CERAGON NETWORKS REPORTS 2022 SECOND QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
CERAGON NETWORKS REPORTS 2022 SECOND QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
PR Newswire
ROSH HA’AIN, Israel, Aug. 1, 2022
ROSH HA’AIN, Israel, Aug. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ —
Q2 2022 Financial Highlights:
Revenues of $70.7 millionOperating Income (loss) of $(0.3) …
CERAGON NETWORKS REPORTS 2022 SECOND QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
PR Newswire
ROSH HA'AIN, Israel, Aug. 1, 2022
ROSH HA'AIN, Israel, Aug. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
Q2 2022 Financial Highlights:
- Revenues of $70.7 million
- Operating Income (loss) of $(0.3) million on a GAAP basis, or $0.4 million on a non-GAAP basis
- EPS of $(0.02) per diluted share on a GAAP basis, or $(0.03) per diluted share on a non-GAAP basis
Q2 2022 Business Highlights:
- Strong bookings in North America, Europe, India, Latin America and APAC
- North America: Record quarter in terms of bookings; represents 26% of all bookings. Bookings grew by 38% over Q1 2022. Strong backlog. Leading Tier 1 operator is intensively implementing Ceragon's equipment for 5G network expansion
- Europe: Strong revenues and a very healthy backlog
- India: Strong bookings in Q2; strongest region in terms of revenues; reflecting ongoing deliveries for existing customers
Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRNT) (the "Company", "Ceragon", "we", "us", or "our"), the global innovator and leading solutions provider of 5G wireless transport, today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022.
Doron Arazi, Ceragon's CEO, commented: "I'm pleased to share that Ceragon saw continued strong business momentum in the second quarter of 2022. In parallel, the positive reaction of the market to our growth strategy has been very encouraging. As the supply chain disruptions and component shortages continue, we have implemented and continue to implement measures targeted at mitigating the impact of these external macro-circumstances.
Our accelerating bookings and healthy backlog propel us forward and help us reach new performance milestones, including in key regions such as North America. With strong market and technology drivers, skillful people, and a robust growth strategy, we remain confident about our short- and long-term business potential".
Primary Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results:
Revenues were $70.7 million, up 3.1% from $68.6 million in Q2 2021 and up 0.6% from $70.3 million in Q1 2022. Revenues were still impacted by the challenges the Company experienced in each region, which involved delivery delays due to component shortages and supply chain disruptions.
Gross profit was $21.4 million, giving us a gross margin of 30.3%, compared with a gross margin of 31.9% in Q2 2021 and 27.5% in Q1 2022. Our improved gross margin was primarily due to the increased software portion and a certain reduction in our shipment costs.
Operating income (loss) was $(0.3) million compared with $0.5 million for Q2 2021 and $(1.3) million for Q1 2022.
Net loss was $(1.5) million, or $(0.02) per diluted share compared with $(1.7) million, or $(0.02) per diluted share for Q2 2021 and $(2.3) million, or $(0.03) per diluted share for Q1 2022.
Non-GAAP results were as follows: Gross margin was 30.5%, operating profit was $0.4 million, and net loss was $(2.5) million, or $(0.03) per diluted share.
Cash and cash equivalents were $23.6 million at June 30, 2022, compared to $25.0 million at March 31, 2022.
For a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results, see the attached tables.
Revenue Breakout by Geography:
Q2 2022 | |
India | 31 % |
North America | 21 % |
Europe | 15 % |
Latin America | 16 % |
APAC | 11 % |
Africa | 6 % |
Outlook
We are reaffirming our 2022 revenue guidance of $300 - $315 million, and our 2023 revenue guidance of $325 - $345 million. Our guidance is of course subject to potential downsides and upsides as we continue to address supply chain challenges facing the industry. Our 5-year revenue target is approximately $500 million, and we also target increasing our gross margins to at least 34-36% over the same period.
Conference Call
The Company will host a Zoom web conference today at 9:00a.m. ET to discuss the results, followed by a question and answer session for the investment community.
Investors are invited to register by clicking here. All relevant information will be sent upon registration.
If you are unable to join us live, a recording of the call will be available on our website at www.ceragon.com within 24 hours after the call.
