Today’s News 2nd July 2022

• Author Matt Palumbo Lays Out How George Soros Has Significant Control Over Media Narratives
  Author Matt Palumbo Lays Out How George Soros Has Significant Control Over Media Narratives

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

  Matt Palumbo, author of “The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros,” details billionaire George Soros’s connection to American politics, and illustrates how Soros controls not only what is written about him, but also influences how the American public perceives news events.

  

  Soros created a financial concept called reflexivity, which Palumbo said is “brilliant,” because it can cause what Soros wants in the finance sector to happen.

  “But expectations set reality and Soros realized, ‘Well, that’s true of media as well.’ If you tell people what to expect, they’re going to reinterpret reality,” and that can be used to affect how people interpret news events, Palumbo said during a recent interview for EpochTV’s “Facts Matter” program.

  “For whatever reason, if people think something’s going to happen, it actually will happen,” and Soros applied this to media companies’ coverage to make people believe something that did not actually happen, happened, said Palumbo.

  Soros-backed media agencies use this concept to create false narratives and make people believe in something that did not actually occur. The reason Soros is able to have this level of influence is that he gives tens of millions of dollars to the U.S. media infrastructure.

  There are many Soros-linked mainstream media organizations including, “ABC, CBS, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, I mean, it is a very long list. Type Soros’s name and just look at how they cover him, and if it’s ever anything negative, it’s ‘anti-Semites say: negative claim,’” said Palumbo, adding that their coverage always seems to favor Democrats and Soros.

  A watchdog group called the Media Research Center (MRC) has documented Soros’s ties to media infrastructure. “Soros has spent more than $52 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news—journalism schools, investigative journalism, and even industry organizations,” according to an MRC report.

  Many left-wing groups, including media companies, get funding via Soros’s Open Society Foundation. That group is known to fund progressive initiatives like Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police, as well as political candidates and district attorney campaigns, said Palumbo.

  

  Soros’s foundation claims to promote democracy and individualism, but in reality, it supports a more radical agenda, said Palumbo.

  “There is what they say things are and what they really are,” Palumbo said about the Open Society Foundation

  …

  In his research, Palumbo also found that many people who once worked for Soros’s Open Society Foundation later went on to work for media outlets.

  In addition, Soros has funded campaigns for many Democratic politicians and progressive district attorneys, backing those who will get the results Soros wants.

  “If you elect a DA, they have total autonomy on all those things, so it’s just hey, I want the law changed, I back a guy who wants to change it exactly the way I do, he goes in and changes it overnight,” said Palumbo.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/02/2022 – 00:00

• The Colossal Untapped Value Of Asteroids
  The Colossal Untapped Value Of Asteroids

  In the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter, there is an almost unfathomable amount of resources waiting to be utilized.

  As Statista’s Martin Armstrong details below, according to data from Wired and Valerio Pellegrini, the asteroid ‘Davida’, which has a diameter of 326 kilometers, has been identified as the most valuable asteroid in the belt, with a resource value estimated to be some 27 quintillion (26,990,000,000,000,000,000) U.S. dollars.

  It is a carbonaceous chondrite asteroid, and contains water, nickel, iron, cobalt, nitrogen, ammonia, and hydrogen.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  June 30 marked Asteroid Day, a UN-sanctioned global awareness campaign with the mission “to inspire, engage and educate the public about asteroids opportunities and risks.” While the risks to Earth and all life on it are clearly not to be disregarded, the potential to increase the resources at mankind’s disposal – and reap the financial rewards from them – is immense.

  As Statista’s dossier on space mining reports: “While space mining has not yet become a reality, the technology that will eventually enable to exploitation of the rich resources of the asteroids in the solar system is increasingly being developed by a variety of companies. The market value of these activities amounted to some 712 million U.S. dollars worldwide in 2017, and is forecast to increase to 3.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 23:35

• What If People Actually Controlled The Government?
  What If People Actually Controlled The Government?

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute,

  Imagine, if you will, the following system…

  Government is managed by elected representatives who are in turn elected by the people. Government is further restrained by checks and balances between three branches, each of which is accountable ultimately to the people who live under the laws.

  Unlike the ancient system of government in which the only people who were truly free were the aristocracy, under this new system, every adult citizen has political rights. No one rules over anyone without accountability. 

  Also part of this, no one in government has a permanent job that is exempt from oversight. The laws and rules under which people live are not invented by faceless bureaucrats but rather by representatives with names who can be voted out. 

  In that way, we give the idea of freedom the best-possible hope. 

  Sounds dreamy? A bit.

  We haven’t had that system in the US for a very long time, even if what I just mapped out seems more or less like what the US Constitution set up. 

  

  There are two main reasons why we are so far from that ideal. 

  • First, the US system was supposed to exalt the juridical sovereignty of the “several states” so that the central government was of secondary importance. 

  • Second, a fourth branch of government gradually came into existence. It is what we now call the administrative state. It consists of millions of employees with maximum power who answer to absolutely no one. The Federal Register lists 432 agencies that currently employ people who are beyond legislative reach but they still make policy and determine the structure of the regime under which we live. But we the people have no real control over them. 

  Not even the president can control them. This system was created with one piece of legislation in 1883 called the Pendleton Act. The New Deal exploited the new system. The administrative state even got its own constitution in 1946 called the Administrative Procedures Act. The 1984 Supreme Court decision in Chevron vs NRDC even entrenched deference to the agency’s interpretation of the law. 

  The result is something the Founders never imagined: hundreds of three-letter agencies exercising hegemonic control over the country. Everyone got to know this system well from 2020 as the CDC invented myriad rules on the spot that shut businesses and churches and even legislated how many people you could have in your home for a party. 

  This problem vexxed Donald Trump, who came to power with the promise to drain the swamp. He soon discovered that he could not because most federal employees were beyond his reach. Things got wildly out of hand after he made the enormous error of greenlighting lockdowns in a March 16, 2020 press conference. After that point and all the way until the election, his presidential powers slipped ever further as the administrative bureaucracy wielded power without precedent. 

  Two weeks before the election, the Trump administration innovated a solution. It was Executive Order 13957 that created a new category of federal employment called Schedule F. Any employee involved at any level in policy making would be subject to presidential oversight. It makes sense: these are executive-level agencies so the president, because he bears responsibility for what they do, should have some personnel control over them. 

  This order was immediately reversed by Biden when he took office, leaving Schedule F a dead letter. The administrative state is once again safe from oversight. 

  Let us quote Trump’s executive order at length so that we can see the thinking here. Then we’ll deal with various objections. It reads as follows:

  To effectively carry out the broad array of activities assigned to the executive branch under law, the President and his appointees must rely on men and women in the Federal service employed in positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character. Faithful execution of the law requires that the President have appropriate management oversight regarding this select cadre of professionals.

