Month: October 2021

It’s been no secret that two decades of the largely failed ‘war on terror’ started under the Bush administration has led to increased suicides and rates of depression among US military veterans. This trend is likely also to only continue in the wake of the horrific Afghan evacuation debacle and final pullout from August. “What was it all for?” – many veterans have asked, no doubt compounding mental health problems for many who have also returned from multiple deployments in places like Iraq.

New data released by the defense department Thursday reveals military suicides have increased by a hugely alarming 15% from last year. Army and Marine Corps leadership, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is calling it “troubling”, the Associated Press reports, prompting top brass to call for “action” and greater intervention. 

Most deaths among the major branches occurred in the Army and Marine Corps, with 580 suicides from both, a number up from 504 the year before.  Navy suicides actually barely dropped from 81 to 79, the total Air Force suicides saw no change, at 109 deaths.

AP details of the data that “Of those, the number of suicides by Army National Guard troops jumped by about 35%, from 76 in 2019 to 103 last year, and the active duty Army saw a nearly 20% rise.” And further, “Marine Corps suicides went up by more than 30%, from 47 to 62; while the Marine Corps Reserves went from nine deaths to 10.”

Defense Secretary Austin reacted to the new figures by saying, “Suicide rates among our service members and military families are still too high, and the trends are not going in the right direction.”

Often on-job stress is described as a potential contributing factor to troop suicides, but perhaps more often the strains on marriages due to military life, or financial and other personal issues. Naturally the question of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is being examined, however, some military commanders have downplayed this: 

Army Maj. Gen. Clement Coward, acting executive director for the Force Resiliency office, said the department did not see a “statistical change in suicide rates” to indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact.

He argued that for the pandemic to have been a significant or observable cause in the rise since last year, there’d have to be greater statistical increase per 100,000 service members. 

But given percentage-wise the military numbers generally track with civilian rates across the states, deaths by suicide in the armed forces may just be a reflection of rates in the American population at large. And like the broader US population data reveals, “By far, the most common method of suicide was a gun, followed by hanging or asphyxiation.”

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

An endless tsunami of illegal drugs is turning the streets of our major cities into desolate wastelands, and yet our politicians seem powerless to do anything about it.  In fact, in some of our biggest cities the politicians actually don’t seem interested in doing anything about it.  As I will discuss below, open air drug markets are operating freely right in the heart of New York City at this moment.  Dealers and addicts go about their business without the slightest fear that the police will do anything.  Meanwhile, the national death toll just continues to rise.  An all-time record 93,000 Americans died as a result of a drug overdose last year.  That was an increase of nearly 30 percent from the year before, and authorities are already warning that there will be another huge jump when the final numbers for 2021 come in.

Federal law enforcement authorities are trying to do what they can, but they know that they are fighting a losing battle.  On Thursday, they announced that they just seized 1.8 million counterfeit pills, but in the big picture that is only a drop in the bucket.

Right now, federal officials are warning that more fake medications are circulating on our streets than we have ever seen before, and a very large proportion of them contain fentanyl.  According to the DEA, the number of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills that they have been able to intercept has risen by almost 430 percent since 2019…

Counterfeit pills are more lethal than ever before. The number of DEA-seized counterfeit pills with fentanyl has jumped nearly 430 percent since 2019. DEA lab testing reveals that 2 out of every 5 pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.

This is one of the biggest reasons why vast hordes of mindless addicts now endlessly roam the streets of our major cities like zombies.

For these addicts, their primary goal in life is always the next fix, and what most Americans don’t realize is that “most of the counterfeit pills coming into the United States are produced in Mexico and China”…

“Drug traffickers, both here and abroad, are increasingly using counterfeit pills to package and distribute the poison that illicit fentanyl is,” said Thomas Hodnett, acting special agent in charge of the DEA’s Philadelphia Division. Law enforcement officials say most of the counterfeit pills coming into the United States are produced in Mexico and China.

You see, the truth is that the drug war never actually ended, and it is being won by the Mexican drug cartels and the Chinese.

And thanks to social media, counterfeit pills are now easier to distribute than ever before…

The DEA said the counterfeit pills — made to look like real opioid medications such as oxycodone, Percocet or Adderall — are sold on the street by dealers or online, including through social media platforms.

“If you have a smartphone and you’re sitting on the sofa at home … your drug dealer is right there in your hands,” DEA spokesperson Anne Edgecomb said in an interview with NPR.