About Ceragon Networks
Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRNT) is the global innovator and leading solutions provider of 5G wireless transport. We help operators and other service providers worldwide increase operational efficiency and enhance end customers' quality of experience with innovative wireless backhaul and fronthaul solutions. Our customers include service providers, public safety organizations, government agencies and utility companies, which use our solutions to deliver 5G & 4G broadband wireless connectivity, mission-critical multimedia services, stabilized communications, and other applications at high reliability and speed.
Ceragon's unique multicore technology and disaggregated approach to wireless transport provides highly reliable, fast to deploy, high-capacity wireless transport for 5G and 4G networks with minimal use of spectrum, power, real estate, and labor resources. It enables increased productivity, as well as simple and quick network modernization, positioning Ceragon as a leading solutions provider for the 5G era. We deliver a complete portfolio of turnkey end-to-end AI-based managed and professional services that ensure efficient network rollout and optimization to achieve the highest value for our customers. Our solutions are deployed by more than 400 service providers, as well as more than 800 private network owners, in more than 150 countries. For more information please visit: www.ceragon.com.
Ceragon Networks® and FibeAir® are registered trademarks of Ceragon Networks Ltd. in the United States and other countries. CERAGON ® is a trademark of Ceragon Networks Ltd., registered in various countries. Other names mentioned are owned by their respective holders.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This document contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of Ceragon's management about Ceragon's business, financial condition, results of operations, micro and macro market trends and other issues addressed or reflected therein. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: projections of demand, revenues, net income, gross margin, capital expenditures and liquidity, competitive pressures, order timing, supply chain and shipping, components availability, growth prospects, product development, financial resources, cost savings and other financial and market matters. You may identify these and other forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "targets", "expects", "intends", "potential" or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Although we believe that the projections reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations therefrom will not be material. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause Ceragon's future results or performance to differ materially from those anticipated, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, any ongoing actions taken and future actions that may be taken by Aviat Networks Inc. or other stockholders or others; the continuing impact of the components shortage due to the global shortage in semiconductors, chipsets, components and other commodities, on our supply chain, manufacturing capacity and ability to timely deliver our products, which have caused, and could continue to cause delays in deliveries of our products and in the deployment of projects by our customers, risk of penalties and orders cancellation created thereby, as well as profit erosion due to constant price increase, payment of expedite fees and costs of inventory pre-ordering and procurement acceleration of such inventory, and the risk of becoming a deadstock if not consumed; the continued effect of the global increase in shipping costs and decrease in shipping slots availability on us, our supply chain and customers, which have resulted, and may continue to result in, price erosion, late deliveries and the risk of penalties and orders cancellation due to late deliveries; the impact of the transition to 5G technologies on our revenues if such transition is developed differently than we anticipated; the risks relating to the concentration of a major portion of our business on large mobile operators around the world from which we derive a significant portion of our ordering, that due to their relative effect on the overall ordering coupled with inconsistent ordering pattern and volume of business directed to us, creates high volatility with respect to our financial results and results of operations; the effect of the competition from other wireless transport equipment providers and from other communication solutions that compete with our high-capacity point-to-point wireless products; the continued effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and markets and on us and on the markets in which we operate and our and our customers, providers, business partners and contractors business and operations; the risks relating to increased breaches of network or information technology security along with increase in cyber-attack activities, growing cyber-crime threats, and changes in privacy and data protection laws, that could have an adverse effect on our business; risks associated with any failure to meet our product development timetable, including delay in the commercialization of our new chipset; imposition of additional sanctions and global trade limitations in connection with Russia's invasion to Ukraine, the effects of general economic conditions and trends on the global and local markets in which we operate and such other risks, uncertainties and other factors that could affect our results, as further detailed in Ceragon's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and in Ceragon's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Such forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors that could affect our results, represent our views only as of the date they are made and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. Such forward-looking statements do not purport to be predictions of future events or results and there can be no assurance that it will prove to be accurate. Ceragon may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future but the company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so except as may be required by law.
