May 29

Today’s News 29th May 2022

  • Red Flag Laws And Unintended Consequences
    Red Flag Laws And Unintended Consequences

    Commentary by Nikki Goeser & Thomas Massie via RealClear Politics,

    The senseless murder of 19 children and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is leading to calls for more gun control. To some, “red flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders, seem like the obvious solution. These laws allow judges to seize a person’s guns without a trial, based solely on a written complaint that the person might be a danger to themselves or others. All a judge needs is “reasonable suspicion.”

    “We know that we can show we can be united to protect our children,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, a famously moderate West Virginia Democrat.

    We also care about children, but much better laws are already in place. We are concerned that red flag laws will cause more harm than good.

    Democratic politicians’ support for red flag is almost universal, but the Washington Times reports that some Republican senators are now warming up to such legislation. “For people who threatened harm to themselves or somebody else, you could only go through law enforcement, and you had to go through the courts, and it wasn’t permanent,” explained Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who signed a red flag bill while governor of Florida. 

    It has always been possible to take a dangerous person’s guns away. All 50 states and the federal government have involuntary commitment laws that go by various names: the Baker Act in Florida, for example, or the 5150 code in California. They all require a mental health expert to testify before a judge, but hearings can occur quickly in urgent cases. If those facing a hearing can’t afford a lawyer, the judge provides them with one. Judges have a lot of flexibility when ruling. For instance, if the person on trial does not agree to voluntary psychiatric treatment, they may be committed involuntarily or have their guns confiscated.

    But red flag laws remove all these due process protections. Based only on a written complaint, which could come from a relative, friend, neighbor, or police officer, a judge decides whether to take away a person’s guns. There is no ability to challenge claims or to offer testimony from a mental health care expert. Gun control advocates argue that the person should not even know that the judge may be deciding to take his or her guns. When a hearing finally takes place up to a month later, if the person in question cannot afford an attorney, they will not be provided with one. 

    When faced with the costs for a hearing, which may be up to $10,000, few people find that fighting red flag laws to keep their guns makes sense. Few defendants obtain legal representation, but the courts still overturn a third of the initial orders. The actual error rate is undoubtedly much higher, because many of those wrongly prosecuted don’t have a lawyer.

    People who truly pose a clear danger to themselves or others should be confined to a mental health facility or be required to seek treatment. Laws used to confiscate guns are typically enforced when dealing with suicidal people. However, if someone is suicidal, there are many other ways they may choose to kill themselves. Simply taking away a gun isn’t the answer. 

    A person intent on violence may not even need a gun to inflict mass carnage. Are we going to also take away their cars? Gun control advocates find it much easier to conjure up  new laws without protections than to fine-tune laws already on the books. They find that times of national grieving present an opportunity to push new measures through Congress.

    We worry that red flag laws could actually increase instances of suicide. One of us, Nikki Goeser, watched as a stalker murdered her husband in front of her. As anyone would understand, that loss left her devastated. Despite her grief, however, she was not suicidal. But a well-meaning friend or relative might have raised a complaint, worrying that she was depressed and had a gun. With a stalker having just murdered her husband, taking away her ability to protect herself from stalkers would have left her feeling even more vulnerable.

    Under Baker Act statutes, she would have had a chance to explain her concerns to the mental health care experts. If that didn’t work, she would have still had a hearing with a lawyer and been given the opportunity to explain her situation to the judge. 

    Simply talking to other people about your depression can be important in overcoming it. But with red flag laws in place, people may have been reluctant to discuss their mental state with others. Police officers also often experience work-related depression. They may bottle up their feelings for fear of losing their guns, and thus their jobs. 

    We don’t want a world where police make unannounced predawn raids or people lose their fundamental right to self-defense without a judicial hearing. For some, it’s a matter of life and death.

    *  *  *

    Nikki Goeser is the executive director for the Crime Prevention Research Center.

    Thomas Massie is a Republican member of the House who has represented Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District since 2012 and is co-chairman of the Second Amendment Caucus.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 23:30

  • Army Replenishing Stinger Missiles In $687M Deal As Raytheon's Ukraine Cash Bonanza Continues
    Army Replenishing Stinger Missiles In $687M Deal As Raytheon’s Ukraine Cash Bonanza Continues

    Precisely one month ago we highlighted that amid the frenzy to handover Pentagon weapons to Ukraine’s forces ostensibly in order to stave off the Russian onslaught, Raytheon Technologies Corporation warned of depleting supplies and thus near-term future production delays for some vital weapons systems, notably the Army’s famed Stinger should-fired missile system.

    Robert Spingarn from Melius Research asked Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes at the time: “Will the Army replace the current 1,400 stingers that were sent to Ukraine?” Hayes replied Raytheon is “currently producing stingers for an international customer, but we have a very limited stock of material for stinger production.” 

    Like with everything related to the ease with which Congress and the administration shovels taxpayer money overseas, the Pentagon has apparently come up with a solution… in the form of more, more, more taxpayer money. “The U.S. Army has signed a deal to buy $687 million worth of anti-air Stinger missiles to replenish stocks sent to Ukraine, sources said on Friday,” Reuters reports.

    Image: Associated Press

    The Stingers are in “hot demand” we are told: “The shoulder-fired anti-aircraft Stinger missiles made by Raytheon Technologies were in hot demand in Ukraine, where they have successfully stopped Russian assaults from the air, and in neighboring European countries who fear they may also need to beat back Russian forces,” writes Reuters further.

    Again, late last month it was one of the DoD’s biggest contractors that “alerted” the Pentagon that it needs to do some urgent replentishing.

    Raytheon’s Hayes had described that “DoD hasn’t bought a stinger in about 18 years. And some of the components are no longer commercially available, and so we’re going to have to go out and redesign some of the electronics in the missile of the seeker head.”

    Hayes said it’s “going to take us a little bit of time” to ramp up production and doesn’t expect DoD to place large replenishment orders for stingers until 2023 or 2024. 

    Within the opening three months of Russia’s invasion, the US has sent at least than1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. With stingers in limited production, this could be problematic for the West if the conflict in Ukraine broadens. 

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    The Army recently sent out a request for a next-generation infrared homing surface-to-air missile with plans to award a contract in the 2Q23, though the new missiles won’t be fielded until 2028.  

    The Russians have meanwhile warned that any foreign weapons system that targets Russian assets in Ukraine will mark a severe escalation, for which Moscow will hold the foreign country sending the weapons responsible.

    Meanwhile, where it’s all headed… military-industrial complex stays mega-rich, while American people see their savings plummet and devalued:

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 23:00

  • Victor Davis Hanson: A Cabinency Of Dunces
    Victor Davis Hanson: A Cabinency Of Dunces

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

    As the nation sinks inexplicably into self-created crisis after crisis, debate rages whether President Joe Biden is incompetent, mean-spirited, or an ideologue who feels the country’s mess is his success…

    A second national discussion revolves around who actually is overseeing the current national catastrophe, given Biden’s frequent bewilderment and cognitive challenges.

    But one area of agreement is the sheer craziness of Biden’s cabinet appointments, who have translated his incoherent ideology into catastrophic governance.

    Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has essentially nullified federal immigration law. Over 2 million foreign nationals have illegally crossed the southern border without audit — and without COVID vaccinations and tests during a pandemic.

    Mayorkas either cannot or will not follow federal law.

    But he did create a new Disinformation Governance Board. To head his new Orwellian Ministry of Truth, he appointed Nina Jankowicz — an arch disinformationist who helped peddle the Russian collusion, Steele dossier, and Alfa Bank hoaxes.

    While Jankowicz’s adolescent videos and past tweets finally forced her resignation, Mayorkas promises his board will carry on.

    In the days before the recent Virginia election, grassroots parent groups challenged critical race theory taught in the schools.

    In reaction and under prompts from teachers’ unions, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed both the FBI and the Justice Department to establish a special task force apparently to “investigate threats” from parents against school board members.

    The FBI recently has been knee-deep in political controversies. It illegally doctored a FISA application to entrap an American citizen. Its former directors, under oath before Congress, either claimed faulty memory or admitted lying to federal investigators.

    The last thing a scandal-plagued FBI needed was to go undercover at school board meetings to investigate parents worried over their children’s education.

    We are in a fuel price spiral that is destroying the middle class.

    Yet when Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was asked about plans to lower gas prices, she laughed off the idea as “hilarious.”

