Today’s News 26th April 2022

• Russia Expels 40 German Diplomats In Retaliation For "Unfriendly Decision"
  Russia Expels 40 German Diplomats In Retaliation For “Unfriendly Decision”

  Russia announced Monday it is expelling 40 German diplomats in a stunning tit-for-tat move given the huge size of the group of officials being booted from Russian soil. The Kremlin said it’s a response to the “unfriendly decision” of Berlin to earlier in the month expel Russian diplomats due to the invasion of Ukraine.

  In its latest statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned Germany’s ambassador to deliver a written note “declaring persona non grata 40 employees of German diplomatic institutions in Russia as part of a symmetrical response.”

  

  The ministry later affirmed that “A strong protest was made to the head of the German diplomatic mission in Moscow in connection with the openly unfriendly decision of the German government.”

  The families of the 40 are also expected to leave the country, meaning this will impact at least 100 Germans currently in Russia. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock blasted the move as “in no way justified” but admitted that it was “expected” due to the German government’s prior anti-Russia move.

  Germany’s initial decision to expel what it described as a “significant number” of Russian diplomats was due to the “unbelievable brutality” of the Russian military, in a statement issued earlier in April.

  Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz has meanwhile been accused of slowing NATO’s response to the Ukraine crisis by refusing to approve sending tanks and other heavier weaponry…

  Germany’s position is a double blow to the West: Olaf Scholz refuses to support calls for an embargo on Russian energy and refuses to send tanks to Ukraine, which it desperately needs https://t.co/h7N58xFA4X

  — The Economist (@TheEconomist) April 24, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Baerbock had justified Germany’s prior punitive action against Russian officials based on accusing them of being “spies” and not diplomats.

  Baerbock said Monday that the 40 Russian diplomats previously expelled by Berlin “did not serve diplomacy for a single day”. But she characterize this new Kremlin move against German diplomats as unwarranted because they had “not done anything wrong.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/26/2022 – 02:45

• French Election Exposes The Conflict Running Through All Western Societies
  French Election Exposes The Conflict Running Through All Western Societies

  Authored by Yves Mamou via The Gatestone Institute,

  • This French presidential election is a good illustration of the conflict that runs through all Western societies, namely the fight between the mobile and the rooted, between globalists and nationalists, between progressive elites and common citizens, between those who feel good everywhere and those who feel good where they were born.

  • Since the late 1980s, all French political life has been built on a fiction. In France, anyone who opposes the progressive establishment, anyone who opposes immigration policy, anyone who criticizes, say, the violence — or the suppression of women and free speech — in Islam, is considered the equivalent of Adolf Hitler’s nephew.

  • During the two weeks preceding the second round of the just-concluded presidential election, all observers had the feeling that in France, a titanic metaphysical battle was taking place between Good and Evil.

  • The public service radio certified every five minutes that Marine Le Pen was “extreme right” (meaning “racist” and “Nazi”).

  • [T]he exhibition of voting intentions in favor of Macron “was kind of a farce”. All these personalities who express themselves on the vote, do not seek to “share an opinion… but to exhibit their perfect morality”. For these people, “to think right is to think well. And to think well means to think like them”. — Julia de Funes, author, Le Figaro, April 15, 2022.

  • In France there is “a single party and if you are not part of it, you are a fascist, a racist, a xenophobe!” — Michel Onfray, author, Twitter, April, 21, 2022.

  The globalists have won.

  Emmanuel Macron was re-elected President of the French Republic on April 24, 2022 with an estimated 58% of the votes. Marine Le Pen, his challenger, got only 42% of the votes.

  

  This French presidential election is a good illustration of the conflict that runs through all Western societies, namely the fight between the mobile and the rooted, between globalists and nationalists, between progressive elites and common citizens, between those who feel good everywhere and those who feel good where they were born.

  But in France, this classic conflict between the top and the bottom of society is not perceived as such. Since the late 1980s, all French political life has been built on a fiction. In France, anyone who opposes the progressive establishment, anyone who opposes immigration policy, anyone who criticizes, say, the violence — or the suppression of women and free speech — in Islam, is considered the equivalent of Adolf Hitler’s nephew.

  This strange situation was created in the late 1980s by France’s socialist president, François Mitterrand. To divide the right and prevent them from returning to power. Mitterrand promoted, through the state-owned radio and television corporations, a microscopic far-right party, the National Front, the first that actually dared to speak out against immigration.

  From the middle of the 1980s until now, the media and the “left” together manufactured an industrial-strength shame machine to stigmatize as “racist” and “Nazi” anyone who dared to raise his voice on issues of immigration or the arguably less-sympathetic aspects of Islam.

  During the two weeks preceding the second round of the just-concluded presidential election, all observers had the feeling that in France, a titanic metaphysical battle was taking place between Good and Evil.

  The daily Le Monde sought out veteran sociologists such as Edgar Morin to assert that France was facing a “historic risk” if its citizens were losing their minds and voted for Marine Le Pen. In another article, Le Monde quoted Prefects (representatives of the state in all regions of France) who “themselves draw parallels” between a possible election of Marine Le Pen and the invasion of France by the Nazis in 1940.

  Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin explained that with Marine Le Pen, “the rich may lose weight, but the poor may die”.

  Some left-wing media outlets, such as L’Obs, raised the spectre of nuclear war. “If Marine Le Pen were elected, “48,000 Hiroshimas” would become possible.

  The public service radio certified every five minutes that Marine Le Pen was “extreme right” (meaning “racist” and “Nazi”).

  And the leftists of the Canard Enchainé headlined, “neither Marine, nor Le Pen”. Even Charlie Hebdo featured on its cover, “Sunday, let’s get rid of that” (meaning Le Pen)

  NGOs of course were on deck. The Licra, an anti-racist NGO, declared that the victory of Le Pen would mean “the liberation of xenophobia and racism”. The League of Human Rights called for “demonstrations against the extreme right”. And the NGO SOS Racism added that Le Pen’s victory would mean “the establishment of a French-style apartheid”.

  The Archbishop of Strasbourg called for a vote for Macron, although the French Bishops’ Conference magnanimously left Christians free to “vote according to their conscience”. The Protestant Federation of France warned against the Le Pen’s National Rally Party, while Jewish organizations (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France and the rabbis of the Consistory) called to “put up a barrier” against Le Pen.

  The Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, of course, called for voting in favor of Macron in the name of the fight against “malicious forces that call for the banishment of Muslims” and the Rassemblement des Musulmans de France (close to Morocco) explained that “only a vote for Emmanuel Macron allows our country to preserve the principles of the republic”.

  About 50 sports stars — all those athletes who see no problem in going to the Winter Olympics in Beijing or kicking a ball in Qatar ,where thousands of workers died while building of air-conditioned stadiums — signed a vibrant call to block the National Rally Party and to defend “Republican values”.

