This Week's Must Reads - 8-14 April 2024

A summary of this week's most interesting news, studies, reports and articles

Apr 14, 2024

I spend a lot of time each day gathering new information and interesting articles. I then pick the most fascinating topic and write about it but that leaves a lot of information that I’m not sharing.

Below is a summary of all the best articles and information from this week. This weekly summary is a slimmed down version for all subscribers but more comprehensive daily summaries will be for paid subscribers only.

Make sure you sign up!

Climate Change

Geoengineering Test Quietly Launches Salt Crystals into Atmosphere. The nation's first outdoor test to limit global warming by increasing cloud cover launched Tuesday from the deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the San Francisco Bay. The experiment, which organizers didn't widely announce to avoid public backlash, marks the acceleration of a contentious field of research known as solar radiation modification. The concept involves shooting substances such as aerosols into the sky to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. The experiment is spraying microscopic salt particles into the air, and the secrecy surrounding its timing caught even some experts off guard.
The international Left-wing elites are well on their way to crushing democracy. Democracy is dying, and we are running out of time to save it. The theft of power and influence from ordinary citizens, and its transfer to unelected, unaccountable lawyers and technocrats is accelerating. The populist backlash, when it comes, will be devastating, but in the meantime the Left-wing elites are doubling down, using every possible justification to expand their empires. In an incendiary judicial coup this week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) greatly expanded its own remit while downgrading democracy another notch. In a ruling that would almost be funny if it weren’t so serious, its Grand Chamber ruled that countries that don’t reduce carbon emissions fast enough are violating their citizens’ right to private and family life.
Hidden Behind Climate Policies, Data From Nonexistent Temperature Stations. When recalling past temperatures to make comparisons to the present, and, more importantly, inform future climate policy, officials such as Mr. Guterres and President Biden rely in part on temperature readings from the United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN). The network was established to provide an “accurate, unbiased, up-to-date historical climate record for the United States,” NOAA states, and it has recorded more than 100 years of daily maximum and minimum temperatures from stations across the United States. The problem, say experts, is that an increasing number of USHCN’s stations don’t exist anymore. “They are physically gone—but still report data—like magic,” said Lt. Col. John Shewchuk, a certified consulting meteorologist.
North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies are even higher than last year. Non-existent temperature stations or real climate change (i.e. reaching solar maximum)?

Covid

CDC Says It Accidentally Inflated Children’s COVID Death Numbers In ‘Coding Logic Error’. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its data this week to reduce pediatric deaths from COVID-19 by nearly 24%. On Tuesday, the agency was reporting on its COVID Data Tracker that 1,755 Americans under age 18 had died from the virus since the pandemic began in spring 2020. Now, it is reporting 1,341 deaths in that category. The CDC said the number was revised March 15 due to a “coding logic error,” according to a footnote on the agency’s COVID Data Tracker. Pediatric death counts were not the only ones to be lowered — total deaths were reduced by roughly 70,000.
Rand Paul vows to probe Dr. Anthony Fauci's 'secret trips' to the CIA before COVID-19 and says he's 'salivating' at a possible Trump presidency to hold federal agencies accountable for pandemic cover-up. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Paul disclosed that Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was friendly with the CIA - which is notably one of the few federal agencies that still has not clearly established COVID-19 origins. He pointed to how the CIA disagrees with findings from the Department of Energy and FBI that have said the the pandemic likely originated from a leak at a Wuhan, China, lab.
EcoHealth Alliance email release confirms Fauci aide used private account to discuss COVID. The publication of the emails comes following a letter sent from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to former National Institutes of Health employee Gerald Keusch regarding several of his email exchanges with Fauci’s adviser David Morens and EcoHealth President Peter Daszak. The publication of the emails is notable because it corroborates allegations by congressional Republicans that leading NIAID officials may have violated federal records statutes during the early stages of the pandemic. Morens had repeatedly denied accusations that he forwarded government records to his personal email address to circumvent Freedom of Information Act requests and other oversight.

