targets were largely missed and most of the damage and casualties fell on French citizens. 4. Jülich, Germany Share of city destroyed: 97.0% Date of attack: November 16, 1944 Casualties: 1,000 The medieval town of Jülich, on a crossing of the River Rur in what is now the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, suffered some of the most intense batterings of the war, with 97% of the town lost to bombing in 1944 and the remaining 3% destroyed after three months of fighting. After the war, the town was rebuilt. 3. Toyama, Japan Share of city destroyed: 99.0% Date of attack: August 1, 1945 Casualties: 2,149 Toyama, on the coast of the Sea of Japan in the Chubu region on central Honshu island, was hit by 173 B-29s on Aug. 1 as part of a larger raid on cities that included Hachijō-jima, Mito, and Nagaoka. Toyama, a major producer of aluminum, was especially hard hit, with some 99% of its area destroyed. 2. Nagasaki, Japan Share of city destroyed: 100.0% Date of attack: August 9, 1945 Casualties: 39,000 Nagasaki, in eastern Japan, and about the size of Akron, Ohio, was the site of the second atomic bomb attack on Aug. 9. It obliterated the city and killed 39,000. The second nuclear attack was a factor in prodding Japan to surrender five days later. 1. Hiroshima, Japan Share of city destroyed: 100.0% Date of attack: August 6, 1945 Casualties: 66,000 The world’s first atomic bomb attack occurred in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, when the city was virtually wiped off the map and 66,000 people perished. 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This article looks at the 25 best cities where you can retire on $5000 a month. If you wish to skip our detailed analysis on retirement realities, you may go to 5 Best Cities Where You Can Retire on $5,000 A Month. Retirement Realities: From Longevity Literacy to Financial Strategies According to a TIAA study, […] This article looks at the 25 best cities where you can retire on $5000 a month. If you wish to skip our detailed analysis on retirement realities, you may go to 5 Best Cities Where You Can Retire on $5,000 A Month. Retirement Realities: From Longevity Literacy to Financial Strategies According to a TIAA study, many Americans today don’t have longevity literacy, even though it is the very basis of a sound retirement plan. In particular, one-quarter of Americans have been found to underestimate how long a 60-year-old can live, posing a serious question mark on their preparedness for retirement. In this regard, CNBC reveals that 56% of Americans aren’t on track to save sufficiently for retirement because of the financial vortex they are caught up in, entangled in commitments like funding their children’s education, managing mortgage payments, and similar financial pressures. Consequently, 40% of seniors are projected to run out of funds during retirement, as noted by TIME. Fidelity Investments reports that individual retirement accounts and 401(k) balances bring unfavorable tidings as well, witnessing declines as of Q3, 2023. On the other hand, withdrawals and loans are gradually on the rise. Their data reveals that the average 401(k) balance has declined by 4% from $112,400 in Q2, 2023 to $107,700 in Q3, 2023. In the same quarter, 2.3% of workers were also reported to take hardship withdrawals, an increase from 1.8% in Q3,2022. Adding to the challenges, the benchmark for a comfortable retirement is continually escalating, with The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) now setting this target at $1.8 million. To make matters worse, potential retirees are skeptical of waiting until the full retirement age to start claiming their social security benefits. Given the uncertain future of the funds, many Americans are now choosing to take their benefits out early. “We have a crisis of confidence in the Social Security system and it’s costing American workers real money. Fear about the stability of Social Security has people walking away from money that could improve their quality of life in retirement.” – Deb Boyden, Retirement expert at Schroders According to Schroders, an investment firm, 40% of people who haven’t retired yet plan to start drawing their social security benefits between the ages 62 and 65. This leaves the potential retiree with a monthly average benefit of $1,800 only, a sum that isn’t sufficient to last them each month during retirement. According to the survey, Americans believe that they would need an estimated $5,000 per month to have a comfortable retirement. For those who don’t have enough saved, relocating to cheaper destinations is one solution. For instance, West Virginia is the state with the lowest cost of living for retirees. The MERIC index states that the cost of living index of the state is 85.2, which implies that living costs are 14.8% lower than the national average. Many US employers are also actively enhancing their retirement plans in the quest to retain talent and boost employee retirement security and well-being. 401(k) plans are by far the most popular option that is used for saving retirement money. Employees use these plans to deposit pre-tax compensation for retirement, thereby maximizing their contributions. In many cases, employers may match contributions as well. Some companies that have a good matching percentage include Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW), The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), and Google, to name a few. Employees at The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) have the benefit of receiving a $250 contribution from the company on contributing their first $1. Meanwhile, the company also offers a full match on contributions of up to 5% of their compensation. In Google’s case, the company offers two match structures to choose from. The first option that Google offers is that employees can receive a remarkable 100% dollar-for-dollar match on contributions up to $3,000. On the other hand, they may choose a generous 50% match-up to the IRS contribution limit instead. Regardless of the savings strategy you adopt, it’s crucial to factor in both your anticipated retirement age and expected lifespan to accurately determine the amount you need to save. Keep in mind that a prudent approach should ensure you have at least $5,000 per month during your retirement years. An aerial view of Dubai, the 2016 epicenter of the technology industry. Methodology To compile the list of best cities where you can retire on $5000 a month, we have used several sources such as Nasdaq, Business Insider, among others, to get a consensus on the best cities for retirement on a $5,000 budget. We have also used expat forums to determine the best cities where retirement on $5000 is possible. In this context, we define ‘best cities’ as ones that can provide a high quality of life and safety. Many of the cities in our list are expensive, however, they fall well within a $5,000 monthly budget. After picking consensus, we ranked the places on their average monthly rent (1-bedroom apartment) and average monthly living costs for an individual retiree. Scores were added, and the final Insider Monkey Scores were used to rank our list in an ascending order from the lowest scores to the highest. For places with the same scores, tie-breaking was done to outrank one over the other using average monthly rent, with the place with the lower rent outranking the other one. Here are the 25 Best Cities Where You Can Retire  On $5000 A Month: 25. Hong Kong, China Insider Monkey Score: 12 Average Monthly Rent: $2,092 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,504 Hong Kong’s famous East-meets-West culture, high safety levels, and world-famous attractions make it one of the best cities to retire on $5,000 a month. According to the 2023 Safety Index by Global Residence Index, Hong Kong ranks 11th place out of 181 places, signifying high levels of safety and vanishing levels of crime. 24. Dubai, UAE Insider Monkey Score: 17 Average Monthly Rent: $1,994 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,976 The sunshine-filled city of Dubai offers a high quality of life for retirees.  American expatriates have the option to retire in Dubai through the Dubai Retirement Visa, which allows eligibility through either purchasing a property valued at AED 2 million or maintaining financial savings of AED 1 million. The city is home to a diverse expatriate community and offers a unique blend of modern amenities and Middle-Eastern charm. 23. Singapore Insider Monkey Score: 19 Average Monthly Rent: $2,387 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,628 According to the Expat City Ranking 2022, Singapore ranks 10th out of 50 cities, with high scores in Quality of Life and Ease of Settling in indices. Knoem’s healthcare efficiency index ranks the country’s healthcare as 2nd  best in the world. Singapore is safe, boasts excellent infrastructure, and is also famous for its multicultural environment. A permanent residence can help retire to the country. 22. Stockholm, Sweden Insider Monkey Score: 19 Average Monthly Rent: $1,516 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,473 Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is an epitome of beauty. Retirees appreciate it for its high quality of life, cultural offerings, and modern amenities. Public transportation is one of the best in the world, and the locals appreciate the living conditions in the city. 21. Lisbon, Portugal Insider Monkey Score: 20 Average Monthly Rent: $1,365 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,320 Portugal is ranked 4th in the 2022 Internations Expat City Ranking, and expats there say they’re the happiest living in its capital city, Lisbon. The coastal capital city is one where an individual can retire on $5,000 per month. Even after spending on rent and living expenses, there is ample room for leisure, dining, and other entertainment expenses. The city enjoys a Mediterranean climate and boasts the warmest winters in Europe. 20. Barcelona, Spain Insider Monkey Score: 21 Average Monthly Rent: $1,337 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,413 Barcelona in Spain enjoys a rich cultural scene, striking architecture, and a Mediterranean lifestyle. Retirees appreciate its fantastic weather, high-quality healthcare, and outdoor lifestyle. The lively atmosphere, social events, and festivals add to the appeal of retiring here. 19. Vancouver, Canada Insider Monkey Score: 22 Average Monthly Rent: $1,868 Average Monthly Living Costs: $3,172 Vancouver in Canada sits on the picturesque Vancouver Island and is ranked as one of the best retirement destinations in the world. The nation’s healthcare system is top-notch. The culinary scene is wonderfully diverse in Vancouver, and the city consistently ranks among the world’s safest and cleanest urban environments. 18. Bristol, United Kingdom Insider Monkey Score: 23 Average Monthly Rent: $1,410 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,800 Bristol is one of the best cities where you can retire on $5,000 a month. Even though the UK has closed its retirement visa, Americans can apply for family or ancestry visas. Bristol is revered for its historic architecture, green spaces, and harbor-side living. Retirees love to dine in waterfront restaurants, relish the scenic countryside, and enjoy the many events and festivals throughout the year. 17. Helsinki, Finland Insider Monkey Score: 23 Average Monthly Rent: $1,074 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,265 Finland is ranked as one of the happiest and safest places to live in the world. Helsinki, in particular, boasts a high standard of living, quality education, and excellent healthcare. Retirees enjoy the city’s cultural offerings, public services, and its urban and natural environment. A Finland residence permit can help expats retire here. 16. Copenhagen, Denmark Insider Monkey Score: 24 Average Monthly Rent: $1,856 Average Monthly Living Costs: $3,602 Another city where you can retire on $5,000 a month is Copenhagen. The city ranks high in quality of life, offering good public services, healthcare, and infrastructure. The bike-friendly infrastructure is a particular highlight of his city. Denmark does not offer a retirement visa, so you will have to get a work visa or be a Danish citizen’s partner to move here. EU citizens can move here provided they prove financial self-sufficiency. 15. London, United Kingdom Insider Monkey Score: 25 Average Monthly Rent: $2,704 Average Monthly Living Costs: $4,395 Retiring in London, UK, for $5000 means relishing a unique blend of cultural richness, diverse experiences, and access to world-class amenities. Seniors in London enjoy the city’s cosmopolitan lifestyle and historical treasures. Retirees can apply for work, ancestry or family visas to live here. 12. Canberra, Australia Insider Monkey Score: 25 Average Monthly Rent: $1,836 Average Monthly Living Costs: $3,437 Owing to its clean and green surroundings, well-planned infrastructure, and numerous cultural institutions, retirees in Canberra live a fulfilling life in the capital city. The city offers retirees many outdoor activities, beautiful parks, and a sense of community, which in turn contribute to a high quality of life. Canberra’s moderate climate further enhances the appeal for seniors seeking a comfortable and pleasant retirement destination. 13. Seoul, South Korea Insider Monkey Score: 25 Average Monthly Rent: $822 Average Monthly Living Costs: $1,466 Seoul in South Korea is another popular city to retire on $5000 a month. While the country doesn’t have a retirement visa, retiring to the country is possible by applying for a long-term visa instead. Besides a visa, expats also require some Korean language practice and cultural competency to live here. Featuring a vibrant cultural scene, excellent healthcare, and good public services, retirees get to enjoy the city’s cosmopolitan and tech-savvy lifestyle while savoring its rich history and delectable cuisine. Additionally, the city has a well-connected public transportation network and numerous parks, offering a high quality of life for seniors. 12. Auckland, New Zealand Insider Monkey Score: 26 Average Monthly Rent: $1,013 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,293 Offering a delicate blend of natural beauty and urban sophistication, Auckland is another popular retirement destination to retire on $5000 a month. Expats can retire here via the Temporary Retirement Visitor Visa, provided they are over 66 years of age and have NZD $500,000 ($462,641) to invest in the country. The city’s stunning harbors, diverse landscapes, and vibrant cultural scene help retirees live a high quality of life. Additionally, it is also known for its welcoming atmosphere, friendly locals, and numerous recreational opportunities. 11. Geneva, Switzerland Insider Monkey Score: 27 Average Monthly Rent: $2,101 Average Monthly Living Costs: $4,041 Seniors who wish to live a life of high-quality can retire to Geneva via the Switzerland Retirement Visa. With careful planning and budgeting, an individual retiree can manage living in the city for $5000 a month. The city is renowned for its cultural richness, playing host to numerous international organizations, and also offering several museums and theaters to explore. Seniors enjoy quality healthcare, efficient public services, and a diverse culinary scene. 10. Sydney, Australia Insider Monkey Score: 27 Average Monthly Rent: $1,823 Average Monthly Living Costs: $3,629 Sydney, Australia promises retirees a high-quality lifestyle. Expats can retire to Sydney through the Investor Retirement Visa. Owing to its diverse culture, excellent healthcare system, and temperate climate, retirees are quite satisfied living here. The city’s vibrant social scene, recreational opportunities, and access to nature adds to the appeal of retiring here. 9. Brussels, Belgium Insider Monkey Score: 27 Average Monthly Rent: $975 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,273 Brussels is home to a well-developed healthcare system, historic architecture, and delectable international cuisine. Additionally, the city’s diverse neighborhoods provide various living options, ensuring retirees find a suitable and enjoyable place to spend their golden years. A long-stay visa can help expats retire to the country. 8. Munich, Germany Insider Monkey Score: 29 Average Monthly Rent: $1,216 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,962 Known for its rich culture, picturesque surroundings, and high quality of life, Munich is one of the best cities where you can retire for $5000 a month. The city offers a range of cultural attractions, with many world-class museums, theaters, and historic landmarks to explore. Moreover, the city has efficient public transportation and well-maintained parks that create a retiree-friendly atmosphere. Expats need to acquire a temporary residence permit to retire to Germany. 7. Paris, France Insider Monkey Score: 29 Average Monthly Rent: $1,105 Average Monthly Living Costs: $2,826 Paris is home to a rich culinary scene, encompassing charming cafes and gourmet delights. Retirees get to savor and even live the renowned French lifestyle in the city of love. Along with the city’s romantic ambiance, retirees receive world-class healthcare and public services, further contributing to a rich retirement experience. For a permanent retirement in the city, expats require a Long Stay Visa (Visa de Long Séjour). 6. Zurich, Switzerland Insider Monkey Score: 30 Average Monthly Rent: $1,701 Average Monthly Living Costs: $3,920 Embraced by stunning landscapes and a relaxing ambiance, Zurich is a sought-after retirement destination. The city’s efficient public services, excellent healthcare system, and emphasis on cleanliness and safety make it particularly appealing to retirees. Its cultural diversity, along with its vibrant arts and music scene, further ensures that retirees enjoy their time here. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Best Cities Where You Can Retire On $5000 A Month. Suggested Articles: 25 Cheapest and Safest Places to Live in The World 25 Best US Cities Where You Can Retire on $2,000 a Month 30 Best Whiskeys Under $30 Disclosure: none. 25 Best Cities Where You Can Retire On $5000 A Month is originally published on Insider Monkey......»»

