World Affairs Brief October 14th, 2022-JOEL SKOUSEN-PUTIN’S REVENGE ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS AND OTHER TOPICS

[Nat Quinn]

PDF Version: World Affairs Brief October 14, 2022

MP3 Audio Version available Friday afternoon

World Affairs Brief, October 14, 2022 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel
Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

This Week’s Analysis:

Putin’s Revenge Attacks on Civilians

Biden Admin Protecting Chinese Presence in the US

Vaccine Updates

The Real Story Behind High Gas Prices

News Shorts

Preparedness Tip: Povidone-Iodine

PUTIN’S REVENGE ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS

Putin ordered the launch of dozens of drone and missile attacks on cities and civilian power
plants at several of Ukraine’s biggest in retaliation for the explosion that dropped one span of the
Russia-Crimea bridge over the Kerch Strait that was completed in 2018. Deliberate attacks on
civilians is considered an act of terrorism when the target has no military value. While Putin tried
to claim the Crimea bridge was an attack on civilians, it did serve key military purposes. It was
and still is an important military target given that it is the only rail access between Russia proper
and Crimea for military supply lines after Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. The
Crimean Peninsula is connected in the north, to Ukraine proper. This bridge was built to the East
connecting the peninsula with Russia proper, so as to bypass Ukraine. If Ukraine succeeds in
taking back the Kherson region and expels the Russians from its southern border, the Russians
will once again be isolated on Crimea. Ukraine is committed to taking back the two Russian-speaking areas to teach the Russians a lesson knowing, as I reported, that Russia purposely put
the Russian-speaking people in the Donbass and Crimean regions decades before into Ukraine
just to provide a future excuse to invade. They can’t let Putin get away with that. If he does, the
Baltic States are next, given that Russia forced hundreds of thousands of Russian peasants to
resettle there for the same future invasion purpose.

It was a massive explosion that took down one of the major spans and set fire to a train on a
parallel railroad span. The bridge reopened the day after on the good remaining span, though
traffic is now limited to two single lanes. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but
clearly this had to be engineered by the Ukrainians with the technical assistance of the West.
Russia claims it was a bomb carried in a truck seen crossing the bridge at the time of the
explosion, but aftermath photos showing no damage to the road surfaces that are still visible near
where the truck bomb would have gone off.

Some explosive experts are certain the blast came from below the bridge. The support pillars are
still intact, so it couldn’t have been by explosive charges set there by a demolition team. Here is
the best video explanation of what happened. The key observation of bridge surveillance cameras
show a bow wave of a surface vessel just coming under the bridge as the explosion occurs,
leading to the conclusion that the huge explosive charge had to be on some type of boat.

There has been some speculation about the US providing a remote controlled submarine, but that
is unlikely for three reasons: 1) The US doesn’t want to be accused of directly attacking Russia;
2) an explosion under the water would have to be much larger to overcome the mass of water
between the sub and the bridge, and 3) an underwater explosion would have sent a huge plume of
water into the air, and in the video you only see yellow flame and fire.

Because the bridge was opened with great public fanfare by V. Putin himself, with the fact that
the Russian FSB was in charge of security of the bridge, this is a huge humiliation for both Putin
and the FSB, triggering the vengeful attacks on Ukrainian civilians. The NY Post provided the
graphic detail of the retaliatory strikes:

At least 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones were used to attack 14 regions, killing at least 11
people and injuring more than 60 others, according to Ukraine’s government. Explosions
were reported in Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr in Ukraine’s west, Dnipro and Kremenchuk in
central Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the south and Kharkiv in the east, many hitting at rush hour
and leaving swaths of the country without power.

That’s a lot of firepower, and begs the question of why Putin didn’t use tactical nukes as he has
threatened to do. Tactical nukes give off radiation but since these targets were not designed for
immediate military attack and occupation there would have been no danger to Russia troops. It’s
yet one more indication that Putin doesn’t want to become the pariah of the world by first
launching tactical nukes at civilians in this conflict.

