WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF OCTOBER 28,2022-JOEL SKOUSEN

PDF Version: World Affairs Brief October 28, 2022

MP3 Audio Version available Friday afternoon

World Affairs Brief, October 28, 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:

High Inflation is Here to Stay

Democrat’s Radical Lame-Duck Agenda

British Election Put a Globalist in Power

Politics: Fetterman Fails in Debate with Dr. OZ

Vaccine Issues

China: Xi Consolidates Power At CCP Congress

Putin’s Terror Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure

News Shorts

Preparedness Tip: More Fallout Shelter Options

HIGH INFLATION IS HERE TO STAY

Inflation rates are the highest in decades, even according to the official “Consumer Price Index”
which is manipulated downward by excluding the fastest rising prices, even though we all feel
the pinch of higher prices everywhere. This is bad news for the incumbent Democrats because
high inflation is the number one complaint of voters heading into this year’s mid-term elections,
and there are signs inflation will continue to be a major issue well into 2024 as well. It may seem
contradictory to still have rising prices when all the economic indicators point to a recession,
driven in large part by rising interest rates currently at 7%. But interest rates don’t tell the whole
story. High interest rates only kill demand in those parts of the economy that depend on
debt—consumer credit card debt, mortgages on housing, and business interest for growth and
expansion. The recession is hitting in those areas right now, but actual inflation of the money
supply by the FED is NOT stopping as only part of the new debt is being monetized.
Increasingly, the FED is using secret back channels to create money by stealth and feed it to its
favored banks here and abroad. So, for the first time in economic history we are facing
stagflation for the middle and lower income people (who curtail spending as their ability to buy
at higher prices diminishes) and continued price increases in consumer goods driven by those
with deep pockets who can still afford to pay, and for those still on the receiving end of the
FED’s new money (Wall Street insider brokers, speculators, and military contractors, and all
those downwind of their spending). Even though housing sales and new starts are declining
rapidly, high housing prices are only leveling off and declining slowly. In fact, I think real
affordable housing will not happen again until there is a major recession or war comes and wipes
out people’s money to buy big-budget items.

Stagflation is the normal result of high inflation (10-20%) because the majority of people lessen
their spending and the economy deflates. That’s what keeps hyperinflation at bay, because
people’s fixed incomes and salaries can’t keep pace with high inflation.

You only get hyperinflation when the government mandates (or allows) that everyone’s income
and salary be indexed to inflation. That way even though salaries and pensions lag behind
slightly, they rise quickly enough to keep pace with inflation. And that indexing pace accelerates
the higher inflation gets. As everyone’s income rises, there is no longer as much resistance to
price increases and thus, both prices and wages keep rising—hyperinflating.

We don’t have indexing in the US except for Social Security (SS), but even that Cost of Living
Allowance (COLA) of SS is kept low by tying it to the downward manipulated Consumer Price
Index (CPI). We do have an informal system of dealing with the kind of moderate inflation (7-9% annually for the last 20 years—the real rate) through labor supply and demand wherein
workers begin to demand higher wages the worse inflation gets—but that always lags way behind
inflation, as any salaried worker knows—especially when the government hides the real rate by a
manipulated CPI. Even the new de-facto minimum wage of $15/hour now hardly seems to make
a difference with today’s high prices.

Pensioners and retirees with no inflation rider to their monthly payments are being hurt the worst
right now—especially when the government keeps creating money which flows first to favored
Wall Street banks, and government contractors. All that money trickles down as it is spent into
the economy. Those that get the first, second or third use of fiat money get to buy before prices
rise. Later users, especially those on fixed income, face rising prices and suffer the loss of buying
power.

The biggest indicator of stagflation is the steep decline in inventories among retail firms as well
as the slump in shipping and trucking business, owing to fewer demand for consumer
products. The Fall time period creates a peak demand for shipping as retailers stock up for the
Holiday sales. But that peak is flat this year as most retailers are planning on selling off a lot of
inventory and stocking up on less. Zerohedge.com covered this drop in demand for ocean
shipping and trucking in detail here.

Inflation, Rising Interest Rates and the National Debt

In the fiscal year 2021 total interest expense of the federal government on the national debt and
social security was $413 billion, with a low average interest expense of about 1.5%, against total
federal income of $4 trillion. That equates to about 10.3 percent of federal income spent on debt.

I can remember when it was calculated about a decade ago that at the then current rate of deficit
growth, the federal interest on debt owed would exceed total revenues by about 2030. That would
mean technical bankruptcy. But that was assuming a total budget that was not growing
exponentially like it is today. The 2021 budget was a whopping $6T with only $4T in
revenue—creating a deficit of $2T which had to be made up with government debt.

Apologists for the debt used to say, “the federal debt is no problem, we just owe it to ourselves.”
But that is fallacious on two counts: First, very few of us own Treasury Bills, Notes or Bonds.
We owed it to those who did. Second, foreigners own almost 50% of the federal debt today so
those interest payments are flowing out of the country.

The bottom line is, I don’t believe we will ever reach the point where the interest on the debt
absorbs all federal income—because inflation continues to cause Americans to pay more in taxes
as their rising income slowly rises and two, because each successive administration continues to
raise their total budget even faster than the rising interest on the debt.

That is precisely why the FED can’t stop inflating the money supply—lest the interest on the debt
catch up with revenues and force a US debt default. But that only works, as I’ll explain shortly, if
the FED doesn’t monetize all debt—but increases part of the money supply secretly without debt.

