Tanker Rates Rise As Global Shippers Scramble To Reroute Ships Around Africa

Update (1315ET): Bloomberg has published more details on the push for global shippers to divert ships around Africa. Torm, a Danish owner of tankers, said its customers have asked about the cost of options to divert. BBG said the diversions are being considered as markets on everything from oil to feedstock to refined petrochemicals are being impacted by what's now being widely referred to as the "Suez crisis."

Torm A/S, a Danish owner of tankers, said its customers have asked about the cost of options to divert. Rates for so-called LR2 vessels are up 10%, and ships could divert around South Africa, according to Jacob Meldgaard, chief executive officer of Torm A/S, which owns product tankers.

Already, shipbrokers are reporting that oil traders have started hiring tankers with "just-in-case" options to sail around the Africa should the blockage drag on. Vessels sailing empty to collect oil in northwest Europe could get delayed, forcing the region’s exporters to seek alternative carriers, market participants told BBG. Another consequence is that prices of naphtha, a must-have feedstock that Asian petrochemical plants buy in large volumes from Europe, have soared, per data from the Baltic Exchange in London.

Due to rising demand, prices for VLCCs carrying crude from the Middle East to China rose to $1,371 a day, registering a profit for only the second day in over 7 weeks, according to Baltic Exchange data. It's the highest since Jan. 27. The canal blockage "is having more of an impact on the Suezmax sector where rates are starting to rise and where a lengthy blockage will more quickly affect vessel supply balances," Claire Grierson, senior director of tanker research at SSY, told Bloomberg.

The congestion is hitting bulk carriers that ship products from wheat to iron ore. Just shy of 40 of these bulk ships are stuck in the Suez traffic jam, according to Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at trade group BIMCO.

"Unless the situation is resolved very quickly we will soon see ships sailing south of Africa," Sand said. "Oil tanker rates are terribly low at the moment so that’s where there’s most upside. Then some upside for dry bulk."

"In the past 24 hours, we have received several requests for price options to divert vessels," he said. "New arbitrage trade flows could emerge, but this all depends on how long the Suez Canal will be blocked."

The Suez is responsible for 2MM barrels a day of oil flows, according to Braemar estimates shared with Bloomberg.

Bottom line: as we mentioned earlier, higher shipping costs will inevitably stoke higher inflation, which could create problems for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his expectation that rising inflationary pressures will be "transient."

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/global-shippers-scramble-reroute-ships-around-africa-suez-crisis-worsens

Secret Service Inserted Itself as Cleanup Crew After Hunter Biden’s Gun Was Taken by Hallie Biden and Thrown in a Trash Can Near a High School

Will any reporter ask Joe about this during his press conference?

On October 23, 2018, Joe Biden’s crackhead son Hunter and daughter-in-law Hallie were involved in yet another brush with the law, this time the incident involved a gun.

Recall, Hunter Biden began “dating” his dead brother’s widow Hallie in 2018, because that’s how the trashy Biden family rolls.

In October of 2018, Hallie took Hunter Biden’s handgun from his truck without his knowledge and threw it into a trash can behind Janssen’s Market, a Delaware grocery store – the gun went missing and no arrests were made.

In fact, the Secret Service inserted itself into the case and worked as the cleanup crew to protect the corrupt Biden family.

Hunter Biden went back to the grocery store to retrieve the gun after Hallie told him what she did, but the gun was no where to be found.

Delaware police began investigating and searching for the gun because it was left in a trash can across the street from a high school.

A few hours later, and still no gun, police let both Hallie and Hunter leave the scene with no arrests.

At the same time, Secret Service agents questioned the store owner where Hunter bought the gun and asked for the paperwork involving the sale – the gun store owner suspected the Secret Service agents were working to hide Hunter’s ownership of the firearm so he refused to hand over the paperwork.

The gun store owner handed Hunter’s paperwork over to the ATF instead.

A few days after the gun went missing, it was returned by a man who routinely rummages through trash cans looking for recyclables.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/03/secret-service-inserted-cleanup-crew-hunter-bidens-gun-taken-hallie-biden-thrown-trash-can-near-high-school/

Biden To Stay In Afghanistan Beyond May 1st Agreement Despite Pentagon Saying "We're Ready"

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the Biden administration plans to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1st deadline set by the US-Taliban peace deal that was signed last year.

"It’s a general feeling that May 1 is too soon, just logistically," Smith said at a panel on Wednesday, according to Responsible Statecraft. Smith cited conversations he had with administration officials. "You cannot pull out ten thousand plus troops in any sort of reasonable way in just six weeks," he said.

Smith said the Biden administration wants to "negotiate past May 1" with the Taliban. "Job one is to try to get back in to talk to the Taliban about at least giving us more time," he said. Smith said the argument for staying is "purely logistical."

While Smith claims May 1st is "too soon," the Pentagon said on Tuesday that they are ready to meet the deadline if President Biden orders the withdrawal.

When asked by reporters on Tuesday if it is "logistically" possible to meet the May 1st deadline, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is confident that General Scott Miller, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, could get it done.

