1405: No Shields, No Deals

The top loots so much that they feel bad when the bottom loots and gets in trouble, so they made it fairer, everyone gets out of jail free!

I'm a former executive of one of the "big four agency holdcos" . I ran something called a "Practice", which in modern consulting-speak is basically a business unit that specializes in one thing. The Practice I formed was the "CDP" Practice which stands for "Customer Data Platform". The term came on the scene in the last five years, but John might know the predecessor of the concept as a Marketing Datawarehouse. CDP is a term that every major tech company is trying to own right now, given how powerful it is - a CDP is basically the one view of the customer/system of record. Most were originally CRMs e.g. salesforce, or other systems that handled Identity. Anyway, that's the context, I was the Identity and Privacy consultant for years there, globally. In my position I was read-in deeply on what Google, Facebook, Amazon Advertising, IBM, Samsung, Microsoft and etc. were doing with their customer-data hoovering systems. This was mostly because they wanted ' massive media budgets to flow through their pipes. I knew their roadmaps before most of the business community did. In one case for one of the big platforms I was given alpha level access to data they were testing with trusted folks. I was allowed to subcontract several of my team members into these platforms as part of our partnerships - it was like "marrying off our engineers" so to speak. I could go on, but I'll end the context on me with this - I was offered a job in big tech companies around this topic and refused because I just couldn't join the ranks of these types of people. I was secretly (known only to my closest team members) a huge critic of everything they were doing, and often felt like an arms dealer. Yes, businesses need to use data, but the stuff happening out there right now would freak people out if they only understood it or stopped tuning it out. I worked on the team that originally planned the Australian citizen ID system, Chicago's citizen ID platform, others. We had clearances to do that kind of work in house and I was always brought in as the "SME" - the subject matter expert they ask to come in and do presentations about the future.

Purple cap Pfizer is going to be retired this month. Will be transferring to gray cap COMIRNATY

Yes. They have requested we use as much of the Pfizer (purple caps) as possible before requesting the Comirnaty (gray caps).

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is going away. The Comirnaty will be replacing it. No more EUA protection for adults. However the pediatric will continue to be the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

There would be no way of telling. "Pfizer Comirnaty" and "Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine" are biologically and chemically the same thing.

If I had to guess, with the soon to come therapeutic Paxlovid, Pfizer needs to move off of the EUA vaccine and into the licensed vaccine. It’s time to start clearing out inventory to reduce dead stock.

Also, If Pfizer moved into the licensed vaccine and therapeutic, it would be a death blow to Moderna and Janssen. Neither would be able to distribute their EUA vaccine. Anecdotally, the availability of Janssen and Moderna has become constrained at the federal level and is dwindling. We can order both still but we don’t get nearly as much as we ask for. For example, I ordered 2000 doses of Moderna this week and will only be receiving 900.

In a recent policy briefing at the Heritage Foundation, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said:

“And soon, Djibouti may hand over control of the Doraleh Container Terminal, a strategically located shipping port on the Red Sea, to Chinese state-owned enterprises. Should this occur, the balance of power in the Horn of Africa —astride major arteries of maritime trade between Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia — would shift in favour of China. And, our US military personnel at Camp Lemonnier, could face even further challenges in their efforts to protect the American people.”

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NAIROBI, Kenya -- A United States envoy said Tuesday he sees “nascent progress” in talks with Ethiopia’s warring sides toward a cease-fire, but he fears it will be outpaced by “alarming” military developments in the yearlong war in Africa's second-most populous country.

Jeffrey Feltman spoke to reporters after his latest visit to Ethiopia, where rival Tigray forces continue pushing toward the capital, Addis Ababa, and a growing number of countries tell their citizens to leave immediately. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday announced he will lead “from the battlefield” in a war that is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people.

Feltman said the warring sides are now talking about elements they expect to see on the table in talks, but “the tragedy is” that while the elements are similar, views differ on which to tackle first.