In this piece, we will take a look at the 12 most undervalued gold stocks to buy according to hedge funds. If you want to skip our overview of the gold industry and some recent developments, then take a look at the 5 Most Undervalued Gold Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds. The gold […] In this piece, we will take a look at the 12 most undervalued gold stocks to buy according to hedge funds. If you want to skip our overview of the gold industry and some recent developments, then take a look at the 5 Most Undervalued Gold Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds. The gold industry is one of the most interesting sectors on the stock market. This is because while most industries, save the banking sector, deal with the needs of either financial or non financial customers, gold companies sell their products for both investment and general use purposes. Gold is one of the oldest safe haven assets in the world, with its rarity and use in jewelry ascribing it a higher price than other metals such as copper. Its use as a financial assets has also made the gold industry quite important these days, particularly after the significant financial turmoil that we’ve seen in global equities and bond markets. This turmoil has come in the wake of rapid interest rate hikes by central banks to clamp down on inflation. The interest rate increases are nothing short of historic, and they have continued to cause disruption in the bond market as securities issued during an era of lower rates have dropped in value. Since global central banks hold U.S. Treasury bonds as their assets, this rapid drop in value has seen them scurry to diversify their portfolios and ensure that the value does not significantly fluctuate.backslash Don’t Miss: Best Gold Mining Stocks to Buy Now Data from the World Gold Council shows that as of September 2023, central banks had bought 35 tons of gold on average per month year to date. This means that the banks have bought 315 tons this year, and leading the pack are Asian and European countries. The bulk of these purchases come from developing or emerging markets, and the top three central bank gold purchasers in September were Chinese, Polish, and Uzbekistani banks. However, among these, only China and Poland remained net purchases while Uzbekistan rebuilt some of its gold assets that it has continued to sell this year. So far, China has added roughly 200 tons to its portfolio, and with 2023 coming to an end, it’ll be interesting to see how one of the biggest economies in the world closes out its gold holdings. One of the key reasons why central banks buy gold is when the U.S. dollar surges in value and causes their own currencies to depreciate. In a high interest rate era, the dollar is the ultimate safe haven asset even though gold might be shinier. This is because while gold might be a store of value, it does not pay interest which naturally leads to stronger demand for the dollar. Yet, since not everyone can benefit from higher interest rates offered by U.S. Treasuries or bank accounts, the demand for gold naturally remains high when economies are slowing down. Gold now accounts for 4% of China’s reserves, and data also shows that a large portion of the gold bought by the country comes from regular people who are looking to protect their wealth amidst a weak Chinese economy and a depreciating currency. The tight link of gold with global financial markets also makes it a barometer of sorts for global risk appetite. While the dollar reigns supreme in a high rate environment, as soon as investors sniff rate cuts, it drops and gold starts to rise. This is also the case at the tail end of November, as gold prices have now hit a six month high to trade at $2,013.99 ahead of a crucial inflation report that is widely believed to cement the end of the era of interest rate hikes. With gold prices rising and central banks piling into the metal, gold companies are also making billions. For instance, here’s what the management of Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) shared during its latest earnings call: In the first nine months, we generated nearly $1.2 billion of operating cashflow, and after reinvesting in our operations and project pipeline, we generated over $400 million of free cashflow. With respect to our operations, in the third quarter, Tasiast, Paracatu, and La Coipa, all continued to deliver excellent results, accounting for approximately 70% of our production, with an attractive AISC of just over $1,000 per ounce. Tasiast had a record production quarter, producing 171,000 ounces, was once again our highest cashflow operation. Paracatu also performed well in the third quarter, and as planned, had its highest production quarter of the year. La Coipa was once again our lowest cost operation and also generated strong cashflow. Switching to the US, our operations performed well, with production at each site higher than the prior quarter. With these details in mind, let’s take a look at some undervalued gold stocks. Some notable picks are Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV). A close-up of a technician using advanced geological-surveying equipment, evaluating a gold deposit. Our Methodology To compile our list of the most undervalued gold stocks to buy, we first made a list of 21 gold companies with the lowest price to trailing earnings ratio. Then, the number of hedge funds that had bought their shares during Q3 2023 was determined via Insider Monkey’s 910 fund database. Following this, firms with a P/E ratio greater than 50 were eliminated. Out of the remainder, those gold stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors were selected. Most Undervalued Gold Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds 12. Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE:EQX) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 13 Latest P/E Ratio: 33.53 Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE:EQX) is a Canadian gold company with exploration properties in the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico. The firm updated investors about progress on a new gold mine in Canada, which is slated to produce more than five million ounces during its life. According to Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE:EQX), the mine is 96% complete and pre production mining operations should be ready by Q1 2024. During Q3 2023, 13 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database had held a stake in Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE:EQX). Out of these, the firm’s largest shareholder is Eric Sportt’s Sprott Asset Management since it owns $35.4 million worth of shares. Along with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM), Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV), Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSE:EQX) is an undervalued gold stock that hedge funds are buying. 11. Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 13 Latest P/E Ratio: 18.80 Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) is a South African company with operations all over the world. Its shares are rated Buy on average and analysts have set an average share price target of $14.70. By the end of this year’s third quarter, 13 out of the 910 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey were the firm’s shareholders. Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI)’s biggest investor in our database is William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management due to its $69.5 million stake. 10. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 13 Latest P/E Ratio: 14.33 Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) is a South African mining company that focuses on producing gold but also works with other minerals and metals such as uranium. The firm is currently looking to make a move in the lucrative copper market and is looking at ways to balance it out with a CEO succession. Insider Monkey’s September quarter of 2023 survey covering 910 hedge funds revealed 13 Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) investors. David Iben’s Kopernik Global Investors owned the largest stake among these which was worth $68.8 million. 9. SSR Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRM) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 14 Latest P/E Ratio: 11.44 SSR Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRM) is an American gold company with production sites in the U.S., Canada, and Argentina. The firm’s shares were under a lot of pressure in November 2023, after Bank of America slashed its share rating to Underperform from Buy and reduced the share price target to $12.5 from $17. During this year’s third quarter, 14 out of the 910 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had invested in SSR Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRM). 8. Sibanye Stillwater Limited (NYSE:SBSW) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 16 Latest P/E Ratio: 4.33 Sibanye Stillwater Limited (NYSE:SBSW) is a diversified South African precious metals mining company. The firm’s shares tanked in November after it announced plans to raise more debt through convertible bonds creating worries about its shares losing their luster if the bonds are converted. By the end of 2023’s September quarter, 16 out of the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were the firm’s investors. Sibanye Stillwater Limited (NYSE:SBSW)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management since it owns $31 million worth of shares. 7. B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 19 Latest P/E Ratio: 12.40 B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) is a Canadian gold company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. It was out with some good news for investors in November 2023 as not only did it reiterate 2023 production guidance but also forecast that costs will be lower than initially expected. Insider Monkey scoured through 910 hedge funds for their third quarter of 2023 shareholdings and found that 19 had bought and owned B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG)’s shares. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder due to its $86.5 million investment. 6. Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q3 2023: 23 Latest P/E Ratio: 33.80 Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) is a small American company that makes money by holding gold property interests. The firm hasn’t been doing well on the financial front lately as it has beaten analyst EPS estimates in only one out of its four latest quarters. 23 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had held a stake in the company. Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management as it owns 3.6 million shares that are worth $385 million. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD), Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) are some top hedge fund undervalued gold stock picks.   Click here to continue reading and check out 5 Most Undervalued Gold Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds.   Suggested articles: 11 Most Undervalued Utility Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds Goldman Sachs’ Top 15 Stock Picks for 2024 11 Stocks Under $50 To Buy Now Disclosure: None. 12 Most Undervalued Gold Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds is originally published on Insider Monkey......»»

The Life And Public Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy By The CIA Authored by Edward Curtin via Off-Guardian.org, What is the truth, and where did it go? Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know “Shut your mouth,” said the wise old owl Business is business, and it’s a murder most foul Don’t worry, Mr. President Help’s on the way Your brothers are coming, there’ll be hell to pay Brothers? What brothers? What’s this about hell? Tell them, “We’re waiting, keep coming” We’ll get them as well Bob Dylan, Murder Most Foul Why President Kennedy was publicly murdered by the CIA sixty years ago has never been more important.  All pseudo-debates to the contrary – including the numerous and growing claims that it was not the U.S. national security state but the Israelis that assassinated the president, which exonerates the CIA – the truth about the assassination has long been evident.  There is nothing to debate unless one is some sort of intelligence operative, has an obsession, or is out to make a name or a buck.  I suggest that all those annual JFK conferences in Dallas should finally end, but my guess is that they will be rolling along for many more decades.  To make an industry out of a tragedy is wrong.  And these conferences are so often devoted to examining and debating minutiae that are a distraction from the essential truth.  As for the corporate mainstream media, they will never admit the truth but will continue as long as necessary to titillate the public with lies, limited hangouts, and sensational non-sequiturs.  To do otherwise would require admitting that they have long been complicit in falsely reporting the crime and the endless coverup.  That they are arms of the CIA and NSA. The Cold War, endless other wars, and the nuclear threat John Kennedy worked so hard to end have today been inflamed to a fever pitch by U.S. leaders in thrall to the forces that killed the president. President Joseph Biden, like all the presidents that followed Kennedy, is JFK’s opposite, an unrepentant war-monger, not only in Ukraine with the U.S. war against Russia and the U.S. nuclear first-strike policy, but throughout the world – the Middle-East, Africa, Syria, Iran, and on and on, including the push for war with China.  Nowhere is this truer than with the U.S. support for the current Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, a slaughter also supported by Robert Kennedy, Jr., who, ironically, is campaigning for the presidency on the coattails of JFK and his father Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who would be appalled by his unequivocal support for the Israeli government.  By such support and his silence as the slaughter in Gaza continues, RFK, Jr. is, contrary his other expressed opinions, supporting a wide range of war-related matters that involve the U.S.- Israel alliance, which is central to the military-industrial forces running U.S. foreign policy.  To say this is dispiriting is a great understatement, for RFK, Jr., a very intelligent man, knows that the CIA killed his uncle and father, and he is campaigning as a spiritually awakened man intent on ending the U.S. warfare state, something impossible to accomplish when one gives full-fledged support to Israel.  And I believe he will be elected the next U.S. president. The Biden administration is doing all in its power to undo the legacy of JFK’s last year in office when on every front he fought for peace, not war.  It is not hard to realize that all presidents since John Kennedy have been fully aware that a bullet to the head in broad daylight could be their fate if they bucked their bosses.  They knew this when they sought the office because they were run by the same bosses before election.  Small-souled men, cowards on the make, willing to sacrifice millions to their ambition. I believe that the following article – my final one on this matter – which I published two years ago, is worth reading again if you have once done so, and even more important if you have never read it. It is not based on speculation but on well-sourced facts, and it will make clear the importance of President Kennedy and why his assassination lay the foundation for today’s dire events.  In this dark time, when the world is spinning out of control, the story of his great courage in the face of an assassination he expected, can inspire us to oppose the systemic forces of evil that control the United States and are leading the world into the abyss. Despite a treasure-trove of new research and information having emerged over the last sixty years, there are many people who still think who killed President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and why are unanswerable questions. They have drunk what Dr. Martin Schotz has called “the waters of uncertainty” that results “in a state of confusion in which anything can be believed but nothing can be known, nothing of significance that is.” Then there are others who cling to the Lee Harvey Oswald “lone-nut” explanation proffered by the Warren Commission. Both these groups tend to agree, however, that whatever the truth, unknowable or allegedly known, it has no contemporary relevance but is old-hat, ancient history, stuff for conspiracy-obsessed people with nothing better to do. The general thinking is that the assassination occurred more than a half-century ago, so let’s move on. Nothing could be further from the truth, for the assassination of JFK is the foundational event of modern American history, the Pandora’s box from which many decades of tragedy have sprung. PRESSURED TO WAGE WAR From the day he was sworn in as President on January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy was relentlessly pressured by the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency, and by many of his own advisers to wage war – clandestine, conventional, and nuclear. To understand why and by whom he was assassinated on November 22, 1963, one needs to apprehend this pressure and the reasons why President Kennedy consistently resisted it, as well as the consequences of that resistance. It is a key to understanding the current state of our world today and why the United States has been waging endless foreign wars and creating a national security surveillance state at home since JFK’s death. A WAR HERO WHO WAS APPALLED BY WAR It is very important to remember that Lieutenant John Kennedy was a genuine Naval war hero in WW II, having risked his life and been badly injured while saving his men in the treacherous waters of the South Pacific after their PT boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer. His older brother Joe and his brother-in-law Billy Hartington had died in the war, as had some of his boat’s crew members. As a result, Kennedy was extremely sensitive to the horrors of war, and, when he first ran for Congress in Massachusetts in 1946, he made it explicitly clear that avoiding another war was his number one priority. This commitment remained with him and was intensely strengthened throughout his brief presidency until the day he died, fighting for peace. Despite much rhetoric to the contrary, this anti-war stance was unusual for a politician, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Kennedy was a remarkable man, for even though he assumed the presidency as somewhat of a cold warrior vis-à-vis the Soviet Union in particular, his experiences in office rapidly chastened that stance. He very quickly came to see that there were many people surrounding him who relished the thought of war, even nuclear war, and he came to consider them as very dangerous. A PRESCIENT PERSPECTIVE Yet even before he became president, in 1957, then Senator Kennedy gave a speech in the U.S. Senate that sent shock waves throughout Washington, D.C. and around the world.[2] He came out in support of Algerian independence from France and African liberation generally and against colonial imperialism. As chair of the Senate’s African Subcommittee in 1959, he urged sympathy for African independence movements as part of American foreign policy. He believed that continued support of colonial policies would only end in more bloodshed because the voices of independence would not be denied, nor should they be. That speech caused an international uproar, and in the U.S.A. Kennedy was harshly criticized by Eisenhower, Nixon, John Foster Dulles, and even members of the Democratic party, such as Adlai Stevenson and Dean Acheson. But it was applauded in Africa and the Third World. Yet JFK continued throughout his 1960 presidential campaign raising his voice against colonialism throughout the world and for free and independent African nations. Such views were anathema to the foreign policy establishment, including the CIA and the burgeoning military industrial complex that President Eisenhower belatedly warned against in his Farewell Address, delivered nine months after approving the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in March 1960; this juxtaposition revealed the hold the Pentagon and CIA had and has on sitting presidents, as the pressure for war became structurally systemized. PATRICE LUMUMBA One of Africa’s anti-colonial and nationalist leaders was the charismatic Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. In June, 1960, he had become the first democratically elected leader of the Congo, a country savagely raped and plundered for more than half a century by Belgium’s King Leopold II for himself and multinational mining companies. Kennedy’s support for African independence was well-known and especially feared by the CIA, who, together with Brussels, considered Lumumba, and Kennedy for supporting him, as threats to their interests in the region. So, three days before JFK’s inauguration, together with the Belgian government, the CIA had Lumumba brutally assassinated after torturing and beating him. According to Robert Johnson, a note taker at a National Security Council meeting in August 1960, Lumumba’s assassination had been approved by President Eisenhower when he gave Allen Dulles, the Director of the CIA, the approval to “eliminate” Lumumba. Johnson disclosed that in a 1975 interview that was discovered in 2000. On January 26, 1961, when Dulles briefed the new president on the Congo, he did not tell JFK that they already had Lumumba assassinated nine days before. This was meant to keep Kennedy on tenterhooks to teach him a lesson. On February 13, 1961, Kennedy received a phone call from his UN ambassador Adlai Stevenson informing him of Lumumba’s death. There is a photograph by White House photographer Jacques Lowe of the horror-stricken president sitting in the oval office answering that call that is harrowing to view. It was an unmistakable portent of things to come, a warning for the president. DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD, INDONESIA, AND SUKARNO One of Kennedy’s crucial allies in his efforts to support third-world independence was United Nations’ Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. Hammarskjöld had been deeply involved in peacekeeping in the Congo as well as efforts to resolve disputes in Indonesia, both important countries central to JFK’s concerns. Hammarskjöld was killed on September 18, 1961 while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo. Substantial evidence exists that he was assassinated and that the CIA and Allen Dulles were involved. Kennedy was devastated to lose such an important ally. Kennedy’s strategy involved befriending Indonesia as a Cold War ally as a crucial aspect of his Southeast Asian policy of dealing with Laos and Vietnam and finding peaceful resolutions to other smoldering Cold War conflicts. Hammarskjöld was also central to these efforts. The CIA, led by Dulles, strongly opposed Kennedy’s strategy in Indonesia. In fact, Dulles and the CIA had been involved in treacherous maneuverings in resource rich Indonesia for decades. President Kennedy supported the Indonesian President Sukarno, while Dulles opposed him since he stood for Indonesian independence. Just two days before Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963, he had accepted an invitation from Indonesian President Sukarno to visit that country the following spring. The aim of the visit was to end the conflict (Konfrontasi) between Indonesia and Malaysia and to continue Kennedy’s efforts to support post-colonial Indonesia with non-military economic and development aid. His goal was to end conflict throughout Southeast Asia and assist the growth of democracy in newly liberated post-colonial countries worldwide. Of course, JFK never made it to Indonesia in 1964, and his peaceful strategy to bring Indonesia to America’s side and to ease tensions in the Cold War was never realized, thanks to Allen Dulles and the CIA.  