Threat Matrix 2021

Threat Matrix is a thread where global and domestic threats and trends to America are noted and commented on. Goal it to peel back the BS and get to the root of things.

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Wuhan virus -
CDC chief warned of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” As the Delta variant becomes the dominant one worldwide, cases are rising in the USA in almost every state, but most dangerously in states with the lowest vaccination rates.

King’s College London scientists estimated 33,118 people were catching the virus daily in the week ending July 10, compared to 33,723 in the previous seven-day spell. But 47 per cent of cases are among those who have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, surging upwards from around a quarter at the start of June. While the number of reported infections have increased, the corresponding jump in associated deaths in similar measure to previous waves still hasn’t been seen.

Part of France’s wuhan passport requirement includes teeth - such as 6 months in jail for entering a bar or restaurant without a valid wuhan passport.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his department would not enforce a COVID-19 health order mandating people to wear masks indoors, saying it’s “not backed by science” and citing an “underfunded” department.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said COVID-19 lockdowns could come back in regions with low vaccination levels during an interview on Friday. “So I mean, we have solid rates of vaccination in many parts of the country,” Yellen replied. “But certainly, it’s something that could happen in areas where vaccination rates are low.”
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Globalism / Great Reset -
See Political Front below on forcing the wuhan narrative on the people through attacks on the First Amendment.
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Economy -
Continued heat is further hitting grain crops in the Upper Midwest - especially the Golden Triangle region of Montana. Already in a drought, the heat is taking what little water that is available away from crops and livestock. Forecast for fall harvest is looking dismal.
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Invasion of Illegals -
A federal judge in Texas has issued a permanent injunction which prohibits anyone new from signing up for DACA. However the judge stopped short of ending DACA for the roughly 600,000 people who have already applied.
NOTE - A partial victory, but you can expect the biden administration to work to circumvent this, perhaps creating a new illegal program that will give illegals a foothold in the country while the court challenges slog thru the system as did this one.

Psaki told reporters during a briefing Thursday that President Biden is for amnesty in the Democrats’ latest bill. This infrastructure bill cloaked in the reconciliation bill will only need 51 votes to pass. “House Democrats say that they want to put citizenship pathway into the reconciliation package,” a reporter in the pool asked Psaki. “Is the White House supportive of that strategy?”
“Yeah,” Psaki said. “That was an easy one!”
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Biden watch -
biden claims ‘misinformation’ on Facebook is killing people. Sentiment bering echoed through the administration.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Leftist activities are at a low tempo with a diversified range of protest ‘targets’. Some of the main ones are environmental related protests agains the few remaining pipelines under construction as well as trying to coerce the biden administration into supporting some of the green agenda such as the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps. Other actions involve support to LGBT actions as well as their bread and butter protests against ICE / law enforcement. Most of these actions (excluding confrontations with ICE and law enforcement) have a low probability of violence associated.

OSINT analysts are noting that these leftist groups are trying to focus more on recruitment, training and logistical buildup. Many of these events included a community outreach of some kind. Lull in violent protests are permitting some groups to develop more advanced, conventional training facilities. Example is the Southern New England chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA) efforts to create a training facility in New Hampshire. In addition to gun ranges, the facility would allow other types of training recruitment and organization efforts.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
Though part of the wuhan mess, the biden administration doubled down on efforts to squash any virus narrative that counters theirs. This includes -
1. Monitoring and ‘fact checking’ personal text messages
2. Govt directed censorship of Facebook
3. Encouraging social media to ban those who post ‘misinformation’ (as they define it) not only on the social media site it was posted on but across the entire social media universe. (Psaki - “you shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others,” for sharing misinformation.)
4. Recruitment of family and friends to rat out those who carry an alternative view
5. Door to door wuhanwitness program to try to convince people to get the jab.
6. Incessant bombardment of PSA on how safe and effective the jab is, combined with fear tactics of the ‘delta’ variant.
7. Probable number manipulation of infections, deaths, and reaction / deaths from the vaccines.

The Surgeon General chimed in saying “I am urging all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort. “ Part of his ‘report’ released on 7/14 he outlined how big technology companies, especially social media platforms, are to censor any dissenting speech that falls outside of federal government approval.

OBSERVATION - For a disease with 99.7% survival rate, there is an incredible level of push (even desperation) for people to receive these questionable “vaccines”. The level of effort to shut down the freedom of discussion / speech is incredible and yes, it is approaching the levels of the former Soviet Union and China (as well as other totalitarian regimes ). This is nothing less than a full assault on the First Amendment.
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Strategic Developments /Deployments -
The United States Air Force is sending more than two dozen F-22 stealth fighters to Guam and Tinian islands for Operation Pacific Iron 2021. This exercise will provide pilots and systems experience in a Western Pacific environment as well as sending an immediate message to China.
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China -
Beijing has come to a standstill as China’s capital city and surrounding areas face the worst torrential storm of the year, with hundreds of flights cancelled and schools and tourist sites shut. Flooding from record storms have also continued throughout areas hit by last year’s massive storms. NASA estimates that as much as 18 inches of rain (457 mm) have fallen in localized parts of China during the last week. This continues to endanger Chinese crops, and could well cause China to continue to by a much grain from the world market as possible. That market is already stressed and will be even more so with the loss of much of the rice crop in California and grains in the upper Midwest.

Link is to an Accuweather map depicting the extent of flooding. Red and yellow are the most severely affected regions.

https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_accuweather_966/7c5a42b3b757751996a4afbbe6aca728

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Iran -
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has begun recruiting Afghan migrants and refugees to be sent to Lebanon for military training, IranWire’s sources have said. While it isn’t clear just what conflict zone the new recruits are being trained for, but with the situation in Afghanistan rapidly deteriorating, the Islamic Republic appears to be seeking to expand its military and paramilitary presence on the borders.

RUMINT of protests in southwest Iran in the Ahwaz region. Could spread, monitoring.
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Lebanon -
Long opinion piece by the JPost but informative on the history of how the Lebanon spiraled down into the toilet.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/lebanon-is-dying-a-slow-death-674046

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Afghanistan -
Not wasting much time to return to the way they ruled before, Taliban has issued a statement ordering local religious leaders to give them a list of girls over 15 years of age and widows under 45. According to reports, they have promised for them to be married to their fighters and taken to Pakistan’s Waziristan, where they will be converted to Islam and reintegrated. Also are orders for men to start growing their beards out.
NOTE - Under the Taliban rule before being ousted after the US-led invasion in 2001, women were barred from going to school, work outside the home or leave their house without a male escort in Afghanistan. Violators were humiliated publicly and beaten up by the Taliban’s religious police.

Afghans who worked for the U.S. government will be flown directly to the U.S., while a larger group will be evacuated to third countries or military bases overseas where their visa paperwork will be reviewed, three administration officials told NBC News.
NOTE - These Afghans have a death sentence when the Taliban take control. At least we are not repeating the policy we did with Vietnam and Cambodia.
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Black Swans -
Weather mayhem globally. I try to monitor things as part of my daily routine so I can accustom my self to baseline conditions (factor out skewed views from increased information availability - information bias). I must say that across the world there have been some incredible flooding/storm events that are building on to a level of nearly routine, except that they are not. On the other end of the spectrum, substantial regions of the planet are experiencing severe drought.
Information bias is not our friend, but long term monitoring of these events are nearing impacts of biblical proportions. Most significantly in the realm of food production. Wuhan plus these natural disasters will definitely stress food global food supplies. People get very cranky without food and could generate greater civil conflict for that resource.

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Wuhan virus -
Protests continue in France and have expanded to Greece. Both are protesting government announcements that the unvaccinated would be banned from visiting bars, restaurants, cinemas and other public places. Also in France, Macron announced a new mandatory vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers. Tourists visiting France will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test via a digital passport.

Now there are concerns being raised about the “beta” strain of wuhan. According to a Reuters report, though is it less infectious, Beta variant may also be deadlier than other strains. Researchers in South Africa found that people infected in the wave in that country where Beta was dominant were more likely to require hospitalization. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients during that time had a 31 percent greater chance of death.
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Economy -
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates resolved their dispute, permitting OPEC to begin to boost output by as much as 400,000 barrels a day each month from August until all of its halted output has been revived. This increase in production is expected to take some inflationary pressure off petroleum prices as the world tries to resume post - wuhan economic activity. However, effects at the pump probably won’t be seen until the fall time frame.