"I would point you back to what Secretary Austin said when we were in Kabul, which is that — that he’s confident that Generals McKenzie and General Miller, if a decision is made, to completely withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, that they will get it done in a safe, orderly, and effective way," Kirby said.

February 8th marked the first full year since the war started in 2001 that no US troops died in combat in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban are expected to start targeting US soldiers again if President Biden chooses to stay beyond May 1st.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/03/24/top-house-democrat-says-biden-plans-to-stay-in-afghanistan-beyond-may-1st/

Forever war and heroin

US, UK sanction Myanmar military-linked entities over campaign of ‘repression against civilians’

The US and UK have sanctioned entities linked to Myanmar’s military, amid two months of protests and chaos in the country following a military coup that ousted the civilian government.

The sanctions package was announced by the US Treasury Department on Thursday. The restrictions targeted two Burmese holding companies – Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC).

The companies, which are owned by Myanmar’s military, “dominate certain sectors of the economy, including trading, natural resources, alcohol, cigarettes, and consumer goods,” the Treasury said, insisting that the sanctions are “not directed at the people of Burma” but rather are designed to help them.

“The United States stands with the people of Burma and urges a return to its democratically elected government,” Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M. Gacki said in a statement.

By designating MEC and MEHL, Treasury is targeting the Burmese military’s control of significant segments of the Burmese economy, which is a vital financial lifeline for the military junta.

A similar move was announced by London shortly after. Unlike the US, the UK also named the persecution of Rohingya people as one of the reasons for the sanctions, alleging that MEHL “contributed funds to support the country’s armed forces” to wage the campaign against them, describing it as an “ethnic cleansing.”

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the sanctions “target the military’s financial interests to help drain the sources of finance for their campaigns of repression against civilians.”

Myanmar has endured nearly two months of civil unrest, after the country’s military ousted its civilian government on February 1. The coup ended the short period of civilian rule, which lasted for nine years. Military governments controlled Myanmar between the early 1960s and 2011.

The coup prompted mass protests across the country, which have been forcefully opposed by the military and police. The unrest has already resulted in dozens dead and injured, while hundreds of protesters have been detained.

The military announced a one-year state of emergency, promising to hold elections and surrender power back to civilians at an unspecified point in the future.

https://www.rt.com/news/519170-us-uk-sanction-myanmar/

US & UK protecting SOROS

Big Tech CEOs Face-Off With Congressional Members… Again

For the fourth time since the beginning of the virus pandemic, social media executives will answer questions on how their platforms aided extremists in the US Capitol attack, along with questions about misinformation on a video conference call with congressional members.

At 1200 ET, the House's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce will ask CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google how their platforms contributed to the deadly attacks on the US Capitol in January and the spread of misinformation about vaccines.

Members from both subcommittees will likely hound Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, and Google's Sundar Pichai on the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and rise of vaccine misinformation. The billionaire tech CEOs will likely defend the liability shield that protects their platforms.

Both Republicans and Democrats, and even President Biden (as a candidate), have called for abolishing Section 230.

Each subcommittee will likely ask Zuckerberg about extremists organizing through his platform.

Tech execs in front of congressional members has become a regular occurrence over the last year. This time these execs are facing more challenging questions about their past promises.

For instance, Zuckerberg and Dorsey told lawmakers in November that they would increase action against disinformation.

Republicans and Democrats have both pressured social media companies but for different reasons: Republicans complain of censorship and anti-conservative bias, while Democrats say the platforms create a world of misinformation and the rise of extremists in America.

In a written testimony prepared for Thursday's hearing, Zuckerberg said:

"Instead of being granted immunity, platforms should be required to demonstrate that they have systems in place for identifying unlawful content and removing."

It's not clear what lawmakers will decide after today's hearing, but billionaire tech CEOs have urged caution about any revisions to Section 230.

In Dorsey's written statement, he said:

"We are currently re-examining our approach to world leaders and are soliciting feedback from the public."

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/big-tech-ceos-face-congressional-hearing

Israel’s High Court bars Netanyahu from appointing top law enforcement & justice officials as it could affect his corruption trial

Israel's High Court of Justice has ruled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouldn't get involved in selecting high-ranking law enforcement and justice officials while he himself is on trial for "serious offences."

In their decision on Thursday, the judges sided with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who earlier laid out conflict of interest rules regarding Netanyahu's situation. Mandelblit insisted that the PM must be prevented from appointing officials who would have the power to influence the probe against him.

"The reality in which a prime minister is serving while an indictment is pending against him for serious offenses in the area of personal integrity is an exceptional situation that requires extreme adherence to the principle of prohibiting a person in public office from being in a situation of conflict of interest," the court ruling read.

Netanyahu, who earlier said that the attorney general's opinion wasn't binding for him, wouldn't be able to ignore the ruling of the high court.

However, the judges declined a petition, which urged for the PM's close ally – Public Security Minister Amir Ohana – to also be prevented from getting involved with high-profile staffing decisions.

The court clarified that the conflict of interest arrangement was designed personally for Netanyahu, urging Ohana and other ministers to refrain from discussing possible appointments with the PM.