In Kyiv, distressing images caught blood-soaked citizens walking through still-blazing streets
in the historic old town that is home to several government offices — with one giant crater
just feet from a playground. At least eight people were killed and 24 injured in just one of the
strikes on Kyiv…

Russian President Vladimir Putin later gloated about the “massive” use of “precision
weapons,” calling it a just response to Kyiv’s “terrorist attacks,” including the huge blast
that destroyed part of a key bridge to the Moscow-controlled Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded to Putin’s claim that his massive attacks on
civilians were in response to Ukrainian “terrorism” in attacking the bridge. Besides being totally
disproportionate to the three civilians killed on the bridge, the Foreign Minister said that,

“this nonsense about Putin being ‘provoked’ must stop. He does not need anything to
‘provoke’ him in order to commit heinous crimes… Putin’s only tactic is terror on peaceful
Ukrainian cities … Putin is a terrorist who talks with missiles,’ insisted Kuleba… Kharkiv
was hit three times, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The strikes knocked out the electricity and
water supply.

The Russians even targeted a glass-floored pedestrian bridge in Kyiv, to show just how petty they
were in their targeting goals. However, the bridge withstood the rocket attack and remains
standing.

As far as the actual war, Ukraine continues to make gains in the North and southern Kherson
region, leaving Russian troops bottled up in defensive strongholds. Here is an article and video of
reporters talking to residents of a recaptured town in Kherson oblast describing how the residents
stayed inside buildings for a week to avoid confronting Russian troops. All shops and stores were
closed or damaged and people were desperate for food.

70 Ukraine energy plants were bombed by Iranian-built drones leaving much of the country
without electricity. MSN.com reports,

The British Defense Ministry has said the low-flying drones were unlikely to provide strike
options deep into Ukrainian territory, with many reportedly destroyed before they hit their
targets.

NATO is seriously discussing Ukraine’s request for a “fast track” bid to become part of NATO,
but I don’t think that’s going to happen while the war is still raging. That would guarantee
NATO’s entrance into the war, which neither the US nor NATO want. Both are content to use
the West’s military supply lines to balance the scales of military power in Ukraine, and weaken
Russia’s ability to attack other nearby countries.

I think Putin is once again bluffing when he says that “granting Ukraine membership of NATO
will guarantee the beginning of World War Three.” He is in no position to take on the West even
if he starts something with nuclear weapons. He has to wait until China is ready, and China has
its focus on Taiwan. It would be foolish for the Chinese to try and cross the continent in order to
fight for Putin’s unpopular war.

Meanwhile the Kremlin is trying to shift the “blame for the war’s failures, axing military
commanders,” as MSN.com reports.

Russian Ground Forces Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, who over a 44-year military career was
best-known for scorched-earth tactics in campaigns he led in Syria and Chechnya, was
named overall operational commander of the war in Ukraine in April. He lasted about seven
weeks before being dismissed as part of what appeared to be a wider shake-up in response to
heavy losses and strategic failures.

Around the same time, Col. Gen. Andrey Serdyukov, another four-decade serviceman, the
commander in chief of the elite airborne troops, was stripped of his post after nearly all
divisions of the airborne forces suffered major losses.

And just last week Col. Gen. Alexander Zhuravlev, the head of the Western Military District
responsible for Kharkiv, where Russian forces lost huge swaths of territory in early
September, was removed after four years on the job…

Far from bestowing glory on Russia’s military brass, the war in Ukraine is proving toxic for
top commanders, with at least eight generals fired, reassigned or otherwise sidelined since
the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Western governments have said that at least 10 others
were killed in battle, a remarkably high number that military analysts say is evidence of
grievous strategic errors.

But what the media misses is that the Russian high command is full of cronyism and
incompetence. These old, overweight, vodka-drinking generals have rarely had real combat
experience and none against Western high-tech military forces. Sure, they know how to order
artillery barrages and missile strikes—in other words destroy things—but they are woefully
lacking in the sophisticated tactics of combined army and air operations that the West excels in.

