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‘Is Biden Holding America Hostage Until Independence Day?’ – Ron Paul’s 15 Mar. Column

Posted by M. C. on March 16, 2021

Imagine our Founders hearing this speech. The US president might – just might – allow small family gatherings at home in four months if we follow all of his rules. King George looked benevolent by comparison!

As Rep. Thomas Massie Tweeted shortly after the speech, “If you’re waiting for permission from the chief executive to celebrate Independence Day with your family, you clearly don’t grasp the concept of Independence.”

https://mailchi.mp/ronpaulinstitute/bidenindependence?e=4e0de347c8

Mar 15 – Last week President Biden addressed the nation on the first anniversary of the coronavirus being declared a “pandemic.” It was a disturbing speech, warning us that the “hopeful spring” will only emerge “from a dark winter” if all Americans “stick with the rules.”

Whose rules? His rules.

The message from the president was clear: he will only allow us to have some of our freedoms back if we do exactly as he tells us. It was the language of extortion, of a bank robber who demands you do what he says or face the consequences. It was not the language of someone we are told is the leader of the free world.

In the speech Biden laid out a list of what was taken from us over the past year, “weddings, birthdays, graduations…family reunions, the Sunday night rituals.” It was as if somehow the virus, instead of authoritarian government officials, prevented us from enjoying these normal human activities.

Though we continue to see Covid disappear across the country with the end of the winter season, Biden was not about to let go of his perceived power to control our lives. He said, “if we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4, there’s a good chance you, your families and friends, will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day. That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.”

Imagine our Founders hearing this speech. The US president might – just might – allow small family gatherings at home in four months if we follow all of his rules. King George looked benevolent by comparison!

As Rep. Thomas Massie Tweeted shortly after the speech, “If you’re waiting for permission from the chief executive to celebrate Independence Day with your family, you clearly don’t grasp the concept of Independence.”

It seems like yesterday – it almost was – that Biden “asked” us to just wear the mask for 100 days. “Just 100 days to mask, not forever. 100 days,” he said. So from “just 100 days” to maybe you can have a small gathering by July 4th? Perhaps he just forgot his earlier speech?

As usual, the goalposts keep being moved because politicians cannot bear the possibility that they might have to give up some of that power over us they have grabbed for themselves. Fauci made the usual mainstream media rounds over the weekend and was asked by the fawning host when Americans might have permission to hold weddings again!

So now Americans need Fauci’s permission to get married? What is happening to this country? The propaganda is so relentless that it seems most Americans don’t see how not normal this is! In saner times, Fauci would be laughed off the stage. Now, he’s treated as some sort of divine source of truth.

Biden promised he was “using every power…as the president of the United States to put us on a war footing.” Of that I have no doubt. But Biden’s war is not against the virus. It’s against the US Constitution and liberty itself.

—

Read more great articles on the Ron Paul Institute website.
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Copyright © 2021 by Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

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Watch “Incredible final laps and photo finish at 2021 Daytona 200 | Motorsports on NBC” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

Typical close Daytona 200 finish.

https://youtu.be/EioX84m96gU

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Watch “She Wouldn’t Wear A Mask…Galveston Police Broke Her Foot” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

A 65 year old Galveston woman found herself tackled, handcuffed, arrested, and with a broken foot after she refused to leave a local Bank of America branch without her money. The bank demanded she put on a mask, she refused, so they called in the police. Property rights? Also today, first anniversary of the Covid lockdowns. Success or tragic failure?

https://youtu.be/ivoE_kz1MVM

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How Marcus Aurelius Used Adversity To Grow

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

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Freelancers Punished In New IRS Rule Under COVID Stimulus | ZeroHedge

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

From this rule change the IRS expects to collect an additional $1 billion annually, presumably from the poorest gig workers who previously earned under $20,000 per year. These low earners previously flew under the radar.

But now they could be met with surprise bills from the tax man when it comes time to file. And as many of these contractors are living paycheck to paycheck, they may incur additional IRS penalties if they are unable to pay what the IRS says they owe.

Of course, the same politicians who snuck this into the bill are the ones who declared over and over that their tax policies would only affect millionaires and the ultra wealthy. But now, one of the first things they do is shake down the lowest tax bracket.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/freelancers-punished-new-irs-rule-covid-stimulus

Tyler Durden's Photoby Tyler DurdenSunday, Mar 14, 2021 – 20:40

By Sovereign Man Blueprint

A few hundred pages into the latest $1.9 trillion Covid relief law, the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,” you’ll find Section 9674. It says that a “third party settlement organization” does not have to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) any payments to contract workers under $600.

These third parties include Uber, Airbnb, Etsy, eBay, Freelancer, and other platforms which facilitate payments to gig workers. The problem is that this little amendment lowers the reporting threshold from $20,000 to $600. Previously, a gig worker could earn up to $20,000 on these platforms without the IRS being informed of their income.

What this means:

From this rule change the IRS expects to collect an additional $1 billion annually, presumably from the poorest gig workers who previously earned under $20,000 per year. These low earners previously flew under the radar.

But now they could be met with surprise bills from the tax man when it comes time to file. And as many of these contractors are living paycheck to paycheck, they may incur additional IRS penalties if they are unable to pay what the IRS says they owe.

Of course, the same politicians who snuck this into the bill are the ones who declared over and over that their tax policies would only affect millionaires and the ultra wealthy. But now, one of the first things they do is shake down the lowest tax bracket.

We hope these gig workers enjoy their stimulus checks. They are soon going to learn that nothing is free when it comes to the government. There are always strings attached.

What you can do about it:

The good news is that freelancers, gig workers, self-employed individuals, and contractors have a number of tools at their disposal to legally minimize their tax bill.

Solo 401(k)

Solo 401(k)s are retirement accounts for business owners and contractors with no full-time employees – only you, part-time and contract labor (those filing an IRS 1099, which signals that they are NOT employees). For the self-employed and those with side hustles, the structure, flexibility, investment options, and annual contribution limits make a Solo 401(k) a potential go-to retirement option.

In 2021, Solo 401(k) owners can put away $58,000 tax free each year. If you’re 50 or older, that amount goes up to $64,500. The taxes on this income will be paid when you are retired and collect the money, presumably in a lower tax bracket. A Solo 401(k) allows you to take out a loan against your balance, and invest in more asset categories like precious metals, international real estate, and cryptocurrency.

Plus there are no reporting requirements until the account reaches $250,000. Click here to read a September 2018 Monthly Letter on Solo 401(k)’s (although certain numbers may be out of date, the general information is still accurate).

Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

The US is one of only two countries in the world that taxes its citizens no matter where they live. (The other country is Eritrea in east Africa, but they don’t have the resources to enforce their tax policy. So that leaves the US as the sole global enforcer of citizenship-based taxation.)

But, by moving overseas, US citizens can take advantage of the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), a special provision in the US tax code that allows US citizens living abroad who file Form 2555 along with their tax return to earn up to $108,700 per year (and growing) tax-free.

“Earned income” means that investment income and dividends do not apply for the exclusion. But self-employed, freelancers, and digital nomads can absolutely take advantage of the rule.

You can even use the Housing Deduction or Exclusion to save even more.

Puerto Rico Act 60, Chapter 3 (previously Act 20) Tax Incentive

Contract workers, freelancers, consultants, and the self-employed can also reduce their tax burden significantly by moving to Puerto Rico and establishing a corporation. This used to be called the Act 20 Export Services Act, now reorganized under Chapter 3 of Act 60. If your company provides services to clients outside of Puerto Rico, the corporate tax rate is just 4% and dividends to the owner are tax free.  You will still have to pay yourself a reasonable salary, subject to federal payroll taxes and Puerto Rico’s income tax. However what is considered “reasonable” in Puerto Rico is often much lower than the mainland.

Since Puerto Rico is a US territory and can set its own tax policies, it’s one of the only options for US citizens to legally escape most federal taxation.

Of course this probably won’t help many Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts. But a broad swath of services do work, for example:

  • Research and development
  • Advertising and public relations
  • Any kind of consulting (economic, scientific, environmental, technological, managerial, marketing, human resources, computer, auditing…)
  • Creative industries (design, art, architecture, creative education, etc.)
  • Commercial art and graphics services
  • Professional services (legal, tax, accounting…)
  • Data processing centers
  • Computer programming
  • Blockchain-related businesses
  • Remote medical services (telemedicine)
  • Educational and training services

Just keep in mind that the clock is ticking on the Puerto Rico incentives. They have already come under attack by certain lawmakers and could be eliminated or altered.