  After the athletes, came the artists. Nearly 500 actors, singers, directors, producers and dancers called to “block Marine Le Pen… whose program remains that of xenophobia and inward-looking attitude.

  The unions followed. While Le Pen came out on top in the first round of the presidential election in all blue-collar area, while she was the candidate of the Yellow Vests and the French working classes, the two largest trade union organizations, CFDT and CGT, called to “make a barrage” against Le Pen. The leaders of these two unions even signed an op-ed together, explaining that “Marine Le Pen is a danger for all workers.”

  The environmentalist and feminist Alice Coffin tweeted that Le Pen was preparing to “assassinate” all feminists.

  The author Julia de Funes was astonished in Le Figaro by this outpouring of opinions, and remarked that the exhibition of voting intentions in favor of Macron “was kind of a farce”. All these personalities who express themselves on the vote, do not seek to “share an opinion… but to exhibit their perfect morality”. For these people, “to think right is to think well. And to think well means to think like them”.

  Another author, Michel Onfray, noted on Twitter that in France there is “a single party and if you are not part of it, you are a fascist, a racist, a xenophobe!”

  These debates prevented — but perhaps it was their function — the real problems from being covered by the media and politicians – such as Muslim mass-immigration (2 million more Muslim immigrants under the Macron presidency); the creeping Islamization of the suburbs ; the rampant lawlessness and lack of security (an assault occurs every 44 seconds and the police are confronted with refusals to comply every 30 minutes); the abuse of power by the European Union’s courts of justice; the authoritarian drift of the European Commission; Macron’s authoritarian and terrorizing management of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the violence he wielded against the Yellow Vests –none of these subjects was ever addressed during the presidential campaign.

  Now that the results of the presidential election are known, the media bubble may revert to how it was before the titanic metaphysical battle. The first observation that can be made is that the French political landscape is now entirely upended. The classic parties were swept away. The Socialist Party, which dominated the political scene since the 1980s, got only 1.75% of the votes at the first round of the presidential election and Les Républicains, on the right, won only 4.78% of the votes.

  From now on, three new political formations share the electoral terrain, all three around a central figure:

  1. the La République en Marche is Macron’s party (the largest number of voters: 9.8 million voters, 27.8% of the votes in the first round). It was created in 2016 and its electorate is composed of the beneficiaries of globalization, some of the French Muslims and retirees who usually vote for the party in power.

  2. The second largest party in France is the National Rally, centered around Le Pen (8.1 million votes, 23.15% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election). The RN is the party of the non-Muslim working class, the party of the poor people and the middle classes who are attached to the croissant-baguettes “French way of life”. The RN represents the “somewheres” fighting against the “anywheres”. If we add to the RN, the votes collected by Éric Zemmour (2.4 million votes, 7%), the RN equals the party of Macron.

  3. The third party in France is La France Insoumise, built around the thundering personality of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (7.7 million votes; 21.95% of the vote on the first round). Mélenchon is a former socialist who wanted to ban the Islamic veil and who, in 2015, in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack that year on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, denounced Islamic fanaticism as his main enemy. Less than five years later, however, in 2019, Mélenchon made an about-face and demonstrated on the side of Islamic organizations. Since then, he has multiplied his attacks against police officers accused of “racist behavior”, against secularism which “must not be a state atheism” — ether against the “persecution of Muslims” or for “the freedom to wear the veil“. Today, the main collaborators of Mélenchon are Islamists, leftists and Woke personalities. A recent IFOP poll confirmed that 70% of French Muslims voted for Mélenchon.

  On the evening of his elimination from the first round of the presidential election, Mélenchon called several times not to vote for Le Pen. Perhaps he was heard. The Islamists who carried Mélenchon might have joined forces with the globalists who carried Macron. Both defeated the nationalists who supported Le Pen.

  The nationalists, the French “somewheres”, have become a minority in their own country.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/26/2022 – 02:00

• Black Markets Thriving In China As Punishing COVID Lockdowns Evoke Planned Economy Of The Past
  Black Markets Thriving In China As Punishing COVID Lockdowns Evoke Planned Economy Of The Past

  Chinese stocks got slammed overnight as rumors about a potential lockdown in Beijing have sent people scrambling for food and other necessities (many items, like fruit, coffee and even disposable diapers are now considered “frivolous” under the terms of the lockdown in Shanghai). Meanwhile, the situation in Shanghai, having entered its 4th week (and even longer in the eastern part of the city), has spurred a level of need that is not only leaving citizens desperate – but also reminding many of the bad old days when central planning was the status quo in China, creating an environment that allowed black markets to flourish.

  

  Indeed, as the New York Times reports, black markets are flourishing once again in the lockdown era, but this time around businesses are the main participants as they scramble to find ways to meet their customers needs while complying with impossibly strict CCP measures.

  As a result, the costs of purchasing certain essential items – including day passes to travel on Shanghai’s mostly deserted streets, are costing businesses the equivalent of $2,000 per day, costs that are being passed down to consumers.

  Because of Covid restrictions, commercial trucks have a hard time delivering food and household goods to Shanghai. Inside the city, only vehicles with passes are allowed on the road.

  On the black market, some operators are willing to pay $2,000 for a day pass. The cost is then priced into the groceries they sell to the residents.

  One owner of a logistics company who spoke to the NYT said the situation in China is so bad, it’s without precedent.

  “I’ve been in the logistics business for 28 years,” Mr. Yang, 47, said in an interview. “But I’ve never seen a mess like this. There were numerous emergencies to deal with.” He estimates that he lost tens of thousands of dollars in March.

  For those who are wondering why China’s leadership is choosing to inflict so much pain on its population after confirming such a relatively small number of cases and deaths, the NYT reminds us of President Xi’s latest position on the lockdowns – which has been, essentially, to double down.

  But Mr. Xi has not budged from his zero Covid position. “Perseverance is victory,” he said on April 13. The state media, provincial party secretaries and lower-level government officials all know who is in charge and are eager to show their loyalty. Many local officials are escalating pandemic-control measures so they don’t risk an outbreak that could put their positions in danger.

  Adding what seems like another helpful piece of context, the NYT confirms that companies in Shanghai can’t really operate right now unless they can create a “closed loop” system – which would mean forcing workers to live at work, something we have already described in detail.

  Some factories in Shanghai, such as Tesla and some of its suppliers, have resumed production. But they must follow a set of complicated and expensive pandemic-control measures, including creating what’s called a closed-loop management system in which workers live on-site and test regularly for the virus.

  Not many companies are willing or able to do this. One senior executive of a major logistics company told me that they have only a few thousand delivery workers back on the job in Shanghai because they lack the capacity to provide lodging for so many workers. That’s significantly lower than the more than 60,000 delivery workers the company had in peak seasons in the past few years.

  As they struggle to deal with a government that’s totally unsympathetic to their plight, business owners are quietly wondering how much longer they could hold out without completely draining their cash reserves.