Rental car companies are having problems getting vehicles to replace those liquidated during the wuhan shut down. Demand combined with lack of computer chips has greatly limited stock.
NOTE - Interestingly, I discovered that here in the Redoubt, Uhaul had a policy to prevent out of state rentals of its trucks. Apparently the creative were renting those trucks because of lack of rental cars.
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Invasion of Illegals -
It is being reported that Democrats plan to use reconciliation to grant amnesty to millions and millions of illegal immigrants. Joe Manchin, arbiter of all things, is apparently on board. Under reconciliation, bills are not subject to fillibuster and can pass with a simple majority. McConnell has warned against using reconciliation to push unpopular marxist laws forward and if he remembers where his backbone is could cause a very deep rift that will all but eliminate any ‘bipartisanship’. Final word depends heavily on the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. She will be called on to decide whether the radical change the Dems seek can be accomplished through reconciliation. BTW, She ruled against Democrats including the minimum wage increase in a coronavirus aid bill earlier this year. Rumblings from some on the left is that if she blocks this, the senate may do away with the office of parliamentarian.

OBSERVATION - if pushed through the blow back could be significant in the 2022 midterms. Current trends show democrats in trouble in both houses and have a strong possibility of losing control of one or both. Schumer / Pelosi may see that this is their only chance to push their agenda through before campaign season begins again in a few months. This ‘go for broke’ gambit has been urged by the far left from the start. If the claims of fraud start panning out starting in AZ, they may become more desperate to push their agenda through.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Will probably have a better feel for this weekend’s leftist activities by tomorrow. Right now things seem relatively quiet.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Justice Department could not use a contractor to organize grand jury materials relating to the more than 500 defendants who have been charged in the January 6 Capitol riot. The DOJ had planned to contract out to Deloitte Financial Advisory Services for $6.1 million to set up a database containing the evidence gathered by the FBI in their investigation. The government was going to give Deloitte access to sensitive grand jury information, however. The judge ruled that Deloitte was not a government entity and was not entitled to view the secret information.
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China -
China is making sizable, long-term investments in weapons designed to jam or destroy satellites as the nation seeks to rapidly narrow the gap in space technology with the U.S., according to Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, the top intelligence official for the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific command. China’s threats to U.S. satellites as well as Russian advances in counter-space technologies were among the primary justifications American officials cited for establishing the U.S. Space Force.

Chinese business executive Ge Songtao, who was indicted in 2019, was sentenced to 42 months in prison for export violations. Basically, he purchased US military grade materials and shipped them to China for reverse engineering. Specifically, it involved submitting false information to a U.S. Commerce Department computer system and trying to illegally export rubber boats and outboard motors.
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North Korea -
Suspected North Korean hackers recently targeted several South Korean think tanks and security-related institutions. Their primary target appeared to be the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), South Korea’s sole nuclear power research institute.
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Israel -
Today is Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning for the Jewish people, Jews around the world grieve the destruction of Jerusalem’s holy temples and a 2,000-year exile from the Land of Israel.
After calling upon Palestinians to confront Jews during Tisha B’av prayers in Jerusalem, the PFLP military wing released an image with the title: “Our hands are on the trigger, and from us [is] covenant and loyalty”
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Iran -
Unrest reported yesterday is being confirmed by multiple sources this morning. The Associated Press is reporting more protests gripping Iranian cities (Focusing on multiple cities in Khuzestan province, including its capital, Ahvaz.) - this time over water shortages during a hot, dry summer which has also seen severe electricity shortages leading to unplanned, intermittent blackouts.
Both the energy and water crisis are deepening the outrage of the Iranian populace, after outgoing President Hasan Rouhani earlier this month issued an unprecedented statement admitting government mishandling of the energy situation. There are reports that police fired weapons to disperse the crowds.
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Cuba -
With still a broad news blackout, some word is getting out on the aftermath of recent protests. Police in Cuba have been arresting numerous people and living conditions have deteriorated. Videos smuggled out show protestors being arrested and beaten. Many hauled off to jail. Cuba has a history of brutally putting down protests and this was one of the largest in decades.
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Misc of Note -
S.Africa - Things appear to be stabilizing, not much in the news except that with the theft and destruction of food (including destruction of the food distribution system) that famine is rapidly appearing on the horizon - which will likely trigger more rioting and violence as the hungry will seek out those with food. Photos of long, long lines of people standing for hours just to get a couple loaves of bread are on the inter webs. Predominantly minority communities (whites, Indians, mixed race) have been aggressively protecting their stores, but the inability to ship in food stuffs have place them in a difficult situation as well. Some reports of food/aid being flown into these areas at great risk.
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Welcome to a new week. Reminder, it is unlikely that I’ll have a post tomorrow.

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Wuhan virus -
Britain is working towards opening the society back up is facing ‘concerns’ about the “delta” variant shutting things back down. Meanwhile, other parts of Europe are pushing towards new lock downs.

Now 5 of the 60 texas democrats that fled unmasked from a special session to DC have come up positive for wuhan. All 5 were reportedly ‘fully’ vaccinated. VP Harris makes a sudden visit to see her doctors at Walter Reed after meeting with them and news coming out that they have become their own spreader event. Her Sunday visit was termed “routine” and scheduled.
NOTE - How many doctors will see you on a Sunday?

The following link is a relatively long, but informative read that is an objective attempt to assess the past year and half of wuhan

https://www.city-journal.org/panic-pandemic?wallit_nosession=1

OBSERVATION - People are taking note of the jump in VAERS reported deaths from wuhan vaccines, now close to 12,000 mark. Worthy of note, but keep in perspective that this may just reflect a delayed report, with additions that actually occurred weeks/months earlier due to delayed reporting. That said, 12,000 in seven months is shocking. The swine flu vaccine program was shut down after something like three deaths. And given the ‘safe’ narrative being spun for the pseudo-vaccines, a high mortality rate is not favorable to that narrative - very likely resulting in under reporting.
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Economy -
U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday morning on concern a rebound in Covid-19 cases would slow global economic growth. The selling in futures increased as the morning progressed with Dow Jones Industrial average futures now down about 500 points.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Antifa tried to disrupt protests this weekend at a LA spa that allowed a non surgically altered “female” to parade his junk in front of young girls. LA police was not amused at Antifa tactics and posted videos show them being aggressively dealt with.

On Saturday, armed members of the New Black Panther movement marched in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The march was in protest of so-called white supremacy, with agitators attaching their cause to the shooting of Dorian Murrell, a George Floyd protester who was reportedly shot by a white man after an altercation.
OBSERVATION - If things go sideways, groups like this will be the deadliest towards Patriots. They have taken the militarization seriously and have trained - unlike black groups like the The Not F* Around Coalition (NFAC) who’s marches have often resulted in one of their participants accidentally shooting themselves or another participant(s).
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Cyber Warfare -
Biden admin & close allies say Beijing has been recruiting criminal hackers for ransomware attacks, cryptojacking schemes, and other cyberattacks. Included in this is blaming China for a hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software that compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world earlier this year. Criminals allegedly carried out the Exchange Server hacking campaign w/ China’s knowledge. FBI, CISA, and NSA have released an advisory about Chinese hacking operations with details that organizations can use to defend themselves. DOJ this morning also unsealed an indictment charging four Chinese nationals with IP theft hacks against dozens of companies, universities, and govt agencies in U.S., Germany, Norway, & elsewhere. They were members of a Chinese hacker group - APT40.
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China -
See Cyberwarfare above
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North Korea -
North Korea is trying to reinforce its brand of socialism by punishing citizens for “anti-socialist acts,” including distorting the lyrics of revolutionary songs, and forcing party officials to spend an extra two hours a day studying political ideology, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
NOTE - This is on top of a severe famine, likely to try to prevent unrest from the hungry masses.
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Russia -
The Russian military reported another successful test launch of a new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile on Monday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the missile was launched from an Admiral Groshkov frigate located in the White Sea, in the north of Russia. The ministry said the missile successfully hit a target more than 350 kilometres (217 miles) away on the coast of the Barents Sea.
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Middle East General -
King Abdullah will be visiting President Joe Biden at the White House, the first from the middle east to have done so. Some speculation that biden may be placing pressure on Saudi Arabia’s influence in the region. Jordan just recently made overtures towards Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch enemy and may even reflect conflict over who has control over the Temple Mount.
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Israel -
Israeli surveillance company NSO Group is taking heat for allegedly creating apps that are being used to spy on media.
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Iran -
Analysts are noting Iran is once again making a major effort to covertly use naval mines against its enemies. In this case the victims are everyone who uses the Suez Canal and sends ships anywhere near the Yemen coast. These mines are usually placed by Iranian proxy groups. While hundreds of these mines have been placed off the Yemen Red Sea and Arabian Sea coast in the last few years but the damage has been minor. The purpose of this operation has been to to disrupt shipping, but not sink a lot of it because that might create a major international uproar and calls for international military action against Iran.
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Syria -
A lot of Syrian artillery attacks along the border of Idlib Provence this weekend. Mostly civilian targets reportedly hit.
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Afghanistan -
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said Turkey was planning talks with the Taliban over the hardline Islamist group’s refusal to let Ankara run Kabul airport after US troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
NOTE - China may already have dibs on that.
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Turkey -
See Afghanistan above about Turkey
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Venezuela -
Gangs are reportedly taking over larger portions of the country and the govt is incapable of stopping or controlling them. Even Caracas is becoming controlled. In this process, large battles are being fought between gangs and police as well as between the gangs themselves.
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Wuhan virus -
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency determination for another 90 days.