However, when you are granted these tax incentives, you sign a contract with the Puerto Rican government. Based on past court cases, new rule changes do not alter the agreement you signed. In other words, you are grandfathered in under the rules in effect when you sign the tax decree.

There is another risk to consider, however— these tax benefits to US citizens would be eliminated if Puerto Rico became a state.

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The Destructive Futility of the Drug War – The Future of Freedom Foundation

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

 It’s a money maker for federal judges, federal prosecutors, federal agents, federal clerks, and the entire federal drug-war bureaucracy. That’s why these people love it so much. And they all know that there is no end to it. The drug war is as perpetual as the federal “war on terrorism,” another great big perpetual money-making racket that keeps the entire military-industrial complex in high cotton.

https://www.fff.org/2021/03/12/the-destructive-futility-of-the-drug-war/

by Jacob G. Hornberger

The U.S. government’s drug warriors have recently made another drug bust, adding to the countless number of drug busts it has made since the drug war was launched decades ago. Their latest target is Emma Colonel Aispuro, the wife of the famous Mexican drug lord El Chapo, who the feds convicted and incarcerated for life for drug-war violations. Although Coronel attended her husband’s trial in 2019 in Brooklyn, the feds, for some unexplained reason, waited until 2021 to bust her while she was at Dulles Airport.

One possibility, of course, is that they plan to squeeze her into squealing on other Mexican drug lords who they can import from Mexico and put into American prisons. Regardless, it really doesn’t matter whether they target her or people they get her to snitch on. The drug war will just continue on with more drug busts and incarcerations.

In other words, no matter who they bust or how many people they bust, things will remain the same. They always have. There is no end to this federal government program. It’s a money maker for federal judges, federal prosecutors, federal agents, federal clerks, and the entire federal drug-war bureaucracy. That’s why these people love it so much. And they all know that there is no end to it. The drug war is as perpetual as the federal “war on terrorism,” another great big perpetual money-making racket that keeps the entire military-industrial complex in high cotton.

For decades, drug-war proponents exclaimed, “If only they would really crack down and really enforce these drug laws, we would win!” But over the years, they have cracked down, viciously, and yet the drug war just keeps going and going and going. Of course, the federal people who thrive off the drug war are the ones who continue winning.

Let’s assume though that the feds were given the omnipotent power to really crack down in the war on drugs by being empowered to kill whoever they suspected of being a drug-war violator. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate way to crack down and finally “win” the war on drugs?

Well, that’s not really a hypothetical. It’s a reality. That’s what happened in the Philippines. Since 2016, the government’s drug agents have been empowered to win the war on drugs by simply killing drug-war violators. Since then, over 12,000 Filipinos have been killed, mostly poor people.

So, there you have it — the ultimate way to win the war on drugs by cleansing society of drug-war violators by simply killing them. What better way to win the war on drugs than to crack down like that, right? We could get the U.S. military to perform that task here in the United States.

Except for one thing: They still haven’t won the war on drugs in the Philippines. They are still waging the drug war more fiercely than ever. It seems that the ultimate crackdown can’t win the war on drugs after all. The war just keeps continuing and continuing and continuing.

There are two groups of people who benefit from all this government mayhem: the drug lords and government officials. They both thrive off of drug illegality. If drugs were legal, both groups would be out of business and would have to find meaningful work elsewhere. That’s why they both have a vested interest in keeping the drug war going, no matter how destructive and no matter how futile.

The fact is that government has no more business controlling what people ingest, buy, or sell than it does controlling what they read. It’s simply none of the government’s business. And as we learned during the war on booze, and as we have learned in the war on drugs, when government crosses the line and begins controlling what people ingest, buy, and sell, the results are horrific.

The federal prosecution of Emma Colonel Aispuro will generate big headlines and press coverage, just as so many other drug busts have since the drug war was launched long ago. Regardless of whether Colonel is convicted or acquitted, the drug war will go on, in perpetual search for the next person to target, prosecute, and incarcerate.EMAIL

This post was written by: Jacob G. Hornberger

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full Context. Send him email.