  The chief executive of a high-flying consumer brand is also wondering how long her company’s cash can last. The company raised $100 million last year and had ambitious expansion plans, she said in an interview. But nearly a third of her company’s 150 retail stores had to shut their doors in locked-down cities. Their online sales, which weren’t hurt in 2020, are suffering now because many cities shut the highway exits, halting e-commerce deliveries.

  Finally, as the Shanghai lockdown drags on, people are growing increasingly worried about not just the spread of lockdowns, but the spread of the economic stressors that they are creating.

  John Ji, a real estate developer in Nanjing of Jiangsu Province, is anxiously watching the lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities. He believes that many people will lose their jobs and have difficulty paying mortgages. When nobody can afford housing, he asked, who will buy his apartments?

  The results could be truly devastating.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 23:20

• Marxists Seek To Destabilize American Society Through Sexualization Of Young People: Expert
  Marxists Seek To Destabilize American Society Through Sexualization Of Young People: Expert

  Authored by Hannah Ng and David Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Young people in the United States are being subjected to communist-style sexualization, according to author and expert James Lindsay.

  

  The goal is to destabilize society to make it ripe for communists to grab power, Lindsay, author of “Race Marxism” and “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody,” recently told EpochTV’s “China Insider” program.

  And their plan has been afoot for more than a century.

  “This is a deliberate program that Marxists have employed since at least the 1910s, starting in Hungary, to try to sexualize children to cause sexual and gender confusion so that they become political activists on behalf of some other agenda,” he said.

  Lindsay pointed to Georg Lukacs, a devout Hungarian Marxist who served as deputy commissar of education in 1919 during the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic. He introduced sex education to children at the elementary level, he said.

  “[Lukacs] sexualized the children of Hungary in order to separate them from their family,  to separate them from their religion, their nation and their culture,” Lindsay said. “Essentially getting children … all into these ideas so that when they go home, they would tell their parents, ‘you know, things have changed, or the Bible is wrong, or whatever our religion is wrong, our traditions are wrong.’”

  Next came Herbert Marcuse, a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, who focused his efforts on “trying to free sexual energy,” according to Lindsay. Marcuse in his 1965 work “Eros and Civilization” applied Marxist ideology to delve into these topics, becoming the intellectual basis for the sexual revolution of the 1960s. This in turn led to the comprehensive sexual education programs that are in American schools today, Lindsay noted.

  Later on, in the 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of the “post-structural feminism” movement. These feminist activists used postmodern theory to advocate the notion that gender was socially constructed, and that sex roles are a form of oppression, according to the expert.

  “They used postmodern theory to break down all boundaries whatsoever—not just the idea of gender being a social construct, but sex and sexuality and everything becoming socially constructed, as well,” he said.

  “And those people have basically taken over.”

  Modern-day Marxists “focus more on gender and on the social fluidity of these concepts than you would have seen 100 years ago from older school Marxists. But the general thrust is the same,” he added.

  Meanwhile, with young people as their target group, Marxists find a population who are highly vulnerable and impressionable, Lindsay noted, as they’re at a stage of their lives when “they’re trying to find their identity, they’re trying to go grow up, and go through puberty and discover what it means to be who they are.”

  As a result, young people are being victimized. “They’re being injected full of all of these ideas about the fluidity of their gender, the fluidity of their sex, the socially constructed nature of sexuality. And it’s actually victimizing those people in particular,” he said.

  “Meanwhile, they [activists] hide behind saying that this is actually about protecting LGBT people, who are also being victimized,” he said.

  The Marxist movements back then and nowadays all share the same goal, noted Lindsay, which is “to soften children up to get them to be more accepting of the gender and sexual instruction that’s going on in their schools.”

  “So the purpose is actually to weaken and destabilize in the short term, so that power can be seized,” he said. “And then it’ll be up to whoever’s in charge to decide what they think is acceptable and not acceptable afterward.”

  With children being inundated by such Marxist ideas from all angles, especially when “the schools are doing a terrible job, are failing at educating our students,” Lindsay stressed that this places more responsibility on parents.

  “They’re having to take up the role of actually educating … their children, first of all. And then second of all, they’re also having to de-program their kids about what they’re learning about race, about history, about sex, about … sexuality and gender,” he said.

  The situation, Lindsay said, is also forcing parents to have conversations about sex and sexuality with their children at far younger ages than parents think is appropriate, as the schools and the media are dragging them into having these conversations.

  “The job that parents have right now is enormously harder than it was 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.

  “But I stress this has been going on pretty rampantly at least over the last decade anyway. And so primarily, parents are just now becoming aware that this is being taught to their children in such a large quantity.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 23:00

• Indonesia Allows Some Palm Oil Exports After Ban, Sends Prices On Rollercoaster 
  Indonesia Allows Some Palm Oil Exports After Ban, Sends Prices On Rollercoaster 

  Palm oil futures slid Monday after Indonesia’s export ban on cooking oil last Friday will not be as strict as previously feared. 

  On Friday, Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, announced an export ban of all cooking oil and palm oil products beginning April 28. However, those who are in the know told Bloomberg that bulk and packaged RBD palm olein, a highly refined form of palm oil used in cooking and baking, will only be subjected to the ban. 

  

  People familiar with the matter said exports of crude palm oil and RBD palm oil will still be available for export. RBD olein accounts for nearly 40% of Indonesia’s total palm oil exports. 

  

  Palm oil for July delivery soared as much as 9% last Friday to 6,800 ringgit a ton and has since given up all gains and some. 

  

  Friday’s announcement came as a shock to many traders. One trader said, “news will certainly create mayhem.” 

  “Details are still scant for now, and traders are reacting on speculation that the impact of the Indonesian ban may be less than initially thought,” David Ng, senior trader at IcebergX Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur, said on Monday. It’s a slight relief but still may cause headaches worldwide. A ban on RBD palm olein, primarily used as cooking oils and for industrial frying of processed foods, could continue to tighten supply globally. 

  The Ukraine conflict has roiled the global edible oil market. The Black Sea region accounts for 76% of world sunoil exports. Indonesia’s move adds to the growing food protectionism as they ensure edible oil supply in domestic markets is ample to mitigate high food prices and inflation riots. 

  Sathia Varqa, the owner of Palm Oil Analytics in Singapore, said high palm oil prices, high demand, and shortages of edible oils at supermarkets are the reasons the government opted for the export ban on bulk and packaged RBD palm olein products. 

  Even though the ban is not as worse as previously thought, other parts of the world, such as Europe, have already begun to ration edible oils as the world supplies are quickly dwindling. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 22:40

• Europe Buys Abu Dhabi Crude To Replace Russian Barrels
  Europe Buys Abu Dhabi Crude To Replace Russian Barrels

  By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

  Abu Dhabi crude is preparing to make its way to Europe for the first time in two years as the European Union seeks replacements for Russian oil, Reuters reports.

