Study of Breakthrough Infections in Highly Vaccinated Belgium Provides Significant Data


Published originally on TrialSite New Staff on Apr. 28, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

Belgium researchers embarked on a study that hopefully can shape future vaccination programs targeting COVID-19. In a recently published study, these scientists assessed the risk factors associated with developing COVID-19 after vaccination. The results of which were presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal, (23-26 April).  It turns out the mRNA-based vaccines afford more protection than those immunized with the AstraZeneca/Oxford viral vector vaccine.  

So, what are breakthrough infections? They are characterized when the pathogen evades vaccine-induced bodies, thereby infecting the inoculated person. In this study, Dr. Veerle Stouten and colleagues at Sciensano, the National Public Health Institute of Belgium, investigated the incidence of breakthrough infections associated with four different COVID-19 vaccine brands. These brands included Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2), Moderna (mRNA-1273), Oxford/AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1) and Janssen (Ad26.COV2.S).

The Study

More than 80% of adults in Belgium were fully vaccinated (received two doses) by August 11, 2021.

The study included all people in Belgium aged 18-plus who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 between February 1 and December 5, 2021. The 8,062,000 participants were followed up for an average of 150 days, from 14 days after their second dose.

4.6% of the participants (373,070) were reported to have a breakthrough infection. This figure does not, however, take into account how long each participant was followed-up after the study. When this is factored in, the incidence rate is 11.2 per 100 person-years. This means that if participants were followed up for one year, 11.2 would be expected to develop a breakthrough infection. 

Results

Researchers share that “breakthrough infections were more common in those who had received viral vector vaccines than mRNA vaccines. Those who had previously had Covid had a lower risk of breakthrough infections.”

Overall, those vaccinated with a viral vector vaccine (Oxford/AstraZeneca or Janssen) had a higher risk of a breakthrough infection than those vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna).

In addition, “There was a higher incidence of breakthrough infections in younger age groups (18-64 year olds) than in older age groups (65-84 or 85-plus year olds), which might be due to differences in social behavior.”

Natural immunity also comes into play here. Researchers observed from the analysis that “those with a prior COVID-19 infection before vaccination were 77% less likely to have a breakthrough infection than those who hadn’t had Covid previously.”

Significant Implications

Such information regarding breakthrough infections can be helpful when designing vaccination programs, including decisions about who would benefit most from a booster dose and the timing and type of vaccine to be used. 

Dr. Stouten adds: “We identified risk factors associated with breakthrough infections, such as vaccination with adenoviral-vector vaccines, which could help inform future decisions on booster vaccination strategies internationally.

Lead Research/Investigator

Dr. Veerle Stouten, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium

Belgium researchers embarked on a study that hopefully can shape future vaccination programs targeting COVID-19. In a recently published study, these scientists assessed the risk factors associated with developing COVID-19 after vaccination. The results of which were presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal, (23-26 April).  It turns out the mRNA-based vaccines afford more protection than those immunized with the AstraZeneca/Oxford viral vector vaccine.  

So, what are breakthrough infections? They are characterized when the pathogen evades vaccine-induced bodies, thereby infecting the inoculated person. In this study, Dr. Veerle Stouten and colleagues at Sciensano, the National Public Health Institute of Belgium, investigated the incidence of breakthrough infections associated with four different COVID-19 vaccine brands. These brands included Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2), Moderna (mRNA-1273), Oxford/AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1) and Janssen (Ad26.COV2.S).


Is This the Real Reason Liberals Abandoned Their Principles? | Tucker Carlson | MEDIA | Rubin Report


Posted originally on the The Rubin Report  on Published April 28 2022

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Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson about how liberals abandoned liberalism, the importance of freedom of speech, why both political parties stop caring about the shrinking middle class and more in this special “best of” episode. Tucker explains his continued confusion in defending the values of classical liberalism from attacks from modern day liberals and talks about the need for a sane and reasonable Democratic Party. He also shares his thoughts on why the ACLU seemingly reversed its position on free speech and how the mainstream media is losing the fight with citizen journalism and YouTubers.

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2. Exposing Who the Media Is Really Trying to Protect | Tucker Carlson | September 2021
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Holy Imploding Economy, Batman! The Morning Rumble with Tony Katz


Originally by Tony Katz  Published on Rumble on April 28, 2022 

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The numbers are in and they are awful. Why does the Biden Administration insist on telling us that the “fundamentals are strong” when reality for families and small business owners up and down Midwest Mainstreet is far, far different?