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YouTube and Patreon taking down The Corbett Report – OffGuardian

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

It looks like we might be in for a spring cull of the alternate media herd.

https://off-guardian.org/2021/03/13/youtube-and-patreon-taking-down-the-corbett-report/

https://www.bitchute.com/embed/B-yLTHOelBg/

James Corbett is likely not long for the YouTube world, having received his second warning his channel is on the chopping block.

There are still many platforms on which you can follow his work (detailed in the above video), most importantly his website. We do suggest you subscribe either via email or RSS. (Also here is a list of Corbett’s videos that YouTube has already removed).

For creators out there, this is a timely reminder: ALWAYS have hardcopy back-ups of your work and sign up to multiple platforms. The indy platforms are growing in both number and size. From BitChute to LBRY.tv to social networks like Gab and Parler.

Corbett is not the only independent media facing increased censorship and denial of service. Whitney Webb, a great independent researcher and journalist who has written for many outlets and runs UnlimitedHangout.com, is also in danger of having her Patreon shut down.

Likewise, in just the last few weeks, The Last American Vagabond has had both its twitter shut down and its Patreon put “on review”.

Worrying signs. It looks like we might be in for a spring cull of the alternate media herd. Rest assured, we at OffG are already looking into alternate options, should Patreon (or PayPal) decide we are also persona non grata.

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The Asinine Notion That There Is an Easy Solution To Gaining Back ‘Freedom’ – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on March 15, 2021

And yes, Americans were much less dumbed down and much more intelligent in the past, but allowed this government to steal all the schools so that nearly every citizen could be trained to be stupid and obedient. They did this in plain sight. I understood this when I was a young teenager, so why did not millions more also see it? I can tell you, they do not want to know the truth, they simply want to be taken care of at the expense of their neighbors. Soon they will get their wish, as all will be slaves to this heinous and evil system allowed by the very people now complaining.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/03/gary-d-barnett/the-asinine-notion-that-there-is-an-easy-solution-to-gaining-back-freedom/

By Gary D. Barnett

GaryDBarnett.com

Every single week, and sometimes, several times a week, I get letters, usually nasty, about how I have never given any solution to this takeover being experienced today. It is normally something to the tune of: “All you (and others) do is tell us what the problem is, but you ‘never’ tell us what to do about it, and what the solution (apparently a one time fix-all solution) should be to fix it. This question and criticism is irritating to no end, and exposes the real problem that faces us today.

For how am I, or anyone else for that matter, going to be able to convince hundreds of millions, or in this case billions of people, to all act in a way that is not only sane, but that will drive these masses of humanity to at least attempt to help themselves? The very thought of such an attitude should be fully descriptive of why this country and the world are now consumed by a lack of drive to do anything to address their own plight by simply taking personal responsibility. Most everyone in this country apparently thinks that someone else should come up with a ‘plan’ for them, and all ills will magically be cured. How absolutely childish and absurd!

I have penned tens of thousands of words just this past year alone as to what the solution entails, but that does not mean that any large number of people are listening, or more importantly are willing to take any real risk to save themselves.

I am sick of this question, and of those that expect me to fix all their problems in life by “telling them what to do and how to act,” as if they would ever take my advice in the first place. They are willing to do as they are told by government, but not willing to fight or do anything else to save their own liberty. They continually seek a “master’s” approval, and desire to follow the orders of others. This is the problem.

The long letter I received this morning from a reader was pretty much as all the others asking this question or demanding a ‘solution,’ but at least this gentleman was fairly cordial and non-threatening, but still very critical of me and any exposing the problems we face, but not fixing the problems we describe. I am not including his letter, as it was long and somewhat repetitive. I felt I owed him a decent response, so this is what I told him:

“Thank you for writing to me. I appreciate it. I am always disheartened by letters like yours, because I have given the solution over and over again. There is but one, but it is impossible to bring it to fruition by announcing some sort of trick to get this ignorant and indifferent population to do anything other than follow orders. They simply have no desire to protect their own freedom, and seem content to wallow in apathy while waiting for the government to tell them what to do. They go to the polls to choose new masters every year, and every four years, they scream and fight to see which of  the selected two presidential masters will rule them. In what has always been a scam, people continue to vote, which is a fools game, and think because of it they are free. Indoctrination at this level cannot be overcome by simply saying; “Here is a plan for you.” 