  

  In May 2020, a shipment of Abu Dhabi crude was loaded for Italy, and there have been so shipments since, according to Arab News, citing Refinitiv Eikon data.

  According to Reuters, citing shipping reports, France Total Energies has “provisionally chartered a tanker” to load Abu Dhabi crude in early May, bound for Europe. A total of 1 million barrels of Murban crude–one of three Abu Dhabi grades–will be loaded provisionally, bound for Britain in the first week of May.

  Arab News reports that three Abu Dhabi grades–Murban, Das and Upper Zakum–will be increasingly replacing Russian oil for Europe in the coming months.

  This will divert some Abu Dhabi crude from Asia, but India has already been refraining from higher-priced Saudi and UAE crude and taking advantage of highly discounted Russian crude. 

  The European Union has been grappling with a decision to ban Russian oil, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded that the bloc cease importing oil and gas from the Kremlin. 

  Supplies have become even more risky with the outbreak of a fire Monday at oil storage facilities in Bryansk, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, with Moscow claiming that the fire was the result of a Ukrainian missile strike.

  The oil depot in question is dangerously close to the Druzhba pipeline, which feeds Russian crude into Europe. It remains unclear whether the pipeline, operated by Transneft, has been affected.

  The Druzhba pipeline is responsible for transporting some one-fifth of Europe’s imports of Russian oil. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 22:20

• Why Are Rare Hepatitis Cases Rising In Children?
  Why Are Rare Hepatitis Cases Rising In Children?

  At least 169 children aged one month to 16 years-old have contracted cases of acute hepatitis in an outbreak spanning at least 11 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

  

  Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which filters the blood, helps fight infections and processes nutrients.

  At least one child is dead and 17 have required liver transplants from the disease. The majority of the cases, 114, were reported in the United Kingdom, while 13 were from Spain, 12 from Israel, nine in the USA, and a smaller number of cases in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, France, Romania and Belgium.

  Most of the cases had no fever, nor any of the common viruses that typically cause acute viral hepatitis, such as adenoviruses, which cause hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

  “It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected,” said the WHO. “While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, investigations are ongoing for the causative agent.”

  According to the Saturday statement, the clinical syndrome “among identified cases is acute hepatitis (liver inflammation) with markedly elevated liver enzymes,” with many suffering gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and vomiting “preceding presentation with severe acute hepatitis” along with increased levels of liver enzimes or alanine aminotransaminase and jaundice.

  Hepatitis symptoms:

  • dark urine.
  • pale, grey-coloured poo.
  • itchy skin.
  • yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice).
  • muscle and joint pain.
  • a high temperature.
  • feeling and being sick.
  • feeling unusually tired all the time.
  • loss of appetite.
  • tummy pain.

  Most of the cases did not present with a fever, according to the WHO, which added that an investigation needs to focus on factors such as “increased susceptibility amongst young children following a lower level of circulation of adenovirus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the potential emergence of a novel adenovirus, as well as SARS-CoV-2 co-infection.”

  What else could be at play here?

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 22:00

• Media’s Collusion With Executive Branch Destroyed Trust In Public Health: Dr. Ben Carson
  Media’s Collusion With Executive Branch Destroyed Trust In Public Health: Dr. Ben Carson

  Authored by Masooma Haq and Roman Balmakov via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  In the wake of a court decision to end federal mask mandates, Dr. Ben Carson, former U.S. secretary of the Housing and Urban Development and chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said he is glad there are checks and balances in our system of government but in order to truly restore trust in public health agencies, the mainstream media needs to be held accountable for colluding with the executive branch.

  “What we’ve done is we’ve gotten into a system where we have the media in cahoots with the executive branch, sort of overlooking all the other safeguards that we have in our system,” Carson told The Epoch Times.

  “And as a result of that, what we’ve done has completely destroyed the trust of the people in the CDC, the NIH, the government health system. It’s going to take a very long time to get that trust back.”

  

  A Trump-appointed district judge struck down federal mask mandates in a ruling on Monday, saying that the CDC exceeded its authority with the mask mandate and inappropriately did not seek public comment before imposing the order.

  In addition, Carson said the Biden administration’s decision to end the CDC health rule, Title 42—which limits the entry of illegal immigrants into the country during the pandemic—but at the same time having its health agency heads calling to keep mask mandates for U.S. citizens doesn’t make sense and is divergent thinking.

  “There is no justification for getting rid of Title 42 on the one hand, and telling us we need to extend the mask mandates,” said Carson, adding that the public has to push back for agencies to actually follow the science, instead of ideology.

  “If you have an executive branch that just begins to dictate, without any pushback, we’ve got to a very bad place. It’s too bad that a federal court system had to come in and bring some common sense into the discussion,” said Carson. “But the fact of the matter is, we all know, from multitudinous data, that the masks aren’t doing very much, particularly in things like airplanes that already have HEPA filters.”

  The neurosurgeon said common sense and scientific data should drive public health policies, including a broad range of treatments for COVID-19 and not just vaccinations.

  “[Hydroxychloroquine] was roundly criticized by our government officials. So was ivermectin and some other therapeutics that work perfectly fine in other parts of the world. Why would they work in other parts of the world and not work here?” said Carson. “Why is it, in Western Africa, there’s almost no COVID? Because they take hydroxychloroquine as an anti-malarial. Why in southern India is there almost no COVID? Because they take ivermectin. Maybe they’re not taking it specifically for COVID, but look at the results.”

  Carson said he would have liked to see therapeutics developed alongside vaccination for adults who wanted to voluntarily get them, but said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had a rule that prevented the rushed development of vaccines if early treatment was available.

  

  “We also had an FDA rule that said, we cannot issue an emergency use authorization for the vaccine if you have another effective therapy,” said Carson. “Well, of course, you have to say those [therapeutics] aren’t effective so you can do it. You know, that doesn’t make any sense. Why not be able to travel down several avenues simultaneously to find the most effective means of taking care of our population?”

  Carson said that the FDA law must be abolished so treatments at all stages of a disease can be used and for transparency to be brought back to the public health agencies. He wants citizens to be allowed to make informed decisions about their health.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 21:40

• Prominent COVID Doctor Accused Of $1.5 Million Healthcare Fraud
  Prominent COVID Doctor Accused Of $1.5 Million Healthcare Fraud

  A prominent Maryland doctor in charge of COVID-19 testing at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport and elsewhere has been accused by federal prosecutors of overcharging Medicare and other insurers by more than $1.5 million.

  

  Ron Elfenbein, 47, who was presented an award last August by Gov. Larry Hogan for his efforts during the pandemic, allegedly overbilled for COVID-19 tests in combination with “more lucrative, but medically unnecessary” services, according to a grand jury indictment reported by the Washington Post, which notes that these services “were purportedly of a 30-minute or longer duration, or involving moderate or high levels of medical decision-making, but did not in fact occur as represented.”

