Despite what Joe Biden claims about the supply chain crisis, industry experts are warning the worst is yet to come. During a press conference Wednesday, Biden claimed there are more goods coming into the U.S. than ever before.
“So we got nearly 20 percent more goods coming into the country than we did before the pandemic,” he stated. “COVID-19 has changed the way we spend our time and our money. More products are being delivered than ever before.”
According to industry leaders, however, Biden is wrong and the U.S. is in the middle of a massive supply chain crisis. The chairman of IBrands Global, one of the world’s leading supply chain platforms, warned of continuing problems.
“Well, I’m sorry to say that I think it’s a very difficult situation at the moment and everybody is working hard to make it better,” said Marc Garson, chairman of IBrands Global. “And there are a lot of things that are happening down the road that will improve the situation, but at the moment we are in a pretty bad log jam.”
The only supply chain that appears to be working is the constant supply of Joe Biden disasters
Biden also claimed “shelves will be stocked for holiday shopping,” adding retailers are working to make it happen.
“The shelves will be stocked in stores this holiday because they signed on a 24/7 as well,” he stated. “They provide more avenues. They’re getting their containers off the ports quicker than ever before. ”
However, experts have said it’s unrealistic for the supply chain crisis to be fixed as quickly Biden promises.
“To say that today we’re going to wake up and we’re going to fix the problem, and in two weeks we’re going to have all the goods in for Christmas on the shelves is really an unrealistic point of view,” Garson explained. “Its’ a problem that will continue for quite awhile. The supply chain is stopped up…the shelves are not as full as they should be and it’s our duty to come up with solutions to stop this problem from continuing.”
Useless Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg states that the supply chain crisis will end when the pandemic does. How about ENDING vaccine mandates, and REOPENING our nation? Joe Biden and Democrats will continue to sit back and relax, while everyday Americans suffer.
Data from Belgium reveal that patients with zinc and selenium deciencies, especially those with comorbidities associated with worse COVID outcomes, had a higher risk of mortality and severe disease
Up to 1 billion worldwide may be decient in selenium with symptoms that can include hair loss, fatigue, weight gain, immune system and cognitive decline
Zinc deciency may affect up to 2 billion worldwide and may be responsible for more than 450,000 deaths every year in children younger than 5 years. Signs of deciency may include, weak immunity, lack of appetite, hair loss, acne and a loss of taste and smell
The role of zinc in the ght against coronaviruses has been known since at least 2010; zinc requires help getting into the cell to ght viruses. Although hydroxychloroquine is effective, new data show quercetin may have the same function, while being less expensive and more easily obtained
Choose foods high in zinc and selenium, including pasture-raised beef or chicken, pasture-raised eggs, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts and sardines Yet another study1 has demonstrated the signicance and importance of adequate levels of zinc and selenium in patients who have COVID-19, and especially in those who have underlined comorbidities identied to increase the severity of disease. These include high blood pressure, respiratory disease, obesity, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
Yet another study has demonstrated the signicance and importance of adequate levels of zinc and selenium in patients who have COVID-19, and especially in those who have underlined comorbidities identied to increase the severity of disease. These include high blood pressure, respiratory disease, obesity, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
The human body is a complex organism that uses multiple essential vitamins, minerals and elements to maintain optimal health. Selenium and zinc are two nutraceuticals that are important to immune health and a variety of other functions. While these two are important, it is crucial to understand they are part of your body’s overall requirements for health and wellness.
This means it’s important to recognize the roles zinc and selenium play while you seek to obtain a balance of other vitamins and minerals to support your health. Zinc is the second most abundant trace mineral found in the human body. While vital to health, your body cannot store it. You must consume foods with zinc every day to meet your body’s needs.
Zinc is essential for the proper function of over 100 enzymes that relate to your brain, bones, kidneys, liver, pancreas and muscle development. You may be familiar with the role that zinc plays in curtailing the common cold as research has found it can reduce the length of your cold by an average of 33%.
Selenium is an important element your body uses to inhibit RNA virus replication and mutations. The mineral was discovered in 1817. Selenium is added to the manufacture of glass and to make pigments for ceramics, paints and plastics. You may be familiar with dandruff shampoo containing selenium since it’s toxic to the yeast-like fungus that creates dandruff.
Deficits Together With Comorbidities Lead to Worse Outcomes
Seeking predictive markers to better stratify patients at hospital admission, researchers engaged a cross-sectional study of 138 patients admitted to Ghent University Hospital and A Z Jan Paljn Hospital in Ghent, Belgium. On admission, levels of trace elements were determined using serum or plasma levels for selenium, zinc, iron and copper.