CDC announced that the “delta” variant comprises 83 percent of sequenced coronavirus cases in the United States. There is still a lot of dispute over hospitalization rates of this variant as well as the death rate. There is even more discussion on the effectiveness of the vaccines for those who’ve received both shots.
NOTE - Seems that the perfect storm is trying to be fabricated to place the county back into some degree of lockdown.

Speaking of fully vaccinated -the head count of wuhan infected TX democrats has gone to at least six and they have spread it to congressional and White House staff. . . . . (all 6 were ‘fully’ vaccinated). The spokesman for the group stated that no other updates will be issued - putting a blackout on if more have become infected. Meanwhile, it appears that the TX group spread wuhan to congressional and presidential staffers. Psaki on Tuesday confirmed that there have been breakthrough COVID-19 cases among vaccinated White House staffers that had not previously been made public.
NOTE - A lot of key ‘vaccinated’ individuals coming down with wuhan - and the continued claim that ‘vaccines’ are 96% effective, hmmmm.

Fauci got hammered by Sen Paul in recent Senate hearings. Paul has submitted him to the DOJ for criminal perjury charges. Fauci has no worries as the left won’t let their mouth piece get charged.

Nearly half of the population of Australia has been put into lockdown. A third state went into lockdown on Tuesday. Stay-at-home orders are now in place in South Australia, Victoria and parts of New South Wales. This has caused increased frustration at being back in highly policed lockdowns 18 months into the pandemic.

According to the CDC, since the start of the pandemic 18 months ago, in January 2020, a total of 335 children ages 17 and under have died of wuhan. In that same 18-month time period, a total of 49,725 children ages 0-17 have died from all causes.
OBSERVATION - The question continues to be asked - why the big push to force children to get the jab?

More Kalifornia counties are recommending masks again, and the trend seems like a move to reinstall the mask mandates.
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Economy -
Inflation and fears of another wuhan lockdown have sent shock waves through the stock market, with some analysts wondering if a bigger sell off is coming and if the bubble has finally burst.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture again downgraded spring wheat conditions. Among the top six states, 34% of the crop is rated as poor, 29% as very poor, and 26% as fair. Just 11% is rated as Good or Excellent. Industry experts are expecting an “extreme shortage” of high quality wheat, so expect even higher prices for bread products this year.

Shipping and delivery of goods remains a very unstable area of economic development. Over the past couple days, as I noted last week, lack of jet fuel made the news due to shortages and demand from aerial fire fighting aircraft. This resulted in numerous airlines cancelation flights and uncertainty of air travel for the remainder of the summer.
Fast food continues to be impacted with Taco Bell the latest in the spot light suffering from shortages. Earlier was a chicken shortage exasperated by the chicken sandwich wars of CFA, Burger King and Popeyes.
Union Pacific rail company is suspending all shipments from West Coast ports to its Chicago facilities in order to alleviate midstream and trucking congestion problems. Ports finally getting the backlog of ships cleared up, forcing back ups elsewhere.
Container ships are still constipated at ports with many waiting over a day to be able to dock and are just being stationed off shore.

OBSERVATION - Supply/distribution problems continue to constipate recovery of the economy, creating shortages that in turn raise prices.

John Catsimatidis, CEO of Manhattan-based grocery chain Gristedes Foods — told Fox Business that Americans can expect higher prices for basic expenses in the coming months, and expects 10% to 14% food inflation by October.
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Invasion of Illegals -
Yet to be confirmed report that the number of migrants testing positive for COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley has surged 900% in the first two weeks of July.
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CYBER/CANCEL CULTURE FRONT -
Following canceling of non-woke subjects, internet sources, etc the cancel culture crowd is increasingly focusing now on books. Amazon leading the way by blacklisting authors and removing unwokeafied titles. This had been going on over the past couple years at a lesser rate, but over the past few months far more aggressively.
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CANCEL CULTURE FRONT -
The biden administration is backpedaling on its claims and efforts to have / force the private sector to censor information that goes against its desired narrative on wuhan.
OBSERVATION - This is not the only time biden has used/tried to use the private sector to do its dirty work. Remember just a few months ago of the administrations efforts to use a private company to screen social media to spy on US citizens - in an effort to avoid the clear constitutional prohibitions place on government.
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Strategic Developments /Deployments -
US Air Force is in Israel participating in exercise Juniper Falcon, designed to simulate the threat of ballistic missile attacks. According to a statement issued by the US Air Forces in Europe and Africa , the exercise is “designed to test simulated emergency response procedures, ballistic missile defense and crisis response assistance in the defense of Israel.” The Juniper Falcon exercise has been held roughly every other year by the IDF and EUCOM in Israel since 2001.
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China -
Massive floods have hammered China over the past few days. Three dams have failed and there are many deaths. The most recent being a dam near the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province . Two other dams in Hulun Buir City in North China’s Inner Mongolia collapsed collapsed over the weekend. At least 31 large and medium-sized reservoirs have seen water levels rise above the alert level after torrential rains battered most parts of the country on Monday and Tuesday, July 19 and 20. Massive rains with associated record flooding continues to have concerns raised over the Three Gorges Dam and construction concerns that some believe could cause it to fail as well.
NOTE - China will be on another food buying binge with all the crops being washed out in these prime agricultural areas.

Philippines on Monday claimed its Coast Guard drove away a Chinese warship that had intruded into its territorial waters. The incident occurred while it was patrolling near Marie Louis Bank – about 147 nautical miles (87 kms) off the coast of El Nido town in Palawan province. After ignoring several calls, the Chinese vessel finally turned around and exited Philippine waters, being followed out by the CG Cutter.
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Middle East General -
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released an issue of Inspire magazine, the first since 2017. It appears that AQ is thinking it is now safer given that the weak biden administration is in ‘charge’. Remember, you cannot be weak in their eyes.
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Israel -
Tuesday IAF struck targets outside of Aleppo Syria. Secondary explosions were clearly noted.
OBSERVATION - This is one of the deeper strikes into Syria Israel has made. Target was likely Iranian created munitions depots, judging from the secondaries. This could indicate a trend by Iran to position its munitions dumps further away from Israel to avoid the near regular air strikes that have plagued Iran’s attempts to forward position weapons and munitions for a future assault on Israel. Most airstrikes have been around Damascus. This may have also been a strike carried out by Israeli F35 aircraft, who’s stealth capabilities should permit penetration into enemy ADA. If so, I’m sure Israeli intelligence is going over the details as they plan for a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities .

In an apparent response to the air strike near Aleppo, 2 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into Israel. IDF reports one was intercepted by Iron Dome, the other fell into an unpopulated region. Though some figure the launchers were from a radical group not directly related to Hezebollah, similar to the rockets that fired during the 11 day war against Gaza, nothing happens in Southern Lebanon without Hezbollah’s knowledge or blessing. IDF reported that they fired artillery at the launch locations .

Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is pulling operations out of Palestinian controlled areas to protest Israeli policies. It is going to continue operations in Israel. So let me see if I get this right, deny their product to those they claim to be supporting while still selling their product to those they claim to oppose.
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Iran -
At one time suspected of an attempt to reach Venesula, Iranian frigate IRINS Sahand and former oil-tanker-turned warship IRINS Makran, sailed up the West coast of Africa and past Spain and France before approaching the southern coast of England. The ships are now thought to be headed to the Baltic Sea to represent Iran in a July 25 naval parade off the coast of St. Petersburg to commemorate the 325th anniversary of the Russian Navy.