Covid Mandates & Lockdowns

CDC Quietly Admits to Covid Policy Failures. In so many words—and data—CDC has quietly admitted that all of the indignities of the Covid-19 pandemic management have failed: the masks, the distancing, the lockdowns, the closures, and especially the vaccines; all of it failed to control the pandemic. It’s not like we didn’t know that all this was going to fail, because we said so as events unfolded early on in 2020, that the public health management of this respiratory virus was almost completely opposite to principles that had been well established through the influenza period, in 2006.
Older adults' social patterns shift post-pandemic, study finds. Years after the U.S. began to slowly emerge from mandatory COVID-19 lockdowns, more than half of older adults still spend more time at home and less time socializing in public spaces than they did pre-pandemic, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research. Participants cited fear of infection and "more uncomfortable and hostile" social dynamics as key reasons for their retreat from civic life. "The pandemic is not over for a lot of folks," said Jessica Finlay, an assistant professor of geography whose findings are revealed in a series of new papers. "Some people feel left behind."
Canadian medical schools are still mandating the Covid vaccine…in 2024.
Humza Yousaf and Jeane Freeman ordered to explain widespread use of DNR orders during pandemic. Concern has been mounting for several years about the use of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders, also known as Do Not Attempt CPR (DNACPR). During the separate Scotland-only inquiry, Lord Brailsford has heard allegations of forged signatures on certificates and orders imposed on people. Gillian Grant told the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry she found her name in the signature strip of a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) form for her grandmother, even though she had never seen or signed it. She said: "I had never given permission for the DNR and I am very shocked and upset that this has my name on it."