Of course dealers are constantly having to search for new customers because so many of their existing customers end up dying.

Fentanyl is extremely potent, and it only takes a couple of milligrams to kill you…

Mexican drug cartels increasingly are manufacturing the pills with fentanyl, which is at least 30 times more potent than heroin and is fatal in doses of as little as two milligrams.

“It’s everywhere,” says Robert Bell, head of the DEA’s Chicago field division. “They’re available in street deals, for purchase online, in schools. It’s very scary.”

This is a major national security crisis, because it is absolutely devastating communities all across the nation.

But as I stated at the top of the article, many of our politicians don’t even seem interested in finding a solution.

In New York City, the Garment District has become a horrifying drug-infested cesspool…

The block bordered by 35th and 36th streets, and Seventh and Eighth Avenues, is “littered with used needles, broken glass crack pipes, trash, urine, and feces” as junkies shoot up and dealers brazenly sell drugs, lamented one neighbor on social media. “I’ve personally seen dozens of deals go down. I’ve seen a person OD and nearly die.”

During a single walk around the block last week, The Post witnessed three different people injecting needles in their wrists or fingers in the middle of the afternoon. Each addict sat on the sidewalk or in empty storefronts. Dozens of other junkies sat or lay nearly comatose, many of the men shirtless, on the same block.

But instead of doing something about it, the politicians in New York have apparently told the police “to let junkies roam free”…

The NYPD appears to have only a token presence. Two cops stood on Eighth Avenue between 35th and 36th, leaning up against a police van while staring into their phones, as illicit activities swirled around them.

But cops have been “effectively ordered” by city and state leaders to let junkies roam free, said Manny Gomez, a former NYPD sergeant and FBI special agent who now heads MG Security Services.

Of course whenever you have large numbers of addicts concentrated in one location you are going to see a spike in crime, and that is precisely what we are witnessing in the Garment District…

Crime in the Midtown South Precinct, which includes the Garment District, is up 41 percent this year through Sept. 19 compared to the same period in 2020, according to NYPD crime data.

The most eye-popping spikes are in the number of robberies – which increased 189 percent from 97 to 280 – and felony assaults – which increased 151 percent from 131 to 329.

Sadly, New York is far from alone.  For a very long time I have been warning that major cities all over America were being transformed into crime-ridden, drug-infested hellholes, and it is getting worse with each passing year.

It has been estimated that approximately 23 million Americans are addicted to drugs, but nobody knows the real number.  It isn’t as if there is any sort of a “drug census” that would give us a more accurate count.

But what we do know is that the problem is bigger than it has ever been in our entire history.

We have raised entire generations of Americans to believe that their only purpose in life is to serve our soulless, corrupt system.  Of course millions of people do eagerly get on the hamster wheel and try to grab as much money and stuff as they can because they think that they will eventually achieve fulfillment that way.  But millions of others quickly realize that the game is meaningless and they search out other ways to make themselves happy.  A lot of drug addicts didn’t start out as bad people, but their search for happiness ended up taking them down some paths that they never should have gone down.

If you are searching for meaning in life, our society doesn’t have any answers for you.  Those that run things just want to control and manipulate you as they make themselves even richer and more powerful.

It is imperative that we all learn to think for ourselves, because many of those that don’t learn to think for themselves end up being stuck in their little game for their entire lives.

*  *  *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

Former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo has responded to a recent Yahoo News investigation detailing Trump Administration plans to kidnap or kill Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that he makes “no apologies” for whatever measure his agency planned to take to safeguard “sensitive information” – covered in the latest Ron Paul Liberty Report.

Pompeo in his first public response and comments on the bombshell Yahoo News investigation said:

“I make no apologies for the fact that we and the administration were working diligently to make sure we were able to protect this important sensitive information from whether it was cyber actors in Russia, or the Chinese military, or anyone who was trying to take this information away from us.”

Pompeo had further said Yahoo News’ “sources didn’t know what we were doing” in attempting to disparage the main revelations in the story as inaccurate or false. 

So far the government’s responses to the report have been a variety of “no comment” – with former top Trump administration officials like Pompeo not giving much information either.

“Pompeo did not respond to multiple interview queries by Yahoo News, and a detailed request for comment, sent over a two-month period prior to the story’s publication.”

But his “no apologies” statement was perhaps the closest he’ll come to an admission that many of the details in the Yahoo report are indeed correct. He also called for leakers that provided key revelations in the report (a number of Trump-era intel officials divulged information) to be prosecuted.