And, for the first time, we are seeing non-state media in Russia starting to criticize the war in
Ukraine. As more and more military leaders are being sacked, it’s obvious to many in Russia that
the non-stop Russian “victory” news items are mostly propaganda. And as MSN.com reports, the
forced conscription of both younger and older men has led to a major exodus out of the country,
exceeding the numbers of conscripts already taken into custody and exported to the Ukraine
front:

Russia’s military call-up is having major repercussions almost everywhere but the Ukrainian
battlefield. Less than three weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the call-up
of 300,000 men to bolster army ranks decimated by battlefield routs in Ukraine. Now, in an
extraordinary exodus, waves of fighting-age men have fled Russia…

By plane or by bicycle, in cars or on foot, at a rate sometimes reaching tens of thousands per
day, Russian men desperate to avoid deployment to the front lines — or face long jail
sentences for draft evasion — are seeking haven in neighboring and nearby countries.

They have crossed land borders into Finland or Mongolia, booked expensive air tickets to
Turkey or Serbia, decamped for the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Georgia and
Armenia. In one striking instance, two Russian asylum seekers made their way by boat to a
remote Alaskan island in the Bering Sea, the state’s two U.S. senators said.

Many Russians who made the decision to depart did so with little more than a knapsack and
whatever cash they could scrape together, leaving jobs, homes and family behind.

In Russia, the mass flight triggered by the call-up amounts to a stark public rejection of
months of rosy government claims about the nature and scope of the “special military
operation.” Many Russians tacitly accepted the Feb. 24 invasion, believing it would have
little effect on their daily lives, but the mobilization order suddenly brought the war home.

At the only operational border crossing into Georgia, a miles-long traffic jam that was
visible in satellite imagery built up soon after Putin’s mobilization announcement.

In some favored destinations, the window for reaching safety was relatively short. Nine days
after Putin’s announcement, Finland, the last land route for Russians into the European
Union, barred Russians from entering as tourists. In the week prior to that, two-thirds of the
66,000 Russians coming into the EU had arrived via Finland.

Novaya Gazeta cited an estimate by the security services that in the four days after the
call-up was announced, a total of 261,000 men between the ages of 18 and 40 had left the
country. Many more have since fled.

The Interior Ministry of Kazakhstan, which shares a border with Russia, this week reported
200,000 Russian arrivals since the mobilization announcement. In Turkey — where, unlike in
the EU, direct flights from Russia are allowed to land.

In Georgia, where tens of thousands of Russians moved after the war began, volunteer
groups that have been aiding new arrivals, and advising others on how to cross over, said
the influx had probably doubled the numbers already there. With Russian troops occupying
two separatist territories in Georgia, some opposition politicians have said that the
newcomers should be made to explicitly express recognition of the country’s territorial
integrity.

Russia has a million active-duty military personnel, about 200,000 of whom took part in the
initial assault on Ukraine — an invading force that military analysts have said was far too
small to seize and occupy a country of 44 million people.

Western military analysts have expressed skepticism that the mobilization will do much to
blunt Ukrainian offensives, even though some of the new recruits are already reaching the
front lines. “Rushing thousands of untrained and unmotivated Russian men to the front will
not meaningfully increase Russian combat power,” the Study of War wrote in an assessment
late last month.

In summary, I don’t see Russia being able to win this war, and the Ukrainians are in no mood to
negotiate an out for Putin to help him save face. The Ukraine war has definitely impacted how
WWIII will play out, as Russia will only be able to contribute its vast nuclear arsenal. China will
have to do the rest, and while she has the largest military on the planet now, it is relatively
inexperienced.

China’s leaders are full of bravado typical of the Chinese Communists, but I think even Xi
Jingping has been unsettled by Biden’s two-time claim that the US will intervene militarily if
China attacks Taiwan. China has always been convinced the US won’t intervene just like the
State Department has always told them, in diplomatic jargon. But now they’re not so sure.

While China may be slightly off balance which may delay the attack on Taiwan, Xi’s little
puppet, Kim Jong Un, is putting out more bluster than ever, shooting missiles across Japan’s
airspace and bragging about being “ready for war.” As the Daily Mail summarized,

Kim Jong Un says North Korea is at ‘full preparedness for actual war’ and boasts ‘tactical
nuke’ cruise missiles have been deployed to multiple military units. North Korea tested two
long-range cruise missiles on Wednesday that flew 1,270 miles into the Yellow Sea. Rockets
airborne were for three hours, drawing oval and figure eight patterns before hitting targets.