Economy/Energy/Finance

Why the death of North Sea oil is a disaster for Britain. In the waters around the UK, hundreds of oil and gas installations are falling silent. Fifty years after the North Sea bonanza began, the final decline is upon us. As well as hauling the retired rigs to shore, nearly 8,000 wells that were drilled deep into the seabed must also be plugged. The decline of the North Sea has implications not just for energy policy and tax income, but public finances more broadly. We face a huge bill – potentially up to £60bn – to clean up the North Sea. The energy companies are responsible for decommissioning, but tax breaks mean much of that money will be reclaimed from the Exchequer - and ultimately taxpayers.
Mexico to cut at least 330,000 bpd of crude exports in May. Mexico's state energy company, Pemex, is planning to cut at least 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude exports in May, leaving customers in the United States, Europe and Asia with a third less supply, two sources said. The plan follows the withdrawal of 436,000 bpd of Maya, Isthmus and Olmeca crudes this month, ordered by Pemex to its trading arm PMI Comercio Internacional because it needs to supply more to its domestic refineries as it targets energy self-sufficiency.
The US National debt is on course to double in only 8 years.
JPMorgan Chase CEO warns inflation could stay high. In his annual letter to shareholders, Dimon pointed to "persistent inflationary pressures" that belie the stock market's confidence about the outlook and could result in even higher interest rates. "Equity values, by most measures, are at the high end of the valuation range," said Dimon, the longtime CEO of the biggest US bank by assets, who has often struck a cautious note about the outlook in recent years. "These markets seem to be pricing in at a 70 to 80 percent chance of a soft landing -- modest growth along with declining inflation and interest rates. I believe the odds are a lot lower than that."
Blackstone Making $10 Billion Multifamily Purchase, Going on the Real Estate Offensive. Blackstone has agreed to acquire an owner of upscale apartment buildings for about $10 billion, signaling that one of the world’s largest real-estate investors is ramping up investments again after a period of moving more cautiously. Blackstone is taking private Apartment Income REIT, known as AIR Communities, which owns 76 rental housing communities that are primarily in coastal markets, including Miami, Los Angeles, and Boston, the companies confirmed Monday. Blackstone plans to invest another $400 million to improve these properties, the firm said.
The CPI for electricity is accelerating higher.
China shakes wheat market with cancelled shipments from U.S., Australia. The global wheat market has been hit by Chinese buyers cancelling major shipments, seemingly in an attempt to secure better prices and bolster the country's food security. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month said 504,000 tonnes of wheat sales to China had been cancelled. The figure is equivalent to about half the total U.S. wheat shipments to China in 2022 and the largest cancellation on record going back to 1999. About 1 million tonnes of Australian wheat exports to China have either been cancelled or postponed as well, Reuters reports.
A Great Wealth Transfer is Underway: How the West Lost Control of the Gold Market. Pricing power in a market long dominated by Western institutional money is moving East and the implications are profound. The gold price has risen to a series of new all-time highs of late, a development that has received only cursory attention in the mainstream financial media. But as is the case with so much else these days, there is much more going on than meets the eye. In fact, the rise in the dollar price of gold is almost the least interesting aspect to this story. For thousands of years, gold was the ultimate store of value and was synonymous with the concept of ‘money’. Trade was often settled either in gold itself or in bank notes backed by gold and directly exchangeable for it. Currencies backed by nothing but government decree – called ‘fiat’ currencies – have tended to eventually fail.
Gold and bonds are moving in completely opposite directions for the first time in years.
Britain Fourth Largest Exporter in the World. Despite Brexit, the UK has surged to claim its place as the world’s fourth-largest exporter, fuelled by a surge in services, moving up three places since 2021. Services exports reached a record high of £470 billion last year. Not quite so gloomy as many doomsayers predicted… The US, China and Germany were the three ahead of the UK on the list. The other 26 of the 27 EU bloc countries are behind Britain. So much for the “you need to be part of a trading bloc to trade in the world” nonsense that rejoiners spin. And Remoaners said Britain would never prosper outside the bloc…
The tree of debt must stop growing. “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” This is known as “Stein’s law”, after the late Herbert Stein, former chair of Richard Nixon’s Council of Economic Advisers. Stein published this in June 1989, in reference to US trade and budget deficits. They have still not stopped! But, as a German adage of similar import says, “trees don’t grow to the sky”. At some point the tree’s weight becomes unsupportable. This is also true of fiscal debt. Limits on debt exist for every economy, even one as mighty as that of the US.
Why Are Gold Bar Sales Surging at Costco? Alongside its $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, gallon tubs of mayonnaise and value packs of socks, Costco, the warehouse retailer, has been selling gold bars since October. Now, retail analysts say Costco is selling up to $200 million worth of gold and silver each month, according to an analysis from Wells Fargo. The precious metal has set a series of records as it surged to $2,350 per troy ounce, up roughly $300 since the start of March.
Median monthly US mortgage payments have jumped to $2,747 per month, up 69% from 2021.
‘Serious possibility’ that Fed’s next rate move is a hike, warns Larry Summers. Summers’ remarks, in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg Television, came after the March consumer-price index showed a hotter-than-expected inflation reading for both the headline figure and the core rate, which strips out volatile food and energy prices. Fed-funds futures subsequently showed that traders were slashing their bets on a quarter-point rate cut arriving in June. The market now reflects an 85% probability the central bank leaves rates on hold at its June meeting, up from a 42.6% chance on Tuesday.
IMF Prepares Financial Revolution – Say GOODBYE to the Dollar. Global reserve currency status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Treasury Department understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The petrodollar monopoly made the U.S. dollar essential for trading oil globally for decades. This means that the central bank of the U.S. has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation. As much as 60% of all U.S. currency (and 25% of U.S. government debt) is owned outside the U.S. Global reserve currency status is what allowed the U.S. government and the Fed to create tens of trillions of dollars in new currency after the 2008 credit crash, all while keeping inflation more or less under control. The problem is that this system of stowing dollars overseas only lasts so long and eventually the effects of overprinting come home to roost.

Health

PFAS: 'Forever chemicals' linked to cancer found in over half of UK fruit and vegetables. The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) analysed statistics from the Government’s residue testing programme. It found that at least 10 PFAS chemicals were present in food destined for UK supermarket shelves. Among the alarming findings, at least 95 per cent of UK strawberry samples tested contained PFAS pesticides. PFAS pesticides were similarly found in over half of grape and cherry samples collected for the Government testing programme.
Cancer rates rising in young people due to ‘accelerated aging,’ according to ‘highly troubling’ new study. The researchers analyzed data from 148,724 people using the UK Biobank database. They estimated each person’s biological age using nine biomarkers in the blood — then compared that to their chronological age. Those with a higher biological age had a 42% increased risk of early-onset lung cancer, were 22% more prone to early-onset gastrointestinal cancer, and had a 36% higher risk for early-onset uterine cancer. The researchers also determined that people born after 1965 were 17% more likely to experience accelerated aging than those born in earlier decades.
Trends in death rates from neoplasms in the US for all ages and detailed analysis for 75-84. For individuals aged 75 to 84 the authors show a rise in excess mortality from neoplasms reported as the underlying cause of death, which started in 2021 (+4.8%) and increased substantially in 2022 (+11.5%). The increase in excess mortality in both 2021 (Z-Score of 10.5) and 2022 (Z-Score of 25.1) are highly statistically significant (extreme events). The larger rise of excess death rates due to neoplasms in multiple causes compared to underlying cause indicates that some deaths from neoplasms are being brought forward by other causes. However, the rise in cancers as underlying cause indicates that there might also be an unexpected rise in the incidence of fatal cancers, an increase in rapid growth cancers and/or an acceleration of existing cancer cases leading to earlier death.

Middle East

Has Hamas Won? It's possible that Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza will eventually eliminate Hamas's military leadership there, either by killing figures such as Yahya Sinwar and others or forcing them into exile. But it is equally arguable that Hamas has already won the first round in the struggle sparked by its appalling October 7 attack. Hamas's goals – or at least those of the Hamas Gaza leadership – in launching the October 7 assault are still not clear, other than as a demonstration of their annihilistic antisemitic ideology. But they presumably had as a minimum objective obtaining the release of as many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as possible, and of re-asserting themselves as a force to be reckoned with.
Iran warns U.S. to stay out of fight with Israel or face attack on troops. Iran sent a message to the Biden administration through several Arab countries earlier this week: if the U.S. gets involved in the fighting between Israel and Iran, U.S. forces in the region will be attacked. The U.S. and Israel are preparing for Iran to retaliate against Israel for an airstrike that killed a top Iranian general in Damascus last week. The Iranian supreme leader has threatened "punishment" for Israel but through private channels Iran has signaled it would be limited. Israel and the U.S. think an Iranian attack would include the launch of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones from Iran to Israeli territory.

Politics

Brazil Judge Wrangling With Elon Musk Has Long Battled Social Media. Before his weekend showdown with tech billionaire Elon Musk, Brazil’s Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes had already earned a reputation as a lightning rod in Brazil’s battles over free speech. In recent years, de Moraes has slapped fines and bans on social-media companies and ordered police to investigate—and even arrest—some of the country’s most powerful conservative bloggers, businessmen and politicians over what he deemed offensive online posts. Now the court’s order to block a swath of X accounts has sparked fresh debate, with critics on the right, including many legal experts, saying de Moraes has gone too far. They argue his crusade to clean up the internet in the name of safeguarding democracy is arbitrary and repressive, and that the biggest risk to democracy in Brazil could be the Supreme Court.
How to spot the next mania - Each new panic follows the same playbook. Manias are fuelled by emotion. The cult of trans has capitalised on our yearning to seem enlightened and compassionate. Because the celebration and promotion of transgenderism has capitalised on our yearning to seem enlightened and compassionate, it has been presented as the logical next step after gay rights, the movement plays on our craving to feel ultra-contemporary. #MeToo both fed off and promulgated resentment, self-pity, and vengeance; in standing up to abuse of power, it tempted some women to abuse their own power to ruin men’s lives. Covid lockdowns stirred primitive terror of death and contagion, until we came to view other people as mere vectors of disease. BLM stimulated the nascent Christian proclivities for guilt, repentance, and penitence even in the secular, while offering black people opportunity to vent frustration, self-righteous fury, and even hatred.
David Cameron holds talks with Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago surprise meeting. Lord Cameron has held a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in Florida as part of a charm offensive designed to secure more US funding for the war in Ukraine. The foreign secretary visited the former US president at his Mar-a-Lago resort despite previously calling him “protectionist, xenophobic, [and] misogynistic” and denouncing one of his policies as “divisive, stupid and wrong”. It was the first meeting between a senior British minister and Mr Trump since he left office in 2021.
Biden losing support among Black voters in swing states. The Wall Street Journal compared the results of its poll released last week to the AP VoteCast poll in 2020 that surveyed a large part of the electorate. The Journal’s survey of swing states found that while 57 percent of Black men planned to support Biden, another 30 percent said they likely will vote for former President Trump. The outlet noted that while there was no swing state polling it conducted in 2020, the AP VoteCast poll found 87 percent of Black men nationwide backed Biden in 2020 and 12 percent of Black men nationwide supported Trump in the last election.
US 'considering' dropping prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Joe Biden says. It comes following a request from Australia, where Mr Assange is originally from. The country's prime minister Anthony Albanese backed a motion in February calling for his return to Australia. When asked about the request by reporters at the White House on Wednesday, the US president said: "We're considering it". Mr Assange's lawyer described the comments as "encouraging".
How a cult captured the NHS Society fails when it treats children like adults. Nearly every indicator of cult membership is present among so-called affirmative clinicians and their hapless patients. Among the most telling signs are a fervent belief in a transcendent new way of life; induction into a mystical world of occult symbols, flags and lanyards; the love-bombing of new recruits with affirmative language and talk of “queer joy”; and the replacement of traditional support systems (one Pride post on the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust website — a hospital involved in creating the new youth gender services to replace Gids — talks about “the fight for LGBT rights” as something “to be won against your family or your neighbours or whoever is directly around you”).
House approves bill renewing FISA spy program after GOP upheaval threatened passage. The bill reforms and extends a portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act known as Section 702 for a shortened period of two years, instead of the full five-year reauthorization first proposed. The change was made to sway GOP critics. Skepticism of the government's spy powers has grown dramatically in recent years, particularly on the right. Republicans have clashed for months over what a legislative overhaul of the FISA surveillance program should look like, creating divisions that spilled onto the House floor this week as 19 Republicans broke with their party to prevent the bill from coming up for a vote.
Share

Science

Neurons in The Brain Appear to Follow a Distinct Mathematical Pattern. Researchers taking part in the Human Brain Project have identified a mathematical rule that governs the distribution of neurons in our brains. The rule predicts how neurons are distributed in different parts of the brain, and could help scientists create precise models to understand how the brain works and develop new treatments for neurological diseases.
Is the Sun Conscious? The recent panpsychist turn in philosophy opens the possibility that self-organizing systems at all levels of complexity, including stars and galaxies, might have experience, awareness, or consciousness. The organismic or holistic philosophy of nature points in the same direction. Meanwhile, field theories of consciousness propose that some electromagnetic fields actually are conscious, and that these fields are by their very nature integrative. When applied to the sun, such field theories suggest a possible physical basis for the solar mind, both within the body of the sun itself and also throughout the solar system. If the sun is conscious, it may be concerned with the regulation of its own body and the entire solar system through its electromagnetic activity, including solar flares and coronal mass ejections. It may also communicate with other star systems within the galaxy.