Mike “We Lied, We Cheated, We Stole” Pompeo does not dispute overseeing the operation to spy on, terrorize and consider assassinating Assange and his associates. Instead, he calls for the prosecution of official sources that confirmed his role. https://t.co/C5ljqK8IVu

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 30, 2021

Further White House spokesperson Jen Psaki had also been asked about US intelligence attempts to kill or kidnap Julian Assange during the years-long period he was holed up at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. She simply referred questions to the DOJ and CIA, refusing to provide White House official comment in statements issued Tuesday.

A new poll from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia reveals that 52% of Trump voters and 41% of Biden voters ‘at least somewhat agree’ that red and blue states should secede from the union, splitting the country.

Via Mediaite:

The idea that the nation’s political divide has become so toxic that we should prepare from some sort of “national divorce” has largely been left to clever thought experiments best left for dinner parties and ironically detached columns. However, we’ve now arrived at a point where more than half of Trump voters “somewhat agree” that the time for secession is nigh.

From the Center for Politics report:

Significant numbers of both Trump and Biden voters show a willingness to consider violating democratic tendencies and norms if needed to serve their priorities. Roughly 2 in 10 Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a “President could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts,” and roughly 4 in 10 (41%) of Biden and half (52%) of Trump voters at least somewhat agree that it’s time to split the country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union.

*  *  *

The poll also finds that while roughly 80% of Trump and Biden voters prefer democracy  to a non-democratic form of government, 60% of Trump voters don’t see America as a representative democracy – and instead more of a system run by and rigged for the benefit of the wealthy.

More from the Center for Politics report:

— Majorities of Trump and Biden voters express support for several elements of the bipartisan infrastructure and reconciliation bills being debated in Congress, but there are marked differences in their levels of support.

— Majorities — often large majorities — of both Biden and Trump voters express some form of distrust for voters, elected officials, and media sources they associate with the other side. A strong majority of Trump voters see no real difference between Democrats and socialists, and a majority of Biden voters at least somewhat agree that there is no real difference between Republicans and fascists.

— Significant numbers of both Trump and Biden voters show a willingness to consider violating democratic tendencies and norms if needed to serve their priorities. Roughly 2 in 10 Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a “President could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts,” and roughly 4 in 10 (41%) of Biden and half (52%) of Trump voters at least somewhat agree that it’s time to split the country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union.

Moderna’s Japanese distributor, Takeda, said on Friday that “human error” caused metal particles that ‘react to magnets’ to contaminate batches of Covid-19 vaccines doses, leading to the suspension of 1.63 million vials.

At least two people died within days of receiving jabs from contaminated batches, however it is unclear if the contaminants caused the deaths, as they fit the profile of vaccine-induced myocarditis.

According to Reuters, Takeda – which imports and distributes the vaccine in Japan, said in a new report that the Spanish factory where the vaccine was manufactured had discovered contaminants in some vials which they say was caused by incorrect assembly due to a ‘visual misjudgement of the required 1mm gap’ between the stopper lids on the affected vials and the machinery which is used to insert them.

Five total lots were affected by the issue, three of which were shipped to Japan after passing inspection before they were recalled. The last two lots were withheld by the Spanish manufacturer, Rovi, after failing inspection on July 2.

A total of five, sequential lots of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine manufactured at Rovi between June 27 and July 3 were investigated. The first three were shipped to Japan and later recalled after the discovery of particles, later determined to be stainless steel, inside 39 vials.

But a fourth lot failed inspection after the discovery of particles on July 2, and a fifth lot was also held back by Rovi. The problems with Lots 4 and 5 were reported to Moderna, Takeda and Japan’s health ministry, but the first three lots were released for use because they “had passed inspection and were not considered to be impacted.” –Reuters

The report said that the manufacturing process would use a new precision tool to prevent the issue from recurring.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

New guidelines promulgated by a top Biden administration official on Thursday advise immigration enforcement agents that being in the country illegally is not by itself enough reason to arrest somebody.

More than 11 million illegal immigrants are estimated to be in the United States, but Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not have the resources to arrest and seek to remove all of them, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a memorandum laying out the guidelines. He urged agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an office inside DHS, to exercise “discretion” in enforcing immigration rules.

“The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen therefore should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them,” he wrote.

“We will use our discretion and focus our enforcement resources in a more targeted way. Justice and our country’s well-being require it,” he added.