  The Federal Government benefits from career professionals in positions that are not normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential transition but who discharge significant duties and exercise significant discretion in formulating and implementing executive branch policy and programs under the laws of the United States. The heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) and the American people also entrust these career professionals with non‑public information that must be kept confidential…

  Given the importance of the functions they discharge, employees in such positions must display appropriate temperament, acumen, impartiality, and sound judgment.

  Due to these requirements, agencies should have a greater degree of appointment flexibility with respect to these employees than is afforded by the existing competitive service process.

  Further, effective performance management of employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, the Government’s current performance management is inadequate, as recognized by Federal workers themselves. For instance, the 2016 Merit Principles Survey reveals that less than a quarter of Federal employees believe their agency addresses poor performers effectively.

  Separating employees who cannot or will not meet required performance standards is important, and it is particularly important with regard to employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions. High performance by such employees can meaningfully enhance agency operations, while poor performance can significantly hinder them. Senior agency officials report that poor performance by career employees in policy-relevant positions has resulted in long delays and substandard-quality work for important agency projects, such as drafting and issuing regulations.

  Pursuant to my authority under section 3302(1) of title 5, United States Code, I find that conditions of good administration make necessary an exception to the competitive hiring rules and examinations for career positions in the Federal service of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character. These conditions include the need to provide agency heads with additional flexibility to assess prospective appointees without the limitations imposed by competitive service selection procedures. Placing these positions in the excepted service will mitigate undue limitations on their selection. This action will also give agencies greater ability and discretion to assess critical qualities in applicants to fill these positions, such as work ethic, judgment, and ability to meet the particular needs of the agency. These are all qualities individuals should have before wielding the authority inherent in their prospective positions, and agencies should be able to assess candidates without proceeding through complicated and elaborate competitive service processes or rating procedures that do not necessarily reflect their particular needs.

  Conditions of good administration similarly make necessary excepting such positions from the adverse action procedures set forth in chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code. Chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, requires agencies to comply with extensive procedures before taking adverse action against an employee. These requirements can make removing poorly performing employees difficult. Only a quarter of Federal supervisors are confident that they could remove a poor performer. Career employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy‑making, and policy-advocating positions wield significant influence over Government operations and effectiveness. Agencies need the flexibility to expeditiously remove poorly performing employees from these positions without facing extensive delays or litigation.

  Part of the order pushed an internal review of all agencies to reclassify employees, thus making them subject to normal standards of employment – the same ones that every person in the private sector adheres to. 

  Why is there resistance aside from the high-stakes effort to keep the current despotism in place? Let’s look at the sincere objections. 

  Schedule F would bring back the spoils system

  The term itself is a smear of system in which the elected leadership can actually make a difference in public life. Are cronies hired? Yes. Are good people sometimes fired? Probably. But the alternative is dictatorship by the bureaucracy itself and that is what is truly intolerable. Instead of the “spoils system,” a state in which the elected leaders can enact policy by controlling personnel is called representative democracy. It is also the system the Constitution gave us. 

  Trump issued Schedule F because he wanted more power 

  Depends on what you mean by more power. More power over the bureaucracy, yes, but the driving motivation here was to emancipate power from being ruled by bureaucrats that he could not control. It was also designed to stop the bureaucracy from working directly with the media to undermine through lies and smears the work of the administration. In words, elected leaders absolutely do need more power over the deep state. 

  This would gut government of expertise 

  There is this strange presumption that educational credentials and a permanent job equals expertise plus good outcomes. That is very obviously untrue. Good outcomes come from basic competence and a work ethic. Those are in short supply in government precisely because the turnover rate is less than zero, unlike the private sector. Anyone who has worked in a federal agency knows this. The best way to unleash genuine expertise is through normal job accountability. 

  Presidents would use this to politicize the bureaucracy 

  This is a decent point but the bureaucracy is already heavily politicized, and always in the direction of policies that push more power and money toward the government. Everyone knows this. Is there a danger that a radically and dangerous president would press bureaucrats into even further politicization? Yes, but there is an easy solution to this one: cut the reach and power of the agencies themselves, consistent with the Constitution. Finally – a crucial point – elected leaders could override the influence of private industry which has captured their operations.

  Bureaucracies would get around this by minimizing Schedule F designations 

  They would certainly attempt this but that would require that employees refrain from ”policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions.” That would be very great! If they eschewed Schedule F and did that anyway, the Office of Personnel Management could hunt them down and the agency itself would be responsible for illegal actions. 

  There are surely some downsides to the system as Trump imagined it but all of them trace to the inflated powers of the federal government itself. Yes, a vastly ambitious government machinery will always need bureaucracies and they will always have problems with waste, abuse, and unneeded exercise of power. Perhaps, then, the best long-term effect of Schedule F would be to inspire a rethinking of government’s role in a free society. 

  It seems remarkable that the executive order creating Schedule F was issued at all. It needs to be pressed upon any future reformers as a path to revisit, ideally with legislative support. Until that time, there will continue to be the grave problem that our elected officials are positioned to be little more than dancing marionettes while the administrative state wields all the real power. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 23:10

• US Falls Behind In Hypersonic Weapons Race After Another Failed Test 
  US Falls Behind In Hypersonic Weapons Race After Another Failed Test 

  America is lagging behind its international competitors in the hypersonic weapons race. This week’s test provided more insight into just how badly the U.S. is behind. 

  Bloomberg was the first to report the Common Hypersonic Glide Body atop a two-stage missile booster that failed after an “anomaly” occurred during launch at the Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. 

  The booster failed to ignite, which would’ve accelerated the rocket in excess of Mach 5, at which the glide body separates and uses speed and an unpredictable path to strike targets without being detected by the most advanced defense shields in the world. 

  

  “While the Department was unable to collect data on the entirety of the planned flight profile, the information gathered from this event will provide vital insights,” said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cdr. Tim Gorman in a statement. He didn’t provide additional details about the failed test. 

  Gorman said officials would use data from the rocket’s failures to correct the issue for future tests. 

  Even though the hypersonic weapons program has experienced multiple “fight test anomalies” over the last year, the spokesman was confident the delivery of the weapons to modern battlefields would occur “on target dates beginning in the early 2020s.” 

  The previous test of the glide body ended early when the booster rocket failed, which prevented the missile from leaving the launch pad. The Navy and Army have jointly been working on developing hypersonic weapons. 

  

  The Air Force has also been working on a hypersonic weapon. After several failed tests earlier this year, the service successfully tested a hypersonic missile off Southern California in May.  

  It’s no secret the U.S. is falling behind the hypersonic weapons race as the largest military in the world, in terms of size and defense budget, has yet to field hypersonic weapons.

  Meanwhile, Russia (see: here) and China (see: here) have completed successful tests and or fielded super fast weapons on the modern battlefield.

  The Biden administration recently revealed a new trilateral security pact between Australia – United Kingdom – United States (AUKUS) partnership, a move to “accelerate the development of advanced hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities.”

