GOV/MIL Main "Great Reset" Thread

The Sin of Gluttony and Our Economic System 6:26 min

The Sin of Gluttony and Our Economic System​

The New American Published December 21, 2022

Capitalism has many good things to its credit. One of the liabilities, however, is that it encourages over-consumption. Gluttony. In a sense, 'economic bulimia'. Consuming for consumption's sake. While many people in the Sustainability sector worry about how this harms the environment, another question is: How this harms the soul. The descent from spiritual values to coarse materialism is examined, and how our economic system encourages vice.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNwNnGQG-8
6:05 min

Horrible News For Truckers and The Freight Industry​

The Economic Ninja
1 hour ago
Horrible News For Truckers and The Freight Industry. The Economic Ninja talks about the cost of loads going down and some headwinds for freight brokers.

^^^^^^

Trucking conditions crashed to pandemic lows this fall​

It’s becoming shaky for the entire trucking industry — not just owner-operators​

Rachel Premack
·Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Trucking conditions aren't so hot this year. (Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Troy Hawkins, a longtime trucking owner-operator, enjoyed a take-home pay of around $70,000 in 2021. But, this year, he estimates his income has sunk to about $45,000 or $50,000.

It’s not because the Baltimore-based truck driver worked less. The cost of diesel has soared and his per-mile rate just hasn’t kept up.

Hawkins’ situation isn’t unique. Two reports released Tuesday convey just how bad things got in the trucking industry this fall.

FTR Transportation Intelligence said trucking conditions hit an 18-month low in October 2022. High diesel costs and sinking rates pushed the firm’s Trucking Conditions Index to its lowest point since April 2020, when it hit a record bottom.



FTR Transportation Intelligence recorded for October 2022 its most negative trucking environment since April 2020. (Source: FTR Transportation Intelligence)

Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations said its for-hire tonnage index in November experienced its largest monthly decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic. It dropped month over month in October, too. The ATA’s index largely captures contract freight, rather than the more volatile spot market.

However, the tonnage index still reported an uptick of 0.8% compared to the previous November.


The American Trucking Associations’ Truck Tonnage Index reported a month-over-month decline in November freight volumes. October was also a month-over-month slump. (Source: American Trucking Associations)

Another closely followed index reflected a decline for this fall — but not a crash to pre-pandemic levels. The Cass Transportation Index Report indicated November logged a monthly and annual decline in freight shipments. However, shipments remained elevated from 2018, 2019 and 2020 levels.

Some fleets have been struggling well before this fall. The downturn in spot rates and uptick in diesel prices led some insiders to say trucking was entering a “bloodbath” or a “Great Purge” as early as spring 2022, particularly for small operators.

Large public truckers like Knight-Swift and J.B. Hunt began warning of a slump in October. KeyBanc’s logistics analyst team sounded alarms in September of a “trucking winter” where the months leading up to Christmas, which tends to be the hottest time of the year for trucking, would be muted.

Some experts predict that trucking industry conditions will remain challenging through 2023.

“We do not see a month on the horizon as difficult as October was for trucking companies but nor do we expect much for carriers to get excited about,” Avery Vise, vice president of trucking at FTR, said in a Tuesday news release. “The rate environment looks to keep market conditions at least mildly negative into 2024.”

A shaky situation for durable goods, housing​

In a news release, ATA chief economist Bob Costello attributed the decline in freight volumes to a slowdown in durable goods and housing. As trucking carries 72% of freight tonnage in the U.S., tracking the transportation mode represents a key way to understand changes in the overall economy.

The Department of Commerce reported Tuesday that single-family homebuilding in the U.S. fell to a 2.5-year low in November, thanks to soaring mortgage rates that some maintain have plunged the housing market into a recession.

Overall, construction has declined month over month, according to the Census Bureau but remains elevated from 2022. Public construction, representing government infrastructure investments, saw an uptick month over month.

Inflation-adjusted consumer spending on durable goods declined in the second and third quarters of 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A category breakdown of decreasing goods expenditure underscores a slowdown in the housing economy. Inflation-adjusted spending on major appliances, laundry equipment, window coverings and household item repair all dropped from the year prior.

A downturn in homebuilding — and purchases for those homes — means less freight for truckers to move, as the decline in the ATA volume index shows. Flatbed truckers, who haul construction materials like lumber, are especially exposed to this. However, the surge in multifamily homebuilding helps offset some of these declines.

The FreightWaves Outbound Tender Reject Index measures how many trucking companies are rejecting their contract freight for the spot market, indicating a hot market for trucking. In the flatbed space, this index remains elevated from pre-pandemic conditions.

However, it has largely declined since March 2022, when the Federal Reserve began increasing its funds rate. This resulted in higher mortgage rates and a slowdown in the housing market.


The FreightWaves Flatbed Outbound Tender Reject Index has declined sharply from its highs in early 2022 but remains elevated from pre-pandemic norms. (Source: FreightWaves SONAR)

The decline in U.S. imports also explains why trucking volumes have sunk. The volume of container imports at American ports in November plummeted by 19.4% from the previous year, according to data from Descartes Datamyne.

This is particularly chilling for the trucking industry’s dry van sector, which moves durable goods that don’t require temperature control. According to the FreightWaves National Truckload Index, contract rates for dry van truck movements are down 4% compared to the previous year, while the smaller and more volatile spot market has sunk 23% over the same period.


Spot rates (green) have sunk 23% compared to the same period last year, while contract rates (blue) have declined 4%. (Source: FreightWaves SONAR)

Owner-operators and small trucking fleets especially challenged amid 2022 trucking recession​

At the same time that trucking rates have sunk, the cost of diesel has considerably increased.


The retail price of diesel (blue) has increased more than the rack price of diesel (orange). Small trucking firms are more likely to pay the retail price of diesel. (Source: FreightWaves SONAR)

However, this uptick hasn’t been equally shouldered by large and small trucking fleets. That’s because trucking companies with more employees can secure fuel discounts because they are buying in bulk.

As longtime fuel expert Scott Berhang explained to FreightWaves, large trucking firms pay a small premium on the “rack price” of diesel, which is always much lower than the retail price advertised outside of a gas station. The trucking fleets and truck stops negotiate whatever premium is paid on the rack price.

Owner-operators like Hawkins of Maryland are more likely to pay the retail price.

“Those costs have disproportionately hurt smaller carriers recently, and improvements in those situations likewise will not help larger carriers as much as smaller ones,” Vise said.

The spread between rack and retail prices has increased this year, putting more pressure on small truckers. As of Dec. 20, nationwide truck stop fuel prices were 61% higher than nationwide rack prices — a spread of $1.83. At this time last year, truck stop fuel was 46% more expensive than rack — a spread of $1.13.

“Rack prices move very quickly, whereas retail prices tend to lag far behind,” Berhang said.

Retail prices are often individually set by the gas station owner, so they are more likely to post the highest possible price that will still keep customers coming in. Meanwhile, rack prices are a much more volatile reflection of the price that refineries sell to wholesalers. Gas stations will often wait to slash prices if rack prices dip, but they will respond quickly to an increase in rack prices.

That’s relieving news for the large trucking fleets that are more likely to enjoy fuel costs close to the rack price, but that puts pressure on owner-operators.

Following this year’s downturn, Hawkins said he is going to quit the trucking world and go back to a job in human resources — even though he prefers the freedom of the open road.

“I don’t think the rates have ever kept up with our fuel cost,” Hawkins said of 2022’s trucking conditions. “You’re still behind with the fuel cost being so exorbitant.”

Lumber Prices Collapse As Homebuilder Sentiment Falters​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 01:15 AM

Lumber peaked at $1,336 per thousand board feet in late February but has settled at around $380 this week, representing a dramatic 72% decline in prices, primarily due to elevated mortgage rates, slowing housing activity, waning builder confidence, and overall mounting macroeconomic headwinds.

The plunge in lumber prices is no surprise as builder confidence for newly-built single-family homes posted its 12th consecutive month of declines in December, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Confidence is at its lowest reading since mid-2012.



Besides dismal homebuilder sentiment, housing starts and building permits for November also showed deterioration in the housing industry. The number of housing starts (SAAR) is at the lowest since June 2020.



Forward-looking housing Permits are down over 22% YoY - the most significant drop since 2009 (with single-family permits -29.7% YoY and multi-family down 10.7%)...



Single-family building permits will likely move lower as homebuilder expectations for future sales are at decade lows..



Weaker housing conditions will persist into 2023 and are explicitly weighing on lumber demand, and thus lumber prices.

Lumber prices are expected to remain range bound between $400 and $200 until Jay Powell is forced to cut interest rates back to zero due to the recession and sparks the next housing craze.



Framing, paneling, and plywood, types of lumber used to build a home, are well off their highs. Remember when plywood at Home Depot was fetching nearly $100 per sheet?



If you waited for the lumber bubble to deflate -- this might be the perfect time to buy.

Grid Bottlenecks Could Derail Europe's Renewable Energy Boom​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 03:30 AM
Authored by Rystad Energy via OilPrice.com,

• Europe’s renewable energy industry is booming.
• If Europe is to remain a leader in renewable energy, the region will have to invest more into its grid.
• Grid bottlenecks could derail Europe’s green energy boom.

Europe’s energy transition ambitions face several challenges, but a major impediment to bringing new renewable power online is insufficient grid capacity. Rystad Energy’s current base case forecast has Europe adding as much as 530 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV and onshore and offshore wind between 2022 and 2030, more than 66 GW per year on average.

Furthermore, the share of solar and wind combined as a share of total installed capacity surpassed 10% in 2010 and more than tripled in 2021, reaching 34%, according to Rystad Energy research.

Growth is not expected to slow down anytime soon, as European countries are planning huge additions of renewables over the next few years. If Europe is to remain a leader in the energy transition, a huge amount of grid capacity will need to be developed, both to integrate new generation capacity into respective countries’ power mixes and to better connect European countries so that electricity can flow in the most optimal way.

The staggering amount of new solar and wind capacity expected to come online in Europe in the coming years means that grid interconnectivity will be the bottleneck to both the more efficient use of energy sources as well as overall slower decarbonization of the power sector as more fossil fuels need to be used to compensate. Historically, this has been much less of an issue as Europe’s power system has been dominated by four large sources – coal, gas, nuclear and hydropower – all with varying degrees of dispatchability but none considered intermittent.

With the pace of renewable energy development substantially exceeding the speed of grid upgrades and expansion projects in parts of Europe, policymakers and the power sector will need to carefully examine if a country’s development plans for new generation capacity match its development plans for both internal and cross-border transmission capacity. The timelines for new projects are very long and some countries in Europe are already curtailing renewable power that could be used elsewhere – for instance, Germany curtailed about 10.2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of wind power in 2017, the highest of any European country to date. The yearly average is around 5% of variable renewable energy curtailed, highlighting how bottlenecks are already an issue.

“Europe’s increasingly connected power grid is one of the first globally to take on substantial amounts of renewable and intermittent power. Moving power around the continent to minimize the use of carbon-emitting fuels will only be possible if the grid is upgraded. This will not be simple, quick, or cheap, but it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy security. The race is now on to see if grid upgrades can match the staggering levels of new renewables set to come online in the next decade,” says Fabian Rønningen, senior analyst, power markets at Rystad Energy.

Europe’s grid will need to connect northern winds and southern sunshine
The existing capacity base and future capacity will be spread unequally between European countries, with the likes of the North Sea emerging as another European energy hub with hundreds of GW of capacity planned to come online in the coming decades. For a future energy system, in which Europe’s energy sources are utilized optimally, both policymakers and industry will have to think differently about grid development, compared to the status quo. Most of the new capacity that will come online in Europe in the coming decades will be solar and wind, with such resources varying significantly across the continent. Southern parts of Europe have better solar conditions than the north, while wind resources are highest in the northern and eastern regions of the continent, as well as all coastal and offshore areas. This means that Europe’s future energy system could have a much higher degree of electricity flows between countries than we see today, despite Europe already being considered well interconnected.

Case study: Spain
Spain has emerged as one of the European leaders when it comes to both solar and wind development, and currently has one of the largest renewables pipelines in Europe. Spain has the most economic solar potential of the large European countries due to its sizeable landmass and high yearly solar irradiation, while it has also been a pioneer in the European wind industry. Furthermore, due to its relatively weak coupling to the rest of continental Europe, Spain provides an excellent example of how internal European grid bottlenecks could hamper Europe’s energy transition.

Although grid development within Spain is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decade, only three high-voltage interconnectors to France are currently planned, two of which are not expected to come online before 2027. This is just one example of potential bottlenecks Europe could face over the next decade, as hundreds of GW of solar and wind power come online, while the development of supporting grid infrastructure lags, especially cross-border interconnections. Policymakers need to ascertain whether grid development plans are in line with ambitious renewable energy targets to ensure transmission capacity does not constrain the energy transition.

Installed capacity from renewable energy sources in Spain will more than double by 2030 in Rystad Energy’s current base case forecast. While installed capacity from non-renewable energy sources will drop from 54 GW in 2022 to 34 GW by 2030, capacity from renewable energy sources will grow from 64 GW to 151 GW. Solar will drive most of the growth in renewables, primarily driven by developments in central Spain. Expansion plans for transformer capacity are set to keep up with these ambitious growth targets in installed capacity. Spain’s transmission system operator (TSO), Red Electrica, has mapped out detailed plans for upgrades and expansions to its transmission network. Towards the end of this decade, these plans could see transformer capacity grow by more than 220% compared to 2022 levels. Although these upgrades to the network are planned across Spain, most capacity looks set to be added in southern and central Spain, particularly in communities such as Andalucia and Castilla y Leon (Figure 4). These are also the regions where most of the planned solar and wind capacity will come online in the next few years.

The last time a high-voltage interconnector between Spain and France went operational was in 2015. In subsequent years, the countries acknowledged the mutual benefits of further integrating their power grids by projecting three other high-voltage direct current connectors across their shared border. One of the projects is a 400-kilometer link that will run between the Cubnezais substation (near Bordeaux, France) and the Gatika substation (near Bilbao, Spain), known as the Bay of Biscay project. The interconnector will mainly be laid subsea in the Atlantic Ocean with the rest buried underground, and will be the first submarine interconnector between Spain and France. The project has total transmission capacity of 2 GW and will lift total interconnection capacity between the two countries to 5 GW. The project is currently expected to be completed by 2027. Additionally, the countries are investing in reinforcements to existing interconnectors.

When it comes to the use of France-Spain interconnectors, power has mainly flowed into Spain. Spain has been a substantial net importer of French electricity every year since 2016, with 12.4 TWh of net yearly imports at peak in 2017. This year will show a significant change with Spain a net exporter to France every month in 2022 except for February, amid a large shortfall in French nuclear generation. From 2016 to 2022, Spain was a large net importer of cheap French nuclear power, while in 2022 Spain had the flexibility to increase mainly gas-fired power generation to support French consumers amid the energy crisis. This further highlights the benefits of increased interconnectivity for both countries. Furthermore, Spain is currently one of the largest generators of renewable power in Europe and has an impressive pipeline of renewable energy projects, while a substantial proportion of electricity exported to France so far in 2022 has been solar and wind.

Unlike Spain, France has not planned to increase the share of renewable energy sources in its power mix to the same extent. The situation with nuclear power in France is expected to improve in 2023, which will also benefit Spain. With more interconnectors between France and Spain, the two can rely on each other during periods when their power production is low. Given the abundant renewable energy power that will be produced in Spain, France will then be able to import clean, renewable energy when the sun shines and the wind blows. On the other hand, Spain will be able to import stable and dispatchable energy from France’s nuclear reactors to fill the intermittency gaps when the weather is less favorable. In other words, expanding high-voltage connections between the two power grids will benefit both countries and the wider European region.

This begs the question: is enough interconnector capacity being developed in Spain and France compared to the pace of renewable installations? The timelines of the interconnector projects are very long, as shown by the Bay of Biscay project, which is expected to take 10 years from initial consultations started in 2017 until it is expected online in 2027. As an illustration, 5 GW of transmission capacity will be able to interchange roughly 40 TWh per year if used at very high utilization factors – a substantial amount, but relatively small compared to total power demand in both countries. Both countries' power demand is also expected to increase rapidly after 2025, as the electrification of their economies continues.

Furthermore, the Spain-France example is just one of many. Many of the same questions will arise in other parts of Europe, especially as the North Sea is emerging as another European energy hub with hundreds of gigawatts of capacity planned to come online in the coming decades. Therefore, both policymakers and the power sector should carefully examine if a country’s development plans for new generation capacity match with its development plans for both internal and cross-border transmission capacity. The timelines for new projects are very long and Europe simply cannot afford grid bottlenecks halting its energy transition plans.

China's Deal With Saudi Arabia Is A Disaster For Biden

WEDNESDAY, DEC 21, 2022 - 08:00 PM
Authored by Con Coughlin via The Gatestone Institute,

Nothing better illustrates the utter ineptitude of the Biden administration's dealings with the Middle East than Saudi Arabia's decision to forge a strategic alliance with China.

This is a time when Washington should be working overtime to strengthen its ties with long-standing allies like the Saudis to combat the mounting threat Iran poses to the region's security.

Apart from the deeply alarming progress the ayatollahs are said to be making with their efforts to produce nuclear weapons,

The new "axis of evil" that has been formed between Moscow and Tehran in recent months means Iran will soon be taking delivery of state-of-the-art Russian warplanes to add to its military arsenal.

In what both the White House and Downing Street described as "sordid deals" between the two countries, Iran is due to take delivery of Russian Su-35 fighter jets next year as well as other advanced military equipment and components, including helicopters and air defence systems. In return Iran is providing Russia with hundreds of its Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 so-called kamikaze drones, which self-destruct on hitting their target.

As US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained at a briefing in Washington, Moscow has "offered Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support", which "transforms their relationship into a full defense partnership".

Biden administration officials added that Iranian pilots were already being trained in Russia on how to fly the Su-35 fighter.