    Later Granholm preposterously claimed, “It is not the administration policies that have affected supply and demand.”

    Apparently haranguing those who finance fossil fuel production, canceling the Keystone Pipeline, suspending new federal oil and gas leases, and stopping production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge all had nothing to do with high fuel prices.

    Currently, supply chain disruptions are paralyzing the U.S. economy.

    The huge Port of Los Angeles has been a mess for over a year. Since last fall dozens of cargo ships have been backed up to the horizon. Thousands of trucks are bottlenecked at the port.

    During the mess, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was not at work. Instead at the height of the crisis, he took a two-month paternity leave to help out his husband and two newborn babies.

    Such paternal concern is a noble thing. But Buttigieg is supposed to ensure that life-or-death supplies reach millions of strapped Americans.

    This winter, trains entering and leaving Los Angeles were routinely looted in the Old-West style of train robbing — without much of a response from Buttigieg’s transportation bureau.

    In Senate testimony Secretary of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland refused to explain why her department is slow walking federal oil and gas leases at a time when Americans are paying between $5 and $6 a gallon for gas.

    Haaland was unable to provide simple answers about when new leases will result in more supplies of oil and gas. Her panicked aides slid talking points to her — given that in deer-in-the-headlights fashion, she seemed incapable of providing senators with basic information about U.S. energy production on federal lands.

    The United States is sending many billions of dollars worth of sophisticated weapons to Ukraine to combat Russian aggression. We rightly claim it is not a proxy war against Russia but instead an effort to help stop a brutal Russian invasion.

    Why then did Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tell the world the very opposite in a fashion that could only convince Russians that our real aim in Ukraine is to destroy Russia as a superpower?

    As Austin put it publicly, “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

    Even if that description of the agenda is true, why broadcast it — given Russia has over 6,000 nuclear weapons and its President Vladimir Putin is increasingly erratic and paranoid?

    The common denominator to these Biden appointees is ideological rigidity, nonchalance, and sheer incompetence.

    They seem indifferent to the current border, inflation, energy, and crime disasters. When confronted, they are unable to answer simple questions from Congress, or they mock anyone asking for answers on behalf of the strapped American people.

    We don’t know why or how such an unimpressive cadre ended up running the government, only that they are here and the American people are suffering from their presence.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 22:30

  • Geologists To Crack Open 830-Million-Year-Old Crystal With Potential Life Inside
    Geologists To Crack Open 830-Million-Year-Old Crystal With Potential Life Inside

    Geologists plan to crack open an 830-million-year-old crystal that may have ancient living microorganisms inside. 

    Scientist from the Geological Society of America first published their findings on the rock salt crystal in the journal Geology earlier this month. They say organic solids are floating inside the rock salt, also known as halite, and the organic matter appears to be cells of prokaryotes and algae.

    “This discovery shows that microorganisms from saline depositional environments can remain well preserved in halite for hundreds of millions of years and can be detected in situ with optical methods alone. This study has implications for the search for life in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial chemical sedimentary rocks, “the study read.

    Kathy Benison, a geologist from West Virginia University, told NPR her team is about to open the crystal to confirm whether the organic objects are still alive. 

    “There are little cubes of the original liquid from which that salt grew. And the surprise for us is that we also saw shapes that are consistent with what we would expect from microorganisms. And they could be still surviving within that 830-million-year-old preserved microhabitat,” Benison said. 

    She said there’s “a lot of detailed work going on for years to figure out how” to bring microorganisms that are hundreds of millions of years old back into the modern world “in the safest possible way.” 

    Bonnie Baxter, a biologist at Westminster College in Salt Lake City who didn’t participate in the study, said Benison’s team could find evidence of alien life from nearly one billion years ago. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 22:00

  • Texas Moms Demand Revision Of Textbook That Encourages Withholding Info From Parents
    Texas Moms Demand Revision Of Textbook That Encourages Withholding Info From Parents

    Authord by Juliette Fairley via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A parental rights watchdog is calling on the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) to redact an online curriculum that it believes encourages withholding information from parents about their child’s mental and physical health.

    High school students pick up textbooks on Aug. 13, 2020. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

    In an email sent to a board member about language included in textbook publisher Goodheart-Willcox’s instructional material, Moms for Liberty alleges that it undermines a parent’s ability to access health information about their child.

    The Epoch Times reviewed a copy of the email and the portion of the textbook in question.

    “Goodheart now does not comply with the law,” wrote Mary Lowe, chair of the Tarrant County Moms for Liberty chapter, on May 18 to Pat Hardy, a Republican who has served on the board for some 20 years.

    Lowe included in her email an excerpt from Goodheart-Willcox’s Health Instructional Material for High School, which allegedly states, “People who provide mental health treatment are required by professional ethics to maintain confidentiality. This means the info you share will not be shared with anyone else, including your family members, school, or even a doctor.

    “This confidentiality helps people feel comfortable sharing private information with a mental health professional. Confidentiality can only be broken if people express intent to harm themself or others, or report abuse or neglect that is currently occurring.”

    Goodheart-Willcox did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    “It’s divisive of a family and it does not allow the family to parent their child,” Lowe told The Epoch Times.

    “There are a multitude of things they could be concealing. Certainly, sexual identity grooming can be going on, but even religious and cult grooming can be happening in these conversations.

    “There are numerous other accounts across Texas where school counselors have taken girls for abortion and not let the parents know.”

    The board included Goodheart-Willcox’s instructional material on its list of recommended textbooks last year and Hardy said in an email that, once approved, publishers cannot change anything on adopted materials without going through the state board.

    However, the board does not have the authority to require Goodheart-Willcox to update its instructional materials, according to Audrey Young, a Republican SBOE member who is vice-chair of the Committee on Instruction.

    “Just because the State Board of Education recommends a book doesn’t mean it has to be the one the school districts adopt,” Young told The Epoch Times.

    “It’s the responsibility of the Student Health Advisory Committees (SHAC) in each school district. That’s who should be making decisions about curriculum and instructional materials.”

    SHAC members are typically parents who work in tandem with the Texas Department of State Health Services to review and oversee the health of students.

    “I can, as a member of the SBOE, request that my chair ask Goodheart-Willcox to further explain what that language means in their publication,” Young added.

    The stakes are high, according to Lee Spiller, executive director of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights Texas, who said not arming parents with information about their child can be dangerous.

    “There are good reasons why parents should be involved,” he said. “We have had to deal with cases where children underwent screenings or other things at school and then there were really bad outcomes like being institutionalized.”

    The controversy over Goodheart-Willcox’s instruction materials has emerged at a time when Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a letter stating that parents have the right to access all educational information about their children, under state and federal law, which includes medical and health information.

    “Title IX does not authorize a school district to withhold medical or health information about a minor child from the child’s parent or legal guardian,” Paxton stated in a May 17 opinion.

    “Parents possess a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their child, and school districts and officials must work with parents in furtherance of the child’s education.”

    Paxton issued the guidance after state Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) requested it on May 5.

    “This ruling clearly created a problem with the Goodheart-Willcox high school textbook in that the textbook says mental health professionals can keep secrets from parents,” Lowe added.

    “We really appreciate Briscoe Cain writing in for the opinion and are glad AG Paxton has corrected some of the false and illegal ideas many of the government schools have been operating under.”

    The Texas Health and Safety Code, however, allows for confidentiality, according to Jonathan Covey, director of policy with Texas Values.

    “One of the limitations is that a professional can determine whether releasing information would be harmful to a patient’s physical, mental, or emotional health and there were even some Texas cases that concluded that a parents’ right to mental health records is restricted in rare circumstances,” he said.

    “The SBOE doesn’t have the authority to amend the Texas Health and Safety Code, but the Texas Legislature does.”

    Neither Cain nor Paxton responded to requests for comment.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 21:30

  • America's Other Shortage Crisis – Human Organs
    America’s Other Shortage Crisis – Human Organs

    A total of 106,090 people were on the waiting list for potentially life saving organ transplants in 2021, according to data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

    As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, kidney transplants took up the lion’s share of these, with 90,483 people awaiting treatment.

    The data reveals the extent of the organ shortage crisis in America right now.

    Infographic: The Organ Shortage Crisis in the U.S. | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    According to the HRSA, 17 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant, and another person is added to the waiting list every nine minutes. While 90 percent of adults support the idea of organ donation, according to an HRSA report, only 60 percent are actually registered as donors.