Protests continued in Iran’ Ahvaz and Shadegan cities in Khuzestan province. They and turned violent overnight as soldiers fired on marchers, killing at least one and wounding at least 10 others. In return, marchers set a tank on fire. Lack of water is the primary cause of the protests.
NOTE - Iran may be concerned that these protests may trigger another round of nation wide protests. The civilian populations has been suffering under Irans depressed economy and sanctions from wuhan, making people increasingly desperate.
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Afghanistan -
The Green Zone in Kabul is coming under increased attacks by sporatic rocket fire, similar to those directed at US forces in Iraq. Low risk (to the terror groups) one or two round shots from disposable launchers. Most recently, ISIS claimed responsibility for a couple rockets fired towards the Presidential Palace. Just another sign that things are beginning to come apart.
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Cuba -
Anger is growing in the US Cuban community over biden’s inaction over the Cuba protests.
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Black Swans -
CDC is monitoring over 200 people in 27 states for potential exposure to monkeypox after their contacts were traced with a Texan who contracted the rare disease while traveling in Nigeria weeks ago. The disease can be transmitted through bodily fluids and respiratory droplets. Monkeypox is caused by a virus that is related to smallpox, the only human virus to have been eradicated. It causes less severe illness than smallpox, but is still quite dangerous. The CDC said that the fatality rate for the strain of monkeypox seen in the Dallas case is about 10%. Monkeypox is repotted to be rarely seen in people.

National Park Service to Share Special Use Permit Data with White House

JULY 13, 2021
The updated system of records notice would also allow the agency to share data with other departments in the event of a cybersecurity breach.

The National Park Service is making it easier to share more data with the White House and other federal agencies on applications and approvals of special use permits for parks spaces.

The updates—outlined in a notice set to publish Wednesday in the Federal Register—would streamline the process for sharing data with the Executive Office of the President and allow NPS to share data with other agencies and entities suffering a cybersecurity breach when deemed “reasonably necessary” for helping respond to the incident.

The Park Service oversees 423 parks across the U.S., ranging from traditional, large conserved open spaces like Yosemite National Park all the way to small squares and triangles in roadways around Capitol Hill in D.C.

People interested in using a park for a specific purpose at a specific time generally have to obtain a special use permit. NPS issues permits for three types of uses: standard events like weddings, sports, picnics and family gatherings; special events like demonstrations, races, tournaments and the like; and construction, research and utility work.

When users apply for such permits, the system collects a wealth of data needed to process the application, including: Name, organization, Social Security number, Tax Identification Number, date of birth, address, telephone number, fax number, email address, person’s position title. Information of proposed activity including park alpha code, permit number, date, location, number of participants and vehicles, type of use, equipment, support personnel for the activity, company, project name and type, fees, liability insurance information.

Payment information including amounts paid, credit card number, credit card expiration date, check number, money order number, bank or financial institution, account number, payment reference number and tracking ID number.

Information on special activities including number of minors, livestock, aircraft type, special effects, special effect technician’s license and permit number, stunts, unusual or hazardous activities. Information on driver’s license including number, state and expiration date. Vehicle information including year, make, color, weight, plate number and insurance information.

The latest update proposes revising the system of records notice with some technical changes and expanding the federal entities with which that data can be shared.

The update adds “two new routine uses to facilitate sharing with the Executive Office of the President to resolve issues upon request of the subject of the record and with other federal agencies or entities to respond to a breach of personally identifiable information.”

The proposal to enable sharing with the Executive Office of the President appears to be limited to requests made by the applicant or someone on their behalf, with some additional leeway.

The information noted above could be shared with the White House “in response to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of a record or a third party on that person’s behalf, or for a purpose compatible with the reason for which the records are collected or maintained,” the Federal Register notice states.

The update also modifies an approved sharing and adds another around data breach response. The modification allows NPS to share information about a breach of this system with other appropriate agencies—such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency—to “respond to the suspected or confirmed breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.”

The new addition would enlist NPS and special use permit data in assisting other agencies responding to a confirmed or suspected breach when such data would help with the investigation. Before sharing the data, the Interior Department must first determine “that information from this system of records is reasonably necessary to assist the recipient agency or entity.”

NPS already shares special permit use data with some federal agencies, including the Justice Department and members of Congress. The update expands the conditions under which such sharing is allowed, along with the new additions.

https://www.nextgov.com/analytics-data/2021/07/national-park-service-share-special-use-permit-data-white-house/183719/

Life happened yesterday, trying to catch up.
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Wuhan virus -
The spread of the Delta variant” and the head of the Tokyo games is openly admits that he is “prepared to discuss a last-minute cancellation” of the Olympics... However a much subdued opening ceremony marked the opening of the games last night.

The spread of the Wuhan coronavirus in the U.S. has accelerated, apparently due mainly to the delta variant. Last month, reported new cases were averaging around 17,000 per day, according to Worldometer. Now, they are averaging around 40,000 per day. The good news is that deaths attributed to the virus aren’t increasing. A month ago, the daily death count was said to be around 350-400 per day. Now it’s slightly lower — more like 300 per day. This lack of deaths may be derived from a couple reasons, a lag in the increase in infections to deaths or that the strain is less deadly. A look at the UK’s spike in reported cases, which is much sharper than ours (so far), began approximately seven weeks ago. The daily death count there has increased recently, but only to about 50 per day, so we’re talking about very small numbers (again, so far).
OBSERVATION - The medical mafia is pushing for more restrictions on the basis on infections alone. Note that none of them actually cite increased deaths - just infections.

University of California San Francisco’s COVID response director fears strict protocols in reopened schools will continue mental health problems in children. In a study produced by Jeanne Noble, director of COVID, suicides in California last year jumped by 24% for Californians under 18, with a corresponding increase in children requiring emergency mental health services.
NOTE - this is on top of recognized increase in substance abuse and over dose deaths across the older population.

In what could also be placed under Globalism/Great Reset - D.C. parents are suing city officials over a new law that allows children 11 and older to acquire vaccines without permission from parents. Four parents of students at several public schools — both traditional and charter — said giving children the autonomy to get immunized on their own violates parents’ rights and religious freedom, according to a July 12 lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington. “All parents have a right to be directly involved in medical decision-making about their children,” said James Mason, an attorney representing the parents. It is the second lawsuit brought in recent weeks by parents who want the federal court to strike down the law, which went into effect in March. (NPR)
NOTE - This is just another step in taking away parental rights and control of their children and handing them over to govt authorities.

Using fears stoked by the ‘delta’ variant, momentum appears to be building behind calls to bring back universal mask-wearing – even for those who are vaccinated – including reported discussions in the White House and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about recommending masks for all Americans.
The Washington Post first reported that the idea was being batted around within the White House, even if it was something as minor as a change in messaging from top officials rather than a wholesale update of CDC guidance. That guidance was changed in May to say vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks indoors.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
Italy instituted its “green pass” vaccine passport system and, at the same time, severe restrictions on movement for Italians who opt not to receive one of the controversial vaccines, banning unvaccinated Italian citizens from entering stadiums, museums, theaters, cinemas, exhibition centers, swimming pools, and gyms unless they can provide government-approved paperwork allowing their entry. Now, a massive protest has started in Turin, Italy, the northern Italian city that is the capital of the Piedmont region. These protest join France and Greece in opposing the creation of a two tiered citizenship via these passports.
NOTE - this is exactly what the globalist powers that be is a level of control over the citizenship to quash the freedom of the non-sheeple into compliance.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) remain a hot topic in financial circles. Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell said that the Fed would publish a report this fall on digital payments, including cryptocurrencies and stable coins, which are typically pegged to the U.S. Dollar. Powell hopes that greater regulation will soon come to the crypto space, adding, “We have a pretty strong regulatory framework around bank deposits, for example, or money market funds. That doesn’t exist really for stable coins and if they’re going to be a significant part of the payments universe — which we don’t think crypto assets will be, but stable coins might be — then we need an appropriate regulatory framework, which frankly we don’t have.”
OBSERVATION - Crypto currency has not way for central banks/govts to track transactions. Globalist want to be able to observe and control all transactions and by doing so, control individuals.
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Economy -
McConnell is threatening to block any raise of the national debt ceiling because of democrat economic and tax policies. He then suggested that the bill to raise the national debt be placed into the reconciliation bill. The current debt limit suspension is slated to expire on July 31, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging lawmakers to act before the end of the month.
OBSERVATION - This ‘reconciliation’ bill will be a massive trojan horse to bring in a wide variety of leftist programs and spending.