Researchers also measured selenoprotein p levels, which require selenium for full expression. These enzymatically active proteins include glutathione peroxidases, thioredoxin reductases or iodothyronine deiodinases. The crucial role these enzymes play in regulating reactive oxygen species means selenium is closely related to your immune and inammatory responses.
The patients were aged 18 to 100 years with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis and 52% were over the age of 65 years. Additionally, 17% of the participants were over 80 years old. Data on age, diagnosis and sex were available for both study locations.
However, information on risk factors and comorbidities, such as Type 2 diabetes, cancer and obesity, were only available at UZ Gent identied as Study 1, and not at JPH Ghent, identied as Study 2. There were 79 participants in Study 1 and 59 participants in Study 2.
The researchers separated the classication for severity of disease into ve categories. However, there were only 15 patients in category A who had mild disease. Therefore, the rst and second classications were merged into a category of patients who had low oxygen requirements for data processing.
On admission to the hospital, all patients in Study 1 had blood work to measure copper, iron, zinc and selenium status. Patients were then stratied into male and female, above and below age 65 and with or without comorbidities. The researchers found that copper levels were adequate in most of the patients and iron levels were higher in males than in females.
Patients with cancer had signicant decits in selenium and zinc. Three of the ve patients with the lowest levels of iron, who also had profound selenium and zinc decits, died during the study. Analysis of the data demonstrated that there were particularly low levels of selenium and zinc in the majority of patients who were hospitalized at one of two hospital sites.
When patients with comorbidities were analyzed, there was a pronounced decit in selenium, zinc and iron in cancer patients and a higher survival chance in those cancer patients with higher levels of selenium.
Disease severity was associated with low levels of selenium and mortality was associated with zinc deciency, particularly in patients with diabetes. However, the
majority of those who died had a combination of selenium and zinc deficit. The researchers concluded that the data confirmed:
“… an insucient Se (total Se and SELENOP) and Zn status at admission to the hospital is associated with an exceptionally high mortality risk and severe disease course with COVID-19.
In view of the predictive accuracy of Se and Zn deciency as mortality risk factor at hospital admission, supplemental Se and Zn supply should be considered to support the immune system, in particular for patients with inammation-related comorbidities like cancer or diabetes mellitus.”
How the Body Uses Selenium and Signs of Deficiency
The results of this study support another published in Environmental Research in early 2021 that demonstrated a relationship between selenium and severity of coronavirus disease. The writers of the paper proposed that insuficiency or deficiency could be a crucial factor in the development of severe acute respiratory syndrome from an infection with SARS-CoV-2.
The data looked at the relationship between soil levels of selenium in different cities in Hubei Province, China, and the incidence and severity of COVID-19 in those areas. They found baseline information that demonstrated selenium had an effect on the prevention and management of the infection.
Selenium is a nutritionally essential trace mineral found in foods and is necessary for the optimal function for many antioxidants. For example, selenium is required for the expression of ve identied glutathione peroxidases, which reduce the damage from reactive oxygen species. These enzymes are also important in male fertility.
Selenium is found in the soil where it concentrates in plant foods. However, experts estimate that up to 1 billion people worldwide may be affected by a selenium deficiency due to inadequate intake. Those who have a deciency in selenium are at higher risk of conditions that affect the endocrine system, cardiovascular system, immune system and reproductive system and that may affect mood and behavior.
Although it’s necessary to have plasma or serum testing to determine if you are deficient, there are several symptoms that may indicate you aren’t getting enough selenium in your diet. These can include:
Zinc Is Crucial for Immune Function
If you were not aware before COVID-19 that zinc helps shorten the length of viral illnesses, you probably have heard it since. Zinc is found in many cold preparations and is essential to cellular metabolism. Severe deciency is rare and often associated with an inherited condition called acrodermatitis enteropathica.
However, acquired deciency or insuciency is possible through a lack of dietary intake, malabsorption syndrome or chronic alcoholism. According to Oregon State University, deficiency may affect up to 2 billion people worldwide. Zinc deciency is attributed to more than 450,000 deaths every year in children under the age of 5.
Signs of zinc deciency or high levels of insuficiency are related to the functions zinc has in the body. This includes poor neurological function. Zinc plays a strong role in your immune system, so low levels can lead to weak immunity.
Persistent diarrhea, lack of appetite and hair loss are attributed to insucient levels of zinc. Individuals with resistant acne may consider a zinc insuficiency, or those who have lost the sense of taste and smell.