  The takeaway is the U.S. is lagging behind the competition in fielding hypersonic weapons as threats of spillovers from the conflict in Ukraine are undoubtedly rising. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 22:45

• The Insufferable Arrogance Of The Constantly Wrong
  The Insufferable Arrogance Of The Constantly Wrong

  Authored by Clayton Fox via The Brownstone Institute,

  The media, and the people who work in and around it, the Blue Checks™ of Twitter, have upped the ante over the past few years regarding how far they are willing to go to enforce various preferred narratives. 

  

  Pick any major story of the past three years – e.g. Lab Leak, Jussie Smollett, Russiagate, Ukrainian Biolabs, Ivermectin, Hospitalizations From COVID v. With Covid, January 6th, ‘Transitory’ Inflation, and of course Hunter’s Laptop – and you will find absolutely hysterical narrative pushing up front followed by retractions, corrections, and outright denials as reality became undeniable. 

  In the meanwhile, our civilization was ripped apart, our citizens were gaslit and impoverished, and in countries across the Western world, innocent people were removed from polite society, branded as lepers, and fired from their jobs. 

  Why? Because there is one story that just won’t die and for which no corrections have been issued – the shibboleth that vaccination can prevent infection, transmission, and help “end” COVID.

  While there is never an excuse for hateful rhetoric towards, and intervention in, the personal medical choices of law-abiding Americans, perhaps one could have, kinda sorta, understood the campaign if the new vaccines had provided long-lasting immunity and prevented community transmission. They do not. 

  Early on we were told: “Nine out of ten [vaccinated] people won’t get sick” (Columbia University feat. Run-DMC, February 12th, 2021, no this is not a joke); “Vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don`t get sick” (Dr. Rochelle Walensky, March 29th, 2021); “When people are vaccinated, they can feel safe that they are not going to get infected” (Dr. Anthony Fauci, May 17th, 2021). 

  And by mid-summer, 2021, we were still being told that unequivocally, these vaccines were a resounding success worthy of uncritical support. On July 27th in Scientific American, Dr. Eric Topol wrote, “Vaccination is the closest thing to a sure thing we have in this pandemic.” Not to be outdone, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the NIAID told CBS on August 1st, that the unvaccinated were responsible for “propagating this outbreak.” 

  But on July 29th, 2021, the Washington Post reported a scoop that the CDC was privately acknowledging that the vaccinated could spread COVID as easily as the unvaccinated. Occasionally, they are forced to report inconvenient facts. And August 5th, CDC Director Walensky told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that, “They continue to work well for Delta, with regard to severe illness and death — they prevent it. But what they can’t do anymore is prevent transmission.”

  While there is a mountain of medical literature available demonstrating quite clearly the failure of these vaccines to prevent infection and transmission, the August 5th declaration from the CDC Director should have made clear that being vaccinated is contributing in no way to the safety of others, nor to the eradication of this virus. 

  In fact, Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz was even caught on tape in September of last year explaining that the use of the Israeli Green Pass wasn’t intended to make a difference epidemiologically, but because it would help convince people to get vaccinated. And even vaccine poobah Bill Gates admitted in a late 2021 interview, that, “We got vaccines to help you with your health, but they only slightly reduce the transmissions.”

  So there should be no question that continuing to suggest in any way that these shots are a panacea, and that those who refused to get them were plague spreaders, should have been thoroughly trashed by Fall 2021. 

  Nonetheless, on September 24th President Joe Biden coined his now famous phrase “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” To our north, Prime Minister Trudeau called the unvaccinated science deniers, misogynists, and racists, and asked rhetorically whether Canadians should “tolerate” them. 

  And during the first week of January 2022, while kicking the unvaccinated out of French daily life and public spaces, French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted the measures to “piss off” his unvaccinated citizens. With world leaders speaking this way, it’s no wonder so many Blue Check™ elites took up the banner! 

  Prominent media figures like Amy Siskind, Pulitzer Prize winner Gene Weingarten, and more have come out of the woodwork in recent months to share with us their enthusiasm for medical discrimination. Noted neurotic Howard Stern is all in on forced vaccination due to what must be his own debilitating fear of his mortality. Bill Kristol says the unvaccinated have “blood on their hands.” 

  David Frum, heir to Maimonides, writes, “Let the hospitals quietly triage emergency care to serve the unvaccinated last.” Charles M. Blow was “furious” at the unvaccinated. CNN contributor Dr. Leana Wen suggested that the unvaccinated should not be allowed to leave their homes. The Ragin’ Cajun even wants to punch the unvaccinated in the face! 

  All of the above links/stories were posted after Dr. Walensky’s unequivocal announcement that the vaccines do not prevent transmission. 

  And all of the self-satisfied segregationists are supported in their vitriol by the Blue Checks™ of the Medical Establishment, like Dr. Paul Klotman, President and Executive Dean of the Baylor School of Medicine, who said on camera back in January that he isn’t polite to friends and family who aren’t vaccinated. “Keep them away. I don’t do it respectfully, I tell them to stay away, and teach them a lesson.” Less vitriolic but equally problematic, the WHO’s COVID-19 “technical lead” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove continued to push the lie that vaccination can prevent outbreaks as recently as January 26th, 2022. She is, as well, a Blue Check™. And yes, Dr. Anthony Fauci is still at it, even as of April 14th, 2022, telling MSNBC that harsh Chinese lockdowns could be used to get the population vaccinated so that “When you open up, you won’t have a surge of infections.” 

  The examples are legion. Blue Checks, Medical Blue Checks, Times Columnists, Radio Jocks, Presidents, and Prime Ministers have all espoused misinformation and/or hate speech regarding vaccination status. But they are all given intellectual cover by the official reporting of the fourth estate. Even in the face of all the evidence that there is no epidemiological basis for discrimination, our intellectual betters in the legacy media press onward the canard. 

  On August 26th, the Toronto Star ran an article entitled, “When it comes to empathy for the unvaccinated, many of us aren’t feeling it.” Then, on December 22nd, published an explainer which stated that two doses won’t stop you from spreading COVID-19. Comme ci, comme ca. 

  Back in February, MSNBC political contributor Matthew Dowd shared his insight that the unvaccinated do not believe in the United States Constitution, because if they did, they would get vaccinated for “We The People.” For the common good. 

  An examination of the New York Times reveals three articles written this year which overtly continue supporting the idea that the vaccines prevent transmission. First, on January 29th in a piece entitled, “As Covid Shots For Kids Stall, Appeals Are Aimed At Wary Parents,” the author cites “public health officials” who say that to aid in “containing” the pandemic, kids must also be vaccinated. (It is worth mentioning that the current vaccines and boosters being distributed were designed in February 2020 to provide an immune response to a version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein circulating prior to that, not entirely similar to what is circulating now.)

  Then February 23rd, in a hit piece on the Surgeon General of Florida Dr. Joe Ladapo, the Times writes, “When public health officials across the country were urging vaccines as a way to end the pandemic, Dr. Ladapo was raising warning flags about possible side effects and cautioning that even vaccinated people could spread the virus.” 