By any standard, the deepening military cooperation between Russia and Iran should serve as a wake-up call to the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to reaffirm its commitment to key allies in the region such as the Saudis, who are committed to resisting any attempt by Tehran to expand its malign influence in the region.

Riyadh's determination to resist Iran's aggressive conduct was reflected in recent comments made by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud who warned that "all bets are off" if Iran succeeds in its goal of acquiring an operational nuclear weapon.

"We are in a very dangerous space in the region... you can expect that regional states will certainly look towards how they can ensure their own security," he said.

Riyadh's robust approach to Iran's bellicose conduct is exactly the sort of response Washington needs to see from its allies as it faces up to the Iranian threat. Yet, thanks to the Biden administration's wilful neglect of its relations with the Saudis, Riyadh is instead looking to build a partnership with Beijing, as was evident from the lavish reception given to Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit to the kingdom this month.

Rarely has a visiting leader been the recipient of such lavish state pageantry as Xi after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spared no effort to afford the Chinese leader a warm welcome, which included a jet escort on his arrival.

During his three-day visit, Xi held extensive talks with the Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, as well as other senior Saudi officials and signed a strategic partnership agreement that will deepen ties between Riyadh and Beijing on a range of issues, from defence to technology.

One particularly eye-catching aspect of the agreement was a deal with the Chinese tech giant Huawei to supply the Saudis with cloud computing services and allow "high-tech" complexes to be built in Saudi cities, according to Saudi officials.

Huawei has been designated a potential security threat by the US, with intelligence officials claiming that the company has close links to China's ruling Communist Party and could be used to conduct spying operations.

That Riyadh is now moving away from its traditional alliance with the US and strengthening its ties with Beijing is a strategic disaster of epic proportions, and serves as a damning indictment of the Biden administration's careless treatment of the Saudis, for which the president is personally to blame.

Biden set the tone for his strained relationship with the Saudi royal family during the 2020 presidential election contest when he denounced the kingdom as a "pariah" state over its involvement in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, although there has never any audible distress from the Biden administration over Iran's 2007 abduction and presumed death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though, forced Biden to rethink his attitude towards the Saudis when it suddenly dawned on him that he needed the Saudis to increase oil supplies to ease the pressure on global prices.

His efforts achieved little: the Saudis were apparently unimpressed with Biden greeting the Crown Prince with a fist-bump when he visited the kingdom in the summer, and he came away empty-handed, with the Saudis and other Gulf states ignoring his plea to increase oil production.

Apart from being dismayed about Biden's obsession with reviving the controversial nuclear deal with Tehran, which they regard as a flawed agreement -- it allows the Iranian regime soon to build as many nuclear weapons as it likes as well, as the ballistic missiles to deliver them -- the Saudis and other Gulf leaders are unhappy with the lack of support they have received from Washington over the constant threat they face from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations just a few weeks into Biden's term, and who since then regularly fired Iranian-made missiles and drones into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Now, thanks to Biden's incompetent management of the US-Saudi relationship, Riyadh is looking to China to protect its interests, a move that confirms the alarming decline in US influence in the region that has taken place under the vacuum in Biden's leadership.

It Was Always About Control

WEDNESDAY, DEC 21, 2022 - 08:40 PM
Authored by Richard Kelly via The Brownstone Institute,

Early on in March 2020 I was leery of the hysteria surrounding Covid and decided my course of action was to be wait and see. At the time I was under the impression that I was a freeborn citizen with a number of unalienable rights, including sovereignty over my bodily choices.



So when the talk started about new vaccines being imminent, I again decided I would wait and see whether the vaccines were all they were cracked up to be. This was then, and is now, an entirely reasonable position to take, screeching from media and Twitter hounds notwithstanding. I didn’t expect it would turn out to be more like “wait and see how totally out of hand this will get.”

• Wait and see how the government will forcibly close businesses
• Wait and see how treatments will be suppressed
• Wait and see how hysteria captured the media
• Wait and see how healthy populations will be subject to house arrest
• Wait and see how police will shoot protesters
• Wait and see how a pregnant mother will be arrested for a Facebook post
• Wait and see how medical services across state borders will be denied
• Wait and see how ‘wait and see-ers’ will be demonized
• Wait and see how family and friends will betray their loved ones

Well, I’ve waited long enough and I’ve seen more than enough. Thankfully the worst, most violent excesses have abated for now, if you exclude the ongoing carnage of short and long-term vaccine injury. There are lingering abominations from the blitzkrieg of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, but generally there is a sense that an uneasy peace, or maybe a phoney war, has descended on us.

Of course, there is still a serious amount of Covid pantomime going on.

Exhibit A: a TV news report recently showed a road accident victim doing rehab with a mask on, then happily chatting without a mask to the reporter, also without a mask. If he was worried about Covid he’d leave it on for the interview, or if he wasn’t worried he wouldn’t wear it while doing rehab. Seems you can have it both ways these days provided you don’t think about it too much.

Exhibit B: Last year cricket teams in the BBL were decimated if one of the players had a positive test, and others were ‘close contacts.’ Umpires refused to hold a bowler’s cap or sunglasses for fear of the spicy cough. Last night, two players on one team played despite not only testing positive, but also feeling unwell. If there is no practical change when a player has Covid, why do we need to know about it?

Answer: we don’t, but it has become normalised to disclose players’ private health statuses, just as it is normalised now to ask anyone any kind of detailed personal health question that satiates the questioner’s ghoulish fetishes. While player fitness has always been a matter of interest to sports fans, especially those who like a bet, illness used to be dealt with in a formulaic way, such as “Player X is not playing tonight due to illness.” There’s no need to know any further details.

Exhibit C: The memorial concert for aboriginal singer Archie Roach included a pre-concert ‘smoking ceremony’ in which footage aired for a news report showed a woman dancing through the ceremonial smoke – while wearing a mask. This example is probably less deliberate pantomime and more genuine irrationality. Anyone donning a mask and expecting to keep a virus out but let smoke in has taken leave of their rationality. Ironically, in this case the mask may actually do some good in preventing larger smoke particles entering the lungs – what firefighters call ‘smoke inhalation.’

It is counterproductive to scoff at these insanities – those who have not yet come in their own time to see the inconsistencies are not suddenly going to see the light because of a witty remark. The most likely reaction is an equally irrational, and possibly heated defence of the person or the rule. In valued relationships, the only sensible course is studied silence. Even a raised eyebrow in front of the TV can crank the tension in the room up a notch or two.

But these annoyances over masks and ‘Covid protocols,’ that overused euphemism for voodoo superstitions, are yesterday’s skirmishes in a war that has moved on to other theatres. The central battle is about freedom and autonomy. To the extent that the spoils of the ‘mask and protocol’ incursions can be re-weaponised against us, winning the freedom and autonomy battle will be that much harder.

How can we resist curbs on movement having once complied with QR scanning for going to the shops? Think it couldn’t happen?

Oxford city council in the UK is moving ahead with a scheme to confine residents to one of 6 zones using electronic gates on roads and limited number of trips across zones.

How could we resist a forced medical treatment having once rolled over to experimental gene therapy?

How can we fight against programmable digital currency when once we have accepted ‘card only’ cashiers and accommodated the idea of shopping for ‘essential items’ only and allowing a cop to rummage around in our shopping trolley?

The legislative bricks in the wall continue to be put into place with little if any scrutiny. Doctors are now unable to give opinions that depart from government health advice without risking de-registration. Pandemic laws born as bastard sons of parliaments suspended under state of emergency powers are now legitimised as permanent statutes, requiring only a declaration to bring them all into force once again. Digital ID’s are now compulsory for all company directors, including Mums and Dads who happen to be directors of their own superannuation funds. Ordinary citizens are surely next.

How is it that our lawmakers feel it appropriate to make these kinds of changes? No one asked for them. How is it they can ignore letters and petitions? Why do they partner with unelected globalists and make treaties we won’t be allowed to vote on? How is it that our civil rights institutions were so toothless? They didn’t even utter a whimper, let alone a growl. How is it that our professional bodies and business associations were silent?

Only a few brave souls protested. How is it that our police forces humiliated themselves to the point where they were taping off children’s playgrounds and fining elderly women for sitting on a park bench? We long ago gave up on the idea that the mainstream media would hold authorities to account.

In the end the explanations, whether we get them or not, whether they make sense or not, are beside the point. Nothing can change what happened. By some miracle we might avert what they have planned, but it’s going to be a hell of a fight.

Once upon a time, we sweated on daily case numbers when the new cases per day were less than 10; now we barely think of them, and they are in the thousands, if not the tens of thousands. There’s only one conclusion to be drawn – it was never about public health, and it still isn’t. It was always about control.

EU Regulator Warns Gas Price Cap May Not Work As Intended​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 12:30 AM
Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

The EU’s price cap on natural gas is an untested tool that may not work as intended to prevent gas price spikes for European households and businesses, the head of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) told the Financial Times.

The gas price cap is “a difficult creature. It’s unprecedented, it’s untested,” ACER’s director Christian Zinglersen told FT after the EU energy ministers agreed to set a cap on the benchmark EU gas price as of the middle of February 2023.

Zinglersen also noted that he would be “reluctant to rely on this gas price cap” to protect EU consumers from price spikes.

After months of negotiations, the EU finally agreed on Monday to set a price cap on natural gas to protect consumers from excessive price spikes and limit inflationary pressure and industrial damage to European economies.

On Monday, EU energy ministers reached a political agreement on a regulation that sets a so-called “market correction mechanism”, which would come into force on February 15, 2023.

The market correction mechanism will be triggered if the month-ahead price on the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s key benchmark, exceeds $191 (180 euros) per MWh for three working days, and the month-ahead TTF price is $37 (35 euros) higher than a reference price for LNG on global markets for the same three working days.

However, if risks to the security of supply occur, the European Commission will suspend the price cap rule, the EU agreed.

The price cap could limit Europe’s capacity to continue to draw most of the global spot LNG supply, analysts say.

Some EU member states such as Germany and the Netherlands had reservations about a price cap, concerned that a market intervention and a ceiling on prices would take away Europe’s key advantage in attracting LNG supply—higher prices than in Asia. Germany agreed to back the price cap only after the EU also agreed to accelerate permitting rules for renewable energy projects, according to EU officials.

The Global Economy Is Finally Realizing That Fossil Fuels Are Finite​

WEDNESDAY, DEC 21, 2022 - 04:00 PM
Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

The problem is hitting limits in the extraction of fossil fuels
We know that historically, many economies around the world have collapsed. We also know that there is a physics reason why this happens. Growing economies require a growing supply of energy to keep up with a growing population. At some point, the energy supply and other resource needs cannot grow rapidly enough to keep up with population growth. When this happens, economies tend to collapse.

In their book Secular Cycles, researchers Peter Turchin and Sergey Nefedov found that economies tend go through four distinct phases in each cycle, with each stage lasting for quite a few years:

1. Growth
2. Stagflation
3. Crisis
4. Inter-cycle

Based on my own analysis, the world economy was in the Growth Stage for much of the time between the Industrial Revolution and 1973. In late 1973, oil prices spiked, and the world was put on notice that the energy supply could not continue rising as rapidly as in the past.

Between 1973 and 2018, the world economy was in the Stagflation Stage. Based on current data, the world economy seems to have entered the Crisis Stage about 2018. This is the reason for saying that headwinds are beginning to hold the economy back in the title of this article .

When the Crisis Stage occurs, there are fewer goods and services per capita to go around, so some participants in the world economy must come out behind. Conflict of all kinds becomes more likely. Political leaders, if they happen to discover the predicament the world economy is in, have little interest in making the predicament known to voters, since doing so would likely lead them to lose the next election.

Instead, the way the physics-based self-organizing economic system works is that alternative narratives that frame the situation in a less frightening way gain popularity. Political leaders may not even be aware of how dependent today’s economy is on fossil fuels. Researchers may not be aware that their “scientific” models are misleading because they look at too small a portion of the overall system and make unwarranted assumptions.

In this post, I show evidence that the economy is reaching energy limits. In the last section, I explain how my view differs from the standard narrative, which says that there is almost an unlimited amount of fossil fuels available to burn, if we choose to utilize these fossil fuels.

According to this view, humans can prevent climate change by voluntarily moving away from fossil fuels.

The standard narrative proposes a reasonable plan for citizens of parts of the world without adequate fossil fuels (cut back on buying fossil fuels), but without telling citizens what the real problem is. The standard narrative also gives the impression that there is a near-term clean energy alternative. In my opinion, this is wishful thinking for the reasons I describe in Sections [6] and [7]. Section [2] also sheds light on the reasonableness of moving to renewable energy.

[1] The world has been warned, at least twice, that collapse might occur about now.
Back in the 1950s, several physicists, including M. King Hubbert, became interested in the limits that the world was up against. The military became interested in the problem, as well.

In 1957, Admiral Hyman Rickover of the US Navy gave a very insightful speech. One thing Admiral Rickover said was, “With high energy consumption goes a high standard of living.” Another thing he said was, “A reduction of per capita energy consumption has always in the past led to a decline in civilization and a reversion to a more primitive way of life.”
Regarding the future, he said,

For it is an unpleasant fact that according to our best estimates, total fossil fuel reserves recoverable at not over twice today’s unit cost are likely to run out at some time between the years 2000 and 2050, if present standards of living and population growth rates are taken into account.

The issue Admiral Rickover is pointing out is that as extraction costs rise, fossil fuels become increasingly unaffordable. If citizens cannot afford food, housing, and other basic goods made with high-cost fossil fuels, those fossil fuels will be left in the ground. If politicians try to pass the high cost of extraction on to consumers, it will cause inflation. Citizens will become unhappy with politicians and will vote them out of office. This is basically our problem today.

A second analysis that pointed to the current time frame for the world hitting fossil fuel limits is given in the 1972 book, The Limits To Growth by Donella Meadows and others. This analysis used computer modeling to look at several alternative future scenarios, considering resources available and population trends. The base scenario showed resource limits in general hitting sometime around 2020. The economy would collapse over a period of years after resource limits were hit.

[2] The Industrial Revolution in England is an example of how an economy changes for the better when fossil fuel energy is added.

Figure 1 shows a chart E. A. Wrigley shows in his book, Energy and the English Industrial Revolution:


Figure 1. Annual energy consumption per head (megajoules) in England and Wales 1561-70 to 1850-9 and in Italy 1861-70. Figure by Wrigley

Wrigley observes that when coal was added to the economy, it was possible to make far more metal tools than had been made in the past. With the use of metal tools instead of wood tools, farmers could be three times as productive. Thus, there didn’t need to be as many farmers, freeing some farmers for other occupations. Also, roads to coal mines were paved, in an era when few roads were paved. These paved roads were beneficial to other businesses and to the economy as a whole.

Another reason for coal to be of interest was because of increased deforestation near cities, as the population grew. This deforestation led to a need to transport firewood over long distances. Coal was more compact, and so easier to transport. Furthermore, the use of coal prevented having to cut down as many trees, helping the environment.

Figure 1 shows that energy from wind and water were only a tiny part of the economy, both before and after coal was added. They did not directly provide heat energy, which was a significant share of what the economy needed at that time.

[3] The period between the end of World War II and 1973 was another period when energy consumption per capita was rising rapidly. We might say the economy then had an “energy tailwind.”

Figure 2 shows that US energy consumption per capita was rising rapidly in the 1949 to 1973 period. Growing oil, coal and natural gas consumption all contributed to the overall rise in fossil fuel use.


Figure 2. Energy consumption by type of energy, on a per capita basis. Energy amounts as provided by US EIA data. Population based on 2022 United Nations population estimates by country.

In fact, BP data (only available from 1965 onward) shows energy consumption per capita rising for most parts of the world between 1965 and 1973. During this period, oil, coal and natural gas consumption per capita were all rising.


Figure 3. Energy consumption per capita from 1965 to 1973 for selected parts of the world based on BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

A major thing that pushed oil consumption along was its low price (Figure 4). According to BP data, the inflation-adjusted price was only $11.99 per barrel in 1970. In 1971, it averaged $14.30 per barrel. The comparable price today is about $79 per barrel.


Figure 4. World oil production and Brent equivalent price, adjusted for inflation to 2021, based on BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

The average price for 1973 rose to the equivalent of $19.73 per barrel, which is still incredibly low relative to today’s prices. It is an annual average price, reflecting a low price at the beginning of the year and a much higher price toward the end of the year.

There were multiple issues behind the rise in oil prices, starting at the end of 1973. Part of the problem was the fact that US oil production began to fall in 1971, necessitating the use of more imported oil, year after year. Another issue was that world oil production could not keep up with the high demand, given the low price that oil was selling for. The Office of the Historian of the US writes the following:

By 1973, OPEC had demanded that foreign oil corporations increase prices and cede greater shares of revenue to their local subsidiaries. In April, the Nixon administration announced a new energy strategy to boost domestic production to reduce U.S. vulnerability to oil imports and ease the strain of nationwide fuel shortages. That vulnerability would become overtly clear in the fall of that year.

Without higher oil prices, it would be hard for local producers to make the investments needed to ramp up production. Also, taxes for governments in the areas where the oil was produced were falling too low, given the low prices that oil was selling for on the international market. Indirectly because of these problems, but supposedly also because of support for Israel by certain countries in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the Arab members of OPEC initiated an oil embargo. This embargo cut off exports to the US, Netherlands, Portugal, and South Africa from November 1973 until March 1974. It was at that time that world oil prices rose to a much higher level, and oil consumption per capita began to fall.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

One thing that is striking about the period between World War II and 1973 is the huge advances in wages made by both the bottom 90% and the top 10% (Figure 5).


Figure 5. Chart comparing income gains by the top 10% to income gains by the bottom 90% by economist Emmanuel Saez. Based on an analysis of IRS data, published in Forbes.