    The pandemic has exacerbated the shortage crisis in the U.S., with Penn Medical News reporting that the number of recovered organs dropped from more than 110 a day on March 6 in the U.S. to less than 60 per day on April 5. Peter Reese, an associate professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Penn, tells the news site: “Organs from deceased donors represent a time-limited opportunity, as they must be procured and used rapidly. However, in order to protect the safety of their patients, centers must now carefully vet all donors to ensure there is minimal risk of COVID-19.”

    However, despite the ‘shortage crisis’ in America, it is second only to Spain in the world for organ donation rates.

    Infographic: The Global Gulf in Organ Donation Rates | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The Swiss have voted in favor of a new law which would promote an ‘opt-out’ transplant system. Or, in other words, when someone dies, the default will be to donate their organs where possible, unless the person had specifically said otherwise. Relatives can also reject the process if they say the deceased person would not have wanted it. The case raises the question once more of whether countries should enforce an opt-in or an opt-out system, and draws attention to the ongoing organ shortage of past years.

    Data from the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Health Care (EDQM) shows that Spain and the U.S. came out joint top for the highest rates of organ donors in 2020, with 38 deceased donors per million population. In Spain, this high rate is mostly put down to its opt-out system.

    The U.S., however, is perhaps more surprising as it has an opt-in system. In its case, the barrier for registration is relatively low, as in most states, you can register to be a donor when applying for or renewing a driver’s license. This leads onto the grim reality that the biggest source of organ donations are people who have been in fatal vehicle accidents. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, these account for 33 percent of donations. As NPR reports, with fewer people on the roads through the pandemic, that meant fewer transplants.

    Despite the fact that Russia has an opt-out system which presumes consent, its numbers of organ transplants are relatively low.

    According to the Russian Journal of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, this is put down to “human causes” and “poor organization.”

    Meanwhile Turkey has a higher level of organ transplants from living donors, but is at the lower end of the organ transplant gap from the deceased, with only 2 people per million, respectively.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 21:00

  • California Poised To Adopt 'Medical Misinformation Bill' Targeting Alternative COVID-19 Protocols
    California Poised To Adopt ‘Medical Misinformation Bill’ Targeting Alternative COVID-19 Protocols

    Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The California Legislature is poised to pass Assembly Bill 2098, described as a “medical misinformation bill.” If passed, the new law would prohibit doctors from freely providing medical advice and treating their patients if those practices run counter to the official state sanctioned position.

    A doctor holds his stethoscope in this file photo. (Dirk Waem/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)

    In April 2020, the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs, the California State Board of Pharmacy, and the Medical Board of California issued a statement (pdf) regarding the “improper prescribing of medications related to treatment of Novel Coronavirus,” such as hydroxychloroquine, warning that “inappropriately prescribing or dispensing medications constitutes unprofessional conduct in California.”

    On June 29, 2021, the Federation of State Medical Boards issued a warning, stating that “Physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license.”

    In August 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci said there was no evidence that ivermectin works, and that it’s more likely to cause harm. In December 2021, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning headlined, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” In an updated April 29, 2022, report, the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel said it “recommends against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19, except in clinical trials.”

    Should AB 2098 become law, doctors who prescribe medications not approved by the state or who claim unsanctioned drugs are effective would see their licenses revoked and face strict penalties and disciplinary actions by the Medical Board of California.

    In short, AB 2098 would designate the dissemination of information not approved by the state related to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes “COVID-19,” as misinformation or disinformation, which constitutes unprofessional conduct.

    One physician, Dr. Syed Haider, has already been reported to four state medical boards by pharmacists he says “don’t like filling ivermectin prescriptions.” He has also been forced to retain a lawyer to protect his medical license.

    Dr. Syed Haider (Courtesy of Haider)

    Since December 2020—after realizing that the United States had offshored almost all prescription drug manufacturing to unfriendly nations like China—Haider has focused on the prevention and treatment of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus through his online initiative mygotodoc.com, by providing easy online access to off-label prescriptions such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, budesonide, and protocols for COVID, long COVID, and vaccine injuries.

    “There was such a huge demand for it, it just took over my life,” Haider, who used to be “a hospital doctor,” told The Epoch Times. “Then, the pandemic hit.”

    In early February 2020, Haider contracted the CCP virus at a hospital that he was working in. His work as a temporary traveling physician across many different medical practices and hospitals was coming to an end and he thought that, with the pandemic outbreak, there would be plenty of work. However, although he had applied for a position at a hospital in New York, Haider had begun to hear about online prescribing, and he started to work through an unnamed online telemedicine provider in the United States.

    “Once I heard about ivermectin and off-label prescribing, people would show up on the online website looking for help with COVID and I would try to tell them about off-label medications,” Haider recalled. “And they would just give me a blank stare. Aside from hydroxychloroquine, they had never heard about drugs like ivermectin. They thought I was crazy. I think the thought was, ‘If this stuff works, why haven’t I heard about it on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC?”

    According to Haider, what really changed things for him was when he saw the Dec. 8, 2020, testimony of Dr. Pierre Kory (pdf) before Sen. Ron Johnson and the Homeland Security Committee Meeting regarding early treatment of COVID-19, “not only as an individual physician,” but also on behalf of his non-profit organization, the Front-Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance.

    “Although we, like many, are extremely encouraged by the apparent successes in developing effective vaccines,” Kory said, “we also are dismayed at the near complete absence of guidance and research on effective early, at-home, or preventative treatment options apart from vaccines—a reality we find unconscionable.”

    It was “with great pride as well as significant optimism” that Kory reported that his group, “led by Professor Paul E. Marik,” had “developed a highly effective protocol for preventing and early treatment of COVID-19,” and that “emerging publications” had provided “conclusive data on the profound efficacy of the anti-parasite, anti-viral drug, anti-inflammatory agent called ivermectin in all stages of the disease.”

    “It was real clear in his face and in his demeanor that he was really upset and very sincere and it went viral on the internet,” Haider recalled. “Then, people started hearing from family and friends that they had used ivermectin and it made a difference for them, and people went online to find doctors who would prescribe it. At that point, things got very busy and I had to basically start my own website and prescribing it online to patients. Over the next year and a half, things really ramped up. More and more people had begun hearing about ivermectin, so more and more people were looking for it.”

    According to the website, “mygotodoc makes it easy to safeguard you and your family, serving three important needs the wider medical community tends to ignore: (1) emergency antibiotics to have on hand in case disaster strikes and prescription drugs are unavailable, (2) 1-month backup supplies of your regular medication, and (3) safe off-label COVID protocols designed for prevention and treatment.”

    “Myself and other doctors from all over the world have had incredible results with off-label protocols including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, budesonide, and a number of other protocols,” Haider explained. “What you hear over and over again is about the successful treatment of 5,000, 7,000, or 10,000 patients and maybe one death. They are shocking numbers compared to what you’re hearing with conventional treatments the CDC or FDA are recommending and what hospitals and other doctors are doing that are not using off-label protocols.”

    Personally, Haider has treated over 50,000 COVID-related patients, many of them elderly. He said that among his patients, there have been zero deaths and only five hospitalizations. Despite his success, under California’s proposed Bill AB 2098, doctor’s using similar methods would have the state interfere and persecute them for providing independent care.

    “Like a lot of other doctors around the world, I’ve just been trying to raise awareness of this,” Haider explained. “But, like a lot of doctors in America, I’ve gotten letters from the American Medical Association, the Federal State Medical Board warning me that my license is at risk if I speak out about vaccines or if I spread misinformation or if I prescribe ivermectin. I’ve had pushback from pharmacists, insurance companies, from medical boards in multiple states, that have sent me complaints and asked me to explain why I am conducting experimental trials on patients and why I am prescribing ivermectin.”

    Prior to all of this, Haider had worked for over 10 years as a trained hospital physician in internal medicine and had “never had a single complaint from anyone on anything.”

    “So, it was a very strange experience over the past couple of years to see what has happened to medical providers, including pharmacists,” Haider explained. “Pharmacists were pushing back at us because they were getting letters from their pharmacist boards warning them not to dispense it. ”

    According to Haider, dissenting voices have been muzzled and censored from the very onset of the pandemic and they are now being threatened with the loss of their medical licenses. Because of this, Haider has had to retain an attorney.

    “It’s very stressful to have to reply to a medical board,” he explained, adding that it’s a “very opaque process.”