Quercetin Improves Function of Zinc in COVID-19
In 2010, researchers recognized the intracellular function of zinc against coronaviruses, and the need for zinc ionophores to actively transport zinc into the cell. During 2020, treatment with hydroxychloroquine, a zinc ionophore, with zinc and azithromycin, was published by Dr. Vladimir Zelenko who experienced significant success with them in his patient population.
Since that time, two studies have been published that demonstrate the function of quercetin is safe, far less expensive and much easier to obtain than hydroxychloroquine. In the first study, there were 42 outpatients with COVID-19 who were divided to receive standard medical therapy or standard therapy with 600 milligrams (mg) of quercetin for seven days, followed by another seven days of 400 mg per day.
After one week, 16 of the 21 in the group taking quercetin tested negative for COVID-19 and 12 reported all symptoms had diminished. In the second study, researchers gave 152 outpatients with COVID-19 a daily dose of 1,000 mg of quercetin for 30 days.
The scientists found there was a reduction in frequency and length of hospitalization in the patient group. There were also less need for noninvasive oxygen therapy and lower numbers of individuals who were admitted to the intensive care unit. They concluded:
“QP (Quercetin Phytosome®) is a safe agent and in combination with standard care, when used in the early stage of viral infection, could aid in improving the early symptoms and help in preventing the severity of COVID-19 disease. It is suggested that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study should be urgently carried out to conrm the results of our study.”
Food Choices High in Zinc and Selenium
I recommend getting as many of your essential vitamins, minerals and elements from your diet as possible. The recommended daily allowance for zinc ranges from 2 mg for infants to 11 mg to 8 mg for men and women over the age of 19. Food sources include oysters, pasture raised beef, dark meat chicken, pumpkin seeds and dry roasted cashews.
The recommended daily allowance for selenium ranges from 15 micrograms (mcg) for infants to 55 mcg for men and women over 19 years. The best food sources of selenium are Brazil nuts. Just six to eight nuts deliver 544 mcg, or 989% of your daily allowance. Other sources include sardines, pasture raised beef, turkey, chicken and pasture-raised eggs.
For a short time, while you’re ill, it may be helpful to supplement with zinc and selenium. Supplementation with zinc greater than the upper intake level for one to two weeks during a cold has not resulted in serious side effects. However, long-term consumption can result in a copper deficiency, which affects your immune system.
Dietary supplements for selenium can be found in multivitamins and as a standalone product. Data demonstrates supplementation lowers total plasma cholesterol but does not prevent heart disease. In one study reported by the NIH, selenium in combination with vitamins C and E, beta carotene and zinc improved memory and semantic frequency test scores.
On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) made his comments in response to a question about “migrant flights” sent to Florida from locations near the southern border.
Governor Ron Desantis proposes bussing illegal immigrants, brought to Florida, up to Delaware. "I will send them to Delaware and do that. If he's (President Biden) not going to support the border being secured, then he should be able to have everyone there." pic.twitter.com/V8WuoUTGD4
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was spotted dancing without a mask on Friday in what appeared to be an indoor area in Puerto Rico, despite a government mask mandate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now being branded a hypocrite for attending the extravagant wedding of billionaire oil heiress Ivy Getty over the weekend without a mask. All the while children in California are being made to wear them in the state’s schools.
And why were guests able to do this? Maskless indoors when school dances across California are cancelled and kids must keep masks on 7 hours/day including outside at recess in many parts of CA including in SF. https://t.co/gO1UCzO74Lpic.twitter.com/6Lv5TQAZiE
Gavin Newsom cancelled a press conference to attend the wedding of Ivy Getty (Big Oil Family). Nancy Pelosi was an officiant at the Getty wedding. Isn't it weird that Green New Deal/Climate Activists would go to the wedding of an oil heiress? 🤔 https://t.co/Rf4pavhKAs
Gov. Tom Wolf appealed the decision, which immediately blocked the court’s ruling keeping the mandate in place for now.
A Pennsylvania court on Wednesday struck down a mask requirement being utilized in public schools.
According to Epoch Times, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled that state Health Secretary Alison Beam did not have the authority to issue a statewide mask mandate for schools, thus overturning the mandate.
Beam issued the mandate at the end of August, but the justices in a 4-1 decision overturned the order.
“Pennsylvania Department of Health “does not have carte blanche authority to impose whatever disease control measures the Department of Health sees fit to implement without regard for the procedures for promulgating rules and regulations, expedited or otherwise,” wrote Judge Christine Cannon for the majority. “In the absence of a declared emergency… the Governor and the executive agencies of the Commonwealth must follow the prescribed procedures for rulemaking,” she concluded.