  The indictment alleges Elfenbein knew many patients were being seen for less than five minutes but directed staffers to bill for the higher-level services anyway, saying they were “the ‘bread and butter’ of how we get paid.”

  …

  The indictment, which charges Elfenbein with three counts of health-care fraud, identifies him as an owner and medical director of Drs ERgent Care, a company that also does business under the names First Call Medical Center and Chesapeake ERgent Care.

  According to Elfenbein’s lawyer, Mikle Lawlor, “In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Ron Elfenbein rallied his doctor’s office in a time of global fear, to be a leading provider of coronavirus testing and treatment in the community,” adding ” … A trial in this case will prove not only that Dr. Elfenbein is innocent of the charges hastily brought by the government, but that during a time of unprecedented need, Dr. Elfenbein and his staff saved the lives of numerous Marylanders.”

  The indictment identifies Elfenbein with three counts of healthcare fraud, and identifies him as an owner and medical director of a company called “Drs ERgent Care,” which also does business under “First Call Medical Center and Chesapeake ERgent Care.”

  Cute.

  Read about the entire tangled web here.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 21:20

• Harvard Astrophysicist Says Alien-Tech Crashed Into The Pacific Ocean, And Now He Wants To Recover It
  Harvard Astrophysicist Says Alien-Tech Crashed Into The Pacific Ocean, And Now He Wants To Recover It

  Authored by Katie Hutton via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  A leading astrophysicist is devising a plan to send a team to the Pacific Ocean’s depths in search of what he thinks to be advanced extraterrestrial technology. 

  

  Astrophysicist Avi Loeb thinks that an interplanetary object that crashed into the Earth in 2014 was some kind of spaceship. His thesis is controversial in the science community.

  According to information released last week by the United States Space Command (USSC), the object indeed came from another star system. The projectile – which sped across the sky off the shore of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea – was determined to be a meteor by the agency.

  According to the New York Post, Prof. Loeb, on the other hand, isn’t having any of it. In a statement issued on Wednesday, he suggested that the item may have been created by extraterrestrials.

  “Our discovery of an interstellar meteor heralds a new research frontier,” the Harvard astronomer wrote in a piece for The Debrief. 

  “The fundamental question is whether any interstellar meteor might indicate a composition that is unambiguously artificial in origin. Better still, perhaps some technological components would survive the impact.”

  After spending decades researching astronomy, Prof. Loeb has lately turned his attention to the possibility that life exists somewhere other than Earth. Severe criticism has been leveled at him by others in his field for his alien theories, which have garnered widespread attention.

  Prof. Loeb, while working with a Harvard student, was the astronomer who, a few years ago, determined that the object was interstellar. After doing their investigation, the duo wrote a paper about it, but they were told not to publish it since they had utilized classified government data.

  Following the confirmation of their suspicion by the USSC on April 7, Loeb has called for an expedition to locate whatever is left of the interstellar object.

  According to the Post, It was highlighted in his article that a recovery trip may be accomplished by utilizing “scooping” magnets to examine the 10 square kilometer area of the Pacific Ocean where the item is believed to have landed.

  “My dream is to press some buttons on a functional piece of equipment that was manufactured outside of Earth,” Loeb says.

  Prof. Loeb has said on several occasions that Oumuamua – an interstellar object that raced past the Solar System in 2017 – was technology sent by extraterrestrials, which we wrote about in The Mind Unleashed here.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 21:00

• FBI May Have Made Off With $500 Million In Lost Civil War Gold, Treasure Hunter Group Alleges
  FBI May Have Made Off With $500 Million In Lost Civil War Gold, Treasure Hunter Group Alleges

  A group of treasure hunters is suing the Department of Justice over “several tons of buried Civil War-era gold” that they claim the FBI may have found and made off with. The haul was supposedly lost or stolen during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, according to local lore.

  The group is called Finders Keepers – and they they wrote in a court filing last week that the FBI has failed to turn over records on its search for the gold. Previously, these records were said to have included 17 videos, but the government is now claiming only 4 such videos exist. 

  The FBI took place in a March 2018 dig at the supposed site of the gold, but claims they came up with nothing.

  Anne Weismann, Finders Keepers’ lawyer, told CBS: “This raises the obvious question of whether videotapes were destroyed in the interim.” Weismann is trying to have a court order the FBI to explain the discrepancy in videos. 

  

  A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. declined to comment to CBS.

  Weissman wrote: “Its behavior points to one conclusion: The FBI does not want to acknowledge publicly or to plaintiff that it located gold at the Dent’s Run site in March 2018.”

  Finders Keepers has been claiming that the FBI has acted suspiciously about the dig for the last four years. The group is trying to find the videos, which Weismann believes “would confirm the truth or falsity of this claim”.

  The DOJ says they can turn over records starting at the end of May, in monthly tranches of 500 pages. The DOJ says there is a total of 2,400 pages of records and 1,000 photos regarding the March 2018 dig. 

  The 1863 shipment of Union gold that was supposedly lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia has been investigated by Finders Keepers for years. The treasure hunters said they “led the FBI to a remote site 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh where they say their instruments detected a large hunk of metal”.

  According to the CBS report, the FBI’s contractor said they detected a “9-ton metallic mass suggestive of gold”.

  Finders Keepers accompanied the FBI on their dig but said they were confined to their car during the process. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 20:40

• Airlines Offering Refunds To Passengers Concerned About Flying With Unmasked Travelers
  Airlines Offering Refunds To Passengers Concerned About Flying With Unmasked Travelers

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Airline passengers who are concerned about flying alongside unmasked people will now be offered refunds, among other things, after a federal judge last week struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) mask mandate on public transport.

  

  United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told the “TODAY” show on April 21 that the airline will be flexible with customers who are immunocompromised and who do not want to fly alongside passengers who are not wearing face coverings.

  “All of our customers should feel free to wear a mask and many of them are,” Kirby said. “For customers like that, that are immunocompromised or that have other concerns or issues … we are working with those customers if they really don’t want to fly to find them another option, give them a credit, or if they just don’t ever want to fly again, [we are] actually willing to give them a refund.”

  A United spokesman told The Associated Press that customers, except those on the lowest-priced “basic economy” fares are able to delay their travel plans for any reason without having to pay an extra fee. The spokesman added that passengers with special circumstances should call the airline’s customer service number.

  Meanwhile, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told AP that while his company hasn’t yet seen many refund requests following the mask mandate removal, it is assessing its policies and asking passengers to contact the airline’s reservations office, adding that, “we will make sure that we accommodate them in an appropriate fashion.”

  

  An American Airlines spokeswoman pointed to the airline’s policy which allows refunds for refundable tickets and credit for the value of unused non-refundable tickets. But customers who have purchased a less pricey “basic economy” ticket since April 1 will not be entitled to a refund or ticket change, the spokeswoman explained.

  A Delta Air Lines spokesman said customers who want to cancel their upcoming trip in light of the mask mandate removal need to get in touch with the airline, noting that decisions on how to handle these requests will be made on a case-by-case basis.

