WORLD NEWS
Fake Meat, Fake Breastmilk and Food Shortages
Bill Gates appears to be behind the push to stop breastfeeding and encourage uptake of BIOMILQ, a cell-cultured “human milk” made in a lab, along with other varieties of fake food
Nearly every large meat and dairy processor/manufacturer has also acquired or developed plant-based meat and dairy substitutes
This “protein” industry convergence is jeopardizing the resilience of the food system and reducing genetic diversity of livestock and crops
When you factor in soy production as well as the use of conventional energy sources, lab-grown meat may be worse for the environment than conventionally produced chicken and pork
There are signs that the fake meat industry may be failing before it ever gets off the ground; shares of Beyond Meat lost $6 billion since March 2020 due to weak sales growth
To save the planet and support your health, skip all the fake meat alternatives and opt for real food that’s being raised using regenerative, grass fed methods
—> Video: Formula for disaster: Bill Gates’ BIOMILQ pushing formula shortage
Mercola: Technocracy And Transhumanism Now In Phase II Of Total Takeover
The Great Reset involves the demolition and radical overhaul of several interlocking pillars of civilization: technology, society, economy, environment and geopolitics. Food and health also fall within these categories
Through control of these core pillars, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its globalist allies intend to seize control of all the nations of the world and centralize all power and wealth
The WEF is an organization that profits from famine and disease; it uses tragedies and fear to further its own agenda. It intends to dictate what you eat, what you own and what you think, under the guise of building a “sustainable future”
The WEF-led cabal believes in transhumanist and technocratic principles, and the technocratic system requires extensive surveillance and artificial intelligence-driven technologies to keep everyone in check
Technocrats actually believe they’re better, more evolved than the rest, and this superiority gives them the right to decide the fate of mankind. They also reject the notion of free will. Once you understand this basic mindset, it’s easier to understand why they think nothing of stripping you of your freedom and ability to make choices for yourself
—> Watch: Introducing The Reset: The Great Reset Docuseries
UK to Ban All Air Travel by 2050?
A report commissioned by the United Kingdom (UK) government says the entire country will need to ban most air travel within ten years and all air travel by 2050 to abide by impossibly lofty climate change laws.
“In her last significant act as Prime Minister, Theresa May changed the UK’s Climate Change Act to commit us to eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by 2050. This decision is based on good climate-science, was a response to a great wave of social protest and has been replicated in 60 other countries already,” the Absolute Zero report commissioned by the UK government explains.
According to the authors of the study, the only way that the UK government can meet their Absolute Zero obligations is to phase out all air travel, implementing an outright ban in 2050 until such a time as the government can conceive of a means of producing planes that produce zero greenhouse gases at any point during an aircraft’s production or use.
It shouldn’t need to be stated, but this is absolutely impossible.
Nonetheless, the authors say that “All airports except Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast [will] close” between 2020-2029 and “All remaining airports [will] close” by 2050.
The authors continue, saying that under the current legislation, the following changes to daily life will need to be taken as all will be illegal in 2050: stop using aeroplanes, end all shipping, take the train, not the car, rideshare, use an electric vehicle, reduce energy consumption, including and especially heating, reduce fertilizer use, reduce cement and steel use and imports, etc.
The authors say that limiting or outright banning red meat consumption will also be needed, as lamb and beef will be outlawed in the UK.
“In addition, obeying the law of our Climate Change Act requires that we stop doing anything that causes emissions regardless of its energy source. This requires that we stop eating beef and lamb – ruminants who release methane as they digest grass – and already many people have started to switch to more vegetarian diets,” the report reads.
This is quite an astounding proposal, as the authors say that under the climate change legislation, all fertilizer use will need to be “greatly reduced,” as will all processed foods, and the total energy required to cook or transport food must be reduced by 60 per cent of today’s levels.
So, the UK will not produce meat, will not use fertilizer to produce vegetables, will reduce other food imports to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, and will not produce or import processed food as a substitute.
It isn’t clear what, if anything, the authors and the government expect the people of the United Kingdom will eat in 2050. By all accounts, this appears to be a policy of misery and death.