  So, Dr. Ladapo was correct? 

  Finally, in a piece about Novak Djokovic published March 3rd, they write, “Djokovic was the only player ranked in the top 100 in Australia who had not received a Covid-19 vaccination, which experts have long said will not eradicate the virus unless most of the population receives one.” 

  They do not address the question of how a vaccine which does not prevent transmission can eradicate a virus. And they won’t. As Israeli Health Minister Horowitz candidly admitted, none of this is about epidemiology. 

  And even when mainstream media tacitly acknowledges the failures of the vaccines to prevent transmission, they skillfully elide the significance of this fact in order to allow them to continue to scapegoat the unvaccinated. In a dazzling display of sophistry, Time Magazine moved the Overton window in this January 12th, 2022 piece, “These Charts Show That COVID-19 Is Still A Pandemic of the Unvaccinated.” 

  The author states that due to the rapidly narrowing gap between cases in the vaccinated and unvaccinated, some readers might think that the phrase “pandemic of the unvaccinated” is no longer justifiable. But with the grace of a ballerina, Time goes on to tell us that because the vaccines are still showing efficacy against severe illness, the phrase is still kosher. If an unvaccinated person gets sicker than his vaccinated neighbor who contracted COVID at a fully vaccinated wedding, that unvaccinated person is still the problem!

  New York Magazine isn’t lacking in similar gymnastics. On February 16th of this year, Matt Stieb published a piece entitled, “Is Kyrie Irving Going to Get Away With It?” Irving is the Brooklyn Nets player who famously chose not to be vaccinated, and has become a fetish object for the Covidian Left. Stieb acknowledges that Irving’s vaccinated teammates were getting COVID at such high rates that it forced Nets management to allow Irving back to play in away games but still calls the New York City ban on unvaccinated athletes “a rare public health mandate with real teeth.” 

  Just seven days later on February 23rd, Will Leitch, in the same publication, sighs, “Unfortunately, It’s Time to Let Kyrie Irving Play in New York.” He outlines all the reasons why epidemiologically it makes no sense to prevent athletes like Irving and Novak Djokovic from participating, but says, “It would feel like they got away with all their bullshit.” And also, they are “annoying.” 

  And this barely concealed hatred for the unvaccinated from media and government and Big Tech—even in the rare moments when writers such as Leitch acknowledge the failure of the vaccines to prevent transmission—has real consequences. People have lost their jobs. People have been arrested for trying to go to a movie theater. 

  Families got kicked out of restaurants, and patrons either cheered or remained indifferent, which is worse. A teenage boy at an uber-progressive and expensive Chicago prep school committed suicide after being bullied over an incorrect rumor he was unvaccinated. The stench of bad journalism rots people’s basic decency. 

  A January Rasmussen poll found that, “Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democratic voters would favor a government policy requiring that citizens remain confined to their homes at all times, except for emergencies, if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine…Forty-five percent (45%) of Democrats would favor governments requiring citizens to temporarily live in designated facilities or locations if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine…”

  As well as, “Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Democratic voters would support temporarily removing parents’ custody of their children if parents refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine.” Unfortunately, these disturbing results are politically lopsided, but it’s no surprise when you consider who the readers of most legacy media platforms are. 

  The saddest thing is that these media outlets and their flag bearers really think their readers are all morons. The New York Times believes that, in the midst of the Omicron wave as boosted person after boosted person was getting COVID, they could tell you these particular vaccines are still the way to eradicate this thing, and expect you to deny reality and nod your head. 

  It calls to mind the quote attributed to Solzhenitsyn (or Elena Gorokhova), “The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.”

  We have ceded the better angels of our common cerebrum to people who may not have our best interests at heart, and a sycophantic laptop class who gleefully endorses their diktats and “fact-checks.” Collectively: Sophistry Inc. 

  Their behavior, endorsed by every single entity which holds power in our society, is destroying us, and has already poisoned us such that there may be no antidote. Yes, first they came for the unvaccinated, but that doesn’t mean they won’t come for you next.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 22:20

• Off Campus Texas A&M Housing With "Resort Style" Rooftop Pool Defaults On Debt Payment
  Off Campus Texas A&M Housing With “Resort Style” Rooftop Pool Defaults On Debt Payment

  Who could have possibly thought, amidst all this euphoria, that luxury college housing complexes for students might not be the best idea in the world?

  It’s looking like for one complex – with, of course, a “resort style” rooftop pool (which everybody knows is integral to ones studies) – near the Texas A&M University campus is starting to find out this harsh reality. 

  The 3,400-bed student housing complex, called Park West, is going to default on its July debt payment according to Moody’s Investors Service, who downgraded the company’s bonds deeper into junk territory this week.

  The property, which provides off-campus housing for students, is located in College Station, Texas, Bloomberg reported in a mid-week wrap up. It has reportedly been struggling since even before the pandemic, thanks to the building’s higher rents.

  

  Moody’s commented: “The project’s financial distress is directly linked to prolonged weakness within its College Station, Texas student housing submarket which has been an ongoing problem since Park West opened for fall 2017.”

  $15.3 million is due in principal and interest, but the complex will only pay $8.5 million. The company that sold the bonds, NCCD-College Station Properties LLC, still has about $342 million in bonds outstanding, Bloomberg reported. 

  The vice president and director of operations for the company confirmed that the company would default but offered up no other color. 

  For a look at the complex’s posh amenities, you can review its website here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 21:55

• Supreme Court Follows Concealed Carry Decision With Pro-2A Rulings In 4 States
  Supreme Court Follows Concealed Carry Decision With Pro-2A Rulings In 4 States

  Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Supreme Court followed up its June 23 landmark ruling that for the first time recognized a constitutional right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, by issuing a series of rulings June 30 reversing federal appeals court decisions that upheld gun restrictions in California, New Jersey, Maryland, and Hawaii.

  

  Courts will find it difficult to uphold the firearms laws in question after the high court’s June 30 and June 23 rulings.

  In unsigned orders, all four cases were remanded June 30 to lower courts “for further consideration in light of” the Supreme Court’s June 23 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that 6–3 ruling, the high court invalidated New York state’s tough concealed-carry gun permitting system.

  

  The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

  The Supreme Court has been strengthening Second Amendment protections in recent years. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court held the amendment protects “the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation,” and in McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), that this right “is fully applicable to the States.”

  It makes no sense to recognize Americans’ right to defend themselves in their homes while denying them the ability to defend themselves outside their homes, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote June 23 in the court’s majority opinion.

  “After all, the Second Amendment guarantees an ‘individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation,’ and confrontation can surely take place outside the home. … Many Americans hazard greater danger outside the home than in it,” Thomas wrote.

  In the new orders, the Supreme Court summarily disposed of the four pending cases, simultaneously granting appellants’ petitions seeking review while skipping over the oral argument phase. Some lawyers call this process GVR, standing for grant, vacate, and remand.