  Elsewhere, Alaska Airlines said in a statement that it respects customers’ decision to continue wearing masks onboard flights.

  The flight carrier said it would “work with guests on a case-by-case basis if they’re not comfortable flying,” according to Simple Flying, while Southwest Airlines will continue to allow all passengers to cancel tickets and receive flight credit instead.

  The move by airlines comes after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled on April 18 that the CDC failed to justify its decision to impose the mandate and had exceeded its authority.

  It also, inappropriately, did not seek public comment before imposing the order, Mizelle said, noting that public comment, in this case, is necessary because the mandate would “constrain their choices and actions via threats and civil and criminal penalties.”

  The Justice Department announced on April 20 that it is appealing the ruling.

  Elsewhere during Kirby’s interview with “TODAY,” the United CEO pointed to HEPA filters onboard flights that remove around 99.97 percent of particles in the air, noting that a plane is “literally one of the safest places you can be.”

  Kirby added that he believes mask mandates on flights will be unlikely to come back anytime soon, saying that the Justice Department’s appeal “is mostly about jurisdiction.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 20:20

• Japan To Spend Billions To "Ease Inflationary Pain" Caused By Spending Billions
  Japan To Spend Billions To “Ease Inflationary Pain” Caused By Spending Billions

  How stupid are today’s monetary and fiscal policies (and not just the batshit insanity that is Helicopter money, a/k/a MMT?) So stupid that in Japan, the government is about to spend billions to “ease inflation pain” that is the result of… spending billions.

  According to the Nikkei, Japan plans to spend 6.2 trillion yen ($48.2 billion) on – get this – gasoline subsidies, low-interest loans and cash assistance “to alleviate the pain of consumers and small businesses facing rising prices”, which were caused by, well, massive government spending.

  

  The government frames the economic package, to be compiled as early as Tuesday, as comprehensive relief measures. But critics – at least those who refuse or fail to see the real monetary elephant in the room – see them as a short-term remedy, especially as other countries tackle more fundamental changes on energy and other key economic factors in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

  To pay for the package, the government will request 2.7 trillion yen under a supplementary fiscal 2022 budget to be drafted by the end of the current parliamentary session. It will secure another 1.5 trillion yen from its reserve funds. Together with private-sector contributions, the entire package is expected to total 13.2 trillion yen.

  The largest portion of the government’s spending – 1.5 trillion yen – will fund the response to surging crude oil prices. To limit the increase in gasoline prices, the government will raise its maximum subsidy to oil distributors to 35 yen per liter from 25 yen and extend the program until the end of September.

  The new package includes around 2 trillion yen in measures that were already planned and budgeted for, including efforts to boost the profile of tourist destinations. According to the Nikkei, there is concern that they include ones that have little to do with inflation but apparently not enough concern that the “solution” to the inflationary problem will lead to even more inflation.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 20:00

• The Real Victim Of Shanghai's COVID Lockdown? Intra-Asia Trade Pipeline
  The Real Victim Of Shanghai’s COVID Lockdown? Intra-Asia Trade Pipeline

  By Lori Ann LaRocco of FreightWaves

  The slothlike trade moving out of Shanghai has created a short supply of raw materials traveling on the all-important intra-Asia trade route. Countries that make up this trade pipe — Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Cambodia — have factories waiting on crucial raw materials needed to finish goods ranging from apparel and footwear to furniture.

  This pipeline saw an expansion in the trade as more American importers diversified their manufacturing out of China as a way to work around the China tariffs. 

  But what this pandemic has revealed is even with this “manufacturing diversification,”  the dependency on China has never been fully severed. Major raw materials such as jute, cotton, silk, wool and manmade fibers used by the textile and apparel industry are sourced in China. 

  These raw materials are components in yarns, fabrics, fasteners, threads, pockets, shoulder pads and waistbands. In addition, trimmings (buttons, zippers, etc.), leather and rubber soles (for shoes) are made in China and transported to intra-Asian factories. 

  Thus, if a box of zippers is on the floor of a closed Chinese manufacturing plant or a part of the “lucky” 666 and a truck can’t pick up that box due to restrictions, the consumer is out of luck.

  “We fear that the Shanghai lockdown is impacting the intra-Asian business more than Asian exports,” said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Xeneta.

  Data details lack of demand

  Data from Xeneta shows the drop in the short-term contracts of containers on the intra-Asia trade. Pricing is a reflection of demand — or in this case, the lack of demand.

  

  Not only are we worried about slowdowns in major production centers and at the world’s busiest ports, we are worried about the impact of lockdowns on the movement of both materials and finished products between China and other key Asian supplier countries,” said Nate Herman, senior vice president, policy, American Apparel & Footwear Association.

  In addition to critical finishing products, chemicals are transported. Jeremy Pafford, head of North America, market development, Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, tells American Shipper one example is the chemical material used in making clothes is polyester yarn. 

  “Because of the shutdowns, polyester yarn inventories in China have surged as factories that would use the yarn have shut down,” Pafford said. “That has helped pressure regional prices downward up to 10% in some regions and sets up a need for polyester yarn producers to lower operating rates if more textile factories don’t reopen soon.”

  Pafford said because China is the chemical manufacturing hub of Asia, the shutdowns have direct effects on producers and buyers in adjacent regions.

  “These shutdowns bring a loss of demand and lower chemical prices regionally at a time when upstream costs for feedstock crude oil and natural gas are high,” he said. “Producers in the supply chain are facing pressures.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 19:40

• GM To Produce "Electrified Corvette" Next Year 
  GM To Produce “Electrified Corvette” Next Year 

  General Motors President Mark Reuss disclosed to CNBC’s Phil LeBeau that an electrified Chevrolet Corvette will be produced in 2023. 

  The Chevrolet Corvette, also known as the ‘Vette,’ is an iconic American sports car with over 60 years of production and eight design generations. Reuss said the automaker would make two versions, one that is electrified and the other that has an internal combustion engine. 

  

  He didn’t give specifics when the all-electric Corvette would be released. 

  “We will have an electrified Corvette next year. It’s coming very quick,” Reuss told LeBeau during an interview on “Squawk Box.”

  $GM will sell an electric version of the Corvette. ⁦@GMdudeinNA⁩ President Mark Reuss says it’s time to add an electric ‘vette to the stable. Timing on fully electric ‘vette TBD. And yes, ⁦@GM⁩ will continue selling internal combustion engine versions as well. pic.twitter.com/oi0T4jkept

  — Phil LeBeau (@Lebeaucarnews) April 25, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  General Motors continues its push into EVs. The company confirmed earlier this year that a $30,000 Equinox EV and a Blazer EV would arrive in 2023. The Hummer EV is scheduled for launch in the fall.

