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Get the feeling things in the world are coming unglued? Buckle your seat belts.

Wuhan virus -
Fauci’s, testimony before Congress on Tuesday may have resulted in him committing perjury. This occurred when Sen Paul challenged him if he still supported the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding the questionable Wuhan lab in China. Fauci’s reply was, “The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” Evidence is pretty solid Fauci is lying, but as with most congressional testimony - nothing will be done about the perjury.

FDA is allowing shots to be given to those under 18. CDC statistics show that the risk from being struck by lightning is greater than their dying from wuhan. The big push for ‘vaccination’ in this age group may well have ulterior motives IMHO.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab has been planning on implanting microchips in people since at least 2016 as revealed in an interview with a French reporter from the period.
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Economy -
Motiva Enterprises LLC’s 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) in Port Arthur, Texas, one of the US’ largest petroleum refineries shut down on Monday due to the Colonial Pipeline outage. Wide spread fuel shortages are being experienced along the southeast and east coast area served by the Colonial pipeline. There is still no projected start up day although Colonial Pipeline Co. told federal officials it will know by late Wednesday whether it’s safe to restart gasoline and diesel flows that have been on hold since the hack. Gasoline prices have skyrocketed with limits being put on purchases (I’ve seen photos of people pulling up to stations with a half dozen 55-gal drums and filling them up) from those stations not emptied. EPA reportedly has suspended regulations to permit more gasoline to get into the region.

Nationally, the average retail gasoline price rose to $3.008 a gallon, the first time it’s exceeded $3 since October 2014, according to auto club AAA data.

To make gasoline issues worse, Michigan’s Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is now attempting to shut down a pipeline running through her state. Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, has been ordered by the state to shut down an oil and gas pipeline by May 11. This pipeline serves upper midwest states. Enbridge has, for its part, refused to comply with Whitmer’s order and has done so with support from top Canadian officials. This will be headed to the courts.

Costco Wholesale Corp. , of Issaquah, Wash., and Sam’s Club, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Ark., limited consumer purchases of rice at their U.S. stores this week. Wal-Mart said while Sam’s has enough rice for customers, it would limit purchases to four 20-pound bags per visit “due to recent supply and demand trends.” Costco limited purchases in select stores. (WSJ)

Corn has increased 50% over last year. Not only will that impact us at the grocery store but corn for feed will increase prices for those animals that eat it as well.

More on the inflation front, consumer prices jumped higher than expected in April, data from the Department of Labor showed Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index climbed 4.2 percent annually in April. Compared with March, prices rose 0.8 percent. The annual inflation figure is the largest increase since 2008. Economists had forecast a year-over-year gain of 3.6 percent and 0.2 percent for the month. This is the biggest jump since Sept 2008 and corresponds with supply chain issues as well.

Steel and copper prices continue to rise to new highs.
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Biden watch -
biden continues to get lost reading the teleprompter. . . .
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CW2/Domestic violence -
BLM/Antifa is expected to pick up in the next few days as groups are organizing pro-palestinian / anti - Israel “protests” in at least a dozen cities.
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Cyber Warfare -
The hackers that took down the Colonial Pipeline, known as DarkSide are apparently a Russian or eastern European hacking group. According to Boston-based Cybereason, DarkSide is an organized group of hackers set up along the “ransomware as a service” business model, meaning the DarkSide hackers develop and market ransomware hacking tools, and sell them to other criminals who then carry out attacks. Think of it as the evil twin of a Silicon Valley software start-up.
Some reports indicate a criminal intent, not one as part of a national policy .
In a parallel note - Leftist groups have discussed the use of cyber attacks to further enable protests. They look to do this by accessing alarm and surveillance systems for govt buildings and disabling them - permitting increased chaos and destruction.
Also remember - US adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran harbor significant cyber capabilities.
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India/China -
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is bolstering its long range missile capabilities along the border with India. According to Chinese state media (CCTV), the PLA is now fielding an upgraded version of the PHL-03 long range, truck-mounted, multi-rocket launchers with artillery battalions under the Xinjiang Military Command (XMC). The XMC artillery units are stationed in the plateaus of the disputed Kashmir region where the PLA clashed with Indian troops in June 2020. The new digital version of the PHL-03 will give the PLA an edge to reach out and touch Indian forces. In addition, PLA troops in the Himalayas have also recently received a bevy of updated Type 15 lightweight tanks and its most powerful PCL-181 155mm artillery platforms. Drones “modified for high-plateau conditions,” exoskeleton suits, oxygen generators, solar-power supplied berthings, fresh water pumps, and internet hot spots.
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Russia - MAINTAINING WATCH
Concern continues as collective intel sources indicate that Russia has not redeployed the 100,000 troops within striking distance of Ukraine. The equipment remains in place and it appears many of the soldiers are as well, keeping tensions elevated.
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Ukraine -
Most current conflict in the Dombas region centers on the city of Donetsk, but does spread along the line of contact.
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Israel - WAR
SO much has happened in the past couple days, here is the latest roundup I’ve been able to put together. This is going long folks.