Monetizing debt is about to get more problematic with higher interest rates.  That’s why the FED
artificially kept rates low for so many years despite 7-9% real inflation—to avoid paying high
rates for T-bills, notes and bonds. Notice that the FY budget of 2021 interest debt was based on a
rate of 1.5%. Now the Fed is having to pay twice that much in interest (2-4%) and that’s going to
double interest payments to over $800B in the 2023 budget. But it still won’t ever catch up with
government total income or spending which is rising even faster. Notice this analysis by
establishment firm of Pete Peterson:

The United States has borrowed nearly $6 trillion in the past two years, in large part
because of the pandemic and the response to it. The cost of that debt, as paid in interest, has
actually declined during that period because maturing debt has often rolled over at lower
interest rates.

Actually, it wasn’t $6T but over $13T that the government created (that we know about). Only
$6T was monetized as debt. The other was created and given away secretly to Wall Street and
foreign banks, to bail out the sagging markets or European problem banks.  Even the $6T
publicly admitted to was highly inflationary as much of that was given directly to people to spend
as a Covid payment, but the other $7T is still working its way into the economy, adding to price
inflation.

However, as interest rates creep up, interest costs will eventually rise. CBO [Congressional
Budget Office] projects that interest costs will grow from $331 billion this year to $910
billion in 2031 — a nearly threefold increase.

That’s grossly understated. Total national interest payments could reach $800B next year!

Over the next 10 years, without any changes in current policies, [a big “if”] CBO estimates
that net interest will total $5.4 trillion (over 10 years) and become the fastest growing
component of the federal budget. In 2031, interest costs would account for 12 percent of the
entire federal budget.

But that’s only a modest percentage increase over the current interest payment of 10.3% of the
federal budget, and that’s assuming a budget of between $7 and 8T. I’ll bet the total federal
budget will at least double that by 2031. The CBO keeps downplaying the inflation of overall
budgets into the future which skews their analysis:

Over the next 30 years, the sum of net interest payments is projected to total more than $60
trillion; by 2051, that budget category would take up nearly half of all federal revenues.

Of course, that’s assuming their modest estimates for overall budget growth. There is no way,
given the current federal direction, that they are ever going to let interest rate payments get to half
of total receipts. In order to stop interest payments from consuming half the budget, they have to
inflate the currency without monetizing all of it, and that’s what I believe they are doing.  Any
economist who believes the FED money supply figures anymore is very naive.

Furthermore, the US isn’t the only one inflating. In fact, every other nation in the world economy
welcomes US inflation because they get to hide their own inflation hoping that their currency
values will stay on par with the declining dollar. Everybody appears to win when exchange rates
are staying stable relative to the dollar. The trouble is other countries are inflating more than
the US (as a percentage of their economic output) and thus their currencies are falling relative to
the dollar.

Britain is in a financial crisis of high inflation and a declining value of the Pound, which is one of
the reasons the government of Liz Truss failed so soon after coming to power. The Euro is also
falling against the dollar. How can that be given the US is in the highest rate of monetary
inflation ever? Simple: The Brits and the EU are inflating even faster relative to the ability of
their economies to absorb new money.

So is Hungary which is in a currency crisis of falling values. Even behemoth China is in trouble
from overspending in its desperation to get its military ready for war with the West. King World
News has that insight:

Big Trouble In China: We just saw the largest annual depreciation in the Chinese yuan in
27 years. China is much closer to having a full-blown banking and currency crisis than
winning a hegemonic war against the US.

Wrong. It’s not “either or” but both—because China is spending for both war preparations and
domestic programs without much restraint.

Gregory Mannarino writing for the Trends Journal: If central banks do not find another
mechanism to continue to inflate, IMMEDIATELY, the entire global financial system will
melt down.The current central bank-run financial system is 100 percent debt based.

What this means is a debt based financial/economic system can only function if more debt is
constantly added/borrowed into existence—and the moment this stops, the financial system in
its entirety implodes.

That’s where he and others are wrong. Legally, the world expects Central Banks to monetize
currency creation by issuing debt, but the “other mechanism” Mannarino demands is already
being utilized —pure fiat money creation without debt, but done in secret (except that it shows
up in even more inflation).

War, expanding wars, Congressional acts/policies, disease processes, warp speed vaccines,
drugs, engineered crisis after crisis, etc. are all mechanisms pushed upon an unsuspecting
public to pull debt relentlessly and exponentially into the system.

Yes, these crises, purposely created by the Deep State, do justify more debt but all this demand
new money for “government to save us” also hides the secret fountains of monetary creation
which are exacerbating inflation. Most of it goes to bailouts of Wall Street banks domestically,
and bailouts of European banks externally, which are off the books.

Currently the world is being sold a lie, which is inflation is running rampant because rates
are too low. The fact here is simple: raising rates is meant to KILL demand, [in certain
sectors] not lower inflation [overall].

To lower inflation, [in all sectors] all the Federal Reserve or any central bank must do is
contract the money supply. If in fact the Federal Reserve really wanted to lower inflation,
they would increase the capital reserve requirement of the banks, which currently sits at
zero, this would contract the money supply.

The last thing that ANY central bank, especially the Federal Reserve wants to do in this
environment is to contract the money supply, in fact, they want to expand it/inflate it.
[Because that would collapse the entire financial bubble we are living in]

The power of any central bank resides in ONE THING: its ability to inflate, period!

That is why inflation will keep rising, despite interest rate increases—which only dampen a
portion of the economy. Even if Trump wins in 2024, he can’t control what the FED does in
secret, even if he understood the mechanisms (which he does not) and will face continued
complaints of high inflation. Of course, the coming world war will change all this for the worse,
and give the globalists an excuse to wipe away national sovereignty and debts and start over with
a new global system—or so they think.

