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How Europe Tripped in Covid-19 Vaccine Race

The continent wanted to teach the world a lesson in solidarity. Now its vaccination plan is falling apart.

While other governments were wooing vaccine makers with subsidies and immunity from liability in case of side effects, the EU focused on pushing prices down and slowing negotiations, which resulted in late orders. It also spread its purchases widely to reduce risk, signing deals with companies that are still months away from approved shots. And it was slow to authorize the vaccines it had purchased.

The uncertainty and unease is global. From Asia to Europe to Russia and even the Middle East there is much doubt in the air.

Gun sales on the rise amid pandemic uncertainty, Biden’s vow for gun reform

Gun sales are on the rise across the U.S.

Experts attribute the demand to fear and uncertainty that was sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, protests over racial injustice from last summer and the 2020 presidential election. …

“There’s every indication that it’s not going to slow down anytime soon,” Oliva said. “I think if you walk into any retailer right now, you’re going to see that gun case and that gun shelf is still pretty sparsely populated. That tells me that there’s still an unmet demand.”

Have Scientists Finally Unraveled the 60-Year Mystery Surrounding Nine Russian Hikers’ Deaths?

New research identifies an unusual avalanche as the culprit behind the 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident

Today, the so-called Dyatlov Pass Incident—named after the group’s leader, 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov—is one of Russia’s most enduring mysteries, spawning conspiracy theories as varied as a military cover-up, a UFO sighting, an abominable snowman attack, radiation fallout from secret weapons tests and a clash with the indigenous Mansi people. But as Robin George Andrews reports for National Geographic, new research published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment points toward a more “sensible” explanation, drawing on advanced computer modeling to posit that an unusually timed avalanche sealed the hikers’ fate.

He knows a coup when he sees one.

Biden administration debating whether to call military takeover in Myanmar a ‘coup’

The Biden administration is engaged in an internal debate over whether to call the military takeover in Myanmar a coup, a designation that would have ramifications for US assistance to the country’s government, according to a State Department official and an administration official.

“Spill the beans, man,” Musk said to Tenev on Clubhouse. “What happened last week? Why couldn’t people buy the GameStop shares? The people demand answers, and they want to know the truth.”

New mutant UK coronavirus strains could resist vaccines.

Then all will be well with nothing to report. How censorship is blinding us.

New at the Belmont Club

DoJ Investigating Space X for Not Hiring a Foreign National

The Department of Justice filed a request for a court order to enforce an administrative subpoena in an investigation into Space X for discrimination in hiring.

The investigation into this complaint began under the Trump administration, and the request to enforce an administrative subpoena occurred under the Biden administration. It is unclear if this is just another example of how overregulation puts undue burdens on organizations when agencies have conflicting mandates or if CEO Elon Musk’s recent critical statements could have spurred these actions. He has criticized the FAA for delaying a Space X test flight, questioned the response to the GameStop stock drama, and asserted that the complete transition to electric vehicles by 2035 is not feasible.

Never mind what China and Russia say. It’s the American voters who think Biden cheated that’s the problem. The West, masked, locked down, surveilled and cancel crazy is a long way from ‘whiskey, sexy, freedom’.

As Biden Plans Global Democracy Summit, Skeptics Say: Heal Thyself First

The sense of a dysfunctional, if not entirely broken, democratic system in the United States has foreign rivals crowing — and suggesting that it has no business lecturing other nations.

The Burmese military is back. China is their biggest arms supplier. “President Biden’s administration is reviewing whether the United States will officially label the campaign against the Rohingya genocide.” What happens next?

Myanmar’s Leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Is Detained Amid Coup

Communications were suspended and flights disrupted as the military took power from an elected government and declared a one-year state of emergency.

Myanmar was lauded by Western governments, including the Obama administration, as a democratic beacon in a world where authoritarianism was on the rise. But the political transition in the Southeast Asian nation was never quite as smooth or as significant as the political fairy tale made it out to be.

The information theory of biological aging, if right, means it is reversible in principle. The bad news is that Stalin and Mao might still be alive today.

Incumbents almost never lose in Washington. Imagine Nancy Pelosi as Speaker potentially forever.

What if the Old Ones decide to limit entry to the club?

Britain has returned to the world stage as herself and not just as part of the European Union. The old world order has gone. Something new is stirring in its place. This is the fundamental problem of the Restoration.

Britain will apply to join Asia-Pacific free-trade bloc in the wake of Brexit

Britain will apply to join a massive 11-nation free-trade bloc of Asia-Pacific countries, it announced Saturday, weeks after leaving the European single market with its departure from the EU.

It’s ok be a Communist radical just not the other thing.

Democratic lawmakers call for removal of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over incendiary rhetoric

Lawmakers and activists are calling to remove freshman GOP Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Education Committee and from Congress.

