Donald Trump talked to reporters after he arrived at Joint Base Andrews, near Washington DC. He outlined further measures, including stopping aid to South Africa, and tariffs on the EU but not on the UK at this stage. He seemed to suggest that the trade balance between the UK and US can be addressed.
February 03, 2025
Lab Leak Theory Proven
For years governments worldwide, along with scientists and the media lied about the origins of the virus. It was manufactured in a laboratory in Wuhan, China. It leaked from there. The virus did not jump from animals to humans.
[Edit to add seeing as people are reading this; what I think happened - pure speculation and conjecture here - and something I've been saying for years now, is that the virus leaked from the lab in Wuhan. This bio-weapon was virulent to begin with and the local area in Wuhan was impacted, followed by northern Italy as there are many flights from China to Italy (people may remember this sequence of events). But seeing as it was a man-made virus, it acted the way all bio-weapons do, it weakened rapidly as it mutated, it simply couldn't survive in the wild. But there was mass panic, and governments everywhere took the chance to implement draconian measures while at the same time keeping people in the dark. China effectively controls the WHO and we saw this in plain sight, thus the flow of information became fully propagandist. Then, Big Pharma saw the opportunity to roll out its experimental medical procedures, all the while being protected from legal liability. Governments showed great alacrity as senior politicians also profited. Then, finally, and in order to cement the controls and profit-taking, elections worldwide were rigged. Once again, we saw this in plain sight but most refused to see the obvious. The end result was mass murder, firstly by China whether knowingly or unknowingly, and then by governments and their senior politicians who stood to massively gain. The worst part of this story is they'll get away with it.]
February 02, 2025
New Zealand Visa Waiver and Israel
I tend to agree with the reports from Israel. The New Zealand government are denying requiring Israelis disclose their military service, but anyone who has completed an electronic travel authorisation will know these types of forms ask all sorts of questions. The USA asks that many questions, your head will start spinning.
New Zealand’s government immigration authority has begun to require Israelis applying for a visa to report details of their military service as a condition for entry, and at least one person has been denied admission after doing so, The Times of Israel has learned.
Who Pays a Tariff?
I've found a useful explanation on how tariffs actually work. I don't talk about myself all that much, but something I can say is that I've done a lot of import and export, with goods heading all over the world. I find myself agreeing with the man from shoemaker, Deer Stags.
I now notice talk of the US soon to impose a worldwide 10% tariff on imports. But, I wonder how much of these moves from Donald Trump are actually targeting those who have criticised him, it's kind of convenient that the leaders of Mexico and Canada are both opponents of Trump. Using that logic, the UK must now be in the crosshairs since the UK Labour party sent activists to the US to actively campaign for Kamala Harris. That may come back to bight Keir Starmer on the arse.
More Scandal
With the latest revelations surrounding Prince Andrew's contact with and activities with Jeffrey Epstein, it is about time the British handed him over to the FBI for a formal interview. The email Epstein sent, using the words "...we'll play some more soon!!!" is really quite telling.
February 01, 2025
Dreaded Tariffs
Are we about to enter another era of tariff wars worldwide? We are if the soon to be imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico come into effect.
Tariffs are usually a negative and are inflationary. They impact the less well off, as well as those on fixed incomes. The effect of this in the USA will also result in US manufactured goods that rely on imported components, becoming more expensive. Workers will lose their jobs.
However, on the other side of the equation; with oil and gas being fully exploited and with oil going into every part of our lives, then the lower prices at the pump will temper the inflationary effects of the tariffs.
It's a wait and see. By comparison, Japan play the game differently as they don't rely on tariffs, but they do use complicated regulations to protect their own industry. An example is with rice. Japan require all rice consumed to be grown in the country, as a matter of strategic importance. However, they do import rice, but it gets further processed into such things as rice crackers. In Japan, you cannot buy foreign rice to be consumed as rice itself.
Below embed is the best I can find so far on the effect of tariffs, apologies for the speaker treating everyone as if they're imbeciles: