Today's Must-Reads - 1 April 2023
A selection of the latest news, studies, reports and articles
I spend a lot of time each day gathering together new information and interesting articles. I then pick one or two of the most interesting topics and write about them. However, that leaves a lot of missed out information that I’m not sharing.
Below is a summary of all the latest articles and information that I’ve found. Today, this is a slimmed down version for all subscribers but will be for paid subscribers only a lot of the time in the future.
Please consider taking out a paid subscription because it enables me to spend longer reporting on the news that isn’t, but should be reported.
Climate Change
The UK gets more insane by the day. This time targets set for companies in the Government’s Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate means carmakers will ration petrol and diesel car sales until the complete ban in 2030. This is in a bid to drive up electric car use with the only snag being that the National Grid can’t cope with everyone driving electric cars.
Covid
Laboratories are still performing Gain of Function research on viruses more dangerous than Covid-19 says Forbes. It’s becoming ever more clear that Covid leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology it says.
The Covid-19 emergency is finally ending in the US. But don’t get too excited. The end of the emergency won’t affect vaccine Emergency Use Authorisations, tests or treatments. Furthermore, the US travel restrictions on the unvaccinated will remain in place until Biden rescinds them.
Covid Mandates & Lockdowns
A good summary of how the propaganda around masks changed over a few months. Initially, the real science said masks are useless. Only properly fitted N95/N99s make a difference. Then the 180 and suddenly the whole world was mandated to wear them.
Dr Hobart is an Australian GP that was suspended for issuing vaccine exemptions. He witnessed the extreme mental distress of 100s of patients who were terrified of being forced to have the vaccine. Many of whom had suicidal thoughts.
Economy/Energy/Finance
Simon Black says he loves how everyone pretends the bank crisis is over. And to make matters worse, the economy is slowing. The WSJ recently reported that estimates of total unrealised bank losses is a whopping $1.7 trillion, that’s the vast majority of all bank capital in the US.
Moody’s thinks cash flow from Blackstone portfolio no longer covers their debt payments. The ratings agency downgraded its debt citing “declining performance” in its portfolio.
Many think that de-dollarization is currently taking place. But what does this mean for the US if this continues to accelerate. Peter St Onge gives us an idea of the first stage of Dollar collapse.
French food consumption has dropped 9% year on year. It is currently on levels last seen in 2007 when the population was much lower. I wonder why they are out on the streets.
Politics
David Sacks discusses the Restrict Act which could potentially see US citizens facing 20 years inside or $1 million fine if they use a VPN. Whilst the government claims this is to restrict Tik Tok, the wording is so broad, it will effectively give the security services sweeping new surveillance powers.
#1 @DavidSacks says that the RESTRICT Act, also known as the "Tik Tok Ban," is a Washington DC ploy to seize power and a bait-and-switch, and American citizens using VPNs could potentially face penalties of up to $1 million in fines and 20 years in prison: "This is going to give… https://t.co/Es9ObTpgWUOver the border, in Canada, Bill C-11 was passed by the House of Commons as well as rejecting crucial amendments. The bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, gives the CRTC unprecedented regulatory authority to regulate posts.
Zambian opposition leader Fred M’membe responds to US vice-President Kamala Harris’ visit to his country. He says it’s ironic that the US preaches about democracy when they have toppled so many governments in Africa that have led to so many coups and killed so many of their leaders.
Science
Nature magazine says stressed plants ‘cry’ and some animals can probably hear them. Microphones were used to capture ultrasonic crackles from water-deprived or injured plants.
You don’t fancy a plant burger? How about a lab-grown mammoth meatball. Smithsonian magazine reports on a massive meatball made with woolly mammoth DNA and says it might offer a glimpse into the future of food production. T-Rex steak anyone?
Technology
Italy has banned ChatGPT over privacy concerns with immediate effect. Whilst there is absolutely no point in banning it, there are genuine concerns over its use. For example, a Belgian man killed himself after talking to an AI chatbot for six weeks about climate change fears. His Widow blames the chatbot especially as the man shared his suicidal thoughts with the bot but it did not try to dissuade him from killing himself.
Ukraine
President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko says Russia could place powerful strategic nuclear weapons in his country on top of the tactical nuclear warheads that are already planned. He has also ordered the military to restore Belarus’ nuclear capable Topol missile launch pads.
Russia declared that a new foreign policy document adopted by Putin identifies the West as posing an “existential” threat to Moscow. "The existential nature of threats to the security and development of our country, driven by the actions of unfriendly states is recognised" in the policy, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
According to a Greek source a Russian hypersonic missile “Kinzhal” hit a join Ukrainian-NATO control and communications centre at a depth of 130 metres. The article says 300 people were in the underground headquarters, including Brits, Poles and Americans.
Vaccines
Who are the anti-vaxxers? The New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science (NZDSOS) or Medsafe? New advice from Medsafe to the government looks like it came from “anti-vaxxers”. NZDSOS asks “why were we cancelled and persecuted for saying the same thing and not lying about it”?
Peter McCullough in TS News says hundred of French Citizens suffered cardiac events after bivalent boosters. He looks at a study reported from the French National Health Data System linked to the national Covid database disclosing cardiovascular events after mRNA BA4/BA5 bivalent boosters.
That EVs are too much for our grid or any country's is a given. It's funny to me how they ignore that the price is astronomical and they've made it so only a very few can afford the Russian Roulette game. It WILL implode into a fireball at sometime.
Just to let everyone know, Canada's Bill C-11 on internet use goes back to the Senate. The Govt rejected all of the Senate's Proposed Amendments which included a specific exemption to clearly exempt user generated content from being captured by the bill. The Senate will now review the Bill again, but without their amendments, which means it is the same Bill as before which Senate Members did not pass earlier. As noted by Senator Leo Housakos, the decision by the Liberals to remove the amendments makes it clear the legislation is all about controlling what individual Canadian internet users can say online. I think the Senate will reject the Bill again.