And, Kennedy’s proposed withdrawal of American military advisers from Vietnam, which, in part, was premised on success in Indonesia, was quickly reversed by Lyndon Johnson after JFK’s murder and within a short time hundreds of thousand American combat troops were sent to Vietnam. In Indonesia, Sukarno would be forced out and replaced by General Suharto, who would rule with an iron fist for the next 30 years. Soon, both countries would experience mass slaughter engineered by Kennedy’s opponents in the CIA and Pentagon. THE BAY OF PIGS In mid-April 1961, less than three months into his presidency, a trap was set for President Kennedy by the CIA and its director, Allen Dulles, who knew of Kennedy’s reluctance to invade Cuba. They assumed the new president would be forced by circumstances at the last minute to send in U.S. Navy and Marine forces to back the invasion that they had planned. The CIA and generals wanted to oust Fidel Castro, and in pursuit of that goal, trained a force of Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. This had started under President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon. Kennedy refused to go along with sending in American troops and the invasion was roundly defeated. The CIA, military, and Cuban exiles bitterly blamed Kennedy. But it was all a sham. Classified documents uncovered in 2000 revealed that the CIA had discovered that the Soviets had learned the date of the invasion more than a week in advance and had informed Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, but—and here is a startling fact that should make people’s hair stand on end—the CIA never told the President. The CIA knew the invasion was probably doomed before the fact but went ahead with it anyway. Why? So, they could blame JFK for the failure afterwards. Kennedy later said to his friends Dave Powell and Ken O’Donnell, “They were sure I’d give in to them and send the go-ahead order to the [Navy’s aircraft carrier] Essex. They couldn’t believe that a new president like me wouldn’t panic and save his own face. Well, they had me figured all wrong.” This treachery set the stage for events to come. Sensing but not knowing the full extent of the set-up, Kennedy fired CIA Director Allen Dulles (who, as in a bad joke, was later named to the Warren Commission investigating JFK’s assassination) and his assistant, General Charles Cabell (whose brother, Earle Cabell, to make a bad joke absurd, was the mayor of Dallas on the day Kennedy was killed.) It was later discovered that Earle Cabell was a CIA asset. JFK said he wanted “to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.” Not sentiments to endear him to a secretive government within a government whose power was growing exponentially.[8] KENNEDY RESPONDS AFTER THE BAY OF PIGS TREACHERY The stage was now set for events to follow as JFK, now even more suspicious of the military-intelligence people around him, and in opposition to nearly all his advisers, consistently opposed the use of force in U.S. foreign policy. In 1961, despite the Joint Chiefs’ demand to put combat troops into Laos – advising 140,000 by the end of April – Kennedy bluntly insisted otherwise as he ordered Averell Harriman, his representative at the Geneva Conference, “Did you understand? I want a negotiated settlement in Laos. I don’t want to put troops in.” The president knew that Laos and Vietnam were linked issues, and since Laos came first on his agenda, he was determined to push for a neutral Laos. Also in 1961, he refused to accede to the insistence of his top generals to give them permission to use nuclear weapons in a dispute with the Soviet Union over Berlin and Southeast Asia. Walking out of a meeting with his top military advisors, Kennedy threw his hands in the air and said, “These people are crazy.” In March 1962, the CIA, in the person of legendary operative, Edward Lansdale, and with the approval of every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presented the president with a pretext for a U.S. invasion of Cuba. Code-named Operation Northwoods, the false-flag plan called for innocent people to be shot in the U.S., boats carrying Cuban refugees to be sunk and a terrorism campaign to be launched in Miami, Washington D.C., and other places, all to be blamed on the Castro government so that the public would be outraged and call for an invasion of Cuba. Kennedy was appalled and rejected this pressure to manipulate him into agreeing to terrorist attacks on Americans that could later be used against him. He already knew that his life was in danger and that the CIA and military were tightening a noose around his neck. But he refused to yield. As early as June 26, 1961, in a White House meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s spokesperson, Mikhail Kharlamov, and Khrushchev’s son-in-law, Alexei Adzhubei, when asked by Kharlamov why he wasn’t moving faster to advance relations between the two countries, JFK said “You don’t understand this country. If I move too fast on U.S.-Soviet relations, I’ll either be thrown into an insane asylum, or be killed.” JFK refused to bomb and invade Cuba as the military wished during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. The Soviets had placed offensive nuclear missiles and more than 30,000 support troops in Cuba to prevent another U.S.-led invasion. American aerial photography had detected the missiles. This was understandably unacceptable to the U.S. government. While being urged by the Joint Chiefs and his trusted advisors to order a preemptive nuclear strike on Cuba, JFK knew that a diplomatic solution was the only way out as he wouldn’t accept the death of hundreds of millions of people that would likely follow a series of nuclear exchanges with the Soviet Union. Only his brother, Robert, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara stood with him in opposing the use of nuclear weapons. Daniel Ellsberg, a former Pentagon and Rand Corporation analyst, reported a coup atmosphere in the Pentagon as Kennedy chose to settle rather than attack. In the end, after thirteen incredibly tense days of brinksmanship, Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev miraculously found a way to resolve the crisis and prevent the use of those weapons. Afterwards, JFK told his friend John Kenneth Galbraith that “I never had the slightest intention of doing so.” THE FATEFUL YEAR 1963 In June, 1963, JFK gave an historic speech at American University in which he called for the total abolishment of nuclear weapons, the end of the Cold War and the “Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war,” and movement toward “general and complete disarmament.” A few months later he signed a Limited Test Ban Treaty with Nikita Khrushchev. In October 1963 he signed National Security Action Memorandum 263 calling for the withdrawal of 1,000 U. S. military troops from Vietnam by the end of the year and complete withdrawal by the end of 1965. All this he did while secretly engaging in negotiations with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev via Saturday Evening Post editor and anti-nuclear weapon advocate, Norman Cousins, Soviet agent Georgi Bolshakov, and Pope John XXIII,as well as  with Cuba’s Prime Minister Fidel Castro through various intermediaries, one of whom was French Journalist Jean Daniel. Of course, secret was not secret when the CIA was involved. Kennedy, deeply disturbed by the near nuclear catastrophe of the Cuban missile crisis, was determined to open back channel communications to make sure such a near miss never happened again. He knew fault lay on both sides, and that one slipup or miscommunication could initiate a nuclear holocaust.  He was determined, therefore, to try to open lines of communications with his enemies. Jean Daniel was going to Cuba to interview Fidel Castro, but before he did he interviewed Kennedy on October 24, 1963.  Kennedy, knowing Daniel would tell Castro what he said, asked Daniel if Castro realizes that “through his fault the world was on the verge of nuclear war in October 1962….or even if he cares about it.”  But he also added, to soften the message: “I approved the proclamation Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will go even further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we will have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.” Such sentiments were anathema, shall we say treasonous, to the CIA and top Pentagon generals. These clear refusals to go to war with Cuba, to emphasize peace and negotiated solutions to conflicts rather than war, to order the withdrawal of all military personnel from Vietnam, to call for an end to the Cold War, and his willingness to engage in private, back-channel communications with Cold War enemies marked Kennedy as an enemy of the national security state. They were on a collision course. THE ASSASSINATION ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963 After going through the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and many other military cliffhangers, Kennedy underwent a deep metanoia, a spiritual transformation, from Cold Warrior to peacemaker. He came to regard the generals who advised him as devaluing human life and hell-bent on launching nuclear wars. And he was well aware that his growing resistance to war had put him on a dangerous collision course with those generals and the CIA. On numerous occasions, he spoke of the possibility of a military coup d’état against him. The night before his trip to Dallas, he told his wife, “But, Jackie, if somebody wants to shoot me from a window with a rifle, nobody can stop it, so why worry about it.” And we know that nobody did try to stop it because they had planned his execution from multiple locations to assure its success. WHO KILLED HIM? If the only things you read, watched, or listened to since 1963 were the mainstream corporate media (MSM), you would be convinced that the official explanation for JFK’s assassination, the Warren Commission, was correct in essentials. You would be wrong, because those corporate media have for all these years served as mouthpieces for the government, most notably the CIA that infiltrated and controlled them long ago under a secret program called Operation Mockingbird. In 1977, celebrated Watergate journalist, Carl Bernstein, published a 25,000-word cover story for Rolling Stone, “The CIA and the Media,” in which he published the names of many journalists and media, such as The New York Times, CBS, Time, Newsweek, etc., who worked hand in glove with the CIA for decades. Ironically, or as part of “a limited hangout” (spy talk for admitting some truths while concealing deeper ones), this article can be found at the CIA’s own website. Total control of information requires media complicity, and with the JFK assassination, and in all matters they consider important, the CIA and the MSM are unified. Such control extends to literature, arts, and popular culture as well as news. Frances Stonor Saunders comprehensively documents this in her 1999 book, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA And The World Of Arts And Letters, and Joel Whitney followed this up in 2016 with Finks: How the CIA Tricked the World’s Best Writers, with particular emphasis on the complicity of the CIA and the famous literary journal The Paris Review.  Such revelations are retrospective, of course, but only the most naïve would conclude such operations are a thing of the past. The Warren Commission claimed that the president was shot by an ex-Marine named Lee Harvey Oswald, firing three bullets from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository as Kennedy’s car was already two hundred and fifty feet past and driving away from him. But this is patently false for many reasons, including the bizarre claim that one of these bullets, later termed “the magic bullet,” passed through Kennedy’s body and zigzagged up and down, left and right, striking Texas Governor John Connolly who was sitting in the front seat and causing seven wounds in all, only to be found later in pristine condition on a stretcher in Parkland Hospital. And, any lone assassin looking out the 6th floor window would have taken the perfect shot as the limousine approached within forty feet of the TSBD on Houston St. The absurdity of the government’s claim, a ballistic fairy tale, was the key to its assertion that Oswald killed Kennedy. It was visually shattered and rendered ridiculous by the famous Zapruder film that clearly shows the president being shot from the front right, and, as the right front of his head explodes, he is violently thrown back and to his left as Jacqueline Kennedy climbs on to the car’s trunk to retrieve a piece of her husband’s skull and brain. This video evidence is clear and simple proof of a conspiracy. WHO WAS LEE HARVEY OSWALD? But there is another way to examine it. If Lee Harvey Oswald, the man The Warren Commission said killed JFK, was connected to the intelligence community, the FBI and the CIA, then we can logically conclude that he was not “a lone-nut” assassin or not an assassin at all. There is a wealth of evidence to show how, from the very start, Oswald was moved around the globe by the CIA like a pawn in a game, and when the game was done, the pawn was eliminated in the Dallas police headquarters by Jack Ruby two days later. James W. Douglass, in JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, the most important book on the matter, asks this question: Why was Lee Harvey Oswald so tolerated and supported by the government he betrayed? This is a key question. After serving as a U.S. Marine at the CIA’s U-2 spy plane Atsugi Air Force Base in Japan with a Crypto clearance (higher than top secret, a fact suppressed by the Warren Commission) and being trained in the Russian language, Oswald left the Marines and defected to the Soviet Union. After denouncing the U.S., rejecting his American citizenship, working at a Soviet factory in Minsk, and taking a Russian wife—during which time Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union—he returned to the U.S. with a loan from the American Embassy in Moscow, only to be met at the dock in Hoboken, New Jersey, by Spas T. Raikin, a prominent anti-Communist with extensive intelligence connections recommended by the State Department. Oswald passed through immigration with no trouble, was not prosecuted, moved to Fort Worth, Texas where, at the suggestion of the Dallas CIA Domestic Contacts Service chief, he was met and befriended by George de Mohrenschildt, an anti-communist Russian, who was a CIA asset. De Mohrenschildt got him a job four days later at a photography and graphic arts company that worked on top secret maps for the U.S. Army Map Service related to U-2 spy missions over Cuba. Oswald was then shepherded around the Dallas area by de Mohrenschildt. In 1977, on the day he revealed he had contacted Oswald for the CIA and was to meet with the House Select Committee on Assassinations’ investigator, Gaeton Fonzi, de Mohrenschildt allegedly committed suicide. Oswald then moved to New Orleans in April, 1963 where he got a job at the Reily Coffee Company owned by CIA-affiliated William Reily. The Reily Coffee Company was located in close vicinity to the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and Naval Intelligence offices and a stone’s throw from the office of Guy Banister, a former Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Bureau, who worked as a covert action coordinator for the intelligence services, supplying weapons, money, and training to anti-Castro paramilitaries. Oswald then went to work with Banister and the CIA paramilitaries. From this time up until the assassination, Oswald engaged in all sorts of contradictory activities, one day portraying himself as pro-Castro, the next day as anti-Castro, many of these theatrical performances being directed from Banister’s office. It was as though Oswald, on the orders of his puppet masters, was     enacting multiple and antithetical roles in order to confound anyone intent on deciphering the purposes behind his actions and to set him up as a future “assassin” or “patsy.” James Douglass persuasively argues that Oswald “seems to have been working with both the CIA and FBI,” as a provocateur for the former and an informant for the latter. Jim and Elsie Wilcott, who worked at the CIA Tokyo Station from 1960-64, in a 1978 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, said, “It was common knowledge in the Tokyo CIA station that Oswald worked for the agency.” When Oswald moved to New Orleans in April, 1963, de Mohrenschildt exited the picture, having asked the CIA for and been indirectly given a $285,000 contract to do a geological survey for Haitian dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier, which he never did, but for which he was paid. Ruth and Michael Paine then entered the scene on cue. Ruth had been introduced to Oswald by de Mohrenschildt. In September, 1963, Ruth Paine drove from her sister’s house in Virginia to New Orleans to pick up Marina Oswald and bring her to Dallas to live with her, where Lee also stayed on weekends. Back in Dallas, Ruth Paine conveniently arranged a job for Lee Harvey Oswald in the Texas Book Depository, where he began work on October 16, 1963. Ruth, along with Marina Oswald, was the Warren Commission’s critically important witness against Oswald. Allen Dulles, despite his earlier firing by JFK, got appointed to a key position on the Warren Commission.  He questioned the Paines in front of it, studiously avoiding any revealing questions, especially ones that could disclose his personal connections to the Paines. For Michel Paine’s mother, therefore Ruth’s mother-in-law, Ruth Paine Forbes Young, was a close friend of his old mistress, Mary Bancroft, who worked as a spy with Dulles during WW II. Bancroft and he had been invited guests at Ruth Paine Forbes Young’s private island off Cape Cod. Ruth and Michael Paine had extensive intelligence connections. Thirty years after the assassination, a document was declassified showing Ruth Paine’s sister Sylvia worked for the CIA. Her father traveled throughout Latin America on an Agency for International Development (notorious for CIA front activities) contract and filed reports that went to the CIA. Her husband Michael’s step-father, Arthur Young, was the inventor of the Bell Helicopter, a major military supplier for the Vietnam War, and Michael’s job there gave him a security clearance. From late September through November 22nd, various “Oswalds” were later reported to have simultaneously been seen from Mexico City to Dallas. Two Oswalds were arrested in the Texas Theater, the real one taken out the front door and an impostor out the back. As Douglass says: There were more Oswalds providing evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald than the Warren Report could use or even explain. Even J. Edgar Hoover knew that Oswald impostors were used, as he told LBJ concerning Oswald’s alleged visit to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. He later called this CIA ploy, “the false story re Oswald’s trip to Mexico…their (CIA’s) double-dealing,” something that he couldn’t forget. It was apparent to anyone paying close attention that a very intricate and deadly game was being played at high levels in the shadows. We know Oswald was blamed for the President’s murder. But if one fairly follows the trail of the crime, it becomes blatantly obvious that government forces were at work. Douglass and others have amassed layer upon layer of evidence to show how this had to be so. WHO HAD THE POWER TO WITHDRAW THE PRESIDENT’S SECURITY? To answer this essential question is to finger the conspirators and to expose, in Vincent Salandria’s words, “the false mystery concealing state crimes.” Neither Oswald, the mafia nor anti-Castro Cubans could have withdrawn most of the security that day. Sheriff Bill Decker ordered all his deputies “to take no part whatsoever in the security of that [presidential] motorcade.” Police Chief Jesse Curry did the same for Dallas police protection for the president in Dealey Plaza. Both “Chief Curry and Sheriff Decker gave their orders withdrawing security from the president in obedience to orders they had themselves received from the Secret Service.” The Secret Service withdrew the police motorcycle escorts from beside the president’s car where they had been on previous presidential motorcades as well as the day before in Houston and removed agents from the back of the car where they were normally stationed to obstruct gunfire. The Secret Service admitted there were no Secret Service agents on the ground in Dealey Plaza to protect Kennedy. But we know from extensive witness testimony that, during and after the assassination, there were people in Dealey Plaza impersonating Secret Service agents who stopped policeman and the public from moving through the area on the Grassy Knoll where some of the shots appeared to come from. The Secret Service approved the fateful, dogleg turn (on a dry run on November 18) where the car, driven by Secret Service agent William Greer, moved at a snail’s pace and came almost to a halt before the final head shot, clear and blatant security violations.  The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded this, not some conspiracy theorist. Who could have squelched the testimony of the many doctors and medical personnel who claimed the president had been shot from the front in his neck and head, testimony contradicting the official story? Who could have prosecuted and imprisoned Abraham Bolden, the first African-American Secret Service agent personally brought on to the White House detail by JFK, who warned that he feared the president was going to be assassinated? (Douglass interviewed Bolden seven times and his evidence on the aborted plot to kill JFK in Chicago on November 2 is a story little known but extraordinary in its implications.) The list of all the people who turned up dead, the evidence and events manipulated, the inquiry squelched, distorted, and twisted in an ex post facto cover-up clearly point to forces within the government, not rogue actors without institutional support. The evidence for a conspiracy organized at the deepest levels of the intelligence apparatus is overwhelming. James Douglass presents it in such depth and so logically that only one hardened to the truth would not be deeply moved and affected by his book, JFK and the Unspeakable. But there is more from him and other researchers who have cut the Gordian knot of this false mystery with a few brief strokes. OSWALD, THE PREORDAINED PATSY Three examples will suffice to show that Lee Harvey Oswald, working as part of a U.S. Intelligence operation, was set up to take the blame for the assassination of President Kennedy, and that when he said in police custody that he was “a patsy,” he was speaking truthfully. These examples make it clear that Oswald was deceived by his intelligence handlers and had been chosen without his knowledge, long before the murder, to take the blame as a lone, crazed killer. First, Kennedy was shot at 12:30 P.M. CT. According to the Warren Report, at 12:45 P.M. a police report was issued for a suspect that perfectly fit Oswald’s description. This was based on the testimony of Howard Brennan, who said he was standing across from the Book Depository and saw a standing white man, about 5’10” and slender, fire a rifle at the president’s car from the sixth-floor window. This was blatantly false because photographs taken moments after the shooting show the window open only partially at the bottom about fourteen inches, and it would have been impossible for a standing assassin to be seen “resting against the left windowsill,” (the windowsill was a foot from the floor), as Brennan is alleged to have said. He would have therefore had to have been shooting through the glass. The description of the suspect was clearly fabricated in advance to match Oswald’s. Then between 1:06 and 1:15 P.M. in the quiet residential Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Police Officer J.D. Tippit was shot and killed. Supposedly based on Brennan’s description broadcast over police radio, Tippit had stopped a man fitting the description and this man pulled a gun and shot the officer. Meanwhile, Oswald had returned to his rooming house where his landlady said he left at 1:03 P.M., went outside, and was standing at a northbound bus stop. The Tippet murder took place nine-tenths of a mile away to the south where a witness, Mrs. Higgins, said she heard a gunshot at 1:06 P.M., ran outside, saw Tippit lying in the street and a man running away with a handgun whom she said was not Oswald. Oswald is reported to have entered the Texas Theater minutes before the Tippit murder. The concession stand operator, Warren Burroughs has said he sold him popcorn at 1:15 P.M., which is the time the Warren Report claims Tippit was killed. At 1:50 P.M., Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in the Texas Theater and taken out the front door where a crowd and many police cars awaited him, while a few minutes later a second Oswald is secretly taken out the back door of the movie theater. (To read this story of the second Oswald and his movement by the CIA out of Dallas on a military aircraft on the afternoon of November 22, 1963, documented in great detail by James W. Douglass, is an eye-opener.) The official narrative of Oswald and the Tippit murder begs credulity, but it serves to “show” that Oswald was a killer. Despite his denials, Oswald, set up for Kennedy’s murder based on a prepackaged description, is arraigned for Tippit’s murder at 7:10 PM. It was not until the next day that he was charged for Kennedy’s. THE MESSAGE TO AIR FORCE ONE Secondly, while Oswald is being questioned about Tippit’s murder in the afternoon hours after his arrest, Air Force One has left Dallas for Washington with the newly sworn-in president Lyndon Johnson and the presidential party. Back in D.C., the White House Situation Room is under the personal and direct control of Kennedy’s National Security Advisor, McGeorge Bundy, a man with close CIA ties who had opposed JFK on many matters, including the Bay of Pigs and Kennedy’s order to withdraw from Vietnam. As reported by Theodore White, in The Making of the President 1964, Johnson and the others were informed by the Bundy controlled Situation Room that “there was no conspiracy, learned of the identity of Oswald and his arrest …” Vincent Salandria, one of the earliest and most astute critics of the Warren Commission, put it this way in his book, False Mystery: This [announcement from the Situation Room to Air Force One in flight back to Washington, D.C] was the very first announcement of Oswald as the lone assassin. In Dallas, Oswald was not even charged with assassinating the President until 1:30 A.M. the next morning. The plane landed at 5:59 P.M. on the 22nd. At that time the District Attorney of Dallas, Henry Wade, was stating that “preliminary reports indicated more than one person was involved in the shooting … the electric chair is too good for the killers.” Can there be any doubt that for any government taken by surprise by the assassination — and legitimately seeking the truth concerning it — less than six hours after the time of the assassination was too soon to know there was no conspiracy? This announcement was the first which designated Oswald as the lone assassin…. I propose the thesis that McGeorge Bundy, when that announcement was issued from his Situation Room, had reason to know that the true meaning of such a message when conveyed to the Presidential party on Air Force One [and to a separate plane with the entire cabinet that had turned around and was headed back over the Pacific Ocean] was not the ostensible message which was being communicated. Rather, I submit that Bundy … was really conveying to the Presidential party the thought that Oswald was being designated the lone assassin before any evidence against him was ascertainable. As a central coordinator of intelligence services, Bundy in transmitting such a message through the Situation Room was really telling the Presidential party that an unholy marriage had taken place between the U.S. Governmental intelligence services and the lone-assassin doctrine. Was he not telling the Presidential party peremptorily, ‘Now, hear this! Oswald is the assassin, the sole assassin. Evidence is not available yet. Evidence will be obtained, or in lieu thereof evidence will be created. This is a crucial matter of state that cannot await evidence. The new rulers have spoken. You, there, Mr. New President, and therefore dispatchable stuff, and you the underlings of a deposed President, heed the message well.’ Was not Bundy’s Situation Room serving an Orwellian double-think function? OSWALD’S PREPACKAGED LIFE STORY Finally, Air Force Colonel Fletcher Prouty adds a third example of the CIA conspiracy for those who need more evidence that the government has lied from the start about the assassination. Prouty was Chief of Special Operations in the Pentagon before and during the Kennedy years. He was the liaison between the Joint Chiefs and the CIA, working closely with Director Allen Dulles and others in supporting the clandestine operations of the CIA under military cover. He had been sent out of the country to the South Pole by the aforementioned CIA operative Edward Lansdale (Operation Northwoods) before the Kennedy assassination and was returning on November 22, 1963. On a stopover in Christchurch, New Zealand, he heard a radio report that the president had been killed but knew no details. He was having breakfast with a U.S Congressman at 7:30 AM on November 23, New Zealand time. A short time later, at approximately 4:30 PM Dallas time, November 22, he bought the Christchurch Star 23 November 1963 newspaper and read it together with the Congressman. The newspaper reports from the scene said that Kennedy had been killed by bursts of automatic weapons fire, not a single shot rifle, firing three separate shots in 6.8 seconds, as was later claimed for Oswald. But the thing that really startled him was that at a time when Oswald had just been arrested and had not even been charged for the murder of Officer Tippit, there was elaborate background information on Oswald, his time in Russia, his association with Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans, etc. “It’s almost like a book written five years later,” said Prouty. “Furthermore, there’s a picture of Oswald, well-dressed in a business suit, whereas, when he was picked up on the streets of Dallas after the President’s death, he had on some t-shirt or something… Who had written that scenario?  Who wrote that script…So much news was already written ahead of time of the murder to say that Oswald killed the President and that he did it with three shots…Somebody had decided Oswald was going to be the patsy…Where did they get it, before the police had charged him with the crime?  Not so much ‘where,’ as ‘why’ Oswald? Prouty, an experienced military man working for the CIA in the Pentagon, accused the military-intelligence “High Cabal” of killing President Kennedy in an elaborate and sophisticated plot and blaming it on Oswald, whom they had begun setting up years in advance. The evidence for a government plot to plan, assassinate, cover-up, and choose a patsy in the murder of President John Kennedy is overwhelming.[42] Five years after JFK’s assassination, we would learn, to our chagrin and his glory, that the president’s younger brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, equally brave and unintimidated, would take a bullet to the back of his head in 1968 as he was on his way to the presidency and the pursuit of his brother’s killers. The same cowards struck again. Their successors still run the country and must be stopped. EPILOGUE BY JAMES W. DOUGLASS John F. Kennedy was raised from the death of wealth, power, and privilege. The son of a millionaire ambassador, he was born, raised, and educated to rule the system. When he was elected President, Kennedy’s heritage of power corresponded to his position as head of the greatest national security state in history. But Kennedy, like Lazarus, was raised from the death of that system. In spite of all odds, he became a peacemaker and, thus, a traitor to the system…. Why? What raised Kennedy from the dead? Why did John Kennedy choose life in the midst of death and by continuing to choose life thus condemn himself to death? I have puzzled over that question while studying the various biographies of Kennedy. May I suggest one source of grace for his resurrection as a peacemaker? In reading his story, one is struck by his devotion to his children. There is no mistaking the depth of love he had for Caroline and John, and the overwhelming pain he and Jacqueline experienced at the death of their son Patrick. Robert Kennedy in his book Thirteen Days has described how his brother saw the Cuban Missile Crisis in terms of the future of his children and all children. I believe John Kennedy was at least partially raised from the dead of the national security state by the life of his children. The heroic peacemaking of his final months, with his acceptance of its likely cost in his own death, was, I suspect, partly a result of the universal life he saw in and through them. I think he believed profoundly the words that he gave in his American University address as his foundation for rejecting the Cold War: ‘Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.’[43] Tyler Durden Mon, 11/27/2023 - 23:40.....»»

Climate Action 30 spotlights global activists, academics, founders, executives, and nonprofit and public sector leaders tackling the climate crisis. Máximo Tuja for Business Insider30 of the top global leaders working toward climate solutions in 2023In a year of record-breaking climate disasters, shifting ESG priorities, and news about a looming environmental tipping point, the need for climate action has never been more urgent.Luckily, there are leaders up for the challenge of taking on big climate goals with the aim of making tangible progress for current and future generations. Business Insider's second-annual Climate Action 30 list highlights 30 of these top global leaders working to address the climate crisis through collectivism, community, and accountability. The list is more than just a page of accomplishments — it's a call to action. We gave each honoree the platform to tell our readers about their fight to curb the climate crisis, as well as the specific actions they think our readers can take to do the same. While this list is far from definitive, a team of Business Insider reporters and editors selected honorees based on recommendations from relevant sources, insights from our One Planet council, and submissions from our readers. Categories — and each group’s honorees — are listed alphabetically.This year, we've matched each honoree with a category — academics and scientists; activists and influencers; corporate executives; entrepreneurs; and nonprofit, public sector, and government leaders — to serve as a climate-action "lens" to help us understand the various meanings of the word "impact" and what it can look like across sectors. The academics and scientists we've featured are at the forefront of uncovering and advancing some of the world's most significant climate discoveries. The activists and influencers are using their voices and creative actions to build momentum in their communities. Our corporate leaders are featured for their influence over the products and services that can trigger industry-wide shifts.And our nonprofit, public sector, and government leaders are championing bold, community-driven change.Together, the list showcases an eclectic mix of dedicated climate leaders — whether they're on the front lines, in the boardroom, at the policy table, or in the classroom. Climate Action 30 goes beyond recognizing the crisis — it empowers people to be part of the solution. It's a testament to how the power of leadership and hope can create historic change.  document.documentElement.classList.add("gi-static-graphic"); if (document.querySelector(".gi-static-graphic")) { const sizes = { reg: { viewport: [320, 390, 600, 960, 1260], imgSize: [280, 350, 570, 555, 640], }, noRR: { viewport: [320, 390, 600, 960], imgSize: [280, 350, 570, 640], }, es: { viewport: [320, 390, 600, 960], imgSize: [280, 350, 480, 640], }, breakout: { viewport: [320, 390, 600, 960], imgSize: [280, 350, 560, 890], }, }; const figureElements = [...document.querySelectorAll(".gi-static")]; const scale = clamp(1, window.devicePixelRatio, 3); const lazyloader = new IntersectionObserver(lazyLoadCb, { rootMargin: "0px 0px 300px 0px", }); figureElements.forEach((figure) => { const imageIds = JSON.parse(figure.getAttribute("data-image-ids")); const embedType = figure.dataset.embedType; const pictureElement = figure.firstElementChild; imageIds.forEach((image, i) => { pictureElement.insertAdjacentHTML( "afterbegin", ` ` ); }); const lazyloadTargets = [...pictureElement.children]; lazyloadTargets.forEach((lzTarget) => { lazyloader.observe(lzTarget); }); }); } function clamp(min, input, max) { return Math.max(min, Math.min(input, max)); } function lazyLoadCb(entries, observer) { entries.forEach((entry) => { if ( (entry.isIntersecting && entry.target.srcset !== entry.target.dataset.srcset) || (entry.isIntersecting && entry.target.src !== entry.target.dataset.src) ) { if (entry.target.tagName === "SOURCE") { entry.target.srcset = entry.target.dataset.srcset; } if (entry.target.tagName === "IMG") { entry.target.src = entry.target.dataset.src; } observer.unobserve(entry.target); } }); } Abdulla Al Mandous, President, World Meteorological Organization; Director general, United Arab Emirates National Center of MeteorologyVidhyaa Chandramohan for Business InsiderAbdulla Al Mandous is a meteorologist and the president of the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency dedicated to weather, climate, and water resources.Mandous, who holds a Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of Belgrade in Serbia, has worked for the WMO for 30 years. He joined after completing a degree in meteorology — "I became a meteorologist by luck," he said — as a principal delegate from the United Arab Emirates. Over that time, he's seen the WMO's mission change. When Mandous started his career, he said that the WMO's central focus was monitoring and forecasting weather events. Today, it puts a lot more effort into research on the climate crisis."We have a big network," Mandous told Business Insider, citing the WMO's numerous weather stations, data centers, and radar networks. "This should be used for the climate." One of Mandous' goals is to turn the Early Warnings for All initiative — a project that provides warning systems for communities at risk of extreme weather events — into reality. He said that he hoped to secure funding at the upcoming COP28 conference to "close the gap of monitoring" in countries in the Global South."We have a lot of missing gaps in the countries, especially in Africa and small islands, and we want to initiate alarm systems that will warn those countries for that," Mandous said. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Andrew Baker, Professor, University of MiamiT.J. Levonien, University of MiamiAndrew Baker, a marine biologist at the University of Miami, researches coral reefs and the climate crisis. He has been fascinated by the ocean since he was young and "never grew out of that," he told Business Insider. His defining moment came during his Ph.D. research on coral-algal symbiosis — the relationship between coral and their symbiotic algae that powers reef growth — when the 1997-1998 El Niño event triggered coral bleaching. Bleaching happens when coral release their algal symbionts after being exposed to warmer temperatures. "It turned out that some algal symbionts were very resistant to high temperature. They didn't get bleached from the coral, and the coral survived," Baker said. The observation put his work at the center of understanding how coral reefs respond to the climate crisis. Baker continued his work and grew his team over the next 2 ½ decades. This year, he said, they released a first-of-its-kind paper showing how algal symbionts' thermal tolerance can impact a whole reef system. Healthy reefs are full of biodiversity and underpin fisheries, drug discovery, and tourism. Baker's research is an important step toward helping to increase coral reefs' resilience. Reefs also act as coastline protection and mitigate flooding. Today, Baker leads an interdisciplinary project to design climate-resilient hybrid reefs that combine artificial structures with coral. The coral will be engineered to handle warmer temperatures for both ecosystem restoration and coastline protection, as reefs also help absorb waves, mitigate flooding, and prevent erosion.  .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Director, Office of Science, US Department of EnergyOak Ridge National LaboratoryThroughout her career, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe has been driven by her fascination with the world beneath our feet."That thin layer of soil that covers the land surface represents the difference between life and lifelessness in the earth system because pretty much all terrestrial life has to depend on soil," Berhe told Business Insider.Berhe is a biogeochemist, a political ecologist, and the director of the US Office of Science. She has a Ph.D. in biogeochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Before taking the role at the Office of Science, she was a professor of soil biogeochemistry at the University of California, Merced. One of the biggest achievements of her career, she said, has been raising awareness about the importance of soil, especially as a climate-crisis solution."It really controls the fluxes of these greenhouse gasses from land to the atmosphere," Berhe said. She added that the soil ecosystem was "being degraded in a major and unprecedented way."In her role as director at the Office of Science, the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the US, one of Berhe's top priorities has been equity."The work that the public is funding has to be inclusive, accessible to everyone," Berhe said. She cited the office's launch of the Urban Integrated Field Labs as a key example. The program pairs scientists with local communities in inner cities and promotes research on adapting urban environments to the climate crisis."To me, we can't address the climate crisis if we cannot approach this issue with a perspective that's grounded in environmental justice," Berhe said. "And we cannot really pursue true environmental justice if we're not addressing these issues of inequity and lack of representation in STEM that we keep having decade after decade." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }   Sigrid Heuer, Consultant, Cambridge Discovery LimitedLina M. HeuerSigrid Heuer is a research scientist who has worked in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia on genetic diversity and molecular breeding to develop resilient crops and mitigate the effects of the climate crisis on food security. Heuer, who holds a Ph.D. in molecular plant biology, was part of the team that developed flood-tolerant rice for India and Bangladesh, which would give farmers respite from short-term flooding. Today, she's known for her work on heat-tolerance mechanisms for breeding temperature-resilient crops such as wheat and beans.Many countries are now facing long droughts followed by massive floods, Heuer said. "You need management solutions for that; you need water management and a plan on how to deal with climate change, but crop resilience can have a massive impact on that." Heat-tolerant plants could prevent significant yield losses due to climate change, she added. Heuer noted that there's a lack of women in leadership positions in science and applied research, and she hopes to inspire more women to enter the field. "The other part of impact is training the next generation of scientists," she said. Heuer has taught students from across the world, many of whom have joined international research groups, she said. Two former students described their field work as "life-changing," she added.The scientist has now moved into consulting and plans to work with philanthropic foundations to channel capital into climate-resilience projects across the world. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Ermias Kebreab, Professor and associate dean, University of California, DavisGregory Urquiaga from UC DavisErmias Kebreab is a professor and associate dean at the University of California, Davis' agriculture and environment department, where he researches methane reduction in livestock through a food-justice lens.Methane has accounted for 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution; it stays in the atmosphere for less time than CO2, but is 80 times more potent over a 20-year period. Agriculture — cows, other ruminant animals, and rice paddies — is responsible for a third of methane emissions. By finding new ways to feed livestock to reduce or eliminate methane, Kebreab, who has a Ph.D. in ecological modeling, wants to help create more sustainable food systems without harming economic development or the health of low-income countries.He coauthored a study in 2019 that introduced seaweed as a feed additive for dairy cows; it reduced enteric methane emissions by over 50%. The same year, he contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change update on how to measure livestock and manure methane emissions. More recently, he worked on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's overview of methane emissions in livestock and rice paddies. Today, Kebreab is focused on a $70 million project exploring the use of gene-editing technology to edit a cow's gut microbes, which produce methane during digestion, to reduce methane production. "This could be a game changer if it works. Obviously, it's a high-risk, high-reward kind of activity," he told Business Insider.  .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Imogen Napper, Research fellow, University of PlymouthJamie MitchellImogen Napper is a marine scientist and National Geographic Explorer who has investigated various ways plastic gets into the environment.Napper's journey began when she was 8 years old and her school released balloons into the air. She wondered where they went and whether they'd end up in the ocean. This curiosity characterizes her research, she told Business Insider. Napper is driven by providing scientific answers to those kinds of questions in an effort to create change. "It's giving evidence to consumers, industry, and government about what's happening. From that evidence, we can make more informed decisions," she said.Her Ph.D. research helped kick-start an international conversation about microbeads in cosmetics, which were ultimately banned in several countries. Napper went on to investigate biodegradable plastic bags and the pollution created by washing laundry. While research had been done to measure the number of fibers that come off clothes during a wash, hers was the first to break it down by different polymer types. Her research found that a single wash of polyester clothing can shed up to 700,000 plastic fibers.She's now exploring how the lessons from studying ocean pollution can be applied to space, which is becoming increasingly littered with old satellites. Napper has also worked on various National Geographic expeditions. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Nouhad Awwad, Campaigner, Ummah for Earth; Global outreach coordinator, Greenpeace MENARoland SalemFor Nouhad Awwad, faith and environmental values are intertwined. People often view the environment as "something created for their benefit, rather than something that's their duty to preserve," she said. But Awwad believes protecting nature is a core part of her Islamic values.She works for Ummah for Earth, an alliance of 22 organizations that empowers Muslim communities to tackle the climate crisis. Awwad told Business Insider that talking to people through their faith values could be an effective way to spread awareness and mobilize climate action.Alongside her campaigning for Ummah for Earth, Awwad is a global outreach coordinator at Greenpeace MENA, which stands for the Middle East and North Africa. She's passionate about coordinating climate action in the Middle East. "I felt that this is something very underrepresented in my community," Awwad said.Awwad started Lebanon's chapter of the Arab Youth Climate Movement in 2015. She said that socioeconomic factors in Lebanon could make engaging with environmental issues an "elite thing" for young people. Awwad added that a lack of funding and resources had made youth climate action in the Global South trickier.She created a free training program on solar-panel installation in Arabic, as resources on renewable energy are difficult to access in the language. She said about 2,000 young people applied for the program, and many of the trainees started their own solar-roof-garden initiatives. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }   Isaias Hernandez, Environmental media creator, Queer Brown VeganRachel FallerIsaias Hernandez is an environmental and social-justice content creator.Driven by the disparities in access to clean air and green spaces in different areas of Los Angeles and fueled by his teenage asthma diagnosis, Hernandez is committed to change at the intersection of environment, social justice, and equity."I had to realize, how do we make a green space green but also equitable through an economic lens?" he told Business Insider. In 2019, Hernandez founded the media platform Queer Brown Vegan to educate others on that intersectionality. He does this through people-led storytelling, which he felt was different from the content that existed at that time.In response to the 2020 wildfires on the Pacific coast, Hernandez created what he dubbed a "climate-emotion scale" to help people process and discuss eco-anxiety. It gained traction online, and Hernandez said that Gen Z is "redefining the curriculum" with new climate and mental-health resources. The creator was also featured on the digital cover of Vogue with Billie Eilish and spoke at the Harvard Chan C-Change Youth Summit as part of the Climate Creators 2023 Program. Now, Hernandez wants to help young people find work at sustainable companies. He recently published a series of interviews with businesses to showcase their environmental and social credentials. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Tara Houska, Environmental and Indigenous rights advocate; attorney; founder, Giniw CollectiveNedahness GreeneTara Houska is a tribal lawyer and environmental and Indigenous rights activist from Couchiching First Nation.Houska interned in the first Obama administration and then worked for a law firm in Washington, DC, that lobbies for tribal rights to basic infrastructure needs like schools and hospitals and environmental-justice issues.She attended her first protest, against Keystone XL, in 2014 and is now known for boots-on-the-ground activism to protect Indigenous land and water. In 2016, Houska spent six months camping and protesting on the front lines of the Dakota Access pipeline resistance at Standing Rock. In 2021, she was arrested for trespassing while taking part in a direct action against the Line 3 oil pipeline. She recently participated in a direct-action protest against the Mountain Valley pipeline, where she was arrested after locking herself to construction equipment. Houska also served as a Native American affairs advisor to Bernie Sanders in 2016 and founded an Indigenous women activist group called Giniw Collective in 2018."Native folks are the first and worst impacted by the climate crisis. We're the folks who are still deeply in relationship with nature. The extractive-industry projects tend to really disparately impact our people," she told Business Insider. Houska is now set on shifting the narrative around climate-crisis solutions and repairing the relationship humans have with nature. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }   Cheryl Johnson, Executive director, People for Community RecoveryTaylor Glascock for Business InsiderFor Cheryl Johnson, pollution is personal. She's a lifelong resident of Altgeld Gardens in Chicago, a neighborhood surrounded by one of the largest concentrations of hazardous-waste sites in the US. She's also the daughter of Hazel Johnson, who is considered the mother of environmental justice. "Keeping her legacy alive is a huge passion of mine," Johnson told Business Insider.Johnson serves as the executive director of People for Community Recovery, a nonprofit her mother founded to improve the quality of life for communities affected by pollution.Under her leadership, PCR has prevented hundreds of units in Altgeld Gardens from being torn down, led a program to remove harmful chemicals from residential homes, and stopped another landfill from being constructed in the community.Poorer communities, Johnson said, are more likely to experience the "devastating" impacts of the climate crisis because they don't have the necessary resources to respond. "People are not even aware to be prepared," Johnson said. "We need an environmental-remediation workforce to be able to prepare, to intervene, and to respond to issues that are related to our climate condition."This is the work of everybody. It has come to the point where business, industry, community, government, academic institutions sit at the table and look at how we can create precautionary principles to protect public health from any type of natural or manmade catastrophe." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }    Adam McKay, Film directorCaroline McCredie/Stringer/Getty ImagesRarely do movies about climate change become blockbusters. Adam McKay's "Don't Look Up" changed the game. The satirical comedy about a comet hurtling toward Earth — and our collective inaction — is a metaphor for the climate crisis. It smashed Netflix's record for viewing hours within the first 28 days of its release and continues to hold second place. It received four Academy Award nominations.McKay said many movie studios passed on making it because of the ending. Ultimately, the planet gets destroyed. "My argument was always twofold. We need to show that there isn't always a happy ending, because with the way climate change is headed, that is not a guarantee," McKay told Business Insider. "And people want this. People are tired of the old story tropes of everything ending up great."Movies like "Don't Look Up" are a powerful way to influence the public's view of the climate crisis and call out politicians, wealthy executives, and the media for downplaying its severity, McKay said. Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep certainly help.Despite the success, McKay said some of the response made him realize there is a lot more work to do. He has personally given $4 million to the Climate Emergency Fund, which supports a network of activist groups in the US. He said that throughout history, disruptive protests have led to major societal change. He also felt disillusioned by Washington politicians and big environmental nonprofits. In June, one of those activist groups disrupted an event featuring Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who became a millionaire from his family's coal business and carved out concessions for fossil fuels in the Inflation Reduction Act, a major climate law. "I told my wife that this is the best money we've ever given," McKay said. Earlier this year, McKay founded Yellow Dot Studios, a nonprofit that makes short videos and commercials about the climate crisis. The launch was inspired by a spoof Chevron ad that went viral last year, made by McKay and some colleagues now at Yellow Dot."My wife and I will be continuing to give as much as we possibly can, as well as our time and support, to these activists," McKay said. "I really think that's the way it's going to work — a constructive populist movement." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  The youth plaintiffs in Held v. Montana, a first-of-its-kind climate lawsuitThe Montana Plaintiffs with Plaintiff Olivia, in the center.Robin Loznak/Courtesy of Our Children's TrustOlivia Vesovich was only 11 the first time the thought of a changing climate terrified her. Her sixth-grade class in Missoula, Montana, was learning about the ice and snow in the state's Glacier National Park."My teacher told us that my generation's children are going to be the last generation to see the snow and the glaciers," Vesovich, pictured above in a green dress, said. "And I was like, 'No glaciers at Glacier National Park — how can this be?'"Vesovich, now 20, would go on to face what she called "climate despair." That's part of what led her to join 15 other young people in a lawsuit against Montana, Held v. Montana, which accused the state of depriving them of the clean environment they're entitled to under Montana's constitution. In August, a judge ruled that by allowing fossil-fuel development, the state was violating the young people's rights.The legal action by the young plaintiffs, only one of whom was old enough to vote when the trial began, marked the first constitutional case on climate change to go to trial in the US. Montana has said it plans to appeal. Nonetheless, Vesovich said she's excited about the outcome of the trial because it could provide a blueprint for other cases. While only a handful of states have the constitutional guarantees Montana does, Vesovich said the ruling gave her hope that leaders would be forced to listen to those most at risk from a changing climate. Already, the law firm that led the Montana suit has filed a motion in Hawaii on behalf of a group of 14 youth activists. The group sued the Hawaii Department of Transportation last year over greenhouse-gas emissions related to transportation. It's one more sign for Vesovich of the impact the Montana win has had."They can't not listen," she said. "They can't look away." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Ayisha Siddiqa, Youth climate advisor to the UN Secretary-GeneralPamela EAAyisha Siddiqa is a human-rights and environmental activist. Growing up in Pakistan, Siddiqa saw the effects of pollution firsthand when members of her family and community became ill from unsafe drinking water, and she learned that conflict and war are linked to resource demand.Later, Siddiqa asked herself: "What is the most pertinent issue for me, which cause would I need to answer to my children for in the future? For me, that is the environmental cause." In 2020, she cofounded the youth-activist coalition Polluters Out and helped launch an activist training course called Fossil Free University. More recently, Siddiqa together with other activists successfully lobbied for the Loss and Damage Fund at COP27 to support the countries that are harmed the most by the effects of the climate crisis and to force fossil-fuel lobbyists to identify themselves when registering for COP28. Siddiqa currently serves as a youth climate advisor to the UN secretary-general. She's also on the steering committee of the Youth Climate Justice Fund, which aims to be the largest youth-led regranter in the climate space — meaning it secures grants to issue them to others. Looking ahead, she wants to continue her legislative work and help protect the planet for future generations. The urgency of the situation is what keeps Siddiqa going. "There's nothing more to lose, and nothing more left at risk," she said.  .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Esther An, Chief sustainability officer, City Developments LimitedCDLEsther An is the chief sustainability officer at City Developments Limited, or CDL, a real-estate company in Singapore. CDL was Southeast Asia's first real-estate conglomerate to sign the World Green Building Council's Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment in February 2021. Under An's leadership, the company has committed to offsetting new developments by 2030 and getting all its buildings to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050."I see my role as a catalyst," An told Business Insider. She said that construction sites were big polluters when she started her career. She played a pivotal role in creating CDL's corporate character and setting up its sustainability portfolio. "I think establishing the ethos of conserving as we construct is very fundamental," she said.An has championed sustainability reporting and ESG-disclosure practices within her field. She published the first sustainability report using Global Reporting Initiative, or GRI, standards in Singapore in 2008 and it remains an important part of her approach. "If you don't measure, you can't manage," An said.She's also passionate about education and empowerment. She said she was particularly proud of the CDL Green Gallery at the Singapore Botanic Gardens Heritage Museum, which hosts exhibitions about the climate crisis and sustainable living. An said that the gallery is "net zero" and runs on solar power. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Lisa P. Jackson, Vice president, Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, AppleAppleLisa P. Jackson has always been driven by her desire to protect people and the planet. "Devastating storms like Katrina that destroyed the home I grew up in have shown us the consequences of inaction," she told Business Insider. Jackson, who has a background in chemical engineering, had a two-decade career in public service before joining the corporate world. She served under President Barack Obama as the administrator of the Environment Protection Agency, where she led the EPA's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, took action on air and water quality, and made environmental justice a key priority. She joined Apple in 2013. "My entire career has been motivated by the mission to protect people's health and the environment was a great motivator for me. Joining Apple was an opportunity to continue my life's work to drive climate progress forward globally," she said. Apple has helped suppliers improve sustainability for over a decade, and its facilities have run on 100% renewable energy since 2018, Jackson said. While Apple has faced criticism for its frequent product launches, which encourage consumers to upgrade their devices regularly, the company plans to make every product carbon neutral by the end of the decade and eliminate plastic packaging by 2025.Jackson also leads Apple's more than $200 million global Racial Equity and Justice Initiative to expand opportunities for Black, Hispanic, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Nicole Systrom, Chief impact officer, Galvanize Climate SolutionsLuci ValentineIn her role as chief impact officer at Galvanize Climate Solutions, a climate-focused global investment firm, Nicole Systrom leads a team of experts across science and technology, policy, and markets.Systrom supports investors to make "as much climate impact as possible," she said. Galvanize has three strategies — a venture strategy, a public-equity strategy, and a real-estate strategy — all focused on decarbonization in different ways, she said."I hope they'll become a model for other investors to follow in the future," Systrom said.Systrom said that climate technology needed capital to close the "financing gap." In September, Galvanize announced the final close of its Innovation + Expansion Fund at over $1 billion, which is one of the largest climate venture funds raised to date. Systrom described the fund as "pretty remarkable.""We need all different parts of the investment ecosystem, all different asset classes, all types of investors, really activated towards climate transition. I think there's a role for every type of investor to play," Systrom said.Systrom also serves on the steering committee of a group called the Venture Climate Alliance, which formed in April. It's seeking to shape a net-zero standard for the venture industry and "try to drive consensus around the role venture capitalists should be playing," she said. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Kathleen Talbot, Chief sustainability officer and vice president of operations, ReformationReformationReformation began as a vintage boutique in Los Angeles in 2009 but soon became known for making simple, sexy dresses worn by celebrities including Rihanna and Taylor Swift. Kathleen Talbot joined the company in 2014, about a year after Reformation launched its website and started selling clothes worldwide."At that time, I don't think many people even associated the clothes in their closet with climate change," Talbot said. "So it was fun to try and set the standard in what was still a very niche market."Since then, Talbot has helped Reformation become a leader in sustainable fashion and transparency. The company says more than 70% of its materials are recycled or "regenerative," meaning they are made from animal- and plant-based fibers grown on farms using practices that address climate change. Less than 2% of the material it uses are synthetic fabrics made from petrochemicals, such as nylon. Reformation aims to use as little new material as possible and reduce waste in order to become "climate positive" by 2025, which involves removing more greenhouse-gas emissions from the atmosphere than the company produces. About a third of its carbon footprint comes from the virgin materials it uses, including cashmere, silk, and viscose. Reformation's road map calls for using more recycled wool and eliminating silk, as well as buying carbon offsets that remove carbon from the atmosphere as opposed to avoiding emissions.  "The fashion industry is throwing away almost the same amount of materials we are generating every year," Talbot said. "If we just connect those dots and circulate these raw materials, we can eliminate waste and emissions."In March 2022, Reformation launched RefRecycling so customers can drop off their old clothes at retail locations. And shoppers won't find racks and racks of clothing at its stores. Reformation releases limited collections every week, and only makes more if the sales demand it, to limit waste. About 16% of its sales come from vintage, rental, or resale.It's a different model than fast fashion, which emits about 10% of greenhouse gasses globally and makes 40 billion garments every year that are never sold.Reformation is also getting into politics. It's one of a handful of brands that has endorsed legislation in New York state and Congress that would require more transparency in fashion supply chains. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Etosha Cave, Cofounder and CSO, TwelveTwelveEtosha Cave started Twelve in 2015 while she was a grad student at Stanford University, along with her fellow graduate students Kendra Kuhl and Nicholas Flanders.Cave, who holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and Kuhl developed a carbon-transformation technology that can take carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into products including shoes, clothes, and electronics. The technology can even make a sustainable aviation fuel, called E-Jet, according to Cave."Carbon is such a ubiquitous molecule — it's used in so many things," Cave told Business Insider. "If we can provide this air-based carbon, instead of fossil-based carbon, we can start to shift away from fossil fuels."Twelve is collaborating with major partners such as Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, and the US Air Force to advance the development of its sustainable E-Jet fuel. "For every gallon of sustainable aviation fuel we can make, we're displacing a gallon of fossil fuels," Cave said.The shift from grad school to running a startup has had its challenges, but for Cave, this is a "golden era" for climate tech. She cited the Inflation Reduction Act as an example of a "unique alignment of policy and technology and public opinion.""This is kind of an all-hands-on-deck moment," she said. "We need lots of people and lots of technologies working toward reducing our CO2 emissions." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Pablo Ribeiro Dias, Cofounder and CTO, SolarCycleMarcio Pimenta for Business InsiderSome 2 billion solar panels are installed around the world. That number is rapidly rising as countries expand renewable energy. But those panels don't last forever, and Pablo Ribeiro Dias wants to make sure they don't end up in a landfill. So he cofounded SolarCycle, a Texas-based startup that reclaims old solar panels so they can be turned into new ones. The company has raised $37 million so far and expects to process about 1 million panels a year at a new recycling and manufacturing plant. SolarCycle's customers include some of the largest renewable-energy companies including Ørsted and Sunrun."If we can use the same resources for longer, that means less resources are extracted from the Earth," Dias, who has two Ph.D.s and pioneered research on new ways to recycle solar panels, said. "That is one way for us to live sustainably."Dias said he learned the value of materials from a young age growing up in Brazil, where throwaway culture isn't as prevalent as in the US. Dias researched e-waste recycling technology for cellphones and other electronics, which paved the way for his work on solar panels. SolarCycle says its technology can reclaim more than 95% of all the valuable materials in solar panels, including aluminum, glass, copper, silver, and silicon. These materials are sold back into the solar value chain. The hope is that by scaling a circular system, the demand for mining new metals in countries like Mexico, China, and Democratic Republic of Congo will drop. Plastics are a trickier material, Dias said, because the plastic used in solar panels is similar to rubber tires. Right now, it's not feasible to recycle that. The next stage for SolarCycle is opening a second recycling plant in Phoenix and establishing a research and development center. "We're in a great position to build a real circular economy, not just a fairy-tale one," Dias said. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }    Amanda Hall, Founder and CEO, Summit NanotechMecoh Bain for Business InsiderWhen Amanda Hall founded Summit Nanotech in 2018, it was an all-or-nothing moment."One day, I woke up, had a bit of an existential crisis, said I want to leave the future better for my kids than it is today, and started this company," she told Business Insider.After 20 years as a geophysicist in the oil, gas, and mining industry, Hall spotted a gap in the market for lithium extraction.Lithium is used to make batteries in laptops, cellphones, and electric cars. It's crucial to the clean-energy transition. However, traditional lithium-extraction methods require vast amounts of land and water. Hall wanted to find a more sustainable way to meet the growing demand for the metal.Summit Nanotech employs a method called direct lithium extraction, which uses less land and produces less waste than traditional extraction methods, Hall told BI, adding that there's a common misconception that cleantech is costly. In reality, she said, the reductions in energy use, water use, and waste management result in "a cheaper process that's also cleaner and more efficient."The company opened a facility in Chile to scale up its direct-lithium-extraction technology following a pilot program in 2022. For Hall, it was important to have "boots on the ground" and establish good relationships with Indigenous communities in Chile, she said.Hall also worked with the Chilean government to introduce new standards for lithium extraction in the country. The legislation, announced in April, implements higher standards for things such as water and energy preservation. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Luke Haverhals, Founder and CEO, NFWBrett Rhoades for NFWMost of the materials used by major fashion brands pose a problem for the environment: They're made from fossil fuels. NFW, an alternative-materials manufacturer led by its founder, Luke Haverhals, is working to solve this problem by making plant-based leather, rubber, and yarn that are free from animals, petrochemicals, and plastics. There are many startups in this "next-gen" materials space. Part of what sets NFW apart, Haverhals said, is: "You have to perform cost competitively and be able to scale not just to millions but billions of square feet of materials in order to be relevant." Haverhals says NFW is set up to scale. The company has raised $160 million so far and its plant-based leather is already used in Stella McCartney handbags, Allbirds sneakers, and Bellroy wallets. BMW's venture-capital unit invested in NFW in July and said the startup's alternative leather was the only one in that market that's scalable, durable, and cost-competitive while having a low carbon footprint.Haverhals grew up on a farm in Iowa and taught chemistry at Bradley University and the US Naval Academy before founding NFW in 2015. NFW's approach, he told Business Insider, involves taking the byproducts of what farmers grow at a massive scale, such as rice husks, coconut fiber, and cork, and feeding them into machines that already make textiles."NFW isn't remaking textile mills or car-manufacturing facilities," Haverhals said. "We want to bring our technology into those factories."NFW has tested its material "recipes" on machines at its commercial factory in Peoria, Illinois, The next step is to prove the technology can work on a larger scale. The startup needs to raise tens of millions of dollars to fund the next phase of development, which Haverhals acknowledged would be challenging. He said investors were wary of material innovation after another startup earlier this year paused production of its mushroom-based leather.Haverhals remains a firm believer that NFW has an edge over the competition for all the reasons BMW cited in its endorsement."Impact is scale; scale is impact," Haverhals said. "And if we don't want to use synthetic materials, then we need to grow the future." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  David Kirtley, Founder and CEO, Helion EnergyMadison Kirkman/Madison Kirkman PhotographyScientists have tried for decades to harness the power of nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the sun and the stars. Fusion could provide nearly limitless energy without greenhouse-gas emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. Some experts have predicted fusion won't be a viable power source for decades. But David Kirtley and his team at Helion Energy are confident the timeline is much closer.  In May, Microsoft agreed to buy 50 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 40,000 homes, from a fusion power plant being developed by Helion. The startup's plant is expected to come online by 2028. In October, Helion announced plans to build a 500-megawatt power plant at a steel plant owned by Nucor, America's biggest steel supplier and recycler. The companies said the operation could start as early as 2030.These fusion facilities would mark the dawn of a new era of energy. Kirtley, a nuclear and aerospace engineer, wasn't always convinced that humans could harness fusion for electricity during his lifetime. At one point, he left the field and worked on advanced rockets instead. But as fusion systems became smaller and more energy efficient through modern electronics and fiber optics, Kirtley saw a path forward. He helped build those fusion systems at MSNW, a research company backed by NASA and the US Department of Energy. That work was spun off into Helion in 2013. All six of Helion's fusion prototypes have set records for their energy output and the temperature at which they operate, recently exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius — an ideal threshold for a power plant. The seventh prototype, expected to be completed this year, is set to be the first to convert fusion energy into electricity, Kirtley said. He told Business Insider that his work can be traced back to a childhood experience in Bermuda, when his father was stationed there while serving in the Navy. Kirtley could see the space shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral. "I just felt the majesty of what people and technology can do," Kirtley said. "As I grew older, I also reflected on the disparities in Bermuda, and how our standard of living is directly tied to access to electricity. So I got into college thinking, 'Man, we need to solve these energy problems.'" .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Sandeep Nijhawan, Cofounder and CEO, ElectraElectraSandeep Nijhawan is an entrepreneur and investor who's currently focused on creating more sustainable steelmaking processes. The industry is responsible for up to 10% of annual global greenhouse-gas emissions. Electra, founded in 2020, has developed a way to purify iron ore otherwise deemed too contaminated to use for steelmaking, Nijhawan said. This adds to the sector's circularity and reduces the need to mine for high-grade materials, he said. Traditionally, iron ore is smelted at high temperatures and converted to steel. Electra's technology uses cooler temperatures to refine iron ore, making it more compatible with intermittent renewable energy, Nijhawan said. Electra is left with the extracted impurities, often minerals and iron plates. The latter can be made into steel using electric furnaces. The company has raised $85 million from investors, including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Nijhawan said Electra plans to produce iron for green steel at a pilot scale by the end of the year.Nijhawan described Electra as a continuation of his previous venture, Staq Energy, an energy-storage company he launched in 2016 to accelerate the adoption of renewables. "Instead of storing renewable energy in the form of chemical storage, we're using it to produce clean iron, which is the key constraint to decarbonize steel," he said. The founder has always had the "entrepreneurial bug," he said, but he was inspired to focus on solutions to the climate crisis after a conversation with his children where he promised them he would try to make a positive impact on the environment. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Kimiko Hirata, Executive director, Climate IntegrateTakao OchiKimiko Hirata's work as an activist has led to the cancellation of 17 planned coal power plants in Japan.After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the Japanese government shut down many of its nuclear-power facilities and turned to coal power to provide the country's energy instead. At the time, Hirata, who holds a Ph.D. in social sciences from Waseda University, worked on environmental policy at the Japanese nonprofit Kiko Network. She knew that the expansion of coal power would lead to an increase in greenhouse-gas emissions and said she was wary that there were "no voices on the ground" to fight the decision.Hirata told Business Insider that she felt nongovernmental organizations and civil society in Japan were too small to stop the government and big industry and that public awareness of the climate impact of coal power was low. "The government advertised that the latest coal power is clean, so people believed that this is clean and there's no harm," she said. For instance, the Japanese government has promoted ammonia cofiring, where ammonia is blended with coal, as "clean" despite warnings that the method does little to affect overall greenhouse-gas emissions.Hirata wanted to change that, so she started to make connections at the community level."I tried several different approaches to get the support, talking about air pollution, or economic impacts, or climate change," Hirata said. She said it was "trial and error" at first. Gradually, the campaign was picked up by local people, and the media started to cover the story, which Hirata said was a "game changer."Hirata said that while she "planted the seeds" for the campaign, "the success was made by local people's voice and power." Today, Hirata runs Climate Integrate, a think tank, because she wants to increase climate expertise in Japan. She's also running a new campaign based around shareholder activism, a type of activism that targets fossil-fuel financers. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Mia Mottley, Prime minister, Barbados Caribbean GovernmentJOEL SAGET/Getty ImagesMia Mottley became Barbados' first woman prime minister in 2018. The politician and lawyer broke political glass ceilings earlier in her career, as the leader of the Barbados Labour Party and as attorney general. Mottley has made a name for herself by calling out wealthy nations, and the global financial system as a whole, for failing to support poorer countries. She spearheaded the Bridgetown Initiative, a climate-action plan named after Barbados' capital city, which aims to restructure finance for disaster-stricken nations. She believes tackling the climate crisis through the global economic system will help to "make meaningful progress."Barbados is one of the Caribbean countries most vulnerable to more powerful hurricanes and rising sea levels, which lead to other issues such as flooding and coastal erosion. The politician has long called for more collaboration between public and private investors."Let's take hotels that are on beaches," Mottley told the World Economic Forum. "If coastal erosion is bad, their revenue is going to be compromised."She worked with the International Monetary Fund and creditors to give Barbados more flexibility with debt payments after a natural disaster. The country also struck a deal with The Nature Conservancy to redirect part of its sovereign debt service toward ocean conservation. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }   Rep. Samuel Onuigbo, Former member of Nigeria's House of RepresentativesMaryam Turaki for InsiderIn the small Nigerian village where Samuel Onuigbo grew up, he and his neighbors would draw drinking water from six springs, and there were gullies where he and his friends from primary school would go to pick snails and chase rabbits. When Onuigbo returned to his village after finishing his college studies and a year of national service, he discovered that five of the springs had run dry and erosion had made many of the gullies in which he had once played too dangerous for people to enter. Those experiences made Onuigbo realize how much the climate crisis was hurting his country. As a member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, Onuigbo sponsored a climate bill that was signed into law in 2021. The law requires the government to draw up plans on how to deal with the climate crisis and establish a carbon budget. The law also set up funding for dealing with emerging climate hazards and required many businesses to meet annual emissions-reduction targets. Onuigbo said before the law was passed, government directors in various agencies often tried to tackle the problem piecemeal. "They preferred working in silos, not reporting to anybody, not being coordinated. And that, for me, is absolutely unproductive," he said. Now, Onuigbo said, the president appoints people to oversee these efforts. That means there's greater accountability. Beyond the legal framework, Onuigbo, who left the Nigerian House of Representatives in June after eight years, said the bill helped bring everyday Nigerians' attention to the effects of the climate crisis on the country. "You are getting conversations on climate change from different angles within the nation," he said. Onuigbo is currently a board member and the chairman of the committee on security, special interventions, and climate change of the North East Development Commission.  .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Matt Petersen, President and CEO, Los Angeles Cleantech IncubatorLACIMatt Petersen has been an environmental leader for three decades. The Modesto, California, native spent the first part of his career advocating for nuclear demilitarization and pioneering the green-building movement before becoming Los Angeles' first chief sustainability officer in 2013. He also created Climate Mayors, a coalition of 250 US mayors fighting the climate crisis.For the past six years, Petersen has led the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, or LACI, a nonprofit that helps startups scale their low-carbon transportation and energy technologies in communities exposed to high levels of pollution. Petersen has expanded LACI's work beyond just a startup incubator. The nonprofit launched the Transportation Electrification Partnership in May 2018, which pools public and private money and invests it in pilot programs aimed at cleaning up LA's busy ports, freeways, and local communities. The goal is to drive down greenhouse-gas emissions and air pollution from heavy-duty shipping trucks and personal cars by 2028, when LA is hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games. LACI startups are testing electric-vehicle car-sharing at public-housing developments in East LA and a zero-emissions delivery zone in Santa Monica. The nonprofit has also assembled funding for electric-truck charging stations at the Port of LA and Long Beach, where some 40% of the country's shipping containers arrive before dirty diesel-engine trucks drive the goods around the region. LACI is expanding its work into clean energy, releasing a road map in October focused on electrifying buildings and deploying smaller renewable-energy systems powered by solar, battery storage, and other technologies. LACI also has a workforce development program that trains about 300 people each year, including an all-female course on EV charging maintenance, Petersen said.Petersen told Business Insider that he wants the green economy to be inclusive of all races, classes, and genders. Petersen worked with Habitat for Humanity, helping to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and he saw the barriers families faced to live in affordable, energy-efficient homes that didn't leave them with high utility bills and poor indoor-air quality. Petersen said he's also had many female mentors who instilled the importance of empowering women in the workforce.  "Changing the composition of our startups to be more diverse was important to me so LACI better represents the economy and the population of Los Angeles," Petersen said. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Maisa Rojas, Chile's environment ministerGobierno de ChileIn 2022, world leaders gathered in Egypt for the UN's annual climate summit. One of the most important outcomes of that event was the creation of a "loss and damage" fund — effectively a pot of money that poor, climate-vulnerable countries can tap into to pay for the damage caused by the climate crisis. Wealthy powers such as the US and European Union, which are historically responsible for the greenhouse-gas emissions warming the planet, are expected to contribute. Maisa Rojas, Chile's environment minister, led those negotiations with Jennifer Morgan, Germany's special envoy for the climate crisis.Rojas told Business Insider it was an incredible privilege to have been asked by Egyptian officials to handle the talks. But at the outset, there was no guarantee of success. It wasn't clear whether loss and damage would be on the agenda at all, given the decades of opposition from rich countries. After that hurdle, days of negotiations ensued over what a deal would look like. "The momentum was there," Rojas said, adding that a coalition of small island states and developing countries known as the Group of 77 and China was united in the cause. "Very late in the negotiations, the EU decided to say yes to a fund, and then we'd sort out the details afterward. That was a very exciting moment."A year later, those details are starting to take shape in a proposal that could be adopted during the UN climate summit in Dubai, which starts in November. Many issues remain contentious, such as which countries are eligible for the funds, which have to contribute money, and how much. A UN-commissioned report said that based on recent climate-fueled disasters, the future costs of loss and damage could be as much as $150 billion to $300 billion by 2030 based."In a way, we are admitting that we as humanity have failed to address climate change," Rojas said. "Now there are irreversible losses that need to be addressed. This fund can help the most vulnerable and the most affected."Rojas, who holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric physics, also wants to ensure the most vulnerable populations in Chile benefit from the green transformation the country is undergoing, she said. Rojas took office in March 2022 under President Gabriel Boric and is responsible for implementing a new climate law that requires Chile to become carbon-neutral by 2050.Before holding political office, Rojas was the director of the Center for Climate and Resilience Research at the Universidad de Chile and a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Patricio Sepúlveda, Head of public debt management office, Chile Ministry of FinancePaula FaríasChile is known as a trailblazer in the sustainable-bond market. As of this year, the country has $43.5 billion in public debt — more than a third of its total debt — tied to achieving its climate and social goals.The architect of the program is Patricio Sepúlveda. His office developed financial frameworks that paved the way for Chile in 2019 to become the first country in the Americas to issue a green bond, creating a model for other countries in the region. The bond funds projects to electrify public transportation, expand renewable energy, and make buildings more energy efficient. "We need to have more sustainable growth," Sepúlveda told Business Insider. "We can grow our economy without forgetting about protecting the environment." Since then, Sepúlveda has expanded Chile's bond program for sustainable development. In 2022, Chile became the first country in the world to issue a sustainability-linked bond, or SLB. Unlike green or social bonds that are tied to specific projects, SLBs are attached to achieving longer-term targets. If those targets aren't met, Chile will face financial penalties.Chile aims to peak its greenhouse-gas emissions by 2025 and achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury. That goal is enshrined in the country's climate law published last year. Chile also wants 60% of its electricity to come from renewable energy by 2032 — compared to 27% in 2021. On the issue of gender equality, the country is pushing for women to represent 40% of corporate board directors by 2031. Women currently only make up about 13% of board positions.Sepúlveda said SLBs are a powerful way to ensure Chile continues making progress toward its sustainability goals, regardless of who's in charge politically. He added that the next goal is to incorporate biodiversity goals into Chile's SLBs, because protecting forests and oceans is key to solving climate change. .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  Jiqiu "JQ" Yuan, Vice president of engineering, National Institute of Building SciencesNational Institute of Building SciencesJQ Yuan works toward making buildings, infrastructure, and communities resilient against natural disasters.With more frequent extreme weather events predicted as a result of the climate crisis, Yuan said that it's vital that we're "building for life." "Sometimes it's not easy to sell that concept because when you have a building better and stronger, it always comes with a cost," Yuan said. But, he said, investing in resilience now could have a huge payoff in the future.Yuan, who has a Ph.D. in structural engineering from the University of Kansas, led a study that found for every dollar spent by federal agencies on natural-hazard mitigation, $6 was saved. The study also found that adopting the latest building-code requirements saved $11 for every $1 invested. "The return on investment is huge," Yuan said. For Yuan, incentivizing the private sector to invest in provisions to mitigate against natural disasters is hugely important. He recently coauthored a road map outlining how to create "mutual benefit" for both the private sector and society when responding to extreme weather. Yuan is also working on the National Institute of Building Sciences' Lifeline Infrastructure Hub, which aims to create public-private partnerships at the community level to aid in disaster recovery.Current building codes, Yuan said, are based on what has happened in the past and take the climate crisis into account. He said we needed to bring together the current science with engineering and "design for the future climate-change conditions." .gi-static-img { max-width: 100%; }  CreditsSeries Editor: Lily KatzmanEditors: Stephanie Hallett, Josée Rose, Michael CogleyReporters: Catherine Boudreau, Tim Paradis, Tasmin Lockwood, Freya GrahamCopy Editors: Jonann Brady, Kevin Kaplan, Nick Siwek, Jonas DominguezProduction: Isabella SayeghDesign and Development: Máximo Tuja, Alyssa Powell, Rebecca ZisserPhoto Editor: Isabel Fernandez-Pujol Audience: Hannah Williams, Victoria Gracie .gi-credits { font-size: 1rem; Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

BioLineRx Ltd. (NASDAQ:BLRX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 20, 2023 Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the BioLineRx Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants are presently in a listen-only mode. Following management’s formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I would […] BioLineRx Ltd. (NASDAQ:BLRX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 20, 2023 Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the BioLineRx Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants are presently in a listen-only mode. Following management’s formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to John Lacey, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. John, please go ahead. John Lacey: Thank you, Johnny. Welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our third quarter 2023 results conference call. Earlier today, we issued a press release, a copy of which is available in the Investor Relations section of our website. It was also filed as a 6-K. I’d like to remind you that certain statements we make during the call will be forward-looking. If have such statements due to future events and are subject to more risks and uncertainty actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For a full discussion of these risks and uncertainty, please review our annual report on Form 20-F and our quarterly report on Form 6-K that are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At this time, it is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Phil Serlin Chief Executive Officer of BioLineRx. A laboratory filled with vials and test tubes showing the high-tech drug development process. Phil Serlin: Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today’s call. Joining me today are Holly May, President of BioLineRx USA; and Mali Zeevi, our Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Ella Sorani, our Chief Development Officer, will be joining the call for Q&A. I will begin with an overview of our Stem Cell Mobilization program, then Holly will provide an update on the effects to launch of activities and progress. I will then provide an update on our other clinical programs, notably the Motixafortide program in PDAC and Sickle Cell Disease. Finally, Mali will provide a discussion of our financial results. We will then open up the call and are looking forward to your questions. We have made substantial progress since our last quarterly update with our Stem Cell Mobilization program. We were very pleased to announce in September the U.S. FDA approval of Motixafortide known commercially as APHEXDA in combination with G-CSF to mobilize hematopoietic stem cells for collection and subsequent autologous transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma. The approval of APHEXDA is the culmination of tireless work by the entire BioLineRx team and transitions us to a commercial stage company that is bringing the patients, physicians and caregivers, the first true advancement in stem cell mobilization in more than a decade. And Holly will detail shortly, we have built out our U.S. commercial infrastructure, which has been engaging in pre-and post-launch activities to support a robust future for APHEXDA. Feedback from our initial outreach to top-tier transplant centers across the U.S. suggest that APHEXDA fills a significant unmet need for a more effective mobilization regimen, conferring benefits to centers, payers and patients alike. This encouraging feedback gives us great optimism the long-term opportunity that is in front of us. There are many factors driving the need for improved stem cell mobilization regimen several of which we have covered in our prior calls. The population of multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous Stem Cell Mobilization has expanded to include older patients over the past decade, with 36% of patients aged 65 or over in 2021, older age has been shown to impair Stem Cell Mobilization as stem cell counts decreased with age. In addition, the introduction of stronger induction therapies has further impaired mobilization, including drugs such as lenalidomide and natalizumab (ph), which are often given in combination. As a result, many patients may require multiple apheresis sessions. Recall that the approval of APHEXDA was based on results from the highly successful GENESIS Phase 3 clinical trial and in this contemporary trial, most patients received lenalidomide containing induction regimen and the median age in the Motixafortide treatment arm was approximately 64 years old. Particularly relevant to the transplant centers in the GENESIS trial affect the plus G-CSF enabled almost 90% of patients who proceed to transplantation after only one apheresis session. Also, as a reminder, multiple myeloma is the second most common hematologic malignancy and autologous stem cell transplantation remains the standard of care treatment and has been shown to prolong the lives of patients with this cancer type. And historically, depending on treatment regimens, up to 47% of patients have faced challenges mobilizing the target number of stem cell after one session. With APHEXDA as a potential backbone of a new mobilization paradigm, we are optimistic that many more multiple myeloma patients will be candidates for this life extending procedure and will benefit from what we are calling an A-plus transplantation experience. And at this point, I’d like to turn the call over to Holly May, President of BioLineRx USA for a review of our launch activities. Holly, please go ahead. Holly May: Thank you, Phil. As Phil indicated, the approval of APHEXDA for stem cell mobilization in multiple myeloma patients represents the first true