Netanyahu, who has been in power in Israel since 2009, was indicted on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of public trust in November over accusations he accepted expensive gifts from business contacts and made deals with media bosses for favorable coverage.

The prime minister's main political rival, acting Justice Minister Benny Gantz, reacted to the high court’s ruling by saying that Netanyahu had been "immersed up to his neck in conflict of interest" and that was the reason for his refusal to appoint a permanent state attorney or justice minister. Gantz called upon the parties, who would get Knesset seats after Tuesday's election, to unite and finally oust the PM.

The trial of the prime minister, which was postponed due to what was the fourth general election in the country in two years, is scheduled to continue on April 5. Israel's Central Elections Committee has so far counted 98.5% of votes, with Netanyahu's Likud party winning with 30 seats and beating the nearest rival by 13 seats. However, the election results likely won't allow the PM to gain a majority in the 120-member Knesset. Pro-Netanyahu forces are currently projected to claim 52 seats, with a diverse group of opposition parties that resist him looking at 57 spots in the Israeli legislature.

https://www.rt.com/news/519172-netanyahu-corruption-trial-israel-court/

Facebook & Amazon emerge as 2 biggest corporate lobbyists, as Big Tech breaks own spending record in 2020 election cycle – report

Big Tech’s influence over government has only grown between the last two election cycles. Facebook and Amazon now outspend the largest tobacco and oil giants when it comes to buying political favor, a new report states.

Facebook and Amazon are now the two biggest corporate lobbying spenders in the country, according to a new report by Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit group.

Facebook spent nearly $20 million during the 2020 election cycle, with Amazon splurging just under $19 million. Behind them were telecoms giant Comcast in third with $14.4 million, ahead of a slew of weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon.

Facebook and Amazon spent twice as much as Exxon and Philip Morris, titans in their respective fields of oil and tobacco who only 10 years ago outspent Amazon by a factor of five to one. Back in 2010, Amazon spent only $2 million, and Facebook less than a quarter of that amount.

All in all, Big Tech (Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google) spent $124 million in lobbying and campaign contributions in the 2020 cycle, breaking its own records from past election cycles.

These tech titans are typically thought to favor Democrats over Republicans. Facebook, for instance, has been persistently accused of bias against conservative users and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, a newspaper fiercely critical of former president Donald Trump.

https://www.rt.com/usa/519099-amazon-facebook-biggest-lobbyists/

Former DEA Agent Derek Maltz: Fentanyl Seizures Up 361% at US Border – More Seized this Year in 3 months than All of 2020 Combined

Derek Maltz, former DEA Special Operations Agent, joined Newsmax on Thursday morning to discuss the historic crisis at the open US southern border.

During his segment, Derek Maltz brought up the horrific increase of fentanyl trafficking at the border.

Derek Maltz: Harris is at least now changing her rhetoric and she says we have a huge problem. It’s pretty obvious when you send FEMA to the border. That’s like an emergency disaster agency that we have a big problem. But look at the drugs, 361% increase in fentanyl seizures by the brave men and women of the border patrol. I mean, that’s more fentanyl that they’ve seized this year already in five months than they did all last year. Fentanyl’s killing Americans at record levels. Why isn’t anyone talking about that?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/03/former-dea-agent-derek-maltz-fentanyl-seizures-361-us-border-seized-year-3-months-2020-combined-video/

Photojournalist calls on Biden admin to lift ‘media border ban’, says he was removed by law enforcement for photographing migrants

A photojournalist covering the crisis at the US-Mexico border has detailed the media blackout imposed on the area, which he says has included him being prevented from snapping images of struggling migrants.

“I respectfully ask the White House to stop the media border ban,” Getty Images special correspondent John Moore tweeted on Thursday, accompanying his text with multiple photos he took of migrants near the southern border.

Moore revealed that local law enforcement agents removed him from the area and prevented further pictures from being taken. According to Moore, the officers said they were doing so at the request of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“This new surge we're dealing with now started with the last administration, but it’s our responsibility to deal with it humanely and to stop what's happening,” Biden said at the White House this week.

https://www.rt.com/usa/519187-media-border-ban-biden-photojournalist/

she's talking to him like a child

Cop Arrested for Horrifically Beating, Raping At Least a Half Dozen Children For Years

Shawnee, OK — In one of the worst cases of child abuse and child sexual abuse we have ever seen here at the Free Thought Project, an Oklahoma cop and his wife were arrested on multiple counts for abusing multiple children — for years.

Shawnee police officer Richard Mantooth was fired from the department on March 15, just two days before he and his wife were arrested. Chief Brad Gaylord was quick to distance his department from this alleged psychopath child rapist, telling News 9, “he is not an officer now.”

However, when this cop was torturing and raping his multiple child victims, he was gainfully employee with the department.

According to investigators, Richard repeatedly attacked, assaulted, and injured multiple children, while raping others. Police say that there are at least six victims who were subject to Mantooth’s abuse.

Investigators conducted interviews with five of the six victims who told police horrifying stories of physical and mental abuse. One child told police they repeatedly suffered cuts and bruises to the face during multiple attacks by this alleged monster with a badge.