Turkey wants to be called Türkiye in rebranding move
Turkey will be known as Türkiye at the United Nations from now on, after it agreed to a formal request from Ankara.
Several international bodies will be asked to make the name change as part of a rebranding campaign launched by the Turkish president late last year.
“Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization, and values,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in December.
The UN says it made the change as soon as it received the request this week.
Most Turks already know their country as Türkiye. However the anglicised form Turkey is widely used, even within the country.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
19,000 Late, Invalid Ballots Were Counted in Arizona 2020 Election: Report
Arizona 2020 Election Results May Have Been Different, Election Integrity Group Says
With the 2022 midterm elections around the corner, scrutiny of the 2020 election continues to raise questions about election integrity, including a newly identified anomaly in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Arizona Law requires that, to be considered valid, ballots must be received by the county no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.
But newly uncovered records documenting the Maricopa County 2020 general election show that while more than 20,000 ballots were transported from the U.S. Postal Service after Election Day, Maricopa County only rejected 934 late ballots in its “Early Voting Rejections Summary” document.
This means more than 19,000 late, invalid ballots should have been rejected. That is significant because it is enough to potentially sway the results of Arizona’s presidential election, which rested with a final tally of Joe Biden winning the state with 10,457 more votes than Donald Trump.
It is impossible to know if the results would be different if the late ballots had not been counted in Maricopa County.
The Early Voting Rejections Summary is just one of the documents telling the story. County documents were obtained by Verity Vote, a group of citizen volunteers with data research and investigation backgrounds who have been investigating the 2020 election results throughout the country.
Verity Vote recently released a report detailing this investigation.
On-Scene Police Commander at Uvalde Shooting Breaks Silence
The embattled Uvalde, Texas, school district police chief confirmed Wednesday that he is speaking daily with state investigators after reports claimed that he wasn’t cooperating.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander for the mass shooting last week that left 21 people dead, told CNN that he is talking to investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
“Just so everybody knows, we’ve been in contact with DPS every day,” Arredondo told the news outlet. “I’ve been on the phone with them every day.”
A CNN reporter said that Arredondo has declined to answer more questions about the incident.
“We’re going to be respectful to the family,” he told CNN about not releasing more information about the shooting. “We’re going to do that eventually. Whenever this is done and the families quit grieving, then we’ll do that obviously.”
A day before, DPS spokesman Travis Considine told news outlets that Arredondo hadn’t responded to requests for more interviews about the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Officials last week said that Arredondo was the commander who ordered police to remain outside during the shooting after believing that shooter Salvador Ramos was barricaded in the building.
“It was the wrong decision” to delay the response, admitted DPS Director Steven McCraw during a news conference late last week. Law enforcement experts said police should have entered the building much sooner after reports emerged that on-site first responders waited more than one hour.
Eventually, a U.S. Border Patrol agent entered the building and killed the suspect, DPS said.
Officials have now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock, but then removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, Considine said. But, Considine said, the door that was designed to lock when shut did not lock.
“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine told AP.
Investigators confirmed the detail through additional video footage reviewed since Friday’s news conference when authorities first said the door was left propped open.
California Releases 500-page Interim Report Backing Reparations, Separate Black Schools
The State of California, which entered the Union in 1850 as a free state, has issued a 492-page interim report recommending the state pay reparations for slavery and for other acts of racial injustice, nationally and locally, over the last two centuries.
The report, issued by the California’s Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, is the outcome of deliberations that were launched last June when Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed AB 3121 into law.
The nine-member panel, which is predominantly black, deadlocked for months over the question of who should benefit from proposed reparations — whether all people of color, or only those who could prove that they were directly descended from slaves.
Ultimately, the panel decided to focus more narrowly, but the legislative recommendations of the interim report include broad measures that would apply to all “Black Californians,” such as a proposal to “[e]stimate the value of Black-owned businesses and property in California stolen or destroyed through acts of racial terror, distribute this amount back to Black Californians, and make housing grants, zero-interest business and housing loans and grants available to Black Californians.”