  In the Maryland case, Bianchi v. Frosh, court file 21-902, a coalition of 25 states led by Arizona challenged Maryland’s Firearms Safety Act of 2013. The statute, which was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in September 2021, required pistol purchasers to seek a license, complete safety training, and be fingerprinted. Maryland bans popular weapons such as the AR-15 and similar rifles and limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

  

  Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, was defiant after the remand order. Military-style firearms “pose grave risks to public safety, as recent mass shootings in other states have made clear,” Frosh stated. Despite the Bruen ruling, the state’s law remains in effect, he said. “Marylanders have a right to be protected from these dangerous weapons.”’

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 21:30

• "Kicking Into High Gear" – A Record 42 Million Drivers Will Hit America's Highways On July 4th Weekend
  “Kicking Into High Gear” – A Record 42 Million Drivers Will Hit America’s Highways On July 4th Weekend

  Despite emerging signs of gasoline demand destruction, an exception could be made this weekend as a new forecast indicates that a record number of drivers are expected to hit America’s highways this Independence Day weekend despite minimal relief at the pump. 

  “The biggest surprise – car travel – will set a new record despite historically high gas prices with 42 million people hitting the road” this weekend, auto club AAA said in a new report. This means the number of drivers on the road would exceed 2019 (pre-COVID) by half a million. 

  

  “The volume of travelers we expect to see over Independence Day is a definite sign that summer travel is kicking into high gear,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president, AAA Travel.

  Twidale added: “Earlier this year, we started seeing the demand for travel increase and it’s not tapering off. People are ready for a break and despite things costing more, they are finding ways to still take that much-needed vacation.”

  The emergence of gasoline demand destruction and threats of recession has brought down the national average price of regular gas (octane 87) by about 3% from the record high of $5.016 a gallon to $4.857 in the last few weeks. That’s a 16-cent saving per gallon — factor in the average fuel tank size for a US automobile is about 14 gallons — drivers will save a paltry $2.24 every time they fill up. 

  

  We’re surprised the White House didn’t tout these savings ahead of the holiday weekend as they did last year. 

  Dear @WhiteHouse we are waiting to ketchup on how it’s looking for 2022 https://t.co/GDF1z9qVJY

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 30, 2022

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

  The crux of the problem and why gas, diesel, and jet fuel prices remain elevated is US refining capacity is a significant bottleneck as no new capacity is coming online amid robust demand. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 21:05

• Friday Humor: Babylon Bee Exposes "100% True Facts" About Scary Guns
  Friday Humor: Babylon Bee Exposes “100% True Facts” About Scary Guns

  Humanity was peaceful – until guns showed up.

  Learn how sinister and evil these weapons of mass destruction truly are in The Babylon Bee‘s latest masterpiece of awkward facts…

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 20:15

• Press Corps Blasts "Continued Efforts To Limit Access To The President" By The White House
  Press Corps Blasts “Continued Efforts To Limit Access To The President” By The White House

  Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

  The White House Press Corps has blasted “ahistoric” efforts to limit reporters’ access to Joe Biden during briefings, charging that their presence is being unprecedentedly and severely restricted without explanation.

  

  In a joint letter to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the Corps pointed out that this isn’t the first time complaints have been made about the practice and demanded that access, which was formerly unrestricted under other administrations, be restored.

  The White House press corps has finally discovered this may not be the most transparent administration ever https://t.co/Upd6PLsW7D

  — Kevin Dalton (@KevinForBOS) July 1, 2022

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

  The letter states “We once again respectfully request the Biden administration – without exception-re-open all of the traditional venues for presidential remarks at the White House, including the East Room and the South Court Auditorium, for any reporter admitted to the White House campus.”

  The letter further asserts that “The current method of allowing a limited number of reporters into these events is not only restrictive and antithetical to the concept of a free press, but it has been done without any transparent process into how reporters are selected to cover these events.”

  “The continued inability of the White House to be candid and transparent about the selection process for reporters attending his remarks undermines President Biden’s credibility when he says he is a defender of the First Amendment,” the letter continues.

  It adds that “The incongruity of these restrictions underscores the belief by many reporters that the administration seeks to limit access to the president by anyone outside of the pool, or anyone who might ask a question the administration doesn’t want asked.”

  The reporters further note that restrictions brought in under COVID have yet to be rescinded while other pandemic related measures have been dropped.

  The Corps also outline that President Trump while openly expressing contempt for the media on a daily basis allowed freer access than the Biden camp, which is now demanding access request forms be filled in by reporters.

  “The administration’s continued efforts to limit access to the president cannot be defended. Any notion that space is ‘limited’ is not supported by the fact that every other president before Biden (including Trump) allowed full access to the very same spaces without making us fill out a request form prior to admittance,” the letter notes.

  “Let us be candid. Our job is not to be liked, nor is it to be concerned about whether or not you like what we ask. Reporters’ ability to question the most powerful man in our government shouldn’t be discretionary,” they further write.

  As we previously reported, White House correspondents are becoming increasingly frustrated by a practice that seemingly limits access of reporters that Biden’s handlers don’t like.

  New York Post reporter Steven Nelson implied last month that the White House is actively ‘blacklisting’ correspondents and outlets from events.

  Nelson told Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “For more than a year now the White House press office has been having … press events in the state room, state dining room, the executive office building,” adding that “There’s a process where people are selected and able to go into these presidential events where the president often takes questions.”

  “I represent the fourth largest newspaper in the country and I haven’t been selected since November,” Nelson urged, noting that no one has explained how this so called section process for access to Biden actually works.

  *  *  *

  Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

  In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here. Support our sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Also, we urgently need your financial support here.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 19:50

• "It Is Very Serious": War And Weather Threaten To Send Food Prices Even Higher
  “It Is Very Serious”: War And Weather Threaten To Send Food Prices Even Higher

  US agriculture executives are warning that war and extreme weather have put global food supplies in danger as skyrocketing food prices have led to shortages and protests worldwide.

  

  “We’ve actually got two crises,” Erik Fyrwald, CEO of pesticide and crop-seed maker Syngenta, told the Wall Street Journal. “The food-security crises and the climate crises.”

  According to Fyrwald, extreme weather has been on the rise – including heat, drought and flooding which have affected farmers in America, Europe, Australia and India. On top of that, world grain and fertilizer markets have been disrupted by the war in Ukraine – which normally exports roughly one-third of global wheat supply – a figure projected to be cut in half this year according to the USDA.

  Rising food prices are prompting unrest, as disruptions in the flow of crops from Ukraine compound existing stress on global supplies of grains and other goods. The head of the United Nations World Food Program has warned outright food shortages are possible in 2023 if Russia continues to block Ukraine’s crop exports.

  Even among the world’s wealthiest countries, higher food prices have been taking a toll. U.S. grocery prices in May rose nearly 12% over the past 12 months, the largest annual increase since April 1979, according to the Labor Department. Prices increased 7.4% at restaurants and other food venues outside the home, also marking a more-than-four-decade increase. -WSJ

  “It is very serious,” said Fyrwald, who added that food prices “will keep going up until and unless we can get product out through the Black Sea in the south of Ukraine.”