Unilever PLC said Thursday warned of accelerating price increases across a range of products, as it seeks to counter cost inflation across its business. It said it would step up price increases across the world, having already raised prices 1.6% in the second quarter.

Ports in southern Vietnam are anticipating backlogs as Ho Chi Minh City and 19 other cities under extended lockdowns for two more weeks. Impacted products include appliances, printers, semiconductors, integrated circuits, clothing and furniture. The continually troubled Port of Los Angeles receives around 33% of all cargo from Vietnam, which will face further disruption.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell met with the Financial Stability Oversight Council to discuss various financial matters. One point was the ongoing housing market bubble. Yellen also reportedly felt that any financial risk to a housing bubble burst would be manageable. Powell told reporters back in April that he doesn’t see the same conditions that led to the housing crisis in 2008. He did, however, say that the Fed’s $40 billion monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities have a modest effect on housing prices, and the Fed is looking at tapering those purchases soon.

National Pork Producers Council warned Congress that meatpackers are short on labor by about 25-30%, and if not addressed could lead to packing plants shutting down.
NOTE - No bacon along with no coffee boys, the country is headed for an apocalypse (sarc)

Due to increased global consumer demands and container shortages, industrial equipment is taking up to four months to arrive from Japan. Ocean lanes are no longer considered a viable option and high-end goods are resorting to air shipping, further driving up costs from manufacturers to consumers. Logistics analysts warn shippers to “brace for an extended peak season” as US consumers continue buying products rather than transitioning to services.(FO)

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Invasion of Illegals -
Webb County, Texas has made a disaster declaration because of the dumping of illegals in Laredo, overwhelming the city’s resources and a spike in wuhan cases. Laredo has filed for a restraining order to prohibit more illegal dumping by DHS. Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, and Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott are all named in the lawsuit. Earlier this month, DHS said it would stop bussing illegal migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley to Laredo. They promptly went back on their word. At least 10 percent of all migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley are testing positive for COVID-19 yet they are released to NGO organizations. Border Patrol doesn’t test them for wuhan when they are apprehended. They are then bussed for 3 hours to Laredo which already has on refugee center under quarantine for wuhan.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified during a hearing yesterday, and defended House Bill 1603, which would give migrant farm workers a pathway to citizenship. Vilsack said a pathway to citizenship provision for farm workers would not cause an increase in illegal immigration, spurring both doubts and calls for increased border security funding from Republicans. (FO)
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Biden watch -
On Wednesday night, President Biden was in Cincinnati, Ohio holding a Presidential Town Hall on CNN, and it was another dumpster fire. Among many of the foot-in-mouth moments include telling restaurant owners to suck it up and pay more to their employees (and industry severely hit during the wuhan lockdowns), claims that he wasn’t satan ‘reincarnated’ (incarnate is another matter), admits to wanting to go after all guns, stumbling through vaccine related questions, getting confused about a man on the moon. etc.
BTW - This ‘townhall’ only garnered a few dozen people in a venue that could hold considerably more.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Department Of Justice has announced that it will deploy five strike forces across the nation to stop the supply of illegal guns getting into key areas nationwide. Claiming to stop illegal traffic at a federal level many just look at this as a way to harass legitimate and legally operating gun dealers while ignoring the elephant in the room - reluctance/refusal to prosecute gun crimes at the local level by soros paid for DA’s and brow beaten police forces. Cities/regions targeted will be New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento Region, and Washington, D.C - all dark blue cities in states with he strictest gun control laws on the books.

Far Left groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Party for Socialism & Liberation (PSL) are increasing support and calls for for labor strikes across the country. This month Leftists launched another campaign for a nationwide, general strike on 15 October. The DSA and PSL are supporting the “National Strike Day,” but it’s unclear what group is primarily behind the campaign. The event’s official website only states that a “nonpartisan group of diverse and experienced volunteer organizers” is leading the effort. So far, their list of demands include a $20 an hour minimum wage, 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, a four day work week, a 25 percent corporate tax, and increased environmental regulations. (FO)
OBSERVATION - a lot can happen between now and October.

Violent actions by the far left have been at a simmer, with most activity focused on supporting environmental and LGBT causes. Most, but not all as demonstrated by Antifa/LBGT violence against LA spa protests, have been generally peaceful. However, is being are being made for bread and butter violence as Antifa militants are organizing several direct actions to counter alleged “Proud Boys” and “fascists” in Olympia, Washington; El Cajon, California; New York City, New York; and Raleigh, North Carolina.
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CANCEL CULTURE FRONT -
“No matter which party is in power, the government cannot be trusted to label ‘truth’ or ‘fiction’ any more than Facebook or Twitter can,” the ACLU tweeted Tuesday, commenting on a CNN article titled “White House reviewing Section 230 amid efforts to push social media giants to crack down on misinformation.”
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POLITICAL FRONT -
Pelosi pushes forward with the faux investigation of Jan 6 - excluding Republican participants.
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Domestic Terror -
There is increasing evidence that the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported in the attempt to kidnap Michigan Gov Whitmer . According to a Buzzfeed article -“ [S]ome of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.”
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China -
The UK Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, announced that the British Royal Navy will sail the HMS Queen Elizabeth and her escort fleet through disputed international waters, despite outrage from Beijing. After passing through the South China Sea in August, the British fleet will partake in exercises in the Philippines Sea with Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and the US. Mr. Wallace also confirmed that the UK plans to deploy Royal Navy warships permanently to the region.

The massive flooding in China has also resulted in an explosion at a metal factory in central China after river water flooded the facility, getting into high-temperature solution inside a metal alloy tank.
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Middle East General -
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Somalia, Africa against al-Shabaab terrorists, which have ties to Al Qaeda. U.S. troops were not located in Somalia at the time of the airstrike.
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Israel -
Former United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay will head an international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes committed during the latest conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, the U.N.’s Human Rights Council said in a statement on Thursday.
NOTE - This is nothing but a kangaroo court and Israel clearly recognizes it. Israel is already guilty and this commission is only there to trump up the charges.
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Syria -
Reports of explosions in Homs and Safita in Syria. Satellite imagery via @planet appears to confirm this, with what appears to be two visible impacts against two warehouses in the vicinity of East Aleppo near Nairab Airport. Syrian air defense reportedly fired on aircraft/missiles delivered by IAF, and as usual they claim they shot them all down. A rogue S200 missile from the engagement apparently struck the town of Majdel el-Koura, Lebanon .
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Afghanistan -
Taliban now claim to control 90% of the country
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Central America General -
In Haiti, unrest continues and is growing as the funeral of its president approaches.
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Cuba -
The Cuban govt has been jamming radio signals coming from the US to deny protestors news from outside the controlled Cuban Media.
NOTE - Any one see a similarity with the US govt’s cancel campaign on wuhan (and soon other issues outside their desired ‘narrative’)