If one is to walk the streets of America today and not understand the idiocy present and the depth of our problems due to the people themselves, then blindness has certainly consumed all the masses plus those expecting someone else to come up with a solution to change the minds of 330 million people just by saying “do this.”

The solution is mass disobedience and dissent, but by me telling people to do this, as I have been for over two decades, will not change anything. The people themselves have to stand up and take risk to protect their own liberty, because I or no one else can do it for them.

As to patriots, those that do the state’s bidding in war are not patriots, but simply murderers for the state, and are perpetuating their own servitude by taking orders to kill others instead of doing something to free themselves. This is just another state trick to get people believing that war is in their interest, when in fact, it just tightens the chains of tyranny at home. Now, the real rulers and their pawns in government are at war against the people, and they still cower in fear of nothing.

And yes, Americans were much less dumbed down and much more intelligent in the past, but allowed this government to steal all the schools so that nearly every citizen could be trained to be stupid and obedient. They did this in plain sight. I understood this when I was a young teenager, so why did not millions more also see it? I can tell you, they do not want to know the truth, they simply want to be taken care of at the expense of their neighbors. Soon they will get their wish, as all will be slaves to this heinous and evil system allowed by the very people now complaining.

Only individual resolve and a willingness to take great risk in order to restore true freedom can change this course we are on, and absolutely no one can force these citizens to do it; they have to come to that as individuals. Nothing I say or do will change millions of minds and drive them to action, and in fact, if I had to force people to act as I wanted, I would be no better than the low-life scum that is running this country today.”

It is incredible how as soon as a people become subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and willingly that one is led to say that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement.”

~ Etienne de La Boetie (1552-53) “The Politics of Obedience, The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude”

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Fauci and the Communists – AIER

Posted by M. C. on March 14, 2021

The news comes following the revelation last week that Fauci and his deputies were directly coordinating with the Chinese government over COVID-19 messaging during the early outbreak in Wuhan, China. The transparency watchdog organization Judicial Watch has released new government emails acquired via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which show U.S. government health institutions signed off on COVID-19 related non disclosure agreements requested by Chinese Communist Party officials.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?

https://www.aier.org/article/fauci-and-the-communists/

Jordan Schachtel

Jordan Schachtel

This past week, Dr. Anthony Fauci shared a platform with a Chinese Communist Party “health expert,” and it went largely unreported by any Western media outlets. Chinese state media, on the other hand, could not get enough of it, because Fauci delivered a propaganda coup for the communist regime in Beijing. Countless state media outlets and CCP official praised the co-panelists for endorsing the endless amounts of anti-American propaganda shared during the event, which included demanding more devastating draconian restrictions in order to “combat” COVID-19. 

Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a top “expert” in China’s National Health Commission who has been described as “China’s Fauci,” shared a panel with the NIAID chief over Zoom last week. The two discussed COVID-19 policy in a webinar organized by the University of Edinburgh, which also featured “experts” from the Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization. 

In his comments, Zhong hammered the Trump Administration and America in general, but praised the Biden Administration for rejoining the WHO. The Chinese official shared provably false information about China’s COVID-19 response and statistics, and claimed China’s brutal lockdown of Wuhan resulted in China winning its battle against COVID-19. 

A loyal CCP member, Zhong spewed endless streams of false information, as lockdowns have not worked anywhere they have been tried, and they have been tried in almost every country in the world, with no demonstrable positive results.

Zhong continued, showing a slide presenting the U.S. as having the world’s worse COVID-19 response, with China demonstrating the world’s best response, which again, he attributes to the lockdown in Wuhan.

Zhong ended his presentation urging other countries not to open their economies just yet, and to perhaps wait until the entire world is vaccinated, which will take a few years. He also made the baseless claim that vaccine immunity is superior to natural immunity, which he falsely described as “less-scientific.” Meanwhile, China’s economy and society, which includes a largely unvaccinated population, has been open since March of 2020.

Fauci endorsed Zhong’s comments, saying he “would underscore everything that Professor Zhong said.” The so-called public health expert added that he wants “a multi year decades commitment, and that is to make and strive for essentially access to quality healthcare for everyone in the world, so that health is really a human right in many respects.”

Fauci embraced the Chinese propaganda, emphasizing the importance of Wuhan-style lockdowns to “suppress” the virus.