“Richard caused the injury by punching him in the face and running his head through the wall,” wrote Shawnee Police Detective Beau Bohuslavicky.

freestar

According to the victims, Mantooth abused them at least twice a month and the torture was not limited to punching and beating. Mantooth is accused of choking and raping them as well.

On top of the horrifying physical abuse, Mantooth repeatedly raped the children, and is alleged to have forced a female victim to perform oral sex on him to help alleviate pain caused by kidney stones.

“(Mantooth) said he can do anything he wants to do to her and she couldn’t do anything about it,” police said in the affidavit.

Kathleen Mantooth was arrested for enabling the abuse and refusing to stop it. According to one of the witness statements on the affidavit, “she always had his back.”

The couple is currently in custody at the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center and their bonds have been set at $500,000 each.

During an interview this week, chief Gaylord told News 9, Mantooth will be held accountable for his actions.

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“That type of behavior is not tolerated particularly amongst police officers,” Gaylord said. “We’re all accountable for our actions. And if you make the decision to commit crimes, you’re going to be held accountable.”

Sadly, accountability may not happen as there is a pattern of police officers getting caught preying on children, raping women, and committing other unspeakable crimes—and never going to jail.

Previously, TFTP reported on the case of California Highway Patrol lieutenant Stephen Robert Deck who was given probation for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old in 2006. The officer was caught in an undercover sting operation set up by police to catch pedophiles in the act of trying to have sex with kids. Unlike most of the other 12 defendants in the case, who were sentenced to at least one year in prison, Deck was afforded probation simply because he wore a badge.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/monster-cop-beat-raped-half-dozen-children/

WHO Investigator Peter Daszak Authored Over 20 CCP-Funded, Linked Studies.

World Health Organization COVID-19 investigator Peter Daszak has worked on over 20 research endeavors that list “affiliations” with Chinese Communist Party-linked entities, including studies funded by the Chinese government and co-authored by military-linked researchers, The National Pulse can exclusively reveal.

Daszak appears as an author on at least 25 studies “affiliated” with a funding entity or author linked to a Chinese Communist Party think tank, university, or government ministry.

The unearthed studies follow National Pulse reporting highlighting Daszak’s involvement with the Chinese government and promotion of Chinese state-run media outlets.

Party Payroll.

Studies authored by Daszak focusing on mammal viromes, cross-species transmission of bat coronaviruses, and RNA viromes count funding from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Both entities are controlled and funded by the Chinese Communist Party, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences describing itself as the “linchpin of China’s drive to explore and harness high technology and the natural sciences for the benefit of China and the world.”

Another study authored by Daszak – “Fatal swine acute diarrhoea syndrome caused by an HKU2-related coronavirus of bat origin” – relied on funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China, which functions as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s five-year plans, along with funding from the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity.

Similarly, Daszak’s studies focusing on the ACE2 receptor in SARS-like coronavirus, panda parasites, Filoviruses, and the Fugong virus count funding from the Chinese Communist Party’s State Key Research Program and its Ministry of Science and Technology.

Another Ministry of Science and Technology-funded study focusing on the gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses authored by Daszak used grants from the Chinese Academy of Science’s Hundred Talents Program.

The Hundred Talents Program “is a major project in the Chinese Academy of Science in terms of recruiting outstanding talents overseas,” a summary notes.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) has also funded Daszak’s studies on Bat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and novel astroviruses from small mammals in China, and Serological Evidence of Bat SARS-Related Coronavirus.

The NNSFC “implements works entrusted by the State Council and relevant governmental administrations,” lists itself as a state-owned institution formed “under the loving care of comrade Deng Xiaoping.” The NNSFC also describes itself as “guided by President Xi Jinping’s Socialist Thoughts with Chinese Characteristics for the new era, earnestly implementing the spirit of the Party’s 19th National Congress.”

https://thenationalpulse.com/news/whos-peter-daszak-authored-ccp-studies/

Report: Team Biden Weighs Declaring Gun Violence a Public Health Emergency

President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing the idea of declaring gun violence as a public health emergency, in order to take dramatic executive action to tackle gun rights.

Biden officials and gun control activists discussed the idea, according to the New York Times, as well as other executive actions that could tackle gun rights nationwide.

If Biden declared a public health emergency, he could shift more funding to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to increase their inspections of gun dealerships. It would also loosen up available funds for community gun violence programs.

The administration is also exploring a way to classify gun kits (including 80 percent uppers/lowers) as firearms, requiring a serial number and subject to background checks. Gun control activists describe gun kits as “ghost guns” as they are untraceable.

The third gun violence option under consideration would include strengthened background checks.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday the Biden administration would continue exploring ways to tackle gun rights through executive actions.

“He certainly believes that, but there are also executive actions under consideration that we will continue working through internally,” she said about Biden. “And there’s lots of levers you can take.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/03/25/report-team-biden-weighs-declaring-gun-violence-a-public-health-emergency/

Antifa ‘Occupies’ Abandoned Police Station in London in Latest #KillTheBill Unrest

A collective of self-described “squatters, feminist groups, Anti-fascists and Black Liberationist groups united against repression” occupied a former police station in a posh residential neighbourhood in London.