Biden said on Thursday that new U.S. sanctions on Cuba target those responsible for a crackdown on protesters and that they are only the first step in the American response. Right now it is just lip-service. DHS has told potential Cuban refugees to stay away from America and that if they arrive here they will be resettled in another country.
NOTE - US response is going to be slower than molasses in winter. Cuba is one of the golden children of the America marxist leadership, and the fact that the people are rebelling is sicking in their craw.
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Venezuela -
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company imported a key component needed to achieve its goal of almost tripling crude production, defying U.S. efforts to isolate the Maduro regime’s grip on power.
The supertanker Rene is discharging a hydrocarbon known as condensate at the Venezuelan port of Jose, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. It’s the first such import since September, when Petroleos de Venezuela SA took delivery of a cargo of Iranian condensate, which is needed to thin the country’s extra-thick grade of crude.
The origin of the cargo aboard the Rene remains a mystery because the vessel’s satellite transponder has been switched off. The Panamanian-flagged tanker’s most-recent port of call was in the Indian Ocean nation of Sri Lanka, according to the document. (Yahoo)
NOTE - The question is can the Maduro govt successfully bring things on line given that the corrupt leadership of its oil industry is still in power and may very well screw things up again in order to buff their bank accounts. Depends heavily too on the maintenance status of the refineries and equipment, likely in poor condition after sitting idle for these years.
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South America General-
Farmers across Brazil are reporting widespread crop loss due to severe frosts affecting the country over the past 3 weeks. Biggest hit is the corn crop, creating concerns that “It is going to be a historic crop loss,” Daniele Siqueira from local consultancy Agrural told Agricensus. The recent frost hit other crops including sugar cane, coffee, and orange. Coffee brokers said this frost was stronger than the last one. “The situation is so dramatic that there will not be any corn left in the market in September and the country will need to import much more from Argentina,” Victor Martins from Hedgepoint Global Markets said.
NOTE - I pointed out a few days ago that the coffee crop was hammered. Better get it while its relatively “cheap”
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Misc of Note -
Authorities in South Africa have managed to bring the violence under control. But the economic cost is estimated at 20 billion rand (US$1.37 billion) in KwaZulu-Natal alone, as 161 shopping malls, 11 warehouses and eight factories were extensively damaged. The extent of the damage in Gauteng is still being collated.
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Black Swans -
New thing to worry about. U.S. health officials say they now have evidence that an untreatable “superbug” fungus has spread in two hospitals and a nursing home. The “superbug” outbreaks were reported in a Washington, D.C, nursing home and at two Dallas-area hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The fungus, Candida auris, is a harmful form of yeast that is considered dangerous to hospital and nursing home patients with serious medical problems. It is most deadly when it enters the bloodstream, heart or brain. Outbreaks in health care facilities have been spurred when the fungus spread through patient contact or on contaminated surfaces.

There is substantial record setting flooding impacting a large area of the world. In addition to China/Asia, massive floods/rain have hit Europe (Germany), Turkey, New Zealand, India, Tajikistan, Colorado and New Mexico. While some may consider this something like information bias - something like with the advent of more information out there routine events now seem extraordinary, these events seem to be above average for my baseline of monitoring events over the past many years. What makes these even worse is the relative inability of the hit areas to recover due to wuhan impacts.

Life happened again this weekend, trying to catch up. Unlikely nothing tomorrow (Tuesday) as usual too.
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Wuhan virus -
Protests broke out over the weekend in parts of Australia against the latests round of wuhan lockdowns. Levels so strict that citizens were told not to talk to each other. Police are determined to round up the instigators for these ‘dirty’ acts. These protests join those in France, Greece, Britain and Italy. Thousands of Irish people too have also had it. Marchers in Dublin and Belfast let their voices be heard after lawmakers passed legislation stating that only vaccinated and COVID-free people could dine and drink indoors.

In a parallel, grocery shelves in Britain are increasingly empty due to the prolonged shut downs destroying the supply and distribution system.

Fauci said on CNN Saturday that bringing back mask mandates is “under active consideration,” and that he is “part of the discussion” around the decision. Those comments brought immediate blowback on how such a decision is not based on science. This came with the CDC saying that 83% of the virus circulating in the United States is the ‘delta’ variant. Another claim is that individuals who are hospitalized with the infection are now largely those who are unvaccinated – about 99% of individuals, according to Kristen Choi, an assistant professor at UCLA School of Nursing. With these announcements come other warnings from other health care groups of a ‘fourth’ wave of infections ready to sweep the country.
NOTE - Little said about the death rate of ‘delta’, only infections.

Speaking of ‘infections’, the CDC announced on Wednesday that the RT-PCR tests used to tell millions of Americans they’re infected with Covid-19 has been unable to accurately differentiate between the various coronaviruses. Of particular note is the inability of these tests to know whether someone is infected with Covid-19 or influenza. This in turn has resulted in greatly inflated infection rates since the test was released.
NOTE - It has taken months for the CDC to formally recognize the failing of the PCR tests. The false positive bias has been reported on (and ‘cancelled’) for months now. This also recognizes in a quiet way the disappearance of the regular flu season, as those cases were absorbed into the wuhan count.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
Increasing push for government censorship on wuhan issues contrary to the narrative and is only a matter of time when this censorship will spread to other topics.
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Economy -
Oil headed for the first decline in five days as investors assessed the outlook for demand amid a resurgence in COVID-19 and as broader markets were on a softer footing. Futures in New York dropped to trade near $71 a barrel after a volatile week of trading that saw prices swing wildly in a $7 range.

According to a new Bank of America Global Research report, the global EV battery supply is in danger of running out completely as soon as 2025. “Our updated EV battery supply-demand model suggests the global EV battery supply will likely hit [a] ‘sold-out’ situation between 2025-26, with its global operating rates reaching above 85%,” the report reads ominously.
NOTE - To meet demand, massive mining and refining are necessary. Both are years from meeting demand, on can’t just flip a switch and produce more copper. Some analysts suggest that copper demand alone will jump by 50% over the next ten years. This doesn’t even include the rare earth minerals necessary.

Making matters worse, California regulators are planning to stop thousands of farmers from taking water out of the state’s major rivers and streams because of a worsening drought. The Sacramento Bee reported that the State Water Resources Control Board will vote on the “emergency curtailment” order Aug. 3. If approved, it would take effect about two weeks later. There would be exceptions for drinking water and other needs. During the previous drought in the mid 2010s, state officials imposed restrictions on farmers, but stopped short of issuing a blanket order like this.
OBSERVATION - What little agriculture is left will wither and die before harvest with this new restriction/ban.

OBSERVATION - Just about every facet of the US economy is being hit by the breakdown of supplies and the distribution of those items. I’ve lost count, from the grocery and restaurant sector, automobile manufacturing etc. Even a partial hit at a national level will send the economy into a tail spin. Now is the time to stock up on food and other essentials.

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Invasion of Illegals - Biden has cancelled border wall contracts, costing the govt billions in the process. Texas has started building a fence of its own.
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Biden watch -
Increasing calls for Biden to take a cognitive function test. More evidence, apparently when asked about immigration , biden said “my butt’s been wiped”.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Citizens Against Political Prosecution held a rally on Sunday in New York City. The event was held to raise awareness in support of the January 6th patriots who are currently being abused in the DC jails. Antifa showed up and tried to assault the rally, ended up mostly fighting with police.
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China -
Typhoon “In-Fa” made landfall in the Putuo District of the city of Zhoushan, China’s eastern province of Zhejiang July 25, forcing the evacuation of up to 1.5 million people. This follows massive rain/floods that devastated large areas of the country last week. It is tracking up the coast to the north following landfall. The endangered land are southwest of the Korean Peninsula . The typhoon has also forced the shutdown of China’s newest and largest oil refineries and numerous bunkering docks in the region.
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Israel -
Today begins the biannual “Juniper Falcon” intl. exercise between the IAF and US_EUCOM.

Overnight in response to the earlier incendiary balloon fires the IDF are reportedly conducting airstrikes targeting militant affiliated locations near Khan Younis and Gaza City. Initial reports say at least four different locations each were hit by a single missile from a UAV (“rooftop” warning), then hit with munitions from jets.
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Iran -
Security forces in Iran’s southwest Khuzestan province have been firing bullets at people protesting due to severe water shortages. Reports indicate at least ten dead. The shortages are happening in one of the country’s hottest regions, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius. Iran is denying the actions against protests that have been going on for several weeks now.
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Iraq -
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said in an interview published on Sunday that his country no longer needs American combat troops to fight ISIS. “There is no need for any foreign combat forces on Iraqi soil,” al-Kadhimi told The Associated Press. He did not provide a deadline for when he would expect U.S. troops to depart, but stated Iraqi security forces are now capable of protecting the nation.
OBSERVATION - Iraq’s government is controlled by Iran almost to the same extent Hezebollah controls Lebanon. The only thing preventing an overt takeover of the country is the presence of US and coalition forces. Not necessarily a reason to say in country but a simple statement of fact. Iran has wanted control of Iraq for centuries, a strategic location on the Persian gulf.
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Syria -
Russian MoD reported that on the morning of July 25, two F-16 aircraft of the Israeli Air Force struck, without entering the airspace of the Syrian Arab Republic, from the direction Southwest, with two guided missiles at targets in the Sayeda Zainab (Damascus) area. They claim Buk-M2E air defences intercepted both incoming missiles.
OBSERVATION - Some sources suggest that this may have been a move to have the Russian ADA radars fire up so they can pinpoint their locations before an Iranian airstrike. Also significant, this action by Russian units indicates an escalation in effort against Israeli missions in Syria against Iran and iranian backed terror groups.