The ruling was lauded by Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, a Republican who challenged the mandate.
“Today’s ruling validates what we have said all along—mask decisions should be made by parents and school boards, NOT unelected bureaucrats,” Corman said in a joint statement with state Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward. “A blanket mandate does not address the unique needs and circumstances of individual communities, and it takes power away from the people who are in the best position to protect our kids.”
Phil Kline of the Amistad Project, which represented the plaintiffs in the case, applauded the court’s decision while criticizing the state government for imposing the mandate in the first place.
“State officials issued this order unilaterally, bypassing the normal democratic process. The court found that this is an improper action by the executive branch assuming powers that are not theirs,” Kline said in a statement. “This is another demonstration that the best decisions regarding education and children are made by parents, working with local school districts, not distant executives assuming unauthorized power.”
The Justice Department and the FBI continued defending their use of information from Christopher Steele’s main source, Igor Danchenko, even after interviews with the bureau during which special counsel John Durham says the Russian lied repeatedly.
Danchenko, a U.S.-based and Russian-born researcher, was charged “with five counts of making false statements to the FBI” that Durham claims he made about the information he provided to Steele for the dossier. The Durham indictment stated Danchenko lied to the FBI five times in 2017. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
The efforts by the DOJ and the FBI to defend the credibility of Steele’s dossier and his source were notable in 2018, the year after Danchenko allegedly lied to the bureau, and in the midst of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Then-Assistant Attorney General John Demers told Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Rosemary Collyer in a July 2018 letter that Danchenko had been “truthful and cooperative” with the FBI. The DOJ official also defended the flawed FISA applications against Trump campaign associate Carter Page.
Demers told the FISA court: “The Government submits that the applications, read in light go this additional information, contain sufficient predication for the Court to have found probable cause that the target was an agent of a foreign power.”
The DOJ knew Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos repeatedly denied any Russia collusion in 2016 conversations with FBI confidential source Stefan Halper, denials not relayed to the FISA court.
“Even considering the additional information regarding Papadopoulos’ conversations with Source #2 [Halper] and others, and regarding Source #1 [Steele], the applications contained sufficient predication for the Court to have found probable cause that Page was acting as an agent of the Government of Russia,” Demers told the FISA court. “The FBI has reviewed this letter and confirmed its factual accuracy.”
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December 2019 report undermined the dossier’s claims, and he criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Page and for the bureau’s “central and essential” reliance on Steele’s dossier.
Horowitz said FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting” and cast doubt on some of its biggest claims. Documents show the FBI had previously investigated Danchenko as a possible “threat to national security” due to alleged connections with Russian intelligence.
Collyer condemned the actions of the FBI as “antithetical to the heightened duty of candor” in the wake of the report.
In another instance, the FBI’s “Draft Talking Points” for a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing dated February 2018 includes further defenses of Steele and Danchenko.
The bureau pointed to interviews with Danchenko in January 2017, writing he “advised that several reports appeared to be derived from multiple sources, to include the information he provided to Steele as well as information that he had not collected,” and that Danchenko “did not cite any significant concerns with the way his reporting was characterized in the dossier.”
FBI notes of a January 2017 interview with Danchenko showed he told the bureau he “did not know the origins” of some of Steele’s claims and “did not recall” other information that was in the dossier. He noted that much of what he passed along to Steele was “word of mouth and hearsay” and that some stemmed from a“conversation … with friends over beers,” while the most salacious allegations may have been made in “jest.”
Horowitz concluded Danchenko “contradicted the allegations of a ‘well-developed conspiracy’ in” Steele’s dossier.
The FBI’s talking points also said they learned Steele was relying on a main source in October 2016, and the bureau provided a response to how speaking with Danchenko affected the FBI’s confidence in the dossier.
“At minimum, our discussions with [Danchenko] confirm that the dossier was not fabricated by Steele,” the FBI wrote. “Our discussions with [Danchenko] confirmed that he operates within high level academic and government circles, maintains trusted relationships with individuals who are capable of reporting on the material he collected for Steele, and that Steele and [Danchenko] utilized reasonably sound intelligence tradecraft.”
The FBI also claimed to senators it had “successfully protected from public disclosure the overwhelming majority of the individuals who contributed source reporting to the Steele Dossier.” The alleged sources for Steele’s dossier have largely either been accused of lying, have denied being sources, or have otherwise backed away from the dossier.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, previous head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in August 2020 that the 2018 briefing demonstrated the FBI had misled the Senate about Danchenko and the dossier.
