patrick.net

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/lobstering-wednesday-may-15-2024

NBC ran a fishy story yesterday headlined, “Red Lobster closing at least 99 locations as its future comes into question.” ...

But the CEO of Thai Union Group, the seafood chain’s largest shareholder, implicitly blamed Bidenomics: “The combination of Covid-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders,” Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group’s CEO, said in a statement.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/lobstering-wednesday-may-15-2024

Given our struggling businesses and the shrinking pocketbooks of our consumers, is this a good time for a trade war? Despite Biden running against Trump’s China tariffs in 2016, they are good now, since a barely-cognitive care-home resident thinks so. Lost in the chatter yesterday about Biden’s economic flip-flopping was the fact these are more sanctions. Aljazeera ran the story yesterday under the headline, “Biden slaps new tariffs on Chinese imports, ratcheting trade war.” ...

Biden’s hypocrisy knows no bounds, and so forth. He’s doing exactly what he criticized Trump for during the last election cycle, and he’s doing exactly what the United States government has made into a national pastime for the well-connected. But that’s not the real story.

The real story is that the sanctions war against China just shifted into the highest gear. They skipped all the intermediate gears. No ramping up or anything. It’s economic nuclear war. The new ‘tariffs’ affect an estimated eighteen billion in annual imported Chinese goods like steel, aluminium, semiconductors, electric vehicles, critical minerals, solar cells and for some reason, cranes.

And it’s not just any little warning tariff, either. Biden has quadrupled import duties on Chinese electric vehicles — a jump of more than 100% — and doubled duties on semiconductor tariffs — up 50%.

Why do I call it economic war? Well, for one thing it was right there, in the Aljazeera article:

"China immediately promised retaliation. Its Ministry of Commerce said Beijing was opposed to the tariff hikes by the United States and would take measures to defend its interests."

For another thing, they told us this would happen, not even three weeks ago. Headline from Politico, April 26th:




But even though a child could connect these dots, useless corporate media is dutifully reporting the fake Biden narrative, that the tariffs are somehow intended to help the U.S.’s economy, instead of admitting the truth: this is part of the Ukraine war. Sanctions catastrophically failed against Russia — which is why they’re not calling the tariffs ‘sanctions’ this time — and Biden blames China.

https://notthebee.com/article/biden-admin-backs-down-in-the-face-of-lawsuits-after-attempting-to-ban-catholic-group-from-holding-mass-at-national-cemetery

The Biden administration and the National Park Service backed down from their threats to prevent the Knights of Columbus from hosting a Memorial Day Mass at a national cemetery.

All it took was some good old-fashioned lawsuit threats.

The Knights have hosted the annual Memorial Day Mass inside Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia since the 1960's.

On May 21, First Liberty Institute and McGuireWoods LLP filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against National Park Service, so that the Knights can continue on with hosting their annual Memorial Day Mass at the Cemetery. NPS denied the Knights a permit, citing a new policy that designated 'religious services' as prohibited 'demonstrations.' That policy said religious services must be held somewhere outside the cemetery, even though other events may be held in the cemetery.

Yeah, apparently a Catholic Mass is an illegal "demonstration" under Biden's federal government.

Well, it's a "demonstration" until you realize you're not going to win in court. Then it's an approved behavior.

According to First Liberty, the National Park Service denied the Knights a permit to host the Mass because a policy change prohibits 'demonstrations,' including religious services, in the cemetery. It explained to the court that government cannot disfavor faith-based organizations and gatherings simply because they're religious. In fact, under the First Amendment and other federal law, religion and religious groups receive favored treatment and protection.

In the wake of the lawsuit, Biden officials have allowed the service to move forward.

Always assert your rights and push back. You'll be shocked how many of these administration services just don't want to deal with the legal fight.

Especially when you have precedent on your side.

The Knights of Columbus have held this exact ceremony in this exact place for around 60 years. And only under Biden has it suddenly become illegal.

It's a load of crap and we all know it.

'The Knights are thrilled that they will be able to exercise their religious beliefs and keep this honorable tradition alive. We appreciate the tremendous support of Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares in this case,' said First Liberty Senior Counsel Roger Byron.

Good on the Knights for living up to their namesake and fighting for the faith in America.