Ceragon's public filings are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov and may also be obtained from Ceragon's website at www.ceragon.com.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Ceragon has filed a definitive proxy statement and WHITE proxy card with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") in connection with its solicitation of proxies for the 2022 Extraordinary General Meeting of Ceragon Shareholders (the "2022 Extraordinary General Meeting"). CERAGON SHAREHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT (AND ANY AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ACCOMPANYING WHITE PROXY CARD AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Shareholders may obtain the proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to the proxy statement and other documents as and when filed by Ceragon with the SEC without charge from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1704355/Ceragon_Networks_Ltd_Logo.jpg
Ceragon Investor & Media Contact:
Maya Lustig
Ceragon Networks
+972-54-677-8100
mayal@ceragon.com
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS | ||||||||
(U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share data) | ||||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||
Three months ended June 30, | Six months ended June 30, | |||||||
2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | |||||
Revenues | $ 70,674 | $ 68,621 | $ 140,993 | $ 136,891 | ||||
Cost of revenues | 49,268 | 46,736 | 100,250 | 94,860 | ||||
Gross profit | 21,406 | 21,885 | 40,743 | 42,031 | ||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||
Research and development, net | 7,527 | 7,555 | 14,292 | 14,965 | ||||
Sales and Marketing | 9,362 | 7,643 | 18,134 | 15,933 | ||||
General and administrative | 4,840 | 6,197 | 9,898 | 10,290 | ||||
Total operating expenses | $ 21,729 | $ 21,395 | $ 42,324 | $ 41,188 | ||||
Operating income (loss) | (323) | 490 | (1,581) | 843 | ||||
Financial expenses and others, net | 757 | 1,802 | 1,516 | 2,853 | ||||
Loss before taxes | (1,080) | (1,312) | (3,097) | (2,010) | ||||
Taxes on income | 440 | 397 | 711 | 872 | ||||
Net loss | $ (1,520) | $ (1,709) | $ (3,808) | $ (2,882) | ||||
Basic net loss per share |
$ (0.02) |
$ (0.02) |
$ (0.05) |
$ (0.03) | ||||
Diluted net loss per share |
$ (0.02) |
$ (0.02) |
$ (0.05) |
$ (0.03) | ||||
Weighted average number of shares |
84,019,188 |
83,423,693 |
83,989,766 |
83,006,047 | ||||
Weighted average number of shares |
84,019,188 |
83,423,693 |
83,989,766 |
83,006,047 |
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS | ||||
(U.S. dollars in thousands) | ||||
June 30, 2022 | December 31, 2021 | |||
ASSETS | Unaudited | Audited | ||
CURRENT ASSETS: | ||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ 23,592 | $ 17,079 | ||
Trade receivables, net | 115,740 | 107,826 | ||
Other accounts receivable and prepaid expenses | 17,757 | 17,179 | ||
Inventories | 60,710 | 61,398 | ||
Total current assets | 217,799 | 203,482 | ||
NON-CURRENT ASSETS: | ||||
Trade receivables, net | 6,994 | 10,484 | ||
Severance pay and pension fund | 4,878 | 5,648 | ||
Property and equipment, net | 30,886 | 29,383 | ||
Operating lease right-of-use assets | 18,980 | 20,233 | ||
Intangible assets, net | 6,463 | 6,274 | ||
Other non-current assets | 18,980 | 17,059 | ||
Total non-current assets | 87,181 | 89,081 | ||
Total assets | $ 304,980 | $ 292,563 | ||
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY | ||||
CURRENT LIABILITIES: | ||||
Trade payables | $ 72,032 | $ 69,436 | ||
Deferred revenues | 3,067 | 3,384 | ||
Short-term loans | 31,900 | 14,800 | ||
Operating lease liabilities | 3,812 | 4,359 | ||
Other accounts payable and accrued expenses | 24,883 | 23,704 | ||
Total current liabilities | 135,694 | 115,683 | ||
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES: | ||||
Accrued severance pay and pension | 9,641 | 10,799 | ||
Deferred revenues | 10,895 | 9,275 | ||
Other long-term payables | 2,472 | 2,445 | ||
Operating lease liabilities | 14,305 | 17,210 | ||
Total long-term liabilities | 37,313 | 39,729 | ||
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY: | ||||
Share capital: | ||||
Ordinary shares | 224 | 224 | ||