In the latest example of #KillTheBIll unrest in the United Kingdom, an abandoned police station on Cavendish Road near Clapham Common has been covered in graffiti and draped with banners reading “ACAB” (All Coppers Are Bastards), “Abolish the Police”, and “Fight Like Ⓐ Girl”.

In a statement posted on the side entrance of the building, the Antifa group said: “We demand the withdrawal of ‘The Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill,’ an end to male violence, a defunding of police and a refunding of communities. We have shouted, we have marched and we now stand as a coalition to resist this authoritarian state.”

The leftist squatters also demanded an immediate end to stop and search tactics by the police, the defunding and eventual abolition of the police, and “a refunding of communities that have been marginalised by white supremacist, patriarchal ableist capitalism.”

“Over the last few days we have faced numerous attempts at intimidation. The police have not shied away from shamelessly harming those grieving and responding to Sarah Everard’s murder and we will continue to resist their force. We will persist in enforcing our rights as squatters to occupy this empty building in political protest,” the group said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has sparked nation-wide unrest, as has a police crackdown on a vigil for slain Sarah Everard in Clapham Common earlier this month.

Since then, mass protests have been held in London and in Bristol, where a demonstration against the bill turned into a violent riot on Sunday night. On Tuesday, leftist radicals squared off with the police yet again as they attempted to erect a Bristol Autonomous Zone (BAZ)-style tent city, similar to the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seatle in the United States.

The bill seeks to place further limits on the right to protest in the United Kingdom, including a prison sentence of up to ten years for causing “serious annoyance, serious inconvenience or serious loss amenity”, during the course of a protest. The proposed law would also impose a ten-year sentence for the vandalisation or destruction of statues, a common feature of Black Lives Matter protests over the past year.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/03/25/exclusive-pictures-antifa-occupies-abandoned-police-station-in-london-in-latest-killthebill-unrest/

British Parliament to Extend ‘Draconian’ Virus Powers by Six Months

British lawmakers were voting Thursday on whether to prolong coronavirus emergency measures that have given the government unprecedented powers to restrict citizens’ everyday lives.

The government is asking Parliament to extend the powers until September, and to approve a road map for gradually easing Britain’s strict coronavirus lockdown over the next three months.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s large Conservative majority in Parliament all but guarantees success, but Johnson faces rebellion from some of his own lawmakers, who say the economic, democratic and human costs of the restrictions outweighs the benefits.

The Coronavirus Act, passed a year ago as Britain went into lockdown, brought in a wide range of temporary health, economic and social powers to deal with the pandemic. It gives authorities powers to bar protests, shut down businesses, restrict travel and detain people suspected of having the virus.

Heath Secretary Matt Hancock said Parliament had had to take “extraordinary measures in response to this extraordinary threat.”

But Conservative lawmaker Mark Harper, a leading lockdown sceptic, said he had not “heard a single good answer” as to why the British government needed to extend the “draconian” powers for another six months.

Britain has recorded more than 126,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. But the UK’s fast-moving vaccination program has so far given at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to more than half of its adult population.

Virus infections and deaths have fallen sharply in the last month even as they are rising in much of Europe.

The British government is gradually lifting a national lockdown and children returned to school on March 8. Shops, hairdressers and outdoor dining are due to reopen on April 12, followed by indoor venues on May 17. Remaining restrictions are set to end June 21, if the country is not facing a large new virus surge.

Hancock said infections were likely to rise as society opened up, but thanks to vaccines that would not automatically mean more virus-related deaths. But he said it was still right to proceed with caution.

“We must restore the freedoms that we all cherish, but in a way that doesn’t put the (National Health Service) at risk,” he said.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/03/25/british-parliament-to-extend-draconian-virus-powers-by-six-months/

Papers for a Pint: Boris Says Vaccine Certificates Shouldn’t Be ‘Alien’ Concept

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested that pub landlords may bar people who cannot prove they have been vaccinated against coronavirus, also saying that “vaccine certification” should not be considered a foreign concept in Britain.

Speaking to a House of Commons committee on Wednesday, Johnson said that “the basic concept of vaccine certification should not be totally alien to us” and gave support to elderly care home managers who insist that staff are vaccinated.

“We’ve seen what happened in care homes. It doesn’t seem to me to be irresponsible at all — far from it, wholly responsible — for care home companies to think of requiring vaccination,” Prime Minister Johnson said, according to comments reported by The Times.

The remarks follow reports corroborated by Health Secretary Matt Hancock that the government was considering vaccination as a “condition of deployment” in care homes and other healthcare settings, contrary to the prime minister’s December remarks that it “is no part of our culture or our ambition in this country to make vaccines mandatory”.

Hospitality venues will be able to serve clients from next month outside under the prime minister’s “roadmap” strategy out of lockdown, with service indoors resuming in May.

Echoing predictions made in November by Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi, Johnson also suggested that hospitality managers, such as pub landlords, may demand proof of immunity or decline service.

“That may be up to the individual publicans — it may be up to the landlord,” the prime minister said when asked if licence holders may demand proof of vaccination.

