USA - Shipping giants have come under fire from US business groups and watchdogs for raking in record-breaking profits on the backs of skyrocketing prices driven by unprecedented port congestion. Each of the largest ocean carriers saw their profits more than triple over the last year, according to research from liberal watchdog group Accountable.US, which noted that all of the firms upped their prices substantially amid surging demand. The industry, which is dominated by a handful of large freight companies, is currently lobbying senators to reject a bipartisan House-passed bill that aims to crack down on anticompetitive shipping practices, which carriers argue would only worsen supply chain issues. Denmark-based carrier Maersk expects to report $24 billion in 2021 earnings before taxes and depreciation, triple its 2020 haul. Shanghai-based Cosco Shipping reported $14 billion in annual profits, nine times its 2020 earnings. Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd AG said Tuesday that its pre-tax income more than quadrupled to $12.8 billion last year.

USA - The past two years have been a checklist for the worst impulses of government and public sentiment. COVID allowed for supposedly temporary measures to morph into two years of “emergency” restrictions. But what if COVID was only the opening act, and another proclaimed crisis is the main event? Implementing significant but partial restrictions, one by one, in the name of the common good can allow for encompassing government control that results in relatively little backlash. Fear over climate change could lead to long-term soft lockdowns, given the precedent of immense growth of government power and significant support for sweeping state actions. This isn’t a right-wing fever dream. Calls for harsh government measures in the name of saving the environment are already in the parlance of influential organizations and figures. Political leaders have learned that fear prompts the public to accept dramatic curtailing of freedoms for vague promises of safety — they must realize the incredible power at their fingertips.

USA - Fear really is contagious, and scientists say having more people around you for support won’t help. So much for “strength in numbers.” Researchers from the California Institute of Technology used a haunted house experience with 17 rooms containing various spooky threats during their experiment. They found people were actually more scared when the group walking through the house was larger. The team also found that their fear built up and increased as people moved from room to room. Scientists say when faced with fear, people are more likely to have a heightened physical response when other people are around. This “phasic effect” involves rapid changes the body experiences as it responds to an event and is more likely to happen when other people are dealing with the same thing. So, if a friend is shaking with fear and reacts to traumatic triggers, the study finds even the calmest person may also be startled by that trigger.

USA - The News Literacy Program warns that “common misinformation themes” include phrases such as “The media won’t report this” and “Do your own research”. The News Literacy Project (NLP) is a propaganda outlet masquerading as “non-partisan.” The dangerous organization teaches school children how to be mindless leftist narrative consumers. Left-wing commentator and notorious fake news purveyor Brian Stelter of CNN’s deceptively named “Reliable Sources” was featured last week teaching young teens about “misinformation” in Queens, New York. During the segment, students are indoctrinated by the NLP’s Checkology e-learning platform. Stelter said that NLP founder Alan C Miller “says that these lessons are now used by more than 37,000 educators.” The company behind NLP is E W Scripps. Checkology is funded by militant left groups with bland sounding names: Science Literacy Foundation, Argosy Foundation, Dow Jones Foundation, Grable Foundation. Also, see NewsGuard, another left-wing group focused on teaching children about “misinformation,” which has striking similarities to the News Literacy Project.

USA - If the request is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, as expected, an estimated 350,000 Bay Area children would become eligible for vaccination. Pfizer and its vaccine partner BioNTech announced they have initiated their application to the FDA asking that the agency amend its emergency use authorization of their vaccine for older children to include dosage for babies and young children. The FDA granted emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for children 5 to 11 in the fall, and booster shots for that group in January. The agency itself urged the companies to submit their new application, and the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee will discuss the issue at its virtual meeting on February 15. Although the companies’ application is for a two-dose vaccine, they plan to expand the request in the next few months to include a third dose to be given at least eight weeks after the second. Data related to the third dose is still being amassed for submission to FDA, Pfizer said.

USA - US national debt exceeded $30 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, spurred on by high borrowing during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the US Treasury Department. Japan and China remain the top foreign creditors, holding $1.3 trillion and $1.08 trillion in US Treasuries respectively, and are owed interest on all the money that has been borrowed. The shocking number was reached far sooner than anticipated, with US officials and economists failing to predict the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent response, which inflated government spending, and subsequently, national debt by as much as $7 trillion since the end of 2019. The $30 trillion mark “arrived years earlier than previously projected,” according to the New York Times, due to government coronavirus programs which “funded expanded jobless benefits, financial support for small businesses and stimulus payments” – all of which was paid for with borrowed money.

