very bad activist judges in SCOTUS, but ok elsewhere

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/supreme-court-foreign-policy-diplomats-robes?utm_medium=newsletters&utm_source=twofa&utm_campaign=Agile%20Ukraine%2C%20Lumbering%20Russia-b&utm_content=20230331&utm_term=FA%20This%20Week%20-%20112017

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/supreme-court-foreign-policy-diplomats-robes?utm_medium=newsletters&utm_source=twofa&utm_campaign=Agile%20Ukraine%2C%20Lumbering%20Russia-b&utm_content=20230331&utm_term=FA%20This%20Week%20-%20112017

judicial activism by SCOTUS is bad. 

judicial activism by israel and india judges must always be good, because they are left dominated.

Khalistan as a New Foreign Lever Against Delhi?

Amritpal Singh is now calling for a mass uprising against the govt by Sikhs on Baisakhi:

Coincidentally, new articles are making the rounds in Western foreign policy publications, saying that the Khalistan insurgency can only be stopped if New Delhi seeks strong cooperation with the West.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/28/india-sikh-protests-separatism-london-san-francisco-amritpal-singh/

"What insurgency?" ask surprised Indians.

"The insurgency that's about to hit you, if you don't do what we say." smiles the West.😈

Adani buys 49% of Quint for Rs.48 crores. Will the Right-Wing view be seen in Business channels too?

Sree Iyer makes some interesting observations, as Adani buys a large stake in Quint-Bloomberg:

But Rupert Murdoch famously bought MySpace as his foray into social media, which quickly became worthless as it was overtaken by Facebook. Hopefully, Adani & Co put in people who will preserve the value of the investment and build upon its market share.

As pro-Indian media push out into the world, we gain a leg up in the battle of narratives at a very crucial time when many western audiences are feeling disenchanted with the non-stop drum of leftist media shoveling out Fake News. This is the right time to capture market share from the western media establishment.

California's Caste Bill

truly shocking! who woulda thought?

AI is coming for your jobs, apparently

AI Breakthrough from Stanford

Rajeev, it seems  your old alma mater has come out with a clever way to recreate ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost and effort:

Indians should look into creating their own GPT versions, to move into this powerful new fast-growing technology sector. If UK is spending $900M to make their own BritGPT, then maybe India should make its own HindGPT (ChatBJP?)

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/15/uk-to-invest-900m-in-supercomputer-in-bid-to-build-own-britgpt

India Removes Security for British High Commission

 https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1638440327890751488

Breaking: India removes all external security infront of the British High commission & high commissioner's residence. Move come after Indian commission in London was vandalized by Khalistani extremists. pic.twitter.com/GloYp1e8a9

— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) March 22, 2023

 

CCTV Footage Shows Amritpal Singh Fleeing

Young fugitive Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh has failed to become a Burhan Wani - he hasn't died a romantic heroic martyr's death, like Wani did in the Valley. Now he's just running scared, on the lam. His ISI handlers may have to kill him to cover their tracks by silencing him, while blaming it on "evil Hindooo India"

Deep Sidhu, Republic Day 2021 & a Police Station Attacked: How Amritpal Singh Phenomenon Was Built

Quick notes: Reverse engineering | Credit rating...

• Reverse-engineering: Russia has been sending US weapons captured in Ukraine to Iran. “Iran has demonstrated the capability to reverse-engineer US weapons in the past. A reverse-engineered Javelin could be used by Hamas or Hezbollah to threaten an Israeli Merkava tank.”
  
  Iran reverse-engineered the TOW anti-tank guided missile, creating a near-perfect replica they called the Toophan. The Iranians also intercepted a US-made drone in 2011, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 “Sentinel”, and reverse-engineered it to create a new drone that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018 before being shot down.
  
  Russian fighter jet crashing into U.S drone over Black Sea:




• Getting paid to lie: Moody's had a 'Grade A' rating on Silicon Valley Bank — right before it collapsed.

🧵THREAD (1/4):

Silicon Valley Bank was given an "A" credit rating by Moody’s three days ago.

They had one of the highest "ESG" scores of all major banks.