  That said, wheat prices have come down 27% since Russia’s invasion drove them to record levels in March.

  “There is just not going to be enough supply of certain ingredients,” Florian Schattenmann, CTO for Cargill, said during a Tuesday Journal event, adding that the war in Ukraine has put pressure on things such as sunflower oil – forcing companies to scramble for substitutes.

  On Monday US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke at the Journal event, where he said that Russia was destroying grain production in Ukraine. “They are making it hard for farmers to plant and grow their crops,” he said, while calling for Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea to reopen in order to get grain out of the country and help ease the food supply crunch – in part because trading must resume so that packed grain silos can free up storage space for this year’s harvest. Vilsack added that the US needs to find ways to increase its own crop production.

  In South America, poor weather has made it more difficult for the agricultural sector to make up for shortfalls in world food supplies given the situation in Ukraine, while in the United States, the Midwest has been forced to slow its planting season for corn and soybean due to wet and windy conditions in the Midwest, while farmers in Western states are grappling with drought that’s affecting more than 78% of the region. In California, farmers have been bulldozing thousands of acres’ worth of almond orchards and shuttering decades-old dairies.

  As conflict continues, Mr. Fyrwald said Syngenta is working with farmers in Ukraine but also continuing to supply Russian farmers with seeds and chemicals. Some agriculture companies, including Syngenta and Bayer AG, and grain traders, such as Cargill, have continued to sell seeds and handle crops in Russia despite pressure to sever ties after the invasion of Ukraine. Companies cite humanitarian grounds for their decisions to keep operating certain parts of their business in Russia, which is expected to increase its wheat exports from a year ago, according to the USDA.

  “Snygenta has looked at it and decided that we serve farmers everywhere in the world,” Mr. Fyrwald said. “We are not political.” -WSJ

  According to the USDA’s Vilsack, the US needs to look for new ways to boost crop production. 

  “Every generation of Americans get tested,” he said, adding that the aftermath of the pandemic, weather phenomenon, and the war in Ukraine are “significant challenges, but there is significant capacity for us to emerge stronger.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 19:25

• DucDucLow: US Oil Drillers Are Running Out Of Spare Wells
  DucDucLow: US Oil Drillers Are Running Out Of Spare Wells

  By Natalia Kniazhevich, Bloomberg Markets Live analyst and reporter

  As oil prices have climbed to around $110 a barrel, US producers have been restarting projects that had stalled.

  They’re starting to run low on these extra wells, which could limit future domestic production.

  The number of drilled but not completed oil wells — also known as DUCs — has been shrinking for almost two years, and is now at its lowest level since the series started at the end of 2013.

  

  The oil production process involves, at a high level, two separate steps: drilling and fracking. When a company drills a well it can leave it uncompleted, which happens when oil prices are low. That’s exactly what we saw during the early part of the pandemic.

  When prices, like now, are soaring, companies complete wells and begin to extract crude. But with a limited number of DUCs left, drilling more oil in the US will involve tapping more new wells, a harder process for companies facing pressure to meet ESG targets and maintain capital discipline.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 19:00

• Apple Top Insider Trading Lawyer Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading
  Apple Top Insider Trading Lawyer Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading

  Apple’s former senior director of corporate law and security has pleaded guilty to insider trading after being indicted in 2019, in what prosecutors called a five-year scheme to profit off of quarterly earnings announcements.

  

  Gene Levoff, who’s been with Apple since 2008 and moved into his position as senior director of corporate law from 2013 – 2018, made the trades in question between 2011 and 2016 while abusing his position as corporate secretary, head of corporate law and co-chair of a committee that reviewed drafts of Apple’s results, according to the indictment.

  After initially fighting the charges, Levoff admitted to using nonpublic information about Apple’s financials in order to trade company stock, resulting in $604,000 of illegal gains on more than $14 million of trades, according to CNBC.

  Specifically, when Levoff learned that Apple was about to have a strong quarter, he would purchase large quantities of stock which would then be sold into the subsequent pop.

  Prosecutors said Levoff ignored the quarterly “blackout periods” that barred trading before Apple’s results were released, as well as the company’s broader insider trading policy — which he was responsible for enforcing. -CNBC

  “Gene Levoff betrayed the trust of one of the world’s largest tech companies for his own financial gain,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna in New Jersey in a statement. The case was filed in New Jersey because servers which were used to execute the trades were located there.

  As 9to5Mac notes, “this case is incredibly ironic: one of Levoff’s responsibilities at Apple included enforcing the company’s insider trading policy. In fact, he even informed Apple employees about a trading blackout period for AAPL stock, while also buying and selling the stock himself.”

  Lovoff was fired in September, 2018, five months before he was criminally charged.

  The indictment carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, which we’re guessing Levoff just cut a deal to avoid. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 10. The SEC has filed related civil charges.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 18:40

• Texas Sheriff Drives 4 Illegal Aliens To International Bridge, Deports Them
  Texas Sheriff Drives 4 Illegal Aliens To International Bridge, Deports Them

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

  Kinney County sheriff’s deputies responded to a suspected smuggling vehicle on a county road early in the morning on June 29. During the ensuing pursuit, the fleeing driver lost control of the vehicle and flipped it.

  

  The driver, a Mexican national wearing a cartel-related medallion, was taken into custody and is facing at least seven felony charges, according to Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe.

  Of the five passengers, all illegal immigrants, one female was taken to the hospital in Del Rio for non-life threatening injuries, while the remaining four declined medical treatment.

  Coe said Border Patrol told him they could take the four uninjured illegal aliens into custody for processing only if they had been checked medically first.

  “Well they had declined any type of medical help,” Coe told The Epoch Times. “So I can’t let them walk the streets. I can’t say, ‘Hey, go, be free.’ Because I still have to protect the Constitution and protect the people in the county.”

  Coe said he loaded the three males and one female into his truck and drove to Eagle Pass, about an hour away, and dropped them at the port of entry between the United States and Mexico.

  

  In response to a question by The Epoch Times about the sheriff’s move, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the sheriffs in Texas play a “vital role” up and down the border.

  “I applaud all of our sheriffs for having to respond in unprecedented  conditions. And that’s causing all of us to use unprecedented action,” Abbott said during a press conference in Eagle Pass on June 29.

  “And so whether it’s doing what that sheriff in Kinney County is doing, or what we’re doing, such as turning back more than 20,000 people, we all have our own tools and strategies that we use to either turn back or to return people across the border.”

  Coe said he agrees with Abbott that local law enforcement shouldn’t have to be tying up so many resources on the border issue.

  “But to let them go, undocumented, unaccounted for, just go because of a policy—I couldn’t do it. It’s going to be the exception rather than the rule. But at the same time, if Border Patrol won’t take a group for whatever reason, I don’t have a choice.”