Later that month, the South Carolina Republican revealed Bill Priestap, the FBI’s former head of counterintelligence, was the official he claims tried “whitewashing” the dossier to the Senate in 2018. Graham said he was turning the information over to Durham to investigate, calling it “potentially another crime.”
Priestap, the leader of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, wrote to the CIA to describe Steele as “reliable” as the FBI pushed to include Steele’s allegations in the 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian interference.
Nearly all of the signers of the Page FISA warrants — Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director James Comey, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — have now indicated under oath that they would not have signed off on the surveillance if they knew then what they know now.
Yesterday was certainly an interesting and newsworthy day regarding the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. After numerous days of the prosecution faceplanting, Rittenhouse himself took the stand in a move that was both shocking and risky. RedState covered the results of that here, here, and here, and to be sure, the testimony that was given and the behavior of the prosecutor will now play a large role in the outcome.
But I want to start with a prediction I made yesterday morning before all that transpired.
When Rittenhouse is found not guilty, the left and media are just going to blame the judge.
Shortly after, things blew up, with the judge going off on the prosecution multiple times for misconduct. That included the questioning of Rittenhouse’s constitutional right to remain silent and an improper entry of evidence that had already been ruled as inadmissible.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long until the talking points went forth. With Rittenhouse staring at a likely acquittal, the left needed a new scapegoat, and this judge, not being a raving leftwing lunatic, is just the target they were looking for.
Note, these aren’t random accounts, but major news outlets.
The judge is the longest-serving circuit court judge in Wisconsin. He has acknowledged that some topics raised in pretrial hearings are new to him, and said that until this case, he hadn't heard of the Proud Boys, which had offered to support Rittenhouse. https://t.co/mtpzworaOW
This is dangerous stuff for two reasons. One, it is putting a target directly on the back of a judge who has done nothing except enforce typical courtroom procedures on a prosecutor who knows he has no case and has been flailing wildly. Two, it sets up the narrative that Rittenhouse being found “not guilty” is somehow not the just outcome.
When the latter happens, what do you get? You get more violence and rioting, and the media do not care one iota that they are pushing that probable outcome with their misleading coverage.
Let’s also note the hypocrisy here. Whenever Donald Trump dared to make an off-hand comment about any judicial proceeding, the media lit into him as unduly interfering in the court system. Yet, when Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries proclaimed that Rittenhouse should be locked up and the key should be thrown away last night, no criticism emerged in the mainstream media at all. Weird, right? It’s almost as if the standards the press laid forth for Trump were really just malleable, partisan lines of convenience to push political attacks.
But while those in the press are attacking the judge based on the idea that he holds some mythical bias (he was appointed by a Democrat), others are going right to the left’s favorite play: Calling him a white supremacist.
Many people suspect that Judge Bruce E. Schroeder is team white supremacy. Would this explain why he seems so bias and he’s been coddling Kyle Rittenhouse throughout the entire trial? pic.twitter.com/a83pJnGUi5
Those “sanctity of the judiciary” takes pushed from 2016-2020 sure went out the window fast, didn’t they? And who knew that a white person shooting other white people in self-defense is indicative of white supremacy?
What we are seeing are liberals who simply can not cope with the reality that the facts don’t support their preferred outcome. But instead of just admitting that, or at the very least, just shutting their mouths, they are now demanding a teenager be thrown in prison to validate their ridiculous worldview. These last-minute denouncements of the judge, based on nothing tangible whatsoever, are just another attempt to influence a trial that isn’t going the way they think it should.
The broader problem with that beyond the obvious implications in this specific case (i.e. Rittenhouse going to jail for defending himself) is that it shows one side of the political spectrum has no boundaries. They will literally seek to imprison people who they feel run afoul of their political views, facts be damned. That’s scary stuff.
Biden was in Baltimore on Wednesday, speaking at the city’s port to promote the passing of his infrastructure package
He admitted that many Americans were worried about supply chain issues that have snarled the country – and the world – since September
Biden said that modern supply chains were so complex, few people understood how they meshed together
He also admitted that his COVID stimulus checks may have contributed to inflation, which on Wednesday hit a 30 year high
The president said he understood Americans were feeling the pinch of raised prices but he believed the problem would be temporary
President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that most Americans cannot understand the problems faced by the United States’ supply chains, adding that ‘not a lot of people’ have a clear grasp of the networks and their implications.
Speaking at the port of Baltimore, where he touted his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill – which was passed by Congress on Friday, and which he plans to sign into law on Monday – Biden said that investing in resiliency was essential.
‘You hear a lot about the supply chains in the news, but frankly, not a lot of people have a clear understanding, whether they have a Ph.D. or they didn’t go to school, about how a supply chain works,’ the president said.