Only illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security, pose a threat to public safety, or pose a threat to border security should be targeted for removal, according to the guidelines.

Triggers include a noncitizen committing certain crimes or having a serious prior criminal record; being engaged or suspected of terrorism or espionage; or being apprehended while trying to illegally enter the United States at the border.

Being in the country without a green card or other legitimatization documents means a person can be removed under U.S. law. The new guidelines mean the administration is acknowledging that it won’t enforce the law, critics immediately charged.

“The person who swore an oath to uphold immigration law *as written by Congress* has declared that immigration law will be upheld according only to his diktats,” NumbersUSA, which advocates for lower immigration levels as a way to “allow present and future generations of Americans to enjoy a stabilizing U.S. population,” wrote in a social media post.

Level of Illegal Immigration Setting Record

The guidance comes as the United States under President Joe Biden sees record-setting levels of illegal immigration. Some experts believe a new fiscal year record will likely be set when the numbers for September come in and are almost certain that at the current pace of border crossings—which rose during the hot summer months instead of following the typical trendline—the yearly record will be eclipsed.

“As many as 400,000 migrants” are heading to the U.S. border, NBC News reports.

“An unprecedented number…nearly doubling the stunning numbers we’ve seen the last two months, which were a 21-year high.”

“As many as 400,000 migrants” are heading to the U.S. border, NBC News reports.

“An unprecedented number…nearly doubling the stunning numbers we’ve seen the last two months, which were a 21-year high.” pic.twitter.com/6kPDR1rE1H

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 1, 2021

Biden upon taking office halted construction of the border wall, stopped the Trump era “Remain in Mexico” program, and curtailed use of emergency pandemic powers to expel illegal immigrants. The policies have served to entice illegal immigration, according to experts, immigrants, and members of Congress from both parties.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) linked the jump in illegal immigration to the increasing lack of in-country enforcement seen in Mayorkas’s memo.

“The Biden administration has welcomed the flood of illegal aliens crossing our border and is now promising those same illegal aliens that they may stay in the U.S. without repercussions,” he said on Twitter.

Mayorkas, nominated to his post by Biden and approved by the Senate, sees it differently.

He said in a statement that the guidelines will “require an assessment of the individual and take into account the totality of the facts and circumstances.”

“In exercising this discretion, we are guided by the knowledge that there are individuals in our country who have been here for generations and contributed to our country’s well-being, including those who have been on the frontline in the battle against COVID, lead congregations of faith, and teach our children. As we strive to provide them with a path to status, we will not work in conflict by spending resources seeking to remove those who do not pose a threat and, in fact, make our nation stronger,” he added.

The guidelines are poised to take effect on Nov. 29.

But they’re likely to face legal challenges. The enforcement priorities they’re replacing, which were issued by ICE’s acting director, Tae Johnson, in February, were blocked in August by a federal judge.

Johnson attempted to direct agents not to focus on detaining and removing certain illegal immigrants. But U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, a Trump nominee, found that the Executive Branch was, through Johnson’s memo, trying to “enforce a law enacted by Congress in a way that is contrary to the plain language of the law.”

An appeals court panel, though, earlier this month largely overturned the decision.

A separate challenge over the February memo was filed over the summer by ICE agents and sheriffs. That case has not been decided yet by a federal district court in Texas.

Other lawsuits have been lodged against other aspects of the administration’s immigration policies, including its widespread release of illegal immigrants into the U.S. interior, including one filed by Florida this week.

*  *  *

Interestingly, as the New York Post notes, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the Biden administration could maintain a Trump-era public health authority that would allow for the rapid deportation of migrant families due to the Covid-19 pandemic, known as Title 42.

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote in his Sept. 16 ruling that “in view of the wide availability of testing, vaccines, and other minimization measures, the Court is not convinced that the transmission of COVID-19 during border processing cannot be significantly mitigated.”

The appeals court’s decision came hours after NBC News reported that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had asked top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials whether they were prepared for up to 400,000 people to try to enter the US in October if Sullivan’s order was upheld. -NY Post

Is Nancy Pelosi going to call this xenophobic?

In what’s without doubt the largest group of Chinese aircraft to fly near Taiwan in a long while, the PLA military mounted a huge show of force aimed at the democratic island and its Western backers on China’s National Day – which commemorates the formal proclamation of the establishment of the communist People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said 25 total jets breached its air defense identification zone Friday (ADIZ), causing the self-ruled island to once again scramble air patrols and track the aircraft with anti-air missile defenses which were put on high alert. Later into the evening, 13 more were recorded breaching the ADIZ in a separate breach, totaling a record-smashing 38 Chinese aircraft.