Additional paid-in capital | 429,792 | 428,244 | ||
Treasury shares at cost | (20,091) | (20,091) | ||
Other comprehensive loss | (12,425) | (9,507) | ||
Accumulated deficits | (265,527) | (261,719) | ||
Total shareholders' equity | 131,973 | 137,151 | ||
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity | $ 304,980 | $ 292,563 |
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOW | |||||||
(U.S. dollars, in thousands) | |||||||
(Unaudited) | |||||||
Three months ended June 30, | Six months ended June 30, | ||||||
2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||
Cash flow from operating activities: | |||||||
Net loss | $ (1,520) | $ (1,709) | $ (3,808) | $ (2,882) | |||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash | |||||||
Depreciation and amortization | 2,834 | 2,943 | 5,775 | 5,829 | |||
Loss from sale of property and equipment, net | 2 | 195 | 20 | 67 | |||
Stock-based compensation expense | 689 | 286 | 1,435 | 637 | |||
Decrease in accrued severance pay and pensions, net | (296) | (301) | (369) | (504) | |||
Decrease (increase) in trade receivables, net | (2,609) | (176) | (4,173) | 237 | |||
Increase in other accounts receivable and | (1,278) | (4,780) | (3,056) | (5,872) | |||
Decrease in operating lease right-of-use assets | 892 | 1,179 | 1,873 | 2,448 | |||
Decrease (increase) in inventory, net of write off | (3,102) | (3,764) | 449 | (2,046) | |||
Increase in deferred tax asset, net | - | (135) | - | (125) | |||
Increase in trade payables | 3,103 | 4,268 | 1,339 | 2,137 | |||
Increase (decrease) in other accounts payable | (433) | 10 | (1,706) | (3,646) | |||
Decrease in operating lease liability | (2,666) | (744) | (4,071) | (2,199) | |||
Increase (decrease) in deferred revenues | 1,211 | (230) | 1,303 | 1,307 | |||
Net cash used in operating activities | $ (3,173) | $ (2,958) | $ (4,989) | $ (4,612) | |||
Cash flow from investing activities: | |||||||
Purchase of property and equipment, net | (2,845) | (1,728) | (5,368) | (3,931) | |||
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment, net | - | - | - | 200 | |||
Purchase of intangible assets, net | (234) | - | (437) | - | |||
Net cash used in investing activities | $ (3,079) | $ (1,728) | $ (5,805) | $ (3,731) | |||
Cash flow from financing activities: | |||||||
Proceeds from exercise of options | 32 | 269 | 113 | 3,958 | |||
Proceeds from bank credits and loans, net | 4,950 | - | 17,100 | 6,000 | |||
Net cash provided by financing activities | $ 4,982 | $ 269 | $ 17,213 | $ 9,958 | |||
Translation adjustments on cash and cash equivalents | $ (98) | $ 76 | $ 94 |
$ (46) | |||
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents | $ (1,368) | $ (4,341) | $ 6,513 | $ 1,569 | |||
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period | 24,960 | 33,011 | 17,079 | 27,101 | |||
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period | $ 23,592 | $ 28,670 | $ 23,592 | $ 28,670 |
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL RESULTS | ||||||||||||
(U.S. dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||||||
Three months ended | Six months ended | |||||||||||
June 30, | June 30, | |||||||||||
2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | |||||||||
GAAP cost of revenues | $ | 49,268 | $ | 46,736 | $ | 100,250 | $ | 94,860 | ||||
Stock based compensation expenses | (125) | (35) | (257) | (71) | ||||||||
Paycheck protection program | - | 306 | - | 306 | ||||||||
Changes in indirect tax positions | (1) | (2) | (1) | (3) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP cost of revenues | $ | 49,142 | $ | 47,005 | $ | 99,992 | $ | 95,092 | ||||
GAAP gross profit | $ | 21,406 | $ | 21,885 | $ | 40,743 | $ | 42,031 | ||||
Gross profit adjustments | 126 | (269) | 258 | (232) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP gross profit | $ | 21,532 | $ | 21,616 | $ | 41,001 | $ | 41,799 | ||||
GAAP Research and development expenses | $ | 7,527 | $ | 7,555 | $ | 14,292 | $ | 14,965 | ||||
Stock based compensation expenses | (34) | (61) | (20) | (113) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP Research and development expenses | $ | 7,493 | $ | 7,494 | $ | 14,272 | $ | 14,852 | ||||
GAAP Sales and Marketing expenses | $ | 9,362 | $ | 7,643 | $ | 18,134 | $ | 15,933 | ||||