A lot of people are now getting worried about nuclear war, especially after Biden told reporters
this week that we are facing “nuclear Armageddon.” The alternative media is in a frenzy about
the US government preparing for nuclear war by buying millions of dollars of “Nplate” the new
experimental drug made out of placenta cells that claims to mediate the effects of nuclear
radiation. This is the closest any company has come to claiming a drug that can save you from
general radiation sickness. Potassium Iodate, for example only keeps your thyroid from taking up
radioactive iodine, so it isn’t a general radiation drug except to stop thyroid cancer, the most
obvious effect observed in the general population after the Chernobyl disaster.

Frankly, since trials have only been done on animals (they can’t get humans to volunteer to
receive a deadly dose of gamma radiation) and we don’t know about the inevitable side effects
that every drug has, I’m not planning on using it, even if it is approved (which it is not).

But I’d rather rely on something proven—having a fallout shelter that protects you by blocking
most of the radiation itself. A safe room designed as a fallout shelter also has the added
benefit—when properly concealed—of possibly giving you a place to escape social unrest,
criminals and government coming to confiscate guns and food supplies.

As a final comment, let me say that I’m worried about all the chatter on the net about the danger
of nuclear war. Not that the danger isn’t there—it is; or that you shouldn’t worry—you should. In
fact, I feel sure it is inevitable but only when China is ready to join with Russia in attacking the
West.

But what bothers me most in all the chatter is that there is very little talk about actually
preparing—just fretting about it, thinking it is futile or looking for some political savior like
Trump to come in and make sure it doesn’t happen, which is a false hope. Sadly, it’s been my
experience that if you give people any hope at all that this won’t happen, they won’t prepare.
Don’t be one of those. Time is getting short, so it’s time to get to work if you haven’t already
started.

BIDEN ADMIN PROTECTING CHINESE PRESENCE IN THE US

Republican lawmakers sent a formal request for answers to the State Department and Department
of Justice to find out why they are permitting the Chinese to set up police and surveillance
personnel in New York and other cities. The Chinese claim they are only there to assist Chinese
citizens in the US to renew drivers licenses and other mundane tasks, but the Chinese already
have consulates to do that. The Epoch Times had the story:

A group of U.S. House Republicans on Oct. 7 sent a letter questioning Attorney General
Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the presence of a Chinese
police service station in New York City.

“The Chinese overseas police service station established in New York City earlier this year
appears to be a further step of China’s illicit long arm policing on U.S. soil that violates our
sovereignty,” GOP House members wrote in the letter.

An outpost in New York City was among the “first batch” of 30 overseas police service
stations in 21 countries set up by the Public Security Bureau in Fuzhou city, the capital of the
southern coastal province of Fujian.

The CCP claimed such stations were to help Chinese nationals overseas renew their driver’s
licenses. But the NGO warned the stations have “sinister” purposes, such as assisting the
CCP in targeting the Chinese diaspora.

The lawmakers noted that the Trump administration imposed visa restrictions on CCP
officials in 2020. Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said those officials “have engaged in
malign activities to co-opt and coerce those who oppose Beijing’s policies.”

“They coerce purported Chinese fugitives abroad to return to China to face legal
proceedings, which is euphemistically dubbed as ‘persuading to return’ in Chinese
parlance,” the GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter.

“By doing so, China avoids scrutiny on its human rights record in relation to repatriating
alleged fugitives overseas by eschewing formal international cooperation mechanisms.”

In July 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned the CCP had targeted hundreds of
Chinese nationals living in the United States to force them to return, which was part of the
CCP’s global campaign known as Operation Fox Hunt. “The lawmakers stated, “there
should be no room for the Chinese government to exercise extraterrestrial law enforcement
unilaterally on U.S. soil.”

The group of lawmakers requested Blinken and Garland answer six questions:

-Did the Department of State, Department of Justice, or any other agency of the federal
government invite or approve China’s Fuzhou police to establish a presence in New York
City?

-Is there any other Chinese law enforcement presence in the United States besides Fuzhou
police’s overseas services station in New York City?

-Has the Biden administration rescinded the visa restrictions imposed by the previous
administration on Chinese nationals engaged in United Front work activities?

-Has the Department of State issued any visas to Chinese nationals to perform law
enforcement or other related government duties in New York City?