DEMOCRATS PUSH FOR AN EVIL LAME DUCK AGENDA

Senator Chuck Schumer is expecting Democrats to lose control of the House and thus he and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are planning on an “extremely busy” lame duck session—their last
opportunity to push through radical legislation before the new Congress takes over in January.
CNN.com gladly let’s America know what is in store:

The jam-packed agenda for the lame-duck session includes: Funding the government to avert
a shutdown before the end of the calendar year, passage of the National Defense
Authorization Act, or NDAA, the annual must-pass legislation that sets the policy agenda and
authorizes funding for the Department of Defense, as well as a vote in the Senate to protect
same-sex marriage and the potential consideration of other key pieces of legislation.

Of course, CNN doesn’t want you to know what’s inside that Debt Limit extension with “stop
gap spending” or the NDAA, where liberty-ending provisions proliferate in the name of “funding
our military.”

With a 50-50 partisan split in the Senate, Democrats lack the votes to overcome the
filibuster’s 60-vote threshold – and do not have the votes to abolish the filibuster. As a result,
major priorities for liberal voters – like the passage of legislation protecting access to
abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – will still remain out of reach for
the party for the foreseeable future. [Thank Goodness.]

Since the funding bill is viewed as must-pass legislation it will likely become a magnet for
other priorities that lawmakers may try to tack on to ride along with it. [That’s where the
danger lies.]

Democrats also want more funding for pandemic response, but Republicans have pushed
back on that request.

One issue that may come up during the government funding effort is money for the
Department of Justice investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol…the
House bill included $34 million that would allow DOJ to fund these prosecutions without
reducing their efforts in other areas.

If the Republicans in the Senate were run by a real conservative instead of Mitch McConnell,
they would cut funds to this one-sided and biased committee.

Meanwhile, the Senate has begun work on the NDAA, and is expected to pass the massive
piece of legislation during the lame duck. Consideration of the wide-ranging bill could spark
debate and a push for amendments over a variety of topics.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has called for punishing OPEC for its production
cut by passing legislation that would hold foreign oil producers accountable for colluding to
fix prices – and the senator has said he believes the measure can pass as an amendment to
the NDAA. The legislation would clear the way for the Justice Department to sue Saudi
Arabia and other OPEC nations for antitrust violations.

Senate Democrats will also continue confirming judges to the federal bench nominated by
President Joe Biden, a key priority for the party.

Same-sex marriage vote in the Senate: A Senate vote to protect same-sex marriage is also
on tap for the lame-duck session. In mid-September, the chamber punted on a vote until after
the November midterm elections as negotiators asked for more time to lock down support – a
move that could make it more likely the bill will ultimately pass the chamber. [Only because
of compromising Republicans.] …The bill would need at least 10 Republican votes to
overcome a filibuster.

Legislation in the wake of the January 6 attack: Over the summer, a bipartisan group of
senators reached a deal to make it harder to overturn a certified presidential election. The
proposal would still need, however, to be approved by both chambers. Notably, the Senate
proposal has the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a [RINO] Kentucky
Republican.

If the bill passes the Senate, it would also need to clear the House, which in September,
passed its own version of legislation to make it harder to overturn a certified presidential
election in the future by proposing changes to the Electoral Count Act.

Stock trading legislation in the House and a debt limit push: Passing a bill to to restrict
lawmakers from trading stocks is a priority for a number of moderate House Democrats –
who may continue to push for the issue to be taken up during the lame duck, though whether
there will be a vote is still to be determined and other pressing must-pass items like
government funding could crowd out the issue. The House did not vote on a proposal prior to
the midterm elections.

If this ever passes it is only because of loopholes that allow insider spouses of Congressmen and
women to make themselves rich through insider stock trades. This is a key manner in which the
Deep State rewards controlled lawmakers.

Meanwhile, it’s not yet clear when exactly the nation will run up against the debt limit and it
appears unlikely for now that Congress will act to resolve the issue during the lame-duck
session, especially as other must-pass bills compete for floor time. But political battle lines
are already being drawn and maneuvering is underway in Washington over the contentious
and high-stakes issue.

A group of House Democrats recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Schumer calling for legislation to “permanently undo the threat posed by the debt limit”

The current debt limit vote is the only restraint we now have that forces a balanced budget.
Who needs a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) when we already have a law that only
requires a simple majority to say “no” to budget increases. Conservatives need to quit pushing for
a Convention of the States to enact a BBA. No conservative will ever be appointed to the
Convention. It’s a trap.

BRITISH ELECTION PUTS A GLOBALIST IN POWER

Not that the others haven’t been globalist-controlled, but at least Theresa May and Boris Johnson
pretended to be conservatives—which, in fact, made them even more dangerous. Now the false
pretenses are mostly over, and the UK is fully run by a team of globalists intent on getting the
UK back in a global government by stealth.

Rishi Sunak, the first PM of Indian descent has been selected by the Conservative Party to be the
new UK prime minister. Boris Johnson made a fake play for the job in order to cover for the fact
that it was already done deal already, saying, “this is simply not the right time” to bid for a return
to 10 Downing Street.

PM elect, and former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is known for his “tax and spend” policies
during the Covid plandemic, making him fully complicit in the financial fiasco Britain now
faces. Breitbart.com comments:

Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Rishi Sunak, best known for
signing the cheques on the mega-money lockdown policies of the Covid era and pushing the
national tax burden to the highest levels in decades, will be the next Prime Minister after the
only other serious challenger dropped out at the last minute.