National Park Service Director
Charles F. Sams III
19th National Park Service Director

Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III was ceremonially sworn in as the 19th director of the National Park Service on Dec. 16, 2021, by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Sams is Cayuse and Walla Walla and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon, where he grew up. He also has blood ties to the Cocopah Tribe and Yankton Sioux of Fort Peck.

Sams most recently served as Oregon Governor Kate Brown's appointee to the Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NW Council) where he held a position as a council member from March to December of 2021. Prior to joining the NW Council, he served as executive director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

For 30 years, Sams has worked in tribal and state government, and in the non-profit natural resource and conservation management field, with an emphasis on the responsibility of strong stewardship for land preservation for this and future generations.

Sams is a veteran of the U.S. Navy where he served as an intelligence specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Concordia University and a Master of Legal Studies in Indigenous Peoples Law from the University of Oklahoma School of Law. He lives with his wife, Lori Lynn (Reinecke) Sams and their youngest daughter in Alexandria, VA.

https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/director.htm

I'd much prefer 'silicon CIA mask testing'.
Patrick says

Apparently the are basing their "strategy" on a fucking fiction book and are still believing in "gentlemen's agreement" with the KGB fucks (just like they believed in one with Mooslim Taliban fucks):

A conceptual suggestion about the need for a U.S.-Russian alliance for confronting China, driven by Sullivan, has completely collapsed

The president of the Center for Global Studies "Strategy XXI", an expert on international security relations, Mykhailo Honchar, said, in a comment to Ukrinform, that the Biden administration’s reluctance to grant us permission to use American weapons inside the Russian Federation could have a background, which has not been recorded officially (although, perhaps, such documents do exist), but, rather, as a kind of an informal “Gentlemen's Agreement". These agreements date back to 2021, where there were certain contacts maintained between the intelligence chiefs of the Russian Federation and the USA - Naryshkin and Burns. Following that, in the fall of the same year, the U.S. began expressing concern about the risk of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mr Honchar reminds.

The expert suggests that, at the time, the Americans probably told the Russians: "We know everything, we clearly see that you are planning this." To this the Russians probably replied, "Yes, we're really planning this and we're not even hiding it."

"This begs a question: why had the USA, knowing as early as 2021 that Russia was making preparations for an invasion, not taken any preventive actions? After all, they had been able to do so. For example, if a pair of American ships came on a friendly mission to the seaport of Odesa a few days before the invasion, the Russian Federation probably would not have dared [to invade]," Mykhailo Honchar believes.

Until 2022, NATO regularly deployed its forces across the Black Sea. But, in early 2022, NATO’s presence there was de facto nullified. NATO ships were no longer deployed to the Black Sea. This suggests, the expert goes on to note, that the United States, at that time, had its own perception about Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine."Hypothetically, proceeding from the assumption that the USA needs a potent ally to confront China, and Russia could well become such an ally (the Russian Federation shares an extended border with China, exceeding 4,000 kilometers in length, making China an existential threat for the Russian Federation), the U.S. was, let’s say so, not completely opposed to an invasion, but on the condition that it is carried out in some hybrid way, Mr. Honchar notes further. The Russian side, perhaps, had convinced the American side that the invasion would not involve a bloody massacre. They probably said that their troops would quickly enter Kyiv, remove the "junta" and - that's it... Now let's recall the days before the invasion, where it was not yet known for sure on which day of February 2022 the invasion would begin. But then Western diplomats began to be evacuated from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv..."

Mr. Honchar also mentioned an article published by "Ukrainska Pravda", headlined "The Three Longest Days of February...", which, in particular, describes a visit to Washington by Ukraine’s top diplomat, Dmytro Kuleba, on February 23, 2022.

"On that day, Biden began asking Kuleba questions about the situation in Ukraine, gave some advice and was talking about support. The rhetoric of this conversation was reminiscent of saying goodbye to a child with cancer, rather than encouraging and empowering an ally ahead of a life-or-death battle. That day, Biden said goodbye to all of Ukraine in the person of Mr. Kuleba ," the article read.

In that context, the expert recalls how initial shipments of American weapons began to arrive in Ukraine in December 2021.