The first incident included 18 J-16 fighter jets alongside two H-6 bombers, and other aircraft, a military statement indicated.

Friday’s incursion comes on the heels of another large PLA flight from last week, which saw a total two dozen fighter jets approach Taiwan on two separate occasions. Last April had also seen a PLA incursion of up to 25 warplanes, which up to that point had been the biggest all year.

That prior incident came simultaneous to Taiwan’s provocative announced intentions to joint the trans-Pacific trade group which China also applied to join (namely the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP). 

International reports detailing Friday’s incursion cited a map Taiwan’s military released, which indicated the PLA planes near the disputed Pratas Island, with the two bombers coming near the the adjacent atoll.

25 PLA aircraft (J-16*18, SU-30*4, H-6*2 and Y-8 ASW) entered #Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ on October 1, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/C7012S8hSo pic.twitter.com/HoalLl3Ewx

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) October 1, 2021

And later in the evening (local time), another incursion included 13 more PLA aircraft.

At 38 total Chinese fighters entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Friday, this marks the greatest number of single-day incursions recorded since Taipei started publicly releasing the data…

13 PLA aircrafts (J-16*10, H-6*2 and KJ-500*1) entered #Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ on October 1, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/0I7yRp7A6o pic.twitter.com/BHU0N81A1s

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) October 1, 2021

So far these threatening PLA incursions have only caused Taipei to double down on increased military spending, as well as its willingness to receive weapons from Washington. For example Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement a week ago that “In the face of severe threats from the enemy, the nation’s military is actively engaged in military building and preparation work, and it is urgent to obtain mature and rapid mass production weapons and equipment in a short period of time.” 

Meanwhile the increasingly large incursions – and ramped up frequency (almost daily at this point) – leaves open the possibility of a ‘live fire’ incident that could spark major war.

The good news: the ridiculous Laguna Beach saga involving billionaire Bill Gross and his millionaire neighbor trying may be finally ending.

The crazier news: Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Knill found Gross and his wife Amy guilty of contempt of court, ruling Friday that they flagrantly violated an order she issued last year prohibiting them from playing music too loudly in their backyard. The judge then ordered Bill Gross to spend five days in jail for flouting her order not to annoy his neighbor with loud music, but since rules don’t apply to the rich, she immediately put the jail sentence on hold, citing the Covid-19 pandemic, and fined the Grosses $1,000 each while ordering Gross and his wife to do two days community service.

It is what Bloomberg called a “surreal turn of events” for the man once known as the “Bond King,” whose obsessive drive brought him to a pinnacle of the financial world, managing billions of dollars at Pimco (he quit after leaving a handwritten resignation letter in the middle of the night) and whose excessive and at times erratic behavior has now culminated in an incarceration for a dispute that for many could’ve been resolved over a garden fence.

Gross personal life followed the arc of his career, and in 2017 his 31-year marriage to Sue Gross ended in a bitter, widely publicized divorce that became the subject of tabloid reports after it was revealed that Gross allegedly left dead fish and other vile smelling liquids in the Southern California mansion he shared with his ex-wife Sue. Gross has said he’s been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and believes it helps explain not only his success but also why he could, by his own admission, rub people the wrong way.

That’s when crazy really got going, and what should have otherwise been a quiet retirement quickly devolved into yet another feeding frenzy for the tabloids. Shortly after purchasing a multilevel home on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach in 2018 for $35.8 million…

… Gross raised the ire of his neighbor, tech entrepreneur and millionaire Mark Towfiq, by putting a protective net over a Dale Chihuly sculpture in his yard.

The details of the spat are by now the stuff of legends: the fight between the two cliffside neighbors boiled over after Gross installed a large glass art installation near the property line they share with Towfiq and his wife, Carol Nakahara, according to court records. After unsuccessful attempts to privately resolve the dispute with Gross and his staff over several months, Towfiq reported the matter to Laguna Beach.

After Towfiq complained, Bill and Amy Gross responded by blasting music outside, including repeatedly playing television theme songs such as “Gilligan’s Island.” Towfiq said the Grosses were trying to pressure him to drop the complaint with the city.

