Drone Rights Under Threat by Biden Admin

Paul Collier May 2, 2022

The new battle for the right to self defense might not involve guns at all, at least not directly. The new threat to central control is the rising efficiency of the drone. From battlefields across the Mideast and North Africa, to the recent battles over the skies of Ukraine, drones are becoming disruptors of organized power, as Russian columns in Ukraine can readily affirm.

Here in America, the current spokesperson of central control known as Joe Biden is recognizing that threat to the potential for tyranny to control the unwilling. The administration is looking to find out the current legal justifications to clamp down on drone use in the United States. Get ready, the battle for drone possession and manufacturing by private citizens is soon to come, if it’s not already here.

White House seeks more power to counter drone use in U.S.

From www.baynews9.com
2022-04-25 18:30:00

Excerpt:

The Biden administration is calling on Congress to expand authority for federal and local governments to take action to counter the nefarious use in the U.S. of drones, which are becoming a growing security concern and nuisance.

What You Need To Know

The Biden administration is calling on Congress to expand authority for federal and local governments to take action to counter the nefarious use in the U.S. of drones

The White House on Monday released an action plan that calls for expanding the number of agencies that can track and monitor drones flying in their airspace

The federal-government-wide focus comes as the Federal Aviation Administration projects that more than 2 million drones will be in circulation in the U.S. by 2024

The White House says it also wants to work with Congress to enact a criminal statute that sets standards for legal and illegal uses of drones

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Tom Clancy’s KGB Spy Was Joe Biden’s Chinese Connection Alias

Paul Collier May 2, 2022

Joe Biden used the pseudonym “Peter Henderson” in his email exchanges with Hunter Biden and the Chinese and other foreign interests that were part of the alleged Biden network of grift. The name is that of a Russian spy from a Tom Clancy Novel. The irony is not lost.

Joe Biden used alias of KGB spy from Tom Clancy novels: Hunter emails

From nypost.com
2022-04-29 20:18:00

Excerpt:

Joe Biden wrote to his son Hunter and others close to him using the pseudonym “Peter Henderson” – a fictional Soviet Union-era spy in several Tom Clancy novels who infiltrated the US government, emails show.

The messages contained on Hunter’s abandoned laptop appear to indicate the then-VP started using the fictitious mole’s moniker in October 2016 while forwarding a YouTube video to his son Hunter, brother Jim, daughter-in-law Hallie, as well as his sister and longtime political strategist Valerie Biden Owens.

Biden sent the message using an email address with a username of “67stingray” — a clear reference to his beloved 1967 Corvette Stingray.

The name attached to Biden’s “67stingray” account at the time was “Peter Henderson” – which matches the name of the KGB spy in Clancy’s popular Jack Ryan series, according to online fan pages.

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Great Resignation Spreads to Older Americans

Paul Collier May 2, 2022

The Great Resignation initially started with people who could make more money on the dole than working, then spread to people who could earn more doing less somewhere else, and has now spread to longtime employees that are retiring early to escape the ‘new normal’ offered by the new corporations.

The Great Resignation is becoming a “great midlife crisis”

From www.vox.com
2022-04-30 12:00:00
Rani Molla
Excerpt:

“The Great Resignation is almost like a train, where it’s built all this momentum and it’s hard to slow down, but certain workers are getting off the train and new workers are coming on,” said Luke Pardue, an economist at Gusto, which provides payroll, benefits, and human resource management software to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Rates of quits are always highest among younger, less senior workers — those who tend to be less invested in their jobs and whose lives are less stable. This was true during the early stages of the pandemic when these workers quit their jobs amid heightened demand to eke out better wages and conditions elsewhere (though those gains are unlikely to be permanent). But those quit rates have been declining. Data from Gusto, which typically works with companies that have around 25 employees, shows that the average tenure of people who quit has grown in every age group and in nearly every industry. In other words, older people who’ve worked at a job longer are also quitting.

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Did Life Begin with Immortality?

Paul Collier May 2, 2022

The quest for immortality is a tale as old as tales themselves, starting with Gilgamesh and up to present day. Today, science is trying to turn back the theoretical evolutionary clock and reintroduce immortality to creation by re-engineering our DNA, and that’s just the start.