‘In simple terms, supply chain is just the journey that a product takes to get to your doorstep,’ he said.
Joe Biden is seen on Wednesday speaking at the port of Baltimore, to promote his infrastructure packageBiden is seen on Monday with shipping containers in the background, loaded on a cargo shipBiden said that it was understandable that most people did not fully comprehend the complexity of global supply chains
The president in Baltimore also admitted that his decision to send out stimulus checks contributed to the current high inflation.
‘The irony is people have more money now because of the first major piece of legislation I passed.
‘You all got checks for $1,400. You got checks for a whole range of things,’ Biden said, referencing his COVID relief checks sent out in April.
‘If you’re a mom and you have kids under the age of 7, you get $300 a month and if it’s over 7 to 17, you’re getting $360 a month,’ he said, misstating the second amount, which is $250 per month.
‘It changes people’s lives. But what happens if there’s nothing to buy and you got more money to compete for getting [goods]? It creates a real problem.’
‘On the one hand, we’re facing new disruptions to our supplies. At the same time, we’re also experiencing higher demand for goods because wages are up as well as people have money in the bank. And because of the strength of our economic recovery, American families have been able to buy more products.’
Biden said it was ‘easily understandable’ why Americans would not comprehend how ‘incredibly complex’ supply chains work, because they rarely crossed peoples’ minds.
‘As long as goods and materials are getting where they need to go on time, there’s usually no need to worry about the supply chains,’ Biden said.
Since September, the United States has – like other countries around the world – been battling snarled supply chains.
Ships have spent days off the coasts of the world’s major ports, unable to unload their cargo due to a shortage of delivery drivers and technical staff. Container ships have plied their routes with their vessels only partially loaded, due to logistical issues in ports and warehouses.
The crisis has led to fears that stores may not have enough supplies for the holidays, and gifts may not arrive.
Biden has said before that the knock-on effect of the supply chain problems were scarcely understood.
On Saturday, he said: ‘If we were all going out and having lunch together and I said, ‘Let’s ask whoever’s in the next table, no matter what restaurant we’re in, have them explain the supply chain to us.’ Do you think they’d understand what we’re talking about?
‘They’re smart people,’ the president added, but he concluded the current crisis was a part of a ‘complicated world.’
Biden also said Saturday that he has yet to see a reporter outline ‘very well’ how supply chains work.
Biden tours the Port of Baltimore, the 12th busiest in the United States, during the supply chain crisis The Port of Baltimore is the nation’s largest port for specialized cargo and passenger facilitiesThe Consumer Price Index rose 6.2 percent in October 2021 from one year prior – the highest it has been since 1990The Consumer Price Index shows a rise in prices in every category from used cars, laundry equipment, furniture to food
Earlier on Wednesday an inflation report showed the largest annual increase in prices in three decades.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that prices in October rose 0.9 per cent from September — and more than 6 per cent over the past year, the largest annual rise in 30 years.
‘I’m here to talk about one of the most pressing economic concerns of the American people,’ he said. ‘And it’s real.
‘And that is getting prices down, number one.
‘Number two, making sure our stores are fully stocked.
‘And number three, getting a lot of people back to work while tracking and tackling these two above challenges.’
Biden said that he appreciated the fact that his COVID stimulus checks contributed to inflation
He said he believed the problem was temporary, and that the economy would stabilize.
‘People are not going out to dinner and lunch and going to local bars because of COVID. So what are they doing? They’re staying home and ordering online and they’re buying product.’ Biden said.
‘Well with more people with money buying product and less product to buy, what happens?
‘The supply chain’s the reason, the answer is you guys, I’ll get to that in a minute. But what happens? Prices go up.’
He said that the U.S. was feeling the effects of a positive sentiment in the economy.
Biden said that ‘more products are being delivered than ever before — that’s because people have little more breathing room than they did last year. And that’s a good thing.
‘But it also means we’ve got higher demand for goods at the same time we’re facing disruptions in the supplies to make those goods. This is a recipe for delays and for higher prices.’
What’s included in the new infrastructure bill and how much it will cost
Here’s a breakdown of the bill that Biden is expected to soon sign into law:
PORTS: $17 billion
The upgrades include $4 billion of construction on coastal ports, inland waterways and other corps-eligible facilities, as well as $3.4 billion worth of improvements on obsolete inspection facilities to smooth international trade at the northern and southern borders. Upgrades will also include streamlining data sharing among shipping lines, terminal operators, railroads, truckers, warehouses, and cargo owners, across agencies to smooth supply chains.