Between 1948 and 1968, inflation-adjusted income of both the bottom 90% and the top 10% increased by roughly 80%. This meant that many people in the bottom 90% could afford to buy cars and their own homes for the first time. Even in the period between 1968 and 1982, inflation-adjusted incomes kept up with inflation, something that low-income earners today have difficulty with. It was not until after about 1982 that wage disparity started to increase.

Most people remember the 1950s and 1960s as a favorable period for ordinary workers.

Because of the higher wages of ordinary citizens and growing US manufacturing capabilities, the number of cars registered in the US rose from 25.8 million in 1945 to 75.3 million in 1965.

The US initiated the 41,000 mile Interstate Highway System in 1956, so that auto owners would have multilane, limited access roads to travel on.

Electricity was sold in a conservative way, called the Utility Pricing System, which would hopefully assure that the whole system would be properly maintained. Utilities were typically owners of electricity generation units, plus all other local infrastructure, including transmission lines. Each utility would compute a total required rate for all its needs, including enough funds to install new generating capacity, provide fuel, and install and maintain transmission lines. A government regulator would approve the rates, but there was no real competition.

[4] In the period between 1973 and 2018, many changes were to increase energy efficiency and to lower the perceived cost to users. Unfortunately, some of these changes, when taken to the extremes they were taken to later in the period, tended to make the economy brittle and thus more subject to collapse.

Up until 1973, oil was being put to uses for which substitution could easily be made. One of these was electricity generation; another was home heating. An easy change in electricity generation was to build new generating facilities using an alternate fuel (coal, natural gas, or nuclear). Home heating could often be changed to natural gas or electricity.

Also, Japan already had automobiles that were smaller and more fuel efficient than American automobiles. These could be substituted for some of the large cars produced in the US.

Especially with the Reagan and Thatcher administrations starting shortly after 1980, there was more interest in cutting costs in electricity generation. “Competitive rating” instead of utility rating became popular in places where electricity prices were high. Utilities were broken up, and the various parts were encouraged to compete.

Of course, competitive rating, when taken to its extreme, can lead to the neglect of infrastructure. It was recently reported that California’s utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric, now finds that it must raise $50 billion for wildfire prevention, after years of neglecting maintenance on the long distance transmission lines used for hydroelectric generation and other long distance transmission. Now it needs to raise money to bury many of these lines underground.

It has long been known that added complexity can be helpful in working around problems of inadequate energy supply. Complexity involves many things including using more advanced technology and international trade. It involves bigger organizations to take advantage of economies of scale. It tends to require higher education for at least some of its workers.

One major disadvantage of growing complexity is the increasing wage disparity it tends to produce. Wages for less educated workers often fall quite low. Work in whole industries may disappear overseas, leaving workers to start over, in new lines of work, at lower pay scales.

Unfortunately, having many workers at low wages tends to push an economy toward collapse. The big issue is that these workers cannot afford goods like cars and new homes.

Their lack of purchasing power tends to hold down commodity prices, such as the price of fossil fuels. Prices don’t rise high enough to justify new investment to raise production, so production slows down and eventually stops.

Another approach that gained popularity starting about 1981 was the increased use of debt and more exotic financial approaches. Interest rates were very high in 1981. Central banks could make monthly payments for goods such as homes and cars more affordable by lowering interest rates. This approach works for a while, but it reaches limits when interest rates fall too low relative to inflation rates. Furthermore, if an economy slows down, a major increase in debt defaults becomes likely, as became clear in 2008. With the high level of debt in the world economy today, the default problem could become even worse in 2023 or 2024 than it was in 2008, if the economy slows again.

[5] Since 2015, oil and natural gas investments have remained at low levels because oil prices have not been high enough to justify drilling in the remaining places.


Figure 6. US world oil prices, adjusted to 2021 US$, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

In my opinion, oil companies really need quite high oil prices, probably $120 per barrel or higher, on a consistent basis, to justify drilling in sufficient new locations to ramp up oil production. Since 2014, prices have generally remained far below that level. There was a major drop in oil prices in 2014 and 2015. In response to the lower oil prices, oil and gas companies cut back on investment in “Exploration and Production” (E&P). (Figure 7)


Figure 7. Global Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Investments in chart by Rystad Energy.
After a drop in E&P investments, oil production does not drop immediately. Instead, 2018 was the single highest year of oil production. Production looks likely to drop further because of the continued lack of investment (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Figure 1 from my most recent post. It shows world primary energy consumption per capita based on BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

[6] If we look across the major types of energy supply, we discover that “Wind and Solar” is the only category rising significantly faster than world population. Others tend to be flat or falling, on a per capita basis.


Figure 9. Energy per capita worldwide, for selected types of energy, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

In Figure 9, the star performer is the category “Wind + Solar.” The main attraction of wind and solar today is the subsidies they get, and the mandates that require utilities to move away from fossil fuels. Unfortunately, wind and solar really aren’t terribly helpful as far as I can see, except from the point of view of the benefit of the subsidies they provide.

One of the problems with intermittent wind and solar is that they tend to drive nuclear electricity providers out of business because of the favorable rates they receive when wind and solar are allowed to go first, in competitive rating schemes. With this arrangement, the wholesale rates that nuclear providers receive often fall to negative amounts. Nuclear providers cannot close down for short periods with negative rates, so they tend to need subsidies to remain open. Figure 9 shows that the supply of nuclear electricity has been dropping since at least 2001. In fact, of all the energy types shown on Figure 9, nuclear’s production (relative to population) is dropping fastest.

In my opinion, our primary energy concern should be food production and transport. Diesel, made from oil, is the major fuel for agriculture. It will be decades before farming machinery and transport of food can be changed over to electricity, assuming this can be done at all.

Until this happens, electricity’s role in getting food to the shelves of grocery stores will be limited.

Solar energy comes primarily in the summer but, unfortunately, in many places, the big need for heat energy is in the winter. People in Europe, with their many wind turbines and solar panels, are worried about possibly freezing in the dark this winter if natural gas supplies prove inadequate. We don’t have batteries for storing solar or wind energy for months on end, so they cannot be counted on for winter heat.

When homeowners put solar panels on their roofs, the electricity they sell to the utility is often “net metered” (credited with the full retail value of electricity that this home would pay). This is a huge subsidy to the owners of the solar panels because the value of the intermittent electricity to the utility is far less than this, probably closer to the cost of the natural gas or other fuel saved.

To make up for the loss of revenue caused by the overly generous compensation to solar panel owners, the utility is forced to raise rates for those without solar panels. Studies show that homeowners with solar panels tend to be wealthier than the renters and others who do not have the opportunity to add these subsidized solar panels. Thus, this is an example of a benefit for rich homeowners being paid for by less wealthy buyers of electricity.

I would also argue that the BP data I used to produce Figure 9 tends to give an overly optimistic view of the value of wind and solar. The approach used indirectly assumes that they fully replace the entire system of dispatchable electricity used today, rather than providing only intermittent electricity. The less generous approach (giving a little less than half as much credit) is used by the International Energy Association and by many researchers.

Furthermore, solar panels tend to pollute ground water when they are disposed of, so they are not very clean. Wind turbines are noisy, take up farmland, and kill bats and birds, so they have serious drawbacks as well.

Wind and solar are made and transported using fossil fuels. They cannot last any longer than today’s fossil fuel industry. In fact, roads and transmission lines require fossil fuels to continue. The whole system is likely to go down at approximately the same time.

It seems to me that the main reason why we hear so much about intermittent wind and solar is because there needs to be a hopeful narrative for politicians to provide to voters, and for educators to provide to students. Otherwise, the situation shown on Figure 9 looks grim. The fact that fossil fuel prices have been spiking in 2022 and regulators are trying to get these prices back down again is testimony to the fact that we are running short of cheap-to-produce fossil fuel energy.

[7] The incorrect narrative provided by mainstream media (MSM) is that climate change is our worst problem. To lessen this problem, citizens need to move quickly away from fossil fuels and transition to renewables. The real narrative is that we are running short of fossil fuels that can be profitably extracted, and renewables are not adequate substitutes. However, this narrative is too worrisome for most people to handle.

I expect most readers will say, your view can’t be right. We don’t read this story in the news. All we hear about is climate change and the need to reduce fossil fuel usage to prevent climate change.

In many ways, the narrative presented by MSM is less frightening to the public than a narrative in which fuels are already being stretched too thin. The MSM narrative sounds like a situation that we can perhaps live with and work around. It sounds like careers that people study for today will be useful in the future. It also sounds like homes, cars and factories built today will be useful in the future.

One major difference in the MSM view, relative to my view, is with respect to the amounts of fossil fuels that can be extracted. The standard narrative says we will extract all the fossil fuels that we have the technology to extract unless we make a concerted effort not to extract these fuels. For this to happen, demand (a favorite word of economists) must keep rising to keep prices high enough for businesses to want to continue extraction from fields plagued by depletion.

History shows that when an economy approaches limits, what tends to happen is that demand tends to fall too low. This happens because the physics of the way the economy works: Wage and wealth disparities tend to spike as energy resources are increasingly stretched thin. In fact, the great wealth of the top 1%, relative to that of the remaining 99%, is a major problem in the world today. When increasing wage and wealth disparity occurs, a growing number of poor workers find themselves with inadequate wages to buy food, homes, cars and other goods made with commodities, including oil.

There are so many of these poor workers that their lack of demand tends to bring down commodity prices without government intervention. If these low wages are not sufficient to hold down commodity prices, politicians will raise interest rates to try to get commodity prices down, so they can be re-elected. It is low fossil fuel prices that will drive fossil fuel providers out of business.

Of course, another part of the MSM narrative is the view that renewables can save the system. I explained in Section [6] why this cannot be the case for wind and solar. I didn’t say much about hydroelectricity, but it is already built out in most of the developed world.

Electricity from hydroelectric plants tends to be intermittent, with the greatest supply coming in the spring, when snow melts. Like wind and solar, hydroelectric generation plants are built and repaired using fossil fuels. These facilities, and their transmission lines, will last only until parts break that cannot be repaired.

CDC Funding Decisions Based Largely On Politics, Not Science

WEDNESDAY, DEC 21, 2022 - 06:40 PM
Authored by John Lott Jr via RealClearPolitics.com,

For the second year in a row, the Centers for Disease Control has been caught ignoring science and letting liberal interest groups set its policies...

In 2021, the American Pediatric Academy and the Children’s Hospital Association tracked COVID-19 statistics in children and the data show no relationship between mask mandates and the rate at which children caught the disease. In the face of this evidence – and other data showing that masks harm children’s development, the CDC supported masking students after being pressured by the National Education Association (the nation’s largest teachers’ union).

Now comes word that CDC is again allowing partisan politics to influence its policies. This time, gun control activists got the CDC to remove research from its website. Yet, the CDC is trusted to impartially dole out millions of dollars for public health research on firearms: From 2020 to 2022, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) each spent about $50 million on such research.

Until May of this year, the CDC cited a 2013 National Academies of Sciences (NAS) report showing that the annual number of defensive gun uses ranged from about 64,000 to 3 million. The CDC website listed the upper figure at 2.5 million. But now, the CDC has removed from its website all of those numbers and even the link to the NAS report.

Following introductions from the White House and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, gun control advocates linked up with the CDC. They had a private meeting and numerous email exchanges, in which they lobbied hard to have the CDC remove the information.

“[T]hat 2.5 Million number needs to be killed, buried, dug up, killed again and buried again,” Mark Bryant, who runs the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), wrote to CDC officials after their meeting.

“It is highly misleading, is used out of context and I honestly believe it has zero value – even as an outlier point in honest DGU [Defensive Gun Use] discussions.” He was upset that the 2.5 million number “has been used so often to stop [gun control] legislation.”

The Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey estimates that there are between 64,000 and 120,000 instances each year in which a firearm is used defensively. This is on the low end of all the other social science on this subject. Some 20 such surveys have been conducted. Three of them show about 800,000 defensive gun uses a year. All the other estimates are over 1 million, with one as high as 3.5 million. The average estimate is about 2 million. William English of Georgetown University surveyed 16,708 gun owners just last year, and estimated that there are 1.67 million such uses annually.

The National Crime Victimization Survey’s low numbers result from its choice of a screening question. It first asks a person if they have been a victim of a crime. Only respondents who answer “yes” are then asked if they have used a gun defensively. Yet, people who successfully brandish a gun generally do not view themselves as having been victimized.

Devin Hughes, who runs another gun control group, GVPedia, argued in a July 6, 2021 email to the CDC that it should use the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) estimate of defensive gun uses. Hughes claimed that the GVA is “the most widely accepted compendium of gun violence data.” Between January and mid-December this year, the GVA claims that there were only 1,112 defensive gun uses in the United States.

Last year, RealClearInvestigations examined Gun Violence Archive’s data from Jan. 1 to Aug. 10 and found 774 defensive gun uses. Ninety-five percent of these self-defense cases were from initial news reports. I checked those cases against other lists compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Crime Prevention Research Center, and found that the GVA had missed an additional 30 cases. But that wasn’t the important problem.

What makes defensive gun uses newsworthy doesn’t accurately reflect the real world. In GVA’s statistics, 43% of the GVA’s gun violence cases involve fatalities, 42% involve woundings, and 10% are cases in which shots were fired defensively that don’t hit anyone.

Less than 4% of cases involved no shots fired, and more than half of those involve the criminal being held at gunpoint until the police arrive. But as gun control experts know, these kinds of cases represent a tiny fraction of the instances in which firearms are used defensively for self-protection.

First of all, relying on the news media is not an accurate way to gather crime data. Criminologists know that less than one-quarter of violent crimes are reported to police. Nor does the news media even cover most violent crimes reported to police. Second, and much more significantly, about 95% of defensive gun uses involve brandishing a weapon.

Bryant defends the reliance on media accounts, and discounts the argument that the media disproportionately covers the most violent cases. “I don’t think it is a newsworthy issue … too many media really like the feel-good stories of homeowner standing up to home invader,” Bryant wrote me last year. “Even better if it was a granny doing it. They don’t just go with the ‘if it bleeds …’ newsworthiness.”

This is a naïve view of how newsrooms operate. Suppose an editor is presented with two stories, one with a dead body on the ground and another where no one was hurt because the would-be victim brandished a gun and the criminal ran away. And in the later story you can’t even be sure what crime would have been committed. Which story would you run in your hometown newspaper paper?

But even that isn’t really the point. When a law-abiding citizen scares off a would-be criminal by brandishing a legal firearm, journalists don’t typically wrestle with its newsworthiness for the simple reason that such cases are reported to neither the police nor the press. That’s why rigorous social science studies are necessary – the precise kind the CDC is censoring to benefit special interests.

Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress have earmarked the $100 million in research funding for public health researchers who are far to the left on gun control compared to criminologists or economists.

The CDC keeps making decisions based on politics, not science. It has shown that it is not able to divorce political views from decisions about who to fund. But, as researchers know all too well, the CDC isn’t unique. The government just can’t keep politics out of funding decisions.

Final Q3 GDP Comes Unexpectedly Hot At 3.2%, Well Above 2.9% Estimate​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 05:55 AM

After the US economy plumbed a technical recession in the first half on the back of a trade and inventory drag in Q1 and Q2 respectively, which pushed GDP negative in H1 but which was never recognized by the NBER, moments ago the BEA reported its final estimate of Q3 GDP which came in even hotter than previously expected, rising at a 3.240% rate, above the 2.930% estimated one month ago and well above the 2.57% initial estimate reported in October, mostly on the back of another upward revision in personal consumption.



The update from the “second” estimate reflected upward revisions to consumer spending, which rose 2.3% in Q3 up from 1.7% in the previous estimate and up from 2.0% in Q2, as well as upward revisions to business investment, and state and local government that were partly offset by downward revisions to inventory investment and exports.



Here is the breakdown:

• Personal consumption contributed 1.54% to the 3.240% GDP bottom line, up from 1.18% in the 2nd estimate and up from 0.97% in the 1st Q3 GDP estimate
• Fixed investment subtracted 0.62% in Q3, a smaller reduction than the -0.74% in the second estimate
• The change in private inventories however took off a bigger chunk, subtracting -1.19% from the final Q3 GDP, up from -0.97% previously.
• Net trade added 2.86% to the bottom-line GDP print (1.65% to exports, 1.19% imports), slightly below the 2.93% in the second estimate.
• Finally, government consumption added 0.65% to the bottom line print, up from 0.53% seen in last month's revision.

Looking at the bigger picture, the third-quarter increase in real GDP reflected increases in exports, consumer spending, business investment, and government spending that were partly offset by decreases in housing investment and inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.

• The increase in exports reflected both goods (led by industrial supplies and materials, “other” goods, and nonautomotive capital goods) and services (led by “other” business services and travel
• The increase in consumer spending reflected an increase in services (led by health care and "other" services) that was partly offset by a decrease in goods (led by motor vehicles and parts as well as food and beverages).
• The increase in business investment reflected increases in equipment and intellectual property products that were partly offset by a decrease in structures.
• The increase in government spending reflected increases in state and local as well as federal (both defense and nondefense spending).
• The decrease in housing investment was led by new single-family housing construction and brokers’ commissions.
• The decrease in private inventory investment was led by retail trade (mainly clothing and accessory stores, other general merchandise stores, and “other” retailers).
• The decrease in imports reflected a decrease in goods (led by consumer goods) and services (led by transport)

Strong GDP also meant higher inflation, and the GDP price index was revised up from 4.3% to 4.4% in Q3 (also higher than the 4.3% estimate), if below the 9.0% prior quarter. Core PCE Q/Q rose 4.7% in 3Q, also higher than the 4.6% in the previous estimate and 4.6% consensus estimate for the final print.



Today’s release includes estimates of GDP by industry, or value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP. Private services-producing industries increased 4.9 percent, government increased 0.6 percent, and private goods-producing industries decreased 1.3 percent. Overall, 16 of 22 industry groups contributed to the third-quarter increase in real GDP.