Stock based compensation expenses | (302) | (50) | (579) | (154) | ||||||||
Paycheck protection program | - | 673 | - | 673 | ||||||||
Non-GAAP Sales and Marketing expenses | $ | 9,060 | $ | 8,266 | $ | 17,555 | $ | 16,452 | ||||
GAAP General and Administrative expenses | $ | 4,840 | $ | 6,197 | $ | 9,898 | $ | 10,290 | ||||
Retired CEO compensation | - | (810) | 96 | (810) | ||||||||
Stock based compensation expenses | (228) | (140) | (579) | (299) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP General and Administrative expenses | $ | 4,612 | $ | 5,247 | $ | 9,415 | $ | 9,181 | ||||
GAAP operating income (loss) | $ | (323) | $ | 490 | $ | (1,581) | $ | 843 | ||||
Stock based compensation expenses | 689 | 286 | 1,435 | 637 | ||||||||
Changes in indirect tax positions | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
Retired CEO compensation | - | 810 | (96) | 810 | ||||||||
Paycheck protection program | - | (979) | - | (979) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP operating income (loss) | $ | 367 | $ | 609 | $ | (241) | $ | 1,314 | ||||
GAAP financial expenses and others, net | $ | 757 | $ | 1,802 | $ | 1,516 | $ | 2,853 | ||||
Leases – financial income (expenses) | 1,774 | (435) | 2,199 | (249) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP financial expenses and others, net | $ | 2,531 | $ | 1,367 | $ | 3,715 | $ | 2,604 | ||||
GAAP Tax expenses | $ | 440 | $ | 397 | $ | 711 | $ | 872 | ||||
Non cash tax adjustments | (136) | 23 | (346) | (105) | ||||||||
Non-GAAP Tax expenses | $ | 304 | $ | 420 | $ | 365 | $ | 767 | ||||
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL RESULTS | |||||||||||||||||||||
(U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share data) | |||||||||||||||||||||
(Unaudited) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Three months ended | Six months ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
June 30, | June 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
GAAP net loss | $ | (1,520) | $ | (1,709) | $ | (3,808) | $ | (2,882) | |||||||||||||
Stock based compensation Expenses | 689 | 286 | 1,435 | 637 | |||||||||||||||||
Changes in indirect tax positions | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Leases – financial expenses (income) | (1,774) | 435 | (2,199) | 249 | |||||||||||||||||
Paycheck protection program | - | (979) | - | (979) | |||||||||||||||||
Retired CEO compensation | - | 810 | (96) | 810 | |||||||||||||||||
Non-cash tax adjustments | 136 | (23) | 346 | 105 | |||||||||||||||||
Non-GAAP net loss | $ | (2,468) | $ | (1,178) | $ | (4,321) | $ | (2,057) | |||||||||||||
GAAP basic net loss per share | $ | (0.02) | $ | (0.02) | $ | (0.05) | $ | (0.03) | |||||||||||||
GAAP diluted net loss per share | $ | (0.02) | $ | (0.02) | $ | (0.05) | $ | (0.03) | |||||||||||||
Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share | $ | (0.03) | $ | (0.01) | $ | (0.05) | $ | (0.02) | |||||||||||||
Weighted average number of shares used in computing GAAP | 84,019,188 | 83,423,693 | 83,989,766 | 83,006,047 | |||||||||||||||||
Weighted average number of shares | 84,019,188 | 83,423,693 | 83,989,766 | 83,006,047 | |||||||||||||||||
Weighted average number of shares | 84,019,188 | 83,423,693 | 83,989,766 | 83,006,047 | |||||||||||||||||
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ceragon-networks-reports-2022-second-quarter-financial-results-301596854.html
SOURCE Ceragon Networks Ltd.
Government
Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?
Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?
Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The headlines coming out of the Super…
Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The headlines coming out of the Super Tuesday primaries have got it right. Barring cataclysmic changes, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be the Republican and Democratic nominees for president in 2024.
With Nikki Haley’s withdrawal, there will be no more significantly contested primaries or caucuses—the earliest both parties’ races have been over since something like the current primary-dominated system was put in place in 1972.
The primary results have spotlighted some of both nominees’ weaknesses.