Oh, and Twitter got caught limiting followers of conservatives, and now we have the proof.

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White House Refuses to Define Success in Ukraine, But Want U.S. Taxpayers to Donate $33 Billion More Toward it


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 28, 2022

April 28, 2022 | sundance | 89 Comments

Yes, this actually happened today.  During her press briefing Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House doesn’t want to “define what success in Ukraine looks like,” but demands U.S. taxpayers to give them another $33 billion toward it.

A few moments later Psaki admits the money will be spent subsidizing not only Ukraine, but NATO allies who are suffering the results of inflation.

Psaki stated the Biden demand for more money “is not all for Ukraineit’s also for some of our Eastern European partners and others to help support them during this time as well.”  Wait, now we are paying to subsidize the economy of EU countries while our own economy is contracting?

Seriously, the scale of this hubris is blood boiling.  First, they cannot tell us what success consists of, but give us money anyway.  The first segment to watch happens at 18:15 of the video, WATCH (prompted):

TRANSCRIPT – Q    Against the backdrop of the President’s announcement today and request for this $33 billion aid package, can you say: Is it the policy goal of the United States for Ukraine to defeat Russia? 

MS. PSAKI:  Well, look, it depends on how you — we’re not going to define that from here.  That’s for the Ukra- —

Q    How would you define it?

MS. PSAKI:  Well, that’s for the Ukrainians to define. 

What we are going to do from here is to continue to provide them with a range of security and military assistance, as is evidenced by the package that the President proposed and put forward to Capitol Hill today; to strengthen their ne- — their hand at the negotiating table; and ensure that they have the support and backing of the United States and the world.

Q    Just to be clear — and I understand what you’re saying: It’s for the Ukrainians to define.  But does the United States think that success has to include Russians leaving all of the new portions of Ukraine that they currently invaded? 

MS. PSAKI:  Again, we’re not going to define that from here, Kristen.  There are a range of negotiations that may happen and may take place, and we’re just not going to get ahead of that. (read more)

… 

Q    And then, is there any effort, I guess — you heard this a little bit from him today talking about how Ukrainians are giving up their lives, so the money — I guess, is there anything that the White House is doing to address the concern from some Americans that this is an awful lot of money going to a foreign country when we have domestic needs at home?

MS. PSAKI:  Well, I would say that we’ve also seen an incredibly heart- — heartfelt outpouring of support from the American people for the efforts of the United States to lead in standing up to Russian aggression and to stand up in favor and support of the Ukrainians.

You know, to the President, this is about American leadership in the world.  It’s also about standing up for democracy versus autocracy.  It’s about standing up against one foreign country invading another foreign country.  And, you know, it’s about American leadership in the world.

So, we will continue to articulate that and make that clear.  And that is part of the reason why the President also detailed in specificity today what all of this would go to.  I mean, some of it — a great deal of it is, of course, to military assistance to fight this war, but there is funding in there, as he noted this morning, for food security and ensuring that we are addressing any food shortages around the world.  There is assistance that is going into humanitarian assistance and helping the outflow of refugees.  And so, it was important to him personally to lay out the specifics in his remarks this morning. 

At 42:15 of the video, Psaki is asked directly why should the U.S. taxpayer be stuck paying for the pensions of Ukraine politicians?  Psaki responds by saying ‘that’s who we are.”  WATCH (prompted)

.

Q    — to follow up on the issue of, you know, Americans being concerned about the amount of money being sent out to Ukraine: One of the things that the President outlined today in his speech was not just humanitarian assistance, but also allow pensions and social support to be paid to the Ukrainian people. 

So, what would you say to the American public who says, “Okay, it’s one thing to help Ukrainian refugees with food and shelter, but why should we be paying for their pensions?

MS. PSAKI:  Well, look, I would say that we have provided a range of economic assistance, because we know that their economy has been devastated — not of their doing, because they were invaded by a foreign country.

Q    But how is that —

MS. PSAKI:  And they’re going — let me — let me finish.  And they are going to need assistance in order to recover.  We provide assistance — economic and humanitarian assistance — to a range of countries around the world because that’s part of American leadership.  And so, I would say that’s the reasoning for this assistance being proposed in the package.

Madness, Joe Biden Asks Congress for $33 Billion More for Ukraine to Fund Their Government Salaries, Pensions and Budget Obligations


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 28, 2022

This is getting seriously out of hand.  On top of the $14 billion already appropriated for Ukraine assistance, Joe Biden is now asking for a supplemental budget allocation of an additional $33 billion for Ukraine.  Good grief, that’s almost $50 billion in aid, plus the billions in distributed weapons.