-Have the Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station in New York City and any of its employees
registered with the federal government in accordance with Foreign Missions Act and
Foreign Agents Registration Act?

-Has the Station in New York City engaged in any activities to monitor, harass U.S. residents
or has it coerced any purported fugitive to go to China without due process under U.S. law?

The Department of State and the Department of Justice declined to comment.

I’m not surprised they refused comment. I’ll bet they haven’t even required these Chinese police
to register as foreign agents. It might be because the US has a lot of intelligence gathering people
in China (which aren’t registered). I wish Congress would also make it illegal for foreigners to
buy land in the US. The Chinese are buying up everything they can, especially when it’s near
military bases.

VACCINE UPDATES

French former Member of Parliament and Ex-Presidential Candidate Jean Lasalle took the
vaccine under pressure from Parliament leaders and now complains that the Covid vaccine nearly
killed him. More importantly, he has evidence that PM Macron and other top leaders said they
were vaccinated but they were not. The Gateway Pundit reports:

Jean Lassalle is a French politician who represented the 4th constituency of the
Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the National Assembly [and] ran for president in 2017
and earned 435,301 votes.

“I got the Johnson vaccine that almost killed me, that warped my heart. I have had four
surgeries since January 3rd of this year… to make them function normally. Otherwise, I
would certainly be dead,” Lasalle said.”

Lasalle was asked why he took the COVID shot, he said he was just doing his job and had no
idea that President Macron and other government officials were not vaccinated.

“This was the time when Mr. Macron, Boris Johnson and all the others… encourage
everyone to get vaccinated.” “I got sick and I said so during the election campaign, nobody
listened and they wanted they wanted to silence me,” Lasalle said.

The French are up in arms over politician John Lassalles’s bombshell claims that the ‘inject’
which almost killed him was not taken by Macron and others. Many are demanding a full
inquiry into the allegations.

I suspect this type of deception, falsifying their vax status went on with many of the elite in other
countries, or they arranged to have one of the saline shots instead. The vaccine manufacturers
would likely have gone along with this deception, wanting to make sure none of the leaders
pushing the vaccine had any deadly reaction.

Don’t Take Blood from a Blood bank.

It pays now to store up small supplies of your own blood for any future emergency, or make
arrangements for a non-vaxed relative of the same blood type to be ready to give blood should
you need it. Children’s Health Defense reports that blood from vaccinated people has many
anomalies that you don’t want in your body. Newswars.com reports

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Emergency Use Authorization
(EUA) of COVID-19 vaccines, blood clots were some of the earliest adverse events observed,
and abnormal coagulation continues to be one of the most frequent and serious problems
reported.

As of mid-September, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) — notorious for
capturing only a minuscule proportion of adverse events — had received notification of more
than 43,000 blood clotting disorders, including acute-onset problems in young children.

Funeral directors and embalmers in the U.S. and U.K. have gone public with shocking
descriptions of highly unusual blood clots in up to 85% of the bodies coming under their care
— a “massive increase” compared to pre-COVID-19 vaccine times when ordinary-looking
clots might be found in 5% to 10% of the deceased.

“In all my years of embalming, we would run across clots from time to time,” said Richard
Hirschman, an experienced funeral director in Alabama, “but since May last year [2021],
something about the blood has changed. It’s not normal. It’s drastic.”

The American Red Cross says it will not accept blood from someone whose blood “does not
clot normally,” [but they don’t test for that]  — following guidance from the same branch of
the FDA that oversees vaccines — welcomes immediate donations from anyone who received
one of the mRNA or other COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S.

The Red Cross claims to be independent but openly celebrates its “special relationship” with
the federal government — a relationship that includes periodic appropriations and contracts.

In a recent tweet directed at potential blood transfusion recipients, the Red Cross clarified:

“We don’t label blood products as containing vaccinated or unvaccinated blood as the
COVID-19 vaccine does not enter the bloodstream & poses no safety risks to the recipient. If
you have safety concerns about potential blood transfusions, please speak with your medical
care team.” [who will also never criticize the vaccine]

The tweet generated numerous responses from the public accusing the Red Cross of
disseminating “misinformation.”