Donald Trump lost high-income, high-educated constituencies, including the entire metro area—aka the Swamp. Many but by no means all Haley votes there were cast by Biden Democrats. Mr. Trump can’t afford to lose too many of the others in target states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Majorities and large minorities of voters in overwhelmingly Latino counties in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and some in Houston voted against Joe Biden, and even more against Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).
Returns from Hispanic precincts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts show the same thing. Mr. Biden can’t afford to lose too many Latino votes in target states like Arizona and Georgia.
When Mr. Trump rode down that escalator in 2015, commentators assumed he’d repel Latinos. Instead, Latino voters nationally, and especially the closest eyewitnesses of Biden’s open-border policy, have been trending heavily Republican.
High-income liberal Democrats may sport lawn signs proclaiming, “In this house, we believe ... no human is illegal.” The logical consequence of that belief is an open border. But modest-income folks in border counties know that flows of illegal immigrants result in disorder, disease, and crime.
There is plenty of impatience with increased disorder in election returns below the presidential level. Consider Los Angeles County, America’s largest county, with nearly 10 million people, more people than 40 of the 50 states. It voted 71 percent for Mr. Biden in 2020.
Current returns show county District Attorney George Gascon winning only 21 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan primary. He’ll apparently face Republican Nathan Hochman, a critic of his liberal policies, in November.
Gascon, elected after the May 2020 death of counterfeit-passing suspect George Floyd in Minneapolis, is one of many county prosecutors supported by billionaire George Soros. His policies include not charging juveniles as adults, not seeking higher penalties for gang membership or use of firearms, and bringing fewer misdemeanor cases.
The predictable result has been increased car thefts, burglaries, and personal robberies. Some 120 assistant district attorneys have left the office, and there’s a backlog of 10,000 unprosecuted cases.
More than a dozen other Soros-backed and similarly liberal prosecutors have faced strong opposition or have left office.
St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner resigned last May amid lawsuits seeking her removal, Milwaukee’s John Chisholm retired in January, and Baltimore’s Marilyn Mosby was defeated in July 2022 and convicted of perjury in September 2023. Last November, Loudoun County, Virginia, voters (62 percent Biden) ousted liberal Buta Biberaj, who declined to prosecute a transgender student for assault, and in June 2022 voters in San Francisco (85 percent Biden) recalled famed radical Chesa Boudin.
Similarly, this Tuesday, voters in San Francisco passed ballot measures strengthening police powers and requiring treatment of drug-addicted welfare recipients.
In retrospect, it appears the Floyd video, appearing after three months of COVID-19 confinement, sparked a frenzied, even crazed reaction, especially among the highly educated and articulate. One fatal incident was seen as proof that America’s “systemic racism” was worse than ever and that police forces should be defunded and perhaps abolished.
2020 was “the year America went crazy,” I wrote in January 2021, a year in which police funding was actually cut by Democrats in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver. A year in which young New York Times (NYT) staffers claimed they were endangered by the publication of Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) opinion article advocating calling in military forces if necessary to stop rioting, as had been done in Detroit in 1967 and Los Angeles in 1992. A craven NYT publisher even fired the editorial page editor for running the article.
Evidence of visible and tangible discontent with increasing violence and its consequences—barren and locked shelves in Manhattan chain drugstores, skyrocketing carjackings in Washington, D.C.—is as unmistakable in polls and election results as it is in daily life in large metropolitan areas. Maybe 2024 will turn out to be the year even liberal America stopped acting crazy.
Chaos and disorder work against incumbents, as they did in 1968 when Democrats saw their party’s popular vote fall from 61 percent to 43 percent.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.
Government
Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence
Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The…
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed no data when deciding in 2023 to keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said on May 1, 2023, that the end of many other federal mandates “will not impact current policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
He said the mandate was remaining for VA health care personnel “to ensure the safety of veterans and our colleagues.”
Mr. McDonough did not cite any studies or other data. A VA spokesperson declined to provide any data that was reviewed when deciding not to rescind the mandate. The Epoch Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act for “all documents outlining which data was relied upon when establishing the mandate when deciding to keep the mandate in place.”
The agency searched for such data and did not find any.
“The VA does not even attempt to justify its policies with science, because it can’t,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, told The Epoch Times.