— Michael Seifert (@realmichaelseif) March 11, 2023




• Our banks are well-secured: Silicon Valley Bank committed one of the most elementary errors in banking -- handling interest rate risk -- a core function of banking business.The RBI's norms, which saved the Indian banking system during the 2008 crisis, were further fine-tuned following the 2014 bad loans bout. And unlike the US, our regulations on capital, provisions, and reserves apply uniformly to all commercial banks, big or small.

Karma⚡️Credit Suisse which which was first to assign Zero Lending Value to Adani Group Bonds following Hindenburg allegations and supported the hit job, is in Deep trouble.#CreditSuisse 's biggest backer, Saudi National Bank, has said We cannot increase stake because we cannot… https://t.co/AOAnVL41dT pic.twitter.com/qiMrdpuQMD

— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) March 15, 2023




• Unlike Indian universities: Chinese Academy of Sciences is doing some very impressive stuff. I've yet to see any other university as forward looking in modeling and simulating process technologies. 3nm CFET Nanosheets, OCD analysis, overlay analysis, isotropic etch simulation, CVD deposition modeling

Chinese Academy of Sciences is doing some very impressive stuff.
I've yet to see any other university as forward looking in modeling and simulating process technologies.
3nm CFET Nanosheets, OCD analysis, overlay analysis, isotropic etch simulation, CVD deposition modeling pic.twitter.com/aMttgOHbqC

— Dylan Patel (@dylan522p) March 2, 2023




• Professional texts in Indian languages: Indian languages finally in Tech?




• Are Offshore Wind farms Killing the Whales? For all the finger-pointing, everyone does agree that a lot of whales are dying. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says an “unusual mortality event” for humpback whales along the Atlantic coast has been ongoing since 2016. Critics say that the activities associated with offshore wind development, such as the driving of supports into the sea floor, can harm marine life.



• Brahmapuram Disaster: Imagine the media reaction had Kochi fire happened in a BJP state.

The entire commie army is silent over the #BrahmapuramDisaster. Not even a single commie in kochi have spoken against the mismanagement, while their own family is suffocating. But @pinarayivijayan govt is adopting dog in the manger attitude towards NDMA. #GodsOwnTrash pic.twitter.com/XkNEzOjtEA

— #𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐄#🇮🇳 (@Bane_IND) March 12, 2023




• Tibet Is Less Free than North Korea: Tibetan children have been separated from their parents and forced to attend state-run boarding schools, where Mandarin is the sole language of instruction and where students are subject to intense political indoctrination”.
  
  “No country can match the scale and sophistication of China’s surveillance state, in which residents’ activities are invasively monitored by public security cameras, urban grid managers, and automated systems that detect suspicious and banned behavior, including innocuous expressions of ethnic and religious identity.



• Car-dependency is a burden on everyone: Why City Design is Important (and Why I Hate Houston)

Khalistan Rampage: Indian Consulate In Brisbane Forced to Shut Down

WSJ Editorial: The Bill for Bad Policy Comes Due

Biden and his ruling Left-wing Democrats thought they could just game the laws of economic physics by rampant blank-cheque-spending profligacy, doubling down on this in defiance of the inflationary consequences. Yet the inevitable follow-on consequences of rising rates are now manifesting themselves by wreaking destruction on banks and their bottom lines. Silicon Valley Bank is just one of many banks which are now exposed and vulnerable to failing. Welcome to the new Sub-Prime Crisis.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-chorus-yellen-treasury-fed-fdic-deposit-limit-dodd-frank-run-cc80761e?mod=hp_opin_pos_2

In a world of near-zero interest rates, SVB put the money in long duration fixed-income assets in search of a higher return. Regulators after the 2008 crisis had deemed these Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities nearly risk-free for the purpose of measuring bank capital. If regulators say they’re risk-free, banks and depositors may be less careful.

But those securities declined in value as the Fed took interest rates up quickly to break the inflation it helped to cause. SVB had enormous capital losses if it were forced to liquidate those assets before maturity. That’s exactly what happened as SVB customers withdrew their deposits. The San Francisco Fed regulates SVB and somehow missed this rising vulnerability. The Fed and Treasury will try to blame the bankers, but they are as much if not more culpable. The idea of elevating San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly to the Board of Governors seems preposterous after SVB.

