Beltway Insider: Biden/Wuhan, China Threat, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Gun Violence, Memorial Day, USPS

President Biden announced this week he is asking the Intelligence Committee to redouble the effort to determine the origins of the coronavirus, as the initial report has been inconclusive in that it has not produced a majority opinion.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending May 30, 2021, decreased by 0.6% to 53.6% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.3% percentage points to 40.8%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.


Beltway Insider: Biden/GOP Spar, COVID/Vaccine Totals, Israel/Hamas, EU, IOC, Martin Bashir, Colonial Ransom


Wuhan Bioweapon Investigation

Wuhan, once the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, and the home of the world's first outbreak and lockdown, has again come under the microscope as investigators from the World Health Organization and global leaders, including President Biden have called for a further review of the origins of the Coronavirus.

"I have now asked the Intelligence Community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days. As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China. I have also asked that this effort include work by our National Labs and other agencies of our government to augment the Intelligence Community's efforts," President Biden said.

Wuhan, the home of The Wuhan Institute of Virology, a maximum-security bio-lab, operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, sits in the center of several other key environmental and biological universities, including the Wuhan University of Shengwuzhiziyuan Chemistry and Environment Biology Technology, and the Hubei Vocational College of Biotechnology.

Known as ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak. Shocking images of mass casualty, citizens captured with nets, and then the death toll, of which is still not provided to the world with any accuracy. Documentary films have provided first person accounts and an accelerated video of a new hospital completed in two weeks provided some glimpse of the magnitude of the horror the world would soon face.

"A virus that jumps the species barrier from animals to humans in a meat market in China can cross the Pacific in hours. And despite the expenditure of $80 billion on a National Biologic Defense, the U.S. is arguably no better prepared than it was in 1918, states Steven Hatfill, M.D., and coauthors in their new book Three Seconds until Midnight, said Dr. Jane Orient, Executive Director of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons.


State Department Releases COVID Report


Global Destabilization

Former National Security Director John Ratcliffe, wrote in a December 2020 opinion piece featured in The Wall Street Journal, "The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China's major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party. I call its approach of economic espionage "rob, replicate and replace." China robs U.S. companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology, and then replaces the U.S. firms in the global marketplace."

The deep national divide in political leadership resulted in delayed investigations into the facts surrounding the origins of the coronavirus.

The global consensus is that China remains the world's biggest threat and in order to leverage and dominate the nations will need to create a global destabilization. The coronavirus was meant to do just that. It was expected with its high transmission rate, and initial stealth spread, to make it to European continent before the World Health Organization or other viral disease investigators, arrived to investigate and offer an assessment.

With the viral spread crossing the pacific in less than 24 hours, the expectation would have been to create a European destabilization. A realistic expectation would have been that any leader, of a certain age, would have easily become infected and with the projected death rate in the early days, shockingly high, the virus would have created a destabilization of the direct nation, and each leader within those nations could have easily and effortlessly become infected, within days of the initial outbreak. Time was not needed, simply silence and a complete media blackout.

Where there is one . . .

"The U.S. Intelligence Community has "coalesced around two likely scenarios" but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question. Here is their current position: "while two elements in the IC leans toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter – each with low or moderate confidence – the majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other," President Biden said.

From the viewpoint of Chinese President Xi-Jinping, the coronavirus experiment failed to meet its primary objectives which was the destabilization of the United States, certainly. The development of a vaccine so quickly and more, the unheard-of lockdowns and shut down of major cities across America, especially due to the scheduled Presidential election.

Especially now, as the virus has been examined, the possibility of another SARS related pandemic is very possible. Where there is one, there is clearly a follow up.

Chinese is The Greatest Threat

The belief that China is the greatest threat to the United States, is not a new theory or a political opinion. It may be one of the only opinions that unites both side of the aisle in American Politics.

"The U.S. government estimates that China's intellectual-property theft costs America as much as $500 billion a year, or between $4,000 and $6,000 per U.S. household. China also steals sensitive U.S. defense technology to fuel President Xi Jinping's aggressive plan to make China the world's foremost military power. U.S. intelligence shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People's Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities. There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing's pursuit of power. China is also developing world-class capabilities in emerging technologies," Ratcliffe wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

The four main areas targeted by the Chinese are technology, Defense, Intellectual Property, and Influence peddling.

"Our intelligence shows that Beijing regularly directs this type of influence operation in the U.S. I briefed the House and Senate Intelligence committees that China is targeting members of Congress with six times the frequency of Russia and 12 times the frequency of Iran," Ratcliffe wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Another area which is a partner to defense and electronics or manufacturing within the United States, and more so with the Infrastructure plan proposed by President Biden are Rare Earth Elements.