Just last month, Prime Minister Johnson had said: “What I don’t think we will have in this country is, as it were, vaccination passports to allow you to go to the pub, or something like that.”

Pub and hospitality industry leaders have called the suggestion “unworkable” and “unfair and absurd”. While Brexit leader Nigel Farage called it “totally unworkable” and a “nightmare for struggling landlords”.

“Do I really have to show vaccine documentation just to go for a pint? What if my son is with me and too young to have been jabbed?” Mr Farage questioned.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/03/25/papers-pint-boris-says-vaccine-certificates-shouldnt-be-alien-concept/

AstraZeneca DOWNGRADES its Covid vaccine data: Drug giant now says the shot blocks 76% of symptomatic cases - instead of 79% - after backlash from US health watchdogs over 'outdated data' from major trial

AstraZeneca today claimed its Covid vaccine blocked 76 per cent of symptomatic infections in a major US trial, after downgrading its estimate slightly in the face of unprecedented public criticism.

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant was accused of cherry-picking data by US watchdogs, who were 'concerned' that the firm provided an 'incomplete view' of the jab's efficacy by releasing early results of the study.

But the recalculated figure was only marginally lower than the original 79 per cent it bragged about on Monday. The data was based on the final results of the exact same 32,000-person trial.

AstraZeneca's Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceutical research and development, said the results were 'consistent' with the interim results that sparked controversy.

He added the data 'confirms our Covid vaccine is highly effective in adults, including those aged 65 years and over'.

The firm has now sent the amended results to the US Data and Safety Monitoring Board, the secretive committee vetting Covid vaccines that raised the alarm about the original numbers. It feared AstraZeneca had left out some cases that may have skewed the results.

Scientists said the original statement, issued by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on behalf of the DSMB, was highly 'unusual' because any discussions about findings are usually held behind closed doors.

The small revision to the efficacy rate will go a long way to putting the vaccine back on track for US approval, with the firm hoping it will be given the green light in the coming weeks. Britain's regulators gave it the sign off in December.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2021/03/astrazeneca-downgrades-its-covid.html

Mexican Cops Report Record-Breaking Child Smuggling Busts near Texas Border

Authorities in the border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon are stopping human smuggling attempts in unprecedented volumes with particular focus on teens and children being moved. The apprehensions occur as U.S. authorities report substantial overcrowding in their detention facilities.

The smuggling attempts take place along the highways connecting the border cities in Tamaulipas with central Mexico. Since the beginning of 2021, officials started seeing a spike in larger groups of Central American migrants in tractor-trailers or other cargo vehicles headed north.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/03/25/mexican-cops-report-record-breaking-child-smuggling-busts-near-texas-border/

Boulder Attack Is Seventh High Profile Mass Shooting Where Attacker Was Known to FBI Beforehand

As the nation mourns the deaths of 10 people at a Boulder, Colorado supermarket, the FBI is being mocked after reports emerged that the shooter was flagged as a threat to them.

The motives of 21-year-old Ahmad al-Aliwi Alissa, a Middle Eastern beneficiary of the refugee resettlement program, are still not totally clear.

Some are claiming he was an Islamic extremist, but his social media history suggests he was more so fixated on media-induced paranoia about white “racism” and consumed by anger at Americans who support immigration restrictions. All of Alissa’s victims were white.

There is no evidence that Alissa, who lived in an $800,000 home, was being oppressed by anyone in ultra-liberal Boulder. This, however, did not stop his racial paranoia from manifesting in violent and manic ways, such as the brutal beating of a high school classmate in 2017 that peers said was unprovoked. Alissa later argued the attack was in retaliation for an ethnic taunt and courts allowed him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge.

The post-9/11 FBI has shown that it is eager to flagrantly violate the rights of, first Arab Muslims, and today, people they deem “white supremacists.” Research produced in Trevor Aaronson’s Terror Factory shows that the FBI’s Patriot Act counter-terrorism powers have yet to foil an organic and independent (as in, not informant driven) terror plot on US soil.

Former FBI Special Agent Michael German, while unprincipled in supporting crackdowns on right-wing white men, has in the past said that the FBI’s mass surveillance of American citizens and the resources wasted manufacturing fake terror plots using criminals hired to be agent provocateurs are why they often fail to stop real terrorists.

Why Alissa was being looked at by the FBI has not been disclosed, but his case is part of a pattern of mass shooters that the feds knew were a threat but either did not stop or directly enabled. All of these acts of FBI negligence occurred in cases with a non-Western or Jewish (Nikolas Cruz) attacker.

They are as follows,

Fort Hood Shooting (2009) — 13 Dead

Fort Hood attacker and Army Major Nidal Hasan’s ties to the 9/11 hijackers and Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki were known to the FBI years before he decided to strike.

Hasan regularly communicated with Al Qaeda leaders abroad, discussing suicide bombings and acts of Jihad against civilians.