advancement in stems mobilization in over a decade. Our decision to commercialize effects to independently in the U.S. is key to our efforts to make this new mobilization agent available to transplant centers and patients as quickly as possible. I would now like to provide a brief update on our recent and ongoing activity supporting the commercial launch, which we initiated immediately after APHEXDA approval. First, it may be helpful to provide some statistics that support the significant opportunity that is in front of us, not just in terms of potential sales, but also an ability to help thousands of patients who today are having great difficulty mobilizing enough stem cells for transplantation. As a reminder, there are approximately 35,000 patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma each year in the U.S. And of those, we estimate that about 18,000 are eligible for autologous stem cell transportation. On these eligible patients, approximately 8,000 procedures per annually, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2010. Autologous stem cell transportation remains the preferred first-line treatment for patients with multiple myeloma. However, due to a number of factors, including an aging patient population and the increased use of three and four drug induction therapies, as Phil indicated, up to 47% of patients have had challenges collecting the target number of stem cells in one apheresis session. As we will cover in more detail shortly, the requirements for multiple apheresis session leads to potentially more adverse events, higher costs and tremendous inconvenience and mental hardship for patients. With the efficacy demonstrated in Phase 3 GENESIS trial, which supported the approval of effects to indecent indication, we believe we can overcome these challenges. We believe we are highly differentiated as a novel second-generation mobilization agent and that we have a significant value proposition for all stakeholders, that includes centers, patients and payers. Staying on the topic of differentiation for a moment, we have done extensive research on the market and have deep appreciation of the evolving landscape. Since our last earnings call and as expected, multiple abbreviated new drug applications or ANDA have been approved for generic [indiscernible] leading to rapid and significant price erosion for the first-generation mobilization agent. This is something that we anticipated and what we have incorporated into our model. And why we consider, plerixafor to be in the same overall market basket at APHEXDA, it is not the same as APHEXDA. We have a highly differentiated product profile based on our stronger and more consistent mobilization outcomes. And our early discussions with customers support that the centers appreciate the innovation as we look to address their need for a better mobilizer. As such, we have indicated previously that we have price effects at [indiscernible] per vial. We believe this price adequately reflects the value that APHEXDA adds to the autologous stem cell transplant treatment landscape. Further, notwithstanding the existence of lower-priced generic plerixafor. We believe the differentiated clinical attributes APHEXDA will drive long-term adoption and allow it to evolve into the new standard of care for mobilization. Over time, we strongly believe that differentiation will outweigh drug price as centers adopt the best treatment paradigm for their patients. As we indicated previously, our first priority has been to educate transplant centers on the unmet need of roughly 8,000 patients who progress to autologous stem cell transplant each year. We estimate the top 80 centers out of the band 212 nationally perform approximately 85% of all stem cell transplant procedures. Since approval, we have established initial contact with all of our top-tier centers and root activity has been extremely high. Increases shares can be in short supply at many transplant center and the potential for APHEXDA to allow for the collection of the targeted number of stem cells quite often in a single apheresis session should allow for the more efficient scheduling and utilization of those tiers. This is of significant value to transplant centers, particularly those that perform a high number of procedures. We are in ongoing discussions with pharmacy and therapeutics committees at those centers that require positive PMP formulary decision prior to trialing the product and including APHEXDA in their protocols. We are making consistent and steady progress. We believe an important factor driving the future success of APHEXDA is inclusion in clinical treatment guidelines. Shortly after approval, APHEXDA was included in the national clinical practice guidelines in oncology otherwise known as NCCN, for stem cell mobilization broadly, including multiple myeloma. The American Society for transplantation in cellular therapy or ASTCT is also working on updated guidelines, which we anticipate next year. Currently, ASTCT to [indiscernible] recommendations call for a recommended collection target of 3 million to 5 million cells per program and double that target with multiple transplants are planned. Recall that in the GENESIS trial, the median number of CD34 stem cells collected on the first day of apheresis was $8.5 million in the treatment arm versus $1.5 million in the control arm. As Phil indicated earlier, the addition of Motixafortide to G-CSF also allowed 88.3% of patients to undergo transplantation after only one apheresis session compared to 10.8% in the G-CSF, given the demonstrated performance of APHEXDA relative to the current treatment guidelines, we are confident that we will ultimately gain inclusion. Turning now to payers. The success of any new therapeutic launch is contingent upon establishing broad, affordable access from a coverage and reimbursement perspective. This includes not only national and regional commercial health plans, but also the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services since a significant number of multiple myeloma patients are older and therefore, receive their health care through Medicare. The immediate upfront cost of stem cell collection independent of drug costs is 13,850 per patient and can range from 6,300 (ph) to $48,500 and the cost of one apheresis session is 6,200 to 6,600 again independent of drug costs. For the ability to more predictably and reliably achieve the target number of stem cells required for transplantation and fewer apheresis sessions can result in significant savings to payers over time. Payers view the effects of clinical data very favorably. And as a result, we have already established unrestricted access to over 90% of covered lives. This represents a mix of both commercial and government payers, and we continue to work to increase this number so that APHEXDA is as broadly accessible to patients as possible. In summary, I am very pleased with our launch progress to date. Both our commercial and medical affairs teams, which include many individuals with decades of experience in both stem cell mobilization and multiple myeloma are generating results in the early stages of this launch as we continue to engage with top transplant centers, physician leaders and payers on this exciting new treatment option. At this point, I’ll turn the call back to Phil to provide an update on our other programs. Phil Serlin: Thank you, Holly. At this point, I would like to provide an update on opportunities that we are pursuing in Stem Cell Mobilization for multiple myeloma outside of the United States. Just a few weeks ago, we closed an exclusive license agreement with the development commercialization of Motixafortide in Asia across multiple indications. As part of the agreement in Stem Cell Mobilization cell mobilization, our partner, Gloria Biosciences plans to execute a 30 to 50 patient bridging study in China to support approval and commercialization of APHEXDA for Stem Cell Mobilization in multiple myeloma. And we’ll also seek approval in other Asian countries. In prior clinical trials, Gloria Biosciences has demonstrated an ability to enroll patients quickly, and we believe they will be able to complete this trial with similar efficiency. In 2022, it is estimated that Asia had over 51,000 reported cases of multiple myeloma, the largest number of multiple myeloma cases globally. So this is an area of great unmet need in those territories as well. And in China, autologous stem cell translocation for multiple myeloma is already included in medical insurance reimbursement. We continue to evaluate additional commercialization partnership opportunities in significant markets for APHEXDA in stem cell mobilization. Turning now to our second development indication for Motixafortide pancreatic cancer, our license agreement with Gloria Biosciences covers this indication as well. Gloria Biosciences is a leader in the development of cancer immunotherapies in Greater China having developed and commercially launched the anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, zimberelimab, which is approved in the region for relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma into a recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. Gloria Biosciences went from IND to commercialization of zimberelimab in its first indication in China in only four years. So we believe they are uniquely positioned to explore the potential utility of Motixafortide in combination trials against this difficult to treat cancer. Recapping the terms of the agreement, we received $15 million upfront and are eligible to receive up to approximately $50 million in development milestones based on the achievement of specific development milestones in China and Japan. Additionally, we are eligible to receive up to approximately $200 million in potential commercial milestones and royalties ranging from 10% to 20% of net sales following the approval of Motixafortide in any indication in the Asia region. In addition, the transaction included an equity investment of $14.6 million in BioLineRx, with the purchase of newly issued American depositary shares and of price at $2.14 per ADS. No warrants were issued in the transaction. In other PDAC developments in July, we announced the initiation of a randomized Phase 2 combination clinical trial of Motixafortide first-line pancreatic cancer. The trial known as CheMo4METPANC is sponsored by Columbia University, and it was recommended to precede the randomized phase of the study based on the very compelling preliminary data in the single-arm pilot phase of the study. Recall that the original pilot study was to enroll approximately 10 patients and was to be expanded to 30 patients if data from the first 10 patients were encouraging which was defined as three or more patients showing the partial response per the RECIST criteria. As we recently presented at the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer in September, seven of 11 patients were 64% experienced a partial response, of which five were confirmed PRs with one patient even experiencing resolution of the metastatic lesion in the liver. Along with the three patients were 27% experiencing stable disease, this resulted in a disease control rate of 91%. These findings compare very favorably to historic partial response and disease control rate of 23% and 48%, respectively, reported with the current standard of care. Based on these compelling data, the original trial design was amended from a single-arm study with a target enrollment of 30 patients is mentioned to a much larger randomized study of 108 patients. The trial’s primary endpoint is progression-free survival PFS. Secondary objectives include safety, response rate, disease control rate, duration of clinical benefit and overall survival. Enrollment in the study is expected to begin in the next few months. As is well known, PDAC is a tumor type in dire need of new effective treatment options. Neuro immunotherapies have shown promise in other tumor types with limited efficacy in PDAC due to immunosuppressive pathways. On our more optimism for this trial is also based on the success of our COMBAT/KEYNOTE-202 triple combination Phase 2a study for which we announced results in December 2020. Recall that the COMBAT/KEYNOTE study evaluated the combination of motixafortide, KEYTRUDA and chemotherapy as a second-line therapy. Substantial improvement was observed across all study end points including overall survival, progression fee survival and overall response in the most challenging PDAC patients, those initially diagnosed with stage four cancer. The combination also appeared to be well tolerated with a low incidence of neutropenia and infections in treated patients. Needless to say, we are excited about the potential of Motixafortide to form the backbone of new PDAC treatment regimens giving new hope to patients suffering from this very difficult to treat tumor type, while demonstrating the versatility of Motixafortide across both hematological and solid tumor cancers. It is also worth mentioning that based on the promising data to date in PDAC, we see opportunities to explore Motixafortide as part of exciting new combination therapies to treat other solid tumor types. This only adds to our optimism for the long-term potential of this molecule. Another area where we are exploring the potential utility of Motixafortide in autologous hematopoietic stem cell-based gene therapy for patients suffering from sickle cell disease one of the most common genetic diseases globally. To that end, in March, we announced the clinical trial collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine to evaluate Motixafortide in this indication. Unlike multiple myeloma patients, the current standard of care mobilization G-CSF carries significant risks and potential severe side effects for patients suffering from sickle cell disease. Furthermore, in many cases, current mobilization treatments fail to reliably yield optimal number of stem cells to facilitate gene therapy. As such, this patient population is in need of an effective new mobilization regimen. Through this collaboration, we are conducting a proof-of-concept trial to study Motixafortide as both a single agent and in combination with the immunomodulator, natalizumab. The study is evaluating the safety and tolerability of the two regimens as mobilization agents of CD34+ in motixafortide stem cells in patients with sickle cell disease. Study enrollment has recently begun, and we anticipate data in the second half of 2024. I would now like to turn the call over to Mali Zeevi, our CFO, who will give a brief overview of our main financial results. Mali, please go ahead. Mali Zeevi: Thank you, Phil. As is our practice in our financial discussion on this call, we will only go over the most significant items in our financial statements. Sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, non-operating expenses, net loss and cash. Therefore, let me invite you to review the filings we made this morning, which contain our financials, 20-F and press release for additional information. Sales and marketing expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2023 were $8.1 million, an increase of $6.8 million or 517.4% compared to $1.3 million for the corresponding period last year. The increase resulted from the significant launch-related activities for Motixafortide in the U.S. Research and development expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2023 were $2.7 million, a decrease of $1.6 million or 37.6% compared to $4.3 million for the corresponding period last year. The decrease resulted primarily from lower expenses for NDA supporting activities related to Motixafortide as well as lower expenses associated with the completed AGI-134 clinical trials. Non-operating expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2023 were $3.1 million, an increase of $3.5 million compared to nonoperating income of $0.4 million for the corresponding period last year. The increase relates primarily to a non-cash expense from revaluation of outstanding warrants due to an increase in the company’s share price during the 2023 period. Let me now turn to net loss. Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2023, was $16 million compared to $6.8 million for the corresponding period last year. Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, amounted to $46.7 million compared to $19.2 million for the corresponding period last year. The increases in net loss for both the three and the nine months period in 2023 were primarily due to the significant nonoperating expenses related to revaluation of outstanding warrants as well as the significant increases in sales and marketing expenses related to launch activities which were partially offset by a decrease in research and development expenses. The company emphasizes the non-cash expenses associated with the warrant revaluation did not impact its cash position as of September 30, 2023, note that they affect the company’s projected cash runway going forward. Turning to cash. The company held $26 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits as of September 30, 2023. This does not include the roughly $30 million consideration from the license agreement and the equity investment in the deal with Gloria Biosciences nor does it include the $30 million available to us under our debt agreement with Kreos Capital, which is tied to the attainment of certain milestones. We believe we are well financed to fund our operations as currently planned into 2025. And with that, I’ll turn the call back over to Phil. Phil Serlin: Thank you, Mali. In closing, as is our custom, I would like to take a few moments to summarize our key upcoming milestones. Commercial ramp-up of effects to U.S. sales and an ongoing evaluation of commercial partnership opportunities for APHEXDA in additional markets. Recruitment in the chemo for met Phase 2 randomized clinical trial in first-line PDAC sponsored by Columbia University. Recruitment in the Phase I pilot study of Motixafortide Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization for gene therapies in sickle cell disease led by Washington University School of Medicine with initial data expected in the second half of 2024. Initiation by Gloria Biosciences of a 30 to 50 patient bridging study in 2024 to support approval of APHEXDA and Stem Cell Mobilization for multiple myeloma in China in preparation activities with Gloria Biosciences on a randomized Phase II/III clinical trial, evaluating ixaportid in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor zimberelimab and standard of care combination chemotherapy in first-line pancreatic cancer. With that, we have now concluded the formal part of our presentation. Operator, we will now open the call to questions. See also 10 Best Selling Smartphones in the World in 2023 and Top 30 Oil Producing Countries in 2023. Q&A Session Follow Biolinerx Ltd. (NASDAQ:BLRX) Follow Biolinerx Ltd. (NASDAQ:BLRX) We may use your email to send marketing emails about our services. Click here to read our privacy policy. Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from Joe Pantginis of H.C. Wainright. Please go ahead. Joe Pantginis: Hi, everybody. Good morning. Thank for taking the questions. And first, I just wanted to extend my well wishes to everybody, not only for these difficult and turbulent times, but also for the holidays. So we have all of our best — so I’d like to focus on two things for stem cell transplantation and then one on PANC (ph), if you don’t mind. So first, Holly, I really appreciate all the details that it definitely is encouraging to hear all the details that you shared about the launch. So hopefully, I’m not getting too much into the weeds because it is early. I guess, when you’re early in the launch, I’m just considering what places or areas that you feel the company has had nimble in according to the plans that you had and saying, okay, we learned we might need more emphasis in a particular geography or anything of that such of those details. Yeah. Phil Serlin: Holly, go ahead. Holly May: Yeah. Sure. Thanks, Joe. So much of what we’re doing right now is as expected as planned. We have said this previously, I spoke again in my comments this morning about the fact that transplant centers make up about 85% of all of the transplantations in the U.S. And therefore, we are — we have a deployment plan with field individuals, both sales account type people as well as medical affairs type people. And I think we kind of got that one right. The deployment plans and our ability to reach and hit the right frequency with in those institutions is spot on. I think one of the things that’s been interesting for us, I don’t know if it’s a huge shift, but it’s been interesting to speak to some of these decision makers within the centers about the — what we would — we have three pillars of value — and the one I think that maybe not surprising, but we’re finding a lot of interest in is that the efficiency of this product. And that has to do really around the planning and logistics asset centers as well as the pharmacokinetics. So that’s an area I think that we are spending perhaps a little bit more time than maybe we had originally the strong clinical data, which is our efficacy pillar the Phase 3 GENESIS data is resonating quite well. But I think the thing that we’re spending some more time on is probably the efficiency and what that means. I do want to add, though, you didn’t ask this, but the third, I’ve spoken about the efficacy and the efficiency of the other really important part of our value proposition is the experience that patient experience as well. So we are out there with all of that messaging, but the one I think that we’re really finding to resonate for maybe a few more questions than we initially thought was that efficiency color. Joe Pantginis: That’s really, really helpful. Thank you for that. And I guess the thing that I’m curious about is because it’s pretty intriguing is the fact that it’s huge that you’re on the NCCN guidelines. And you said for SCM broadly, so I wanted to get a sense of how that impacts your potential development plan. And I know you can’t really talk to off-label use in other indications, but I think this could help drive, I guess, how you develop for other indications. I don’t know if you have any comments on that. Phil Serlin: Holly, do you want to take that? Holly May: I can. Yes. So we are very much staying the course on thinking about what we want to do for add-on indications, either things that would be driven within our own clinical planning. We do have an active IS independent sponsored studies that is open and available for various institutions or physicians that have an area of interest [indiscernible] in stem cell mobilization. We are constantly looking at the data that required for making sure that we shore up our label and that. But I’m certainly not going to speak at all to any kind of off-label utilization that the guidelines may or may not afford. Did that answer your question? Joe Pantginis: It does. I’d like to add something. Phil Serlin: Joe, I’d like to add something — I just I’m sorry, I sorry to interrupt you. I just wanted to add, first of all, hi, good to speak to you. But I do want to add, we mentioned the gene therapy in the sickle cell disease area. And obviously, that’s an area that we’re putting a lot of focus on in a big way. And so we see that as a very key life cycle management upside for the company. Joe Pantginis: Great. And then just the last question. I mean, short question, but maybe more elaborate answer. Maybe. The Phase II pilot study being run with Colombia. Obviously, you’re having a nice expansion into a larger set of patients. I guess a question this way. To what extent do data from this study impact or serve as a rate-limiting step for potential business development? Phil Serlin: Okay. So let me just make sure that I understand. So I mean, I mean I think I do understand. I think we are obviously looking to generate data I think that we’ve made it clear that we are looking to generate data to move this forward. We were — we entered into agreement with Gloria Biosciences. In Asia, part of that deal, a significant part of that deal is for them to generate Phase IIb data in a randomized study, Phase II, III data in a randomized study in PDAC and we’re running this trial or we’re cooperating or collaborating with Columbia University in this IST trial. Depending on the data, we are hoping to be able to take this data and move forward from a business development perspective and speaking with large pharma companies, that would be the idea......»»