  EVs have been growing in popularity, yet production could be hampered due to a shortage of lithium and other essential industrial metals for battery-making. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 19:20

• Censorship And Propaganda Threatens Our Freedom
  Censorship And Propaganda Threatens Our Freedom

  Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

  Censorship is in many ways a reverse form of propaganda. It is not a mistake or oversight that many mainstream media outlets give their audience little ability to give feedback. They go out of their way to avoid anything that might dispute their narrative. While it could be argued the lack of a comment area or feature linked to an online format is often just an omission it could be something more and far more sinister. The lack of debate on whether America should be involved in the current dispute in Ukraine highlights how propaganda can dictate policy.

  

  They Don’t Want Your Opinion

  Propaganda tends to become a self-feeding loop that plays a huge role in shaping public opinions. The lack of a feedback loop is a tool to reinforce the idea there is no objection or criticism of the article or statement and everyone accepts its conclusions. I contend the subtle omission of a comment section online is often to quell dissenting voices and not because it simplifies the format.

  The definition of censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such views or material have been deemed objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or “inconvenient”. Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, or corporations. This does include mainstream media. 

  Censorship has a huge role in driving the fear of speaking out. By its nature censorship often implies those being silenced are trying to say something very wrong. I consider censorship and mainstream media’s role in it as part of the self-feeding propaganda loop that plays such a huge role in shaping public opinion.  This tends to result in those in the leadership positions that control the media slowly hacking away at the constitutional rights of the individual by furthering the idea it is all “for the greater good.“

  The idea of having a press that is free to cover the news is linked to the idea it will be fair and such a freedom comes with a degree of responsibility. A common example is how freedom of speech should give someone the right to speak their mind but not scream fire in a crowded theater. This can slip into an argument as to the duty of the media in presenting as unbiased a view of events as possible. This is complicated by the fact many news outlets have moved more towards an entertainment format rather than presenting the cold hard facts and in that regard, sensationalism draws viewers.

  

  Propaganda Shapes Public Opinion!

  Call it what you want, propaganda or fake news, it is more or less the same thing and we are bombarded with it on a daily basis. This will continue to expand in the future considering the many new tools at the disposal of those wishing to both control and deceive us. Already fake news and false flags have left many of us having a difficult time deciding what is real. To make matters worse the rapidly growing ability of computers to generate human images is about to take this to a whole new level as this deceptive and potentially dangerous area of technology starts to become horribly abused. 

  It could be argued, that mainstream media has become a polarizing force that stirs the pot of social unrest. By promoting polarization America’s media has made it impossible for the people to unite and regain any control over Washington. I would not be surprised if those in control are not giddy over this and the problems Facebook has created by playing fast and loose with data from its followers. Facebook by crossing the line and abusing the trust of those with accounts and information posted on  its platform has taken a great deal of pressure off of the mainstream media to do a better job.  

  The sad reality is that “Power To The People” is dead because we, as a people are so divided and unable to agree on anything. Still, even more unsettling is the relationship so many large companies have made with the government. Anyone who doesn’t believe that countries use psychological warfare and propaganda to sway the opinions of people both in and outside of their country is naive. Sadly, this is a huge factor in our deployment of the military and the endless wars that benefit those building the weapons of death.

  

  An Example Of The Lies We Are Fed

  Propaganda is a powerful tool that has resulted in many wars that enrich those who make weapons at the expense of those called upon to give their blood. The fact that behemoth Amazon has intertwined business interests with the CIA, NSA, and several other “Deep State” government agencies is a monument to our having lost control of the massive part of our government that spies on us and spins the narratives to which we dance. The fact Amazon’s former CEO, Jeff Bezos, also owns the Washington Post, America’s most influential newspaper, should send shivers down the back of those believing in freedom and limited government. Simply put, this has taken propaganda to a whole new level and unleashed a force that none of our institutions can resist.

  Today many people get the majority of their news over the internet. While this has made a huge difference in how news is distributed and how we receive the news, the reality is that much of the content remains controlled by a few strong players that are driven by an agenda of self-interest. It could be argued that the media has a moral obligation to provide more of a “public forum” if they want the right to call themselves “free and balanced” but if anything the noose is slowly tightening around those wishing for such a voice. Banning certain ideas and speech only tightens governments’ ability to control the masses.

  Many of us out beyond the beltway in the backwaters and wilds of America have grown to feel the media has a casual relationship with the truth. In many ways, the media controlled by a few power brokers has become viewed more as a tool of the establishment than the protector of the people and defender of our rights. America’s forefathers never intended such unholy forces to guide our opinions. This could explain why the press is often held in such low esteem by the very public that relies on them for information. Coverage filled with subtle digs or comments and even subliminal messages taints the premise media is fair. During interviews, we often get an opportunity to witness examples of just how badly you can treat a guest invited to answer questions when they resist the narrative being pushed. 

  This often results in over-the-top efforts to put words in someone’s mouth and take statements out of context. These words are then spun in the most harmful ways. If the guest represents views differing from the interviewer what we often see is an ambush. If a guest is favored or their views are endorsed it is often as though they had written the softball questions asked of them or as if they had been given the questions in advance or controlled the interview. All this can then be backed up by a series of scripted statements that all loop back around to support a hard or subliminal message.

  With the biased coverage of current events being very common, it is little wonder that Americans question the honesty of the media whose ranks appear to have become filled with opportunists and bums dressed as a journalist. The fact is we often don’t agree with everything we view or read so “implied agreement” is not valid. Even including a simple thumbs up or down box at the end of an article would at least give readers a place to weigh in. Next time you are boiling mad or disagree with how an article is characterizing an event I urge you to take the time to see if the source has provided you with an opportunity to present your view. I would not be surprised if they have not.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 19:00

• "You Are Throwing Me Under The Bus" – Musk Rages At Saudi Wealth Fund Head In Tweets Exposed By 'Funding Secured' Lawsuit
  “You Are Throwing Me Under The Bus” – Musk Rages At Saudi Wealth Fund Head In Tweets Exposed By ‘Funding Secured’ Lawsuit

  In the latest batch of private communications belonging to Elon Musk revealed in recent days, a court filing exposed text messages between Tesla’s CEO and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, showcasing Musk berating him for failing to confirm his story about whether they had actually discussed taking Tesla private.

  Musk is presently being sued by Tesla shareholders who claim that he defrauded them with his now infamous “funding secured” tweet sent in August 2018.

  The exact communications between Musk and Al-Rumayyan are quoted deep in the court filing, which stretches to more than 120 pages, and which landed on Friday. It contains a large trove of Musk’s texts, but the main ones being quoted by the press involve his conversation PIF, where he berates Al-Rumayyan for not supporting his claim that the PIF had discussed taking Tesla private. According to details fleshed out in the filing, while the PIF did express some interest during a meeting between the two sides, they never got into specifics.

  When representatives of the fund refused to confirm Musk’s version of events to Bloomberg News, Musk was furious, and he let his displeasure be known in a text where he cited the article and accused the Al-Rumayyan of “throwing me under the bus”.