A 2012 internal investigation on why the FBI did not approach Hasan or have him reprimanded by the Department of Defense revealed that agents did not do their job out of fear of being called racist.

https://www.unz.com/estriker/boulder-attack-is-seventh-high-profile-mass-shooting-where-attacker-was-known-to-fbi-beforehand/

Eleven former Border Patrol officials call situation 'grave' and warn 'criminal organizations are capitalizing on the crisis' as unaccompanied minors and families distract agents from more dangerous crossers

Eleven former high-ranking Border Patrol officials called the situation 'grave' and warned that 'criminal organizations are capitalizing on this crisis' in a first-of-its-kind letter on Wednesday.

Among them were four retired Chiefs of the United States Border Patrol who were joined by five former Chief Patrol Agents in writing a letter to Congress urging them to address the 'broken immigration system.'

The letter is addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

'On behalf of retired Chiefs of the United States Border Patrol, we write with grave concern regarding the current crisis on the southwest border,' reads the letter.

'It is time to address our broken immigration system as well as the push and pull factors encouraging mass migration, and its impacts on border security.'

The letter continued: 'The cycle of broken immigration crises must be a priority for Congress. The patchwork system in place continues to fail us all.'

'Criminal organizations are capitalizing on this crisis, exploiting these vulnerable unaccompanied children and their families while at the same time utilizing this distraction to overwhelm front-line Border Patrol agents,' the letter added.

The letter was signed by Border Patrol Chiefs: David V. Aguilar, Ronald Vitiello, Ms. Carla Provost, and Michael Fisher.

Villareal, who retired in December, told Fox News that 'there is a monumental border issue at the border right now that is going to overwhelm the capabilities of the Border Patrol.'

'It's going to cause our system to shut down because as these populations increase, the unaccompanied children, the family units takes away from the ability to do effective border security,' he said.

Karisch told CNN: 'This is a problem we've had for many years.'

'Look back at 2014 with the unaccompanied children crisis. We didn't have the infrastructure then. We definitely were suffering from that same problem under the previous administration,' he said.

'This is something that both sides keep pointing fingers at, but unfortunately it's the agents in the field that are having to deal with a very serious issue but one that also takes them away from their law enforcement responsibilities.'

http://www.madnesshub.com/2021/03/eleven-former-border-patrol-officials.html

American Education: Child Indoctrination, Struggle Sessions and Debt Slavery

Seemingly overnight, a large segment of America has gone insane. We’re not talking about the culture of paranoia and safety that has metastasized in the wake of COVID-19 hysteria. We’re talking about the ideological shift, particularly on cultural issues, that has occurred since the start of the Obama Administration.

To pick an easy example, it would have been fairly uncontroversial even five years ago to say that men should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports, regardless of what they might subjectively “identify as.” And yet, this is now a subject contention across a number of sports, including mixed martial arts and powerlifting. What’s more, having the wrong opinion and expressing it publicly might make you the subject of a public shaming, up to and including losing your job and being de facto blacklisted from your industry.

The point isn’t to litigate the specific topic of trans identified men competing in women’s sports. We use this only as one example of a broader cultural shift. Another, far more troubling development, is how quickly a significant and powerful minority of Americans grew to believe that America is a fundamentally racist country and that white Americans are somehow uniquely evil by virtue of their birth.

Both of the above are extreme viewpoints and would have been recognized as such even five years ago. Now, one can have one’s name blackened for taking the wrong viewpoint.

But this change did not come out of nowhere. In fact, it’s the product of decades of indoctrination of generations of Americans through what is called “education.” We use scare quotes here, because there is little evidence that American schools educate their students anymore – if, by education, we mean imparting knowledge rather than ideology.

This isn’t simply something to handwave away as “those crazy kids on college campuses and their left-wing professors.” Generations of far-left indoctrination have created a critical mass of Americans openly hostile toward American values and the very notion of liberty itself. If one is looking for an explanation for how we got to this point, a deep and critical view of education – from kindergarten through post-graduate – is in order.

The punchline? You’re paying for it in the form of America’s student loan program, which is little more than a massive welfare program for universities with multi-billion dollar endowments.

MORE

https://ammo.com/articles/american-education-child-indoctrination-debt-slavery

As new migrant crisis deepens, Biden admin tells DHS to hide numbers from media, elected leaders

Democrats routinely accuse their political opponents for doing things they themselves are doing, such as when they called former President Donald Trump the least transparent president in history.

In fact, Trump was an open book: He declassified phone calls with foreign leaders, which is unprecedented; he actually kept his campaign promises; and he was investigated time and time again, only for his political foes to come up empty each time.

Now we’re seeing Democrats lie again — about transparency.

It took Trump about three years to really get a grip on border security and get the endless migrant waves and caravans shut down. It took agreements with Mexico, and threats of ending U.S. aid to Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as hundreds of miles of new border wall and a commitment to strict enforcement policies, but he did it.

And on day one, Joe Biden began signing executive orders overturning all of that progress, which sent a clear signal to Central Americans that the border was once again wide open.

Biden never campaigned on an open borders platform; in fact, he claimed that he would ensure the border was secure, as Trump had done.