Important update in the @PIMCO founder Bill Gross neighbor dispute in Laguna Beach. Here’s video his neighbor took of the alleged loud music that’s prompted a new evidentiary hearing in the restraining order case. Part 1 YOU BE THE JUDGE: pic.twitter.com/kFnHb5lq6l

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) July 20, 2021

At one point, Bill Gross – who was filmed semi-naked by his neighbor – pulled his best Walter Sobchak impression, saying “I’ve been in Vietnam and I’ve faced bullets from the Viet Cong. I’m not saying this incident was anything like that.”

Watch these clips and decide for yourself. Who’s out of line here? Underwear-clad Bill Gross with @50cent’s “In Da Club” blasting? Or Mark Towfiq, the neighbor who’s filming him? Part 1: pic.twitter.com/2R0CyTsIFt

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 7, 2020

Judge Knill agreed with Towfiq and in December ordered the couple to stop playing music when they weren’t outside and to abide by municipal codes and not disturb their neighbor’s peace. That lasted about six months, Towfiq said.

Towfiq and his wife testified they were jolted out of bed while watching TV in July by loud music coming from the Grosses’ property. Towfiq took videos to record the music and Nakahara called the police. Although officers urged the Grosses to turn off the music, and expressed sympathy to Towfiq and his wife, no charges were filed. Bill and Amy Gross insisted the music was within the legal limit of 60 decibels and they turned it off shortly after being asked to do so by the police.

During the trial, Knill toured the two properties and got to hear what the music sounds like from Towfiq’s home at various levels. She was also shown videos from Towfiq’s phone, security camera and one from Amy Gross’s iPhone that showed the former professional tennis player yelling “I am outside,” while in the pool. She said she had to announce she was outside so Towfiq wouldn’t call the police.

Ultimately, both neighbors claimed they were the victim of the others’ harassment.

Gross’s lawyer Patricia Glaser then accused Towfiq and Nakahara of weaponizing the judge’s December order, while Amy Gross testified she feared going into her own backyard.

“I couldn’t have my wedding reception there,” Amy Gross, who married Bill at their home in Indian Wells in April, told the judge. “I couldn’t have my birthday there.”

Meanwhile, Gross testified his ongoing feud with the neighbor has him feeling like he’s in prison, but vowed he wasn’t going to be forced out of the house.

But Nakahara said she felt helpless because neither the judge’s December order, or calling police, has changed the Grosses’ behavior.
“What else are we supposed to do?” she asked the judge.

In the end, one can only hope that the suspended sentence will finally bring peace to billionaire’s alley in Laguna Beach. Then again, it probably won’t:

*GROSS SAYS CALIFORNIA JUDGE WAS BIASED AGAINST HIM, WIFE

The mysterious Havana Syndrome “sonic attacks” have been back in the media of late, especially after Vice President Kamala Harris’ August tour of Southeast Asian countries was briefly disrupted over claims of a Havana Syndrome attack on US Embassy personnel in Vietnam. And most recently this week it was revealed that last month a CIA officer was evacuated from Serbia after suffering mysterious symptoms which US officials believe was the result of a “directed energy” attack.

Since 2017 there’s been an estimated 200 possible Havanda Syndrome incidents. This week The Wall Street Journal called attention to “a steady expansion of attacks on American spies and diplomats posted overseas by unknown assailants using what government officials and scientists suspect is some sort of directed-energy source.” Top US has officials have used the mysterious ailment to cast suspicion and blame on everyone from the Russians, to the Cubans and Iranians – to any nefarious US enemy and foreign spooks bent on unleashing mayhem from the shadows using James Bond style high-tech devises that have never been recovered or revealed.

Recall that starting in 2016 into 2017 there were bizarre reports that nearly two dozen American diplomats – and a handful of Canadians – serving at embassies in Havana suffered hard-to-pin-down symptoms from the alleged “sonic attacks”. Personnel reported experiencing everything from vomiting to concussions to chronic headaches to minor brain injuries.

But from the start anything in the way of actual evidence was lacking – other than the reports of the strange symptoms themselves (something which varied from person to person, and remained highly subjective in terms of description or severity). The whole initial episode focused on the US Embassy in the Cuban capital gave rise to endless theories.

One prime theory that emerged in 2019 ascribed it to a natural phenomenon due to sounds produced by crickets in Havana. This particular theory wasn’t merely based on the musings of some random US officials, but was advanced by a team of scientists, and was featured in The Guardian in 2019. Other scientists had simultaneously posited the possibility of mass hysteria among staff serving in a high stress environment. 