Turkish army has been hitting PKK/YPG elements/bases in northern Syria with artillery and airstrikes. Activity level high.
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Afghanistan -
US has vowed to continual airstrikes in support of the Afghan military. This has been evident in the increase in recent airstrikes defending Kandahar and southern Afghanistan from Taliban attacks. The Taliban have traveled tens of miles towards the city of Kandahar in recent weeks, squeezing it from three directions.
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Turkey -
See increased activity in Syria above.
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South America General-
Protesters took to the streets in several Brazilian cities on Saturday to demand the impeachment of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, whose popularity has fallen in recent weeks amid corruption scandals against the backdrop of the pandemic. Brazil is already suffering from massive crop losses including a lot of the coffee crops. Those losses will send shock waves through the economy as well as globally.
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Misc of Note -
Tunisia’s president has sacked the PM and suspended parliament, after violent mass protests nationwide on Sunday.
Anger over the government’s handling of a massive recent spike in Covid cases has added to general unrest over the nation’s economic and social turmoil.
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Wuhan virus -
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that fully vaccinated individuals should wear masks in certain indoor areas and advised universal masking for schools regardless of individuals’ vaccination status amid rising infections due to the delta variant. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky later said in a call with reporters that the decision to issue new guidance “was not something we took lightly,” but comes amid “worrisome” new science.
NOTE - Many states have flat out refused to return to mandatory masks and lockdown. The ‘worrisome’ new science is generally that vaccinated individuals carry a heavier virus load that can be transmitted to unvaccinated. Plus, contrary to the official narrative, increasing numbers of fully vaccinated (both shots and proper waiting effectiveness period) are becoming infected.
SIDENOTE - I’ve seen an uptick in the number of people wearing masks here in the Redoubt, but it could be due to the nasty smoke filling our valleys and not necessarily ‘delta’ induced panic.

biden is expected announce on Thursday (Today) a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against wuhan or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a sources. This follows the decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to require its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated over the course of the next two months. He said nothing about mandatory vaccinations for the military at this time.
NOTE - Political commentators are also pushing for the vaccination requirement to extend to those who receive government supplied health care like VA services, Medicare and Medicaid.
Further - calls for direct action against the unvaxxed continue to rise. For example, daily TV hack Joy Behar said “The next step is THREATS for the unvaxed.” Such threats for a disease with a 99+% survival rate continue to raise flags and make me wonder just what the hype is (diabolical - death vaccine, or compliance/sheeplism for a new global order or both).
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Globalism / Great Reset -
Department of Justice has ruled that mandating COVID vaccines is perfectly legal. The ‘ruling’ not law will clear the way for many private entities to mandate the jab of employees, without having the govt mandate it.

The UN approved Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT) database is now directing its effort to surveil and report on patriots across America. Contributing to this effort are the main social media giants like Facebook, google, etc. Now this becomes a global database of spying and reporting on Americans. GIFCT is expanding its database to include “white supremacist” content as determined by the United Nation’s Tech Against Terrorism project . While there has been a lot of censorship and deplatforming by the major social media and other internet companies, isn’t good enough for GIFCT’s Executive Director Nicholas Rasmussen, who said he wants a larger crackdown on “extremism.”
NOTE - Surveillance of the population with the goal to silence (or worse) ‘offenders’ is a key component to globalism’s mechanism to stifle dissent.
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Economy -

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is again warning Congress to make some progress on raising the debt limit. Yellen said that the U.S. Government will be forced into “extraordinary measures” past 31 July, and fully unable to pay its bills past September. CBO suggests the country could operate into October, but the House/Pelosi seem fixed on spending their time with their kangaroo court and pushing even higher spending.

Fed watchers expect that the spreading coronavirus delta variant will make the central bank sound more cautious on outlook when it emerges from its two-day meeting Wednesday. This would put the brakes on Fed discussions on increasing rates to combat inflationary elements and keep easy money flowing. Fed was expected to start trimming its bond purchases late this year or early next year, but if the virus impacts the economy, that could change as well.

I’m not an economist, but some things are hard not to miss. Housing sales are cooling off slightly (probably seasonal) but prices are continuing to skyrocket in most parts of the country. Trend and conditions are strongly similar to the bubble burst of 2007/2008.

Oil is showing some mixed signals. Recently it dropped back to about $70 per barrel, suggesting further drops. But other analysts are forecasting as high as $100/barrel by the end of next year. Such a trend would be incredibly devastating to US and global economy as much of it runs on oil to varying degrees. Remember, gasoline isn’t the only product made from oil, there is a large petrochemical industry that will be his jacking the price for a lot of things from polyester shirts to your bottle of designer water.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said beef production remains consistent despite ongoing droughts. There is an expected downturn in slaughters this fall as poor grazing conditions are reducing the average carcass weight. The production levels’ maintenance is due to a larger percentage of heifers being sent to slaughter early as 34% of cattle “are in regions experiencing some level of drought” and 42% of grazing lands are rated “poor or very poor”.
NOTE - Stable but more expensive supply barring another severe disruption like last year.
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Invasion of Illegals -
According to Axios, about 50,000 migrants who crossed the southern border illegally have now been released in the United States without a court date. Although they are told to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office instead, just 13% have shown up so far. Border patrol sources also indicate that the rate of illegal entry has increased substantially along the Texas border.

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Biden watch -
In reply to a vaccination question regarding mandatory federal employees, Biden said - “That’s under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.”
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CW2/Domestic violence -
The majority of Far Left protests of recent have been focused on pushing for free housing, blocking evictions, and free medical care in several cities. These actions are commonly used by communist insurgents in the past to gain support and sympathy of the civilian base. BLM continues to protest for the defunding and disbanding of police forces, most recently in DC protesting against the Metro Transit Police (MTP). Environmental and LGBT cause support continues as well. Most of these actions have a low probability of violence.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
The House Select Committee that purports to investigate the “insurrection” of January 6, 2021, started holding hearings yesterday. If we thought the impeachment and Russian collusion hearings were a dumpster fire, the democrats have found a new low. The committee is proceeding without meaningful participations by the Republicans. Democrats burned up so much capitol (no pun intended) with those previous kangaroo courts that I doubt the public will hold much interest in these biased proceedings.

Our so called unbiased press chirped in with New York Times reporter Katie Benner deleted tweets calling for Trump supporters to be considered “enemies of the state” after she faced viral backlash from critics. Amid the first hearing of the Jan. 6 committee on Capitol Hill, Benner suggested that in order to “combat” national security threats within the country, the solution was to target the voters of the former president.
NOTE - This kind of talk is now the norm with the leftist media - the effort to attack half of the country who refuse to bend the knee to their leftist agenda . They have stopped trying to conceal the view and it is no longer conspiracy theory. My how far we’ve fallen in a year and half.
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Strategic Developments /Deployments -
A war-game last October has continued to send shock waves through the military higherarchy as the OPFOR team throughly trounce the US forces.
NOTE - Wargames are not always representative of real world conditions. I’ve participated in a couple of them, you play the game, not reality. But on a larger scale, it does give a reality check to larger scale doctrines and tactics.
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China -
I noted the construction of a ballistic missile complex a while back. Now OSINT has identified a second second missile silo field, eventually possibly with 110 silos. These two complexes when completed will give China serious first and second strike capabilities across the western pacific region and India as well as the US.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng in China today and had here arse handed to her. Clearly the most incompetent representative the US could offer, China has had a field day. The Chinese gave a list of demands to the US including “wrongdoings that must stop” and the US had nothing in reply.