ROADS AND BRIDGES: $110 billion
The bill would provide $110 billion to repair the nation’s aging highways, bridges and roads. According to the White House, 173,000 total miles of America’s highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. And the almost $40 billion for bridges is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system, according to President Joe Biden’s administration.
PASSENGER AND FREIGHT RAIL: $66 billion
To reduce Amtrak’s maintenance backlog, which has worsened since Superstorm Sandy nine years ago, the bill would provide $66 billion to improve the rail service’s 457-mile-long Northeast Corridor as well as other routes. It´s less than the $80 billion Biden – who famously rode Amtrak from Delaware to D.C. during his time in the Senate – originally asked for, but it would be the largest federal investment in passenger rail service since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago.
INTERNET ACCESS: $65 billion
The legislation’s $65 billion for broadband access would aim to improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities. Most of the money would be made available through grants to states.
MODERNIZING THE ELECTRIC GRID: $65 billion
To protect against the widespread power outages that have become more frequent in recent years, the bill would spend $65 billion to improve the reliability and resiliency of the nation’s power grid. It would also boost carbon capture technologies and more environmentally-friendly electricity sources like clean hydrogen.
WATER AND SEWERS: $55 billion
To improve the safety of the nation’s drinking water, the legislation would spend $55 billion on water and wastewater infrastructure. The bill would include $15 billion to replace lead pipes and $10 billion to address water contamination from polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS – chemicals that were used in the production of Teflon and have also been used in firefighting foam, water-repellent clothing and many other items.
PUBLIC TRANSIT: $39 billion
The $39 billion for public transit in the legislation would expand transportation systems, improve accessibility for people with disabilities and provide dollars to state and local governments to buy zero-emission and low-emission buses. The Department of Transportation estimates that the current repair backlog is more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars, 200 stations and thousands of miles of track and power systems.
AIRPORTS: $25 billion
The bill would spend $25 billion to improve runways, gates and taxiways at airports and to improve terminals. It would also improve aging infrastructure at air traffic control towers.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: $12.5 billion
The bill would spend $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations, which the administration says are critical to accelerating the use of electric vehicles to curb climate change. It would also provide $5 billion for the purchase of electric school buses and hybrids, reducing reliance on school buses that run on diesel fuel.
PAYING FOR IT
The five-year spending package would be paid for by tapping $210 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief aid and $53 billion in unemployment insurance aid some states have halted, along with an array of other smaller pots of money, like petroleum reserve sales and spectrum auctions for 5G services.
The U.S. is among seven countries in the Western world recommending masks for children in schools
States can set their own rules but the CDC suggests masks indoors for all kids age two and older regardless of vaccination status
However, at least 14 countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Australia, don’t require kids to wear face coverings
Experts say this could be because there is more trust in authority figures and that there is more testing in schools in Europe
The U.S. is one of the few countries still recommending masks in schools as most nations let kids attend classes without face coverings.
Although states are allowed to set their own rules, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests universal indoor masking for all students above age two regardless of vaccination status.
In fact, 68.2 percent of the 500 of the largest school districts in America still require masks, according to data analytics firm Burbio.
But there are only six other nations in the Western world that require or strongly advise kids to cover their noses and mouths.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen other countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Australia have since dropped their mask mandates or never had them begin with.
The U.S. is among seven countries in the Western world recommending masks for children in schools. Pictured: Kindergarten students arrive at an elementary school during the first day of classes in Novi, Michigan, September 2021However, at least 14 countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Australia, don’t require kids to wear face coverings
Aside from the U.S., DailyMail.com could only identify six other Western countries where masking is broadly required or recommended in schools: Canada, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
In Canada, America’s closest neighbor, provinces get to set their own rules just like states do in the U.S., with most instituting mask mandates.
Of the 10 provinces, two require masks for all K-12 students, one requires for grades 1-12, two require for grades 4-12 and three require masking across all students.
The remaining two provinces, Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador, only don’t require masks if case rates in the surrounding areas are low.
In France, mandatory face masks had been lifted by the requirement is being reimposed for all elementary school students as of November 15 due to rising case rates.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Romania, millions of children started of the school year wearing masks.
Recent studies have found that children are just as likely as adults to test positive for Covid, but about half are asymptomatic compared to 10 percent of over-18s.
The risk of being hospitalized and death is much smaller with less than 0.1 percent of kids falling severely ill or dying of Covid.
And because of this low risk, most Western nations have opted to ditch the masks and have kids return to ‘normalcy’ in classrooms.
In the UK, for example, millions of children returned to schools in early September with face coverings not required.