The long quest for immortality, from Gilgamesh to Jeff Bezos

From www.washingtonpost.com
2022-05-01 11:04:37

Excerpt:

“But the story’s much weirder than we think,” Fink said. In a recent paper, he used math to demonstrate that “aging can be favored by natural selection.” That’s a shocking insight: It means that the first forms of life, which started billions of years ago, likely didn’t die…..

In Fink’s memorable phrase, “immortality — not mortality — is the natural state of affairs.” So how can we get back to this natural state? That’s where cell programming comes in…..

Several companies are trying to do this work, such as bit.bio, which recodes cells to attempt to find cures to diseases such as Alzheimer’s. In the long run, this revolutionary biotechnology might well enable scientists to reset cells for immortality.

“If the aging process is a mechanism inside the cell controlled by a transcription program, then we’ll be able to influence it,” hypothesized Forrest Sheldon, a LIMS junior fellow who collaborates with bit.bio.

But Fink and Sheldon cautioned that we’re still a long way from becoming immortal. Don’t book your vacation for the summer of 4500 just yet.

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DHS Dinformation Chief Was Russia Hoax Champion

Paul Collier May 2, 2022

Biden Disinformation Czar appointee Nina Jankowicz has a checkered past when it comes to disinformation, including being an aggressive proponent of the Trump Russia Collusion conspiracy hoax and denying that the Hunter Biden laptop was in fact the Hunter Biden laptop.

New DHS Disinformation Head Dismissed Hunter Biden Emails as ‘Trump Campaign Product’ – National Review

From www.nationalreview.com
2022-04-28 14:31:58

Excerpt:

The head of a new Department of Homeland Security initiative to combat disinformation cast doubt on the New York Post‘s since-vindicated story on the content of Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election.

Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center fellow, will be the executive director of the DHS’s planned Disinformation Governance Board, Politico Playbook revealed on Wednesday. Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas revealed in congressional testimony earlier on Wednesday that the agency is creating the board to target disinformation in minority communities, Fox News noted.

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World Wheat Shortage Could Hit 50

Parker Davis May 2, 2022

After a heat wave destroyed much of India’s wheat crop this past year, world wheat shortages could see supplies reduce by as much as 50 percent.

Wheat supplies may retract 10-50% hinting at an upcoming global food shortage

From finbold.com
2022-05-02 07:40:29

Excerpt:

Even more food shortages may be on the way as a result of the recent heatwaves in India destroying wheat yields. India was supposed to increase its exports to offset the shortfalls caused by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine which had already reduced global wheat supplies.

March temperatures in India have reached levels never before seen in India according to records tracking temperatures since 1901, destroying the crop. Estimates range between 10% and 50% yield decrease for the season by local farmers.

Expectations of wheat exports from India were high, with 11-12 million metric tonnes expected to be delivered throughout 2022 and 2023. With such high expectations and unexpected disruption, a global food shortage seems to be coming.

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Fertilizer Shortages Contributing to Looming World Food Shortages

Parker Davis May 2, 2022

Fertilizer shortages are spreading throughout the world, starting in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion, leading to a price spike of 70 percent in less than one year.

Can the world feed itself? Historic fertilizer crunch threatens food security | AP

From denvergazette.com
2022-05-02 09:36:17

Excerpt:

For the first time ever, farmers the world over — all at the same time — are testing the limits of how little chemical fertilizer they can apply without devastating their yields come harvest time. Early predictions are bleak.

In Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean producer, a 20% cut in potash use could bring a 14% drop in yields, according to industry consultancy MB Agro. In Costa Rica, a coffee cooperative representing 1,200 small producers sees output falling as much as 15% next year if the farmers miss even one-third of normal application. In West Africa, falling fertilizer use will shrink this year’s rice and corn harvest by a third, according to the International Fertilizer Development Center, a food security non-profit group.

…..“Fertilizer prices are up an average of 70% from last year,” said Timothy Njagi, a researcher at the Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development in Kenya, referring to prices in the country. “The fertilizer is available locally, but it’s out of reach for the majority of farmers. Worse, many farmers know that they cannot recover these costs.”

Prices have been climbing for more than a year for a host of reasons: runaway pricing for natural gas, the main feedstock for much of the world’s nitrogen fertilizer; sanctions on a major Belarusian potash producer; back-to-back late-summer storms on the U.S. Gulf Coast that temporarily shut-in production in the region; plus Covid-19 restrictions that have disrupted every global supply chain, including chemicals.