  He said he’s not sure if there will be any legal ramifications—”we’ll see what happens.”

  Kinney County deputies have arrested 66 smugglers so far in June as the county remains a thoroughfare from the U.S.–Mexico border to San Antonio.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 18:20

• Putin & Modi Hold Warm Phone Call As India Gorges On Cheap Russian Oil
  Putin & Modi Hold Warm Phone Call As India Gorges On Cheap Russian Oil

  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held an important phone call Friday wherein Modi underscored that India favors dialogue and diplomacy toward reaching a peaceful Ukraine solution. “In the context of the ongoing situation in Ukraine, Prime Minister reiterated India’s long-standing position in favor of dialogue and diplomacy,” a readout from his office said. But unlike interaction with Western leaders, including France’s Macron, it appears Modi kept things relatively “light” when it came to rhetoric on Ukraine.

  Also high on the agenda was the very uncertain and calamitous state of global energy and food markets. Modi had days prior addressed G7 leaders, saying, “Even in the present situation, we have constantly urged for the path of dialogue and diplomacy. The impact of this geopolitical tension is not just limited to Europe. The rising prices of energy and food grains are affecting all the countries.”

  But things aren’t so dire for either Russia or India when it comes to energy, as both appear to be positively benefitting from the West’s attempt to halt Russian energy flows to Europe, even as G7 countries mull imposing a price cap on Russian oil.

  

  This as Russia is quickly muscling into India’s oil market, with Modi’s India only too happy to gorge on cheap Russian barrels, as Bloomberg underscored days ago, suggesting that Russia could now be positioned as India’s biggest single supplier: “Deprived of many of its traditional European buyers, Moscow is on course to deliver somewhere between 1 million and 1.2 million barrels a day to the world’s third-largest oil importer this month, according to tanker tracking figures compiled by Bloomberg and two oil analytics firms,” according to the report.

  This is even significantly far beyond supplies coming from Saudi Arabia, though India relies more heavily on Iraq crude flows.

  To review an astounding New York Times admission from last month on how the West’s “punishing” of Vladimir Putin is going…

  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered global condemnation and tough sanctions aimed at denting Moscow’s war chest. Yet Russia’s revenues from fossil fuels, by far its biggest export, soared to records in the first 100 days of its war on Ukraine, driven by a windfall from oil sales amid surging prices, a new analysis shows.

  Russia earned what is very likely a record 93 billion euros in revenue from exports of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to data analyzed by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a research organization based in Helsinki, Finland. About two-thirds of those earnings, the equivalent of about $97 billion, came from oil, and most of the remainder from natural gas.

  “The current rate of revenue is unprecedented, because prices are unprecedented, and export volumes are close to their highest levels on record,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst who led the center’s research.

  But India, and also China, have been enjoying a steep discount of around $30 less per barrel compared to Brent during that time period the Times documented.

  

  As S&P Global reviewed of those opening three months of the Ukraine war, “The price of Russian Urals CIF Rotterdam averaged $69.89/b in April, according to Platts data. This compares with a monthly average of $104.40/b for United Kingdom’s Forties, which is similar in quality to Urals.”

  Russia’s readout of the Modi call focused on messaging that Moscow fundamentally lays blame on the West for the emerging global food crisis in the wake of Ukraine grain shipments not being available for export.

  “Putin drew attention to the systemic mistakes made by a number of countries, which led to the disruption of free trade in food products and provoked a significant increase in their price. Unlawful sanctions against Russia have exacerbated an already difficult situation,” the Kremlin press service said according to TASS. “Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia has been and remains a reliable producer and supplier of grain, fertilizers, and energy carriers, including to Indian partners,” the call readout said.

  Meanwhile, Western populations are being told to ‘shut up and sacrifice’ for the indefinite foreseeable future…

  CNN: “What do you say to those families that say, ‘listen, we can’t afford to pay $4.85 a gallon for months, if not years?’”

  BIDEN ADVISOR BRIAN DEESE: “This is about the future of the Liberal World Order and we have to stand firm.” pic.twitter.com/LWilWSo72S

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 1, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 18:00

• Official Cause Of Death Confirmed for 3 Americans Found Dead At Bahamas Resort
  Official Cause Of Death Confirmed for 3 Americans Found Dead At Bahamas Resort

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The three U.S. citizens found dead at the Sandals resort in the Bahamas in May died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Royal Bahamas Police on Wednesday.

  “We can officially confirm that all three of the victims died as a result of asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide poisoning,” the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement to news outlets. “This matter remains under active investigation.”

  

  The source of the carbon monoxide was not clear.

  Michael Phillips, 68; Robbie Phillips, 65;  and Vincent Chiarella, 64; were found unresponsive at Sandals Emerald Bay in Great Exuma on May 6. Chiarella’s wife, Donnis, was hospitalized in critical condition and was reportedly discharged from a Miami-area hospital after several weeks. Her current health condition is not currently known.

  “Despite initial speculation, Bahamian authorities have concluded that the cause was an isolated incident in one standalone structure that housed two individual guest rooms and was in no way linked to the resort’s air conditioning system, food, and beverage service, landscaping services, or foul play,” the Sandals resort said in a statement to news outlets in May.

  Sandals, an exclusive resort, added that detectors for carbon monoxide—an odorless gas—have been installed in “all guest rooms at Sandals Emerald Bay and although not mandated in any Caribbean destination where we operate, detectors will be installed in all guest rooms throughout the portfolio.”

  More Details

  

  And the company recently told news outlets that it has “taken additional measures such as engaging environmental safety experts” to review its systems.

  About a month ago, authorities in the Bahamas suspected that it was carbon monoxide poisoning that killed the three American tourists, although few details were provided and it was not officially confirmed. None of the three Americans showed any signs of trauma, according to the Royal Bahamian Police, which also ruled out foul play.

  “There’s still some investigations ongoing at the Sandals resort. We also have the pathologists in-country who have done their job and samples were sent to a very reliable lab in the United States,” Dr. Michael Darville, the minister of health for the Bahamas, told Eyewitness News at the time.

  Several days after their deaths were confirmed, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement that it is “closely monitoring” the situation.

  “We can confirm the death of three U.S. citizens in the Bahamas. We are closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. Out of respect for the privacy of the families, we have nothing further to add at this time,” an agency spokesperson told media outlets at the time.

  Sandals has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 17:40

• Biden Admin Halts 2nd Largest US LNG Plant From Restarting Operations After Blast
  Biden Admin Halts 2nd Largest US LNG Plant From Restarting Operations After Blast

  The Biden administration is preventing the second-largest US liquefied natural gas export facility from repairing or restarting operations in the wake of a fire earlier this month over ‘risks to public safety.’

  

  As Reuters reports, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which operates under DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, has prevented Freeport LNG’s 15 million tonne per year (mtpa) Quintana plant in Houston, TX, exacerbating the global energy crunch.