***

All the more so because the duration risk at banks may not be limited to SVB, as last week’s selloff in regional bank stocks shows. The FDIC created an entity to protect SVB’s insured depositors up to the legal limit of $250,000. But something like 85% to 90% of SVB’s deposits are uninsured. The worry is that depositors in other banks will now flee.

Where is Mr George Soros now? He was so busy hurling stones from his glass house, that he didn't care to notice the looming peril in his own yard. What about Hindenberg? These mercenaries may now be laughing all the way to the bank -- until that bank itself fails.

Cramer on Silicon Valley Bank

CNBC's Jim Cramer urged viewers to buy Silicon Valley Bank stock last month: “The stock is still cheap,” Cramer said. At the time, SVB Financial was trading at $320.40 a share.

Cramer listed SVB Financial among his “biggest winners of 2023 … so far” alongside blue-chip stocks such as Meta, Nvidia and Tesla.




What does it cost to be on Forbe's best list?

Proud to be on @Forbes' annual ranking of America's Best Banks for the 5th straight year and to have also been named to the publication's inaugural Financial All-Stars list.

👉 https://t.co/rEmfOSTT4f pic.twitter.com/NFWlPJUbh5

— SVB (@SVB_Financial) March 6, 2023

Explained, like you’re a 5-year old:

Many people are confused on SVB’s critical situation. Below, Silicon Valley Bank’s fall-down explained, like you’re a 5-year old. #ChatGPT

Stock down 60% pre-market. #SiliconValleyBank #svb pic.twitter.com/MSkr04Wp58

— Ana S. Alvarado (@anasoffia89) March 10, 2023

need a nuremberg style war crime trial for the creators of wuhanvirus

https://rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/p/ep-94-conspiracy-theories-lab-leak?sd=pf

Quick notes: Trash mountains | De-dollarization...

• Kodagu forests filling up with waste from Kerala: Kodagu is a district in Karnataka known for its green expanses and fertile agricultural grounds. These lands are now under serious threat due to the illegal dumping of truckloads of waste from Kerala.



• Kochi city covered in toxic haze from waste dump fire: The towering Brahmapuram landfill in Kerala is the country’s latest trash mountain to catch fire, causing dangerous heat and methane emissions. India creates more methane from landfill sites than any other country



• De-dollarization: A flood of nations is trying to cut dependance on the dollar, fearing ‘weaponization’ by the US. From India to Argentina, Brazil to South Africa and the Middle East to Southeast Asia, nations and regions have accelerated efforts in recent months towards arrangements aimed at reducing their dependence on the dollar.
  
  At the heart of these de-dollarization initiatives is the fear in many capitals that the US could someday use the power of its currency to target them the way it has sanctioned Russia.



• Did you vote for Chandrachud?

RT if you did not vote for #Chandrachud to rule my democratic country.#SupremeCourtOfIndia

— Eminent Intellectual (@totalwoke2) March 2, 2023




• Dalits allege casteism at Trichy church: Only families belonging to the dominant community are considered members of the parish



• Turkey being Turkey: Now that you have helped me when I needed it most, I will go back to being me.




• China Filed More Chip Patents Than US in 2022: Last year, Chinese companies filed over half of all semiconductor-related patents globally



• Stealing crown-jewels of tech: ASML says ex-employee in China stole chipmaking tool info. What is unclear is whether this can be used by China to build its own advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners.



• Why Silence is Power: Priceless Benefits of Being Silent




• Nalanda: The university that changed the world. The library's nine million handwritten, palm-leaf manuscripts was the richest repository of Buddhist wisdom in the world, and one of its three library buildings was described by Tibetan Buddhist scholar Taranatha as a nine-storey building "soaring into the clouds".
  
  Only a handful of those palm-leaf volumes and painted wooden folios survived the fire – carried away by fleeing monks. They can now can be found at Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the US and Yarlung Museum in Tibet.



• China's ChatGPT response: Baidu, Alibaba, JD.com and NetEase, some of China's biggest tech firms, have in the last week announced their plans for ChatGPT rivals.



• LFP, a different kind of Lithium ion: LFP cells use lithium iron phosphate as the cathode and graphite as the electrode. LFP cells aren’t dependent on nickel and cobalt, two materials that are expensive and supply-constrained. The technology, led by China’s BYD a decade ago, has advanced in its latest form in the BYD Blade battery, while CATL is also a leading producer.
  