There were several other challengers including a few real conservatives, but the selection
committee used technicalities to disregard them and declare Sunak “unopposed.”

The officers of the 1922 Committee met to scrutinize candidate applications Monday
lunchtime, having set the bar to entry unusually high to discourage those the group chairman
Sir Graham Brady dismissed as not being “serious” from standing. Finding only one
candidate had passed the threshold, Sir Graham declared Rishi Sunak as the winner, electing
not to reveal how many backers Sunak got in total.

Nigel Farage, the only serious Brexit leader in the UK of any import, strongly attacked the Party
selection of Sunak:

The ERG [the European Research Group faction of the Conservative Party] cannot support
any candidate because, as I said last week, the globalist coup has succeeded. There is no
Conservative party. It is dead.

Paul Emberyadded,

While the Conservative Party’s governing elite will be relieved to finally have their man
cemented in power, having had Sunak as their favoured pick and upending the vote of
ordinary party members, this development can hardly be good news for Britain. During his
last stint at the top, having been Britain’s Chancellor during the coronavirus era, Sunak
already oversaw a huge surge in government spending on Covid projects and a concomitant
rise in taxation.

Tragically for hardworking Britons already having their earnings hollowed out by rampant
inflation, it looks likely more tax rises will come under Sunak.

But as a Prime Minister now, not just a finance minister, there are other cultural and wider
political concerns. Sunak is an acolyte of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and even
gained the tacit endorsement of the Chinese Communist Party as a leadership candidate.

It had looked like years of bullish pro-China politics from the Conservative Party were
finally waning with the arrival of Prime Minister Liz Truss, but with her brutally quick ouster
and the coronation of Sunak it appears the Conservatives may be returning to form on China.

A prime minister worth £730m and a chancellor worth £14m are about to tell people on the
minimum wage why austerity is good for them.

Breitbart continues:

Certainly, Sunak’s rising star is popular with the classic fake conservative crowd inside the
Conservative Party. As reported last week, senior Tory [and globalist] politician Tobias
Ellwood could barely contain his excitement at the “free market experiment” being over with
Sunak moving towards power, with the establishment, globalist, “centrist” favourite
ushering in a “reset”.

[Globalist and now Finance Minister] Jeremy Hunt, the political assassin who moved in and
dismantled the Truss government — hailed as the ‘de facto prime minister’ for the power he
seemed to be wielding without actually having the top job — is also delighted to have Sunak
moving into the top job: “we need a leader who can be trusted to make difficult choices”,
Hunt has written, saying that the public finances face a black hole and that “decisions in the
national interest” lie ahead.

Tactfully, Hunt neglected to point out that Sunak, with his record Covid spending, was the
one that dug that hole in the national finances.

Also “contesting” [Sunak] was Penny Mordaunt, whose support remained reasonably static
at less than half the required level over the weekend until Johnson pulled out, seeing her
supporters grow as refugees from the Boris camp moved to support a cause that could
conceivably keep Sunak out. Nevertheless, Mordaunt also withdrew at the last minute,
leaving Sunak the only contender.

Penny Mourdant—the “up and coming star”—is also a globalist and ardent admirer of Bill Gates
as this Twitter pic shows. She was also backed by far left former PM Tony Blair. She even
penned a lengthy book praising Black Lives Matter and denouncing the evils of “white privilege”
and male leadership.  She’s no conservative.

Jack Montgomery added a final and devastating epitaph on Sunak’s ascension, exposing how his
election was a coup of the party elite and not a true democratic win, which may explain why the
selection committee did not announce the number of votes for Sunak:

By forcing Boris Johnson out of the race for Tory leader and imposing Rishi Sunak, explicitly
rejected by the party grassroots mere weeks ago, the parliamentary elite showcased their
utter contempt for regular conservatives more starkly than ever.

Rishi Sunak does not just lack a mandate from the public or party members — he has an
anti-mandate, having been explicitly rejected by his party’s grassroots in a head-to-head
contest with Liz Truss mere weeks ago.

The gap — or rather, the yawning chasm — between Conservative politicians and
Conservative members and voters is nothing new, of course. While the parliamentary party
has always contained some eurosceptic, socially conservative, and libertarian or classical
liberal type MPs in favour of a smaller state, greater freedom, and lower taxes, the truth is
that such people have for many years been a captive minority, dominated by leaders who
favour a big state in lockstep with corporate interests that push lax immigration policy and
are content with burdensome regulations that hold down smaller competitors.

We could say the same for the few real conservatives in Congress, dominated by RINO
Republican leaders. He then discusses the betrayal of Brexit within the Conservative Party:

The fact that 61 per cent of ordinary Tory members voted to Leave [the EU] changed nothing
— most new Tory MPs injected into the House of Commons in 2017 were once again
Remainers, appearing to demonstrate that the establishment insiders controlling candidate
selection were continuing to skew towards people not representative of the party’s activists
and voters.

On mass immigration, similarly, the party elite have long since confessed — boasted, even —
that their multiple election pledges to reduce the annual influx “from the hundreds of
thousands to the tens of thousands” were as bogus as their professed Euroscepticism proved
to be when it came to the crunch in 2016, with David Cameron’s former Chancellor, George
Osborne, openly admitting in 2017 that they never intended to keep the promise in 2010 or in
2015, and urging then-prime minister Theresa May to [trash]bin it altogether.

She did not, but Boris Johnson, the supposed “British Trump”, did get rid of it for the 2019
snap election. His manifesto did at least promise in vague terms that immigration would
come down “overall” — and then he increased it even more once the voting was out of the
way.