The interim report also proposes creating a separate system of publicly-funded black schools, described as “African American/American Freedmen owned and controlled K-12 schools, colleges and universities, trade and professional schools.”
(It is not clear how this would be done, since the state’s constitution prohibits discrimination by the state on the basis of race.)
The executive summary says that “a detailed program of reparations for African Americans” will be developed prior to the release of the final report, and urges the state to recommend that “the federal government create a Reparations Commission for African Americans/American Freedmen through statute or executive action.”
The report makes a number of sweeping and controversial claims, such as: “Despite California entering the Union in 1850 as a free state, its early state government supported slavery.”
It also claims that: “American government at all levels, including in California, has historically criminalized African Americans for the purposes of social control, and to maintain an economy based on exploited Black labor.”
The final report of California’s reparations panel will be released by July 1, 2023.
A pair of illegal aliens, who were released into the United States thanks to President Joe Biden’s expansive Catch and Release network, have since been charged with operating a debit card scheme in Vernon Parish, Louisiana.
Yunior Marin Castaneda, a 32-year-old illegal alien from Cuba, and Elenis Fernandez Rodriguez, a 35-year-old illegal alien from Cuba, were arrested and charged by the Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office for allegedly having operated the scheme that involved stealing Americans’ identities.
According to law enforcement, a bank employee called police on May 11 to report that numerous debit cards had been compromised. All of the cards had been used at a nearby convenience store.
At the convenience store, employees told police they watched Castaneda purchase $656 worth of diesel fuel with six different gift cards for more than 30 minutes. The following day, the employees said Castaneda had returned to the store to pump more diesel fuel, this time more than $430 worth of diesel.
When police arrived at the scene, they detained Castaneda and Rodriguez. Employees turned over about 30 gift cards that had been put into the fuel pump trash cans. The sheriff’s office contacted the U.S. Secret Service to investigate the gift cards, which were recoded using banking and account numbers stolen from the debit cards first identified as compromised by the bank employee.
According to law enforcement, Castaneda and Rodriguez had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Arizona where Biden’s expansive Catch and Release network provided them with a court date and released them into the U.S. interior.
Texas Officials Change Story, Say Teacher Didn’t Prop Open Door Before Mass Shooting
After saying that a teacher at Robb Elementary School “propped open” a door that was used by gunman Salvador Ramos during last week’s mass shooting, officials in Texas said the teacher had actually closed the door.
The unnamed educator shut the door behind her, but the door “did not lock as it should,” Travis Considine, chief of communications with the Texas Department of Public Safety, told The Washington Post on May 31. “And now investigators are looking into why that was.”
Considine also told The Associated Press that the door was designed to lock when shut but did not lock.
“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that much, and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Considine said.
Several days ago, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said at a news conference that the door was “propped open” and was ultimately used by Ramos to enter the building. Ramos, 18, shot and killed 19 children and two teachers during the rampage.
“That back door was propped open,” McCraw said on May 28. “It wasn’t supposed to be propped open; it was supposed to be locked.”
But McCraw added that the teacher witnessed Ramos crash his vehicle and saw him emerge with a gun, prompting a 911 call.
After calling 911, the teacher “kicked the rock away when she went back in,” her attorney Don Flanary said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. Apparently, the door was being propped open by a rock, he said. “She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting. She thought the door would lock because that door is always supposed to be locked,” he said.
Considine confirmed to the Post that the teacher did indeed remove the rock before she went back inside Robb Elementary School.
Multiple Killed, Including Suspect, in Shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma: Police
At least four people are dead, including the suspect, after a shooting at a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, police have said.
Multiple others were also wounded in the shooting, which took place at St. Francis Hospital campus. The Tulsa Police Department said on Twitter late Wednesday that officers were still working to clear the scene.
Police confirmed on Twitter they were called to an “active shooter situation” before later saying the alleged shooter had died.
“Officers are currently going through every room in the building checking for additional threats,” police said in a Facebook post just before 6 p.m. “We know there are multiple injuries, and potentially multiple casualties.”