"It was important what kind of weapons were arriving – FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS, FGM-148 Javelin ATGMs – that is, the weapons more suited for use in guerrilla warfare... Perhaps, there was a request or wish expressed by the Russian side that the shipments should not be too big and, most importantly, should not include kinetic attack capabilities so that it would not carry a risk of damage to the Russian Federation’s territory. Moscow then drew a red line for Washington. However, this, in fact, did not happen as expected... The Kyiv-in-three-days blitzkrieg had never succeeded. Accordingly, all unofficial plans or agreements that might have existed between the Americans and Russians had collapsed as new realities were arising."

But even after that, the USA was in no hurry to provide our country with more capable weapons, such as artillery guns, in particular, HIMARS MLRS.

"And it was only under the pressure from allies, other countries of the West, countries of Central Europe, especially the Baltic Sea countries, that the USA began to change its policies," says Mykhailo Honchar. They notified the Russians, apparently through shadow communication channels, that they had violated the agreements. Moscow can make everything public at any moment, indeed, but denials will be coming from Washington..."

The United States' anti-escalation strategy, which involved turning Russia from an adversary into an ally, has failed. But Washington, of course, will never admit this because it will mean that this current White House administration, the American intelligence services, have made a serious slip-up.

Mr. Honchar further notes that: "The U.S. current foreign and security policies are closely connected with the name of Sullivan, with his vision of the global world, and the need for an American-Russian alliance for confronting China. This, of course, wasn’t Sullivan who invented this design. It existed before him. It was popularized in the 1990s by the now-deceased American author, Tom Clancy. In the early 2000s, he released a political thriller novel, The Bear and the Dragon, which explores the need for a U.S.- Russian alliance for countering China’s potential invasion of Siberia. Be as it may, such a concept is wrong. It is impossible to make Russia into a partner for America. The nature of the Russian Federation, of its ruling regimes (Putin's and all previous ones) with all of their authoritarian and totalitarian mechanisms is what brings the Russian Federation closer to China rather than to the United States. That is why the Sullivan-promoted strategy has failed. Does Sullivan personally understand this, or does Washington understand it? I think they do understand, but cannot admit it. Or they are not willing to. After all, it is not about the Russian Federation or China only. If we look at the US Middle East policy... It is also a failure. Iran has managed to create a whole network of its proxies, who now set the rules of the game in the region. Although this is another topic for another analysis,it reveals the overall failure of the Sullivan-Biden strategy, which has had very bad consequences for many of the US partners.

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/aides-cleverly-paint-eyes-on-bidens-eyelids-so-he-looks-like-hes-paying-attention-during-meetings

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/biden-honors-d-day-with-ceremonial-dropping-of-the-dookie

https://x.com/USMiniTru/status/1796979678709682550

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/biden-admin-hires-nascar-pit-crew-to-rapidly-change-bidens-diaper-without-anyone-noticing

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/white-house-says-bidens-ability-to-do-his-job-not-in-any-way-impeded-by-his-rigor-mortis

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/biden-asks-why-europe-didnt-just-arrest-conservative-candidates-before-election

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/the-blue-wall-wednesday-june-12-2024

It’s almost like folks are starting to realize that, sooner or later, the Democrats are going to get us all killed with their gain of function science, shrinkflation, proxy warmongering, mandatory medicines, wide-open borders, no-bail policies, and defunding police. People are voting for self-interest issues far beyond their personal pocketbook problems.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240612/russian-ships-entering-cuba-give-us-a-dose-of-its-own-medicine-1118912634.html

On Wednesday, a squadron of Russian ships, including a frigate capable of firing hypersonic missiles will arrive in Cuba as part of an international partnership program. A nuclear-powered and capable submarine will also be making the trip, along with support vessels.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/contemptuous-thursday-june-13-2024

Apparently, the Biden escalation escalator goes all the way to the top floor. It’s not enough to keep poking the Russian Bear; like a deranged hobo lashing out at anyone who walks by, Biden also insists on prodding the Chinese Dragon. On Monday, Business Insider ran a story headlined, “The US military has a plan to turn the Taiwan Strait into an 'unmanned hellscape' if China invades, top admiral says.”

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/obama-panics-as-his-biden-remote-control-loses-connection