Sunak is in almost every important respect a globalist, however, pushing increased
immigration the heaviest tax burden in 70 years and running away from culture war issues
— and indeed running away from confrontation with the European Union over its continued
control over Northern Ireland, despite his Brexiteer past — as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The former banker at Goldman Sachs — which was infamously described as “a great
vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel
into anything that smells like money” in the wake of the 2007-08 financial crisis — has also
been criticised for his links to the Davos-based World Economic Forum (WEF), with its
Great Reset agenda.

Indeed, it is likely that his administration will differ little from that of Boris Johnson — a
fierce foe to the EU when campaigning for office who cravenly submitted to a barely
rehashed version of Theresa May’s Brexit-in-name-only in office; an ebullient proponent of
shale gas and energy independence when he had no power who became a net-zero green
agenda stooge when he commanded the biggest Commons majority of any Tory leader since
Thatcher, and on and on.

No one in Britain besides his own constituents voted for him… This is government by clique,
and emblematic of what Nigel Farage rightly describes as a dead party that despises its
members and, like Squealer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, has no pitch to them beyond
the threat of Farmer Jones returning in the form of the Labour Party.

A telling analysis: Sadly, all Western conservative political parties are betrayed in this same
manner, by an elite clique of globalists masquerading as conservatives.

POLITICS: FETTERMAN FAILED DEBATE WITH DR. OZ

Dr. Mehmet Oz is no real conservative, but his election is essential to hold the Democrats at bay
in the Senate. He’s up against radical Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is
recovering from a stroke earlier in the year. The mainstream media continues to claim “John is
fine” health wise, but the debate proved his mind was far from well, and it may well have turned
the tide in his election to the Senate.

Because of his handicap Fetterman was allowed to use computer-provided assistance embedded
into the crutch of “close captioning” but it didn’t help. Fox News reports:

Fetterman’s health has been a major criticism by the Oz campaign, which claims he is not fit
for office, while the Democrat contends he has recovered well enough to govern. Al Weaver,
a reporter for The Hill, suggested Fetterman’s team should not have let him debate.

“Democrats are asking the same thing post-debate: Why did Fetterman’s team allow him to
take the stage tonight? No one I’m talking to on the left has a good thing to say about what
just took place,” he tweeted.

OutKick’s Clay Travis called Fetterman’s debate performance a “disgrace” and said he was
“not well.” “I can’t impress upon you how much of a disaster this debate is for [Fetterman].
I’ve never seen anything like it,” Travis added in another tweet. “This race is completely and
totally over.”

Journalist Bari Weiss described Fetterman’s performance at the debate as “painful to watch”
as the candidate struggled to articulate an immediate answer to some questions… Some
people called out Fetterman for seemingly contradicting earlier positions on issues like
fracking and a Medicare-for-All plan endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Fetterman kept repeating “I’m in favor of fracking” when he perhaps meant to say “banning
fracking.”

“Fetterman repeatedly said he opposed fracking and even signed a pledge to BAN it. ROLL
THE TAPE,” the Republican National Committee tweeted.

There were many moments when he was confused, or appeared incoherent. For example, “My
doctoral believes that I’m fit to be serving and that’s what I believe is where I’m standing.” His
communications director Joe Calvello jumped on stage for some post-debate remarks to the
media and even used the “F” word when discussing the debacle. Holly Deyo commented that,

This debate, more like a massacre, was beyond painful to watch. One critic said they should
have used the ‘mercy’ rule after just 20 minutes. Even though we can’t stand Fetterman’s
uber liberal policies one has to feel sorry for him, like for Biden. There is likely no way for
Fetterman to make a comeback. Unfortunately Pennsylvania has opened voting days ago and
lots of ballots have already been submitted. Fetterman’s expected failure is likely the reason
he pushed the debate as far back as possible.

Many independents are reportedly switching votes to Oz.

Another close race for control of the Senate is happening in Utah where millions in Democrat
and Leftist PAC money is being funneled into the coffers of claimed “independent” Evan
McMullin in an all-out media advertising war to oust conservative Senator Mike Lee. Finally, ads
for Lee are getting tough about the outside money pouring into Utah in favor of McMullin that
aren’t from conservatives. McMullin, who claims to be former CIA and “Patriot”, is being
exposed as the Deep State hack he’s always been since running in Utah against Trump.

VACCINE ISSUES

CDC Pushed for COVID-19 Boosters Without Clinical Trials: The Epoch Times has the
emails proving it.

Sen. Rand Paul demands answers from the CDC: Senator Paul’s remarks came after news
broke that the CDC’s PR firm also works for the Big Pharma vaccine companies the CDC is
supposed to regulate—a clear conflict of interest. The PR firm amounts to Big Pharma having
“embedded staff” within the CDC.

34 Singing “Artists” Die or Collapse on Stage: While the mainstream press laments the fact
that they died of “unknown causes,” which they are now labeling Adult Death Syndrome, the
only common denominator with all this sudden increase in deaths worldwide comes after taking
the mRNA vaccine. A Video montage is here (mostly rockers and rappers, which I detest).
Notice that, in like manner, the mainstream media and medical people also refused to attribute so
many unexplained crib deaths of children, just after getting their shots, to vaccines, calling it
Sudden (Infant) Death Syndrome. Both of these titles are a cop-out and a coverup.

Why is Boston University Doing Research on Gain of Deadly Function? The Epoch Times
asks why Boston University is using federal NIH grant money to do “gain of function” research
on mice. The BU study claims to have been able to modify Covid to kill 80% of mice.