    “You don’t know who is going to see it or review it. You don’t know whether or not they’re friendly to what you are doing or if they disagree with what you are doing, and it’s not like a court of law where you can bring in witnesses in your defense. They just make a decision and sometimes they don’t even explain to you the reason behind it.”

    Worse than that, Haider said his experience felt like they were trying to get doctors like himself to “get tripped up and to say the wrong things” and to incriminate themselves.

    “One of the medical boards accused me of conducting medical experimental trials,” he said. “It’s not like they don’t know I’m prescribing off-label. We do off-label prescribing all the time in medicine. About 40 percent of prescribing is off-label and it doesn’t fall under the classification of ‘experiment.’ It’s not an unauthorized experimental medical trial. But they use that wording to try to get me to defend myself against that attack. If I had foolishly replied to them and tried to defend myself against their terminology, I would have incriminated myself because I can’t run an experiment without having a review board, authorization, and specific consent forms for experimental drug trials.”

    Haider reflected on how during the current shift to vilify ivermectin that “everyone seems to forget that, during the past six months, they had the same problems with prescribing hydroxychloroquine.”

    “I can send a hydroxychloroquine prescription to any pharmacist and they’ll fill it without question,” he said. “But now, they won’t fill ivermectin. It almost seems political rather than medical. It’s not scientific. There’s something else going on and it’s very strange. We can now prescribe things through pharmacies they used to vilify. But because our entire medical establishment has now decided that ivermectin must be killed, pharmacists now have a problem with ivermectin.”

    According to Haider, the purpose of what he described as the “medical misinformation bill” in front of the California Legislature is to prevent doctors from saying things that the state deems to be disinformation. “That,” he said, “begs the question of who decides what is the truth?”

    Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 11, 2022 (Shawn Thew/Getty Images)

    “In any scientific field or endeavor, there is no absolute truth,” he explained, asserting that “Dr. Fauci is not science, like he claims to be.”

    “He does not have the last word on what scientific truth is. We’re always getting closer to the truth, but we have never arrived at a final truth in medicine. So, there always has to be room for debate. Doctors have to be able to take multiple different sides of an argument. So physicians have to be able to hash things out among themselves and to prescribe off-label. You can’t single out one disease and say, ‘This is off limits for the way we’ve conducted medicine for the past 100 years.’ Patients should be able to consult with their physician, discuss treatments and risks, and make decisions without the interference of the government.

    “In nearly every hospital and clinic in the United States right now, it’s considered to be some form of misinformation or disinformation to say anything other than the vaccines are safe and effective,” Haider noted. “To say there are any risks associated with the vaccines is claimed to be misinformation or disinformation, and the working definition of misinformation or disinformation seems to be anything that would prevent someone from submitting to or doubting the FDA and CDC guidelines and recommendations.”

    This bill would affect any doctor licensed in California, including Haider.

    If AB 2098 becomes law, any doctor who prescribes ivermectin—even at the request of their patient—can lose their license to practice medicine in California.

    “Once you lose your license in one state and you have licenses to practice in other states, you have to report that you lost your license in California to every other state you are licensed in, and then every medical board will start asking questions like, ‘Why did you lose your license in California.’ Once the snowball starts rolling, depending on what the medical board thinks about the reasoning behind the loss of your license in California, you can lose all of your licenses.”

    In the wake of the pandemic, Haider noted how the country has been further compromised by unprecedented delays in supply lines. We no longer have domestic manufacturing of almost any medications, including and especially antibiotics. In fact, China has captured over 97 percent of the U.S. market for antibiotics. In the setting of runaway inflation, food shortages, and soaring gas prices, it’s easy to imagine an America where pharmacy shelves are bare, or with limited stock and huge price increases.

    If AB 2098 becomes law, the precedent that would be set is California gets to become the proving grounds for new legislation, not just in medicine, but in everything, Haider said.

    “Once you make this inroad in violation of physician autonomy on how to treat COVID for their patients, that could just be the beginning,” Haider warned. “What about after that? Do you go after a doctor’s ability to prescribe off-label for anything? Do we have to be restricted to what has been FDA approved for any indication? What happens when we don’t have an on-label drug for the treatment of an indication? What then? How do we treat our patients then?”

    The Epoch Times has reached out to California Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Cupertino), sponsor of the Assembly version of the bill, as well as the Medical Board of California.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 20:30

  • 'Privacy' Search Engine DuckDuckGo Smoked Over Hidden Tracking Agreement With Microsoft
    ‘Privacy’ Search Engine DuckDuckGo Smoked Over Hidden Tracking Agreement With Microsoft

    DuckDuckGo, the search engine which claims to offer ‘real privacy’ because it doesn’t track searches or store users’ history, has come under fire after a security researcher discovered that the mobile DuckDuckGo browser app contains a third-party tracker from Microsoft.

    Researcher Zach Edwards found that while Google and Facebook’s trackers are blocked, trackers related to bing.com and linkedin.com were also being allowed through.

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    In response to the revelation, CEO Gabriel Weinberg essentially shrugged – telling BleepingComputer that the company offers “above-and-beyond protection” that other browsers don’t, but that he ‘never promised’ anonymity when browsing.

    “We have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing, because that frankly isn’t possible given how quickly trackers change how they work to evade protections and the tools we currently offer,” he said.

    DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg

    “When most other browsers on the market talk about tracking protection, they are usually referring to 3rd-party cookie protection and fingerprinting protection, and our browsers for iOS, Android, and our new Mac beta, impose these restrictions on third-party tracking scripts, including those from Microsoft. What we’re talking about here is an above-and-beyond protection that most browsers don’t even attempt to do — that is, blocking third-party tracking scripts before they load on 3rd party websites,” he continued.

    “Because we’re doing this where we can, users are still getting significantly more privacy protection with DuckDuckGo than they would using other browsers.”

    In short, DuckDuckGo doesn’t provide the type of privacy they’ve earned a reputation for – they simply betray users the least.

    As TechRadar notes, this didn’t go over well.

    The news quickly drew in crowds of dissatisfied users, with DuckDuckGo founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg, soon chiming in to confirm the authenticity of the findings. 

    Apparently, DuckDuckGo has a search syndication agreement with the software giant from Redmond, with Weinberg adding that the restrictions are only found in the browser, and are not related to the search engine. 

    What remains unknown is why the company who is known for its transparency decided to keep this agreement a secret for as long as it could. -TechRadar

    See Edwards’ entire May 23 Twitter thread below:

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 20:00

  • House Oversight Committee To Probe Gunmakers After Texas School Shooting
    House Oversight Committee To Probe Gunmakers After Texas School Shooting

    Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, has opened an investigation into five U.S. gun manufacturers in the wake of the Texas school shooting.

    Law enforcement personnel guard the scene of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

    Maloney sent letters Friday ahead of a hearing on gun violence on June 8 to Bushmaster Firearms (pdf), Daniel Defense (pdf), Sig Sauer (pdf), Smith and Wesson (pdf), and Ruger (pdf) asking for data on how they make, market, and sell semiautomatic rifles.

    “Our country faces an epidemic of gun violence, which is now the leading cause of death for children in the United States,” Maloney wrote, tying guns made by the five companies to mass shootings of the last two decades.

    “I am deeply concerned that gun manufacturers continue to profit from the sale of weapons of war, including the AR-15-style assault rifle that a white supremacist used to murder ten people last week in Buffalo, New York, and the AR-15-style assault rifle that was reportedly used this week in the massacre of at least 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.”

    Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, on Sept. 23, 2020. (Stefani Reynolds/Pool via Reuters)

    The Democratic lawmaker from New York accused the manufacturers of “reaping a profit from the deaths of innocent Americans” by marketing their guns “to civilians.”

    She asked the companies to reveal their “annual gross revenue and profit” from semiautomatic gun sales since 2012, how much they spend on marketing annually, and how many are sold annually to distributors, retailers, consumers, and government agencies.

    Maloney said the Uvalde gunman who killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School on May 24 used a semiautomatic rifle made by Daniel Defense, which markets firearms on its website under the categories of sports use, personal defense use, and professional arms use.

    She also cited the recent 2022 Buffalo grocery store shooting, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks, among others, as times weapons made by the five manufacturers were linked to mass shootings. 

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    Maloney accused the five gun manufacturers of “aggressively” marketing their products to the public despite “strong public support for an assault-weapon ban.”