“Unfortunately, each side is trying to achieve its goals by military force and believe they are on the cusp of winning,” he said.

In a sign of the Tigray forces' defiant position, a statement issued Tuesday by the Tigray external affairs office said that “first, any peace initiative whose principal objective is to save Abiy Ahmed from imminent demise is dead on arrival.”

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If you want to know who is likely to be at war, just look at who is given the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian (NATO) Parliament. Obama got it just days into office before he escalated the war in Afghanistan. Henry Kissinger got it in the 1970’S. And two years ago the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed got the prize for making “peace” with Eritrea. Within a year, the much-praised peace deal between Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea’s dictator, President Isaias Afwerki, the two had united to wage war against the Ethiopian Tigray people in the province bordering Eritrea. The alliance of the two was clearly about eliminating the powerful formerly-ruling Tigray minority. Who now stands to gain in the growing debacle ?

Today the reality is that Abiy Ahmed and his demoralized soldiers are in dire straits as the better-trained Tigray guerilla forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), approach Addis Ababa. There is good reason to believe that Biden’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, is manipulating events behind the scenes and not for peaceful resolution.

Nominally, the war was launched by Abiy because the Tigray state disobeyed the new government’s covid ban on scheduled elections. Clearly the Tigray, who ruled Ethiopia as a minority ethnic group for almost three decades until 2018–when it was forced by popular protests to yield rule to Abiy– were at a severe disadvantage, as Abiy gave a green light to Eritrea’s brutal dictator, Isaias, to invade the Ethiopian Tigray state from the north while Abiy’s military attacked from the south. Isaias’s soldiers carried out murder of thousands of Tigray civilians and carried out war crimes including rape and pillage in what has been called ethnic cleansing. The Eritrean forces, estimated at some 80,000 occupied a third of the region of Tigray. All communications were cut by the invaders.

Isaias and Nobel Peace Prize awardee Abiy Ahmed launched what can only be called a war of annihilation against the Tigray TPLF. They have imposed a siege of food supplies in the region and some 900,000 are reportedly on verge of starvation. Villages, cities and farms have been destroyed as the Eritrean forces reportedly used drones supplied by the UAE to bomb the land. The Tigray leadership and their trained military, the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front, TPLF, fled to the hills to wage guerilla warfare, as Abiy openly called the Tigray TPLF, a “cancer” on Ethiopian society, and to the TPLF as “weeds.”

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In all this geopolitical spaghetti bowl there is also the case of the growing presence of China in the Horn of Africa where it has welcomed Eritrea into its Belt and Road Initiative and established a military naval base in Djibouti alongside a critical US base Camp Lemonnier, and gained a major share ownership of Djibouti’s container port, Port of Doraleh, via its state-owned China Merchants Group. Djibouti is also a participant in China’s BRI. Djibouti controls access to both the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and links Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Horn of Africa, and the Persian Gulf. It lies directly across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen and is Ethiopia’s only sea trade link.

China has kept a low profile during the Tigray War but it suggests the potential of a New Great Game for domination of the region from the Horn of Africa to Egypt along the Red Sea. US covert backing for the Tigray TPLF and the role of Feltman in the region suggests that Washington once more is determined to wreak maximum chaos as it did with help of Feltman in Syria and the Arab Spring color revolutions.

We went to Antigua this past summer for vacation . We went to an

all-inclusive adults only resort. The temperature is pretty much the same

all year around and your sex drive goes through the roof. It's definitely a

fantastic place to escape. Lots of Brits who don't tip that well.

Beautiful warm water. Not too humid. upper 70's - mid-80's. didn't rain too

much.

On one of our party boat/snorkle excursions, we went by the new massive

Chinese embassy that's begin built. From what I recall , the boat tour

China also built them a $30MM+ cricket stadium for "free".

I guess US influence pulled back in 2008ish? and government officials are

apparently "open to donations".

Other fact I found interesting is that the island is really run by the taxi

drivers in that they have the most voting power.