And while masks are a politically divisive issue in the U.S., members of both the Conservative and Labour Parties in the UK have stated that wearing masks prevent children from being able to communicate and socialize.
That gamble appears to have paid off.
In the UK, millions of children returned to schools in early September with face coverings not required. Pictured: Lauren McLean, 15 and Felix Dima, 13, at Excelsior Academy in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, September 22In Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health advises against school-aged children wearing masks. Pictured: Third grade pupils at Nordstrand Steinerskole school in Oslo, Norway, April 2020
A recent DailyMail.com analysis found that kids in the U.S. are being hospitalized at a rate up to four times higher than kids in the UK.
In Scandinavian countries – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – almost all COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, including mask mandates.
In fact, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health advises against school-aged children wearing masks.
In Irelands, kids under age 13 are not required to wear masks and in Iceland and the Netherlands, middle and high school students are only required to do so when not seated in classrooms.
So why are Europeans less likely to mandate masks in schools? There are a few reasons.
Firstly, many European populations are more vaccinated than several U.S. states.
For example, West Virginia and Idaho have yet to vaccinate 50 percent of their populations compared to more than 70 percent in all Nordic countries, according to data from the U.S. CDC and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Secondly, trust in authority figures is higher in the European Union than in the U.S.
‘Because of this, parents and the policymakers representing them may feel less need to protect children from each other with masks,’ writes Anthony La Mesa in Medium.
Another reason could be that more testing occurs in Europe than in the U.S.
Currently the UK’s Department of Education requires all secondary school students, between ages 11 and 18, be tested at home twice a week using tests.
Additionally, Norway is mass testing students to phase out quarantining students amid Covid outbreaks.
Because there is no regular testing at many U.S. schools, kids are being sent to classrooms instead of being kept at home because tests aren’t detecting these cases.
This can lead to these children being hospitalized themselves or infecting other children who end up hospitalized.
A renowned pro-life group blasted United States District Court Cincinnati Judge Karen Litkovitz for recognizing hippos as “persons” while unborn babies inside their mothers’ wombs still do not have rights.
The Christian Headlines reported that pro-life group Live Action criticized the decision made by Litkovitz in October 15 recognizing hippopotamuses owned by the late cocaine magnate Pablo Escobar of Columbia as “juridical persons” or “interested persons” needed in a lawsuit filed by San Francisco-based The Animal Legal Defense Fund.
The declaration would give the hippos legal rights in the United States. As such, the pro-life organization pointed out that unlike the hippos, the unborn are not given legal rights in the U.S. where abortion is “most extreme.”
“By recognizing the juridic personhood of foreign animals, Judge Litkovitz has granted what has long been denied to preborn babies in the womb in the United States. For nearly five decades in the U.S., the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision has been used by federal courts to deny legal personhood to preborn babies in the name of a so-called constitutional right to abortion–a right that does not and should not exist, let alone trump the right of preborn human babies to live,” Live Action said in their website.
“Sadly, preborn humans are not granted the same legal status as Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos in U.S. federal court. As Live Action News has pointed out, the U.S. has among of the most extreme pro-abortion legal regimes in the world. It is only one of seven countries, along with North Korea and China, to allow elective abortion past 20 weeks’ gestation,” they added.
According to CBS News, the Columbian government was sued over its decision to exterminate or sterilize hippos since they were becoming a biodiversity threat due to their fast growth rate. The animals are said to be so many they are seen freely roaming in villages, which scientists say pose a danger to humans. The Columbian government has initiated sterilization but there is a debate on which is safest.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund requested the U.S. District Court to make the declaration so that two Ohio-based wildlife sterilization experts could be deposed in the case there.
Lawyers for the Animal Legal Defense Fund raised in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. federal court raised that the hippos should be considered as “interested persons” since the organization is advocating for the animals. The lawyers cited a federal statute involving a foreign lawsuit that recognizes “interested persons” the permission to “take depositions in support of their case.”
Litkovitz’ decision is a first for the United States, unlike in Argentina, India, and Pakistan. Animal Legal Defense Fund Lead Attorney Christopher Berry called it a “profound ruling” and appreciated Litkovitz for doing so in an interview with CBS News.
“This really is part of a bigger movement of advocating that animals’ interest be represented in court. We’re not asking to make up a new law. We’re just asking that animals have the ability to enforce the rights that have already been given to them,” Berry said.
DeSantis Threatens To Bus Illegal Immigrants Right To Biden’s Doorstep In Delaware If He Doesn’t Secure Border (Video)
On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) made his comments in response to a question about “migrant flights” sent to Florida from locations near the southern border.