• The increase in private services-producing industries primarily reflected increases in information (led by data processing, internet publishing, and other information services); professional, scientific, and technical services; and real estate and rental and leasing (led by real estate). Partly offsetting these increases were decreases in utilities as well as finance and insurance (led by Federal Reserve banks, credit intermediation, and related activities).
• The increase in government reflected an increase in state and local government that was partly offset by a decrease in federal government.
• The decrease in private goods-producing industries primarily reflected a decrease in construction that was partly offset by an increase in mining

US Leading Economic Indicators Plunge Most 'Since Lehman'​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 07:17 AM

The Conference Board's Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) suffered a significantly worse than expected drop in November, tumbling 1.0% MoM (vs -0.5% exp).

• The biggest positive contributor to the leading index was stock prices at 0.21
• The biggest negative contributor was building permits at -0.37

Despite this morning's GDP beat, the LEI is showing no signs at all of 'recovering'...



And on a year-over-year basis, the LEI is down 4.42% - its biggest YoY drop since 2008 (Lehman) outside of the COVID lockdown-enforced collapse...



Judging by this, the tightening policies of The Fed are having a 'lagged' effect.

The Real Santa Clause

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 07:25 AM
By Philip Marey, senior US strategist at Rabobank

Yesterday, the S&P500 rose by 1.49%, after US consumer confidence, as measured by the Conference Board, improved much more than expected, to 108.3 in December from 101.4 (revised) in November. Both the assessment of the current situation and expectations were better than last month. There was a substantial improvement in labor market perspectives (jobs plentiful-jobs hard to get) and a decline in inflation expectations. In contrast, US existing home sales were even worse than expected. They fell by 7.7% in November to 4.09 million, very close to the COVID-era low of 4.07, recorded in million May 2020. The 10 year US treasury yield declined to 3.66% from 3.70%.

Ukrainian President Zelensky met with US President Biden at the White House and addressed a joint session of the US Congress. Biden announced another $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including more ammunition for the HIMARS artillery missile systems, and, for the first time, a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery. The US has provided $21.9 billion in military and economic aid so far, and the omnibus bill that Congress is voting on this week would add an additional $44.9 billion to be rolled out in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the bipartisan spending bill that lawmakers are trying to push through Congress before Christmas was delayed as Republicans demanded a vote on preserving Title 42, a measure from the COVID-era to expel illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, at a simple majority threshold, before continuing with the omnibus bill. The omnibus bill provides $1.65 trillion for fiscal year 2023, including $858 billion in military spending and $772.5 billion in nondefense discretionary spending. This includes an additional $44.9 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine. However, the omnibus bill also contains items that really deserve separate bills, such as an update of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, but are now being pushed through the lame duck session with the threat of a government shutdown, or more importantly, members of Congress missing their Christmas dinner. Could this be the real Santa Clause?

This omnibus bill, if approved, may be the last big spending package until September next year. As we highlighted in Midterm implications, the political dynamics in Washington DC will undergo a regime shift in January when the new Congress, that was elected in the midterms in November, convenes. When the Republicans take over the House of Representatives and keep their Commitment to America, we are going to see the end of the Democratic spending spree of the last two years. The Democrats are trying to use the current lame duck session to pass the spending bill for fiscal year 2023 on their terms. The next large bills will be the spending bill for fiscal year 2024 and the renewal of the Farm Bill, which expires at the end of September. With the House Republicans back in charge, we could be heading for a year of fiscal standoffs, including the most risky variant related to the debt ceiling.

We complete this week’s Tim Allen trilogy with The Santa Clause. This is the last Global Daily of 2022 and we will resume publication on Tuesday January 3, 2023.

The Fed Is Making Things Up As It Goes Along​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 08:55 AM
Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

The Federal Reserve would like you to think that it is scientifically guiding the economy with carefully calculated monetary policy.

The truth is the Fed is making things up as it goes along.

As Mises Institute senior editor Ryan McMaken noted in a recent article, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has admitted that the central bank doesn’t know what it will do in 2023. And if you look at the herky-jerky path we’ve been on the last few years, it should be clear it hasn’t had a clue the entire time.

As Peter Schiff put it in a recent podcast, the Fed is oblivious.


At the December FOMC meeting, the Fed slowed its roll slightly, hiking rates by 50 basis points. That pushed the federal funds rate to 4.5%. The last time rates were this high was in 2007.

While the pace of rate hikes appears to be slowing, Powell maintained a hawkish tone, saying, “My view and my colleagues’ view is that this will take some time. We have a long ways to go to get back to price stability.”

But McMaken raised a poignant question: what exactly does “a long way to go” mean? That is rather subjective. But we can get a sense of what the Fed is thinking by looking at its Summary of Economic Projections. McMaken sums it up.


A lot of people in the mainstream aren’t buying what the Fed is selling. One economist told Bloomberg that “the market is not buying the Fed’s increasingly hawkish position that they are going to raise rates to a higher-than-expected level and keep them there.”


Market skepticism is based on the growing anticipation of a recession. Most people don’t believe the central bank will keep hiking as the economy tanks. This is a rational position given that the Fed has historically rushed in to prop up a sagging economy. Why should we expect anything different this time around?

Powell keeps pointing to a “strong” labor market to justify his view that a soft landing is still possible. Of course, when you dig more deeply into the data, it becomes clear that the labor market isn’t nearly as robust as advertised. The government job numbers simply don’t add up.

And as McMaken pointed out, employment is a lagging indicator.


Despite his self-assured demeanor, Powell admitted that he doesn’t know whether the economy will dip into a recession or not.


This was a rather startling moment of honesty from a person who gets paid to make us think he’s got everything under control.

As McMaken put it, the Fed is actually winging it when it comes to what it will do next. And in fact, the Fed has been winging it all along.


If this is the best we can do – well – yikes!

A Crisis Is Looming For The US Energy Grid​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 10:04 AM
Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

• The U.S.’ aging energy infrastructure is already under strain, but the combination of more renewable power sources and higher demand could cause shortages for years to come.
• The major concern for the energy grid is severe weather events, such as the Texas freeze in February 2021 when the state had to carry out rotating power outages.
• The Midwest and South-Central U.S. are at the highest risk of electricity shortages, but the entire country needs to modernize its electricity grid to avoid shortages in the future.

As U.S. energy infrastructure continues to go largely neglected and city populations keep rising, certain regions of America are under threat of electricity shortages for several years to come. In addition to inadequate energy infrastructure, the rise of renewable power sources and the growing countrywide energy demand are putting pressure on the grid like never before. The Midwest and South-Central U.S. appear to be most at risk of electricity shortages according to a recent analysis. These regions fall into the “high risk” and “elevated risk” categories. The shortages are most likely to be seen during peak energy usage times, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation(NERC). There is a multitude of reasons for the shortages, largely centered around America’s aging energy infrastructure.

At present, across the Midwest, a larger quantity of power generation is going offline than new electricity being brought online. This has meant shortages in the region since 2018. In contrast, California uses a wide mix of electricity sources, including renewable energy options such as solar power, which is not consistent. In addition, the demand varies throughout the day, with peak times failing to coincide with high-solar power output times. The energy issues have also been spurred by a general global shortage of LNG following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russian energy.

Concerns around shortages are mostly based on elevated peak demand, which means both higher summer and winter demand, peak hour usage, and the surge in demand during severe weather events when people are more likely to use their air conditioners and heating systems. There are worries that shortages will hit hard in the winter months, as power demand in Texas rises by a projected 7 percent over last winter. Last year, the state’s grid operator carried out rotating power outages due to shortages caused by the Texas freeze of February 2021.

Meanwhile, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) has seen reserve margins decline by 5 percent from last winter. NERC stated: “Energy emergencies [in the region] are likely in extreme conditions.” And in New England, the level of oil stored at power generators was at around 40 percent capacity, with NERC suggesting that generators should fill up tanks to prepare. Following the winter shortages, a greater burden on the grid will likely be seen again in summer 2023 as demand once again increases in the warm weather.

Several utilities are responding to national and international pressures to shift away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives. However, with solar and wind power being the most common renewable energy sources in the U.S., and the development of battery storage facilities in the early stages, the variable energy supply and demand make it difficult to ensure consistent electricity delivery. In addition, much of the U.S. energy infrastructure requires a major overhaul to make it fit for use as populations grow and different technologies are used to produce energy.

John Moura, the director of reliability assessment at NERC, stated “We are living in extraordinary times from an electric industry perspective.” He explained, “Managing the pace of our generation retirement and our resource mix changes to ensure we have enough energy and essential services are an absolute necessity,” and added, “We need to work with the entire ecosystem to make sure we’re managing that base and to be very clear that we’re not retiring generation prematurely — that is done in an orderly fashion and especially in areas that are right on the edge.”

There have long been concerns about America’s aging energy infrastructure not being up to scratch, a worry that has heightened in recent years due to more frequent extreme weather events across several states. This was an issue when the U.S. relied predominantly on easily transportable fossil fuels, but now that the energy mix is becoming more diversified, the energy infrastructure must evolve alongside it. This means new transmission lines, which can take between seven and 15 years to build. The U.S. must also increase its battery storage capacity by incorporating battery storage in renewable energy operations to ensure a consistent energy supply.

NERC also highlights the growing amount of electricity being used to mine cryptocurrency, suggesting the need for greater regulations on crypto mining and energy use. The U.S. is home to around a third of global crypto-asset operations, which requires between 0.9% to 1.7% of the country’s total electricity usage to mine, at present. This is equivalent to the usage of all electricity home computers or residential lighting in the U.S.

A combination of factors, from aging energy infrastructure to high demand, more frequent extreme weather events, and LNG shortages, are putting increasing pressure on the U.S. grid. While investments are made in modernizing the grid and boosting battery storage alongside renewable energy operations, certain regions of the U.S. are likely to see electricity shortages in peak seasons for several years to come.

"Once-In-A-Generation" Snowpocalypse Sweeps Across US​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 10:19 AM

A powerful winter storm and cold blast will wreak havoc across the central and eastern US through the weekend and bring what the National Weather Service calls a "once-in-a-generation type event."

More than 100 million people across the US are under winter weather alerts which extend across 37 states, dipping as far south as Texas.



NWS said heavy snowfall, strong winds, and dangerously cold temperatures would affect areas from the northern Great Basin region through the Plains, Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and the northern/central Appalachians starting today and lasting through the weekend.

"At the forefront of the impressive weather pattern is a dangerous and record-breaking cold air mass in the wake of a strong arctic cold front diving southward across the southern Plains today and eastward into the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys by tonight," the weather agency said.

"Behind the front, temperatures across the central High Plains have already plummeted 50 degrees F in just a few hours, with widespread subzero readings extending throughout much of the central/northern Plains and northern Rockies/Great Basin ... these temperatures combined with sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and higher wind gusts of up to 60 mph will continue to lead to wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees across a large swath of the Intermountain West and northern/central Plains, with more localized areas of minus 50 to minus 70 possible through the end of the week," it continued.



The weather service's office in Cheyenne, Wyoming, reported a stunning 56-degree temperature drop in 6 hours overnight as the Arctic blast swept across the central US.



Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist, tweeted a weather model showing the massive cold blast pouring down into the Lower 48.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1605690474588565504


The storm is expected to rapidly intensify by Thursday evening into Friday and become what meteorologists call a "bomb cyclone."



"This is a case in which snow totals may not tell the whole story. Even small snow amounts, when combined with very strong wind gusts and plummeting temperatures, can cause poor visibility and slick spots on roads. The sudden arrival of these conditions can increase the danger," the weather service explained.

On Friday, the storm will pass through the Great Lakes and produce accumulating snow across much of the Midwest. Some areas in Michigan could expect more than a foot of snow by tomorrow, making travel a nightmare ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan all have blizzard warnings where the storm peaks Thursday into Friday. Major cities such as Chicago, Kansas City, St Louis, Twin Cities, and Detroit are under winter storm warnings.

As for the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, heavy rain is expected through Friday.

However, New England will get a shot of snow Friday night into early Saturday.

Severe winter weather will cause travel pains for millions of travelers over the next 48 hours.

As of Thursday morning, more than 1,100 flights were canceled across the US, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. Several US airlines offered travel waivers before the storm's arrival.



The Arctic air will stick around for the weekend, making this the coldest Christmas in four decades across the country.

And it was only this summer that climate alarmists and progressive mainstream media were pushing stories about how the Earth would burn without government intervention. Someone tell these delusional folks that climate change has been happening for hundreds of millions of years. Also, they should be reminded that El Nino and La Nina weather patterns are naturally occurring -- not influenced by humans.

House Republican Panel Releases Counter Report On Jan. 6

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 10:44 AM
Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times,

A group of five House Republicans on a shadow committee released a report on Wednesday with key findings about security failings they say were ignored by the official Democrat-led House Jan. 6 committee.

The report focuses on “why the Capitol was left so unprepared” on Jan. 6, 2021, when protests turned violent, and the U.S. Capitol building was breached.

The GOP group’s key findings point to alleged failures by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democrat leadership, and the U.S. Capitol Police. This includes claims that Republicans were intentionally excluded from security conversations by then-House Seargent at Arms Paul Irving at the direction of Pelosi’s office.

The GOP’s framing will likely contrast with the panel’s soon-to-be-released final report, which is expected to focus on former President Donald Trump.

The GOP group’s report was released before the official final report of the select committee, which was due to be published on Wednesday but was delayed until Thursday.

Unprepared
The GOP group’s report stated that intelligence about the possibility of violence on the day was ignored by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) owing to “internal politics and unnecessary bureaucracy” and the “misplaced priorities of their leadership.”


The report accuses IICD’s leader Julie Farnam of having “misplaced priorities” that meant analysts were reacting to requests for information rather than seeking out intelligence online.

“We, at the time of January 6, we were not doing proactive searches of social media like we had been before. We were strictly reactive and responding to requests for information,” the report quoted one IICD analyst telling investigators.

Excluded
Republicans were allegedly left out of important security discussions by Irving, the House sergeant at arms, who the report accuses of doing so under political pressure from Pelosi’s office and House Democrat leadership.


The report states that information was only passed on to Republicans by Irving after he received instruction from Pelosi’s office.

“In one case, Irving even asked a senior Democratic staffer to ‘act surprised’ when he sent key information about plans for the Joint Session on January 6, 2021 to him and his Republican counterpart,” the report claims.

Ill-Equipped
USCP line officers were under-trained and ill-equipped to protect the Capitol complex, according to the report, which claimed that an officer testified to investigators that he had only his USCP-issued baseball cap during the violence on the day.


The report further claims that USCP gathers evidence on private citizens who meet with members of Congress and senators “not in fact for security purposes.”

“This issue, and others require additional scrutiny by the relevant committees of Congress,” the report states.

GOP Investigation
Republicans launched an unofficial Jan. 6 investigation concurrently with the well-resourced official panel, which had subpoena power to carry out its inquiries.

By comparison, the GOP report was based on open-source documents and interviews given voluntarily by key witnesses, many of whom were USCP sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation from higher-ups.

USCP chief Tom Manger, current House Sergeant at Arms William Walker, and Farnam also sat for interviews with GOP investigators, according to the report.

The Republican shadow report is supplemental to a previous bipartisan report issued on June 8, 2021, by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and the Senate Committee Rules and Administration.

Shadow Report
The alternative report was written by the five House Republicans selected to serve on the Jan. 6 panel but who were ultimately withdrawn.

Last year, Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) were nominated to serve on the bipartisan Jan. 6 panel by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

But after Pelosi blocked the appointment of Banks and Jordan, McCarthy withdrew the remainder of his nominees.

The two Republicans who served on the panel—Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)—were both critics of Trump and were censured by members of the GOP for their participation.

When Republicans take the House next year, it is expected that they will end the Jan. 6 investigations and attempt to discredit its final report.

The Epoch Times contacted the USCP, the House Jan. 6 committee, and Pelosi’s office for comment.

Read more here...

"Broke" SBF Released On $250 Million Bond, Agrees To House Arrest In Parents' House​

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 10:39 AM

Update (1330ET): After spending nine days in Bahamian jail, Sam Bankman-Fried arrived in a Manhattan federal courtroom to face fraud charges over the collapse of FTX. Handcuffed and dressed in a blue suit, he appeared at a bail hearing after entering a plea ahead of the hearing.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1606016819210309634
.45 min

And then the shocker came: SBF - who is arguably the biggest flight risk in US criminal history - will be released on $250 million bond after consenting to a bail package that include a $250 Million bond, house arrest at his parent's house in Palo Alto, location-monitoring, and the surrender of his passport.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos, Bankman-Fried was responsible for perpetrating a “fraud of epic proportions.” However, he chose to allow for bail given that Bankman-Fried opted to waive extradition; furthermore, according to prosecutors the $250MM is the "largest-ever pre-trial bond" although in SBF's case it is just more stolen client funds. That means it won't be a problem to procure it even though just two weeks ago Sam claimed he only has $100,000 left to his name.



When agreeing on the bail, US Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein said that "the risk that Bankman-Fried would flee was small" and said he presented no danger to the public in terms of future financial crimes.

As part of his bail agreement, besides his monetary penalty, Bankman-Fried will have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, and be disallowed from leaving the Northern District of California. Judge Gabriel Gorenstein added that Bankman-Fried would require “strict” supervision during his stay.

He will also have to submit to mental health counseling. The ex-CEO has previously claimed to be depressed and “sad” for an extended period of time and required medication to cope.

The former FTX boss will be prevented from taking out any new lines of credit while he awaits trial.

Bankman-Fried's "effective altruist" mother, who personally benefited from her son's crimes, was also at the court hearing.

Barbara Fried, a professor emerita at Stanford Law School, was seen laughing during Bankman-Fried's hearing earlier this month in the Bahamas when her son was called a "fugitive." At other times, during that hearing, she "clenched her jaw and chewed on the frames of her glasses," according to a report in the New York Times.

Well she isn't laughing any more as she is forced to cosign the bail agreement, placing her properties as collateral.