“The VA just trusts that the process and cost of challenging its unfounded policies is so onerous, most people are dissuaded from even trying,” she added.
The VA’s mandate remains in place to this day.
The VA’s website claims that vaccines “help protect you from getting severe illness” and “offer good protection against most COVID-19 variants,” pointing in part to observational data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimate the vaccines provide poor protection against symptomatic infection and transient shielding against hospitalization.
There have also been increasing concerns among outside scientists about confirmed side effects like heart inflammation—the VA hid a safety signal it detected for the inflammation—and possible side effects such as tinnitus, which shift the benefit-risk calculus.
President Joe Biden imposed a slate of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021. The VA was the first federal agency to implement a mandate.
President Biden rescinded the mandates in May 2023, citing a drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. His administration maintains the choice to require vaccines was the right one and saved lives.
“Our administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” the White House said.
Some experts said requiring vaccination meant many younger people were forced to get a vaccine despite the risks potentially outweighing the benefits, leaving fewer doses for older adults.
“By mandating the vaccines to younger people and those with natural immunity from having had COVID, older people in the U.S. and other countries did not have access to them, and many people might have died because of that,” Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine on leave from Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times previously.
The VA was one of just a handful of agencies to keep its mandate in place following the removal of many federal mandates.
“At this time, the vaccine requirement will remain in effect for VA health care personnel, including VA psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing assistants, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, peer specialists, medical support assistants, engineers, housekeepers, and other clinical, administrative, and infrastructure support employees,” Mr. McDonough wrote to VA employees at the time.
“This also includes VA volunteers and contractors. Effectively, this means that any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employee, volunteer, or contractor who works in VHA facilities, visits VHA facilities, or provides direct care to those we serve will still be subject to the vaccine requirement at this time,” he said. “We continue to monitor and discuss this requirement, and we will provide more information about the vaccination requirements for VA health care employees soon. As always, we will process requests for vaccination exceptions in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.”
The version of the shots cleared in the fall of 2022, and available through the fall of 2023, did not have any clinical trial data supporting them.
A new version was approved in the fall of 2023 because there were indications that the shots not only offered temporary protection but also that the level of protection was lower than what was observed during earlier stages of the pandemic.
Ms. Manookian, whose group has challenged several of the federal mandates, said that the mandate “illustrates the dangers of the administrative state and how these federal agencies have become a law unto themselves.”
Spread & Containment
The Coming Of The Police State In America
The Coming Of The Police State In America
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
The National Guard and the State Police are now…
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
The National Guard and the State Police are now patrolling the New York City subway system in an attempt to do something about the explosion of crime. As part of this, there are bag checks and new surveillance of all passengers. No legislation, no debate, just an edict from the mayor.
Many citizens who rely on this system for transportation might welcome this. It’s a city of strict gun control, and no one knows for sure if they have the right to defend themselves. Merchants have been harassed and even arrested for trying to stop looting and pillaging in their own shops.
The message has been sent: Only the police can do this job. Whether they do it or not is another matter.
Things on the subway system have gotten crazy. If you know it well, you can manage to travel safely, but visitors to the city who take the wrong train at the wrong time are taking grave risks.
In actual fact, it’s guaranteed that this will only end in confiscating knives and other things that people carry in order to protect themselves while leaving the actual criminals even more free to prey on citizens.
The law-abiding will suffer and the criminals will grow more numerous. It will not end well.
When you step back from the details, what we have is the dawning of a genuine police state in the United States. It only starts in New York City. Where is the Guard going to be deployed next? Anywhere is possible.
If the crime is bad enough, citizens will welcome it. It must have been this way in most times and places that when the police state arrives, the people cheer.
We will all have our own stories of how this came to be. Some might begin with the passage of the Patriot Act and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001. Some will focus on gun control and the taking away of citizens’ rights to defend themselves.
My own version of events is closer in time. It began four years ago this month with lockdowns. That’s what shattered the capacity of civil society to function in the United States. Everything that has happened since follows like one domino tumbling after another.
It goes like this:
1) lockdown,
2) loss of moral compass and spreading of loneliness and nihilism,
3) rioting resulting from citizen frustration, 4) police absent because of ideological hectoring,
5) a rise in uncontrolled immigration/refugees,
6) an epidemic of ill health from substance abuse and otherwise,
7) businesses flee the city
8) cities fall into decay, and that results in
9) more surveillance and police state.