In one of the most alarming studies, published in August in the International Journal of
Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research, Italian surgeons described atypical clumping of red
blood cells and the presence of “extraordinarily anomalous structures and substances” of
“various shapes and sizes of unclear origin” in over 94% of symptomatic,
COVID-19-vaccinated individuals whose blood they examined. Putting the matter even more
plainly, they stated:

“[S]uch abrupt changes as we have documented in the peripheral blood profile of 948
patients have never been observed after inoculation by any vaccines in the past according to
our clinical experience. The sudden transition … from a state of perfect normalcy to a
pathological one … is unprecedented. …

“In our collective experience, and in our shared professional opinion, the large quantity of
particles in the blood of mRNA injection recipients is incompatible with normal blood flow
especially at the level of the capillaries.”

It is no wonder that the FDA has refused to release autopsy results in its possession for people
who died following COVID-19 vaccination.

Did the COVID Unvaccinated Fare Better or Worse Than the Vaccinated?

The results of a major study are in and the unvaxed have better health and fewer deaths and
disease than the vaccinated. [The Epoch Times]

Doctor’s Second Opinion Video

A doctor tells not only the story of various credible people who were vaccine injured but also
explains why he turned against the mRNA vaccine.

Florida State Surgeon General Issues New mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance

Florida State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo has announced new guidance regarding
mRNA vaccines—And, it’s negative. The Florida Department of Health conducted an analysis
through a self-controlled case series, which is a technique originally developed to evaluate
vaccine safety.

This analysis found that there is an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related
death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination. With a high
level of global immunity to COVID-19, the benefit of vaccination is likely outweighed by this
abnormally high risk of cardiac-related death among men in this age group. Non-mRNA
vaccines were not found to have these increased risks.

As such, the State Surgeon General recommends against males aged 18 to 39 from receiving
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Those with preexisting cardiac conditions, such as myocarditis
and pericarditis, should take particular caution when making this decision.

“Studying the safety and efficacy of any medications, including vaccines, is an important
component of public health,” said Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. “Far less attention
has been paid to safety and the concerns of many individuals have been dismissed – these are
important findings that should be communicated to Floridians.”

THE REAL STORY BEHIND HIGH GAS PRICES

Banning fracking and shutting down new drilling were in large part responsible for the sudden
rise of gas prices, but according to Allen Zhong of The Epoch Times there are other production
and refining factors that government messes with that contribute to the problem. These are good
insights:

High gas prices in America are caused by a mismatch between U.S. oil production and
refining, bad policies or political hostility, and the Biden administration’s inaction,
according to experts and oil industry insiders. Between May and August, energy prices rose
between 20 percent to 40 percent year-over-year.

President Joe Biden has proposed a windfall tax for oil companies, urging gas stations to cut
prices, imposing an oil export ban, and allowing countries to buy Russian oil with a price
cap. However, oil industry insiders and experts said most of those proposed measures either
will not work or won’t lower the gas prices in America permanently.

As inflation soared, Democrats have been calling for the White House to impose an oil
export ban. But experts and a refinery owner warned this will not cut gas prices and may
bring disastrous results.

U.S. crude oil exports have been increasing since 2011… However, most of the oil in the
recent export surge is light sweet oil which is also known as “shale oil.” However, the
refineries in the United States were designed to refine heavy crude oil… [Most] U.S. refiners
don’t have the capacity to process the exported [light] crude oil.

According to an analysis by the Dallas Federal Reserve, the United States exported on
average 3 million barrels of mainly light sweet crude oil per day at the end of November
2021 and imported more than 6 million barrels of mostly heavier crude oils from Canada
and other foreign suppliers each day.

Even if the U.S. bans oil exports, which are mostly [light] shale oil, it’s impossible for
refineries to update their facilities to refine shale oil after decades of political hostility
against the oil industry. Updating the facilities means the refineries need to invest billions of
dollars and get extra emission-related permits. It’s an impossible task under the Biden
administration, Kish said.

John Catsimatidis, a billionaire who is also an oil refinery owner, holds a similar view.
“Why should anybody spend a billion, two billion, three billion, if you’re not sure of the
policy of the country you’re doing business in the next five, ten years? Because you have to
get a return on investment.

On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to revoke
President Donald Trump’s permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.