Biden is asking for U.S. taxpayers to fund the budget, salaries and pension obligations of the Ukraine government.  Biden made his request in a letter [SEE HERE] to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

[…] “I am writing to provide you with my request for fiscal year (FY) 2022 emergency supplemental funding for critical security and economic assistance to Ukraine.
 
I appreciate the Congress’ continued bipartisan support for Ukraine, NATO, and other partner countries affected by Russia’s War in Ukraine.  My Administration is committed to providing the Ukrainian people the assistance they need.  Our assistance to date has made a difference on the battlefield, helping Ukraine win the battle for Kyiv. 

This $33.0 billion request for additional funding and authority builds on the Congress’ supplemental appropriation of $13.6 billion on March 15, 2022, and seeks to address immediate and near-term security and economic needs.  Additional security assistance will put urgently needed equipment into the hands of Ukraine’s military and police, including ammunition, armored vehicles, small arms, demining assistance, and unmanned aircraft systems. 

Economic assistance will provide Direct Budget Support to provide rapid, flexible funds to assist the Government of Ukraine.” (read more)

Joe Biden wants U.S. taxpayers, those who are struggling to pay our own bills, to fund the government of Ukraine?  In case anyone is not up on current events, we are broke.

Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop Reports 2nd Quarter Financials, Net Operating Loss of $128 Million


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 28, 2022 

Jack’s magic coffee shop posted their latest financial results today.

As suspected, the social media company Twitter said revenue for the first quarter totaled $1.2 billion (+16%). However, costs and expenses totaled $1.33 billion (+35%), resulting in an operating loss of $128 million. (link)

Another unsustainable result for a company that doesn’t make a profit yet continues to operate.   I digress…

REPOST WARNING – The metaphorical Jack had a great idea, open a coffee shop where the beverages were free and use internal advertising as the income subsidy to operate the business.  Crowds came for the free coffee, comfy couches, fellowship, conversation and enjoyment.

It didn’t matter where Jack got the coffee, how he paid for it, or didn’t, or what product advertising the customers would be exposed to while there.  Few people thought about such things.  Curiously, it didn’t matter what size the crowd was; in the backroom of Jack’s Coffee Shop they were able to generate massive amounts of never-ending free coffee at extreme scales.

Over time, using the justification of parking lot capacity and township regulations, not everyone would be able to park and enter.  Guards were placed at the entrance to pre-screen customers. A debate began.

Alternative coffee shops opened around town.  It was entirely possible to duplicate Jacks Coffee Shop, yet no one could duplicate the business model for the free coffee.  Indeed, there was something very unique about Jack’s Coffee Shop.  Thus, some underlying suspicions were raised:

The only way Twitter, with 217 million users, could exist as a viable platform is if they had access to tech systems of incredible scale and performance, and those systems were essentially free or very cheap.  The only entity that could possibly provide that level of capacity and scale is the United States Government – combined with a bottomless bank account.  A public-private partnership.

If my hunch is correct, Elon Musk is poised to expose the well-kept secret that most social media platforms are operating on U.S. government tech infrastructure and indirect subsidy.  Let that sink in.

The U.S. technology system, the assembled massive system of connected databases and server networks, is the operating infrastructure that offsets the cost of Twitter to run their own servers and database.  The backbone of Twitter is the United States government.

FREE COFFEE:

♦ June 2013: […] “Cloud computing is one of the core components of the strategy to help the IC discover, access and share critical information in an era of seemingly infinite data.” … “A test scenario described by GAO in its June 2013 bid protest opinion suggests the CIA sought to compare how the solutions presented by IBM and Amazon Web Services (AWS) could crunch massive data sets, commonly referred to as big data.” … “Solutions had to provide a “hosting environment for applications which process vast amounts of information in parallel on large clusters (thousands of nodes) of commodity hardware” using a platform called MapReduce. Through MapReduce, clusters were provisioned for computation and segmentation. Test runs assumed clusters were large enough to process 100 terabytes of raw input data. AWS’ solution received superior marks from CIA procurement officials”… (MORE)

♦ November 2013: […] “Twitter closed its first day of trading on Nov. 7, 2013, at $44.90 a share. In the years since then, it briefly traded above $70, but more recently, it has struggled.”