A reunification center for families to find their loved ones was set up at a nearby high school, according to the post.
Capt. Richard Meulenberg said that the medical complex was a “catastrophic scene.”
By the time officers arrived on the scene, “they found a few people have been shot. A couple were dead at that point,” Meulenberg said.
“We also found who we believed to be the shooter and still believe to be the shooter, because he had a long rifle and a pistol with him,” he added.
It is not immediately clear how the suspect died or what triggered the shooting.
St. Francis Health System locked down its campus on Wednesday afternoon because of the situation at the Natalie Medical Building, which houses an outpatient surgery center and a breast health center.
Dozens of police cars could be seen outside the hospital complex, and authorities shut down traffic amid an ongoing investigation into the incident.
The latest shooting comes just eight days after a deadly attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers died. An 18-year-old man was identified as the shooter; he was killed by law enforcement officers on the scene.
Another major shooting in Buffalo, New York, happened just over two weeks ago at a supermarket, in which 13 people were killed by another 18-year-old man.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
‘Plan for the Worst’: CEO Confidence Wanes as Corporate America Prepares for Recession
CEO confidence in the U.S. economy is waning as survey results and comments from top executives suggest a dim outlook.
The Conference Board’s second-quarter measurement of CEO sentiment revealed that 57 percent anticipate the economy to go through a “very short, mild recession.” This represented the fourth consecutive quarter of declining expectations.
According to the business research group’s regular survey, 61 percent of CEOs noted that general economic conditions were worse compared to six months ago, while 37 percent stated that conditions in their own industries were worse.
“CEO confidence weakened further in the second quarter, as executives contended with rising prices and supply chain challenges, which the war in Ukraine and renewed COVID restrictions in China exacerbated,” said Dana M. Peterson, chief economist of the Conference Board, in a statement. “Expectations for future conditions were also bleak, with 60 percent of executives anticipating the economy will worsen over the next six months—a marked rise from the 23 percent who held that view last quarter.”
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But the Bureau broadened its recession indicators, looking at four other key areas: payroll employment, industrial output, volume of sales in the manufacturing and trade sectors, and inflation-adjusted personal income.
Breitbart Business Digest: Janet Yellen’s Apology Tour
The White House launched a campaign this week to shift the public’s perception away from the idea that inflation is the result of the Biden administration’s policies.
The centerpiece was President Biden’s meeting Tuesday with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. There was also an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about inflation. And Yellen appeared on CNN confessing that she was wrong to call inflation transitory last year and emphasizing that the administration agrees with Americans that inflation is much too high.
So did Biden come away from the meeting with a plan carefully built by Yellen and Powell to bring down inflation? Are they inaugurating some big combined monetary and fiscal policy crusade to resurrect price stability without toppling the economy into a punishing recession? Of course not. The meeting at the White House and the Yellen apology tour are not really about addressing inflation. They are part of an effort to “contain the political damage caused by inflation,” as the Washington Post put it. The aim was for the White House to “demonstrate to the public that it is responding to its concerns.”
OPEC+ agrees on bigger oil-output hikes for coming months
The group has finally bowed to months of pressure from major consumers to help ease the pain of high energy prices.
OPEC+ will increase the size of its oil-supply hikes by about 50%, bowing to months of pressure from major consumers including the US to help ease the pain of high energy prices.
Ministers agreed on Thursday that the group should add 648,000 barrels a day of oil to the market in July and August, up from 432,000 barrels a day in recent months, delegates said, asking not to be named because the discussions were private.
The increase would be divided proportionally between members in the usual way, delegates said. Countries that have been unable to raise production, such as Angola, Nigeria and most recently Russia, would still be allocated a higher quota. That could mean that the actual supply boosts are smaller than the official figure, as has often been the case in recent months.
Opening the taps wider is a major turnaround for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. The group, led by Saudi Arabia, has been doggedly sticking to its plan for gradual monthly supply increases even after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a key member of the group, upended global markets and sent energy prices soaring. The cartel has so far avoided discussing the crisis at most meetings, saying it’s a matter of politics rather than markets.