The 10th stage is the sacking of liberty and civilization itself.
It doesn’t fall out this way at every point in history, but this seems like a solid outline of what happened in this case. Four years is a very short period of time to see all of this unfold. But it is a fact that New York City was more-or-less civilized only four years ago. No one could have predicted that it would come to this so quickly.
But once the lockdowns happened, all bets were off. Here we had a policy that most directly trampled on all freedoms that we had taken for granted. Schools, businesses, and churches were slammed shut, with various levels of enforcement. The entire workforce was divided between essential and nonessential, and there was widespread confusion about who precisely was in charge of designating and enforcing this.
It felt like martial law at the time, as if all normal civilian law had been displaced by something else. That something had to do with public health, but there was clearly more going on, because suddenly our social media posts were censored and we were being asked to do things that made no sense, such as mask up for a virus that evaded mask protection and walk in only one direction in grocery aisles.
Vast amounts of the white-collar workforce stayed home—and their kids, too—until it became too much to bear. The city became a ghost town. Most U.S. cities were the same.
As the months of disaster rolled on, the captives were let out of their houses for the summer in order to protest racism but no other reason. As a way of excusing this, the same public health authorities said that racism was a virus as bad as COVID-19, so therefore it was permitted.
The protests had turned to riots in many cities, and the police were being defunded and discouraged to do anything about the problem. Citizens watched in horror as downtowns burned and drug-crazed freaks took over whole sections of cities. It was like every standard of decency had been zapped out of an entire swath of the population.
Meanwhile, large checks were arriving in people’s bank accounts, defying every normal economic expectation. How could people not be working and get their bank accounts more flush with cash than ever? There was a new law that didn’t even require that people pay rent. How weird was that? Even student loans didn’t need to be paid.
By the fall, recess from lockdown was over and everyone was told to go home again. But this time they had a job to do: They were supposed to vote. Not at the polling places, because going there would only spread germs, or so the media said. When the voting results finally came in, it was the absentee ballots that swung the election in favor of the opposition party that actually wanted more lockdowns and eventually pushed vaccine mandates on the whole population.
The new party in control took note of the large population movements out of cities and states that they controlled. This would have a large effect on voting patterns in the future. But they had a plan. They would open the borders to millions of people in the guise of caring for refugees. These new warm bodies would become voters in time and certainly count on the census when it came time to reapportion political power.
Meanwhile, the native population had begun to swim in ill health from substance abuse, widespread depression, and demoralization, plus vaccine injury. This increased dependency on the very institutions that had caused the problem in the first place: the medical/scientific establishment.
The rise of crime drove the small businesses out of the city. They had barely survived the lockdowns, but they certainly could not survive the crime epidemic. This undermined the tax base of the city and allowed the criminals to take further control.
The same cities became sanctuaries for the waves of migrants sacking the country, and partisan mayors actually used tax dollars to house these invaders in high-end hotels in the name of having compassion for the stranger. Citizens were pushed out to make way for rampaging migrant hordes, as incredible as this seems.
But with that, of course, crime rose ever further, inciting citizen anger and providing a pretext to bring in the police state in the form of the National Guard, now tasked with cracking down on crime in the transportation system.
What’s the next step? It’s probably already here: mass surveillance and censorship, plus ever-expanding police power. This will be accompanied by further population movements, as those with the means to do so flee the city and even the country and leave it for everyone else to suffer.
As I tell the story, all of this seems inevitable. It is not. It could have been stopped at any point. A wise and prudent political leadership could have admitted the error from the beginning and called on the country to rediscover freedom, decency, and the difference between right and wrong. But ego and pride stopped that from happening, and we are left with the consequences.
The government grows ever bigger and civil society ever less capable of managing itself in large urban centers. Disaster is unfolding in real time, mitigated only by a rising stock market and a financial system that has yet to fall apart completely.
Are we at the middle stages of total collapse, or at the point where the population and people in leadership positions wise up and decide to put an end to the downward slide? It’s hard to know. But this much we do know: There is a growing pocket of resistance out there that is fed up and refuses to sit by and watch this great country be sacked and taken over by everything it was set up to prevent.
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