“To emphasize something that both of us said; if we do not completely suppress this, we will continue to be challenged by variants which have a way of coming back to bite us,” Fauci said.

“We have been successful in the past by global cooperation with smallpox, with polio, with measles. There’s no reason in the world why we cannot do the same thing with COVID-19 by a combination of cooperative public health measures and the application of science,” he added.

You can watch the entire panel here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/frQtUFfFQzU?enablejsapi=1?feature=oembed

Fauci’s appearance was praised endlessly by Chinese state run media outlets and Chinese Communist Party officials. Here’s a small sample size of the Chinese state apparatchik responses to the Fauci-Zhong panel.

Prof. Zhong Nanshan, the leading #Chinese respiratory disease expert, & Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top #US infectious disease expert, met via video link to exchange views on #COVID19 control ystd(2/3) evening. A right way for the two countries to work together in defeating the virus. pic.twitter.com/LxJppoGYQ1— Ambassador Deng Xijun (@China2ASEAN) March 3, 2021

When Dr. Zhong Nanshan meets Dr. Fauci. Their consensus: solidarity and cooperation against #COVID19.https://t.co/aoIdCR9Cd0 pic.twitter.com/4tKGdaQNgY— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) March 3, 2021

Leading Chinese respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan, top U.S. infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci call for more efforts to enhance global solidarity and cooperation to beat the deadly #coronavirus https://t.co/TA52T239D2 pic.twitter.com/F79DG9AAf7— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 4, 2021

What are the lessons we can learn from the pandemic?
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Zhong Nanshan speak about the need for international cooperation, strategy, and honesty from leaders in public health emergencies. pic.twitter.com/aR1KiDRwPM— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) March 3, 2021

When Dr. Zhong Nanshan meets Dr. Fauci. Their consensus: solidarity and cooperation against #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/ry55dToXMy— China Economy (@CE_ChinaEconomy) March 3, 2021

The news comes following the revelation last week that Fauci and his deputies were directly coordinating with the Chinese government over COVID-19 messaging during the early outbreak in Wuhan, China. The transparency watchdog organization Judicial Watch has released new government emails acquired via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which show U.S. government health institutions signed off on COVID-19 related non disclosure agreements requested by Chinese Communist Party officials.

These Fauci emails offer tremendous support for the claim that US officials allowed Chinese communists to script the US response in the pandemic. https://t.co/DNFcVGpamN pic.twitter.com/LTyyt2FF9s— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) March 5, 2021

It’s important to recall that the United States and over 100 countries initiated lockdowns exclusively because of the “data” that was being transmitted out of Wuhan. It was faulty, unchallenged Chinese data, repeated by authoritative figures like Fauci and his colleagues, that convinced the world to undergo lockdowns and embrace early, aggressive ventilation of COVID-19 patients, among other botched, unscientific treatment and mitigation measures.

China instigated global panic through a deliberate disinformation campaign surrounding the novel coronavirus. Moreover, Beijing invented the concept of a healthy quarantine lockdown.

Reprinted from the author’s blog

Jordan Schachtel

Jordan Schachtel

Jordan Schachtel is an investigative journalist and foreign policy analyst based in Washington, D.C.

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Why a Green New Deal Is More Expensive Than Joe Biden Realizes | Mises Wire

Posted by M. C. on March 14, 2021

Price signals! Government does need no stinkin’ price signals.

 States like Texas, however, have failed to heed considerations of both net energy and supply and demand in installing massive wind farms at great taxpayer expense where fossil fuels would be far cheaper and more reliable. Lacking price signals, the central planner is blind to the economic consequences of his grand designs.

https://mises.org/wire/why-green-new-deal-more-expensive-joe-biden-realizes

Charlie Deist

One of President Biden’s first executive actions was to declare January 27 “Climate Day.” This ad hoc holiday provided an opportunity for his administration to celebrate the latest rationale for economic central planning. The day’s festivities began with three executive orders on climate change, science, and technology.

In his remarks, Biden bundled his environmental agenda with a jobs program, along with a broader policy to address social inequality and environmental injustice. Among the ambitious goals of Biden’s $2 trillion Green New Deal are 1 million new high-paying union jobs in the automobile industry, half a million electric car charging stations, and a 100 percent carbon pollution–free electric sector by 2035. 