Jack’s free coffee shop has been for sale, but there’s no viable business model in the private sector.  No one has wanted to purchase Twitter – it is simply unsustainable; the data processing costs exceed the capacity of the platform to generate revenue – until now….

And suddenly, the people who work in the backroom of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop don’t want Jack to sell.

Twitter is not making a decision to decline the generous offer by Elon Musk because of stewardship or fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.  The financials of Twitter as a non-viable business model highlight the issue of money being irrelevant.  Twitter does not and cannot make money.  Growing Twitter only means growing an expense. Growing Twitter does not grow revenue enough to offset the increase in expense.

There is only one way for Twitter to exist as a viable entity, people are now starting to realize this.

What matters to the people behind Twitter, the people who are subsidizing the ability of Twitter to exist, is control over the global conversation.

Control of the conversation is priceless to the people who provide the backbone for Twitter.

Once people realize who is subsidizing Twitter, everything changes.

That’s the fight. (more)

♦ 2021, Public-Private Partnership – The modern Fourth Branch of Government is only possible because of a Public-Private partnership with the intelligence apparatus. You do not have to take my word for it, the partnership is so brazen they have made public admissions.

The biggest names in Big Tech announced in June their partnership with the Five Eyes intelligence network, ultimately controlled by the NSA, to: (1) monitor all activity in their platforms; (2) identify extremist content; (3) look for expressions of Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE); and then, (4) put the content details into a database where the Five Eyes intelligence agencies (U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand) can access it.

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft are all partnering with the intelligence apparatus. It might be difficult to fathom how openly they admit this, but they do. Look at this sentence in the press release (emphasis mine):

[…] “The Group will use lists from intelligence-sharing group Five Eyes adding URLs and PDFs from more groups, including the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and neo-Nazis.”

Think about that sentence structure very carefully. They are “adding to” the preexisting list…. admitting the group (aka Big Tech) already have access to the the intelligence-sharing database… and also admitting there is a preexisting list created by the Five Eyes consortium.

Obviously, who and what is defined as “extremist content” will be determined by the Big Tech insiders themselves. This provides a gateway, another plausible deniability aspect, to cover the Intelligence Branch from any oversight.

When the Intelligence Branch within government wants to conduct surveillance and monitor American citizens, they run up against problems due to the Constitution of the United States. They get around those legal limitations by sub-contracting the intelligence gathering, the actual data-mining, and allowing outside parties (contractors) to have access to the central database.

The government cannot conduct electronic searches (4th amendment issue) without a warrant; however, private individuals can search and report back as long as they have access. What is being admitted is exactly that preexisting partnership. The difference is that Big Tech will flag the content from within their platforms, and now a secondary database filled with the extracted information will be provided openly for the Intelligence Branch to exploit.

The volume of metadata captured by the NSA has always been a problem because of the filters needed to make the targeting useful. There is a lot of noise in collecting all data that makes the parts you really want to identify more difficult to capture. This new admission puts a new massive filtration system in the metadata that circumvents any privacy protections for individuals.

Previously, the Intelligence Branch worked around the constitutional and unlawful search issue by using resources that were not in the United States. A domestic U.S. agency, working on behalf of the U.S. government, cannot listen on your calls without a warrant. However, if the U.S. agency sub-contracts to say a Canadian group, or foreign ally, the privacy invasion is no longer legally restricted by U.S. law.

What was announced in June 2021 is an alarming admission of a prior relationship along with open intent to define their domestic political opposition as extremists.

July 26, 2021, (Reuters) – A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook (FB.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters.

Until now, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT) database has focused on videos and images from terrorist groups on a United Nations list and so has largely consisted of content from Islamist extremist organizations such as Islamic State, al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Over the next few months, the group will add attacker manifestos – often shared by sympathizers after white supremacist violence – and other publications and links flagged by U.N. initiative Tech Against Terrorism. It will use lists from intelligence-sharing group Five Eyes, adding URLs and PDFs from more groups, including the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and neo-Nazis.

The firms, which include Twitter (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube, share “hashes,” unique numerical representations of original pieces of content that have been removed from their services. Other platforms use these to identify the same content on their own sites in order to review or remove it. (read more)

The influence of the Intelligence Branch now reaches into our lives, our personal lives. In the decades before 9/11/01 the intelligence apparatus intersected with government, influenced government, and undoubtedly controlled many institutions with it. The legislative oversight function was weak and growing weaker, but it still existed and could have been used to keep the IC in check. However, after the events of 9/11/01, the short-sighted legislative reactions opened the door to allow the surveillance state to weaponize.