“NIH is examining the matter to determine whether the research conducted was subject to
the NIH Grants Policy Statement or met the criteria for review under the HHS [Health and
Human Services] Framework for Guiding Funding Decisions about Proposed Research
Involving Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogens (HHS P3CO Framework).”

It came after an NIAID official, Emily Erbelding, told Stat News that her agency should have
been informed about the research before it was carried out. She claimed that Boston
University did not disclose the exact nature of the study when it applied for a grant. [Sounds
like a quick attempt to cover up their support of this kind of research].

Italy: Pfizer Accused of Tax Evasion. Pfizer was content by making billions off of government
vaccine purchases and mandates and is now charging $130 per shot now that the mandates are
over. It’s now accused by Italy of hiding $1.2B in funds offshore to avoid taxes.

Dr. Mercola’s Summary Article on the Covid Vaccine Lie: “‘Speed of Science’ — A Scandal
Beyond Your Wildest Nightmare. It was never about science or protecting others.” The article is
truly a comprehensive review of the deceptions surrounding all the claims of the Covid vaccine.
A must-read.

CHINA: XI CONSOLIDATES POWER AT CCP CONGRESS

Chinese Communist dictator Xi Jinping secured a third five-year term ensuring he is the most
powerful ruler since Chairman Mao. Like Mao, he surrounds himself with loyalists and even had
former president Hu Jintao reluctantly led away by ushers just prior to the vote.  The elderly
Jintao clearly didn’t understand why he was being removed, but Xi offered him no explanation.
Many suspect Jintao was going to object to a third term for Xi. Later the CCP claimed Jintao
wasn’t feeling well —which is clearly untrue from the video.

Meanwhile, Xi continues to pursue port facilities around the world, which facilitate Chinese
military and trade activities and allow them to have legal access into Western countries.
Germany, like the US at Long Beach harbor, just let Chinese-controlled Cosco shipping and port
management company take a 25% stake in the largest container facility at the port of Hamburg.
Chancellor Olaf Schultz is following in Angela Merkel’s path of keeping a cozy relationship with
China. Both Merkel and Schultz have Communist backgrounds before the fall of the Iron
Curtain. And the Australians not only have sold all their mineral rights to China, they have let
China control two major ports in the country as well.

The globalists are still building China as an enemy by selling it energy. Biden, as I covered
earlier, sold millions of barrels of US crude oil from the Strategic Reserve to China, and the US
is also allowing China to buy up more of US liquified Natural Gas, which Republicans are
starting to complain about. The US also needs to stop allowing China to buy land and companies
in the US, especially near military facilities.

PUTIN’S TERROR ATTACKS ON CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE CONTINUE

Russia is losing the war now in Southern Ukraine as Ukrainian forces surround the Russian
occupied city of Kherson. As the Daily Mail reported,

Putin loyalists, officials and collaborators are among thousands evacuating city as
advancing Ukrainian troops close in, a resident claims. Putin claimed it was a civilian
evacuation but residents claim collaborators are being evacuated instead. The Ukrainian
army is advancing on the city captured in March.

One of Putin’s top 4 generals in Ukraine was captured in a civilian car trying to flee the city. Lt.
General Andrei Sychevoi was the commander of the West Group, one of the four top Russian
commanders in the Ukraine. He was captured with his driver as he was trying to flee back to
Russia in a stolen civilian car.

The Russians are heavily dug into defensive positions around Kherson so it’s not going to be an
easy victory for Ukrainian armed forces.

In response to his losses in Ukraine, Putin has launched a missile and drone blitz all across
Ukraine hitting power and water stations to “make Ukraine pay” and try and convince Ukrainians
to stop fighting and negotiate. Russia is making use of hundreds of cheap Iranian made drones,
which you can see on this video during their attacks on Ukraine. Nearly 80% of the drones have
been shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, but still suffered the loss of 30% of their power grid.

In support of Ukraine, Israel jets attacked the Iranian drone factory where these drones are made.
Putin has even mined a crucial dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and threatened to
blow it up, flooding small towns and farms. These are clearly civilian terrorist tactics and I don’t
think they will work. Ukraine is winning slowly, and won’t stop now as long as Western military
support continues. In fact, President Zelensky has said Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy
preclude any further negotiations.

Western Europe has also just had 3 undersea communication and internet cables cut. One in
France and two in the UK near the Shetland islands-Orkney Gap. A Russian research ship sailed
through that channel shortly after the time of the cut. The cut was probably done by a robotic sub
but it is suspected that the research vessel may have been there documenting the damage.
Western intel sources claim Russia is doing this in retaliation for Western sabotage of the Nord
Stream pipelines.

Former US Gen. David Petraeus claimed in a recent French interview that the US “may lead a
multinational force against Russia in Ukraine.” This may be yet another tactical warning of what
a Western response may be to Putin’s continued threats of using some type of tactical nuke or
dirty bomb in Ukraine—which experts think is highly unlikely.

NEWS SHORTS

Black Conservative Attacks Critical Race Theory at School Board: Watch this short video of
African-American Derek Wilburn explaining to a Colorado school board why the claim of racism
in America is untrue and meant to provoke more racial tension. It’s a short but brilliant expose
against Critical Race Theory.

Steve Bannon Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison for Contempt of Congress: The judge let him
free pending an appeal. Similarly, Dr. Simone Gold, a leading figure in the anti-vaccine
moment, was sentenced to 60 days in prison simply for being in a restricted area on the Capitol
grounds (which police had opened up) and addressing the crowd about the Covid plandemic.

Trump Correctly Suspects the FBI can Plant Records Among What they took from Him:
The FBI has continually refused to give him a list of what they took.