The technology necessary to modernize and create less dependence on fuel oil and create green technology are dependent on rare earth elements of which China manufacture "as of 2019, China still produced roughly 85 percent of the world's rare earth oxides and approximately 90 percent of rare earth metals, alloys, and permanent magnets," reported ChinaPower.org

Rare Earth Elements are integral to the manufacture of wind turbines, electric cars, and essentially every high technology device, including smart phones, digital cameras, computer hard disks, fluorescent and (LED) lights, flat screen televisions, computer monitors, electronic displays, defense systems, and any computerized device with a screen.

Even as Mountain Pass, California holds a large and minable deposit, the environmental destruction resulting from mining rare earth elements is akin to Three Mile Island radioactive waste disaster.

"A half century of rare earths mining and processing has "severely damaged surface vegetation, caused soil erosion, pollution, and acidification, and reduced or even eliminated food crop output," the council reported, adding that Chinese rare earths plants typically produce wastewater with a "high concentration" of radioactive residues," reported Yale University.

Vaccine Totals

Bloomberg.com has built a vaccine tracker which can be seen here. "The biggest vaccination campaign in history is underway. More than 1.86 billion doses have been administered across 176 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 32.2 million doses a day," Bloomberg.com reported.

"In the U.S., the latest vaccination rate is 1,315,466 doses per day, on average. At this pace, it will take another 5 months to cover 75% of the population," reported Bloomberg.com.

Coronavirus Totals

"The number of global deaths from the coronavirus is probably two to three times higher than the official data, the World Health Organization said. Some six to eight million people may have now died from Covid-19 or its effects since the start of the pandemic, compared with 3.4 million deaths recorded in countries' official reporting, Dr. Samira Asma, assistant director of the W.H.O.'s data division, told reporters," The New York Times reported.

While the infection rates of the coronavirus have continued to decline around the world. A new strain, a mutation, has created global concern for leaders around the world are determining the best direction for the protection of the population. The importance of maintaining personal protective practices is imperative to controlling the spread.

For the week ending May 23, 2021, coronavirus cases globally increased by 3,415,623 new confirmed cases, bringing the total of confirmed cases worldwide to 169,905,523 people with a total worldwide death toll of 3,531,788 deaths, a weekly death rate increase of 82,588. (Data from The New York Times).

COVID US Totals

Infections rates in the United States are also on the rise. For the week ending May 30, 2021, the total confirmed cases rose to 33,267,934 people with new confirmed cases increasing by 144,234 with an average of 20,604 cases daily over a seven-day period. The coronavirus has claimed 593,920 total deaths, adding 4,820 more deaths to the total of lives lost due to the coronavirus. (Data from The New York Times).

San Jose Mass Shooting

America's return to normal has unfortunately included mass shootings. In the course of a single week, this week, May 23, 2021 through May 30, 2021, 102 people have been injured in mass shootings in the United States. This week, 25 lost their life in this epidemic of gun violence that has gripped our nation.

On Memorial Day, a day of National remembrance, gunmen waited outside a Florida banquet hall for 45minutes before they opened fire, killing two and injuring 20.

On Wednesday, a disgruntled employee at Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, walked into an early morning meeting and proceeded to open fire, targeting nine of his male coworkers. A female sitting among these men, explained to the media, the gunman looked at her and told her not to be afraid he would not kill her.


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In Michigan, four teenagers were playing basketball when someone rolled up on them and opened fire. Two died.

On Saturday, May 29, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas, on two were killed and two injured in a drive by shooting.

These are four of the stories of lives, known and unknown, lost in a week where there were 15 mass shootings reported.

Memorial Day

An American tradition, the official beginning of the summer season. Backyard BBQ's, hot dogs, hamburgers, and for the first time in a year, the opportunity to gather with loved ones and enjoy the American tradition.

The annual Indianapolis 500 is running, parks are open, and even the CDC has relaxed some restrictions which allow for parents to decide on spending their kids to summer camp.

Memorial Day, 2021. For Americans, a grateful people pause and remember not only those who died in services to our nation, but those who passed over this last year when we were felled, broken, but not destroyed, and today we begin to rise.

United States Postal Service Raises Rates

The cost of a first-class postage stamp has risen eighteen cents, to a whopping .58 cents for first class mail service. Other services such as post office box rentals have also increase, in some locations, by as much at $20.00 per unit.

The expectation the public has for these increases includes more expeditious service. It's possible, although the US Postal service, "delivered 143 billion pieces of mail to 160 million delivery addresses and operated more than 31,000 Post Offices," the USPS reported.


California Squeezes The Unemployed


Unfortunately, the postal system is still plagued by losses, due to online usage for what was many of the monthly necessities for every American. The loss of these revenue has created a projected shortfall.

"The new rate structure announced Friday is the latest installment of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's expansive restructuring plan, which will codify slower mail delivery and usher in significant service and operational cuts to erase a projected $160 billion in liabilities over the next decade," reported The Washington Post.

 

For more information on President Joe Biden www.whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection

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