Bankman-Fried, who faces eight counts — including conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers and lenders, money laundering and violations of campaign finance laws — could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

As reported last night, Caroline Ellison, who ran FTX’s trading affiliate Alameda, and Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX itself whom authorities accuse of writing the underlying code that disadvantaged the exchange’s regular customers, both agreed to co-operate with federal prosecutors, Damian Williams, the US attorney in Manhattan, said. The announcement of the guilty pleas came shortly after Bankman-Fried flew to New York from the Bahamas, where he was living and had been arrested, having earlier waived his right to challenge extradition.

Legal experts have said the money being transferred to Alameda is very hard to explain as mismanagement rather than fraud, and his former associates’ testimony would be devastating for Bankman-Fried. Confronted by such witnesses, defendants in other cases have tried to turn the tables and cast them as the true bad actors.

Bankman-Fried could try to make a deal himself, but he may not get much leniency since he’s likely at the top of the prosecution’s target list, so unless he dangles a much higher profile target, he will be out of luck (or be ignored, since any "target" SBF could rat on is most likely some powerful Democrat politician whose favor he tried to bribe). Meanwhile, more cooperators could emerge. Williams issued a warning to potential witnesses in a statement Wednesday night.

“If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” Williams said. “We are moving quickly and our patience is not eternal.”

* * *
Update (1045ET): As part of the recently unsealed plea agreement with the US Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York, CoinDesk reports that if Ellison fully cooperates with the SDNY's investigation (in throwing her boyfriend under the bus), as well as any other law enforcement agency designated by the office, she won't be further prosecuted criminally.

While the deal does not guarantee that other agencies will not pursue prosecution at a later date, it appears the former Alameda exec will be spared of all major charges, which could have seen her sentenced to up to 110 years in prison.

Ellison was accused of seven counts.

• Two accused her of committing wire fraud on customers of FTX and engaging and conspiring to do so.
• Another two alleged she committed wire fraud on the lenders of Alameda Research and conspired to do so.
• Count five charged her with conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and count six alleged conspiracy to commit securities fraud on FTX’s equity investors.
• The seventh count accused her of conspiring to commit money laundering.

The Attorney’s Office agreed not to prosecute Ellison on any of those seven counts in exchange for her cooperation — the complete disclosure of all the information and documents demanded by prosecutors.

Ellison will be permitted bail, provided she can provide a $250,000 personal recognizance bond and restrict travel to the continental United States.

She will also need to surrender any travel documents she has.

Finally, CoinDesk points out one interesting side-note in that the plea deal also contains language that says if Ellison is not a US citizen, it is very likely that her removal from the US will be mandatory. While it's assumed that Ellison is a US national, it is possible she may have abandoned her nationality for a citizenship of convenience for tax reasons which is a popular trend among some crypto traders living abroad, as the US taxes non-residents.

It appears Bankman-Fried's girlfriend found a way to screw him one last time.

* * *
Two weeks ago, when amid reports that the former CEO of Alameda Capital (which as a reminder was ground zero of the FTX implosion after it blew up $8 billion in FTX client funds on trades gone horribly wrong), Caroline Ellison, was spotted in New York just after retaining Clinton superlawyer, Jamie Gorelick of Wilmer Hale, which as readers may recall was the former No. 2 ranking member in the Clinton Justice Department, and in a recent interview, she referred to current AG Merrick Garland as her "wingman", we asked if Caroline had rolled on Sam Bankman-Fried, who was also her former lover.

Fast forward to today when we just got confirmation that Caroline Ellison has ****ed Bankman-Fried one final time by indeed rolling on him, and "turning states" in the criminal prosecution of the corpulent "Hairy Plotter", who commingled and stole the client money in his FTX exchange to fund a series of terrible crypto bets at his personal hedge fund Alameda, fund tens of millions in donations to democrats and buy up prestigious real estate for himself and his "altruistic" progressive lawyer parents.

According to a Manhattan Federal prosecutor, two of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s closest associates have pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to co-operate with US authorities investigating the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. In other words, they took a plea deal to avoid even more prison time in exchange for serving SBF on a silver platter to the Feds.

Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the guilty pleas and criminal charges against Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, the low profile co-founder of FTX, in a short video statement. His office had brought eight charges against Bankman-Fried last week.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1605745361842327552
1:58 min

Ellison pleaded guilty to seven counts, including wire and securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison, while Wang pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud, with a maximum 50-year sentence.

The documents said prosecutors would not oppose bail requests from both defendants under certain conditions, including posting a bond and handing in their travel documents, as they awaited formal sentencing.

Concurrently, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed civil lawsuits against the 28-year-old Ellison and 29-year-old Wang, accusing them of fraud.

“As part of their deception, we allege that Caroline Ellison and Sam Bankman-Fried schemed to manipulate the price of FTT, an exchange crypto security token that was integral to FTX, to prop up the value of their house of cards,” said SEC chair Gary Gensler. Furthermore, as CEO of the FTX trading affiliate, Ellison “used FTX’s customer assets to pay Alameda’s debts” and diverted billions of dollars of depositors’ money to the company to fill a hole caused by a crypto market crash in May, the SEC’s complaint alleges.

The CFTC said Wang had a hand in creating some of the algorithms that underpinned FTX, which allowed Alameda “to maintain an essentially unlimited line of credit” on the exchange, giving it an “unfair advantage” over regular depositors. “These critical code features and structural exceptions allowed Alameda to secretly and recklessly siphon FTX customer assets from the FTX platform."

Both defendants are co-operating with the SEC, the agency said. The CFTC said they were not contesting their liability. Which means that SBF is looking at a lot of prison time, unless he too can throw someone even more important and powerful under the bus...



... although if that is the case, he probably will be Epsteined within hours of arriving at MDC Brooklyn, singe MCC New York where Epstein "killed himself", has been closed since August 2021 due to deteriorating conditions.

While Ellison's superlawyers have yet to make a statement, a lawyer for Wang, Ilan Graff, said: “Gary has accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a co-operating witness.”

Last week, the DOJ filed charges against Bankman-Fried and accused him of orchestrating “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history” by misappropriating customer assets from FTX to Alameda Research. He was arrested in the Bahamas, where he lives. He is also facing parallel civil cases from the SEC and CFTC.

Williams reiterated his call for others who worked with Bankman-Fried to come forward. “If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” he said. “We are moving quickly and our patience is not eternal.” One of them is former Alameda CEO Sam Trabucco, best known for quietly bailing on Sam just as everyone was about to blow up and fleeing on his multi-million dollar new yacht.



The announcement from Williams comes just after a plane carrying Bankman-Fried took off from the Bahamas, where he waived his right to challenge extradition to the US. He is due to appear in a Manhattan court as soon as Thursday, where his bail request will be considered, although in light of Caroline's plea, it is safe to say it won't be granted.

The details in the SEC's complaint have been laid out nicely by the following twitter account...



... and the full complaint can be found below (link here)


Download this PDF

ICE Prepares To Release Illegal Immigrants In Tennessee

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 12:02 PM
Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Tennessee’s two Republican senators and Gov. Bill Lee are demanding a response from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on its plans to transport illegal immigrants from New Orleans to the state in a letter sent on Tuesday.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) posted her frustration with the agency’s lack of transparency, stating “ICE can respond to media requests about trafficking illegal immigrants to Tennessee, but won’t get back to us with information about who they are dropping off in our state.”

However, Blackburn said on Fox News Wednesday the plan is to have “50 at a time” and “at least two buses, maybe more, every single week” into Tennessee.

The agency responded to a request for more information by The Epoch Times with additional information on their plan, noting illegal immigrants had not yet been moved into the state.

The agency told The Epoch Times it has not transported noncitizens for release to Tennessee yet, but officials are in communication with the relevant nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in Nashville, which have volunteered to “assist with noncitizens that may be transported to the Nashville area.”

“Noncitizens apprehended and determined to need custodial supervision are placed in detention facilities and those released from secure custody are part of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) non-detained docket,” an ICE spokesperson said in an email. “ERO officers weigh a variety of factors when making general custody determinations, including criminal record, immigration history, community ties, flight risk, and whether the individual poses a potential threat to public safety.”

The spokesperson added noncitizens placed on ICE’s non-detained docket are enrolled in the agency’s “Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program.” The ATD uses technology, case management, and other tools to manage compliance of individuals with their release conditions.

ICE had no further information to release to The Epoch Times as of Wednesday afternoon.

ICE Coordination With NGOs in Nashville
ICE’s ERO officials anticipate the NGO community will primarily help with hotel and onward movement of the illegal immigrants, officials stated.

ICE would not release information on the NGOs they were partnering with, but the letter sent by Blackburn and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) to ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson identifies the group as the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).

“We have learned that the New Orleans ICE field office has been working in coordination with TIRRC, a left-wing immigration advocacy group, to bus these immigrants to Tennessee,” the senators said in their letter. “We have learned that as many as 50 single-adult, detained illegal immigrants could be bused to Tennessee at a time, with the possibility of multiple busloads each week. Further, these individuals would be released into Tennessee while they await court proceedings.”

The senators say they are troubled by the report and request more information given “previous instances of ICE busing immigrants to Tennessee without notice.”

TIRRC wrote on Twitter the Department of Homeland Security had listened to “what local organizations and communities have been demanding.”

“DHS took steps to provide more transparency and better coordination to get folks home for the holidays,” the organization wrote on Twitter. “We cannot allow for disinformation, fear, and partisanship to dictate how we treat other human beings. Shame on Gov. Bill Lee’s office for not showing Tennessee’s values of family, integrity, and welcoming others.”

The organization said they, along with other Tennesseans, local organizations, and faith communities are “ready to rise to the opportunity by leading with values and welcoming with dignity.”

TIRRC did not respond to an emailed request for comment by press time.

The governor’s office said notices from the Biden administration on Monday are the first time federal officials have notified the state of plans to relocate “single adult detainees into Tennessee,” adding they have received no further details.

“We know that ICE is seeking to move these single adult detainees to Tennessee, as the federal government is overwhelmed by the continued flood of people and drugs illegally moving across the nation’s border,” a representative for the governor’s office said in an email. “As you may have seen, ICE has said they are working with the TIRRC in Nashville.

However, the federal government still has not provided real transparency into the vetting process or included answers as to when, where and how many illegal migrants they intend to transport to Tennessee. We continue to demand answers and demand they change this plan.”

Lee said on Fox News Wednesday morning that “this is something new for Tennessee,” adding the Biden administration “is requiring Tennesseans to pay the price for their failures.

“Tennesseans are already paying a huge price in the way of fentanyl deaths and trafficking—we’re already paying a price,” he said. “But now we’re being asked to pay a greater price for the failure at the border and we can’t take that much longer. Americans can’t take this much longer.”

ICE’s Reasoning Behind Releasing Illegal Immigrants in Tennessee
ICE explained Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) screens and vets all migrants encountered at the border against public safety databases, and “any migrants who may pose a threat to national security or public safety are detained.”

The agency said as part of contingency planning they notify local and state-level officials when they are coordinating with local NGOs that intend to offer support to noncitizens.

The agency says those released through ATD must be 18 years of age or older, effectively removable from the United States, and in some stage of the immigration process.

Those released pending court proceedings must provide an address and “follow strict reporting requirements.”

Read more here...

$1.7 Trillion Omnibus Spending Package Passed By Senate

THURSDAY, DEC 22, 2022 - 11:32 AM

Update (1430ET): The Senate on Thursday voted to pass a $1.7 trillion omnibus package that had previously hit a snag over immigration reform.

The passed legislation provides Ukraine with $45 billion in additional military and economic aid, and sets aside $38 billion for emergency disaster assistance, The Hill reports.

It also includes reforms to the Electoral Count Act in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, clarifying that the vice president does not have the power to overturn the results of a presidential election.

The package passed with a large bipartisan majority, 68-29, wrapping up the Senate’s legislative business in the 117th Congress a few days before Christmas.

The omnibus bill represents one of several major bipartisan legislation accomplishments of President Biden’s first two years in office, along with the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, to address gun violence; and the $280 billion Chips and Science Act, to improve U.S. competitiveness with China. -The Hill

The bill also spends $858 billion on defense - a 9.7% increase, as well as $772.5 billion on non-defense - a 5.5% increase.

There is also a 22% increase, or $118.7 billion, for Veterans Affairs medical care, and $59 billion for programs which last year's bipartisan infrastructure bill cover.

"The world’s greatest military will get the funding increase that it needs, outpacing inflation. Meanwhile, non-defense, non-veterans spending will come in below the rate of inflation, for a real-dollar cut," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who hailed the bill as a victory for Republicans due to the increase in defense spending.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that a failure to pass the bill would have risked freezing federal funding levels well into 2023 - or potentially even a government shutdown.

"To go to a [continuing resolution] or even worse, a government shutdown, would be a huge disservice at any time, and particularly at holiday season, to the American people," he said.

Some key Democratic initiatives were left out of the final version, including a proposal to extend the pandemic-era enhanced Child Tax Credit and the SAFE Banking Act, which would protect financial institutions which do business with cannabis-related businesses.

* * *

Update (0953ET): Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the chamber has finally reached a deal to move the omnibus forward.

"It’s taken a while but it is worth it," said Schumer, who says that while timing is unknown, he hopes to get a line of amendments through the voting process quickly. "We will vote on all of the amendments in order and then vote on final passage."



It appears Schumer's savior came in the form of one Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who on Thursday introduced an amendment to beef up border funding and resources for communities and to extend Title 42, the health policy which allows border agents to quickly deport migrants seeking asylum.



* * *

A Trump-era border policy that allows immigration officials to turn quickly expel migrants without processing during a public health crisis is currently holding up passage of the omnibus spending package.

The effort, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), would keep Title 42 in place - and would cut funding for the office of Department of Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas unless the Biden administration reinstates the border control policy.

"We have a difference of opinion on immigration policy. We’re not going to solve that in this budge," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), chair of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, who took aim at Lee's immigration efforts. "And to let that disagreement take down aid to Ukraine to keep people alive during a cold winter, especially tonight, is pretty unthinkable."

Lee, meanwhile, told Fox News on Wednesday night "I insisted that we have at least one amendment, up-or-down vote, on whether to preserve Title 42. Because Title 42 is the one thing standing between us and utter chaos. We already have mostly chaos. This would bring us to utter chaos if it expires, which it’s about to."

The effort to maintain Title 42 has scuttled hopes that lawmakers could vote on the omnibus overnight, however on Wednesday evening, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (D-SD) said he thought they might be able to move forward on Thursday morning.

"There’s been some progress made. … I wouldn’t say breakthrough yet," he said.

The Biden administration has sought to end the practice since the spring, arguing that the pandemic health emergency it was based on has subsided (despite extending the emergency last month). A group of GOP-led states has sued the administration in federal court to block him from ending the policy.

Title 42 was ruled "arbitrary and capricious" by a district court judge, and ordered the Biden administration to end it on Wednesday, but Supreme Court Justice John Roberts halted that deadline on Monday after the court was asked to intervene. On Tuesday, the Biden administration asked the court to end the program, but, asked for an extension until at least Dec. 27 to allow immigration officials time to prepare for a wave of illegal immigrants at the southern border.

While border agents are already encountering thousands of immigrants every day, the number is expected to rapidly spike when the program ends. Notably, the Biden administration has already minimized the use of Title 42 - instead processing immigrants under Title 8, which allows officials to screen for asylum claims, the Washington Examiner notes. Title 8 also allows border officials to refer migrants for criminal prosecution for repeat illegal entries.

US officials have expelled around 2.5 million migrants under Title 42, nearly two million of which have been carried out by the Biden administration.

A Democratic Senate aide told Punchbowl News that Lee's insistence on Title 42 is a "poison pill". If Lee's amendment passes, Democrats say the omnibus bill would be "dead on arrival" in the house, which votes after the Senate. Democrats are reportedly circulating a competing amendment on Title 42 aimed at attracting centrists, and dissuading them from voting on Lee's amendment.

"We have a difference of opinion on immigration policy. We’re not going to solve that in this budget," said Sen. Murphy. "And to let that disagreement take down aid to Ukraine to keep people alive during a cold winter, especially tonight, is pretty unthinkable."

Talk about a guilt trip...

According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the chamber will work until 2am on Thursday. "It is my expectation that we will be able to lock in an agreement on the omnibus later this morning. We are very close, but we’re not there yet," he said, asking members to stay near the chambers to "minimize any delays."

(Full show)

Get Ready! Phase 2 is starting and Putin issues major warning to NATO | Redacted w Clayton Morris 2:23:56 min (starts arnd. 31 min.)

Get Ready! Phase 2 is starting and Putin issues major warning to NATO | Redacted w Clayton Morris​

Redacted News Published December 22, 2022

The Biden administration admits the war in Ukraine has entered the second phase. This is the phase where the Ukrainian army is eliminated and NATO uses what's left as a military base. Putin issues a major warning about Zelensky's Christmas wishlist for new weapons. The Washington Post admits Russia didn't blow up the Nord Stream pipeline after all.

8:55 min

Globalists PANICKED as New Political Order RISES!!!​

Dr Steve Turley Published December 22, 2022

(No summary given. Have not watched.)

^^^^

BlackRock Chairman: “We’re in a New World Order”​

by Mac Slavo
December 20, 2022

BlackRock’s chairman Tom Donilon said: “We’re in a new world order of geopolitical fragmentation.” Donilon manages almost $10 trillion in investments at BlackRock, making him the world’s biggest asset manager.

BlackRock is also a big player in companies developing digital vaccine passports and “digital wallets” that track and allocate carbon allowances and central bank digital currencies. Its promotion of a “New World Order” legitimizes what many still try to dismiss as a “conspiracy theory.”

In BlackRock’s 2023 Global Outlook released two weeks ago, it was stated that “we’ve entered a new world order,” in which “geopolitical cooperation and globalization” are “evolving into a fragmented world with competing blocs.” The report noted that we are now in “the most fraught global environment since World War Two.”