Zepp Health Corporation (NYSE:ZEPP) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 20, 2023 Zepp Health Corporation beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.05, expectations were $0.03. Operator: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Zepp Health Corporation’s Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Today’s […] Zepp Health Corporation (NYSE:ZEPP) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 20, 2023 Zepp Health Corporation beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.05, expectations were $0.03. Operator: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Zepp Health Corporation’s Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Today’s conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Ms. Grace Zhang, Director of Investor Relations for the company. Please go ahead, Grace. Grace Zhang: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Zepp Health Corporation’s Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. The company’s financial and operating results were issued in a press release via the newswire services earlier today and are posted online. You can also view the earnings press release and slides referred to on this call by visiting the IR section of the company’s website at ir.zepp.com. Participating in today’s call are Mr. Wang Huang, our Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Leon Cheng Deng, our Chief Financial Officer. The company’s management will begin with prepared remarks, and the call will conclude with a Q&A session. Mr. Mike Yeung, our Chief Operating Officer, will join us for the Q&A session. Before we continue, please note that today’s discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company’s actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties are included in the company’s annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, and other filings as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. Please also note that GAAP earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial information. Zepp’s press release contains a reconsolidation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited most directly comparable GAAP measures. I’ll now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. Wang Huang. Please go ahead. Wang Huang: Hello, everyone. Welcome to Zepp Health’s third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. In the third quarter, we achieved a business turnaround, returning to profitability after enduring six consecutive quarters of losses. Despite a year of decline in revenue, our high margin self-branded product contribution to our top line now accounted for approximately 80% compared to the average of around 40% for the previous five years. This accomplishment reaffirms the effectiveness of our operational strategy and the early success of our business model transformation. Before delving into the details, I would like to provide a recap of our business model transformation, which has taken nearly two years to bring us to our current position. This transformation has involved departing from a business model that heavily rely on a single customer for the majority of our revenues, is that we aim to establish ourselves as a self-reliant, global smart wearables and healthcare solutions provider. Throughout this transformative phase, we have recognized the importance of enhancing the quality of our revenue streams. This transition signifies a deliberate shift from pursuing sheer growth to a steadfast commitment to achieve profitability. Our strategic focus is centered on improving our gross margin and ultimately guiding us towards sustained profitability and future growth. Notably, our Q3 performance indicates an early success on this journey. While Xiaomi branded product sales faced persistent industry-wide headwinds, our self-branded products sustained sequential growth momentum is 12.3% quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. This was driven by our expanded AI powered product portfolio and [accelerated] (ph) branded influence worldwide, resulting in a rise in product adoption across several markets. Notably, in Southeast Asia and [Central Europe] (ph), our self-branded product revenue increased by 28.4% and 79% respectively, year-over-year. It’s also worth mentioning that we turned net profit positive for the Chinese and Indian markets during the third quarter as we remain focused on high-quality growth with effective region-specific sales expansion and cost reduction strategies. Amid our business model transformation, we prioritize profitability over sheer revenue growth. This strategy — this strategic shift from result in a significant surge in our gross margin, reaching a historic high of 33.9% in Q3. This achievement is filled by R&D breakthroughs such as our industry-leading GPS check technology and continuous update Zepp OS, supporting our premium product lines and elevating our ASP, thereby enhancing our product competitiveness. The expansion in gross margin is also a result of persistent efforts to improve overall operational efficiency. Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to refining our retail channels and product mix to sustain these positive trends in high gross margin, fostering profitable growth for our future while employing a profitability-oriented approach to our business operations [each] (ph) quarter. We also remain focused on leveraging our R&D capabilities to enrich and iterate our product and service offerings to attract a broader community of users. In September, we launched the Amazfit Balance, previously known as the Amazfit GT Series, a powerful smartwatch that enables users to track the ultimate balance between life, work and wellness with seamlessly integrated, advanced features for health, fitness and lifestyle. Specifically Amazfit Balance features integration with Zepp Coach, chat AI-powered fitness coaching service. Zepp Aura for AI powered health and wellness services and Zepp Pay for convenient NFS contactless payments. Notably, it is Amazfit’s inaugural smartwatch to house a certified medical device blood pressure monitoring app in China. Moving forward, we are expanding the blood pressure measurement software from the Balance product line to include a variety of watches, such as Amazfit Active, Cheetah and T Rex. This integration augments the overall value of our smartwatches in comparison to other Chinese competitors who only utilize biometric measurements on specific models for blood pressure. We believe our approach is more convenient and applicable across our entire watch series. In October, we also unveiled the Amazfit Active and Amazfit Active Edge, both tailored for modern day city consumers, featuring an elegant appearance and powerful functionality with our AI powered Zepp Coach. Amazfit Active is an ideal companion for people trying to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Meanwhile, the tough yet stylish Amazfit Active Edge infuses our lifestyle series with new vitality, allowing users to express their identity and personality through its unique design. We still have many amazing new products on the way for the upcoming months. So stay tuned. We are currently hosting Amazfit’s [leading] (ph) campaigns to champion a balanced and active lifestyle which we consider the core value of Amazfit watches. Successful actions have taken break in Dusseldorf, Germany and Madrid, Spain, with more city campaigns lined up. We invite users to join these sections, share feedback on our products and collectively build a community that will cater for the users of Amazfit smart watches. We would be delighted to have you participate in these sections as well. At Zepp, innovative minds are the driving force needed to advance the integration of technology, especially on Zepp OS. To that end, we recently sponsored Cal Hacks, the world’s largest collegiate hackathon for the second consecutive year. This event’s, wealth of tech, talent present an opportunity for us to discover bright new minds and ideas, thereby empowering us to fulfill our mission. We will continue to involve Zepp OS and increasingly rolling out our new updates to users to grow the user base. Alongside our ongoing product catalog expansion, we consistently enhance our product experience by rolling our software updates, adoption and the evolution of Zepp OS. We are offering more regular updates to our users than before. For example, we released three major updates for Amazfit T-Rex 2 in the third quarter. First, our official system upgrades to Zepp OS 2.1 brought users a fresh interface and new interactive experiences. Then we also delivered a targeted spot mode upgrade and upgrade algorithm, enabling users to check their physical status in real time. The same is true for our Amazfit Falcon users and much more. These efforts to enhance our product value drove increased vibrant and engagement across our user community during the quarter. Notably, German Marathon champion Hendrik Pfeiffer has teamed up with us for his fall marathon season to showcase the performance and features of Amazfit Cheetah Pro, further elevating our brand influence and enlarging our user base. Furthermore, we continued to leverage AI to drive our success, applying AI technology to both our products and services as well as our daily operations, evidenced by our latest product launches. We are integrating our AI-powered features such as Zepp Coach and Zepp [Aura] (ph) into more of our products and services to help users, train and manage their health effectively. Additionally, we continue to adopt GPT technology to facilitate our software development and enhance our R&D efficiency, which has yielded encouraging results. We will continue to enhance our AI capabilities to prepare our development to the next level. Looking ahead, we remain committed to providing our flourishing global user community with our enriched product lines empowered by our evolving AI ecosystem. As the macro environment remains challenging, we are striving to maintain and increase our profitability while also actively exploring opportunities to drive our top line growth to enhance our product value and attract a broader range of users. As we help more people manage their lives and well-being with our intelligent healthcare solution tools, we remain confident of achieving healthy sustainable growth. Thank you again for joining us today. I will now turn the call over to Leon to go over the highlights of our third quarter financial results. Leon Cheng Deng: Thank you, Wang. Greetings, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call today. I would like to start discussing some of the key metrics from our financial results for the third quarter of 2023. As noted before, we believe that we have been in a post-pandemic downswing in the cycle for our categories that may not yet to be at its end. Our performance varies on a regional basis. Revenue in the Americas continued to be strong or partially offset by the softer performance in EMEA and APAC, reflecting the particularly difficult macroeconomic environment affecting both regions, which impacted our retailers selling growth. Throughout the year, we saw the reduction in channel inventories levels which put us in a healthy channel inventory position across our channels and geographies as we enter the holiday season. As I lived through multiple times in my 20 years in tech, we fully expect that consumer behavior will normalize in time, and our focus on innovation, execution and exciting product road map will result in us returning to revenue growth in time. In Q3 2023, we recorded revenue of RMB0.6 billion, in line with our guidance range, down by 50% year-over-year. This decline was mainly driven by lower Xiaomi-branded product sales. During the quarter, our revenue generated from Xiaomi-branded products decreased by 77% where our self-branded products experienced a 26% decrease, partially due to the timing of the new product introductions as we will launch Amazfit Active and Amazfit Active Edge products in Q4 this year and also in part due to our strategic approach to improve both channel and product mix. However, we have lost a 7.6% quarter-on-quarter growth for our self-branded products which attribute to our enhanced brand value and new product features. Despite the revenue decline, as Wang mentioned, we achieved a return to profitability and realized a third quarter 2023 net income of RMB3 million compared with a net loss of RMB17 million for the third quarter last year and a net loss of RMB70 million for the third — second quarter of 2023. Moving on to our gross margin, which can be influenced by various factors such as product mix, product launch timing and product life cycles, including model upgrades. Our gross margin for the third quarter stands at a record high of 33.9% almost doubled compared with the same period last year. This achievement is largely attributed to the strategic transformation driving us to focus more on Amazfit branded products, especially the higher ASP series and the reduced clearance activities. Although the gross margin on Xiaomi-branded products experienced a decline, the gross margin on our self-branded products, which now contributes to more than 90% of our total gross profit more than compensated for this weakness, resulting in improvements in the third quarter gross margin compared with the second quarter. We’re confident that with this positive momentum alongside new product introductions planned for the upcoming months, as well as a moderated level of the clearance activity, we should be able to sustain the further expansion of our company’s gross margin. Turning now to costs. As we have discussed, cost has been a key focal point for our company, both in terms of their absolute amount and as a percentage of sales. Hence, we continue to control expenses in a disciplined manner during the quarter. Since Q3 2020, we have been pleased to see a down trend in total operating expenses while still making strategic investments in new products, technologies and footprint expansion to fuel our long-term growth. In Q3, our non-GAAP operating expenses stood at RMB180 million, the lowest level since Q3 2019 and better than the guidance we previously provided. Our R&D expenses in the third quarter of 2023 were RMB75 million, a decrease by 41% year-over-year. This comprised 12.4% of revenues versus 10.6% for the same period in 2022. The decrease is largely attributed to our refined research and development approaches as we consistently evaluated resources efficiently to ensure maximized return on investment and productivity. We are committed to investing in new technologies and AI to maintain our competitive edge against our peers. Our selling and marketing expenses for the third quarter of 2023 were RMB70.6 million, a 43% decrease year-over-year, [only] (ph) primarily to our retail channel mix improvements. At the same time, we continue to invest strategically in our brand and execute ROI-driven marketing strategies. Our G&A expenses for the third quarter of 2023 were RMB48 million, down by 8.9% year-over-year compared with RMB52 million in Q3 2022, benefiting from our effective cost control measures. Looking forward, we are steadfastly committed to our prudent stance in the coming quarters and expect to maintain operating expenses at around these current levels or even lower. Simultaneously, we’ll continue to invest in research and R&D activities and marketing initiatives to foster long-term growth and competitiveness while diligently monitoring discretionary spending. Our operating results pivoted to a profit of RMB11 million compared to the operating loss of RMB73 million in the same period last year and an operating loss of RMB72 million in Q2 2023 as a result of the expansion of our self-branded products gross margin and streamlined operating expenses. As we enter the traditionally high holiday season, we expect to realize operating profit in Q4. Now turning to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash as of September 30, 2023, totaled approximately RMB1 billion, provide us with sufficient runway to seize potential marketing opportunities and invest in our business growth. We have also focused on managing our working capital efficiently. We kept inventory levels steady at RMB787 million, consistent with Q2 2023 and remains at a multiyear low level. We’ll continue to manage inventory levels tightly as we weather the macro economy. In Q3, coupled with operating profits and efficient working capital management, we achieved positive operating cash flow. This is our fifth consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow, and we expect to continue with this positive operating cash flow trajectory into coming quarters. Since Q2 2023, we started to retire part of our short/long-term debt portfolio and retired RMB35 million of debt. In Q3, we continued to reduce our debt levels by another RMB117 million. As our operating cash flow continue to strengthen, we intend to do more in the coming quarters. Furthermore, by the end of September 30, we had repurchased shares worth $12.3 million. We remain committed to continuing our buyback program in the fourth quarter, underscoring our confidence in the company’s future and our commitment to delivering long-term value to our shareholders. Looking into the future, our revenue guidance for Q4 is projected to be in the range of RMB600 million to RMB850 million. We anticipate that the trend of quarter-over-quarter growth in self-branded products sales will continue, contributing to improving overall performance. Our focus on profitability as well as strengthening our self-branded product performance remains unwavering. In conclusion, the third quarter presented us with both challenges and opportunities. While external factors played a significant role, our strategic approach to prioritizing profitability over scale, our focus on self-branded products and our disciplined cost management approach have all been instrumental to our encouraging performance and business turnaround in the third quarter. We’re confident that these strategies will continue to deliver value to our investors and shareholders over the longer term. Thank you all for your attention. And I will now open the call for any questions you may have. Operator, please go ahead. See also 30 Most Technologically Advanced Countries Heading into 2024 and 20 Most Valuable Gas Companies in the World. Q&A Session Follow Zepp Health Corporation (NYSE:ZEPP) Follow Zepp Health Corporation (NYSE:ZEPP) We may use your email to send marketing emails about our services. Click here to read our privacy policy. Operator: Thank you. We’ll now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [Nicolette Jones of Brooks Investment] (ph). Please go ahead. Unidentified Analyst: Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I actually have two questions. Firstly, is margin level sustainable? And secondly, in terms of profitability, can you sustain profitability in the fourth quarter? Leon Cheng Deng: Yeah. Thank you, Nicolette. Let me take these two questions. I think as we mentioned before, the gross margin portfolio of our company has actually improved quite a bit throughout the year. You saw that our gross margin actually jumped in Q2 versus Q1 and also versus last year to a high of 32%. And thereafter, in Q3, our gross margin further improved to 34% roughly, right? And this is actually due to a mix of product mix improvement and retail channel mix improvement in our gross margin management. And as we head into Q4, which is traditionally the high season for our product categories and then also, as I mentioned, we launched quite some new products starting from second half of this year. And these new products also carry a much higher gross margin than what the old products used to carry before. So therefore, I think given the high season in Q4, given the product mix improvement we are doing and given the relative, moderate clearance activities, which we’re going to do. But obviously, we’re going to do some in Black Friday and the Christmas season to catch the sales, we still expect that Q4 gross margin will continue at the Q3 level and maybe a little bit even further expand further in Q4. So I think that should give you a feeling for the gross margin portfolio for Q4, how that looks like. With regard to the profitability in Q4, we normally don’t guide on that. But I think as you hear, I mentioned that given the high season of Q4 and the improved gross margin performance of the company, and we also intended to streamline our cost at its current level or even lower, we believe that these all gives us a good chance in delivering our Q4 operating income, which would allow us to continue the performance improvement trend throughout the year. Unidentified Analyst: Thank you. Operator: [Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions now, I’d like to turn the call back over to the company’s IR Director, Grace Zhang for closing remarks. Grace Zhang: Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Zepp’s Investor Relations department through the contact information provided on our IR website. This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you. Follow Zepp Health Corporation (NYSE:ZEPP) Follow Zepp Health Corporation (NYSE:ZEPP) We may use your email to send marketing emails about our services. Click here to read our privacy policy......»»