NATO to Increase Troops on High Alert by More Than Sevenfold
June 29th, 2022Via: Reuters:
NATO will boost the number of troops on high alert by more than sevenfold to over 300,000, its secretary-general said on Monday, as allies prepared to adopt a new strategy describing Moscow as a direct threat four months into the Ukraine war.
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Stoltenberg said NATO in future would have “well over 300,000” troops on high alert, compared to 40,000 troops that currently make up the alliance’s existing quick reaction force, the NATO Response Force (NRF).
The new force model is meant to replace the NRF and “provide a larger pool of high readiness forces across domains, land, sea, air and cyber, which will be pre-assigned to specific plans for the defence of allies,” a NATO official said.
NATO Formally Invites Finland, Sweden to Join Alliance
June 29th, 2022Via: New York Post:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has formally extended an invitation to Finland and Sweden to join the alliance after weeks of negotiations, expanding its membership to 32 countries.
“Today, we have decided to invite Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO, and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols,” the NATO Heads of State and Government participating in the Madrid Summit wrote in a declaration issued Wednesday.
North Carolina’s Biggest Hospital Systems Made Record Profits While Taking Billions in COVID-19 Relief Funds
June 28th, 2022Via: Epoch Times:
North Carolina’s largest hospital systems made billions of dollars in profits during the pandemic, while simultaneously taking $1.5 billion in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds, according to a report released Wednesday by the state treasurer’s office.
The report, titled, “North Carolina Hospital Systems Profit During COVID” was published by State Treasurer Dale Folwell who called on the hospital systems to “use their profits to lower costs for patients” or “return unnecessary, taxpayer-funded relief dollars.”
According to the report, Atrium Health, Cone Health, Duke Health, Novant Health, UNC Health, Vidant Health, and WakeMed made a combined $5.2 billion in net profits in 2021 and recorded $7.1 billion in growth in cash and financial investments from 2019 to 2021.
Six of those hospital systems enjoyed higher net profits than in the years before the pandemic, the report states.
That growth came as the seven hospital systems reportedly took $1.5 billion in taxpayer-funded COVID relief meant to help support hospitals who were struggling through the pandemic, as well as another $1.6 billion in Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments from 2020–2021.
Serious Adverse Events of Special Interest Following mRNA Vaccination in Randomized Trials
June 28th, 2022Via: SSRN:
Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were associated with an increased risk of serious adverse events of special interest, with an absolute risk increase of 10.1 and 15.1 per 10,000 vaccinated over placebo baselines of 17.6 and 42.2 (95% CI -0.4 to 20.6 and -3.6 to 33.8), respectively. Combined, the mRNA vaccines were associated with an absolute risk increase of serious adverse events of special interest of 12.5 per 10,000 (95% CI 2.1 to 22.9). The excess risk of serious adverse events of special interest surpassed the risk reduction for COVID-19 hospitalization relative to the placebo group in both Pfizer and Moderna trials (2.3 and 6.4 per 10,000 participants, respectively).
Drug Traffickers Arrested in California with 150,000 Fentanyl Pills Released After Just Days in Jail
June 28th, 2022Via: Fox:
Two drug traffickers in California who were arrested last week for being in possession of 150,000 fentanyl pills — enough to kill millions of people — were released back onto the streets, officials said.
Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19, both from Washington, were arrested during a traffic stop-turned-drug bust in Tulare on Friday. They were booked into the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility on charges of possession, transportation and selling of illegal drugs, officials said.
In a surprising twist of events, the two inmates were released just days later.
“The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office received a court order to release both suspects from custody on their own recognizance,” officials said.
“Suitcases Full Of Drug Money”: Credit Suisse Found Criminally Guilty in Money-Laundering Case Tied to Cocaine Ring
June 28th, 2022Via: ZeroHedge:
Another day, another dismal development for the 2nd largest (but most damned) Swiss bank.
On Monday, Credit Suisse Group was convicted of failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine trafficker, in the first ever criminal conviction of a major Swiss bank in the country’s history. The verdict, in which a former relationship manager at the bank was also convicted on money laundering charges, was handed down by Switzerland’s top criminal court on Monday afternoon.
The former employee, who prosecutors said regularly accepted suitcases of cash from one of the ring members that went beyond allowed limits, was given a 20-month suspended sentence. A person from another bank and two members of the crime ring were also found guilty of money-laundering charges.
Age and Sex-Specific Risks of Myocarditis and Pericarditis Following Covid-19 Messenger RNA Vaccines
June 27th, 2022Via: Daily Sceptic:
The risk of being hospitalised with heart inflammation is up to 44 times higher following Covid vaccination, a study in Nature has found.
The study, which examined the vaccination status of all 1,612 hospital cases of myocarditis and 1,613 hospital cases of pericarditis in France between May 12th and October 31st 2021, found that the risk of being hospitalised with myocarditis was 8.1 times higher in the week following a Pfizer second dose (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.7 to 9.9) and 30 times higher following a Moderna second dose (CI, 21 to 43).
When the findings are broken down by age, elevated risks are found in younger adults. In the week following a Moderna second dose, the risk for males aged 18-24 was 44 times higher (CI, 22–88) and for females was 41 times higher (CI, 12–140). The risk following a Pfizer second dose decreased with age, peaking at 18 times higher in males aged 12-17 (CI, 9–35), whereas the risk from the higher-dose Moderna vaccine did not decrease with age. The results by age are depicted in the chart below (note the logarithmic scale, which compresses the higher numbers).
Study: Age and sex-specific risks of myocarditis and pericarditis following Covid-19 messenger RNA vaccines
Just How Much Federal Pork And Waste Are Your Tax Dollars Funding
June 27th, 2022Via: Open the Books:
Delving into the trillions of dollars in annual spending, our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com, recently examined Washington’s discretionary spending—beyond such big-ticket items as health, welfare and defense.
We found staggering examples and highlighted some of the worst in our new oversight report, Where’s The Pork?
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Nearly $7 million was spent on technology to film your butt – while you’re on the toilet. National Cancer Institute gave this grant to Sanford University, whose researchers admitted, “To fully reap the benefits of the smart toilet, users must make their peace with a camera that scans their anus.”
U.S. Aims to Raise $200 Billion as Part of G7 Rival to China’s Belt & Road
June 26th, 2022Via: Reuters:
The United States aims to raise $200 billion in private and public funds over five years to fund needed infrastructure in developing countries under a G7 initiative aimed at countering China’s multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road project, the White House said on Sunday.
U.S. President Joe Biden will unveil the plans, flanked by other Group of Seven leaders, some of whom have already unveiled their own separate initiatives, at their annual gathering being held this year at Schloss Elmau in southern Germany.
Increasingly worried about China, G7 leaders first floated plans for the project last year, and are formally launching it now under a fresh title, “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment” while dropping the moniker “Build Back Better World” first coined by Biden during his presidential campaign.
John McAfee’s Corpse Still in Spanish Morgue a Year After His Death
June 26th, 2022Via: Reuters:
The body of software entrepreneur John McAfee remains in a Spanish morgue a year after his death as a legal case lodged by his family to demand further checks is yet to be resolved, authorities and his lawyer said.
McAfee, who launched the world’s first commercial anti-virus software in 1987, was found dead, aged 75, on June 23 last year in his prison cell a few hours after Spain’s high court authorised his extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges.