The additional supply increases from OPEC+ would probably come from a few countries. Only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have significant volumes of spare capacity that could be ramped up quickly. Many other members have been struggling to hit their output targets for months.
California Farm Water Coalition Warns Domestic Food Supply In Peril with State Cutting Water
The California Farm Water Coalition issued a dire statement Tuesday warning that California’s agriculture industry and food supply is in peril because of restricted agriculture water supplies.
“Today’s State Water Board emergency water conservation regulation continues to demonstrate how serious this year’s drought is. Water conservation measures are reaching farther and farther into our communities and now go beyond the water supply cuts felt by California farms and rural communities earlier this year.”
The California Farm Water Coalition represents agriculture water suppliers, water districts, agribusiness, farmers, as well as the supporting agribusinesses such as farm equipment suppliers, tractor manufacturers, and the like.
It was only last summer that the State Water Resources Control Board eliminated water supplies for thousands of family farms throughout the Central Valley, a mere two years after the state’s reservoirs were full from a particularly wet year. “The California State Water Resources Control Board announced that thousands of farmers in the Central Valley up to the Oregon Border will have their water curtailed until winter, the Globe reported.
When the State Water Board orders water cut off to farmers, the food supply is also cut.
California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal however, each of California’s droughts are billed by government and media as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. Scientists who study the Western United States’ long-term climate patterns say California has been dry for significantly longer periods — more than 200 years.
The Globe spoke Wednesday with Mike Wade, Executive Director of the California Farm Water Coalition on the State Water Board Emergency Water Conservation Regulation. Wade said the most important measure they can take right to highlight the seriousness of California’s water shortage is to connect consumers through the food they eat.
Wade said that the surface supply of water is short, so farmers will have to rely on groundwater. But the state is encroaching on groundwater availability through the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), passed in 2014. And water district irrigation managers are putting caps on water by limiting pumping.
“The taps that deliver surface water to the farms that grow the local food we buy at grocery stores were effectively turned off in March and April. Almost half of the irrigated farmland in California has had its surface water supply reduced by 50% or more,” the CFWC said.
The Globe asked Wade if water authorities recognize that it is food production being harmed. “We are starting to see acknowledgment of California’s importance in the nation’s food supply,” Wade said. He noted that agriculture is shrinking in the state.
“We live in an increasingly unstable world, but politicians and regulators are not doing the work needed to guard our safe, affordable, domestic food supply during these uncertain times. Failing to act will not only worsen rising food costs, they may permanently disrupt the food systems that many now take for granted,” the CFWC said.
“We need to invest in surface and groundwater storage,” Wade said.
“California farms produce over half of the country’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables. California foods aren’t just in the produce aisle, but also in the ready-made foods and ingredients we eat every single day. That can’t happen without water and we cannot simply move California production to other states. A safe, affordable, domestic food supply is a national security issue, just like energy. The government must make it a priority,” the CFWC said.
“Water supply shortages affect families throughout the state and the nation that depend on California farms for the safe, fresh, and locally-produced farm products we all buy at the grocery store.”
Biden Admin Seeks to Follow Stricter Building Codes
The White House announced a broad plan on Wednesday to expand building code standards at federally funded sites and to incentivize projects to meet the new standards at state and local governments.
The Biden administration says the new standards are for combating climate change and the extreme weather predicted to accompany it. The new initiative seeks to “boost resilience to the impacts of climate change, lower utility bills for homes and businesses, and prioritize underserved communities,” according to a release from the White House.
The plan uses funds from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed into law last year, with $225 million going to the Department of Energy to implement the new building standards.
The plan includes a review of all federally funded construction projects with federal agencies reporting to the National Climate Task Force that Biden put in place at the start of his presidency.
The new standards will be used to guide construction projects like those in areas that have received a federal disaster declaration and are being built with Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
It also includes federal housing programs at other agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Agriculture.