Technology

Elon Musk predicts AI will overtake human intelligence next year. The capability of new artificial intelligence models will surpass human intelligence by the end of next year, so long as the supply of electricity and hardware can satisfy the demands of the increasingly powerful technology, according to Elon Musk. “My guess is that we’ll have AI that is smarter than any one human probably around the end of next year,” said the billionaire entrepreneur, who runs Tesla, X and SpaceX. Within the next five years, the capabilities of AI will probably exceed that of all humans, Musk predicted on Monday during an interview on X with Nicolai Tangen, the chief executive of Norges Bank Investment Management.
Northrop Grumman debuts Manta Ray robotic underwater glider. Northrop Grumman introduces its first completed prototype Manta Ray Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV) that it is developing for DARPA. The extra-large submarine glider is designed to carry out long-range undersea missions without human assistance. Not a lot has been released about Manta Ray. Even though its dimensions are hush hush, the vehicle is supposed to be long-range and large-scale. It's designed to carry a variety of payloads for different missions with an emphasis on endurance rather than speed. According to Northrop Grumman, the Manta Ray prototype will be used to develop advanced underwater autonomous technologies. It will use energy-saving systems, including the ability to anchor itself on the bottom and go into hibernation mode.

Ukraine

Meet Centuria, Ukraine’s Western-trained neo-Nazi army. A uniquely Ukrainian strain of Neo-Nazism is spreading throughout Europe, which openly advocates violence against minorities while seeking new recruits. With Kiev’s army collapsing and a narrative of Western betrayal gaining currency, the horror inflicted on residents of Donbas for a decade could very soon be coming to a city near you. Centuria, an ultra-violent Ukrainian Neo-Nazi faction, has cemented itself in six cities across Germany, and is seeking to expand its local presence. According to Junge Welt, a Berlin-based Marxist daily, the Nazi organization’s growth has been “unhindered by local security services.”
80% of Ukraine’s Coal, Gas Power Plants Hit by Russian Attacks. Moscow has launched almost daily strikes on Ukraine's power grid since late March, causing major blackouts in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. "Up to 80% of thermal generation was attacked. More than half of hydro generation and a large number of substations, "Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko told journalists in Kyiv. "This is the largest attack on Ukraine's energy sector" since war began, the minister said.

Vaccines

Pfizer accused of ‘bringing discredit’ on pharmaceutical industry after Covid social media posts. The company has been found to have breached the regulatory code five times, which also includes making misleading claims, failing to maintain high standards and promoting unlicensed medicines. A ruling by the pharmaceutical watchdog, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), relates to a complaint about a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in November 2020 by senior Pfizer employees. The complaint raised concern about Pfizer’s “misuse of social media to misleadingly and illegally promote their Covid vaccine”, according to the ruling. They claimed that such “misbehaviour” on social media was “even more widespread” than they had thought and “extended right to the top of their UK operation”.
Review: N1-methyl-pseudouridine (m1Ψ): Friend or foe of cancer? It has been discovered that the mRNA vaccines inhibit essential immunological pathways, thus impairing early interferon signaling. Within the framework of COVID-19 vaccination, this inhibition ensures an appropriate spike protein synthesis and a reduced immune activation. Evidence is provided that adding 100 % of N1-methyl-pseudouridine (m1Ψ) to the mRNA vaccine in a melanoma model stimulated cancer growth and metastasis, while non-modified mRNA vaccines induced opposite results, thus suggesting that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines could aid cancer development.
Australian Journal of General Practice on Long Covid. Recipients of two or more injections of the mRNA vaccines display a class switch to IgG4 antibodies. Abnormally high levels of IgG4 might cause autoimmune diseases, promote cancer growth, autoimmune myocarditis and other IgG 4-related diseases (IgG4-RD) in susceptible individuals. There are clear implications for vaccine boosting where these and similar observations relating to COVID-19 vaccination and the incidence of long COVID-like symptoms are substantiated, adding further to public health officials’ concerns. Understanding the persistence of viral mRNA and viral protein and their cellular pathological effects after vaccination with and without infection is clearly required. Because COVID-19 vaccines were approved without long-term safety data and might cause immune dysfunction, it is perhaps premature to assume that past SARS-CoV-2 infection is the sole common factor in long COVID.