In addition to heavy crop losses from flooding so far, the pork and poultry side of the house has been hammer as well. The vast majority of animals have been killed and farmers are at a loss to see how to make those losses up this year. This follows a swine flu epidemic last year that devastated pork production. This will place added strain on the global market as China continues it purchase binge to make up the losses.
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Iraq -
The US is now saying that its combat role in Iraq will stop by the end of the year, though there is no talk of actual removal of US forces. This has created some instability in the relations between the various militias in country. Militia sources say the muqawama coordination committee will convene tomorrow to discuss the committee’s stance regarding the announcement of withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. Other sources say Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force is in town too. It seems that the rift between members of the coordination committee (KH, AAH, HN, etc) and the Badr organization is widening. Faith political alliance (dominated by Badr) hailed the U.S. Iraq agreement as a “national achievement”. Others are saying that any celebration without the total removal of foreign forces is meaningless.
OBSERVATION - Combined with the increased pin prick attacks on US/Coalition facilities since the first of the year, this only telegraphs further weakness to Iran who will benefit the most out of the withdrawal and cement its dominance in the region.
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Turkey -
Israel has repeatedly expressed support for Cyprus over the past week after Turkish Cypriots reopened Varosha, a resort that became a no-man’s-land after Turkey invaded the ethnically divided Mediterranean island in 1974, and Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan called for “two states” in a recent speech in the divided Cypriot capital of Nicosia. Turkey is the only country that recognizes Northern Cyprus. Greek Cypriots oppose a two-state solution on the grounds that the breakaway state in the north is illegal.
OBSERVATION - Move supports Turkey’s goals of controlling the Mediterranean Sea, and raises tensions against its historic enemy Greece.
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Armenia/Azerbaijan -
Increasing skirmishes noted between the Azerbaijan and Armenian forces. Conflict occurred near Vardenis, Armenia, with reportedly 5 Armenian soldiers killed, 5 wounded. Russia has interjected to get a ceasefire, largely ignored by Azeri forces.
OBSERVATION - Conflict is occurring in a salient of Armenian proper territory. Azeri capture of Vardenis would permit them to solidify their western positions into Armenian territory. With winter coming, it looks like Azeri forces are trying to improve their positions early. Russia currently has its hands full trying to bring the situation under control. The Azeri actions have all the markings of an offensive and not a border skirmish
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Forget the Simpsons, Hank Williams had them beat decades earlier. A humorous song of the period that has sudden implications for today. Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_m3GVys3s4
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Wuhan virus -
Renewal of the mask mandate created fireworks in the House as well as push back across the nation. Some of the biggest ‘shock’ was the demand for ‘fully’ vaccinated sheeple to mask. Private companies have reinstituted the mandate it so a degree. Citizens are tired of the flip flops by CDC and their apparent efforts to subjugate the sheeple with no scientific justification given science showing masks don’t work. In fact, outside experts are demanding to see the data to which CDC says is pending publication in an upcoming ‘paper’.

Pass the popcorn - Politico reports that the unions normally in lockstep with Democrats have split bitterly over Joe Biden’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations and/or testing regimes for all federal workers. Numerous big democrat supporting unions are balking on the administration’s plans to force vaccination on govt employees and contractors. One of which is Postal Workers Union, has released a statement on behalf of over 220,000 postal workers opposing vaccine mandates.
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Economy -
The illusion of ‘transitory’ inflation failing as Fed Chair Powell says ‘higher and more persistent’ inflation possible. He also said the US economy is showing signs of progress in its recovery, but not enough to end the easy money policies implemented last year.

According to the J.D. Power and LMC Automotive Forecast, the average transaction price for a new vehicle is projected to be $41,044 during the month of July, a 17% increase over last year. High demand is meeting low inventories caused by the ongoing semiconductor shortage hampering production across the industry, which has led to a drop in incentives and more cars selling for list price or even more.

UPS said their delivery infrastructure will be overwhelmed by 5 million packages per day this holiday season. Last-mile partnerships with USPS for many small and medium sized business deliveries declined year over year but is not going to provide much relief for on-time deliveries. UPS and FedEx are frantically procuring storage facilities and aircraft while implementing surcharges and slowing low-margin packages.
NOTE - Two words - MAIL EARLY

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Invasion of Illegals -
USCG intercepted and repatriated a group of a couple dozen Cuban escapees trying to reach the US via boats. They are most certainly going to spend a long time in Cuban prison for their run to freedom.

Texas now has begun to aggressively arrest illegals on state related charges, doing an end around federal law that would prohibit the state from ‘enforcing’ border control regulations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday ordered the state’s National Guard members to assist the Department of Public Safety (DPS) in arresting illegal immigrants at the US.-Mexico border who break state laws.
Abbott’s order was included in a letter sent to Major Gen. Tracy R. Norris of the Texas Military Department.
The order expands on Abbott’s June disaster declaration, which directed the DPS to enforce all federal and state criminal laws, including those on criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking. That declaration had allowed the use of all available state resources to assist state and local law enforcement in protecting Texans from “criminal activity and property damage.”

Yesterday noted tens of thousands of illegals likely carrying wuhan. Today Texas communities are announcing health alerts - HT Rusty0604
https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3920606/posts?page=518#518
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Biden watch -
At a Mack Truck manufacturing facility, Biden claimed to have driven 18-wheeler trucks in his earlier life. When asked if the president had ever driven such a truck, a White House spokesperson pointed to a December 1973 article from the Wilmington Evening Journal that showed Biden rode in an 18-wheeler on a 536-mile haul to Ohio.
NOTE - riding is not the same as driving, except for a corrupt politician with a loose handle on telling the truth.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell encouraged people to take violence against Trump. He later recanted, but the damage was done.
Another, Officer Harry Dunn is an ardent supporter of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots last year, said the burning of Kenosha was an “appropriate response.” Dunn’s Twitter page is adorned with BLM propaganda. He doesn’t even try to hide it.
NOTE - Over 60 Secret Service personnel were assaulted and injured when far-left activists descended on Trump’s White House in 2020, frustrated at the then-President’s seeming cruise to re-election. Action that necessitated moving Trump to the secure bunker. My what short memories the left has.

Dark blue cities that followed though with the demands of defunding the police and now facing an agitated population demanding more police. Most recent is the BLM/Antifa stronghold of Seattle. Fallout from last years riots have deeply depleted police forces in these cities and attempts to hire new are falling flat on their face due to civic leadership’s continued attack on those police forces.
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China -
China continues to threaten nuclear attack against Japan and Australia if they assist Taiwan in fending off a Chinese take over attempt.
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Iran -
The U.S. plans a sanctions campaign against Iran’s evolving capabilities for precision strikes using drones and guided missiles, according to U.S. officials, amid concerns over the threat these weapons represent to American and allied interests.
The effort comes as Western security officials say they see those capabilities as a more immediate danger to Middle East stability than Iran’s nuclear-enrichment and ballistic-missile programs. (WSJ)
OBSERVATION - Iran is trying to replicate the success Turkey has had with its drone fleet against Russian backed proxies in Syria and Armenia. However, sanctions by biden are laughable at this stage and unlikely to do much to stop their development efforts.

Protests continue over lack of water and lack of support to civilians in many locations in Iran. In response, internet connectively has been severely restricted.
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Syria -
There is a significant operation by pro-assad forces as the Syrian army begins a military operation in Daraa Al-Balad against “ISIS cells”. (However, ISIS is not recognized as being present in the region). This has triggered a massive mobilization by anti-Assad forces. Uncollaborated reports of Horan free forces spotted in Sanamayn, Hirak, Alma, Saida, Jeezah, Tafas, Jassim, Nawa, al-Harrah, Daraa al-Balad, Musayfrah. A mobilization never seen, in whole Horan in same few hours, since 2018, including videos of open state of war. Iranian supported militias and regime forces evacuated their checkpoints (retreating toward Khirbet Ghazaleh and Ghariyah ash-Sharqiya) on the roads toward Alma and Musayfrah, in Eastern Horan, after threats by FSA to attack, in support of Daraa al-Balad. Rebels announced the capture of 70 members of pro-Assad forces after they took control of the checkpoints of the towns of Sidon, Kahil and Umm Al-Mayathen, east of Daraa. (Ahrar Horan)

OBSERVATION - This region is immediatedly southeast of the Golan Heights and is one of the biggest ground operations by pro-assad forces in a while. It is looking like the pro-assad forces have hit into a hornet’s nest. Daraa al-Balad itself is a city of about 40,000, so any actions will be urban and favor the opposition.
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Armenia/Azerbaijan -
Moscow-mediated ceasefire at the border with Armenia/Azerbaijan is in force, and largely holding.
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Misc of Note -
S Africa, as if things cannot get any worse, a widespread cyber attack at Port of Durban continues to upend logistics. The attack was discovered last week and forced the terminal to declare force majeure for the second time this month. Impacted companies are declaring their own for majeures, including manganese producers which support the automotive and technology industries. The Transnet cyberattack is being blamed on “insurrectionists” and coincides with a separate shutdown of critical rail systems in the country.
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