Additionally, the administration says it’s seeking to provide incentives for communities to meet the new codes to better prepare structures for weather-related events and save on energy costs. The 35 percent of communities that have upgraded their codes are saving about $1.6 billion annually in damage expenses, according to a study by FEMA.
Last year, Biden announced his administration’s commitment that at least 40 percent of all federal investments in “clean energy” will go to disadvantaged communities.
Biden’s federal construction policy has taken on a radically different tone from that of his predecessor, further entrenching Washington in the regulatory process of the industry. In contrast, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ease the federal government’s building regulations. In other action, he signed an order recommending classical architecture as the “preferred and default architecture” for public federal government buildings in Washington.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
CDC Tracked Americans’ Cell Phones During Lockdowns
A Freedom of Information Act request to the CDC revealed documentation that the organization had freely received, and later purchased, location data with the stated intent of monitoring activity in curfew zones or visits to pharmacies
A review of the documents also disclosed a list of 21 cases where the data could possibly be used, not all of which involved tracking COVID-related efforts. The data were gathered by SafeGraph after the company’s code was installed in a variety of apps commonly downloaded to smartphones
The data are reportedly anonymized, yet SafeGraph decided to no longer share data location about clinics that offer abortion services, which begs the question “Why?” if the data are anonymous?
Google banned SafeGraph code in the Play Store in July 2021, just six months before four attorneys general filed a lawsuit after a three-year investigation showing Google has been secretly tracking people since 2014
HEALTH
What You Need to Know Before Getting an Implant or Hip Device
In 2019 Europe’s medical device industry was so poorly regulated that U.S. regulators compared it to a system where “patients are treated like guinea pigs;” three years later, the devices fall under new regulations “evaluating the quality, safety and efficacy” of the products
Faulty medical device implants, including artificial spine disks, breast implants, hip replacement devices, bone graft devices and insulin pumps have caused serious health problems
Medical device implants in Europe are not regulated as strictly as medications and therefore often undergo little or no safety testing
Medical device makers set up shop in Europe where they can get their products approved simply and cheaply
Medical device manufactures are legally required to report problems that damage people’s health, but they often don’t and face no penalties
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
IEA: Current Energy Crisis Is “Much Bigger” Than 1970s Oil Crunch
The world faces a “much bigger” energy crisis than the one of the 1970s, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, told German daily Der Spiegel in an interview published on Tuesday.
“Back then it was just about oil,” Birol told the news outlet. “Now we have an oil crisis, a gas crisis and an electricity crisis simultaneously,” said the head of the international agency created after the 1970s shock of the Arab oil embargo.
The energy crisis started in the autumn of last year, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine made it much worse as the markets fear disruption to energy supply out of Russia, while Western governments are imposing increasingly restrictive sanctions on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
The EU agreed late on Monday to ban most of the imports of Russian oil, leaving pipeline supply exempted from the embargo, for now. This will further tighten already tight crude and product markets.
The world, especially Europe, could face a summer of shortages of gasoline, fuel, and jet fuel, the IEA’s Birol told Der Spiegel.
Fuel demand is set to rise as the main holiday season in Europe and the United States begins, Birol added.
Upended crude oil flows add to reduced global refinery capacity resulting in low inventories of products, including in the United States.
Refinery capacity for supply, globally and in the U.S, that is now a few million barrels per day lower than it was before the pandemic.
Some 1 million bpd of refinery capacity in the U.S. has been shut permanently since the start of the pandemic, as refiners have opted to either close losing facilities or convert some of them into biofuel production sites. Globally, refinery capacity is also stretched thin, especially after Western buyers—including in the U.S.—are no longer importing Russian vacuum gas oil (VGO) and other intermediate products necessary for refining crude into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
The fuel market is extremely tight in Europe, too, and is set to tighten further after the EU ban on most Russian imports.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Who Is Burning Down America’s Food Processing Plants?
Cleanup is underway at Forsman Farms in Howard Lake after a fire on Saturday night.
According to the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, crews responded to the scene off Highway 12 around 10 p.m.
Sgt. Troy Wachter told KARE 11 the fire destroyed a poultry building with an estimated 200,000 chickens inside.