He lied — well, okay, his handlers lied — and now we have new migrant hordes showing up by the thousands every day, only to be processed and then released into the interior of the country, some sick with COVID.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/as-new-migrant-crisis-deepens-biden-admin-tells-dhs-to-hide-numbers-from-media-elected-leaders/

At least 44 hand sanitizers made amid pandemic shortages have high levels of cancer-causing chemical benzene which is considered as dangerous as ASBESTOS, pharmacy warns

Some hand sanitizers that popped up during the coronavirus pandemic to help meet the demand, contain high levels of a cancer-causing chemical, a new analysis finds.

Valisure, an online pharmacy based in New Haven, Connecticut, said it has detected benzene in several batches across multiple brands of hand sanitizer.

The product is considered as dangerous as asbestos and several companies had levels up to eight times that the limit recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

'The presence of benzene, a known human carcinogen, and multiple other contaminants, in products widely recommended for the prevention of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 and regularly used by adults and children in large volumes makes these findings especially troubling,' Valisure wrote in a letter to the FDA.

Benzene is a liquid chemical that is typically colorless but, at room temperature, can become a light yellow color.

It is naturally found in volcanoes and as a result of forest fires, but is also used to make several products including detergents, dyes, lubricants and rubbers.

Being exposed to high levels of benzene can cause cells to not works correctly such as causing one marrow not to produce enough red blood cells or damaging the immune system to lose white blood cells, according to the CDC.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified benzene as a carcinogen, putting it in the highest risk category, Group 1, with other chemicals such as asbestos.

Benzene has been linked to blood cancers such as leukemia

The FDA currently recommends a limit of two ppm (part per million) for liquid hand sanitizer, but does not have recommendations for others such as sprays.

For its analysis, Valisure sampled 260 bottles from 168 brands sold at various big box stores, supermarkets pharmacies and online retailers across the country.

Of the liquid and non-liquid products tested, 44 batches or 17 percent, had detectable levels of benzene.

A total of 21 bottles, or eight percent of the supply, contained levels of benzene above two parts per million.

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2021/03/at-least-44-hand-sanitizers-made-amid.html

Pfizer vaccines halted in Hong Kong after multiple defects were reported

Twenty-one Hong Kong vaccination centers suspend vaccine appointments

Hong Kong health officials have HALTED shipments of the Pfizer vaccine after multiple defects were identified and reported. The South China Morning Postreports that front-line healthcare workers discovered over fifty instances of cracked and leaking vials. How can Pfizer guarantee the consistency and safety of the mRNA science, if they cannot keep the vials intact and properly preserved?

There is no practical way to ensure the safety of an experimental vaccine that has to be preserved at -93 degrees Fahrenheit. The Pfizer mRNA vaccine is shipped in boxes that can only be opened twice a day for a maximum of 180 seconds. If the nano-particles in the vaccine are not properly preserved at this correct temperature, they become dangerous and ineffective to human immune systems. Moreover, a manufacturing feat at this scale is naturally prone to multiple errors.

Twenty-one Hong Kong vaccination centers suspend vaccine appointments

After the leaking vials were identified, Hong Kong health officials canceled vaccine appointments at all twenty-one community vaccination centers. At least 1,080 doses had already been administered at nineteen vaccination centers the same day the doses were suspended. Citizens who were scheduled to get the Pfizer vaccine that day were told they could not get the jab “until further notice.” Some of the vaccine junkies angrily waited at the vaccination centers, demanding that they get their fix.

Just as the heroin addict shoots up to get a feeling of elation and a sense of freedom, so do today’s vaccine addicts, who shoot up to get a feeling of elation and a psychological sense of freedom. Vaccine junkies derive a sense of elation and freedom from a series of shots. While they aren’t technically addicted on a physiological level, their brains are trained to be dependent on the needles all the same. It doesn’t matter where the shots come from, if the vials are broken, or whether the needles are dirty and unsafe. Vaccine junkies need their fix.

This embarrassing psychological phenomenon is happening because governments continue to hold people down, coercing people to give up their freedoms, while brainwashing them to believe they will never be fine again if they do not plunge the needles in their arms. Governments and pharmaceutical companies have become like gangs and drug dealers, controlling and ruining people’s lives. This isn’t science. This is coercion. These are people with real PROBLEMS and they will soon be coming for every child’s mind, to continue the cycle and plunge more needles in their arms.

https://www.intellihub.com/pfizer-vaccines-halted-in-hong-kong-after-multiple-defects-were-reported/

Kamala Harris: “I’m proposing $2,000 monthly payments throughout the pandemic and for 3 months after. It’s that basic.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D‑Mich., a member of the progressive “Squad,” is pushing a bill that would give everyone in the U.S., including undocumented immigrants, $2,000 a month during the coronavirus crisis followed by $1,000 a month until a year after the coronavirus pandemic ends.Tlaib and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D‑Wash., reintroduced the Automatic Boost to Communities Act in the House of Representatives Tuesday.The bill “would be funded directly from the Treasury with no additional debt issued by minting two $1 trillion coins, and additional coins as necessary,” Tlaib and Jayapal said in a press release.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/kamala-harris-im-proposing-2000-monthly-payments-throughout-the-pandemic-and-for-3-months-after-its-that-basic/

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