Serious violations but it didn’t matter. But what is the point of process or falsifying the application at all?

Ex-FBI lawyer gets probation for falsifying Carter Page surveillance application

Kevin Clinesmith’s actions were serious, but the warrant probably would have been approved anyway, a judge rules..

Kevin Clinesmith’s actions were serious, but the warrant probably would have been approved anyway, a judge rules..

If mail in voting was good then more is better. But if it’s bad then more is worse since its defects will be proportionately magnified. The migration from in-person to mail-in voting implies an improvement in the chain of proof of identity. The demand for more identity security may run counter to the political promise to expand voter access. Done right it can assist voter choice. Done wrong it can institutionalize voter fraud.

Lawmakers introduce legislation to massively expand mail-in voting

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) on Thursday introduced legislation to allow all registered voters to have the option to vote from home.

They are not deterred by the formidable reputation of the new administration. Doesn’t China know the only adults in the room are watching them?

Chinese H-6 Bombers Heard On Radio Confirming Orders For Simulated Attack On U.S. Aircraft Carrier Near Taiwan

Unsurprisingly, the package of 13 Chinese combat aircraft, (including eight H-6 bombers) entering Taiwan’s ADIZ last Saturday were carrying out a mock attack on USS Theodore Roosevelt. As alr…

A confirmation that the mission flown on Jan. 23 was simulating an air strike on the U.S. aircraft carrier comes from the Financial Times, that on Jan. 29, 2020 reported: “People familiar with intelligence collected by the US and its allies said the bombers and some of the fighter aircraft involved were conducting an exercise that used a group of US Navy vessels led by the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the same area as a simulated target. Pilots of H-6 bombers could be heard in cockpit conversations confirming orders for the simulated targeting and release of anti-ship missiles against the carrier, the people said.”

Why Taiwan might be the next global flashpoint

Why does China have Taiwan in its sights? What does Taiwan want? And, as tensions rise, how are the US and Australia likely to respond?”

If Elon ever gets to Mars he’ll declare independence from Earth.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated its launch license in explosive Starship test, triggering an FAA probe

SpaceX’s next test Starship test launches are getting a close look from the FAA.

The December test launch of the “Serial Number 8” Starship prototype at SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, facilities was hailed by Musk as a success: “Mars, here we come!!” the chief executive tweeted moments after the rocket exploded on its landing, celebrating SN8’s successful 8-mile-high ascent with his followers. The FAA, which oversees ground safety and issues licenses for private launches, was not so happy.

Elon Musk blasted the FAA for canceling a Starship test launch, but the agency said ‘outstanding safety issues’ were at play

SpaceX was unable to launch its newest Starship prototype on Thursday after the Federal Aviation Administration canceled the flight attempt.

• SpaceX was ready to attempt a Starship rocket test flight on Thursday, but it couldn’t get clearance from the FAA.
• Elon Musk criticized the agency on Twitter, saying that with its rules “humanity will never get to Mars.”
• However, the FAA told Insider it was working with SpaceX to “resolve outstanding safety issues.”

The quick answer is that there is more bandwidth, more nodes, more complexity and more emergence for David to exploit against Goliath. The status quo has been repeatedly blindsided by events that seemingly came out of nowhere. It responds by creating ever denser and interlinked connections which never quite behave as they’ve modeled. 9/11, Brexit, Trump, the coronavirus were all bolt out of the blue.

Prediction: Wall Street will block up the attack routes the Gamestop insurgency used — and completely miss the next challenge from a direction they least expect. They will be surprised again and these surprises will occur with increasing frequency.

I wouldn’t worry too much about Gamestop. It’s the next David nobody has even heard of but implicitly out there that you’ve got to watch out for.

In a world of rapid, disruptive innovation establishment power and addiction to monopoly rents have become a trap. The ladder leading up to an unknown future consists of collapsing rungs upon which it is unwise to tread for too long. Rebel or die.

GameStop insurgency is just the latest rebellion against ‘the Big Guys’

Joe Biden is president. Democrats control the House and Senate. Tech overlords are quashing dissent. We’re in the middle of what our betters call the “Great Reset,” when the power of…

This display of spontaneous group power by a bunch of previous unknowns has frightened the Really Smart People™ and led to reactions that will make things worse, not better. Some discount brokers started displaying warnings and limiting trades. Discord, a popular online chat service used by the r/wallstreetbets group, shut down the group’s service, offering the usual contemporary excuse that the group was engaged in “hate speech” and “spreading disinformation.” Uh-huh. …

Prediction: We will see more Big Tech censorship, maybe even government regulators, set against the Robinhood crowd. But it won’t work the way the censors and regulators hope.