    “The Committee respects the rights of law-abiding Americans under the Second Amendment, but that does not excuse irresponsible corporate conduct that fuels deadly gun violence and endangers our children,” she wrote.

    The Epoch Times has contacted Bushmaster Firearms, Daniel Defense, Sig Sauer, Smith and Wesson, and Ruger for comment.

    U.S. gunmaker Remington Arms settled a $73 million lawsuit by the parents of Sandy Hook victims in February. The company argued the shooter was responsible, not the manufacturer. It was the first time a gun manufacturer was held responsible for a shooting.

    Some of the parents of the victims argued that if the company didn’t market their guns to young men, their children would still be alive. Remington had argued it was immune from claims because of the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, but ultimately decided to settle to prevent the case from going to trial.

    Second Amendment supporters gathered across the street from the Colorado State Capital to voice their support for gun ownership in Denver, Colo., on Jan. 9, 2013. (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

    However, proponents of gun rights argue their constitutional right to bear arms without infringement, under the Second Amendment, is an important safeguard from the potential tyranny of government.

    This view was recently supported by the world’s richest man, Telsa and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who said he “strongly” believed in the right.

    “Historically, maintaining their power over the people is why those in power did not allow public ownership of guns,” Musk said in an email to CNBC on May 25.

    In the same email, Musk elaborated that he supports applying “tight background checks” on all gun purchases, and limits on gun sales to people with special circumstances such as “high-risk location, like gang warfare,” reported CNBC.

    Later, on Twitter, he further revealed his thoughts, advocating for “at minimum” a “special permit” to own “assault rifles.”

    Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog, replied to Musk’s posts with what he thinks is the point at issue between gun control activists and those advocating for the right to bear arms.

    “A gun is a gun is a gun when it comes to those commonly available to civilians. ‘Assault rifles’ (as gun opponents have broadly defined) are no more/less deadly than other avail firearms. ‘Assault rifles’ (full automatic fire kind you likely mean) already banned/highly restricted,” Fitton said.

    “In truth, anti-gun activists seek severe restrictions on, and oppose in concept, any individual civilian RIGHT to own ANY firearm, even though it is an inalienable right specifically recognized in the U.S. Constitution under the Second Amendment. This is the debate,” Fitton added.

    Former President Donald Trump on Friday also spoke in support of gun rights, saying the “existence of evil” in the world made it important to arm law-abiding citizens.

    “The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens who know how to use their weapons and can protect a lot of people. The existence of evil is one of the best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens,” Trump said at the National Rifle Association annual convention.

    Gary Bai contributed to this report.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 19:30

  • Should I Be Worried About Monkeypox?
    Should I Be Worried About Monkeypox?

    A World Health Organization (WHO) official urged countries to increase surveillance for Monkyepox infections this week as, according to the latest data from BNO, about 400 confirmed and around 50 suspected cases of the infectious disease have been detected so far outside of the countries where it usually spreads.

    Source: BNO

    As Reuters reports, WHO’s senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said during an online briefing cases have so far been detected in more than 20 non-endemic countries, adding that the agency expected the numbers to go up.

    “We expect more cases to be detected. We are asking countries to increase surveillance… This is a containable situation. It will be difficult, but it’s a containable situation in the non-endemic countries.”

    Health agencies in four U.S. states are now reportedly offering monkeypox vaccines only to at-risk close contacts as a new step in the country’s response.

    The Bavarian Nordic-made Jynneos monkeypox vaccine is currently being offered in a limited scope to those at-risk close contact cases, mostly laboratory and healthcare workers, in Colorado, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, CBS reported.

    “Vaccine is typically only used if we are concerned about a higher risk type of exposure. Not everyone who is assessed as a contact receives vaccine, because we know that monkeypox is not as easily transmissible as other viruses like COVID-19,” said Dr. Julia Murphy, a public health veterinarian for the Virginia Department of Health, in a statement to CBS News.

    So, given all that FUD, should we be worried about Monkeypox?

    PeakProsperity’s Chris Martenson clears up all the confusion and media hype.

    Monkeypox! You know what? It’s absolutely nothing you should worry about from a personal or public health standpoint.

    Even better, there’s no evidence that it has come from a lab – so that’s a huge relief. In this video, I explain all the reasons why it’s not a health concern.

    However, the way it’s been used by the press and health authorities to spin up more fear/anxiety and to reach for quarantine powers is disturbing.

    Just as troubling is that there was another Event-201-like simulation run in spring of 2021 that featured monkeypox as the lab-tweaked pathogenic agent unleashed on the world.

    Man, I hate coincidences.

    At any rate, many of the same disturbing cast of characters sat in or contributed to this exercise as they did for Event 201.

    Moreover, there were a very large number of high-level U.S. government officials involved as well as a bevy of corporate and top-end university players.

    Meanwhile, there seems to be no rush to disclose the sequence of an actual public health concern which is the adenovirus linked to the many severe and even fatal cases of childhood hepatitis. Why is that? We got the sequence of omicron within hours of its discovery, and ditto for monkeypox. Why not the adenovirus associated with these tragic cases of hepatitis?

    One possibility is that the sequence would be embarrassing to someone. Or a whole lot of someones. Or maybe it’s simply too hard to isolate…but the silence is becoming deafening. It is increasingly becoming a sin of omission.

    Watch the video…

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 19:00

  • 'You Go To The Sound Of Gunfire': Retired Active Shooter Trainer And Border Patrol Special Agent
    ‘You Go To The Sound Of Gunfire’: Retired Active Shooter Trainer And Border Patrol Special Agent

    Authored by Charlotte Cuthbertson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Retired Border Patrol special operations agent Jim Volcsko has trained law enforcement officers in active shooter scenarios.

    With weapons drawn during an active-shooter drill, San Diego police Officers search for the shooter on the 14th floor of the Emerald Plaza office building Saturday in downtown San Diego. (Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

    For years he was part of the Border Patrol tactical unit called BORTAC, similar to a SWAT team, in the Uvalde and Del Rio region. His former colleague, an active BORTAC agent, fatally shot the suspect at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24.

    Volcsko said an active shooter is one of the most dangerous situations a law enforcement officer can face and he didn’t want to speculate on the specific situation in Uvalde because he wasn’t there, but spoke to his training.

    “The active shooter training is basically: We show up, and we go. If there’s shots being fired, we go,” Volcsko told The Epoch Times.

    “You go to the sound of gunfire. It’s not a systematic clearing, it’s a direct-to-threat—that’s what it’s called.

    “Somebody’s going to get shot in these scenarios—I mean, that’s the whole point of an active shooter. And when you are a law enforcement officer and your job in that situation is to prevent any more innocent people from being wounded or killed—then you’ve got to go. Hopefully everything turns out OK, but you’ve got to go.”

    Jim Volcsko, retired Border Patrol special operations agent and active shooter trainer, at a ranch near Uvalde, Texas, on May 27, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

    Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters on May 27 that the incident commander, Uvalde school district Chief of Police Pete Arredondo, made the “wrong decision” to not engage Texas mass shooter Salvador Ramos sooner. Eighteen-year-old Ramos ended up killing 19 children and two adults in the worst U.S. school mass shooting in a decade.

    “The on-scene commander at the time believed that it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject,” McCraw said.

    Emergency call records reveal that several children called 911 during the siege and gunfire could be heard in the background of one call.

    A Uvalde school student attends a community prayer evening held the day after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 children and 2 teachers, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

    Volcsko said active shooter and hostage situations require different responses but his training dictates that in the former scenario law enforcement has to find a way in and neutralize the threat.

    “If you’re met by a hail of gunfire, then you’ve got to work your way around and figure out another way. If that means you retreat and port a window and go in, OK. The doors are locked, we can’t get in, we don’t have the tools to get in, well, then we’ve got to break the windows and go in. Driving a squad car through the side of the building—when you have children being massacred inside of a building who gives a [expletive] about a $50,000 squad car? Drive it through the wall.

    “Because every shot that’s fired is somebody either dying or getting wounded. You’ve got to go.”

    Volcsko reiterated that every scenario is different and he wasn’t at the scene in Uvalde.

    “Every building is different. The amount of civilians that are involved is different. The amount of shooters is different. The reason why the shooter is there is different. The amount of firepower the bad guy has, or bad guys have, is different,” he said.

    “As far as I’m concerned, if there was any shooting going on, and there was law enforcement there that failed to act for whatever reason, anybody that was there needs to turn in their badge and their gun, and they need to go away and hope they can live with the deaths of these children. That’s my opinion—not having all the facts.