After the Patriot Act was triggered, not coincidentally only six weeks after 9/11, a slow and dangerous fuse was lit that ends with the intelligence apparatus being granted a massive amount of power. The problem with assembled power is always what happens when a Machiavellian network takes control over that power and begins the process to weaponize the tools for their own malicious benefit. That is exactly what Barack Obama was all about.

The Obama network took pre-assembled intelligence weapons we should never have allowed to be created, and turned those weapons into tools for his radical and fundamental change. The target was the essential fabric of our nation. Ultimately, this corrupt political process gave power to create the Fourth Branch of Government, the Intelligence Branch. From that perspective the fundamental change was successful.

It’s all Connected FolksSEE HERE

[…] “The vision was first outlined in the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise plan championed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and IC Chief Information Officer Al Tarasiuk almost three years ago.” … “It is difficult to underestimate the cloud contract’s importance. In a recent public appearance, CIA Chief Information Officer Douglas Wolfe called it “one of the most important technology procurements in recent history,” with ramifications far outside the realm of technology.” (READ MORE)

One job…. “take the preexisting system and retool it so the weapons of government only targeted one side of the political continuum.”

Knowing they put this much effort into it, does everything going on now to regulate the internet, maintain the public-private partnership, define information and use the weapons of the administrative state to protect the assembly, start to make more sense?…

.

Stagflation Arrives, U.S. Economy Shrinks 1.4 Percent in First Quarter


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 28, 2022

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the First Quarter GDP figures today [DATA HERE] showing the U.S. economy contracted -1.4% in the first quarter.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the dollar value of all goods and services produced in the economy, minus the dollar value of goods and services we import.  The percentages discussed are percentages of change over time.

The first quarter result was an annualized rate of negative 1.4 percent, meaning the U.S. economy is shrinking.   However, this should not come as a surprise as the primary driver of our GDP is consumer spending.  With everything costing more, less stuff is purchased.  Less stuff purchased leads to less stuff generated.

While the first quarter result of -1.4% is not a surprise, in the commonsense perspective, the fact that BEA didn’t revise the fourth quarter result of +6.9% is a little eye opening.  There’s no way in an apples-to-apples valuation the U.S. economy goes from +6.9% to -1.4% in one quarter.  Instead, what we are seeing is the effect we mentioned when the Q4 result was announced.  The BEA is modifying their assumptions by increasing the inflation rate in their calculations of the value of goods and services.  They really didn’t have a choice.

You might remember my prior opinion that the Q4 numbers were very overinflated because of two factors: (1) they underestimated inflation; and (2) the December 2021 import data from the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) was missing [NOTE: remember, Buttigieg was there in November and POLA supervisors are on team Biden].  I said at the time that if my hunch was correct the first quarter 2022 import data would be magnified by the December POLA data being added.  Remember, imports are a deduction to the GDP equation.

Well, what shows up in Q1?  A massive increase in first quarter import data that surprised everyone.  Go figure… lol.

Let’s look at the data

♦ {TABLE 1 TOP LINES}  We can see the economy contracted by 1.4% overall.

When you look at the +4.1% growth in durable goods we must factor in the BEA inflation assumption.  Did more durable good units get sold, not likely.  It’s likely less units sold but at a higher price, therefore the aggregate value of the durable goods gives a false impression of an increase.

Consider nondurable goods declining by 2.5%.  Did less food, fuel and energy get consumed at higher prices?  Or was the inflation assumption wrong?

Also check out the Exports change from Q4 (2021) to Q1 (2022).  From +23.4 to -9.6.  That’s a big change in exports.

.

♦ {Table 4 Tells a story}  Now we are looking at prices.

The value of our exports leaves the U.S. carrying the increased rate of U.S. inflation to produce them.  A whopping +22.9% in price.

However, the value of the imports (again in dollars) is only 15.9% higher.

All things being equal, there’s a 7% price difference between exports and imports.

Inflation is high globally; however, inflation is higher here in the U.S. than overseas.

.

Remember, the GDP isn’t a measure of the actual outputs of stuff created, the Bureau of Economic Analysis is only measuring the aggregate value of the stuff, ie. what it’s worth.

  • 20 trillion units at $1.00 per unit equals $20 trillion dollars.
  • 20 trillion units at $1.05 per unit equals $21 trillion dollars.
  • An increase of 5% in economic valuation (GDP), but we haven’t created a single product more.