  “Continued operation of Freeport’s LNG export facility without corrective measures may pose an integrity risk to public safety, property or the environment,” PHMSA said in its preliminary report, after a problem with a safety valve led to an 18-inch stainless steel pipe to overpressurize and burst. This released LNG and methane, leading to the blast.

  It laid out a series of steps for investigating what caused a 300-foot (91-m) section of pipe to burst and release about 120,000 cubic feet of LNG.

  The root cause analysis likely will delay a partial restart of the plant for 90 to 120 days, and could delay a full restart, analysts said.

  Closely-held Freeport said it will continue working with PHMSA and other regulatory bodies to obtain necessary approvals to restart operations. It estimated resumption of partial liquefaction operations to be in early October and a return to full production by year-end. -Reuters

  “The actual process (of reviews, repairs and approvals) will take longer than three months, and potentially take six to 12 months,” said Alex Munton, director of global gas and LNG at consultants Rapidan Energy Group.

  According to the report, PHMSA ordered the company to submit a plan within 60 days for an outside investigator to report on the extent of the damage to the facility – and gave no indication of how long it would take to approve a plan. Freeport must also contract with a third-party to review the condition of its LNG storage tanks.

  Then, and only then, can the company submit a repair plan, derailing their goal of a partial restart in September, and full operation by year-end.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 17:20

• New Disney Show Accused Of Indoctrinating Kids To Think That Men, Too, Can Get A Period
  New Disney Show Accused Of Indoctrinating Kids To Think That Men, Too, Can Get A Period

  Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Walt Disney Company, which recently sparked controversy for inserting radical sex and gender ideology into its children’s programs, has come under scrutiny again after a clip from the new series “Baymax!” showed the namesake nurse robot taking advice on menstrual products from a transgender person.

  

  The video was obtained and shared by conservative author and filmmaker Christopher Rufo. Earlier this year, Rufo publicized video footage of an internal company call, in which Disney executives discussed the company’s “not-at-all secret gay agenda,” including a push for more LGBT cartoon characters.

  “I’ve obtained leaked video from Disney’s upcoming show ‘Baymax,’ which promotes the transgender flag and the idea that men can have periods to children as young as two years old,” Rufo wrote in a Jun. 28 post on Twitter. “It’s all part of Disney’s plan to re-engineer the discourse around kids and sexuality.”

  EXCLUSIVE: I’ve obtained leaked video from Disney’s upcoming show “Baymax,” which promotes the transgender flag and the idea that men can have periods to children as young as two years old.

  It’s all part of Disney’s plan to re-engineer the discourse around kids and sexuality. pic.twitter.com/y1ATnKCEce

  — Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) June 28, 2022

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

  In the 27-second clip, Baymax can be seen standing in the female hygiene product aisle of a store. When he asks a woman next to him for suggestions, the woman appears to be surprised but nonetheless recommends “the tampons I usually use,” before several other customers join in to offer advice.

  “I prefer pads, they’re more comfortable for me,” a woman tells the inflatable robot.

  “I always get the ones with wings,” recommends a male-sounding person wearing a transgender flag.

  “Get unscented and bleach-free if you can,” another woman says.

  “My daughter loves these!” a man says while showing Baymax some other product.

  “These might be easier if it’s her first period,” yet another woman offers. “These are really environmentally friendly!”

  Appropriateness Debated

  The clip has triggered a debate on social media over whether the messaging is appropriate for an animated series directly aimed at younger viewers, with many accusing Disney of trying to normalize to children the idea that biological males can have periods.

  “I have 4 kids, ages 8-15, who would watch this and it would make them all uncomfortable. What is the purpose?” journalist Nicole Russell wrote on Twitter.

  Some others, however, applauded the inclusion of the period talk and dismissed Rufo’s concerns as “conspiracy theory.”

  “Apparently, this is all you need to trigger Christopher Rufo into an unhinged rant and conspiracy theories,” Alejandra Caraballo, an instructor at Harvard Law School, wrote alongside a transgender pride flag.

  The debate comes as the Disney-Pixar movie “Lightyear” falls short of box office expectations for two consecutive weekends.

  The latest installation in the “Toy Story” franchise, “Lightyear” earned only about $51 million in North America on its opening weekend and landed 5th at the box office on the second weekend, with just $17.6 million, falling even behind the independent horror film “The Black Phone.”

  Critics argue that the poor performance of “Lightyear” has to do with Disney’s focus on pushing LGBT-friendly messages rather than entertaining the audience. As the result of Disney’s insistence in keeping a same-sex kiss between two female characters in “Lightyear,” the film has been banned in 14 countries, including China and Indonesia.

  “Baymax!,” a spin-off of the widely successful 2014 movie “Big Hero 6,” premiered on June 29 on Disney Plus.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 17:00

• AOC Accuses Supreme Court Of A "Coup" And Calls For It To Be "Done Away With"
  AOC Accuses Supreme Court Of A “Coup” And Calls For It To Be “Done Away With”

  Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

  Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the Supreme Court Thursday of instigating a “coup” and called for it to be completely abolished in a series of rants on different subjects.

  

  Following a ruling that will see the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases reined in, AOC tweeted that Joe Biden’s suggestion of suspending the filibuster in the Senate isn’t enough.

  “We need to reform or do away with the whole thing, for the sake of the planet,” AOC wrote, referring to the Supreme Court.

  Catastrophic. A filibuster carveout is not enough. We need to reform or do away with the whole thing, for the sake of the planet. https://t.co/if8PIbfs42

  — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 30, 2022

  The likes of CNN and MSNBC parroted AOC’s comments, suggesting that SCOUTS is attacking the “fundamental right to a livable planet”:

  The ‘squad’ leader also accused SCOTUS of a “judicial coup” and called for it to be ‘restrained’ after it took up a 2020 election-related case.

  BREAKING: The Supreme Court agreed to hear Moore v Harper, an appeal advocating for extreme interpretation of the Constitution that could make it easier for state legislatures to suppress the vote, draw unfair election districts, enable partisan interference in ballot counting.

  — Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 30, 2022

  The case in Moore v. Harper, and it’s a challenge to the North Carolina Supreme Court’s authority to strike down the legislature’s extreme partisan gerrymanders under the state constitution. We already know there are four likely votes for the legislature. https://t.co/6Hwvb1yvgi

  — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 30, 2022

  AOC suggested that this sets a precedent to do away with the Presidential election… or something: 

  We are witnessing a judicial coup in process.

  If the President and Congress do not restrain the Court now, the Court is signaling they will come for the Presidential election next.

  All our leaders – regardless of party – must recognize this Constitutional crisis for what it is. https://t.co/DzoIh4n08D

  — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 30, 2022

  The latest rants come after a week of AOC calling for the Supreme Court to be abolished in the wake of the abortion ruling:

  AOC: “This is not just a crisis of Roe, this is a crisis of our democracy. The Supreme Court has dramatically overreached it’s authority. … This is a crisis of legitimacy.” pic.twitter.com/iGtrYoxShR

  — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 26, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 07/01/2022 – 16:20

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