BlackRock 2023 Global Outlook, pg. 11

According to a report by Truth Talk UK, BlackRock lists the World Economic Forum as one of its “key diversity partners,” which promotes mandatory vaccinations and lockdowns, abortion access, and the globalist “Great Reset.” As part of the elites’ global reset, humanity is being forced to rely on all things digital.

We are going to be expected to go along and be good little slaves, as most of us have been (voting, paying taxes, participating in the left vs. right paradigm lie) and do what we are told.

This new system is going to be much like the one we live under now, without any hope that we can ever break free. Once they convince people to use the central bank digital currencies and tie your use of CBDCs to your behavior, the illusion of freedom will be gone.

• Abolitionists Understand True Freedom: It’s Time For The Rest Of Us To Understand It Too

The path to freedom isn’t through the slave system already in place on this planet. It’s through an understanding that we aren’t free, but we can be.

• The Path To Freedom & Abolishing Slavery

In March the World Government Summit 2022 asked the question, “Are We Ready for a New World Order?”

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okj9opcWY_0
19:08 min

What They Just Announced... !​

Neil McCoy-Ward
2 hours ago

(brain computer interface)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opXxppNXozY
11:14 min

Kevin McCarthy REJECTS $1.7T Omnibus Bill, Breaks With GOP In Shocking Reversal​

Timcast IRL
2 hours ago
(No summary given. Have not watched.)

^^^^
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq3RqSr7CbE
32:45 min

BLOATED & INSANE $1.7T Omnibus Passes Senate As GOP FOLDS, $45B To Ukraine As US Border COLLAPSES​

Tim Pool
Dec 22, 2022
BLOATED & INSANE $1.7T Omnibus Passes Senate As GOP FOLDS, $45B To Ukraine As US Border COLLAPSES. The largest wave of illegal immigrants rushes the border as the US actively sells out its citizens. Ukraine will get a payout and the GOP hops on board with democrats to pass the omnibus without even reading it. Republican voters and conservatives are livid that our economy is being extracted in exchange for Ukraine

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG5H4kgWOY4
12:48 min

1.7 Trillion Dollar Government Funding Bill Spending To Increase Inflation​

The Economic Ninja
Dec 22, 2022
1.7 Trillion Dollar Government Funding Bill Spending To Increase Inflation. The Economic ninja talks about how this could make things worse.

Jonathan Turley examines FBI’s role in Twitter’s censorship vs. their response after it was exposed​

Posted at 2:37 pm on December 22, 2022 by Doug P.

Earlier this week the FBI’s PR department set a new gaslighting record with their statement responding to Twitter Files revelations that showed how some at the bureau worked with Twitter management (and even paid the platform, apparently) to help keep all narratives in the “preferred” category for the Democrats. The FBI’s statement called the release of their actual emails with Twitter execs a “conspiracy theory.”





George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley is trying to decide what’s more chilling in all this: What the FBI did in conjunction with Twitter or their response after it was exposed:




Irony detected:


Bingo. The FBI’s spin in the statement in indiscernible from how the Left rationalizes what happened at Twitter.



Just unbelievable.



Heck, not only is it likely nothing will be done about it, but the “bipartisan” omnibus spending bill gives the bureau a great big funding increase (along with the DOJ).

Clearly the FBI’s PR office is getting only the best advice:

(Twitter dumpster dive)

(15 minute cities)
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1605902384240148480
1:54 min

(Climate Change)






View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1605981208470355969
1:41 min

(Energy)
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1605780713713844224
1:13 min

(COVID)




View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1605785771260219402
2:20 min

(Reserve Currency)





(immigration)

(Preppers)


(COVID)

10:53 min

Dr. Jeffery Tucker Discusses The Crimson Contagion Plan​

Bannons War Room Published December 22, 2022

^^^^^^^

What Is Crimson Contagion?​

BY JEFFREY A. TUCKER DECEMBER 22, 2022

The lockdowns of March 2020 shocked the American people and most public health agencies, not to mention infectious disease doctors. The idea of school shutdowns, business closures, plus mandatory remote work and other restrictions have previously seemed inconceivable. It was especially remarkable to have such an “all-of-government” response to a virus that we already knew posed a threat mainly to the elderly and infirm.

Issues like public-health precedent, American legal tradition, and medical knowledge about dealing with respiratory viruses, not to mention natural immunity and collateral damage of lockdowns, were all thrown out the window.

Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s book The Real Anthony Fauci mentions a tabletop exercise called Crimson Contagion that ran from January through August, 2019. I had not previously heard of it and I found the mention remarkable, simply because it proves that not everyone was shocked by lockdowns. They were not part of official planning documents of either the CDC or WHO but they were clearly in the plans of someone.

I’ve only followed up on this report in light of growing focus on the person who coordinated Crimson Contagion: Robert Kadlec, who served in the Trump administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Preparedness and Response. It was he who also ran the Covid response between HHS and the Department of Homeland Security.

Kadec’s lifetime government service (and, yes, he is said to be CIA) extends all the way back to the G.W. Bush administration when in 2007 he took the position of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Biodefense Policy on the Homeland Security Council from 2007 to 2009. The very notion of lockdowns originated in that administration.

The 2019 tabletop exercise involved a huge number of public-sector agencies across all states plus many private-sector associations. It postulated a disease scenario in which a respiratory virus begins in China and spreads around the world by air travelers. It is first detected in Chicago. The World Health Organization declares a pandemic 47 days later. But then it was too late: 110 million Americans became sick, with 7.7 million hospitalized and 586,000 dead.

The conclusion of the exercise was that government was not well prepared for a pandemic and urged more planning and fast acting to implement what we now call lockdowns as we await a vaccine. Presumably, the vaccine then fixes everything.

The public knew nothing of this exercise until March 19, 2020, when the New York Times reported on it for the first time. This was one day following the detailed release of stay-at-home orders by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The next day, National Public Radio also ran a report on Crimson Contagion.

The Times reported:

The Crimson Contagion planning exercise run last year by the Department of Health and Human Services involved officials from 12 states and at least a dozen federal agencies. They included the Pentagon, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Security Council. Groups like the American Red Cross and American Nurses Association were invited to join, as were health insurance companies and major hospitals like the Mayo Clinic.

The war game-like exercise was overseen by Robert P. Kadlec, a former Air Force physician who has spent decades focused on biodefense issues. After stints on the Bush administration’s Homeland Security Council and the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was appointed assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for Preparedness and Response.

Also participating were former Trump administration officials Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State, 2017-2018) and John F. Kelly, who was White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019. The NYT even ran a picture of the two of them at the event.

Here are some direct quotes from the October 2019 report of Crimson Contagion:

The exercise revealed several workforce protection challenges under conditions where medical countermeasures, such as the pandemic vaccine, antiviral medications, and personal protective equipment, are limited. To protect the public prior to vaccine distribution, public health officials issued guidance on the implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions intended to slow the spread of the virus.

In keeping with non-pharmaceutical intervention recommendations, employers – including government entities – sought to practice social distancing by having a significant portion of their employees work remotely. Employers encountered cascading impacts associated with making, communicating, and implementing such work-distancing decisions.

At multiple levels of government, officials wrestled with identifying employees who are essential and those who are nonessential in the context of an incident forecasted to span many months. In addition, officials faced challenges in determining which employees could perform their duties remotely and hierarchical organizations, such as state and federal departments and agencies, were uncertain as to the process for determining and implementing remote-workforce decisions.

Also:

During the exercise, CDC recommended that states delay school openings for six weeks, a follow-up to the initial (pre-exercise) recommendation that states delay the opening of schools for two weeks if the disease is present in the area. Many local jurisdictions and school districts have the authority to decide to close schools (or keep schools open). This distributed approach to school closure decisions caused confusion centered on discrepancies between schools that remained open and those that closed. In addition, while school delays and dismissals may be necessary over the course of the pandemic response, state participants identified any continued school delays and dismissals as having serious cascading impacts that require a concerted public messaging campaign and government coordination. Multiple states realized that dismissing schools is much more complex than they previously appreciated.

The participating private sector organizations and businesses:

• Aetna
• Allegheny Health Network
• Amador Health Center
• American Hospital Association
• American Red Cross
• Association of Public Health Laboratories
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Carestream Health
• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
• Ephraim McDowell/James B. Haggin Hospital
• Giant Eagle Pharmacy
• Grand Strand Health/HCA
• Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council Healthcare Ready
• International Safety Equipment Association
• Juvare
• Kidney Community Emergency Response Program
• Mayo Clinic
• Moldex-Metric Inc.
• National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations National Association of County and City Health Officials
• National Community Pharmacists Association
• National Indian Health Board
• North Shore University Health System Patients’ Hospital
• RBC Limited
• San Mateo County Health – EMS Agency Seqirus Inc., USA
• Spectrum Health
• TriStar Skyline Medical Center
• University of Minnesota

This exercise took place entirely out of the public eye but had strangely prescient foretelling of events only 5 months later. Kadlec, who had organized the entire tabletop exercise, was also later the author of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions report: An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which came out earlier this year.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., reports: “second only to his longtime crony and comrade in arms Anthony Fauci, Robert Kadlec played a historic leadership role in fomenting the contagious logic that infectious disease posed a national security threat requiring a militarized response.”

He is the signer of the report to HHS, in a letter dated December 9, 2019:



By the time of this letter, US intelligence already knew of the Wuhan virus. Four months later, US lockdowns began, starting with the March 8th cancellation of South-by-Southwest by the Austin, Texas mayor, and extending to the March 12th imposition of travel restrictions, the March 13 takeover by FEMA, and the March 16th press conference by Trump, Fauci, and Deborah Birx, which announced nationwide lockdowns.

The same day, Politico ran an article about another pandemic exercise from 2017 in which some incoming Trump officials participated, including Kelly and Tillerson. The article claims that such exercises are required by law. By the time of Covid lockdowns, they had both been pushed out, only to reemerge as key participants in Crimson Contagion along with most national-security and health-related agencies of the federal government.

The lockdowns – to which Trump agreed only reluctantly and were extended far past the point in which he believed they would control the virus – were the most ruinous of the administration. Trump’s pollsters for 2020 all agreed that these lockdowns created the conditions that drove him from office.

What does it all mean? Perhaps it is all just a series of coincidental data points, that what is called the worst pandemic in 100 years came only a few months after an elaborate multi-agency trial run of the same in which former high officials of the Trump administration participated. And perhaps the best person to run the Covid response also happened to be the very person who organized and managed the trial run in the previous season.

Many people will surely say there is nothing to see here. There is so much not to see these days.

Document on website

Biden Administration Sued For Aid Payments That Could Support Palestinian Terrorism

Carmine Sabia December 22, 2022

OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have been named as defendants in a new lawsuit in which they are accused of sending billions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority that were allegedly used in a “pay for slay” program that cost the lives of many Israeli and United States citizens.

The lawsuit was brought by the America First Legal Foundation filed on Tuesday and alleged that some of the funds sent to the PA were used for the PA Martyrs Fund, known to some as ‘Pay to Slay,’ The Daily Caller reported. In 2017, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act which was supposed to prevent funding the PA but the government has continued not to send billions in aid.

“[T]he defendants took power on January 20, 2021, with a new plan: Transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to the Palestinian Authority despite Pay to Slay and contrary to the Taylor Force Act,” the lawsuit said. “Contrary to law, they have transferred nearly half a billion American taxpayer dollars to directly benefit and subsidize the Palestinian Authority.”

“In 2016, 28-year-old U.S. Army Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Taylor Force was murdered by Palestinian terrorists while visiting Israel as part of his graduate program at West Point. Force’s parents, Stuart and Robbie Force worked with former President Donald Trump and Congress to pass the Taylor Force Act in 2017, which prohibited the U.S. government from providing any type of funding to the PA unless they ended the ‘Pay to Slay’ policy,” the report said.

“Our role in the lawsuit is as it was in our efforts to enact the original Taylor Force Act – to put a human face on the horrific effects of the Palestinian Authority’s Pay for Slay policy,” Stuart Force said to The Caller. “Multiply the devastating loss of our beloved son Taylor by the hundreds of Israeli families that have also been impacted by this inhumane atrocity of Pay for Slay and you will understand why we are committed to ending the flow of US dollars to the PA.”

In May 2020, Biden declared during his campaign that he planned to restore funding to the PA, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The following year, after assuming office, Biden authorized over $360 million in funding to Palestinian aid.

The funding was sent just months before the Biden administration admitted to Congress in a private report that the PA had not ceased the “pay for slay” policy, according to the lawsuit. That same year a Palestinian official admitted that PA had paid $181 million in “bounties” for terrorist acts committed against Israel.

“If [Biden and Blinken] understood what motivates Israel’s enemies, the elimination of the State of Israel, I would think they would stop any funding that could possibly find its way into the wrong hands,” Force said. “Aside from the increased rocket barrages, tunnel construction, and increased frequency of attacks on innocent civilians when ‘foreign aid’ increases, the money is used in its widespread PR campaign to incite violence and foment hatred of Israel and the United States.”

Sarri Singer, who survived a Palestinian terrorist attack, in 2003 that murdered 17 and injured more than 100 people, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. She said that she does not believe that the Biden administration “have my best interests or safety in mind by sending money over with no accountability.”

“It is almost 20 years later, and I am still dealing with the long-term effects of the attack,” she said. “There is still shrapnel in me that is not operable and not a day goes by that I am not reminded that a simple bus ride to meet a friend for dinner turned into one of the largest bus bombings in Israel during that time.”

The lawsuit said that the Biden administration has acted “utterly lawless.”

“It is a total mystery to me why Biden and Blinken are violating a federal law, the Taylor Force Act,” Force said. “By stopping the flow of dollars that funds Pay for Slay (and other horrific actions), we hope to change their criminal behavior.”

GOP senators who backed $1.7 trillion omnibus may face retribution from House GOP in next Congress

It remains to be seen whether the lower chamber lawmakers will follow through on their threats.

Updated: December 22, 2022 - 5:55pm

The Senate on Thursday passed a $1.7 billion omnibus spending package with the support of 18 Republican senators, who backed the measure over loud objections from House Republicans who had called on the upper chamber lawmakers to refrain from setting next year's budget until they took control of the House in January.

Those pleas fell on deaf ears for many Senate Republicans, though they may soon come to regret their decision should House lawmakers follow through on threats they made prior to the vote to obstruct legislation from any Republican who broke ranks on the issue.

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy led 30 other incoming and current House Republicans on Wednesday in writing an open letter to the Senate GOP in which the group vowed to thwart the legislative priorities of those Senate lawmakers. Roy's group more than doubled in size since sending a similar letter on Monday with 13 signatures, according to The Hill.

File
Chip Roy letter to Senate GOP

"Once again, we urge Senate Republicans to use every tool possible to kill this bill. Failure to do so will result in not only legislative and political consequences, but irrevocable consequences for our nation," the letter read, adding that "because almost every Senate Republican has bloviated about inflation and the national debt at some point in the past two years, a vote for this bill should be viewed as a blatant display of hypocrisy."

The letter then proceeded to denigrate various provisions in the bill as undermining the GOP's legislative agenda for asserting that "this omnibus will deny the incoming House GOP majority any leverage to enact crucial policy changes needed to secure our border through the power of the purse."

"Voting in favor of this bill is a dereliction of our duty on all counts," the lawmakers contended.

"As such, we reiterate that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for its passage – including the Republican leader," they vowed. "We will oppose any rule, any consent request, suspension voice vote, or roll call vote of any such Senate bill, and will otherwise do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and policy efforts of those senators."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is still struggling to amass the support to become the next House speaker, has echoed such threats, assuring Senate GOP leaders that their legislative items would reach the chamber dead on arrival.

It remains to be seen whether the lower chamber lawmakers will follow through on their threats.

12/22/22
Google, Facebook Are Hijacking Your Personal Data and Using It Against You

In her book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff reveals how Google and Facebook hijacked our personal data — so-called “behavioral surplus data streams” — without our knowledge or consent and are using it against you to generate profits for themselves.

By
Dr. Joseph Mercola
Story at a glance:

• In her book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” social psychologist and Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff reveals how the biggest tech companies in the world have hijacked our personal data — so-called “behavioral surplus data streams” — without our knowledge or consent and are using it against you to generate profits for themselves.
• Companies like Facebook, Google and third parties of all kinds have the power — and are using that power — to target your personal inner demons, to trigger you, and to take advantage of you when you’re at your most vulnerable to entice you into action that serves them, commercially or politically.
• Your entire existence — even your shifting moods, deciphered by facial recognition software — has become a source of revenue for corporate entities as you’re being cleverly maneuvered into doing (and typically buying) or thinking something you may not have done, bought or thought otherwise.
• Facebook’s massive experiments, in which they used subliminal cues to see if they could make people happier or sadder and affect real-world behavior offline, proved that — by manipulating language and inserting subliminal cues in the online context — they can change real-world behavior and real-world emotion, and that these methods and powers can be exercised “while bypassing user awareness.”
• The Google Nest security system has a hidden microphone built into it that isn’t featured in any of the schematics for the device. Voice data, and all the information delivered through your daily conversations, is tremendously valuable to Big Data, and add to their ever-expanding predictive modeling capabilities.

“In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.” — Czesław Miłosz

In recent years, a number of brave individuals have alerted us to the fact that we’re all being monitored and manipulated by big data gatherers such as Google and Facebook, and shed light on the depth and breadth of this ongoing surveillance. Among them is social psychologist and Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff.

Her book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” is one of the best books I have read in the last few years. It’s an absolute must-read if you have any interest in this topic and want to understand how Google and Facebook have obtained such massive control of your life.

Her book reveals how the biggest tech companies in the world have hijacked our personal data — so-called “behavioral surplus data streams” — without our knowledge or consent and are using it against us to generate profits for themselves. WE have become the product.

WE are the real revenue stream in this digital economy.