That tightening in the physical fertilizer market has galvanized China, the largest phosphate producer, to restrict outgoing shipments in order to build up a stockpile at home, further exacerbating the global shortage. Add Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which effectively cut off nearly a fifth of the world’s nutrient exports, and the fertilizer industry and its pricing mechanisms are arguably more broken than ever before.

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Solomon Islands Gets Chinese Police Force

Mark Clouse May 2, 2022

The once-American ally, the Solomon Islands, is now going in another direction, which is leading them to accept Chinese Police becoming their street patrols, but under Solomon Islands supervision.

Solomon Islands to supervise Chinese police operating there -official

From www.reuters.com
2022-05-02 05:00:00

Excerpt:

China’s police presence under a new security pact will boost the capabilities of the Solomon Islands but they will not use techniques seen in Hong Kong, the Pacific island country’s top diplomat to Australia said in a radio interview on Monday.

Already on guard about the pact because of concerns it gives China’s military a strategic foothold in the Pacific, Western allies are also worried that Chinese police sent there may use the same “ruthless” techniques previously used to quell anti-government protests in Hong Kong. read more

The Solomon Islands is “beefing up their capability” after local police were unable to contain anti-government riots in the Chinatown section of the capital Honiara in November, Solomon Islands High Commissioner to Australia Robert…

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Lori Lightfoot Needs Re-Election to Create Her Own Board of Ed

Ivo Fysic May 2, 2022

‘Daunting task’: Mayor Lightfoot leaves Board of Education seat empty after fighting elected board

From abc7chicago.com

…..after lobbying unsuccessfully against a bill last year that will create an elected school board for Chicago two years from now, the mayor hasn’t taken advantage of her opportunity to have a say in who will serve on the Board of Education.

When Lightfoot fought the elected school board, she argued it was imperative for her to appoint the entire board since the mayor is largely seen as responsible for the success – or failure – of the schools system.

Lightfoot has less than a year remaining in her term ahead of the spring 2023 mayoral election, followed by the first school board elections in late 2024 and the new board taking control in early 2025. If Lightfoot wins reelection she would be able to appoint 11 members of the new 21-seat board to serve the first two years of her term. When the board becomes fully elected two years later, the mayor won’t have any say in its makeup.

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Dems Lose Big in NY Court Redistricting Map Ruling

Ivo Fysic May 2, 2022

New York Just Cost Democrats Their Big Redistricting Advantage

From fivethirtyeight.com
2022-04-27 21:40:45
Nathaniel Rakich
Excerpt:

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch — and don’t count your congressional districts before all the redistricting lawsuits are finished.

On Wednesday, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the congressional map New York Democrats enacted back in February was a partisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution and tossed it to the curb. The decision was a huge blow to Democrats, who until recently looked like they had gained enough seats nationally in redistricting to almost eliminate the Republican bias in the House of Representatives. But with the invalidation of New York’s map, as well as Florida’s recent passage of a congressional map that heavily favors the GOP, the takeaways from the 2021-22 redistricting cycle are no longer so straightforward.

That’s because much of Democrats’ national redistricting advantage rested on their gerrymander in New York. The now-invalidated map included 20 seats with a FiveThirtyEight partisan lean ² of D+5 or bluer and only four seats with a partisan lean of R+5 or redder. It also included two swing seats, but even those had slight Democratic leans (D+3 and D+4)……

Back in March, Democrats didn’t have as large of an advantage by this metric, but they were still doing better than Republicans: I estimated at the time that redistricting would net Democrats around two seats in the midterms, while it would lead to a net loss of around three or four seats for Republicans (this was without considering the Republican-leaning national political environment). Now, however, Republicans clearly have the advantage on this score. I estimate that redistricting currently positions Republicans for a net gain of around four or five House seats and Democrats for a net loss of about four, based on the maps as they stand now…….

In its decision, the New York Court of Appeals endorsed the idea that a neutral special master — essentially, an expert in drawing political maps — should draw New York’s next congressional map. That would presumably lead to a relatively fair map, but the details and exact partisan breakdown are, of course, still a mystery; Democrats could still gain seats from New York’s map when all is said and done (just not as many as from their gerrymander).