Forsman Farms spokesperson Jon Austin said they do not have a firm number yet but they’re estimating at least tens of thousands of chickens were killed, up to a couple hundreds of thousands. Some chickens in adjacent buildings were also affected, mostly from smoke inhalation.
Eddie Olson was having a bonfire in his backyard, about six miles away in Cokato, when he started hearing sirens.
“I’m a SKYWARN spotter so I do a lot of radio communications and stuff and this is one of maybe 50 radios I have. I just grabbed one and heard that they were dispatching other departments. So I knew it was big,” Olson said.
Olson filmed video at the scene of the fire.
“It’s a lot of chickens. It’s a hit to the egg market, it’s people’s jobs, it’s a local community. So any time anything big like that happens, it’s not good,” Olson said.
COVID RELATED NEWS
‘Significant’ Cases of Neurological Disorder Associated with the AstraZeneca Vaccine
A UK study by University College London has confirmed “small but significant” cases of the serious Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19.
The researchers speculate that “the majority or all” of the 121 UK cases of GBS (pdf) in March to April 2021 were associated with first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered in January.
“A similar pattern is not seen with the other vaccines or following a second dose of any vaccine,” said lead author Prof. Michael Lunn on May 30.
The team observed that from January to October 2021, 996 GBS cases were recorded in the national database but with an unusual spike from March to April with about 140 cases per month rather than 100.
To identify whether any or all of these cases were linked to vaccination, the team linked dates of GBS onset to vaccination receipt for every individual and found that 198 GBS cases (20 percent of 966) occurred within six weeks of their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination in England; of these, 176 people had an AstraZeneca vaccination, 21 for Pfizer, and 1 for Moderna.
The researchers found no excess GBS cases associated with mRNA vaccines, but observed 5.8 excess cases of GBS per million doses of vaccine for AstraZeneca, equating to a total excess between January to July 2021 of around 98–140 cases, confirming the association between the vaccine and GBS.
GBS is a rare and serious neurological disorder that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks its own nerves, typically resulting in numbness, weakness, pain in the limbs, and sometimes even paralysis of breathing.
The disease is commonly associated with Campylobacter infections that prompt the body to attack its own nerves.
However, GBS cases were also observed in the 1976 following administration of the swine flu vaccine as well as modern influenza and yellow fever vaccines, though none of them had rates as high as AstraZeneca.
Whilst the majority of the vaccination-associated GBS patients had recovered from symptoms of weak limbs, weak deep tendon reflexes, and monophasic sleep, one patient in the study had recurring neuropathic symptoms well after the second dose.
The patient initially developed facial paralysis on both sides and a tingling sensation in their limbs after the first dose and improved with treatment. However, two weeks after receiving their second dose, they developed increasing weakness with pain, changes in their nerves, and only partial response to the treatment.
Researchers are currently still speculating the reasons behind rises in GBS cases following the vaccine.
“It may be that a non-specific immune activation in susceptible individuals occurs, but if that were the case similar risks might apply to all vaccine types,” said Lunn.
“It is therefore logical to suggest that the simian adenovirus vector, often used to develop vaccines, including AstraZeneca’s, may account for the increased risk.”
CDC Director Issues Alert on Pfizer’s COVID-19 PillCenters for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky warned that Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill Paxlovid can lead to a rebound in symptoms.
“If you take Paxlovid, you might get symptoms again,” Walensky told CBS News on Tuesday. “We haven’t yet seen anybody who has returned with symptoms needing to go to the hospital. So, generally, a milder course.”
Another researcher who is not affiliated with the CDC said that he has observed such a scenario.
“People who experience rebound are at risk of transmitting to other people, even though they’re outside what people accept as the usual window for being able to transmit,” Dr. Michael Charness of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Boston told CNN on Tuesday.
After a patient recovers from COVID-19, the aforementioned rebound has occurred between two and eight days later, according to the CDC. The agency, however, told CBS that the benefits of taking Paxlovid outweigh the risks of COVID-19, namely among those who are at a high risk of developing severe symptoms from the virus.