“The term ‘surveillance capitalism’ is not an arbitrary term,” Zuboff says in the VPRO Backlight documentary below. “Why ‘surveillance’? Because it must be operations that are engineered as undetectable, indecipherable, cloaked in rhetoric that aims to misdirect, obfuscate and downright bamboozle all of us, all the time.”

The birth of surveillance capitalism
In the video above, Zuboff “reveals a merciless form of capitalism in which no natural resources, but the citizen itself, serves are a raw material.” She also explains how this surveillance capitalism came about in the first place.

As with most revolutionary inventions, chance played a role. After the 2000 dot.com crisis that burst the internet bubble, a startup company named Google struggled to survive.

Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin appeared to be looking at the beginning of the end for their company.

By chance, they discovered that “residual data” left behind by users during their internet searches had tremendous value. They could trade this data; they could sell it.

By compiling this residual data, they could predict the behavior of any given internet user and thus guarantee advertisers a more targeted audience. And so, surveillance capitalism was born.

The data collection you know about is the least valuable
Comments such as “I have nothing to hide, so I don’t care if they track me,” or “I like targeted ads because they make my shopping easier” reveal our ignorance about what’s really going on.

We believe we understand what kind of information is being collected about us. For example, you might not care that Google knows you bought a particular kind of shoe or a particular book.

However, the information we freely hand over is the least important of the personal information actually being gathered about us, Zuboff notes.

Tech companies tell us the data collected is being used to improve services, and indeed, some of it is.

But it is also being used to model human behavior by analyzing the patterns of behavior of hundreds of millions of people. Once you have a large enough training model, you can begin to accurately predict how different types of individuals will behave over time.

The data gathered is also being used to predict a whole host of individual attributes about you, such as personality quirks, sexual orientation, political orientation — “a whole range of things we never ever intended to disclose,” Zuboff says.

How is predictive data being used?
All sorts of predictive data are handed over with each photo you upload to social media.

For example, it’s not just that tech companies can see your photos. Your face is being used without your knowledge or consent to train facial recognition software, and none of us is told how that software is intended to be used.

As just one example, the Chinese government is using facial recognition software to track and monitor minority groups and advocates for democracy, and that could happen elsewhere as well, at any time.

So that photo you uploaded of yourself at a party provides a range of valuable information — from the types of people you’re most likely to spend your time with and where you’re likely to go to have a good time, to information about how the muscles in your face move and alter the shape of your features when you’re in a good mood.

By gathering a staggering amount of data points on each person, minute by minute, Big Data can make very accurate predictions about human behavior, and these predictions are then “sold to business customers who want to maximize our value to their business,” Zuboff says.

Your entire existence — even your shifting moods, deciphered by facial recognition software — has become a source of revenue for many tech corporations. You might think you have free will but, in reality, you’re being cleverly maneuvered and funneled into doing (and typically buying) or thinking something you may not have done, bought or thought otherwise. And, “our ignorance is their bliss,” Zuboff says.

The Facebook contagion experiments

In the documentary, Zuboff highlights Facebook’s massive “contagion experiments,” in which they used subliminal cues and language manipulation to see if they could make people feel happier or sadder and affect real-world behavior offline. As it turns out, they can. Two key findings from those experiments were:

1. By manipulating language and inserting subliminal cues in the online context, they can change real-world behavior and real-world emotion.
2. These methods and powers can be exercised “while bypassing user awareness”.

In the video, Zuboff also explains how the Pokemon Go online game — which was actually created by Google — was engineered to manipulate real-world behavior and activity for profit. She also describes the scheme in her New York Times article, saying:

“Game players did not know that they were pawns in the real game of behavior modification for profit, as the rewards and punishments of hunting imaginary creatures were used to herd people to the McDonald’s, Starbucks and local pizza joints that were paying the company for ‘footfall,’ in exactly the same way that online advertisers pay for ‘click through’ to their websites.”

You’re being manipulated every single day in countless ways

Zuboff also reviews what we learned from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cambridge Analytica is a political marketing business that, in 2018, used the Facebook data of 80 million Americans to determine the best strategies for manipulating American voters.

Christopher Wylie, now-former director of research at Cambridge Analytica, blew the whistle on the company’s methods. According to Wylie, they had so much data on people, they knew exactly how to trigger fear, rage and paranoia in any given individual.

And, by triggering those emotions, they could manipulate them into looking at a certain website, joining a certain group, and voting for a certain candidate.

So, the reality now is, companies like Facebook, Google and third parties of all kinds, have the power — and are using that power — to target your personal inner demons, to trigger you, and to take advantage of you when you’re at your weakest or most vulnerable to entice you into action that serves them, commercially or politically. It’s certainly something to keep in mind while you surf the web and social media sites.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2



“It was only a minute ago that we didn’t have many of these tools, and we were fine,” Zuboff says in the film.

He continues:

“We lived rich and full lives. We had close connections with friends and family.

“Having said that, I want to recognize that there’s a lot that the digital world brings to our lives, and we deserve to have all of that. But we deserve to have it without paying the price of surveillance capitalism.

“Right now, we are in that classic Faustian bargain; 21st century citizens should not have to make the choice of either going analog or living in a world where our self-determination and our privacy are destroyed for the sake of this market logic. That is unacceptable.

“Let’s also not be naïve. You get the wrong people involved in our government, at any moment, and they look over their shoulders at the rich control possibilities offered by these new systems.

“There will come a time when, even in the West, even in our democratic societies, our government will be tempted to annex these capabilities and use them over us and against us. Let’s not be naïve about that.

“When we decide to resist surveillance capitalism — right now when it is in the market dynamic — we are also preserving our democratic future, and the kinds of checks and balances that we will need going forward in an information civilization if we are to preserve freedom and democracy for another generation.”

Surveillance is getting creepier by the day

But the surveillance and data collection doesn’t end with what you do online. Big Data also wants access to your most intimate moments — what you do and how you behave in the privacy of your own home, for example, or in your car. Zuboff recounts how the Google Nest security system was found to have a hidden microphone built into it that isn’t featured in any of the schematics for the device.

“Voices are what everybody are after, just like faces,” Zuboff says. Voice data, and all the information delivered through your daily conversations, is tremendously valuable to Big Data, and add to their ever-expanding predictive modeling capabilities.

She also discusses how these kinds of data-collecting devices force consent from users by holding the functionality of the device “hostage” if you don’t want your data collected and shared.

For example, Google’s Nest thermostats will collect data about your usage and share it with third parties, that share it with third parties and so on ad infinitum — and Google takes no responsibility for what any of these third parties might do with your data.

You can decline this data collection and third-party sharing, but if you do, Google will no longer support the functionality of the thermostat; it will no longer update your software and may affect the functionality of other linked devices such as smoke detectors.

Two scholars who analyzed the Google Nest thermostat contract concluded that a consumer who is even a little bit vigilant about how their consumption data is being used would have to review 1,000 privacy contracts before installing a single thermostat in their home.

Modern cars are also being equipped with multiple cameras that feed Big Data. As noted in the film, the average new car has 15 cameras, and if you have access to the data of a mere 1% of all cars, you have “knowledge of everything happening in the world.”

Of course, those cameras are sold to you as being integral to novel safety features, but you’re paying for this added safety with your privacy, and the privacy of everyone around you.

Pandemic measures are rapidly eroding privacy

The current coronavirus pandemic is also using “safety” as a means to dismantle personal privacy. As reported by The New York Times, March 23, 2020:

“In South Korea, government agencies are harnessing surveillance-camera footage, smartphone location data and credit card purchase records to help trace the recent movements of coronavirus patients and establish virus transmission chains.

“In Lombardy, Italy, the authorities are analyzing location data transmitted by citizens’ mobile phones to determine how many people are obeying a government lockdown order and the typical distances they move every day. About 40 percent are moving around “too much,” an official recently said.

“In Israel, the country’s internal security agency is poised to start using a cache of mobile phone location data — originally intended for counterterrorism operations — to try to pinpoint citizens who may have been exposed to the virus.

“As countries around the world race to contain the pandemic, many are deploying digital surveillance tools as a means to exert social control, even turning security agency technologies on their own civilians …

“Yet ratcheting up surveillance to combat the pandemic now could permanently open the doors to more invasive forms of snooping later. It is a lesson Americans learned after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, civil liberties experts say.

“Nearly two decades later, law enforcement agencies have access to higher-powered surveillance systems, like fine-grained location tracking and facial recognition — technologies that may be repurposed to further political agendas …

“’We could so easily end up in a situation where we empower local, state or federal government to take measures in response to this pandemic that fundamentally change the scope of American civil rights,’ said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a nonprofit organization in Manhattan.”

Humanity at a crossroads

Zuboff also discusses her work in a Jan. 24, 2020, op-ed in The New York Times. “You are now remotely controlled.

Surveillance capitalists control the science and the scientists, the secrets and the truth,” she writes, continuing:

“We thought that we search Google, but now we understand that Google searches us. We assumed that we use social media to connect, but we learned that connection is how social media uses us.

“We barely questioned why our new TV or mattress had a privacy policy, but we’ve begun to understand that ‘privacy’ policies are actually surveillance policies … Privacy is not private, because the effectiveness of … surveillance and control systems depends upon the pieces of ourselves that we give up — or that are secretly stolen from us.

“Our digital century was to have been democracy’s Golden Age. Instead, we enter its third decade marked by a stark new form of social inequality best understood as ‘epistemic inequality’ … extreme asymmetries of knowledge and the power that accrues to such knowledge, as the tech giants seize control of information and learning itself …

“Surveillance capitalists exploit the widening inequity of knowledge for the sake of profits. They manipulate the economy, our society and even our lives with impunity, endangering not just individual privacy but democracy itself …

“Still, the winds appear to have finally shifted. A fragile new awareness is dawning … Surveillance capitalists are fast because they seek neither genuine consent nor consensus. They rely on psychic numbing and messages of inevitability to conjure the helplessness, resignation and confusion that paralyze their prey.

“Democracy is slow, and that’s a good thing. Its pace reflects the tens of millions of conversations that occur … gradually stirring the sleeping giant of democracy to action.

“These conversations are occurring now, and there are many indications that lawmakers are ready to join and to lead. This third decade is likely to decide our fate. Will we make the digital future better, or will it make us worse?”

Epistemic inequality

Epistemic inequality refers to inequality in what you’re able to learn. “It is defined as unequal access to learning imposed by private commercial mechanisms of information capture, production, analysis and sales. It is best exemplified in the fast-growing abyss between what we know and what is known about us,” Zuboff writes in her New York Times op-ed.

Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have spearheaded the surveillance market transformation, placing themselves at the top tier of the epistemic hierarchy.

They know everything about you and you know nothing about them. You don’t even know what they know about you.

“They operated in the shadows to amass huge knowledge monopolies by taking without asking, a maneuver that every child recognizes as theft,” Zuboff writes.

“Surveillance capitalism begins by unilaterally staking a claim to private human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data. Our lives are rendered as data flows.”

These data flows are about you, but not for you. All of it is used against you — to separate you from your money, or to make you act in a way that is in some way profitable for a company or a political agenda.

So, ask yourself, where is your freedom in all of this?

They’re making you dance to their tune

If a company can cause you to buy stuff you don’t need by sticking an enticing, personalized ad for something they know will boost your confidence at the exact moment you’re feeling insecure or worthless (a tactic that has been tested and perfected), are you really acting through free will?

If an artificial intelligence using predictive modeling senses you’re getting hungry (based on a variety of cues such as your location, facial expressions and verbal expressions) and launches an ad from a local restaurant to you in the very moment you’re deciding to get something to eat, are you really making conscious, self-driven, value-based life choices?

As noted by Zuboff in her article:

“Unequal knowledge about us produces unequal power over us, and so epistemic inequality widens to include the distance between what we can do and what can be done to us. Data scientists describe this as the shift from monitoring to actuation, in which a critical mass of knowledge about a machine system enables the remote control of that system.

“Now people have become targets for remote control, as surveillance capitalists discovered that the most predictive data come from intervening in behavior to tune, herd and modify action in the direction of commercial objectives.

“This third imperative, ‘economies of action,’ has become an arena of intense experimentation. ‘We are learning how to write the music,’ one scientist said, ‘and then we let the music make them dance’ …

“The fact is that in the absence of corporate transparency and democratic oversight, epistemic inequality rules. They know. They decide who knows. They decide who decides. The public’s intolerable knowledge disadvantage is deepened by surveillance capitalists’ perfection of mass communications as gaslighting …

“On April 30, 2019, Mark Zuckerberg made a dramatic announcement at the company’s annual developer conference, declaring, ‘The future is private.’ A few weeks later, a Facebook litigator appeared before a federal district judge in California to thwart a user lawsuit over privacy invasion, arguing that the very act of using Facebook negates any reasonable expectation of privacy ‘as a matter of law.'”

We need a whole new regulatory framework

In the video, Zuboff points out that there are no laws in place to curtail this brand-new type of surveillance capitalism, and the only reason it has been able to flourish over the past 20 years is because there’s been an absence of laws against it, primarily because it has never previously existed.

That’s the problem with epistemic inequality. Google and Facebook were the only ones who knew what they were doing. The surveillance network grew in the shadows, unbeknownst to the public or lawmakers. Had we fought against it for two decades, then we might have had to resign ourselves to defeat, but as it stands, we’ve never even tried to regulate it.

This, Zuboff says, should give us all hope. We can turn this around and take back our privacy, but we need legislation that addresses the actual reality of the entire breadth and depth of the data collection system.

It’s not enough to address just the data that we know that we’re giving when we go online.

Zuboff writes:

“These contests of the 21st century demand a framework of epistemic rights enshrined in law and subject to democratic governance. Such rights would interrupt data supply chains by safeguarding the boundaries of human experience before they come under assault from the forces of datafication.

“The choice to turn any aspect of one’s life into data must belong to individuals by virtue of their rights in a democratic society. This means, for example, that companies cannot claim the right to your face, or use your face as free raw material for analysis, or own and sell any computational products that derive from your face …

“Anything made by humans can be unmade by humans. Surveillance capitalism is young, barely 20 years in the making, but democracy is old, rooted in generations of hope and contest.

“Surveillance capitalists are rich and powerful, but they are not invulnerable. They have an Achilles heel: fear. They fear lawmakers who do not fear them. They fear citizens who demand a new road forward as they insist on new answers to old questions: Who will know? Who will decide who knows? Who will decide who decides? Who will write the music, and who will dance?”

How to protect your online privacy

While there’s no doubt we need a whole new legislative framework to curtail surveillance capitalism, in the meantime, there are ways you can protect your privacy online and limit the “behavioral surplus data” collected about you.

Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist for the American Institute of Behavioral Research and Technology, recommends taking the following steps to protect your privacy:

Use a virtual private network (VPN) such as Nord, which is only about $3 per month and can be used on up to six devices. In my view, this is a must if you seek to preserve your privacy.

Epstein explains:

“When you use your mobile phone, laptop or desktop in the usual way, your identity is very easy for Google and other companies to see. They can see it via your IP address, but more and more, there are much more sophisticated ways now that they know it’s you. One is called browser fingerprinting.

“This is something that is so disturbing. Basically, the kind of browser you have and the way you use your browser is like a fingerprint. You use your browser in a unique way, and just by the way you type, these companies now can instantly identify you.

“Brave has some protection against a browser fingerprinting, but you really need to be using a VPN. What a VPN does is it routes whatever you’re doing through some other computer somewhere else. It can be anywhere in the world, and there are hundreds of companies offering VPN services. The one I like the best right now is called Nord VPN.

“You download the software, install it, just like you install any software. It’s incredibly easy to use. You do not have to be a techie to use Nord, and it shows you a map of the world and you basically just click on a country.

“The VPN basically makes it appear as though your computer is not your computer. It basically creates a kind of fake identity for you, and that’s a good thing. Now, very often I will go through Nord’s computers in the United States. Sometimes you have to do that, or you can’t get certain things done. PayPal doesn’t like you to be in a foreign country for example.”

Nord, when used on your cellphone, will also mask your identity when using apps like Google Maps.

Do not use Gmail, as every email you write is permanently stored. It becomes part of your profile and is used to build digital models of you, which allows them to make predictions about your line of thinking and every want and desire.

Many other older email systems such as AOL and Yahoo are also being used as surveillance platforms in the same way as Gmail. ProtonMail.com, which uses end-to-end encryption, is a great alternative and the basic account is free.

Don’t use Google’s Chrome browser, as everything you do on there is surveilled, including keystrokes and every webpage you’ve ever visited. Brave is a great alternative that takes privacy seriously.

Brave is also faster than Chrome and suppresses ads. It’s based on Chromium, the same software infrastructure that Chrome is based on, so you can easily transfer your extensions, favorites and bookmarks.

Don’t use Google as your search engine, or any extension of Google, such as Bing or Yahoo, both of which draw search results from Google. The same goes for the iPhone’s personal assistant Siri, which draws all of its answers from Google.

Alternative search engines suggested by Epstein include SwissCows and Qwant. He recommends avoiding StartPage, as it was recently bought by an aggressive online marketing company, which, like Google, depends on surveillance.

Don’t use an Android cellphone, for all the reasons discussed earlier. Epstein uses a BlackBerry, which is more secure than Android phones or the iPhone. BlackBerry’s upcoming model, the Key3, will be one of the most secure cellphones in the world, he says.

Don’t use Google Home devices in your house or apartment — These devices record everything that occurs in your home, both speech and sounds such as brushing your teeth and boiling water, even when they appear to be inactive, and send that information back to Google. Android phones are also always listening and recording, as are Google’s home thermostat Nest and Amazon’s Alexa.

Clear your cache and cookies — As Epstein explains in his article:

“Companies and hackers of all sorts are constantly installing invasive computer code on your computers and mobile devices, mainly to keep an eye on you but sometimes for more nefarious purposes.

“On a mobile device, you can clear out most of this garbage by going to the settings menu of your browser, selecting the ‘privacy and security’ option and then clicking on the icon that clears your cache and cookies.