It turned out to be one of the most fatal moves for U.S. energy security and gas price stability
because Canada is one of the most important sources of the conventional crude oil that most
U.S. refineries can handle and the Keystone XL pipeline is what is needed to transport the
Canadian crude oil.

“Keystone XL pipeline was going to supply about 800,000 barrels a day of Canadian oil and
about 100,000 barrels a day of North Dakota oil, which is the right oil [heavy oil],” Kish
said.

But what the analysis doesn’t reveal is that much of the Keystone oil was going to gulf refineries
who were going to export more of the refined products likes diesel to Europe. It may not have
resulted in lower gas and diesel prices in the US. That’s why diesel has been more expensive
than gasoline for the last 20 years here, when it used to be much cheaper than gas.

Saudis Say Biden Asked Them to Delay Oil Production Cut Until After Midterm Elections

We all know that one of the main reasons ordinary people are mad at Biden is high gas prices, so
it’s little wonder Biden is trying to get prices lower, without backing down on his radical oil
restrictions. [The Daily Mail]

That’s the same kind of quid-pro-quo accusation that brought impeachment proceedings against
Trump as Breitbart explains. But, of course, Biden will skate since the Democrats are in control.

NEWS SHORTS

Sen. Lindsey Graham Favored Shooting Jan 6 Protestors

According to Politico.com“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told police officers who responded to
the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, that they should have shot rioters ‘in the head,’ according to
a new book by former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone.’You guys should have shot them all in
the head,’ Fanone recalled Graham telling the group of officers during a May 2021 meeting.
This shows how evil Graham is. He’s not just a RINO Republican.

US Army will Rename Nine Forts

In the latest example of woke idiocy from the US military. “The US Department of Defense has
announced it will rename the nine US military bases that bear the names of officers of the
Confederacy. The effort will cost the American taxpayers $62.5 million and likely begin early
next year.” [NewsCinema] That’s what happens when you create a “Renaming Commission” and
fill it with PC people. Bases to be renamed are: Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; Fort
Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Polk, Louisiana; and Fort
AP Hill, Fort Pickett, and Fort Lee in Virginia.

Hunter Biden’s Laptop Shows 2017 Deal with Qatar Undermining Trump Administration

Breitbart.com has the details of a letter found on Hunter Biden’s infamous abandoned laptop
wherein the Biden family pursued a deal with Qatar, undermining the Trump Administration and
appeared to make an effort at shadow foreign policy.

The letter shows James Biden, President Biden’s brother, making an overture to an associate
of Qatari Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Al Thani, saying, “my family could provide a
wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest levels,” despite unfavorable
policies of the “fractured” and “beleaguered” then-Trump administration for Qatar.

Biden’s brother brags about his family’s “deep and wide” relationships, which he boasts
have “lasted through many years and many administrations,” Biden proposes partnership
for a “different vision” than the Trump government’s of American interest and U.S.-Qatari
relations.

Alex Jones Ordered to Pay $965 Million to People who Claim they were Defamed:

Juries can really be stupid, especially when the judge is so biased she rigged the trial against
defendant Alex Jones. The jury in Waterbury, Connecticut decided that Infowars host Alex Jones
and his company, Free Speech Systems, should pay nearly a billion dollars for spreading a
conspiracy theory that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School never happened. It was a
mistake I warned Alex about, and he later changed sides and admitted it was real (though
instigated by government for gun control purposes). Mainstream and alternative media often
make mistakes but they are never sued with defamation, especially when they don’t name names.
But the Plaintiffs distorted defamation law and the judge refused to allow Jones his first
amendment defense.

Jones is confident the judgment will be overturned or drastically reduced on appeal, especially
since the so-called defendants can give no evidence of monetary harm. This is a deep state
operation to destroy Jones and get him off the air. Even though Jones is often bombastic and
incautious, if his free speech is denied, all of us who make conspiracy claims based on partial
evidence will lose this critical right to free speech.

Alex Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis confirmed this when he said, “It’s a huge verdict and it sends a
chilling message… The message is, if you’re outside the mainstream media, if you’re challenging
the orthodoxy, and the orthodoxy determines what you’ve said isn’t true, there’s now a body of
law…that would say you’re responsible for what anybody says if you’ve uttered an untruth.”