This week the whole narrative advanced by Washington officials has further unraveled, given Buzzfeed has obtained a new declassified government paper showing government-commissioned scientists themselves say the original Havana Syndrome incidents were “most likely” caused by insects: 

Noises linked to mysterious injuries among US diplomats in Cuba were most likely caused by crickets — not microwave weapons — according to a declassified scientific review commissioned by the US State Department and obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The State Department report was written by the JASON advisory group, an elite scientific board that has reviewed US national security concerns since the Cold War. It was completed in November of 2018, two years after dozens of US diplomats in Cuba and their families reported hearing buzzing noises and then experiencing puzzling neurological injuries, including pain, vertigo, and difficulty concentrating.

The report was originally classified as “secret” but was made public via journalists’ FOIA request. It directly takes aim at the official narrative of a directed energy weapon or sonic attack, calling these possibilities “highly unlikely”. 

The now declassified paper spells out: 

“No plausible single source of energy (neither radio/microwaves nor sonic) can produce both the recorded audio/video signals and the reported medical effects,” the JASON report concluded. “We believe the recorded sounds are mechanical or biological in origin, rather than electronic. The most likely source is the Indies short-tailed cricket.“

The State Department acknowledged the Buzzfeed exposé in a statement, “We are grateful to the JASON Group for their insight, which while coming to no firm conclusions, has assisted us in our ongoing investigation of these incidents,” it said. 

Absolutely one thing I know for sure and it’s that if any other country and their media casually and confidently made these extraordinary claims with the proof we have they’d be mocked by US media as delusional conspiracy theorists, especially if they were a nonwhite country

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) September 29, 2021

One biomedical expert cited by Buzzfeed said the formerly classified report “puts to rest” the whole question of alleged sonic attacks – which has been the prime narrative advanced, spanning both Trump and Biden administrations…

“JASON puts to rest the ‘microwave attack’ theory,” University of Pennsylvania biomedical engineer Kenneth Foster told BuzzFeed News. “While we can’t rule out the idea that somebody might have been trying to harass the US officers, the idea that these were attacks intended to cause injury is supported neither by a smoking gun nor by clearly identified victims.”

For a past example of the kind of statements advanced in mainstream media accounts of the whole phenomenon, see this quote in a Guardian article from this past summer:

“It became clear that some of the work [on sonic energy attacks] that was conducted in the former Soviet Union was taken up again by Russia and its satellite proxies.”

Russia, Russia, Russia!

Mysterious brain injuries have plagued over 130 US spies and diplomats. Were they attacked with a microwave weapon? https://t.co/LbV88CGRLl

— Jacob Shamsian (@JayShams) July 6, 2021

And more from the same report: “But he said Russia was more advanced in understanding the human impact of microwave weapons – partly because it did not face the same ethical constraints.”

Perhaps the next US government sponsored conspiracy theory to come out of this will be that Putin unleashed special warfare crickets on the Havana embassy in order to torment American personnel there. 

In what was probably one of the most difficult media interviews Dr. Anthony Fauci has faced during his entire tenure as President Biden’s top COVID media personality, CNBC’s Sarah Eisen – who revealed at the very beginning that she had tested positive for COVID despite being fully vaccinated (which is why she was calling in from home – laid into the senior White House advisor and NIH chief about the lack of data or disclosures about “breakthrough” infections, and the risks of vaccinated patients spreading the virus to the unvaccinated.

The interview clarified one point Dr. Fauci had been trying so desperately to conceal: that the incidence of breakthrough infections is much higher than the CDC and the government have claimed, and furthermore, Dr. Fauci even hinted that there might be some new “data” coming offering a more realistic analysis of how effective the vaccines truly are.

The interview started with a standard question about the major story of the day, Merck’s new early-intervention treatment for COVID, which, despite its universal acclaim, is facing some questions about safety standards from skeptics.

Breaking news! Merck issues press release telling us how awesome their new drug molnupiravir is. Which the WSJ dutifully publishes as a news item. As a health policy professional researching propagandizing techniques, I thought I’d share some observations: https://t.co/a0342kpfmS

— April Harding (@april_harding) October 1, 2021

Dr. Fauci said that the FDA would review the data and approve the drug as quickly as it can.

“When you have an orally administered medical intervention that attacks the virus…and has this kind of data….the trial was designed to be given early during the course of infection, its an early administration drug that’s very important.”