The native Antiguans are 100% dependent on tourism and are live a pretty

subsistence life.

I asked about hurricanes and their devastation and recovery and the guy said

that Barbuda is still a mess. They have some land

ownership/government/independence thing which I guess is "not with the

program" for recovery.

Just want to say thank you again for all of the support from you and John and of course all the karma we’ve been receiving throughout our ordeal here at

Nolecheks. I think I the simple act of sending a note and couple hundred bucks to become a producer has been some of the best value for value advertisement

Nolechek’s Meats has ever encountered due to the amazing community you two youths have constructed. Thank you sincerely from the bottoms of our hearts from the

whole crew here at nolecheks.

Stay dangerous!

Chad

Link

Utrecht

Austria

Luxembourg

Melbourne

Good evening Mr. Curry,

I live in New Brunswick Canada. A province of approximately 600,000

We have some of the strictest Covid restrictions in North America

As of midnight tonight we will need to show our vax pass to buy essentials at retail stores. To my knowledge we are the trendsetters in North America for this.

It’s a same we are not getting any media time as we may be one of the most restricted places on the planet 🤪

Thanks for reading my email .

Oh yes and to add

I am a unvaccinated RN recovered from Covid with 20 years ICU experience put on unpaid leave on November 19.

Crazy world eh?

Heidi

INTM Gents;

I’ll be brief. 45 year restaurateur. Been consulting and doing private Chef dinner primarily since I sold my place in 2007

Been slow lately so I decided to drive for Doordash for awhile until my December Catering hits later this month.

After two days, I can confirm that ALL restaurants in general are woefully understaffed. Got me wondering. Where did all those people go? Before Covid there

wasn’t an issue. Then it hit me after watching the video 11 Side Hustles to Make Money with Your Phone.

These people aren’t just sitting at home collecting government checks like many of us assumed. They’re working in the Gig economy! Think about it; you set your

own hours. No payroll taxes are withheld, no HR bullshit, you’re your own boss. And the money can be as good as you want!

I know sometimes you two find things like this interesting.

And I haven’t seen anyone else talking about it.

TYFYC!

Chef James

Conor McGregor calls on Republic of Ireland to leave EU after Covid restrictions are tightened - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

The labor relations board issued a ruling on The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7’s unfair labor practice grievance yesterday. I have attached 2 sub minute clips

of our union president, one of which where he gets fired up about going after high ranking supervisors pockets for going along with Lightfoots bidding to issue

illegal orders to officers to disclose their vaccination status if you’d like to play them in a future show.

The city of Chicago (Lightfoot) has been forcing officers to disclose their vaccination status on a 3rd party database and to be fully vaccinated by January 1

2022. The union asked for this to be a collective bargaining issue and tried to get a policy in place to say N/A instead of yes or no and if you said N/A tot

would submit to weekly testing and to have a long term plan for those not wanting to be vaccinated. Obviously the mayor made this her hill to die on and

threatened officers salary and jobs over this vaccine nonsense.

has also violated multiple state labor laws regarding this vaccine policy making all these direct orders to disclose vaccination status to the employer illegal

without first bargaining with the union.

This house of cards seems to be ready to fold at any minute. The courts keep saying this is illegal and can’t be done and its like being held at gunpoint by

someone that has no bullets in the chamber and we are all starting to find that out. Keep on fighting everyone we are winning.

Thank you for all you do-Anonymous obviously

I don’t have any proof of this, other than circumstantial evidence, but really, these large shootings overwhelmingly coincide with 2nd Amendment legislation. The Las Vegas Shooter happened the day before a vote to take suppressors off of the NFA list. No surprise, that vote didn’t happen. This shooting in Michigan corresponds with HB 38, national concealed carry reciprocity. This is a trend that I have noticed over the last 5 years of these shootings. It seems every time a bill, either increasing or decreasing gun rights, is gaining momentum, one of these shooters pops off and that bill disappears.