Still Catching Up
Most of these items are stories I saw yesterday or last night. The first one isn’t a joke—it’s reality when centuries old enemies suddenly become “allies”:
Poland Demands Answers After 'Gift' Police Chief Received From Ukraine Officials Exploded
Now, there has been a spate of exploding packages across Europe in recent days, but this one was different. It wasn’t anonymous—it was presented to the Polish Police Chief by a known person. A person known to be his Ukrainian counterpart. While it’s true that the “gift” was explosive in nature—a grenade launcher—you don’t know Poles if you think the Poles are accepting the idea of operator error or accident. Remember this? Or maybe it’s just that Poles have had long experience with Ukrainians—whatever:
What continues to make the circumstances strange, however, is that Polish authorities are still demanding the Ukrainian side to "provide relevant explanations" over the 'gift' and why it exploded.
Speaking of Ukraine, The Economist has published interviews with top Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky and the military head, Zaluzhny. Smart observers are noting the frankness of Zaluzhny’s assessments of the war situation. “Frankness” means, off narrative. Reading just slightly between the lines of what Zaluzhny says, anyone in the collective West who has been a true believer in the Ukraine-is-winning narrative will have received a rude wake-up call. The prognosis for Ukraine is not good, and the Russian bombardment last night drives that point home. Here are two excellent analyses:
Why is Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander in Chief Zaluzhnyi doing a media blitz?
On the economic front, or monetary if you prefer:
The 2 Largest Foreign Holders Dumped US Treasuries In October, Record Annual Equity Outflows
If you guessed that those two largest foreign holders were Japan and China, well, you guessed right.
The latest Treasury International Capital flows data (for October) shows, total overseas holdings of US Treasuries (by majors) tumbled once again (by $111.5 billion) to $7.185 trillion in October - the lowest level since May 2021...
Follow the link for all the gory details, but as Zerohedge remarks:
That's a lot of selling!
And, no, it’s not a positive sign for King Dollar’s position.
Have you ever wondered what the point of open borders is? Could it be to allow a massive influx of cheap labor? That would depend on where in your economy you need cheap labor and whether the cheap labor flowing in can fill those needs. Take the German example:
Wall Street Journal Slams German Migration Policy, Points To Terrible Unemployment Situation
Authored by John Cody via Remix News,
The influential Wall Street Journal has set its sights on Germany’s migration policy, accusing the country of continuing to pursue more migrants for its workforce despite remarkably poor results up until now.
The paper raises the question of the “paradoxical” situation regarding why Germany continues to lack so many workers despite taking in nearly 13 million people since 2015, citing data from the Federal Statistical Office.
If you tell me that no one could have predicted that, I’ll call you a liar. So, what’s the story?
Here’s another What Could Possibly Go Wrong? story that’s been in the news:
American Cities Using Federal COVID Relief Funds for Guaranteed Income Projects
Several major cities across the United States have been abusing federal COVID-19 relief funds by instead using them for “guaranteed income” projects, to the tune of millions of dollars.
As reported by Just The News, some of the cities participating in such programs include Los Angeles, California; St. Louis, Missouri; San Francisco, California; and Providence, Rhode Island. The cities are part of a coalition called “Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.”
Los Angeles’ program guarantees $1,000 per month to 1,000 residents, with absolutely no strings attached for the recipients.
Chicago is looking to start up a guaranteed income program. My take? An interesting experiment in how to make big cities—even more—unliveable. You have to ask, Is this well intentioned insanity or … something else? I mean, no sane person would actually expect positive results. Sadly, the budgetary free for all looks to be continuing. It did start under Trump—I understand all the caveats and excuses. This was and remains part of the Covid Regime.
File this one under: Go Figure.
Report: U.S. Intelligence Agencies Are Keeping From Congress Key Information About Covid Origins
U.S. intelligence agencies are obstructing congressional oversight by failing to disclose relevant information about Covid-19’s origins and potential connections to a Chinese bioweapons program, finds a new report from the Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence. The HPSCI Republicans led by Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio found “indications that SARS-CoV-2 may have been tied to China’s biological weapons research program and spilled over to the human population during a lab-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).”
Now, why would the Intel agencies do that? Personally, I get very tired of all the “conservative” finger pointing at the Chicoms. My working assumption is that the development of Covid was a US project directed by the Intel Community. If you understand that, then withholding “key information”—i.e., the truth—from Congress is simply business as usual. So …
… various intelligence agencies — including the CIA, FBI, DHS, the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security — “downplayed the possibility that SARS-CoV2 was connected to China’s bioweapons program based in part on input from outside experts.”
Not only did intelligence bureaucrats fail to disclose to Congress which “experts” they relied on to reach that conclusion, they also omitted important information from the declassified version of their classified assessment.
The important tidbit there is: “based in part on input from outside experts.” That means US experts. Or US funded experts.
Along very similar lines:
New documents reveal how the United States government used a secret Twitter portal to censor COVID-19 content that contradicted the government’s narrative.
In its ongoing probe into Twitter’s censorship practices, America First Legal has obtained a fourth set of documents (pdf) exposing a secret Twitter portal, which U.S. government officials used to censor dissenting COVID-19 views in violation of the First Amendment. It’s a revelation Elon Musk described as “extremely concerning.”
The documents reveal that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was collaborating with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and Mafindo to mitigate “disinformation.” Mafindo is a Facebook third-party fact-checking partner based in Indonesia that is funded by Google, known to have censored searches for keywords like Coronavirus, and COVID-19 as well as blocking information regarding adverse reactions and deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines.
“Extremely concerning”? I guess so. But these guys have had decades of practice:
Reading the news today gives me an overwhelming sense that we are in a downward spiral that cannot be arrested. On top of everything in Mark's post there is another headline stating that our President* is paying African countries to shut down their coal production. What other explanation can there be other than another attempt at destroying "fossil" fuels? I don't even know what to think anymore .
More and more, with each passing day, Putin’s description of the US as an empire of lies seems both apt as well as accurate.
I’m appalled, embarrassed and saddened by everything that has been revealed of late.
I would have to agree with the commenter
who thinks that we are in a downward spiral without remedy.
Harder and harder to remain positive. The “slough of despond” beckons.