  While less energy dense than Lithium ion, LFP cells are far less prone to the thermal runaway that might cause fires or degradation from overheating; a range of sources now also suggest they last significantly longer.

Ex-CDC director speaks out on COVID lab leak theory

Who's Behind Geneva Hate Campaign? Soros?

"INDIAN CHRISTIANS FACING STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM"

"WOMEN IN INDIA ARE TREATED AS SLAVES"

"CHILD MARRIAGES SERIOUS VIOLATION OF CHILD RIGHTS BY INDIA"

"UNTOUCHABLE DALITS HUMAN BEINGS?"

"INDIA STOP BURNING CHRISTIANS"

"INDIA NO TO TERROR ATTACKS ON MINORITIES"

"INDIA! SHUN RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM"

Mr Soros seems to be in a rush to spend all his cash before he's taken back by the netherworld.

CBC Parrots Propaganda of Khalistan-Islamist axis

Canada's state broadcaster CBC is now parroting the propaganda of the Khalistan-Islamist axis:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rss-hindutva-india-report-1.6764114

World Sikh Organization is a sectarian organization which promotes separatism for Punjab, and likewise National Council of Canadian Muslims also promotes sectarian views towards Hindus.

So this sectarian axis is now declaring which minorities in Canada are 'good minorities' and which are 'bad minorities'. Khalistanis and Islamists of course declare themselves and each other to be 'good minorities' and Hindus are to be caricatured as 'bad minorities' and 'fascists'. The CBC then parrots this slander unchallenged, abetting it.

Supreme Court Attacks Separation of Powers, Says It's a 'Myth' That Court Can't Make Laws

India's Supreme Court, in its latest rationale of unrestrained judicial activism, is now suddenly claiming that it's a "myth" that the court cannot make laws.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/supreme-court-s-decision-on-cec-ecs-appointment-is-historic-here-s-why-11677753606156.html

https://theprint.in/judiciary/ec-appointments-sc-says-its-a-myth-court-cant-make-law-no-strict-separation-of-powers-in-india/1414259/

The SC Thursday ordered that election commissioners (EC) be appointed by the President of India on the advice of a panel consisting of the Prime Minister, leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or leader of the largest opposition party), and the Chief Justice of India. The new process is similar to the one that chooses the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The judgment has done away with the practice that has been in vogue in India since independence, under which ECs were appointed by President on the advice of a council of ministers.

...

On the charge of judicial activism, the five-judge bench led by Justice Joseph said that under the Constitution, which clothes citizens with fundamental rights, besides tasking the State with achieving the goals declared in the Directive Principles, judicial activism, as opposed to a mere passive role, “may be the much-needed choice”.

So they're now increasingly claiming the right to be unelected legislators. They don't want to just have the power to approve or strike down laws, they want to frame laws.

Apparently, they don't require any electoral mandate for this -- because they have "Mandate from Heaven"??

Something's going on here. I'm worried that chanakyas on the Supreme Court are suddenly feeling emboldened, perhaps by Hindenberg-Adani, and perhaps at the behest of foreign states displeased with India's foreign policy. Pakistan has long had this problem of unelected forces dismissing its elected govts, and perhaps we "SouthAsians" then all look alike to some on the other side of the world. The elected parliament had better quickly respond to reclain its exclusive authority over certain powers, and tell the Court to stay in its lane. Time for media critics to start rallying the public in support of constitutional integrity.

Supreme Court Doing a Katappa?

Right now, India is facing huge pressure from very powerful countries as it staunchly sticks to its right to buy oil from Russia in order to get the best price possible for Indian consumers. India likewise also cannot afford to alienate its main defense supplier.

While Indian govt is engaged in this external tussle of wills, is our stalwart watchdog Indian Supreme Court doing a Katappa from the back?

Supreme Court is wading into the Adani mess, which has resulted from his corrupt web of financial holdings. While the markets have already punished Adani for this with the drubbing of his stock price, the Supreme Court is looking for answers from SEBI through its special investigation team. Not only that, but it's even asking for reasons behind market volatility (as if markets across the entire world aren't already volatile). I hope our activist judiciary doesn't go out of its way to politicize the whole situation, by seeing it as an opportunity to clip Modi's wings, or allow themselves to be used as a foreign catspaw.