Did our economy contract by only 1.4% in the first quarter?  Or are we seeing inflation continually skewing the valuation of goods and services, while the actual outputs in the economy are shrinking by much more?

Did you pay 20% more at the grocery store and leave with more food stuff?  Or did you pay 20% more at the checkout and leave with less food stuff than previous?

I think we all know the answer to those questions.

Checkbook economics is the only economics that matters.

“Stagflation” is here.

White House NSA Organizes Security Summit With 50 Nation Peers to Discuss Future of the Internet


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 28, 2022

Given what we discussed yesterday, this announcement {SEE HERE} should leave us all feeling warm and fuzzy… NOT!

(SOURCE)

What could possibly go wrong when the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, organizes a “minister level launch of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet.”   Put more succinctly, that would be 50 nation intelligence ministers getting together to decide what they will permit on the internet.

Apparently, a collective partner rule book is forthcoming.   Big Tech will be given specific instructions on how to comply.

The global rulebook on how to handle, define and eliminate ‘disinformation’, ‘misinformation’ and ‘malinformation’ on the world-wide internet.

Sounds like satire, but it’s totally legit.

This meeting provides more context for the formation of a Homeland Security “disinformation board.”

US Asks Germany to Hold Off on Russian Energy Sanctions Until Midterm Elections


Armstrong Economics Blog/Energy Re-Posted Apr 28, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Reports are circling that the Biden Administration has begged Germany to hold off on banning Russian oil until after the midterm elections. The Democrats are so desperate to win amid their record-low popularity that they are openly asking other nations to alter major policies at the expense of the people. Biden has banned Russian energy imports, but the EU, which is more reliant on Russian energy, must wait.

Banning Russian energy will backfire on Europe and send aftershocks throughout the market. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock initially announced that Germany would cease purchases from Russia but quickly changed her stance. Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that Germany would support Ukraine but not at the expense of the German people“It was a mistake that Germany became so heavily dependent on energy imports from Russia,” she admitted after avoiding warnings years ago.

Germany is the #1 importer of Russian energy, with 34% of its total petroleum coming from Russia. Nearly half of Germany’s coal is tied to Russia, and one-third of homes are heated with Russian imported oil. Germany purchased 27 billion tons of crude from Russia in 2021 alone.

Zelensky has cried that the EU is spending “blood money” on Russian energy without understanding there is no immediate alternative. Zelensky accused nations who purchase Russian oil of being guilty of genocide and war crimes. “If Russians are committing war crimes, even genocide, whoever is supplying Russia with this bloody money is guilty of the same war crime.” If he had his way, he would punish each nation accordingly.

Germany recently stated they will ban Russian oil by the end of the year, regardless of the repercussions, and will ban gas imports by next year. While it is unconfirmed whether Biden begged Scholz to hold off on additional sanctions, the prospect is highly likely. In the end, Biden, Scholz, and Zelensky are subservient to the Build Back Better agenda, and policies will be aimed at that socialistic goal rather than what is best for the people.

The Useless Class


Armstrong Economics Blog/WEF Re-Posted Apr 28, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Yuval Noah Harari, a self-described historian and one of Schwab’s loudest mouthpieces, believes that we will see the rise of the “useless class.” Harari noted how during the industrial revolution, people went from working on the farm to working in a car factory. He described it as transferring from one low-skilled job to another low-skilled job.

Since automation is leading the new world, future job prospects in 20 to 30 years are unknown. Harari believes it is impossible to know what to teach children today to make them productive citizens in the future. There will be “a new massive useless class that has no military or economic usefulness, and therefore no political power,” he stated. This is another push toward the World Economic Forum’s goal of government control – you need us but we don’t need you.

History tells us that farming is certainly not a low-skill profession. Look at what happened when Mao killed off all the farmers in China. A low-paying profession does not mean it is low-skilled. Our society could not function without farmers or automotive workers. Additionally, he does not take into account the beauty of creative destruction cited by Schumpeter. The brick and mortar retail stores may be gone in 20 years, but new positions will arise and people will develop skills and adapt to those roles. As for education, schools can begin by teaching children to think independently and question everything (not their gender). Claiming that there will be countless people out of work, “useless” to society, opens the door to government welfare programs becoming commonplace.

I cannot help but to be reminded of Hitler’s classified “useless eaters.” Like those at the WEF, Hitler believed there was a class of humans among society who simply consumed but did not contribute. Instead of hoping they’d rely on government aid, he simply murdered them. Be on high alert when a global agency begins referring to portions of the population as “useless.”