Hamas, Palestine Jihad and Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades in the Gaza Strip have fired thousands of rockets toward Jerusalem and central Israel, setting off air raid sirens throughout the whole region. Massive rocket barrages in the hundreds at once designed to overwhelm Iron Dome defenses have been partly effective. Videos of Iron Dome response are incredible. Rocket fire volumes like this have never been seen before.
Rocket fire appears to be down slightly from last night, but both sides are declaring no quarter and expect more to continue. Not all of the Gazan launches have been successful as several hundred failed and fell back into the Gaza Strip. The IDF warned residents of Gaza on Tuesday to stay away from any locations where Hamas weapons are stored for their own safety.

Videos of IAF strikes are also incredible - most generating secondary explosions.

In addition to rockets, Hamas has deployed ATGM teams to sharp shoot into Israel. Israel has been taking them out efficiently using drones and helicopters though.

Israel has also hit at least 2 infiltration tunnels, killing a couple dozen Hamas.

Israel is fighting back with hundreds of air sorties, leveling large areas of Gaza. The IDF eliminated three senior Hamas officials: Gaza Brigade commander Bassam Issa, Khan Younis Brigade commander Rafa Salama and Hamas intelligence chief Mohammed Yazouri. Additionally, IAF has taken out at least two other Hamas senior commanders, may be more. In a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet, senior members of Hamas’ General Staff Forum were killed in Gaza City and Khan Yunis. The militants are considered close to the head of the military wing of the Hamas organisation, Muhammad Deif. Also Hassan Kaogi, head of the Hamas military intelligence security department & his deputy Wail Issa, head of the military intelligence counterespionage department have been terminated.
Stated Israeli operation goals include targeting -

- Multi-story buildings used by terror organizations. (Hamas if following a Hezbollah tactic of using the underground garages for operations -independent of what the above ground structure is for. IAF has taken down at least one 14 floor structure so far.
- Underground infrastructure and interests
- Eliminate and target top leaders
- Underground rocket launchers
- Homes of the leaders who went underground to hide”

There have been reports of Egypt trying to broker a cease fire, but that has been denied by Israel. Netanyahu has said in essence Israel is going to silence Hamas first.

Armor being deployed to the border and reserves being called up. It is very likely that a ground operation will occur to clean up remnants of the air campaign.

Rioting is continuing in / around the temple mount as Palestinians continue. Other clashes between Palestinians/arabs and Israeli police scattered throughout the country. The most serious actions are in the city of Lod where the mayor has declared that “civil war” has broken out. Israel Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai called the situation unprecedented. “We are seeing a situation in mixed cities that we have never seen before, including the incidents of October 2000,” he said, referring to the wave of riots that broke out among Arab Israelis in October 2000 – the early days of the Second Intifada. Several companies of special police have been deployed to Lod to restore order. Arabs in Lod destroyed at least 3 synagogues and burned up dozens of cars and other buildings.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Palestinians to step up their “resistance.” So far Hezbollah and Iran have been watching from the sidelines.

biden is reported to be sending a State department “representative” to try to negotiate peace. If Trump were still charge, he’d be sending Israel more bunker buster bombs.

OBSERVATION -
Hamas doesn’t have the legs so to speak for a prolonged shoot out with Israel. Seems like the tempo of their rocket launches has dropped from yesterday as IAF takes out launchers and storage bunkers. If/when IDF ground forces enter Gaza the fat lady will be warming up and the resolve in Israel is to push Hamas and other islamic terror groups back into the stone age.
MY concern is Hezbollah/Iran’s willingness to step in to take the pressure off Gaza. Israel has been planning and training for a two front war for many years and has taken steps not to repeat the failures of the last incursion into Lebanon. Hezbollah is a greater rocket threat, but Israel has better intelligence as well and is willing to take out military targets embedded in civilian areas. Iran for its part is likely to just support its proxies in the region. It can only strike with long range rockets that would be susceptible to Israeli ballistic defense systems. Such an attack would be an open invitation for Israel to strike key Iranian facilities openly. This includes the recent drone/cruse missile technology and attack strategy that Iran has developed through the Houthi / Saudi Arabian wars. Iran could also try to shut down the Straits or play other games in the gulf region. Either case, Iran could face significant losses.
Israel for its part will feel less restrained against Iran should Hezbollah enter the fight. Iran is tightly involved in equipping and planning for an eventual attack. Israeli strikes would involve Syria (at least initially) against Iranian/Hezbollah facilities and as in the past Syrian ADA will attempt to stop. This will bring Syria into the cross hairs, given that Israel has gone out of the way to avoid Syrian targets except for some ADA assets in the past. This expansion could cause some Russian involvement. Russia has in the past issued warnings to Israel to contain the extent of its strikes in Syria.

One thing is for sure, Iran/Hezbollah and other nations involved in the middle east are closely monitoring the operations of the Iron Dome and affiliated rocket defense systems and evaluating the effectiveness of massive salvos of missiles to reach the targets by overwhelming the system.
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Iran -
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter Maui fired 30 warning shots at more than a dozen Iranian gunboats that “conducted unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers” near a formation of U.S. Navy ships — including a guided-missile submarine — in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said on Monday.
OBSERVATION - Not sure how aggressive Iran or US will get in the near future given the war between Israel and Hamas, et al. As noted under Israel, Iran has a lot to lose if it gets too engaged either way, creating a two front war for it.
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