FBI Offered British Spy Christopher Steele $1MILLION Cash to Prove his Dossier

He didn’t get the money because he had no evidence. FBI analyst Brian Auten told a court the
Steele offer was made in the UK in 2016. Agents were trying to verify claims Trump was in
contact with Russian officials. Auten said Steele didn’t get the cash because he couldn’t back up
the claims. [Daily Mail] But as usual, the FBI was left off the hook by the judge even though the
offer constituted an illegal bribe to obstruct justice.

Transgender Hypocrisy

You might think that transgender females who claim to be male would get equal treatment as
others of their claimed identity, including being subject to the draft. Not so under current DOD
policy. Only biological males who claim to be women are still subject to the draft. [American
Military Policy]

PREPAREDNESS TIP: POVIDONE-IODINE by Andrew Skousen

Iodine is an essential trace mineral that is especially valuable for the thyroid, but it also has
important antiseptic properties. In povidone-iodine the elemental iodine is combined with the
carrier molecule povidone to form a very stable solution, that releases iodine in the presence of
tissues. It is not recommended for internal use, but it is only recommended for external uses,
except as a mouth rinse and throat gargle in 1% diluted form. For internal iodine supplementing I
recommend Lugol’s solution, a combination of potassium iodide and elemental iodine. Here are
some of the many reasons to keep povidone-iodine on-hand.

Betadine is the most commonly available brand-name with povidone-iodine as the main
ingredient. It is sold as a 10% solution—which is the concentration used in hospital settings for
most antiseptic treatment of open wounds like cuts, scrapes and burns. This full-strength solution
is tolerated well by most people with external wounds, but it can be diluted down to 5%, 1% or
0.3% by adding appropriate amounts of purified water. Prolonged exposure at 10% concentration
cause a burning sensation and cracking of sensitive areas of the skin. But a 1% concentration is
used to sanitize the eyes before surgery, with few negative reactions. Higher concentrations are
thought to leave a protective layer that helps ward off bacteria for hours afterward and this
diminishes as it is diluted, so most medical professionals stay with the higher strength solutions.
The downside to higher concentrations is that it kills off more cells exposed by the wound, and
this can delay wound healing. Colloidal silver preparations can also work well for cleansing
wounds, especially in combination with even the lower (1-5% concentrations) of povidone-iodine.

A few less-well known applications of Betadine are as a gargle for sore throats. Dilute it to 1%
with water and add a pinch of salt for a more soothing saline/iodine mouthwash and gargle. This
same gargle was recommended by Dr. Peter McCullough as a protection against infection from
viral pathogens such as Covid-19. Similar infection fighting uses are recommended for toenail
fungus, wart removal (in combination with DMSO) and other infections.

At the breakout of nuclear war, KI (potassium iodide) pills will be in huge demand to protect our
thyroid from taking up long-lasting radioactive I-131 particles. Fortunately, you also get iodine
from Povidone-iodine like Betadine which is much easier and cheaper to find—at least for now.
Instead of taking it internally, you absorb it through your skin. Adults are advised to apply 8ml
per day. Children need around half or 4ml. A rule of thumb is to apply what you can to an area
the size of the patients’ palm—larger people with bigger palms need more, children less.
Betadine absorbed through the skin in animals was not perfect, but it gave tham about 80%
thyroid protection. Put it on a different area of skin every day to avoid drying out one spot too
much. Iodine will leave an orange stain on the skin until it gets absorbed. In fact, you can tell
how iodine deficient you are, by how quickly the orange mark disappears. If you have adequate
iodine it should still be there beyond 2 hours. If it remains longer than 24 hours, try it in another
area and if it happens again, you can reduce the frequency or dose until it disappears within 24
hours.

Betadine is relatively cheap compared to other sources of iodine or antiseptics and it is available
at most pharmacies and at general-goods stores for around $16 per 8oz. It is much cheaper if
purchased in bulk like this gallon size for just $60 which will last a family a long time.

Despite the trend of overuse by the medical establishment, povidone-iodine is still a very
valuable antiseptic for a variety of external uses, both for killing pathogens and treating wounds
as well as supplementing with iodine through the skin. Use it carefully and it will be a vital
addition to your medicine cabinet. [END]

[Author]

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