“With most laptop and desktop browsers, holding down three keys simultaneously — CTRL, SHIFT and DEL — takes you directly to the relevant menu; I use this technique multiple times a day without even thinking about it. You can also configure the Brave and Firefox browsers to erase your cache and cookies automatically every time you close your browser.”

Don’t use Fitbit, as it was recently purchased by Google and will provide them with all your physiological information and activity levels, in addition to everything else that Google already has on you.

Originally published by Mercola.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Children's Health Defense.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYtk1Peh7ko
9:52 min

Chalkboard: THESE 4 steps will RUIN religion and END America​

Glenn Beck
Dec 22, 2022
Religious institutions are under attack, despite the First Amendment. And thanks to the far-left’s assault against religion, Christians are facing hostility from not only the media and culture, but from our government as well. There's one, clear reason why this is happening: People of faith are the hardest to demoralize and subvert. But this is also why it's so crucial for us to hold tight to our faith. In this clip, Glenn heads to the chalkboard, showing the steps it takes to ruin religion and ultimately…to end America.

A MASSIVE Smuggling Tunnel Was Just Discovered At The Southern Border 3:11 min

A MASSIVE Smuggling Tunnel Was Just Discovered At The Southern Border​

Prime Time with Dr. Gina Published December 22, 2022

CEO and Founder of Women Fighting For America, Christie Hutcherson, says that a MASSIVE smuggling tunnel was just discovered at the US/Mexico border.

10 Machinations of the Globalist Elites We Must Fight in 2023 1:53:55 min

10 Machinations of the Globalist Elites We Must Fight in 2023​

Red Voice Media Published December 22, 2022

Many of us are currently preparing for Christmas. Others are just busy dealing with winter weather. It's the time of year when we look ahead to prospects and threats. Unfortunately, 2023 seems to be gearing up for a lot more threats than opportunities so we must get ready now.

On today's episode of The JD Rucker Show, I'll be discussing the ten things listed below that I believe the globalist elite cabal will roll out next year. By "roll out," I mean these are things that are already in play but that will ramp up or become more clearly problematic as our world devolves toward tyranny and oblivion.

It's important to recognize their goals so we can better understand the plans they have for us. At the core of their attacks on the people, the globalist elite cabal wants to destroy freedom in general and religious liberties in particular. This won't just affect the faithful as religious liberties go in both direction. It's not only about having the right to worship who and how we want. It's also the right to NOT worship who and how the state wants. As they experience in Communist China and other oppressive nations, the people are forced to worship government and bow to whichever gods the state presents them. To my atheist and agnostic readers and listeners, do not think this attack by the powers-that-be will spare you.

As I've noted many times, the machinations that we face — The Great Reset, the 4th Industrial Revolution, Build Back Better, the Liberal World Order, or whatever you want to call it — are part of a depopulation and control agenda. They want many if not most of us dead and they want control over the remnant. God will separate the wheat from the tares in the end. I cannot say definitively that we are in the end times, but if we are then I would argue that what we're seeing is a precursor to the spiritual separation that will take place soon.

Let's dive into the ten machinations I believe will ramp up in the new year. Considering that many of these things are already at ludicrous levels, ramping them up will cause mass devastation. It behooves us all to get ready immediately.

1. Medical Tyranny Will Strike Again, but for Different Reasons
2. Joe Biden Will Be Propped Up for as Long as They Can Keep Him
3. Groomers Will Continue to Emerge From the Shadows to Normalize Child Sexualization
4. LGBTQIA+ Supremacy Will Be Integrated Into EVERYTHING
5. Wars and Rumors of Wars
6. False Flag Attacks Will Frame Patriots as Domestic Terrorists
7. Deeper Food Shortages Will Prompt More Bugs and Frankenmeat
8. More Energy Shortages Will Be Manufactured
9. Tighter Economic “Squeezing” Will Turn Into Collapse Once CBDCs are Ready
10. Climate Change Cult Will Drive ALL Policies

Final Note

Now is not the time for despair. As bad as things seem to be right now, we know one of two things will happen. We will either overcome and persevere, or we are at the end and we will soon be home. Either way, our path forward remains the same. We fight the good fight, speak the truth, and prepare ourselves to deny dependence on government for as long as possible. Don't fret. Instead, do what you can to secure yourself and your family. Then, do what you can to secure your friends, neighbors, and community. The last thing we should do is look to Washington DC or the rising globalist leaders to find solutions. Whatever they have planned for us, it won't be good. Stay frosty.

Natalie Winters Exposes Ukraine’s ‘Money Laundering’ Through Censoring Americans On Social Media 6:33 min

Natalie Winters Exposes Ukraine’s ‘Money Laundering’ Through Censoring Americans On Social Media​

Bannons War Room Published December 22, 2022

^^^^^

DHS Agency Directing Federal Government’s Censorship Of ‘Misinformation’ Signs Memorandum To Collaborate With Ukrainian Intelligence Services.​

BY: NATALIE WINTERS / WARROOM.ORG
by EDITOR
December 22, 2022

A branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security spearheading the federal government’s social media censorship efforts – including posts about “the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine” – signed a memorandum of cooperation with Ukraine’s intelligence services to broaden its joint “cybersecurity” efforts.

The unearthed agreement between the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), an operational component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and its Ukrainian counterpart follows significant controversy over the agency’s covert censorship of Americans on a wide variety of topics.

Internal documents have shown CISA works to combat “misinformation” about topics including “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”

The agency also played a critical role in the “removal of President Trump,” per internal communications released from Twitter.

The final item in the aforementioned list – “the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine” – is of particular concern and interest in light of War Room revealing the agency’s partnership with the country.

“The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Ukrainian State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) this week to strengthen collaboration on shared cybersecurity priorities,” explained a press release from July 27th, 2022.

The agency noted that the new MOC “expands upon CISA’s existing relationship with the Government of Ukraine” and will include “information exchanges and sharing of best practices on cyber incidents; critical infrastructure security technical exchanges; and cybersecurity training and joint exercises.”

“I am incredibly pleased to sign this MOC to deepen our cybersecurity collaboration with our Ukrainian partners,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly.

“I applaud Ukraine’s heroic efforts to defend its nation against unprecedented Russian cyber aggression and have been incredibly moved by the resiliency and bravery of the Ukrainian people throughout this unprovoked war. Cyber threats cross borders and oceans, and so we look forward to building on our existing relationship with SSSCIP to share information and collectively build global resilience against cyber threats.”

“This memorandum of cooperation represents an enduring partnership and alignment in defending our shared values through increased real-time information sharing across agencies and critical sectors and committed collaboration in cultivating a resilient partnership,” said Mr. Oleksandr Potii, Deputy Chairman, SSSCIP.

The SSSCIP is the “technical security and intelligence service of Ukraine,” which is under the control of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Swedes Are Implanting Microchip Vaccine Passports. It Won’t Stop There​

BY: JOE ALLEN
DECEMBER 23, 2021


IMAGE CREDITCHRIS HARRISON, SCOTT SAPONAS, DESNEY TAN, DAN MORRIS - MICROSOFT RESEARCH / CC 3.0

If military strategists, corporate elites, and government officials are taking the prospect of implanting humans with biotech seriously, so should we.

Last week, the world glimpsed a future in which vaccine passports are implanted under the skin. A viral video from South China Morning Post profiled a Swedish start-up hub, Epicenter, that injects its employees with microchips.

“Right now it is very convenient to have a COVID passport always accessible on your implant,” its chief disruption officer, Hannes Sjöblad, told the interviewer. Oddly enough, he repeatedly spoke of chipping “arms” when we clearly see a woman opening doors with her hand.

Two years earlier, Sjöblad told ITV, “I want us humans to open up and improve our sensory universe, our cognitive functions. … I want to merge humans with technology and I think it will be awesome.”

Naturally, some Christians see the Mark of the Beast. In a sane world, the idea of having your hand chipped to access public goods or private property—to receive a mark in order to “buy, sell, or trade”—should alarm anyone, regardless of religious persuasion. The same goes for using an implanted brain-computer interface to access the digital realm, as Elon Musk plans to do with Neuralink.

Yet for a growing fringe, this invasive tech isn’t just desirable. It’s already normal. Presently, some 5,000 Swedes use implanted radio frequency identification (RFID) chips to open doors, pay cashless, present medical records, access concert venues, and ride public transportation.

According to Ars Technica, as of 2018 an estimated 50,000-100,000 people worldwide have microchip implants, primarily in their hands.

A 2019 analysis in Nature reported about 160,000 people have deep brain stimulation devices implanted in their heads. Currently, this is only done out of necessity to treat disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, or even addiction and depression. Of these devices, only 34 are true brain-computer interfaces. However, with current advances in technology, enormous injections of capital, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) recent approval, that number will rapidly climb.

Hurtling Toward a Hybrid Humanity​

Enthusiasts say they aim to propel these technologies from healing to enhancement. In 2018—the same year Biohax gained international attention for chipping thousands of Swedish hands—MIT Technology Review boosted it with the fawning headline: “This company embeds microchips in its employees, and they love it.”

Since the first human-grade RFID implant was patented in 1997, followed by FDA approval in 2004, subdermal microchips have become just another device in a growing cyborg toolkit.

Drawing on that cache, the Internet of Bodies paradigm has gained enormous traction among the medical establishment. At the extreme end, the concept of natural-born humanity is to be abolished.

For more than six decades, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded Human 2.0 projects, with particular interest in brain-computer interfaces. Citing these and many other human-machine hybrids, the World Economic Forum’s chairman Klaus Schwab recently spelled out his vision of civilizational transformation. His widely read books—“The Fourth Industrial Revolution” (2016) and “The Great Reset” (2020)—both describe inexorable progress toward total technocracy.

The same idea emerges in a 2019 government analysis by Policy Horizons Canada, entitled “Exploring Biodigital Convergence.” According to the authors, “Digital technology can be embedded in organisms [and today] biotechnology may be at the cusp of a period of rapid expansion—possibly analogous to digital computing circa 1985.” Its success will hinge on sweeping surveillance.

The document goes on to describe tracking chips, wearable bio-sensors, internal organ sensors, Web-connected neurotech, swallowable digital pills—merging body and brain with the digital beehive.

Last spring, the UK’s Ministry of Defense published the jarring study, “Human Augmentation: The Dawn of a New Paradigm.” The authors promise this “will become increasingly relevant, partly because it can directly enhance human capability and behaviour, and partly because it is the binding agent between people and machines.” Surveying today’s cyborgs, they write, “Once inserted, these ‘chips’ can…replace many of our keys and passwords, allowing us to unlock doors, start vehicles, and even log onto computers and smartphones.”

All the above authors fret over ethics in a perfunctory fashion, but most accept the “inevitable” fusion of man with machine. If military strategists, corporate elites, and government officials are taking this prospect seriously, so should we.

The New Normal Is Total Digitalization​

For people with any sense at all, the notion of having a microchip jabbed into your hand (or your head) triggers animal revulsion. Disturbing as it may be, a more immediate concern is the widespread use of non-invasive biometric systems.

Wherever the New Normal takes hold, access to society is granted or denied on the basis of arbitrary “health and safety” concerns. Today, it’s masks or vaccine status. Tomorrow, it could be ideology. Authorities don’t have to chip you if they can simply scan your smartphone and tell you to get lost, or lock you in your dwelling pod whenever “the numbers” rise.

To cite one common example among many, the biometric company Clear rode the Patriot Act to prominence. Today, Clear is contracting to provide biometric and QR code-based vaxxports to fully jabbed citizens on the go.

It won’t stop there. Not without a fight. As Clear’s CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker told CNBC last year, “Just like screening was forever changed post-9/11, in a post-Covid environment you’re going to see screening and public safety significantly shift. But this time it’s beyond airports. It’s sports stadiums, it’s retail, it’s office buildings, it’s restaurants.”

Taking a more cerebral angle, tech mogul Bryan Johnson founded Kernel to develop non-invasive brain-scanning helmets to enhance your health and happiness. The devices can also gather users’ neurological data. Last summer, Johnson told Bloomberg Businessweek that by 2030 he’d like to put his BCI helmets in every American household.

These people want to completely transform our mental and physical spaces. It isn’t even a secret. They want some form of transhumanism, whether they use the term or not. It’s past time to smash their devices.

America Cannot Let This Happen​

One by one across the globe, canaries are falling dead in the digital coal mine. We see implanted vaxxports in Sweden, lockdowns for the unvaccinated in Austria and Germany, and yes, quarantine camps in Australia.

The Untact program in South Korea is specifically designed to replace human interaction with social robots and the Metaverse. At the pandemic’s outset, American writers at The Atlantic and CNN urged U.S. leaders to adopt Chinese authoritarianism. Their wish is beginning to come true.

While I doubt any population will be forcibly chipped like wayward housecats—at least not in the near future—no nightmarish policy is truly off the table. In the past 21 months, the United States has seen mandated mRNA gene therapies, QR code-based vaccine passports, mass deletion of supposed “misinformation,” and even drone surveillance to monitor social distancing. Meanwhile, more young adults died from fentanyl overdoses than from any transmissible disease.

If the biosecurity state can force you to wear an obedience mask to buy groceries, what can’t they do? Resist their measures at every turn. Drag these people down from the seats of power. Dismantle the structures they’ve already put in place.

I’m no absolutist. Tools are tools, and every naked ape needs one. For the most part, I couldn’t care less if techno-fetishists chip themselves or refashion their appendages. Had their subculture remained on the fringe, I’d still find such people fascinating. But that’s not what’s happening.

Riding waves of germaphobia—the ultimate organic disruption—tech titans and their think tank ministers are establishing a secular religion. The world’s wealthiest men, wielding the most powerful tools on earth, are erecting inescapable systems of control. We can’t combat them if we don’t acknowledge what they are.

Scientism is their faith. Technology is their sacrament. Their cult is a cyborg theocracy. Even if they rain fire from the sky with the press of a button, never bend the knee to their silicon gods.

The FDA Uncovers Yet Another Dangerous Side Effect of the Covid-19 ‘Vaccines’​

• by Becker News
• December 18, 2022

The Food and Drug Administration has uncovered another dangerous side effect of the Covid mRNA shots: A risk of blood clotting and pulmonary embolism.

A recent study drawing on over thirty million datapoints from the the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data system shows a heightened risk of pulmonary embolism, as well as the known elevated risk for myocarditis.

“We evaluated 14 outcomes of interest following COVID-19 vaccination using the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data covering 30,712,101 elderly persons,” the international study in the journal Elsevier stated. “The CMS data from December 11, 2020 through Jan 15, 2022 included 17,411,342 COVID-19 vaccinees who received a total of 34,639,937 doses. We conducted weekly sequential testing and generated rate ratios (RR) of observed outcome rates compared to historical (or expected) rates prior to COVID-19 vaccination.”

The findings supply yet more evidence that the Covid mRNA shots should not be recommended without the standard risks of serious side effects.

“Four outcomes met the threshold for a statistical signal following BNT162b2 vaccination including pulmonary embolism (PE; RR = 1.54), acute myocardial infarction (AMI; RR = 1.42), disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC; RR = 1.91), and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP; RR = 1.44),” the study found. The term RR [Risk Ratio] is an expression of the relative risk of the pharmaceutical product versus a placebo. An RR of 1.5 represents a 50% heightened risk for the given side effect.

The study couches the findings in the typical manner: Claiming that the benefits of the ‘vaccines’ outweigh the ‘risks.’ However, that would only be clearly the case if a patient did not have natural antibodies and was at increased due to risk factors such as age, obesity, or immunocompromisation. Seroprevalence data show that nearly every American in the United States has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

The FDA said it was not taking any action based on the study because the findings do not prove the vaccines cause any of the four outcomes. The FDA claimed the findings “are still under investigation and require more robust study.”

Dr. Peter McCullough, chief medical adviser for the Truth for Health Foundation, told The Epoch Times via email that the new paper “corroborates the concerns of doctors that the large uptick in blood clots, progression of atherosclerotic heart disease, and blood disorders is independently associated with COVID-19 vaccination.”

Steve Kirsch, a popular Covid response critic who publishes on Substack, also expressed frustration with the FDA’s ability and willingness to explain the high correlation of Covid vaccination and elevated risk of serious health conditions.

“The FDA spotted a safety signal using the CMS database that the vaccine might cause pulmonary embolism (PE). But they aren’t sure if it is the COVID vaccine or not. After all, it could be something else like some new virus that nobody knows about yet!” Kirsch snarked.

“But the signal is crystal clear in the VAERS database,” he continued. “It generated a safety signal at least a year ago, but unfortunately, the CDC isn’t monitoring VAERS for safety; they just maintain it to be compliant with the law.”

“The PE signal is over 6,500 times normal for ONLY the COVID vaccines,” he added. “The counts are normal for all the other vaccines. If it isn’t the vaccine that is causing this, what is? And why is it ONLY affecting people who get the COVID vaccine? Nobody at the FDA is able to explain this.”

“Bottom line: The CDC isn’t looking at any of the safety signals, so they won’t find any,” he said. “The FDA is equally clueless and it will take decades before they can tie the pulmonary embolism to the vaccine.”

A Washington Post story recently pointed out the majority of Americans dying with Covid are now ‘fully vaccinated’ for the disease, although they may not have the latest in the already considerable line of ‘boosters.’

“For the first time, a majority of Americans dying from the coronavirus received at least the primary series of the vaccine,” the Post analysis conceded.

CEPI: Coalition on Epidemic Preparedness Innovations says they can solve the problem of pandemics for only $3.5 Billion​

Birthed at Davos in 2017, this organization wants to give us vaccines developed in 1/3 the time of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. 100 days. Ouch! This can't be good.

Meryl Nass

14 hr ago

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Who were CEPI’s parents? The BMGF (Bill Gates), the Wellcome Trust (Jeremy Farrar), the government of Norway (with the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund from all that North Sea oil, Norway is sought after for all the big money projects now), the government of India (while Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister) and the World Economic Forum. Germany and Japan pledged some money at the outset.