    “I’m tore up over this. It’s terrible.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 18:30

  • Which Countries Trust Their Government (And Which Ones Don't?)
    Which Countries Trust Their Government (And Which Ones Don’t?)

    In many countries around the world, vast portions of the population do not trust their own government.

    Lack of faith in government and politics is nothing new, but, as Visual Capitalist’s Nick Routley details below, in times of uncertainty, that lack of trust can coalesce into movements that challenge the authority of ruling parties and even threaten the stability of nations.

    This visualization uses data from the Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Monitor to look at how much various populations trust their government and public institutions.

    Tracking Trust in Government

    Since the beginning of the pandemic, global trust in government has improved by eight percentage points, but that is only a small improvement on an otherwise low score.

    At the country level, feelings towards government can vary widely. India, Germany, Netherlands, and Malaysia had the highest government trust levels.

    Many of the countries with the lowest levels of trust were located in Latin America. This makes sense, as trust in politicians in this region is almost non-existent. For example, in Colombia, only 4% of the population consider politicians trustworthy. In Argentina, that figure falls to just 3%.

    Trust in Public Institutions

    Broadly speaking, people trust their public services more than the governments in charge of managing and funding them. This makes sense as civil servants fare much better than politicians and government ministers in trustworthiness.

    As our main chart demonstrates, there is a correlation between faith in government and trust in public institutions. There are clear “high trust” and “low trust” groupings in the countries included in the polling, but there is also a third group that stands out—the countries that have high trust in public institutions, but not in their government. Leading this group is Japan, which has a stark difference in trust between public services and politicians. There are many factors that explain this difference, such as values, corruption levels, and the reliability of public services in various countries.

    While trust scores for government improved slightly during the pandemic, trust in public institutions stayed nearly the same.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 18:00

  • Concerns Over Egg Shortages Grow
    Concerns Over Egg Shortages Grow

    By Allan Stein of The Epoch Times

    Concerns over potential shortages of eggs nationwide are growing due to inflation and supply chain issues made worse by avian flu.

    “Like many sectors of the economy, egg farming is impacted by inflation and experiencing some limited supply chain challenges due to a variety of factors,” the American Egg Board (AEB) said in a May 24 statement in response to an Epoch Times inquiry.

    Chickens gather around a feeder at a farm in Osage, Iowa

    The AEB was created by an act of Congress in 1976 at the request of egg farmers as a way to pool resources for national-level marketing.

    Regarding avian flu, the AEB said, “It is important to note that less than 5 percent of commercial layer flocks have been impacted by avian influenza and those farms affected are working with state and federal agency partners to safely resume operations.

    “Our farmers continue to work diligently to ensure that Americans nationwide have consistent access to their favorite protein: the incredible egg.” 

    At Frye’s Market in Cottonwood, Arizona, for example, the shelves appeared about half full on May 20. 

    The egg shelves were about half full at Frye’s Market in Cotton, Ariz., on May 23. The American Egg Bureau says avian flu has cut into about 5 percent of egg production. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

    This week, a dozen Happy Egg free-range grade-A large brown eggs sold for $4.99. The price of Kroger grade A and AA large eggs was $4.39.

    The situation wasn’t much different at Cottonwood’s Safeway on May 23, where a stock clerk attributed empty shelves to the increasing demand for eggs and lagging deliveries.

    According to the USDA’s April 29 monthly Cage-Free Shell Egg Report, the average price range for a carton of eggs was between $1.15 and $2.79.

    The report based weekly egg production on monthly flock size estimates, which totaled 18.1 million in April at an estimated lay rate of 84.5 percent for 30-dozen cases of organic eggs. 

    Non-organic egg layers total 90.5 million birds at a weekly production rate of nearly 1.5 million cases of 30-dozen eggs.

    More than 36 million chickens and turkeys have been euthanized since highly infectious avian flu was first detected in the United States in January.

    On April 20, the egg board said America’s farmers have been working “around the clock” to keep their products affordable and grocery stores stocked.

    Travis Maddox, a prepper and producer of The Prepared Homestead on YouTube, feeds his chickens. (Courtesy Travis Maddox)

    “It’s important to know that farmers don’t usually get to choose the price of their eggs. Eggs are priced on the commodity market, like corn and wheat. Temporary increases in egg prices reflect many factors,” the AEB said.

    “Like many sectors of the economy, egg farming is being impacted by inflation and experiencing supply chain challenges related to increases in cost and availability of feed and grain, labor and transportation.

    “Recent cases of bird flu have created additional strains on supply in limited situations,” the organization added.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 17:30

  • Putin Ready For "Serious Negotiations" With Zelensky, But Says Western Arms 'Destabilizing' Situation
    Putin Ready For “Serious Negotiations” With Zelensky, But Says Western Arms ‘Destabilizing’ Situation

    Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Saturday phone call with his French and German counterparts Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Moscow stands “ready” to re-engage in peace talks with the Ukrainian government. The phone call came as some Western officials have belatedly admitted that Russian forces are making steady gains in the Donbas, also as the Luhansk is about to come under total Russian control.

    The focus of the call included Macron and Scholz urging the Russian leader to immediately hold “serious negotiations” with President Zelensky; however the European leaders reportedly requested that captured Azov battalion members from Mariupol must be released, which the Kremlin balked at, also given the group’s neo-Nazi identity.

    A follow-up Kremlin statement said of the call that “Special attention was given to the state of affairs on the negotiating track, which is frozen because of Kiev. Vladimir Putin confirmed Russia is open to resuming the dialogue.”

    But neither side as yet appears willing to make serious concessions. For example, while Zelensky has in past days admitted an increasingly “difficult” situation for Ukrainian forces fighting in Donbas, he’s still pledging that he’ll never recognize Russian authority over any Ukrainian territory, even including Crimea.

    In his latest statements in a Friday night speech, he vowed that Donbas will be “Ukrainian again”… 

    “That’s why we have to increase our defense, increase our resistance, and Donbas will be Ukrainian again. Even if Russia will bring all suffering and ruination to Donbas, we will rebuild every town, every community. There’s no real alternative,” Zelensky stressed. 

    Putin, for his part, appears unwilling to get serious about negotiations so long as huge quantities of Western weapons are pouring into the Ukrainian side. He warned Macron and Scholz in the Saturday call that continuing the arms flow is “dangerous”, saying the situation “risks of further destabilization of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis,” according to a Kremlin statement.

    The Russian leader condemned the dangerous “ongoing pumping of Ukraine with Western weapons…” as the conflict continues to slide into a full-blown proxy war between Russia and NATO.

    This as the Biden administration is widely reported to be readying authorization of long-range missiles for Ukraine, also as it appears Stinger anti-air rockets are being transported to Kiev in larger numbers.

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    Putin also discussed with Macron and Scholz the growing global food and wheat supply crisis due to Black Sea port blockages… “Based on specific data, Vladimir Putin explained the real reasons for the difficulties with food supplies, which were the result of the misguided economic and financial policies of Western countries, as well as the anti-Russian sanctions they imposed,” the Kremlin readout said. Russian officials have also laid central blame on Ukrainian forces mining their own ports as well.

    The Kremlin statement emphasized, “Russia is ready to help find options for unhampered exports of grain, including exports of Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports”. And further: “Increasing supplies of Russian fertilizers and agricultural products will also help reduce tension on the global food market, which, of course, would require removing the relevant restrictions.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 17:00

  • The End Of The 40-Year Bull In Debt & A "Global Depression" Threat
    The End Of The 40-Year Bull In Debt & A “Global Depression” Threat

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Francis Hunt interviews Danielle DiMartino Booth in a must watch video, her most economically comprehensive yet.

    Discussion Topics

    Please do yourself a favor and watch the video link below. Here are just some of topics discussed.

    • Possible end of the 40-year bull in debt, if so a “global depression” threat

    • Emerging Market Blowups

    • The Yen

    • Equity Markey Complacence – Bond Market Reacting to Reality of Higher Interest Rates, Equity Markets Say Prove Hikes Are Coming

    • Game of Chicken

    • Average age of Senators – No one will stand up to the Fed except Pat Toomey

    • Jay Powell knows the damage he did by saving BBB-rated bonds

    • Yield Curve Inversions – How Much Time Is There?

    • Watch currencies especially in countries importing energy

    • Inventories

    • De-globalization

    • Not going to get fiscal stimulus in this mid-term election year.