The good doctor insisted he couldn’t commit to a timeline for approval, then claimed that the treatment.would likely be available to both vaccinated and non-vaxxed alike.

“As for when it will get approved by the FDA, “the company says it will be imminently be sending the data to the FDA, so you need to give the FDA the time to go over the data…I can’t get ahead of them, I can’t tell you what it will be, but without giving a timeline, know that they are working very hard to get it done.”

“This is a treatment for infection, so whether you get infected following vaccination or without one…I would assume if you’re infected you’re infected, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re vaccinated or not…but let’s leave that for the regulatory authorities…”

“In my opinion as a public health professional, it’s always better to not get infected than to get infected and rely on a drug to prevent you from getting advanced disease. No drug by any means is 100% effective. Looking at the study, it’s a quite good result, with 50% protection. A 50% increase remember, there were people on the treatment arm who didn’t have a successful result. The best way to not get infected is to get vaccinated.”

Finally, Eisen Hit Dr. Fauci with a surprise hard ball: She cited “data” collected within her own family, whereby three vaccinated people got COVID and immediately passed it on to two unvaccinated children.

Eisen then suggested that the CDC might be “too casual” about breakthough infections, and also questioned “How can the CDC keep saying COVID “breakthrough” infections are rare if they have no data?”

To this, Dr. Fauci replied that the CDC is scrambling to change this, and even hinted that more data on the true rate of breakthrough infections would likely soon arrive.

“Three vaccinated people got Covid in my house two unvaccinated children got it…are you too casual about the limitations of the vaccine? It seems to me these breakthroughs are happening and they’re happening regularly. You can get it and transmit it and the government hasn’t been warning about that,” Eisen said.

“Oh yes we have and let me get you the facts. If you are an unvaccinated person you have 11x the likelihood of hospitalization...if you look at the people who have died from COVID-19, overwhelmingly they have been unvaccinated,” Dr Fauci

Fauci adds that “over 90%” who have been unvaccinated – but of course that vast majority of deaths occurred before the vaccine rollout even started, making this statement slightly misleading.

As for determining how many unvaccinated have died since the program began, it’s not exactly clear since this data wasn’t being tracked. Though deaths and hospitalizations have fallen since vaccination rates have risen, but there’s still many questions about whether the young and health actually benefit.

Fortunately, CNBC released this clip.

“If you look at the people who have died from COVID-19, overwhelmingly 90% of them are unvaccinated,” says Dr. Fauci. “If you get vaccinated and get a break through infection, you are much less likely of having a severe outcome and much more likely you would be without symptoms.” pic.twitter.com/gEFsIjTNWj

— CNBC’s Closing Bell (@CNBCClosingBell) October 1, 2021

As for the CDC tracking breakthrough infections, Eisen also pressed Dr. Fauci about the fact that “the CDC says on its website that infections occur among…unvaccinated…but the CDC doesn’t even track the breakthrough infections so how do we know that they’re only a small portion and that they’re relatively mild?”

Dr. Fauci had nothing really to say to this except to admit she was of course correct while offering a flimsy excuse about the CDC working on it.

“Well in the past the CDC has not tracked real or asymptomatic infections, but there are studies being done that would give the kind of data you’re talking about.”

“And with the booster program we’re rolling out, we hope to see an improved effect. Israeli data have shown that when you give an at risk person a booster shot, they’re chances of being hospitalizations drop.”

The interview with a question from CNBC host Wilfred Frost about the risks of any future variants, to which Dr. Fauci responded with the typical fear-mongering.

“I’ll give an answer that’s totally consistent with what I’ve said before, is the likelihood of seeing something worse…is completely in our own control…if we allow the virus to freely circulate, particularly among unvaccinated people, you give the virus a greater possibility of producing a variant that could create some trouble for our vaccines.”

But overall, the interview makes clear: the media is starting to get curious about the growing reports of breakthrough infections of public officials like Brett Kavanaugh (whose diagnosis was announced today) to family members and friends.

Whatever it is, the 90%+ rate they insist on seems increasingly like a stretch.

Clips of the grilling have started to surface on Twitter, but CNBC has yet to release a clip.

Everytime @SaraEisen gets a chance to talk with Dr. Fauci on CNBC Closing Bell, I appreciate her more. Professional and human questioning.

Notice the squirming when questioned. Hard to watch. pic.twitter.com/HNPhCZHwrp

— ThereIsaProblem (@wingsnotofwax) October 1, 2021