Pfizer Asks FDA to Authorize 3 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses for Children Under 5
Says study suggests 3 doses 80 percent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19
Pfizer and BioNTech have completed an application for emergency use authorization (EUA) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a three-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen for children aged 6 months to under 5 years old.
Pfizer announced the completion of its EUA application on Wednesday, reported multiple outlets.
The companies initially asked the FDA for an EUA in February for a two-dose regimen of its 3-µg COVID-19 vaccine for the age group, but the agency on Feb. 11 postponed its decision on the application until receiving data on three doses. On the same day, Pfizer-BioNTech announced it would delay completing its EUA request until it receives data on the third dose.
The 3-µg dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the under-5 age group is one-tenth of the dose adults receive (30 µg) and one-third of that given to children aged 5–11 (10 µg).
The FDA has since accepted the application to review the data from Pfizer-BioNTech, reported ABC News. The agency said Wednesday it will review the EUA request “as quickly as possible using a science-based approach.”
CANCEL CULTURE
‘Woke’ NASCAR Apologizes to LGBTQ Community After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Waves Green Flag at Event
NASCAR issued an apology Wednesday for “recent actions” that are “not aligned” with its mission after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) waved the green flag ahead of last week’s All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The world-famous auto racing and operating company, headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, marked the first day of LGBTQ+ “Pride Month” with a unique version of the pride flag along with a message apologizing for actions it deemed uncharacteristic of its mission.
“As we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, we acknowledge that recent actions have not aligned with NASCAR’s mission to be a welcoming sport for all,” the company wrote.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to create a more inclusive environment — in our workplaces, at the race track & in the stands,” it added.
Last Sunday, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott waved the green flag ahead of the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.
An Associated Press (AP) reporter confirmed that Abbott’s presence at the event had been regarded as an error, though the governor is not mentioned in the NASCAR tweet.
In February, Abbott asked state agencies to investigate any reports of children undergoing treatment to alter their biological development shortly after Attorney General Ken Paxton defined such treatment as child abuse.
PROPAGANDA
Survey: Inflation to Delay 25 Percent of Americans from Retirement
President Joe Biden’s inflation is set to delay 25 percent of Americans from retirement, a Tuesday BMO Real Financial Progress Index survey revealed.
“As a result of inflation, 36% of Americans have reduced their savings and 21% have reduced their retirement savings. A quarter of Americans will need to delay their retirement,” the survey reported.
“Younger Americans are feeling the most impact – over 60% of those aged 18-34 said they had to reduce contributions to their savings,” it added.
The loss of net household income is changing Americans living patterns. The survey found that 80 percent of Americans will have to change their purchasing habits to offset Biden’s inflation:
- 42% are changing how they shop for groceries. This includes opting for cheaper items, avoiding brand names and buying only the essentials.
- 46% are either dining out less or consciously spending less when dining out.
- 31% are driving less to offset the soaring cost of gas.
- 23% are spending less on vacations or canceling them altogether.
- 22% are taking measures such as canceling subscriptions to the gym, cable, etc.
The BMO and Ipsos poll measures sentiment around financial confidence. The survey sampled 3,407 adults 18 years and older from March 30 to April 25.
Inflation will cost American households on average an extra $5,200 in 2022, or $433 per month, according to Bloomberg.
ICYMI
Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Lawsuit Against Ex-Wife Amber Heard
Jury also rules in favor of Heard’s counterclaim after Depp’s lawyer called her abuse allegations a hoax
A seven-person jury in Virginia reached a verdict on June 1 regarding Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, who had countersued Depp.
Jurors read the verdict aloud in the Fairfax County courtroom, finding that Heard defamed Johnny Depp on almost every count when she wrote a 2018 opinion article for The Washington Post. The jury awarded compensatory damages of $10 million and $5 million in favor of Depp.
Jurors also ruled that Depp had to pay $2 million to Heard. It ruled in favor of a counterclaim Heard had filed after Johnny Depp’s lawyer called her abuse allegations a hoax.
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