    • Housing wealth effect in reverse

    • Violent unwind of the carry trade (Yen and Euro)

    • Pension Plan Irony, Pension Plan Risk, Pension Plan Ponzi Schemes

    • Fed Pushes Legal Limits

    • Monetary policy favors the 1%

    • Extends and Pretend on Commercial Real Estate Loans, Midsize Banks Hold this Debt

    • Investment ideas: Look for Safe Municipals (not Illinois), Gold, Cash

    • Avoid value traps like discretionary spending and healthcare, wary of energy because of huge valuation runups

    Two Teaser Quotes

    In response to a question about the end of the 40-year bull market in bonds, Booth replied: 

    “I don’t do hyperbole at all, but if this really is the end, and we really are going to see real rates rise appreciably, then you are talking about a global depression.“

    Later in the interview, Booth commented:

    “If you want a front row seat with popcorn, follow the EM [emerging market] space.”

    YouTube Interview 

    Thanks to Danielle DiMartino Booth and Francis Hunt for an amazingly informative video interview. 

    It’s about an hour long, and it may be the best financial hour you spend all year. 

    But I would like the final word.

    Nixon Shock, the Reserve Currency Curse, and a Pending Currency Crisis

    Booth commented “If you want a front row seat with popcorn, follow the EM [emerging market] space.”

    Let’s tune into my September 30, 2019 post Nixon Shock, the Reserve Currency Curse, and a Pending Currency Crisis

    Here are some key snips

    Our Currency But Your Problem

    Shortly after taking the Treasury post, Connally famously told a group of European finance ministers worried about the export of American inflation that the dollar “is our currency, but your problem.”

    On August 15, 1971 Nixon directed Connally to suspend, with certain exceptions, the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets, ordering the gold window to be closed such that foreign governments could no longer exchange their dollars for gold. He also issued Executive Order 11615, imposing a 90-day freeze on wages and prices in order to counter inflation. This was the first time the U.S. government had enacted wage and price controls since World War II.

    So Much for Temporary

    The move was not temporary. There have not been any restraints on deficit spending since.

    Wars became easy to finance. Deficits? No problem.

    In 2011, Paul Volcker, who replaced William Miller as Fed Chair in 1979, expressed regret over the abandonment of Bretton Woods.

    “Nobody’s in charge,” said Paul Volcker.

    Who Really Want’s Reserve Currency Status?

    Despite moaning about the dollar, China does not want to have the world’s reserve currency because it implies running trade deficits in which other nations accumulate yuan reserves.

    Japan and the EU (led by Germany), don’t want to have the reserve currency “advantage” either, for the same reason: An export-based, current account surplus economy is incompatible with reserve currency status.

    Global Consumers of Last Resort

    The US is stuck with the reserve currency because we have the largest, most open capital markets in the world, the world’s largest bond market, and a far better business climate than the EU, China, or Japan.

    To ensure the US remains the curse holder, the EU and Japan have negative rates, China does not float the Yuan but props up corrupt SOEs, and Germany punishes the rest of the EU.

    Currency Crisis Coming

    Since the dollar is still rising (thanks to European, Japanese, and Chinese tactics), It may take even bigger US deficits before something major breaks.

    On that score, both political parties in the US are poised to deliver increasing deficits as far as the eye can see.

    Meanwhile, negative interest rates are destroying the European banks. For discussion of this important issue, please see In Search of the Effective Lower Bound.

    A currency crisis awaits as the current path is not sustainable.

    Timing and conditions of the crisis are not knowable. It can start anywhere but I suspect the EU, Japan, or China as opposed to the US.

    Meanwhile, I suggest holding at least some gold.

    Currency Crisis Start Where?

    On September 30, 2019, I commented “Timing and conditions of the crisis are not knowable. It can start anywhere but I suspect the EU, Japan, or China as opposed to the US.”

    This week, Booth commented “If you want a front row seat with popcorn, follow the EM [emerging market] space.” She’s also watching the Yen.

    Those are independently arrived at positions. I rather doubt she knew who I was back then, nor was I a follower of Quill.

    In the above video interview, Francis Hunt asked Booth where a crisis starts. She admitted she does not know, and that’s something I have been saying a lot recently.

    It’s amazing that people actually believe they know where the Bitcoin, the Dollar, the stock market, etc. is going to go.

    No one does. 

    But we can say this is not an exact repeat of 2008.

    Then the dollar index plunged from over 100 to 72 and hyperinflationists came out of the woodwork. Since then, the dollar index rose from 72 to 103 with gold now at $1850 (something few if any would have predicted). 

    Everyone is massively concerned about inflation now. Generally, when everyone is looking one way, something else happens. 

    How many are watching emerging markets and the Yen? 

    Over the years I maintained a currency crisis was far more likely in Japan than the US. We will see. 

    Regardless, the end of the 40-year bull market in debt does not rate to be a pretty affair.

    Thanks to Danielle DiMartino Booth and Francis Hunt for an amazingly informative video interview.

    *  *  *

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 16:30

  • Elon Musk Says He 'Strongly' Believes In Second Amendment, Yet Suggests 'Special Permit' Be Required For 'Assault Rifles'
    Elon Musk Says He ‘Strongly’ Believes In Second Amendment, Yet Suggests ‘Special Permit’ Be Required For ‘Assault Rifles’

    Authored by Gary Bai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joined the right-to-bear arms debate this week by sharing his thoughts on the second amendment after the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas on May 24.

    “I strongly believe that the right to bear arms is an important safeguard against potential tyranny of government. Historically, maintaining their power over the people is why those in power did not allow public ownership of guns,” Musk said in an email to CNBC on May 25.

    Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington on March 9, 2020. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

    In the same email, Musk elaborated that he supports applying “tight background checks” on all gun purchases, and limits on gun sales to people with special circumstances such as “high-risk location, like gang warfare,” reported CNBC.

    In a later interaction with Twitter users, the billionaire further revealed his thoughts on the right to bear arms.

    Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog, replied to Musk’s posts with what he thinks is the point of issue between gun control activists and those advocating for the right to bear.

    “A gun is a gun is a gun when it comes to those commonly available to civilians. “Assault rifles” (as gun opponents have broadly defined) are no more/less deadly than other avail firearms. “Assault rifles” (full automatic fire kind you likely mean) already banned/highly restricted,” Fitton said.

    “In truth, anti-gun activists seek severe restrictions on, and oppose in concept, any individual civilian RIGHT to own ANY firearm, even though it is an inalienable right specifically recognized in the U.S. Constitution under the Second Amendment. This is the debate,” Fitton added.

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    In response to Fitton’s post, Musk pitched a few ideas for striking a balance between protecting people’s constitutional freedoms and public safety.

    “How about a middle ground, where the licensing standard for semi-auto rifles is a driver’s license, age 21 and no rap sheet?” Musk said. “Basically, what is a reasonable way to make it harder for people with homicidal impulses to obtain body count maximizing weapons?”

    “Maybe just require homicide insurance for a gun purchase? Minimum car insurance, which is basically homocide insurance, is required for car ownership,” the billionaire said in response to a Twitter user’s suggestion to raise the gun licensing age to 25. “I think this would actually work.”

    In response to a query about his thoughts on AR-15s, the weapon used in Tuesday’s mass shooting, Musk said, “Assault rifles should at minimum require a special permit, where the recipient is extremely well vetted [in my opinion].” By “assault rifles,” he meant “any semi-automatic gun with supersonic ammo and a large magazine,” Musk added.

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    The billionaire’s comments after a school shooting incident in Uvalde, Texas, that took the lives of 19 children and 2 adults, which stirred up debate on the gun laws in the country.

    Democrats have called for increasing restrictions on gun ownership. U.S. President Joe Biden decried current gun laws during a White House speech on Wednesday, saying that the Second Amendment “is not absolute.”

    “While they clearly will not prevent every tragedy, we know certain ones will have significant impact and have no negative impact on the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is not absolute,” Biden said. “When it was passed, you couldn’t own … a cannon, you couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 15:30

  • Texas Gunman Made 'Frequent' Death Threats And Disturbing Posts
    Texas Gunman Made ‘Frequent’ Death Threats And Disturbing Posts

    Salvador Ramos, the shooter in the Uvalde, Texas massacre frequently threatened to rape and kill teen girls, and had a history of aggressive behavior and disturbing social-media posts, according to locals.