USA - You may have noticed that our nation is crumbling. In this case, I am not actually referring to the moral decay which is eating away at the foundations of our society like cancer. In this article I am going to specifically focus on the physical infrastructure which is literally crumbling directly under our feet. At one time, the infrastructure in the United States was unrivaled anywhere in the world. Previous generations of Americans built this country from the ground up, and I am very thankful for the hard work that they put into constructing our infrastructure, but now it is rotting and decaying all around us. Our politicians in Washington finally decided to take action by passing the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

GERMANY - The German government should immediately deliver “weapons and munition” to Ukraine and, in the course of five years, increase Germany’s military budget to up to 3 percent of the country’s GDP – possibly to more than €100 billion. These demands are being made by the President of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Thomas Enders. Enders also calls for “the introduction of compulsory service or the draft for men and women,” to “be able to create a rapidly mobilizable reserve for homeland defense.” He also mentions the deployment of more German troops in Eastern Europe. He attacks German government policy during the Ukraine crisis as “irresponsible.” NATO’s plans to deploy units, such as those in Poland and the Baltic countries also in other countries in eastern and south-eastern Europe, are creating new splits in the region. Whereas Romania, for example, is in favor of the measure and the French military is already considering establishing a presence in that country, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary are opposed. More than 50 percent of the Slovaks consider Russia a strategic partner.

USA - People are wearing too much personal protective gear and must become conscious consumers, according to the UN health body. The huge amount of medical waste accumulated during the pandemic around the globe has become a health and environmental hazard, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday. Billions of face masks, gloves, and full-body protective suits created some 87,000 tons of medical waste as the world battled Covid-19 between March 2020 and November 2021. Syringes, needles, and safety boxes from the vaccination drive added another 143 tons of litter, according to the agency. Around 30% of healthcare facilities worldwide, especially those in poorer countries, were ill-equipped to cope with the existing waste before the emergence of the coronavirus. And the pandemic has put them under even more pressure, the WHO said.

EUROPE - On Sunday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance is “concerned” with the European Union’s reliance on Russia for natural gas imports amid Western claims that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. “We are concerned about the energy situation in Europe because it demonstrates the vulnerability of being too dependent on one supplier of natural gas and that’s the reason why NATO allies agree that we need to work and focus on diversification of supplies,” Stoltenberg said. The EU relies on Russia for about a third of its natural gas supply. This fact complicates Washington’s plans to potentially impose crippling sanctions on Russia that would aim to isolate the country from the global financial system. The US is in talks with Gulf countries to divert gas to Europe in the event of sanctions or a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The fact that Russia and the EU rely on trading with each other so much makes war in Eastern Europe less likely. Germany and Russia are looking to boost their trade relationship through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

USA - Breitbart News senior contributor and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer’s latest investigative exposé, Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, reveals how 23 former US senators and congressman have lobbied for Chinese military or intelligence-linked companies after leaving office. Many lawmakers cash in after leaving office by becoming lobbyists for corporations and other special interests. But one would hope that they would not become advocates for America’s primary economic and political adversary — communist China — by lobbying for outcomes that run counter to the United States’ long-term interests. However, Schweizer’s book reveals that many former congressional leaders, committee chairman, and rank-and-file members are lobbying for Chinese intelligence and military-linked companies.

VATICAN - Last April Pope Francis held mass at a nearby church of the Holy Spirit in Sassia in the center of Rome. During his homily, [Pope] Francis told his flock that “sharing ownership is not communism but is pure Christianity.” Of course, shared ownership is exactly the definition of communism. This past week Pope Francis told tax authorities taxation is a necessary tool for wealth redistribution. This is a truly dangerous man leading the Catholic Church today. Rush Limbaugh was right way back in 2013 when he said this pope is a Marxist.

RUSSIA - Hopes that rock-bottom relations between Moscow and Washington can be turned around are unlikely at present, a top Russian politician has claimed, arguing that only when a new world order is established will there be less conflict between the two states. Speaking as part of an interview with Ukraina.ru earlier this week, Aleksey Pushkov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, who previously served as chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, cast his view on the current power dynamic on the world stage.

USA - One year in, US President Joe Biden faces a long list of troubles and growing doubts that he’s fit for the job. Last October, President Biden went to Capitol Hill to meet with the Democrats in the House of Representatives. Party members had been feuding over his proposed legislation, and leaders believed only the President could rally them together. Instead Biden stunned the caucus by sending them back to the drawing board. As he was leaving, a member approached him and pleaded, “Mr President, we need a plan.” Biden didn’t answer, according to a source familiar with the exchange.

GERMANY - The announcement was met with a wall of derision. “What kind of support will Germany send next?” asked Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. “Pillows?” In the first crisis of the post-Merkel era, Germany is floundering. The complex legacy of the second World War is weighing on its efforts to craft a coherent policy on Russia. A new government in office for only seven weeks is being pulled in one direction by its powerful pacifist lobby and in the other by Washington.