The goal of transitioning the electrical grid to zero carbon emissions in the next fifteen years stands out as a singularly misguided effort. Even granting the nonobvious assumption that we must immediately transition away from fossil fuels, overhauling the American energy infrastructure is a vast and complex calculation problem. To be truly sustainable, individuals and firms would need to act on local knowledge, assessing where and what kinds of renewables might meet their energy needs.

The concept of “net energy” illustrates why replacing fossil fuels with large-scale renewable energy is often counterproductive. In Carbon Shift, a 2009 book discussing peak oil and climate change, David Hughes summarizes it like this:

A two-megawatt windmill contains 260 tonnes of steel requiring 170 tonnes of coking coal and 300 tonnes of iron ore, all mined, transported and produced by hydrocarbons. The question is: how long must a windmill generate energy before it creates more energy than it took to build it? At a good wind site, the energy payback day could be in three years or less; in a poor location, energy payback may be never. That is, a windmill could spin until it falls apart and never generate as much energy as was invested in building it.

This life-cycle accounting of “energy return on energy invested” (EROEI) succinctly describes multiple stages of intermediate capital within a hydrocarbon-based structure of production. Hughes also hints at the basic questions facing all entrepreneurs—namely, where they should place their investments and how they should configure heterogeneous capital to recoup up-front costs plus some profit or “windfall.”

Wind turbines and solar panels do enjoy a wide market in off-grid applications, such as remote farm properties and on oceangoing sailboats, where the abundance of wind and scarcity of petroleum products makes the investment a no-brainer. In sunny parts of the country, solar has reached “grid parity.” States like Texas, however, have failed to heed considerations of both net energy and supply and demand in installing massive wind farms at great taxpayer expense where fossil fuels would be far cheaper and more reliable. Lacking price signals, the central planner is blind to the economic consequences of his grand designs.

The president revealed his ignorance of the technological and economic problem at hand when he stated matter of factly, “We know what to do, we’ve just got to do it.” On the contrary, we have no idea how to create a nonpolluting electrical grid without emitting much more carbon in the process than we otherwise would have. 

If the government invests trillions of dollars in energy-intensive capital investments—whether wind farms, solar charging stations, or transformer stations—it will have two primary effects. 

First, it will frontload carbon emissions into the construction phase. This may offer the illusion of reducing pollution when in fact it merely shuffles emissions to a prior stage of production. California’s high-speed rail, for example, will take an estimated seventy-one years to offset its own construction emissions through the cars it will hypothetically replace (assuming it is ever completed). Furthermore, electric charging stations are typically powered by coal or natural gas—not solar panels. 

Second, and relatedly, a Green New Deal funded by debt will distort the capital structure, skewing investment toward long-term fixed capital assets at the expense of the intermediate capital maintenance of the overall structure of production. Theoretically we could burn more coal, petroleum, and natural gas today to build a zero-pollution electrical infrastructure for tomorrow. But when it comes time to service offshore wind turbines, will the helicopters and boats used for maintenance be powered by electricity as well? And what kind of energy will power the factories that manufacture the solar panels and wind turbines? Claiming that they will run on renewables is eerily similar to the circular reasoning and magical thinking used by proponents of modern monetary theory to promote the illusion of spending without taxation.

The Green New Deal is, if anything, a formula for a new dark age. Texas’s recent power outages show the difficulty of the task facing grid managers. There, an attempt to prematurely transition to unreliable wind energy exacerbated the strain on the grid when turbines froze at the crucial moment when they were most needed. The grid managers failed to keep a maintain a sufficient buffer, even without the additional mandate of ensuring the creation of new green jobs and mitigating the discriminatory effects of climate change. It is ironic that a state and nation so rich in natural energy resources would be leading the charge to cancel fossil fuels in favor of technology that has never been proven effective, or even environmentally friendly, at a large scale.

The stock of fossil fuels is large but not infinite. Geological surveys indicate that there is plentiful energy in the ground to advance civilization and develop new sources of abundant and nonpolluting energy. However, we must be careful not to squander our petroleum patrimony on unused charging stations, unreliable wind farms, and half-finished trains to nowhere. Author:

Charlie Deist

Charlie Deist is a writer, radio producer, and sailboat captain in Berkeley, California. He received his BA in economics from UC Berkeley.

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