    Photo via HotMoviesNews

    “I witnessed him harass girls and threaten them with sexual assault, like rape and kidnapping,” one 16-year-old told the Washington Post, adding that Ramos had been posting on social networking app, Yubo.

    “It was not like a single occurrence. It was frequent.“

    All but one of the girls Ramos threatened reported him in the months leading up to last week’s elementary school shooting, which left 19 children dead. Other girls dismissed Ramos’ disturbing behavior, chalking it up to just “how online is.”

    On Yubo, people can gather in big real-time chatrooms, known as panels, to talk, type messages and share videos — the digital equivalent of a real-world hangout. Ramos, they said, struck up side conversations with them and followed them onto other platforms, including Instagram, where he could send direct messages whenever he wanted.

    But over time they saw a darker side, as he posted images of dead cats, texted them strange messages and joked about sexual assault, they said. In a video from a live Yubo chatroom that listeners had recorded and was reviewed by The Post, Ramos could be heard saying, “Everyone in this world deserves to get raped.” -WaPo

    Ten days before the shooting, he wrote “10 more days,” according to a Texas official. Another person replied: “Are you going to shoot up a school or something?” to which Ramos replied: “No, stop asking dumb questions. You’ll see.”

    In one Instagram exchange, Ramos – who went by the username “TheBiggestOpp,” sent a girl a picture of a gun.

    In another exchange, a 16-year-old girl who said she met Ramos in February said he replied to a meme she’d posted that referenced a weapon, saying “personally I wouldn’t use a AK-47,” rather “a better gun.”

    “He gave me such an odd vibe,” 17-year-old Crystal Foutz, an Uvalde High School junior, told the Wall Street Journal, adding “He always seemed scary.”

    Ramos posted pictures on Instagram of him cutting himself, with blood in a sink, Ms. Vasquez said. Earlier this year, she said, he showed up to school one day with a mask on, and when he took it off, his face had scars and scratches that he said he had inflicted on himself.

    A screenshot of an Instagram story on an account linked to him, which since has been taken down, showed an ammunition magazine. A TikTok account with the same handle, “@salv8dor_,” which also has been removed, showed a photo of two rifles. The account included in its description the line, “Kids be scared.” -WSJ

    Ramos’ mother, Adriana Reyes, said last week that the 18-year-old “was not a monster,” but could become “aggressive.”

    “Sometimes I had an uncomfortable feeling, like ‘what are you doing?’,” she told ABC, adding “He could become aggressive if he got really angry. (…). We all have rabies, but some people have more than others.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 15:00

  • Hunter Biden Used Burner-Phone And Data-Recovery Apps: Former US Secret Service Agent
    Hunter Biden Used Burner-Phone And Data-Recovery Apps: Former US Secret Service Agent

    Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Data recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop have shown that the president’s son reportedly used burner phone apps extensively from 2014 to 2018, and a data recovery app to extract data from iPhones owned by Hallie Biden, the widow of his late brother Beau.

    Hunter Biden walks to Marine One on the Ellipse outside the White House in Washington on May 22, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

    The discovery was made by Konstantinos “Gus” Dimitrelos, retired U.S. secret service agent and current chief executive officer of U.S.-based firm Cyber Forensics, after examing a copy of the laptop’s hard drive provided by the Washington Examiner.

    According to his report, one of his key findings was a CSV file, created on Jan. 21, 2019, containing Hunter Biden’s transaction records in the Apple app store.

    “The file contained over 2,000 purchases by Robert Hunter Biden and dozens of purchases of burner phone apps which are used to generate alternate phone numbers capable of making calls and texting from a primary mobile device such as an iPhone or iPad,” the report says.

    Dimitrelos listed details of 39 purchase transactions in his report, their invoices dating from 2014 to 2018, showing Hunter Biden make multiple purchases with three burner phone apps—Phoner, textPlus, and WePhone. The president’s son bought items including “Unlimited Mexico Calls,” “Unlimited Calling US & Canada,” and “Second Phone Number Yearly.”

    It is unknown why Hunter Biden needed these apps, which offer more privacy protection. And neither is it clear whether and to what extent he used these different phone numbers to conduct foreign business dealings.

    Hunter Biden, who is currently under federal investigation for tax affairs, has been under scrutiny for his overseas business dealings in countries including Ukraine, Russia, and China, particularly during the time when Joe Biden was vice president under the Obama administration.

    “In addition to buying burner phone apps, there is evidence on the MacBook Pro hard drive that Phone was used to record a call and save the audio file titled Recording.mp3,” the report says. The audio file, which lasted 8 minutes and 16 seconds, involved a conversation between Hunter Biden and a woman he called Hallie.

    On May 6, 2017, Hunter Biden purchased Dr.Fone, a software that allows its users to recover deleted data and back up data on their cellphones, as well as transfer certain files such as photos and contacts between phones and computers. According to the report, the software was installed on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.

    Hunter Biden “manually connected iPhones belonging to Hallie,” the report says, and he “extracted” information including messages, call logs, photographs, notes, and over 120 voicemails.

    In 2017, Hunter Biden began dating Hallie Biden, two years after Beau Biden died from brain cancer. The two eventually split up and the president’s son re-married in 2019.

    Dimitrelos ended his report by authenticating the laptop.

    “Based on my analysis and overwhelming data confirmed the Hunter Biden MacBook Pro was not hacked and the data contained on the hard drive is authentic,” he wrote. “Based on the data I examined there was no manipulation of any photographs, emails, documents, or other user activities.”

    In October 2020, The New York Post broke the Hunter Biden’s laptop story. The Washington Post and the New York Times didn’t authenticate the laptop until March 2022.

    The Epoch Times has reached out to Hunter Biden’s attorney Chris Clark for comment.

    Recently, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent letters to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and 13 banks, demanding financial records and documents in connections to Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden, and business associates Eric Schwerin and Devon Archer, among others.

    “We are investigating the domestic and international business dealings of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and other Biden associates and family members to determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality,” Comer wrote in the letters.

    Comer’s letters cited a CBS News report that more than 150 financial transactions tied to Hunter Biden or James Biden “were flagged by U.S. banks” as concerning.

    “The sheer number of flagged transactions in this case is highly unusual and may be indicative of serious criminal activity or a national security threat,” Comer said in the letter (pdf) to Yellen.

    The 13 banks include Morgan Stanley, Citi Bank, and Bank of America—as well as the state-owned Bank of China (pdf).

    Comer wanted the Yellen and the banks to produce the documents and information before June 8.

    The documents sought by Comer could lay the groundwork for a potential probe by House Republicans if they win control of the House after the midterm elections. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 14:30

  • Russia Conducts Hypersonic Missile Test Near Finland & Sweden
    Russia Conducts Hypersonic Missile Test Near Finland & Sweden

    On Saturday Russia announced it conducted another successful test of the Zircon hypersonic missile, which reportedly flew over a distance of 1,000km (or 621 miles) after it was launched at a target in the White Sea. 

    The missile was fired from the Russian navy’s Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate the waters of the Barents Sea. The identified area for the test, given the hypersonic was launched from the Barents, is very close to waters off Finland and Sweden.

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    Reuters wrote of the footage released by the defense ministry, “Video released by the ministry showed the missile being fired from a ship and blazing into the sky on a steep trajectory.”

    “Today, the lead frigate of Project 22350, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, fired a hypersonic cruise missile ‘Zircon’ from the Barents Sea at a naval target position located in the White Sea (a southern inlet of the Barents Sea). The rocket firing was carried out as part of a test of new kinds of weapons,” the defense ministry said.

    Though it was likely a long in the making “scheduled” test launch, it comes as the Ukraine war is in its fourth month, and as a result Finland and Sweden have abandoned their historic neutrality and have applied to join NATO.

    Additionally, the Pentagon and Ukraine’s government have accused Russia of using hypersonic projectiles – possibly up to a dozen times – against Ukrainian targets as the invasion has continued to unfold.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin previously hailed the Zircon hypersonic missile as capable of traveling upwards of Mach 9, or about 6,900 mph. It’s widely believed that no anti-air defense system in the world is capable of bringing it down, given its speed.

    This latest Zircon test comes after last month the Kremlin carried out a test of the Sarmat, which is a new nuclear-capable intercontinental missile capable of reaching the United States. The Sarmat is described as capable of carrying ten or more warheads.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 05/28/2022 – 14:00

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