Biden’s Dementia Getting Worse: Rep. Claudia Tenney says Biden is ‘not competent’ to be
president after he appeared to zone out during an MSNBC interview. As Red State reported, Dan
Bongino of Fox News noted that, Biden paused for a notable amount of time when asked if his
wife supports him running for re-election, during an interview Friday on MSNBC. Jonathan
Capehart had to ask again to get Biden to wake up. Finally Biden responded after a long pause,
“Dr. Biden thinks that — my wife thinks that we’re doing something very important, and I
shouldn’t walk away from it.” It’s also worth noting that there’s an editor’s cut in that part of the
interview. Was he actually out of it for even longer than the clip shows? Lastly, a video showing
Joe Biden wishing happy birthday to ‘Great President’ Kamala Harris.

Joe Biden’s Crimes: A private report and analysis of Hunter’s laptop outlines six white collar
crimes Biden was most likely complicit in. A report by Marco Polo claims Joe Biden is complicit
in tax evasion, violated the Presidential Records Act, and used nonpublic information for
financial gain. [Daily Mail] Biden will never be prosecuted, unlike the witch hunt against Trump.

California Baker Wins in Court against CA Anti-Discrimination Law: A California court
has ruled in favor of free speech in the case of a Christian bakery owner who refused to create a
wedding cake for a lesbian couple. [Red State]

Adam Andrzejewski Exposing Government Waste and Corruption in California:

After numerous attempts to get California to reveal all public contracts with CA vendors, and
after the courts ruled that California would be unduly “burdened” in revealing what the law
requires, Andrzejewski’s organization finally got all the information through another venue, and
revealed that Gov. Newsom has received millions in contributions from California vendors who
get paid back what they give to Newsom’s campaign many times over. Sadly, there’s no law
prohibiting “pay to play” in California. See him in this clip from the Young America’s
Foundation.

Danger of Electric Cars Flooded by Salt Water: In a surprising glitch, at least nine electric
vehicle batteries suddenly caught fire in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Florida officials have
reported. [Huffington Post]

Diesel Shortage Problem: The US only has 25 days of diesel supply. And shortages are starting
to show up in a few parts of the country. Trains and trucks are the biggest users, and this could
exacerbate shortages.[Epoch Times] The root cause is oil companies shipping too much of it to
Europe to sell at higher prices than they can get in the US.

The Homeless Mess in Portland, OR:Shocking pictures show how Portland has been ruined by
state programs with homeless incentives. All the woke Portland Mayor can do is to try and shut
down 700 “unsanctioned” homeless camps, still leaving hundreds that are sanctioned, and build
20K new “affordable housing” that will take 10 years! All this and more is paving the way for a
potential Republican to win the governorship after decades of Democrat control.

BLM Marxist Founder Living High on the Hog with Donations: Marxist BLM founder
Patrisse Cullors is spending tens of thousands to renovate her $1.4M home in LA—all from
donations to the radical Black Lives Matter organization. [Gateway Pundit]

Justin Trudeau (Castro) Bans Sale of Handguns in Canada: Trudeau orders an immediate
freeze on the sale, purchase, and transfer of handguns in Canada. [NPR]

Missouri has Pulled $500 Million out of Pension Funds Managed by BlackRock Inc.: State
Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick revealed revealed the change on Tuesday, over the asset manager’s
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) “priority” over shareholder returns. Several
Republican-led states have sought to cut business ties with BlackRock over its ESG push, with
Louisiana earlier this month saying it would pull $794 million out of the company’s funds for
boycotting energy stocks. [Free Beacon]

Book Review: Eric Moutsos’Dispatched–conscience or conformity: Eric was a policeman
with Salt Lake City and documents his fight against ticket quotas, police covering up for their
evil acts, and ultimately being kicked off the force for refusing to act in direct support of a Gay
Rights parade. His assignment was different from prior years where police motorcycle cops like
Moutsos would ride in front of the parade to clear the route. The city was now demanding that a
few police in uniform march with the gays, and they singled him out for the assignment because
they disliked his religious affiliation (LDS). He agreed to trade posts with another officer, which
had always been allowed, but the Chief suddenly determined that no trades would be allowed.
Then he was put on indefinite leave for challenging that ruling.

The Police then leaked to the press that an officer had “refused” to obey a lawful duty assignment
in the Gay Pride event out of bias against gays personally—which was untrue. Moutsos had
simply traded posts with another officer to avoid supporting the Gay political agenda, which was
perfectly legal. It was the Department that changed the rules to put him in a bind between orders
and his conscience. It was also not a lawful order to force a taxpayer funded officer to march in
support of any cause, rather than simply protect.  Naturally, the mainstream media nationwide
took up the story to vilify the “biased officer.”

During the controversy in the press, senior officers in police, as well as other woke heads of
agencies were all wearing rainbow-colored symbols to show solidarity with gays, and Moutsos
rightly felt that forcing him to show support of the march violated his religious rights as a
Christian.

When you go to https://www.ericmoutsos.com/ to order his book, be sure and watch is excellent
documentary film “Non Essential” about the Covid 19 tyranny that shut down small businesses
and churches while letting big corporations like Walmart and Costco stay open. You will see
how he organized rallies to defy the lockdown orders. The professional documentary is very well
done and inspiring.

PREPAREDNESS TIP: MORE FALLOUT SHELTER OPTIONS by Andrew Skousen

Despite nuclear war looming closer, most people are not preparing a shelter for themselves and
family members. Complacency is strong, especially when the rest of the world is not concerned
about the problem. It is in our human nature not to prepare if there is even the smallest hope
that the threat won’t happen. But these massive weapons will be used someday and everyone will
be desperate for some kind of shelter. Few will know what to do and even less will have a
radiation meter to know what is going on. Don’t be one of those lost in a panic. What would you
do today if there were nuclear explosions in your state or nearby? (See our maps in Strategic
Relocation for the most likely target areas.) Although the best option is to build a basement level
concrete room with a thick slab overhead, here are some of the other make-shift options.