  Here are a few key excerpts from Musk’s from the filing:

  • “I read the article. It is weak sauce and still makes me sound like a liar. It is filled with equivocation and in no way indicates the strong interest you conveyed in person,” Musk texted, the documents show.
  • “I will not work with an organization who’s [sic] public statement to the media do not match their private statements to me and my team.”
  • “You are throwing me under the bus,” he added late.
  • “You said that you were the decision-maker for PIF, that you had wanted to do the Tesla take private deal for two years, and that this was supported directly by the Crown Prince.”
  • “You said you were definitely interested in taking Tesla private and had wanted to do so since 2016…I’m sorry, but we cannot work together.”

  In various responses, Al-Rumayyan texted back that he couldn’t commit to a deal because the fund hadn’t seen any specifics (one of which allegedly mentioned by the fund was Tesla building out production capacity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in line with the Crown Prince’s initiative to diversify its economy. 

  After Musk declared that Tesla and the PIF couldn’t work together, Al-Rumayyan responded: “It’s up to you Elon.”

  When one twitter account aggregated some of the quoted texts, Musk again insisted that his version of events was correct, as he had during a Ted Talk earlier this month where he insisted that “funding was indeed secured” and that he had settled with the SEC only after being backed into a corner.

  The head of Saudi PIF committed unequivocally to take Tesla private with me, as witnessed by the Tesla CFO and several others. That is why I said funding was secured.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

  Musk abandoned his push to take the company private later in the month, writing eventually that the better path would be for Tesla to remain public.

  Perhaps the biggest irony here is that PIF dumped the vast majority of its Tesla holdings in 2020, missing out on the stocks stellar post-pandemic performance.

  Amusingly, the SEC argued in court just last month that Musk shouldn’t be let out of his infamous “twitter sitter” consent decree, which (at least in theory) required that somebody review his tweets before he would be allowed to publish them.

  Readers can find the full document (coming in at more than 120 pages) below:

  gov.uscourts.cand.330489.403.0 by Joseph Adinolfi on Scribd

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 18:40

• Scientists Discover Heart Inflammation More Prevalent Among Vaccinated Than Unvaccinated: Study
  Scientists Discover Heart Inflammation More Prevalent Among Vaccinated Than Unvaccinated: Study

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Heart inflammation requiring hospital care was more common among people who received COVID-19 vaccines than those who did not, according to a new study of tens of millions of Europeans.

  

  Rates of myocarditis or pericarditis, two types of heart inflammation, are above the levels in an unvaccinated cohort, pegged at 38 per 100,000 after receipt of a second dose of a vaccine built on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in males aged 16 to 24—the group studies have shown are most at risk of the post-vaccination condition—researchers with health agencies in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway found.

  “These extra cases among men aged 16–24 correspond to a 5 times increased risk after Comirnaty and 15 times increased risk after Spikevax compared to unvaccinated,” Dr. Rickard Ljung, a professor and physician at the Swedish Medical Products Agency and one of the principal investigators of the study, told The Epoch Times in an email.

  Comirnaty is the brand name for Pfizer’s vaccine while Spikevax is the brand name for Moderna’s jab.

  Rates were also higher among the age group for those who received any dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, both of which utilize mRNA technology. And rates were elevated among vaccinated males of all ages after the first or second dose, except for the first dose of Moderna’s shot for those 40 or older, and females 12- to 15-years-old.

  Researchers pulled data from national health registers, analyzing 23.1 million people aged 12 or older. The analysis was of data from Dec. 27, 2020, to incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis, or the end of the study time period, which was Oct. 5, 2021.

  “The risks of myocarditis and pericarditis were highest within the first 7 days of being vaccinated, were increased for all combinations of mRNA vaccines, and were more pronounced after the second dose,” researchers wrote in the study, which was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association following peer review.

  Moderna and Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment.

  Some previous studies have indicated that the risk of heart inflammation is higher from the companies’ vaccines, or certain doses of the vaccines, than from COVID-19 itself.

  Others have concluded the opposite, including a recent non-peer-reviewed study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though that is one of the papers that has estimated a higher rate of post-vaccination heart inflammation.

  Authorities in the United States and many European countries continue recommending vaccination for virtually every eligible person, regardless of age, health condition, or prior infection.

  The Nordic countries, however, halted use of Moderna’s vaccine in 2021 for youth and young adults due to concerns over post-vaccination heart inflammation.

  Ljung said he could not answer whether the results mean some people should consider only a single dose, or no doses, of a COVID-19 vaccine because the Swedish Medical Products Agency doesn’t give those types of recommendations.

  In a press release promoting the study, researchers said that occurrence of the heart inflammation is “very rare” and claimed that “the benefits of these vaccines to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 and death outweigh the risks of side effects.”

  Dr. Peter McCullough, the chief medical adviser for the Truth for Health Foundation and a cardiologist who is seeing patients with post-vaccination heart inflammation, disagreed.

  “In cardiology we spend our entire career trying to save every bit of heart muscle. We put in stents, we do heart catheterization, we do stress tests, we do CT angiograms. The whole game of cardiology is to preserve heart muscle,” McCullough told The Epoch Times. “Under no circumstances would we accept a vaccine that causes even one person to stay sustain heart damage. Not one. And this idea that ‘oh, we’re going to ask a large number of people to sustain heart damage for some other theoretical benefit for a viral infection,’ which for most is less than a common cold, is untenable. The benefits of the vaccines in no way outweigh the risks.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 18:20

• Over $13 Million In 'Bored Ape' NFTs Stolen By Hackers
  Over $13 Million In ‘Bored Ape’ NFTs Stolen By Hackers

  Millions in ‘Bored Ape’ NFTs were stolen after hackers breached the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project, then advertised a fake distribution of NFTs known as an ‘airdrop’ – which tricked users into clicking a malicious link that gave control over their wallets to the hackers, according to CoinDesk.

  

  “There is no mint going on today. It looks like BAYC Instagram was hacked. Do not mint anything, click links or link your wallet to anything,” the NFT project tweeted.

  🚨There is no mint going on today. It looks like BAYC Instagram was hacked. Do not mint anything, click links, or link your wallet to anything.

  — Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) April 25, 2022

  The stolen NFTs include several pieces from Yuga Labs, the firm behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

  According to CoinDesk, the value 54 of the NFTs scammed (24 Bored Apes and 30 Mutant Apes) is around $13.7 million.

  “The hacker posted a fraudulent link to a copycat of the Bored Ape Yacht Club website, where a safeTransferFrom attack asked users to connect their MetaMask to the scammer’s wallet in order to participate in a fake Airdrop,” said a spokesperson. “At 9:53am ET, we alerted our community, removed all links to Instagram from our platforms and attempted to recover the hacked Instagram account.”

  The company added that it’s investigating how the account was compromised.

   

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/25/2022 – 18:00

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