Dig a Trench: Just getting below ground level in a trench will protect you from some of the
radiation, but it takes a roof overhead to really block the danger from coming down directly onto
your dug-in position. You can use dirt overhead if you first lay poles, lumber, plywood and/or
logs across the opening. Cover this with a tarp, plastic or a blanket and then pile dirt over that. If
your trench is so wide that the wood starts to bow downward put bracing posts or a wall down
the middle underneath. Any protection overhead is better than nothing, but ideally you will pile
24 inches of dirt above you.

Excavate Under a Car: If you have trouble finding enough poles to cover your trench you can
improvise with other means. One option is to drive a car over the trench so it straddles the
opening. Then pile dirt around the sides, back and even top of the car for overhead protection.
Cars don’t have enough mass alone to provide overhead protection so it’s better to prepare cross
members supports that will hold up sandbags, bricks or other heavy items for overhead
protection. The rule of thumb is that you need around 150 pounds per square foot overhead. This
can be anything including water jugs, food containers, books, etc.

Under the Stairs: If you have a staircase in your home you can convert it to a very small fallout
shelter by building up mass around all four sides and then piling material on the steps above. Try
to make the entrance an L-shape or U-shape so you have protection against the direct radiation on
4 sides. For the walls you will need around 100 pounds per square foot mass. You may have to
drag furniture or bookshelves over to support whatever you are using for protection, including,
perhaps, digging up dirt from the yard for sandbags or to fill boxes and suitcases. A supply of
sandbags are quite cheap or you can save up heavy-duty bags like water softener pellet bags,
grain sacks and other containers that will hold dirt. You can also prepare stacks of 8″ thick
masonry blocks (“cinderblocks”) on your property. Fill the hollow voids by setting them out side-by-side on the driveway on a big piece of plastic and fill the voids with concrete. They will each
weigh around 100 lbs and stack well. Stairs are useful because they can support a lot of weight.
Place sandbags, bricks and other mass on the stairsteps for overhead protection.

Sometimes you can similarly surround a small room or closet in a house with a lot of mass, but
you will usually need to reinforce the ceiling framing to support the weight overhead, especially
if the room is more than 6ft wide. You do want the space big enough to lie down in, but you
don’t want the ceiling to cave in from too much weight.

In a Crawlspace: Some houses are built over a crawlspace with a dirt floor. Although it is
cumbersome to dig down in this confined area, making a trench shelter in this space has many
advantages like protection from the weather, and privacy when everyone will be looking for a
shelter.

In the Basement: The concrete walls of a basement offer a natural starting point for a better and
stronger shelter. Look for a corner where you can build up the other two walls with cinderblocks
and make a wood ceiling overhead strong enough to stack concrete blocks above as described in
this old civil defense manual from 1959. In the US Mountain West many homes have basement
cold storage rooms under the front or back porch. Although these spaces typically only have 6 or
8 inches of concrete overhead they are better than nothing and this concrete cap is strong enough
to throw additional dirt on top of, if needed. We recommend people build a concrete basement
room with a 12 inch thick slab of concrete overhead into any new construction for the best option
in security, privacy and all-around multi-use protection.

Convert aSwimming Pool: Many people complain to us that they can’t build a shelter because
of hardpan soils, high water tables or bedrock. Although these are big hurdles, there is always a
way around the problem. For instance, in most of these same areas there are in-ground swimming
pools in your neighborhood. If you can dig a swimming pool, then a shelter is possible. In fact, if
you drain a swimming pool you can form up a temporary roof over it, cover it with concrete
blocks or sand bags and make a shelter out of it. If bedrock or high water table is truly an issue
(excavate some test holes to verify that the problem is real), consider a partially buried structure
with a berm around it, or buried in the side of a hill. You can berm earth around a concrete or
CMU block building or a modified precast concrete cistern. Shipping containers should only be
used if you know how to reinforce the walls and ceilings.

Buried Culverts: Reinforced round pipes buried in the ground is a common shelter option. Care
must be taken for access, waterproofing and finishing out the round shape for living quarters.
You can purchase complete shelters ready to drop in the ground from Utah Shelter Systems. Just
be sure to make the entrance concealed within another building on top so you can be discreet
about coming in or out and put a filter on the air intake to keep radioactive dust on the outside of
the shelter.

For more information on all the best do-it-yourself fallout shelters and solid information about
surviving radiation, I highly recommend Kresson Kearney’s Nuclear War Survival Skills
handbook, now available for free download. The Appendix C is especially valuable with its
instructions on building and reading a homemade radiation meter. I also recommend finding a
Victoreen Civil defense radiation meter model 715 or 717 on eBay or at KI4U.com.  You MUST
have a survey style meter like the Victoreen (not a Geiger counter) to read high radiation levels
and to know when it’s safe to come out of your shelter. Otherwise you are blind.

When nuclear war hits someday it will come as a surprise attack, with little or no direct warning
or public effort to get people mobilized to build protective measures. That means everyone will
have to take the initiative and get prepared in this vital way before it happens. Finally, remember
that these types of make-shift shelters are very uncomfortable to use, especially in rain or winter,
and should only be considered by those without any means to do anything better. It’s better to
sacrifice now to afford a more formal shelter as we outline in The High Security Shelter.